Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mailbag: Is Money the ONLY Thing Holding the Mariners Back in Free Agency?

Episode Date: October 30, 2023

Is money - or lack thereof - the only reason the Mariners have struggled to attract big-time free agents to Seattle in recent years? Will the M's actually pursue Washington native Blake Snell? What about a trade for Nationals outfielder Lane Thomas? Colby and Ty answer all that and more in this mailbag episode of Locked On Mariners!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11Giveaway terms and conditions!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Jase MedicalSave more than $360 by getting these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical plus an additional $20 off by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.  eBay MotorsKeep your ride-or-die alive at ebay.com/motors. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelMake Every Moment More.Make Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS - GUARANTEED. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.SleeperDownload the Sleeper app and use promo code LOCKEDON and you'll get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details. Currently operational in over 30 states. Check out Sleeper today!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.

Is money the only thing that's holding the mirrors back from signing free agents? And is signing Blake Snell, who apparently wants to be a mariner, a real possibility this off-season? I'll answer that and more here on Mailbag Monday. Colby, hit it. You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Ahoy, sailors. It is Monday, October 30th, 2023.

This is titing Azales and Colby Patnaud for the Locked-on-Marras podcast. Brought to you by Fandul. Make every moment more right now. New customers can get $150 back in bonus bets with any $5 winning money line bet. That's $150 if your team wins. Visit Fanduil.com slash locked on. That's L-O-C-D-O-N to get yourself started.

Thank you so much for making us to your first. Listen, subscribe, like and turn on alerts. If you're watching on YouTube or subscribe and leave a five-star review on your preferred podcast platform if you like what you hear. And if you're part of the crew and rock with us every single day, Let us know in the comments below. We'd love to hear from you.

If you want to hear from us even more, please consider signing up for our Patreon. You can now get a free seven-day trial to check out the show. The link as well as our social accounts is in the description of this episode. It is Mailbag Monday, the show where we answer your Mariners questions. Let's see what you guys want to know this week. We got a question here from Z-Man who wants to know. I know there has been a lot of discourse on the mayor's payroll

and the idea that they are somewhat cheap. But is that the real issue? Or is it more that free agents, specifically hitters, don't want to come to Seattle for various other reasons like park factors, travel, et cetera. Bulby, what do you think? Yeah. This is one of those. It's a little bit of everything type of questions. Yeah.

Yeah, I do think that Mariners ownership has kind of earned the reputation of being cheap over the last few years when you see that payroll hasn't. aggressively risen as the team has climbed out of their rebuild, which is what was promised to, you know, was going to be the case and it hasn't been. Like you fudge the numbers any way you want. The simple fact of the matter is is that John Stanton's financial commitment has not kept up with what was promised when this team was ready to win. They're ready to win right now.

They were ready to win in 2021. And he haven't kept up your end of the bargain. So that is definitely a factor. But, you know, like you mentioned, And there are some factors that Seattle really doesn't have any control over. Their ballpark is not the easiest park to hit in. And very little of that has to do with dimensions. It's just that in April and May, it's pretty cold in T-Mobile Park.

And, you know, the Marine layer is a thing. And so, yeah, it's hard to attract hitters to Seattle, particularly right-handed power hitters, because that's kind of the group that is suppressed the most. at least in the early part of the season in Seattle. There's also the fact that you travel more as a mariner than anybody else. You'll spend more time on an airplane than anyone else in baseball. It's also far away from, you know, pretty much every other team. And it's a community or it's an area that is not going to be, you know,

friendly to certain people's viewpoints and stuff like that. Like there's a lot of things here, weather, you know, obviously the ballpark, your history. How about the fact that the Mariners have won, haven't won a division in 22 years? Right. How about the fact that they won one playoff series in 21 years? Like, it's hard to convince teams or to convince players that you're a legitimate world series contender where maybe they're willing to overlook some of these aspects because

they feel like they have a shot to win the World Series with you. It can be hard to, you know, make that point when you haven't really won anything yet of significance. I mean, significant to us, you broke the drought, you won a playoff series, but in the grand scheme of baseball, you haven't even been to an ALCS since 2001. Like, you haven't even been on the doorstep of a World Series. So you've never even gotten to like a game seven of ALCS. Like you've never been close to a World Series title. And that is a hard sell when you factor in everything else, the travel, the weather, sometimes the money.

But it's not that, you know, Seattle isn't willing to go out and spend. it's just that like there are some factors they're not willing to overspend i think is is what and more specifically jerry's not willing to overspin uh because we he saw what happened to his teams in anaheim that he had set up very well ownership got involved he forced him to spend more than he wanted to on poohls and hamilton um and that collapsed pretty quick on him so um right but based on everything i know is that like seattle has attempted to lure some some free agents here um most notably marcus Simeon and Trevor story. And my understanding is that they made legitimate offers, market value offers to those guys.

And they just got told, no, I don't want to come here. So, you know, and that's part of it. So you have to pivot. You have to find different answers. It's on the baseball ops people to find a way to work around that. Sure. But there are legitimate factors here that a lot of people don't take into account. It's not the reason that Aaron Judge isn't a mariner.

is not because the Mariners didn't, you know, pay him. Like, it's not because they didn't want to pay him. It's because they're a judge didn't want to be here. Like, he was never going to come here. So, you do have to be careful. And I know a lot of people like, oh, just throw more money at him. And then he'll want to come here. Yeah.

Doesn't really work like that. Because, like, hypothetically, like, Trey Turner, right? We knew Turner wanted to be either with the Dodgers or he wanted to go back east. It was very clear about that. And he wanted to play with his buddy, Bryce Harper, etc. And so for you to be able to get. Trey Turner to ignore all of that and come to Seattle, $450 million maybe. And look, there's a certain point, too, where that number just becomes arbitrary and guys

don't care, right? Like, I'm going to get broken off and I'm going to go into a situation that I prefer, right? It's kind of like the situation going on with Otani right now. We're going to see a lot over the next few weeks, and we're already seeing this from certain team fan bases and media spheres where, like, for example, the Blue Jays. Blue Jays recently, there's some insiders saying, like, the Blue Jays apparently have like money set aside for the possibility of signing Otani. But money doesn't really matter in the Otani situation, especially because he knows that he's going to get paid. It's just about the right fit for him.

So money at the end of the day is kind of a moot point, especially once we get to the high of high ends. And that's not the case for everyone. And really, at the end of the day, there isn't a one size fits all issue here when we're, we're talking about the Mariners and attracting free agents. The thing for me, though, is like, the worst thing that we can do as fans is assume that we know the reason that someone didn't sign with the Mariners or just any team, for that matter, right? Because there are a lot of things that go into these decisions, into players' decisions to sign with teams that have nothing to do with baseball. I mean, sometimes it is as simple as contract structure or money.

I'm not saying that that isn't the case, and I'm not saying that money doesn't talk. Like, money definitely does talk in a lot of cases. But in some situations, especially when we're talking about the high end, again, when we're talking about guys that know that they're going to get paid really no matter what, there's so many other factors that go into it. It's location. And obviously, the Mariners can't change where they play baseball, right, unless they relocate. And that's a whole other discussion here, right?

So, like, they can't control that, right? So they have to work around that. That's just something that they naturally have to work around. And, you know, again, there's things that, like, have nothing to do with baseball that us as average fans could not even fathom, you know, go into the decision-making process here. Things like, like, if the player has, like, a family, right? If they have a spouse, if they have kids, et cetera, like, is my wife going to be willing to move to Washington State? Right. Are my kids going to get what I feel is the best education for them, etc? Stuff like that, right?

And it's like if my family doesn't want to move here, then how many times am I going to see them over the course of the season? Are they going to be willing to fly out on occasion? You know, am I, do I want to live alone or do I want to live with like a teammate or a roommate? Do I really want to do that with my life for, you know, half a year? there are a lot of things here that we don't consider as fans that do have an impact on a lot of guys' decisions to play in a certain spot. And for some guys, it's also like a sentimental thing. Like Danesby Swanson, I see a lot of people saying like, well, the mayors could have signed Danesby Swanson. No, they couldn't have.

Danesby Swanson was either going to stay in Atlanta and play for a chance to win a World Series or he was going to go to Chicago, which, as he said in his press conference, when he signed with the team, had a very sentimental value to him because of his grand. grandfather. Like, so there's just some things that the, the Mariners and like, again, again, money talks to a certain degree, but there are just certain things that the Mariners or really any team can't overcome. But especially the Mariners,

because of the location, because of everything that factors in, along with just the overall history of the ball club and what the reputation of the ball club is. So we could go on and on and on about this for hours. We could do a whole podcast on, on this topic in general. But we're going to move on.

We're going to answer some more. questions here in just a moment. But first, a reminder this episode of the Lockdown on Marys podcast is brought to you by Fandle. Score early this NFL season with Fandul, America's number one sports book. Right now, new customers give $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 money line bet. That's $150 if your team wins. And if you've been thinking about joining Fandul, there's no better time to get in on the action. The app is so easy to use and there's a wide range of betting options, including spreads, player props, over-unders and a whole lot more.

So visit fandul.com slash locked-on. That's L-O-C-K-D-O-N and kick off the NFL season. Vandle, official partner of the NFL. And you're listening to the Lockdown, I'm Aaron's podcast. Thank you again for making us your first listen. Before we get into more of your questions, today is your last day to enter our card giveaway, or more specifically, Colby's card giveaway.

And yeah, it looks like if we're giving anything away, it's only going to be the Matt Brash card because last time I checked we were about 30 subscribers away from our stated goal 9,500 subscribers to give away the Matt Brash card. So Colby, show them the card, egg them on, challenge them,

do the Colby thing, essentially. Here's the card he could win if you weren't so lazy. Right. End of statement. Into the, end of the Colby thing. Yeah.

In terms of conditions, down in the description as always, like I have to mention. about it. Yeah. So you guys got to get on it. Is that if this went well, I was probably going to throw on like this auto J.P. Crawford with a little jersey.

What? I was probably going to throw that into the mix of this went well, but it didn't. So maybe later this winter, we'll be giving that away. But for now, you guys might get the brash card, which by the time you're listening to this is probably about

eight hours away from deadline. So you guys haven't until midnight. You got to subscribe. you got to leave a comment on one of our videos that have been posted within the last two weeks. Sure. And then we're picking a winner. If we have a winner, we're picking a winner tomorrow

and announcing that on the show tomorrow. Yeah. Probably poor timing on our part. A lot of people get in away from the baseball season before the hot stove. Yeah. So, you know, I blame Ty for that a little bit, but whatever. My fault. Yep.

As always. But, you know, it is what it is. Hey, when I put up the loot, you have to take the blame. that's how that works that's fine that's fine that's fair that's fair all right let's get back into these questions uh william lofty wants to know i know he's 39 but jason turner was still a productive hitter last year might be helpful to cover innings at first and third as well as the h was wondering if either of you thought about that or completely eliminated him due to age slash regression colby what do you think about jason turner um i'm fine with it i think he's a pretty

good fit for Team Mobile Park. He's more of a line drive guy. You know, can handle, like you said, third and first, uh, DH some. So I think he's a good fit. I don't care too much about the age because it's a one year deal at this stage and the money's really reasonable. I just wonder, you know, I, I can't remember that option is a team option or a player option. I don't know if you have that in front of you, Ty, but, uh, I'm going to look it up now. I think it's a team option. So if it is like, why would Boston want to trade him? Uh, he was productive for Boston. and I feel like... Player option.

But it's for 13.4. It's for 13.4. You might take that. He might, but... I mean, if he doesn't want to play in Boston, I just... I have a hard time imagining that he's going to pick Seattle. He's at the end of his career.

So if he's a free agent, why pick Seattle? This is probably your last year. Maybe you have one or two more. Why aren't you going to go to a team like the Astros or, you know, back to... the Dodgers or whatever like there are there are the teams who have needs needs at third base

um maybe Toronto where you just feel like you have a better shot to win uh so i don't know if you would pick Seattle i i would be in like i like i like that idea he's kind of like the only thing is like i would prefer that he was left handed but what are you going to do you know it is and yeah i'm i'm interested in turner if he's interested in us i just don't really see a path where a he's interested if he opts out or b that b b that b b would trade him at a reasonable cost because Boston's probably looking at their roster going like, we're a tweak or two away. And I assume that they're going to be in on Wonsoto if he's, you know, on the block and all that stuff. And so I think that if he opts in, Boston's more likely

to just say, well, we're going to add, you know, to our group now and try and win because I don't think they're looking at this going like, you know, we probably don't have much of a chance in 2024. So I like the idea. I don't really care about the age at all. I still think he's going to hit be just fine. But I just don't really see a scenario where either he opts out and picks Seattle or that Boston is willing to trade Turner without getting, you know, legit major league pieces back. And if you're Seattle, what major league are you going to get Boston for one year of

Justin Turner? Like you're probably not. Cabiero. Yeah. I mean, they're probably laughing at you at that point. Yeah. Turner gives them a better shot to win the World Series this next year.

So, right. I mean, I don't know, unless you're giving up like. Isaiah Campbell or you know somebody legitimate that helps you like I just I don't see it so I think it's a good fit I just think it's it's a tough sell I trade Campbell for for Turner I'd be fine with that I saw that I'd be fine with that yeah no it's it's fine I prefer to keep Campbell he's really good but yeah no that's totally fine yeah we do we do like ourselves some Isaiah Campbell over here but yeah I like the idea of Turner haven't rolled him out because they age. I don't really care about that. He's still producing, right? And I mean, you know, I know this is kind of

the exception, but I mean, Nelson Cruz produced late in his 30s and into his 40s. So like, I mean, it's not like an absolute death knell for some guys. So like it's definitely an exception to the rule if you produce at that age, but still like it can happen. You can still do it. So. And, uh, yeah, Turner was, Turner was productive this year and, um, hasn't really shown any real signs of slowing down. I mean, I haven't, I haven't dove too deep into the next. numbers on Justin Turner. I'll just be honest about that. Like, I haven't looked way too into him. But like, for what I can see, you know, just on the outside looking in, like,

seems like there's no reason to think that he won't be able to do what he did this year next year. Yeah. He'll hit a lot of doubles. He won't strike out. He'll put the ball and play. Give you good at bat, that type of stuff. Yeah.

And that's kind of what you need. Kind of what you need. So, yeah, I'd be into it. All right. Next question here comes from Teddy. If you could have one trade reverse from the last five years, what trade would it be? last five years there aren't a lot because like 2019 forward so like the early jerry like so like the the the chris taylor one is off the table uh for example yeah yeah the david pelps Pablo lopez one is off

the table like even the like the kelnick uh done is off the table not that you would reverse that but you know like yeah those year one of the rebuild the this is a nino trade like the jp trade again not not that you would reverse any of these But those are all off the table. I actually went through and I looked at the last five like, same. And I didn't find one where I was like, that was just horrible process.

Right. Because like even with the deals where like it didn't really pan out for the marriage, they didn't end up giving up anything that worked out for the other team either where I'm right. You know, having buyers remorse on that front. Sure.

Like the Colton Wong trade is probably the one that a lot of people would say. And it's like why they give up Jesse Winker and Abraham Toro. That didn't hurt them. And even in a trade where you gave up something that was value, that proved to be valuable, you did get proper return. Like you did get something out of that trade still. Like the, the Gino trade, right? Like, Jesse Winker didn't work out.

And, you know, the Red's got some nice pieces. Like Jake Braley's been a nice piece for them. Brandon Williamson's obviously a young starting pitcher that's produced a little bit already. But like, I got Gino. I'd make that trade again, like in a heartbeat. If I could find that equivalent trade this year. Yeah. Yeah, I do that in a heartbeat.

So, like, I'm fine with that. The only one I could kind of see and like, again, I'm stretching here is, is the Austin Shinton and J.T. Shargua for Diego Castillo. But I think that was fine. Like I would still do the Kendall Graveman trade. You know, and that's really it. You know, my whole thing is that I just, I would still do the seat wall trade. I would just do more.

So it's not a trade that I regret. There are trades that I wish they had made more so than like trades I would undo. So I actually, I don't, I don't really have a good answer for you. the best I could find is Castillo for or Chirgwa and Stent and Chintin for Castillo. But that's that's stretching it. Even then though, I like the process of that trade. I know like Diego didn't really work out towards the end of his Mariners tenure. But for the most part, he was fine.

It was pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. I just, you know, and I'm a Shinton guy. So obviously that one. Right. Yeah. five years and it's never like I don't have a problem with the trades they made it it's like like the louis

cassio trade yeah I'm absolutely doing that again and then I look at you know the rest of that deadline I'm like they should have been even more aggressive uh so I actually think it's more of a it's a lack of aggression more so than being overly aggressive that's uh concerning me over the last five years in the in the trade market yeah it's not really about the trades that I wish they they could redo or not do if they had the chance to do it all over again. It's more just about they needed to do more on top of that. So like they needed to do more after the Seawald deal. They needed to do more after the Castillo deal.

They did. So that's really where my issue lies in terms of like trades with Jerry and company over the last five years. But yeah, like you, I looked through the, you know, the trades over that time span. And I didn't really see anything where I was like, man, that was a bad deal. That did not work out for them. man, I wish they could have that one back. Yeah, I mean, there were there were trades that didn't work out. Like, but it's, but again, it didn't work out for the other team too.

So. Right. Or barely like it was pretty neutral. Like it just, I didn't find one. Like I didn't find like. And even I was like, okay, well, maybe this one was just bad process and it just, it worked out, but it was a bad process. Yeah. I mean, the process was good. The results have been totally fine.

Like, you know, you win some, you lose some. But like, when they miss, they've missed really small. so yeah yeah so if we've if we missed one let us know in the comments but yeah there was nothing that i saw that made me go man i wish they could do that again but yeah all right next question here from d panky what's been the single most annoying thing mentioned on mariners twitter since the season ended the mariners would have a hundred percent made the post season if they didn't make the trade with arizona that depoto has been rebuilding for nine years or something else i'm going to say this. I'm not allowing

things on Mariners' Twitter to like me anymore. But in terms of just like stupid stuff, there's a lot. There's a lot to choose from. Yeah. There's a lot to choose from. What's your pick here, Foley? Probably the whole like, the Rangers have only

been rebuilding for two years and Jerry's been rebuilding for nine and it's like right. Both of those statements are wrong. Like they're both wrong and they're both incredibly stupid. Like this is the Rangers first winning season since like 2017 and they've only been rebuilding for two years like what i just i just i don't get it by way two years into their rebuild the mariners also won 90 games it's just the rest of the

american league was a lot better than it was this year so um yeah it's it's probably that combination of like the rangers have only been rebuilding for two years and then the mariner's been rebuilding for nine it's like that's not an actual that's not that's not a factual statement like you're you're lying And what's worse is is that when people, when people are saying it who I know, know better, but it's all about interaction. It's all about like, you know, bending over backwards to the, to the mob of, like, you know, fire Jerry people and all that stuff. It's just like, come on, you know better than that. And you're still saying that.

Yeah. So, yeah, it's that particular, it's that particular comparison that I just, I roll my eyes at. And like, you just, you don't know ball. Like, clearly, you have no idea what you're talking. talking about. Right. Like I said, I'm not allowing myself to get annoyed by anything that happens on Mariner's Twitter anymore. I've done that. I've been there. I've done that. I'm over it. I'm not wasting my energy on that stuff anymore. Uh, because Twitter and

Mariners Twitter overall is pretty unsurious. Um, I think for me though, like the dumbest thing that I've seen is, and this is something that I've seen in other offseason, but this offseason more so, uh, is the whole Jerry is cheap thing. Like, it's his money. Like he's like, you know, going, you know what, John? I'm going to do you a solid here, pal. I'm going to save you a few bucks here. Like, no. Like the whole Jerry is cheap thing.

Like that's just, it's wrong, right? You're just blaming the wrong person. Yeah. My main issue with Mariners Twitter is like, they're right to criticize Jerry, but they criticize him for the wrong things. They criticize him for things that are like a John Stanton problem or a Scott service problem.

You know, it's not like actually Jerry and Justin issue. no and you know as much as i i like the guy i think he's done a pretty good job there there are ways you can criticize jerry totally justifiably and yet you still don't do it you go to the stuff that you can and it just kind of derails your entire like the marriage should move on from jerry uh nonsense when you don't even properly blame him for the right things like it just it just makes your whole argument um pointless like it just completely wipes away what you're trying to accomplish here.

But yeah, no, there's a lot of dumb. My favorite is, is if the Mariners don't sign Otani, it's proof that they don't care about winning. And it's like, what? All right. Well, I guess the other 28 teams that won't sign Otani this offseason also don't care about winning. Yep, obviously.

Because they cared about winning. They would force Otani to sign that contract. Right. Bag over his head, put him on a plane, pin in his hand. Like, and it's like, what do you talk? talking about. You are going to sign this contract right now? Showhead. It's like, just step away from the keyboard, guys. It'll be okay. Yeah. Uh, the other thing to you, all of your 54% funds are terrible. Stop doing them. They suck. Like, also, like,

today the Seahawks traded for Leonard Williams and like I have a bunch of comments on my mentions, like, it's nice to see a Seattle front office actually get aggressive. Like, come on. Like, we stop like I see the Seahawks care more about winning more than 54% than a certain other team in Seattle like stop stop it's cringe even if you're right

even if you're right it's cringe yeah the 54 like the Seahawks just made a big trade and your immediate reaction is like the Mariners is like what dude come on like be serious

you're listening to the Lockdown Marries podcast thank you again for making us your first listen let's get back into these final few questions we have from you guys here on Mailbag Monday. Greg wants to know, Marin is fold from the poker table when the stakes get high on quality players. Snell has made it public that he likes Seattle and the one player that would be an obvious sign for a team that has controlled young starting pitching. He's going to want years.

Do you think Jerry will make it happen? No, and I think he's actually justified and not aggressively pursuing Snell if that's what he's. chooses to do so because look there are durability concerns he's only pitched like a hundred and fifty plus any it's like twice in his career he's been playing for a while now walks are a major issue he's kind of the anti-c tz pitcher even though that he's probably going to win a si young this this year is going to be pretty close uh to that mark and you know for that for for those reasons too i mean like for the fact that he is probably going to win a sye young or get close to that point he's probably going to command a pretty hefty contract.

I think there are going to be, you know, there's going to be other teams that drive that down because they're all going to have the same concerns that the mergers are going to have, where for all the issues that I just brought up, but that's going to be a, you know, three to five year deal,

probably $23 to $27 million a year. Like that's, that's a pretty big investment that you're making on a guy that doesn't necessarily fit, your pitching philosophy and you don't really know if you're going to be able to get the innings out of him. Like he doesn't go,

like even when he's been healthy, he doesn't get deep into ball games because he runs long counts. He walks guys like I mentioned. There's a lot of issues there with Blake's now. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't necessarily blame Jerry. While I do think that the best strategy

for the marriage to take this off season is to go and sign a starting pitcher and then trade from their starting pitcher to go get the bat or bats that they need, I would necessarily blame Jerry if he looks at Blake Snell and Justin, they look at Blake Snell and go, you know what, we're good.

But I would hope then at that point they would pivot to another pitcher, right? Instead of going, you know what, we're just not going to involve ourselves in the starting pitching market. I would prefer that they, you know, pivot to like Sunny Gray or maybe someone on a lower end

like Michael Waka who's only going to command a year or two something like that. Colby, how do you feel? Yeah, I don't, first of all, I would challenge the assertion that the Mariners fold whenever there's like a bidding war. Roof. But I would also say that no, I don't think that Jerry should,

will make it happen. And I don't think he should. I really, I don't see Snell as a fit. I love Blake Snell. And of course, he wants to play in Seattle. It's his favorite team growing up.

He was a UW commit before he got drafted in the first round. Like he's a huge Seahawks fan. He's a Husky basketball and football fan. He lives in Seattle. Like he wants. to be in Seattle. Of course he does. So I can appreciate that. And I like Snelli. He seems like a fun dude and he's a good pitcher. But there are some serious red flags with Blake and his fit with the Mariners is not anything that is like it's, it's not a slam dunk.

It's far from it. Like Ty said, you know, he walks too many guys. He runs a lot of deep counts. He doesn't get deep in games. There are durability concerns. And in this free agent class, he's probably looking for that like, Carlos Rodan uh type of deal and nobody should give him that like I wouldn't I I like the the structure that the Mariners gave Robbie Ray uh which is a three year with a two player option I would probably want that to be more of a team option or a mutual option of some kind uh with now because where the baroners actually have an out yeah

right because unlike Ray Snell hasn't posted like he has missed time he doesn't go deep like there's one thing that Robbie Ray was supposed to bring to the table it was dependability and then go figure year two 20 pitches in he tears his UCL and he has Tommy John but Ray at least posted and Ray had better walk rates than than Snell did when he signed and when Ray won the Sigh young so and again not to mention the Mariners have a ton of money invested in that starting rotation already so is there a way that they could do it like if Snell's willing to give the Mariners a heck of a deal yeah I'm interested of course I am but I just don't imagine that there's going to be a scenario where Snell is going to leave tens of millions of

dollars and multiple years on the table just to sign with Seattle. But if he's willing to do that, I'm in. But I don't think Jerry should get into a bidding war with Snell to me. This is like if you want to play for your favorite team, like we'll give you two with a two year option and we'll give you a 25 mil, you know, each of the first two years. And then there's like a 30, like you can make it work. Like if Snell really wants to pitch for you that badly. I'm not giving him market value because I'm okay with what I have and the starting pitching.

And frankly, I think I can do better for, you know, $150 million or whatever he's going to end up getting. Right, right. All right. All right. Next question here. I think this is going to be our final question. We had a couple more, but we're running kind of late here. So maybe we'll get to them in another episode.

But this one comes from Phil. What would you or what would it take in a trade to get Lane Thomas from the nationals? fully. A lot. Yeah. Well, and also I think the nationals are probably going to try and contend for a wild card this year. So you're probably going to have to give up major league pieces. And I don't know. Like, would you trade Miller or Wu for Thomas? No.

So then at that point you're probably not. Yeah. Yeah. Then you're probably not getting Lane Thomas because like I don't think they're going to take a prospect package. No. I might be misremembering this. but I feel like there was like a rumor out there that like the Mariners did check in on Lane Thomas this summer and they were told Bryce Miller. And it's just, well, there you go.

So yeah, I don't see that as a possibility. We're talking about like Lane Thomas and CGA Abrams. Like, yeah, then we can start talking Miller and Wu and that type of stuff. But two years of Lane Thomas, the guy who's really only been an everyday player once in his entire, you know, career. A little too rich for me. You know, if Lane Thomas had like four years left in your getting Miller or Wu,

okay. But I just think the club control just makes it a bad fit. Because if you get them for a prospect package, I'd be very interested in Lane Thomas, but I don't think you can. And trading from your Major League roster to where it makes sense for the nationals to trade their best hitter, it's Miller or it's Wu.

And at that point, I'm out. all right now that's going to do it for us a quick question of the day before we get out of here do you guys consider chocolate a candy or do you differentiate the two do you differentiate chocolate from candy some people do that i don't though like if someone asked me what my favorite candy bar is it's it's snickers right but i know some people are like candy is just confection and like chocolate is chocolate so let us know in the comments below. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Marrars podcast for Colby Pat out. I'm Tadang Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Mariners. You can

follow me at Dan Gonzalez, this A&E, GNZLZ, and Colby at C-Pat 11. That's C-PAT-1-1. 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 next time. Peace.