Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Could the Mariners Extend Cole Young Before His Major League Debut?

Episode Date: February 17, 2025

It's Mailbag Monday! Ty and Colby answer your Mariners questions, including if Cole Young could sign an extension before making his MLB debut later this year.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. SelectQuoteGet the right life insurance for you, for less, at SelectQuote.com/LOCKEDONMLB.  FanDuelRight now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if 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.

Cactus League play kicks off later this week, but before the Ems take the field, let's open up the mailbag and answer some of your questions. 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 Monday, February 17, 2025. This is Tadding Azales and Colby Patnode, who did the Ahoy-Sailers thing with me today. How about that? The Locked-on Marys podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. We'll be opening up the mailbag like we do here every Monday and answer some of your

merrious questions. But before we do that, quick shout out to our title sponsor today. FanDuel. Right now, new Fandualual customers can get $150 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. Download the app or head to fanduil.com to get started. And as always, if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show, check out our Patreon. All you have to do to check that out is click the link in the description of this episode. So let's get into the first question here. Comes from Rayleigh Fan. It's actually more of a prop rather than the question.

Rank these by likeliest to happen. Julio wins MVP. One of the starting pitchers wins Say Young. The mayors get a wildcard birth. The mayors win the division. Or Mitch Garver and Jorge Polanco accumulate at least one war. each one of those not really like the others but whatever

we'll roll with it sure if you're just listening the actual prop is that our five starting pitchers win the sye young so like sure that one's probably not going to happen I would say it's never happened in history so

dare to dream sure I guess but yeah I'm not feeling too good about that. Polanco Garver, but even though it's the lowest bar to clear, it's probably the one to have confidence in. I don't know,

man. I will, they have to both get there. And obviously, defense is going to hurt Polanco. It seems highly unlikely. He's just going to be even mediocre at third base. Like,

it seems like bad to very bad is, is like the ceiling there, but we'll see. And then for Garber, like how much plain time he's going to get war is a cumulative stab and if he's only going to be the backup catcher and he's not going to DH much then he's not going to have a shot to get to one one war because he's just not going to get enough plate appearances and then also his defense be on the plate is below average I think we would say uh not bad but below average

so yeah I don't think either of these guys even got close last year to one war uh Palanco is coming off of an injury, coming off of an altered off season, and now he's playing a new position. And Garver, you know, if he's just, even if he's just the DH, he's got to be a lot closer to what he was in 2023 than what he was in 2024 to get to one win. Because DHS have a hard time accumulating war unless they're like absolutely elite because they have negative defensive value attached to them for some reason in war formulas.

So yeah, it's, uh, I just, I don't feel great about it. So that one's probably the least likely for me, even though it's the lowest bar to clear by far. So, so you're saying that you don't believe in odd year Garber and you think the Marys have essentially lit $7 million on fire with Jorge Polanco. Yeah.

Wow. All right. All right. I think Garber will be fine. I just don't think he's going to be 2023 Garver, which is probably what he has to be to get to a win. So. All right.

So how would you rank these on? I think the wild card's the most likely. Division is second most likely. I think I would say that a Sy Young, I'm assuming the question actually is one of the five pitchers wins to not all five. Yes, I think that's safe to assume, Colby. Sure.

It's just it wasn't written that way. That's all I'm saying. Sure. Yes, yes. Yes. We know that you have to always point that out. Just trying to clarify. Sure.

I think that's more likely than it's Julio MVP and then it's the Garber Polanco duo would be last. That's crazy. You think Julio is likely to win the MVP, the Mitch Garver, Toro, it's just getting to one win. One win isn't a whole lot. And remind me again, how many did they have last year? I know, I don't know. Did they even combine for one win last year? No, it wasn't Garber negative?

They might have been at zero. Because I'm pretty sure that Polanco was at point three. Let's see here. So, yeah, Garver was negative. Point four. Yeah, so they were probably a negative. Polo, let's see. Polo, yeah, point three, like you said.

Yeah, so they were negative. Point one combined last year. All right. So. All right. I don't know. I don't know if I'm that low on that. You're telling me you have to believe that Polanco is going to be healthy.

I just think that it's Likelier than Julio Because Julio can have an amazing season this year And still not overcome Aaron Judge Jose Ramirez, et cetera He's better than those guys And he's got the star power I mean, who knows who Aaron judges

Like I just Right Right You know fatigue There's voter fatigue Voting for judge for MVP every year Yeah definitely on the East Coast Totally

Yeah So Place for the Yankees, who cares I think you've talked me down a bit on the Garver and Polanco thing because I was like all right it's the lowest bar to clear I'm just going to put that at one

all right maybe I'm not there anymore I'll go wild card one I'm actually going to do the Syung one at two I'm going to put that above the division title yeah I'm going to put that above the division title do I think a division title

is likelier than Garver or Palant I feel like if Garver or if you're going to win the division, that means that Polanco and Garver were worth at least a win each? Or if you had an MVP season. It's true.

For both. All right, I'll do division title three. I'll do the Garver-Palco thing four and then the Julio MVP-5. D. Pankey wants to know. Has there been any player over the last week who has signed either a one-year deal or a minor league deal

that you believe may have made some sense for the mirrors? Paul DeYoung is the guy that comes to mind here from me. He signed a one million dollar deal with the the nationals. Obviously he had strikeout issues last year. He wasn't all that good but he did hit what 24 home runs. That's worth more than a million bucks.

So yeah. Leo Rivas is probably going to be on the opening day roster. Paul DeYoung is worth a million dollars. I don't care if he struck out 50% of the time. Yeah, Paul DeYoung is a better shot to take than Leo Rivas. Yes. He's got hit for power. He's actually a really good defensive shortstop. Rivas.

Yeah. So you could also play second and third, Candy Young. He provides, you know, some, some depth in your infield, which you really don't have. I mean, are we counting Cole Young as depth? Like, maybe, but

I mean, but it's not immediate depth. It's not like Ryan Bliss goes down in the first week of the season. Oh, we're going to call up Cole Young now. Right. So, So, yeah, DeYoung also gives you late inning defense at third base, which, hello, Jorge Polanco is the primary third baseman. You're going to want to take him out of games. And it only costs me a million bucks.

Like, this guy could get zero at bats a week and he'd still be worth a million bucks. So DeYoung is the guy for me. That was disappointing to see the Mariners just, I mean, I don't know. Maybe they tried, but really couldn't go to 1.5. He's a good middle infield defender. who could also play third and has 25 home run power. Yeah. Strikes out 30% of the time.

So it's 200. Okay. Nobody's saying he's a great player, but we're talking about a million bucks. That one's the no-brainer for me. Yeah. For sure. It's also pretty hilarious that the day after

Luis Urias gets a majorly contract with the A's, and it's like, is that major league contract worth more than the Youngstee? It might be. there's pretty decent odds it is because a million bucks is only a couple hundred grand over the minimum so yeah uh the young having to take you know and one that tells me that he had no other major league offers is what that tells me uh and if the mariners really think that leo rivas

is better than de young i seriously question by the way 200 what 30 000 is better Yeah. Or it's like we're talking about literal pennies here. You could save that money by just having an open spot on the 40 man for half a year, which teams do all the time. So like, yeah, it's, I don't get it. I don't get why you wouldn't be interested. And maybe they were and DeYoung just didn't want to come here for obvious reasons.

But it seems unlikely that that was the case. It seems like they just weren't interested at all. And I'm just scratching my head at that one. Yeah, yeah, that was the one that definitely stood out to me when I saw your question. So, all right, we're going to answer more of your questions in just a moment. But first a reminder to this episode of the Lockdown Marys podcast is brought to you by select quote. The World Series, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the world's top athletes get to play in these top level sporting events thanks to one thing, teamwork. And teamwork can also protect your financial legacy and your family's future.

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slash locked on. Go to selectquote.com slash L-O-C-E-D-O-N today to get started at select quote.com slash locked on. And you're listening to the Locked on Marriss podcast. It is Mailbag Monday. Let's hop back into your questions here. We got one from Mark. It was the one prospect you guys think can make it to Seattle this year that no one is talking about. It's prospect week here on the show.

We're going to be re-ranking the Marys Farm System top 30 starting tomorrow. We'll have 30 through 21 for you tomorrow. So this is a relevant question here. and we'll probably get into this question a little bit on some of these guys as we as we talk about them over the next few days. So I don't want to spend too much time on the guys that are actually going to make the list. I'll throw out a weird one here for you. Victor LaBrata. He's not going to hit, but he's a good athlete, speed, base running value.

I don't know. He might be a guy that comes up for like a week. Some random weird call-up. Colby. You make that face. This team has Leo Rivas making its opening day roster. I mean, I know, but like, it's always great. It's always great when you start your, you're like argument with like, he can't hit,

but he probably will be in the big leagues. It's like, hmm, okay. Can't hit, but he's a really good athlete. Is he elite base runner like Billy Hamilton at least? No. I mean, he stole like 50 bags this past year. So Matt Taylor. I don't hear you pumping him up.

All right. Samad Taylor too. I mean, he doesn't fit for this category, though. Sure. Well, like, here's the problem is that, like, the go-to guy for this is somebody we talk about a lot, Hunter Granton. Yeah. So, like, if you want somebody even further, like, down the rabbit hole, Jared Sunstrom is pretty interesting. He had a really good Arizona Fall League.

He probably started the year in AA. Could easily see him get to AAA. He's kind of an older college drafty. So he, you know, he could kind of like Cade Marley. low himself up to the big leagues for a little bit of time. So I think somebody like that has a possibility. The odds are it's probably a pitcher, just playing the numbers game there. But the problem with that is that like Logan Evans and Hunter Cranton and Brandon

Garcia, like we talk about these guys all the time. So yeah, if we're talking about somebody who's like truly off the beaten path, I'll go Sunstrom. but the actual answer to this question is Hunter Cranton it's just we talk about them all the time I don't hear many other people talk about them Spencer Packard maybe as like another just weird like one week call up sure the Jack Larson situation yeah Spencer Packard could be that guy because that's what I was really thinking here for this question right because like we've we've talked about Ben Williamson we've talked about Cranton a little bit we've talked about Cole Young you know Harry

forward, et cetera. So, yeah, I don't know. Labrata was someone that I heard about a lot in last off season. I haven't really heard anything about him this off season. He had a decent year down in the minors, but in high A at the age of 24. So, but again, he's a really good athlete. And I don't know, I could see that getting him a cup of coffee at the big league level if the bearers want some speed at some point this year.

All right. Ross wants to know. I really enjoyed Colby's cool young. extension idea would love to hear tie slots too you have a Cole Young extension idea well I do I don't have a Cole yoing extension idea

but yoing read the tweet buddy let's bring that back up here Ross oh boy Ross Cole yoing yoing yoing either way I think we might have a new nickname for good old Cole young Cole Cole

Cole yoing yeah all right so so you have a Cole Young Yoing extension idea? Sure. So yeah, I tweeted something about it.

And then for our tier three and fours, I did the 300 level episode yesterday. And that was most of the episode because somebody, Ross, didn't send in any questions on the mailbag. So I had to kind of wing it. So yeah. Cole Young,

I was just thinking, you know, it's been a while since the Mariners have done a free MLB debut extension. They did it with Evan White. They tried to do it with Jared Kelnick. They tried to do it with Logan Gilbert as far as we know. And maybe there have been others since.

But they haven't actually gotten it done in a while. And Cole Young kind of checks all the boxes in that he's probably going to make his debut at some point this year. There's an outside shot. He can make the opening day roster. So the Mariners have some leverage here. There's the uncertainty of the 2027 season. upcoming where Young is going to be making over the next couple years before then a pro rated league minimum salary this year and then the league minimum salary next year.

And that's if he's healthy and produces and doesn't get sent back up and down a couple times. So yeah, there's some leverage here for the Mariners. Young gets some guaranteed money up front. Obviously that's the point. And then the Mariners save some money on the back end and maybe buy a year free agency or maybe they do what they did with the Evan White deal. And there are some really interesting team options tacked on at the end.

If you guys don't remember, Evan White's contract was six years, $24 million. And then there was three team options that I believe totaled about $34 million, give or take. So had Evan White worked out and had it, he maxed out the contract and the mayor's maxed out the contract, the total would have been nine years at about $58 million, $60 million somewhere in that range. So, yeah, Cole Young is 21 years old. So even if he took that exact same deal, he would still enter free agency after his age 30 season. And, yeah, he's, again, he's 21, not 23, 24 like White was when he signed his extension. So this is something the Mariners have liked to try to do in the past. And I decided it was, you know, this is kind of their first opportunity in a long time to get something like this done.

because over the last few years they've drafted a bunch of prep guys. You don't typically give pre-MLB extensions to 19-year-olds, right? And I mean, you typically don't do it to 21-year-olds. It's just that young is going to be 21 and starting the year in AAA. So there's a pretty high floor there. It's a very low-risk move for the Mariners. Yeah. So I would say this.

Just because it didn't work out with Evan White doesn't mean that I'm against taking a shot like this. I will always be for doing that if you're able to accomplish that. So if it's simply just buying out the R beers and just setting that number right away, or also tacking on options at the end of it or buying out a free agency year or two, absolutely for that. I'm absolutely for taking that very small risk, especially when it comes to an up middle player. I'm willing to take this shot.

the age difference like you mentioned yeah there there's no downside to me for when it comes to this from the Mariner's point of view it's just does Young want to do this yeah and that's always the question but the answer is always we don't know until we ask

all right we are going to answer more of your questions here in just a moment but first reminder this episode of the Locktime Marries podcast is once again brought to you by Fandul when the game tips off the NBA action is just getting started and there's no better place to get in on it, the Fandul, America's number one sportsbook. With Fandul, you can place live bets throughout the game. So even if you miss the opening tip off or want to bet on a fourth

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That's Fandul.com for your shot at $150 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. And you're listening to the Lockdowneer's podcast. got a few more questions to go over here before we get out of here and we head on into officially prospect week starting tomorrow prospects 30 through 21 coming your way on tomorrow's show uh brandon wants to know with hanniger and garver's money coming off the books next year do you think there's any chance the ms try and reroute that money for a stud like vlad junior next winter or does that money just hopefully extend logan kirby and cal seems like we don't have a long-term

solution at first base that money is just going to cover the year increases in arbitration for guys like Kirby, Logan, and Cal. So yeah, I mean, you know, if you're extending them, which would mean that you're buying out their remaining arb years, yeah, that could go to that, like you said. But in terms of like going out and adding someone on the outside, that would require the bearers being willing to spend more money than they have recently. So yeah. Yeah.

We're not even counting Randy and Rosarina as another guy who's going to have a pretty serious. So yeah, those two guys' salaries probably won't even cover the raises that you're going to have to give. It's going to cover a portion. A good portion of it, sure. But probably not all of it. And yeah, the ownership is just going to have to spend more money. It's that simple. As for first basement of the future, most teams don't have one of those because it's typically a position where there's a lot of options available to you every winter and at the deadline.

it's not a particularly difficult position to. Unless you have like a real difference maker there. You're typically rotating those guys every, you know, two, three, four years. I mean, yeah, there's always Justin Turner's and Carlos Santanas. And like there's always guys like that every winter who hit for agency and all that. So I wouldn't worry about not having a long term first baseman. Most teams don't.

It's not a priority. You're worried about shortstop and second, center and third. And sometimes guys that are on your roster already end up converting to the position, etc. Yeah. J. Rod's show Junkie 44 wants to know why is no one talking about Fujinami. I know his stats are trash, but the dude has next level stuff and the M's have a proven track record, turning bottom barrel relievers into high leverage guys is the signing just under everyone's radar or his he viewed as a lost cause. we talked about Fuginotomy a little bit at length last week

what was it on Wednesday last week um guy just doesn't throw enough strikes and this is probably for my perspective I mean like another team might take a shot on him next year or later this year you know whatever whenever he's out of the Mariners organization uh if that happens

um you know hopefully it's not hopefully they do hit on him but uh you know if any team is going to get him to throw strikes and really tap into his potential It's probably the Mariners at this point with the reputation that they built for themselves. So if they can't do it, I kind of feel like no one can. But yeah, like you said, he has really good stuff. It's just can he actually throw it effectively? It's the major question.

Yeah. Best stuff in the world doesn't help if you have a seven based on ball per nine. People aren't talking about him, although I feel like he's the most talked about arm in the pile. At least what I see on social media and the guy was. we talk about here. We talk about him all the time in that regard. But yeah, he hasn't thrown strikes like consistently enough in a long time. It's been a long time since he's done that.

So yeah, that's why it's all about control and command and stuff's great. But if you throw four nasty sliders that nobody even has to think about swinging at, nobody cares. Yeah. Yeah. So appreciate the question. Totally understand why you're, you know, curious about Fujinaami. But like we talked about last week and like we just, just went over now. It's just a matter about getting him to throw his pitches effectively.

So we'll see if the mayors are able to do that. Definitely a name to watch though. All right. Last question of the day comes from Tyler. Rank the Mariners second baseman after Robinson Cannell. Yikes. It's 2020 Dylan Moore and then everybody else. Yeah.

Yeah. So yeah, 2020, Dillamore was actually pretty good. But that was also in a, you know, very short in season due to the pandemic. Yeah, so 2019 was D. Gordon and Shed Long.

2021 was like a hodgepodge of guys and it was really bad. Abraham Toro was the best guy out of that group once they traded for him. But Dima was really bad that year. Shed Long was really bad that year. 22, Adam Frazier,

23, Golden Long, 24, you know, Polo. So, I mean, take your pick Right 2020 Dillmore is number one

I think we have to put that Yeah, I think we have to put Fraser at two Just because like He wasn't a he wasn't good But he also wasn't a disaster And he also has one of the biggest hits In franchise history frankly Where were you at when that happened Ty?

I'm sure you would love to know It's not like I've told you a billion times Yeah, no yeah so Fraser's probably two Polanco three yeah because I mean I don't know

it's either Polanco or 2019 D Gordon Colton Wong is last like let's make that clear like 20 23 Colton Wong is last 2021 situation has to be second last yeah at least Abraham Toro kind of

fix that towards the end stabilized things a little bit yeah so that's why I keep it from being less. Yeah, so it's really like who's who's behind Frazier is it Gordon in 2019 or polo this past year? I mean, I don't remember Frazier. I don't remember, I don't remember, I don't remember.

I don't remember much about 2019 to be fair outside. Like after the 13 and 2 start like I don't remember really anything about that season. Hit like a home run in like their first 25 games or something like that. And then it was, I mean, Daniel Vogel back was your. I'll start that year. So I mean, not bad. Sure. Yeah.

Yeah. I guess I'd go polo and then D just because that's, you know, kind of how it is in my head. Like, so I remember it. Yeah. I will say like 2023, like yeah, Colton Wong is last. But the last 40 games, 50 games of that was Josh Rojas mostly, who was actually good for Seattle. You know. Right.

Yeah. So for the same argument that I use. with 2021, I guess you know, we could use that with 20, 23 as well. But I mean, Wong was With primary second baseman. But Wong was a bigger

disappointment, bigger disaster than a, because at least in 2021, you weren't expecting this team to compete. They just wound up competing kind of out of nowhere. Right. So yeah, I think Wong has to be last. Yeah. Like, we're strictly primary.

second baseman for the year. I think Wong is last. Then it's probably the 2021 group was so bad. I don't even remember who the primary second baseman was in 2021. I think it was Demo.

Well, I think it started with Shed Long and then it became Demo. Either way. And then it became Abraham Toro. Yeah. Right. So yeah, I think that trio has to be second to last and then yeah then i think it's say frazier pretty solidly too yeah uh 2020

you know uh pandemic era demo was number one and then you just kind of flip flop polo or gordon however you like at least gordon was pretty good defensively but yeah polo at least hit you know 15 home runs or whatever and had you know stretches where he was a really good hitter so I mean, July, July Polanco was like legitimately good. So. But yeah, not a great group to choose from there. New left field just dropped. All right.

Well, that is going to do it for us. Thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown Marreras podcast. And thank you for your questions. For Colby Pat. I know, I'm Tadagazales. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L.O. underscore Marrers. You can follow me at Tiding Azales. Colby at C-Pat-11.

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