Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Fan Fiction Friday: Mariners and Jeff McNeil? Alex Verdugo?

Episode Date: December 3, 2022

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You all know what day it is. Fan Fiction Friday coming right up here on the Locked on Mariners 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. It is Friday, December 2nd, 2020. This is signing Azores and Colby Patnaud for the Lockdown Mariners podcast.

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Fan Fiction Friday, folks. Once again, for the third week in a row, we're doing fan fiction Friday. We're going to be reading and grading some of your trades that you proposed on Twitter. For those of you that are new to fan fiction Friday. Colby, let those folks know what fanfiction Friday is. Yeah, so basically, we turn the tables on you guys and get to call you idiots for, you know, on one show a week. But yeah, it's pretty basic, right? You guys send us your trade ideas.

Ty and I usually take eight or nine. We got a lot this week, so there's no way we can get to all of them. Dude, we had 54 replies on Twitter, I think. Yeah. So we took eight or nine. I mean, maybe we could take a few more next week or something. I don't know. But we got a lot of them.

And essentially, Ty and I will just kind of discuss the merits of the trade, what works about it, what doesn't work about it. And then we'll each give it a grade on the 2080 scouting scale, 80 being like Hall of Fame and 20 being just like the dumbest thing we've ever heard. So yeah, I don't. don't think we've given out a 20 and we've given out some 25s but uh no one's got to 20 yet no one's hit rock bottom just yet so uh no one's got in 70 so uh yeah most one's got to the trades i don't even know if we've given out a 60 yet since we've rebutted this most of the trades

fall somewhere in between 40 and 50 which is like okay like they're good starting points typically if they fall between 40 and 50 there's just some things that need to be tweaked so uh yeah it's uh you know it's a way for you guys to interact with the show and for all these ideas to come from you guys means you can't criticize us for anything. So nice try. But yes. Get what you want, do you?

This is just a very chill show. You know, we're just kicking back, looking at some trades, talking trades with you guys, hammering all that stuff out. It's going to be a fun time. So let's get right into it. First trade comes from Logan,

but it's actually not a trade created by Logan. He rather wanted to get our thoughts on this trade proposed by the score.com. It's a three-way deal between the Yankees, Mariners, and Marlins. The big prize in the steel, of course, is Pablo Lopez going to the Yankees. Along with Jesse Winker, the Mariners would receive Glaber Torres and Frankie Montes, who they had interest in before they ended up trading for Luis Castillo. And then the Marlins would receive a hall consisting of Azwaldo Cabrera, Luis Gill, Jared Kellnick, Taylor Tremel, and Isaiah

kinder Folefa. So this is a very complicated deal here to kick things off, but what do you think about what the score proposed here for the Mariners, Marlins,

and Yankees, Colby? The Mariners aren't giving up enough to get the two guys that they get. Winker, Kalnick, Tremel, I mean, let's just be honest about that. That's,

it's more or less trash in trade conversation right now. Winker's making $9 million coming off of a terrible year, can't play left field. You know, he's only, and if he doesn't hit like he has in the past, he's a bad DH. So that's an issue. Kalnick hasn't hit at the big league level with any regularity whatsoever.

Same goes for Tramel. Both are interesting. And both are center fielers, which is going to be, or can play center field, I should say, which is going to be interesting to the Marlins. But if you're the Marlins, you can do better for Pablo Lopez. You can get, like, why not, if you're the Marlins, why not go shop, Pablo Lopez for Brian Reynolds straight up. You know, it's

I think if the Padres are going to, sorry, the Marlins are going to trade Pablo Lopez. It's probably going to be for an established major leaguer, center fielder. I just don't see this happening at all. Gill and Cabrera are nice ads for the Marlins as well.

But it also feels like quite a bit for the Yankees to give up to get Pablo Lopez. So I just don't think this trade really works. It's interesting. It's definitely creative. I just don't think the pieces line up the way that they would have to for this trade to come to fruition. Also, if I'm not mistaken,

isn't part of the reason that they want to get rid of Glaber because of Eswaldo Carrera? Don't they want to get him more playing time in the infield? Plus they just sign Kina Folefa and also Kina Fulafas in the steel. They're taking away three middle infield pieces. And also Cabrera can play some corner outfield, which he did in the playoffs.

I just I don't I don't see how this makes sense for the Yankees from a just a roster construction build and like you said I just I think the Mariners are not giving up enough and also I don't really want any part of Frankie Montes right now with that shoulder and how he looked to to end the season so yeah there's a lot of nose here for me I'm going to give this one I mean I guess we're still grading it just in the spirit of the show even though that it's not coming from a listener I'd give this deal like a 25 to a 30, honestly. I think that this is bad. I'd give it a 35, I think. Yeah. All right. Moving on. From KP, we've got Mariners trading Harry Ford,

Zach DeLoch, Jonathan Clase, and Taylor Dollar to the Twins for Jorge Polanco, and Griffin Jax. Colby, what do you think? Not enough for Horace Polanco. So the value of a middle infielder who can hit is tough to quantify, especially one who's still in his prime and still is under club control for a very reasonable price. So Harry Ford is nice.

Zach DeLoch is, he's nothing in trade talks, guys. He's a fringe fourth outfielder, maybe a major leaguer. already 24, 25 years old. He's just a dude. Like, he is Jake Shiner. You know, like, that's his role in a trade. Closset and Dollar are nice. You know, but the twins haven't really given us any indication that they're selling, they're rebuilding or any of that stuff. So, Claese, who's three years away and Ford, who's three years away, really aren't going to do a ton for the twins. The twins had already gone out and traded Kepler and Buxton. and

Maida and like, you know, they had already gone out and traded some vets and it was clear that they were

kind of rebuilding. I think Palanco is a good target and I think he would be available. I just have a hard time imagining that you're going to get

Jorge Polanco and the best player you give up is is Harry Ford who's three plus years away from the big leagues. I just don't see it. Yeah,

I agree with you. It's just until we get that indication, from the twins. And even then, I don't know if this is enough to get Jorge Polanco. He's really good. Like the numbers are not amazing, right? Like he's not an MVP candidate, but he's pretty good. It's pretty dang good. And he's under club control still for a few more years, I believe. He's under, let me confirm that real quick. Let me go on fan graphs here and look that up. And also, you know, Jacks isn't nothing either. Griffin, Jackson has been fairly valuable out of the bullpen as well. Yeah, Polanco is 29 years old.

and he's got club options in both 2024 and 2025. So you have him under club control for three more years, and that's all pretty affordable. This is a guy that hit for a 119 WRC plus this past season. And in 2021, in 152 games, he was worth 4.2FOR with a 124 WRC plus, which is a career high for him in a full season's worth of play. So, yeah, you know, this is also a guy that could, you know, make sense for the twins in the future whenever they, you know,

ramp this thing back up if that's now or if that's a year or two down the road so i think you're going to need to give them more and i think that the twins are not really going to be a team that just full on rebuilds like they're going to try and do what the mariners did at the end of the 2010s and just kind of soft reboot you know make it more of a three-year rebuild rather than a six seven eight-year rebuild so i'll still give this like i'll still give this a 40 because i think it's it's fairly close and there's something to work with here I think it just needs to be built upon a bit more how that works I don't really know because like again the twins it's just it's hard to know what the twins

want right now and what they want to do I think you need to include a major league piece here though yeah it's just it's just gonna cost more it's just gonna cost more than that period mm-hmm all right so you didn't give a grade by the way I don't think 35 yeah so we got more trades coming up but first a reminder this episode of lockdown erranders is brought to you by betonline.net betonline.net is your number one source for sports betting info stats news and analysis get the latest odds and trends for every professional and amateur league out there from football to basketball to soccer and esports we've got it all at betonline dot net and if you love sports podcasts you

can find those at bet online as well we're always the fastest and easiest way to get your betting fix head to the website today or use your mobile device to learn more. Bet Online is where the game starts. And you're listening to the Lockdown Mariners Podcast. Thank you so much for making us your first listen on fan fiction Friday. Let's get back into these trades with something new that we're doing. A trade battle. That's right. We're going to have two trades square off with one another

because Adam here and this other account called the Justice Sheffield burner. have both targeted Alex Verdugo with their submission. So I'm going to ask you, Colby, which one of these you prefer? So Adams trade is Alex Verdugo, Red Sox Outfielder to the Mariners for Matt Brash, Jared Kellnick, and Diego Castillo, and then Justice Sheffield's Burner has Alex Verdugo to the Mariners for Emerson Hancock, Isaiah Campbell, Jesse Winker, and Taylor Dullard. So which one of these do you prefer? what grades are you giving them? To be honest, they're both pretty bad.

Here's the thing, right? Real fast, just needs to be thrown out there. Alex Verdugo is not a clubhouse fit. Based on everything I've heard, he is considered a real jerk to be nice about it. He's not really well liked in that Red Sox clubhouse. Does that feel like a guy who's going to come in and fit well with the Mariners?

Probably not. and I mean the Mariners do take those things into account. But, you know, we just look at the traits here. So Alex Verdugo is a pretty good player, not a great player. You want to give up Hancock, who's your second best pitching prospect. Isaiah Campbell, who's Major League Ready. He's going to pitch in the big leagues this year. Jesse Winker, who's just a better hitter than Verdugo, less defense, certainly.

And Taylor Dollar, who's, you know, some pretty important rotation depth right now and is also Major League Ready. you're talking about giving away essentially three and a half major league ready guys for two years of Alex Verdugo who's coming off of a pretty bad year can't really play center field he's a corner guy yeah Verdugo is like

basically Jesse Winker he is a little bit better defense yeah and more ways than one he's very much Jesse Winker again right and then Adams you know trade Matt Brash is more important to you than I wouldn't do Brash for

Verdugo straight up. Radogo's just not that good. And then you throw on Jared Kelnick, who's probably even despite his struggles, probably a better player in the long term than Roodgo, certainly more upside.

A better bet, maybe. I still think Kelnick's floor is probably Alex Radugo in terms of like value. It's really not. I mean, like, Kelnick is 23 years old. Yeah.

Like, let's calm down there. And then Diego Castile, like, whatever. I don't care about that part. but still a bullpen arm you have to replace. I don't think either of these trades are realistic or that good, and I don't think Verdugo is a very good trade target, to be quite honest. I just, you know, I know what Redugo could be,

but I hear about how teammates feel about them, and then I look at, you know, these two offers, they both feel like pretty massive overpays for a guy who, you know, just go sign Will Myers. It's the same thing. All right. Someone has to win, though. Who are you giving it to?

I refuse to answer I guess Sheffield or James Pierce 39 just because I'm not giving up Matt Brash I guess but I think these are both like

30 great trades at best I'm calling Justice Sheffield James Pierce from now on whenever I see him on the field now hey he will be in the organization that long That's true. Like he'll probably make some spot start, you know, just random spot start in the middle of August or something like that.

I'll be like, hey, it's James Pierce. So Verdugo for Hancock Campbell, Winker, and Dollard. That's the lesser of two evils here for me. So I'm going to go with Justice Sheffield's burner here as well. But like you said, both of these just giving up way too much from the mariner's side for a guy that is coming off of a 103 WRC plus year. not a very good defender I'm good I'll pass so I'll go

35 for Justice Sheffield Burners 1 and 30 for Adams sorry guys yeah yeah he's you know who Verdugo really is honestly

he's left field Adam Fraser like fine would you trade those for Adam Frazier oh really those packages for Adam Fraser so there you go Yeah. All right. So our next trade comes from Randy. Randy has the Mariners getting outfielder, outfielder Lane Thomas, and right-handed reliever Hunter Harvey,

who I like quite a bit, from the Nationals for Gene Munoz, Zach Deloche, and Stephen Colac. So a couple of prospect arms and Deloach, who we've talked about a little bit already. What do you think about this deal? It's also bad. No. Sorry.

No. So here's the deal. Hunter Hart. We're going to go from 44 or 54 replies on Twitter to like two with the way that you're acting today. Good. Good. This was your idea. This was your idea.

You want a fan fiction Friday at the end of this. So you get what do you ask for. Yeah, to torture you. So here's the deal. Hunter Harvey is a pretty interesting arm. I think he's a good fit here in the Mariners bullpen. Lane Thomas is interesting. he's a dude who crushes left-handed pitching

doesn't really hit right-handed pitching at all. So it's a platoon outfielder, but a pretty good one. He's a good athlete, runs well. It's interesting. I would assume the idea behind Lane Thomas is that he platoons with Kelnick or Winker in left field, so it's not a bad idea.

I think the cost here is a little low. Deloche and Colick are nothing to me. To me, they're org-depth. the fringe top 30 guys um Munoz is an interesting armies long ways away but you know if you're the nationals that doesn't really matter to you

you're not going to compete anytime soon so I think this trade is is pretty interesting it's two names we haven't really talked about I think the cost is a tad low um just because Kolek is like 27 Deloche is 25 neither is really all that close to the majors

it doesn't seem like those are pieces that the nationals would be interested in. So I think you need a bigger headliner here. But overall, I think the, the idea behind the trade is, it's pretty sound. So I would give this one like a 42 and a half, 45 somewhere in that range. Yeah, I would fall there as well because I agree to you that this is creative. This is interesting. Remember, folks, we do give points for creativity and for bringing up names that we don't typically talk about on here. So for that, you get a thumbs up. But I do agree with Colby as well in that there needs to be a bigger headliner here because Harvey is 27 years

old is coming off of a really really nice year almost 40 innings pitched was averaging well over a strikeout per nine innings and he's got multiple years of control plus lane tops Thomas is uh you know he's a solid platoon bat who's still got multiple years of control as well and can play a pretty decent outfield I just I don't think that you're giving up enough here I like Munoz I think that's an interesting piece here but like colby said deloche isn't much right now and neither is colic because you're talking about a 27 year old right-handed prospect who's never pitched in the big leagues whereas here's hunter harvey who's also 27 years old and is already in the big leagues and is already finding high in success he honestly might be their best major leaker right now on that

national which says more about the national's roster than anything but like you know but like He's pretty valuable to him. That's just to say that. So I just, I don't think that you're going to be able to get him and Thomas on top of that for this package. I think a headliner of like a young pitcher who's a few years away makes a lot of sense. I just think for those who you're probably looking at somebody like Juan Pinto is kind of the headliner. But, you know, it's, it's pretty good.

Yeah. All right. So next trade comes from Alex Lod Better. Alex wants to know if the Mariners can get Max Kepler from the Twins for Diego Castillo and Alberto Rodriguez. This one's not the one, Alex. This isn't the deal that you want. It's, yeah. So Ty and I, big Kepler fans, Alex, you know that. And I think pretty much everybody listening at this point does. Here's the deal.

Diego Castillo, not working. much. He was not good at the end of the year. The slider really flattened out. He's not worth a ton in trade talks. And Alberto Rodriguez. The Dominican big boss. The memes. The memes have that value, right? Sure. And Alberto Rodriguez is a guy who's taking up a 40-man spot who is nowhere near the major leagues. So he's actually probably bringing your trade down a little bit right now. I think Castillo might be of interest to the twins in this type of deal. But you need a much better piece than Albert. Toro Rodriguez, I think, even for a guy like Kepler. Rodriguez being on the 40 man just kind of destroys his value. The Mariners honestly shouldn't have him on the 40 man. They should probably think about DFA and him. They don't need to yet, but if they get in that spot, he's on the top of the list. So good job on Kepler.

I do think Castillo is a guy who could go back to Minnesota that makes a lot of sense, not heads up. That's not going to happen. So you need a better secondary piece or really a lead piece. And Diego Castillo is a secondary piece. but yeah, I think, you know, again, Kepler, the idea of Kepler makes a lot of sense. Cases sending a major leaguer to the twins who, you know, are trying to compete this year to some degree. Also makes a lot of sense.

It's just the Alberto Rodriguez part. It might be actually hurting your offer more than helping it. I do kind of wonder if Marco Gonzalez makes some sense for the twins. And plus that would help balance the money out going both ways a little bit. Obviously, Marco is carrying more money over the course of three years, whereas Kepler only has two. but he's got two for 18 and a half. Matt Boyd is making $10 million this year. That's true.

That's true. And Marco's only making six and a half, I think, this year. And then 12 next year. And then he has a club option. And then Kepler has a club option next year for $10 million. He's making $8.5, I think, this year. But yeah, so I think like if this deal was more so Marco Gonzalez and, I don't know, name me a prospect.

like someone someone better than Alberto Roder is who's... Better than that, I would think. Okay. Maybe Milkar-Perez.

He's coming off a bad ear, but yeah, someone is that arranged like that. True, but someone that's interesting, someone that's still young, someone that's just basically a ball of clay and has some upside.

Someone like that, right? So maybe not necessarily Milkar-Perez, but someone that fits in that mold and is not taking up a 40-man spot. So, yeah I would say that's a little that's a little expensive for my taste

I really like Axel Sanchez but you know but also you're not doing it right if you're trading guys who Clause it doesn't hurt to trade right like it it has to hurt at least a little bit whenever you're making these trades Michael Morales maybe Maybe yeah Yeah I think maybe you know Marco and then like a young arm

It could make some sense. Maybe per land of Biroa, even though he is on the 40 man. I really think the Mariners are planning on Borua pitching for them out of the bullpen in 2023. We'll see. I would get this one of 40 just because, again, the Alberto Rodriguez piece is bad. Yeah, 40 for me as well. It just hurts too much. Next trade comes from Tommy, who wants to know if the Mariners can land,

McNeil who's been a long target of theirs for Chris Flexen Jesse Winker and Emerson Hancock Colby no just because you say you wanted a certain say I want it that way you don't get it that way Chris Flexon is not that valuable he's not and I know we talked about well you know Matt Boyd got 10 million so flexen's a steel yeah compared to Matt Boyd but we're talking about the Mets here right do the Mets need Chris Flexon like the Mets need a starting pitcher okay let's let's agree on that Do you really think the Mets are going to settle for Chris Flexen? And furthermore, do you think the Mets are going to trade away their All-Star second baseman for Chris Flexen?

Not going to happen, folks. It's not going to happen. I like Jeff McNeil a lot, too. I really do. God, he's really good. He is, and he's great fit for Seattle. But if the Mets trade him, they have to go replace him. Whereas what they could do now is they could keep Jeff McNeil and just go give, you know, Taiwan Walker $14 million a year.

and just bring him back. Problem solved. And now you don't have to go find a second basement. The Mariners know how hard it is to find a second baseman. We do, right? You guys keep complaining about Colton Wong for crying out loud, like he's not a good player. So why would the Mets want to jump into that? Now maybe if the Mets go and they trade or they sign

Trey Turner or something crazy like that, maybe. But even then you're still not going to get Jeff McNeil for this. No. And by the way, Jeff McNeil is coming off of a six-win season. He was a six-win season. player this past season. 326, 382, 454 with a 143 WRC plus. Aside from a down year

in 2021, his WRC pluses have been 136, 144, 131, 143. He's a really good player. Look, Hancock is a nice prospect. I'm a little bit higher still on him than Colby is, but nevertheless, because that's really who the headliner is here. It's not Chris Fox and it's not Jesse Winker.

That's the, Hancock's not carrying the steel. Hancock's not carrying the steel enough for the Mets to be willing to spend nine million because they're up against the the the tax threshold they are not going to be willing to take on nine million dollars of jesse winker they're not going to be willing to take on eight million dollars of chris flexen when they can just go out and get better and manage their money that way right like there's no need for them to trade a six win per for this so so so everybody who sent us these jeff mcneal trades and there were a lot of them i think there were a lot there

There are a lot. There are a lot. The Jeff McNeil, trade. I get it. I want Jeff McNeil too. That would be an amazing acquisition. There's no fit between Seattle and the Mets. There really isn't.

So we'll see what happens. You know, there's always a three-team deal. And every move made by either side is a domino that could, you know, topple the other end. But I don't see any way that the Mets trade McNeil this offseason, certainly not to the Mariners. They just don't have that kind of top-in pitching. that the Mets are looking for and they're not,

the Mets aren't dumping salary. Let's be clear about that. That's not happening. So, yeah, I think if you even want to get in the discussion, I mean, you're talking,

like if you're the Mets, why wouldn't you ask for Logan Gilbert? The mayors would say no, but like, why wouldn't you ask? And by the way, again, even if they sign a shortstop,

McNeil's pretty good out in left field. And, hey, they don't have brand of Nemo anymore. So there you go. I think if you're trying to trade for Jeff McNeil, at least like you have to think about Harry Ford. You have to think about major league pieces.

I think it's like Ford, Brash, and in Hancock. Yeah, so that's what I was saying is like you got to think about major league pieces like Brash, like even George Kirby or Logan Gilbert. Like that's how good Jeff McNeil is. Plus he's cheap. He's just now hitting arbitration. And he's not a free agent until 2025, I think. So if you're the met, you're well within your right to ask for Logan Gilbert or Andres Munoz or Matt Brash without it being ridiculous. I mean, Jeff McNeil's just that good.

So yeah. All right. So we got two more. Both of them coming from Daisy and the dingo. And this first one that we're going to put up here on the screen, you asked me personally to include here. So got a good feeling about this one. Maybe we'll see. Emerson Hancock for Orioles infield prospect, Connor Norby.

So why did you want to include this one in the show, Coley? Let's start with the grade here. 65. 65 grade trade for Daisy and the dingo. This is creative. It's smart. And it's something I think actually could happen. Now what?

So what's the creativity here? Let's talk about Connor Norby, right? Norby is an older-ish player. Still relatively young, but he is a second base only, maybe left field does not have a good arm he's not a short stop uh but he know probably about an average second baseman at best 22 years old uh he he started last this is the funny part he started last year in high a ball right he hit 23425 99 brc plus in high a ball the orio the orio's to go ah you know what we'll we'll promote him anyways right i mean like

let's just see what happens they promote him to double a In AA, he raises his walk percentage by three points. He lowers his strikeout rate by four. He hits 298, 389, 571 with a 157 WRC plus, 17 homers and 10 seals and 296 plate appearances. He gets better between high A and double A. And then the Orioles go, oh, you know what? Let's just give him a cup of coffee at AAA. Let's see what happens.

So he goes to AAA. He has nine games, but he gets 42 plate appearances. His strikeout rate drops another 8% in that time. He hits 359, 405, 718, good for a 190 WRC plus. Basically, for the last two months of baseball, or three months, really, Connor Norby was the best hitter on the planet in professional baseball. It's insane. So Norby's the second baseman.

The Orioles have a lot of infield talent coming up through their system right now. Norby, again, the power is a concern. There's not a ton of it in-game power. Now, again, he did crush, you know, 29 home runs this year, but most people don't think that's beatable at the big league level. He's not burner. He's a good base runner.

He can steal some bases, and he's, you know, slightly above average speed. But it's not like he's, you know, de Gordon out there. Defensively, he's fringe average at second base. There's really not a lot of people who, think that he's going to be a great defensive second baseman. So you're really buying the bat here on Norby. But the Mariners need a second basement not only for this year for the next three or four years. There's any in the system that is ready to take that mantle at second base. The

mariners have pitching depth. They have, you know, high-end arms that they're they're building this little stockade pile of. And they're really good at creating these arms, right? It's what they're good at. They develop these arms very well. What's the one area? and the Mariners haven't proven that they can develop yet. Kind of middle infield, right? Now, Noel Barte was on the right step, and Edwin Arroyo was on the right step, but they're so young, we don't know.

And there's nobody in the system. Also, no Lovie Marte is not a middle infield guy. Right, he's third baseman. So there's just nothing there, right, for the next few years. We're talking about who's the best second base prospect in the Mariners system right now? It might be Harry Ford, who's a catcher.

Like, there's nothing there. So the Mariners have pitching. They need middle infield. The Orioles have, have middle infield, they need pitching. Yeah. They need young pitching. So I think the swap of these two guys actually makes a lot of sense.

It's creative. It's a solution to a problem that we haven't heard before. This is everything fan fiction Friday should be about. So yeah, I'm giving Daisy a 65. I really like this. I think it's fun. I think it's creative. And I think of the Mariners and Orioles made this trade,

we could create a lot of content off of this. So that's the big reason right there. So yeah, I think it's a really, really cool and fun idea. Shoot, I'm not going to argue with that. All right. You sold me. So I'll go 65 right with you there. That's a really nice, really cool idea there, Daisy.

Quit playing games with us, Daisy. You've been holding out on us. Exactly. That was awesome. Well, let's see if Daisy comes back down to Earth here a little bit, though, with this three-team deal. Because, you know, Colby, three-team deals are very complicated. So I don't have as high of hopes for this. one, but let's see. Sean Murphy to the raise. We know of that. Sean Murphy is out there. He's

most likely going to get traded within the next few weeks, if I had to guess, considering how much we're starting to hear about him. Brandon Loud to the Mariners. Then the A's get a haul of Carson Williams, Josh Lowe, Bryce Miller, Axel Sanchez, and Brian Wu. So let's start with what the Mariners are given up here. Bryce Miller, Axel Sanchez, and Brian Wu. How do you think that lines up for a return for Brandon Lau, who we've talked about quite a bit this past week, one of the best second baseman in all of baseball when he's healthy, but hasn't been healthy. He's only played over 100 games once in his career, but he was also a 5-win player when he did play 100-plus games. So it's kind of hard to evaluate him, but how do you feel about Sanchez, Wu, and Miller go into the A's on this deal? So that would be two top 10 Mariners prospects and two of their, I would say, five best arms right now in the system.

Sure. In addition to Axel Sanchez, who like Ty said, I really like, I think he's going to stay up the middle. I think he can hit a little bit. So he's going to be a fast rising guy in prospect ranks. that's still a little bit more of a bulk deal for the race, but one of the beauties of this trade, at least from a race perspective, is that none of those guys need to be on the 40 man

anytime soon. So you're not going to make a decision. They're not going to the race. They're going to Oakland. I'm sorry, sorry, sorry, yes. So, yeah, but I think, you know, if I'm the A's, right, and I'm giving up just Sean Murphy.

And I'm getting those three guys, I'm interested in talking about it, but in addition, I'm also getting Carson Williams and Josh Lowe. I think that's pretty interesting. That's a lot, that's kind of a bulk deal, but Oakland likes bulk deal sometimes,

and it's not like that's devoid of talent. There's a lot of talent in that package. I think the hold up here is probably the raise. Because the raise, to get Sean Murphy, they have to give up Brandon Lowe, Carson Williams, Bingo. That's a lot.

That's a lot. Maybe they think Murphy's a really good player, and you get him for four years. So I'm not saying that they wouldn't say yes to that. But I think, honestly, you might have better luck if one of these players, the Mariners, are sending, goes to the raise instead to kind of help offset that. So maybe it's, you know, Axel Sanchez goes to the raise or something like that. But yeah, the raise to give up, you know, two major league pieces

in a pretty good prospect for Sean Murphy seems like a lot. Yeah, I agree. I think the hang up here is definitely Tampa. It's just it's a lot to give up for Murphy, but I think they would do it

and the end. I think they would do it in the end. I think they would do it in the end because of the middle infield depth that they have and the desperate need for catching. And they're so big on having those, you know, premium players. in premium positions. So, you know, on the cheap, too, right?

Because Murphy's not making any money, right? You're paying for, what, four years of Sean Murphy, I think? Like, that's going to cost a lot. And he's one of the very few catchers that are available on the market. I think this ends up, you know, being what it takes to get him, something that's comparable to this return. Yep. I like this deal.

I think this is really good. As far as three-team deals go, they're really, really, really complicated. and incredibly hard to put together. But I think at the end of the day, when you start to talk yourself through it, it makes a lot of sense for all the teams involved. I'm giving this one a 60 as well. Daisy, Daisy came through.

Daisy came through. We got something pop up on. We got something pop up on Twitter. Dude, Jeff Passer reported 13 minutes ago. The Mariners and Brewers are finalizing a tray that will send outfielder Jesse Winker and Abraham Toro to the Brewers for Colton Wong. Okay. It's at the finish line.

So I guess we got to. All right. So, hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. We're grading that trade. It's fan fiction Friday.

60. 50. 50. So wait. 55. Jesse Winker and who again? Toro. Oh, wow.

Wow. For one year of Colton Long. How did I miss that? All right. Guys, you better believe we're going to have an emergency pod coming for you right after this. So thank you for Fan Fiction Friday, but we got a deal to talk about. All right, cool.

All right. So, yeah, that's going to do it for us. I migrate on the trade, I guess, initially, like 55, I guess. Sure. We'll talk about it more on the emergency show. Head on over there after you're done watching this or whatever. We'll see you

next time. Peace.