Episode 471: Who Are The Mariners Going To Target At Third Base? (Mailbag)

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to episode number 471 of the Marine Layer 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 before we get going here, just make sure you go download these podcast episodes if you're listening, and make sure to go leave that five-star review. If you're watching on YouTube, go hit subscribe. You can also check everything out at our website, which is marinelayerpod.com. If you need another place to find all the episodes, well, they're all there. So is our merch. So is our Patreon. Again, that's all at our website. And check us out all across social media at Marine Layer Pod. 00:00:32 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 15th. Before we dive into this mailbag, I just want to hit on one single thing that has been floating around the baseball world during these championship series, Lyle. You know who's not skipping out on championship series games? Mariners fans. I've been seeing some pictures of ballparks most focused on the Dodgers and the Rays not filling up their stadiums. I can't buy an excuse that you can't show up to a CS game during the postseason. I'm going to do it. That's not happening. 00:01:32 Speaker 2: Absolutely not. You know, when Gino hit that grand slam last year for anybody that remembers, it was a Friday if I remember right, but that was a day game. I think that game started at two o'clock. 00:01:43 Speaker 1: Yep. And stadium was full. There weren't empty seats. No, there wasn't an excuse. Oh, I have to work. So entire sections, even that section, like the, the upper deck and right field, which is normally empty during the regular season. I was still full. Still completely full. I buy the Rays' excuse during the regular season that on a Tuesday evening, Rays fans don't want to drive from Tampa to St. Pete to go see the games. I understand that. Regular season games don't matter as much. You just watch it on TV or listen to it on the radio. I totally understand that. You're in the championship series, man. 00:02:20 Speaker 2: I mean, come on. 00:02:23 Speaker 1: What is the excuse? What is the excuse? 00:02:25 Speaker 2: I don't think there's an excuse. I think the unfortunate reality is the Tampa Bay Rays just don't have fans. It's sad because it's a really good baseball team. I know they don't spend a ton, but they are really good every year. And they just don't have enough fans. Now, I think a better stadium and actually moving the team from St. Pete to Tampa would do a lot. But it's just not that big a fan base. We met some Rays fans at All-Star Week because you usually find all 30 fan bases during MLB All-Star Week. And we talked to some, and they were really nice, and they knew ball. But we asked them, I don't mean this as a slight. We're genuinely curious. Do the Rays have fans? And they're like, eh, I just don't think they have fans. 00:03:08 Speaker 1: Okay, so partially the Rays' fault. But you're telling me you can't find like 40,000 people in the Tampa area to go to a championship series game? 00:03:16 Speaker 2: It shouldn't be that way. It really shouldn't. And again, people like to find weird reasons to try to dunk on Seattle. And I never understand it. Seattle's a great sports town. 00:03:28 Speaker 1: You're never going to catch people using traffic as an excuse or using the weather as an excuse or using the time of day as an excuse. Yeah, we haven't had a whole lot of championship series games played here. But the ones that have been played, people have shown up. And by the way, paid more for tickets than everyone else. More than the Dodgers, more than the Rays, more than the Guardians, more than the Brewers, more than the Blue Jays, more than everybody. We show up all the time. 00:03:55 Speaker 2: As of right now, I was looking at Game 4 tickets at Dodger Stadium. They're like $ 70. Yeah, $ 70. Supply and demand is, I guess, that bad a low. 00:04:09 Speaker 1: Dude, people were not showing up to Game 3 of the Dodgers. 00:04:13 Speaker 2: No. 00:04:14 Speaker 1: They just weren't showing up. Even if you've made the World Series and won the World Series the last two years, that's not an excuse. Man. 00:04:25 Speaker 2: It's crazy. 00:04:26 Speaker 1: It kind of drove me nuts watching some of that. I feel like people should appreciate more when your team makes it to that point. And the most common excuse for Dodger fans is like, oh, traffic and the weather's warm. 00:04:41 Speaker 2: All right. 00:04:42 Speaker 1: Prepare better. 00:04:44 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:04:45 Speaker 1: Just crazy. Call off work. 00:04:48 Speaker 2: It's not that hard. You can fake being sick. Who cares? Who cares? 00:04:52 Speaker 1: Yeah, also you have much more, many more fans to choose from than Tampa does to fill up the ballpark. Yeah, I'm not buying it. And it kind of pissed me off seeing that as people who are just like dying for playoff baseball to see like there are fan bases in the postseason right now where it's just like, yeah, I'm good. Not going to show up. 00:05:11 Speaker 2: Also, the Dodgers have either the first or second biggest fan base in baseball and are in market number two. 00:05:18 Speaker 1: Yep. 00:05:20 Speaker 2: I know your stadium's bigger. I know it's the biggest stadium in the league, but you're also in a huge market with a team. 00:05:25 Speaker 1: That's back-to-back world champs. Lyle, they led the league in attendance. Why is it hard to fill up a playoff game? 00:05:33 Speaker 2: It should not. It should not be hard, especially down 2-0. 00:05:38 Speaker 1: People clearly like going to the games, but not during the postseason? 00:05:45 Speaker 2: I think it's crazy. Yeah, it's crazy. 00:05:46 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, that's a quick rant to start off this pod, because I missed playoff baseball, and now we have to sit through an entire October and watch other teams play in the postseason while our team sits at home and tries to figure out how to get back there. Okay, let's get into this mailbag. Before we dive in, a reminder to you, if you want priority and want to get on these mailbags and have your question answered every single week, the place to go is our Patreon. That's patreon.com slash marinelayerpod. It gets you access to ad-free episodes... to mailbag priority and the opportunity to get on a video call with Lyle and I once a month to talk about the Mariners. So if that sounds like something that's interesting to you, go to our Patreon linked below at patreon.com slash marine layer pod. Let's start off with Jateen on Patreon. His question is, with the coaches still remaining that are employed for next season, which I believe Lyle, the only ones confirmed for next season are Trent Blank and Pete Woodworth. What grades would we have given them for the 2026 season? 00:06:51 Speaker 2: We don't know yet about Austin Nola, if he'll be back as the bullpen coach yet, right? We don't know about Jake McKinley, if he'll be back as the field coordinator. They haven't said one way or another. And I don't really know how you'd give those guys grades. That would be a little hard. Because we don't know the ins and outs of that job, either of them. I mean, the tough thing here about grading the pitching coaches is... Trying to balance how much is on them versus the players. They certainly don't get an A, that's for sure. But were they deploying all of the right systems and implementing all of the right tactics and all the right strategies and the players just weren't executing? Or was there a legit lack of game plan and lack of preparation? I don't think we're in a position where we really know. So that's what makes grading the pitching coaches tough. Is it a talent issue or is it a preparation issue? Did the process change from 2024 to 2026? The results would tell you so because in 2024, the Mariners had the best pitching staff in baseball and you would have given the same coaches who are in the dugout with most of the same players an A-plus grade for what they put on this season. If that process didn't change and the players didn't perform as well and there were other factors that led to their demise this season, then. 00:08:19 Speaker 1: It's kind of hard to really bring the grade down. 00:08:22 Speaker 2: You're right. 00:08:23 Speaker 1: They don't get an A. Would they get a C plus, a B minus? 00:08:27 Speaker 2: Sure. 00:08:27 Speaker 1: I would say on the results of the season, Lyle, they get a C, a C grade where there were positives and But then there were also some really troubling negatives like how the bullpen performed and how some of these guys continue to struggle on the road immensely and that the coaches that are there to try and help have not contributed to that potentially. 00:08:52 Speaker 2: Yeah, agreed. There's just not a perfect system to judge a set of pitching coaches. Again, over a four-year stretch, they've been good. 23 and 24, they were really good. Now it's all up in the air. 00:09:06 Speaker 1: And also, you know, I mentioned like I give them a lower grade because of some of the results, especially in the second half. But then you go on the flip side of that. I look at the bullpen. I don't see the Mariners bullpen struggles as a, oh my God, Pete Woodworth is the reason the Mariners bullpen is so bad in the second half. No, I think the reason the Mariners bullpen was so bad in the second half was partly due to usage, which I would say, okay, yeah, the pitching coaches are are part of the game planning and the execution of pitching decisions alongside the since-dismissed Dan Wilson. But also, it's a talent issue, Lyle. They're just not talented enough. They don't have enough good pitchers in the bullpen, and that is probably the biggest reason why they weren't good. 00:09:52 Speaker 2: I think that's totally fair. 00:09:55 Speaker 1: Let's go to the next question. This comes from Ethan on Patreon. Ethan's question is... with JB Crawford likely leaving and Colt Emerson taking short partway through the season next year, that leaves third base open. Would you guys be open to trading for Javier Sanoja from the Marlins or Kobe Mayo from the Orioles? 00:10:15 Speaker 2: I like where Ethan's brain is going with this. I think we were actually on the same wavelength this week Because if I'm reading Ethan's mind right, he was looking at the same list as me, which were who were some of the best hitters in baseball when facing left-handed pitching. You know who was number one on that list? Kobe Mayo. Kobe Mayo was the single best hitter in Major League Baseball against left-handed pitching this year. Where it gets pretty difficult with Kobe Mayo, just on the profile alone, before we even get into the details of what it would take to trade for him and get the Orioles to say yes... is unfortunately, look, we love Kobe. We've gotten to know Kobe through doing our bullpen banner stuff, and he's the man. But unfortunately, just the numbers on paper show that he put up a 567 OPS against right-handed pitching. And I just don't think the Mariners can afford to have splits that are that drastic on this team. Because it really does make them, for now... just the short side of platoon player. Kobe could continue to develop. He was obviously a great prospect and a great hitter in the minors. But right now, it's pretty lopsided in terms of his platoon splits. 00:11:26 Speaker 1: Not someone you would trade significant resources for, given, as of right now, there's a ceiling to what you could get from him. As good as he would be against lefties, yeah, there would be a tremendous drop-off against right-handers, and he would be It would be difficult to find playing time for him if the handiness of pitcher he's going to see 70% of the time, he's a minor league hitter against. It's a bit of a hard sell if you're giving up a Kirby or one of your top prospects for Kobe Mayo, which if we're going to get on to the point of acquisition, the two names that Ethan mentioned are both very young players. Sonoha is 23. Kobe Mayo is 24. With three plus years of control each, it's a tough. 00:12:14 Speaker 1: It's going to be a tough job to convince both the Marlins and the Orioles that this is a move that will benefit them when these are teams that are not necessarily competing next season and would like controllable young talent if possible. Because these two teams, frankly, just don't spend a lot of money. So why would you give up an asset like that? 00:12:35 Speaker 2: I think Sonoha's the tougher one to trade for than Mayo, to be honest. The Marlins won 80 games this year, and they've got a young core that is really forming. They have something building there in Miami. And next year, they could be a wildcard team. They could find their way into the playoffs. And Sonoha's a real part of that because he's a Swiss Army knife for them who really, really hits left-handed pitching well. The reason where if you had to pick between the two, I think Mayo is the easier candidate to trade for. is you have to remember that the Orioles didn't have Jordan Westberg all year. Jordan Westberg's their all-star third baseman when he's healthy. So if you were to try to make an argument, you could say, well, when Westberg's back, you sign Pete Alonso to play first base, do they have a little bit of an area where they feel like they can trade Kobe Mayo and get something back that the Orioles might need? Yeah, there's a bit of an area for that. So I think between the two, there's actually more of an argument to trade for Mayo in terms of who would part easier with their guy between Mayo and Sonoha. But we also know that the Mariners and Orioles really, really do not line up very often on trades. I don't think Mike Elias and Jerry DiPoto see eye to eye on what value is on trades. And as a result, I think that's going to make it pretty difficult, along with the fact that, look, Kobe had a really good year. Overall, he had a 112 OPS plus. They obviously favored him more against lefties and played him more against lefties. But he started to figure something out this year. I mean, he popped 24 homers. So I think between that and the fact that you could still use Kobe Mayo in a lot of DH spots, it would be unlikely the Orioles would move on from him either. More likely than Sonoha, in my opinion, but still unlikely. 00:14:15 Speaker 1: Or they just move Pete Alonzo to DH because most of his value is not coming from playing first base. And then you put Kobe Mayo back at first base where he had played before Pete Alonzo arrived. Like the profile of Kobe Mayo offensively this year, if you look on Savant, pretty solid. He struck out a lot, but otherwise he had very good quality of contact numbers. And a very important number I want to highlight that has led to a lot of the success of Cal Raleigh as an offensive baseball player is that he pulls the ball in the air as well as just about anyone in baseball. It was almost 30%. That's up around what Cal Raleigh does and led to his significant jump in home run power this year from 11 last year. to 24 this year. And that is something that can translate in T-Mobile Park. Cause it's not really a, uh, it's not an ESOC parade is barely poke the ball over the fence type of home run power. He's got a little bit more power than that. So there's a lot of interest, uh, with Kobe Mayo would be interested to see how they could actually pull it off. 00:15:17 Speaker 2: No, Kobe's got real power. That's never been a question. He hit 30 plus homers in the minors in certain years. Uh, Again, he was a top-ten prospect. Yeah, he's got much more than Paredes' power. I just think the alignment on the trade value would be tough, and I think the Mariners need a little bit more balance than what, currently, Kobe Mayo might be able to give them. There's a chance Kobe keeps developing, and he just becomes the everyday guy he was expected to be when he was a prospect, but for now, it would be a little lopsided. I will say, unless you have any more thoughts on Mayo specifically... The idea on Javier Sanoja actually parlays into a thought that we had in addition. 00:15:56 Speaker 1: Before you get into Sanoja, let me just propose this to you. Since Mayo, of these two, seems the most likely. If you were to start Brendan Donovan for 110 games at third base versus Kobe Mayo for 110 games at third base, which player is better for you? 00:16:13 Speaker 2: Donovan's obviously much more proven, so yeah. Donovan. 00:16:17 Speaker 1: I would agree. I think Donovan would give you more value at third base. 00:16:22 Speaker 2: Now, the idea if you trade for Mayo is Donovan has the ability to move around, so he could be your solution in left field if you had to have him do that. But, again, the Mariners also really need to get more athletic this winter and next season. And Kobe's a good player and does more fit the mold of what this current team presents, which is a team that is reliant on home runs to score their runs. So if you're going to lean even more into that, that would make sense. But if you want to truly get more athletic, I think there's some different routes you could go, where Kobe's more of a corner infielder and played a lot of first base. 00:16:57 Speaker 1: He's a better athlete than they'd had. It would improve their athleticism. 00:17:03 Speaker 2: For sure. But again, he's mostly a corner infielder. The idea I'm going with here is, even though I don't think Sonoha's going to end up getting traded, this does go into... a sentiment that TJ and I have harped on constantly and are going to continue to harp on, which is while these guys can't be your signature signings of the offseason, the Mariners have to improve their bench in 2027. It is a non-negotiable for them to improve their bench in 2027. Any more Weston Wilson, I'm going to snap my TV in half. Because that guy didn't do, nice guy, I'm sure, did not do a single thing well. He didn't hit. He was an awful fielder. He did not draw walks at a crazy high rate. He struck out 35% of the time. His OPS was 550. He didn't hit lefties. He didn't do anything. And he played 53 games. That guy cannot be on your bench anymore. He just can't. Anyway, the Mariners have to improve their bench. How do I propose they do that? Well, it might not be Sonoha. You need to sign Mauricio Dubon, and we've talked about him. And you need to go sign Edmundo Sosa from the Phillies, who's now going to be a free agent. You want to get better against left-handed pitching? You want to get athletes? You want to get more versatile? You want to find right-handed bats? Edmundo Sosa does all those things. Edmundo Sosa just OPSed 830 against lefties this past year. The past three seasons, if you roll it over, he's got over an 800 OPS against lefties. He plays 3rd. He plays short. He plays outfield. He is really fast. He is a good defender at almost every position that he's... He's a good defender at almost every position that he mans. And man, does he make that team more athletic. If you go sign those two guys, if you go sign both Dubon and Sosa this winter, two guys who should not cost you a lot of money, your bench is looking real sharp all of a sudden in 2027. 00:18:56 Speaker 1: And while Sosa is over the age of 30, the idea here is not, hey, this is Rob Ref Snyder. We're signing him to hit against left-handed pitching. 00:19:05 Speaker 2: No, no. 00:19:06 Speaker 1: He is being signed, I mean, not for his bat, which is for his career been below average. Like he's going to make a lot of contact. He's not going to walk ever. And he'll strike out at about a league average rate. But you're not going to sign him with the idea that he's going to be a productive offensive player for you. you're signing him with the idea that he's going to provide value to you by being able to play all over the place and give you versatility and be faster and find something else besides just the pure bat. While the Mariners do need runs produced from pure bats, that's not the kind of guy you're going to go for. And honestly, like Mayo would be that guy that you would want production out of his bat. Sonoha, you don't need it if somehow he's a and you trade for him because he's played pretty much every position. 00:19:54 Speaker 2: And Mundo Sosa is much more in the Javier Sonoha bucket, which is you are not signing a platoon bat against left-handed pitching. You are signing a really good athlete who's going to be a utility man for you, do a lot of things really well, and just happens to hit left-handed pitching well. The problem with Pollock, Solano, Ref Snyder, Taylor Ward, is you brought those guys in who were totally reliant on their bat and their bat against lefties to be successful, and when all four of them weren't, they had no value. Even if Edmundo Sosa didn't light the world on fire against lefties, he still has value because he's an athlete, because he runs, because he plays good defense. You go sign Mauricio Dubon and Edmundo Sosa this winter to man your bench, not only does your bench get exponentially better than where it's been, but you also have a solution for shortstop if you want to start Colt Emerson in the minors next year. If you think Colt needs a month, two months back in AAA once he's healthy, because the reports are he's not going to swing a bat all winter, well, Sosa and Dubon can both man shortstop over that time. They can be utility guys and they can both play shortstop. It actually solves a lot of problems that you may have going into the season. You sign those two guys, you're going to be looking at a pretty good... You sign those two guys, you're going to be in a pretty good spot with your bench. 00:21:18 Speaker 1: Before we get to our next mailbag question, Lyle, do you want to read an ad? 00:21:22 Speaker 2: Yeah, let's talk to you guys about our great friends over at Pagachas Pub 85. 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So I'm sure the Mariners have candidates on their list that have been circled on their board for a long time, and they're going to call up those teams again this offseason and say, hey, would you move this guy? Has the price changed? Can we meet in the middle on a certain trade value? I'm sure they're going to do that. We don't know exactly who those names are because the Mariners don't always leak it. If you're talking about some of the relievers that got traded at this deadline... Luke Weaver, Jeff Hoffman. I don't think those teams are going to move those guys this winter, but it's possible the Mariners call and ask. If you're asking, though, the general thought of will the Mariners circle back on some guys they couldn't execute a trade for at the deadline and try to do it in the offseason, yeah, I'd say the Mariners usually do exactly that. 00:24:44 Speaker 1: But who from what we know that was available would we actually want? Because we remember the deadline talent pool was not very good this offseason. And what we're looking at for the Mariners to improve this offseason, it feels like the bar for that is a little bit higher. Well, the only player that comes to mind that I'm like, okay, you absolutely no doubt have to revisit this conversation if it's possible, is Mason Miller, who has floated out as available. But you know who's not available this offseason after making the playoffs again? Mason Miller. Yeah. 00:25:19 Speaker 2: Yeah, no way. 00:25:20 Speaker 1: You know what your solution to that would be? As you said, sign Adrian Morajon. Because you don't even have to talk to the Padres. You just need to talk to Morajon's camp and offer a competitive salary for him. That's it. 00:25:34 Speaker 2: And his camp is? Scott Boris. Yeah. I don't think that's going to be easy. I mean, that shouldn't be an excuse. Man, Morajon would be absolutely lights out in this bullpen. But Mariners, again, I don't think are exactly kumbaya with Scott Boris. So maybe Morohone can be the guy to change that. Maybe the Mariners will pay him. And Scott Boris will be like, oh, maybe they're changing their ways a little bit. And he'll lighten up. 00:26:05 Speaker 1: Jerry said they need a culture overhaul. I think signing relievers would do something with that. 00:26:12 Speaker 2: It would do something. But, yeah, I don't think... I don't think they're going to circle back on any of the public names we heard at the deadline. I'm going to guess there's names the Mariners were trying to make trades for that we didn't hear about and that weren't public, that they'll go back and circle this winner. Again, they tried for a long time with Polanco. They tried for a long time with Donovan. And it ended up working out eventually. I'm sure there's guys on their list that they're looking at. 00:26:38 Speaker 1: I can't remember who else from the trade deadline I'm really dying for the Mariners to go get. 00:26:43 Speaker 2: Well, are you counting... when we talked about the idea of trading for, say, a Suzuki at the deadline when we thought the Cubs might sell. There's him, but now he's a free agent. 00:26:52 Speaker 1: Right. So you don't need to talk to the Cubs. You don't need to talk to them about Ian Happ. Was there even an idea of him? Was there official reporting of him being available? I don't remember. 00:27:03 Speaker 2: I mean, people were talking about it. I don't know if any credible reports ever came out that the Cubs were shopping him. But, But there was the idea that there was a point in the summer where they were not playing their best ball. He was going to be a free agent. And you had to wonder, are they desperate enough for starting pitching where they trade him? Well, now he's just a free agent. 00:27:28 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. So, okay, they might revisit some, but maybe not all of them because I want better players than what was available at the deadline this year. 00:27:38 Speaker 2: Yeah. Let's be clear, by the way, too. This will not be the last time we utter these words, but let's be very clear. The Mariners have legitimately zero excuses not to be going after, say, a Suzuki hard this winter. None. The Mariners don't like giving out long contracts. He's probably going to warrant a four- to five-year deal. 00:27:58 Speaker 1: Dare I ask this question, Lyle? What are the odds the Mariners try to offer Taylor Ward a Jorge Polanco contract? 00:28:07 Speaker 2: Oh, God. 00:28:07 Speaker 1: Where the first year of both of those deals, just atrocious, just so unbelievably bad... that the Mariners try and just lowball the crap out of him and hope for a good deal, a good season into another impending free agent year. 00:28:24 Speaker 2: Oh, good. So you've gotten no better in the field because he's a terrible defender. He literally doesn't even play right field. Well, I guess now with Randy gone, their solution could be like, oh, we'll put him back in his natural spot in left field. Yeah, lowball him and then use Walmart, say a Suzuki, As a sales pitch to fans, oh, we don't need to pay for Seah. Like, we're going to get similar value out of a guy that cost $ 5 million. 00:28:50 Speaker 1: He hit 36 home runs two years ago. 00:28:54 Speaker 2: Wow. Yeah, and then hit like 10 this past year and stopped hitting for a lick of power. You know how many extra base hits Taylor Ward had in two months with the M's? Oh, one. One. 00:29:05 Speaker 1: One, yeah. No home runs. No. No. 00:29:09 Speaker 2: Sign, say a Suzuki. Cause I ain't listening to any PR spinning of signing Taylor ward and saying, well, we're fine. I understand he's hit lefties over his career, but after what we just saw over two months, no, no, I'm good. 00:29:23 Speaker 1: Emma on Patreon asks, do y'all think the Mariners would resign JP Crawford for a year, either to play third base or shortstop? Or if not, what do they do with the left side. 00:29:33 Speaker 2: Of their infield? I know JP Crawford's a fan favorite and people love him. but i'm sorry if i get the notification this winter that the mariners are bringing back jp crawford i'm tweeting the meme from succession i love you but you are not serious people He doesn't fit the roster anymore. He doesn't move well. He's not an athlete. He's another left-handed bat. And frankly, they just need not just a culture change. Obviously, JP was well-liked in the clubhouse and well-respected. Nothing about that. They need a roster structure change. And he does not fit what they need to be anymore. 00:30:17 Speaker 1: It would go against everything Jerry DiPoto said in the postseason press conference where he talks about Needing athletes and culture change and being better against right-handed pitchers and being better defensively and being a bad defender is a choice. Like all of these things. And then re-signing J.P. Crawford, who's non-athletic, can't defend, and has been a big part of the Mariners' culture for the last five years that Jerry said needs an overhaul. Yeah, that wouldn't make any sense at all if they did that. What do they do otherwise? I mean, we've talked about the options. We've talked about Amunda Sosa. I mean, you would hope by August of next year, Colt Emerson can play shortstop for you every day. And at the very least, be an average big league hitter at 22 years old at that point. 00:31:06 Speaker 2: You'd hope. 00:31:08 Speaker 1: But otherwise, I mean, it's going to need to be someone you sign in free agency because currently you don't have a shortstop on your roster. that you're confident can play every day in April and potentially May as well. 00:31:25 Speaker 2: I think Brendan Donovan's going to be playing a lot of third base, or he'll just move around. But when you assume that Colt Emerson will be the shortstop for the majority of the year, even if he doesn't start the year on the team, Colt will play short. Donovan will play third. Maybe he'll move around to the outfield a little bit. And again, this is why you have got to go sign, I think, both Dubon and Sosa. It's two right-handed bats to offset the lefties a little bit who can move around, get guys days off when they need them, and also play shortstop if Colt needs time in the minors. If there's days where there's a really tough lefty and they want to get Colt and Donovan, who doesn't really hit lefties, days off their feet, maybe Dubon and Sosa are manning the infield spots. Maybe those guys are playing short and third. Or maybe they're just on your bench when tough lefties come in from the bullpen. Those guys can also both play the outfield. So if you had Dubon and Donovan and Sosa, those guys can all play left field. Shouldn't be your solution in left field, but those guys can all do it. I think that's how you manage the left side of your infield next year. Go sign some true athletes and some athletes that are right-handed bats with the intent that it's going to be Emerson and Donovan on the left side while having some athletes that are right-handed bats that can move around. 00:32:40 Speaker 1: And Emma also asks if there are any prospects that could potentially play shortstop next year. like, legit prospects. There's only one in Felning Selston, but I don't think he should be the Mariner shortstop at any point next year. I think he should spend next year in the minor leagues. And essentially, like, force your hand if he's going to make his way onto this big league roster by having, like, a 900 to 1,000 OPS at Arkansas while playing great defense. Like, that's it. Otherwise, there's not a prospect in that system I want to see at shortstop next year. 00:33:10 Speaker 2: No. And... I guess this is an interesting debate for a different day. I I'm still assuming Colt Emerson is going to be the shortstop long-term and Felny and eventually might start playing a lot more third base. But I mean, I guess there's still an argument that Celestine could be the shortstop and Emerson plays third. We're a ways away from that conversation, but it's possible. 00:33:32 Speaker 1: You would think with the contract that Colt Emerson will have the leg up at shortstop. Right. But it's not like he earned it last year. 00:33:42 Speaker 2: He didn't. Well, Colt, Colt's got the contract to be a Mariner. He could be under the contract and play. 00:33:48 Speaker 1: When you sign a $ 95 million contract before you debut, you would probably want him to work out a shortstop before you try anywhere else. 00:33:58 Speaker 2: I'm just playing devil's advocate. Most likely, Colt is going to be your shortstop long-term. If Felny is still in New York by the time he's ready to debut, he will probably be the one that plays third base. 00:34:08 Speaker 1: But. 00:34:09 Speaker 2: We're projecting here because Felny's got a long ways to go. I think he's probably going to spend all of next year in AA. 31 games that Felny spent in AA this year. He hit 171 in OPS 507. And that's fine. I know it's not what anybody wants when you see him move up to AA, but he's 20 years old. He just needs more time. He needs more development. I don't think anybody should be really factoring him in next year. He's probably more of a 2028 guy. I agree. 00:34:39 Speaker 1: Next question comes from Xander on Patreon. Xander's question is, if you guys had to pick your own walkout song from either the bullpen or stepping up to the plate, what would it be? 00:34:49 Speaker 2: Well, he also asked what our favorite player walkup songs are, right? Like the players use. All right. I'm going to answer the player question first. Edmundo Sosa has really been a popular topic on this episode. Cause I got to say, I'm going to bring him up again. Not only do I like everything he brings to the table on the field, But the man uses Love Sosa by Chief Keef as his walk-up song. I mean, that's sick. 00:35:13 Speaker 1: He has to. He has no choice. 00:35:16 Speaker 2: I'm sure he's had teammates since he was in the minor leagues tell him, hey, in some rotation, you've got to use that as your walk-up song. Because that song's been out since about 2012, and it's wildly, wildly famous among hip-hop songs over the last 15 years. So it doesn't shock me that Sosa uses that as one of his walk-up songs. But yeah, it's sick. Him using that and Brian Wu using the Wu by Pop Smoke are my two favorites from players. 00:35:43 Speaker 1: I don't think I have a favorite, like a favorite player. Actually, you know what? I'll just do Edwin Diaz. It's so basic, but it is pretty epic. And the production of it is pretty sick. When you have the trumpets and him jogging in and the lights are flashing. I think that's sick. I think that's really awesome. So that's my player. If I'm going to choose one for myself, I think it has to be raindrops by Metro Boomin and Travis Scott. Cause the song just bangs. And if I'm walking, if I'm running out of the bullpen or I'm stepping to the plate, I want to like, I'm trying to hype myself up, get my energy up for the at bat. And that song definitely helps. 00:36:22 Speaker 2: There's so many I could use. I mean, if I had to pick one, Ballin' by Roddy Ricch is a great one. Solo by Future is a great one. I mean, there's a couple different Lil Uzi Vert songs I would probably use in my rotation. I don't know which one. I mean, What You Sayin' is newer. It's newer over the last year or so, so maybe that one. I guess if I had to pick one overall, I'd use Ballin' by Roddy Ricch and Mustard, but there's a few. 00:36:57 Speaker 1: Okay. That's a good answer. 00:36:59 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:37:01 Speaker 1: Next question comes from Jared on Patreon. Jared's question is, I get the idea behind trading one or two of our starters this offseason, but aren't we selling low on whoever we trade? 00:37:14 Speaker 2: I mean, it would be more ideal if George Kirby had just put up a 3-2 ERA for sure. But people pay a hefty price for proven big league starting pitching, man. It's not selling as high as you possibly could have. But I don't think the Mariners are going to get some shitty return back for a starting pitcher that they trade. I don't think that they'd accept a return like that. And I don't think they'd ultimately trade them if they don't get the return they want. So sure, you're not selling at the highest possible value point. The highest possible value point to sell George Kirby probably would have been two years ago when he still had four years of control and people were still just sky high on what the potential could be before he really started to have even more of his road struggles. So it's not the highest possible point. But no, I think if they trade one of these starters, they're going to get a real haulback. 00:38:05 Speaker 1: If you wanted to sell them at their peak, I agree. It would have been after the 24 season. They would have sold one of probably Logan Gilbert or George Kirby would have been one of those two. You would have gotten an absolute haulback for both of them. But here's the problem, Jared. Whenever you want to sell one of your starting pitchers, you need to find a buyer who's willing to pay what you're asking for. And if no one's willing... to pay what you're asking for, then you're not going to do the trade. And it's a bummer. So maybe you did have to wait until this season to finally get an adequate trade, an adequate trade package back for these guys. And you wish it was more, but the market is only what the market is willing to pay, unfortunately. 00:38:51 Speaker 2: And I think with two years left to control, this is your chance to deal Kirby. if you can. Because one year of control, you get a whole lot less back than what you can get with two years of control. So I get it's not selling at the highest possible point, but you can get a whole lot more back for two years of control. 00:39:12 Speaker 1: You know the difference between the Mariners and the Brewers and the Rays? Wow. I was watching this postseason. You know who would have traded a starter after 24 season? One of those two. 00:39:22 Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. Yeah. The counter to that is... this Rays team could have Randy on it. 00:39:30 Speaker 1: It could uh would their clubhouse culture be as good. 00:39:35 Speaker 2: Sure Yandy wouldn't be the happiest camper that's for sure. 00:39:39 Speaker 1: Yeah with the rape would they would the Rays be more talented absolutely but it's also been documented that Randy and Yandy don't aren't really close and You know, it might make it a little tougher to deal with. And there is a reason that the Rays decided to trade Randy Rosarena away to the Mariners. There are all these what-ifs. It's like, what if the Brewers didn't trade Freddy Peralta? Then they could have Miz and Freddy Peralta this year in their rotation. But they decided against that. 00:40:10 Speaker 2: I mean, in hindsight, they probably should have just held on to Freddy. But whatever. 00:40:14 Speaker 1: Whatever. Then they would be overwhelming World Series favorites if they had those two. Because you have two number one starters. You have one of the best bullpens in baseball. You have an offense that is as complete as they get. One of the best managers in baseball. You don't have a weakness. The only thing you can really poke at with the Brewers is that they don't have a true number two. But yeah, you're totally right. But those teams are a little bit more aggressive trading their starters as opposed to the Mariners. The example I think Lyle would have been Bryce Miller. The Mariners trade Bryce Miller after he puts up a sub-three ERA in 2024. Because then you see what happens in the next two years. And talk about selling low. They'd be selling so low on Bryce Miller right now. 00:40:59 Speaker 2: I don't think they're trading him. But yeah, part of my point with the whole Randy trade is, one, there are trade-offs with how you operate your franchise. There's pros and cons. But also... It is just a little bit of a note because I know people say every time we get frustrated with Randy, whether it was the base running lapses or the defense or what happened with Cal and the WBC where he cussed him out publicly in four different ways. There is a reason the Rays traded Randy with two and a half years of control despite being a team that competes for a World Series almost every year, at least competes in the playoffs almost every year. that team had Randy in his prime and traded him. And I don't think that had everything to do with money because the Rays don't spend a lot, but there are some guys they paid. Yandy's not making nothing. Yandy's been a vital part of that team forever. I think there's reasons again, we can't always, we can't always publicly utter every single thing that TJ and I have information on because you don't want to, you know, you don't want to burn bridges with certain people, et cetera. But I would just say with some level of knowledge that I think there's, I think there's some reasons the, the Rays let Randy go with two and a half years of control. 00:42:17 Speaker 1: And there's a reason that the Mariners will not offer the money that Randy Rosarena wants in free agency while they were willing to do it for a player who's not as good as Randy the year before and Josh Naylor. 00:42:29 Speaker 2: Right. Right. And, and Naylor and Naylor had his clubhouse questions too. 00:42:33 Speaker 1: They still did it, but they won't, they won't do it with Randy, even though he's better player. 00:42:39 Speaker 2: Right. 00:42:39 Speaker 1: Take that as you will. We got two more questions left on this mailbag. Next one comes from Steve on Patreon. Steve's question is, if you could only fix one of these glaring issues staring at the 27 Mariners, which would it be? Offense, defense, or bullpen? 00:43:01 Speaker 2: God, I want to fix all three to the 100th percentile after watching this year. My God. I am going to pick... I'm going to leave offense off because if I have to pick between the three, I'm going to put some confidence in what are some very talented, highly paid players to figure it out. If I have to pick between the three, I think I'm going to go bullpen. And it's funny because defense has been such a topic of this podcast and talking about they could use Sosa. They could use Dubon. They need to get more athletic and they do. But as we've seen in this postseason, you cannot win. with a bad bullpen. You just can't. And the Mariners have to fix that if they want to go win a World Series. 00:43:48 Speaker 1: I'm 100% with you. The bullpen has more impact on a season than the defense does. That's why I'm going to go bullpen. And you know what great bullpens do? They strike out so many batters that it doesn't matter who's standing behind them on defense. You can solve two issues at once by acquiring better relievers for your bullpen. 00:44:08 Speaker 2: Correct. That's what the Brewers do. for the most part. 00:44:14 Speaker 1: But defense isn't very far behind because it drives me insane. 00:44:17 Speaker 2: Right. 00:44:18 Speaker 1: At least with the bullpen. Again, you could chalk it up to a lack of talent. You look at the defense and say, man, sometimes are these guys trying hard enough at all times to be better defenders? Doesn't seem like Jerry DePoto thinks so, given that his quote was that being a bad defender is a choice. Jerry is essentially suggesting a lot of the bad defense is for the Mariners this last year was a decision made by the players. Right. So yeah, I want to. 00:44:47 Speaker 2: Fix all three. We want to fix all three. Let's be clear. And they should, but if we have to pick one bullpen. 00:44:55 Speaker 1: Okay, let's, uh, close out this mailbag with Frankie on YouTube. Frankie's question is, would you make an exception and hire within the organization for manager? If it was Alvin Davis or, or Ichiro as the new manager. 00:45:12 Speaker 2: Frankie, you're the man. We appreciate you listening. We appreciate you sending questions. We love all of our listeners. Don't get this twisted. We really do. But absolutely not. Like, I mean, I'm not even. 0000001 % even entertaining that thought. 00:45:32 Speaker 1: The reason I created the rule that the Mariners can't, have a manager be one of their past players is like exactly this scenario. Like, no, I'm not making an exception for Alvin Davis or Ichiro because of the exact point that like, we talk about all the things the Mariners manager needs. Like what reason would you have to hire these two besides the fact they used to play for you? Like, like, right. 00:46:00 Speaker 2: I mean, it's name redacted all over again. They have no experience managing. They have not coached at a serious level. They haven't coached in the big leagues. It's just, oh, they happen to play for the organization, albeit very, very well, Ichiro and Alvin Davis. That's it. By the way, I joked to you about this at one point, but there are a lot of duties and responsibilities that come with the job of being a manager. Do you think Ichiro's happily retired and has a very, very small role in the organization to essentially just work out and hang out with the players on a daily basis? You think he wants to do two media sessions a day that are required? I don't think so. 00:46:50 Speaker 1: No, given that he's done two media sessions probably since he retired. Total. And now all of a sudden he has to do over what? 320 of them. He would need to do, given that he didn't get ejected in a game or get suspended and couldn't talk, he would need to do 324 media sessions a year. And that's just during the season, not during spring training or playoffs or anything. Yeah, he's going to be out on that. Just see when we list this off. And what Alvin Davis does is he has a very similar role to Dan Wilson, where he roves a little bit and he goes around and analyzes. And after what we just watched with name redacted as the Mariners manager, honest question to those of you listening, if you were frustrated watching Dan as the manager this year, Why would you want to do that again? No. 00:47:53 Speaker 2: No, I'm out. 00:47:54 Speaker 1: So, of course, no exception at all. 00:47:57 Speaker 2: I mean, if you've listened to what we've talked about the past couple weeks, hell, by all accounts, Raul Abanez has the chance to be a really, really good big league manager one day. There was reports that the Phillies were interested in talking to Raul Abanez before deciding this week they're going to keep Don Mattingly as the manager. But Raul opted to want to stay in his role with the Dodgers. By all accounts, like, Raul has the chance to be a really good manager if he one day wants to be. And yet we're still sitting here, or at least TJ is, with his rule, saying absolutely not, I won't even entertain it. So if he won't even entertain it for somebody like Raul Abanez, who might have the chance to be a really good manager, I don't think you're entertaining it for two people that would come from the same tree as Dan, which is you have absolutely no qualifications to be managing a big league baseball team. Mm-hmm. 00:48:47 Speaker 1: Rules are rules, Lyle. They need to follow them. No exceptions. 00:48:51 Speaker 2: Well, they happily followed it to your point with Lovello. 00:48:54 Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. It wasn't even a conversation. They didn't even need to ask him. Just they might have seen the rule. The Diamondbacks might have seen the rule, too, and been like, well, I guess we got to bring him back. 00:49:05 Speaker 2: Yeah. Again, a stupid rule for that one. But for your happiness. 00:49:10 Speaker 1: Now he's not going to be the manager. 00:49:12 Speaker 2: Great. For your happiness, your rule's still intact. 00:49:15 Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. There you go. 00:49:18 Speaker 2: All right, well, good set of mailbag questions. Again, we always appreciate all the questions you guys send in. They're always really entertaining. They're always thought-provoking. And if you guys want to send in questions of your own and get priority on them, go sign up for our Patreon, patreon.com slash marinelayerpod, 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. 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. Please make sure to go rate and review and leave it five stars while you do. It really does help. Hit that subscribe button if you're watching on YouTube. You can also check all of our stuff out at our website at marinelayerpod.com. Our episodes are all there. Podcast merch is all there. If you want your hoodies, your long sleeve shirts, even short sleeve shirts as we get into fall season. If you like that sort of thing, we love seeing people rock the merch. Patreon's there as well. That's at marinelayerpod.com. And then check us out on social media. We're posting content all the time across all of our platforms at marinelayerpod. That's TJ. I'm Lyle. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon.