Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Jarred Kelenic Hasn't Done Enough to Guarantee Himself a Role With the 2023 Seattle Mariners

Episode Date: October 27, 2022

Although Jarred Kelenic provided some defensive value towards the end of the regular season and into the postseason for the Mariners, his bat was still more or less lackluster. As such, while his late contributions are certainly appreciated, Kelenic hasn't done enough to guarantee himself a role with a team with World Series aspirations heading into 2023. Ty and Colby explain why, go over a possible trade idea that would send Kelenic somewhere he can get the at-bats he requires, and then turn their attention to the 2022 seasons of Taylor Trammell, Abraham Toro, and Kyle Lewis.Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/RhoneThe Commuter Shirt can get you through any work day and straight into whatever comes next. Head to rhone.com/LOCKEDON and use promo code LOCKEDON to save 20% off your entire order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Our player reviews continue today with four names that could factor into the Mariners' Depth in 2023, but haven't yet proved they are capable of sustaining success and or a clean bill of health at the big league level. We're talking Jared Kelnick, Abraham Toro, Taylor Chamell and Kyle Lewis here on the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Colby, hit it. You are Locked on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. It is Thursday, October, 27th, 2020. This is Tidane Gonzalez and Colby Patnaud for the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. Subscribe, like, and turn on alerts.

If you're watching on YouTube or subscribe and leave a five-star review on your preferred podcast platform, if you like what you hear. And if you want to hear from us even more, please consider signing up for our Patreon. The link as well as our social accounts is in the description below. On the show today, we'll be reviewing the 22 seasons of Jared Kelnick, Abraham Toro, Taylor Tremel and Kyle Lewis. and Colby, I want to start with Jared Kellnick here because, and keep in mind, this is a very low bar to clear, but I felt that Kellnick had the most success of the four names we're going to be talking about today in 2022, mostly because he was actually able to give the Mariners something late in the season and in the postseason that was defense. He still wasn't particularly useful at the plate, but defensively, he was a significant upgrade over what. they had had in left field with Jesse Winker, mostly, especially after the injury to Sam Hargherty.

Kellnick's role became bigger for this team as it went into its first postseason in 21 years. And I know you put out a poll out there about a potential trade idea. And we'll get into that in just a moment. But overall, just looking at Kellnick's year, he started the year with the team, went down, came up when some injuries cropped up, then went back down, then finally. finally came back up for his third and final stint of the year. Throughout all three of those stents, what did you see from Kelnick? Was there anything, any positives that you took away from Kelnick's year?

And what were the biggest negatives from Kelnik's year as well? Nothing. He's a bad player right now. There's just no way around it. Jared Kelnik is a bad Major League baseball player. And right now to sit around and project him to be anything more than a 4A bat, you're wishing. You're, you know, wishing on a star. And there was really nothing this year that looks good, uh, from the stat perspective. Um, no, he looked a little more comfortable each time he came up,

but he's still light years behind where he needs to be. And Jared Kellnick right now, um, because of the, the prospect pedigree and because of some, you know, really good numbers in the high miners, you can still reasonably project him to be a solid regular, but I think any illusion that he is going to be some kind of star needs to end. He's not. It's not going to happen for him. He's nowhere near the caliber of prospect he was even two years ago or even last year. There's just been so much that's gone wrong with him. A lot of it is mental, but there are some physical things. The swing is very tight. There's not a lot of fluid. in the swing.

And I just feel like there's a lot of people out there who are still sitting here going like, oh, well, Jared Kelnick, you remember, he's like really good defense. You can play center field. He can steal 20 bags. He hit 25 home runs. That's not the guy who exists anymore. Right now, basically, you're crossing your fingers and you're praying that Jared Kelnick is Jock Peterson, which is fine.

It's a good player, but it's not a star. And I think people are still holding on to this idea that that Kelnik is going to be a star, and I don't see it. There's nothing I've seen from him the last two years. That makes me think that Kellnick is going to be an all-star, even, not just not a superstar. I don't think he's going to be an all-star unless he makes some major, major changes. Mostly to his physique, he needs to get more flexible.

He needs to get quicker. It's just he's transformed his profile from a really fun, up-the-middle bat who can hit 20, 25 home runs and steal 25 bags. And he's gone from Grady Seismore. more to Jock Peterson. Like, that's okay. Like,

that's fine, but it's, Jack Peterson's not an everyday player. So as you mentioned there, you know, there's definitely some significant physical and mechanical tweaks that are going to be necessary

in order for him to find better success at the major league level. And, you know, the way that you put it is perfect, right? He's a quad A player right now because he put up great numbers

in AAA and has consistently put up great numbers in AAA, but he's not good at, enough to get regular action at the major league level. You know, overall looking at his season, he was, uh, he ended up slashing 141, 221, 313 with a 55 WRC at the made level. Now, that did prove a little bit in his third and final stint with the Mariners in the regular season.

He slashed 182, 93, 420, which is a 109 WRC plus. The quality of a bats were a little bit better. His plate discipline, uh, discipline was a little bit. better and that's evidence by his 12.1% walk rate, 24.1% strikeout rate, which is livable. It's workable. It's not great, but it's certainly not 30. Not if you're going to hit 140.

It's not. Well, obviously that. Nothing is workable about a profile that has you hitting below 200. Well, yes. Not in a corner outfield spot. So what is it, what do you see when, when he's at the play? What is holding him back? What do you think is the biggest thing that's holding him back right now?

I don't think there's enough fluidity in the swing. He tries different things to get the bat through the zone quicker and also keep it in the zone longer. Sounds counterintuitive, but that's how you hit with great success in the big league. So it's just a very blacksmith type of swing when he needs to be more of a more of a fencer, a sword fighter. Like it's it's just there's it's so mechanical and so rigid that there's very little margin for air. And basically if you don't throw a pitch in in the zone that he can do damage on it, he's not going to hit it like at all.

He's going to pop it up. So to me it's he has to get out of the gym and get into the yoga studio. He has to, he has to slim down. Slim down is probably not the right word. He has to get quicker. He has to get more agile fluid. bit. He doesn't need to get stronger. He's plenty strong. He needs to get back to the

profile he was because a few years ago he made a decision that he was going to go and hit 35 home runs a year and he was going to be that guy and all it's done is it's drained him of his natural speed. It's drained him of the bat speed that he had and it's

made him an all or nothing player. He's basically right now Joey Gallo minus all the home runs. So yikes. I mean that that's that's not great. So yeah, he has to get, he has to make serious changes here. It's, it's not a matter of work ethic. We know that Kellnick works extremely hard. Um, it's not a matter of desire. I don't think. I think Kelnick really wants to be great. I just think that the path he went

down two years ago has completely ruined his career up to this point. And he needs to get back into this mold where like, I'm not going to hit 35 home runs and be able to produce, you know, at the big league level. I have to, I have to, I have to be the guy. who's willing to hit 25 home runs and hit 35, 40 doubles and just try and regain some of that fluidity. He's just, he's too bolted up, I think, is the issue here. And also there's the mental side of things where I don't know if he's ever going to figure that out. I want him to. I think he can and you don't want to give up on a guy because he's 23. But those are serious problems right now. And it's two years that he's had the same exact problems at the big league level.

and he's tried different things to fix them and nothing has worked. So I don't think the Mariners should enter 20, 23 with any scenario other than catastrophic injury that allows for Jared Kalnick to be a crucial part of their roster. I mean, when I say catastrophic, I mean like three or four guys go down because Kalnick's not a major leaguer.

Plain and simple, right now Jared Kalick is not a major leaguer. All right, so I want to tell the folks about Rhone, but after that I want to ask you about the poll that you put up on the Lockdown Mariners Twitter account last night. We'll get into that in just a moment. But real quick, a reminder of this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by Roan. We all know that when you look good, you feel good. But sometimes looking good means putting on uncomfortable fitting clothes that don't breathe and limit your mobility. The dress shirt in particular was due for a radical reinvention and Roan stepped up to the challenge.

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All right, so you, Colby, you put up a poll on the Lockdown Mariners' Twitter account. You've had this trade idea where the Mariners basically send Jared Kellnick to the Pirates for right-handed pitcher Mitch Keller, former top prospect, Keller who's dealt with some injuries but is finally healthy and was really fine in some success towards the end of the season. The velocity was nice. He was reaching triple digits. He had a pretty good year. And again, now that he's healthy, there's quite a bit of upside there.

So you put out a poll on Twitter asking if people would do this. And with six hours to go on the poll and 572 votes cast up to this point, By the way, we're recording this on Wednesday, just for transparency sake. 83.6% of the voters said no. 16.4% of the voters said yes. So what's your thought process with this trade? Right. So basically it's basically a fresh start for both players.

Kelnick goes to a place where he doesn't need to perform right away. he can kind of reset himself in a new organization. Keller is a guy who, like you mentioned, he's really starting to flash the upside that made him a top 10 prospect just two or three years ago. He legitimately has that kind of stuff. The slider is excellent. The curveball is actually really good.

He's not, he had a pretty good year last year. It was probably a number five type of starter overall, but that was a huge upgrade over what he was prior. I look at what the pirates don't do well and what the Mariners do well, and they add up pretty well. The pirates have traditionally not gotten the most out of their young starters. You look at Garrett Cole, you look at Joe Musgrove, Chris Archer. These guys, they go to Pittsburgh and they struggle, or they don't quite reach their potential. And Keller hasn't reached his potential yet in three years.

The Mariners, on the other hand, seemingly pick up Pittsburgh. pitchers and turn them into the best version of themselves in a week. You know, it's insane. So I look at Keller's stuff and the stuff is too good for him to be what he is or what he has been statistically. So I think the Mariners can make a tweak here and there. I think it might be more about usage. Maybe Keller uses a slide or more.

The Mariners have a guy who's at least as good as Marco Gonzalez, probably better right now, but has the upside of Logan Gilbert. Like it's that type of stuff there. So that's the thought process. And again, Kelnick for me, he's a talented, you know, 4A guy. He's a, he's got plenty of talent left. He still has five years of club control. So I think that would be appealing to a team like Pittsburgh who can just kind of take their time

and see if they can groom, you know, him and O'Neill Cruz and Cabrion Hayes, kind of get them going at the same time and, you know, kind of anchor the rest of that team. So for me, Kelnick, that's about the most you can possibly hope. to get in return for Jared Kelnick. And, you know, some people don't think that's enough for Kelnik. Like, that's fine. You'd rather keep him than trade them because that's all you can get for him. That's also fine.

But I think we just need to stop with this idea that Jared Kelnik is an elite piece, or he's an elite player or he's an elite prospect. He's none of those things. Jared Kelnik is just a guy right now. But because he's only 23, because he has five years of control, because he has prospect pedigree, you might be able to get something for him. But if he goes out and he does what he did again this year,

I mean, time's up and you get nothing. So. Yeah. To me, you know, I saw a lot of people saying like, this isn't enough for Kelnik.

I don't think this is enough for Keller. Really? I don't. Because Keller is actually trending upward right now, whereas, you know, Kelnik just fell off a cliff and has now basically flatline,

And if he is on the trend upward, it's very, very minimal. It's very minimal. And so you're talking about, yeah, he's 23 and there's still all this upside there. But he's a corner outfielder at the end of the day. Mitch Keller is a starting pitcher. Those two things are not mutual there. Like one is way more valuable than the other. And that's the starting pitcher.

And again, considering that Keller is actually found and has sustained some success at the major league level, I would say a lot more than Kelnick has, even though that it's still a small sample size from Keller and that he's still only been healthy for that, you know, for so much time. I think the pirates just say no, flat out to a one-for-one deal. I think the Mariners would have to put more into the steel in order to land Keller. Right. It's one of those things too, right? Keller is Arb eligible for the first time this year.

The pirates are cheap. They're not going to win, you know, before Keller gets, inevitably gets traded. Mitch Keller will get traded sometime in the next three years. So we'll see. And like I said, I agree with you. I think you'd probably have to add to Kelnik. But,

you know, it's just funny. I see, I think this is the second poll I've had about trading Kelnik for a, essentially a better, you know, younger top prospect, former top prospect.

And each time Mariner fans have said, no, they've rejected it. Why? Why? Think about it. If Jared Kelnick, right, came up and he improved his batting average by 100 points, he's an average major leaguer then. My question is this true, or it's not even really a question.

It's more just a statement, really, at the end of the day. It's, you know, you can't justify starting Kelnik, right? When you're, you know, aiming for the division, aiming for the World Series, as we think the Mariners are going to be when they get into this off season. go into next year. So even if Kelnik is a bench piece, how are you going to get him the reps? How are you going to get him enough at bats so he can actually turn this thing around? You know, I just think at the end of the day, at the end of the day, when, you know, the offseason is all said and done.

Kelnick is not going to have a clear path to getting significant at bats in this lineup, nor should he, nor should he, nor should he, given the position the Mariners are in right now. So how valuable really is that to you? Right. And also how valuable is it to Kelnick to just get sent down to AAA again where he's too good. He's too good for AAA.

He knows how to hit AAA pitching. Okay, so what's the next? You have to give him major league at bats. The Mariners can't afford to do that. You know who can? Pittsburgh, Detroit, Kansas City, like Arizona. These are teams that can afford to give Kelnick that time.

Because if he fails, it doesn't matter. Kelnk is not a good fit for. for the Mariners right now. It's pretty simple. So yeah, I just feel like people are holding on, grasping to this idea that Jared Kelnick can still be a star. And I don't, like,

if Kelnik was a prospect right now in the Mariners system and keep in mind the system that took a pretty big hit with all the trades over the last year or so, I don't know if he's top 10. I really don't. There's just a lot. lot of work there. And I think it starts with a swing that's, you know, Rocky Balboa, but he needs a swing that's Apollo Creed. Like I just, I don't trust the swing and I don't trust him to make, I don't trust him to believe the changes he needs to make can actually help him,

if that makes sense. So he said, I hope I'm wrong, but I just, I don't think Jared Kelnick's ever going to be the player he can be with the Seattle Mariners. I just don't see it. I just don't think that they have the opportunity to give him because, again, you have to get better. You cannot go into 2023 with basically the same approach as you had, you know, heading into this year where it's like we can, we'll just see if Kelnick can actually contribute to us. Right. And I mean, no, I forgot I was going to say. But like, there's nothing that he can do between now and opening day to make you think otherwise. Right.

Nothing. I mean, you go out there in spring training and hit 750. Who cares? He's facing the same double A and AAA pitching he was last year when he raked. It doesn't matter. Yeah. So it's just, I think it's done. I think it's time to move on.

You don't do it for free. Like I'm not saying just DFA, Jared Kelmick. No, no, no, no. But if you can get a potential, like if you can get a valuable piece, somebody you know who is valuable, like Keller, who's at least, you know, a back in rotation guy, that you should consider it. And if you can get a guy who is that but has upside, even better. So, yeah, we'll see what they do.

You know, I saw a few people respond to the poll, and we got to do our other player reviews in just a second, so I won't linger on this too much. But I saw a couple people respond to your poll and be like, Mitch Keller isn't even better than Chris Flex and a Marco Gonzalez. I mean, maybe statistically right now he's not, but the upside is there. There's so much more upside there than a Chris Flex and then a Marco Gonzalez. He's at least as good right now, but he's got another gear. Yeah. That's the difference. Exactly.

Okay, so a couple of these reviews will be pretty quick, and then I think maybe one of them will be a little bit longer. But let's talk about Abraham Toro. This was one of the more disappointing seasons for me, individual seasons for me on the Mariners. Toro, after being pretty good since coming over in that trade that sent Kendall Graben and Raphael Montero to Houston, you know, obviously he had the rough month of September. But it kind of felt like he was actually going to be a big piece of this, of this. Mariners bench and he just wasn't. He ends up finishing the year slashing 185, 239,

324 with a 62 WRC plus. What went wrong for Abraham Toro this year, Colby? A lot, everything. It's one of those things that is kind of tough to explain because Toro was pretty good last year when he came over. But this year, it just never translated. The good news is the strikeout numbers are still fine.

I didn't feel like he expanded the zone more, all that much more than he did last year. When I think of Abraham Toro, I think about a lot of like soft hit ground balls and infield flies. So it just felt like he just never got it figured out. He never got the rhythm of his swing going. And, you know, it's not like he didn't have opportunities. Abraham Toro got his playtime,

particularly pretty early in the season. So, yeah, it's just one of those things where a guy who you feel pretty good about hitting didn't hit. Now, he did see some power from Abraham Toro, particularly from the left side, which was great to see. We did see a couple of walk-off hits from Abraham Toro. So he did still manage to contribute some, but it's just not enough. You know, Toro is in a very similar place to Jared Kalnick just in the fact, just in the idea of like, you can't guarantee this guy any playing time next year. I still like Toro, but I mean, you can't, you can't just hand him at bats.

You just can't do it. I mean, you gave him 350 at bats last year. And he hit 185, 239, 324. Like, you can't, you can't give that quality of bat 300 played appearances and try and win the division. Can't do it. So Toro to me, and by the way, he's probably going to get less valuable because of the shift restrictions. He was okay at second base this year. year. But again, without the shift, the range is going to come into play there. And he's just,

he's not that rangey of a guy. So essentially what you have is you have a third baseman who doesn't have plus power or, or even an average bat right now. So you just kind of have a player you can't use. So for me, I think Toro, if he's going to make the 2023 marters at any point or survive this winter, I could see him being traded. Toro is kind of a, a fan favorite from the analytics side of front offices. So we'll see. But I think he's going to have to, you know, obviously he's going to have to start to hit again.

But he's also probably going to have to learn how to play some left field. He's probably going to have to learn how to play some first base. And he's probably going to have to get a little bit better at second. I mean, that's his path to staying in the big leagues is he has to play multiple positions and hit. I mean, he has to be a 240 guy at least with. 330 on base. Like he has to at least do that to be a big leaguer. That's something like he might.

But yeah, you just, you can't, you can't give that guy, you know, you can't give that guy 150 plate appearances, let alone 350. He has to be better. Yeah. I think he ends up staying in the organization this off season, but he's just going to be organizational depth. He's going to be a guy that you just have in AAA that you call upon if there's an injury or what have you.

And that, that's a good, you know, piece to have down there. I think Toro is an interesting piece to have down there and to have stashed away and see if maybe he, you know, after he works on some things this off season and maybe it works on some things in the minors, et cetera, maybe he can eventually come back up and find success because he was good for like six weeks after getting traded to Seattle. We have seen him have success in the major league level. It is in there. He can do it. It's just pretty good play discipline, good third baseman, strong arm. above average runner. He's got some power from the left side. He's a switch here. There's a lot to like about Toro. He just has to produce. And the Mariners can't give him that opportunity at the big league level.

So let's talk about someone that I think is not going to be in the Mariners organization after the next couple months. Kyle Lewis. He comes into this year with the banged up knee. Obviously, you know, it doesn't make the opening day roster. finally gets on the team what was it towards the end of april plays like four games suffers a concussion a pretty gnarly concussion that sets him back quite a bit you know and we heard throughout the whole year that you know when he was on his various rehab stents that you know scott service would say oh cow's going to play a lot in the outfield and then it just didn't happen he mostly dh and when he came back up he was mostly dh and it just it wasn't happening for him offensively and you know there's reports out there you know whether you're

listening to something like Jason A. Churchill's baseball things podcast or whatever that, you know, have indicated Lewis and the organization are kind of at a standstill here, that they, they don't feel particularly great about one another. And some of that is a frustration that, at least this is what I've heard. Some of that is a frustration on the organization's side where they're disappointed with how Lewis has handled his rehab and just how he's handled things in general, how he's handled his progress. And I have also, you know, you and I were told at one point that Lewis's knee is basically just bone on bone at this point. And that's really sad. But considering the reported riff between the organization and Lewis, it just doesn't seem like he's going to be back next year, huh?

Right. No, probably not. And it's a shame because Lewis is probably the, I would probably bet on Lewis's bat more than any of the other guys we've talked about today. I still think he can hit. But the problem is, is that, you know, like you said, we were told that it's bone on bone. There's no cartilage left in that knee and he's never going to be, you know, half the defender he was back in his rookie year. So you basically have a full-time D-H and you're hoping that he's going to hit 260 with 25 home runs in like 340 on base. It's a pretty good player.

But is that a guy that you're terrified of losing? No. Is that a guy you're willing to wait around for and give at bats to get there? No, not if you're trying to, you know, go to the World Series. So, yeah, I think Lewis, you know, again, and the organization clearly souring on Lewis. They didn't put them on the, you know, they didn't, they didn't ask him to come up to Seattle for the playoff game. They never had them on the taxi squad. Lewis went down to AAA and basically didn't show up.

Like, if you look at his numbers, he would have been better off if he just sat on the bench the entire game. I think he hit 083 in the month of September for Tacoma. So, yeah, it just feels like these two sides are done with each other. It's unfortunate. But, you know, it's really what it comes down. to is that that second knee injury for for lewis uh just kind of torpedoed a promising young career and we'll see if you can get back i'm certainly rooting for him i still like Kyle lewis i think he's a pretty cool dude uh and i really do think he can hit i think he'll hit for somebody and he'll probably

be one of those guys that people look back on and be like oh see he left the mariners and he got better and it's like not really yes but no it this is more of an injury thing and and how lewis responded to the injuries versus how the Mariners would have liked him to. I don't think it was the idea that Lewis wasn't working hard or anything like that. It was just the Mariners wanted him to do this and Lewis said, no, I'm going to do it this way. And the Mariners feel like that may have impacted his timetable and his skill level. Now, his final month of the season in AAA wasn't as bad as maybe you were saying, but not good either. 209, 338, 507 with a 105 WRC plus, but a 30...

What was I looking at? 30% strikeout rate. 30, yeah. That's awful in AAA. And that, I mean, a 30% strikeout rate in AAA usually translates to like a 40% strikeout rate at the major league level. Yeah, that's really bad for anybody, but that's terrible for Kyle Lewis. That's...

He also walks 16.6% of the time, but, you know, again, you can't strike out 30% of the time. He was literally a, you know, a three outcome guy, right? Like he was a home run, strike out or walk guy. That's what he was down in AAA. Yeah. And like he was striking out 29% of the time in his rookie year and 25% of the time in the short sample we got in 2021. And those were at the major league level. So striking out 30% of the time in triple A.

like you said, that's 36, 37, 38% of the time. Lewis just can't sustain that. He's not a good enough bat to sustain that. Yeah. All right. So lastly, a guy that you and I, Colby, we both love. He's just a fantastic personality. And he did show some signs of success this year.

He was actually pretty useful during his first. And, of course, suffered a hamstring. injury, we're talking about Taylor Tremel, of course, suffered a hamstring injury in what, the third game of the season in AAA, came back, didn't go on a rehab stint, was just immediately placed on the major league roster. I think it was in Boston

and ended slashing 235, 323, 457 with a 126 WRC plus. He was also walking 11.7% of the time, striking out 25 and a half percent of the time. Three home runs, nine RBI, before he landed back on the injured list with

with a hamstring issue. But then after he, after he came back, it was not great. He only got 23 appearances from September 1st onward. And he slashed 048, 130, 190 with a negative 6 WRC plus.

He struck out 39.1% of those 23 plate appearances. So where do you go from here with Taylor Chamele? What's his path to to getting back on track at the major league level. Is it in Seattle or is it going to end up being elsewhere? Feels like it'll be elsewhere.

You know, Tremel is a fan favorite, certainly a favorite of ours on the show. But, you know, he's 25 years old, right? He's not old, but he's not young, right? He's not 22, 23 years old. But we have seen glimpses in both of his, you know, know, stints with the Mariners of him being a really solid player of being a guy who you could you could use. I mean, there's definitely some, you know, it's definitely he'll walk, right? There's definitely a good approach at the plate. There's power. We've seen the power. And we've seen

some pretty solid defense when he's out there. Not not a good arm at all. But also we've seen way too many strikeouts. And like, because Tramel's not going to be a 30 home run guy, 35 home run guy, he can't strike out as much as he has been. He has to put the ball in play. And with his speed and his ability to walk, if Taylor Tremel cut his strikeout rate down to, you know, 20%, he's an everyday player. Like, he's got that type of upside to him. But I mean, 28% this year, 42% last year. It's trending in the right direction. But this year was the change up that really did him in. He really struggled against changeups, which makes me, wonder if he's cheating on the fastball because there's bat speed issues there. You know, it's just

when you struggle against the change up, particularly if you're a lefty, if you're a lefty and you can't hit the change up, you're in trouble because guess what every rightee is going to throw to you? It's usually the go-to pitch for a righty against the left-handed batter anyways. But if you can't hit a change-up, you're screwed. It's really as simple as that. So he's got to be able to make that adjustment. I think I feel like he's still going to be here when spring training rolls around. I don't feel great about it, but I just think he is, like Tramel is also very well liked in that organization. I know that. So, yeah, we'll see what they decide to do with him.

I think, you know, some of the changes he made from 2021 to 2022 did work. So he just has to continue to grind through those and find the swing that best fits him. and you know we know we know taylor's a he's a worker like he'll he'll get in there he'll do what he can um and it's again the injuries this year really felt like it it robbed him of an opportunity to make that adjustment just up and down up to major serious you know hamstring injuries just kind of yeah so but i think we've seen just enough that i'm i'm still intrigued by tremel um but basically they could trade them i don't think they'll dfam but they could trade them You could be on the, you know, the, probably not, let's just put it like this, right?

This is a huge year for Taylor Tremel coming up. If he doesn't show that he's a major leaguer and he's going to have to earn those at-bats because like with everybody else we talked about, the Mariners cannot have this guy be an important part of their plan entering, you know, opening day next year. So, but Tremel can earn those at-bats and he can show that he's even, average, an average major league hitter, then the mayors might roll with him for a little while. Certainly in some role, maybe it's a platoon, maybe it's what, at fourth outfielder,

but don't roll with him. If he doesn't, then he's going to be 26. He'll have failed in three major league seasons, and he's just going to kind of be a guy, probably a roster casualty or somebody you flip for, you know, a double a reliever whose slider you like the metrics on. Like, it's a huge variance this year for Taylor Tremel. So he's going to have to play well.

Otherwise, his mariner career is probably going to come to an end. You know, it might come to an end this winter, but if he doesn't play well, it'll definitely come to an end next winter. I just think that he's going to end up suffering from the same thing that Kelnick is, that there's just a lack of opportunity there. And I do kind of wonder if maybe not now, but over the coming months, Cade Marlowe leapfrogs both Tramel and Kelnick in the eye of the organization

and the eyes of Jerry DePoto and Justin Hollander and crew so I just I don't like the path to me is really murky for him to find to get the at bats that he needs in order to turn things around in Seattle and on a personal

level because you know again we love Taylor Chamel I would just if if it were up to me I would like to get him an opportunity elsewhere where he can actually play consistently because I do think that there's a good bat there and at least a decent

glove that is going to be able to be a regular for some team like the Tigers or the Pirates or something like that as he starts to work through things. The Oakland A's. The Oakland A's. Yeah. You know, but like you shouldn't

get rid of him for free either, right? Like I'm not saying just dump him for anything just to give him that opportunity. No, no, no. But, you know, if it makes sense, if there's a trade that comes along and another team wants Taylor Tramel and it helps you get something that that is useful in 2023, I would pull the trigger. Yeah, so be it.

Yeah. All right. So just a quick programming note, we're going to be taking tomorrow off, but we'll be back on Monday. So no episode tomorrow. We had to record a couple of these ahead of time because Colby's actually leaving. town on Thursday morning. So by the time that you're watching this. So like I said, we'll be back on Monday, but that's going to do it for our show.

Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Mariners podcast for Colby Pat Note. I'm Taday Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at LO underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Dan Gonzalez, the C-A-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-Pad 11. That's C-P-A-T-1-1. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. And thank you again for making us your first listen.

Now, for your next listen, check out the live. on Sports Today podcast featuring the biggest stories of the day plus instant reactions big game recaps and the take of the day it's available on the Odyssey appy YouTube and wherever you get your podcast just like us and with that have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you on Monday peace