Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - On Similar Paths, Could the Mariners and Padres Meet in October? w/ Javier Reyes of Locked On Padres

Episode Date: March 25, 2023

Locked On Mariners host Ty Dane Gonzalez is joined by Locked On Padres host Javier Reyes for a special pre-Opening Day crossover episode. With plenty of jokes and trash talk in between, the two reflect on both of their teams' respective postseason runs in 2022, what each did during the offseason, and if they're poised to meet one another in the World Series this October.Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase.Ultimate Pro Baseball GMTo download the game just visit probaseballgm.com or look it up on the app stores. Our listeners get a 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo LOCKEDON (ALL CAPS) in the game store.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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) 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.

The Mariners and Padres were two of the most exciting clubs in baseball in 2022. And after a busy off season when more stars added to the fold on both sides, both teams look poised for deep runs in October. Join me, Tyne and Gonzales of Locked-on Mariners and Javier Reyes of Locked-on Padres for a pre-opening day crossover to talk about the year to come. Ready, hobby? Ready. Let's go. You are Locked-on Mariners.

Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What is up, everyone? Welcome to a special Locked-on Mariners Locked-on Padres crossover episode. My name is Tiding Azales, one-half of the Locked-on Mariners podcast, and I'm joined today by Javier Reyes, the host of the Lockdown Padres podcast. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. Today's show is brought to you by Fandul,

the official sportsbook partner of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Make every moment more. Visit Fandul.com slash Lockdown today to get started. And wherever you're watching this episode, be sure to give it a like and subscribe to our channels if you haven't already. If you're listening to Preferred Podcast Platform, be sure to leave a five-star review if you like what you hear. On the show today, we'll be talking about two teams that have seen each other quite a lot this spring and every spring for that matter. And certainly have enough firepower on both sides to meet again on the biggest stage in late October. That would be My Mariners and Hobbies, Padres and Hobby.

The last time you and I did one of these, it was a much different. time for both of these teams. The Mariners were three games under 500 entering a July 4th series with the Padres. And I, uh, I infamously said they had no chance to sweep. So what did they do? They swept. And then they, uh, they swept a few other teams on their way to a 14 game win streak that set the stage for their first playoff birth in 20 years.

Meanwhile, you guys got Juan Soto and Josh Hater. Yeah. He went all the way to the NLCS. So pretty sick. Yeah, that's pretty dope. So let's start there. When you look back at 2022 as a whole for your Padres, how do you feel they did? I feel that A.J. Preler completely redeemed himself for some of the many bad moves he made.

Some will bring up Adam Frazier. Totally fair, which they then have to dump off. We're familiar with Adam Frazier too. Yeah, we're familiar with Adam Frazier. We had to say, oh, we messed up. Hey, Jerry. Hey, Jerry. Can you want to take the sky off our hands?

Now, he did. He did. have one of the most clutch hits and Mariners playoff history. He did have to say that, but he was also garbage for most of 2020. He's just one of those guys you feel great as being a bench guy. You're like awesome.

If a really big player like a you know, I forget who plays second for you guys right now, but whoever does. Colton Wong, that's right, because it's new Colton Wong. If that guy were to get hurt and you're like, cool, we have Adam Frazier for three weeks. Like you feel pretty good about that, but not like a strong necessarily. starter. I really think that I think that Preller hasn't always gotten enough credit for and somewhat

understandably so for some of the more under the radar moves because he has had a lot of busts, right? Trey Turner for Will Myers didn't work out all that great. Osceola for Andres Munas and Ty France. That one blew up in his face horribly. The Mike Cleveringer trade for a whole bunch of reasons. Hold on. Hold on, Harvey. Also, Taylor Williams for Matt Brash. That's right. Matt Brash who came in and was awesome for like two weeks. And every baseball nerd in the world was jumping into my bedsheds and being like these idiots.

And then it turned out, relax. He's a young guy with potential. And I'm excited about it. That slider, though. That slider is sexy. It is pretty hot. I'm not going to lie. Yeah, yeah. But I think that he doesn't get as much credit for some of the under the radar moves in.

Doing wrong, that's not as fun. Right? because the Soto trade, the Manny Machado extension, the, heck, the Fernando Tatis Jr. extension, which if people are watching the video, that's my bobblehead guy right here, that like, those are the flashy moves, Blake Snell, U. Darvish, all these things. But, you know, there's been some under the radar moves that he's made that. I think I've worked out really well. For years, they've had like this weird closer situation.

And every year that they lose one, they replace them pretty well, right? Mark Melanson comes in. He does great. They lose Malanson. And everyone's like, you idiots, what are you going to do with that? him they bring in roberts wars and louis garcia so they've had a knack for those type of moves joe musgrove i consider a little bit under the radar because i don't think he he was like a baseball nerd target like people who followed baseball knew who he was and they were like yeah that's that's a

pretty good move but nobody else really did and then he you know throws the first no hitter in padre's history right um so and that's just a few moves i think that he's done a really great job and for your team it's putting all the moves together it's been unbelievable clutch hitting especially i think it was in 2021 when you guys almost made the playoffs when it was like the run differential was like minus 40 but their clutch rating was like

the highest in like 60 years something like that and then of course last year when they finally make it you have your own big splashes with Castillo and stuff so there's been a similar vibe a similar good vibes things have been bad for us for a very long time and turning it around for I think both the Padres and the MERS to be honest

yeah both of these teams are kind of on similar wavelengths even though that, you know, the Padres have spent, you know, they've done a lot of this by spending money. And we'll get to Zander, of course. And you mentioned the Mani extension and getting Soto, who's going to get broken off as well and, you know, all that. So we'll get into all that. But, you know, for the Mariners, it's been more of a draft developed trade type of build here. You know, but they haven't been afraid to spend money when they feel the need to either, right?

Like they get Luis Castillo in and after six weeks of him being in Seattle. They lock them up for the next five years. They locked Julio up for essentially his entire career. I almost forgot about that. You know, they gave, you know, a pretty decent-sized contract to Robbie Ray, you know, about 15 months ago as well. So they are willing to spend, but they've, they've really tried to, you know, do this in a way that the Braves have done in the past, the Astros have done in the past,

the Cubs, you know, quite a few years back. And so far it's worked for them because they're, player development system has been one of the best in baseball and is starting to prove that at the major league level now you know for the last few years colby and i have been singing the praises of you know the player development in seattle but that was because we were just kind of seeing the process of it and we really like the process and we thought that it was sound and now you know but we didn't have proof that it would actually come to fruition at the major league level now 22 and really 2021 and even 2020 a little bit was that validation right yeah and so now so now so

seeing guys like Logan Gilbert and George Kirby and Julio, obviously. That's the big one. And Cal Raleigh, seeing what he was able to do and turning things around this past year. It's just, it's really exciting and how they've been able to both balance, you know, being willing to strike at the, the right times in free agency and on the trade market and then to develop these guys and to develop guys who also haven't, you know, really found their footing in other places like a tie for. France like a JP Crawford, et cetera. So these two teams are in a really good spot right now.

And I think there's a there's a non-zero chance that we could see these two teams clash in October with the way that they're going. And hey, what's great about baseball is the dinosaur that is known as baseball is they've updated their rules a little bit. So we are guaranteed to face each other at least one time every year now, which is very, very cool. And I'm excited about it. I don't care with old heads like Mr. Mr. Sully of Lockdown MLB might say. great pot, of course, that everybody should check out. But yeah, I think that, and that's a good point. They're not in like the S-tier, Dodgers, Phillies, Yankees, Padres now spending,

but they have done stuff. And I don't think that they are one of those teams that earn my criticism, right? Because I've been always very mad at the Brewers. I've been mad at the Guardians, the Ray's a little bit, certainly the Oakland is. And I think the Mariners, you know, they've done some good stuff. I know Robbie Ray is allergic to pitching against a certain team in that division. allergic to some other things too, I think. But for the most part,

Robbie Ray is still like a fine pitcher and he can really rack up the strikeouts and whatnot. So I think that that's been really good for them. And like you said, with George Kirby, who, you know, got to love anyone with the Kirby name for being honest. Shout out Jack Kirby. Shout out the pink guy that we all love so much.

Really, it's just, but they're very different teams because the Padres, I think, developed players really well. But then they traded all of them. They traded all of them to get good players. And it turns out those players were pretty good. I still think that, you know, your CJ Abrams and McKenzie Gore could be something really special.

And then you've already seen, you know, Thai France do well for the Mariners. You've seen all sorts of players, even like a Jack Swinsky, provide a little bit of value to the pirates. Like there's been stuff out there. They certainly didn't give up nothing. So that's been, it's really fun to see. Because when I first started hosting this podcast, the previous host of Lockdown Mariners, D.C. Lundberg. It's funny because I was talking

him when we were talking about the Marinus system. We were talking about Kirby. We were talking about Julio Rodriguez, which I was all in on simply for the name. I mean, come on now. Top prospect who's named Julio Rodriguez. What? Give me a break. So that was a thing. And then Emerson Hancock and some of these other guys that he hasn't been called up yet, but just it really is fun. I do criticize teams that get attached to the farm, but I have to admit the nerd side of me. It is really cool when you see it, like, really come to fruition. And I think the mayors have done that.

Yeah, I'm big into that stuff. And, you know, almost to a fault sometimes, right? Because I'm like, look, I find this more interesting than just going out and throwing out a bunch of money, I guess, which is fine, too. And that's, that's a, you know, that's a proven quality way of building a legitimate World Series contender, obviously. And I'm not throwing shade of what you guys are doing either because you built a really, really awesome ball club. But, you know, there's, there's a bunch of different ways of building the team, right? There isn't a particular correct answer. And at the end of the day, right, and we can criticize owners all day long. I'd be happy to do a four hour, five hour long podcast doing that. But in terms of just the front office people, like they do have

to work within whatever budget is set for them. And at that point, like when we're talking about baseball, we got to be realistic about that, right? Because then you just, you're just going to have a boring same old conversation over and over and over again. And that's just, that's not fun to me. Exactly. Right. So that's why we've always tried to look at it from that point of view of like, what are they developing? What are they doing in the system? What talent is coming up? How are they all going to make this work? How are they going to make this fit? And that doesn't mean that they're going to be exempt from criticism from us if they don't spend. And we've talked about that a little bit because that has been a topic of discussion this off season. And we'll get more into the off seasons for both, you know, the Mariners and the Padres here in just a moment. But, you know, I think overall, you know, I just, I really. appreciate this kind of roster build because it's just it's fun man like that's really what it all boils down to is that for me i find it fun i find the development i find drafting i find trading i find all that stuff really fun and so it's kind of just the perfect fit for me with the way that jerry de potos philosophy has kind of been shown here over the last eight or so years so yeah so like i

mentioned we're going to talk about the off seasons for both of these clubs busy off seasons the Padres did a lot this off season. The Mariners didn't do a ton, but they added impact. And that's really what's most important here. So we'll be getting into that in just a moment. But real quick, a reminder, this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by, and also Locked on Padres, by the way, is brought to you by Ultimate Baseball GM. Ever dreamed of becoming an MLBGM and managing your professional baseball franchise?

Well, your dream can come true, Hobby. And this game is definitely for you. buddy manage every strategic aspect of your team play through the season and lead your team to glory you're responsible for hiring the right coaches and staff managing team finances scouting and drafting players managing difficult personalities navigating your franchise through free agency and all the ups and downs of the season all this in a challenging and realistic game world ultimate baseball GM is completely free and playable offline and play on the go as you want and when you want it's basically the jerry to Poto simulator or the AJ Preller simulator.

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Ultimate Baseball GM, Start Your Dynasty today. And a special crossover episode of Locked on Mariners and Lockdown Padres is also brought to you by Game Time.

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I believe this is going to be released on Saturday the 25th, 26. We're on. I might just release it early just for the heck of it though. Yeah, who knows? You're a wild card, man. you're crazy yeah I'm crazy you don't know what you're gonna do it's it's been too quiet for too long I gotta drop a crossover you know so so to

pull the curtain back a little bit here we're recording this on March 19th because I'm a diva I'm a busy boy I'm gonna be on vacation this week this upcoming week or this past week for you guys if you're you're watching but these two teams next weekend

for us are going to be playing one another in back-to-back spring training games to end spring training i'm actually planning on being that one of those funny enough so uh looking forward to that hoping that most of the starters are playing in that game because i would love to see manny and one and obviously my boy nelly cruz another guy that i might see is zander bogarts who your padre is signed to a massive contract a massive contract it wasn't even the biggest middle-y-old filled contract we saw this off season but uh zander bogarts gets broken off for 11 years 280 million dollars so what was your reaction to that deal and what do you think bogarts brings to the table

because we're going to talk about fernando tatis here in a moment i want to ask about him but let's just talk about short stop and and what bogarts brings to the table here look diva gonzalez thank you so much for asking um i'm so excited for those who don't know diva rankings at locked on ties all there's tie then there's a couple then there's 50 feet of normal and then there's like i mean i have no ego whatsoever as everybody knows um i've also been worried do you think the skull is maybe scary people i'm like i'm like i'm like getting lost in its eyes yeah yeah just keep it there i'm kind of feeling i'm kind of feeling don't mess with the podras by the way i we were joking before we got on the show that uh i'm unintentionally

reping the Padres. Like I got the classic Padres colors with the flannel. I got the yellow beanie like I'm sorry guys. I'm not only a diva but I'm also a traitor apparently. So anyway he's cooked. All right. Xander Zander yeah let's stop getting off try. Yeah. Let's let's stop getting off track. With Xander look the Xander deal first of all was just wild. It was one of those that when it was rumored I genuinely didn't believe it and you would think by now I'd believe anything rumored to AJ Preller. Maybe I'm just an idiot totally possible and that I just have it caught on to the notions and I'm not a fan of the team because I don't live in San Diego. But I think that what was so wild about this one was they have Tatis. They have Hassan

Kim, who is a very good player who might even take another step up this year as he got more reps, you know, in the batting order this past year and he's got a great glove, obviously, Name for a gold glove. He's fantastic. But with that signing, I was like, yeah, okay. But like really and then I saw the trade Turner news where they're like yeah they reported the offer of this much money. I was like, oh my God. Like this is like like a real thing. And then they make the announcement. It's at like 10.30 at night.

And I'm losing my mind. I'm just like writing innocently listening to some lo-fi music. And then this comes in and I have to rant myself up. I think the Bogart's deal is just again, it's just another symptom of this new era of Padres baseball, which is just continually reminding people like me that they're just not stopping. right like they just won't stop if they like a player they're not letting money interfere with that and i know that there's been a lot of questions of sustainability which i talked about on my show which i think are the wrong questions to ask for any team that spends money but i also think that Padres you know the chargers left and that's one of my things where it's like i think that's them trying to seize

the land a little bit but uh the zander bogart's contract i think the most interesting thing is going to be whether or not his defense last year was legit yeah um he had a great defense rating last year and he's not been you know Derek Jeter I hate when I bring him up as a because I hate when people jump on him for that and call him overrated it's boring but you know a Jeter level not very good defender he's just you know not not great there he's not a plus there that's why his you know war totals weren't always through the roof but then last year he was great so part of me is wondering okay even if he doesn't age well with the bat his hard hit rates and stuff were it we're down just a tad bit last year you didn't hit that many home runs as many people

pointed out well if he's just a really good let's say a Thai france type of batter who's going to hit like extra base hits and all that stuff and draw some good walks and play great defense i'll take that too i don't necessarily need 30 home run bogarts which he's never really been before anyway he's just going to be an excellent piece he's been there before which i think matters two world series titles and every time i would turn on a red sox game that dude always just instills fear in me so it was just a wonderful signing and i think that it's just really exciting and i think that it's just that now we're all being like, oh, all right, what's next? You know, like, like Jed Bartlett from the Western.

Like, we're just very asking about what's going to happen next constantly, almost to the point where we're being spoiled. But I love it. But it's definitely one of those that in a bad for sure. But I think it's different with the pods. I really do. I think this is a team that they've never, ever spent. So for the Padres fans, they're like, we really don't care if it turns badly.

And I believe them. I think that if it turns badly in like five years, they'll be like, whatever. like it's still crazy that we did this you know what i mean i think aes fans would feel the same way if all of a sudden one day they or before they traded matt olson they just gave him a six year you know 250 extension they'd be like i don't even care if he turns bad this is crazy that we did yeah yeah yeah yeah i think that's kind of where the padres are so to just kind of go over everything else that the padres did this off season a lot of free agents for you guys brandon jerry ends up going to the angels jerks and pro far today as we're recording this finally signed with the

Rockies. Josh Bell, who you acquired in the Soto deal, ends up going to Cleveland. Shamanaya goes to the Giants. Will Myers goes to Sinci. Jorge Alfaro, I know that's just from a vibes perspective, pretty big loss for you guys. He had like six walk off wins last year, which is the most by a Padres in like 20 years. So yeah, very good vibes for a certain, certain pitcher who we won't name goes to the White Sox. Pierce Johnson goes to the Rockies.

Nomar Mazzara goes to the. Orioles, Austin Adams, former Mariner, goes to the Diamondbacks. I actually didn't know that happened until I looked at Roster resource. I didn't know it either. Yeah. So, there we go. This is a bad. He's also hilarious because he hits every single batter that he faces. Yeah. I mean, he's another guy

that has a great slider. He just can't stay healthy. All right. So then obviously you add Nelson Cruz, Mariners' legend to the mix here. And really interested to see how he kind of fits into all of this. Matt Carpenter, the mustache, which

He capped and I'm so happy he did. That's amazing. Rognetto door. Yeah, that was funny. And I didn't react to it on my show yet, but I cannot stand Runeato Dore. I just look, I'm not saying I love Jose Batista. Like, I understand that he could be a little bit of a pest for some people. When you're watching him play, he could be a little annoying.

But, and don't get me wrong. He got him. Let me be very clear. He got him. And it wasn't a sucker punch. He got him. Like I've watched that over and over, but I've never liked how hypocritical the Raiders are, which is why I'm hoping that fellow locked on host, Price Patrick,

another diva of the lockdown network. If they don't do well, I always like yelling in their face about how that team literally just cried, like literally on the field and we're so upset that they made like seven errors in one inning. And then they were like, wait, let's use the Bautista bat flip as a scapegoat for why we have to be angry now. instead of us being terrible. No, it wasn't us. It wasn't us. It was, this is what we don't like.

It's like, all right. So the Raiders are whack for that. And I'm glad they were in a rebuild for 87 years. But yeah, I mean, they did every move this off season. And you illustrated some of the guys that left. So there's a lot of new stuff going on. Yeah. One of the interesting things for the Padres,

and I'm going to ask you about some of the new faces for the Mariners, is that everyone's playing a new position with the exception of a couple. So like Manny Machado is going to be playing third base. shortstop as Zander Bogart's that's it in terms of like known and I guess Luis Campizano who's been their prospect for a very long time has had a couple of like

off the field instance that kept them out of the lineup and stuff but you know he's going to be a catcher and then other than that Hassan Kim's probably going to play second you know what I mean? Juan Soto's going to move to left field Hatis is going to be in the outfield Jake Cronoward's going to be at first so

there is a lot of questions for not just the new faces but the new positions those new bases will be playing. And I think it's exciting, but it is a very fair question, even if I do think they can't play the positions. That's not the question. It's just more, it's a lot of turnover. It's just a lot of, you got to be careful not to build your teams like a fancy baseball team. And I know that that happened in 2016, which again, Padres fans were so thrilled because they were like, cool, it's crazy that we're doing this in the first place. We never do this. But the Matt Kemp, Upton, Will Myers, Craig Kimball moves. We're all.

very this is fantasy baseball and you don't realize you got to have something a little bit more cohesive it's not that bad but it's still worth bringing out uh just to finish the additions that you guys made this off season uh adam angle that's right uh forgot about adam angle yeah michael waka waka waka walka waka uh seth lugo who uh colby and i love uh we've loved set lugo for a while uh so that's uh everyone wanted that guy this off season makes me excited every team was in on him it feels like He's a high spend rate guy, so, you know. Yeah. But yeah, let's, well, here, let's, we, I've lost track of time.

So we actually need to tell the fine folks. Yeah, well, and that's what happens when you're, when you're having fun, of course. Time flies when you're having fun. So let's sell and find folks about Fanduel. Then let's talk about Fernando Tatis. Let's talk about the mayor's off season. Let's talk about some expectations for these two teams in 2023. All right, folks.

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And you're listening to the locked on Mariners, locked on Padres crossover as Avi is making a very important text. He's got sources. What are they telling you? Who are the Padres trading to the Mariners? actually no no let me rephrase that question who is j depoto fleecing a j preller for this time you know what's about a time that would have hurt my feelings um and i would have been very sad but thankfully it's okay we're we persevere out here we bouts back uh no just a couple people you know

some celebrities you know because as people may know emma stone big padre's fan was at the spring training game by the way which was wild i was like i miss her by a weekend yeah seriously i'm going to Peoria like what the hell I want to see Emma Stone I was like what's going on like alright I mean like aren't you filming like three movies was your yoga slath the most like what's going on so she's just hanging out I guess so that that's really great well let me just take a quick break to go over to Peoria Arizona yeah right and she went to the suns game that night crazy stuff but yeah yeah man what was the question well there wasn't even a question I was I was just throwing shade I was just being me I was being a diva

uh fernando tatees let's talk about him so his uh you mentioned he's going to be playing in the outfield now and that's part of the you know the reason for bringing in bogarts uh because they had already experimented with this quite a bit him playing in the outfield before the suspension suspension is still going on uh for the first what 22ish days of the season i think his suspension ends on back in like three weeks yeah suspension ends on 420 hey memes that's fun uh so yeah let's uh let's uh Just tell me what the expectations are for Fernando because it's been a really bumpy like 14, 15 months for the guy. And he hasn't looked great so far in spring. So what do you think? Don't care about spring. I mean he much out. I hit like 120 before his first really truly great year in spring for the pod. So I don't really care.

For me, and this might sound a little hipster of me. But for me, I'm almost more interested in just the vibes of Tatis this year. This is a guy. And hear me out, folks, hear me out. I think that, you know, Padreys fans have been a little bit mean to anybody who has any dissent towards this year for Tatis coming off the injuries that, like, if you dare say he might have a 135 WRC plus instead of 160 or whatever the heck, they lose it. Great Fangraph's article that basically detailed players who have come back from a similar arm injury. Here's what their things fell by. And the best players on that list fell a little bit.

nothing giant, but my thing is more rather, you know, because of soda, because of Bogart's, because of Mani, because of all the stuff on the team and underrated bullpen too, in my opinion, he doesn't necessarily have to be that superstar year one. But like a four or five win player is still going to be like really rad. So for me, I'm just curious to see what's the attitude. I still think it's likely that you're going to get the, you know, the bat flipping. Fernando, how does he play a first base? But, you know, I'm, or in the outfield, I should say.

I am wondering, like, is he going to be as aggressive on the base? Is he going to be as aggressive when he's just running in general? Is he going to do the thing where he hits home runs and covers his eye or mocks people's poses or, you know, does all that stuff because this is a guy coming off of a lot of mistakes. Not like bad against the law. Like you are a bad person mistakes, but he's a goober. That's how I view it. Poor judgment. Poor judgment.

He's like 10 years old, right? Like in the grand scheme of things and made really bad decisions. but I'm not one of those people who wants to crucify guys for that. I save my hatred for. Honestly, people who aren't athletes in the world. But for me, it's more like, is he going to still be like that? Because he earned the ire that happened on top of the motorcycle stuff and you just casually being like, which one? And then that.

And then you get popped for the PEDs right after they get Juan Soto. Like, I've had some issues with Tatis. And I think it's totally understandable. And I think that the players' reactions from last year, you know, like Joe Musgrove and Mani and AJ Preller, there was another guy who we won't talk about that had reactions. And I called it. I did not. I thought it was hypocritical of him. But, you know, in general, that's what I want to see from him. How aggressive is he going to be at the plate? Is he still going to have that kind of just that swagger to him? I think that's going to be really interesting to see. I would vote yes, because it seems like he's kind of, you know, he's at fan fest. He's still got a little bit of nice stuff going on.

but he's got to overcome some things. And I think it's going to be good for him, though. And I think he's going to return to being next to Otani, probably the most exciting player in the league. Yeah, you don't want him to sap everything that he is, everything that made him great and still makes him great, right? You still want him to be himself, but you just want him, you know,

when he's away from the team, when he's away from the cameras, when all that, when all the attention is off of him, you want him to be able to make better choices and whatnot. So, yeah, hoping the best for him because i mean the game is better with him and with him performing well than without so it just kind of like last year when you know the suspension went down it came down and

even before that with the injuries and everything it just kind of felt like something was missing from baseball because he was just he was such a i mean he was the face of baseball one of the faces of baseball for the last two years and then you just suddenly he's just gone like that yeah yeah and and and and in no fault to his play right like it's either been injuries or goober stuff on the side, right? I remember when he had that swing that first popped his shoulder against the Dodgers, I believe. And everyone on Twitter was just like in a nightmare, at least like for baseball Twitter

or whatnot. And it's going to be really great to have him back. But I know, you know, this is a pretty rough transition. But you guys have your own superstar like freak athlete who's really fun and whatnot. Yeah. In Julio Rodriguez, I'm wondering, didn't have the best second half in the world. Not the best in the world. You know, he stopped having the 87 stolen base pace, right?

I know that that was a thing for a little bit. Yeah. But I'm wondering, like, what is the next step, I guess, for the M's? Because is it just, because in fairness, I don't think they made like this giant move this offseason. But you mentioned the ones that they did make with Colton Wong with the Oscar. Like, yeah, just really solid refining the edges. It feels like a team that is just a, you know how like when you pick Mario and Mario Kart. Like just it's everything.

overall is just medium. It's just solid all around. There's no, like, giant weakness on the team. Oh, they don't have, you know, more than two super home run guys. Oh, but whatever. It's okay because Thai France is really cool. And Colton Wogg will give you some good defense. Like, it's just really refined, right?

Oh, Robbie Ray scares us sometimes. Well, that's what they brought in Luis Castillo for. And, you know, Logan Gilbert or who I think is a sneaky Sai Young vet, shout out to Vandal. And George Kirby, like those guys can improve. what is kind of the vibes with with that team right now because I'm wondering like because they just they did the most important thing which was baking the draft so it's almost like I mean I saw your videos when you guys broke the drive I saw them oh I saw the tweets my man's was out here absolutely going off so I'm wondering like what is the expectations I guess for the banners well yeah it feels great to just kind of get the proverbial monkey off your back right you know having that shadow. cast over you for so long and as each year goes by, it grows and grows and grows. So just be away from that and not have that extra thing that everyone is focused on and everyone

is ultimately just fixated on and can't get past is great because now it's just all about ball, right? It's all about like, what are we going to do to win the ALS? What are we going to do to win a World Series? That's really what the focus is now. And it's no, because like even the players were talking about it. Even the, you know, even Jerry DePoto and Scott Service were talking about it constantly about ending the drought.

You know, it's something that certainly was on a lot of these people's minds. Even when they weren't a part of, they've been a part of the drought for like six of the 20 years, right? Like, it's not their fault. They're in the drought. Like, they've contributed it, contributed to it, of course. But, like, it wasn't their thing. But it wasn't their cross-to-bearer, but they did.

Right. And so, and they finally, you know, were able to band together here and ended after a couple close calls over the last few years. And so now being able to go into this. year where it's just all the pressure of that is off amazing does does so much for you from a mental side of things where now you can just focus on ball you know i want to go i want to quickly go back to what you were saying about julio in terms of the second half i mean you got hurt right he had a wrist injury after the uh the derby uh that uh hindered him a little bit and then he had a back thing

that flared up in oakland a little later on and they were just like hey like don't steal bases we don't want you doing that we don't want you to risk getting hurt so you know because we want to go into the postseason with you Like we have no chance if you're not a part of this thing going into the postseason. And then, you know, like you said, right, it's really it was about complimenting the rest of the roster this offseason. And there were some issues with the off season and we could go on. I could go on about this for, you know, 15, 20 minutes. So I'll try to keep it short and brief.

But, you know, I still think they're about short. I still think that they. Maybe. Yeah, conformo. Yeah, Conforto was attached to every team in baseball. Yeah, Conforto was someone that. you know well and plus he's from the area right so it made sense on that level as well um but you know obviously there was some concerns about you know the shoulder and and frankly getting involved with

scott boris right on a player like that that's that's a delicate situation so you know the the mirrors didn't really do much in terms of free agency and really didn't add a ton of payroll this off season when you really think about it because like the colton long deal was pretty much a wash when you factor in Jesse Winker's contract and Abraham Torel's contract going to Milwaukee. That was pretty much a wash. Forget about Winker, yeah. Yeah. Teosker, like, ends up making $14 million in arbitration.

So that's the heaviest ad. And then they gave A. Joe Pollock $7 million. So that's created a conversation with the fan base about, you know, not taking advantage of this opportunity and really taking advantage of this opportunity that they have and just going all in on it. The thing though is like again, this goes back to the conversation that we had earlier on in the show about you know, how just a boring of a conversation it would be to just constantly, you know, bicker about the spending and everything, which like there is a time and in place for that. But for Jerry DePoto, if John Stanton, the Mariners owner tells him, you know, you have this strict budget, you have to work within it, he's got to do, you know, there's nothing that he can really do about that other than like say,

hey, can you give me more money? No. Okay. Well, then I just have to work with this, right? So his job is to give himself as much flexibility as possible. And that's what he ultimately did, right? Because they're going to need to add at some point over the course of the season to get better because that's what they've always done. That's how they've always operated.

So if they need to add payroll, he's got to keep that flexibility there. Adding to T. Oscar Hernandez, amazing. I'm a huge Tye Oscar fan because I'm, you know, I live in Toronto. I swear every single Blue Jays game I've gone to, he's homered in. like dude's just incredible and from a vibes perspective i mean the mariners have one of the best clubhouses in all of baseball uh just in terms of the personalities there's no there really aren't at least in terms of what is shown to the public there aren't really any despicable people on this roster and that's great that's great because i love rooting for all of them and so he

just adds to that because he's a great clubhouse guy uh and he adds a lot of thought but i mean like at his best at his hundred percentile it's like having another Julio Rodriguez in your lineup like he's a fringe MVP candidate at his best and so that's really exciting the defense you know that's another what defense is for nerds look at the Phillies they made the world series exactly exactly defenses defenses defenses for nerds and most importantly he gives you more probability than anything Mitch Hanner could give you and that's the thing that's the thing that's blown my mind this off season and I've written I've ranted and raved about this on my show so a lot of our listeners are probably rolling their eyes like oh ties doing the thing again but

thing that's blown my mind this offseason is the amount of people within the fan base that are like the colton wong and um te oscar ananda's deals are lateral moves no teosker teoscar nandez and mitch hanniger are in two completely different universes from one another colton wong is a significant he's not tray turner he's not zander bogarts which everyone wanted that's what i was about to say like in a in a time not trying to throw shade at J.P. Crawford. Yeah. Because he certainly is not the way Padres Feds felt about like our weak link, Eric Cosmer, but in an offseason where you had Turner, Korea, Bogarts, you know, are you wondering if that's our one big lineup hole, you know, I've imagined that Mariners fans were a little

disappointed there. Yes, yeah. So that was a letdown for a lot of folks. But I mean, it became clear like the years and the money was just too prohibitive for this team in particular. Now that's, again, that's a whole conversation. That's a whole rabbit hole that we could go down, right, with the, with the spending and everything. But nevertheless, Colton Wong is still a significant upgrade over what they fielded at second base last year. Adam Frazier, like we said, was mostly garbage last year. He had the big hit in the playoffs. He had a hot start to the season.

That was about it. That's as far as his contributions were. So that's a significant upgrade. Colton Wong's made a swing change, you know, as a couple of years ago, he's been a 115, 1116 WRC plus guy at the last couple of years. there's track record there. There's something to believe in there. But yeah, again, you know, I think they're a bat short.

We'll see how AJ Pollack plays out this year. But the thing that I think a lot of fans are kind of overlooking here and even pundits, even like, you know, the projection models and whatnot that are overlooking is the fact that they're going to get a full season of Luis Castillo. They're going to get a full season out of George Kirby.

They're going to get a full season out of a good, Cal Raleigh. They're going to get a full season of a good Andres Munoz. Like, well, that's not the exciting thing. Yeah, I know. Well, that's not the exciting thing, right? It's not the exciting thing to be like, well, the additions that you made at the deadline or the additions that you made over the course of the season are kind of also part of the additions that you made the soft season. It's true, though. Like, the Mariners are not, I wouldn't say that they're significantly better than they were at the end of the season, but they're significantly better. It's like night and day from where they were at the start of, you know, of last season,

at opening day last season. And that's what's most important here, right? Because you cannot complete a roster build over the course of one offseason, no matter who you are, even if you're the Mets, spending all the money that you are, even if you're the Padres. The Padres are going to have to add at some point. You know that. We all know that.

Right. So roster building isn't this linear thing. And so the point is that you need to get all. off to a hot start. Are they positioned to get off to a hot start? Yes. Are they positioned to keep pace with the Astros? Absolutely.

And are they in position to get better significantly at the deadline, given everything that they have in their farm system and everything that they're going to still add? Because I don't know if you know this. They have three first round picks in the draft. I did not know that. Yeah. So they're going to be able to add a lot of talent to their farm system.

And that in turn should allow them to be a little more aggressive on the trade market with some of their guys as well if someone like say Brian Reynolds becomes available. So. No. No. Can't do it. So he's a name that I refuse to say on my show anymore.

It's a new rule of mine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. See, I just can't do it. Yeah. Well, so I don't know if you know this, but we do these trade shows like we're like

Fan Fiction Friday. We're our listeners submit trades and like we had to ban Brian Reynolds. Is that bad? It was just every other trade was Brian Reynolds. It was a lot. last year was like every other trade was Jose Ramirez. We had to ban Jose Ramirez. We had to ban Ronald Acuna when those trade rumors started happening in this off season.

I remember those. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we had to ban Acuna. We had to ban Otani. There was a few other names that we had to ban. But yeah, Brian Reynolds was one of them. So I get it. I understand.

At worst, he's a three forward player and they got him for like the the easiest contract in baseball. He's not going anywhere. Guys, stop it. Unbelievable. But yeah, I mean, look, it's funny because, There's so many different, like, there's so many similarities, one with just the trades between our two teams, right, with Munoz, which are my feelings and Thai France and all that stuff.

And then on top of that, they've got just the turnaround thing that we've been talking about all show. And then they've got a Titan in their division for you guys as the Astros for us as the Dodgers. So look, we're in the same boat, man. I think we're both the good guys. That's how I would say. I'll say this. And this will make your listeners very happy. I think the Dodgers are painfully mid.

I think the Padres did I say the Padres I meant the Dodgers No no the Dodgers yeah Yeah yeah okay alright did I really hope that I said the Dodgers Okay all right now I'm in that state where I'm like doubting myself Yeah anyway so I got you The Dodgers like the Dodgers didn't do anything this off suit Yeah

They didn't but I don't know man I can't trust it I know it's easier for you from afar but yeah I've been seeing them clips Jason Hayward at spring training I'm getting nervous man I'm getting nervous man Jason Hayward revival. Not like prime Jason Hayward, but like, oh, we just turn this guy into a two-win player. Yeah.

I know that does it sound incredible, but that adds up. Safe thing for Cindergarde. Yeah. Like it just 2019 hundred pets. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, oh no. Like this is going to say. It just makes me nervous.

But it is true that this is the first time in a while where there's a genuine like, you won't be laughed out of the room if you say that the pods can win the division. And also just based on overall, like they have to lose it at some point. You know, I mean, they've won it like 15 years in a row. So it's not impossible. And I think that that that alone is exciting. So, so yeah. So like the thing with the Dodgers, right, is like, yeah, they have movie. They, they have Freddie.

Like they're still going to be like an eight like a 90 win team. Right. Like sure. But like they lose Gavin Lux. They lose, you know, unfortunately to an ACL injury. They lose Trey Turner in the off season. And they're replacing those spots with like. like Miguel Rojas, like Max Moncey, who I like, I like Max Moncey, but like come on.

Like like again, there's just there's a lot missing there for the daughters. And I just, I don't know like depth has been able to carry them. Like they've had injuries. They've, you know, they've dealt with all this stuff. And death is really carried. Their scy young candidate gets hurt and they still have a top five year and baseball. Yeah. That's what we're dealing with here.

Yeah. So like the luck in the, the, uh, development and all that stuff is amazing for the Dodgers. But I still, I think the Padres should be the favorites heading into this year. I, I'm picking the Padres to win the division. I like it.

I hope so, man. But either way, I look, it's, it's crazy times. It's, it's really fun times for both of these ball clubs. And I think that,

I don't know. It's just, it's fun. Like, why not? You know, why can't, why can't they do it? You know,

why not? Why can't? Look, man, from a, from a mariner's perspective, like talking about injuries, right? Gavin Lux with the Dodgers. Ozzy Al-Tube with the Astros, you know?

As of today, you know, we find out that... There's a lot of comparisons with our teams right now. That's crazy. So, you know, Al-Tube gets hurt in the World Baseball Classic last night for us. Turns out broken, what was it? Broken wrist? Broken thumb. I think it was broken thumb.

Broken thumb. He's going to be out at least eight to ten weeks and that's not accounting for rehab and all that that stuff. So who knows when he's going to come back? Who knows what he's going to look like when he comes back? that's a major hit. They obviously lost a Verlander and free agency. The Colors is going to start the year on the aisle as well.

Like still a really good rotation. Still really good rotation with Valdez and Javier. We've talked about this, but again, this whole off season has, yeah, this whole off season, the conversation has really been dominated by this whole like, Howard the Marin is going to close the gap between them and the Astros. I think the gap is more or less closed.

like at this point because like here we go here we go I really do go now I really unleash the diva oh I've already I've already said this I've already said this the diva has already been a leet unleashed and it's out there and Astros fans I don't know if you're familiar with it but Astros fans love to seek out content that has you know that talks about them yeah yeah so so we've we've heard it you know we've heard oh no this team is still a hundred plus win team after you lost a perennial say uncontender and didn't do anything to replace them okay the same. But yeah, I think there's a there's an opening here. I won't go as far as to like guarantee

the Mariners are winning the AOS, you know, that that's a little too hot takey for me. I know locked on would love me to say that, but I, I'm not going to, I'm not going to go that far. But for for both of our teams, I think there's a very real possibility here that both of these teams can win their division. These, I think for both of us, it would not surprise me if we got those have passed on notifications that are like if you're not watching mariner's astros right now tune in because like this game has been amazing and same thing for dodgers padres i think there's going to be a lot of both teams there's a good chance that you just get some clad i don't know which way it'll go but that you get those really like dare i say rivalry type of you know matchups

and i know the dodgers and podres the sparks have already flown maybe that happens for the mariners a little bit more julio just says something to kyle tucker i don't don't know and then he slides into second on a stolen base and they win i don't know right but that's how it starts and it starts with being competitive and both teams are through the roof with that and i can't wait i i really think that it could be the best divisional races in the league this year yeah maybe the n lees only because that division is consistently absurd um just consider every year every year that that it just does not know how to calm down it is the always sunny of baseball divisions it just refuses to stop refuses it's on a 16th season yeah or in a case of one piece another thing that refuses to stop you know what I mean who is the who is the Danny Devedo of the Ann Elliott's the Dan I mean do we have to say the Marlins I feel like they're the Frank Reynolds yeah like Louisa Rises toe knife I love how I barely or is he or is he or is he or is Sui Arise rumham that's the question for our always always

sunny fans in the chat. Always sunny fans who know baseball from the NL East. The Bend diagram must be great. Help us out with those. Help us out with those. Yeah, for sure. But, uh, Hey, man, look, if people can't tell, we're both excited and I can't wait for this year, man.

It's going to be a blast. Yeah, absolutely. I am, uh, I'm pretty stoked about the year. And I'm pretty, pretty stoked to just get baseball back, man. It's been a long time. And I've been, I've been itching because, again, like, you know, seeing this team finally make the playoffs, getting to see it in person. to you know just there's there's a different level of excitement for me that I haven't

really felt going into a baseball season really in my life because the last time the marriage made the playoffs before last year I was five so I don't really like remember that so yeah so yeah man good luck to you guys we're gonna be seeing you guys here I think what in May or somewhere I should look that up before we started recording I should look that up too yeah that's crazy that's funny I feel like I was about to and then just forgot because I looked at the spring training game and I was like oh we play each other soon it's like no wait well that's the

spring trading game yeah yeah yeah yeah let's see May let's see oh it's not in May it's not in May I was a liar it's in June June 6th 7th there we go all right so June 6 and 7th we'll need to do this again absolutely man absolutely and hopefully everybody

enjoyed this chunky boy length pod because I know how to blast recording it I we're So sorry, Jeff. Jeff Carr, host the Lockdown Reds podcast and head of Lockdown MLB Division. Sorry for how long it is. It's okay.

I think, look, every, you do a lot for them. This one was for us. Yeah, yeah. And also you put me and a hobby together.

Like, it's going to be a long podcast because like, we, we never beat the 30 minute criteria. We don't know. We don't. Not once. Not once by life.

No. That's going to do a fair show. For Javier Reyes, I'm Taday Dan Gonzalez. Thank you so much for tuning in. Go and follow our shows on Twitter at LO underscore Mariners and at LO underscore Padres. Follow our personal accounts at Dan Gonzalez, the C-A-N-Z-L-Z-L-Z and J-A-V-N-O. That's J-A-V-I-I, yes, two-I's, P-E-N-O. Thank you again for making us your first listen.

Now, for your second list and check out Locked-on Fantasy Baseball when your league by listening to Matt and Dom every day as they bring you the best fantasy draft strategies. It's free and available wherever you get your podcast just like us, part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. With that, have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you next time. Peace.