Episode 50: We Apologize To Josh Rojas, Teoscar Is Crushing August, And Shohei Ohtani Is Breaking Down

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to episode number fifty of the Marine Layer Podcast. We'll talk about Taoskar's post deadline heater. We also have an apology to send out to Josh Rojas. We'll go down on the form, take a look around baseball at our MLB wrap Around, we have a Russell Wilson umpire the week, and we close out the show with speak your Mind. 00:00:19 Speaker 2: Before we start. Your reminder that if you're listening on our audio platforms, go over to YouTube. Check us out on the video side, subscribe like comment, turn those notification bells on, and if you're watching on YouTube, go to our audio platforms too, Apple, Spotify, Google and Amazon. Make sure to follow download our episodes, give us that five star review. The download the five star review help us out big time. So go do that, and then head over to social media. Check us out on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube shorts at Marine Layer Pod. 00:00:49 Speaker 3: Let's get it rolling, and we welcome. 00:01:03 Speaker 4: Used to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball Podcast Network, recording here on Thursday, August twenty fourth, And Lole, I gotta ask you, because it hit home to me pretty hard. 00:01:16 Speaker 1: How does it feel to our brand? That the Mariners lost a game to a team that used to employ Tony Larusa. 00:01:25 Speaker 2: Nice to the heart. 00:01:27 Speaker 1: Gut rencher, but they actually wait, pot like used to employ they actually still do employ him. Right? Isn't he an advisor? Now? 00:01:35 Speaker 2: Can you believe that? Can you believe after all those firings the White Sox made this week, the first thing they do is turn around and say, Tony LaRussa, come on back, buddy, you did wonders for this organization, wonders. 00:01:48 Speaker 1: I'm gonna spin zone this. We can blame the entire Chicago White Sox fiasco for however long, however long Jerry reinstors own them to Michael Jordan one hundred percent. 00:02:01 Speaker 2: Michael Jordan's remember Michael Jordan, Jerry Rehinstort's and nobody right? 00:02:06 Speaker 1: Right? Does it follow the three? Who is Jerry Reinstorff? Oh, he's the owner of probably one of the five worst franchises in the NBA. Is that that's probably right? 00:02:18 Speaker 2: And where do the White Sox rank among franchises in baseball? 00:02:23 Speaker 1: A little bit above the Mariners, probably not two, not above fifteen, above twenty. 00:02:33 Speaker 2: Maybe, Look, we've talked about it at short points on this podcast over the first handful or two months that we've been doing this. But let's just make it abundantly clear here on this episode. If you're tuning into this podcast, you know a few things. You know that TJN I cannot stand the bunt. You know we're pro analytics. We also cannot stand Tony Larusa. Cannot stand him. The fact that White Sox brought him back is shameful. 00:03:00 Speaker 1: The best part about the employment of Tony LaRusso was watching him run out to fight the other team. Watching his little waddle out there, I think that if you can, if you can see that's how you're running, you probably shouldn't be running a baseball team. That and taking naps in the dugout, which actually I hear is pretty popular in Chicago. 00:03:20 Speaker 2: What about the fact that he stood in front of the media and said, remember when your mean Mercedes hit that home run on a three to zero pitch. Yeah, if the other team wants to just throw at him the next day, I'd have no issues. Honestly, I'd say it's warranted. This. This dude goes in front of the media and says, opposing teams please go ahead and try to injure my own player and. 00:03:42 Speaker 1: Then your mean, essentially he has now been out of baseball ever since that moment, like his career went since then. 00:03:50 Speaker 2: Yeah, he fell off the phase of the earth. He had that insane first month in twenty twenty one and really six weeks and then he's basically been unheard of since. 00:03:58 Speaker 1: It's only had some organizational support as manager. 00:04:02 Speaker 2: Hmm, same franchise that just took the Mariners down on Wednesday. But you know what, we're nitpicking here. Obviously that was a tough way for them to lose on Wednesday. But in the grand scheme of things, if you told us the Mariners were gonna have an eight and two road trip, I think you take it because the other way you can spin it is if they had gotten two of three in Houston and swept the White Sox, we're over the moon right now. 00:04:26 Speaker 1: And if you look at the two losses, the only two losses were blow ninth inning leads. 00:04:31 Speaker 2: It yeah, pretty marginal. And even those Orioles games all the way back at the last home series two those were close, late ending losses. They've been right there. 00:04:41 Speaker 1: They could only Yeah, I was gonna say so the stretch we're in is twenty and the four four four losses, no, yeah, four losses in that stretch, two were in the tenth inning or three are in the tenth inning, and one was a blow ninth inning lead. I would say, you actually, he take that. If you go sixteen and four and the only other games you just so happen to be leading late in the game at some point or tied. 00:05:09 Speaker 2: You do take that. And at the end of the day, they still want a series on the road against the White Sox. So he won the series. You're not gonna win every game, You're just not even for as hot as the Mariners are playing right now. But if you keep winning series, that's all you can ask for. 00:05:25 Speaker 1: Let's get to our Mariner's storylines. I do have one for certain apology in these two Mariners' storylines. This one's like a half apology. But the Mariners aren't where they are post deadline with this run, without Taoscar Hernandez and what he's done at the plate. It has been something to watch him turning around in August. 00:05:45 Speaker 2: When he's hot. This lineup is just different because when he's playing at the level of capability that everybody knows he can play and his peak performance, what he did in Toronto, what he does when he's hot here in Seattle. It's just a different lineup through nine because it is such an impact bat and when we've seen him get hot in certain stretches of the season, that tends to be his trends that he gets hot at certain points of the season, and when he does, he gets red hot. 00:06:12 Speaker 1: A one sixty eight WRC plus since the deadline, and normally you'd say, wow, that's a pretty good three week stretch. However, there's about five guys on the Mariners team that are actually doing that post deadline, which is kind of funny. But ta Oscars really stood out because, as I mentioned in Wednesday's episode, I sat here on this podcast and said, why isn't he getting traded? Why didn't they trade him at the deadline? If they're they're gonna sell, why didn't you sell your your clear cut rental? Well, this is why he's been a catalyst. And even in this White Sox series since we recorded Wednesday's episode, he continues to mash and he continues to hit balls out of the ballpark. His strikeout rate has gone down, and the thing I like the most. They've really been able to just bounce him up and down the lineup wherever they feel comfortable with him heading and wherever the lineup structure work, and it hasn't really mattered, and he's hitting all those spots. That's another thing about the increased depth of this lineup is you really have the ability to move these pieces all up and down this lineup one through nine and it hasn't really mattered all that much, and the productions still come in. Ti Oscar no matter where he's been in the lineup, has continued to hit. 00:07:19 Speaker 2: The lineup's basically set with JP and Julio at one two when both those guys are healthy. But you look at the rest of the guys between ty cal Gino ta Oscar. You can jumble those guys any way you want three through six essentially, and there's no worry about any of them at this point because they're all red hot, and maybe nobody more so than ta Oscar with the way he's played. I mean, you said the one sixty eight WRC plus since the deadline, it's at one seventy four. The last two weeks ten to seventeen ops. He's hitt nearly four hundred. That's red hot. 00:07:51 Speaker 1: And now the responsibility of being an outfielder, like playing physically playing out in the outfield every day, is no longer required for him because you have three young guys that you can put out in the outfield on a given day and let Taoskar DH. Five of the nineteen games he's played in post deadline, he's DHD, which is I think a little bit higher than he normally did. He mean, he would kind of move in there sometimes earlier in the season, but this since it's available, and especially since Tom Murphy's hurt and who usually occupies the DH spot when he's not starting behind the plate, he's been able to DH a little bit more and I guess help him get off his feet as he enters older age than all those other outfielders out there. So it just more of the fact of his depth helping Taoscar out a little bit more and they don't have to rely on him for all the production, which is I think what Taoskar always has won, and that's what he had in Toronto where he wasn't supposed to be the aircraft carrier in the middle of the lineup, and if you look at it. 00:08:47 Speaker 3: Right now. 00:08:47 Speaker 1: He still doesn't have to be He's not the first guy that comes to mind when you say the Meritis need to produce more offense. No, it's everybody, And I think that's where Taoskar operates the best. 00:08:58 Speaker 2: My brain has done such an emotional tug of war all year about how I feel about Taoscar moving forward and if I want him back on the Mariners next season. In this stretch right now, I'm saying yes. Now, I don't know if that means a qualifying offer. I don't know if that means that you bring him back on a shorter or not shorter AAV, but shorter year, smaller AV deal in free agency. There we go where he returns to Seattle, and again, like, I go so back and forth on this because he has these cold stretches. He's striking out all the time, he can't put back to ball, and you just say he's not there. But then he goes through stretches like this, and you're like, the offense is so different when he's at his best. Now, Like as we sit right now, all of a sudden, I lean back toward yes, and I swear my mind changes every week. 00:09:47 Speaker 1: I have some fun nuggets actually about this offense that will get to in our MB wrap around because it does preclude to one of the teams we're talking about in our MOB wrap around. I did, if you want, like a thought, I did send this to you yesterday and your essential reaction was, what the fuck is this? We'll get to that. So that's a notion for you to stick around and listen to the entire episode and I will know. We know Julio had his four day streak of four plus hits seventeen total hits from the final two games of the Kansas City series into the first two games of the Houston series. Well, ta Oscar contributed to that streak as well. If we look at a team, they don't start this win streak without him going five for five in Game two against Kansas City and really helping them get a ten to eight win in extra innings and really kicking this off. He got the barrel rolling before Julio did. 00:10:39 Speaker 2: How are you feeling about Taoskar right now? If he gets a reasonable deal, would you bring him back next year? 00:10:45 Speaker 1: Yep? Because who else you bring it back? I know you're comfortable with Marlow and can Zone, but I don't again, I don't think we're at the point. If the Mariners believe Cad Marlow's an everyday guy. I think they liked they like dom Canzone's bat enough to think he's an everyday guy. Julio is obviously an everyday guy, but Kate Marlow maybe not. And if you don't believe he's an everyday guy, then you need a third outfielder. So yes, yeah, that's me. I'm just talking myself through it and talking my brain through it, so yeah, I'm good. A moderate offer would be good for Taskar. 00:11:21 Speaker 2: Hernanez, the third being aside from Kalnick and Julio. 00:11:26 Speaker 1: Right, Sorry, I forgot Jared. Yeah, well that's what happens when he doesn't play. I forget about him, but I don't regardless, they still need more bats. They still need more bats, and there's no guarantee mister number seventeen down in Anaheim is going to come here and occupy a DH spot. So that would be another option as well, if you just want to stick them at DH and maybe as he gets older that's a spot that he'll be at more and more. 00:11:47 Speaker 2: Yeah, and you can rotate some guys. Speaking of that number seventeen, at Anaheim. There's another reason to stick around because we will be talking about him. It's been awesome for ta oscar Man. Like again, this offense is just so different when he's clicking and this is one of those times that he is all six foot two, two hundred and fifteen of them or you know what, let's just round up. We'll call it all six three, two hundred and fifteen pounds of them. And that forceful power he's got. 00:12:10 Speaker 1: Yeah, he really packs a punch with it. I will say, I mean, pound for pound, he does some of the best raw power you'll. 00:12:17 Speaker 2: See before we get to our second storyline. Here quick word from our friends at the Columbia Athletic Club. Columbia Athletic Club and Juanita Bay in Kirkland is a full service, family owned athletic club that's been inspiring healthier lives since nineteen eighty one. Amenities include all new strength and cardio equipment, free weights, basketball and squash courts, saltwater pools and hot tubs, along with so much more included with your membership if you were to sign up today. Our group exercise classes with the likes of Yoga, Zoomba, bar, group power and cycling. The best promotions of the year start now through the fall season. Get started with a free five day trial at Columbia Athletic dot com. That's Columbia Athletic. 00:13:03 Speaker 5: This fall. Stream your favorites and discover more with Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus together. Watch the highly anticipated new season of Loki and see the ghost materialize in Haunted Mansion on Disney Plus. Catch more frights with the Boogeyman, an American horror story delegate, on Hulu and on ESPN Plus. Get into the action with college football and NFL. All of these and more streaming now. Get the Disney Bundle with plans starting at nine to ninety nine a month, plans with ESPN Plus starting at fourteen ninety nine a month. Terms apply. See Disney Bundle dot com for details. 00:13:44 Speaker 2: Second storyline. You talked about this over Texas Week TJ and you said, I think I've got a storyline I want to talk about, which is I would personally like I being you, I should say that you wanted to hop on here and issue an apology to Josh Rojas. And let me preface this by saying I would like to as well. 00:14:03 Speaker 1: Josh Rojas I'm sorry. I believe the words we used were placeholder and eventual. Tacoma Rainier Josh Rojas. When we talked about him two weeks ago, it was our one week evaluation of the Mariner's trade deadline returns. He was in the midst of an zero for fourteen at that point and were thinking, well, how serious are his contributions really gonna be to this team? Does he really need to be there? And now two weeks later, Yeah, he absolutely does. I love him hitting in the nine hole. You could stay as long as you want. Josh Rojas. 00:14:36 Speaker 2: This is the guy who was the three win player for the Diamondbacks last year. He hits righty's, he can play solid defense, he can move around. He has an actual arm at second base, like guys his arm strength ranks and the sixty first percentile at second base, which is not the upper echelon of the league, but it's above average. And man, after watching Colton Wong try to turn double plays at second base, it is such a breadth of are to see those six four three double plays actually get turned. Yeah, he's been red hot at the plate over the last ten eleven games, and he's been solid in the field too. 00:15:10 Speaker 1: And he sounds like an awesome dude. Did you hear that interview did on the radio the other day, Yeah, he sounds He sounds like a genuine fun guy and he had a lot to He had a lot to talk about too. I think one of the most important parts of this that he's heating up is the production. The Mariners have gotten out of the nine hole now. So JP Crawford at the beginning of the season was occupying that spot. But once the Mariners realized, I mean, oh shit, I think JP's a significantly better than hitting him the nine hole, It's hit him lead off. That's what they did. So since then, the combination against Righty's was Colton Long and Jose Cabierro out of that ninth spot. Colton Wong's w RC plus was I forgot to write it down about fifty. I think all this season it was pretty bad. It was pretty atrocious. And it was Jose Cabierro as well, who has a seventy nine WRC plus versus Righty's. Josh Ross has been significantly better in that short stretch against Rody's than that, and I think that alone lifts this offense up so much. When you're not getting any production in front of the top two hitters of your lineup. Down on that nine to zero, and all of a sudden, Josh Rojas is heating up and hitting the ball, and not just hitting it, he's hitting the ball hard as well. He's got a couple home runs after not hitting any in his first fifty nine games with the Diamondbacks. He did know he's coming over that, and he was working on a couple of things with a swing and trying to get better, and it seems like the Mariners helped him pay those things off. 00:16:37 Speaker 2: Colton Wong's WRC plus was thirty six. So yes, Josh Rojas is an improvement. 00:16:42 Speaker 1: Wow, Wow, I really oversold. Wow that wasn't even close. I should have known. Are we a shot? That home runn he hit right before he got cut. Didn't raise it any. 00:16:57 Speaker 2: Harder any just inflate it to the moon. 00:17:01 Speaker 1: Well, it probably was like thirty one and it what up to thirty six? So apples and apples and oranges. 00:17:09 Speaker 2: So we're now seeing exactly why Jerry Depoto and Justin Hollander worked so hard to have Josh Rojas in this trade package, right, because we kind of talked about it when the trade happened, and we were like, this is the guy they spent hours on end trying to include in this trade package to make it happen for Paul Seawald. I mean, some people scratch their heads at it just because he wasn't having a good year in Arizona. We're now seeing exactly why, right, because this is now two very reliable, productive utility guys you have moving forward for the foreseeable future, in both Dylan Moore and Josh Rojas. 00:17:41 Speaker 1: And just think about how much better the benches and we're talking about this Mariner's turnaround. I mean, think of are like, there's not a guy in this lineup that you're like, like, why are they hitting today? 00:17:55 Speaker 2: So in a day that Josh Rojas starts at second and an otherwise normal lineup right now, we're not counting Kellnick yet because he's not back from injury. Currently, the bench would be it would be Jose cabierro, it would be Dylan Moore, it would be I mean, I guess we can include say, if Tom Murphy's healthy Tom Murphy and if Kay Marlow's the odd man out in the outfield, then Marlowe Yeah, that's a really good bench. 00:18:19 Speaker 1: That is that that's versatility and production up and down that bench. It's so much different than AJ Pollock on your bench. 00:18:28 Speaker 2: That's what I was gonna say. It's a little different than a J. Pollock, Colton Long and Tommy Lostella. 00:18:33 Speaker 1: Yeah it is. And I think that's a huge part of this turnaround, Like you have so many good players on your roster, Like, think of just the difference it makes when you swap out your your anchors, your your your guys who are dragging you down with guys who are serviceable to good. It changes everything. And I don't you know, I don't know if it's a straight causation with the trade deadline and and and these guys, but they've helped a lot. They really have it. It's fascinating and we've been I've been a really big fan of what we've seen from Josh Rojas, even like starting rallies yesterday against the White Sox. They're in the ninth inning, Josh who started it. Kate Marlow strikes out to start the ninth inning, but Josh Ross went out and going on single boom and then the floodgates opened right after him and Mariners were that close to sweeping and winning nine in a row. 00:19:24 Speaker 2: He's been great. I should clarify, by the way, when I was given the example of the bench players, I threw Tom Murphy in there, and again he is hurt. Right now, it's currently Brian O'Keeffe, but assuming when Murphy gets a spot back, the guys I listed out is what the bench will look like. And as we just detailed, it's way better. Look at Rojas over his last eleven games. I don't think we've highlighted this yet. Three ninety five average, ten forty four ops, two bombs, fifteen hits, three walks, and three stolen bases. That's pretty good. 00:19:53 Speaker 1: That is pretty good for the ninth guy in your lineup or someone that might be on the bench these days. If you can pull a guy off the bench who's on a scorcher three ninety five over your last eleven games helps a lot. It does. And he's been a really nice find. And I think Jerry was as of now right right in getting him. And it's and it's nice to see the player, not the player that he was in Arizona this year, but the player they envisioned they were getting. This year now on their roster, and we can see why Jerry and Justin spent so much time, like you said, trying to get him. 00:20:24 Speaker 2: Last thing here I've got on Rojas, even his time in Seattle as a whole, his ops plus is one twenty and that's after having such a tough start in his first handful of games, one twenty ops plus. He's twenty percent above league average since joining the ball club. This is the guy they traded for, not the guy that was having a down year in Arizona. This Josh Rojas is what they saw and what they wanted and what they, like you said, envisioned he could be and now he's doing it. 00:20:51 Speaker 1: And when he also had a clutch single last week against Kansas City, forgot He's had two clutch moments so far. So that's good. That's good. Let's see, Oh last thing dog on Josh Rojas. Does he get ding it all because he laid down a perfect bunt. 00:21:08 Speaker 2: On this podcast? Yes, nobody should ever be dropping down bunts. 00:21:13 Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a pretty good butt. G'd score a run. But did we stand firm? We do? We do stand firm? 00:21:20 Speaker 2: Did you see Julio attempt to drop down a bunt. 00:21:22 Speaker 3: The other day. 00:21:24 Speaker 1: No, I must have missed it. 00:21:26 Speaker 2: You might have been out at football practice, to be fair, and the Mariners were playing a day game. I don't ever want to see that again, literally, ever, I do not ever want to see you attempt to drop down a bunt ever again. 00:21:38 Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, I still like that. No, all right, let's go down on the farm. While who you got this week? 00:21:47 Speaker 2: It's gotta be Tyler Locklear for me. Here's a guy that missed about two months because he had a wrist injury. He was hit by a pitch down in Everett. This is one of the mariners more hyped up prospects. They love his bat well. He just got promoted to this week. He got back healthy a couple weeks ago, played a few more games with the Aqua Socks. Now he's going to the Travelers. He's headed to Darkansas. And what a ridiculous sixty one games this dude had despite missing that time three zero five average this year twelve bombs nine to seventy one ops won sixty one WRC plus, so sixty one percent above league average. Down in high A, walked over thirteen percent of the time, struck out just above twenty one percent of the time. Get used to that here in this name, folks, because if you don't know him already, this could very well be the first basement of the Mariner's future. Yeah, let me say that again. Tyler Lockley could very well be the first basement of the Mariners future. And we may see him as early as next year in the big leagues. 00:22:44 Speaker 1: I would be shocked if we see him next year. It was really such a bummer when we saw him go out, but it's been nice that it really hasn't even dropped off at all since he came back. And Jerry said at the beginning of this year, yeah, we want to see Tyler and twenty twenty three three in Double A. Well, even despite missing two months of the injury, he's still in Double A, which is exactly where they want. He might take a little longer in Double A next year, but it all works out. That dude absolutely mashes the guys I have this week. I have three of them, actually, because they all got promoted together. Colt Emerson, ty Pete and Aiden Smith all draft picks, two first round picks and the fourth round pick for the Mariners this year going up to Medesto after raking through the Complex League. Here's some stat lines. Colt Emerson hit five thirty six in eight games. Ty Pete had a four to twenty nine on base percentage, drove in six runs. Aiden Smith a four to thirty three on base percentage, stole six bases, not through two triples as well. Good to see those guys in affiliated ball. I was hoping to list off one more name here, but he texted me and asked me earlier today about where Johnny Farmelo is. We don't know, but the other two picks are in Modesto now. 00:24:02 Speaker 2: He just hasn't played much yet. Hopefully we get some clarity on that soon. Are we starting to do a bit of a one to eighty on this draft class? Aka? Are we starting to feel a little different than we were on Draft night? Yet? 00:24:13 Speaker 1: What do you mean? 00:24:14 Speaker 3: Well? 00:24:14 Speaker 2: Remember how on draft night we wanted to see him take way more college bats and we thought the gap needed to be filled, and we talked to Joe Doyle about that on one of our recent podcast episodes. But look, I know they're only playing in the Complex League, but just seeing Emerson, seeing ty Pete, seeing Aidan Smith, I don't know I think they might have struck gold with some of these high school picks. 00:24:33 Speaker 1: Might have was eight games and the Complex League is done now that that's the reason they're moving up too. 00:24:39 Speaker 2: So oh of course, But. 00:24:42 Speaker 1: If cold Emerson goes out and hits four hundred in Modesto, let's revisit this conversation. 00:24:49 Speaker 2: I think that's fair and note on Aiden Smith. Obviously, the headliners of this are both cold Emerson and Typee because they were two of the three first rounders along with Barmelo. Jerry Depoto talked about Aiden Smith and he said, in a normal draft year, because they viewed this draft class as very deep, if not the deepest one ever, they felt like in a normal draft year, Aidan Smith would be a late first rounder. They love him, They got him in the fourth round, signed him, love his bat going up to Modesto now, so I think that's another name to circle along with the two first rounders that are moving up with them and Pete Emerson. 00:25:21 Speaker 1: How are you structuring this lineup now, in this Modesto lineup and on this roster, I mean, now you're gonna have to sort through Michael l'royal, Luis Sweetspell, Colt Emerson, Typete, Ben Williamson. He was just placed on the IL though, so I don't know if that counts Aiden Smith and then lazarro Montes. Mean, how's that getting shuffled up. That's a lot of star at bats. 00:25:44 Speaker 2: I don't know. But if you're listening to this podcast and you live somewhere in the California area, I would get out to Medesto and see some of those games. Because if I was anywhere near Modesto, California, despite it not exactly being a Hawaii esque location to go travel to, I would still go to see those guys play. One hundred percent. 00:26:03 Speaker 1: I would go very intriguing. Yeah, it's gonna be very excited to watch the nuts hero of the last prime month of the season. 00:26:11 Speaker 2: I can't wait. In the meantime, let's get to our MLB wrap around here. I think this first topic is gonna take up the bulk of the second, so let's dive into it. Let's talk about the big story of the week. Shohotani tears his ucl. He is done pitching for the year. He is seeking a second opinion. Oh boy, where do we want to start with this? 00:26:41 Speaker 1: Well, he's gonna keep hitting he's probably still gonna end up with fifty home runs. So actually, probably he will end up with fifty home runs. He might still even get the sixty home runs if he goes on a heater. He's gonna have a lot of time to focus on hitting now because he's not pitching the rest of this year. This stinks. This stinks in a no number of fronts. Do we want to start with the fact that it seemed like Otani has been fatigued a lot the last month and the Angels kept trotting him out there. Well, what is he left now? He left two starts early before this, and then this happens. 00:27:20 Speaker 2: I'm going to try to save Angels organization specific talk for later in this segment. So this first topic on the MLB wrap around is basically going to get broken into three parts. Here, I'm giving you the table of content table content, because yeah, this is going to be a little bit of a longer one. There's the Otani part, there's the Mariner's part, and then there's the Angel's part. So the first part being this Otani part, Yeah, it does seem like he was fatigued. It does seem like that he was being run out there and taken out of a lot of stars. I didn't think this was going to be the result, but you did worry about him a little bit because what he is doing, as we've talked about a million times, as the baseball world's talked about a million times, is nothing short of remarkable and unpreced it. The thing that slows show Heyo Tani down is not his opponents, it's the human body. The human body is that made to be doing what he's doing. Now he's done it because he is a unicorn and nearly a Greek god of baseball, where he has defied almost everything that makes sense logistically about playing the game. But it got to a point where finally something caught up to him and it was just too much on his body. 00:28:26 Speaker 1: And it stinks too, because if we want to get to the second kind of second part of this, because this counts, this puts. This changed the MLB off season, and one night of news, it absolutely changed the off season. Because Showe goes into the off season healthy, we have our guesses of what team he wants to go to, and we have our guesses of pretty much exactly what number he's gonna get. Now we don't know what really his market is. We don't know if teams are still going to pay his top market, or if he teams are gonna pay his health adjusted market, or if someone's gonna try it. He's only gonna want to say two year deal to hit free agency again in twenty twenty five with a healthy UCL and go back out and make twice the money as a two way player. So that's the question of the loaded question to present to you is how do we sift through all this. 00:29:23 Speaker 2: I guess there's a chance he could take a two year deal, But even if he does that, does that really open up more teams to get into play? Just in the sense of do his preferences really change? Does he really want to go to Tampa? Does he really want to go to Baltimore? I don't know. I understand that this injury now potentially puts smaller market teams into play, and I should say smaller market teams that are in a window of competition, because we know, above everything Otani wants to win. But I still don't know if he wants to fly across the country and play for one of those teams. I still think he wants to be on the West coast. It's just a matter of does he take a short term deal or a long term deal? 00:29:59 Speaker 1: And that's the big question. Now if you check our social media pages for what we now released yesterday of what Otani would take and what the Mariners could offer him this offseason, what are you offering him, Lyle, now that you know this medical information. 00:30:18 Speaker 2: If I'm the Mariners, I am giving Otani whatever he asks for. For me, nothing has changed. I am giving him a blank check and saying, tell us what you want, we'll give it to you. I'm taking the chance on him. 00:30:30 Speaker 1: So you made a couple of points with this one. The Mariners are expected to have about eight healthy starters next year that they will not need his services in the rotation. You think, barring health, they would not need his services in the rotation. So you're essentially paying a premium for him to DH this year, and probably good chunk of next year as sorry next year, and the good chunk of the year after that as well while he's rehabing, and then you work him back into the rotation and you expect by the end of twenty twenty five he's back to being a two way player. So that's what you're banking on with that. 00:31:06 Speaker 2: Yes, And just to make it clear, I'm not exaggerating when I say eight No, it is eight starters because here you go Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Logan, Gilbert, Bryce Miller, Brian Wu Robbie Ray when he gets back from his Tommy John recovery, Marco Gonzalez, and Emerson Hancock. Yeah, it's eight starters without Otani. Pitching depth is not the Mariner's issue. The other part of this, too, is which Otani is more valuable to the Mariners if you have to pick one, Otani the pitcher or Otani the hitter, because to me, this is not even close. 00:31:39 Speaker 1: It's Otani the hitter. 00:31:41 Speaker 2: Correct. Yeah, So there you go. If you want him to date more than you want him to pitch, which you do, not that you don't want him to pitch. He's a top five pitcher in the league when he's healthy, but the Mariners benefit more from him dhing than pitching. So if you pay him a premium and say we still believe in you, we still believe you can get back to the mound and back to the form you were at before the injury, and in the meantime, just hit. You still get his services until he's back on the mound. And also, I don't think it's gonna be the end of twenty twenty five if he gets Tommy john I bet you he doesn't pitch in twenty four. I don't see why he couldn't be back on the mound by opening day of twenty twenty five. 00:32:20 Speaker 1: We'll have to see. It is two Tommy John's in five seasons. If he was any sort of pitcher, just pitcher only, teams wouldn't touch him with a ten foot poll. Yeah they wouldn't. I mean that's what makes his bat valuable, of course, but pitching wise, teams would be like, yeah, I don't know if I'm interested in that. Seane McClanahan. Now is what to Tommy Johnson seven seasons? Right? 00:32:43 Speaker 5: That is? 00:32:43 Speaker 1: I mean, he's still in her contract because he's on his rookie deal. But teams are gonna be wary in free agency with Seane McClanahan now that they know his injury history. I don't. I don't know, well, I don't know if Shoeo Tani's ever gonna be the pitcher he was again. If now that we know this is what his elbow has to go through, has gone through, and the kind of strain that he puts him puts on himself. I think it's interesting. I thought that. I think this offseason overnight got a million times more intriguing. I think there are gonna be more teams in it. I think the deals will be shorter. I think they're gonna be more complicated. And I don't necessarily know if it worked out in the mariners favor, because we thought the way it was it is going about as well as possible for the Mariners. There's gonna be two teams offering him ten year contracts that he would consider. Now, if he only wants a short term deal, he's not tied down anywhere that he doesn't want to be. 00:33:37 Speaker 2: But again, if it's the West Coast, which he it seems like he does want to be. I feel like it's still a short list of teams. So originally we thought it's gonna be the Dodgers and the Mariners. It's gonna be down to those two teams. We said maybe the Giants would be in it. Now if there's a shorter deal, who else does that include? Maybe the Padres. I still don't think the list of teams goes crazy by any stretch. Again, I don't think he's gonna be siding with the Race or the Orioles. I really don't. 00:34:02 Speaker 1: I guess that's a question we're gonna have to tackle in the offseason. We will have plenty of time to discuss all of these in the offseason. Regardless, show Hey will not pitch again this season, and we were gonna see what his pitching's gonna look like when he comes back. Now his second Tommy John in five seasons in Major League Baseball. Now, I don't want to forget this last part because this might be the best part of this entire storyline. So, with all this news coming out about show Hey and how the Angels are treating their players. By the way, now, if you would notice the angels top three star players all on the injured list or not not on the ange list, Trout, by the way, back on the injured list, which is the second tiny little note of the storyline. Mike Trout came back for one day and now is back on the IL, and Anthony Rendon they can't seem to track him down to see what an update is for his injury. So with all this going down and show show Hey, by the way, not on the aisle. There's some ex Angels coming out telling some stories. I would say, Lyle, do you want to dive into these? 00:35:04 Speaker 2: CJ. Wilson tweets. 00:35:06 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I do. Which one should we start with? I think we should start with he tweeted two days ago on Wednesday, when all this Otani I think I actually know. It was the day before the Otana news was coming out and someone was asking do you remember exactly what they were asking him about? 00:35:30 Speaker 2: It was something along the lines of Arreadie Moreno and the Angels franchise, and CJ. Wilson took it upon himself to reply on Twitter and air out all the laundry, and he said they told Albert Pooholes they would not get him the specific treadmill that he wanted. So it's like, yeah, Albert Pooholes, sure we'll sign you this two hundred plus million dollar contract. Oh, but that three thousand dollars treadmill you wanted. No, Nope, you don't get it. 00:35:57 Speaker 1: That's absurd. And as you remember, who else's big injury with the Angels was plantar fasciitis. Couldn't walk, couldn't run and to think that a treadmill might have helped him out a little bit, maybe have really catered to your player, and they decided they would rather just not spend the money. And this has been the story of Arti Marino his entire tenure as Angels owner. Right. He like, he will spend big money on big name players, but then he'll cheapen out when it comes to other parts of his organization. It's well documented online, YouTube articles, whatever, you can go look it up. I mean, it is something that is well versed. That's not the only thing that CJ. Wilson leaked out. Someone responded to him and said, please tell us more so we can report Arty to the FBI. So CJ then comes in and says something that I cannot believe is real, but it is. There was no breakfast served at spring training until the second we of spring training in twenty twelve, and no weight room in spring training until twenty thirteen. Coming from Texas, he says, where fitness was one hundred percent expected, it was shocking how lazy they expected players to be. He responded to that tweet and said, imagine telling players just run really hard to first base and you'll be in great shape. He followed that up with his final tweet, saying, imagine telling players to be physically ready for eight a m workouts by quote stopping at Chick fil a if you need to eat IDK TJ. 00:37:38 Speaker 2: I've got to take here, and it's a one liner for you. You let me know if this is a banger or not. The two worst franchises in Major League Baseball reside in the Al West, and neither of them are the Seattle Mariners. 00:37:52 Speaker 1: And that's a that's quite a statement. Wow, Am I wrong? No? I mean they've they've cleaned up their image recently, but you know, you could argue the three worst, but I digress at this very point. Probably not. There are some other ones, the Rockies, Uh, you can pick more of the Pirates. But yeah, that's that sounds right like. 00:38:25 Speaker 2: This whole fiasco with the Angels the last few years is just nuts. Between all these stories you hear about Artie Moreno, I mean fans probably were thrilled when they heard he was gonna sell the team and then took that statement back and decided not to. But between this between they cannot capitalize with any of the players that they have. Between all these stories that, Yeah, that CJ. Wilson's telling about poor player treatment and lack of lack of aggressiveness and urgency to win. It's it's astounding. It's it's seriously astounding that they cannot figure this out, especially with the two best players in the world on one team. It's seriously ridiculous. 00:39:08 Speaker 1: Or the civil fact of it's just like giving a shit about the health of your players. Yeah, Like, I think it's pretty simple that did you know the funny part about yesterday's date of when the Otani injury was announced? Yesterday was the one year anniversary already announced he was going to sell the team incredible, seriously, and then one year later, after he retracts his statement, Otani tears his UCLF for a second time as an Angel. Mike Trout, after spending weeks on the injured list, comes back for one day, goes back on the injured list, and the Angels lose both games with the doubleheader to the Cincinnati Reds. 00:39:46 Speaker 2: Oh. And there's just all these things about the Angels too. I mean, their attendance is nowhere near as good as it should be. 00:39:55 Speaker 4: There. 00:39:55 Speaker 2: They've got all these things about their organization too, like their broadcast is not well set. It feels like Bally's Sports West or whatever the name of the LA Travel No like it's it's an unstable it's an unstable broadcast deal. They don't put money into it, they don't put effort into it, and there's a lack of product on the field. And oh, by the way, I'm not here to definitively say one thing or another, but it is a little interesting that shoe Hee Otani was clearly injured for weeks here, and the Angels just decided we're not gonna shut him down. We're not gonna preserve his health. No, we don't care. We're gonna milk every bounce of baseball that we can get out of him because he's a free agent at the end of the year. And truthfully, I don't know how much blame they share in destroying that arm of his, but clearly they deserve a little bit. 00:40:49 Speaker 1: Oh and not to trade him too. 00:40:52 Speaker 2: So now you have no farm, you are gonna have no Otani. Rendona is never healthy, You've still got a ton of money on the books. You're not going to be winning baseball games. Like this is what I meant about them compared to the Aids. They're not gonna be the Oakland A's, but they're not going to be that far off in terms of games that they win. I don't know how this team is going to have a single winning season at any point in the next five years. 00:41:16 Speaker 1: And like a fifth of their roster right now or rental free agents that have negative wars in state aquart of them. Have you seen You've seen the numbers on the guys they acquired. I actually should have kept the track of that, but in summary, every guy they've acquired at the deadline as a rental has been an abject disaster, not just bad a disaster. 00:41:41 Speaker 2: If I Mike Trout, it's time to demand a trade. We've talked about this on the podcast before, and now that Otani's inch and closer to free agency, if he has any urgency to try to build his legacy up a little bit, it's time to demand a trade. Otani's gonna be gone. This franchise has no future for the next five to ten years. You're locked into that contract. I know you probably like Anaheim, I know you're probably comfortable there, but do you care at all about your legacy? Does it ever bother you Mike Trout that you have had twelve postseason at bats and have not been in the playoffs since twenty fourteen because of your answers. Yes, then get off that team because it's not happening in Anaheim. Like demand to trade already. I'm not saying you have to demand to trade to the Mariners, go to the Phillies, like go home to Philly, do something, but get off that team already and save your legacy. 00:42:30 Speaker 1: Please we beg of you, Mike Trout. Also, please leave the American League West. 00:42:36 Speaker 2: Thank you that that too. 00:42:38 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, man. Let's get to our next wrap round topic. That was really good, lyle, that was good. I think that's the deepest we've ever gone on a wrap round topic. Let's get to some rumors that came around this week. What why is Pete Alonso on the trade block? 00:42:56 Speaker 2: I don't think he should be. How can the Mets afford to trade this guy? I know there in a rebuild right now, but you've got to have some stable pieces to be able to augment up and coming young prospects, and you have lind Or locked into a big contract. You would think you'd want to extend Peede Alonzo, especially when your owner Steve Cohen, But yet there's rumors out there that they would ship them away. 00:43:20 Speaker 1: And there's some really odd things about these rumors. First of all, it was the I think it was the Brewers who like leaking stuff out of their front office. And the the funniest thing about this, like the year and a half of Peter Alonzo, who's just smashes so many home runs that they weren't even going to include their number two, the number two prospect in baseball, Jackson Curio in this deal. That was like rumored he wasn't even a prospect that was being thrown around, which I was like, you're gonna trade you trade Peede Alonso not even get their number one guy back. That's kind of weird. Second of off you mentioned Steve Cohen, Like Steve Cohen has endless piles of cash to pay players endless you're telling me he can't afford something like the one sixty eight Matt Olsen god or the six for one sixty two Freddy Freeman got You tell me that's not too much. When we saw some of the numbers he was thrown around this offseason, it was absurd. And you're telling me Pete Alonso is not worth that. 00:44:15 Speaker 2: So a little bit of a foreshadowing for you guys. We had an awesome guest on for this upcoming Wednesday show, Jolly Alive from John Boy Media, and we talked with him a little bit about this, and I didn't even realize it till he brought it up. He's a big Mets guy. Peet Alonzo has a chance to shatter Mets franchise records if he stays there for an extended period of time. This is the face of the franchise. I mean, I know Lindor has the big contract and he's the shortstop. When I think of the New York Mets, the first guy I do think of is Pete Alonzo. You've got to keep him around. You have to keep this guy at first base for the foreseeable future, especially when you have as much money as Steve Cohen does. So if you've got a chance to be that impactful on a franchise long term and he's not slowing down anytime soon, yeah, You've got to them. What are they waiting for? Why Why are they even letting these trade rumors get out there, get in front of us and extend them. 00:45:06 Speaker 1: I don't know why they even considered selling them off in the first place, Like, I don't get it. Especially said, okay, so our window they said, our window is going to be twenty twenty five. Is that roster sans Pete Alonso a twenty twenty five competitor, I don't think so. Not the lineup. 00:45:25 Speaker 2: I think it's gonna take a little longer than that. There's pieces in the lineup. You've got Lindor, You've got Brandon Nemo, You've got Pete Alonzo, You've got Francisco Alvarez, and if Jeff McNeil turns it around at some point, you've got McNeil. But that is a little bit aggressive, considering everything you just traded away and clearly needing some young arms here in the future moving forward to go along with code is Sanga, because they need arms if they're gonna compete. Now they have bats, and there should be more bats on the way with some of the guys that got back over the trade deadline. But I think twenty twenty five is a little bit of aggressive to expect the Mets to be a World Series can tender. 00:46:01 Speaker 1: Also major hot seat for Pete Alonzo dis not related to this, he chucked Mason Win's first hit into the stands, got a good look for him. What on earth was he thinking? 00:46:13 Speaker 2: I know he made up for it afterward and he said, I honestly just kind of blanked and wasn't thinking about it for a second and he ended up getting Mason when what a nice bottle of liquor of Jack Daniels or something, right. 00:46:27 Speaker 1: I think? So, yeah, he was saying he was like looking towards the Cardinals dugout and like waving the ball, and no one looked at him. So he's like, all right, fuck it just into the stands. And if I was a fan, I know exactly like you want to, like you obviously want Mason Won to get his ball back, but you know your negotiating power because you know they need that ball. 00:46:46 Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean remember when Ellie de la Cruz hit his first home run and everything that kid got after the home run was hit him and all of his friends got pictures with Ellie and signed balls and apparel. I mean, he really negotiated a deal. So yeah, if you get a players first big league hit, especially if it's a blue chip prospect the way Ellie was, or honestly the way. Even Mason Winn is, Oh, yeah, you can get something back in return. I don't know that the image of that image of Peter A. Lonzo was so hilarious. Maybe he was really looking at the Cardinals dugout, but man, it looked like he was almost teasing the Cardinals, like, oh, you want the ball, You want the ball? Nope, I'm chucking it into the stands now. Again, he did clarify things postgame afterward and said that was not my intention, and he made up for it. He gave Way a few gifts again. He gave him a big bottle of hard alcohol. I forget what exactly the brand was, but he made up for it, and Win said it was all good. He got the ball back. But man, that was not a good look for Peter Alonzo at first glance. 00:47:44 Speaker 1: It was funny, That's what I'll say. It was pretty funny. 00:47:47 Speaker 2: It was. And there's a lot of people out there that do not like Pee Alonso. And if you're one of those people, you were probably jumping for joy when you saw that because it was content Galaura on Twitter that night. 00:47:58 Speaker 1: I think it relates to our next storyline here, speaking of people who don't like Pete Alonzo. 00:48:05 Speaker 2: That entire team down in Atlanta, because let me tell you what, TJ. The Braves never lose. 00:48:11 Speaker 1: No, they don't. What a wagon, What a wagon they are. It's it's incredible. I was so happy that we chose the storyline because it actually let me go dive in a little bit and look at this. Mike Petriella, by the way of MLB dot Com, wrote an excellent piece on this very subject, on the Atlanta Braves and some of their strengths this season, and there are some fascinating things. Here's a stat for you, Lyle, if you want to realize how good this Braves lineup is. So he did this something I would never think of. He went through when he looked at how many played appearances do the Braves give to guys who are not who are non productive big league hitters. He qualifies a non productive big league hitter as less than a ninety five WRC plus. The Atlanta Braves are the second best team since nineteen twenty in terms of giving plate appearances to productive big league hitters. Only eight percent of their plate appearances they've given this year are to non productive hitters, second best all time behind the eighty four Tigers ahead of the two thousand and three Red Sox. It's a pretty good group. 00:49:21 Speaker 2: It's a ridiculous group. Here's what the Braves lead in as a team in terms of offense this year, the Braves lead baseball in batting average, home runs, RBIs, runs on base percentage, slugging, ops, hits, WRC plus, wOBA, and war. Is there a category we missed that they're not leading in? The Reds lead and stolen bases. That's it. The Braves lead in everything else. This is insane. This is absolutely insane. 00:49:52 Speaker 1: This is one of the more complete offenses we've ever seen. Really. I mean, in twenty nineteen we saw the homer heavy offenses with the Jews, but you know, this is a little bit more of a dead and baseball and this unit is still you know, they are one solid September away from giving the Twins and Yankees a run for the record. It's like they're getting closer. Are two thirty nine right now as of when I wrote these down, they already have seven twenty home run hitters. I mean a team slash run of two seventy four three forty four four ninety nine. As a team. 00:50:26 Speaker 2: What does it say about your offense when the worst hitter in the lineup by WRC plus among regular starters is the reigning National League rookie of the Year, Michael Harris technically is having a little bit of a sophomore slub, a little bit just compared to his first season. This WRC plus is still one oh six, and that's the worst hitter in your lineup. 00:50:48 Speaker 1: Yeah, they and they do things like they also jump on you fast. They've scored the most runs in the first inning of any team in baseball, more than three times as many as the last place team, the New York Mets. What else, there's a nineteen twenty seven Yankee stat in here that actually want to throw out. If I can, I must have not saved it. That's sad. Oh No, I have it here. Okay, best slugging percentage above league average. So we love using our plus stats right where plus puts everything on a one hundred scale, and one hundred is league average. So if we take league slugging and put it on a one hundred scale, we get slugging plus. The number one slugging plus team of all time. It's the twenty twenty three Atlanta Braves as a team ahead of ready the nineteen twenty seven New York Yankees. 00:51:42 Speaker 2: What's the nickname for the Braves offense? Going to be twenty seven Yankees and murderers row? What do you want to call the Braves offense? 00:51:48 Speaker 1: Mean something with a chop something? 00:51:52 Speaker 2: Is there a scenario where this team does not win the World Series? I know baseball can be fluky and October gets crazy, but could this team really get bounced out of the postseason? 00:52:06 Speaker 1: Probably be their rotation. I think like the rotation's good. Would you say the rotation is like elite elite? I wouldn't say so. 00:52:15 Speaker 2: Still a top ten group by the numbers. Now it does lack a little bit of depth. But if you can ride Streider, Morton and Bryce Elder through October, they're set. And by the way, their bullpen group is a top five groups. So pick your poison. 00:52:31 Speaker 1: Yeah. People said the same things about the oe Ms too, unfortunately, So I mean that would probably be my only nitpick. Here's the Mariners related stat I was going to toss at you, so I did mention that lowest rate of play it appearances by non productive hitters in baseball. So that was all time the list I gave you. If we take a look the look at the one this year, the Braves are obviously number one in terms of giving plate appearances to productive hitters. The Rangers are number two. Not surprising, the Mariners are number three on that list. 00:53:08 Speaker 2: What did you do when you saw that? 00:53:11 Speaker 1: I said, that cannot be right. I've watched too many plate appearances of AJ Pollock and Colton Long to believe that stat. There's no way that's true. But according to that they are third. 00:53:26 Speaker 2: It's pretty incredible, and even throw those guys out of it, just considering how tough the offense has looked for so much of the year. It's kind of hard to believe that stat. But here we said, I know, we kind of sit here and joke about, Oh, that can't be true. That can't be true. Well, the numbers sit right in front of us, so I guess we're wrong. 00:53:46 Speaker 1: Crazy. But this is such a historic year for the Braves. It really is. I would be floored if they don't win the World Series. It would be a disappointment if they did didn't. I mean that's their expectation. I mean, they're running away with the division. They have very little push back in the division. They're gonna get the buye. They have the best record in you do have the best record in baseball, and you know they have. They're probably gonna have better hitting and better pitching than every team they face until they get to the World Series. 00:54:17 Speaker 2: Maybe the Mariners pitching can match up with them, but they'd have to get there first. 00:54:22 Speaker 1: If we're talking about like this current iteration of the Mariners, man, I mean, we're talking about how they match up, like will probably sound absolutely insane, and you're probably right. Like, both lineups are hitting, Both lineups have lots of deep lineups of productive hitters. Both bullpens are good. Both rotations strike a shit ton of guys out and are very productive. Like, it's more similar than you think. 00:54:50 Speaker 2: That be a hell of a World Series. Now, the Braves obviously would have the offensive edge. I think the Mariners would have the edge in the rotation. But that would be a hell of a World Series. And I'll tell what I like, I don't know who's stopping the Braves. In the National League. The team with the best chance is probably the Dodgers, But I don't think this is anywhere close to the best Dodgers roster we've seen a long time. I think this is one of their weaker rosters in a long time. Now that's perspective because they're still having a great year, but I don't win games. Yeah, but when you just look at it up and down one through twenty six, I don't think they match up with the Braves offensively. I mean, their rotation's taking a bunch of hits this year. They're expected to get Walker Buehler back. Is he gonna look like prime Walker Buehler fresh off of Tommy John and like three weeks later they tell him hego pitching the postseason. I don't know. Urias has struggled, Kershaw has been hurt. And that's the team that most imposes the Braves in the National League. If the Braves do not make at least make the World Series, that's a big letdown, bigger than the way they lost last year. 00:55:51 Speaker 1: That's a big failure. Final note here in the wrap round news broke earlier today, Steven Strasburg is retiring. Wow, three uh four years into his seven year, two hundred and forty five million dollar contract with the Nationals. 00:56:06 Speaker 2: Most hyped up number one pick ever question mark? 00:56:09 Speaker 1: Yeah, Yes, most hype prospect probably ever. 00:56:13 Speaker 2: Never forget folks, for people that think TJ and I don't know our Mariner's history. Let's flash back in time a little bit. The Mariners entering the last day of the season in two thousand and eight, would had a chance to get Steven Strasburg had they lost that game. They were losing that game on game one sixty two. Now you would think at this point, just throw the towel and lose to get Stephen Strasburg. They come back and win. No Strasburg, they get Dustin Aclee instead. That's a true story. The Mariors lose that game that day, they get Steven Strasburg and staid they don't have them, And I shed a tear. Oh you want to hear a funny story. 00:56:54 Speaker 1: I just this Just I love stories. 00:56:56 Speaker 2: This just sparked a memory in my head. So my family and I used to go to Marinis FanFest every year, especially when I was a kid. I just loved it, obviously, And they used to have these Q and A sessions. They do it with players, they do it with some of the coaches. They had one with Jacks Lorenzick at one point. I'm ten eleven years old at this point and kids are asking just random questions. There's some adults that ask them questions, and it's just supposed to be lighthearted, right, And my dad takes me up to the usher who's giving the mic out to people who want to ask a question. And my dad told them how my kid wants to ask a question. So they said, okay, like get in line, and here you go. They get up to me. Jacks Lorenzi's looking at this ten eleven year old kid, and what do I say in the mic? TJ I look at Jacksonenzick and say, what are the odds? The Mariners get Steven Strasburg and Forenzic was like taken back. He's like, this kid's like ten years old. Like he's like, well, he goes just to kind of for reference that for people that don't know Steven Strasburg, he's a picture that's gonna be a prospect in this year's draft and we'll see how everything shakes out, and blah blah blah, Like I don't know. My dad always thought that was a funny story. He was like, Jackson Enzick was totally taken a back. He's like, let's this ten year old kid doing asking hard hitting questions and yeah, that just sparked a memory. 00:58:16 Speaker 1: So that was a heartwarming story. Low, I'm really twins the heart strings. But now we sit here and think, did the Nationals make the right decision with their free agents signing? This really tough question if you forget after the twenty nineteen World Series championship, Washington National Team they had two key free agents and they're only gonna sign one of them. One was Anthony Rendon, one was Steven Strasburg, which was the better sign. 00:58:47 Speaker 2: They should have signed neither of them and taken all that money and given it to Juan Soto. 00:58:51 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, probably yep oo yeah. 00:58:56 Speaker 2: It look yeah, we I mean, we got to give Steven Strasburg's credit here. He was one of the best postseason pitchers ever. He is a huge reason the Nationals won that twenty nineteen World Series, and his prime years were just absolutely ridiculous. But the second half of his career and that contract he got after the World Series has not panned out. But it panned out for Steven Strasburg because he's still getting all that money. 00:59:20 Speaker 1: Yeah he is. That contract's not insured. I don't believe thirty and two thirds innings for two hundred and forty five million dollars. Where do I sign the dotted line? Where do I do it? 00:59:35 Speaker 2: And to buy the numbers? Give Strasburg as proper credit five to zero. In the postseason one nine nine to four Whip, he was awesome, Like that guy in his prime was really really good. 00:59:47 Speaker 1: Now will Anthony Reddone retire before his contract's up? 00:59:52 Speaker 2: He's gonna say the media forced them into retirement. 00:59:56 Speaker 1: Yeah. I did see a tweet on Twitter that someone was like or not convinced Anthony or Rendon actually likes playing baseball, which you know these years are selling me on him a little bit more. 01:00:10 Speaker 2: Again, how did this guy go from being a fan favorite in DC one of the most unlikable players in baseball? The turnaround of this it's nuts. 01:00:17 Speaker 1: Maybe he's sick of already. Maybe oh, this is his hard and fat suit moment. 01:00:25 Speaker 2: He's gonna request to trade out and then going back to and then go back to being prime Anthony Rendon. Yeah, from every from everything we can tell Rendon, I mean, we've talked about this before. It's just been a nightmare for people in LA I mean, this has been a this has been a thing for weeks now that reporters ask all the time, like where in the world is rent and Dome and nobody knows. Phil Nevian has to give some cryptic answer because nobody has any idea. People haven't seen him. 01:00:50 Speaker 1: In weeks, And I think the quote I saw was Anthony like, the only people who actually know what's up with Anthony Rendon is Anthony Rendon and he refuses to tell anybody, which is just great communication. Like we say, dog, it goes for the top down of the Angels organization, It really does. Well. 01:01:09 Speaker 2: That was a good MLB wrap around this week. 01:01:11 Speaker 1: That was that was of our That was one of our better ones. 01:01:14 Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a bunch of stuff to dive into, but we do still have a couple of segments. Let's get to our Russell Wilson Umpire of the week here. We'll do it pretty quickly. But a man who has appeared regularly on this segment, TJ takes on the crown again, doesn't. 01:01:28 Speaker 1: He congrats to Las da has Let's go. So he had a game it was twins Pirates over the weekend. He managed he was behind the plane. He managed to miss twenty calls, four of them being strikeouts. Sixteen of those calls went against the Pittsburgh Pirates. I would be fucking pissed if if I was a member of the Pittsburgh Paris organization. So on the umpire scorecards they have expected runs given taken for the calls and the impact they have. He gave nearly a full run to the Twins in a one to nothing game. Incredible or sorry, it was a two nothing game, but still close enough. 01:02:13 Speaker 2: A full run, dude, a full run decided by the umpire. And by the way, the video of this was actually worse than just the scorecard because when you look at what the balls and strikes calls were looking like in that game, Oh lads, Diaz was missing calls six inches off the plate. There were some egregious ones that I saw on Twitter during that game. Terrible. 01:02:36 Speaker 1: Another good account to follow is umpire Auditor. We talk about umpire scorecards all the time, but umpire Auditor actually has all the clips of these bad calls. And this person whoever runs this account goes through and watches all these terrible performance, terrible performances, cuts it up and puts it online. And this person said his stats are terrible, but somehow the video looks even worse. This was one of the worst games I've ever seen for someone who's who is hobby or job it is to look at all these shitty umpires. So that's saying something. 01:03:11 Speaker 2: How many times have we said it? The two poster boys for bad umpires C B. Buckner, Angel, Hernandez, those are the top two, the two everybody thinks about lads. Diaz is a step below. He's not far below either. He's not quite universally known the way Buckner and Angel are, but he's not far off. 01:03:29 Speaker 1: If you're an umpire and we know your name, it's not a good. 01:03:32 Speaker 2: Thing unless you're Pat Hoberg because he is legitimately awesome behind the plane. He's the one umpire who I basically will not slander because he is about as good as it gets. 01:03:41 Speaker 1: It's funny the umpires who actually have to keep their job are the ones who actually do well. 01:03:45 Speaker 2: Hm hm, it's weird. 01:03:47 Speaker 1: It makes you think that's that is weird, right? Interesting? Okay, Well, with that tinfoil hat moment, let's get to speak your mind. Speak your mind spot. 01:04:00 Speaker 5: That would be unwise. 01:04:02 Speaker 1: What is necessary is never unwise. What's on your mind today? 01:04:08 Speaker 2: Can't wait? For college football to be back. We're days away. By the time this podcast gets released, it'll be one day away, Saturday week zero. Who We're back. We're baseball fans through and through. It's both TJ and i's number one sport. But when we get into the September October months, it might be my favorite time of the entire year because you've got end of regular season slash playoff baseball, the best baseball of the year, NFL football, and college football. It's that time of the year where you basically stop making plans. It's like, oh, what are my weekend plans? Well, I'm gonna watch football all weekend, and when the playoffs are on, watch the playoffs, and then during the week watch a bunch of baseball. Watch Monday night football, watch Thursday night football. Your nights are always filled. 01:04:53 Speaker 1: And ESPN absolutely crushed their music promo this year, What's Something Real by Post Malone. Oh, they rushed it. It was really good. Yeah, I'm looking forward to It also means my schedule gets way way busier as Oregon State's final season of potentially final season of Power Five conference play makes it all that more interesting to say the least, But I'm looking forward to college football too. It's gonna be an exciting season. Can somebody besides Georgia win Police? I like, is there gonna be a game within fourteen points for them this year? 01:05:27 Speaker 2: That'd be nice. They did lose some guys, a lot of guys. 01:05:31 Speaker 1: Actually, yeah, didn't they have the number one recruiting class too. 01:05:35 Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm just trying to find some sort of silver lining here, even if there's not really one. But I'm still excited for college football to be back because college football is awesome. I'm with you. ESPN did crush the song. I mean, we both love post Malone. In other hours we both really like so Yeah, I can't wait to hear that every Saturday a bunch. It won't get old, It'll be good. 01:05:56 Speaker 1: Okay, my speak your mind this week. I wanted it at this point to be a review, but I feel like not enough people have watched it yet since it came out, it has been out for less than forty eight hours. New Ahsoka series on Disney plus Star Wars. Oh boy, baby, I've been looking forward to this show for quite a long time and it's finally out. It came out yesterday, and this is me saying I'm excited to watch it. I cannot watch it last night, so I think we're gonna save our review for next week. I did tell you though, I'm so excited for the show when they announced it and finally get to watch it, and I'm gonna be here tonight and watch two episodes. 01:06:34 Speaker 2: By the time our next Friday show comes out, we'll have both watched it, we'll be up to date, and we'll certainly have a review because I can't wait too. You're probably a little bit more excited than I am, but I can't wait to watch. 01:06:43 Speaker 1: It, and I think we'd be spoiling it for less of the audience too, because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who might be interested or just hasn't had time to watch it, which I understand. They released it in the middle of the week, and for any of those who want to be a little more invested in it in go watching the Star Wars Rebels television show and Disney Plus it is for kids. It is a little kitty, but it's Star Wars cartoon shows are pretty pretty solid, I would say, and it gives a lot of backstory into what they're gonna be talking about in this show, So go do that. 01:07:17 Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't wait. I you're right that maybe not everybody's watched it yet, But you know what, by the time we talk about it on the next show, if you haven't watched episode one a week and a half after it came out, at that point, you're just gonna have to put on the ear mups and avoid spoilers because next week we are going to talk about it and break it down. Yeah. On a scale of one to ten, how excited are you? 01:07:39 Speaker 1: Fifteen? 01:07:40 Speaker 2: Woof? 01:07:41 Speaker 1: Yeah? 01:07:41 Speaker 2: Is this the most you've been excited for a Star Wars show above any of the others. 01:07:46 Speaker 1: I was pretty excited for Kenoby, to be honest, and I thought the first watch through Kenoby was great. Second time I watched it, there was like, h it's okay. It was a little short man, because I don't think I was this excited for and Or. I think and was our thing that like slowly built up, and by the time it was over, I mean, you were like, holy shit, this show is amazing. 01:08:06 Speaker 2: Oh. And the first three or four episodes of and Or, I was very underwhelmed. I was like, this kind of is not great, Like I'm still gonna watch it, but I'm very uninvested, and then by the end I was like, Okay, yeah, this is really good. 01:08:19 Speaker 1: In terms of the last calendar year, I would say Palace of the Dragon was number one. This might be number two. To be honest, I would say, so you're fired up. I'm I am pretty fired up. I think it's I think it's gonna be great. It's gonna be liked, because the problem with Kenobi is like they were they were trying to just make a short story. There was no like the background was in the movies, and they were trying to send it off, so nothing got ruined in the middle three movies of the Star Wars set of nine, the first trilogy, the first trilogy that came out, But this has like like a I forget when Rebels first came out, but I'm gonnay like decade, like a decade of or actually probably more because there's legend stuff in here too, but decades of backstory leading up to the series of things that can happen and characters that we'll see and all these things. And you know, I've spent a lot of time learning all this stuff to finally have a payoff and do a live action television show is pretty exciting. It's pretty exciting. It's good to get the cartoon characters that you watch in Clone Wars and Rebels out into live action. So that's probably the part I'm most excited about. 01:09:25 Speaker 2: To our listeners that are Star Wars fans, make sure to watch next Friday show. Tune back in and you can follow along right with us because we'll be talking about it and TJ and I cannot wait. I think that just about wraps up this edition of the Marine Layer podcast. You guys know the drill. If you want to listen to the full form podcast, you can do so on Apple, Spotify, Google, or Amazon. That's the audio side. If you do that, make sure to follow us download the episode and give us that five star review. Five star review, and the download really helps us out, so make sure to go do that. Go to the video side too, guys and check us out on YouTube, and if you do that, hit subscribe, like comment, turn the notification bells on that way, you know when we post. And then if you head to social media, which as you know, we are always active, always doing unique content, you can find us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube shorts at Marine Layer pot that's TJ. I'm Lyle. As always with thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon.