Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Seattle Mariners' Latest Disaster Comes Attached With YET ANOTHER Questionable Dan Wilson Decision

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

Ty and Colby explain why they disagree with the Mariners' decision to pinch-hit Connor Joe for Luke Raley in Thursday's loss to the Padres and more. Click to learn more about the Everydayer Club! Join the Ahoy, Sailors Discord server! Check out our Patreon! Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11 Follow the show on Bluesky: @lockedonmariners | @tdg | @mlbcolby Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Turbo Tax Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. You can meet face-to-face with a real tax expert, and your documents get uploaded straight to your TurboTax app on the spot.  Visit https://TurboTax.com/local to find a store near you and book your appointment today. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get two-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins.Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game.   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.

The Mariners have been swept in San Diego, and it comes with yet another questionable decision by Dan Wilson and this coaching staff. We'll talk about that and more coming up here on the Lockdown Marriss podcast. Colby, hit it. You are Locked on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Ahoy, Sailors. It is Friday, April 17, 2026.

My name is Tedding Azelis, and I'm joined as always by my. host colby pat no this episode is brought to you by our friends at game time download the game time app create an account and use the promo code locked on that's l o c a d o n for $20 off your first purchase and on today's show we'll tell you why the colt emerson extension continues to look better and better by the week we'll also discuss the mariner's upcoming series with the rangers same pitching matchups on that front as the last time these two clubs squared off but we start in san diego last night mariners swept up by the Padres. They lose five to two. They are now one and nine on the road to start this season.

And yet another questionable coaching decision is at the center of this loss last Saint Colby. The Mariners finally got through to Walker Beeler. They got a couple of runs off of him, drove him out of the game. The Padres then go to Adrian Morihoen with the bases, juice and Luke Rayleigh's spot in the lineup coming up. And obviously, Rayleigh has been one of the hottest hitters in the entire game so far. The Mariners then opt to go to Connor Joe in that spot. They take Rayleigh out for the remainder of the game.

Joe, by the way, who has not played or had not played for eight days leading up to that opportunity, hadn't gotten a single played appearance in eight days. And that is exactly why I don't like the. decision and lo and behold he strikes out that threat is ended and guess what happens a couple of endings later Connor Joe comes up as the tying run or representing the the time run for the meritors but before we get into that let me just explain very quickly why I don't like this decision I mean I think I already made it pretty clear but look you asked a quad a career quad a player and Connor Joe all due respect to the guy but that is who he's who he's

he has been a fringe major leader. You asked a fringe major leader who hasn't played in eight days, not a single official played appearance in eight days, to face one of the best relievers in all of baseball, regardless of handedness in Adrian Morayone. And in order to do so, you removed one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball from the equation for the rest of the night.

And if you were so hell bit on people, pinch hitting for Luke Rayleigh because obviously the splits say Rayleigh has been very bad against lefties in the past but look Robin rough Snyder not here right now Victor Robles unfortunately not here right now your options on the bench to pinch hit your right-handed options to pinch it off of the bench for Connor Joe Patrick Wisdom Mitch Carver and Leo reboss and frankly of those four names that I just listed I think Dan Wilson in this coaching stuff, pick the worst. So if you are so hell bent on pitch hitting for Luke Rayley in that situation,

I think Mitch Garver is a better option because at least he's had an abat within the last couple of days. I think for that reason alone, he is a better option than Connor Joe in that situation. Patrick Wisdom, I know it didn't go well. He struck out on three pitches against Morihon, but at least he actually recently got exposure to the pitcher on the mound just a couple of days ago. I think for that reason alone, he is a better option in that situation. Connor Joe coming off the bench for the first time in eight days.

And obviously Leo Rivas, who has struggled to start this season, but obviously has some big hits for you in the past as well. I think for that reason alone, he is a better option than Connor Joe in that situation. So not only did you take out one of the hottest hitters in all the baseball, Connor Joe, not only do I have an issue with that and how that impacted how the rest of the game went, I also think you messed up and just picking from your group of right-handed pinch-hitting options. So it's just all bad.

Sure, but let's be clear, pinch-hitting anybody for Luke Rayleigh in that spot would have been stupid. Luke Rayleigh is your best hitter right now. And it's kind of an extension to what we talked about yesterday when it was Ferrer versus Brash, which one do you go to? And Dan played the matchup. He went with the handedness. And that one was at least somewhat understandable.

It was defensible. and it'd be like, you know, that's kind of a 50-50 call. Brash could have, you could have brought in Brash and the exact same thing could have happened. There's no guarantee that works. This is not a 50-50 call. Players, not plays, right? Luke Rayleigh is a better hitter than Connor Joe, period.

I don't care who's on the mound. Luke Rayleigh is a better hitter than that guy right now. Connor Joe's not a big leaguer. Luke Rayley is one of the best hitters in baseball, statistically speaking, and I know it's on the backs of, you know, like a four-game stretch where he had like 10 hits. I understand that. but he's seen the ball well right now.

And the worst thing that could possibly happen is that Luke Rayleigh does exactly what Connor Joe did, strike out on three pitches. And at the very least, though, now I have Luke Rayleigh. I know he's getting one more at bat. He's either getting it in the eighth inning or he's getting it in the ninth inning, almost certainly against Jason Adam or Mason Miller. And guess what happened? Of course, because of course it did.

guess who then got the second highest leverage app or third highest leverage at bat of the game for the Mariners in the eighth inning with a chance to tie it Connor Joe did we pinch it for him then because there's a righty on the mound there's a righty out there's a righty so now we now Leo Reeves right because he's a lefty and and credit where credit is due to the guy he had one of the hardest hit balls of the night unfortunately results in it now because that's how things are going for the marineries right now but also I don't care players not plays you want to You have to manage the team you have. You have to manage the roster you have, not the roster you thought you were going to have a couple weeks ago. I'm sorry, Rob Reff Snyder's not here. He's with his family. He's doing something that is more important than playing in a baseball game right now. Okay. And yes, if Ref Snyder was available last night and they went to him instead of Rayleigh,

I could buy that because you know what? Rob Reff Snyder, despite his struggles this year, has crushed lefties in his career, including as recently as just last season. He was destroying left-handed pitching. and Connor Joe hasn't destroyed anybody in two or three years now. But Ref Snyder's not here. Victor Robles isn't here. You have to manage the team you have.

And Luke Grayley, despite his shortcomings against lefties, gives you a better chance than every single player on that bench to at least move the runners, to at least, you know, do some damage on top of it at the very least. And you know he's going to get another opportunity to hit. He is your best hitter right now. And, oh, by the way, you could have avoided all of this. if you hadn't stuck to your guns and kept Josh Naylor in a spot in the lineup where he has no business hitting right now.

Yeah. You got to make context-based decisions. And this was Wilson and this coaching staff essentially going on autopilot. Yep. It's playing the hand in this matchup. By the way, he did it again later with Garver hitting for Canzone, even though Canzone hit lefties just fine last year. But he hasn't been given any opportunities hit lefties this year. And again, if you're.

willing to use garver later on why aren't you why aren't you willing to use garver in that specific why was it joe why was it joe again like again like real quick though like like you said pinchating for luke raley in general dumb i that's the biggest thing that i disagree with here but if you are going to pinch it for raleigh why of the four options that you had did you pick connor joe given the context of the workload that all four of those guys have had or lack thereof. I'll tell you why what the actual reason is and then we'll kind of throw in the silly reason that Dan tried to throw out there last night apparently in his presser. The reason why is that, well, Rayleigh's playing the outfield and Connor Joe is an outfielder.

So that's why. Ignoring, by the way, that Brennan Donovan was brought here specifically because of his defensive versatility and he could easily go play right field. So you could have gone to Leo Rivas. you could have gone to Patrick Wisdom because all you would have had to do was put that guy at third base and move Donovan back out to right field where he's gotten plenty of time out there. That's the reason. Or how about this? You pinch hit Mitch Carver and then you bring in Connor Joe to replace them defensively. And yeah, I'm without my backup catcher now for the rest of the game. But whatever. Who cares? If something happens to Cal, you lose that game anyways and you deal with it. You call somebody up the next day. And you live with that. Again, to be fair to Dan, and I hadn't considered this until. he brought it up in the post game. He had some great at bats in spring training. Connor Joe did.

He looked good in spring training. So, you know, my mistake, Dan, silly me, I didn't think the Cactus League meant anything. But here we are, you know, the Cactus League is informing your decisions on April 16th about who to pinch hit for. I mean, memory serves. Luke Rayleigh is pretty good in the Cactus League.

But, you know, whatever. No, he's a lefty. Lefties can't hit lefties ever. You don't have Rob Reilly had some Had some left on left success in spring training actually He had some left on left success this year I mean literally the night before last Yeah, he's gotten hits against left

And I know Moro is a different animal And again, if you had refs, no In all likelihood really strikes out in that situation Probably but again We are weighing the options here, right? This is all contact space, right? You don't have Rob Reff's center You don't even have Victor Rubless at your disposal

So what is the last? lesser of the five evils here essentially. To me, that's just keeping Rayleigh in the game. Yeah. It's just one of those things where it's like, look, I've seen people defending Dan this morning, a lot less than there have been in the past. Yeah, it's thudding out quite quickly. Pretty quick.

But I've seen beatwriters. I've seen reporters. I've seen heard radio hosts be like, yeah, you know, it's a platoon. That's what you do with platoons. not of your other half of the platoon isn't there. That's not the platoon. Connor Joe and Luke really is not the platoon. Connor Joe is never part of the plan to be a part of that platoon.

That is Rob Reff Snyder is part of that platoon. And he is not there. So for one game, the mountain can come to Muhammad and you can let the lefty face the lefty. And if he strikes out, who cares? It doesn't matter because you let your best hitter. And right now Luke Rayleigh is your best hitter. You let him take the biggest app out of the game.

And if he doesn't come through, yeah, whatever. Sorry, we didn't have, we didn't have our platoon partner here. We didn't have the guy we brought in specifically for that situation. He wasn't available. He was away from the team. And by the way, congrats to Rob and his family. But you have to manage the team you have, not just be like, oh, well, Connor Joe will just replace Rob Refsniter. In what universe is that a refsnyder can hit?

Connor Joe hasn't hit since 2023. Yeah. Like, what are we doing here? It is asinine beyond asinine to sit here and suggest that like, oh, well, you know, Dan's just playing the matchups and just, you know, using his platoons. He doesn't have his platoon. Yeah. He doesn't. And again, if he had ref Snyder or if he doesn't have two of his, he doesn't have either guy for his platoon.

He doesn't have ref Snyder or Robles right now. And if he had either of them and they, he made that decision, fine. I don't love it for Robles because I don't think Robles is that good of a hitter, but whatever I get it, I understand it. But it was Ref Snyder. Yeah, I totally get it. That's what you brought him in Rob Refstner to do. Kind of sucks. He's not hitting right now,

but that's exactly what you brought him in to do. Use him in that spot. He's not here. You have to manage the team you have in front of you, not the team you put together on paper. You have to have some feel for the game. And I would just ask the people who are defending Dan Wilson, whether they know him personally or not,

are you defending him because you think he's a good manager? Or because he's a good guy who was a good player for your favorite team back in the 90s. Why are you defending the guy? Is it because you know him personally? But also, but also, but also can we can we just acknowledge the complexities of, you know, discussing the value of a manager, right? He could be very valuable in the clubhouse, but he could also be horrible as an endgame

manager. Dan Wilson, right? Do you stand right there? That's exactly who we're talking about. Right. I don't doubt. We have constantly acknowledged that like, yeah, the players really like him. He's probably really good in the clubhouse.

Like we don't know that for sure because we're not behind those closed doors, but by all accounts, he's great with the players, right? And that's ultimately why they chose him. But he is also a detriment to the small club in terms of the end game decisions. And I don't know if he's if he's kind of like running off of a script that the front office has laid out for him.

Throw that script out the window then. Throw it in the trash then if that's the case. But if that's the case, you still want a manager that has the grobby toss to be like, I'm reading the situation. I'm understanding my ball club. Either way, whatever the context is, these decisions don't make sense.

They don't. And this is not just a couple of podcasters trying to play armchair manager here. This is common freaking sense that we're talking about. All right. Well, switching gears now, Mariners are back home tonight, starting a three game set with a Rangers ball club

that swept them down in Texas. And it's the same pitching matchups as the last time these two clubs squared off. We'll talk about that and more in just a moment. But first a reminder of this episode of the lockdown errors podcast is brought to you by game time. MLB season is back and you can feel it. I'm talking fresh starts, big expectations, and that first crack of the bat. Whether it's a breakout rookie or a division race that goes down to the wire, there's nothing like being in the ballpark for it. The only problem, getting tickets can feel like a grind, long queues, surprise fees, prices jumping at checkout. That's where

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the promo code finally to claim your free month. Before we get into our Rangers Mariners preview, I want to quickly talk about something. Last night's postcast got a little intense there towards the end. Now, Colby and I don't have any involvement in the postcast, but I still want to say something since this is a channel in a community that we've largely built.

So it was Chris Crawford's last episode last night. His internet was going in and out. And from what I understand it's due to an electrical issue that he is unable to fix right now. And some people started making jokes about it and about money. and look, it's the internet. You know, that's going to happen. And I'm sure Chris knows that. But he obviously took offense to some of those comments.

And I know he said he wished he handled that better. But I'm going to be honest, you know, I was a bit disappointed seeing folks, not a lot, but seeing some folks in our community, you know, continue to try and push his buttons after he made it clear he wasn't in the mood. You know, I'm disappointed that that's kind of going to be one of the lasting memories for Chris of being on this channel. And he had to, you know, in the show kind of abruptly because of that. You know, Chris is going through a lot right now, going through a really difficult time in his life. And while it may seem harmless to some of you, you know, comments like Chris being bad luck for the Mariners and all the Mariners will start winning now that Chris is leaving and all that stuff.

Like that, this isn't the time for that. I don't think seeing stuff like that is particularly fun for Chris right now, especially with what he's going through. And I know I'm kind of addressing the minority here. And so many of you have been really supportive of Chris. And I'm super, super grateful for that. But again, since this is a channel and community that is largely ours, that stuff didn't sit right with me. And I think it kind of points to a larger discussion about this show. Like, you guys see us almost every day of our lives.

You know, now it's a 30 minute snippet from each day. But for Colby and I especially, it's been, what, five plus years. of you guys seeing us essentially on a daily basis. And we're human. We go through stuff. We've done many episodes on very bad days for us personally. And at the very least, we have the luxury of being able to, you know, edit things after the fact and deal with technical issues that no one will see.

But that's not really the case with the postcast. You know, you're seeing these guys operate in real time. They're seeing you interact with them in real time. And, you know, they really only have one. one shot to make a show that you guys want to watch. So, you know, just keep that in mind.

You know, we definitely try to leave our personal issues at the door, you know, doing this show, but it's, you know, it's hard, you know,

some days, you know, it's difficult. So, you know, but, but yeah, lastly,

I just want to thank Chris for his contributions to this channel and, you know, Colby and I are wishing him nothing but the best with his health and, and what he does, moving forward. So,

yeah. All right. Anyway, let's get into the series here Mariners Rangers actually I want to quickly talk about Josh Naylor we do that real quick because it's a problem oh boy can we

yeah yeah I know I know you want yeah I know you want to so not really let's talk about I know I know but yeah Nailer it's it's an issue right now and it would be one thing if he was just going through it

but he's doing some uncharacteristic thing at the plate right now. So I looked up his swing rates. His career swing rates compared to his 2026 swing rates. This is from statcast. There's different outlets that have different measurements of this. Like there's sports info solutions, all that.

But this is statcast data. So Nailer has a, and this includes his 2026 numbers. So even including his 2026 numbers, Naler has a career swing rate of 51.8%. That's just a total amount of times that he swings at pitches. This year, that's up to 59.1%. His in-zone swing rate on pitches inside the strike zone, his career number is 71.9%.

That's up to 83%. That is the second highest rate in all of Major League Baseball right now. And then his outside swing rate, so on pitches outside the strike zone, career-wise, It's been 34 and a half percent for him. That's up to 39.3%. Yeah. So again, not only is he going through it right now,

he's doing some very uncharacteristic stuff. He is uncharacteristically, incredibly aggressive. One of the most aggressive hitters in all major league baseball right now. And it hasn't worked at all. No. And to make matters worse, his offensive. struggles have followed him out to the field where he is

directly responsible for three runs last night, even though the air count only gave him one. He should have had two, and Louis Castile got his three outs in that inning, and hey, what was the margin of defeat last night? Remind me again? Oh, it was three. Oh, wow,

imagine that. So, yeah, you can't be a terrible defensive first basement, which I think we could say Josh Neller has been this year. He's not been good. at first base. And you also can't be the worst hitter in baseball, which Josh Naylor is certainly in that conversation.

You can't hit cleanup. Don't, don't tell me that every game matters, everyone matters, and have Josh Naylor hit cleanup again and again and again, especially ahead of Randy Rosarena and Luke Rayleigh, who are both hitting the ball very well right now. Don't tell me that.

Yeah. Don't tell me that like we just have to give him more time. I'm giving him more time with him hitting sixth, instead of fourth. Last night, by the way, just quick note, the top of the order, you're 1, 2, 3, they were really good. They all reached base multiple times.

They had, I believe, I believe they reached base seven of their 15 plate appearances. Like, they set the table. Unfortunately, Josh Naler didn't move the ball forward at all. Didn't threaten the defense, didn't threaten the pitcher at all, because he's an incredibly easy out right now. And unfortunately, that 1, 2, 3. order in the first inning they didn't get on base and then 7-8-9 just never really got on base to put

guys on for one, two, three. So it all kind of landed on Josh last night to get that big hit. And he had a couple opportunities to do it and he failed. Josh Naylor is your worst player right now, full stop. Is he going to be at the end of the year? No. Is he right now without question. It's not close. Josh Naylor is your worst player right now.

Worst everyday player. Yeah, continue. I don't matter. at this point probably gives you a better at bat I'm not saying give I'm not saying give nailers at bats to Connor Joe

I'm just saying on an app per app bat bat basis you're not you're not doing a jac clam genosaurus thing you're not throwing it back to 2020 not yet I got to save that from when things are really bad right now they're just kind of sucky

they're not terrible yet right right right but you know when they acquire Jorge Polanco in the summer then yeah maybe we'll have that conversation was wherea Polanco going to be elderly enough for that Yeah, he'll be fine once he gets back to Seattle.

It's a good, clean northwest air. Can't live in New York and expect to be healthy. So, yeah, the bottom line is that Josh Taylor's a mess right now. He's not close. Great. He had the good game on Sunday. Awesome. Good to see.

And then he just came right back and had three awful games in a row, including with his glove, which is a major problem. Josh Taylor has no business hitting in the top five spots in your lineup right now. And frankly, he probably doesn't have any business hitting cleanup even if he was going well. Like he's not a cleanup hitter. That's not what he's built to do. He should be hitting five or two when he's going

well. That's kind of his game. That's what his game is built to do or three. But four, he's not a big power guy. I wonder maybe some of this is him trying to hit for more power. I don't know. Well, we did wonder about this. You know, with the loss of power in the middle of the lineup, would they, would maybe

the Mariners go to Josh and ask him to hit for more power and maybe, you know, do what he did and what was the 2020? was that the big power year where he where the average went down. He was like a 240 hitter, but he hit like 30 bombs or whatever. It is wild to me the number of times players make this decision

to like sell out for power relative to how much worse it makes them. Mitch Hanager did it. He was never the same player. Still good, but never the same guy. He wasn't 2018. Jared Kelnick did it.

It ruined his career. Josh Naylor is trying to do it or might be trying to do it. We don't know for sure. And this is the worst he's ever looked. He is way too aggressive. Josh Stanley needs to go up to the plate in one of these at bats and just track pitches. Do not swing the bat once. Just look at pitches into the glove because the swing rates that you're mentioning and the out of zone swing and all that, that's not sustainable.

There's a reason you're hitting a buck 30. Yeah. And his strikeout rate right now, 18.1%. That would be by far a career high for him in a full season. Right. I just, unlike with Julio, unlike with Cal, both of whom had pretty good series down in, it's down in San Diego. There's just nothing that I look at from Josh Naler right now that makes me think this guy's close. He's just on the precipice.

He's about to break through. There's nothing. So it's time to make the decision. And again, we, I think, I think as a manager, you lose some, you lose some credibility when you're not holding guys accountable. That doesn't mean you have to rip them in the, in the, in the, the media or anything like that. But you have to look at your ball club in the eye and be like, look, guys, this is not acceptable.

We have to fix this. And Josh, you're at bats right now are putrid. Like you are fighting something and we don't know what it is. You've got to move down in the lineup, my man. Again, we're not going to embarrass you. We're not going to have you hit ninth. We're going to have you hit sixth or at the very least fifth. And you're going to have to figure some things out because we have to maximize our lineup because

right now we're struggling to score runs with any consistency. unless we're facing the Astros. So we have to maximize our line. We have to give our best hitters more opportunities to get hits. And right now, you're our worst hitter. So changes need to be made there. And by changes, I mean tweaks. And they don't have to be long term.

But what Josh Nehler is providing right now in totality as a baseball player is not acceptable by any metric, by any thought, by any standard is not acceptable. And just because we love Josh Naylor, doesn't mean he's not above criticism. It doesn't mean he's not something. It's not something that you need to address. And again, anything you do with Josh right now is a short term thing until he starts to have better at bats. And that could happen this weekend for all we know. But I have no reason to suspect it will. He looks dreadful on the baseball field right now. He's your worst player. It's a rough watch right now. And again, um, oh, it's unwashful. He's just doing things that we don't typically

see him out of Josh Naylor. So he's just, uh, really going through it. at the moment but yeah it he has to be out of the four spot you're gonna lie it without a question like there there it is malpractice putting them ahead of randy a rosarena and and luke raleigh right now with the way that those two guys are swinging the bat just not for nothing but last night if you had done what you were supposed to do and had josh nailer hit behind randy or luke or both luke gets to face the righty and and again this this kind of goes back to our discussion about dance right like when is accountability

going to come here again I don't need you to I don't need you to bench the guy although I think you should have mentioned him last night after they back to back errors I don't need you to chew them out I don't need you to bench them I just don't just move them down a couple spots in the lineup that's it that's all I'm asking move a couple of your hottest sitters right now a couple of the hottest sitters in all of baseball right now up ahead of him.

By the way, you have one of the worst, one of the worst qualified hitters in baseball right now, heading ahead of two of the top 15, top 20 hitters in baseball right now. Two all-star quality hitters right now. Again, at the end of the year, is neither going to be better than Rayleigh and Randy?

I would say probably offensively. But right now he's not. Sure, sure. Manage the team you have in front of you, not the one you wish you had on paper. See, that's the thing about this conversation that I hate. is that when you like say like, hey,

you should move this guy down the lineup and when I, people act like that's like a permanent thing. No, no, it's just until he proves like he's back. Right. And that could happen in five days. I could feel like,

oh, okay, yeah, he's, he's turning the corner now. Like, I see it. Josh Naylor goes six for 16 this weekend,

hitting out of the sixth spot, then we can move them back up to four if the bats are looking good. Like, it's just a temporary thing. And again, And it's a compromise between not embarrassing the player by benching him or whatever and actually giving your team the best shot. It has to win because you owe that to your ball club. You owe the team more than you owe any individual.

That's that's baseball 101. And right now Josh Taylor is actively hurting the team in the cleanup spot and at first base. So yeah, you got to make the call. So, yeah, I mean, look, there really isn't much to preview here about this Rangers series. you know, it's the same pitching matchups as last time. It's going to be difficult. You know, this is going to be an opportunity here for this lineup to finally break through against good starting pitching,

which they need to be able to do because that's the type of lineup that you built. You built a lineup that is supposed to go contend for a World Series. And if you're going to contend for a World Series, you've got to be able to beat the Jacob de Groms and the Nathan Avaldi's of the world. Just like they were able to do it. last year, by the way. They, you know, they handled the Valde Well, they handled the Gromwell, you know, they were able to beat

school, they were able to beat crochet, they were able to beat some of the best starting pitchers in all of baseball. And it doesn't mean that you have to score six runs off of them. You have to find a way to beat them, though. You have to win those games. Be competent. Be confident. Yeah. Be a threat.

Don't be an easy out, right? Grind out at bats. When you get runners on, find a way to get them in. When they make a mistake, hit hard. Yeah. Right. You just can't let them you know go through you like you're a ghost you know so by the way here's a question i didn't think i'd ask in the year of our lord 2026 okay do the mariners have a problem hitting away from t-mobile park because they're pretty good at t-mobile park t-mobile park a hitters park questions chills

i finally cracked the code but what did it cost at what cost at what cost at what cost yeah at what cost yeah oh it costs yeah um i think you know again i think they'll be fine i still feel like even though with how bad it's been you know the eight and twelve start all that how the san diego series went still feel like there's a lot of stuff to really hang your hat on here with this club like it doesn't feel like some of the other slower starts in the past it feels like there there's definitely like a lot of positives here the rotation it doesn't feel like a talent issue yeah The rotation's been very good to start the year with some surprises on there like Emerson Hancock.

You know, Luke Raleigh's off to a fantastic start. Randy's off to a fantastic start. You know, Julio's fine right now to start the season. You know, it hasn't been like amazing like overall numbers wise because of how the first homestand went. But, you know, like he's been very good since the, well, maybe not very good, but pretty good since the end of the Yankee series. you know, Brennan's been, for the most part, great. Yeah, yeah.

Like, there's, there's a lot of stuff here to, to really feel positive about. And, like, to me, like, it's kind of like, you know, my, my, my weaknesses are actually my strengths or my strengths are actually my weaknesses or whatever. It's kind of that. But, like, to me, like,

maybe the most positive part about the start of the season is that the biggest issue is that you're, you know, your, your worst guys have been, your best guys, your best guys have been your worst guys, however you want to look at that, you know, like, because that doesn't feel sustainable, right? Yeah. At the very least, like, you've gotten some positive answers on some of the biggest question

marks that you had going into the season. And so it just feels like at some point, and maybe it's just at the flip of a switch, like this will all come together, hopefully. It usually seems to come at the flip of a switch. We just don't know when that switch is going to get flipped. That's baseball. And hopefully that starts tonight. You know, you got a division opponent coming to town, really good pitching staff,

but you got them in your home ballpark this time around. Place where, like you mentioned, for whatever reason, you seem to be more comfortable heading in right now than any other ballpark at the moment. You got an opportunity to flip the vibes around just like he did against the Astros. Just start winning series. Yeah. All right. So before we wrap up here, I want to quickly talk about why the Cole Emerson extension just continues to look better and better by the week. We go over that in just a moment. But first

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and you're listening to the lockdown marries podcast part of the lockdown podcast network your team every day as always if you want to hear from me and colby of more and help support the show we have a patreon it's called control the zone on there we talk merriss seahawks all i good stuff for more information go to patreon dot com forward slash control the zone link in the description of this episode will be live streaming later on today. So if you're subscribed to us, be sure to stop on by. Say hello. So it's been a little over two weeks since the Mariners signed Colt Emerson to his

eight year $95 million extension, which has the ability to turn into a $130 million extension for Emerson if he hits all of his escalators. And like we said at the time, even though there were some people that expressed doubts about the in concerns about that extension and we had said like this is a this is a great deal especially considering what is likely to come and what we meant by that is exactly what we've seen now with connor griffin and kevin mcgonigal so in the last two weeks since emerson signed his deal connor griffin of the pirates has signed a nine year hundred and forty million dollar deal and kevin mcgonigal has signed an eight year 150 million dollar deal now obviously

both of those guys are at the big league level mcgonigle's off to a great start to his major league career and that's probably you know helped to make a bit more money but that's not even all of the up-the-middle players who are widely considered to be better than colt emerson right now there's still Leo DeVries who might get paid by the A's we'll see it's the A's so who knows you know there's j J.J. Weatherholt who hasn't gotten paid yet by the Cardinals but midday has this contract probably again it because of what Griffin just made what McGonigal just made I know those two guys are at the major league level right now and Emerson isn't but still like that deal for the Mariners and getting that deal done specifically at the time that they did seems to be just an

absolute home run for them. Yeah. Look, I know Griffin is like in a class all his own. And there are many who would say McGonigal is also, you know, a tier above a cult Emerson. I don't really agree with that one, but whatever. Like Emerson's going to play shortstop. McGonagall, I don't know if he can.

Like he can fake it for a couple years, but I think he's going to move to second here pretty quick. And yeah, I think, you know, but the bottom line is, are those guys twice as good as Colt Emerson? Because they just got paid like they're twice as good or close to it at least. Nope, they're not. And, you know, again, this is what we talk about. Locking in your players to long-term deals is almost always a good thing. Because even what's the one that people point to as like, oh, well, it didn't work here.

Evan White. Oh, yeah, no, that destroyed you. Oh, you just couldn't recover from the Evan White contract. right so look colt emerson's going to be a good player there's very little doubt about that almost nobody doubts that he's going to be an all-star caliber player pretty close to it and that seems to be like the that seems to be the expectation for him not the ceiling even the expectation is that yeah he's probably going to be a you know three and a half four-win shortstop he's going to make some all-star teams he's going to hit 280 to 300 and we'll see where he's at power-wise but you know maybe 15 to 18 maybe 20

and we'll see if he can max out a little bit there. But he's going to play a pretty good shortstop. This was always a good deal. It was always a home run deal. It never really made sense to be concerned. And as we said at the time, there are 29 other teams in baseball who would sign Colt Emerson to that contract. Because while it is a risk,

every deal you make is. Every single move you make is a risk to some degree. It's a very low cost risk with a high, high upside reward. And the Mariners are going to reap the benefits of that. And, you know, again, Emerson still has work to do. I don't think he's, you know, days away from the majors or anything like that. But he had himself one heck of a game last night or two games last night, at least with the glove. And, you know, we know that he's 20 years old.

And he's going to be up before sooner than later. And he's going to be an incredible value when he is. And he's only making what, one million this year, two million next year. So if you're concerned that they lost so much value by paying him early, they didn't because they're not. And again, we'll see what. happens with the CBA, who knows, but you might have bought out a year for an extra year free agency. Because we don't know if players are going to have five years of club control or six in the new round of CBA. So there's just no reason not to get this done. The fact that they did get it done

as early as they did, it probably saved them, you know, a little bit of money in the short term. Obviously, the goal is to save a lot of money in the long term. And it is almost assured, it's almost assured that they absolutely are going to save a ton of money on Colt Emerson by getting him to sign this contract this early. And for Colt, take out the security he wanted. And now you can just focus on getting to the big leagues. And he's well on his way. Yeah.

And again, even if you feel that Connor Griffin is ahead of him, even if you feel Kevin McGonigal is ahead of him, if you signed Emerson after those guys got through deals, you're probably not signing him for eight years, $95 million. it's going to be more expensive than that. So getting that deal done specifically when they did is a huge, huge win for the Mariners. All right. Well, that's going to do it for our show.

Thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown Marries podcast. Part of the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. And once again, if you never miss an episode, it's time to make it official. Join the lockdown every day or club and get ad-free audio access to our members-only discord and more all built for our most loyal fans. For Colby Pat note, I'm Tad de Gazzal. let's be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Taday Gzalus and Colby at CPAT 11.

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