Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - MARINERS POSTCAST: Seattle Mariners get BLOWN OUT against Milwaukee Brewers

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

Chris and Anders look at the rubber match between the Seattle Mariners and Milwaukee Brewers. Luis Castillo wasn't at his best, but boy did his defense let him down. The offense wasn't good enough, and Trent Thornton had a not-so-fun outing.   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Trade CoffeeRight now, Trade is exclusively offering our customer 50% off your one-month trial at drinktrade.com/LOCKEDONMLB. OpenPhoneStreamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at www.openphone.com/lockedonmlb Wonderful PistachiosGet snackin' and get crackin' with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more! Supply HouseJoin the TradeMaster program today at SupplyHouse.com/TM and start ordering plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with just a few clicks. Plus, use promo code S-H-5 for 5% off your first order. That’s SupplyHouse.com! Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONMLB at monarchmoney.com/lockedonmlb for 50% off your first year. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. 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.

This is the Mariners Postcast. Your instant game reaction for the Seattle Mariners. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Stop me if you heard this before, but defense matters. Defense matters. Yeah, we're just going to continue to pound that drum continuously, especially in a game where five of the nine, of the eight really positions, if you don't count pitcher, are below average in this game today,

which is not ideal, not great, Bob, as they say. So, yeah, the Mariners drop this one, lose the series to the Milwaukee Brewers, 10 to 2. I didn't do the math, but I think that's, what is it, 16 to 3 in terms of runs scored in this series. So, again, not great, Bob. And yeah, this just not a good game for your Los Marineros, Anderson Hurst, here, Christopher for my left. We are live with your Mariners postcast here right after every single Mariner baseball game. We're going to talk about Luis Castillo start.

How much help did he get or lack thereof? How much of it was him giving up a lot of heart contact? Obviously still some of the combination of the both. Yeah, shortstop. That's all I'll say. And then we're going to do our unsung hero slash. villain, Chris Crawford, initial thoughts on this game. So there wasn't a lot of energy that I saw at the beginning of this game.

And, you know, I don't want to be the guy who, like, says I'm in the head of the Mariners, right? Like, I understand everything that's going on, that I know what everyone's going through. But it sure looked like there wasn't a ton of energy to begin this game. And then I think they quit. I think that they quit and that's really disappointing. That's really disappointing because, you know, you fall down 5-2, you know, I understand it. You probably aren't going to win that game.

It's hard to come back from three runs. But it's the lack of effort that I saw from guys who usually don't have a huge lack of effort, right? I was disappointed in this loss. The score doesn't really bug me because, you know, get my Dom Torretto on. It doesn't matter if you lose by an inch or live my life by a quarter mile, whatever that's stupid movie is. Universal is not a sponsor, right? Oh, but they sign me checks. Never mind.

Fast and Furious is a great, great movie. Family. I just family. I just feel like they quit today. I feel like they quit and there were some individual efforts. But as a collective, I thought they quit. And, you know, we talked about how, you know, lack of. effort hasn't been a thing. Right. Lack of effort's been much more of a thing under Dan Wilson than it

has under Scott's service. Oh, yes. And I just keep thinking about that. And I, you know, if I was Scott Service watching this game, do you know what an S-E-G is, a something eating grin? I would have one of those type of grins on my face right now because like the lack of effort is inexcusable. It's just not excusable. I'm not asking you to play perfect. I'm not asking you to go 162 and 0. It'd be hell of boring if they went 162 and O, if I'm being honest with you. I am asking you to try. And I felt like from the fifth inning on, this major league baseball team didn't try. And that's disappointing. Yeah, it's just now that you bring that up, there's lots of little things that fall into that category throughout this season for me with

when it comes to Dan Wilson and his ability to get his guys going. Right. And obviously, when you're playing well, he's about as good of a manager as I can hope for for this Mariners team because he keeps the train rolling. He rides with his guys. He gives them confidence. But when they hit a little bit of adversity, it just seems like it just shuts down, whether it's a rain delay, whether it's the end of a series where you feel like you're just getting absolutely dominated and there's not a big chance for you to come back. They just quit. And that's something like you said, I think it's a great point that you don't associate that with at least these last four years of Mariners teams. And I think it's a difference in the manager for sure as something to do with it.

I don't know how much to do with it, but at least has something to do with it. Let's start with the start, though, before we get into the big stuff defensively, because I think that's going to be most of our conversation today. Luis Castillo, what do you think? So I actually think Luis Castillo looked pretty good today. Like if you just were taking a look at the pitch by pitch, and if you were just taking a look at where the ball was placed, there wasn't all that much hard contact. Like, let's go to the inning. He gives up two runs, right?

There's a little blooper, and then there is a double that I'm not saying Randy or the Rose Arena should catch, but I think a better left field that doesn't get to that baseball. I think a better left fielder does get to that baseball. And we have sung the praises of Randy a Rose Arena's defense and improvement this year. But lately, I have kind of seen those. Oh, right, right, right, right, right.

That's the reason why this guy isn't a 5-1 player every year. Yes. There are some defensive issues. And then, of course, the fourth inning, and we'll talk about it then. But it wasn't like they were slacking the ball. A lot of baseballs that just weren't hit all that hard. And, you know, he just strike out seven. I thought the swing and miss stuff was good.

I'm not saying he was perfect by any stretch of the imagination. He was nowhere near as good as he was against the Astros, right? That was vintage Luis Castillo. This wasn't Timu Luis Castillo, but it wasn't really Amazon Prime Louise Castillo either, right? Like it wasn't, it wasn't him at his best. I want him to pitch better. I also will say similar to what I said about George Kirby and his start, not at his best, but no long-term concerns from what I saw over that outy.

Yeah, that's kind of the vibe I got too. And then you look at his final line. I know he gets helped by the error a lot because it makes it instead of six run runs, it makes it three. But then everyone's like, you know, 10 hits doesn't look great. But a lot of those hits came after the error, which is a reason, like, you should have been out of that inning, right? So it's, it's just, it is what it is.

I think, especially the way that he's pitching now, he can get swing and miss. It's not like he's a full pitch to contact guy like an Emerson Hancock or Logan Evans. But, you know, if he's going to be a good pitcher, you need the defense to make plays behind him. And it didn't happen today. It absolutely did not happen today. So let's get into that. Let's just get into it right now. J.P. Crawford's a problem.

And as good as he's been offensively and as much as he's helped them and helped them is an understatement, right? He has been one of the best offensive short stops in baseball. But now he's making airs on top of not getting two baseballs. And look, he was my unsung hero last night, right, for the play that he made. Went ahead and watched that play again. That ball was hit so slow. And if it would have had any velocity on it whatsoever, he does. doesn't get there. The impressive thing was honestly the throw, right? It was. It was most accurate and

probably his hardest throw that he's made. It's an issue. It is absolutely an issue. And if I'm Jerry Topto and if I'm Justin Hollander, I'm looking at short stops. I'm looking somewhere at the shortstop position here because I think J.P. Crawford was a fine second. Would it be a fine second basement? And you know what J.P. Crawford really is now? I think he's a designated hitter. And I know we automatically think of designated hitters as the Nelson Cruises, right? We look at the designated hitter as those big boppers. No, a designated hitter is a guy who hits. And J.P. Crawford has hit well in the year of our Lord 2025.

And the defense has been, if J.P. Crawford was an average defensive player, he'd be in the MVP conversation this year, right? Like, this would be we talking about a six-win player because of how good he's been at getting on base this year. the defense is problematic. The air was inexcusable. It was just an OLA effort, and that can't happen. And then there's two balls hit up the middle that I want my shortstop to make that play 80% of the time. And here's the thing.

Sometimes with defense, it doesn't happen in the spur of the moment, right? Because all we can really judge in terms of those type of things sometimes is whether they made the play that was hit right at him. Well, today it became easier because he didn't make the play that was it right at him, right? But then you start thinking about it and you take a look at the metrics. And I know metrics are sometimes a volatile thing. Especially defensively. They're not perfect. Right.

Well, and here's the thing, too. There's so much that goes into those metrics that we can't process in real time, right? We can't process the exit velocity. We can't process the defensive positioning. We can't process a bunch of that stuff. But they exist for a reason. And then you take a look and you take a look at those stats and you say, oh, that does make sense, right? And I'll be honest, too, because it's so much in the forefront of my mind now that J.P. Crawford has struggled defensively.

And this is not a new thing, by the way. He was a very mediocre defensive player since he won the gold glove. It was a fantastic defender in 2020. And he slowed down every year. Now it's reached a kind of boiling point, but is boiling point too strong of a word to say? I'm not sure if it is. now it's at that point where you're just really on the forefront and is really on my mind. And I am noticing those balls that he does not get to.

The Mariners don't have a perfect defense behind him either. Let's just be honest here, right? Like you feel good about center field. You feel good about catcher. You feel good about third base. Ben Williamson, I'm sorry you don't get to be an unsung hero today, even though he had a really good baseball game. But J.P. Crawford's a big issue.

It's a big issue. and some people asking about Cole Young whether he can play shortstop. I think Cole Young is a better shortstop this year. It would cause a clubhouse mutiny, I think, if you made that move. I think if you made that move. And here's the thing. Cole Young's arm is noodle adjacent. It's noodle adjustment.

I don't think it would improve them that much to have him play shortstop. Yeah, yeah. Sean Connors brings it up right here. You notice the issues of Cole Young played shortstop. He has a bad arm. He does. He does. And I think he's going to be a very good.

second baseman for a long time. Yeah. The Mariners have a glut of shortstop prospects, but Colt Emerson ain't ready until 2026. And it's probably going to be the end of 2026. Belmont-Selston is a long way away. Michael O'Royo is mostly playing second base himself, right? Yeah.

I think shortstop is an issue. And shortstop is something that I don't know who would be available, to be honest, that maybe that's Ty and Colby territory. But I would be looking to upgrade at the shortstop position. Well, I mean, we're just reacting to a game here. but it wasn't just this game. No, on even a little. First game in the Brewer Series, too, on Monday.

So it's an issue. I think I agree with you. I was going to actually ask you, like, I think the general consensus with JP is like, okay, you write him out this year and you probably move on next year from him, at least at some point next year. Even if he's starting the season at Shorthstop next year, like you said, Colt Emerson's probably around the timeline he's going to be coming out. Or maybe you make a trade or a signing of some sort to kind of get a,

stop gap until he's ready. But is this something that they have to address now? Because like you said, I don't think it makes that much of an improvement on the field if you swap him and Cole Young. I know Cole Young is a shortstop prospect, but I feel like second base is his spot for future for sure. Just considering like he has good range, his arm's not great though. It just feels like that's kind of his role, the second baseman moving forward.

It's becoming an issue. And you need a good defensive shortstop, especially if you're built on run prevention. You're built on run prevention. Exactly. So like I said, today you had below average defenders at, this is today because Mitch Garver started at catcher. You had below average defenders at catcher, first base, shortstop, left field, right field. That's five of the eight positions, if you don't include pitcher, that you have below

average defenders at. That is a problem. Yeah. Yeah. That's really well put. That's really well put. And, you know, there was talk about J.P. Crawford being willing to make the move over to second base that he was something that he was willing to do when they were going after a couple of the short stops or rumored to be going after a couple of the short stops, how much they were actually doing so. I don't know. Some talk about maybe Trevor's story coming close, but that's another story for another time. I think J.P. Crawford would do it. I will say, though, I've brought this up with Anders. Sometimes I watch J.P. Crawford when. Ben Williamson cuts the baseball off in front of him, and I see a guy who looks really upset.

So maybe he's not as happy about it as I would think. You know what I mean? Like, I think he wants to try to make those plays. And I guess it's admirable, right, that you want to be that guy out there. And he's one of the clubhouse leaders for sure. For sure. I think you've got to look at upgrading it in 2025. I don't know how because the shortstop market is barren, barren.

But I think you've got to try. And here's the other thing real quick. And then we can probably talk about monarch money and then we can probably talk about some other stuff, right? The one thing we have to give Jerry Depoto credit for is this dude is creative, right? Like, he comes up with some wacky, wacky things to address. Sometimes they work. And sometimes they work and sometimes they do not. But the one thing we know about Jerry DePoto is, and hell, Justin Hollander brought it up with us when he was talking to us on the phone.

He said, we were on the phone yesterday. We're on the phone today when we did that interview. right? They're trying. I will say if anybody can address this issue, Jerry Depoto is one of those guys, because he is one of the more creative from everyone I've talked to on being on the phone and seeing, how can we make this player work? And I think the more Jerry to Potos watch this, knowing that he is not always my favorite guy, but knowing that he's no dumb dumb, that watching this, I think he feels like, oh, maybe shortstop is something that we got to upgrade on. Yeah, it's especially like this tells me like how urgent are you for this year for this year?

Because you don't have any fix in the system. You're not going to start Miles Mastrobony at shortstop every game. Like you're just not. You're not going to start Dylan Moore there every game. God, I hope not. So I just, I don't know. How urgent are they? Do they think it's an issue?

Well, just real quick. In terms of urgency, the asterisk sweep the diamond max. So we have a six game cushion again. and that's bad. That's really, really bad. There are, I believe, 58 games left in the year, 59, something like that. By the way, anyone that was rooting for the Astros over the Diamondbacks so that the Diamondbacks would sell, you're dumb. I'm just going to say that right now.

You are dumb if that's what you wanted. Because, yeah, let's root for the thing that has the least effect on the Mariners' ability to win the division. Let's do that. Yeah. Just so we have a chance, by the way, that doesn't mean that even. And if they are going to sell because of that, that he's coming to the Mariners. I guess I don't get that thought process whatsoever. But anyways, moving on from that.

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Not much going on today, obviously. You get a couple good at-bats from Ben Williamson and Dom Canzon still, you know, doing his thing out there. Any concern? I know you were going against a really good Brewers pitching staff and three really good starting pitchers this week. So I struggle to say like alarm bells question mark, but, you know, it's three games. You don't look great offensively. No, no. You can't score the three runs in three games.

I'm sorry. I don't care if you're going up against like the 1970s Baltimore Orioles pitching staff. And Anders, you'll have to Google that one afterwards. There is just, there's no excuse for three runs. There's no excuse. Like, you know, Ben Williamson did have a really nice day and made a couple nice defensive plays as well. Polanco hits the double. Julio gets a couple of hits.

But this is one that really bugged me here because he hits the ball down the line. And it's a terrific play by Siegler. right terrific play he doesn't run it out Julio doesn't run it out I know and I noticed that too that really bugged me that really bugged me and okay here's the thing that nobody will tell you major league teams tell players at times if the score is a little out of line don't necessarily bust it because if you hurt your hamstring we're going to look stupid right that is absolutely something they tell him yes I still feel like if he's running at like 80% he beats that out, right? And maybe it was a frustration thing like, hey, you know, I finally get a

ball down the line and Sigler makes a nice play. Yeah, because even his first two hits, he kind of just dribbles it and doesn't get any of it all. You know, and the second one was okay. The first one is just a flat out dribbler thing. Way, just a swinging button. The second one was fine. And then the third one was his best contact. And I'm, I'm not going to hate on a two for four effort too much, right? Like getting on base is a good thing. The only thing it matters, right? The results are the only thing that matters. No extra base hits is another thing that we can talk about. But it really bugged me that he didn't burst that out down the line.

It really bugged me. Now, I will also say this. If he hurt himself doing that, I would also be like, well, crap. But there's a thin line, I think. There's a thin line there. And it just kind of irked me similar to the way when Randy a Rosarina did the fake throw. It was a very similar play to that where it's like, maybe it's not. not that big of a deal, but it just rubs you kind of the wrong way.

Well, and if it was just that one incident, it's like, all right, you know, it bothers me, whatever, not a huge deal. But when you compound, you know, JP's thing and Randy's thing. Oh, yeah, for sure. And Julio's like, it's all right. It gives you like a bigger picture like, all right, what's going on here? Why are these guys not trying to win this baseball game at every instance that they

possibly can, right? Right. So that's where I start to go to the coaching, right? And it's not a player thing. It's a coaching thing. And we've seen this before. Like we've mentioned it so many times, like rain delays, they just seem like they just give up on the game anytime the game is postponed.

And then games like this today where, you know, you feel like you're getting dominated and you don't think you have a chance. You don't see very many teams quit like that, especially a mariner team. So, yeah, I don't know. Real quick, I saw some people mentioning it in the comments. So I wanted to bring it up. some people in criticizing not playing Cal Rale in this game, I have no problem with it. I have no problem with giving him a day off, man.

You've got to keep this guy fresh, right? And, you know, maybe if this game's closer, you bring him in as a pinch hitter, that type of thing. Sure. But catchers can't play 150 games, man. It can't happen. And at this point, he's on pace to play well over 150, I believe. Like, I think he's had three total days off on the season. So I get it.

I want to see Big Dumber in the lineup as often as possible, but I don't mind night game after day game, knowing that especially they're playing 17 straight games again after playing 17 straight games not that long ago. It's like what, 34 out of 35 days or something like that. They end up playing games, something along those lines. I don't mind that he's not in the lineup. Now, you also see, though, again,

how much weaker this lineup is without him, but you do have to give him days off here and there. Unsung Hero. Unsung hero for me. Boy, J.P. Crawford's way too sung. He's too song. Yeah, no, it doesn't count. Miles Mastroboni made a really nice catch in left field today. That was pretty fun, but I'll go with Casey Legamina.

I thought he did a really nice job today in his inning. And you know what? No, I'll just go with Legamini. Because I keep stealing things from you. I don't want to steal things from you. Well, I actually was just trying to think of one. So if you wanted to take mine, go ahead this time. I was going to say Brandon Garcia as well.

Like, it was nice to see. even though he did walk a pair of batters just to get a scoreless inning to know what success feels like, right? It's nice to see some success. And, you know, we brought it up. The fact that they only had him pitched that one inning suggests to me that they do believe that he is a guy who can help them. So this is more of a long-term answer than we expect. More of a long-term answer, for sure. One, I'm going to use mine on, so we sung J.P. Crawford's defense in a bad way. I'm going to go my unsung villain is J.P. Crawford with the bat. Yeah, fair.

Because he has been not the same hitter the last couple weeks. And including today, you get a strikeout over 3. His OPS down to 757. I remember when I was pushing 800, even over the 800 range. Like you said, we've said it multiple times. We've talked about his deficiencies defensively. It's okay when you're that much of a plus offensive player. But when you're not, oh boy.

Oh boy. That's really fair. And the biggest issue for me right now with Crawford is the contact issues. He struck out in one, two, three, four, five, six, seven straight games. And three over those are multi-strikeout games, not one today. But like, Chiefie Crawford has to put the ball in play. Like he's just not enough of a power hitter to say, you know, strikeouts are just outs, but they are also preventing you from having any good thing happen, right? Like you cannot have good things happen. Can't hit into double play so you limit one. bad thing, I suppose. But J.P. Crawford's got to be better. He's got to be better. And, you know, the overall numbers still offensively are fantastic. But when you combine it with the glove and you combine how he's kind of looked offensively, especially during this homestand, yes. Not great. Not great at all. Mariner's dropped two and three to the Milwaukee Brewers to make it a three and three homestan. I guess if you went into the homestand with a three and three thought, you would be okay with it. They go to the Angels tomorrow. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Yes. By the way, just real quick. Yeah. I'll take this homestand. If you told me that they were going to go three and three before the break, I would take it. It was funny because I was thinking whether you would ask me this or not. Three and three is good, but it depends on when you ask me, right?

If you ask me before Thursday, yeah, three and three is great. If you asked me Sunday whether three and three was good, not really. Yeah. No, no, it's just a couple of the ways that happened. Like you could have swept the Astros. And then that makes you feel a lot better in that situation. And then just looking completely outmatched for the majority of this series against the brewers. It doesn't leave a good taste in your mouth.

Two different blowouts, by the way, in this series as well, right? The 11 to 3 loss is one where you outplayed the Astros for five innings. And then this one, there was a one moment where it was close. And then because you get the two, make it two, two. And outside of that, you were thoroughly outplayed. Not all blowouts are equal. They are not. That's a great way to put it. Let's end on that.

Thank you guys so much for hanging out with us today. Once again, look out for Ty and Colby with their episode tomorrow. Actually, probably coming out a little bit later today, if I remember correctly. Yeah, so they're probably going to break down a little bit of this game, probably talk a little bit longer term. Is shortstop a problem? Do you need to address it at this training deadline? They'll maybe answer that question.

I'll check and see if they think if it's a big issue. But hey, you'll have to tune in to find out, I guess. So really appreciate you guys hanging out with us on the Mariner's Postcast. We'll be back with you guys tomorrow. I think it's a 640 start for the Angels series. Is that correct, Chris Crawford? That is correct. Okay.

So normal time, Pacific time, I should always say. For us, really appreciate you guys. We'll go back on the road. Hopefully the offense finds itself again because that's just kind of how it works nowadays. But we'll be with you guys tomorrow. Thanks so much. Talk to you then. Please like the video.

If you haven't already, really, really helps us. And comment in who you guys have for your unsung hero. or villain. Talk to you guys tomorrow. Last work, Chris Crawford. Still love my son.