Episode 458: Is It Possible For The Mariners To Trade For Brice Turang? (Mailbag)

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Hey guys, just another reminder that this upcoming Tuesday, we've got another live event and it'll be back with our friends over at the Emerald Queen Casino. We're going to be watching the Mariners game with you guys as the Mariners take on the Astros. We'll also be doing a live podcast taping on site at the Emerald Queen Casino, live from the BetMGM Sportsbook. So if you guys are around on Tuesday, come on out. Come hang out with us. If you want one last chance to hang out with us this season, again, we'll be there. We'll be watching the game. We'll have some things to give away. We'll be taping the podcast afterwards. It'll be fun. So mark it on your calendars this upcoming Tuesday over at the Emerald Queen Casino. starting at 6 40 p.m. 00:00:37 Speaker 2: Welcome to episode number 458 of the marine layer podcast it's a mailbag episode so we'll open it up and answer your best listener questions. 00:00:45 Speaker 1: Your guys reminder also before we start the episode just make sure you download these podcasts if you're listening please go rate and review and leave it five stars go hit subscribe on youtube if you're watching go also find us at our website which is marine layer pod.com where you can find all of our podcast merch you can find our episodes you can find our patreon it's all over there And check us out on social media, too. We're on all platforms, and we're posting content all the time, really, at MarineLayerPod. Let's get it rolling. 00:01:10 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 Thursday afternoon, September 17th. Lyle, I know you are so excited to talk about the fact the Mariners salvaged the series against the Los Angeles Angels. Yay. Great. 00:01:44 Speaker 1: Good for them. What storylines, dude? There's no storylines left with nine games to go. The season's done. 00:01:51 Speaker 2: Oh, yes, there is. Yes, there is. Did Josh Neal play at third base? 00:01:55 Speaker 1: I almost forgot. You know, I could sit here and start talking up a storm about how that was another ridiculous, unfocused, lack of attention to detail type play. But whatever, dude. Like, there's nine games to go. They're about to make some real changes. The season's in the bag. Was it absolutely ridiculous and just another thing to chalk up? to the beyond absurd plays that have gone down this year, followed by absolutely no accountability from the manager or anybody in the organization? 00:02:29 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:02:30 Speaker 1: But there's also nine games to go. So how much of a tantrum can we really throw about it? 00:02:36 Speaker 2: Once the games stop mattering, which in our opinion, the games don't really matter all that much at this point, unless you're completely focused on a draft pick, which is not the worst idea in the world when you're trying to play the lottery odds. But... What else are we supposed to say about Josh Naylor literally just not getting back to the base? Like, he's just standing off the base and staring at Zach Netto. Just staring at him. Like, of course he needs to get back to the base and stop playing around. But as you said, Lyle, like, it's whatever at this point. Like, what? It doesn't matter. The games that have mattered, the Mariners did not focus enough in those games either. They lost them, and now we're at this point now. So... You know, instead of talking about this season, a lot of these mailbag questions are about the offseason and next season and future seasons, because at this rate, that's really all that matters for this baseball team, not what is currently being played on the field. And they're even farther back in the division now. Yippee. Both the Rangers and the Astros. Rangers, by the way, were trailing in first place, and now they've all of a sudden gone on a hot streak and tied the Astros in first. Huh. Is that possible? 00:03:44 Speaker 1: Did the Mariners do that? 00:03:47 Speaker 2: No, they didn't. Who had an easier strength of schedule in September, Mariners or the Rangers? 00:03:52 Speaker 1: Well, I don't know. Maybe the Rangers will play the Rockies and the Angels a bunch and the A's a bunch. Maybe that's their whole September schedule. Oh, wait. It's not. That's the Mariners' schedule, and they've done nothing. 00:04:03 Speaker 2: Wait, you're telling me the Mariners didn't catch the Astros with that schedule? No. 00:04:08 Speaker 1: They're, what, seven and eight now with that schedule? 00:04:11 Speaker 2: I think seven and eight in September are worse against specifically that schedule. 00:04:16 Speaker 1: That's what I mean, in September. 00:04:17 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:04:18 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. I got to say, before we move on to the mailbag, you mentioned the idea of now losing for a draft pick. I got to tell you, as we're looking at the standings, the Mariners are currently tied with the Reds and the Nationals for the sixth worst record. I'm sorry, the seventh worst record in baseball. 00:04:39 Speaker 2: So. 00:04:40 Speaker 1: There's a 7-8-9 that's all tied, but I think the Reds will have the tiebreaker over the Mariners, like in terms of they get the lower pick because the Reds beat the Mariners this year in two of three. So, oh, oh, and the. 00:04:51 Speaker 2: Nationals did too. Is that a thing for the lottery? 00:04:54 Speaker 1: I mean, if teams finish with the same record. 00:04:57 Speaker 2: Wouldn't you feel like for lottery purposes, it would be the opposite? If you lost the series, you have the tiebreaker? Well, that's what I'm saying. 00:05:04 Speaker 1: The Mariners lost the series to both those teams this year, so shouldn't they have the higher odds? Shouldn't they have the seventh highest odds, not eight or nine? 00:05:11 Speaker 2: Maybe. I would think so. Maybe they'll do it by run differential. 00:05:15 Speaker 1: Maybe. 00:05:15 Speaker 2: I think that would be a more sound way to go about giving out lottery odds. 00:05:20 Speaker 1: Okay, so then by that logic, the Mariners would have the eighth pick, not the seventh, because the Nationals, because they've had such a good offense, have a positive run differential. The Reds have a negative 154 run differential, so. 00:05:33 Speaker 2: That's going to be a little hard to catch. But if the Mariners lose next few series, then maybe their odds will beat both of those teams. 00:05:41 Speaker 1: Listen, all I have to say is the Mariners locked into Kate Anderson after a season where they almost made the playoffs with really bad odds to get the top pick, and they got the third pick. If they get the seventh or eighth best odds, Teej, I think it's time we start the campaign in the final nine games here. 00:05:59 Speaker 2: Lose for Landon. Problem is, he might go number one. 00:06:03 Speaker 1: So get the number one pick. That's what I'm saying. They got the third pick when they almost made the playoffs a couple years ago and got Cade. Now, lose for Landon? Get the number one pick. That's what I'm saying. I'm in. 00:06:16 Speaker 2: They need more outfielders in that system. 00:06:18 Speaker 1: For those who don't know, Landon is a guy by the name of Landon Harrison, who may be the number one pick in the 2027 MLB draft. And he is an outfielder from Arizona State. 00:06:31 Speaker 2: Let's start hashtag hashtag L for L. Yes. 00:06:35 Speaker 1: Lose for Landon. Start like we got nine games to go. I have two asks of people, two requests. Listen to Rick Riz because for as bad as the season's been, appreciate a Mariners legend in the final week and a half here and lose for Landon. 00:06:49 Speaker 2: I feel so bad for Rick. His final road trip is the voice of the Mariners includes two walk-off losses to the Sacramento A's in a triple-A ballpark and then losing two out of three to a hapless, lifeless, recently sold Angels team. At least he gets to go finish it out in Colorado where the Mariners pitching staff realistically might give up 15 runs in one of these games. Yeah. Yeah. 00:07:15 Speaker 1: I got to say, if anybody wants to hear the quick byline of Landon Hairston, this past season as a sophomore, he hit 400 on the dot, OPS 1368, and hit 28 bombs in 59 games. Lose for Landon. 00:07:30 Speaker 2: L for L, baby. L for L. Yes. All right, let's get into this mailbag. Before we get into the mailbag, though, a reminder to all of you guys, if you want to be featured on these mailbags, the place to go is our Patreon. That's patreon.com slash marine larry pod, where you get access to add free episodes, mailbag priority, and a live video chat with Lyle and I once a month to answer all of your Mariners questions. So if that sounds like something that's interesting to you, go to our Patreon, patreon.com slash marine larry pod, marine layer pod linked in the description of this episode. Ethan leads us off on Patreon and asks, what do you guys think about going after Bryce Terang this off season? 00:08:10 Speaker 1: Bryce Terang is a great player, man. I mean, I love his game. His power is actually slept on. You're talking about a guy that is about a 2020 second baseman every year, at least over the last two years, maybe every year is a lot, but He put up a seven-win season this year by baseball reference. I love Bryce Terang's game. And with three years left of club control, he would be an absolute dream to put on this baseball team. The problem is, as I'll segue it back to you, I don't see why in the world, unfortunately, the Brewers would ever trade him. 00:08:45 Speaker 2: What would you... What would you offer the Brewers to have them even pick up the phone on Bryce Terang? He's currently their best position player. You have an argument that he's their best overall player, if you want to compare him and Jacob Mizorowski. Miz has got the strikeout stuff and the electric fastball. Bryce Terang's got a platinum glove and well above average offensive prowess at an up-the-middle position. Both those things are incredibly valuable, and you're asking the best team in the National League... To just give that up with three years of control, he's making $ 4 million this year. He'll make $ 8 million next year. He might max out close to $ 20 when his arbitration is over since he's a Super 2 player, so he gets four years of arbitration. What gets them to pick up? George Kirby and Ryan Sloan? That's probably where you start. 00:09:36 Speaker 1: So, little spoiler, TJ and I sometimes like to talk through some ideas before we start taping. Just because sometimes we have the itch to talk and because sometimes we like to hash out ideas before we actually go live on the pod. But I threw out before we recorded George Kirby and because Terang's a second baseman, I said Cole Young, a four-win second baseman who's going to have a lot of club control. But we also then started to talk through that and said, honestly, for as big a package as that might sound like, does that even get the Brewers to pick up the phone? Because come next year, not only are the Brewers the best team in the National League this year, But they have the number one prospect in baseball who is a shortstop. So Jesus Madé come next year is going to be a staple in that lineup. He's expected to be an absolute superstar. And the idea of him in Terang up the middle may be a top three to five middle infield eventually in the sport. 00:10:31 Speaker 2: But even if you were to. 00:10:32 Speaker 1: Execute that trade and say the Brewers were interested in listening, it still doesn't make any sense because you're Even if you were to give them Cole Young, your infield's loaded right now as it is, and you're going to have to include Maude. So, like, Maude's going to eventually be the shortstop. Joey Ortiz is probably going to have to move to third. As a result, David Hamilton probably becomes a utility player. Like, there's still kind of a logjam there that doesn't really work. And they have Cooper Pratt, who they just signed to an extension, who's an infielder. Which is why you'd have to go to pitching. you'd have to offer them up your top pitching prospects. So it's a, uh, it's a George Kirby's been the popular name to throw out there and trades the soft season. You offer them Kirby and then you offer them one of Kate Anderson and Ryan Sloan. I think that's the only way you move the needle. Sure. 00:11:25 Speaker 2: They, cause they don't have like other established, like six, seven inning starters in that rotation. That's one thing they're definitely lacking. And you could offer two of them for next season. one of them being a very young, very controllable top prospect. 00:11:41 Speaker 1: So the Brewers have three established starters. They have Miz, who might be the best pitcher in baseball right now. You have Logan Henderson, who very, very sneaky, has had a great year. He's solid. He's just kind of one of those slept-on pitchers. Logan Henderson doesn't wow anybody. If you were to watch him pitch, I mean, he doesn't... Well, actually, that's not true. I'm selling him short. I'm thinking of last year's Logan Henderson when... If I have it right, he wasn't striking out the world last year. Oh, no, no. He's always struck out the world. So, no, he has swing and miss stuff. I'm thinking of Harrison. But Harrison's their third arm. So, Henderson is a really slept on arm who's really good and really young. And then you have Kyle Harrison. So, you have those three. And then once you get past that, there's not as much there. So, sure, if the Brewers got to say to themselves, we're going to have Ryan Sloan and George Kirby fill out the rest of our rotation... Yeah, they'd probably listen. I don't think the Mariners are going to do that. 00:12:41 Speaker 2: If Terang was actually available for that price, would you do it? 00:12:46 Speaker 1: So then your rotation becomes, as we talk this out, so you have Logan Gilbert with a year left of club control. You would have Wu. You would have Cade. You would have Bryce Miller, who... If he's healthy. If he's healthy, right. And then you have Emerson... And then you have Logan Evans once he's back from Tommy John. So, I mean, you still have six available starters once Logan Evans is healthy, but it definitely takes a big hit into your depth of pitching that you once had. And if Logan Gilbert doesn't sign an extension, then he's going to be a free agent. So that's why I'd probably say the Mariners are unlikely to do that. I wouldn't be shocked if the Mariners trade one arm this winter, but to trade Sloan, I'd be surprised. 00:13:32 Speaker 2: People are going to say I'm crazy for this. What if you offer Julio? 00:13:38 Speaker 1: I mean, that might also be what it takes to get the Brewers to listen. Because if you look at the Brewers' outfield, while their infield is loaded, their outfield currently consists of Jackson Churrio, star. He's obviously not going anywhere. Then you look toward the rest of their outfield. You have Garrett Mitchell in center, who's a three-and-a-half-win player and has had a really nice year. But could you move him somewhere else? Could you move him to right field? I'm sure you could. 00:14:02 Speaker 2: For Julio, yeah. 00:14:03 Speaker 1: Yeah, and then your right fielder currently is Sal Freelick, who is not having himself a great year. Now, he's had good years in the past. The previous two years, he's been a two-win player. But would the Brewers listen on if they had an outfield of Churrio, Julio, and Garrett Mitchell slash Sal Freelick? I'm sure they would. But the Mariners wouldn't do it. 00:14:29 Speaker 2: That might be the easiest sales pitch of all of them. You have a 26-year-old superstar. 00:14:36 Speaker 1: Pump the brakes on that. 00:14:39 Speaker 2: Bryce Terang? 00:14:39 Speaker 1: Oh, you're talking about Terang. Sorry, I thought you meant. 00:14:41 Speaker 2: Bryce Terang's been a top 10 player in baseball the last two years. Sorry, I thought you meant Julio. No, he's a star, but what Julio has is for a team like the Brewers, he's under a team-friendly long-term extension. Here's our 25-year-old star under control for a long time that you don't have to worry about extending or negotiating with. You need outfielders. And in return, the Mariners will take on the risk of three years left of a 26, soon-to-be 27-year-old Bryce Terang. And then the Mariners have to worry about extending him. If you're wondering the incentive... to get the Brewers to trade their best player, like that's what it's going to take. You're either trading a pitcher out of your rotation and one of your two quote unquote untouchable pitching prospects, or you're trading your star center fielder. That's just how unlikely this is. Right. I mean, the. 00:15:36 Speaker 1: Brewer, and it's not just that he's their best player. He's their best player with three years of club control. It's not like he's entering his walk here. So He would cost a lot. No, by the way, you're not wrong for saying Terang's a superstar. Bryce Terang is the best second baseman in Major League Baseball. I'm not even really sure that's up for debate at this point. 00:15:55 Speaker 2: Yeah. All right, next question comes from Jateen on Patreon. Jateen's question is, what are the top five or ten things you've learned from other teams while doing bullpen banner content? 00:16:07 Speaker 1: I think this is what he means, right? Bullpen banner stuff? 00:16:09 Speaker 2: I think so. 00:16:10 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:16:11 Speaker 2: Um. 00:16:12 Speaker 1: Just the question was a little jumbled. That's why I'm just trying to get clarification. But to answer your question, Jateen, doing bullpen banner stuff is a little different than covering one team because we're not really out there, if this makes sense, covering quote-unquote teams. Like, you know, we're not doing the work of beat reporters where you're scooping information and getting the day-to-day insights from players and coaches. We're kind of just there to make connections with players and do baseball trivia content with them. It's pretty... laid back. The idea is supposed to be pretty lighthearted and fun. So there's things we'll pick up from just maybe watching infield drills and outfield drills, but I don't know if there's anything in terms about the day-to-day workings of a team that we can really say, oh, they do something this way or they do something that way. I would say there's certain tendencies we picked up from certain teams. For example, when the Yankees come to town, The whole conglomerate of stars hits in the same group for batting practice. Sometimes that's the case with other teams. Sometimes it's not where guys are split up. The Yankees very much so. It's like, oh, all their A guys are in one group. We've seen it multiple years in a row where it is Judge, Stanton, Bellinger, Grisham, and maybe one or two others that are all in that first group together. 00:17:27 Speaker 2: So you see things like that or... Or how the Braves have a very regimented pregame routine team-wide. Right. The Braves have a dress code for their players pregame, and when they're on the field, it's something you just don't pick up. Little things from teams that are a little bit more regimented. Not to say the Mariners... The Mariners, I think, overall have a loose... pregame, uh, pregame routine, but that's not like guys don't have routines that they consistently do. Like there's usually the same group of players for the Mariners hitting pregame every day. And then there's the same guys getting ground balls out in front of the dugout pregame. And then a lot of the same players will hit on the field during a actual BP and so on and so forth. Yeah. 00:18:16 Speaker 1: So what you mean by the Braves is they're usually required to wear some sort of team gear while they're working out some, some combination of their workout shirts or their they're not in their full. 00:18:28 Speaker 2: I don't even think it's some combination. They all wear the same one. Yeah. 00:18:32 Speaker 1: And it's, it's usually pretty color coded, like color coordinated. I should say. 00:18:37 Speaker 2: Josh Naylor can't wear a hockey Jersey while he's warming up. If he was on the Braves. Right. 00:18:41 Speaker 1: Or Julio can't wear his, some of his, you know, sleeveless cutoff jerseys that he likes to wear during warmups. You know, it's allowed in Seattle, but not Atlanta. Or then you go to, Texas, we said this on the podcast earlier in the year. I won't say the name, but, you know, then you go to Texas and sometimes you start to smell the sense of cigars four hours before the game. 00:19:05 Speaker 2: So that happens. 00:19:06 Speaker 1: Everyone's different. Everybody's different. I guess we weren't in Texas, but when the Rangers were in town. So in terms of, like, again... what the Mariners should be doing compared to other teams. We don't really pick that stuff up doing bullpen banner content just because it's really all about doing fun trivia content with guys around the league. But you pick up certain tendencies. Maybe that gives people somewhat of a picture. 00:19:30 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's pretty accurate. All right, before we get to our next mailbag question, I want to tell you guys about Emerald Queen Casino's upcoming entertainment lineup. Matt Matthews is at EQC on September 27th, Sons of Legion on October 4th, Gary Allen on October 9th, and then WFC 195. Get your tickets today at emeraldqueen.com. Emerald Queen Casino is the entertainment capital of the Northwest. And while you're there, maybe this upcoming Tuesday for our upcoming podcast taping, you can check out the BetMGM Sportsbook. There's no better place to watch the game with 70 dream seat loungers for premium viewing, dozens of 86-inch TVs, legal wagering on college and pro sports. 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Thomas's question is, how many ballparks have you guys been to? Is all 30 the goal? 00:22:02 Speaker 1: All 30 is absolutely the goal. I hope to get there one day. I think now just being in the world that we're in, especially now that we do both local and national baseball content where we'll travel around a bit, I think we're going to get there at some point or another. I am at 23 parks. Is it 24? Okay, I'll tell you what I'm missing. So I'm missing, maybe we've talked about this before, Houston. I'm missing Minnesota. I'm missing Kansas City. I'm missing Toronto. I'm missing Tampa. And I'm missing, oh, and Camden Yards, which I've been outside but not inside of. So 24 parks after going to Miami this past weekend, and six to go. 00:22:46 Speaker 2: Are you counting O.co as the A's park? 00:22:50 Speaker 1: Oh, I mean, yeah. 00:22:51 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:22:52 Speaker 1: But I guess at some point they'll have a new park that I'll have to get to it eventually. But isn't this everybody that goes to all 30 parks? I'm sure there's people out there that have been to all 30 that at some point said they got to 30 by going to Shea stadium over city field. But then once city field got created, I mean, maybe eventually they went to city field, but don't you still get to say it was 30. 00:23:16 Speaker 2: You can say you've been to 30 parks. You can, but also you haven't been to the 30 current parks. 00:23:21 Speaker 1: Sure. 00:23:22 Speaker 2: Like I'm at 21 total, but I've only been to 19 active parks. I'm missing a lot of the central teams. I've only been to one field in the AL Central, for example. I'm missing Target Field. I'm missing the Twins. I'm missing the Tigers. I'm missing the Royals. I'm missing the Guardians. And then in the NL Central, I'm missing the Reds, Cardinals, and Brewers. Meanwhile, the coasts for me have been a lot more covered. 00:23:51 Speaker 1: Well, that's seven. What else are you missing? 00:23:54 Speaker 2: I'm missing Houston. I'm missing Sacramento. I'm missing the Trop. I'm missing Nats Park. 00:24:04 Speaker 1: And then the two old. 00:24:05 Speaker 2: Stadiums I've been to that no longer exist are Old Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium. Yeah. 00:24:10 Speaker 1: I was never at Old Yankee Stadium. I went to Shea Stadium, and then I was unfortunately at ODOT Co. once. Listen, there's a lot of great people that work for the A's, but that ballpark.... 00:24:22 Speaker 2: You didn't like that ballpark? 00:24:24 Speaker 1: I mean, dude, like, ODOTCO looked like it was in... The sign on top of the ballpark looked like it was in 12-point Times New Roman font, and one of the letters was falling off the building. And then you get inside the park, and there's, like, six inches of space to walk down the aisle to your section. There's no space. 00:24:46 Speaker 2: It's an old ballpark specialty. Space is never a consideration. 00:24:50 Speaker 1: No, but at Fenway, you let it go because it's Fenway, and it's so ridiculously historic and cool that you let bygones be bygones. Road.co, yeah, I think you can miss me with that. 00:25:05 Speaker 2: If you're trying to get to the 30 current parks, the next park that you should get to if you haven't been to this one because it's going to get replaced soon is Angel Stadium. Angel Stadium probably has got three years left before Kroenke builds a new one. Could be. 00:25:21 Speaker 1: Although, can they get it all done in one offseason? They'll have to go play somewhere else for a while, right? 00:25:26 Speaker 2: Well, meaning they would start building it maybe end of next year and hopefully have it done two years after that. 00:25:32 Speaker 1: It could be. 00:25:35 Speaker 2: Isn't two years a good timeline to build a stadium? 00:25:37 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's probably right. Then the A's will come after that, potentially in Vegas. Rays should be after that. 00:25:45 Speaker 2: Yeah. I would assume they just build a new ballpark on the same lot that their current ballpark is on. Cause it's, it's surrounded by miles of concrete parking lots. I don't know why if Cronky was to buy it, he'd buy that property from the city of Anaheim, who I believe owns that land and then build on top of it. Like he did for, uh, like he did for the Ram stadium. 00:26:09 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's right for the angels. Yeah. 00:26:12 Speaker 2: I don't know where else they would move them. No. So, All right, next question comes from Jacob on Patreon. Jacob's question is, I heard you guys trying to talk about trying to get Gunnar Henderson from the Orioles. What do you think it would take to get him? 00:26:26 Speaker 1: Probably similar to the Terang package, but maybe a little bit less. Again, it would probably be Kirby and one of your pretty good prospects, at least. Kirby and, I don't know, Laz and maybe somebody else. 00:26:44 Speaker 2: Less than it would be a couple years ago. His stock is pretty low right now. As low as it would be for Gunnar Henderson. 00:26:52 Speaker 1: But not low enough where you could get by just offering prospects. There's no way. Because Gunnar's currently on a down year. And I don't think anybody really believes this is going to continue. At least to some extent it should go back up. He was still a five-win player last year when he wasn't a nine-win player like two years ago. So I would assume this is still going to cost, yeah, let's say Kirby and Laz for two years of Gunnar Henderson for a guy that probably wouldn't sign an extension because he's a Scott Boris client. Yeah. 00:27:23 Speaker 2: I agree with your trade package. That's a question you'd have to answer. Which player would you rather have who you don't think is going to sign an extension, George Kirby or Gunnar Henderson? 00:27:33 Speaker 1: Well, the Mariners desperately need offense, so I would take Gunnar. 00:27:38 Speaker 2: I would also definitely take Gunnar, but this version of Gunnar Henderson is not providing you with offense. Well, more than J.P. 00:27:46 Speaker 1: Crawford is. 00:27:48 Speaker 2: J.P., what's Gunnar's OPS currently? 00:27:50 Speaker 1: Well, 703, 99 OPS. Oh, so maybe it's similar to J.P. 00:27:57 Speaker 2: It's probably right in line now. 00:27:59 Speaker 1: Yeah, JP's at 102. Like, again, there's no way I buy that this is going to keep up for Gunner. I just think if he goes back to what he was last year, which was a 274 hitter, 17 to 20 homers, and his OPS was 787, which is a 122 OPS plus paired with the defense he plays. Yeah, if that's Gunner's middle ground, sign me up for that every day of the week. That's a four and a half to five win shortstop. Even if he's not Bobby Witt, which he was two years ago when he had his nine-win season, a five-win shortstop, I mean, those don't grow on trees, man. I would trade George Kirby for Gunner. 00:28:39 Speaker 2: I'd take that if you could guarantee it. It's hard to guarantee any player's offense translating to the Mariners, though, as we've seen. What happened the last time the Mariners traded for an Oriole? Wow. 00:28:51 Speaker 1: Yeah, certainly that went great. Taylor Ward's only a couple plate appearances away, by the way, from qualifying to be the worst Mariners hitter of all time. 00:29:01 Speaker 2: How awesome is it that the Mariners have had two of those this year? 00:29:04 Speaker 1: It's incredible. I mean, aren't they doing fans a favor by making trades like that? 00:29:11 Speaker 2: I think so. 00:29:13 Speaker 1: That's what I heard from the Mariners brass a couple years ago. 00:29:17 Speaker 2: I never thought that people would forget the name Rob Refsnyder so quickly. But man, I mean, Taylor Ward has taken every ounce of oxygen away from Rod Brefsnyder. He's almost like forgiven. 00:29:30 Speaker 1: You know what T-Mobile Park does favor a little bit though? Left-handed hitters, especially left-handed hitters with power. Think about everything it did for Kyle Seeger for a decade. If Gunnar Henderson were to play in T-Mobile Park, I actually think he'd be okay, especially because he hits for pop. 00:29:45 Speaker 2: Next question comes from Maxton. Maxton's question is, if the Mariners were to bring in another former player to manage the team as they did with hiring Dan Wilson, who would be on your short list of players or personnel you'd like to see at the helm? I'm going to jump in on this one. If Maxton, I'm going to assume, Maxon, you mean Mariners, former players instead of former MLB players around the game. If you mean former Mariner players, my list is zero. Yeah. I don't want any former Mariners. Correct. 00:30:17 Speaker 1: Zero. That was one of our established rules, remember? And if the Mariners do that, we're going to be furious. So much so, TJ, even more so than me, because we were talking through other people that have roles in the organization and some guys that have managed in the minor leagues. And I said, okay, TJ, I'm not saying this should be the hire because they need to absolutely go higher from outside the organization for their next manager. But I said, what about somebody like Zach Vinci, who played one career game as a Mariner? TJ goes, nope. I was like, but he only played one career game. And TJ goes, Lyle, rules are rules. Did he play for the Mariners or not? 00:30:53 Speaker 2: I said he did. What's the point of making rules if no one follows them? 00:30:57 Speaker 1: Yeah, so if Maxson means former Mariners players, yeah, nobody. 00:31:03 Speaker 2: Even former MLB players, like that's, I mean, that's kind of broad. I don't care if they played or not. I care if they're a good coach and a good manager. And most importantly, they have the ability to communicate and they have the ability to game plan, which are two things the Mariners need very much miss in the last two, two years and change with Dan Wilson at the helm. The two biggest things, communication and game planning. Everything else I think is a bonus. 00:31:33 Speaker 1: Listen, Kai Correa never played in the big leagues, but if the Mariners end up going after a Mike McDonald type of hire, who's never been an MLB manager before, do I think somebody like Kai Correa could communicate well and have good relationships with those players at the same time and also develop really quality game plans? 00:31:52 Speaker 2: Yes, I do. 00:31:54 Speaker 1: So that is what it's more about. 00:31:56 Speaker 2: I'm with you. 00:31:57 Speaker 1: If you want some names of just former MLB players in general, we'll dive deeper into this once the offseason starts, assuming a certain move is made, which we would assume at this point. But Stephen Bowe, Rocco Baldelli, I mean, there's going to be names you can throw out there. that are former players that could be managers. But I, if it's, I think the ultimate takeaway here is, is it doesn't matter if they were a former player or not. It's just, are you a very good big league manager? 00:32:29 Speaker 2: Yes. 00:32:29 Speaker 1: Can you communicate? Can you game plan? Can you make good in-game decisions? And can you hold people accountable for things that the current manager has proven? He cannot do. 00:32:39 Speaker 2: Can you explain your process and your identity? 00:32:44 Speaker 1: Another thing the current manager has proven incapable of doing. 00:32:48 Speaker 2: Just so much gold coming out of the All-Star break. Hey, Dan, what do you want the identity of this team to be in the second half? I want them to show up, be ready to play. They did not do that. And that's not an identity. No. 00:33:01 Speaker 1: I mean, the Mariners have talked about spiraling in the second half. It's been beyond spiraling. Yeah. 00:33:08 Speaker 2: This is a good question coming up next from Michael on Patreon. Michael's question is at the start of the year, I felt like the Cal slash Randy drama was downplayed a bit. Do you both think that the clubhouse drama reported or unreported has played a critical part of this season? 00:33:27 Speaker 1: So if you're asking, if I think the Cal Randy drama is still lingering around and has effects on this team. 00:33:34 Speaker 2: No, I don't. 00:33:35 Speaker 1: And we've heard from a couple of people that I don't, think Cal and Randy still have issues. I think it's for the most part at least been resolved to a certain extent where it's not affecting things now, but has the overall culture and clubhouse culture played a factor into the downfall of this 2026 team? Yeah. If nothing else, even if the Cal Randy drama isn't still lingering, it certainly kickstarted everything. That's for sure. 00:34:06 Speaker 2: What the Cal Randy drama did is it laid the groundwork of all the things that were wrong with the culture around this team this season. Let's remember what happened, right? So the scenario goes down in the game. Everyone's frustrated while the guys are all out there playing. They both return to camp eventually after the, I think the semifinal for Randy and the final for Cal within a couple of days of each other. Randy doesn't even acknowledge what happened or take any accountability for it. when he gets back to camp, this was on March 14th, because I went back and I checked the dates of all of this, Cal comes out in the same article written by Daniel Kramer and comes out and says, I apologize to Randy. I apologize for the situation that happened, right? Taking accountability. Wow, noted in the article that Cal made it a point to come upon himself to initiate a call with beat writers for the Mariners to... take accountability and explain his side of the situation, which is something Randy did no part of. Then Dan Wilson comes out in the same article. And instead of saying anything to the point of, yeah, we can't have stuff like this happen between teammates for both Cal and Randy. They need to be better about stuff like this. He essentially just like brushed it off and said, no, we're just, we're moving on. We're moving on and not doing anything. And then it took a week later for Randy to come out and said, oh yeah, actually, my bad. 00:35:37 Speaker 1: A week! 00:35:38 Speaker 2: During spring training, nothing better to do. It took seven more days for Randy to come out and say anything about that situation and actually take accountability for all the drama that happened in this offseason. It laid the groundwork of no accountability. No accountability for the season, especially for players like Randy. Cal's been... Cal's been one of the few guys all season that has come out and been like self-accountable. I mean, I remember when Randy was like dogging the ball in the outfield against the Rays, he just came out and said, Oh, I'm looking out for myself. Just said it out loud. Like that, that was just exactly how the season has played out. 00:36:19 Speaker 1: And people wondered why we highlighted a lot of reasons for why we would not be interested in Randy Rosarena being back on this team. You just listed some of them, by the way, I don't know if you remember this or a lot of our listeners remember this. Randy put out two different statements. When he got back to camp, there was a statement that was put out issued by the team, but it was a really bad statement from Randy. It took zero accountability whatsoever. 00:36:46 Speaker 2: That was in the first article. That was in the first article on the 14th. 00:36:49 Speaker 1: First one. And I think the Mariners put out some statement too. And then a week later, Then Randy puts out another statement where he's like, okay, yeah, my bad. I want to move on. We're going to settle things. Dude, that's a week, a week after you already put out an original statement that didn't take any accountability. And by the way, I think I have to highlight this again for people because we still get comments to this day that say, can you believe Cal ruined the Mariners season by not shaking Randy's hand? I think we have to state this again. This is just us stating the facts. This is what's been reported. So I think we need to restate it in terms of what happened because somehow this topic still continues to come up. It didn't get a ton of limelight, and I really wish it got more, especially nationally, because it seems to be something that a lot of people with an opinion on this have missed. There was a Team USA policy set by Mark DeRosa and whoever the heads of Team USA Baseball were that said you are not going to mingle with other players around other teams during the tournament. And look, it's a stupid rule, but it was set by the team. Cal is a player of the team, and he's listening to the higher-ups and his coaches that are saying, okay, you're not going to do this. Divish reported all this, by the way. This isn't me making stuff up. This came from Divish. He's talked about it. We've talked to him about it. Then Cal tells all his teammates that are in the WBC, hey guys, as a heads up, Team USA set this rule. I can't be going around doing this, unfortunately, during the tournament. So Randy knew that because Randy is one of the said players in the tournament who, from what Divish has said, Cal told, Randy goes and does the opposite when he comes up to the plate knowing what Cal said. Cal obviously can't shake his hand because there was this policy in place. And then if the Situation wasn't bad enough because if there had just been a lack of handshake and then no quotes after and the guys had moved on and each of them had said, oh yeah, like it was, I just kind of stuck out my hand. 00:38:49 Speaker 2: It's no big deal. 00:38:49 Speaker 1: They didn't shake it. Like we talked about it after we're good. No, then Randy, after already igniting a flame to this fire, doubles down on it by then going to the media, getting on camera and cussing Cal out in four languages. So I'm just laying that out again for everybody. Randy knew that Cal couldn't shake hands in the middle of the game and mingle with other players. He stuck his hand out anyway. Cal didn't shake it. And then Randy went and cursed him out. People can have whatever opinion they want on this. We can't force people to have an opinion. But we've just heard enough from enough credible people to have a pretty good sense of this was Randy's fault. Yeah. 00:39:29 Speaker 2: Yeah yep that's well said all right before we get to our next mailbag question lyle do you want to read net. 00:39:36 Speaker 1: Yeah let's talk to you guys about our friends over at pagachas pub 85 and you guys know it's this great neighborhood bar over in kirkland you can hang out with your friends you can watch a bunch of sporting events because there's 20 tvs in the place especially with college football starting, and the NFL in full swing. It's a great place to hang out. There's great food. There's things like pool and darts inside the bar as well. And if you go during happy hour, there are $ 3 and $ 4 drink specials on Monday through Friday from 2 to 6 p.m. Yeah, that's four-hour happy hours, five days a week for $ 3 and $ 4 drinks. That's all over at Pagaccia's Pub 85 in Kirkland. 00:40:11 Speaker 2: Next question comes from Tin Cup Mariner. And the question is, although it seems unlikely... Who would you like to see replace Jerry if he is let go at the end of the season? 00:40:23 Speaker 1: I feel like we need to do a full dive into some front office executives, wouldn't we? Because it's a little easier to pick out potential managers. It's harder to pick out baseball execs. I mean, if you want some teams I'd look toward, look toward Dodgers execs, look toward Rays execs, look toward Brewers execs, people that have proven that you can win with. 00:40:47 Speaker 2: A small payroll. 00:40:48 Speaker 1: Now Dodgers execs are not winning with a small payroll. They're winning with a record setting payroll, but other teams that are pretty successful, pretty analytically sound forward thinking and can win with not a high payroll. Cause while the Mariners aren't the rate, the raise in the brewers in terms of payroll, you're not going to get all funds in the world. That's for sure. We've learned that the hard way over the last few years, cause these owners don't spend enough. So I would look toward those teams. 00:41:17 Speaker 2: Russell Dorsey of Yahoo Sports had a whole list of GMs and executives who are not the head guy yet. He went around and he pulled a bunch of front offices. I think an article actually came out today on who they thought was going to be the next decision maker for an open job. I wrote down a few of the names that interested me. I mean, Justin Hollander is on this list. He's decently high on there. But we're assuming if they're going to replace Jerry, they should go outside the organization and get some fresh perspective. and not just run it back. I wrote down a few names. So you mentioned the Dodgers, uh, Brandon Gomes is their GM. He was a very popular name. He's the second most popular name on this poll. Andrew Freeman, as you know, is the president of the Dodgers. He is the head decision maker. He was with the Rays and now he's been with the Dodgers for, I think, 12 seasons now. And he works, you know, hand in hand with Mark Walter and put together this whole roster and this whole organization that has been so, so, so successful. If he was going to come to you, you'd probably need to make him president of the team, given that he is currently the general manager of the Dodgers. So you couldn't just eliminate the president of baseball operations and then just rehire him as GM in a lateral move. You'd need to give him a promotion. Kind of like I think if Justin Hollander were to take another job elsewhere, he would probably want a title bump if everything stays the same. Other couple other names I did not realize. And it makes sense that James Click is still in front offices. He is a what is what's his role? James Click is the VP of baseball strategy with the Blue Jays. So he might take another GM job again. If you might remember, he was GM of the Astros in 2022 when they won the World Series. And then they got rid of him because Jeff Bagwell took over a big part of the decision-making for the Astros and hates analytics. So he's like, no, I want Dana Brown instead. And would you look at that? Dana Brown, three years later, has been fired because he's not good enough at his job. And the team has gotten worse every single year since they moved away from essentially more information to less information when it comes to roster building. I think James Click definitely knows what he's doing. He took over in a tough situation after they fired Lunau for the cheating scandal, and he did a really excellent job and built one of the best Astros teams we've seen. Yeah. One more, Lyle, and this guy is the most experienced out there. Do you remember John Daniels when he worked for the Rangers? 00:43:56 Speaker 1: Sure, yeah. 00:43:58 Speaker 2: He was there a long time, and he built a couple of teams that went to the World Series and He now works with the Rays right now as an advisor. So that's a guy who has as much experience possible as running a team. And that's just a few of many names, smart names out there that could eventually run your baseball operations if they decide to move on. But as Tin Cup Mariner says, very unlikely. Right. 00:44:25 Speaker 1: Or if you want the name of the Brewers guy to look at, it'd be Thad Levine. But again... We're going to need to see it to believe it. And then there will be a much, much more elongated conversation on potential candidates. But yeah, those are good ones to throw out. Brandon Gomes for sure. James Click for sure. Thad Levine from the Brewers for sure. John Daniels, who's now high up with the Rays for sure. You wouldn't be able to poach Eric Neander away because he's the president of baseball ops for the Rays. So that would be a lateral move that I would be surprised that he wouldn't make. So yeah, you'd have to look at people. 00:44:58 Speaker 2: Unless you were to overpay. But Mariners don't do that. Right. So you would have to likely. 00:45:03 Speaker 1: Well, and some teams don't allow lateral moves if you're under contract. Some. 00:45:08 Speaker 2: Oh, I didn't actually know that. That makes sense. Yeah. 00:45:11 Speaker 1: So if Eric Neander was offered the Mariners president of baseball ops job when he's already the raised president of baseball ops, he might not be allowed to do that. Divish was on with Jason Puckett. He actually noted something pretty interesting. There was a couple pretty interesting tidbits that Divish threw out there with But one of the things he said was at one point, the Marlins wanted to interview Justin Hollander for their general manager opening, but the Mariners didn't let him do it because it was viewed as a lateral move. Even though in that scenario, Hollander would have gotten to actually run the show because the Marlins don't have a president of baseball ops. It's still by the technicality of the role of the opening, a lateral move. So Divish threw that out there. 00:45:58 Speaker 2: That's interesting. And then the other note he threw out is that Dan Wilson makes just over a million dollars. Yeah. 00:46:04 Speaker 1: So isn't that just fine and dandy for anybody that's hoping? 00:46:09 Speaker 2: Well, I will say that's a pretty standard salary for a first-time manager. 00:46:16 Speaker 1: Sure. But then Davis also talked with Puck. 00:46:19 Speaker 2: Again, I. 00:46:21 Speaker 1: Won't take all the tidbits out because... Divish and puck did a good job with his interview and it's their interview. So people should go listen to that if you're curious, but Divish also said that when service got his second contract, he talked about, there was a bit of a dispute because service thought he should get a raise. He's getting a new contract, but Mariners did not want to bite on that. Hmm. 00:46:45 Speaker 2: Wow. 00:46:45 Speaker 1: So again, isn't, isn't it fine and dandy that they're likely about to need a new manager and they already pay toward like the bottom five to seven in the league with their coaches. Again, that's such, it's such a slap in the face, dude. It really is. And then they threw out there that Jay Johnson of LSU is making three and a half million bucks. 00:47:05 Speaker 2: A year in college. Well, because college sports are bloated. That's why I know, but college, college coaches, the top college coaches make a lot of probably too much money. I'm going to be honest. 00:47:19 Speaker 1: I know, but still. Yeah. 00:47:21 Speaker 2: Anyway, but it's also like, In college, though, you are incentivized to pay the most for the best coach because those coaches will just leave otherwise. 00:47:31 Speaker 1: I know, and that's all very true. But that doesn't change the fact that it looks ridiculous if the Mariners potentially are going to need a new manager if they make the move, and it's come out that they won't pay anybody, just like they don't pay players enough. I'm excited about the potential new opportunity to bring in a new voice if it happens, but But to here, they just won't pay anybody. 00:47:57 Speaker 2: Well, they're not going to give themselves the chance to get the best person. They would probably instead prefer to get the one who lines up with their price the best. 00:48:10 Speaker 1: Again. 00:48:10 Speaker 2: Which is not how you win a World Series. No. 00:48:14 Speaker 1: Again, and it goes back to what we've learned very well about these owners at this point. Would they rather win games than lose games? Sure, any owner would. But they do not do the things necessary to go win a championship. They've proven it. They might want to win, but they don't actually take the necessary steps to win. That's for sure. 00:48:30 Speaker 2: What if you, I don't know, Lyle, instead of signing Rob Refsnyder, you take that salary and allocate it towards your manager? 00:48:37 Speaker 1: That'd be awesome. 00:48:39 Speaker 2: That'd be awesome. 00:48:39 Speaker 1: That's $ 6 million that you would definitely equate to a, I don't care that managers don't have war, a higher war than what Refsnyder put up. Actually, you can guarantee it because managers don't get a war, meaning they'd be at zero. Refsnyder was negative. 00:48:55 Speaker 2: I think we just solved it, Lyle. 00:48:57 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:48:58 Speaker 2: Next question comes from John on Patreon. John's question is, what's your favorite batting stance of all time? 00:49:05 Speaker 1: It would either, for me, be Craig Council, because it was so wild, speaking of current managers, or Gary Sheffield. 00:49:13 Speaker 2: I also wrote down Gary Sheffield. I'm thinking of what's, what would be the best one to do in your backyard? Like doing Gary Sheffield way, waving your bat back and forth as you're waiting to hit like a T-ball or a wiffle ball. I think it's the most fun one. 00:49:28 Speaker 1: Oh, I used to do Sheffield's batting stance all the time in our backyard playing wiffle ball. By the way, you're doing it wrong for people watching on YouTube. You're going like in and out. No, it's up here. He went like this. He's up at his ears, and it's like that. That was the Sheffield. No, you're still doing it wrong because you've got to pull it to your left, essentially. 00:49:47 Speaker 2: It's in. 00:49:48 Speaker 1: It's like that. 00:49:50 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:49:51 Speaker 1: That's more like it. 00:49:52 Speaker 2: Yeah. How he hit 500 home runs is crazy. Like there's so much. So if you did this in the minor leagues, coach would be like, stop. 00:50:02 Speaker 1: You know what? Gary Sheffield was a borderline hall of fame player. So who am I to judge? 00:50:06 Speaker 2: That's a good point. Alex on Patreon asks, could the strength of the farm system actually become a roster building trap this off season? Noting that the Mariners have a lot of young players, but unproven young players when given a lot of playing time, don't always lead to winning a World Series. 00:50:27 Speaker 1: Absolutely. I think it's been a trap for them for years now because they made that Luis Castillo trade, which was really the only time they have truly parted with blue chip prospects to go get an established player. 00:50:39 Speaker 2: And it worked. 00:50:41 Speaker 1: Noel V. Marte and Edwin Arroyo haven't bit you in the back at all. That trade was money. And since then, they haven't done anything like that. I think it has been a trap for them in the past because I honestly believe this current iteration of the front office has to some extent become too attached to some of their prospects to go ship them away to get pieces that are going to help you win right now. So I do think it's a potential trap for them come the offseason, especially because a lot of these prospects have now debuted. Laz is up. Arroyo's up. I mean, they're not going to trade Colt Emerson, but he's up. 00:51:19 Speaker 2: Cade's up. 00:51:21 Speaker 1: Sloan's about to get up. Yes, I think it is a potential trap. 00:51:27 Speaker 2: If they would have made a World Series by now because of homegrown talent, I mean, they would have. 00:51:33 Speaker 1: Right. 00:51:33 Speaker 2: So if you're going into next season and still saying, well, World Series is the goal and it's all homegrown players, well, they just haven't proven their homegrown players are good enough to do that. And they've had some great success stories, like all their pitchers and Cal and Julio, and it's still not enough. Yeah. which is why you need sort of a refined roster-building strategy to win the most games. Unless their goal next year, of course, is not to win the most games, and it's just to have a cost-controlled roster of players, in which case, you know, then I'm not going to go into next season expecting a World Series, and I'm not going to feel as invested. 00:52:12 Speaker 1: I mean, again, Tiege, they're seventh in attendance this year. What does ownership really care about? I guarantee they care about that. 00:52:19 Speaker 2: They do. Markets are homegrown players. 00:52:22 Speaker 1: If they knew they could be right in the middle of the league or a little less than that in payroll to put out a roster that they think will win 84 games and be in the wildcard hunt while getting to have 10 fireworks nights and a bunch of promotional giveaways and find a bunch of ways to get people into the stadium, then that might be their priority. And people will be pissed, including us, if that's what they do. 00:52:43 Speaker 2: But. 00:52:44 Speaker 1: If we're asking what their priority is, I mean, until they prove otherwise, I think it's totally fair to have that assumption. 00:52:51 Speaker 2: I mean, like, let me say this. 00:52:54 Speaker 1: Well, the Rays and the Brewers and some teams like that, the Guardians have proven that they can make World Series just from homegrown talent. Well, the Brewers haven't made a World Series as of late, but again, they've had 100 win seasons with homegrown talent. Even when the Mariners got to the ALCS last year, was that all with homegrown talent? No way. Polanco traded for, and then you had to resign. Naylor traded for Gino traded for you needed significant pieces for outside your organization because you haven't been able to build it all with homegrown talent. 00:53:26 Speaker 2: The second part of Alex's question is how do you give these guys opportunities to develop while still genuinely, genuinely operating in a championship window? It's that you don't just give roster spots to prospects. For example, let's say you had the 2023 shortstop class available on the free agent market this offseason, and you had Colt Emerson waiting in the wings. What the Mariners have always done is like, oh, well, we don't need to sign any of these guys. We have Colt Emerson. We're fine. As opposed to a team like the Phillies, who if they had Colt Emerson at the same time would probably be like, well, we have an opportunity to sign Trey Turner, or we can give this spot to Colt Emerson. It's like, we'll sign Trey Turner, and if Colt Emerson proves he's ready to be on this roster, we'll put him at second base, or we'll put him at third base. And it works itself out. And for the Phillies, that would have worked itself out, because their third baseman, and Alec Boehm, I don't think they could move on from fast enough. And Bryson Stott at second is solid, a valuable player, but Colt at his best is supposed to be better than that. There's always a way to make your roster better. It's never a bad thing to just have more good players on your roster instead of like, oh, this needs to be, his only opportunity is going to be a full-time player at his age 21 season. 00:54:40 Speaker 1: No, no. 00:54:42 Speaker 2: You can always find a way. If he earns it, then you can figure out a way to play him full-time. 00:54:49 Speaker 1: I mean, the Phillies are going to be in that exact spot next year because they have Aiden Miller, who's a top 10 to 15 prospect. And the Phillies, knowing how Dombrowski operates, they're not just going to hand him a job. He's going to have to absolutely earn it all the way through the minor leagues. And then if he gets his opportunity, whether Boehm's not playing well or someone gets hurt, then you call him up and yeah, maybe he spends some time at third. Maybe he spends some time at second. Maybe he moves around a little bit, but he's not just going to take Trey Turner's spot. I know Trey Turner hasn't had a very good year, but that's still your $ 300 million shortstop who I don't think you're just moving on from if you're the Phillies. So, yeah, other teams don't let prospects get in the way. The Mariners seem to have a way of letting prospects get in the way, which to bring this question all back together. Yes, I think it is absolutely a trap for them, partly because they don't spend enough money and partly because I think at times this front office is too emotionally attached to some of their prospects. 00:55:47 Speaker 2: Yeah, I totally agree. Next question comes from Xander on Patreon. Xander's question is, what does the process look like for obtaining credentials for MLB stadiums? 00:55:59 Speaker 1: I mean, it's nothing crazy. You send the right people with said team an email. You explain who you are. You likely try to show some work of what you've done. You say you want to get out to the field and do some coverage or do some content, whatever your field of expertise is. And then it's, basically on the team to make the decision. And every team has slightly different guidelines. I mean, in terms of likely getting a yes, I think it just takes time. It takes, you know, reps. It takes connections. It takes building up a brand a little bit, but that's how like the process goes. If that makes sense, you usually have to send some emails and show some work and you hope said team is okay with it. 00:56:42 Speaker 2: It's the same as every other media member. Like it's like, what are you here to do? what kind of content are you going to do? What have you done in the past? And then they say yes or no. Right. That's it. The thing that makes Lyle and I different from everyone else is that other people, other traditional media members have companies that apply for them who have, you know, many employees over many years that have covered stuff at MLB games that they can say, Oh, here's what other people have done in the past. And I was like, all right, that's fine. Like we know you X TV company, you can be credentialed. Meanwhile, Lyle and I are an independent business. So, We have to show more past work of things we specifically have done. But now that we're three and a half years total into our content journey, we do have plenty of on-field stuff to show teams of why we should be out there. And I feel like most teams these days, not all of them, but most will, if it's reasonable, would say yes. Once you get your foot in the door the first time, it is a little easier to go pitch yourself to either the team again or to other teams as well, I'd say. 00:57:47 Speaker 1: Some of the teams that you'd expect will say no. And that's not an us thing. It's a, they don't really let a lot of new age media out to their ballpark sort of thing. It's the old school teams. It's the Red Sox. It's the Yankees. It's the Cubs. It's teams like that. But more and more teams as time continues to go on are much more open-minded about new age media. And yeah, when, again, when you build up a brand and do enough work and create enough content, it, you know, it gets to a certain point where it makes it a little easier. 00:58:23 Speaker 2: Next question comes from Isaac on Patreon. Isaac's question is, when do we start acknowledging that this core, in all caps, has gotten two managers fired in the last two-ish calendar years? Over 50% of the healthy roster is the same, and of the 90 position players, five starters, and three bullpen arms, there's hardly any turnover. 00:58:45 Speaker 1: I mean... they are likely about to be responsible for two managerial changes. That is cold, hard facts. But I don't think the Mariners are in a spot where they can truly just blow it all up. I don't think that going through another rebuild, one, is something anybody wants. I certainly don't want. And two, is in their best interest. Because, look, the core of player they have can still win they need more talent around them and that's on the front office and the owners to go out and make happen this winter but they do have enough pieces that they can win i mean they showed it last year but they've got to go get more pieces around them they need more talent around them you can't rely on a 60 home run catcher You can't just rely on Julio being a 30-30 type six win player when he's regressed offensively every season. You can't rely on your starting rotation to be the group they were two years ago in 24 because it's just an outlier. You can't rely on your bullpen to be the group they were a couple years ago because they've proven otherwise now. You got to go out and add. 00:59:52 Speaker 2: I think you said that really well. I think what we can say about this core is that they're inconsistent and they need supplemental talent. This team can make it to game seven of the ALCS, but they can also drastically underperform across the board if the coaching is not right, if the chemistry is not right, and the players are just in a down season. I think that all can be very, very, very true, which is why I'm okay this offseason if they do a full clean sweep of decision makers and they decide an outside voice is helpful because what an outside voice does at the top of the organization is that they don't have emotional attachment to this version of the roster and someone can objectively assess whether or not this current core is good enough to continue going forward. I don't think that's something unfair at this point, because this core has gotten overall 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, five chances out there as a group, essentially, in some form or fashion, to go make the playoffs and win a World Series. They've made the ALCS once, but have missed the playoffs more times than they haven't. I think it's a valid question to ask an outside party whether or not they think this is good enough, and whether they can tweak some things around to give themselves a better chance. 01:01:15 Speaker 1: Well said. Yeah. I don't have any objections to any of that. 01:01:20 Speaker 2: Next question comes from Emma on Patreon. Emma's question is, would you actually consider moving a starting pitcher like Logan Gilbert to acquire a legitimate bat? 01:01:31 Speaker 1: Yes, but ideally not Logan Gilbert. If you have a firm. 01:01:39 Speaker 1: Understanding that he is not going to sign an extension, then okay, you have to entertain the idea. I'm still holding out a little bit of hope. that the Mariners could get something done with Logan before next season starts. So if it was up to me, I wouldn't trade Logan in this offseason. I would stick with him, hope you get the extension done, and if you don't, then you have him for next year, you have him in 2027 when you're still trying to win, you give him the qualifying offer, he'll deny it, and then worst case scenario, you get a draft pick back for him. That's how I'd handle Logan. But yeah, I've said pretty definitively, I think they absolutely need to go trade a starter to get a bat this offseason. And we've laid out some names in the past, like Gunner. We've thrown out C.J. Abrams. We've thrown out Riley Green. We've thrown out Zach Netto. We've thrown out a lot of names. But yeah, I do think they need to trade a starter. And I think the one that makes the most sense is George Kirby. 01:02:32 Speaker 2: I wouldn't trade Logan because I don't think you'd get the value back this offseason as opposed to what he could give for you next season. 01:02:41 Speaker 1: Yeah. 01:02:42 Speaker 2: I think that's pretty plain and simple at this point, that one year of Logan Gilbert won't net you what you want back as opposed to just letting him walk and having him for one more season. So if I'm with you, Lyle, if they're going to trade someone, they need to trade someone with more years of control unless they're able to fleece a team with a bad GM like they did with Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz. 01:03:03 Speaker 1: Right. 01:03:03 Speaker 2: Well, that wasn't a fleece, but in the moment it did seem like a fleece. Right. 01:03:08 Speaker 1: Again. 01:03:08 Speaker 2: Thank you, Jared. Yeah. 01:03:10 Speaker 1: Thanks, Jared. 01:03:12 Speaker 2: Still a fan. 01:03:13 Speaker 1: I'll forever be a fan. But yes, I would keep Logan. I would entertain the others. 01:03:18 Speaker 2: Cameron on Patreon asks, if you had to pick a former Seattle Mariners manager to manage the 2027 team, who would it be? 01:03:26 Speaker 1: Oh, God. It's probably Bob Melvin, to be honest with you, because he is the one guy that's had some recent success in Major League Baseball. And he's worked with some front offices that are analytically driven and new age minded. So if I had to pick, it would be Bob Melvin. 01:03:45 Speaker 2: I would reluctantly choose Scott Service, even though I would want someone significantly younger. What's funny is those are like the only two picks. I know some people in the comments are going to say, I'd rather have Lou Piniella. Lou Piniella just doesn't seem like he would be willing to adapt. If he was, say, the same age he was in the 90s, that he'd be willing to adapt to the current brand of baseball. And that there would probably be some frustrations with how he goes about operating the game plans within a game. And what Lyle and I are looking for in a new manager would be, again, better game planning, which I wasn't alive for Lou, for much of Lou, but I can't imagine he's in sync with a Jerry DiPoto-led front office and how they're thinking about things. 01:04:37 Speaker 1: Oh, I mean, we're not even having the conversation of, Lou Piniella at his current age, right? It's the idea of Lou Piniella in his prime. 01:04:44 Speaker 2: Lou Piniella at his current age doesn't even walk around that much, so no. 01:04:48 Speaker 1: That's what I was going to say. Yeah, he's not managing anytime soon. But yeah, Lou at his current age... Look, this doesn't change the fact that Lou Piniella is the best manager the Mariners have ever had. Nobody's denying that. But the game's changed since Lou was a manager. And honestly... I think a lot of the way Dan manages is probably how Lou used to manage. We've actually heard that from a couple people we trust, that the way Dan often goes about his process is essentially, what would Lou Piniella do? And we think to ourselves, like, buddy, that was 30 years ago. The game's changed a little since then. So, yeah, not to take anything away from Lou. He was a legend. He is a legend. He's the best manager in Mariners history. But I also would not love the idea of having him manage the current version of the Seattle Mariners. 01:05:33 Speaker 2: Now. 01:05:34 Speaker 1: more accountability would be nice. Lou, Lou would hold that. That's for sure. But the end game decision-making and the game planning, I don't think would go well. 01:05:43 Speaker 2: It's a bit of a sicko question from Cameron because you're asking to pick from a pool of managers, which is probably the worst pool of managers out of any franchise in MLB history. Oh, I pretty confidently say that. 01:05:58 Speaker 1: Yeah. Again, that's why I picked Bob Melvin. He's had success in other places somewhat recently. 01:06:04 Speaker 2: But even though he's the best option in there. 01:06:08 Speaker 1: Right, right. 01:06:10 Speaker 2: Are you going to pick Maury Wills? 01:06:13 Speaker 1: No, no. Jim LaFever, no. 01:06:17 Speaker 2: You can't pick anyone from the 70s. You can't pick anyone from the 80s. You can only pick one guy. Actually, no, we can't even pick anyone from the 90s. One guy from the 2000s and one guy from the 2010s, and that's it. Not Eric Wedge or Don Wakamatsu or Lloyd McClendon. Those guys aren't even a consideration. 01:06:34 Speaker 1: John McLaren, Mike Hargrove. 01:06:36 Speaker 2: Yeah. 01:06:37 Speaker 1: I mean, all of it. 01:06:39 Speaker 2: It's bad. 01:06:40 Speaker 1: No, it's, it would be, it is a really, really bad pool. So yes, I, I think those two would make the most sense. And what gave Melvin the push over Scott surface for me is just because I like Scott as a manager. I did, but it did seem like part of the reason they moved on is because it had just kind of run its course, his tenure with this group of players. And it's still a similar group of players. So yeah. Bob Melvin. 01:07:06 Speaker 2: Last question of the mailbag comes from Pucci Delgado. And the question is, how is your quote unquote untouchables trade list changed from the end of last season to now? 01:07:19 Speaker 1: I don't know if anybody from last season's off it or not. I would say of the untouchables, it's probably still Cal, Julio, Cade, Colt Emerson, Ryan Sloan. And again, for as tough a season as Julio's had, And even though he's regressed offensively, there's just not center fielders in the game that are really better than him besides PCA. So I've said in past podcasts and social media clips where I've done some walk-in talks, I've said you need way more out of Julio, but you do need him and need him to be at his best if you want this team to win a championship. Because there's just not many guys that could truly replace him. 01:08:02 Speaker 2: Would it be a hot take to say that I don't have any more untouchables? 01:08:06 Speaker 1: I thought about that when we got this question, but the reason I said I'm still putting some out there is one, because some guys are paid and two, because it's the idea of who are you replacing them with? Like what catcher are you replacing Cal with? What center fielder are you replacing Julio with, et cetera? 01:08:25 Speaker 2: Fine. I'll say Cal and Julio and that's it. 01:08:28 Speaker 1: Okay. 01:08:30 Speaker 2: After the season the Mariners just had, I can't in good faith say a prospect is not worth trading. 01:08:36 Speaker 1: Okay. Yeah, fair. 01:08:40 Speaker 2: So, sorry, Ryan and Cade. Love you guys. Hope you stay at the Mariners for a long, long time. But Bryce Terang's on the table. I will drive you to the airport. All right. Fair enough. 01:08:52 Speaker 1: I think that's fair. But, yeah, there's a couple of guys that I, I just wouldn't trade. 01:08:58 Speaker 2: So that's fine. That's fine. It's good to be different. Yeah. Again, they need way more out of Julio. 01:09:04 Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong, but there's just not many center fielders in the game to replace them with besides PCA. And I've got bad news. PCA ain't coming to Seattle because you could not give the Cubs anything to get rid of that guy at this point. You should check in on hobby bias though. See what he's up to. 01:09:19 Speaker 2: See, as the prospect trades have worked out for the Mariners, that's one prospect trade that maybe you look back on and say, yeah, maybe it didn't work out that way. 01:09:30 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, maybe Fernando Tatis for James Shields also didn't work out. 01:09:34 Speaker 2: You never know until you try. It's true. And the Mets did not win anything. I don't even think they made the playoffs in 2021 when they traded him. 01:09:41 Speaker 1: And what's crazy, you only got half a year of Javi Baez for it, too. 01:09:45 Speaker 2: It was a one-for-one swap, though, right? 01:09:47 Speaker 1: I know, but still. 01:09:50 Speaker 2: And he just got drafted. 01:09:52 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. 01:09:55 Speaker 2: It is hard to know. But yeah, it's not looking great. No. 01:09:59 Speaker 1: All right. Well, good questions. You guys are the best. Thanks for always bringing it on these mailbags. If you guys want your mailbag questions answered, again, the best way is to go sign up for our Patreon and you get priority on mailbag questions every single week. With that, that'll just about wrap up this edition of the Marine Layer Podcast. 01:10:16 Speaker 2: You guys know the drill. 01:10:17 Speaker 1: If you want to listen to the full-form podcast, you can do so wherever you get your audio pods. Go download these episodes if you're listening. Make sure to leave a five-star review when you're rating and reviewing. It helps a ton. Same idea over on YouTube, except instead of rating and reviewing, just go hit subscribe. It takes a second. You see the big red button in front of you. It helps the channel a ton. Just go press it. You can find us on our website, MarineLiarPod.com, or you can find our merch, our Patreon, all of our episodes. It's all over there. And then check us out all across social media at MarineLiarPod. 01:10:47 Speaker 2: That's TJ. 01:10:48 Speaker 1: I'm Lyle. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon.