Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Fan Fiction Friday: Vlad Jr., Jack Flaherty, and More

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Mariners might look to upgrade first base at the deadline next month in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Yandi Diaz are a couple big names to keep an eye on. You guys take a crack of what they might cost coming up here on the Locked-on Marrars 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 00:00:28 Ahoy, Sailors. It is Friday, June 28, 2024. This is Tadangazelis and Colby Patnode for the Locked-on Marriss podcast. part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. It is Fan Fiction Friday, the show where you submit your Mariners trade proposals, and we grade them on the 20-80 scale, 20 being the worst, 80 being the best, of course, before we get into this week's batch. Shout out to our title sponsor today.

Starting point is 00:00:52 Booking.com, booking. Yeah, the right stay can make you a fan of any city, even your rivals. Check out booking.com for your stay today. And if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show, check out our Patreon. The link is in the description and you can sign up for a free seven day trial. All right. Let's get into your trades.

Starting point is 00:01:12 Deepanky is going to kick us off here on fan fiction Friday with a deal with the raise. Marys get right handed pitcher Zach Lattel for Alberto Rodriguez and Jimmy Joyce. Colby, thoughts. Yeah. It's interesting. That's a name that we haven't spent really any time talking about. It's going to be interesting to see how these. these kind of number five type of starters,

Starting point is 00:01:37 how they get valued at this deadline, especially ones that have a year of club control beyond this year. So the raise, you know, they're not afraid to dump some salary if they're out of it, but he's only making $1.85 million. So it's not like you're doing them a big favor by clearing out any salary. He is the number five, though.

Starting point is 00:01:56 He leads, you know, the American League and hits loud. So it's not like he's this mid-rotation arm or anything like that. But there is some, you know, there are some red flags here. One of them being that he's about to set a career high in innings pitched, probably with his next start. He's already at 86 in the third innings pitched his career high is 90s. So is he going to be available in the rotation in August and September? I don't know.

Starting point is 00:02:22 I don't know if he's going to be around for that. Or if it's just another guy, you have to slide into your bullpen. And if you do have to slide into your bullpen, like fine, whatever, but he's just another middle guy. like that's all he is he's not a high leverage arm there's nothing that's going to play up about his skill set so uh you know lidel is uh he's fine he's number five if you feel good that he can stand the rotation all year then i think that's a you know a totally fine guy to go get uh provided you know your your plan is to move woo to the bullpen at a certain point and he's going to you know be the veteran who who gets those innings uh but he does have his own innings cap to consider

Starting point is 00:03:02 So interesting to see if Tampa moves him. It might not because Tampa still needs to eat innings, you know, this year. They still need to, you know, they still have to play 162 games. And Tampa's pitching right now is a little bit iffy, particularly depth-wise as well. So, you know, maybe they move them. Maybe they don't. I think they will if they get the right offer. Is this offer the right one?

Starting point is 00:03:25 I don't know. I think Jimmy Joyce is basically, you know, you know, you hope he's the same guy in two or three years. But I don't think Alberto Rodriguez really moves the needle at all for Tampa. So I think if Tampa is going to make this move, I think they're going to want some upside along with essentially, you know, the Litelle like replacement. And Jimmy Joyce is pretty much a Lattel replacement, I think. But I think for Seattle to like really sell this, I think you're looking at like a Teddy McRaw, maybe a Cole Phillips type, just a high. upside arm that they can maybe dream a little bit about but yeah it's it's an interesting name one we

Starting point is 00:04:07 haven't heard and uh yeah he's just he's just a ho-hum number five starter so it's not going to cost a ton yeah the appeal of this deal for the raise is to essentially reset their timeline on on on zach letell right with uh with jimmy joyce but i don't really even want to call it appeal because when it comes to resetting your timeline on on a number five that doesn't really exist Right, like that, like teams don't really care about that. Like on a guy like Zach Lattel. So I don't know. Maybe, maybe they're interested in this.

Starting point is 00:04:41 The year and a half is kind of throwing me off because I think if he was just a rental, yeah, they would do this. Because this is more or less the same as trading Carter Benz for Tyler Anderson a few years back. And Anderson, I would say it was a slightly better pitcher than Lattel at the time that you acquired him. I would say they probably wouldn't do this because there just isn't anything that, like, I think the raise would really be jumping at here. But yeah, maybe if it's like Teddy McRaw or maybe on the highest and like Ben Williamson, then yeah,

Starting point is 00:05:13 but I don't know if this one really gets it done, but it is interesting. And maybe, you know, at the very least it's probably a conversation starter. Like, hey, we're interested in Zach Lattel, would you take this?

Starting point is 00:05:26 No, but can we at least work from that? Maybe. So I'd give it probably a, 45, 50? Yeah, I feel like that's about right. Connor has a deal with the Tigers, Jack Flaherty and Matt Veerling for Typeet and Michael LaRoyo.

Starting point is 00:05:45 So pretty expensive package from the Marrers, but Flaherty's having a pretty good year. He's a rental. Veerlein's having a pretty good year with the bat. What do you think? Yeah, it's interesting. These couple top ten prospects for, you know, two months of a pitcher who's having his first

Starting point is 00:06:03 really good year in a couple years. That's that's a little concerning there. And then Veerling is having a decent year, pretty good year, particularly, you know, if you want to judge him against other mariners. Doesn't walk though, doesn't get on base, really. But he hits for power. And he's not a free agent until after the 2027 season. So yeah, he's got some versatility as well.

Starting point is 00:06:31 Could play some third base, could play some outfield. a nice little bench piece ideally but yeah no it's an interesting idea uh i think it's a bit of an overpay uh but you know it might be i think you're paying a little bit too much for the club control of earling uh than you are what flarity might cost but uh yeah i think you know if if jack flarity is going to cost me i pete um you know i probably don't do that because i think i want to hold on to Pete and try and like flip him in another deal for you know maybe even more impact but certainly impact that's going to be around for more than two months. So yeah, it's an interesting deal though because you do get the multiple years of club control of Veerling and he's, I mean,

Starting point is 00:07:22 Dylan Moore ask Dylan Moore is going to walk more obviously and he's got just as much power. But it's an interesting deal to me though I look at this and I go it feels a bit much. feels like a little bit too much. And it feels like you're valuing the club control of Ehrlich more than what the player actually brings to the table. Unless you are totally convinced that Flaherty is going to be what he has been so far for the rest of the year. And even then, I think you can get him for, I mean, because it's a seller's market and

Starting point is 00:07:55 all that. Like it might cost you a Royo or Pete for him. But I think the steel would cost this on this market. Yeah. Because you're talking about. one of the few, you know, because there aren't going to be that many pitchers that are pitching like Jack Flaherty this year that are going to be available, even if he only has like a half a year left. And then a controllable bat who's producing at a slightly above league average rate right now.

Starting point is 00:08:22 I think it would probably cost that in this market. And I'm out. Yeah, it may not be that Flaherty's not worth it or anything like that. It's just more about like, is this the best I can do with these pieces. Is this the hole I want to fill with these pieces? And no, I think if you're going to use Arroyo and you're going to use Pete, you either want club control with the prize of the trade. You want some club control with that guy?

Starting point is 00:08:53 Or you want more upside than somebody who's going to make 10 starts for you the rest of the year. Yeah. I mean, Flaherty is a guy that I'm probably starting in a playoff game over Bryce Miller, more so because I can get more out of Miller out of the bullpen. But it goes back to the conversation that we've had a couple times about that is like, how much do I really need that?

Starting point is 00:09:14 How much do I really need someone that's essentially better than Bryce Miller or someone that I would start in a playoff game over Bryce Miller? I don't think that's that important, to be honest. It's interesting. I think the valuation is pretty close. I would think in this market. So I'll give you a 50, but I wouldn't do it. Yeah, I think it's probably a 50, but I would prefer they use their, you know, their best pieces elsewhere on the diamond.

Starting point is 00:09:44 But, you know, if things shake out a certain way over the next month, then somebody like Flaherty might be a lot more important to Seattle than he would be right now. All right. You guys got more trades coming up here in just a moment. But first, a reminder of this episode of the Lockdown Airs podcast is brought to you by booking.com and Fandul. With summer travel heating up, especially travel for baseball games, it's time to explore those U.S. cities you've always secretly wanted to learn more about. Yes, I'm talking about your rival cities. With hotels, bed and breakfast, vacation rentals, resorts, and so much more on booking.com, you might just find your perfect state, even in your baseball rival city. Even a Marys fan can have a great time down in Houston, whether you're watching Cal Raleigh hit one into the Crawford boxes or chowing down on some authentic Texas barbecue. Maybe you're doing both at the same time.

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Starting point is 00:11:35 And you're listening to the Locktown Mariners podcast. The Mariners are back at it tonight against the twins. You can catch all the action on the Marra's hometown broadcast with SiriusXM via the SXM app. All you have to do to find that is search the word Mariners. Let's get back into your trades here on fan fiction Friday. Cooper has a deal with Ray's Colt Emerson, Michael Oroyo, and Ty Pete for Yandi Diaz and Jason Adam. Nope. I'm good.

Starting point is 00:12:02 I am good. As soon as you mentioned Cole Emerson, I was out. And for Yandi Diaz, absolutely not. Yeah. There's one player I would trade or consider trading Emerson for on Tampa Bay, and he plays third base for them. So, yeah, Yandi is obviously, you know, hitting quite well right now. And, you know, he's a bat that seems to fit pretty well at T-Mobile Park. He's not a dead pole hitter.

Starting point is 00:12:31 But, you know, there are some concerns to get off to a really slow start. he's in his mid-30s now. So, you know, there's bat speed questions there as there always is. He's a first base only, really. So how do you kind of work with him in France and Garber? And he's a first base only who does have power. And we've seen that, obviously, when the merits have played against him, but doesn't have extraordinary power.

Starting point is 00:12:56 Doesn't have like, there isn't a 30 home run season in that bad. No. You're hoping for doubles. and you know 20 homers so yeah yeah yeah I like Diaz I think you'd be a good fit here at the right price this is overpaying for a puzzle piece that doesn't really fit your current roster so if I'm going after Diaz I'm getting them at my price unless I've already traded tie France or something like that but even then I'm not doing it for Emerson I'm not interested I don't care if they add Adam to the mix I'm not interested in trading Colt Emerson yeah

Starting point is 00:13:31 for a year and a half of a mid 30s first base only slow player who doesn't help me defensively or on the bases doesn't hit for a ton of power and a reliever I'm just I'm not doing that and then you have to add on top of that everything else you're giving up in this deal I'm out I'm out so super out Ian has a deal with the Washington nationals it's Kyle Finnegan the reliever and jessie winker for jonathan claus Michael Morales and Carlos

Starting point is 00:14:00 Vargas. Before we get into the package, I can't imagine that they would want to bring Jesse Winker back, considering the way that relationship ended. Now, look, players change, situations change. You would only have to deal with it for a couple months. He's hitting

Starting point is 00:14:16 well, and he's been able to sustain that. And I don't know what he has been doing over the last couple weeks, but the last time I checked he had been hitting even better. You would think, like, okay, he just kind of popped off to start the season, but now he's falling off like when I last looked at him from like May 15th through

Starting point is 00:14:34 I think it was like June 10th or something he was running like a 155 WRC plus something crazy like that what do you think I don't think you're getting fin again for those three guys let alone Winker who's going to have a lot of suitors at this deadline as a as a high value rental so I think it's it's way too short even if you just take out the Winker part I still link here behind the eight ball in terms of trade costs,

Starting point is 00:15:02 but Winker is going to cost something. He's not going to be a throw-in. The nationals can trade him and get something of value. He's a 130 WRC plus guy right now. He had a long track record of hitting. So there's going to be a team probably out there that thinks, hey, he's figured something out now. He may not hit for a lot of power,

Starting point is 00:15:20 but he's still drawing a ton of walks right now. He's still, you know, strikeouts are totally fine. It's actually stealing bases. somehow. Still not a very good defender. But yeah, even if even for just a couple months, you're going to get a pretty decent prospect for for Jesse Winker. And as for, you know, Finnegan, you get him for a year and a half. So you get them for two playoff races. I think I would, I would think that somebody like Michael Royo probably has to be involved to get Finnegan, you know, to get the nationals interested in Finnegan.

Starting point is 00:15:59 That's possible that you could do something like, you know, this is where maybe Trent Thornton comes in, or this is maybe where Dom Canzon comes in. You could trade something off your major league roster to entice the nationals, but I look at this and I go, like, yeah, I don't know those three guys get you Finnegan by himself. And certainly when you add Winker, he's not a throw-in.

Starting point is 00:16:22 Could you get Winker for like Jonathan Clause? Probably. but again, even if we assume that the Mariners are open to a reunion, which they haven't really done a ton of, not a lot of reunions in the Jerry Depoto era. Especially not with players that we've heard they've had some sort of issue with. Even when they made sense. They're still like, no.

Starting point is 00:16:43 So, yeah, I think both guys make some sense for Seattle, though, you know, do I want to count on Jesse Winker, you know, over Luke Rayleigh or Dominic Canzone for the rest of this year? I mean, I wouldn't bet a lot of money on it that he's better. I'd roll with Winker over Cairn, not really, though. Plus, Rayleigh just gives me more all around as a player. Sure. I mean, Canzone's at least a better defender and has more power than Winker.

Starting point is 00:17:14 So kind of depends on what you want from your lineup. But yeah, I just think this is light. I think both players are interesting. I think they're guys we probably should talk about. I don't think Winker is likely going to be a guy Seattle wants. But if he is, then I think this is an interesting trade package. I just think that it's light in terms of what Seattle's given up. So I'll go 40.

Starting point is 00:17:40 Sounds about right. Yeah. Okay. We are going to look at a couple more trades in just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of the Lockdown Marys podcast is brought to you by Game Time. Game Time is now an authorized ticket marketplace of major league. League Baseball, which makes getting tickets even faster and easier. Prices on the GameTime app actually go down the closer it gets to first pitch, and I get to

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Starting point is 00:18:44 And you're listening to the Locked on Marrars podcast. Once again, you can catch the M's and the Twins tonight on the Marriss Hometown Broadcast, the XXM via the SXM app. All you have to do to find that is search the word Mariners. So we got a couple more trades here on Van Fixer Friday to go over. Freddie has a deal with the A's, J.J. Bladay and J.P. Sears to the Mariners for Michael O'Royle, Michael Morales, Cade Marlowe, and Axel Sanchez. Colby.

Starting point is 00:19:14 Too much bulk going to Oakland. Oakland will make bulk trades on occasion, but they're not going to do that much bulk, particularly for Bladay. There's going to be a team out there that will pay more than this. for JJ Bladay. You get him for four plus years. He's having a pretty nice year, gets on base a good amount. And JP series is, you know, interesting to say the least. You could help a team. So you're probably not getting bulk or you're probably not getting these guys for bulk. So I mean, Bladay right now is almost a two and a half one player. Well, and also what did we just talk about with Matt Vierline, right? Controllable bat in this market.

Starting point is 00:19:56 who's playing at even a slightly above average rate and you know j j bladay is playing at a well above average rate right now like that's going to cost you a lot like j j bladay they might ask for harry for col young like that's probably what we're talking about there for a 26 year old with four years of club control having a breakout year yeah uh bladay's only done this once so like how much do you trust it uh so bladay's a really you know tricky player to go trade for but if they do want to do that fine they're not going to get it done for bulk they're going to need high impact guys to be in the trade to get bladay so you know it's an interesting idea it certainly is something that i'm sure jerry and jesson are interested in i'm sure they would

Starting point is 00:20:44 really like to have a player like j jay j plaid but i think you're you're talking about harry Ford or Cole Young. And then I think you're probably talking maybe even the Locklear type in a deal like this and then possibly like a canned zone on top of it to push

Starting point is 00:21:04 it over the top. So yeah, I mean, Sanchez is nothing anymore. He's not a prospect unfortunately. Morales having a nice breakout year, but he's still, you know, number five starter upside. So yeah, this is just way too much bulk to expect, you know,

Starting point is 00:21:20 not only some impact but some seriously controllable impact years. Yeah. I'm going to go 35 on this. Yeah, I think the valuation is just too far off to give it much higher than that. All right. Last deal of the day comes from

Starting point is 00:21:39 McGuire. Marrers get Vlad Jr. and Yusay Kikuchi for Cole Young, Tai Pete, and they also take on Mitch Hanigur's contract. I'll tell you if Vlad cost me much more than Young and Pete I'm probably out it's a pretty good you know tandem of players there so this is why I have a hard time with Vlad just kind of you know because he's not he's not a superstar player he's not I don't think Young or Ford is going to be a superstar player either though but

Starting point is 00:22:12 type he could be but he's so far away like it's very hard to gauge the Vlad Jr. your cost that that's fair right now so like if you're telling me it's it's young and pete for vlad and they do that deal like fine whatever uh don't love it uh don't hate it but i don't know how much more i'm willing to give like if it's cole young and and pete and they want like locklear or something like that probably out so the vlad one is is tough for me but yeah like You're just not tacking on Mitch Hanager in a contract swap because Kukuchi's money goes off the books next year for Toronto anyways. And, you know, Toronto could just trade Vlad to a team that isn't going to ask for a contract swap and get rid of that money too. So if the money means anything to them, they're going to make you pay probably Harry Ford to take on Mitch Hanigers contract.

Starting point is 00:23:08 And that's just throwing good money after bad. And that's not something you want to do. Yeah. No. Yeah, the fact that this is even a question of young and Pete are enough for Vlad Jr. alone. Forget the fact that they're also taking on Hanager's contract and they're giving you Kikuchi. Yeah, this deal is dead right there, right then and there. So I'm going to go 35 on this. It just needs to be flushed out way more from the Maris side of things.

Starting point is 00:23:41 And it probably doesn't need to include Mitch Hanager. I just, I don't think that's realistic. Yeah, I just, I don't, I don't see a way that the Mariners are moving Hanneger's contract without getting a, you know, probably a slightly worse contract from a player who just might be able to help them a little bit more than Mitch Hanager. Like, they're just not throwing him in for, like, could you throw him in, could you throw Hanigur to the Mets and take Starling Marte's contract? I guess, but that's actually going to cost you a little bit more money than just keeping

Starting point is 00:24:13 Hanager so you're hoping that Marte gives you more value than Hanager and it's worth it. That's how I think you're going to move Mitch Hanager if you're able to at all. And I just don't think he's he's going to have, I mean, he's dragging down your original trade package if you throw them in there, which means you have to add more on top of it to get them to take that money. And that just seems like a waste. Just eat the money. You know, eat the 17 million instead of giving up, you know, six years of Locklear or six years of LAS or whatever. Just eat the $17 million.

Starting point is 00:24:45 Yeah, I think the only way that you would get them to take on Mitch Hanager is if you're acquiring George Springer, because I would give the Blue Jays an opportunity to get out from under that money a year earlier. But Springer is also making $7 million more than Hanager is on a per year basis. And if you're the merits, do you really want to take that on? Wouldn't you rather just deal with Mitch Hanigar and his 17 and a half next year and however you want to handle that. Yeah, probably.

Starting point is 00:25:14 So I think that's kind of an interesting discussion to have the Springer one, but overall, yeah, this, just the steel, though, that you propose. That's not going to get it done. All right, that's going to do it for our show. Before we get out of here, a reminder that Lockdown has launched the first ever 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. Lockdown Sports Today is here for you 24-7 cover in the top.

Starting point is 00:25:41 sports stories of the day with the local experts of locked on plus our national shows covering every league find locked on sports today now available on the free fire tv channels app thank you so much for joining us here on the locked on marries podcast for colby pat note i'm ty and gonzalez be sure to give us a follow on twitter at l o underscore mariners you can follow me at ty dame gonzalez and colby at cpat 11 that's cpat 1 1 you can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode have yourself a beautiful baseball day and a beautiful baseball weekend and we'll see you next time peace

Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Fan Fiction Friday: Vlad Jr., Jack Flaherty, and More

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