Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - A Goal the M's Can Still Strive For

Episode Date: September 17, 2021

Join Locked On Mariners hosts Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby Patnode as they discuss which events they'd like to attend at the 2023 MLB All-Star Game, what to expect as the Mariners square off against the Royals and an achievable goal fans should still be keeping an eye on.Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: http://patreon.com/controlthezone/Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Happy Friday. This is the Lockdown Mariner's podcast. Your home for Daily Seattle Mariner's News and Analysis, brought to you by Spotify Green Room. Download the Spotify Green Room app and find one of our locked-on rooms.

I am your host, Tideon Gonzalez, joined as always by my co-host, Colby Patnode. You can find me at Dan Gonzalez on Twitter. That's D-A-N-Z-L-L-E. L. Z and Colby at C-Pad 11, that's C-P-A-T-1-1. And if you're a fan of the Seahawks, big game coming up, season or rather home opener at Lumenfield, first-time fans will be in attendance for a regular season game at Lumenfield since December of 2019. So a huge game against the Titans coming up on Sunday. So if you want to see what we're writing about with the team, check out Seahawk Maven at s.com.

I am an editor and reporter over there and Colby also contributes over there. And be sure to check out our Patreon as well and where we're talking about Mariners even more and also get into some non-baseball talk twice a week. So if you want to hear that, visit patreon.com forward slash control the zone for more information. But on today's episode of Lockdown Mariners, we're going to look ahead to the 2023 MLB All-Star game. The Mariners yesterday making it official that they'll play host to the Midsummer Classic in about 22 months from now.

If we could choose to attend just one of the four main events during that week, which one would we go to? We're going to be discussing that in a moment. Also going to get you set for the Mariners weekend series against the Royals down in Kansas City. And we're going to talk about a goal that's still achievable for the Mariners over the final two weeks of the season. If you like what you hear, give the show a follow or subscribe to it wherever you're listening to this. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your dog, tell your fish. tell your enemies tell whoever you want we greatly appreciate the support uh colby big big big news coming out

of seattle obviously you know um it got leaked a couple days early from jeff pass and a vspan and and ryan divish confirmed it and pretty much everyone confirmed it eventually but the mariners make it official yesterday they will be hosting the 2023 MLB all-star game at t mobile park and with that there will be plenty of events happening in the city of Seattle at T-Mobile Park specifically with the MLB draft, the home run derby, the All-Star game, of course, the futures game, and then there's going to be a bunch of other events that are happening outside of the ballpark and around the city. It's going to be a huge celebration.

But, you know, looking at the four main events, the draft, the futures game, the All-Star game, and the Derby. Which one would you go to if you could only choose one? Yeah, that's a, that's a tough one. I feel like we talked a little bit about this yesterday on the green room. Thanks for your attendance, by the way. None of you showed up. I mean, look, the timing's not ideal.

I get that. But what are you going to do? But anyways, I think for me, like the number one on my list is probably the futures game. You know, I'm a big prospect guy. It's what I enjoy. Obviously, Seattle should be fairly well represented. It's still a loaded farm system, and it will continue to be so in a year and a half. I can't imagine they empty that out, you know, too much this offseason that they're not going to have some representation in the futures game.

But, yeah, just about, you know, seeing the players of tomorrow today. I'm sure that's their corny little tagline, but it's a lot of fun. It's, I think it's better baseball, honestly, than you get at the All-Star game. It's not that the players who play in the All-Star game,

it's not that they're not trying, but there's definitely some things that they do that aren't like... You wouldn't see it in a normal game. Right. I mean, guys grew fastballs to whoever's retiring and blah, blah, blah. And it's just, it's not, winning is not the prime objective. And it's not really the prime objective of the futures game,

but I can live with that because they're not, you know, major league baseball players yet. So, yeah, I think the futures game is probably where I'd want to go first and foremost. And then after that, the derby and the,

the derby and the actual All-Star game are a toss-up, really. And then the draft comes in last, although I do enjoy the draft. I just don't think I would, enjoy it in person if that makes sense yeah yeah the draft seems kind of lame to go to in person like even and we talked about this on the green room last night and you said well you know maybe like the NFL draft will be a little bit more fun or the NBA draft or whatever but like still like it's just a draft right it's just you know someone goes up to a podium and now it's a pick

whoopty-do um that's mostly why i don't even really watch any of the drafts in general i mostly just keep an eye on them on, you know, a tracker or whatever. Or I'll just have them on in the background because that's usually what will update the fastest or Twitter, right? Most of the picks end up leaking a few minutes before they're even called up on stage. But yeah, for me, it's the futures game as well. And, you know, who knows what the representation will be like for the Mariners. There's still obviously going to be two off seasons and one more trade deadline before the All-Star game. So who knows if Noel V. Marte or Harry Ford or whoever it might be is still in the organization at the time.

But there should be at least some form of representation from the Mariners. And also, you know, in general, there's still going to be plenty of really awesome names showing up there, including, you know, Noel V. Marte or Harry Ford, wherever they may be if it's in Seattle or elsewhere. So that to me is probably the most fun, right? Because it's just the, it's exciting. You get to see a lot of the future stars of the game. That's something that really no one in the state of Washington really, you know, is privileged to you unless they're going to Everett games or Tacoma games.

So to have this on the big stage and get in getting to see, you know, like all the best prospects from around the country, you know, coming into one place and playing in one game is a rear sight to behold. And with a lot of the really cool prospect guys that we follow are probably going to be there and stuff, it's going to be a really fun event and probably something that I would really enjoy and probably get to meet some people there and get to talk some ball and watch a really fun game. Other than that, you know, the derby probably comes in second for me because I imagine that's pretty, fun going to, you know, rather than watching it on TV. I find the derby kind of boring on TV. Like, I get it. You know, it's kind of a turn your brain off, just kind of watch and, you know, have fun type of thing in general on TV.

But it's not really my cup of tea in general. Like, I'll watch it every now and then. Mostly if there's a mariner in it, which really never happens. And that will probably change, I would assume. With the derby being in Seattle, there will probably be a, you know, the Mariners representative and that. So that would be fun. And also, you know, if you can get tickets in the outfield, particularly right field, then probably going to have a fun time. So if I do come as I'm planning to for the All-Star Week, probably going to go to the Derby.

That's something that I'm pretty, that I'd be pretty excited to do. And to be in the outfield as well. and then a futures game as well. And then the Allster game is fine. But the All-Star game to me is kind of like the NBA All-Star game. It's like people mostly watch All-Star Weekend for the Dunk contest. And then it's, and then the All-Star game kind of gets overlooked.

And the MLB All-Star game is kind of, eh. It's cool, but it's not, eh. The only All-Star game that I really enjoyed was the one in Seattle. And I was like five years old at the time, by the way. So, like, you know, that's a much different consumer than the one that I have now. The one that was played the following year, I think in Milwaukee. That was pretty good, too.

It's the one that ended in a tie. And then everybody. Oh, yeah, the Tori Hunter. Yeah, Robbins. Yeah. Yeah, everybody pooped their pamper's because an All-Star game, an exhibition game can end in a tie. And that's when Bud C League overreacted and made it home field advantage,

which was always stupid. Yeah. So, yeah, the last great All-Star game for me is, probably that 2001 all-star game, but, you know, there's obviously moments. There's Derek Jeter and his last All-Star game. I think that was in Minnesota. Yeah. He had the double, and I think it was Wayne Wright,

just threw him like an 88 mile an hour fastball down the middle. And it's like, I mean, it's really not that different from the NBA All-Star game where nobody tries to play defense. Like, it's basically a giant shoot-around. And, I mean, the Pro Bowl. At least that has some entertainment value, like, whereas the Pro Bowl, the Pro Bowl just,

you're taking away the biggest element of football and that's like tackling and you're just watching a touch football game it's just pretty much they need they need to get rid of the pro ball they do um but yeah so uh that'll be interesting you know come down we'll get an Airbnb or something we'll vlog the whole thing huh nice little there we go there we go we'll vlog it got to get some new videos out on the uh on the truths of the triton channel hopefully and you know yeah

Well, I mean, hopefully in 18 months I'll have enough money saved to get a decent PC and we can we can actually do some some stuff like that. But yeah, it's it's it's a, it'd be fun. Come on down Seattle can their B&B and go to the Derby and the futures game. Hopefully they don't cost $5,000 a seat. Yeah, and hopefully I that will greatly increase my chances of finally getting a real Major League baseball. at a game or at an event rather the one time that I got it gave it to a kid as you always should

but I would like a souvenir that would be fun to remember my trip and back to Seattle by so we're going to talk about the upcoming series with the Royals in just a moment but real quick a word about built bar don't you just hate it when you're out and about and hunger strikes but the only convenient options

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tasty and most importantly, healthy. So go to built.com right now and use promo code locked 15 and you'll get 15% off your order. That's LOC, KED, 15% off your order at built.com. All right. So the Mariners getting back after it, after a much needed off day following a very disappointing home stand, two and four homestand gets the diamondbacks and the reds. and the Red Sox they are now in Kansas City to face a Royals team that took three of four from them in another disappointing home series a couple of weeks ago.

Salvador Perez absolutely just destroyed them that entire series. And I mean, I guess the key to this series really, Colby, is to avoid Salvador Perez at all costs and you should be okay. Right? I mean, that was what we said the game plan should have been last time. And yet every time he came up, he did so much damage. So yeah, just go ahead and walk that dude. Make Andrew Benetendi be you. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, no disrespect to Andrew Benatendi. But, I mean, Salvador Perez is probably, you know, top six or seven MVP guy right now. And Benetendi is not. So, yeah, don't let Salvador Perez beat you. And if he comes up with the bases loaded, just walk him. Give up the one run. You're going to give up at least that anyways. Just walk him.

But, yeah, pitch around Salvy. Merrifield, I think, had a pretty good series here against Oakland as well. So again, you know, just like we said last time, Kansas City, better than their record would indicate. The roster is better than you think based on their record. There's a lot of veterans in that lineup. There's a lot of guys who will give you tough out bats. So yeah, the Kansas City is pretty good thing.

Honestly, Kansas City is probably more talented than Seattle, with the exception of the bullpen where Seattle has, you know, outshine just about everybody, not counting the last two days. But, yeah, so it's going to be a tough battle here. And yeah, avoid Salvador Press if you can. And, you know, for the love of God, score some runs. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that's the that's the big one there, right? But you know, with a sweep, the Mariners would secure 500 on the season. So that's that's something to aim for here. That's definitely starting to become close within reach. They're they're going to get to it at some point. But why not now? Chris Flexen versus John Hesley, who's making his MLB debut tonight for the Royals. That's the first. game and then you say Kikuchi versus

Chris Boobich on Saturday and then a really fun one couple of top young pitching prospects while they're not technically prospects anymore well I don't know if Jackson Coar has has lost his eligibility yet or

not but Logan Gilbert versus Jackson Coar it's a really really fun matchup between two of the most exciting arms in today's game really I love Jackson Cowar, obviously, you know, how we feel about Logan Gilbert. So, you know, I think I know what the answer is to this one, but I'll ask you anyway,

which matchup here are you looking forward to the most and why? Sunday. Sunday. Absolutely Sunday. Sunday, Sunday. Sunday, Sunday. Yes, Jackson Coar was a guy that I actually wanted the Mariners to draft. He ended up going in the competitive balance A-pick.

So technically a first round pick, a late first round pick. He was drafted in 2018 the same year that the Mariners selected. You want to guess who? Logan Gilbert. Hey, there it is. How about that? Yes, the guy who I kind of wanted the Mariners to draft with, what was it that year, the 17th pick?

Or is that the singer year? I believe Well the singer and coar were in the same draft Yeah But I believe The Mariners had pick number 20 14 This year they had 14

Kansas City had 17 Kirby Kirby was picked 20 Yeah Kirby was picked 20 the year The next year yeah CoR and Singer were two guys I really wanted Seattle to draft In 2018 I think in my final mock draft

for Soto Mojo. I actually mock Gilbert to Seattle. And at the time, I said I preferred a singer, certainly, and Co-R was right there. So I thought, I thought very high, Marty Pants. I mean, obviously Seattle made the right pick and taken Gilbert, but it was two guys that I really liked in that draft. And now they're facing off on Sunday, it's going to be a lot of fun. Yeah, yeah, it's going to be a really fun one. You want to make a pick-to-click here? Didn't go so well for us the last time, though, you know, I do want to remind folks that we did call it in that one Oakland game.

So anyone you want to throw out here to maybe have a good series down in Kansas City? I'm going to go with Jared Kelnick. Yeah, he's been, he's been doing better. Obviously, you know, wasn't able to drive in that winning run home. So close. So, close. freaking Adam Ottavino throwing the second changeup he's thrown all year. Apparently that's so brutal.

That's so brutal. Apparently that was a mistake. Luke Arkin's was very quick to point out that actually Adam Adivino has thrown like 12 changeups this year. So I mean, so many more out of 1,000 pitch out of 1100 pitches. So less than 1% chance that he's getting that change up. And that was a battle. And that's a tough app for a veteran, let alone Kelnick. But yeah, the at-bats are better right now.

The quality of contact is better. Yeah, I feel like every month, Kelnick is getting better. Just the numbers aren't there yet. But I've seen certainly a lot of encouraging things happen over the last month or so to make me think that he's due for one breakout series somewhere in the next two weeks. And I think these matchups are pretty beneficial to him. And so I think he's got a shot in this series to have a really nice breakout.

It's also a pretty nice ballpark for him that there's a lot of triples available out there in those gaps and also has me worried about Seattle's outfield defense in that ballpark. So. Oh, boy. Yeah. Mitch Hanager and right field of Kansas City. That's going to be fun. But yeah. I'll take Kellanick to have a bit of a breakout series here.

Yeah, I like that. I'm actually going to go with you on that as well because, you know, over the last couple weeks, you haven't seen him really screw around with his. with his stance and his hand placement anymore. He's kind of, he's got one thing that he's doing now. And, uh, and it's working for him. For the most part, you know, still some strikeouts. So, you know, some struggles here and there. But I, you're seeing a lot more competitive of bats out of Jared Kellnick.

And, um, and that's nice. That's nice to see. Uh, another guy all throw out there, though, just to, just to have one, at least one different answer from you go with J.P. Crawford. J.P's, uh, JPM's, uh, JP's been nice at the plate lately. So, uh, uh, I, uh, I, I think he might have a good series. A couple righties on the mound in this series.

So, yeah, why not? Let's see if JP can put some hits together in this one. Some offense overall from whoever it may be would be really, really nice to see, especially if Salvador Perez continues to just terrorize this team. So the Mariners, you know, still technically in the playoff hunt, kind of. mathematically they are, right? Four games back, so we're not really focused on that at all. But I did want to talk about one achievable goal that does have to do with the standings

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stream. You can learn more at directtv.com. That's directtiv.com. Compatible device required. Content varies by package. So as I said, we're not really focusing on the playoffs anymore. That dream is pretty much dead, as we talked about after the Red Sox series. Mathematically, it's not. Some things could happen here and there, but you're relying a lot on the Orioles to help you out here. and yeah, that's probably not the best strategy to have. So there is one thing, however, that I'm still personally keeping an eye on that I think fans should be keeping an eye on with the standings. And a lot of it is going to be determined by how the Mariners play against the A's for seven more games over the next 16. and that's finishing second in the AL West.

Because, I mean, you headed into the season, thinking that at most, right? If things really break the Mariners away, they could finish third, you know, if maybe the angels disappoint again, which they have. Ha, ha, ha. And, you know, but there was no thought about second and real realistically, fourth place felt likely. You know, it felt like you were a lot closer to the Rangers than you were to the Angels A's and, of course, the Astros. I even picked the A's to win the division before this year. So, you know, this is a being able to surpass them to me would be a pretty cool achievement.

Even though that it's still very disappointing that you're not going to make the playoffs again, etc. I still think being able to, you know, look back on this year and be like, this team. finish ahead of of the A's this team finished ahead of the Angels I think that's something that that you can hang your hat on ultimately it doesn't really mean anything in the grand scheme of things you still miss the playoffs you know just like every other team that missed the playoffs but I think for where this this team was supposed to be and where it could potentially end up finishing just right behind the Astros why not I think that's cool I think that would be cool

what do you think Colby yeah I mean it's it kind of honestly feels a little like semi-pro the tropics are celebrating finishing in fourth place with like the big confetti cannon and all that stuff um but i i do think you know if you're looking for ways to motivate yourself to watch this series i think i think it might be kind of fun to treat the oak you have seven games left against oakland treat it like a like it's the you know a playoff series. It's a seven-game playoff series, and we'll see where we're at. Obviously, Seattle's had pretty good success against Oakland this year. They are eight and four, I believe. So it'd be nice to kind of, you know, beat them, you know, out of a best of seven, go four and three or five and two,

even, which is definitely possible. And I feel like, you know, honestly, that could, what you could, you know, end up doing there, actually, if you go five and two, six and whatever it is, you might actually be the deciding factor in the Oakland days deciding that 2022 isn't going to happen for them, which could jumpstart a bit of a mini rebuild like we discussed yesterday. So yeah, you could definitely do some damage in that regard. Sounds like a pretty good shot that the angels, by the way, are not going to have Shohei Otani on the mound for the rest of the year. And Mike Trout's not coming back. So yeah, it's not zero chance. The real playoffs are, are like it's they're in the other receiving votes category right now for their

playoff odds but still out there but if you're looking for something to root for I think you know second place is I mean it's kind of a consolation prize I guess it's a participation trophy but hey you know if that's what you need to do to have fun watching baseball then do it and is there some value to that I don't know I can't say there is but I also can't say there's not particularly to the players in that clubhouse So yeah, you know, it's it's something to motivate yourself. It's something to continue to watch. And I would, I would definitely say that, you know, if that's something you want to focus on, have fun with it.

I'm sure we will. I mean, we can go ahead after the first, every game, every Oakland game. We could treat it like it was a playoff game. Like if we wanted to, that would be fun. It's a seven game series. Let's do it. So, yeah, I don't know if there's value to finishing in second, but it sure as hell doesn't hurt to finish. second place, right? So go do that and

just play well and roll it to the off season with a little bit of momentum. Yeah, I think it ultimately says a lot about what your team was still able to do this year. Despite not being able to make the playoffs, I think it represents, you know, that huge step forward that this team

really took this year and kind of overachieving and all that. But you know, being able to provide meaningful baseball in September to the city of Seattle shouldn't be overlooked here because is frankly that hasn't happened a lot, you know, let alone, you know, the missing, you know, the playoffs and all that.

It just hasn't been a ton of meaningful baseball where the baroners have even been all that close. So to, you know, have that and maybe represent that by surpassing the A's and having a really good final two series against them, I think that would be a lot of fun to keep a track and to keep an eye on and see how this, how this team finishes off. And also, you know, see who. contributes to that, right? Because like, I think it would be pretty fun

if Jared Kelnick and Cal Raleigh really helped you in those series, you know? Like, that would be a really fun takeaway to have. So, that's really what I'm looking for now. And, and I think that's still a really cool achievement if they're able to, you know,

get it and be able to win these two series against Oakland because I don't know, you go into, I think you go into next year with a little momentum, feeling a little, you know, something, something about yourself because, uh, you say, you know, it was just the Astros and the Astros are an incredible team and, you know, you're, you're behind them. You were, you finished second and you finish ahead of a talented Oakland team and, um, you know, in an, in an Angels team that, yeah,

suffered quite a few injuries this year, but has a ton of star power on their roster and, uh, just continues to not be able to figure it out. And then here you are, you know, a team that was supposed to be one of the worst teams of baseball ahead of all those teams in the standings. I think there's something to that. We'll see how it goes over the next couple of weeks. But yeah, like Colby said, if you're trying to find something to root for

and look for, that's what I'm looking at. So anything you want to add before we hop off for the week? Go check out J.P. Crawford's Twitter. he has reposted or retweeted a video of somebody who put his face on Johnny Depp's body and Pirates of the Caribbean and it is incredibly well done. It's pretty hilarious. I look forward to watching it with sound here in moments. But yeah, so JP Crawford still having fun, which is good.

Oh, and I guess I'll also add that MLB Pipeline has officially added, Harry four to their top 100 prospect list. He's still too low. But there you go. The Mariners now have five of the top 100 according to pipeline. And that doesn't include Kellnick and Gilbert,

et cetera. Well, in regards to JP still having fun, you know, they can take away the Mariners playoff chances, but they cannot take away their fun differential.

This team is still going to be incredibly fun over the next couple weeks to watch, I think. So let's enjoy it. And let's enjoy the rest of this year. let's celebrate this team because they provided a ton of joy for Mariners fans for me

especially this year and for us to be able to have all this meaningful baseball to talk about on the show. It's been a really fun ride and hoping to give them a good send-off. So that's going to do it for this week's slate of shows. Thank you so much for joining us here on Lockdown Mariners. For Colby Patnode, I'm Taday Gonzalez.

Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Mariners. earners. You can follow me at Dan Gonzalez. That's D-A-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-P-A-11. That's C-P-A-T-1-1. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day and a beautiful baseball weekend. And we'll see you on Monday. Betting on Major League Baseball doesn't have to be a guessing game. If you listen to the new Lockdown Betts podcast hosted by your

boy Q and handicap and expert Lee Sterling, get daily picks, blowout specials, wrong team favorite picks and Lee Sterling's lock of the day. Follow the lockdown on Betts Podcasts, brought to you by betonline.org, wherever you get podcasts.