Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Our 2025 Mariners Flag Players

Episode Date: March 26, 2025

It's Flag Day! Ty and Colby pick "their guys" on the 2025 Mariners roster.Giveaway terms and conditions!Check out our Patreon!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11Follow the show on Bluesky: @lockedonmariners | @tdg | @mlbcolbySupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Wonderful PistachiosLooking for a snack that’s both delicious and nutritious? Get snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more.Supply HouseJoin the TradeMaster program today at SupplyHouse.com/TM and start ordering plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with just a few clicks. Plus, use promo code S-H-5 for 5% off your first order. That’s SupplyHouse.com!UpworkVisit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free to connect with top talent and grow your business today! Just IngredientsVisit JustIngredients.us/Bryce-Harper and use code LOCKEDONMLB for 20% off your order! And for more wellness tips, follow @just.ingredients on Instagram.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with MonarchMoney. Use code LOCKEDONMLB at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

These are the Marers we believe in more than most this season. It's Flag Day here on the Lockdown Marrars podcast. Colby, hit it. You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariner's podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Ahoy, Sailors. It is Wednesday, March 26, 2025.

This is Tadding Gazzalus and Colby Patnode for the Lockdown Marriss Podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. As always, if you want to hear from me, Colby even more and help support the show. You can check out our Patreon. All you have to do to check that out, of course, is to click the link in the description of this episode. So, Colby, do you know what we're doing today?

No, I can't quite recall what's on the docket. Is there any, like, visual representation you could show me to remind me? Yeah, I got you. Black play. I'm going to shine and take flight. Ty and Kobe got the game in their hands. Picking the ones who'll take us. will they run?

Who'll stand tall? If you guys are audio-only listeners, first of all, thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed the song. The lyrics and the vocals are all AI-generated. So if you are a musician, wouldn't worry about AI quite yet.

They got some work to do. But, yeah, if you guys are audio-only, first of all, thank you. Second of all, I hope you're downloading these episodes and leave us a review. But if you are audio-only, I would highly recommend just coming to YouTube to watch that because you can't appreciate the I spent a lot of time on that. Yeah.

Yeah. Way more than I'm proud to admit. Like too much time. Yeah. I had a lot of fun though. I could tell. It was very obvious that you were really getting into it, which is funny because you hated the idea originally. So, you know, like with everything.

I'll come around. I'll come around. Never wrong. So yeah. Yeah. So check that out. But yeah, today is I guess flag day,

according to the song. Yeah. So yeah, it's, it's something, guys. I really, I really can't stress enough.

You should go watch that because if nothing else, it'll make you cringe so bad. You'll think you're watching dinner party. So when we're talking about the best episode of the office, by the way. hands down no debate whatsoever fight me in the comments but while that song probably already told you everything you need to know if you're still little confused as to what flag day is colby tell them what we're doing today i mean can't we just play the song again let's do it

Fly players pick them right. Going to shine and take flight. Ty and Kobe got the game in their hands. Picking the ones who'll take a stand. Ones who'll stand tall. We actually don't even have a show today. We're just, we're going to continue to play this over and over. We're just going to vibe.

You know, we have some other AI songs that we could share with you guys. So we're just, welcome to the album drop. That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, you thought Waldo's Springtime was it. No, we got more. We got way more on the bag.

That is. But yeah, it's, it's Flag Day. So in case the songs didn't make it obvious, what Flag Day is, which I mean, like, did you not hear it? Yeah. You play it again. I'm kidding. They're going to touch the sky. That's right, baby.

So yeah, Flag Day, we do this every year. It's a very simple exercise. You know, we, Ty and I are essentially drafting group of five players. There are no repeats allowed. So if Ty takes somebody, I'm not allowed to take that player. But we each have a list. We're taking five guys. And what a flag player is simply is a player that we believe is going to, you know, beat expectations or have a breakout year or whatever it is.

Right. Now, it's not like a super specific, you know, definition. But essentially, these are guys that we're planning our flag on. We're claiming them for the 2025 season. these are the players that we are, you know, we're high on, essentially. Yeah. It's really what it comes down to. And we're claiming them.

So last year, Ty didn't do so well. He had both the Mitches. He had, he had Eureas. He had, he had Bryce, right? I have Bryce, which was good. That worked out for me. Yeah. And I had, and I had polo.

Yeah. I went one for five. it wasn't great i had luke raley and the scary thing by the way is i can do worse yeah yeah there's technically room for yeah uh well not well there's room for improvement plenty of it

there's there's room for grudgeon too we haven't hit rock bottom yet there yeah i last year i picked raley i picked woo i picked josh rohas dillan more um can't quite remember who my last guy was uh he had a pretty good year though i remember because tie and i were looking back not too long ago and it was

Ty got whooped. Now this isn't supposed to be a competition. This is just Ty and I. But you know us. It is. Yeah. It's just Ty and I picking 10 guys for entertainment value, but Ty really wants this to be a competition even though I cleaned his clock last year.

Yeah. I'm thinking I'm thinking and we haven't come up with like what the winner would get what the loser would have to do or what hey, you guys have to comment anyway for the giveaway. So let us know if you haven't. ideas but I was thinking at the end of the year we should put together the war we'll go by fan graphs I would assume of the players that we pick for each team and whoever wins you know is the

winner right and the loser has to do something probably on the show I would assume maybe wear like a funny hat or something silly I don't know let us know what your ideas are down below yeah there really is only one rule when selecting players well two we can't repeat a player And the other one is that there are certain players we're just not allowed to take because, quite frankly, they're everybody's guy. They're such obvious answers that it's not fun. You can have them on the list. And those players this year we have decided are Julio Rodriguez, Al Raleigh, and Logan Gilbert. But we can pick anybody else.

Technically, they don't even have to have started the year in the major leagues. If somebody wants to take Koleong, they can. So that's it. We're just going to have some fun because Ty got obliterated last year. I think he gets to pick first this year. Yes. And it's really that simple. So Ty,

I wonder who you're going to pick first. Boy, I don't know. I totally haven't heard this before. Yeah, because this is totally the first time we're recording this episode. All right. So I'm taking J.P. Crawford to start. He was on my list.

I know that's a little bit of a surprise. Because I have like giving you a little hints here and there over the last few weeks. This is kind of like one of our favorite shows to do. So we've been like looking very. forward to doing this. But I'm taking JP. I think he will find some middle ground. I don't think he's going to be the 136 WRC plus bat that he was in 2023, but I also don't think that he's going to be the 89 WRC plus bat that he was in 2024. I think he'll be somewhere 105 to 115-ish. He's going to give you average shortstop defense. And this is a huge year for him. Not just in regards to his

future in Seattle, but his future in the majors in general, right? He has to kind of reestablish himself a bit and he's heading into the last year of his deal in 2026. It's possible even if he has a pretty decent year this year, he might get traded by the Mariners, this upcoming winner. So it's a huge year for him. I love the dude. He's one of my favorite mariners of really just this era of the last 10 to 15 years or really just in general of my time watching the marriage. JP has been one of my favorite marries. So I'm absolutely rooting for the dude. I hope he kicks butt this. year and again i think he's going to uh be at least a slightly above average uh hitter uh and an overall pretty good player you know three win four one player at the end of the day yeah jp was on my list

as well uh it does feel like a bounce back is uh to some degree is certain again i don't i don't think he's going to go 136 again but 105 to 110 if you can maintain the defense he played last year yeah it's probably three and a half one player at least yeah for sure so all right Right. Who are you taking? Well, I already know who you're taking because again, we've recorded the first picks before Stream Yard reset on us. So yeah, so we know. But Colby, what was your first pick? I could change it up because I'm between two guys. I think we know who the two guys are. Whoever I don't take, Ty is going to take the other one with his next pick more than likely, which is why he wanted that first pick. He was willing to split them up because he knew he wasn't going to get both of them anyway. So he might as well get the first pick on top of little gamesmanship from Ty. But I'll stick to what I said in the last recording. I'm going to take Bryce Miller over Brian Wu. It's difficult of the decision as that is, and it is.

But I just look at Miller. He is durable. He's proven that he can take the ball every five days. Last year, he kind of had a mini, you know, coming out party. People started to take notice. National people started to take notice. I think this year is the year he knocks down that door and starts to enter the discussion of being one of the, you know, five best starting pitchers in the American League.

He really is that good. He throws a ton of strikes. He eats a lot of innings. And he's got seven pitches, all of them pretty good. And, yeah, I think the one area of Bryce's game that hasn't quite developed to where it could be right now is getting the swing and miss, getting those strikeouts. And I think he's going to do that this year. I think the strikeout numbers are going to jump. And I think Bryce Miller is probably going to finish inside the top five in Sy Young voting.

I really believe in him. I believe in Brian Wu, too, but had to pick one. And since Ty wants to make it a competition, I'll go with the guy more likely to not end up on the IL and thus have a higher war as a result. But yeah, I assume when we come back from the break, Ty is going to take Brian Wu. But I will take Bryce Miller. I think it's I think both guys are fantastic picks. And one of them has to be on a flag list, like your flag list, your individual flag list. If they don't, if you don't have Miller or Wu on it, what are you even doing?

Like these two guys are prime for a breakout. Will I take Brian Wu? I guess we'll find out coming up in just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of the Lockdown Marys podcast is brought to you by Wonderful Pistachios. Looking for a snack that's both delicious and nutritious. Crack into a good source of protein with wonderful pistachios. Wonderful pistachios is one of the highest protein nuts.

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are a classic favorite. Get snacking and get cracking with a snack that packs a protein punch. Visit wonderful pistachios.com to learn more. And you're listening to the Locked-on Mariners podcast. You guys are killing it right now with the giveaway. We reached another one of our goals yesterday. So that's another $25 gift card going into the Grand Prize, $25 gift card to Simply Seattle, that is. And we're 25 subscribers away from our next goal as well.

So what all is in the grand prize right now, Colie? Right now we have Victor Robles autograph card. This one's numbered. JP Crawford autograph card. Out of 25, we have this A Eugenio Svarez autograph card from Tops. We have $75 of Simply Seattle gift certificates. That's what's in the pot right now. If we get another 25 subscribers before the end of the mayor's first home stand,

which is when this giveaway ends, we will add this Felman-Seliston autograph card to the prize pack, and that is number 12 out of 15. So lots of good stuff. It's already probably the biggest prize pack we've ever given away with the Gino autograph card, the JP autograph card, and the Robles autograph card.

So yeah, next up, 25 more, and somebody is going to walk away with a Feldman-Selisand card along with the other things that are already in the prize pack. So, yeah,

you guys are doing great, and we do appreciate it. All you have to do to enter, if you want to win all of this stuff, all you have to do, subscribe to the YouTube channel, leave a comment on any video from last Thursday

until the end of the Mariners' first homestand, which will be a week from tomorrow. So it's all you have to do. It's very simple. Subscribe, leave a comment. You can leave a comment on all those videos for more entries. And Ty and I will just pick a random video. And when I say Ty and I, I mean software, we'll pick a random video and then it will pick a random comment from that video. And that person is going to win everything in the prize pack. There's one grand prize winner in this giveaway, which is a little bit different from past giveaways. Terms and conditions in the description. So let's get back into our flag list.

here. It's my pick now. So I pick JP. You pick Bryce Miller. So am I taking Brian Wu? Colby, remind me who's off limits? Who's off? Yeah. Julio, Cal. Logan. And now JP

and Miller. Oh, okay. Cool. I'm taking George Kirby. Okay. Yep. Feels a little cheating, but no, I'm taking George. He's not off. He's not off limits. It's just all about just I'm just going to get like the three war guys consistently.

I'm not going to take any risk here. Then whatever you do you, it just, you know, kind of spits in the in the face of the spirit of the flag list. But whatever, now you do your thing. I think,

and look, we've even acknowledged this. I've personally acknowledged this when we did our pitching preview, our starting rotation preview. I think some people are down on George Kirby heading into this year. And obviously he's starting the year hurt. Yeah. And there's some real questions about like,

can he generate more? swing and miss. Will he mature a bit more in terms of like how, you know, things get to him or rather not get to him, what have you on the mountain, right? And I'm going to say that, yeah,

the answer to those questions is yes, he will mature on the mound this year. He will be able to generate some more swing and miss this year. I believe in George Kirby. And I think that that makes him the perfect choice for this exercise. Because I believe in him more than most. So what you're saying is you're taking an already injured player, knowing the bad juju you give these players. So I think what I'm saying is prepare for bad news.

George Kirby is going to be out with a season ending injury shortly. And if that happens, you can blame Ty. That's fine. That's fine. Yeah. Yeah. I welcome that. All right.

Well, I'm no fool. So instead of doing something fun like I wanted to do, I'm taking Brian Wu. Of course I am. Brian Wu is Now what's interesting about Wu is that he is really is getting a lot of attention on like the national media side I've seen a lot of predictions that have him as like a dark horse for the Cy Young and obviously you know the fastball is is one of the talks of baseball and you know even foolish baseball just did a whole video on it one of the biggest baseball accounts you know on YouTube just broke him down and all that stuff but But Wu, the one that he hasn't done is he hasn't gotten through an entire season healthy.

And that's the big question. Can he go 180 innings? I mean, I don't know. You certainly see, when you think of a guy like who was built to go 180 innings, you kind of think of Wu, the delivery is so smooth and clean. And there's really, you know, the mechanics are amazing. And he doesn't throw a ton of off speed stuff. It's mostly just fastball.

So yeah, I do think Lou is going to have a breakout year of sorts, mostly because I think he's going to stay relatively healthy. and there's so much value already built into his profile just on the fastball alone. We saw the sweeper take a step last year. We've seen the change up kind of ebb and flow between good and, you know, so we'll see what he can do. He still has to answer that left-handed hitter problem, but I think he's going to do it. I think the sweeper is actually going to be the equalizer on that front. So I think Brian Wu is going to have a very good season, and it's not really surprised.

I think a lot of people are very high on Brian Wu, especially in Seattle. and he's starting to get traction nationally as well. But I think Lou is going to have the breakout year. I think he's going to go 170 innings this year. And I think he's going to be just by virtue of, you know, doing what he did last year and being healthy for the entire year. I think he's probably going to be a four-win guy. So I'll take Brian Wu since you didn't want him.

But by the end of this year, George Kirby will be considered the Mariners number five starter. Wow. Even below Luis. Maybe number four. Okay. All right. What a little too far with the take.

He'll be the number, he'll be the number four in a sense that like the three guys in front of him will be like four or five win pitchers and he'll be like three point eight to four point two. Like he'll be right there, but he'll be number four. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look,

I think it's even with all of the struggles that he had last year, Kirby, that is easy to forget that he was a four win pitcher. Yeah, he was the worst player in the organization in the month of August. so yeah yeah yeah yeah so I'm gonna I'm gonna go with a fun one here for my next pick I'm gonna go Ryan Bliss I've been talking about him a lot yeah I've been talking about him a lot and this one is one that could very easily and very quickly blow up on my face

but I'm I'm doing it I'm sticking my neck out there for Ryan Bliss I believe in what he did this spring I was very impressed with his ability to just go out and win that second base job very clearly. And I think that's the right thing here for the roster to maximize the roster as much as possible to start the year as it's currently constructed. That is, you know, the way to really maximize this roster would have been to the soft season, but whatever, I digress. Yeah.

So Bliss, I mean, he's showing an ability to time up the fastball a bit more this spring. We'll see if that's able to be, you know, carried over into the regular season, yada, yada, yada once pitchers are actually, you know, game. planning for him and against him. But yeah, I saw some really cool things out of Ryan Bliss this spring. And I think at the very least, even if he doesn't hit that much, he'll still find a way to give you some value at second base, which we haven't really been able to say about Mary's second baseman that much over the last few years.

Like that athleticism, what he'll give you on the base pass, all that. I still think like the path to being a one and a half to win player, pretty clear to me, even if he doesn't hit a ton. Yeah, that's an interesting one. Not on my list. And I hate to do this with my next pick, but I feel like this is a legitimate call. I'm going to take the last remaining member of the Mariners rotation. The hate on Luis Castillo, mostly from Mariner fans, I might add, has gone way too far.

Yeah. Way too far. I thought about this, by the way. Yeah, I did. I think, like, Luis was like a three-win pitcher still last year. And it's just one of those things where it's like, was he as good as he was in 2023? No, he wasn't. Are there legitimate concerns about Louise?

Yeah, the velocity's going down a little bit, really struggled against lefties last year. And I don't know if I would have put him on this list. He definitely would have been a guy that I felt was being a little disrespected either way. And this is why we talk about not, you know, not reading too much into spring training numbers, but looking at what happened. I wonder maybe there's been a bit of a philosophical shift in Louise Castillo because what we saw. over his last couple starts of the Cactus League, we saw him go slider heavy primarily to lefties, who absolutely torched him last year.

And it was really effective. It was a very effective pitch against those left-handed hitters. And oh, by the way, he dusted off the change-up a little bit more. And it looked better than it has in the past. So I wonder, Luis understands that the fastball is not quite what it is. Still very good, but not quite what it has been the last couple of years. So, hey, let's throw the slider more. Let's throw the change-up more.

like let's really spend this offseason focusing on refining those pitches so I can get these lefties out and then I can still attack the righties with the fastball. I really think that's what's happening here. It's an interesting pitch mix. We only saw it for the last couple starts of his Cactus League, but it was intentional. It was obvious that that was part of his game plan. We'll see if he carries that into the regular season. But the number of people I saw this off season were like, you have to trade Luis. If you don't trade him now, you know, you're going to regret it.

like he's got like this is the last year like the wheels are going to come off it's like the wheels are going to come off a 31 32 year old who still has an elite fastball and has had elite off speed stuff not like a year ago like i understand that 2024 wasn't amazing for louise but he was still pretty darn good and i just feel like people are forgetting that louise castillo is a very good pitcher he would be the number one on probably half the staffs on baseball i mean at least and And I think that there was a very intentional direction that Luis has chosen to go, or maybe the Mariners encouraged him to go or whatever. But I think we're going to see more sliders this year.

I think we're going to see more changeups this year. And I like what I saw from both of those pitches. And, you know, like the one or two opportunities I had to actually watch and pitch because it's really hard to point a webcam out the broadcast booth and put these games on YouTube or Mariners. com for some reason. So, but yeah, I like what I saw. And I think there might be a little bit of a shift here, And I'm excited to see what that looks like.

All right. So we got two picks each remaining. We'll go over those in just a moment. But first, a reminder of this episode of the Lockdown Marys podcast is brought to you by both Monarch Money and Supply House. Ever check your bank account and wonder, where did all my money go? Between dining out, online shopping and entertainment, it's easy to lose track. That's where Monarch money comes in, your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch money isn't just a budgeting app.

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It's my pick now. I kind of want to go with Randy, but I'm like... It's your guy. I mean, and I'm like literally doing it in that video. I'm doing the point thing in the video as he pops up on the screen. I mean, the question is, do you want a risk that I am taking him with my next pick? Because you might be able to get him with your last pick. The problem that, well, no, there's a couple of other.

guys that I want to pick though. And like the thing for me is like how much do I believe in Randy more than like the average Mariners fan? Because like I think Randy is going to be a three win player, which has been pretty much every single year in his career. He's been a 124 to 126 WRC plus hitter, bad defense. Is, is Randy going to do something that nobody or that the masses think he's not capable of?

Yeah. And I don't think so. I don't think so. Like Randy is my guy in that like I'm a. big fan of him but like yeah i mean but in the but in the spirit of this exercise i'm not sure if he's the right pick i i last year you took mitch hanniger simply for vibes yeah and now this year you're like oh i can't take the like my entire like internet footprint is some bad album that i still haven't listened to and the randy point and you're not going to take that that's

interesting i mean well so if we're picking someone from vibes. I'm picking Victor Robles. That's my official pick. That's my official pick here at number four. I'm picking Victor Robles. He was going to get picked by somebody. That's for sure. He is going to arrest.

Yes. All right. It's going to happen. However, I don't think it's going to be that severe. I think Victor Robles is going to be a four plus win player this year. Wow. Yeah. That's definitely a flag player moment then. Yeah. Yep. Base running.

Defense, I think he is going to hit four plus win season coming from Victor Reblis. Book it. Okay. Wow. Okay. That's interesting. So I don't typically like repeats. Mm-hmm.

But Luke Rayleigh is not your typical player. Yeah. And I called him last year. I thought about picking him first just to screw you over because I knew you would want him. It's just like. I stuck my neck out for Luke Riley last year. You remember he was like one for the entire spring. Yeah.

And people were like, you have to put him on the bench. He's not good. Well, another terrible trade by Jerry, Dominic Canzone, blah, blah, blah. And I remember saying that Dominic Canzone had done absolutely nothing, nothing to deserve the hype that he was getting and that people were sleeping on Luke Rayleigh. And it was probably my best call last year in a sea of good calls.

So I have to get, I had to take my guy. I have to take Luke Rayleigh. There's a lot of concern. You know, can't even play first base, blah, blah, blah.

And now all of a sudden people care about first base defense. After pounding the table for the last two weeks for Rowdy to Les to be the everyday first baseman on this team, Luke Rayley is going to play in the outfield.

He's going to play first base. He's going to DH. He's sitting 25 home runs this year. He's going to solidify himself as one of the more underrated hitters in baseball. Is he going to strike out? Yeah, he is.

The walks are going to go up, though. He's going to hit more home runs. He's going to drive more runs. There's going to be more guys on in front of him for him to do that. And I don't care about the first base defense because even if it's a disaster, it's first base defense. Bad first base defense is the easiest thing in the world to kind of manage. So I don't really care about that. We know he's going to give you something on the bases, a little something something on the bases. He's the energy guy.

He's the golden retriever of the group. Like he just brings the vibes. He's always playing hard. He's always hustling. And he has just tremendous power. He's just a fun dude to watch. So I think Rayleigh after kind of back to back like kind of a breakout year and then it kind of like proved it like a proof of concept year. I think he's got another gear that he's going to go. So I'm taking Luke Rayleigh this year. I think there is more in that tank. And I think Rayleigh is a guy who could be a key difference maker in the Mariners making the playoffs or missing the playoffs or maybe even taking that next step and winning the American League West. So I'm taking Luke Rayleigh. Love it. Yeah. A very expected pick from you. But yeah, love it. None of the loss.

All right. I think you can predict who my next and final pick is. You want to just go ahead and say who it is? I'm assuming, because I thought about taking him just now to screw with you. Oh. Are you taking Mitch Garber? I'm taking Mitch Garber. Okay.

I believe in the... Odd ear Mitch. I believe in the ju-do. Right. Okay. Oddier Garber. Is a real thing, folks. I mean, just look at the numbers.

I'm going to bring them up right now. I probably should have done this in between segments just so I was more prepared, but whatever. Live Google search on the show. Mitch Garber, an odd years. 140 WRC plus, 139 WRC plus, 155 WRC plus. 60 WRC plus, but it was 52 plight appearances, whatever. And even years, 104 WRC plus. That's fine.

43 WRC plus 100 WRC plus that's fine 88 WRC plus this past year I'm just going by the trend folks and you see you just saw what he did this spring he lowered his hands he was hitting for power consistently lots of hard hit balls he had what two doubles in the last game of the spring he's red hot right now I fully expect him

to ride that wave of momentum into the regular season I picked him as the guy to hit the first homer of the year for the Mariners in the second game of the year. I think he's going to have a great year. I think he's going to be the Mitch Garver that they thought they were signing an off season ago. That middle of the order type of bat is going to hit 20 to 25, maybe even 30 home runs, depending on how much he's able to play. I think he is going to end up becoming a full-time D.H.

in this lineup, which means that they're going to have to do something at catcher eventually, whether that's Blake Con or Harry Ford or what have you. But I think they're going to have to do something about the backup catcher situation because Garver just forces their hand and forces his way into the lineup on an everyday basis again. Because he is that guy that we saw in Texas, who is the guy that can hit four or five in the middle of one of the best offenses we've seen over the last 10 or so years. So there you go.

Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Now, I have a couple of guys that, you know, where you took two guys off of my list. So I'm down the list a little bit ways here now. But then you went and you made it a competition. And I don't know if these two guys are going to have particularly high wars.

So I'm kind of hesitant to pick them because, as we know, war is cumulative. It is defense and innings pitched. that matter. And Jorge Polanco is going to get dragged down by defense. And it's hard to pick a reliever because they just don't get enough innings for war to accumulate. So this kind of leaves me in a tied spot, which is why I'm going further down my list. And I'm going to surprise everybody. First name Emerson.

Yeah, right. I got time for a minute. Yeah, right. I thought you were doing the Dillamor. bit from last year again yeah yeah no no um yeah you know like it's it's ty's made this a competition that was good that was good i'm proud of you ties made this a competition which makes it difficult to take again the two guys that i would like to take i would either like to take gab spire or i would like to take corhey polanco but mr tie wants a competition where the only factor is cumulative war

I mean, I picked Ryan Bliss, who that might blow up in my face pretty quick. Might. But I think with the defense of the base running, he's still a pretty safe bet. Like, it's just hard to imagine that like Gabe Spire getting into two wins, right? You'd have to be incredible. Andres Munoz, on the other hand. Okay. He might get there, although he was only a point seven last year.

But because Ty has made this a competition, I have to take his boy. I'm going to take Randy a Roserina. Yes. That's right. You got to do it now. You got to do the point. I don't, like I can't really do it.

You point. Cross your arms. Yeah, there you go. I can't really, I don't have the harm. Yeah, yeah,

yeah. It's because we're in this tiny rectangle. Yeah. We don't have freedom. Locked on. Give us freedom to do activities on the camera. We'd have so much more room. So yeah,

I'm going to take Randy. I do agree with what you said. Like it's kind of tough to be like, you know, is he in the spirit of the list and all that stuff? Yeah. But I do think that there is room for improvement. We saw Randy really kind of struggle. Strikeouts were a bit of an issue for him last year.

He didn't slug when he came over to Seattle. Exactly. And really, the slug has been trending down. He didn't slug as much as he used to last year in Tampa or 2023 in Tampa. Obviously, he really struggled in the first half of last year. It came over to Seattle. He still slugged for sub four. sub 400.

And I think we're going to see that get back up there. I think Randy's going to slug 450. We'll probably see more doubles than home runs. But I do think he's going to have another 2020 season. Randy's also kind of an interesting vibes guy. He really is because he's not at least publicly. He's not outspoken. He's not Victor Robles, right?

He's never going to be miced up or anything like that. But he does seem a lot more comfortable in the clubhouse this year. It seems that he and Julio and Randy really do enjoy spending time together. And last year, that was a struggle. We know that Randy really struggled with the transition after playing in Tampa for so long that it was obvious at times he was a little bit distracted. I think you get him for the entire off season. He kind of puts down roots in Seattle a little bit. He's got his family with him now.

And he has friends and he's forged relationships in the clubhouse now, which is something you have to do kind of, you know, at the drop of a hat when you get traded midseason. You don't have a lot of preexisting relationships. So I hope that Randy being next to Julio and being next to Victor makes him more comfortable. And he will produce another 2020 season. But hopefully this time with more of a 450 slugging percentage than a, you know, it's like 20 home runs and 20 doubles. But it's 600. How about 20 home runs and 30 doubles? And you steal your 20 bags and all of that.

So, yeah, I'm cautiously optimistic that Randy will positively regress to closer to what he was in 2022 than what he was in 2023 or this last year. Although I think if you get 2023 production from Randy, you're still probably going to be pretty darn happy with that. You just need more slug. You need a little bit

more average, not a ton more. Just do your thing. And I think he's in a much better headspace mentally right now than he was over the final two months of last season. Well, there you go. That's our list. me leaving Randy off of my list

and allowing Colby to take him as a top 10 anime betrayal let us know in the comments below so I give him to you so my list J.P. Crawford, George Kirby Ryan Bliss Victor Robles and Mitch Garber and you were lists if I'm not mistaken

Bryce Miller, Brian Wu, Luis Castillo who was your fourth again? Luke Rayley. Luke Rayley yep, that's right. And Randy a row was a random. So before we get out of here, any other honorable mentions? Yeah, Gabe Spire. Like I said, I think people forget how good Spire was in 2023. He was amazing and really was a high leverage arm and the Mariners need those guys. So he was healthy this spring. He was throwing 95, 96 again. Had a couple of not great,

you know, entries. So we'll have to see how he looks early in the season. But I do think that Spire's going to be healthy and bounce back relatively well. Munoz, who know how important he is, hopefully you get some help and you could actually kind of not over, you know, not kind of run him into the ground over the first three or four months of the year, which is why Spire is also important. Jorge Palanco, I feel like Jorge is going to hit this year. I think he's been like a 120 WRC plus guy, his entire career, except for last year. He gets a second crack at Team Mobile Park.

He is in theory healthier than he was last year at any point. so I do feel like he's pretty good bet to hit. Dylan Moore is kind of the ultimate guy just because it's ugly. It's never going to be wow you. But at the end of the year, he's probably going to be a two-win player. You know,

and you're just going to go, oh, wow, that's pretty good. I did give some consideration to Cole Young, but it's like, when is he coming up? I don't know. And I do believe in Ryan Bliss enough to be like, you know, you might not come up until July or August. So, yeah, there were a few guys.

that I consider it there. And then, you know, Snyder, brash also. But, uh, yes,

it's a couple of both in guys. Um, and then, you know, really not that many offense. It's, it's kind of tough to, when you take Cal and Julio off the table,

it really limits the number of offensive players you could realistically take. Sure. So, so. So, yeah, it's,

I guess I just believe in Agar Martinez, Colby. You must because you took Robles and Garver. and JP and Bliss. You took four position players. Yeah, I took four actually, yeah, yeah. On your list. And so that's, you know, there's only 13 to begin with.

And we took two off the table right away. Yeah. So, you know, that's six, that's half of the roster off the table. And I'm not taking Rowdy to Les. I'm sorry. So, yeah. I wonder if we had like listeners come on the show and do their flag list, how many would have Rowdy on their list?

I would say Rowdy would be on 30, 35% of those lists. damn which is kind of a little surprised you didn't go salano well so that's what i was about to say here what's a bigger betrayal me with randy or me with donnie barrels i mean say what you want but if i had an opportunity to pick a major leaker like a guy who made the opening day roster that i've been pounding the table like if the marries acquired drew smiley would he not be on my list, of course he would be. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, like, it shouldn't

made the opening day roster. Would he have been on my list? Yes, he would have. But he didn't. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's a good point. No, I'm being exposed, or I've exposed myself as a fraud here, as a fake Donovan Solano guy.

I mean, only one of us has a barrels jersey. That's right. I have two totally real Donovan Solano jersey is courtesy of Ben Renari of sea level. you also have a Randy Rosarana jersey and you didn't take him either and I have two Julio jerseys and I didn't take him either

you couldn't that one I sold out a little bit here to try and win so we'll see if it works out for him but yeah yeah yeah I think we've probably mentioned everybody who belongs on the flag list yeah I thought about brash yeah and obviously I thought about Donnie and I thought about polo um because polo is just so fascinating because of just the insane bet he's taking on himself. I mean, look, I know he got offered more money,

but it was like maybe a $3 million difference at most to come to Seattle rather than go to Houston or New York, right? And reestablishes his market that way. That's insane that he's opting for a second go at T-Mobile Park when he might be staring down a minor league contract next winter if he has another down year. So like I'm just rooting for him from that standpoint. Just like the stones that it takes for for Polo.

I know again, I get it. He got offered more money, blah, blah, blah, blah. Shut up. Like it's not that much of a difference when we're talking about like, again, this thing goes sideways. Like, he's probably not getting a major league deal next year. 2025 is the year where Polo has to reestablish himself as an everyday player. And doing that in Houston, doing that in New York would be significantly easier and more forgiving than trying to do it at T-Mobile Park. So it's not about making more money this year.

It's about extending your career in a way. And I get like Polo was so bad last year. It's hard to imagine. But guys, go look at what he did in Minnesota. Minnesota is not exactly a hitter's paradise either. But go look at what he did there. And he was perhaps the most underrated hitter. He's very high france-like.

when, you know, Thai France was good. So it really is an incredible thing. And so I'm rooting for Polo as well. And Polo and Garber both very interesting, like test cases for getting a second crack at Team Mobile Park. Yeah. The guy, Teo didn't get a second shot.

You know, a second shot. Winker didn't get a second shot, you know. So this is a pretty interesting, interesting test case here. See if some experience hitting in the ballpark actually helps you. So we'll see. But yeah,

There's still a, you know, probably a handful of guys who, like, we could have probably had like Ben or somebody on the show doing their own list. And there would have been enough interesting flag players to kind of go around there. So, yeah, it's a very interesting group. There's a lot of variance here. And there's a lot of potential for extreme upside on this roster. All right. That's going to do it for our show. Tomorrow, it's go time, baby.

Opening day, we'll have some bold predictions, which we already kind of gave you some of those today. day. We'll go over those. We'll also preview the opening day matchup with the A's, all that good stuff. So we'll see you then. But for now, thank you so much for joining us here on the Locktown Mariners podcast. For Colby Pat Doe, I'm Tad and Gazzal. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Tadig Gonzalez and Colby at C-Pat-11. We're also on Blue Sky. You can follow me at TDG, Colby at MLB, Colby, and the show at Lockdown Mariners. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you next time. Peace. Black play gonna shine and take flight

Ty and Kobe got the game in their hands picking the ones who'll take a stand Will there ones who'll stand tall