Episode 406: What Does J.P. Crawford Shifting To 3B Mean For The Mariners? + Mailbag

[00:00:00] What's up guys, just another reminder to you, we are having an awesome event this Tuesday, May the 26th over at the Emerald Queen Casino. We're doing a Mariners trivia night and watch party along with all you guys over at the EQC Sportsbook at Emerald Queen Casino. We can't wait. There's going to be prizes to give away. We're going to be hanging out with you guys. Hopefully we're going to watch a Mariners win. We would absolutely love to have you guys out there with us.

[00:00:23] So again, mark your calendars Tuesday, May 26th, 6 p.m. over at the Emerald Queen Casino. Can't wait to see you there. Welcome to episode number 406 of the Marine Layer Podcast. It's a mailbag episode, so we'll open it up and answer your best listener questions. Your guys reminder before we start these episodes, just do us a big favor. Make sure you're downloading these podcast episodes. If you're listening, go rate and review five stars. And if you're watching on YouTube, hit that subscribe button. You can see it in front of you. It helps the channel a ton.

[00:00:51] You can also drop a like on the video and leave a comment. You can find us on our website, marinelayerpod.com. All our merch is over there, by the way. If you want your podcast merch, you can find it on our website. You can find all of our episodes there. Our Patreon is there. Go check that out. And you can find us across social media. We're posting content every single day at Marine Layer Pod. Let's get it rolling.

[00:01:25] And we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball Podcast Network. Recording here on Thursday evening, May 21st. I'm live from Pacific City, Oregon. Lyle, some people might not know this, but we do actually kind of get days off. Kind of with this. Sometimes. We do. I mean, what do you qualify as a day off? You're on vacation and here you are sitting and recording a podcast.

[00:01:50] Which is why I said kind of. Like for most of the day, for most of the day, I did not have to work, do any of the podcast stuff. But, you know, it's 1023 p.m. on vacation and here we are because you know what? We're sickos and we love the Mariners. So no matter what, we'll make it work. I was going to say, when we say vacation and we don't have to quote unquote work, it doesn't really feel like work.

[00:02:14] I mean, two friends sitting here and talking about how the M's blew a Tuesday league because they didn't put Andres Munoz in the game. Well, when I say work, I mean, you know, we got to generate revenue so we can, you know, live. But no, it doesn't really feel like work. Yeah. I mean, OK, we have to sit down and record the podcast, but I never like we have been fortunate enough. But in like a complaining sense. Yeah. That's how I didn't think you did. I didn't think you did.

[00:02:43] But usually say, oh, my God, you're on vacation. Like, why are you podcasting? It's like because I'm a sicko. That's that's why we're sickos. No, we're complete sickos again to me. Like to me, we've been fortunate enough to be put in a place where like none of this really feels like work. Like we love doing this stuff. But yes, like TJ does sit in Pacific City, as we currently say, it's like, well, time to talk about the Mariners mid May series win over the White Sox.

[00:03:08] Like Lyle and I have talked about because I like I'm dying to go to Europe like when I eventually do go. The podcast episodes got to come out like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 3 a.m. Pacific every single week in season off season. It's like we got to decide what we're going to do when that happens. It's like am I am I lugging this this equipment across the world to to talk about the Seattle Mariners when, you know, everyone else outside could not give two shits about what's going on with the Seattle Mariners.

[00:03:36] Someone like walks by the room and overhears and is like, what is this dude talking about? I mean, maybe that becomes a scenario where I guess I could always do a couple solo. We could also also have one of our friends of the pod on to guest host with me one day or like or a couple shows if you were going to leave, by the way. So I'm sure there's fun ways we could work it in.

[00:03:58] Like, hey, maybe I can have your identical twin brother Jason host an episode with me and see how many people actually actually figure out that you're not here. Well, he could do it. He hosted the first like remember, like we've told this story before. But if you're a new listener, we can you know, we can retell it the way the Marine Layer podcast originated. Like the name, the name originated with my brother and I when we were in front both freshman in college.

[00:04:27] We wanted to talk about the Mariners. So that was the name we came up with. So when we started this version of the Marine Layer podcast, we always really liked the name. So we wanted to keep using it. But the like OG original, like first the first bit of audio that was published with the name Marine Layer podcast on it was like with me and my brother. So, yeah, maybe you could have them fill in. The takes would definitely be a little different. It'd be a little different, but honestly, maybe it's good.

[00:04:55] People get a varied perspective. It's like, all right, that sounds like TJ, but it's not really TJ. But, you know, we'll we'll ride with this for now. I mean, that would be kind of a fun idea if you were gone for, let's say, 10 days, 12 days, whatever it would be on a trip like that. And I had a rotation of guests and friends of ours fill in.

[00:05:17] I'm sure we could have some people we know just sit in and host, whether it would be, you know, pick your poison, whether it's Divish for an episode or Jordan Schusterman for an episode or hell of Brock and Salk wanted to do it for an episode with me or something like I'm sure there's people we could get in to do it with us. But it would be funny if we did a week of episodes or at least two episodes in a row where it was one with me and your brother and then it was one with my brother and I, two people who do not have experience doing podcast hosting. Right.

[00:05:44] It'd be a wild ride for people. That's for sure. Which one do you think would be more wild? Probably my brother because he I mean, naturally, my brother is probably wired a little bit more like me and your brother is wired a little more like you. So there might be like I've also seen the group group chat. The two of you are in where you primarily talk about the Mariners. Yeah, I would. If it was anything like like that, it'd be. Yeah, I mean, it'd be it'd be a ball of energy. That's for sure.

[00:06:14] Yeah, it would be. All right. Well, we do have some Mariners topics to talk about and we have a huge mailbag. I will just say this to all the Patreon, all of our wonderful, wonderful Patreon subscribers. You guys knocked this out of the park this week. Normally, like behind the scenes, we take eight questions for a mailbag episode. We got 16 different Patreon mailbag questions this week. That's insane. Crazy.

[00:06:41] I mean, you guys are you guys bring it every week with the questions and you guys are sending them in volume now. It's pretty cool. Like we love answering your guys's questions, which is why we always encourage you to send them. And people are sending them in, which is fun. But before that, let's let's touch on this really quick, because we did not get a specific mailbag question about what J.P. Crawford said this week, which is amazing. It's refreshing. It's something I personally was not expecting to hear out of the Mariner shortstop this year. But I love that we are hearing it.

[00:07:10] So in case you missed it, J.P. Crawford was taking some ground balls at third base this week and the media went and talked to him and asked him about it. And they said he said J.P.'s agent said, yeah, J.P. would be open to playing third base and letting Colt Emerson play shortstop for the rest of this Mariner season in an effort to be in J.P.'s words, a team player. He's invested in this team. Clearly, it means a lot to him.

[00:07:35] And it sounds like to me, Lyle, you know, J.P. Crawford putting his actions and his words together in one synonymous thing that, you know, he's ready to do what it takes to make this team better. And if that means he has to move off of shortstop, that's what he's going to do.

[00:07:51] So it really is a testament to J.P. and I don't think you can start with anything other than that right there is you're talking about a guy in his walk here who's the longest tenured Mariner on the roster who is a shortstop and has been a shortstop since he arrived here. There's every reason to have an ego with this.

[00:08:10] And I think that's the reason so much conversation was starting to circulate about what happens when Colt Emerson gets here, because there's going to be a real world of Colt is objectively the better defensive shortstop at this point. I don't really think people are disputing that. But if you move J.P. off the position after seeing Colt get the extension and essentially telling everybody Colt's our shortstop of the future, is that going to set off a bad chain of reactions inside that clubhouse and cause issues?

[00:08:40] There's a ton of conversation around that. Now it feels like that's all been put to bed and it's a total testament to J.P. Crawford for putting himself out there and being open-minded and being willing to potentially move positions because that solves a lot of issues the Mariners could have this year. And if you want further context on this, you need to go check out all the stuff that Ryan Davis, friend of the show, has written because I think he has the best insight on this stuff. He's been around the team the longest.

[00:09:07] He always has these stories that he sits on to tell at the right time, and that's what the best beat writers do. They just gather all of this information that most of it, I mean, they can't publish this stuff. Most of this stuff just kind of sits in their brain and they use it to make better, more informed decisions.

[00:09:24] But then Davis, you know, tells the story after these comments from J.P. Crawford come out about what the Mariners have meant to J.P. Crawford and his career and how J.P. Crawford, if he was not a Seattle Mariner, very well would have quit baseball and wouldn't be playing at all. Which is crazy to say, because J.P. Crawford signed an extension worth over $50 million. He's won gold gloves.

[00:09:47] He had the 2023 season, which is one of the best offensive seasons a Mariners infielder has had from a combined on base and at least for his profile power position. He's had a successful big league career, and even after he's a free agent, even if he's not a Mariner, which we'll talk about at the end of this, whether or not this changes his future in Seattle, like he's going to get signed to some big league team because his bat is still valuable. To think of that guy might have quit, like quit, walked away.

[00:10:17] He made the big leagues, Lyle. He was a top three prospect in all of baseball. He was a shortstop, like a top rated shortstop prospect for a big market team, and he's ready to quit. And now here is all this time later, like essentially paying back what it sounds like. He's paying back like the gift of baseball. The Mariners gave him by having him love baseball again. Very cool. Look, we don't know J.P. that well.

[00:10:46] It's just not one of the players we've gotten to spend much time around. But, you know, you hear the stories that Philly was very hard on him. He had all the expectations. Didn't sound like there was really anybody with those teams that took him under his wing big time. He had his struggles. And then, yeah, like coming to the Mariners, coming to Seattle, it was such a good change of scenery and such a new leaf that was able to be turned over by him that it totally transcended his career. And now he's, yeah, like he's not a perfect player. He's not an MVP.

[00:11:16] But he's been a very, very productive infielder for the Mariners, even with the defense deteriorating. Because what he's done with the ability to walk, the ability to get on base, the ability to be a real catalyst at the bottom of the order the last few years for them, it's been pretty invaluable. Because there are plenty of lineups out there that have true black holes at the bottom of their order. What J.P. Crawford has done at the bottom of the Mariners lineup for the last few years has provided them true stability and production, which isn't that easy to find.

[00:11:45] This also, I think, answers our question. Was J.P. Crawford aware of how bad or how poor his defense was at shortstop? And I think the answer to that question now is, yeah, I think he does realize that. Either he was aware of it or his agent had to sit him down and be like, hey, just so you know, because let's be fair. J.P. Crawford, again, to preface it, is being very selfless and very, very much for the team by being able to go out and do something like this in a walk here.

[00:12:14] I mean, it is all the testament in the world to him. There is an element of this that is also a bit on, I don't want to call it the selfish side, but there is some internal thought process here that goes into what's best for his career, too. Because if J.P.'s agent's paying any attention, I guess if J.P. himself is paying any attention, but certainly his agency, they know what teams and people around the league are thinking and talking about regarding him and his defense at shortstop at this point.

[00:12:43] And that is, I don't know what your market's going to be as a shortstop in free agency. I don't know what team is going to sign you to be their primary shortstop with the way your defense has been for the better part of the last four years. So I would bet you there is something internal there, too, to say, hey, it would probably be beneficial for you to learn another position so you have options in free agency and so you can tell teams, hey, I'm not a one-trick pony.

[00:13:11] I don't really feel like that's selfish. I just think that kind of works out. It's not like he's blocking another top Mariners prospect at third base this year. No, no, no. All I mean is, I don't think this move is 110%. This is all about team, team, team, team, and all about this is what's best for the 2026 Seattle Mariners. A lot of it is. I don't want to get away from the narrative here. A lot of it is.

[00:13:38] But there is some, like, again, there is some element of this that is about J.P. Crawford and how he maximizes his next contract. But I also think that's totally fine because it works so well for the team. It's totally fine. It's totally fine. I don't want to paint it in the wrong light. Right. I'm just saying there is, like, there's multiple layers to this story.

[00:14:02] It's not just, like, it is not specifically only to, like, step out of the way for a 20-year-old. Right. I'm not sure if this means J.P. Crawford's defense is going to get fixed at third base. I'm not sure he's going to be an amazing defender. I don't even know if he's going to be an average defender at third base. But this does now give the Mariners, I'd say, an option if they're going to think about re-signing J.P. Crawford again. I don't know if they want to. I don't know if we're at that point of the season yet.

[00:14:27] I think the Mariners need to see more of J.P. Crawford at third base before they make a decision on whether or not J.P. Crawford deserves a comeback. But I'll tell you what, I mean, J.P. laid it out pretty clearly. He said, I want to be a Mariner for life. Which means he, when he says that publicly, right, in a walk here, where he is essentially, what he's doing is he's eliminating a lot of leverage he has with the Mariners. What he's telling the Mariners is, I'm willing to make concessions to play for you next year.

[00:14:58] What do you think the Mariners think about this? Do you think this makes him more enticing to have it third base in 2027? I mean, I think they probably appreciate it beyond belief from their longest tenure player. I'm sure it opens some more possibilities for them to at least consider options with him. You know how much he means in that clubhouse. You know he's been a very productive hitter at the bottom of the order. But I think the Mariners are going to need to see what it looks like, too.

[00:15:28] Because if he is a bottom five percentile DRS and OAA defender at third base the rest of the year, if this really happens, it might be hard to say we can give him 12 plus million dollars a year to play third base. But if he's average at it, if he can hold his own there and the offense keeps up, might open up some options for him. Because, by the way, the third base market next year is not good.

[00:15:56] There are not good third basemen hitting the market in free agency next year. So third base is going to be a question. Now, if Brendan Donovan could stay there next year, then you'd probably have to fill left field. Because if Randy Orozarena leaves, either Donovan slides out to left or he stays at third base. So you'll have to fill some spot somewhere. But if the Mariners decide that JP is worth keeping around and he holds his own at third base, then it's possible.

[00:16:21] And by the way, depending on what his market looks like, if JP shows that he can learn third base, and bear with me on this, if he shows that he can even fill in at second base, too, when needed, there is a world JP Crawford just could become a bench bat for this team, too. If they go out and augment the roster elsewhere. What's that? I'd say more utility than bench. Because he's going to play. Well, sure. You can say utility. Yeah. I mean, I take bench as not playing all the time.

[00:16:51] Okay. So, yeah. If he's a utility infielder for you, that could be a thing. Now, again, if you go out and next year keep Donovan at third and you go get somebody in left field that's a real established bat and you fill that void for Randy next year, but you keep JP as a utility infielder, that's possible, too. Where he could fill in at short some days. He could fill in at third some days. He could fill in at second some days. And then you use his bat where you need it to be used.

[00:17:18] Because he has proven to be an above average bat who gets on base, draws his walks, and doesn't strike out. And even if you were to keep him around for another two years and his offense started to deteriorate, it shouldn't deteriorate to the point where he can't be a utility infielder. I don't see why JP Crawford, at the very least, can't be a 95 to 100 WRC plus hitter. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Look, life's a journey. Some days feel good. Others feel really overwhelming, right?

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[00:21:01] Yeah, I'm 100% with you. Like, I think I'm more open to the idea of J.P. Crawford coming back now, knowing that he is willing to be flexible for the Mariners. This, I don't think this means, like, J.P. Crawford would have to come back to the Mariners next year as a third baseman. I feel like he could be willing to do a few things to make it work and stay in Seattle next year if they pay him fairly. Like, he's not going to come back for the league minimum if some other team offers him $13 million. Like, that's not going to be the case.

[00:21:31] But if the Mariners offer a fair rate to him, I think he'd want to come back to Seattle and want to be a Seattle Mariner for the rest of his life. And notice how this is, like, different than Josh Naylor, right? I mean, Josh Naylor, like, he said he liked Seattle a lot before his free agency. But he never said, like, he waited until after he signed to say, oh, yeah, I never wanted to leave this place. Oh, dude, remember, like, a day or two after the World Series when he commented on Cal's Instagram post? The Cal's Instagram post, yeah.

[00:22:00] He's like, oh, he's rooting for you. See you around, my friend. And it's like, well, that doesn't sound like a man that's staying in Seattle. And then he did. Because it was a leverage play. But J.B. Crawford essentially just threw every bit of leverage he had against the Mariners out the window. Put it on the record, on TV. You know what? Some guys are just comfortable where they are. J.B. Crawford may not care about playing the market. Anthony Rendon, Mike Trout. Rendon?

[00:22:29] Yeah, he's happy where he is. He gets paid $34 million a year to live in Southern California and not work. Well, he took the biggest possible contract that a team gave him. And once he got it, he stopped working. Because before that, people forget about Anthony Rendon. He was one of the best offensive players in Major League Baseball with the Nationals. The second he got that deal with the Angels. It's like, well, my time here is done.

[00:22:55] But J.B., man, like, in all seriousness, again, some players are just comfortable where they're at. Like, I'm pretty sure he has a house in Seattle. I'm pretty sure he lives in Seattle year-round, like in the Seattle area. I'm pretty sure he does. Yeah. He's been here a long time. We know he's worked at Driveline in the past. He may just be very happy where he is. He probably likes Seattle as a city a lot. He might not want to pick up and move somewhere else and have to go through the whole free agent process.

[00:23:25] He may be willing to make some adjustments and to do what it takes just to stay in a place where he knows he's comfortable, knows the city, knows his drive to work, knows the coaching staff, knows the training staff. He may be just totally fine playing in one place his whole career. Some guys are like that. But you can even think about this if you want to relate this to your everyday life. It's what parts of your life do you want to try and, like, eliminate thinking from? Let me try and tie this back to myself.

[00:23:51] My number one thing that I hate spending time thinking on is, like, what I'm going to eat, right? Like, dinner, I change it up a lot. But breakfast and lunch, when you're supposed to be productive, for example, I try and eliminate all thinking, right? I have, like, literally the same thing for breakfast and lunch every single day because I don't have to think about what I'm going to eat. I don't have to think about really anything. I just do it.

[00:24:14] That is essentially the very bare bones version of what J.P. Crawford's like, look, if I'm going to perform at the highest level playing Major League Baseball, let's eliminate all these stressors that are really unnecessary, like you said. Drive to work, staff, like, building relationships with your teammates. It's all already there. And the best part about all of this, Lyle, is that this makes the Mariners better in 2026, which is what every single player on that Mariners roster should be focused on.

[00:24:42] And I'm glad J.P. Crawford took an initiative as a leader to do that. And in a time, too, where people seem to be pretty pissed off on one side of the roster in terms of the rotation side of things where you've got this ridiculous piggyback thing going on with Bryce and Luis, and they don't have a concrete plan for it. Whereas I'm not saying this was the full intention,

[00:25:05] but it is easing some of the potential headaches that the roster construction of this team in 2026 had the potential to cause. Like, this has been solved. The question, like, or it sounds like it's going to be solved. The question of is there going to be a problem between Colton, J.P., or at least J.P. potentially having Colt take reps from him at shortstop this year? Is it going to become an issue? He just solved a lot of that. And again, there's parts of the roster where that's not the case right now, like with the rotation.

[00:25:35] But again, it is a testament to J.P. Crawford. It really is. And knowing Colt, as soon as he finds this out, he probably went to J.P. Crawford and said, oh, you don't have to do that. Yeah, of course. You don't have to do that. I mean, and Colt's, as we know, very humble and a very selfless person in his own right. But I also think Colt is totally fine just playing third base. Like, we've told this on here before, like, the dude trains equally at every position in the offseason. Second, short, and third.

[00:26:02] Like, he's, like, Colt Emerson just wants to play baseball every day. And he's willing, as far as we know, willing to do whatever it takes. Sounds like J.P. Crawford does too, but just in Seattle and not anywhere else. So. Yeah. By the way, quick side note, or two side notes before we get to the mailbag. One about the Mariners, one about something regarding us, which is, regarding the Mariners, well, are we going to get to piggyback stuff in the mailbag? I forget. That's a great question. We have a lot of mailbag questions. So many questions.

[00:26:32] All right. Just say what you need to say. Okay. Let me say this. How in the literal fuck can they possibly run this thing back? Because the quotes after Tuesday night's game on Wednesday morning is, yeah, we plan to piggyback again. How? How? How after everything we watched on Tuesday night could they possibly for even one more game do this? They always tell you when you're giving your opinions on sports, the last thing you can say is, I don't know. Because it's terrible for discussion. Unfortunately, Lyle.

[00:27:02] I have no idea. And then after the fact, Divish was on with Puck talking about the vibe of the Mariners in the clubhouse. And he said there's a lot of guys being like, all right, what the hell are we doing here? Yeah. So they're feeling the same way we are. Maybe it could be some of them maybe about something else. But that's it's not great. I can't imagine how this is a good idea. I really don't like it. Like clearly Bryce is not happy.

[00:27:31] You're not putting Luis in the best situation possible either by essentially not telling him what his role is. Or at least that's how it feels to me. And it's just a mess. And then, you know, if the Mariners play a close game, then you're putting unnecessary pressure on the rest of your bullpen by, again, like, what is the plan? What is the plan? And again, this is an organizational problem. It is on Dan Wilson for pushing the buttons and making the moves and not putting Munoz in the ninth inning the other night. It's on him.

[00:28:00] But clearly there was an organizational plan of wanting to get Luis a certain amount of pitches. And the fact this is being ran back again, again, managers get say in this, but it does feel pretty organizational. And I don't know, man. And it's just a feeling I get, but Jerry doesn't always seem to have the greatest, like, feel for people in the world.

[00:28:25] And it feels like his own idea is taking precedent over, like, what's best for the clubhouse. What's best for the clubhouse? What's best for winning games? Well, actually, first and foremost, that. But also, like, as a result, people are not happy in that clubhouse. You can tell people are not happy in that clubhouse. Which impacts winning games. Right. But this is being ran back again. Yeah.

[00:28:51] And I feel like if you're seeing this as such an issue, you realize, okay, this has to stop. But clearly they want Luis. But I was going to say, clearly this is not stopping. So clearly somebody has final say over this. The likely person, while the manager obviously has a say, the likely person over a situation like this is the person who leads the baseball operations. And again, this feels like a Jerry thing to me.

[00:29:19] I don't even necessarily know if it's a Hollander thing. Maybe they're in lockstep on it. Maybe there's a world where it totally is just the Jerry thing and he's making the final say. And again, like, we don't know Jerry much. But it just, from afar, doesn't always, you know, just given by some of the quotes he's given over the years, doesn't seem like he always has the greatest feel in the world for people. So it feels like that's what's happening here. It's clear they want Luis Castillo to be a starter, but I'm just frank.

[00:29:48] This is not the way to go about it. If you want to keep him a starter, again, like if that's the number one priority, number one over everything else, they should be doing a six-man rotation. If that's the priority. Because you can't send him to AAA. But again, I actually think that's worse. Taking starts away from Brian Wu and from George Kirby and from Emerson Hancock to let a guy with a six-and-a-half ERA stay in the rotation, I don't think is the right thing either. Well, now they're just taking a start away from Bryce Miller literally every start by doing this.

[00:30:17] So again, I understand what you're saying about the six-man rotation. But I'm sorry. I think there's two options here. You need to either put Luis on the Phantom IL, which we have been banging the drum for for weeks, and just figure it out at a later date. Or you just got to put him in the bullpen. Because he's not surviving another roster crunch when Kate Anderson gets here. And then when you talk about the starter's depth next year, next year you'd have, again, the main five with Logan, Kirby, Bryce, Emerson, Wu. You'll have Kate Anderson. You'll have Ryan Sloan.

[00:30:46] And our guy Logan Evans will be back from Tommy John. That's eight starters. Not naming Luis Castillo. He is not surviving more roster crunches here. You've either got to put him in the bullpen, or you've got a Phantom IL. And what's going to happen, I forget, did they announce he's starting next week? No, they haven't announced who's starting. But my God, man, if Luis Castillo comes out and starts the next game, don't go online. Don't go on Twitter.

[00:31:15] Yeah, and that's like, again, it's kind of insulting to Bryce Miller. Like, Bryce, what did I do wrong? Like, I'm pitching as well as I have him. My stuff's as good as it's ever been. And now I'm the one essentially in the bullpen. It doesn't do either of them good, in my opinion, Lyle. If you're like, you're kind of holding them like halfway between the bullpen and the rotation in this scenario. Because the amount of pitches Luis threw earlier this week, he only threw what? 50, like mid-50s? That's not a start.

[00:31:42] Like, they're saying like, we got to keep him stretched out. But that's not even really stretching him out. Again, this whole thing. Again, so the reason I say six-man rotation, right? Because, like, I didn't say the number one priority was winning games. I said the number one priority was keeping Luis Castillo as a starter. That's why I said six-man rotation. If that is your number one priority, which, Lyle, I'm really starting to think that is their number one priority. And if that's... Is keeping him a starter over winning games. And you know what?

[00:32:10] Then there's another layer to this, if that's the case. Because we just talked about the top of the organization and the head of baseball operations who may be making a decision like this. And again, we've said that it doesn't feel like the greatest feel move in the world by the front office's part, by Jerry's part, if that's what they're really being forced to do. But the other layer to this is there is somebody that Jerry answers to.

[00:32:33] And if he's being told by the Mariners' owners that we refuse to just eat $24 million a year for a bullpen arm, then that's not... Then, again, that is a whole other problem. That is, again, ownership meddling and not putting your best foot forward to winning games and being forced to do something that is potentially malpractice. But we don't know that. Well, no, no. We don't. But I'm... Again, all that's speculation. But I'm just saying that is another layer to this, if that's what's happening.

[00:33:01] If you are hellbent on the idea of keeping Luis Castillo a starter, you can't ignore that possibility. He is owed a lot of money, and they don't want to eat said money. But they're also not eating it. He's still on the roster. You know what I mean. You would not pay a reliever not paying... I'm just not, like, really... That's just not a narrative I'm really buying into yet. Like, I don't think there's anything that suggests that is the case.

[00:33:28] I think Jerry DiPoto in the Mariners' front office wants Luis Castillo to start. That's what I think. That's what I think this is. I don't think you can ignore the amount of money he's being owed and the idea of paying $23 million a year to a reliever. I'm not ignoring it. I'm just saying the likelihood of that is significantly lower than Jerry DiPoto and Justin Hollander wanting him to start. Sure. I think they're all possibilities.

[00:33:53] That one probably greater than the other, but if we're laying out all the different options here, I don't think you can ignore it completely. I guess only time will tell on this. This better to be the last time they're piggybacking. Remember we were talking about this idea? I said two times max. That's it. This is the second time. It should have been canned after the first time, but now that they're doing it the second time, if this blows up in their face again, if this blows up in the face again, I really hope this doesn't do damage that cannot be fixed.

[00:34:22] Where guys start just not being able to trust the decisions that are being made on their behalf by the people in charge. That is where I would worry. I mean, Divish is saying it's already happening to some extent. It's like, do I know you're putting me in the best position to win? Because you're doing things that clearly aren't putting us in a great position to win. They better figure it out. Yeah. Second thing, Lau. Yeah. I would, you know what? Why don't we tie it into the ad you're going to read? Yeah.

[00:34:51] I just wanted to tell you guys that Grammy award-winning band Cool and the Gang is coming to Emerald Queen Casino. This is the last time here on this podcast you'll get to hear this because they're performing tomorrow when this episode comes out on Saturday, May 23rd. The show starts at 8 p.m. Bring your crew and get down on it with some funk and R&B classics. You can get your tickets now at emeraldqueen.com. And while you're there, you can take your night to the next level at the Slahal Steakhouse.

[00:35:16] Rooftop dining at Emerald Queen Casino gives you mountain-to-sound views paired with premium steaks and creative cocktails. You'll just have to see it to believe it. Come by Friday and Sunday from 4 to 10 p.m. And Saturday from 4 to 11 p.m. Get your reservation today on OpenTable or by calling 253-441-3101. And the other thing, Lau, is that on Tuesday, May 26th, Lau and I will have our Marine Layer Podcast trivia night from Emerald Queen Casino at 6 o'clock.

[00:35:45] Mariners and the A's will be on. We'll get to watch with all of you. There'll be some prizes to give away. It'll be an awesome space to hang out with at the MGM Sportsbook at Emerald Queen Casino. I want you guys to come hang out at that. So that's Tuesday, May 26th, 6 p.m. at Emerald Queen Casino for our second trivia night of this year. It should be a ton of fun. Before we get into this mailbag, a reminder to all of you, if you want priority on these mailbag questions, the place to go is our Patreon.

[00:36:12] This episode is the premium example of what being a Patreon subscriber to us gets you. Patreon.com slash Marine Layer Pod. You get priority for mailbags. You get ad-free episodes. And you get the opportunity to jump on a video call with Lau and I once a month. So the place to go for all that is Patreon.com slash Marine Layer Pod. 16 questions today, Lau. Let's rip through it. 10 Cup Mariner starts us off on Patreon and asks,

[00:36:38] Since ownership is determined to keep Castillo in the rotation somehow, what are your thoughts on using him as a quote-unquote bullpen day starter? This probably still feels a little bit like a six-man rotation, but they could plan for him to only throw three innings and let the bullpen carry the rest of the load. What would you think? See, I'm not the only one talking about the Castillo money dynamic of this. We're getting Patreon questions about it. Anyway, this feels more or less like a de facto six-man rotation to me.

[00:37:08] And I think if you were going to do a bullpen day start with Castillo, you'd just let him be stretched out. It wouldn't necessarily be capped at three innings. It's just how long could he go? So I think that's more what this spells out. And again, I would be against the six-man rotation thing. I would rather just see them make a decision on Castillo, but that's just me. Thank you for the question, Tin Cup Mariner. I'm not a fan of this at all. All the downsides of a six-man rotation is that you're essentially pitching a man down on the bullpen.

[00:37:38] In this scenario, you're pitching a man down on the bullpen and then adding on six more innings for them to throw in a week, which is not good. So I would be against this. If you think that Luis Castillo is only effective, maybe, and this is why you suggested this idea, if you think Luis Castillo is only really effective in three innings or shorter spurts, then again, just rip the band-aid off and put him in the bullpen.

[00:38:05] It doesn't need to be a long reliever start on a bullpen day. He should just be in the bullpen. And if the Mariners are having legit bullpen days because they can't find enough starters, then something has gone tragically wrong this season. Mm-hmm. We listed off all the Mariners starters. If they, for some reason, need the bullpen to start a game, then winning's probably out the door at that point. Right. Yeah. Agreed. Jacob on Patreon has a question.

[00:38:34] Lyle and TJ, if you had to do a fantasy draft to create your own baseball team, what would your lineups look like? So this is just if you got to pick nine players at every position, because obviously a fantasy draft, you're playing with other people, and the best players get taken. Are you just building your dream lineup? I took this as building your dream lineup because there's no, like, rules or anything for us. So go. Okay.

[00:38:59] So, I mean, if we're just doing current players, win healthy, give me Cal behind the plate. Yeah. Give me – I mean, I've always – I keep battling back and forth between Skeens and Scoople. I guess because he's younger. I don't know if this is a dynasty league or not. But, yeah, give me Paul Skeens on the mound. Give me Bobby Wood Jr. at shortstop. Give me prime Ketel Marte at second when at his best. Give me Jose Ramirez at third. Give me – dude, give me Kurtz at first base at this point.

[00:39:29] That dude is a masher. Give me Kurtz at first. Shohei at DH. Judge in right. Julio in center. And I'll just put Corbin Carroll in left. Wow. Okay. We had a few differences, but I think the overall premise was the same. I had Cal catching. Kurtz at first. Bryce Terang at second because he's been just a monster the last season and a half. And Ketel's kind of old. Maybe he's not at second base for much longer. Bobby at short. I have Jose Ramirez at third.

[00:39:58] Juan Soto is a left fielder. Lyle now. Well, he can't defend, but, yes, he hits. That's fine. It's a dream fantasy lineup. That's true. Fantasy, they don't ding you for defense. Julio in center. Judge in right. Jordan is my DH. I had Tarek Skubel as my starter. And I had Mason Miller as my reliever. Oh, well, yeah. If we're picking a reliever, too. Yes, Mason Miller. Yeah. That's a pretty easy one. Yeah. Thank you for the question, Jacob. Man, what a great lineup. And I'm happy. There's two Mariners on there.

[00:40:29] Yes, there is. Maybe one day there will be more. Maybe one day. That's more than any other team on there. Maybe one day it'll be Colt. Hmm. Things have gone very right if that's the case. Okay. Jatin has a question on Patreon. He has two. So we'll go through these each quick. Nick, first one. While on TJ. Controversial take. Or maybe it's not all bad considering the American League record and the other teams in the American League.

[00:40:58] As long as the Mariners make the playoffs, there is hope. I mean, for sure. If you get into the field, there's hope. Look at the Diamondbacks in 23. They got in with 83, 84 wins and went to the World Series. The AL being down very much helps. It's just, again, in a year you've been told they can win the World Series. Nobody thought they'd be three games under .500 in the middle to end of May. I'm not one that has given up hope so far. No. I'm honestly, I'm in the same bucket as him. Yeah. Yeah. And then this.

[00:41:29] I just, I haven't given up hope either. It's just been incredibly frustrating. Like, even after winning a series this week against the White Sox, like, I don't really come away from that one happy. Because, again, Tuesday's game just derailed it all. You can be frustrated, but you can also say, feel like how I feel. I'm like, I still think the Mariners are going to be fine. Like, at the end of the day, I think they're too talented to not, at the very least, make the playoffs. Yeah. I can't promise they'll make the World Series.

[00:41:57] But looking at this American League, like, come on. Right. This league sucks. This league is bad. Mm-hmm. Second question is a more controversial question. He says, how long is too long for a regime change entirely? Third of the season, almost there. All-star break? End of July? Question mark.

[00:42:26] I don't think it happens this year. Like, in the middle of the year. But hypothetically. Oh. How long is too long? If we were to see a regime change with the Mariners, when would that take place? I mean, I guess somewhere in the summer, somewhere in the middle of the year. We saw it with service in, like, early August, early to mid-August. So, probably latest around there.

[00:42:54] But I take regime change as a full clean house. Like, they fire everybody. But I'm with Lyle. I don't think that's going to happen this year. But if that was going to happen, I mean, ideally, if I'm in charge of a team and I'm cleaning house mid-season, no one's operating the trade deadline. That's not going to be here next year. Right. Because then you're going to do something reckless and you're going to ruin my team. Right. So, yeah. I mean, it would be all-star break.

[00:43:21] It would be perhaps the week before the trade deadline, if not earlier. But the earlier you know, the better. Like, if you know something's not working, then you make the decision. There's no reason to wait unless you're just cheap and you don't want to pay buyouts. You don't want to pay contracts for the future. But you know what? For a lot of these guys, again, they're guaranteed money no matter what. So, it doesn't matter if you fire them at the end of the season or you fire them in May. You're going to pay them no matter what. Right. Yeah, agreed. Next question comes from Michael on Patreon.

[00:43:50] Michael's question is, outside of Tampa Bay and New York, no one else in the AL is pulling away. Once the team gets back to fully healthy, will you see us bring up any of our other pitching prospects to be additional leverage arms? Or do you think this only happens if another starter gets hurt? Yes. And the answer is only Cade. And Cade would be up toward the end of the year. If you're going to use him as a leverage arm, it'll be toward the end of the year to have him in the playoffs.

[00:44:17] I think the way I thought of this question. So, yeah, Cade, if guys get hurt. Otherwise, there's not many top prospects that are going to come up. Like, the guys that would come up would be more supplemental. The Brock Moores or the Tyler Clevelands. Those guys are top 30. Actually, I don't know if Brock Moores is a top 30 prospect. Tyler Cleveland is. I don't know if Brock Moores. But those guys aren't top, top blue chip prospects that would come up.

[00:44:46] So, if you're, I mean, Michael, if you're expecting to see Ryan Sloan come out and help the bullpen this year, that's not happening. I would highly, highly doubt Ryan Sloan is throwing for the Mariners this year in the postseason. But some of those other guys, like, I think they would come up regardless of injury or not. I don't know if it's dependent on an injury. I think those guys would just come up because there's just not enough talent in the Mariners' bullpen if those guys are throwing well in the minors, which Brock Moores is. Tyler Cleveland so far this year has not. Friend of the pod, though. He's amazing.

[00:45:16] Hopefully, regardless, he just comes up anyways. I think his last few weeks have been a little better. Especially relievers. I mean, you give up two home runs in one outing and then you'll have a five ERA until June regardless of what you do. Which the Mariners could see that and like, oh, he's had 10 straight great appearances. He's thrown a ton of strikes. Let's bring him up anyways, which can still happen. They're not going to tie that to anyone really major at the big league level getting hurt. Because they're not going to put all the stuff on that. Those guys right away. I mean, think about the last guy they did that to, right?

[00:45:46] Troy Taylor. Like, Troy Taylor dominated the minor leagues. He didn't come up because the Mariners had a ton of injuries. They just pulled him up because he was pitching incredibly well. He didn't even pitch in the highest levered situations. None of those guys are going to come in and save the season for you. Yeah. I mean, like five of Tyler's last six outings have been much sharper. So again, hopefully it keeps going and he is up at some point.

[00:46:13] Next question comes from Xander on Patreon. Xander's question is, since Lyle asked nicely, let's talk about a couple of Minnesota twins. Since Royce Lewis and our old, recently DFA'd friend, Justin Topa. Oh, dude. Topa, it's not even a thought. Like, if he's willing to start in AAA and try to work his way back to the major leagues and he'll sign a minor league deal with the Mariners. Not even a question in an absolute heartbeat bring the dude back.

[00:46:41] I mean, and is there personal ties into this? Yes, because we love Topa. He's one of the OGs of the pod. He is one of the nicest dudes in the game of baseball. And he was awesome here back when he was here. So yeah, would I be interested in putting him in AAA and letting him earn a chance back on the big league roster? Absolutely no questions asked. Now, he would have to start in AAA because his stint in Minnesota this year was bad. Yeah. He was really bad. And that's why I'm saying start in AAA. But if he's willing to do that, like, again, not even a question.

[00:47:11] Yeah, same thing. I mean, minor league deal costs you literally nothing. So I would take Topa back in a heartbeat. Yeah, and again, we love Topa. So yeah. It's like, what do you lose? Nothing. He is the man. Like, best case scenario. Then he succeeds and you get a great guy back in the clubhouse and he could be a good reliever if not. I mean, again, love Topa. It's a minor league deal. Like, that's what it is. But also, he gets big league money this year anyways. Right. I think he's still doing okay.

[00:47:38] He's managed to get a few good full big league seasons of salary in his pocket, which certainly will help him out. I mean, there's a couple, like, red flags with Topa's profile now. He's not throwing as hard as he used to with Mariners. Like, his velocity is down a tick and a half. His stuff is getting hit all around the yard, all of his pitches. So he would definitely need to tweak some things. And maybe he's not totally healthy or maybe he's just getting up there in age because he's definitely, like, he's in his mid-30s now. So the age could be starting to show.

[00:48:06] So that's something he would have to, if he came back to the Mariners, like, he would need to show there's some better stuff in his tank still. Still getting a lot of ground balls, which was always his bread and butter. He is, but that's it. Yeah. Yeah. Again, start him in AAA. And then Royce Lewis. I think you and I see this differently. I mean, look, man. The Mariners are 29th in the league in OPS as a team.

[00:48:36] They are 29th. Patrick Wisdom and Connor Joe are currently occupying spots on your roster to hit left-handed pitching. That's not even including Rob Refsnyder, who was supposed to be a catalyst against lefties and hasn't been. Patrick Wisdom and Connor Joe are currently on the roster hitting left-handed pitching. Let me be very clear. Am I bringing in Royce Lewis to try and save your offense against lefties? No. That's not what I'm saying.

[00:49:01] Would I bring in Royce Lewis to be a utility infielder bench bat to try and spark plug something against lefties for as bad as he's been the last couple, like, season and a half? Yeah, I'd take a flyer on that. And this is the same thing to Topa. If you deem that he needs to start in AAA, just like he's at right now because the Twins sent him down, fine.

[00:49:27] But this is a guy who's still 26 years old who has, despite injuries, hit at an extremely high level in his big league career and clearly needs a change of scenery. Yes, I would take a flyer on this. It's not that I wouldn't try it, especially in AAA, because at this point, I don't know if the Twins have much leverage in terms of trading him. Like, his trade value is about as low as it possibly can get right now. Injury issues, and he's not hitting.

[00:49:56] So that's just a lot of trouble. If he's able to fix things in AAA, I do think there's a role for him on the Mariners team. I'm just not totally convinced Royce Lewis is good, unfortunately. Like, Royce Lewis played about 70 really, really, really great games to start his big league career in 2022 and 2023. And ever since then, the only thing associated with Royce Lewis is net below average offensive play in injuries.

[00:50:24] Again, I would just take the flyer. Look who's currently on the roster hitting lefties. It ain't working. I'm just not, like, I'm not totally convinced he's better than Connor Joe. I would put him in AAA and let him try and prove it. Again, down for a flyer, but I'm just not convinced. I'm not. Look, if you have to give up anything significant, which you wouldn't at this point, then you don't do it.

[00:50:52] I would be interested in Royce Lewis. You can put me down for that. But, no. Okay. Well, again, I would be okay seeing him in AAA. But, yeah. For me, I guess I'm just tempering my expectations here. We have about three years of data from his baseball savant profile that just doesn't suggest, like, he's getting unlucky at all. Like, he's just not been great at many things offensively.

[00:51:19] But, hopefully, for him, he turns it around because he's showed a lot of promise. Super nice guy. We got him on our Bullpen Banner channel last year. He was fantastic to have on. So, we hope he turns it around and maybe he can do it in a Mariner uniform. All right. Before we get to... Yeah, I'll say this. He does have some slight, slight career reverse splits. He's actually hit righties a little better in his career. But his career OPS against lefties is 715. And there's been years. Like, the year he was really good, it was much closer to 800.

[00:51:48] So, like, again, I'd take the flyer, man. Like, if by the end of the year, that somehow worked and if Brennan Davis works, that could be a much bigger jolt than what the current right-handed hitters on the roster are giving you. I just don't like looking at Royce Lewis' first two seasons, which, again, was combined 70 games and saying, okay, that's why he's going to be good. It was a long time ago, and it's made up about 20% of his big league career.

[00:52:17] And then the other 80% of his big league career has just not been very good. I'm just a little intrigued, that's all. All right. Well, we love intrigue. We need intrigue. We need hypotheticals because that literally powers this podcast 100%. All right. Before we get to our next question, let's pause here for an ad. We always want our listeners to be informed about the game of baseball and the Mariners.

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[00:53:39] Just click the link in our bio or visit dlgseattle.com slash baseball to learn more. That's dlgseattle.com slash baseball to learn more. Next question comes from Alex on Patreon. Alex's question is, if Dan Wilson actually manages a clean game with good decisions made during the next homestand, are we going to get to see TJ and Lyle take their tarps off with the rest of the fans at T-Mobile Park?

[00:54:07] I love that this question was sent in, but no. No. You know who's made for that? Brock. That is right up his alley. Brock can go hang out with the tarps off crew. Yeah, you know, like Brock would show up with his family. He'd see them all up there. He'd be like, I'll be right back. He'd literally sprint up there, take his shirt off and start like screaming and jumping. It'd be ridiculous. But yeah. It's like it's so Brock coded, like a bunch of dudes with their shirt off.

[00:54:36] Like, and he can, he can examine everyone's body. Like he can, he could analyze. Oh, he'd be judging. He'd be judging a lot. I'm sure he's already judging a lot of those people's bodies that had their shirt off and that tarps off crew. But yeah, I would actually, I'd actually think it'd be a fun piece of content. It probably would. But would you take your shirt off in front of a bunch of people? Sure. I'd do it at the beach. Yeah, it's a little different. All right. Again, you don't have to. I think it'd be a fun. I think it'd be a fun piece of content, but I'll tell you what I'm not doing.

[00:55:05] I'm not doing it because Dan Wilson made good decisions. Like it's, it's Dan Wilson's job. It's Dan Wilson's job to make good decisions. I don't need to, I don't need to take my shirt off because Dan Wilson did what is like strategically sound in a baseball game. Oh, I thought you were about to take that a different way. You're saying that he's expected to do that. I would thought you were going to say, I'm not going to be doing that because there's not going to be a scenario where we have to do that. Cause there's not enough times where good decisions get made.

[00:55:34] Well, I'm sure there are some games where he could, I mean, unintentionally or not make good decisions and they work. I guess. Yeah. But I'm not going to take my shirt off because of that, because Dan Wilson makes a lot more money than I do to like do that. So it's like, all right. Yeah. It's like if I'm not going to take my shirt off cause Cal Raleigh hits like goes like two for four with a devil. Like that's your job. Sure.

[00:56:01] Dan Wilson went, if Dan Wilson wins a world series for the Seattle Mariners and because he's pushing a lot of right buttons, I'll tarp's off. All right. Fair enough. At the parade. It's a bit of a higher bar. That's, that's exceeding expectations there. Yeah. Fair. All right. Michael on Patreon asks, it's still earlyish in the season, but things are not going as planned slash hoped. Is it possible that this is just what the Mariners are a team that cannot put it together and stay healthy to play more than 500 ball?

[00:56:31] I mean, it's possible, but it seems pretty unlikely. Cal's injured. Brash was on the shelf. Gabe Spire's on the shelf. Donovan's on the shelf. You're going to have a trade deadline where the Mariners are usually as active as anybody at the trade deadline. Doesn't feel like this is going to be the end scenario. And to be fair, they have not been above 500. So I get the concern. They haven't been above 500 once this year, but do I think this is just who they are? No, I I'm with TJ. They're, they're better than this. And at some point they'll figure it out.

[00:57:01] They just haven't yet. And also like, even if they're not playing 500 ball, even if they're like two games under 500, they're literally still in the playoff race. Right. So they're going to, they're going to treat this as a aggressive, like let's, let's pick this, pick this shit up and, and, and go play better. And they're going to try and add up the deadline and the players on the roster. I hope we'll be motivated to play a little bit better to get over 500.

[00:57:25] This year in the American league is going to provide so many more opportunities for the Mariners to just be mediocre for a long time and still end up being totally okay at the end of the year because everyone else is just not good enough. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. How many more questions we got? A few more? Uh, a lot. Oh, okay. Let's, let's, let's go pretty quick. Uh, Alan on Patreon asks, Hey guys, uh, great to meet you at the hall this past weekend.

[00:57:51] What do you think it would take for the Mariners to eat the money on the Rob Refsneider experiment? Shout out to you, Alan. It was awesome to meet you this past weekend. I would say we're getting closer and closer to a decision being made. I think in the next month could honestly be two more weeks. If this does not turn around, they are going to be forced to make a decision. I don't think the Mariners are going to sit there and say, yes, we have to keep them all year because we paid them a little over 6 million bucks.

[00:58:20] I think eventually this is going to get to a point where they're unfortunately just going to be forced to make a decision. Rob Refsneider, a really nice guy. Love getting to meet him in spring training, but I hate to read these numbers because again, I'm rooting for him and I really thought this was going to work. Look, he currently on the year has a 370 OPS and an OPS plus of 8. How is that even possible? I mean, dude, I can't believe how AJ Pollock... Dude, this is worse than AJ Pollock.

[00:58:50] Well, I was going to say, I can't believe how AJ Pollock's similar to this is because remember AJ Pollock's WRC plus against lefties was 4? Or, well, Rob Refsneider's OPS plus for the year is 8? It's unreal how similar this is. Well, Lyle, at least... So AJ Pollock, when he was a Mariner, had the worst WRC plus in the league against left-handed pitching. Rob Refsneider's is only fourth worst. That makes you feel better. Oh, great.

[00:59:18] For me, Rob Refsneider has two weeks. The Mariners have an off day on June 4th. If things don't turn around by then, as Salk loves to say, off days are action days, that is an off day I would circle. That is right after the Mets series at home for anybody not looking at the calendar. Yeah. Like, at some point, like Brennan Davis, first of all, got added to the 40-man roster.

[00:59:42] Second of all, despite all the stuff we've said, like he's swinging and missing a lot in Tacoma, he's crushing it in Tacoma offensively. And Rob Refsneider, like he's not even giving you below average play. He's giving you, I'm done, play. Like, he cannot hit. Again, like, against the White Sox this week, leading off against a mediocre left-handed pitcher, two strikeouts and a weak groundout to shortstop. Bad. Dude, he doesn't have a single...

[01:00:11] Oh, actually, that's not true. Sorry. He has... I was going to say he didn't have an extra base hit yet. No, he has two extra base hits because he has two homers, but he's seven for 66. Two weeks. Two weeks from today recording. Yeah. All right, we have six more questions. Let's go rapid fire on these. Cole asks, what is the possibility we go out and trade for Jordan? What do you think the package would look like? It would be awesome.

[01:00:37] Sign me all the way up, but you're talking Kate Anderson, Felney, Celestine, and call it another real lottery ticket. Like a friend of the pod, but like a Nicky Becker type. And the Mariners aren't doing that. And then add on another premium prospect because the Astros are like, oh, well, we're trading him in division. Yeah, true. So I guess those three and, I don't know, maybe you have to trade whoever you take in the first round this year. You said Kate.

[01:01:07] I mean, I put Kate on my untouchable list. So instead, I cooked up Laz because, you know, you have to give Jordan back to get Jordan. Laz, Thelaine, Luke Stevenson, which will break our heart now. And then again, like maybe again, the first round pick from this year. That's a crippling package for a guy who's going to DH. Right. And I can't remember who said this. He's a Hall of Fame level DH. He is.

[01:01:35] But I have, you know, we have talked to people, right? Because if you're trading for someone like that, not only you're trading for him, you're going to extend him. Because that's just so much capital to give up. I forget who we were talking to about this. But Jordan's going to have the same problem that Aaron Judge, even though it hasn't really showed, or John Carlos Stanton will have with aging. As some guys are just too big. And it's going to affect other parts of your body. And we've already seen Jordan have injury problems in his career.

[01:02:03] How is that going to work when he's over the age of 30? And you're paying him $38 million because he's a goaded level hitter, but he's only a DH. And then he's a DH only half the time because he's hurt. Right. Is that worth all those prospects? No. Fair point. This year it is? In the future? Yeah, maybe not. Just have to depend what your priority is. I would not make either of those trade packages that either of us threw out there. Michael on Patreon asks,

[01:02:38] I mean, I don't really foresee him trading any of them. Are we under the exercise where we're forced to pick somebody here? Yes. I mean, it's probably Logan or Kirby. If you had to pick one? I mean, I guess by trends right now in the service time, another one that would break our heart, I guess it's Logan because, again, I mean, Logan hasn't put his best season together yet by any means

[01:03:07] and extension's not done yet. I don't want to see that happen, but I guess if you had to pick somebody, yeah. Does that make sense, though? No. Would it be worth it trading Logan right now? No. At his lowest value? No. I literally think Logan's value is as low as it's ever been right now. Right. Because he doesn't have control and he's not pitching well. Right. I would, if I were to choose anyone, I would choose Kirby, but I don't know if you want to trade him in season

[01:03:35] because his package isn't going to change at the deadline versus in the offseason. Yeah, the offseason is going to be a little weird, but that doesn't mean you can't once the season resumes or before the lockout starts, you can't trade him if that's really what your priority is. And again, I don't see that happening. If you're in a season where you're trying to compete for a World Series, the way Kirby's pitched, if you were to trade him at this deadline, I mean, you thought the Kendall Graveman trade was bad. The whole clubhouse might just quit if he got traded.

[01:04:06] I'm 100% in that bucket. I don't think anyone's, I don't think they're trading any one of these starters, even if they're like 20 games under 500 at the deadline. I don't see that at all. But thank you for the question. Next question comes from Ryan on Patreon. Ryan asks, how does JP potentially moving to third base impact the Mariners lineup? I mean, we talked about this a little bit already, but I don't know if it really does. Because again, it's all the same players.

[01:04:34] I think the lineup would mostly stay the same. You have JP at third. You'd have Colt at short. You'd have Colt second. Naylor at first. I'd say you just flip-flop Donovan between left and right. Oh, are you talking about defensive positioning? He's saying lineup. Oh yeah, I think that's what this means. Yeah. Oh. Well, I thought lineup. Again, I think JP will just continue to hit somewhere in the 7, 8, 9 spots. Yeah, positioning. I think what you're laying out there is right.

[01:05:01] And I think the big thing here is Randy goes and DHs. Is Randy going to be pissed about it? It's probably a world where he is. But I'm sorry. He doesn't play good defense. And you're going to need to find spots for everybody in the lineup. And that's probably what makes the most sense. Now, maybe Donovan gets some DH days, especially since he's already battling some injuries. But yeah, I think him and Randy would trade off between left field and DH. And maybe you start to keep Donovan in the lineup every day.

[01:05:30] You just start Donovan against lefties. Because you don't have reliable right-handed hitting outfielders. The Mariners had to extend Victor Robles' rehab stint in Tacoma because he's not hitting. Right. He's supposed to be the guy that can come up and hit. And he's not hitting. And your other options in the outfield are Connor Joe or Rob Refsnyder. Mm-hmm. So maybe Donovan does just play right field against lefties. Randy stays in left, Julio in center. And there you go.

[01:05:59] So yeah, I mean, Donovan's defense isn't going to be as good, but better than the other options. Possible. Okay, Ben on Patreon asks, Maybe it's time to trade GP for a real third baseman? Question mark. I don't think that's happening, especially after the quotes that just came out this week. And there's just, I don't know what third baseman's available for trade. And for JP Crawford. Right. You need to, yeah. If you wanted to trade for a third baseman, you couldn't trade JP.

[01:06:30] You might have to trade JP in a separate deal to clear up space, clear up some payroll, clear up the third base position itself. But a guy who's going to walk, who's, again, a really good offensive player, but not great on defense, it's not going to fetch you what you think. Right. I agree. You couldn't even get a young, like, upside third baseman for JP Crawford. Right. Like, I'm not even talking about like a blue chip prospect.

[01:06:56] I'm talking about just someone promising, like maybe Caleb Durbin a couple years ago. I don't even think you can get that for JP Crawford. Sure. I guess my mind goes to somebody like Kobe Mayo because he's younger and it's much more of a flyer. Dude, I don't even think you could get Kobe Mayo. Right. Because he has much, even though he's really struggled, he's got much more club control than JP does. Mm-mm. No. Orioles would be like, no way. Especially the Orioles aren't playing that well this year. Mm-hmm.

[01:07:24] Like, what use do we have for a rental infielder? Nothing. You could sign me up for Taylor Ward like I've been talking about, but that's different. See, this is where I pull a Dan Wilson and I don't know the rules. Orioles, if you trade for someone at the deadline and offer them the QO, do you get the draft pick? I think so. Like, if they offer Ward the QO? No. Hypothetically, let's say the Orioles trade for JP. They offer him the QO.

[01:07:54] He declines it and walks. Do they get the draft pick? I don't think so. I think the team that finishes the year with them is the one that offers it. Well, yeah. I mean, the Orioles get the draft pick. I think the Orioles would get the pick, yeah. Okay, all right. So that answers my question. So maybe they would get something out of it. Mm-hmm. Possible. Two more to go. Sean on Patreon asks,

[01:08:18] It would be really cool to have a discussion slash deep dive into team stats at this point of the season compared to last year. I will say, Sean, that is probably something that is better left up for an entire episode. Lyle and I could bookmark this and do more of a deeper dive if the Mariners are really, like, underperforming. And we can compare and contrast, like, two rosters that were kind of in a similar state this year versus last year sometime in a future episode.

[01:08:46] I think that would be much better than one question on a mailbag, which we can't really give proper context to. If you want the too-long, don't-read version of it, Cal, much worse. Julio, offensively better, defensively worse. Curvy, much better. And then as a team, like, they're hitting, like, 50 points worse on OPS. Right. Starter ERA is pretty much exactly the same. Bullpen ERA has been significantly better. Right. And base running and defense have both been tragically bad.

[01:09:16] Right. Both years. Yeah. Nick has a great question to finish this out. Similar to the quote-unquote name-redacted meme. Question, can we all please agree to keep World Series out of our mouths until, I don't know, maybe the team reaches a single game above 500? Ooh, that's a fun game. Yes. Yes. I've said this. I don't care what the division standings currently are. You can talk about them all you want.

[01:09:43] You're not making the playoffs finishing under 500. You're just not. It doesn't happen. It never happens. And baseball doesn't work itself out like that. Until the Mariners are actually over 500, we cannot be talking about, like, oh, well, look at the division standings and look at where they're sitting in the wild card. No. Get over 500 first, and then we'll start talking about it. Now, Nick probably means this in two different ways. Way number one is talking to the Mariners, where it's like, please don't mention the World to World Series.

[01:10:11] But I also think Nick is dead serious looking at us and saying, don't say the word name-redacted on the podcast. I'm down. It's like those memes about won't let grandma out of the cage until the Mariners are over 500. You've seen those memes, right? Yes. Or about just simply not tweeting until Fernando Tatis Jr. hits a home run or not tweeting until Tarek Skubel signs an extension with the Tigers.

[01:10:41] And then the accounts actually don't tweet. So, yeah, we can do it. We can say it. We can't say it anymore. Name-redacted. Sure. I like it, Nick. Atta boy. Love it. One game over 500. So they can't be 500. They need to be over 500. Yes. Yes, they do. So we're going to say name-redacted is back on when they're one game over 500. All right. Let's, yeah, let's make sure we remember that.

[01:11:08] And if they fall back under 500, we have to stop again, I'm assuming? Yeah. I like that. Okay. Yeah. Great. Works with me. Good rule to have. Shout out to you guys. That was a ton of mailbag questions. You were awesome with them. We love seeing the high volume of questions. It's a blast. We love interacting with you guys because we want to hear what's on your guys' mind. So if you guys want priority on these mailbag questions, you can do what all these listeners just did this past week. And you can sign up for our Patreon.

[01:11:35] And you can send us mailbag questions because that's where the priority stems from if you sign up for our Patreon. Okay. With that, that just about wraps up this edition of the Marine Layer Podcast. You guys know the drill. If you want to listen to the full-form podcast, you can do so wherever you get your audio pods. Make sure to download these episodes if you're listening. Rate and review five stars if you're on YouTube. Like, comment, and most importantly, please hit subscribe on YouTube. It's the best way to support the channel if you do. Find us on our website, marinelyarpod.com. You can find our merch all there. Patreon's there.

[01:12:04] Our episodes are all there. That's over at marinelyarpod.com. And then find us on social media. We're posting content every day 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.