Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - The End of an Era? Mariners Place Ty France on Irrevocable Waivers

Starting point is 00:00:00 Well, it's a bit overdue, but the Mariners are finally doling out consequences for their lineup shortcomings. We'll talk about that and then answer some of your questions coming up here on Mailbag Monday. Colby, hit it. You are Locked-on Mariners, your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Ahoy, sailors. It is Monday, July 22nd, 2024. This is Tadang Gazzalus and Colby Patnaud for the Lockdown Marers Podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:33 part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day. On today's show, the Thai France era is seemingly over in Seattle. We'll talk about that and then open up the mailbag like we do here every single Monday and answer some of your questions. But before we do that, though, shout out to our title sponsor today, prize picks. It's the easiest, the most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Go to Pricepix.com slash locked on MLB and use the promo code locked on MLB.

Starting point is 00:01:00 That's all lowercase for a first deposit match up to 100. And if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show, check out our Patreon. The link is in the description and you can sign up for a free seven-day trial. So last night, Thai France was placed on irrevocable waivers. So what does that mean? There are three potential outcomes here, folks. The first and the most unlikely one is that he clears waivers and he remains on the Mariners Major League roster. Second one is that he clears waivers and he's given the option to go down to Tacoma.

Starting point is 00:01:32 but because he's accrued enough service time, he can decline that option and become a free agent. Now, I was under the assumption that if he were to decline that, that he would forfeit his remaining two and a half, roughly million dollars that he still owed for the rest of the year. But I've heard conflicting information on that. So it's possible they still guaranteed that money

Starting point is 00:01:54 whether or not he stays with the organization. Thirdly, a team claims them. and he's theirs. But on the second potential outcome there, just to go back to that real quick, that obviously significantly impacts how he could approach this thing if he does clear waivers and they want to send him down to Tacoma because he's going to hit the market anyway

Starting point is 00:02:19 and be able to pick a new team in a couple months' time once the offseason rolls around, I would think that if he is not guaranteed that $2.5 million, that he's probably not going to forfeit. that just for the ability to find a new team for a couple months at the end of the season. I think he probably just sticks in Tacoma, works on some things and then hits the market and tries to find a new situation there and still makes us $2.5 million. So we'll see on all of those fronts here in the next few days.

Starting point is 00:02:46 It's probably going to take about three or four days, I would assume, for us to finally get an answer on that. This comes on the heels of a disappointing series this weekend against the Astros, obviously, in which the, you know, offense did not hold up its end of the bargain in the first two games of the series specifically. They've continued to struggle. And like we've talked about for weeks now, there needed to be consequences for the offense's struggles.

Starting point is 00:03:10 And look, it's a bit overdue, but better late than never, right? And France was obviously someone that was certainly part of the problem. So this is the first of what is hopefully many moves to come for the merits who kind of rearrange their offense and hopefully find themselves in a better spot here on the other side of the trade deadline. But Colby, overall, just your thoughts on the decision to waive Thai France. Yeah, if this is indeed the end of the line for Thai France with the Mariners, you know, you wish him well. And you thank him for his, you know, four or five years of service here. Made an all-star team for you.

Starting point is 00:03:54 He was kind of, you know, a linchpin in your lineup for a little while there. and it just unfortunately fell apart at the end. I understand why some people are, you know, sad to see Tygo, but the reality of the situation is is that he was hurting you. And he just wasn't a valuable player anymore. You can't run and you can't field and, you know, you're not hitting for power. You better be able to hit for average and get on base a lot. And even France's like league averageish on base percentages were pretty heavily influenced by his hit by pitch rate.

Starting point is 00:04:29 So, like, even this year, like, you take away a sit-by pitch. He's a sub-300 on-base guy. So, you know, there was some thought early on that Ty might actually be a foundational guy. Just the profile seemed to work really well at Team Mobile Park. He was going to hit a lot of doubles, use the whole field, not strike out. And, you know, somewhere along the way, he decided he wanted to hit for more power, like a first basement and try to get paid. And it wasn't a wise decision. at least it doesn't appear that it was.

Starting point is 00:05:00 So, you know, took a shot on himself, gambled on himself to improve, and it didn't work out. And the Mariners have given him now basically two full calendar years where he has been the, you know, unquestioned starting first basement for this team. And he has produced a 100 WRC plus in the last two calendar years. Just not going to work. It's not going to work if you can't bring anything else to the table. So I wish Ty, you know, a lot of luck wherever he ended up. And maybe he sticks around. maybe he comes up in September is actually, you know, useful or something like that.

Starting point is 00:05:32 I mean, crazier things have happened, but this is indeed it. You know, I wish him well. I'm thanking for his, for his, you know, many seasons of service. And I totally understand why the Mariners made this move when they did, though. So I'm also reading right now that it's possible France might be eligible to play while he's on irrevocable waivers. He might even be in the lineup tonight, which is a bit awkward. I'm not sure because Kevin Kiermeyer was the most recent player before France to be placed on irrevocable waver is. I don't know if he played while he was on them or not.

Starting point is 00:06:08 He obviously cleared and he's still with the Blue Jays. So yeah. Yeah, so yeah, not entirely sure how that works, but it's possible we'll see France in the lineup tonight, especially with a lefty on the mound for the Angels. So nevertheless, it does seem like this is coming to an end with France. in Seattle. So let's talk about the move the Mariners made. They've sent Ryan Bliss down to Tacoma. They've called up Jason Vossler and have added him to the to the 40-man roster. Vossler has had a pretty good year down in Tacoma this year. He's a 30-year-old.

Starting point is 00:06:48 Enfielder has also played some corner outfield in the past, has had a couple cups of coffee at the major league level with the Giants and the Reds. This year down in Tacoma slashing 289, 357, 526. It's a 1113 WRC plus, 21.6% K rate, 8.4% walk rate, 20 home runs this year already down in Tacoma. And Cameron wanted to know Vossler getting the call up instead of Locklear. What are our thoughts on that? Yeah, it's pretty interesting. When Passan broke the news, he pretty heavily implied that Locklear was going to be the guy

Starting point is 00:07:27 for the rest of the year. And, you know, Ryan Divish said not so fast, and he actually, it was the first one to throw out there the idea that Bossler could be the guy that they call up. Now, we don't know if that's short term or long term. We don't know if Vossler is going to get a legit run here in the lineup. I mean, obviously there's multiple openings in this lineup right now, so it's possible that he could see some run.

Starting point is 00:07:51 I kind of doubt we've seen tonight against Anderson, but maybe. So, yeah, it was Nitchell. interesting decision. I don't know if this is because they think that, you know, they think Locklear is going to get traded in the next few days and they just don't want to mess with it. I don't know if this is just because, you know, they think they're going to have a solution on the France thing in a couple days and they didn't want to call him up and then send him back down for no reason. So, yeah, it was an interesting thought. But Bossert has been really good in Tacoma, particularly this month of July. He has.

Starting point is 00:08:27 a guy who the marries were actually targeted in the past and they signed him last winter and they released him to pursue other opportunities. So there's definitely some veteran presence here. There's a left-handed bat. He's got some pull power, works counts. There's like a professional hitter type of tag that goes with Fossler. He's really cut down his strikeouts this month as well. So, yeah, I think this is just about getting a bet who can come up and give you some quality at bats,

Starting point is 00:08:55 particularly with guys on base. And, you know, just finding something to, you know, kind of play the hot streak a little bit. And the mayors are certainly doing that right now. And Vossler is, you know, probably their most deserving player down in AAA. He can play first. He can play some third. You can play a couple different positions, whereas Locklear's first base only. So, yeah, I think this is just about, you know, probably they view this as a short-term thing.

Starting point is 00:09:21 And they don't want to disrupt Locklear's. development or they don't want to disrupt his whatever he's doing right now. So just go with Vosler for a couple days. And then if Locklear does end up being more of a long-term answer for them, they could just make that swap whenever they want. Right. There's obviously still the question of like if Fulio has to go on the IL, maybe Locklear is the corresponding move to that.

Starting point is 00:09:41 Or once they finally get clarification on France and his situation, then, you know, Locklear is the corresponding move for that. So there's a couple of different avenues they can take with this. And Vossler is obviously someone that I've thought for a while now deserved at least a look, considering what else you've been rolling out on a night-to-night basis. You need to take some shots at this point. I'm not saying that Vosser's going to come up and you're actually going to get something out of him. But, hey, we didn't think that with Victor Robles and Victor Robles, which this is a problem, but he's unironically been one of the best position players on the mirrors, if not the best position player on the marriage over the last couple of weeks.

Starting point is 00:10:22 So Vosser's a guy that could potentially help, but, you know, I wouldn't hold my breath on it. But he's another guy that's, you know, kind of like Robles here where he has had some success at the major league level. So it's not far-fetched that he can hit at least a little bit, right? 22 with the Giants at 111 played appearances. He slash 265, 342, 469. That'll play in a part-time role. That will absolutely play, especially, again, compared to what the Mariners are rolling out most nights. We'll see. Maybe they can get something.

Starting point is 00:10:54 No, Jason Vossler. All right, we are going to answer more of your questions here in just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of the Lockdown on Marys podcast is brought to you by Price Picks and eBay Motors. Price Picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Unlike other apps, on Price Picks, it's just you against the numbers. All you do is pick more or less on two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings roll in. You can now win up to 100 times your money on Price Picks with as little as four correct picks. You can turn $10 into $1,000.

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Starting point is 00:12:56 town broadcasts with SiriusXM via the SXM app. All you have to do to find that is search the word mariners. We're going to get back into your questions here on mailbag Monday. This one comes from MC who wants to know how does a trip for Julio to the IL affect the Mariners' trade deadline plans, more likely to buy or sell or does it not change their mindset at all? Colby, thoughts. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:13:21 Early indications seem to be the Mariners have dodged a bit of a bullet on Julio's ankle. we'll have to wait and see what the MRI says today. But yeah, it's, I'd be shocked if he played before Friday. So we'll have to wait and see if he goes on the IL or not. But yeah, I don't think that the Mariners can sell. Like, I really don't think there are any, any position to sell at the deadlines in a week. And they're tied for first place. Like, I just, I don't foresee any scenario where they're going to sell.

Starting point is 00:13:54 well and also what are you going to sell exactly because like i've seen the the name louis castillo thrown out a lot but the thing with castillo is he still has a no trade clause until this off season it's a very similar situation to robbie ray where it's like a it's a temporary no trade clause and it uh it gets lifted um you know at a at a certain point in his contract and for castillo that's this off season so maybe they trade castillo this off season but not at the deadline because that's just too complicated for them and they'll just have more options that's not going to happen. So at that point, like, who are you trading?

Starting point is 00:14:27 Right? Like what? Dylan Moore, Josh Rojas, Ryan Stannick, like. And you're selling low, and you're selling low on Rojas or more at this point. Like any of your, any of your bats right now, you're selling low because of how bad your offenses in general, except for maybe Robles, right? Do you want to trade Robles? What are you going to get for Robles?

Starting point is 00:14:46 So that's going to make it worth, you know, foregoing, taking a shot at making the playoffs this year and potentially winning the division, right? So, you know, I guess Andres Munoz, right? Like, that's the one guy that could get you, you know, something significant on the market. But is that really something you want to do right now, considering, again, that you are tied for first place at the moment? No. There's just no scenario where they're going to sell. They might do some sideways trading, but they're not going to sell.

Starting point is 00:15:18 Does it make them more likely to buy? I don't know. You know, you'd like to say like, hey, well, Julio's going to be out for 10 days. We kind of need somebody. So let's go get aggressive on a center fielder like Jazz Chisholm who's out there or Luis Robert who's out there. Let's go get that done. But, you know, obviously, if you're not quite sure how long Julio's going to be out for,

Starting point is 00:15:41 that might muddy the waters a little bit. And obviously those teams are going to look at your situation and be like, well, now you need this guy more. So, you know, like I think his price just went up for you. So it's just one of those things where I, I don't know how much the Julio thing really impacts it one way or another. I think depending on the results of this MRI, they might just look at it and be like, no, you know, let's just continue as we have been and just assume Julio's going to be back this weekend

Starting point is 00:16:10 and see if we can survive three days without him. You do get the off day on Thursday, which is nice. So he's only going to miss these three games in theory until Friday at least. So, you know, we'll see. I really doubt we see them for the next three days. I don't know if this changes a whole lot unless they get some really bad news on the MRI thing today. But even if, you know, Julio's MRI comes back, not, you know, not the best. I just can't imagine that they would sell at that point.

Starting point is 00:16:40 So I think they're pretty much pot committed right now unless they lose like the next six straight or something like that. And the Astros win six straight. It's just hard to imagine that they're going to fold their hand. We're 100 plus games in now and they're tied for first place. So I don't see them bold in that hand. So some news about an old friend per Robert Murray of fancited, James Paxton, is being DFAed by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has been fine this year. He hasn't been particularly good, but he hasn't been terrible either.

Starting point is 00:17:14 443ERA 497 FIP, 645, Ks per 9, 484 walks per 9. I mean, if you want to take a shot for some depth, I wouldn't hate it. Trail Plessy wants to know. What possibly could be the rationale for staying with a too many strikeouts, barely 200 hitter at the top of the order. If service is trying to emotionally placate the unofficial team captain, even JP has to know he's dragging down the team. Do you have better options?

Starting point is 00:17:44 Really? Like, the other thing, too, is, I mean, at the very least, he should hit lead off against lefties. He's been really good against lefties. Last time I checked it was a 144 WRC plus against against lefties. I don't know if that's changed or how much that's changed over the last few days.

Starting point is 00:18:01 But JP overall has been really good against lefties this year. That's like the one thing that he's still been useful with. But yeah, against right. He's really struggled and the strikeouts have crept up quite a bit here over the last month or so. I think, yeah, they could absolutely use a new lead off hitter, but I just, I don't really know who that is right now. Because again, your offense from top to bottom is pretty bad right now.

Starting point is 00:18:28 I guess Victor Robles, but yeah, it's about it. It's all I have for you. Yeah, just not a lot of options, you know, which is a problem. And I think we knew that unless JP was going to repeat what he did last year, he shouldn't be the lead off hitter. Like, that's not where, like, you know, good line of JP sitting nine. unless he's doing what he did last year, then you can have him hit lead off and that's fine.

Starting point is 00:18:54 But yeah, you just don't have a lot of options right now. And obviously now with Julio on the shelf for at least a couple days, you have even fewer options than he did before. So, yeah, there's not a lot of options. If you want to hit like Robles first, fine, but JP's probably hitting second because, again, like, Raleigh's been good, but, you know, he's hit and miss.

Starting point is 00:19:16 You're not hitting Cal Raleigh lead off. you know, Luke Rayleigh's been struggling as of late, had the big homer yesterday, which was great, but obviously he's been struggling, so he's not really an option in the lead-off spot right now. So you still have a lot of options. So I do think that, like, if you're not going to go with JP, you're probably going with Robles.

Starting point is 00:19:37 And Robles hit second yesterday. So I imagine he'll probably hit second today against Anderson. So, yeah, I just don't think that there's really a better option right now. I mean, it was Rojas for a little while, but Rojas is really struggling now. So you just don't have anybody that's, you know, swinging the bat so well that you can justify bumping JP down a couple of notches. Because at the end of the day, JP, sadly, is going to hit first second or third for you, the way the lineups constructed right now and the way everybody else is swinging the bat. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:20:08 All right. We're going to answer a couple more of your questions here in just a moment. But first, a reminder of this episode of the Lockdownerous podcast is brought to you by Fandul. I know I'm saying the obvious here, but I love sports. I love them so much. I never want them to stop. But as the playoffs wind down, unfortunately, we get fewer games. And the sports aren't sporting like I want them to.

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Starting point is 00:21:00 And you're listening to the Lockdown Mariner's podcast. Once again, tonight, you can catch all the action between the M's and the Angels on the Marrers hometown broadcast with Sirius XM via the SXM app. All you have to do to find that is search the word Mariner's. And it is Mailbag Monday. We're answering some of your questions. We got one here from Mariners to the moon. who wants to know given how many teams are likely to try and walk the line between buying and selling,

Starting point is 00:21:25 what major league pieces do the Mariners have to move in the right deal and what teams match up best to make this kind of deal with? So, you know, I think you're looking at some of the bullpen pieces like the Ryan Stanix of the world, the Trent Thorntons of the world, etc. You know, guys that have had at least a cup of coffee at the major league level like Tyler Lockley and Ryan Bliss are going to have some interests. well, I would assume. And then I think you could also throw in guys that are like relatively close that a team thinks they can at least call up and see at some point this year. Like Harry Ford, like potentially Cole Young.

Starting point is 00:22:04 I think those guys also could technically count here, even though they're not major league pieces, but they're guys that could potentially play at the major league level this year, especially for a team that's like, yeah, we might be able to compete for the postseason. but it's possible this thing could go sideways in a matter of a week or so um so yeah so i would focus mostly on those guys again i just i don't think really many teams are going to have a ton of interest in the merrars bats at least at a price that the mirrors are going to feel comfortable trading those guys at uh so it's it's pretty much the relievers it's blocklier it's bliss it's the guys that's still like there's a bunch of question marks around so like there's still like, you know, intrigue from other teams,

Starting point is 00:22:50 you know, and then there's obviously, you know, the Fords and the and the Youngs of the world. Anyone I miss? Maybe Canzone, maybe a Raleigh. Yeah. Sure. Somebody like that. But yeah, no, I mean, like the sideways deals for the Mariners, again, I talked about this

Starting point is 00:23:08 last week. It's going to be something like Stannick for, you know, to Arizona who needs bullpen help for. Randall Gritchuk, right? Or it's going to be Thornton for Jack Peterson. You know, it's going to be something like that. So like if they're making

Starting point is 00:23:24 a sideways deal or they're trying to walk that line and they're trying to make a deal like that, it's going to be with a team that needs Boltono. That'll be the team that the Mariners do that with. Or maybe like they throw Rayleigh in a deal to get a more established hitter or something like that. But yeah, mostly

Starting point is 00:23:40 if they're going to work with any of the teams that are trying to do sideways deals, it's going to be, you know, they're going to trade some of their open arms to that team where they're going to use that team as like a third team facilitator to swap a prospect or two to make other deals line up better for them. Next question here from D. Panky, do you believe Garver should and will play a lot less going forward since he's never played this many games, has struggled even with his return to catching and as a result seems to becoming less valuable by the day. I think ideally Garver just kind of

Starting point is 00:24:14 slides into more of a traditional backup catcher role. Plays a couple of times a week and that's really it. Yeah, right now he's a backup catcher who's going to play pretty much every day against left-handed pitching. He's still hitting left-handed pitching very well. So that's his role going forward. I mean, is that mean he's going to play a lot less than he did in the first half?

Starting point is 00:24:34 Yeah, probably. But he's still going to get some at-bats against righties because, again, you just don't have a ton of options right now. And you're not always going to be able to maneuver your schedule. so that he's catching on a day where there's a lefty on the mound. So, you know, you are going to have to play him against some righties. He can't just bench him every single day when he's not catching. And he'll probably DH pretty much every day.

Starting point is 00:24:56 There's a lefty out there. So, yeah, I think you'll see him play less. But for the role that the mayors need him to be, backup catcher, you know, D.H. against some lefties, still perfectly suited for that role. It's not a role you want to pay $13 million for. But it's still one that has value. and Garber can fill that that role for you pretty nicely still. Last question from Zach.

Starting point is 00:25:21 Sounds more like a football question, but what constitutes a catch? Julio clearly caught the Yordon triple, took a step, hit the wall and lost it only on the way down. To me, like you're not calling that a catch. No.

Starting point is 00:25:34 No, that's never been a catch in the history of baseball. Yeah. Never should be. Like, I think he just watching, go like, no,

Starting point is 00:25:40 he didn't catch that. Like he almost made an incredible catch. But he didn't, you know, he clearly. he dropped it and the umpires got that call right so uh there was that thing a few years ago where remember it was like oh what constitutes a catch and there were guys making diving plays and then they get up to put their hand on the ball and take it out of their glove and then they drop it and they're

Starting point is 00:25:59 like oh that's a single and then they fix that in the middle of the year so i think i think we have a pretty good idea of what it catches um what's the like the technical rule for it i don't know but what julio did yesterday i shouldn't have counted as a catch it wasn't it now and a perfect world I think there would be a rule where you know you could determine if a player dropped the ball because he's hurt and not because he was unable to complete the catch just from a pure like skill perspective right which I think is what happened to Julio yesterday was like he had the ball in his glove and he did have it in his glove for a second there when he hit the wall but I think it was once he realized oh I hurt myself he kind of let go of the ball but again

Starting point is 00:26:42 that leaves so much to interpretation like that's never going to be a thing it's a lot of gray area yeah a lot of gray area so yeah but again that's like in a perfect world scenario which it's far from a perfect world so yeah all right uh that's gonna do it for us but before we get out of here a reminder that locked on has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on youtube and now it's also available on amazon fire tv and the free fire tv channel's app locked on Sports Day is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Lockdown, plus our national shows covering every league. Find Lockdown Sports Today now available on the free Fire TV channels app. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Marrars.

Starting point is 00:27:25 I've been your host, Tadang Azales. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at LO underscore Marrers. You can follow me at Tadangazolus and Colby at CPAT 11. That's CPAT-1. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you next time. Peace.

Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - The End of an Era? Mariners Place Ty France on Irrevocable Waivers

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