Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - 2 Potential Seattle Mariners Offseason TARGETS We Haven't Talked Much About | Mailbag Monday

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

It's the final Mailbag Monday of 2025! Ty and Colby answer your Seattle Mariners questions, including if their potential targets on the free-agent or trade markets they haven't talked much about. Click to learn more about the Everydayer Club!Check out our Patreon!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11Follow the show on Bluesky: @lockedonmariners | @tdg | @mlbcolbySupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Mariners have given us, well, plenty of time to talk about a ton of free agents and trade targets. But is there anyone we've glossed over? We'll answer to that and more coming up here on Mailbag Monday. Colby, hit it. You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Ahoy, Sailors.

It is Monday, December 29th. 2025, you're listening to the Lockdown Marriss podcast for the Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network. My name is Tiding Azales, and I'm joined, as always, by my co-co's Colby Patnode. We're two lifelong Marys fans who've been covering the team for over half a decade. And today, for the last time in 2025, we're opening up the mailbag like we do here every Monday and answering some of your Maris questions. Before we get into this week's batch, though, I want to shout out our title sponsor today,

Fanduel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit Fandual.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. Kicking us off here on Mailbag Monday is the absolute unit. They want to know who's someone who makes a ton of sense for the mayors to go get that there's been almost no talk about this year. Well, it's a realistic contract slash package to acquire. Colby, I feel like we've talked about everyone.

But is there someone maybe that we've glossed over a bit more than others? No. like not if you want to use the strictest interpretation of what the Mariners are looking for. And, I mean, it's obvious why you would be doing that because they've come out and said this is specifically what we want. And it's, there's only so many players who fit that criteria. We're talking about a guy who can play in the infield. They would really like him to be right-handed. They would, you know, like the bat to be good enough that he could also be the DH if Emmer

sin and young really pop and there's like four guys that fit that criteria and we've talked about them all so unless you're willing to expand the the you know the view uh to look for these players then no there's really not but should the mariners be willing to expand their you know their wish list yes they have to be because at the end of the day the mariners only focus above everything else should be to get better and right now this is a team team that needs to get better to accomplish what they want to accomplish. So if you want to look at it strictly from a who's a right-handed hitting or switch hitting out infielder who can play second or third, but then is also a good enough hitter that

they could be the primary DH if we really need them to. If Emerson pops, if Young pops, there's like three or four of those guys in baseball that are actively available right now. There's Gino, there's Catel Marte, Donovan doesn't even hit right-handed. So, like, that's already not an ideal fit. And then we've talked about the Viantos and the, you know, the Royce Lewis's and the risk that come with them, the Alec Bomes. Like, there's a risk that comes with them. So unless you're willing to expand what you're looking for, no, there's really not a lot of unexplored avenues.

But if we are willing to expand, I have somebody in mind that is completely outside the box. And we haven't talked about for one second. Hit me. Sure. The player, and here's here's the caveat, he is not known to be readily available. Okay. T.J. I think that works with it.

Okay, T.J. Friedel. Yeah, I think that works within the spirit of, uh, of this question. Mm-hmm. Sure. T.J. Friedel is a left-handed hitting outfield only player, the complete opposite of what the mariners have said that they wanted. But keep in mind, T.J.

Friedel is a on-base machine. you get him for three years, one more than Donovan. He has a four-win season under his belt, something that Donovan does not have at the moment. And this works because you can have Frito play left field. He's played center field for the Reds. He's okay out there, but he's going to be much better in left field in a corner. And that would move Randy and Rosarana to be the primary DH. So you kind of fulfill your DH with somebody in hand, but you also improve because now you have a legitimate leadoff hitter.

you have a guy who will improve the run prevention aspect of your team, something that needs to be improved anyways. It's a pretty good bays runner. He's got pop. You know, it's not 20 home run power, but it's, you know, 14, 15 home run power. He's going to draw a lot of walks. There are, here's the fun thing. In his career, there have been no splits, righty-lefty. He is the same hitter against both handed this.

Last year, it was better against Ritey, so, you know, we'll see if that continues or not. But over the big sample of his entire career, he's been a 107 WRC, plus hitter against lefties and 107 WRC plus against righties. Like there's no splits issues there. He gets on base. He can hit first or second. The only, he's a left-handed hitting outfield only. And so if you're only focused on guys who can hit right-handed or guys who can play second or third,

Friedel doesn't fit at all. When you look at the pieces independent of that and you expand what you need, you need an everyday bat to add to this lineup. Preferably one who hits at the top or the middle of your order. Friedel accomplishes that. And when you look at kind of how you can structure this thing, if you have J.P. Crawford, a guy who hits lefties, he's a left hand of bad who hits lefties, hitting nine. And you have Friedel hitting one as kind of the wrap around.

You have two guys who are going to have 3.50 plus on base percentages that both hit lefties and righties at the top of your line up to hit in front of Cal, Julio, Naylor, Randy, who's now hitting fifth or sixth for you. So Friedel is the guy who is kind of like this. We haven't talked about, and we don't even know if he's available. The Reds have made a couple of moves this weekend that, you know, they have, I think, seven outfielders right now on their 26-man roster. There are probably other guys that would rather move, but Friedel is going to get them the most.

And the Reds are also a team that, you know, they're legitimately cheap. And they've talked about, oh, you know, we don't have a ton of money to spend over the cap. We have some. Friedel's making $5 million this year. He's going to make $8 to $10 next year. he's going to make 15 like he's a player who's going to be too expensive and he's 29 30 like he's not exactly in his prime he's you know kind of a late bloomer type of guy so t j friedel is the guy like if you're looking to expand this definition and you're willing to look beyond handedness beyond

position like friedel is the bat that we haven't talked about at all that would impact this mariner's team because again you improve your outfield defense you get your lead off hitter um or your second or you know your number two hitter or whatever uh and you get them for a only five million dollars which so i mean really the idea is very similar to donovan except donovan can play in the infield and friedel can so you probably don't prefer donovan don't get me wrong i'm not saying you should target friedel over donovan but if you like the idea of donovan and what he brings to the table you should be at least somewhat interested in what friedel brings to the table because very similar profiles overall to what they do offensively so yeah you have to you have to

you know think outside the box if you're not going to land one of these martets or or donovins or genos think outside the box go get an outfielder even though you say you're fine with your outfield go get one and push randy to the dh spot which is probably where he belongs anyways uh so yeah i think friedel is a good candidate for this going back to the third base dh realm there is one guy that we haven't really talked about much But he's nowhere even close to like the T.J. Friedels of the world here. This is not an exciting option. It's just a guy that we probably should mention a bit more than we have.

That's Yohan Makata because the bearers did have interest in him last winter. He is a switch hitter, but is it only a name? Who knows? Because like his splits are all over the place. This year with the Angels, he only got 27 plate appearances against lefties as a righty hitter. And he didn't do well in those opportunities. But historically, he has been a 94 WRC plus against lefties as a right-handed hitter. And in a few seasons, he's actually been better against lefties than he's been against righties.

So I'm not really sure like what the case is there. I mean, the big thing with Ankata, of course, is the health. You know, he just has not been able to stay healthy at all. He has not been able to stay on the field over the last few years, even this year. but in the opportunities that he did actually get to play this year he was pretty good um you know of course i was pretty much exclusively against righties as a lefty hitter but he slashed 234 336 448 it's a 117 w rc plus and if you're looking to kind of replace what horace polanco gave you exactly with like the switch hitting presence and all that maybe montana's the shot to take there but is that an acceptable uh pivot from brennan Donovan and Cotel Marte? No. To me, like, if you're going out and getting Moncada, you need to do something on top of

Moncada. And I'm not sure the mares would be willing to do that. I think if they got Moncada, that would be probably it. Yeah. Moncada is very similar to the idea of Polanco last winter. It's like probably $5 to $7 million. You know, at least Moncada hit last year, whereas Polo going into this year hadn't hit the year before, but both have injury concerns, both are 30, both, you know, declining defensive

players, although I will say Moncada was one of the worst third baseman, if not the worst third basement in all of baseball last year, he was hurt. Like, it was an outlier defensive season. He's actually mostly fine at third base defensively. But the hope there is that Moncada comes in. He does what he's done the last two years, granted, and only like 110 games combined, but whatever. And he's a 115 to 120 WRC plus bat who.

handles third base and if Colt Emerson comes up and proves that he's an everyday player as a rookie, then Makata becomes the primary DH and you're happy with that. So Moncada is kind of that like, hey, if we strike out on everybody else, at the end of the day, we need to add a veteran bat. We need to add a bat. And even if it's not going to be pretty, even if it's going to, you know, not excite people, we still need to add that presence. Moncada is the guy to go get.

So we'll see if he's around long enough for the Mariners to. make that pivot. But yeah, Moncada's a guy who makes a good deal of sense, with obvious risk. But again, you have to add a bat. Like there is no like, oh, well, you know, we missed on Gino and Marte and Donovan. I guess we'll just roll with the young guys.

Not acceptable. Yeah. But to me, you got to do something else on top of Boncada if that is your answer for that specific role because you just, you can't count on him. You can't. Like, it's a fine shot to take, you know, for five to seven million bucks, whatever it winds up being.

But you need more certainty in your lineup. And Mankana doesn't bring that. All right, we will answer more of your questions in just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of the Locktime Airs podcast is brought to you by Fanduel. Friday's already feel different during basketball season, and Fandual is making them even better. Every Friday night before the games tip off,

Fandul gives fans a new way to kick off the weekend with NBA Happy Hour. NBA Happy Hour is your official pregame, a limited time window where special offers drop right inside the Fandual app before the action starts. Fridays from 6 to 7.7.30 Eastern have become appointment viewing with NBA happy hour. Opening the Fandul app during happy hour always brings something new, boosts, bonuses, and surprises. It's easy to check the weekly special before tip off and make a move before the window closes. The timing is perfect right before the games, right before the weekend starts. It adds extra energy to Friday night basketball without overthinking it.

So before tip off, check the Fandul app and see what's dropping during NBA Happy Hour. Every Friday from 6 to 7.30 p.m. Eastern, a little basketball, a little action, and a whole lot of Friday energy. That's NBA Happy Hour, only on Fandual, the official sportsbook partner of the NBA. And you're listening to the Locktime Marist Podcast, part of the Locktime Podcast Network. team every day. Thank you so much for making us your first listen for all things, Mariners. And also thank you for making Lockdown the number one sports podcast network. You already live your team every day. Now take it up a level and go add free. Join the Every Day or Club today and get locked on Mariners with no interruptions,

members only Discord access and more, all for just $5 a month or $50 a year. Go to Lockdown Mariners.com or check the link in the show notes to learn more. Our next question here on Mailbag Monday comes from Dumpur, who wants to know as it stands, where do the mayor's rank in the AL for you? If they were to add an impact infielder, how many spots do they jump? Okay, so who do I think is better than the mares right now in the American League? I think the Blue Jays are better. Yeah, I think the Blue Jays are better.

Boston? Yeah. Is that it? Maybe New York. Baltimore's gotten better. I don't trust their rotation, though. I don't say they've closed. I don't think they've closed the gap.

No, I don't either. Houston could end up being better, but as their roster sits right now, it's not. Yeah, a lot of questions on the rotation. Yeah. I would say at best their third, but depending on how the rest of the offseason goes, they could be fifth or six.

Yeah, yeah. I would say if they get Brennan Donovan, I think they jump the Red Sox. I don't know if they jump the Blue Jays. If they get Catel Marte, I think they jump both. Next question here from Nate wants to know. Sorry to get back to Donovan. Like you guys, I just want to see them traded somewhere.

With that said, do you remember a potential deal taking this long? Seems like if something is going to happen, Jerry DiPoto gets it done relatively quick or even out of the blue. Yeah, I mean, in the grand scheme of things, they've been working on this for a month, six weeks. Like, it seems longer. because, again, we've all talked about it so much, and there's been so many reports that all just say the same thing. But, like, in the grand scheme of things, I don't think this has taken all that long.

It just talked about way more. And there are a lot more, like, needless updates that aren't actually updates. So, yeah, I just, I think it's an overreported thing. I don't know that it's taking any longer than any other trades. I mean, we know, like, for example, the Josh Naylor trade took three weeks and that was in the middle of the season with a deadline coming up, and there is no deadline for this. So I don't know that's actually taking all that long. It seems like it is.

But I think it's just because of all the reporting on it more than anything. But, yeah, you know, the Mariners have been known to, you know, go after guys for years until they get them or they don't. And sometimes they don't, sometimes they never get them. So, yeah, it's just tough for us to say because we don't know, like, hey they they tried for four months to trade for randy rosarina or something like like we don't know that uh but yeah it seems longer than than others uh sure i just don't know that it actually is next question here from byron what are the chances things have been so quiet because we are waiting for castillo's no trade clause to expire i mean based on everything that's been reported about

the rotation and castillo specifically i'd say the odds are pretty low on that yeah but i have wondered you know I've that thought has crept in the back of my mind like hey can we just like see something randomly drop about Castillo on January 2nd third whatever maybe you know and maybe that's part of this whole like Tel Marte puzzle but in general I think Castio is here to stay as far as 2026 goes yeah I'd be pretty surprised if they traded him this winter know, not shocked, not that there's much of a delineation there, but like, that'd be, you know, it'd be a little surprised. So I don't think that's what's holding anything up. I can't rule it out entirely, but I really don't think that's what's happening here. And in any sense, we'll know whether or not that's true in, you know, what, two, three days, maybe four days.

So, yeah, it's, I don't think that's what's happening here, but I can't say for sure that it's not a factor. it just doesn't feel like it based on everything that's being said but then again based on everything that was being said like you know in late November of last year I would have told you I'd be shocked if Castillo was on the opening day roster so who knows but right now I would say no I don't think that's that's actually a thing that's happening and you're listening to the lockdown eras podcast

for the lockdown podcast network your team every day as always if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show. We have a Patreon. It's called Control the Zone and on there we talk Mariners, Seahawks, all that good stuff. For more information, go to patreon.com forward slash control the zone. Link in the description of this episode. Our next question here on Mailbag Monday

comes from Mariners to the moon. We've seen reporting saying that the Diamondbacks might be willing to make a Marte trade a three-team deal and send prospects elsewhere to get a return that they like. Could a three-team trade surrounding Gore to Arizona. So talking about McKinsey Gore, plus prospects to both Washington and Arizona and Marte to Seattle work. Yeah, it's possible. You know, Miami, also a team that's shopping some starting pitching as well. I don't, the interesting thing with like Pittsburgh and Miami is that

right now they're fringe playoff contenders like for a wild card spot. So wouldn't they just want marty if they're footing the bulk of the price tag by giving up you know a major league ready starting pitcher or an established major league starting pitcher they're going to be like okay well we'll just take martay we don't want prospects so the pirates willing to take on 93 million dollars guaranteed of a 32 year old i mean the pirates for as much as they've done this and good for them for going out and actually doing stuff um you know i don't want to pat them on the back too hard first time in three decades but they literally just handed out the most expensive

free agent contract they've ever given out and it was for two years 29 million dollars so like yeah I don't think Marte works for them the nationals maybe maybe but you know

I mean I suppose that the nationals are going to get the prospects they want for Gore they don't really care and obviously Marte doesn't work for them they're not contenders anytime soon So maybe the Washington Nationals are the best option here for a three-team deal because they do have starting pitching. They don't care if they win next year. They are willing to take prospects, pure prospects.

So, yeah, Washington's probably the best fit. If you wanted us to craft a trade, you know, that probably take a little too much time, more time than we have today. But, yeah, I think in general, yeah, that's something that could work. the Mariners for us you know as often as we praise them for being creative and finding solutions they don't make many three team trades i don't remember the last one that they made like technically the shed long trade was not a three team trade but like yeah i don't think i don't think they've made a traditional three team trade at the helm in seattle like he's made like pseudo three team

deals where he's like a shed long trade basically and then yeah there was the the malics Smith, yeah, the first Malik-Smith trade at the second one. Yeah, the one that flipped him to Tampa. I was trying to remember. That was like an hour and a half later. But that's what, that's why I mean, like, he's made

trades for guys that he's wound up flipping like an hour or two later. But he hasn't actually made it. I don't think he's made a traditional three-team deal. Where everything is done. Yeah. He basically has. So,

does it really matter if it's a true? three-team trade or if it's just a hey give us mackenzie goar now we're gonna go work this side deal yeah doesn't really matter i suppose but yeah i don't think he's made like a traditional like announced three-team as a mariner as the mariner's GM uh so this would be something new if he did it that way uh but yeah i think it's possible i think it's a good call out there sure yeah it's just again if you're trading the best second baseman in all of baseball and could tell martay i get like you have corbin carroll and and ralda predoma but still like you're probably not going to be very good next year why are you trading for two years of mackenzie gore i mean

you know it's not a uh it's not the mariner's job to care about no i know that i'm just like just from the diamond backs perspective though i just like i don't sure but as we've seen like they've been very clear about this like that seems to be something they think they can do and so that's you just have to meet them where they're at in the moment even if they're delusional so it is kind of one of those weird like yeah i don't get why basically what the diamondbacks really want to have happen is they want the wan soto package for a non-won Soto player and that's just not going to happen yeah it's not going to happen and I'm talking about when the when the Padres traded him to the Yankees where they got king and then they got a

prospect who they then flipped for Dylan C's like they want that to happen this winter not going to happen tell Marte is not that guy all right last question of the day comes from side eye dumper who would you prefer in the utility infielder role ben Williamson or leo rivas Rivas is a switch hitter. He's actually been a more productive offensive player at the big league level. He's a better base runner. He gives you a better at bat overall.

And he's more versatile. Yeah. Like to me, that's, I mean, honestly, I think maybe a better, like, question is, is Miles Mastroponi or Williamson because Master Boney's out of options. So he has to make the big league team where he's going to go on waivers

and pretty good chance he sneaks through. but like don't you trust Miles Masterbony at the plate right now more than you do Ben Williamson because I do yeah I can always stash Williamson down in AAA and not losing so at best it's probably a push offensively right now and again Master Bonny can play in the outfield he can play a little bit of second he can play some third right now we don't know we don't know Williamson can do any of those things well we know he can play third but like certainly we don't know that he can in the out he can hang in the outfield i'm pretty sure he could handle shortstop in second but he hasn't been asked to so who knows yeah yeah like i feel good about him play in other positions it's just

we haven't seen him do it right i mean like i felt great about col young going from shortstop to second base and statistically speaking he was the worst second basement of baseball last year defensively now again i i have to believe most of that was dealing with a shoulder right i have to believe that because there's no way you go from a like average shortstop up to, you know, a 30 grade defender at second base unless there's something, you know, affecting that. There's just no way. So, but again, it's just, it's not like you can't just snap your fingers and be like, oh, well, he was really good at that third. So he'll be good at second.

Like, nope, that's not a guarantee. So just like it doesn't work the other way, ask Jorge Polanco. So, yeah, I don't really have much interest in Williamson being on the opening day roster, just in general. But if he was going to be, he probably is a third base only because that's all we know he can do right now. So we'll see in the spring. Maybe he gets some starts at shortstop, you know, maybe play some second outfield maybe. We'll get those reports too pretty early, you know, the Shannon Dreyer's of the world will be like, hey, Ben Williamson's taking reps at second base today or, you know, Ben Williamson borrowed, you know, Julio's backup glove. and he's getting some fly balls out in left field today.

Like, when we start to see stuff like that, then I think we can start talking about Williamson as a viable, you know, utility guy option. But until then, I think he has to be behind Revos, and I think he has to be behind Master Boney for that specific role, maybe even behind Ryan Bliss, because Bliss is just a better athlete and obviously better bat. So, yeah, as a strict super utility,

like that Dylan Moore replacement, I don't know if Williamson's in the top three or four based on the way the roster is right now But we'll see Yeah right now Williamson's path to making the roster Is the Mariners don't get anyone that can play third base With any sort of regularity And he's the everyday third base when I start

That also means that Cole Emerson doesn't make the club Out of camp Right The one good thing About the world baseball classic Yeah And I say one But like I like the WB

BC. I think it's fun. I don't like my players participating in it. But the marriage is going to have a lot of your smiley thing. Yes. Well, not only that, just even if that hadn't happened, I still don't love it, especially for my pitchers, but whatever. The Mariners are going to have a lot of guys participating, a lot of major leaguers, Julio, Randy, Munoz, you know, probably Ruff Snyder, Cal, we know for sure. Brash is probably playing for Canada. Nailor's probably playing for Canada. So there are going to be a ton of at-bats available this spring for these guys to prove themselves. And Williamson is one of those guys. If he goes out there and he's pulling the ball with authority, don't look at the stats. We know stats in spring training don't mean anything. But if he's

pulling the ball with authority, he's smashing doubles down the line. You know, he plays him short and he looks pretty good out there. Maybe he plays some left and he actually looks functional out there. At that point, then it's like, okay, the mayors might have something here. He will get his opportunities to show them something that he deserves to be on the opening day roster, mostly because the WBC is a thing. And he'll have to take advantage of it. But if he doesn't, he should start the year in AAA because he really doesn't provide much value off the bench based on the player we saw last year.

All right. Well, that is going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown Marries podcast, part of the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. For Colby Pat Noda, I'm Tadda Gonzalez. be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at LO underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Tedding Gonzalez and Colby at CPAT 11. That's CPAT 1-1.

We're also on Blue Sky. You can follow me at TDG, Colby at MLB Colby in the show at Lockdown Mariners. You can also find us on Instagram at Lockdown Mariner's. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day. We'll see you next time. Peace.