Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - How the Seattle Mariners Are Approaching 2026 With Expectations at an ALL-TIME HIGH w/ Gary Hill Jr.

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

Mariners radio broadcaster Gary Hill Jr. joins Ty and Colby for a Spring Training catch-up, discussing the arrival of Brendan Donovan, how the club is approaching 2026 with expectations at an all-time high, and much more. Click to learn more about the Everydayer Club! Join the Ahoy, Sailors Discord server! Check out our Patreon! Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11 Follow the show on Bluesky: @lockedonmariners | @tdg | @mlbcolby Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! PlayStation This episode of is brought to you by MLB The Show 26. Visit mlbtheshow.com/lockedon and use code “LOCKEDON” to unlock a pack for use in Diamond Dynasty. Pre-Order now, Available March 17th on PlayStation 5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. RATED E FOR EVERYONE. Turbo Tax For a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 — all in, if a TurboTax expert didn’t file for you last year. Just file by February 28. Take taxes off your plate and get back to your life.  Visit https://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today.  Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a College Basketball Parlay Profit Boost.Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game.   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.

Marrers broadcaster Gary Hill Jr. joins us from Peoria to reflect on the Marrers offseason and discuss what lies ahead for the Marrars in 2026 as well as Rick Riz's final year in the booth and answer some of your questions coming up here on the Locked On Marrars podcast. You are Locked On Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Ahoy, Sailors. It is Tuesday, March 3, 2026. You're listening to the Lockdown Marrars podcast. part of the Lockdown Podcast Network now, the number one sports podcast network. My name is Tiding Gazzalas. I'm a lifelong Maris fan who's been covering the team for over half a decade. And today, my co-host, Colby and I sit down with Mariners radio broadcaster, Gary Hill Jr. And I want to just give you a quick heads up that about halfway through the interview.

The audio quality is unfortunately going to get worse. Gary joined us from the stadium today and they started playing music over the PA system. So to avoid us potentially getting into copyright trouble with YouTube, you know, how that goes. I tried my best to remove the background noise, but it did lower the quality of the overall audio. So apologies for that, but it was either that or just cut half of the episode, and obviously I didn't want to do that. Now, before we get into the interview, I want to shout out our title sponsor today, MLB the Show 26. Visit MLB the show.com slash locked on. That's LOC, K-E-O-N. Use the promo code locked on. Again, that's L-O-C-D-O-N to unlock a pack for use in Diamond

Dynasty. Pre-order now available March 17th on PlayStation 5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch rated E for everyone. Joining us from the booth of the Peoria Sports Complex today is our good pal, long time front of the show, Marra's broadcaster, Gary Hill Jr. What's up, Gary?

Hey, guys, how's this going? It's great to see again. Yeah, man, it's going well. It's going well. Always great to have you on. And so you think after the way things ended in October that this would have been a long, grueling off season. And in some ways, it was, because Like for us, there was pretty much a six to eight week period where all we talked about was if the bearers were going to get Brendan Donovan or not.

There was really no other content other than that, right? But other than that, you know, partly because the bearers got deeper into a season that we've ever seen before, I felt like it actually went by pretty quick. And like Colby and I were talking about on our Patreon show yesterday, you know, another big reason for that was what the Seahawks did. I mean, they lost only once after the Marys got eliminated in like 30 minutes after that one loss to. the Bears resigned Josh Naylor. So that kept us pretty occupied between, you know, then and now. But how was this off-season for you? Yeah, it went really fast for a lot of the reasons you just mentioned.

One is you looked up and it was November right off the bat. It was just shorter than normal. And then, you know, the Seahawks, too, the kind of handoff from season to season was pretty great. I think we should try and do that every year because that was spectacular. So, but yeah, it was really fast for, for, me and especially with the nailer signing right away it felt like at least to my perspective like okay the page just kind of turned to this new season because I think I was like everyone else

those days and moments after what happened Toronto is really it was really tough it was really hard and so the nailer signing for me was like okay a nice bit of medicine to try and turn the page to the next year as you mentioned the Donovan trade that we were all talking about forever and ever and ever finally happened right before spring. And I'm really glad it did, obviously. I mean, Captain obvious statement there, but seeing him with the Mariners talking to him, it really rams home. What a great fit he is for the Mariners. He's a really good player, but I think he's an excellent fit for what the Mariners are trying to do this year. And to me, it really put together at the offseason for the Mariners.

Yeah, for me, it feels like they added in some ways like another Josh Naylor to the club, right? You know, from just the work ethic to, you know, just the clubhouse presence and all that, right? And, you know, I texted you when Cal hit that bomb, what was it, like a week ago, after Donovan got on. And it's like there's the proof of concept right there. There it is. you know, especially like potentially when, when JP's on the nine hole, you know, Colby and I have been talking about it. It's more like a nine through five rather than a one through five in this lineup. And so, you know, JP being that page turner, we know how much he gets on base.

Donovan, we know how much he gets on base. Those two guys set in the table consistently for Cal and for Julio and for Josh, obviously. Like, that's going to be incredibly, incredibly exciting this year. Oh, it's huge. And it's something they didn't have last year. They didn't have that guy at the top. And give Randy credit, they put him there. but he's, I think, a better fit in the middle of the order and trying to do damage.

Donovan is a perfect set-to-table guy for this team and get on base. And you look at the past handful of years, and he's been one of the best on-base guys in baseball. And so you really dream on what it looks like with him just spraying the ball around and getting on base for Cal and Julio and Naylor and Randy. That top of the lineup has a chance to do a ton of damage. and I think it starts with Donovan. So it's really exciting. It's great that he can move around to. I know he's going to start at third base this year,

but the fact that he is versatile because you never know what's going to happen during the course of the season, the fact that he's comfortable and is the team guy that can say, we need you at second base. Okay, I'll go play second base. That's great. And it's exactly what they need. Going back to talking about the Seahawks for a second, can you remember a time in, you know, the Seattle sports.

scene felt as connected as it does right now. Because I mean, like, you've got the Cracken wearing Mariners jerseys in Toronto during the ALCS and talking about how they were following the Marra's run. You got the Sounders doing the Marys win dance after a goal. You got some of the biggest names on the Marys going down to the Super Bowl to support the Seahawks. I mean, like to me, it's just, it's cool seeing that kind of crossover beyond just the typical like first pitches or guys sitting courtside or what have you.

Yeah, no, I think that's 100%. It was so fun. And Aaron and I walked into the hotel in Toronto in the playoffs. And as we were walking in, all these guys were walking out wearing Mariner jerseys. And we realized, oh, this is the Cracking. They're walking out of the same hotel. And they're all wearing M's jerseys. It was just a really cool thing to see in person.

And yeah, there does the symmetry, the connection. I think Josh Naylor is a big part of that too. And, you know, Cowls at Cracking Games and Washington games and all over the place in the offseason. Yeah, I don't remember symmetry like. this with everyone being good at the same time too, which is really fun. I think back to kind of the mid-90s when the Sonics were making the run and the Mariners were pretty good. I mean, they were all good at the same time, but it wasn't kind of the same symmetry that

you have right now. I mean, Cracken are fighting for a playoff spot too. Hawks win the Super Bowl. I think these are the highest expectations the Mariners have ever had going into a season. So it's a really fun time, I think, to be. a Seattle sports fan to say the least. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. Colby, what you got for Gary? Well, he said it, expectations.

I mean, it doesn't feel like the expectations ever met higher for this club. How do you think they're going to handle it? I mean, I know Dan does a really nice job of handling the clubhouse and all that, but it's a different kind of pressure, you know, when you're not the team that's trying to make people respect you. You're the team that is getting the respect and you're the favorite. How do you think they're going to handle that going into this year? I think they're going to handle it well.

They have fully embraced it. They've openly talked about it. They've been, I mean, they say World Series. They say winning it all. Those are the things they say in conversation. They are not shying away from it. And the expectations are from fan perspective, from front office, coaches, players. Like, everyone is on the same page with this.

I think everyone has the same feeling about the expectations coming to the season. And they've embraced it. And they've, from everything they've said, from the player perspective, they're using last year's fuel as well because it was a bitter end. And it wasn't the kind of thing where they were happy with how far they went. They felt

like they were a team that could go the distance and win it all. And so I feel like they're taking that same thing into this year, which is I think if you're a fan is exactly what you want to hear. That's exactly what you want to hear going into a season. More from our conversation with Gary Hill Jr. in just a moment.

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one sports podcast network baseball is back and you can lock in by joining the everyday or club which gets you add free episodes and access to our group chat on discord go to lockdown merrars.com or tap the link in the description to learn more and back to our conversation with gary hill junior so 50 seasons of mariners baseball it's crazy to think about and obviously the mares are doing a lot to celebrate that including the top 50 mariners vote is this there's someone or maybe a few players who you think might be like on the fringes of making that top 50 who you'd love to see on there. Archimedes Pozo, Brick Smith, I think are a couple guys that stand out to me immediately.

We were trying to figure out like who's like the most random guy we could campaign for and like at least have people kind of take us semi seriously. We laid it on Fernando Rodney, which is a far more recent. but yeah. It was fun. I did, I do have trouble in, you know, it seems like everyone's going to have the same,

I don't know, 30 to 40. Like it's, it's pretty, there's a pretty clear line there. And then to me, it gets, I mean,

there's cases to be made on both sides for a lot of different guys. And some of it could be recency. Some of it has, hey, I've only been a Mariners fan for 10 years or 15 years or 20 years. So that comes into play. And some of the guys from the 80s aren't as remembered as much. So I do think there's some interesting debate.

Let me turn the question on you. Like, who are you looking at? Like, who do you think you should be campaigning for on the top 50? Boy, Ty and I did a whole episode when they first came out. And I think we just went through our first time through and we said, hey, like, here's, let's just vote for everybody we think should be on list and then we'll see how many we had and i think tie we had what 62 yeah uh top we yeah we had so i had i made my own list and i think i had like 29 for sure like locks and then probably another 20 like probably would make it you know and so that's 49 right there

so we pretty much like i pretty much only had like one spot that was like kind of up in the air for me I think the tough ones are the players who are here for just a couple of years. And they were necessarily on like playoff teams. Like it's easy to say like, oh, well, Gino because, you know, he had the big hit and the impact. Yeah. But like, what do you do with like Randy Wynn, who was a really good player? But on good teams too. Yeah.

Yeah. It's just what do you do with Randy Wynn? What do you do with, you know, what do you do with guys like? Mike Zanino was another guy that we talked about. You know, Mike Zanino was another guy that we were like, you know, probably top three or four catcher in Mariners history,

but top 50 overall. I mean, what do you do with Zanino? He obviously had his problems, but really good player. Yeah. Yeah, it's just kind of the Randy wins. I think we talked a lot about like Randy and Rosarina.

Like, is he top 50? I mean, he's only been here for a year and a half. So the funniest one, though, or the most interesting one to me is like, is Josh Naler going to make the top 50 list already? it was just up to fans i think you would like like well and like the vote is just for the fans

it's part of it well yeah and this is what i'm talking about with recency too because you look at the mariner's current team and i actually think about this in terms of mariner's hall of fame like how many guys in this current mariner's era that we're in are going to be mariner's hall of famous and i think the list is pretty long especially if this run ends at some point with what we all hope it does with a World Series win or a couple World Series wins and playoff runs and everything else. Like it would be a golden era of Mariners history. So how many of these guys, Logan and Kirby and Julio and how long is the list? So to your point, when you're talking about top 50, even though the years aren't there for someone like Naylor, clearly, but the impact has

been there. And for Gino, the years aren't there, but the impact has been there in the big moments and getting the Mariners to the big moment. And that's why I think these are so challenging and so difficult. And that's exactly it. It depends on how you weigh things, I think. Yeah. The other thing, too, that we debated a lot was, like, the representation of the first 10 to 15-ish Mariners teams

because, like, those teams were pretty bad. But, I mean, they're bad. There were some bright spots along the way as well. Like, like, that's obvious. Yeah. Ruper Jones, like, Ruper Jones. Yeah. Ruper Jones was exactly the guy I was going to point to,

to make your point. Because he was a really good player for the Mariners with really bad teams. But first All-Star, like, he was, he was an important player early on. I do. Lankston and Davis are easy, too. I think of those two as like the first Mariners stars, I guess. You know, the All-Stars nationally kind of recognized. I think of those guys as that line. Before that, they were kind of the Bocanis and Jones and some guys like that, but that is challenging, especially as time goes on, like how many people saw Rupert Jones play in a meritor's uniform, right? Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's kind of crazy Lansing's not in the team hall of fame.

That dude was something else. I mean, he was great, yeah. Eric Hansen types and all that too. So I just don't know a lot about, you know, early 70s or well, late 70s, early 80s, Mariner's baseball. So for my perspective, it's tough to vote for those guys, you know. Right. Yeah. The thing for Colby and I was like, you know, I was born in 96. My first memory is like first like real, real memories of watching the marriage is probably 2001. And Colby, you know, you've said in the past like you really started paying attention to baseball around 2000, 2001 as well. So like that's kind of more so like what we work off of. You know, like I didn't really like watch like the prime of Griffey's career. Unfortunately like, you know, like talking about the sonics. That's why I didn't vote for Griffey to be in the top.

I mean, was he really that good? I mean, it was a different era. But yeah, but yeah, like, you know, like even with the sonics, you know, I didn't, like, the sonics that I know in love wasn't Gary Payton and Sean Kemp. It was Richard Lewis and Ray Allen, right? So, like, I just kind of come from a different perspective on that. But, you know, so like most of our conversations more revolved around the guys that Colby and I watch. And so, you know, it's hard. especially like once you get to you know pre-griffy era like who makes it like because we really are

only going off of kind of just word of mouth from those that had watched those guys and we had watched those teams thank you yeah using the reference page yeah but not enough people talking about the 85 team so that's what i'll do i'll talk about gorman thomas 85 yeah yeah we were talking about It's not enough people talk about the 2000 team. Like, when we put together our moments list, it was like, man, everybody wants to talk about 95. They want to talk about 01. I mean, rightfully so, I get it. But like that 2000 team was pretty good, too.

And just like we only had the one moment we could come up with from that season that, you know, we'll probably get to a little bit later. But I do remember, Ty, we had one, not really debate, but we were kind of going back and forth on this. John Olerud and, like, Tino Marti. I remember that was one where you and I were like, which one is probably Olerud? I think they both made it though. I think they all of a sudden did. But you got any thoughts on like John Olerud and Tino Martinez there?

Oh, I love this debate. I love both. I think they're both in top 50 for me. I loved Olerud as a player. I think he was so special. Defensively, offensively. I just loved watching him hit his approach. I think, you know, when you look back on his career, there's a lot to love about the career

he put together. And I know he doesn't get Hall of Fame love. And maybe he's like the very step below that. But, man, you look at the doubles, the consistency, the average on base. Man, he was good. And just a pure hitter. And in that era especially, watching Oler and Edgar bat in the same lineup and bat in the same lineup and back to back at times was just so much joy.

Not for pitchers, but for us, just watching two guys that were just such a pain to pitch to. And even Edgar at that, you know, he was later on, but still so productive and both those guys so good. But Tino thing stings because he should have been a mariner after 95. Like they had to do what they had to do with payroll. So that's why Tino and Jeff Nelson were traded away after that run. But we saw in New York, he was such a key part to what the Yankees did in the years after.

I mean, he had so many big home runs, had so many big moments. He had done the same thing in a marriage uniform. I mean, think about Prime Tino in the same lineup following 95 with Griffey and then eventually A Rod and that crew, man, that would have been a nightmare for opposition. I think, I think Tino was a great hitter, great player. So it's a fun debate. I would take Olerud over the two, but I think both are squarely in the top 50 for me. And I just wish Tino would have had a longer run with the Mariners.

So staying in line with the, you know, celebrating the 50 seasons of the Mariners, we are currently doing and you know also in honor of March Madness coming up doing a top 50 Mariners moments bracket and so round one just wrapped up and most of the matchups pretty straightforward you know it was mostly like 6040 and higher but we did have one matchup that went right down to the wire we were at 700 votes and then I think 782 votes also was the last tie that we had. I think it was actually, I think it was actually 834 was the last tie. Yeah, we had straight up both 50%.

Yeah. So the matchup was Felix's last game, 2019, versus Victor Rubles' Superman Catch. And he was. So before we tell you who won, because we did get a winner. And by the way, we told the people last week, we were like, Oh, man. We have a guest coming on next week.

And if this ends in a tie, you were going to be the tiebreaker. Oh, boy, good. Yes. That's great. No pressure. Because Colby and I also fell on separate sides. So we couldn't be the tiebreaker. Oh, man.

We needed a third party. And we gave you those honors without consulting you first. Let's talk through. Let's talk through this a little bit. This is, this one's rough. This is great. So here's how I see this. because I think about that Robles play.

I don't know how everyone else thinks about it, but in my mind, it is the stamp on the Mariners winning the division last year. Like if I have to think about a moment, and I know the Mariners didn't technically win the division against the Astros in that three game series, but they won the division. That was the ripping the soul out of their chest moment.

They put it away. And after everything the Mariners have been through against Houston the last few years, and all the battles. I mean, it happened last year. They took out the Astros. They vanquished the evil empire and the Houston Astros, right?

And to me, that play in my mind is the symbol of that. So that play carries a lot of weight. Like if you remove everything, all cows, like all Cal's history, right, is its own thing to me. But the image of winning the division in my mind is going to be the pink blur.

of Robles making that catch just and it's funny I know most people saw that on television right and he just came out of the screen out of nowhere to make that catch and I'm telling you it was that way in real life because you're watching the ball fall and he was literally out of nowhere to make that play it was jaw dropping it was incredible so as you can see I hold that play in very high regard on the other side the Felix final game is Absolutely one of my favorite games in Mariners history. It also has a great catch involved with it.

As a great catch. And it was, I mean, going into that last game, you didn't know how it was going to go. You really didn't. Like you were hoping beyond hope that you would have a storybook finish because that's what Felix deserved. And what we hope will be a Hall of Fame career, certainly a Mariners Hall of Fame career. And you're hoping against Hope, but you didn't know at that point. I mean, he could have given up six in the first inning, and that would have been it.

But the way it ended, the emotions, the ballpark, oh, it just, it makes you tear up just thinking about that night. Yeah. And, you know, we hang, there's a picture in our radio booth of Felix came out after the game. Yeah. And he's standing on the sidewall, and he's got his arms. out with all the fans behind him. And I look at that photo every day, every single day, because it hangs on our booth. And I think about that night.

So you have managed to pit two of my... Blame Colby for this, by the way. This is round one. This is round one. Oh, this is... I mean, I guess... Now you can see why it was tied through, you know... as many votes as it was.

Yeah. No, I get this. I get why it's tied because it's tied in my mind, too. If you put me on the spot and I had to pick, I think I would pick Felix because to me, it is the summary of the whole career. It sums up his whole career, his whole time, all the Kings courts, I think about all the fans changing,

KKKKKK, K, K, K, every time he throws the ball, is change up. Like all of those things, all those emotions well up when I think about that picture in our booth and I think about that final game. I think about the last time he walks off the mound. I think about all of that when I think about his final game. So maybe that's cheating because I'm just taking his whole career and putting into one

game, which I guess isn't fair against any one moment. But that's why that game holds so much meaning to me. Yeah. Well, you pick correctly because that's the one that did win. By 11 votes. 11 votes. 11 all votes out of 900. Yeah.

That is a brutal first-run matchup. Our conversation with Gary Hill Jr. continues in just a moment. But first a reminder, this episode of the long time air is brought to you by Fandul and Game Time. College basketball is nonstop. I'm talking big games, tight spreads, and momentum swings every single night. From early tip-offs to late night West Coast shootouts, there's always, action on the board. And now Fandul is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a college basketball parlay profit boost. You can build any college

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L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N for $20 off. Download the GameTime app today. And you're listening to the Locked-on Marriss podcast, part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. As always, if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show, we have a Patreon. It's called Control the Zone. And on there, we talk

Marrish, Seahawks, all that good stuff. For more information, go to patreon.com, for its Control the Zone link in the description of this episode now back to our conversation with gary hill junior so for those of you watching tomorrow we're going to go over the round two matchups in greater detail and go over the results of round one some more but colby i know that you want to throw out a couple of round two matchups to to gary here right oh nice sure i mean just a couple of the ones i think are going to be pretty interesting um so here we have the 16th overall seed versus the 17th overall seed. We have Luis Soho's literally gray and slam in the tie-breaking game with the 95 AL West versus Carlos Gien SqueezeBunt to advance

to the 2000 ALCS. Yes. Yes. Oh, those are two iconic moments. Yet somehow overlooked, I feel like. So I thought that by the way, all these matchups completely accidental. I didn't look ahead to do the

round two matchups to, you know, I just randomly, they like this. And I think that is just the perfect matchup for round two. So before I make my pick, let me say, I don't think the Gien Bunt gets enough love because it walked him. I won the moved him on in postseason. It was, it was very cool too. Bunt to Frank Thomas, the whole thing was great. But I'm going to pick Soho because of the larger ramifications, I guess. One, it was a ridiculous play. I mean, it really was. A unique and a play that we'll never see again in a massive moment in franchise history.

And when I think about that play, the ramifications to me is if that play doesn't happen, maybe we're not talking about Mariners baseball at this point. In all seriousness, that's kind of what essentially won the game for them and moved them on into the postseason. That wasn't the postseason, right? They'd win that game to move on to the postseason. So that play did it. So when I think about that play in Langston on his back, former Mariner,

just the imagery of the whole thing. Gian's close, but I think I'm taking so home. Yeah. So we have here two more. We'll just two more. We have the Griffies going back to back. Versus grippies broken wrist catch in 95 to kind of kick off that that whole season.

That catch is amazing. We are never going to see father and son go back to back in a game again. That is just not going to happen. The fact that they played together is absurd. The fact that they played in the same lineup in it back to back is ridiculous.

And the fact they hit Homer's back to back is unreal. Like, I can't believe that actually happened. You know, it's funny. that you mentioned that. We were talking to Eric Young Jr., first base coach for the marineries the other day. And he and his dad nearly crossed over. They were like three years apart. But in spring training, Colorado called him up in a Cactus League game, and he played against his dad. And he got a hit to center field. His dad was a center fielder. His dad

pocketed the baseball after the, after the hit. But, you know, that's spring training, and he was still years away. It's just, it's so cool that they play together and how everything lined up. And so I think those back to backs are amazing. Yeah. Last one here. We have a matchup of Ichero moments. We have Itchro Star Wars Throw versus Itchro walking off Mariano-O-Wara. Oh, yes. They're both great. Amazing. Amazing, iconic

Yitroo Moines. Quintessential Ito moments. Absolutely. Okay. To me, though, it's the throw. The throw is it. The throw is incredible. To me, that was the, that was it. That was the start of everything. That was the Echral has arrived.

That was the wake-up. That was the, whoa, what is this? What do we have here? And it's a moment that if you saw it, you'll never forget it. And when you think about his career and the great moments, that's one, at least I immediately, think about I think about that throw yeah I think that'll be a good one these are good I don't think that's a tie yeah that'll be a pretty good I feel I feel like if any matchup is going to give the Roblo's Felix matchup a run for

its money it probably will be that one in round two but yeah but we'll see again like like I said we'll go over that more tomorrow and greater detail so look forward to that tomorrow but Gary so let's get back to this this current club now clubhouse is a lot more empty with the WBC kicking off so who's left in camp that you're keeping your eyes on for the next couple weeks well honestly for me spring training especially with veterans is just about playing getting ready with the season being healthy I don't care I never look at stats in spring I just I don't think it matters and for me like Julio could go 0 for 40 and I would be like whatever going into the season.

He could go 30 for 40. I'd be whatever. It doesn't matter to me. So I guess it doesn't change for me because I was most interested in looking at the young players anyway, just watching Cole Emerson, watching Oroyo, watching Cole Young. So for me it doesn't change because those guys are going to play a ton. Oh, Oroyo is out currently too, but he'll be back at some point, probably.

sooner than the other guys if you look at the matchups. But those are the guys that I'm most interested in watching coming into spring. So that doesn't change in this stretch. And I think Cole Emerson's probably going to end up being close to the leaders and at bats in the Cactus League. I think we're going to see him play a ton. We've seen him move around at shortstop and third. And he's been really impressive, just like Arroyo's been really impressive. Like those two guys have been fun to watch so far.

And I've been really happy with Cole Young's defense at second. second base too. That's been something that's interesting. It's funny spring games from our perspective because we're broadcasting games that don't matter. Like if the Mariners win today or lose today, that doesn't matter in the scheme of things. It doesn't. But interesting things happen during the course of the ball game. And so, you know, when Cole Young makes a nice play at second base or Emerson, lasers of all to center field, like those are interesting.

and fun things that happen. So those are kind of what I'm looking for. And then every bullpen arm I'm always watching to see like, oh, is this the guy that's going to be the next one to leap forward, which that's always the mystery. So that's part of it too. I was telling Colby this yesterday that my, really my only spring training takeaway so far has been,

it's been great listening to Rick. You know, it's obviously Rick's final season. I don't know when you found out that, was going to be the case, but we all found out, you know, only a few weeks ago. And it's just been incredible, just like putting the game on with you guys and just listening to Rick kind of, you know, go down memory lane and all that. I've just been, like, really cherishing, like, every single broadcast and every moment of that and just listening to them.

And I have to imagine that you're probably doing the same, right? Yeah, absolutely. And the great moments of spring so far for me have been in Peoria. Our booth, it's right here. It's right behind me. And you can walk up to it in the stands. We're basically just above the stands here. And so after every single ball game without fail, we've had Marifans lining up to the booth

just to say hi to Rick. Congratulate Rick. Hey, will you sign my ball? Will you take a picture? And that has happened every single game so far this spring. And that has been so enjoyable to watch. because he's had a legendary career calling Mariners games. I'm like just about every Mariner fan

where I don't know Mariner's baseball without Rick Riz, right? He has been our companion. He's been our friend every single summer, every single game for years and years and years. And so I'm like everyone else wrapping my mind around Mariners baseball without Rick. So I'm trying not to think about it. And I'm trying just to enjoy this final year of Rick.

This is the final year. That will have him every day. I think the great thing is he's not going to go away. Like, I'm going to drag him on the air from time to time. So, like, he is still going to be around. He's going to be at games all the time. He is the greatest ambassador to the Mariners that we have. And he's going to be phenomenal in that role.

He just won't have to wake up, land at 4 a.m. in Detroit and call a game later that day. So, you know, his life will be. a little better in that regard. But he has certainly earned walking away on his own terms with the career he's put together and just to see the outpouring of love for him down here. And I know it's going to be the same when we get to Seattle has been really heartwarming.

And that's what I've enjoyed most about spring training so far. Oh, it's been awesome. I just, if anything, you know, obviously I won a World Series for a multitude of reasons, but especially for Rick. Especially for Rick. You know, that's part of the heartbreak for me. when I've not listened back to the Springer call. I was on the call for that home run.

I've not listened back. I got made fun of by Blue J fans, so I'm assuming you could just hear my heartbreak during the call, which is fine, whatever. You know, I'm broadcasting for the marriage. I don't care of Blue Jay fans. I had to deal with a lot of Blue Jay fans during that time as well. So when I think back, you know,

the aftermath of that was so devastating. And we were on the bus, just dead silent bus, leaving the ballpark. And the thing that I was thinking about the most is this is such a heartbreaking moment for Mariner fans being so close and for Rick too because I knew this was coming more than most. And so, you know, I was hoping that Rick would get into the World Series. I was hoping Mariner fans would be in the World Series, experience the World Series, because Marin fans deserve it. I think Mariner fans are the best in baseball. I believe that with my whole heart and

and there's nothing Mariner fans deserve more. There's nothing Rick deserves more than seeing this team in the World Series and winning it all, which is why it was so heartbreaking for me last year, and it's why I hope they can finish it this year. It'd be the perfect way for Rick

to go out, and man, Mariner fans deserve to pop the champagne more than anything. They deserve it. Absolutely. So I didn't go to Game 7 because my wallet and my heart couldn't take it. So I stayed home for that one, and thankfully, I did that as well, because I don't know if I would have survived that moment. But I was there for, obviously, game one and game two.

I saw you and Aaron before game two, but I was also there for game six. And yeah, that game did not go particularly well. And as you can imagine, I probably didn't have a particularly great time in the stands around all those Blue Day fans, especially when Vladdy hit that home run that made it, like, what, five to one or whatever it was. Yeah, yeah, that wasn't, that wasn't fun. But new year, and we can maybe get a little revenge at some point later on down the road. We'll see, we'll see.

But, yeah, definitely want to get that World Series for Rick more than really anything because he absolutely deserves it. And like you said, the fan base deserves it because this fan base has gone through it all. It's really gone through it all. They've gone through it all. And, I mean, there's reasons to be hugely optimistic this year, I think. I think the American League is wide open, just like I thought the American League was wide open last year. And look what happened. The Mariners were right there at the end.

And I think it's the same this year. I don't look at another team in the American League and say, whoa, there's no getting past them. In fact, you know, the playoffs are its own animal. I think anything can happen in a five or seven game series. I think the real key is to, hey, you control what happens in the regular season, winning the division, getting a buy. To me, that's where it starts with the Mariners. That's the goal. And then when you get in the playoffs, you've put yourself in the best position.

And then it's about, hey, who's playing the best, who's the healthiest? It's those sorts of things. But the regular season is about the Mariners putting themselves in the best chance. I think that the favorites in the West. I think they should win the West. I think they're the best team in the West. And that's the place to start. I think also going back to something you said very early on in this conversation,

getting Naylor done right out of the gate, I think helped ease the sting a lot of what happened in game seven. Because there was obviously the uncertainty going in the off season. That was kind of like the extra kick in the you know what after the loss because of like we don't know if Gino's coming back. We don't know if Polo's coming back. We don't know if Nailer's coming back. Like this could be it for some of these guys. The roster could look a whole lot different. So getting Nailer done because, you know, you saw the impact immediately that,

he had on this club and this clubhouse. I mean, you've seen it now after the signing as well. Like him, you know, rallying the guys go down to the Super Bowl to support the Seahawks and all that. Like he's really like taken over as one of the guys in that clubhouse. And it's crazy because like I don't think I've ever seen a player immediately like in just a few months time go from newcomer to like one of the guys. Like one of the alphas on a on a club that already had, you know, a few alphas. foot solve it. I've marveled at the whole Nailer situation. His instant connection with a fan base is incredible. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that. Fans took to him,

and he took to the fans in no time at all. And I truly believe, yeah, I was talking about this. Mariners were playing the Diamondbacks in spring a couple of games ago. And I was thinking about the Nailer situation and just, you know, baseball is such a funny game. There's so many alternate universes is that if one thing happens, a domino effect, you never know. But what if Arizona would have been in contention last year, which they should have been, and don't trade nailer at the deadline? Does he end up signing with the Mariners in the offseason? Maybe, but maybe not,

because it really felt like last year's impression that the fans made and his teammates made and the whole situation, it really motivated him to say, want to be here, which is why he signed immediately. And he is so critical, I think, to everything the Mariners were trying to do, both his production clearly in the middle of the lineup. He's such a great fit for what the Mariners want to do and his approach and his skill set, but also the edge he plays with.

I think that really helped. I think in a clubhouse, you need a little bit of everything, right? I think it's good to have a little everything. And so that edge, I think, is great. I think Donovan brings some of that as well. I think you alluded to that before. Naylor and Donovan have, they're alike in a lot of ways,

including more alike as hitters than people probably expect. Naylor have a little more power, but they're pretty similar, just in terms of you look at their approaches and strikeout rate and all that sort of thing. But I think that was such a key to the beginning of the outseason. I think you're 100% right. And it's hard to imagine if Naylor had signed somewhere else

what they could have pivoted to that would have equaled Urban better than Naylor at first base. He's just a great fit. And I do, Donovan's a great fit, and I do like that they kept a spot open for a young player to pop,

because I do think you continue, you need to make sure that you're developing the next guys coming up because they have talented guys that I think are going to help probably sooner rather than later and can be,

better than some other veterans that you could bring in while they develop as well, if that makes sense. And I think it's important to keep a spot open to try and keep that moving because that's how you sustain things. You just got to keep producing your own talent. And Josh Taylor to me is like baseball personified. I mean, the guy's like, what, second percentile in sprint speed and he stole 30 bags, right? Because he's just so, like he just has amazing reads.

He's such a smart player, like smart defensive player over at first. Like his footwork, it's really like second to none. Like just watching his footwork over there. It's just so fun to watch. And you notice it like immediately. Like I think we talked about this after just the first few games there in Sacramento and Anaheim like, oh, he's a difference banker over at first place as well. The thing that really stuck out to me, I forget who he's, this might have been in a conversation with you and Shannon. But Justin Hollander talked about when they went to go meet with Josh, you know, when they were figuring out if they were going to resign him.

and whatnot, and he, like, brought his own, like, reports of, like, how, you know, like, his view of, like, the prospects coming up and all of that. Like, this guy is just, he loves ball, clearly. Like, he just loves baseball. I think one of the highest compliments you can give to a guy is he's a ball player. I think that's one of the highest compliments you can give. He's a ball player. That's exactly it.

He prides himself, too, in helping out the kind of, as he puts the zero to three-year guys, you know, the guys that are trying to establish himself. That's not a small thing. That's been a really impressive part, I think, of this team. We see it with Cal too. He was out there with, you know, he's not about Stevenson, the young catcher, you know, the other day, like side by side with him as he's catching a bullpen. Like, that's not necessarily normal stuff for organizations, right?

But it is. It's the norm here for the Mariners. And I think part of it is, you know, Cal and Naylor. they know they're going to be here long term and they know that a lot of these guys can really help down in the future, right? And so I think it's smart to try and help these guys establish themselves as quickly as possible.

I always thought it was so funny. Like the baseball culture used to be like you shun rookies or you haze them or, you know, treat them differently. And it's like, you guys are looking at this all wrong. I like that we're in this era where, hey, man, These guys can help you right now. They can help you win games right now and get to the postseason. And who knows what Colt Emerson is going to do this year?

Like he probably won't start the year on the 26th man, but there's a good chance you could help along the way. Why not do everything possible to try and help them along the way? And that's what JP does. That's what Naylor does. I just think it's such a great mindset to have. And it's an inclusive mindset where everyone feels part of it, no matter if you've been here for five,

minutes or you've been here for a decade. Cool, you got anything for Gary? We got some listener questions coming up before we do that. You got anything? Nice. Yeah. Sorry, I'm a little distracted. That's a great song on behind you there. Hopefully it's not too loud.

CCR, man. We're getting closer to game time. Yeah. Heck yeah. This is great. So I could ask you about Cal. I could ask about Julio, Randy, but I'm going to ask you about one of my favorite players instead. What have you seen from Luke Grayley? Is he healthy? He looks

healthy so far in camp. I mean, he's a lot of the guest factor for this club. So what do you think about Luke and where he's at right now? So Luke Rayleigh, I am hoping and thinking when I get asked the question all the time, like I am thinking Luke Rayleigh bounce back here. I think he had a really good season two years ago with the Mariners. A season, I think, was kind of under the radar a little bit. If he was that guy again, you think about in this.

current lineup. Wow. I think the Mariners really have something. Like, what if he popped 20, 25 home runs and played a really good right field and batting sixth or seventh in the lineup? That's a good way to make up for the loss of Polo and Juno. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. So I am, I'm really bullish on Rayleigh. Like, I think that platoon in right field with Rayleigh and Robles could really be a productive platoon. I'm excited about it. I think Rayleigh's a really good player. I think he just had his season torpedo by injury last year, which happens. Unfortunately,

you get a major injury and it's even coming back. He just never really himself after that. So I'm excited for that. I think his defense in right field is necessary too. So I'm hoping that he's healthy

and productive and that we see him out there because I think, you know, there are questions about exactly what we'll see from the bottom of the lineup. I think we're all excited about the top five and what that can bring. But if you get a bounce back from Rayleigh, if JP can be what he was last year, man, that lineup gets long, fast,

and it gets really tough to pitch to. And those are the kind of guys you're looking at. What Kenzon and Ref Snyder? What is that platoon going to look like? I think Refznyder's simply been one of the best hitters against lefties in baseball. What if Canzon is closer to last year, right? What if that's him?

I don't know. That's one of the, that's one of the things we don't know. But what if he is? You're talking about a really, really good offense, if that's the case, if you got Rayleigh and Canzon coming along for the ride.

So I'm with you. I'm really excited about Rayleigh and really optimistic about his season this year. So, Gary, we got a few listening questions here. We got one here from Nick, who says, as a career kitchen worker, radio broadcasts are absolutely essential to me being able to enjoy live baseball.

Can you speak to what the radio call means to people, what drew you to that? Rick's retirement has been easier to swallow with you in the wings, big Gary fan here. Oh, that's very kind. I have been in love with the radio since I was a small kid. I've told this story before. I was someone, I grew up playing baseball. I love baseball, but listening to Rick and Dave when I was small sparked the passion of radio and baseball on the radio for me. And so from the time that I can remember when I was small, what do you want to be when you grow up?

I want to be a Seattle Mariners play-by-play announcer. That was always my answer. I wanted to be on the radio because it was Rick and Dave that did it. And I remember falling asleep every night with my little clock radio next to me with the broken volume button knob and just listen to the games as I fell asleep. And that's what it was. It's always been about that for me. And so that's why this year with Rick retiring, I feel it just like the fans feel it,

because I was you. I listened to Rick grown up. Now, he changed my career path, so he doesn't do that for everybody. But listen to him, changed what I wanted to do with my entire life. So it's my honor to be next to him during his final year. and it's it's just it's so special to me it's it's hard to put into words as someone who's wanted to do this my entire life and am now here every day it's so fun i talk to you guys about the mariners and get to interact with fans about the mariners i just means so much to me

and i take the responsibility of it very seriously because i love dave i love rick i think the tradition of mariners radio is like unlike any other So I take that responsibility more seriously than you could possibly imagine. Like I have fun. It's great. It's fun. But that part and the connection to fans, I think, means so much because all of us, you connect.

Like, I connect it with Rick. He's everywhere. Like, you're driving in the car. You're doing errands. You're at the backyard barbecue with family. You go everywhere in the summer with people. And, you know, I talk about all the time with Rick. if you've never met him, it doesn't matter you know him because you've heard him forever.

And he's the same exact guy that you hear every single day. So you may have never met him before, but you know him. And I think that's what baseball on the radio does. Sad P&W sports fan wants to know. Still? It's been pretty good. It's been pretty good last year. I wouldn't say that's exactly accurate right now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they want to know what, what's your favorite? and the least favorite part of spring training. Got to be an interesting experience as a commentator. Yes, it is. So I think these are the most challenging games that we do all year, which may sound weird to people's like, wow, wouldn't the playoffs be?

It's like, no. I think, like, easy is not the word, but playoffs, you think about it, every pitch matters so much. You can just live in that moment. You're living and breathing with, every single pitch because the magnitude is all that matters, right? Spring training, if there's a scale and the playoffs are at 10, well, spring training's

a one. Because when the Mariners take the field today, if they win or lose, it doesn't matter, right? And there's going to be people shuttling in and out of the ball game, right? There's going to be guys that are working on things. There's going to be pitchers on the mound that may throw like four changeups in a row, I mean, there's so many things that happen in a spring training game that would never happen in a regular season game. So the challenge to me is finding the balance of passing on some information. It's why I spend most of my time and the most valuable thing of spring training to me is actually not the games.

It's at the complex just talking to guys, right? It's a relaxed atmosphere and it's time where I can sit down with Brendan Donovan for 20, 30 minutes and really get to know. him as a person. You know, we talk about the baseball stuff, which is great. We talk about him as a person, the background, and I try and do that with as many people as possible. And so that's why I try and bring to spring games is to get a better feel. Fans can get a better feel for like who they are as people. It's, I think the thing I enjoy the most is like watching Cole Emerson play because I don't get a chance to see him ever play and follow on the Mariners every day, right? And I hear about him like I'll talk to him via video during the season but I don't get a chance to watch

him play. So the most fun is like, oh, this is what Arroyo is all about, right? This is what Emerson's all about. And then going and talk to him for 20 minutes and kind of getting the feel for them before hopefully they make it to the Mariners. So that's what I look forward to the most. But doing these games, this isn't a complaint, but it is a challenge because of the nature of, oh, win or lose, whatever. You'll never hear me talk about a batting average home runs down here. Because all you have to do, if you just watch some spring games in a row, you realize this quickly, there are so many variables in every one of these, whether it's the sun or the wind

or the double A guy on the mound, or maybe it's all of a sudden Mason Miller comes out of the bullpen and that's who you're facing. It is all so random. Wasn't that crazy? Wasn't that crazy first spring game of the year though and Mason Miller versus Cal Lolly. Yes. February 20th like we're back already. All right. Cool. Yeah. So, you know, once in a while doing this games, there are these little glimpses

of like, oh, I don't care that this game doesn't count. Like the Miller Cal matchup is amazing. When the Mariners were playing the Royals and we saw Munoz against Witt, like I don't care that this is an exhibition. This is super cool. As Munoz throws

100 by Witt. I mean, this is amazing. So we do get moments like that, which is great. All right. Our last listener question comes from Josh. What is Gary's order at Stella's? Give me the biggest Calzone possible. Yeah. There you go.

The biggest. That is such a great question. I haven't been back in a while too. So that's, I got to make that happen. So we always get asked about what to do down in Peoria, but Colby's been down there only like a handful of days. and I've only ever stopped by there for like a day and a half back in 2020. So we don't have great answers for that.

So for our listeners who might be heading down there sometime in the next couple of weeks, what would you recommend? Okay. First of all, if it's a one o'clock game, get to the backfields like 1030, 11-ish, and just walk around back there. Because you can get really close to watching bullpens, watching BP, watching guys just,

work and you get really close to watching Cal and Julio and all these guys doing the thing, which is very unique. You don't get that view anywhere else than down here. So that's one thing I would recommend. Just go to a ballgame, be in the sunshine, have a cold beverage. Like, you've got to do that. From a fan perspective, it's pretty great down here, especially going through a Seattle gray rainy winter. Like, this is great. So, from From a fan perspective, do that. And there's a ton of stuff to do outside. Like, after every game, I like to do a hike.

There's hikes everywhere. I have a favorite spot near every ballpark down here. So there's a lot of fun outdoor stuff to do. Just enjoy being outside in the sun as much as possible. But, yeah, there's a ton of do. There's a lot of great restaurants. So, yeah, come down here with family, friends. You're guaranteed to have a good time.

Well, Gary, it's always, always such a pleasure talking with you. And, you know, give our best to Rick and the crew there. And we'll talk to you again soon. Yeah, I will. Can't wait. We're getting closer and closer. All right. That is going to do it for our show.

Thank you again to Gary for joining us today. And thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown Marys podcast. Part of the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. And once again, if you never miss an episode, it's time to make it official. Join the lockdown every day or club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord. and more all built for our most loyal fans. For Colby Pat Nod, I'm Tadine Gazzalas.

Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Marrars. You can follow me at Tading Gzalus and Colby at C-POT 11, that's C-PAT-1-1. We're also on Blue Sky. You can follow me at MLB-Colby in the show at Locked-on Mariner's. You can also find us on Instagram at Locked-on Mariner's. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you next time. Peace.