Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Luis Castillo Is Likely Staying Put + the Seattle Mariners Bring Back FanFest | The Final Out

Episode Date: December 6, 2025

Ty test runs a new idea with The Final Out: a show where he talks about the Mariners news and notes he and Colby didn't get to during the week. In this episode, he discusses the return of Mariners FanFest, the finalization of Seattle's coaching staff, and how it looks like Luis Castillo will indeed be staying put in the Pacific Northwest this winter.Check out our Patreon!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11Follow the show on Bluesky: @lockedonmariners | @tdg | @mlbcolbySupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Mariners are capitalizing on their 2025 success with the long-awaited return of Fan Fest next month. That and more coming up here on the final out. You are Locked-on Mariners, your daily Seattle Mariners podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Ahoy, sailors, you're listening to the Final Out here on the Locked-on Mariners podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcasts. part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Now, the number one sports podcast network. My name is Tadang Azales. I'm a lifelong Marys fan who's been covering the team for over half a decade.

And today, I'm going to test around an idea I've had for a little while. And this is kind of the perfect week to do it. So basically, this show is going to be a quick rundown of some of the Marys news and notes that Colby and I weren't able to get to during the week. I'm going to be able to make these about, I don't know, 15 to 20 minutes long, maybe 12 to 20 minutes long. And for now, I'm going to call it the final out. I don't know.

I kind of like it. But if you guys have other suggestions, you don't feel free. Maybe something more mariner-centric, you know. So let me know and maybe we'll switch it up. So yeah. So we're going to talk about Fan Fest returning, which is really exciting. We got an announcement of the mayor's 2026 coaching staff for the new edition we previously didn't know about.

And we've also got further confirmation that the mayors are probably not trading Louis hitting Louise Castillo this winter. But let's start with fanfuss. It's back. We have gotten asked about the return of fan fest so many times over the many years that we've been doing this podcast. Now, obviously, the last time that it officially happened was in 2019. The Marys have since, you know, tried out some other,

I would call them Fan Fest Cope events, but they haven't actually been Maris Fan Fest, the Maris Fan Fest that we all, you know, know and love but yeah it hasn't been back since the the pandemic happened last time that happened was 2019 and the mayor is yesterday officially announcing that it's coming back January 31st and February 1st in 2026 you get tickets right now they are 2245 each for general mission and then 1125 per ticket for kids 14 and under and then They've already announced some special guests, including Cal Raleigh,

who's only going to be there on the Saturday. So Saturday, January 31st, Julio's going to be there. Josh Naylor's going to be there, which is really cool. George Kirby's going to be there. They've also announced some prospects, Colt Emerson, Kate Anderson, Gerangelo Sanjas, some of the best dudes in the Maris Farm System are going to be there. There should be more names as well. They say more names are coming soon.

So more major leaguers, more prospects. It should be a lot of fun. And obviously, Marr's coaches are going to be there. I assume, you know, Gary Hill, Aaron Goldsmith, Rick Riz, all those guys are going to be there. Mara's legends are going to be there. They've announced autograph sessions. There's going to be photo opportunities. Obviously, dugout dialogues are going to be back where you can chat with, you know, guys like Julio.

And maybe there will be, you know, a jury depoto one or a Justin Hollander one. They've done that in the past as well. So, yeah, it should be really cool. I've only been to fan fest once when I was, I think when I was 10 years old and it was a lot of fun. Got to run around the bases. I got to play catching the outfield. Got to hit a ball off of T out in the outfield. Got to do a bunch of stuff.

It was really cool, really cool time with my dad and my brother. And I'm sure they got a lot of that stuff returning as well. I know that they confirm that there's catching the outfield. Yeah, so it's experiences like playing catching the outfield and. so much more. So yeah, so if you want to get out to the ballpark, you know, I think a lot of us are hungry for the return of baseball. So if you want to get back out to the ballpark sooner than expected, you got an opportunity

to do so and got an opportunity to meet some MMS and get to go out on the field and all that stuff. I mean, that's just really cool. Especially if you got young ones, I know that was super cool for me as a kid to actually go on the field and go into the dugout and all that stuff. It was really, really fun. so yeah super happy that fan fest is back unfortunately i'm not going to be able to attend but would love to come out for one uh in the future so hopefully this one is success and uh we never

have to go through this you know thing again of uh wondering if fan fest is going to happen or not so uh so yeah props to uh to kevin martina is in the organization for uh for finally getting this thing put together and finally bringing fan fest back uh to the fans and it comes at you know no better time obviously coming off of the season that the mares just did so so yeah really cool uh so the mares today uh officially announced their coaching staff we already knew about uh quite a few of the moves um that have happened with the mayor's coaching staff quite a bit of turnover christopher nogrohn now leaving to go to pittsburgh tony arnrich and andy mackay both going to cleveland though mackay wasn't actually part of the mayor's coaching staff but still that

was a very big loss for the Mariners organization. So not too many changes other than the new additions on the coaching staff. Maniac to back as a bench coach, Edgar's back as the senior director of hitting. Eric Young Jr., back at first base. That is huge. He was such a huge part of the coaching staff and the Mariners stealing bases and all that last year. So great to see that he's back and that same role. We'll get to the third base coach.

And in a second, Christopher Negerone's replacement, because that's kind of interesting. Kevin Siteser back as a hitting coach, Bobby Maggihanis, back as an assistant hitting coach. Jake McKinley, who was hired from the University of Nevada. He is the major league field coordinator. I think we talked a little bit about that on the show. Osceola, we definitely talked about this one. This one, it's really cool. He's coming back to Seattle to be the bullpen coach for placing Tony Arnrich.

Trent Blank is back. Pete Woodworth is back. It was reported by Ryan Divish that the Marys were a bit concerned that they were going to lose both of those guys. Those guys have been so instrumental to the success of the Mariners pitching staff. And thankfully, they were able to get something done with both of those guys to keep them in the Pacific Northwest. Danny Farquhar back as the assistant pitching coach and pitching strategist, Perry Hill, back as the infield coach and the Fleming Bayes and Justin Novak, the bullpen catchers. Both of them are back. So going back to McKinley real quick, you know, he's the Major League field coordinator for the Maris.

last year or this year, whatever, however you want to look at it, the mayor has had Lewis Boyd as their major league field coordinator. He's not on the coaching staff here, but he was not hired away. He actually got a promotion. He has now been named the assistant director of player development for the Marys. So that's really cool. I know Boyd is very well respected the mayor's organization. So congratulations to him on the new role. But yeah, so third base coach, Maris have a new one. His name is Carlos Cardoza. And I'm not going to pretend like I know a whole lot about Carlos Cardoza.

But this is going to be his 11th year in coaching, first year in the majors. He was most recently the manager of the Frisco Rough Riders, which is the AA affiliate of the Texas Rangers. And he had quite a bit of success there. So there you have it. Osceola, Jake McKinley, Carlos Cardozo. the new additions to the coaching staff. Everything else, pretty much the same aside from, you know, the obvious departures

and then Lewis Boyd getting that promotion. So there you have it. All right, we're going to talk a little bit about Luis Castillo. It seemed likely and likelyer over the last few weeks that Luis is going to stay put in Seattle. And we've gotten even further confirmation that that is likely going to be the case. We'll go over that just a moment.

But first reminder, the final out is brought to you. by GameTime and Van Duel. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. And with 48 teams for the first time ever, it's going to be massive. But let's be honest, getting tickets is usually the hardest part. That's why the Game Time app is clutch. Finally giving fans a real advantage when it comes to snagging seats. When game time, you can track price drops in real time, get alerts when great seats open,

and buy tickets the moment they hit the app. It puts the power back in your hands and makes going to the World Cup realistic instead of impossible. Pull up the app and the layout makes it so simple to scroll through matchups and compare seat views. Pick a game, tap a section, and have your tickets locked in within minutes. No confusion, no hunting for fine print. Prices include fees up front, which I love because there are no last second surprises at checkout. So take the guesswork out of buying World Cup tickets and every match, concert or event with Game Time. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the promo code locked on MLB, that's LOC, KED, ON, MLB for $20 off your first purchase.

Terms apply. Again, download the app, make an account, and use the promo code locked on MLB. That's LOC, KED, ON, MLB for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go, game time. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. That's what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You're not just watching the game.

You're reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. Live betting is best when the game starts to shift. A receiver gets hot. A defense tightens up. Or the momentum flips after a turnover. FanDuel lets you jump into the moment as live spreads and money lines adjust instantly

and player props update as guys heat up. You can bet next touchdown scores, drive results, totals, and more. It keeps you locked in to every snap, every drive, every possibility. So if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanduel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. Fan duel, the game moves fast, and so can you. This is the final out here on the Lockdown Merritts podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Thank you, as always, for making Lockdown Mariner's your first listen for all things, Mariners. And also thank you for making Locked on the number one sports podcast network. So Adam Jude has dropped another article. He's been killing it this week over on the Seattle Times. Today, dropped an article talking just a little bit about the mayor's overall, what they're planning on doing, what they're trying to do, what they're probably not going to do this winter, more of a general article than the last two.

But a couple of nuggets mostly just kind of reconfirming what we've really ultimately known already. The mayor is unlikely to trade for Tarek Scouble. Yeah, I mean, I get it, but I don't have to be happy about it, but I get it. And they are probably not going to trade away Luis Castillo, which, yeah, it makes a lot of sense. it just it's just such a complicated situation for all the reasons that we've talked about ad nauseum on the show not just this winter

but also last winter and also you know things who changed right Castillo with all the injuries in the mayor's rotation this year he was the stabilizer obviously things got ugly at times for Castillo but ultimately he was the stabilizer he was solid in the playoffs as well

that's the Mariners guy and he became even more important to them over the course of 2025 and a season coming off a winter in which they did heavily consider trading him. But this one are not going to be the case because look, I mean, Logan Gilbert's got the elbow thing. He's not getting surgery to address that.

So that's still kind of, you know, got to linger in the back of your mind. Like what's going on with that? Bryce Miller earlier this year said that he would need to have surgery to address whatever he was dealing with and his forearm. now sounds like he's not getting surgery so have to wonder about that you know brian woo obviously has two you know Tommy john surgeries in his past uh george kirby had a shoulder thing this year so just with all the injury concerns and all the injuries that guys are are coming off of uh yeah having castillo around someone that posts outside of what was he dealing with at the end of

24 was it an ankle or something like that outside of that though which was ultimately minor the only reason they missed the end of the season was because it just happened so late in the year outside of that he has been available so makes all the sense of the world that cassio is going to say and again it was just such a complicated situation from ballpark fits you know the concerns over his drastic splits home road splits the money you know what the mayor is doing you after trading him, you know, what are they doing the rotation, how much of the money that they would theoretically save on him? Would they have to reinvest and getting his replacement? Yada, yada, yada, yada, yada. Just so many complications. And now you add in all the concerns about Gilbert's elbow and Bryce and all that. It just, yeah, it's become pretty clear that trading Luis Castillo actually really not as much of an option as maybe we thought heading into this winner. So it looks like Luis Castillo is here to stay at least for one more season. And that is the final out. Thank you so much for joining me. I've been your host, Tidingazales. You can follow me on

Twitter at Tidding Gzalus and on Blue Sky Tegg. If you like this, if you like the style of show, let me know in the comments below. Let me know if you like the name. If you don't, let me know if you have a better idea. We'd love to hear it. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day and a beautiful baseball weekend. We'll see you next time. Peace.