Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - BREAKING: SEATTLE MARINERS SIGN LEFTY-MASHER ROB REFSNYDER

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

Ty and Colby react to the Seattle Mariners signing Rob Refsnyder to a one-year, $6.25 million contract.Click to learn more about the Everydayer Club!Check out our Patreon!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11Follow the show on Bluesky: @lockedonmariners | @tdg | @mlbcolbySupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The last few weeks, you've heard us say the mariner should get a real threat off the bench against left-handed pitching. Well, today, they got just that and Rob Reff Snyder. We'll talk about him coming up here on this emergency episode of Locked-on Mariners. 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, and is once again Monday, December 22nd, 2025. You're listening to the Locktime Marries podcast, part of the Locktime Podcast Network,

now the number one sports podcast network. My name is signing Azales, and I'm joined, as always, by my co-coast, Colby Patnode. We're two lifelong Marys fans who've been covering the team for over half a decade. And today, we're talking about a move that just came out of nowhere. They didn't even allow us to have Mailbag Monday completely air. It's premiere before they announced this. but the mayors have announced they have signed veteran outfielders slash first baseman. That's how they're listing to Rob Ref Snyder to a one-year $6.25 million contract to be their primary option against left-handed pitching off the bench,

which is a role we were hoping they'd invest in this winter. So that's pretty cool. We'll break down Ref Snyder's fit and what it means in just a moment. But before we do, I want to shout out our title sponsor today. FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com. place your NFL live bets all season long. You know, we literally talked about refs setter along with Miguel and Duard

to fill pretty much this role of being the primary option off the bench against the lefties for the mirrors. This is something we've talked about dating back to the postseason, Colby, when we're watching Mitch Garver be the primary guy off the bench against lefties, which is, I mean, he had some moments. He had some moments. You know, he had the sack fly. flies in Mariners history.

Yeah, yeah, he had the sack fly against Scoobel, the ALDS. So, you know, we'll always have that. Salute to Mitch Carver for that. Against the Blue Jays. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But, you know, we felt like the Marys could do better in that role. And it looks like they agree because they've signed Rob Reffsner to a pretty significant deal here. You know, $6.25 million, especially for the Mariners on a, on a,

one-year deal that's that's not nothing uh for you know a part-time player um ref sider 34 years old got his career going with the new york yankees of course was there for a couple of years then bounced around to toronto then Tampa bay texas minnesota he was bad at all those stops and then finally found at home in boston where he primarily became a weak side platoon hitter for them and in a 5001 plate appearances against left-hand actors from 2022 to 2025, he was one of the best hitters against lefties and all of baseball slash 312, 407, 516. That's a 155 WRC plus. So the mayors have a legit bench bat.

We have been asking them to beef up their bench a bit. and they've done just that here with Ruff Snyder. And I know, you know, the question on some people's minds right now is like, well, how much money does this leave them with? And does this now preclude them from doing anything like, you know, signing Gino Suarez or Cosmo Okamoto or trading for Brennan Donovan? And it doesn't seem like that is the case that this is just kind of like an extra little thing that they wanted to do. Adam Jude of the Seattle Times saying that they're still looking to add at least one more impact bat this off season

they don't view Ref Snyder as that it's just again they agreed with us that they needed to get better in terms of adding a better right-handed option off of the bench to hit lefties and Ref Snyder is their answer here again we talked about Ref Snyder we talked about Miguel and Duhar for this role

They choose Raff Snyder. So let's talk about how he fits here, Colby. How does he work with the current construction of this mayor's roster? I mean, pretty well, the Mariners, like you talked about, they desperately needed this right-handed bench bat to make, you know, not only these days where you're going up against these left-handed starters a little more challenging, but to make late-game decision-making a little bit more challenging for opposing managers.

You know, it used to be like, oh, we'll just bring in the lefty. And if they, you know, counter with Garver, L.O.L. Who cares? Now that that is kind of a, do you want can zone against the righty or do you want to face Rough Snyder against this lefty that you're going to bring in? Like, that's a legit question now. And so he fits pretty seamlessly. Again, the Mariners announced him as an outfielder slash first baseman. He hasn't played first base in quite a while. He hasn't played any infield in quite a while. It's been left or right field pretty much exclusively for the last three or four years now. So there'll be a learning curve there with first base and all of that. But he should be fine defensively in the outfield. He's certainly no worse than Randy a Rosarena out there. And you're paying him to hit lefties, which he did last year. I mean, he had, what, nearly a 400 on base in a 565 slug against lefties last year. And that's what you're asking him to do.

And he fits really well off the bench in that regard. He fits really well with either Rayleigh or Canzone, well, both really, but like whichever one is playing that day. He's a really nice compliment to that guy. And yeah, you know, it's, we talked about this. The Mariners have had a need against left-handed pitching. And last year, obviously, Dylan Moore was just unplayable for most of the year. And that had kind of been one thing that he did pretty well was hit lefties.

Obviously, Garber was okay against lefties, but he wasn't like a big time scary threat or anything like that. And Solano just never really figured out. He was better against Rides last year. They tried to have these answers against left-handed pitching last year. They just weren't able to do it. They just never found the guy who can do it. And Ruff Snyder, very likely going to be that guy. It's not a for sure thing.

He's 34 years old. Guys sometimes come to Team Mobile Park and struggle. We all know this is the case. But it's the type of shot you take because if you're going to bank on somebody to fill a role for you, it's better to bank on somebody who's done it for multiple years. And this is a relatively cheap contract in terms of, you know, the role being played. It's like market value.

They didn't overpay for Rob Reff-Snyder. This is about what you pay for a guy with this track record. So again, at the end of the day, there's really nothing to complain about. This doesn't take them out of the market for any other bats. Adam Jude has already said as much. It is a wall that they really needed to have filled and it wasn't likely going to be filled internally. They just don't have this guy in their farm system right now. And yeah, it's also, by the way,

apparently ref Snyder is a very good clubhouse guy like he's a big year which is hard to do when you're a part-time player but so ref Snyder able to fill that role in boston really says a lot about uh you know who he is as a person and as a teammate so once again the mariners bringing another good guy uh which seems to be important to them so yeah it's really there's really nothing to complain about here this is a good move like you want to like if you really want to get like if you really want to get you know, nitpicky, you could say like, oh, well, I would have preferred Andahar because he could play third base, which like, fine. Yeah. No, that's fine. Andy Abanias could play second base. I would have preferred him. Fine. Like, sure. But for what he, what you needed, what you were looking for, a guy who mash his left-handed pitching and is used to playing this part-time role who, you know, doesn't expect to play every day that you can acquire. Ref Snyder is probably the best at that specific role again, either him or Andehar.

So, you know, we can argue whether they should have picked Andahar or Ruff Snyder, but the important part is that they got one of them, and they did so in a way that does not preclude them from going out and getting more bats, whether it be Donovan or more of a more full-time DH type or possibly both. That is still also stable. So, yeah, and, you know, one thing to keep in mind here is, you know, did them acquiring for rare in kisner for less than two million dollars total instead of the seven eight million we thought maybe they were going to pay for a reliever or the four to five million they were

going to pay for a backup catcher does that allow them to go out and spend on this luxury item perhaps it does so this is what i was talking about you know over the last couple of weeks like and and and adam jude and ryan davish alluded to this during the winter meetings that like if they failed to bring back horace polonko like could they go out and get a bench piece like Willie Castro or Luis Renhifo and then you know go trade for the impact bat that they're looking for well it kind of seems like Rob Rough Sider wound up being the answer there instead of a Castro or Renhifo or an Andrew Har or what have you so um yeah you know and in Rough Siner this year put up high hard hit rates high barrel rates uh his

bat speed actually his bat speed actually increased about a tick uh yeah he doesn't chase he walks you know whiffs a fair amount but whatever you know and this year he was more pull heavy but typically in the past he's used all sides of the field you know

it's going to be more doubles than homers from from rough center but that's totally fine and that should play very well at T-Mobile Park you know the concern here obviously is he'll be 35 years old come opening day I think his birthday

is actually on opening day this year. It's opening day, March 26, I think it is. Yeah. So, yeah, so his birthday is on opening day. So he'll be 35 on opening day. You know, will the cliff come for him? You know, this, this deal is very much Donovan Solano, A.J. Pollock coded.

Sure. But in general, like the process of this is very sound. And I'm glad that they did this. This is something that they absolutely could have just let fall by the wayside. this is something that they could have chosen not to do and you know we would have been like that's annoying but we get it because they're working with a limited budget and they obviously have more important things that they need to address but again like you said because they checked off two major items off their to do list you know with getting their backup catcher and getting

at least one of the bullpen arms that they want for less than two million dollars that likely allowed them to be able to do something like this. So yeah, so this is really cool. I'm pumped about this. You know, I think to the average fan, they're just like,

you know, whatever. And I'm not saying like, you should be doing back flips over this. But I think this is really cool. I think this is a really cool gesture from the mirrors. So we'll talk about what this means, particularly for Victor Robles and Luke Rayleigh.

And just a moment. But first a reminder, this episode of the Locktime Marries podcast is brought to you by Fandul and Game Time. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. That's what makes live betting with Fanduel so exciting. You're not just watching the game.

You're reacting to it in real time. With Fanduel, you can place bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. Live betting is best when the game starts to shift. A receiver gets hot. A defense tightens up. Or the momentum flips after a turnover. Fanduel lets you jump into the moment as live spreads and money lines adjust instantly and player props update as guys heat up.

You can bet next touchdown scores, drive results, totals, and more. It keeps you locked into every snap, every drive, every possibility. So if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanduel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. Fan duel, the game moves fast and so can you. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. And with 48 teams for the first time ever, it's going to be massive. But let's be honest, getting tickets is usually the hardest part. That's why the GameTime app is clutch.

Finally giving fans a real advantage when it comes to snagging seats. When game time, you can track price drops in real time, get alerts when great seats open, and buy tickets the moment they hit the app. It puts the power back in your hands and makes going to the World Cup, Cup realistic instead of impossible. Pull up the app and the layout makes it so simple to scroll through matchups and compare seat views. Pick a game, tap a section, and have your tickets locked in within minutes.

No confusion, no hunting for fine print. Prices include fees up front, which I love because there are no last second surprises at checkout. So take the guesswork out of buying World Cup tickets and every match, concert or event with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the promo code locked on MLB. That's LOC, KED, O NMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, download the app, make an account, and use the promo code locked on MLB. That's LOC, KED, O NMLB for $20 off.

Swipe, tap, ticket, go, game time. And you're listening to the Locktime Marriors podcast, part of the Locktime Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you so much for making us your first listen for all things, Mariners and also thank you for making locked on the number one sports podcast network you already live your team every day now take it up a level and go ad free join the everyday club today and get locked on mariners when no interruptions members only discord access and more all for just five dollars a month or fifty dollars a year go to lockdown mariners dot supercast dot com or check the link in the show notes to learn more school what is the arrival of rob refsnyder mean potentially

for guys like Luke Rayleigh and Victor Robles doesn't mean anything at all I don't know it's it's kind of a weird fit there uh in terms of like what are they going to do with these four guys because right now before this signing like the way it was kind of laid out was that rayley and robles were probably going to be the right fielder and canzone was probably going to be the dh so I guess in theory you could be like oh well you know uh ref schneider is just the platoon dh but again when you talk about like Like, they probably won a platoon at second base. They probably want a platoon in right field.

Now they're going to run a platoon at DH. We talked about this last year. Like, you can't have four platoons in your starting lineup. It just doesn't work that way. Now, what's interesting here is that, like, Ruff Snyder crush his left-handed pitching. Victor Robles doesn't really, I mean, aside from the two-month stretch where he crushed everybody, he really doesn't.

So it's kind of a weird fit. We already talked about how it's really tough fit with Canzone and Rayleigh on the roster at the same time. Well, now you kind of have, at least in the roles that they would be fulfilling, Robles and Ref Snyder are supposed to fulfill similar roles. So there's a little bit of a logjam there. I think it's possible. Rayleigh or Rayleigh or Robles could be traded. I think we talked a lot about Rayleigh for a reliever makes a lot of sense.

Canzone for a reliever. makes a lot of sense. I would not like to trade that low on Rayleigh. I think his season last year is pretty much perfectly, you know, it was injuries. Like very clearly, that was an injured Luke Rayleigh who just never got healthy and never could find his footing. So I think that's easier to explain away. And like I've said, countless times on the show, if the Mariners are going to trade

one of those guys, I would prefer, greatly prefer, they trade Canzone. I just don't know if there's going to be much value there. So you have these four outfielders, really you have three. Two of them can't hit left-handed pitching. One of them can't really hit right-handed pitching. And Robles, we're not really sure if he can hit anybody or anything. But Robles probably is a pure fourth outfielder, backup center fielder. He's probably the guy at least likely to be traded.

So I think, you know, this probably, unfortunately, if it's going to impact any of these guys, it's probably going to impact Luke Rayleigh in terms of hitting me. I just have a hard time imagining the Mariners trading Canzone who has two options left, which is the other option. They could just send Canzone down to AAA to start the year. But I think after what they saw last year, they'd really like to give Canzone run and see if he can kind of be that cheap D.H. And also he's just got more club control than Rayleigh.

So I really like Luke. I think he is the better player between him and Canzone. I don't think it's particularly close, honestly, because I don't buy into the two. Just like I don't buy into Robles' 2024, I don't really buy into CanZones' 2025. I mean, it happened. I'm not taking that away from him, but is it repeatable? I have serious doubts. So I'm not really sure.

I do feel, though, like, because again, they could always kick the can down the road, put Canzone down in AAA and just worry about it later. chances are one of these guys is going to get hurt. They're going to need a or Randy's going to get hurt or something. But I think if they do end up moving on from one of these guys, which is totally possible, I think it'll probably end up being Rayleigh and that's a little bit of

a bummer for me. My guess right now is that he, like if the roster like if this was the roster that they fielded tomorrow ref center is platoon in Wakanzoon at DH. Yeah. And then Rayleigh

in Robles or platooning in right field. Right. I think that's probably accurate. Again, and that could still be the case, by the way, even after they add their next impact bat, because the, you know, if let's say it's Brendan Donovan, right? They get Donovan, Donovan. Donovan winds up, you know, playing some third or second or whatever.

That ends up pushing, you know, Bill Williamson or Cole Young into more of a bench roll, quote unquote, even though those yeah yeah and that would either push revos or williamson or young to triple a right and everyone could coexist sure i mean let's just for simplicity's sake let's say they do get donovan right uh and donovan ends up being the third baseman for at least opening day right so col young can still play second on opening day donovan can play third uh they are playing Cleveland. So it'll be a righty on the mound.

So your bench would be Ruff Snyder, Kisner, Robles. And then the last bench spot would be Rivas, probably, as things stand right now, is the utility infielder. It's not bad.

Pretty good. You have some guys who can do some different. You got some runners. You got some pop. And you have the backup catcher, which you just have to have. So, yeah, I think that's okay. they can coexist, but again, how many platoons do the Mariners want to run out there? I don't think they want to be the Detroit Tigers, but, yeah, I mean, we'll see it. And obviously, Donovan works so well because you can play second or third.

So technically, you know, if he's the second basement and you want Ben Williamson or Emerson, fine, the bench is still the same. Or maybe Cole Young is the bench piece instead of Revas, but they probably want Young to play every day. So, again, you can make it work as things fit right now, but hypothetically, let's say they don't get Donovan and they kind of have to pivot on what their DH is and they go get a guy who I like Ramon Laureano. It's like, okay, well, now we have a bit of a log jam here and we probably have to move Rayleigh or Canzone again, but you still have an opportunity because Canzone has options left. So it's not a for sure thing. They have to move somebody off of their roster right now.

I think it's more likely they do than it was before this move, but it's not a guarantee. It'll just be an interesting thing to track. And obviously, you know, we'll see how Canzone looks in spring training. I know it's not the best barometer, but he was so awful in his last 50 or so plate appearances that I, man. It's hard not to worry if, you know, the clock finally struck midnight on him. Right, because we've seen guys get hot for 200 plate appearances. You're like, oh, man, he's figured it out. And then just nothing.

So we'll see. see with the but he's so cheap and so club controlled and he still has options left it's hard for me to imagine the mariners are and when he is going it's it's it's fun sure i mean it's it's easy power it's it's legit dirty home run power and he doesn't really strike out a ton we have 268 plate appearances let's say he's he's really freaking good we also have like 300-ish plate appearances let's say that he's a below average hitter so it's like yeah ever play against lefties but he was good against lefties last year good enough so yeah it's just kind of a weird thing they have to deal with right now at the end of the day you want that headache like you want to be

oh we have so many good players how are we going to fit them all in the 26 that's much more preferable than like well we can't sign that guy because then we'd have too many valuable players on the bench like that's not a thing so uh yeah we'll see how it works itself out i again i i still think if they really if they can get like a donovan or maybe even marty like a guy who can play second or third it's still the most ideal. But if they have to pivot and go get a primary D.H who's an outfielder or a primary D.H. who's a first baseman,

that's when things can start to get really muddy because at that point, it's really tough to get Rayleigh and Canzone enough playtime to justify them being on your roster. Yeah. So before we wrap up here, it kind of last little underrated aspect

of the Rough Snyder edition. I don't know if you mentioned this. You might have, and I just missed it. But against lefties, he could be your lead-off hitter. Yep. So something to keep in mind there as well. And we've talked about like establishing a better lead-off option for this club,

pushing Randy back down more so to the middle of the lineup, which I mean, they already did in the ALCS. Sure. I mean, Randy could also be the lead-off hitter against lefties. But my hunch is that, yeah, Ruff Snyder probably would be the primary lead-off guy against lefties. Yeah, it could be like, again, if they get Donovan, could be Donovan as a lead-off guy against Redis.

and then Ruff Snyder is the lead-off guy against lefties. One other thing I'll throw out there. I don't think this is going to come into play, but Ruff Snyder has played other infield positions in his career. They're just back when he was in his 20s. So I wouldn't count on him being able to pick up second base again. But maybe just maybe there is that kind of off chance that he can be playable enough there,

that maybe you can add that to his list of things he can do for you. But, yeah, overall, I really don't think there's, anything to dislike about this move. It's just a good solid baseball move at a reasonable price and it makes the Mariners better and it allows everything else they want to do, they can still do it. It doesn't preclude them from making

any of the other moves they want to make. So yeah, I think Mariner fans should be pretty happy with this one. It doesn't mean it's going to work, but it's a good shot to take. All right, well, that's going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Mariners podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Colby Pat note, I'm Tedding Gonzalez.

Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at LO underscore Mirrors. You can follow me at Tedding Azales 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

in the show at Lockdown Marauders. You can also find us on Instagram at Lockdown Marinerers. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you next time. Peace.