Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Emerson Hancock or Cooper Criswell: Who Will Take Bryce Miller's Spot in Seattle Mariners' Rotation?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The final week of spring training is upon us, and we're going to kick things off, as always, by answering your Mariners 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, March 16th, 2026. You're listening to the Lockdown Marys podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network. My name is Tadah Gazzal, and I'm joined at a day. As always, by my co-coast, Colby Patnode.

Starting point is 00:00:38 We're two lifelong Marist fans who've been covering the team for over half a decade. And today, we'll be opening up the mailbag and answering some of your Marriss questions like we do here every single Monday. But before we do that, I want to shout out our title sponsor today, MLB the show 26. Visit MLB-T-H-E dot show slash locked on and use the promo code locked on. That's L-O-C-E-D-O-N to unlock a pack for use in Diamond Dynasty. Pre-order now available tomorrow on PlayStation 5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. it eat for everyone looking forward to playing that all right kicking us off here on mailback mondays josh you want to know regardless of what side you're on can we just get a moratorium put on anything

Starting point is 00:01:16 related to handshake gate i think there's kind of a moratorium on this already because while you know randy hasn't directly like killed it specifically with that statement that let's be very clear the mariners prepared on his behalf you know he didn't outwardly say like oh yeah, Cal and I are cool. That's not what that statement said at all. I do think that that's kind of the end of it, at least for now. And then we'll see once these guys get back in camp with one another. But I just don't foresee anything else happening between now and then the point where Cal gets back into camp, you know, sometime this weekend or, you know, sometime before this weekend.

Starting point is 00:02:02 Like, I don't think Randy's going to say anything more about it. So again, like, let's just let these guys get back into the same room together. I'm sure they're going to have a conversation about it, maybe multiple conversations about it with Dan Wilson, a maniacic present. And then from that point forward, if something comes from that, which maybe it doesn't,

Starting point is 00:02:20 you know, maybe it gets buried, hopefully behind the scenes, then we'll talk about it. But unless that happens, I just, I don't really see anything else that's worth talking about here. I feel like we've covered pretty much all of it.

Starting point is 00:02:34 All right. So today's Tom, sorry, I want to know, do you think the controversies around this WBC are good or bad for baseball as a whole, asking shortly after the blown call to end the game? Like we talked about with Stacey last week, this is just like all these controversies and blah,

Starting point is 00:02:52 blah, blah, and last night brought another one with the, with the blown call to end the game. It's just highlighted the worst aspects of baseball discourse and then also just the game itself, right? So specifically, Pancheck gate, that's highlighted a lot of the worst parts of baseball discourse. You know, the Dominican team and some of the other Latin, you know, teams, you know, celebrating compared to how the USA goes about their business.

Starting point is 00:03:20 That's highlighted. That's highlighted a lot of the worst aspects of baseball discourse. And then last night with bad baseball fans. Yeah, yeah. And then lastly, you know, with how last night's game in. on the blown call that highlighted a part of the game that has been incredibly annoying that has also been a big part of the worst part of baseball discourse that major league baseball itself has already started to address with the aBS system and it leaves you to wonder why was it not implemented for the wbc as well yeah like these guys you know most of the guys that are participating in this tournament are going to be using the system for the remainder of their careers. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:04:07 I, I think, though, in totality, I don't think the few negative things have outweighed the incredible, you know, thing we saw of the tournament. And we saw, I mean, Japan didn't make it to the semifinals. They, they, you know, Italy has exploded. And if you think that the growth of baseball in Italy is not going to, you know, follow suit to this, you're insane. We saw this happen with Australia. the game is growing globally, which is exactly what you want.

Starting point is 00:04:39 That's kind of the whole point, or at least that was the stated purpose of the WBC is to grow the game globally. You know, sports leagues are kind of realizing they can't or well, they shouldn't at least shut off, you know, the rest of their view, the rest of the audience that wants to watch over the, you know, in the entire world. Even the NFL, which is the king of North American sports, is trying to expand their overseas markets and all that. Major League Baseball has a unique thing over the NFL.

Starting point is 00:05:06 And, you know, basketball and hockey also kind of had this going for them, too, where they are kind of an international game. And there is, like, different styles of baseball and different styles of basketball that are played. And they're kind of unique to the region. And you can actually have those players play in the best league in the world for them, whereas in the NFL, sorry, the best football player in the world born in Germany, or the best football player born in Germany is probably not going to perform

Starting point is 00:05:32 that well in the best league in the world, at least not right away. Like you still have to grow the game, right? And so I think the WBC has done a great job of growing the game. Obviously, Italy making their run has been massive and it's awesome. Hopefully helps grow the game more in Europe and all that. But yeah, I mean, to ignore the, you know, like the strikes and the balls and like the ABS stuff, like that is something that obviously needs to change. And Major League Baseball thinks it does too because they're changing it.

Starting point is 00:06:01 Right. But like the clash of styles. Predomo taps his head there. You know, it's ball four gets confirmed. Runners at the corners, two outs. And one of my opinion, one of the best baseball games ever played, even though it was only

Starting point is 00:06:15 two to one, I thought it was just an incredible, incredible game, despite how it finished. But you have runners on the corners, two outs. You got Mason Miller on the bump and he would be facing, what, his teammate, Fernando Tatis Jr. That's who was on deck, I believe. Like, what else could you possibly want? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:06:31 That is much better storyline than like, oh, that was a bad call. Yeah. And it's not, it's not and it's, and it's just about having that moment, that potential moment stripped away from us. It's not about who won, who benefited from that call, who didn't benefit from the call. It's not about any of that. As just a fan of great baseball, the fact that we were ripped that, that moment, that potential moment of having Tatis versus Miller with runners on the corners, two outs and a one run game, having that ripped away from this. sucks. I think in general the conversations or the controversy surrounding, I think when it's not related to the balls and the strikes, it's actually a good thing.

Starting point is 00:07:11 We should be having conversations about like the different cultures of baseball and how they can learn from one another and how you can grow the game by, you know, accepting more than one way to behave on a baseball field and all that. But obviously the controversy surrounding the, you know, is that a strike? Is that a ball? That's stupid because you could fix that like, that with no effort whatsoever. Like the system's already in place to do it. And you just chose not to. I think that kind of shows a little bit of like, this is not a serious league that they couldn't or this is not really a super

Starting point is 00:07:42 serious thing if they didn't think it was important to have a system that already exist that they're already willing to use in Major League Baseball. They know works incredibly well. Yeah. To not have that available to you in a game of this high of caliber is insane. I think that's a bad controversy. I think everything else leads to a, a really interesting conversation about how, you know, different styles of the game are played and how they all work and how they can all coexist and all of that. So yeah, in general, I think it's, I think it's mostly good. But yeah, obviously there's some bad stuff too. Yeah, I wouldn't say that it completely like overshadows the tournament or anything like that. I would more so call it just kind of a blemish to what has otherwise been a great, a great, great, great tournament. Like, especially if you're a diehard baseball fan, it really doesn't get any better than this.

Starting point is 00:08:30 with, you know, some of the upsets, you know, the run that team Italy has gone on, like you mentioned, you know, and even some of the smaller moments, right? Like with the Czech Republic guy, the electrician, the pitcher, his name is escaping me at the moment, unfortunately. But, you know, him and then the kid from Brazil, the 17-year-old high schooler, Joseph Contreras, you know, getting judged to whiff, you know, on a fastball and then getting his bat to break to induce an inning double play. Like stuff like that. like that's like that's the best of baseball so while like there's these moments that have highlighted the worst elements of baseball there's also been so many moments that have highlighted the best moments of baseball like Julio robin erin judge last night those are two of the freakiest players in major league baseball and Julio beat judge on that in that particular ball and then like that's all and that you get to see like you have the potential to see that every single night in major league baseball and it's not a one-off and so yeah it's a lot of great moments from like the surprises and like the fun story and that's lines to just the incredible baseball that gets played at this tournament. Overall, it is a fantastic thing. It's one of the best things Major League Baseball has introduced in the last 20 years. And, yeah, I mean, we'll see how it changes with the Olympics and all that. But boy, only six teams get

Starting point is 00:09:44 to participate in the Olympics. How stupid is that? But yeah, the World Baseball Classic, I think, is awesome. And I look forward to the next one, even though it's probably not going to be for another four years. All right. We'll answer more of your questions than just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of the lockdown Marrace podcast is brought to you by MLB, the show 26, and indeed. Today I'm thrilled to be talking about our sponsor, MLB the show 26. The greatest game in baseball is back with its newest installment. And let me tell you, baseball fans are going to have a hard time pulling themselves away from this game. Me personally, I can't wait to fire up franchise mode and take the Marys all the way this year.

Starting point is 00:10:21 I mean, I'm going to get Julio that MVP. I'm going to get revenge on the Blue Jays. It is going to be great. Heck, maybe I'll even use some of your trade ideas from fan fiction Friday along the way. But listen, if you're a gamer, a baseball fan, or just want to enjoy America's favorite pastime in a new exciting way, you are going to love MLB the Show 26. Play is your favorite team and franchise players and see if you have what it takes to win your own world series. Visit MLBThe Show.com slash locked on and use the promo code Locked on, that's LOCKED On to unlock a pack for use in Diamond Dynasty. Internet connection required.

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Starting point is 00:13:01 promo code March at Lockedon Mariners. That supercast.com. And also, round three of our top 50 Mariners Moments tournament has officially wrapped up. We will reveal the results on probably tomorrow's show and then get into the round four matchups as we start to really whittle this thing down and get into the idiot. Finally. So, Colie, I got a question for you. So I saw a tweet yesterday or a couple days ago.

Starting point is 00:13:31 It was a screenshot of Marco Gonzalez's spring training numbers with the Padres. And they're not good. And basically the tweet was like, this might be it for Marco. Yeah. Yeah. Marco Gonzalez. Is he a Mariner Hall of Famer? Sure.

Starting point is 00:13:50 Why not? Because we talk about Mitch Hanigur in that light. And they essentially put up the same amount of F4. I don't know what the B-Ware shakes out, or how the B-WR shakes out. But they essentially put up the same amount of F-4 in their times with the mirrors. I'm fine with it. I mean, we talked about this a lot with Gary Hill, since Gary's kind of our baseball historian, the closest we have, at least Northwest historian to being on the show. But if you're going to do that, like, you better put Freddie Garcia in there.

Starting point is 00:14:18 You better put Mark Langston in there. Like, the fact that Lincoln's not already in is insane. Don't get me wrong. Marco is like, if Marco is on the list, he is far down the list. But I just, but like, Dan Wilson's there. like if Dan's in like you're gonna tell like no just I'm not saying

Starting point is 00:14:34 Dan shouldn't be in I'm just saying like if we're gonna face it up based off like war and Dan Wilson's the line I mean come on like yeah I'm fine with it either way again like the team Hall of Fame I think people take that stuff too seriously

Starting point is 00:14:53 it's like just put whoever you want like oh he has to play it for five years why why is that who cares who cares? Like it's your team Hall of Fame. You honor the players you want to honor. And Marco is a guy who, you know, was very good for you for what six years.

Starting point is 00:15:11 And, you know, kind of helped you transition from, from that rebuild to the, he was one of the leaders along with him and Mitch Hanager, who I think is deserving. Those two guys kind of help usher in this new era. And Kyle Seeger, who's going to get in because,

Starting point is 00:15:25 you know, he actually has the numbers to back it up as well. It's not just a, you know, emotional component there. So sure. I mean, Marco getting in wouldn't bother me at all. It's just like,

Starting point is 00:15:33 cool. Now get off your high horse and go let Nelson Cruz in and go let, Robinson Canoe and go let Mark Langston in. And like the Mariners, honestly, their Hall of Fame should be bigger. Stop taking yourself so seriously. You're the Seattle Mariners.

Starting point is 00:15:48 Okay. We just, we went through the top 50 and we can only get to 25 or 26 players before we're like, ooh, you know, like stop taking yourself so seriously. You're the freaking mariners. Okay.

Starting point is 00:15:59 the Yankees. All right. NWFXC wants to know small sample size for Julio, this WBC. I can't help but noticing his professional approach against Mason Miller last night. Do we think he's coming into the season with a more mature hitter's mindset and focus? And it goes back to him, you know,

Starting point is 00:16:15 taking that time off around the All-Star break and what he's talked about, you know, reflecting back on that time about how he learned a lot about, you know, the kind of hitter he wants to be. So yeah, so I think Julio has just a better understanding, probably the best understanding that he's ever had in his career of just like

Starting point is 00:16:29 what he wants to. do with the plate and who he wants to be specifically as a hitter. I think it also helps, you know, what the lineup is that they've built around him. Right. So, you know, just having that protection around him and knowing like, I don't have to be the guy every night. I don't have to be the engine of the offense every single night. I don't have to hit the 100 run home run every single time I step up to the plate.

Starting point is 00:16:52 Cody wants to know, how do you feel about our corner outfield spots so far in camp? Robles seems to be moving into a bench roller missing the roster altogether. He's not going to miss the roster. right away. Maybe we get to a point this season where we talk about DFA and him, but because he's making a decent amount of money, like he's going to make the roster right out. Yeah,

Starting point is 00:17:09 he's going to make the roster out of the gate. I do kind of wonder, though, he is just like the fourth outfielder in their mind, and he's not really in much of a platoon, you know, that he's just, you know, he's the backup center fielder.

Starting point is 00:17:23 He might be a late game defensive replacement, maybe a late game pinch runner, stuff like that, you know? maybe play like maybe get into the lineup once maybe twice a week you know sure and that's kind of what his role is and dom can zone actually gets quite a few opportunities against lefties like could we see dom can zone against max freed in that yankee series maybe maybe you know instead of sure i think what we're going to see first of all in the outfield the corner outfield spots i feel okay about it uh mostly because if it doesn't go well that's not a traditionally hard you know

Starting point is 00:17:56 a place to go find somebody to play in the middle of the year. Right? It's not like you had to go get a third baseman. Well, we hope. But it's not like where you had to go get a third basement last year. And there was only one guy that made any sense. And thankfully, you got him at a good price too. But like, yeah, right fielders, they get moved every summer.

Starting point is 00:18:14 So I really don't. That's a big part of the reason. But, you know, also I'm pretty bullish on, on Luke Rayleigh, bouncing back this year. Obviously, Ref Snyder's got a long track record of doing what they're going to ask him to do. in Canzone, you know, for as many questions as I had and still do have. He was really good last year. There's no denying that until you get to the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:18:35 He's also had a solid WBC. Sure. Yeah. You know, and he might be able to hit some lefties. So overall, I feel okay about it. Robles, I think, though, they are going to try and do the straight platoon or pretty close to straight platoon early in the season. And then after, you know, four to six weeks, they'll probably reassess and be like,

Starting point is 00:18:55 okay, do we want to move Victor into more of a true fourth outfielder role and just have, you know, can zone play against lefties and, you know, and do that or do we, or is this working? Do we want to continue to do it? But yeah, they're not going to DFA, Robles or anything like that, not for at least the first month or so. Yeah. So, yeah, overall, I feel okay about it. And Victor could eventually just become a pure fourth outfielder. But I think they're going to try and make the platoon things work.

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Starting point is 00:21:20 And you're listening to the Locktime Airs Podcasts, part of the Locktime Podcast Network, your team every day. As always, if you want to hear from me and Colby, even more to help support the show. We have a Patreon. It's called Control the Zone. And on there we talk, Marriss, Seahawks, all a good stuff. For more information, go to patreon.com, forward slash control the zone.

Starting point is 00:21:36 Link in the description of this episode. All right. Klaatzluficus wants to know. Who would you pick as the fifth starter of Bryce Miller? I almost said Mason Miller. If Bryce Miller is not ready by opening day. Yeah, I believe this morning we saw an article by it might have been Kramer as well. It just basically said like they're trying to decide right now.

Starting point is 00:21:57 who the number five is going to be, and it's going to be Chriswell or Hancock. Sounds like both are going to make the opening day roster. So it's not one or the other for the last spot on the, you know, on the team. But yeah, I think Chris Well is the way to go. He's just been a better starter in his career than Hancock. And we've seen what Hancock looks like when you shorten him up and he only has to go out there and, you know, face, you know, three to six batters. And he can just kind of let the fastball eat and all that. and he can lower the arm slot.

Starting point is 00:22:27 Like he just looks like he might actually be a major leaguer if you just leave him in the bullpen, whereas in the rotation, he's a fringe major leaguer. And that's me being nice. So, yeah, I think Chris Well is the way to go. Put Hancock in the bullpen. You're going to get more value out of him that way. And, you know, again, if Chriswell struggles for a couple times through and Bryce still isn't ready to go, you can always just go to Hancock or they could piggyback off of each other.

Starting point is 00:22:53 So, yeah, I prefer Chriswell. I just feel like he's less prone to the blowup start than Hancock, which we see pretty much once every three or four times he takes the ball as a starter. He's going to have a blowup outing. And I don't think Chris Will has that wide of a variance in him. Next question comes from Jeff, who wants to know who's going to end up being the backup catcher for the Bears? I think Kisner, but I don't know.

Starting point is 00:23:20 I don't know that it matters much. Neither one of these guys has been that impressive based on what I've seen. And to be honest, I haven't gotten to see a lot of them because, again, the Mariners haven't been on TV in a week. So. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'll say Kisner for now, but it could be any, either one of them.

Starting point is 00:23:38 And I don't think it's, you know, I don't think the money is that big of a deal. But, you know, we are talking about the difference between a million dollars on a backup catcher you don't really love versus, you know, 2.25 plus the million. You owe the other guy you just cut for a backup catcher you don't love. So I still think it's Kisner. But it's tough to say. Yeah, I'll still go with Kisner, but I just, I really, I don't have any insight on this, really. I haven't, you know, even when we have been able to watch the Marys, I haven't really seen anything that stands out to me. It all comes down to what's going on behind the scenes, right?

Starting point is 00:24:14 Who the mirrors are most comfortable with catching their guys. All right. Last question of the day comes from C-Sports 22, prediction for who the opening day starter will be. So we got to ask this a week or so ago. My answer was Brian Wu. I'm not moving off of that. I think it'll be Wu. Wouldn't be surprised if it's Gilbert either, though.

Starting point is 00:24:35 It's going to be Logan. You think it's going to be Logan? We'll probably find out here in the next day or two. Yeah, I would imagine so. It's going to be Logan. They're going to give him the ball veteran. I mean, barely over Wu. But, yeah, it'll be Logan.

Starting point is 00:24:52 he's he's their guy they're trying to extend him and he's kind of like the leader of the pitching staff so i think they they reward that doesn't matter if he pitches first or second no not really and i don't think logan will be one of those guys who takes personal offense i think he wants to start opening day but i don't think he's going to be like how dare you disrespect me by not giving me the opening day ball now i'm not going to sign an extension with you it's like dan wilson can take that phony thing and shove it you know nowhere and all that like yeah i don't think that's logan it's randy but it's not logan so yeah i still like logan gets the ball though uh but yeah woo or logan either one is fine whoever doesn't get in on

Starting point is 00:25:33 opening day is getting it for game which will be on apple tv national tv ooh game oh really apparently so yeah uh i'm gonna go logan though all right well that is going to do it for our show thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown airs podcast part of the lockdown podcast network your team every day. Once again, if you never miss an episode, it's time to make it official. Join the lockdown every day or club and get ad-free audio,

Starting point is 00:25:57 access to our members-only Discord, and more are all built for our most loyal fans. For Colby Pat, note, I'm Tadangazas. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L-O-U-U-Nor-Rer's. You can follow me at C-Pat-E-N-Earres. And Colby at C-Pat-E-N-1. We're also on Blue Sky.

Starting point is 00:26:10 You can follow me at TDG, Colby at MLB-Colby and the show at Locked-Mariner. So you can also find us on Instagram at Lockdown Marrars. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day, and we'll see you next time. Peace.

Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Emerson Hancock or Cooper Criswell: Who Will Take Bryce Miller's Spot in Seattle Mariners' Rotation?

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