Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mariners 'in' on Michael Brantley and A.J. Pollock, But Could They Turn Their Attention to Fernando Tatís Jr.?

Episode Date: December 13, 2022

After a lack of rumors for more than a week, it is being reported the Seattle Mariners are interested in Michael Brantley and A.J. Pollock and have even made a formal offer to the latter. Plus, the internet is abuzz with Fernando Tatis Jr. speculation. The guys offer their thoughts on the young star and if Seattle should even consider him. Finally, Colby and Ty rank 10 free agent hitters based on their fit with Seattle!Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/SimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnMLB to learn more.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! 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.

Michael Brandley and AJ Pollock are both reportedly on the Mariners radar. We'll tell you why they would fit in nicely in Seattle and also discuss if the team should have any interest in Fernando Tatis Jr. here on the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Colby hit it. You are Locked on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team every day. It is Tuesday, December 13th, 2022.

This is Tadang Gonzalez and Colby Patnaud for the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Thank you so much. for making us 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 want to hear from us even more, please consider signing up for our Patreon. The link as well as our social accounts is in the description below. On the show today, Michael Brantley and A.J. Pollock are reportedly on the Mariners radar. We'll talk about their potential fits in Seattle in just a moment.

We'll also discuss if trading for Fernando Tatis Jr. is in the realm of possibility. and rank some remaining free agents posed by Jordan Schusterman of Cessbitus family barbecue. Colby, though, wants us to talk about Tatis first. So you know what? He's worn me down.

We talked about it in the pre-show meeting. I was like, man, I just want to talk about the real news. And he's like, no, let's talk about Tatis first. So, all right. Give the people what they want. More like give Colby what he wants. So Colby, let's talk about Tatis here. First of all, that's usually a good rule

of thumb. So let me intro this segment here, fool. The Tatis, Tatis steel, which is at 14 years, $340 million is now entering year three. And I think the Padres are already kind of regretting that move because Tatis's immaturity is showing up even more this past season. He missed the entire season after suffering an injury and a motorcycle accident and then got pop for PEDs. And so, you know, you're really early on in that contract. He's 23 years old. And that's also part of it, right? Like, you don't want to assassinate Tatis's character here because he's still really young

and there's still a lot of time for him to mature and grow. But committing all those dollars to someone that just right now that organization cannot trust is something that the Padres could potentially look to get out from under. And so the question is, could the Mariners take advantage of that, Colby? Right. Publicly right now, the Padres are saying we're absolutely not interested in trading him. We're going to build around him. He's the face of our franchise.

But we've been led to believe that that's not how they're acting behind the scenes. They're very much interested in seeing if they can get out of this contract. They don't trust him. And like Ty said, it's not really hard to blame them. He basically just missed an entire season in which they were a legitimate World Series contender for being selfish and reckless, essentially what it really comes down to. So, yeah, I mean, there's some strained relationship there. The Padres have also now recently acquired, obviously Juan Soto, who they want to pay. How many of these mega contracts can you fit on one payroll, even though Padres fans left to tell us that their owner doesn't care about money and all that stuff?

they're wrong. He will to a certain extent. So I think you're coming to a boiling point here with Tatis, who's, you know, the big money on the contract hasn't kicked in yet. I think he's only scheduled to make about $7 million this year. So it's a very backloaded contract. So in terms of Tatis for the Mariners, I think I'm out for the same reason the Padres are out. I'm not giving $340 million to, you know, for lack of a better term, a screw up. If Fernando Tatis Jr. had the same discipline as Julio Rodriguez, we wouldn't be having this discussion. It just doesn't. Julio is a significantly more mature guy.

And as much as Tatis would help this team, which he would help any team, assuming he's healthy and able to play, it's just not worth the headache. I mean, Fernando committing $340 million to, I mean, when you add it up, it's about $800 million would be committed to two players. Now, granted, these are two very good players. they're both very young, they're both superstars. So not the worst thing in the world, but it's just, it's not going to happen. So I think I would start with this. Are the Padres willing to eat any of that contract? And if the answer is no, then the Mariners answer should be no.

And honestly, if they're not willing to eat half of it, the mayor's answer should probably be no. There's just too much risk involved in training for Fernando Tatis Jr. And that's before we even get into like, what does it cost? it's a 23-year-old with a 14-year-old with a 14-year-old. He's going to be a free agent at 35. Like, what is that worth? He's not a shortstop anymore.

We know that. Never really was to begin with. He's just not good there. So he's probably an outfielder. His value goes down. I mean, as a bat, probably not a centerfielder either. As a bat, he's not worth $340 million if he's not playing a premium position. So he's a very good player.

obviously a lot of teams would like him but the contract is prohibitive because of the immaturity of the player itself so just really tough to trust that guy and honestly even if the Padres were openly shopping him

which I don't think they are I think they're listening and they'd be willing to move him but unless they're willing to eat when they want to make Tatis Jr. like a $200 million million guy then we could start talking but even then I don't know if the Mariners have the ammo to pull that trade off. Clubhouse and culture fit is such a huge part in how the Mariners decide to target trade targets and both free agents as well. I think they're out immediately.

I don't really think there's anything that the Padres could do here that would, you know, I mean like obviously if the Padres ate the whole contract or whatever, I'm sure the Mariners would have some interest. but like that's not going to happen. I don't think there's anything in the realm of possibility here. That's realistic that the Padres could do that the Mariners would say, you know what? Yeah, we're willing to take this risk on because this is a lot of money. Even if you subtract half of the contract, that's still a lot of money to guarantee to a player that you just,

you don't know if he's going to fit what you want from a personality standpoint. You know, and this was, you know, we heard this from Jerry DePoto and crew when they extended Julio Rodriguez that, you know, we really like the player. We believe in the player and we believe in the person. And that's the thing that's most important here is if the marries can't believe in the person in Tatis, and by the way, they're not going to be able to just,

you know, get to know him on a personal level until they get him into their own organization. So you're taking on a mask of risk that you can basically get this guy on the right track. And even like, again, even if the Padres ate a substantial amount of this contract, There's still a lot of money that you were in a lot of years that you're guaranteeing to a guy that you just don't really know anything about. Right.

Obviously, the more the Padres eat of that contract, the more expensive he gets as well. So there's a tipping point. So like, would I be okay taking the risk on Fernando Tase Jr. at, you know, $170, $200 million? Sure. But now the cost is probably bigger than Juan Soto. and the Mariners literally couldn't afford Juan Soto, so how do they afford Fernando Tatis Jr.? So I think the only way you could possibly get in on this

is if you took on the whole contract, I don't see the Mariners doing that. I don't know if the clubhouse thing would be a huge deal. I think the Mariners honestly believe that their culture is good enough that they can help guys, help particular players. And again, Tatis is just 23 years old. I don't want to kill the guy for being immature 23-year-old who's got, you know, a quarter of a billion dollars.

From a clubhouse culture perspective, by the way, like from a clubhouse culture perspective as well, like I'm not saying that he's going to be, you know, a pain in the ass for lack of a better term to his teenage. But I think that he's not someone that the mariners can necessarily rely on that he doesn't necessarily fit him with the culture of what it takes to be a Seattle mariner. Right. Can you trust him? And right now the answer is no. I don't see how you could. The Padres don't believe they could either. I would still bet pretty big on Tatis Jr. figuring it out. He's baseball family. Seems like a good guy overall. Teammates really seem to like him. It's just, you know, he's a dumb 23-year-old who's been given, you know, a third of a billion dollars at a young age and told to act responsibly. That's, that would mess up a lot of people. It hasn't messed up Julio yet. But again, Julio is just that special.

We'll see what happens here. I don't anticipate the Padres trading Tatis Jr. I think you just get to a point where, you know, the amount of money that other teams are willing to risk on Tatis maturing will get to a point that's so low that the asking price then in return for the Padres would be substantial. Because we're not talking about like a guy who's like in like serious legal trouble or anything like that. We're not talking about that type of screw up. We're just talking about an immature kid. So, yeah, I mean, like, if they got down to $200 million, like, where are the Mariners going to offer? Logan Gilbert, Jared Kelnick, I mean, like, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Cal Raleigh, like, probably, right? That's what the Padre should ask for if, you know, Tatis was like a $200 million player. So we'll see what happens. I don't think he's going to get traded. I know there was a guy who, you know, said the Yankees were working on that. I think they're checking in.

I think they're doing due diligence. but I just don't see it. I think he's going to play for the Padres this year and probably for at least the next couple years unless another shoe drops and there's another accident or there's another, you know, another, you know, whatever. There's another bad decision. Yeah, a destructive decision that gets made.

At which point then I think they would really be aggressive with it. But again, I just, I saw the Fernando Tatis stuff popping up. I just wanted to address it here because I don't think we need to talk about Fernando Tatis again. So I just wanted to get that out of the way here. I don't think we're going to have to talk about this going forward. I don't want to see any fan fiction Fridays. I don't want to see any, you know, mailbag Monday questions about Fernando Tatis.

Our answer is no unless something drastic changes here in the next 14 years. So, yeah. Yeah, I'm also, I'm really interested to see how he bounces back from this past year. You know, what's his health like? what is he like post PEDs? You know, what's the production? Like all that stuff. Like that does have to factor here as well.

Like is he going to be the same guy when he gets back out on the field? So, you know, and he's still really young. So I'm sure he will be. I'm sure he'll at least, you know, be able to get close to where he was pre all of this. But from the Mariners perspective and really from any major league baseball team's perspective, I just, there's a lot of risk here to assume. and a lot of money and your commitments to assume here as well that I just, I wouldn't, I wouldn't touch that situation right now. Maybe in a year or two, if the Padres are still wanting to get out

from under that contract, we can revisit it. But right now, yeah, I'm, I'm good personally. All right. So a couple of players that the Mariners could land this offseason are Michael Brantley and A.J. Pollock. They're apparently both in on their markets and even have an offer. reportedly in on one of them. We'll talk about that in just a moment, but real quick. This episode of Lockdown Mariners, as I accidentally muted myself here, is brought to you by SimplySafe. At Lockdown Mariners, we believe home should be where you and your family feel safest,

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There's no safe like SimpliSafe. You're listening to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. So Michael Brantley and A.J. Pollock, those are the two players right now that appear to be in the Mariners sites. Let's start with Brantley here. Jim Bowden of the Athletic in his most recent article today said that the Guardians, Blue Jays, and Mariners are lining up for the services of Brantley for his elite hitting skills. and his clubhouse presence as well and his work with younger players, all that stuff.

So the Mariners have preferred to have a veteran presence in their clubhouse. And last year, that was Carlos Santana. Santana, of course, has signed with the pirates. But Brantley might be arguably Colby, the best pure hitter left out on the free agent market at this point. He's coming off of a injury, a season that was derailed by injuries,

shoulder injury that he's currently recovering from. He's 35 years old. Can't really play in the field, but still, like I said, great hitter who's posted a 120 WRC plus or better over the last, you know, four or five seasons. He spent the last four seasons with the Astros, of course.

And there's a bit of a connection there as well, a pretty special connection between Brantley and the Mariners. Born in Bellevue, his dad, of course, played for the Mariners for seven years. So that's, that may not, give the Mariners necessarily an inside track, but it might be a special place for Brantley to play from a sentimental standpoint. So what do you think about the fit overall, though,

Brantley and the Mariners? I think the bat plays really well. There's not a lot of power here. Like you're not going to get 25 home runs from Michael Brantley. You might only get 9 to 12, but you're going to get a lot of doubles. Brandley's probably one of the safest bets to hit 280, 290, 300 somewhere in that range. It's going to get on base 35, 36 percent of the time. I still think he's going to slug, you know, over 400. He's a good hitter. He's just a very polished hitter. He takes walks.

He doesn't strike out. High average guy. He's going to hit doubles. So the bat plays pretty well. I think it'll play really well in Team Mobile as well. So I don't have any concern about the bat being a good fit. I think, you know, based on what I know about Brantley, the person, which granted isn't a lot. I think he sounds like he'll be a really good clubhouse fit.

I think there's a lot of value to having somebody. like Brantley be around, you know, somebody like maybe Jared Kelmick who could really use a, you know, an outfielder, particularly a left-handed hitting outfielder who's done it at the major league level. You can kind of mentor a young Kelmick. So I do think there's value there. I think it's a pretty good fit overall. Again, can you play left field at all? Like, can he fake it one day a week? I think that's going to be pretty important because the Mariners don't want to bog down the DH spot. And if they are going to bog down the DH spot with one guy, they probably want that guy to have power, right? And Brantley just doesn't. So I think overall it's a good fit. It's not a great fit.

I think the bat plays really well. In Team Mobile, he's obviously very familiar with the division and all of that. If he could play left field, like if you could fake it once a week, twice a week, you know, twice every 10 days, I think that would go a long way. But we'll have to see the shoulder thing is pretty serious. And Brantley wasn't a very good defender to begin with. Anyway, so we'll see it happens, but I'm certainly interested. I think Brandley's a guy that you probably hit, you know, second in this lineup, or you hit him fifth or six, and he definitely lengthens the lineup. He's a good hitter. He's a very good hitter and well-established and well-respected pro. So I think you have to be, I think you have to be intrigued by the possibility. It's a solid fit, not a perfect

fit. Yeah, I really like the fit here between the two sides. I tweeted that I hope something gets here because I think Brantley, especially from a clubhouse perspective, fits really well. And again, probably, you know, arguably the best pure hitter that's still left out on the free agent market right now. It's not going to cost you a ton. You don't have to get into a long-term commitment with him either. So he fits, you know, what the front office seems to be aiming for as well. And, yeah, like you said, he lengthens the lineup, hits for a high average, high-on-based guy.

And he's, you know, going to slug it still a little bit, even though he's not going to be hitting, you know, for a lot of over the wall power. He's still going to hit, you know, his fair share of devils and all that. So that's, that would be great to add. You know, because really what the Mariners are lacking right now or, you know, at least lack towards the end of last season was someone that can help move the line on the base pass, you know, it's someone that's not just a home run or bus type of type of hitter.

And so honestly, I would sacrifice the home run power in the DH spot to have someone like Brantley because I think that the Mariners have enough guys that can do that damage, I can hit bombs, you know, and so you need more guys that can just get on base. And Brantley does that a lot. So I would be all for that. So, Michael, just real fast on Brantley, the career high in strikeouts for Michael Brantley in a season, 76.

Yeah. That was in his third year. He's never struck out more than 76 times in the season. He puts the ball and play a lot. You know, the one thing is like, you know, there's a little bit of concern about how he bounces back from the shoulder thing. You know, shoulders, especially for guys that are in their mid-30s is something that is of concern. But I would really like taking this shot on Brantley if I were, you know, for the mirrors.

So the other guy that the Mariners apparently have their eye on is someone that you've talked about quite a bit as a potential platoon option with Jerich. That's A.J. Pollock, former Dodger and White Sock. and it seems that the Mariners are actually neck and neck with the Dodgers for Pollock's services. Scott Gorman of Dodger Blue is, which is a certif, or rather credentialed website that covers the Dodgers, has reported that A.J. Pollack has offers from both the Dodgers and the Mariners. So Colby, if Pollack accepts the Mariners offer here, because this is coming from a reporter, a credentialed outlet. I think there's

no reason to not believe this here. If Pollock accepts this offer, then how does he fit in for the Mariners? Yeah, he's the straight platoon guy with Jared Kellnick. It seems like a pretty obvious fit. Probably get some half bats against righties as the DH2 as they cycle through.

A good fit. You know, last year crushed lefties and he had a percentage over 600. against them, 161st in all of baseball against attended pitching. So crushes lefties. It's worth noting he was also in 2021, very good against righties, better against

righties and lefties. Struggled this year, he had some injuries that he was dealing with. The White Sox had a ton of injuries that they were dealing with. So it left Pollock in a lot of unfavorable matchups for his skill set, which might lead to some of the, you know, overall number concerns that we see. 35, he's still actually okay. He runs the bases pretty well. 60th percentile in sprint speed, almost 28 feet per second.

That's actually, you know, pretty significant for the Mariners who are not, not a fleet of foot team outside of two or three guys. And, you know, oddly enough, he actually graded out pretty well in center field last year, the few times he played out there. in the corner he's going to be fine. He's probably about average in a corner. Outs above average doesn't like him as much as defensive runs saved, I believe is how the metric shape out.

But anyway, you look at it, you look at the numbers overall defensively, and you kind of look at just what people are saying. And I would say he's probably solid average. He can play all three outfield spots if you really need them to. I think this is a guy that if the plan is to get him, you know, 350, 400 plate appearances. mostly against lefties. And I think that he can really help your team against lefties.

You can hit him anywhere in the lineup one through nine. And he was really good in 2021 and 2020 and 20. And he's a good hitter. He just happens to crush lefties. And he's a really nice compliment to Jared Kellnick, if Kellnick can, in fact, hit major league pitching to any degree of regularity in 2023. And if he can't, you know, Pollock's the guy who's good enough to play every day, you know, for a month or two until you can find another solution.

So I think Pollock's a really good fit. Yeah, Pollock didn't walk much this past season, but he slashed 286, 316, 619 against lefties. That's a 161 WRC plus. On the flip side of it against righties, 69 WRC plus. Nice, but also not nice. Look at his 2021 numbers real fast. Yeah, the 2021 numbers are a lot better against both sides. So that's, yeah, you know, so it's just, it seems like it might be just a little bit of an outlier year in terms of the struggles against Ritey's.

So you might get an actual, you know, a guy that can hit both sides pretty well and you can put into the lineup really no matter what. So, yeah, that would be a nice ad for Pollock. So now the question before we hop on over to our next segment is can both Michael Brantley and A.J. Pollock coexist on the same roster together, Colby. Yes. Brantley is the primary DH. You sit them sometimes to get other guys DH days off. Brantley's not so good that you have to have them in the lineup,

so you stick them in left field if it's not a good ballpark for him. And Pollock can play all three positions. You can also DH. Yeah, they easily coexist. You can have them both in the lineup at the same time. You can have them both on the bench at the same time. And you can easily find out bats based on matchup between the two of them. If you get to a point where you have to decide which one to start,

they complement each other. pretty well. So, yeah. So Jordan Schusterman, friend of the podcast and one half of Cespitas family barbecue, has put out a list of nine free agent hitters and is having Mariners Twitter rank them by their preference. And we're going to join in on this and rank them ourselves in just a moment. But real quick, a reminder of this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by BetOnline. Betonline.net is your number one source for sports betting info, stats, news, and analysis. get the latest odds and trends for every professional and amateur league out there,

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So Jordan Schusterman, one half of San Francisco. this family barbecue and Mariners fan has put out a list of as my phone rudely dings there in the background apologies for that folks uh but he's put out a list of uh nine uh free agent hitters that are remaining out on the market and is having mariners twitter rank them by their preference so we're going to join in on this so colby i'm going to tell you the nine hitters and then we're going to go through these uh one by one so michael brantley who we just talked about quite a bit Jady Martinez, who we talked about on a show a couple of shows ago. Andrew Benetendi, who is still out there and is probably the most notable name that's still out there.

Brandon Drury, who I really like. Andrew McCutcheon, who has all the swag in the world. That would be a lot of fun. Michael Conforto, obviously Seattle guy. So some connection there. Trey Mancini, Joey Gallo, Will Myers. We all know you love Will Myers, Colby. So I expect he'll be pretty high on your list here.

and then Jurekson Profar. So, uh, let's start from the bottom up. For me, Joey Gallo is at the bottom of this list. I have no interest in Joey Gallo. I have no interest in trying to fix him.

I don't like I just go get, go get someone who's good now. Uh, yeah, Jordan should have replaced, uh, Joey Gallo with, uh,

AJ Pollock. If we're being honest, uh, Gallo is a no. So he's at the bottom and it's, it's frankly not close. He's in a tear by himself. Mm-hmm.

No thanks. All right, Trey Mancini for me is number eight on my list. Two words for you. Mark Rogers. Moving on. No. No. Unfortunately for me, as much as I love to swag,

Andrew McCutcheon's probably number eight on this list. He's just, I don't know if he's got bat speed left. I don't know if he can hit left. He's not a good defender either. I love Andrew McCutcheon. I'd love to see him in the Northwest Green. I just don't see much of a fit here. He's pretty close to the next to the next guy on the list, though.

And I have feeling you're going to have McCutcheon here next. I'd much rather have McCutcheon than Gallo. And I think he's in the same tier as a couple of these other guys. But I just, I question whether or not the skill set still there. Yeah, by the way, I cannot count. There's actually 10 guys here, not nine. So coming at number eight on my list then is Andrew McCutcheon. Of course.

Yeah, he's just, he's not a very good hitter anymore. I would love, you know, I obviously love the personality and just love the player in general. You know, I'm a big Andrew McCutcheon guy. But at this point in his career and given what the Mariners are looking for right now, I just don't really see a fit. Yeah. Not going to be mad if they signed Andrew McCutcheon. That would be awesome. Yeah.

And I do think that his veteran leadership would help in that clubhouse. But yeah. number eight is actually Tray Mancini. He's overrated. Mark Rogers. He's just overrated. He's like a 104 WRC plus guy, which is fine. It's helpful, but he can't play the outfield. He shouldn't play the outfield.

He's really a first base slash DH. And he hasn't hit since 2019. I mean, it's a great story. Don't get me wrong. And again, Mancini could help the Mariners, but not as much of some of these other guys because he doesn't help you defensively or on the base pass. And as bad is average.

It's like adding a J.P. Crawford level. bat, yippee, what is there to be excited about? I don't get the fascination with Mancini to be perfectly honest. Yeah. Jorickson profile comes in a number seven on my list here. Not a huge profile guy.

He would help or he does kind of fit what the Mariners have described they're looking for in terms of someone that can, you know, potentially play on the corners of the infield and even the outfield, but he's not a good outfield defender. And he's an okay hitter, you know.

He gives you some value on the base pass. But I just, I don't know. I would like to see the Mariners do better than ProFar this offseason personally. Yeah, Profar is next up for me as well. The ability to play some of the infield is really interesting. And he is an above average bad. I think he's about a 110 WRC plus guy. Yeah.

So, I mean, he wouldn't be a bad ad. He was a 110 WRC plus guy this past year, but then he was an 86 WRC plus guy the year before. Right. He's kind of, he's actually basically been like up, down, up, down his whole career. There's really no power to speak of here. Switch hitter, which is nice. And he can play the infield positions, which is nice.

And he's okay defensively. But like I said, if he's, if he's what you add, fine. But he's a guy who's going to hit 7, 8, 9, regardless of the matchup. And he's just, yeah, he's fine. And I would be very. worried that I'm buying one of his blow-up years too. Because again, like, they're like, so he had a 110 WRC plus

this past season, then a 113 in 2020, then a 107 in 2018, but then all the years, other than that, 60, 75, 75, 75, 36, 90, 86. Yes. And I think I think he's a guy who's probably going to get multiple years.

Yeah. I think somebody's going to give him two years. And I'm just. no thanks yeah I'm I'm passing on him as well all right Will Myers is number six on my list yeah I know

sacrilege yeah I know tis tiske we all know that you're on will Myers's payroll of course you have to mention them you're legally obligated to mention will Myers on every episode

of the show at least according to the YouTube comments I like Will Myers he's a good platoon fit he can play some first base all that he's just not super exciting right and I prefer the guys that are above him on this list

over him just as simple as that yeah number six for me is actually I'm going to say Brandon Drury just because I don't see the I don't see the roster fit to be perfectly honestly yeah yeah yeah like he's never played the outfield he's really more of a third baseman than a second

baseman if the Mariners hadn't mentioned that they were also interested in corner infield help which is still weird to me by the way. I don't quite get that. He wouldn't even be on our radar because he's not a second baseman. He's a third baseman who can play some second. He can play some first. I mean, maybe you could put him out in left field for a cut. Like, I wouldn't be mad if they, if they acquired brand injury. I'd be pretty happy about that. But like, I just look at the rest of these guys on this list and I'm like, is there really a fit here? I don't know. I don't

quite see the smooth fit unless you just want to, you know, deach him a lot, which maybe. all right Conforto comes in at number five on my list I like Michael Conforto but there is the worry in the back of my mind about how the year off from playing baseball entirely is going to impact him and coming off of a significant shoulder injury as well

there's just too many question marks here and I do kind of feel like he'll end up getting like a multi year deal because he's a Boris guy and Boris is just a wizard when it comes to that stuff So, yeah, I, like, I would be thrilled if they signed Michael Conforto. Don't get me wrong. But there's a lot here that gives me hesitancy. Yeah.

Next step for me is J.D. Martinez. Again, this is more about fit. I just, he's a DH only. Like, there is not an option for him to do anything else. He's a DH only. That hurts his value. And he's coming off of an okay year, but not a great year. The power got sapped.

I just, I have a real issue with just, you know, just, you know, just, you know, blocking up at bats by having a full-time DH. And J.D. Martinez is a good bat still, but he's not an elite bat. And again, he cannot play in the outfield. Just can't do it. So for those reasons, I'm not all that high on J.D. I'd be fine with it. But again, like now you have to go get a real outfielder, like a legitimate one,

instead of maybe going and you know getting two guys to kind of feel now you have to go get like three essentially so I just I'm not huge on JD Martinez it'd be fine but yeah

number four on my list is Andrew Ben Attendee I just find him really overrated he's a good player don't get me wrong but he's not like he's not a perennial all-star type of player he doesn't really have a ton of power to speak of and he may very well get like six years $100 million this off season and I'm just I'm super out on that so he still makes it on number four

because you know at number four because he's a really good player and if the mariner's ended up signing him like yeah I don't think that contract would look very good but also it's Andrew Benetendi so cool yay um but yeah I just I'm not a massive Andrew Benetendi fan and I think that contract's going to be a little ridiculous wherever he ends up signing yeah I didn't really take contract talk too much into account here. But yeah, I don't see the Mariners pain what Ben Attendee apparently wants. But my next up is actually Brantley for similar reasons to JD. He really shouldn't be playing in the field.

He's a DH. But Brantley's going to hit for a higher average. He's going to get on base a little bit more. I feel good about that. And he's a left-handed bat, which the Mariners need much more than a right-hand bat. So Brantley and J-D pretty similar. I think both would be fine. Like I said the only person on this list of who with the Mariners side, I'd be like,

would be Joey Gallo. I really don't feel like there's a big gap between, you know, number seven and number one, to be quite honest with you. But yeah, I just think Brantley and Brantley, Martinez, Mancini, Drury,

I just have questions about how they fit. Like how do they fit on the roster? Well, those are my top three guys, call me. You have Mancini that high? Oh, wait, no, no, no, I don't have Mancini. I didn't. I was going to say, didn't you have Mancini?

yeah no I have mancy low me I know I space on you mentioning Mancini there but Drury Martinez and Brantley are my top three here number three for me is Brandon Drury

That's fine That's fine Drury I do think that there's some use for jury On this roster Especially the corner infield aspect as well Because Gino played so much On the hot corner this past season

Even with his injury He still played a high corner 150 plus games. I would like to give him a blow here and, you know, every now and then and with someone that has a little bit better of a bat, at least in my opinion, than Dillamore. Jury made some legitimate swing changes. And yeah, he did get assisted quite a bit by Great American Ballpark this past season. And he did kind of fall off a little bit when he went to San Diego, but he still hit for

quite a bit of power. And I think that's real. I think that's something that's going to stay. And I think he's someone that you can rotate through the DH spot a little bit better than someone like Martinez or Brantley. But there's also, you know, a risk that you're taking that maybe he is a fringe major leager again. You know, maybe he's, maybe this was just an outlier.

Maybe this was just a one and done. So, um, but overall, yeah, I, I like jury's fit. And I think they can do a couple of different things with him. And it gives them a little bit more versatility roster wise than some of the other guys on this list. like I guess like can you get Drory to play third base 30 times a year and you get them 20 starts at second base can you get them you know 20 starts at DH can you get 10 out of them in left field and you can kind of piece it together that way just a little messy is all I would say I guess next up for me would probably be what number are we at number three number three yeah okay number three for me is it's Andrew Benatendi

just because the number I like I said what you said about the contract is is true he's probably he's wanting a hundred million dollars I kind of doubt he gets it but maybe it gets close Benetendi is an everyday outfielder

you sign him you lose Kelmick at bats which isn't the worst thing in the world but you don't want to give up on Kelnick so it's kind of a tight squeeze there it's a gold glover and left field but there's not a lot of power there he's coming off a career year in terms of on base. He's typically, you know, a 3.30 on base type of guy and he's going to hit 15 home runs. Just not really a super special profile and how valuable is, is

left field defense. Now, I mean, you watched Jesse Winker last year. You'd say it's pretty darn valuable. But yeah, I just think the cost here is going to be outweigh, the value that you're going to get from Ben Attendee. And I do feel like you're buying a little bit high because he is 370 on base or whatever it was this year. That's that's not who he is. So, I just, I don't want to give that guy $20 million a year. So I'm going to talk about Brantley and Martinez here, just in one swing. Martinez, I would rank two and in Brantley I would rank one, but they're basically similar profiles and how they would fit the roster, at least.

For me, you know, everything that I said about Brandon Drury and the versatility, you know, roster of versatility aside. I just want to lengthen the lineup by any means necessary. To me, J.D. Martinez and Michael Brantley are the two best bats that fit what the Mariners are actually looking for in terms of contract and just veteran presence, all that. Again, you know, Brantley is arguably the best peer header left on the market. J.D. Martinez just destroyed left-handed pitching last year. 175WRC plus something crazy like that from JD Martinez so either one of those guys

significantly lengthens the Mariners lineup it makes them even more of a legitimate threat and so for that reason alone I you know they're talking about adding impact right Justin Hollander's talking about adding impact Jerry DePoto is talking about adding impact and really it doesn't matter in what way or what form that takes and so going off of that yeah, they're both full-time DHS. They shouldn't play in the field. But you get significantly better as an offense. And I think the Mariners should prioritize that at some point this offseason.

Brandon Drury is so high because of the versatility. But when it comes to the top two, versatility doesn't matter. Number two for me. I literally said all that stuff aside. By the way, by the way, I'm going to flip Drury and J.D. Okay. Yeah, you talk me to Drury a little bit with the, you know, you can kind of piece together the probably what 80, 90 starts you need to make that worth it.

Number two for me is going to be Will Myers. You guys know how much I like him. Unlike Trey Mancini, he is an outfielder who can play first base instead of a first baseman who stands in the outfield sometimes. He crushes lefties. He's pretty good against righty, so you're protected of Kelnick falls flat on his face. You're also protected if, you know, if slash win, Ty France gets hit on the wrist again. and he has to miss a week, you're okay there. He actually checks a lot of the boxes instead of you having to squint and be like,

well, maybe if you do this and this, you guys know why I like Will Myers. Number one for me is Conforto. I want the upside. I'll take the upside in that spot. You know, there's a chance that Michael Conforto is a 130 WRC plus guy who plays average defense in left field. I can dh him. I can rotate him through. He's not going to take at bats away from Kelnick at all.

and there's a really good chance that he is the second best hitter on my team coming to the end of the year. And I think I can get that guy for one or two years and at a reasonable AAB. So that's why I'm interested in Conforto. So I think Comforto for me is number one. Just because I'm shooting for the upside of an everyday player. And I don't know of anybody else on that list is truly an everyday 600-plated appearance type of player.

Gotcha. I like that our list are pretty different from one another. And, you know, my list, of course, is better, though. That claim has never gone well for you when we put things to the test. I'm just saying. That's going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Locktime Mariners podcast for Colby Pat. I'm Taday & Gonzales.

I'm just going to ignore everything that he's said here. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at LO underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Dame Gonzalez, the C-A-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-P-E-E-E-N-E. And Colby at C-P-A-T-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. Now for your next listen, check out the Lockdown Sports Today podcast featuring the biggest stories of the day plus instant reactions, big game recaps, and the take of the day. It's available on the Odyssey app YouTube and wherever you get your podcast just like us.

And with that, have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.