Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Could Mariners Bring Blake Snell Home? Why is J.D. Martinez In Seattle?

Episode Date: December 8, 2022

Late last night, the San Diego Padres gave free agent SS Xander Bogaerts a massive 11-year deal. With the team over the luxury tax threshold, they may look to shed some salary. Could this be the Seattle Mariners' opportunity to grab Seattle native Blake Snell? The free-agent pitching market is insane right now. Could it actually make more sense to keep Chris Flexen and Marco Gonzales? And finally, we'll tell you why J.D. Martinez is in town and the answer may surprise you.Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! 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.

After signing Zander Bogarts, the Padres are now over the luxury tax threshold. Can the Mariners take advantage to shore up their rotation? Plus, J.D. Martinez is in Seattle right now. But is it to meet with the Mariners? And given the way the starting pitching market has unfolded, are Chris Flex and Marco Gonzalez more valuable to the Mariners than whatever they could get for them via trade? All that and more coming up here on the Locked on Mariners podcast. Colby, hit it.

You are Locked on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network. team every day. It is Thursday, December 8th, 2022. This is Tadian Gazzalus and Colby Patnaud for the Lockdowne Mariner's podcast. Thank you so much for making us your first listen,

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Check us out. Subscribe. Turn on alerts. All that good stuff. All right. So Zander Bogartz signed an 11-year contract as well, just like Tray Turner did. that is very surprising $275 million over 11 years

the AAV just like the Turner deal completely fine it's just 11 years once again a full no trade clause that is well beyond what anyone expected Bogarts to get on this market but like I said when Turner signed I thought this market was going to get

pretty unhinged I didn't think it was going to be this unhinged but here we are I mean Carlos Correa and Danesby Swanson are still out there. They're younger. And one could make the argument that at least one of them are better than the two guys that have signed up to this point. So they, I don't even know. I'm not even going to venture to guess what those guys are going to end up making on this market.

Good for them, though. Good for Zander Bogart's. Good for Trey Turner. This is, this is awesome. Teams are spending a hell of a lot of money on these players and dudes are getting paid this. offseason. But the big thing with this is I think this benefits the Mariners potentially.

There's a way that it could benefit the Mariners because now the Padres are over the luxury tax threshold. And we are of the belief that they are going to try and get back below that and that means that they're going to have to trade someone. Maybe a couple guys and it might hurt. They're going to have to

trade some players off of their major league roster. And Colby, I think there's one player in particular that makes a lot of sense for the Mariners. We talked about him a couple of episodes ago Blake Snell what do you think about Blake Snell I thought you were going to say

Fernando Tatis Jr. Yes You have peevided now you're going fully in on Tatis but Colby we don't want cheaters on this team uh huh says the guy who's going to be

horribly mad when they don't give Carlos Curry a $400 million dollars but yeah Snell is obviously a a long time fan favorite. Seattle guy was committed to U.Dub before he went, you know, in the first round of his draft year, Tampa Bay, when Tampa Bay traded him the first time,

a lot of Mariner fans wanted the Mariners to be in on that. They really weren't. The timeline just didn't really add up. But now he might be available. He is a one-year rental only. That's what you're trading for. One year, Blake's now, who is 30 years old, I believe, had a really good year last year.

And that was off of the back of a really good second half in 2021. So he's been a very good pitcher for, well, I mean, longer than 18 months, but for the last 18 months or so in particular, he's been quite good. So he is a, you know, again, we know who Blake Snell is, right? He is a strikeout pitcher. He's a lefty. The one concern with Snell is durability. He's only made 30 starts once in his majorly career.

he's only gone over 130 innings pitched once in his major league career. That was both his Syung season, which was five years ago now. So it's been a while. Last year he only had 128 innings pitched. They were very good, 128 innings. But 23, 24 starts is pretty much the most you're going to get from Snell. And most of the time, he's probably only going to go five and six. So it's one of those things where, yes, Snell, when he's out there, is very, very good.

he's just going to miss time and there are going to be games or he's only going to be able to get you through four or five just because he's a strikeout pitcher and strikeouts stack up. So in a way and I know Mariner fans cringe at this but just stylistically

in a way it's kind of similar to Eric Bedard. You remember Bard? His thing in Baltimore was like, yeah, I'm going to get a lot of strikeouts but I'm probably going to miss a month or so and I'm probably only going to go five or six like that. That's just what my game is and people forget Eric Bredd was a pretty good pitcher for a while.

So that's not a slight at Snell. The benefit of Snell is that he's not a terrible teammate. So that's the bonus and that's why you're interested. But yeah, Snell would be a really interesting guy. Certainly putting Blake Snell in the number five spot in your rotation, makes the Mariners rotation top three or four in baseball. A very few rotations could compete with it. You just have to, again, you just have to be careful.

It's only one year of Snell. It's not a multi-year thing here. And you have to plan for the idea that you're only going to get 20 to 25 starts out of them. That's just who he has been his entire career. So you have to make plans accordingly. But yeah, for those 25 starts, you're getting a legitimate number three starter. Per spot. Per spot track, he is owed $16 million this year.

So that's why he is a prime candidate to be the guy that gets axed. here for the Padres to clear payroll space and get back under the luxury tax threshold. So like you mentioned, he's 30 years old. He will be 31 or he actually, oh, wow, he just turned 30. He literally just turned 30 on the 4th. So four days ago. Happy birthday, Blake Snellton.

He had a 1202 case per 9, 359 walks per 9, 338,000, 338, ERA, 319, XERA 280 FIP 321 X FIP 3.7 F4 this season in 24 starts like you mentioned, 128 innings pitch. So yeah, considering that the Padres, I mean, like it's out in the open, right? All these teams know that the Padres need to clear space. So they know that they have to get rid of someone. And Snell is, again, that prime candidate to be the guy. So I can't imagine that teams are going to be coming to them offering too too much. But what do you think it would cost the Mariners specifically to Land Snell?

Yeah, I think honestly, you kind of look at what Chris Bassett costs the Mets last year. I think that's a pretty good comp. Both of them were for one year. Both of them are number threes. Both of them have had injury concerns. Snell's a little bit more of a name. He does have a Sall Young Award to his, you know, on his mantle. But that's only going to carry you so far in trade negotiations.

So when you kind of look at what the, when you kind of look at what the, the, sorry. When you look at what the Mets gave up to get Bassett. It's going to cost something, but it's not going to cost a ton. I believe they gave up J.T. Ginn, who's a very high profile starter, had some injury issues, but he's a really interesting arm. So it's going to cost the Mariners something. You're not going to get Blake Snell, even if the Padres are desperate to clear payroll, which they may or may not be. I think the general consensus is that they don't want to be too far over the luxury tax because they, they want to continue to add as well as what we're also hearing is they don't want to be done

this winter. So it seems likely they're going to try and clear some payroll. Snell is a good candidate. Because again, he's only a one-year guy. So you're probably going to move on from him anyways. All those things are going to factor in the lack of availability, I guess we'll say, for Snell, the fact that he's going to miss time. He's not going to go deep in the games. All of these factor in. And I think that's why Bassett is a pretty good comp despite Bassett being. you know, a little bit older and a little bit less decorated, I guess, as snow. So I think what you're looking at is somewhere in that J.T. Ginn mold. And for one year of Snell, that's, you know, for the Mariners, that's probably, I don't think it's quite Miller or Hancock, but I think it probably is better than somebody a little better than Dollar.

So yeah, you're kind of in this weird, like, you're in kind of this weird space here. But the one thing, the one X factor here, that number 30 overall pick sitting right there. The Padres, we know that they need to replenish their farm system. You know, it's a way that the Padres can choose, you know, clear $16 million and do whatever they want with that money in the draft. And I think that's interesting. I don't know if that straight up gets it done. but maybe something like the 30th pick and

Juan Pinto or the 30th pick and Jonathan Kloss, well probably not Klossi because he's on the 40 man but you get the idea somebody in that in that general range sure now the other thing too is like does AJ Preller

want to trade again with Jerry DiPoto and Justin Hollander because it hasn't particularly worked out too well for him in the past so if there's a general manager who's stupid enough to do it again it's A.J. It's true, it's true, very good. point. I'm not joking when I tell you. AJ Preller is the dumbest guy to work in a major league front office. He's a moron. How do I know that? He just outbid nobody by $120 million

for Zander Bogart's. That's true. Yeah. The Red Sox offer was six years, right? Six years. Six 160. Yeah. And after coming in second place to Trey Turner and Aaron Judge, the Padres are just like, well, we'll just give Zander Bogart's a 31 year old who's barely a short stop. Give him 11 years and 280 million dollars like cool scott boris is a wizard man hey man if you want to be called a wizard just go deal with a j preller that's true there you go a j preller is a kingmaker there you go there you go guys don't all right uh so let's talk more about the pitching situation for the mariners because they do have two number fives right now on the roster in chris flex and marco gonzalez and with the way that the

pitching market is going right now. One would think, hell, they should take advantage of this right now. Trade them. You might actually get something legit for them. But on the other hand, too, with the way that the pitching market is going, it might be hard for the Mariners to go upgrade as well and basically replenish their spot that they would open if they end up getting traded. So we're going to be talking about that in just a moment.

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Head to the website today or use your mobile device to learn more. Bet online is where the game starts. You're listening to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. So, Colby, I'm really, like I don't know exactly how the Mariners should maneuver the starting pitching situation. If they're not going to be able to land someone like Snell, I just, I don't know what they should do with Chris Flexen and Marco Gonzalez.

I'm conflicted because you look at the pitching market. Like I said, it seems like there might actually be an opportunity here to get something that is, that can help you, that can help your major league roster if you trade Chris Flexen, who's only set to make $8 million in his business. been a three-win pitcher just a year ago and can eat innings. That's going to be valuable to teams as the starting pitching market continues to dwindle. And guys who are number four, number five starter, or well, more like low-in three, number four starters are making like $17, $18 million a year.

Like teams are going to, you know, there is going to be value with someone like flex in. And you might actually be able to something to get something of use. Marco, on the other hand, maybe not as much, but I do think that there is some value that that Marco holds as well. But on the flip side of that, you know, the starting pitching market is also dwindling for the Mariners themselves. So if they were to trade one or both of these guys, it's going to be very, very difficult for them to go upgrade their rotation

or, you know, at least get someone who's about in line with flexin or Marco's production. So what do you think they should do here at this point? Because the other thing, too, right, is they were remarkably healthy in the rotation last year. that's likely not going to continue in 2023. I hope it does. I hope everyone is able to stay healthy and make all their starts, but more likely than not, that's not going to happen because injuries just occur in the rotation.

So do you, is Chris Flex and Marco Gonzalez more valuable to the Mariners now than they are via trade? Well, what can they get for them in trade? Well, that's the big question, right? Yeah. Right. if you can get something valuable for Chris Flex.

Like if I could get like a mid high leverage reliever, somebody we'd probably describe as like a seventh inning guy. Like I'd probably trade Flexin for him just because that guy, those 60 innings that that guy gave me are going to probably be more valuable than the 150. I might get from Flexen, but I don't think you're going to trade both. I think one of these guys probably ends up in the rotation. to start the year.

You know, the trade market will see how it looks. Not, not, I can't, has any starting pitcher been trade, prominent starting pitcher been traded? Yeah. No, I mean, the trade market has completely shut down. Justin Hollander was talking about this, that this was the weird, he said that this was the weirdest winter meetings that he's ever been a part of in terms of the trade market. It just completely died.

So there's no movement right now on the trade market. And I mean, we're seeing a hell of a lot of. free agent signing right now, but just no trade movement whatsoever. Yeah, so it's going to be a little bit hard for the Mariners to gauge what they should do with the pitching because, again, what you don't want to do

is you don't want to move Marco and Flexon and then not be able to get somebody who's at least major league quality. I mean, you could take a shot on Matt Brash or Taylor Dollar being good major league starters this year, but that's

a pretty big risk to take. I mean, Chris Clark, the guy they drafted last year or in the Rule 5 yesterday, he's a starter in AA, but it sounds like he's a bullpen arm. That's the direction the Mariners want to go. So the Mariners don't have a tremendous amount of starting pitching depth, at least not, you know, major league quality. I mean, I think hypothetically, if they traded Flex and Marco and didn't replace either one, like Justice Sheffield all of a sudden reenters the discussion and yuck. So I don't think you can trade both.

I think you have to, do you value the money more by trading Marco? Because you're not going to get a ton for Marco, regardless of what the market looks like. Or do you value maybe the potential asset that you could get from Chris Flexen more? Because I think Flexen is probably a better pitcher than Marco at this stage. Agreed. I think it's relatively close. But I just, if you could tell me that Marco was going to get back to, you know, 2020 version or even 2019 version, if that's your number five, you're in really good shape.

But which it's been two years since we've seen that guy. So yeah, it's just a really tough position. You have to, you have to, you have to be open to anything. But you also have to remember that we have to replace these guys. So as much as I may want to trade Chris Flexen for, you know, this, you know, a 45 grade prospect that we think we can turn into a 55. I still have to think about the 2023 season, you know. and I have to get through that.

And I can't just hope that, you know, Dallard and Hancock and Miller and all those guys are going to be ready to give me innings at the big league level. So it's just, they're in a really tough spot and it's not helpful that the trade market is really quiet right now. That will pick up as, you know, free agencies, as free agents continue to fly off. Yeah, Hollander said that he thinks things will start to ramp up next week on the trade front.

Yeah. Right. There's still a couple big fish out there in free agency. And then after that, a lot of, you know, like mid-level and guys that are probably going to ask for $14, $15 million. Like, I mean, if Taiwan Walker is getting $17 million a year, like any mid-tier starters, like, well, I'm getting at least $14.15. Yeah.

And that's going to price some teams out. So we'll see what happens. Thankfully, it's December 8th, right? We have 78 days until pitchers and catchers even report. So, no, they don't need to rush to any kind of conclusion here. They don't need to force anything. but yeah it's it's going to be a tough spot and i think you have to keep one of these guys to protect yourself though yeah flexing at eight million dollars and gonzalez at six and a half this year

those are bargains relative to what the rest of the market is right now like again codai sanga if he's getting six year offers and looking at you know just how the market has fallen so far he might end up getting $20 million a year over that five to six year span for a guy that's entering his 30s and hasn't played a single day at Major League Baseball, that is a massive risk. I really like Code Isanga. I think he's really interesting and I think he will be a pretty good pitcher in Major League Baseball, but what if he's not? That's a really, really big risk that a team is going to end up taking.

and I just I don't know if the Mariners are going to be willing to go that far with Senga. I don't know if the Mariners are going to be willing to, you know, pay $18, $19 million per year for Nathan Avaldi. I just don't know if they're going to be willing to do that. And that's really like if they're not going to keep flex in and Marco, that's kind of the pitcher that I would like to see them go after. Chris Bassett, Nathan Avaldi, Kodi, Senga, that realm of starting pitchers. but it just it might get to a point where it just it doesn't really make sense how much how how many more wins are you actually adding for the significant uptick and cost and your commitments right that's the thing that you're ultimately having to weigh here and I think if we're not already there we're getting close to a spot where it just doesn't make sense at all and it just makes way more sense to just keep flex and keep Marco maybe trade one but honestly it's Again, going back to the health conversation, I might keep both and just, you know, maybe six-man rotation to start the year to kind of just get guys in a rhythm. Don't, you know, overwork guys or let flex and go back into the bullpen, right?

Like, yeah, I, so you don't have to have this done by, you know, spring training or anything like that. And then guys get hurt in spring training all the time. And we see a few spring training trade. So you can carry both of these guys. I think it starts to get really hairy when you're carrying both of these guys on your, on your 26-man roster on opening day. Because you only, remember, you only get to carry 13 pitchers. So if you're going to go six-man rotation, you're a man down in the bullpen.

And we know how much, you know, Scott wants every available arm. And if Flexen is in the bullpen, you're still essentially a man down because we saw last year, flexen's role in the bullpen was mop-up duty. I mean, that's all they're going to use them for. That's all they trust them for. So kind of in a tough spot. I don't think you want to carry both. You might come to a point where you just have to DFA, Marco, or Flexson.

I doubt it. But it is a possibility. So I think you do want to trade one of them. But I could definitely foresee a scenario where everybody's back for pitchers and catchers. And they kind of battle it out for that number five spot. And we just kind of see what happens if anything falls or any, any trade picks up or anything like that. But again, it's December 8th, right?

We got a lot, we got a long time to go. So maybe the trade doesn't happen until January 20th. Like, oh, okay. You know, as long as something gets done. But, yeah, it'll be interesting to see. I, you know, I would hope that the Mariners aren't, you know, sitting out on the pitching market here in a few weeks and just waiting for somebody to come trade for Chris Flexen so that they could go sign.

you know, Bassett or whoever it is, right? It doesn't matter. But I hope they're not doing that because they don't want to be, well, I don't want to pay him and have to carry flexin. Like that, that would be cheap. Right. Right. Yeah. That's a good example of cheapness right there. But we'll see what happens. I still think flexen is ultimately traded. Marco, I think can kind of go either way. But if I was, if I was betting right now, I think Marco probably starts the year with the Mariners. He'll report to spring train as a Seattle mayor. That would be my guess, but anything can happen. And we know how creative Justin and Jerry are. So we'll see what they can do. So last night, she's trying to get to sleep. And then all of a sudden, Zander Bogartz happens. And then like 10 minutes later, look who's in Seattle, Colby.

J.D. Martinez. Posting a picture of him at Pike Place Market. And Mariners' Twitter, of course, went now. that's over that. So I'll open up by saying this. I was told this morning that J.D. Martinez is indeed in Seattle, just not to meet with the Mariners. Sorry, guys.

It's Mark Kana 2.0. So I was told that Martinez is in Seattle for a wedding. And that's all that it is. So don't think that he's meeting with the Mariners now. That doesn't necessarily mean that he won't end up signing with the Mariners eventually. It doesn't mean that he's not an interesting target for. for the Mariners and you and I looked into them last night after all this happened because you know what I needed a rumor I'm desperate for for a rumor for someone to to look at you know here I was going to

say it's because we're professionals and we want to give you guys the highest quality show but I guess for tie it was just boredom yeah it was just boredom it was I watched every single hit jd martine had last year and ties over here like no we won't talk about it interesting who really cares about you guys. It's true. It's true. You know, Colby is the loving one of this, the loving half of this duo here.

So, yeah, J.D. Martinez is a weird fit for the Mariners. When you think about it. Like, the bat makes a lot of sense for what Jerry DePoto described. Yeah, yeah, it fits really well. Considering what Jerry DePoto was describing the other day in terms of a righty who can mash lefties jaddy martinez had like a 175 w rc plus against lefties last season he was ridiculous against lefties and also he hits pretty well outside of finway park yep which is you know kind of the thing with zander bogart's right like oh zander hasn't been that great outside of finway so

you shouldn't sign him all this stuff right so that was the whole conversation with that but jd martinez is like the opposite of that and again crushes lefties the problem is he's a d h and that's all he is straight up He should not play a single inning in the field. So he is not the platoon option with Jared Kelnick. He's not that. He's not the left fielder that the Mariners are going after. Really, all that fits is that he's right-handed and he matches lefties. And that's about it.

Right. So, yeah, J.D. Martinez, again, I watched him what he did last year. Numbers-wise were okay. Power outage was pretty significant. This is a guy three, four years ago was hitting 40 home runs. And I think he had a year where he had like 48, if I'm not mistaken. It was all the way down to 16. It's also a bat who, you know, is in his mid-30.

So that's typically when bat speed starts to slow down. Strikeouts are up, walks are down. Now, what's interesting about JD is that he's always been kind of a swing and miss guy. You know, he'll whiff. He has, you know, pretty low width or pretty high width percentages. and the strikeouts last few years have been above league average. They're not awful. They're not Joey Gallo by any stretch,

but they're a little higher than you'd like from a guy who's, you know, again, 34 years old. But what I watched last year or what I watched him do last year last night is go line to line. He's still cranking out a lot of doubles. It's 42 doubles last year. I think that was second in the American League, the year before he led the American League in doubles. He's still hitting doubles.

and these aren't just, you know, routine fly balls off the monster. He's going line to line. It's a ton of hits to right field. The number of times he, like, kicked up chalk on the right field line for a double last year was like, probably five or six times, which is pretty impressive for a righty. He reminded me when I was watching him of having a very similar approach to that of Thai France. And when you look at the numbers that those two players put up last year, pretty much the same guy. like we're talking within 10 points in every single category. So yes,

do you want more power out of your DH? Yeah. If the Mariners add another Thai France to this lineup, does that help? Also, I want to add on the power front, like yeah, he only hit 16 home runs last year,

but you also, you know, factor in the doubles. And going by park factors, if he played every game in T-Mobile Park last year, which obviously that's not possible, but if he played every game in T-Mobile Park last year, he would have hit 23 home runs.

Yeah. I still think he's a 25-Henst. homer guy. But I just look at him and honestly, based on what I saw yesterday and what the numbers are telling me, he looks like Ty France. Could the Mariners use another Thai France bat in this lineup? Yeah. That'd be very helpful. Again, the issue is, is that he cannot play the field. Not that he shouldn't, he cannot. He's worse than Jesse Winker in left field. It's a disaster. So you can bring him in. And by the way, at his age and because of his lack of versatility, he's probably only going to get a one-year deal. And when you look at D.Hs, older D.Hs, D.H. only types, the comp is Nelson Cruz. In the last

few years, Cruz has signed one or two-year deals at $12 to $13 million. That's probably what J.D. Martinez is going to get. The way it could work. And again, he's not in Seattle. Let's reiterate that. He's not in Seattle to talk to the Mariner. So let's not assume this is going to happen. But the way it could work is that the Mariners went out and got like a Brian Reynolds. Or Randy a Rosarena, right? And then they could have J.D. Martinez as just like their full-time D.H. Or, you know, they could do some things. And then they can still go out and get a quality fourth outfielder.

And just kind of use the 26-man spot as essentially at the D.H. So it could work. Like J.D. Martinez fits in this lineup if you go get a full-time left-fielder. If not, then you're kind of blocking the idea that Jerry put out there that they want four outfields. who all cycle through the D.H. and play a ton. J.D. Martinez does not fill that category. In fact, J.D. Martinez prevents you from doing that. So I think the only way it works is if the mayors go out and get an everyday, no doubt about it, corner outfielder.

And right now, after Yoshida signed extremely quickly with the Red Sox yesterday, that market is probably going to have to find that guy in trade, if that's what you're looking for. Yeah. Let's talk about Yoshita real quick before we hop off. I know there's a lot of questions about how that went down if the Mariners were in. Why did the Mariners not get him? All that stuff. Thing that I've heard, and this is now starting to make the rounds. And it's pretty obvious when you see how quickly this went because he got posted literally two days ago. Like the day before that he, the day before he signed with the Red Sox, he got posted by his team in Japan.

He didn't even engage with any other teams. He didn't negotiate with any other teams. he just wanted to be a Red Sock. And so, and it just lined up perfectly that the Red Sox wanted him and they were willing to pay that for him. I've never seen a player sign that quickly after being posted.

Never. I've never seen it. I don't think it's ever happened. Yeah. It's, I'm not saying that there was tampering necessarily, but I think that he just straight up wanted to be a Red Sox. And that was it.

Yeah, let's just put it this way. if like five years from now we find out there was tampering, I wouldn't be surprised. But I do think what ultimately happened is that Yoshido wanted the Red Sox. Like that was the team he wanted to go to. And when they approached him with a pretty good offer, pretty sizable offer.

You got to say a Suzuki deal. Yeah. A little bit more. I think he got five in 90. Suzuki got five and 85. So just a million more a year. But yeah, like essentially the same deal. So I think that was his.

number one team. I think once the Red Sox said that they were interested, like he was done. He wasn't going to negotiate with other teams. He wanted the Red Sox. And again, this is one of those things. Money can't just save you. Like you just can't say, well, just pay more than that team was willing to pay. Well, I mean, look at the Padres and Aaron Judge. Right. Apparently the Padres offered Aaron Judge $400 million.

And he said, nope. And he's from that area too. Yeah. I'll take 360 and stay in New York. And again, same thing with Philadelphia with Tray Turner, right? Philly's offered 340, 350 or... And there's always going to be that special allure of legacy teams, right? The Red Sox, the Yankees, the Dodgers, etc. Like, the legacy teams are always going to earn the favor of certain free agents. Right.

And by the way, this year seems especially true. We've heard quite a few story, at least three that I've heard, of players who are offered more money, better contracts by just about any definitions. and they chose to go somewhere else where they were going to be... Andrew Haney is another one. Andrew Haney, Trey Turner and Aaron Judge.

It's not always about the money, guys. All three of those players very equal to one another. Yes, yes, obviously. Right, but sometimes it's not about, sometimes it's about, hey, we think we can do this for you and get your career on track. We think you're a really good fit, XYZ.

There are a lot of reasons why players choose a team. Money is usually the biggest one, but it doesn't outweigh everything. It's not the catch-all that that a lot of people seem to think it is. And, you know, the Aaron Judge thing proved it and the Yoshida thing proved it. Because I think honestly, the Marys

we're going to go to him and be like, I'll give you $1.20. He probably would have picked the Red Sox. He clearly wanted to be a Boston Red Sox. Yeah. So how much money do you have to... How much money do you have to give a guy to give up on where he wants to go?

Yeah. What's the tax on that, basically? So yeah. All right. So tomorrow, a little programming note. Since we didn't do a mailbag episode on Monday, we're going to do it on Friday. We're going to replace FanF Picture Friday with Mailback Monday. Then we'll get back to our regular schedule next week, barring, you know, anything crazy happening. So Twitter, I think we'll do Twitter this week for mailbag questions. So we'll put out a tweet on Twitter and you can respond to that tweet with your mailbag question. And we'll try to answer as many as we can on tomorrow's show. but that's going to do it for our show today. Thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown Marrars podcast for Colby Patnode. I'm Ted Ann Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at LO underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Dan Gonzalez, the C-A-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-Pat-E and C-PAT-1-1.

You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. And thank you again for making us your first listen. Now for your next listen, check out the lockdown sports today podcast featuring the biggest stories of the day, plus instant reactions, big game recaps and the take of the day. It's available on the honesty app of YouTube and wherever you get your podcast just like us. And with that, have yourself a beautiful baseball day. And we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.