Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - BREAKING: Mariners Acquire Jorge Polanco From the Twins!!

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

The Mariners have acquired All-Star infielder Jorge Polanco in a trade that sends Justin Topa, Gabriel Gonzalez, Darren Bowen, and Anthony DeSclafani to the Twins. Ty and Colby offer their thoughts on the deal.Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.Jase MedicalEmpower yourself when you purchase a Jase Case, providing you with a personal supply of 5 antibiotics that treat 50+ infections. Get yours today at jasemedical.com and use code LOCKEDON to get $20 off your order. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.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) 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.

The Mariners have acquired infielder Jorge Polanco from the twins for four players, including Justin Topa and Gabriel Gonzalez. Our thoughts on the deal coming up. Colby, hit it. You are locked on mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Oh, Hoy, sailors.

It is Monday, January 29, 2024. This is Tidey Gonzalez, the Clout Chaser himself and the Man in the Shadows. Colby Patnode for the Lockdown Merriors podcast. brought to you by Fandul. Make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place a $5 bet.

Visit Fandul.com slash locked on. That's L-O-C-D-O-N to get yourself started. Thank you so much for making us your first. Listen, subscribe, like, and turn out of alerts. If you're watching on YouTube or subscribe and leave a five-star review on your preferred podcast platform if you like what you hear.

And if you're part of the crew and rock with us every single day, let us know in the comments below. And if you want to hear from us even more, please consider sending up for our Patreon. You can now get a free seven-day trial to check out the show. The link as well as our social accounts is in the description of this episode. The Mariners have reportedly acquired infielder Jorge Polanco from the Minnesota Twins for four players. Justin Topa, Anthony Descliffeani, prospects Gabriel Gonzalez and Darren Bowen as well as cash considerations.

So Colby, the Mariners have finally landed the infielder. They felt they needed. There was a point in the offseason where we kind of assume that the, Enfield was going to be some combination of Josh Rojas, Luis Urias, J.P. Crawford, and Thai France. And I kind of made peace with that. But then there was a report that came out from Ken Rosenthal about a month ago saying, no, the Mariners are still involved in the infield market. They would like some insurance in case, you know, they're wrong about Rojas or Ureus or both. So, you know, we talked a lot about Whit Merrifield recently. We've talked about Jonathan India. but it ends up being Jorge Polanco,

who we've also talked a lot about. And I think to start the show, we should acknowledge the fact that, you know, oftentimes Jerry to Potto and company, Zieg, when we think they're going to Zag. And this time, they didn't do that. They acquired a player that a lot of people in the community have wanted.

A lot of people in the community have talked about, someone that you and I have talked a lot about, not just this offseason, but in previous off seasons, Oriette Palacos is finally a Seattle Mariner. What do you think? Yeah, it's pretty exciting. Not only because we've already laid down a lot of the groundwork on this player, so we're not scrambling to learn new information about him,

but also because like we do with all of these emergency trade episodes, we ask the simple question, are the Seattle Mariners a better baseball team because of this trade? And the answer is unequivocally, yes, they are. It's not the perfect trade. didn't, you know, rob the Minnesota twins. I like what the twins got. I think the Mariners paid roughly market value, maybe a little bit less, but I don't think they got a steal. But I think they made a good deal, a smart deal that makes their ball club better. Bray Polanco is a switch hitter,

which right there is a nice bonus. He can play second or third. He's currently slated to be the primary second baseman. But again, if you need him to play third, he can do that, a little more versatility added to the club. That's valuable. When you look at his track record as a You know, as a performer, he's a career 111, 11RC plus. In the last three years, it's been 124, 119, 118. He's going to hit 250-ish. He's going to put up league average or slightly better on base. And he's going to slug, you know, around 450.

He's going to hit 20 homers. He's going to walk, you know, I would say 9% of the time is a pretty good estimate. The last two years, it's actually jumped up significantly. In 2022, it was 14%. Last year was 10.5. So I think a 9% walk rate is fairly, reasonable. He makes more than enough contact. Strikeouts aren't a huge issue. Last year was kind of the first year. It was above league average. And so you get a good hitter who is a switch

hitter who plays the position of need, your biggest position of need. You get him for two years. This is not a rental. And you get him at 30 years old. He's not 34, 35 years old like we were talking about with like Whitmerfield. He's not coming off of a disastrous season like Tim Anderson, which are some other names that were kind of floated around to fill this infield spot. So when you look at what Polanco has done in his career, you look at what he's still capable of doing, you look at the position he plays, you look at the fact that he's a switch hitter, the fact that he's club controlled through this season, and then he has a team option, a very reasonable team option, at about $12.5 million.

So, you know, really you can control him for up to two years, which should take you pretty nicely right up until Cole Young is ready to go. So I think this is a really good trade for the Mariners. Again, they didn't, they didn't beat the stuffing out of the twins in this deal, but that's fine. You don't have to do that. You just have to make your major league team better. And they did it by trading parts that they have replacements for in their system and on their major league roster. Like they can replace those guys in a lot of ways they already have.

And by the way, the tiering on top of all of this is they managed to do that without adding, as far as we know, a single penny to their payroll, which means they filled their biggest need left of the off season. and they still have the exact amount of money to spend that they did yesterday, which means maybe now they can refocus some of that effort on adding another bullpen arm to replace Justin Topa, maybe a Phil Maton, somebody like that. So I think this is a great trade for the Mariners. I think it's a great trade for Minnesota. If I'm a Mariners fan, I'm really happy.

If I'm a Twins fan, I think I'm pretty happy, you know, if you're willing to step back and look at the big picture. Because the twins got good value for a player we know they wanted to trade. and the Mariners were able to use their young minor leaguers who kind of carry the weight of a trade that they needed to make, which is not something we thought was going to be all that likely because of what Hollander said a few weeks ago. So for me, I don't know what you have to complain about.

Again, Polanco's not perfect. He's missed time. Like, that is definitely a big back. He's missed time. He's not a good defender. No, but again, this is one of those things where, like, the perfect player does not have. exist.

Does not exist. And also relative to what else is out there in the market for position players and more specifically second baseman are players that just, you know, play up the middle or play on the corners, just any infielder in general, really. Polanco is one of the best guys out there. In terms of second base one, arguably the best guy feasibly available out there. I know some of you are going to roll your eyes and go, oh, here we go. Ty and Colby are simping for the Mariners front office again.

But you got to give this front office a lot of credit with this. Because this offseason, you know, the Mariners are not the only team that has gone the cheap route. They're not the only, the Mariners ownership group is not the only ownership group that is not doing enough to support their baseball ops group. And a lot of baseball ops groups around Major League Baseball have gone, well, we don't have any money to spend. I guess we're just going to run it back with the team we have. Whereas the Mariners, and more specifically, Justin Hollander, Jerry DePoto,

and those working in the mayor's front office have gone, screw that. We got to get better by any means necessary. So financial restrictions be damned. We're going to make this thing. We're going to try and do everything we can to make this thing work. And maybe, you know, it still doesn't work. Maybe it still doesn't work after all of this.

Who knows? But the one thing that we, can't say about this front office is that they haven't tried. Yes. There's some things we know about this baseball ops team is that they're resilient, they're creative, and they're discipline. You know,

so those are three traits that are really going to come in handy when your ownership is, what's a nice way to say this? A steaming pile of dog poo left on the porch of John Stanton, as it should be. Like, yeah, they're not getting the support they need from their ownership group.

And yet they're out here trying. and they're making deals. And I think we can say this now officially. They're better now than they were at the end of the season last year. I don't think that's a debatable. I thought it could have, I thought that maybe you could say they were as good as they were at the end of last year. And I thought they were a little bit better.

Now there's really no denying it. They are a better baseball team now than they were on October 1st. And when you look at what this, you look at what this front office has done, They've acquired Mitch Garber, Luke Rayley, Mitch Hanigar, Jorge Polanco, Luis Urias, and a plethora of really interesting arms, Sebi Zavala, Carlos Vargas, and all the cool arms that they've acquired, Jackson Coar. They've done all of that at the expense of $12 million in net payroll, Jose Caballero and Justin Topa.

And Gabby Gonzalez, Teram Bowen. Well, I mean, yeah, but he's not going to help you in 2020. Right, sure, sure. Yeah. They've added a lot. They haven't given up a ton. Like, I know that everybody, well, the, you know, the Jared Kellink deal, blah, blah, blah, blah. They were trading Jared Kellick.

That was happening regardless. Right. We're not going to rehash that deal with you guys again. But you look at where this team is now. They are better than the team that ended the season last year. They are deeper. They have more upside. And their farm system is still really, really good, even with the trade made today.

Yeah. You have to give it to this front office. They've done a spectacular job in the worst circumstances that they could have been given. Again, they did not, they had their payroll in mind for the entire month of October. It wasn't until November that John Stanton walked down and slapped Jerry across the face and told him not to spend any money. That came down at the last possible second and they've had to pivot this entire off season to try and get better without having significantly more resources. like they were told they were going to have. And you know what?

They've done it. They've done it. And they still have money to go do more. You have to give it to this front office. They have done a spectacular job. In theory, they have more money. We'll say that. We'll never count on the Mariners spending money.

But in theory, yeah, they have more money. They sell money left to go spend and make the ball club even better if they so choose. So my hat's off to Jerry and Justin in that entire. front office, all the analyst, everybody who works there, because again, like you said, maybe it doesn't work. Maybe this team is just mediocre. It's totally possible. But you can't say they haven't tried. You can't say they haven't been grinding. You can't say that it's because they made stupid decisions that they're not. They're making smart baseball moves. They're doing it with a huge anchor tied around their neck. And yet somehow they've made this ball club better than the one that ended the season in

October. That's impressive. Indeed. So let's dive. into more of this. Let's talk about Polanco's fit more specifically with the Mariners in the Mariners lineup defensively, all that stuff. We'll talk about the return and more in just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of the Lockdown Marreras podcast is brought to you by eBay Motors. Passion, drive, and patience. What brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance. From Superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more. Whether you're into speed, power, or style, eBay Motors has got you covered. And with over 122 million parts to choose from, you'll always find exactly what you're looking for. With eBay guaranteed fit, your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back. Because with eBay Motors, you're burning rubber, not cash. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it's easy to turn your car into an MVP and bring home that win.

Keep your ride or die live at eBay motors.com. Again, that is eBay motors.com. Eligible items only, exclusions apply. eBay guaranteed fit only available to U.S. customers. And you're listening to the Lockdown Marrars podcast. Thank you again for making us your first listen after the Jorge Polanco trade. And as a reminder, Lockdown has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. Lockdown Sports Day is here for you 24-7, covering the top sports stories of the day with local experts of Lockdown.

plus our national shows covering every league go to locked on sports today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel part of the locked on podcast network your team every day so Colby level with us how sad are you that this wasn't Max Kepler pretty bumped I was hoping he was part of the deal especially when I saw Descalcani was in I was like oh my God we talked about this off air like oh man and you guys may or may not remember I'm a big Max Kepler him and I have a connection that you guys really fully understand.

But I mean, we made eye contact. He threw me a ball. It's a thing. Colby's the love. Yeah. It's a little bum. I'm a little bummed about it. But A, they still have money. And B, they're still fine.

So I haven't given up. And he's a free agent after this year. So who knows? True, true. Next year. The dream lives. Sure. I'm never giving up.

Maybe the deadline. We'll see. Sure. Yeah. I'm never giving up on him. I still think that Jake Bowers is I won't quit you Jake Bowers is going to win a batting title one day

just you watch sure but no I mean like so obviously that's a bummer but I'm also a realist and I understand that like Polanco is a better fit for Kepler Kepler's still a good fit but Plano's better

like he is the fit that the Mariners needed and if you're only going to get one of these guys then yeah for the roster you have I have to admit Palanco is a better fit so um you know, it's exciting when you see it's the twins, but then immediately you see it's the,

it's Polanco, not Kepler. And at that point, I was like, it's highly unlikely they get bold. So, right. So I've accepted it. I've moved on. And I'm happy with the deal. I'm happy with, with Jorge Palank who, by the way, his, uh, nickname is Chulo. Chulo. All right. Which apparently means cool. So this deal, uh, means a lot of things, not just, you know, in terms of adding Palanco to the fold, but also means theoretically there's a platoon now over at third base between Luis Urius and Josh Rojas.

It also just generally drives guys like Rojas into more of a bench roll or Urius, you know, whichever one. Drives Dillamore into more of a bench roll into a more traditional bench roll, I would say. It also makes the Austin Vos signing make a little more sense because, you know, he was a very similar profile

to Desclafani and we're like, that's kind of weird that they signed him to a major league deal because Desclafani is here and they're essentially the same again, same profile. Yeah, same idea. So now Desclafani's been traded. The other thing with that too,

they, like you mentioned, they didn't really spend any money today because they traded Desclafani to the twins. Desclafani making $12 million this year. Polanco is guaranteed 11.25. I believe, when you factor in his buyout next year, which who knows, the Mariners might not buy him out next year.

There's maybe a decent chance that they'll bring him back, especially if he has a good year. I think the, I think next year he's only due $12 million. I think the option is $12 million. They might accept that. So you might have gotten Jorge Polanco for two years just now. Yeah. If he's a one and a half player, he's worth $12 million. So it's not a difficult bar to clear.

Yeah. So they did send the, the twins some money. but I believe that's only like 500K-ish. I would be shocked if it wasn't just the amount to like level out the contracts because Topa's making a little bit of money this year too. I think he's, I think he was R-Av eligible. Either way, he's due about 750.

So it was probably, they were probably about $1,500, short. And so I'm guessing that's roughly what the money's sent is. So, yeah. So, Polanco is going to be the second. basement, according to Ryan DeVish.

Like I mentioned, though, he is not a good defender by else above average. And, you know, like we've said in the past, defensive metrics are shaky, but he's been consistently pretty bad in that department. Last couple years, I think he's been worth a combined negative 15

outs above average. I don't know what that's across, you know, if that's more so at third base rather than second because he's played both pretty consistently. So obviously defense is a downside, but what does Polanco do for the mirrors? Colby. He raises the floor of the offense. Certainly does that.

You look at his savant page, you know, 76 percentile on X Wola, 82nd percentile and X slug, 89th percentile in barrel. We know the Mariners like barrel guys. 94th percentile in sweet spot percentage, 76 percentile in walk percentage, 50th percentile in WIF, 47th and Chase. So about league average in terms of discipline at the plate. And that's the skill that he's getting better at throughout his career.

And you look at what he did last year. You know, it's very similar profile. The chase was actually 72nd percentile, though. So yeah, this is a, he is a good hitter. He's also not a bad base runner,

73rd percentile in sprint speed in 2022. Last year that dropped down to 55, but he had some leg issues. So he's actually, you know, a fine runner. He's not playing. us, but he's fine. He's not going to, he's not Thai France, right? He's not an issue,

running the basis. So you get an above average hitter who is a switch hitter, by the way. So that helps. You know the Mariners wanted to add some lefty thump to their lineup. Here you go. He's also righty thumb. He hits right. He's better than lefties, but he's not unusable against lefties by any stretch. And then, yeah, so this thing comes down to two questions. Can he stay healthy and can the Mariners find a way to limit the negativity of his defense? With his bat, he just has to be fringe average, like at best to be a really valuable player. And keep in mind, they may start him at second base, but if they think they can do better

defensively, they can move them to third base because Urias and Rojas can both play second. So, yeah, they get a guy who definitely raises the floor of their lineup. They get a guy who I'm going to guess will be the number three hitter on opening day. I think we'll do something like JP, Julio, Polanco, Garber, Cal, I think will be the one through five. They get a guy who is apparently a very well respected guy across the game, works well in the clubhouse. And again, they just get a, you know, I don't like this term, but they get a professional hitter who, by the way, if you like park factors, if you like expected home runs on Stackcast, the power profiles very well at T-Mobile Park, much better than, much better than Target Field. This year, he would have hit 19 in Seattle. He had 15.

And in his big year in 2021, he had 33 bombs. He would have had 36 in Seattle. So, you know, and that's the other thing too is you also get upside. Like this may be a guy who raises the floor. You get upside. There's a non-zero chance this guy can hit, you know, 25 plus home runs, you know, and be a 125, 135, 130 WRC plus bat. Like, it's a good player.

It's a good player. It's not an elite player, although he's been an all-star in the past, all-star quality. You get versatility. You get floor. You get some upside. You get a guy who lengthens the lineup. You get a guy who's pushing. which is, you know, current starters onto your bench into a role they're better suited for.

You get a lot with Polanco. There are some concerns again. How many games do you get them for? And how do you kind of hide the glove? Those are the concerns. But overall, you get a very good player that really helps your ball club. Damn good player. You're listening to the Locktime Marreras podcast.

Thank you again for making us your first listen. So now let's talk about what the Marius gave up. Because it's, it's shocking when you first see it. because, you know, we're talking about a player that might only be here for a year. You know, you give up four players and, you know, it does matter who the four players are. But it is four players. Darren Bowen, friend of the show. I'm really sad about this one.

I'm a big Darren Bowen guy. So this was a lot of helium. There's a non-zero chance that he's the best player in this deal. And for how little pitching depth, the Marin is having their farm system right now, it hurts. it hurts. It does, but also it's not like Bowen had any shot whatsoever to help you this year. No, that's true too. Like, again, just to kind of go back to the Luis Castillo thing, do you really give a damn who pitches for the Modesto nuts on Tuesday? Do you really?

Yeah. I mean, Bowen probably would start it and ever, but you know what I mean? Like, do you really care that much? No, we get the point. Yeah, yeah. Gabriel Gonzalez, same thing. Right, right, right. Well, we don't want to recycle rants, though.

That's true. Yeah, yeah. We want to keep things fresh, you know. Anyway, so same thing can be applied to Gabriel Gonzalez. Like, he wasn't going to help you in 2024. But obviously, one of your better prospects, I would consider us to be the low men on Gonzalez. But he's a fine prospect. Definitely not better than Colt Emerson, like Pipeline wants you to believe.

That's still ridiculous. I believe it's a joke. But yeah, you know, and then you trade Topa, who was essentially, your third guy in that bullpen that's the guy who hurts the most this year yeah that that hurts the most uh you know deskovani was uh slated to fill an underrated needed role for the mariners but both i would assume is now going to be that guy so at least they have an answer for that um but yeah man it we've already talked about the need for another high leverage of a lever in this bullpen under the impression, especially now that like Robert

Stevenson was off the board, guys like that have come off the board over the last couple weeks that they're just kind of kind of try and hope that Carlos Vargas or Pallanda Baroa or Jackson Coe are one of those guys is going to step up or Topo was going to be that guy

that he was going to take another step and be that guy, but now he's not here. So now as things currently stand even more pressure is on the likes of Baroa Vargas, etc. to be that guy because I don't think you know as much as I really like

Gabe Spire and Taylor Saucato they seem more just like mid-leverged guys which you need right you need but it doesn't seem like there's a lot of upside there in terms of being that third high leverage guy along with Brash and Munoz which you've been missing since you traded Paul C. Walt so

again they didn't spend any money today and if we're under the impression that their hard cap is 140 $45 million this year for the entire year, like Ryan DeBich has reported. They still have, in theory, about $19 million to spend.

And I don't think they need all of that to save for the deadline. So are they done? Are they done? Is reliever next? Are there any relievers out there still that you are interested in? Is there a reliever on the trade market maybe that we should be looking at? What are your thoughts? Sure.

So first of all, I would say this on the prospects. I had Gabriel Gonzalez 7th in the Mariners system. I've been putting together my top 30 because we're going to have to do a prospect week, probably a week earlier than we wanted to. So anyways, I had Gonzalez 7 and I had Darren Bowen 19. So I don't know if I was high man on Bowen or not, but I'm pretty sure I was low man on Gabriel Gonzalez. So Gabriel Gonzalez might be an everyday player more than likely.

he's a fourth outfielder who can't really play defense but might be able to have, you know, 55 hit tool. And it's going to come down to the power. Does he hit with enough power to ignore the defense? I don't know. Bowen, fastball veloves going up. He is a small dude relative to, you know, professional pitchers. And so the concern there is durability. But he has a really good breaking ball and an exploding fastball.

So that is a good kit. Don't get me wrong. Like I said, Desclofani is a guy who pretty much is replaced by both. So not really a much of a loss there. though Disclafani is probably a better pitcher than both, but is the $11 million better? I don't think so. And so, yeah, the Topa is kind of the big one.

That's the one that hurts the most for the 2024 Mariners roster. And I would say this is I think they've done a pretty good job of replacing the role that Topa filled, which is kind of, you know, come in in a clean inning, get three outs. Doesn't matter how you get them. You don't need the strikeout. Like Topa's the guy you go to in the seventh, you know, in a four-two game. Like I think that guy is Crable. I think they're pretty similar in that they just induce weak contact and they get a ton of ground balls.

Like it's hard to do damage against them. So I think Crable's the guy there. In terms of like who's out there that they could get to kind of bolster the bullpen even more. I still really like Phil Maeton. He's a guy who doesn't throw hard, but he gets a ton of weak contact too. And he's got some swing and miss skill as well. He spent. Did Brian Stanix sign yet?

Not yet. not as far as I know. Stanick's another one. Stanick is kind of the opposite of Mayton. He throws the ball very hard and he is trying to get strikeouts. Mayton spins the ball and he's looking for weak contact and he still gets strikeouts. Those two guys make a lot of sense. Jacob Junis is a guy that I've talked quite a bit about.

I like him both as a middle guy, but also he is a guy who has starter experience and you want to continue to build. You lost Esklafani. So even though you have both, you still. want another guy like both who can step in and start games if you need it because you don't have woo and miller in your minor league system to start this year as the roster sits right now. So I think Junis is a guy who started in the past but has also been a really good reliever last year for the Giants. I really like that idea.

If you want to go upside play here, I like Shintaro Fujunami, who throws the ball 102 miles an hour and has a nasty splitter who flashed pretty good in the Orioles bullpen at times last year. but there's some work to be done there. But again, the Mariners pitching lab, give them a 102 mile an hour fastball and a splitter like Fujimmi. I'm interested. So, yeah, there are a few guys like that,

and I'm sure we'll see the Mariners. They have an open 40-man spot now. So I think when you look around at teams, like the Cubs are going to have to make a roster move here to add Nairz to their 40-man at some point. And one of the candidates there to be DFAed is Keenan Thomas, Thompson. Keegan Thompson, I believe his name is.

Keegan, you can talk some. Really good cutter. Like a lot of good metrics on that cutter. And, and, you know, that's a pitch that we know

the Mariners like to try and get the best out of. So I think there's going to be guys like that. In terms of like high leverage arms, there's just not any out there anymore, right? Like once Stevenson went off the board, you're not getting that like dominant. Like is in the same class as Brash and Munoz.

There's only one or two of those guys left. And you just weren't going to spend that money on those guys. But is there still like Justin Topa like guys? Maybe even a little better than Topa, yeah, there's a few. Number one on my list would be Mayton at this point. So, but if you're just looking to replace Topa in-house, I think that guy is Crable. I really think Crable is kind of that, that same type of arm where it's more about soft contact than it is about getting strikeouts.

So there you go. Jorge Polanco, Seattle Mariner, Justin Topa, Gabriel Gonzalez, Darren, Darren, Gabriel Gonzalez, Darren, Anthony, Anthony, Eskofani, all Minnesota twins. and the Mariners position player group seems pretty much locked in at this point, I would say. Unless there's a trade. Unless there's a trade. Maybe it's a Dom-Can zone for a reliever, a Thai france for a reliever, something like that. And then- Mitch Hanaker for a reliever.

I was kind of hoping that today's deal, you know, because I had known that something was happening today. Did you? I thought you were just chasing cloud. I was just-chasing, yeah. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it was just cloud chasing. You know, I was just trying to get so much attention on, you know, the already the number one Marriest podcast on the internet. Yeah, I'd known about this since, like, 11 my time today. So, you know, over the course of the day, when you and I were talking on the phone about this and trying to figure out what the hell the mirrors were cooking up, you know, I had told you that I was kind of hoping this would be the offseason finishing move that there wouldn't be any more questions remaining.

And unfortunately, there's still questions remaining. So a lot less, a lot fewer questions. A lot fewer questions, a lot less pressing questions. The biggest question was answered today. That's not a great way to word that, but whatever. There are a lot more, there are a lot less impactful questions on this roster. Because now the questions are really about, you know, who pitches the seventh inning. yeah you know instead of like hey who's that's kind of

yeah yeah it's like who's hitting third in this lineup oh yeah real quick real quick where's horre polanco heading in the lineup i think third i think it'll be j p hulio uh polanco this could change righty lefty but uh polanco garber um probably cow i would assume i think that's your one through five uh which is decent, let's say.

I kind of want Cal ahead. Well, against Ritey's, I think I want Cal ahead of Garber. So you put teams at a position where it's like, all right, do you want to bring in a righty or do you want to bring in a lefty to flip Cal? But then you've got to face Garber afterwards. Yeah.

Or are you going to deal with lefty Cal? You can kind of do that with Polanco too because Polanco is better against lefties than he has Ritees. So, you can, you sandwich cow between those two guys, it's kind of a similar like pick your poison type of move there. So that's one of the beauties of this trade. It gives you more flexibility in how you do the lineup.

So yeah, I think Garber is going to hit third. There might be days where he hits fifth. Like, I don't know. I think they're going to play with it a little bit. But I think right now, service probably in his dream lineup has it. JP, Julio, Polanco, Garber, Cal or Cal Garber.

which is, again, decent because I think you're Thai Francis hitting six or seven. Luke Rayleigh against Ritey's. Luke Raleigh is probably hitting six against Rides. That's pretty good. And then you have Urias and Rojas battling out for playing time hitting ninth with Canzone or Hanager hitting seventh or eighth.

that's a pretty good lineup. It's not a world beating lineup, but that's pretty darn good, especially with your pitching stuff. It's pretty dope. I like the split up. It's fairly deep. The bench is deep.

Yep. For like the first time. That's been one of my main criticisms of the Jerry Depoto regime, is that the bench has never been. The bench has never been deep enough. As deep as it probably should be. I mean, now you're looking at like, like, how is Cade Marlow going to make this team?

Yeah. Like, how is Taylor Tremel going to make this team without injury? Like, how is Sam Haggary going to make this team? Ryan Bliss. How's Ryan Bliss going to make this team? Yeah. They're not. That's a good problem to have.

Yes, very good. We're not even 100% sure of Dylan Moore is going to make this team. Yeah. And that's not a problem that the mayor. And more importantly, that's not a problem that the mayor is. have really had. Ever had. So yeah, I wouldn't be shocked if there's one more of bat, but it's a little, it's a little dicey

if you had another bat. I think the focus now is on the bullpen, which is good. It's where you want to be because there's still a lot of depth in that bullpen market. Gee, if only the mirrors were good at building bullpins on the fly. Darn. This Carlos Vargas, one and a half when season is going to hit so good. I need it. Like I need air.

That's going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Marrars podcast as we broke down the Jorge Polanco trade. You might even say we broke the Jorge Polanco trade. I wouldn't go that far. I wouldn't go that far. We didn't have the details. We did know something was coming, but we did not have the-

To be fair, I pretty much accurately deduced it was Polanco at like 145. So I think we both did. but if you guys had the information we did you probably would have come to the same conclusion as always Colby was right naturally I may have been early but I am always always always always right so

for for for for Mr. Wright you're just going to be saying I am all I'm everybody's Mr. Wright sure for Mr. Right you adopted the darkness I was born in it I'm why Wayne Wenzalas be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. You follow me at Tidey Gonzalez

and Colby at C-P-E-E-E-E-E-E-1. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. Thank you again for making us your first list and have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you next time. Peace.