Episode 449: The Eugenio Suarez Discussion Highlights A Bigger Problem With The Mariners + Mailbag

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to episode number 449 of the Marine Layer podcast. The Mariners win two of three against the Philadelphia Phillies and embark on a six-game road trip, a crucial six-game road trip starting tomorrow. We have a mailbag episode, so we'll open it up and answer your best listener questions. 00:00:16 Speaker 2: Reminder to you guys, before we start the show, just make sure you do us a big favor and download these podcast episodes if you're listening. Make sure to rate and review five stars. Go hit subscribe if you're watching on YouTube. And you can also check us out on our website, which is marinelayerpod.com. You can find our episodes there, our Patreon, our podcast merchandise. It's all there. And then follow us on social media. We're on every platform at marinelayerpod. 00:00:40 Speaker 1: Let's get it rolling. Let's get it rolling. And we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Ladder Podcast, part of the Just Baseball Podcast Network. Recording here on Thursday evening, August 27th. Only one game has passed since we last recorded an episode. And the Mariners put on a punt lineup, so shocker, Lyle, they lost. But they did win the series. 00:01:13 Speaker 2: Well, they got raced. They didn't get boat raced. Boat race would qualify as what happened in Milwaukee and against Cubs. So they got raced on Wednesday, but not boat raced. 00:01:22 Speaker 1: How do you weigh, like, the finale on Wednesday? Jesus Lizardo allows an OPS of like three 80 against lefties this season. The problem is the Mariners right-handed hitting lineup stinks. So like Dan Wilson opted to go like all righties in the lineup against Jesus Lizardo. And they had like no chance. Would you rather just like put all the lefties out there or what? 00:01:44 Speaker 2: Brother. Dominic can zone is OPS thing over 800 versus left-handed pitching this year. What warrants benching him for that game at the end of August? 00:01:59 Speaker 1: It's a great question. I mean, I was just posing the question. I would have just run it out there with your left handers. I would have run out your normal lineup. I think the normal lineup at this point of the season should just be like required outside of Cole Young, who's been struggling. I was going to say, we'll give you a day off, but otherwise, yeah. 00:02:19 Speaker 2: I was going to say the one guy you can say you wanted to get a bench day for is Cole Young because he hasn't hit lefties great. You can get Brock Rodden in there. Fine. Naylor and Kanso not being in there. Seriously, what are we doing? That lineup that they rolled out on Wednesday, people have every right to be mad about. You can run a lineup like that out in May, not in August when you're six games under 500. No way. 00:02:44 Speaker 1: No. Chasing a playoff spot. 00:02:46 Speaker 2: Yes. 00:02:47 Speaker 1: And instead of going out there and getting an extra game, the Mariners did not really give themselves that much of a chance in that game and then lost. And now the Astros have won again tonight here on Thursday. So the Mariners are right back to their starting point in terms of games back. Right? 00:03:02 Speaker 2: Awesome. 00:03:04 Speaker 1: Cheers. Great. Awesome. Lovely. So anyways, these six games coming up on this road trip are pretty crucial. What's the floor? I'm saying the floor on this road trip needs to be like Three and three. 00:03:18 Speaker 2: We talked about this on Wednesday's show. Yes. You can't keep losing ground on these trips. I know two and four isn't a season ender, but it's not good either. And it's certainly not propelling you forward. You cannot continue to lose ground, especially not two more games of ground. You need to go three and three and hold serve. 00:03:37 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yes, you do. And good thing the pitching matchups all line up for the Mariners benefit. 00:03:44 Speaker 2: Oh, they are not lining up well. I mean, you get Dylan Cease here as you're listening on Friday. That'll be fun. Dylan Cease might win the Cy Young. You got Jose Soriano Saturday, who's not only good, but a lefty. They get Max Scherzer Sunday, who... Look, what are you looking at? 00:04:02 Speaker 1: Soriano's a righty. 00:04:03 Speaker 2: Oh, what did I say? 00:04:05 Speaker 1: He's a lefty. 00:04:06 Speaker 2: Oh, sorry. Yeah, he's a righty. 00:04:07 Speaker 1: It just kind of rammed into our brains at this point. So. 00:04:11 Speaker 2: Okay, the Mariners get three righties against the Blue Jays. But Soriano's really good. Dylan Cease might win the Cy Young. And then you get Max Scherzer Sunday, who obviously is not the Max Scherzer of old. And he's really, really at the end of the line here. And you can just tell by his injuries and by the way he's pitched. But the last time the Mariners faced Max Scherzer, I mean, he worked into the sixth inning against them in a crucial playoff game. So I don't know how Sunday's going to go. 00:04:41 Speaker 1: An outing in which I called it the most unacceptable performance of the season. Yeah. 00:04:46 Speaker 2: I mean, it was. It was. It was awful. 00:04:51 Speaker 1: And what if it happens again? What if the Mariners split the first two games of this series and then Max Scherzer throws like seven shutout against them on Sunday? Then it's going to be V2 all over again. 00:05:04 Speaker 2: And then against the Red Sox, if things continue to line up the way they're lining up, you're going to get the Red Sox two best starters. You're going to get Sonny Gray. You're going to get Peyton Tully, lefty. And then your one soft spot in the finale would be Patrick Sandoval, who hasn't been great and he's been injured a lot of the year, but he is a lefty. 00:05:23 Speaker 1: Yeah. Fun. So much fun. Yeah. 00:05:26 Speaker 2: Yes, it is. 00:05:27 Speaker 1: So before we get into this mailbag, we have a ton of really good mailbag questions that I want to get out there and answer. But there was a lot of discourse online in the last 48 hours since we recorded the podcast. And I think it's a good topic to talk about here on the show. So, Eugenio Suarez was placed on outright waivers by the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday afternoon, which meant teams have 48 hours to put their claim in if they want him and essentially get him for the cost of just taking on his salary for the rest of the season. No one ended up biting at Eugenio Suarez, and he's going to remain a Cincinnati Red now for the rest of the season. Many people... online for the Mariners, wanted Eugenio Suarez on this team. The Mariners have clearly told us they don't want Eugenio Suarez on this team. And I kind of left the conversation that we're having with other people and that I'm seeing online with one pretty clear takeaway about this whole discussion and how the Mariners should look at the final 28 games of the season and what they could possibly do from a roster standpoint. Objectively, Lyle, Eugenio Suarez has had a subpar year. He's been a negative war player. He's been below average offensively. He's been below average defensively. It's essentially what he did last year, where we noted he's regressing in a lot of areas, except for the fact he doesn't have 40 plus home runs right now. He just has 19, which doesn't really play as well from a value standpoint. But you know what Eugenio Suarez is? He's better than Two specific right-handed bats currently on your roster right now. Which is why I could totally buy a case that it would have fit if you put Eugenio Suarez on the bench. He's just a bench bat. He could be your second-to-last guy on the roster, besides Johnny Pareda. But I do think it would have made them a little bit better if they had him on the roster. I think it would have made your bench better, and this whole discussion has really set into me how bad the Mariners bench currently is. 00:07:41 Speaker 2: Oh, the Mariners bench is an abomination. It's awful. But if you're somebody that's mad, the Mariners didn't pick Gino up. I can tell you who you can most likely take your gripes up with, because if I am going to try to improv a conversation inside the Mariners walls, inside the Mariners building, let me tell you how it likely went. Let's say the Mariners front office was interested in bringing Gino back. And they go up to their bosses. They go up to good old John Stanton and Chris Larson. And they say, hey, we've got an opportunity here. Would you guys be interested in picking up $ 3 million for one month of marginally better production at Eugenio Suarez? And Stanton and Larson go, no. I can almost guarantee that's how it went. Because Eugenio Suarez would be owed just about $ 3 million if the Mariners were to take on his contract and if they had picked him up off waivers. And it would be $ 3 million for what very well might be one month. Because the Mariners may play a final month and miss the playoffs. And if that's the case, you're essentially paying Geno a prorated salary of $ 18 million for the year. That is a lot. Now, the Mariners aren't obviously paying $ 18 million. They'd be paying $ 3 million for one month. But, again. 00:09:00 Speaker 2: We know how this ownership group is. And if you were to tell him, hey, here's slightly marginal better production for $ 3 million instead of the league minimum with Weston Wilson and Patrick Wisdom, what do you think they're going to say? You know what they're going to say. So again, if you're somebody that's mad that Gino's not here, I have a sneaking suspicion who you can take your gripes up with. 00:09:23 Speaker 1: And then we also saw Adam Jude tweet out the possibility of the Mariners not wanting to block Michael Arroyo in September to get at bats, which to me like is kind of an eye roll. Of course. Like if that's a reason. 00:09:39 Speaker 2: Well, of course it's an eye roll because Michael Arroyo is not Kate Anderson as a prospect. I know I'm talking about a hitter and a pitcher here, but Kate Anderson was so good and so dominant and so polished. You know, a role is going to be carved out for him. Michael Arroyo is not that. He's been fine in AAA. He's got a 101 WRC plus down with the Rainiers right now. That's not lighting the world on fire, especially in AAA in what's a very hitter friendly league. There's a world you could argue Michael Arroyo should just stay down the rest of the year at this point in AAA. You can argue that. I'm not saying it's the definitive answer. But you can argue he should just stay down the rest of the year, and then he comes up next year, and then if there's a lockout, well, he's not on the 40-man. He can still go to spring training, and he can still get all his work in. So if that's the excuse, yeah, I'm not buying that. Geno might not be playing well, but he's more proven than Michael Arroyo. 00:10:38 Speaker 1: It all comes back to the same question. What's the goal? 00:10:43 Speaker 2: I mean, again, clearly it's not worth $ 3 million to them. 00:10:49 Speaker 1: I don't think this is something to get all worked up about, but it definitely can activate a conversation about the current state of the Mariners roster. I'm focusing on two guys right now on this roster where you could definitely improve right now. You have Patrick Wisdom and you have Weston Wilson. Patrick Wisdom is going to get DFA'd as soon as Brendan Donovan gets off the concussion aisle. So, like, that one's whatever. Like, he probably wouldn't be on the roster anyways if Brendan Donovan didn't get drilled in the batting cage by a ball. So, that leaves you down to Weston Wilson right now, who, in case you're checking, I'm not trying to take direct shots at Weston Wilson. This is just the stats he's put up this season. Weston Wilson is currently the second least valuable player on this Mariners roster this year besides Rob Refsnyder. And he's done it by being well below average at the plate, and something I'm not, clearly not paying close enough attention to, some of the worst defense in all of Major League Baseball. Like, he is the sixth worst defender in all of baseball by outs above average, despite playing less than 300 total innings all season long. And outs above average is not like a rate stat, where it's like on a per inning basis. Like, no, it's like total cumulative outs above average. He is sixth worst in Major League Baseball, despite playing less than 300 innings in the field. That doesn't seem like, with 28 games to go, if you have any option to upgrade that spot, something you should just be letting happen. 00:12:27 Speaker 2: I mean, the only defenders worse than Weston Wilson at this point are Junior Caminero, C.J. Abrams, Willie Adamas, Luke Kieschel of the Twins, Andrew Monasterio of the Red Sox, and then Spencer Torkelson. Those are the six guys worse than Weston Wilson. That's it. Or I guess, yeah, no, those six are all worse. Those guys, aside from Monasterio, have all played over 1,000 innings of defense this year. Monasterio's played about 600. That's the only guy of that group under 1,000 innings. So five of those six guys have played 700 more innings than Weston Wilson. Monasterio's played double the innings of Weston Wilson. And this dude ranks among those guys in outs above average. I mean, the per rate basis of which he's losing this team runs is alarming. It's absurd. 00:13:20 Speaker 1: Yeah. It's your bleeding value every time you put him on the field from now until the rest of the season. The easiest replacement for him probably was Geno. Because, like, you could put Ryan Bliss on this roster and I honestly wouldn't complain at all. That's fine. I'd do that tomorrow if that was the choice. If they decided they want to put Michael O'Reilly on the roster and replace Weston Wilson, that's also totally fine. But, you know, I think Geno has a little bit more juice in his bat than those two. If you're asking me who could produce for 28 games for the rest of the season, that's it. And that's all you got to worry about. 28 games, you get five homers in those 28 out of Gino, you're probably getting enough production. So I don't know, man, like they, they gotta, they gotta, I think they gotta try and do something about this bench in the next four days. Cause that's when it really matters. They will have an extra bat up here, um, between in September when the rosters expand, but those players can't play on the post-season roster. and a postseason is still the goal, they're going to need someone else in Weston Wilson's spot, I think. And Geno was an option for it, but now that he's back with the Reds, I think it's something the Mariners should have their eyes open to. Because as much shit as Rob Refsnyder got, and the amount of shit that Taylor Ward is currently getting, and Taylor Ward is not going to benefit him either. He has been the third least valuable Mariner all season long. Let me just double check that. That's most valuable. Yep. Taylor Ward and Patrick Wisdom are currently tied for the third least valuable Mariner all season long, and Taylor Ward has been a Mariner less than a month. 00:15:04 Speaker 2: Let me stop you right there. Taylor Ward is a Seattle Mariner, has an OPS plus of nine. I mean, that was your headliner of the trade deadline. I thought that was going to rejuvenate the whole offense. Even though we sat here and said, since April, he has not hit well and don't bank on this guy. Oh, I mean, that was all they needed offensively. 00:15:29 Speaker 1: The Mariners shed their least valuable player all season long at the beginning of this month in Rob Ref Snyder. But they still have three of the top four least valuable players currently on their roster all season long. 00:15:45 Speaker 2: I mean, the bench is a complete abomination. And I know that might sound like a little bit of a eye roll topic about, well, you're not sitting here talking about Cal. You're not sitting here talking about Julio. You're not sitting here talking about Naylor. 00:15:57 Speaker 1: We've already talked about all of them. 00:15:58 Speaker 2: Right. And obviously that's the meat and potatoes of your team. Of course it goes through those guys. But again, if you're serious about making a run in the playoffs, games are won on the margins so often that in contests like that, where every single little thing matters, including who you have on the bench. Guys, the Dodgers aren't sitting here back-to-back champions right now without Miguel Rojas, both the play he made in the field and the home run that he hit in the ninth inning of game seven. I mean, benches matter. And the Mariners this season, despite once upon a time when they broke the drought five years ago, having a really strong bench back when they had Sam Haggerty in his best year and Dylan Moore in one of his best years and players like that, I mean, listen to some of the guys they've run through their bench this year. Mitch Garver is the backup catcher, like OPS of 596. Victor Robles, 637 OPS. Leo Rivas, 36 OPS +. Rob Refsnyder, we know that story. Weston Wilson, Patrick Wisdom, Connor Joe, Miles Mastroboni, Buddy Kennedy, Will Wilson, Stuart Fairchild. That is not a bench that wins you playoff games, man. It's not even close. 00:17:15 Speaker 1: And you see the impact that has in that finale against the Phillies. That's the bench game. That's the game where if you have a better bench than someone else, then that might be a swing game that you come out accidentally with a sweep while giving your guys rest. But instead, the Mariners don't have that option because their bench players can't hit. No. 00:17:35 Speaker 2: Their bench is a disaster. 00:17:36 Speaker 1: Yeah. So. 00:17:39 Speaker 2: Yeah. Not great. 00:17:40 Speaker 1: Gino would have been nice, but all in all, the bench needs to be improved upon. If it's not going to be Gino, it's going to need to be something else, I think. And if you want him for the postseason, it's going to need to be in the next four days. The rule for the postseason, again, the Mariners need to add this player to the 40-man roster before the 31st of August. By the time the 31st of August is over, that player needs to be added to the roster. 00:18:04 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:18:04 Speaker 1: Agreed. 00:18:06 Speaker 2: Agreed. Can I make one proclamation, by the way, before we move to the mailbag? Sure. Let me stamp this right now. Vladdy is ending his homerless streak at home against the Mariners this weekend. 00:18:18 Speaker 1: I didn't even see the pitching match. I heard the Blue Jays pitching matchup for the weekend. I need to check the Mariners. 00:18:23 Speaker 2: Dude, I don't care who it is. Vladdy's ending it this weekend. This is exactly the type of thing that would happen against the Mariners. Let me fill people in while TJ's looking at the pitching matchup. 00:18:32 Speaker 1: I could tell you the three starters. It's just going to be the three who did not pitch here in the Philly series. 00:18:39 Speaker 2: So it's Emerson Hancock, Bryce Miller, and Kate Anderson. 00:18:44 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:18:45 Speaker 2: So to fill people in, in case you haven't been paying attention, and I'm sure some of you have because this has turned into a pretty big story this year, it has not been a memorable season for Vladdy. For as good as he's been in years past, for as good as he was last year, it is not as good as he was in the postseason last year. It's been a tough year for the guy. He has seven homers on the year. Vladdy Jr. has seven home runs and has played 120 games. His OPS is 687. I mean, it's confounding. This is why baseball is so weird. The fact things like this have happened to Cal this year, that it's happened to Vladdy this year. The game just makes no sense in that way sometimes. Because this would never happen to a star in the NBA. But in baseball, sometimes this happens. Anyway, of Vladdy's seven home runs... All seven have been on the road this year. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has not hit a home run inside the Rogers Center since the ALCS against the Mariners. And boy, what a storybook ending it's going to be because this weekend he is ending that streak against the Mariners. Like you can just see it coming from a mile away. He's going to. 00:19:52 Speaker 1: I have nothing left to say. 00:19:53 Speaker 2: You have nothing left to say because you know it's true. 00:19:56 Speaker 1: I do know it's true. Here's one thing we actually haven't talked about before we dive into this mailbag. Yeah, what you just said is true. Another thing that's true is that we saw Bryce Miller walk out to the bullpen for the first time. 00:20:09 Speaker 2: Yeah, so, I mean, they said it was just in case they needed some extra help on Wednesday. I don't know if I really buy that or not. 00:20:16 Speaker 1: He's not going out there unless he's ready to throw and pitch. So. 00:20:22 Speaker 2: Well, so he's healthy enough, I guess, is the sentiment there. 00:20:27 Speaker 1: Or the Mariners have decided it's time for him to go to the bullpen. 00:20:31 Speaker 2: Well, we're going to find out this weekend because he's slated to pitch. But they haven't officially announced the rotation yet. 00:20:37 Speaker 1: But, like, here's the thing. he's not going to throw in the bullpen and then make his next start. Was he, if he was going to do that, right. It doesn't happen in the regular season. 00:20:47 Speaker 2: Right. But he didn't throw. 00:20:49 Speaker 1: I know. Well, he could have thrown. 00:20:53 Speaker 2: Could have. But again, let's see what the official rotation is this weekend when the Mariners announced it, because they had an off day built in Thursday. So Logan Gilbert could go on Sunday and he'd be on a normal four days rest. If that's what they decide to do. And from there on out, it could be just a standard five-man rotation with Bryce Miller in the bullpen. We're going to find out. I will say it is... Love Bryce. I really do. I mean, he really is one of the great dudes on this team. But it is a tough sell right now if you're going to send him back out there again and you're still trying to put your best... current talent out on the field to make a postseason push because unfortunately whether it's injury rather whether it's just regression it's been about as bad of an eight starts as it can go it just the second half has not been kind to him. 00:21:41 Speaker 1: Right all right uh time to get to the mailbag before we get to this mailbag though lyle plenty of mailbag questions let's pause here for an ad. 00:21:52 Speaker 2: Let's compare two players. They're making similar contracts, but you have to pick one guy to be in your lineup. Player one hit 300. He had an 840 OPS and a 141 WRC +. 41% better than the league average. 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Alex leads us off on Patreon and asks, as content creators, you two have had more access to the ballpark and the players before the games than normal fans do. How has that access changed the way you view the Mariners, Major League Baseball, and the players? 00:24:02 Speaker 2: This is a good question. I like this one. There are definitely more personal feelings that get attached to it all. I think there's definitely certain guys we've gravitated toward more and have more rooting interest in now than we would have if we were just doing this from afar. Because I don't know if we'd be sitting here and saying we're the world's biggest Logan Evans fans or even Emerson Hancock fans before this year if we hadn't actually gotten to take the time to get to know those guys. So I would definitely say, yeah, there is definitely personal rooting interest that gets factored into all this when you're around the guys more. And then, I mean, you pick up more information, that's for sure, not just talking to some of the players, but when you talk to the other media people who are also tapped in and also have things that they learn and have some natural conversations with people. I mean, I would say that helps shape a view of the team too, as you just talk to more people that are close to the vest. There's a lot more to it too, but I would say those are two of the things that you can factor in. 00:25:03 Speaker 1: The general thing for me is more information, but that could be both a positive thing and a negative thing. There are some things as fans where if you don't know something, that's probably better for like the pure thought of being a fan. Like there are definitely things that you learn that change your view of certain things. And you might've just been more relaxed, not knowing that thing and just focusing on the baseball and what you see on TV. It definitely does shape how you look at things. The more time you spend around them, the more time you talk to people, you learn a lot more things, both positive and negative, about your favorite baseball team. It's just different. That's all. It's different. But from our perspective as content creators, it is very helpful to have information, I will say. It can help us give a more informed opinion to you guys when we get on here and talk. 00:26:01 Speaker 2: I mean, there are definitely some things we've learned at points that I honestly wish we didn't have to learn. Because it's... Like you said, from just the pure aspect of being a fan, it's almost better to know less at points. And then there's some things that are helpful, I would say. 00:26:17 Speaker 1: And then there's some things that are just, like, funny, too. Oh, yeah. It's like, oh, I always thought something like that would be true. 00:26:23 Speaker 2: And it's like, oh, it is? 00:26:24 Speaker 1: Oh, it's actually worse. 00:26:26 Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. 00:26:28 Speaker 1: I mean. 00:26:29 Speaker 2: Listen, from the conversations we've gotten to have with different people, how people view this manager from afar doesn't get any better being up close. 00:26:38 Speaker 1: No, it doesn't. No, it does not. 00:26:40 Speaker 2: Like getting to talk to enough people. There is not additional perspective and like detail. Like there is not additional perspective when talking to more people. It's like, oh, he does it this way. And this is why this happens. 00:26:53 Speaker 1: Oh, no. 00:26:53 Speaker 2: Like it's exactly what you all think from afar. 00:26:59 Speaker 1: Yes, exactly. Okay, next question comes from Jacob on Patreon. Jacob's question is, TJ and Lyle, with football coming back, do you guys play fantasy football? And who are your two favorite players to draft, one star and one bench player? See, I don't know about a bench player that's a really good answer currently. We do play fantasy football. We played for a long time. I mean. 00:27:25 Speaker 2: If you want to talk about the star, I would say for a long time, I wouldn't do it now. For a long time, I always, always, always made sure to draft Travis Kelsey. And did it decently early. And the reason was, the point differential... doing it by the numbers between Travis Kelsey and the rest of the tight ends for so long was such a drop-off that it could make or break a lot of wins for you. I basically viewed taking Kelsey early as, well, he's my wide receiver one. But when you match him up against other tight ends across the league that you go against, he's almost always going to win you points back because he's going to outscore the other tight end by a lot. So I would say Kelsey was the guy I always loved to draft forever. And then the bench guy... I mean, it's probably some running back on a team with an injury-prone starter. Forever, Alexander Madison was a great handicap to have. Because Dalvin Cook, as good as he was, is usually getting injured. And as soon as Alexander Madison would start playing in games, he essentially just became Dalvin Cook when he'd start playing. But I would say now, I mean, I'm trying to think about an example of a backup I've drafted in the last couple years that really played a factor. Maybe you have a better example. Maybe you have a better answer. 00:28:37 Speaker 1: Hmm. I'm the wrong person to ask about this. We're in the trust tree here, right? I have been less and less in tune with fantasy football every year for probably the last five years, I'll say. It just gets worse every year. Like, I have some fantasy drafts coming up in the next two months. I couldn't tell you who I'm going to draft. I know. 00:29:04 Speaker 2: I usually cram prep these days a couple days before, where I used to do it for way longer than that. 00:29:10 Speaker 1: I could at least pick a star, though. 00:29:12 Speaker 2: I mean. 00:29:12 Speaker 1: Mahomes is such a cheeky answer, and he was really only a great fantasy pick for three years, I want to say, before he came back down to earth with everyone else. Maybe not from a wins perspective, but fantasy points. It's... Yeah. Usually, I'd say getting a great high-volume wide receiver... like JSN last year was a great one, I thought. That one, it really helps. Especially when you have guys in keeper leagues where you get to keep someone from one year to the next. I'd say that's usually a pretty good one. A bench player? 00:29:54 Speaker 2: I mean, this isn't a. 00:29:55 Speaker 1: Maybe do like Yung Wei Ku as like a kicker. 00:29:58 Speaker 2: Yeah, see, it's hard to just pick a perfect bench player because there's no, you know. Well, they're always supposed to be surprises. Always. I mean, I'm sure there's like rookies you could zone in on. Hell, last year, the guy I was really set on and I got him was Amarian Hampton from the Chargers because like Matthew Berry was really high on him. A lot of other people were really high on him. And I said to myself, well, he was so good at North Carolina that at some point he's going to take over this running back room and just Run with it from there. And he started to really play well, and then he got hurt, and his season was derailed. So sometimes injuries play a factor. As all fantasy football players know, play a factor into this too. 00:30:34 Speaker 1: And a lot of these change every year. Right. Maybe not rare these days. I guess rare for me who's not as dialed in on who the stars or the sleepers are to draft every single year. Yeah. Michael on Patreon asks, I would assume that if they don't make the playoffs, Dan Wilson will almost certainly be fired. What type of performance will it take for him to keep his job? 00:31:03 Speaker 2: Are you asking what our level of standard for this would be or what the organization standard would be? 00:31:11 Speaker 1: Maybe give both. 00:31:14 Speaker 2: I mean, dude. If it's up to me, they're finding a new manager next year, period, like point blank. But if it's up to the organization, I would say that, again, if you're going to ask what they're going to say, if they make the playoffs, even with 80 wins, they may spin it as they've made back-to-back postseason appearances with him as the manager and the players like them. So they're going to stick with it and relive the days of 1995. So I honestly think, like, if they don't make the playoffs, there's a decent chance there's a change. If they make the playoffs, things get very murky. 00:31:54 Speaker 1: If you're looking for a guarantee that he comes back next year, that's probably making slash winning the World Series. I'd probably say making the World Series. That would tilt the odds back and, like, it's less likely he actually gets fired if they make it that far. I'm with you in the same boat, though. I honestly don't even care what happens this postseason. No. 00:32:19 Speaker 2: New manager. Yeah. 00:32:22 Speaker 1: Yeah. I think I'm good. And again, maybe it's loser talk if you say, yeah, even if you make a World Series, change things up. I just think that's the point Lyle and I have arrived to and what we believe in for the future of this team. Yes. I'll say. Yes. 00:32:39 Speaker 2: And again, back to the first question. We have formed our own opinions on this. But opinions of ours have helped been shaped by plenty of very credible people that we have the privilege to get to talk to and have gotten to know. So, right. 00:32:54 Speaker 1: Yeah. And we also find it very hard to think that a Dan Wilson managed team could make it to the World Series based on all the decisions that needed to be made to get there. Yeah. Yes. 00:33:09 Speaker 2: Again, we saw what happened last year with a far more talented team. Games are won on the margins. And he lost games on the margins last year. Regular season, playoffs, regular season this year. Yeah. 00:33:21 Speaker 1: Next question comes from Patrick on Patreon. Patrick's question is, which Cal Raleigh home run was your favorite of this past series? 00:33:30 Speaker 2: Honestly, I would say the fourth one. The three-homer game was really cool. But doing it again the next night in a row, I think was a potential... Door opening to saying it wasn't just a flash in the pan for one game. Maybe something's clicked with Cal. So I would say the fourth one. 00:33:50 Speaker 1: I'd say the first one. Because the first one, he did it off a better pitcher. It kicked off a historic night. And it was like, oh, Cal Raleigh can hit home runs again. 00:34:02 Speaker 2: Great. 00:34:03 Speaker 1: Where has this been? I know. Just made me feel a lot better. A lot more warm and fuzzy. 00:34:09 Speaker 2: All four of them were good. They were. 00:34:11 Speaker 1: Yeah. Next question comes from Maxton in Iowa. Maxton's question is, Mariners have the easiest remaining schedule in the league. The Astros and Rangers are both projected to be in the top half of schedule strength. Houston's 13th. Texas is 10th. Which team, the Astros or Rangers, is more likely to fold with their schedule in the month of September? 00:34:39 Speaker 2: I mean, I think the Rangers are just the worst team So I would. 00:34:45 Speaker 2: None of these teams are any good. So take this all with a grain of salt. But I think the Rangers are the worst team, and therefore I think they are more likely to fall off at some point in September. When you are carried by an MVP, like the Astros have in a lot of ways been this year, that does save a lot of face. That does pick up a lot of ground. So I'm going to say the Rangers are the ones that fold. And the Astros are the ones that you more likely have to try and catch. 00:35:16 Speaker 1: See, the Rangers, I think, have an easier schedule than the Astros. I don't know if you have time to pull up Tankathon right now. I honestly feel like even though the Rangers have a tougher strength of schedule by percentage, I think the Astros actually have tougher matchups remaining down the stretch. And those two teams are now essentially tied like as you can see the Astros have like a series against the Brewers which will be absolutely brutal and then they have some other really really really tough ones yeah as opposed to the Rangers I feel like it's more good teams a higher volume of good teams. 00:35:57 Speaker 2: The Rangers pitching is just really taking a nosedive even Jacob de Grom have you seen that Jacob de Grom is a 4-2 ERA all of a sudden this year. 00:36:07 Speaker 1: It was 38. It was going to happen at some point. 00:36:09 Speaker 2: Of course it was. But this is what I'm getting at with the Rangers. They just don't feel like they have it. They have one dominant bullpen arm in Jacob Latz. And aside from that, a lot of middling starters and an offense that's pretty hit or miss, man. I get that the Astros have the tougher schedule, but I also just think they're the slightly better team. 00:36:32 Speaker 1: You let me know what you would rather face. The Rangers have three against the Brewers. four against the Rays, three against the Red Sox, and three against the Diamondbacks. The Astros have three against the Rays, three against the Braves, three against the Phillies, three against the Diamondbacks, four against the White Sox. 00:36:51 Speaker 2: I mean, both of those schedules are pretty tough, but that's when I think it comes down to who's just the better team and who can sustain it more. I just think the Astros are slightly better. 00:37:00 Speaker 1: Okay. I'll I'll choose the Rangers, then, that the Mariners can catch. They also have less total tough games remaining against those teams. Again, if we're doing math, Rangers have four of those series remaining. The Astros have five of those series remaining. 00:37:23 Speaker 2: Oh, so we're saying the same thing. The Rangers are more likely to be caught than the Astros. 00:37:28 Speaker 1: Right. It'll only be a game, though, separating these teams. 00:37:33 Speaker 2: All three of these teams are awful. Or bad. Or bad. 00:37:36 Speaker 1: It might be there's a division winner and then whoever's in second is a game behind them and whoever's in third is a game behind them. All with a losing record. One will be in the postseason and get run off the floor in the postseason. 00:37:48 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:37:51 Speaker 1: Before we get to our next mailbag question, let's pause here for an ad. 00:37:57 Speaker 2: Summer always changes how I get dressed. I want clothes that are lighter and more breathable. Things that are easy, but also still put together. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. They focus on high quality essentials that look and feel amazing. Think breathable linen and soft organic cotton. Well made basics, but without the luxury markup. It's that rare balance where everything feels elevated, but still effortless. 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Go to quince.com slash marine layer for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's quince.com slash marine layer for free shipping and 365 day returns. quince.com slash marine layer. 00:39:24 Speaker 1: Jateen asks, with reference to Mariner's injuries, he asks, who is accountable for the Mariner's injury issues this season? 00:39:37 Speaker 2: Who's accountable? I mean. 00:39:42 Speaker 2: I mean, so he essentially wants us to blame injuries on people. 00:39:46 Speaker 1: He's... Well, you could say there is no one specific person to hold accountable for these. I don't think that's the case. I don't think any one single person is responsible for the Mariners' injuries this season. I don't even feel like the Mariners' injury issues are that much different than what a standard team would go through in a season. Sometimes you get lucky and guys are mostly healthy, or they have injuries that they can play through without... having their performance drop off. And some seasons you're just injured and you just have to deal with it. I just don't like the fact that the Mariners players, when they have been injured, have been bottom 15 players in baseball and hurting their teams, right? Where like, I just feel like at some point there should have been, and I don't even know how you do this. Cause I'm not a major league baseball trainer, nor am I a major league baseball manager. When a player's putting up bottom 15 performance, you pull them aside and say, hey, I know this is your decision, but sorry. Like, this ain't happening anymore. No. 00:40:53 Speaker 2: No, it's not. I mean, I think that's right, that blame can go to a lot of different places. If you also listen closely, people, TJ doesn't want to be called a fringe lunatic by anybody, so he's dancing around the answer here. 00:41:05 Speaker 1: No, I don't. I also don't necessarily think it's like directly the training staff's fault. Like the training. 00:41:11 Speaker 2: Staff is, I'm making a joke by the way. 00:41:14 Speaker 1: I know you are like the training staff's job is to like help them recover from injuries for the most part. Like that's what they do. They, all the players like train, they all stretch. They all have their routines that go far beyond the team's training staff for when they're at the ballpark. It's like, It can't just... Like, the training staff can't hold Cal Raleigh's oblique together as he swings. Yeah. 00:41:43 Speaker 2: No, he didn't. 00:41:44 Speaker 1: Like, that's just what it is. 00:41:46 Speaker 2: Maybe all these years later, it's still Lorena Martin's fault. Oh, God. Eight years later, it's still her fault. 00:41:56 Speaker 1: Yeah. How, like... The odds of you hiring a director of high performance and then having one of your more injury riddled seasons of your 11 years just perfectly coincide is very Mariner. 00:42:10 Speaker 2: Very. That was all the way back in 2018 for people that don't remember that whole thing. But anyway, yeah, I think that's right. Players need to speak up if they can feel they're injured. There are teammates around them could probably pick up a little better on if said teammates are feeling something. Coaches could pick up on things. Yeah, I think it just goes everywhere. I think that's right. 00:42:34 Speaker 1: Next question comes from Emma on Patreon. Emma's question is, if there is a lockout next season and there is no baseball, what would a 2028 Mariners lineup look like? 00:42:47 Speaker 2: Well, Emma also asked the question, when will the pain stop? The answer is never. You root for the Seattle Mariners. You're sitting here willingly listening to a podcast about the Seattle Mariners. freaking mariners like of course the pain never stops pain doesn't stop for us either we're sitting here willingly doing said podcast and we love doing it don't get us wrong but. 00:43:07 Speaker 1: The pain might stop when they win the world series but as far as we know that's never gonna. 00:43:12 Speaker 2: Happen yeah exactly um okay so if you map out the lineup in 28 there's only a couple positions that i'd say are uncertain of the players that are still under contract because Catcher's locked in with Cal. First base is locked in with Naylor. You're middle in what? 00:43:29 Speaker 1: Are we sure Cal's catching in 2028? Like he'll be on the roster. Is he catching in 2028? 00:43:35 Speaker 2: I would be surprised that by then he's just not a catcher anymore. Yeah. 00:43:40 Speaker 1: So he'll be 31. Yeah. 00:43:41 Speaker 2: I think that's, I think that's too early to say he's not going to catch. I know some catchers move off the position faster than that, but knowing how Cal's wired and knowing how he goes about his business, I'd just be very, very surprised. 00:43:54 Speaker 1: I mean, he'll try to catch almost certainly, but yeah. 00:44:01 Speaker 2: Okay, so maybe he's splitting time at that point with one of Luke Stevenson or Boston Smith. Maybe it's more of a shared role and Cal's also DH-ing a little bit more, but whatever. If you're penciling in a regular starting lineup, I'm still going to say Cal's the catcher. 00:44:15 Speaker 1: Different circumstance because Joe Maurer had a ton of concussions, but 31 years old is when he moved to first base. Right. 00:44:22 Speaker 2: Again, just knowing how Cal is, I'd be surprised if he does that. 00:44:26 Speaker 1: But he's on the roster and in the lineup. 00:44:29 Speaker 2: I'm going to say Cal's catching. You have Naylor at first. Your middle infield set with Cole Young and Colt Emerson. Your center fielder's set with Julio. And let's just say Canzone's de-aging on days where Cal's catching. So that would leave third base, left field, right field. 00:44:45 Speaker 1: Third base. 00:44:48 Speaker 2: I mean, 28, again, so here's the thing, right? You can't predict trades or free agency signings that are going to happen down the road. So if you're just going to go with players that are in-house and a part of your organization and you're not going to try and predict trades or free agents, then Felny and Celestin is likely at third and you're going to have Laz Montez and Wright, again, and maybe him and Canzone switch between right field and DH. And left field, you would hope Johnny Farmelo. Or maybe Laz... Yeah, or Arroyo. Or Laz is in left and Johnny's in right, one way or the other. Because Johnny's the better athlete and the better defender. But I would say it looks something like that. Maybe Arroyo's on the bench. 00:45:32 Speaker 1: And if we'll predict... We're not going to predict exactly who, but of those positions, which one do you think are more likely to be filled by a trade? Third base, left field, or right field? I'd say third base. I was going to say third base, yeah. Yeah. I think outfield you could handle with some combination of Laz Arroyo and Johnny Farmelo right now. One of those could also be a trade, too. You never know. Or they can make a small trade like Dom Canzone, and that flourishes to the player he is right now. Or, again, maybe Boston Smith can play some outfield. Sure. 00:46:09 Speaker 2: I mean, that dude's got 31 homers all of a sudden. He's been unreal. 00:46:13 Speaker 1: He's five homers behind Laz. Wow. 00:46:17 Speaker 2: We'll see how he develops, but maybe the Mariners really got a decent haul back in that Castillo trade. 00:46:23 Speaker 1: We were asking our buddy who works with the Astros because he was mentioning that the Astros really liked Boston Smith as well. And I was like, all right, so he's not a top 100 prospect. He's not like high on the Mariners top 30. What's the knock on this dude? I'm guessing he's just a little too small. 00:46:45 Speaker 2: Could be. 00:46:45 Speaker 1: I think. 00:46:46 Speaker 2: Yeah, could be. I would say that those positions line up for what a lineup would look like. 00:46:54 Speaker 1: I mean, it's 5'10, 190, so yeah. 00:46:58 Speaker 2: Well, unless, of course, you're going to trade for Kyle Tucker. 00:47:00 Speaker 1: I hear he could be available due to a certain team not having enough insurance money to pay him. 00:47:09 Speaker 2: That'd be a shame, but a real, real benefit to the M's. 00:47:15 Speaker 1: If we're in the business of predicting lineups, what about the starting rotation? 00:47:20 Speaker 2: Ooh, so 2028. 00:47:21 Speaker 1: I mean, I could guarantee you that Kate Anderson and Ryan Sloan will be in the rotation, and then probably Brian Wu as well, but that's it. 00:47:29 Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know what's going to happen with everybody else. I mean, Kirby's under contract for 28, but that would be his last year, and you don't know if he's traded before then. You don't know what's going to happen with Logan and free agency. Bryce Miller's become a little unpredictable. And Emerson Hancock, yeah, we'll see. I mean, he's certainly under contract. And if he keeps pitching like this, he'll be in the rotation. 00:47:51 Speaker 1: But he could also be traded. 00:47:53 Speaker 2: Yeah, we don't know. 00:47:54 Speaker 1: And then bullpen wise, I feel like the only one guaranteed for 28 is Munoz. 00:48:01 Speaker 2: Probably brash too, but yeah. 00:48:03 Speaker 1: Yeah, probably brash as well. I think Munoz is still in her contract for that season, right? 00:48:07 Speaker 2: Yeah, he is. Because they have two more club options on him after this year, which they will obviously pick up. And that takes him through 28. 00:48:16 Speaker 1: That would be his walk year at $ 10 million. 00:48:19 Speaker 2: Correct. And yeah, the Mariners will absolutely pick up those club options. No doubt. 00:48:24 Speaker 1: It's a fun exercise. Thanks for the question, Emma. Yeah. Xander on Patreon asks, not focusing on 2027 with this question, but is there a world where the Mariners are positioned everyone on the table on the trade block, meaning outside of Julio, Cal, Cole Young, Josh Naylor, and Colt Emerson? 00:48:44 Speaker 2: Think you essentially saw that at this trade deadline I'm not saying they were shopping around Brendan Donovan but that's essentially what was happening this July it wasn't it wasn't reported out there like the Mariners are fire sailing everybody's on the table but leak by leak report by report you kind of saw it George Kirby floated around Emerson Hancock floated around um who was the other oh I mean Luis was obviously floated around They said that there's a chance they could sell on Randy or Rosarena. You just kind of saw that happen. So I would say that, yes, those guys are probably not going anywhere, but I would say everybody else on the roster. I'm not saying they're going to actively trade those guys or fire sale those guys, but I think the Mariners would in general, listen on everybody. 00:49:33 Speaker 1: I would put Kate Anderson and Ryan Sloan in that group too, but otherwise I'd say, yeah, that's right. Julio's not getting traded because he's one of your best players and the contract. Same with Cal. Cole Young, no. Josh Naylor's contract is probably untradeable. And you do need a first baseman. 00:49:52 Speaker 2: Right. 00:49:53 Speaker 1: And then Colt, yeah, they're not trading Colt. Colt's in the Cade and Ryan Sloan bucket. Right. But otherwise, yeah. I honestly don't see a reason why you can't, especially if you fall short again. At some point, You look at your roster. There's a lot of players you really like, but you ask yourself, does this collective group of players have what it takes to win a World Series if that is our goal? Right. If they don't, then maybe you need to shake some things up. 00:50:22 Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. 00:50:24 Speaker 1: Cade on Patreon asks, I want the Mariners to make the playoffs and win the World Series this year as much as the rest of us, but is the best thing for the future of this franchise to miss the playoffs? 00:50:38 Speaker 2: I mean, Cade's trying to get into exactly what will be a topic of conversation next week if the Mariners hold serve on this road trip. I don't want to totally spoil the topic because I think it's a longer conversation than just a few minutes on a mailbag. And I think that there's more that goes into this. But I will say this for Cade's question. 00:50:58 Speaker 1: There are. 00:51:00 Speaker 2: Benefits to missing the playoffs this year. And listen, again, it may sound like loser talk. But we will get into why there are certain benefits. I'm not saying... I'm trying to think about the best way to put this. I think that's the best way I can phrase it, is there are sides to both of these arguments for why it's positive versus negative, I think. 00:51:30 Speaker 1: I'm totally with you. I'm 100% with you. But, Cade... We owe you a very long, detailed answer that will come out one week from today when this comes out. 00:51:41 Speaker 2: Yes, correct. But let me just say this. It's a good question. It's a thought-provoking question, and there will be plenty of thoughts on it here soon enough. 00:51:49 Speaker 1: Yes. Four more questions ago, Cheryl on Patreon asks, how many weddings have you attended or been to this summer? How many more will you attend or be in for the rest of the year? 00:52:01 Speaker 2: I think my total for the year will be four. And they basically happened all during the summer. I was at one in Leavenworth in May. And then I was, we talked about, I was the best man in a wedding in South Bend, Indiana a month ago. It was at Notre Dame. And then we were both in a wedding this past weekend in Santa Barbara. And then I'm going to be at another family wedding this weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina. So four, four weddings. 00:52:28 Speaker 1: My total is also four. We were in the one, Last weekend, I'm going, I'm attending two here in the Seattle area. My girlfriend's friends. So that's two of them. And then I will be in a wedding in the middle of October. What'd you say, TJ? You're going to be in a wedding in the middle of October? What if the Marys are on? That's a good point. But at this rate, I don't think they'll be playing during it. So the stress has really been alleviated off of that. 00:52:58 Speaker 2: Oh, we had real conversations about this early in the year about, wow, we may have to really juggle some things around because you're going to a wedding and in a wedding right in the middle of playoff time. Which, by the way, I don't know if we've gotten into this topic on this podcast before. October weddings should not be allowed. Like they're they're a slap in the face to everybody. No October weddings. 00:53:17 Speaker 1: But what if they're not sports fans? 00:53:19 Speaker 2: Well, you might have friends that are no October weddings. There's 11 other months in the year. 00:53:25 Speaker 1: Okay, but serious question. And I think I've come around on this topic a lot. Is like a sports game really more important? Is it really? Because I see the biggest argument for this being made about college football. Dude, it's like the second month of the college football season. Like who gives a shit? Just go watch the replay after. 00:53:48 Speaker 2: Why can't you do the wedding another month? Summers are great for weddings. But it's expensive. Well, it's expensive no matter what. It's expensive no matter when you have a wedding. 00:53:56 Speaker 1: But it is cheaper to not book in the summer. 00:53:59 Speaker 2: Okay, what's wrong with December? 00:54:02 Speaker 1: Because then it's cold. 00:54:05 Speaker 2: It's cold in October. 00:54:07 Speaker 1: But also sometimes you find a venue that you like and it's only open on a Saturday in October. 00:54:13 Speaker 2: It's like, well, looks like it's going to be October. Yeah, I'm out on October weddings. 00:54:19 Speaker 1: You could tell that to the people who invite you. 00:54:21 Speaker 2: Great. They're not thoughtful times to plan a wedding. 00:54:25 Speaker 1: I'm sure the comments are going to love you for that take. 00:54:29 Speaker 2: It's not like I'm on an island with this. Sports fans make this argument all the time. 00:54:35 Speaker 1: But I just don't get it anymore. 00:54:37 Speaker 2: Well, I do. 00:54:38 Speaker 1: You can always just go watch Highlights. What sporting event in October is important enough that you have to watch? 00:54:46 Speaker 2: Okay, I will answer your question very honestly, and it's a very easy answer, and I think every Mariner fan would agree with me on this. The Mariners were in the World Series during a wedding. I'm not going. 00:54:59 Speaker 1: And when has that happened? 00:55:00 Speaker 2: Well, I don't know, but if. 00:55:01 Speaker 1: It ever comes up. 00:55:03 Speaker 2: Oh, oh, oh. 00:55:04 Speaker 1: Huh, interesting. 00:55:06 Speaker 2: If it ever comes up, I won't be there. Now, in the meantime. 00:55:10 Speaker 1: But, okay, but that's like a very extenuating circumstance, which people might understand. 00:55:17 Speaker 2: All right. 00:55:18 Speaker 1: As opposed to be like, Teach, ASU's playing Iowa State at 1 o'clock on Saturday. I can't make it. 00:55:27 Speaker 2: Okay, I will admit, this more... rests on the idea of if somebody were to plan a wedding the year the Mariners one day made the World Series. Yes, I could miss a Saturday of college football. Yeah, like I'm not, that's not what I'm hung up on. It's really about the Mariners in the playoffs. I could also, even as much as I love baseball, sure, miss a day of MLB playoff games one year for a wedding. It's about the idea of if the Mariners are on some playoff run and somebody plans a wedding in October, that's when I'd be pissed off. 00:55:54 Speaker 1: Thankfully, this October wedding is on the East Coast and if the Mariners get their standard West coast five o'clock game, then I'm fine. Cause I mean, yeah, the wedding will be over. Yeah. 00:56:05 Speaker 2: And more likely they ain't going to be there. This is what I was more likely. They will not. 00:56:09 Speaker 1: Cause the, the wedding is on the 12th. It's like right during when the ALDS would be, I think, or the CS, I think, Yeah, because. 00:56:17 Speaker 2: The wildcard weekend is the– or wildcard week is the last week of September. So, yeah, I think it would essentially be this BS. 00:56:23 Speaker 1: It would be championship series. 00:56:25 Speaker 2: Yeah, something tells me they may not be there. 00:56:27 Speaker 1: They may not. So I'm in the clear. 00:56:31 Speaker 2: That's what we were talking about earlier in the year. That's what I originally was going to get to at this point about we were like, wow, there's a chance we really have to juggle some things around. If you're going to be gone during a time like that and the Mariners are on a huge run. Now we sit here at the end of August. It's like, oh, I don't think we have to worry about that anymore. 00:56:45 Speaker 1: No. No, I don't think so. Cameron on Patreon asks, have you guys watched Hard Knocks at all? If so, would you guys agree the Mariners need a head coach or manager like Mike McDonald? 00:57:03 Speaker 2: Full stop. Yes. I mean, it really is hilarious. Haven't we talked about this over the last couple weeks? That every Tuesday now when Hard Knocks comes out, the Mariners have gotten their doors blown off on the last three Tuesdays in a row. And then there's hard knocks content all over the place. And everybody in Seattle is like, wow, watching Mike McDonald's amazing. And then we have Dan Wilson. 00:57:27 Speaker 1: What would a Mariners hard knocks look like? Not that. No. Not even close. 00:57:33 Speaker 2: No, I think all of the, I think all of the insight you get to Mike McDonald, having these one-on-one meetings with his players and talking about schematic, like, you know, process and team identity. I think that would essentially all be replaced with about a hundred tough ones. 00:57:54 Speaker 1: Yeah. Cameron also asks if so, who could the Mariners go after? That is the Mike McDonald of MLB. That's just tough. Like football coaches and baseball coaches are different. I feel like football coaches hold more power and they have much more control over the team. That's not to say the Mariners can't improve on their manager. They absolutely can and they should. But a bit of a different animal. I don't think you're going to find a rah-rah type of manager in MLB. 00:58:34 Speaker 2: I mean, Mike McDonald also calls the entire defense. defense. So of course he has more power over the outcome of the game than a baseball manager does. But are there young up and coming whiz kids that have a chance to be a great manager as time goes on and you get them at the right time? Yeah. If, if the Mariners really do look for a new manager next year, we've thrown out the name before I'll throw it out here again. And I'm sure we'll be throwing out the name in the future. I mean, we got to have a long conversation with the Mets bench coach this year and He feels a little Mike McDonald-esque to me. Again, I'll throw the name out there for people His name's Kai Correa, and he's not been a manager before, but he is young, he's up and coming, he's an analytics guy. He feels like a big league manager to me. It's just a matter of if, or sorry, it's a matter of when and not if. So if you want to look towards somebody that's not... poaching Steven Vogt away from Cleveland or making a hire like that, Kai Correa. 00:59:32 Speaker 1: Definitely. Nick's question on Patreon is, the 2026 Mariners have 64 wins. How many more wins would they have if they had Pat Murphy as their manager? 00:59:47 Speaker 2: At least a few more, right? 00:59:49 Speaker 1: 68 wins? 00:59:50 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's hard to put an exact number on it, but... If you're factoring in that Pat Murphy wouldn't blow some of these games with his bullpen decisions, then yes, there's probably a few games that could be fixed. The thing that's not quantifiable here, though, is how much different culture and accountability would be with Pat Murphy as your manager. I'm going to guess a reason Nick is asking this question is because you saw what happened with Cooper Pratt the other day with the Brewers, which, for those who don't know, Cooper Pratt didn't run out a ball on a bloop. single that he essentially hit to right field where he could have stretched it out into a double but he didn't and he got out of the box kind of slow at Murphy yanked him out of the game and it was sudden it was obviously a message that was sent but they also seem to talk about that they were on a good page afterwards and Pratt knew what's expected of him and what Murphy expects of him and there didn't seem to be bad blood there and the two were on totally good terms afterwards and Yeah, it's things like that. You haven't seen anything like that. It certainly didn't happen with Randy in Tampa this year with that ball. 01:00:57 Speaker 1: Or Julio last week. Right. 01:01:00 Speaker 2: So that's the thing that's not quantifiable. But if you're just going off some decision makings that could be corrected, yeah, you can give them four or five more wins with Pat Murphy. 01:01:10 Speaker 1: I'd say like 68 wins. Rough guesstimate. 68 wins. The Mariners would be in a much better spot right now if they had 68 wins as opposed to 64 wins. 01:01:19 Speaker 2: Yeah. 01:01:21 Speaker 1: Ryan on Patreon closes us out. Ryan says, I agree that Dan slash Cal have been the biggest problems with the Mariners this season. That said, Andres Munoz leads the league in blown saves. I know blown saves happen, but how much responsibility for the season is on him? 01:01:40 Speaker 2: I mean, it's not nothing. We talked about earlier in the year how much he was struggling, right? And he had, what, five blown saves in the first two months of the year. I mean, he was really going through it for a while. So it is a part of it. Andres Munoz also had a very strong July. August hasn't been as good. I mean, yes, look, a closer plays a factor into these things. But I don't know if it's the same impact that Cal is having, for example. So at least on baseball reference, Andres Munoz has been a replacement level reliever. And you expect much more of that out of Munoz in any given year because he's supposed to be one of the game's best. So it plays a factor. I just wouldn't put it on the same level of somebody like Cal. Because you're essentially subtracting, let's call it, two wins. Sure, the Mariners could have 66 wins instead of 64 right now. Or let's call it 63.5 if Munoz was doing what he's expected to be doing. But it's not the same as Cal, Julio, Naylor not hitting the way they're supposed to hit. 01:02:45 Speaker 1: I just overall don't think that relievers have... The amount of impact on a game that a position player can. I'll say like one win. One win's worth of impact this year for Andres Munoz. And like what share of the blame? 2%. 01:03:05 Speaker 2: If that. 01:03:06 Speaker 1: It just happens. Relievers are volatile. This is like the natural progression of how relievers pitch in MLB. So it's something you gotta prepare for. That's why you have a deep bullpen. in case things like this happen. More blame definitely goes in other areas. It would be nice if the Mariners had an ultra-dominant version of Andres Munoz, but the Mariners' bigger problem, besides Andres Munoz, is that they don't score enough runs to win games, and their decisions in the dugout are not consistently good enough for them to win games either. That all happens regardless of what Andres Munoz does on the mound in his... three innings max a week these days more so two innings a. 01:03:51 Speaker 2: Week and if you had more production out of your stars offensively there wouldn't be so many games that are set on him to close it out in a tight game so yeah i think that's right. 01:04:02 Speaker 1: What if the mariners are the best offense in the league and he's entering games more often with a four and five run lead than a one run lead right big. 01:04:09 Speaker 2: Difference big difference well good set of mailbag questions as always you guys always again you mix it in well these days the mariners the non-mariners they're fun Like you guys do a really good job with these. So shout out to you guys. And if you want priority on these mailbag questions, go over to our Patreon and go sign up patreon.com slash marine layer pod. We love getting the questions every week with that. That'll just about wrap 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, make sure to go rate and review, please leave it five stars. If you're listening on Apple or Spotify or wherever you get your audio podcasts, Go hit subscribe if you're watching on YouTube. You can also check out our website, marinelayerpod.com. You can find our merch, our episodes, our Patreon. It's all there. And then find us on social media. We're on all platforms, at marinelayerpod. That's TJ. I'm Lyle. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon.