Episode 234: The Weekend Of Logans, Offense, And A Sixth-Straight Series Win

[00:00:00] Welcome to episode number 234 of the Marine Layer Podcast. What a weekend at T-Mobile Park. The Mariners win their six series in a row. Our guy Logan Evans made his debut here on Sunday. We have a lot to talk about with that. We also have a lot to talk about with the other Logan as he's placed on the 15-day injured list and what the Mariners are going to do going forward.

[00:00:21] Reminder to you guys, if you want to stay on top of all of our stuff, it's in one spot. It's all over on our website, marinelayerpod.com. All our episodes, audio and video. If you want to get involved and sign up for our Patreon, we'd love to have you over there. You can find that on our website. You can find all of our merch on our website. So all that's over at marinelayerpod.com. And if you want to follow us all across social media, you can do so wherever you're on socials at marinelayerpod. Let's get it rolling.

[00:01:27] Was it not? I'll tell you my level of like everything that went through my head starting on Saturday for him. I could imagine what the 24 hours, the 36 hours for him it was leading up to this entire endeavor. But let me like peel back the curtain a little bit for our listeners in terms of like the process of this thing, right? If you've gotten to listen with an interview with Logan, he talked about it pregame Saturday.

[00:01:55] And those storylines kind of bled over into his outing on Sunday, which we'll get to. But it all starts on Saturday, right? I think it was Friday night. It was late Friday night that the Mariners decide that they're going to put Logan Evans on the taxi squad on Saturday and have him start on Sunday. I get to the ballpark. It's like 2.15 on Saturday. Well, it was a little bit after me. So I got to experience this first. I walked down to the field and I'm looking around.

[00:02:19] I don't see any media members down there. And I walk up to the Mariners dugout and I see one Mariners player standing on the top step of the dugout. It looks like he's getting interviewed by the Mariners social team. I'm like, huh? Well, I don't know where usually people are out here at this point. I wonder what's going on. And I look a little closer. I'm like, oh shit, that's Logan Evans. I think for a second, I'm like, what is he doing here? And then two things, you know, instantly pop into my mind, right?

[00:02:46] I think at this point, I'm like, Logan Gilbert already goes on the injured list. Makes sense why there's another starting pitching here. I'm like, oh, so he is going to start now, isn't he? And I'm just like, oh, not as shocked as he was, but I was still a little bit of shock. And, you know, Logan and I talk a little bit after he's done getting interviewed by the Mariners social team. And it's just this whole crazy world when now that, you know, Lyle gets to talk to him a little bit after that. And then we get to Sunday where he finally gets his first big league start and he looked pretty good out there.

[00:03:14] He looks, you know, he looks like a big league start in what was got to be just an absolutely chaotic weekend for him. I mean, it had to have been like just a whirlwind of emotions to that point. Well, we talked to him on Saturday for good reason. He said this was like the best day ever. Of course it was. The fact he gets the call saying, hey, you're going to the big leagues. You work your whole life for that. Flashback less than two years ago. He's a 12th rounder out of Pitt.

[00:03:42] Now he's one of the most valued pitching prospects in the organization making his debut. I mean, that is a crazy, crazy turnaround and timeline of events. Our buddy Jordan Schusterman of Sets But His Family Barbecue tweeted it out here on Sunday morning. There have been eight pitchers, I believe, to debut from that 2023 draft so far. Was it pitchers? It actually might have been players. And one of them, by the way, is Paul Skeens. It was pitchers. Okay, so pitchers. Yeah.

[00:04:11] Logan Evans is one of those guys. Again, in a group with Paul Skeens of guys drafted from 2023 in terms of players making their debuts up to this point from that class. It's not a long list and he's one of them. And the added context of that tweet is that Logan Evans was the 128th, I think, that number. It's up there. Like in the 120s or 130s in terms of pitchers drafted in that draft. And yet he's among the first 10 to debut.

[00:04:40] And I promise not all those guys are starting at home in front of a big crowd helping clinch a series win in their MLB debut. It's got to feel pretty cool for Logan. It's something that only gets to happen once. And he did a really great job. It was awesome. So if you want the dynamic between the two of us this weekend. So we were there Friday and Saturday. Sunday, TJ and I actually divvied things up a little bit. TJ had a few things on his bucket list to get done here on Sunday.

[00:05:10] So with that, he said, you know what? Why don't I sit at home and watch this one? And I'll have more of a pitch by pitch breakdown to bring to the podcast. And I'll have a little bit more to take away because I'll be closer and I can see very clearly every pitch and see what the stuff looks like and all that. And I actually went and I went to the game and I'll talk about that in a little in a little bit. But I want like let's hear the pitch by pitch stuff a little bit and what you watch. But even before that, like I'd have to imagine we didn't talk about this pre-recording.

[00:05:39] I have to imagine you were a little more like sitting up straight tuned in with every pitch than you probably normally would be when they're out on defense. Right. That's been the most focused. I've been watching a game all season. Sure. Because I'd say for most baseball games and I think most people our age understand nowadays. Baseball is sort of a multitasking sport on television. You can do like three different things at once while the game's on. I made sure while Logan was on the mound, I was not doing anything else. I wasn't scrolling TikTok. I wasn't scrolling Twitter.

[00:06:09] I wasn't doing anything else. I was like sitting down and focusing and watching. Right. So and I was proud of myself. I was able to do that, you know, tweet out a bunch of stuff. So that was that was good. A couple of things was number one. First of all, he had a good outing. If five innings in your in your MLB debut against a big league lineup doesn't matter who you're facing. Legitimately does not matter. Five innings. He got his welcome to the big leagues moment in the first inning where Augustin Ramirez hit this

[00:06:41] just tank out to left field. Logan was supposed to, I believe, was supposed to throw a sinker on the inside corner or Ramirez as a right-handed hitter. And it leaked out a little bit over the middle of the plate and he didn't miss it and hit it extremely hard. I don't think Randy moved very much on either of the two home runs that Ramirez hit in the game. So that was the really only mistake pitch of the game because while Logan had a couple different things, right? He walked a few guys. He had three walks in his five innings.

[00:07:09] It's going to come with Logan Evans. I think that's going to be something that he deals with for some portion of his career. Because when you look at his repertoire, right? If you look at the breakdown of what he throws, he threw six different pitches and he divvied it up pretty evenly. Lyle and I were joking pre-recording that he looked a little bit like Logan Gilbert in terms of the depth of repertoire of what he's comfortable throwing.

[00:07:33] We've talked about a lot that Logan Gilbert has gotten to the point now where he likes his secondary pitches more than his 98-mile-an-hour fastball. And in certain starts, he'll push that onto a certain team. Well, it's kind of what Logan Evans did in this start. His cutter was his most thrown pitch. And then his next most thrown pitch was a sweeper. Neither of those pitches go straight.

[00:07:56] So when you throw pitches that move that much, it's going to be a little harder to limit the walks just because if your stuff moves that much, it's going to be a little bit harder to control. So that's really what Logan Evans was doing today. He was throwing the kitchen sink at the Miami Marlins. And for the most part, it was successful outside of that mistake to Ramirez. He had some problems with guys on base. But again, overall, it was fine. He limited the damage.

[00:08:21] And I have one stat here for you to take away from this entire outing, Lyle, is that the average exit velocity today for Logan Evans against the Miami Marlins lineup was 86.7. That right there is an elite number. However, the contact rate was high, but the quality of contact was not very high. And that's a very good thing. In English terms, if you want us to dumb it down, people didn't hit him hard. That's a really good takeaway.

[00:08:47] And you were talking about this pre-recording, so maybe you can explain it to people listening. When you talk about the walks, which again, will just come with time. And it'll just come with getting more and more, not just big league experience, but still professional experience. I mean, we're talking about a guy that still has not thrown a lot of professional innings. Like, you know, there's still, like, he's still picking up a ton as he's going on here. Like, again, like between going to the bullpen last year and going right to double A.

[00:09:15] And again, like he just hasn't made that many pro starts yet, which is just that much more of a testament to how fast he's gotten to the big leagues. But to your point about the command stuff, you can highlight this. But he's even talked about it in some interviews, right, about his stuff and, like, all the different directions it moves. Think about this. So let me read the most thrown pitches he's gone. He threw today, for example, just to sort of highlight this issue. I wouldn't call it.

[00:10:10] Guys, they want their pitchers to essentially throw the ball down the middle and let the stuff do what it does. And the hitters will swing and miss if the stuff's really good at that point, right? Like with Brian Wu and his fastballs or Logan Gilbert when he's throwing his sliders and his splitter or Bryce when he's doing any of that stuff. It's Logan Evans is the type of pitcher to exactly do that because he could throw all six of his pitches and think he's throwing it at the same exact spot. But it's going to end up in six different places.

[00:10:40] And that's really useful when you have your stuff dialed in. And it'll get to the point where he's very comfortable at the big league level and his stuff's a little bit more refined that he's going to be able to dot a little bit more. But for the time being, when you have that many pitches, you like to throw them all that often and they all go in different directions.

[00:10:58] It is going to lead to some pitches missing some edges and some stuff, even some stuff, Lyle, that like happens to, again, like he had in the first inning versus Ramirez today where the ball just moves in the wrong direction on him. But again, like what I was trying to highlight there is he's talked about that, right? Like he was in a couple of interviews. Yes, he has. He was on Bump and Stacey and he was also talking about it in spring training that, yeah, like this is what my stuff does.

[00:11:26] Sometimes it moves so much that I still work to refine some of that and eventually lead to more like not that he wasn't throwing strikes, but just even more strike throwing as time goes on. It's on a smaller scale, kind of like Andres Munoz, right?

[00:11:43] Andres Munoz, when you think about his slider and his sinker, which are his two best pitches, they each move so much in opposite directions where, you know, you're trying to get it in the strike zone, but there's some points where it just moves too much and there's not much you can do about it. You're too nasty at that point. It's a good problem to have, but sometimes can bite guys. That in a nutshell here, what we're saying is Logan Evans has really, really disgusting stuff in what an arsenal of six to seven pitches can be. So it's pretty cool. And you can see the adrenaline pumping too.

[00:12:13] I didn't realize he had 3,000 RPMs in his breaking balls. He did it on both his curveball and his slider, which in simpler terms, that's elite. The more your pitches spin, the more action they'll have on them. High spin fastballs are good. High spin sliders and curveballs are good. So the fact he was going over 3,000, which is plus plus on that was pretty cool. Really cool. All right. Do you want to hear about a little bit of, do you want to hear a little bit about the experience of being out there on Sunday? Sure. Yeah. It's on TV.

[00:12:43] It sounded like everyone was having a really good time. Yeah. Well, they interviewed the whole family and everything, right? Oh yeah. I saw that. Yep. So I still have to actually go back and watch the outing, which I've recorded and I need to actually go sit down and watch it here in the next day or two. Anyway, so I went to the game Sunday and I, when I found out he was starting, I kind of just said to myself, yay. He only gets to make one debut. Yeah. I want to see it in person.

[00:13:08] So for me, I just went as a fan on Sunday, went with a buddy of mine. We got to the game. It was a blast. And like you, yeah, I was dialed in on every pitch. Like, especially being live at the game where you're sitting in the stands and you're amongst the crowd and, and you know, you're waiting for this debut. Like, obviously you're pretty amped up. Not, not to say I was to the level of his family and friends or anything like that, but yeah, amped up.

[00:13:36] And like, when he gets that first pitch out with the comebacker right to him, yeah, that was sick. It's like, all right, he's dialed in. That's his first big league out. He's starting to roll through it. It's funny. Even walking through the ballpark a bit today. And when I got to my seats or whatever, there was a few people who, well, one, not just recognize me, but knew exactly what I was there for. It's like, wow, you fired up for this or what? I was like, hell yeah, I'm fired up.

[00:14:02] So that was really cool that, that, you know, people knew the big reason I was there on Sunday. And it was, you know, not that I don't love going to games, but there was even a little bit of a bigger incentive to go on Sunday than that. But anyway, his family who we've gotten to know a bit is who's awesome, by the way, all of them. They are genuinely awesome.

[00:14:24] So if you need any more reason to support Logan, other than, you know, he's got our Marine Layer Pod stamp and then some right here that his family is all like the nicest people ever. So anyway, they had this huge crowd of people out there that had to turn around quick and are finding flights to get all the way out to Seattle for his debut.

[00:14:43] And it's not just like all his immediate family and people like that, but like all his closest friends made the way out there to the same ones who in his media session on Saturday, when Logan saying he has to call all these people to tell him he's making his debut. He's like, yeah, I'm trying to get all my longtime buddies on the phone and let them know what's going on. And he's like, yeah, they're probably out partying or whatever on a Friday night. And all those friends made it all the way out to Seattle here on Sunday to see their longtime friend make his debut.

[00:15:11] So I did want to give him a couple shout outs. It was Cam, Noah, Ethan, Josh, Brendan. All of them were awesome. And you know what? Getting to hear some stories from them, you can tell a little bit of why Logan is the way he is in a good way. In the sense of, you know how he's told us all these stories about chirping that goes back and forth between him and Michael Morales or him and other people that he's become friends with in the org.

[00:15:36] It's all kind of stemmed up because they say, even nowadays, their group chats just like going off the walls on a daily basis with basically things that are exactly that. And it's usually sports related that they just get into these heated, lengthy arguments throughout every day about God knows what, which is basically every guy group chat ever. Right. Did they did they say that Logan's a contrarian or is there a contrarian of the group?

[00:16:05] Because I say that as a contrarian myself. Lyle well knows that, like, sometimes I just can't help myself and it just kind of kind of naturally comes out. So I'm honestly curious. There are times between TJ and I or even our friend group where I think I'll say something that's about as blanketed statement as you can get. And then I'll get a text back from TJ. It's like, well, it's like and he goes this and that. And I just go I throw my hands up. I was like, what do you want me to say, dude? I thought I was saying the most obvious thing ever. And now you want to turn this into an argument.

[00:16:35] So this is this is what happens when Lyle and I spend too much time together. So do I think there's a contrarian of the group of his friends? I'm trying to think. One of them. Well, they did like to say that they think Logan doesn't like to admit he's like to admit he's wrong about things, which kind of checks out.

[00:17:00] Because when we hear from Logan that him and Michael Morales legitimately chirped and argued for two and a half hours throughout a game about who had the better outing. That sounds like somebody who doesn't like to admit he's wrong. So, yeah. And I don't think Morales does either. I got the sense if you want the contrarian of the group, not that these names are going to mean anything to anybody, that it was either probably Cam or Ethan. His buddies would have to tell me if that's right or not. But that's what I picked up on.

[00:17:29] So, anyway, it was really cool to get to talk to all of them because they were just a bunch of dudes who are huge sports fans who are there to support their buddy, which was awesome. And like I said, his family's awesome. Like girlfriend was awesome. The whole group that was there was super cool. And, yeah, to get to like take that all in, which I don't think I had any like place in being there because I was like this is your guy's day.

[00:17:52] This is like this is like, you know, this is I know we call my guy our guy on the podcast, but this is like actually your guy like go in and like take it all in. But they were like, no, no, no. Like stay here and watch with us and like hang out with us, which is again just goes back to like they're awesome. So all encompassing from what was an awesome spot, like an awesome start and an awesome experience. Yeah, it was a really cool Sunday. Yeah. It was a good cap to the weekend.

[00:18:19] I'll say it was like it was we'll talk about Friday here in a couple minutes. It was at the end one of the more fun weeks of Mariners baseball to conclude a really fun stretch could conclude continue a really fun stretch of Mariners baseball. And I think very properly ended with our guy getting one of his biggest moments of his career, if not the biggest moment. If he wins the World Series, that'll be a little bit bigger than this.

[00:18:47] But to now, to this point, just it's an incredible capper. And it was cool. Yeah. I mean, like I said, we couldn't be more fired up for him. And it was so cool to see him have a debut like that. But again, we're still on a small scale compared to get everybody that traveled out to see him. Like imagine being in their spot. I can only imagine what the nerves were like for the 24, 36 hours leading up to it. And then to cap it off with what was a really good start. It was pretty cool.

[00:19:16] You know what I really liked? I really liked how embracing Logan Gilbert was. Mm-hmm. Right off the injury. First day that Logan Emmons arrives on Saturday, Logan tells him, like, gives him some advice. Like, dapped him up, gave him a hug. This is from Logan Evans telling us, telling the media this, that, you know, Logan, you know, gives him a big embrace. And he's like, hey, man, you only get one of these.

[00:19:46] Just remember, it's like the same game and was, you know, helping him out. And Logan Evans was talking about how much of a help he's been and how much he looks up to him. And watching Logan Gilbert go to work at spring training and stuff like that. That's very cool to see, especially for someone like Logan Gilbert. We're going to have to get used to doing this. And Logan Gilbert, who probably got the worst news he's ever got in his career, even if he's not out for the season, right?

[00:20:15] Still the worst news he's probably gotten in his career, period, his professional career to this point. 24 hours later, he's there ready to embrace the guy who's going to replace him in the rotation. I thought that was awesome. Yeah. Can I make one more note, too, just in terms of how awesome this whole Mariner team is? This goes back to Cal Raleigh often doing things just because he's such an awesome person and not just when you see it on camera. I didn't even tell you this pre-recording, but this is a story just for everybody.

[00:20:45] So after the game, when everybody goes down on the field from Logan's family and everything to go talk to him and congratulate him, all his family and friends after the outing, who comes out of the dugout? Again, there's no cameras around or anything like that, but it's Cal. And Cal comes out, you know, unprompted to meet all of his family and friends. And he stood and talked to him for a few minutes and he said, dude, he was great. Like he threw the he really threw the ball well.

[00:21:13] And, you know, he shook all their hands and took the time to talk to some of Logan's friends who I'm sure were enamored to meet him. So I hope I'm not ousting Cal too much with that, but I'm trying to oust them in a very positive light here to say, here's an example for everybody of even when the cameras are not on Cal Raleigh just being like the best dude ever. It's the perfect guy to have catch your debut of all that. But Cal, you know, Cal's essentially our age, right? So I think of this, like I think of you and I, we're pretty young still.

[00:21:41] I don't, when you watch Cal on a diamond, he doesn't feel like that. I mean, he feels like he plays an axe and it helps that he's got the contract now to back it up. So much older and so much more veteran than someone normally would. Dude, you would think he's got Salvador Perez level service time with the way he goes out and operates on a baseball field. It really feels that way. And like you said, he's basically our age. Yeah. That's pretty cool.

[00:22:11] Should we get to the, or transition towards the other part of this weekend? Yeah, we can, we can talk Logan and then we can get, sorry, like I said, we're going to have to get used to doing that. Jeez. We can talk Logan Gilbert and then we can also get back to talking some offense because the offense was, wow, very good. Anyway. So before we get to Logan Gilbert, guys, let's tell you a little bit, our friends at Rhythm. Let's be honest, guys. Betting on baseball can feel like throwing darts, but not anymore.

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[00:24:07] He exits with right forearm tightness. And then on Saturday, he gets placed on the 15-day injured list with a mild grade one flexor strain. How are you processing the other Logan right now? I mean, I think there's, you know, I think there's some real concern in the fan base, which is warranted because there's two ways you can look at this.

[00:24:33] I'll start with the negative, which is plug your ears if you don't want to hear this part. But this is the exact same diagnosis that Robbie Ray got two years ago. He left that start in 2023 with forearm tightness. The next day you find out it actually, no, Robbie didn't exit that start with forearm tightness. He just got taken out of the game because he wasn't throwing strikes or pitching well.

[00:24:58] So then the very next day, it gets announced that he has a mild flexor strain. And you go, oh, that's like flexor. It's like forearm and forearm can go up to the elbow. Grade one flexor. Yeah. Yeah. I have the tweet. You want me to read the tweet from Daniel Kramer that he tweeted? About Robbie? Yeah. Sure. Robbie Ray said he didn't experience any pain in his left flexor until the second inning last night. He'll be shut down for two weeks while receiving daily treatment.

[00:25:28] Then will be re-evaluated. The strain is grade one per Scott Service. And Logan Gilbert leaves with forearm tightness, gets diagnosed with a grade one flexor strain, and is shut down for two weeks. Now, let me go to the positive side here and say just because that happened to Robbie Ray does not mean that's what's going to happen to Logan Gilbert. Because Robbie Ray did not bounce back well at all when he was trying to rehab from that.

[00:25:56] He did not get the results that he or the team wanted. That led to him getting Tommy John. Because that was just what they deemed the best course of action. Logan Gilbert did say originally when he came out of the game, he didn't think it was overly concerning. He then said the Saturday after the start, the next day, that he was feeling already better than he was on Friday. You still saw him out in the bullpen. I'm not saying he was throwing, but he was around the team and still walking around on Sunday and had his glove with him, even if he wasn't throwing.

[00:26:27] So, he's still around and, you know, he's still moving and things like that. So, there is an absolute world where in two weeks, Logan starts lightly throwing again and then just gets back to business and works his way back from the injury. I'm just saying there's two ways to look at this. And it's unclear right now which way this is going to go because we don't know. Unfortunately, we are just going to all have to sit and wait. So, is it a little concerning? Yes.

[00:26:54] Is it also possible that he bounces back from this completely fine and in a month or so, month and a half, is back to action? Also, yes. I think it's just whatever way you want to interpret his quotes because I think there is a way if you read his quotes, you could spin it positively or negatively at this moment. I'm going to lean on the optimistic side. I hope he comes back. The mirrors really need him to come back. And I really, Lyle, I frankly don't like the timeline if he were actually to go under the knife. I don't.

[00:27:24] Because if you think, let's portray a worst case scenario right now and just, I'm going to let you inside my mind of what I think about when I hear that right now. If we're going to go the same timeline as Robbie Ray, for example, Robbie Ray got Tommy John exactly one month after he exited the game, right? So, it was May 3rd when Robbie Ray, of 2023, when Robbie Ray got Tommy John surgery. Robbie Ray came back for the final month of the 2024 season, if I have that right, right? It was the final month.

[00:27:53] Month and a half. But this would be way delayed for Logan, so yes. Sure, because Logan's was four weeks after on the same sort of year scale as Robbie Ray's was. So, let's say they wait a month for Logan Gilbert to go get Tommy John surgery, and then all of a sudden, you're not bringing Logan Gilbert back from Tommy John surgery with two weeks left in the season. I wouldn't think so, right? And this would be in the 2026 season.

[00:28:21] And then the 2026 season ends, and the CBA expires, and there's supposed to be a work stoppage that could last well into the 2027 season. In fact, they could miss the 2027 season. That's still to be determined. But let's, if I'm going to say worst case scenario, Lyle, let's go with the worst case scenario and say they missed that season. It takes them a year to decide if they want a salary cap or not. And then all of a sudden, you don't see Logan Gilbert again until 2028?

[00:28:50] That's a pretty terrifying thought. But it did go through our heads this weekend, because we said, if Logan gets to the point where they deem he needs Tommy John this year, Logan Gilbert, then yeah, he's going to miss the rest of 2025. He's probably going to miss all of 2026. And then in 2027, there'd be no season potentially. That really sucks to think about. You could go three whole years essentially without seeing Logan Gilbert pitch. I don't want that. I really hope that's not the case.

[00:29:18] And I hope it's not the case for his contract as well, right? Because his contract, he would be set to be a free agent the next, after the next season, they would play in Major League Baseball at that point, where it would be him essentially re-ramping back up from Tommy John surgery. The timing of this is not great. If Logan Gilbert can bounce back, that'll be the best possible thing for his career. Because then say later on in this season or in this offseason, he can either sign an extension

[00:29:45] or decide eventually that he's going to go enter free agency and test the waters there at that point. But if he goes under the knife, man, his value tanks because he's hurt. And it will be a year plus of unknown at that point. I don't want that for Logan Gilbert. I want Logan Gilbert, if he needs to, you take two months off to nurse your arm back to full health and you feel good. And then you slowly ramp back up if that's how long it takes.

[00:30:11] And you get the final, I don't know, 12 starts out of him to finish the season, right? I think at minimum, at this point, he's going to miss, say, like six weeks. Because they're going to shut him down for two weeks and then they're going to have to start him back up. He's going to have to do a rehab start. He's going to have to throw some bullpens, maybe a live batting practice at that point. They're going to have to be very careful with this. Him coming back healthy, despite this offense, is going to be very crucial to them making a push.

[00:30:41] He is their best starter. We can talk of everyone else all we want. Nobody offers what Logan Gilbert does in this rotation. It's true. It's absolutely true. He was deemed the opening day starter. He was tabbed the ace. He is the ace. He's top 10 in the league in whip right now. Of course he's the ace. And that's been made very, very clear from results and just from messaging. They need him.

[00:31:07] And to lose him with George Kirby still working his way back? Yeah, that's a big blow. And the update on Kirby is that he threw a bullpen on Friday and he's going to do a live BP this week while the Mariners are at home. Then I think he's going out on a rehab assignment. That live BP he's going to throw is going to be the first time he's faced hitters since he was shut down on March 7th, if I have that right. So it's been a little bit for George. He's going to need his time as well to ramp back up.

[00:31:34] You know what I found kind of hollowing about this situation? Robbie Ray and Logan Gilbert are kind of on a similar path when it comes to how they got to this point. I mean, both are just workhorses. Robbie Ray had a couple of small injuries. I think he had some back issues and a thigh issue or before he had Tommy John while he's with the Tigers and the Blue Jays and the Diamondbacks at this point.

[00:32:00] But Ray threw over a thousand innings before he had to go do Tommy John. I mean, he was durable. Let's remember when he signed here. We talked about how he was one of the most durable starters in all of baseball, and that was one of his redeeming quality cards. He's going to go out there and throw 180 190 200 innings, which is why at the beginning of the 2023 season, I said he's striking out 205 and a half batters Lyle. No, that's not what you said. You said I'll put your mortgage on it.

[00:32:29] Take your mortgage and take the over on Robbie Ray strikeouts. And we had a buddy who listened to your advice, one of our good buddies from school, put that wager down, and then basically come up to you as he happened to be in town visiting us, only to then see he gets put on the IL, even before he got the Tommy John, just knowing he was going to miss time, basically negates this bet.

[00:32:56] And he says to you, you owe me money. He's like... Now, getting injured does not negate a bet because he actually stepped on the field and threw pitches. I know. Literally the worst case scenario for any sort of thing like that. The point is, is that Robbie Ray was extremely durable before he got his. Logan Gilbert has thrown 734 innings in his career, never missed a start, never had any injury issues as a Seattle Mariner. And none in the minor leagues either, really.

[00:33:27] So, kind of similar. It's like looking in a mirror at that point. But we hope the end result for this injury won't be that. And again, let's just... Let's make sure we say this again before we transition a little bit here. It does not mean Logan Gilbert is getting Tommy John. Yes, there are similarities to what him and Ray have gone through, and we just highlighted that. But, like, for those of you who are starting to get worried, there's absolutely a world

[00:33:54] here on the positive side where Logan Gilbert is down for a few weeks, rehabs, gets this all out of his system, and gets back to pitching. That is absolutely a possibility. We are just going to have to wait and see. Now, how are they going to manage who replaces him? If he's going to be out most of the year? Let's start with the best case scenario, right? Let's say he misses a month and a half. How would you handle it?

[00:34:23] Based on where they currently are. How you'd handle it is, who's in the rotation right now? You've got Emerson in there. You've got Logan Evans in there. And I think that's what they're going to roll with. It's a... The scenario the Mariners are facing right now is a little particular. Logan's slot in the rotation, of course, is not here on Sunday. It was on Friday. The Mariners called Logan Evans up to give Bryce Miller a couple more days of rest, which I thought was interesting.

[00:34:51] Because we talked about last week, Bryce was 92 miles an hour at the end of his outing at Fenway Park. And the Mariners were trying to work in some more rest for him at that point. So that's why Logan's up here. I'm just trying to... I'm thinking about this in the future, right? So the Mariners' current starting rotation is Luis Castillo. Shout out to Luis, by the way, on Saturday. Man, he was dealing. They need more of that. Shout out to Luis. Looked like he did.

[00:35:18] If the Mariners can get 2023 Luis Castillo while Logan Gilbert's out, that would be incredible. Bryce, Brian, Emerson, and Logan Evans. George Kirby, we say he's two weeks? Two and a half? Three? Somewhere between mid to late May, I would assume, at this point. We'll have a few turns through the rotation before the Mariners need to decide on which starter they'll send down.

[00:35:46] But they'll make their decision on one of Emerson or Logan Evans once Kirby's ready to come back at that point. If Logan's out the rest of the season, it's going to be peculiar, I'll say. And we can't, Lyle and I can't sit here and predict if there are going to be any other injuries in the rotation. We did, you know, we've said prepare for some injury regression this year.

[00:36:11] And this is the first, Kirby and Logan are the first two causes of that at this point. So we'll, you know, we'll have to see. So at this point, I'd say the Mariners are in a pretty good situation to sort of wait and see what they will do in the future, right? But they will ride with the current five as they have right now. In terms of what's after that, if another one goes down, that's where I kind of like throw my arms up and say, I don't know.

[00:36:36] I mean, the logical thing there would be then you'd have to either trade for a veteran arm at low cost or sign a veteran arm at low cost to try to fill some voids. Or, and I mean, this wouldn't really be fair to them with the way they've already built them up basically all offseason through spring training. But, I mean, I don't even know. Do you get to the point where they're going to ask Brandon Garcia to start building back up as a starter?

[00:37:07] I don't think so. Because do they think BG would be major league ready as a starter? I don't know the answer to that question. If the answer is no, then I would say no. No, and there's a reason they turned him into a reliever. And we've talked about how good he has a chance to be as a multi-inning hard throwing lefty reliever. I can't wait to see him presumably get called up this year. I'm just wondering, again, if there happened to be another injury, heaven forbid.

[00:37:37] Yeah. Who is next? Jonathan Diaz. And I'm going to assume that's what the Mariners hope to avoid. He's on the 40 man. He is on the 40 man. Isn't Marco a free agent? Say it again. Isn't Marco a free agent? That would not be the biggest shock in the world to me. I'm not going to lie. If they had to go get another starter, somebody that just knows the org pretty well.

[00:38:07] Yeah. I mean, I guess it makes some sense. This is kind of disrespectful to Marco. And I mean it totally unintentionally. Is there that big a difference between Jonathan Diaz, Luis F. Castillo, and current day Marco? Maybe not. I mean it respectfully, but Marco is a free agent for a reason. Sure. Yeah, that could be.

[00:38:29] So I guess hopefully there's just no more injuries and they can just stay relatively healthy most of the year. That'd be great because that's the key. Because they've already essentially, I'd say the median rotation will go through three injuries of some sort within a year, right? Two to three, right? Two to three guys missed some time at some point. Bryce isn't hurt, meaning he hasn't gone on the IL, but we've clearly seen he's been working through some soreness this year.

[00:39:00] And so I kind of like, that's like two and a half. Right. Yeah, so you go Kirby, Logan. Yeah, kind of Bryce at this point. So the Mariners, you know, they've got to keep their eyes open going forward at this point. Because they've gone through, I would say, all the way through their big league starting depth. They're projecting future and say, this is not just replacement. This is production in the starting rotation with Emerson, with Logan, and then with the three regular guys in the rotation right now.

[00:39:30] Right. We'll see. It's going to be interesting. There's no doubt. Should we talk some offense? How about this offense, dude? I can't believe it. You know what? I had a thought. The old approach, the old philosophy was get a good pitch, put your best swing on it, hit it in the air, do damage. Right? Mm-hmm.

[00:40:00] This new approach, use the big part of the ballpark, simple approach, don't overdo it. I almost feel like this new approach that Kevin Seitzer and Edgar and Bobby Magianis have brought in has unlocked what they were missing with their old approach. And now they essentially get the best of both worlds. Does that feel fair?

[00:40:30] Feels like that's what's going on because they're striking out less now. They're striking out less and they continue to just produce offensively. Even with all of the preseason question marks and even with some of the injuries they've endured, they are getting production up and down the lineup. You even want to look all the way down toward the bottom of the lineup at someone like Leo Rivas. Leo Rivas puts together really nice at-bats. He's not overwhelmed. He's not overmatched.

[00:40:58] He puts together really good at-bats. And he provides them a little bit of production there. Since the start of the Giants series, 10 out of the 12 hitters who've been to the plate 30 times are above average by WRC+. That's crazy! 10 of 12. Leo's in that. Master Boney's in that. Rowdy's in that. We're talking about depth. We talked about it last week. The depth of what they're getting out of this.

[00:41:28] Leo is a great example of it. It's insane. Listen to these ranks right now in the American League. This is all season, by the way, Lyle. The entire season, American League ranks. They're third in runs. Second in WRC+. First in walks. Second in on-base percentage. Third in slugging. Ninth in strikeout rate. First in stolen bases. Second in home runs. It's pretty complete. That's awesome. Can we keep that up all year?

[00:41:57] I'd be down. That would be one of the more dynamic offensive sets in all of baseball. Think about it. They reach base the most. Walks. They hit the most home runs. And they are up there among the most home runs. And they steal the most bases. It's the best of clocking the base paths. Doing the most damage when you have the opportunity. And taking the extra bases when they're given to you on the base paths. That's incredibly valuable.

[00:42:25] It is really sort of the meshing. Because since a lot of this roster was brought over from the old mindset. That they're sort of just getting what they paid for with the old roster. Just with different messaging. While adding on the stolen bases. Which is more of a this roster thing as opposed. Or this coaching staff thing. As opposed to the last coaching staff thing. And man it is working. Is there anybody specifically we want to highlight? Oh I don't know.

[00:42:55] Jorge Polanco. Dude. I have a stat. I have a pretty bizarre stat. Okay. Let me tee this up. Let me tee this up for everybody. So. How do I want. The Mariners have gotten incredible production from Jorge Polanco. And that's fantastic. I find it really funny when we go back and we look at the Mariners.

[00:43:23] Two offseason signings that were bats. And it is sort of the polar opposite at this point. And this stat is just blowing my mind at this point. So the Mariners signed two bats this offseason. One was Jorge Polanco. He is currently the second best hitter in all of baseball by WRC plus behind only Aaron Judge. The other bat they signed this offseason was Donovan Solano.

[00:43:49] Donovan Solano currently is the second worst hitter in all of baseball by WRC plus. Is there a bigger gap in all of baseball between two offseason signings? Is there anything more ironic for the Mariners? You just answered your own question. No. Because unless the worst qualified hitter in baseball is a New York Yankee, there is no bigger discrepancy. No. He's a white sock. Yeah. That's what I figured.

[00:44:19] It's crazy. Mariners going to the offseason. They need bats. They signed two. One happens to do their best case scenario. And the other is the worst case scenario. It's crazy. I can't go over Jorge Polanco. They needed this last year. They would have been in the playoffs. Any assemblance of this last year. Unfortunately, I think we know he was pretty banged up. Maybe it took him a bit to get adjusted to the park. But if that's what it was, he's adjusted to that park now.

[00:44:48] I mean, you're talking about his WRC plus got up as high as 235 here on Sunday. He had three hits again. Extra base power is there. The line drive power is there. He's not swinging and missing. Just wait until he can hit right-handed again. Dude, at this point, with Ben Williamson playing the way he's playing at third base, can Jorge Polanco just DH every day the rest of the season and just let him hit? I think they'll do that.

[00:45:19] What reason do you have to put him back in the field? That's a great question. I guess unless you really need him on a couple days at second base or maybe a third if Williamson gets an off day, you could see him there. And obviously, he's still doing field work and working back toward that. But yeah, for the majority, I don't see why you wouldn't just leave him at DH for the majority of the year. Look at what the production is from him out of the DH spot. Look at what you're getting. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[00:45:48] They're doing this despite Julio not even being the hottest hitter on the planet, which is, we said this again last week. He had his home run on Saturday. He absolutely nuked that home run. And I thought he's looked a little bit better at the plate here recently, which is fine. But the fact that they're getting all this production without Julio contributing to it really all that much, it's pretty encouraging, man.

[00:46:15] I want to see a little bit more before I fully say what Kevin Seitzer and Edgar Martinez is 100% working. But whatever they've said to get these guys off to a hot start, what they've said to get them hitting in this ballpark in April, which, by the way, they've played more games at home in April than they played on the road. So they've had to hit in the toughest environment in the toughest month to hit in the park. And they've done an exceptional job. So exceptional job. It's great.

[00:46:45] And if that's what the messaging truly is, rather than just being super old school, up the middle singles, like, you know, slap hitting, whatever, like we thought it might look like early on. Maybe it was just taking what they already did well and augmenting it. We know this group hits home runs. We know this group can draw walks. So let's just find a way to balance out the crazy strikeout numbers, put more balls in play, and just roll with it.

[00:47:14] Because that's what's going on right now. Again, they've kept all the good aspects of the offense from last year. And yes, there were some good aspects that existed. I know it's hard to believe, but there were. They've kept those, and they've just augmented a little bit more into what they were missing, combining it all together, paired with what is player. Well, actually, not even combining. Just pairing it all together, and you've got yourself a really productive offense.

[00:47:41] It comes back to what Cal told us at spring training. Remember what he told us? He said, I think the messaging that this group's bringing in is they're trying to get the best. They're trying to utilize every player's strength. Just run down the lineup. Jorge Polanco, line drive hitter, high contact. That's exactly what he's doing right now. Cal Raleigh, you know what he's best at? Hitting dingers. What does Cal Raleigh do? He leads the league in dingers. What else?

[00:48:10] All the speed guys are getting on base, and they're stealing bases. J.P. Crawford, by the way, Lyle, can't believe we got this far and we didn't mention him. After his first 10 or so games that were pretty terrible, the last two weeks, man, he has looked like his 2023 self. The power is there. He crushed a ball today on Sunday. He is walking at an absurd clip again. Talk about utilizing strength, man. J.P. Crawford has refound his strength and has looked really good the last two weeks.

[00:48:38] In fact, they moved him up in the lineup because of it. Even Miles Mastroboni, for his limited offensive upside that he has, is hitting some singles and he's stealing bases. Right? That's what you want. Sure. You're not seeing Miles Mastroboni swing for the fences. It's not what he's supposed to do. He's done what he does best. Leo Rivas has done what he does best. Cal has absolutely done what he does best. Polo, like you said, but it's all in different aspects.

[00:49:05] And all this coming together is looking like an offense that you can really build on. And Rowdy. And Rowdy. Oh, yeah. Now, I hope it stays this way. And don't let me sit here and say I think this offense couldn't use any reinforcements. It could. At some point. Look, Rowdy's played much better as of late. And I hope it continues. Because Rowdy, I think, really provides a nice veteran jolt to that clubhouse.

[00:49:32] But at some point, you may still have to address that position. It's just, I'm not going to call it inevitable. But it is looming that at some point that may need to be addressed. And again, maybe that goes back to my whole Nathaniel Lowe idea at the trade deadline. But there's a lot more solidified than I think people thought was going to be solidified early in the year. Honestly, Ben Williamson has stabilized a ton of this. I know he didn't play here on Sunday. But just his ability to be penciled in all the time. What he's done at the bottom of the lineup.

[00:50:01] Hits the ball hard. Even if he doesn't lift it a lot. Hits it hard. Gets on base. Puts the ball in play. That's let Polanco DH a ton more. He's stapled over at the hot corner. Like, he's done a lot. He's exceeded expectations. He's blown my expectations with the bat. Yeah. I was not expecting this out of Ben Williamson. But he's looked far from overmatched. He's shown a little bit of power. He's shown a lot of line drive power as well. It's been pretty nice.

[00:50:29] I do still think, though, if Jerry DiPoto, if you gave him some truth serum and he looked at the roster today, he would still say that they, say the trade deadline's tomorrow, that they need a first baseman and a second baseman. Sure. Despite all the success they've currently had, I still think he comes out and says that. If that's the, you know, that's the given case right now. That's probably right. And maybe we see what Tyler Lockler has at some point, too, before they go out and say, okay, we need a first baseman at the deadline.

[00:50:59] Because Lockler's hitting well in AAA. And I'd assume at some point in time here he may get his chance. But, yeah, I think that's a fair assessment to say if you were going to ask Jerry and he were going to give you a true, honest answer, he'd say, yeah. We hope to upgrade on the right side of the infield at the trade deadline. And that may still happen. But the nice thing is you've got a lot more stability right now in other places than I think a lot of people believe that they were going to have. Between the left side of the infield for sure with the way JP and Williamson are both playing,

[00:51:30] with Cal doing what Cal's doing, with even the role players contributing the way they are, it looks really good. And now if you can finally get Julio going, which I know is an if at this point, not that he's going to hit 190 all year, but just if he's going to be the true 2022 Julio or not, if you can get him going, then that elevates it even more. And that's honestly a scary thought at this point. Oh, and you know what? One more. I know we're rambling on here, but we're just kind of listing off dudes, which is kind of fun when you think about,

[00:51:59] oh, let's just list off dudes contributing to the offense, which hasn't always been the case. Luke Raley hasn't really gotten going yet either. When he gets going, that's another piece of this. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. One last thing I'm going to ask you before we wrap up. Mm-hmm. The Angels will play two entire games this week at T-Mobile Park. How many home runs is Mike Trout hitting? Three. That wouldn't surprise me.

[00:52:27] What was it last time he played a full series in Seattle? Did he play? He was hurt last year before he came. Right? Yeah. I don't think he ever played any games here last year. It's been a little bit. Mm-hmm. All right. Three. Oh, but I'll agree with that. Yeah. I'll agree with that. Three. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Look at us ending on a positive high note. Mariners win both games by a combined score of 15-3. Sure. And you know what? Let me say this, too, a month into the year, because we were talking about this pre-recording,

[00:52:56] that on our last episode, we talked about some of the bullpen decisions that have been made, and we've talked about a handful of them throughout the year. And in our opinion, there is still some work to be done there about who gets deployed where. However, with the offense doing what it's doing, and with Kevin Seitzer seemingly implemented all he's implemented, there are some things about what Dan Wilson's done early on that deserve merit.

[00:53:25] Look, I'm not going to sit here and say all the bullpen decisions have been perfect, because there have been some head scratchers, and we've talked about it. But as people, and as people that being just about everybody for that matter, that do not get to see the inner workings of that clubhouse day in and day out, you don't get to see everything that goes on. And it feels like, in spite of some of the decision-making that may improve over time, again, he is only a month into his tenure as a big league manager, it does feel like the

[00:53:54] early takeaways here is maybe Dan Wilson's really getting the best out of his players, because you mentioned it pre-recording. Scott Service made decisions in the bullpen that not everybody always agreed with, but usually had some logic and sound reasoning behind it. But it did feel like toward the end of his time there, that maybe he wasn't getting the best out of his guys, and he just didn't have the buy-in anymore. It does seem like Dan Wilson has the buy-in. You don't get everybody playing like this if you don't.

[00:54:21] Everyone needs their strength as a manager. There are managers who can be poor decision-makers. And for some part, you can get away with it if you are getting the most out of your guys. I think you need to have a trait as a manager. Not every manager is going to be perfect, and that's going to have all the traits where they get complete buy-in, they're perfect with their decision-making, they're great with the media, etc., etc. That's not going to be every manager. And I don't even think Dan Wilson is that.

[00:54:51] But if he has one real strength, then that is a positive. And something that they have not gotten since they made the playoffs in 2022 is getting the most out of all of their players at that point. I feel like right now, one month into the season, that they are getting the most out of what they currently have on the roster, and that's a very, very, very good thing. Think of the little examples, right?

[00:55:16] Think of, I'll give you one example for 2023, and I'll give you two examples for 2024. One in 2023 was Teoscar Hernandez. Two examples for 2024 were Jorge Polanco and Mitch Garver. If you just got more out of those guys in either of those seasons, you make the playoffs. Right now, through one month, it seems like Dan's getting what he needs out of the players that are on his roster, and he's getting the buy-in.

[00:55:46] I understand the one outside the organization, off-season signing, Donovan Solano, is heading towards territory well below the two guys last year and Teoscar Hernandez in 2023. And, you know, that's totally real. But the rest of the roster at this very point is, you know, is pretty good. And I'll give the Mariners this too. We said they needed to get off to a hot start. We said through a month in the season, they need to look back and say, yep, we really

[00:56:15] like what we're seeing, we're fun, we're exciting. People want a reason to come out and watch this baseball team. I think they've done that. I think the team's very fun to watch. I think the way they play is very fun to watch. I think some of the games they've played in are very exciting. And we'll see if the fruits of that, you know, sort of, you know, leak into the fan base and they get some more people at the ballpark in the coming months. Sure. Absolutely. And the more they win and the longer they continue to play like this, the more turnout you get.

[00:56:45] That's just how baseball goes, especially with a non-Yankees, Dodgers type fan base where you're selling out every game. Team plays well, people are going to show up. It's that simple. I mean, and it's happened even in the last few years where I remember in the beginning of 2022, it's not like the attendance was great at the beginning of that year. They had just come off of barely missing the playoffs the year before. But excuse me, it's not like the buy-in was 100% for the fan base at that point.

[00:57:13] But then as they're going down the stretch, you know, they sort of fill it out and that leaks over to 2023 and then 2024. And here at the beginning of this season, it's feeling a little bit like the beginning of the 2022 season. But if you keep winning, then the narrative on that changes and it gets to look a little bit more like the end of that 2022 season did. And I think everyone would be a lot happier. The players would be happier. The fans will be happier with a great environment and all that such. Absolutely. So again, I just wanted to make sure we hit on that, that while we have talked about a

[00:57:43] lot of the bullpen decisions that have been head scratchers this weekend, especially, and these last two weeks of baseball have also highlighted what may be changing inside that clubhouse with the new coaching staff and with the new manager. It's still a work in progress. Again, he's only a month into his career as a manager, but it does feel like you're getting some more buy-in. And that's important. That's really important. And that's something that war and WRC plus and all these things we talk about can't really quantify. So it's good to see.

[00:58:13] And I hope it keeps up. Good weekend. Outside of the Logan Gilbert news, very, very good weekend. And I hope people are coming away from it excited and fired up because winning baseball is really fun and you should be fired up. So yeah. 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, you can do so all over at our website, MarineLayerPod.com. Everything's over there, you guys. Audio episodes, video episodes. You can find them all there.

[00:58:42] If you do, go rate and review. Go subscribe on YouTube. Hit the like button. Drop a comment. All that good stuff. Consider subscribing to our Patreon. We'd love to have you. Go get your merch all over on the website. We'd love to see you wearing merch around the park or out in public. It'd be so awesome. So go over there to find all of that stuff and then find us all across social media at MarineLayerPod. That's TJ. I'm Lyle. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon.