Episode 232: Reacting To The Mariners Game One Loss In Boston + What Is The Long-Term Solution At 1B? (Mailbag)

[00:00:00] Welcome to episode number 232 of the Marine Layer Podcast. We'll talk about the Mariners Game One Loss in Boston. It's also our mailbag episode and episode early because our guest episode is coming out on Friday this week. We'll take your guys' best questions and answer them here on the pod. We have our Russell Wilson Umpire of the Week and we will close it out by going down on the farm and picking out a standout Mariners minor leaguer.

[00:00:25] Stay on top of all of our stuff, guys. If you want to do that, if you want to make sure you're following along as best you can, check out our website. Everything's over there. Marinelayerpod.com. Whether you want to listen to the episodes, you want to watch the episodes, you want to join our Patreon, which we'll continue to talk about. If you want priority on mailbag questions, go over and sign up for our Patreon because our Patreon members get first priority on all these questions. So go get involved. We'd love to have you. There's a bunch of benefits and it's just a couple clicks of a button over on the website.

[00:00:54] If you want to check it out. So go do that. Go check out our merch, which has gotten out to a bunch of the players this week. It's been really popular. It's cool to see all the pictures. So go check that out too. And then follow us all across social media at Marinelayerpod. Let's get it rolling.

[00:01:21] And we welcome you to this episode of the Marinelayer podcast, part of the Just Baseball Podcast Network, recording on Tuesday evening, April 22nd. I'm going to say it's a good thing the Mariners don't play in the American League East because Oh my God, they cannot for the life of themselves pitch at Fenway Park. What is the issue?

[00:01:45] Yeah, so we were spending a few minutes before the show started trying to look up this stat. Now, we were unsuccessful and both TJ and I with our big brained ASU degrees could not put our heads together and figure out how to get this right on fan graphs because we're plugging in the numbers for what the Mariners for what the Mariners are as a team on the mound over the last 10 years at Fenway, which by the way, they have not won a series at Fenway Park in 10 years.

[00:02:13] So naturally, we were curious about what the numbers were. The Mariners over the last 10 years, we calculated falsely, have a 737 ERA, which actually doesn't sound crazy. The problem we got is it was spitting out. It was a 125 game sample over those 10 years. And obviously, even with our ASU degrees, no, I don't think the Mariners have played 125 games at Fenway in 10 years.

[00:02:41] The stat, look, the stat could be right. Just not, I guess, certain enough to come out here and say we're absolutely a thousand percent sure it's right. Do you know what else, what other number wouldn't totally surprise me on that? They said that, that stat said the Mariners in the last 10 years have given up 44 home runs at Fenway Park. 44 home runs.

[00:03:09] They play three games a year at Fenway Park. Okay, so stamp it down right here. The Mariners have possibly given up 44 home runs in the last 10 years at Fenway Park and possibly have a 737 team ERA at Fenway Park in the last 10 years. Noted by the Marine Layer pod, a possible 737 ERA. It also said they were close to 80 doubles, the Red Sox were, and that they were hitting as a team 324.

[00:03:38] Those numbers sound absolutely ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. But then we sit here and we watch game one, and that looked like a pretty typical Mariners-Red Sox game at Fenway Park. I mean, almost to the T. Eight runs to the Red Sox. They had runners on all game. Casas comes up, who had been really struggling all series long. Late in the game, it was at the 6th or the 7th inning, and he just belts one out into center field. Gone. And then all of a sudden, it's 8-3.

[00:04:06] And it didn't even seem like the Red Sox had to try all that hard for the 8-3. For those 8 runs that they scored. It was not a good pitching night. It was, for how they played this road trip, and they managed to squeeze out some pretty key situational opportunities that they've had. Today was not one of those days. Not at all. No. And Bryce Miller did not look sharp. Before we get more into that, have I told you my Fenway Park story? A little bit of a horror story?

[00:04:37] A horror story. You went there. Yeah, you've told me this story before. Yeah, I'll let you tell it, though. I will inform the people. And it's relevant because it's within this margin of a 10-year stretch. So, for my 18th birthday, my family and I happened to be traveling on the East Coast. And we were in Boston during that time. So, not only were we in Boston, but the Mariners were in Boston.

[00:05:01] The Mariners were playing at Fenway Park the day before my 18th birthday. So, my parents, being the generous parents that they are, they got us all tickets to that game. But not just tickets. Tickets on the green monster for that game. And not just tickets on the green monster for that game. Tickets on the green monster for that game with Felix Hernandez pitching. You really cannot draw it out better.

[00:05:28] And by the way, in 2015, Felix, for the most part, was still Felix. So, like, you can't script it any better, right? Like, you plan this trip. Your favorite team happens to be on the road. You're sitting on the green monster. It's the summer. Like, could not draw it up any better. That was the worst start of Felix Hernandez's career. Or, if not the single worst, it's pretty close. In that outing, Felix went two and a third innings, gave up 10 earned runs on 12 hits,

[00:05:56] struck out two, and the Mariners lost that game 22-10. It was 19-3 after seven innings. So, you know what? All 44 of those home runs, for all we know, could have came in that one game. And let me take a guess. You stayed the entire game. Oh, we did. I'm sure everyone was thrilled. Come on, we were sitting on the green monster. Why would I leave early? That's a good point.

[00:06:25] Me, at least, I don't know about you as an 18-year-old. I have a pretty good... I knew 18-year-old Lyle pretty well, and I know 18-year-old Lyle is not the type to sort of just kick back and not pay attention to the game. You still would have been paying attention to the game. There is a way to do that and just not pay attention to the game at all. You could just be, like, hanging out on the green monster and be like, well, this is pretty cool. But you, I mean, you were probably still dialed in on every pitch. Oh, at 18 years old, I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings.

[00:06:54] I'm watching Jackie Bradley Jr. have a five-hit day, hit his second bomb out to center field as the Red Sox go up, like, 14-1 or something like that. Unreal. Like, so within this stretch, I have seen one of these humiliating Mariners losses at Fenway Park. This is where I come back to the 7-3-7 ERA would not surprise me at all if that number is real.

[00:07:19] And, oh, by the way, the Mariners were staying at our hotel during that trip too, like before that game. So we got a picture with Nelson Cruz. We got a photo with Brad Miller. I mean, Brad Miller stopped and talked to us for, like, five, seven whole minutes, which I always said Brad Miller was one of the best dudes ever. So, like, he was always awesome. You know what's funny? We met our friend Brad Adam on that trip. Now, this was before you and I ever, like, got to know him the way we know him now. But our family talked to him.

[00:07:49] Did you take a picture with him? No, I don't think we did. Otherwise, I'd show it to him. That would be the best reaction of all time. Brad, I got a surprise for you. Yeah. That would be pretty funny. That would make – Brad would not be very happy with you. You don't think? No, I don't think so. It would be like, you're aging me out. That's what you mean. Yeah, he might feel a little bit like that. But, yeah, it's funny.

[00:08:15] I think some family from Europe was trying to get a picture with Nelson Cruz, too, during that time. I don't think they knew who he was, but he saw other people were interested – or they saw other people were interested in getting a photo with this big, tall, like, dude, and they figured he must be famous. Yeah. Yeah, he was pretty famous. Yeah, but he only had time for a couple, and we were, like, one of the last people he got the photo with. So that was cool. Okay.

[00:08:43] Well, that's a fun Lyle Goldstein story. Yeah. It's quite the story. Meanwhile – We have a fun Fenway Park memory. The last time the two of us were there, was it the last time the two – We do. Yeah, before you tell – Well, before you tell that story, quick little two other things from that. Carson Smith got yelled at by one of the security people in the hotel because he was, no joke, flying through the lobby on one of those hoverboards, if you remember those things. Yeah. Like, flying on one of those hoverboards. And somebody stopped and was like,

[00:09:12] What in the hell are you doing? Or whatever. And I thought it was hilarious at the time. Meanwhile, Mark Trumbo walked by, looked pissed off as all hell, with sunglasses on, and I wouldn't have been shocked if he was, like, you know, not in the greatest – He probably was not in the greatest mood in the world. I don't think that was his favorite season. No, I don't think so either. The last time you and I were at Fenway Park for a baseball game, if I remember correctly, Mike Leak tossed eight shutout. So that was pretty fun.

[00:09:42] Was it Leak? Yeah, it was Leak. Yeah, because Leak went eight shutout and then Diaz got the save because he hadn't pitched in, like, four days. This is one of the rare, you know, well-pitched games at Fenway Park for the Mariners. Remember, this was 2018. They were 24 games up at the – 24 games above 500 in the middle of June, double-digit game lead on a playoff spot. We were feeling really good at that time. I remember I was chirping Red Sox fans because I'm like, drought's over, baby!

[00:10:14] And, well, the Red Sox won the World Series that year and the Mariners blew a 10-game lead. Oh, they didn't make the playoffs that year? What happened? Yeah, I don't know. Now I remember – well, sorry. I remember the game. Now I remember Leak pitching. I also remember Mitch hit a double early in that game to kind of blow it open. I also remember we met John Marossi out in the stands in right field because he was out doing a hit on – like a TV hit for Fox. So that was kind of wild.

[00:10:44] Perks of being a Cape League intern on a rainy day where it's rainy enough to rain out summer collegiate ball games but it's not rainy enough to rain out the big leaguers. No. It worked out. No, it worked out. And we saw them win. Unfortunately, they have not won many other games at Fenway besides that one. No, they haven't. And I remember the next game in that 2018 series, they lost excruciatingly, if I remember correctly. So that wasn't great. Much like this game won here today.

[00:11:14] How concerned are we about what we watched with Bryce again? And I'm going to say this was sort of the same context I said it with Luis Castillo last episode that we did. I don't think there's any real reason to freak out with watching Bryce Miller pitch on the road where he's occasionally had some struggles and the Mariners rotation has had some struggles. And this has not been the first time we've seen Bryce's velo dip late in starts.

[00:11:42] But, you know, today just didn't kind of feel great for him. His command was off. His velo was slipping again. And he was ultimately just not very good against the Red Sox. What did you see when you watched him? I don't love that his command's all over the place. We just talked about this with Luis for Monday's episode. Bryce's walks per nine are higher than where Luis is at, at least entering this start here on Tuesday.

[00:12:08] And Bryce Miller, this dude was, like many other guys in this rotation, the king of strike throwing last year. Now, it's funny to say that because you can call Kirby that, you could call Woo that, you could call Logan that. But Bryce Miller was top ten in the league and walks per nine last year. He didn't walk anybody. And now all of a sudden he's got command issues and he's working deep into games with all of a sudden his velo dipping down into the low 90s.

[00:12:37] Look, he talked about he was sore a couple starts ago and he's been trying to work through that. I'm not going to speculate on anything because obviously we don't have all the information. But you just think about what he said a couple starts ago and what this start looked like and what a couple of his other starts have looked like. And if that is still lingering, I very, very much hope he can work through it because they need him and they can't afford a whole lot of injuries in this rotation. And they're not going to get another, he's not going to get an extra off day before his next start. So it's going to be regular rest.

[00:13:06] So you hope he's going to feel okay by the time he has to start against the Marlins. We'll see about that. The command was shocking too. Again, we saw just how good Bryce can be down the stretch of last year, whether it be mixing his pitches, whether it be the command, because he had a sub one whip last year. He didn't walk very many batters at all. And he showed how good he can be in today. I mean, his fastball especially was missing way up. And then when he would throw it in the strike zone, it was hittable because he wasn't throwing it as hard.

[00:13:36] And it didn't help out. And he ends up leaving before the end of the fifth inning. And then the bullpen has to come in and try and cover the remaining four innings and change. And you and I have talked about what happens when any bullpen has to cover that many innings. And the Mariners bullpen is pitched up there in terms of among all of the bullpens in Major League Baseball in terms of innings this season. When they have to throw that many innings, guys are going to get exposed at some point.

[00:14:03] And Trent Thornton laid one down the middle and Costas hit a three-run home run. And that was the game, right? And then the Mariners offense didn't give themselves any favors. You had Polanco swat a home run. You saw one good swing from J.P. Crawford with runners on base. But then we saw more missed opportunities again with this offense as they were able to get some runners on base, but there were not enough home runs to bail themselves out. Instead, they had to rely on hitting with runners in scoring position. And they continue to do what they haven't done all season,

[00:14:32] just hitting with the runners in scoring position. And the Mariners got burned by Alex Bregman and Tristan Casas in this game. In other words, the sky is blue. You knew. You knew exactly that was going to happen. I called it with Christian Walker and it didn't happen. Well, you can only fend that off for so long because it is very on-brand that it was those two to burn the Mariners in this game. Yoshida's healthy, right? Or is he on the aisle?

[00:15:01] I don't think he is back yet. Hang on. I'll check. Because it would be fitting. So Casas hits a home run in game one. Let's say Yoshida walks them off on Thursday. I think that would be pretty fitting, I feel like. So he's not healthy yet, Yoshida. He's still on the aisle. But, yeah, it would be fitting. It would also be fitting if when the Red Sox come to town in a few weeks,

[00:15:31] well, more like a month and a half, that if Casas goes off in that series because Adam Jude was on this very show with us and told us how the Mariners deemed Tristan Casas not a fit for the park, if he comes to Seattle and hits like three bombs and goes like six for 12, that's going to be something. He's going to have that Luis Robert series last year. Remember, he comes into the T-Mobile Park in the middle of the summer, and I think at this point, a lot of people had ruled out wanting Luis Robert

[00:16:01] because it was the start of sort of his decline of last year and he wasn't hitting very well. He was striking out a ton. And then he comes to Seattle and he just starts pumping balls out of the ballpark. And then it gets to the fourth game of that White Sox series. He hits, I think, another home run in that game. I think it was like, it was Salk who came on Friday morning and he opens Brock and Salk with, this is before I think you were on the show at this point, and he's like,

[00:16:31] I mean, he made a pretty good pitch for you to go out and get him at this point. And obviously the Mariners didn't go trade for him, but that could kind of be how it feels. Right. Yeah, tough first game. Hopefully they bounce back. Issue is, they've got Garrett Crochet pitching the finale on Thursday. So if you want to have a winning road trip, you got to win one of these next two.

[00:16:58] And I wouldn't put many eggs in a basket of beating Garrett Crochet at Fenway Park. And four and five on a road trip's not terrible, but the way it started, you would expect it to end on a more positive note than potentially getting swept at Fenway. But we'll see. We'll have plenty to talk about on Friday's episode about the remainder of this series. The timing does work out with these East Coast games that we can get them all in and still record on time and talk about them, which is pretty nice. Yeah.

[00:17:27] I'll say this, last thing. Some of you might respond and say the Mariners hit Crochet last year. They did. They got him out of a game early. I believe that one was in Chicago when he only lasted three innings or so and they got a couple runs off him. But the other side of that coin is when Garrett Crochet pitched in Seattle, he went seven innings of one run ball with 13 strikeouts. So it could go either way. Haven't you heard? The offense is fixed. We proclaimed it. Oh, I forgot.

[00:17:55] But our thumbnails have really been something. To be fair, we were asking Brett Boone a question about the offense. So we titled one of those thumbnails about concerns with the offense, question mark, a week ago. And then a couple days later, it's is the Mariners' offense fixed? And then maybe this thumbnail will be is the offense dead? I like that. I can already picture it. That would be good. The only thing better would be if you flipped around the Rowdy-Teles collision

[00:18:24] in Toronto and it's Rowdy on his back like this. It's like, is the Mariners' offense dead? Except that wasn't, well, except Rowdy wasn't the one that got knocked over today. That was a lot. But it would be better for the thumbnail. Ah, I see what you mean. Yeah, it would. All right, we've got a bunch of great mailbag questions to get to. All from you guys. You guys bring it as always and we can't wait to get to them. Before that, let's take a quick pause. Want to talk to you guys about our friends over at Pagatches Pub 85. You guys know it's an awesome spot to go hang out.

[00:18:54] Go check it out. There's great food, drinks, there's games, there's 20 TVs in the place if you want to play pool, darts, etc. It's awesome. And if you want to get great happy hour deals, 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday happy hours, drinks are $3 and $4. So go check it out, you guys. That's Pagatches Pub 85 over in Kirkland. Let's get to the mailbag and we'll start on Patreon. Xander has a question, Lyle. And the question is around first base. What's the long-term outlook at first base?

[00:19:23] Despite some recent success from Rowdy, Solano and Rowdy, the combination of the two has been incredibly underwhelming. Is it time to bring up Tyler Locklear? So two-part question. Let's save Locklear here for a minute or two. What is the long-term outlook at first base? Xander, I'm talking right to you when I say this. That is a phenomenal question. What is the long-term outlook at first base?

[00:19:53] And you know, my answer off the rip here is, I don't know. Because when you look through the Mariners system, once you get past Locklear, who they didn't exactly preach a ton of confidence in all winter. Now, I hope they're wrong. And I hope Tyler Locklear proves everybody wrong because we know he's had real success in the minor leagues and hasn't really had much of a stint in the big leagues. So, I hope Locklear figures it out. But, to the more general premise of the question,

[00:20:22] I don't know. Because, when you look at the Mariners' just flurry of talented infield prospects in this system, Colt Emerson, Felneen Celestine, you've got Michael Arroyo, et cetera, et cetera. As Ron Washington said in Moneyball, I'm going to quote him here. He said, he said, Billy, I think you're leaving out a key point here. This is when they're in the war room trying to figure out their new roster. And Ron Washington says, none of those guys

[00:20:51] know how to play first base. That can be inserted for the Mariners right here. Because, they do not have a first base prospect as we speak. I'm going to answer your question in a lot shorter fashion. They don't have a long-term outlook at first base. Let's run through the things. As Lyle highlighted, in the farm system, it's Tyler Locklear and then not much else behind him. I'll talk about those other guys here in a second just to sort of

[00:21:21] show you where the issue lies within the organization at first base. They have told us they're unwilling to sign and pay money for first basemen as free agents. And, at least the cost, right now, they were unwilling to trade a starting pitcher for a young, controllable first baseman this offseason in the rumored Luis Castillo-Tristan Casas trade package. Those are your three options.

[00:21:51] And the Mariners, as of right now, decided to roll with what they have in their organization slash sign Donovan Solano, not a first baseman, playing first base, who happens to be hitting worse right now than Tommy Lestella did. But, let me, let me, let me highlight the organization, right? What is actually in the Mariners organization at first base right now? Here's where we go, Xavier. By, or Xander, sorry, Xavier. Xander. There you go. Sorry, Xander.

[00:22:22] Was thinking of the school. Hogan Windisch right now is the Mariners first baseman at double A right now. He has a 78 WRB. RC plus at Arkansas. Not great. Lyle, take a guess who the Everett Aqua Sox first baseman is right now. Well, we know that team is loaded, but the first baseman, I'm honestly trying to go through the, the defensive alignment because what, you have Josh Karen at catcher,

[00:22:51] Ty P plays the outfield, Colt Emerson's at short, Arroyo's at second, Laz isn't right. Is it, is it like Charlie Pagliarini, Ty Pete's friend? No. It is Milkar Perez. Oh boy. So Milkar is at high A in Everett and then at A ball in Modesto. I'm going to mispronounce these names. Carter, Darigui and

[00:23:21] Jose Caguana are the first baseman there. Well, again, Ron Washington quote, none of those guys know how to play first base. Not, not the guys that you just referenced playing first base, but any of the prospects that you might want as the long-term solution. Aside from Locklear. The Mariners first baseman of the future, as far as I can tell right now, resides outside of the Mariners organization, but I don't know who it is at this point, at this moment. And will it be like anybody

[00:23:51] of significance? Because that's going to acquire an actual investment in your big league roster from something not in your organization. Or trading prospect capital. Well, that's what I mean. Yeah, or major league capital. That's what I mean by investment. Either investment through money or investment through prospects. Now, maybe you finesse it. For example, this is a name I'm probably going to keep circling. If the Nationals are out of the race this year, keep your eyes on Nathaniel Lowe because that would make a lot of sense. The Mariners clearly were linked to him.

[00:24:20] I don't think Texas wanted to trade him in division and the Nationals wouldn't care. So maybe the Mariners still have their eyes on him. That could be a solution. But otherwise, yeah man, I don't know. Do you want to sign Josh Naylor next winter? That'd be cool. He's probably going to demand a little bit of money especially since he's having a good year so far. It would likely come from outside of the organization but I don't know and cannot say confidently it's going to be a significant name.

[00:24:50] My last point on this, Xander, and thank you so much for the question. Apologies for screwing up your name. I really appreciate the support. My last thought on this is that the Mariners picked the wrong year to get the number three pick. Do you get what I'm putting down? Oh, who went number three last year? I'm trying to think about it. Not who went number three but who went number four and he's about to debut I think today or he debuted today on Tuesday. That would be

[00:25:19] Mr. Nick Kurtz from Wake Forest. This dude rampaged the minor leagues. Number four overall pick last year dominated. Let's be real though. Would the Mariners draft a first baseman if they had that pick? I don't think so. Well, right now, Lyle, the rest of the first baseman in the org are not quite there. And that's where Kurtz was mocked for the most part. I know, but that feels

[00:25:49] like a very non-Mariners pick. Like, not really an athlete. How's that worked out? I'm not going to sit here and trash on the draft picks. Like, that's not fair. Scott Hunter's done a great job. Okay, that's right. But in this question specifically, if they wanted a long-term fix at first base, if the dominoes were different or the dice were different and they picked number three last year instead, they would have

[00:26:19] Nick Kurtz would have been the guy. I'm still a little surprised they haven't wanted to work Laz at first base at all yet. Because that would be, if you're going to talk about a long-term solution, they haven't done it yet, but to me, that one would make the most sense. I guess you could throw Michael Arroyo's name into that, although I'm not saying this is the player Arroyo's going to be by no means. But, sticking a guy at first base who's listed at 5'10", I think Arroyo's more like 5'8", and he might be given a little bit of leeway

[00:26:48] on what his listed height is. That's a little bit like having Donovan Solano play first base. Again, I am not saying Michael Arroyo's going to be Donovan Solano as a prospect. Arroyo's been great in the minors. But, like, height-wise and, like, build-wise, there is a little bit of similarity there. So, I don't think it would really work with Arroyo. With Laz, yeah, that would make some sense. They just haven't done it yet. This would be a respectable question. Since Harry Ford

[00:27:18] seems to be blocked right now, why wouldn't you try him at first base? He's a great athlete, but at some point, you need to fill out a little bit of depth at first base. Right now, there would be a couple problems with that because Tyler Locklear would be playing first base at the same level as Harry Ford, therefore there's no first base reps for him. Number two, Harry hasn't hit enough to play first base. You do have to hit to play first base a decent amount. And Tyler Locklear's hit, by the way. Like, that's what is keeping him

[00:27:47] viable at first base is the fact his bat is doing that well in AAA. Right. I do have a Locklear stat, by the way. People want some context in terms of his offensive production this year because he's been good at first base in Tacoma. He's had a 125 WRC+. but that's only the eighth best mark among all first basemen at Tacoma or in the PCL. We can highlight the PCL a little bit later because we have a question where we're going to be able

[00:28:17] to do exactly that. But yeah, Tyler Locklear has about an 860 OPS in AAA right now but that doesn't always come out to way above average in that league because it's such a hitter friendly league. Now, Tyler Locklear still might be the best option they have internally at some point this year because if Solano keeps this up and Rowdy can't find some consistency then yeah, it's going to be Tyler Locklear.

[00:28:46] Donovan Solano by the way, I guess I just got to throw this out. He is now at a negative 53 WRC+. I don't even really know how that's possible but he's hitting 153% below the league average right now and his on-base percentage not his batting average his on-base percentage entered Tuesday below 100. That's going to be a topic sometime here soon. Maybe on Sunday. Yeah. Might have to be. Man.

[00:29:16] Although we just kind of covered it with first base. Well, I mean Solano specifically. Fair. Alright, that was a really good question and well clearly it was because it sparked a lot of back and forth between us. So Xander, shout out to you. Really good question. Next one's from Darren. This one's on Patreon too. This is a fun one. He says, what is the best and worst take each of you have ever had on the podcast? Should we each do best first

[00:29:46] and then we each do worst? Let's do that. Okay. I hope everyone knows what my best take of all time is. Abe Toro. I was right. There we go. You were right before the podcast even started. I know. That's how good of a take it was. Had Abe Toro even been traded by the time we started the podcast? The offseason

[00:30:15] had just started at that point. So he would have been a minor leaguer. He might have been yeah. No, I think he was still in the org at that time. So he was in the org when we started the podcast and they got traded shortly after. Okay, so we did talk about it at some point but since we were in such early stages that I'm talking like the podcast must have been maybe a couple weeks old. Unfortunately, we didn't have a bunch of people out there that got to hear you rant and rave about Abe Toro getting out of this organization. But yeah,

[00:30:45] that's probably your best take so far. He's not exactly stuck around in the big leagues. Yeah, what is he up to these days? He's with the very team the Mariners are playing against right now, the Red Sox. The difference is he's in the minors. Oh, well, nice job, Teach. Would you like me to look up his stats just for your amusement while we're sitting here? Sure. What is Abe Toro? Can I make a prediction? Go ahead, what's your prediction? Excuse me. Trying to battle. Here. He is right now,

[00:31:15] I'm gonna guess, I assume he's in AAA, right? He is. He's in Worcester. Okay. For the Worcester Red Sox, he, I'm gonna say his OPS is 685 and he's got a WRC plus, I'll say 92. So I have baseball reference pulled up, not Van Graff, but I'll take the OPS.

[00:31:45] Abe Toro has an OPS as we currently sit of 1022. Never said he wasn't a good minor leaguer. I think the Red Sox need to call him up for the rest of the series. That is gonna make Friday's episode a banger. Or, or better yet, they call him up when they're in Seattle.

[00:32:14] What's your best take, Lyle? He's hitting 344. All right, my take. My best take? Look, it may not have come true yet. Key on yet. This Kyle Tucker thing is my best take. Do you know all of the hype it's generated in this fan base? You guys would be shocked how often I get tagged in Kyle Tucker things these days, whether it's on Instagram or on Twitter or on the text line

[00:32:44] during Brock and Salk, whether it could be about almost anything. And there are Kyle Tucker questions that get thrown my way all the time. So all the buzz that's generated from what originally started is just one idea. I mean, impeccable. This is part of our brand now. I know we, I know not everybody follows us on Blue Sky. Our, our background photo on Blue Sky is literally Kyle Tucker. We might have to, we might have to change it on Twitter too. Okay. Especially during this,

[00:33:13] especially during this big campaign here. So it, it is, it has become such a part of our brand that yes, it's my best take. And I got to tell you, if he ends up a Mariner, which he will, I might hate the hike, but oh my God, that podcast and those few social posts right after are going to be something that we have never experienced before. And you all that watch us have never experienced before. I might legitimately need

[00:33:43] like a lick, like a, what do you call it? Like an IV. I have two comments here. Number one, it will become full circle when K Tuck sees the content. Well, Kyle Tucker, if he has, or if he does in the future, he's scrolling, he's like, what? I'm going to be a Mariner. That'll be pretty funny. Well, actually he'd be very open to the idea because Lyle's

[00:34:11] the most convincing person on planet Earth. Number two, speaking of this, this arrangement we've made for Kyle Tucker, I scrolled, I was scrolling on TikTok the other day and I scrolled past a video of someone finishing Mailbox Peak. Hmm. And I've now, I've now come to the conclusion you're not making it up that mountain. I will. You're not. Mm-hmm. No, I will.

[00:34:42] I'm pretty sure the peak was above the clouds. It was probably a low clouds day. Fine. Okay. I'll go find the video and I'll send it to you. All right. Hey, I'm going to be your biggest supporter, but I just feel like there's going to be a point where you're like, nope. Well, again, when this happens, it's an open invite for everybody that listens. Like, there's going to be a group outing because not only do we want everybody to partake and celebrate in the acquisition of Kyle Tucker,

[00:35:12] but we need other people there as witnesses to see, am I going to be all talk and tap out before I can get up to the top of Mailbox Peak to the top of the mountain? Or am I going to actually do it and there will be other people there to see it and vouch? I guess we'll have to find out. Again, it's an open invite for all our fans when the Mariners get Kyle Tucker to come on the hike. So, wow, what is your worst take? All right, I'm going to double up on this and they're not that far apart. Number one, I very, very much was on board

[00:35:42] with the Colton Wong trade, which ended up to be a bit of a disaster to say the least. Now, in the Mariners' credit, they gave up legitimately nothing to get him. They legitimately gave up Abraham Toro. Exactly. Dude, you probably were thrilled to have Colton Wong because as badly as Colton Wong played, it wasn't Abe. Now, I'm also in the Colton Wong bucket, but it's boring for us to have the same answer. Okay, so I had that and by giving up Abe and Jesse Winker, I'm not shedding a tear over it.

[00:36:12] However, we thought Colton Wong was going to be a very, very key piece of that 2023 team and he was not. Not. No, he was bad. The other one, I can't remember if we mentioned this on the podcast or not. I bet you at some point we have. When that 2023 opening day lineup was rolled out and Tommy La Stella was DH-ing for that team, I got a text from TJ that was nothing other than a Frank the Tank video of him

[00:36:41] basically losing his mind and yelling, today's the day the Mets season died, but it was meant for the Mariners. I get that text four hours before first pitch that night and I told TJ, why are you freaking out? It's fine. It's just the game. Dylan Moore's hurt. They don't have their exact roster on the field yet. It's not a big deal. I said, for all we know, he'll have three hits on opening night. Yeah, Tommy La Stella did not have three hits on opening night. In fact, he barely had three hits in a Mariners uniform.

[00:37:13] So, I was wrong on that one. Didn't last very long, did it? No. Okay, my worst take, I was all on the Mitch Garver train in the offseason of 23 to 24. Here's the things I did for Mitch Garver. We did an offseason wish list, I think like 1.0. He was number one on my wish list in terms of bats I wanted. As soon as they signed him, I did a reaction and I said,

[00:37:42] this is the exact type of bat the Mariners need. This is a perfect fit. And then on the subsequent podcast, I said the exact same thing. This is everything they need in terms of a DH. Someone who's gonna just sit in that spot hopefully 120 times a year and just crush. Well, now Mitch Garver for his career as a Mariner dating back to the start of last year as an 88 WRC plus and has been demoted to backup catcher. Hmm.

[00:38:12] Yeah, those are some... I was wrong. Those are some tough ones on our end, I must say. Not always right, Lyle. Oh. We are always right. As we tell people when people want to talk Mariners with us, we say, I know this might shock you, but we're right every time we talk into a mic. That was a good question, Darren. That's a good thought exercise too. Actually, I had to sit and think a little bit about this one. So. Yeah. That was good.

[00:38:41] Let's go to YouTube. This question is from, I'm going to say, Unfunkable on YouTube. And the question is, would you rather trade for Nolan Arenado to address the third base problem or Cedric Mullins for the outfield pushing Luke Raley back to first base? The answer to this question is easy. Between these two players in this scenario, it is absolutely 150% Nolan Arenado because that outfield spot

[00:39:11] is being safe for Kyle Tucker. I thought you were, I thought you were going to be serious. Fine. I'll be fine. I'll be serious. In all seriousness, I actually think I would still say Nolan because I think it still fixes more of the roster issues that you have. And I know that puts Ben Williamson in a bit of a tough spot, but unfortunately, if I'm picking between Ben Williamson and Nolan Arenado, I think I'm picking Nolan Arenado. So the unfortunate thing about Nolan Arenado is he does feel like

[00:39:41] he's lost the ability to barrel up the baseball. His hard hit rates are not what they once were. Barrel rates are not what they once were. Now he's not striking out and he's still drawing his walks, which is nice. But I understand that there's a little bit of concern between of somebody that might be hesitant about an Arenado trade because of how he'd adjust to the ballpark. But I'd still put him at third base because he is more solidified and you know more of what you will get from him than you do from Cedric Mullins. And if you put Nolan

[00:40:10] at third, you can move either Ben Williamson or Polanco to second. You can platoon Luke Raley and Dylan Moore in the outfield or Ben Williamson could play second and you just have Polanco DH. I think that fixes a lot more than Cedric Mullins who he's off to a great start. Great start this year. But he is a little bit more up and down in terms of the consistency of his play than Nolan. I would take Nolan too for a lot of the same reasons you did. Better roster fit. I'm going to pretend in this scenario

[00:40:39] there's no no trade clause to worry about. We're just saying if you had a choice which one would you trade for? Nolan, even with his down offense, I think is more consistent offensively than Cedric Mullins who's been anywhere from a great offensive player to a bad offensive player. Cedric's defense has slipped a little bit and also you'd be trading for him as a center fielder but he wouldn't be playing center field. For the Mariners because the Mariners have a pretty good center fielder and his name's Julio. Therefore, trading for Cedric Mullins for him to play a corner outfield spot

[00:41:09] where he doesn't really fit as well doesn't really make as much sense. I'd rather have Luke Raley out there as a corner outfielder even with the mess the Mariners have at first base that still feels like something that would be a little bit better and I think Nolan Arenado solves more of the Mariners issues in this. And Nolan, by the way, the next two years makes not that much money for his star level. He makes 16 million and then 15 million the next two years. That's not that bad at all. It's pretty reasonable and by the way,

[00:41:39] even though his peripherals are a little bit down with his age going up, he's still off to a really good start this year too. He's crushing the ball right now. So, yeah, I'd take Nolan Nolan and risk the T-Mobile Park factor because even if he comes down a little bit offensively, you know what you're getting on defense. And you would have to re-sign Mullins and free agency too. He's a free agent after this year. Yeah, where Nolan is a couple years in control. So, yeah, I think that's the answer. Good question though.

[00:42:09] From, we don't know your real name, but Unfunkable on YouTube. Good question. All right, William on Twitter asks, non-baseball question, favorite non-sports movie when you were a kid? I watched Elf, I think, more times than any other movie when I was a kid. Whatever you want to put the cutoff as, I definitely watch Elf more than all the other ones. Such, such a classic movie. And I still watch it to this day because Will Ferrell

[00:42:38] is almost perfect in that movie. So good. He's an angry elf. Yeah. Do you need a hug? Hug. Come here. Yeah. Tyrion, Tyrion wasn't having it in that one. No, no, he wasn't. Yeah. A lot of really sneaky good roles in that one. So that was good. I remember one Christmas, I think I watched that movie probably ten times during that Christmas season. It was good. It was that good.

[00:43:08] For those who don't get that reference, the guy who plays the book writer in the movie who's like the megastar who then beats up Will Ferrell, he's also a very, very big character in Game of Thrones and his Game of Thrones character's name is Tyrion. So that's why I called him that. But anyway, I would say mine, you went a little farther back than I did. See, I just put down Step Brothers and that still might be my favorite movie now. I think I probably saw it for the first time when I was, I don't know, 13 or so? 13, 14?

[00:43:37] Um, so I don't know what age we're counting for this, but. I tried to include some like elementary school years too. Okay. Because I tried to encapsulate the entire like kid lifespan. Well, we're just going to stick on Christmas movies that are also non-sports movies. I watched Home Alone all the time. I still watch it every Christmas now. I watch one and two. So. You know, I'm kind of surprised you didn't mention

[00:44:06] the SpongeBob movie. Oh, shit. Yeah, that's probably it. I feel like that's the perfect Kid Lyle movie. Well, it's movie, not TV shows. I mean, yeah, I watched an unreal amount of SpongeBob growing up. Really like all those Nickelodeon shows from our generation growing up. I watched Fairly Oddparents,Jimmy Neutron, Drake and Josh, Ned's Declassified. That's when Nickelodeon was at its prime when they had all those shows rolling out. But yeah, the SpongeBob movie, that's a good one. That

[00:44:36] was a really good one. It was a pretty good one. That's a great movie. March 14th, people. March 14th is not Pi Day. And I've refused my whole life to ever acknowledge it as that. March 14th is the day that crab surprise. Just so we're all clear. Okay. Let's get to our next question. This is from Will on Instagram and Will asks, Is Samad Taylor ready to be called up yet? This is a good question. And it doesn't shock me Will sent a good question because I'm

[00:45:05] pretty sure this is the same Will who hopped on the mic and dropped a take with us a couple weeks ago. So shout out to Will. If I have this right. Anyway, Samad Taylor's crushing the ball in Tacoma right now. And I'm glad that we get a chance to bring this up because you mentioned Tyler Locklear and the context behind his start in Tacoma where he's got about an 860 OPS, which you would think almost anywhere is really good. And most places it is, but it's only about 25% above league

[00:45:34] average for Locklear in Tacoma, which you said is only eighth among first basemen in the PCL right now. Samad Taylor's got a 149 WRC plus right now. He is crushing the baseball. He's got five bombs OPS over a thousand not striking out walking. I got to tell you, if this keeps up, I don't know how they're going to keep him away. Now they will have to make a 40 man move to activate him, but not all these

[00:46:03] utility guys on the Mariners roster are playing out of their minds right now. And if Taylor keeps this up between what he can do on the base pads, what he does defensively, both in the infield and the outfield, and if they really think he's going to bring something with his bat, yeah, you can't keep him away forever because it seems like he may be able to provide something. It looks like he's going to at least show in AAA that he deserves a chance at the big leagues. I just wonder if the Mariners are going to

[00:46:32] give him that chance. I was looking at the 40 man. I'm trying to find who the Mariners would actually feel comfortable putting on waivers to get off their 40 man roster. It would clear up a little bit, right? If they decide, okay, we're going to cut Donovan Solano or Rowdy Tellez. That would make it a little bit easier if they were to decide, decide, look, we'll ride with the other person at first. We'll put Raley back at first base, take him totally out of the outfield, and Samad Taylor's going to occupy that role now.

[00:47:02] He can play on and off depending on who's on the bump at that point. So it kind of makes sense, but if they're not ready to cut anybody, I just have a hard time seeing which player they're just going to move off the 40 man roster and, and DFA. Well, I've got a solution here. Okay. Can't you just move Victor Robles to the 60 day? Yeah, you could at that point. That's what I was thinking about that too. Perhaps they think

[00:47:31] Robles is going to he will not be back in 60 days. Yeah. Like, so at some point they can put Victor Robles on the 60 day. If they're, if this is the move they ultimately decide to make, it just doesn't feel like right now they're ready to put Samad Taylor on the big league roster because then again, you have to find space on the 26 man roster for him to play. And I don't see any of the, anyone getting moved off the 26 man roster right now for Samad Taylor, who again, he's crushing AAA.

[00:48:01] He has played 34 big league games in his career and hit to a 54 WRC plus on top of that last year in the same league in AAA, he had a 91 WRC plus the entire season. Well, all right, but it seems like he's made some real changes here early on. He has, but it's early too. And again, since there's no clear path for him onto the big league roster, then you know, they're really going to make

[00:48:31] him earn it. I would say the solution here and the path here is Robles goes on the 60 day IL. And for those of you who heard us say 60 day for short, what we mean is 60 day injured list. So for those who don't know the exact, you know, nuts and bolts behind all these roster constructions of a big league roster, if somebody's on the 10 day injured list, they are still a part of your 40 man roster. They, they still qualify as that. They're just not on the 26 man roster because they're injured.

[00:49:00] If you put somebody on the 60 day injured list, they come off the 40 man roster for the time being. Now, obviously you as an organization still retain their rights. It's just that when that player gets back healthy, you have to make a 40 man move as a result to get them back on the 40 man roster. So for the time being, I think you could take Victor Robles off the 40 man roster because I don't think it's a 60 day or I think it's, it is a minimum 60 day injury that he's going to have. And I think we all know that, but then in terms of the 26 man

[00:49:29] roster, I don't think Samad Taylor's coming up tomorrow. So why not in two weeks if he's still hitting and either Leo Rivas or miles master Boney say they aren't just go back to triple a master Boney. I'd see a little bit more than I would Leo Rivas. Cause when I, when I look at Leo Rivas, they want Leo Rivas on this roster to run and to play defense Samad Taylor right now, we're judging

[00:49:58] his call up based off of his bat. So that just doesn't feel like as seamless of a roster swap as you could possibly have. They could still do it, but it's, it's not as, you know, they seem to like Leo Rivas a lot. Although they do. And we like Leo Rivas for what it's worth. Though I will say like he's, he's a really good dude, but Samad Taylor's faster than Leo Rivas is. I'm pretty sure Samad Taylor swiped what? 40 something bags in the minors. 50 bags last year. It's 50 to 65. You want to guess

[00:50:28] how many attempts he has this year? How many? For those watching on YouTube, they can see, I'm going to talk for everyone listening. He has four attempts in 19 games. I wonder why. That's a good question. That's what I was thinking too. I was looking at that. His offense is great across the board. He's reaching base more than ever, but it's stolen bases are down now. Samad's not old by the way. He's 26 at this point. I thought that was curious. Well, maybe it's a

[00:50:57] strategy thing. Maybe he just hasn't ran a ton early. I don't know. But Samad plays everywhere. Like Leo Rivas is just an infielder. Maybe they want a certified infielder. He's an infielder. He's a good infielder. He is a good infielder. So maybe Mastroboni is the one that makes more sense if he does not keep it up. But again, if Samad Taylor keeps this up for another month, like I'll even stretch it out and say six

[00:51:27] weeks and the Mariners still need offense. It's going to be hard to not at least give him a shot, especially because there's an easy way to do this by putting Victor Robles on the 60 day IL. Not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying it's a little trickier than just calling him up. You can't just call him up. But there could be a point in May or June and he's it probably is not going to be this high. I don't think he's going to slug 600 all year, but he's hitting this well. He's not striking out. He's looking consistent offensively at the plate.

[00:51:57] And then Mariners like, all right, how are we going to make this work? How are we going to how are we going to get our best 26 man roster together? Mm hmm. OK, final question. This one comes from Brennan. This is on Instagram and he says if Julio's name was Dylan Moore, would he have been sent down by now? No. Also, no. Yeah. Appreciate the question, Brennan. I went and I looked at

[00:52:26] Julio stats. I haven't I haven't zoomed in on Julio stats in a few days. So I went and looked before today's game. He had a one Oh four WRC plus. That's not great. It's not terrible. It's, you know, about league average, give or take slightly above four percent. He is an elite runner and he's a plus defender in center field, if not plus plus defender in center field. Even if he kept up this offensive performance all season

[00:52:56] that he's currently doing. All 30 teams in major league baseball take Julio Rodriguez to start every day in center field. That's just the reality of of baseball at that point. So I get it. He's off to a slow start again after those home runs he hit. He's really cooled off at the plate, but he's it's not bad enough to consider sending him down. He was worse to start last year for context.

[00:53:24] Yeah, no matter how he hits, he will always have value from his defense and his speed. So the Mariners would never sacrifice that. Not at this point. They would always leave him out there to at least play defense and run the bases just like they did last year. Like you said, his start last year was for a long time, let alone was really tough, but they never sent him down. They let him just play it out. And obviously he provided value out in the field. In case people forget,

[00:53:54] Hulu had a 104 WRC plus at the trade deadline last year. Not April 22nd, the trade deadline. So just just consider that at this point. Again, we all want him to be better at this point, but it's nowhere near bad enough to be set down. Yeah, I think that's right. Ultimately, those are another good mailbag. Good questions. And a day early to or a show early to this week. I know because we have a guest on Friday that

[00:54:21] lines up with the series this weekend. So we wanted to line it up for that and it would just all flow a little bit better. So good questions as always appreciate all the all of them. And they're always a blast. Awesome. Let's finish up with these two segments. Lyle, let's go down on the farm. Lyle, who's your standout Mariners minor leaguer of the week? I got to say, can't be a coincidence that our

[00:54:50] guy, Brandon Garcia, gets his marine layer pod merch in the mail here on Tuesday and then goes out, records a save scoreless inning with two strikeouts down in Arkansas and is and is showing some high powered stuff. Can't be a coincidence. No, I don't think so. I think the merch might have magical powers. And I think that kind of lines up with my guy that I picked out this week. Our guy Danny were chance. We're here on Tuesday.

[00:55:19] He threw five shutout innings and oh, Lyle, he also got his marine layer pod merch in the mail. Funny. Let's go, boys. I think that's a sign to everyone listening. If you want to have an excellent day at work. Buy our merch. Go get it. It's all over our website. Again, genuinely, it has been really popular and it's cool that not just fans have gotten it or not just fans have gotten it, but players have been invested in it and players have wanted some.

[00:55:49] So shout out to those guys. I mean, genuinely, they both have had like good weeks and a good last couple outings like for for Brandon. He had a couple good ones to start the year and then he had a couple where he gave up a couple runs, but his last two, he's looked really sharp and he looked sharp today getting the save piggybacking Danny going five shutout. So shout out to those guys. I mean, those guys are those guys are great. They're awesome. Marine layer pod dot com slash merch. Make it easy for you. Marine layer pod dot com slash merch.

[00:56:17] If you, Lyle, want to have an excellent day at work tomorrow. All right. Let's close it out with our Russell Wilson umpire of the week. Now, let me tell you, Lyle, the group in blue made it easy this week. They made it so easy. Unfortunately, I don't have one name for the public to hear out this week. I don't. Instead, I have the entire replay umpire group in New York.

[00:56:46] Give them a round of applause. They managed on Sunday to watch Aaron Judge absolutely demolish a ball in a Rays Yankees game played at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. Demolish a ball down the left field line where on television replay, the ball was pretty clearly fair and it was noticeably fair.

[00:57:14] Somehow, the umpires in New York ruled it a foul ball and Aaron Judge doesn't get a home run. And now the entire state of New York is up in arms because Aaron Judge could have gotten a potential record-breaking home run taken away by Major League Baseball itself. Dude, that thing was fair by what? Five feet? Yeah. I mean, it was, like...

[00:57:44] It was a perfect shit storm. Shit storm. Sorry, I still have the lozenges in my mouth. Because there was the umpire fuck-up. There was the fact they were playing at a minor league field. Therefore, the foul poles were not high enough to get the arc of someone who hits a home run like Aaron Judge. Therefore, the ball was too high for them to properly judge where the ball was when it crossed the fence. Don't you just love Major League Baseball?

[00:58:14] Creating all their own problems. Really. Could you imagine what the narrative in the NFL would be if the Jaguars spent a season playing at a high school field or something like that? It would not be good, would it? No. Nope. You know what's going to be a really fun piece of content, Lyle, when that happens to the Mariners, when they go play down in Sacramento? Someone's going to hit a winning home run that's going to be ruled foul because of their short foul poles. And do you think we'd get angry about that? No.

[00:58:45] Well, stay tuned to find out. Haven't you? Don't you all know this podcast is nothing but calm, even keeled and objective? Sometimes. Sometimes. Keyword there on sometimes. But then again, we are fans of the Mariners, so. Yeah. It's a little tricky. I think it is fair to say we will be pissed off if something like that happens, especially if it affects the game significantly. Yeah.

[00:59:14] Again, it's it's middle to end of April. I'm still pissed off about the targeting call in the ASU game. Like, I don't get over this stuff. Yeah. Well, if only we had ways to fix these things, Lyle, like replay and then, oh, they still get it wrong. If Aaron Judge actually gets close to some record breaking thing this year and that's what stops it, I cannot wait for this to surface back up in September. What if he had 62 again?

[00:59:42] Dude, you know how they reversed Max Freed's no hitter the other day, which also could have qualified for this, although I guess that was an official scorekeeper, not an umpire. But. Similar to how they made the decision like two innings later to reverse Max Freed's no hitter and say, oh, that ball two innings ago was a hit, not an error. Well, why can't we reverse something five months later and just say, well, it was a homer. Sounds good to me. Doesn't impact the Mariners at all. No.

[01:00:12] Well, unless the wildcard race is going to be like that. So we'll check in on this in September. All right. Well, that works. Shout out New York, the whole replay booth and the whole replay facility in New York. You guys, you guys did a great job with that one. I must say. All right. That just about wraps up this edition of the Marine Layer podcast. You guys know the drill. If you want to stay on top of all of our stuff, it's all over at our website, marinelayerpod.com. Like TJ just mentioned a few minutes ago, go get your merch.

[01:00:42] That's over at marinelayerpod.com slash merch, or you can just find it on the website. Go get your merch. Go sign up for our Patreon. If you want priority on these mailbag questions, or you just want to get more involved with us, we're rolling out some awesome stuff over there. We'd love to have you guys be a part of it. So do that. Go watch, listen to the episodes. That's all over there. Our live show schedules are over there when we have live shows. Everything's over there. So go over to marinelayerpod.com and then follow us everywhere on social media at Marine Layer Pod. That's TJ. I'm Lyle.

[01:01:11] As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon.