Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Should Mariners Buy in on Brandon Drury's Breakout Season?

Episode Date: July 12, 2022

The Mariners are heading to the nation's capital for a quick two-game set with the Nationals. Will they be able to keep their win streak alive or could this be a trap series? Hosts Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby Patnode discuss, then get into the possibility of Seattle trading for Reds second baseman Brandon Drury and address the stance some Mariners fans are taking that the team should stand pat at the deadline.Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] up to date with all things Mariners at Inside the Mariners - a FanNation website covering the Seattle Mariners on the Sports Illustrated network.Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11 | @InsideMarinersFor more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/Sports Card InvestorDownload the Sports Card Investor App today and easily browse over 630K cards from every sport, with hundreds more added each week . Available for free in the Google Play and Apple App stores or go to sportscardinvestor.com/lockedon. 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.

The Mariners are in the nation's capital for a quick two game set against Juan Soto and the Nationals. Plus, Seattle was linked to an infielder who's likely to be traded in the coming weeks. We'll be talking about it all on today's episode of Lockdown Mariners. Colby, hit it. You are Locked on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team every day.

What's up, everyone? Welcome to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. It is Tuesday, July 12th, 2022 at the Thursday. Thank you so much for making us your first listen of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. I am your host, Taday Gonzalez. joined as always by my co-coes, Colby Patnode. We cover the Mariners over at inside the mariners.com for fan nation over on the Sports Illustrated network.

Be sure to follow the show on Twitter at LO underscore Mariners. Follow Inside the Mariners at Inside Mariners. You can follow me at Dan Gonzalez, this D-A-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-P-A-T-1. Be sure. Also check out our Patreon over at Patreon. com forward slash control zone we post two additional podcasts on there every single week 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 follower subscribe wherever you're listening 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 you guys have been killing it here on the youtube channel over the last week or so we really really really appreciate it we had our most successful episode ever uh you guys yesterday. Correct. 4,000 views our YouTube channel, which I know isn't great for YouTubers in general, but it's great for us relative to what we've been able to do here. And we've added a

bunch of subscribers lately. So welcome. If you're new to the channel, we really appreciate you coming through and tuning in. And, uh, you know, we're, we're making a slow but sure climb up to uh, 2,000 subs. So let's, uh, maybe let's make that a goal by the end of this month. Let's get to 2,000 subs by the end of this month. Uh, so we're going to be, talking about the Mariners upcoming series with the nationals. We're also going to be talking about Brandon Drury, who was linked to the Mariners earlier today by John Marosi. And we're also going to be talking about this idea that the Mariners should not trade

for anyone and just hold on to their prospects because of what history suggests for the Mariners specifically at least. It's dumb. We'll talk about that later, though. Let's first get into. this series though. The Mariners heading over to DC. Starting tonight there is

severe thunderstorms in the forecast so that could derail things here. The Mariners might not end up playing tonight or at least get the game postponed a little bit later on into the night. Julio Rodriguez is going to be serving his one game suspension today

so they will be without him and Colby that unfortunately creates an outfield of Jesse Winker, Dylan Moore in Centerfield and Adam Fraser, which with Chris Flex and also on the bump fly ball pitcher. Yeah, it's not very promising for the Mariners. And Colby, I know that even before we saw this lineup, you had some reservations about this series. So is this a trap by chance?

Yeah, it's 100% in Akbar, that's for sure. because the Mariners even tomorrow, they're starting Tommy Malone. Like they don't think that highly of the nationals. Their record would indicate their right to think that. But at the same time, it's a team that still has Juan Soto, whose down year is still like all-star worthy. They still have Nelson Cruz, who's been on a nice tear since, you know, the end of April. They still have Josh Bell, who's an all-star.

Josiah Gray has really good stuff. This is not a rollover series. It's in the series where the Mariners, you know, can just kind of roll out of bed and play too. And now you just come off of a huge week. You had a Fourth of July holiday weekend, extended holiday weekend sweep of the Padres, a playoff team. And you went home and you played four highly emotionally, highly emotional, like supercharged, impactful games in, you know, an electric ballpark.

And you come away with a sweep of that team. and now you've secured a loan position of a playoff spot, and you're heading across the country to face a team that is going to sell whatever pieces they can here in the next few weeks. And it's easy. It's easy. We've won eight in a row. The nationals are, they're bad, and, you know, we're going to roll. It's going to be fine.

We had a day off yesterday. We're recharged. It feels a lot like that game that they played against Baltimore after the brawl. where people are like, well, they're going to get their guys back. They'll be charged up because of the brawl, and then they just go out there and they lay an egg. It's definitely a potential of a trap series here. And you know, you're kind of looking ahead to Texas,

and clearly the Mariners are too, because they're throwing Chris Flex and Tommy Malone against the nationals. And that's, I mean, no disrespect to Tommy Malone. That's a little disrespectful to throw Tommy Malone to change up your rotation to get Tommy Malone in there. So you can save Marco or whoever for Texas, that's that that seems a bit like a slap in the face so i don't know i just i don't have a great

feeling about this series uh it it would surprise me less if the mariners lost both of these games then it surprised me that they swept the blue jays which i think is saying something because i did not expect them to sweep the blue jays but still it's just there's a lot of little things to add up now big picture of the mariners are a better team they're a better roster uh they're deeper they're better period end of story But we've seen over the last week or so, that doesn't matter. The Blue Jays have a slightly better roster than the Mariners. The Padres have a better roster than the Mariners.

At least consensus would say they do. And at least right now as these teams are currently constructed. Yeah. Yeah. And those teams didn't play well and the Mariners did. So we know that it doesn't matter. And even in the best of circumstances, this game is not ideal. But now you're going to throw in a probable weather delay.

Julio's not going to be there. It's just there's a lot of things about this series, about this series in particular tonight's game where I'm like, feels like a good letdown opportunity for Seattle. We'll see. Hopefully they can keep the momentum going. If they come out and they win seven to two or whatever, then fine.

And awesome. But I don't know. To me, I think they have to score early on gray. They have to get on the board, kind of get Washington back on their heels. Because the last thing I want to see is this team get down two or three to nothing after two or three innings and then just kind of coast.

Yeah. And it's a long trip across the country, even with the day off. There's a lot of things in the series that make me go, hmm, this, it's a little, Washington's a little more dangerous than, then I think a lot of fans want to admit. Yeah. You know, I mean, you mentioned it there. They got Juan Soto, they got Josh Bell, they got Nelson Cruz, Yadiel Hernandez has

also been pretty solid cover Ruiz as well. Like, they have guys in this lineup that can do some damage. you want to try to get into the bullpen you want to try and take advantage of Josiah Gray who has some good stuff but has struggled at times this season they're going to face Eric Fetty tomorrow we'll probably get into that game more

on tomorrow's show but they have opportunities here to obviously just obliterate this team but the nationals have good pieces good quality pieces that can hurt the Mariners in a big way so you know at the end of the day it's baseball

you know anything can happen on a given night. So yeah, hopefully, you know, they just avoid a complete utter letdown here because you don't want to just kill your momentum. You don't want to stop it right in its tracks and then head into Texas not feeling as great about yourself. You want to be able to finish this thing off strong. It's amazing what they've been able to do, winning 16 and 19.

That's incredible. And they've already set themselves up in a position to be buyers no matter what happens over the next six games. But you want to try to continue that. momentum and feel even better about yourself heading into the All-Star break. There's a possibility here where the Barroners go into the All-Star break with the first wild card in hand. You know, you want to try and do that.

That would be amazing. That would, I mean, that's all the reason and more to, you know, make these games important for you and to, you know, to continue to tell your front office to invest in you immediately as soon as possible. So yeah, we'd love to see this team come out swinging and try and avoid the the offensive letdown that could happen here without Julio Rodriguez in the lineup.

And the outfield, though, is the biggest concern for me. The defensive outfield is just, it's rough on paper. Jesse Winker, Dillemore, and Adam Frazier playing in a very large outfield. mind you. That's a big concern for me with Chris flexing on the bump. The flyballs are going to be pretty interesting out there tonight. Thankfully, they're going to have Julio back tomorrow, but yeah, wow. It's, uh, it could be an adventure tonight.

So we'll see how it goes, but ultimately, I do like the Mariners chances, of course. The nationals are bad. They're bad team, uh, you know, no matter how you slice it. Uh, they have good players. they're just they've but they've lost none of their last 10 they're one of the worst teams in baseball you should be able to handle them like you

said the Mariners aren't showing them any respect with the matchups and hopefully that doesn't come back to bite them but you know we'll see how it goes and of course you know if they end up losing two here it doesn't really matter in terms of the record but like at the end of the day

but you know again you don't want to have this let down you don't want to stop the momentum of men's tracks you want to be able to go into Texas feeling good about yourself because Texas is going to be pesky. Texas is going to be annoying. You might end up losing a couple of those games and you want to try to create as much of a buffer as possible for that. So you can definitely head into the All-Star game, you know, over 500 and feeling pretty

good about yourself in a wild card spot. So, you know, earlier I talked about, you know, proven to the organization, proven to the front office, which they've already done, but like continuing to prove to this front office that they are worth investing in. Well, the Mariners are apparently interested in one Brandon Drury who's having a career season for the Cincinnati Reds. We're going to be talking about him in just a moment. But real quick, a reminder of this episode of Lockdown Mariners

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tweeted that the market is starting to pick up a little bit for Brandon Drury Reds infielder who's having a career season and mentioned the Mariners as one of the options for him and this is a guy that I mean it's pretty clear as day given

what's going on with the Mariners second base situation with Adam with Adam Frazier and Abraham Toro's struggles that they are going to try and upgrade at the position and jury makes a ton of sense he's having a great season he's a rental who's probably not going to cost a ton he hasn't been having a an all-star season you know he's not an all-star this year but he has been way better than what the mariners have gotten out of second base and he's one of the few second basemen that are actually going to be available uh come the trade

deadline on august second uh but i do have some concerns about jury this is i mean he's never performed like this, to be quite frank with you. He's getting on base at a 3.30-ish clip. He's hitting, you know, he's hit 18 home runs. He's like 81st percentile and hard hit rate, barrel percentage, et cetera. You know, but this isn't something that we've ever, ever seen from him. He has tried to make it work for parts of seven seasons now, and it just hasn't really come together until now. And a part of me worries if it's just, you know, it's also kind of a matter of him being the only good player on the Reds

is also boosting his stock that way as well. And I just, I kind of worry that maybe this is the, this year's Adam Frazier, right? Like Adam Frazier got traded from the pirates to the Padres last year after having an all star first half and just fell off the face of the earth. And, you know,

with jury, it is going to cost the Mariners something nice. So does that happen again? and do you run the risk here of losing something nice for a guy that ends up, you know, not really living up to expectations? Colby, how do you feel about Brandon Drury? The answer is yes, you do run the risk of a guy, you know, not living up to expectations because that's what being a playoff team is. It's about attacking these opportunities to get better, even if they are minute. And even if Drury can only do what he's done throughout his career, he's still going to help a lot because against left.

he's 268, 297, 467. The Mariners need bats who can hit lefties. And when you're talking about, well, those aren't great numbers, they're not career-wise. But look at what Adam Fraser's giving you this year. Look at what Sam Haggertie's giving you this year. Look at what Dylan Moore's giving you this year. Then go look at the other second baseman who might be available. There's not a lot.

You know, I like Brandon Lau. I just don't think Lau is going to be available. You know, I like a Madrasario. I just don't really feel like Cleveland's going to trade on Madrasario. And if they are, he is certainly going to cost more. more than Brandon Drury. And Drury's been better this year. So you kind of start looking around Joey Wendell,

the Marlins are making a bit of a run. They're kind of in a Mariners situation where they're really charging up the playoff ranks right now. So are they going to be interested in trading one of their guys? Maybe, maybe not. So the second base market is pretty slim, and it is the easiest spot for the Mariners to upgrade. So do you need Drury to be as good as he was in the first half?

No, if he's 75% of that, he's a significant upgrade over what you have right now. And that's the part that matters. So, yeah, I'm as I don't, I don't know, jury's going to hit 280, you know, with, with 540 slugging. And right now he's at 18 home runs. Is he going to finish the year at 30? I don't know.

Probably not if he gets moved to Seattle. I mean, Cincinnati's a hitter's paradise. But yeah, he doesn't make sense. And he can also play third base. He can handle a corner outfield spot if you need him to. You know, second base, he's probably fringe average. It's not his best position. I think third base is his best.

position. But so what? You know, you're talking about Adam Frazier's not winning a gold glove anymore. He's been fringe average at second base himself. So you're not really talking about a defensive downgrade. The bat is certainly better. And you can still keep Adam Frazier and use him as kind of a utility guy. If you really think the bat might turn around, then great. Your bench got better at the very least. So to me, yeah, Drury is probably going to cost you something nice. And maybe it's something that, you know, you and I really like. Maybe it is Adam McO. Maybe it is Levi Stout. That's the price you have to pay.

And when you're a team that is contending and you're trying to improve your odds, you're going to lose trades in the long term. You're going to trade an Abraham Toro for a Kendall Graveman, and Graveman's going to give you 25 innings, and then you're just going to be without Toro, and Graveman's going to go elsewhere. You're going to make trades like that. And do you think the Astros care?

No, they don't care. Yeah. Graveman helped them get to a World Series. They don't care about Abraham Toro, just like the Mariners won't care about Levi Stout, if Brandon Drury helps him break the drought, helps them get to a divisional round, gets them past the wild card game,

helps them secure the first wild card. They don't care. The Mariners aren't going to care about that. So, yeah, it's probably going to cost, you know, a little bit. It's probably going to hurt some of the prospect guys. And, of course, there will always be Mariners fans who will point to inevitably Levi Stout when he's a Chris Flexen-esque type of pitcher.

And be like, oh, see, they traded that guy for two months of Brandon Drury. those people don't get it they don't understand what's going on here so yeah would I prefer somebody with a longer track record yeah I would just go find me that guy who's available yeah no that's a great point and that's ultimately

why I do have concerns you know I am scared of Brandon jury I've said that a couple times on this show in the past but like you said what are the other options here Brandon Lau isn't getting traded. Ahmed Rosario probably isn't getting traded.

That's kind of it, really. And so, you know, I just, this is just something that you just kind of have to do. Because also the alternative here, really, you know, if you want to upgrade, like, offensively, at least over Adam Frazier, Abraham, Toro, etc. And buy a bat elsewhere, it's possible that leads you to a discussion.

about putting Thai France at second base, which I don't think anyone, I don't think anyone wants, right? Like, hard pass. Yeah. So unless it's an emergency and you have to cover three innings or something like that. Yeah. And like I tweeted this last night. Like I kind of have a weird feeling that maybe that's where this comes to

if they don't get someone like jewelry. But yeah, I think you need to get jewelry. Like I like as scary as it is as, you know, as likely as it may be that he ends up falling off a cliff. I think it's the shot that you need to take. So, yeah, it doesn't come at as a surprise whatsoever to me that he, that the Mariners are in his market. And honestly, I'd be pretty surprised if they ended up coming away from this deadline without him. It just kind of seems like a perfect fit.

They already have a pretty good relationship with the working relationship with the Reds, you know, after making the winker and Suarez deal. Like they also, you know, they got Riley O'Brien earlier this year. Like they made a couple deals with the Reds. And, you know, that momentum. I'm sure they've talked quite a bit about Drury. And the Reds are very aware of the guys that they like in the Mariners system and vice versa.

And, you know, I think there's already a rapport there that's going to help them. Maybe iron out a deal a bit better than or a bit quicker than any other team right now. So, yeah, so I'd be honestly fairly surprised if Brandon Jury isn't a mariner here in the coming weeks. It makes a lot of sense. It's a little, you know, concerning about whether or not he'll actually be able to contribute. But again, you've got to take that shot. I think you just, you're at that point now.

You're at this point where, I mean, you know, we said it yesterday. This is probably the most favorable position the mariners have found themselves in, like taking every single circumstance into account here. over this 20 year playoff drought to end the drought. Because, you know, like obviously they were in a pretty favorable position like this in 2018, when they were red hot. But they didn't have the prospect capital and the money to go out and finish this roster off. They have both now. They have the 22nd, you know, highest payroll in baseball.

They're barely scraping over $100 million. And they have one of the best farm systems in baseball, which is, of course, taken ahead over the last year, year and a half but it's still very very good and there's still a lot of prospects that teams are going to like and value and uh they they have all the ammunition in the world that they need to make this thing happen uh that doesn't mean that they should just recklessly start you know like they shouldn't like they shouldn't trade no l v martay for brand and jury because that's what it takes and you got it you know you just got to get brand and jury no but like a levi stout someone who's kind of

struggled this year and and maybe his ceiling has kind of lowered uh this this past season i mean that that i would feel a lot more comfortable with and i think that's a risk worth taking so yeah uh so at the end of the day i think brandy drew is a good fit for the mariners um and and we'll see how negotiations progress but uh i feel like he might be one of the first dominoes to fall here in the in the coming weeks because the reds i mean they're awful there's no waiting that they that they need to do here i think you know right now until the draft happens there might not be a lot of trade action on the market just because front offices are preoccupied.

But after that happens, after next week, I think things are going to start really kicking in a high gear here. And teams like the Reds that are in that position, teams like the nationals are going to start selling off their pieces. So we'll see how it goes. So we're going to talk more about trades and like this whole idea that like you should hold on to all of your prospects and you shouldn't run the risk because like, you know,

what if you trade to LV Marté and he ends up becoming like a six-win player down the road or whatever. And why that's stupid? because it is, frankly, we'll explain why. And just a moment, but real quick, a reminder, this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by Rock Auto. With the ever-increasing numbers of mix and models, it's now impossible for your local chain auto parts store

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Plus, Rock Auto is a family business serving do-it-yourselfers for over 20 years, and their prices are reliably low for every customer. So go to Rock Auto.com right after you're done listening to us and see all the parts available for your car or truck. Right, locked on in there, how did you hear about this box so they know we sent you? Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the stuff. parts your car will ever need rock auto dot com so we've gotten a few comments here on youtube if you're watching here on youtube or on our twitter pages etc i've seen it colby's seen it we've all seen it that uh you know some mariners fans don't want the team to do really anything at the deadline uh they more or less think the team is fine as is they've won 16 of 19 with the team as is you know as currently

constructed, etc. And they believe that's enough for the Mariners to to compete for the postseason and and beyond. That is completely utterly wrong, first of all. And second of all, the second piece of this, why people don't want the, or why people want the Mariners to stand pat, it's because, well, in the past, they, you know, they've traded guys like David Ortiz and Jason Veritech, et cetera. And that didn't work out for them, you know, when they were in a, in the midst of a postseason

hunt. were trying to get major league pieces and traded off guys who ended up becoming Hall of Famers are very, very good players. And yeah, that happens. That happens. But the goal at the end of the day here is to win championships. And you got to take shots like we just talked about with Brandon Drury. Sometimes you just got to take shots.

You know what the risk is. You acknowledge that. You were very aware of it, but you still got to take it. You got to take that chance. Because the goal at the end of the day here is not to win. world there is not to win baseball america covers and awards to win world series colby i i know you wanted to really talk about this what do you think this is just a ridiculous absurd take that the mariners shouldn't trade for anyone this summer yeah uh well let's start with this right jerry de potto

didn't trade adam jones for eric bidard jerry depoto didn't trade jason barrettack for heathcliffe slocum okay uh and that's the line you're using i i don't know how to say you're you're not paying attention you don't that's dumb like let's just call it is it's dumb so when we look at the no i don't want the team to trade its assets what you're really saying is you don't believe in this team and if that's the case i mean that's that's okay but at what point do you buy in that this team and at what point do you buy in that this team and at what point point do you say this year matters just as much as net matters right like at what point do you do that no because the mariners are in a place right now where they are in a playoff position they are

if the season in it today the mariners would be in the playoffs but the season doesn't in today and we're talking we're sitting here talking about like well when mitch anager gets back that's basically a trade no it's not mch aniger wasn't good it was only 36 at bats but he wasn't good and there's no guarantee he doesn't roll his ankle again Mitch Haniguer has a lengthy injury history you know we talk about oh well Kyle Lewis comes back Lewis came back for four days and got hurt again not his fault but he still got hurt he also has a lengthy injury history and we're just assuming that those two guys are going to come in and they're going to fix the whole offense what happens if god forbid Julio Rodriguez rolls an ankle on august 6th you're really comfortable starting dillon more out there

for the rest of the year no like what are we talking about here what happens if flex and turns his ankle on the mountain night. I guess Tommy Malone is the answer in the rotation, right? Like, oh, yeah, we'll just throw Tommy Malone or Justice Sheffield or Daniel Ponce de Leon or whoever's in AAA. We'll throw him in there, right? We don't need to go make a trade for somebody. What are you talking about?

Basically, right now you're working on a razor's edge, like a razor's thin margin of error. And your response to that is like, it'll be fine. They'll tie rope walk it for the next 80 games. No problem. do you want the playoff drought to end or not? Because I was under the impression that Mariner fans wanted that drought to end. I was under the impression that that was the only thing that would make Mariner fans happy, that that was the number one priority of this year was to end this playoff drought.

And that if they didn't, it would be a failure. Well, now we're here. We're at the position where they can do just that. They are literally in position to do that. And now some fans are like, well, you know, we don't want to give up everything for this year. Nobody's asking you, too. What we're asking is that do you want to increase your odds of winning this year?

Do you want to make this year matter for anything? By the way, that's not even, is it okay to just make the playoffs? I mean, it should be a step in the right direction. But why don't you want to do damage in the playoffs? Yeah, exactly. Why are we sitting here saying, oh, well, we don't need to go get a starting pitcher because, no, we'll just have Marco Gonzalez pitch game three. Really?

Marco Gonzalez against Garrett Cole. you like those odds like what are we talking about here don't you want to go deep in the playoff run go get a starting pitcher go get something you can play center field of filial gets her go fix your second base situation go protect yourself from another Mitch hanniger taylor tremel kyle louis injury stop relying on oh well you know i'm sure cow rollie will hit you know 250 300 500 for the rest of the year even though you were starting to see some slow signs of regression because he's a young player why are we count abraham toro getting 450 at bats this year sure why Why not? What are we talking about here?

Why don't you want the Mariners to be as good as possible? I don't want to get to the party and just have a shot and leave. You know, I want to go to the party and dance my tail off. Right. It's just. And if you don't, and if you don't make these moves now or some moves now, you're not even going to get to the party. Yeah. You're going to knock on the door and they're going to slam it in your face because you didn't bring the goods to get in.

You don't have the cover charge. So what are you talking about here? I don't want the marriage to make a move because 25 years ago, some GM made a mistake when he was trying to get to the World Series in 97. That's the excuse. What are we talking about here? And you sit here and talk about, oh, I don't trust Jerry. It was like, Jerry, the guy who got you, Carlos Santana, J.P. Crawford, Ty,

France, Marco Gonzalez, all these players that you love so much. Taylor Tremel, he got you him, he got you Mitch Hanager. Jesse Winker. He got you, AU. Nguyen Suarez. Every single player that is on the Mariners now has been acquired by Jerry DePoto and company. Yeah, and yeah, Jerry's made some mistakes. Okay.

Yeah. He paid a little too much for Adam. Was that deal as bad as it seems now when he made it? No. No, Fray Peralta was just a dude. He got developed into a really good pitcher. That happens. It happened.

You trade Pablo Lopez for David Phelps. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes you trade Nick Knighter for Dee Gordon and you'd get nothing from D. Gordon. But the Marlins don't get anything from Nick Knight or. That happens more than anything else. So I don't understand why this, why this fan base or portions of this fan base are so risk averse to making this club better. And there's like a cap on it. Like, well, I want it to be better, but I want it to be this percentage better.

So anything less than that is just like, don't bother. Don't waste the time. Why? If the team is 15% better, but you want it to be 18% better, what you're just going to say no to the 15% better? I don't understand. Nobody's sitting here advocating for trading no LV Marte for a rental. Nobody's doing that. What we're talking about is trading from these guys who are, you know,

hey, probably fourth or fifth starters, probably relievers, probably utility guys, probably fourth outfielders. That's most of your system right now. And you don't want to trade those guys because you're afraid why? Because Zach DeLoch might hit 270 one year and you don't want to trade him for Brandon Drury, who's going to hit 270 this year. Get out of here.

What are we talking about here? You don't trust Jerry to Proto to do the job. You haven't been paying attention. It's that simple. So I don't get it. I don't understand it. It's not even logical for Mariners. Even like the most pessimistic Mariner fan, that logic does not track.

And yet we hear it every day. Yeah, it's wild to me. You know, again, like look at the circumstances of the situation the Mariners find themselves in. Yeah, the division is like, a long disend drink that's out of the window now like that's

like the Meritor's just 1 16 and 19 and made up like half a game on the Astros like you know whatever like that that's not happening okay we can admit that

we can move on whatever but the wild card like they're in the third wild card lone possession they have a sole possession of the third wild card right now they're only a game and a half back of the Red Sox

or the I always get them flipped They're only a game and a half back of the Ray's. There are two games back of the Red Sox. Again, if they have a pretty decent run here over the next six games, they could go into the All-Star break with the first wild card. And by the way, all the teams that they are surrounded by, the Ray's, Red Sox, and Blue Jays play each other a bunch in the same division. They're going to beat up on each other.

The Mariners, meanwhile, like, have four series against, or like five, six series. Six series against teams about 500. The rest of the way right now. Like, they have the sixth easiest schedule in baseball by winning percentage right now. Like, look, the opportunity is there. The opportunity to not only get into the wild card, but get the first wild card and even create some separation is right there. You get healthier. You add some pieces.

you're going to be dangerous. I think there's a very real chance here. The Mariners can be the third most talented ball club in the American League by the end of the trade deadline. I think they could surpass the twins. And like be right there. Like, you know, there's going to be, there's always going to be a gap between them

and the Astros and the Yankees this year. That's just going to happen. But like, I think they could end up being better than twins. I think they can absolutely end up being better than the Raves, Red Sox, and the Blue Jays. Like, I think the opportunity is there and you shouldn't be scared to take some shots here. You shouldn't be scared to trade a Levi stout for a brand injury.

You shouldn't be scared to entertain the idea of, you know, paying top dollar for someone like Luis Castillo. If that helps you because, you know, aside from this year, Castillo would also help you next year. Like if we ever mentioned like, hey, they should trade Emerson Hancock, you know, Noah LV, Marte, Harry Ford, Emuena, Oroyo, etc. it's not for someone that you're only going to have for a couple months. Like we're talking about guys that would also help you next year and maybe even beyond that. Like, so we're not, you know, we're not promoting that the Mariners should be reckless with their prospect capital here. I don't think they should. And we would absolutely drag them if they were.

But you should take shots on some guys. Like you should go after rentals like Brandon Jewry who aren't going to cost top dollar. you should do that you should absolutely do that should you be in on andrew benatendi probably not because he probably ends up going to someone like the yankees for like a top 50 top 100 prospect right that's probably too too pricey for you but outside of that tier like everything should be on the table for the mergers and by the way i think it's worth noting here as as we get ready to wrap is there a difference between the sixth and the fourth wild card does it really matter if you think you know the rays and the blue If they're going to beat up on each other, Seattle can just maintain that six wild card spot,

get into the playoffs, not give up any of their assets and really attack it this winter. Let me ask you this. That's your line of thought. How important is it for you to have a home playoff game? Not just make it there, have a home playoff game guaranteed to you. You want that to happen? You got to be the four seed. Four seat hosts the five for three games, best of three.

So I don't know about you, but obviously I want to get to the playoffs. but if you're telling me that for the cost of Levi Stout, I can improve my odds of getting the first playoff game in 20 years in this franchise to be in Seattle, to be at Team Mobile Park, and you're going to say no to that, I question whether or not you're a baseball fan at all, just to be blunt.

Why would you not want playoff baseball, not only back to Seattle, playing in Seattle, in your home ballpark, why would you not want that? Why would you not chase that? If the cost is Levi Stout and Zach DeLogh. What are we doing if you're not willing to pay that price?

Absolutely. Well, on that note, 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 inside the Mariners at inside Mariners. You can follow me at Dane Gonzalez. It's D-A-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-P-E-E-P-A-T-1.

You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. and thank you again for making us your first listen of the day, just like you do here every single day. Now make your second listen to the day. Lockdown MLB Prospects. Host Lindsay Crosby is a prospect encyclopedia, and he's going deep on the MLB stars of tomorrow. It's free and available wherever you get your podcast just like us.

And with that, have yourself a beautiful baseball day, and we'll see you tomorrow. Go M's.