Episode 254: TJ Makes An Abe Toro Bet + A Surprise Name The Mariners Could Sell At The Deadline (Mailbag)

[00:00:00] Welcome to Episode 254 of the Marine Layer Podcast. It's a mailbag episode. We'll open it up and answer your guys' best listener questions. We also have our first of 12 MLB Draft Spotlights. We'll take a look at 12 potential players that the Mariners could pick at number three in this upcoming July MLB Draft.

[00:00:19] Here's your guys' reminder. If you want to stay on top of everything we're doing, make sure to go to our website. That's marinelayerpod.com where you can find everything you need. We'd love to see you guys go get some merch. It's summertime, you guys. We've got a bunch of t-shirts that are awesome. Variety of colors. Really good quality. We've seen people wearing it around the park, the city. It's been awesome. Go get some of yours. It's really cool. And TJ and I have got a bunch of it. We've seen people with a bunch of it. You can go get yours right over at our website.

[00:00:47] You can go sign up for our Patreon there. You can go find all of our episodes there, audio and video. And you can find us on social media as well at marinelayerpod. Let's get it rolling.

[00:01:11] And we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball Podcast Network, recording here on Thursday evening, June 12th, a Mariners off day. Thank goodness. Dude, what do you even want me to say here? I thought you had a banger of a line to start the show. That was my banger of a line. Just thank goodness for the off day? Was it not good enough?

[00:01:40] I mean, like, no shit, Sherlock. Yeah, the whole fucking fan base needs an off day. Am I wrong? Does the whole fan base not need an off day? It was an off day and a half with the day game. It was very relaxing. I unfortunately, when you do a Mariners podcast, you end up engulfing your entire Mariners off day in Mariners things. Nice.

[00:02:06] So you end up, you probably end up, well, I'd say in a worse mood than after the game yesterday. And I'm going to be honest. I was in a not great mood midway through yesterday. I'm curious for any of you, those of you that are listening to follow us on Instagram as well and watch my clip this morning. Lot, what do you think my facial reactions were as I set up my computer this morning and I was putting together that clip and I was looking up all the Mariners stats? What do you think was going through my mind?

[00:02:38] Pain, misery, suffering? Yeah, pretty much. And it's coming. You think of like it comes to a conclusion, like your thought process is coming to a conclusion as you're as you're clicking through and as you're piecing together this clip and you're like, oh my God. What have I done? And then people reacted accordingly. So were you mad? Were you genuinely mad during the Wednesday loss?

[00:03:09] Would it be bad to say I was expecting it? I'll even one up you. Would it be bad to say I was legitimately laughing watching the Gino Grand Slam? Oh, I laughed too. Of course. Because of course. Dude, who else was it going to be? How fitting.

[00:03:28] How unbelievably on brand that this dude just absolutely pulverizes a ball in the finale to basically set up the sweep for the Diamondbacks after just a year and a half ago when you decided he was cooked. That he couldn't hit fastballs anymore. That he was owed too much money to trade him away for essentially nothing. Yes, they got Carlos Vargas back in that trade. I'm sorry. But like a middle reliever is not enough to justify that for me.

[00:03:54] And since then, and it really shouldn't be enough to justify it for anybody, which is why the trade is basically universally talked about as a mistake at this point. Gino since then had a 116 OPS plus in 2024. He hit 30 bombs. His second half was absolutely absurd. And now we sit and he's got an 819 OPS, a 124 OPS plus. He's got 19 bombs already. This dude may hit 40 home runs this year. Gino may hit 40 bombs.

[00:04:24] The only thing that would have been better is if he hit that Grand Slam off of Assball. Or better yet, off of Carlos Vargas. Just like it's Kendall Graveman, Abe Toro all over again. If he would have done that. Speaking of it, next podcast episode we record, Abe will be in town. You're fired up. You can't wait. Oh, I am fired up. Do we think someone might bring me something at the park? I have a feeling.

[00:04:54] I'm going to one up this again. I think you and him need to have a conversation. Hash things out. I do think people need to listen to Monday's episode. I really recommend listening to Monday's episode because a bit of a spoiler alert. We're going to have Jared Karabas on Monday to talk about the Red Sox series. He offered to, if you stick around in the conversation, you'll hear that he offered to send me an Abe Toro-Shersey, a Red Sox one. And I don't know what to say. I mean, I can already tell you.

[00:05:23] I don't want to be the one to say no to Jared Karabas. I can already tell you that if something like that is getting sent, not only will you be wearing it, it will be an entire social clip on its own. We will be recording you unboxing it, reacting, putting it on, seeing how it feels to wear it. Do I have to wear it on the podcast or just to the stadium? I think it'd be hilarious to do both. But I'm not doing that for free.

[00:05:54] Well, what do you want? What do you want in return? I feel like there needs to be a bet laid out. For what? Like, does Abe have to hit a homer? Yeah, sure. Actually, I like that. Since Abe is crushing it right now, by the way, if he hits a homer in the Mariners-Red Sox series, I will wear the shirt on a podcast. I think you need to wear it out in public, too. That's the big one. Yeah, I'll do both. I will wear it one day to the ballpark, and I will also wear it on the podcast.

[00:06:24] That's a deal. Deal. Deal. But I'm not buying that. Someone has to bring it to me, and I will wear it. Hold me to it. It's still unbelievable. Gino hit a grand slam on Wednesday. It really is. What's more unbelievable? Abe Toro's stretch with the Red Sox or that Gino swing? It's probably Abe. It is probably Abe.

[00:06:52] I mean, Abe Toro was hitting third the other day for the Red Sox. What if Abe Toro goes on the revenge tour against the Mariners as well? He's like, you didn't believe in me? Well, yeah, it's going to be the whole Jake Browning line. For anybody that's seen that Jake Browning clip after he subbed in for Burrow one game as a backup, I think the year Burrow was injured, and he let it come back, and the Bengals won, and he got caught on the sideline right at the end of the game. He chucks his helmet down. He's like, should I never fucking caught me?

[00:07:21] It's like, that's going to be Abe. Abe's going to look right up into the Mariners' front office suite and say that. I mean, he didn't get cut, but he was given away for not much. He's going to be like, I lasted longer than the—well, Winker's still playing, so that doesn't count. But then the guy you traded for. Well, he didn't last in Milwaukee longer than Colton Wong lasted in Seattle. Well, actually, not in the big leagues. He spent most of that year in the minors. That's fair.

[00:07:51] But look at him now, unfortunately. Look at him now. You got to see him homer in person last year for the A's. Right in your face. That happens again. The deal's on. Here, look. Let's shake through the screen. Here we go. Ready? Shake. Boom. Great. That's going to happen. How does it feel that it was off your guy, Brian Liu? Yeah, I mean, obviously not great. It's weird.

[00:08:20] Obviously, he's still working fairly deep into games, but I saw somebody tweet the other day in his last five starts, in order, he's given up no runs, one run, two runs, three runs, four runs, five runs, earned. His stats now across the board—I still think he's got a case for the All-Star game, but if you look at his stats across the board now, they're actually now worse than they were last year. And they're like—they're solid. And they're still good. He's still got a 3-3 ERA. Yeah, they're still good. They're not great anymore.

[00:08:51] Yeah, he'll have to turn it around a little bit. I do wonder if that blister's bothering him. It might be. It's a good thing Logan Gilbert's coming back. It's just hard, because that's one of those things, like a blister, where when you only get three—you know, when you get four days to recover, it's hard for that thing to get fully right, and then you have to grip the baseball hard again on a fifth day, and then you're still throwing bullpens, you're still playing catch, you're still working on stuff. It's hard. He might need the All-Star break. He—yeah, he might.

[00:09:19] But he'll also—he has an extra off day, speaking of, today. Or even—you could even give him a day and a half, since he played on a—played—he started the day game, so he gets five and a half days between starts. Well, hopefully that helps. Hopefully. I didn't think so. They need it. This rotation needs it, by the way. 20th in ERA is rotation right now. Yeah. Not great. No? I mean— Nope. I can't—I'm sorry.

[00:09:47] Like, I couldn't stop laughing on Wednesday, and I can't stop laughing now. The fact that Gino just absolutely unleashed on that ball. Like— Do you know— Like, dude, what have the Mariners' third base group combined for this year? Not even close to what Gino's putting up. Oh, the group? Dude, I mean, it's not close. Gino— Let's see. Like, he's probably not gonna go, but he has an actual case to be an All-Star. Let's see what we got here.

[00:10:18] Third base. Gino has a case to be an All-Star. That's like a real— 695 OPS as a group. 88. Yeah. 695 OPS. The leader in that clubhouse OPS-wise, you have five games worth of Jorge Polanco, which is the best player at that position. You have 11 games worth of Dylan Moore at that position, which are second best. And then you have three guys whose OPS are 704 or lower.

[00:10:45] Donovan Masturbone, Ben Williamson, and Donovan Solano's one plate appearance at third base. Great. Don't— Gino's cooked, Lyle. No, he's cooked. He's too expensive. Like, too expensive. Too old. Like, gotta trade him. You can't keep him. It's time to— It's time to blow up that roster. Let's get to this segment you're dying to get to, because it's gonna work perfectly with this. Okay.

[00:11:14] We were trying to figure out some ways today. How to, like, entertain everybody. Because, you know what? You don't want to hear us sit here and break down why the Mariners just got swept by the Diamondbacks, why they've lost 8 of 9, why they're 11 and 20 in their last 31. No, like, who wants to hear any of that? That's—that's miserable. It's depressing. It's depressing for us. So we're like, all right, we need to have some fun in the next couple days. So what do we do?

[00:11:43] We've got Jared Karabas set up for Monday, which we cannot wait for. Spoiler, the conversation was a blast. Who—and you guys know, like, he's one of our favorite guests. So there's that for Monday. And then we figured today, with the way things are going, what a great time to do some quotation rewrites and some quotation— and some quotation amendments.

[00:12:10] Because Jerry DePoto had a few quotes in the offseason that were looked at and frowned upon then, and I can't imagine they've gotten much better since. Is that fair to say? That is fair to say, Lyle. Would you like to re-highlight what they were? All right. So we're going to highlight three. One of them's actually an in-season quote. But let's just start right at the top. Now, Jerry DePoto back in February, after they signed Jorge Polanco, said this.

[00:12:40] Well, and you know what? Before we even say this stuff, give everybody—like, before you even respond, TJ, I'm going to read the quote. Give it a couple of seconds of silence. Let it marinate. Let it marinate for all our great listeners. And then respond. Do it proper justice. Is that fair? Yep. Okay. Good. So, back in the offseason, Jerry DePoto, he said regarding what the roster would look like in 2025,

[00:13:07] he said that he didn't anticipate that there would be many changes to the roster, and it played out that way. And I quote, much to, I think, the dismay of a few. Do you think it's still a few or now many more? I've got dictionary.com pulled up right here.

[00:13:34] And when you search the definition of a few, it gives you a couple different options. Use to emphasize how small a number is. A small number of. Small number of people or things. In fact, I might even take it a step further and Google here how many people is a few. Can be as low as two. And that a few means three or more.

[00:14:01] Dictionary is, or definition is, not many, but more than one. Can we roughly say a few maxes out at 20? No. What? A few is like four. Oh, great. Okay, even better. So, a few is anywhere between one and nine. Yeah. TJ, would you say there's nine people out there?

[00:14:24] Would you say there's nine people out there that are dismayed and frustrated with the Mariners offseason back then and right now? Yeah. Can I read you some numbers? Well, here, answer the question first. Would you say there is nine people frustrated? I would. And I have numbers to back it up. Wait, wait, wait. You think there is nine total people in this fan base frustrated? At least.

[00:14:50] Dude, I might have ran into nine people at the grocery store this week who were still frustrated and dismayed. No, I think you can multiply that by like a million. Yeah. My point is, yes, there are at least nine people frustrated with the Mariners. Let me read my numbers. Because if you want an answer to this, this is the answer you want, Lyle. Do you want the number of comments we've gotten on our last four Instagram posts related to the Mariners?

[00:15:20] 41. 101. 104. 67. Do you think people are commenting very cheery, positive things in there? I mean, our fans are nothing but cheerful, upbeat, positive. Roses are red. Sun is shining. Rainbows are out. Everything. To your point, Lyle, that is over 300 comments.

[00:15:48] And last I checked, 300 is greater than nine. Right? Is that right? 300 is greater than nine? That would be correct. Carry the decimal point. Yeah, it is. Yeah. So. I wasn't even looking at TikTok either. That was just our Instagram. And that's just us. That's just people commenting on our post. Oh, I know what we have to do now. What's up? Well, there's one more number we need to check.

[00:16:17] Well, do you want to enlighten the people while you look? We need to check the final score graphic. Oh, from Wednesday's loss? It is more than 300. What do we get? 365. And that's just Twitter. Yeah. So, Twitter has 365 comments to a post about one loss.

[00:16:47] We have 300 comments over the last four days regarding the Mariners' tough stretch of baseball. 24 hours. Sorry. We have over 300 comments in the last 24 hours regarding the Mariners' tough stretch of baseball. Yeah. That is 660. Wait, 665? Yeah, it's roughly, yeah. Okay. It is over 650 comments in the last 24 hours from two sources.

[00:17:15] Two sources about the Mariners' rough stretch of baseball. And we're only looking in two extremely specific spots. But, so, to answer the question, no, it is not the dismay of a few. There are not eight to nine people upset about the Mariners' offseason. There are not eight to nine people upset about the way the roster was put together.

[00:17:39] No, take that number of a few and absolutely amplify it by as many multiplication signs as you can draw up. It is the entire baseball world that thought that their offseason was underwhelming and did not live up to expectations. It was not a few. So, if we're going to do a quote rewrite here, I think the quote should be this.

[00:18:06] Didn't anticipate that there would be many changes to the roster and it played out that way. Much to, I think, the dismay of our entire fan base. That sounds more accurate. Well, the entire fan base was in my DMs. I thought it was fine. Dude, like, I can't stop laughing at that quote. Much to the dismay of a few.

[00:18:33] Like, they seriously looked people in the face when the only addition they made, new addition, was three and a half million dollars for Donovan Solano, who, despite his hot stretch in the last month, still has, like, not even a 500 OPS for the year. And thought that just a couple of coaching changes would fix everything. The offense wasn't good last year. It wasn't good this year, especially over the last month. Dismay of a few. Next quote, Lyle. Don't think so.

[00:19:02] Yeah, you're right. All right, let's keep going. Okay. This one's a banger. We've talked about it before. Let's just rehash it again. I think there's a reality of our offense and there's a perception of our offense. Hmm. What is the perception of the offense? What's the perception of the offense? That would be that it's bad. Hmm.

[00:19:32] And what is the reality of the offense? The reality is they are 15th in runs for the year, and over the last month, they are basically bottom third across the league in everything. Hmm. Sounds like they line up then. Well, that's not right. We were told that they don't. We were told that they don't in February. We were told that they don't in here in June. Perception reality.

[00:20:00] And the most annoying part about all of it is they were actually a top five offense in April and have still managed to now be essentially outside the top half in runs scored for the year. That's impressive. I mean, dude, could you bring yourself to, like, get up in front of a microphone and say that with utmost confidence after the offseason that we just witnessed and especially the season we're witnessing?

[00:20:30] If I got paid enough money. I'm not saying you would throw people under the bus. I'm saying could you seriously sit up there and tell people there's a perception and reality of the offense? A.K. what every person saw last year, what every person watched this offseason was wrong. You can spin it. Could I do it? Like, you could spin it in a different way. Other people did it. Other people had quotes that were perfectly fine. I would not use those words.

[00:21:00] No. Is that the answer you're looking for? You know what I would say? I believe in our offense. It's totally fine. I think that's a perfectly reasonable thing to say. Yeah. What else is a president of baseball ops supposed to do? You can't sit there and say you think your roster sucks. That's how you get fired. Right. But, yeah, I don't think this one landed very well here sitting on June 12th.

[00:21:28] Well, considering it wasn't true last year and considering it's not true this year, yeah, I don't think it landed. Oh, and by the way, it also wasn't true in the middle in the offseason. Especially since they didn't change anything and now the offense looks unchanged. Don't look at the rest of their stats in May, by the way. Overall for the season, now it's bottom half. In May, from May 1st to now, it's bottom third across the board.

[00:21:56] Which, by the way, fun fact, Lyle, that is behind where they were last year. So, TJ, what is the quotation rewrite? It would be, I think there's a reality of our offense and there's a perception of our offense. And they are the exact fucking same thing. I was going to say perception is reality. Oh, that works too. Yeah.

[00:22:23] When considering our offense, the perception is the reality of it. Until proven otherwise. Correct. Okay. Third quote. This one actually comes from about a month or so ago. A few weeks ago. It's not from the offseason. But I'm going to lock in. I'm going to make sure I, I'm going to keep a straight face when I read this. Let everybody hear it. Oh, you will. I will. I'm going to keep a straight face. I'm going to read it. And I'm just going to let everybody digest it.

[00:22:54] And I quote. DePoto said that this is the most complete position player group that the Mariners have fielded in his 10 years running the organization. You see how I just kept a straight face? I did it. I made it through the whole quote. The whole quote without keeping a straight, without breaking character. Well, I didn't see it because I couldn't keep a straight face. Because that's not true.

[00:23:23] Should we play a position game? Sure. Who would you prefer? I have a, I have a roster up here. 2022 Mariners. Playoff team. Would you rather have Lyle? 2025 Cal Raleigh or 2022 Cal Raleigh? 25. Would you rather have 2022 Ty France or whatever the heck we call the Mariners 2025 first baseman? Give me all-star Ty France. Please and thank you every day of the week.

[00:23:54] Would you rather have 2022 Adam Frazier or the jumble the Mariners have played at second base this year? Love Cole Young. You know he's a friend of the pod. We totally believe in who he's going to be long term. But this very second? Yeah, you'd probably take Adam Frazier. 2022 JP or 2025 JP? Okay, 25. So we're two, it's two and two right now. Mm-hmm.

[00:24:22] 2020, uh, 2022 A. Eugenio Suarez or Ben Williamson 2025? I mean. Yes, give me Gino. Okay. Three to two the 2022 team. Uh, left field. 2022 Jesse Winker or 2025 Randy Rosarena? All right, so this is Randy.

[00:24:52] 2022 Julio Rodriguez or 2025 Julio Rodriguez? I think it's safe to say 2022. 2022 is back in front. Right field. Mitch Hanegar in 2022 or the jumble of right fielders the Mariners have put out there. Most recently, uh, in this Diamondback series, Dom Canzone and Miles Mastroboni. Well, you can't forget Leoti Tavares. And Leoti Tavares, yes. Yeah, I think I'm going to take Mitch.

[00:25:21] And then this will close out the win, I assume, for the 2022 team. Carlos Santana at DH or... Uh... Uh... All right, so let me just stop you right there. I mean, Carlos Santana. And that's not including... I left the GOAT Marine Layer Podcast goated guest Sam Haggerty. And your guy, Jared Kilnick. Who could have had on here. So what is... So the total?

[00:25:50] The total is... Uh, 6-4. Right? 10 positions here? No, 9 positions here. So it would be... 6 to... Yeah. I can't do... Yeah, it was 3. Yeah. 6 to 3. It's not really that close. And you could do the same thing with a 2023 roster, which I think would have the same... The same result. Yeah.

[00:26:17] You know what was arguably the best position player group you've had in your time here? The one you decided to blow up after 23. No more Tao. No more Gino. No more Kellnick. Overhaul it all. That group. Mm-hmm. That group was arguably your best position player group ever. It is really fun to go look back in hindsight. But man, we did have it good. Those teams were...

[00:26:47] As frustrating as they were at some times, Lyle. I admit, they're more fun than what we're currently watching. Oh, I miss the 2023 team all the time, dude. Think about it. Great rotation. Offense hit a bunch of homers. Good rotation. It was pretty good. Good. Good. Good. They were, what, top seven? Yeah. Good. They were... Okay, it wasn't like 24, but very good. Yeah. Anyway, really good rotation.

[00:27:16] Offense was 11th in runs. They hit a ton of homers. They had, like, real impact guys in the lineup. And an elite bullpen. Like, I know... Like, look. Larry Stone is one of the best sports writers. Not just period and guys around. But certainly that Seattle's ever had. And this is not a knock at Larry Stone. But I remember when he wrote the article after 23 saying, 2023 was the most disliked Mariner team he'd seen.

[00:27:44] And I think it had to do with the way they played the game with all the strikeouts and the boomer bust, etc. Yeah. I take that offense back in a heartbeat. I know they struggled in one-run games. I know they struck out a lot. But man, I missed the 23 offense. He was right. I mean, they were incredibly frustrating. But given what has come after the fact, you will take frustrating and close to frustrating and not as close.

[00:28:15] It's not like these last two Mariner teams haven't been frustrating. They've been just as frustrating, just in very different ways. Pick every way you could be frustrated. At least... Like, 2023 team, I believe at one point, I do think... Thinking back on it, I did tab them as, I think, the most 500. 500 team of all time at one point. Do you remember that? Probably before they got red hot in August. Yeah, it was right before they got red hot in August. I believe it was in the first part of July.

[00:28:44] I was sitting there and looking. They had been 500 during the season 18 times at one point. I do remember this. Remember that? Like... And then they go on the hot streak. And that it is what it is. But this current team right now at a similar pace is below 500. And there's still a lot of season left. But that's not to say they're not frustrating, given what we watch. But all we could do is really laugh at it. When you look back in hindsight at those teams and what we wish we could have had from those

[00:29:14] teams on this current roster and vice versa. Dude, I'm serious. What would this team look like right now if you had Teoscar in right, Gino at third, and Justin Topa in your bullpen? It would look great. How do you get Teoscar on this roster exactly? I mean, you would have given him the QO. But then what if he doesn't sign it? I think he would have after 23.

[00:29:44] I don't think so. I think he would have. I don't think that... Remember how long it took him to sign a deal that year? And he took a one-year deal in LA. Out of all the guys who have commented on how hard it is to hit in Seattle, do we think the most public person of that group would sign back? I don't think so. I don't know. If you massively overpaid Teoscar Hernandez, like, so what does he sign? He's a three-year, $70 million deal with the Dodgers? Is that about right?

[00:30:13] If they sign him for three for $100, yeah, I think he would consider coming to Seattle. You're getting too logical here. I'm asking a simple question. What does this offense look like right now with Teoscar Hernandez, A. Eugenio Suarez, and then Justin Topa in your bullpen? Now, I'll say they're much better. Should I read the text our friend who's a Dodger fan sent us about Teoscar Hernandez the other day? Oh, he's starting to get pissed. Yeah. I think he's on one of those... Well, A, does that mean he's available?

[00:30:43] He could come back. He's on one of those classic, really rough Teo stretches right now where he looks like he has the approach of a high schooler. He is chasing balls five feet off the plate on sliders, and I don't think he's had a lot of hits. And his defense stinks. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Anyways, we can dream. What a, like... What a banger trio of quotes. That's how I'd wrap this up. If there's one thing the Mariners organization is the best at all time,

[00:31:13] it's quotes. Think of the groundwork that has been made up in the last half decade on the 100 years of baseball that was played before the Mariners existed. One day I think we're going to have to rank all-time Mariner quotes. One day we might have to rank all-time Jerry DePoto quotes, like top 10. You could definitely do 10. Yeah, we can do that. That'll be a great CBA. Like, a great lockout subject. Like, we'll need topics. We will need topics.

[00:31:42] I don't think there's any better topic to get everyone stirred up when there's nothing happening than just talking about Jerry DePoto quotes. I think that would be the greatest thing of all time. If only we could do, like... If only Jerry was on Cameo or something and to, like, announce... We have, like, a different person announce each of the top 10. And number one is Jerry DePoto reading his own quote back.

[00:32:15] He, like, he's forced because... Because somebody paid money, he's forced to reread 54% all over again. He's like, well... This is 100 bucks I was just saying. I guess I have to do it. Like... Yeah, like... He has to... But he... But you know what? He has to, like, rehash it and try to reenact it and act it back out as best as he did in real time back at the end of 23.

[00:32:45] He has to add at the end with the laugh where he goes, we're actually doing our fan base a favor. Ha! You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Like... You have to... Like, he has to do exactly that. Whoever sends in the Cameo has to send in exactly that. It's like, I need you to reenact this as best as humanly possible. Who else should we get on Cameo? We're getting Frank the Tank. Who else? We'll think on it.

[00:33:13] Leave a comment in the description. Let us know who we should get on Cameo to read that. Yeah, like, while we need topics and content during the lockout, that may be something we do is we just start using some of our pod money to send in people's... Like, to send Cameos... Or send money to people to send Cameos where we react for a podcast. Frank, give a Mariners off-season breakdown. Yes. You know, I think the Mariners

[00:33:42] are the worst team I've ever seen! It's like... Can you repeat the quote he sent you? Because you got a birthday one from Mr. Tank. I did. Do you want me to just do A-level podcasting and put it right up to the mic here? Or do you want me to just, like, explain it? Oh, I would rather you play the quote. Okay. Well, if you give me a minute here, I will play the quote. It is... I don't know if we've ever played this on the podcast. I actually don't know if we've ever even tweeted it out. We probably should because it's hilarious. We could probably use clips of it

[00:34:12] when the year goes on because, I mean, like, it is... It is a banger of a quote. I'm surprised we haven't tweeted that out yet. Honestly, TJ, I'm surprised we haven't tweeted your thing out yet from Fox 13 at this point. Oh, we'll get there, dog. We'll get there. Well, I can't believe we're not there already after this stretch because what TJ said the first time we ever went on Washington Sports Wrap on Q13 Fox, he was asked at the very end of the show. It's a little three-to-five-second clip. It's like, all right, TJ, we got five seconds. The Mariners make the playoffs? No. Well, that's our show.

[00:34:41] What do we think? If they lose the series to the... Especially if they lose the Sunday game to the Guardians and lose the series. Yeah, we may tweet it then. We might. We might. We might. So the backstory to this, was this 2023? It was. Okay, so Lyle's birthday 2023. His wonderful brother, Spencer, bought him a cameo for his birthday from the tank himself to wish Lyle a happy birthday. And he did have some comments about the Mariners as well.

[00:35:10] Oh, it's great. Like, this is A-level podcasting and people are going to love it. I see your birthdays coming up and your fans at the Seattle Mariners. There's a team that's adrift on a sea of woe. The only franchise never to have gone to the World Series and after last year's hope, it's back to being adrift at sea

[00:35:39] with no hope in sight. You know, it's sad. I mean, you had so many great players you just couldn't get it done. Now, it's just like, you're feeble. I mean, you're fucking feeble just like the fucking Mets are fucking feeble. Oh, boy. That's it. And then he sings happy birthday at the end. Oh, that is a banger of a quote. Thank you, Tank. Thank you, Mr. Tank. All right, are you ready to get to this mailbag?

[00:36:10] Yeah, we are. I got to tell you, like, despite the Mariners having an awful stretch, this is like one of the most fun episodes we've recorded in forever. This is fun. Like, well, we tapped it again. We tapped into our favorite subjects, quotes and Frank the Tank. So how could you miss out on that? We told everybody we were going to make this show entertaining. Like, nobody wants to hear us talk about why the Mariners are 11 and 20 in their last stretch. We're going to have fun instead. So we're trying to do that.

[00:36:38] All right, before we get to our mailbag, let's take a quick pause. We're going to talk to you guys about our friends over at Pogatch's Pub 85. That's over in Kirkland. It's a great spot to hang out, you guys. If you want to get some great food, you want to play some games with your friends, you want to watch some sporting events, it's all over there. I mean, there's 20 TVs in that place. The food specials are great. And if you want to go during happy hour, drink specials are three and four bucks. Seriously. Three and four dollar happy hour from two to six p.m. on Monday through Friday. All of that is over at Pogatch's Pub 85 in Kirkland.

[00:37:07] First up on the mailbag is Jordan from Patreon. Shout out to Jordan subscribing to our Patreon. Jordan has priority access because he signed up for our Patreon. If this is something that might interest you and you want to get priority on future mailbags, guys, we do these mailbags every single week. And if you want a question answered, Patreon's the place to go get your question answered here on the podcast. Shout out to Jordan and all the other wonderful subscribers we have over there on Patreon. And Jordan asks a really good question.

[00:37:37] Do you have something you want to chime in with? I was just going to say while we're doing some plugs, I realize I didn't do it at the start of the show, but we do have the date for our next live show. Oh, yes. Good idea. Yes. So before we... We'll promote it a bunch over the next few weeks, but we do have the date for our next live show for those interested. It is Saturday, June the 28th, 12 p.m. at Occidental Hall. Yes. Not Queen Anne, not Moss Bay. Those places are awesome and we love to hang out

[00:38:06] at both those locations, but we are even more fired up for the opening of the new location, the Hall on Occidental. It's, again, like it's described, right on Occidental Ave. It's right by the ballpark. It looks absolutely sick. It's opening in just a few days. Guys, we can't wait. It's going to be a blast. You guys are going to get to see it for the first time. You'll be one of the first people to get to see the new location. We're going to be doing the live show at 12. We're going to do a watch party at 1 o'clock for the game.

[00:38:36] We're going to have some specials, which we'll start to unveil for you guys as the weeks come along. But, yeah, we can't wait, man. And, like, this is going to be the first of many events we do there, especially because it's, you know, like it's right by the ballpark. You guys will probably catch us there after games a lot of the time moving forward. We're going to be fired out and hanging out and having some drinks and hanging out with our friends. So, like, we are so fired up for this new location to open. And that's going to be our first live show there. So if you want to get out to it, and we hope you do,

[00:39:06] come on out. And if you need incentive, this is your incentive right now. If you're listening to this podcast on the audio version, please pause, open up YouTube, and scroll to this timestamp so you can see what I'm about to say. We have plenty of things to give away. Shout out to Corona. They've been awesome to work with for all of these live shows and continue to work with us with these live shows for the rest of the season. But if you guys want to win some stuff, like, look what I have right here.

[00:39:35] We have to give this stuff away. All of it. So if you want to win something, come on out to the live show. We got a lot of stuff for you. I think you'll like it. For anybody that did not transfer over from the audio side right there, that's a big box of stuff that TJ's holding up for everybody watching on YouTube. Yeah. A lot of stuff. And we can't wait to give it away. We can't wait to do the live show. We can't wait for Occidental to open. So that is the plug. We'll plug it more as the weeks go on. June 28th, 12 p.m. live show at Occidental Hall.

[00:40:05] We're going to do a watch party right after as well at 1 p.m. All right. We can rip through these mailbag questions before we get to our draft spotlight, which we're really excited about. This question from Jordan, on a slightly more serious note, there are actually some fun things we can talk about with this. Jordan's question is, the way things are trending at this moment, are we selling at the deadline? If so, who do you think is moving? If it keeps trending this way, aka the Mariners continue to play

[00:40:34] a ridiculously, unsustainably bad stretch of baseball where they keep going 11 and 20. I mean, they're not buying if that happens. You can count on that. Do they sell? It becomes about how much you have to sell. We talked about the idea of potentially them trading Randy or Rosarena. That feels like about the only guy they'd trade away. I know we mentioned Dylan Moore on a past episode. Maybe somebody would want him. He's not playing very well right now. I mean, the guy's 0 for 8,

[00:41:04] his last 18 with about 13 punch outs. Lyle, there was a team that traded for Abraham Toro at a deadline. I think Dylan Moore will be very, very attractive to some suitors. You can't let it go. You two need to hash it out this week. That trade broke me. I think you two need... You would meet him... I think there's a lot of Mariners fans out there that have the same PTSD I do. You watch. If you meet him, he's going to be like the nicest dude ever.

[00:41:34] I'm going to have to grit my teeth like this. And I'm going to have to do it. Nice to meet you, Abe. You caused me irrehensible trauma. I'm still pissed to this day they didn't get him in in that playoff game because he was on the roster. Like, it was going so pissed poorly where nobody could make contact with the ball. I was like, you might as well just say fuck it at this point. Put in Abe and see if he hits a homer. You know how I will forgive Abe Toro? If he comes up to me and tells me, yes, TJ,

[00:42:04] when I was a Seattle Mariner, I was the worst player of all time. Forgiven. Then he's my favorite. If he ever gets traded back here, we're going to have to do a sit down with him. At this rate, Lyle? Jerry DiPoto's like, hmm. That would be hilarious. That's if they traded back. That would be tragic, is what that would be. That would be hilarious if they traded for Abe to death. All right, why don't we answer Jordan's question?

[00:42:34] I have a kind of, I have someone who, I think if the Mariners were going to sell, they could potentially sell. And it might shock some people. Would the Mariners consider selling JP Crawford at the deadline if they're in position to do so? He has, at this point, a year and a half of control. He's pretty cheap, shortstop-wise this year. He's only due about $12 million next season. He is arguably having the best year of his career right now. He's walking a bunch.

[00:43:04] He's heading for a solid amount of power. His on-base percentage, guys, is almost 400. I feel like that would be pretty attractive on the open market as well. His defense is whatever. It's not going to lose you games at this point. It's been totally fine. And, with the same rationale that we use for Randy Rosarena to trade him, kind of the same applies for JP Crawford. It's just his contract is set out and controlled, unlike Randy Rosarena, who still has to go into arbitration

[00:43:33] and will make more than JP Crawford next season. Otherwise, man, I mean, we're talking about a veteran. We're talking about a productive big league baseball player. And if there's a contender out there, if the Mariners are sitting seven, eight games under 500, and is looking at this Mariners roster and says, who could be available? I think one of your most valuable trade pieces would be JP Crawford. There's no hot take to that at all. You're in a half of control. If the Mariners would actually sell

[00:44:02] is the real question here, because they don't usually do that. They don't flat out sell at most deadlines. But if they were actually going to do that, no, that's not crazy. You could get some real value back for a 135 WRC plus shortstop with a year and a half of club control and kind of turn the page. It's not crazy. And I hate the idea of selling too, because the Mariners already have nine top 100 prospects. What do you need more for? Yeah. Serious question.

[00:44:34] Not unless you're going to buy and trade some of those prospects away and you did some buy sell stuff. But then if you're going to buy, you wouldn't sell JP Crawford. And they've only really traded like the blue chip of blue chip prospects one time for Luis Castillo. And by the way, neither of the two blue chippers panned out. Edwin Arroyo and Noel Vimarte so far have done nothing. Which is, for as much as we love these guys, that's why you trade them. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's true. It's an interesting conversation for JP Crawford. You're like, oh, well,

[00:45:03] who's going to play shortstop next year? Well, if they get to the point where they're talking about selling JP Crawford, next year, next year's shortstop conversation isn't like, oh, this is going to make or break our chance at a World Series. No. It won't. No. All right. Next question. Also on Patreon. It comes from FC Styles. He says, how long should we wait to call in a werefell check on Lyle if he has not been heard from? Welfare. What did I say?

[00:45:33] Not that. Didn't I say welfare? It was close. Anyways. How long do we need to wait? Whatever. All right. Let me reread it. How long should we have to wait to call in a welfare check on Lyle if he has not been heard from? I'm sitting here at Sunshine and Roses, everybody. Look, there's a smile on my face. The sun's out. Summertime. What do we qualify as not heard from? I mean, I sit on this podcast three times a week. You're hearing from me. I will say,

[00:46:03] FC Siles, whenever I send Lyle a text and I don't get a response for three hours, I'm thinking about, I think about calling for a welfare check on him. Not because I'm actually worried about him, but I need someone to go poke and wake him up. You think it was because I was lazy? No. You guys try getting up at 4.30 in the morning every day, people. Every day. It's not that easy. In fact, I'd say it's hard. Anyway. How long should we wait? I will say three hours.

[00:46:36] Yeah. Three hours. All right. Otherwise, I mean, Lyle, you're pretty perpetually online. People would see you active online sometime every three hours. No? Yeah. And again, it's not that hard to hear from me. Again, you can hear me on this very podcast three times a week. You can hear me on the radio five times a week. And you can hear us on social media multiple times a day. So I think if you went like a 24-hour stretch where wasn't on the radio, wasn't sitting here recording podcasts,

[00:47:05] didn't see me on social media at all, like, yeah, like then you could probably check up and say what in the world is up because it's pretty hard to miss the two of us at this point. Yeah. But like, I'm guessing he asked the question because he's like, are we concerned for Lyle's mental health over the Mariners? You know what? Like, you would think so in past years, every game would just piss me off beyond belief when they would lose and they would let leads slip away and they would collapse. You know what, man?

[00:47:35] Like, I'm not happy when they lose. Part of me has learned to cope with it, especially this year because the honest truth like is, I'm sorry, but there's a lot of people in this organization, not the players, not the coaches, but there's a lot of people in this organization that are kind of getting what they had coming to them. You chose that this is the roster you wanted to run out there. Everybody said it was a mistake except for you guys. You were so sure you were right and now you're 11 and 20

[00:48:05] in your last 31 below 500 behind the, or you have the same record as the Angels at the time of this recording. So, I'm sorry, there's people who deserve what's happening right now and it sucks for the fans beyond belief. No fan deserves any of this. It's, it's like, plain and simple, no sugarcoating, it's bullshit. The players don't deserve it, but I've learned to cope with it because there's people that like kind of need a reality check, man. That's what I feel like. You essentially answered

[00:48:34] the next Patreon question, but I'll read it out because Xander is a very valued member of our Patreon community. Xander's question is, Lyle, on the real note, who's at fault right now, players, coaches, or front office? This is a little different. This is a little bit of a different question, so I'll answer it like this. Everybody gets a share of the pie. It's not one person end-all, be-all, but, like, sure, there are players underperforming. Yeah, we know that.

[00:49:04] The reason we don't usually get on players, like, honestly, is because, well, I mean, there's a few different reasons, like, but, like, yeah, like, you have a right to be frustrated with certain players that are not playing well. That's within every fan's right. You should want more out of the guys that are on the field every day, sure, but I think it's a mix of all three. Like, players need to play a little bit better. We have talked at length about a lot of the managerial decisions, and we've talked at length, especially this week, about how the front office has allocated their money. They have not used it well.

[00:49:35] On the players' front, I thought this was an interesting one because I wanted to, I wanted to give the players a little bit of a share-of-the-blame pie, but let me ask you this. Which players are underperforming? Donovan Solano for his career has been better than this. Now, in the last month, he's been, he's been really hot, so let's give Solano his credit. In the last month, Solano's been one of your best hitters. But based on the share of at-bats he gets, how much impact is that really? Right. Yeah, like, So outside of that?

[00:50:05] You know what? It's a really fair question because I think what you're seeing from the players on this roster is more or less who they are, at least in terms of the guys that people are frustrated with, or at least if you want, or if you want to use the harsh term, the players that have turned into the whipping boys of this fan base because it happens every year. There ends up being two or three guys that this fan base just drags beyond belief. But yeah, man, like, that's a good point. For a guy like Ben Williamson, you're asking him

[00:50:35] to take on a really big role in his first year in the big leagues and do a lot. The guy needs some time to figure it out. Like, he's playing some good defense. He's hitting for an okay average. We know he doesn't walk a lot or hit for a ton of power, but you're basically getting what you expected out of Ben Williamson. You know Cole Young needs some time to adjust. Rowdy Tellez is basically Rowdy Tellez. He strikes out a bunch and every now and then he'll run into a baseball or two and do exactly what he does. His WRC Plus is pretty much where it was last year now at this point. Right.

[00:51:04] In terms of guys who are underperforming, the only one you could really argue of the regulars who is quote-unquote underperforming is Julio. But that's like in air quotes because he's still been very productive. Right. So like really who is Randy's doing what he always does. JP Crawford's doing what good JP does. Clearly not underperforming. Cal is overperformed. Yeah. So you know what then that's that's a fair point. I still would say like fans have the right to fan however they want.

[00:51:34] So if you want more out of a player, I understand it. Now within reason the insane people out there that send players like terrible messages online like that's that like that's that ain't it. Like that's obviously where the lines significantly cross. But like if you're a fan that gets frustrated with a certain player and how they're performing like fans are in their right to want more from a player. Like that's all I'm saying. But to your point in terms of like in terms of how results have played out

[00:52:04] you make the good point. Yeah. Who's at fault? Front office takes a big like a big share of that blame pie for fully believing that this roster needed no additional help. And then we know there's been problems with managerial decisions especially in the bullpen. So yeah. Last year I think you had a real argument to blame players for underperforming. This year I can't I can't think that because like if someone were to come to us and say oh Mitch Garver is underperforming he's the backup catcher. He plays once a week. Like yeah for his contract

[00:52:33] he's underperforms not for the role you have for him. No. Not for the amount of trust they had in him. They trusted Mitch Garver he'd be the DH again but they don't. Right. Last year it's a different story. This year again he was the backup catcher playing kind of like a backup catcher. I understand people might not be thrilled about the money but his actual role with the team yes backup catcher. Let's get to our next question. This is on Patreon from Nick and Nick has a couple of hypotheticals for us Lyle.

[00:53:02] The first hypothetical you punt this season played out with the current roster keep the prospect pool intact and a new front office regime is guaranteed to take over in October. Choice number two trade significantly from the top prospects in your system acquire enough rentals and bat slash arms to guarantee a playoff spot but this front office would be back in 2026. Crickets.

[00:53:33] Jeopardy music. Do you have one way or another you're leaning on this or do you want me to answer first? This is the easiest question of all time. It's probably option one. What? No? It's two? You would willingly pass up a guaranteed playoff spot? Well but how many prospects are you dumping? Like is it everybody? You have nine! You're not dumping all of them. No, you can't possibly trade all nine of them.

[00:54:03] Isn't this here's my thing isn't this everything everyone wants? A playoff team? A guaranteed playoff team? All right so yeah. People hate like people have their beef with the front office including me but get that beef subsides a lot if you make the playoffs because that's all we want. All right again I was kind of under the impression with this question that like you're essentially shipping off your entire farm to make the playoffs in 25 and there's no guarantee that like you get past the wild card round.

[00:54:33] There's no guarantee any year but it gives you a chance. Are you shipping off all of your prospects? Let's say you do have to ship off Colt Emerson. It's hard because what do you get back? Do you want to make the playoffs? Is it somebody damn good? You can't sell a top 10 but it's like it's guaranteeing the playoffs. It's not like if you make the playoffs it's like guaranteed. But dude like think about it like this you're saying that now if they're guaranteed a playoff spot it does not

[00:55:05] specify what the extent is. What are you saying if the Mariners get into the playoffs losing two to whatever team and then we're sitting here saying we lost Colt Emerson for this? Yes because the goal is to make the playoffs you got to give yourself a chance. Okay that's not sound thinking. Do you know what's not sound? Doing what the Mariners have always done and punt and say next year. Yeah that's not because that's what option one is and I hate that I hate that mentality because that's

[00:55:34] what option one is essentially what this regime does over and over and over and over again. It's like oh we have the prospects next season will be great 2028 will be fantastic for us. I don't want that we've had so much of it. Fine who are you getting back if you're shipping away Colt Emerson? It doesn't matter it does the hypothetical is like do you want to make the playoffs or not? Yes but I don't want to lose I don't want to see him losing two games in the wild card round.

[00:56:05] But would you rather miss? What about the other point of that caveat? You're leaving out one caveat of the old question. Where they stay another season? The thing is No no no no no of if you pick option one look I like it's hard to get into these subjects because like somebody is essentially asking to call for jobs but we've also highlighted how

[00:56:34] poorly money has been allocated in the last couple years. So let's say like everything stays in place they miss the playoffs but like this is all about if fans are interested in a new regime or not and just how interested they are to try to run the team. Fans would be less interested in getting rid of the current regime if they made the playoffs. People don't think this current regime wins enough and then they go out there and they make the roster good enough to go win and get in the playoffs. That's what people wanted. Alright then sure

[00:57:04] yes option two. Like the Tigers are always a bad example but the Tigers won what 80 how many games they won last year 86 85 Oh I don't even think it was that they were like just enough to get in but like yeah like that's a what if oh like what if they lost in the wild card round you never know until you try fine on the record I do not want to trade Colt Emerson but I love Colt gotta start at some point if the Maris

[00:57:33] want to be different than they've been in the past they need to make the playoffs and do whatever they need to do whatever something it's time for stuff to change well stuff changes and mentality changes with the fan base too well stuff changes in scenario one I'm just saying like it does but then that's more of the same then you start over again and we're sitting here you know looking hoping the farm system saves everybody well yeah that part's that part's not the right mentality but what

[00:58:03] I mean I do feel like that is more of what idea one is suggesting because there's no guarantee for scenario one of spending at all it just saying there's a new decision maker well yeah we know that a new like we've said that forever a new front office ain't gonna mean a new payroll that's for sure exactly so it's like okay so you keep all your prospects but nothing changes and instead you just have someone else in charge like if we're just painting it in the real scenario I'm endorsing Jerry DiPoto to stay here

[00:58:32] in 2026 if the team makes the playoffs all right fine scenario two I'm with you okay great playoffs yeah I just don't want to see Cole Demerson get traded anyway I would rather him not get traded too okay final Patreon question this comes from this comes from Graham it's it's a little long but he he essentially says like he thinks the Mariners should be targeting Ramon Urias

[00:59:02] of the Orioles and they should do it sooner than later and he so he asked about Ramon Urias he asked about a couple other guys like Mike Bassel from the White Sox he asked about Jose Miranda from the Twins he asked about Jordan Walker from the Cardinals and he asked do you see those guys as potential fits as trade targets Mike Bassel I do he's a rookie though which is tricky a lot of these guys are early on in their clocks so it wouldn't be the most likely guys to get traded

[00:59:32] Bassel at least he fits with the Mariners need he's been pitching as a long reliever for the White Sox doesn't have great strike out and walk numbers which might suggest some regression but he's been good he's got a 2-180 RRA case year he hurt his hand carrying a bag of ice or sorry a case of water this year so he's only played 12 games but the 12 games were not good and same with Jordan Walker Jordan Walker has also been hurt former top

[01:00:17] and I know Graham's looking for some guys that might provide some value that don't cost a lot and I get it I totally get it but if they're really going to get serious and buy at this deadline you got to get serious about winning you got to aim higher than this you got to punch up higher than this this guys could be like a third edition right like the third edition at the deadline sure if you get Jose Miranda after you get Ryan O'Hearn and Ryan Helsley like sure

[01:00:42] would it not be ironic though if you acquired Jose Miranda after Jose Miranda Miranda already replaced Tori Polanco in Minnesota but he wouldn't replace Polanco here he wouldn't but that would be kind of funny I would laugh you don't have to laugh you don't have to laugh I'll laugh

[01:00:59] let's get to our last page uh last question in the mailbag this comes on Instagram from Mitchell Barney one and Mitchell's question is can I read this one you want to read oh okay go ahead I do I do want to read this one so we love all our listeners they are great you're thoughtful usually smart send good questions but I think we got to have some fun with this one

[01:01:26] I really do so Mitchell asks why don't we trade George Kirby to the Yankees for John Carlos Stanton based on the framing of that question I would think Mitchell's a Yankees fan guys I mean this is the Clint Frazier Miguel Andujar trade proposal is it not

[01:01:55] yes it is that is the exact Andujar and Frazier trade proposal that Yankees fans would send out there in case anybody missed it all these Yankees fans used to send out all these proposals where they take a team's best player it's like well you can have Frazier and Andujar that's a great trade there were legitimate people saying like give us Mike Trout for Frazier and Andujar guys

[01:02:19] John Carlos Stanton is like broken beyond all belief first off he's 34 years old he has not played a full season of games since

[01:02:30] really 2018 I guess he played 140 in 2021 but the guy's a DH he's not on the field he his best years are over and you're talking you're talking about acquiring him for when he is at his best one of the best pitchers in major league baseball that's got eons of club control he has been as valuable as George Kirby has been by war if you combine his last four years and he's been a

[01:02:58] four seasons guys like look again I don't want to I don't want to do this like I don't want to like make I don't want to make a listener feel bad for sending a question I don't because like I want people to send questions but this also feels like a little bit of a troll job which is why we're reading it like everybody knows John Carlos Stanton is not John Carlos Stanton anymore everybody also knows George Kirby's one of the best pitchers in the one of the best pitchers in baseball when he's healthy and he's

[01:03:29] to get George Kirby to the Yankees the Yankees would have to include with John Carlos Stanton actually I don't even know if there's a price you can put on it I don't think the Mariners are doing it for about anything hmm well at the top of my head no no guys yeah yeah thanks let's put still let's still put it on a graphic law and we'll throw it out to the people this is like this feels like a fake question I'm gonna be real

[01:03:57] I think this I think this question's fake George Kirby for John Carlos Stanton like in the big 2025 I don't I like I'm running out of one I don't have an answer for you no my answer is that Mitchell is a Yankees fan or has a personal vendetta against George Kirby and wants him gone at all costs

[01:04:21] but even if he did you can't think of anybody else to trade away you can't think of any name that makes it more even I have I haven't even trained ready George Kirby for Aaron Judge I mean I'd probably do that yeah yeah no no disrespect George like love watching you pitch you're one of the best pitchers in baseball when

[01:04:48] you're healthy but it's Aaron Judge but we'll drive you to the airport it's it's Aaron Judge yeah and I'll pick I'll pick up Judge too you gonna fit him in your car no actually I don't think so no I don't think he'd fit thank you Mitchell for the question though that was great and thank you to everyone for sending in the mailbag questions in times like these Lyle we do need a little bit of comedy in our life and I think the

[01:05:12] I think the I think the the mailbag questions really help us lighten up a little bit I think so you know what if you want to send funny trade proposals like that moving forward feel free because we can have a blast with them we do have a new segment we would like to debut with the Mariners picking number three in this upcoming draft Lyle and I thought it would be fun to highlight potential options for the Mariners

[01:05:36] at number three for 12 of the episodes I believe there are 13 episodes including this one remaining until the draft in mid-July at the all-star week so every week we're gonna have an MLB draft spotlight and we're gonna highlight a player that the Mariners could pick at number three and today we're gonna start off with number 12 yeah and let me preface a couple things we're not gonna do one on Monday because we've got a long interview for Monday and that's gonna basically be the show but after that we're gonna do

[01:06:06] one each day spend about five minutes on a guy leading up to the draft and the reason we want to do this is because I don't know if we do this every year you guys just because if the Mariners are picking in the 20s I think it's just too hard to throw darts at the wall sometimes in terms of who might be there who they might pick who they wouldn't pick like we're obviously not uh draft analysts but when you have the number three pick and such a unique opportunity like this paired with how important the pick could be

[01:06:35] we not only want to get people educated on who to be looking for come draft time but this could be a really pivotal player in the organization moving forward so we want to get people as up to speed and as informed as we possibly can on all these draft prospects leading up to the draft because it's such a monumental year in the draft for the Mariners and we want people to know all there is to know about a bunch of guys that they could take with that third pick so yeah let's get into it today is number 12.

[01:07:02] Number 12 is Steel Hall Alabama high school shortstop a Tennessee commit. Lyle what is he good at? The biggest thing that jumps out about Steel Hall is his speed. This is not a loaded draft class with a bunch of ridiculous tools and a bunch of overwhelming superstar potential with specific players. So if the Mariners were to go this route you would be targeting a tool and the thing that

[01:07:28] jumps out about Steel Hall is the dude can run like the wind. He is essentially an 80 runner. You are talking Bobby Witt Jr. Ellie De La Cruz levels of fast with Steel Hall. You don't find that everywhere. You don't find that on a baseball field on any given day. So if the Mariners were going to target Steel Hall they would target his ridiculous speed, his ability to stick at shortstop with his great range, and try to run from there. This is where you target a great athlete and you let him thrive at a certain position.

[01:07:57] Now I will note based on where some of the outlets, Just Baseball has him at number 18. Our network, RM Leighton does such a good job with those draft rankings. Has him at number 18. The 18th slotted player. This would be a player. The strategy the Mariners would be employing if they were going to target Steel Hall is if they like multiple first round quality guys and want to be able to sign both of them.

[01:08:24] So if they were to attempt to pick Steel Hall at number three, then the idea would be to sign him under slot so then they could go after a bigger fish later in the first round and go over slot for pick number 35 which they have as well. Which would be the idea here? Because Steel Hall is probably not going at pick number three for slot value. So if they picked him at three, the Mariners would have the idea that they want to target somebody later in the draft that they can draw away from college, that they can give some

[01:08:53] extra money to and get them into their system as well. I would love to see the number three pick just be a total swing and you take the best guy available and you try to find that star. But if the Mariners decide to go otherwise, and we're not going to doubt Scott Hunter at this point for how he operates a draft, that if they do something like take Steel Hall at three, they've got a bigger blueprint in mind than just that third pick. So yeah, it would be interesting. I will highlight. Go ahead. I was going to say, just know this guy's a pretty quick riser.

[01:09:21] He was not ranked or really on the didn't have as many eyeballs on him draft wise. I think in terms of rankings for this class before this season, I believe I have that right. Yeah, it's pretty quick riser this year. He is really young. He reclassified and got into this year's draft. He's 17 years old right now. He turns 18 just before the draft. So really young, bunch of upside, 5'11", 190 pounds. Again, he is expected to stick at shortstop.

[01:09:49] The things that may draw some hesitations and the reason he's not going to go, for example, number one overall is right now he's a bit of a free swinger. He doesn't mash secondaries yet. Identifying those pitches is still a little bit of a work in progress for him. And he may just be a hit over power guy. So he may be more of a contact hitter long term. What the Mariners would bank on here is if you're going to get a 3.5 to 4 win player at the number 3 pick in the draft for underslot because of his speed and defense, you'd take it.

[01:10:18] You don't just find 3.5 to 4 win players in every draft. And it's no guarantee that Steelhall would be that. But if you believe that he will be, then that's the idea here. Because you bank on speed and defense to accumulate some value. So it is an interesting tool set. Again, you are not going to find many elite tools in this draft. And that's what jumps out about Steelhall is he has an elite tool. And what I think people would ask if you're going to take a high school shortstop, and this

[01:10:48] is not going to be the only high school shortstop we talk about in this draft, but specifically for the Mariners, you'd think, okay, if you're taking an up the middle player on the dirt, where are they playing in the system? You don't usually think about that. I don't think the Mariners will be thinking about it that way with how they operate and how they've drafted in the past. That's never stopped them before. But it is a little trickier when you acquire a lot of guys who play the same position and where you want them to develop in the minors.

[01:11:18] And the best example we use right now is shortstop because the Mariners have a entrenched blue chip high A shortstop and an entrenched blue chip low A shortstop as well. So you just got to find spots for these guys to play. Right. And also, this is number 12. We did it in rankings of basically how, not how good we think these guys are going to be, but like how the consensus draft boards have guys paired with guys that stick out to

[01:11:47] us that we think would be good fits with the team that we think could thrive in Seattle's system. That's how we ranked it. So as we continue to go through the rankings, you're going to hear more and more names that you recognize as we get toward the top. Steel Hall's number 12. Really interesting project. Really interesting profile. Lyle, you'd be banking on one elite tool and having some others develop. And if the Mariners were to take him, I would be intrigued. Again, there are going to be even more intriguing guys on this list as we go on.

[01:12:15] But the speed tool alone jumps out. Yeah. Well, that's a fun first one, Lyle. Yeah, it was. Again, I hope we inform people about this stuff as we go on. So that way, people know these names come draft time. And we'll have some people on before the draft too to dive in on more of these prospects and get even more analysis on these guys. So yeah, like with this pick, you guys, we really want to focus on the draft this year

[01:12:40] to some extent because it's important and it's such a big draft that we think it's a big deal for people to be up to speed on it. So here we are. Steel Hall. I'm excited. This is the most excited I've been for a big league draft. How could you not be? They have a third pick. Yeah. It's going to be sick. So shout out to you guys. Shout out to Steel Hall. That's our first of 12 profiles and we can't wait to keep doing them. All right. That just about wraps up this edition of the Marine Layer Podcast. You guys know the drill.

[01:13:08] If you want to find all of our stuff, it's all over at our website, marinelayerpod.com. Go get your merch. We'd love to see you wearing it around the ballpark. Go subscribe to our Patreon. It's awesome to see all these mailbag questions come in from our Patreon members. People have been interactive in the chats and with the questions and on the Zoom calls. Getting involved. We'd love to have you guys get involved with it too. You can find all our episodes on our website, audio and video. It's all there. You can find our live show schedule, which one more time on this episode.

[01:13:36] Next live show, Saturday, June 28th, 12 p.m. at Occidental Hall over in Seattle. We can't wait for it. Live show at 12. Watch party at 1. We hope to see you there. And then you can find us all across social media at Marine Layer Pod. That's TJ. I'm Lyle. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon. We'll talk to you soon. We'll talk to you soon. We'll talk to you soon.