Episode 99: Mailbag + Ruthless Replies

[00:00:00] Enjoy the Super Bowl like never before with BedMGM. Download and try the BedMGM app during the biggest Sunday of the NFL season, even if you can't be in Las Vegas for kickoff. A huge variety of parlay selection features and player props make the BedMGM app the next best thing for Super Bowl excitement. Download the app today and find out why BedMGM is not only an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League in Canada. There are also the King of Sportsbooks.

[00:00:29] Watch Super Bowl 58 with a Vegas vibe you'll only find at BedMGM Sportsbook. Visit bedmgm.com for terms and conditions.

[00:00:38] Must be 19 years of age or older to age or Ontario only. Please play responsibly if you have any

[00:00:43] questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you. Please contact conex Ontario

[00:00:47] at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BedMGM operates pursuant to an operating

[00:00:55] agreement with eye gaming Ontario. Welcome to episode number 99 of the Marine Layer Podcast.

[00:01:00] It's a mailbag episode. We'll answer some of the best questions you guys left us over the past week.

[00:01:06] We'll take a look around baseball with our MLB wrap around focusing on Baltimore. They have

[00:01:10] acquired Corbin Burns from the Brewers. We'll close out the show with ruthless replies.

[00:01:16] You're a quick reminder before we start, if you're listening to the podcast, do us a big favor,

[00:01:21] download the episodes, rate and review, leave a written review, five stars. Pretty please.

[00:01:26] It helps us out a ton. If you're watching on YouTube where the full video podcast is,

[00:01:30] hit that big red subscribe button. It doesn't take any time. It doesn't cost any money. Totally

[00:01:35] free and again you're helping us out a lot. Go comment, like as well and then follow us on social

[00:01:40] media. We're on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube shorts @Marine LayerPod. Let's get rolling.

[00:01:46] [Music]

[00:01:57] And we're welcoming to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball podcast

[00:02:02] network recording here on Thursday evening, February 1st. You know, I kind of feel bad for

[00:02:10] Mariner fans. You know why? Why don't you enlighten me? We've had a few days now, a few hours, a few

[00:02:18] sections to sit here and observe some of the feedback from the Jorge Polanco trade.

[00:02:24] And there's a lot of PTSD out there, dog. I still, as something that I thought was a no-brainer

[00:02:31] trade when we talked about it on Wednesday's show and it's had its chance to sort of sit and

[00:02:37] season itself and marinate over the course of the week and for people to finally start buying in.

[00:02:44] It's going the opposite direction now. It's still the, I'm worried the Mariners overpaid for trying

[00:02:51] to upgrade their roster. And it stinks because there's so much, I feel like there's so much

[00:02:57] negativity baked in that to us as a fan base that some people, even with a logical and

[00:03:05] trade that fit like a puzzle piece to the Mariners roster is somehow still viewed in a negative light.

[00:03:11] Well, you're telling me that Mariners people online and on social media are being negative.

[00:03:19] They're being negative about something reasonable. Let me, let me tell you this.

[00:03:22] If the Mariners won the World Series one day in six games, there'd be fans on Twitter or online

[00:03:27] complaining that they didn't win for. It's a fair point. Yeah, it's a fair point. No, it's a good

[00:03:33] story. I got a chuck. I got a chuckle out of this because on our local radio show here in Corvallis,

[00:03:38] I was I was on there talking about the trade earlier this week. And it was right off of that,

[00:03:42] like I was brought in to talk about it. And what prompted it was a texture texting and saying,

[00:03:48] Oh, I'm worried they paid too much for Jorge Plonko. I'm just trying to sit there and think

[00:03:51] it's like, do you guys want a do you want a second baseman who can hit? Okay. Well, it's not free.

[00:03:57] These same people that are complaining would be complaining during the season. If there was no

[00:04:02] production at second base, so no matter what, of course, they're going to find something to

[00:04:06] complain about. This is just how it goes. But we appreciate all of you listeners of the podcast,

[00:04:11] and all you watchers on YouTube. And we know if you're watching and you're listening,

[00:04:15] you like us are a fan of the Jorge Polanco trade. So that's why we appreciate you fans.

[00:04:21] And we certainly appreciate the love, a little bit of love we got back in exchange with Justin

[00:04:26] Topa on his way out. And when it was announced, it was officially him posted a little bit of

[00:04:31] goodbye on Instagram. And just really nice. It was good to see that with Justin Topa week.

[00:04:37] We're excited to see him when he comes back to Seattle in June.

[00:04:42] Yeah, I think what you're getting at is so we posted on Instagram on our story,

[00:04:47] just kind of like, dude, we're always rooting for you. Added Justin Topa in the post and

[00:04:51] like twins are getting a great reliever. And he responded to us like he actually replied like

[00:04:57] he could have just liked the message or maybe he would have just seen it and kind of moved on.

[00:05:01] But no, he responded to us like he's like, thank you guys. Like, I really appreciate it. And we said

[00:05:05] like, absolutely. Obviously, again, we're always fans of yours. Hopefully we'll get a chance to

[00:05:10] catch up in June when when you come back to Seattle and he responded again. He's like, yeah, 100%

[00:05:14] let's do it like like, you know, catch up at the field and all, which he didn't have to do that.

[00:05:18] But he did, which just goes back to us talking about one why we're from a personal standpoint

[00:05:23] and from a baseball standpoint, really upset to see him go. And because he's just an A plus dude

[00:05:28] and we've gotten to kind of witness that a bunch now. So yeah, we'll always be rooting for Justin

[00:05:34] Topa. Yeah, he's someone all of all of our listeners should should be should be rooting as

[00:05:39] much as possible. And he's in Minnesota. I hope he makes an all star team. Hope he establishes

[00:05:43] himself in a great role with the twins. And you know, hopefully for his sake, they have some

[00:05:47] success and and it benefits him greatly. And he improves his stock as a major leaguer and really

[00:05:53] sort of solidifies himself as a big leaguer. Let's get into this mailbag. I'm excited for this mailbag.

[00:05:59] We got an interesting diverse set of questions. We wanted to mix in baseball questions and live

[00:06:07] questions as well. I think we have we have a nice assortment of them. So let's start out with our

[00:06:13] first one. This one we got from @marinerssteve on X or Twitter. The question is, do you guys have

[00:06:21] more confidence in Josh Rojas or Luis Urias to produce at third? Lyle, what's your answer?

[00:06:27] It's close. I feel like for me, it's probably Rojas. And maybe that's because we've actually

[00:06:33] seen him playing a Mariners uniform. And I feel like there's some people out there that are a

[00:06:39] little bit higher on Luis Urias and the idea of him bouncing back. I have seen a lot of people that

[00:06:44] are really, really of the full belief that he's going to have a good year here. And I hope he does.

[00:06:49] I just would like to see it in person in Seattle to really believe it. And what we saw to Josh

[00:06:55] Rojas, I feel like a lot of people like to forget about the impact he had once he got traded over

[00:07:00] here because he had a really tough start to season in Arizona for the first few months before the

[00:07:04] trade. When he got over here, he was hitting out of that ninth spot. He was getting on base a ton.

[00:07:08] He hit for a little bit of power, upgraded second base over Colton Wong. Of course,

[00:07:12] now he's going to slide to third where he has more experience. I don't know, like I like Josh

[00:07:17] Rojas as a player. I've always said, if he is a nine hitter in a good lineup,

[00:07:21] that is perfectly OK. Right now, Josh Rojas is a nine hitter in a good lineup. So I would say

[00:07:27] ever so slightly Rojas. I thought of this differently. It depends on what you're looking for in your

[00:07:35] third baseman, right? I think Rojas is the safer option. I think Urias has the higher upside at

[00:07:41] third for what a third baseman should probably bring, which for the Mariners case would be more

[00:07:45] offensive third. And I think Urias would provide that. He's got the higher offensive ceiling than

[00:07:50] Rojas does. Rojas in his career is topped out at 110 WRC plus Arias at 112. But I think with his

[00:07:57] bat, he has a little bit more of a power profile. They both have a decent walk tool. So that sort

[00:08:03] of bounces into Luis Urias's favor. If you need one win above replacement, my guys, Josh Rojas,

[00:08:09] if you need two to two and a half, your guy is Luis Urias. That's how I plant that.

[00:08:15] I'm honestly kind of leaning towards Luis. No offense to Josh, but I'm kind of leaning

[00:08:20] towards Urias. He just kind of, he feels more like an everyday third baseman than Josh Rojas does.

[00:08:26] I just don't know if Rojas has the bat to do it and the power most specific, more specifically,

[00:08:31] the power to be an everyday third baseman. So I would actually I would lean Luis Urias in this one.

[00:08:36] You're coming around on him. You're starting to sip the tea on Luis Urias a little bit

[00:08:40] because that wasn't that wasn't either of our take a couple weeks ago. And now all this

[00:08:43] sudden you seem to be again, buying in. Well, now he's got the benefit of platooning. So he's

[00:08:48] going to have the advantage most of the time at the plate and that's going to benefit his offense.

[00:08:53] I'm just thinking in the sense of what a third baseman is when you think of a third baseman,

[00:08:58] you think of good defense, you think of a complete offensive player that hits for power and average

[00:09:03] and gets on base as well. The Mariners don't have the complete package in either of these players,

[00:09:09] but Josh Rojas profiles much more as a second baseman than he does as a third baseman. And that's

[00:09:15] why just it's kind of weird to see him over there at third. We've gotten used to Gino hitting a

[00:09:19] bunch of bombs and playing good defense over there at third the last two seasons. And while they might

[00:09:24] not have that, Urias is a little bit closer to that Gino profile than Rojas is. And Rojas walks

[00:09:30] a lot. And overall his approach at the plate is good. But when it comes down to what his lack of

[00:09:35] power is going to going to kind of going to be a detriment to to his third base production. And

[00:09:41] that's why it's for anyone who watched last season, you say, Oh, obviously, Rojas, well, no, I don't

[00:09:46] think it's that obvious, to be honest, there is more upside in the bat of Luis Urias if he can

[00:09:52] turn it around and have a full healthy season over there. Remember what zip said 90th percentile

[00:09:59] projection for Luis Urias is 126 WRC+. Rojas's 90th percentile was not that. So you're right,

[00:10:05] if you're looking for upside, the belief is, Ureas, Ureas, we're going to have to learn it to make

[00:10:11] sure to get his last name, right? Maybe we can ask him at some point or somebody can ask him,

[00:10:14] is your guy, Ureas is your guy if you want the higher ceiling. So, yeah, I think that's a fair,

[00:10:20] I think that's a fair assessment. Also, remember Luis Urias when he hit that home run in the WBC

[00:10:25] off of Roki Sasaki. Did you remember that? Yeah, it was down in my hand. I saw that the other day.

[00:10:30] Yeah, I mean, long before we ever thought he was going to be a mariner, but

[00:10:34] hey, took Roki Sasaki deep in the WBC. And you can argue, I mean, again, this is a few years down

[00:10:40] the road because Sasaki is a few years till he's going to get to the big leagues. But you could

[00:10:43] argue that is one of the five best pitchers on the planet. He's just playing in Japan right now.

[00:10:48] That's true. So my final answer will be Luis Urias.

[00:10:53] Okay, I'll go Rojas for now. I guess I'm taking the safer route. But prove me long, prove me wrong,

[00:10:58] Luis. I would love to see you get back.

[00:11:00] your 21/22 form. Second question we got. This one's on Instagram. It comes from Laryana Grande. It says,

[00:11:07] "What would it take to land Cody Belanger at this point? Trade France and Rayleigh to first base

[00:11:13] question mark?" So what they're saying is, "We trade France to move Rayleigh to first and then

[00:11:19] Belanger would play the outfield." But the big question is, "What would it take to land Cody Belanger?"

[00:11:23] I think I've got my answer to this. I'm going to hold off. Yours is...

[00:11:28] "The Mariners franchise jumps in a rocket ship, flies off to space, through a wormhole,

[00:11:33] into an alternate universe and lands on Earth too." And then Cody Belanger agrees to sign.

[00:11:39] Oh, you asshole. You stole my answer. That's what I told you pre-recording. I said,

[00:11:43] "What do the Mariners have to do to get Cody Belanger?" I said, "Live in an alternate reality."

[00:11:48] And then TJ just elaborated.

[00:11:49] Well, there's a difference between living in an alternate reality and then actually

[00:11:52] physically getting in a rocket ship and flying through a wormhole. Oh, god, damn it. What's that

[00:11:58] movie? Star Trek? No. Matthew McConaughey, Sim McConaughey.

[00:12:08] Oh, no. I'm not going to... Wait, oh, Interstellar. There we go.

[00:12:12] Interstellar. There we go. Like that. Literally that. That's what they would need to do.

[00:12:16] I'm glad I got that on the fly, but otherwise we would have been sitting here for I don't know

[00:12:21] how long trying to think of Interstellar. But I did. Okay. So I did kind of take your alternate reality

[00:12:25] thing. But, alternate reality, Interstellar, Yadda Yadda, something like that would happen

[00:12:31] for Cody Belanger to sign in Seattle. But like realistically, Cody Belanger is on the market to

[00:12:36] play center field. The Mariners have a center fielder that will be there for the next 15 seasons,

[00:12:42] hopefully. And if Cody were to not play center field, he would probably need to be

[00:12:48] egregiously overpaid, which we know that will not happen in Seattle. And he would also want

[00:12:54] to hit good to go play in a good hitter's environment for himself, which Seattle is also not.

[00:13:00] A couple of negatives working there against him. The other possibility I threw out was the

[00:13:06] Mariners would have to change ownership groups, get a new ownership. Then maybe they'd think

[00:13:10] about Cody Belanger, but that's not happening as far as we know. So if they were to sign him,

[00:13:16] yes, we're doing something like trading one of Rayleigh or France, and then moving either

[00:13:20] trading Rayleigh and keeping France at first or trading France and moving Rayleigh to first for

[00:13:25] Belanger makes sense. Yeah, it would. But signing Cody Belanger to play for the Seattle Mariners,

[00:13:30] even though it would be a great fit. Seems like a pretty big reach. I think like if you're looking

[00:13:35] at one of those top tier free agents still on the market between the two arms and Jordan Montgomery

[00:13:40] Blake Snell and the two bats and Matt Chapman and Cody Belanger. I think if you were to

[00:13:45] list them out, Chapman honestly might make the most sense at this point. I don't think

[00:13:50] they're getting any of them. Chapman might make the most sense. I would put Snell it to

[00:13:55] and then some combo of Montgomery and Belanger after that. So even of the big remaining free

[00:13:59] agents who will all probably not be Mariners, I think Belanger is very unlikely.

[00:14:04] Do you think there's been a single word spoken between the Mariners and any of those top four

[00:14:09] free agents? Somebody says somebody said today. And again, this is this is why I don't know

[00:14:16] what to believe because somebody said today I have not listened to the new extra innings yet,

[00:14:21] which is Ryan Divish's podcast. But somebody said a division on that podcast that apparently

[00:14:27] the Mariners have had no contact at all with Blake Snell this winter. That's what I was about

[00:14:31] to bring up. Now, Jared Carrabas says they're in on it. I don't know who to believe because I'm

[00:14:36] sure they each have sources. I mean, again, I think they're both very good at what they do.

[00:14:39] So I don't, I don't really know. It doesn't seem like it's happening though.

[00:14:44] No, it doesn't. Not good enough dialogue to for anything to actually happen. So in summary,

[00:14:51] it would have to be some combination of roster shuffling and magical acquisition of $250 million

[00:14:59] to pay Cody Belanger, which I don't think really either of those happening after after

[00:15:03] the ploncho trade. Everything seems pretty set. All right, third question, Lyle. This is from Travis,

[00:15:11] sorry, Travis Lem's 16 on Instagram. What is your favorite Seattle spot to eat?

[00:15:18] Well, there's a couple different answers I have for this number one. We're going to take a pause

[00:15:25] because one of our favorite spots to eat is a gotch is pub 85. That is over in Kirkland.

[00:15:32] It's off 85th street. Awesome place to hang out with your friends. It's got 22 TVs in the place.

[00:15:37] Awesome pizza, full food menu, full drink menu. And they've got happy hour specials from 2 to 6 p.m.

[00:15:43] on Monday through Friday. It includes $3 domestic beers, $4, Mani's Blue Moons, $4,

[00:15:48] Mac and Jacks, $4 Wells, $4, house wine. So you want a great meal, some great drinks,

[00:15:53] go hang out with your friends, play some pool, watch some games, head over to Pagach's pub 85

[00:15:58] in Kirkland. Back to your question, aside from that, which I heavily recommend, I'm going to take this

[00:16:04] in two ways. There's another Kirkland food spot I like, my hometown, and then there's an actual

[00:16:09] Seattle food spot because I didn't know exactly what the question if he means in the city specifically

[00:16:14] or just near where you guys live. Kirkland, there's a teriyaki place. It's just a local business. I

[00:16:20] love it. It's called nasi, nasi teriyaki. I've eaten there forever. I think they make awesome dishes,

[00:16:25] have great teriyaki chicken. So if you're ever in Kirkland and want teriyaki, I would recommend

[00:16:29] that. Favorite Seattle food spot in the city? Lulls. And for those that don't know, Lulls,

[00:16:35] it's a breakfast spot slash lunch spot. It's in Pike Place Market. Awesome food. And my favorite

[00:16:40] part of it is if you go up to the third floor of the restaurant, you can sit right on the glass.

[00:16:46] Look out at the entire city. You're right on the water. You have a, you can see the Ferris wheel,

[00:16:50] you can see the stadiums. Like if you look the opposite way, you can see the city. Between the

[00:16:55] food and the view of that place, I love going a little. So when we were kids,

[00:16:59] especially when I was a kid, my dad used to often like to let my mom kind of sleep in on

[00:17:05] some weekends, because obviously she did a lot during the week. And what my dad would do is

[00:17:09] he let my mom kind of sleep in and he'd take me and my brother a lot of the time down to Pike

[00:17:13] Place. We'd walk around and we'd usually go eat at Lulls. And since I was kind of a young kid,

[00:17:17] I always love going there and I still love going there now. It's a heartwarming nostalgic memory

[00:17:22] while. Yeah, baby smile a little bit. The Athenian right next there, I don't know if I've eaten

[00:17:27] their food, but they have a great bar in the back that my dad told me about that he had been going

[00:17:32] to and he had to work a little bit more downtown. And he would go in there and you just walk straight

[00:17:37] in and then you walk back to the left and it's the same views you get the views of the water.

[00:17:41] They have these old like little cubicle like tight, like very scrunched in booths for you to sit in

[00:17:49] and enjoy your beverage or whatever snack you might order back there. It's it's really fantastic. And

[00:17:54] during the summer or during the crowded winter days, it can be kind of hard to get in there and eat

[00:17:58] because there's so many people rummaging around. But if you ever have an opportunity there, like

[00:18:03] those are those are two good historic spots down there in the market. So if you ever been to Lulls

[00:18:09] or just Athenian, I don't think I've ever been to Lulls. No, see, see, I've been to Lulls a time

[00:18:14] but never Athenian. So yeah, like maybe we have to do both. I really don't think I've been to the

[00:18:19] Athenian to eat though. Whenever we eat down there, it's at the Pike Place brewery, which is a little

[00:18:24] bit of a little bit farther down into the market, but that place is good too. I would say and just

[00:18:29] to wrap up my answer, what do I usually get at Lulls? I feel like I usually get the French toast,

[00:18:34] at least growing up. That's what I always got. It was really good. It's pretty, it's pretty tasty.

[00:18:38] Yeah, I'll probably off to go check it out. Next time we're down there, we go once a year to the

[00:18:42] Pike Place at least to go shop and go eat there. So that's certainly an option. I have two options

[00:18:49] here. I think I have a little more expertise in the Seattle food scene having grown up there

[00:18:55] opposed to Lulls who is across the water, which I respect. That's why you chose one from your home

[00:18:59] town and one in Seattle. I don't have any besides our friends at Pagachas Pub85, any Kirkland spots

[00:19:05] to promote. Not a frequent food spot of mine, unfortunately. So there are two for me. The first

[00:19:13] one that is very notable to me. So me, my dad, my brother, and my uncle always have a men's night

[00:19:19] every year that we go out and we'll eat somewhere. Either he lives on the east side, we live on the

[00:19:24] west side, we'll usually alternate year to year on which spot we'll go to. So when we were in high

[00:19:31] school, we went to this Brazilian steakhouse a couple of times. That was fantastic. It's called the

[00:19:38] Grill from IPA, N-E-M-A. I, Penema, I, Penema, I think that is very good on First Avenue near

[00:19:48] Belltown. It is, it's some good stuff. You like unlimited meat, they just keeps coming and coming

[00:19:54] and coming and coming and coming and they will just keep like serving you all sorts of a different

[00:19:58] meat. There's a salad bar too for all the vegetarians. It's pretty good, I will say. And then the

[00:20:04] other one that I've been to that is good. I mean, these are two fancy options too. I do have one

[00:20:09] more affordable option that I'll actually pay for myself. But the other fancy option is the

[00:20:14] Met. The Met is phenomenal. That stuff is, it's top quality food there at the Met. So I have those

[00:20:21] too. And then my affordable option is Paseo for sandwiches. There's a couple locations around

[00:20:28] North Seattle and elsewhere for these just massive sandwiches that are, that are incredible and I

[00:20:35] can't get enough of them. They will fill you up and they'll put you to sleep. But it's worth

[00:20:39] every penny that you spend on them. Where's the Met located again? I actually don't know if I've

[00:20:43] ever been. Pine your square, I think. Oh, okay. Yeah. I was going to say I haven't been to that

[00:20:49] Brazilian steakhouse that you name. But if I was going to pick a type of meal, I'd want to go out

[00:20:54] to have. Oh, Brazilian steakhouse is somebody who, you know, can borderline eat like a caveman in

[00:21:01] terms of what their appetite's like, like me. Oh, it's a perfect place in the world because

[00:21:05] for somebody like me, because you just eat until you are quite literally full. So you pay one flat

[00:21:11] price and it just like you pay for unlimited and it just keeps coming and coming and coming. It's

[00:21:15] it's a treat. It's it's not good if you have high cholesterol. But if you if you have some tolerance,

[00:21:21] it's it's some good stuff. So those are those are mine. Paseo also has a couple of branches too. I

[00:21:25] know Unbian is owned by the same people and they also also do sandwiches and there's much of spots

[00:21:30] all over the city. And it's good stuff. It is it is well worth it. Oh, yeah. That question,

[00:21:37] by the way, it was from Travis Lem 16 on Instagram. So shout out to you for the question. We appreciate

[00:21:42] it. It certainly sparks some dialog. So yeah, that's a good one. Next one, we'll get back to baseball a

[00:21:47] little bit here. This one comes from CSL Goites. I think I got the last name, right? Yeah, CSL

[00:21:55] Goites. This is also on Instagram. He says or they say, uh,

[00:22:00] You guys were pretty close with the Polonco Kepler idea. Does trader Jerry go for another right fielder?

[00:22:06] I do appreciate the shout out about the Polonco Kepler thing. I will say, while we appreciate it, I certainly don't think we were the only ones that floated those ideas out there. I think a lot of people had similar thoughts in mind about a package deal, but we appreciate it.

[00:22:20] That said, I guess there's a chance they could sign some low-level outfielder to a $5 million contract or something like that, but I think that's just about set in terms of the lineup. I think the offense is just about set with who they're going to roll out there.

[00:22:35] They're open to adding another outfielder. We saw some discourse from Marosi. He had a couple of notes post trade on the Polonco trade. And he said the Mariners were inquiring about Max Kepler. And even the price was too high. I'm imagining Miller Wu was entered into discussion there, and that's where the conversation ended.

[00:22:54] But with Jerry asking about Kepler, that means he'd be open to adding another outfielder. The problem is, when you look at it now, if you were to add another outfielder, something needs to happen.

[00:23:04] So there would be people off the roster, off the current roster. You would either move Rayleigh into first, and Ty France would do something else, go somewhere else, trade move positions.

[00:23:17] That doesn't sound realistic, or you would push Dom Canzone off the roster. I don't think Jerry wants to push Dom Canzone off the roster, not with some of the moves and confidence they've given him this off season.

[00:23:27] So, in, in discourse, outfielders seems like an option still, but in reality, looking at the roster, it doesn't. Jorge LaSalle is still a free agent. Makes no sense, but if you want another one, that, I guess, could be. I don't know.

[00:23:47] I don't know. Like, yeah, it's good. Whatever. It's a, it's a possibility still. I wouldn't write it off. You'd just be committing to some of the worst outfield defense in baseball from Jorge Salaire, if you signed them. That's not why you're signing them, but you'd be committing to that.

[00:24:01] Yeah. Here's the other thing about what Marosi reported, and I got to thinking about this. Are we sure that reporting was accurate in terms of the timeline? Again, like Marosi may have gotten a note and tweeted it out a day or two ago.

[00:24:16] But are we sure that that Kepler news isn't from weeks ago, like before the Hanigarh and Rayleigh trades? Because that would make more, that makes more sense to me. I would have a hard time believing after they traded for Hanigarh and Rayleigh, that they were still in on Kepler. Something tells me, again, yeah, like the Polanco trade had been in the works for a long time, it sounds like I would bet you at some point there were calls about what would a package look like.

[00:24:40] I would bet you after they traded for Hanigarh and Rayleigh, less likely they were calling about Kepler. If they were asking about that before and the interest subsided after, then they won't be adding another outfielder.

[00:24:51] I think that makes sense. That makes more sense roster wise than them still looking around and poking and trying to find another outfielder. There still are a few out there.

[00:25:01] Doesn't make as much sense, though. And I don't think Jerry, Jerry wants to give up on Dom Cam's own and tie France, unfortunately.

[00:25:11] But they think that's going to be better for the roster this upcoming season.

[00:25:16] I don't think it's unfortunately. I want to see tie France bounce back. I want to see Dom Cam's own thrive. I don't want those guys. Like, I want to see those guys here.

[00:25:23] Okay. Then I used, I used poor wording on that. So they're going to be on the roster this year. They're going to be at spring training coming up here in a couple of weeks.

[00:25:33] Yeah. Let's get to our next question. This comes from Ellie, who runs Triton takeover from on Instagram. Which parks have you been to and could you rank them all? So I'm going to throw the floor to you first.

[00:25:46] I don't think I can rank them all. So I've been to 19 so far of the 30. I've been stuck at 19 since the summer of 2022. So it has been a long time since I've gotten to a new one.

[00:25:57] The only West Coast stadium I have not been to yet is Dodger Stadium. It's funny. I was supposed to go in April 2020, but obviously COVID happened. There was no baseball, etc.

[00:26:07] Unless, unless you count Colorado as the West Coast. Do you? I don't. Western, not West Coast. Okay. Yeah. So I've been to 19 haven't been to Colorado or LA yet.

[00:26:18] But favorite ones, I think Oracle's my favorite and I haven't been to Oracle since I was 10. I would love to go back because it's an unbelievable ballpark.

[00:26:27] But that one's up there. I would say citizens, bank parks, definitely up there in Philly. PNC parks, absolutely up there, which you and I went to together. Bush Stadium and St. Louis is incredible.

[00:26:39] I put Rigley and Fenway in different categories. Awesome ballparks. Like those are on the list too in terms of the ones I love. The difference is those are almost historical baseball landmarks, rather than these new upscale state of the art stadiums like Oracle PNC.

[00:26:54] Bush Stadium ones like that. So, favorite one, I would probably say Oracle that I've been to. And all the other ones I listed are not far behind.

[00:27:04] I've been a 14. I ranked all 14. Do you want to hear them? Yeah, let's do it. I've really won. I'm going to tell you, Lyle, I've not had more fun at a baseball game that I don't have a dog in the fight than the time you and I went to Rigley Field, summer of 19.

[00:27:19] I've never had a better experience at a ballpark than that. Like, wasn't that just a magical, like, wasn't that a magical experience? That was unreal.

[00:27:28] So fun. Like Cubs fans are unbelievably cool. Like they're smart. They're into the game. Like people are just having a blast at Rigley. It was a summer day, but it was like it was a weekday, but it was packed.

[00:27:40] It was so first of all, it was a weekday. We were driving in. We had started the day in Sioux City.

[00:27:48] Oh, so let's get some fun. Yeah, let's get some fun across the country. We were going from Seattle to Cape Cod at this point.

[00:27:54] We were, this was smack right in the middle of that trip. So we had started the day in Sioux Falls in South Dakota, and we were going to plan on ending the night in Chicago.

[00:28:06] We ended up somewhere, our hotel was somewhere south of Chicago. I don't remember exactly, but it was right near the freeway to get back on and start hitting East again through Indiana and such.

[00:28:19] So we had had a full day of driving at that point as we got into Chicago through rush hour traffic. We were trying to get there on time.

[00:28:27] We park in someone's parking spot behind their house. We paid what? 40 bucks, I think. The park. But we were just driving you to the stadium and you're like, all right, it's time to look for parking.

[00:28:37] We're just driving through a neighborhood and there's Rigley and we park in someone's backyard and we scramble in and get there and get in there in time.

[00:28:43] I mean, you could just feel the energy. It's packed. The place was sold out. It was warm. We get in there and like we sit, we like run right up to our seats and sit down.

[00:28:52] And I remember just sitting there thinking and looking around. It's like, just felt like baseball.

[00:28:57] So felt like if the seat sucked, like this, like not the visual, the seats. The seat itself was awful. I remember it was tilted down like this.

[00:29:06] They're metal bleachers. No, it wasn't even that. It was like old wooden chair, wooden seats that were from like the 40s.

[00:29:14] You're right. That were that were like warped forward and we were almost sliding off. But like, I didn't care because it felt like baseball.

[00:29:22] And I like, I love the location to the locations like a neighborhood ballpark that's like kind of like Ebbets Field.

[00:29:29] You just talked right in there amongst all the houses. You have all the vendors outside and inside and it just feels like a family atmosphere.

[00:29:36] And even though it's not a brand new updated ballpark, the experience and just the feeling of a summer baseball game there is like nothing I've ever felt anywhere else.

[00:29:49] And Rigleyville is so cool. Like they have all these bars that people go to right around the stadium. I wish Seattle had something like that.

[00:29:56] Like these ballpark districts that are in some of these cities. It makes such a difference, I think.

[00:30:01] Also, yeah, let me just give people a little more context about our drive. It was like five, six days.

[00:30:06] I mean, we stopped in Coeur d'Alene the first day, but I'd say the highlights of the trip where we went to Mount Rushmore.

[00:30:12] So that was pretty cool. I mean, how often are you in the middle of nowhere, South Dakota went to Rigley? I said, we went to PNC, which by the way, we went to PNC.

[00:30:20] Those tickets were $1 because the pirates were awful then. $1 to see maybe the nicest parking baseball. We went to a few. Oh, here's my favorite part.

[00:30:29] We went to the field of dream site in Iowa. How often are you in Diresville, Iowa in the middle of nowhere?

[00:30:34] And this is before the actual baseball field got built for the games. It was just the movie site.

[00:30:40] I learned very shortly before this trip starts. He just like, Oh, yeah, I've never seen the movie.

[00:30:45] I was like, you've never seen field of dreams. And he's like, no, is like, and in the month time we play on this drive, it's like, you never bothered to sit down and watch it between all the game of thrones stuff you were watching.

[00:30:57] He was like, no, I was like, well, that seems like a mistake because you're not going to appreciate what we're seeing.

[00:31:03] So, so that happened. The reason we drove cross country, by the way, we were in. We were both broadcast interns for two summers in a row in the Cape Codley.

[00:31:11] Second summer TJ wanted to get his car out there. We did the cross country drive and saw a bunch of cool stuff along the way.

[00:31:17] So, yeah, don't get many opportunities to drive all the way across the country.

[00:31:21] So, when the opportunity presents itself, you do it. You take that option. Anyway, that's a long winded way of me saying Riggly is my favorite ballpark I've ever been to.

[00:31:32] T-Mobile, slightly biased is two oracles, three, Petco Park, four, Fenway Park, five, Camden Yard, six, PNC Park, seven, and then there's a pretty big gap.

[00:31:46] City field at eight, Yankee Stadium nine, new Yankee Stadium to clarify is at nine.

[00:31:52] Angel Stadium at 10 chase field at 11, Rogers Center at 12, 13 is old Yankee Stadium and 14th was guaranteed rate field in Chicago. The two Chicago stadiums book in the list.

[00:32:07] I've been to guaranteed rate two. I've been once. I want to get it off the list. I will probably never go back unless it's an extenuating circumstance. If I'm in Chicago for a baseball game, unless the Mariners are playing at the White Sox and I really want to go see them.

[00:32:20] I'm just going to Riggly guaranteed rate was awful. We bought, you did this too. We bought cheap seats for the third level. It's like, well, we'll walk around the ballpark. See what all sit offers.

[00:32:30] Oh, no, they don't let you down to the first level. If you buy third level seats, you're stuck there. Like, they don't let you walk around the ballpark. Also, the food's like not very good. But yeah.

[00:32:40] You know how all that baseball energy I was talking about around Riggly? There is none of that at guaranteed rate field. It is not quite complete opposite. It's like sitting there in a mall, an empty mall watching a baseball game, a mall, an open air mall.

[00:32:53] It's stuck was not a fan.

[00:32:55] Yeah, of course the Oakland Coliseum would be last if I've been, but I have not.

[00:33:01] Thank you very much for joining us today, I've been there, that one's last on my list, I can tell you that. It is, yeah. You've been to a couple, I haven't been to, so credit to you, been to Camden, I've only been outside of Camden, never to a game, even to the Rogers Center, so yeah, there's some others I still have to get to for sure. Yeah, Rogers Center is just is a mall as well, just slightly newer. Yeah. TJ the 14, I'm at 19, but for being the ages we're at, I'd say we've gotten to do a lot of stadium so far in our lifetime. Hopefully we get to all 30. Okay, fifth question, a little bit more back to Mariner's news. This one.

[00:33:31] This was on Twitter, and this question comes from want to make sure I get the @name right. It was, yeah, it's from Bravo Tim, or his name is Bravo CH, it's @BravoTim on Twitter. He says, "Wasn't a decision or at least an update for what's next regarding the RSN situation? Supposed to be made by the end of January. Have you heard anything?"

[00:33:53] Yes, we remember hearing the same thing saying we were supposed to hear something in January about the RSN stuff. No, we haven't heard anything. We haven't talked to Jeff Baker about it again since then. We haven't heard anything from anybody else about it since then. If we do, it'll probably be along with the rest of you guys if somebody posts something about it on Twitter. But for right now, they're not making information public about it as far as we know, and we're probably in wait and see mode.

[00:34:16] Well, we'll have a good idea once the Mariners start broadcasting their games, and that strain on the production model of the Mariners really starts setting in, and the expenses of running a television network really starts to set in, because that's what has happened over the past month.

[00:34:33] The Mariners have had full ownership of root sports. They've yet to make any changes, but I wouldn't take that as changes aren't coming because changes are almost certainly coming. They've made that very apparent that they do not entail to run

[00:34:45] the current network as it is given their current financial state and it sucks. But that's what it is.

[00:34:52] If you go back and listen to that Jeff Baker interview that we did, we asked him how much longer do you think root sports has left? And he doesn't know for certain, but he said I wouldn't be surprised that at the end of the baseball season.

[00:35:03] It's no longer a thing, which is really tough, and the Mariners are going to have to figure something else out. A lot of it seems well. But all up in limbo for right now, we're waiting to find out.

[00:35:12] And if we're saying that the the Morrison situation in the future, I think we floated it back then when talking to Jeff, Major League Baseball wants to get as many teams as possible under their broadcast umbrella,

[00:35:26] because they can do 17 teams and the Mariners, given their current situation, probably want to be one of those 17 teams because I don't think they have another option to put their games on television besides doing that.

[00:35:39] I'm guessing Major League Baseball in the long term probably wants to expand their bandwidth on that too.

[00:35:45] Yeah, and except for the teams that will just straight up refuse it because they don't need it. The Yankees, the Red Sox, the Dodgers, the Giants.

[00:35:53] No, the first Phillies, probably two. Oh, sorry.

[00:35:58] I was going to say first three for sure. Red Sox Yankees Dodgers. Yeah, probably the Giants too. Yeah, I think the Phillies do okay too. There might be a couple other ones too. The Angels are doing okay down there in Southern California.

[00:36:12] Besides that, yeah, it might be everyone else.

[00:36:15] Talk about disparity. No competitive balance.

[00:36:19] No, there is not.

[00:36:21] They're really, really is not. Next question. This is perfect that I'm asking this to you.

[00:36:27] What's your favorite Mariners friendship on the team? This comes from Shawna, an at Kate Zach DeMo fan on Twitter.

[00:36:38] There's a few different ways you could go about this. Honestly, at one point, I would have said Topa and sauce, but obviously Topa is not here anymore. But those guys were always really good friends and they were.

[00:36:47] They're very different characters because I mean, for anybody that listened to the interview with Topa or just watches Topa on the field and how he goes about his business.

[00:36:55] He's much more like super nice like we talked about, but like when he's not on the ground, a little quieter, a little more reserved, and then you got sauce out here cooking up conspiracies about Babe Ruth and Ted Williams and he's out here talking trash about the Seahawks to his other reliever friends who are fans of other teams.

[00:37:11] Like, like they're very different in that way, but they were always very, very good friends. I, as far as we know current one.

[00:37:18] I did like the Bryce Miller and Brian Wu thing like those guys are known to be good friends. They did a couple segments together this year. One of them, they went and tried Skyline Chili and Cincinnati, which I think Skyline Chili's disgusting, but I think another thing we found out on that road trip.

[00:37:34] Yeah, we went to Skyline Chili on that road trip. It was, I mean, I had like, I didn't even order a full thing. TJ did. And he was like, wow, this is not good.

[00:37:41] I was just, I was real live my expectation set through the roof.

[00:37:44] Yeah, but Bryce Miller and Brian Wu seemed to have a blast with it with that Mariner segment they did on the Mariner social channels and they were kind of grilling each other back and forth and sharing some laughs.

[00:37:54] Those guys seem like they're good friends. So I like that one.

[00:37:57] You know, I think it's kind of hard to measure friendship. So I'm going to go with the two boys that appeared on the pitching ninja podcast together with pitching ninja our friend Rob Friedman, Logan and George Kirby.

[00:38:12] I think those two interesting mix of personality two different ways to approach, I guess being themselves, but it works out and there are two keys in the cog of that rotation.

[00:38:26] Yes, they are. That was a fun one. Last question we've got here on the on the mailbag before we get to some other stuff. This one comes from Kyle at Kyle a w three Williams on Twitter. He says, what are your guesses for the eight bullpen spots on opening day.

[00:38:44] What do you got. There's four locks, Munoz brash sauce and Spire.

[00:38:50] Well, and I both have those. I think Austin both is almost. He's leaning towards a lock because he can start and relieve.

[00:39:01] And with this glifani off the roster, the Mariners are going to need someone like that in their bullpen. I think Pearlander Barrow with the trade of Justin Topa is nearing towards a spot as well given he stays healthy and looks good during spring training.

[00:39:13] He doesn't walk a bunch of batters. Then that comes down to the final two spots and I'm assuming the Mariners carry an eight man bullpen like they have much of the last three seasons.

[00:39:22] I think Jackson co are is going to make the roster. Yes, I did sit on this podcast and say that Jackson co are has been one of the worst pitchers in baseball since he's debuted if not the worst pitcher in baseball.

[00:39:34] But he is on a major league contract. He is not. I don't believe he's been option to the minors. And therefore, I think he would be lean. It would be leaning towards him being on the major league roster to start the season.

[00:39:46] My final one would be Trent Thornton. Someone who spent some time in the big leagues.

[00:39:51] What the Mariners last year has had varying levels of success and is more proven in the eyes of Scott service and Jerry de Poto than some of these other guys that they brought in in the off season.

[00:40:01] It's just kind of hard to judge some of the minor league deals they brought guys in on and saying they're going to make the big league roster when we haven't watched them pitch yet.

[00:40:10] So we can reevaluate this question as spring training goes along.

[00:40:15] We have seven of the same eight. I have Munoz, Brash, Spire, Sausado, Voth, Thornton, Baroza.

[00:40:22] And then that eighth spot. What it's really going to come down to is who wins it in spring training and maybe the seventh and eighth spots are spring training battles but especially that last one.

[00:40:30] There's a handful of guys that'll be in it, Jackson Koar will be in it. Tyad Kock will be in it. Edward Bazar will be in it. Who was in the bullpen for a bit last year.

[00:40:38] There's a few others too. Like Cody Bolton, they acquired Ty butchery they signed like there's there's going to be a handful of guys in the running for this.

[00:40:46] I'm going to go with Tyad Kock. I know he got sent to the minors last year at one point after getting called up and then got hurt.

[00:40:52] But he had some awesome stuff at certain points when he was up. We know he's only getting better and better as he's learning to be a pitcher even more. He hasn't thrown that many innings.

[00:41:01] And truthfully, I just love to see him thrive. Like obviously we're probably a little bit biased because he's in front of the pod, but I think he's going to be right in the mix.

[00:41:08] And we're rooting for him to be on the big league team. So eighth guy, at least right now before we see any spring training battles. Give me Tyad Kock.

[00:41:15] That'll be super cool. And regardless of what mix of relievers make the bullpen this year. It's, I'm, I'm very interested to see what the, like, what kind of styles this bullpen is going to be the Mariners bullpen last season.

[00:41:30] Adopted the style of heavy sinkers, lots of ground balls, lots of velocity. How are the shapes of these new guys gonna, gonna add on to this. Are they going to embrace that? Are they going to have a couple of different styles in there? Are they going to have more of a.

[00:41:44] Is somebody else going to be a more Matt brash type who throws a flat fastball and a slider and is not a ground ball of Savant? Or are they going to have more, more sinker ballers? I think that's going to be something to see.

[00:41:57] I forgot to throw Carlos Vargas into that mix. He will absolutely be in the running too. Because I mean, he may be this year's Topa in the sense of different type of arsenal, but he may start in the minors, get some work for a little bit, come up to the big leagues and he has the stuff to be lethal.

[00:42:13] So keep that name on watch too.

[00:42:16] Before we get to our MLB wrap around, let's hear a word from our good friends over at simply Seattle. They're the go to place for all your Pacific Northwest and Seattle sports gear, Mariners, Seahawks, Huskies, Kraken, Sonics.

[00:42:30] They have you covered. So if you're looking to do a little New Year's shopping, maybe redo your wardrobe like myself, you can go online to their website and use our code marine 15 for 15% off your order.

[00:42:44] Shop all those teams online at simply Seattle dot com. Use our code marine 15 and make yourself look better this new year with some new gear from simply Seattle.

[00:42:54] Let's get to our MLB wrap around.

[00:42:56] Only one thing on the wrap around today, Lyle, right before we hit record. The Orioles have sprung a trade for right handed pitcher from the Milwaukee Brewers, Corbin Burns.

[00:43:13] They will send back their number six prospect, Joey Ortiz, left handed pitcher D L Hall and a compensatory pick in the 2024 draft.

[00:43:23] Reaction. They didn't have to give up very much for him either. You you're talking about two guys in D L Hall who was once a top 100 prospect. Now he's mostly a reliever.

[00:43:33] That's going back to Milwaukee and then Joey Ortiz who per arm, Layton of just baseball, he does some awesome prospect write ups. You should go check him out if you're into prospects.

[00:43:42] He has Ortiz at six in terms of the Orioles top prospects and that's a loaded system. But that means there's five guys ahead of Ortiz.

[00:43:49] That's all they had to give up for Corbin Burns. A guy who was a Cy Young winner is going to be pitching on opening day in this rotation.

[00:43:56] What's what was the Orioles one weakness last year starting pitching? Well, they've got a starting arm now.

[00:44:02] "The burrs could only negotiate against one year because he was not owed anything beyond this year. The Orioles are going to extend him and normally under the Angeles family would have said, 'No, I'm not going to be a big fan of it.'" "He's making about $15.5 million this year. So let's see, while we're seeing, yeah, it's an underpay, the burrs could only negotiate against one year because he was not owed anything beyond this year. The Orioles are going to extend him and normally under the Angeles family would have said,

[00:44:31] 'No, they're not going to extend him because the Angeles family doesn't spend money.'"

[00:44:35] Well, something we have not talked about here on this podcast, the Orioles have been sold.

[00:44:38] They are sold to a couple of private equity billionaires that are heading this thing,

[00:44:43] and let's just say they have significantly more capital and they seem like they are significantly

[00:44:50] more willing to spend on players as owners of the Orioles. So not only are they going to acquire

[00:44:55] the Orioles, but they're also going to acquire the regional sports network that broadcasts the Orioles.

[00:45:01] And I'm going to say that that means that Corbin Burns is probably getting paid now.

[00:45:06] What I told you, I will believe the Orioles will spend money on good baseball players

[00:45:13] when I see a Jeff pass-in notification that Corbin Burns has signed a $250 million extension.

[00:45:18] When that happens, I will believe things have turned for the Orioles. They're only a weekend

[00:45:25] to new ownership. It's a bit of an accelerated timeline, but you can already see the pushes there

[00:45:31] and the optimism from the availability of funds with the front offices there. And the Orioles

[00:45:37] are other sheep and up pretty nicely, I've got to say.

[00:45:40] You didn't want to believe it, but if, and again, it's an if, the new ownership starts spending money

[00:45:48] on really good players, you're talking about a potential, I don't want to say dynasty,

[00:45:54] but you're talking about a team that's going to be in World Series contention every year,

[00:46:00] because what do the Orioles have? They've already got a ridiculous young Corbin place.

[00:46:04] Adley, they've got Gunnar Henderson, they've got some real guys in the rotation at this point.

[00:46:09] They've got real bats in the lineup already, but some of the best guys aren't even here yet,

[00:46:14] like so built around Adley and Gunnar and Cedric Mullins and some others.

[00:46:19] You got Jackson Holiday, who is 20 years old, but he's going to be up in the big leagues this year.

[00:46:24] I'm almost confident. You've got a couple other prospects. They've got to catch her with Samuel

[00:46:29] Bessayo, who's supposed to be like toward the top of prospect rankings here in the near future.

[00:46:35] Two's got ridiculous upside. They got Kobe Mayo. They've got it still got cursed ad and

[00:46:40] cows are on the way like they've got a ridiculous farm, and they've already got a young Corbin place.

[00:46:45] And now you have ownership that potentially is willing to spend real money.

[00:46:49] Those three things right there equate to being World Series contenders year in and year out.

[00:46:54] I wouldn't throw around the D word lightly judging that they won exactly. They won as many playoff

[00:47:00] games as the Mariners did last season. But if they like next, I think next year will be a little

[00:47:07] bit of a better gauge. I was under the assumption this year that the Orioles were a little bit lucky,

[00:47:11] especially with their 101 win total. So it might be a tiny bit over-inflated. I'm not going to

[00:47:17] put a crown on their head yet, but you know what they are exciting to watch. And you know what's

[00:47:23] going to get fans to the ballpark by going out and acquiring all stars to pitch in your rotation

[00:47:28] to complement your young core. That's going to that's going to give people a reason to come out

[00:47:32] and buy season tickets and spend a bunch of nights at the ballpark in a given year. And that

[00:47:37] revenue will go back into the new owner's pocket and they will they will keep this train rolling.

[00:47:43] So isn't there a free agent next year that says to have an East Coast preference and is going

[00:47:48] to be looking for a fat contract and probably wants to play for a winning team? I'm not saying

[00:47:53] it's happening for sure. But could you imagine if this new Orioles ownership group pulled that off

[00:47:57] and sign one Soto? And he's just sitting and he's just sitting just a stone's throw away from DC.

[00:48:05] And while they're just looking and he told them no. Told them now.

[00:48:10] Yeah. Stakes. Like if this ownership group is really going to spend, I'm not guaranteeing it,

[00:48:15] but don't sleep on that idea. You've got all these young guys paired with bringing one Soto in.

[00:48:21] We need to see what kind of money they're throwing around though first. There is a different I'll

[00:48:25] say there's are they a one big contract ownership group? Are they a two big contract ownership group

[00:48:32] or are they like let's bankroll this thing? Let's remember as we love to hear from everyone in the

[00:48:39] Mariners organization, young players get expensive very quickly and they understand that too. And

[00:48:45] especially with the caliber of players they have, that's something they'll have to envision. If they

[00:48:49] can, if they sign Corbin Burns, sign one Soto, manage to extend all of these guys when their

[00:48:56] contracts come up and have no problem and don't blink an eye, that's a hat tip right there. Talk

[00:49:00] about a 180 of ownership. That's incredible. So Jackson Holiday, I'm pretty sure as a Scott

[00:49:07] Boris client. So maybe you can throw that one out. Or maybe you bring him back in free agency. But

[00:49:11] again, he hasn't even hit the big leagues yet. So we can worry about that years and years down

[00:49:15] the road. But yeah, if they sign Burns and Soto, they extend Adley and they extend Gunnar Henderson

[00:49:19] right there. A major hat tip to them. There's not much else going on in terms of transactions

[00:49:29] these days. Reese Hoskin signed a couple of weeks ago with the Brewers. So speaking of Milwaukee,

[00:49:33] they've got a new first baseman. They not more signed. We signed with the Angels, which I don't

[00:49:38] think makes much sense. But share go, you do you, you're going to get your money. Other than that,

[00:49:43] still kind of a standstill in free agency these days. There's not or in the trade routes,

[00:49:47] not much going on. And it's a combination. It is Scott Boris holding up the market and the

[00:49:52] RSN effect is real. It's not just the Mariners. I think the framing of this week was really great

[00:50:00] around the Seattle sports community when it came to talking about how Jerry DiPoto

[00:50:05] attacked this off season. And I thought Mike saw friend of the pod brought up a great point on his

[00:50:11] show on Brock and Salk about the keywords that stood out when they talked to Jerry this week was

[00:50:17] find a way. And the Mariners, despite the situation, managed to find a way to remake their roster and

[00:50:24] make it better than it was last season. And a lot of other teams in baseball with similar budget

[00:50:29] restraints have sat on their hands and done nothing. And just said, all right, well,

[00:50:33] we'll just run it back. Even if they're contending, we'll just run it back. But the Mariners didn't,

[00:50:39] they give fans a little bit more of a reason to be optimistic last year, not the organization,

[00:50:44] the front office. Very clear distinction. Correct. Yeah, I talked about it. I put a little social

[00:50:50] media clip out about it. Jerry deserves a ton of credit for what he's done. He had hands tied

[00:50:56] behind his back, didn't have much payroll to work with, didn't have much help from up above in the

[00:51:01] ownership group. Made it happen anyway, we'll stand by it. This Mariners roster is definitely

[00:51:06] better than it was at the end of 23. And the lineup is a step improved. That's credit to Jerry.

[00:51:11] It's a major credit to Jerry. Let's get to ruthless surprise.

[00:51:15] Okay, Lyle, do you want to read the first ruthless reply? This is now the third time we

[00:51:22] have done this segment. We go through and we dig up some of the best comments from our Instagram

[00:51:29] comment section, our YouTube comment section, and our TikTok comment section. You bring the heat,

[00:51:34] you're going to be featured. Yes, you are. Again, fun music battle. We played under this.

[00:51:41] If you're listening on the audio side, YouTube, we probably have to leave it off, but that's okay.

[00:51:45] We're going to read them anyway. Yeah, first one. This one comes from TJ doing a TikTok comparing

[00:51:52] Julio's first two seasons to Ronald Acunio's first two seasons. TJ put his head in the middle

[00:51:57] of a couple of stats. Some people weren't happy he blocked the numbers showing. They were supposed

[00:52:03] to show. But we get a comment that has nothing to do with that. It says, no one wants to see your

[00:52:09] ugly ass mug. TJ, the next time you do one of these, can you put a bag over your head, please?

[00:52:14] You'd be doing everybody a real service. Yeah, I need to be more careful where I put my face

[00:52:18] in out of these. Otherwise, I'm going to piss someone off. I didn't realize face location was that,

[00:52:23] was that infuriating, but man, this was one of one of a few comments on there that was not too

[00:52:31] appreciative of head placement. But hey, you know what, you got to look at me. You got to look at me

[00:52:38] why why read off these stats and the point still stands people. Again, it sounds like this guy,

[00:52:44] though, he just doesn't want to see your face period. So maybe the next time you do this,

[00:52:48] again, do everybody a favor, just grab a brown paper bag and put it over your head.

[00:52:51] Brown paper bag or, you know, he can find a different podcast too. If he doesn't want to watch me,

[00:52:56] that's fine. Or you can just listen, just listen to my voice. That's even better. That's a great way

[00:52:59] to support us. Next comment, Lyle, this was around one of our favorite discussions. Was this the

[00:53:08] YouTube, was this the YouTube comment underneath the sauce when we were talking to

[00:53:14] Sosato? Okay, so we're talking to Topa about Babe Ruth. And reply, there's 10 minutes of Babe Ruth

[00:53:22] footage on YouTube. Are we allergic to Google? Love the show. Well, again, why easily disregard

[00:53:28] reality? Well, you want to know some reality? There's a wonderful thread on Twitter the other day of

[00:53:35] Babe Ruth clips and I'm sitting there and I'm watching this, watching Babe Ruth play and run around and

[00:53:41] sit in there and think I'm like, there's no way this dude was one of the greatest players of all

[00:53:45] time. There's no way. Look at him run. You're telling me this man was great a defense in the

[00:53:51] outfield? I'm not buying it. I'm not buying it. Also, if people are mad about these Mariners

[00:53:58] relievers cooking up this conspiracy, guys, this is like the most harmless conspiracy you can

[00:54:03] possibly drop. Are people really getting mad about this? It's just supposed to be funny.

[00:54:07] Or honestly, I think it's fun. I think it's a fun topic to bring up, but you never know what the

[00:54:11] Internet will do to people. It'll piss somebody off in some way when you least expect it.

[00:54:17] I thought it was hilarious. It's not like anybody here knows Babe Ruth. Like, you're like a family

[00:54:22] member of his defending him. Like, you don't own hit. Oh, him anything. He's already famous.

[00:54:30] The best part about that thread was we quote tweeted it saying, don't show this to anybody in the

[00:54:35] Mariners bullpen. And then sauce replied to us. He's like, well, did you happen to notice that what

[00:54:40] he's pitching? You can't see his face makes you think man, man, double down. He's standing, he's

[00:54:47] standing firm on his take. And I respect it. Sauce. I do. Oh man. Okay. You did another TikTok recently.

[00:54:56] Actually, maybe it was the Akuni one. Regardless, you did a TikTok. And we get a reply saying...

[00:55:02] I like this guy commentating more so look at that teach you're a fan favorite now our podcast is a fan for you are fan favorite I however have been sent to the dog house yeah you're on the hot seat what is your response to this blame my family roots I guess I don't know I can't control how I sound this is my voice my voice is my voice well while I have a comment that'll actually make you feel much better the comment that we have read this is my voice is my voice.

[00:55:27] well I have a comment that'll actually make you feel much better the comment that we have right after that is a compliment to both of our skills and our thought making and and in our brainstorming when it comes to generating content day to day and continuing throughout the offseason to have fresh engaging content for our listeners and our followers to watch engage like etc.

[00:55:53] whoever they want to engage it well this person definitely disliked it while someone said quote maybe the worst tick tock I have ever seen

[00:56:03] congratulations that's shortened to the point right there no beating around the bush no long explanations of bam hit it right home maybe the worst tick tock I've ever seen I'll tell you what I'll tell you why I'll tell you exactly why that's false

[00:56:19] they didn't have anything to do with baby gronk therefore it is not the worst tick tock you've ever seen

[00:56:25] that's a good point

[00:56:28] okay next one we got some short and sweet replies this month I gotta tell you

[00:56:34] this is another tick tock reply how do I get you morons off my for you page well let me break some news to you buddy there's a few things you can do there is the mute button

[00:56:46] there is the block button sounds like you might need to take class on social media 101 because there are solutions all around your problem here you could get us off your timeline with the snap of a finger just like Thanos you snap us away

[00:56:59] instead you're sitting in our replies saying how do I get you off my for you page well falls in your court pal you can do whatever you want

[00:57:09] and I think that you're we're on your for you page for a reason as much as you might think that you hate us I don't know Jack do you actually do you actually do if we keep popping up do you actually do you actually hate us you might like us you might secretly like us and that's why we keep coming back up

[00:57:28] or he hate watches us he's one of those people that says I want to see how many stupid things these guys can say so I'm just going to click on their page and watch which guess what pal

[00:57:37] hey the views count the same so you know what we appreciate you actually a step forward more than that we love you how about that haters pay the bill more eggs in fact haters engage more than people who like us do it's great

[00:57:51] it like it if you don't have haters you don't have fans that's that's true if you don't have haters you're doing something wrong

[00:57:58] next one this one comes from our TikTok comments I swear to God you guys say shit that is sit you guys say shit just to say shit quote take his contract you can have him no shit no one wants it you're dumb enough to take him

[00:58:16] this was regarding Anthony desk Lefany who is now a Minnesota twin because someone else took him we talked about getting Desk Lefany's contract off the books if they were to make other moves we said somebody can just take his money and that'll be the end of it you don't have to get much back

[00:58:33] we're told that's a stupid idea well now here we said seems like somebody else kind of wanted Anthony desk Lefany that's just me I don't think the twins took him out of pity just my two cents

[00:58:44] this guy was going more along the lines of like ha ha ha loser's you're stuck with that insurmountable twelve million dollars we're Jerry well Jerry's laughing in your face now there is no more twelve million dollars of Anthony desk Lefany on this roster

[00:58:56] not anymore man I'll tell you that that comment was in TikTok's review filter it got it got filtered saying maybe it was a little too mean you know what I think we can take it though TikTok we can take it on the chest

[00:59:12] and speaking of that this guy doubled down because a couple days later we got a similar reply it was also filtered it says is there anyone that you don't think is a final piece

[00:59:23] at least let me preface this was another piece of content we did talking about may have been a rise and may have been blake snell about what else can the Mariners do so he says is there anyone that you don't think is a final piece question mark

[00:59:37] this show was a joke because you just throw shit out buddy I've got some news for you welcome to the MLB offseason this is what goes down

[00:59:48] I think this dude he might have did he leave two comments on the same one because these comments are from the exact same day he must have been in a bad mood

[00:59:59] I think it's two separate pieces of content but it's on the same day that means he's scrolling through well I don't like this one let's

[01:00:13] like this one let's type something out yeah he's he had some anger to get out it seems like some he had some real real anger to get out

[01:00:21] and all the haters we can get the user I got to read this last one you got to let me read this last one okay yeah you can do it

[01:00:29] this one I think is my favorite I don't recommend anybody really goes on to read it because read it is probably worse in terms of their replies than almost any other social media feed if you even want to call it that

[01:00:43] uses a ruthless replies to use a to use our ruthless replies portion of the show then read it is a perfect spot to do that we did an interview with Dom Cam's own a few weeks ago some of you may know that

[01:00:56] the link to it was posted on Reddit it just says Dom Cam's own on the marine layer podcast in case any Mariners fans in that Mariners threat of Reddit wanted to check it out

[01:01:06] there is a reply I love this one I don't know why there's a reply that says I'd love to see a Dom interview just not with these yahoo's they're one of the worst M's related YouTube garbage that perpetuates so much nonsense

[01:01:19] these guys were big on the Otani is going to be a mariner and helnick is a future all-star trains 700 million dollars from LA and 900 MLB of bats of evidence tell me they're not worth listening to

[01:01:32] I'm going to use TJ marine layer podcast officially canceled reasoning wanting the greatest player to ever play wanting the greatest player to ever play on their favorite baseball team

[01:01:46] I guess if you're optimistic that automatically means you're canceled we're not allowed to hope good things

[01:01:53] Yeah, you know what show hey Otani should have been a Texas Ranger. He shot it should have signed a 20 year one billion four hundred million dollar contract with the Texas Rangers

[01:02:04] Oh, and then his kids who also happen to be two-way sensations are automatically guaranteed to be Texas Rangers for the entire the entire of their professional playing careers as well

[01:02:17] Oh, and then by the way the Mariners are never allowed to win a World Series ever it's written in the MLB bylaws now

[01:02:24] Maybe that person to listen to us

[01:02:26] Actually, it's funny. You say that I just got a text from this dude. He says you guys are I

[01:02:31] He heard your negativity teach he could hear it through the airwaves. Sorry. I wanted to be more like everybody else

[01:02:42] Well, you've succeeded man. I love doing this segment again. We say it at the end of each of these

[01:02:48] It's all in good fun, and it's basically our way of reminding people if you sign up to do something like this

[01:02:53] Podcast social media putting yourselves out there. There's always gonna be people like this that respond with negative thoughts

[01:03:01] The best thing you can do is truly laugh it off because number one

[01:03:04] It probably says more about the people replying than it does about you if there's actually people out there that don't like you

[01:03:10] Most of them aren't gonna reply. They'll just be like well. I won't listen, but

[01:03:13] Even more so than that. I think it's just fun for us to laugh at because you know what? I

[01:03:18] Genuinely enjoy seeing some of these sometimes some people don't like reading comments. Usually I think we're pretty good about laughing them off

[01:03:25] So I enjoy it to be honest like we've done so much of this and gotten so many comments that it's

[01:03:32] It's more entertaining than anything for me. It's just like

[01:03:36] You can't you can't let what other people think about you affect the way you operate

[01:03:42] So when stuff like this comes up, it's it's funny and it again all in good fun

[01:03:46] And if you want to leave us something good in the comment section beware

[01:03:50] I caution you because you are gonna end up on the second

[01:03:53] We give people the warning every month you want to be featured on this podcast leave us an awful reply saying how terrible we are at

[01:04:01] Doing sports podcasting and you're probably gonna end up on this portion of the show

[01:04:06] So you can always send us a question for a mailbag - if you want to be brought up in a much nicer light

[01:04:11] But if you just want to guarantee your your spot being or your question being on this Todd all you have to do is tell us

[01:04:18] How awful we are and we'll probably read it

[01:04:20] so

[01:04:22] Yeah, that's ruthless replies third one

[01:04:24] We're gonna keep doing them because it's a bunch of fun and it usually provides some good laughs

[01:04:28] Hopefully you guys had some good laughs out of it too

[01:04:31] With that, I think that'll just about wrap up this edition of the marine layer podcast you guys know the drill if you're listening to the pods

[01:04:37] Make sure to rate and review download the episodes five star review. Please it helps us out a bunch

[01:04:42] You write a written review that helps as well

[01:04:44] Hit that big red subscribe button on YouTube free takes about two seconds to do and it does us a big favor

[01:04:51] Once again like comment as well check us out on social media or on Instagram tick tock Twitter and YouTube shorts at marine layer pot

[01:04:59] That's TJ. I'm Lyle as always. We thank you guys for tuning in and talk to you soon

[01:05:04] You

[01:05:06] You

[01:05:08] You

[01:05:10] You

[01:05:12] You

[01:05:14] You know you can tap into casino right now at botano an award-winning online casino experience

[01:05:41] There were fifteen hundred games they've got thrilling new slots at it every day

[01:05:45] So there's always something new to play or grab a seat of one of their exclusive lag tables where you can play blackjack roulette and more

[01:05:51] Tap into casino tap into botano where the game starts now check out botano.ca and download their app from the apple store

[01:05:58] 19 plus Ontario only and remember to please play responsibly