Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mailbag: Does José Altuve's Injury Make the Mariners AL West Favorites?

Episode Date: March 20, 2023

A new week means it's time for a new Mariners Mailbag Monday! On today's episode, Colby and Ty discuss topics including Jose Altuve's injury; does it make Seattle the favorites? Plus, the trade value of Bryce Miller and Harry Ford, replacing Dylan Moore, and the best ballpark meal!Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/Ultimate Pro Baseball GMTo download the game just visit probaseballgm.com or look it up on the app stores. Our listeners get a 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo LOCKEDON (ALL CAPS) in the game store.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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) 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.

How much will the injury to Astros' second baseman Jose Altuve changed the landscape of the AL-West? We'll answer that and more on today's episode of Lockdown Mariners. Colby, hit it. You are Locked-on Mariners, your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. It is Monday, March 20th, 2023. Happy first day of spring, everyone. This is Taday Gonzalez and Colby Patented for the Lockdown Mariners podcast,

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Or you can scan that QR code above my head and it'll take you right to our Patreon. It is Mailbag Monday, the show where we answer your Mariners questions and we got about nine of them to go over today. So let's just hop right into them. Colby. First one comes from Brett says, obviously injuries are awful and I don't wish them on anyone. However, with the recent news about Jose Altuvae missing several months, does this give the Mariners, an early edge in the division race or does the Astros roster still edge us out?

Love the show. Go M's. Thank you so much for the question, Brett. So yeah, so a few days ago during the Venezuela versus USA game and the World Baseball Classic, Jose Al-Tube was hit on the hand by a pitch from Rockies reliever Daniel Bard, who just could not find the strike zone at all that night.

And it turns out that during the play, El-2 suffered a broken thumb, which will require surgery. and the timeline placed on him for his return is about eight to ten weeks now that doesn't account for any sort of setbacks that could potentially happen that doesn't account for his rehab stent that doesn't account for you know what he's going to look like once he gets back to the major league level so this is a pretty big blow colby and i said on twitter when the news first came down that i think this could be a potential game changer within the landscape of the a l west do you agree sure I'll say sure um it could be agrees with me on something yes that's what I changed my mind no um I I don't think the Mariners roster is all of a sudden as good as the Astros or anything like that but it does certainly help Seattle potentially you know for at least a couple months close the gap or maybe you know overtake the Astros and create a buffer certainly possible the Astros are also

dealing with injuries in their pitching staff. Yordon Alvarez still hasn't made an appearance that's supposed to happen later this week. But we'll see it's also a hand injury. So we know how those things tend to linger. So it's certainly an unfortunate event that benefits the Mariners. But I don't know how much. I don't know if it's enough to close the gap. It sounds like the Astros are going to roll with David Hensley and maybe Mauricio DuBahn at second base for the time being.

they don't have tremendous amounts of near major league ready depth in their system. But hey, you know what? That never mattered when they pulled Jake Myers out of, you know, where and he, you know, proceeded to have a 1.30 WRC plus season a few years ago. Chasmac, Jeremy Bangia. The list goes on and on and on. So we'll see. But, yeah, obviously it's a blow.

You know, we're talking about, you know, eight to ten weeks. That's a third of the season. And that's if nothing, no, no setbacks and everything goes well. We're talking about a third of the season. That's pretty significant. So the Mariners do catch a bit of a break here. We'll see if they can stay healthy. But the Mariners are one of the few teams in the American League, at least of the contenders,

who have had a relatively stress-free spring. Obviously, the Dillmore stuff cropped up, and that's not great. Tom Murphy was scratched today. We'll see what that's all about. But the starting nine is pretty solid. J.P. Crawford's back at shortstop today. We'll see how that goes. The pitching is healthy.

So I think the Mariners are in a good spot when you kind of look at them compared to the Yankees and the Astros. But I still think the Astros are going to be fine. I think they'll survive this. But if you can get off to a hot start and you can kind of create any kind of separation between now and when Al Tuve returns, it's going to make it, you know, all the easier, let's say, to overtake the Astros, to hold on to a lead. And even if you could just, you know, stay within arm's reach before Al Tuve comes back, that's really is a big benefit. fit because you're not going to, I don't think that you can sit here and say the Mariners have a chance to win the division if they're going to be, you know, heading into Memorial Day, 10 games under 500 again, right? You just can't count on that. So you have to play well on your end. And I'm sure the Astros will find a way to survive this. But again, you know, we're one, you know, Kyle Tucker pulled Hammy away from or Bregman or Alvarez has a setback or, you know, whatever from this playing field being, I would say, pretty darn level. We'll have to wait and see. It helps the Mariners, but I don't want to say that they're, you know, it's a seismic shift and now all of a sudden the Mariners are the best team in the American League West. I'm not willing to go that far yet. Yeah, this offense for

Houston is still incredible, uh, even with the loss of Al Tuve and obviously Altuve is one of their main guys. He's their lead off hitter. He's the guy that sets everything up for the rest of that order, but they're going to be able to survive. And David Hensley is a pretty good player. At least he's proven so thus far in his minor league career. He's crushed pretty much every level of the minors. And he was really good in his 16 game cup of coffee at the major league level this past season he was obviously a part of their postseason roster as well he slash 345 441 586 that's a 194 wrc plus in those 16 games that he played but you know this is really going to put to the test the thing that i talked about in our astros preview the other day that uh that i'm really concerned about it that's the

lack of depth that this team has right now and you mentioned it so you know can they be able to sustain can they be able to survive an extended period of time without one of their better players? And in this case, it's Altuvae. And again, you also mentioned it that this is a pretty considerable amount of time that Altuve is set to miss. And that's not accounting for any setbacks that could occur. That doesn't account for how long his rehab stand is going to be. Like I said. So is David Hensley good enough to be able to make up at least some of the loss over that period of time?

Who knows? Who knows? But that's a pretty big piece of the Astros are losing here. And like you said, this opens the window for the Mariners here. We talked about, you know, the Mariners having to keep pace with the Astros. This now sets or this now opens the window for them to get out to an early lead in the ALS and hopefully create some separation here before Altuvae gets back and before anything else might occur. So next question comes from Max. What or who would it take for you to both say yes to trading.

either Miller or Ford or both. Thank you for the question, Max. What do you think, Colby? Is there any player out there right now that you would say yes to for both Bryce Miller and Harry Ford? Because I think that's the most interesting part of this question. Yeah. Before I forget, shout out to Dusty, who I met in spring training and his family.

Apologies, I forgot in their name. Not good with names or faces. So if you run into me again, you'll have to reintroduce yourself. Ty will back me up on that. I'm really bad at jersey numbers. Yeah, jersey numbers is really bad. Yeah. Yeah.

So, like, I mean, basically any Mariners short of Julio could walk right in front of me without his uniform on. And I'd be like, just a dude. So don't feel too bad. As for trading Miller or Miller and Ford together, I don't see anybody. I can't foresee anybody who might be available. I mean, you never know when, like, Juan Soto is going to become available. But that's probably not going to happen this year. But yeah, I mean, short of that, no, I'm definitely not doing it for, for like Brian Reynolds is kind of the popular one right now.

Definitely not doing it for him because, you know, Miller can help me this year. And he can help me a lot. And he can help me for the next seven years. I think Miller is going to hop in the rotation and be pretty close to mid rotation right away. Kind of what we saw from Kirby and kind of what we saw from Gilbert when they came up. I think it's very similar. And we saw Miller, you know, again, in spring training. So whatever.

But he went up against the Rangers A line. up, he gave up a couple runs and that was it. You know, he, you know, he pitched well, all things considered. So Miller's going to come up at some point this year. I would be shocked if it wasn't Memorial Day or sooner. I think he's going to be in the rotation. I think he can help you and you're going to get him for six or seven, well, seven years, essentially. So for me to trade Miller by himself, I would need three years of an all-star quality player,

three full seasons of an all-star quality player. to trade Ford, I'd probably do it for two, just because Ford's a couple years away still. But I still want that all-star quality player because we know what the ceiling of Ford is. To trade them both together, I'm not doing that for Brian Reynolds unless the pirates would kick in like David Bednar or J.T. Brubaker or Mitch Keller or somebody else who can help me this year. But as far as like who I think might be available this summer, no, I don't think there's going to be a player that I would feel comfortable trading Miller and Ford for. Yeah, because I mean, whoever you add, how much are they actually going to be an upgrade over what Miller gives you? And, you know, maybe it's a vast difference in the kind of player, right?

Like, especially in a Brian Reynolds situation where you're trading for an everyday player, a guy that's going to play in your outfield as opposed to a guy that's going to take the mound every five days and Miller. But still, in terms of just the wins that they add, how many more wins are you actually adding in that deal? And is it worth sacrificing all the club control? Is it worth sacrificing the upside of what Bryce Miller gives you, not just by himself, but what he can do for your rotation as a whole?

Because we've talked about this. And we talked about this on the episode that's going to end up dropping tomorrow for our starting rotation preview that if Bryce Miller is as good as we think he can be, that makes the Mariners rotation incredibly dangerous. It gives them a very rare rotation. in contrast to the rest of Major League Baseball. So, you know, that upside is hard to ignore. Now, you know, don't get this misconstrued, right?

Like, I don't think that the Mariners, like, can't survive without Bryce Miller, that they can't do what they want to do and, you know, win a division and win a World Series without Bryce Miller in 2023. That's not what I'm saying here, but it's really hard to ignore the upside of what Miller can bring. And let's just face it, while we're very high on Bryce Miller, the pirates aren't going to want just Bryce Miller. And if it's Miller plus Ford plus something else, I'm probably out at that point.

Because I'm taken away from my 2023 roster. I'm taking away one of the most unique prospects that I've ever seen in my system. And more on top of that, that's a tough bullet to bite there. So, yeah, that's a really interesting question. And one that I'm sure we're going to explore a lot more over the course of the season as this team, you know, gets closer to the trade deadline and their needs become more apparent. But right now, as things currently stand, and for my expectations on Miller, I just don't know.

There aren't many scenarios here where I'm open to the possibility of trading him and trading him and Ford together. All right. We got more questions coming up here in just a moment. But once again, this episode of Lockdown, Mariners is brought to you by Ultimate Baseball, G. ever dreamed of becoming an MLBGM and managing your professional baseball franchise well your dream can come true and this game is definitely for you manage every strategic aspect of your team play through the season and lead your team to glory you're responsible for hiring the right coaches and staff managing team finances scouting and drafting players managing difficult personalities navigating your franchise through free agency and all the ups and downs of a season all this in a challenging and realistic game world ultimate baseball GM is completely free and playable offline, play on the go as you want and when you want. It's basically the Jerry Depoto simulator. So instead of saying chills, depoto did it again, you can now say chills, I did it again.

Download it now and Lockdown Mariners listeners getting 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo code locked on in the game store. So make sure to check it out. To download the game, just visit Pro BaseballGM.com, scan the code, or look it up on the app stores. That's Pro BaseballGM.com Ultimate Baseball GM. start your dynasty today and you're listening to the lockdown mariners podcast thank you again for making us your first listen here on mailbag monday let's get back into these questions colby starting with brandon who asked does robbie ray's uptick and velocity mean anything for the upcoming season i mean

yeah for starters i mean it means that he's in a much better spot than he was last opening day because him being in the mid 90s is crucial to him finding success and finding success consistently, whereas he just, he just can't live 91, 92. We've talked about this. We're going to talk about this a lot on tomorrow's show with the starting rotation previews. So, yeah, this is great news, Colby. Yeah, I think you can live 91, 92.

You're just not going to get the dominant, consistent dominant outings that Ray got, you know, two years ago. So, yeah, obviously, you know, going from 91, 92 for most of last year to 94, 95, 96 early in spring and carrying it through multiple innings is a pretty big jump. You know, maybe last year is just, you know, shortened off season, kind of a weird off season. Ray just didn't quite get the buildup he needed. He threw a lot of innings in 2020.

Maybe it was just general fatigue. I don't know, but maybe he's tweaked something in his wind up or is his land or something. But yeah, the velocity is back. It's, you know, Ray's never been like 97 to 99. Like, that's not who he is, but he is, you know, typically been 93 to 96 somewhere in that range. And he needs it because he's still primarily a two-pitch guy. We saw the splitter a couple times yesterday. It looked okay.

He'll get some swings and misses on it if he decides to throw it. But Robbie Ray is, you know, his bread and butter is fastball slider. Right. And if the fastball is playing up in velocity, it's going to get more value. The slider has been sharp this spring. It hasn't been kind of the cement mixer. or it was at the end of last year. So the velocity is, for me,

is kind of the cherry on top of what has been a really exciting spring. But, you know, if Ray was doing what he was doing and it was, you know, 92, 93 instead of 94, 95, I think we'd still be pretty excited. But obviously the added velocity is certainly good news. It's not bad news as so long as he can still control the fastball and so far so good. So I think, you know, I'm going to make a declaration, about Robbie Ray on tomorrow's show.

But I would just say that I am pretty close to all-in on Robbie Ray this year. Good on you to make a proclamation, Colby. I do it daily. A little inside joke. Will Lofton here says or asks, do you believe the Mariners are most likely to write out Dillamore's injury? What guys would you be your top bet to fill the spots in house and in trade? So Will, I think they are going to write out Dillmore's injury.

Do I agree with that? No. But not at all. But I do believe that they are going to ride this thing out, especially because they seem to be convinced that he's going to be back within that two to four week time frame. I don't know how, considering that he's going to miss all of spring training and is going to need a rehab stint and a pretty extensive one at that so he can get his legs under him again. Because he hasn't played in a real baseball game in quite some time.

So that to me is really concerning. In terms of guys that can potentially replace his spot on the roster, I know that Sam Haggurdy played shortstop, I believe, yesterday. Maybe it was the day before. So they're actually trying that. So maybe the answer is not as obvious as Mason McCoy, but that would be who I would think gets the nod here, especially for his defense because McCoy is a pretty good defender.

Who knows what you're going to get? at the plate probably nothing that's what i would bank on personally i know he's had a pretty decent spring of the plate and everyone wants to mention that but it's spring training and this guy has historically not been a great hitter in the minor league so um that's not something that i'm really willing to put any sort of faith in we'll see if tommy lestella can play in the field i think that he said that he was about 10 days away from doing that a few days ago um so maybe if he proves here at the end of spring that he can actually make it work in the field and can provide some sort of of not necessarily value,

but you can stand out there. Then maybe that's the way they go or maybe it's someone like Calla Moran. I don't know. The options here are not great. And I'm not going to sell it to you guys as it's great. I think the Mariners need to go outside

of the organization here. Even if Moore is going to come back in two to four weeks because let's be real about it. The Mariners are still short of a bad. Whether Dillamore got hurt or not, they were still short of a bat. So, look, I know that,

Isaiah Connor Folefa is not exciting and he in New York absolutely hates him. I'm talking about the fan base. Maybe the Yankees also hate him. I don't know. But that's a guy that can at least play several positions for you and may have some sort of upside in the bat. And I mean, he's at least someone that's performed at the major league level, whereas Mason McCoy hasn't even played a single day at the major league level. I would rather bet on Isaiah Connor Folepha.

Now, is that worth trading Chris Flexen and trading ways some? starting depth for that player. That's a whole other conversation. We don't know if that's what it's going to cost. We don't know if that's going to cost either, right? But that's the guy that we've talked about with him. You know what? Specifically.

I think we're overlooking the bigger point, though. Why are we willing to settle for a bench that includes Tommy Listella, Dylan Moore, you know, Sam Hack? Why is that okay? Right? Like, why are we not trying to max? Kike Hernandez spent like four years on the Dodgers bench. and he would have started for 29 other teams.

Like, why are we settling? Like, even if Dillmore was healthy. Like, why are we just like, oh, yeah, sure. No, we'll roll with Colin Moran and Sam Haggarty as the last two guys on our bench? Why? Why not continue to go? And by the way, the mayors are looking.

They're just not going to make a desperate, like, trade. Right. You know what I mean? They're not going to- They're always looking to add and improve. But so forget, like, what do you do? Do you have to go replace Dillmore outside the org? I would say yes, but also, like,

when I go try and replace Sam, Haggerty. Why are we so dead set on Haggerty being on the opening day roster when he makes a lot of sense in AAA? Why are we so dead set on if Lestell is healthy? He has to make it. Go get Isaiah Kinear Folefa, who's essentially right-handed J.P. Crawford. We all like J.P. So why wouldn't you like Isaiah Kinear Folepha? You know, a couple other names that have been thrown around that I don't think are going to get moved before the season starts. But Nikki Lopez. I was literally about to say Nicky Lopez. Yeah, he's, he can't hit. I don't know if he can hit. It was really bad last year. But the year before, he was like a five, six one player, defense and base running. Maybe Nick

Madrigal with the Cubs. Maybe he's available. Not a lot of power there, but second base only. Maybe a Patrick Wisdom or someone like that. Yeah, maybe some of the Cubs. Yeah. Sure. Maybe there's a couple guys out there like that. But ultimately, I do think they're going to stay in house. I think Mason McCoy is probably the favorite at this stage. I think that's a mistake because I'm not as willing as Apparently a lot of other people are of saying like, oh yeah, J.P. Crawford's over his shoulder thing. He's going to be fine. Really? Yeah. Yeah. We're willing to make that call right now. Yeah. That's the, that's the scary thing, man, because they said, they said the word soggy.

And he's playing shortstop today. If anyone is familiar with Drew Smiley, we all know what that means. Right. He's playing shortstop today. But even if he makes it out of today, okay, how is he going to feel tomorrow? How is he going to feel in three days? What if it flares up again? Yeah. Yeah. That's the thing, right? Like, maybe it is a minor. thing, but it's possible that it could flare up again. And you need to have some sort of safeguard in place here that's better than Mason McCoy. Yeah, you're playing a dangerous game of Blackjack where if you lose, Mason McCoy is your opening day shortstop. Disaster.

Mike Margemon is a disaster. That's a disaster. So, yeah. They should go outside the org to fix it. But I don't think they will. Agreed on both fronts. Yeah. That's, and it's disappointing.

Because again, like even if Dima was healthy, you just to. go out and get a bat. Whether that's to replace Sam Haggary or whether that's whatever. Why are we assuming that that Dylan Moore and Isaiah Kiner Folefa can't exist on the same roster together? Yeah. I'm not even asking to go get Ian Hap right now. I'm asking for freaking Isaiah Kiner Folepha.

Yeah. Who may or may not cost Chris Flexing? Right? Like we don't even know. It might just, it might cost, you know, Jake Shiner type of prospect to go land Isaiah Kineherfalfa for all we know.

Who knows? I don't know. Maybe it even, maybe it cost Travis Coon and, and Bobby bombs. I don't know. Like, you wouldn't be thrilled with that, but you're not, you're not, you know, throwing shade at Jerry Depoto for trading those two guys for a bench bat or bench piece. Well, don't help you play multiple positions. Don't tempt Mariners Twitter.

Zach Deloche for Isaiah Kineufa. Fire to Poto. He's lost it. So we'll see. But no, I, I don't expect them to make any outside moves, unfortunately. All right. We're going to wrap up with a few more questions in just a moment, but real quick, a reminder of this episode of Locked-on Mariners is brought to you by Fanduel. The tournament is heating up and now is the perfect time to download Fandul, America's number one sportsbook. Because new customers get a no-sweet first bet up to $1,000. That's bonus bets back if your first bet doesn't win. Just download the Fandul's sportsbook app. It's safe, secure and super easy to use. Then you can bet on everything from the money line to point scores and three is drained. Plus, Fanduel even let you combine your bets for a chance at a bigger payout. with the same game parlay. So don't miss the chance to get your no sweat first bet up to $1,000 in bonus bets

when you go to fanduel.com slash locked on. That's fenduel.com slash LOC, KED on, to learn more. Make every moment more with Fanduel, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. And you're listening to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Thank you again for making us your first listen here on Mailbag Monday. Let's get back into these questions here, Colby. This one comes from Trevon. Do you agree with the Mariners' approach?

to essentially making J.P. spot at shortstop this offseason untouchable seems like they're sacrificing, even entertaining other options with him and Marco because of their contracts. I don't think that's what they did. I'll think I reject the premise of the question. Yeah. I don't, like, let's just get this out of the way. I don't think they did that. I think I believe wholeheartedly that they did check in on Tray Turner and Carlos Correa and Dansby Swants, all those guys. And then they just, they decided that that cost was too prohibitive for them, particularly in terms of the years. Now, really the dollar amount, but the, the years that were given out to these guys. And they decided, look, our best way to upgrade our middle infield after that is to target a second basement and

to target someone like Colton Wong. You know, because think about it, what other shortstop, aside from the big four move teams this offseason, like a noteworthy, like a like a guy like a Colton Wong, like the Colton Long equivalent of shortstops? Who was that that moved this offseason? I can't think of anyone. So after those big four guys, guys, I think your best option was to keep JP at short and acquire someone like Wong. And I think they were fully open to the possibility of acquiring one of these big time short stops if it made sense for them and then move JP over the second or move on from JP and acquire Colton Wong still. Who knows? Yeah.

JP's roster spot wasn't 100% safe entering the offseason. It became 100% safe once the market for those guys got out of hand. I mean, I think people forget like we thought Turner. would probably get 300 million, maybe 250 and 10 or something like that. He got, what, 12 years? 13, I think. 13, yeah, like, the Mariners were never going to do that. They're not going to give 11 years to Xander Bogarts.

They're not, you know, they weren't going to be comfortable giving Correa. Even the contract he got, remember, they have to beat that contract. They can't just offer it. They have to beat it. Minnesota has the advantage there. And he has serious health issues. His ankle is a real thing. Well, yeah, and that's the thing, too, right?

In the context of Correa, yeah, Coray didn't sign one of those massive, deals. He still got broken off. Don't be wrong, but like he didn't sign a Trey Turner-esque deal. But that was after two other deals had fallen through because of health concerns. And really the only team that was comfortable giving him that contract and the money

that the twins did was the twins, the team that he last played for, the team that knows his health history the best. So that's a very particular situation. And after that, you know, it was the Giants massively overpaying for him. In terms of the years, at least.

and then the Mets trying to strike and the Mets are one of the premier franchises right now in baseball and are spending all this money they're very exciting. Correa's best friend is on the team. Like, yeah, like they're, the context of that matters very much so here.

I don't think that was ever a possibility for the mirrors. No, none of those guys were and even Dansby Swanson, if you want to, you know, be pie in the sky and think Dan's B. Swanson, his wife plays for the professional soccer team in Chicago. Like, so.

And how much. in the press conference about how he felt like he owed it to his grandfather, I believe, to go back and play for the Cubs too and all this. Right. You just weren't going to get any of those guys. So I do think they tried. I do think they were very interested in Trey Turner. I just think the number got way out of hand really early, and they just decided to move on. And they should.

You shouldn't just, I have to get this guy no matter what. That's stupid. That's what stupid teams do. The Mariners aren't stupid. So I reject the premise of the question. I don't think that JP's spot was untouchable and they weren't interested in the shortstops. I think they were. I just think that it didn't work out.

All right. Let me try to find my spot here. Yes, this is where we were. All right, Ryan, as thoughts on extending A. Eugenio Swaras. We had the Seeger era and DJ Peterson draft a decade ago, but I can't remember any exciting prospects coming up at third base and don't see one now. No, you don't need to because Gino's still under contract through 2025.

That's a club option in 2025. You don't need to do that right now. You don't even need to think about that. that's a conversation to have a year and a half from now at the earliest really so no um next question here comes from joe if jared kelnick stays hot into the regular season would you feel comfortable if the mariners hit him second behind julio seems like they could be thinking about it since they are hitting him up in the order in spring training i'll think that matters a ton for opening day as far as that's concerned but yeah if it gets to a point where jerek kellnick proves that he's like

your second best hitter or one of your top three hitters and sure but like I don't think that's going to happen. Let me put it this way. All right. If Jared Kelnick is the second best hitter at any point this year, things have either gone horribly, horribly wrong or you're winning the world series. Those are the only two scenarios where Jared Kelnick is your second best hitter. Yeah. So I'm hoping it's the latter.

But no, I don't think we're going to see it anytime soon. Mainly because why would you put that pressure on on, on? Jared Kelnick right away. Like if he, if we get into the All-Star break and he's hitting 270, 350, 500, sure. Yeah. At that point, it's pretty much done. But no. Early in the year, he's going to hit 7, 8, 9, maybe 6 every once in a while.

And then they'll slowly gradually move him up. They did the same thing with Julio last year. Remember, Julio started the year hitting, I think, seventh. Yeah. He was, yeah, he was hitting behind Derek Kelnick, actually. Yeah. So, and then it took a while. It wasn't until like June that he really started.

started to hit, you know, lead off in the top three. So, um, no, I don't think that should be the plan. I don't think that they'll consider it for a while at least, but it's not impossible that he does get some at-bats in the two-hole this year. I just think that most of his at-bats, even if he has like a really good, like exciting year, are going to come six, seven, eight, nine, somewhere in that range. So, all right. Yeah, if, if he performs or maybe if he's not necessarily the second best hitter on the team, but they feel like his skill set, uh, add something to the, you know, near to the top of the lineup, then sure, I'm, I'm not against it, but... Play some matchups once in a while, but...

Yeah, yeah, I'm not against it, but I don't foresee that happening here for quite some time. Yeah, I don't see any scenario where I am loving the idea of taking extra at bats away from to Oscar Hernandez and Thai France in favor of Jared Kelnick. Would love to be wrong. I just don't see it. Right. But I wouldn't say, I would say it's not a zero percent. chance that it happens at some point. If this is the, like if this is actually Jericheln, like the one we're seeing in the

spring, okay. Well, then he's the MVP. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Why stop it too? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like, I, I'm going to assume that there's going to be some regression here once we get into the regular season. So going off of that, look, I'm very hopeful for Jared this year. I think that he's, he's set himself up here. You know, again, there's only so much stock you can put in the spring performance, but I think he set himself up here for a breakout. He's built enough confidence for himself to set that up. But we'll have to see.

And yeah, if he does break out here and ends up, you know, basically forcing the Mariners hand on this front, that's great for the Mariners. The Mariners are probably World Series favorites at that point. So yeah. All right. Next question comes from Ham Swaggarty 69. Thoughts on a Harry Ford transition to third base. I think his profile would fit there nicely.

I agree. Uh, think about the eventually. Yeah. Yeah, not, not yet. You know, you still want to, because like you don't need to rush him. You don't need him at the major league level anytime soon. Um, yeah, just, you know, see how far he can take the catching thing. And if that doesn't work out or, you know, if the bat just outplays the glove and you need to find another spot for him, then sure.

Uh, third base is, is definitely a spot that, that he fits really well in, I think, or he profiles really well in, rather, uh, with strong arm, the, athleticism and obviously the power, right? The bat is going to play very well at third base, I believe. So, yeah, and theory. But, I mean, you don't give up on catching yet because if you think he can profile as a third base bat, but he can catch. Yeah. That's an MVP candidate. That's Adley Rutchman.

Yeah, that's one of the best catchers in all the baseball. Right. So no reason to yet. And plus, once you move him off of catcher, it's really hard to put that genie back in the bottle. So you have to be really sure that his catching days are essentially. done when you make that permanent move. But yeah, I do think you profiles pretty well at third base. All right.

Last question here comes from Teddy. What is the greatest baseball watching food drink combo out there? Ty's going to say hot dog and beer. Yeah, I'm a simple man. I'm a simple man, all right? Also, Tuesday nights at Rogers Center, looney dog nights, $1 hot dogs. Yeah, you get that. You go down to the Mill Street Organic.

I'm mad at it. You go down to the Mill Street Organic booth. You get yourself a Milstery or organic. They put the lid on. Dude, the lid on a on a, on a, on a beer cup at a ballpark is a game changer. It's such a great idea. All right. Well, we call those adult pops because we are a family friendly show.

Right. Right. Yes. Sorry. Adult beverage. Let me, let me go. Sure. Dave Sims here.

Adult beverage. Right, right. Yeah, it's tough to beat a hot dog at the ballpark. One thing that I at spring train. I had a couple pretzels. at the ballpark. I really enjoy a good, like, soft pretzel. Good soft pretzel with like the right amount of salt on it. Yes. You can't go too much. Don't go crazy with it. But also you don't want it to be like completely bare. So, I wish they didn't charge nine. I wish they didn't charge nine dollars for the nacho cheese. But there we go. For me, like one of my favorite snacks, just like at home snacks is hard pretzels and you cut up some cheddar cheese. And you just got to eat the pretzel and the cheese is almost like a sandwich type of thing.

Yeah. It's really good. I love the pretzel cheese combo. So I enjoy that. But I really don't eat all that much at the ballpark because I'm like cheap, essentially. So I don't want to spend like $12 on a Coke. You know what I mean?

Yeah. I'm only getting the hot dog on the dollar hot dog next. Yeah, yeah. Like I'm only getting the value menu stuff when I'm at Mariner games anyways. But I think, I think just the hot dog and like a cold drink is just hard to be on any ballpark, especially in summer. Yeah, summer night.

Yeah. Yeah. It's as American as apple pie. I am hungry and thirsty now. There you go. So, yeah, I guess I would also answer, like, the cold drink of your choice and just a really solid hot dog. I think that's just, it's just so classic.

It's so good. Right. But I probably should try some different things. I know that, I know that T-Mobile has, you know, really good, like fried chicken. And obviously, they have the crickets, which I will never eat. I have some. I might try them whenever I come out for science for science sure you can put it as a short yeah yeah are you I guess you would know this but let us know in the comments down below do you

like the garlic fries because personally I don't I had the I had the garlic fries the garlic fries were a thing before I left Washington so I had the garlic fries once and they were they were fine now I'll say this I'm a bigger fan of garlic now than I was back then so So I might like the more. The smell is just kind of what drives us. That's really strong. You're not big on the garlic smell. Oh, it's a very strong garlic smell.

I cook with a lot of garlic, but I don't like to like, when they, like, grade it over and you're just like, it's sitting there in the middle. It's just kind of like. And this has been cooking with Ty and Colby on the Lockdown Mariners podcast, the Lockdown cooking show. Join us tomorrow for Lockdown Breakfast. where we answer the age old question.

Pancakes versus waffles versus French toast. And also favorite cereal, cinnamon toast crunch. God. What? Cap and Crunch. That's the worst take I've ever heard. Just the-Campin. Like, I'm fine with Cap'n Crunch.

The Cap-and-Crunch part is fine, but the disgust when I said cinnamon toast crunch, terrible. Terrible. It's just not number one. That's all I'm saying. Anyways. On that note, that's going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here.

on the Lockdown Mariners podcast for Colby Patnaud. I'm Tyne and Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Dan Gonzalez. It's D-A-N-E, G-N-Z-L-Z, and Colby at C-P-A-E-T-1-Fol-E. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok as well at Locked-on Mariners, and you can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode.

Thank you again for making us your first listen. Now, for your second listen, check out Lockdown Fantasy Baseball. When You're League by listening to Matt and Dom every day as they bring you the best fantasy draft strategies. It's free and available wherever you get your podcast, just like us, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. With that, have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.