Episode 441: What Is Even Left To Say About The 2026 Mariners?

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Hey guys, just a reminder to all you. This Tuesday, we're going to be doing a live podcast taping over with our friends at queen Am Beer Hall in collaboration with our friends at Corona as well. So after the Mariners Yankees game on Tuesday, likely tomorrow, when you're listening to this, we'll be taping our podcast. You can plan for around seven pm. It'll be thirty to forty five minutes after the conclusion of the Mariners Yankees game on Tuesday, So come on out and hang out with us. Whether you're just stopping buy for dinner and some drinks and want to hang out with your friends and want to talk baseball with us, there's a lot to talk about these days. You can come hang out because we'll be at the hall watching a little bit of the game, at least the back end of it, and then we'll be recording. We'll be around to hang out with you guys. Afterwards, we'll have a bunch of giveaways to hand out with our friends at Corona. So come on out again this Tuesday tomorrow. It'll be August the eleventh, over at queen Am Beer Hall in Seattle. 00:00:49 Speaker 2: Well in to episode number four, forty one of the Marine Layer Podcast, The Mariners get swept by the Rays on fiftieth anniversary weekend, and well, I feel like the stories just right themselves. 00:01:00 Speaker 1: Yeah, they do all right. A reminder of you, guys, make sure to download these podcast episodes. If you're listening, go rate and review five stars. Make sure to hit subscribe on YouTube. If you're watching, check everything out on our website again marine layerpod dot com. The merch is there, patreons there, episodes are there, all that at marine layerpod dot com, and then find us across social media. We're everywhere at Marine Layer Pod. 00:01:22 Speaker 2: Let's get it rolling, and we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball podcast network, recording here on Sunday evening, August ninth. I'm tired, lyle I'm tired of it? 00:01:49 Speaker 1: Mm hm, who is it is? Anybody still sitting there saying like this has been awesome? Everybody's tired of it? Everybody it It. 00:01:58 Speaker 2: Just keeps getting worse. You're telling me of all the things this week, Like you get into this scuffle with the Tigers, you have all these legends coming back into town to like give you like of the bits and pieces of Mariner's history that's been successful to try and take something from that and use it as fuel to have yourself play better and score more than four runs over the entire weekend. Like you would think you'd see something, but no, no, we didn't see anything. 00:02:29 Speaker 1: No, absolutely not. I mean, aside from an unbelievable Saturday night from Josh Naylor, there was no offense throughout the weekend and it was non existent. And it's just so on brand too, I mean. And here's the craziest part. I had a friend of ours text me over the weekend and he said, I am gonna remember this day against the I think, yeah, the Rays, right, No, no, no, no, yeah. He sent me a text on Friday night. He said, There's been a lot of bad games, but as an overall day, today will stick with me as potentially the end of our season physically and mentally. This is Friday after the loss against the Raids. I said to him, brother, it's gonna get worse, Like you have every right to feel that way, because they were playing terrible baseball up to that point, and they played terrible baseball the rest of the weekend. The meat of this August schedule hasn't even kicked in yet. This road trip hasn't started yet. They haven't gone and played the Yankees and the Bronx and the Brewers in Milwaukee and the Astros in Houston, who continue to win ball games, like the Raids are a really good team. They're the best team in the American League. But the true meat of this thing has not kicked in yet. There's seven games under five hundred, and we're talking about how it can and likely will get worse. 00:03:46 Speaker 2: The Astros win tonight and on Sunday Night baseball, the Mariners will be five games back in the worst division in baseball, three and a half games out of the playoff spot to bad teams in front of you. But it doesn't matter because at this point the Mariners are a bad team. They're right where they should be. 00:04:03 Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're telling you that they're not a good baseball team. No, we're at the ninth of August recording this. They're not even a mediocre baseball team right now. They're a talented baseball team on paper who cannot put it together for a variety of different reasons. They cannot put this thing together, and they're proving to everybody that despite the ridiculously high preseason expectations, they're not a good baseball team. Like they're a talented team, but they're not a fundamentally sound successful ball club. Unless something drastic changes in the next few weeks, the story is going to remain that way. Unless the story changes here in the month of August and they really write this ship, they're telling you who they are, which is not a good baseball team. 00:04:50 Speaker 2: I don't even want to sit here and joke about the irony of the Mariners having their low point new low point of the first fifty low points of the seas in fifty seasons that they're having here in twenty twenty six was this weekend. But like ironically, the Mariners had a pretty fitting fiftieth anniversary weekend for this franchise, and it's unfortunate for all the hard working people who put together this amazing weekend. From a marketing perspective, I thought Saturday's celebration was super cool, getting to see all those names and those old highlights and Riz getting inducted into the or probably he's going to get inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame next year, which will be super cool. That was all perfect, but unfortunately the play on the field perfectly encapsulates the Mariners franchise through fifty seasons, always letting you down, and he sucks. I wish I could say something different, because the marketing and the baseball are total two totally different things, and you try and do something super cool for the fans who clearly appreciated the celebration, but then the baseball is just flat and disappointing and very fitting for the Seattle Mariners. 00:06:04 Speaker 1: I mean, you said it in your social media reaction. It's always the fans left holding the bag, right. 00:06:12 Speaker 2: Every fans are the ones who have to keep showing up to the park and paying for tickets and buying TV subscriptions when there are these seasons where we're saying, hey, we're we got this, We're gonna we're gonna win the World Series, and at the end of the day, you know, I'm sure people in the Mariners organization are very frustrated and very mad, but at the end of the day, it is always the fans left holding that bag. 00:06:36 Speaker 1: Mm hmm. 00:06:37 Speaker 2: Like the players all get paid no matter what front office, they all get paid coaches, they all get paid owners, They make they've given the break a profit, which it's very profitable. It seems they all make money. The fans of the one are always the ones left holding the bag. And that's I think that's what's sunk in the most to me here on Sunday, as the Mariners are careering towards another loss on a just truly tragic homestand that they had against two non playoff teams and then one of the best teams in the American League, will they finish three and six? And they're stirring at a road trip where there really is no hope. There's none, I. 00:07:18 Speaker 1: Mean unless a legitimate miracle happens, unless Angels in the outfield is reincarnated with the twenty twenty six Seattle Mariners. Yeah, I mean, you can all see what's in front of you. And even more so to your point about fans holding the bag, not only in the current state are they holding the bag with Like you said, players get paid, coaches get paid billionaires or billionaires, and they keep turning profits well even as time goes on. Players retire, front office people off and retire or find new jobs. Coaches move on. Fans don't. You're just stuck here and in fifty seasons they have made the World Series zero times. Oh wait, well, actually surely they made it last year, right am? I is my mind blanking? They went to the World Series against the Dodgers last year. 00:08:07 Speaker 2: Right they did not? 00:08:09 Speaker 1: They didn't. No, I swore they did. 00:08:12 Speaker 2: No, No, No, I didn't. 00:08:13 Speaker 1: They I thought they I could have sworn they went to the World Series against the Dodgers. 00:08:17 Speaker 2: Now bizarre of came in and pitched. 00:08:20 Speaker 1: Oh right, Dan Wilson didn't put munos in the game in the seventh inning. Right, No, they didn't go to the World Series. So fifty seasons no World. 00:08:26 Speaker 2: Series, right yeah, And the fans are left here having to show up again next season when everyone says, Okay, I know this season's bad, just wait for next year. But like some of us are just tired, tired of next season. And we'll continue this conversation later on. There's a larger point to all of this that we brought up over and over again, and it's gonna come back up as the Mariner's head on a road and the fact there's an off day tomorrow. 00:08:53 Speaker 1: But like. 00:08:56 Speaker 2: Going forward, the Mariners are gonna need to answer the question like they bought at the deadline, not a hard buy, but they bought. Is twenty twenty six still the season where you could make the playoffs? Or is the season over? I think Tuesday's gonna tell us that by the time they get to Tuesday, has anything changed. And when I say anything, I mean literally anything. It can be whatever, whatever you think might change the Mariner's trajectory going forward. If they get to Tuesday and nothing has changed, then I think to me that signals there's no belief in this team. M hm, well, the team might spin it, Hey, that means we believe in our guys a lot. I actually think it means the exact opposite, that this team is not worth changing anything. 00:09:46 Speaker 1: Further, for sure, totally fair. By the way, we'll get into some potential changes that they could go through. But while we're sitting here, before we do that, if you're watching on YouTube, drop a comment what you think some action moves could be. And if you're listening, send us a DM like what do you think the Mariners could or should do in the next forty eight hours and take some action? Right? 00:10:08 Speaker 2: Okay, let's dive into that deeper. But before that, I want to tell you guys about Emerald Queen Casino's summer lineup of shows this week. Yachtley Crew will be in Tacoma on August fifteenth, Brantley Gilbert on August twenty second, Pete Davidson on August twenty eighth, and then Bobby Lee on September fourth. Get your tickets today at Emerald Queen dot com. Emerald Queen Casino is the entertainment capital of the Northwest, and while you're there, you can take your night to the next level at Sla Hall Steakhouse. Rooftop dining at Emerald Queen gives you mountain to sound views paired with premium steaks and creative cocktails. You'll just have to come see it to believe it. Get in Friday and Sunday from four to ten pm and Saturday eight from four to eleven pm. Get your reservation today on open table or by calling two five three four four one thirty one oh one. That's two five three four four one thirty one oh one. We're not here to talk about any more. Lyle about why is this part of the roster underperforming? Why is this part of the roster underperforming? Why is Dan Wilson underperforming. Why are the hitting coaches underperforming? Why are Jerry and Justin underperforming? There's no more why, it's how are the Mariners going to fix this? If they still believe the twenty twenty six season season is salvagable. So if they get to New York on Tuesday and nothing else has changed, then to me, that signals a white flag on the season, because not changing anything, I believe rights the destiny of this team is missing the playoffs and that they'll end August ten to fifteen games below five hundred, that not even a soft September schedule can save for them. So the only way that is not the case is if they change something by Tuesday. Is that fair? 00:11:55 Speaker 1: I think it's totally fair. But for the people who might want a further elaboration, why did this home series doing in for you? Where you say now you have to make an action move or it's done. I don't think you're wrong. I just think it would be interesting to hear your elaborate on. 00:12:09 Speaker 2: It, because you're staring down the barrel of a one in eight or two and seven road trip. If you don't m h, I mean season's over if you do. 00:12:18 Speaker 1: That, right, I mean We're already on the brink of it. We joked season over all the time, we are actually on the brink of it right now. They go and get boat raced on this road trip. You're not coming back from that. 00:12:30 Speaker 2: If you get if you go two and seven on this road trip, meaning like you win, you win one of three and two of the series and gets swept in another one, that puts you twelve games below five hundred with what a week and a half left to go in August? Yeah, how are you coming back from that? 00:12:50 Speaker 1: So that would be how many games? Because as we sit here today, as the Mariners lost, the Mariners sit it sixty three and fifty six, So that is one hundred and nine games into the year. Nine more games is one hundred and eighteen, so remaining, you would have forty four games left on your schedule, and you would be what nine games under five hundred? Ten No, no, no, because there's six under right now or seven or seven hunder. So if you go two and seven on this road trip, you're twelve under with forty four games to go. I mean, how in the world do you dig yourselves out of that? You would have to go? I don't know. You'd have to win thirty five of your final forty four, and you'd still have the Cubs and the Phillies and the Red Sox left, and you still have the Astros in another series in September. 00:13:41 Speaker 2: Yep, exactly exactly, so like you cannot get to Tuesday if you still believe twenty twenty six is salvagable with everything intact, coaches, players and front office like all of them. People get pissed when you start asking if change is possible, But I'm not sure if what else is possible at this point that the Mariners care about the outcome of this twenty twenty sixth season. Keeping it the same clearly has not worked. People have said for weeks, just got to believe, just gotta believe, just gotta believe. Alvin Davis this week and said, just gotta believe. That's not right. It's not right anymore. It's not and it's really unfair to the fans to just keep telling them to believe. Well, everything else says the opposite. You keep telling everyone to believe, and then you end August fifteen games below five hundred, insulting to fans. 00:14:45 Speaker 1: Well, yeah, of course it is. And Alvin Davis is the ultimate nice guy, raw ra guy. Of course he's gonna try and fire people up. I don't try Alvin for doing that. I know you don't either. But when that can't even get you going, and the scuffle with the Tigers can't get you go, and the trade deadline can't get you going, I don't know what's going to So let me follow up on this again. I don't think you're wrong when you say that action needs to be taken in some form of another before they start Game one in New York on Tuesday. The only thing I'll say is, if there's action taken, does it change anything, because I think we're still in the same boat of if your stars continue to play like this, I don't know if anything matters. 00:15:30 Speaker 2: That's totally right. But if it all comes back to if you still believe you can win in twenty twenty six, which given the state of the American League, anything is possible. But here's one thing. You do know what you currently have does not work right, That's true. Yeah, so you can't keep doing the same thing. You cannot, even if it's not logical. Even if going into this weekend you didn't think something like that would make sense. You have to try something because if not, you're telling us that twenty twenty six doesn't matter anymore, and you need to start focusing on twenty twenty seven. 00:16:11 Speaker 1: If people want to look Last Half full, because I know this is for every good reason been a very, very down in the dumps negative podcast, and has to be with how they've played to this point in the year, and it has to be with how they played this weekend. But if you want to look Last Half fall, and if you want to jump on TJ's back and get on board with his take, which is totally valid in the sense of serious action, needs to be taken in some form before Tuesday's game. If you want to try to write the ship of this season, there are small little signs that your stars are starting to come out of this a little bit. Well cal I don't know, man, that's that feels like a whole different rabbit hole to dive into, I mean dive down. And I don't know if his season is salvageable at this point. I mean, it continues to just look brutal. But if you want to look elsewhere, Julio's last seven to ten games, he's starting to do the August Julio thing a little bit. Julio's last seven games he's opsing ten forty eight and hitting three sixty. Like you're starting to see Julio really lock in. Josh Naylor's last fifteen games were things buoyed a little bit by his great game on Saturday. Sure, but his last fifteen games he's hitting two seventy eight and his ops is over eight hundred. So if you want to jump on board with TJ's take and say this season is still salvageable if they try to change some things around here, and you believe that, oh maybe maybe Julio and Naylor are starting to break out of this thing and they can lead the charge and they can get this whole thing going along with Randy, along with Dom, along with Cole Young. Then yet you do have to do something right now, because this is the breaking point of the season where if you don't fix it now, it's done. You come back from this road trip two and seven, Hell, you come back three and six, you're probably done because right now you're seven games under. If you lose three more games aground on this road trip against teams that you are not going to be favored against You're talking ten under with forty four games left. Man, that is a rabbit hole. I mean that is a big hole to climb out of. 00:18:11 Speaker 2: Even with Julio and Naylor turning things around while they're not scoring right, even with. 00:18:17 Speaker 1: That, I'm trying to get people some little glass half fall perspective of can your stars start to drive this? I mean, look, I'm not sitting here believing I know what's coming up in August. We've talked about this, but if people want to try and look lass half fall, I'm trying to give them a reason to do so, which is Julio Naylor are starting to show some signs of life. 00:18:36 Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, sure, but the cold hard facts are that even with that, even with those guys starting to heat up. I mean, Naylor for the last month has been getting on base and hitting totally fine. There's just been no power. And yet Julio's recent week week plus has been good. If you go back like two weeks, the Mariners are twenty ninth in baseball and runs score only the Angels are worse. It just it's so hard to find any sort of glass half full thing with this team, and now they're going to go out on the road where they've really, really, really really struggled this season. Really yeah, Okay, let's run down the list of things the Mariners could possibly do here on this off day on Monday. And the off day is big because off days give everyone plenty of time to sit and think about the state of this roster. 00:19:28 Speaker 1: Right, Let's let's do this in an interesting way. Let's go back and forth. You throw it at you throw out an idea, I'll throw out an idea, You can throw out an idea, et cetera. 00:19:39 Speaker 2: Okay, let's start with the players. Can you give me a reason why Michael Arroyo and Las Montes shouldn't be on the roster on Tuesday. 00:19:48 Speaker 1: I do not think Las Montes is a big league ready. He's still not hitting lefties, his strikeout rate is still too high in Tacoma. But Michael Arroyo, yes, he should be here. 00:20:00 Speaker 2: You're probably right on Las. But but your point on him is going to be a theme with like some of the decisions that will be made up to Tuesday. I know front officers always think in the long term. 00:20:15 Speaker 1: But. 00:20:19 Speaker 2: My thing is, like I just can't hear the words twenty twenty seven at all. This week when thinking about this team, I can't I can't do it. I can't have like all of this preseason hype, all of this it's our time to win the World Series. I can't have it. And then we've reached not even the middle of August, and everyone's already focused on next season. And while I understand and you're totally logically right on Las Montes and him potentially not being ready for the big leagues right now, one thing you definitely do need is more power and not got enough power the guy. If there's one thing you know he'll do when he comes up here, two things strikeout or three things strikeout, walk and hit home runs, we know he's gonna do that. I don't care about the defense. I don't care about anything else. And I'm not even saying it makes a whole lot of sense. But if I it decisions that come on Tuesday. If you're saying we didn't do this because twenty twenty seven, I think it's backwards. 00:21:28 Speaker 1: Okay, but there still has to be some process that you take in player development. Are you calling up Felmin Sellison and Johnny Barmelo two? 00:21:36 Speaker 2: Okay, but that's different. Those guys are multiple levels away from the big leagues. 00:21:42 Speaker 1: I mean, yes, but Las hasn't been in TRIPA that long. 00:21:47 Speaker 2: It's still more logical than the other two. And also like, yes, you wouldn't have a center fielder a backup centerfielder for Julio at Victor was Victor Robliss is the example of who's the spot Laz would take, right, he would take Robless to spot because Roblest barely plays anymore. It doesn't even seem they trust him that much at the plate, So that's where like Laz would be in there. But like the team need does need if they're trying to score more runs, like that's one way to do it. It might not be pretty. But if you're starting to throw stuff at the wall just to try and again salvage something out of this season, what's currently there is not working mm hm, So you gotta you gotta try, even if it sounds insane, you might have to try it. But I see no, I see no good argument that at least one of those two shouldn't be up on the roster on Tuesday. And if you're telling me, I saw this idea floated out there this week that they want to protect those guys, so next year they can play games while the lockout's going on. 00:22:54 Speaker 1: Miss me with that, I mean, yeah, I mean that's totally fine. I'm with you. I don't think you should just keep Michael Arroyo down because of a potential lockout next year so you can keep playing. Because again, if that's the case, then it's back to your point that you started this whole thing with, which is you're punning this season, right, you're not doing everything possible to make twenty twenty six a priority. 00:23:19 Speaker 2: It if this if you view the twenty twenty sixth season as incomplete, as as a lost cause unfortunately, Like why should the fans have to show up to the park the rest of the season If that's the case, it's a good question. 00:23:35 Speaker 1: Also, don't las In Arroyo have to be put on the forty man next year? Are they not? Yeah? 00:23:40 Speaker 2: I think they do. 00:23:41 Speaker 1: So for whoever said that online, I don't even think that logic checks out because those guys aren't gonna be able to play next year anyway. The Mariners are gonna have to put those guys on the forty man in the winner because you're not gonna let them get Rule five Obviously, and if you're on the forty man, that's what qualifies into the lockout. So if there's a lockout next year, Laz and Arroyo are a plan. Anyway, Farmelo will be playing, and Salaston will be playing, and Luke Stevenson will be playning and some of those other guys, but not Kade, not Sloan. Well, actually it depends what those guys and what they do. We'll get to them in a minute. But Laz and Arroyo, I think you got to put on the forty man. So yes, I would not do it with Laz yet. Maybe in September. We'll see how he looks over the next month and you can make a decision then Arroyo. Yeah, And if you want to even go deeper than that in Tacoma, here's the first idea I'll throw out there. You can bring Ryan Bliss up too. You could take Michael Arroyo, Ryan Bliss, bring him up, and you could send down West and Wilson and Leo Ribas. 00:24:42 Speaker 2: Right, perfectly logical, No, no good reason for that not to happen on Tuesday. Sure, try something. Well, can you name me a good reason why, Ryan, Sloan and Kate Anderson shouldn't be up pitching on this Mariner's staff, either in the bullpen or in the rotation on Tuesday. 00:25:02 Speaker 1: Be quite a move of Jerry to go back on his word from four days ago to say we're not putting Kate in the bullpen too. Well, now we're putting Kate in the bullpen. Be kind of funny. Optics, I'll say. 00:25:10 Speaker 2: That, screw the optics. Do you want to win? I mean, yes, I do, right exactly. It all comes back to that, right, So Jerry would tell us again. It could be perfectly logical for a front office in any situation besides this one, to say, well, we don't want to ruin the development of our prospects. It's like, okay, but like once you tell us that this season doesn't matter as much, then we have a problem. 00:25:39 Speaker 1: Sure, I will do the same thing with Laz and Arroyo that I'll do with Kate and Sloan. Here, you can absolutely have me buying in to Kate Anderson being up on the big leagu grosster. You could, because he's a big league arm pitching in the miners. He's too good for the minor leagues. We know that he just had another great start this weekend Sloan, I would hump the brakes a little bit. He is not even at the innings total of last year's Ryan Sloane innings, so I don't know how putting him in the bullpen does much for him at twenty years old. That would really be stunning some development. I know you say you don't care about that. There is a level I'm willing to go with this where when Ryan Sloan is the chance to be the ace of your staff in a couple of years, and you could be yanking him up into a bullpen to not even meet his inning limit on a roster that may not make the playoffs anyway, I think I'm gonna pump the brakes on that. 00:26:34 Speaker 2: Totally logical, totally logical. But you know he would make you better. 00:26:39 Speaker 1: Probably, But there is a again, this goes back to Then this goes back to the whole idea of well then just call up Johnny Farmelo and felnin Celliston too. Sloan is also multiple levels away. 00:26:53 Speaker 2: But you couldn't. You can't really make a case that Felonin or Johnny could compete at the big league level today, But you can for the four guys I mentioned. 00:27:02 Speaker 1: You can, But again I think it's you're getting really really pushy with Sloan now if they call up Caid and he comes up and helps, and then in September they found their way back into it and they go back on the plan that they talked about earlier in the season where they want to bring Sloan up later. All right, yeah, buy into that. But right now on August tenth, eh feels a little crazy. 00:27:29 Speaker 2: The Marrors have reached a point though, where they can't just stay on schedule if the season still matters. 00:27:35 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's there. 00:27:37 Speaker 2: It's the tough reality. 00:27:39 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:27:39 Speaker 2: So that's all the player stuff I can think of. Is there any other player stuff I'm missing? 00:27:44 Speaker 1: I mean not unless you want to try to go fish down that waiver route and look toward guys that have been DF eight. I mean, if you wanted to try and bring Jorge Soilari in. I mean I guess he could. He hasn't signed anywhere. But when the trade deadline ends, everybody kind of just sits back. You can't do much. It's just, hey, here's your team go. The only things they can do in terms of player roster moves is bringing guys up from the minor leagues or fishing down that dfa waiverryer, and maybe they'd look toward that. But there's a reason Jorge Hilaire was DFAD this year, right, So I'd say that is about it. On the player side, if you wanted to throw out some other names, you can, And again, if you think we're leaving names out, you can drop him in the comments or dm us could they look it? I mean, like Brendan Davis is still hurt, so that one wouldn't work. Could you look at brock Rodden or could you look at Spencer Packard healthy? I mean, that's another name you could throw out there, but it's not anything that's gonna exactly inject crazy life into the team. I mean, like, for example, brock Rodden is a he'd be a utility player in the big leagues. He's not gonna fix the offense. Spencer Packard as we sit see, No, he's active. Oh yeah, Like, I mean that could be another name. He's twenty eight years old. Like that's somebody that isn't gonna have much minor league development left. Sure, like you could try it. I don't know how much it's gonna do. But that's about all the names left. 00:29:12 Speaker 2: So then we move on to other people. Lyle's let's move away from the players and everyone else. And I'm gonna start by saying this. I don't I don't want to call for people's jobs, and it's not my decision to decide whether or not people are employed. But the facts or the facts with this Mariner's team is that they are drastically underperforming across the board. And rarely in any business do you underperform to this magnitude that the Mariners are currently at. And there's no accountability. The only accountability we've seen all season long is Bobby maggianis losing his job and the Mariner's offense has been worse since they fired him. So that leaves us with two different sectors, coaches and the front office entering Tuesday. That's that's where we're at. It could happen to anybody at this point, and I on a wouldn't be surprised. Like the cas is for everyone. You have the coaches, whether you want to be Kevin Siitz or the hitting coach, Edgar Martinez the director of hitting, or Dan Wilson the manager, where they just the players have underperformed to such a drastic measure that at some point that is a reflection on the coaching staff, and that's how they're held accountable. Or you look up to the front office where you're sitting in year eleven, and your trajectory is downwards. As much as you like to pump up the farm system, the trajectory of the major league team is down in year eleven. And usually when that happens, people lose their jobs, unfortunately, and it sounds but that's just how life works. 00:30:43 Speaker 1: I mean. I'll dig into a couple more tweets in the social media realm just to add some context. One is from Softie on KJR, who tweeted this after the loss today. But Softie said this team is totally void of any leadership. Nobody besides an occasional media gathering with Jerry is speaking for the team, and Jerry doesn't do many of those. He's done one maybe two of them this year. It's rare. To continue Softy's tweet, he says the manager seems lost. The owner, outside of addressing the accomplishments of the past, is a wall. The ship is sinking and they can't get to the lifeboats fast enough, I mean seems about right. 00:31:18 Speaker 2: Yep, Softy's had a lot of good tweets this week, I'll say that. 00:31:22 Speaker 1: Yeah. He also mentioned that we haven't really heard from many of the stars postgame a whole lot. I mean, Naylor really never talks like, you don't really hear anything from Naylor. Same thing with Randy. Cow's talked a little bit. Julio certainly hasn't talked in a while. You know, there's always a couple of times in the year where Julio kind of step up and say something. Feels like he hasn't said anything in a long while now, right, So there's that and that. So that's more of the coaches leadership side of it. Softie's more talking about the accountability if you want to go to the front office side of it. Our friend Jage on Twitter does make a point here with the following He said, the four longest tenured president of baseball ops in Major League Baseball are Brian Cashman, who's had twenty eight years of employment. He's made the playoffs twenty three times, four World Series and seven penance and by the way, Yankees fan still don't like Brian Cashman. R read that again twenty eight years, playoffs twenty three times, four World Series, seven penance, and Yankees fans still call for that guy's job constantly. Yes, that's him AJ Preller, who is a lightning rod in his own right. He is very polarizing. He is a very very video game fantasy baseball type GM. He just is because like he just does crazy things. He doesn't operate like anybody else. But AJ Preller twelve years, four playoff appearances, no World Series, no penance, and people still, you know, often wonder if A J. Preller's jobs in jeopardy right, But he's been there twelve years and has made the playoffs four times. Then you get to Mark Shapiro of the Blue Jays, who, by the way, is more it's like the president of the team. Now. I'm sure he's still involved with baseball, but the way Toronto's leadership is structured is different where Shapiro's got a bit of a different role. Now, if I have that right, I believe. 00:33:16 Speaker 2: Probably the wrong people to be talk about that. We maybe should ask our friends at Gate fourteen what exactly the breakdown and responsibilities and a Blue Jay's front office is right, but at the very. 00:33:26 Speaker 1: Least, he's obviously not the GM, it's Ross Atkins. But if you want to talk about Shapiro, who is in a higher up role from a GM at this point, eleven years, five playoff appearances, no world series titles, one pennant, so. 00:33:41 Speaker 2: Right, and very nearly had one last year right. 00:33:45 Speaker 1: Out's away Miguel Rojas Homer away. Eleven years, five playoffs, so half nearly half the time they've made the playoffs and in fourth or tied for third, I should say out. Also at eleven years Jared, Yeah, tied for fourth. Also at eleven years, Jerry, Oh my god, I can't even talk. Not tied for fourth, tied for third Jerry Depoto eleven years, two playoff appearances, no world series titles, no penance. 00:34:12 Speaker 2: Yeah, and I want to fall up with a couple other things. Jage tweeted, because he's when Jage gets on one, I think he is really really I think he's spot on with a lot of this stuff, like you can always look at you can always look at like prospect rankings as the health of an organization, and clearly those are valuable, but if those don't translate to the thing that ultimately matters, which is winning your division, winning the Pennant, and winning a World Series, then what's the point. You could always have a good farm system, but if you don't win jack shit, then it does not matter. 00:34:49 Speaker 1: Well, that's exactly what Jage said. He said the following in another tweet, he said, Fangrafts Baseball America MLB farm system rankings don't mean shit. Banners do. And this front office has one meaningful banner in ten plus years. 00:35:06 Speaker 2: Right, it's not wrong. And then to summarize it, I think he summarizes perfectly right below that it says, whatever you decide you're gonna do with your coaching staff, is this gonna Is this gonna help the team better? If you're firing the hitting coach, firing the manager, or getting rid of someone in the front office, Is it gonna help the team hit better? Who knows? But you know what won't help that doing the same thing that you've currently been doing for the next seven weeks. 00:35:29 Speaker 1: Yeah, because it's clear this is not working. Like you said, nothing at the trade deadline was really gonna alter the reality of this team. Taylor Ward seems fine. I mean, he squared up a ball nicely here on Sunday tripled earlier in the game. But sure, Anthony Domingez hasn't looked all that sharp obviously, and that's it. That's all you have to your new roster, right. 00:35:54 Speaker 2: I'm just frustrated, man, I'm frustrated. I'm a little depressed at this point that this season has gone down the toilet. And I know I'm gonna hear someone in the Mariners talk about twenty twenty seven as a reason to not try and make their team better in desperation. Uh and within this week, and it's gonna piss me off. 00:36:16 Speaker 1: Oh because it's oh, oh, sorry, twenty twenty seven. You mean the year there's gonna. 00:36:20 Speaker 2: Be a lockout, correct, right? Because at some point Mariners fans can't keep getting told next year. We can't start the season with World Series and end the season with next year anymore. I'm done. Yes, the team needs, the team needs to operate like that. 00:36:41 Speaker 1: Facts, it's been way, way, way too long of asking fans to wait around fifty years is way too long for any fan base, any franchise, any sport. And you've never made the World Series. The New York Jets might be the most inep franchise in all of sports. Once upon a time. It's hard to believe. I know, the Jets won a Super Bowl. The Mariners are still honoring a season where they lost in the semi finals. Yeah, I mean, look, the fiftieth weekend was great. It was It was very cool. The marketing team crushed it. The people on the business side of the Mariners crushed that whole weekend. But when the biggest thing you have to hang your hat on is a season thirty years later where you lost in the ALCS in six games, what are we doing? There are franchises that don't still do World Series promotional nights. Thirty years later, we're still talking about ALCS. Fifty years is far too long. 00:37:47 Speaker 2: And I don't want to hear anyone reference nineteen ninety five as a reason this team's going to turn it around. I just don't want to hear it. I don't whether you're talking to with that. 00:37:57 Speaker 1: Isn't it a little bit? Isn't it a little little bit of a unique time to be telling a man and Rick Rez who just got inducted into the Maridith Hall of Fame. 00:38:07 Speaker 2: I'm not even trying to take personal shots, but like, like again, like you can be like a beacon of positivity. But like, like I'm I'm not alone on this island. 00:38:19 Speaker 1: I know you're not because I'm in the same boat as you. I'm just laughing at hearing you say it. 00:38:23 Speaker 2: It just it just can't be. It cannot be. At some point the money that the fans invest into this team needs to pay off. 00:38:34 Speaker 1: Well in fifty seasons, it has. 00:38:36 Speaker 2: Not correct at some point, and I'm tired of getting on here, especially this season. It seems like every Sunday and we're so downer, and we're so negative about this team, and then we have people ask us why we're being so negative about the team. Why don't we cheer up? Why aren't we more optimistic? Well, I just want a reason to be. Last year gave us a great reason to be. Things worked great, but then we get the total other side of the coin this year. And the Mariners last year, by the way, took drastic steps to make that happen, to make that team what it was. They were willing to do things they hadn't done before to make that happen. I'd love for the same thing to happen this year, but unfortunately it's gonna have to be in the opposite direction. 00:39:28 Speaker 1: People should go back and look at all the things we were talking about in posting last October. For anybody that says we'll try being optimistic, TJ did multiple videos last year during the playoffs when the Mariners got to Game five against the Tigers and Game seven against the Blue Jays, and he's like, the Mariners season is not allowed to end tonight, and he highlights every reason why this can't end here. It worked once, It didn't work the second time because Dan Wilson decided to blow the season by not putting Munno's in the game. But TJ made two separate videos on that, And those are just two of hundreds of optimistic videos we did around the postseason and around August and September and on when they were just lighting it up. Like when the team plays well, nobody's more optimistic than us. But we're not gonna sit here and tell you well, like you just gotta believe these guys will figure it out. You gotta remember in nineteen ninety five when they were fourteen games back, like no man, like this has been one of the worst offenses in baseball all year. This team doesn't play good defense. The manager makes blunders at every turn. The fundamental baseball is awful. The bullpen's had problem. You couldn't make sound decisions on your rotation all year. You didn't do enough at the trade deadline. We're not gonna sit here and pull the wall over people's eyes. Everything I just highlighted out has happened this year. 00:40:49 Speaker 2: No one like we benefit from the team being good as much as everyone else. We have no reason to want the team to be bad or to play bad. But that's that's just how it sounds now because that's what the team has given us. And they're staring down the barrel of a stretch that I don't think they're going to get through. And if they still care about this season, then they got to change something. So they need to do something because what's currently happening on this team does not work, and they've proven to us over and over again that it doesn't. 00:41:22 Speaker 1: Yeah, and by the way, just to start with this series in New York, the Mariners get two lefties, including Max Screed in the finale. Now you miss Schlitzler and Cole if you want to look glass half full, but glass half MD is you get two lefties including Max Freed in New York where the Mariners have not played well, and Brian wu is going to start the first game and we unfortunately know how his road outings have gone this year. 00:41:48 Speaker 2: They've won one series in New York in like the last twenty years. 00:41:51 Speaker 1: Yep, they haven't won a series in Boston and forever. And like we said on Friday with Tyan Colby, they're probably getting missed in the Brewers series if everything's shake out to how it's supposed tough. Yeah, we're not going to go an hour today. There's just there's just not enough to keep going down the rabbit hole about. There's just not like this is where we're at. We don't want to. We don't want to. Yeah, everybody's tired. We don't want to force anybody into more dragged out Mariners talk with the state of this current team. But yeah, this is this is where we're at. This is the this is the reality. We wish we were sitting here being positive, but we're sitting here talking about the reality because that's what we do. We're realists. 00:42:35 Speaker 2: And we'll see how much we have to talk about at our podcast taping on Tuesday at queen Ane Beer Hole. Maybe we'll have a lot to talk about, or maybe we'll just be more of the same, but come through to find out. 00:42:46 Speaker 1: We'd still love to hang out with you guys. Season aside, we always love to talk baseball with people. We saw so many people at the ballpark this weekend, which is always a blast. We always see people at the events, which is great. Like, we love to come and hang out with you guys this we So if you're around Tuesday night about seven pm, come on out to Queen anber Hall will be there even a little before seven because we'll be watching a bit of the game, probably like the latter half of the game, and also setting up too, So you want to come out, come on out. We'd love to see you guys, seriously, and that's real. I will say one final thing before we wrap this up, because we've spent a lot of time talking about it. Shout out to every Mariners fan or just about every Mariners fan in the building on Saturday night who gave a rod the recognition that he one hundred percent deserved. Were there a few booze, Yeah, can't please everybody that was ninety five percent cheers for Alex Rodriguez, and that my friends, is how it should be. 00:43:45 Speaker 2: It was one of the louder ovations too, among the guys who came out, like of the of the dugouts, essentially like he got among the loudest ovation. Then they had the four Hall of Famers come in from center field, which, as expected, go the biggest round of applause. But among the guys who came in before that, I mean, a Rod got a pretty loud ovation. I was I was pretty happy to see that, and good on him. He came, he showed up, he was there, and thank goodness. 00:44:15 Speaker 1: Yeah, Mayor's Hall of Fame. Next, that's the next step. 00:44:19 Speaker 2: Maybe I meant, Look, it's the first step back into recognition by an organization. They deemed him one of the thirty fifty greatest Mariners, and now that connection is back. I don't think it's impossible. No, it's probably way later than it should but I don't think it's impossible, you know. 00:44:37 Speaker 1: What, better late than ever. It is way later than it should have been, but it seems like enough times pass where enough fans can really just let bygones be bygones and remember the good stuff. I don't know if all the public conversation about the a Rod stuff helped. I'd like to think it helped a little bit from all the people, not just us, but there were other people talking about Yeah, man like cheer for a Rod and people say you have gotten the message because that was a very very cool ovation that he got. And I'm glad it was not boo birds and fake money being thrown again like it was, no, we remember the good years of a Rod. That was cool because again, at his peak, he may be the greatest player that's ever put on this jersey. You can argue, like not career as a whole, he wasn't here as long as the Mariners Hall of Famers, but peak, there's a real argument he's the best player to ever put on a Mariners jersey. So I'm very glad he got the recognition. Shout out Arod. This is the pro Arod podcast, as you guys know by now. So yeah, all right, that just about wraps up this edition of the Marine Layer podcast. You guys know the drill. If you want to listen to the full form podcast, you can do so wherever you get your audio pods. Just make sure to download these episodes. If you're listening, go rate and review five stars hit that subscribe button. If you're watching on YouTube, it just takes a second to do. You see the beds, the big red subscribe button in front of you, just hit it. You can also find us at our website marine layerpod dot com. Episodes are all there, patreons there, podcast episodes are all there again, that's marine layerpod dot com. And find us on social media. We're on every platform. We're everywhere and we're posting content every day at Marine layer Pod. That's t J. I'm Lyle as Ohevy. Thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon.