Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Good Riddance, 2020!!

Episode Date: January 1, 2021

In this first episode of 2021, D.C. Lundberg and Jon Miller talk about what they're most looking forward to in the new year. They do talk about what they hope the Mariners can do not only in '21, but in seasons to come. They also talk about other things they're looking forward to, including other sports they are fans of. D.C. is excited that one of his favorite sports will be on display in Spokane; the PWBA will be holding a tournament in a bowling center about 10 minutes from his house. The two of them also look back at the 2020 Mariners season. 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.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am very happy to say that 2020 is over! Yeah! Woo-hoo! Finally! Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg, 2021. J.M., thanks for introducing us to the first episode of 2021. This is Lockdown Mariners in this new year.

We are still part of the Locked-on podcast network, or of course, T-L-O-P-N, or T-L-O-P-N, or T-Lopin. Please remember to download, rate, and subscribe to this program using whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariner's podcast or any program here on Tloppin. All you got to do is say, hey, smart device,

go ahead and play me locked-on whatever podcast. Follow us on Twitter at L-O-U-U-Sourner's. Follow me on Twitter at DC underscore Lundberg, L-U-N-D-B-E-R-G, if you're scoring at home. So excited it's not 2020 anymore. And here with me to talk about what we wanted to have happen in 2021, Locked-on Mariner's contributor, John Miller, John, happy new year. Happy New Year, D.C. Thank you so much for having me. Absolutely. This is going to be a fun show, ladies and gentlemen, if you couldn't tell,

if you couldn't tell already, John and I are in a great mood. I'm in a great mood. 2020 is over. This year sucked. 2021's got to be better, doesn't it, John? Oh, one can only hope. Let's all do our best out there to not be pains in the neck, stick in the mud to people, and make this a good year. Yeah, let's all do our part to try to make 2021 better than 2020. was and today John and I are going to talk about what we're looking forward to in 2021, some baseball stuff, some not baseball stuff, because there's a lot of not baseball stuff that I am

personally looking forward to, not the least of which is being 100% healthy again, which has not been the case since October. And I don't know when that's going to be, but my gosh, it's got to happen sooner or later. John, one thing I'm also looking forward to here coming up at the end of March, the curling world championships. Men's curling, women's curling, mix doubles, It is back. The world championships are going to be at the end of, begin at the end of March, and I'm really looking forward to that, covered by Olympic Channel, I hope, because it was last time. Let's see, John, we talked about curling on the last show, but you're looking forward to that as well?

I am looking forward to that. Just right off the bat, a complete curling season, a complete bowling season, and a complete baseball season, all 162 games. I don't care who they have in the stands. I just want to be able to watch baseball every day. Yes. And as for a complete curling season, there were some, I mean, it starts in, started a few months ago. Some of the tournaments have been canceled, but a lot of them have, a lot of them have not been. The United States did not need to do a new national championships. They, they happened generally at the end of January or early February anyway.

but those are not going to happen since the teams that won the 2020 national championships, which were held in Cheney, by the way, about a half hour from my house and I attended them, those are the teams that are going to represent the United States and the 2021 world championships, the men's and women's teams. And, you know, there's going to be Olympic curling coming up in 2022. The summer Olympics are finally going to happen. They were supposed to last year. And as you said, there is going to be a complete piece.

PBA season, and the PWBA is back this year, too. They're actually going to start before the PBA does, although that step ladder finals does not appear to be televised, unfortunately, from what I can find. Plus, the PWBA is coming to Spokane in August. I'm so excited. They were supposed to come to Spokane last year, and then, of course, everything went boom, and their whole season went away. But there will be a Spokane open, and the bowling center in which they're holding this tournament, is about five or ten minutes away from my house. So you better believe I will be in attendance watching the Spokane Open, the PWBA Spokane Open in August.

But bowling actually begins before curling does the world championships, pardon me again, are at the end of March into April. Bowling is what I'm looking forward to first, because that's first on the horizon. Definitely. Absolutely. And as you said, a complete baseball season. Looks like it's going to be on track from what I understand.

to be a full baseball season with a complete spring training. And since we're on the subject, let's talk about the Mariners. I don't know what kind of a season they're going to have next year, to be honest. I would hope that they're going to have a better season than they did last year. I like the Keenan Middleton free agent signing. I think that he's going to have a bounce back year. And this is all just speculation, gang. This is just a complete guess on my part.

But the fact that he knows what he needs to do to improve, and the fact that he has had success in the past, that's a recipe for a bounceback season. And John, I think he can contribute not only next year, but in years to come. What say you? I agree. I think it's great.

Absolutely. Chris Flexson, you know, we'll see how it goes. He has not had a lot of success at the major league level. Did pretty well, and I believe Korea last year, but then again, that is it's not the major leagues. It's like a double a league. It's a little lesser than the Japanese. League, which is between double A and AAA. He had success there. We shall see what happens.

And then again, the continued progression of the position players, and Mitch Hanager is coming back, and that I'm looking forward to. I want to see what he can do coming off the sports hernia surgeries. What about you, John? He has been so missed. The Mariners did, well, good for the Mariners. Yeah. Being only six games under 500 in the short season. And I, Having Manager there, they could have done that much better, although it was in his best interests health-wise, to sit out this season. Absolutely. And you could tell that there were glaring holes in the corner outfield spots.

He, especially right field, I mean, D. Gordon played a lot in left field, and that kind of tells you all you need to know there. Jake Fraley is not working out as the Mariners hoped he was going to, but then again, he may have a bounce back year next year in AAA or the majors, wherever they decide. decide to play him. He's still a prospect. He could still do some good things. I'm not that optimistic, but the possibility does still exist. Let's step aside for a little bit, John, and take a break, and I'm going to tell the nice folks about betonline.ag. Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for some football? College football heads into bowl season, and there are some big matchups

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So submit it to Lockedon Mariners at gmail.com. I will reply to it on the air in an upcoming mail bike episode. Hopefully no more four-part mailbags. In any case, questions and comments on any subject are welcome and encouraged. Send them all to locked on meriders at gmail.com. Keep them appropriate. It's a family show even in this new year. year. The first episode of 2021 will continue after this word from Built Bar, the greatest protein

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Yeah, thank you very much, J.M., leading us back into the first episode of 2021 here with Lockdown Mariners contributor, John Miller. I am D.C. Lunberg, and you know, gang, betting on your favorite league team or sport does not have to be a guessing game if you listen to the new Lockdown Betts podcast hosted by Your Boy Q. And happy-hand-capping expert Lee Sterling, not happy-capping, handicapping expert Lee Sterling. I'm happy-capping, I think. No, I'm not. and quick-hitting advice to make the smartest possible wages. Subscribe to Lock on Betts wherever you get your podcast today, and it is sponsored by BetOnline.org.

I sincerely apologize to the folks that locked on Betts for that advertising promo that sucked. But not as bad as 2020 sucked, right, John? Oh, absolutely right, DC. At least, I almost said, at least I got through that, but I did get through 2020 as well as did, you know, most of us. And I don't want to look back on 2020, but, you know, maybe we will a little bit because you did mention that the Mariners were just a couple of games under 500 in the shortened season.

That winning percentage, I forget with the exact winning percentages, but I did the math. And that spread out over a 162 game season was a little less than 73 wins. And before everything went boom and spring training, I was going to guess that the Mariners were about a 72 to 74 win team. in that regard, they kind of hit the mark, didn't they? They did. If they keep it up, if these guys keep progressing, if Kyle Lewis gets better and potentially into, say, the top five in MVP consideration, we could very well see a 500 plus team in the next few years, guys.

I think we could, and I think 2022 is probably the most likely. That's when I think the Mariners might want to make their push. Because next year is going to be another year of development. If the bullpen wasn't as bad as it was last year, then maybe they'd start to be a little bit more competitive next year. But they have so many holes to fill in the pitching staff that it's going to be another year of progress, I think, in 2021. And you've got to see what Shed Long is capable of.

Last year, a throwaway year. He was one of many, many players who had very bad seasons. Christian Yelich, one of the best players in the game, had a horrible season. So Shedlong's not the only one that may be an aberration, so he may come back and do what he did in 2019. Who knows? Kyle Seeger's in the last year of his contract.

I don't really think he's going to be a Mariner in 2022. I could be wrong. But, you know, in terms of his age and declining skills, let's face it, I don't think he fits into the Mariners' future plans. And Thai France can play third base. He proved he can hit. I forgot to mention that on the last show. When we were talking about this, John, the last show,

it was a couple of shows ago at this point. But when we were talking about what offseason moves that we would make to improve the team, I forgot to mention that Ty France could step in and be the third baseman. He may be in a timeshare with Seeger next year at third base. Who knows? Not to mention Dylan Moore, who might be able to start at third, might be able to start at second, might be able to start in left field. You know, who knows?

It's a year of progress. The offense is ahead of the pitching. let's see what the pitching can do next year and then going forward in the 2022 or the ensuing offseason after 2021. You have a better idea kind of where you stand and what kind of players you would want to go after. How do you see it? I see it as it may be up to Seeger as to whether he wants to try and really pump up his stats either to make the case when the time comes around the trading deadline.

I want to stay with the team, maybe talk about resigning then, or if he's just not having it for the season, and then the Mariners need to look into, and, okay, D.C., you're the front office. Yes. What do you do? If he's just not having it, do you stick it out and just let him go to free? agency or if he's doing reasonably well, okay, let's try to get something for him at the trading

deadline. Also, what teams in our division might be making a push? Are we good enough to make a push? Or are we just content to, okay, even if we get to 500 or 78 wins or something, we're content with that, but that will give us something to build on and each year increasing a little bit. You know, I don't know if next year's success can be measured really in win-loss percentage rather than how it can be measured and how the key pieces that the Mariners are going to hold onto will progress. And Kyle Seeger doesn't fit that bill. If he's having a decent season, I would absolutely try to trade him for a prospect. I mean, you're not going to be able to get a really top-level, top-notch blue-chip prospect for him, but maybe a mid-level prospect who's

near the major leagues than somebody who's in the low minors. I would try to go after somebody or a couple of somebody's like that, particularly pitching. If there's a pitcher out there that a team is willing to part with, who's at AA and may be ready for the majors in 2022, that's the kind of player that I would try to get for Kyle Seeger. And if he has a bad season, nobody's going to want him. He's making an awful lot of money.

But even at the trade deadline, if a team said, okay, we still want you to pay half of Kyle Seeger. figure's salary, I'd still do it because I think it's worth it rather than getting nothing for him in return in free agency. Because I don't think he's going, I don't think he's going to resign just based on, based on his age and the fact that the last three seasons he hasn't done very well. That's, that's kind of how I see it. Well, and DC, to your point, the Mariners do not want to get stuck the way I feel they did with a guy like Felix Hernandez. That's actually a pretty good comparison.

Who was signed to too long, too big of a contract, and he went downhill very young, and the Mariners were essentially stuck with him for a couple of years, paying him big money to do next to nothing. Yeah, and I'll kind of counter that point by saying at the time it looked like a good deal, because who knew that he was going to flame out at 29, 30 years old? I think the Mariners were figuring on that he would be productive throughout the link of that contract and that just wound up, that wound up not being the case. And then the contract wound up being an albatross and you couldn't get rid of them.

So your point does still stand. And in terms of Kyle Seeger, it's kind of the same thing. I think the Mariners were figuring that he was going to be productive throughout the remainder of the contract. And that wasn't the case either. He bulked up too much, became too tight. His batting average plummeted. He wasn't as mobile at third base.

And, you know, even last year when he got off to the good start, he couldn't sustain it. So, yeah, I mean, it's really a tough call. That's why it's always dangerous to sign somebody to a longer-term contract because nobody has that crystal ball. You can't say, well, okay, he's at this point in his career, he's going to get injured, or at this point in his career, he's going to decline earlier than most players. It's so impossible to tell, John. It really is. And that's where you can play out your computer predictions all you want, but injuries cannot be predicted, slump you. cannot be predicted.

And what happens to the team in those, say, 10 years you may be looking to have this guy also cannot be predicted. If players retire, if other players get hurt, if the team is just not winning, if, like, the Mariners, we need to take four or five years and rebuild, that can't really be predicted. And you just kind of have to roll with the punches, if you will. Yeah, that's, I could not have said it better myself, John. Could not have said it better myself. I think that's just about time for the day.

I don't think we're going to spend the entire second half looking back at the 2020 manners, but that's kind of what we wound up doing. We did talk about what we're looking forward to in the first half. You know, even though it is time, John, I don't care. What are you looking forward to in 2021? I am optimistic in regards to, well, your health, as you've expressed, and my health, hoping to get into better health, recover from ailments, and beyond that, a complete baseball season.

A complete baseball season. And I'll also add to that I talked about bowling season. I talked about curling season. I've been watching a lot of skiing and biathlon on Olympic Channel, and they're right smack dab in the middle of their World Cup seasons. So I look forward to continuing to watch that here at the beginning of the year. and I also look forward to hopefully you and your wife and your sister-in-law being able to come over and visit us here in Spokane at some point. That would be great.

It would be great. And on that positive note, John, I think we're going to call it a day. Where can people find you on Twitter? I can be found on the Twitter sphere at Seattle Pilot 69. Excellent. Thank you again, John, for joining us today. Happy New Year's, sir. Happy New Year to you guys out there.

Please remember to download rate and subscribe to this program. Look for us at any podcasting app that you can have. happen to think of. Follow us on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. Follow John at Seattle Pilots 69. Follow me at D.C. underscore Lundberg. This first episode of 2020 is a wrap. Thanks for listening today, ladies and gentlemen. I ask you to please continue to listen, pardon me, throughout the whole year, even as I tripped over my words, hopefully a little less of that next year, but who knows. Thanks again, ladies and gentlemen, happy new year. This is Joey Martin saying join us back here next time for another edition of Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.