Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Seattle Mariners TRADE PACKAGES We Would Offer For Brendan Donovan and Ketel Marte

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

With Seattle Mariners discourse solely focused on Brendan Donovan and Ketel Marte, Ty and Colby concoct their offers to acquire the two All-Stars. Afterwards, the two hosts discuss why Seattle shouldn't settle for adding just one bat this winter, then wrap up with the news of Andrew Kzizner's signing to be the club's backup catcher in 2026.Click to learn more about the Everydayer Club!Check out our Patreon!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11Follow the show on Bluesky: @lockedonmariners | @tdg | @mlbcolbySupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.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.

We're going to put together our best trade offers for Brennan Donovan and Cotell Marte. 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 Wednesday, December 17th, 2025. You're listening to the Lockdown Marries podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. number one sports podcast network. My name is Tiding Azales, and I'm joined, as always, by my co-coast, Colby Patnode.

We're two lifelong Maris fans who've been covering the team for over half a decade. And today, we're going to put together our best trade offers for the two players most heavily linked to the Marrars right now, Ketel Marte and Brennan Donovan. Plus, do the Mariners only have room from one more bat? We'll talk about that as well as Andrew Kisner, whose deal with Mariners finally became official yesterday. But before we do, I want to shout out our title sponsor today, Fan Duel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanduil.com and place your NFL live bets all season long.

So since we last talked to you guys on Monday, there have been a few articles that have dropped about the Mariners, all talking about Catelle Marte and Brennan Donovan, but all pretty much reiterating the same information that we kind of already knew that Donovan talks starting to ramp up now that Hori Polanco is off the board and the Mariners are still engaged in talks to some degree with. the Diamondbacks on Catelle Marte. How serious is that? Who knows? How serious are the Diamondbacks about trading Marte? Who knows? But apparently the Mariners and the Diamondbacks,

they're still keeping in touch with one another on that front. And that is pretty much dominating the whole conversation around the Mariners right now. That's pretty much all that's happening in the world of the M's at the moment. It's Brendan Donovan. It's Catee. So we're going to talk more about those guys on today's show. And we're going to put together a couple of trade packages for those. guys we're going to try and put together our best package for each one of them now you know if you

remember in our offseason plan we actually put together a trade package for brendonan donovan that deal just to refresh you on that one uh was donovan and riley o'brien uh the right hand of reliever former mariner to the ms for michael o'royo gerangelo sanger and the mayor's comp round B selection in next summer's draft now you know we typically try to overshoot trades especially when we do our offseason plan so it's possible that we gave up a little too much in that deal and there's obviously the o'brien factor today we're just going to focus on trading for solely donovan what would a package for just him look like it was reported by Katie Wu of the athletic that Gerangelo Sanger and Las Montes have been thrown

around in those talks. Seems like it would be one or the other to headline a package for Donovan. So I assume we're going to start here with either one of those guys. But overall, what would a package for just Donovan look like, Colby? It's tough to say. Based on my reading of that article, it seems like it's one or the other, not both. I think if it were to be both, the Mariners would get something back, maybe like a Riley O'Brien or somebody like that. But it's one or the other. It's still a little tough to say because, honestly, you know, Lazz and Sanja are probably pretty polarizing in front offices. Las is a guy who, you know, some people love is like a top 40 prospect and other people don't think he's a top 100 guy.

I think he's, you know, back half of the top 100. back into the top 100 type of prospect. I still have concerns about the hit tool. He's still young, but he consistently runs high strikeout rates. And every time he jumps a level, the strikeout rates kind of go up a little bit. And it's not until he repeats the level for a second time that we notice any improvements. And there are just some red flags there. Sanja is in a similar boat in that he's also a young guy, but he's a pitcher.

He had an up and down year. in the minors this year, finished year in Arkansas. When you remove his left-handed numbers, he actually had a pretty decent year. There's still a lot to like there. He's a very good athlete. The two seamer has a lot of movement. The slider is sharp. He was missing bats, which, you know, it was probably a question in his profile.

How many bats is he going to miss? Or is he just going to be like a heavy ground ball guy? The walks were a little high in that that's kind of the concerning part there. But again, there's a lot of clay there. So I don't know which one the Cardinals would prefer. They seem to really be more interested in pitching. So my hunch is that it would be Sanger. And I think whichever one it is probably, you know,

changes who the second piece is and the third, maybe not the third piece, but the second piece certainly. So if it's Lazz, I think you're looking at something like Lazz and Teddy McGrath. That's kind of the two guys there. If it's Sanger, it might be something like Sanger and Corbyn Minkervynne. maybe something like that maybe Tai Pete but yeah I think it's somewhere in that range so because well because most of the reports say that like you know the Cardinals really want pitching I think for this exercise I would say they're going to they would choose

sanger and then I think it's probably Dickerson or Pete because that's kind of like the next tier of mariner bats and then this is where you know a major league are my coming to play here, do the Cardinals like Ben Williamson, because of the Mariners acquired Donovan, they don't really need Williamson. And, you know, the Cardinals are trying to trade Nolan Aronado. Honestly, Williamson's probably as good as Nolan Aronado right now, which is an insane statement to think about two years ago, but it's the truth. Or could they possibly have interest in a Logan Evans type as they try to fill out their

rotation for the start of this year or maybe it's it's a i don't maybe hancock or maybe it's like carlos fargus as they just look for more bullpen depth so i think at the end of the day i'm looking at something like sanger dickerson maybe williamson those three guys for donovan i think that's in the ballpark uh also comp around b pick might come into play if they don't like dickerson or they don't like pete like the mariners aren't going to give becker or or Stevenson or Paulman or your hair. So I feel like it kind of has to be Pete or Dickerson, but maybe there is somebody that the Cardinals really like that I'm not thinking of.

But I think that's in the ballpark. To me, the starting point is the Randy a Rosa Rana trade, which was for three bites of the apple with Randy. It costs Aidan Smith, Brody Hopkins, and Ty Cummings, Smith and Hopkins at the time were, you know, fringe top 100 guys depending on who you asked. I think the rays, you know,

like those guys, maybe more than the consensus, like the, you know, the pipelines of the world and what have you. But that's kind of my starting point here. Now, it's only two bites of the apple with Donovan instead of three for a Rosarena, but Donovan can play at the middle. He's a better glove.

So I think that makes up for some of the difference there. And also just time. has gone by, the market is different, all that, right? To me, yeah, I think it's Sanger and Dickerson or Sanger, the comp round B-pick, Teddy McGraw. It really depends on if the Cardinals just like the cop-round B-pick and whatever they would get there better than, you know, Dickerson or Pete. Now for Marte, this is the really complicated one

because who the hell knows what the Diamondbacks want for Castel Marte? If you're not willing to give up a, you know, a major league starter, then it's almost certainly Sloan, I think it's probably like Sloan Farmello, Lazz, to be frank, if you're not going to give up a starting pitcher. And that's why, you know, I remain very skeptical that the Mariners are actually going to get a deal done, but they kind of refuse to go away in these rumors and these trade talks. So it leads me to believe that there is at least some framework that has enough interest from both the Mariners and the Diamondback side that they're willing to talk it out still. But I don't know what that would be. Again, if you're not going to trade for your major league rotation, like, good luck to you. It's tough to see a deal there where you're not giving up probably two of those four, quote unquote, untouchables. Like, I'm not giving up Emerson.

Like, he's here for a while. Would I give up Anderson? Sure, sure. I'd rather give up Sloan than Anderson, but it's pretty close. And then Farmello, like, look, he's still a couple years away. The ceiling is very impressive and all that, but he's already had a major injury. Like, yeah, I'm willing to give up Farmello. So I think, again, if you're willing to include Bryce Miller, it's probably

Bryce and one of those first four guys. If you're not willing to give up Miller, then it's probably two of those four guys plus another like top 100 or top 100 adjacent prospect. Like maybe this is where Felton comes into play who, you know, if everything goes right for you, Felman doesn't have a spot for you because you have Marte and Young and Emerson already, you know, penciled in for the next five, six years and Felon doesn't matter. This also could be, again, the comp round B pick is a very interesting piece in the kind of trade conversation. So, yeah, I think that's what it is.

So, like, for me, because I don't think the Mariners are willing to trade from their rotation, I'm going to say, Farmello, Sloan and Feldman, I think is probably what it would take. So I had written down here Sloan, Farmello, Las, and. And Teddy McGrath. All this, of course, is dependent on, you know, things checking out on the personal side for the Mariners where they feel comfortable trading for Cattel. Like, we're just assuming that they're okay with the clubhouse fit and all that, you know, with everything that's been reported. Two other ideas that I had here. Luke Raleigh just as a major league piece, especially if the Diamondbacks are to thinking that they can compete after trading a player of Catelle Martes, they're in on Bregman all of a sudden so apparently they can yeah they just gave

gerald Kelly 40 million dollars so like obviously they have Alec Thomas and Jake McCarthy but those guys have been so up and down up and down and obviously Rayleigh had a had a very down year this year as well but yeah maybe Rayleigh would be of interest to them or Matt Brash Gabe Spire Edward Bizarrodo one of those guys but to me if I'm trading one of those guys then you got to take off like a Las Montes yeah I I think like one of those guys isn't going to be the fourth piece

they're going to be the third piece on top of two of the top prospects switching gears here striking the balance between going for it after being just eight outs away from making their first world series in team history and also giving some runway to their young players to see if they actually have some internal answers to

roster issues. It's kind of what the mayors are juggling with right now as they go through this off season. We're going to talk about if it actually makes sense for them to only add one bat this off season in just a moment. But first reminder of this episode of the lockdown marriage podcast is brought to you by Fanduel. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. That's what makes live betting with Fandul so exciting. You're not just watching the game. You're reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds.

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It keeps you locked in to every snap, every drive, every possibility. So if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanduel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. Fan duel, the game moves fast, and so can you. And you're listening to the Locktime Marries podcast, part of the Locktime Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you so much for making us your first listen for all things. Mariners and also thank you for making locked on the number one sports podcast network.

You already live your team every day. Now take it up a level and go ad free. Join the every day or club today and get locked on Mariners with no interruptions, members only discord access, and more, all for just $5 a month or $50 a year. Go to Lockdown Mariners. That's supercast.com or check the link in the show notes to learn more. So a debate that was had on Brock and Salk yesterday on 710 Seattle Sports was should the mares go out and get more than one bat?

Does it actually make sense for them to go do that when they are trying to balance going for it, but also given some runway to guys like Cole Emerson, Cole Young, and Ben Williamson? You know, maybe they have some of the answers to their roster problems right now in their organization. To me, I think the answer is pretty clear. You should go get two bets. If you get one, if you only get one, it depends on who it is. you only get one it's not the worst thing in the world but to me for a team that just yeah that's that's that's kind of where i'm at with it as well like i don't think brin donovan is specifically that guy

but look this is a team again that was eight outs away from making its first world series ever and you're going to follow that up by going well ben williamson's our third basement until the 20 year old eventually gets called up and hopefully he works out and Cole young who was basically unplayable like he's our second baseman didn't give him a start for like the last three weeks of the season until they clinched everything like yeah yeah um by the side note what has ben williamson done at any level for any extended period of time to make us have to save at bats for him if ben williamson's slugging percentage was a weight he would be an undersized guard in the NFL like i don't i don't understand why he's being thrown

into the same bucket as young and emerson no because young and young and emerson those are top 100 prospects i mean emerson's one of the best prospects in the game you cole young at his peak was like a top 30 prospect in baseball ben williamson never even sniffed you know the top 100 obviously those no now obviously those lists don't ultimately matter they're also some objective. But, you know, in general, though, like Williamson, I don't think anyone would tell you that Williamson, maybe other than the Merrers, apparently, that Williamson is even close to the same pedigree of prospect as Cole Emerson and Cole Young. So I don't really get why he's being, like, grouped in with those two guys. I mean, yeah, it's also like, well, he's a young infielder. It's like, I mean, Young and Emerson, I mean, Emerson, not even yet. They're 21. Ben Williamson's 25. Like, they, they're, aren't similar pedigrees. But anyways, like, do the Meres need one bad or two? Let me read you their projected lineup right now.

And you tell me when you start to feel a little uncomfortable. Randy Rosarena, Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez, Josh Naylor, Dominic Canzon, Victor Robles, J.P. Crawford, Ben Williamson, Cole Young, Andrew Kisner on the bench. Luke Rayleigh, Leo Rivas, Samad Taylor. Yeah, does that sound like a team that is going to take the next step and break through to the World Series to you? Not to me. It really doesn't.

Sounds like an 83 win team that you're hoping everything breaks right. Maybe we get to 85 and maybe we sneak into a wildcard spot. There's a pretty low floor with this roster and you get to a point now where your margin for error is slim. To none, basically. DH, right field, third base, second base. Four spots in your lineup. That would be up for grabs.

Let's say they get Donovan. Donovan, Young, Williamson, Canzone, Robles, Rayleigh. All competing for those spots. And they can rotate. And they can't win one of them. Yes. And by the way, Canzone has two options left. And Donovan straight up, they might try.

to him as a super utility he might not be just like here's third base here's second base he right one day he might play second the next day he might play third the next day he might give randy a blow and play left he might dh some the seattle mariners had uh four players last year play a hundred and fifty nine games or more and that was the point that i was about to make is like that allows you to give guys some much needed days off real days off like not not d h days not no like Hey, Randy, I don't know if it was, you're just exhausted. You were gassed in the last year, but you were terrible at in the last year. Maybe if I only have you play 140 games in the regular season, maybe you have a little bit more juice in the playoffs.

And maybe that's something we can do. Or maybe the nagging injuries don't, you know, creep up on you, JP. And you can kind of sustain this, this good offensive year for an entire six-month stretch instead of all that. So like. And also, we've talked about this. in regards to the pitchers and Justin Hollander has specifically talked about this in regards to the pitchers and specifically the

relievers like they pitch more than you know they're typically asked to they pitched a whole extra month on top of already being asked to pitch a lot during the regular season but also a lot of these guys played a lot and now they're going to play in the WBC and now you know and now they're going to play another

long regular season and hopefully they're going to play another long playoff run and all that like so you know, Getting a Donovan, getting another bat, allows you to give those guys more off date. Because here's the other thing. Why did those guys play as much as they did? Because Dan Wilson didn't trust to play some of the guys on his bench, frankly.

That's kind of hard to play them for it too. Well, no, no. Well, that's the point, right? Like, you need to get better. So, like, Dan Wilson actually feels confident in playing some of the other guys on his roster. like Cole Young like didn't play in September basically it's like the Matanager thing in 2024 where he was just like he was on the roster but he didn't play he was just there like he was just wasting a spot on the bench

like you have 13 position player spots for a reason use them and the roster wasn't built in a way where Dan felt confident that he could win games giving certain guys days off and using some of the other players on his roster so give him that that confidence and if you add two bats then maybe he feels confident enough to go you know what we can survive without Cal in the lineup today

and we're just given Andrew Kisner the keys for the day behind the plate and that's it like we're probably not going to get anything out of Kisner in the lineup but we got seven other guys that we do trust that are going to produce enough for us today make this is here's a funny statement make dan wilson's job easier because he's earned it there you go there you go i like it and you're listening to the long time eras podcast part of the lockdown podcast network

your team every day as always if you want to hear from me and colby even more and help support the show we have a patreon it's called control the zone and on there we talk merriss seahawks all that good stuff for more information go to patreon. com forward slash control the zone link in the description of this episode so we could go on and on and on about the one bat versus two bad thing but kind of wanted to end it there because we want to quickly talk about andrew kisner who right now is written in at least pencil to be cow raleigh's backup in twenty 26 uh i already talked about him on a on a youtube short that i posted a few days ago maybe you've seen it already i pretty much give you my thoughts. There aren't many thoughts to have about Andrew Kisner. Like, let's be honest here. A 26 man move so small, we didn't even

do an emergency pod. That should tell you everything you need to know. We finally answer that question. Can the Marys make a 26 man roster move not worth doing an emergency pod for? And the answer is absolutely yes. Keep in mind, we did an emergency pod for Tommy Lestella.

And Trevor Gott. Yeah. So. Yeah. Which, I mean, I think that's more like we've kind of learned from those we've also learned from those two episodes that like those did okay those they they they were worth our while yeah um yeah uh i would say that kisner which is how you pronounce it by the way it's you pronounce the k but not the end yeah it was a whole thing yesterday on 710 they were making fun of it pretty funny uh yeah but uh yeah it's kisner

not Kinsner or Ninsner Yeah, it's Kisner I would say he's written in pen to be the backup But that pen, that weird pen that has like the eraser on it You know what I'm talking about? Sure. Like somehow you can erase the ink. That makes sense.

But yeah, it's only a million dollars. Yeah, that's what I was going to say is like I would say that he's written pen if it was for more than a million bucks. Like it is a major league deal. And right now it is being reported like he's he's the backup. but it's only a million bucks and I get it's the Mariners sure I get to John Stanton

that you know a million bucks is like 15 million bucks is Steve Cohen but sure the fact that though that it's a one million dollar contract offer or a deal tells you that like hey if the Mariners bring in another guy and that guy's they determine is better than Kisner

then they're going to look at it at an investment of $1.8 million on their backup catcher versus the four or so that they were going to spend on Garber. So Kisner, you know, he crushed a AAA last year, which considering he's like 30 years old, you would hope that he would.

Yeah. Now, he has made an actual like tweak. Sure. That apparently the mayor is like, Ken Rosenthal talked about this yesterday in his article on the athletic. Right. And he was one of the more improved pitch framers, you know, a year or two ago.

So that's obviously something the Mariners are going to value. And again, for a backup catcher, you really want either want the really good defense or you want some thump. And Gisner is almost certainly the defensive side of that. And real quick

on the framing thing, like, real quick on the framing thing, like it's still important. Obviously, the ABS challenge system is going to diminish it a little bit, but it's still going to be important because, like, you only have so many challenges. Guys aren't going to challenge every single borderline call, like stealing pitches and also making sure, you know, borderline strikes are actually

called strikes. Like, that's still a very important part of a catcher's game right right so just a little bit less important uh but kisner you know again made an adjustment he raked a triple a last year doesn't strike out uh doesn't whiff uh those are two things that he did very well last year in a in a microscopic sample size so we'll see but again it does leave open the door for the mariners to bring in maybe a notable uh minor league free agent. Maybe there's a small trade out there for a catcher who maybe has an option or maybe doesn't. Who knows? And then keep in mind, Cal Raleigh is going to be playing for Team USA and the World Baseball Classic. There are going to be plenty of innings and plenty of at-bats available

in the Cactus League for Kisner. And whoever they bring in, they will bring in a third catcher. I don't know if it'll be somebody notable or not, but that is an option. They can battle it out to see what the backup is. If you guys follow me on socials, you know, my favorite option is Tom Murphy. Mostly for the vibes, but also for the power

and the crushing of left-handed pitching, even though he can't stay healthy. But, you know, maybe this is probably not, but maybe somebody like Reese McGuire ends up, you know, getting to a point where he has to take a minor league deal and try to make a team out of camp

or somebody like that. But, yeah, again, maybe there's some, another Blake Hunt out there that the Mariners like and they can go try and make a small trade for as well. So we'll see what happens, but they're going to add another catcher to their minor league free agent signings or a small trade or they're going to, they're going to have one more catcher in camp with them, at least.

But Kisner for a million bucks is fine. Backup catcher. We'll see the changes he made to his swing. You see if they take or if they don't. But he should be more than competent defensively. He's probably an upgrade over Garber in that regard. And then you just kind of hope that you only need him to play, you know, 45 games on the year. You just kind of hope that that's what you do.

And like for a million bucks, fine. Like you can't complain about a backup catcher for a million bucks. I'm sorry. Believe me, if you could, I would try, but you just can't. There's not really not that much to be annoyed about here. It's a small move, but we know they needed to make one. Could they, you know, parlay that $2, $3 million in potential savings by not resigning Garver? Maybe, maybe, maybe not, but it's fine.

Like, it is a fine move. And I expect them to add one more veteran catcher, again, probably on a minor league deal. But we'll see. Yeah, I mean, like, so far, they've checked the biggest items off of their to-do list for less money than we expected. like they got one of their relievers for league minimum they've got you know their backup catcher for basically league minimum you know a million bucks they might get one of their their big bats for 5.4 million dollars in donovan maybe and again like this you know the starting point according to jerry depoto is about 165-166 million dollars because that's

where they wound up, you know, at the end of 2025. So, like, they should have more money to, now we don't know how much of that needs to be, you know, put aside for the rest of the year for like the trade deadline and other moves that they, you know, might make over the course of the regular season. But in general, like,

they should have money to, like, actually go spend a little bit on another reliever or go get that other bat that we were talking about or what have you, or both, right? Yep. Reliever market's moving right now. Yeah. By the way, that's crazy. Three guys today all signed for the same exact contract. Weaver, Keller, and who was the other one? Oh, I thought that was yesterday. But yeah. Was that yesterday? I don't know. I saw that this morning.

But yeah, all two year, $22 million deals. It's like Palmerance, Martin. Romano signed last night. Yeah. So like the reliever market's picking up here. Mariners, we know, are interested. I assume a lot of their focus is on, you know, getting this bat deal done. But, you know, one name I'll throw out there. It's just a name I like who's still available.

Tyler Kinley, be a pretty decent addition to this bullpen. But maybe the Mariners have grander plans or maybe they're planning on getting a reliever in whatever trades they're working on. My guess is they're waiting to see if they can get Donovan because then, again, if they check that that item off of their to-do list for only $5.4 million and like what else can we do now maybe yeah so that the the higher end relief market is moving pretty quick though right now so they're kind of running out of time it's pretty much fairbanks armstrong you're kind of who armstrong i i feel like he's in like the tier below that but

sure whatever like there's still options i'm just saying like the the sworez weaver you know that upper echelon market. Kinley Jansen signed the other day, not that he was going to be really be a fit for the Mariners, but like it's starting to move. And the price is right around $10 million if you're thought of as a high leverage reliever. All right. Well, that's going to do it for our show.

Thank you so much for joining us here on the Locktime Marrars podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day for Colby Pat. I'm Ted and Gazzalas. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Marrars. You can follow me at Tedding Azales and Colby at C-Pat-11. 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 at Lockdown Mariner's. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you next time. Peace.