Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Ryan Divish on Randy Arozarena's Future With the Mariners, Scott Servais' Frustrations, and More

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

After his comments on the Marine Layer Podcast went viral within the Mariners' fanbase, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times joins Ty to clarify his statements on Randy Arozarena's future in Seattle and the possibility of the Mariners trading one of their starting pitchers for offensive help. Ty also asks Divish about Scott Servais' frustrations leading up to his firing, how the dynamic between Dan Wilson and Seattle's front office could play out, and more.Ask us questions!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!TonaITonal is the world's smartest and most effective strength training system that helps get you stronger. Right now, Tonal is offering our listeners $200 off your Tonal purchase with promo code LOCKEDONMLB. That’s Tonal.com, and use promo code LOCKEDONMLB for $200 off your purchase.   Liquid IVNo more thirsty summers when you indulge in hydration with Liquid I.V. Get 20% off your first order of Liquid I.V. when you go to LIQUIDIV.COM and use code MLB at checkout. SupplyHouseSupplyHouse.com is the reliable way to get parts fast. Shop for your next plumbing, h-vac, or electrical job and get fast shipping from coast to coast. PrizePicksGo to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONMLB and use code lockedonmlb for a first deposit match up to $100! eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. FanDuelNow through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON to get started. 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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ryan Divish joins the show to discuss the future of Randy Orozorana in Seattle, the buildup to Scott Services firing, and more coming up here on the Lockdown Marrars podcast. You are Locked on Mariners, your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Ahoy, sailors, it is Friday, August 30th, 2024. This is Tuddy Gonzalez for the Lockdown Marries podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. So yesterday, Colby and I reacted to Ryan Divish's interview with a Marine Layer podcast, which basically went viral within the Maris fan base for what he had to say about Randy or Rosarena's future in Seattle and the possibility of the team trading one of its starting pitchers.

But instead of just trying to read between the lines of what he said, I went ahead and asked DeVish to come on this show so I could ask him for clarification myself on a couple of things and some other questions that I have about the front office and the buildup to Scott's services firing. So today, you're going to hear that conversation. But before we get into it, shout out to our title sponsor today. Prize Picks. It's the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Go to Pricepics.com slash locked on MLB and use the promo code, Locked on MLB. That's all lowercase for a first deposit match up to $100.

And if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show, check out our Patreon. The link is in the description. You can sign up for a free seven-day trial. All right. Let's get into my conversation with Ryan Debis. joining me now is Ryan Dibish of the Seattle Times. Ryan, thanks for doing this.

Not a problem. I've been meaning to have you back on for a while. And then you know, you had this interview with our friends, TJ and Lyle. And it's obviously kind of blown up. Yeah, I mean,

that's, that's interesting. I, like, when I was doing the interview, I was like, I was just talking. I never thought like I said anything that

controversial. And then all of a sudden, like, I got people saying I, I'm wrong about. rumors all the time and everything else i'm like okay let's let's go i mean like i don't i mean like you you know i guess for me i got you know it was more just a conversation than i might have with like larry stone or adam jude you know and and i mean like i don't i didn't think i said anything

groundbreaking but you know here we are you know merriter's sweater yeah i've yeah i've yeah i've become familiar with it i mean like honestly it's it's i mean you know i started covering baseball in 2006 and there wasn't twitter i think i got on i don't know when i got on twitter i still at the news tribune uh and it's probably 2010 maybe and uh it's how it's evolved over the years like i used to really like it because i felt like it was a way to offer like a controlled glimpse of who i am and also like you know um giving a level of um i don't know like camaraderie with a fan base but now it's just it's just gotten kind of nuts is what did you always get like crazy emails and voicemails or did that start at a certain point and then when did like

that kind of carry over into twitter into your twitter replies um yeah i got some like for a time it was mariner's Twitter was a little more civil you know you'd have a few really angry fans but I think now it's almost kind of like kits you to be angry you know it's the fire everybody you know for a while it was blow it up start over then it was fire over you know like these little things and like now like the angry manners fans I'm like I'm not saying you can't be angry this organization has done a lot to make people angry absolutely I feel it's displaced when it's towards misplaced towards me you know like yeah And I think a lot of people don't understand why I don't get angry.

But yeah, it is different. The voicemails, I haven't gotten it. I think something, I don't know if I messed up my voicemails or what I haven't gotten any this year. Like I, because we don't, like, I haven't, I've been to the office at the Seattle Times, maybe once or twice in the last five years, you know, like during working hours. I might go in to grab like some, uh, mail, you know, I get some mail and stuff like that. but I rarely go in and then you know so I don't know like if I have a phone there anymore like I think there's a phone number attached to my stories but I don't yeah I used to get some crazy I have I have them

all say there's this one guy the one guy that we talked about drinking and fornication and all this other stuff it was one of my favorites I may have to share those because I got probably 30 of his say but I haven't gotten any of those I've gotten a lot of angry emails like the ones the ones threatening me are a little weird and the one guy kind of threatens everybody so um We actually have to submit those to our security because, and there's another one. There's another guy that emails me quite often. And he also kind of emails like Mariners fancare and all this stuff. And those are pretty aggressive as well.

Yeah, I've gotten some pretty crazy DMs and whatnot. The funniest thing, though, that I've ever received was on our Patreon. This was like a couple of years ago. This guy was like, you guys sound too similar. One of you needs to use an accent or like start using. using catchphrases or something like that. Oh my God. And he said that over the course of like three or four paragraphs, by the way.

That wasn't like a quick little suggestion either. He had some thoughts about it. Yeah, it's like, oh yeah, I'll do my Julio accent. Bro. I'm just trying to hit bombs, bro. Like Felix, Felix is always to me. He's like, you know, basketball pretty good. Change up pretty good, you know.

I always, like I always joked about Felix. Like you would get back and listen to your recording, you think, man, he was great. And then you realize he gave you like one usable quote. He just said everything that was kind of boring with a great deal of charisma. And I remember I did like when I did that big story like before his last start kind of equating it to a Shakespeare play. And like one of my favorite stories I've ever written. I did like three interviews with him. I think I only had three quotes because, you know, he just, he didn't say a lot.

You know, sometimes he would, but it just, it's crazy. So I want to just get this out of the way. what you said about Randy or Rosarana, that, you know, the mayors will, will trade him essentially if ownership doesn't give them more money. Was that statement actually based on anything you've heard or just speculation

because, you know, of course he's one of the more expensive players on the roster? Well, it's based not on speculation, but in conversations, um, with people in the org and outside of it.

And I mean, like, if the mariners don't get money, they're, they're going, to have some tough budgetary decisions. Like if they're stuck at the pay, and I don't know what the payroll is right now to have to look.

But like if their payroll flattens, and they tell, because it's basically a year ago, you know, last, you know, they saw, oh,

the payroll's going to go up. And it really didn't go up. I mean, it went up based on level of inflation kind of player inflation. I don't think it's significantly more than next year, maybe within the $5 million margin, which for us is a lot, but for a baseball team isn't.

If they have to do that again, if they can only work within a $5 million margin of where they were at this year, that's George Kirby alone, you know, $4 million. Like Logan got $4 million in his first year arbitration eligibility, 4.1, I believe. I mean, obviously George is going to get that. Cal Raleigh, going to be in his first year of arbitration eligibility. I mean, it's going to be $4 million, $4 to $5 million. And Logan Gilbert, who's at four, logically will double to around eight.

You know, I mean, like it could be some wiggle room there. and they negotiate on that. So like right there, right there, you're talking three players that had just increased your payroll by, what, $10 million, $11 million, one Randy or Rosarena. Now, I'm not saying like their goal is to trade him or whatever,

but if they have to make hard decisions, if they have to, maybe they have to trade Randy because he's going to get more expensive. Do you think the raise really wanted to trade him? I mean, they didn't want to trade him, but they have payroll issues. And that's what's concerning if you're a Mariners fan is that this team and this organization may have to start acting like the raise if they don't invest more dollars into it. I mean, like, you know, think about when the raise traded Chris Archer and they traded like Snell.

They traded all these guys when they started to get expensive in arbitration. Are the Mariners going to have to do that? Because like part of the knowledge was what the raise was is they didn't think any of these guys were going to resign anyways. you know, they didn't have the capital to resign them. I mean, I think Randy probably might have resigned for like a decent amount because I think you really liked it there. And all indications are he really misses being there. I think you could see it when you were.

Yeah, I've heard the same thing that he's had a hard time adjusting. Yeah, I mean, he's, I wouldn't say he's miserable, but he's not the happiest dude on the planet. You know, you just move 3,500 miles away. Your family's still back in Tampa for the most part. All your friends. Everything, your entire life is 3,500 miles away. you know and you're you know

my guess is that he didn't even you know he's probably living in the silver cloud because they don't you know you're not going to get an apartment for 25 30 games you know you barely here so it's like you know not living in a hotel all the time isn't for everybody I prefer it but so like but that's a hard question isn't it that's a logical thing like if if you have to make a tough decision on on what you want to invest in

in because that's the same thing about like me saying they should they might trade logan go over okay you have to make a tough decision on what you want to invest your dollars in if you don't if you're not able to add dollars and i mean like that's a discussion that they like even if you're bringing in randy or rosenraina for this season because like your focus when you bring him in is this season like they love to have the club control because they love to have that option but like i think they knew bringing him in like hey like if this goes south or if they make a big shift in our budgetary things or anything like that, we'll have to trade him.

He still has value. You know, he can still get something back. So, yeah, they, they know that, you know,

it's a possibility. You know, it's not like they're not going to nondender him, you know, what if he's, you know, I mean, again,

too, like, is he, I mean, he's a good player. Don't give me on. He's a really good player. But is he not the aircraft carrier,

you know, is he, is he that much? Like, do you, Because what does he make an eight right now? So we figure he'll make 12 next year maybe. Eight, I think he makes 8.5.

So if he makes 12, which is the same as what Palam, and that's kind of how you look at it, how they goose it. Well, they just won't pick up Polanco's option. They have that budgeted for next year. They don't pick it up. You got Randy for 12 and a half next year. But that's the thing is like, what do you value? How do you make it affordable?

And like, and that's why. I mean, like, they have to have this discussion because you can't just, I mean, you're looking in the now, but you still have to look at next year as well. What are you going to do next year and how's it going to work? And I don't think they know exactly what, I don't think Jerry Depoder and his folks know exactly what the budget is going to be for next year. I think they're still waiting to hear. And that could change because it changed last year.

They thought last year, I think from what I'd heard conservatively, they thought they were going to get more, you know, maybe add 20 some million under their payroll. And then the Comcast, the extended stuff comes down, the Root Sports. I'm sure you, do fans hate Comcast right now too. And so then it all changed. And they said, no, if you want to make moves, you got to do it within the framework of the budget because it's only going to increase incrementally. More for my conversation with Ryan Divish in just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of the Lockdown Merrittor's podcast is brought to you by Liquid Ivy.

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No more thirsty summers when you indulge in hydration with liquid IV. Get 20% off your first order of liquid. I think liquid iv when you go to liquid ivy.com and use the promo code MLB at checkout. That's 20% off your first order when you shop better hydration today using promo code MLB at liquid ivy. com. You talked about the relationship between Jerry and Scott becoming strained over the last few years. And that's something that I've heard about as well. And, you know, I've been thinking about this.

And I think back to the last winter. meetings and Scott was I don't know if I want to call it necessarily like a mask off moment, but he was pretty obviously frustrated with either Jerry or ownership or both and was kind of candid about that when he said the whole, you know, we're working with the cards we've been dealt thing or whatever exactly the wording was. Am I reading too much into that or would it be fair to say that maybe he was becoming more resentful over time, especially the last couple of years? Yeah, I mean, like, I think there's levels for Scott's frustration with Jerry, with the front office.

He's gotten two contract extensions from this organization, and he was still probably in the bottom third of manager's salary. You know, and the second contract extension, I know, like, he asked for more money because Depoto got a raise. And I had heard that depoter just said, well, why? You got an extension. Well, he goes, you got to raise. I want raise. I'm helping build this on the field. And I think I think Scott at times got frustrated because Jerry had a habit of kind of disappearing sometimes from the, from public, you know, and I know Jerry had some illnesses and stuff for a while.

They were like, he had a nasty bout with COVID for a while that really knocked him down for almost a month. You know, he was unable, he just, you know, he wasn't out and about. But like, I think Scott felt a lot of times like he had to sit there and answer for a lot of stuff that wasn't his decisions, you know, like players and in rosters and and philosophies. I mean, like it was like that. And, you know, because we as journalists, we ask this stuff, but we don't like the uncomfortable stuff or the difficult stuff or the stuff I know that he can't say with a root camera on or in the previous. game scrum like you don't ask it there like i've been doing this a long time that just makes everybody look at it's like when you know when depoto had those comments to rosenthal in the athletic you know i got to ask god if you read him well i don't do that in the pregame scrum with everybody

around no i pull them off the side say hey did you read this you know this or that what's your reaction because you're like i'm not trying to embarrass the dude and he's not under oath but he's also more likely to give me an honest answer when it's just me and him It's similar like we always joke that like when me and Daniel Kramer or Jude talk to Cal and there's no TV cameras around, he's a little more open because, you know, he's had to wear it a couple times for things he said. So I think that's the frustration as well is that like Scott's out there and he's having to like explain stuff that he doesn't necessarily love. Like I remember I just like, you know, because I'd make random comments like during the winker years about. one about, you know, like to him off the side. Like, how can you play him out there?

Your pitchers are starting to get pissed off. And he just looked at me and he goes, one time he goes, do you effing think I like to play him out there? Do you think that's my choice? He's like, I don't have a DH. He goes, I have a DH, so I got to have here. We're trying to do this. I don't want to play him in left field,

but this is kind of how our roster set up and this is what they want us to do, you know? I mean, because it's not like Jerry's telling him, Here's the daily lineup, but all GMs focus on who gets to play and who doesn't. As I've said, I've used this all the time. This isn't Moneyball movie. The GM doesn't have to trade a player so the manager stops playing him. The GMs dictate the overall concept of playing time, how it's going to work, whether you're

going to use the platoons or not, all that stuff. They dictate that down and the managers have to find a way to put it in action within reason. You know, it's not like Jerry's making the lineup up, but he's the one telling him. I mean, this dates back to, I remember Don Wacomontz. He said, do you think I like playing unieski-vettincourt every day and rewarding him with playing time when he doesn't do any of the work he's supposed to do? And we can't get him to listen to one thing we said. He's like, well, what am I supposed to do?

You know, they told us to play him so we have the chance to trade him. And it's like, it's the same thing. It was like, everybody knew that Jesse Winker and the roster wasn't mesh, you could see it and then you have players start to admit it towards the end of the season. But they weren't going to say that because they knew they were going to try and move on from him in the offseason. It was like that end of press, end of season press conference where everybody's, oh, I don't know what Ryan's talking about. No, Ryan knew what he was talking about because the players, I don't make, I mean, like the players tell me. So, you know, it's like, I think that's what Scott's frustration started really gained is like, hey, I'm the one out here having an answer for this.

And this is stuff, some of the stuff that, like, you know, I don't want to do it this way. I'd rather do it this way. You know, but like, you know, he's, it's the whole, if you're going to, you know, the parcels, if you're going to, you know, cook the meal, you want to be able to shop for the groceries. Like Scott's out there trying to make, you know, I wouldn't say the chicken salad, but he's out there trying to make a gourmet meal with peanut butter and jelly. And that's not how it works. So I think that's where a lot of the frustration came from, you know, roster decisions,

who's on the team, who isn't. You think Scott wanted to lose Gino Soros? I mean, he was frustrated by Soros a lot last year, kind of showing up, not in the best shape and everything else. But like from a clubhouse standpoint and keeping everything normal, you know, Scott wanted to bring Carlos Santana back because he felt like it was a good thing for Julio. You know, he felt like it was important for Julio to have that voice there.

You know, but like he doesn't get to choose the roster. No manager gets to choose the roster or the playing philosophy. I mean, that's why we see, you know, you don't see the strong-willed managers out there anymore because, like, the GMs and the baseball presidents have ultimate power. And that's how it works. So I think that was a big part of the frustration. Yeah. And on that point, I mean, that makes the Dan Wilson hire all the more interesting because, you know, I've talked to some people who've been around Dan. And it's pretty much the same report on him, no matter who you ask, you know, great man, players love him.

but he's not a modern manager. I had someone tell me straight up, like he can't tell you what Wobah is. And obviously this organization is very analytically driven. So how do you see that all working out, that dynamic working out between coaching staff and front office? Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think Dan was willing to learn some of the Wobah stuff

because like that's one of the things like with the Mariners charting and their advanced scouting, They love Wobah, expected Wobah, stuff like that as decision making for, you know, pinch hits or matchups or all that stuff. But I think, and one of the things that the Mariners have been good at on the pitching side is like having the right people to simplify what your advanced analytics are telling you in a way that makes it clear for what you want to do. I mean, like, you've watched the games.

Have they done, have they played any? anything i mean because like you are who you are you can't change your roster have they played differently since you've watched them i mean every pitching matchup that they've done in terms of bullpen usage seems like typical like kind of how they play it you know i mean i go yeah i guess they've been more aggressive on the base pass that's about it but also you know this is a six game sample size so it's really easy for us to get into hyperbole when we're talking about this because it's only sample size we have but yeah there's been little things here and there that i've kind of notice, but we'll see. Yeah, well, and even like them, they, they were the first to admit,

like, I think that's a big misnomer for fans. Um, they most steals aren't called from the bench. A lot of times, like, they'll call the, and most players know this, but like the, you know, three, or a two, two or three two count with one out and you're on first and take the chance of the devil planning it, you go, you know, like those ones are, they kind of know, but they'll call those sometimes for maybe somebody like that isn't the fastest guy in the world but um but for the most part like all those steals the other day on robbie ray and the giants were all off of their own reeds because they just like you know guys are guys have going into a game they have green yellow or red you know you're green you can go whenever it's your read you know make the right decision like trust those guys

you know so it's rivas gimo who they owe um who else is fast like those guys Robles, a rose arena. They all have green. They have green, you know, for almost any situations. So they go. Like I asked Dylan Morris. No, I just, I knew that Robbie was slow to the plate. He goes, I knew Casale doesn't have a great arm.

And he slowed a second. So I was just going when I felt like I had a good jump and a good read. I didn't, it wasn't called. Also, we saw occasions of this under Scott as well. Like, I remember when they were playing the Rangers, then they just bullied Andrew Kisner. Yeah, because they knew he can't throw. Yeah.

It's like they, they know. I mean, they do study this. I mean, like Cal went the other day, but Cal had kind of yellowish green. And he told, he told the ground, hey, I know I can make this. I'm getting a good read. I'm going to go. And the ground said, go, you know, like he said, okay, yeah, I got you. You know, I'll tell you to go.

So it wasn't like, yeah, these, like Dan may tell them, hey, steal more. But it wasn't like Scott was telling him steal less. The problem is like a lot of their best base dealers weren't getting on base. You know, the whole steal first. I mean, Dylan Moore can't steal first base when he's getting on, you know, he can't steal second when he's only getting on base, you know, two out of every 10 times. And that's, that was an issue.

Well, I don't think that they, they were so bad offensively. And so they couldn't play kind of the aggressive style because the best base runners weren't getting on base consistently enough. So, no, I don't like, maybe they're going to be more, maybe they give more guys the green light to go. But even like the Rivas Bunt, Dan didn't call that, the Sack Bunt. In fact, I don't think they were real pleased about Sack bunting in the fifth inning of a game like hey you know like they don't mind the bunt for a base hit

you know they don't get mad at that if you see an opening go for it but like i don't think that we're going to see drastic drastic because dan is old school doesn't mean he's going to go back to old school style i mean he's not going to run logan gilbert 125 in pitch count you know or price or anything like that i think like because dan has been in this organization and a lot of what they do he's talked about he believes in he believes in the basic level of of what, you know, the basic philosophies of this organization, I think really it just might be the different voice trying to get through about these principles more than anything. But even then, like, I joke like, do you think like when Julio's up there at the play, do you think he's worried about, oh, you know, if I don't control the zone on this, I'm going to be in trouble, you know, or if I don't, oh, you're like, you know, the overall messaging is something that as a whole you lean into, but you really want like the guys in your development staff side. to build on this like hey just value certain things we value certain things and i think you talk about like scott got them to value 90 feet you remember how bad of a base running team they were for a while

remember bang gamel and like scott just said enough like we're going to be better at controlling the running game and we're going to be better at running the bases they got better at it you know we haven't seen the the thrown out at trying to advance the second for the third out after scoring a run like he he hit he wanted them to understand the value of an out more So I think Dan still believes in that too. I think like the basic principles of what they believe in are going to be relatively same. It's how they,

how Dan enforces it or kind of stays on players about it. My sit down with Ryan Divish continues in just a moment, but first a reminder, this episode of the Lockdown Airs podcast is once again brought to you by Price Picks. Prize Picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Unlike other apps on prize picks, it's just you against the numbers. All you do is pick more or less on two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings roll in.

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And to me, it seems pretty obvious what the answer is, but hiring Dan, making him the full-time guy, that was an ownership-driven decision, right? That wasn't a Jerry decision. It sure, I mean, it sure smells that way. I mean, I guess if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, you know, I mean, I can't think of any other reason, you know, that it wouldn't be because Dan doesn't necessarily fit the Jerry profile. I mean, he is, it's a catcher. He's amenable. Like, he's a good dude. He's players like him.

They respect him because they've known him. You know, it's not like, I don't think they've disrespected Scott. But like they just, you know, for a lot of people thinking, oh, you're bringing in somebody new. What if they don't respect him? Well, Dan's been in the organization, they know him for them. the most part. So, you know, and it's not like Dan is going to be Lou Pinello or, you know, he's going to be this hard ass that tells them, hey, don't, you know, we're going to all wear the same colored shoes and we're all, no more earrings and all that stuff. No, he's, he's going to still

be kind of the same way that Scott was and let the players be themselves because I think he understands that's the best. I mean, look what it's done for Victor Robles. So, yeah, I mean, it does seem to me, like now i haven't got a hard fast answer on that but you know i mean like i can't think of another reason like if even if it wasn't just strictly ownership there's a lot of ownership influence i would imagine because that's what they do right yeah does that say anything to you about how ownership views jerry because like my co-host and i talked about this uh on a show last week like jerry is kind of the the perfect president of baseball ops for how ownership wants to run this organization. What is it now six out of the nine years? Jerry's been here. The,

the team has been relevant in the playoff conversation in, you know, August and September all while operating on a budget. So like, do you think ownership actually looks at Jerry in a critical light? Yeah, I mean, I think on certain things, they're probably critical. Yeah, has he made them competitive? Yeah, I mean, obviously. And, and the competitive level of what they're doing and those hot start, what did they have 35,000 at the last game on an afternoon against the raise? I mean, like the tenants will be up this year.

They're putting out a good product and they look sustainable. Like the one thing that Jerry promised the ownership group when they did the stepback was that it would be a more, they would build a more sustainable model for success. But what is the measure of success for a fan versus a number? owner versus all of that like that's the difference what is the measure of success um so yeah i think because that's what you you know and lost in the 54% thing and what he said like the concept of it is it's like hey if you put out a winning team every year over 10 years like if you have a win you know if you put out a consistently good team over a 10 year period you're going to have some years where

you win 95 games and go really far was kind of the message you was trying to hang this end poorly but that's the and that's where the criticism of jerry from the ownership group could probably come is like presentation optics you know how things are handled probably could be better i mean from my standpoint it's great you know he he talks he fills it up when he talks he's very open about how he wants to do things or what he thinks or what he believes um and and ultimately that matters because he still makes a lot of decisions. So yeah, I think that's probably their bigger quibble is more about the optics or the presentation or the narrative surrounding the team as much as what he's,

what it's doing on the field that that would be their biggest criticism because like, you know, there's a reason why he hasn't been around on you don't have a radio show and stuff like that. It just doesn't when he when he speaks publicly, there's just going to be a segment of the fan base that gets angry about it. do you think there's a reality where there are front office changes but jerry stays this winter maybe they bring in someone or someone else let go underneath jerry um yeah i don't necessarily think so i mean like to me they're really the only way it would change is like if they lost every game on the way out and jerry gave the double bird to the fans and said you know what screw you i know more

than you, I don't care. I don't think he's going to do that. I mean, he's been very cautious on what he said since the 54% thing. So no, I don't know. I mean, I guess, like, but that's a problem, like maybe, I don't know, it was a problem, but that's the aspect of having an ownership group instead of one owner, you know, what is Chris Larson think versus John Stanton versus the rest of the minority ownership group that has a stake, it has a saying a lot of this. From what I was told is like not everybody within the ownership group was on board with Scott having to be the scapegoat and all this. You know, like there are other people that, you know, not everybody in the organization even was happy with that.

So I think, yeah, I mean, maybe there is. Like maybe if there's enough people that says, okay, we're going to do this, we don't like this. Or maybe they just have a hard, you know, hard meeting at the end of the year. and just say, okay, no, this is not working. We want to go in a different direction. This is what they can say. Like, if you're a member of the ownership group, you could say, well, look, yeah, Jerry's built the farm system similar.

He's been great at drafting. He's built this rotation. But we don't believe he can build a championship roster, like at the big league level. We don't believe that he can develop a big league roster. And, you know, if the large portion of the ownership group comes to that real then maybe they do move on. So it's hard. Like these guys don't do anything normal.

Like, you know, everybody. They do not. No. So like every like, so when we're having these conversations, like everybody says, well, why would, why would they trade Randy or Rosarina? Why would they even think about? Well, because that's where they're at and that's what they, how they, they operate.

Like there's, there's nothing normal. Like if you have a normal thought process, process about what baseball is or is it. I don't think you should apply. I was telling Adam and Jude when we were talking about free agency last year, I was like, when have they ever signed anybody that we thought they were logically going to sign? Whenever we ever looked at a free agent,

and this is the best fit, this is easy to do, they should do this. And then they do the exact opposite. I mean, like, how many of the, like, I never, like, when they couldn't get Trevor Story in that year, the last thing I thought they would do is pull off a trade for Jesse Winker and AUA and Svores. That wasn't even on my radar.

You know, these guys do differently because I think they have to. Yeah. Yeah, Colby and I, you know, we love the roster building stuff, you know, especially during the winter when we have to fill up five shows a week. That's all we talk about. And we, you know, look at every single trade possibility. And we have this running joke about how they'll still find a way to find someone that we didn't talk about. And we'll talk about hundreds of guys, right?

Yeah. And I'm not even exaggerating about that. Like, we will literally cover pretty much everyone in the league and they'll somehow still find a way to surprise us. Yeah, like I wasn't talking about Mitch Garver. Because like in the landscape of who Mitch Garber was and how they had thought for so many years about fought against the idea of having a full-time DH. And now you're starting to see why they probably fought against it because you have a bunch of guys that are playing in the field that are probably DHS. And so then, but I never, that wasn't on my radar. I mean, even if you looked at kind of his hard hit percentage or his numbers, because it was such a small sample size.

And the knock around him was that he couldn't stay healthy. well, I just didn't seem to jive with what they were doing, you know, but, you know, like, even like when they traded for Polanco, I knew they liked Polanco in years past. They couldn't get him. So I kind of just figured they wouldn't go that route once they were there, but they did. I mean, like, I just never, I guess I've kind of come to the point where expecting, like, the typical or the logical isn't always ideal. I mean, even like the firing of Scott, will you fire the manager?

You bring in no interim manager bringing a guy. Like that doesn't seem full-time guy. Yeah. I mean, I know you talked about this with TJ and Lyle. Like, you know, you have to feel for like Adam Gresh and Alex Mayer and Tim heavily and those guys over there. Because it's just, you know, again, this team, you know, whoever it is, right? Like, it just feels like whatever decision they make, they utterly refuse to be just normal about it. well yeah and it's like okay you're going to fire scott like i had a pretty good idea like if they

were going to fire scott it would have came on that thursday i had a story pre-written i had everything all the numbers like you know but then somebody in the org leaks it and it gets out there and scott doesn't know so they can't you know nobody within the org hollander jerry even the PR staff can't say well yeah no this is confirmed because they can't like they don't want more people out there reporting it when Scott doesn't know. And so it's just like it's, you know, and I, like, it's just, and they, they're, they're smart about, like, they're good PR staff and they know what, how perception is. But, like, I don't think that some of the ownership group or sometimes Jerry listens to what they have to say because, you know, that's the problem. Like, some of those guys just think they're smarter that they know best when like these people that are there working with us all the time know how.

It looks how it's going to be presented. I mean, like, Tim heavily and I, Tim heavily has been there forever. And so he remembers me when I was just this punk kid who didn't know what the hell he was doing and made a ton of mistakes. But he knows how I'm going to write things. He knows what my reaction is going to be. And he knows how I operate.

Like he can tell those guys. This is what Divich is, this is how Davis is going to do it. You know, whether they listen or not, who knows. You know, but that's, you know, that was the same thing with the Matherfire. Like, you know, you don't think that like those guys are telling him hey this is bad meanwhile like from everything

those guys realized it was bad but like it didn't seem like stanton and the ownership group realized it thought it was that i remember i remember you repeatedly asking stanton questions in that press conference and how awkward it was yeah yeah and i don't like to be that guy because it's it's not like i'm not afraid to ask tough questions but like sitting there pressing the same one they're not under oath you know but i tell people all the time we ask the questions it's the answers you don't like you know and and when we ask them or how we present it but um yeah that's you know i i felt i you know i feel bad for those guys because like they're out there dealing with it and like yeah those guys like when the mariners first made the postseason a couple years ago i was happy for those guys you know

like because they're there every day and they're wearing it and they get frustrated and they're they're right there with the players every day, you know, and they, you know, like they just lost four in a row and then they got to go ask, hey, can you go on with Softie, you know, like a player or hey,

can you go on seven, yeah, you know, it's like they have to deal with some crappy stuff. And so like when the Mariners won, I was super happy for them. You know, I was happy for my friends that are Mariners fans.

I was happy for them because they wear it, you know, wear it every day. So it's a, it's a weird organization that way. And well, you know, and I got to tell you,

someone that has to cover this team, five days a week, you know, and we do eight podcasts between this and our, in our Patreon. Like, it's all of a lot better when they went than when they lose. Like, come up the content and all that. I don't know how you do it. Like, that's probably why my podcast that we, the we do has been lacking a little bit. It's been lagging. And part of it is, too, was like when we first started it, um, Larry was still there.

Yeah. You know, it's different with Larry. I mean, his kids were all grown. He had stuff. He didn't, you know, I could. corner him but like with adam he's got three kids they're all in sports they're all doing stuff you know my life is different now my girlfriend her two kids so when i'm not working i'm trying to sneak back to montana to see them and spend time with them so it's like it's a little more difficult to fit in

you know an hour to record the podcast and then like people think oh yeah well you're done no you got to cut it you got to make sure it sounds right you know i mean in christ like with larry it's like an hour to try and get this audio to work, you know? So like talking about this team can be kind of exhausting or especially this last week. You know, you got me on a good day. I've had a Celsius and I'm ready to go. All right. Well, I have one last question for you. It's really quick. It's kind of off topic here. You know, of course, the mirrors are actually still playing baseball. It doesn't really feel like it sometimes, but they're still playing baseball. They're still in the middle of a playoff race.

And quite a few players have gotten waived over the last couple days. And there might be more to come. So do you think the, the mares will look to add any of those guys or do you get the feel that they're kind of content with what they have for the rest of the year? No, I think they could add, but you have to kind of look at not with the road this year, but if they got their own next year, it's like the Rogers kid. Lefty that gets lefties out. and he can still get raised up pretty good

but he's on 12 million next year yeah they ever paid a reliever $12 million that you can remember so yeah I don't know that that's not under this resume no so um like what did they give Nicosio like six eight yeah I can't remember eight that was and then Alex Colome he made a little bit

right yeah yeah but like yeah no I mean like you know the last higher paid reliever that they brought in was, I think, Fernando Rodney, and that wasn't this regime. So, no, I mean, yeah, you have to be prudent. You have to look and see, and if they're pitching guys see something, maybe they do it. They get out one more player on September 1st. So, you know, the lefty reliever is what everybody says, and that should be something they look at. I just got in the rest of them, you know, Nikki Lopez or some of those guys that doesn't

really move the needle. I haven't checked today's list. but who's kind of out there. It's not like the Angels doing it, but we'll see. I mean, I'm sure they'll be on the lookout for the right fit, but it's got to be within kind of their budgets for this year and next year as well.

Well, Ryan, this was great. Thanks again for doing this. It really is appreciated, and the work you do is very much appreciated. No problem. Thanks for having me. Hopefully I didn't say anything controversial. Like I said,

about the Logan Gilbert thing, Like I don't think they want to trade a pitcher sure I just think that they might be forced to you know right because like on that real quick like you were I took it as you were saying like if they're going to get an elite hitter that's how they're going to do it they're not going to sign the guy right like that's how I took what you said about the pitching yeah because they can't they can't I don't think there's an elite hitter out there free agency that's willing to sign in seattle unless you grossly overpay and I don't know that there's the market features that many like tony taters Anthony Sandander.

Yeah, he'd be great. You know, is he going to sign there? So it's like with Logan, I mean, like, I don't think they want to because he embodies everything that they believe in as a pitching group. But eventually, like, if he's not going to sign, if you can't, if he can't get him to resign or sign extension, then that's a tough question because you can't let him go for nothing. You can't just let him walk, you know. And if you believe that you're able to build up pitchers and build people and continue,

like maybe they think Brandon Garcia is going to be ready next year. I kind of hope that they call them up for the extra man. You know, like maybe they believe Logan Evans is a year and a half away. Like maybe you have to discuss that. And the thing is, like, people are like, well, why wouldn't you trade Bryce or Brian? Well, they're not expensive. That's the difference. Like, they don't want to trade them.

They don't want to make the trade. but that that's where the money factor comes in you know like if they if they had the budget they wanted they wouldn't it was just like okay we'll spend or we'll we'll add two pieces that aren't impact or two pieces of sub-impact you know tier whatever versus the elite guy to make it better but they don't I don't know that they're in a position to do that so that's where the hard question's got and like they listened to offers on woo and miller part of the reason they didn't make those deals was because they also got set with a budget you know what I mean like they got to that we can't spend anymore.

So you know, you can't trade, can't put a package together for a guy that costs a bunch of money if you don't, you know, get rid of one of your better pieces that doesn't cost you anything for a piece that might help you or help you, but cost a whole bunch. Like that the math didn't figure out. And it sucks that that that's where they're at, at least for the front office. It sucks that like everything you do is based in this jigsaw puzzle of how do I fit this within a budget that doesn't seem to increase enough or doesn't seem to be commensurate enough for true, true winning.

Like, yeah, I know there are plenty of teams that can piece it together. Look at the Royals. They don't have a huge budget. But like the Royals, you know, who knows how good they're going to be. This is, nobody was really expecting it this year. And they fixed their pitching because they got a pitching dude and they got the right guys. So like, I kind of just am like, well, you have to discuss it. If you're not willing to discuss it, then you're not thinking forward.

Because this is where they're at. I mean, unless something magically changes, and one of these owners either gets, you know, wild hair to invest more, or they win the mega millions, and they get an extra infusion of $500 million to invest in. Like, I just don't see them changing. Because nothing we've seen from them says they're going to change that thinking.

You know, what reason do they have? Fans are still showing up. People are still going to games. They're still successful. I mean, they might, I mean, maybe not making the playoffs is the, is the push and it's and it's probably wrong we kind of thought that last year too right so and they didn't and you know and maybe it's like and then and then like to sit there and say well you know we have

this group of starting pitching it's always going to be you know we there are our core it's it's nice that you have the good starting pitching and it's a good core but this is this this dominance this year and this health and volume is so atypical for baseball. season. You know, people don't realize how special this group is and what they've done. You know, if they continue to make every start, they're going to have a few starters, the most innings thrown, and it's going to be magical. But like to sit there and say they can replicate it every year, it's just not logical because of injuries and regression and all the other stuff. I mean, like I just, so just, you know, if ownership sit there and say, well, we'll always have this

good pitching, that's our baseline and we can do this. No, that's, you have to continue to improve your team with the idea that, you know, regression can come at any point. That's what hurt this team. Julio, JP, not being who they were, these other players they brought in, not being the players expected. Well, you know what? If you have more, if you have a better volume, or if you buy players, or if you bring in players that are closer to their peak time, then that's a little different. You hedge the margin for regression or had to hedge the margin for a down year for over overall if you have better players that are closer to their prime and more of them. 100%. Well, thanks again, Ryan. Really appreciate it.

Yeah, no problem. Take it easy. And that's going to do it for our show. But before we get out of here, a reminder that Lockdown has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. But now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app. Locked on sports today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of locked on. Plus our national shows covering every league. Find Locked On Sports. today now available on the free Fire TV channels app. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Marriss podcast. I've been your host, Tiding Azales. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Marrers. You can follow

me at Tidgis and my co-coes Colby at C-PAT 11, that's C-PAT-1-1. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. Now head on over the Locked-on C-Ox to get all the latest on the Hawks before the season kicks off with Corvin Smith and the gang and tell him Ty and Colby St. Have yourself a beautiful

baseball day and a beautiful baseball weekend and we'll see you next time. Peace.