Episode 62: Building A Mariners' Offseason Wish List

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to episode number sixty two of the Marine Layer Podcast. We have our Mariners off season wish lists. Both Lyle and I have put together what we want the Mariners to go after this offseason and we will discuss. We have a short MLB wrap round some playoff games being played this week, and we'll also close out the show with Speak Your Mind. 00:00:22 Speaker 2: This show is brought to you by Pigatcha's Pub eighty five. Pagatcha's Pub eighty five in Kirkland. It's just east of four oh five. There's plenty of room to park and by the way, once you get in, guys, it's one of the best places you can hang out. You want to watch the MLB playoffs, go over to Pagatcha's Pub eighty five and do it. There's twenty two TVs in the place, so if there's games overlapping, you can put games on multiple TVs. You can sit back and watch, you can eat some great food. They've got some great pizza. They also have some great drinks and if you want to go get some great food and some great drinks, especially during the weekday. By the way, well, they've got some happy hours. Happy hour is Monday through Friday two to six pm. And they've got some like three dollars domestic Beers, four dollars, Manny's Blue Moons, four dollars mac and Jack's, four dollars Wells and four dollar house line. So go check it out, Pigatcha's Pub eighty five and Kirkland. We really can't recommend it enough. And before we start the show, you're a reminder to check us out on our audio platforms, Apple, Spotify, Google and Amazon. Follow us download, leave us a five star review. The reviews and the downloads help us out a tons, So just take a couple extra seconds and do that. Then watch us on YouTube video side of the podcast like comment, subscribe, turn the notification bells on over there. And on social media, we promised we'll be active all off season. We've already started Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube shorts at Marine Layer Pod. 00:01:44 Speaker 3: Let's get it rolling. 00:01:57 Speaker 1: And we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer pot Cast, part of the Just Baseball podcast network, recording here on Thursday, October fifth. 00:02:06 Speaker 3: Has the dust settled yet settling? 00:02:10 Speaker 2: I think it's getting better and better here? What about you? 00:02:14 Speaker 3: Day by day? 00:02:15 Speaker 1: I think it's settling a little bit here at the start, I think we are going to discuss just. 00:02:20 Speaker 3: A little bit. Jerry went on the radio today. 00:02:22 Speaker 1: To clear up what he was talking about on Tuesday in his postseason press conference. And he went on Seattle Sports Today to a apologize for using a bad choice of words, is what he put it, and trying to clarify what exactly he said in the press conference setting on Tuesday. And both you and I listened to the entire thing of what Jerry said, and I thought he said the right thing. 00:02:51 Speaker 3: That's what he was supposed to say. 00:02:53 Speaker 1: Is the leader of this organization, as the leader of the president of baseball operations for the Mariners, That's what he would supposed to say. And now my thing next for Jerry is it matters what he does next. 00:03:08 Speaker 2: Look, the damage had already been done, right. People were upset he said what he said in the Tuesday press conference. And you and I differed on opinion about this a little bit in terms of could he go on the radio and make up for the things he said by taking back his words. What I think is he cannot fully take back what he said. But I absolutely do think what he did on the radio here on Thursday, did some damage control. It's not perfect. He can't go back in time. But the things he said today along the lines of he felt embarrassed, he understands why the fans had so much outcry, he understands why they have so much passion to win, and he understands that the goal of this team should be to win every single year. And he said, look, our goal is not to win fifty four percent of our games. It came out wrong. So I think for the time being, what Jerry said was what he was supposed to say. Ultimately, what it's going to come down to is he's going to have to execute and improve this roster significantly this offseason. That's what people will be watching for. However, for the time being, I think he did the right things. I think it was necessary he went on the radio to take back those words, and now we let the off season start. 00:04:17 Speaker 3: He's not gonna get everyone to forgive him. 00:04:19 Speaker 1: I think where you and I differed the most, it's like, Jerry's gonna go on the radio and he'll make everything right. And I was like, well, I don't think he's gonna make everything right in most people's eyes, because I think what he said on Tuesday has more weight than his apology on Thursday, because when people say something and then they apologize for it, you don't have to accept their apology. Ever, for anything in life, someone screws up and they try apologizing to you, you don't have to accept that apology. And that's how I kind of thought about that. So people say, Okay, well, this is how Jerry operates in a setting he thinks he's in control of, and then it goes on Thursday. It's like, oh, actually, he's not in control of the setting anymore because he screwed up, and it's now on the fans to either forgive him or not to forgive him. And you know what, from all of what you and I have seen, I'm sure there's an entire there's a massive contingent of people who will not forgive Jerry for those comments, and that are gonna hold it over his head for the entire offseason for years. 00:05:21 Speaker 3: They could. 00:05:22 Speaker 1: This is the stuff that gets put on YouTube videos of why did the twenty twenty twenties Mariners fail? 00:05:29 Speaker 2: Oh? 00:05:29 Speaker 1: Their general manager once said, yeah, over a ten year stretch, all we want to do is win fifty four percent of our games, Like, doesn't that Isn't that something that shows up in a secret bas video? I feel like that's slam dunk. What would show up in that. I think there's a very similar quote from Howard Lincoln in one about the two thousand and one Mariners. If I'm not mistaken, it does. 00:05:51 Speaker 2: Yeah, Howard Lincoln said, it's not actually our goal to win the World Series. So that was a Howard Lincoln quote. Is it also fair to say that these fans that you're men, that say they're going to hold this over Jerry's head and never forgive them also have already had bones to pick and are probably just adding another thing to their list. I find it hard to believe that if there were people that were pro Jerry before this and then heard this and now say, oh, I'm never going to trust Jerry Depoto ever. Again, I find it hard to believe there's a large number of those people. 00:06:22 Speaker 1: I'm sure they exist, though I'm sure there are some people who are turned off by the comments, because what again, what Jerry said on Tuesday was more GM speak than fans speak. And if you open up your secret formula to the fans and tell them this is how we think about building a winning baseball team, and. 00:06:42 Speaker 3: They're like, well, I just don't know if I agree with that. 00:06:45 Speaker 1: Even if Jerry thinks it's right, the fans don't have to think it's right. So even if you apologize for it, that's still how they do think about this, though, And that's for the fans to either accept and move on or they're just not gonna accept and they're like, Okay, well, I'm just not a huge Jerry fan. But it is what it is. And now, like you said, the most important part of all of this is happening in about three weeks from now. The World Series will be over and the off season will start, and that's where Jerry can really make his waves with the fan base. 00:07:21 Speaker 2: Yeah. If Jerry makes a big splash of this winner and really improves the roster, people are gonna forget about this. The Mariners have a bad offseason, You're absolutely right, people will not and these comments will circulate again. So it's all on Jerry. It's all on the front office to do the right things and really get this roster to the point it needs to be where they can actually compete for an ALS title and a World Series in twenty twenty four. 00:07:44 Speaker 1: Speaking of that off season, Low and I put together are off Season Wishless. 00:07:49 Speaker 3: So let's get to that. 00:07:51 Speaker 1: I think this is fascinating because you and I decided to come at this from different angles. I'm gonna go first because yours is a little bit more complicated. I picked two guys for my off season Wishless. This list could be much longer. There are a lot of guys I think would make the Mariners better. However, I thought these would be two good ones to discuss here on this podcast. Up first, Blake Snell, coming off one of the best seasons of his career. A Shoreline native at age thirty, started all thirty two games this season, two to two, five ERA and one hundred and eighty innings. He struck out over thirty one percent of his batters, and I think he's the front runner for the National League Cy Young and he's set to be a free agent this offseason. He is a Boris guy. Just to clarify, he is a Scott Orris client. However, he did grow up in Shoreline, and I think there might be some linkage there of a guy getting nostalgic and wanting to come home to his hometown team that he watched growing up and now has a chance to be part of a successful Mariners team. 00:09:00 Speaker 2: Seattle Royalty. Look Blake Snell baseball aside, he is still a Seattle guy through and through. He's a Seahawks fan. He's still a massive Washington Huskies fan. Seattle's in his blood and he has not ever let that go. He talks about it all the time. The flip side of this is, like you mentioned, he is a Boris client, So that leads to the question of would do you think he would take any sort of hometown discount to come to Seattle. 00:09:27 Speaker 1: Maybe I'd be curious to see what his market is because he has a very interesting profile. Now let me clarify what I mean by interesting profile. Well, how many outs did Blake Snell record in the seventh inning or later this season? 00:09:43 Speaker 2: When you texted me this yesterday, my initial guest was zero. 00:09:50 Speaker 1: It's nine, nine outs recorded in the seventh inning or later. In thirty two starts, he recorded nine outs in the seventh inning or later. That's pretty remarkable for a guy who's probably gonna get frontline starter money or pretty close to that. 00:10:08 Speaker 2: So he doesn't go deep into games and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that he throws a lot of pitches. Because here's what Blake Snell does. He will strike a lot of guys out his case per nine are usually in the double digits. He also walks a lot of batters. 00:10:24 Speaker 1: Yeah, thirteen percent, that's his walk rate, and that's that's pretty absurd walk rate. And if you think about philosophically, he's not really stylistically a Mariner's pitcher. Mariner's pitchers, as you saw this season, walk the fewest batters of any staff in baseball. Well, Blake Smell is the antithesis of that. He walks a ton of batters. He's not George Kirby. He's not gonna go deep into starts. His stuff is really good, but it's all over the place. So my thinking here with signing Blake Snell, not only is he a hometown guy would want to come home, but this would lead a little bit into yours where this would be contingent on the Mariners dealing away some of their young starting pitching and putting a more proven commodity in the rotation. 00:11:13 Speaker 2: Yeah, so, little spoiler, we're not going to get to my list yet. But the reason we're talking about starting pitchers here is because it is a little bit of a part of a grand plan for how the Mariners could get more bats here in the lineup and impact bats at that. So we'll get into that more a little bit later. But Blake Snell would fit into that mold. The only thing is, again, this goes back to the question of him being a Boris client in the sense of one, would he take a hometown discount to sign with the Mariners, because you know, he's a Seattle guy and loves the city, probably love to be home. But the other part of this is would Scott Boris let him take a discount? Because what does Scott Boris do with all his clients? He makes him getting bidding wars. What do the Mariners do? What does Jerry Depoto do? He'll say, here's our offer. We're not going to deviate much in a bidding war. You can either take it or leave it. So does that feel like the type of guy that the Mariners would sign, combined with the fact that he walks a ton of guys. 00:12:11 Speaker 1: Well, Scott Boris doesn't get to make the final decision on where Blake Snell signs, Blake Snell gets to make that decision. So I think I'm thinking more that Blake Snell, Blake Smell's need to go home will override Scott Boris's need to get the most money possible for his client. It is entire it is realistic that Blake Snell just wants the most money, and credit to him, he's earned it. He has pitched incredibly well this season. Here's a fun fact, Cloud, did you know that if Blake Snell wins the sy Young this year, who have twice as many Cy Young's as All Star Game appearances. 00:12:47 Speaker 2: That's crazy. That really is crazy. 00:12:50 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's you can't find many people in baseball history that have that. That's a pretty complicated. It's sad to look up, but it's pretty bizarre. For Blake Snell regardless, he would bring a very high end, high upside guy to your rotation with high end stuff and still at thirty, He's thrown as hard as ever. His off speed stuff is really as good as it gets in baseball, especially his curveball, one of the best off speed pitches in baseball. My one slight downside with Blake Snell Lyle he doesn't know what WRC plus is kind of a red flag. 00:13:29 Speaker 2: Maybe we can teach him if we ever had him on the podcast. 00:13:34 Speaker 1: Seem Here's how I think interviewing Blake Snell would be. He could be a super cool dude. Never met him before, but he's in the Cody Bellinger tier of always looking stoned. 00:13:46 Speaker 2: Well he's from Seattle, Yeah, it fits right in. Here's my other question too about Blake Snell. His career has been very up and down. So do you trust the guy like that to be in your rotation where year by year you almost don't know which version of Blake Snell you're gonna get because you'll have seasons like this year where he's one of the best pitchers in baseball and competing for a Cy Young and then he has years where he doesn't really have his A level stuff. 00:14:19 Speaker 3: So here's how I look at this. 00:14:22 Speaker 1: His career ERA is three two, and the thing is he's never truly bad. The two highest ERA marks of his career is a four to two ERA and a four to two nine ERA. 00:14:34 Speaker 3: That's not bad, that's just not Cy Young level. 00:14:38 Speaker 1: And it's up to the Mariner's front office to decide if the effect of Hey one year we might get a two nine from Blake Snell. In another year, we might get a three to nine from Blake Snell. But if they still think the stuff holds up and the expected profiles are fine and all this other stuff. If you go look at his expected numbers like has expected RA and such, it doesn't vary all that much from year to year. For example, his expected era in his first scy On campaign in twenty eighteen, and then a year later in twenty nineteen, when he had his highest ERA of his career at four two nine, the expected the eras are almost identical. 00:15:19 Speaker 3: So sometimes run. 00:15:20 Speaker 1: Scoring is a little bit fluky and a little bit dumb lucky, And that's up to the Mariners to decide. Hey, that I think that luck will iron out and he'll be a good pitcher for us. 00:15:32 Speaker 2: And if you pitched that well in Tampa and is expected numbers hold up, which much like WRC plus are not ballpark dependent, and Seattle could be a great place for him. We know how great Seattle treats pitchers can only help is the RA here we would assume, right. 00:15:48 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so, And that's I think another big pitch to free agent pitchers, Blake Snell's not the only guy I think the Mariners will attempt to talk to. Especially in the pitching market, you can never have enough pitching, and if you have an opportunity to get a great pitcher to come in here, I don't think the Mariner should hesitate. They've already convinced again Luis Castillo, a blue chip guy, to sign an extension here. They convinced Robbie Ray to come out to the Pacific Northwest to sign a long term deal after he won a cy Young I don't think it's really all that unrealistic for the top of the line starters just to come to Seattle and sign if you pay them a fair amount of money. I think there's a lot of incentive for those guys to come pitching team Mobile Park just because it's such a great pitcher's park. 00:16:36 Speaker 4: 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. 00:16:50 Speaker 3: Catch more frights. 00:16:51 Speaker 4: With the Boogeyman, an American horror story delegate, on Hulu and on ESPN Plus. Get into the action with college football in NFL. All of these and more streaming now Get the Disney Bundle with plans starting at nine ninety nine a month, plans with ESPN Plus starting at fourteen ninety nine a month. Terms apply. See Disney Bundle dot com for details. 00:17:16 Speaker 1: Okay, my second guy on my wish list. I'm going to put a disclosure here before I read my second guy. I'm a fan of Cody Bellinger. I would be okay with the Mariners signing him. I think you and I differ a little bit, But there's a couple of reasons why I don't think Cody is a realistic option. So that's why he's not on this list. First of all, he's also a Bors client. However, he is a Bors client with zero. 00:17:40 Speaker 3: Ties to the Pacific Northwest. 00:17:41 Speaker 1: And he also happens to play the exact same position that the Maritor's best player plays, which makes him an odd fit. And I would imagine a guy who's out on the free agent market would want to play the position that's going to get him paid the most money. So Cody Bellinger is going to go somewhere in play center field. It's not going to be in c because Julio Rodriguez has that tied down. 00:18:03 Speaker 3: Okay, got that out of the way. 00:18:06 Speaker 1: My second player is Mitch Garver, a catcher slash DH for the Texas Rangers this year, coming off another phenomenal season in eighty seven games, a near nine hundred ops a, one thirty eight WRC plus, walking thirteen percent of the time, nineteen home runs, fifty runs driven in, and despite playing poor defense, was worth over two wins above replacement. I think he's got one of the more underrated bats in baseball, and despite his injury history, he's never played over a He's played over one hundred games once, it was one hundred and three in twenty nineteen. But if the Mariners could tap into some of that bat, he could be some thump they've been missing in that lineup. 00:18:56 Speaker 2: I'll bet you there's people listening to this and you say Mitch Garver and you're talking up and they're like, Mitch Garver, Mitch Garver. It's like, who's Mitch Garver. Well, it's not a household name, but if you're serious about getting production, this is the guy you'd want to consider. Now. I certainly have my questions because the guy is on the field half the season every year, and that's a little bit of a red flag. But if you're just talking about his bat, that's a real bat when he's on the field. Look at what he's done in Texas this year. He's been awesome. He's been a catalyst when he's been in the lineup, and you talk about the Mariners needing offense. If he stays on the field, and you sign a guy for a price that probably wouldn't be that lofty, makes sense. 00:19:39 Speaker 1: And since his defense sucks, you don't even have to catch him. He can just make him your dh make him a bench bat. I don't know if they want to teach him to play first or something, but I think that bat is too good where you could still get away with signing a backup catcher, putting him on the roster, and then just have Mitch Garver be a bat in your lineup, just a bat. And I don't know if the catching has led to a injuries or if he's just a more of a brittle person in general. But if we're talking upside of his bat, I want to take you back to his twenty nineteen season with the Twins. That Twins team, by the way, is the team that the Atlanta Braves were chasing this season, and the Braves eventually tied the all time single season home run record for a team three hundred and seven home runs. So Nelson Cruz led that Twins team in slugging percentage. Mitch Garver was number two. I mean, a guy you've probably barely heard of, burst onto the scene in twenty nineteen and slug six thirty in ninety three games, three hundred and fifty nine played appearances. He hit thirty one home runs. Isn't that absurd? Thirty one home runs in ninety three games, slugging six thirty as a part time catcher who played less than one hundred games. That's the kind of pop this guy has and the Mariners build themselves off of. You know, we're going to control the strike zone, we're going to hit the ball hard, and we're going to hit it for optimal damage. Well that's what Mitch Garver does, and I don't think he'd be all that expensive. 00:21:18 Speaker 2: Just think about how much thirty one homers in ninety three games is Mitch Garver plays a full season, He's what close to fifty over fifty. Yeah, so you need to be sold on a bat. Again, this is not a household name, but it is a real bat when he is on the field. And for what it's worth, he has played some first base in his career, So if you needed to play Mitch Garver at first base, he could play some first base. If you need him to catch once a week to get Cal Riley off his feet, you could do that, because you know what, they let Luis Torenz catch. Garver's defense is not good, but it's probably a little bit better than Torrenz's, so you can let Garver just mix sinate catcher just to get Cal some days off his feet. But again, he can play some first base. He can definitely DH and he can hit, and you look at his WRC plus numbers, it says again he's not a product of some hitters park. He played in Minnesota and he's played in Texas now, which that new Texas Ballpark is huge. He could hit here for sure. 00:22:22 Speaker 1: And this is I would say again for the people who think we're bargain bin shopping for this free agent market, Mitch Garver, if you stack it up against this entire free agent hitter class, might be a top three hitter in this class. 00:22:39 Speaker 3: I'm dead serious. I think he might be. 00:22:42 Speaker 2: So I'm thinking about this. Oh and we should give a disclaimer, by the way, before we even get to my list and continue this conversation. You may have not heard one specific name on TJ's list. You're also not gonna hear said specific name on my list. So let's just get this out here. We don't have Sho Hey O Tani on our list why because big Shaker, we think the Mariner should absolutely sign show Hey Otani and pay every single penny that it costs to get them. But I think the conversation ends right there. We want Otani. How much more is there to say? That's not interesting? So does everybody right? 00:23:16 Speaker 1: And we don't have Taoscar on our lists either, because we also think the Mariners would be better off if they just re signed Taoskar Hernandez. But he also we already talked about them all season, and so I don't think he needs to be on either of these wish lists, right. 00:23:30 Speaker 2: So, and they may just give Taoskar the qualifying offer. There's a chance Taoskar would take that, we'll see, so he may not even get to free agency. But yes, about Otani, we obviously want him. We're trying to focus on other guys here in case a they don't get them and be what their backup plan could be. So back to Garver, if you talk about the top hitters in the class, Otani obviously is one. Who else is in the mix here? Ta Oscar probably is, Jorge Hilaire probably is. Oh, Cody's number ten. Yeah, so so Tani then Cody, then some mix of Taoscar or Jorge Solaire. I guess Matt Chapman, although he was kind of a one month wonder this year. 00:24:13 Speaker 1: That's yeah, that's probably it. So that's why I keep scrolling past Mitch Garver. I'm like, yeah, they have to. Like, if we're talking about bats that can make impact and won't cost an arm in a league, Mitch Garver is your dude, production that's what you want. And by the way, for a power hitter, he really doesn't strike out all that much. He only struck out a little under twenty four percent this year. That would be a guy who doesn't strike out at all. If you're looking at the twenty twenty three Mariners team and they're like, yeah, twenty four percent, sign me up. So that he brings all of those facets along with walking, along with the power, along with just being a really good hitter at the plate. 00:24:58 Speaker 2: His walk rates are usually ten percent better, so he gets on base too. He's not just going to swing and miss all the time. 00:25:06 Speaker 1: Exactly. So I think they should do it. I think he would be reasonably priced. I think there's a variety of ways you could deploy him. He's not gonna be a guy who's gonna suit up one hundred and sixty two times a season into your lineup and produce. You understand that while while you have him on your roster, but I think the upside there is a little bit too much for you to just ignore. 00:25:30 Speaker 2: And I would agree with that. Are we about ready to move on to my list here? Let's do it, okay? And I liked your list for what it's worth. I think those two guys are very viable options for the Mariners, and two guys that would make a lot of sense, especially Garver. So if you're a Mariners fan out there and you're thinking about all the headline names and not any of the second tier guys of who can make some real sense for this team while also adding impact, would put that name on your list, I would highlight Mitch Garver and I would keep track of them all winner because he is a guy that would make a lot of sense and probably isn't gonna cost a lot of money. Okay, before we get to my list, here, quick word from our friends over at the Columbia Athletic Club. Columbia Athletic Club 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, hot tubs, and so much more. Included with your membership 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 today at Columbiaathletic dot com. That's Columbiaathletic dot Com. Okay. I have one guy on my free agent wish list in terms of signing, and the reason I have one guy is because it is going to be parlayed into what could be a couple of different trades. So we're gonna break this up into three parts. The first part is going to be the guy I want to see them sign, So let's start with that, the free agent I think the Mariner should go and acquire Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies. Do not just ignore a Zra. I ask you to ignore a Zra for the season because it's in the four fours. Aaron Nola here in twenty twenty three has some great peripherals, including an xcra that's about three seven, an x fifth that's about three six, and he put up nearly a four war. Listen to the difference here, people, Blake Snell's about to win the cy Young. His f war for the year was four point one. Aaron Nola, who's probably going to be significantly cheaper than the guy who's about to win the cy Young three point nine at four. That ain't much of a difference. 00:27:50 Speaker 1: No, it's not, and we did touch on it a little bit in Blake Snell. War is a volume stat You do get more war the more you play. And as we mentioned, Blake Snow doesn't play a whole lot because he doesn't pitch deep into games. Aaron Nola, that's one of his specialties. He is one of the best at pitching deep into into into baseball games. I think Aron Nola would be would be great. He's not a Pacific Northwest gut at all, but he is cheaper and he does make your rotation better. 00:28:22 Speaker 3: Could you imagine a front four of or. 00:28:25 Speaker 1: Sorry, let's let's just skip to the to the to the All Star break and say, okay, just imagine you're five of Kirby, Gilbert Castillo, Gray, Aaron Nola. 00:28:34 Speaker 3: That sounds pretty nice to me. 00:28:37 Speaker 2: It's pretty good. And then you've got some depth behind it with the two rookies here in twenty twenty three, with wuy and Miller, you'd have Emerson Hancock and you have Marco Gonzalez coming back. So that's a lot of depth. And speaking of War, TJ, I know you know baseball as well as just about anybody that I know, But could you tell me, off the top of your head just how good Aaron Nola's been by war career, No, just by season. 00:29:10 Speaker 1: Like which season are we talking about? I know he has a ten win season under his belt. 00:29:16 Speaker 2: Well, I'm just talking about fangrafts war over his career as a whole I'm guessing you cannot rattle off his year to year f WAR off the top of my head. So what I'm getting at here is, let me just read it out, because look, Aaron Nola has had a really good career. He's been an All Star, he's been a great pitcher, he's pitched in the postseason. But let me just outline what this guy's done over his career, all the way back to the start of it. Twenty seventeen. Again, this is all fangrafts were four and a half. That's really good. Twenty eighteen five and a half, twenty nineteen three and a half. Twenty twenty shortened season two, so you pro rate that if it was a full season, that's probably about five or a little bit more. Twenty twenty one, just under four, four and a half, twenty twenty two six point three, and then just under four here in twenty twenty three. Does that sound like a model of consistency. That sounds like a guy that you know exactly what you're about to get. 00:30:14 Speaker 1: What's pretty bonkers is if you go on Baseball Reference instead and look at his twenty eighteen war, I'm pretty sure that's the season he had over ten wins, which is quite a stark difference from his five wins that he had on Fangrass. But consistency, yeah, and the Mariners could use a little bit of that. 00:30:34 Speaker 2: I mean those are all star number. Those are that's an all star level pitcher. By war every year Nolah is healthy, he's on the field and he just cards dudes up. And if we even want to get away from war here, he's a Mariner's He's like a Mariner's blueprint guy. This is a guy that you want to talk about dominate the zone, which is a Mariner's philosophy. He doesn't lock anybody. This year, honestly, as walk rate was up compared to a lot of years, it was in the eighty seventh percentile, which is still phenomenal. Last year was in the ninety ninth percentile. Twenty twenty one it was in the ninety second percentile. So you've already got George Kirby and Logan Gilbert who aren't walking anybody, and then you throw Aaron Nola in there. Those are three guys that dominate the zone. 00:31:21 Speaker 1: And you just think about the polar opposites with him and Blake Snell. They could not be any more different. And yet we sit here today and I think you and I would be happy if they signed either of them. Really we would be, because the notion of what the message that gets sent when you do sign them is we, despite all of our pitching talent, still want to continue to get better. And Aaron Nola would make this rotation significantly better. You throw him out there on any given start, there's nothing for you to worry about. And he's not going to walk a bunch of guys. He's going to pitch deep into games and he's gonna give you everything you want and give you a chance to win baseball games. And when probably more than eighty eight games in the rotation. 00:32:03 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Now there's things Noah can improve on. I'm not going to sit here and say he's Randy Johnson. Like. What he's thrived on most of his career is the effectiveness of his curveball. His run value off that curve ball, especially early in his career, it was up toward twenty a lot of years, which is nuts, and it's come back down to earth massively ever since. So if you want to look at ways Noah can improve, his curve ball could get a little bit better. His fastball was a little bit more effective in twenty one and twenty two than it was this year. It got hit around a little bit harder in twenty three, So there's things he could improve on. But the Meritis have been pretty well known to help a lot of these pitchers and up their game. They've done it with Luis. They thought they could get more out of Luis Castillo than Cincinnati was getting out of them, and they have I think based off what Noah's done in his career, they could absolutely get him here and just make him that much better. So we outlined that, right, are we ready to talk about what this could parlay into? 00:32:56 Speaker 3: Paint the bigger picture for me? 00:32:59 Speaker 2: You're going to have all these arms sitting together. In fact, it's too many. As great a depth as that would be. That's a lot of arms, not enough innings to throw. And the Mariners need bats. So we've outlined two trades here, and I'm gonna start with the lesser of the two, but it still would be impact. The Mariners and the Cardinals were linked a lot at the trade deadline. Right Mariners needed bats, Cardinals needed arms. Both guys both teams have young arms and young bats, respectively. So let's circle back to Saint Louis. Let's look back at Bush Stadium and see who the Cardinals could give back in return if the Mariners were to give up a young arm. So here's what I've circled. This is trade number one. The Mariners would send Bryce Miller and Michael Arroyo infield prospect top five prospect in the Mariners system to Saint Louis, and in return they get Jordan Walker. 00:33:56 Speaker 1: No and sense, this does sound like a pretty even trade. The Mariners are giving up a young arm with six years of control for a former top three prospect. 00:34:08 Speaker 3: He was top three, right, Yeah, yeah he was, So that seems to work out. You're you're by you were giving away an arm to buy a bat. That's what you want. This is you trying to not only get. 00:34:21 Speaker 1: A controllable bat, but to get a high upside bat who could play at the corners, because I think that's where his his real strength is. They you mentioned they tried throwing him out there in the outfield this year. Wasn't a really successful experiment. But in Seattle, the way this roster is currently structured, if he wanted to claim a corner and just start hitting. The Mariners would would let him, and he could occupy the third base or first base and be a master at at a loss that you could easily take because if you sign Aaron Nola, love what Bryce Miller's done, like, you don't really need Rice Miller as much, and he becomes a little bit more expendable, and you can give Bryce to a team that really really needs starting pitching. 00:35:09 Speaker 2: So let's outline Walker's defense here, a little bit negative fourteen outs above average. That's really bad. It's in the first percentile. The other part of that is Jordan Walker should not be playing the outfield. The only reason the Cardinals threw him out there is they said, his bat is ready, we have to get him in the lineup. And he's a guy that came up as a third base prospect and as a corner infielder. You look at the Cardinals infield and John Moselac and the Cardinals' front office is saying, well, how in the world are we going to play him. We've got a Hall of Famer at third base and a Hall of Famer at first base, and Nolan Aernado and Paul Goldschmith and oh, by the way, we also have Nolan Gorman who is an infielder. So they said, how are we gonna play Jordan Walker. Well, let's try to put him in the corner outfield spots and see what happens. He has a good arm, it can't work that well. If you move him to Seattle. Then all of a sudden it opens up oppera tunities for him to play in the infield because Ayu Henio Suarez free agent after twenty twenty four, Ty France free agent after twenty twenty five, and we will see how long he's on this roster. I'm not saying the Mariners would definitely move him. We've also talked about we don't think his roster spot is lockdown secure next year. So at the very minimum, for a year, Jordan Walker could play the corner spots. He could dage if you had to throw him in the corner outfield for a game or two, you could. But it's a bat that has five years of club control and thunderous upside. Look, it's not a proven bat this second, but it is the idea that over time, especially sooner than later, with him being the prospect he was, he could be a master in the middle of this lineup. 00:36:44 Speaker 1: And this makes you think of the type of player Jerry wants, young and controllable. If there's something he's been consistent on during this five year stretch he's had shaping the roster to his wants young and controllable players or what Jerry shoots. 00:37:01 Speaker 3: For, and that's what Jordan Walker is. 00:37:03 Speaker 1: I think our next guy doesn't quite hit the as young and as controllable, but man, I think I think it would be fun. 00:37:15 Speaker 2: It would and we're just about to get to him, I promise. The last thing I wanted to say here on Jordan Walker is a lot of people tab this guy as having a disappointing rookie season quote unquote, because a lot of people picked him to win Rookie of the Year for just how it just how exciting he was as a prospect. Well, sure he wasn't. Corbyn Carroll put up a one to sixteen WRC plus as a rookie. He hit sixteen bombs. He had thirty seven extra base hits for a guy that was twenty one years old, and by the way, got sent back down to the miners at one point one sixteen WRC plus is a twenty one year old rookie. Oh that's pretty good. Why were the Mariners? I jump all over that. And this is a guy that just mashed his way through the miners even as a young kid. Put up a nine to thirty six and twenty twenty one through a ball low a and high, a nine hundred with nineteen bombs in twenty two in double a twenty year old. This guy can hit. This is a guy that you're banking on to continue to develop. It's not a proven, proven bath this second, but it would make a lot of sense. It's really high upside that Mariners would have arms to give up. I think this trade could make a lot of sense for both sides. 00:38:26 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it would be a a big impact. And you know that connection between the Mariners and Cardinals. We haven't seen anything really tangible to back that up because there hasn't been massive has been a trade like this, But I think a trade like this, would you know, would really show that. I think this would make a big impact of the Mariners. I'm a big fan of your first idea here on the trade market. 00:38:51 Speaker 2: Yeah, they haven't made a big trade since Marco was brought over here. For Tyler O'Neal, but Jordan Walker and Bryce Miller that's a step up. 00:38:57 Speaker 3: So and that was a very similar situation. 00:39:00 Speaker 2: Yeah, I was gonna say that trade was also six years ago, and you're talking about players that have much higher ceilings than the other two did. Okay, that's trade number one. I'm asking for people to strap in and buckle up here because this is trade number two. This is how the Mariners truly get an impact bat in the lineup and really potentially turn the tides here in twenty twenty four. So we look to the Chicago White Sox and Luis Robert. This is who I'm targeting, is the Mariner's second trade. We have briefly talked about him on this show before. The Mariners all of a sudden, if they sign a starting pitcher, have the pieces to give up the Hall to go get Luise Robert, a true top twenty to twenty five player in this sport and a game changer that could turn this franchise in the right direction for a long time. 00:40:00 Speaker 3: You remember when he. 00:40:00 Speaker 1: Sold on him at the trade deadline, though, I think that's funny looking back at it now that we're like, yeah, this guy's the franchise changer man. 00:40:09 Speaker 3: This dude has just upside for days. 00:40:13 Speaker 1: We're talking about thirty eight home runs this season, a one twenty eight WORC plus, and five fangrafts wins above replacement while playing amazing center field defense. That's all the tools right there. If I'm checking my boxes. 00:40:32 Speaker 2: Now, the cost to get a player like this is not light, and it's gonna be much heavier than the first trade we just threw out for Jordan Walker. So I wanted to try to ballpark this trade as best as I could. I did not want to throw this trade out there and make it seem like, oh, what are you talking about. You're just throwing anybody in there to go get a premier player like Luis Roberts. So we know a couple of guys here at Just Baseball. Both Jack McMullen, who's the third guy on the Just Baseball show. I guess he's one guy on the show we haven't had on here yet. And then Elijah Evans, who's a White Sox guy that does a bunch of great stuff at Just Baseball. You can check out all their work. I was talking to them today and I said, we're gonna throw this idea out there, and I want to try to ballpark this trade as best as I can, so I threw out a couple of ideas for what the potential return package would be. Here's what I've landed on, and again, buckle up, Brian Wu, Cole Young Jonathan class. That's what it would cost to get Luis Robert and look, that's a haul. But Jerry Depoto, as Jeff Passon put it, it's time for him and the Mariners to get uncomfortable. They're in a position to get uncomfortable now. And if you're a fan out there that says they need to make impact moves right now and go get serious impact bats right now, well then you cannot also be a prospect hugger. So if you're serious about the Mariners wanting to win right now and you don't get Otani, the rest of the free agent class is not strong. So if you're serious about a true impact bat like this, get uncomfortable and do not be a prospect hugger. Because me personally, I love Brian Wu. I think he's got frontline starter potential. I think Cole Jung has skyrocketed up the prospect lists for good reason. Over the last year or so. But this is what it costs to get premiere talent, and the Mariners do need to win right now. 00:42:18 Speaker 1: And it's not just premier talent, it's premiere talent under club control through twenty twenty seven. Twenty twenty seven, that's another four years of it's four seasons. Yeah, four seasons of control of Luis Robert. That's worth Brian Wu and Cole Young if I ever thought it. Listen, those guys are great. 00:42:39 Speaker 3: I don't know. 00:42:40 Speaker 1: I don't know if Jerry would ever trade both those two prospects in the same offseason. To be honest, I don't. 00:42:46 Speaker 3: I don't. I don't think Jerry would. 00:42:48 Speaker 1: Knowing how Jerry operates and how he thinks, I don't think he would trade those two, especially Brian Wu. But if you're told me where the Mariners are getting Luis Robert, I do it. I do it because we've already talked about you can already supplement your rotation and negate the loss of Brian Wu. 00:43:09 Speaker 3: And oh by the time that. 00:43:13 Speaker 1: Louis Castillo and Aaron Nola a Robbie Ray gets old and starts falling out of the rotation, well, I assume by then you would have developed somebody else in your sustainability plan to come up to the major leagues and start and be a good major league starter, so you can not feel the loss of Brian Wu. 00:43:33 Speaker 3: I think this makes so much sense. 00:43:36 Speaker 1: It does, and I sound kind of like hypocrite after again selling on the idea of Luis Robert at the deadline. Well, now we know the Mariners are in put up or shut up mode, and this is more. This is a put up deal that, if available, you have to do. 00:43:51 Speaker 2: So just to clarify really quick, when you say you don't think the Mariners would trade those two prospects, you mean Wu and call Young, right, because the only thing I was gonna say is yeah, So I don't think they trade both Bryce Miller and Brian Wu in one off season. I think if they were to trade either, it would only be one. I think they're trying to keep some real starting pitching death depth. I do not think they ship both those guys out of town, so it would be one or the other. But I do understand your thinking of yeah, Jerry wouldn't trade Wu and Cole Young in the same offseason. That said, again, the Mariners do need to win right now, they have a window open. They need to capitalize, and we keep using the phrase they need to get uncomfortable. Now to your point, we talked about how we weren't exactly sold on the idea at the deadline. Let's just be clear. Does Luise Robert help the team strike out problems? Absolutely not. Luise Robert strikes out a ton. He strikes out twenty nine percent of the time. That's in the fourteenth percentile of the league. He chases and he whiffs even more than that, with rates in the tenth percentile, chase rates in the third percentile. He will strike out, and he's also not going to walk a lot. He's never had a walk right above five percent. Pin that into your head. Louise Robert will not walk and he's going to strike out a lot in that way, Yes, it's a little bit like Taoscar Hernandez. Does Louise Robert make a mega impact on this team, You bet your ass he does. Luise Robert is one of the twenty best players in this sport. When he's healthy, he mashes the baseball. The thirty eight home runs you mentioned that was ninth in the league this year, the one twenty eight WRC plus you mentioned that was eighteenth in the league this year. The five war you mentioned twenty fourth in the league this year. That is an impact bat. He wallops Baseball's and the Mariners need that badly. 00:45:40 Speaker 1: And this is a White Sox organization that they just hired a new GM, right, they did just hire a new GM. I got that correct. And I don't know what direction they're going in. And if you want a direction to go like you have a valuable trade chip and foundational pieces to build upon with Cole Young and Brian Wu I think the trade would make sense from their side. They just need to be willing to trade Luise Robert if he's in any semblance available. 00:46:11 Speaker 3: You've got to be at the. 00:46:12 Speaker 1: Front of the line asking this outside of Juan Soto, is about as impact of a bat as you could get on this trade market. And you know, we don't know if they're going to get one Soto. We don't have one Soda in our wish list because we don't know how realistic that is. But Luis Robert, given that he's on the trade market, yeah, that's realistic, and I think that would make this team significantly better across the board. 00:46:38 Speaker 2: Four years of club control is so much because that contract to his goes through twenty twenty five. But then there's two club options. There's two club options, so the Mariners obviously are picking those up if they trade for him, and assuming Robert continues to play like the player we all expect him to be. Yeah, that's four years and we haven't even gotten to this part yet. TJ. Louise Roberts defense impeccable. You have thirteen outs above average this year. That was in the ninety eighth percentile of baseball. Now, you can't have two center fielders, and I don't think they're moving Julio away from center field. And it's kind of tomato tomato with Julio and Robert. They're both phenomenal center fielders. But if you put Luise Robert in right field Jared Kalnick, Julio Rodriguez, Luise Robert left to right, that's the best defensive outfield in baseball. 00:47:29 Speaker 1: Without a doubt, there's no question. And you can shuffle well. Luis actually primarily would play. Yeah, he would, Yep, he'd be your right fielder. There's so much the upside of this trade is just so man just to think about it. That would be that would be so much fun and the power potential of this team if Jerry truly still wants to be that guy to to build this roster around punishing the baseball rather than be more contact oriented. That's what Luis Robert does. He punishes baseballs and he is Yeah, he's great. I think Jerry should do it. 00:48:14 Speaker 3: Do it. Do it if it's available to you. 00:48:18 Speaker 2: Barrel rates in the ninety third percentile, expected slug in the ninety second percentile, hits the crap out of the ball, runs well, plays great defense, hits bombs. Yeah, he'll strike out a lot. But again, what are the Mariners going to do to improve the offense? They have to do something. The first half of the year they were one of the bottom ten offenses in baseball. Go do something like this. I would hate to lose col Young, I'd hate to lose Brian Wu. But you've got to do something to improve this lineup. You just have to and something like this that makes a difference. 00:48:51 Speaker 1: And Luis Robert this season is coming off the first essentially full season he's played at any professional level. Really, it's been really pieced together. He comes up in twenty twenty, it'd say technically he did play a full twenty twenty season fifty six of the sixty games at age twenty two, But then you look after that. In twenty twenty one he only played sixty eight games. Then last year got a little bit better, he played ninety eight games. But now he's up to one hundred and forty five this year and staying a little bit more healthy. That is one thing you have to be concerned about is can he stay on the field and can he stay healthy? But you know, if you're giving up those guys, I think you believe that you're getting one hundred and forty five games out of Luis Robert every single season. 00:49:36 Speaker 2: The health is one concern, But again, who else are you gonna go get? So I think that should be a potential trade that not just the Mariner circle, but fans should think about. I think that's a realistic one. I think it makes a lot more sense than one Sodo. Not only does the Luis Robert have way more team control, Pon Sota doesn't play any defense. So get some guy, get a guy that'll be here for a while. I'm I'm sticking to that one all off season. Will it ever happen, maybe not, but doesn't mean we can't wish for it. I'll say that much. I think that'll just about wrap up our wish list. And this is our initial wish list. I'm sure as the off season goes on, we'll highlight some more guys, we'll target some more guys. I'm sure when the Mariners make acquisitions, we'll talk about them. But that's our initial wish list and I think we thought it out pretty well and I think every move would make a lot of sense. 00:50:28 Speaker 1: Yeah, so we covered the free agent options or a couple of them. I'm just not The thing is, I just don't know how, like how into free agency Jerry's going to get. I just don't know if he's really proven to us that these free agent guys are realistic the ones you suggested, like that might that very likely is what might happen. And people are not only in front office people are going to get uncomfortable. Fans are going to get uncomfortable. Some of these notable names they might have to give up this offseason to get better. But I think it'll all be in the right sense of mind, So that's good. Before we talk a little bit about these playoff games. Let's hear a little bit from Simply Seattle. They have a whole bunch of new gear out with all the stuff Jerry said this week, Simply Seattle jumped on the opportunity to make some creative options around the Mariners press conference on Tuesday. They have that and a whole line more of Pacific Northwest themed gear on their website Simply Sattle dot com. They have all your favorite Mariners gear, Seahawks gear, Huskies gear, and more everything in the Pacific Northwest. You could want Sonics as well, they have you covered. You can use our code Marine fifteen for fifteen percent off your order at simply Seattle for all the best gear in the Pacific Northwest. While we wrap up this show, lout, let's touch a little bit on these playoff games that happened this week. The wild Card round was this week and I gotta say, kind of a boring wildcard round. We got four sweeps. 00:52:08 Speaker 2: Seems to be a theme of these wild card rounds. Not a lot of them so far have gone to three games either year. 00:52:15 Speaker 1: No, and that just is how a three game series operates. Really, you don't have any margin for error when you have no margin for error. Two fuck ups equals you're done. Think of the Rays ninety nine wins and they're two and zine one out in the playoffs. 00:52:32 Speaker 3: That's it. Nearly one hundred wins season and they score one run in eighteen innings against the Texas Rangers. That sucks. 00:52:41 Speaker 2: Also, thinking the Maritors may have not fared well against the Twins if they had played them. 00:52:47 Speaker 3: No, I don't think so either. 00:52:48 Speaker 1: I think the Maritors would have gotten maybe what five total hits off the Twins pitching staff in two games. 00:52:56 Speaker 3: I think that's pretty fair. 00:52:58 Speaker 2: Something like that. And my god, yo, there we go. Johan Duran is so good. That guy is absolutely filthy, and watching him pitch in these playoff games shows you what a closer like that can do in the postseason. I mean, he just carved right through that Blue Jays lineup. Blue Jay's lineup, that's got a good offense, by the way. I know they had their hells and valleys at times this year, but pitching prevails in the postseason. 00:53:23 Speaker 1: A couple of big things speaking of the Blue Jays. First, Vladdie getting picked off in that huge situation in the fifth inning just just unfathotable to get picked off in a situation like that. Boba shed at the plate two on two out, trailing in the game, facing elimination, and you get picked off of second base. Oh my god. But is that even the worst decision in that game? When John Schneider took Jose Barrios, who was just who's who was pitching pretty well, he had pretty good stuff starting that game two for the Blue Jays, and the blue Jays take him out after walking the leadoff bat are in the top of the fourth inning, after he had not allowed a run yet, He had not allowed any run yet. And not only do they go to the bullpen, they go to the bullpen to bring in you, say, Kokuchi, the man himself all fourteen hours of sleep out of the bullpen and oshaker U say, allows two runs. 00:54:20 Speaker 2: It's tough out here, isn't it? Look the Blake Snell thing was bad back in the World Series, but three plus innings, like, what's going on in that front office? We're analytics nerds and we're sitting here saying, what are you doing. 00:54:37 Speaker 1: Overmanaging? But the thing is, I don't even think it was John Schneider who made that decision. That call has to come from the front office. I don't think any manager in baseball is pulling his starter in an elimination game after one walk and no runs allowed. 00:54:51 Speaker 3: I don't see that. I don't. 00:54:55 Speaker 2: I don't either. I'm sure it was predetermined before the game started. I had no doubt it was predetermined before the game started. But man, it was just ridiculous to see in real time. And the Blue Days didn't score any runs, so maybe it didn't make that much of a difference in the end, but still kind of a head scratching decision. I will say. 00:55:13 Speaker 1: That series really reminded me just I couldn't believe the Twins had not won a postseason series in twenty one years. That's incredible. Two thousand and two Alds was the last time, isn't that That's incredible? They had won a playoff game since two thousand and four. I could not imagine. Like, the only thing worse than missing the players the playoffs for two straight decades like the Mariners did, is making the playoffs and not winning a single game for nearly twenty years in the playoffs. That has to be excruciating. But happy for Minnesota they managed to get it done. One thing I want to know, I'm so happy for Paul Seawold got to close out both games, and the Diamondbacks going on the road. Her a lot about the Brewers and how good the Brewers were in how good that pitching staff was, and how they could sneak up on the Braves and the Dodgers, and the Brewers got swept at home. 00:56:08 Speaker 2: I think I'm rooting for the Diamondbacks if I have to pick a team the rest of the way, because again, Paul Sewald's there. Paul Seewald is still an honorary Mariner. Like if you look at Mariner's Twitter when he's pitching, especially in these playoff games, all these Mariners fans are just cheering his name and rooting him on. They're watching invested like he was still a Mariner, which I mean just shows the impact he had here. Mariners fans still root for Paul Sewald every step of the way, and I know both of us are too so to see him get saves in both of those games, especially to finish out that series and do his trademark Paul Sewald's scream, that was pretty cool. 00:56:43 Speaker 1: One last note I had on these games. The bars already set pretty low, but I could not believe the Tampa Bay Rays only did not draw more than twenty one thousand fans for either of their playoff games. They'd tickets going for eight dollars for a playoff game. I'm sitting here pissed off because I paid what three hundred and fifty dollars for my playoff ticket last year to sit way up in the third deck in right field behind the foul pole. And yet Tampa Bay has a playoff game they can't get more than twenty thousand people to show up. 00:57:20 Speaker 2: Do the reverse boycott had more fans at it than that playoff game. 00:57:25 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's incredible. I know the situation with Saint Pete being so far away from Tampa, but that's just ridiculous. I don't know how twenty more thousand people didn't think, oh, yeah, we should probably go to a playoff game. 00:57:41 Speaker 2: Yeah, for eight dollars too. They really got to get that team like a bargain. To me, they do, and I know they're not going to, but they really should. 00:57:51 Speaker 1: They should, And but the problem is the owner already agreed to build a new. 00:57:57 Speaker 3: Stadium in the same location, and I. 00:58:00 Speaker 2: Don't know why they did that. I don't know why. If they're going to get a new stadium, why you wouldn't just put it in Tampa. But what do I know. We're not an owner. Maybe we should be. Nope, I guess My last note is because we've touched on three of the four series. Last note on these Wildcard round games are the Marlins probably just were not a playoff caliber team. 00:58:22 Speaker 1: No, no, not without Sandy. They really struggled. The Phillies had a pretty easy way with them in those two games. And your two starters are Braxing Garrett and Jesu's Lozarda. Lozarda's got good stuff, but man, they just did not have it and didn't know the bats either. So probably not will people in the Mariners sphere will probably say like, oh, yeah, we would have easily made the playoffs in the National League. It's like, well, yeah, National League's probably a little weaker. And this is a pretty glaring example of it. 00:58:54 Speaker 2: If it had been Sandy and then Yuri Perez in the two games, maybe it goes a little differently, especially if Ury was on full resp But it wasn't the situation and they were just pretty outmatched. Phillies Braves is gonna be a pretty fun series here. It's a rematch of last year, two high powered offenses, two very very emotional fan bases, intense fan bases. Yeah, it's gonna be pretty fun. 00:59:17 Speaker 1: And now that the now that the Brewers got knocked out, the Phillies might have the only starting staff that could line up against those bats, I would think. I mean, just look at how the Wildcard series went. I mean, you had the combination of Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola going for thirteen and two thirds allowing one run. Now, I imagine having those those guys pitch potentially three combined times in a five game series against the Braves. You can make it work, and that might give you a chance against one of baseball's all time great offenses. That's gonna be great. I think it's gonna be great television. Okay, let's get to speak your mind. 00:59:56 Speaker 2: Speak your mind, SPO. 01:00:01 Speaker 4: That would be unwise. 01:00:03 Speaker 2: What is necessary is never unwise. 01:00:07 Speaker 3: All right, Lole, what's on your mind this week? 01:00:10 Speaker 2: Well, kind of staying on the topic of the playoffs here, I've really opened my eyes and realized over the last couple of years, and I'm thinking about it more here. Now, October is the best month of the year. And I used to never think that growing up. Because we've talked about this here on the show. I hated school, I hated going to class everything. I mean, like you couldn't draw out many more things I despise more. But now that we're not in school anymore, I can sit back and realize, well, look, summer months are great. I do love the summer. But in October, as a sports fan, you got the MLB playoffs, got the NFL and the full swing of things. You got college football in the full swing of things. You can even throw the NBA and the NHL and there that are about to start. It's the best month of the year to be a sports fan. I love October. October is one of those times where I'm probably not planning all that much because I'm going to say back and watch sports basically all day. 01:01:04 Speaker 1: Wasn't the status Starting this week, there's fifty consecutive days of football between the college, between college and the NFL. 01:01:12 Speaker 2: Yeah, because I think maction's gonna start soon in like Conference USA games and things like that. So you just can't get enough of it. You turn on your TV. There's gonna be sports on. You don't have to plan that much, although I totally contradict myself saying that because I talk about not having to plan much as if we're not heading on a trip here in less than two weeks. But you know what, for the most part of October, you can just sit back and watch sports all day if you want to, especially on those weekends. 01:01:38 Speaker 3: It's a pretty good observation. 01:01:39 Speaker 1: And there's some fun things around Halloween two and October Fest if you're living in the right area to celebrate that as well. There are a whole bunch of things to do in October. That's a pretty good point. I'm trying to think of there any other months I would compete with. I would say maybe July because I like summer weather. But if the weather isn't the deciding factor for you, I totally get why October would be it. And you also avoid all the holidays where you're forced to see family and do all that. October you're just focused on watching football and playoff baseball, So who can complain about that. 01:02:14 Speaker 2: Exactly? I say that, like I'm talking this through here, can I put October over July? Like barely again? Just as somebody wh's such a huge sports fan, I guess barely. And the thing is, I love summer weather way more and the things you can do in the summer is so much fun. But sports not like we are. It's just you can't ask for more, you really can't. So October a pretty good month. 01:02:42 Speaker 3: It is a pretty good month. My speaker mind is. 01:02:47 Speaker 1: I think I've realized, really since this college football season has started and I've been working in college football, I think nothing has opened my eyes more to the importance of work life balance than then what I've been doing the last month and a half with this podcast, with my work at the radio station, with just life in general. I haven't realized how really how important it is and why people emphasize it so much until now. Because you know why I bring this up, because my work life balance sucks. It is awful, and I'm you know, I'm gonna be making a commitment from here on forward. I have lots of commitments that I have to see through the end of the season, and things I've agreed to do and work I need to do to pay rent and all that stuff, and things that are just part of my job and part of this podcast as well, which I really enjoy doing, but I've realized now that I can't do I don't necessarily know if I can do all of this again and make it healthy, because I don't think it's very healthy. 01:03:47 Speaker 3: And this is me. 01:03:48 Speaker 1: Speaking from now personal experience right now that if you're listening to this, don't overwork yourself. Make sure you have a good work life balance. I think you'll be a lot happier that way if you have a diversified portfolio of things you do in your life to keep you happy, which again for me right now, working doing all this work, I don't think is it. But like any good investment banker, you mitigate your losses and you diversify your portfolio. I think you'll end up doing doing okay. And I think that's really sort of come to fruition over the last couple of weeks and just thought i'd say it on here. 01:04:29 Speaker 2: What is your life balance in Corvallis, Oregon? Though, because we talked about work life balance, like when you when you have the life half of it, like like what do you what do you do for fun? Go get Hawaiian barbecue? 01:04:39 Speaker 1: I guess the last three weeks I haven't had any Like I dude, I don't even have time to like watch TV. 01:04:44 Speaker 3: It's bad. Like it's bad. 01:04:46 Speaker 1: I'm serious, Like, don't. I don't recommend to anybody to put the amount of work on your plate that I have done these this last month and a half, because it's it's not healthy. I don't think so. I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't. Because of it, I've been working so much, and sure, like seeing the dollars show up in your bank account is nice, but you know, it doesn't always make you happy to see that when all you do from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed is you're working on something. And some people say, oh, well, you're being productive, and as long as you're advancing something in your life, which I feel like I am, it's productive. But you need to be able to take time to relax. I don't think I've done a very good job of, which is why I'm looking forward to our vacation because it's not going to be a fully relaxing trip, but I won't be working on the trip, not at all, so that'll be a big difference there. And you know, I'm just saying don't overwork yourself, guys. It's not always worth it. 01:05:50 Speaker 2: Yeah, we're not going to be sitting in ocean side for seven days straight, but it's things we are very much not just looking forward to, but choosing to go do. So it is a vacation in that sense. For I would say, right. 01:06:02 Speaker 3: Yeah, well we don't have to. 01:06:05 Speaker 1: We'll have everything pre planned for this podcast that entire week. That's why next week is going to be so incredibly busy, is because we're going to be making sure we have everything good to go for you guys. So while we're on vacation, we don't have to worry about it all that much, just you know, taking a break from the normalcy of everyday life and experiencing something fun. And that's what I think people need to make an emphasis to work into their everyday lives. Don't only rely on vacation. You need to rely on things you do every week to you know, break up the the I don't even I forget the right terminology of it, but the normalcy I guess of your your day to day life and working and such. So I think that's something I need to do a better job at. And I think it's important for people to know. That's why I thought i'd talk about. 01:06:53 Speaker 2: It definitely, And like TJ said, and I'll just reiterate it, we absolutely love doing this podcast. We wouldn't be putting all the work we put into it if we didn't. We wouldn't be the we wouldn't be doing the two shows a week if we didn't. 01:07:05 Speaker 4: Like. 01:07:05 Speaker 2: We absolutely love sitting down and doing it. But to TJ's point, he's absolutely right that every person deserves to be able to sit down for a few hours throughout your week at least and just take some deep breaths, relax and do what you want to do. So work life balance good lesson. I think you're absolutely right. 01:07:24 Speaker 1: I could like, I couldn't put it anymore simply, I have not had time to sit down and watch a full Sunday of NFL this season. You know how much that that like pains me that I have not been able to do that. From the amount of things I'm trying to do, I've not been able to do that, and it it's it's kind of frustrating. I'm not gonna lie because I love watching NFL Sundays. I love waking up at nine p thirty sitting my ass down on the couch and watching football from ten am until eight thirty pm when Sunday Night football is done. And I have not been able to do that a single time this year. I don't know if I'll be able to, to be honest, maybe not until like Christmas, which is just awful. It's not good. So if you like watching NFL, don't don't do it. 01:08:03 Speaker 3: Don't do it. 01:08:05 Speaker 2: Work life balance. That's the key, is TJ puts it, so, yes it is. I think that'll just about wrap it up for 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 and Amazon. Follow us there, download our episodes, leave us the five star review. I know we stress it at the beginning and end of each show, but we really do mean it when we say the reviews and the downloads help us out a bunch, So just take a few seconds to do that. Watch us on YouTube, like comment, subscribe, turn the notification bells on. You've got a whole video side to the to the podcast here too. It's over on YouTube, and then follow us on social media Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube shorts. You can follow us there at Marine Layer Pod. That's TJ. I'm Lyle. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. Talk to you soon.