Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Seattle Mariners' Most Pressing Deadline Needs + What Does Success Look Like For Cole Young?

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

It's Mailbag Monday! Ty and Colby answer your Mariners questions, including what a successful rookie season looks like for Cole Young.DONATE TO OUR FEEDING AMERICA FUNDRAISERCheck out our Patreon!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11Follow the show on Bluesky: @lockedonmariners | @tdg | @mlbcolbySupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Wonderful PistachiosGet snackin' and get crackin' with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more! Supply HouseJoin the TradeMaster program today at SupplyHouse.com/TM and start ordering plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with just a few clicks. Plus, use promo code S-H-5 for 5% off your first order. That’s SupplyHouse.com! Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONMLB at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. 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.

Cole Young started his major league career with a walkoff for the Mariners. Now, what could the rest of his rookie season look like? We'll answer that of more coming up here on Mailbag Monday. 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 Monday, June 2nd, 2025.

This is Tedding Azolus and Colby Patnaud for the Lockdown Marys Podcast. part of the Locktime podcast network, your team every day. And as always, if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show, you can check out our Patreon. All you have to do to check that out is click the link in the description of this episode. Let's open up and up the mailbag like we do here every Monday and answer some of your mayor's questions. Real quick, though, before we get into Alex's question here, a couple of things.

One, obviously the mayor has announced this morning that they are officially going to retire Randy Johnson's number 51, next year, which is really cool. We will talk about that on tomorrow's show. Secondly, we have a really cool announcement coming later on in the show, so be sure to stick around for that. All right, Alex wants to know, I'm sure you'll be asked this a lot. We actually didn't.

You were the only person to ask this. But thoughts on Cole Young in his two games. I missed yesterday's game, most of it. I saw the walk off, but I missed Cole Young's second game. saw all of his at-bats on Saturday. Didn't watch the entirety of Saturday's game. I was busy this weekend. Had a friend visit that hasn't been here in almost four years.

So it was busy with all of that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, so I got to see Cole Young's really, really cool major league debut on Saturday. But Sunday seemed like maybe that was more of a Chris Paddock thing than a Cole Young thing. Do you have just any takeaways from the first two games for Cole? No, it's literally two games. Like, I just, I don't know like what I'm supposed to glean from eight at-bats. Like, I don't, you know, he struck out a couple times, but that paddock was just really good yesterday.

He had a hit. It wasn't hard hit, but it was a hit. I mean, he drew a walk. none of the pitches were particularly close to the strike zone, so it wasn't a difficult walk to draw. So it's just kind of one of those things where it's like, yeah, I mean, he looks comfortable, you know, in the box. He doesn't look like he's intimidated or anything like that,

but it's only eight at bats. You know, he's, I feel pretty comfortable that he's going to make quite a bit of contact yesterday again, just one of those days. Yeah, I mean, I don't really have much to say. He hasn't done anything super flashed. he hasn't done anything that's wowed me and I think that's honestly going to be Cole Young for most of his career. Like he is not the Cal Raleigh. He is not Julio Rodriguez where he just watch him.

He go, wow, like who else does that? Like, no, he's just going to be solid at just about everything across the diamond. And he's going to be kind of one of those boring players that you look up at the end of the year every time. And he's going to be three, four win guy. So, yeah, I really don't have much to say. right now. It's awesome that he got his first hit. It's awesome that he got the, you know, walk off fielders choice, which he did in his last full game with the rainiers just a couple days before, same exact thing. So yeah, I mean, that's all cool. And I'm excited to see him play and

hoping he brings some stability to second base. He should. He's definitely better than Miles Mastroponi at this point. So, yeah, but other than that, it's two games. Like, there's nothing new that I learned over the last two games. So this is probably a question that's better asked next week when we have, you know, 8, 9, 10 games, even then that's a small sample, but it's better than two. So yeah, I just, it looks like a big leaguer to me. I don't know what the numbers are going to look like at the end of the year, but I think he's going to give you a good app at, for the most part.

Every time he goes up there, he's going to make a lot of contact. I don't know what the county numbers. I don't think he's going to steal a ton of bases or he's going to pop a lot of homers or anything like that. But I think it'll get quality at bad. And again, like he's better than Miles Mastropony right now. He looks like he belongs. Like he looks like a big leader. And I guess that's probably the best I could say about a two game sample size.

Cooper wants to know what statistical season would be a success for Cole Young's first year, assuming he sticks. So we didn't actually really get a change. to talk about Young's call up in general because we had the Mena Kimes interview and then the R.M. Layton interview. We talked to Aram a little bit about expectations for Cole before we knew that he was getting called up this weekend. So I guess we can kind of just dive into that since you haven't really heard us talk about that yet. I would be thrilled if you could get like a 240, 320, 400-ish slash line out of him. I mean, I think you answered your own question there,

though, like assuming he sticks. Well, that means he's performed, at least enough to be an upgrade over what the Mariners are rolling out there at second base right now anyway. So, yeah, I think, you know, again, I'm not going to put county numbers on the table or anything like that because who knows. If he sticks, he's going to play probably 85, 90 games. There's about 108 of them left, right, or 105 of whatever, however mean, there's just over 100 games left. You probably want him playing 85, 90 of them if he's going to stick all year. So, yeah, county numbers, I don't know. I tell you, I think the ceiling, and this will scare some people,

but listen very carefully what I'm about to say. The ceiling for this year might be rookie year Dustin Ackley. Okay. And I believe in his rookie year, Ackley hit like 270 with like a 340 on base and some decent slug. I'll bring those numbers up. it was pretty decent. Did he come up as a second baseman, or was he an outfielder? And then he went to second.

Yeah. He came up as a second. Yeah. He came outfield. Yeah. Okay. So, so, yeah, he hit 273, 348, 417. 117 WRC plus.

He's a 3-1 player his rookie year. I feel like that is like the ceiling for Cole Young. Is that slash line right there? And he did that in 90 games. So what's reasonable for Cole Young? I think if he's, Based on his skill set, I think you're looking at 230-ish is reasonable. I think, you know, 315 to 325, somewhere in that range on the on base,

is a reasonable expectation to have. The slugging, I have no idea. We talked to Aram, and he has made some swing changes that has allowed him to lift the ball more and drive the ball with authority and all that. I just don't know how much home runs and doubles are going to be part of his game and the first time, you know, through the big league level, the power is typically the last thing to show up. So it's kind of one of those things. Like if he slugs 400, I think you're really happy with that. But if he's like, if he's hitting 230 and he's like 315, let's say 320, and he's

slugging 380. So he's just a 700 OPS guy. I think that's probably going to get you pretty close to 100 WRC plus. And then what he's going to give you defensively, what he's going to give you on the base paths. Again, not a great base stealer. He'll steal some bags, but not a big part of his game. But he's going to round the bases very well. He's going to cut the bases very well. He's going to score runs

that other guys wouldn't score. So he's a good base runner more so than a base stealer. I think you're looking at this, and I think what's a reasonable expectation for Cole Young is that he would be about a two, two and a half win paced player. So over 90

games, you're looking at a win, you know, one war, maybe 1.5 war or something like that. I think that's all very reasonable. Again, the ceiling, though, I would say is rookie or destiny. And if that happens, you're in really good shape. Yeah. Yeah. And obviously, this team has for years now since trading Robinson Gnob, been looking for an actual everyday second baseman. You know, they got that level of production out of 2020 Dillamore, but it's also 2020. right short in COVID season so that only counts kind of counts for like a third of a season basically

yeah um I really think that Cole young could be the guy that we all thought Dustin acley was going to be looking I know it's not a great comp because actually didn't end well here but you remember when he was coming up he was such a polished hitter and he was going to hit for average and he was going to get on base and maybe the power develops maybe it doesn't who knows but he's going to hit at the top of the or I think that's going to be Cole Young. Again, actually at his best was a really, really good player. Like we did see some like, yeah, we did really like see some really good signs out of him at times. And again, that rookie year he was a three one player.

I mean, that's incredible. Like would you take a three win season out of Cole Young this year? Absolutely. Right. Like the Marys haven't had that kind of production at second base in a very, very long time. So if he is rookie season, Dustin Acley, that is a home run. grand slam in my opinion. And again, sealing. Like that's the best I could see him doing. Yeah,

yeah, absolutely. All right. So we're going to answer more of your questions and then we're going to tell you about something fun we got coming up in just a moment. But first a reminder of this episode of the Locked-on Airs podcast is brought to you by wonderful pistachios. Looking for a snack that's both delicious and nutritious. Crack into a good source of protein with wonderful pistachios. Wonderful pistachios is one of the highest protein nuts. Each one out serving has six grams of protein, giving you over 10% of your daily value. Plus, they're packed with fiber and better for you unsaturated fats to help keep you feeling fuller, longer. Personally, I love the no-shells variety. It's the perfect grab-and-go snack for busy days. Whether I'm

snacking at my desk or on a road trip or just need a quick protein boost, they're always my go-to. And if you love cracking open every shell for that satisfying crunch, the in-shell options are a classic favorite. Get snacking and get cracking with a snack that packs a protein punch. Visit wonderful pistachios.com to learn more. And you're listening to the Locked-on Mariners podcast. So speaking of pistachios and speaking of food in general, Colby, we're kicking up an old favorite of ours. We're going on a new charity venture.

Tell us about it. Yeah, so a couple of years ago, we did a fundraiser. with Feeding America. And you guys stepped up and we raised just under $16,000 in the span of, I don't know, six weeks or so, give or take. And it's, you know, it led to Ty getting the tattoo that he had, although he was always going to get that. Blah, blah, blah. Well, we didn't do it last year. It was time to bring it back this year.

So, yeah, we have partnered up with Feeding America yet again to do a virtual food. drive. And if you guys missed it last time, I know we have a lot of new subscribers and whatnot, but Feeding America is a fantastic organization. They take donations and they provide food, meals to the food insecure. There are over 50 million people in the United States who are food insecure. They don't know where their next meal is going to come from. One in five children is food insecure. And now with school coming out for the summer and with grocery prices continuing to rise, that number is only going to go up as kids lose access to the one meal they get a day in school. So we're partnering up with them again.

And we chose Feeding America because they are obviously they do a really important thing. But you also get the most bang for your buck for every dollar raised. Feeding America can provide 10 meals to those facing food insecurity. It's a fantastic, you know, it's a fantastic value, so to speak. And they're just a fantastic organization. So we're partnering up with them again. Last time we did this, our goal was $500. And you guys smashed that in a day.

And we ended up with $16,000. Now, last time we did this, we also ended up with a couple of huge donos at the end. That really swayed the total. So they didn't want to go crazy with our expectation. We set a goal of $2,500. We'll see if we can get there. I hope we do. But yes, it is you can donate however much you want.

You can donate anonymously. You can put your name on it, whatever. It doesn't matter. just know that every dollar you donate is 10 meals to somebody who doesn't know where their next meal is coming from. Ty and I are also getting in on the action if you guys want to donate, but you just don't have the means right now. You hit the subscriber button and you subscribe to this podcast for every new subscriber we get. Ty and I will donate 10 cents, which is one meal. So you guys can donate a meal without even spending any money.

Just subscribe to the channel and know that you're donating a meal as well. So yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun. It was totally awesome to track this progress a couple years ago and check the donation feed a couple times throughout the day. The link will be in the description down below again. If you guys can't donate, please subscribe so we can donate a meal. But if you can, please do. It would be spectacular. It's awesome to track that progress.

And again, it's one in five kids. Don't know where their next meal is coming from. We can help some of those kids. So I hope you guys do. and last time you were all incredibly generous with your donations. But again, please consider donating. If you can't donate,

please subscribe to the channel. That will also go into the donation fund. Any dollar amount helps guys. It's something that Ty and I really enjoyed doing last time and we're hoping to find similar success this time. So the link to that will be in the description of all the episodes, probably until about the All Star Break, I think is how long we're going to run this too. Well, yeah, guys.

let's make it happen let's get some meals to people who could really really use them we would really appreciate your help all the information will be in the description and we'll be sure to remind you guys about it over the course of the next few weeks on pretty much every episode I'm pretty sure also and chris will be doing that as well on the postcast so yeah Cameron wants to know are there any bullpen moves to make right now they've had to work really hard recently someone like fujanami help at all on fujanami I mean if you want another out or bus guy sure but there's going to be a lot of bus there's going to be a lot of bust involved there but also the stuff is incredible and if you're like if you're in a if you're in a do or die

situation you know basis loaded you're on the road of you know a fly ball ends the game doesn't even have to be a hit sure bring in fujanami at that point but yeah that's like a understand he's just as likely to hit the guy as he'll strike him he'll sail the ball 20 feet over cal's head Like the odds are you're still losing that game. But it's like we have to have a strikeout or we lose anyways, then sure. But I mean, that also describes Matt Brash kind of right now. So, you know, it's one of those things. Fujina, I mean, like Casey Lawrence is sitting in your bullpen right now.

Yeah. So would Fujinaami be more valuable than Lawrence? Probably. But Lawrence might be there for a reason. Yeah. So, yeah, I talked about this. I don't, when they had the terrible games and extras back-to-back days, I just don't know what the move is to make.

Because nobody in the time was thrown out of the organization. What's that? You have to go outside of the organization at this point. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like nobody's thrown the ball that well in Tacoma. I guess you could go down to AA, Burgess is thrown the ball pretty well. Yeah, Burgess and Hobbes. Yeah, and Hobbs.

So maybe that's where you go. But, yeah, like, Fujimami's way too inconsistent. They just traded Will Klein for Joe Jacques. So maybe that's the guy now, the lefty who's 30 years old and his career minor leaguer. I don't know. Lefty, weird arm slot. It's like a 10-degree arm angle. Maybe.

And we know that the low arm angles play pretty well at Team Mobile. You know, Cody Bolton was recently DFA. He hasn't been very good this year, but the Mariners know. him and they liked him at one point. So yeah, I just don't see any like obvious bullpen moves that you can make. And, you know, they already leg amina's down and he's got to be down for another week or so before that's even an option. But yeah, it's just one of those things. I don't think they have another arm in the pile that they could go get. The answer is not putting Logan Evans in the bullpen. Not on, not in June. Nope, you need to keep him stretched out, especially with Miller and Kirby and maybe the other Logan. We'll see if he gets.

back, but certainly with Bryce, you know, being as shaky as he still is, you might need Logan to re-to-enter the rotation pretty quick. So he's not an option. I don't like his stuff would play that well in the bullpen anyways. Yeah, I mean, I just look at what's in the org. I don't know there's a move that you can make that would make you markedly better out of the pen. So you kind of stuff of what you have. And again, with the, what the starters, like specifically Hancock and Evans, like even if they did, even if you felt like they could play up in the bullpen with the shaky health in this rotation really throughout. Like, I don't think you can run the risk of having those guys move to the bullpen and then having to, you know, get ramp back up and in case you need them to start again. I don't think this is a conversation you can have until August.

Yeah. Like if you get to August and the rotation's healthy and they're going pretty good. A starter at the deadline. Yeah. Yeah, then maybe. You can make that happen. But right now, no chance. You're not risking that.

No, no. Yeah, you're kind of stuck with what you have right now. And guys just need to pitch better. And, you know, we're not going to really get a chance to talk about it. But a hat tip to Colin Snyder, who bounced back in a big way after his disaster against the Nationals. Got some help from his friends, but that's why they're there. And he threw two shutout in extras after just getting obliterate. rated on what was that Wednesday night against the national so yeah guys just need to step up they need to pitch better moodyos is better than he has been the last couple days we know that brash starting to look like he's on a normal schedule maybe co-ar can step up a little bit as they ease him and i guess one name i will mention that is down in triple a i just don't know where he's at in his rehab health-wise but trevor got is down there and he's a established big lear so

he's coming off with Tommy John as well. It sounded like he was a couple weeks behind CoR, but he's in AAA right now too. So that could be a guy that they call up pretty quick. So that's probably, it's probably not Fujimami who's next. It's probably Trevor God. You're listening to the Locked on Airs podcast.

It is Mailbag Monday. We got a couple more questions to go over here. D. Panky wants to know if the trade deadline was today and you can only make two upgrades to the roster, what would you do? For what it's worth, Theles, had only a 425 OPS at home going into today. I would get offense at literally anywhere, but catcher.

It doesn't matter. I can find a way to get them into the lineup and I can get them at a position. So just get offense. First base is obviously a place where there's going to be a lot of options on the market, though. So first base seems likely. First base are core outfield. Those are the two most likely spots that you're going to get someone and get someone for relatively cheap. And then bullpen.

so I would get a bat and I'd get a bullpen arm and I'd get someone that's like I don't want to spend an arm and a leg to go get two months of Ryan Helsley if he's even available to cardinals are playing really well right now so that it's possible that he's not even available but like I don't want to do the Cole Regans for a roll this Chapman thing I don't want to do that but could I get the Jimmy Garcia trade again or could I get I be more willing to pay a higher prospect cost for a reliever if it means that I'm also getting him for next year, like Pete Fairbanks. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely feels like they need another guy in the back. Now, if I only get two,

then I'm going best bat I can get and I'll figure out how to get them, you know, in the lineup. And then I'm doing a bullpen arm as well. I think what you need is you need the best bat you could possibly get. You need a good quality role player.

And then you need bullpen help, preferably one high leverage type and then probably one mid leverage guy would also be nice. And hey, I just described the 2024 trade deadline. Do that again. And I'll be perfectly happy. So yeah, I think, but if I had to prioritize too, give me the best bad I can possibly afford. That's possibly available even. And then give me a high leverage bullpen arm, but probably not top of the market. I'd be totally fine with another Garcia like a trade because that would have worked out totally fine.

It just dude got hurt. It happens. And then J.T. Chagua is kind of a sneaky, nice addition, whatever. So yeah, give me what you did last year. I'll be perfectly happy with that. Next question from Michael, 30 for 76 up to May 3rd, 8 for 73 cents then. Polo has to go. IL, DFA.

How close is Luke Rayleigh to coming back? So I answer the second question there real quick. Rayleigh is supposed to go out on a rehab assignment literally any day this week. Yeah. Is it tomorrow? Did they officially announce that? That's what they initially said was. Okay.

Yeah. So, yeah. So Rayleigh is going to, it's going to take him a while. We'll see how long he necessarily needs to be down there. But, you know, he has this one. He said at least a week. I would count on two or three. Yeah.

But it's, it's been a while. It's been over a month. since he suffered that injury. So I assume that's going to take him a little while to get back. But yeah, so the wheels are in motion on that front. As for Polanco, yeah, it's been bad. And they continue to insist on him hitting second in the lineup, which is terrible. Makes no sense whatsoever.

He has been statistically their worst hitter of all 13 guys on their roster right now. He's, you know, hitting the ball on the ground way too much right now. It's not necessarily that he's like swinging and missing a ton more. Like, I mean, he is than he was in March and April. But it like he's only striking out, I think, like 18 or 19% of the time right now in the month of May. So it's not crazy. But really, yeah, the thing that's killing him right now is he's just hitting the ball on the ground too much. And clearly, like, it seems like he's dealing with something.

I mean, he's at least dealing with something that's keeping him from playing in the field and hitting from the right side with any sort of consistency again. But even from the left side, I kind of. wonder if maybe the knee's bothering him again or something like that. But it just seems like he is all kinds of out of whack right now. They still feel like it's not, you know, like it doesn't warrant an IL trip. Again, if they did do that, I think at that point you should consider calling up Harry Ford because at that point you have the path to actually give him regular playing time as a DH and then give Cal some more DH days, which you could use or just, you know, some off days in general.

forbid. Yeah. I'll get a full day off. Yeah. But once a trimester. So I'm a fan of the idea of putting a polo on the aisle. I don't know if it necessarily fixes anything for him. But I am,

I am a fan of at least trying that, giving him a break and then, you know, using that time to maybe call up Harry Ford and see what he can do. Yeah. They're most certainly not DFA in him. Like, Polo is going to be on this roster for the entire year. Yeah.

I mean, maybe he's on the IL, but he's going to be in the org for the entire year. No question about that. So that is not an option. Yeah. But at the very least, if you don't want to IL him, I don't really know why. I mean, maybe it doesn't warrant it and they don't want a grievance or blah, blah, I don't know, whatever. Yeah. Then he can't hit second.

And I understand that you don't really have like the horses right now because, I mean, if Randy was swinging the bat better, then you'd probably just move everybody else up one spot and dump Polo in like the five, six hole. But Randy's not swinging the bat well right now either. So like Polo is still hitting four or five probably, even this version of him. But yeah, I mean, even if it's just for a week, I think I'd rather have like Cal hit second, Julio hit third, Randy four. And in the right matchups, I'd probably rather have Rowdy up there hitting five over Polo right now. So they need to move him down. At the very least, he cannot hit second at the very least.

But yeah, I do think they should consider ILing him. And even if they don't want to call up for it at that point, because I mean, maybe they just don't think Kerry Ford is ready. That is also a possibility. Maybe it's not just about playing time. But if they don't want to do that, you'd still rather have dominant can zone, you know, getting DH at bats right now than this version of Polo.

stop, wipe that, look off your face. Canzone's been good in Tacoma. Again, Polo is literally your worst player. A lot of guys are good in Tacoma. A lot of guys are good in July. Dom Canzone literally cannot be worse than the version of Jorge Polanco we're seeing right now. Because the version of Jorge Polanco we're seen right now is like the worst player in baseball. So, yeah.

But anyways, they're not going to DFAM. I would hope the I L thing is on the table. but so far it's not. So at the very least, the least acceptable thing the mayors can do with the polo right now or most, whatever. They need to move back. He can't hit second.

Next question here from Matthew. I thought Colby asked a real fun question of Aram during your guys interview with him. Aram Leighton, of course. Be sure to check out that interview, by the way, if you haven't already. I thought that was a really, really good one. A lot of information, a lot of really good information there

about the mayor's current farm system and the draft. In regards to the draft, what is better the, what is better? The players, you can draft at three or the bonus pool money. What do you guys think? So answering your own question, what do you think is the better route here for the Maris? I do think it was a great question. Thank you.

Yeah. I think it's interesting, you know, because when they got this pick and blah, at the beginning of our process, it's like, yeah, just take the absolute best player you can. Don't mess around with this, blah, blah, blah. Well, as we learn more and more about this draft class, it feels like there's a lot of gray in like who is the best player and all that. So, you know, as it continue to learn more and more, I'm becoming more and more a fan of the approach that the Guardians took last year where they took Bazana and they still got them, though, for drastically under slot. And the Guardians also had, they were surprising winner of the

lottery. They didn't expect to have that pick. They had a comp round A pick as well. And so they had the highest bonus pool last year and the Mariners earned basically the same exact spot. They didn't quite win the whole lottery, but they got really close and they got the bone, they got the comp around A pick. And you look at what the, what the guardians were able to do last year and some of the guys they were able to pay way over slot for. They had a fantastic draft class. And they still got the guy that they thought was the best player in the draft. I think the Mariners have an opportunity to do that right now. So I think the bonus pool money right now is something that is too much of an opportunity. We talk about they're probably never going to pick three again.

You hope that they're not going to pick three again. But they're also never going to have a draft pool, a bonus pool quite like this. And so I want them to take advantage at that. And I hope it's not a thing where they're like, yeah, we're going to all that money that we have, we're going to spend it on the talking one player all the way down to 35 and have two first round. I hope it's not that. I would rather they spread the money and go get multiple bites at the Apple. But I think that the bonus full money and the flexibility that will provide the Mariners is going to be more valuable than the jump they make from picking, what are they supposed to pick like 16. Yeah.

And this is a group that's obviously found Cow Raleigh in the third and Bryce Miller in the fourth and Brian Wu in the six. You know, so like they have proven. Andy Thomas in the fifth. which turned who did he turn into turkis alley yeah not great cool story

didn't really do a whole lot for the mayor is like on the field but is Andy Thomas even playing for the Giants no no no okay um there you yeah yeah um but yeah like they've they've proven capable of finding incredible value

uh later on and you know day two um yeah Aidan Smith was another guy right helped to at Randy or Rosarena along with Brody Hopkins. Yeah. So, yeah, they could have a lot of fun in the later rounds of this draft with all that bonus pool money.

I mean, they have the largest bonus pool of any team heading into this draft. And they could still do incredibly well at number three on top of that. You know, it might be possible that they just think, like if they take Kaiser Witherspoon, who would probably come in under slot at least a little bit there at number three, they might just think that he's the best pitcher in the draft. They might just think that he's better than Jamie Arnold and Liam Doyle and all those guys, right? By the way, side note on this, if they take a pitcher, or sorry, if they take a college player at three, which seems to be the buzz right now, they're probably going to get them for under slot. It just college players aren't going to do better if they go back for a senior year.

And so they're going to take what they can get. But yeah, if you go down the board just a tiny bit to like Witherspoon, who's going to be like 8, 19, 10th pick, you would save even more. But yeah, just to put it out there, they take a college guide, the plan is probably for them to go underslot. It just depends on how much. Yeah. So even, you know, you could get Arquette or whoever, right? And then still have a ton of fun in the later rounds, right? Not just at the competitive balance round eight pick at 35.

And even if they go overslaught at 35, they can still have a lot of fun for the rest of the draft because of all the money that they have available. Yeah. So I'm really excited. excited about that and I think just for that reason alone they're going to get more value over the course of their other picks outside of three and I mean just there's more chances right there's more bites of the apple there so the odds to me just are are in your favor on that front as well especially because there isn't just like a top top dude that's going like a just clear cut like this guy is a future MLB superstar type of prospect there there are like three there are like 10 guys who can conceivably in the top three and you'd be like yeah that makes sense yeah yeah last question of the day comes from john brown's beard bryce miller can't seem to get over his issues with his elbow but needs to pitch through the season could he be shifted to a bullpen arm or opener and logan evans

takes a spot in the rotation at that point i'm just shutting him down for the year uh if it gets to a point where he can't be in the rotation anymore i'm just shutting him down for the year i'm letting him get the surgery, get out ahead of that. So there, you know, hopefully aren't any issues going into spring training next year. I'm just shutting that thing down. I'm not forcing him to pitch in any sort of different role and kind of adjust to that, all that while he's dealing with this. You're in a little bit of a tight spot with Miller, though.

I think you do need to give him another five, six starts to kind of see your new plan is helping him a little bit. And he had one of his best innings in his first start. it's just the next inning was bad. So it was pretty inconsistent there. But I do think you need to give him at least a handful of starts to kind of see if your new regiment is helping him and if you can pitch through it or not. So, but yeah, at that point, then if it's not, you can get the surgery and he's out for the year. Or you can maybe send him down and try and then you get to September.

And it's like, let's because at some point, you know, the mayors make the playoffs, one of these guys in the rotation is going to the bowl. then for the playoff run. And Bryce's stuff in one inning sample, we literally saw it on Saturday. Yeah. It's really good. The splitter, 96, 97 fastball, good knuckle curve. Like, you can get big outs for you.

So, but if they, once they, once they do the surgery, that's not an option anymore. But you don't want to give him the month of June to figure it out, realize he can't do it. And then you're just, what, you're going to sit there for a couple months and not have them get the surgery. you're just in a really weird situation with Bryce because if you do want to keep the bullpen thing, the bullpen option open for him later in the year, he can't have the surgery. But you can't just keep him in the rotation until you get to the point where, you know, moving him to the bullpen makes sense. So you're going to end up with this block a gray area.

And at that point, you put him on the IL and he doesn't pitch for a couple, for a month. You probably want to try him out in the rotation again at that point. So it's, there are a lot of like little gray. areas here with Bryce. I think ultimately the best thing to do if he can't figure it out in the rotation this year, it would just get it cleaned up. Let's get, let's come back next year, ready to go and just be happy that we trust Logan Evans and Hancock enough to survive this one season injury. And you know, maybe you go get an Andrew Heaney at the deadline and he slots in anyways, blah, blah, blah. But yeah, yeah, I do think though that you have to give Bryce at least

another four or five times to the rotation before we really can start to have a conversation about like he's toast it's not going to happen this year get the surgery because the mayors think they have a way to help him Bryce thinks he has kind of a regiment but we have to see like it wasn't dreadful on Saturday but it wasn't good either so no it's just too not enough of a sample to tell again if it just if it gets to the point where it's like Logan Evans and Emerson Hancock are just better options than Bryce Miller right now At that point, I would just, I would just shut him down and just get the surgery. I think that's the smartest way to go.

But there, I do understand the question. Yeah, no, we got asked us like three or four times by the way under the tweet. In theory, it makes sense. Well, if you could get the surgery, like this was out there. You get the surgery. He'll have to miss six weeks. And then he'll need like another four weeks to build back up arm strength. That would put them mid-August, give or take.

But he would, you knew that he would. be able to pitch again this year. Would you then be like, okay, let's get the surgery and then we'll just put him in the hole pen for the rest of the year? Yeah, yeah, I do it. But because this is going to take the surgery according to Bryce will take him out for the entire year. Well, so that's the other thing too, right? So talking about the timeline. So like, I'd rather just get the surgery sooner rather than later if that's what we're ultimately heading towards. And he's just not a better option on the rotation than Emerson or Logan or both, right? You know, I don't want to risk him. not being ready for spring training or not being ready for opening day if I can help that.

No, Bryce Miller is just like, you still see Bryce Miller as a huge part of your future. And so you don't want to sabotage his 26, his 27 season to have him pitch in 25 at 70%. Like, that just doesn't make any sense for you or him, frankly. All right. Well, that is going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdowner's podcast for Colby. Pat node. I'm Tiding Gazzalas. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Tiding Gzalus and Colby at C-P-A-T-A-T-1-1. We're also on

Blue Sky. You can follow me at TDG, Colby at MLB Colby, and the show at Lockdown Mariners. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok at Lockdown Mariner's. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you next time. Peace.