Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mailbag: Should the Mariners Move On From Mike Ford, Send Jose Caballero to Tacoma?

Episode Date: August 7, 2023

It's a rare Mariners off day, which just so happens to coincide with Mailbag Monday. What's on the mind of Mariners fans following a four-game sweep of the Angels? Colby and Ty answer questions covering roster moves Seattle could make today or tomorrow, who will take the bulk of starts at second base moving forward, if it's time to trust Tayler Saucedo in high-leverage situations, and plenty more.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 | @CPat11Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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! DaveDownload Dave today at Dave.com/mlb. You could get up to $500 in 5 minutes or less! No credit check. No late fees. 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 it time for the Mariners to swap out some bench pieces? Has Taylor Saucato earned the trust of Scott's service? We'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, August 7th, 2023. This is Tedding as Olick and Colby Petnout for the Lockdown Mariner's podcast. 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. And 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. Welcome to Mailbag Monday, the show where we answer your Mariners questions. Let's just hop right into them. We're going to start with Hunter here who has likelihood of Emerson Hancock getting called up soon and hopefully swapping out

Jose Cabiero for and Mike Ford out ideally would like to see Sam Haggurty maybe Shiner what do you guys think so I would actually like to see Haggurty and Zach Deloach you would basically view Haggurty as the

Caballero replacement and Deloch as the Ford replacement because with Ford you really just need the bat it doesn't really matter positionally because you have other guys like a man for space you have Dominic Canso and you have Dylan Moore, you have Josh Rojas outside of just Thai France. So you don't really need to worry about covering first base in case of a Thai France injury

on that front when it comes to Ford. And yeah, Haggerty's hitting out of his mind right now in the PCL, which, yeah, it's the PCL, but still, I think it's time for him to come back up with the big league club. So, yeah. Colby, do you agree? And also, when do you think we're going to see Emerson Hancock? 20 grade question. Um, no, I do think we're going to see Hancock soon.

I mean, you really don't have any choice, honestly, um, because the difference between Hancock and like, you know, Malone or McCacken or any of those guys is pretty significant. He's just your best option. It doesn't necessarily mean he comes up and he's in the rotation right away. But you're going to need him to eat some innings. Uh, so whether that's as a, you know, multi-endine reliever or as a piggyback guy with Wu or maybe he gets a couple starts here and there and you push Wu to the pin for a little while, you're going to need to call him up. So it's going to be

soon. I don't, there's really no reason to wait, you know, until the call-ups, September call-ups because you're not even using Devonsuite. So having, you know, Hancock in the bullpen for five days in a row, it's not going to upset anything. You're not using that spot anyway. So Hancock should be up soon. I would just have them up for this homestand, but we'll see what they decide to do. And then, yeah, obviously, Cabiero, you know, huge credit to him. He kept the Mariners second base spot afloat for a couple of months when Colton was really struggling. But he just doesn't do anything that Sam Haggardie doesn't. And the only way Cabiero can help you right now at the plate is if he gets hit by a pitch or if he walks. That's it. So in terms of like the

pinch running. Haggerty's perfectly capable base runner. Dylan Moore's perfectly capable base runner. So, like even the idea that like, oh, he's our best base runner. Yeah,

that's fine, but you can't give him 40% of your at bats, you know, down the stretch at second base. So yeah, he needs to go down. Haggerty needs to be up. The second base platoon is,

should be Rojas and more with Haggerty mixed into. Ford is just bad. Like the, it struck midnight. He's a pump. again. So yeah, I think you can go with Shiner if you want. It kind of depends on how the Mariners feel about lefty, righty.

Shiner replaces the power that Ford brings, but Deloche replaces the handiness issue. If the Mariners think there is one. So, yeah, I think you could pretty much sell me on either one at this stage. It's kind of what do the Mariners want to do with that spot. And Shiner's, you know, decent enough at third that, like, you could. play there and he could play first. But yeah, I just, I mean, I, like me personally, I would swap Ford for Haggerty right now. And if you still want to keep Cabrero up just as like a pinch runner, I think that's dumb.

But yeah, I'd rather have I'd rather have Cabbiero than Ford because at least Cabby can play multiple positions and can run the basis. So yeah, I think they do need to make a move at least, you know, those two moves on the bench. Then they probably should call it Baroa or Hancock for Sweet. So yeah, I do think there are some moves that they should make. make. Yeah, Mike Ford since the All-Star break is seven for his last 50 with 27 strikeouts.

So it's time. You know, big kudos to him for everything that he was able to contribute when he was hot. He helped the Mariners' offense stay afloat for a really crucial point in the season. So yeah, credit where credit is due,

but it's probably time to move on there because it's not like he's making up for the lack of offense and defense. So yeah, that's a showbiz. Sorry, thanks for all your help, but we got to do better. So see you. Yeah. Next question here comes from Momo.

Like others have said, could it make sense to pick up Christian Arroyo for second base? I know we haven't given Josh Rojas many opportunities, but he hasn't looked great either. Would we have to DFA him or could we send him down? So real quick on that, yes. Rojas has two minor league options remaining. So yes, you can send him down and you can send him down next year. as well if you want to. As for Christian Arroyo, he's already cleared waivers and been outrighted to AAA.

So he's no longer an option for the Marriers. I also saw some other people ask about Ramon Laureano, who was DFAed by the A's. He was picked up today by the Guardians. So he is also not an option for the Mariners either. But even if those two guys were, I don't really have much interest in either one, personally. no i mean loriano what is he going to take out bats away from canzone like why he's not better than canzone he's not better than more like he's not better than haggerty at this stage and erroyo is essentially right-handed josh rojas i mean when they're at their bad rc plus this year refers splits guy too right and like when they're at their best they're like 105 to 108 w rc plus guys the only difference is that rojas is actually a more valuable defender so now Now, that wouldn't have made much sense either. So, yeah, you should definitely be looking at the waiver wire, though.

Like, keep an eye on that. But, you know, not just because you've heard of the person, doesn't mean that it's a good claim. There's going to be a lot of bad players that get DFA in. Sure. So, you know, just because you recognize the name doesn't mean that they're necessarily a good fit. But, yeah, I understand why you guys ask. I just no interest on my part. But also, those guys aren't even options anymore.

So, yeah. All right. Scott wants to know, who do you think it's the majority of starts at second base from here on out it's it's going to be josh rojas until further notice uh but in my opinion it should be dillemore now that's obviously dependent on health but and small sample size but he has actually hit righties pretty well so far this year especially as of late uh so i would like to see dmo get more starts over at second uh and it shouldn't really be dependent too much on matchup um but yeah it's going to be ross yeah um you know there's still the issue of what can dillamore

handle physically. I mean, yeah, we keep on thinking he should be back to 100%, but we don't know, right? We have no idea. And there is a little bit based on matchup.

There are some Ritees that are going to give Dylan Moore troubles. And to be fair, Rojas is giving nobody trouble. So it probably should be Demo, but I'm totally fine with them, you know, working at some kind of platoon. It doesn't have to be strictly handedness.

It can be about matchups. And, you know, at the very least, Dylan Moore, a pretty high probability he's going to hit the ball hard. And typically when you hit the ball hard, good things happen. So, yeah, it probably should be Demo, but Rojas is going to get a lot of the work. And I totally get why because if you can just get him to be an average bat the rest of the way,

it's a really valuable bench guy or a really valuable, you know, platoon guy. Like there's a lot of value to Rojas if you can get him hitting. Just, yeah, early returns on that, not looking great. But, yeah, I think it should be Demo with Hagarty mixed in. But I think it's ultimately going to be Rojas with Dylan Moore mixed in. And maybe it's also a little bit dependent on how Cade Marlowe performs from here on out because maybe they feel that Moore is a better option for them in left field than the Marlowe. And that opens up second base for Caballero, Haggherty, Rojas, etc.

So we'll see. But right now, as things currently stand, especially while Marlowe is still hot, I would like to see more getting the bulk of the playing time over at second. but it's not going to happen like that. I mean, that's, that is the beauty, though, of having versatility on the bench. Yeah. You have your, your bench is can't zone,

Rojas, Moore, Marlowe, like, whatever. Any combination of those players, you can cover every position on the field with those three guys on your bench. So yeah, versatility is, is a nice little tool to have on the bench, and it's not something the mayor's ever really had this year, but now they do or in theory they do. All right.

More of your questions coming up here in just a moment, but first a reminder of this episode of the last, Lockdown Marys podcast is brought to you by Dave. No, not Sims or Knee House. Dave is the banking app that's leaving the financial field. At one time or another, we've all needed a little financial help. That's why Dave is great. Dave can get you cash between paychecks. You can help you build credit by settling extra cash advances on time. When you download Dave, you could get up to $500 in five minutes or less. No credit check, no late fees. It's part of Dave's extra cash account. Advance the money you need with no interests and then settle up later.

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You can get up to $500 in five minutes or less, no credit check, no late fees. Download the Dave app now or go to Dave.com slash MLB. And you're listening to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Thank you again for making us. You are first listened here on Mailbag Monday. The Mariners are off today. Much needed off day.

They also get an off day on Thursday. Sandwiched in between those off days. However, it's a two-game series with the San Diego Padres. You can catch all the action on the Marys hometown broadcast with Sirius XM via the SXM app. So real quick, I failed to mention this on the show last night, but thank you guys so much for getting us to 8,000 subscribers on YouTube. It's an amazing accomplishment. And I didn't think we were going to get there this quickly, but, or if at all.

So, yeah, thank you guys from the bottom of our hearts for all the support and for helping continue to grow this wonderful community that Colby and I have built here. Also, our two-year anniversary at Locked on is coming up on Wednesday. So is that a day game? I haven't checked the schedule. All right. So we're going to be doing a post game show that day. But Thursday is an off day.

So maybe we'll do something special to celebrate the anniversary. I don't know. Ties over compensating because he forgot last year. Do you guys have any ideas or any suggestions? Anything you would like us to do on the show to celebrate our two year? Oh, real fast. Actually, Thursday or Wednesday's game is a night game. I was mistaken.

So, yeah. All right. So, it should be a normal show. So then Wednesday, is there anything we should do to celebrate our two-year anniversary? Let us know in the comments below.

Do you guys want us to reflect back on our two years or answer some questions for some of you that are new or anything? Let us know if you have any ideas down below. All right, let's get back into these questions here. Steve wants to know after what we have seen lately from Taylor Sosato, should he be trusted? more in high leverage situations. Yes, for now, because you didn't go out and get that reliever to supplement the loss of Paul

Seawald, you pretty much have to play the hot hand right now in high leverage situations, especially when Brash and or Munoz are not available like yesterday. And right now, Saucato is the hot hand. And I actually believe in Taylor Saucato a little bit beyond just him being the hot hand right now. And two things with that really is the slider and the change-up. He's shown an ability to throw the slider effectively, both against lefties and righties. Yes, hitters are hitting 258 right now off of that pitch, but they're only slugging 355. The slider right now against right-handed hitters, a third of the time is generating a whiff.

29.3% chase rate and 50% of those chases are resulting in whiffs. And then that pitch is... eating lefties alive right now. 45.9% whiff rate, 37.8% chase rate, and those chases, 76 and a half percent of the time are resulting in whiffs.

The change-up has been an absolute weapon against Ritey's. 171 average 200 slug, and as we know, change-ups, lefty change-ups break away from right-ie hitters. He's only thrown that pitch against Ritey's, 148 changeups so far this year again all against Ritees

42.3% width rate on that pitch 42.7% chase rate 47.7% chase and miss rate. Those two pitches have been elite for Saucato and if you look at his baseball savant page, it is painted in red which for those that don't know, it's very good. That means that he is in the upper echelon of most baseball analytics for relievers

and yeah, he just, he's cooking right now. And we're seeing him now being put into these high-levered situations. And like we talked about yesterday, he's stepping up in a big way. So what do you think, Colby? Do you think we should trust Taylor Sostato, at least for now? I don't think you have a choice. Thanks to the fine folks who work with and including Jerry DePoto and Justin Hollander. So that's the bed you made.

So you got to lie in it. And so hopefully Taylor can continue to, pitch well and there's no doubt he has. And, you know, we, we'd started to see them start to use Saucato and more high leverage spots anyways before the Seawall trade. So, yeah, I think you're just, you're going to have to roll those dice and hope that, you know, Saucato doesn't turn back into a pumpkin, but at least there's, you know, reasonable optimism that he can sustain somewhat close to what he's been this year.

And, you know, just another really good bullpen find for this. front office. You know, it's crazy. The Mariners acquired Justin Topa, Taylor Sosato, and Gabe Spire for the total cost of Joseph Hernandez, I believe, is it? Joseph Hernandez and two waiver claims. Two waiver claims. And right now that's like the meat of the back end of their pull fan.

And this is, and this is what we said, man, during the off season. I remember the, the exact day when they. claim both Issa McGee and Gabe Spire and we said you know these guys like on paper right now or whatever like they're not really worth a segment to talk about but with mariners with relievers you have to pay attention and there we go lo and behold I mean we joked around with Jerry when he was on the show that hey you know Justin Topa I've no clue who this guy is but yeah he's probably going to be a top 10 reliever in baseball and you know we weren't that far off yeah so yeah that's just what the do you know so we'll see if any of these guys actually turn into legitimate high leverage relievers over an extended period of time where you feel like actually you might have supplemented the loss of seawald with one of those guys uh but you know again that's only something that we're going to learn with time here but so far so good yeah i just want to say this though before we move on i can't wait for this winter when the mariners trade josh rojas and like isaiah campbell back

to the diamondbacks for paul seawald that is just going to feel so good right right or they they they non tender not tender him yeah yeah they non tender seawald right rough go for seawald so far over there so maybe it's it's one game and then he pitched in like a blowout in his first game and struck out yeah struck out three yeah yeah whatever you know they're out of it you know yeah why not maybe that that whole deadline for the diamond backs was kind of weird this isn't diamond back show but just real quick like getting seawald getting seawald and then turning around and trading andrew taffeyer who's been one of the better lefty relievers and what was the thinking behind that I don't get that maybe it's a money thing I don't know

because then they go and then inquire Tommy fam too though yeah and then they yeah that was after the Chafin trade like what yeah I mean and I'm pretty sure they got they got a prospect back from Milwaukee for Chafin I don't think it was a major leagher so weird weird very weird yeah all right uh Paul wants to know in the off season and early season Colby insisted that J.P Crawford swing was not sustainable. What has changed? Colby. I don't know that I said a swing was not sustainable. I think I said it wasn't good. But yeah, you know, one of the only things that's really changed is that he's lowered his hand slot a little bit. He used to be up back here and now he's kind of down here by his shoulder instead of up by his ear. That allows him to cover more of the plate with more authority. It's still, you know, it's still just above average bat speed. It's not like an incredible whippy swing or anything like that. But JP's always been able to cover the zone.

And because he's lowered his hands a little bit, the bat has less, you know, it has less distance to travel to get to the ball. But yeah, I mean, I think, you know,

the thing that still is kind of annoying about JP is that he does the, the bat wrap thing. Like the cup of the bat will face the pitcher before he starts to swing. And that's just wasted movement, wasted movement in your swing. It's, you know,

it can be like a trigger for something. guys like Sheffield used to do the little hand thing where he break his wrist before he started swing yeah and so sometimes that's just like a uh basically a firing mechanism for guys but yeah jp wrapping the bat like around his head where the cup is facing the pitcher that's still going to hurt him against higher velocity but again the bat speed is is good it's not great it's good and he has amazing zone coverage uh so yeah if you can get to even more pitches than he could last time and the bat, you know, is traveling through the zone, you know, for longer, with more velocity behind it, then, yeah, he's going to hit the ball harder.

So, right. You know, I don't know if I would say this. I wouldn't feel good about going into 2024 and expecting J.P. Crawford to be a 128 WRC plus guy like he is right now. I don't know that I would expect that. I don't think that's fair to expect. What I say it's impossible is, is there something he's doing that's not repeatable? no not really um so yeah i mean i think that um i think that there are some very serious uh probabilities

that jp will regress some in 2024 but he it is you know when you make swing changes when you make tweaks to your swing that doesn't always mean that what's happening is a fluke it means that you've made an adjustment and this is the new you so do i feel comfortable saying JP is going to be like 30% above league average next year like he has been so far this year. No. Am I willing to allow for it to be a possibility because of, you know, the obvious changes that have been made? Yeah. Yeah.

And not a swing guy. I want to make that very clear here. But the swing does look a little bit shorter to the ball. It doesn't look as long now. Like he still has elite plate coverage, but it doesn't seem like he's extending. as much as he has in years past. And I don't, you know, we don't obviously have the data on this. This is like something for true media,

which only a handful of people have actual access to where you can find bat speed data. But it does seem like the bat speed has improved with what he was able to do over at driveline. And hey, you know, as far as 2024 goes, maybe there's another tweak or two that he makes a drive line that, you know, adds another element here that adds another wrinkle. but it's calm down. This JP is plenty good. No, this is very good.

But in terms of just being able to sustain this or something close to it, maybe there is another tweak or two that he has to make in the offseason. All right. So we got a few more questions here on the Lockdown-Maris podcast. Before we get into those, however, this episode of the Lockdown Marys podcast is brought to you by better help. Getting to know yourself can be a lifelong process, especially because we're always growing and,

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You can catch all the action on the Mariners hometown broadcasts the Sirius XM via the SXM app. All right, we got one, two, three more questions to go here on Mailbag Monday. Check in here with Jake who asked, do you think the Mariners could have just started the long-term downfall of the Angels?

They're going to lose a huge crowd draw that they get with Otani. They didn't capitalize on the prospect return they could have gotten. And they could be bad for a long time. Yes. And on top of that, they further gutted an already bad farm system, right? So they don't really have, I mean, look, there is some talent there, right? And even some young guys that are on the ball club already, like Zach Netto, right, that are probably going to progress, that are probably going to be better than they are right now.

Nolan Shaniel, the guy that they drafted would pick 11 in this year's draft. He's already in double A and he's crushing it. So, you know, he might be up. with the ball club sooner rather than later and he might be something there i mean they do have some talent but overall yeah i think they've doomed themselves to a very long rebuilding process and look it's southern california they're still going to be able to attract free agents but you no longer have the otani card and i don't think that trout carries as much cloud as he used to because if i'm a player on the outside looking in how many games do i think i'm actually going to get to play with

Mike Trout on a season to season basis. Right. And you look at the rest of that roster and you go, okay, well, what else is there to carry besides Mike Trout? Nothing. Rendon's a nobody. He's a nothing. You probably like O'Hoppy. You probably like Netto, but those are unproven players at the end of the day.

And despite having Otani and Trout this last winter, what big free agents did the Angels pull in? Yeah. Tyler Anderson. Right. And the other thing too is Rory like whoopty deal. Yeah and the other thing too is money right. Like they're gonna, so they're paying

Otani $30 million this year. So you essentially get $30 million that you didn't have this year next year, right? Who knows if they actually reinvest that into the ball club? But spending money has really never been an issue for Art Moreno. He just hasn't spent it wisely. So that's the big difference

there. So yeah, I think they'll be able to, you know, add major league talent still. But they don't have a lot of interesting pieces in that farm to go out and trade for guys. And they are at least to a certain point because they are pushing the luxury tax even without Otani, right? As far as I'm aware, at least I haven't looked at payroll recently. But they're not going to be able to go out and, you know, do what the Rangers have done.

And at least with what the Rangers have done, the Rangers have a much better farm system than the angels. I think it's a little overrated, but it's still far better than what the angels have right now. So they can't even really do that. So I think they're screwed right now. I think they are.

I think one of the bigger issues with the angels, though, is that they're never going to be terrible. Like, they're never going to be bad. They're going to win between 75, you know, 72 to 80 games every year with Artie Moreno at the helm because he's just going to throw money. at the problem and he's not going to trust his baseball guys to, you know, do what they need to do. And you look at, you know, the Angels, their farm system was improving, granted slowly, but it was getting better.

And then they went out and they exhausted a lot of capital for role players, you know, at the deadline this year. And yeah, it doesn't look like that's going to work out for him. So, yeah, I just, I think because Moreno's there, I don't think that they're, I just don't think that that front office is going to be allowed to rebuild. So I think it's a lot like the, you know, 2010 Mariners before John Stan took over where it's like, no, you're not allowed to rebuild. We are, you're going to, you know, we won 85 games last year. You're going to go spend money so that we can win 85 games again.

And we can win 85 games again. And we're not going to give you enough money to make the playoffs. But, you know, we'll give you enough money so that we can be relevant. Because at the end of the day, that is ultimately what Artie Marino cares about. he cares about being relevant. He doesn't want to be the Dodgers little brother. He doesn't really care about winning baseball games. He doesn't because if he did,

he would just trust his baseball people, but he doesn't. Yeah, I think the angels are basically set up to be what they have been for the last half decade, mediocre. And I think that's where they're going to stand for a long time. So I looked into the payroll stuff.

So they are very slightly over the luxury tax threshold this year. Next year, this is from, spot track, which is not a very reliable source of information. It's iffy like Colby's insinuating there. It says that they only have $133 million committed for 2024, but that's also not accounting for arbitration and stuff like that. So I don't know how all of that works out for them.

And I don't know exactly what their true payroll is. But again, they're not going to have a ton of financial flexibility. And on top of that, they don't have a deep farm system either, where they can, you know, go out and trade for more affordable pieces that fit their payroll better. So they're in a weird spot right now. And, yeah, I think they're due for a pretty long rebuild. But I also, you know, like Colby, don't think that they're going to fully commit to that either, whatever that looks like, right? Because they're not going to trade trout.

They're not going to be, I don't think they could be able to trade trout unless they chipped in a hell of a lot of money. and considering that they didn't trade Otani here what makes you think they're going to eat a ton of money to trade trout? They're not. So, yeah, they're in a rough spot. Don't envy them. And you know what? Good riddance.

All right. Nate wants to know it's premature, but hypothetically, would the Mariners go with a three-man postseason rotation or would they have to rely on Bryce Miller? Like we saw last year, yeah, you're going to have to use four guys at some point. over the course of the post season,

especially if you get deeper into it. Yeah, if it's just the Wild Card series, and if that's all you do this year, yeah, you're only going to use three guys. Mathematically, you can only use a maximum of three starters. But if you get to the DS, yeah, you're going to have to use Bryce Miller. And I don't think it's Brian Wu.

I don't think it's Emerson Hancock. I don't trust those guys enough, to be honest with you. It's not like I have a ton of faith in Bryce Miller either, but picking the lesser of two evils, it feels weird to say evils, but for lack of a better term, to pick the lesser of two evils, it's Miller for me. It's almost like you should have, you know, spend a little freight to go fix that problem. But anyways, yeah, you're going to have to use four guys.

But that doesn't mean you have to use Bryce Miller for six innings, right? Hypothetically, if the Mariners do earn their way to the postseason and they get to a five-game series or a seven-game series, you have your big three and you're going to use them as much as they can physically go. But for game four, you could just Miller for two and a third, woo for three. You know, you could kind of do it that way. And that's just kind of what you have to do in the playoffs anyway. So yes, you're going to have to use Miller in the playoffs if you get there. And if you get to a five game or seven game series, you're going to have to use Miller.

But it doesn't have to be in a traditional role. You don't have to, you know, put them out there for, it's not like in the regular season where it's like, you know what, we just got we need innings Bryce I'm sorry you have to go give give a six no matter how ugly it is no in the playoffs all hands on deck you do whatever you have to do so yeah I'm not too worried about the four and the five spot in a playoff series um and plus like you said we got to get there first before I start to really dissect that yeah we do we do need to get there first um but yeah just looking at last year I think it becomes pretty clear with the what that would all look like for the mariners and again as long as a There's no, there are no injuries, which did knock on wood here. As long as there's no injuries in the rotation, yeah, it would be Miller for me over Wu and Hancock pretty clearly, unless Emerson Hancock just blows me away, which I like Emerson, Hancock more than Colby, but I don't think that's going to happen. So, yeah. All right. Last question of the day from Dylan.

What is the more important weekend coming up, Baltimore or Houston? So, got the best team in baseball and the Baltimore Orioles coming to town this weekend for Philly. weekend. And then on the next road trip, the Mariners are going to Houston for the final time this year for three games set with the Astros who are a lot more healthy and they're playing better ball than the last couple times we've seen them. For me, the answer is pretty clearly the Houston series because I still think that the division is more than well within reach for this team. They've got to get on a run and they're going to need some help. But I still think that they can make some noise in this division and that series is going to be very important.

Because honestly, if I had to put money on it right now, given all the injuries that Texas has sustained, Josh Young just landed on the IL with a fractured thumb, I would pick the Astros to win this division. So that's who I'm gunning for. And so that series to me is massive for the Mariners. This weekend, though, that's not to diminish this weekend, because this weekend's going to be a really nice test for this team.

This is a nice little heat check for the Mariners right now because they and the Orioles have been neck and neck since July 1st in terms of who's been the best in baseball. And so, yeah, to see those two teams clash. And, you know, look, the Orioles are a team that you're probably going to see in October if you get there. And they have a weakness where you have a very great strength, and that's in your starting rotation.

So it would be interesting to see how those two things stack up in a three-game series just as a little bit of a preview for what might come in October. So what do you think, Coli? The Oriole series is more important because it's next. Like the series you play next is the most important series. Sure. So like neither of those series.

So the Padre series is the biggest series of the three. Yes. Until the last pitch on Wednesday night. Then it's the Oriole series. Then it's the Kansas City series. Then it's the Houston series. Like, yeah. Like you can, you can,

you can shake your head all you want all you want but i'm accurate because you should be you should be a coach and not a podcast if you're looking ahead if you're looking ahead to the houston series and you're not looking at the fact that you could easily go oh and five this week i don't know what to tell you man like i don't have like i'm not looking ahead beyond what i what i can see and right now i need to get through this podre series um i need to not give back the ground that i gained this last weekend And the only way I could do that is to care about what happens against San Diego and Baltimore. So, yeah, if you want to go all technical with ties, answer because Houston's in your division, I suppose that's more important.

But tell you what, if you get swept by Baltimore, you get to that Houston series. And I'm not matter what you do against Houston. So, yeah, you better, you better focus up here, man. Nick Martinez is coming to town tomorrow and he's looking for a shutout. So, yeah, you better win the series. like stop looking ahead Nick Martinez Stop looking ahead

To the last week of the season Where you play Texas and Houston Seven times Stop looking ahead to what happens After you finish with Baltimore And look at the 16 of the 19 Are against really bad teams Oh we're gonna feast

Stop looking ahead Look at tomorrow That stuff like come on We've seen this team lose a series Of the nationals We've seen this team lose a series Of the Tigers now look, they're a little bit of a different team than they were during those series,

even though the Tigers series was only like three weeks ago. But like, so mariner's are a very different team than they were in those series. I'll tell you this. I bet the Mariners lose one of those series. It's going to be the Kansas City one. Maybe. Kansas City is cursed. I mean, I think there's a four game set there, but Kansas City is actually playing decent ball right now.

So, yeah, I mean, I'm saying I bet they lose one of those series. They drop one of those series. Everybody panics. Oh, Playoff teams don't lose series like that. And we have to have the same conversation where it's like, yeah, they do all the time.

And we start talking about the off season again. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I won't be, but yeah. Well, no,

no, I don't know. The collective we as in the mayor's community. They have 16 games against like the worst teams in baseball. Hmm. They're going to go like, they're going to go like 10 and six, right?

And people are going to freak out that they didn't do enough. It's like winning baseball games is hard, it's hard. It's really hard, even against bad teams. just relax look at the game in front of you drive yourself crazy if you keep on looking ahead like like i see people like here's how we get to 90 wins and they're breaking down like you win two against san diego you win one against baltimore you and what are you doing like focus on today tomorrow

that's it like come all right mr we're one san diego one day at a time good lord one day about okay i will care i will care about the first of all that's the meanest thing you've ever said second of all truthful i i will care about the houston series when we get to it i just i can't it's stupid to look in like people who are charting wins like oh here's how we go 30 and 20 down the stretch to get to 90 wins and all that's dumb that's dumb it doesn't because you can't look ahead it's all about pitching matchups it's about who's hot who's not it's all about travel it's all about injuries and those are all things we can't predict

So stop trying to do it Just focus on tomorrow We'll talk about the game It'll be fun Instead of driving yourself crazy Being like oh man If we only go like 11 and 8 in this 19 game stretch

Like we're pretty much screwed right Like I don't know Maybe maybe not Just relax One day at a time Gotta go 1 and 0 Championship opportunity tomorrow 90 feet is 90 feet

Like just let's do this thing Okay relax it's going to be okay. They're going to have a bad loss, by the way, guys. The bullpen's going to blow a game at some point. That's not the time to jump off the ship. Okay. Just relax.

They're going to lose three in a row at some point this further down the stretch. Absolutely they are. Why are you so negative? I'm a realist. All right. You're being so negative, Colby. No. Reality is like poetry.

Unsubscribe. Reality is like poetry and most people hate poetry. Okay, but it's there. Okay. All right, sure. On that note, that's going to do it for a show. I don't know how to fall that up. Thank you so much for joining us here.

Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Marrace podcast. For Colby Pat note, I'm tightening it's all. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Mariners. Follow me at Dan Gonzalez. That's D-A-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-Pat-11. That's C-P-A-T-1-1. Follow us on Instagram. and TikTok as well over at Lockdown Mariners.

I don't even know why I continue to say that because we haven't updated either one of those pages and forever and by we, I mean, me. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode, though. Thank you again for making us your first listen. Again, you can catch the Mariners and the Padres tomorrow on the Mariners hometown broadcast with Sirius XMV, the SXM app. And if you're still listening, again, let us know below.

What should we do for our two-year anniversary show on Wednesday? We'd love to hear your suggestions. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day. and we'll see you next time. Peace.