Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Should the M's Consider Calling Up Julio Rodriguez?

Episode Date: September 10, 2021

Join Locked On Mariners hosts Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby Patnode as they preview this weekend's series between the Mariners and Diamondbacks, tell you why the team should consider calling up top prospect Julio Rodriguez for the postseason race and why the bullpen should still be a key focus of theirs this offseason.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: http://patreon.com/controlthezone/NetSuiteNetSuite is offering a one-of-a-kind financing program only for those ready to switch today! Head to NetSuite.com/LockedOnBuilt 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.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. 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.

You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode of Locked-on Mariners is brought to you by Spotify Green Room. Download the Spotify Green Room app and find one of our locked-on rooms. It is Friday, September 10th, 2021. Congrats on making it to the weekend, folks. This is the Locked-on Mariner's podcast.

Your home for Daily Seattle Mariner's News and Analysis. I am your host, Tideon Gonzalez. You can find me at Dane Gonzalez on Twitter. D-A-N-Z-L-Z and on Seahawk Maven at sI.com. I am joined as always by my co-host, Colby Pat No, and you can find him at CP-A-L-E-N-E-1. That's C-P-A-T-1-1. You can also find him at Seahawk Maven. Big Seahawks game coming up, first game of the year on Sunday.

So if you want to see what we're writing about, what we're talking about, check out Seahawkmaven. And also be sure to check out our Patreon where we talk about the Mariners even more. and also get into some non-baseball talk every now and then. We post twice a week on there. So visit patreon.com forward slash control the zone for more information on that if you want. But on today's episode of Lockdown Mariners, the MMs are coming off a much needed off day and start a highly important three-game series against the Diamondbacks tonight at Team Mobile Park.

We'll tell you why they need to sweep the debacks again or at least take 203. Then we'll discuss whether or not the Mariners should swing for the fences and consider calling up their top prospect of their chances of making the postseason continue to trend upward. And finally, since we've been talking about the off season quite a bit on this week's slate of Lockdown Mariners,

we're going to tell you why the bullpen should still be a priority this winter despite how good it's been this season. If this is your first time joining us on Locked on Mariners, welcome to the show. Please give us a follow or subscribe wherever you're listening to this. We greatly appreciate it. All right, Colby,

big series starting the night between the Diamondbacks and Mariners. not necessarily because of the opponent, but when you're right in the middle of a postseason race with less than a month to go, every series is important. Every game is important for that matter. And, you know,

the Mariners now two games back of the Yankees for the second wild card in the AL. Of course, they still have a team to leapfrog before they can solely focus on who's sitting in one of those spots. But they are right there in it in a sweep or at least taken two or three from one of the worst teams in baseball this weekend

could certainly boost their chances, especially with the biggest series of the year against the Red Sox coming up right after. Pitching matchups on this one will be pretty much nearly identical to the ones we got in the series between these two teams last week. Tonight it's Marco Gonzalez versus Madison Bum Gardner. Then tomorrow, Chris Flexen versus Humberto Cassiano's.

And on Sunday, Yusay Kekuchi versus Tyler Gilbert. What are your general thoughts heading into the series, Colby? Yeah, that you don't want to sweep or sorry, You don't want to sleep. You do want to sweep, but you don't want to sleep on the Arizona Diamondbacks. You got to remember, guys, we told you last time they played this team that they were better in the second half than they were in the first half. And really since, you know, May and June were historically bad for them. But in the other months, they've been competitive.

They've played close games. They even had a winning month in April. They're a different team right now because they have Kettle Marte back. They have, you know, Zach Allen back. they're a different team. So Madison Bumgarner is pitching pretty well right now, relative to how he was last year at least. So, yeah, don't sleep on them.

And while we don't want to ever expect a sweep, it would go a long way if you could get that sweep, particularly if New York and Boston continue to struggle. What you absolutely cannot do is you can't lose this series regardless of what the other teams do, right? right like it doesn't matter like if they lose two or three but hey you know what new york lost two or three and so did boston they might be playing each other i don't know but like yeah so you didn't lose any ground technically that way but now you set yourself up where you need

a sweep of boston to be in a playoff spot and you still don't control anything because the yankees are going to play better and blah blah blah you know what i mean like this is an opportunity to stack wins and instead of in the This is kind of the thing I've been doing now. And it's kind of different now with when you're two games back. Like, it's easier to track those. But for me, I've always been looking at how many wins do I think they need to get to to have a real shot at the playoffs?

And for me, my number's been 90. And so to get to 90, winning two of these is huge. Winning all three is massive. Well, you can only afford to lose eight games the rest of the way. Right. And you don't want to lace the... Right, and you don't want to waste those against, you know, an inferior team, a better team than they had been in May and June, but still an inferior team.

So you absolutely need to get two of those to have any shot, really, to get to 90. And, again, even to get to 90, you sought to probably five and two against Oakland. And, I mean, you have to pull off some ups. You have to go two and three against, you know, they have two and one against the Red Sox and all that stuff. But if you get a sweep, what you really buy is you buy pretty much a one, game margin of error. And that's really what you're looking for here. So you want to sweep, but if they get two out of three, that should be good enough to keep

them, you know, relevant, I guess. This might be the wrong word, but I think you'll understand what I'm trying to say. Yeah, it doesn't really necessarily provide a huge blow to their chances. It also doesn't really, you know, give them a, you know, huge increase either. just kind of keep somewhere there are. And if you can just do that going into the series with the Red Sox, because that's ultimately what's most important here. And now you're in a position where you're two and a half behind the Red Sox

and the Red Sox have a pretty tough series coming up here with the White Sox starting tonight before they come to Seattle. You're in a position now where, you know, if you win a couple of those games, you could, in theory, surpass the Red Sox. So, yeah, anything you, can do to set yourself up to do that during that series would be optimal. And anything that's kind of less than at least winning two games is probably not great for your chances.

That means that you're probably going to have to bank on the unlikelyhood of sweeping the Red Sox and going like five and two against the A as the rest of the way. And that's not, you know, you don't want to set yourself up to be in that position. You want to take advantage of these few opportunities that you have to play against, you know, some not so great teams. And obviously you can't really look at the schedule and assume anything with this with the 2021 Mariners. But, you know, you look at, you know, they got the series with the Diamondbacks. They got another series against the Royals who played really well against them and beat them three times. But, you know, they should be able to beat the Royals on paper.

And then, you know, you got a couple series against the Angels as well. you got to take advantage of those opportunities if you're wanting if you're wanting to get into the playoffs and and that starts tonight yeah these are these are opportunities right and it's again it's it's very difficult to you know only losing eight games the rest of the way is it's it's a tall task particularly if you don't win these series against you know the three inferior teams that are still on your on your schedule the diamond backs the royals and and the Angels. So you need to win all those series. Otherwise, you're going to have to sweep Boston and do something crazy against Oakland, like 05 and 2 or even 6 and 1 to have a shot.

So you're buying a margin of error with a sweep. If you win two out of three, then you're, it's fine. It's acceptable. You're still in it. But losing the series, I don't see how you bounce back from that.

yet they probably will yeah well yeah i mean that's kind of just been their emmo is like every time it seems like they're dead in the water here they come again but um you know say that they uh say that they do sweep the diamondbacks and potentially get within you know one game of the postseason even tie or even maybe take a spot who knows what happens the next three days with red sox on the yankees but

you know at that point is it time to start taking any and all necessary shots to make it happen. We'll discuss that in a moment, but first, let's talk about our new sponsored NetSuite. Slow is just right if you're on vacation, a sloth, or describing QuickBooks. More like Slow Books, am I right?

It sucks you in and slows you down with manual processes, integration difficulties, and glitchy delays that leave you scrambling for the numbers you need. Now is the time to make the switch to NetSuite by Oracle, the number one financial system, because NetSuite gives you visibility and control of your financials,

inventory, HR, e-co, commerce and more. It's everything you need to grow all in one place. With NetSuite, you can automate your processes and close your books in no time, no matter how big your business grows. Failing to switch to NetSuite will leave you stuck trying to make sense of your books while your competitors sprint ahead. 93% of surveyed businesses increase their visibility and control since switching to NetSuite, and right now, special financing is back. NetSuite is offering a one-of-a-kind financing program only for those ready to switch today. Headed net suite.com slash locked on right now.

Get special financing at net suite.com slash locked on. NetSuite.com slash locked on. Don't you hate it when you're out and about in hunger strikes, but the only convenient options are unhealthy and going to make you feel worse in the end? That doesn't have to be the case anymore if you choose Bilt Bar. Bilt Bar is providing folks with a healthy, nutritious, and delicious alternative for snacking. Bilt Bar has a plethora of delicious flavors ranging from coconut to

cookies and cream, mint brownie, and so much more. Overwhelmed by the amount of good options, then try one of their mixed boxes, which gives you two bars per nine flavors. And each bar includes 17 to 18 grams of protein, with calories ranging from the low, low numbers of 1.30 to 180. They only have 4 to 5 grams of sugar and 4 to 5 grams in net carbs, and all the flavors are amazing, tasty, and most importantly, healthy. Go to built.com and use promo code Locked 15, and you'll get 15% off your order.

That's LOC, KED, 15,000. for 15% off your order at built.com. So Colby, this is a topic that you brought up on our Patreon show. I believe last week, maybe it was Monday. Can't remember either way, Patreon.com. for it slash control the zone if you want to hear that, by the way. I believe the way it started was we were talking about the current state of the Mariners outfield, how Jake Fraley is on the IL, Derek Kelnick is still struggling.

And we were saying how little options they have down in the miners to give them a better shot the rest of the way here. But you mentioned mostly in just, I would assume, the possibility of calling up top prospect, Julio Rodriguez, to see if he can push them over the hump in the final few weeks of the season. And, you know, now at the start of the year, to be fair, you know, Jerry Depoto did say that there was a chance we could see Julio in September. Obviously, things have changed. The state of the season has changed for the Mariners. The mission has changed. And Julio has played a lot of baseball the last year. He played winter ball in the the Dominican spring training started out in high A dominated, participated in Olympic qualifiers for the Dominican Republic, got called up to double A, then went to the Olympics, had a really good showing there, won bronze, and is now back in AA where he's slashing a ridiculous 362, 470, 507 with four home runs and 19 RBI in 37 games, but also that's just 166 plate appearances above high A. So is there anything that we convince you to call up Julio this year or at least make you think twice about it? I mean, I want to say no. Because at the end of the day, I don't think it's wise to call up Julio right now. And then by the time it might make sense, there's probably a week left in the year. And it's like, how big, how are you going to trust putting that guy in your lineup?

a rookie, you know, in the middle of a pennant race. However, the guy's really good. And what the Mariners are running out there, particularly in left field right now, is not. Heck, even center field could use some improvement. Although, you know, small sample size alert here. But in September, Jared Kalnick is hitting 276, 323, 448. And if he does that the rest of September, then that's really good. That's like adding a quality major league bat right there.

So yeah, hopefully that's the case. But to me, the answer is still no. I just, I don't know like, do I trust Julio more than I trust? Do I trust Julio at 21, right? Who coming off a double A, not even playing in AAA, seeing how the guys who have played AAA baseball struggled, the Tramels, the Kellnicks, the Raleys and all that stuff. That jump is just so huge.

Is it, am I really going to get better production out of Julio for two weeks than I am from Bowers and Marmalios? I mean, we'd like to think so, but we also thought Kellnick was going to be pretty good when he came up. And, well, you tell me. So, yeah, I think the answer for me is no, because I don't trust that Julio is better than what they have out there. right now over the next two or three weeks. I mean, over the long run, absolutely. But even next year, absolutely. But for right now, yeah, no.

Like, I know I'm supposed to be definitive about this, but it really is like, like if they call him up, right? Like hypothetically, let's say they call up him and Matt Brash, which we talked about yesterday. Let's say they call him up for the Red Sox series. I mean, am I going to be like, oh, this is so dumb? I mean, how, like, how, how, like, how, how, could you do this? Like, this is, this is a dumb idea. No, I'm going to be too pumped to,

to care, really. But yeah, is it, I just, I'm going to say no. Like, that's my final answer. But, you know, I mean, if they're like tied, it would. I mean, if they're like tied with like, for the last spot, right, going into the final week, then you just want even just a bench guy or, or, you know, so you're going up against a couple of lefties that. you have favorable matchups against like i mean i guess andrew heaney's not not in uh and not anymore but you know what i mean like if you if there's a run of lefties and you want to just give him those at bats and i guess fine but ultimately no i i think i'll just you know let him play out the rest of this year and then uh see him in spring training in uh 2022

i all right so when you first brought this up um when we talked about this. I was immediately opposed to it, but then we talked about it more and I kind of convinced myself. Yeah, you did. Yeah, and here's what I think about it, or at least what I dream on

when I think about this. What if, because he's so new to the league and the league is so new to him, that he can at least give you Kyle Lewis in September of 2019 production, where Yeah, he strikes out a bunch, but he also comes up with a, you know, a couple of home runs.

You know, I mean, Kyle Lewis hit five when he came up and had some doubles and stuff and, you know, help that team even know that they weren't really competing at the time. But it helped them, you know, win a couple games towards the end of the year there. You know, it gets the Reds, against the Pirates, et cetera. What if he could do that for you, you know, because that would be pretty useful, especially when you're running out Jose Marmalios. etc. And left yield right now. Jose Marmalo's hate will not be tolerated. YouTube player of the game, Jose Marmeloos. Thank you.

But I mean like, could he at least do that for you? I don't think the answer is absolutely no. I think there is a chance that that could happen. And if you're in a playoff race, I feel like you should maybe take that shot. I think like even now being two games back, you have, I think you have to at least consider taking that shot. Because I mean, let me ask you this. What is the worst that could happen by calling up Julio?

The absolute like disaster and not injury because injury can happen anywhere no matter where he's playing. So what like aside from that, I don't think it's going to like destroy his development or anything. him coming up for a couple weeks. You can still service time him and all that stuff next year. So do you, what is the worst possible outcome by calling up Julio? That he is flat out bad, like really, really bad. And it actually hurts your chances. But would you push it?

Quite small. Would you push it though? Like if you called him up and he like just looked completely overmatched in the first two games or whatever. Would you continue pushing that envelope? I mean, you kind of have to because I mean, you're not going to say, oh, well, two games, you look pretty bad. So it's like, yeah, but it's two games. I mean, and again, the gap between AAA and Major League Baseball has never been higher. So what do you think that says about the gap between AA baseball and the majors?

I mean, is Julio that's special that he can handle? Because, I mean, you look at like look at Wander Franco, right? guy played in AAA you know he didn't come from straight from double A and and it's just is he as good as Wander Franco I don't think so but you know maybe so yeah I just

I feel like if you call him up and you just put him on the bench after he struggles for a couple games that just defeats the whole purpose you're either riding with the upside or you're not so if you call up Julio he needs to be in the lineup you know four or five times a week and if there's a particular matchup against a tough righty

You want to use Bowers out there in left field who, by the way, been pretty good since August. You know, granted, they're really picking and choosing their matchups, which I mean, hey, why wouldn't you? But since August, August 1, Jake Bowers is hitting 273 with a 396 on base. We'll ignore the slugging for now. Not important that he's only slugging 318. Not important. But, yeah, you know, I don't think you should call it. him up and then be like, okay, you're just here to sit and learn.

Like, if you're going to call him up, he needs to play every day. And I guess the worst thing that could happen is that he's actually worse than what you're doing in right, or what you're doing in left field right now. And I mean, if it is worse, it's not going to be that much worse, right? Because what you have in left field now is pretty bad. Well, that's the thing is like you're getting a lot of offers out of that position anyway. So it's like, I know, he comes up. sure but uh but like if he comes up and he

comes up and he gives you you know oh for four etc every night you're not really you know that's not really moving the needle one way or the other that much because right now you're getting that a lot from that from that position or at least from one of your batting order spots in general anyway um

I don't know man I just I think like if you do sweet the diamond backs, right? I think you should legitimately consider this. Like, like, legitimate, like, you were talking about with the, with the brash call up and all that,

why not also call up Julio? Because at that point, I mean, you need a spark to get over this hump, because the odds are still insurmountable. You know, even if you're tied with the Red Sox, the odds are still not in your favor. Because the Red Sox are a much better team than you are. The A's are.

probably a much better team than you are, at least on paper. Not bullpen-wise. The head-to-head matchups say differently. Yeah, the head-to-head matchups for a lot of these teams with the Mariners. It says differently. The Blue Jays. Except for the Yankees. Yeah, except for the Yankees.

And a bit of that was also Yankees Stadium. But, you know. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Yeah. But yeah, like, and that on Pryor, by the way. Yeah. Yeah, I never want to think about that. I'd never want to think about that series ever again.

Anyway, I just, I think like, you need to do whatever it takes to give you maybe that spark. That just like, because you're, you, if you get in, it's going to take something that none of us could even imagine in our wildest dreams, right? You know? And I think that might be the thing. I think it might be Julio Rodriguez coming up. And like I said, having kind of a Kyle Lewis in September of 2019. type of month, right? Which is not like extraordinarily good, but he can give you some power.

And there's a chance that you might run into one, you know? Yeah. And then there's the very, and then there's the very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very small chance that he just pops. Right. You know? Sure. I mean, I guess the thing is, is like a hidden element of this. like if you really want to

jack up the fan base and you really want to get you know people in the gates for the there's only like what like eight home games left something like that like it's crazy there's one more Sunday game well after after this weekend there's only one more weekend series

we're that late into the year 12 12 home games out of how many games out of so is it an even split I believe there's 23 games left Oh, okay. I thought it was a... They got 22 games left. So 12 at home, 10 on the road.

I thought it was a road heavy back in, but it's not. Either way, only 12 home games left. You want to get people into those gates here? Go ahead to sweep the diamond backs, and shortly after you went on Sunday, announce that you're calling up Julio Rodriguez and Matt Brash for that Boston series. Yeah.

See what that does to your fan base. I might hop on and play myself. Yeah. Okay. You got to save up money so that you can know you're going to fly to Seattle and then we're going to do a cross-country road trip down to Arizona for spring training. So you got to save a money for that. But you guys can follow our journey, by the way, on YouTube.

Just kidding. But yeah, it's, I mean, it would carry that level of excitement though, right? Like the Mariners are much must watch at that point. So by the way, Sunday sets up really nice. And I know we got to run to our next segment, but I'm just going to say this Sunday. Seahawks play at 10 a.m. Mariners play at 1.

That's a great day. Great sports day right there. Coming up, we're going to tell you why the bullpen still needs to be a focus of the Mariners this off season. But real quick, let me tell you about bet online. It's that time of year again and all eyes are now turning to football as teams are back. on the gridiron to start the season. And as always, Bet Online is your number one spot for all the pro and college football action. Get all the updated odds, props and contests, including online's biggest half million dollar

NFL mega contests in the world's largest $200,000 NFL Survivor Contest, open now at Bet Online. Head to the website or use your mobile device to sign up today to receive your 50% welcome bonus by using promo code locked on. Bet Online is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your favorite sports from football, basketball, boxing, right to your favorite Vegas casino games. So don't wait and take advantage of all the great offers they have available for the 2021 season. Bet Online, you're our online sportsbook experts.

Does this sound familiar? You've got one device that lets you catch the game live, another that lets you stream your favorite shows, you're watching sports highlights on your phone, and you've got your neighbor's best friends login for the good stuff. Well, I want to tell you about a simple way to get all that entertainment you love without the hassle and a great way to finally get your TV together. It's called Direct TV stream and it brings your live TV and on-demand favorites together like never before so you can watch your favorite sports, movies, and shows all in one place. That means no more juggling remotes and no need to buy another device ever again.

And the best part, there's no annual contract. So get rid of the clutter and the confusion and get your TV together with DirecTV stream. You can learn more at directtiv.com. That's directTV.com. Compatible device required. Content varies by package. All right. So Colby, we've we've talked about, you know, third base, starting pitching, outfield, second base, pretty much every position group under the sun that the Mariners need to focus on this offseason catcher as well. But one that you've kind of push back a little bit on with me is the bullpen.

I've talked a lot about wanting to improve the bullpen still to focus on the bullpen to add to the bullpen this winter. And look, you know, they have Paul Sewell, they have Drew Steckenrider, they have Diego Castillo. All these guys have been really good for them. The bullpen is one of the best units in baseball. And they're going to be adding Andres Munoz to that. They're going to be adding Ken Giles to that next year. We already know that. But I still think, you know, for a few reasons that they should continue to add to it because why not?

And I'm talking, I'm not just talking about taking fly. like Jerry Depoto has, which has been great, by the way. Paul Seawald, one of those guys, Drew Steck and Ryder, another one of those guys. But, you know, bullpins are always changing, right? You cannot rely on any single reliever, aside for maybe a select few in Major League Baseball. Guys can blow up at any given time. And even with how good a Seawald, a Steck and Ryder at Castillo, et cetera, have been, who knows?

Really, that's still an uncertainty. and I would like to, you know, cover all the bases here. And I wouldn't mind if the Mariners took five or six million dollars or maybe even $8 million and invested in a pretty good reliever, maybe even two, this winter. You know, I don't really have a specific name in mind. I don't really care. I'll leave that up to Jerry DePoto because he's pretty good at determining who fits in his bullpen. But, yeah, I think, you know, for for for those. reasons and for the fact that you know for some things that we've heard that I don't want to get

into on here though but uh you know Drew Steckham rider might not be around you know you might want to take advantage of Paul Seawald's value and see what you could get for him I don't know I think I think relief pitching is a bigger need for this team heading into the winner than it than it initially seems I think Jerry's always looking to add to the bullpen I think any any good team is looking to add to its bullpen and there are going to be vacancies just out of free agency. You're going to lose Doolittle. You're going to lose Smith.

You're going to lose Hector Santiago, even though he's not on the roster right now. You know, you're going to lose Matt Andries as well. They're all free agents. So, you know, there's three spots right there. Ford to count Santiago. And obviously, you know, Giles and Munoz are going to take two of those. And you're carrying a heavy bullpen right now anyways. So look, like if you just roll with,

what you have next year. On paper, the bullpen is fine. Like, it's good even. But you're also relying on guys who have only done things once or for half a year even. You're relying on them to be exactly what they were this year. You're relying on Paul Seawall to be exactly what he's been this year, which, I mean, maybe it's certainly possible, but we've seen him do it since May. And nothing else in his career would tell you that he's this good.

So maybe he is. but we don't have that evidence. I mean, really aside from Diego Castillo, there are questions up and down this bullpen. Even Giles, you know, he's coming off with Tommy John.

Yeah. Sometimes it takes a while to get your feel back. So same goes for Munoz. And Johann Ramirez has been great for the last month or so. Well, he wasn't too great the month before. So, I mean,

you know what I mean? It's just like there are a lot of questions here. You talked about Steck and Rider. Steck and Ritter to me, I feel pretty confident. He's getting traded off of what we heard yesterday. So you're going to have that opening there. And you look at the, you know, the reliever class that's available this year.

It's kind of, you know, whatever you want it to be. It's, it's, do you just want to like a guy pretty cheap but reliable in the middle innings? I mean, well, you can go sign Steve Seishak or Alex Colomé or Chris Devinsky or Yami Garcia or Michael Givens or you can go spend a little bit of money and go get Kendall Graveman or Ryssela Glacias. or, you know, Ian Kennedy,

although Kennedy's been really bad with Philly. I don't know if you saw that, but it's amazing. Guys go to Philly and they just suck coming out of the bullpen. Or you can go get one of my favorite guys, which is Colin McHugh, spend a little bit of money there. So Adam Ottvino or, you know,

go bring back Joe Smith for a couple million bucks or whatever it is. You know, there's a lot of guy. Your boy, Andrew Chaffin's a free agent. So there are a lot of guys out there that make a lot of sense for this bullpen. And again, one of the quickest ways to close the gap between you and more talented teams is to have a better bullpen.

And we've seen that play out this year. The Mariners are where they are because their bullpen has been elite, basically. That's how they're able to stay so close with teams that they're clearly out talented by. But they have better bullpins. So they stay in games longer. Yeah. And they're able to win games because teams have worse bullpins. Right. You look at the, you know, we talked about the head-to-head matchups earlier, talking about like the Blue Jays and the A's. Well, what are those teams biggest issues? Bullpen?

And I mean, you look at just this wild card race in general. Red Sox and Yankees, their bullpins not too great either. So, you know, that's been the driving force of this team. And you want to, I just, I think you should just continue to add to that strength. Yeah, it's a, it's a huge strength of yours. And you have a lot of guys that you feel like. like you can at least, you know, write in pen for next year. But I don't know. Again, like, you know, I was talking about possibly exploring the trade market for Seawald. I mean, that guy has been one of the best relievers in baseball this year. And the last time you traded one of your one of the best relievers in baseball, you got Jared Kelnick out of it. And now I'm not saying that Paul Seawalt's going to get you what Edwin Diaz got you, but there's certainly value there.

And for a team that's looking to take that next step, I think you should at least explore it, especially when you have Ken Giles, who's one of the best relievers in baseball when he's healthy, coming. And you also have gotten Diego Castillo. And you could still go out and add someone else. Through free agency, through the trade market, etc.

So trading Paul Sebalt shouldn't be off the table. Trading Drew's second rider is probably on. the table and you know at that point who knows uh you know anthony miscevich might have some some interest who knows but either way i think this uh this bullpen should still be added to and and possibly retooled before the season starts because you just you never know with these things the relievers are just all over the place you really you really don't know who's going to pop who's not who's going to fall off. And these things change all the time.

So for that reason and for all the other reasons we've listed, I just, I think that you absolutely need to, to go in on the, on the bullpen again this, this winter. And we know that, you know, Jerry's going to make some of those,

you know, waiver wire pickups, et cetera, you know, those minor league signings, et cetera, like the Paul Seawals and like the Drew second riders. But I also, I would like to see them spend some money there as well.

Not, not a considerable amount of money like i don't want them signing a 14 million dollar reliever you know i don't even know if that guy exists in this free agent market but um you know i also don't want them to just do that you know the the the the the the waiver wire scouring pretty much and go you know get a column a queue or someone like that i think that would really help them and would really shore up that bullpen so um so yeah so that's going to do it for today's show and uh that's going to it for the week. Thank you so much for joining us here on Lockdown Mariners for Colby

Paddnode. I'm Tidane Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Dan Gonzalez that's D-A-N-Z-L-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-P-A-E-T-E-L-E-N-Z-L-E-Bat-E-Pat-E-Bat-E-E-Bat-E-E-Bat-E-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-Bets-B-Bet's, podcast hosted by your boy Q and handicap and expert Lee Sterling. Get daily picks, blowout specials, wrong team favorite picks, and Lee Sterling's lock of the day.

Follow the Lockdown Betts podcast brought to you by betonline.ag wherever you get podcasts.