Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - J.P. Crawford Is Good at Baseball

Episode Date: September 22, 2021

Locked On Mariners hosts Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby Patnode break down the Mariners' 5-2 win over the A's, preview tonight's pitching matchup between Chris Flexen and Cole Irvin and rave about J.P. Crawford's defense while looking at the SABR Defensive Index.CLICK TO ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN TWO FREE TICKETS TO SEATTLE KRAKEN TRAINING CAMPBe 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/BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next 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.

You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast, part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, your home for Daily Seattle Mariner's News and analysis. It is Wednesday, September 22nd, 2021. I am your host, Tadian Gonzalez.

Join, as always, by my co-host, Colby Patnaud. Our show today is brought to you by Spotify Green Room. Download the app and join Colby and I tomorrow night, which is Thursday for our locked on Mariners room that we do on a weekly basis. Keep an eye on our socials for the start time on that. You can follow us on Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-U-U-S-Rerner. You can also follow me at Dane Gonzalez. That's D-A-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at CPAT 11.

That's C-P-A-T-1. And don't forget, we are giving away two tickets for the September 30th training camp session for the Seattle Cracken. There will be a link in the description of this podcast. that tells you how to enter and there's only a day left for you to do so so if you want to see the cracking up close and personal with a friend or a family member be sure to get on that and be sure to also check out our patreon where we talk about the mariners even more and also get into some non-baseball talk twice a week new episode coming out for all of our patrons today and uh going to be

talking about a fun trade idea that i came up with it might be stupid it might be bad but uh if you want to hear that visit patreon.com forward slash control the zone for more information on today's episode of lockdown mariners we will be talking about the ms securing a winning season with last night's five to two victory over the a's we're also going to preview tonight's game as they aim to win yet another series down in oakland and a very familiar and fun face on the on the mound tonight for the a's so we'll be talking more about that and We're also going to be talking about J.P. Crawford, who had a brilliant game last night on both ends. It should be a great time. So if you like the show, give it a follow or subscribe.

Wherever you listen to this, it'd be very kind of you. And we greatly appreciate it. So the M's win five to two in Oakland. They guarantee at least a split. They have now secured a winning season against the A's and a winning season overall. First of all, really, you know, Colby, I'm just wondering, you know, what is what does this mean in general for for this team to you to secure that winning season finally get over that mark and in in a year where this team was viewed as a you know 70 win team really you know 70 to 75 win team that was going to be one of the worst teams in the american league and now they're here still kind of technically in a playoff race and at 82 wins with 11 to go it means nothing just because you have a winning record doesn't mean you're a good team.

But no, in all seriousness, it's a neat little accomplishment for a, you know, a team that was projected to finish in last or at the very best fourth place by most people. And, hey, you know, they still have an outside shot at 90. it might be the worst 90 win roster in Major League Baseball history, but it would be kind of fitting for this group because they're a weird, they're a weird bunch who have out kicked their coverage in a big, big way, and it's been a lot of fun. So getting to 82 is, I don't think I don't think I would say it's significant.

I would say, though, that it's pretty cool and that they're still technically in the playoff, race, although, you know, relying on on Texas and the Mets and, and, well, I mean, Tampa. The nationals and the Orioles. Yeah. Yeah, relying on those teams to help you get in. That's not going to work out well. So, but it was, it was, it was a cool, cool little accomplishment for a group of guys who

was basically deemed by Kevin Mather and then a. agreed by, uh, agreed to by, uh, John Stanton that they weren't worth investing in this winter. And, uh,

yeah, now it's kind of hard not to look back at what, uh, what the Mariners didn't allow Jerry to do this winter and go, huh, what if? What if they were deemed worth investing in? And,

uh, and, and, you know, unfortunately we'll never get that answer, but, um, it,

it, it sure seems to have galvanize this mariner team because, you know what? I, I don't know if you could say they're good. but they're certainly not bad and now their record will will indicate such.

So who was your pick to click yesterday? I can't remember. I think I wanted to go Kelnick, but you went first and you took him, so I think I ended up taking Mitch and that did not work. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and the Kelnick one didn't really work

for me for the most part either. Three strikeouts did have a triple though. And, you know, so I win. he he we're going to be talking more about J.P. Crawford, of course. But let's talk about Marco Gonzalez. What did you see out of Marco last night?

Yeah, I thought it was kind of a bulldog performance for Marco. Quite a bit of hard contact given up by him. You know, nothing super flashy. You only had three strikeouts. Gave up a couple home runs. thankfully they were solo shots.

And so, yeah, I mean, the nice thing is is that he pounded the strike zone. There's really, you know, that's the most important thing for Marco. Don't walk guys, throw strikes. But more than that, it was, they were quality strikes. He was able to get in on the right-handed hitters pretty regularly. So, you know, it's interesting.

Stackass says he only threw three four-seeing fastballs. Marco says it was a lot more in his post-game presser. Stackcast sometimes can't differentiate between his sinker and fastball. I mean, that's probably not a great thing, but it is what it is. And so, yeah, it was kind of a gritty performance. He got bailed out by JP in the fourth. But for the most part, it was just kind of vintage Marco, who just kind of worked his way through a lineup when he didn't have necessarily his best stuff.

but that's that's what you need from from you know the guy at the top of your rotation theoretically and they got it so yeah overall I would say it was a it was certainly a quality outing but I wouldn't I wouldn't say it was necessarily good or great but it was it was good enough and it was like I said kind of vintage Marco and that's good because earlier in the year when he threw like this he would get shelled but he's figured out a way to keep his team in it Yeah, and he was able to get to that Sadler, Seawald, stuck in writer's stack, which has just been nails for most of the year.

So they absolutely handled business, no issues really whatsoever on that front. Seawald did have a walk, but other than that, you know, he also had a couple strikeouts. So I think he also gave up a hit. Yeah, he gave up a hit. But overall, really solid performance from the pitch of staff once again. So the Mariners getting their fourth look at A's left-handed pitcher Cole Irvin tonight. We'll tell you what to expect.

I'm sure a lot of fans' ears go up when they hear that name. But once again, this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by Spotify, Green Room. Green Room is the first social audio platform made for sports fans. The app is free to download. And once you're in, you can talk with us, other fans, athletes, and insiders in real-time about your favorite team or sport. Colby and I will be hosting a room once per week. So you can finally join in on the conversation you to listen to here every day on Lockdown, Mariners and green room is the perfect place to start or join conversations about major league

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and as always, Bet Online is your number one spot for all the pro in college football action. With a new updated site and interface, even more odds, props, and contests, betonline.A.G continues to be the number one source for everything football. Head to the website or use your mobile devices sign up today to receive your 100% welcome bonus. That's double your initial deposit just for signing up. Don't forget to use promo code NFL 100. But online is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your favorite sports from football, basketball, boxing, right to your favorite Vegas casino games. So don't wait to take advantage of all the amazing offers available for the 2021 season. Bet online, your online sportsbook experts. So Colby, every time the Mariners face left-handed pitcher

Cole Irvin. We have to go back to the first time they faced him earlier this year back in May when they scored four runs on 10 hits off of him and after the game after he was done in just four innings pitched by the way. He went on to say that a team like that should not do what they did against him or any other pitcher for that matter. And the Mariners have gone on to dominate him two more times since. and overall this year in 11 and 2 3rds innings of work. He has allowed 11 earned runs striking out just 5, walking 4.

Interestingly, interestingly enough though, he has not allowed a home run this year to Mariners. I think that might change. We'll talk about that in a second. But the Mariners have to feel pretty good about what they've been able to do to Irvin,

which is incredibly funny, by the way, considering how poorly this offense has played, or at least how inconsistent they have been for most of the year. But they have to feel pretty good about themselves for what they've been able to do against a pitcher like that. Yeah, I mean, if they acknowledge that they know who he is. That's true. So, yeah, I mean, that's, it's a fun little thing here.

Look, I think eventually Cole Irvin is going to pitch pretty well against the Mariners. just because of how inconsistent this offense is. But, I mean, even if that happens tonight, for example, it's going to be funny to, I'm sure he'll say something about it if he pitches well. And it'll just be funny to pull out those stats from the first three games and be like, oh, one out of four, good job. But yeah, Cole, Colervin is, is, you. He's become quite the meme in, in Marinerland.

And I, for one, enjoy that. So it's going to be fun. This might be the last time we see him. You know, there's three more, well, four more games against the A's after tonight. But obviously, he's not pitching tomorrow. So we'll have to see how the schedule goes. But, yeah, for the most part, I think, you know, it would be fun to just, you know, knock Cole Irvin out of the game in the third, fourth inning again and send him to the shower.

as a loser against the Mariners yet again. So, yeah, I hope they score runs here. But, yeah, I mean, in reality, there's always the possibility that Seattle just doesn't have a good night offensively and they get shut down by a guy like Cole Irvin. Like, that's a possibility with any pitcher who goes to the mound against Seattle, that they just dominate you. But, you know, I don't, I don't think that's going to happen.

possible with this team. Anything's possible with this team. But the one constant in their season has been just dominating Cole Irvin, just raking him over the Coles. And it's been hilarious to watch. And I really hope they do it again. And there's still a chance that they'll face him once more before the season is out. If they can go for five, five straight four inning appearances, four-enning, four-run appearances for Cole Irvin? I would be very happy about that. All right, so picks and click. Didn't do so hot yesterday, like I said earlier in the show,

but who do you think is going to pop off of the Mariners tonight against Cole Irvin? I'll go with Tom Murphy. I am going to go, I'm going to stick to my guns with what I said earlier on this week before the series started. for my pick to click for the series. I'm going to go Louis Trenz. I think with the lefty on the mound, I think Terenz is going to get the,

the Mariners their first home runoff, old Cole Irvin. Chris Flexen, getting back on the bump tonight for the Mariners, you know, obviously he has pitched a little worse on the road than he has at home. What are you hoping to see out of flexen? Yeah, just, you know,

I'm hoping to see, six, six innings, you know, three runs, give or take, something that keeps the Mariners in the ballgame. And then I don't really bind to the home road split thing. I think most of that is just luck. I don't think there's, you know, I don't believe that Chris Flexen just magically pitches better in Team Mobile than he does on the road. I think that's just, hey, he happened to have it today.

and he happened to be at T-Mobile. Sure. So that's kind of where I'm at. And also the stats against Flexen are pretty skewed on the road. You remember that time he gave up, what, nine runs and an inning against the Padres on the road. So, yeah, I don't buy too much into that. But I would like to see the velocity be back up around 94-95. I would like to see the curveball be used a little bit more and continue to attack

the lefties in this lineup with that cutter and make sure you get it in on their hands. But yeah, I just, I want, I want Chris Flexen to be who Chris Flexen has been for most of the year. And we'll see if you can do it. I don't think this is a particularly, it's not a bad lineup, but I don't think it's particularly great. So we'll probably see Tony Kemp in the lineup tonight. We'll probably see Jed Lowry in the lineup. Probably see Seth Brown in the lineup.

And then everybody else you would expect. So this is a lineup that Flexon should be able to attack. But we'll see. You really, you don't know with these Mariners. You don't, there's no way to predict what's going to happen. So, but yeah, I just, I just want to see an aggressive Chris Flex in attacking the zone and living on the, on the corners. So the hero of last night's game, J.P. Crawford, great plays on both sides. He had a great night at the, at the plate and also with the glove.

We're going to be talking about him some more just a moment. But real quick, a reminder of this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by Bill Bar. Don't you hate it when you're out and about in hunger strikes, but the only convenient options are unhealthy and going to make you feel worse in the end? That doesn't have to be the case anymore if you choose Billt Bar. Billed Bar is providing folks with a healthy, nutritious and delicious alternative for snacking. Bill Bar has a plethora of delicious flavors ranging from coconut to cookies and cream,

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Yes. Doesn't that seem like a lot for him? No. Really? Yes. It's what you would hope from J.P. Crawford, because you know you're not going to get much of any home run power. So, yeah, no, that feels about right. I mean, maybe a little higher than I would have thought.

But yeah, you know, it's, it's a new career high for him. But then again, he's also set a new career high in games played by, at least. least 50. So it kind of makes sense. But this is kind of the pace he was on. You know, in 2019, when he played 93 games, he had 21 doubles. So yeah, 30 doubles probably feels like a realistic expectation for Crawford. But yeah, it's nice that he has 33. And a lot of that has come in the months of June and September. But Ty, I would ask, did you know that J.P. Crawford is the cousin of former Tampa Bay raise great Carl Crawford

Yes Yes It's like asking me if I knew that Ryan Fitzpatrick went to Harvard Havid huh Yeah Do you know that he had the best score ever on the Wonderlick Yep

Be impressed by my knowledge But I did know that No but in all seriousness JP's been fantastic Particularly the last Last month or so In well in the month or so

in, well, in the month of September, he's sitting 307, 376, 493 with five doubles and even three home runs. So, yeah, there's a bit of a power surge right now from JP. And obviously he's provided the insurance home run last night. Sure. And, you know, I feel like we're at the point now with JP where we can kind of, we kind of know what he's going to do. right i i feel like we have enough data here that it's like look jp is probably going to be at at his ceiling jp is probably going to be pretty close to the guy he's been since august first since august first that's 45 games jp is sitting 272 348 394 that's probably about who jp is

above average batting average slightly above average on base skills and you hope he pops 30 doubles and 10 home runs and he can push that slugging percentage up to close to 400 and that's plenty good because as we saw last night the defense is going to carry his value a long long ways yes yeah especially that play that he made where he uh he looked like a goalie in an NHL game where he just kind of went down on his hip and uh made a stellar grab on a weird bounce and um i mean he's just he's fantastic he's just showing off at this point right really the dude is just he's he's so good which is uh incredible and it's and again it's it's a testament to perry hill and for all the work that that he's done with with jp over the last few years

jp obviously winning the gold glove last year and i mean he's got to win it this year right i mean he's definitely here's the thing once you win your first gold glove it kind of allows you to win another one you know like winning the first one is the hardest because gold gloves are kind of like all-star game appearances. Once you get in a couple of times, you just basically get written in every single year. Now, I don't know how other short stops are performing relative to JP in the advanced metrics. But it does seem to me that JP is the best blend of you can make the spectacular play,

but he's just so good at the routine plays. And, you know, you kind of look at guys who are typically challengers for the, that. Angleton Simmons. Dude hasn't hit, and I know it's a gold glove, but I think you're fooling yourself if you think that how well a guy hits doesn't come into play when people vote on a gold glove. I mean, Derek Cheater has a gold glove for crying out loud. So, yeah, I think Crawford's hit enough that people would consider giving him the gold glove, which is, again, a very weird sentence to say out loud, but it's reality.

So yeah, I think he's got a strong case to win it. I hope he does because he's really Seattle's only shot. I don't see Ty France winning the Gold Glove at first base. And it would be cool to have Gold Glove winners in three consecutive seasons. Some of you might be confused by that. But I'm sure Ty remembers which Mariner won a Gold Glove in 2019. I do. That would be Mike Leak, who won it for both the Seattle Mariners and the Arizona Diamondbacks that year.

Correct. So let's let's get J.P's gold glove. So the Mariners can have three straight years of gold glove winner. And, you know, Ty France is certainly deserving of being in that conversation. But yeah, I think JP probably, I think he probably will win him. We'll see. I mean, like, I wouldn't be shocked if he didn't. Because he's kind of missing like those big flashy plays, you know, going deep into the hole and jumping in the air. and all those kind of flashy plays that they can they can put up on sports center or on their award show and all that stuff. I mean, he has a couple of them this year. I'm not saying he doesn't make those plays. It's just we've almost gotten to the point where he'll make a great play. And you're like, oh, yeah, I mean, it's pretty routine for JP. So, yeah, he's that good out there.

So I think he's got a good shot. I wouldn't say that he's going to win it, but I think he's got a pretty good shot and a really good argument. to take that award. So on the Sabre defensive index, which was used to determine the gold glove winners last year, JP is fourth among AL shortstops with a SDI score of 2.2. Andrew Craya, Carlos Correa and Isaiah Conner Fulaffa are ahead of him. Connor Folefa has a score of 10.6.

Correa has a score of 9.7 and Simmons has a score of 6.4. And then let's look at first base here. Ty Francis second with a with an SDI of 2.6. No, Yuley Guriel. Oh, an SDI of 3.4. Yeah.

So that's, that's pretty close. I mean, that's still anybody's ball game. Dillamore also fifth among second baseman. Sure. Even though he basically hasn't played there since late July. Yeah.

Yeah, no, I mean, funny thing is Dylan Moore has the spectacular plays on his resume that J.P. Crawford really doesn't this year. But I mean, obviously J.P. Crawford is a better shortstop than Dylan Moore is a second baseman. So that's kind of funny. But yeah, I mean, you think Dylan Moore's great defensive plays this year. They like jump out immediately. I mean.

Do you know what Mitch Hanigers is? What his score is? Because he actually made a list. and right field he made the list is it in a negative in the negative oh yes oh no is it like negative 15 no it's not it's not that low where i'm more interested to know like where he ranks like what's his not not the number itself but where he ranks it's got to be he's eighth he's a really right fielders so that tells me right field has been terrible this year a lot of bad right field defense this year. What's his number?

He is at a, it's negative 3.3. Okay. Who's the best? Joey Gallo, 8.6. That makes a lot of sense. And then Kyle Tucker, Manuel Bargo, Aaron

Judge, Tiasker Hernandez, Hunter Renfro, and Max Kepler. I would have thought Redfro would be hired him. Yeah. He's a, he's a good athlete. No, I knew that. I just never thought of him as like a defensive guy.

But then again, I mean, he's only a few spots ahead of Hanager. So what's he at zero? He is at 1.2. What's the difference between the guy, what the person right ahead of Hanigar? What's his number? 0.8. Okay. So it's a pretty steep drop off once you get to Hanager.

Like Hanager begins to drop off. So Hanager is the best of the bad right-fielders. that makes sense yeah that makes sense it's not that surprising so there's some there's some other mariners on here Kyle Seeger

is fifth among third baseman 2.0 sounds about right it sounds about right ahead of him Matt Chapman is number one sure at six

at six uh Jose Ramirez 5.2 Joey Wendell 3.5 Yoan Moncata 3 and then

yeah Seeger and then Urshella Luis Arise Rafael Devers Jamer Condallario and Mikel Franco and Hunter Dozier Round out that list Hmm

And let's see here Are there any Oh yeah Tom Murphy's on here With a solid SDI score of 0.0 That is I feel like that's a

That's a pretty good a description of how Tom Murphy's season has gone. Sure. In this scale, though, is the zero represent average? I would assume so. I mean, that would seem to be the only thing that makes sense, right?

Would be that. Yeah. Yeah, I believe it's, I believe zero is average. So that's, yeah. Also, Chris Flexen is fourth among pitchers. Yeah, I knew that. I had seen him. He was ahead of them. Granky's ahead of

Barrios is ahead of him. And then Kikuchi is only three spots behind him. Evaldi and Mize are in between them. Those are all ground ball guys. So it makes sense for them to be good at fielding their position. So not that surprising. Kikuchi's had a couple of really nice plays defensively. Do you think about the Houston series?

Yeah. Like a while ago, like the first Houston trip. that they had sliding sliding play yeah yet another one too I also think it was

against Houston in a later series where it was to his left and yeah Kukuchi's a good athlete I think that's overlooked a little bit

for obvious reasons but yeah I think that's not all that's surprising to me by the way quick note back on JP so we know how awful

he was in July right and he was great in June and he's been really good in September. And for the rest of the season, he's been, you know. But if you take out, if you take out July out of the equation, he would be hitting 280 right now.

So pretty good. GP's a good player. It's nice to have shortstop figured out. And could you upgrade there? Sure. Is it going to cost a lot? lot. Yes, a lot, a lot. And you're probably taking it down great defensively, unless you're going out and getting Correa. And, you know, at that point, you still have JP for three more years. So I think

any thought that the Mariners needed to go get that, that shortstopping free agency this year, I think that's dead. I didn't think it had, yeah, I really didn't believe it had, you know, much life to begin with. But I think JPs killed it. I think that's the quality of season he's had. Yeah. And I think that's one of the big keys that we talked about heading into this year was would he be able to put that to rest? Right. It's going to solidify. Yeah.

And I wholeheartedly agree with you on that, that he has. He's, and look, you know, with the way that he's playing, with the way that he's hitting, you put him in the number nine hole, your lineup's probably in a good spot.

So that's, uh, yeah, that's, really, really, really attractive to me. I know that he's been solid in the leadoff spot this year, but I think you get more value out of that spot and lengthen your lineup by putting him near the bottom.

That would be pretty sweet. It's pretty cool to think about. But that's going to do it for today's show. Thank you so much for joining us here on Lockdown Mariners for Colby Patnode. I'm Tadayin Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Mariners. You follow me at Dane. Gonzalez, that's D-A-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-P-P-P-A-T-1.

You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day, and we'll see you tomorrow. Betting on Major League Baseball doesn't have to be a guessing game. If you listen to the new Lockdown Betts podcast hosted by your boy Q and handicap and expert Lee Sterling, get daily picks, blowout specials, wrong team favorite picks and Lee Sterling's lock of the day. Follow the Lockdown Betts podcast brought to you by betonline.ag wherever you get podcasts.