Episode 96: Taylor Trammell, And Whit Merrifield Is A Bad Idea For The Mariners

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[00:00:26] All at a cost that fits your budget. Care Heating and Cooling is committed to doing business right. Call them at 1-800-Cooling. When you need a company, you can trust. Welcome to episode number 96 of the Marine Lair podcast. We welcome on Mariners outfielder Taylor Tramell, a conversation about his off-season

[00:01:40] working out at Driveline, rooming with AJ Brown you're out, they pull you back in. Isn't it funny how we met how this story came to be for all those who aren't don't spend

[00:03:04] all their time online and aren't aware of how Whitmerfield formerly Toronto Blue Jays hitter with like a 700-ish give or take OPS for his career decides that that is his favorite place to hit. It's like, well, we're the 900 OPS guys that want to say that. In to Whit Maryfield. A dude who is probably going to be a bench player if he signs somewhere, he will probably be a bench guy. Maybe he'll start a couple of times a week. Maybe he'll start to get some more regular starts at second base if he's playing well, but that's not a guy you pencil in every day and say, that's our guy.

[00:05:43] And not a 35 years old, not for a guy he needs to do is play defense in multiple positions and steal bases, then someone might people. Well, I like home cooking. And I like me some Dylan Moore. Because guess what? Dylan Moore, in case anybody needs a reminder, signed that arbitration extension last year. So he's on that three year, nine million dollar deal. He'll make about three million dollars in 2024.

[00:08:22] I'd rather give Dylan Moore three million dollars% strikeout rate of wet Marifield. That's a fair point. Offends a production for Dylan Moore's till better. Because what Marifield each of the last three full seasons, as you mentioned, hasn't even had a 90 WRC plus 90 10% below league average. He's been below that every single season.

[00:09:40] And there's no reason why wet Marifield is going to see that going up.

[00:09:45] Do you want to hear a stat about wet Marifield? That still doesn't go anywhere. And that's something that just magically comes back unless you eat a balanced breakfast and start playing left field for the San Francisco Giants and stuff happens. So in non-baseball nerd terms for people that maybe didn't pick up on all the batted ball data from baseball, Savon, the basic, the most basic way we can put it is Whit Maryfield

[00:11:04] is squaring up baseballs constantly.

[00:11:07] He is squaring it up to the ability that Whit Maryfield has. where if you're aging, it's really going to show. Whit Merrifield had a 56 WRC plus in August and a 25 WRC plus in September and October. Any team that is going to sit there and want Whit Merrifield to play every single day is going to have to realize these harsh realities that I don't know if Whit can hold up for a full season anymore and his role might be off the bench.

[00:12:21] But if the Mariners just want a bench bat, as you said, they already have it.

[00:12:25] Dylan Moore's already on the roster. go there. And if you go during Happy Hour, guess what? They've got some great specials. Those are Happy Hours are Monday through Friday, 2 to 6 PM. They include $3 domestic beers, $4 Mani's Blue Moons, $ Taylor Trumell is and how outgoing and fun he is. I think you all know that. That being said, if you want to see more of that, that is certainly in this interview.

[00:15:05] Taylor Trumell is totally on brand talking with us outgoing, fun, no prepping, cooking, or cleanup needed. Head to factormeals.com slash Marine Layer Pod-800-Gambler in partnership with MGM Northfield Park. All right, we welcome on Mariner's Outfielder, Taylor Tramel. Taylor, I've got to start with this.

[00:17:40] Does it ever get normal,

[00:17:43] spending an off-season,

[00:17:44] walking around a baseball facility,

[00:17:46] standing in your underwear

[00:17:47] with a bunch of sensors attached to you? They spray on this kind of like glue stuff and It's very cold so like there's like certain places where I really don't like it So like my ribs I can't stand it and then like on the back part of like my scap. It's just a not It's like I don't know like some freeze stuff feels like it's cold so I don't like it

[00:19:01] And then after that they're like hey Taylor can you give us your best swing possible and you're looking around like well

[00:20:06] of a complete hitter. You know, there's always this kind of like, you know, mindset as a player.

[00:20:12] You always want to kind of just continue to improve and improve. And, you know, a few people have known have gone there. So, you know, I just really wanted to grow. That was the biggest thing. And

[00:20:18] then just improve on kind of like basketball skills, improve on just a lot of other things.

[00:21:24] you know, three, three, three weeks to a month really was kind of like where I was like, okay, I'm starting to enjoy this.

[00:21:27] What is something they point out in your swing or your mechanics that you weren't

[00:21:32] thinking they were ever going to like, Hey, Taylor, this is actually the reason why

[00:21:36] you're not doing as well, you need to change this.

[00:21:38] And you're like, Oh, I didn't even know that was the thing.

[00:21:40] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:21:41] So just kind of like, uh, one, just, you know, moving faster.

[00:22:41] it. So what is moving faster?

[00:22:46] efficient. I wouldn't I don't really think faster really kind of misword that but more efficient. You know, so with that if you

[00:22:51] move more efficiently, you're gonna, you know, obviously gonna

[00:22:54] move faster. So there were a lot of things. So like, for me

[00:22:58] personally, certain ways that I were really getting, you know,

[00:23:02] kind of like my hips through the ball and stuff like that, you

[00:23:05] know, I was kind of cutting lot better. And then I feel like going into this was my junior after my junior year I was like yeah I think I'm gonna play baseball but um with football I love playing football but Friday nights were my favorite nights

[00:25:42] I didn't really care to go to practice and that are a few guys that went to, I know Tyler Simmons, he was there, he played at UGA. I got a whole bunch of my best friends

[00:27:01] that are like college athletes and stuff like that,

[00:27:05] but playing against,

[00:28:04] something you put up on your mantle and you go 10 years down the line. It's like, hey, you see that guy on TV? Yeah, I beat him out. See, all it takes is sitting to think about

[00:28:12] it for a little bit. It's like, who did I play? Who did I play? Oh, yeah, we beat Justin

[00:28:15] Fields. That's not bad. Yeah. Was like, did Rowquan Smith play high school football in

[00:28:20] Georgia? Like, is he, is he Georgia guy? Or is he from Florida? I don't know. He was

[00:28:25] like a good bulldog. So you'd have say will, yeah, will. Because he was built like,

[00:29:42] I mean, six, five, but he was just built like a man among boys in high school.

[00:30:44] He was thinking about either old miss or miss to be stay because I think he's from start full and

[00:30:47] He said that and I was like

[00:30:51] It's like for football. He was like yeah, man. I was like

[00:30:56] Let me go ahead and look at this guy. I don't know anything. Let me see who he is

[00:31:02] And I saw his highlights and I said oh, yeah, this guy's pretty good and then

[00:32:22] It's freshman year. I'm not giving too much credit but it was pretty impressive. I'm just gonna say if I'm a catcher in the state of Georgia or actually no so he was from Mississippi or wherever you guys are playing in the international tournament and I'm waiting for a throw in from the outfield. Nagie Brown's coming down the third baseline. Oh, I'll pass. Yeah, I'm not getting.

[00:35:05] Okay, maybe the hardest hitting question I realize they told him. I mean So I mean he's really good. So that's my over really my top three. Oh And gonna sorry, I don't know I didn't know yeah, absolutely. Yeah gonna look great. Yeah. Yeah gonna look right So yeah, those are kind of like all my favorites What is right this guy's a goat two chains yeah he always got goats so I like all. Is there anything more satisfying than finding something that perfectly lines up with your taste and checks all the boxes? Like getting the perfect fit with a suit from Indochina?

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[00:37:45] Okay, you mentioned going to crit lough for remembering this moment a little bit better than I did, but I'm going to ask the question for him anyways. So June 26, 2021, you guys are playing in the south side of Chicago. It's a double header game one. You had your first two home run game of your big league career and you came up in the ninth inning against Liam Hendricks. And you hit this enormous go ahead solo home run

[00:39:02] and you let off just this enormous bat flip. And then we had a double header. What people really don't know is that you had a double header the next game. Like the next day, well that day. So we had to play again. And I got hit. So like, I got like, they got the get back.

[00:40:22] So like, I wasn't like, I was just say,

[00:40:24] I wasn't too you did it. I just thought to myself, that's the first time I've ever seen something like that. So how do you even come up with that, I guess? So it was actually a mistake because like, I don't know about anybody else in baseball, but like I practice my bad for this. I do a lot of visualization and stuff like that. Like I practice it. It's like sometimes it's just the heat of the moment or sometimes it's just

[00:41:43] like, oh, like I don't want to do something. I want to I'm just kind of playing just by myself for the most part and just kind of doing my job. So yeah, that's kind of how I just played. Well, I know you've talked about on MLB Network, and I guess that was parlayed with a Player's

[00:43:01] Tribune article you wrote a while back.

[00:43:02] You talked about a lot of people used to tell you

[00:43:05] they felt like baseball is boring. I do it just because I feel comfortable in my skin to do certain things that I enjoy and help me to go out there perform the best I can. I'll say part of that for you, Taylor, too, is off the field as well. I know you like to have fun on the field, but off the field, I mean, you're a funny guy, you're an expressive guy, and there's a story about when you were traded to the

[00:44:23] Mariners and you played a joke on Jerry DiP know I'm no like, it's loose. I'm not as serious as people. I don't know if anybody thinks I'm serious. But it was a lighthearted joke.

[00:45:41] And it was pretty cool.

[00:45:44] OK, so I guess I'm just kind of listening and then I was like oh, I could say this would be kind of funny and so that's kind of How it went? It's pretty good joke. Oh, he thought it was hilarious. I think I hope he thought it was hilarious I I heard a little snippet of Jerry telling the story either on a podcast or on the radio He sounded like he thought it was pretty funny. So for whatever that's with yeah. Yeah

[00:47:04] So Taylor you have a foundation the tram foundation talking to the people who donated, they loved that the toys that they got, brought joy to all the kids that were there. And you just see it, you're just like,

[00:48:21] this is just such an amazing event.

[00:48:23] And like I said, whenever you see a smile on kids faces,

[00:48:27] it's just one of things with those guys.

[00:49:41] Which social media platforms are you guys on?

[00:49:43] We're on Instagram and Twitter.

[00:49:44] Well, and awesome.

[00:49:46] Yeah.

[00:49:47] So guys, go find it.

[00:49:49] Yes. game. Mass potatoes in a nice filet. Yeah, mass potatoes in a nice filet. Or chicken, chicken or filet, but mashed potatoes for sure. So I'm picking up that you're a pretty big slate guy. Love steak. Love steak. Absolutely. Love it. Next question, Taylor, is your top three favorite TV shows when people talk about them. So I got to catch up. But anyway, third question for you, the best and worst baseball road trip you've ever made. This can include the minor leagues, by the way. Oh, worst one probably. We went from Billings Montana to Grand Junction, Colorado. I think it had it in, I think it was like, was, you get all this for free. And he was like for free. He was like for free. He's like for free. And so like I think about that all the time, obviously, it's not for free. Like it's not, but I love it. That was one of my, you know, that's kind of like where I'm just like, I love like

[00:53:41] getting room service and like good room service is.

[00:53:45] I never thought I could be that spoiled, but everybody said it was going to be a grind, but I was I was thinking about doing it. So I'd probably be doing that. So moral of this podcast, Taylor Tramiel way smarter than the tools to approach your life in a very different way. And that's why I'm excited to tell you about today's sponsor, BetterHelp. BetterHelp's mission is to make therapy more affordable and more accessible. And this is an important mission because finding a therapist can be really hard, especially when you're limited to options in your area.

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[00:56:26] BetterHelp can match you with a professional therapist all very true. He is real. He's genuine and he is truthfully very, very funny. Imagine the kind of stones you need when the president of baseball operations that just traded for you. You decide to prank him. First time meeting him, you're like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna mess with this guy. And he did. And luckily Jerry's got a personality in himself

[00:57:42] and he's not gonna not gonna get all upt figure it out. Hopefully this is the year that things really start to click for him. You know what, with all the stuff he's been doing at Driveline, gets into spring training healthy, who says this can't be his year. It would be awesome if it was, and we're certainly rooting for it.

[00:59:01] Okay, that'll just about wrap up this edition of the Marine Layer Podcast.

[00:59:05] You guys know the drill.

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