Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Does the Mariners' 2025 First Baseman Currently Reside in the AL Central?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Our Divisional Trade Preview series continues with a look at the AL Central. We'll tell you which major leaguers on the Guardians, Tigers, Royals, twins, and white socks could be realistic trade targets for the Mariners. Coming up here on the Lockdown Marriss podcast. Colby, hit it. You are Locked on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:29 Oh, Hoy, Sailors. It is Thursday, October 31st, 2024. Happy Halloween, everyone. This is Tiding Azales and Colby Patnode for the Lockdown Merritt podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today we'll be looking at all five teams in the AL Central for potential trade targets for the Marys. But before we do that, shout out to our title sponsor today. Game Time.

Starting point is 00:00:51 Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the promo code Locked On MLB. That's L-O-C-D-O-N-M-L-B for $20 off your first purchase. And if you want to hear from me and Colby, even more and help support the show, check out our Patreon. Sign up now to hear us create our 2025 Mariners offseason plan, which we officially wrapped up as of yesterday. So if you don't want to wait for us to unveil the plan on LockdownMs, I believe sometime next week, sign up. You can check out the spreadsheet that we have.

Starting point is 00:01:20 It lays it all out. You can listen to our last episode, which breaks it all down, tells you how it all works. So yeah. All right. So as we've done on all of these divisional trade preview episodes, we're going to work in reverse order of the standings in the AL Central, which first brings us to the Chicago White Sox,

Starting point is 00:01:40 the worst team in professional baseball this year. And of all time. Yep. And it's a pretty similar conversation, as you would expect to the one that we had about the Colorado Rockies last week. Though at the very least here with the White Sox, they do have Luis Robert. So that changes things.

Starting point is 00:02:02 from the Rockies conversation quite a bit. There's also a couple of guys that we've talked about that, you know, we would kick the tires on maybe if they get non-tendered, like Andrew Vaughn, maybe Gavin Sheets, but that's really it here. So I guess we could just copy and paste the discussion that we had on Monday when we're asked about Robert. But any other thoughts on the White Sox? Any more thoughts on Robert? No, I mean, like Robert, we've talked about them a lot all summer, really.

Starting point is 00:02:29 We talked about him. And we did hear that, you know, the White Sox had scouts and they were sitting on Emerson Hancock and they were sitting on a couple other players in AAA for a week at a time. So the Mariners definitely talked to Chicago. They had conversations and they probably progressed pretty far along if, you know, scouts are watching specific players for, you know, weeks at a time. So, you know, we know Jerry circles back. We know he likes to lay the groundwork and come back to complete deal. So I wouldn't say there's a 0% chance. But Robert has a lot of questions.

Starting point is 00:03:05 He didn't answer any questions after the trade deadline. He actually played a little bit worse. The strikeouts are really high. The injuries are a concern here. His lack of effort at the end of the year was apparent. He did not care. And so while it's easy to write that off and be like, well, he played on the worst team in, you know, in baseball history,

Starting point is 00:03:23 and he's the best player and he's not supported and he just doesn't want to play. like cool that's not a great look still right like that doesn't exactly exude what you want in your clubhouse so yeah there's a lot of a lot of conversation about robert um the white socks if they trade them this winter they'll be selling low uh he still has three years of club control left but the mariners did you know did at least progress pretty deep in talks for robert this summer um and i wouldn't be shocked if, you know, they kind of, you know, look around. They're looking for that big bat and they just say, you know, let's take the shot on Robert. We kind of already have the groundwork laid. So it's possible they could do that. And yes, Robert still fits even with Randy a Rosarena.

Starting point is 00:04:10 So, yeah, it's possible, but there's so many red flags and we don't know what their, what their money issue is going to be this year. So possible, sure. It's worth noting the Mariners also didn't make a trade with the White Sox last summer. So, you know, So it doesn't, I mean, maybe they just couldn't find anything, but it doesn't seem like they were interested in really anybody but Luis Robert would kind of be my takeaway there because they went after Vlad and when they couldn't get him, they still made a couple different deals with the Blue Jays. Like, so those weren't wasted talks. And so I do think they're going to be interested in Robert. I do think that they'll reengage in those conversations. I just don't think that the price that the Mariners are going to be willing to pay is going to be a price that the whites.

Starting point is 00:04:56 are going to be willing to take. So, you know, and again, keep in mind, like the White Sox wants centerfield prices for a guy who, for you is going to be a right fielder or a left fielder. Like, that does have to factor in a little bit too. So, yeah, it's pretty much Robert. And then maybe if they trade Luis Castillo somewhere, maybe it's Garrett Crochet. And, you know, that, that deal is, is massive. And maybe it's crochet and Robert.

Starting point is 00:05:19 Like, maybe that's, they trade Castillo to, I don't know, the Dodgers. And all of a sudden, it's, it's Robert and Crochet to the Mariners. and we're having a lot of fun breaking that trade down, but there's really not a lot here. This is a really bad team. And even like the role players, like you said, they're either,

Starting point is 00:05:35 you know, probably getting non-tendered, or they're on, like, ridiculous contracts like Andrew Benatendi, which I can't believe that contract has turned into an albatross, but it really has.

Starting point is 00:05:46 So, yeah, there's just a problem with the white socks. It's basically Robert. In a very specific case, you might include crochet, but it's basically Luis Robert. So the Minnesota Twins is a team the mayor has swung a pretty significant deal with last winter for Jorge Polanco, of course. That they're not going to be adding payroll this winter.

Starting point is 00:06:11 They're also ownership is looking to sell. So they're kind of in a weird spot after blowing a great opportunity to make the playoffs this year. A lot of interesting names on this roster, some of whom we, we've already talked about quite a bit here on this show on CTZ, including, you know, of course, Willie Castro. So, yeah, tell me what you see here with the Minnesota Twins. Yeah, it's Willie Castro is kind of the big one here. He's set to make, I believe, 6.7 is the estimate, give or take.

Starting point is 00:06:53 And he's an interesting player. He might be your solution at second base. he might be your solution at third base you might just be a really good you know not really a bench player per se but like super utility like gets 400 played appearances the example basically an everyday player but he's not playing the same position right you know on a day to day basis right like the example we kind of always go back to is marwin gonzalez but that's getting pretty dated at this point you guys remember ben zobrist uh that that's kind of And Castro is a different player than Consueless too.

Starting point is 00:07:28 Yeah, it's more of a speed profile. But that's the idea. And Castro, that makes a lot of sense for Seattle. They could use a guy like that on their bench. But, you know, there's a few more guys. Minnesota, I think actually lines up pretty well with Seattle, especially if they're going to cut payroll. I think of guys like Griffin Jacks out of the bullpen that could really help the Mariners in the back end.

Starting point is 00:07:49 Yohan Duran Duran is a guy who is Arb one this year. he's making money. Do the twins want to trade him? Maybe, maybe not. But, I mean, if you put Duran and Munoz in the back of your bullpen, you've upgraded to say the least. So that's the guy, a couple of bullpen guys to watch there. Again, you know, if the Mariners do make a move in the rotation,

Starting point is 00:08:15 Pablo Lopez probably getting shopped this winter. And, you know, big fan of Pablo Lopez, Bailey Ober and Joe Ryan are both Arv won. I don't know of any of those either of those guys are actual upgrades to what you have right now, which speaks to how incredible the Mariners rotation really is. But yeah, you know, it's mostly guys like that. Kepler, a free agent, so he's not in this conversation. You know, I do wonder if Miranda, we talked about this a little bit a few months ago or a month ago or maybe a few weeks ago.

Starting point is 00:08:48 I don't know. It's all running together. We talked about him a little bit, third baseman. really hit this year, but struggled a bit in the second half, not a ton of power, blah, blah, blah, blah. You guys know Miranda by now, not a good defender. But yeah, I mean, unless, you know, again, unless like Brooks Lee is available,

Starting point is 00:09:07 which I don't think he's going to be because he's cheap. Yeah, I don't think there's a ton here offensively, but I do think Willie Castro is one of them. Maybe Kyle Farmer, if he, I don't know how his option situation is going to work with Kyle Farmer, to be part of your third base solution perhaps. But yeah, it's Willie Castro. It's, you know, maybe Kyle Farmer.

Starting point is 00:09:29 And then it's the handful of bullpen guys. And there's a few. It's not just Jackson and Duran. I figured, did you mention Julian. No, I did not. Yeah, Julian's interesting. Not a great defender at second base. Strikes out a ton.

Starting point is 00:09:42 Has a lot of power from the left side and walks a ton as well. So really interesting player there. Yeah. Had a great year. Was it 22, I believe? Struggle in 23, and he spent most of this year going back and forth between the minors and the majors. But, yeah, Julian is a guy to watch as well. He didn't play in 2022.

Starting point is 00:10:03 He had a really good 20, 23. 20, okay. So, yeah. You know, depending on how aggressive the Mariners are with money, which, yeah, I know, the Mariners are, you know, the Mariners are potentially in the market for a backup catch. So, you know, just to throw their names out there, Christian Vasquez, 10 million bucks, not very good, probably not. But if the twins want to shop Ryan Jeffers and Jeffers is backing up Cal and D-Hing a lot, I mean, that's a pretty good bat. So we'll see. I don't think they want to carry three catchers though, but just to make sure we put them out there.

Starting point is 00:10:41 There you go. I think this is Castro, Jacks, Duran, and then maybe a Miranda, Brooks Lee, Julian, cheap guy. that you can kind of maybe flip a major league piece for who's not making a ton of money either and maybe have part of your solution at second or third base. But yeah, there are quite a few players, mostly role players on this twins team that the Mariners should have interest in. All right. So we still have the three playoff teams in the AL Central to talk about just a moment.

Starting point is 00:11:14 But first, yeah, crazy. But yeah, we'll be talking about those three teams. in just a moment, but first a reminder of this episode of the Lockdown-Arens podcast is once again brought to you by Game Time. So I used to live in New Mexico and down in New Mexico there are zero pro sports teams and a lot of bands and artists I listen to skip going there more often than not. So when I moved to Toronto where there's a baseball team, a basketball team, a hockey team, even a soccer team and there's great music being played every night in the city, I was right in

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Starting point is 00:13:06 Nothing really to talk about in Chicago, but a lot to talk about in Minnesota. Let's move on to the Detroit Tigers, who were one of the more fun stories of 2024. Unfortunately, us Mariners fans won't remember them very first. fondly, but baseball fans in general had a lot of fun watching the Tigers this year and the run that they went on. We know that the Marys have liked some of their players that are still on their roster in the past, like Parker Meadows and Kerry Carpenter. How do you get those guys? Who on this roster stands out to you? Yeah, it's Gary Carpenter.

Starting point is 00:13:50 That's the big one. T is a pure platoon bat. No question about it. Not great defensively, but whatever you're running, Randy or Rosarena out there. Clearly, you don't care that much about outfield defense. And Kerry Carpenter is, you know,

Starting point is 00:14:08 more or less Bryce Harper against 65% of the pitchers in baseball. Like, pretty good player. You might want to consider going out and getting that guy, but are the Tigers going to trade him? I don't know, because I'll tell you this. Like I think the Tigers are going to be pretty aggressive this offseason, but if it doesn't break right for them, they could be in last place.

Starting point is 00:14:28 Well, fourth place next year and be like a fringe 500 team at best. Like that could be their ceiling. They got incredibly lucky this year. They, you know, they outplayed their baseball card for like two months. The rest of the league really just fell back to them. And they took advantage, good for them. But this is not a team that's particularly well set up for the next. you know, two, three years.

Starting point is 00:14:54 They outplayed where they should be. But maybe they make some big changes. But yeah, like I do think that, I do think that now I'm blinking on the name, Carrie Carpenter. I do think Carrie Carpenter is a good ad. I do think he's a worthwhile target to have discussions about. I've heard that Jerry really liked him in the past. That was not this last year.

Starting point is 00:15:15 They didn't, or I don't know if they tried or not. But the year before, they actually really liked him. And they made inquiries about him. But yeah, I mean, I think aside from him, Parker Meadows, obviously had some big moments that kind of screwed the Mariners quite a bit, two separate ones. But then he also, you know, screwed over the Astros in the playoffs. So, yeah, you know, you take the good with the bad. But yes, I heard that the Mariners were really interested in Meadows as late as spring training last year of 2024. So yeah, there's a couple guys there.

Starting point is 00:15:54 Matt Beirling is pretty interesting, particularly since you don't have a third base option. He is R of one. He's not a great player, but he's coming off of a pretty good year that basically took him from that like Nixon Zell range where it's like really good athlete, good tools, can't really put it together to now Beerling's like, oh, maybe. Like he was probably the third best hitter in that Tigers lineup. which says more about the Tigers lineup than it does Veerling, but whatever. He's definitely got to watch. Yeah, and then, you know, there's the bullpen guys if they're willing to trade one of them. Will Vest is interesting fully.

Starting point is 00:16:31 It's pretty interesting. Maybe brisky, but it doesn't really seem like they're going to trade him. And then kind of a veteran, I think we've talked about him at least like three acquisition periods in a row at this point. but Andy Abagnas as kind of a, you know, second baseman, really good defender, crush his left-handed pitching, you know, versus righties. Sometimes he's okay. Sometimes he's terrible.

Starting point is 00:16:59 I mean, he was literally a 13 WRC plus against Rides this year. Yeah. Unplayable this year against Rides. Right. And you kind of have Dylan Moore already, you know, does Abanias make a ton of sense? How many platoons do you want, blah, blah, blah. But that's a guy who I think I'm pretty.

Starting point is 00:17:16 interested in. And then, you know, if you want to take a shot on like a former top prospect who hasn't really panned out, there's a couple of them here. There's Casey Mize. And then there's Spencer Torkelson, who Torkelson terrible this year, last year at 31 home runs. So, I mean, yeah. I mean, Torkelson was essentially Jake Berger in 2023. Yeah. So I do think that there are some guys here. There are some pieces here. I don't think you're going to find like major. assets off of this roster. I mean, if you could kit Riley Green, by all means, without giving up Miller or Wu or Kirby or Gilbert, by all means, go get Riley Green, but you can't.

Starting point is 00:17:58 So, yeah, I think it's Carpenter. I think it's Veerling, maybe a bullpen guy or two. And then I think it's like the former top prospects, Casey Mize and Spencer Torkelson. Both of those guys could make quite a bit of sense. So the Kansas City Royals, Colby, what do you think about them? Bobby Wood Jr. Clearly. Logan Gilbert for Bobby

Starting point is 00:18:20 with Jr. I'm willing to make that sacrifice. There are quite a few like role players that, you know, maybe you can kick the tires on that are kind of interesting.

Starting point is 00:18:33 You know, I think the guy that would stand out the most here for people because of the need at third base for the mirrors is Michael Garcia, but, eh, he was not good this year.

Starting point is 00:18:43 Yeah, yeah, he wasn't good. I'm just in general, just not a huge fan. He's a glove only third baseman, like no power whatsoever. Yeah. So. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:18:56 Like M.J. Melendez, Kyle Isbel? Maybe. Yeah, Melendez can't play defense. Isbel kind of can't hit. So he can play defense but can't hit. Melendez can't play defense and most of the time can't hit. He's got some. really insane pull power, but, uh, you know, it's just part timers, uh, really. Uh,

Starting point is 00:19:22 not that that doesn't have value. Of course it does. Uh, but, you know, nothing to get super excited about, uh, like the Mariners, they're not getting Pasquitino. They're obviously not getting Bobby Whit Jr. I mean, I mean, if you just want to give up on it so quickly, probably not, but sure. I mean, I'm just saying there's a, there's a path out there for Bobby Whit and Vlad Jr. And if you like that path, check out our offseason plan. Hashtag totally not lying. But yeah, it's, it's, you know, like a couple guys in the bullpen, Hunter Harvey, who they acquired. They were pretty disappointed with him.

Starting point is 00:19:58 They might be willing to move on from him. And, you know, pretty good track record there overall. John Schreiber is pretty interesting. Carlos Hernandez, who you remember Julio hit that nuke two years ago to kind of kick off the August of Julio, so to speak. He's got pretty good stuff. He's Arbeligible. He's kind of struggled a little bit. So he's out there.

Starting point is 00:20:21 And like he said, Isbell, Melendez, you know, a couple role players, fourth outfield types. Melendez does have a catching background, but there's a reason he doesn't do it anymore. Again, if you would be your emergency third catcher. Yeah, yeah. Again, if you're looking for a backup catcher, Freddie Fermin, is pretty interesting. However, he's kind of. Yeah, he's also kind of transitioning to the full-time catcher because Salvador Perez literally shouldn't catch.

Starting point is 00:20:52 He's not good back there anymore. But yeah, like you said, you're not getting Pasquantino. You're not getting Mikel, Michael Garcia doesn't make a lot of sense. Michael Massey is a guy to maybe watch. I think there's a little bit more in that bat, but Kansas City, like, you're not getting like Seth Lugo. You're not getting, you know, there's no real starting pitcher that you're going to target here.

Starting point is 00:21:14 and that's not to take a shot at Kansas City's rotation, which was pretty darn good, just that the Mariners rotation is set. So again, like with all starting pitchers, unless you trade one of your guys, trading for another one doesn't make a lot of sense for you. So I think, again, we're looking at bullpen arms. We're looking at role players.

Starting point is 00:21:31 And then maybe you take a shot on like, you have the fix for Melendez or you have the fix for for Massey or somebody like that. And you take that shot. But yeah, I think it's like Hunter Harvey. and then like Melendez and you know is well yeah guys like that like there's just they're not a great fit between these two sides we know that the royals were very interested in the Mariners pitching last year specifically Miller and Wu and it's like okay but you don't really have the pieces to go get those guys because pass when Tino's not going to carry that package for you so yeah

Starting point is 00:22:09 I just there's not a great fit here it's bullpen and role player again in the royals obviously they're going to go into next year thinking they can win the division so they're not just going to give away you know valuable role players you're going to have to give up you know pretty good halls to get them you're listening to the locked on marries podcast we are breaking down the al central looking for potential trade targets for the mariners and lastly here for us Cleveland Guardians how are the marries getting Jose Ramirez colby yeah it's going to be tricky but I think they could pull it off Jose Ramirez, like in all seriousness, like, look, are the guardians going to move Ramirez? Of course not. Of course not. Of course not. Maybe.

Starting point is 00:22:56 Like, they might. They might. The guardians, they're never going to spend. Like, accept it. They're not going to spend what they should. And Ramirez takes up a big chunk of their payroll. He's also getting another year older. He was great this year.

Starting point is 00:23:10 So, like, I'm not saying that they're going to do it this winter. but Cleveland is one of those teams where when you look at it and you go, oh, well, they wouldn't trade their star. Cleveland's one of those few teams where you're like, you sure about that? They might. They might. Whereas like Vlad Jr. is like a 5% chance.

Starting point is 00:23:26 I think, I think that like Jose Ramirez on any given offseason is like a 10 to 15% chance. And that's just steady, right? But I don't think you ever get to a point where it's like they're absolutely going to trade him. Because his contract is very reasonable. It's just, it's eating up most of their payroll. And they have some guys who are going to start to make a little bit of more money over the next couple of years. Ramirez not likely to be traded.

Starting point is 00:23:50 I would say I would be shocked if he was traded this winter. But he can't rule it out entirely. Like the raise, you know, the guardians are willing to trade guys a year too early or whatever to kind of reset their payroll situation. But yeah, like we say it in Jess, you know, how do they get Jose Ramirez? they probably don't, but I wouldn't say that there is a 0% chance that Ramirez is available this way. So just keep that in mind. But, you know, other than that, there are a couple guys.

Starting point is 00:24:23 The biggest and most obvious one is Josh Naylor, who has just one year left of club control. Clearly, they're not signing him to an extension. They've acquired Kyle Manzardo. He's going to take over the first base duties probably this year. Naylor set to earn about $12 million in arbitration. Josh Naylor is getting traded this winter. They also have another guy in John Kinsey, Noel, who can play some first base.

Starting point is 00:24:49 First base, DH. So, yeah, both of those, Manzardo and Noel are making the league minimum. So those two guys can take Naylor's spot for $11 million less, which for Cleveland matters. So Nailor's getting traded. Got off to a really fast start this year, really slowed down towards the end. but it's, you know, 25, 30 home run power. He actually has a history of hitting for a high average. This year he kind of flipped his profile a little bit.

Starting point is 00:25:17 Used to kind of be questions about whether or not he could, you know, hit for power and average or if he was just going to be an average, you know, guy who has kind of below average first base power. But yes, he is a first baseman. Probably should DH like he's not a good glove. He is very slow on the bases. and he is not a huge walker. He'll walk some.

Starting point is 00:25:44 It's not like he doesn't walk at all. He's not Victor Robles. But he is not exactly, you know, like Randy or Roserina, at least this last year, Randy or Roserina. But yeah, 243, 32456. The last year, it was 308, 354, 489. But this year he had 31 home runs in 2020. three he hits 17. So it is kind of a,

Starting point is 00:26:09 uh, you know, a little bit of a sell out for power a little bit more because you're a first baseman type of profile. I don't know if you'd rather have the 31 home runs or you'd rather have the 350 on base because he actually slugged more in 2020. than he did in 20, 24 just fewer home runs.

Starting point is 00:26:25 So, uh, obviously more strikeouts this last year too. So everything in the profile points to a guy selling out for power, getting close to free agency wanting to cash in as a first base, DH only I have to hit. hit home runs to make money, blah, blah, blah. But I mean, I think if you're going to acquire him, you might look at extending him, at least, you know, maybe it's only three or four year extension, but possibly.

Starting point is 00:26:46 I'd probably rather have the guy hitting 308 with a 350 on base and 40 doubles and 20 home runs than the guy hitting, you know, 30 home runs and hitting 240 with a 320 on base. But he makes sense for the Mariners. Again, he's a left-handed bat. Doesn't bring anything to the table other than offense. The power will play at Team Mobile Park. It's great pull of power. I watched the dude break a win.

Starting point is 00:27:05 at the hit-a-hier cafe at batting practice a few years ago, like tremendous power, very easy power. But there's also some hit tool there and the ability to put the ball in play pretty consistently. So he's only one and a half one player this year because of the defense and the base running and because of the kind of fringe slightly above average on base skills that he showed this year. But Naylor's the guy out of everybody on this list. He is the guy most likely to be traded and the one who also kind of makes the most sense for Seattle. There's a few other guys on this Cleveland roster. The one guy that I want to talk about or at least acknowledge, I don't think he's going to get traded,

Starting point is 00:27:42 but I at least want to acknowledge him is David Fry. Now all hopes of him getting traded probably died when he hit that home run, as silly as that sounds. But that's probably the case. And also he's pre-arb who can play a lot of different positions. Yeah. Right. So, but he's,

Starting point is 00:28:00 he had a kind of a 20, 23 Luke Rayleigh season. where it was a tale of two halves for him. In the second half, or well, since July 1st, he slash 211, 279, 366, 84WRC plus. He was awesome in the first half, amazing in the first half. But again, like Luke Rayleigh, kind of fell off in the second half. So it's like, who is David Fry, really? What kind of player is he? But he's a guy that can play a lot of different positions.

Starting point is 00:28:27 He can also catch a little bit. So maybe there's a path there, but probably not. again now he's kind of a cult hero again he's not making any money he can play a bunch of different positions he gives to the guardians a lot of flexibility so yeah probably not but i did want to mention him sure um you know they acquired him he also hit some big home runs uh in the postseason but lane thomas gonna make eight million bucks uh again the guardians that that means something like that's a big chunk of their payroll that they're willing to spend unfortunately and i would hope payroll goes up this winter

Starting point is 00:29:05 because they just went to the ALCS but yeah you never really know with them but Lane Thomas you know kind of a fourth outfielder plays into the DH mix a little bit he's set to make 8 million bucks so he could be on the move this winter you want to take a shot on fixing Karen Shaq you want to take a shot on that

Starting point is 00:29:27 like most annoying because you're watching baseball but yeah it was pretty good in 2023 but yeah obviously struggle this year. Then there's guys like Nick Sandlin and Eli Morgan, you know, mostly middle relief types. But they, you know, Cleveland's bullpen was really good this year. You need middle relief types. You need, you know, guys who could pitch it.

Starting point is 00:29:50 Like bullpen is probably the most underrated need for the Mariners this year. Nobody seems to be talking about it. But the Mariners need bullpen arms, like good ones. And so Cleveland has a couple. So that could be something there. dark, dark horse here to get traded. Andres Jimenez, the contract, he goes from making $5 million this last year to $10 million in 2025. And then that jumps to $15 million in $26.

Starting point is 00:30:18 And then it jumps to like $23 million for the last two years of his deal. He was not good this year at the plate. He was not very good last year at the plate. 2022, he was great at the plate. and he's arguably the best defensive player in baseball, regardless of position, and he happens to play second base, which is a high, you know, value position, which the mayors currently do not have any answers at, well, major league answers at, that are as good as Jimenez, even with the bat issues.

Starting point is 00:30:50 So could the Mariners acquire him? We know that the guardians are not going to pay Andres Jimenez $23 million in a couple of years, not going to happen. He's going to get moved in the next year or two. could be this winner. Do you want to take a shot on that? Do you want to be the one to try and fix the bat? Because for him to be like a four win player, five win player even, he just has to be average. Like he just has to be a 100 WRC plus. He's only 26. Like it's not like he's going to lose his. Like basically like the idea is Nico Horner, but there's even less pressure on the bat because he's significantly better than Horner even at second base.

Starting point is 00:31:27 So the only concern there is that he's owed a lot of money on the back end of his deal. And I don't think the Mariners are going to be a team that's going to pay, you know, an average hitting second base from $23 million. So you probably need Cleveland to eat money. That's probably not going to happen. So probably dies. But again, if you're looking for kind of a dark horse name here that could be traded and could, you know, fill a need in the infield for the Mariners that really isn't getting talked about anywhere else.

Starting point is 00:31:56 Just keep it in the back of your mind, Andre Semen. maybe. Sure. All right. So I think that's it. Anyone else? You want to quickly mention? No, I mean, like, I don't know.

Starting point is 00:32:07 Like, like the whole thing with the starting pitching remains the same. But if you trade one, Tristan McKenzie, maybe. But, yeah, again, bullpen armed. And then there's actually a few, like, everyday player types in Cleveland. Like, it's the nailer, maybe Jimenez, maybe Fry. Maybe Jose Ramirez. Probably not this winter, but maybe. Like, you cannot rule it out, not with, not with Cleveland holding his contract.

Starting point is 00:32:31 So, uh, it's always worth checking in. Like that first call every winter, hey, you interested? No. Okay. I'll call you in 12 months. Sure. Like, I'll call you in six months at the deadline. Let me know.

Starting point is 00:32:43 Uh, but yeah, the Cleveland, there's a few. There, there's actually a handful of guys that make a lot of sense for Seattle. All right. Well, that's going to do it for our show. Before we get out of here, a reminder that lockdown has launched the first of national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube, and now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app. Locked-on Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day

Starting point is 00:33:07 with the local experts of Locked-on, plus our national shows covering every league. Find Lockdown Sports Today now available on the free Fire TV channels app. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Merrers podcast for Colby PetNode. I'm Tiding Azzalus. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-U-Nor-Rer's. You can follow me at Tiding-Az-Las-Las and Colby at CPAT-11. that's CPAT 1-1. You can also find all that stuff

Starting point is 00:33:27 in the description of this episode. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you next time. Peace.

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