Lyle and TJ react to the latest information around Nico Hoerner and Brendan Donovan, provided this time by Jeff Passan (2:30). They then dive into a couple of proposals floated out by the commissioners office in the past week: expansion, realignment, and an in-season tournament (14:48).
Don't forget, Marine Layer Podcast Trivia Night on Feb 11th at Queen Anne Beerhall!
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00:00 --> 00:03 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to episode number 350 of the Marine Lair podcasts.
00:03 --> 00:08 [SPEAKER_00]: We'll discuss if the MLB trademark it is potentially heating up with some movement here on Tuesday.
00:08 --> 00:16 [SPEAKER_00]: We'll also talk about some hypothetical expansion ideas thrown out by Rob Manford in the commissioner's office because nothing else is going on.
00:16 --> 00:19 [SPEAKER_00]: So let's get hypothetical, Lyle.
00:20 --> 00:26 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll do that right after we give you guys a quick reminder to please make sure you're going and downloading these podcast episodes if you're listening.
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00:59 --> 00:59 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's get it rolling.
01:13 --> 01:24 [SPEAKER_00]: And we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Lair podcast part of the just baseball podcast network recording here on Tuesday evening January 13th Wow, cover years and we're gonna say the words.
01:25 --> 01:31 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna say the words Brendan Donovan I've had just about enough dude.
01:32 --> 01:39 [SPEAKER_01]: I've had about enough of Brendan Donovan and this has nothing to do with Brendan Donovan I've had enough about hearing his name in the rumor mill
01:39 --> 01:42 [SPEAKER_01]: At this point, I just want Brendan Donovan to get traded.
01:43 --> 01:53 [SPEAKER_01]: I think at this point, I would rather see Brendan Donovan traded to the Giants tomorrow than to have his name just continue to circulate in him sitting in St. Louis, because I'm ready for this to be done.
01:53 --> 02:10 [SPEAKER_00]: How big of an eye role did you have when you got the Jeff pass in notification saying Brendan Donovan, you're like, oh, and then realize that Jeff passing is just saying that the San Francisco Giants are aggressively pursuing a second baseman and that they have talked to the cardinals about Brendan Donovan.
02:12 --> 02:13 [SPEAKER_01]: Can I drop a hot take here?
02:14 --> 02:14 [SPEAKER_01]: Sure.
02:15 --> 02:16 [SPEAKER_01]: Jeff Passen's board.
02:17 --> 02:19 [SPEAKER_01]: He's board like the rest of the baseball world.
02:19 --> 02:21 [SPEAKER_01]: And what do I mean by that?
02:21 --> 02:23 [SPEAKER_01]: Jeff Passen doesn't tweet out rumors.
02:24 --> 02:27 [SPEAKER_01]: Think about all the other guys that break news across the industry.
02:27 --> 02:28 [SPEAKER_01]: Most of them will tweet out rumors.
02:28 --> 02:30 [SPEAKER_01]: John Hayman is the king of tweeting out rumors.
02:30 --> 02:34 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that guy tweets out every rumor possible and never breaks any news.
02:34 --> 02:35 [SPEAKER_01]: So he tweets out rumors.
02:36 --> 02:38 [SPEAKER_01]: And then you've got Rosenthal, tweets out a ton of rumors.
02:39 --> 02:42 [SPEAKER_01]: You've got other guys who tweet out a bunch of rumors across the industry.
02:42 --> 02:49 [SPEAKER_01]: Not only is Jeff Passen breaking almost every piece of news, but he is always first, and he only tweets when there is news.
02:50 --> 02:59 [SPEAKER_01]: Then all of a sudden today, he's out here tweeting, oh, the giants have engaged with the Cardinals on Brendan Donovan and also engaged with the Cubs on Nico Horner.
03:00 --> 03:01 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like this guy's board.
03:02 --> 03:03 [SPEAKER_01]: He's board and wants to cook up some rumors.
03:04 --> 03:06 [SPEAKER_00]: Didn't we know that the week after winter meeting?
03:06 --> 03:07 [SPEAKER_00]: Someone else reported it.
03:07 --> 03:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Was it Bob Knight and Gail?
03:09 --> 03:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Who said Mariners and Giants?
03:11 --> 03:14 [SPEAKER_00]: Top two front runners for Brennan Dawnville's like, all right.
03:15 --> 03:20 [SPEAKER_00]: And then here we are a month later in Jeff is essentially telling us, yeah, that's the case.
03:21 --> 03:22 [SPEAKER_01]: Again, I think he's bored.
03:23 --> 03:25 [SPEAKER_01]: I could only find one other time.
03:25 --> 03:31 [SPEAKER_01]: One, were passens tweeted out things that were rumors and not definitive news.
03:31 --> 03:38 [SPEAKER_01]: And the rumors, which ended up being true because he got right the final three teams that Rokie Sasaki was gonna meet with last year.
03:38 --> 03:55 [SPEAKER_01]: was when he tweeted out the final three teams for Roki Sasaki because I don't know if you TJ or anybody listening remembers how horseshit the reporting was on Roki last winner about oh it's final destinations are here and this team's out but this team's actually in and it's just all across the board.
03:55 --> 04:04 [SPEAKER_01]: There's terrible reporting, there's cross reporting, there's people tweeting totally different things about the same team to the point where
04:04 --> 04:06 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna tweet out who broke his final three teams are, and he was right.
04:07 --> 04:11 [SPEAKER_01]: That is the only other rumor I've ever seen him tweet out, but today...
04:11 --> 04:14 [SPEAKER_01]: He tweets that out, and I'm thinking myself, yeah, he's bored.
04:15 --> 04:18 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's calm down some Mariners, agitation for a second here.
04:18 --> 04:24 [SPEAKER_00]: There's some anxious people out there because there hasn't been a move made yet, and we're still waiting for this final bat.
04:25 --> 04:37 [SPEAKER_00]: And you see Jeff pass and tweeting this out in favor of the San Francisco Giants, because what this is right here, I'm not going to try and put words and Jeff's mal-thor or say like I know anything.
04:37 --> 04:39 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm just going to hypothesize.
04:39 --> 04:50 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it usually happens when people tweet out rumors, like big newsbraper, breakers with massive audiences, push out these types of things, usually there's a negotiation going on.
04:50 --> 04:57 [SPEAKER_00]: And one side of this negotiation wants information out there to give them self more leverage.
04:58 --> 04:59 [SPEAKER_00]: You know what I'm going to take a guess here, Lyle?
05:00 --> 05:03 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to think the San Francisco Giants reached out to Jeff Passen.
05:03 --> 05:04 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a Jeff.
05:05 --> 05:08 [SPEAKER_00]: We're engaged with the Cubs on Nico Horner and Brennan Donovan.
05:08 --> 05:15 [SPEAKER_00]: So whichever guy they're trying to go out there and acquire, whichever one is number one on their board, they're trying to use the other one as leverage right now.
05:16 --> 05:17 [SPEAKER_00]: That's it.
05:18 --> 05:26 [SPEAKER_01]: or what if the Cardinals reached out to Passen and said, hey, we're negotiating with the Mariners, we don't like the price that they keep offering us for him.
05:26 --> 05:33 [SPEAKER_01]: So here's another team we're going to tell you we're engaged on with Donovan to try to get the Mariners to meet our demand.
05:34 --> 05:35 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, entirely possible.
05:36 --> 05:39 [SPEAKER_00]: The way I look at this tweet though, you could swap.
05:40 --> 05:50 [SPEAKER_00]: And his first four words, he says, the San Francisco Giants, you could put the Seattle Mariners in there, and everything means the exact same and all the information works out.
05:51 --> 05:53 [SPEAKER_00]: I can almost guarantee it, almost certainly.
05:53 --> 05:58 [SPEAKER_00]: You're telling me the Mariners, if Nico Horner and we will get to hear in a second.
05:58 --> 06:01 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, again, on Nico Horner.
06:02 --> 06:08 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk about the potential of a team being interested in Brennan, Donovan and Nico Horner.
06:09 --> 06:13 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the mariners are in on that, like that's literally what they've told us all off season.
06:13 --> 06:16 [SPEAKER_00]: And the way Jeff passed and frames it.
06:16 --> 06:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, these guys are still still very much available.
06:20 --> 06:23 [SPEAKER_00]: The mariners, I'm almost certain of it are in on that.
06:23 --> 06:24 [SPEAKER_00]: Almost certain.
06:24 --> 06:28 [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, maybe they weren't mentioned in this tweet, but it doesn't mean the information is not true.
06:28 --> 06:30 [SPEAKER_00]: So if you're this tweet made you anxious.
06:35 --> 06:37 [SPEAKER_01]: relax, just relax a little bit.
06:39 --> 06:45 [SPEAKER_01]: See, that's usually what you tell me to do when I'm going off about something, but now you're just telling any other listeners that might need the same.
06:45 --> 06:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Which by the way, I've been pretty good.
06:47 --> 06:49 [SPEAKER_01]: I've been had a true meltdown in a while.
06:49 --> 06:56 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, the whole office gift and meme where it says days since last nonsense and then when something happens, they cross it off and write zero.
06:56 --> 07:00 [SPEAKER_01]: I've been, I've been had a true meltdown in a while, I'm on a good run.
07:00 --> 07:02 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's like 70 days?
07:02 --> 07:03 [SPEAKER_01]: It's something like that.
07:04 --> 07:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Probably since Kara Carbon, right?
07:05 --> 07:06 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, or,
07:06 --> 07:08 [SPEAKER_01]: because I didn't melt down about Munoz.
07:08 --> 07:12 [SPEAKER_01]: I think I was too in shock, but yeah, like the last true melt down was probably Carrie Garbender.
07:14 --> 07:14 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
07:14 --> 07:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's get to the Nico Horner part of this.
07:18 --> 07:19 [SPEAKER_00]: I, Lowen, I respect Jeff a lot.
07:19 --> 07:21 [SPEAKER_00]: We've met him a couple times, funny dude.
07:22 --> 07:25 [SPEAKER_00]: The best at what he does across the industry.
07:25 --> 07:27 [SPEAKER_00]: No one is right more often than Jeff Passen.
07:28 --> 07:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Since I don't think this tweet is actually has anything to do with Nico Horner, I don't think this is being used as leverage for Nico Horner at all.
07:38 --> 07:43 [SPEAKER_00]: I still don't believe, based off of the people we've talked to, that Nico Horner is available.
07:43 --> 07:49 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't get a person with knowledge of the situation to tell you that Nico Horner is available.
07:49 --> 07:53 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't get a Cub's fan to tell you why trading Nico Horner would be a good idea.
07:54 --> 07:57 [SPEAKER_00]: I doubt you could get a baseball executive on the record, Lyle.
07:57 --> 08:01 [SPEAKER_00]: to tell you why the Cub's trading Nico Hornour now would make any good of an idea.
08:02 --> 08:09 [SPEAKER_00]: So before when this episode comes out, you guys send us an email or send us a DM and say, hey, the giants are in on Nico Hornour.
08:10 --> 08:13 [SPEAKER_00]: You guys said the mayor and her shouldn't be because he's off the board, why aren't they in it?
08:14 --> 08:16 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think Nico Hornour is available.
08:17 --> 08:24 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think this changes that at all because Jeff Passen is not changing the situation of the Chicago Cubs of this week.
08:24 --> 08:25 [SPEAKER_00]: that he can't do that.
08:25 --> 08:34 [SPEAKER_00]: The fact of the matter is for the Chicago Cubs, is that they have a great in-field set to win and compete at the top of the national league this upcoming season.
08:36 --> 08:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Why would they trade him away?
08:38 --> 08:39 [SPEAKER_01]: Great this statement.
08:40 --> 08:46 [SPEAKER_01]: I think Nico Horner is available the same way or even less so in a way that could tell Marta was available.
08:47 --> 08:47 [SPEAKER_00]: Sure.
08:48 --> 08:51 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's our guy, meet our insane asking price.
08:51 --> 08:54 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're not willing to meet it, then we're not trading a new.
08:54 --> 08:56 [SPEAKER_00]: Even better comparison, Lyle.
08:57 --> 09:00 [SPEAKER_00]: Nico Horner is as available as Terri Scoobless.
09:02 --> 09:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Back to back, say, young winner, we don't want to trade him, but if you want to meet our insane asking price for one year of a guy who's never gonna sign an extension with you.
09:11 --> 09:12 [SPEAKER_00]: Sure.
09:13 --> 09:26 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, what was the report that came out a week or so ago that said at some point this off season, the Yankees were calling about Terriq Scooball and the quote was, and apparently the Yankees checked it on Yeko Horner, too, and they were engaged with the Cubs, right.
09:27 --> 09:33 [SPEAKER_01]: But on the Scooball side of it, the Yankees said it was going to cost us half our roster for Terriq Scooball.
09:34 --> 09:36 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, maybe it wouldn't cost that for Horner.
09:36 --> 09:48 [SPEAKER_01]: But again, I think the BlueJays will feel calls because if somebody really offers them an absolutely absurd package that is just such an overpay that they can't say no, then okay, sure.
09:48 --> 09:50 [SPEAKER_01]: Then you think about it.
09:50 --> 09:53 [SPEAKER_01]: But the Mariners aren't throwing out a package like that.
09:53 --> 09:54 [SPEAKER_01]: Nor should they.
09:54 --> 09:57 [SPEAKER_01]: And the cubs aren't gonna take prospects for him.
09:57 --> 10:00 [SPEAKER_01]: So look, I don't think Jeff Passen's wrong.
10:00 --> 10:01 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's put it like that.
10:01 --> 10:03 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think Jeff's wrong with what he's tweeting out.
10:04 --> 10:11 [SPEAKER_01]: I absolutely believe that he has, because he always does, an incredibly credible information that the giants are interested in Nico Horner.
10:12 --> 10:13 [SPEAKER_01]: So I think both sides are right here.
10:14 --> 10:18 [SPEAKER_01]: Jeff is right that the giants are very much interested in trading for the cubs second basement.
10:18 --> 10:20 [SPEAKER_01]: But we will stand by what we said.
10:20 --> 10:27 [SPEAKER_01]: and with full belief that he's not getting traded because the cubs have no interest to deal him for anything that's not a king's ransom.
10:27 --> 10:32 [SPEAKER_01]: So yes, I believe Jeff's right and if the giants are interested, I also believe that Nico's not going anywhere.
10:32 --> 10:35 [SPEAKER_01]: The giants can call, that doesn't mean the cubs are gonna say yes.
10:36 --> 10:41 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't find a single cubs person online to rationalize why.
10:41 --> 10:54 [SPEAKER_00]: the Cubs would trade Nico Horner, like sit someone down who really cares about the Cubs winning in 2026 and say, can you draw me a scenario where trading Nico Horner in 2026 make sense?
10:55 --> 11:05 [SPEAKER_00]: As I said on Monday's episode, I can imagine one single scenario, one, yeah, a terrible, and by the way, just to be clear,
11:07 --> 11:15 [SPEAKER_01]: When we say, we've got pretty strong belief with sensible, credible information that Nico will not get traded.
11:15 --> 11:17 [SPEAKER_01]: No, that's not from crowdsourcing from people online.
11:17 --> 11:24 [SPEAKER_01]: That is somebody who I think we can say has a pretty good grasp of the situation and for that reason, we do not think Nico is getting dealt.
11:24 --> 11:26 [SPEAKER_01]: Along with every reason, we've already laid out.
11:27 --> 11:29 [SPEAKER_00]: Dude, just search Nico's name and the Twitter search bar.
11:30 --> 11:32 [SPEAKER_00]: Find me a Cubs person who says it's a good idea.
11:33 --> 11:34 [SPEAKER_00]: You know the people who say it's a good idea?
11:35 --> 11:36 [SPEAKER_00]: Yankee's fans.
11:36 --> 11:59 [SPEAKER_00]: and giants fans that's who says it's a good idea and mariners fans and mariners fans yeah i think it's a great idea but i don't think the cubs think that as well i mean we know someone who covers the cubs and he tweets uh he tweeted on a nice long statement about this but the thing that sticks out to me on why this wouldn't make any sense at all he calls it a quote unquote unnecessary momentum killer
11:59 --> 12:00 [SPEAKER_00]: I agree.
12:00 --> 12:03 [SPEAKER_00]: He's not like Nico Horner is not expensive.
12:03 --> 12:05 [SPEAKER_00]: He's not a clubhouse cancer.
12:06 --> 12:12 [SPEAKER_00]: He's not a bad fit on your team like What what's the reason?
12:14 --> 12:16 [SPEAKER_01]: What's Alex Braggman gonna think if you turn around and do that?
12:16 --> 12:17 [SPEAKER_01]: He'd be pissed.
12:17 --> 12:18 [SPEAKER_00]: He'd be insulted.
12:18 --> 12:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
12:19 --> 12:20 [SPEAKER_00]: I sign here to try and win.
12:21 --> 12:21 [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
12:21 --> 12:35 [SPEAKER_00]: So I think this is a long roundabout way of me and Lyle saying that even though Passen put this out this morning, I don't think this changes much of the Mariners chances of getting Nico Horner now that Alex Braggman's in Chicago.
12:37 --> 12:37 [SPEAKER_01]: Also.
12:38 --> 12:40 [SPEAKER_01]: The Mariners don't usually let stuff like that leak out.
12:41 --> 12:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Somebody on one of the sides of the giants or the carinals clearly wanted this information out there.
12:46 --> 12:48 [SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't be shocked if it was either side.
12:48 --> 12:52 [SPEAKER_01]: You can make an argument for either or both sides wanting that out there.
12:52 --> 12:54 [SPEAKER_01]: But the Mariners don't really do that.
12:54 --> 13:02 [SPEAKER_01]: Remember how long the Mac shows her free agency saga leaked out where everybody had figured out for a few days, he was probably going to be a met, but it just had to get finalized.
13:02 --> 13:04 [SPEAKER_01]: And there was just breadcrumbs everywhere about it.
13:05 --> 13:06 [SPEAKER_01]: The Mariners don't really do that.
13:07 --> 13:09 [SPEAKER_01]: When a signing happens, it just happens.
13:09 --> 13:12 [SPEAKER_01]: You don't usually see, oh, this is leaked out.
13:12 --> 13:13 [SPEAKER_01]: And they're interested in this guy.
13:13 --> 13:14 [SPEAKER_01]: And now talks are progressing.
13:14 --> 13:15 [SPEAKER_01]: And now it's on the finish line.
13:16 --> 13:17 [SPEAKER_01]: Now he's a Mariners.
13:17 --> 13:18 [SPEAKER_01]: That doesn't really happen.
13:19 --> 13:23 [SPEAKER_01]: If Donovan gets traded to the Mariners, we're just gonna see a pass in notification about it one day.
13:24 --> 13:24 [SPEAKER_01]: And that'll be that.
13:25 --> 13:26 [SPEAKER_00]: Same thing with Josh Newler.
13:27 --> 13:30 [SPEAKER_00]: The Josh Newler didn't even give time for rumors to circulate.
13:30 --> 13:31 [SPEAKER_00]: He just signed.
13:32 --> 13:32 [SPEAKER_01]: Exactly.
13:33 --> 13:35 [SPEAKER_01]: Similarly, the Mariners are pretty good about that.
13:35 --> 13:37 [SPEAKER_01]: They don't let a lot of stuff leak out of their building.
13:37 --> 13:43 [SPEAKER_01]: So just because the Giants have now the rumor mill circling around them, does not mean the Mariners are not interested.
13:43 --> 13:47 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure they are still very interested.
13:47 --> 13:49 [SPEAKER_01]: public reporting out there about it.
13:50 --> 13:56 [SPEAKER_00]: Before we get to our main subject of today's podcast, I just want to remind people we forgot to do it on Mondays episode.
13:56 --> 13:57 [SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to do it again here.
13:58 --> 14:04 [SPEAKER_00]: We are going to have a trivia night at Queen Ann Beer Hall on February 11th, time to be determined.
14:04 --> 14:13 [SPEAKER_00]: But want to make sure we get that promotion out there because I want to give people as much time as possible to plan and give yourself a potential time to come by the Beer Hall.
14:13 --> 14:23 [SPEAKER_00]: When some prizes eat some great food and hang out with us for a night as we get ready for spring training and we get ready for the 2026 Mariners season we're really excited for this.
14:23 --> 14:25 [SPEAKER_00]: This is our first ever trivia night.
14:25 --> 14:27 [SPEAKER_00]: So remember to mark your calendars.
14:27 --> 14:30 [SPEAKER_00]: February 11th, Queen Ann Bear Hall.
14:30 --> 14:31 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a Wednesday.
14:31 --> 14:33 [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be in the evening.
14:34 --> 14:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Please remember, put it on your calendar right now.
14:37 --> 14:42 [SPEAKER_00]: A loud eye gonna pause for a few seconds as you pause the episode and put it on your calendar.
14:43 --> 14:48 [SPEAKER_01]: One, two, three, four, five.
14:48 --> 14:49 [SPEAKER_00]: There we go.
14:49 --> 14:50 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for putting it on your calendar.
14:50 --> 14:51 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
14:51 --> 14:54 [SPEAKER_01]: We would genuinely love to have every single one of you guys out for it though.
14:55 --> 14:56 [SPEAKER_01]: We think this is going to be a blast.
14:56 --> 15:02 [SPEAKER_01]: And what a fun way to really start to ring in the new baseball year, and to get people excited, and to do something as fun as this.
15:04 --> 15:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Very much looking forward to it.
15:05 --> 15:06 [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be a great night.
15:07 --> 15:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Main subject today, Lyle.
15:09 --> 15:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, thank God.
15:10 --> 15:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Favorite person ever.
15:12 --> 15:12 [SPEAKER_00]: One of them.
15:12 --> 15:13 [SPEAKER_00]: We have a lot of them.
15:14 --> 15:20 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we don't like this person, but I'm just so happy to not be talking about any more Nico Horner-Brennan Donovan.
15:20 --> 15:21 [SPEAKER_01]: I can't do much more of it.
15:22 --> 15:29 [SPEAKER_00]: Rob Manford did some media within the last couple of weeks and floated out a couple of potential ideas for major league baseball.
15:29 --> 15:34 [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't want to talk about how to fix the Mariners and we can flesh out some ideas a little bit.
15:35 --> 15:39 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about number one, expansion and realignment.
15:40 --> 15:53 [SPEAKER_00]: expansion and realignment I think is the thing that is most certain to come to major like baseball the commissioner went on WFN last week and said point like on the record I want to get to 32 teams and I want to realign
15:55 --> 16:00 [SPEAKER_00]: As a mariner fan, you should be thinking, Rob Manford, that happened.
16:00 --> 16:01 [SPEAKER_00]: And that sounds crazy.
16:01 --> 16:06 [SPEAKER_00]: Then I'm asking anybody to sit down and think, Rob Manford for that happening.
16:07 --> 16:14 [SPEAKER_00]: But I think this would be so disproportionately rewarding to the mariner's over pretty much everyone else.
16:14 --> 16:15 [SPEAKER_00]: I really think so.
16:17 --> 16:19 [SPEAKER_00]: You want to be in a division with the Dodgers?
16:20 --> 16:21 [SPEAKER_00]: you wouldn't have to be in a division with the Dodgers.
16:21 --> 16:29 [SPEAKER_00]: You'd be in a, you'd be in a conference league with the Dodgers, but you wouldn't, I don't think the Dodgers would be in your division.
16:29 --> 16:30 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a chance.
16:30 --> 16:31 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't know.
16:31 --> 16:38 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we've seen a couple reported realignments and ideas that people have thrown out there, but there is no definitive detail on any of that yet.
16:38 --> 16:40 [SPEAKER_01]: There's a world that mariners end up with those guys.
16:40 --> 16:42 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if I'd love that.
16:43 --> 16:49 [SPEAKER_00]: That would make it tougher, but in terms of a pitch to players, it would be a little easier.
16:50 --> 16:56 [SPEAKER_00]: What's the number one thing everyone hates when they come to Seattle as a free agent in any major sports team?
16:57 --> 17:01 [SPEAKER_01]: That it's Southeast Alaska and everything else is so far away in terms of the travel.
17:02 --> 17:05 [SPEAKER_00]: What better way to fix travel than to realign the sport?
17:06 --> 17:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Think about it this way.
17:08 --> 17:13 [SPEAKER_00]: Major League Baseball is the only sport that plays, that is not the NFL in America.
17:13 --> 17:21 [SPEAKER_00]: So of the NBA NHL and Major League Baseball, it is the only sport that is not aligned by geography.
17:21 --> 17:25 [SPEAKER_00]: It is instead aligned by leagues created in the 1800s.
17:25 --> 17:35 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, in college football, there's leagues that have been created in the last two years and you've got ACC Stanford fly to Florida State.
17:36 --> 17:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Exactly, but that's a sport without a commissioner.
17:38 --> 17:47 [SPEAKER_00]: This one has a commissioner and still makes the Mariners fly to the state of Texas four times in a year
17:48 --> 17:51 [SPEAKER_00]: Four times, Texas is in the central time zone.
17:52 --> 17:53 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's bad.
17:53 --> 17:59 [SPEAKER_01]: Even in the NFL where, yes, there's much less travel because there's less games.
17:59 --> 18:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Even when the Rams used to be in St. Louis, at least for the Seahawks, even though that's a long trip for a divisional game, it was only once a year.
18:06 --> 18:12 [SPEAKER_01]: You are right that, to have to fly to Texas, that many times to play two separate teams for what's essentially a five hour flight is a lot.
18:13 --> 18:15 [SPEAKER_01]: That's a long travel for a divisional game.
18:15 --> 18:22 [SPEAKER_00]: So why not instead the league geographically realign and put the Mariners in a division with?
18:22 --> 18:28 [SPEAKER_00]: Let me throw the teams out there, because here are the options for who the Mariners could potentially be in a division with.
18:28 --> 18:32 [SPEAKER_00]: If there is a Westward expansion team, if the Portland team
18:34 --> 18:36 [SPEAKER_00]: becomes a reality, and they have a team down there.
18:37 --> 18:38 [SPEAKER_00]: The Mariners would be in a division with them.
18:39 --> 18:45 [SPEAKER_00]: They could be in a division with the Giants, Dodgers, Angels, A's, and Diamondbacks.
18:46 --> 18:49 [SPEAKER_00]: We're talking about the Titist Geography possible.
18:50 --> 18:52 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, those are your options.
18:52 --> 18:54 [SPEAKER_01]: I would throw the Rockies and Padres in there too.
18:54 --> 18:56 [SPEAKER_01]: Not as close.
18:56 --> 18:59 [SPEAKER_01]: The Rockies, I think, are actually the shortest flight from Seattle.
18:59 --> 19:01 [SPEAKER_01]: I think Denver is two hours on the dot.
19:01 --> 19:02 [SPEAKER_01]: Really?
19:02 --> 19:03 [SPEAKER_01]: It's short.
19:03 --> 19:03 [SPEAKER_01]: You should look it up.
19:04 --> 19:04 [SPEAKER_00]: Denver is a short flight.
19:05 --> 19:06 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
19:06 --> 19:09 [SPEAKER_00]: I did not know that as well, I'm disappointed in myself.
19:10 --> 19:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for, thank you for noting that.
19:12 --> 19:18 [SPEAKER_00]: Let me talk, let me explain this realignment map.
19:18 --> 19:19 [SPEAKER_00]: I sent it to you.
19:19 --> 19:26 [SPEAKER_00]: So if you want to pull it up, we can talk through the ideas here of where the Mariners are and how this would benefit them.
19:27 --> 19:31 [SPEAKER_00]: So this puts the Mariners in the National League, funny enough.
19:31 --> 19:42 [SPEAKER_00]: The Mariners would now be in the National League Northwest, and note that they would have the National League as the Western League, and the American League would be the Eastern League.
19:42 --> 19:46 [SPEAKER_00]: Mariners would be in a division with the Portland team, the Giants and the Ace.
19:47 --> 19:48 [SPEAKER_00]: Sounds okay to me.
19:51 --> 19:55 [SPEAKER_01]: It sounds fine, yes, that in terms of the competition, that'd be great.
19:55 --> 19:59 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't love the whole portland thing, but that's part of the expansion topic and we can get to that in a minute.
19:59 --> 20:02 [SPEAKER_01]: In terms of the realignment and the idea of less travel, yes.
20:03 --> 20:07 [SPEAKER_01]: The idea of playing more divisional games that are all shorter flights sounds awesome.
20:07 --> 20:11 [SPEAKER_01]: I was a little bit off by the way on the Denver thing, I think it's more like two and a half hours.
20:11 --> 20:17 [SPEAKER_01]: Point is, it's pretty close, but to play those three teams, especially when
20:18 --> 20:21 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the A's are gonna be much better going forward.
20:21 --> 20:26 [SPEAKER_01]: But teams that are not the Dodgers, it's not the Padres, it's not the Astros.
20:27 --> 20:30 [SPEAKER_01]: It'd be a pretty good hand you'd be dealt.
20:30 --> 20:42 [SPEAKER_00]: And then the other teams in your quote unquote league going by division in the NL Southwest, it would be the Dodgers, angels, Padres, and Diamondbacks.
20:42 --> 20:43 [SPEAKER_00]: I will know.
20:43 --> 20:51 [SPEAKER_00]: Manford said, well, he was on WFN that he did not want teams in the same cities in the same league, which I thought was interesting.
20:51 --> 20:53 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think you can get both though.
20:53 --> 21:12 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think you could geographically realign and have two teams in the same city, not in the same division or league, I think they'll be tricky, division especially because that's the most convenient thing that works out for you.
21:13 --> 21:16 [SPEAKER_01]: Can I be transparent here with people for a second?
21:16 --> 21:34 [SPEAKER_01]: Just as we try to work, one of our resolutions in 2026 with this podcast, I think we do some of it already, but it's certainly my resolution to do more of it, and I think it's TJ's too, be even more personal on the podcast and just share more about the two of us and let people get to know the two of us even a little bit better than we already do.
21:34 --> 21:36 [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm going to be a little transparent about something here.
21:37 --> 21:39 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't like change at all.
21:39 --> 21:49 [SPEAKER_01]: I hate change, even when it's probably for the best, there's things about it that just fuck with my own life and my own psyche that I just can't stand.
21:49 --> 21:51 [SPEAKER_01]: So yes, I'm gonna be transparent here.
21:52 --> 22:00 [SPEAKER_01]: There is every logical reason to want to change the realignment and the conferences and divisions of the sport to make travel easier.
22:00 --> 22:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Especially for a team like the Mariners that most years leads the league and miles traveled.
22:06 --> 22:07 [SPEAKER_01]: but I don't like change.
22:07 --> 22:11 [SPEAKER_01]: I just look at it as a, it's fine, it's just worked for as long as it has.
22:11 --> 22:12 [SPEAKER_00]: Why not just leave it?
22:14 --> 22:18 [SPEAKER_00]: It's worked, but it disproportionately affects your team.
22:19 --> 22:20 [SPEAKER_01]: It does.
22:21 --> 22:25 [SPEAKER_01]: I guess I just hate the idea of, you just know who you're going to see every year.
22:25 --> 22:27 [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, oh, yeah, you know you're going to see the angels.
22:27 --> 22:28 [SPEAKER_01]: You know you're going to see the angels.
22:28 --> 22:29 [SPEAKER_01]: You know you're going to see the angels.
22:29 --> 22:29 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you?
22:29 --> 22:34 [SPEAKER_00]: The league has been less and less married to leagues the more years we go.
22:34 --> 22:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Every team plays every team every year.
22:40 --> 22:43 [SPEAKER_01]: So this was part of what I was going to get to is yes.
22:44 --> 22:59 [SPEAKER_01]: The way the league is now working with everybody playing everybody, and the fact that the two leagues itself are not different anymore, because once you got rid of the pitcher hitting in the national league and made it a universal DH, there's no difference between the two leagues.
22:59 --> 23:12 [SPEAKER_01]: There's no significance between playing in one verse the other, not like when there used to be interlead play very sporadically throughout a year where maybe you get 10 to 12 games against the other league, and otherwise you don't see them till the world series.
23:12 --> 23:14 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's not like that anymore.
23:14 --> 23:15 [SPEAKER_01]: And there's no difference between the leagues.
23:16 --> 23:25 [SPEAKER_01]: Again, it might be stupid, I know, but there is something about me and being incredibly selfish and not wanting to adapt to change.
23:26 --> 23:29 [SPEAKER_01]: That says, yeah, you can just leave it.
23:30 --> 23:36 [SPEAKER_00]: I think you would adapt to this in like two years, because you must have been all against the Astros coming to the American League.
23:37 --> 23:43 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I probably was, then again, back then they were so awful that I thought it wouldn't make a difference.
23:43 --> 23:44 [SPEAKER_01]: Boy was I wrong.
23:44 --> 23:48 [SPEAKER_00]: And the Mariners still lost the season series to the Astros, even when they were found out.
23:48 --> 23:51 [SPEAKER_01]: Dude, who was on that team in 13?
23:51 --> 23:54 [SPEAKER_01]: The only guy I remember besides out to they is Chris Carter.
23:54 --> 23:58 [SPEAKER_01]: But like, the Chris Carter that was huge and used to strike out all the time, but sometimes hit homers.
23:59 --> 24:00 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a good question.
24:00 --> 24:03 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it was, that was a tough group.
24:03 --> 24:04 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm looking it up right now.
24:04 --> 24:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Ask for 20, 2013, the Astros lost 111 games.
24:10 --> 24:13 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, JD Martinez was on that team at 25 years old, man.
24:13 --> 24:14 [SPEAKER_00]: He was bad.
24:14 --> 24:16 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, I was saying, now read his war.
24:16 --> 24:19 [SPEAKER_01]: He's sure you know the name JD Martinez, but read his war that year.
24:19 --> 24:20 [SPEAKER_01]: It was bad.
24:20 --> 24:23 [SPEAKER_00]: Their most valuable player, number one was Jason Castro.
24:23 --> 24:26 [SPEAKER_00]: Number two was Matt Dominguez.
24:27 --> 24:31 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, here's the Astros 2013 starting lineup.
24:32 --> 24:35 [SPEAKER_01]: It's Jason Castro, a catcher, Chris Carter at first.
24:35 --> 24:38 [SPEAKER_01]: I'll two-way at second back when he was incredibly young.
24:38 --> 24:40 [SPEAKER_01]: He ran out of six, 70, OPS that year.
24:40 --> 24:42 [SPEAKER_01]: Jonathan VR at shortsat, remember him?
24:43 --> 24:44 [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I do.
24:44 --> 24:44 [SPEAKER_01]: He was solid.
24:45 --> 24:45 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, for a while.
24:46 --> 24:48 [SPEAKER_01]: He was solid, but good defender, but yeah, not good with the Astros.
24:49 --> 24:52 [SPEAKER_01]: Matt Dominguez, JD Martinez, Brandon Barnes.
24:52 --> 24:53 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't remember that name.
24:54 --> 24:56 [SPEAKER_01]: L. J. Hoss, hosts.
24:56 --> 24:57 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't remember that guy at all.
24:57 --> 25:02 [SPEAKER_01]: And then Carlos Peña was the D.H. who must have been a shell of himself at that point.
25:02 --> 25:04 [SPEAKER_01]: At that time, you used 35.
25:05 --> 25:15 [SPEAKER_00]: and the Seattle Mariners against a 100-in-loss, a 111-loss Astros team went 10-in-9, while getting out scored by get this loud.
25:16 --> 25:18 [SPEAKER_00]: 10 runs in the season series.
25:19 --> 25:20 [SPEAKER_01]: Listen to this rotation.
25:20 --> 25:22 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you had Kikell who wasn't good back then.
25:22 --> 25:24 [SPEAKER_01]: This was before he really started to turn it on.
25:24 --> 25:26 [SPEAKER_01]: Lucas Harrell, do you remember that name?
25:26 --> 25:27 [SPEAKER_01]: I do not.
25:27 --> 25:28 [SPEAKER_01]: Not really.
25:28 --> 25:30 [SPEAKER_01]: You had Jordan Lyle's in that rotation.
25:30 --> 25:32 [SPEAKER_01]: It was also not good.
25:32 --> 25:34 [SPEAKER_01]: You had Bud Norris in that rotation.
25:34 --> 25:35 [SPEAKER_01]: Him, I remember a little bit.
25:35 --> 25:36 [SPEAKER_01]: I think he was an Oriole, too.
25:36 --> 25:37 [SPEAKER_01]: I want to say Bud Norris.
25:38 --> 25:39 [SPEAKER_01]: You had Brad Peacock before again.
25:39 --> 25:44 [SPEAKER_01]: He also got really good because in 17, he was a real part of that Astros team that won it all and he was good then.
25:45 --> 25:51 [SPEAKER_01]: And dog, the last guy in the rotation of the six guys that qualified, can you get it?
25:53 --> 25:54 [SPEAKER_01]: Raphael Montero?
25:55 --> 25:58 [SPEAKER_01]: No, this was the second last year of this guy's career.
25:58 --> 25:59 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh Joe Saunders?
26:00 --> 26:02 [SPEAKER_01]: No, not a bad guess.
26:02 --> 26:03 [SPEAKER_01]: Let me put it like this.
26:04 --> 26:07 [SPEAKER_01]: He will be remembered around here for a long time.
26:08 --> 26:09 [SPEAKER_01]: Eric Bidard.
26:09 --> 26:11 [SPEAKER_01]: Eric Bidard.
26:11 --> 26:11 [SPEAKER_01]: Wow.
26:12 --> 26:15 [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't remember him being an astro, but he was on the 13 roster.
26:15 --> 26:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Me, either.
26:16 --> 26:17 [SPEAKER_00]: Forget a very forgettable team.
26:18 --> 26:21 [SPEAKER_00]: See this is what you changed with that team you had no problem with.
26:23 --> 26:25 [SPEAKER_01]: Again, I thought they were going to be awful.
26:25 --> 26:31 [SPEAKER_01]: I thought the Mariners were just going to clown them and stomp all over them, despite them being terrible back then in 13 too, but I was wrong.
26:32 --> 26:40 [SPEAKER_00]: Why don't I make this sales pitch to you, won't talking about realignment, listen to the all the other teams in your league that you're going to have to compete with.
26:41 --> 26:55 [SPEAKER_00]: Mariners, Portland team, giants, A's, Dodgers, Angels, Padres, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Royals, Rangers, Astros, Cardinals, White Sox, Cubs, Reds.
26:56 --> 26:58 [SPEAKER_01]: There's one team and there I really don't like.
26:58 --> 26:59 [SPEAKER_01]: The rest of them okay.
27:00 --> 27:02 [SPEAKER_00]: The rest of it sounds fine.
27:02 --> 27:03 [SPEAKER_00]: You're on par with the rest of them.
27:04 --> 27:06 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, you don't have in your league anymore.
27:07 --> 27:13 [SPEAKER_00]: The Blue Jays, the Red Sox, the Yankees, the Philly's, the Braves.
27:14 --> 27:15 [SPEAKER_00]: You're enough about the Braves, right?
27:15 --> 27:15 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not loud.
27:15 --> 27:17 [SPEAKER_00]: We've talked about Frank the Tank enough.
27:17 --> 27:18 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're enough about the Braves.
27:21 --> 27:28 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, dude, I just like, this is another place where my incredibly stupid brain ghost that can't use any sense of logic.
27:28 --> 27:33 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm at the point where I'm of the mindset that the Dodgers aren't going to have a losing season for 30 more years.
27:33 --> 27:35 [SPEAKER_01]: So that's probably why I hate it.
27:36 --> 27:40 [SPEAKER_00]: What if they, I mean, I don't think the Dodgers can keep this up forever.
27:40 --> 27:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Eventually, that TV deal they have is going to run out.
27:44 --> 27:44 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe.
27:44 --> 27:56 [SPEAKER_01]: I guess it's just about having to play them around earlier, which I hate because again, you hope somebody else knocks them out in the NL if you're the Mariners and you don't have to play them in a world series one year.
27:56 --> 27:56 [SPEAKER_01]: But,
27:56 --> 28:01 [SPEAKER_01]: whatever, yes, this logically makes sense, and yes, maybe I'd adjust to it over time.
28:01 --> 28:04 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just, I'm gonna bet you I'm not the only person in this boat.
28:05 --> 28:14 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure I'm not the only person that is really awful about adapting to change and would probably see that and hate it at the start because they don't want to adapt.
28:14 --> 28:18 [SPEAKER_00]: And baseball is a sport that hates change more than anyone.
28:18 --> 28:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
28:19 --> 28:22 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'll just say to it, please go leave us a comment.
28:22 --> 28:25 [SPEAKER_00]: Let us know what you think about potential realignment.
28:25 --> 28:28 [SPEAKER_00]: I would, I'm gonna imagine most of the comments agree with you.
28:30 --> 28:30 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm guessing.
28:30 --> 28:32 [SPEAKER_00]: They saw how the tone of the comments usually.
28:33 --> 28:34 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's how it's gonna be.
28:34 --> 28:36 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this is why Rob does this, right?
28:36 --> 28:41 [SPEAKER_01]: He puts these things out there because he wants to try to get a pulse on what fans think.
28:41 --> 28:45 [SPEAKER_01]: And usually his ideas suck, but maybe he,
28:45 --> 28:49 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe with the realignment thing, he's helping people could come around to it.
28:49 --> 28:57 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, to be honest, the golden at bad idea as stupid as it is and how dumb it would be if it was actually executed in baseball.
28:57 --> 29:10 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I understand the logic behind it of trying to get your best players up in the most crucial moments to further enhancing engagement, but it's so unnatural and so saturated that that would never work in baseball.
29:10 --> 29:15 [SPEAKER_01]: I get it, you're trying to make it like shootouts either in soccer or in hockey to some extent,
29:15 --> 29:17 [SPEAKER_01]: baseball's not like that.
29:17 --> 29:26 [SPEAKER_01]: But something like realignment, we're in hockey you're right that it's by conference and and place and it like and geographic location.
29:26 --> 29:30 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, geography, geographic location, NBA, it's by geographic location.
29:30 --> 29:33 [SPEAKER_01]: I think the MLS, it's by geographic location.
29:34 --> 29:35 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it makes sense.
29:36 --> 29:40 [SPEAKER_01]: It makes sense that maybe over time I'd adjust to it.
29:40 --> 29:46 [SPEAKER_00]: But if you didn't like that idea, what about the second one that we'll touch on very briefly before we wrap up?
29:47 --> 29:51 [SPEAKER_00]: How would you feel while about an in-season tournament?
29:52 --> 29:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Fuck off.
29:54 --> 29:55 [SPEAKER_00]: What about a split season?
29:56 --> 29:58 [SPEAKER_00]: No.
29:58 --> 29:58 [SPEAKER_01]: Great.
29:58 --> 30:01 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, they do that in the minor leagues.
30:02 --> 30:04 [SPEAKER_01]: But that's more of a matter of the minor leagues.
30:04 --> 30:04 [SPEAKER_01]: Right.
30:04 --> 30:06 [SPEAKER_01]: I was going to say, but that's a minor league thing.
30:07 --> 30:07 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not a big league thing.
30:08 --> 30:09 [SPEAKER_01]: Because in the minor leagues,
30:10 --> 30:16 [SPEAKER_01]: usually teams are so different in the first half than in the second half across the board because guys get called up and then there's the draft.
30:16 --> 30:18 [SPEAKER_01]: It's different teams.
30:18 --> 30:19 [SPEAKER_01]: That doesn't happen in baseball.
30:19 --> 30:23 [SPEAKER_01]: You don't have players graduating to some higher level in the majors.
30:23 --> 30:24 [SPEAKER_01]: Major's as high as you go.
30:24 --> 30:25 [SPEAKER_01]: Some know.
30:25 --> 30:30 [SPEAKER_00]: It wouldn't be appealing if you already clinched a playoff spot by winning the first half because then what happens in the second out?
30:30 --> 30:34 [SPEAKER_00]: Baseball wants the best product possible out there for the second half.
30:34 --> 30:38 [SPEAKER_00]: And if half the guys already have, they have the playoff spot locked up.
30:38 --> 30:38 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, oh,
30:38 --> 30:41 [SPEAKER_00]: I could take half the games off, and you know what baseball doesn't need?
30:41 --> 30:44 [SPEAKER_00]: Load management.
30:44 --> 30:51 [SPEAKER_01]: I was about to say, you're gonna see a hell of a lot of players start to take a lot of pages out of a quiet Leonard book and say, oh, we won the first half?
30:51 --> 30:54 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'm gonna take the day off today, Skip.
30:54 --> 30:59 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm also gonna take the day off tomorrow and probably on Sunday too, so I can go out with my family the night before.
31:00 --> 31:03 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is a reason why the in-season tournament, I don't think would work either.
31:04 --> 31:14 [SPEAKER_00]: The whole reason the in-season tournament exists in the NBA is to try to get players to play early in the season and give a shit because a lot of them don't.
31:14 --> 31:17 [SPEAKER_00]: But people are people clown on the in-season tournament in the NBA.
31:17 --> 31:18 [SPEAKER_00]: People think it's stupid.
31:19 --> 31:22 [SPEAKER_00]: Now the players who get paid a million dollars, all the fans think it's dumb.
31:22 --> 31:30 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure they do, but it rates, it's on national TV, you get paid extra money.
31:30 --> 31:35 [SPEAKER_00]: First of all, I don't think the teams wanna add extra games to a schedule.
31:36 --> 31:44 [SPEAKER_00]: Second of all, the reason the NBA has that is for load management purposes, but here, let me know if you think this is a problem in Major League Baseball.
31:44 --> 31:50 [SPEAKER_00]: So the NBA had to put a minimum in to qualify for awards at 65 games, you had to play 65 games at least 20 minutes.
31:52 --> 31:54 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you know what the equivalent of that would be in Major League Baseball?
31:56 --> 31:58 [SPEAKER_00]: It's only 120 games.
31:59 --> 32:00 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
32:00 --> 32:06 [SPEAKER_00]: You feel like most guys who aren't hurt play 120 games a year, I'd say, yeah, pretty easily.
32:07 --> 32:07 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
32:08 --> 32:10 [SPEAKER_01]: Cal Rawley does that all behind the plate on its own.
32:10 --> 32:11 [SPEAKER_01]: That doesn't even account the H days.
32:12 --> 32:12 [SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
32:13 --> 32:15 [SPEAKER_00]: It just, that one didn't, wouldn't work as well.
32:16 --> 32:19 [SPEAKER_00]: This one, I feel like he's more just thrown out there and be like, oh, that could be fun.
32:19 --> 32:20 [SPEAKER_00]: No.
32:20 --> 32:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no.
32:21 --> 32:29 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, the one other we could spend a minute on here is we didn't talk much about the idea of expansion, which I know Rob Manford's talked about for a while.
32:29 --> 32:30 [SPEAKER_01]: I've never been in favor of this.
32:31 --> 32:33 [SPEAKER_01]: This one I still stand by that I am not in favor of.
32:33 --> 32:42 [SPEAKER_01]: I fully acknowledge that it is mostly a me problem about the realignment and personal adaptation that I would have to adjust to.
32:44 --> 32:46 [SPEAKER_01]: But the realignment or sorry, not the realignment.
32:46 --> 32:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Expansion.
32:48 --> 32:51 [SPEAKER_01]: Are there 30 really competitive teams and Major League Baseball?
32:52 --> 32:54 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, and I know, the answer to that is no.
32:55 --> 32:57 [SPEAKER_01]: Does Major League Baseball need more teams like that?
32:59 --> 32:59 [SPEAKER_00]: I think you could.
33:00 --> 33:02 [SPEAKER_00]: I think eventually they're gonna shrink the miners again.
33:05 --> 33:13 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe, but I still don't think there's enough talent out there to feel to more entire teams.
33:14 --> 33:20 [SPEAKER_00]: I think the problem looks a lot worse than it does because you just have some really incompetent franchises.
33:21 --> 33:22 [SPEAKER_00]: And incompetent owners?
33:23 --> 33:23 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
33:24 --> 33:33 [SPEAKER_00]: But also, along with this, we'll be for what some people think, however it shakes out on the next CBA, some more competitive balance.
33:33 --> 33:39 [SPEAKER_00]: So not all the good players go to one team and get spread out a little bit more.
33:39 --> 33:41 [SPEAKER_00]: And then it feels a little bit more fair.
33:41 --> 33:53 [SPEAKER_00]: The only really non-competitive teams in Major League Baseball this past year, White Sox, Rockies,
33:54 --> 33:55 [SPEAKER_00]: Nationals have good bunch of good players.
33:55 --> 33:56 [SPEAKER_00]: Angels.
33:56 --> 33:59 [SPEAKER_00]: Angels also have some good players.
34:00 --> 34:01 [SPEAKER_00]: I think you could do it.
34:01 --> 34:02 [SPEAKER_00]: I think you could expand it to more.
34:02 --> 34:10 [SPEAKER_00]: The real worry is there is enough competitive balance within revenues so that these teams spend not only do you want a team in there.
34:10 --> 34:13 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't want to put a team in Portland to have them spend like the ace.
34:14 --> 34:17 [SPEAKER_00]: You want to put a team in Portland to have them spend like the Mariners.
34:18 --> 34:20 [SPEAKER_00]: If not more, if they have a rich owner.
34:20 --> 34:25 [SPEAKER_00]: or in Charlotte to have them spend like that you don't want to add teams to put in the bare minimum.
34:26 --> 34:29 [SPEAKER_01]: I also don't know if Portland's the best place for an expansion team.
34:29 --> 34:30 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if the city's quite big enough.
34:30 --> 34:32 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you quite get the buy-in.
34:33 --> 34:38 [SPEAKER_01]: Selfishly that takes away from the Mariners market too with less fans in the industry.
34:39 --> 34:40 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, ours personally like the pie guess.
34:41 --> 34:41 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, exactly.
34:42 --> 34:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Like I don't, I would hate to see a portion of the Mariners fan base just ripped away like that.
34:47 --> 34:48 [SPEAKER_01]: But in all seriousness, again,
34:49 --> 34:58 [SPEAKER_01]: So I lied for a minute didn't there, there is some personal investment in Portland having or not having an expansion team isn't there because as Mariners fans, you want the fanbase to be big.
34:58 --> 35:01 [SPEAKER_01]: You want to keep the Portland fans Mariners fans.
35:01 --> 35:06 [SPEAKER_01]: But if you're also looking logistically too, I think there's some cities that work out a lot better for that.
35:06 --> 35:09 [SPEAKER_01]: I think Charlotte would work, I think Nashville would work.
35:09 --> 35:16 [SPEAKER_01]: I think there's a couple other cities you could drop that would work, maybe maybe somewhere like, Jacksonville would be tough.
35:16 --> 35:20 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's Florida, but it's basically the Panhandle of Florida.
35:20 --> 35:21 [SPEAKER_00]: I have a radical idea.
35:23 --> 35:27 [SPEAKER_00]: We put a team in Oakland.
35:28 --> 35:30 [SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
35:30 --> 35:31 [SPEAKER_00]: They should try the A's.
35:31 --> 35:33 [SPEAKER_00]: John Fisher should try the A's.
35:34 --> 35:34 [SPEAKER_00]: Hear me out.
35:35 --> 35:44 [SPEAKER_00]: Me, a market number six, team that with competent ownership and a competent stadium would spend a pretty decent chunk of change.
35:45 --> 35:48 [SPEAKER_01]: And by the way, has a really exciting team now.
35:49 --> 35:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
35:50 --> 35:55 [SPEAKER_01]: I hate to say it because I know you're not supposed to prop up division rivals.
35:56 --> 35:58 [SPEAKER_01]: I think the A's are.
35:58 --> 36:07 [SPEAKER_01]: So we have one friend that's just a miserable A's fan and he never makes life easy for it for the two of us so in that way in that way it's fun to dunk on our friend.
36:08 --> 36:12 [SPEAKER_01]: But everything else aside from that.
36:13 --> 36:21 [SPEAKER_01]: I think the A's might be one of my favorite teams to watch that's not the Mariners and part of that is because we've gotten to know some of those guys and it's like.
36:21 --> 36:36 [SPEAKER_01]: The whole organization, really, except for one person, is a pretty incredible group of people that are incredibly nice and awesome with their time and very friendly and, you know, you can tell or tell just all like really good people.
36:36 --> 36:39 [SPEAKER_01]: Even though you're not supposed to root for division rivals, man, they're exciting.
36:39 --> 36:41 [SPEAKER_01]: They're fun brand of baseball, especially offensively now.
36:41 --> 36:46 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's just, there's a, I, we mean this, I guess from getting firsthand experience with it.
36:46 --> 36:49 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot of really easy people to root for the play for that team and work in that org.
36:49 --> 36:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm, I'm totally, I'm totally with you.
36:52 --> 36:53 [SPEAKER_00]: It's.
36:54 --> 36:56 [SPEAKER_00]: So as long as they don't beat the Mariners, right, that's it.
36:56 --> 37:04 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, and the other part of that is, again, aside from our one friend, it's a really good, nice, loyal, dedicated fan base.
37:04 --> 37:08 [SPEAKER_01]: There are ace fans that travel around to every stadium.
37:08 --> 37:10 [SPEAKER_01]: They're retired, the as or their life.
37:11 --> 37:14 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what they want to do with their time, which is awesome.
37:15 --> 37:21 [SPEAKER_01]: And we've met some of them, and they just like could not be nicer, and this is just the, this is what we pick up from every piece of that fan base.
37:21 --> 37:23 [SPEAKER_01]: It's just a really good people.
37:23 --> 37:28 [SPEAKER_01]: No fan base deserves to have a team ripped away, but to see that, fan base have to go through it.
37:28 --> 37:29 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it sucks.
37:29 --> 37:30 [SPEAKER_01]: They should have a team back in Oakland.
37:30 --> 37:34 [SPEAKER_00]: And to have fans who still support them after that is, I mean, it's crazy.
37:34 --> 37:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Because all of us in Seattle have firsthand experience of that.
37:37 --> 37:44 [SPEAKER_00]: And you will not find maybe 1% of people who still root for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
37:45 --> 37:46 [SPEAKER_00]: It's it.
37:46 --> 37:48 [SPEAKER_01]: I've been purchased Starbucks in 20 years, baby.
37:51 --> 38:06 [SPEAKER_00]: So like that we understand how it is and yeah, but they should even if they don't get the actual A's back they should put up expansion team there a great because what in terms of we're power-ranking cities to expand to to be number one.
38:07 --> 38:07 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not even close.
38:08 --> 38:11 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a proven success story of major like baseball.
38:11 --> 38:15 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a win for everybody because you make more money by having a team there.
38:15 --> 38:19 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so you put one team there and then you put
38:20 --> 38:34 [SPEAKER_01]: team in Asheville and they're in the east and that helps solve some of the mariners travel In a perfect world again the A's just go back to Oakland the expansion teams in Vegas And there's an expansion team in Nashville because that's what should happen, but
38:34 --> 38:35 [SPEAKER_01]: Who do I know?
38:35 --> 38:36 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not John Fisher.
38:37 --> 38:39 [SPEAKER_01]: They've already broke around on the stadiums, so I know.
38:40 --> 38:40 [SPEAKER_01]: Might be a little late.
38:41 --> 38:41 [SPEAKER_01]: I know.
38:41 --> 38:42 [SPEAKER_01]: It's too bad.
38:43 --> 38:46 [SPEAKER_01]: See, this is why you tuned into the Marine Lairpot in January.
38:46 --> 38:49 [SPEAKER_01]: I know there's not games going on right now, but you know what you get to hear about?
38:49 --> 38:53 [SPEAKER_01]: Us just naming off dudes from the 2013 Astros roster.
38:54 --> 38:55 [SPEAKER_00]: Did you miss Eric Boudard?
38:56 --> 38:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, if you did.
38:57 --> 38:58 [SPEAKER_00]: this is the place for you.
38:59 --> 39:07 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, tuning in, tuning in to listen to random astros from 2013 and to listening to hear us talk positive things about the ace because genuinely it's true.
39:07 --> 39:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Good French motion.
39:08 --> 39:10 [SPEAKER_00]: You never know what you're going to hear?
39:10 --> 39:10 [SPEAKER_00]: No.
39:11 --> 39:13 [SPEAKER_01]: But speaking of promotion, we'll we'll say it one more time.
39:13 --> 39:16 [SPEAKER_01]: Trivia night February 11th, Queen Anne Beer Hall.
39:16 --> 39:17 [SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be a blast.
39:17 --> 39:20 [SPEAKER_01]: If you didn't put it on your calendar early on the show, go do it now.
39:21 --> 39:22 [SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be really fun.
39:22 --> 39:25 [SPEAKER_01]: That, just about wraps up this edition of the Marine Lair podcast.
39:25 --> 39:26 [SPEAKER_01]: You guys know the drill.
39:26 --> 39:33 [SPEAKER_01]: If you want to listen to the full form podcast, you can do so wherever you get your audio pods, make sure you're downloading these episodes if you're listening.
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39:47 --> 39:48 [SPEAKER_01]: Drop us a comment.
39:48 --> 39:50 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, what do you think about expansion?
39:50 --> 39:51 [SPEAKER_01]: About realignment.
39:51 --> 39:52 [SPEAKER_01]: About.
39:52 --> 39:54 [SPEAKER_01]: an in-season tournament.
39:54 --> 39:56 [SPEAKER_01]: You can tell us, everybody's gonna have their own thoughts.
39:56 --> 39:59 [SPEAKER_01]: So go leave a comment on YouTube and let us know what you think.
39:59 --> 40:02 [SPEAKER_01]: You can find us on our website, marinelayerpod.com.
40:02 --> 40:12 [SPEAKER_01]: Everything's there, all of our episodes, our merch, go get your merch, patreon's there too, that's marinelayerpod.com, and then you can follow us across social media at marinelayerpod.
40:12 --> 40:15 [SPEAKER_01]: That's TJ, I'm Lyle, as always we thank you guys for tuning in.
40:16 --> 40:17 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll talk to you soon.