Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mariners Mailbag Monday: Cooper Hummel's Hot Week, Player Regressions, and More!

Episode Date: March 14, 2023

It's a late-night Mailbag Monday from Ty and Colby! On the show, the boys answer some listener questions about potential player regressions in 2023, Cooper Hummel's hot week in Peoria, which 2010s Mariner would fit best on the current Mariners' roster, and 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 | @CPat11For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONMLB.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order. 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.

Has Cooper Hummel secured a spot on Seattle's roster and which Mariner is most likely to regress in 2023? We'll answer all that and more on tonight's episode of Locked On Mariners. 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 Monday, March 13th, 2023.

This is Tadine Gazzalus and Colby Patnaud for the Locked on Mariner's 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. It is Mailbag Monday, the show where we answer your Mariners questions. And just a heads up for those that entered our Mariners ticket giveaway last week, we'll be announced on the winner on tomorrow's episode. so look forward to that. And now Colby, we're recording a little bit later than we usually do.

Do you want to tell the folks why that is and how that's probably going to continue here for the next week? Yeah, I'm in Arizona. That's how that is. Down here for spring training, we got in on Friday evening. So leaving on Friday morning. So, yeah, been going to some spring training games. be heading to World Baseball Classic game tonight,

kind of get a feel for how that's going. Yeah, so, you know, schedule's a little weird. They start the games at one. We usually record at noon. Ty doesn't wear the pants in his relationship, so he can't get his recording studio. But, yeah, yeah. But no, it's just, it's a bad schedule right now.

And, you know, obviously, again, I'm down here until Friday. Wednesday's probably going to be fairly, normal, but I would guess tomorrow is going to come out late afternoon as well. Yeah, look, she makes more money than I do, man. What do you want me to do? She could do so much better. I mean, true. All right, let's get into the questions.

The first one comes from milkshake. Which Mariners player would you say is the most likely to somewhat regress next year? And who other than Julio can the Mariners least afford less production from? So a little bit of a two-part question here. here. There's a couple of names that come to mind thinking about who is most likely to regress at least a little bit this year. Eugenio Swara is someone that I go to a little bit.

And I love Gino, don't get me wrong here. And I don't think that he'll be bad. I don't think he'll regress to what he was, you know, the last couple of years before this past season. But I think given, you know, his struggles over those last couple years, that should suggest that maybe this past year was a little bit of an outlier for. him but I still think that he could be a 115 WRC plus guy maybe not a 130 plus WRC plus guy like he was this past year but yeah I and I think that qualifies as like a

little bit of aggression regression but overall I think he's still going to be a valuable player for this team maybe regresses a little bit defensively as well because he was pretty dang good there on the hot corner this past year anyone else come to mind for you on on that front of the question no I think it's probably Gino I don't think he's going to fall off a cliff or anything, but I kind of doubt he's a four-win player again. I think he's probably going to be closer to a three-win guy. But, you know, he should still be a solid player. But obviously, you know, you drop a win off of the war.

I would say that counts as regression. So I think Gino's probably – and Gino's also one of the older guys on this team, which is weird to say, because I think he's only 30. But he is on the older side when you look at this ball club. So I think Gino's kind of the prime candidate there. So who can the Mariners least afford regression from? I mean, there's quite a few names. I mean, Gino is obviously one of them because he's kind of part of the whole driving force of your offense here. But yeah, outside of Julio, I would say Tay Oscar,

to Oscar Hernandez, because you put really almost all of your eggs into Tay Oscar's basket this offseason. And he's your biggest, you know, offseason addition. He's supposed to elevate your offense in a major way. And if he doesn't, if you essentially just get Mitch Hanager level production out of him, maybe a few more games played, hopefully, fingers crossed. But if that's essentially what you get, I would think that's a little bit disappointing, considering what Tay Oscar can be.

Yeah. Anyone else? I think it's Teo just because, you know, the Mariners' lineup is kind of, of built on these two big bats at the top in Teo and Julio. And then around them are a bunch of, you know, good hitters, but not elite type of bats. They don't have that third guy. They're really kind of relying on Thai France taking another half step forward.

They're counting on Cal Raleigh to take a half step forward. They're counting on Colton Wong to kind of, you know, be in the range of what he was last year. They don't have that guy. So unless, you know, Jared Kellogg is going to hit 280, 350, 500. they really don't have that like third complimentary or third like star in another line. They have a lot of complimentary guys. But if, you know, Teo is, you know, kind of just okay. And you're definitely going to need to go out and get another bat at the deadline.

And when you kind of look at what the free agent market looks like, anybody with any kind of rental or anybody with any kind of club control is going to be extremely expensive. So you really need Teo to have a really good year. especially if you're going to catch somebody like the Astros. Yeah, you need Tayasca Hernandez to be at least a 125 WRC Plus guy this year. And if he's not, if he's more like 110, 115, somewhere in that range, it's not necessarily a failure, but it's a major disappointment. You're putting a lot of pressure on Cal and Jared. Yeah.

You know, Thai, France, you're really putting a lot of pressure on those guys to kind of outperform what we think they can do. And they might do it. Like there's a way where it works out fine. But if Teo's not hitting, then yeah, it's going to fall on those guys who, you know, there's some question marks about how much those guys have left in the tank. So I think it's Teo probably because even if it's like Cal Raleigh, right? You know, Tom Murphy you feel pretty good about. So I think it's Teo because you just really don't have the outfield depth or the lineup depth to get a sub-part

season out of that guy. Next question here comes from Mariners Apologists. We've been considered to be a Mariners Apologists from time to time, according to Twitter.com. Mariners Apologists asked, were you surprised at how little run Isaiah Campbell and Taylor Dollar got in spring training before getting option? Can we learn anything about how high slash low the team is on a player based off their spring training appearances?

So another kind of a two-parter question here. answer the first part of your question dollar not so much campbell a little bit yeah because i mean we talked about campbell i even i i think i made this statement on this show maybe it was our patreon show patreon dot com forward slash control the zone folks check it out uh that i thought that campbell was going to be a pretty big part of this bullpen by season then you know where we look back on things um to not really see him uh get a ton of run here was a little bit surprising and then to be option now he can still appear in some games. They can still bring him over if they need bodies, if they need arms

in camp. So we still might see him here before the end of March. But yeah, this was a little bit surprising. But the thing that you also have to keep in mind here is that Campbell is still not too far removed from a pretty serious injury.

He hasn't thrown that many inning since returning overall. So, you know, he's definitely a guy that does need more time down in the minors. And I'm still pretty high on him and you know making an impact uh with this bullpen at some point uh this season but maybe not as quick as maybe i once thought um but yeah as for dollar no not not really surprised whatsoever because he wasn't i mean jerry depoto himself didn't you know for said that he didn't

foresee him factoring into a competition here for the rotation so really what's the point at the end of the day right you know you put him down there you get let him work on some things in bullpins and stuff like that. And yeah, he's probably like, what, eighth in line for starts at this point. You obviously have your six and then you have Bryce Miller is clearly ahead of him. So that would be make him eight. You don't really need that guy. So up in your camps, just get him down there, let him get some innings. You know, there might be something that they're working on specifically. And then Campbell, I think it became pretty clear, pretty quick that they just, they're not ready to include him in the in the bullpen competition doesn't mean it won't happen it just means it's not

going to happen in March yeah in terms of the second part of your question and no not really especially not in this particular case it's more so that you know if you see an early optioning like this it's more just an indication that hey we don't think this guy's ready and it's essentially a foregone conclusion that he's not going to break camp with the team. Let's just get him in a minor league camp. Let's get him ready for the season down there. Let's get him with the guys that he's going to be around,

the coaches that he's going to be around. And that's really what that's about at the end of the day. You're just kind of giving more opportunities to the guys you think have a chance to make your team because we're getting to that point of spring where guys need to go, you know, five, six innings. The starters have to go five and six innings.

You want the relievers to, you know, get the last two outs of an inning and then go out back. and get a third out in the seventh or whatever. So we're getting to that point and the opportunities for these, you know, I don't want to say fringe guys, but for these type of players to get into games, it's going to get smaller and smaller and smaller,

especially once the guys from the WBC get back as well. Right. All right. More questions on the way here in just a moment, but real quick a reminder, this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high-stakes wager for your small business.

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You're not making us your first listen. Let's just be real about it. All right. Let's get into these questions. Julio Eyes says Cooper Hummel seems to be a lock for the final roster spot, assuming Demo and Swags are healthy. Who else could take that last spot from him who's already at Mariner's spring training? or who could the Mariners target in a trade?

And he mentions Chris Flexen as being the Mariners most likely trade trip. I agree with that. So starting with the first part here, Cooper Hummel. Yeah. He seems to have locked in his spot on this roster. Still a lot of time in spring. But this guy keeps on hitting. And the competition for that final roster spot or the final two roster spots on the

Mariners bench, depending on how you feel about the rest of the roster. Um, is thinning. Cade Marlowe suffered an emblaic injury. We're going to be talking about him a little bit later on. So he's out now. Tommy Lestella's finally return hasn't looked great since returning. Did have a double in the gap today. Um,

but overall there's still questions about his health. So who knows on that front. Collin Moran hasn't looked particularly great, especially as a late. Cole Cahoon's had a good spring, but he's a non-rosster invite. don't necessarily need to force him onto your roster right now. Obviously, we don't know what his agreement is. Maybe he has an opt out if he doesn't make the club out of spring. But yeah, there aren't a lot of players that come to mind here that make more sense for

this roster than Cooper Hummel right now, especially if he's able to catch a little bit and then provide some value or not really provide some value, but just be able to stand at a couple of other positions and just help out there if need be just to allow for some positional flexibility some lineup flexibility but this guy he keeps on hitting he had a triple today right in front of your very own eyes so what do you think about hummel who's been very impressive over the last week yeah he's gonna kind of win it by default um you know just the other guys who we thought maybe had a shot at this last roster spot there's dropping like flies and not only is humble producing, which doesn't really go into how the Mariners

plant. Like they're not, Cooper Homo's not making this roster because he's sitting 550. Right. He's going to, he's making this roster because the Mariners like the swing. They like the process. They like the flexibility. They think you can play a couple of positions for him. That's why he's going to make this roster. But also because, yeah, Cade Marlowe's out for the next, you know, six to eight weeks and Taylor Tremel's out for the next six to eight weeks. And you kind of look around and, you know, Tommy Lestella maybe makes the roster, maybe doesn't. But, But with Murphy, Haggerty, Moore already on the bench and Pollock going to play a lot, then that kind of leaves one bench spot open or DH spot open, so to speak,

and kind of go down the list and who makes the most sense. Right now it's Cooper Hummel. So, yeah, I think Hummel's probably going to be on this team unless they go out and acquire somebody. But I think he's probably going to be on this team. I think he'll get a little bit of run early in the year, mostly as left field, D-H type. And then they'll see where they're at with them. Obviously, they liked them when they acquired him.

And we've looked at his minor league numbers. We know that he's done everything there is to do at the minor league level. He needs an opportunity. Maybe the mayors give it to him. And, you know, maybe he's the next Mitch Hanigar, or maybe he's the next Jake Bowers. R.IP Bowers, Rangers. But, you know, I think they're going to give him a shot to see because there's just not a lot of other options. If he doesn't produce, then I think we'll see, you know,

Tramel or Marlowe once they're back and healthy and, you know, able to produce. Next question here comes from Felicia. Why haven't the Mariners signed Jurexon ProFar since Tommy Lestella obviously isn't working out? Colby, this is something that we've talked about a couple times on our Patreon show. Again, patreon.com for it slash control zone. Funny how that works out. ProFar, I'm confused about why ProFar is not on a major league team right now. it's not a health issue he was just playing for the netherlands in the wbc so that's not the problem here

he's coming off of a two-win season and obviously he's had a very inconsistent track record where one year he's good one year he's got awful he's almost unplayable essentially so i i'm sure there's a bit of hesitancy there with with teams and there's a certain number that teams feel comfortable signing him out and maybe he's just exceeded that and let's keep in mind he's folks we have to mention it scott boris is his agent so he's going to hang on and fight tooth and nail to the very end here for his guy to get him the best possible contract here but i don't know man i feel like pro far waiting it out this long is just hurting himself in the end is likely only going to land a one year deal and then after having a late start to the spring he's really only played in the wbc and

and practice within, you know, the Netherlands camp, and that's about it. He's, it's possible that he gets off to a slow start and his start here. And then if he's on a one-year deal, that's going to impact his market next year. That's going to impact his ability to land a long-term deal next year. So I don't know why he hasn't signed. And that, to me, is a little bit of a red flag in terms of the Mariners pursuing him for me. So to answer your question, I don't know. This is a mystery that Colby and I have tried to solve over the last couple of weeks on our show.

And we just can't really figure it out other than he's just asking for too much money. But we don't know if that's actually, we have no clue what's going on there. Yeah, it feels like it has to be that he either wants multiple years or he wants, you know, $8 to $10 million or that he wants some kind of guarantee of regular playing time and the Mariners. They can't really offer that. I mean, they could offer the $8 to $10 million, but if he can't play five times, six times a week all season, then he might not be interested in that. And, you know, it's also possible.

The Mariners just don't like jerks and pro far. I mean, we're not talking about like a no-brainer. This guy should start on every single team, blah, blah, blah. We're talking about, you know, a pretty good player, but by no means somebody that you have to have on your roster. So maybe they just don't like jerks and pro far. Maybe that's part of it. And his versatility is a little overstated. He's only played, you know, aside from first base, he's only played a couple hundred

innings in the infield over the last three or four years combined. So he's really just a left fielder without much power and, you know, kind of average on base skills and average hit tools. So, you know, maybe they can't offer him that because they want to wait and see what Jared Kellnick's going to do, which is totally reasonable. So I don't know why he's not here. But I do know the fact that nobody else seems to, you know, want him right now probably speaks to the fact that he wants multiple years or he wants a really high guarantee or he wants like 600 plate appearance promise or something like that. And he's just unfortunately, you know, there seems to be one guy every year who misreads the market and this year was pro far and his agent. Yeah. And let's just be honest about it. Let's be

up front here. Let's just cut through the BS. ProFar is the obvious fit here, but the Mariners have one of the Mariners and Jerry Depoto have ever done the obvious thing, right? Right. I mean, like Luis Castillo, sure. Yeah. But like overall here, like in terms of just like, oh, yeah, you just go out and sign this guy. He's like the last remaining good free agent, really. At the end of the day, just go sign him. He fits, right?

On paper, yeah. But if the Mariners, again, let's be real here, if the Mariners are going to add someone from the outside between now and opening day, it's going to be beat trade. It's chariotopoto, folks. You can guarantee that it's going to be a trade. And to answer the second part of the last question, which we skipped, that trade will be Max Kepler. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I forgot to answer that part. But yeah, Max Kepler, especially with the Marlowe injury and the Trammell injury, like go get yourself an outfielder. Go get yourself a good outfielder. And you can still play Jerich Kellnick all you want. You can have an outfield of Jerich Kelloggledo Rodriguez and Max Kepler, which quite honestly might be the best defensive outfield in all of baseball. It's given the Cardinals that run for their money, that's for sure.

And then you have Teo-D-H primarily and you rotate the other outfielers. through the DH spot. It works. It can work. Yep. All right. We got a few more questions to go over here in just a moment. But real quick,

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to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Thank you again for making us your, I don't know, come up with a number. Let us know in the comments below what this, what number this listen is for you during your day here because it certainly isn't your first here on Monday. All right. Next question comes from Rochanne Brett. If you could add one 2010s Mariner to the current Mariner team, who would it be? Who? I like this question a lot. This one is fun.

Nelson Cruz. Yeah, 2015 Nelson Cruz is a really good answer. Plus that DH is wide open on this roster. You put 2015 Nelson Cruise World Series. Like the temptation might be to say Felix, and I don't think that's a bad answer. But you look at the Mariners rotation right now, and it's like, do I get like a specific year? Do I get like 2014 Felix? Or do I get Felix in the totality of the 2010s?

Because the last three years were God awful, whereas Cruz was still really good all throughout the 2010. So I think the biggest need is a bat. You really need that middle of the order just like crushing bad. And, you know, Mariners Nelson Cruz was one of the best right-hand hitters I ever watched on a daily basis. So I'll probably go, Nelly. may I pose two alternatives? You may not. Next question.

Well, I'm going to do it anyway. 2014 and 2016 Robinson Cannell. I feel fine about Wong. I mean, yeah, but you could also D.H. Canoe if you want. I mean, I feel like you should answer in the spirit of the question, which is, you know, is Canoe going to be okay, Daching in his prime, really? Let's just talk about the numbers here. 38, 350, 533.

He was almost a seven-win player in 2016, man. Yeah, fine. If he was a little at the age, cool, because he's a left-y bat. And he could also play some defense at the time, right? Like, that can be valuable. I'm changing my answer. Kyle Seeger. Oh, wow.

That's quite the huge time for you. 2016, Kyle Seeger. 2014, Canoe, as well, his first year in Seattle, 314, 382, 454, 137 WRC plus. that was a 5.6 F-4 season for Canoe. Dude was really good. It was really, if we want to bend the rules and say that we could put guys anywhere we want,

then I guess Cano probably has a pretty good, you know, pretty good case. Canoe plays some second. He DHS. Colton can, you know. Because if there's one thing we know about Robinson Canoe, he was thrilled to change positions in 2018 when the team needed him to.

Thrilled. Okay. You wouldn't move off of Colton, Wong for prime Robinson can know for seven wins Robinson can know I think Colton Wong's going to put up seven wins this year so I'm feeling pretty good about that clip clip that

Mirrenors Mojo just you wait just you wait it's going to be really awkward for you when Colton Wong starting the All-Star game this year all right all right we can make it happen guys stuff the ballot box I guess we're already starting the bold prediction episode Kevin here

wants to know haggerty had a significant impact creating pressure on the base past you see the mariners using him at multiple positions to get him in the lineup consistently i don't think that he's going to get in the lineup consistently unless injuries happen he's the 25th 26th guy on the roster you know he's the fourth guy on on the bench why do you want him in the lineup consistently yeah i mean we're going to see him against lefties yeah uh and but i i think really when you know i think we'll see him probably three four times a week, but mostly as a late game, you know, sub, either, you know, either pinch running,

maybe defensive substitution, et cetera. But I think he probably only starts once a week with the, with the way things are currently constructed. I think, you know, if he's getting more than 50 starts, based on what we've seen so far, I think something's gone pretty wrong. He's just not that guy. He's pretty good against lefties, didn't hit righties at all. There's not a lot of power. He's not, like an elite left fielder or anything like that he's serviceable out there he still takes some bad reads which not entirely his fault he's you know a natural infielder but he also you know really doesn't play shortstop the mariners clearly don't trust him to play shortstop he plays mostly second uh and you know in left or right in a corner he doesn't have the power to profile there so

yeah i think i think he'll get some run and obviously they'll use him off the bench um but he should not be starting every day and really you should limit his start as much as you can to, you know, specific matchups against left-handed pitching. And thankfully in the ALS, there is a lot of left-handed pitching. So you should still get some run, but you should not be trying to get Haggerty into the lineup with any consistency. Yeah, I've defended Haggerty a lot, you know, and I've defended Haggerty's spot on this roster, if I could speak English. but also like I do think that people get a little bit hung up on haggerty during the win streak the player that he was during the wind streak and a little bit

after that you know yeah and think that's just who he is it's not I think he's a good player that can help you know I think he's a good player to you know be the the fourth guy on your bench and help you know late in games and start here and there but that's about it that's the extent of what I want Sam Harrodite's role to be on a contending team on a team that should have World Series aspirations because there is a role for Sam Haggurty there but it's a small one you know. Hargody could start for a couple of teams in the league right now. Sure.

But, you know, the point is that you're you're supposed to be a top 10 team in the league and yeah, he could. Yeah. Yeah. Have you looked at the Washington Nationals? You looked at the Pittsburgh by it. Have you looked at the Oakland? athletics we just did um excuse me the pittsburgh pirates have a very nice infield so i'm not saying

that he needs to play infield but he does if he's playing every day he does uh yeah so yeah at the end of the day what i'm trying to say though is that he's a good player to still have on a on the back end of your roster uh if you're if you're a team that has the ceiling that i think you know that i think we all think the mariners have ahead and into this year all right uh let's go to daisy and the dingo here who says would you be disappointed if the mariners traded chris flexen to fill gaps in their farm system like an infielder at the double aish level rather than trading for major league pieces this is very ambiguous like what what kind of is the guy at the the double A level Jake Shiner, then yes, I would be upset.

Yeah. Is the guy at the double A level, the doll Bruhan, then no, I'm bond with that. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's not going to be that guy, but. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, it's a little ambiguous. Yeah, it very much depends on, is this actually more than just a filler, minor league

filler? Like, is it actually someone that I could legitimately see you get on a path to the big leagues and help me out at the major league level or become a valuable trade asset, you know? Right. If not, why are you trading Chris Flexen for that?

Yeah. Like, there's no point in doing that. You don't have to trade Chris Flexen. Yeah, you don't. Like, I know a lot of teams like, oh, the Mets just lost so and so, the Yankees just lost so and so. Trade them flexing.

Trade them flexing. Like, you don't have to. You can just use flexing out of the bullpen. You know, you can do that until the right deal comes. You shouldn't force. a deal for Chris Flexen. So if the guy, if you don't think you're acquiring a guy who can help you in 2023 or at the very latest 2024 and I mean legitimately help you, not just like off the

bench, they just keep Chris flexing. Yeah. And like if they, and if they were to do that, if they were to trade for just a, you know, flexing for just a Jake Shiner type, I question the motives of that deal. Are you literally just trying to get the $8 million off of your books? Like, why? what it sounds like. Yeah.

Unless you're going to turn around and spend that $8 million just like that. Yeah. But who are you going to spend the $8 million on? I mean, it would be easier to swallow if they did that, but they had also added a starter, reliever, you know,

combo type. Maybe they trade Isaiah Campbell and Taylor Dallard for Max Kepler, and then they flip Flexen for Jake Shiner, right? And then it's like, and I just pull those names out. I don't think it would cost that much, but maybe I don't know.

But, you know, just you add a nine, but then you subtract eight. It's not that big of a deal. And again, as much as you don't like to play that game, Jerry does because Jerry doesn't set the budget. Yeah. We'll see.

But I'm not trading him for or depth. Like, if I'm trading for a prospect, I think it has to be an impact one. I don't think you can get an impact prospect for Chris Flexon. So kind of answers the question. Yeah. or at least someone that has the path to be in an impact prospect maybe they aren't necessarily that just yet but they have the the ceiling to be yeah that's yeah that's about as low as i would

yeah that's about as low as i would aim on a flex and deal because again it's just like flexen actually has a role if you want if you want them to have one uh he can't help and look your rotation you know knock on wood here i hope that it stays as remarkably healthy as it did last year, but the likelihood of that happening is not very high. So you probably are going to need Chris Flexen to make at least a couple of starts this year if we're just trying to assume and play things safe here. And we know that, you know, Marco's going to be leaving during the month of April on the paternity list for the birth of his baby that's expected next months. So there's one potential start there already for flexen that you can use that Bryce Miller,

you know, Taylor Dollar, et cetera, probably not going to be ready to make when that happens. So yeah, flexen is very useful to the Mariners still. So you if you do trade him, you better be sure that whatever you're getting back from does help in some former fashion that it's actually a legitimate asset that you're adding. Or again, like Colby said, if you're, you're just clearing the payroll, it better be because you're about to reinvest that money. Right. You can't just do it, wash your hands of flux and wash your hands of the money. You get really nothing for him and then just call it good.

Can't do that. That's unacceptable. All right. Last question of the night comes from Dylan. Ignoring logistics from what you've seen in the WBC so far, what country would you put an MLB expansion team in? I think the answer is pretty clearly Puerto Rico. The U.S. of A, baby.

Yeah. Canada. technically the US of A because Puerto Rico is a territory. There you go. Not to get too political here, so I won't. You guys can probably guess my feelings on Puerto Rico statehood. But anyways, regardless of that, yeah, Puerto Rico. That's a country that loves baseball.

They are American. So, like, technically my answer is America. But when I look at like Japan, which has a great, you know, love for baseball, they have their own professional league and it's wildly popular. Korea has their own professional league and it's wildly popular. And their trophy is sick. Oh, it's amazing. The giant sword or whatever it's called.

Yeah, it's so dope. I don't think, you know, expansion to Europe is quite there yet. Maybe we're seeing some traction. Italy is starting to gain some traction. Great Britain got their first ever win today at the World Baseball Classic. So it's exciting to see the game expand in Europe as it is, but it's just not ready for a team. So to me, that leaves the Latin countries. So we're talking Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Panama.

And to me, the answer is obvious. It's Puerto Rico. I've been pitching funny because, like, we've had this talk before. And I said, if logistics weren't such a problem, my two expansion teams would be Puerto Rico and Montreal. But obviously, logistics are a problem with having a major league team. You have to build the stadium. You have to build facilities. You have to build the infrastructure and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But since we're not taking that into consideration, to me, the answer is Puerto Rico. And it's more travel costs for all the teams. And we know how cheap major league owners are. How much further? How much more expensive is it really to go from like Tampa Bay to Port. If you told a major league owner that he'd have to spend one more extra dollar than he did the year past, he'd probably throw fit. Yeah, probably. Yeah.

Anyway, that's going to do it for a show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Locked-on Mariners podcast. For Colby Pat Node, I'm Tiding Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-N-Rerriner. You can follow me at Dan Gonzalez, that's T-A-N-E, G-N-Z-L-Z, and Colby at C-Pat 11. That's C-P-A-T-1-1. You can also follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Locked-on Mariners. That's one word, Locked-on Mariners.

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 second listen, check out Locked-Lodon. fantasy baseball win your league by listening to matt and dom every day as they bring you the best fantasy draft strategies it's free and available wherever you get your podcast just like us part of the locked on podcast network your team every day and with that have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you tomorrow peace