Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mariners' Two-Trade Tuesday (Or Twosday)

Episode Date: July 29, 2021

Yes, we're focusing Tuesday's wheeling-and-dealing rather than the final two games of the M's/Trashtros series. The third game in particular was terrible, so D.C. spends the majority of the episode speaking of the two trades the Mariners executed on Tuesday. In the first segments he talks about the trade which sent Kendall Graveman and Rafael Montero to Houston for Abraham Toro and Joe Smith. In the second segment, he discusses the acquisition of Tyler Anderson for two minor leaguers. He finally glosses over the last two games against the Trashcan Bangers at the end of the show, but he keeps it short. 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.

Tonight on Locked-on Mariners, the show is published way later than the host had originally hoped because this afternoon's ballgame ran really long. Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lunders. Yep, a four-hour and 14-minute ball game. And it wasn't even an exciting back-and-forth contest. It wasn't a shootout. It was just a drubbing. And that's the last game I'm going to be covering as host of this program.

The Mariners didn't give me the pleasure of going out with a win. Instead, it was one of the worst ball games of the year. But I'll keep that portion of the program to a minimum today, as there is another game and two trades to talk about on this post-matine edition of Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, brought to you by the Spotify Green Room. Please remember to download and follow this program

using whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariners podcast or any program here on the Locked-on Podcast Network. I'm going to talk about the two trades the Mariners made yesterday before I talk about last night and this afternoon's game. I don't think that'll take very long, especially today's disaster, but we'll do that later on. About two hours after yesterday's show was published,

about 4.30 in the afternoon, it was announced that the M's had done. traded away Kendall Graveman. Yes, the anchor of the bullpen was essentially given away, and to the Houston trash can bangers of all teams. It was not fun seeing Mr. Graveman in a trash rose uniform last night and today. I'm very glad he was not called upon to pitch. That would have been weird. Mr. Graveman and Raphael Montero, who had been designated for assignment several days ago, were sent to Houston for relief pitcher Joe Smith and infieler Abraham Tam Toro. Speaking about the move, Mariner's general manager Jerry Depoto said, quote,

it probably doesn't make sense as a standalone, but it's part of a context that I believe is going to be an ongoing story over the next couple of days, end quote. Well, he's right about one thing. On its own, this trade makes no sense. It is terrible. Mr. Graveman was the anchor of that bullpen, which had bouts of inconsistently, and he was very popular in the clubhouse as well. and in return they get a washed up reliever with a season ERA higher than Monteros and an infielder who was hitting 2.11. Okay. Well, he is still a prospect, but he has done absolutely nothing in the three chances that he's been given at the big league level. At the time of the trade, he was slashing 193, 276, 350 in the 93 games he's played in the big leagues since 2019.

He's 24, so he could improve, but this is not the type of hitter the Mariners need. They do not need another low average, decent on base, decent power bat. They need a contact hitter. Mr. Toro is striking out about 23% of the time, which by today's standards is above average, but they need somebody markedly above average. They have the lowest batting average in the majors at 219. This is all coming into today, which is actually bad. than it was previously. Remember at one point it was below the Mendoza line and they've struck out

the third most, but their strikeout rate is actually worst in baseball, striking out in 29.7% of their at-bats entering today. The Tampa Bay Rays and Detroit Tigers have both struck out more than the Mariners have, but they've done so in more at-bats. The Mariners need contact hitting. They need someone who's going to go out there and collect some base hits, move the runner from first to third on a single, someone who is not going to give at-bats away. I don't think Mr. Toro fits that bill given what he has done and the chances he's been given at the big league level. Although, to be fair, he certainly started off his meritor's tenure very well. We'll get to that at the end of the show. However, the second part of Mr. DePoto's quote leads me to believe that Mr.

Toro may be flipped to another team. which will lead to this. If Abraham Toro does get traded again, is whomever they can get for Mr. Toro worth Kendall Graveman. Joe Smith and Raphael Montero are both irrelevant. Mr. Montara was going to get released anyway. He'd been DFAed, and Mr. Smith is toast. And he's toast whose contract expires at the end of the year, no less.

His ERA at the time of the trade was 748. He'd allowed 35 hits in 21 and a third innings. for a ratio of 14.5 hits per nine innings and a whip of 1.8.00. How is this guy going to help? He's 37 and he didn't pitch last year. He's not suddenly going to regain the form that he had in years past where he had been a pretty reliable reliever. Coming into this season, he had a career ERA of 298 and a pretty good whip at 1.165,

a low home run ratio at 0.7 per nine innings, and an opponent's batting average of 225. He's giving up many more home runs this year, 1.7 per 9 innings at the time of the trade, and opponents were hitting 3.76 against him. Don't get me wrong. I am thrilled that there's someone on the team that's older than I am, but I don't see him contributing.

I hope I am wrong. I hope I am very wrong. I also hope that Mr. Depoto does make something out of this trade, even if the other trades that he's, he's going to make pan out, this particular trade has got to be part of another deal to send Mr. Toro to another team, or it could be a disaster. Well, I spent way too much time talking about that, didn't I? I'm going to talk about the other trade Mr. Topoto pulled off in our next segment.

It'll be a happier segment for sure, because that trade was quite the deal for the Mariners, I believe. But we have arrived at the trivia corner, and today I'm going to tell you about a Major League record that Vince Coleman holds, but after this word from the Spotify Green Room. This episode is brought to you by the Spotify Green Room. As I just said, Green Room is the first social audio platform made for sports fans. The app is free to download, and once you're in, you can talk to fans, athletes, insiders, and even me in real time about your favorite team or sport. Well, not so much me anymore. I hosted my final Green Room this afternoon during

this afternoon's crap fest against Houston. Green Room is the perfect place. to start or join conversations about the league. So I'm not there anymore. You can start your own conversation. You'll find fans just like yourself there for watch parties, debates, post-came breakdowns, and of course reacting to big news or rumors. Go download the free Green Room app

currently available for all iOS devices with a beta version for Android. Be sure to create a profile and join the Major League Baseball group for the latest league updates. Follow me at Locked-on Mariners to be notified when my room goes live, which doesn't happen anymore.

But whoever the new host of this program is going to be, be sure to follow him or her and join in on his or her green room conversations. Green Room changing the way we talk about sports. Speedster Vince Coleman holds a couple of different stolen base records. He was the first rookie in Major League Baseball history to steal more than 100 bases in his rookie season, swiping 110 bags in 1985. And that's still the rookie record. In 1986, he stole 107 bases, and in 1987, 109. He led the National League in steals the first six years of his big league career, and he's the most recent player to steal at least 100 bases in a season.

Most teams don't do that these days. Mr. Coleman began a streak of consecutive stolen bases without getting caught in late September, 1988, and was finally thrown out by the Expo's Nelson Centivina on this date, back in 1989 in Olympic Stadium. Two days prior, he had stolen his 50th in a row, which still stands as the Major League record. The man behind Mr. Coleman with 45 stolen bases in succession

is none other than the Mariners' very own each year row. In a streak that lasted from April 29, 2006, to May 16th, 2007. Mr. Coleman is a former mariner as well, spending about a month and a half with the M's after being acquired from Kansas City, on August 15th, 1995, for a player to be named later. That player was named three days later, pitcher Jim Converse. Coleman slashed 290, 335, 395 for the Mariners in those 40 games. He stole 16 bases and hit one home run, a grand slam off Todd Van Popple on September 22nd

and a 10 to 7 Mariners victory. That was Vince Coleman's only career Grand Slam. Coming up, are the Mariners going to make another trade while I'm recording tonight's show? Yeah, it's possible, and if they do, I'll talk about it tomorrow, because after the break, I'm going to talk about Tyler Anderson. Now back to Locked-on Mariners and your host, D.C. Lunger. You know, gang, the secret to stretching out the show when you know you're short on content is making the trivia corner really long.

I'm kidding. I find that stuff fascinating. and I hope you do too. After the head-scratching Kendall Graveman trade early in the afternoon, Jerry DePoto was not done for the day. During last night's game, he acquired pitcher Taylor Anderson from the Pirates in exchange for two minor leaguers, catcher Carter Binns and pitcher Joaquin Tejada. If Mr. Tejada had been dealt to the Cardinals organization

and been sent to AAA Memphis, you could then say that he is Joaquin in Memphis. Yes, thank you very much. Andrew Anderson is going to be rotation depth for the Mariners, something that they really could use. Scott Service also indicated a couple days ago, I believe, that he's going back to a five-man rotation. I was very pleased to hear that. Back to Mr. Anderson, though.

This season, he's got a 435 earned run average in the 18 games that he has started for Pittsburgh. He's pitched 103 in the third innings. He's issued 25 walks, served up 16 home runs, and he has an opponent's batting average of 251. ratio-wise, that's 2.2 walks per nine innings, 8.6 hits per nine innings, 1.4 home runs per nine innings, and 7.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Mostly solid numbers, but he wasn't acquired to be a front-end starter. He'll slot in near the end of the rotation. The article I read on MLB.com described him has an innings eater, but he's only averaging 5.7 innings per start. That's not an innings eater. However, he has gone at least five innings in every single one of his starts this season,

with his longest outing coming in Wrigley Field on May 9th, where he threw eight innings. That was only one of three games, though, in which he reached the 100-pitch threshold. Looking over his game logs, he has been largely consistent. He's given up three or fewer runs in 17 of his 18 starts. He's walked two or fewer also in 17 of his 18 starts. There is one game here that is skewing his numbers in that would be May 21st in Atlanta, where he pitched five innings and gave up nine runs, all of them earned. Take away that one game, and a ZRA goes down to 375.

And his other ratios improve slightly as well, except for strikeouts per nine innings, which I'm not big on anyway. Mr. Anderson is a University of Oregon product and a former first-round draft pick being selected 20th overall by the Rockies in 2011. He didn't make his big league debut until 2016, however, starting 19 games for the Rockies that year, and doing a pretty nice job with a 354 earned run average. This was his first year in Pittsburgh after spending his first four with the Rockies

and last year with the Giants. Carter Binns and Joaquin Tejada are headed to the Pirates Organization. Mr. Binz is a 22-year-old catcher currently at AA Arkansas after starting this season in Advanced A. Everett. In 40 games in Everett, he slashed 284, 422, 493, but he only threw out 16% of would-be base thieves. And he struggled in his 11 games in Arkansas, with an 063 batting average, but on-base of 302.

With the Mariners drafting a catcher in the first round in this year's draft, and with Cal Raleigh up at the Major League level now, Mr. Binns became somewhat redundant in the organization. I saw him play a couple of months ago when the Aquasthawks came to Spokane to play the Indians, and if memory serves, he had a good game. He strikes me as an offensive type catcher who may move to first base, and he's played a little outfield as well. Joaquin Tejada is in his first year of Pro Ball,

and he's pitched only two games in the Mariners Organization for the Dominican Summer League Mariners. He celebrated his 18th birthday 12 days ago, and honestly, I don't know anything else about him. I like this trade a lot. Jerry Depoto has said that he was not interested in acquiring a renter player, but with the pitching staff as banged up as it is, and with Justice Seffield and Justin Dunn, both on the injured list, as well as James Paxton, Nick Margievich, and Al Jainussum out for this season. The mayors have had to rely on bullpen days to fill a lot of the gaps,

and the results were mixed at best. Even with the Mariners going to a five-man rotation, they really could use the arm. They've now got Yise Kikichi, Logan Gilbert, Chris Flexen, Marco Gonzalez, and now Tyler Anderson. I'm wondering what the M's will do when Mr. Sheffield and Mr. Dunn return,

but that's still reportedly at least a few weeks away. I hope they don't get back to a six-man rotation. Perhaps Mr. Dunn and or Mr. Sheffield could work out the problems in the bullpen when they return, or maybe one or both of them could get traded. I really have no idea. I wanted to bring this up as well, since I'm pretty sure the third segment's going to run short.

I don't want to talk about these last two games very much, so I've got some time here. I'm off Twitter, so I don't see the trade deadline speculation madness that goes on over there, which is kind of a nice thing, quite honestly. But I am on Facebook. I don't follow a whole lot of news sources, however,

so I don't get inundated with trade talk. It's mostly just to keep up with my friends and family who I do not speak to on a regular basis. But that is not to say that I don't see a whopper of a prediction every once in a while. I have a few friends and acquaintances who think they know baseball. They think that they really know baseball, but they don't. One such acquaintance posted this gym to Facebook. I am not going to say his name for obvious reasons, but this is what he said.

Scherzer to the Mariners, this could be happening, expecting Hanager and another big prospect to be traded away. Not if Jerry Depoto wants to keep his job. Yeah, let's trade Julio Rodriguez or Noel V. Marte. Oh, and what the hell? Let's throw Manninger in there too. For a 37-year-old pitcher, we can't afford and have no shot at retaining in the off-season. Yeah, that's a great idea.

You keep thinking that, buddy. If that actually happens, I will eat my left shoe. Right after I send Jerry Depoto a sympathy card after he gets fired. By the way, happy belated birthday to Max Scherzer. It was his birthday yesterday. If you have a question or a comment, this is my final email plug, by the way, just realized. If you have a question or comment, please send it into Locked-on Mariners at gmail.com. Questions and comments on any subject are highly encouraged.

Does not have to be about the Mariners, does not have to be about baseball or sports at all. Final mailbag segment is tomorrow. And it might spill over into Friday, actually, since I have a couple of long emails. But if you want to get something in to be read on the air, get it into Locked-on Mariners at gmail.com by tomorrow morning. I don't suspect this particular episode is going to generate any email since it is so late, but who knows. Coming up, the final two games I will cover as host of Locked-on Mariners. Don't worry, I'll keep it short. But first, this word from Bilt Bar, the greatest protein bars in the history of history.

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I was really hoping for at least a win to go out, if not a series sweep, especially since it was against Houston. But no. In fact, the final game was one of the worst games of the year. Starting pitching failed the Mariners basically in all three games of the series, but the bullpen was not terrible except yesterday. In fact, in the first two games, they were pretty good. Bullpen only allowed two runs in 10 innings in the first two games. This afternoon was a much different story. J.T. Chagua, Anthony Mosevic, Keenan Middleton, and Ryan Weber combined for seven runs in four innings with every reliever allowing at least one run.

The avocado had a particularly rough afternoon, only recording one out and giving up three runs, which pretty much ended the ballgame. Unlike Tuesday night where I still felt like the Mariners had a chance to come back, even though they had to climb out of another big hole, this afternoon's game really didn't have that same feeling. The defense was not as good as it needed to be either. I don't remember which inning it was, but I'm pretty sure it was still scoreless at the time.

There were two runners on with nobody out, but neither should have been on base in the first place. It was an infield single that Kikikigisan maybe should have had a play on, and the other was a fielding error by J.P. Crawford. That led to one run only, but it did inflate Kikikikaze's, pitch count. He would wind up throwing 101 pitches in five innings. Again, one of the worst ball games of the year. It was an incredibly boring game at that, which lasted four hours and 14 minutes. The Trashdros and Mariners combined for 12 bases on balls, 12, and there were 18 full counts.

Pitching on both sides was pretty bad, but the Mariners had trouble once again cashing in the scoring opportunities. They left 11 men on base. as did the asterisks, but they also scored 11 runs. The Mariners left seven men on base on Tuesday, not as bad as today, and they walked four times. On the bright side, Abraham Toro got his mariner's tenure off on the right foot, pinch hitting for Dylan Moore in the ninth inning of Tuesday night's ballgame. He smacked a home run to bring the Mariners back to within two runs, and this afternoon he hit another ding-dong.

Both of these were two-run shots. In addition, Mr. Toro became the first major leaguer in history, to hit a home run, be traded to the team against whom he homered, and homer off of his old team with his new team in the following game. Also on Tuesday, Jared Kelnick made one of the best plays of the year. I don't remember who was hitting, but he laced kind of a sinking line drive into left center field. Kelnick sprinted over and made a fantastic diving catch, then threw on the second base to double off the runner, who had been there. Just a spectacular play from Mr. Kelmick, and he followed that up with two singles, one to left center and one to right center, both very good pieces of hitting. He mentioned that he made

a mid-game adjustment at the plate. He realized that he was hunching over a bit while he was swinging the bat, which changed his line of sight. He made a conscious effort to remain slightly more upright, and he noticed an immediate difference. He got a first pitch breaking ball, later on in the game that dipped out of the zone, and he noticed what it was right away out of his hand and knew to take it rather than swing over it. That might signal, ladies and gentlemen, that he could be finally breaking out

or at least start to turn things around and start to deliver the results that the merits were expecting and the results that he expects from himself, quite frankly. If he's smart enough to realize little adjustments like that, along with his already discerning approach of the plate, the time could be soon for him to get things going. One final note is that the last game that I cover as host of Locked-on Mariners featured Scott Service getting ejected, which is kind of cool.

One thing I like about Scott Service is that he's not afraid to go out there and fight for his teammates. When he gets going at an umpire, he can get going, and he puts on quite the show, as he did this afternoon. Tomorrow is the final dive into the fan mailbag. John Miller, Jason Hernandez, and Clive Braithway to the Fourth will all be here. In addition, we will be joined by Dr. Johnny Fever, A.C. Arberman, and an umbrella. Remember to download and follow Locked-On Mariners. Look for us at any podcasting app that you can think of. Leave a rating and review of your podcasting app of choice so allows.

And remember to check out the other great shows here on the Locked-on podcast network, including Locked on Diamondbacks, which is all about Argyle sweaters, Locked on Lightning, which discusses various weather phenomena, and dives into the science involved, and Locked on Nuggets, which is a show all about processed chicken. I'm D.C. Lundberg, and I'm tired. It's very, very late. It leaves by my standards, and I want to go to bed.

Have a great night, gang, and I'll talk to you all tomorrow. Get all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes with the Locked On Today podcast. Host Peter Bukowski will keep you updated on the latest news in every major sport with Locked On's team of local experts. Follow the Locked On Today podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get podcasts. is Joey Martin speaking for Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on podcast network.