Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - No Big Free Agent Bats Is a "Strategy?!" + Jerry Dipoto Says Mariners Are "Not Far Off"

Episode Date: October 1, 2024

Jerry Dipoto spoke to the media before the Mariners' penultimate game against the A's on Saturday, covering a plethora of offseason topics, including payroll, the possibility of trading one of the team's starting pitchers, and more. Ty and Colby react to Dipoto's statements, as well as a Seattle Times article that paints a not-so-exciting picture for the upcoming offseason for Seattle, emphasized by a ridiculous statement from John Stanton.Ask us questions!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11For your next listen, check out the Locked On MLB podcast. Prepare for the Fall Classic with Sully, who has it all covered every single day. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Arena ClubWhether you’re buying, selling, trading, or displaying—Arena Club is the card-collecting platform you have to check out. Right now, you can get 10% off your first Slab Pack or card purchase by going to ArenaClub.com/lockedonmlb and use code lockedonmlb. RobinhoodRobinhood Gold provides the privileges of a high net worth for any net worth. These generous benefits are now available for only $5/month. The new gold standard is here with Robinhood Gold.Sign up at robinhood.com/gold   Terms apply, for product specific disclosures visit robinhood.com/gold. Investing involves risk. Rate may change. Gold membership is offered by Robinhood Gold, LLC.   PrizePicksGo to prizpicks.com/lockedonmlb and use code lockedonmlb to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game. IbottaIbotta is a free app that lets you earn cash back every time you shop. Right now, Ibotta is offering our listeners $5 just for trying Ibotta by using the code LOCKEDONMLB when you register. Just go to the App Store or Google Play store and download the FREE app to start earning cash back when you use code LOCKEDONMLB. eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Mariners say payroll is going to go up, but by how much? And how much of that will actually go to new players? We'll discuss as we react to Jerry DePoto's end-of-season media appearance and more coming up here on the Locked-on Marrists podcast. Colby, hit it. You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. Ahoy, sailors.

It is Tuesday, October 1st, 2024. This is tiny Gazellis and Colby Patna out for the Lockdowne Marrists podcast. part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team, every day. On today's show, we'll be going over some of the biggest quotes and notes from Jerry to Potos' end-of-season media appearance before Saturday's game. It's also the Seattle Times article that made the rounds on social media yesterday with some things in there that, let's say, don't necessarily paint a very exciting picture for the upcoming off-season.

So we're going to react to all of that here in just a moment, but first shout out to our title sponsor today. Price Picks, download the app today, and use the promo code Locked-on MLB, that's L-O-C-K-D-O-N-M-LB, to win $50 instantly when you play your first $5 lineup. That's Price Picks. Run Your Game. And if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show, check out our Patreon. The link is in the description, and you can sign up for a free seven-day trial. So Jerry DePoto spoke to the media. It wasn't necessarily an end of season press conference, at least in the way that we've seen over the last few years and the way that we had expected when we did our show on Friday, Colby, when we talked about

the do's and don'ts of an end-of-season press conference for the Marriers. But it turns out, Jerry speaking to the media for about 25 minutes in the Mariners dugout before the M's and A's played is the end-of-season press conference. So, I mean, at the very least, he didn't say anything necessarily wrong. So that's good. He didn't say anything necessarily controversial that has made the rounds and has brought national attention on the Mariners organization in a negative light like last off season. So we're technically off to a better start here. But there are some interesting things here that we want to go over.

obviously it is October 1st and when this media gathering was held it was September 28th so a lot can change in the coming months and a lot of this is you know relying upon us taking a baseball executive for his word but we're going to go over some of these notes here because it was kind of an impromptu meeting

quotes are kind of scattered around through a bunch of different articles. I have Daniel Kramer's article here from MLB.com and that has a good balance of quotes and just the notes about some interesting things that Jerry had to say. So we're going to go over those. So let's let's start here. Jerry says that he believes the outfield is set with Randy Rosarena, Julio Rodriguez, Victor Robles also says that he doesn't think this roster is that far off based off of what they've seen over the last five or so weeks. So what do you think about all of that? I'm pretty concerned that Victor Robles is essentially just being handed a

starting job because in order for him to be a everyday player, he has to be, you know, obviously he doesn't have to be as good as he was for Seattle down the stretch, but he has to be pretty darn good. Like, this isn't a a guy who has a long track record of being an everyday player. He's really done it twice. And the last time he did that before this year was way back in 2019. There's also some injury concerns here. He got dinged up pretty good this year. He missed most of the last season as well with an injury.

So, you know, it's putting a lot of trust in Victor Robles to be basically what he was for you for an entire 162 games versus 70 games. you know, and that's, that's a little concerning for me that they would just, you know, trust that and just kind of cross out, probably your best bet to improve offensively would be to upgrade in right field and have Robles kind of be the fourth roving outfielder type of guy who plays, you know, five times a week just at different positions every time, you know, and to just cut that off right away and say, nope, Victor is one of our three starters is not ideal for me. I thought it was interesting that Rayleigh wasn't mentioned in the outfield mix.

I don't know if that's because, you know, just he's going to DH. He's going to be the first, he's their, you know, picked to be the first baseman, which is also a little concerning because if you're not going to upgrade in the corner outfield and you're not going to upgrade at first base, where are you going to get this big bat that you need? DH only? So that's a little concerning as well. So I don't love the idea that.

Robles is just they're banking on Victor Robles to do something he's never done before, just like they kind of banked on J.P. Crawford to repeat something that he had never done previously. So it's a little bit in that vein that you're counting on somebody to do something twice that they literally just did for the first time. It's a little bit suspect. It's a little bit not ideal, I would say. But it's also, again, very early on in the process. and obviously the market will dictate a lot.

And I wouldn't say that there are absolutely no shot. They add an outfielder now. I would just say it's not their priority right now to add an outfielder. But at some point, as we often say, beggars can't be choosers. You have to build the best roster you can. The idea that he thinks the team is not far off because they played well for five weeks. Well, I watched them play for six months and they were an 85-win team. So I would aggressively disagree.

with Jerry to put on that that they're they're not far off. There's no denying that they got better over the final two months of the season. And they were obviously like one of the best offenses in baseball for the last month and a half of the year. And obviously you have that reputation in place. But they have work that needs to be done within the bullpen. And more specifically, I just, I really disagree with the notion that they're that, that they're not that far off when they have to address at least half. of their infield this off season, if not three-fourths of their infield this off-season? I mean, you are, to be charitable, two good bats away from being a competent lineup, like one through

nine. And again, you might have to replace your first baseman, your second baseman, your shortstop, and your third basement. Like, those are all positions that, you know, if you feel set in the outfield, fine, then you probably need to significantly upgrade in at least two of those. spots from what you had last year. And I don't consider that to be all that close. And I also don't like the notion that because you played well in the final month, that shows who you are when, you know, the previous five months, you were a 500 baseball team.

So, yeah, I don't, I don't like that sentiment. I don't think that that, I think that was a bit of a mistake on his part to not say, like we have a lot of work ahead of us. We like how we play the last month and we hope we can carry that over a little bit. But ultimately, the roster is, is not where it needs to be clearly. we just won 85 games. That's not good enough. So I don't love the notion that like,

oh, well, we think we're not far off because the last month proved what the other five months didn't. It just sounds like wishful thinking. And I'm not a fan of that. You know, it's very similar to the Robles idea, right? Like, oh, well, the last month is who this team really is. Oh, the last month is who Victor Robles really is.

Is it? You're going to count on that? Don't like that. So, yeah, not a huge fan of either. are those statements. Well, and the Depoto regime has consistently counted on a couple of things bouncing their way, which like every team does for the most part. But these instances with the Mariners specifically in these roster builds that

Depoto and company have put together have been a bit more egregious than maybe some other teams. I mean, even this year with like Dom Kanzone and Luis Arias and Josh Rojas and all that. so yeah um so he also mentioned that payroll is going to go up uh the the mayor is finished at about $145 million uh this year he says that that number is going to go up a large chunk of that is going to be just the uptick of arbitration um numbers here for like cal raleigh and george kirby and lincoln etc like we've talked about right we're not breaking any news here um randy or rosalina is another guy that's going to see a significant increase.

But also said that it will go beyond further, beyond the arbitration guys, but didn't say by how much, obviously, right? Yeah, and also he's not going to tip his hand to other teams, how much money he has to spend. He's not going to, you know, let agents know how much money he has. So I don't see anything wrong with him not disclosing what the budget is. but also not for nothing, but the budget that he, again, we know this, the budget that he was told

that the last three times he did this he would have, he ended up not having that. He ended up having significantly less. So kind of want to protect yourself a little bit there just in case Stanton pulls a Stanton yet again and decides to slash the budget a little bit, even though attendance was totally fine this year, even though revenue was fantastic, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. So, How much could payroll realistically go up beyond the arbitration guys? 20 million? Maybe. With the arbitration guys and assuming with everybody under guaranteed contract,

all the league minimum guys are thereabouts league minimum, some will get performance bonuses. And if they tendered all their arbitration guys, all of them, which we know is also unlikely to happen, the Mariners starting point for this off season is going to be roughly 140 million yeah uh so you know if the budget's 150 they only have 10 million dollars uh so jerry jerry did say that jerry did say that he didn't expect to have to uh you know create payroll for themselves like they did last off season right yeah this is that

mean he's planning on doing less though or doesn't mean that he the budget's bigger and also and also doesn't expect to doesn't mean they won't yeah right right very careful wording here doesn't doesn't think they have to do this doesn't think they should do this doesn't want to do this we're about to talk about that in a second it was all very like you know hey this is our plan for now but again when your plan A has been tanked on the eve of free agency three years in a row yeah you're probably not going to be that bold with your declarations in the end of season presser so very much Jerry kind of just you know leaving himself an escape hatch or leaving himself some plausible deniability with a lot of his statements yeah that includes

his statement on the starting pitching and the potential of trading one of those starting pitchers as has been speculated for quite some time now. We'll go over that and more in just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of the Lockdown Marys podcast is once again brought to you by prize picks.

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That's promo code, LOC, KED, ON, MLB on prize picks to get $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus. It's guaranteed. Price picks run your game. And you're listening to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. We're reacting to Jerry DePoto's end-of-season media gathering in the Mariners dugout this past Saturday. Just talked about what he had to say about the outfield and the state of the roster as well as payroll.

He was also asked about the potential of trading one of the starting pitchers, which has been obviously long speculated about But Jerry DePoto says that would be plan Z for the Mariners this off season. What do you think? Because we've talked a lot about trading Luis Castillo and how that could potentially open up payroll for you and net you a decent return. Maybe something that can also help you on your roster. But that also requires you to make the assumption that he's going to waive his no trade clause. Right. So that's a bit of a complicated thing to work around.

then at that point if you can't trade Luis Castillo, then you're looking at trading Logan Gilbert. You're looking at trading George Kirby. You're looking at trading Bryce Miller or Brian Wu. And while Gilbert is starting to make more money, and Kirby is arbitration eligible for the first time this winter, uh, trading those guys doesn't necessarily accomplish the same thing as trading Louise Castillo would.

So you're also trading, you know, three years of a guy in his prime. If you're trading at Kirby or Gilbert, you're trading four years of a guy. guy in his prime. If you're trading Kirby and if you're trading Wu or Miller, you're probably not getting the highest value you can by trading them right now.

So yeah, I think, you know, saying it's plan Z is, yeah, because ideally, ideally, you can add the batch you need without touching your starting pitching because starting pitching almost regardless of, you know, the bats that you add this winter is going to be the strength of this team next year. it's basically a guarantee. I mean, if you go out and you get Vlad Jr. And Jose Ramirez, it's okay, we can talk. But if you're going to go out and you're going to get, you know, Anthony Santander and Justin

Turner, then like, yeah, obviously pitching is still going to be the strength. And that's fine. So the goal obviously should be to bring back the same rotation, at least the same quality of a rotation as you had this year because that is your strength. That's what you're built around. And that's a good thing to build around when you pitch at T-Mobile Park, when you play half your games at that ballpark is to have really good pitching. So yeah, I think, you know, and again, because he says it's plan Z, he doesn't say they won't.

He doesn't say they won't consider it. He says, well, we'd like not to do it. Like, we don't want to consider it. But again, at some point, if, I don't know, if payroll suddenly gets slashed again, his expected budget gets slashed yet again, then all of a sudden you might have to get down to plan Z where it does make sense to trade these guys. And we've talked a lot about trading Castillo already. It's a topic that we'll certainly continue to talk about this winter without much doubt. So it's, it's, you know, we know the pros and the cons of trading them. We think we have a pretty good idea roughly of what you can get for them.

So could there come a point where what the mayors could get for them is so tantalizing that they're willing to do it. I mean, yeah, maybe. Maybe the offseason shakes out a certain way you land, you land an arm that you think is really good. And then all of a sudden it's like, well, you know, maybe we in another trade. I don't know. You trade Andres Munoz, right? And one of the pieces you get is the pitcher that you really like a starting pitcher.

And you're like, oh, well, now we have six. Like, but we can shave 20 some million dollars and get a bat that we like. Let's go trade. Let's go trade Castillo. So I don't think that the statement eliminates the likelihood that they will trade a starter. I think it's also a lot of posturing. Like, yeah, you may think we need to. trade a starter for a bat, but we don't have to.

We don't get a deal we like. We're not going to. We're not desperate to do this. That's why it's plan Z. And so, yeah, again, a lot of post-season interviews. You don't want to tip your hand to other GMs and other agents and all that stuff. So, you know, I think that's about what you would expect him to say. I'm not surprised that he made it, you know, pretty clear that they don't want to trade one of their starting five.

that is what I would expect him to say. And again, as I've maintained pretty much the entire time we talked about this, I just don't think Castillo is getting traded this year. I just think that that opens up too big of a hole in your rotation. And I don't think you have the guy to replace that, to replace Castillo in your org right now or really come anywhere close to doing it. And so I don't think they're going to do it. But also, just because Jerry said, we don't want to,

doesn't mean that they won't if they feel like they can get better out of it. yeah so um another thing that jerry had to say uh which addressed something that you and i have been wondering for for a while now especially after seeing the success of victorobulus and justin turner randy a rosalena all three of those guys who have hit very well not just in mariner's uniforms but specifically at t mobile park jerry said that you know they did refine their messaging to their headers you know obviously with edgar and dan wilson in place uh but also they kind of refined how they approach player acquisition. He didn't say when specifically that started,

but he has confirmed essentially that they have changed something in their approach as a front office. You have any thoughts on that? It should be noted that they, that he basically implied that they have changed not only the philosophy of the organization, but also the way in which that they try and identify major league talent that will be a good fit here. So it's not just like, yeah, we changed our messaging to make it simpler. It's also like we also tweak the way we look at players we want to acquire.

And so now again, is Randy Rosanerana, Justin Turner, Victor Robles, is that proof that they've got it all figured out now? No, it's still too small of a sample. those could just be three random, you know, success stories that happened all at the same time. And Randy a Rosarina already had success at Team Mobile Park when he came here. Justin Turner was already a pretty good hitter at Team Mobile Park in limited sample. But, you know, he's still pretty good when he came here. And Robles really hadn't played here. So maybe.

And then you want to go back even further. Like Luke Rayleigh absolutely crushed in the handful of games he played at Team Mobile Park. So can we definitively say that the Mariners have closed? clearly identified the, you know, the secret sauce to hitting that team mobile park and now they're just going to nail it this off season. No, you can't dependedly say that because they've only done it once. So, but the fact that they've already tweaked it, they've kind of tweaked how they're, they're hitting philosophy, just on an individual level, but also how they scout, how they

procure major league talent, is also being changed by. So, you know, at least, at the very least, there's an acknowledgement. that like, hey, we needed to change something. Clearly, something wasn't working on our end. And we did. And the early returns, as best we can tell, are really good. Now, are they flukes? Are they, is it like a repeatable thing? Did they actually find a problem is? Or is it blah, blah, blah. Like, we don't know. We won't know. But the fact that they would acknowledge it and say like, hey, look, we think we've identified some problems in our acquisition stages. We think we've identified some problems in our messaging to the guys who are already. here and we've fixed those and we started to see results, certainly is promising more so than just saying like, oh, no, you know, we just stay the course and all that. So certainly an encouragement, but it's hardly a like ironclad like, yeah, the Mariners have figured out how to build an offense at Team Mobile Park all of a sudden. He said, quote, we learned where we may be doing things the wrong way and we have to make adjustments, not just an approach on the field, but

in how we put the roster together and maybe in some of the things we're looking for and then how those things fit in our ballpark. So lastly, and this is the last thing we're going to be talking about from Depoto's media appearance, he said that Edgar Martinez will be back, but he doesn't know what that's going to look like, what that role is going to look like. Specific quote here is he will be involved in a significant way moving forward and he wants to be what that looks like in terms of role, we're probably going to have to get a little creative. Adam Jude of the Seattle Times said that the

Mariners have been looking at hitting coaches though over the last few days. So it does seem like they are like the plan is going to be to have a full time hitting coach that's going to travel with the team but Edgar is going to be very heavily involved but maybe won't travel with the team. Is that your read as well? Yeah, it's a little bit like the Mariners are going to hire. to be like the chief hitting strategist because like Edgar would be around the ballpark at times throughout the year over the last few years.

But I think what this is alluding to is that there's going to be a heavier influence. Like it's not just going to be like, oh, Edgar's in town and he's going to work with a couple of guys while he's here. It's going to be, you know, Edgar's part of this coaching staff. He will be in the dugout during the games, at least at home. But we're also going to have a full-time hitting coach who will be there for all 162 games. So it's kind of like, you know, it's not a term Mariner fans like to hear, but very well it could be. Edgar is the offensive coordinator, right?

And he's in the dugouts for the home games. And then he doesn't travel with the team because it sounds like that's something that he doesn't really enjoy. He doesn't enjoy the everyday grind of it. And then hopefully you would work with Edgar. And Edgar would be in on the interviews to find a hitting coach who has a similar philosophy. And he would go out, he would be in the dugout as well. He would travel with the team on the road. and that he would work in collaboration with Edgar to kind of build the best, you know,

the best pathway to success with two guys. And it's not uncommon for Major League teams to have two kind of hitting coaches. The Mariners had it last year. And a lot of other teams have multiple hitting coaches on their bench now. So it's really not that unusual or it wouldn't be that uncommon if they wanted to go that route. Yeah, I read it as like Edgar wants to be involved. he likes, you know, certain aspects of being on the bench and all that stuff. But ultimately, he's just not up for the wear and tear and the grind of doing it every single day.

So I think it's going to be some kind of like Edgar is the chief hitting strategist and he will, you know, be with the team on home games and on homestands. Maybe, maybe or maybe it's just like West Coast only type of thing. Like they go down to the Angels or whatever. So he'll be on the bench for like 100 games. but when they go east or whatever, then, you know, the assistant hitting coach or the hitting coach and Edgar is some made up title, offensive coordinator, chief hitting strategist, like whatever, right, whatever the title is isn't really important. I think the goal is for Edgar to remain on the staff and be even more present than he has been over the last few years, but also not, you know, not make him travel with the team for 162 games and 180 days.

I think that's pretty much what I read into it, is that. He'll be around more than he has been the last couple of years, but he won't quite be like the full time hitting coach in the way that we traditionally think about it. So have the Mariners already ruled themselves out of the top of the free agent market? We'll talk about that in just a moment. But first, a reminder of this episode of the Lockdown Marries podcast is brought to you by FanDuel and Game Time.

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out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the promo code Locked on MLB, that's LOC, K-E-O-N-M-L-B for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem promo code L-O-C-D-O-N-M-L-B for $20 off. Download game time today. What time is it? Game Time. And you're listening to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. So yesterday, Adam Jude and Ryan DeBich of the Seattle Times released an article that, again, as I said at the start of the show, did not paint a very exciting picture for this upcoming offseason for the Mariners. to read an excerpt here from that article. Quote, what is clear, the mariners do not intend to dive into the deep end of the free agent pool this winter, which means they won't pursue the likes of Juan Soto or Pete Alonzo or Alex Bregman or any other high-price veteran. Not because they

can't afford it, Stanton has explained, but because as a matter of baseball economics, the Mariners don't want to pay top dollar for aging players. The scars of the Robinson Canoe contract, we'll touch on that in a second. Eleven years later, still feel like a fresh wound for the Mariners. We've got the resources to be able to do the things we need to do to put a good team on the field, Stanton said in an interview with the times in June. We've never been focused on free agent bats, those kind of big dollar free agent bats as a matter of strategy, not because of anything we have to do with resources.

End quote. So, very key thing there. We have to mention we have to acknowledge, as was said in the article, Stanton said that quote in June. Now, Colby, we did a whole show about John Stanton's interview with Ryan Divish and Adam Jude. And I don't remember that last quote about them not going after bats or high price bats being a strategy.

And I feel like Mariner's Twitter would have been all over that quote. So maybe we all just collectively missed it. Maybe I'm wrong in that. But that felt fresh to me when I read that. And so naturally a lot of people who also did not see that quote in. initially if it actually was out there back in the summer, have reacted very poorly to it. So there are a lot of things to touch on here. The Robinson Canoe one is kind of a big, big thing here.

Yeah, let's just let's just start there. I mean, Robinson Canoe was really good. The Robinson Canoe signing is to this day one of the best free agent contracts, Mariners have ever given out. Yeah. It worked gangbusters. Yeah. Like in terms of like return on investment, Canoe might be second only to Nelson

Cruz in outside free agent coming in. And like, like he was worth the $24 million a year you were paying him. Absolutely he was. Made a couple all-star teams. He was an MVP candidate. He had a couple six win seasons. He had one year where he almost went 40 home runs and hit 100 RBIs. He was a really good glove.

Like, yeah. He brought credibility to. the Seattle Mariners. Like he was a legitimately good player for the first five years of that deal. Then he got popped with the PED suspension. And then you were able to trade him and most of his money. Like that deal, I don't, I think the exact amount you ended up paying him and ended up being about $150 million, give or take, out of the 240. He was well worth $150 million. He brought well, well north of $150 of value to your franchise. So the idea that that, deal should have scars and it's a cautionary tale for what spending money actually got you a

great player who gave you great years while he was here and then you were still able to trade that guy even with all the baggage that was attached to him at that point yeah I can certainly tell you that the the Rangers are not feeling the scars of signing Corey Seeger and Marcus Simeon they don't even care about the scars of signing Jacob de Crom like it is it is assonine that we still have this idea that like, you know, signing a player to a big contract is just devastating to a franchise. No,

it's not. It really isn't. Like most of those big deals that you give away, you can honestly, you can trade them. Like you have to eat some money. Sure, you might have to add some prospects,

but most of the big deals that have signed, you can absolutely trade. All right. I think where you run into trouble is when you give a good player, elite money. But when you give an elite player, elite money, that almost always works.

Like it almost always works out for the for the team that is acquiring that player. So yeah, the idea that the Cano deal is any kind of like cautionary tale for the Mariners is absurd. If anything, it should be the opposite. The Cano deal should be the shining light

where the Mariners point to it and say, see, we can play at that top end of free agency. We have to be a little selective of it because we can't do it every year. But we can play at that top into free agency. And we can get a player who will come here and pay us back the money that we

give him with the wins that he produces and the fans that he brings in. We can absolutely do that because Robinson Canoe was 100% worth the money you ended up paying him. Absolutely. No question. Like it cannot be argued. He was worth it. So like the idea that that's a scar that they don't want to pick at is absurd. It is absolutely absurd to think that Robinson Canoe is the cautionary tale of spending too much on an elite player because when he was here, he was a near elite player. He was worth the money. It's ridiculous. That is one of the most ridiculous senses I've ever read. Yeah, straight up. But yeah, I just want to get back into this quote, though. Like, we've never been focused on free agent bats, those kind of big dollar free agent

bats as a matter of strategy, not because of anything having to do with resources. I don't know if he intended it to come off this way, but essentially what John Stanton just said there was I have the money. I don't want to spend it. Which I have a take here. I think that's worse than 54%. I think that's worse than, frankly, anything Jerry Depoto said at the end of season

press conference. Significantly. It's, I have the resources to do what needs to be done. It's not going to do it. I choose not to. Yeah. That's way worse. Yeah. That is significantly worse. And by the

way, it's made even more absurd. by a statement a little bit later where he goes, I mean, we all have constraints, right? No. No, John. No. Yeah, I mean, it's part for the course with this organization. But it's still hilarious and absolutely insane to me that Stanton thinks that this is an appropriate thing to say out loud where your fan base can hear it. and it's very illustrative of the ineptitude and the tone deafness this organization has displayed over many years but especially over the last calendar year and look you and i have talked about this a lot in our time doing this together and talking about roster building that

you know spending dollars doesn't automatically equate to winning ball games for every rangers out there there's an angel whatever, right? And you got to be careful who you give your money to and how you project the value you're going to get over the course of a long contract, like an eight year contract, a 10 year contract. All of that stuff has to be weighed, especially when you're talking about 29, 30, 31 year olds who, I mean, that's who make up most, if not all of the highest ends of every free agent market. Like the Juan Soto's of the world who hit free agency at 26, 27 years old, those are the outliers right you were mostly dealing with guys who are in the middle of their primes if not towards the end of their primes so you got to be careful with that and who you throw

your money at and you got away the value you're going to get over years one through three of that contract compared to years four through seven five through eight five through ten etc but when you consistently you cut yourself off from the highest end of every free agent market or more specifically when you cut your your front office off from every highest end of every free agent market no matter the players that make it up no matter what the circumstances are you are cutting your your front office off from being able to build the best ball club possible or from at least having every avenue available to them to build the best ball club possible Right. Well, again, I just kind of wrap it up. I think there's a couple different kind of sustainable winners, right? Like the Tampa Bay Rays are a sustainable winner. Right. They don't draw anything. Nobody goes to their games, blah, blah, blah. Their ownership is just flat out cheap. It's one of the lowest payrolls in baseball every single year. But they're a sustainable winner. They're also kind of a unicorn. You know who else is a sustainable winner? The Houston Astros. Would you rather be the Rays or the Astros? The Rays go to the playoffs.

years and they get bouncing the wildcard around the astros are trying to go to what their seventh consecutive ALCS eighth maybe yeah yeah as they're currently down three to nothing ha ha suck it but uh yeah like would you rather do that or that would you rather be sustainable winner like the raise or sustainable winner like the fillies who are essentially world series you know contenders every year for the last five years like there's a big difference between being like oh, we want to compete every year and we want to win the world series every year. There's a big difference there. And saying we want to contend every year, contend for what exactly, right?

And so when you say that and then you follow it up with the actions that Mariners ownership has over the last four or five years, it's basically impossible to sell to your fan base that what you mean by saying we want to be a contender every year is that we want to try and win the world series every year. because your actions have not followed your words. And so you're not going to convince fans until your actions follow the words that you say, you're not going to convince fans that you're trying to do anything other than win 85 to 88 games. It's the Kevin Mather thing, right? Like we want to win 85 games a year. We want to have, you know, and then every couple years we'll get lucky and we'll

maybe everything aligns well. We win 95 games and we win the division and we get in the playoffs and 85 wins, 88 wins every year to get people to show up. like Kevin Mather said that and that sadly not the worst thing he said in that disaster of an interview that he gave all those years ago but I mean it was that that idea was kind of like pushed down the pecking order by all the horrible things he said but the reality of the situation is it looks like John Stanton approves of that strategy like that is what he wants to do because that's what does actions say well that is going to do it for our show but before we get out of here a reminder that locked on has launched the first ever national National Sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube, and now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app. Lockdown Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day

with the local experts of Locked-on, plus our national shows covering every league. Find Lockdown Sports Today now available on the free Fire TV channels app. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Mariners podcast for Colby Pat Node. I'm Tiding Azzles. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at LO-U-U-U-Uriner's.

You can follow me at Tadigalus and Colby at C-Pat-11. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day, and we'll see you next time. Peace.