Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mailbag: Is Scott Servais to Blame For Mariners' Disappointing Start?
Episode Date: May 22, 2023It was another disappointing weekend for the Mariners, so Colby and Ty open up the mailbag to answer your questions. In this episode, they hand Scott Servais a grade for 2023, discuss the hot start of... Jonatan Clase, and talk about how to maximize the roster starting this week.Help us out by filling out our survey!Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: lockedonmariners@gmail.comFollow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11Ultimate 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.RocketMoneyStop throwing your money away. Cancel unwanted subscriptions -- and manage your expenses the easy way -- by going to RocketMoney.com/lockedonmlb.SorareHead to sorare.com/lockedon to draft your free team of player cards, set your lineup, and start competing today to win epic rewards. 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.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
How would we grade Scott's service through the first 46 games of the 2023 season?
That and more coming up here on mailbag Monday. Colby hit it.
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of this episode and this episode is mailbag monday the show where we answer your meritor's
questions. If you couldn't tell, we're kind of overdoing this intro. We've done it five times now.
Let's hop into these questions. Starting with Alex, what grade would you give Scott service so far this
year? And Colby, for the fifth time, I'm going to ask you, or rather the fourth time, one of the times
we couldn't even get past the intro. But what would you give Scott service in terms of a grade?
Doesn't matter if it's 2080, letter grade, whatever, just give us a grade. Sure. Weird again.
something with that LK thing makes you just have to pronounce the L.
But anyways,
Scott's probably, I think I'd give him a 45 or 50 somewhere in that range.
I really can't see going any lower and I certainly can't see going any higher.
You know, the team is hovering around 500.
That's not where you wanted, that's not where we wanted this team to be.
But, you know, that's where it is.
And how much of that is on Scott?
I don't think a whole heck of a lot.
There's some minor things here and there.
There's been a few times he's bunted,
which didn't work out,
because surprise,
bunting always works.
But he still likes to do that a little bit too much for my liking.
There are some times where he tries to squeeze extra outs out of a starter
with a rested bullpen that I don't like.
And it's cost him a few times this year.
But, you know,
it's also you have to acknowledge that Scott's not playing with a full deck right now
or a full roster.
You know, he's lost Robbie Ray early on.
Andres Munoz has only thrown like three innings this year so far.
You know, you look at the bad years so far from Julio and Teosker and Gino and Wong and Pollock.
You know, we've had Cal Raleigh not really take another step forward.
Ty France has been meh for large chunks of this season.
You know, the bullpen, he's lost a couple of, you know, key bullpen guys from last year's bullpen.
and yet the team is still hovering right around 500.
And yeah, I mean, that says he's doing something right, but not everything.
So I think 45-50, I really can't see going any lower than 45.
That doesn't make any sense to me, considering the hand that he's been dealt.
He's planning it about as well as you could expect.
But there are a few minor things here and there that maybe hold the grade back a little bit.
but yeah, I think it's a 45 to 50 somewhere in that range.
So just kind of average.
There's been a lot of problems with this team early on,
but Scott Service really isn't one of them,
at least not enough that we should be talking about.
You know, is he on the hot seat or any garbage like that?
So yeah, again, I'm never going to love in-game manager Scott Service.
That's just a fact.
I don't like half of what he does.
but all the other stuff seems to be, you know, he's working it just fine,
especially when you consider the hand that he's been dealt so far.
Of course.
And I'm going to go 45 on this.
Pretty firm on that as well because I do feel like the endgame decisions,
the end game issues have been a little more present early on here than maybe over the last
couple of years.
I just feel like we're talking about Scott's service a lot more than we have in the past
on this show.
maybe that's just head cannon I don't know but for me I just I feel like we have talked about some
some things that we've had issue with with Scott overall though you know like you said right
like this team is obviously not where we want it to be it's also not a complete disaster
and the roster is is fractured right now no Robbie Ray hardly any Andreas monos no
Dillamore so far there's been some key pieces to this team that we're supposed to be
key pieces to making this whole thing happen that are just that haven't been a part of it at all,
really. So taking that, you know, taking that context into account here and taking in the
fact that, you know, we don't really have any way to quantify what Scott and his staff or how Scott
and his staff have impacted individual players in both a positive and negative light.
because we're just we're not there
we're not privy to a lot of information behind the scenes
I feel like I can't go too down on him here
but I also don't feel great about going super high on him either
just going off of what I've seen with my own eyes
and the information that we have available to us
but overall I think he's done a decent enough job here
to keep this team afloat hey you know look
there are two games under 500 right now but if they have a decent
series against Oakland this week.
They're going to be right above 500.
And again, it's not where you necessarily wanted them to be, but it's far from a disaster
and they still have a really clear path to making the postseason from that point.
And we're not even a third of the way through the season yet.
There's still a lot of baseball to be played.
I know we keep on telling you guys, it's early, it's earlier, it's early.
I know you guys are tired of it.
And I know some of you are saying that I'm shilling for Scott's service because
I'm not crucifying him for the issues that have gone on with this team.
But a lot of these things ultimately seem like they're there are things that are out of Scott's hands,
things that he can't control because really what it comes down to is Julio needs to perform.
Teo needs to perform.
Teo has performed as a plate, by the way.
Good road trip for him.
But these guys, you know, Gino has to perform.
These guys have to show up.
These guys need to start hitting like the back of their baseball cards say.
And there's also some positive numbers.
as well, right? They're ahead of where they were and runs per game in 2021 and 2022.
Like, that's not nothing. The pitching has been elite. It's been, you know, one of the three best
pitching staffs in all of baseball from a pure F-war standard. So there's a lot of positives here
that are happening as well. And they're going to get healthier. And they also have a lot of
resources at their disposal to go out and get better, right? Obviously, what's on the market is going
to be limited, but, or you're limited to what's available on the market, rather.
But they have an opportunity to get better.
This roster can be better just with what it has internally right now.
What's going to come up through the farm system?
What's going to get back to them via the injury report, all that stuff or the injury list,
all that.
So overall, yeah, I don't feel too down on Scott's service.
Again, I'm pretty firm on that 45, though, because I feel like the endgame stuff has been a bit of an issue.
and we've talked about him quite a lot on this show.
But overall, I still feel pretty good about Scott.
All right.
Next question here comes from Dakota.
Why is Sam Haggerty still on the roster?
He plays once a week tops.
Should Taylor Tremel be sent down if he has options?
Jake Shiner slash Mike Ford callup.
Jerry specifically said that they would keep the DH position open.
Yet Gino has hardly seen any days off from the field.
I think the thing with Haggerty really is that they don't value that 26th.
man they there were that fourth bench spot really i think it was up to them and the rules allowed
them to do this they would carry a knife arm in the bullpen um and i just don't think that they
value haggerty ford shiner etc as someone that they would play that they would make an exception
to that rule for them so um i i really think that they're just buying time until dillamore
is able to come back which whenever that happens he made it through the weekend and ever it on his
pizza rehab, but yeah, I don't, I don't know.
How do you feel, Colie?
Yeah, it certainly does seem like they just don't plan on using that spot ever anyways.
And obviously, like, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the Mariners would
really like their 26-man roster to consist of 14 pitchers, 12, you know, offensive players.
But the rules won't allow it.
And now you kind of look at what the bench looks like now.
You know, it's Murphy, it's Wong.
it's, you know, Pollock or Trammell, like those guys are all going to get at bats over.
You're going to pick all those guys over Haggerty anyways.
So, yeah, I think Haggerty needs to be sent down as soon as possible, which, I mean, for me, was like a week ago.
Just because you want to see if you can get something out of Haggerty that helps you at the major league level.
And the only way you can do that is to get him consistent at Bats, but you can't really do that right now because your offense is, you know, really inconsistent.
and Haggerty hasn't produced at all.
So how do you get this guy every day at batch?
You send him down to AAA.
And you just let him play for a month.
And you see if you can get anything out of him.
My guess is they'll wait until Dylan Moore is ready.
I think they're going to probably rush Dylan Moore.
You know, you get 20 days.
I think he probably should spend, you know, all 20 rehabbing that injury.
But I think Tacoma is in town until Friday.
So wouldn't be too shocked if Dylan
saw, you know, the Mariners, saw Seattle in the weekend series against Pittsburgh.
We'll see how it works.
Obviously, he's got to get through the next couple outings, okay.
But again, he didn't get pulled.
He didn't have an unscheduled day off this weekend like he did in his last rehab stint.
So that's at least good news.
And Dillmore should help.
Obviously, he's not going to save the city or anything like that.
But, you know, he should help.
He's a useful player.
That is the nicest thing you've said about Dillamore on this show.
Yeah, I know.
I was defending Dillamore and the baseball thing slack last night.
It felt really weird.
Wow.
Wow.
I'd like that to stop.
But it only stops when they finally send down Haggerty.
So yeah, my guess is that they look at Ford and they say, you know, we're not even going to use them anyways.
And especially at this point, like, what is Mike Ford going to get if we call them up right now?
One app app before we send them back down for Dillamore on Friday.
It's just not worth it.
So, yeah, to me, I think they're just holding on.
which I don't like, but I think that's what they're doing.
I think they're just holding on for Dillamore
before they start using that 26th spot.
We're now officially in uncharted waters.
This is the farthest we've gotten in this recording.
So hopefully I didn't jinx it.
Hopefully we are on the track to finishing this one out.
We're going to get to more questions in just a moment.
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Thank you again for making us your first listen here on Mailbag Monday.
Let's get back into these questions.
This one comes from accent.
Heard some rumblings about Jonathan Classe being a top 50 prospect in the game right now
is a somewhat accurate or more like top 100.
Notice he's striking out 29% of the time
is that some scouts take a lot into consideration
or not so much since he's almost 21,
or not even 21 in AA.
He's actually striking out like 32.5% of the time now.
So I don't know if this question is outdated
or the numbers you were looking at were outdated or something.
He's striking out 32% of the time.
Great start till the year, nonetheless,
but yeah, striking out 32% of the time,
Jonathan Claus says not a top.
100 prospect in the game one of the better off-field prospects in the Mara system but not a top 100
prospect in the game right now I think the 29 probably comes from combining his high A and double a
strikeout rate so I think his season is probably 29 but he's at 32.4 right in double a so yeah
yeah it's a good start to the season certainly for Claise and he's a fun a fun player he's he's a really
good athlete. He's
showing some
power that wasn't
really there per se
before this year.
It's really a surprising power.
But
strikeouts are a concern for Class A.
he's yet to really wow people,
scouts in particular in center field.
It kind of seems like he's a fringy
center field glove at this stage.
It still could get better because
it's not a speed problem. It's more of an
It's more of a, you know, fundamentals and routes problem.
So you still get better out there.
But right now he's kind of profiling more as a, you know, corner outfielder,
which is fine.
But that means you have to hit for power in your profile to be a really good corner outfielder.
And while he's doing it right now, the swing and miss numbers and the miners do kind of point to some regression coming.
Can he hit 20, 25 home runs playing right field while, you know,
striking out less than 30% of the time.
If he can, fine.
And then he's probably an everyday player.
But we don't know that because, you know, the strikeout rates have gone up.
You know, but you repeated high A and they stayed about the same.
We jumped up to double A.
They've gone up.
We'll see where they are in a couple months.
But no, Class A is not a top 100 prospect.
I don't think if he, if I felt really good about his ability to stay in center,
then I think maybe you could argue it.
But when he moves to a corner, if he has to, that's a lot of pressure on the bat.
and striking out 33% of the time and hitting 12 home runs,
which I think is where a lot of people see his,
you know, saw his big league power before this,
this, you know, hot start,
then that's not an everyday player.
That's a quad A type of guy.
So we'll see,
Claese has got a lot of work to do.
Obviously, it's encouraging that he's off to a pretty good start this year.
But his double A numbers, obviously not as good as his high A numbers.
And we'll see where they are in a couple months.
But no, Class A is not a guy.
who's going to jump to the majors or anything like that this year and he's not a he's not a top 100 type for me he's
fringe top 10 in the mariner system and the mariners don't have nine top 100 prospects so
agreed it's pretty crazy to see what speed does like high-end speed does at the especially at the
bottom levels of the minor leagues he's played in 37 games this year he has 28 stolen bases
at 55 last year
28 stolen bases in 37 games.
That is, that's ridiculous.
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's like 70, 80 grade speed.
The interesting thing, though, is that I, based on what I know about class, and again,
it's not like I've seen him a ton, but he's not really considered to be like a good base dealer per se.
Like, he puts up numbers, like his 55 bags.
You're at least pretty good at it.
But he's not a great base runner.
It's mostly speed right now.
is he's not getting great, you know, jumps off the bag and, and, you know, he's not, he's just, he's very well.
It's tools over technique. Yeah. Right. Which is, you know, again, going back to the, to the conversation about center field for him, he has all the speed to cover ground out there. It's just from a technical standpoint. There's some questions about whether or not he can actually do it. Right. And so, yeah, it's, it's the freak athlete. It's the freak wide receiver.
who's 6 foot 5, 240 and runs a 4-2-9-40,
but he doesn't know how to run any route other than a slant.
It's like at some point you're just going to get bottled up,
and that's kind of what Claissé is right now.
Thankfully, you know, he is only 20 years old,
and you do have some time.
So it's obviously it's encouraging what he's done so far,
but let's pump the brakes a little bit on the Class A hype.
It's a bit premature at this stage.
Next question here comes from Bree.
Do you think Tom Murphy should have been benched
after giving up running on that ball he hit
that could have had him out or had him on first base.
I'm shocked to see this attitude is Cal hurt.
Then Cal did come into the game.
Cal did come into the game and caught for the last half inning.
He pinched for Murphy and the 8th.
But he has been dealing with neck spasms.
He didn't start yesterday and he didn't start the day before.
So maybe he was starting to feel a little bit better later on in the game and they just went for it.
They needed the offense, whatever.
But I think that was kind of a last ditch resort.
I think if it was up to them, if it was ultimately up to Scott service, he wouldn't have played Cal Raleigh in that game.
And that probably played a pretty large pardon to not disciplining Murphy during that.
But also we've talked about this.
Scott isn't really big on disciplining guys in the public eye during games, right?
Colby, you know, said that Gino should have been benched for getting picked off by Corbynard-Burns back in that Brewer series in mid-April.
service didn't do it.
I have no doubt in my mind that he does
you know have
talks with these guys about things
behind closed doors
but he's never been the type to
do that. So I wasn't surprised
that Murphy wasn't benched or
discipline in any sort of way for
for that. But yeah, that was
pretty disappointing to see him not
run that ball out to give up on it
especially when you know,
by the way, what was going on there
next to third base? Because Gino slipped the
half inning beforehand and then Riley did on that play as well.
Also,
did he actually catch it and it was just he dropped it on the transfer?
It's kind of tough to tell on the,
it was a line drive.
I think he initially caught it,
but he didn't like complete the catch or whatever.
So when you watch the replay,
Murphy hits it.
He sees the ball go into his glove and he puts his head down and immediately starts
to go back and then he realizes,
oh, that ball's live.
And then he starts to still jog to first.
but like at that point you're out anyways um but yeah so i it was a little tough to tell um you know
at this stage i was watching on my phone at a family event so i was you know kind of trying to do
a little bit of both but yeah it looked like he initially caught it um and then like he's his as he
was catching it his like foot gave out and he dropped the ball so right i don't know if like he would
have been able he probably would have been safe if he had busted out of the box but you know it's
it would have been actually pretty close.
And yeah, I think if Cal was, you know, 100% and they felt good that he could catch, what, seven innings at that time, then, well, he probably would have, well, he probably would have been in the lineup.
But obviously they didn't, and you're not just going to run the risk that hopefully Cal's neck holds out for seven innings so that we can teach Tom Murphy a lesson.
Because then what if you have to take, what if you have to take Cal out?
And it's a three, two game.
And it's like, you're screwed.
So yeah, I'm not, I'm not all that surprised.
I didn't make that move.
But he definitely had words with Tom.
I can guarantee that after the game.
And, you know, Tom, Tom's a smart guy.
He's a clubhouse leader type.
He knows too.
So, yeah, I'm not surprised.
Yeah, that was likely just a lapse, not something that's a long-term issue in any sort of way.
And that's also another reason why I'm like, okay, you know, you probably didn't even need to bench him in that situation.
He knows.
He knows that he messed up in that moment.
and just don't do it again.
Right. Right.
Yeah, still frustrating, but
yeah, absolutely.
There's nothing really to blame Scott on in that particular case.
Sure.
All right.
Got a few more questions coming up here in just a moment,
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Let's get back into these questions here, Colby.
We got one here from Lance who asked,
do you see any of the recent DFAs, Aaron Hicks, Brett Phillips, Sarah Cosmer, Jake
Mariznick, Miguel and Duhar being a fit or worth taking a chance on?
Colby, you've given any thought to any of these guys?
Actually, no, I know you have.
I know you have because we had a long conversation about this on our CTZ live stream on Friday.
So please spread your Eric Hosmer propaganda.
Go ahead.
No, I'm good.
The answer is no.
I just know Ty hates Eric Cosmer.
So it's always fun to poke that bear.
Of all the guys that were DFA, if I had to pick one that made the most sense, probably Hosmer.
But yeah.
So, no, I don't see anybody recently DFAed.
That makes a ton of sense.
Also, you know, you're not going to claim any of those guys because then you're
responsible for the remainder of their salary.
So you just wait for them to clear.
And if you want them, then you offer them the deal and you get them for the pro-rated
league minimum.
But I think Hosmer was already making the minimum this year.
So they want to claim them, fine, whatever.
But no, I don't think you're going to find your answer to the offensive problems out on
the waiver wire.
certainly not with the outfielders your outfields already pretty
stacked up with better options so
nothing really happened that that caught my eye
but again you know if I had to pick one that made the most sense out of that group
honestly it's it's probably Hosmer and that that's weird
but yeah I like Brett Phillips but the dude cannot hit
no he's he's bad great dude really funny dude
seems like he has a good heart all that
But run space as well plays a pretty good defense, but he cannot hit.
You cannot.
You cannot.
All right.
Next question comes from Bryson.
Do you think our only way to a postseason birth is with a division title?
The change in scheduling with every team playing each other does not let the ALEs beat each other up like last year.
Here's the thing on the ALE East.
There's still a lot of flaws with quite a few of those teams.
Even Baltimore who became the second team in all baseball to reach 30 wins.
I believe yesterday of the day before,
joining the raise,
who so happened to be four games ahead of them in the division,
which is wild to me.
They've been incredible.
The Orioles pitching staff,
or particularly that rotation,
is a pretty major issue.
And their owner has been,
for lack of a better word,
cheap in the past and hasn't been willing to spend
and invests in this team.
And he wasn't willing to do that this past off season
after they surprised everyone
by nearly making the postseason.
So are they, is he going to be willing to do that now?
Is he going to be willing to say, to give the okay to go out and acquire someone like Corbyn
Burns?
Because I mean, the Orioles do have the firepower to go out and do really whatever they want
on the trade market at one of the best farm systems in all baseball.
But are they actually going to be allowed to go out and do that and add a year
and a half of Corbyn Burns at the money that he's making and, you know, potentially have
that conversation about extending him, right?
So that's kind of my main issue with Baltimore.
Boston still has a lot of holes.
They're kind of overachieving right now relative to the way that their roster is constructed.
Great offense so far.
And unfortunately, the Mariners had to see that firsthand, especially over those last
couple of games in that series.
But that pitching staff, particularly that bullpen, pretty big issue for Boston.
So I don't know how that's going to hold up over the course of the summer.
and the Yankees for whatever reason.
I mean, they have a lot of talent, but they can't stay healthy.
And that's been an issue for them over the last few years.
I don't know what the hell is going on over there.
I don't know what's in the water in New York.
But for some reason, those guys just cannot stay healthy altogether.
So that's the big question there.
And even the Blue Jays.
Blue Jays outside of like four guys, not really hitting right now.
Their pitching staff is still kind of a mess.
You know, overall, a lot of talent on their roster, some guys that are severely underachieving.
They have an awful manager.
Terrible manager who has big Phil Nevin vibes.
Yeah.
They're quickly becoming the grizzlies of Major League Baseball.
It's, yeah, and this is why we talk about it's a long season that doesn't only apply to the Mariners, you know, getting back to a spot where they look like a good team.
It also applies to teams that we thought were going to be, you know, okay, but not great, kind of sliding back into their roles.
Now, it doesn't always work that way.
sometimes teams that, you know, they exceed expectations for the entire year.
It certainly happens.
But like what seems more likely that the Rangers are going to average six and a half runs per game all year or that they're going to regress and they're going to go through a rough patch at some point.
Like we saw the Astros.
They were bad for just as bad as the Mariners for just as long.
And now they won eight out of nine out of ten because you look at their playing Colorado and Oakland and Kansas City a bunch.
And it's like, okay, well, yeah, the Mariners can still do that.
And they've gotten Chas McCormick back and they've got Jose Al-Tube back, you know.
Right.
So, yeah, no, it's a long season.
We keep talking this.
I know people don't like to hear it, but it still is a long season and it is still relatively early.
So there's plenty of time for teams to come back to the pack a little bit.
And if you're the Mariners, you really can't care what other teams are doing.
You just have to try and get to 90 wins, give yourself a shot and you see where you are, you know, in July.
And again, in September, you just kind of see where you're at at that time.
So no, I don't think they have to win the division to get into the playoffs.
I would like them to win the division, but I don't think they have to to get in.
But we'll see.
You never know.
It just, it seems unlikely that every team in the American League East is going to win 88 games, you know, this year.
That just doesn't typically work itself out.
And obviously, you don't have to worry about anybody in the Central right now.
So, yeah, it's long season.
Yeah.
So, well, and that's the thing too, right?
Like Cleveland's incredibly talented, but they've struggled as well, you know,
I don't know if that's going to last forever.
So maybe the Central does end up becoming a tiny bit of a problem for the Mariners from that perspective.
But as for the ALEs, you know, my whole dissection of that group of teams is a long win away to say,
I think those guys are going to fall back to the pack a little bit and the Mariners are going to be able to play catch up.
And I don't think that the Mariners only path to making the postseason for the second straight year is by winning the division.
It'd be really nice if they did do that.
And I think they have a pretty good shot at doing that still, even with the disappointing starts of the year.
But I don't think that's the only way that they're going to be able to get in.
We'll have a much better idea of that in about two months.
When we get to about 10 days before the deadline, we'll have a pretty good idea what their path is if there is a path.
Yeah.
And it really comes down to do I think the Orioles are a significantly better team than the Marys?
No.
Do I think the Red Sox are a significantly better team than the Bears?
the mirrors? No, I don't. I think the mayor is like on paper their roster better than Boston.
So it's just right now things aren't clicking. Things are clicking for Boston and those things
tend to balance out more often than over the course. So yeah. All right. Next question here comes
from Peter. Peter wants to know assuming a demo activation this week and with Tacoma at home
through Friday. What moves would you make this homestand to reconfigure the roster? And how would you
space them out. You call up someone on Monday, another one later in the week.
Corey, what do you think? You get the best 26 guys you can on your roster as soon as you can.
So when you think Delam Moore is ready, he's the move for Sam Haggurdy. If that's on Tuesday,
you do it on Tuesday. If that's on Friday, you do it on Friday. If that's next Wednesday,
you do it then. I think when you look at the bullpen, right, flexing shouldn't be on this roster.
He shouldn't have been on the roster. Last week, he shouldn't have been on the roster the week
before we've been over this pick a bullpen arm put them on this roster dFA chris flex and it's not that
difficult so for me i don't care how you space them i want the 26 best guys i have on my 40 man
to be on this major league roster um and if that means they all happen on wednesday then so be it
that means one happens today and one happens on you know may 30th then fine whatever but yeah
more to me is the easy one it's haggerty for more it's a no-brainer um you know you guys know i
I don't think Agri should be on this roster at all.
And then the bullpen one is pretty easy too.
Right now, flexen, we don't know where Murphy and Munoz are in terms of how close they are.
But flexen is the dead weight there in the bullpen.
So you dump him and who's next up on the list, Prelanda Barra.
So you should probably be the move there.
But we'll see.
I just think those are really the only two moves.
I don't think they're going to, you know, send down Tremel.
I don't think they're going to DFA any of the vets.
and it's hard to imagine that they're going to send down anybody other than flexing in the bullpen right now
because Saucato's throwing the ball well.
You know, Spire and Topa have had kind of a rough weekend, a rough week.
Okay.
That's going to happen.
But you're not giving up on a reliever after his last, you know, two outings.
That's not what good teams do.
So we'll see.
But I think it's just probably those two moves.
And I don't care how you space them.
Well, Colby, I didn't think we would make it to this moment about 30.
30-ish minutes ago, but we're here.
Final question of the day.
And that honor belongs to Jase, who asks if Cabrero keeps producing and getting on base,
or Bade, as he typed here, what role does Colton Wong play?
Is he likely to be traded or does he become a utility slash DH guy?
Well, he's certainly not likely to be traded.
Yeah.
So not with his numbers.
Yeah.
Not really much of a utility guy either.
You can't really play shorts.
You could stand at shorts off.
You need him too.
You don't want him playing 30.
He's never played the outfield before.
So I think you just kind of roll with what's been working right now.
And some kind of a platoon, it's not always based on handedness, but you continue to use Wong, you know, a couple times a week.
A vibes platoon.
Sure.
But, you know, you continue to use Wong a couple times a week at second base.
I would give him starts at DH, you know, on occasion.
And I don't think that Tramel has run away with that,
that opportunity against all righties.
He should be the DH.
And obviously, I think, you know, Pollock should play a little bit too.
So, no, you can still get at bats for Colton Wong.
You can still get them three, four starts a week pretty easily if you need them to.
So, yeah, I think you're just right now, you're just kind of picking your spots.
You're trying to give him the best chance to succeed.
You're also letting him rest of that wrist a little bit, which he kind of came back a little early from,
earlier than he should have, probably.
and we know how tough that that injury is.
So I think you're just going to use Wong matchup based for now.
And then you hope that he gets in a little bit of a groove.
And if he does, then, you know, you could just move Cabrero to shortstop.
You want to play Wong and Cabrero in the same game.
You can move Cabby to third and give Gino a day off or give Gino a DH day.
You could put Dillmore back in the outfield and give somebody else.
And, you know, you have Wong play second, blah, blah, blah.
So, yeah, it's not going to be that hard to get Wong enough at-bats to give him a
decent shot to see if you can figure something out.
But, you know, that's up to the Mariners.
We've kind of seen them already fail at that once with Tommy Lestella.
So we'll see.
But at least one can throw baseball.
So that's something Tommy Lestella could not do.
So, but yeah, I think it's just, you know, once or twice a week at second base,
once or twice a week at DH and give them another month, see what happens.
And then you can make your moves from there.
We did it.
It's over.
finally made it to the finish line.
That's going to do it for our show.
Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Mariner's podcast.
For Colby Patnode, I'm Tadang Gonzalez.
Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at LO underscore Mariners.
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It's C-A-N-E, G-N-ZL-Z and Colby at C-Pat 11.
That's C-P-A-T-1-1.
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Thank you again for making us to your first listen.
Have yourself a beautiful baseball.
all day and we'll see you tomorrow peace
