Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Kirby's 10 Ks, Bottom of the Lineup Power M's to Series Win Over Marlins

Episode Date: June 14, 2023

The Seattle Mariners' offense was led by the bottom of their lineup, which saw Mike Ford smash two home runs and Jose Caballero create chaos on the bases. Add in a career night for George Kirby and Seattle easily secured a series win over Miami with a 9-3 victory. Colby and Ty discuss Kirby's brilliance, the offense's continued success over the past week, and look at Cody Bellinger as a possible trade candidate.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 | @CPat11GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. 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.

On today's episode of Locked-on Mariners, George Kirby has a career night while the Mariners stay hot at the dish. Our thoughts on the game and the possibility of trading for Cody Bellinger coming up. Colby, hit it. You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast, part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. Ahoi, sailors, it is Wednesday, June 14th, 2023. This is Tedding. Is Austin, Colby Patnaud for the Lockdown Mariner's podcast brought to you by Game Time.

Download the GameTime app, create an account, news promo code locked on MLB to get $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. 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. If you're part of the crew and rock with us every single day,

let us know in the comments below. And if you want to hear from us even more, please consider sending 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 on this episode, we'll be talking about George Kirby's career night and the Mariners 9 to 3 win over the Marlins last night. The offense was once again spectacular as well. We're also going to talk about Cub slugger Cody Bellinger for our trade today later on in this show.

But let's start with Jorge, who dominated last night. 10 strikeouts over six innings pitch for Kirby one run allowed on three hits that run not earned of course no walks as per usual for George and just three hard hit balls

on the night so Colby career night for George break it down for us how was he that effective against this Marlins lineup last night fastball for days through 43 four seamers 26 sinkers

only 23 off speed pitches last night. Just 92 pitches would have been probably had a good shot to go get through seven if the defense hadn't let him down a little bit in the sixth inning. But, you know, so it goes. Fastball velocity was up. He was pretty amped last night. Average four seamer was 95.7. And the average sinker was 95.3.

That's a full mile per hour over what it usually is. and he was just on the corners with those pitches. He wasn't in the middle of the plate ever. And he got chases outside of the zone. De La Cruz just swings at everything above his shoulders. I've noticed in this series. So, you know, George took full advantage. He's had a rough series.

I mean, to be fair, so has Luis Arais and so has Jorge Solair. I think they've, the Mariners own Luis Arise. I think they've combined to reach base twice, like between those three guys. twice in this entire series. So, yeah, George was just on the corners. He got chases with the fastball. Pretty good run on the fastball. Not insane run.

It wasn't particularly, it didn't look like the pitch was moving more than normal, but it was on the corners more than it was in the middle of the plate. Quality strikes over just raw strikes. And he still didn't walk anybody. And, you know, there was a ridiculous article from Seattle Times. He said, oh, George should probably walk some more guys. And it's like, no, no, you should never walk more guys. You could maybe throw more balls like, okay, but don't walk guys.

That's, that's ridiculous. And George, you know, proved it last night. You know, everything was really good. He actually generated 20 whiffs, 38% whiff last night, which is obviously very good. But I think probably more telling is when you look at the called strike plus whiff, right all four of his pitches were over 35 percent which is pretty darn good so Kirby you know again just fastball two seamer pretty much all night mixed in some sliders but really it was the it was the four seam and the two seam that really carried him got lots of whiffs on those pitches

threw a ton of strikes with those and just nothing really put in play all that hard I think he gave up three hard hit balls um all night so George was great. You know, it's it was similar-ish to how he looked against the Yankees. And it just kind of continues this pattern with both, you know, Kirby and Gilbert

where it's, they look like Sy Young candidates and all-stars one start. And then the next start, they get ambushed. And yeah, so we'll see. Hopefully George can get on a little bit of a run here. But yeah, he was really good last night. And the velocity was up and he was just hammering the fastball, just kind of the belief that the Marlins couldn't touch his fastball.

And, you know, for the most part, he was right. So he'll pass the baton to Luis Castillo tonight as the Marlins go for a sweep of the Marlins, who, of course, were red hot entering this series, but the Mariners have just flat out dominated them. You can catch game three of this series on the Marys hometown broadcast with Sirius XM via the XXM app. So let's talk a little bit about Castillo, because it was a weird start for him. on Friday. What would you like to see out of him tonight? Weird how.

It was, I mean, he gave up quite a few runs. He obviously had, you know, the, the Crawford error and then he gives up a home run to Otani. There's like, it was a weird, like, it was, it was a start that could have looked better. He's two pitches away from just like dominating, an angel's team who, by the way, is also red hot right now. Um, but yeah, obviously he'd, he'd still made those two pitches and they were costly. So honestly, if he just does that again, I feel like, you know, he's probably not going to give up, you know, three, he only gave up three earned over six. But if he just has that same stuff again, that same command, he's probably going to be fine.

The Marlins, as we've seen in this series, they're kind of struggling with that high fastball. You know, Gilbert was able to, it was Gilbert, Gilbert on Monday, right? On Monday, it was Bryce Miller. Bryce Miller, thank you. Miller was able to dominate. with the fastball up. Kirby was able to dominate with the fastball up. Call me crazy. I think Luis Castillo might be able to throw his fastball up in the zone and get swings and misses and get soft contact, particularly against, you know, De La Cruz.

So for Castillo, if it's just get the fastball, you know, on the edges, get it, keep it out of the middle of the plate and you'll be fine. And, and Castillo can pretty much dominate. Well, I don't say dominate. Castillo can manage this lineup with justice fastball. If he has the slider or the changeup working, then he has a chance to dominate. But again, with every single pitcher, it's a broken record, but it's because it's true. Get value out of the fastball by having good command, working on the corners and getting chases with the off-speed stuff. That's the key for any pitcher, really. But with Castillo especially, because of the stuff, because of the Velo, he doesn't even need to be pinpoint with those pitches.

Be on the edges, not in the middle of the strike zone with your fastball. and you're going to be fine. You know, it's a good pitching matchup tonight. It's a lot of good stuff being thrown, you know, in tonight's, between tonight's starting pitchers. So, you know, keep your team in it. Try and go, you know, you have the off day tomorrow. So going deep isn't necessarily important.

But it's Luis Castillo. You want to see him go six, seven, give up, you know, two or three runs at most and just kind of dominate this lineup because, honestly, once you get past the top three guys in this Marlins lineup, the degree of difficulty drops. It's not easy, obviously, because they're majorly kidders and Miami is a very good team, at least right now. But really, if you keep a rise off the bases, which the mayors have done, it really puts a big damper on what this Marlins team can do.

Can they hold a rise hitless for an entire series? I don't know, probably not, but they did the first two games. So can they do it again? can they put Solair up at the plate in these situations where he can't do massive damage to you? Because if they can do that, then I think they have a really good shot of sweeping the series. And I think Castillo has a shot to dominate. But if he's middle of the plate, if he's pitching out of the stretch a lot, then I think the Marlins have a, have the opportunity to put a lot of pressure on his fastball command. And we'll see if Castillo can can kind of fix that issue, which is still an issue.

his command from the stretch is significantly worse. Yeah, got to keep guys off the base pass. Again, you know, he was good enough to get the mirrors in the wind column on Friday, but obviously wasn't able to overcome some mistakes that were not really

his fault. So hoping for a cleaner game tonight. Now, the thing that we need to note here is that the strike zones, the last two nights, have been abhorrent. It's terrible. last night I think back to that one

I think it was a fastball to a rise that would have made it 1-1 and it ended up being 2-0 even though it was like firmly in the strike zone there was obviously the weird thing with the check swing from JP oh that was definitely a swing yeah yeah that was

I yeah this umpiring crew has it's been a rough one They've been having a Brian Dela Cruz-esque series. You know what hasn't been rough tie? The Mariners offense, which we're about to talk about. That's right. And we're going to be talking about that in just a moment here on the Lockdown

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And you're listening to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Thank you again for making us. first listen. It is Wednesday, June 14th, 2023 and your Seattle Marriss folks, going for a sweep tonight with Miami Marlins. You can catch all the action on the Marriss hometown broadcast with Sirius XM via the SXM app.

So Colby chills the Mariners offense did it again. Put up nine on, you know, Edward Cabrera and a, you know, pretty solid Marlins pitching staff. And they did it despite their top four hits. hitters going over. Not a single one of them recorded a hit last night.

It was the five through nine in the Sparrens lineup that carried the load. And again, they put up nine runs. And look, small sample size, very small sample size. But since the Tuesday game against the Padres, the one that they won, their fifth in Major League Baseball in WRC Plus as an offense. They've been worth nearly two wins as an offense. They've been one of the most valuable offenses in baseball in that time. They're slashing 254, 351, 474.

They have 13 home runs. I think they're like fourth in home runs. They're like fourth in walk rate. They're pretty much top five in every offensive category you can think of over the last week. Again, very small sample size, but the numbers are reflecting the positives that we're seeing with our eyes right now. Yeah, it's not indicative of what will come. Just that over the last five games or so, the Mariners have. been very good offensively.

And I don't think a starter has gotten through six against them in that stretch. They are jacking up the pitch count of these guys. They're getting to the middle of teams bullpins. And they're even hitting around the starter a little bit. And again, they're not facing a bunch of Tyler Anderson's here. They're facing guys with legitimately good stuff, guys who have produced legitimately good numbers. And they're just taking advantage of them. They're not striking out nearly as much either.

now last night is kind of weird because they strike out you know only seven times but three of them were jp crawford like that's that's unusual but like you said five through nine um really uh stepped up and hey you know what but let's not bury the lead teoska hernandez another walk that's right that's right the dude is just dark barton all of a sudden that's right just up there to take a walk man um but yeah you know it's funny J.P. Crawford, O for five, three strikeouts, Julio, O for five with one strikeout. Did have the two hardest hit balls of the night, but again,

he's got to get that elevated. He got to get the ball in the air a little bit for that to be damage worthy, but, you know, either way, robbed a couple times, fine, whatever. Ty France, O for three with two strikeouts, did walk. Teosker, O for three, with a strikeout, he also walked, but then you look at what

happened five through nine. Kelnick, one for three, two, one for three also walked. A. Eugeneos Suarez, one for three, also walked. Cal Raleigh, one for three, three run, home run, also walked. Why would you throw him a curveball? Yeah, I don't get it. The change.

Why would you do it? Especially from the left side of the plate. What are you doing? Your best pitch is a change up and it's like untouchable. Lefties cannot touch your change up. They haven't all year. And you're like, hmm, let's pipe a curveball right down the middle and elevated. Like, why not?

Like, yeah, sure. That's a great game. We'll take it. We'll take it. Yeah, absolutely. Mike Ford steals the show, three for four,

two home runs. Hey, speaking of stealing and Cal Raleigh, Cal, I know you watched yesterday's episode of lockdown Aaron and got inspired. Cow's mustache is better than yours. And then,

of course, you know, kind of the other guy who's, who's collecting some buzz that I feel like I started last night and now people are hopping on to, but whatever. Right.

Jose Cabiero goes two for three. He also walked once, Andy was, was he hit by a pitch? It's tough to remember. They all kind of run together now. No, he walked. I think he walked. I think it was just a walk, not a hit by pitch.

He also stole, do you steal two bags? He stole. He stole second twice. Yeah, yeah. Kellnick also with a steal, by the way. Yeah, and advanced a third on the throw. 5.39. And by the way, one of the little things that I want to point out,

Kelnick busting his butt down the line after his check swing. Yeah. could have been a double play, could have, you know, pretty much ended the inning. But then he hustles it out. He beats the throw. Gino bloops a little single into right. And then all of a sudden, here comes Cal Rale and boom. That's the difference between three to nothing and zero zero.

So, you know, it's little things like that. And, you know, it's the classic old dad. Like, that's why you always run it out, blah, blah, blah. But it's not always the case. You need to do it. You need to do it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, there, there are times where, like, I'm not going to get on a guy, like the Robinson Canoe thing, right?

We all remember the Canoe. Oh, he hit that ball 115 miles an hour right at the second basement. You didn't even sprint down to first base. Like, come on, come on. But in that situation, just to, you know, be aware and be enough of a ball player essentially to know, you know, I can extend this inning. And even though I'm really mad at myself or what just happened, you know, that that is something that Kellnick does bring to the table that other guys don't. just that that kind of angry I don't know what you want to call like the angry like

grit is the word sure there you go great there you go sure why not hard worker whatnot he's a gem rat yep first one in last one out yep of course of course but yeah the offense it was just so weird because you know last or on monday night it was kind of one through five kind of carried the offense and it was the middle of the order guys you know it was it was gino and it was you know Murphy contributed at the bottom but it was mostly the middle of the order guys last night it was the bottom of the order

almost exclusively and that's that's great um that is a positive uh in the right direction and and you know obviously right now they're they're catching a little lightning in a bottle with mike ford um which is great honestly all right h mike ford i mean your don's not going to be able to play in the all star game so that's right so i don't know maybe gap to fill in the american league and mike ford is the man to do it. Maybe if you lazy bums started voting for more mariners we might actually have a shot to do it but you're not by the way JP for ASJ if you want that

Luis Castillo. ASG I did it again. Awesome Saffarian Jenkins just living a rent free in your head. Husky fan yeah. That's right. But cabby for ASG? I mean he's the second most valuable second baseman in like

the fourth in the American League I think in F-4. Yeah. So yeah. I mean like he's more deserving if tie wants to pretend like you know what you did in the past doesn't matter for all-star game stuff he's more deserving oh that's interesting that's interesting now you're making an argument based on who's the most deserving of an all-star i'm not i'm not the one who tweeted uh hosea cabiero for asg or whatever that was you that was you that's true all i did was point out that um the number of second baseman who have as many played appearances hosea cabiero

with a higher on base percentage, WRC Plus, and F4, is Louisa Rise, and that's the entire list. So, yeah. Jose Cabrero. He's them. Chills.

She's still probably look to upgrade second base, but sure, Cabby's doing the job right now. I mean, how can you upgrade at second base when it's literally just Luisa Rise and then Jose Caviero? Somebody who can hit Ritees at all?

He is. He is Jose Altuvae, Coli. Yeah. By the way, one of one of the tweets that like really popped off last night on the CTCC account. Yeah. I think it's a fun one. I didn't think that anybody would care, but apparently people did. Last night, Mike Ford entered the game hitting 167, 250, 500.

So 107 WRC plus. His entire value is essentially the two home runs he had coming into last night's game. Yeah. By the end of the. night Mike Ford is slash yeah and he's like ended up his overall numbers now after one game or up to 273 333 818 and his WRC plus literally doubled to 214 that's right I think he can sustain that slugging percentage sure sure yeah I mean he's let's be honest he's basically Barry Bonds so yep yeah move over to Calnick Mike Jared Barry

Bonds, Kellnick Ford. Sure. Yeah. So it's been, it's been a fun ride for the offense last few days. You hope it continues at some point. Hold on, hold on, hold on.

His middle name is Harrison, right? So Harrison Ford, yeah. Harry Bonds. There you go. Harry Bons. Yes,

the Mariners are the only team of baseball with two Harrison Fords in their organization. That's right. But yeah. Ever told me the odds? Yeah. The offense has been really good.

the last few days and it's been fun to watch at some point they're going to get shut down like yeah they're going to go out they're going to leave guys on base they're going to strike out 15 times and it's probably going to happen against like some triple a uri uri prez yeah well i mean prez a little different he's you know a great prospect of amazing stuff but yeah yeah yeah you're probably going to go out there against like whoever chicago's number five is on saturday and be like well we struck out 11 times and six innings against him and it's was his career start. Like a start like that is going to happen,

but that's because it happens to every single offense in major league baseball. The Mariners aren't special in that regard. They're not different in that regard. But for now it's been a lot of fun. And even if that happens tonight against Perez, the growth in what we've seen over the last five games still stands. This is an offense that can keep the line moving. They can hit home runs.

They can draw walks. And if they can avoid striking out a ton, right? if they can just continue to work pitch counts. And even if you strike out, have a good at bat, get the pitch count up, see some, you know, hit some balls hard. Like just if you have an offer, find a way to still contribute. It's nine versus one. And try and get that pitcher out of there and try and get to the, you know, the soft underbelly of most pitching staff, which is, you know, third time through the lineup for a starter or the fifth six inning guys out of the bullpen. And that's how you have to do it.

And that's how the mayors have been doing it. And so even if they take a step back one night, you know, in the in the near future it's going to be okay you know just don't let the trend continue just reset reload and go back at it the next day because the offense that we're seeing right now it's not unsustainable like over a big picture uh term it's not like they're putting up you know 15 runs and and like last night they had eight hits you know like the mayors can't get eight hits they had eight hits but they had wait what two four, yeah, six walks to seven strikeouts.

That's going to play. That can play. So yeah, just, you know, offense is in a good spot right now. And if they can maintain roughly this over the next until the all-star break, they're going to win, you know, they're going to be five, six games over 500 if they can sustain this for the next 25 games. So let's talk about adding some firepower to this offense. you're listening to the Lockdown Marrars podcast.

Thank you again for making us your first listen. Again, you can catch the Marlins on the Marriss Hometown Broadcast, Sirius XM via the SXM app tonight. Also, real quick, Colby mentioned this. Hashtag JP for ASG. We're running a giveaway. Colby's giving away a sign Luis Castillo card. All you have to do to enter into this giveaway is send us your all-star ballot.

You don't have to vote for the National League. Just show us that you voted for J.P. Crawford. And you're in. So we want to try and get J.P. to the All-Star game because J.P.'s had a really good year. Last night, notwithstanding. Yes. Last night, notwithstanding. But he's also, you know, look, you look at the numbers and it's probably, you know, like,

he's, you know, slightly above league average, you know, whatever. But, like, I think he's fourth in the American League and WRC Plus for short stops. Yeah. So that's the point that I was trying to make is. Relative to the rest of, yeah, relative to the rest of the American League and American League short stops, he's been one of the most valuable there. So I think that he should at least get heavy consideration for that third shortstop spot on that roster. Yeah. By the way, I haven't seen anybody take advantage of this yet, but we are accepting ballots via email and Twitter. Yes.

And the email crowd is showing up. I think it's about 50-50 legitimately. So shout out the email crowd. Yeah. So maybe next Monday we'll do email only, uh, mail bag for the, the email crowd that which is showing up. But also, uh, side note,

we never said one entry per person. So if you want to tweet us, you know, a new ballot every single day. Yeah. More entries. It just increases your shot. So, you know,

more votes for JP, more entries to win this card. and, you know, remember if JP gets in, even if it's as a replacement or anything like that, we're going to be given away more than just a card. I've started to collect some fun things that I'm going to throw. Ty's going to get you a couple of, like, club seats in the All-Star Club and throw that in the box, and everything will be great. So, yeah, that's happening. By the way, Ty, I'll get you back at some point.

I'll get you back at some point. Don't worry. Well, do you want to tell people about your, the other, like, deal that we'll be. we made with the fundraiser. Oh yeah. So the tattoo. Yeah. So I have an update. I wasn't sure if it was still happening because I hadn't heard back from the artist after I sent the deposit in. But we got in contact and it's happening.

So June 25th at 3 o'clock, my time, Eastern time. And Toronto, I'm going to be getting it done. And we're going to be recording that. Logging. vlogging sure it's going to be a I want a blog all right all right like a fully produced vlog all right I'll show you me brushing my teeth and all that I mean yeah whatever routine a whole routine

all right so yeah so look forward to that I don't know when exactly that is going to come out because I have to edit all that everything and that's not really that's not really in my wheelhouse but we'll see how that goes and yeah sure everybody knows I'm the editor video editor right yeah you can throw that on your resume uh all right excuse me have you not seen the plan

no i'm telling you i was being i was being genuine that is local emmy worthy i know it's rare for me to give you a compliment but i was actually being genuine yeah go check out that out guys it's a fun series i did anyway so yeah june 25th i'm going to get that done i'll take pictures that'll go up on twitter and everything but i'll also

be posting a video of the whole process as well at some point so look forward to that all right cody bellinger uh i said to you today i wanted to talk about set brown but you were like no let's do cody belliger uh you by the you thought that uh we had already talked about south brown uh we did on fan fiction friday but we didn't yeah via trade a day so because i thought set brown was a great place to start and you're like no let's do andrew mccutcheing because that'll never happen so let's start with that i like andrew mccutcheon who does that i don't I wanted to talk about Andrew McCutcheon. But still.

I know that it's not going to happen, but I still wanted to talk about Andrew McCutche. All right. Fair enough. Well, today we're talking about Bellinger. Let's talk about Cody Belliger. This is like yesterday with Eduardo Rodriguez, not very straightforward. A little complicated, not as complicated as Rodriguez, but still, it's, it's potentially expensive.

And there's a couple levers here to talk about. first thing Bellinger's hurt right now he's got a knee thing that's kept him out since May 15th May 16th rather It's a knee contusion He's going on a rehab stint soon though Starting tonight

Yeah so he's he's on the way back He'll be back Byring you know by the all-star break Yeah and it's a knee contusion It's not a tear or fracture It's a bad bruise on his knee Which as you know stiffens up and obviously yeah.

So the thing that we need to address here, though, before we dive into the numbers and all that on Bellinger is that obviously it's signed a one-year deal this year for $17.5 million, but that does come with a mutual option, which is worth $25 million. And the buyout on that is not, you know, typically buyout on a mutual option, one to $2 million. Nope, it is five and a half million dollars. So, right. It is worth noting, though, that Bellinger's base salary for this year was only $12 million. So if you're worried about like having to pay him half of $17 million plus the $5 million buyout, no, it's half of $12 million plus the $5 million buyout if he opts out.

Right. So that's a whole other conversation. Yeah. that's complicated. Bellinger got out, got off to a really hot, hot start, but in the month of May, before his injury, he only slashed 226, 276, 302 with a 53 WRC plus. But overall, on the year,

he's slashing 271, 337, 493 with a 122 WRC plus, seven home runs, 20 ribs, nine stolen bases. His career high is 15 in a season. So he was well on his way to surpass that now with a knee injury who knows if that's going to be a part of his game for the rest of the year but that is something to note he was worth one and a half f-four essentially uh through the uh how many games that you play 37 37 games that he played so all right so what do you so what do

you think um bellinger um you know obviously was terrible for the last couple years in l a but he's found himself at least in the month of april he found himself again uh against chicago so Yeah, that's kind of the question, right? Like, is April Bellinger real or is May Bellinger real or is there somewhere in between? Yeah. That's kind of the big question here because $25 million for, you know, essentially 2021 and 2022 Bellinger is a bad deal. And if that's who he is for the rest of the year, he's probably going to exercise that option. Now, the beauty of that is that the Mariners, if that's the case, they can get out of it.

They could pay him $5 million to go away, which they probably would if he looks like he did in May for the rest of the year. But if he doesn't, if he looks, you know, anything like he does, did in April, $25 million is not only a pretty good price for Bellinger. It's also a price that he might consider taking. Now, he might not. I would say, I would say the overwhelming odds are is that Bellinger ends up being a rental for whoever acquires him. Yeah. I would say that as well Because if if he has a great end to the season

He's probably hitting the market trying to get you know a longer term deal Especially in a weaker market because he's so He's 27 he's 27 years old. He turns 28 I think a few days before I think in a month a month from today He turns 28 and then if he's bad again the mirrors are going to pay him to go away So right or whatever requires it or but Right we're already over but so here's the deal with Bellinger right He's a really good

fit at his best. He's a good fit for anybody, but he's a particularly good fit for the Mariners because he can play first base, but he's also really good in the outfield. He's one of the better defensive center fielder's in baseball, even as the bat has struggled. He's already up to three outs above average this year in center field. And he's actually probably a better outfielder than he is a first baseman. But he does have that versatility. You can play all three outfield spots and first base. Obviously, he would deage quite a bit for the Mariners as well. he's a good athlete. He is a pretty fast runner, 79% on sprint speed.

He can steal bags. And the power is not going to be something that's going to diminish in Seattle. It is left-handed pole power. It is, you know, textbook for taking advantage of a T-Mobile park in right field. At his best, he is a tremendous fit for the Mariners. At his worst, he is not a major leaguer. And you're only going to get him, in theory, for about two and a half. a half months, give or take.

What is that worth? He's also had some platoon splits in the past too. Now, this year he's actually hitting lefties better than righties, but that's, you know, that's not always the case. So it's just one of those things where how much do you trust Bellinger? Because the upside is tremendous. Like you could get in theory a, you know, a guy who gets MVP vote. for two months and add him to the lineup. And he's a lefty, which you need.

He's a power lefty, which you need. But he's also a good defender, which you need. Or you could basically be trading for Joey Gallo. Yeah. It's tough, man, because there is a lot of intriguing positives with Bellingerlinger. There's also a huge glaring negative. And the Mariners have to decide which one do they think is real or whoever acquires him.

And how much is that worth? for two months. It's a really interesting conversation that we probably can't do justice in five minutes, but it's, you have to talk about it because like it or not, Cody Ballinger does make a lot of sense

for the Seattle Mariners. Yeah, he does. And I mean, because again, we've talked about wanting to add left-handed power to this lineup, especially for T-Mobile Park. However many games

that he plays after his, you know, rehab stead, going to be incredibly important. Yeah. You know, I'm really interested to see, like, what the asking price is from Chicago. And Chicago's been kind of weird where they haven't fully, you know, dove into a, into a rebuild. So maybe they think that Bellinger is a part of this thing long term for them, even though that he's, you know, probably hitting free agency again. next year no matter what um so i'm really interested to see what the asking price is on him um with the money involved and and and all that um and again this is a team that you know didn't trade um wilson contraris obviously you know different situation because of qualifying offer and all

that stuff but um i mean they could swap they could slap a qualifying offer on bellinger too if he opts out they can yeah yeah okay can they do that if they opt out? No, I don't think so. Okay. So they give up their right when they do that. I'm pretty sure that that type of language would be baked into the contract, yeah. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

Yeah, so it's going to be really interesting. I mean, like, all right, in terms of just prospects, we're over already, but like, just to quickly put a bow on this, in terms of prospect capital, like, let's say that he's essentially what he was in April. What are you willing to give up for Cody Billinger? knowing that you're probably only going to have them for two months. If I am, if I'm feeling confident that he's April, Bellinger, I'm probably willing to give up somewhere in the

Tyler Locklear, Jonathan Clase, that type 8, 9, 10 prospect plus something on the back end. You know, I don't know, maybe it's dollared, maybe it's like, I would consider giving up Monta,

as Zara Montes in a deal too, along with even somebody like Locklear just because Montes is so far away. So if I'm convinced that Bellinger is that guy that he wasn't April for me, I would still be pretty aggressive, but I wouldn't trade Wu. I wouldn't trade Hancock. Like I would not trade any of my top really seven. I wouldn't trade Arroyo. I wouldn't trade Felon.

And obviously, you know, you're not trading Ford or Young or Miller or anything like that. So, yeah, I think it starts with somebody like in the 8, 9, 10 range for me. and then maybe it's like another top 15 and then it's like a top 25-ish type of guy, but more bulk than anything is what I would look to for Bellinger because a bulk deal protects me too in case he's not. You know, I'm not giving up Brian Wu, who's going to go and be a, you know, a three-win pitcher for the next five years on the hopes that Cody Bellinger is, you know, the one and a half win player he basically wasn't April alone. That's a bit risky for me. And a bulk deal might make sense for the Cubs considering, again, how they've preferred to build their roster, especially over the last couple of years as the Rizzo, Bryant, et cetera, so the world have left. So again, we'll see, you know, obviously Jerry has outright said, you know, we prefer guys who are under club control, you know.

Yes. And he's set up for five years and he's traded for rentals for five years. So yeah. And, you know, Colby and I, you, or Colby, you and I are both on the same page here. when it comes to rentals that the mayor is certainly should not be adverse to them. And if they are like it seemed like they were last deadline, at least in terms of the high end, that would seem to be a mistake to me.

Yeah, not a lot of high in rentals actually got moved. But yeah, it did seem like they were not willing to go down that road. But it's time. Impact over control years. Absolutely. All right.

Well, that's going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown mayor's podcast. Colby Pat node, I'm Tiding Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter. At L-O- underscore Mariners, you can follow me at Dan Gonzalez, the C-A-N-E-G-N-Z-L-C, and Colby at C-P-E-E-N-Z-L-C.

That's C-P-A-T-1-F. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok as well over at Locked-on Mariners. That's one word, Locked-on Mariners. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode, and thank you again for making us your first listen. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day,

and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.