Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - FanFic Friday: Merrifield, Madrigal, Bohm and More

Episode Date: December 17, 2021

Hosts Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby Patnode go over your Mariners trade proposals for Fan Fiction Friday, including ideas for Whit Merrifield, Nick Madrigal, Alec Bohm and more.Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You are Locked-on Mariners, your daily Seattle Mariners podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome to Locked-on Mariners, your home for Daily Seattle Mariner's News and Analysis. Thank you so much for making us your first listen of the day. We are free and available on all platforms, as you know. And today is Friday, December 6th. 17th, 2021, happy Spider-Man Day.

I am your host, Tidea Gonzalez, joined as always by my co-host, Colby Patnode. Follow us on Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-N-R-Riners. You can follow me at Dane-G-N-Z-L-Z, and Colby at C-P-E-T-L-L-E. Be sure to also check out our Patreon where we talk about the Mariners even more and also get into some non-baseball talk twice a week.

So starting Monday, we will be going to three shows a week. which means you should go subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com forward slash control zone because we're going to be posting twice a week on there, just like we do always. So if you want us five times a week still, go over there because we will not be back to five times a week here on Lockdown Mariners until mid-February. Today on Lockdown Mariners, it is fan fix on Friday. You submitted your Mariners trade ideas. We're going to read and grade them on 20 to 80 grade scale. 80 being the best, 20 being, well, you get it. and you submitted quite a bit of trades over the past week.

We actually have a backlog of trades and we had you submit some earlier today as well, but we're probably not going to be able to get to every single one of those. But we're going to try our very best to get to as many as possible. If this is your first time joining us, welcome to the show. If you like what you hear, give us a follow or subscribe wherever you're listening to this. we greatly appreciate it, just like we greatly appreciate your support overall. So let's start with the trades that we got via email. And we're going to start with a listener who asked to remain anonymous,

who submitted a ton of trades, eight of them. And we're not going to get to all eight. But we're going to get to a couple here. Starting with a Mariners Royals proposal in which the Mariners give up, Noel V. Martay, Taylor Trembal, Levi Stout, and Michael Morales, to the Royals for shortstop Nicky Lopez outfielder Andrew Benatendi

and starting pitching prospect Asa Lacey Colby I don't see them trading Nicky Lopez they're trying to break out of this you know they're trying to break out of this rebuild just like the Mariners are

he's still under club control through 2025 I think he's got four more years so and he was really good in in 2020 he posted a 4.4 F4 That's a big breakout year for him at 300, 365, 378. It's just, it's not enough.

You're not going to basically ask the royals to take a step back again by trading their best young player. Plus Andrew Benatendi, who I do like as a trade target, by the way, who is a solid everyday left fielder, who helps them. And Aisa Lacey is, you know, a legitimately good pitching prospect. He's the top 100 guy. So they're not going to give all that up to step back, no matter how much they like Noel V. Tramel, maybe you could trade Tramel for a penitenti straight up. But I just, I don't think this makes any sense for the Royals.

From a Royals perspective, it doesn't make a lot of sense. From a Mariners perspective, yeah, I would do it, yeah, like easy. But it doesn't make much sense from the Royal side of things. Yeah, from the Royal side of things, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever because Nikki Lopez, because of Aeselaisal, as well, I mean, that's a top three draft pick. That's just, yeah, no, they're not going to give that up for what you're sending back in return. It just doesn't make a ton of sense, really, on any front.

I mean, obviously for the Mariners, like, you do this deal in a heartbeat, but no. Just say it would just never come together. So I'm going to give this one, sorry, a 30. I don't get a 40. I mean, it's, it's, we haven't heard Nikki Lopez. And, and I think I'm the only person who's brought up Andrew Ben attending once on this podcast. So, uh, kudos for that. But, yeah, I just, it doesn't address the Kansas City side of things. It's a very myopic look at the trade of, of, you know, well, it helps the mariners. So it's, it's, I'm going to put it out there. It's, you have to, it has to work for both sides. All right. So the other trade idea that are anonymous listeners. provided here that we're going to talk about is one with the Cubs Luis Torens, Connor Phillips,

and Donovan Walton to the Cubs for Wade Miley and Nick Madrigal. I don't think they're going to do this because I think the Cubs are actually going to try and compete somewhat this year whether they should or shouldn't.

I mean, they signed Stromen. They signed Jan Goams and those aren't moves that you make when you're contemplating a terrorist down and we've even heard some rumors that maybe Chris Brian and Anthony Rizzo would come back. So, yeah, just to me, I, Trens, they have catching, so that's not really a place for him. I guess they could open up first base for him pretty easily. But I don't, I don't think that's going to be enough for them to trade Madrigal, who's an up-the-middle,

high-contact bat. I do think the Mariners like Nick Matricle. I think he's the type of guy that they would like to have. but I don't think that the package makes sense for the Cubs who are kind of, it appears at least they're trying to compete. So they're not going to move Miley, who was like a six-win pitcher last year, because then they have to replace them.

And you didn't give them a replacement. Donovan Walton is nothing in this deal. Apologies to old Donnie baseball, but he doesn't mean anything. So it's really, it's Terenz and Phillips for the, the pair of cubs that's just it's not a deal they make because they're trying to win this year at least it seems like it yeah i uh i'll give the steel of 45 though you know here the the

the thing really with madrigal is i mean you got kind of a few bats that that profile in that way obviously not um you know they don't have the upside of nick magical but i mean you need some more pop in your lineup right now. And high contact guy. And I just, you know, that's fine. Right. But yeah. Our anonymous, our anonymous friend is kind of a cap there.

Sure. There is. You need some power somewhere, basically. And Magigol really isn't going to give you that. You also need some walks somewhere and Madrigal doesn't walk. But Nick Magical strikes out less than any player in baseball. Like, he's really good. And our anonymous friend seems to.

at least understand or realize that the Mariners value guys who put the ball in play, particularly up the middle. You look at Frazier, you look at JP. Those guys, they put the ball in play a lot. And you even look at Toro, who played second base last year, doesn't strike out much, like well below league average in strikeouts. And that seems to be something the Mariners are targeting. So it makes sense to look at those type of players as targets,

but it's it's still got to make sense for the other side of things too. So I'll give this one of 45. All right. So 45. Thank you so much anonymous for your trade proposals. Let's go to one here from Daniel, who emailed us a deal. And we can quickly grade this one because it's a deal that we've pretty much talked about quite a bit on here, talked about all the reasons for it on past fan fiction Fridays.

And we're also running out of time on our first. segment anyway. So the Mariners send Jared Kellnick, Noel V. Marte, and George Kirby to the Pirates for Brian Reynolds. 30. It's it's an overpay. It's a drastic overpay. Like Kellnick for Reynolds is fair. Kellnick and Noelvie is what you said. That's Kirby. I know. I'm getting to that. But yeah. But. adding two of those guys to any deal is an overpay for Brian Reynolds for me. And I like Brian Reynolds.

I would absolutely do any one of those three straight up or any one of those three and secondary pieces for Brian Reynolds. I would highly, I would highly consider. But all three of them for one guy, no, hard pass. Yeah. Yeah, not a huge fan of this for the Mariners. Even though you're getting a great player in Brian Reynolds, it's just three of your top five. I mean, yeah. Well, I mean, Kelnick doesn't count anymore, but you know what I mean.

Like he's still top five. Like, yeah. He's one of your top five assets in your system. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'll pass. I'm going to give this one a 30 as well.

Sorry. Yeah. It just, it's too much. Yeah, it's just way too much for, for Brian. It's great player. But yeah, you got to draw a line at some point. And that's exactly where you need to draw the line. So, we're going to look at more trades in just a moment, but real quick, a reminder this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by Bilt Bar.

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KED, 15% off your order at built.com. You're listening to Lockdown Mariners. Thank you again for making us your first listen of the day, just like you do here every day. We greatly appreciate your support. Stuart, who emailed us a Mariners Royals idea. We already had a Mariners Royal's idea earlier on in the show. This one has the Mariners getting with Merrifield, Carlos Santana, and Carlos Hernandez for Harry Ford and Caden Polkovich. So I would assume the Mariners are picking up

all of Carlos Santana's contract in this situation. Harry Ford, I mean, that's, that's a lot to give up here. But that's kind of the price point that the royals have set on Merrifield. You also get an interesting pitching asset here with Hernandez. I don't know, it feels like a lot. What do you think, Colby? It's too much to give up because I'm taking on Santana. If I desperately needed a first baseman, maybe, but I don't.

I have Thai France. I have Luis Turenz. I'm not, you know, Santana's, I don't know exactly what Carlos Santana's deal is, but it's a good chunk of change. I know that much. And Marrifield is just not worth really anybody, anybody, anybody in the Brandon Williamson or higher range, Whitmerfield is simply not worth that guy.

And Harry Ford is in that tier. So Santana actually, it detracts for my interest in this deal. He's only making like $10 million this year. So it's not like awful. And he's probably worth $10 million most years. But he was pretty bad last year. And he was pretty bad in 2020.

So for me, no. It's no. It's too much to give up. You know, the pitcher is interesting. And I do like Whitmerfield, the player, but I'm not, you know, I'm not taking on a bad contract and giving up a top prospect for Whitmerfield. So, yeah, it just needs to be less. Whitmerfield just, he's just not worth it. He's not as good as the Royals think he is.

Yeah. So great. I'll still give it a 40 because it's, we haven't heard much about Merrifield. Santana is interesting. There's some new names in that one. So it was, it's something new, which I appreciate. So I'll give it a 40. Yeah, I'll give it a 40.

Especially, because I like Hernandez. Merrifield's fun. It's just the price point that gets me here. Just go sign Jonathan V.R. Yeah. All right. So thank you, Stuart, for your, for your submission here. We're going to move on to some response.

that we got to our mailbag Monday call out because some of you misunderstood the assignment and submitted trade ideas for that. So let's go over some of those because we did promise to answer those. We're going to start with Ian at C.

Mariners 2001 who has thoughts on something like a Kyle Lewis for Alec Baum swap. So bomb the Philly's third baseman. Kind of a kind of comparable assets. here in terms of just trajectory

and all that. I know you hate Alec Baum for some reason. So tell me the bad grade you're going to give this one. It actually has very little to do with Baum. That's not true.

So here's the deal. On the surface, this deal makes sense because the Mariners have, in theory, an outfield surplus, and they need a third baseman. Baum plays third base. Kyle Lewis is a former, you know, top draft pick. So is Baum. They're roughly the same age. They have roughly the same experience in the majors. Like, and they've, you know, had been roughly as successful as one another. So the surface, it makes sense. And, you know, the Phillies could even probably use an outfielder.

Here's my issue with this is that I don't want third base for the 2022 Seattle Mariners to be a hope position. Like, oh, let's hope that he clicks. this year, it can't be. You can't have second base be Adam Frazier and have third base be Alec Baum. You can't do it. So as the roster sit right now, I would rather take the chance on Kyle Lewis being an average center fielder than Alec Baum being an average third base bat because it's, you know, it's a better fit for my team.

I need the bad. And if I'm going to go sign, if I go sign Trevor's story, right, and he's my second Baseman and then Alec Baum is my third baseman and I have Frazier and Toro as backup, then maybe I would feel comfortable doing that because I would take a chance on Baum, who is a good prospect. I'm not saying he's a bad prospect, but I've always thought he was a little overrated. So the way the roster sit right now, I don't think this makes sense because the Mariners don't have a sure thing at second or third.

And by sure thing, I mean power, offense. So as it sits right now, I'd probably give this one a 45. if they signed story, if they signed Bryant, if they trade for, you know, Jose Ramirez or whatever, you know, pick a guy. It's a,

it's a really solid trade proposal. I'm going to give it a 50. Yeah. I like, I like bomb. I think this idea works. And I think that you can make up for that lack of power and stability elsewhere as well. If Trevor Story is your second baseman and you add,

say, Michael Conforto. then whatever. Sure. But as it sits right now. Well, you know, you graded how you want and I'll grade it how I want.

I'm saying as the roster sits right now, this is it, it's not a risk the Mariners should take. Although side note, and I'm not going to drag us on, we do know the Mariners have talked to the Phillies about whom we don't, we don't know that,

but we do know that the Mariners and Phillies have engaged in trade talks about somebody. so maybe it's fine. Right. Right. All right. So thank you, Ian, for your submission. Let's move on to Curtis Christensen, who has a couple of trade ideas. And we can quickly grade these.

Would you trade Sam Carlson and Victor Labrata for Garrett Hampson to play centerfield and be a Chris Taylor, but primary center fielder? Sam Carlson for Victor LaBrata? Yeah, I'd probably swing that for Garrett Hampson. With the Rockies do that, probably not. So I'm going to give that one a 42. Yeah, I'll give it a 45. It's creative. I just I would do it if I were the Mariners and honestly, if I were the Rockies, I would think about it. It just, it feels a little light from the Rocky standpoint, but I mean, you've seen Karen Hampsons' career numbers. So maybe it's not. So I'll give it a 45. Mariners received Taylor Ward and the Angels get Johann Ramirez and Dylan Moore. Anything about that. no thanks

you think I was going to trade you on I thought he did too I guess not I guess I'm thinking of someone else it was a different Angels utility guy

I know that much I thought maybe it was Taylor Ward yeah I'm gonna say I don't know Taylor Ward is pretty good this year I'm still gonna say no because I don't think Ward,

I would rather take the upside play of Johan and Dylan Moore. I mean, ideally Dylan Moore is not on the 26-man roster, but it sounds like he probably will be. So I would say no. But, you know, also keep in mind, I'm kind of a Johann Ramirez stand. So I'm going to say no.

But I'll give it like a 45. Like it's, yeah, it's fine. I don't think it would, it would work. Like, I don't think it would happen. I don't think the angels would accept this. So. Oh, it's also worth noting that he ended the year on the IL with a hip injury. So those not always ideal.

Let's put it that way. Sure. 45. 45 for me. All right. So we are going to wrap up our fan fiction Friday for the day in just a moment. But real quick, a reminder of this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by betonline.ag. Betonline has you covered all season long with more props, odds, and lines than ever before as football continues the march to the playoffs.

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All right, let's try to get through as many trades as we possibly can in the next 10 or so minutes, let's say. starting with let's see here we got another trade from Curtis Christensen actually Mariners get Nick Solac from the Rangers for Nick Margiers and Eric Swanson grade 50 I'd say 45 I don't know if like Margavages is at all of interest to any team right now considering the injury that he's coming off of Swanson but I don't know what that would get so select I mean but that could have done it for

Solak I mean Solak's not been very good and he doesn't really have a position to play but kind of plays all over but I mean second base and shortstop are now taken like completely off the table yeah yeah

I don't know maybe they would do this Eric Swanson is pretty good last year so yeah Swanson was pretty good my guess is that the Rangers would want like Steckenrider and at that point I think you just

No. Yeah, no. No, I'm not turning that for Nick Seleck. It's been what? Like, he was worth like half a win this year. I'm good. I think he's a little bit better than that. But I think Swanson for Solek might actually,

I mean, maybe you have to tack on somebody like Tyler Keenan or Victor LaBrata or somebody like that. But like, yeah, I mean, Solac was a one-win player this year. He was worth one win. He was worth one-win. Yeah, he's got some personalities.

He was 42, 314, 3-162. 89 WRC plus and what was doing 1% of the time yeah so it's kind of a Dillmore replacement

so yeah Swanson for Seleck yeah I'd give that a 50 yeah yeah sure 50 Mariners get Josh James for Kaden Polkovich

what do you think about this one I like it uh James has issues finding the strike zone 20 he'll be 29 he does have a couple options left and he has had some success in the big leagues he misses a lot of bats but he also walks a lot of guys so um

that's about right I don't know if the Astros would do it but I would do it if I were the Mariners so I give this one a yeah I give this one a 55 it's interesting it's good it's good upside play not a ton that you're giving up in return um

yeah you know, high strikeout guy obviously has command issues like every other hard thrower, you know. But he's got four years of club control left. Yeah. And he's 29. So, I mean, take a shot on him. Yeah. Yeah.

I would go for it. I would certainly go for it. Yeah. So I'll give that one of 55 as well, actually. Good job, Curtis. All right. Let me see if we have any others that were submitted in the mailbag Monday. No, they were not.

So let's go on to the ones that you submitted today, which is actually Thursday for transparency sake. We're recording this on Thursday. Let's start with Jordan Lovett at Mormon Pizza Man. Milcar Perez and Adam Maco to the Red Sox for Bobby baseball, Bobby Dalbag. No, thanks. Yeah. It doesn't really fit with Thai France right now because he can't play anywhere other than first base.

By the way, I would just, yeah, I would. throw this out there just for general knowledge. I think, and this is me speculating here, but I think the Mariners are a lot higher on Adam McO and Milcar Perez than the average or even the intense prospect study. I think the metrics that those guys put up are like they're the favorites amongst the nerds in the Mariners front office. I don't think that they're getting traded for, you know, a guy that doesn't really fit the rocker. Or just like part-time players. I think they're going to hold on to them.

I don't think they're getting traded for relievers. I think the Mariners probably view both of those guys as like legitimate top 10 in their system. That's just based off of the, that's just based off of the metrics and what the Mariners love to look at. And, you know, both of those guys fill the checkboxes for the Mariners' run office. I think they love those guys. So, yeah, probably not. Yeah, no, I'm going to give this one a 30.

Yeah, it just, it's an overpay. And also, I don't know if the Red Sox would even do it. Because they're trying to win this year, too. All right, so Rocham Brat, Dodgers receive Levi Stout, Mariners receive Gavin Lux. No. Dodgers aren't doing that. The Dodgers finally have a place to play Gavin Lux. Yeah, yeah, they finally have a place to play.

Obviously, he's underachieved, but still, it's very minimal plate appearances. He has 532 career played appearances, most of those coming this year in which he's slashed 242, 328, 364. 91WRC plus, obviously not good numbers, but this is a guy that's one that was one of the best prospects in baseball, not very long ago. And I don't think that they're going to give up on him for, you know, a good prospect in Levi style, but not a, you know, not a guy that you're going to do backflips for either. No, I mean, the guy's got five years of club control and he's only 24 years old. And he can play second base and shortstop. Like, I don't think the Dodgers are trading him unless it's, you know, part of like the big package to get a really big player and the Mariners don't have a big player to offer the Dodgers. I don't think they're interested in a prospect swap at all.

I'll give it 35 or 40 because it's pretty creative at least. I'm going to give it a 30. Sorry. I know. I know. I know. I'm the negative one. So that's going to do it for our show.

Thank you so much for joining us here on Lockdown Mariners for Colby Pat Node. I'm Tideon Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Mariners. and you can follow me at Dane Gonzalez. That's D-A-N-E, G-N-Z-L-Z, and Colby at C-E-P-A-T-E-E-T-1-1. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode.

And thank you again for making us your first listen of the day. Just like you do here every day, we greatly appreciate your support. Now, make your second list of the day, locked-on bets, your daily one-stop shop for all your gambling needs. Locked-on bets hosted by your boy cue

with expert analysis and insight from Lee Sterling. And just like us, their show is free and available wherever you get your podcast. So have yourself a beautiful baseball weekend and we'll see you on Monday. Peace.