Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mariners Pre-Spring Positional Outlook: The Catchers/Mailbag #1

Episode Date: February 7, 2020

In the first half of the program, D.C. Lundberg wraps up the week-long series examining the Mariners roster, as he speaks about the team's catchers. The second half of the program is the first Mailbag segment of the relaunched show, where D.C. answers questions about Mariners prospects, a former Mariner who's now a Yankee, and pancakes, among other topics. 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.

Time for Locked-on Mariners gang, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. I am D.C. Lundberg back with you on this Friday morning. Hopefully a little less salty and more coherent than I was on the last show. No more 1 a.m. recording sessions for me. I either get super ornery or start tripping over my words like Foster Brooks. Now, there's a reference the 18 to 34 crowd will get. You can access this program and all the other programs on the Lockdown Network on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or pretty much any other podcasting app that you care to use.

Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariners podcast. And remember to follow the show on Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-U-N-R-R-R-G, and I am on Twitter as well, ladies and gentlemen, at D.C. underscore Lundberg. L-U-N-D-B-E-R-G, if you are scoring at home. Today, we will wrap up our week-long series, looking at the Mariners roster going into spring training. today it's the catchers. And in the second half of the program, our first mailbag segment where I answer your email questions. Before any of that takes place, though,

I have a correction to issue. Yesterday, while speaking about Yoshihisa Hidano, I made a mistake. I said that last season he had an ERA of 275. I misspoke. His ERA was 475, again with a 1 a.m. recording session. I didn't catch it until the show had been published.

I apologize. On to the catchers. Last season, the marriage. started out the season with Omar Narvaez as the starter, but Tom Murphy emerged as an offensive threat, and the two of them split time behind the dish. Offensively, they were somewhat similar, though Murphy outslugged Narvaez 535 to 460,

and defensively Murphy was much, much better. Narvaez only threw out 18% of potential base dealers, 9% below league average. Murphy, on the other hand, threw out 39% of would-be base thieves. They both allowed three past balls, but Norvaez caught more innings. Still, Murphy is by far the better defender, and Narvaez was shipped off to the Brewers for a pitching prospect. I spoke about Narvaez on Tuesday's episode of Locked on Brewers with Ben Larson.

Check it out. Ben does a really good job on the Brewer's show. Baseball reference projects Murphy to regress a little bit to a 252 batting average, 309 on base and 477 slugging. I think he will regress a bit, but maybe not that. that markedly. He does have a bit of a platoon split. He has historically hit better against left-handed pitching. This split was exaggerated somewhat last season since Narvaez saw most of the playing time against Ritees. Even if he does regress, his defense still makes him valuable. I mean, don't get me wrong, he's no Dan Wilson back there, but he's pretty good. He gets the job done for sure. Austin Nola will be the backup this season. Last year, he wasn't needed behind the

plate so much because of the Murphy-Norvaeus tandem. But he was needed in the infield. mostly at first base. Last year was his first taste of Major League action at the age of 29 after spending seven seasons in the minors. He was drafted as a short stop, played a lot of short and third base early on, and some second base, so you know he's athletic. A couple of years ago, he began to catch to make himself more versatile and more valuable. His offensive numbers have always been okay, nothing eye-popping but okay, but still for

whatever reason, he never got a look at the Major League level. In 2018, he hit 279 for. AAA New Orleans in the Marlins system. He could not be ignored any longer after starting last year hitting 327 for AAA Tacoma through the middle of June when the Mariners called him up. He caught only seven games at the top level last year, but going over his minor league numbers defensively as a catcher, he looks okay. He throws out his share of base runners and has worked his tail off this offseason and last

to improve behind the plate. The Mariners like him as a catcher, which in part made Narvae as expendable. He'll be a more than serviceable backup, especially if he hits the way he did last year, and I suspect he'll still see a little time in the infield also. Last season, the Mariners had a lot of flexibility at the catcher position, since they did have Narvaez, Murphy, and Nola on the roster, with Nola playing mostly infield. It lets service start Murphy on Narvaeas in the same game from time to time,

with one of them being the DH, the other being the catcher. This year, they will not have that luxury. I'm not sure who they will designate as the emergency catcher. Shed Long started off his career as a catcher, but since I surmise he'll at least be in a timeshare as a starting second baseman, at least to start this season, I don't think it's going to be him. My guess, and this is just a wild guess, is that Dylan Moore is probably going to be the emergency catcher

just since the Mariners have had him do everything else, including pitch. Speaking of pitching, I'll take this opportunity to remind you that Tom Murphy did pitch in a few games last season and was actually impressive. He had a 91-mile-an-hour fastball and had a legit, decent slider. Since he's the starting catcher now, I doubt we'll see him back on the mound, which is kind of a shame, but it's very understandable. I assume Dylan Moore will also re-assume the role of emergency pitcher. While Murphy and Nola are the only two catchers on the Mariners' 40-man roster,

they have four catchers invited to spring training as non-roster invitees. The only one of them with any major league playing time is Joe Hudson, who will turn 29 years old in May. Last season, he was in the Cardinal System, appeared in one game at the Major League level, and in 2018 appeared in eight games for the Los Angeles Angels. Hudson looks like the best option to come out of the minor leagues. Should Murphy or Nola have to go on the disabled list?

He is definitely a defensive-minded catcher judging from his minor league numbers. He will definitely throw out his share of base runners, and he looks like something of a light hitter. So he looks like the classic AAA catcher, who you can call up to the Major League. in a pinch. The next catcher I'll talk about is Brian O'Keefe, who was also in the Cardinal's system last year. In fact, he's spent his entire minor league career so far in the Cardinals chain. He's peaked at double A ball. Looks like he'll hit a few home runs, although he'll have a

low batting average and a high strikeout total. He'll also throw out his share of base runners, maybe not as many as Hudson, but he still looks like he could be a good defensive catcher, and he will be 27 years old in July. Joe Odom is another non-roster invitee to training. He's been in the Mariners system the last two years where he's seen action at both Tacoma and Arkansas both seasons. Something of a light hitter, he's not going to throw out as many base runners as O'Keefe or Hudson will. In fact, has caught stealing percentages something below average. Honestly, I've never seen him play, so the only thing I can judge him on are his numbers at this point, I look forward to seeing what he looks like in training camp.

The last non-roster invitee among the catchers are prospect Cal Raleigh, who the Mariners are very high on. He's a power hitter. The caught stealing percentages look rather inconsistent from year to year and from level to level. Last year, he saw action at both Advanced A Modesto and AA Arkansas. His numbers in Modesto looked really good. 36% cut stealing, but only 17% in Arkansas. Still, the Mariners like him for his offensive ability.

He's going to hit some home runs. They also like his leadership, and they like the head on his shoulders, which is very important for a catcher. They think that he will be able to lead a pitching staff when all of a sudden done, is not something that you can quantify in statistics. Well, Gang, it's just about time for a break, which means it's time for today's Mariners trivia question. Only four players have had batting averages of over 300 as a Seattle Mariner.

Who are they? They all played at least five seasons in Seattle. Remember, if you've got a question for me or a comment on the show, email me, locked on mariners at gmail.com. Any and all questions are welcome, and even silly ones that have nothing to do with baseball, as you will see in a moment. For coming up next is the inaugural mailbag segment.

Locked-on Mariners will return as soon as I remember what my email password is. Hey, this is Taylor Blake Ward with Lockdown Angels, and you're listening to Lockdown Mariners, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now here's your host, my good friend, D.C. Lunberg. Taylor Blake Ward, thank you for leading us back into the program. Ladies and gentlemen, go check out Taylor Blake Ward on Lockedon Angels, right here on this very locked-on podcast network or T-L-O-P-N or T-Lopin. I don't know why I say that.

It strikes me funny for some reason. Thank you for sticking around. Second half of Lock-on Mariners is about to begin, and the answer to the trivia question. Only four players have 300 career batting averages as Seattle Mariners. Who are they? Leading the pack is, of course, Ichiro with a 321 average. Edgar Martinez is his number two with a 312 average.

Alex Rodriguez and his 309 batting average. And the fourth one, believe it or not, is Phil Bradley, who hit 301 as a mariner. Time to take some of your email questions. I got a few Twitter questions as well. I got a lot of email questions throughout this week and last week from John and Fife. John, thank you very much for listening to the program every day. And thank you for all your questions as well. I got questions on a lot of everything, even pancakes.

I made an offhand joke about sending questions about pancakes. And I got a couple of those. I'm going to save those for last. We will begin with a John and Fife question. He asks, would you be so kind as to explain the Go Yellich comment in the Manninger episode? Well, the answer is very simple. Christian Yellich happens to be my favorite player right now. He also asks, why haven't the Mariners retired Randy Johnson's number?

Kind of a two-part answer to this one. First of all, the Mariners have guidelines on what numbers can be retired. A player must have either spent his entire career with the Mariners and come close to being elected to the Hall of Fame or spent a significant portion of his career with the Mariners and be a Hall of Famer. The other part of it is Ichero shared the same uniform number with Johnson. While Johnson was still an active player,

each hero came over from Japan and wore number 51. Each hero definitely meets the second criteria, or he will once he is elected to the Hall of Fame. He's a slam dunk first ballot guy. And once he does, I suspect that the Mariners will probably retire 51, for both Ichiro and Randy Johnson in a joint ceremony, or at least I hope that's what happens, because they do both deserve it for sure.

He also asks, does the number of votes a player got in the Hall of Fame voting matter in the long run so long as they are at or above the 75% threshold? In reality, not really, but I'm also kind of of two minds on this, only because there were voters in the past who would say, well, if Babe Ruth wasn't unanimous, then nobody should be. I'm glad that's gone by the way, side. But in reality, if you're over the 75% threshold,

you're a Hall of Fame or whether you got 100% or 75.1% or whatever percent. No, I really don't think it matters all that much. I'm curious as to who didn't vote for Jeter. Just for curiosity's sake, nothing more than that. I will save some of the other John from five questions coming up in the next mailbag segments in the future. I'm going to jump over to Twitter for some questions now. This is from Johnny Lewis official at Johnny Lewis 45, who asks, how will the Mariners compete in the AL West?

Well, this is a rebuilding year. This is a year for the kids to develop and grow, so they're going to come and last, I think, but this is a rebuilding team, so that really should not be a surprise. Speaking of rebuilding, Taylor Blake Ward, the host of Lockdown Angels, who brought us back in from Commercial asks me,

better prospect, in your opinion, Kalenik or J-Rod, of course referring to a combination of Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez, I think. Now it's Julio Rob. Rodriguez. Well, they both put up very similar numbers last year at the advanced A level, and Julio Rodriguez is a little bit younger, so I would probably guess him. But to be completely honest, judging prospects is far from my strong suit, although you really can't go wrong with either one of these guys, I think. Thank you for that question, Taylor. And ladies and gentlemen,

be sure to check out Locked On Angels, which Taylor Blake Ward hosts right here on the Locked On podcast network. He does a fantastic job covering the Los Angeles Angels. Another locked-on host, this one of Locked-on Anaheim Ducks, Mr. Jason Hernandez asks me, going over to the AL Central, do you think the Chai Sox have done enough to become legitimate contenders? You know, I'm really not sure. They are not in the best of divisions, which certainly helps their case. They added Yasmani Grandal as a free agent. He might be the best catcher in baseball, overall catcher in baseball. You'd have some arguments from the J.T. Real Muto camp. They also have James McKann who's a legitimate catcher.

They have Jose Brayu and Yohan Moncotta, who are very good players. Tim Anderson won the batting title last year. They added Enwin-Incarnacion, former Mariner. They added Nomar Mazar, who's probably now their best outfieler, and they also added Gio Gonzalez and Dallas Kichl to the pitching staff. I'm really not sure how it's going to shake out. I'm going to say, I don't know, which is probably the worst answer I could offer. But ladies and gentlemen, do go check out Locked-on Anaheim Ducks,

which again is part of the Locked-on podcast network. I've known Jason for years. He's also a great baseball guy, and I failed to mention his Twitter handle. You can find him on Twitter at Stimpy J.D. Our next question comes from another great baseball man that I've known for years, Jason Block, who was on this program on Wednesday, a part of Diamond Quiz, at Beat the Block.

He asks, does the Paxton injury hurt or help the Yankees? James Paxton is, of course, a familiar name to Mariners fans, former Mariner. I think any time you lose somebody who you were planning on for your starting rotation, it's going to hurt. However, the Yankees do have Luis Severino, Tanaka, and of course, free agent acquisition, Garrett Cole. So they are still going to have a pretty strong starting rotation,

which will get better once Paxton returns. Even when he was in Seattle, he was something of an injury-prone arm, which was always something I was worried about with Paxton. He could never seem to stay healthy. But man, when he's healthy, he's on. So yes, I do think it hurts the Yankees, but not to the level of panic. I'm going to wrap it up here.

with a couple more questions. Saving the best for last. Yes, the questions I got about pancakes. First one being, is your favorite breakfast food pancakes? If not, why not? And what is your favorite? Honestly, I'm not really sure I have a favorite breakfast food. When I wake up in the morning,

I usually eat just eat a bowl of cereal or something if I eat at all. Sometimes I just wait until lunch. Although my go-to cereal usually is Raisin Nut Brand. I'm sorry if that answer is a little disappointing. One more question, and I think it's apropos that we end with John from Fife. Do you prefer pancakes or waffles and what flavor syrup is your favorite? Between pancakes and

waffles, I'm not really sure I could choose. It kind of depends on what mood I'm in. I love the chocolate chip pancakes at Frank's diner, but they also put out one hell of a waffle. Plus, they got the best hash browns around. And in terms of syrup, I'm a maple guy, although I do like the butter pecan syrup at IHop. Well, gang, that's going to wrap up the first edition of the mailbag here on Locked-on Mariners, send your email questions to Lockdown Mariners at gmail.com for consideration in this very segment. I hope to do it every Friday, if I get enough emails, that is, but I'll accept Twitter questions also. Thank you to everybody who sent in a question. And before we wrap up for the week, I would like to say that if you have been listening to the show or the other

wonderful programs here on the Locked-on podcast network, then I'm sure you've heard all the great advertisers working with Locked-on to reach sports fans. But you may not know that Locked-on Mariners is a great way for your local business to reach passionate M's fans just like you. Unlike any other podcast, Locked On gives your local company the unique ability to reach podcast listeners. I'm not talking about any podcast listener, we're talking Locked on podcast listeners. If your company wants to connect with Mariners fans and a predominantly male audience that's well educated with a disposable income, then let's put your company right here on this Locked On podcast. Local fans love to support local businesses.

So text the word advertising to 33777 or visit locked on podcasts.com slash advertising and let us know who you are. We'll get our team to help your team achieve locked on advertising success. Once again, text the word advertising to 33777 or visit locked on podcasts.com slash advertising. We look forward to hearing from you. That is the end of Locked on, Maritime. for today. I hope you enjoyed not only today's episode, but our previous episodes throughout the

week where we looked at the Mariners roster and what it looks like going into spring training. Ladies and gentlemen, have a great weekend, and we'll see you back here on Monday.