Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Top 5 Reasons to Be Optimistic About the Mariners Right Now

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's top five Tuesday. I'll be giving you my top five reasons to be optimistic about the Mariners right now. And Colby will list his top five Mariners nicknames coming up here on the Locked-on Marrars podcast. 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.

Starting point is 00:00:28 It is Tuesday, October 22nd, 2024. This is titting as awesome. Colby Pat node for the Lockdown Marers podcast. part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. It is Top 5 Tuesday, and the wheel has spoken, folks. In just a moment, I'll get into my top five reasons to be optimistic about the Mariners right now. Later on, Colby will give you his top five Mariners nicknames. But before we get into that, shout out to our title sponsor today, Game Time.

Starting point is 00:00:55 Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the promo code, Locked-on MLB, that's L-O-C-K-E-O-N-M-L-B for $20 off your first purchase. And if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show, check out our Patreon. Send up now to hear us create our 2025 Mariners offseason plan before we show it off here in the next couple of weeks. All right. So I am doing the top five reasons to be optimistic about the Mariners right now. Some of this has to do with the offseason. Some of this has to do with what's in place right now on the roster.

Starting point is 00:01:28 We'll get into all that. So number five. Let's just start here. I think the clubhouse should be in a healthier spot than it was about a year ago. Last year was obviously really hard on that clubhouse. There was understandably some bitterness about how 2023 ended. And obviously what happened during the off season. We guys talk about how disappointed they were or at least conflicted with what the front office did during the off season.

Starting point is 00:01:58 A lot of new faces came in trying to find their footing. and many of them just did not perform. You know, you had mainstays who struggled and some paid the price for it like Thai France. Others like J.P. Crawford really struggled. You know, they blow the 10-game lead, of course. Brent Brown gets fired. Scott Service gets fired. Jared DeHart gets fired.

Starting point is 00:02:23 Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We all know what happened over the course of this past year. But, you know, while they miss the playoffs again, they seem to have finally found some real chemistry with one another in those final, you know, six-ish weeks. And they obviously started to play better ball, especially offensively. And now it seems like you've identified some real clubhouse guys, some new clubhouse guys. Luke Rayleigh is now established in the clubhouse. Victor Robles is now established in the clubhouse.

Starting point is 00:02:54 You know, maybe they bring Justin Turner back. And obviously you're still in the honeymoon period with Dan Wilson. as well. So things are a bit fresh on that front with the guy who's spearheading the effort. So to me, there's enough newness and carryover from the real good parts of 2024 that I think it's just natural for things to be a bit lighter in the clubhouse coming into 2025. And I think that should give these guys a much need of reset. And, you know, hopefully allow them to play a bit more loose, especially everyone who's been here for the past few years. that kind of saw the ups and the downs of the service era, all that.

Starting point is 00:03:36 Yeah. It's a bummer that, you know, guys like JP and Julio struggled so much for so much of the season that they essentially got, you know, their only manager they ever played for, fired. So hopefully, you know, just the reset of Dan Wilson and kind of just the reset of the season can help fix that. They got to put in the work, obviously. but yeah, I mean, obviously Rayleigh and Robles certainly bring some energy to this clubhouse. And now that they've produced for a year in Seattle, they kind of have the backing to, you know, swing their weight around.

Starting point is 00:04:15 And Randy Rosarena's resume speaks for itself. So I still feel like they probably should be looking for kind of a veteran presence. You know, I know they wanted it to be like Hanager and Garra. and Polanco, but none of those guys produced, and it's really hard to be like that dude in the clubhouse if you're not producing, which is why it's hard for JP to step up into the leadership role because he wasn't productive. So, yeah, I still feel like they need to go get that guy. But yeah, I mean, overall, at least it seems like there were certainly more positive vibes

Starting point is 00:04:53 towards the end of the year than negative ones. But we'll probably still see more shakeup in the coaching staff. And obviously there's going to be turnover on the roster. So we have to see how they how they manage all that. But yeah, it certainly looks like you've got some new voices in the clubhouse that have now, you know, coming off a productive year can kind of establish themselves as guys like dudes in the in the clubhouse. So number four isn't super exciting, but there's a pretty important element to it. That's there's some actual starting pitching upside behind your top five. now it's obviously not the kind of upside that you know kirby gilbert miller who had his prospects not even in the ballpark right but it's a hell of a lot better than emerson hancock and jonathan dyes i'll tell you that now a couple of these guys you know could get traded we need to say that first and foremost here uh this winter uh but for now the mariners have three dudes and michael morales brandon garcia logan evans who should be more than capable of

Starting point is 00:05:57 giving them at the very least competitive innings if one of their starting five goes down. And that's obviously everyone's concerned right now, right? Like this rotation was remarkably healthy this year. Odds are that's probably not going to happen to the degree it did again. Hopefully it does, but there's a good chance it doesn't, right? And if it doesn't, you're far better equipped to stay afloat with your in-house options than you were this year.

Starting point is 00:06:24 And look, for example, if Evans doesn't work out, you go to Garcia. If Garcia doesn't work out, you go to Morales, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You're not stuck with having to give the ball

Starting point is 00:06:33 to a couple of fringe major leaguers like Hancock, like Diaz, right? And yes, I will acknowledge the, the possibility here that Evans, Garcia,

Starting point is 00:06:44 Morales, those guys, they're not more than fringe major leaguers themselves in 2025. But all three took major steps this year. They're all trending up. They all,

Starting point is 00:06:57 obviously have limitations, right? I'm not trying to sell these guys as like mid-rotation starters. But this organization is very good at getting the most out of its pitching. And really for that reason alone, I am confident that at least one of them is going to be able to give you something next year. If they're called upon, hopefully they're not. Hopefully they're not called upon, right?

Starting point is 00:07:25 but again, odds are at some point you're going to need at least one of these guys and I feel pretty good about them being able to produce. Yeah, it also helps that you probably feel pretty good about at least four of the starting five not having to miss significant time going into next year because Gilbert, Kirby, Miller, and, well, Castillo never really missed significant time, especially Castillo, since and the Mariners. It's a little ironic because Castillo and Miller both finished the year on the IL, but one of those is a procedural move, the other one,

Starting point is 00:08:04 a hamstring thing, not like an arm issue. So, yeah, it's nice when you feel like you can bank on four guys to give you 160 innings, 170 innings at a minimum. So, yeah, it obviously lessens the need. But, yeah, I mean, at some point somebody's going to get heard and pitching in itself is a violent motion. So, yeah, to have some guys. so I'd like there to be a little bit better

Starting point is 00:08:26 somebody with a little more upside but I mean you just you can't have a number six starter who's as good as Logan Gilbert in the system like that just well and you're not going to sell any free agent on coming to Seattle as depth right right I mean like you might sell like the awesome votes of the world

Starting point is 00:08:41 to be a swing guy right sure but like yeah you're not you're not you're not even going to get like a you're not going to get Sean Maniah to yeah whoever this year Sean Mania or Louis Severino is you're not no no because they're not going to break the rotation. There's no chance unless somebody gets hurt in spring training.

Starting point is 00:08:57 Yeah. So, yeah, having those guys in-house is pretty important. And, you know, we'll see how fast Sanja can proceed. But maybe he joins this conversation in 2026 at some point. And then you might have legitimately six mid-rotation guys are better. But, yeah, we'll see. It's certainly more upside than Hancock. That's really not a difficult bar to clear.

Starting point is 00:09:19 But when you have two or three guys that could clear that bar, then obviously it should help you out. It's kind of sad that this is your number four reason for optimism, AAA pitching, but I'm sure the top three are just bangers. So we are going to go over my top three reasons to be optimistic here in just a moment. But first, reminder, this episode of the Lockdown Mary's podcast is brought to you by game time. So I used to live in New Mexico, and down in New Mexico, there are zero pro sports teams. And a lot of bands and artists that I listen to skip going there more often than not.

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Starting point is 00:11:03 Download game time today. What time is it? GameTime. And you're listening to the Locked-on Marrors podcast. It is Top 5 Tuesday, and today I am giving you my top five reasons to be optimistic about the Mariners right this second. Number three. The front office might have figured something.

Starting point is 00:11:23 out with the with the offense now i'm not definitively saying they have so let's pump the brakes i can hear you typing away furiously at your keyboards but i'm at least open-minded to the possibility that they have figured something out look all three of their major offensive additions during the season worked out great victor robes was amazing justin turner was perfectly solid randy rosarana was just as advertised which is really refreshing to get a guy like that and he actually hits the way that you expect them to hit, right? And Depoto's outright talked about how they reassess and they are continuing to reassess their approach to building their offense. And whether it's how they relay their messaging to their hitters or the things they value in the hitters they target, it seems like they have a refreshed way of looking at things.

Starting point is 00:12:17 And we saw a significant turnaround in those final two-ish months that coincided with, obviously the arrival of new players like Randy and Turner and new coaching. So hopefully they can build on that. Maybe optimism is a bit too strong in this regard. But at the very least, I think the fact that they're not being stubborn and are willing to try something different should be encouraging. Yeah, after the last two years where it really feels like they were trying to create like the Mariners way to hit a T-Mobile park. It seems like they're new Mariners' ways to just let the guy be the who he is and figure it out from there.

Starting point is 00:12:56 So trying to force everybody to adapt your hitting style. You adapt your offense to their hitting style. And so it's the same thing as Pete Carroll used to say, you know, if we focus so much on what this guy can't do, like what can he do? Well, what can he do? What can we help him do? What can you get better at to make it less of a weakness? But what is his strength? And let's focus on that.

Starting point is 00:13:20 Yeah, it appears to be the method that Edgar really hammered home over the last five weeks. And I think we're all assuming he'll be involved in some capacity, certainly much more than he was before he was hired his hitting coach, but probably less than he was in the final five weeks. And, you know, Jerry and Justin and his front office and his analyst, hopefully they've identified something when they're looking for players out in free agency or on the trade market. they've identified some traits or some tools or something specific that they can look at and be like, this means he's probably more likely to be successful here than not. Because, yeah, I mean, like Randy Rosa Rana was really good at T-Mobile Park. And so was Justin Turner and, you know, so was Robles and Luke Rayleigh. So I don't know exactly when they made these changes, but or if they're even going to work,

Starting point is 00:14:15 the sample size is still way too small. but whatever they've identified, it seems to have worked at least somewhat. And so now we'll see if they can do it over the course of a full season. But yeah, I mean, it's it's only five weeks, but it's five weeks more than we thought we were going to have. And, you know, at the end of August. So it's something. So coming into number two, the Astros and the Rangers are probably not going to get meaningfully better this offseason. In fact, they might get worse.

Starting point is 00:14:43 Houston obviously has a great foundation in place. So they're still going to be very competitive. Not saying that they're going to fall off a cliff. But their GM has already said that they're going to have to make some decisions regarding payroll this winter. And they might lose Alex Breggman to free agency. Their farm system is also trash. So I don't see how they're going to add anything substantial via trade. So there is a very good chance they're going to look worse on paper heading into next season.

Starting point is 00:15:11 And then with Texas, I mean, they should be healthier next year. and their outlook could drastically change if Josh Young and Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford click. But Jonah Heim was bad this year. Adola Garcia was bad this year. Marcus Simeon was mediocre at the plate. Their pitching staff is a major question mark. Corey Seeger was great when he was on the field, but this year proved he can't do it all by himself.

Starting point is 00:15:40 They're also set to have the fifth highest payroll heading into the offseason. and they're one of the teams who just had to end their TV rights deal with ballet sports. So there's a good chance they're not going to spend this winter. Maybe they even wind up being one of those teams that tries to cut payroll, at least to a certain degree, this winter. Sure. You know, Texas also has major questions about their starting rotation and their bullpen. And so while Texas has a better farm system than Houston, you know, a big chunk of their success. even last year like they have some guys down on the farm but it's overall not a great system that's

Starting point is 00:16:19 right now uh i just i think you know even the the 2023 team that won the world series good for them can't take it back uh that team was buoyed by you know career years from jonaheim and uh you know adelaus garcia and those guys didn't really struggle at all and simeon had a very good year and Corey Seeger probably would have been the MVP if he had played enough games. But yeah, now you look at it and say, oh, Jonah Haim, turns out he's not the best offensive catcher in baseball. He's pretty mediocre. And Leotis Tavares, we saw at the end of last year, or 2023, started to really slow down and it carried over this year. Young got hurt again, had more surgeries on his wrist like Simeon's another year older.

Starting point is 00:17:03 Seeger's another year older and Seeger's got some back issues that are cropping up. So good for Texas. they took advantage, but I'm not convinced that they were, you know, a real threat anyways coming into 2024, even if everything clicked, because they were banking on so much to repeat. That just really wasn't repeatable. So we'll see about Texas and Houston, but yeah, in theory, you know, the tide should be turning in your favor in the division. But, you know, honestly, we could have said that started this year because you only needed

Starting point is 00:17:36 to win, what, 88 games to win the division. and you miss that chance. So it's still on the Mariners to seize the opportunity they have. But yeah, it certainly does look like the Astros are starting to get to the end of their dynastic run. And the Mariners should be surging to take the mantle right now. But ultimately, they still have to actually do it. Right. And obviously the mayors have their own self-imposed limitations that they have to work around this offseason.

Starting point is 00:18:04 But at the very least, they have a much better farm system than either of these teams. to trade from. So that gives them a considerable leg up this off season. I just don't see how either of these teams, which are obviously very talented, but incredibly flawed are going to significantly improve their rosters in the coming months. Now, like, don't get me wrong.

Starting point is 00:18:24 They're going to do some stuff this winter, and maybe they hit big on a couple of those moves, but I just can't foresee either one of them doing something that's going to, you know, to turn heads, right? That's going to make us look at their roster and go, oh wow they did that I just don't see a path to that happening

Starting point is 00:18:42 no unless I mean unless Houston manages to resign Bregman I think there's a pretty good shot we look at Houston's roster at the end of the off season and we're just like

Starting point is 00:18:53 it's still good but like yeah it's a half a step below what it was last year even but the esters are really good of player development so you can't write them out until

Starting point is 00:19:05 you can't write them off until they're actually dead which might never happen, but yeah, they're certainly more vulnerable over the next couple of years than they happen over the previous few years. So lastly, number one, a very simple reminder that the mirrors also have a really good foundation in place. We all know how good the rotation is. They have one of the two best players that arguably the most premium position in the sport in Cal Raleigh. Julio's obviously been inconsistent, but we've seen the absolute beast that lies within. you're going to get a full season of Randy a Rosarena

Starting point is 00:19:38 who isn't a star but is a damn good player who can play like a star at times Luke Rayleigh is an absolute nightmare for right-handed pitchers Victor Robles is due for regression of course but his coming out party didn't just happen for no reason this year he made a change and because of that

Starting point is 00:19:54 there should be some optimism he can at least be a solid contributor who's going to bring a ton of energy right and by the way regression works both ways I don't think J.P. Crawford is the guy we saw in 2023, but I also don't think he's the guy we saw this year either. And I know this is going to raise some eyebrows,

Starting point is 00:20:14 but I also don't think we should rule out a solid bounce back from Mitch Garber. He's had some really good seasons at the plate. And by all accounts, he's a high character dude, puts the work in. I think he's going to be very motivated to turn things around this winter. And while your bullpen absolutely needs help, you did identify a couple guys over the course of this year. You have an all-star in Andreas Munoz. You should get more from Gregory Santos.

Starting point is 00:20:38 And hell, you might get Matt Prashback for the second half. This is a good team. That could be a great team. Obviously, if, you know, ownership supported it better. But even if some of these guys just played to the back of their baseball cards. So shore up the obvious needs on the roster this winter. And the path is absolutely there to competing with anyone because of the pieces. you have in place right now.

Starting point is 00:21:08 Yeah, you're not far off. I know sometimes it looks at it, but you're really not that far off. And more of a commitment from this ownership group could close the gap in three months to where you might be the best roster in the American League. Like, you could absolutely sell me that if ownership were able to or willing to,

Starting point is 00:21:25 I should say, write the checks that they should write. But, you know, we'll have to see Jerry, I'll have to be creative. But even with the limitations, I really don't think you're that far off. And you get 15% better JP next year, which is only going to put them at a league average bat. You get 15% better Mitch Garber. You know, you get full year of Randy.

Starting point is 00:21:45 You get Julio, hopefully, having his breakout year. You know, the rotation is what it is. The bullpen should be better next year, just due to health, but also they'll get some new arms in there. So, yeah, I mean, you could easily write a script where the Mariners enter next season as the most talented roster in the American League. Obviously, it depends on what the rest of the AL does. But there's a real opportunity or a prime opportunity for Seattle to go out, make a couple of key moves,

Starting point is 00:22:15 and then have a couple of guys on their roster, turn it around or find consistency without asking them to do something they're not capable of. Like, nobody's asking J.P. Crawford to be a 139 WRC plus bat again. Can you be 100? Can you be 105? can you be 110 somewhere in that range? Sure. That's what we're asking you to do.

Starting point is 00:22:37 So yeah, the Mariners could have one of the best rosters in the American League. I don't think they're that far off from having one now. They could probably really use a second star. I mean, obviously the Juan Soto to Aaron Judge is a bit much to ask. But, you know, like another four and a half five win player, blah, blah, blah.

Starting point is 00:22:57 You could add that to this roster. I think you're right there because I think you're deeper than a team like the Yankees. I think you have better pitching. than anybody else in the American League. So you're close. But you're starting off at a really high floor of a roster with a solid foundation. And, you know, quite a bit of, you know, fun prospects coming up the old highway here in the next year or two. So you're in a really good spot.

Starting point is 00:23:24 It's just a matter of executing, you know, your plan and getting the right guys in here to put you over the top. but you're in a good spot overall. Right. And you just mentioned it. You know, another bonus reason to be optimistic here. This year is going to be a lot more fun in terms of prospect call-ups. Like we're going to see Cole Young.

Starting point is 00:23:44 We might see Harry Ford at some point. Like there's going to be some actual, you know, because this year it was Troy Taylor. It was Ryan Bliss. Tyler, Tyler Locklear. We're fine. Fine prospects.

Starting point is 00:23:55 Don't get me wrong. But we're talking about like you might see a couple of the dudes that are in your top five right now who could help. So, yeah. All right. So that's, that's my top five reasons to be optimistic about the Mariners right this second. Now it's time for Colby's top five Mariners nicknames coming your way in just a moment. But first, a reminder this episode of the Lockdown Mariners podcast is brought to you by Fandul.

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Starting point is 00:24:53 I just gave you my top five reasons to be optimistic about the Marries right now. Now it's time for Colby to give you his top five Mariners' nicknames. It was his turn to spin the wheel on the. the less serious topics. So top five nicknames is what it landed on for the marriage specifically, for marriage players specifically, who's coming in in number five, Cully?

Starting point is 00:25:17 Well, real fast, as you know, I like to set up parameters and all that. Of course, of course, yes. I have some rules and then I have some honorable. Self-impose rules.

Starting point is 00:25:28 Because what is a society without rules? Sure. So, yeah, basically the one rule is no variations of your legal name so like no a rod no jrod no cammy no nellie no ichee like none of the common baseball names or you just add a y like nothing like that no gar uh or anything like that like if it's very simply like just your name spelled a little differently no no sure that that doesn't count everybody has a nickname

Starting point is 00:26:03 name like that, whatever. That's really it. That's the only thing. I mean, I don't know of any of those type of nicknames would have made it anyways. But also I wanted to point out while putting this list together, the serious lack of nicknames for each hero is both awesome and kind of sad. Like he doesn't have it like somebody said like baseball reference says his nickname is the wizard. I've never heard anybody call him wizard. But it like it's cool that it's like, yeah, it's each hero.

Starting point is 00:26:31 He doesn't need a nickname. it's each hero yeah and it's also like such a great player we couldn't come up with a good nickname for the dude but whatever anyways so some quick honorable mentions here uh slapped in america he wasn't here long but boy i was slop to buy slapped him yep uh mr mariner alvin davis classic uh how about the bone uh for j buner ooher ooh that didn't make your top five wow i feel really good about it too when you get to my top five like i all right not first second did I consider that. How about Norm Charlton, the sheriff? That's pretty good one for a reliever. Yeah. Yeah. Also, the Rodney coaster. Yeah. Fun. Is that really a nickname, though? I don't know if it was. That's why I didn't, like, I wanted to put it in honorable mentions. You guys can decide if it's a nickname or not. But sure. And then finally, how about death to flying things? Franklin Gutierrez. That's right. So the original no-fly zone. That's right. That's right. That's right.

Starting point is 00:27:32 right, Julio's an amateur compared to Franklin Dutierrez in this prime. All right. So let's get into this top five here. Coming in at number five, one of my favorite players of all time was going to be on this list no matter what. It's the boomstick. Nelson Cruz, boomstick baby. He's got to be on this list. It just perfectly describes who he wants to hear Dave Sims' voice in my head right now.

Starting point is 00:27:54 It's like his signature call. Like if Dave leaves us to go to the Yankees, the first thing I'm going to think of is, hey, now. second thing I'm probably going to think of is like what a night the mitchander game and then the third thing is boomstick baby and then the fourth thing is probably like hey Lloyd back up the the truck to the airport yeah yeah do some delivery yeah we are Dave sim stands on the show so if you don't like I feel like we would we would have heard about the Yankees thing by now yeah it seems like it's but so anyways boomstick number five number four might be a bit controversial and has an opportunity to move up the list But for now, the big dumper comes in at number four. Number four. Yeah, it's number four. I have an issue with that. Well, you're wrong because the top three is, is immovable.

Starting point is 00:28:41 All right, all right. All right. I'll hear you out on the top three. Big dumper. So good. Yeah. Classic. It's the biggest contribution Jared Kelnick has ever made to the Seattle Mariners fandom is, is coining the nickname, big dumper.

Starting point is 00:28:57 Cow Raleigh, again, sticks around for a few more. years he has an opportunity to move up but the three names ahead of this are so iconic i can't justify putting the big dump or higher than four all right all right so number three it's the king king felix like it has to be on the top five and i just think that felix has done more for the mariners than cal raleigh so far uh we'll see what happens so but i mean come on how do you not have to do felix hernandez ever seen the mariner's in the playoffs coolly did cal rale ever pitch a perfect game so what's more what's more impressive um yeah so like i think he'll catch a perfect game one day probably not i mean statistically speaking but yeah i believe the king king felix like it's the king

Starting point is 00:29:44 it's the king's core like it's all of it like probably the most impactful nickname in merrish history when you consider just the like the lore of the nickname and what it meant to the ballpark and to the fan base in a really dark time in their in their franchise uh to have to have have at least that that you can kind of hang your hat on the king's court and all that stuff so i don't know maybe i'm looking more at the bigger picture of the nickname instead of the actual nickname but king felix is a really good nickname so i i think i have a pretty good idea of what's two and one i don't know which order you're going to have them at well i i think i know which order you're going to have them in but i assume number two has to deal with a uh a very tall pitcher correct

Starting point is 00:30:26 yes oh yeah number two man it's the big unit yeah It's iconic. One of the better nicknames in the history of baseball. Okay. So not just Mariners lore, but the big unit, the best pitcher in franchise history. Sorry, King Felix, but it's true. Could have been you, bro. Could have been you.

Starting point is 00:30:42 But nope. So, yeah, it's the big unit, Randy Johnson. I wonder if his number will finally be retired after they retire it for each row this summer. That's going to happen, by the way, guys. Probably August is when they like to do that. Icho is going to be inducted in the Hall of Fame. They'll do that in July. Like at Cooperstown.

Starting point is 00:31:03 And then on August, probably the next month, they will retire his number because he's now officially eligible, blah, blah, blah, blah. Maybe they'll actually finally retire Randy Johnson's number two because before Ichero was number 51, Randy Johnson was number 51. And there is an argument to be made that Randy Johnson is the best pitcher in baseball history. And for you to basically not acknowledge that he spent a decade here is. really weird and I know things didn't end on the best of terms but the big unit is an absolute horse and like he absolutely deserves to be he's a big unit yeah I mean he deserves to be recognized among the greats in mariner's history and it just feels like he's really not at least not enough to me but anyways that's a tangent the big unit is a great nickname and that's very that's very meriners though

Starting point is 00:31:51 to handle Randy Johnson's history with the organization look at how they've handled Alex Rodriguez's history too another like all-time great player who played for you and they're just like did he play for us i don't think so like so at the very least there you have like the steroid stuff but still like he should still be on or don't get me wrong you know how i feel about steroids yeah but like but at least that like there's an actual excuse you have no excuse with randy johnson you don't no you tried to gaslight the league and ruin his career by saying he has a bad back so that you can justify trading him to your fans yeah and then the guy went on to win like four scyungs in a in a row after you

Starting point is 00:32:26 traded in a world series yeah and it's like yeah like you tried to gaslight your fan base into thinking it was a good idea to trade this guy instead of pay him and he was mad at that because you tried to shorten his career with your lies yeah of course he should be mad about that anyways um yeah we're diving into a part of history here that has nothing to do with with the big unit number two would be number one in a lot but number one is pretty easy i mean it's that dude right there it's the kid yeah of course it's the kid You say the kid, everybody knows who you're talking about. Everybody.

Starting point is 00:33:00 It's Ken Griffey Jr. It's not really that close. In terms of like a nickname, is it better than the big unit? I don't know. It's comparable. But the kid is iconic. Like it is it is when you factor in what Griffey meant not only to baseball in the city of Seattle, but baseball in general in the 90s.

Starting point is 00:33:21 It is so iconic. Everybody knows about it. It's the backwards hat. It's the nickname. swing man also in the honorable mentions but it's the kid it it is the he's the most iconic player in franchise history he has the most iconic nickname in franchise history his swing should be the silhouette for major league baseball uh like he is he's just that dude like he is that dude in every sense of the word uh so yeah king griffy junior the kid number one best nickname

Starting point is 00:33:50 in franchise history the mayor's had some really good nicknames in their franchise and including some iconic ones like the kid and the big unit. So yeah, I think it's pretty fitting that in this list of top five nicknames, Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Felix Hernandez, find themselves at the top. Kind of a basic list. You played it safe. I played it correctly. You went with, you know, the iconography.

Starting point is 00:34:19 If you're telling me that there are three nicknames better than my top three, I'm calling you a liar. I mean, just nicknames, right? Taking iconography out of the equation for a second? Big Depper is absolutely. No,

Starting point is 00:34:35 it's not because iconography is very important in nicknames. Otherwise, Tuffy Goosewitch, might be on the list. Who cares? Oh, his nickname's Tuffy. Richie Sex and Big Sexy.

Starting point is 00:34:46 Oh, ha, ha, ha, ha, which kind of got lost in the shuffle because obviously Bartolo, but, no,

Starting point is 00:34:51 no, those are not better nicknames. I can remember the commercial, big, Richie. Yeah. Big Richie. Yeah. So yeah. No, there are not three nicknames better than that because iconography absolutely matters because the player makes the nickname. The nickname doesn't make the player. So because if the nickname makes the player, then you're the sheriff, Jacob Nottingham instead of, you know, King Felix, the kid, the big unit. And everybody

Starting point is 00:35:20 knows who you're talking about. So, yeah. So no honorable mention for the bar. bartender? No. For the DA? No. I guess in a way that is kind of just like shortening the name, right? It is. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:35:34 David Ardsman's initials. But it's good call. It's one of my favorite Sims calls. Case closed. Another one for the DA. Like it's good. It's good. Yeah,

Starting point is 00:35:45 the bartender's pretty good. Just not really enough like stain power there. Just kind of like, you know, when you think of the Mariners, you don't really think of like Tomlal Thompson for a while and so I think again the iconography here matters also no love for Cornelius Colton's gonna be very upset with you oh no this podcast isn't happy with me oh by the way that Joe guy on that show he sucks right right I don't you guys are like Joe but he stinks we we love marimojo around here that's just how that's just how Colby shows his love disdain sure same thing sure sure uh no no cornear leus uh you have to do more than hit a home run into the third deck uh to be worthy of this list sure so did uh colby miss any nicknames so let us know down in the comments below are there any other reasons to be optimistic about the marries right now let us know in the comments below i hope so that's going to do it for our show but before we get out of here

Starting point is 00:36:53 you suck a reminder that lockdown 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 channels app. Locked on Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Lockdown

Starting point is 00:37:10 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 Merrers podcast for Colby Patnode. I'm Tadeng Azalus. Be sure to give us a follow on on Twitter at L0 underscore Merers. You can follow me at Tadang Azales and Colby at CPAT 11. That's CPAT-1-1.

Starting point is 00:37:27 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.

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