Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Jerry Dipoto on the Mariners' Competitive Window, Extensions, Underrated Prospects, and More

Starting point is 00:00:00 Colby and I sit down with Mariners president of baseball operations. Jerry DePoto coming up here on the Lockdown Maris 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. Oh, hoi, sailors. It is Thursday, March 7th, 2024.

Starting point is 00:00:23 This is tidying is Alison. Colby Patnode who has the absolute most insane lighting in this interview. You've probably already seen it on Twitter, but it is ridiculous. It doesn't look like that in real life. I don't know what's happening. I don't know. The way this looks right now,

Starting point is 00:00:38 there's like a weird like red tent. Yeah, there's like a, I think you're, I think your camera broke. I don't know. Thankfully, and we can just make this announcement now,

Starting point is 00:00:47 you're going to have a new recording studio by opening day. So there you go. Somebody else is supposed to have theirs too, but they got a little lazy. Yeah, I got a, I got some work to do over the next three weeks. Hey, you have the entire day.

Starting point is 00:00:59 Hey, look at that. That's true. That's true. Anywho, as I was saying, this is Tiding I Zollos and Colby Pat noted for the Lockdown Marries podcast, which is brought to you, of course, by GameTime, download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the promo code Locked On.

Starting point is 00:01:12 That's L-O-C-D-O-N for $20 off your first purchase. 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 brought the crew and rock with us every single day, let us know in the comments below. We'd love to hear from you.

Starting point is 00:01:29 And if you want to hear from us even more, please consider signing up for our Patreon. You can now get a free seven-day trial to check out the show. The link as well as our social accounts is in the description of this episode. And of course, we have a very special guest joining us today. Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Depoto. We talked about overcoming the Astros and Rangers, maneuvering the trade market,

Starting point is 00:01:52 the possibility of extensions for guys like Cal Raleigh and Logan Gilbert, and a whole lot more. So let's get into it. Really excited to welcome. back on the show. Jerry DePoto, Mariner's president of baseball operations. Jerry, thanks for doing this. How's it going? I'm glad to do it, guys. Not too bad. We got in the wind column yesterday, so all things are good. That's good. That's good. It's been a very interesting last few months for you in that front office. You know, you're coming off yet another season,

Starting point is 00:02:17 seeing a division rival win at all. There's been a lot of criticism of the organization. You've had to overcome a lot of hurdles this offseason, but at the bit, you were arguably the most active team all winter in one of the most stagnant markets we've seen so after all of this turnover where do you and just and feel this roster is at right now and frankly do you believe you've built a team capable of you know overtaking the rangers and finally overcoming the astros no i guess in reverse order yes we do feel like this team has the ability to do that and you know i feel like we're typically one of the most active teams in the league in the off seasons and And we tend to be active when we're sitting still.

Starting point is 00:03:03 So, you know, this offseason was a little different for us in that we effectively reshaped a good part of our offensive club coming off of a trio of strong seasons, you know. And I guess my thought there is that we needed to find a better way to get closer and ultimately surpass the Rangers and Astros. We feel like last year we did that in multiple ways. Unfortunately, we didn't do it in the wind column. And we played on par with both of those clubs for most of the year. And we fell short. Now we have to figure out how to catch up and pass them by. We've heard from Justin that a lot of teams had very little interest in trading for lower level prospects this winter.

Starting point is 00:03:50 And that kind of stagnated the market as a whole. But you guys were still able to make a lot of trades and did most of your heavy lifting that way, as per usual. Could you describe what maneuvering the trade market was like this winner? You know, I actually think the trade market this offseason was more active, at least in terms of discussion, if not in actual trades, but maybe even in actual trades. It was more active this offseason than in any offseason in recent memory. For much of the off season, it actually felt more like a trade deadline scenario where

Starting point is 00:04:24 conversations were happening, you know, fast and furious. And teams at the top of the food chain and, you know, expected contenders to teams at the bottom who are in rebuilds or, you know, are trying to gobble up prospects. Everybody was interested in maneuvering the trade market. And I think that was probably a reflective of a free agent market that might not have been as robust as it has been in the last few years. And teams like we have over the years, identifying specific players who fit your puzzle. And you just have a bigger group of players that fit those holes when you open it up to 29 other clubs in trade.

Starting point is 00:05:08 You're dealing now with a big pool of players rather than just those who've achieved free agency. I know you don't want to do anything that could jeopardize the long-term health of the organization, but I've been curious to see how your philosophy might evolve as we get deeper into this team's competitive window. I'm sure some of this is just dictated by what's on the market, of course, but what has to fall into place for you to get very aggressive

Starting point is 00:05:33 with trading your higher-end prospects for potentially, you know, more short-term gain? Well, I think we did that in July of 22. And, you know, it tends to go unnoticed because last year we were a little more quiet. You know, last year at the deadline, I think we were right at 500. behind five teams trying to climb over. And none of us could have expected, you know, myself included, could have expected the scorching August that we had after the trade deadline.

Starting point is 00:06:03 But, you know, as we went into the trade deadline, we had to make tough decisions. And, you know, part of the reason why the deadline is deeper in the season is to give you a chance to assess. And, you know, in 22, we were comfortably in one of the playoff positions and we felt like this is our chance. And we did tap into some of our top-end prospects to acquire Luis Castillo. And I guess we will always be willing to do those things,

Starting point is 00:06:29 especially if we've identified a player who fits our window, in addition to a player who we feel like we could potentially extend or sign to stay here. Could you eventually, you know, could you envision eventually maybe where you're in a situation like last year where you're kind of hovering around 500? you're kind of on the fringes of playoff contention, but maybe because you're more like five years into the competitive window than two you get a bit more aggressive.

Starting point is 00:06:57 You know, I don't really think it's about the number of years you're into the competitive window because right now our goal is to always be in the competitive window. And we feel like a young core, I think, you know, by roster right now, at least by our projections, we should line up as one of the five youngest teams of Major League baseball again. And, you know, that's, we want to be young and sustainable with a productive farm system and do it for a long time. You know, that being said, if the situation or circumstance you just described happens in July of 2024, and we feel like we are trending in that moment, we're playing well. Somebody else is coming back the other way, then we may take our shot and

Starting point is 00:07:42 do that thing. It's a, you know, I think any time you're acquiring play, at the deadline, you're trying to balance present and future. And the perfect storm for us is when you are getting players who can become part of that sustainable core. And again, I'll refer to the rock. Colby, you got anything for Jerry? Yeah, actually I want to go back to the deadline for a second. Just in general, we see now with the extra wild card that teams, a lot of teams, most teams,

Starting point is 00:08:14 are still in the race when we get to the deadline. Would you be in favor of the league pushing the deadline back a couple weeks to kind of give teams a little bit more time to find out who they are? Or are you satisfied with where the deadline is right now? Because I know a lot of fans would like to see the deadline push back because, you know, you have a good two weeks at the end of the deadline there and all of a sudden you're buying and there's more buyers and sellers after August 15th, for example. I sure would.

Starting point is 00:08:40 And I think the, you know, I'm guessing that the other 29th, clubs would all feel the same way because it just gives you more time to make good decisions. And, you know, like last year, if we would have had an extra couple of weeks, our behavior may have been a little bit different. You know, that being said, the trade deadline where it is does provide you ample time to get a good read on what your team is about. And I, you know, I think I do follow hockey a little bit. And I just, I saw something the other day from Chris LaTang with the Pittsburgh penguins who, you know, are in a really unusual position for them and that they're not, they're not a buyer at the deadline in theory. And they've never experienced that. And he said,

Starting point is 00:09:22 you know, we had, we had the last five, six months to put ourselves in a better position than we have. Now we just have to take chance for what it is. So, you know, our decisions will be made over, over a longer view. And it's, we've been, you know, we've been in positions where we don't really have a shot in the postseason. And we would be more inclined to buy on the market if it was a player that we felt like we could add to that core. So one of the things that I've sat through the last few years over the last few years is Mariners teams that get to the finish line, they're in position, and then they get

Starting point is 00:10:01 eliminated in game 161, 162. I've sat through all those. I'm just curious, is there something, you know, organizationally that can change to prevent that and kind of push through the finish line? Is it just about acquiring the right set of players or is there something in messaging or preparedness or anything like that that maybe you could tweak that maybe could be tweaked so that instead of being eliminated in the last couple days of the season were in the playoff position? I think it's been four times in the last eight or nine years that the Mariners have been eliminated on the last day of the season, essentially. Is there anything

Starting point is 00:10:34 other than just getting new players and trying again that could, uh, that you think could help solve that problem? My easy answer to that question is win more in April and May. And, you know, we won't put ourselves in that position. And, you know, we have, oddly enough, and I think the, you know, it's the offensive game is a little tougher in Seattle in the first, let's call it six, eight weeks of the season. And, you know, our offense generally has struggled to score runs in the first couple of months. We don't really have as key or, you know, big an issue with it as the season goes on. And Team Mobile actually becomes pretty home run friendly as the weather warms.

Starting point is 00:11:15 You know, that being said, there are so many opportunities earlier in the season. And this past season was a great example where simply just putting a ball in play, a fly ball or a ground ball with runners in scoring position would give us that one or two extra wins, then we wouldn't have to worry about it. And, you know, the easy answer is let's win game 161, and that takes care of it. But, you know, in reality, if you win game six, you know, that might take care of it too. Right. More from our conversation with Jerry to Poto in just a moment.

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Starting point is 00:13:02 You know, you've talked about this offense and the early season struggles, and you guys brought in a new hitting coach in Brant Brown. he's going to be your offensive coordinator. How is he going to help in assessing or addressing some of those issues early season and just over the course of the year? And what is this offensive philosophy you think going to look like ultimately with this team? You know, I don't know if the offensive philosophy changes much, if at all. I think the philosophy on its own is pretty basic.

Starting point is 00:13:33 You know, we're not, we didn't break up in the atom. But Brownie's been with us before. And, you know, the whole concept with our offense and that Brownie brings to the table is be prepared, know your opponent, dominate the strike zone, and touch home plate. And, you know, so often you get caught up in the mechanics of a swing. And, you know, at any given time, you're going to have 13 position players on your active roster. And those 13 position players are almost always thinking about the mechanics of their swing first. And, you know, our goal is to just make the first thought. touching home plate and how do we make that happen? Because you can do that with or without a perfect swing. And I think that's what Brownie brings to the dance. We have wonderful hitting coaches. And Jared DeHard's done a great job.

Starting point is 00:14:23 We're sneaky better than people think offensively and have been. But we needed a different element in the messaging to try to translate some of what we do well offensively into more runs. Because that's something we're pretty mediocre at over time. time and we would like to be better. So can you kind of describe what maybe differentiates Brown's role from Jared DeHart's role? Because a lot of listeners have been kind of confused about the role offensive coordinator, right? Because that's not really a term we hear a lot in baseball. That's more of like a football thing, right? So what's kind of, what is he focusing on

Starting point is 00:15:00 compared to DeHart? I think just that. J.D.'s time is spent mostly in the cages, with the players, crafting swings, getting them to a position where they're comfortable on time, talking about the philosophy and preparation for a game, now that becomes Brownie. That's more of a coordinator type of position where, you know, talking about that day's pitcher, the opponent on hand, what our goals are that game. And to try to have a series of goals or a set of goals that are specific to each hitter's skill set, like what an opposing pitcher might do with that hitter. And if you are tasked with coaching a hitter swing, preparing him for what's coming, managing all the tech that we have

Starting point is 00:15:47 downstairs in the cages, and then putting together a game plan that's unique for 13 different players, that's pretty tough job. So, you know, going out and bringing Brownie in, who was with us when we got here in 2016, 17, before leaving for the Dodgers, you know, he's had success. He's been to top of the mountain. He's got a World Series ring. He knows what it looks like. And he's just got a different personality and a different way of delivering a message that I think is generally consistent with ours. But we flooded one guy with just too much work. And we're just trying to distribute it a little more evenly. Gotcha. Colby, you got anything for Jerry? Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about this roster. There's been a few injury things that have popped

Starting point is 00:16:30 up this spring. So far, nothing too too serious. But, one of the guys that, you know, is a pretty polarizing player for our listeners is Luis Urias. He's a couple times. He's playing third base again today. Got off to a slow start in the spring. How is he doing? Is he going to be ready for opening day, do you think? Yeah, I think so.

Starting point is 00:16:52 But, again, we have three weeks or thereabouts to work into it. You know, Luis, I guess I don't understand. He's coming off a rough year. And similar to, you know, Josh Rojas last year when we acquired. fired him at the deadline. I couldn't be any more impressed with how Rojas looked this spring. And Luis, the two years prior to last year, pretty good player. This guy was playing regularly at a key position for a playoff team and was a key contributor who's just now entering the center of his prime. And he was a player that we targeted simply because we think a bounce back is likely.

Starting point is 00:17:31 And I think the projection systems kind of agree with that. And, you know, he's skilled enough to play multiple positions. And he manages the strike zone quite well. He's got a little bit more power than you think. And, you know, the versatility that it gives our lineup, you know, Polanco can play multiple positions. You've got Arias, Rohas, Dylan Moore, J.P. Crawford, Sam Haggurdy, you know, a number of players who can rotate in and out of different positions. positions. And I think it allows us to manage our roster within our roster and not get into situations where for three months we're just absorbing suboptimal performance. And we can make

Starting point is 00:18:14 change without making definitive roster moves that cost you players. How about Gregory Santos? How's he doing? You know, Gregory and I'll throw Matt Brash in this bucket too. We're very encouraged. Gregory's already in a throwing program and the ball flies out of his hand. I think he wants to throw more than we're allowing him to throw right now, which is a positive thing. And I thought that was a big get for us this offseason. And 24-year-old with that kind of stuff, that kind of performance and fits in very well here, came in with a lat issue that he suffered,

Starting point is 00:18:55 maybe the second bullpenny through after getting into Arizona, where he was early down here. And similarly with Matt Brash, they both came in firing bullets. And sometimes when you stretch it out like that and you're throwing 100 in February, you need to slow it down a little bit. But we're right now encouraged in both cases.

Starting point is 00:19:16 We think both will pitch for us, certainly in April. And we'll take it for what it's worth. We have to let this play out. Matt hasn't yet started his throwing progression. But I want to say highly, unlikely that either is ready for our opening day roster, but very likely that both pitch for us in the first month based on, you know, the information we have right now.

Starting point is 00:19:38 Gotcha. Gotcha. That's good news overall. Yeah. So we like to try and, you know, ask the listeners a little bit about something they want to know. And I think pretty overwhelmingly, the biggest question we've gotten this winter is about extensions, notably guys like Cal Raleigh, Logan, Gilbert, George Kirby. So I guess we'll just ask, like, is that something that's on the radar?

Starting point is 00:20:00 Is that something that you're maybe you're pushing off, you know, you're just pushing back a little bit just to, because you have time. You obviously have time. Those guys are nowhere near free agency. But is that a topic that's been broached or are you just kind of letting it play out as things stand right now? Yeah, letting it play out really isn't our style. So, yeah, we've, from the very start, we've, we've always maintained that that's our goal is, is to bring in players. who fit our core, make sure that, you know, contractually we extend them to the point that they're able to, you know, we can fix a roster. This is what it looks like. And we have a number of players

Starting point is 00:20:37 on our current roster that we count in that bucket. Some are already extended and some we would like to. And we've already had numerous conversations on a handful of different players. They're not easy things to do. You know, it's a, you're really threading a needle with a, with a player in a club to find the right marriage over time, especially when the players that we are talking with are so far away from their free agency. You know, it's it's much harder for the player to assess where they fit in the market until they get a little bit closer, which, you know, we are anything from the early, I guess the early career extensions that we've done, you know, one or two have gone very, very well and one or two have not gone as well. And, you know, we have

Starting point is 00:21:24 We have done some, like with Luis Castillo, where it's a five plus, it's really hard to do extensions with players who are a year away from free agency. So we're kind of in the hot zone right now with the guys that are those, you know, the two plus player to the four plus player. And, you know, we'll be as aggressive as we can be in trying to make sure that those guys stay with us. More from our conversation with Jerry DePoto in just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of the Lockdown Airs podcast is brought to you by prize picks. Football season may be over, but the action on the floor is heating up.

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Starting point is 00:22:22 and Jeremy Sohan less than 14 and a half points against the Kings. Download the app today and use the promo code Locked-on MLB for a first deposit match up to $100. That is promo code locked on MLB for a first deposit match up to $100. Pick more, pick less. It's that easy. I actually wanted to ask you this when we had you on last year, but we weren't able to get to it. So I'll ask you now. When you and Justin received your new titles, did your dynamic in the way you divvy up responsibilities change at all?

Starting point is 00:22:53 Like, for example, what did the day you guys traded for Mitch Hanigur and Luke Rayleigh? look like? I would say that day, what did it look like? That was a little different. You know, mostly because those were two deals that I was generally running point on, but that's not unique. There were other deals that we made during the offseason, like the Jorge Palanco deal, were Justin Rand Point. And we generally try to divvy them up based on relationships. And, you know, who has the relationship with someone on the other side where you feel like you can make real progress because trades are really hard to make in this league. And, you know, I guess the other part is, I've been with Justin now since the offseason

Starting point is 00:23:37 of 2011. And, you know, I've watched them evolve as a front office executive. And when he was promoted to general manager, a real point of focus for me was making sure that he had the same job that I had when I got the opportunity to be a general manager for the first time. And, you know, to that end, And we don't do anything, you know, roster-wise, player movement. You know, we each oversee various departments, you know, as a general rule. I oversee scouting player development and major league.

Starting point is 00:24:10 Justin will oversee front office, the analytics team, and a lot of what goes into making the roster. But he has always, in this dates back, you know, for as long as I've known, Justin, he has a knack with roster building that just makes him different. than anybody else I've worked with. And as a rule, we don't make a single move without having multiple discussions with each other about that. And then keying in the appropriate people, be it, you know, scouts, you know, front office, other members of our front office, our analysts,

Starting point is 00:24:43 or what are the group downstairs? Two real quick things. First things first. Any prospects, you know, opening your eyes this spring, any surprises or I guess maybe not surprises. But obviously, Cole Young is having a very nice spring and Harry Ford's, you know, certainly at his moments. But is there any, you know, prospects who maybe have surprised you a bit this spring?

Starting point is 00:25:05 Yeah, is the answer. Now you got me livened up a little bit. First, I really can't say enough about how good Cole Young has looked. And he's, he is a no panic hitter. You know, he gets in the box and it's, he looks relaxed. And for someone who's not taking a bat above A ball to climb in and a big league, camp like that is pretty impressive. I do think that we've seen really positive things from Ryan Bliss. Ryan's not yet had a chance to play in the big leagues, but I think he has shown us

Starting point is 00:25:38 the ability to manage both sides of the bag in the middle of the infield defensively, throws plenty good enough to play shortstop. He's a seven runner, and he has a knack putting the ball in play. And, you know, he's shown us sneaky power. You know, he's shown us some hitability, and And we're really encouraged by that. Some of the guys who have come over, I joked around, this is the, maybe the most notable spring in my memory, where when I come in in the morning, the first thing I do is turn right to go to the backfields and watch what's happening. We have a group of teenage hitters right now.

Starting point is 00:26:15 Colt Emerson, Johnny Farmello, Ty Pete, Las Montes, Michael Arroyo, it is so exciting to Aidan Smith, so exciting to watch these guys go. And, you know, Johnny Farmello in the big league games, I mean, you would have a hard time that there's, if you looked and said, hey, which one of these guys was in high school last year? You probably wouldn't pick Johnny as he's running in the walls, making catch, you know, lasering opposite field gapers and, you know, Yankee triples. He's been incredibly impressive. And as has Colt Emerson, you know, to come over, he's 18 years old and and put together six, eight pitch up bats versus guys with the kind of stuff they're facing. Just so impressive.

Starting point is 00:26:58 And I guess I would finish up with Logan Evans, who if you don't know about Logan Evans, dig in. We got a lot more than we banked on on draft day with Logan. You know, he was a guy who had good stuff but struggled to perform in the ACC at Pitt. And, you know, he came into our system. immediately adapted to some of our programs. And now this past off season, we've seen his stuff go from good to unbelievable. And, you know, he is sitting in the high 90s.

Starting point is 00:27:32 He has touched 99, pitching at 97, 98 with bowling ball sink and, you know, multiple plus secondary pitches, and he commands them all to the point where it draws a crowd now when he's throwing. And Scott Service sidled up to me the other day after looking. Logan threw in a big league game and said, tell me about Evans. Who is this guy? And I said, it's a good story. So those are the guys that have really stood out in the early going here. And I'm sure they're going to be others because it's a fun young team. I know you love Brody Hopkins as well. That dude's an insane athlete. Oh my God. Brody Hopkins. This one is

Starting point is 00:28:11 last fall I was down here for our HP camp. And, you know, in HP camp, it's all about building up your body, building up your mind, learning nutrition. And very little of it is baseball skill. It's all athletic, gathering athletic traits. And, you know, Johnny Farmelho is probably the fastest runner in our organization. And he's borderline 80 runner. It's explosive. And I was down here for HP camp, and they were doing, you know, shuttle races.

Starting point is 00:28:42 And, you know, it's short bursts, but, you know, it is a race. and the players get to pick their opponent. And Johnny, who was one of the group from last year's draft that was in Seattle, so I built some starter relationship with him, Johnny picked Brody Hopkins to run again. Then I joked with him. I said, pick him a pitcher? What are you doing? That's not, pick an athlete.

Starting point is 00:29:09 He said, oh, I picked him because he's the guy that can beat me. And then I watched, you know, I'll be damned if Brody, Hopkins didn't beat him in the first race. And I found out that Brody Hopkins is not only insanely athletic, but he's also highly competitive. And his fastball has also jumped to the point where, you know, he's high 90s and there's an expectation. I think the idea is that, you know, shorten him up

Starting point is 00:29:33 and there's a very good chance that you're going to have electric stuff that looks kind of like the Santos-Munoz, you know, that Matt Brass-type bucket, which is exciting for us. Well, Jerry, thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us. Looking forward to seeing this ball club here in a few weeks. Always a pleasure to talk with you. Take care. You got it.

Starting point is 00:29:50 Sorry the lights went out. I don't know why. And that's going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Mariners podcast for Colby Patnode. I'm Taday Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Ty Dan Gonzalez and Colby at C-Pat 11. That's C-P-A-T-1-1.

Starting point is 00:30:07 You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. Thank you again for making us your first. Listen to have yourself a beautiful baseball day. And we'll see you next time. Peace. Thank you.

Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Jerry Dipoto on the Mariners' Competitive Window, Extensions, Underrated Prospects, and More

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