Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - The Mariners Signed Justin Upton and We're Ignoring Everything Else That Happened This Weekend

Episode Date: May 23, 2022

Hosts Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby Patnode discuss the Mariners signing of veteran OF Justin Upton, the call-up of OF Taylor Trammell and which players could be on the move if Seattle decides to sell this summer.Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order. 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 have hit their lowest point of the season thus far, and we could talk about that, or we could talk about all the roster moves they made, because that's a little less saddening, I think. Yeah, let's do that 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. It is Monday, May 23rd, 2022, and this is the Lockdowneers podcast, brought

to you by Bet Online. Bet Online has you covered all season long with more props, odds, and lines than ever before. Bet Online is where the game starts. 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, Taddy Gonzalez, reporter and editor over at all Seahawks.com. Join as always by my co-host, Colby Pat. Now, be sure to follow the show on Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-N-R-S-Mariner. You can Follow me at Dan Gonzalez, the C-A-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at C-P-E-A-L-E and C-P-A-T-E-N-E-L-E. Be sure also check out our Patreon at patreon.com forward-slash Control the Zone. We typically post two additional shows on there every week, and we get into some bigger ideas and

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We greatly appreciate it. We're going to be not talking about the weekend series. We're just going to completely ignore that. But we are going to be talking about the possibility of the Mariners becoming sellers this year because they are in a pretty big hole, one that they can certainly dig themselves out of still. But it's certainly a fairly deep hole. We're also going to be talking about Taylor Chamele getting called up, surprisingly. And Abraham Toro, unfortunately, going on the injured list. But first, let's talk about Justin Upton, who is the newest member of the Seattle Mariners,

signed a major league contract with the team on Saturday night. He's going to extended spring training. Obviously, has spent the last few years with the Angels, but they outright released him coming out of spring training this year to save nearly 30,000. million dollars or well they didn't save it but you know they just wanted to cut their ties at that point um so upton obviously has struggled over the last three years he hasn't posted a w rc plus over a hundred since 2018 colby uh is there anything here to maybe be excited about with upton that he finally got so desperate to keep playing major league baseball that he finally agreed to

play for the mariners um You guys may not remember, but Upton famously invoked his no trade clause back in the winter of, I believe, it was 2014. The Mariners had a deal. They were going to send Ty Juan Walker and Nick Franklin and I believe Charlie Furbush down to Arizona for Upton. And Upton didn't want to play for Seattle. So he said no. So, yeah, Upton, you know, run from it, blah, blah, blah. destiny arrives all the same.

He's a Seattle Mariner, at least he's in the organization. He's down and extended right now. Going to be there for about a week, and then he's going to go up to Tacoma, probably be there for another week. So we're probably looking at, you know, June 10 as a realistic timetable for him. Got to actually play and, you know, see live pitching. He hasn't done that in about six weeks. So we'll see how aggressive.

of the Mariners want to be. Yeah, you know, Upton has been a very good player for his entire career, not really the last three years. There's been some injury concerns. He hasn't played over 100 games in any of those three years. Defensively, he's not good, but you're running Jesse Winkler out there. So outfield defense, maybe not that big of a deal to Seattle. But I believe his role is actually to come in and be the DH.

Primarily against lefties, would be my guess here. Even last year when he was struggling, he did throw up a 130 WRC plus against left-handed pitching, so 30% above league average. He's 225, 355, 483. Did strike out a ton, 29% of the time against lefties last year, but he did also walk 16% of the time. So he's kind of a three true outcome type of guy against lefties. And the mayor is just looking to add some pop to the middle of their lineup.

And they have struggled against left-handed pitching this year. So having Upton in there, maybe he's a pure platoon with Winker, although Winkers handled lefties okay this year. So, yeah. I think it's just, you know, hey, let's add this veteran. There's definitely a floor here. the floor is probably higher than Dylan Moore. It's probably higher than now Taylor Tremel.

And it also is a little bit of insurance against Kyle Lewis, who may or may not be getting called up today. He left the game after only two outbatch yesterday. Today's the end of his rehab stint. So they kind of have to make a call there. So we'll see what they decide to do with that. But yeah, I would think Upton's kind of a half. hedge against that and he's also just kind of a right-handed power bat and uh you know he did have a

really really good spring uh he says he's healthy now um so maybe just maybe uh you know 20 what would that be 20 19 2018 jess nupton maybe there's still 70 percent of that player somewhere in uh in upton and it's it's worth a shot it's it's 500 grand and it's it's really it's nothing to and the Mariners. And if he can hit lefties, even for a month or two until Handegar's ready to go, it's well worth the 500 grand. Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's a no risk, moderate reward opportunity here. Let's go into the last three years, though, because that's really when he's been struggling. That's kind of the peak of that. And also, you know, you mentioned the injuries, of course. But just diving into some of the numbers here, last three seasons combined, he's slashing

2-11-2-99-414 with a 91 WRC plus and then we'll look at left-handed pitchers here or against left-handed pitchers he's slashing 196 299-49-438 with a 97 WRC plus so he's just kind of been hovering around average he's slightly very slightly below average pretty much over the last three years which hey that's not exciting by any means but that's significantly better than what the Mariners have been running out in right field the less, you know. And obviously he's not going to be necessarily filling that particular role, but I mean, that's one of the biggest, you know, black holes in the Mariners lineup right now. And presumably they're going to find ways for him to kind of make up for that,

even if he's in a different role. And they, you know, obviously put someone else out there in right field. So it's, it's an interesting get. I mean, it's a, when, you know, we talked about this last. week with the trade market because right now you know a move was needed the move still is needed to be clear here but the trade market of course is just it's kind of stagnant right now because you're still at the start of the season where no one was really super motivated to sell right now and so you know even with the team like

the Orioles or the Pirates who I think we know was not going to be competing for anything this year. Even they're kind of still just hanging on right now and seeing how everything goes. And no one is really, you know, antsy to make the first move. They're not antsy to be the first seller to proclaim themselves as that. So there's all that that goes into it. But Upton is a, you know, he's a fun player when he's when he's playing well and obviously a very accomplished player and bring some pedigree to this to this roster, which is still relatively young, even with some the veterans that they brought in this past off season. And, you know, I prefer it over Stephen Sousa Jr.

And honestly, I would prefer it over, you know, even Taylor Tremel right now, who's why, you know, while I obviously believe there's a ton more upside with Tremel in the future, that might not be seen through this particular year. He might need to go back to AAA and work on some things still. It just kind of seems a little bit early. we're going to be talking about that in a second. But overall, Upton is better than what they had, and that's about it. And that says more about what they had before they signed him than anything.

But it is somewhat of a maybe a step in the right direction here where maybe he can level off that lineup a little bit. It's just at least he can run into one, right? He can run into one. He gives him more pop like he mentioned. That's something that they've been kind of. of lacking particularly near the bottom of their lineup he's not a black hole at least i don't think he is he's not great but he's not a black hole yeah particularly against lefties yeah he's kind of uh by the way he's he's still sneaky fast um sure 61st percentile in

sprint speed last year um he's typically going to be closer to around 50 uh 50th percentile so he's not clogging you on the bases um he but he's He's not a burner. I did steal a couple bags last year, but that's not really what he does anymore. You're just hoping he pops a couple home runs, and I don't think Upton's going to be up for the entire year. I don't think that this is just a permanent fixture now. I think he's a stopgap until you get to Hanager or until somebody is willing to trade you an upgrade at the spot. And I think, I mean, there's still some good skills here. He's 67th percentile on average ex of Elo, 79th percentile in barrel percentage, 73rd percentile and base on ball percentage, 69th percentile, nice and chase rate, 53rd percentile on hard hit rate, 52nd percentile on X slug.

There's some tools here that can't produce a contributor at the very least. The big issue for Upton has been the whiffs. He's swinging and missing out a lot of pitches. And that's an issue, obviously. So most of breaking balls, he's struggling with. But last year he also struggled with a fastball. So he's just, it's, you know, he's making good swing decisions. He's just not making contact.

And that's the big problem. So again, watch what he looks like because he was very good in the spring this year. Yeah, going back to his numbers over the last three seasons, 29.1% K rate. that jumps up to 33% against the lefties. So even though he hits lefties better, he's still swinging and missing a lot against them. So that's something to keep an eye on. He also walks a little bit, 12.5% of the time against lefties,

10.5% just overall over the last three years. So there is, you know, for some of the percentiles that you listed from Sivant and from some of these numbers here, there are some positives. And if he's healthy, there is, is certainly if you squint, you can see maybe him actually contributing here. Does that lead to him sticking for the whole year? Probably not, especially if Kyle Lewis can stick at the big league level.

And Hanuker comes back in July as he's expected to. Then there probably just isn't a fit naturally, especially if they're going to go out and add. But right now, who knows if they're going to go out? And maybe they stand pat with where they are right. now because of where the record is and all that so um i mean if he can at 230 300 450 he's going to help you so yeah yeah that absolutely helps that's i mean that's unfortunately better than a third of your lineup right now at the least so yeah and again that says more about the mariners than justin upton right now but that's where we are uh so the mariners made some more moves

yesterday before yesterday's heartbreaking loss, disappointing loss, sad, depressing, I don't know, you hear out what you want to call it. Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah, my mistake.

There was no game played yesterday, nor were there the three days before that. But we're going to be talking about Taylor Chamele. We're going to be talking about Abraham Toro, and of course, Sam Hagarty or Ham Swaggerty, the return. But first, a reminder of this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by Built Bar. I love brownies, but you know what I love more? Brownie batter.

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It is free and available wherever you get your podcast just like us. So before yesterday's game, the Mariners made a handful of moves. Steven Sousa gone. A little too late, Mariners, but he's gone. It's over. We can move past that unfortunate era of Mariners baseball that was this past week. Taylor Tremel, though, was his replacement. and that was a bit of a surprise.

There was no inkling that Tremel was going to be coming up. He, of course, suffered a significant hamstring injury, and I believe the Rainier's second game of the year, third game of the year. Yeah, it was pretty early on. And I, frankly, I didn't even know he was playing down in extended spring training, but that's where they called him up from. He did not go back to Tacoma post-injury.

and he's now with big league team. He walked yesterday. That was nice. Also struck out, but he did walk. He got on base. So not a terrible first outing for Tremel in this one. I mean, Colby, you and I are big fans of Tremel, particularly the person that he is,

but also, you know, we think that he's going to be pretty dang good eventually. Just needs some time. Obviously, needs some time to work on some things. Obviously showed some nice stuff last year. And by the way, this was the first time that all four players acquired in an Austin Nola trade with Padres was on the Mariners Major League roster at once. So Ty France, Luis Terence, Andres, Munoz, and now Taylor Chamelle, all on the roster together. And that's the thing, too, right? It's like, we've seen Torens pop a little bit.

We've seen Munoz pop a little bit. Obviously, Thai France is Thai France. Yeah, and I know Munoz, again, we're not talking about that. We are not talking about that. we are completely ignoring that, that it did not happen. But yeah, Trimel, who was kind of seen as the prize of that deal, hasn't really gotten it going yet. So, you know, I mentioned earlier that I still think that Tramel needs time in Tacoma to work on some things.

I find this call up a little bit weird. I know that they don't have many options, and he was one of the few options that they had on the 40-man roster in particular. Do you agree with the notion that he should probably be, sent down maybe he's even the move when if they call up kowloos today yeah it's possible although it seems weird that you would call a guy up um fly him to boston and then demote him the next day uh especially since obviously they didn't care about any PR backlash with susa why not just keep him on the roster for one more day so that that would be kind of weird um but i suppose it's

possible. Yeah, it's Tramel needs time down in AAA. He probably needs a whole year, or at least a good chunk of it. Last year he ran a 42% strikeout rate. It's not sustainable. And there were a lot of things to like about Taylor last year. Showed some real power, which, you know, we knew he had some pop, but he showed legitimate like 30 home run power. when he was up last year he was a plus defender in center field granted in a small sample size but he was still very good defensively runs well he's a great athlete there's you know if if he can if he pops if you have him when he pops

you got a shot in an all-star like that that's the upside of Taylor tremel whether or not that's going to happen anytime in the next three or four years I don't know Tremel could be one of those guys who doesn't pop until he's 28, you know, and he's playing for Cleveland or something like that. So that's kind of the risk with Tramow is that you don't want to give up on him because his upside is legitimately an all-star caliber centerfielder. But we really have no indication of how close he is. So what does he do for the Mariners right now? He's an upgrade defensively over anybody else they have out there.

That's true. he is a guy who walks. Even last year, he walked plenty, almost 10%. He walked yesterday. He's got a very good eye, very good CTZ type of approach there. He's definitely got some pole power that he can get to. So yeah, there's a lot of tools here, but it just feels weird to me that, like, you brought Tramel across the country.

You play in one game, two at-bats. and then that's it. Like, I just, I don't know, it feels very weird. I guess anything to avoid calling up Billy Hamilton appears to be the Mariners motto right now. We'll see how long he's up. But, yeah, I'm rooting for Taylor as long as he's up. He's a great guy, a really fun player when he's on, when he's clicking. And, you know, if the Mariners just so happen to catch some lightning in a bottle here

and he gets on a little bit of a role, he can really help for a couple. weeks. We'll see what the plan is overall for him. I don't think this is a long-term thing. I would suspect it's, you know, maybe he's the guy who gets sent down when Upton is ready. I don't know exactly what the plan is here. But yeah, very surprising that he was the guy who was called up yesterday. And then on the flip side of that, Sam Haggurdy also gets called up. But for some unfortunate reasons. Abraham Toro goes on the 10-day IL and this is

this really sucks because Toro had been hitting pretty well on this road trip. On this road trip he was slashing 304, 346-609 with a 177 WRC plus. Two home runs for him of course.

So yeah, that's just it's a pretty significant blow. He was also performing fairly well defensively. It just, yeah, it just hurts all around because this team is lacking contributors right now offensively. And now you're taking one of their biggest contributors over the last week and a half. How much does the Toro loss hurt the Mariners?

And when do you think we might be able to see him again? Well, since you always ask me this, I assume you want me to show my medical degree. Yes, absolutely. I do not know how long he's going to be. out for. He injured, I believe was his shoulder right, in a collision with Adam Frazier. Doesn't seem like a good thing, but I haven't heard anything about how long he might be out for. Hopefully not too long because like you mentioned, he was one of your better players. Ty, would you believe that Abraham Toro is 81st percentile and outs above average right now? So he's also helping you quite a bit

defensively, mostly at second base, but also a little bit at third. And it just, it limits what you do. It's kind of tough. You know, it's kind of tough with Frazier now. Frazier probably not going to play much outfield. You still have more. We could play second base, but we've seen the bat there. So yeah, you kind of lose a pretty good bat at second or third if you wanted to give Suarez a day or D.H. Suarez, maybe. And, you know, Toro is significantly better than Dillen Moore at third base. So, yeah, you kind of lose something defensively. You lose some high contact, high probability contact from Toro at the bottom of your lineup, which is going to lead to more strikeouts because, well, Dylan Moore strikes out.

So, yeah, it's just, it's a bummer, man. Your team definitely got worse over the weekend from losing Toro. Sam Haggertie is what he is. I mean, there's nothing. He's a high contact guy. He can play, you know, a little bit. of everywhere. Probably don't want him to play shortstop, but he can handle second. He can handle the outfield. He's a very fast guy. He provides some speed. I don't think he's going to start a lot,

but he's definitely a useful player to have on the bench. And he played okay. I remember a stretch last year. I believe it was in Boston and in Baltimore, where Hackerty was like the best player on the Mariners. He showed some power. He hit one on the Utah Street. In Baltimore, I believe the second mariner to ever do that, the first being Griffey. So, yeah, Haggherty's a fun guy. And obviously, you know, we have fun with his, as I call it, Spoonerism. Ham Swaggerty. So we, I'm room for him, but yeah, there's not a ton here to get excited about from the player.

There's some character, though. There's some character with the ham swaggerty thing. So pretty easy to root for him, at least on that front. And we're at that part of the season where that's what we're holding on to now to root for the scene. It's not a great time. Team fun, baby. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm just. I'm embracing the fun. I'm embracing the fun again. You know, we're bringing that back. We're going back to last year. This was something that we said when it was starting to look a little bleak. And, hey, they went on a run towards the end of the year when we started embracing the fun. So let's just hashtag embrace the fun here.

I'm just saying, just go along for the ride. I'm just saying the Seattle Mariners right now have the exact same record as the 2019 Washington Nationals did in their first 42 games or whatever it is. And if you don't know why that matters, look it up. Basically, what Colby is saying is Julio Rodriguez is Juan Soto. That's exactly what he just said.

More or less. He has been for a month. But yeah, I mean. It's true. Yeah, he had a really good series. Nice series. A couple strikeouts that were ill time, but, you know, what are you going to do? He's 21. Yeah.

We can't all be perfect, of course. So the Mariners right now are 17 and 25. They're five and a half out of the third wild card right now in the American League. Still not necessarily in the seller of the American League in terms of the standings. And, of course, it's still incredible. incredibly early. We're only a quarter of the way through the season at this point. And a lot of time to turn this thing around, a lot of times, you know, five and a half games is nothing at this point. So we are not by any means waving the white flag here. But if this does

not get any better, and this extends into June and maybe even July, I mean, it's going to become pretty clear that the Mariners are not going to be doing anything this season. So at that point, the question is, do they become sellers? Or do they just try to hold on to what they did this off season and just regroup next winter and try to build on that? But if they do sell, who do you think might be on the way out for the Mariners? There's some players that they might be willing to listen on? Yeah, pretty much the entire bullpen.

including Paul Seawald. Seawald probably get him something pretty interesting. You get two years of him in addition to the rest of this year. He's been very good for a year. You're probably not going to get anything elite for him just because the track record is relatively short, but you should be able to get something pretty nice for Paul Seawald. The catchers, particularly Terenz or Murphy,

if Murphy's ever gets healthy, he did suffer a setback. So we'll see. But backup catchers who can hit a little bit are inclined, and both Terrans and Murphy are good enough defensively, that that's not going to deter our team. And, you know, Ty, you and I have looked at this catcher market, you know, or the upcoming catcher market be a trade, and it is rough.

So if Mariners have both of those guys out there, then they're going to, they will generate some interest there. Probably more than people think. They probably get something a little more than people think they could get for Murphy or Terenger. right now. Abraham Toro is a guy who's probably going to get asked about, but because he's got five years of club control and he's only 25, I really don't see them moving him for a prospect or two.

They might move him in a deal to get a better major leaguer that will be around for a couple years, but probably not going to move him. I don't think Mitch Haniguer is going to have much trade value. I honestly don't see especially if he's out till July I mean what about what about Adam Frazier because like yep this is a guy that's he's he's a rental right now but he still fits your timeline he's been playing well we talked about extending him do you still entertain that possibility even if you're in a losing situation yeah I would yeah my my first thought on on Frazier would be let's get an extension done um because again remember it's not just about

2022. The goal is not to win in 2022. I mean, it is in 2022, but the long-term goal is not to 2022 is it. And then we got to completely re-rack. That's not the goal here. I would try to work out an extension with him. He's been more or less as advertised. He's just a

solid big leaguer. I mean, there's nothing too terribly exciting about him, but he's just solid, you know, gets the job done. He will have a starting nine spot on a good team. But yeah, he's probably going to be available, but because he's a rental, probably not going to get a ton for him, but you might get something interesting.

Maybe you get like the pitching equivalent of Abraham Toro, you know. I think the Mariners may be entertained Jesse Winker, but at that point you're selling so low on him. And you have him for another year and just like, then you have to go out and replace, you know, the bat that you think Winker is eventually going to become. You kind of run into this issue where, you know, the Mariners, because they're not going to completely tear down,

they're not going to punt 2023. They're going to be very hesitant to trade pieces that they think can help them in 2023. What about Chris Flexon? I don't think you're going to get much for Flexon. He's just, he's the number four. I mean, you do, he is, you know, under club control for a year and a half.

So maybe you get a little bit more than you gave up to get Tyler Anderson. So Carter Benz. But yeah, I think some team would have interest in Flexen, maybe like a fringe playoff team. Minnesota for some reason, seems like they could maybe use a back-in starter. And I mean, you're not going to get like Luis Arise or anything like that, but you might get somebody fringy, interesting. But yeah, I think that's what you're looking at.

I think the only guys who are absolutely totally off limits this July, J.P. Crawford, Thai, France, Julio, Gilbert, Kirby. I think if you put Marco on the trade block, you would get some decent interest in him. I just don't think anybody's going to pay the Mariners what they would need for it to make sense for them to trade block. grade Marco if that makes sense. Yeah.

Well, yeah, because like, yeah, because from the outside, right? Marco is just, I mean, I hate to say it, but he's boring, you know, to the outside. Not sexy. Yeah. And not sexy either. But, you know, I just beat Max Scherzer and Kevin Gossmann in a five-day stretch. But yeah, he's. Yeah, exactly.

Just kind of mediocre. Yeah. Not very good. Well, and unfortunately, that's actually how teams view him, right? You know, you go back to win the. Mariners were really at the start of this rebuild. And the thought of trading Marco was kind of out there. No team was really, you know, offering anything close to what the Mariners thought was worth it.

And that's probably not going to continue where they just, Marco's not going to be valued the way that he needs to be. Yeah. Yeah. He's a three-win pitcher, regardless of how sexy it is. He's a three-win pitcher. That's worth something, especially with his contract. I had kind of heard like, I don't know if this is a joke or not, but I did hear that like the Yankees were kind of interested in Marco back in 2019,

winter 2019 or 2020. But it was like that like, oh yeah, well, maybe we'll give you like Miguel Andahar, like literally that meme is kind of what the Yankees were offering. And it's just, no, there's no reason to do that. I have two things here I'm going to throw at you. first off let's let's start with this let's just assume that the mariners kind of go 500 from here until july the all-star break let's just say the all-star break right yeah so maybe they're still very barely in it maybe there's out of it uh but regardless they're whatever um would you be more

surprised if they made a significant selling move or a significant buying move significant selling as in like Winker more like that Frazier C-Walled like that type of group like a real contributor then significant then significant buying if it was someone with like

if it was a veteran with like club control like Winker then I'd be more surprised by that but Frazier I could see them moving on from Frazier for the reason that we talked about he's a rental and hey maybe he doesn't have interest in resigning in Seattle seewald he's a believer he's a reliever yeah you know and i love paul seawald and i know the organization loves paul seawald but um you know he's he's a reliever at the end of the day and you want to

maximize that that reliever's value um because there's no guarantee whatsoever that he's ever going to be that valuable again and so um yeah so i if that opportunity presented itself to them, then I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if that's how you're describing it, where they're eight games under, five games under whatever, around, you know, July, you know, the All-Star break. But yeah, if they went out and significantly bought someone, I mean, that also wouldn't really be a surprise to me either because we've seen the Mariners do that before, kind of. Like not, like, they didn't, yeah, like, they didn't go out and, like, get a star by any means,

but they went out and they bought something that they wanted. They bought a couple of things that they wanted last year. So you would be more surprised, basically, if they, if they made, how am I trying to word, you would be more surprised if they made like another Diego Castillo deal as opposed to another Kendall Gravenman deal. You know what I mean? Like, because the Gratman deal was kind of a seller's move, but not really, but you know what Yeah.

Well, that's the thing too, right? It's like if they trade Paul Seawald and they're not getting like prospects back. trading Paul Seawald and they're getting like another Abraham Toro or or what have you. Yeah. Uh, that would be, I don't know. I don't feel like, I don't feel like either one honestly would be that surprising because Jerry depoto with Jerry DePoto and his team, I mean, really anything is possible. Uh, it doesn't really matter what position they're in at the deadline.

Obviously, you know, nationally teams are going to be more inclined to sell in that position. And they most certainly would. But yeah, even if they're 20 games under 500, I could see them buying something that's, you know, under club control for two, three years and fits their timeline in the future. That's just kind of always been their MO. So, yeah, honestly, maybe my answer would be more so. I'd be surprised if they didn't do either of those things, right? Right. I feel like they end up doing both.

Yeah, I feel like they end up doing both. Because like they still, because even like, let's think about it real quick. And we got to hop off here, though. But just real quick, just to wrap up on this note, the Mariners have constantly talked, you know, and Jerry Depoto specifically has talked about 2023 kind of being the year. You know, and this has been kind of the language used over the last few years, even pre-pandemic. But then you talk about the pandemic and how that basically erased. 100 plus games of development for, you know, the minors and the majors, you know, no minor league

whatsoever. They lost 100 games at the major league level. You know, they lost a lot of time of development. And then last year happened and that kind of pushed the timeline up, but maybe that was a mirage, right? Maybe the timeline has always been the same as it was at the start of the rebuild. And, you know, because a lot of this right now is predicated on the success and the growth of players like Julio Rodriguez and Jerry Keldin, et cetera.

So I don't think that changes, really. I don't think the mindset really changes for the Mariners in the sense that, because, and this goes into the whole conversation about Jerry and whether or not to keep Jerry around. And we're probably going to touch on that at some point later this week on Locked on Mariners. But, you know, if the timeline is still 2023 for them, as they have said in the past, and yeah, you know, things have changed. changed over the course of time, but still 2023 has really been that target year for them

to really go for it. Then, yeah, I would figure that even no matter the situation they find themselves in this year, they're going to add to bolster that 2023 roster if the opportunity presents itself to them. Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right. So just real fast, just to wrap this up. I do want to throw one hypothetical trade at you. Sure.

Just thought of it live so this probably isn't very good, but I'll throw it at you anyways. Go for it. Kind of in the Abraham Toro-esque type of mold here. Sure. The Chicago White Sox have been getting horrific production from their second baseman. A guy like Adam Frazier, probably going to appeal to them. So would you trade Adam Frazier for Jake Burger? Ooh, that's an interesting move.

Burger's pretty interesting. It's just does he fit 2023 better than Frazier? Well, I mean, I think at this point, you have to, at this, in this scenario, you'd have to assume Frazier's not interested in it. Yeah, I'm resigning. Yeah, then at that point, sure. Yeah. If I, if there's absolutely, you know, or if there's a guarantee that I'm not getting Frazier back for 2023, then. Not in season.

No, no. You re-sign them. Maybe, maybe. But if he's not willing to sign an extension, that probably doesn't vote well for his. maybe he just wants to see what's on the market sure that's true too um but yeah if it's uh if it's if it's pretty clear that i'm not going to be able to get that done yeah why not just uh you know take a chance on burger who is major league ready i would say even though that he got sent down again recently um and you can also give him a better shot to actually play at the major league level

yeah pretty much play him every day yeah uh because like what other because like what other major league ready piece are you going to get for Adam Frazier? Maybe a reliever. Yeah, which I'd rather go with the position player, quite frankly. Yeah, and burgers. He's a tough fit because he's not a great third baseman. And you obviously already have Thai France, but what if he is Thai France? You know what I mean?

Yeah, that's true. But yeah, I just thought that up. I'll have to flush it out a little bit more, but I think that's an interesting, at least start. It's not bad. And, you know, same or similar idea could be applied to Paul Sewell as well, not necessarily burger, but, you know, getting someone that is kind of of the burger mold in terms of, you know, timeline. So, yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of ways to be creative with it.

And, you know, one thing we do know is that Jerry DePoto is going to get creative with it whenever he does. And he's going to do something that even if we spend every single episode from this moment forward, talking about trade candidates. He'll still find someone that we didn't talk about. Always. That's what Jerry does. All right, well, that's going to do a first show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Mariners podcast.

For Colby Pat Note, I'm Tadayn, Gonzales. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at LO underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Dame Gonzalez, this, D-A-N-Z-L-Z, and Colby at C-E-P-E-P-E-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 to the day, just like you do here every day. Now make your second list of the day, locked on MLB.

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