Episode 468: What Do The Mariners Do About Julio Rodriguez's Contract Option In Two Years? (Mailbag)

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to episode number 468 of the Marine Ladder podcast. It's a mailbag episode, so we'll open it up and answer your best listener questions. 00:00:08 Speaker 2: Your guys' reminder just before we start, do us a couple quick favors before we get going here. Just make sure you're subscribed to the podcast if you're watching on YouTube. Make sure you're downloading these episodes if you're listening. Really, it does help a bunch if you do. Same idea if you leave that five-star review on the audio platforms, whether you're on Apple or Spotify or wherever you might be. You can also check everything out at our website, which is MarineLayerPod.com, and find us all across social media at MarineLayerPod. 00:00:33 Speaker 1: 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, October 8th. Before we get into this mailbag, Lyle, I have a quick takeaway from the baseball we've been watching in the postseason that the Mariners aren't in because they played like absolute crap this season. You've noticed by now we're going to get like one of the two extremes payroll wise, like winning the World Series right now. 00:01:16 Speaker 2: Mm hmm. Correct. 00:01:18 Speaker 1: I mean, it's either going to be the most expensive team of all time in the Dodgers, or it'll be teams that barely spend $ 100 million total on their payroll this year. And there's no middle ground. There's no Mariners in there. It's just going to be that. 00:01:32 Speaker 2: The Guardians, Rays, Brewers, and White Sox, I believe, are all bottom seven. 00:01:37 Speaker 1: Yeah, sounds about right. 00:01:41 Speaker 2: They're at least in the bottom third of the league in payroll. God, that would be so awesome if one of those teams won ahead of this lockout. And gave the biggest middle finger of all time to these owners and just were like, oh, I thought we needed a salary cap. 00:01:54 Speaker 1: I guess not. But on the other hand, then all the owners are going to be like, well, now we don't have to spend. We might ask for a salary cap even further because it's like, look, we don't have to spend all this money to win a World Series. 00:02:06 Speaker 2: Great. Surely so many of those owners actually know how to implement the right systems or hire the right people to implement the right systems like the Brewers and Rays. Surely they do. 00:02:15 Speaker 1: But it comes back to a mailbag question we got, I think a couple of weeks ago where someone was asking us about the Dodgers when, or no, it was just about who we want to win the world series. And I said, anyone bought the Dodgers now, especially because I mean, if the Dodgers, for example, in the NLCS and the world series go like eight, no against these miniature payroll teams, as good as they are. Like even, even if it's the brewers and raise the mighty big payroll Dodgers go eight, no against those two teams. It's just going to be a tough offseason. 00:02:48 Speaker 2: It's definitely going to be a tough offseason, especially because, again, what the Dodgers are doing is essentially fake. It comes from insurance fraud. 00:02:55 Speaker 1: Yes, which I really hope the Players Association is just going to be like, guys, look, the Dodgers literally can't keep doing this. They've already gotten caught by the feds. They can't keep doing this. So hopefully it. fixes itself eventually in the future. God, according to everyone else, it's going to be a, it's, it's going to need a salary cap for that to happen. 00:03:16 Speaker 2: Speaking of the Dodgers, do you happen to see this Andy Pahes stat rolling around the last couple of days? 00:03:22 Speaker 1: Oh, I did. Yeah. He has not been great in the post season, but when I saw the stat, I think like you, I, I noticed a name on there. 00:03:33 Speaker 2: Well, Addison, who's at baseball world on Twitter clearly went looking for this. Cause I, Until the last couple days, because over the last couple games, Andy Pahas has had multiple multi-hit games and helped the Dodgers win that Brave series. But as of a couple days ago, there have been 548 hitters to take at least 80 plate appearances in the history of the MLB postseason. And Andy Pahas, in almost every statistical category, average, walks, OPS, on-base percentage, ranks 547th. Andy Pahas has been the second-worst postseason player in the history of baseball. He had really struggled. 00:04:13 Speaker 1: Who's the worst? 00:04:16 Speaker 2: Oh, who's the worst? There's actually somebody worse than Andy Pius? 00:04:20 Speaker 1: Oh, there is. 00:04:22 Speaker 2: Hang on, I'm looking closely here. Oh, does that say Dan Wilson? It does. 00:04:29 Speaker 1: We can't escape. 00:04:31 Speaker 2: I mean, we're just reading actual statistical facts here. the worst postseason player in the history of Major League Baseball franchise icon. All right, mailbag time. Thank you to everybody who sent our mailbag questions. As you guys know, if you want to get priority on mailbag questions, you can go to patreon.com slash marine layer pod. You get priority if you sign up. We love taking your questions every week, and now we'll get into it. 00:04:58 Speaker 1: I think he's the only postseason hitter to have below a 100 batting average in those 80 plate appearances. 00:05:03 Speaker 2: It's not great. And his OPS is two 31. All right. First mailbag question. Oh, actually first mailbag question, uh, comes from Mariners fan two, three, six. And he says, will you boys be attending the DJ Plano concert this weekend? 00:05:18 Speaker 1: Oh yeah. I will be out of town. So it's going to be, it's going to be on Lyle to, uh, to, to rep for the Marine layer pod. 00:05:24 Speaker 2: Um, I'm going to respectfully decline the invite respectfully decline. 00:05:30 Speaker 1: Yeah. It's been a big talking point online for the Mariners this weekend. I, I, I'm just going to say I don't think the fan base was universally behind the DJ set. 00:05:41 Speaker 2: You don't think the fan base was universally behind playing at a club in Seattle less than two weeks after being eliminated in the most disappointing season in franchise history? 00:05:55 Speaker 1: No. 00:05:56 Speaker 2: Two things are true. I'm just going to leave it at this. Players absolutely... are allowed to have hobbies. Like, for the people that are going nuts online, players, of course, should and can have hobbies outside of baseball, because they all do. But maybe wait more than 10 days to DJ in the city in which you missed the playoffs in the biggest letdown of a season in franchise history. Just maybe wait a little longer. Maybe wait until the offseason. Maybe do something like that in, like, December or January when the lockout's going on. That's all I'll say. 00:06:27 Speaker 1: I think it's also okay to just understand, like, Like, as a public figure, if you do something disappointing and then you jetty off to go do something else, that is not your job. Especially if your position is funded by the people, people are not going to be very happy with that. 00:06:49 Speaker 2: Because that is the truth. All players' contracts are paid for by the fans. They're funded by the fans. Yep, 100%. 00:06:55 Speaker 1: And he makes quite a lot of money, so... Look, again, it's not like you can't do it. It's just like this is what comes along with it. There is a certain responsibility. So if there's backlash that comes with it, you just got to, you know, roll with the punches. 00:07:08 Speaker 2: Yeah. So respectfully, respectfully, I think I'm going to decline the invite to the DJ Plano concert. All right. 00:07:15 Speaker 1: Well, if someone does go, let us know how it is down in the comments below. All right. Let's get to these mailbag questions. Starting off on Patreon with Ethan. Ethan's question is, in the past few off-seasons, the Mariners have been hesitant to sign the NPB free agents who've been signing with MLB teams. What would you guys think about signing, I'm going to try and pronounce his name correctly, Teruaki Sato? 00:07:39 Speaker 2: You want me to try? 00:07:40 Speaker 1: Teruaki? Yeah. That was also wrong. Was that right? 00:07:43 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:07:44 Speaker 1: Okay, great. What would you guys think about him? He's closing in on the NPB Triple Crown right now, and he's been really, really good in Japan. 00:07:52 Speaker 2: And he's only going to be 28 years old, so he's not like Okamoto where, look, Okamoto's not old, but he was entering Major League Baseball at 30, where Sato's going to be a little bit younger. Look, the two guys that came over from Japan this past offseason who were position players that TJ and I each had our concerns about had really good rookie years. Okamoto and Murakami were both, in their own respective rights, very, very productive. Do they both have flaws? Sure. But were they productive? 00:08:20 Speaker 1: Yes. 00:08:21 Speaker 2: Would I be interested in Sato? Look, I'm interested, especially because he plays third base and outfield, which could be two positions that the Mariners may need to look at to upgrade. It's just that he's another left-handed bat, and they don't have perfect splits most of the time on platoon results for guys in the NPB. But I would assume that hitting left-handed pitching at the top level of Major League Baseball may not be his strong suit, at least early on. And it is a little bit of a concern for a team that's already so left-handed heavy. 00:08:55 Speaker 1: And he strikes out a lot. And we just watched Munataka Murakami put up a 35 home run season. Great. His strikeout rate finished above 35%, I want to say. Really, really high. And I don't think Sato walks at the same rate that Murakami does. So here's the problem. Baseball reference does not put out for NPP players, like, great stats. So he hit this year, he hit. 308 with a. 385 on-base percentage. He walked 68 times. That's really good. But Murakami in NPP was walking, like, 15% to 20% of the time. Like, it was one of his, like, elite, elite traits. It doesn't look like it's quite the same here. So you would, I would assume, it would come with many of the same swing and miss problems without the walks to offset it because... Let's see, Murakami ended up walking this year how many times? Even with the swing and miss issues, he walked, let's see, he ended up walking 16% of the time in MLB. So 35% strikeout rate. in a 16% walk rate. Could you stomach a 35% strikeout rate in an 8% walk rate? It'd be a little more difficult. 00:10:10 Speaker 2: And Sato's not going to have the same raw power that Murakami does because almost nobody from Japan has that besides Shohei. He doesn't have that type of power. Sato's walk rate, if you want to just simply use a calculator and you divide the 68 walks by the 535 at bats, his walk rate was just shy of 13% in Japan. And you would have to assume that's going to come down when you enter Major League Baseball. And if it gets down to 8% and he's striking out a lot. I think where we land on this is actually similar to the Murakami and Okamoto arguments, which is, look, Sato may end up being a good player and he may actually produce for somebody. The problem is I don't think the Mariners are in a position to be taking risks like that when you have got to be winning now. They don't have a year for Sato to be sitting and developing and then be ready to go by 2028, especially in a year where he may not get a full offseason because of the lockout. 00:11:04 Speaker 1: I also think he could be the second bat you sign because he would come over and he'd probably be productive. Not your best player, but productive because he'd hit for some power and would find a way to generate some offense for you. But you still need like a Seiya Suzuki or Ian Happ in front of him. It's not the guy, when we're talking this offseason, they need a middle-of-the-order bat. I mean, Sato's not that this offseason. So if you were. 00:11:31 Speaker 2: To sign Seiya and then sign Sato... You could have Seah and Canzone essentially switch off between right field and DH, and you could have Sato and Donovan switch between third base and outfield. And assume Colt Emerson is going to play shortstop for the most part of the year, even if he starts the year down in AAA. Yeah, that would work. You would still be taking a swing on a bit of a project in Sato, but as long as he's not your headline bat, sure. 00:12:00 Speaker 1: I'm 100% in agreement with that. That sounds... I just don't think Ethan, he should be the number one. If you're wondering the reason why they don't spend on these, if you're talking about smart financial decisions, or in the Mariners case, risk adverse, it's very risky to sign Japanese free agents because you're paying major league prices for non-major league players and anticipating they will be major league players when they eventually get on the field and play. But there's just no guarantee. There's not. It's a different game, especially for left-handed hitters that The lefties in Japan are not as good as the lefties in the United States. And it can be a bit of a sharp, a bit of a sharp learning curve to get up to speed on that. 00:12:44 Speaker 2: And if you're going to sign those two bats, do yourself one more favor. As we've already said, go sign Mauricio Dubon because he can play shortstop for the first month or so of the season. If you want to let Colt Emerson play in AAA for a few weeks again. And then once Colts back up or if Colts just starts the year on the team, then Dubon is your right handed utility bat who moves all over the field as a good defender and as a good bench player. 00:13:07 Speaker 1: Let's get to our second question on the mailbag from Corey. Corey's question is, what are your guys's professional goals? Like, give me a three and five year plan for the two of you. 00:13:20 Speaker 2: So I think if you had asked us three years ago what would have been our ideal outcome, to some level it would be where we're at right now, which is pretty cool. I would say as we move five years down the road, the hope is we can continue to just build our own brand and self-represent the two of us for as long as we can go because it's fun to have creative control and to get to be your own boss and to make your own decisions. But I would say in addition to that, finding more opportunities just to get in front of people and continue to grow a platform, whether it's you get on TV a few times or you're doing social content for bigger companies, not leave this job and take another job doing social content, doing baseball content with our brand for other media companies out there as part of... What's the right word? Not a project, but part of like a collaboration or part of like a sort of deal you sign on to do, to do some work for other people while still... working for your own brand and building up your own brand. 00:14:23 Speaker 1: I'd say this, but at a bigger scale, hopefully. And whether that is different brands underneath us that are run by other people, but owned by us, or like you said, just collaborating more with, with bigger entities than, you know, than the two of us are just upping production, adding new ideas and new creativity. So we have a little bit more, you know, flexibility of what we can do. hopefully hiring more people, having the ability to hire more people would be great. Cause then that would really open up the, the door for what Lyle and I could do. Cause like right now, if we want to go do something like it is almost fully on Lyle and I to go do it, edit it, produce it, and then publish it. It's a lot of work, right? I like, this is like, this is our job, but we have lots of things that we know like right now are the foundation of this business that always need to happen and always need to keep going like this podcast. So then to add something else completely onto that, it's a lot to ask. So finding a way to work those in more consistently with outside help is probably something that will be in our future at some point. 00:15:28 Speaker 2: And let's be clear, not every single thing is done by the two of us. With our Bullpen Banner channel, for example, we have a couple of our incredibly talented friends that edit those videos. So not every single thing we do has to be self-edited by us, but... Yeah, to scale out further would obviously be nice just to push other projects out toward more people and be able to not have to put so much on our own plate at certain times. But I would say the biggest thing for me is just more scaling and more brand awareness. For example, when I say doing social content, if, for example, I don't know, I'll throw out a random idea. If during the Home Run Derby one year, Netflix wanted pieces of the broadcast to be baseball trivia segments, maybe between hitters or pregame, would they ever look to somebody like us to want to do that with either people on the broadcast or bring over players that are in the Derby or other all-stars that are sitting and watching? That's just one example. Along with, I don't know, appearing on MLB Network one day would definitely be cool or, you know, appearing on, you name it, Fox Sports MLB, things like that. If you want to set goals for what we can do down the road, I would say things like that for continuing to scale out the brand and, Well, both these two brands and our own personal brands, things like that. But the unique thing about the situation we're in, and we've talked about this, is the new age of media is so constantly changing that in three years there could be something we're not even thinking of where the two of us look at each other and say, oh, I want to do that. 00:17:04 Speaker 1: Yeah, totally. Yes, totally in with that. Okay, before we get to our next mailbag question, I want to tell you guys about Emerald Queen Casino's upcoming entertainment lineup. Gary Allen tonight at EQC on October 9th. WFC 199 on October 17th. Bear Grease on October 23rd and then Patti LaBelle on November 7th. Get your tickets today at emeraldqueen.com. Emerald Queen Casino is the entertainment capital of the Northwest. And while you're there, you can check out the BetMGM Sportsbook. There's no better place to watch the game because they got 70 dream seat loungers for premium viewing, dozens of 86-inch TVs, Legal wagering on college and pro sports through the BetEQC app, where you can wager anywhere on the property. Catch every sport and every play at Emerald Queen Casino. For more details, visit EmeraldQueen.com. Please game responsibly. Next question comes from John on Patreon. John's question is, two-part question for both your channels. What Seattle current and past player would you love to have a chance to talk to on your podcast? Same thing for bullpen banner, but with all of MLB. 00:18:17 Speaker 2: I'll start with the podcast first. And I know John said, think outside the box a little bit. Don't just pick the obvious name. We've said this before. I'll say it again. But I will choose one obvious name, which would be I would love to have A-Rod on sometime. And I'd love to do it where we got to sit down in person with him. That would be one of the coolest things. I would love, love, love to sit down with A-Rod. But if you want something more niche, we've talked about this, and we might try and do it if we can find the right person during the lockout. But I would be genuinely fascinated for where we're at right now and for topics that are going to be at hand over the next few months to talk to a former player about where they stand on the whole salary cap situation and if they're actually more pro to it than some others. Because when you hear players say no, when you heard players at All-Star Week all say, no, I want no part of a salary cap, It's coming from the top 1% players of the league who have the chance to make the huge money. I'd be curious to hear from a former big leaguer, because you can't talk to a current big leaguer about it. They're not going to be allowed to during the lockout. But a former big leaguer who was either a reliever or a utility player who may have an opinion on this, and if they actually more side on the idea of, I would be interested in a salary cap, because a salary cap means a salary floor, and a salary floor... you would think would raise the salary for a lot of players across the league. And if players like that who are more on the margins of rosters actually would benefit more from that because they would make a higher minimum salary. 00:19:51 Speaker 1: What would a Dylan Moore think about that? That's an example. Like that's the salary range you're looking for. 00:19:57 Speaker 2: I mean, I think Eric Swanson follows us on social media. That's another example of somebody who, look, Swanee had some great years as a reliever. We know that, but he was never going to make a hundred million dollar Edwin Diaz type contract. So what does he think about that? Somebody in that bucket I'd be very interested to talk to. And look, TJ and I have said we are very much more on the side of no salary cap. And there's probably not going to actually end up being a salary cap put into place when it's all said and done. But I'm still curious if it's truly all players that are interested in... no salary cap negotiations, or if the players less heard from who don't have as much of a voice as the Juan Soto's and the Bryce Harper's of the world actually feel differently, but you don't get to hear from them about it because they'd be going against their own union. 00:20:47 Speaker 1: I'd say if there's a big name, given that we got to talk to him briefly this year and he seemed very well-spoken and very nice and very interesting. I think Raul Abanez would be great to have on the podcast. Not as Mariners manager, of course, but just as a third party to just chat and talk about baseball stories. We've heard some like, cause like Raul played with the Mariners during their, a lot of their not so great years. And there are some hilarious stories I know that exist within that timeframe. So I'd love to hear what Raul could share on that. If you're talking like more niche, that's a great question. Like a niche Mariner older to have on. 00:21:27 Speaker 2: Hmm. 00:21:28 Speaker 1: I'd have to come back on that one. I think Lyle's example there is great, and I think is a very currently relevant topic. Or maybe, Lyle, we could just bring Abe Toro on and break the ice. 00:21:41 Speaker 2: I was waiting for you to say it. He's got an open invite. Well, at least from me. I don't know about from you. 00:21:46 Speaker 1: I mean, he can come on the podcast. He's just going to have to face the hard truth. 00:21:50 Speaker 2: That he was an awful mariner for you? 00:21:53 Speaker 1: No, that he was the worst mariner of all time. Ah, well. 00:22:00 Speaker 2: Worse than Tubby Ghostwitch? 00:22:03 Speaker 1: I mean, Abe got more games. 00:22:06 Speaker 2: It's true. It's very true. 00:22:08 Speaker 1: So Tubby never got a chance to prove himself really as the worst. 00:22:13 Speaker 2: This is true. 00:22:13 Speaker 1: One of them, but maybe not the worst. We had a bigger sample size with Abe. 00:22:18 Speaker 2: I now have a very pressing question in my head. Oh, never mind. Abe Toro has one career postseason at bat. Well, oh well. I was curious. 00:22:28 Speaker 1: Oh, no. Am I guessing where you were going to go with that? 00:22:32 Speaker 2: Oh, I was curious if his postseason OPS was higher than 231. But never mind. Let's keep going. 00:22:38 Speaker 1: What about for bullpen banner? Who's won? 00:22:42 Speaker 2: Oh, I think if I could pick anybody, it's Barry Bonds. That would be the coolest thing. You could sit here and have me tell you Shohei or Judge. But transparently, you guys, as two people who often stand on the field and try to do this player content, there are some guys that just feel totally out of reach. Those two, I mean, they may be the two best players in the game, but they just really don't do interviews. So it's hard for anybody to get them to do anything, especially for us. If people like, I don't know, Fox Sports and Jeff Passan and those people in the world have trouble getting those guys to do interviews, it's going to be hard for people like us. So I would say, look, those two are white whales and may never happen. But now that Barry Bonds is more in the media and isn't a player anymore... God, that would be so cool. That would be at the top of my list. 00:23:31 Speaker 1: And he has personality because those two don't have personality that we know of. 00:23:36 Speaker 2: No. 00:23:36 Speaker 1: So what we have seen, though, of Barry Bonds is that, especially for a sit-down to do trivia with him, the dude knows so much. He is a ball head. He remembers everything. That's why this would be a very interesting thing. It's like, Barry, can you name the 100 pitchers you drew walks against in 2004? That would be so fascinating. We just sit down there for 45 minutes and he's naming them all off. 00:24:02 Speaker 2: That would be insane. 00:24:03 Speaker 1: That would be, that would be so cool. 00:24:05 Speaker 2: Okay. 00:24:05 Speaker 1: So you took a really cool one. Um, gosh, what other cool that God, that's the coolest one. I don't know if there's anything else I could. 00:24:12 Speaker 2: Did you have Barry Bonds written too? No, you didn't have him. 00:24:18 Speaker 1: No, but I should have. He should have always been number one. 00:24:21 Speaker 2: Um, man, I. 00:24:25 Speaker 1: Don't know, man. 00:24:28 Speaker 2: There's some good ones. 00:24:29 Speaker 1: I mean, there's just so many good ones. Would I want to talk to all the stars? Yes. But we've already talked to Bryce Harper. He would have been up there. We've talked to Vladdy. He's been up there. We didn't get to talk to Soto. I don't know about his personality, though. A guy whose personality you know is really good? I think Juan's supposed to have a pretty good personality. I know, obviously, he ended up taking a lot of money to go to the Mets, but everything we've gotten to hear from people is Juan Soto is actually supposed to be a decently down-to-earth guy and supposed to be funny if you get him in the right mood. How about this? I'd say Mookie Betts because I know he'd be really good on a mic. 00:25:03 Speaker 2: That's a good one. 00:25:04 Speaker 1: Dude can talk. Well, I mean, he has a podcast, so yeah, he can talk. 00:25:08 Speaker 2: Sure. Yeah, that's a good one. We did get lucky enough over the last couple of years to knock a lot of stars off our list, but there's still more to go. You hope to talk to a whole lot more people as time goes on. But I wanted to scratch my brain to think of people outside the game that aren't current players. And I said, oh, yeah, Barry Bonds would be so cool. Oh, wait. 00:25:28 Speaker 1: Dog, dog, dog. Ichiro. If you would ever do it. Like, we know he has personality. Right. 00:25:34 Speaker 2: But yet another guy who does no interviews. Yeah. I don't know. 00:25:41 Speaker 1: Like, I. 00:25:41 Speaker 2: Ultimately, I just love to have people on that really know ball because those are the really fun ones. The thing about current players is a lot of them are really fun. A lot of them know their stuff to some level, but some of them aren't as tapped in with baseball while they're playing as some guys are once they get done playing. And I think those would be the really interesting ones. 00:26:03 Speaker 1: Yeah, totally fair. Okay, let's go to the next question from Xander. It's a bit of a long one, so hold on for just a second. Xander is wondering what we think about the lineup he made for us in MLB The Show factoring in friends of both of our channels slash videos with the highest views. So he went through our channels, looked at all of our videos and people we've had on the podcast and compiled an MLB The Show lineup With it. 00:26:35 Speaker 2: So here it is. 00:26:36 Speaker 1: Cal Raleigh at catcher. Nick Kurtz at first base. Second base is Gunnar Henderson. Shortstop is JP Crawford. Third base is Geno. Left fielder is Chandler Simpson. Center fielder is Julio. Right fielder is Kyle Tucker. I guess he just gets an honorary mention on this because he has to. And then the DH is Laz Montes. 00:26:59 Speaker 2: Did Geno have a crazy high view count on a video we did with him? Maybe when he got traded back over? 00:27:06 Speaker 1: Perhaps this might also be on like vibes. 00:27:09 Speaker 2: That could be. Yeah. JP had a couple of videos a couple of years ago that really, really made views. Oh, they made some rounds. Uh, I would like to, well, if you read his bench, he is on the bench. Corbin Carroll, Steven Kwan, Taylor Trammell, and, um, Carrie Carpenter. It's a little left-handed heavy. If you ask me on a bench, I would like to remove Carrie Carpenter. He's out. Um, I'd also like to move Corbin Carroll into the lineup, if that's okay, Xander. I don't know how Corbin ends up on a bench spot. But, yeah, I'd probably take Corbin and replace him with, I don't know, Laz. 00:27:49 Speaker 1: Or even you could replace him with Chandler Simpson. 00:27:51 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true. And then Simpson's a bench player. Stephen Kwan probably has to be in that lineup, too, to be honest. 00:27:58 Speaker 1: So we're taking K-Tuck out? 00:28:00 Speaker 2: Maybe move K-Tuck to DH and Kwan comes in the lineup. 00:28:03 Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, because K-Tuck's defense kind of stinks now. 00:28:06 Speaker 2: Unfortunately. 00:28:07 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:28:07 Speaker 2: Otherwise. Yeah. I mean, good lineup. I think you need a shortstop upgrade. I don't know if I want JP Crawford and Gino playing much short and third at this point, but otherwise pretty good lineup. 00:28:16 Speaker 1: Have we not interviewed another shortstop? 00:28:20 Speaker 2: Yeah. We've interviewed Bobby. Bobby could be on there. 00:28:22 Speaker 1: Oh yeah. Bobby should be the shortstop. 00:28:24 Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. I would probably put Bobby on there and then have. 00:28:28 Speaker 1: A third and probably Michael Garcia at third base. Love you, Gino, but probably not. 00:28:33 Speaker 2: Is he the best third baseman we've interviewed, Michael Garcia? 00:28:36 Speaker 1: Oh, no. Sorry. Manny Machado. 00:28:38 Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. Manny's probably a third. 00:28:40 Speaker 1: Yeah, Manny's probably a third base. 00:28:42 Speaker 2: Manny, we interviewed last year, 2025. 00:28:43 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:28:44 Speaker 2: All right. That's fine. Now, maybe Xander wanted more Mariners in there for some vibes, and that I understand. But ultimately, pretty good lineup. I just think the left side of the infield probably needs a little improvement. 00:28:57 Speaker 1: Especially on 2026 production. That's for sure. The vibes have been... Like the vibes for Gino were the highest when they acquired him and then after the Grand Slam. 00:29:06 Speaker 2: Right. The time in between, I hate to say it because he's so loved here for good reason, but he wasn't that great in between the time they acquired him and when he hit the Grand Slam. 00:29:17 Speaker 1: 100%. Next question comes from Alex on Patreon. Alex's question is, with so much attention on big trades and free agent signings that Seattle needs to make, are there any potential non-tender candidates from other teams that you guys particularly like? 00:29:36 Speaker 2: I like the creativity here, Alex. Here's the only issue with this question. It's so tough to know who's going to get non-tendered at the end of the season. If there was the non-tenders that had already gone through and then the question was asked, I think this would be easier to look at some of the players and say, oh, he could fit this role or the Mariners could use him here. I have a hard time knowing as we sit right now who may got non-tendered in a couple weeks and who the Mariners could target. I think we'll have a better idea as we move on. 00:30:07 Speaker 1: Why don't you circle back with this question on like one month from now when the offseason is going and we have all these decisions in front of us. Right. Because otherwise, yeah, we're just guessing. Total guessing. And we're expanding the pool by an infinite amount because all these non-tendered players all have contracts for next season. So there's like no way to know until the team actually makes the decision on them what's going to happen and whether or not they're going to be available or not. Right. 00:30:35 Speaker 2: Hey, maybe the Dodgers will non-tender Kyle Tucker. 00:30:39 Speaker 1: They can't do that. 00:30:40 Speaker 2: Well, they can, but you can hope. No, they literally can't. 00:30:45 Speaker 1: Non-tender only works when you're in like your arm process. Oh yeah. 00:30:48 Speaker 2: True. 00:30:49 Speaker 1: Where you just choose not to tender the player or contract. 00:30:52 Speaker 2: I like, if you want a couple ideas, if you want me to just throw out a couple names, Jake Myers is a good athlete. Will the Astros keep him around? I mean, he spent some time in triple a, if they want to get more athletic, maybe that's a guy you'd look at again, as, as the Mariners try to upgrade their bench, somebody like that, like, like somebody like him might be interesting. 00:31:16 Speaker 1: The problem with non-tender players also is for every tie France, there's Patrick Wisdoms as well. Right. So, like, that's why we want the Mariners to go get, like, spend money on players and trade for actual players because there's a higher hit rate on those as opposed to a non-tender. It's like trying to go after Colton Wong again. Right. Like you have a much higher chance of that player not meaning anything. And these players might not even get the chance. Really, if they're non-tendered, they're going to be on a minor league contract and they might just spend 80% of the season in Tacoma anyways. 00:31:52 Speaker 2: Agreed. Yeah. 00:31:55 Speaker 1: Next question comes from Poochie Delgado on Patreon. The question is, you could poach three trade or free agent targets off of playoff teams that have been eliminated so far. 00:32:07 Speaker 2: Who is your list and why? Oh, this is so easy for me. I mean, if you want the list, I've got three easy ones. Ronald Acuna, trade. The man just deleted every Brave photo off his Instagram and his new profile picture says disconnected. Seems like with two years control, maybe he's done in Atlanta. Mariners could use a right-handed bat with MVP potential. That's one. 00:32:34 Speaker 1: Maybe we could trade Laz again. 00:32:36 Speaker 2: Could. 00:32:36 Speaker 1: Could. 00:32:37 Speaker 2: I'm sure Mariners fans would be furious, but it is also Ronald Acuna. All right, Ronald Acuna, trade. Seiya Suzuki, free agent. Adrian Morajone, free agent. 00:32:47 Speaker 1: Oh, you went realistic. I can choose any three now, Lyle. Ronald Acuna, number one. Number two, Aaron Judge, trade. Number three, Max Freed, trade. Great, done. 00:33:05 Speaker 2: Sure, I guess. I think I actually listed three guys that are not only realistic, but those are three stars. Adrian Morajone is one of the best relievers in baseball. 00:33:17 Speaker 1: Okay, great. I added a four-time MVP and four? 00:33:24 Speaker 2: Three? 00:33:25 Speaker 1: Four? Three. Four? 00:33:28 Speaker 2: Three? 00:33:29 Speaker 1: Yeah. Regardless, three-time MVP and a one-time MVP and then a left-handed starting pitcher who's dominant. the Mariners could definitely use. 00:33:39 Speaker 2: Great. 00:33:39 Speaker 1: So there you go. 00:33:40 Speaker 2: Awesome. 00:33:41 Speaker 1: It's easy enough. You thank you. Yankees are getting eliminated yesterday. God, what a scene out of New York. We have another Yankees related question later on the mailbag, but the, the staff at the Yankees and all their money and all their talent, whenever they play a team that is not in the AL central, just look incompetent. 00:34:01 Speaker 2: It's crazy. It makes me think that had the Mariners gotten past the Astros in the divisional round in 22, they might have beat the Yankees. 00:34:11 Speaker 1: But we'll never know, unfortunately, because that Astros team was pretty good. And they swept the Yankees. 00:34:17 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that Astros team was unbelievable. It's just, I almost call that series, I know this probably sounds like a participation trophy statement, but I still believe it. that was the least dominating sweep I've ever seen. I mean, the Astros were down to their last out and then Jordan hit the ball of the moon. They were right in it in game two, the Mariners. I mean, they were right in that game. They had the lead at one point and then in game three, it went 18 innings. 00:34:43 Speaker 1: Yep. So, but unfortunately the end result is all that matters. 00:34:47 Speaker 2: It is, but yeah. Anyway, I thought you might go a little more realistic on that question with the trades, but That's fine. 00:34:53 Speaker 1: Well, you handle all the realistic ones. I don't know if I could get more realistic than that. I could do Ronald Acuna. I could do Mauricio Dubon. And then I could do, gosh, who else is eliminated that I could choose from? I mean, the Padres are going to have to shed some salary, I would think, with their new owners. One of those big contracts coming out the books, Nando? It's possible. 00:35:14 Speaker 2: It's possible. God, I do love watching these Yankee fan reactions, though, to the team losing. I mean, when it's the Yankees that lose, it's the best reactions. I love the movie The Longest Yard. And just watching all these videos of Nick Turturro, for those who know who that is, the guy who plays Brucie in The Longest Yard, who is just the biggest diehard Yankee fan out there, lose his mind after basically every game. God, I never get enough of it. 00:35:42 Speaker 1: Okay, let's go to our next question from Emma on Patreon. Emma's question is, if and when the Dodgers three-peat, are we having baseball next season? 00:35:51 Speaker 2: Yes. I firmly believe this, that both sides just ultimately love money too much, that when things get up to the finish line, people are going to cave, they're going to figure it out, they're going to come to some solution, and baseball is going to get played. I'm sure it's going to look bleak at points over the winter. I'm sure there's going to be storylines that come out that we don't like and that are going to scare people. And that's the whole point of these public narratives, to try to get people scared, to push narratives on one side or the other, to try to get each side closer to an agreement. But I think at the end of the day, there's too much money on the line. The new TV deal is supposed to be incredibly lucrative. And both sides don't want to forfeit paychecks. Yeah. 00:36:33 Speaker 1: They're not forfeiting any of that money from the national TV deal. Cause they, the, all the owners before they sell a single ticket, make a considerable, a considerable amount of money. I believe over a hundred million dollars from that TV deal. And I don't think they want to see that go away by missing games. They will, I'll say this, they will play at least 150 games next year. Yeah. They will have all the primetime games and they will play during the entire summer. You think these, you think the owners are going to sacrifice full stadiums and, June and July and August on the weather's warm. No way. No. 00:37:08 Speaker 2: Right. 00:37:08 Speaker 1: Haven't done it before. They won't do it now. 00:37:10 Speaker 2: No. Baseball is pretty much what's on during the summer. Yep. 00:37:15 Speaker 1: All right. Now we have two non-patron questions. The first one on Instagram comes from Nen Slow. And the question is, what do you think the Mariners should do with Julio's contract? His first option is coming up after the 2028 season. 00:37:30 Speaker 2: Dude, this is a really good question. And I hate it because I really get a headache every time I have to look at this Julio contract. But I will say as an opening statement, before we really dive into this, I don't think there's a clear cut decision from where we stand right now. 00:37:48 Speaker 1: I agree with you. I don't think a decision is made with two years ago. And only Julio has made the decision easy for them on what they're going to do. Here are the rules of it. If you forget, So the Mariners, after the 2028 season, need to decide on a club option for Julio's contract. If they're to pick up the club option, it is for eight more years. There are varying amounts of money attached to that eight-year deal. As of right now, it stands at eight years for $ 240 million. If he finishes top 10 in MVP one more time, as he's done three times before, that would escalate to eight years for $ 260 million for an AAV of $ 32. 5 million for Julio from age 29 to 36. If the Mariners don't pick up that option and they decline it, it turns into a player option for Julio, which currently sits at five years for $ 90 million. And for him to escalate that, he'd need to make three more combined, or he would need to get three more combined All-Star games in Silver Sluggers. 00:39:02 Speaker 2: Which, he can't get three more All-Star games in the next two years. 00:39:06 Speaker 1: Well, if he gets two Silver Sluggers in an All-Star game, then that's the escalator. 00:39:11 Speaker 2: I see. Okay, yeah. And just to be clear, because again, this contract is a headache, why TJ's bringing up MVP voting, there's incentives in Julio's contract that have to do with MVP votes. So, how it was written when Julio signed the extension, is the way this... club option would work once the Mariners are in a position where they have to decide if they want to pick it up is if Julio up to that point had never finished top 10 in MVP voting, the club option would be eight years for $ 200 million. If Julio finishes top 10 in MVP voting twice... the option goes to eight years and $ 240 million. There's actually not an incentive for getting three top 10 MVP finishes, which Julio currently has. As Julio sits in his career right now, he's finished top 10 in MVP voting three times. But if he does it a fourth time, so one more time in the next two years, the club option goes to eight years and $ 260 million. So there are significant MVP incentives tied to his contract. Julio right now, as TJ mentioned, is sitting at the incentive that involves two top 10 MVP finishes. So he would get eight years and $ 240 million if the Mariners decide to pick up that option. And the Mariners, if they decide to pick up that option, it would start after the 2029 season, correct? Yes, correct. So it would be 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, and 37. So that would take Julio through his age 36 season, and it would be eight years and $ 240 million. That is not a slam dunk. Nope. Especially if Julio's defense doesn't pick back up next year, and there's real conversations about him having to start to move to a corner spot, then... that becomes a really, really difficult conversation because the idea of Julio Rodriguez as a player is between the offense and defense and athleticism all combined, it is supposed to be a walking four and a half to five win player every single year. If his defense goes and the way he's going to have to make up his value is all through offense, he's proving he's not that type of offensive player. So all of a sudden paying him $ 30 million a year through age 37 is It's a lot. Or age 36. That's a lot. And for John Stanton, who just came out and publicly said yet again a week ago how he doesn't want to be paying players into their late 30s on these mega contracts, well, answer the question, John Stanton. Does that apply to Julio? Or does that apply to just other free agents outside your org? 00:41:56 Speaker 1: What makes this the most difficult is if Julio, in the next two years, finishes... Let's say next year he finishes top 10 in MVP, and then the year after that at age 27, he has a season like he just had this past year, and he moves to a corner outfield spot. Then you're staring down the barrel of eight years and $ 260 million, $ 32. 5 million AAV, and in a corner outfield spot coming off a down offensive season. I can see a scenario, if that plays out, that they don't pick that up. And then all of a sudden it turns back on Julio, and Julio would have to make a decision on a five-year deal for $ 90 million, which I'm going to be honest, I see no reason for him to take. I don't know why he would take that deal. Because he could definitely, on the free agent market, at the very least get a higher AAV on a prove-it deal somewhere else. 00:42:55 Speaker 2: I'd say there's about zero chance Julio would pick up that player option if the ball gets put back in his court and the Mariners decline the club option. 00:43:03 Speaker 1: So. 00:43:04 Speaker 2: This is kind of a scary thought for a lot of people out there to hear these words, because I know when he signed the contract, the idea was he's just going to be a Mariner forever. But what I'm about to say is very real. There's a world where Julio's not a Mariner after 2029. There's a chance we see three more seasons of Julio in a Mariner's uniform, and then he plays for another team and puts a different jersey on. 00:43:27 Speaker 1: The only way he gets guaranteed as a Mariner... into the far future is if he finishes top 10 in MVP the next two years and makes it very easy for the Mariners. Because then you're talking about five top 10 MVP finishes in seven seasons. And that you pay $ 32. 5 million for. And you hedge that the offense is going to age enough. But off of the season he just had, it right now looks confusing on what they would do with this. I don't have an answer for what they would do right now. I honestly don't. I'd be curious to know what the people think down in the comments. It is not easy. 00:44:04 Speaker 2: You know who else has... You know who else I don't think has made a clear-cut decision on this? The Mariners. If you were to give this front office truth serum and say, what are you going to do with Julio's contract in a couple years? I don't think they have a perfect answer right now. How could you? He just put up an OPS that was barely over 700. He just had his worst season. He's... Look, regressed offensively every year isn't the perfect word, but essentially outside of a ridiculous second half from last year, the last three seasons have not been anything close to the offensive player you expected. 2024 was not a great offensive season for him. 2026 sure as hell wasn't a great offensive season for him. And in 2025, the first half was not a good offensive season for him. And the second half was. This is, I'm glad this question got asked. It's a headache to look at this contract, but this has become a very, very fascinating conversation because all of a sudden the decision on this is not that far away. The Mariners have to have to make a decision in two years and Julio could potentially be wearing another uniform in three years. 00:45:12 Speaker 1: You're going to have the next two years. We'll tell the entire story of this. The worst case scenario for the Mariners is if Julio has a second consecutive bad year next year. And then plays unbelievable in his age, what it would be 27 season before they pick up that option. Right. 00:45:28 Speaker 2: Right. 00:45:28 Speaker 1: Cause then you don't know. Cause then you have, you know, you have the bet, you have the lows and you have the highs and then you have to commit for it. So that's, if he can stay at, stay in center field and go back to playing center field at a high level, which you would think he can based on his athleticism and his sprint speed. Then it makes it a little bit easier. But, man, if he's in a corner outfield spot, it's tough. 00:45:52 Speaker 2: It's tough. Because, again, if you're in a corner outfield spot, then you're expected to hit like a corner outfielder and put up ridiculous offensive production like a corner outfielder making $ 30 million a year. 00:46:04 Speaker 1: Like Randy. 00:46:06 Speaker 2: Yeah, as a righty. Is that what you said? 00:46:09 Speaker 1: I said like Randy. 00:46:10 Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, like Randy. And since Julio's rookie year, he hasn't shown anything like that. 00:46:16 Speaker 1: No, he has not. Okay, final question on this mailbag comes from Luke on Instagram. Luke's question is, do you think Aaron Boone might be a good fit for the Mariners as Yankee fans want him gone? 00:46:29 Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, I know not everybody loves Aaron Boone, but if you take any of these decision-making metrics into account at all, because there have been some analytical baseball Twitter accounts that over this past year have tweeted out manager decision-making success rate, Dude, Aaron Boone ranks near the top of that list. They actually say that the decisions Aaron Boone makes, at least during the regular season, have worked very well. Now, if you're somebody that says, well, every time they get to the postseason, it looks like the same old story, his teams don't play up to par, and sometimes there's pitching decisions that are questionable as he takes certain guys out of the games and deploys certain matchups, fair. But I actually think Aaron Boone's a pretty good manager, man. And I would definitely look into him if I was the Mariners and he's available. 00:47:17 Speaker 1: He has experience and his cultures for the most part seem good, especially given the players he's dealing with, which are usually all older, expensive players. You wouldn't have to deal with as much of that if he became the Mariners manager. I would wonder if you would want to manage in Seattle, very far away from, well, the Yankees, even if they have fire him. So. 00:47:39 Speaker 1: Yeah, but if he was available, I would absolutely be interested. I also think his personality is good. I think he, after what we've seen for the last two years, having a manager that talks the way he does and can explain himself and is good with media and at the very least seems like a pretty good communicator, I think that would be a good breath of fresh air for everybody. Agreed. 00:48:04 Speaker 2: Totally agreed. The Mariners should absolutely interview Aaron Boone if he's available. Will he get the job? That's up to the Mariners. They'll have to see how he interviews and if he aligns with the front office. But should they be interested? Oh, yeah. 00:48:18 Speaker 1: Two caveats. Number one, the consensus online thinks that he's going to stay because there's one thing the Yankees love. They love just running it back every time. Brian Cashman. Was the Yankees GM when they won four World Series in five seasons back in the 90s and 2000s. Isn't that crazy? Dude, he's been the GM for so, so, so long. And I mean, Aaron Boone has lost like in the playoffs how many years in a row now? And he's kept his job. So I just don't know if he's going to be available. 00:48:52 Speaker 2: The Cashman one to me is way crazier than Boone. Now, if the Yankees were going to hire a new GM, the GM might want its own manager. But, I don't know. The fact Cashman's been there 25 years, and especially what they've done since 2009, which is jack squat, I think it's kind of crazy. He's still been in that seat as long as he's been. 00:49:13 Speaker 1: A.K.A. when they can't just physically outspend everybody like the Dodgers are. 00:49:19 Speaker 2: Well, and the Yankees usually... to be able to obviously do much more of that. And it's funny that they, I'm not saying they'd be the Dodgers, but it's funny that they're not going out and actually landing big fish anymore. I think their biggest miss is seeing Juan Soto turn them down. I mean, the Yankees offered him so much money and he said no. 00:49:39 Speaker 1: Well, and then they got bought up. I think 20% of the Yankees got bought up by a private equity firm. Like, I don't know if it's all player payroll cash they're focused on anymore. Yankees are a business. They like generating money. And we've done this list on our Bullpen Banner channel. Hal Steinbrenner is like one of the poorest owners in baseball too. So it's not the same as when George used to run it and they used to have just more cash laying around than everybody. 00:50:08 Speaker 2: Right. Yeah, that's crazy about Hal Steinbrenner and the amount of money he actually has himself rather than the franchise. It's wild. 00:50:17 Speaker 1: Yeah, but I'd be interested with Aaron Boone if he was available. 00:50:20 Speaker 2: Yeah, same. All right, well, that was a good batch of mailbag questions. Again, you guys always bring it. You guys always send us some really good ones. You guys always mix up the baseball and the personality questions, which is great. And if you want to get priority on mailbag questions, again, just go sign up for our Patreon, and you'll get priority every single week. All right, 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. Go rate and review. Please leave a five stars if you do. You can also hit subscribe on YouTube if you're watching. You can check out our website at marinelayerpod.com if you want some podcast merch, which, again, during fall season, it's a perfect time for it. If you want to sign up for that Patreon, if you want to see all our episodes, it's all there. That's at marinelayerpod.com. And then check us out on social media. We're posting content all the time, you guys, every day, multiple times a day. And that's at marinelayerpod. That's TJ. I'm Lyle. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon.