Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Dipoto Offers Glimpse at Offseason Plan

Episode Date: November 10, 2021

Hosts Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby Patnode break down Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto's comments to the media about the team's plan at centerfield, catcher, starting pitcher and more.Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] A MARINERS MYSTERY BOX FROM US!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. 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.

You are Locked-on Mariners, your daily Seattle Mariners podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, your home for Daily Seattle Mariner's News and Analysis. Thank you so much for making us your first listen of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. Of course, I'm sure you already know that because you're listening to us on a free platform already, but tell your friends, tell your family, tell all those out there who are Mariner fans. Check us out.

And today is Wednesday, November 10th, 2021. I am your host, Taddy Gonzalez. Join, as always, by my co-host, Colby Patnode. Follow us on Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-U-N-Rerner. You can follow me at Dane-G-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-Pat-E-N-E-L-Z-L-Z-L-E. Be sure to also check out our Patreon, where we talk about the Mariners even more. Also, get into

some non-baseball talk on there, twice a week. New episode dropping for all of our patrons later today. So visit patreon.com. slash control of zone if you want to hear that and you have a chance to become our 80th patron woohoo that would be pretty dope if we could do that no prize no prize no prize involved maybe for number 100 maybe for number 100 we'll we'll see about that no promises that's coming out of ties pocket probably probably i mean you're already given away a pretty cool little giveaway on our control the zone account at control of zone on twitter giving away a marriage Mariner's Mystery Box, if you will, to one lucky follower who follows that account and retweets the tweet for it. So check that out at Control the Zone on Twitter. I'll have the link to that in the description of this episode. But on today's episode of Lockdown Mariners, we're talking all about Jerry Depoto's comments at the GM meetings.

He pretty much gave us our whole show sheet last night. He spoke to the media for over an hour yesterday, went over a plethora of topics about the Mariners' plaintiff's attack this. offseason. We're going to talk Centerfield. We're going to talk about the Oakland Athletics as a trade fit. And I'm probably also going to tell you about something I'm increasingly becoming more concerned about as this offseason goes along. But if you like what you hear, give the show a follow or subscribe. Wherever you're listening to this, we greatly appreciate it. So Colby, let's start here with Center Field because yesterday, Jerry Depoto talked about, well, the Mariners don't really see Jerry Kellnick as a long-term solution at centerfield. They don't know if Kyle Lewis is going to be ready in time for opening day.

And yet, Depoto said, Centerfield isn't really a priority for them this offseason, which I mean, the only other realistic option there at center field is either Taylor Trammell or Jake Fraley. And I'm not sure if you feel great about either one of those guys. So do you think it's BS or do you think that he is actually, you know, certain about what he said last night. I think there's just some, you know, general truth to the idea that it's going to be very hard for Seattle to get a center fielder. This is this is something we've talked about. You and I are kind of not on the Starling Marte van wagon.

I don't think he's a real centerfielder. I mean, you can certainly stick him out there, but he's not a huge upgrade over a healthy Kyle Lewis or really even Jared Kelnick, at least not in the long term. And it sounds like he wants 20 million a year and he wants at least four years. And that's just for a 34 year old, that's just too much. So that's really it for center field. I mean, Chris Taylor can play center field, but you're not signing Chris Taylor to be your everyday center fielder. You just lose a lot of the value that you get. A lot of the reason to sign Chris Taylor is that you can play them in multiple positions.

So there's just not a guy out there. And even if you look at the trade guys, who's out there that could be traded? You know, Byron Buckson is one of them, but he has his own issues. You know, Harrison Bader could be another one, but I mean, are the Cardinals going to move him? Probably not. And other teams are maybe, but it doesn't sound like the Cubs are actually going to rebuild. They just claimed Wade Miley off a waiver. So I don't, there's just not a lot of guys out there.

And so if you're Jerry to Potoh and it's like, look, we want a centerfielder. you know but we don't want to overpay for one because we have other needs that we that you know we have to address and so if center field would be a high priority to me but if there's not enough you know bodies basically to go around in this or there's not enough chairs to go around in this game of musical chairs then do you want them to overpay for one of the few center fielers who might be available or would you rather just go and upgrade a little bit more at third base or second base or,

you know, left field or whatever. So I think it's mostly just Jerry looking at the market and saying, look, I mean, we would like a guy, but we're not paying the freight for Brian Reynolds. We're not,

you know, interested in Starling Marte. And so, yeah, I mean, we would like a center fielder, but we just don't really see one that we can get right now. So let's go out there and let's lower expectations and let's talk about

how we're going to address center field without actually addressing it. I think you need to at least get someone that's capable of playing in center field, at least some, though, this off-season. And, you know, whether that's Marcana or someone maybe on the lower end that you're just kind of taking a chance on with like Adam Engel, right? That's someone that we've talked, or that I've talked about quite a bit. I totally understand that the market is limited and that yeah it's probably unlikely that you're going to be able to get you know a Byron Bucks in or what or what have you for something reasonable and that remains to be seen but you got to do something here you got to have a better plan than potentially Jared Kellnick or Jake Fraley out there or Taylor Tramel out there. Like if you're legitimate about wanting to win this year and wanting to compete for the postseason, I just, I don't know how you can justify going into the season with a Trebell or a Fraley or a Kellnick even written in Penn in Centerfield. Especially after all the things that he said about Lewis and Kellnick in regards to Centerfield and being ready for opening day.

So there's also the discussion about Julio Rodriguez, who he mentioned as a legitimate possibility in center field for them. And again, that makes me pause a little bit because as great of a prospect as Julio is, we've said time and time again on this show, on our other show, that you shouldn't rely on him going into opening day. Like that would be a failure on the Mariners part. to rely on Julio Rodriguez, not only being able to make the opening day roster,

but also be good. And you already learned that the hard way with Jared Kellnick, and I'm talking about the fans learned that the hard way, but Jared Kellnick, assuming that he was just automatically going to come up and be amazing, and he wasn't. And there was a lot of disappointment because of that. So with the Julio thing,

does the Julio thing also concern you here? I don't know, concerns. the right word, but it is puzzling to say the least. Any offseason that ends with Julio having a good chance to make the opening day roster is probably a bad off season.

That's, you know, nothing against Julio, but you're a contending team this year. And so even, I mean, like look, I mean, Kellnick got better in September in large part because Seattle stuck with him and they let him go through his lumps and they send him down once. then they brought him back up.

And even when he struggled, they stuck with him. So that's all well and good. But you can't, you can't do that this year because you can't reliably, you can't go to people and say, we're playoff contenders. We really want to make the playoffs. And then have an unproven guy with like, what, 60 games above high A ball, whatever it is, and say, well, this is, he's our center fielder. He's the guy.

He's not even a center fielder. I mean, he's a good athlete. and his speed is often, you know, undersold, but he's not a centerfielder. He's not explosive like that. So, yeah, if Julio's the opening day centerfielder, I think something's gone tragically wrong. And that's even if Julio goes out there and hits like 700 in spring training.

Like, it doesn't matter what he does in spring training. He should not, he should not have a realistic shot of making the opening day roster without injury of some kind. I agree. and we're going to talk more about what the Mariners plan is and hit on a couple more topics that Jerry Depoto touched on last night in just a moment. But real quick, want to remind you that this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by Bill Bar. I love Thanksgiving. All the good food and treats and plenty of them to go around. But maybe you want a yummy dessert one that isn't so full of calories and sugar.

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and you'll get 15% off your order. Use promo code Locked 15 for 15% off your order at built.com. You're listening to Locked-on Mariners. Thank you again for making us your first listen of the day every day. Once again, we are free and available on all platforms. So if you found us on Spotify, but you use Google, for example, you can find us there. We're on 100% of the platforms and we're 100% free. So, Colby, wrapping up our discussion on Center Field here.

of the guys out there who are not traditionally centerfielders, but they're available. So Mark Kana, for example. And I'll ask you directly about Kana here, who Depoto mentioned once again today by name on 710 ESPN Seattle with Mike Salk. Is that your top target of those guys who could at least fill in at center field to start the season or what have you? Or is it someone else? He's definitely got to be up there. but I guess, you know, if I'm looking for somebody who is, you know, who's going to play center field, even if he's not really best suited to play center field, I'm probably looking at Sayas, Suzuki,

just better athlete, younger, and there's more upside with the bat. So, you know, it's, you would like to get a, you know, quote unquote for a sure thing out there in center. But again, the market just doesn't exist for that. it's, you know, who's the best athlete, who has the best shot to be average, at least. And I think it's probably Suzuki. So that's probably my number one guy. It's also possible you can go get a part-time center fielder. I talked about, you know, Chris Taylor earlier, and there's certainly some things you can do there.

Another name is the name that I know you like, Lurie Garcia can certainly, you know, stand out there. But it's such a thin market that honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he signed with Seattle, if somebody like Michael Conforto even got like 25, 30 games in centerfield. So it sounds like I would guess nobody's going to get 100 starts in centerfield for the Mariners in 2022. But if I had to pick somebody who's currently on the market right now, it's probably Suzuki.

And Depoto was asked about Suzuki and made his, intentions pretty clear that they're going to be involved in his market they really like him they he said that they had scouted them scouted him from afar and in person uh so they've they've certainly done their homework on Suzuki and uh that's something that they're going to be involved and obviously he's built quite a bit of uh momentum here in the rumor mill with the with the rangers but nothing seems to be close on that front and the mariners seem to be uh seemed like they're going to pretty involved in that market for say a Suzuki so uh certainly a name to keep an eye on there if if you're looking at potential outfield additions for the mariners kind of an under the radar one so

another thing that depot talked about that was really interesting was uh the oakland a's he was asked about the oakland a's who um MLB trade rumors reported the other day uh is going to is expected to shed significant payroll so that means guys like matt olson Matt Chapman, Chris Bassett, Frankie Montas, Cole Irvin, maybe even, obviously Sean Minia, maybe even Ramon Luriano, Tony Kemp. There's a bunch of names there that could potentially get dealt from Oakland this offseason. And when asked about the A's, Jerry Depoto said, we like them all. So who do you like the most from Oakland, Colby? Which player do I like the most?

Matt Olson, but I mean, he's not. a fit. So in terms of like who might actually come to Seattle, it's, it's probably Montas. I like the upside there. You know, Basset and Manaya are both fine. Manaya has a year of club control of Montas has. So does Bassett? Yeah. So that is enough. I think they're close enough that that matters. But if the extra year of Montas is going to be the difference between me like hypothetically, right. If the extra year of Montas is going to cost me I don't, Brandon Williamson

and you know, instead of Connor Phillips or whatever, then I'll just take Mania or or Bassett. I would probably put it Montas Mania Bassett in that order. But all three would be, or any of the three would be a fine addition

to the Mariners pitching staff. Yeah. I feel like this offseason on the Mariners and by the way, Jerry DePoto, last night said the Mariners are going to acquire two starting pitchers this off season made a pretty definitive statement about that anyway i feel confident in saying that the mariners are at least going to come away with one pitcher that's currently on either the reds roster or the a's roster there's a lot of them to choose from of course there's at least six maybe seven if you want to

throw cole irvin into the mix i do not just go sign tyler anderson it's the same thing but you But the memes, Colby, the memes. The memes are funnier if he's stuck in Oakland after they rebuild and Seattle just continues to, well, what's a nice way to put this? Destroy his ERA. Yes. So John Morosi today said the Mariners have checked in on the availability of Luis Castillo, the right-handed pitcher for the Reds, who we've talked about a little bit over the last few episodes. Reds fans out there think that they can get Julio Rodriguez for Louis. Luis Castillo, but to you, Colby, what is a more fair package for Castillo?

First of all, we had it in our sound bank or whatever. We would play the Will Ferrell. We are laughing clip from Anchorman because that is laughable. The thing with Castillo is that, yes, he's a good pitcher. Yes, he's probably a number. I mean, he's a really good number three, maybe, and you could say he's a number two, and I wouldn't debate you on that. but he's not an ace.

He's not really anywhere close to it. And so while Red fans are talking about, well, he's got the upside to be an ace, that does not really matter that much because you're not getting ace level, you know, trade return for a guy who you think has the upside to be an ace. He's young, but again, he only has two years of club control. So age doesn't really matter all that much here. And, you know, like, he's fine. He was fantastic in 2020.

took a step back in 2021, but was still good, and he was pretty good in 2019. So, I mean, we have three years here where he's been a very good pitcher, but 2020 appears to be the outlier a bit. And there are some concerns. He does have, you know, home run to fly ball rate 16.7% in his career. The FIPP is 376 in his career. I mean, those aren't ACEFIPs. And, you know, I pointed out on Twitter that his FIP in, in 2021, at 3756. 375 was just barely higher than

or barely lower than Chris Flexen. Do you think a good comp for him in terms of trade package is the James Paxon deal? Kind of a similar situation, right? Yeah. Two years. Right.

You know, he's got the high ceiling, but hasn't really reached there. Yeah. Flash number one, sat number three for the most part. It has long stretches where he's a two. The difference I think is going to be the health. Paxson always was battling injuries. Castillo has been remarkably healthy the last three years. So he is going to cost more than Paxston. But I think Paxon is a good place to start. And that was Justice Sheffield, who was a top 50-ish prospect, top 60 prospect. And then Eric Swanson, who they thought maybe could start. It sounds like, and I'm just going to spitball here, but it kind of sounds like Emerson Hancock. Concock, Levi Stoughton, like Victor Labrata.

Yep. I think that's about right. Yeah. I think that's, I think the Mariners package is, is, I think that's better than what the Mariners got for Paxon. So I think that's a pretty, a pretty fair expectation. I think that's a good comp. And I think that's a good trade package.

And honestly, if it's going to cost more than that, then I'm just sliding over to sunny gray and being like, okay, what does Sunny Gray cost me? Mm-hmm. I mean, is it going to cost me? Emerson Hancock straight up for Sunny Gray, I'd probably rather do that because I like Levi Stout. I like Victor LaBrata. And the difference for me between Sunny Gray and Luis Castillo, not that great. So yeah, I think the Paxon comp is a good one.

And again, just to remind you guys, Paxon was traded to the Yankees for Justice Sheffield, Eric Swanson, and Dom Thompson Williams. And don't think about what those guys became. Think about who they were when they were traded. Yeah. And that's why I was saying. It's kind of like Hancocked Stout and Labrata. I mean, maybe Stout is swapped out for like Connor Phillips,

just because Swanson, probably a reliever, but they thought he could start in Phillips. I mean, to be fair, every pitcher is probably a reliever. But I think that's a very fair and astute comparison. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. So I take it back.

We're going to talk more about Jerry DePoto's comments And I'm going to talk about something that's kind of concerning me a little bit About what we've heard so far and just kind of held off season is going so far But real quick want to remind you this episode of lockdown Mariners is brought to you by betonline. We're back and better than ever a new web interface for the start of the basketball season and more props odds and lines than ever before Bet Online remains your number one spot for all the basketball and football action this season head to our new updated top or mobile website to sign up today and receive your 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. Just use our promo code locked on to receive your bonus.

From basketball, football, NHL, boxing, and UFC right to your favorite Vegas casino games. Don't wait to take advantage of all the amazing offers available for the 2021 season. Bet online is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your favorite sports. Bet online where the game starts. So Colby, I'm a little worried and I'm not and I'm not going to say that I'm fully in on this, but there's a growing concern in me that the Mariners are going to identify one really big target that they want to go after, and that's probably Marcus Simeon. So we'll say Simeon in this example here that they're going to sign Simeon,

and they're going to feel that that was enough for their offseason, and they're going to make middling moves elsewhere, and that's going to be it. And obviously we don't know how much payroll that they're going to add this office season. So that could certainly, you know, hamper things a bit. But really all we're hearing from Jerry to Poto so far is the top of the market. We were looking at marquee names. And, you know, you hear some of the comments about Centerfield and to some of the other things that he said last night, that it doesn't really show a ton of interest in the middle tier of the market.

And obviously he's not going to cover all the bases and say exactly what he's looking for. But I don't know. I see a guy like Stephen Mats right now who's out there and he's garnering interest. And that would be a really solid addition for the Mariners. We talked about him yesterday. Mariners not in that conversation as far as we're aware. It's things like that where it's like I would like for them to be more involved on that front. We haven't heard anything on Conforto and obviously we're not going to hear a ton of stuff come.

from the Mariners side of things because they just they don't leak but i'd be lying to you if i didn't say that i'm at least a little bit concerned here that you know we've talked about this and and hoping that this isn't the case that the mariners are going to get their star and pretty much call it done this off season what do you think i don't think that's going to happen um you know it's interesting because if jerry depoto comes out and he's talking about you know, Stephen Mats and Eduardo Escobar and, you know, even Michael Conforto. Like, that's all he's talking about. People are like, oh, see, he's not even going to go after the big guy. And so he goes out there and he's like, well, you know, we're after sent, we're in on

Simeon. We like Chris Bryant, blah, blah, blah. You know, we're in on Luis Castillo or, you know, he allows that to be leaked. I'm going to guess that probably came from the red side of things, but whatever. It could have come from Jerry because when Jerry does leak, it's very tactical and it's very rare. So if he just comes out and he does that, then you get your reaction, which is like, I mean, yay, but also if you don't get one of those guys or if you, you know, overpay for them and you can't do anything else, that really doesn't help. So Jerry's kind of stuck. I mean, he's not going to reveal his entire plan, but he's also can't be like, like, yes, we're, yes, we're in on Simi and yes, we're in on Bryant. And, you know, but we're also going to go get

Fordo and we're going to look to upgrade here and here and here and it's like well I mean what do you want them to say to make you feel bad because another thing that worried me last night was the catching thing right that we're probably going to bring back the same catchers next year which

at least defensively speaking is very concerning like very very not on the relay throws not controlling the run game that's definitely something they need to work on the relay throws especially, but pitchers need to help control the run game too. Not a lot of good.

Chris Flexen is, I think, the only guy who was pretty good at controlling the run game now that I think about it. So, yeah, that's something they need to work on that's not just Murphy, although he doesn't have the strongest arm. But I think it's kind of like center field where it's like, okay, where are the catchers? Like you want them to upgrade a catcher, where are they? Because the best catcher in the market is Jan Goams. and while, you know, we put him in our offseason plan, hint, spoiler, there you go, spoiler. I think our evaluation on him is probably going to be low just because he's the only guy.

Like, there's no other everyday catcher. And by every day, I mean, somebody who should start, you know, 90 times a year. He's the only one in free agency. So it's, you know, and then who are the guys who are trading catchers? well barnhart was one of them he got traded already you could trade for castillo but again are the cubs actually going to rebuild i don't know contraris i thought they were sorry you did the wellington castillo thing i did i did always with those two they were both former ccers okay they had the wc initials yeah initials wc yeah so sorry i'm gonna keep doing that um and even when they come to the mariners because castillo was a mariner right yep So there you got for like a week. And then they traded him to the Diamondbacks for Mark Trumbo. Yes.

Jackson Rizick made a good trade. And then he was like, oh, I don't like how that feels. So let's go make a bad trade. So yeah. But I mean, again, like are they rebuilding? I would have thought they were. But then they say, then they claim Wade Miley. So it's like, I mean, maybe that's just a value move.

It certainly is. but maybe it means they're not rebuilding. So it's just one of those things where it's like, where are the catchers? If we want one so bad, where's the catcher that we know is better than Tom Murphy, that we can get at a reasonable price? Might not exist.

So you're in a tough spot right now. There's not a lot of help up the middle, particularly in center field or catcher. Yeah, I just don't want it to be here were we took our big swing we got Marcus Simeon but then it turns out well hey that was most of our money right

and this is ultimately more of a concern not with Jerry DePoto but rather John Stan just really don't want to go through I just really don't want to go through the offseason retrospect like we did all last year you know it would be almost funny if the Mariners acquired like Marcus Simeon

and Chris Bryant and nothing else like that that's it like those two guys and then they get a couple of starters, but they're like the Michael Panetta types, right? And that's like all they do. Watch the Mariner fans, the same old Mariner fans struggle to walk the line between this team is cheap and this team had a good off because they're going to be like, well, they signed the two guys like I wanted them to, but that's all they did.

They didn't get deep enough. And it's like, that's never been a concern of theirs. So they're going to have to try and figure out how to, you know, walk this line where it's like, well, they signed superstars. so I kind of can't call them cheap, but also I can't sit here and, you know, crush their,

their team build because I've basically been doing that for the last few years by saying they're cheap. So which one is it? So that'll be fun. They'll find a way. They're very good. Oh, they always will.

They always do. And that's why we're here to help clear some of those, those voices out. So, yeah. And don't worry. If you're reading Reds, Twitter,

they're not getting Julio Rodriguez. for any of their players. Just relax. Yeah. Red's Twitter is... Maybe Jonathan India. Maybe, but probably not. Yeah.

Would they trade for Jonathan India? That would be interesting. I'd be into that. I would too, but I don't think the Reds would trade him. Yeah, I don't think, yeah. So, yeah. Red's Twitter is a fun place. All of Twitter, really.

Yeah, true. That's a very good point. And you can follow us on Twitter at LO underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Dane Gonzalez, the C-A-N-C-L-Z, Colby at C-P-E-P-E-T-11. That's all in the description of this episode as well. But that's going to do it for our show. And thank you again for joining us here on Lockdown Mariners and making us your first listen of the day like you do here every day. We'll be back tomorrow and hopefully Jerry DePoto will do something.

So we have something to talk about. man, this offseason is incredibly boring. Hopefully that changes within the next 24 hours as the GMs continue to talk at the GM meetings down in Carlsbad. But in the meantime, make your second listen of the day. Locked on MLB Prospects. Hosts Aram Lighten is a prospect encyclopedia and he's going deep on the MLB stars of tomorrow. And just like us, his show is free and available on all platforms. So have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you tomorrow.

Thank you.