Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - D.C. Couldn't Think of a Title

Episode Date: March 4, 2020

D.C. Lundberg goes over the last four Mariners' Cactus League games, reports on the first series of reassignments to minor league camp, checks in to Braves camp to see how King Felix is doing, and then talks about one of the game's biggest stars getting locked up by his team. 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.

Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Yes, welcome to this very special Tuesday afternoon edition of Locked-on Mariners, which of course is C.Y.A. Speak for the host got home late last night, failed to record an episode and then slept in this morning. Anyways, we've got four games to catch up on. The Cactus League has been in play for more than a week now. Starting pitchers are beginning to be stretched out a little bit.

and the Mariners have made their first series of roster moves. But before we get to any of that, I must remind you to download, rate, and subscribe to Lockdown Mariners on Google Podcast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, whichever podcasting app you like to use, we are probably there, we are everywhere. Also remember that you can ask your smart device to play Locked On Mariner's podcast

or any of the programs here on the Locked On Podcast Network. Be sure to follow the show, show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners, and you might as well follow me as well. There's no reason not to. At D.C. underscore Lundberg, that is L-U-N-D-B-E-R-G, if you're scoring it home. Mariners have an off-day today. Well, they don't have an off-day, but they don't play a game today. Anyways, we have got four games to catch up on. We'll just go in chronological order. We'll begin with last Friday's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team of Argyle sweater enthusiasts. And rather than go into...

depth. It's just going to be kind of news and notes from these four games. Otherwise, I'll bore you two tiers. In any case, the first game against the Arizona Diamondbacks did feature something that is rather unusual. In the second inning of that game, the Mariners hit for the reverse cycle. It began with a Kyle Lewis home run. Jose Marmalajos followed with a triple. Tim Lopes then hit a double, which drove in Marblejos, and shortstop D. Gordon, yes, shortstop, D. Gordon. Finish it up with an RBI single. A couple of observations before I move on. D. Gordon has been playing a lot of shortstop lately. Shed Long has been getting almost all of the playing time at second base, which leads me to believe that there is no time share at second base. Shedlong Jr. is going to be the second baseman, I think, and that's a good thing.

He is the future second baseman. Why not throw him out there? And D. Gordon certainly is a capable defender at both second base and shortstop. He may make a nice trade piece for a prospect at the deadline if he has a good season. because he wants to play. He wants playing time, and I don't know if that's going to happen on this team. We'll see how the season shakes out, obviously. That's just speculation on my part. But back to the Diamondbacks game. You say Kikigy made a second start of the Cactus League season in this game. It went better than the first one did. He pitched, let's see, two in the third innings, gave up one hit, a run.

Three strikeouts, which is good. His slider looked better from the reports that I saw. But he did walk two. That's the thing. He's got to keep the walks down. That's the key with any pitcher, really, but I've said it before. I don't care how fast a pitcher throws. I don't care how good a stuff he has. If his control is a problem, then what's the point? But again, just two starts. Let's see how the rest of the spring goes.

If his stuff is better and his velocity is up, he has been trying to simplify his delivery. So hopefully that will also translate into better control and fewer walks. Time will tell, I'm optimistic. Anyhow, the Mariners won that game, 6 to 2. We're going to move on to Saturday's game, the Leap Day game. which was against the Kansas City Royals,

who I believe are all distant relatives to the royal family in England. Yeah, that one's not too good. In any case, this was a 9-6 loss for the Mariners, started by Marco Gonzalez, who pitched very well. Three innings in this particular start, gave up one hit, no runs, struck out two, no walks, very positive, much better than his first outing. Tom Murphy and Patrick Wisdom both checked in with doubles.

Colin Cowgill hit his first home run of the spring. We shall move on to the first game in March. Sunday, March 1st, as a matter of fact, Cubs beat the Mariners. 7 to 3 on this particular day. Most of the runs were given up by bullpen candidates. Starting pitcher was Kendall Graveman for the Mariners. This game gave up a hit in a walk.

Struck out three, two innings of work. Looked pretty good. Mariners did notch 11 hits, but only eked out three runs. These hits were all singles. Checking in with hits were Julio Rodriguez, Carl Crawford, Alan Hanson, Kyle Lewis, Daniel Volgoback, Austenola, Braden Bishop, Tim Lopes, Malick Smith had two hits and Jordan Cowan checked in also with a base hit.

And while Jose Marmalajos, my favorite name in Spring, did not check in with the base hit, he did open up some eyes defensively. He was brought in primarily as a first base candidate. He started this game in left field. He had played some outfield, corner outfield in the Nationals chain in the past. And not only did he have an outfield assist this game, he made a diving catch robbing Chris Bryant of a base hit and opened up some eyes for the Mariners who didn't expect him to play that well out on the outfield.

So he's open up the Mariners' eyes, I guess, more or less, so to speak. And the team has discovered that he's a bit more versatile than they thought he was, which is good news for him. The final game we're going to speak about is yesterday's game, Monday, March 2nd against the Colorado Rockies, a team for which I do not have a joke right now, but that's okay. This was also a loss. This was a 9-6 loss.

Mariners scored 10 hits. Starting pitcher for the Mariners was just as Sheffield, and he pitched very well. Three innings, two hits, one run it was earned, one home run, four strikeouts, and this is the key for me, ladies and gentlemen, no walks. That is beautiful to see.

I had been kind of ragging on him on this show since I've taken over his host, and it's because of the control problems. It's because of the walks. If he can get that under control, then absolutely he could be a major league pitcher. This is a good sign. He's had two pretty decent,

spring starts so far. I know it's still early. Like I said, two starts. Anything can happen. I will definitely monitor his progress throughout the rest of the spring, but that's very encouraging. What's not so encouraging was the guy who followed him, Wee and Chen, who was kind of also vying for his starting spot, one in a third inning's five hits, four runs, two walks, two home runs, not looking so good. Jared Kellnick did check in with his first spring home run this game. Kyle Seeger hit double, hit two of them as a matter of fact. Let's see, Evan White and

Donnie Walton also checked in with doubles. Kyle Seeger, as a matter of fact, had three hits on the day to raise his spring average to 455. He's playing well. Also playing well with a 455 average is Evan White. Two hits on the day, including that double we spoke of. Kellnick, Jared Kellnick,

two hits on the day, including the home run, 357 so far his spring average. Dee Gordon didn't have it bad. He had a plate appearance in which he walked. He's hitting 4, 29 on the spring. Colin Calgill is hitting 333. Tim Lopes has been tearing the cover off the ball, ladies and gentlemen. He's hitting 533 this spring. He's in competition with Dylan Moore for the utility spot.

Also in competition with those two. Sam Haggertie, he's hitting 364 on the spring. Vogelback's hitting 4002. Some positive results so far in the first week of spring competition on both the pitching side and the offensive side of the ball, despite the fact that the Mariners have a losing record, three and seven going into today. And with that we're going to get ready to take a break, but before that happens, of course, the Mariners trivia question. Kind of a tough one today, pretty obscure one to be honest. Which former Mariners first baseman released a self-titled album in 2005, well with the Cleveland Indians, prior to being traded to the Mariners. He also released an album in 2009 titled Renovated.

I'll give you the answer after the break. If you've got a question, for me or a comment on the show, please send an email to Lockdown Mariners at gmail.com, and I will consider using it for the Friday mailbag segment. I have received exactly one email so far, and one email does not a mailbag segment make. So please send in your questions comments. It doesn't have to be about baseball. It can be about anything. Send in those questions unless you want to hear me try to scramble to fill the time for five

and a half minutes on Friday's B block, and trust me, you do not want to hear that. Locked-on Mariners will continue as soon as I figure out how to fill today's B-block. This is Jason J.D. Hernandez, the host of Locked-on Anaheim Ducks. It's hockey season, but it's also spring training time. And you're listening to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on podcast network or Tloppin. And now, here's your host, deep in the Pacific Northwest, D.C. Lundberg. Take it away, D.C. Yes, thank you very much, Jason Hernandez.

I am so happy that you said slopping in your little spiel there. Thanks for bringing us back to Lockdown Mariners for the second half of the program and the answer to the trivia question. The former Mariners first baseman who released a self-title album in 2005 well with the Indians and followed it up in 2009 with an album called Renovated. To those of you who answered Scott Spizio, you are incorrect. The answer is in fact Ben Broussard. Remember Ben Broussard?

Yep, it's him. Played about a season and a half of the Mariners in the mid-2000s. We have some more Mariners news to talk about. We're going to get to some national news after that, but we have some roster moves to announce. First of all, Matt Festa, who had been outrided to AAA Tacoma after clearing waivers, after being designated for assignment to clear room on the 40-man roster, I believe for Jose Siri.

He's headed for Tommy John surgery, unfortunately. After clearing waivers, he had been a non-roster in Vitee, but did not pitch in the game. He only threw one bullpen session. This is a quote from Jerry Depoto. Quote, he came in, passed his physical, and did well when he got here. He threw his first bullpen session and kind of complained afterward, and we've at least been able to determine what the issue is.

He actually threw the ball quite well. The results he was getting were fine, but he didn't feel well. We'll get him fixed up and hopefully get him back at full strength, end quote. The Tommy John surgery will be. be done in New York on Thursday. Festa had been reassigned to minor league camp on Sunday, and after Monday's game, the Mariners reassigned eight more players to minor league camp. Those players are pitchers Jack Anderson, Darren McCoggin, Penn Murphy, and Wyatt Mills,

infielders Jordan Cowan and Connor Hoover, and outfielders Eric Filia and Luis Liberato. The Mariners now have 62 players in camp, including 21 non-roster invitees and everybody who is currently on the 40-man roster. Dylan Moore, who had underwent concussion protocol late last week after sliding into the knee of the Reds shortstop, whose name escapes me right now because I'm a real idiot. He is expected to return on Wednesday after today's off day, so good news on that front. And the start of Taiwan Walker's Cactus League season has been delayed again, but not for the reason that you might suspect.

This is a quote from an MLB.com article by Greg Johns. Quote, Service said Walker is ready to go, but they'll hold him back a little longer rather than face an American League West rival, end quote. The Mariners do play the Angels tomorrow. Nestor Cortez will get the start and will be followed by Justin Dunn. Walker will instead throw an inter-squad B game at the Mariners facility in Peoria tomorrow. Let's check in with Atlanta Braves camp to see how Felix Hernandez is doing. He pitched today against the Tampa Bay Rays, his third outing of the spring.

Today he pitched four innings, gave up four hits, only one run, two strikeouts, two walks. He has pitched three games so far, all of them starts in the Grapefruit League, eight and two thirds innings, 208 ERA. He's pitched very well. Hopefully this continues. He is vying for a rotation spot for the Atlanta Braves. He's a non-roster invitee. Jumping back to the Cactus League, where the Milwaukee Brewers have reportedly agreed on a

contract extension with the face of their franchise, and my favorite player, Christian Yelich. The star outfielder is currently owed $26.5 million over the next two seasons, and this extension would kick in after 2021. The deal is reportedly worth $190 million over seven years. Both sides will invalidate the club option he has for 2022, will add a mutual option for 2029, and will also include some deferred money. This would be the largest contract in team history by total value. And if anyone deserves it, it's Yelich. This seems like a steal for the Brewers, considering Mike Trout's $400 plus million contract extension with the Angels and Bryce Harper's $330-ish million free agent contract with the Phillies. Last November, Yelich said, quote, I just love playing there. It's a great

fit. I love the fan base. I almost feel like I've been there more than two years. I look forward to more years there, end quote. According to Ken Rosenthal, this deal should be announced on Friday. That's pretty much going to wrap up this better late than never edition of Locked-on Mariners. We'll be back tomorrow, hopefully at our regular morning time. In the interim, please remember to download rate and subscribe to Lockdown Mariners on Google Podcast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or any other podcasting app that your brainhead can think of.

Ask your smart device to play Lockdown Mariner's podcast. and I bet you anything you would do it. Actually, I shouldn't say that because after my phone updated, I had trouble doing just that. But I figured it out. In any case, please also remember to follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners, and please also follow me on Twitter at D.C. underscore Lundberg.

That'll do it for today. Have a great evening, and we'll see you back here tomorrow. This is Joey Martin. Join us tomorrow for the next edition of Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.