Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Fan Fiction Friday: Steer, Lawlar, and More

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

It's Fan Fiction Friday! Ty and Colby react to and grade your Mariners trade ideas, including deals for Spencer Steer, Jordan Lawlar, and more.Participate in our Mariners preseason survey!Check out our Patreon!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11Follow the show on Bluesky: @lockedonmariners | @tdg | @mlbcolbySupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Wonderful PistachiosLooking for a snack that’s both delicious and nutritious? Get snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more. SelectQuoteGet the right life insurance for you, for less, at SelectQuote.com/LOCKEDONMLB.  FanDuelRight now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins!Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.  FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's Friday, so it's time to react to some Mariner's trade ideas. Colby, hit it. You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariner's podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Ohoy, Sailors, it is Friday, February 28, 2025. This is Taddy Gazzalus and Colby Patnode for the Lockdown Marriss Podcasts. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day.

It's fan fiction Friday, the show where you submit your marriage trade ideas, and we grade them on the 20-80s. scale based on things like creativity, uniqueness, and of course, if they actually make sense and work for both teams and all that good stuff. But before we get into the match, quick shout out to our title sponsor today. FanDuel, right now new FanDuel customers can get $150 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. Download the app or head to fanduel.com to get started. And if you want to hear for me and Colby even more and help support the show, you can check out our Patreon. All you have to do to check that out is click the link in the description of this episode.

So kicking us off here on Fanfiction Friday is Eudanus, who has a deal with the Reds, Spencer Steer for Taylor Sosato, and Harry Ford. Tell you what, this is probably the maximum that I'm willing to give up for Spencer Steer. Yeah, Steer is a really interesting player. There are some people who say, no, he's not even good. and there are others who are like, yeah, you went 2020 last year. Like, you can play a lot of positions and like they're both kind of right. I mean, like, Stier can play a lot of positions as then he can stand in a lot of different

positions. He's bad at all of them. Yeah. And I think, yeah. And I think when you look at steer overall, you get him for four years. He's 27 years old. He again, he went 2020 last. year the year before he had 23 homers like he's gonna he's got pop uh he's not a you know uh great

american ballpark merchant better on the road last year yeah yeah he was significantly so by the way right i believe even in 2023 uh here let me pull up the splits real quick saw this earlier um yeah 2023 123 124 w rc plus on the road 109 at home yeah uh doesn't strike out sub 21% the last two years he walks. He's a career 10.6% walk guy. So yeah, there are some positives here. The big negatives is that he more or less gives most of that value back defensively. And when you kind of look at where the Mariners are at right now,

it's like where does he play? Your three outfield spots are accounted for. First base accounted for. Second base, you want Spencer Steer to play second? third base maybe he's better than Polanco maybe but you know so it is kind of this weird thing where it's like you know does steer actually fit on the Mariners roster and yeah in a way if he's going to have like a 110 WRC plus which I mean he's only done once but he's going to do that you find a way to get him in your lineup so steer is really interesting he's really polarizing player

I kind of get it from both sides. But yeah, I do think Carrie Ford is probably like the max I would give up for four years, a Spencer Steer. But I think it's possible the Reds might be like, we want Randy a Rosarena type of because they're both bad defenders who are 2020. And, you know, steer doesn't have the kind of the star power of a Roserana. He doesn't have the track record of a Roserana. But you do get him for four years instead of 2.5 or 2.25, whatever it was.

Yeah, but still, it's like. Like even in Steer's best year, he wasn't Randy a Rose Arena. Wasn't the peak of Randy a Roserana. So it's just, I mean, he kind of gets dinged for hitting at Great American Ballpark, even though he's better on the road than he is. But because most of his at-bats come in a hitter's environment, his WRC Plus gets dinged a little bit. Sure. Yeah, it's interesting.

I think this is the price point where both teams would start to be interested. possibly working something out. The Reds do have Tyler Stevenson, so I don't know how they feel about Ford's ability to catch or anything like that. Well, I think from the Reds perspective, he's a more athletic, more club-controlled Spencer Steer. Right.

Basically. You're kind of hoping that Harry Ford offensively turns into Spencer Steer. Like that's probably like the best comp for him, but you're hoping because he's so much more athletic that defensively he finds a home. And the bonus for Harry Ford is that home could be a catcher, which is a high value position. So, yeah, I think that this is probably the maxed out the Mariners would do.

And I don't even know if they would do it. I think they might just look at this and be like Ford's going to be in AAA this year. We think Harry Ford might be steering two years. And it's not like steer is significantly better offensively than what we protect from Luke Rayleigh, Donovan Solano, maybe even Jorge Polanco. not with the robles Julio, et cetera. So yeah, I think this is probably

a 50. Yeah, I'll go 50. I'm not sure if this is something the Reds would do and I'm not sure if this is something the Marys would do but this is pretty much my limit in terms of what I would pay for steer personally. So yeah, solid deal. Good way to kick things off. All right.

Adam has a deal here with the Angels, Luis Renhifo, for Logan Evans and And Trent Thornton. Yeah, I mean, let's assume for a second that the angels are actually willing to trade with the Mariners and Jerry Depoto. Because so far they have not been, and that is a one-sided thing. For one year of Rengifo, it feels about right, honestly. Now, Thornton is kind of like whatever, you know, he's out of options anyways.

And he might be one of the guys who's just out of this bullpen when Brash comes back. back anyways and he's on the back end of the bullpen in terms of like important so he's kind of a throw in it's kind of a little way to save some money on regifo he's making about five thornton's making two so that's more about money and all that and you can replace thornton pretty easily with what you have in house would i trade logan evans for a like a versatile every day infielder who's only got one year club control left without hesitation yeah yeah i would so would you be better if he was your second baseman this year and dillamore was on the bench and in doing his normal dillan more thing yes yes you would uh and so is that worth logan evans to me it is you get to the

deadline yeah you know we'll see how the other pitchers develop and all that but um yeah i i think you know this is a guy ringed Renhifo's what, two and a half three one player. And he's a switch hitter can play multiple positions. It's actually never been a two one player in his career by Fangraph standards. Really? Interesting. How many games?

What's his career high in games played? 127 and 222, 127 in 2022, 126 in 2023 and then only 78 this past year. Right. So Rangifo, pretty good player. Yeah. Logan Evans, pretty good prospect. And that's what you do. You trade pretty good prospects for pretty good players,

and you sacrifice long-term potential for short-term gain. That's what a trade's supposed to be. So I think this one's pretty close in terms of value. So if we ignore the whole like the angels won't trade with the Mariners thing, 50, 55. Yeah. But because of the whole like the angels won't trade with the Mariners thing, the viability goes down, unfortunately.

So yeah, I think they just negotiate in bad faith and they go, we want Lazz or we want a royal or we want something ridiculous. Yeah, just Evans is about as far as I would be willing to go. Yeah. For a year of Renhifo with the injury concerns. It's been a really good player when he's been healthy. I mean, last year, he slashed 300, 347, 417. Yeah. Yeah, that would that would help the Seattle Maris.

Yeah. in their current state. I think I like the deal. I know it's not very realistic, but it's just because the angels are kind of, oh, what's a nice word for this? Stupid.

So I think I'll just stick with a 50 and kind of split the difference. Yeah, I'm filling a 50 on this one as well. I think in general, like in a vacuum, makes a ton of sense. but yeah the the angels mariners connection if you will drives it down quite a bit so yeah all right we are going to go over more of your trades here in just a moment but first a reminder

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good prospect and Morales, and eat at least half, if not all of Hanager's contract with the Mets and do this. No, they would not do this. Yeah, the answer is no, the Mets wouldn't do that.

And I don't think it matters how much money you're asking. You could eat all of Hanigur's contract, and they'd still say no to this. Brash, it's really tough to trade for Matt Brash right now. now because you don't know what you're going to get. And you're not trading for Matt Brash thinking like, oh, well, 2026 is when I really need them. You're the Mets, right?

And you're trading an impact piece now. You want an impact piece back right now. And in general, an everyday bat or even a high leverage reliever is not a trade that happens. There's just a value deficit here that isn't going to be made. And that, by way, that deficit is made even bigger by them taking on any of. Hanager's money. A high leverage arm for a prospect that becomes an everyday bat. That happens.

Yeah, sure. Of course. And established everyday bat, still young, pre-arb, like Viantos is. No. Right. And when you stack Brash coming off of an injury, when you stack how worthless Mitch Hanigar is, especially to the Mets. And your big, like, connecting piece to kind of try and bridge that gap is Michael Morales,

who's a fine prospect. He's top 15, 20. type of guy. I don't remember where we had them. I think it was around 15 in our process. It was like 14 or 15. Yeah. Yeah. So like he's solid prospect. He's not a great prospect. And I feel like you need to add a great prospect for the Mets to even consider this. And at that point, if you're the Mariners, why? Like, I mean, you're going to add Colt Emerson to get rid of, uh, to get rid of, uh, that's what I was going to say you probably have to do here. Yeah. And it's just, no, you're not doing that. So, uh, no, I don't like, even if Hanager was, on a part of this thing. Brash and Morales for Viantos. No reason for the Mets to do that deal.

So yeah. Maybe this winter, like something, probably not Viantos, but like trading Brash for like a kind of like a major league bat, probably not as good as Vantos, maybe. But trading Brash right now, you're probably selling low on him. And this is the Mets buying extremely high on Brash while selling kind of low on Viantos.

Because right now they have the abats to give Viantos. He's not blocked or anything. That's the other than two. This is a 25. I mean, I'll get like a 30, 35 because it's relatively creative. It's Brash, you know, and it's trading him for a third baseman.

But yeah, it's just it's not feasible. It's like I said, the Mets are somehow buying high on Brash and selling low on Vantos all in one trade. And it just, they're not going to do that. Stan has a deal here with the Dodgers one for one, Mitch Hanager for Chris Taylor.

This is fun in a vacuum. Fun in a vacuum. Why would the Dodgers do this? Like I would rather have Chris Taylor than Mitch Hanager on the Marys. Yeah. I think also the Dodgers would rather have Chris Taylor than the Mitch Hanager. Yeah. There's also a chance you might actually end up losing money in this deal.

because there's a $4 million buyout on Taylor for his club option next year. He's set to make 13 this year, so it's 17 million. We still don't know if Hanager's actually making 155 or 17 this year. Now, it's only a million five, so that doesn't really matter, but you know who it matters to, unfortunately. Yeah, why would the Dodgers do this? Taylor was awful last year. I understand that.

So is Hanigar. So is at least still got some athleticism. left in him. Here's kind of what's in, like, if you, if, if we even assume that like the club option in 2026,

what if that was just an extra year, right? It's like, okay, well, if you're the Mariners, why would you trade Hanager to have another Hanager situation next year?

Yeah. And not save any money this year. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Like the, the bad contract swap for Hanager thing is dead at this point. It doesn't exist.

No, I mean, even if there was an opportunity out there right now, like, Hanager is so valueless that you'd have to take on a second year of like a Mitch Hanigur-like contract, and that defeats the whole purpose. Yeah. Because you're just, you're not saving any money and you're back in the same spot as you were last year. So yeah, Hanager, unless the Marlins suddenly decide that they actually care about getting their luxury tax money or whatever it is. unless that happens

Hanager is either getting DFA'd or he's making the opening day roster. He's not getting traded. And again, he's certainly not getting traded for another bad contract. So, yeah, pick this deal specifically to talk about

Hanager and his trade value and how trading him unless it's to the Marlins who are going to eat a good chunk of that money for nothing and attaching a prospect to him. he's just not going to get traded. That ship is sailed, and it probably never even got to harbor to begin with. No.

So, yeah, I mean, it's fun, as fun as a swap between these two guys could be. 35, 40, I'm somewhere in there. Yeah, it's about right. It's kind of not going to happen. You're listening to the Locked-on Marries podcast. Let's go over these last couple of trades we got here. Casey has a deal with the Diamondbacks Ooh, this is a beauty.

All right. Jordan Lawler, Kevin Ginkle, and Blake Walson to the Mariners for Andres, Dinoos, Dillamore, Ty Pete, Michael O'Royo, and Hunter Cran. Yeah, I think like we kind of accidentally been a running theme here, trading an elite reliever for an everyday player doesn't happen often. But Lawler might be the type of player prospect that you would trade. to get an elite reliever, particularly in

Arizona right now where they just signed Perdomo to an extension. They have Marte locked in. Now they have an opening at third base, and so they can push Lawler to third base after this year, after Gino, assuming Gino leaves after this year.

So it's not like they don't have any room for Lawler, but he's not going to play one of the two, you know, his two best positions to provide value. the diamond backs need some pitching. So could Munoz be traded this offseason for Loller, similar to Diaz being traded for Kelnick a few years back? Only this time the Mariners wouldn't be doing it as a selling move. Maybe.

But then the whole Colt Emerson comes into play here. Like, how long is Lawler going to be your shortstop? Or do you just now trade Colt Emerson? Or do you just transition one of these guys to third base immediately? So yeah, there are a lot of moving parts here. but Ginkle is good, he helps, but you're still losing with Munoz. You have no idea of Lawler's going to help you this year.

You think he probably will. You don't have a replacement really for Dylan Moore. I mean, I guess Rivas. I would assume Casey's looking at this and being like, well, Lawler would be on the opening day roster, so he would either play second or third and the Polanco, and then Ryan Bliss or Rivas would be the utility guy for this year. Tia Pete

Great nickname Another title of tie overlooked Yeah I believe it's Tio But yeah So Pete Arroyo and Munoz Basically for Lawler No I don't think so

Not with where the Mariners are at right now In their window It's interesting Yeah And this trade Seems more so focused on 2026 beyond. Right now I'm more of the mindset that the only year that matters right now is the one that you're currently in.

And so that's kind of how I'm approaching this deal. I think in general, this trade is really good. Like just kind of just going through it in my head right now. It feels like an offseason trade though, doesn't it? Yeah, it feels like an offseason trade. Like a next winter type of trade. Which technically it still is the off season. Yeah.

kind of but yeah this feels like like a uh winter meetings trade yeah yeah where everyone's like whoa wow that's uh this doesn't feel like a a march trade or even a july trade yeah no i think the process of this is really sound i'm just i'm not sure that this is some of the mirrors or that that is ultimately beneficial to the 2025 mergers specifically right that does have to carry a lot of weight. So yeah, it's a good effort, though, by Casey. I'll give them that. It's like you kind of have to like sit there and be like, you know, you kind of counterpoint

yourself here. I think this is one of the better trades we've gotten on a fan fiction Friday in a while. I think this is a 65. Wow. Yeah. Okay. I was going to say 55 because I don't think it's really realistic at all, but like. Come with me to the 60s at least.

No. Okay. Last trade of the day. Comes from Ham Swaggarty, 609. Ryan Mount Castle to the Mariners. Here we go again. Another Ryan Mount Castle deal. We love these.

Orioles get Brandon Garcia and Troy Taylor. I wouldn't trade one of those guys. Not a fan of Mount Castle. Not because he's not, you know, a pretty solid player and not because he doesn't help, but because you have that guy. He's not a good defender. He's never been a two. two-win player. He's not going to hit for a ton of power. He's Donovan Solano. And I have Donovan

Solano. And because I don't think this team is actually going to cut, you know, Mitch Hanager, I don't need a bench full of DHS that doesn't actually help me. Whereas, you know, Troy Taylor is certainly going to help me out of the bullpen this year. And there's a pretty good chance at some point Garcia helps me out of the bullpen this year as well. So I don't want to give up two useful, you know, bullpen pieces, both of whom are under club control for six plus years to pay, you know, give up both of those guys to pay another Donovan Solano, $6 million to mostly be on my bench and to hit, you know, to DH against left-handed pitching. I've got that guy. And I'm not going to give up more money and good prospects to get another one of those guys. I don't need,

I don't need Ryan Mountcastle. He doesn't really. help me that much. So I'm out. Yeah. And so I have to trade two guys that are probably going to help me out of my bullpen this year to get Mount Castle. No. It's a non-starter for me, frankly. Just don't like Mount Castle that much for all the reasons that Colby just laid out. I wouldn't trade one of these guys straight up for Mount Castle. Now, the Mariners did it. I wouldn't be furious if they traded one of these guys. They just traded like Garcia from Mount Castle like on March 26 or whatever, I'd be like, okay, I guess. But there's no world where I really like it.

And there's no world where I, as the GM, would do it. I've got this guy. Yeah. All right. So 35, 40? What are you feeling? 35. Yeah.

All right. So that's going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Locktime Airs podcast for Colby Patnode. I'm Tiding Gazzalus. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Tiding Gazzalus and Colby at C-Pat-11. That's C-P-A-T-11.

We're also on Blue Sky. You can follow me at TDG, Colby at MLB-Colby, and the show at Locked-on Mariners. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day, and we'll see you next time. Peace.