Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - How Will the Seattle Mariners FIT Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan Into Their Future Rotation?!

Episode Date: July 1, 2026

Ty and Colby are joined by Joe Doyle of Over-Slot Baseball to discuss the upcoming draft, what the future holds for the Mariners' rotation, and much more. Follow Joe's work over at OverSlotBaseball.com, Over-Slot: The MLB Draft Podcast, and the Over-Slot Baseball YouTube channel. 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!   Amazon This Back To School Season, spend less on your kids, with Amazon. With Amazon’s low Back To School Prices, just spend less on your kids. Because every dollar you don’t spend on them, is a dollar you haven’t spent on them.    KALSHI For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code LOCKEDON to get ten dollars when you trade ten. Kalshi. Trade on anything. Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. From the opening whistle to the final kick, Let There Be Goals on FanDuel. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started now.   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.

Long time friend of the show, Joe Doyle joins us to get you set for the 2026 MLB draft. Talk some Mariners prospects, talk some trade, and more coming up. 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 Wednesday, July 1st, 2026. Happy Canada Day to all our Canadian listeners. My name is Tiding Azales, and this episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account,

and use the promo code locked on. That's LOC, KD, ON, for $20 off your first purchase. So with the weird mid-series off day for the Mariners today, we've got a guest for y'all. That's our good buddy Joe Doyle. We're going to talk a lot about the upcoming draft. We're going to talk about how the Mariners get Kate Anderson and Ryan Sloan in their rotation and a whole lot more.

So let's just get into it. All right, only a couple weeks left until the 2026 MLB draft. And here to help us get you set for it as the man behind overslotbaseball.com and overslot the MLB draft. podcast long time friend of the show joe doyle thanks for hopping on joe good to be back boys how we doing always great having you on man doing well doing well so let's just uh kind of slowly get into the draft here just what are your overall thoughts on this draft class as a whole you know what are the strengths what are the weaknesses all that i think it's a good draft i think it's an

average draft i i don't think enough pub is getting provided on this draft for the depth of it like rounds two through four i think are really good i actually think there's There's quite a few big leaguers to be had in this draft, you know, through the top 150 picks. So for that matter, I would keep a close eye on any player that's drafted on day one. And day one is four rounds now. So it's going to be a lot of a lot of big leaguers called on day one. I think this draft really struggles when it comes to up the middle prospects. I think high school short stops are very, very thin in this class.

I think even the high school outfielder that you find are diminutive and small and don't have a lot of impact. So like strength of this class, I think it's deep in college pitching. I think it's deep through 150 to 160 prospects. Weaknesses. I don't know if there's a lot of dynamic high school position players, but I think when it shakes out over time with the college pitching, with the high school left-handed pitching, and some of the college bats, it's going to be an average draft.

So you mentioned the college pitching. Kind of popular opinion on the Mariners at Pick 24 is that they are going to go college pitching. you also subscribe to that idea? I actually don't. I don't think that they would prefer to go college pitching. I think there's a couple of guys in this class that they'll find interesting. I think Kate Townsend and Ole Miss is a guy that they're going to find interesting, but he's 5-11.

I think Ben Blair at Liberty is a guy that they're going to find interesting because he's just allergic to throwing the ball outside of the zone, and you know how much they like to control and command all of their pitches. It's six pitches. I think he's going to be a guy that they would have circled. But I think if it bores out the way that Seattle wants it to, there's going to be a college outfielder that kind of falls into their lap that can move quickly. They can supplement this lineup.

It's a shame that there's not really a lot of right-handed options in this draft that would move quick. But, yeah, I think at the end of the day, if I was a betting man, I would go with a college outfielder. So do you have any names that you've heard connected to the Mariners, or any names that you think they might have substantial interest in at 24? Yeah, I think the two guys in Texas would be the ones that I would keep an eye on. I think the Texas Tech outfielder Logan Hughes is a guy that could move very, very quickly. He's a model darling, tons of contact, doesn't chase.

It's the ball extremely hard. He might be a left fielder, but at the end of the day, I think if you can cut a little bit off of that signing bonus and sign a, you know, a big time, big ticket, you know, high school pitcher at 77, I think that's going to be something that they certainly subscribe to. I think Sawyer Stroh Snyder is a guy that, you know, if you're the, if you're the, if you're the, if you're, the Mariners and you're picking 24th, you don't pick this low. Like, you never pick this low. It might be an opportunity for you to pick a slightly flawed player with big tools and really kind of test what your player development system is capable of. So I wouldn't be surprised if Stroh Snyder falls down into the 20s just because of kind of

the way that his season ended and how his combine went. But those would be the two names that I would look at. I would look at Logan Hughes. I would look at Sawyer Stroh Snyder. And if one of those guys isn't there, we'll circle back and talk Ben Blair. We'll talk maybe Joey Volchko from Georgia, maybe just a really stuffy or command first pitcher that would fit their fancy from years past.

Obviously, this year, the mayor has traded their comp round B pick to the Cardinals for Brennan Donovan, so it's a pretty straightforward slew of picks for the M's this year. So how do you see them maneuvering this draft and spending their bonus pool? I think the Ryan Sloan experience has philosophically changed the way this team attacks the draft for the foreseeable future.

I think, you know, the reason I brought up the cut at 24, and for those that don't know how the draft works, you have a certain amount of money to spend. If you don't spend as much at 24, you can spend more later. And that's how they got Ryan Sloan. I think they're going to do that with 77. I think they're going to find a way to save a little bit of money at 24. And I think they're going to, you know,

evaluate, identify three, four, five high school pitchers that they like, that they would like to develop and take a chance on and draft that at 77. and then they're probably going to do what they've done in years past. Rounds five, six, seven, maybe eight. They might punt and get as much value as they can in the top 100 picks and then figure out the rest later. So I have just a couple of names here.

If you could maybe give me like these are names I'm interested in or at least I'm intrigued by. You mean like 60 second or under scouting report on some of these guys. How about Ruger Riojas? Max Wiener product. Max Wiener special. Yeah. I'm a fan of Ruger.

I think Ruger's issue is he's very, very old and he's pretty small, right? He's a high effort, 23.2 years old, right-hander from Texas, up to 98. It's five pitches, fastball cutter, slider, curbsters, splitter. His stuff started to deteriorate a little bit as the season waned on. He did finish strong, but he definitely went through some dog days in April. role and that kind of pushed some people off of it a little bit. He was getting talked about as a big, big cut in the second round. And I think he's probably more of a at slot in the fourth round type of guy now.

But yeah, it's the kitchen sink. It's a ton of personality. You know, obviously the organization is very familiar with Max Wiener, the way that he approaches pitch design and pitch calling and sequencing and things of that sort. So he's a very polished and, you know, you could put Ruger Rio Hoss in double A tomorrow. He'd be fine. So I don't think Seattle's going to have him be a huge priority until the fourth round, and at which point they might still try and save a little money on him because he is so old,

he has no leverage, and it's a six-foot body. Like there's not a lot of projection left either. He's a senior, correct? Senior, fifth year, yeah. Yeah, so, okay. Interesting. How about Daniel Jackson? You think the Mariners could go catch her two years in a row?

I think they could go catcher. Yeah, it's like Daniel Jackson played a lot of corner. outfield in 2025. Like he can handle right field. He can handle left field. I still think that they would probably prefer to go the more prototypical outfielder route than the Daniel Jackson route, the hybrid. He can do both catch and play the outfield.

I'm a huge fan of him, though. I interviewed him a few weeks back. The nicest guy, humble. But yeah, it's raw power. It's bat to ball skills on the average side. Like I think Daniel Jackson is the type of guy that comes up, probably just a 240 hitter, 24-hitter, might hit you 24 home runs. And if you believe he can catch and you believe you have a spot for him in the organization to catch,

then I think he makes a lot of sense. But I'll push back on the only thing that might hold Daniel Jackson back out of this organization is Luke Stevenson is a better defender. And I think at which point you bring Jackson in as a right-handed hitting, fringy defender in a corner outfield spot, is the value really there at pick 24. For me, it's probably not. But I do think Seattle has interest. Okay. How about Jake Brown, outfielder from LSU?

Yeah, so I don't know if you guys watched the Combine, but Jake Brown was a right fielder at LSU, and he played right field his entire career. He pitched as a freshman and a sophomore. Got hurt, broke his hamlet bone, late in the season, missed the rest of the season. Goes to the Combine, was never known as a speed guy, and ran the second and third fastest 30-yard dashes of anyone at the event,

which was stunning. So it made me go back, kind of do a little bit of a re-eval on him. I think it's actually 70-grade straight-line speed. I don't think he's athletic enough or mobile enough to play center field, at least deep into his career. But, I mean, this is a guy that could steal some bases, and better still, he's a good hitter.

It's a sweet swing. There's some lower half things that need to be cleaned up, but line drive hitter, pure hitter. I think for the right deal at 24, It would make a ton of sense. It would have to be 75% of the slot value there. But I'll say this. If he makes it to 77 for any reason,

I think that they would probably bail on the high school pitcher thing and draft Jake Brown. He's a good player. Just two more here. One of these, I'm just intrigued by Peyton Bonds. It's a big dude who doesn't seem to have much pop, at least in game pop.

But what are your thoughts on him? Yeah. Yeah, Peyton Bonds, his ground ball rate has gone up every single year. He's been in college. I think this year it was, this may be incorrect because I don't have my stuff in front of me, but it was like 60% this year. Like his ground ball rate was crazy extreme this year. Was beat up for much of the year.

So I don't know if you can totally buy into the hitter that he was. You'd like to see him at full strength. But like it's Barry Bond's nephew. It's Bobby Bond's son. He's six foot five. He's built like an Adonis. I mean, I'd never seen the guy in person and he's broad like an Amazon box. He's just absolutely yoked.

The swing is, and I mean this in the most respectful, like, upside way, a mess. It's very armzy. It's not rotational right now. Like, he's still trying to figure out how to be an athlete in the box. He just kind of makes it work. But, I mean, he hit a ball 121 miles an hour this season. It was the hardest ball I've seen hit since Jack Caglione. If you can figure it out, like if he can figure it out, there's a chance that he's an above-average center fielder with huge.

draw power. It's hard not to do the Aaron Judge thing because they're similar players at the same stage. He's not Aaron Judge. But if he's 40% of Aaron Judge, you're pretty happy. You think he's round three, round four? I think he's probably round three, maybe late round two. I don't think Seattle would be in on that. He has the elite bat to ball skills for a guy his size.

He just does not swing and miss even outside of the zone. The problem is he ran like a 34% chase rate this year. Seattle's never gone for free swingers. All right. Last guy for me. Some a little bit in the WBC. Can you tell me anything about Joseph Contreras? Yeah, the son of Jose Contreras.

He's a flamethrower. I mean, 6-4, 6-5, up to 99 on the high school circuit, throws a 90-mile-an-hour cutter, throws an 85-mile-an-hour slider, throws one of the best change-ups in the class. I think there's a lot of issues with his extension. He's a short extender, which is going to be an issue. you're trying to develop a starting pitcher. There's some questions on the actual fastball value as it pertains to its shape,

which is hard to change. And he doesn't spin the ball particularly well either. So like the clay here is long, physical, hard thrower, five pitches, throws enough strikes, but the kind of underbelly of it is doesn't have prototypical starting pitcher traits or clay, probably a reliever, which is dad ended up having a very good career and probably fits in the third round. but my understanding is he's going to be very expensive to get away from to get away from Vanderbilt. So my guess would be he ends up in Nashville. More from our conversation with Joe and just a moment.

But first a reminder of this episode of the Locktime Marriors podcast is brought to you by game time. There's nothing like watching a Mariners game. Even better when you get to watch it live. The excitement, the fans, the only problem, getting tickets can feel like a grind. I'm talking long cues, surprise fees, and of course, prices jumping at checkout. That's where there's game time. The Game Time app gives fans the advantage with constant innovation. It's how you unlock amazing tickets and experiences in just a few taps.

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Download the GameTime app today. And you're listening to the Lockdown Mariners podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you so much for making us your first listen for all things, Mariners. And also thank you for making Lockdown the number one sports podcast network.

Don't forget to check out the everyday or club for ad-free episodes and access to a group chat with me and other listeners of this show. Tap the link in the description or go to Lockdown Mariners. That's supercast.com to learn more. Now back to our conversation with Joe Doyle. What else stood out to you from the Combine? You know, one of the things that I take away more from the Combine than anything is, well, two things.

One, I love talking to all the front office execs and the directors after the fact. I want to hear how player meetings went. I want to know the impression that players left on people because a lot of times that's the tiebreaker. You know, you get like a top four in this class and then you get maybe like six more that fit in the top 20. well pretty unanimously. And then you have like 13 through 75, which is mishmashed on public boards and in team boards, however you want.

And I think a lot of times those meetings can be tiebreakers. And a lot of times they can be indicative of where a player is going to get drafted. So I like hearing guys that left a positive impression mature. They're ready for professional baseball and everything that comes with it. So that's a big one. The other thing is, and this isn't public data, it's not publicly available, but at the Combine, there's BP, people run 30 yard dashes, they throw bullpens, that's great.

But they also do force plate testing, which I'm a huge subscriber into. Basically, they jump. It's not just to see how high they jump. They jump to see how much force they can put into these plates, how much power they can exert onto these plates. And for me, at least, when you're trying to peel back the layers on a player as to whether or not they are developmental, whether or not they're athletes, they're explosive, they're twitchy, those force plate tests can be,

a pretty good sign of how much untapped potential these players have. And when all of them do it, it's a pretty cool, like compare and contrast. Like, oh, this guy, like Jake Brown jumped out of the room. Tons of, tons of force into those plates. Like, you look at it and go, okay, it's a player that showed like average Rob Howard LSU, but he's clearly a twitchy explosive mover. Let's see if we can't develop this kid into something bigger and better and more explosive with just his swing mechanics.

So I know that gets really granular. It gets deep into the weeds. But for a guy like me that takes analytics into account when I'm evaluating these players, force plates are huge. Who are some of your favorite day two guys, both for the Mariners and just overall? One of my favorite movers in this class. And like, look, I say mover because what was Brian Wu at Cal Poly? He was a mover. What was Bryce Miller at Texas A&M?

He was a mover. Like guys that get down the mound well, have a loose arm, are projectable. Really deep sleeper here. I think he's going to be like a fifth or a sixth round pick. Georgia closer, Justin Bird. Huge fan of the way that it works. Never really got the opportunity to start. He's 22 years old.

I would be all over that one. I think he's going to be an excellent project for someone that thinks that he can start at the next level. And I would expect that he's going to get opportunities to start. West Virginia left-handed pitcher Max Yell, his two X's in his first name. So I'm automatically in. That's super hardcore. You know, 6-6-220 throws 97, 3,000 RPM, breaking ball, really wide slot. I think he's really interesting.

And then Florida Gulf Coast Ritey Evan Dempsey, two-way player, 6-3-190 pounds, played first base in outfield, hit like 360 at Florida Gulf Coast, and he's also up to 98 on the mound with a crazy projectable frame and another breaking ball that he can really spin. So I always get deep into the weeds on the pitchers. I find the untapped traits and potential the most interesting, and those three guys definitely stand out. You said the West Virginia guy's name is Maxiel. M-A-X-X-Y-E-H-L.

It's incredible. Well, all right. Joe, you know that Colby and I love the names. You know, all names. Yeah. We're 12 at heart, you know, Grant Nip. And who was the guy that got drafted by the Diamondbacks last year? Jake Ariola?

I think. Or Jason Ariel. It was something like that. Joe Ariel. Joe Ariel. How did I not know Joe Ariel? Joe. Yeah, that's right.

Joe Ariel. Yeah. All right. So what are some of the best names in this draft? I should have known that was coming. Like, should have known. I think we ask you this.

I think Louvre. I think how about. There's a great name for a pitcher. Just going to throw that out there. There's a header named Will Plunkett, which I think is like, that's a pretty good one. for all my beer drinkers out there there's a Tommy LaPore which is pretty good there's a kid a high school kid named Denton Lord which

he's six he's a six seven pitcher I think that certainly falls into the into the bucket what else do we have um I'm just looking at my board yeah I mean Dayton Lechance like why isn't the baseball names have just they're the they're only in baseball. Can you imagine a Dayton Lechance in the NFL? No chance. No, no shot. No chance. No chance. I don't know if you guys remember Jacob Barry, but Jacob Barry's brother, Jacob Barry's brother name is Jet Berry. Jet Barry. That's not bad. Jet Barry. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. Will Brick. Yeah, Will Brick. I would I would I would poke fun at the name, but he's literally the nicest kid that I've perhaps ever talked to.

Yeah, he's, Wilburwick is, he's awesome. Colby, anything else you want to know about the draft? Or should we move on to Marist's prospect stuff? Anybody with Pacific Northwest ties that could be selected here in the upcoming draft? I know Ethan Kleinschmidt's kind of the big name, but anybody else, a prep level or college level that you can see get drafted? Every single arm at Oregon State. Yeah, sure.

Yeah, I mean, Oregon State's probably going to have six guys drafted out of that bullpen in that starting rotation. I mean, you guys have probably heard of Eli Hurst. He's the kid at, I think he's at Seattle Prep or Rainier. He's at one of the two. He transferred. Yeah, that's one of the most elite pitching frames I've ever seen. He's like 6'5, super broad shoulders. He's only up to 94, but like you go watch that kid, and it's so super obvious that he's going to be a legit pitching player,

prospect at the next level. And then there's kind of a sneaky kid, shortstop by the name of Sawyer Nelson that I really like out of South Salem High School, I believe, in Oregon. He's like the prototypical Cleveland Guardian shortstop, scrappy hits everything. Doesn't matter if it's expanding the zone.

He'll annoy the hell out of the Mariners, I'm sure for 10 years if he gets into the league. Our conversation with Joe continues in just a moment, but first a reminder of this episode of the Locktime Marries podcast is brought to you by Fandwell. The biggest stage in world soccer is here, and every match feels like it has the potential for a memorable moment. One goal can completely change the energy of a game, shift momentum, and alter the outcome in an instant. That's what makes tournament soccer so exciting from the opening whistle to the final kick.

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the more opportunities for goals and more bonus bets. So from the opening whistle to the final kick, let there be goals on Fanduel. Visit Fandual.com to get started now. And you're listening to the Locktime Mariners podcast, part of the Lockdown 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 Mariners.

We talk Seahawks. We talk all that good stuff. For more information, go to patreon.com forward slash control the zone. Link in the description of this episode. Now back to our conversation, Joe Doyle. All right. So let's get into some Mariners' prospect stuff. I kind of want to just start by asking you more of like an overall.

overarching question that involves the big lead club as well here because the mayor has seemed pretty firm on this idea that both kate anderson and ryan sloan are going to pitch for them at some point this year which would lead one to believe that both will be part of the twenty twenty seven rotation at some point maybe even on opening day but the same six starters the mares have right now are under club control next year so how do you foresee that potentially working out especially with sloan and anderson's development yeah i mean i've been asked this question i'm on the Levy podcast twice a week. I've been asked this question a lot. And I don't know if there's a good answer, right? Like the team needs, the team needs one of those arms up. And so even if you call up

one of them and add them to the 40 man roster, you are again, like creating a headache in 2027. I think as painful as it's going to be for the Seattle Mariners, you are a team that is closer to the Milwaukee Brewers than you are to the Los Angeles Dodgers. And I think you need to realize that, look in the mirror and kind of, you know, clock that. Because of that, I think this winter, it's going to be really difficult with everything being locked out and things not being able to be done. I think this winter, you have to trade one of Logan Gilbert or George Kirby. My preference would probably be Logan Gilbert, so you don't feel strapped in 2028 without Logan and George. But I just, you know, it's an embarrassment of riches.

It's a luxury to have, but Ryan Sloan and Kate Anderson are going to be available in 27. They're going to be ready. They're probably ready now. And I don't think you can realistically go into the 2027 season with upwards of nine options in the starting rotation. I mean, even if two guys blow out, you still have seven guys that are big league ready, big league worthy. So I don't see a scenario where the Mariners.

come out of the 2026, 2027 winter without trading one of these guys and getting some prospect capital back or getting a high leverage bullpen piece or something that can contribute positively to the 2027 and beyond product. I think it's probably negligence if they don't.

I'll put it that way. So you don't know this yet, Joe, but what you're saying is I'm right. So, yeah. So what do I maybe took it a step further and said they should consider or at least be open to trading Kirby this summer, you're going to have to trade two of these guys to make room for Anderson next year, unless you wouldn't do a six-man rotation again. I wouldn't trade two of them.

I think Seattle has been very fortuitous with pitching luck in terms of health. I do think that you're still going to have a log jam next year, but I would rather have a logjam than it get really tight, right? What do you do? Let's say you trade Cassie, I don't know, Kirby. It doesn't matter which one. How do you get Kate Anderson innings at the major league level? If you're not going to piggyback or six-man. Or do you just hope for an injury?

Yeah, I mean, it's not that you're hoping for an injury. I think it's that an injury is going to happen, right? Like none of these guys have gotten injured. Logan missed quite a bit of time in 25. George missed quite a bit of time in 25. And Bryce has missed quite a bit of time. Yeah, in 25. So chances are those innings are going to become available.

And if it's if it's me and I've interviewed Logan Evans, you guys have interviewed Logan Evans in a perfect world, I would like to not see Logan Evans pitch for the Seattle Mariners in 2027. So yeah, I wouldn't trade too. I wouldn't go crazy, especially with Kirby, you know, leaving the team after 2027 or 2028. You just have to be careful because if you trade, you are going to be without Luis Castillo, Logan Gilbert, and George Kirby after. 2028. So you want to be careful not to, you know, empty the cupboards too early. I think I would prefer that they move either Castillo or Gilbert and make sure that they have the arms that they need for 28. Yeah, Logan is fascinating because of the lockout and how you might wind up kind of getting pennies on the dollar relative to what you could get trading him maybe this summer because

of the whole lockout and how many games are you actually going to be trading him for and all that. So I'm kind of like in the same boat as Colby in terms of like being open to the idea of trading one of these guys at the deadline. Just more so for Logan just because you're running out of time on Logan. Whereas like with Kirby, even if you trade him next year, you're still trading a year and a half of him maybe. You know, so we'll see. And I'll say like I get no inclination that either Gilbert or Kirby or the Mariners are even in the same ballpark on extension talks. And they shouldn't be. Like if you're if you're Seattle with how they've performed and how they've been injured, how Logan was injured,

I mean that that forearm is probably, you know, on borrowed time as we look at things. They usually, those strained forearms don't go away. It happens once it happens again. I personally wouldn't be in a huge rush to give that player $170 million over six years or over five years. So it's tough, you know. And if I'm Logan, I want $170 million. You only get one, you know, you only get one bite. at the Apple. Yeah, that's kind of where I stand. It's just like if you, you're the Mariners and you know

you're probably not going to sign Logan to an extension, then I feel like you probably should do something about it. Even, even this year, you might want to entertain it, even if you're in a spot to compete. It's too much value. Just see what's out. Just see what's out there. It's too much value and you are working from a surplus already. I mean, if it was, if it was a situation like Felix where we don't have the pitching, like we can. Can't get rid of Felix. He's an icon. We need the innings.

You don't trade him. But if it's Logan and you have nine starting pitchers that are all going to be on the 40 man, put that in quotes in 2027, you got to do something. Like you've got to do something creative and continue to bring value into this organization. You just to kind of wrap that up. Would the Logan Gilbert trade comp roughly be Freddie Peralta, what he got this winter? I mean, yes. I guess.

I think the brewers are experts when it comes to trading for, you know, players on the outside fringes of the 26th man that can contribute at the big league level. I also think Seattle just needs less pieces than what the brewers ordinarily have to do with their bullpen. So I actually think if I'm Seattle, I'm talking to, you know, the Mets. I'm talking to the Dodgers. I'm talking to the Braves, a team that has a ton of pitching prospects that maybe are like, I'll look at it like this. I don't think this is a realistic trade package,

but if Seattle were to call the Mets about Jonah Tong, could you get Jonah Tong considering him as a bullpen piece for Logan Gilbert and you toss in another prospect or two? That's what I would be looking at. I would be targeting teams that might have a high leverage reliever that you can acquire. I still want to talk a little bit about Ryan Sloan here. maybe the average fan would look at

at Sloan's numbers and and double A and go well he's got a 411 ERA and blah blah blah blah blah like why is he so like highly considered you know why is he considered to be ready and why is he considered to be one of the best arms and you know minor league ball and all that right now

like what makes you excited about Ryan Sloan and why is he this highly regarded prospect it's five pitches it's 100 miles an hour he throws all of them per strikes. It's a plus changeup. It's a sweeper. It's a 92 mile an hour cutter. It's two variations of a fastball that he can throw to a hitter dependent, you know, lefty or righty. I'm not really worried at all about what stuffy pitchers do in the minor leagues because a lot of times they are on a

protocol. Like, hey, we're going to throw the fastball, you know, 40% of the time today to take a little bit of stress off your forearm. We're going to focus on spin. We're going to throw the splitter a whole bunch. We're going to work on some things. That's all they're doing, right? All they're doing is polishing up their arsenals. They're ready. like Brian Sloan could get out today in Major League Baseball, that what he did in that spring breakout game was, was one of the most dominating, you know, performances anyone has seen from a prospect in a long time.

And that's in there. And he's probably being capped a little bit in terms of what he can throw and how he can throw it as he develops. So, yeah, like he's 6'4, 6,5, he's 235 pounds, he's got a buttery delivery. He's never been hurt. he throws tons of strikes. It doesn't matter the pitch.

And he's proven that he can get strikeouts when he wants. So get him to the big leagues, unlock the full arsenal to deploy with scouting reports in mind. And I think you're going to see his stuff explode again. Yeah, I'm very, very excited to see him. What has Feld and Sallison done for his stock this year? I think he's made himself a very appealing target in a month. I'll put it that way.

Okay. Well, look, here's the thing. Here's the thing about Felon and Celestin. You have your second basement of the future. You have your shortstop of the future. I think Seattle, with what Colt Emerson has done and shown at shortstop, I think the risks of him turning into a third basement anytime in the next four or five years are pretty low. So you have your middle infield.

Felney and Celestin, perhaps you see a third basement in him. But last I looked to you was rocking like a 90% fielding percent. And the footwork is still a mess at shortstop. The arm accuracy and internal clock on the dirt is still a struggle. He's still not a naturally, you know, gifted, rhythmic infielder. And so I think there are still serious questions about whether or not he is going to not even play shortstop, whether or not he's going to play on the dirt. And I think if you move that profile to left field or right field, I don't think he's a center fielder.

You start asking a lot of questions pretty quickly. on what the role is. So I think if you're the Mariners, you're selling the age, you're selling the switch hitter, you're selling the shortstop, you're selling the burgeoning hit tool, the bat.

But I think if you're also the Mariners, you're looking at felony and Celestin and seriously questioning if this is an infield or long term, and how long it's going to take for him to develop into a potential, you know, full-time regular roll 55 third basement. I,

you know, I think there's enough reason to question whether or not that's going to happen. Is Celestine? the best most likely Mariner prospect to be traded next month, do you think? Or is it Arroyo? Do you think it's fun of it?

I don't think it's Arroyo. I think Arroyo has a pretty clear place in this organization, at least from a platoon perspective. Like they need a right-handed hitter. He's young. You can play a couple of different positions okay. Like Arroyo is what they need right now.

So I don't, I think they would be reluctant to move Arroyo. For me, it would be either Felny and Celestin or Lazaro Montes. And mostly because I just think I've said my piece on Montes on a number of podcasts over the years. I don't need to rehash that. But I think also, regardless of talent, he's redundant. You have a few more years of Luke Rayleigh. You have a few more years of Dom Canzon.

You can't just let Montes rot in the minor leagues and call him up every time Luke Ralee has a back injury or whatever. So I just think fitting Montes onto the big lead organization right now is a tricky endeavor. So I could see him move. Sure. Is there anyone in the Marist Farm system that's maybe taking an impressive jump to you or maybe isn't getting enough love right now? You know, I think I think Jorber Batista is probably a guy that needs to be getting a little bit more love. And maybe it's a victim of the moment for me.

really hot right now. He's just hitting the piss off of the ball. So I think I think Yor is a guy that you know, I know the Mariners internally were talking about just starting him at low A to begin the season. They decided not to kind of let him figure things out on the complex level and he's doing well. And then I think Nick Becker is probably is probably a nice surprise. You know, Becker is a guy that's really raw and he's got a long ways to go with the swing he's got a long ways to go on the dirt but it's good to see him finding success offensively because that's a player that they spent a lot of money on and it's not the type of prospect they've ordinarily gone after i will throw one more out there just because he's healthy i think teddy mcgraw is a guy that um you know as as you see this bullpen

go through its dog days and you see guys down for multiple days and there's random soreness and brash gets hurt and all these different things i i can't shake the idea that that Teddy McGraw is going to contribute to this team in August or September. And part of that's because he's going to be Rule 4 or Rule 5 eligible this offseason. And so, you know, if that's the case, bring him up. If you need his roster spot in the winter, DFAM, whatever. But his stuff, I mean, there's a 90-mile-an-hour slider and he throws 98 miles an hour. Like, he's going to be picked in the Rule 5 draft.

It's just a matter of fact if you don't add him to the 40-man. So might as well call him up on August 15th. and get some, I'll even call them garbage innings out of them, just get some guys off their feet for a couple days. No, I'm considering that. DeVila? Yeah, it could be Michael Rucker. Yeah.

I'll do respect to Michael Rucker. I'm not sure why Nick DeVila wasn't in that game, but that's a conversation. Yeah. Do you want to have the Dan Wilson conversation? Nope. Neither do we, but we still have to. We still have to.

I don't think Dan is. Whatever it's worth. I know we're not talking about the big league club. I don't think Dan is the issue here. I think he's played his part in certain games. Sure. He's maybe 5% of the issue with this team right now. Sure. Sure. Real fast. Obviously, we've talked to Anderson already, and you just mentioned Nikki Becker. How's the rest of the 2025 Mariners draft class doing? Well, I mean, the biggest one that was a big bummer was Griffin Hugus getting hurt.

I was really excited. I was really excited for Griffin Hughes. I think I came on your guy's show last year, and I was like, he's the sleep. He's the dude. Big arm, fast arm, Jack Leiter-esque. So I was pretty bummed to see him not stay healthy. I think Luke Stevenson was always going to be, we'll call it a project. Like he was at North Carolina, he was struggling to get to his raw power, still struggling to get to it.

Arm talent is huge. He sprays it a little bit, still doing a little bit of that. So there's that. And then I think, you know, Brock Moore, has been fine. I think Brockmore was 2025. You might have been 24, but you're seeing guys like Charlie Balinson, you're seeing guys like Lucas Kelly

start to kind of work their way up the ladder. Those are a couple of guys that I'm excited for, but yeah, the one that certainly hurts is Griffin Hughes. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do in in 27. It's nice. Minor leaguers, there is no strike. They're going to play. Yeah. We might

be doing locked on Rock on Rainier's. On travelers. on travelers. Lastly, before we, because I have a couple more questions for you, but lastly on the mayor's prospect front, well, has he graduated yet? Whatever. What have your impression's been of Cole Emerson so far?

He's kind of going through his first real dip here offensively in the majors, but he's contributed. The game power has been surprising. I think the value he has added at the shortstop position, just on the balls that he gets. gets to is something that people aren't talking about enough. He is getting to ground balls that JP wasn't getting to. That's run prevention, right?

I know JP hasn't been this world beating third basement. He's been better there for what it's worth that I was expecting. But the range factor on the middle infield right now is phenomenal. So defensively, awesome. The power has been surprising. I'm a little bit surprised that Mariners fans are so critical of a 20-year-old who's struggling to hit 91-mile-an-hour sliders. 99 at the top of the zone for the first time in his life.

One thing that we can say about Colt, and it's been this way since he was drafted at 17, he's like one of the highest IQ players I've ever spoken with. The adjustments will come. The cup of coffee is exactly what he needs to make adjustments and figure it out. So I actually think he's exceeded expectations for me personally. There's more impact in the bat than I was probably anticipating at this point.

And Cole Young, I mean, that doesn't hit a lot of homers. You saw it last night. Dude's jacked, man. Dead center and then off the windows. Like, are you serious? He is, and he's hit a ball. What did he hit a ball last season?

118 or 115? It was something odd. Yeah, and then it was like, I think they initially registered it as like 475 or something like that. And then it was like, it was actually like 458. But whatever. It was the hit billion feet. Anyway, I think it was the longest homer of the season for the team.

It was. Yeah. flirting with that Jake Bauer's power. Isn't it funny that the Mariners' longest home run every year is like the most odd player you would ever expect. Jake Bauer's sitting one over the fountains. Anyways, yeah, Cole Young is such a, he's such a, it's like a Jekyllyn Hyde, right?

Like his highs are so high. You're like, how is this guy not going to hit 30 home runs this season? Like, that's crazy bat speed. And he makes enough contact and has good enough pitch sloth. collection skills that you're like, how is this not transferring in game more often? I think Cole gets himself in trouble a little bit, chasing the high and inside fastball. The amount of pop-up foul ball territories that he has is if he could just lay off that pitch or adjust to that pitch, I think he's going to be really good.

But perhaps the biggest surprise, and I do mean this literally, perhaps the biggest surprise at all for this team in 2026 is that they have a gold glove second base. like I did not expect Cole Young to be this good at the second base bag certainly this quickly so yeah he's been he has also exceeded expectations for me yeah he's been a lot of fun to watch anything else on the Mariners prospect set of things you want to know about Colby before we move on no I think I don't even know what you're about to ask I'm kind of interested to hear what you're going to what your questions are here Ty well so I wanted to ask about the CBA negotiation

going on and specifically yeah you did know that specifically you know how the draft is being targeted by major league owners right now the the potential dissolution of more rounds high school players potentially no longer being eligible all that for those that are listening that

maybe don't recognize just how big of a deal that would be could you just dive into that a little bit and share your thoughts yeah like so major league baseball is trying to get rid of the high school player the high school prospect from the draft. And what they're actually doing, they don't really care about the high school player.

They care about the 26 and 27-year-old free agent. That's what they care about. They want to get this 27 and 28-year-old free agents off the market because those are the guys that are signing 12-year contracts. Those are the guys that are signing half-billion-dollar deals. I'm not, you know, like, look, I know that's the prerogative of the league. That's not what bothers me about it. What bothers me about it is the best players to ever play this sport for this franchise, for this brand for Major League Baseball, came from the high school ranks. I mean, Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Chipper Jones, Mani Ramirez, like, the greatest players you can probably think of right now, that the guys that are in the Hall of Fame, your poster

boys, Mike Trout, Bobby Witt, Jr. I'm going to say Bryce Harper because he skirted college and just went to a juco as a high school senior. I don't understand why the league would want to eliminate that and kind of put it behind the curtain of, oh, well, we want college baseball to develop these guys. Here's the truth. I don't know if Mike Trout would have been smart enough to survive college baseball.

I don't know if he would have found any success at Vanderbilt. I don't know if he would have passed his classes. I don't know if Gunner Henderson, who comes from a town of like 300 people in Louisiana, would have been able to survive at Auburn or whatever. Like, I think it's a good way for you to find more opportunities to get rid of superstars, to get rid of prodigal talents. So getting rid of the high school eligibility was a stupid thing for the league to bring up. I don't think it's going to happen.

But, you know, it's a means to an end for them. Shortening of rounds, I think it's a foregone conclusion that it's coming. They're trying to get rid of low A. They've been trying to get rid of low A for a while now. I think it's going to be gone by 2031 when that contract expires. And I think we're going to be left with the DSL, the stateside complex leagues, and then when players are ready, they go right to high A. So you're going to see a lot more college draft picks because of that.

I think what the league is really trying to do with this proposal is they're trying to get the international draft across the finish line. I think if they can agree to, all right, we'll keep the draft, we'll keep high school eligibility will slowly ladder backgrounds in return for an international draft, I think that's ultimately what happens. I think you could see some tinkering. I think you could see some things where like high school players have to sign a signing bonus of a million dollars or more or they're not eligible to sign. I think you could see high school players have to be drafted in the first two rounds or they're not eligible to be drafted. I think you could see some tinkering. But yeah,

just the idea of eliminating the high school prospect from the draft, it's a brand killer, if you ask me, a total brand killer. Yeah, absolutely. This actually just popped up in my head. I want to ask you this real quick before I let you go. You know, the mayor is projected to sign two of the biggest, you know, international free agents in the upcoming class and Myron De La Rosa. And is it Uti Uton?

How you pronounce it? I think I saw something the other day. about like they might have some issues with De La Rosa? You know anything about that? Or are there potential any issues here, any hangups with getting those guys signed? I haven't heard anything. I think the biggest issue is the international draft. I think the international draft probably wouldn't take place until 2028.

But last I checked, and it was a month ago, so give me a little bit of leverage or a little bit of leeway here. Seattle had the money for it. They didn't have to trade for any international bonus pool money to get it done. they were going to have a remarkably small class because they were signing these two players to like what, $8.5 million worth of their bonus pool or something.

So I haven't heard anything. If I had more information, I would obviously share it here, but I don't have an update there. Appreciate it. Well, Joe, it's always a pleasure, man. We'll have to get you back on here sometime after the draft to review the Marries class. The website, again, is overslaught baseball.com.

It's best draft coverage out there, really. You also have the MLB draft simulator, which is a lot of fun to play around with. You've also got overslaught the MLB draft podcast over on Patreon, overslaught baseball YouTube channel with some draft interviews there as well. We'll link all that stuff in the description. Thanks again, Joe. Appreciate it.

I didn't realize I had so much going on. Thank you for listing out all those different things. I'm sure my wife and child love me. And that is going to do it for our show. Thanks again to Joe for joining us. Thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown areas podcast, part of the Locktime 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 Node, I'm Tadangazolus. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-Nor-Rerner.

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