Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Saying Thank You and Goodbye to the 2022 Mariners

Episode Date: October 18, 2022

The 2022 Seattle Mariners will always be special to the fans. In today's episode of Locked on Mariners, Colby and Ty discuss some of their favorite moments, how the team will be remembered, and just how optimistic the fans should be about the team's future. Will John Stanton keep spending? Or will he force Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander to wrap pennies in pursuit of a world series appearance? All of that and more on today's episode of Locked on Mariners!Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From the 14 game win streak to finally end in the drought and even winning a playoff series in Toronto. Today we say thank you to the 2022 Seattle Mariners. Colby, hit it. You are Locked on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. It is Tuesday, October 18th, 2022. This is Tiding Gonzalez and Colby Patnode for the Lockdown Mariners podcast.

Thank you so much for making us your first listen. Subscribe, like, and turn it on alerts if you're watching. on YouTube or subscribe and leave a five-star review on your preferred podcast platform if you like what you hear. And if you want to hear from us even more, please consider signing up for our Patreon. The link as well as our social accounts is in the description below. On the show today, we'll be reflecting on the 2022 season and saying thank you to this wonderful Mariners Ball Club.

We'll go over some of our favorite memories from the year, talk about what this team is poised to do in the future, and plenty more. This is mostly going to be a casual laid-back chance. and we'll also want to hear from you down in the comments if you're watching on YouTube. So be sure to comment below. Tell us your thoughts on the season. What's your favorite memory from the season? All that good stuff.

Colby, I want to start here. To me, and obviously this is a very low bar for the Mariners to clear. But this was my favorite season of my life watching baseball. I assume the same for you, right? I don't know. 2001 was pretty good, but I was still. young enough that didn't really like

I had nothing to compare it to at the time it's kind of my first year really watching baseball so yeah almost by default you know it's it's probably this team you know not that they didn't earn it based on how they played and all that stuff but yeah I mean it's it's kind of you have one playoff team

in the last you know 20 years it's probably your favorite one to watch right so yeah yeah it had a lot of elements of the other teams that we liked here in Seattle. They had some personality, some fun, but they just also decided to add winning and winning a lot to their bag of tricks. And yeah, so you had that all together and seems pretty obvious. This is probably a lot of people's favorite team over the last 20 years. Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm 26 years old. I, you know, was conscious for the 2001 season. And I love that season, but, you know, so I've gotten older. I don't

remember everything about that season either at least my personal experience watching that season I remember like you know the all-star game I remember a couple things here and there about the postseason and all that and you know towards the end when they clenched and you know how 9-11 impacted everything and all that but that's really it this season obviously because I'm you know an adult and I'm more conscious watching this season play out I'm going to remember this more and obviously you know for you and I specifically we have a really big emotional attachment to this season

because you and I covered it the whole year here on Locked on on our Patreon all that and you and I also got to go to some of the biggest moments of this season in person you got to see the clench you got to see the first playoff game in 21 years in Seattle I got to go to the Mariners first playoff game in 21 years in Toronto got to see them win their first playoff series in 21 years like you know we got to experience those things you know, right there front and center and got to cover this team and help, you know, tell the story of this team. And for that, I'm incredibly honored. And I'm, I'm so grateful to, you know, our

listeners over this past year. We've added a lot of new listeners because, you know, we started locked on, you know, in August of 2021. But really, this was the year that things, you know, kicked off for us here on locked on. And it's been great to see the community grow. It's great to see, you know, And it's not just, you know, our experiences, our personal experiences. It's also some of the experiences that other people in the community have had as well, like Sophie with, you know, sending a pizza to Jesse Winker and how that all blew up and how that kind of was part of, you know, that moment where things started to turn around for the Mariners.

And it's just, it's really cool to see, you know, this community really be a part of this thing as well and get to really share it with the players and the coaches and everyone involved in the organization. It's been a lot of fun to watch play out. Yeah, it was just it was a great year. And I've loved every single moment of it. For you, though, you know, obviously there's the big moments. The ending the drought, Julio's Derby performance, the 14 game win streak, the playoff series, all that. But outside of those things, let's dig a little deeper here. What was one of your favorite moments from this season for the Mariners? The brawl. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It has to be the brawl. Ty and I have been team brawl for, I don't know, since we met five years ago, six years ago, whatever it was. So, yeah, the brawls is a big one. A lot of people point to it as the turning point. That's really simple. Like, that's an easy thing to do. I don't happen to agree with them that that's the turning point, but it is, you know, the easiest thing to point to. and, you know, a few, I don't know, a few days later, maybe a week later, they kind of started their, there was a couple weeks later.

They started their winning streak and that obviously propelled them to the playoffs. But, yeah, I think it's the brawl. It's kind of the sense of fire that we hadn't really seen from Mariners teams in the past. And this wasn't like it was a Mariners team that was like playing amazing baseball at the time. This was a team that was, you know, kind of struggling and didn't really have an identity yet. And then, you know, the angels come along. And because the angels are losers and bums, they decide to pick a fight. And, you know, the Mariners come together and they rally together.

And, you know, they beat the angels physically on the field. They didn't win that day, but they won so much more. And, you know, the subsequent suspensions that followed, I think the Mariners lost one game. during those suspensions. So, yeah, it was just kind of the turning point moments. I think that's an easy one to point to. Again, I don't think that actually mattered. I think they were starting to play a little bit better at that point.

But that's kind of the easy one to point too, right there. For me, it was a comeback against the Braves. You had a pretty big lead. You end up blowing it, and it's like, oh, man, you had. such a great opportunity there to take a series from one of the best teams of baseball, the defending world champions. You just feel so dejected, but then you see Julio

coming off of the field and he's smiling. And it's like, that's, that's weird. And then he goes up to the plate, ties the game up and then a couple batters later, A. E. E. Henni Osoras wins the game. And that was the most pumped up I've been over a Mariners game.

Like verbally, like physically like pumped up. You know, like I popped off. when that happened in like a really long time like I don't remember getting that excited over a Mariners game in a really long time I think the last time that I actually popped off that that much over a Mariners moment was when Mitch Hanager hit the walk off against the angels in the rain do we remember the Facebook game yeah yeah the Facebook game the Facebook came back when MLB thought it would be a great idea to air games on Facebook

they're so and now they're just doing it on YouTube which, how about, yeah, it's major league baseball stupid. Let's just call it like it is. Yeah, it's, how about. It's really bad. It's really bad. How about the Smackdown, the Astros laid on the Mariners that nobody remembers because it happened to be the same night, the Mariners acquired one, Luis Castillo.

So obviously the acquisition of Luis Castillo is a huge one. And it appears like it's going to pay dividends for at least a couple more years. So I think of that, you know, July night where we're just kind of sitting there and, you know, wondering what Jerry's going to do. There was a lot of talk about Frankie Montes at that point. And it kind of seemed like maybe the Mariners were kind of going in that direction. It sure seemed like Louise Castile was going to end up being a Yankee. And so we were kind of sitting there going, well, I mean, have to get a pitcher. I mean, is there anybody else?

And then, you know, I think Passon is actually broke that one, not the Mariners. and you know you just see the tweet and nobody cares about the game now yeah we're down 12 nothing who cares we just got louise castillo it's awesome you know and then the uh the adrenaline popping on that emergency pod and you know working through the deal and in all that stuff and uh just kind of a uh a moment of like they're they're serious here this isn't like well we can sneak in we that's great if not we will attack it next winter and Like next year is really going to be our year. No, they put their foot down and they said, no, this is our year.

And they went out and they got the best pitcher that was moved at the deadline. And it turns out the right one because Frankie Montes really struggled for the Yankees down the stretch. And, you know, they gave up a good price to get them. And it's been worth every penny so far. And then some. So, yeah, that was a pretty big moment, I would say. And to your point about, you know, knowing that they were serious, I mean, that's, Another reason why I love the Braves comeback so much because it's like this team is legit.

It can come up in big moments against really, really good teams against the cream of the crop and win. And that was the moment that I believe that they could, you know, that I truly believed and bought into the idea that they could win in the postseason and go deep into the postseason. And, you know, they won a postseason series. They played the Astros pretty well. And, you know, I think this team is in a good spot. We're going to be talking about that a little later on. But first, a reminder of this episode of Locked-on Mariners is brought to you by BetOnline. Betonline.net is your number one source for football betting info this season.

Find all of the latest player developments, team matchups, news, podcasts, and in-depth articles and analysis on every game you can find. And as always, Bet Online remains your continued source for all your sport wagering information with live betting and up-to-the-minute scores for every sport out there. It is the fastest and easiest way to check in on all your favorite games and events, including MLB, MMA, boxing, and golf. head to betonline.net or use your mobile device to learn more. Betonline is where the game starts. You're listening to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. We are saying thank you to the 2022 Seattle Mariners on today's episode.

And that's right. Thank you, Seattle Mariners, for making the last six months of all of our lives a little bit better with your baseball playing ways. It was pretty great. So you watch you guys all year long. and follow along on this incredible journey. It was truly an incredible journey when you really think about it from being, you know, down 29 and 39.

Well, I mean, let's go back even further. This team was it started out pretty well the season. And then, you know, injuries started to pile up and guys just weren't really performing as well. You know, you think about guys like Jesse Winker and Robbie Ray and their slow starts to the year. And it just kind of felt like, oh, man, this is another year. you're just going to chalk up another year to the drought. This is going to continue. We're going to have to hear about this for another off season.

And things got, you know, really bad. There were people calling for Jerry DePoto's job. There were people calling for Scott Services job. There was, you know, all that. And we don't need to get into all that. But, you know, this team hit a really big low point. You know, and then to be able to turn things around in historic fashion, I remember doing the research back when they were 29 and 39.

And obviously, playoff format is different. this year so it doesn't necessarily apply but like there were only two teams that had started out with that same record that went on to make the postseason and i believe it was both uh it was the dodgers and the astros and it was like 2005 or 2007 something like that like it was very rare and it just felt impossible that this team was going to turn it around with all the injuries that it sustained with all the guys that were struggling uh but they did it they did it and they were able to build into, they were basically able to snowball into one of the biggest threats in Major League Baseball.

And again, you know, we're able to go toe to toe to toe with some of the best teams in the world, able to win series against some of the best teams in the world. And they were able to go and win a postseason series and go up against, you know, a 106 win team. And yeah, they got swept. But I think we can all agree here that they played them pretty well at the end of the day. And that makes me pretty hopeful for, you know, what this team is going to be able to do in the future because Colby, you know, this team in theory, you know, we don't know if they're actually

going to spend, but they have shown signs that they are willing to do so. But this team does, in theory, have a lot of money and available payroll. They're still well off from the ceiling that they, they sat at when, you know, Robinson Kudnow was here and Nelson Cruz was here and Felix was here and Cal Cesar was here, all those guys. And they have one of the best farm systems in baseball still. yes, it's taken a hit with some of the trades that they made and some of the graduations that they've had. But this is still a really good farm system with a lot of interesting prospects I think are going to be of interest to teams.

So they have ammunition to go out and get not only better, but significantly better. And so with the way that they played this year with some of the developments and growth that we saw this year and with the resources that they have at their disposal heading into the soft season. And, you know, some key players hitting free agency, but not a ton of key players hitting free agency. I mean, you have to feel great about what this team can do in 2023, right? Yeah, it, it, I think one thing we have to understand is that the Mariners just have a lot of work to do. You know, it's, it's kind of this weird dichotomy where the Mariners have a lot of work to do to, to reach their ultimate goal when in a World Series. And yet they might have never been closer in their entire history to getting there. there. So, yeah, you know, the Mariners need to do things this winter. They need to do impactful things. They need to, it can't just, you know, skirt around the edges of the roster and expect to do better. But I think you do have to feel pretty good about where the Mariners are at. And, you know, again, for me, when when I see Stanton, you know, write the check for Carlos Correa or Zander Bogarts or whatever, then I'll believe that he can, he's willing to do that. But, you know, he's has,

written checks for Luis Castillo and Julio Rodriguez. So I get why some people are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on that. I'm just not yet until he actually does it. But yeah, I mean, like you said, the money is there. It should be there. It better be there. The prospect capital, again, the farm system is not as good as it was a year ago. But that's for good reason, right?

You've graduated Julio Rodriguez and George Kirby and Logan Gilbert and Cal Raleigh. and you've leveraged other, you know, really highly thought of prospects like Noel L. V. Marte and Edwin Arroyo and you've leveraged them into Luis Castillo and you leveraged Williamson and, Williamson and who's the other guy? Connor Phillips. Thank you. Connor Phillips. And you leverage that into a. E. E. E. E. Hineos-Worze and Jesse Winker.

So by the way, real quick, just before we go further, we will, we are aware of the Jesse Winker stuff that came out today from Ryan DeVish. We're going to talk about that later on this week. Today, though, we wanted to just stay positive and just kind of talk about this team in a positive sense. Right. And so, yeah, the foundation's been laid and it didn't cost nearly as much as it costs to lay the foundation of, you know, the Jack Serenic team. So the Mariners had to be feeling pretty good about this. They have a baseball ops department that has an eye for talent, has an eye for development. They're good at these things and they're in a good spot. So if ownership is willing to open up the checkbook and I don't mean, oh, look, they let Jerry sign an $8 million reliever. That's

meaningless, right? Are you going to cut the $150 million, $200 million check that it's going to take to get Correa or Turner or Bogart's or Swanson or Judge or Nemo plus whatever, right? Are you going to will be willing to do that. And if the answer is yes, then the Mariners should be very excited. If the answer is no, you know, there might be some, there might, there probably is a cap on what you can be as a baseball team. And it's probably what you saw this year. So ownership has to step up. The Mariners front office did their part. The player development has done their part. The fans have done their part. It's on ownership now. And whether or not you feel good about it, I think it's a valid opinion either way.

You feel good about John Stan? Fine. All right, cool. You don't feel good about them. I totally get it. I don't really either right now. So we'll see what happens with that. But I think overall the tone has to be of optimism that this team is going to get the players they need to get this winter.

Yeah, I would say that I don't necessarily feel good about John Stanton, but I feel better about John Stanton after the Castillo and Rodriguez extensions. I'm not yet ready to. to buy in on him now suddenly being willing to go back to an $180 million to payroll. And let's also make one thing clear that the Mariners don't necessarily need to get to that number to build a great baseball team. They can go out and trade for guys that, you know, are still, you know, three, four, five win players and they don't make a ton of money, right? That doesn't necessarily matter.

What matters is the value that they add, not the money that they add. And so, you know, that's going to be a. discussion. That's going to be a thing that we're going to remind people of over the course of the off season, depending on how things go. But yeah, the Mariners should be, to your point, the mariners have to be willing to do that in order to get significantly better in order to get to where they want to go, which is, you know, to me, you want to be in a position to actually feasibly be able to compete for the division next year and compete for a World Series next year. Because the drought is, the drought is over. You've won a wild card. Now the goalposts have to shift.

Yeah. You know, last, last winter, they weren't really willing to do that. We know that they were interested in big free agents. They actually got Robbie Ray. And we know that they made, you know, pretty good offers to Trevor Story and Simeon, I believe is the other one we heard. Yeah. That they had made some pretty good offers.

But they weren't willing to go over the top to get those guys. Are they going to be willing to do that this year? If, you know, you go to Correa, hypothetically, or Zander, who pick whichever one you want right and you offer them 180 million and they say well we want 200 million over the same time span is john stanton going to say yes he should no you can argue whether he should have done that last year too but kind of a good thing he didn't with trevor's right and jerry clearly had that that line of demarcation that this is the most we're willing to give you is that going to be put in place this year i don't know and obviously there's a there's a point

where it just no matter how much you want the player, the price just becomes an issue, and you just have to drop out. And you might get there with Bogarts or Turner or whatever. Pick the shortstop you want. I'm tired of listing them all. We're just going to start calling them the short stops. Pick the shortstop that you want and set the price. And if he says, hey, I'm interested, but I want an extra $5 million a season than what you're offering,

is John Stanton going to say yes? and is he going to say yes without saying well yeah jerry you can do that but that five million's coming out of your budget like you're not like i'm not letting you spend five million over your budget because that's not what world series teams do world series teams swallow the five million just to get the best player they can they go for the kill shot yeah and that's kind of where the mariners are right now they have an opportunity to uh not only build on this momentum um but also build on uh you know all the hard work that's gone into the last five years of this rebuild to not necessarily put a capper on it, but to kind of push

this thing over the over the mountain top. Like get it to right now you're still pushing that boulder up the hill and it feels like you've reached the mountain top, but you haven't. You haven't won the World Series yet. You've reached a great plateau and that's amazing, but now it's time to start pushing that rock again and now it's time to get to a World Series and money should not stand in the way within reason of, you know, John Stan's pursuit of a World Series that he claims he wants so badly. We're about to find out. And you know, this year, I think

the Mariners are not going to run into as many challenges to attract free agents. And I tweeted this shortly after the loss on Saturday that people definitely noticed. People definitely noticed that atmosphere, what this team

has done over the last few weeks, what it did in Toronto, and just how well it, you know, played against Houston and all that. It sees how close this team is to competing. And now, you know, close is kind of a relative term, right? Because it means that you still have to put a lot of work in. And there's still a lot of work to be done on this roster.

There's still well ways off from what the Astros are. They're, you know, they finish 16 games behind the Astros. You know, they got to make up a lot of ground there still in order to feasibly, again, you know, feasibly compete for a division. but players noticed, players around the league noticed, players that are about to hit free agency notice, and more importantly, agents noticed. That's the big thing. And if agents actually want their player to play in Seattle because they think that they can get the money and they can, you know, that place can elevate their client,

then you're in a good spot if you're the Mariners. You don't have to do as much selling as they've had to do in the past. there are still going to be hurdles that get in the way of bringing players to Seattle like the travel. Those things like the geography, you're not going to be able to change that, right? Those things are ultimately out of your control.

Some guys are just not going to want to live in Seattle for half a year and do all the travel that is necessary. And plus there's going to be even more travel involved this year because you're going to be facing more teams. You're going to be going all around the country even more so than in the past because of how the schedule is changing.

And the fact that you are going to play every single team at least once a year. So, you know, that's going to still factor in. But you're not going to have to, there shouldn't be as much of a tax on you anymore for being, you know, a seller dweller, for lack of a better term in Major League Baseball. You're now a playoff team and you did some damage in the playoffs. And I think that was really important because it's one thing to get to the playoffs and then the drought, you know, that's a cool story. You know, most people feel great about that, whatever. But actually, being able to go into not only a playoff series, but a playoff series in a hostile environment

against a really talented team, a team that you and I, Colby, have said, was about a year ahead of the Mariners in terms of their rebuild. And, you know, you swept them. And you had one of the most historic comebacks in all playoff history. I think that does matter. And so, you know, players are going to want to be a part of that. They see this clubhouse. They see how much fun they're having.

They see, you know, the likes of George Kirby and Huli. Leo Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh and these young guys that tells these players and tells these agents, like this is a sustainable product potentially. This is not something that is, you know, you go there and you have like a one to two year window. This is a potential for a decade long window in Seattle, something that is really exciting for, you know, younger players, you know, and Carlos Correa is, you know, approaching 30, I believe. But, like, you know, he's 27. 27 okay yeah so like even though that he's like you know past 25 like that's still a really young player that's you know still has a lot of years ahead of him that you know that's going to be appealing to someone like that that it's not you know i'm going to have to go through a rebuild process like a

marcus simian right marcus simeon and corey seger they chose to go through a rebuild process for the end goal which is like three or four years down the road in texas meanwhile in seattle it's like you can win now and you can potentially win like five or six years down the road as well if you want to sign a long-term contract here so that's also going to be appealing the the mariners just have a lot of things that are like they don't even need to sell guys on like it speaks for itself the the situation itself speaks for itself and so that puts the mariners in a different position and like i said on twitter a few days ago this is going to be an offseason i think that is unlike any other we've seen for the mariners in quite some time

that players are actually going to want to come to Seattle and be a part of this thing. Whereas in the past, it's been the Mariners have had to bend over backwards to get players to come to Seattle for the most part. Yeah. I think what Ty's trying to say is gear up for another Richie Sexton and Adrian Beltray free agent signing winter

because it worked out so well the first time. Let's maybe not do that. Let's maybe not do that. Even though I love Adrian Beltray and Richie Sexton gave us our last brawl before Jesse Winker did. But let's maybe get better production out of our free agent signings. Richie was pretty good for the first two years.

But yeah, you know, let's not go do the Sean Viggins thing. Let's just let's pay for top of market guys. And then, you know, guys who we think are very, very, very likely to be all stars and stuff like that. Like let's let's not settle for, you know, C tier baseball players anymore. Let's let's flex some financial muscle. Let's go get somebody. Or let's leverage the farm again.

Now, it's going to be harder because you've leveraged it pretty good over the last year. And like I said, gotten amazing results out of it. So it's a little bit harder to do that. But it's, you know, money is money. And like Ty said, sometimes money's just not the answer, right? You can't just hear Xander, here's $250 million. Well, I would sign that, but I want to play in Boston. and they're offering me this.

So I'm going to sign with Boston. You can't be Boston. Like there's just going to be moments like that. And so money is helpful. It's not going to solve all your issues. Jerry's still going to have to make trades. He's still going to have to be creative. And Justin.

They're still going to have to be creative. They're still going to have to get things done. By the way, we should clarify what we were saying on our Patreon show yesterday about when we say Jerry, what that means. That's just now like it's an, we got to think about what it means.

but it's basically an acronym for what the front office is for the Mariner's front office. Like it's Jerry's front office, but Justin's the, whatever. I don't know who the new assistant GM is, so blah, blah,

whatever. So help us, help us figure out what Jerry stands for, the J, the E, the R, the R and the Y. Help us figure out what that stands for and that will be our acronym.

That'll be fun because nothing can, there's no letter there that can correspond to Mariners, baseball, front, So you guys figure it out. But, yeah, Jerry and company, they're still going to have to get creative both with money and trades because they don't have an endless amount, right? They don't have Steve Cohen and the Mets payroll. They're not going to have the Dodgers payroll.

It's just not ever going to be the case. So they're still going to have to be creative, but they still have to fish at the top of the market. And, you know, that means that maybe they can afford to fish for one of the top guys, but not two when they need two. And then they got to get creative and come up with the production for the second guy. And so we'll see what they decided to do there. But yeah, money should be an obstacle this winter. I don't think it's fair to say it was last year because they did, you know, make some pretty sizable offers. But only one of them got accepted.

So, yeah, we'll see how it goes. But again, Jerry's going to have to get creative. And I think he is going to put a lot of effort into landing one of those short stops. But again, you know, there's 25 teams who could use an upgraded shortstop. You're one of them. And there's only four short stops in this class that are worth anything more than J.P. Crawford. So you guys can do the math.

So, yeah, pick what you want. I'm here to tell you it's not going to be Trey Turner. And I would be absolutely shocked. it was Dansby, so you can do the math and figure out which two seem like they're only shot. I mean, the Mariners made it as far as the Braves then. So, yeah,

Danzby's a Southern boy who went to school in Vanderbilt. Yeah, Danzby's staying in Atlanta. Trey's staying in L.A. or he's probably going East Coast or something like that if he does leave. Right. In which case, the Dodgers. Yeah, and the Dodgers are going to get one of these short stops. So, like, if Turner leaves, they're going to sign somebody else.

Yeah. One of these guys. So, yeah, you kind of want Turner to stay. If you're not getting Turner, you want him to stay with the Dodgers. So, yeah. I mean, I'm sure we'll talk about all these guys a lot as the winner goes along. So we can get into the whole Correa versus Bogarts versus whatever, because I think Ty and I would each pick a different person.

So that would be a fun conversation to have. but you probably it's probably your best bet to get a high, high impact bat at a position of need is one of the short stops. Can they get it done? I think that's going to be as much about John Stanton

as it is, you know, Jerry and the front office. So we'll see. They can finally land their big fish. By the way, I looked it up and, yeah,

I thought that Correa was like 28 or 29. He'd just turned 28, 26 days ago. So, yeah, he was drafted. Yeah, he was drafted at like 17 and he made the big leagues at like 20. So drafted in 2012. Yeah, it feels like he's been around forever. It's like it's hard to like what?

Seven, eight year career in the big leagues right now. So that's a long time. Yeah, it's a long time. Start young. Yeah. And it's crazy to think that he's still that young to the stay, considering how much MLB action he's logged. All right.

So, you know, we're not necessarily closing the door on the 24. 2022 season yet here on Locked on Mariners. We're going to be doing some team awards. We're going to be doing player reviews and just kind of stay the state of the team stuff and all that over the next couple weeks here on the show. But Colby, some, do you have any closing thoughts on just this team as a whole as we start to look ahead to the future? A bunch of losers couldn't win the one. No. No, it was a very good team.

It was not a great team. It is the type of team that I think needed to end the drought. Did that make sense? It was not a dry team. It wasn't a team full of, you know, 35-year-olds who kind of hate each other and all that stuff. It was a team, a fairly young team with a few energetic and, And in Mad, what it, veterans like A. Eugenio Suarez and, you know, Mitch Hanner, it's just like, it's kind of a weird group, right, of guys and, and, but most of them young, most of them definitely coming back next year or at least under contract to come back next year. I think this is the type of team that that you needed to, you know, in the drought because it's like, if it had been the old team, right, the, the Canoe and the crews and the, like, fine, whatever.

They'd still be celebrated. but it just would feel different because, okay, you did it once. Are you likely to do it again? No, no real reason to suspect they will. So I think it's important that it was this type of team, this young, energetic team that has club control out the, you know, the wazoo and tons of personality and tons of star power. I think it had to be a team like this.

And so the 22 Seattle Mariners were just kind of the perfect team for the perfect situation that happened to be at the perfect time. and, you know, just based on the way it ended, and you just look at Julio and Cal, and like, these are guys who are going to be, you know, spoken of and with reverence for decades after they've retired. It feels like we're as close to the Griffey, Edgar, Jay Buneer, like level of fan connection that we've been since they all retired.

I think the word you were looking for for this team and for these players is family. and you know like most families not just some there was some well again like most families there's some dysfunctional parts to it but at the end of the day this was a this was a family it was really cool to see this team come closer because you know at the start of the year it did feel a little disjointed because there were a lot of new faces but there was still the you know the guys that carried over from 2021 which was also such a family um you know it was the makeup of that team was like a family too in a way.

Except for Kyle Seeger. Stop it, you. But yes, you're right. You're right. You're correct. But as over the months, as the season grew older and older, we started to see this team start to come together a lot more.

And that was a beautiful thing to watch. And it kind of coincided with the winning, right? The closer this team got, the more it seemed like they won. And it was just awesome to see. It was really awesome to connect with these players and for them to be the ones that that did it. I think this team ultimately at the end of the day deserve to be the ones that did it. And they will forever be in Mariners' lore from top to bottom.

Every single player that came through this club, even the likes of Justin Upton, they are going to be forever in Mariners' lore as a part of the team that did it, that finally did it, that finally ended it. But not Stephen Sousa. But not Stephen Sousa. But not Stephen Sousa. Yes, we do need to make that point. Don't forget the Mike Ford's and the Drew Steckenriders. And the Matt Cooks? Yes.

Yes. Stuart Fairchild? Yeah. Did he come play? I think he appeared in one game. But yeah, all the Washington natives who came back home and pitched in to end this, this playoff drought, like Stuart Fairchild and Matt Boyd. and Jake Lamb. So,

man, we were so close to the Jake Lamb game against Cleveland. So close. So close. Dang it, Andres. But, yeah,

it's, it, there you go. Maybe that's a segment for a later on in the week. Can you name every player to appear in a game for the Seattle Mariners this year? I'm going to guess probably not. There's probably a sporkle quiz.

There's probably a sport. Yeah. That has all those. Probably not. But, yeah, are going to be remembered forever in franchise history. We'll see if they get a banner up there in the Raptors.

Typically, those are reserved for division winners, and you weren't even close. So we'll see. We'll see what John Stan decides he wants to spend money on. Cheap son of a gun. But we'll see if he wants to get the $3,000 banner rate or whatever. But no, it's a team that's going to be remembered forever. It's the drought breaker, the rainmaker.

Um, you know, it's, it's, that's what they're known for now. They are, uh, forever. I don't know. I'm sure. I'm sure Mariners fans will come up with a creative name for this group. Um, they said it. Rainmakers, drought, drought busters, whatever. They end up calling them, but, uh, they're forever going to be a part of that team.

And, and that's something that, uh, you know, they are, uh, they can kind of wear as like a badge of honor when their career is over that, uh, they were the group that did it and ended the longest playoff drought in North American sports. So at the end of all of this, thank you once again to the 2022 Seattle Mariners. You guys were so much fun to watch. You represented the city of Seattle well. You represented this fan base incredibly well. And for that, we are forever grateful.

That's going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on Locked-on Mariners. For Colby Patnode, I'm Tiding Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Dan Gonzalez. C-A-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-P-H-P-A-T-L-E. That's C-P-A-T-1-1. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode,

and thank you again for making us your first listen. Now make your second listen, the Lockdown MLB podcast. MLB expert Paul Francis Sullivan brings humor, passion, and unique perspective on every team and the biggest stories around the league. Follow the number one daily league-wide podcast, Locked on MLB on the Odyssey app, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcast just like us. And with that, have yourself a beautiful baseball day. And we'll see you tomorrow.

Peace.