Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - BREAKING: MARINERS SIGN CAL RALEIGH TO SIX-YEAR EXTENSION!!!

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

Ty and Colby react to the Mariners reportedly signing Cal Raleigh to a six-year, $105 million extension.Giveaway terms and conditions!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!Wonderful PistachiosLooking for a snack that’s both delicious and nutritious? Get snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more.Supply HouseJoin the TradeMaster program today at SupplyHouse.com/TM and start ordering plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with just a few clicks. Plus, use promo code S-H-5 for 5% off your first order. That’s SupplyHouse.com!UpworkVisit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free to connect with top talent and grow your business today! Just IngredientsVisit JustIngredients.us/Bryce-Harper and use code LOCKEDONMLB for 20% off your order! And for more wellness tips, follow @just.ingredients on Instagram.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with MonarchMoney. Use code LOCKEDONMLB at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLBfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.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.

Big Dumpur is here to stay. 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 Tuesday, March 25th, 2025. This is Tiding Gazzalus and Colby Patnode for a very special episode of the Locked-on Marrars podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day.

This episode is brought to you by Fandul. Right now, new customers can get. get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. And as always, if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show, you can check out our Patreon. All you have to do to check that out is click the link in the description of this episode. So here I am getting ready to record our Flag Day episode, which we still might record and drop later tonight.

We'll let you guys know about that a little later on. But I get a call from Colby. And look, Colby only ever calls me if something is going to be. on with the mariner so that's it so to be fair you were my first call so and i appreciate that colby tells me to check twitter and then i see it yet another w for the mariner's in like a five day span what the hell is going on and this one is by far the biggest figuratively and literally cal raleigh big dumper has reportedly agreed to a six year one hundred $105 million extension with your Seattle Marriers per Jeff Passon of ESPN.

The best catcher in the game is locked down long term in Seattle. The Mariners actually did it, right? It's crazy to say. We've been waiting a long time for this, like wondering if, you know, it actually would happen. And yeah, the day has finally come. Cal Raleigh is a mariner long term. Colby, what's your reaction?

Exxon. That it's the most mariner thing I could possibly think of for them to have like the worst off season we could ever remember. Do absolutely nothing for six months. And then in the final week, right before opening day,

they just start reeling off win after win after win by making, by, you know, getting the streaming thing out before opening day, by, you know, doing the right thing baseball-wise and releasing Mitch Hanigar and not having to try and shoehorn him into the roster.

and then they top it off with the Cal Raleigh extension here, which by the way is now being reported that it can go up to $123 million with incentives. Cal is taking his physical as we speak. Maybe not as you're listening to this. Maybe he's done with it. But as we speak, he's physical and assuming he passes, which I'm sure he will,

this deal will probably get officially announced by the Mariners later tonight. They've already more or less. I mean, they tweeted the Trident. So by the way, I'm pretty sure he was scheduled to appear at Simply Seattle today. He still is. Apparently, according to Seattle. Oh, wow. Look at Cal.

He's not big league in the little guys. So, yeah, that was my first reaction. Well, first reaction was like, awesome. I love Cal Raleigh. Second reaction is like, of course they would do this. Like now watch them get another extension done before opening day and just be like, yeah, look at that. We won the off season. in the final three days.

Like, well, you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Yeah. But yeah.

So it's obviously it's very exciting that Cal is here. And he wanted to be here. He chose to be here. That's kind of the headline here. Yeah. Cal didn't need to sign this extension. He was in arbitration. He was making good money this year.

Like his future was set up very well. And he still chose to be here. The Mariners buy out three free agent years, which is a significant amount. obviously that means a lot more money had to be paid. Right. Is that confirmed that it's three free engineers? Because you know,

you would assume that the one of the six years is this year, but. Yes. So the way that it is being reported is that the contract starts this year. We don't know what the number is, but whatever they agree to an ARB, that, I mean, maybe that is the number of year one of the contract. But no, it doesn't start after this year. It starts this year. So you get him for the three years you would have had him in arbitration.

and you get in for three free agent years, which are going to be pretty expensive. And so I think when you look at this, again, the headline is Cal chooses to be a Seattle mariner for the prime of his career. And the way catchers health declines, possibly the rest of his career. So it's a very exciting, it's a very exciting day.

And it is surprising that they were able to get this done. And apparently they got it done in just a week. It only took them seven, eight days to knock this thing out, which shows me how. much the Mariners wanted Cal to be here, and it shows me how much Cal actually wanted to be here, which, you know, there's a lot of speculation that, like, nobody would want to sign an extension here. Why would they? Cal has been critical of ownership in the past.

You know, there was obviously a lot of reason to think that the Mariners wouldn't be able to get this one done. And they did, and they got it done before opening day, and they got it done very quickly. And I think it says a lot about how the Mariners feel about Cal Raleigh. And I think it says quite a bit about how Seattle or about how. how Cow Rale feels about Seattle and the organization that he would be willing to, again, spend the best years of his career, only wearing a Mariners uniform, pretty special. And it's also worth noting that as of right now, based on all the details we have, Cal also got a full no trade clause in this deal.

Cal wants to be here for six years. He's going to be here for six years. Absolutely. So like you mentioned, Ryan Divis tweeted out a little while ago that when he interviewed, due to Cal back on March 17th, so eight days ago, uh, the Mariners hadn't yet approached him about this extension. So what has changed over the last eight days?

Well, the Mariners announced that streaming service. Do we think that's connected? No. Okay. No. I don't think the Mariners. What about the giant Nintendo Switch 2 patch, Colby?

Did that pay for Cal Raleigh? Maybe part of the contract is that Cal has to be added into Smash Bros. or something like that. He'll be my new man, by the way. Just, just putting that out there. Watch out for Generation 10, uh, Pokemon. He'll probably be like, there'll probably be like a big dumper, uh, Pokemon thrown in there.

So maybe that would help certainly. Uh, but no, I don't think that in three or four days since they announced the streaming service that all of a sudden, they're like, look at all this extra money we have now. Oh my God. You don't think like now that they, now that they have like reached a point with it. They're like, all right, we, we can project the. we're going to have all this influx of cash now. We're going to agree with Jerry and Justin to start hammering out these extensions.

Perhaps. You know, it's possible they look ahead and they say, look, you know, we're projecting this now with the extra revenue from the Jersey patch and the, you know, the streaming service and maybe a new TV deal here in a couple years or whatever. Like we feel really comfortable about this. But it's also worth noting that Cal Raleigh was. under club control for three more years. Like you knew roughly what you were going to pay him for the next three years. And by the time you get to win the new contract, or well,

not the new contract, by the time you get into where you, the money wasn't known, like what you're going to have to pay Cal Raleigh, once you get to his free agent year in year four, you're expecting Luis Castillo to be off the books. Randy Rosarina is going to be off the books. Logan Gilbert might be off the books.

You know, like a bunch, you're going to have, there's not a lot of money. accounted for in the first year of unknown pay for Cal Raleigh. So, yeah, I think it's probably more about like, hey, you know, we know roughly what he's going to make over the next three years. And by the time we get to year four, five and six, the free agent buyout years that we gave

him, the deck is probably going to be wiped pretty clean. And we can kind of build around Cal and Julio and see what else we have at that point. So maybe a little bit. You certainly hope that that's the case, that the Mariners now feel really comfortable. the way they are financially, that Chris Larson feels, you know, really excited about where they are financially. Doubtful that John Stanton feels very excited about where they are financially or where they're going to be. Yeah. Probably more believable than Larson, but not very believable.

Show me in free agency. Yeah, exactly. Like, we've seen them be willing to spend on their own guys, which they've openly said is a big part of their philosophy. Right. Like they they they they they're willing like Jerry even said this during that KJR interview a couple of weeks ago like we're willing to spend on our guys, but we want we want them here. We want to see them first, right? Yeah, which I mean is is is not really how it works like you have to get the player to come here in the first place before you decide to extend them. Yeah.

So but anyways like yeah, I mean they had they they've said they wanted to keep their guys here and they wanted to keep the core together and all that. but they hadn't done it since Julio. Julio was the last big core member that they extended. And obviously that, you know, that was a great deal. And it was very exciting as well. But they hadn't gotten Logan done. They hadn't gotten George done, you know, and they hadn't. They've added to their core sense, you know, shortly before the Julio thing,

they got Luis Castillo done. But I don't know if Castillo was ever seen as a long-term core. Was Cassio before Julio? I think he was. I think about a week. I mean, they happened in about a week. week span. I don't remember which one was first. But yeah, and then obviously JP

kind of a core, kind of like a bridge between, you know, the group that broke it and the group that they hope was a little. But he was a guy that embodies what it is to be a mariner, yada, yada, yada, right? Like he was kind of the first guy where like we really believe in this guy. He's

exactly like what we want our players to be. We're going to reward him. And that was what, opening day 2022, I believe. Was it on opening day? I believe so. Yeah. or well it was the it was the day the game got rained out in in Minnesota. Oh, okay. Yeah.

That was opening day. Well, it was supposed to be opening day. Yeah. Yeah. So, but yeah, again,

they haven't really done it in like a big way with a young player who has, you know, an incredible market in front of him. He didn't, he wasn't, he was leaving money on the table by picking Seattle, probably. Yeah.

Yeah. So, yeah, like this is like a franchise cornerstone now. He has probably the second biggest hit. in franchise history. You know, he's a platinum glove glove,

gold glove winner. He is beloved by his pitching staff. And if you're going to be a run prevention team, having an elite catcher who also, you know, is a great pitch framer and a great game caller and all that and puts in the work that low or that Cal does, it's important to reward guys like that.

And I think it sends a message to the, to the players in your clubhouse that if you put in the work, we will reward you. We don't have a problem with doing that. You just got to put in the work. And, and the results will come and all that. And it also starts to turn around or hopefully starts to kind of turn around the narrative around the league that the Mariners don't care.

They're not even trying to win. They're not willing to pay anybody. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Hopefully it starts. Now, again, like you said earlier, really, you have to do that in for agency. You have to spend big bucks elsewhere on guys who aren't on your team. You have to add to what you don't have for that to really start to turn around a little bit. But hopefully this is a start, right?

This is a sizable investment that carries some risk that will probably get. get to a little bit later in the show. It's not a no-brainer baseball move, but it is kind of just a no-brainer person move. You know, like it's set. What Cal Raleigh means to this organization, what he means to the fan base, what he means to the city, you kind of have to do this. Yeah. And the odds are is that this contract, if it does get bad, it won't get bad until the final year or two. And at that point, again, you have brand new looking team around them. It's the payroll is going to, you know, go up even if it's just marginally like it's just going to have

to. So yeah, I think getting Cal Raleigh locked in for the next three or four years, you live with the back, the back half if it's bad, if it's bad, if yes, move off the catcher, blah, blah, blah. But yeah, it's, I think it was more important to get this

done than it was to squabble over baseball theory because you had to start turning around the narrative. You had to start correcting the ship and get it back on course. and make all those sailors happy and hopefully avoid a mutiny. So yeah, this is a big deal. And it's exciting that Cal chose to be here.

And because he did, he will be one of the most popular Mariners of all time because that's really all it takes. If he wasn't already. Yeah, he probably already was. I mean, like, Cal Raleigh is a four-win season away, which he'll probably get to from being top 10 in Mariners history for position players in war. So by the end of this, he'll probably be top five. And obviously he's probably a Mariner Hall of Famer before this, but this will cement it. And it's just exciting. The Mariners have a very good player that chose to be here and they were willing to pay him.

At the end of the day, that is the headline. That is what is exciting here. And we can talk about the baseball theory and, you know, how it looks at the end of all that later. But today, right now, it's about the player choosing to wear a Mariners uniform for the prime of his career. Yeah. Pretty excited stuff. So coming up, could Logan Gilbert be next? Plus, we probably have a lot of new listeners tuning in or maybe you're tuning in for the first time in a while because of this exciting news. Well, you came back or you've come around for

the first time at a very good time because we're running our biggest giveaway yet. And Colby's going to tell you a little bit about that in just a moment. But first, a reminder, This episode of the Lockdown Airs podcast is brought to you by Just Ingredients and Monarch Money. When it comes to fueling your body, quality matters. That's why Just Ingredients is changing the game with clean, high-quality products designed to support better health and peak performance. Just Ingredients offers an NSF certified line of protein powder, electrolytes, pre-workout, and creatine, all rigorously tested to ensure they're free from substances banned by major athletic organizations. Just Ingredients has also partnered with two-time MVP Bryce Harper,

who trusts their NSF certified sports line to fuel his training and recovery. I love that Just Ingredients prioritizes wholesome, nourishing ingredients without the artificial junk. Visit JustIngridients.us and use the promo code Locked On MLB. That's LOC, KED, On, MLB for 20% off. And for more wellness tips, follow at just.orghumedients on Instagram. Ever check your bank account and wonder, where did all my money go? Between dining out, online shopping, and entertainment, it's easy to lose track. That's where Monarch Money comes in, your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances.

Monarch Money isn't just a budgeting app. It's a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. So you stop just managing your money and start building wealth. Instead of juggling multiple apps, you can use Monarch to check your finance. Tracks spending and even plan long-term goals. Managing money with your partner is smoother than ever. You can track shared and personal accounts, set goals, and stay on the same page without the stress.

Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use promo code locked on MLB at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's Monarchmoney.com promo code LOC, KED, ON, MLB for half off your first year. And you're listening to the Lockdown, Maryland. podcast. We are talking all about Cal Raleigh's extension and we're going to get back into that in just a second. But before we do, Colby's going to tell you about this giveaway we got going on right now. Yeah, I'm going to give you kind of a quick version of this because we want to talk about Cal Rale more. But if you are new here or if you just, you know, maybe you're checking in like Ty said or what, for whatever reason, we are doing a giveaway and to enter this giveaway.

It is incredibly simple. All you need to do is subscribe to the channel. If you're watching us on YouTube, it's right below our faces. It's the button right down there. Subscribe and leave a comment on any of the videos between last Thursday and the end of the Mariners homestand. You could leave multiple comments. You can leave one comment per video, whatever. You can have multiple entries here, right? It's all you have to do to enter.

Subscribe. Leave a comment on any of these videos. So what we are doing is that our price pool will or our price pack will grow as we add more subs. So far already in the prize pack guaranteed is a Victor Robles autograph card, this J.P. Crawford autograph card, this A. E. E. E. Hino-Swarz autograph card, as well as $75 in gift certificates to Simply Seattle. That's what you win right now. We were pulling the, we were pulling the winning entry right now. We are hurtling towards our next milestone mark, which will be another $25, $1, Simply Seattle gift card at 12,900.

Or sorry, 12,900. We're giving away this Felman-Selston autograph card will get added to the prize pack. They're sorry, Felman added to the prize pack at 12.95. You get another $25 gift certificate to Simply Seattle. At $13,000 will add this Lazaro Montes autograph card. So we'll reach 13,000 by the end of the Mariners, by the end of the Mariners' homestand. you get a JP, somebody will get a JP Crawford,

a Victor Robles, A Eugenio Suarez, Las Montes, Feldman Celestin, autograph card, as well as $125 in simply Seattle gift cards. It's going to go to one person.

One person will win. And all you have to do, all you have to do, subscribe, leave a comment. We don't care what the common is. Just leave one. And then we will randomly select a video

and we will randomly select a comment from that video. and that person will win whatever the prize pack ends up being. But it's up to you guys subscribing to increase the prize pack. And you guys really added a lot of subscribers over the last few days. So it's exciting to see. And I think we're really appreciative of that too. Thank you so much.

It really helps us out. And you guys also have the opportunity to win some really cool stuff. It's our biggest prize ever. And it's fitting that, you know, we're talking about a big prize when the marriage just landed one themselves. That's right. Boom. Boom.

Terms and conditions down below. That's right. And, you know, be sure to tell your friends, family, all, all, anyone who you know who's a Marius fan to come subscribe and live a comment as well. Maybe you guys could split the prize pack if you want. It's up to you. So we have details. Yes. So do you want to get into that? Sure. So as we know, Cal Rale is signing a six-year extension. that could be seven. So there's an additional year here tacked on. This according to Jeff Passon, let's go ahead and say these are accurate. Yeah, that's a pretty reliable guy, I would say.

I'm going to assume these are coming directly from Jerry DePoto or Justin Hollander. Yeah. State that. Well, I mean, maybe Cal's agent, but like, yeah. Or Cal's agent. Somebody who knows. Yeah, yeah.

10 million dollar signing bonus. So he'll get that right away. That's basically, that's probably the estimated worth of the jersey, patch. So that's what they spent it on this year. One million dollar base salary this year, 11 million next year, 12 million in 2027, and then three consecutive years at 23 million. And then in 2031, which is apparently a real year, there's a $20 million vesting player option with a $2 million buyout. Interesting. We don't know what the, like how that vests.

Yeah, we don't know what it's probably about played appearances and games played and all that. But yeah, so Cal Raleigh over the next three years will make a total of $23 million, not counting the signing bonus, which is below market cost. And $23 million a year, buying out free agent years. Pretty good. It's right in line with what J.T. Raumuto got. And keep in mind, Real Muto signed his deal three, four years ago at this point. So it's not even really adjusted for inflation either. So when you look at the breakdown, this is a pretty good deal for the Mariners and that was an amazing deal yeah and i mean even 23 million on the back end like if cow does decline rapidly you can house that for for you know a year it's not that big of a deal so

it was always a really good deal but obviously the mariners you know get some real flexibility uh for the next three years over what cal was probably going to make and then they get uh their you know they're one of their franchise players uh tied up uh for the next three years at what i would call market price. Yeah, that structure is sensational for a player that just hit 34 homers, 100 ribs, and won a platinum glove behind the plate. Yeah. Like, we're talking about a dude that's hit the most home runs of any catcher in their

first four years on the majors. And you got that guy just for market value. Pretty good. Also, no deferrals. So take that, Dodgers. There you go. There you go. You guys don't want deferrals.

don't sign with the Dodgers, sign with the Mariners. So the Mariners have signed Logan Gilbert's best friend to an extension. How about Logan Gilbert himself next? That would be pretty cool. He is pitching in two days. I mean, it would be pretty cool if he, you know, came out of the dugout and they had like on a little pedestal, like a contract just laying there and he like signs it and then he waves to the crowd, pumps his fist, takes the mound, and then strikes out Lawrence Butler.

Logan Gilbert seemed like the type of guy who would be interested in all that pageantry. No, but let me dream. I mean, look, obviously Logan's kind of the next guy up. Although, to be fair, without Logan would be the first one to get done if they did extend any of these guys. Yeah, I think Logan's the next guy up. George is probably somebody that moves up or wrong, but I don't think the Mariners are going to assign George to an extension. I don't think George wants to be here beyond his club control anyways, but even then I really don't think they're going to sign him.

Yeah, Logan's the obvious guy. Like, you got Cal done. You got Julio done. I'd love to get Bryce and Brian done. They'd probably be incredibly valuable like contracts right now. You'd get insanely cheap. And maybe they're working on that. But I think Logan is the next guy up.

And again, Cal, like Cal signing an extension here, it doesn't make it likely that Logan is going to sign an extension. here. It helps though. I mean, it certainly doesn't hurt at the very least. Let's not pretend it doesn't help. Like it probably helps.

It probably helps. Yeah. You never know. Like Logan might just have already decided I don't want to be here. I know he said I want to be here and I'm not just saying that, which is how you know he's not just saying that. So, but it does signing, does knowing that your best friend is going to be on the on the team with you for the next six years. Does that help? Yeah, probably.

It does knowing that, you know, your, your platinum glove. winning catcher, your battery mate is going to be here for the next six years. Is that going to be appealing to Logan Gilbert? Yeah, I would imagine that would be pretty appealing to Logan Gilbert. So, yeah, I think, you know, Cal is a type of guy who can kind of alter conversations about your franchise, particularly with pitching relievers and starters, obviously. And Logan and Cal are kind of a dynamic duo at this stage. It's a little bit like Dan Wilson and like Jamie Moyer, only both of these guys are

better than their counterparts. But yeah, it's a very similar kind of relationship where they trust each other. They want to be around each other. And I think that Cal signing here probably makes it more likely. Logan signs an extension. It doesn't make it a guarantee, obviously. But yeah,

I can't see how this does anything but help the possibility of those two getting those two sides coming together and finding a reasonable price. And again, it only took them a week with Cal. And they could be working. right alongside talking to Cal and talking to Logan at the same time. So it is possible. If it doesn't happen in the next few days,

I don't think that means it's not going to happen this year or anything like that. I just think that they got one done. And now we talk about this. They probably need to find a way to extend two of these three guys, Kirby, Cow and Logan. They got one done. Now it's time to go get the other one done. And I would guess that that is going to be Logan.

Although I wouldn't be mad at a, at a Bryce Miller extension. I'm just saying that'd be pretty cool too. Why not both? So we need to have a real baseball discussion about this extension before we get out of here. You've kind of alluded to it. Obviously, again, this was a very necessary extension for the Marrars just because, you know, it's Cal, right? Need I say more?

But let's just talk about the baseball side of things. Obviously, he's a catcher with a lot of wear and tear on his body already. So we'll get into that in just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of the Lockdown Marys podcast is brought to you by Fandul. All right, folks, it's that time of year again. March Madness is finally here. And Fanduel is giving you the chance to get in on the action like never before. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins.

That's $200 to use on everything from buzzer beaters to Cinderella stories and even who's cutting down the nets. With tournament games happening almost every day, there's always something exciting to bet on. The Fandual app is simple to use. And when I win, I get paid instantly. No waiting around. So visit Fandual.com and get in on the college hoops action all tournament long. That's Fandualt.com. And you're listening to the Locktime Marys podcast.

So Colby, you've kind of alluded to this over the course of this episode that Cal, obviously 28 years old, has a lot of wear and tear on his body already, playing the most demanding position in all of baseball. He played 153 games last year and caught 135 of them. We know all the stuff that he's battled through, like the broken thumb and all that, right? And he's an absolute warrior for that, but there's also the reality of, you know,

those injuries kind of piling up and all that time behind the plate piling up. So let's look at this contract now from a long term. position and from a pure just baseball standpoint. We obviously have acknowledged the emotional side of it and the fact that this was a very necessary thing for the merits to do because again, it's it's Cal. But from a baseball standpoint, how do you feel about this extension? Yeah, there's some risk.

Obviously, you know, you talk about a catcher who pretty much catches every day. And a good chunk of his value is because of what he does behind the plate. He's a good offensive player. He's not an elite offensive player. He's an elite offensive catcher. But if you take away the defensive value of Cal Raleigh, he's probably a fringe everyday first baseman type. Like, I mean, yeah, I mean, it'll probably hit 25, 30 home runs,

but he's going to strike out some. So, yeah, there is some risk here, especially as you get into the back half of the deal. The deal runs through his age 33 season, possibly 34 with the opt out. So again, is it likely that Cal is going to be an everyday catcher and be able to sustain this for the next six years? No, which is why it's important, I think, for the Mariners to actually start getting him days off early in the contract so that you can have him later in the contract. Now, is it possible also that Cal when he is asked to catch less in the back app as of his contract, the back can actually improve because he doesn't have the wear and tear of, you know, and the responsibility of catching every day? Sure. And, you know, catchers can hit late into their career. I mean, Salvador Perez is, I don't know, 45. And he's still a pretty good hitter. J.T. Romuto is still a good player at this stage of his career. Joe Maurer. They moved in first base, but Maurer was able to continue to hit after he moved out for catcher, Buster Posey the same. So it's not like catchers can't hit. But it is worth noting that again. Cow is already been.

and dinged up a ton. Obviously, the older he gets just naturally, his body is going to start to break down anyways. So, yeah, it isn't like this is a risk-free move by any stretch. And you can ask, is it ever worth extending a catcher who's already in his late 20s because you know that you're probably at some point going to, he's probably just going to, you know, the knees are going to be shot and at that point he's all bat. The nice thing about Cal again is that the bat, you know, unless, you know, that regresses as well, because of the wear and tear.

The bat probably still plays at first base or TH just fine. So yeah, it's a little bit less risk because Cal can hit, but he is not an elite hitter. But at the same time, you're not paying him elite money, $23 million a year. No, yeah.

That's not, that's a two-win player. That's about what are two-win players. And there's always the possibility that maybe he kind of reinvents himself offensively. If he has to move off a catcher, maybe he starts to hit for a bit more average, gets on base a little bit more.

who knows, right? I mean, he might just do that anyways, you know? Yeah. He's already talked about that. So. Right. So you have to trust the player a little bit that if he is, like if his body just physically breaks down from catching, can he provide value in other areas? Yeah.

I think Cal is a safe bet to do that with the bat because I think he's going to have the power for at least the next six or seven years. So, yeah, it is risky. with any catcher, long-term deal with the catcher, it's extremely risky. Those players are extremely valuable. And there are outliers to the catcher rule. And based on what we've seen over the first three full seasons of Cal's career,

what reason do we have to believe that he can't be one of those outliers? So there's definitely a risk associated here, but it is fairly minimal, especially if the franchise is just willing to do what they should do. And just, you know, again, you pay for production up front, and you just eat the back end of the deal. And you hope whatever you get out of him is valuable enough. And again, we're talking about $23 million a year at the height.

That's a two-in player. That's all he has to be. Can he be that as a first baseman who just hits bombs? Yeah, he could get there. So, yeah, it's risky. There's no doubt about it. It's not a, you know, a home run of a deal just from a baseball sense. There's risk here.

But it's pretty reasonably baked into the contract. And I don't think Seattle is asking Cal to do anything he can't do as a 32, 33 year old. And again, also right now he's 28. You know, like, how do we know how he's going to decline? We don't. So it's one of those things where it's like you have to, it's a, it's a risk reward analysis here. Like, is the reward worth the risk? And the answer is yes, it is especially for Seattle, especially what Cal means to the clubhouse,

to the lineup, to the fans, into the franchise. So, yeah, sometimes, you know, you give out big money and you know that at some point, this is probably not going to age well. That's how it is with every contract in baseball. Sure. And you're okay with that because the hope is that you do so much winning and he has so much production that he pays for the deal by the time he gets to the back end, like the Pujols contract, for example.

So, yeah, it's a risk. Obviously, there's a good chance that the last couple years aren't amazing. and you're kind of like, I wish we had that money elsewhere. But you also lock down a player that means a lot to, like I said, everybody and do that at a price that is market value. And if it does get to that point,

hopefully we can collectively maintain the perspective of how necessary this was at the time that it happened. Right. It's like the Kyle Seeger contract. Like at the end, was it great? No. Do you wish the mayors hadn't given Seeger that contract?

No. same with Felix Hernandez, right? At the end, was it bad? Yeah, it was bad at the end. And that money that you were paying him hurt you. Do you for one second regret giving him that money and signing me to that extension? No, you don't.

And Cal Raleigh's on that level with those two guys. So it'll pay for itself and then some at the beginning of the contract. All right, that's going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Locktime Marrars podcast for Kobe Patnode. I'm Tadeng Azales. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Marrers. You can follow me at Tiding Azalus and Colby at C-Pat-11. that's CPAT 1-1.

We're also on Blue Sky. You can follow me at TDG, Colby at MLB Colby, and the show at Locked-on Mariners. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day, and we'll see you next time. Peace.