Episode 7: Picking A Christmas Present For The Mariners, Profiling FA OF AJ Pollock, And Trouble In San Francisco

00:00:00 Speaker 1: On episode number seven of The Marine Layer Podcast with TJ. Matthewson and Lyle Goldstein. On today's pod, Jeff Passen kicked up the Hornets nest of EM's Twitter with some comments he made on Seattle Sports Radio in the past week. There's some interesting things to look at. With that, we'll each pick out a present to put under the Mariners tree this Christmas. Our free agent profile of the week is former White Sox outfielder Aj Pollock. We'll take a look around baseball with our MLB wrap around some complications, some new complications in the Carlos Carreis saga with his thirteen year deal with the San Francisco Giants, among others. Carlos rodon now in New York Yankee. We'll close out the show with speak your Mind. With that, let's get it rolling, and we welcome you into this episode number seven of The Marine Layer Podcast on Tuesday, December twentieth, the final episode before Christmas. 00:01:05 Speaker 2: Dog, How are we doing? 00:01:07 Speaker 3: I'm doing great. I meant to bring this up last week, so I'm gonna bring this up now. To start the show, Baseball Reference came up with their yearly wrapped of most searched player in every state, who was the most searched player in the state of Hawaii or fun fact of the day Dylan More how that happened? I couldn't tell you. But he's taken it right to the bank. 00:01:31 Speaker 1: So why did you not print it out? There's some like I see blue space on your wall behind you. Why is it not up there? Like, hey, my guy, my number one in something. He's number one in something. I think that needs to be a thing. 00:01:44 Speaker 3: He's number one in my heart and number one in the state of Hawaii. You're right, I'm gonna have to give myself that Christmas present. I'll hang it up right back here on the wall. 00:01:52 Speaker 2: It's crazy. 00:01:53 Speaker 1: Needs to get framed, a nice frame, maybe with his head sort of somewhat transparent in the background, sort of like you know that that like a meme like kind of joking kind of looking behind that. I think that would be good. I wasn't expecting that. I mean there there there's some differ some interesting ones in that I was not expecting. Dylan Moore in Hawaii. I mean, he doesn't have any connection there, does he. 00:02:18 Speaker 3: No, he went to school at UCF like pretty much as far away from Hawaii as you can get. 00:02:25 Speaker 1: That's gonna be a good question to ask at. I don't know that was. I'm glad you hanging on to that, because as soon as we see that, I'm like, I'm thinking of you instantly when Dylan Moore pops up in literally anything, and I'm sure you you just jumped out of your chair and were screaming around mom lock More. 00:02:46 Speaker 3: I was fired up. What do you want me to do? And now now you're making you're you're talking up all the makings for a great Christmas present. I mean, we're gonna give wrap the Mariners some Christmas presents later, but you're already giving me the perfect idea for a Christmas present, right for myself? 00:03:01 Speaker 1: In terms of baseball moments of your career, where does that rank? 00:03:06 Speaker 3: Somewhere on the mount Rushmore has. 00:03:08 Speaker 1: To so you winning a state title, Dylan Moore being named mayor of why. 00:03:15 Speaker 3: Yeah, and then cal Raley having cal Rally hitting his walk off home run after that, that's third. 00:03:20 Speaker 2: Right, I think that's good. 00:03:22 Speaker 1: I think that's that's that's a good list. And did does Jared round out the Jared's three hit game in a second game round out the top four? 00:03:30 Speaker 3: Yeah? That sounds about right. 00:03:32 Speaker 2: That's pretty close, pretty close. 00:03:33 Speaker 1: Adam Frazer's in there somewhere too, with his hit in Game two against the Blue Jays this past fall. Okay, let's get to some actual content. We do promise we have some content for this this episode. It's been a slow couple of weeks for the Mariners in general, so we're sort of in the the rumor dissection part of the offseason with you know, not used to the Mariners being this quiet for this long. There's definitely been some content, but know, physical transactions, so we literally just have to cling on to words, and that's what we're gonna do. We look at this first segment. ESPN's Jeff Passon went on Seattle Sports Radio this past week and said some things to say the least, there's there's a lot to look into when looking at Jeff Passon's wording, but it's sort of onto our conversation from last week is how the Mariners are handling this offseason, and Passon's comments were more towards how the fans are judging this off season towards the team, and he used some words I didn't really like, I'm just gonna kick it off here where Jeff Passon says Mariners fans are spoiled, which was probably a poor use of words on Jeff's part, because I really think that that that that in terms of kicking up the hornet's nest, that I mean he's like shaking it and putting on top of his head and then going like this is like ah, he was really that was that was That was definitely choice word there from Jeff. 00:05:04 Speaker 3: It was, and spoiled probably isn't the right word to use, only because when you look at the Mariner's body of work in their resume, they obviously do not stack anywhere close to the top of baseball. They're probably just about at the bottom considering they're the only team to never make a World Series, they've had two different nineteen plus year droughts. So the choice of words wasn't great, But I will say I do understand where his general point was stemming from somewhat. 00:05:36 Speaker 1: So his full thing there was you're just you were spoiled and greedy. Right now, I think most fans are greedy and only few teams actually feed the greed of their fans, So you know, maybe that second part is right, But as we talked about last week. We're not gonna get into last week's conversation. If you want to go check out our short form stuff, YouTube shorts, Instagram reels, TikTok. I mean, I think we cut up a lot of our best stuff with that, or if you want to go back to and listen to last week's episode number six, we talked about it for about twenty minutes of how the Mariners are handling the soft season in Lyle, and I seem to be on just probably a different page with how exactly they're handling the soft season. 00:06:17 Speaker 2: I mean, we look. 00:06:18 Speaker 1: At where when I was hopping in the car to drive home today, Brandon Drury signs a two year, seventeen million dollar deal. Utility player plays infield and outfield and a right handed hitter. Something that the Maritors said, and Jerry Depoto is like, oh, we could use someone like that, and you know another one's off the market. But anyways, back to these comments, I mean a couple of things he throws out there when he when he's there on the on seven to ten, it's like, there's this in quote I'm gonna quote him directly. There's this disease that happens with sports fans. That's accompanied with winning. It's delusions of grander, the idea that once you've started winning, every single thing you do needs to be focused on perpetuating that winning. I think he can call it like San Diego padre itis, which I think is pretty accurate based on the Padres, you know, signing big contract after big contract after big contract, especially with you know, their moves to go get Soto and and Xander Bogarts. But he's also pointing out to the fact that we've never once seen three teams spend four hundred plus million dollars in a single off season, with two more closing in on that mark as we speak, and some people expect the Mariners to be spending four hundred million dollars. 00:07:38 Speaker 3: Well, that just isn't realistic. The Mariners aren't going to spend four hundred million dollars in one off season. Even when their payroll was toward the top ten of the league, they weren't doing that. That's where my issue stems from all of this is, Yes, did Jeff Passen maybe cross the line to in some people's eyes when he said fans spoiled, Sure, But the line that really resonated with me is when he said some of the thinking and the takes have really been outlandish this offseason. That I agree with. If you even spend five seconds on Mariner's Twitter, it is outlandish. I mean, it's okay if people want to pick their battles and there's certain guys they really want, but you will see the contingent of Mariner's Twitter just unleash their fury after every single free agent is signed, including this afternoon with Brandon Drury. It happened again. It happened the other day with Justin Turner, who has no positional fit on this team. The Mariners have a great third baseman. So that's where I start to roll my eyes. Is if you want a Carlos Krayer or Trey Turner, sure, but when after every single bat signs somewhere else and everybody wants to scream about it, that's where I kind of have to draw my line. I was like, this is getting a little ridiculous. 00:09:00 Speaker 1: And he does put it into context. It's easy to forget about the Julio contract, the Castillo contract, trading for ti Oscar Hernandez, or trading for Colton Wong signing Trevor God. I mean, I'm not seriously putting Trevor Gott in there as someone that you you you're amping this off season up on. But again, I'm just gonna take the side of there's a lot of talk about what you know, we talk about things and steps per se. 00:09:28 Speaker 2: Let's let's do this. 00:09:29 Speaker 1: Let's let's let's get into this right where you talk about you take a step forward, right with every every off season. So the Mariners in twenty twenty one take a step, and then this season they take a step into the playoffs, and then you know this next year, you're like, okay, what is a step? Ninety five wins, ninety seven wins, that's a step that's showing your your progress and what you've said. If they win ninety five ninety seven games and don't sign another bat the rest of this offseason, then what are we complaining about? But you know, now we can only speculate at this time of what actually is going to happen because they haven't played any games yet. With this current group of guys. 00:10:13 Speaker 3: I just think there's a lot of reason to believe there's going to be improvement from a lot of guys on this team. Between. Julio should get even better. Cal Raley could get even better. A U Hennio Suarez could honestly get even better, just to name a few. George Kirby is another. Also, if you look at the way the playoffs have been trending in the last few years. I'm not saying the Mariners should shoot to win eighty eight games, but a lot of a postseason. As we've learned throughout our lifetimes and really in the last handful of seasons, it's really just all about who's hot. Nobody expected the Phillies to get to the World Series this past year. Nobody expected the Nationals to win in twenty nineteen. Nobody really expected the Braves to win in twenty twenty one. Those teams all got hot. The Mariners could finish second in their division again and just get hot the postseason. That could have happened here in twenty twenty two. They just ran into the best team in baseball. So could they beat the Astros in a best of five series? They could. It's gonna be tough. But you know, I think, like we talked about last week, that splashing on all these free agents does not always equate to titles. 00:11:20 Speaker 1: So he was asked about the free agent signing. It says, his first instinct goes, you know, when he said the question was asked to him, should Seattle have made any of these superstar signings? Like, his first instinct always goes towards starting pitching, because in the end, that is what wins in the playoffs, That's what holds up over the course of a season, is who's healthiest on the mound and in the bullpen. And he says he looks at the Mariners rotation, He's like, yeah, well, I think they're pretty well set there. I would also agree, My next big thing goes towards power, and I would say, yeah, they do have pretty good they have a good amount of power, But I think they would have been better if they went after Turner career or Bogarts. And yet, would you have done any of those three deals? And Passon was like, probably not. I know you agree. I mean me, if I think it from a strictly fan perspective that I don't have to pay out of pocket, I'm like, well, maybe sure, But knowing how the Mariner's front office thinks, it's like, well, I know they're not gonna do it, So I don't know why I'm gonna waste my time thinking they're gonna do it. So just you know a number of things, and that was, you know, among the more reasonable things he said when he was on there. But you know, you think about it. I mean, three hundred millions a lot of money, and eleven years is a long time to be on a roster, and not every team would be willing to take Cano's contract off the books for you, Thank you Mets to to bail you out of a long contract. And another thing to put into perspective is, you know we've we talked last week about Jerry's Jerry's positional players signings, those long contracts that we're all in the Mariner's books. We're not signed under Jerry to Poto, which I always I usually forget that. Yeah, I know he was hired at the end of twenty fifteen, but even though he inherited those players, he didn't sign them. I mean, Cruz signed for a year, and then that whole front office managerial group, Lloyd McClendon, Jacks all got canned with that. So that's all inherited stuff. 00:13:20 Speaker 3: It is. But look at all the contracts that were signed before Depoto got here, like which group's had more success? That's what I can't get about some of these Mariners fans. And that's why I kind of agree with Passing when he's saying some of the takes have been out landish, because what Mariners fans basically want is to go back to two thousand and five, which if you remember the two thousand and five Mariners. They bring in Adrian Beltray almost won the MVP. They bring in Richie Sexon, that's big pop Eachie Rose in his prime. Everybody's happy. This team's gonna be unbelievable. Oh wait, they won less than seventy games. Like I'm just saying, right, everybody wants to shell out all this money and thinks that's the perfect solution, like end all be all, you go get Trey Turner, lock it in. This team's gonna be perfect. And yes, Trey Turner would objectively make them better, but look it back, when they spend all that money, is that equating to success in Seattle. 00:14:16 Speaker 1: No, we'll move on to our next topic here in a second, but just one last thing on his comments here lyle the question of the do the Mariners have to operate like a mid market team, and the answer to that is absolutely not. And the Padres are proving at all. Right, you look at the Padres, that is an outlier amongst all outliers of mid market teams. The Padres are what the twenty third market in baseball, right, you think about their quote unquote market is like a you know, ninety you know, forty five miles up from the from the Mexico border north in California and then over into like the desert of Arizona. That's essentially their market. That's all they have. And they're still out here handing out these unbelievable contracts. So they are showing that if there's someone there willing to spend that money in a mid market, you absolutely can do it. Any references to the Mets, and the Mets now have you know, Steve Cohen with their payroll and such, and now the Mets signed out of Eno today, so they have I think their payrolls up to about three hundred and sixty million dollars, which is just absolutely bonkers to think about. But he clarified when it was the Mariner's payroll. He says, Okay, listen, it isn't increasing every year. 00:15:30 Speaker 2: That is a fact. 00:15:31 Speaker 1: It increased from twenty to twenty one and then twenty one to twenty two, and has increased again from twenty two to twenty three. However, if the Mariner's payroll stays stagnant and does not grow, then you have a legitimate gripe, which makes sense, and I agree with right their their payroll has gone up. I think it could go up more. You think it could go up more. Everyone thinks it could go up more. But it has still gone up about you know, thirty million dollars from where it was last year at this point, which is good, right, thirty million dollars is a significant amount, and you would expect as the team gets better, and you know, hopefully one of these years while they're good, they get three million people in the doors at T Mobile Park and they can really use that revenue. But right, if it's stagnates, then we have more legitimate beef and we would revisit this next offseason. 00:16:23 Speaker 3: If the payroll doesn't go up over time, Yes, there's a reason to be mad. And just one final reminder, we're talking about the Mets. I seem to recall the Mariners having their season last a little bit longer than the Mets did. That's lost in the wildcard round. Seattle didn't. It's just perspective. I'm not saying I'd be mad if they spend all this money. I'm just saying the reaction on Twitter and the reaction among Mariners fans this days, these days, it does seem like a little much. But everybody's entitled to their own opinion. We have some opinions on where the Mariners could go from here. It's Christmas time. We're gonna stay Christmas themed here on the show this week because when you look at the free agent market that's left, there are still some bats out there. There are still some ways for this Mariner's team to get better. So in the holiday spirit, TJ and I are going to each pick a present to put under the Mariner's tree for how they can improve the roster for the upcoming season. We each pick different scenarios and I'll throw it to you first. TJ, what is your Christmas present to the Seattle Mariners? 00:17:24 Speaker 1: So mine, I'm thinking I'm sitting here thinking last night when I'm prepping for this show, It's like, really, what would make the Mariners most happy? Looking through the list of free agents, and like we've talked about, the free agent list right now is really barren, and I'm like, thinking of a trade. I'm like, well, there's some obvious trades we've already thrown around, but I don't know if I want to really regurgitate one of those because I like some more fresh content here. So then I'm looking within the organization of what I think would be best for the Mariners and what would make the Mariners most happy, and it. 00:17:56 Speaker 2: Just kind of clicked. 00:17:57 Speaker 1: I mean, how happy would the Mariners be if Matt Brash turned into into a decent to good fifth starter for this upcoming season. Think of how much that clears up the Meritors roster. If you have Brash slide into that fifth spot and look really, really good, think about. 00:18:16 Speaker 3: That, that would be great. Chris Flexen is serviceable, Marco Gonzalez is serviceable. But if Matt Brash turned into the starter that they thought he could be in the Miners, that is a rotation that is absolutely lethal. 00:18:34 Speaker 1: Matt Brash and the Miners. We go back to twenty twenty one when he was in Double Again, it's Double A is not the major leagues, but in twenty twenty one, in Double A as a starter for the Arkansas Travelers. Matt Brash had a two to one three ere and a three two, five, fifth, and fifty five innings as a starter in the you know now last level of the miners that players usually go to before they're called to the big leagues unless you're you know, a unique case of needing to go play in Triple A. A lot of guys will make the jump straight from Double A, and that's what Matt did, so you know he's proven he can. 00:19:11 Speaker 2: He pitched, I think a. 00:19:12 Speaker 1: Little bit under one hundred innings that year, but you know, his walk rate was a little bit under four walks per nine, which for a guy with his mechanics is serviceable. But the strikeout stuff was really good there as well. We saw in the big leagues this year this past year when he was a starter, there's a couple of problems. He was getting crushed, but more importantly, his fastball was getting absolutely obliterated. So we saw him this offseason working on a cutter, which I think helps out with his ability to start because it's sort of a it's a different shape than his fastball. I went looking into his fastball numbers and his fastball numbers, even as a reliever were not great. I mean, it's it's sort of a flat fastball with not too much life on it. As hard as he throws it and a violent as it is, it's not the you know, extra life fastball on it that you hear like it has that great backspin on it that makes guys swing under it. It's more of a just sort of a flat fastball, and that's why guys were crushing it so much. So when you can add a different shape in terms of a cutter, it helps out a lot. And most importantly for a guy who doesn't really have a change up. He threw eight change ups this past year. That cutter will help him get lefties out and go through the lineup more than one time, which is important for a starter. 00:20:32 Speaker 3: I felt like Brash's issue as a starter was more about command than getting hit around. It never felt like he really got crushed around when he was in a starter's role. I thought it was more just he had to throw more strikes. I think that's the biggest key, right, Like, obviously you want your fastball to have life on it, but if you throw it as hard as Brash does, you can still get swings and misses. 00:20:54 Speaker 1: When you get into triple digits, yes, but when you're only going you know, ninety six ninety seven as a starter, that's more hittable. You know, guys see velocity all the time. 00:21:05 Speaker 3: Now they do, they do, But when you I guess when you compliment it with that slider he has, which is a straight whipple ball as it's been called. Those two pitches are why he profiled so well in the bullpen. Usually you need three to start. There are some unique cases like Tyler Glass now who can get away with having two pitches. But if Brash is gonna learn this cutter Annie can refine some of his command, that would be great. I mean, it's easy to forget. He looked better than George Kirby did as a starter in spring training. Even though Kirby had the much better year. Brash outdueled Kirby for that final spot in spring training. He just kind of lost his command when the season rolled around. His command look good in the spring. I don't see any reason why, with another year and another off season under his belt, why he can't figure it all out. 00:21:53 Speaker 1: So Brash when he went to the bullpen a two thrive excuse me A two three, five era and thirty and two thirds Ward's innings, forty three strikeouts when he you know, he took his little hiatus down to triple A, came back up, and then when he was in the bullpen, he was really good man on that game three while he was unbelievable out of the bullpen. Was that was so much fun watching him there at te Mobile Park. But if he's a starter, right he refines his command a little bit. I don't know how much of a mechanics tweak he'll need to make, because I know people don't love his mechanics, and there's a reason people project him to the bullpen because it's not really a smooth, consistent delivery, which a lot of starters need. If you watch George Kirby, it's about as smooth as it gets with him on the mound, but Brash a little more hirky jerky, so it doesn't really work out too well with him trying to start. Another thing I was thinking about with this is not not just okay, we found a place for Matt Brash, but it's also like how it sort of clears up the system a little bit, because then you could trade both Marco and Flex and if you want or you have those two starters down in double A, Emerson Hancock and Taylor Dollard, or even you could throw in Bryce Miller there too, that are a little more expendable as a trade piece because you have a young guy pre ARB in your rotation. You have three pre ARB guys in your rotation throwing. It's like, okay, we trust these guys. They're young, cheap and under contract for a while now, and they all have well above average stuff. Okay, I think it is a little we can be a little looser in our trade talks with Emerson Hancock, Taylor Dollard and Bryce Miller. And if there's one thing that is more valuable than anything else in baseball today, it is young major league ready pitching, which the Mariners potentially have three of them behind Matt Brash if you were to be good, and if you were to be good, then you'd have four. So it would really put a bow tie on the Mariners draft and develop For a guy like Matt Brash, who wasn't very highly touted. 00:24:00 Speaker 3: That would be great. Obviously, you'd want some rotational depth somewhere. But if Brash was as good as the present. You're making him out to be the one you're trying to hypothetically give the Mariners here. I mean, yeah, there's your five starters for the next at least three to four years. And all of a sudden, Yeah, like you said, you need another bat, or you need another piece in the outfield, whatever, you can go trade some of these minor league guys for major league pieces. That would be great, especially because your rotation would be absolutely locked in. The only thing you'd ever really need is an injury replacement. 00:24:36 Speaker 1: And if you think about it, like, what is more valuable Matt Brash with a let's say it two five era, Because if we think about regression a full season, I'd say a two five to three era in the bullpen is probably the area a good version of Matt Brash hangs around in the bullpen. 00:24:52 Speaker 2: Or would you. 00:24:52 Speaker 1: Take maybe a three to eight to four to two era as a five starter? I mean I feel like I'd take the five starter. 00:25:01 Speaker 3: Yeah, if that era equates to two to two and a half wins, that's probably more than he's gonna put up in the bullpen. So absolutely, I mean, if you're putting up a three eight e ra as a five starter. With the way Brash can strike guys out and the stuff that he has, tig me right up. So for my free agent, going to. 00:25:20 Speaker 1: Say, all right, before I'll let you get that that line in here in a second, I'm gonna look this up here really quick, just to put it in perspective of how much how many wins above replacement the best relievers in baseball get as the best year possible, right can have about two and a half wins Edwin Diaz this year As I wait for this fangrafts page to load, here some perspective, right, Edwin Diaz had one of the best reliever seasons of his career and all time. Through sixty two winnings an era of extremely low one to three to one e RA, he was only worth three wins. And Matt Brash, if he puts it a eighty and throws one hundred and fifty innings at the back end of your rotation, is easily worth three wins as well. So there you go go ahead, Doug. 00:26:10 Speaker 3: Yeah, like I said, sign me right up for Matt Brash being a viable starter. We know the Mariners still need bats, so the president, I'm gonna put under the Christmas tree for Seattle this offseason is another bat. And yes, what you have left to pick out is not the same as it was just a few weeks ago, but there's still some serviceable bats out there. The Mariners need a right handed hitting bat, and one that's still out there that I think could work really well for this team is Will Myers, a guy who has been a pretty good bat most of his career. He's gonna be fairly cheap. He can play first base, he can play the outfield, he can dage, so he's fairly versatile. But the biggest thing with him is he really crushes lefties. I mean, this past year he put up a one to thirty WRC plus against lefties, so that's thirty percent better than league average. For his career, he's put up a one nineteen WRC plus against leftis, so that's nineteen percent above league average. His career ops against lefties, it's over eight hundred. If you're the Mariners and you're looking to not really open up your check books all that much, this winner fill a need and improve your roster. He seems like a pretty good fit. 00:27:22 Speaker 1: I agree, and I'm looking at his defensive numbers too here, and you know, overall, as long as you keep him at a center field, he's you know, serviceable in the outfield, which is where you'd want him to play right. You'd want him to mix in a little bit at DH, you'd want him to get out there in left field a little bit where for his career he's a plus defender in left field. He's played just about one thousand innings in left field in his career. At this stage of his career, maybe not quite as good of a left fielder as he was younger. He played a lot more center field when he was younger and earlier on when he was Tampa Bay Ray. Yeah, our yeah, Padre at Tampa Bay Ray. His career has been all over the place, but you know his defense is fine, and again it doesn't even need to be good defense in the outfield. Really, we sat through a whole season of Jesse Winker and left field I think will take pretty much anything else in left field to get it done. And you always have Jared out there and left which we're planning because it seems at this point it is gonna be someone to pair with Jared Kelnick in left field. That is what it's gonna be. So you think, Okay, who is someone who you could play out there on defense thirty percent of the time, right when you really need a guy out there, when you can put an extra right hand bat at DH, when there's a lefty on the hill that's really tough that you're gonna sit Jared for, and you're gonna want to Writy in left field, and you're gonna want to writey at DH. Okay, we don't know who that DH is yet. They could probably sign someone else, but Will Myers would be a good choice out there, I think, And you're right for his career, a very very good hitter, very productive. 00:28:58 Speaker 3: Seems like a seamless fan. But we think Jared Kalnick's going to progress this year for a lot of reasons, and I think in future shows we may have some time to talk about that, one of them being that the shift is not going to be a thing anymore, so, especially against righty's, which is a much better side. There's no reason he can't hit righty's. And then if you play well Myers to his strength against lefties, seems like a pretty seamless platoon. The Mariners like their platoon at second base right now with Dylan Moore and Colton Long. It could be a similar story in left field, and especially because Meyers shouldn't cost all that much money. I'm going to guess somewhere from eight to ten million dollars. I'd be really interested to see him here in Seattle, and I think he would provide a nice boost to the lineup, like you talked about too, he's you can slot him into DH a little bit, but he can play some first base. Ty France needs some days off from first base, which he probably didn't get enough of this past year. You can put Meyers at first. 00:29:52 Speaker 1: Right, and it wore him down. We saw it wear him down towards the end of the year. A couple guys you had to play pretty much every day, cal Rawly and ty France at first because there's really not as much depth behind them to do. So Yeah, I do like the idea of Will Myers, and it's good. And he seems like a fun personality and a good fit, so that'd be good. And he's got the classic look with no batting gloves on, which I think would work out really well, so that'd be good. I would I would approve of that present I think Jerry would be be happy with that, and he as we think, works with the budget. I guess we're thinking of what the budget is right now and how much Jerry, how much wiggle room Jerry has left on his off season, you know, spending sheet for this, and you would think eight to ten million dollars would be right within the budget as we're assuming right now. 00:30:47 Speaker 2: But who knows, we don't know the books. But that'd be good. 00:30:52 Speaker 1: Will Myers in left field, another guy who could be a left fielder. As we look at our free agent profile of the week for White Sox outfielder Aj Pollock, Lyle is a similar profile. A little bit better defense, a little bit more speed, even though it's been trending in the wrong direction as he ages. But another guy who hits left handers supremely well, and a guy who's just a year removed from one of the best seasons of his career. Aj Pollock, I'm a big fan of what he could bring to this team. 00:31:23 Speaker 3: Very similar to Will Myers. He's a little bit older that being Pollock, just because he's in his mid thirties now. Myers is closer to his early thirties, but Pollack hits lefties, and if the Mariners really want a platoon out in left field, he'd be the right guy for it. His season as a whole was not great, but when he was facing lefties this past year, he was really good. He put up a nine to thirty five ops versus left handed pitching. I mean, who's going to complain about that? 00:31:52 Speaker 1: So my only thing with Aj Pollock we're here talking about monetary dollars. He turned down a thirteen million dollar player option, which means me raise an eyebrow here. Maybe he envisioned the market would be a little more favorable to him and someone would want him as a bounce back candidate, but he declined a thirteen million dollar player option for a five million dollar buyout and opted hit free agency. Maybe he didn't like the White Sox. I honestly don't know. He was traded there right before opening day of last year for Craig Kimbrell part of that trade, and he was relatively healthy this past year, but sort of an underwhelming season at the plate. He only had a ninety two WRC plus overall didn't even slug four hundred. And this is a guy a year removed from a two ninety one or sorry, two ninety seven, three point fifty five five thirty eight slash line and a tide career high in home runs. I mean, that's sort of the upside you're buying into. 00:32:48 Speaker 3: There have been times in the past two where the Mariners have taken chances on guys who were coming off a down year and it worked. Pollack could be a guy just like that, especially because his track record is really good the last five seasons. I mean before twenty twenty two, he had had an eight hundred ops or better in four or five seasons, and the only time he didn't reach eight hundred was twenty nineteen. He was at seven to ninety five. He's been a pretty consistent bat most of his career. He is likely not a guy where you're kind of up in the air about him. You don't know what you're gonna get. No, you know that AJ Pollock's gonna put together good at bats. He's going to provide some pop, he can hit lefties, and again, he's probably not gonna cost a lot. It's a guy that is he gonna allow anybody if they sign him. No, is he going to put up a six win season. No, But he can provide some value to this team and add some offense which they currently need. 00:33:49 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so too. In another plus, maybe because of the fact he'd be willing to sign. I mean, he already signed once as a free agent on the West Coast, and he spent all but one season of his career in the western part of the United States. He started his first handful of seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks, his first seven years to be exactly, twenty twelve to twenty eighteen with the Diamondbacks, and then three years with the Dodgers, where he had three pretty good seasons. 00:34:15 Speaker 2: So there's just a. 00:34:16 Speaker 1: Lot of you know, there's a lot of easy links I guess with the Mariners and AJ Pollock, which I'd like to see at this point of his career. Used to be a center fielder, but would be more than welcome to playing a corner outfield spot. Looking at his defense as a little I guess interesting outs above average doesn't really like him that much. His defensive run saved and left field actually seven hundred and fifty two winnings in left field this past year was plus four defensive run saved, so slightly above average out there. And left, So you could have two plus defenders and left, a plus defender in center and then Tascar Hernandez and right. 00:34:51 Speaker 2: Is just yeah. 00:34:52 Speaker 1: But you know, I think you would be okay with that right if that was the defense you were getting. 00:34:58 Speaker 3: The good news is the Barners need a left fielder. Center field, they've got that covered. Right field, they've got that covered with Taoscar Hernandez. What they're looking for is somebody to platoon with Jared Keelnick. That's going to be the left fielder. So the good news is does Pollock profile well in the other two spots. No, at least not defensively. He profiles well enough in left field where he can hold his own out there. If his defensive run safd are still in the positive, I think you have to take that and put it right in your back pocket because you're not asking him to win a Gold Glove. You're just asking him to not be Jesse Winker out there, and he can definitely definitely play some serviceable left field. So I think that's a positive for the Mariners, especially because again fitting the narrative here, along with everything we've already talked about with him, he shouldn't be that expensive. I know he said he turned down the thirteen million dollar player option. That is kind of a head scratcher. I would guess now he'd probably get maybe half of that. I'm guessing somewhere from six to eight million dollars. 00:35:56 Speaker 2: It's a little puzzling. 00:35:57 Speaker 1: Yeah, I get maybe he just didn't like chicag I again, he spent most of his career on the West Coast, so maybe just wasn't a huge fan of Chicago. Another kind of red flag I saw with AJ Pollack said, three hamstring injuries over. 00:36:09 Speaker 2: The last two seasons. 00:36:10 Speaker 1: He only missed ten days with the hamstring injury last year, but multiple hamstring injuries over the course of two seasons. And that's not really the type of stuff that goes away as you get older. So that's something to keep an eye on with AJ Pollock. But we're again just talking about fit with AJ Pollock. I like the idea of AJ Pollock in left field. 00:36:33 Speaker 3: One more point to make here before we wrap this segment up. If they are still interested in a Brian Reynolds trade where which it sounds like from what we heard this past week, they are, they could sign Aj Pollack to a one year deal, and if they trade for Brian Reynolds, Pollack can still be a really good bench bat. So even if he is signed with the idea of platooning him with Kellnick, if you go and get Brian Reynolds, Pollack can still come off the bench and provide you some good at bat. So there's a lot of different things he could do for this team if they decide to sign him to a contract. 00:37:05 Speaker 1: Or why don't you just stick him at DH? That too. Who's who's starting DH on opening Day right now? 00:37:14 Speaker 3: Is it Sam Haggerty? 00:37:17 Speaker 1: That's exactly what I'm saying. You don't have a DH. So I don't know if we're really at the point where we're gonna be like, well, it's not really a fit on the roster. It's like, well, there's a gaping hole at DH right now. It's a shame that there's Abe's not there to take any at bats now. 00:37:31 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I'm shedding a tear. 00:37:34 Speaker 2: Easy fix, easy fix. 00:37:37 Speaker 3: Look, this is where we're out in the off season. You're not going to sign any MVPs at this point, but you can still get some value. AJ Pollock could be a guy who provides exactly that. Let's transition here into our MLB wrap around our first topic here, TJ. Things have gotten a little bit interesting today. Specifically, shortly after we got off the air last week, he Carlos Korea signed with the Dodger. He inked a huge contract thirteen years, three hundred and fifty million dollars, all of a sudden today, when he was scheduled to have his press conference, it was all of a sudden postponed because now there's a medical red flag. First off, what did you think of the contract? And two what do you make of this recent news? 00:38:27 Speaker 1: My thoughts on the contract, Holy shit, that's a long contract and a lot of peomen but something the Maritors are never gonna do absolute They're never under with this regime. They will never sign a thirteen year contract. I mean they will probably never sign a guy to I mean, I know Hulu's contract is long. That's sort of the exception there. They're never gonna sign a free agent to a thirteen year contract. 00:38:50 Speaker 2: Wow. 00:38:51 Speaker 1: I know that the Giants went into this offseason with the plan to spend money. They were gonna give a boatload of money to it sounds like one of two guys they were either gonna back up to bring struck for Aaron Judge or they were going to take that money if they didn't get Judge and go get Carlos Korea. And that's exactly what they did. So they did what they wanted to Brandon Belt. Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford's aging at shortstop too. So a guy that could be the face of their franchise and a team that has plenty of money to spend, they actually go spend it. But that really made me raise my eye because it is not official. 00:39:23 Speaker 2: It is not right. 00:39:24 Speaker 1: If it was official, they would have had their press conference earlier today, about three hours before the press conference Giants pr sent on in the email. I saw a screenshot of it on Twitter. It was one sentence. There is no intro, there's no outro. It was literally, today's press conference is postponed. 00:39:41 Speaker 2: That's it. 00:39:41 Speaker 1: And there's there's some some inklings on it that you're right, there's a red flag, and I'm trying to think so whenever we hear a red flag with a physical it's almost always pitchers. Almost always pitchers, because it's either something in their elbow or something in their shoulder which would prevent them from throwing long term, but position players, Like, what could it be? I'm guessing it's shoulder, right, you would think, because that's something that would shoulder or back. 00:40:07 Speaker 3: Maybe I was gonna say, if you remember a few years ago, he had some back issues that caused him to miss some time back when he was in Houston. I don't know if that's what it is or not, but yeah, that would be a little concerning. Could you imagine Giants fans this winter though, if they go from Arson Judge to Carlos Korea being a Giant and then not being a giant. 00:40:29 Speaker 2: Yeah, the deal falls through because of medicals. 00:40:31 Speaker 1: I mean, wouldn't you still have to sign him though? 00:40:35 Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean how could you let him walk out of the building at that point? 00:40:39 Speaker 2: I like, cut some guaranteed money off the contract. 00:40:42 Speaker 1: I don't like, you can't just let the guy walk because then you're you You end up empty handed because you could have signed anyone else, but you chose to go after Korea, and the medicals scare you off. I mean, this is some like NFL stuff where this like or this happens. 00:40:57 Speaker 2: It's it's crazy, really. 00:41:00 Speaker 1: And the thing is Carlos Korea is coming off through the healthiest seasons of his career. Yeah, this man in twenty sixteen, I think it's twenty sixteen, fifteen or sixteen played one hundred and fifty games, and then the. 00:41:17 Speaker 2: Last three years he played. 00:41:18 Speaker 1: Fifty eight of sixty games in the pandemic season. He played one hundred and forty eight games in twenty twenty one, and then in twenty twenty two this past season played one hundred and thirty six. 00:41:28 Speaker 2: You take that. 00:41:30 Speaker 1: It's been in the lineup again, more reliable than most shortstops in baseball in terms of showing up the last three years. 00:41:37 Speaker 2: And this just shocked me. 00:41:39 Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, just to cancel the press conference, I mean, it's that serious cant where you literally can't say this is done. 00:41:48 Speaker 3: I'll be interested to see how all this unfolds, because the Giants know that they need Carlos Korea, especially after losing out on Judge. They need a face of that team. They need a guy who's gonna anchor the offense. Signing Mitch Hanneger is great, and as we know, he is a very very productive outfield bat, but he's not Carlos Korea. And whatever medical concern you have with them, you still better do whatever it takes if you're the Giants, to keep him in San Francisco, because I would guess whatever this injury is is not going to hamper his career for thirteen seasons. So do what it takes to keep him there because he is arguably the best shortstop in baseball. 00:42:31 Speaker 1: I'm gonna give a shout out to Korea for doing when everyone looks at Aaron Judge with the ultimate bet on yourself thing this past season where he literally, I mean he turned down an extension from the Yankees, went out and had one of the ten best offensive seasons the hitters ever had at the plate, you could argue, and he cashed in big this offseason. And then Correa essentially did the same thing. The Astros offered him a five year, one hundred and sixty million dollars year last season an aav of thirty two. He turns that essentially if you include what he made with the Twins this offseason after he walked from Houston a fourteen year, three hundred and eighty five point one million dollar deal, it's pretty good. 00:43:17 Speaker 3: You know, the real reason that he took that deal in Minnesota. 00:43:21 Speaker 2: Right because there was no market last year. 00:43:25 Speaker 3: I think the bigger reason is because he changed agents in the middle of the last offseason and just recently hired Scott Boris. Oh would I remember reading too? What I remember reading last year was if Korea had signed some mega deal last winter, it wasn't Boris that got a big chunk of the deal. And Scott Boris basically sold Carlos Carea on the idea of just take a short deal this winner, opt out after one year, have a good season, and I will get you significantly more money. And to be fair, he did. So you know, we roll our eyes at Scott Boris because he can be kind of inferior to deal with, and I'm sure for teams he is too, but he is very very good at his job. 00:44:05 Speaker 2: He is. 00:44:06 Speaker 1: And again, congrats to Carlos Korea. That is only the second thirteen year deal in baseball history, a guy who signed a almost half as long contract. But we got pretty close with this one. Dan Sby Swanson signs a seven year, one hundred and seventy seven million dollar deal with the Chicago Cubs on Saturday. If you want to listen to what we had to say on Dansby Swanson, it was an episode four of our of this podcast in our free agent previews, so we don't have to go really into any of his numbers, but this is a pretty reasonable deal for both sides, and one where I could probably say it's a win win for both. 00:44:46 Speaker 3: Finally, I mean, how long did we have to wait around this win or to see a reasonable contract for Dansby Swanson. This is actually what he's worth. Is he as good as guys like Trey Turner and Carlos Korea? Probably not, but he is very good. He had a huge walk here and he got market value. Seven years for one hundred and seventy seven million dollars is what he's worth. So it was just a little refreshing to see somebody get a reasonable deal. 00:45:15 Speaker 1: Twenty five point two AAV over seven years, so he'll be a free each and again when he's thirty five, so we could sign another contract if he does well on this and they other teams think he aged well. But my question with the Cubs is they had this money to sign Dansby Swanson, but they decided not to sign Wilson Contrere, so you could you could argue as a better player. 00:45:40 Speaker 3: I don't know what the story is there because they didn't sign any of those core guys from that World Series team, which was always interesting to me, But they had a needed shorts. I don't know. I mean, to be fair, that Chris Bryant contract's not really working out so far. I mean, it's only been one year, but he was really injured. Rizzo's been pretty good in New York. Kave Bias has not been very good in Detroit. Maybe they saw something. Maybe Jet Hoyer preferred a guy like Dansby Swanson as some of the core of that old team could be. 00:46:13 Speaker 2: I guess. 00:46:14 Speaker 1: I mean, but of all those guys, would you choose Dansby first? 00:46:20 Speaker 3: I mean, now maybe you know, if hindsight was twenty twenty, I'd probably say no. 00:46:27 Speaker 1: I'd probably rather have Wilson Contrares, just to be honest, better hitter. You know, both playing are the two most valuable defensive positions. You could argue Dansby's a better shortstop than Contreras As a catcher. I know the Controller's brothers aren't really known for their defense that much, but having a hitting catcher is pretty valuable. And you know, Wilson Contreras isn't signed for an absurd amount of money five years eighty seven and a half million dollars. It's seventeen and a half a year. It's it's not that bad for the Cubs, who draw really well and or a big market. As much they like to say, they are not as big of a market as people think. So there's that to think about. 00:47:07 Speaker 3: There is, but that middle infield in Chicago's all of a sudden going to be pretty good because Nico Horner had a great year last year. He slides over to second base. Dansby's going to play short so the Cubs do get better. Even if they lose Contreras, they still upgrade their roster, so that should provide some pop both on offense and some really high quality defense. It also just made sense for both sides, between the Cubs really needing a shortstop, they wanted to bring in a star, Dansby's looking around at the market. That was one of the few teams left that needed a guy at the sixth slot. Also, his wife plays professional soccer in Chicago. There was just a lot of reasons that was a fit. I wasn't that shocked to see him go to the Cubs. 00:47:48 Speaker 1: While if this was the Mariners would you approve this deal. 00:47:55 Speaker 3: Yes, I mean I had to think about it there for a second. But for twenty five million dollars a year, I think I would because what they say is one war equates to about eight million dollars. So to be fair, if Dansby Swanson put up about three wins a year over the course of seven years for the Mariners, he would live up to the contract. And I think he. 00:48:16 Speaker 1: Cannet from from a starting shortstop. That's not too much to ask for. When you're playing, you're and you're already a good defender. That like that alone is worth about two wins. So you add on a little bit of offensive as well in bam, there you go. That's three wins. So I don't I don't think it's the I would also say yes, especially since it's seven years and he is only gonna be thirty four thirty five. He will end it in his age thirty four season, which is reasonable, right, That's that's nothing. The other four guys are all gonna be forty. The other three guys are all gonna be forty when they're done. 00:48:50 Speaker 3: A lot of reasons to like that contract. Moving on to the next guy, Carlos Rodin. Rodin goes to the Yankees for six years at one hundred and sixty two million dollars. Man, this Yankees rotation, with the snap of a finger, just went from good to great. 00:49:09 Speaker 1: Yep, facing him in the playoffs is gonna be a pain. 00:49:13 Speaker 2: It's gonna be a pain in the ass. 00:49:15 Speaker 1: You're you're going cold Game one, Rodin, Game two, Cortes Game three, and then some combination of Severino maybe in Game four, or maybe they signed someone else to start. But man, I mean they have put them. The Yankees have put their checkbooks and really flex it by signing Aaron Judge to a historic deal. And now Carlos Rodon gets the contract he's you know, graciously waited for, and his injury riddled career finally gets two good, back to back seasons and a team finally drops a bag on his front door. And I'm you know, it's really good for him that he's gonna get twenty seven million dollars a year. So the Yankees now have guaranteed over five hundred million dollars this sofseason, which is sort of a who hum offseason for them. 00:50:03 Speaker 3: What a change in narrative for the Yankees. A couple of weeks ago, we were saying this team might miss the playoffs if they lose Aaron Judge, because we said, if they don't have Aaron Judge on this team, I don't think they're a playoff team. Well, now, all of a sudden, between bringing Judge back and a one through four in that rotation, that's really really good Cole rodin Cortes Severino, like you said, they they've got a little bit of thump in that team again, like they provide a little bit of fear into an opponent's eye. I never thought they had much of a chance against the Astros this past year, even though they got to the Alcs. Now, all of a sudden, they're they're pretty scary. 00:50:44 Speaker 1: We always talked about the Mariners catching the Astros. This is the Yankees move to catch the Astros because now you can legitimately look at them in a playoff series and think, well, if we're starting Cole and rodin four of the seven games, we like our chances no matter what are lineup looks like like outside of Aaron Judge. I think you would have to like that, and I, you know, I agree, and that's probably their line of thinking when they go with Rodan. It's a shame he's gonna have to shave. He usually has a pretty good mustache going Rodin does. But you know what, Nonetheless, the Yankees they've signed Judge Rodan, they re signed Rizzo as well, so you know they're sort of running it back plus Rodan, and that's probably the right idea there in the Bronx. So good for Carlos Rodin. A deal that really shocked me. Rodin Steele didn't this deal did. Andrew Benin Tendi We thought was gonna get a probably a two year deal, but shows you how plugged in we are to the industry. Five years, seventy five million dollars for Andrew Benin Tendy to go to the Chicago White Sox, essentially taking Aj Pollock spot after he walks the largest free agent signing in Chicago White Sox history. 00:51:54 Speaker 3: Just another cheap franchise. Seventy five million dollars is your biggest contract ever over the course of five years. It's pretty remarkable, especially because they're in a big market. I know they're the secondary team in Chicago, but you're still in Chicago. It's not like you don't have money. Meanwhile, pairing that with the pairing that with the fact that Andrew benin Tende is a good player, but not a guy i'd want to give that type of deal to. I don't know. It's a head scratcher all around. 00:52:26 Speaker 1: It's not like you have a poor owner either. Jerry Reinsdorf owns the Bulls. Like, what are we talking about? And they just said I remember when they set the record with Grandall a couple of years ago, and I was like, made me raise an eyebrows, like oh okay, and then they break it again. It's like, whoa seventy five million dollars Again. We have our complaints about the Mariners, but there are some teams that they that make the Mariners look like the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets. I mean it is it is really incredible. So it'll be interesting to see how Benintendee fits there. I would imagine his power is going to go up a little bit. The UH you know, the Baseball Savant home run predictors by Ballpark they would double his home run total Ben and Tendee's if he went from UH where he played this past season Kansas City and New York to Chicago from five to ten. He had a career low power output, but they like his value. He's still had a with WRC plus at one twenty two last year while only hitting five home runs, which is pretty impressive. It shows you how well the rest of his offensive profile was. So this is pretty good for them, a much needed edition there in the outfield. 00:53:36 Speaker 3: And when you look at his ops plus from last year, it was the second highest mark of his career. It was one twenty, so twenty percent above league average. The only year he was better than that was twenty eighteen. I just worry. I guess with playing in Chicago it should help his power numbers, but he also had some very down years before this season, so I don't know. Again, there's a reason that we had our questions when this contract was signed, because a guy that has not exactly had the most lucrative offensive profile for his career getting a five year deal like this seems a little bit much. But maybe playing in Chicago can help his offense. Because I just sat there and thought, again, he's he's mostly he's mostly a contact guy, like he is not gonna he is not gonna fill in for Jose of Brews. Shoes right, So five year deal. I'll be interested to see how that one plays out. I would not have given him that deal if I was Seattle. 00:54:33 Speaker 2: Yeah, I was. 00:54:34 Speaker 1: Gonna give him a five year deal either. I think it would have been okay, because there's still a little bit too much strikeout in the Mariners lineup. Julio strikes out a bit, Cal strikes out, Suarez strikes out, et cetera. You can go down the line right with a little bit. Ty Woody struggles strikes out a lot, and Ben and Tendi would sort of balance that out a bit if he was going to come in. But you know, again, the profile is just not great. It's not It's not one that necessarily ages great. I mean, no offensive profile really ages great unless you're Berry Bonds and you eat a balanced breakfast. But the last five years is probably a little much. The aav I would have been like, well, of course you do that deal, but seventy five million over five years, hmm, yeah, I'm good. 00:55:23 Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm okay, spend some more money, White Sox. That should not be your biggest contract. And that's how we'll wrap that segment up. Let's transition now into speak your Mind. 00:55:34 Speaker 2: Speak your mind. Spok That would be unwise. What is necessary is never unwise. 00:55:45 Speaker 3: Well, TJ, what's been going on in your life in the last week. What have you been thinking about? 00:55:51 Speaker 1: All right, well, I have a couple of things that are really intrigued me slash pissed me off. I think you know what one of them was. I sort of broke it down for you this morning, but I'll reiterate it for this podcast. I mean, I want to just give a shout out to scammers. You guys have gotten really, really, really good. I mean, I'm gonna give you a hat tip. I got a text this morning. It is It's Christmas season, right, so you're ordering stuff and it's getting shipped places now. I wake up to go to work at about eight o'clock in the morning. I work in radio and I don't work morning shift, so I don't have to get up that early. So if those are you wondering why I'm slacking them not Anyways, I wake up and I get a text. I had some background. I bought my dad a couple of Christmas presents from a website and they were being shipped, and one had just shipped the day before because I'd gotten an email notification like okay. So I wake up and I see this text in my phone that was like, oh, you've inputed the wrong We can't deliver to this address. You'll need to re input us Like huh okay, groggy eyed before cough in the morning, of course. So I open it up and it is a very legit looking USPS website. I mean about as legit as it can look. I mean it was, you know, copyright USPS everything. I'm like, wow, this looks it looks like the USPS website. And I got duped. It was was not great and I have a new credit card coming for me on Friday because that was Uh, don't don't ever put your information into those things. Just please don't. They will let you know if you screwed up. Don't don't do it. Please to uh. 00:57:32 Speaker 2: Don't don't be like me. 00:57:33 Speaker 1: It just really it really threw a wrench into my day and I was I was pissed off for most of the morning. 00:57:38 Speaker 2: So that's one. 00:57:39 Speaker 1: But the thing that really caught my eye this week lyle you saw this and this sort of serviced on Twitter over the weekend, which really made me laugh. So there's this CHIEFS fan the Kansas City Chiefs called chiefs Aholic. He dresses up in a full wolf costume and goes to every single game. He has season tickets, and he's very active on Twitter. He live tweets through the whole game, YadA, YadA, YadA. So he went quiet on Twitter, and the Chiefs were in Houston this past weekend playing the Texans, and people were like, is this dude okay? So some people went looking for him and they're they're they're trying to figure out. 00:58:16 Speaker 2: Where he is. 00:58:18 Speaker 1: He and he hadn't tweeted anything since December sixteenth, which was Friday, and he said he was going to go to the game on Sunday, which was the eighteenth. So people were doing some research, YadA YadA, YadA, And some people did enough digging and they find out he was arrested for a bank robbery on Friday morning, so some context of this. So he apparently had been robbing banks for quite a while to fund his season tickets and he's gambling on the Kansas City Chiefs. And there was another picture that popped up here on on Twitter that we saw that was him robbing a bank in the same wolf's mask that he would wear it to the stadium with the same red hat on top, and I was like, oh, my goodness. And where he was arrested in Bixley? I think it is Bigsby. Bixby which places this. It is called a tiny town in Oklahoma. 00:59:24 Speaker 2: Where is it. 00:59:24 Speaker 1: Bixby somewhere in Oklahoma? Yeah, Bixby, Oklahoma. There we go, which is directly on the way from Kansas City to Houston where he was driving for the weekend. So he must have thought he would cash up a little bit to uh to go to the ball to the stadium. I thought that was hilarious. I could not believe that that was a real story. But it seems like it actually was real. That a guy would rob banks to fund to be a and also managed to be a public figure, public Twitter figure of an NFL team. 01:00:02 Speaker 2: I thought that was serious. 01:00:02 Speaker 1: And then and then the wolf Mass bank robbery was the cherry on top. 01:00:08 Speaker 3: I was just waiting to see something get released that this story was fake, and it never was. I don't know how I mean. And the fact he was wearing the full costume is just nuts. 01:00:22 Speaker 2: Oh, it was fantastic. 01:00:24 Speaker 3: Well, maybe that can be Maybe it can be. The Chiefs a haul a curse this weekend. If the Seahawks get a victory over Kansas City somehow, somehow. 01:00:35 Speaker 1: Yeah, it could be man, they could They could use that the good vibe. I imagine if he was like driving on his way to Seattle too. Hopefully wouldn't rob a Seattle bank. That would be unfortunate. But yeah, maybe he'll send the Seahawks some good luck from jail since the Chiefs didn't try and bail him out. I think his bond said at two hundred k Lyle, if you want to start at GoFundMe. 01:00:56 Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know if I can. I don't know if I can too much with that one. I don't know about you. 01:01:01 Speaker 2: It's on your mind, buddy. 01:01:05 Speaker 3: Okay. So I've got two things. One, with it being the holiday season, I don't really know what to ask for as like presence for the holidays. This has happened a few years in a row, and I don't know if this is an age thing or if it's just me. But when people ask what do you want, I just don't really have answers. And I don't know if I'm alone in that or not. 01:01:28 Speaker 1: I don't think you're alone in that but like because it's like when we're young, we want toys, right, but like toys now are like, oh cool, I got a new like lamp for my desk. It looks super cool. So when I get home, I'm like, Wow, that looks fantastic. But that's why I always just say, yeah, just give me like money or something so I can go buy something myself that I see because I honestly don't know what you're gonna buy me. 01:01:52 Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's what I kind of default to. But I just feel like I'm in a rut because I get asked every year, oh, do you want anything? I was, and I'm always like, well, not that I can think of off the top of my head. So I'm glad to hear it's not just a me thing, and maybe it's an age thing with being in your twenties. And my second thing is I got knocked out of our fantasy football playoffs this past week, and that was a real shame. What makes it even better is who I lost to, Because if you're listening to this podcast, you might know who he is. I lost to Matt Shefler in fantasy football. Who if you don't know who he is and you don't follow Mariner's minor leaguers. He's currently a catcher in the Mariners system. It was a second year in the system. He just finished up a season in Double A Arkansas. He's a longtime friend of mine. We play in a fantasy football league together. I lost. My team totally flopped. It didn't have a great first week. We play in two week long playoffs, and then for the final week of this semi final, it went even worse. So yeah, I was a little pissed off to lose. He wasn't shy to let me hear about it, and he left a comment on our Instagram page two saying, say something about fantasy football. So this is me acknowledging that I lost. 01:03:08 Speaker 1: Well, I'm glad you came clean and acknowledged it loud, because think about my fantasy leagues. I got knocked out in the first round and one and then two of them I was terrible. You know one of them. I'm legitimately tanking. I have the number one pick in our dynasty. You're not in the dynasty league, but the rest of our friends. I tanked and I won one game all year. 01:03:27 Speaker 2: I am the I am. 01:03:28 Speaker 1: Currently slated for the number one pick and another league I'm in with my brother I was. I think I won three games, even though I think I outscored the people in the playoffs above me, which was really unfortunate. But oh part fantasy football, unfortunately. I just need to need a draft better. I need to pay attention more during the week. I mean, I'm probably the least active person on fantasy football during the week. I mean I legitually won't look at my team from Monday till Saturday night. So maybe occasionally on a Thursday at like fourth or. 01:04:02 Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean for me, I went ten and three regular season. I finished first in the league, but that went out the door real quick because two weeks went by and I'm done. 01:04:10 Speaker 2: Is this the two QB league? 01:04:12 Speaker 3: It is a two QB league. So Mahomes had a good week, but nobody else did so. 01:04:18 Speaker 2: It's a shame. Yeah, how about Mahomes this week? 01:04:21 Speaker 1: Man? He was good that all time performance really, but couldn't carry your team unfortunately. 01:04:27 Speaker 3: There, buddy, I know, So another year about out. You hate to see it. That'll just about wrap us up here on the Marine Layer podcast for this week. If you want to see more of our content, well, there's a bunch of ways you can follow us. If you want the audio podcast in full version, you can subscribe or listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon or wherever you get your podcasts. If you want the video version, you can watch on YouTube. And for our short form content, we're on a bunch of different places Instagram, TikTok, YouTube shorts, and we're on on Twitter. Give us a follow on all those accounts at Marine Layer Pod for TJ Matthews and this is Lyle Goldstein. As always, we thank you so much for tuning in. We'll talk to you next week.