Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Seattle Mariners Shakeup Bullpen Before Houston Comes to Town

Episode Date: May 27, 2022

Hosts Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby Patnode preview the Mariners' weekend series with the Astros, discuss a recently DFA'd player that could be of interest to the team and why swapping Drew Steckenrider for Roenis Elias likely won't change anything.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/Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.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.

Coming out of their day off on Thursday, the Mariners are back at it to host the Astros for the second time this season at T-Mobile Park. We'll get you set for the weekend series and also talk about the notable roster move Seattle made yesterday here on the Lockdown Mariners 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. It is Friday, May 27, 2020, 22, and this is the Locked-on Mariners podcast. Thank you so much for making us your first. Listen of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. I'm your host, Taday Gonzalez,

reporter and editor over at all Seahawks.com. Join as always by my co-host, Colby Patnode. Be sure to follow the show on Twitter at L0 underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Dane Gonzalez, C-P-A-N-E, N-ZL-Z and Colby at C-Pat 11. That's C-P-A-T-1-1. Be sure also check out our Patreon at page.com forward slash control the zone. We typically post two additional shows on there every week and get into some bigger ideas and bigger topics, whereas Lockdown Mariners covers more of the day-to-day with the M. So we also get into some non-baseball discussions on Control the Zone as well. It's fun time.

So be sure to check it out. Again, that's patreon.com forward slash control the zone. And if this is your first time joining us here on the Lockdown Mariners podcast, welcome to the show. If you like what you hear, give us a follow or subscribe. Wherever you listen to this. And if you're watching us on YouTube, hit the subscribe button. Turn on the notification bell and give this video a thumbs up. We greatly appreciate it.

We're going to be getting into the latest roster move of the Mariners made. which is pretty noteworthy. They also made a corresponding move today. So we'll get into that a little bit. We're also going to be talking a little bit about a player that was recently DFAed that Colby likes for the Mariners. But first, let's get into the series that is starting tonight between the Astros and the Mariners.

I've calmed down a little bit after Wednesday, after Wednesday's series loss of the A's. But it's still, you know, not a great time right now watching the Mariners there. are nine games under 500. They are last place in the American League West. And the first place Astros are coming to town. They are 29 and 16. Obviously guys like Jeremy Pena, Jose Altuve,

Jordan Alvarez, Michael Brantley, they continue to do their thing. And this is going to be a pretty difficult series for the Mariners to survive. There is a very real possibility here that the Mariners at the end of this by Monday, by the next time that we get on the show, our 12 games under 500

and we talked about why that is a massive massive massive problem on Wednesday's episode our last episode of Lockdown Mariners and the pitching matchups are not really favorable for the Mariners either they get Justin Verlender

tonight who they've really struggled against in two starts to start this season and they are countering with Chris Flexen then it's Jose or Kiti going on the bump for the Astros tomorrow with Logan Gilbert going for the Mariners. That's probably their most favorable matchup talking about the Mariners, that is.

And then Marco Gonzalez versus Luis Garcia on Sunday. I believe that will be the first time the Mariners are seeing Garcia this year. So, yeah, Colby. This is a pretty daunting matchup for the Mariners, considering the way that they're struggling right now and coming off of a series loss to the A's of all teams, one of the worst teams in baseball. I mean, anything less than a sweep is a win for the Mariners, right?

Sadly, yes. This is why it seems so important to get at least two or three from Oakland so that you can, even if you get swept, you know, it wouldn't be a disaster. You'd still be two and four heading out onto the road trip. But now you get swept. You go one in five at home after going four and six on the road, after going, I don't know, what was it?

like two and seven on the last homestand like it just it starts to pile up and it just becomes you get to a point where you can play fantastic baseball for the rest of the year and you've just filled up the hole you've dug yourself and you've barely started to build up the other side before you just run out of time so they have to find a way to to win one of these games it's certainly not ideal but they win one of these games and they're 10 games under as a opposed to 12. So it's a pretty big swing if they can find a way to win one of these. But like you said, it's the pitching matchups. They're not your friend, but, you know, the Mariners don't really care what the pitching matchups are because they beat Max Scherzer

and Kevin Gossner with their number four in the same week. So while losing to the A's three, four and five. So, yeah, it's, we'll see what happens. But yeah, you can't feel too good with Verlander on bump tonight. He's been great against everybody, but particularly the Mariners. So yeah, it's not looking good. I'm interested to see Julio Rodriguez versus Joseph Verlander in particular because the first matchup, obviously Julio looked completely utterly overmatched against Verlander. Then the second matchup looked a little bit better. Didn't he have a single in that game? I can't remember, but he didn't strike out a bunch. That's really the important part there. He didn't look as overmatched the second time.

So now getting to see Verlander a third time. I mean, outside of Scher, Verlander is probably the best pitcher that, starting pitcher that is, that Huli has had to face so far. And yeah, it'll be interesting to see how he, how he kind of adjusts.

In general, I would assume that the lineup is going to be pretty similar to what we saw in the last two games against the A's with Winker leading off, maybe Frazier hitting third again, with with France in between and then Julio hitting cleanup, et cetera.

Considering where this lineup is and the injuries that have been sustained and everything, are there, I mean, other than that lineup that they put together, is there maybe like a better way to approach that? Because I know that, you know,

you've wanted Winker in the, in the lead off spot for a while. They're now doing that. That's the one spot that he's been consistently really good in wherever he's played. But aside, from that are there any other changes you would make to this lineup right now yeah it's there's really not a lot you can do because guys just have to hit better i mean it there's a certain

element of like you're just rearranging deck chairs on the titanic after it hit the iceberg there there's nothing that you can do until you stop you know taking on water so um it guys have to hit better and you know we we did see jp start to swing it a little bit in the oakland series um hulio was was pretty good in the Oakland series, obviously. You know, Winker looked a little bit better, but Ty France continues to hit. Frazier had a really bad series. So, you just ultimately, you need guys to hit better.

And it's nice that Lewis is there, and it's nice that, you know, you can kind of, you know, lengthen the lineup a little bit by having him in there, in theory, tonight. We'll see how he's feeling after playing back-to-back days, even after the off day. But yeah, the guys just have to hit better. You need more consistency from Adam Frazier, who's kind of been up and down, up and down. You need a winker to look like he's looked for his entire career

with the exception of these six weeks. And if those things start to happen, Julio finds some kind of level. Obviously, he won't be a 350 hitter for the rest of the year. But if you can find, you know, just be solid average, have Kyle Lewis be solid average. Then the order that they hit him really not going to matter all that much. They just, they have to hit.

And unfortunately, there's not enough with them hitting right now that there's no, like, magic. Like, well, those three guys have to be together because they have to all hit. Like, you know what I mean? It just doesn't really exist because on a night-to-night basis, there usually aren't three guys who are swinging the bat really well in the Mariners lineup. So guys just have to hit better. Yeah, you know, there's been a conversation on Twitter the last couple days of like, who's to blame for the Mariners' recent struggles?

And right now, you know, there's a lot of people pointing the finger at Jerry. There's a lot of people pointing the finger at Scott's service and his staff. There's a lot of people pointing the finger at John Stanton in the ownership group. But really, I think it's more, you know, it comes down to really two key things. One, players are just not performing, as you said, guys are just not hitting. Guys like Jesse Winker who last year, you know, in this off season we sung the praises of after they got him, was one of the best hitters in all of baseball. he hasn't performed anywhere close to that this year.

You know, Adam Frazier has been kind of streaky. J.P. Crawford has been kind of streaky. A. U.N. I.O. Saboras has been really streaky, right? And then you got a couple of guys who are really like true, you know, two outcome, three outcome hitters where it's like, all right, you know, this guy is only, you know, he's only going to strike out or he's going to hit a bomb here. There's, you know, like guys like Taylor Tremel right now. We're in the lineup and have a 50, 50, 50, lit walks and strikeouts right now through three games and you know that's just and then you know the

the other key thing here as well is is the lack of depth and that kind of goes into uh the discussion about the bottom of this lineup and having you know multiple black holes at the bottom of your lineup for the most part because you know they've sustained injuries with hanniger and murphy most prominently and they don't have the depth to survive that to withstand that and so you're you're seeing this all kind of come together where there's a lot of streaky hitters and there's which we've seen through and through already here through the first month and a half it's it's pretty common for a lot of these guys to to go on a you know a one week hot streak and then just fall apart for the next 10 days and so you pair that with the lack

of depth and this team is just it's not conducive to scoring runs consistent with any sort of you know consistency on a nightly basis so you know who's Who knows? Who knows how it's going to go tonight, tomorrow, and the next day against the Astros? This team can very well explode, and, you know, like, even with the way that they're playing, I would not be surprised if somehow they found a way to take two or three from the Astros. But the more likely scenario here, of course, is that they're going to get absolutely obliterated, because on paper, that's what that suggests. This matchup, this is just an awful matchup for them right now where they currently are,

and just they're not playing with a ton of confidence either right now, and nor should they really be, you know, playing with any sort of confidence because they've just, they've been beaten down over the last month or so. So, you know, hopefully the off day, you know, allowed them to maybe reset. And, you know, who knows if there was, you know, kind of how last year that we heard about, you know,

there was like clubhouse meetings and impromptu player meetings and stuff like that. and maybe there's been something like that to maybe build up the energy back in that clubhouse but overall it's just yeah it's a rough time rate for the Mariners so there was a player recently DFA that you're interested in we're gonna be talking about him

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There are recaps of MLB games with analysis from our local experts, taking fans through the season like no other network. It is free and available wherever you get your podcast just like us. So let's step into this player that you're pretty intrigued by. Yu Chang of the Cleveland Guardians was recently DFAed. He was a former well-regarded prospect in that system. He's an infielder. spots.

It just hasn't been able to hit at the major league level. But tell me why you're interested in him for the Mariners. Have you seen Dylan Moore play? Next segment. But no, you, you, Chang was actually pretty good in 2021 relative to his role and relative to what the Mariners are currently getting out of kind of that utility infield role where they're not even willing to use Sam Haggurty. Dylan Moore is a dumpster fire of a hitter at the plate and not that good of a right fielder either.

And you just kind of look at what you Chang did last year. He was 75th percentile, max exit velo, 81st percentile. In sprint speed, 86 percentile and outs above average. You know, the overall numbers don't look great in 250 plate appearances. About half a year, give or take. He hit 14 doubles, three triples, nine home runs, hit 228 with a 267. and on base in a 426 slug. I know there are people out there who like to gatekeep improvement and say that's not a big

enough improvement, but again, I refer you to Dylan Moore's numbers. And you tell me that that wouldn't be a big improvement. He can play second, short, third base. He's even played some first base. Pretty good base runner. He does have some power. The 426 slug is pretty nice. It does strike out a little too much, which is, you know, part of the issue.

Part of the reason why he was DFAed. He does not have any options left either. so you have to carry him for the rest of the, well, as long as you want to carry him, I should say. So it's not like you can stash him in AAA, but hey, you know who you could stash in AAA? Dylan Moore. So, yeah, I just, I feel like this guy is better than Dylan Moore. I feel like there's still some upside here. He's also got some of the traits that Jerry really likes.

He's a former, not top prospect, but he is a. a former legitimate prospect, let's say, who has produced fairly well in the minor league level. He's a good athlete. He has got some power, some right-handed power, and he feels like a guy that the Mariners might be able to help overall. So what do I want you, Chang? Well, first of all, he's not dealing more. Second of all, the Mariners might actually be able to get something out of their utility spot. And, you know, he's got some right-handed power, which is nice to come off the bench. He's a pretty good base runner, add some speed to the bench as well. So I just look at what the Mariners have currently on their bench. Mike Ford, Dylan Moore,

Sam Haggertie, those are those are, those are, with all due respect, those are nobody's. Like there's a 0% chance any of those guys are long-term answers for the Mariners. And there is a, albeit small chance, there is a chance nonetheless that Yu-Chang could be, could develop himself into a nice role with the Mariners, maybe some. the way Aledmus Diaz has kind of played his way into a role with the Houston Astros. So that's why I'm interested in you, Chang. I just feel like he represents a significant upgrade to the bench. And whether it's still more Sam Haggurty or even Mike Ford,

I feel like you're better off with Chang on your bench than you are any of those guys. So another thing to note here on Chang is that he's only played in 12 total games this year between AA, AAA, AAA, and Major League Baseball. So he hasn't had time to get ramped up and doing a little bit of research here while you were talking. He went on the COVID list on April 15th and was not activated from it until May 13th. So nearly an entire month on the COVID list, not sure if that was entirely because of COVID or there was another injury there. But that's also something to kind of keep in mind here is if he was dealing with kind of an extended bout with COVID, how that might impact. him the rest of the way here and impact him physically.

So just something to keep in mind there, if you are adding Chang is like he's going to need time to get ramped up here because he hasn't played much this season. So but yeah, I mean like had to add it. Yeah, dad it. So it's an interesting shot though. It's an interesting shot though. If you're if you want to take I mean because you need to try something here right. Like the current group of players that you have right now. It's just not working, particularly with your bench guys.

And, you know, it's not great. It's not, you know, Ching isn't, you know, there isn't really a lot of promise necessarily, but it's just, it's a shot and it's not going to cost you really anything to get him. So again, I refer you to the current Mariners bench and look at their numbers. Yeah. So might as well just take the shot, quite frankly. and see if you can get something out of them,

see if maybe you change the scenery and see if you can implement a plan there with him that gets him back on track and just roll with it. Because, you know, like you said, he is a talented player. And, you know, and again, a former highly regarded prospect. You know, there's still talent there

that can be tapped into potentially there. And so, and the Mariners have been, you know, pretty solid at doing that with certain guys and raising players' floors, raising players' ceilings, and, you know, going from there, and they've gotten some pretty nice contributions out of guys like that. So you never know.

It's always worth just kicking the tires in these situations. So we'll see if they do that. The Mariners also made a roster move yesterday that was pretty notable, and they made a corresponding move today that goes along with that. So we are going to be talking about that in just a moment.

But real quick, a reminder of this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by Bet Online. Our partners at BetOnline continue to be the number one source for all your betting needs and sports info. Find all the latest odds, news and sports developments, including this year's basketball playoffs, Major League Baseball scores, fights, and even next season set NFL futures. But Online is your continued source for all your sporting wager information from live betting to playoffs, e-sports and more. Heads on the website or use your mobile device to learn more about the trends and action. Bet Online is where the game starts. So the Mariners have option. Drew Steckermrider, right-hand reliever, down to AAA Tacoma.

Obviously, last few audience for Steckham Rider have been a struggle. He has been nowhere near as productive as he was last year, which is kind of tied into a lot of the returning relievers for the Mariners this year as well. That's kind of been kind of been the trend here, unfortunately. Thankfully, Paul Seawald has been able to avoid most of that regression. He's been, you know, he's had a couple of rough outings here and there. But for the most part, Seewald has been solid. Sergio Romo has been solid.

Andres Munoz has shown some stuff, but has obviously had some struggles here and there as well. But the Mariners, you know, we talked about it. They needed to do something. And you mentioned sending Steck and Ryder down as something that they could do on Wednesday's episode as something that, you know, maybe they could do to just shake things up and send a jolts into this team a little bit. by sending down a more prominent name, a more noteworthy name in this organization right now. So yeah, so what do you think about the decision to move on from Steck and Ryder? Well, not really move on.

He's still in the organization. They can still call him up when they want to. He had two options, minor league options remaining. But what do you think about the move to send him down here? And do you think that sends maybe a message to this group at all? I think, I hope so. I mean, Steckenrider is making $3 million this year, and the Mariners sent him to the miners, to the bus leagues. So I would hope that would serve as some kind of wake up call.

But again, ultimately, guys just have to play better. Like, it really is as much as we say, well, maybe that's the turnaround point. Maybe that, well, it could be if they magically start to play better, you know, as a result. Maybe not even as a result. Maybe they're a better team than we think. and then they start to play better just because they're more talented than they're performing right now. So I certainly hope that's the case. I think it's a move that had to be done, you know, ultimately, going from him to Elias,

you probably didn't really upgrade much, as much as I like Rowanus. Pretty much you trust him to do the same thing you would trust Steck and Ryder to do right now, which is not a lot. So it's, you know, it's just kind of a lateral move at most. hey, you know, I like Rowanus. He seems like a good guy. And, you know, there's certainly the possibility that he's helpful and he's an upgrade. But, yeah, there's not a ton of value going from Steck and Reuter to Alias.

It's just kind of a lateral move. But it is, you know, if nothing else, it's a wake up call that, you know, hey, just because you're making some money on this team doesn't mean we won't replace you. Yeah. So as you mentioned, Rowanus, Elias, called up. He has his contract selected by the Mariners because he was not added to the 40-man roster when he was brought up for the Toronto series. That was an exemption made or exception made by Major League Baseball because Steckin Rider could not make the trip due to vaccine-related reasons. So he was not a member of the 40-man roster, and clearly the 10-day rule was sending guys down and then bringing them back up for non-injuries does not apply to Elias because of his special.

exemption as well. So, yeah, so this is his first time actually on the Mariners 40-man roster since he was traded a couple of years ago to Washington back in 2019. So, yeah, getting Alias back, I mean, you know, you obviously talked about why you like him, just kind of as a person, as a player, you know, he's been with the Mariners, what, three times now, three different stents with the, with the Mariners organization, maybe even four. So what do we get in out of this version of Rowianus Aaliyos, who's now a pure reliever? Tough to say, really.

Only saw him pitch the one time. You know, he's always been basketball, curfball, and mixing the change up a little bit. It seems to be that still is go-to. What you're really getting from Aaliyah is you're getting some versatility. Again, he has a guy who can go multiple innings. He has a guy who can come in and get the last out of, like, the sixth inning with a guy second but he's really just not a guy who has the stuff anymore to be really a high leverage guy but you know second rider never really had good stuff anyways i think people

they look at second rider's ERA and they're like oh my god he was amazing last year and he was pretty good don't get me wrong but didn't miss a ton of bats didn't strike guys out had some walks like second rider just a middle reliever at the end of the day and and alias i think could be could do that been okay in Tacoma. He had a couple bad outings that kind of inflated his overall numbers, but it's still going to be fastball curveball from Elias, and hopefully he throws strikes and quality strikes because if he can do that, then he's an upgrade, I'll be probably a minor one over over Stack, because Stack just couldn't throw quality strikes at this point. So we'll see what it gets, what he can give the Mariners. At the very least, he gives you some length. He does,

He can't give you, you know, an inning in a third, two innings, maybe even three innings if the situation were to call for it. But, you know, it's worth knowing. He's coming off of Tommy John, and you never really know what you're going to get on a day-to-day basis with guys the first year off with their Tommy John surgery. So we'll see what they get from him. But, yeah, it's fastball, it's a fastball, it's a pretty big curveball. It's a pretty big curveball. And hope for the best and see if that plays because what do you have to lose? Yeah, and frankly, I mean, how much worse could he be than Drew's second writer if all things fall apart here?

So, because Second Rider has been, I mean, yeah, he's been a disaster, quite frankly. I was, I was like, is disaster a little too strong of a word there? No, considering what he was last year going into this year and what he's been this year. Yeah, it's been more or less a disaster for Drew's second writer. but seems like the Mariners might be getting more reinforcements on the way potentially with Ken Giles is starting to ramp back up here but he still seems like he's at least a few weeks away from getting back with the major league team so there's still ways to go until it happens and therefore once again we're going to say it again I know we're a broken record but the Mariners need to look outside of the organization here to get better

It's the only way they're going to be able to do it. They could not do it internally. The Mariners are not going to significantly improve just off of what they have right now in the organization, quite frankly. That's just what it is. That's just the way that it is right now. And, you know, again, going back to the discussion last year, you know, a couple of segments ago about who's to blame. I mean, some of it is ignoring the depth and some of it is just players not performing. and that's certainly been the case with the bullpen,

which, you know, that was the main reason, or at least one of the main reasons last year, that the Mariners were able to win as many games as they did and as many close games as they did, and now they're not able to pull those games off because, or frankly, they're not even able to keep games close because they don't have, you know, an above average to an elite bullpen. They are below average considerably.

They have maybe two guys that they can really trust right out of the bullpen. And hopefully, you know, Aaliyos can surprise us here and maybe be another guy that they can actually lean on over the, over the summer. Hopefully he sticks. It would be nice to see because I, like you, I am also a pretty big fan of Rowanus Aalius. But that's going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Mariners podcast.

For Colby Pat Node, I'm Taday Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at LO underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Dane Gonzalez and Colby at C-Pat 11. the CPAT-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 to the day, just like you do here every day. Now make your second list of the day, locked on MLB. That's where Paul Francis Sullivan, and please call him. Sully brings you his unique perspective on the major leagues president pass. It's free wherever you get your podcast just like us. So have yourself a beautiful

baseball day, and we will see you on Monday.