Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mariners Look to Stay Alive Against One of the NL's Best w/ Javier Reyes of Locked On Padres

Episode Date: September 10, 2024

Ty joins Javier Reyes, host of Locked On Padres, to help preview the Mariners' upcoming two-game set with San Diego on Tuesday and Wednesday. The two hosts discuss the state of both of their teams, how the pitching matchups line up, and more.Ask us questions!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!TonaITonal is the world's smartest and most effective strength training system that helps get you stronger. Right now, Tonal is offering our listeners $200 off your Tonal purchase with promo code LOCKEDONMLB. That’s Tonal.com, and use promo code LOCKEDONMLB for $200 off your purchase.   Liquid IVNo more thirsty summers when you indulge in hydration with Liquid I.V. Get 20% off your first order of Liquid I.V. when you go to LIQUIDIV.COM and use code MLB at checkout. SupplyHouseSupplyHouse.com is the reliable way to get parts fast. Shop for your next plumbing, h-vac, or electrical job and get fast shipping from coast to coast. PrizePicksGo to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONMLB and use code lockedonmlb for a first deposit match up to $100! eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. FanDuelNow through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON to get started. 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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's show of not just the Locked on Padres podcast, but also the Locked on Mariners podcast. I, Javier Reyes, am joined by Ty Dan Gonzalez of Lockdown. That's me. To preview this two game bonanza, talk about the biggest story lives between these two teams having very different seasons, trade deadline acquisitions, how that's going, what are the vibes, what's the playoff picture, all that and more.

So, uh, let's get to it. You are Locked on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another edition of not just the Locked Out Podaries podcast, but also the Locked-on Mariners podcast. It's a crossover Tuesday, extravaganza. I have one of your hosts, Javier Reyes. You may be familiar with my work over at justbaseball.com, a fantastic website,

or my podcast, Baseball versus the world about Evergreen Baseball topics, to which my guest, on today's show was actually a part of. Of course, though, before we get to him, want a shout out, go follow the Twitter page for not just me at Havapeno, the best handle in the game, J-A-V-I-I-P-E-N-O, but also at L-O-N-Rodres, follow the show wherever you get your podcast from, YouTube as well.

Same thing goes for Lockdown Mariners. Very, very good show. Ty, my man, how are you doing on this? Fine. We're recording this on Monday, September 9th, and it's anticipation of this two-game series starting on Tuesday. Man, how are you, how are you feeling, man? How are you doing?

Coming off of the first weekend of football, and you and I talked about this before we recorded. We're both want to know. Both of our teams won't want to know this past weekend. So feeling good about that. With regards to the mirrors, I mean, they're playing better lately. But is it, you know, too little too late? I guess we'll get into that a little bit here on this show. We absolutely will.

First, let me just tell you guys, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul, now through September, 22nd all. Fandall customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of speaking of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit fandle.com to get started. Yeah, man. I mean, it's been, it seems like for the Mariners, they made one of the low key, one of a pretty big splash at this year's deadline, trading for Randy Rose Arena. And they've been a team that has been on the outside looking in, but they've had some great moments. Hulu Rodriguez is, of course, a star, although he's becoming a weird first or I so sorry a second half merchant um dare I say but even still some weird vibes for the Mariners uh so far this season and then you have of course the randy a rose

arena trade which was you know pretty pretty big of a splash uh all things considered but as of right now my team looking like they're making the playoffs meritors not so much what can you tell us about what it's been like not just as the season as a whole but especially as of late and the vibes hitting into this two game set. Yeah, I mean, I think everyone knows not just in Seattle, but across the baseball world, that this team had a 10-game lead in the ALS, and then they promptly blew it in record fashion. And since then, they've been trying to just kind of stay above water. And they've kind of done that.

Like, they're kind of at a place now where they just won't fully let the hopes die, right? Now, I think for a lot of people, like the hope has been killed. Like the hope was killed a long time ago, right? And even for me, I'm just like, I'm, I'm past the point of buying in. And I'm also past the point of getting too upset about, you know, the game to game, you know, process of all this. But, yeah, they've, they've just been a wholly mediocre at best offense to one of the worst, historically. uh over the course of this year i mean for a while there they were getting dangerously close to the worst team batting average of all time in like the 150 plus years that we've been

tracking stats and baseball so you know when that's happening that's obviously your team's not really in a good spot uh this pitching has been great at least at home they have been significantly worse on the road uh but they've still been the sole reason that this team is even relevant in the playoff conversation right now. And it's just been, you know, on a night-to-night basis, what are you going to get out of this offense? Now, since Dan Wilson and Edgar Martinez have taken over in the clubhouse,

things have overall been a bit better offensively. There have still been the instances where the offense is really struggled. They've had opportunities to score. They can't find ways to push guys across the plate. And then they lose, right? But, you know, this road trip was. kind of a mixed bag like they still got shut out on Saturday by the Cardinals but they also put up 10 plus hits multiple times over the course of this road trip they scored 16 runs in Oakland they scored 10 runs yesterday to secure a series win in st. Louis so right now it's just I don't really know what kind of version of this team we're going to get but the twins continue to lose and the astros are they're weird man like they they they they they'll look unbeatable and then they'll get swept by the reds for some reason so i don't really know

how to feel about them like right now they're not really necessarily running away with this thing but i i think just with how inconsistent the mares have been i would be very surprised if they won this division and i i still think we're getting set up for another one of these years which has happened far too many times over the last decade of the mirrors where they're going to miss the playoffs by a game or two yeah yeah i'm just kind of preparing myself for that. Yeah, and in fairness, you know, you mentioned that they have been as good away. That is true. They are 32 and 43 away versus 41 and 28. So keep that in mind, Padres fan of this game. Two games that is in Seattle. And it's interesting, like when you look at their offensive numbers, they're 14th in the league in WRC plus as a lineup. But when it comes to all the other things, when it comes to the cumulative stats, I think that it seems like just from afar, it seems like they're just not able to procure and produce enough runs when it actually matters. And when you look at the team, it's, you know, really just, I mean, you kind of summed it up, frankly, but they are 30th and batting average. They are 19th and on.

So there's 25th and run scored. 15th to the home runs, which is kind of keeping them afloat. But then 28th and slugging. And then ERA, they are first. They are third and fifth among all pitching staffs. It's kind of feels like this team has gone exactly how it was projected to go, which was going to be a team that was super pitch starting pitching. That was going to be their biggest strength.

It's about as good as a rotation. you will even see over many stretch of years. That's how good the rotation is. But this is a team that I feel like the past few years has been counting on a second half supernova from Julio Rodriguez. And this year, he's been better in the second half, 112 WRC Plus, but that's not like significant.

It does not seem like he's able to shoulder the load all to himself. Acquisitions like Randy Rose Arena, Luke Rayleigh. It just doesn't seem like they have the lineup help. And like you said, it feels like it's always this team that's on the outside looking in and kind of like a little bit, you know, right behind. They're definitely not a bad team. They're definitely not bad. It's just that you're like you said, they're always behind.

And then the Astros once again, because this is just what they do, even when that team isn't playing very well. And even when the Texas Rangers, the World Series champions aren't playing well, doesn't seem to always shake up well for Seattle. Yeah. And like this offense. No, no, no, it's totally fair, all fair points, you know, especially. know, someone that has watched this product over the last five or so months,

um, this team and you, you listed some of the numbers. I mean, they're not capable of stringing together hits and they're not capable of getting the big home run. Mm-hmm. Right.

So it's just, they're just kind of bad at a lot of things. And that's why they're not really scoring that many runs, right? Like you can't really rely on the three run home run. And you can't rely on, you know, four consecutive hits to drive a couple, guys across the plate. So like at that point it's just what's going to happen, right? How is this team going to

score runs? And it basically is at random sometimes. Like sometimes their only run production will be, and this would happen in a game in Detroit a few weeks back. They'll walk four times in a single inning. They'll score one run. And that's it for the day. It's been that kind of year with this offense. And it's mind boggling considering the talent that you see on paper. right yeah because like if you if you told me at the start of the season or during the off season that this lineup at some point is going to consist of Julio Rodriguez Randy or Rose arena Mitch Garver Jorge Polanco Cal Raleigh J.P. Crawford etc. etc. I would have gone like they're winning 95 to 100 games with this pitching stuff like they're they're going to win the division

they're probably a L favorites and yeah man Garver's been a disaster Polanco's been inconsistent at best there's just been a lot of pretty significant letdowns this year and obviously the biggest one is Julio like you mentioned like Julio just wasn't Julio to start the year then he got hurt and he's been playing through a high ankle sprain which he's still not

fully recovered from and you can tell that he's still like dealing with with you know kind of the pain from that at times but he has played better he has hit better as of late especially since Edgar Martinez took over his hitting coach and has kind of simplified things for all the hitters. And, you know, Julio's starting to get to his pull side more, which has helped. He's starting to look more like the guy that we know and love. But still, it's just, you know, like I mentioned earlier, it's still like you just kind of wonder if it's too little too late at this point.

Absolutely. And we're going to talk a little bit more in depth about the details because it's interesting. It's not like this offense in theory should be a little bit better. basically based off of my just like cursory scrolling of some of their statistics on phagraphs we're going to talk a little bit more about that as well as I might might let tie asking me about the Padres I don't know I usually don't like him asking me anything frankly never never never enjoyed that very much but we're going to talk about that just a second guys but first if you want to attend a Mariners game if you want to attend a Padres game you know it's a great app

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Go check it out. And just like that, everybody, we are back into segment number two, thriving and vibe as always on the Lockdown Padres and Lockdown Mariners podcast. It's interesting time. I look at the team right now and I might have been a little bit wrong based on just the numbers. And again, you've been watching the team more than me and we will talk about the Padres. I promise in just a second. But in terms of high leverage situations, they're actually 11th in WRC plus this year, which is pretty sound.

And if you look at their overall lineup, Randy Roders Rain has got a 1301 WRC plus. Victor Robles, who Padres fans won't know this. but everyone in sports, they have an athlete or a player that they always believe in even when it's very true that they're not good. So like, you know, Jeff Green in basketball,

these like journeymen players, they were always expecting. Shout out to Jeff Green. Sonic players, shout out to Jeff Green. Shout out to Jeff Green. All sorts of players. You know,

the Luis Campesano High for me. You always sort of believe in them, but you feel a little bit of guilt. I was a Victor Robles truther for so long. It was becoming a little bit of a bit, but he's been great. So when I consider that, when you look at Randy,

when you look at Victor Robles, maybe Randy isn't as impactful defensively as you'd like. You look at Luke Rayleigh, 122 WRC plus, Justin Turner at his age with a 109 in the 122 games that he played. You know,

yes, you've got some struggles from Holi Rodriguez. You had Thai France get DFA and I'm going to ask you about him in a second. But on paper, those offensive numbers with the pitching and then with the fact that they haven't been historically unclutch. Maybe the offense isn't good historically, but the clutch factor does not seem to be the craziest thing.

It just seems like it's one of those teams that I don't know exactly where you go from here. Like what is the plan exactly for the Mariners to build and be better than what they are right now? That's kind of the big question right now with this team heading into this off season, right? You know, because it seems like on a yearly basis and, you know, right now, you know, the biggest topic is about this front office. but it's been the biggest topic with any front office that is coming to Seattle. It's like, why have they consistently failed to bring in quality hitters from the outside, right? But now there have been exceptions to that.

Like, Randy has been fine, right? Victor Robles has come in and has completely revitalized his career in Seattle. You know, and some guys over the past few years specifically, it's been kind of overblown. their struggles like yeah they haven't been the guys like you you thought you were getting like jesse winker wasn't at all the guy that you thought you were getting but he also wasn't a disaster like how much bitch garver has been a disaster like that's been like he's been god awful in a mirror his uniform this year uh same thing with

colton wong last year right where that was just an absolute unmitigated disaster you know but like the te oscar hernandez is of the world you know they've been fine they haven't been like what you were hoping they would be but they were overall fine in Ameri's uniform. But that's still the biggest question here, right? Because especially this year, like, they completely overhauled their position player group far more than I think anyone was really expecting.

And basically all those guys except Luke Rayleigh haven't worked out that they acquired in the off season. And also a couple of the bets that they took on guys that were already in the organization, like Josh Rojas, like Dominic Canzone, like Thai France, those guys haven't really panned out either. So it's been a rough year in terms of the decisions that the front office made. And so how they proceed, I mean, because this is going to be a big, big offseason for them. I think Jerry DiPoto and Justin Hollander are going to be working at this thing for essentially their jobs and their futures in Seattle this offseason.

How do they fix this? Because they've been really good at pretty much everything else. They've been really good at drafting. They've been one of the best teams at drafting. I mean, they've turned this farm system into a top five-ish, top two-ish farm system twice in the last five years, right? They've developed one of the best rotations in baseball, if not the best rotation in baseball, with four homegrown guys, right? So they've been really good at a lot of things, a lot of the very hard things that a lot of front offices really struggle at getting right and sometimes never do get right. but there's just this one thing,

this one thing that they just haven't been able to crack the code on. And so that's kind of what their jobs, their jobs and their futures in Seattle are ultimately hinged upon because this is what has ultimately capped this organization's ceiling over the last couple of years because they ended the drought in 2022, right? And it's like, all right, well, now the next thing, like the biggest expectation from this point forward, it's no longer just getting to the playoffs.

It's no longer just getting to the dance. Like, we want to win a division. We want to compete for a, championship. They haven't done that, right? They get to the 10, the 10 game lead this year. They blow that. Seems like they're going to finally win the division. That goes away. And now it seems like more likely than not, they're going to miss the playoffs for the second year in a row after ending the drought. And you're just kind of wondering like, where do we go from here? Because like time's starting to run out on, you know, how cheap your pitching is. And this is, unfortunately, not an

organization that is willing to spend a lot of money right now. So, Yeah, it's just it's a weird place that this organization is in and for me, especially as someone that lives in Toronto and has seen the Blue Jays, you know, a bit closer than most people over the last few years like, I'm terrified of winding up like the Blue Jays and how high it seemed their ceiling was and they never really got there. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, it's just been, it seems like it's been tough for the Padres. However. Yes. Hi.

Enough enough about the Mariners. Yeah, bad. Padres hobby. I mean, let me tell you, it's been pretty good. They are five and five over the last 10. So this is still an important series, but they're currently number one in terms of the wild card standings with a one game edge over the Dbacks. The three game edge over the Atlanta Braves. Things have been okay. It's funny that they've kind of had a little bit of a role reversal. And when I'm going to explain to how this is helpful for the Mariners, if you just want to have a little bit of hope out there, folks, is that one thing the Padres were bad at over these last few years, it was not spending. In fact, they have absolutely, that is the reason they kind of blew up even mainstream-wise, where you have a bunch of outlets talking about them is because they were a pretty small,

relatively small market compared to other places. And they started spending, you go out and extend Mani Machadoo. You signed them in the first place. They have Tatis. They have Bogartes. They have Bogartes. And they make all these crazy moves. But one of the problems with them was depth.

And specifically, for the majority of seasons, was developing hitting two. That was kind of their issue. whoever joined the Padres, it was very rare for them to find batters that would be better or at just the very minimum, they just want to get worse, right? And that just seems to have been

kind of the curse with them. However, this year, you've seen kind of a just a total turnaround with that. Jerks and Profar, like, it's just one of the most incredible things I've ever bear witness to in baseball.

This was quite literally the worst qualified batter in baseball last year. And he has gone out, still been pretty bad defensively, but he is hitting on a level that is not a fluke this is not a fluke if you look at all the expected stats he's changed his swing mechanics he's just going straighter to the ball a little bit different of a leg kick he's been awesome this year and better people have talked about that and then they've also had some under the radar options you you've had donovan salano come in and just be a nice

hitter and you got donovan salano can we talk about that real quick yeah please how how does this happen every single year where teams look at donovan slano and they're like we're good and like And he goes into like February or even March and they're like, yeah, we'll just give him a couple million dollars. And then he posts like a 110 WRC plus. Now this year is kind of the outlier where I think it's like a 130 WRC plus this year. But like Donovan Salado just hits. Like it's like a guaranteed like 28290 average, right? Every like like batting average isn't everything and blah, blah, blah, blah.

Right. I'm very much in that in that camp for sure. But like there is still value to that, especially after watching the mirrors offense this whole. year. Yeah, I would love to have a guy who hits 280 in my lineup right now. Exactly. And he's been really clutch and huge for this team when at times their stars haven't produced. Zander Bogart's awful to start the year. And he's slowly getting back into it, especially post injury, May and Machado awful to start the year. Now, granted, it's been a long time since he was bad. But those beginning months when you have Salado come in, who's actually, I think, at about a 115 right now, he's been a little

slump thing and he hasn't been playing as much since his came back. Last time I checked, I think it was like 128 or something like that. Yeah, but even still, you've got Kyle Higashioka. He has come in and been a really productive catcher defensively, but also offensively, 117 WRC plus this year. He's sluggings 512. It's kind of all you can ask for for a from a catcher just be good defensively and give you a little bit of a plus offensively. So you've had him, obviously acquired Luis it rises too, who has been a little bit underwhelming, but as of late seems to be entering that phase of, oh my God, this guy is such a nuisance to deal with and he's at the top of the lineup. You just get Fernando Tete's Jr. back.

Well, guess what who was replacing for a while? David Peralta, a veteran, and he performed extremely, extremely well. And currently his WRC plus on a season is 118. So the Padres, like, they used to, they didn't do this before. Yes, they had the star power. But losing Juan Soto did not have a lot of people excited for this team's offense this year. And then you've had basically the unexpected good performances from their bats with jerks

to pro far with Donovan Solano, David Peralta, Kyle Gajioca, the trade for Luis Arise, and then Jackson Merrill, who's been, oh, oh, so good. And you have the experience tie of having a rookie of the year on your team. I don't want to talk about that in just a second, as well as going over some of the pitching matchups, but first, I must mention to you. I would be remiss to not mention to you guys, it's football season.

Everybody knows that. And, you know, maybe you're like, you know what? I want to watch a bunch of football games. and I live in a place where, you know, me particularly, I'm on the East Coast, you're forced to watch the Giants. Nobody wants to do that. Right? That's awful. Well, guess what?

Gross. Guess what? Oh, boy, do I have a deal for you guys? Because Fandul, America's number one sports book right now through September 22nd, all fan dual customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. So if you're like me and you want to watch the Chargers or if you're like tied, you want to watch these. Seahawks, although I think that that would be in your market anyway. I'm in, I'm in, well, I'm in Toronto personally. So yeah, okay, okay. I have to use a package to watch the Seahawks, but. Okay.

Yeah, and see, if you're in Seattle, you don't need it. But yeah, if you're in Seattle, you don't need it. But if you're like, Ty, it's super useful because you actually get to watch quality football and the team that you love instead of being stuck with whatever's you're around. If you're a Giants fan, oh, I feel you, brother. I feel you. I was saying out with my Giants fan yesterday. He's like, I don't know what to do anymore.

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Download America's number one sports book. Fandle, it's fantastic. It's there for you. Go check it out. And just like that, everybody, we are back thriving and viving. As always, it's a segment number tres of the lockdown Padres and Lockdown Mariners crossover extravaganza. I just teased about Jackson Barrow.

I want to talk about it real quick. Ty, I want to ask you just from the outside, you know, you cover baseball. You cover baseball, obviously. I really hate, and we actually talked about this before recording that you got to be kind of like, you just got to be crazy now when it comes to sports analysis, right? And everybody's got to, you're an idiot for thinking Janus Antenacupo is the MVP over Nicolioch. Or you're the idiot for thinking the vice versa. Well, you kind of see that in baseball right now.

You see it in every sport where you kind of got to go one way, Twitter, mainstream sports outlets, whatever. And that's kind of arisen a little bit with the Paul Skeens, Jackson Barrel debate. But I'm just wondering, before we get to the pitching matchups, what side are you on? Because for me, I actually about a month ago was on Paul Skeen's side. And I was like, guys, I just think that you've seen people like Jackson Barrel before in their rookie year. Solid good players. But now this man has been on top of all the clutch hits. He just keeps hitting.

He's got 23 home runs on the season. and he's just electric every time he comes up. Where do you stand on this debate, though? I'm curious. So I always favor the guy that impacts the more, you know, the most games, right? So to me, it's Jackson Merrill because he's just playing in more games, right? Now, Paul Skeens has been incredible. Like, don't get me wrong.

He's been amazing. And I think he should also get Cy Young votes this year. Yeah, that's crazy. But yeah, you know, it's what, 29 games of impact compared to, how many has Jackson Merrill played? 100 something. Yeah, basically like every game. Yeah.

So, and he also has what essentially we call the, the Heisman moments, Colby and I on our show. Okay. Like some big walk-offs, like Julio and his rookie of the year season, you know, he had some of those big moments that go beyond just the market that they play in, right? That gets on a national scale.

Like, you think about the home run derby with Julio. couple years ago in L.A., right? And you got people like Steph Curry tweeting about Julio. That was the moment that Julio essentially won rookie year, right? It's because it's not

just, as much as we want it to be, it's not just about what they do on the field. It's a popularity contest. It's why in some instances, guys who win gold gloves, they win gold gloves because they're good hitters, right? Not because they were the best defender at their position, right?

They're the most a noteworthy name amongst all the candidates essentially. And so to me, I mean, Paul Skeens has definitely transcended just like the Pittsburgh market, of course. Absolutely. Like I think, I think Skeens, I mean, it's hard to consider anyone in baseball a household name,

considering how, you know, poor Major League Baseball markets its players and how poor the, you know, the reputation of the game is right now. But I think in terms of, like just baseball fans and like our little bubble. I think everyone knows who Paul Skeens is,

even if you're more of a casual fan. But for me, again, Merrill has those Heisman moments, right? The big walk-offs, he's done that multiple times. He's had a couple of big catches that, you know, you see,

you know, on John Boy and you see on ESPN and all that stuff. And I think that stuff truly matters. And on top of that, yeah, he's been like a 130 WRC plus guy this year. And by the way, has been a great defender at a position that he's never played at before.

Yes. I think it's the biggest thing. Yeah. And I think that's incredibly impressive. And I think that should factor into the decision here. Like how remarkable of a feat Jackson Merrill's season truly is when you factor in that position change to going from one premium position to another premium position and looking like he's played that spot for 10 plus years. Like so yeah, I would, if I had a vote and I don't, but if I had a vote, I would probably go with Jackson Merrill. I would too.

I think that a month ago, even when he was starting off his little hot streak, I was cautionary because in fairness, Jackson Merrill was basically just having a really good rookie year. But it's, it wasn't a rookie year that you'd never seen before, right? And if you compare it to say Michael Harris of the Atlanta Braves for a little bit of a cop, he was much better than Jackson Merrill was a month ago. But lately, the way that he's tapped into power, it's now, it wasn't just a mirage hot streak, right? Like I said, he has 23 home runs now. He has all the game winning stuff. The fact that he transitioned from shortstop to center field position he never played before, I think means a lot, especially at his age.

And Skeen's in fairness, I do think that what he's doing is a little bit more of a unique site for rookies. Sure. In the sense that, I mean, you just mentioned before, like he's literally in the Syung conversation. It's not going. And like a 219 ERA. in this era, right? Like, it's pretty, pretty wild.

Like, when you look at what pitchers are doing, yeah. But again, I think earlier I said it was 29 games of impact. It's actually 19 games of impact compared to however many games that Jackson Merrill has played. Let me see here. How many games has been 140? Yeah. So, like, that really determines it for me. And that's just how I feel in general about pitchers winning awards like this

that offensive players are also up for. like rookie of the year like MVP. It's just you're getting significantly more impact on a day to day basis out of those guys. Now Paul Skeens, I mean, when he takes a bump, pretty good shot that the pirates are going to win that game. But still, I just, yeah, to me, it's Merrill just for that alone. I don't think it's impossible for Skeens to just go absolutely on a rampage over these last

couple starts or whatever. But for the most part, I think that Merrill's got this. He's literally the leader in wins above replacement for the entire Padres team at this 4.5. You might finish as a five-win player. So he's definitely surpassed. And that also matters, by the way, the fact that he's on a playoff team and Paul Skeens isn't. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, look, Merrill's going to beat it. He's going to beat the not having a famous girlfriend, you know, stuff. So that's, I was about to say accusations. Yeah, he's going to survive that. And, you know, he had the media thing got his side, but I think Merrill's done too much. But last thing I want to conclude with Mariners, Padres, pitching matchups on Tuesday.

the day that everybody's listening to this podcast it is one sir at least according to the app that i'm looking at george kirby going up against you darvish what can you tell us about george kirby right now uh he's really struggled as of late uh he's he's gotten hit around quite a bit and i mean that's going to happen when you have someone who throws as many strikes as he does and stays around the zone as much as he does but he hasn't found a consistent out pitch and it's he's got an Bose more often than not as of late. And the command at times hasn't been all the way there either, which is pretty atypical for George Kirby. So, I mean, I think you can make a pretty strong argument that over the last month or so, he's been the Mara's worst starter.

Well, hopefully that keeps up. I'd love that. I would be a big fan of that keeping up. For the Padres, just to quickly say, you Darvish, I think that both these games, these matchups are fascinating. Darvish, not because of the quality, but he's just working his way back from injuries and his personal issue that helped him out for so long. He looked actually okay in the two and a two-thirds innings that he did the last start, but you don't know where you're going to get. That does not mean that if he's pitched poorly tomorrow, that it's an indictment on his

ability. He's falling apart. This guy's falling, but he's still working his way back. So I think that in terms of what matters more for the pieties in a playoff series, I think this U-Darvish start is going to be big time. And we'll see, especially against the Marin's lineup that has been a little bit struggling should be a solid test for him. So I'm looking forward to that. And then the next game, Michael King versus Brian Wu. This is just in terms of quality, two great pitchers. Michael King has been, I think, personally one of the least discussed pitchers in the National League. The fact that the Padres in a vacuum probably won the Soto trade because not only did they get the prospects necessary for Dylan's, they also got Higashioca, some good death pieces, and Michael King,

who's been electric, 3.10 ERA on the season, 185Ks. He's been great. And this isn't a guy who's been up and down. He's probably going to finish in the top five or six of Sanyang boating. And then you have Brian Wu going for the marriage. What can you tell us about him? Dude, I could talk for hours about Brian Wu. I love Brian Wu.

So not only is it like the most effortless delivery you've ever seen. He is just straight out, straight up dominating guys with just fastballs for the most part. Now, though, we're getting to a point with Wu where he's starting to feel himself a little bit. And his last start in Oakland, he actually kind of threw the kitchen sink at them. Like he started throwing a slider with a bit more regularity. Started throwing a change up with a bit more regularity.

Like, it's really interesting to see how he's developing. But I haven't looked at the numbers recently for the last time that I did. And again, like before that start in Oakland, he was almost exclusively just throwing fastballs. Four seam two seam, which are both incredible. incredible pitches the two seem is ridiculous he had like the second lowest barrel percentage against and like the fifth lowest hard hit rate against and again throwing fastballs like when guys make contact with fastballs usually they are hit hard yeah yeah like and we talk about and and you know we talk about how much george kirby throw strikes and how much of an

elite strike thrower he is and you look at the walk race and all that uh brian woo is like even more so on that like he is constantly around the strike zone and the one time that he wasn't really this year was that last start in oakland when he was starting to you know throw more off speed pitches right so the fact that he's already doing this with just again two fastballs really makes me very excited about what the future looks like for him because right now he is shown against really any level of competition over the you know throughout the major leagues he's been able to not just get by not just give him

give his team a chance to win on almost every single night but actually dominate some lineups with just those two pitches so yeah I mean you know the there's been some arm fatigue issues over the course of this year but it seems like he's worked through those. He's healthy and he is by far my most favorite pitcher to watch in this rotation right now. Should be fascinating to watch. The poutaries are pretty good at drawing walks this year and Brian Wu has not been walking anybody just a 2.4% walk rate on the year, which is obscene. And based on some of the advanced stats, doesn't necessarily suggest that he's been

getting super lucky either on top of what tie was just breaking down. So really in terms of just pitching, this is your series. You've got some storylines for both teams to watch. I'm really excited for it because I don't know it's always kind of fun playing Seattle oh there's something about it so we'll see it's because it brings us together hobby yeah that's exactly right man that's exactly right for everybody else stay tuned to the episode we'll be recapping them both on our respective shows go check that locked on mariners go check out tie on twitter at tie dan gonzalez or me on twitter at havapeno the best handle of the game j a i i p e and oh and until that next time stay faithful my friar faithful homies and stay sensational my

Seattle, brethren, take care and stay golden.