Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Well, We Told You So

Episode Date: August 25, 2021

Join Locked On Mariners hosts Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby Patnode as they recap the Mariners' two-game sweep of the Athletics, debate which pitcher should get the start for the Mariners if they make th...e wild-card game and tell you why not acquiring Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield at the deadline was a bullet dodged.Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: lockedonmariners@gmail.comFollow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: http://patreon.com/controlthezone/Spotify GreenroomThis episode is brought to you by Spotify Greenroom. Download the Spotify Greenroom app and find one of our Locked On rooms.BetOnlineThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:02 You are Locked-on Mariners, your daily Seattle Mariners podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode of Locked-on Mariners is brought to you by Spotify Green Room. Download the app and join Colby and I for an hour-long pregame chat before the Mariners play the Royals tomorrow night. It is Wednesday, August 25th, 2021. This is the Locked-on Mariners podcast. Your home for Daily Seattle Mariner's News and analysis.
Starting point is 00:00:28 If this is your first time, stop and by, welcome to the show. we greatly appreciate you tuning in. I am your host, Tiding Azealous Reporter and editor at Seahawk Maven on sI.com. I am joined as always by my co-host Colby Patineau. Together, we co-founded a Mariners blog called True to the Trident.com. We also host an hour-long Mariners podcast called Control the Zone twice a week on patreon. com forward slash control the zone. So give it a little look-see.
Starting point is 00:00:55 On today's show, the Mariners completed a much-needed sweep against the Oakland athletics yesterday. we're going to get you caught up on all you need to know about that. Later on in the show, we're going to ask the question, who would you want starting a single elimination playoff game for the Mariners this fall? And finally, we'll tell you why the Mariners not trading for Royal Second Baseman Whitmerfield was the right decision. But first, I want to remind you to give this show a follow or subscribe to it wherever you prefer your podcast
Starting point is 00:01:23 or else your fun differential will be, let's say, negative 3,000. And speaking of fun differential, the term that, Scott Service coined yesterday. And to be fair, the first I actually ever heard the term fun differential with this team was from our good buddy Shane Hall, the creator of TridentDec.com. So is Scott Service stealing memes? That's a conversation for another time. But of course, people who attempt to disparage the 2021 Mariners tend to point to their run differential, which currently sits at a whopping negative 56, but the Mariners just don't care whatsoever. They are now 11 games over 500 for the first time this year, getting their 69.
Starting point is 00:02:00 nice win of the season yesterday against the Oakland Athletics, completing a two-game sweep of the A's and pulling within just one game of them and the standings that if you listen to yesterday's episode, then we told you so. Luis Torens, Tom Murphy, Jared Keldick. Colby and I's three picks to click yesterday went a combined six for 11 with two doubles and four RBI
Starting point is 00:02:26 as the Mariners win five to one in the afternoon affair. So Colby, you ready to take your victory lap? Well, as you may know, I'm much more humble than you. So I'm content with just saying, yeah, you know, we had a good day in the prognostication department. But yeah, no, we're smart and stuff. Yes, we did the smart thing. Offense finally happened. They actually provided some offense for once.
Starting point is 00:02:58 They get five runs. You know, the guys are hitting. They got to Cole Irvin, who, you know, gave up another seven hits and just went three innings against an offense like that. To be fair. I mean, they love to see it, right? To be fair, he did only allow three runs, which is the low that he's allowed against the Mariners this year. So upgrades. Yep.
Starting point is 00:03:21 He also had a low in strikeouts. He had none on the day. not a good day for Cole Irvin against again an offense like that a team like that by the way sad it is just like the Oakland Athletics record against the Seattle Mariners yep
Starting point is 00:03:45 Chris Flexen didn't have his best stuff but he battled and gave the Mariners six and two-thirds innings of one run ball Drew Steck and Ryder goes the rest of the way for a seven out save. And this game really, you know, could not have gone better for the marries. The pitching got them by. The bats, like I said, were able to produce when they were needed the most.
Starting point is 00:04:05 And it was one of the least anxiety-inducing wins they've had all year. They look good and continue to look good against the A's who they're now, as you said, eight and four against them on the year. Yeah, it's, you know, it's getting to the, yesterday was a very boring game by Mariners standards, right? I mean, technically it was. a comeback victory, although I don't count those unless it happens after the fifth inning. But they were down one to nothing early.
Starting point is 00:04:32 And, you know, they just never looked back. And they just, offense was stagnant for a little while there. But, you know, the two runs they tack on in the eighth, really just put that one away. So, yeah, or the ninth, whatever ending it was, just put it away. And it was just never really, like, there really wasn't ever a threat even that Oakland really put out. I think they got to one point. they had runners on first and second, uh, with two outs. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:04:58 Yeah. Yeah. And then, uh, almost and then, uh, second writer, uh, came out and recorded a seven out save. Um, and I really like that, that move by service. You know, his pitch count was really low despite having already gotten four outs. And you have tomorrow, you have tomorrow off. And, uh, you can kind of reset your bullpen and you could save the rest of it.
Starting point is 00:05:22 So now every, everybody else in the bullpen has got. and two days off. And yeah, I like that move by Scott. I thought it was really smart. Yeah. Yeah, it was, I think I even said to you or that it was like, all right, cool. Just go for it. Just leave them in there, especially because, you know, you didn't have CWald available.
Starting point is 00:05:44 Presumably. And, you know, Diego Castillo's hurt. Who else are you going to? You know, especially at the time, it was three to one. no else where you're going to go to. So yeah. And getting those extra two runs, I think it was,
Starting point is 00:06:00 I don't know, maybe you could have thrown Joe Smith in there or someone like that, but I feel okay with it. I feel okay with it. I feel like it was Steckenrider until he struggled, mostly because the pitch count was so low.
Starting point is 00:06:13 And we've seen Steck and Ryder do this before. He'll get three outs on like seven pitches. And you're like, oh, I mean, it's kind of what he does now. Teams are very aggressive with Steck and Ryder and it backfires on them.
Starting point is 00:06:24 I think he only threw like 26 pitches yesterday to get seven outs. And I mean, if that was just one inning of work, he still might be available today. But that was over two and a third. And if the team played today, he probably wouldn't be available, but they don't. So he's probably ready to go by Thursday. So just a really good day, you know, on the mound. And, you know, a really good day by the bottom of that lineup. six through nine they all had a hit i think they all
Starting point is 00:06:56 either had an rbi or scored a run so um yeah it was just it was a really good day you know uh they picked up you know tie france didn't have an especially great day but by his standards michi anager didn't either so bottom of the order really stepped up and got the mariners a much needed win yeah i think uh dillamore got the last rbi i right yep to make it 5-1 yeah they
Starting point is 00:07:22 I mean, that's been a nice thing that's kind of shown up here and there from time to time, the bottom of the lineup coming through when the top of the lineup struggles. And, you know, it didn't seem like they were going to have a good day at all. The Mariners overall, when the game started. I mean, Chris Flexen was everything was up in the zone. He was catching a lot of plate. It was just a lot of hard contact from the A's. And I told you, you know, I messaged you after the first inning or even during the first inning.
Starting point is 00:07:51 I was like, this is going to be a long. after him. And it was very much that meme, the, you know, call an ambulance, but not for me. Right. No, it was, it was a really, really chill game. I mean, yeah, it was nice to see the team win by, you know, have a four run lead and actually not give up three runs. It was, yeah, it was fun. It was a nice, easy, simple game, kind of boring, but hey, you know what? They have a few more like that down the stretch. I'll be just okay. Yeah, I will absolutely take that 100% for sure. Mariners, you know, of course, are not in a wildcard spot just yet, but it's hard not to think about October baseball with the way that this team is playing right now.
Starting point is 00:08:38 So if they do make it, who should take the bump for the Mariners in a one-game playoff? We're going to discuss that in a moment. But real quick, a reminder that this episode of Lockdown Mariners is brought to you by Spotify Green Room. Green Room is the first social audio platform made for sports fans. the app is free to download, and once you're in, you can talk with us, other fans, athletes, and insiders in real time about your favorite team or sport. Colby and I will be hosting rooms for lockdown Mariners once a week, so yes, you can finally join in on the conversation you listen to here every day because Green Room is the perfect
Starting point is 00:09:08 place to start or join conversations about Major League Baseball. You'll find fans just like you on Green Room for watch parties, debates, post-game breakdowns, and of course, reacting to big news or rumors. So go download the free Green Room app now, currently of available on all iOS devices. Be sure to create a profile, link your Twitter, and join the MLB group for the latest league updates. Follow me at Dane Gonzalez.
Starting point is 00:09:31 That's D-A-N-Z-L-Z and Colby at Colby Patnode to be notified when our room goes live. I know you won't want to miss it. We're planning to be live tomorrow Thursday the 26th before the Mariners kick off their series against the Royals. We can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts on the Mariners. So we'll see you there. Green Room changing the way we talk, Sports. Tomorrow we'll get you set for the Mariners four game series against the Kansas
Starting point is 00:09:55 City Royals, but right now we're going to play the hypothetical game a little bit. Like I said, it is hard to watch this team and not let your mind wander to a potential playoff appearance. Of course, they're still trailing the Red Sox by three games for that second wild card. Still have to leapfrog the A's as well, but let's just say that they do. They would likely play the Yankees in the wild card round at Yankee Stadium, a place they they went just one and three at earlier this month. The Yankees, of course, the hottest team in baseball right now, 11-game winning streak. Really good balance lineup, and there's
Starting point is 00:10:25 a non-zero chance you'd have to go up against here at Cole in that one. So your odds would be, let's say, minimal at best. But if you want to give yourself the best chance to win, it's going to have to come down to the pitching. So Colby, I'll ask you this, ignoring how the rotation may line up
Starting point is 00:10:41 heading into that game and how that may dictate who you end up going with. Who are you giving the ball to at Yankee Stadium? Yeah, assuming that I have my choice of anybody, which probably is not going to be the case. But assuming that I do, I'm going to pick Marco, which, you know, it's a bit of a tough decision for me, mainly because I am assuming the opponent will be the Yankees. However, you know, Yankees, they might catch Tampa. And, you know, maybe Tampa's that team. So it's definitely still possible.
Starting point is 00:11:18 It's definitely still out there. But assuming it's the Yankees, I'm going with Marco over Chris Flexen, despite the right-handed heavy lineup in New York. Ideally, Logan Gilbert would be throwing the ball really well, and I would use him. But A, he's not. B, he might be at the end of his rope anyways in terms of pitches that he can throw. And C, I don't really want to put him out there in the first playoff game in 20 years at Yankee Stadium. you know, that seems like a lot of pressure to put on a young kid like that.
Starting point is 00:11:52 So we go with Marco, I'm going to go with the guy who's pitched in the postseason before. People forget this, but Marco Gonzalez does have postseason experience. He's pitching Yankee Stadium before. He's kind of the leader of my pitching staff. He's a guy I want to build around. And I've trusted to be this, you know, this team captain, essentially.
Starting point is 00:12:12 I'm going to go with Marco over flexing. And also I just feel like Marco, has a longer track record than flexen and we saw yesterday you know if flexen goes in the yankee stadium and he's up in the up in the zone like that and he gives up a lot of hard contact anyways that game could get ugly pretty fast so i'm going to go with marco he's just i think he's earned it i think he's the guy i trust the most and he does have a little bit of postseason experience which is something that nobody else in the rotation right now uh can boast uh so i'll go him but i think i know what you're going to say and i'm excited to hear you uh explain it yeah so this is probably
Starting point is 00:12:48 going to sound crazy. But I'm going you say Kakuchi. Wow. Okay, that is not what I thought you'd say. Oh, you thought I was going to say Tyler Anderson? No, I thought you were going to say, I'm going Chris Flexen or I'm going Chris Flexen or Logan Gilbert, but for like the first time through the lineup. And then I'm going like Tyler Anderson the second time through it.
Starting point is 00:13:09 Like, I thought you're going to like bullpen this thing. No, no, no, no, no. Just play matchup from out one to 27. I mean, you could do that in theory. You could. But look, I know you say it's been bad since the All-Star break. I get how this sounds. But if you want to beat the Bronx bombers at Yankee Stadium,
Starting point is 00:13:29 that glorified Little League ballpark where routine pop flies turn into grand slams, you need to keep the ball on the ground and you need to miss bats. Kikuchi right now sports the 10th best ground ball rate in the league at 49.9%. He's also averaging 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings, best of any mariner starter. and obviously there's a flip side to the ground ball stuff because Kukuchi has given up a ton of home runs this year. I think it's fourth highest in all of baseball. He's given up 26 dingers this year.
Starting point is 00:13:56 Again, I get it sounds crazy. But I think to beat the Yankees, you kind of have to be a little bit of crazy. And you got to think outside the box. Should it be Marco? Probably I understand that. He's your captain and he's pitching really well right now. And he generates weak contact. But you say has a tool set that can accomplish.
Starting point is 00:14:16 exploit New York's weaknesses, and I think he might give you the best chance of any pitcher. You have to just shut them down because that's what you need. If you're going up against, you know, Cole, for example, you're likely scoring twice at best. And you say in his two career starts at Yankee Stadium, 12 and two thirds innings pitch, seven hits, one and run, nine strikeouts. You're going to have to luck into a shutout or a one run outing against the Yankees, which the odds of that are so, so little in the grand scheme of things.
Starting point is 00:14:46 you know, looking at this rotation, I just, I think you say gives you the best shot to kind of run into that. Yeah, you know, it's kind of like, even though none of these guys are really capable of doing it, if somebody was going to be able to go pitch for pitch with Garrett Cole
Starting point is 00:15:06 in the rotation as it sits right now, it's probably you say Kikuchi, he's got the best stuff. Now, can he control it, you know, does it easily going to have as good fastball you would hope? in a playoff game he would be amped up and he would have that fastball is the cutter command
Starting point is 00:15:21 going to be there so like raw stuff wise yeah he's he's clearly the best stuff in this rotation um but in terms of like how trustworthy is he he's probably at the bottom with logan gilbert right i mean yeah it's either him or gilbert and it's it's probably just above gilbert uh however again the goal is to go in there and win not keep it close and sometimes you know you have to you When you're clearly the underdog, you have to take big swings. And Kukuchi is a guy who is more likely than, say, Marco to go seven scoreless innings in Yankee Stadium. But, you know, the beauty of any playoff game is that you don't have, you're not committed to you say you're not like, oh, well, we have to get him through six to save the bullpen today. Nope.
Starting point is 00:16:09 If he gives you four scoreless and, you know, then he walks two guys and you got to bring him Paul Seawald in the fifth and that's what you got to do. So it's the bullpen makes this discussion a little bit gray because the bullpen's been so good. But also the bullpen's not, you know, eight guys deep. There's really like four guys. Now that Castillo's down. There's like four guys that you feel pretty good about right now. And so, you know, all bets are off in a playoff game, though. So if Chris Flexen has to come out and give you two innings, then that's what you have to do.
Starting point is 00:16:44 So, yeah. but you went with the upside play, which I get. Yeah, I think you just need to swing for the fences if you're going against the Yankees. Now, if you're going up against the Rays, there's a different conversation to be had there because, I mean, you played pretty well against the Rays, and the Rays don't have this just world beating offense, right? They have good hitters.
Starting point is 00:17:06 Don't get me wrong. But they're just a good overall baseball team in general. And I think Marco and Flexen make more sense for a game like that, because if you can keep things close I mean we've seen the Mariners be able to play pretty well against them. We know what their game plan is against the race. It's just with the Yankees.
Starting point is 00:17:25 It's just that's a team that you could quickly find yourself down three nothing against in the second inning and the game's over as that point. And yeah, you say could blow up right, it could easily be like eight nothing right away.
Starting point is 00:17:41 You know, but there's also the non-zero chance that He gives you the start that he's given you twice at Yankee Stadium before. And he shuts them down. And at that point, who knows, you know? Maybe, you know, you get a random, you know, fluky little hit off of Garrett Cole and it's 1-0-Nariner. It's going into the stuff. And now you have Drew's second rider and Paul Cuala to shut the door.
Starting point is 00:18:12 Feel pretty good about that. Yeah, I think you have to. but, hey, you know, you get to get to that one game playoff and then we can start to, you know, really start to pick apart, you know, who's the guy and how should you do this and how should you attack this? But got to get there first. And I think we have, what, 35 games to go? Got to make up three on Boston.
Starting point is 00:18:40 Yep. So he's still got a ways to go. But, hey, you know, it's hard not to feel optimistic right now. and then you're putting some distance between you and Toronto even. So, um, yeah, it's starting to become kind of a three horse race now. Toronto is. Yeah. I mean,
Starting point is 00:18:57 I wouldn't call it all right now. I wouldn't rule them out just yet. No. They're, they're way too talented to rule them out. But it's not, it's not trending well for them. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:19:06 And it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's not trending all that well for Oakland. And it's not trending all that well for Boston, um, who just barely won a,
Starting point is 00:19:15 a two game series or three game series against the rangers, which I know Mariners have no room, no, you know, room to brag about that, seeing as that's how they spent the entire season against Texas. But then they, they barely held off Minnesota,
Starting point is 00:19:29 who's not even close to the same team they were in April. And they weren't even good in April. So, yeah, things not trending super great for the other contenders, whereas Seattle's playing really good baseball and the Yankees are just on another planet right now. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:19:44 Well, We've talked about this. I don't know if we talked about this on locked on. But we definitely did on Control the Zone. Patreon.com, for it slash Control the Zone, by the way, that the Mariners, out of all these teams,
Starting point is 00:19:58 have the best bullpen. And that's been kind of the difference. It's definitely been the difference in their head-to-head matchups with these teams. And it's what's keeping them afloat. You look at the Red Sox, you look at the Blue Jays. A lot of these teams are blowing leads. The Red Sox, again,
Starting point is 00:20:13 the Red Sox were up 9 to 2 yesterday on the Twins. They won 11 to 9. They almost lost, if not for Kike Hernandez to run home run that made out 11 to 8 at the time. But the twins ended up getting that ninth run that would have tied it.
Starting point is 00:20:28 Yep. And they were threatening. They were threatening in the ninth. Matt Barnes had nothing against them and Hansel Rowell Rowell's came in and shut them down. But yeah, I just, I don't know. I look at these teams and they are very clearly flawed in a
Starting point is 00:20:43 very important part of their roster for heading into the postseason with. You need a good bullpen to win in the postseason. You need a good bullpen to win in September. And those teams just do not have it right now. Oakland does not have it. Toronto does not have it. Boston does not have it.
Starting point is 00:21:02 Mariners do. Yep. So we'll see. Well, when the Royals come to town tomorrow, the Mariners will see firsthand a player. They were linked pretty close. closely to at the trade deadline. We're going to tell you why it didn't come together and why that was the right decision
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Starting point is 00:22:24 Leading up to the trade deadline, Mariners general manager, Jerry Depoto, said a second baseman was at the top of his wish list shortly thereafter. Rumors link the team to Royals' All-Star second baseman with Merrifield, but nothing, eventually came of it, and the Mariners ended up acquiring Abraham Toro from the Astros, of course, since Toro was acquired. he's been, well, he's been one of the best hitters in all of baseball, quite frankly. He's slashing 320, 400, 474 with a 149 WRC plus and three home runs in his first month with the Mariners. Meanwhile, Whitmerfield in that time has slashed 292, 319, 345 with an 82 WRC plus, no home runs, 12 steals.
Starting point is 00:23:03 Overall, he's hitting 278, 321, 392 with a 93 WRC plus this year. It's been worth nearly three wins per Fangraph's war this year. So definitely don't take this. as us saying he's bad. He's most certainly not. He's a stellar defender at both second base and the outfield, and he's stolen 37 bases in all. He's a great base runner in general,
Starting point is 00:23:23 and he comes on a very team-friendly contract, but the profile I described is just not worth the price the royals put on him. Colby, tell us what that price was and why Depoto and company were right not to pay it. Yeah, so based on everything that we know, well, you've been told by a few people, and I think at this point is pretty generally,
Starting point is 00:23:45 you know, general knowledge, is that the Royals were asking for at least one of the Kellnick, Rodriguez, Gilbert, Hancock, Kirby, uh, Quintuplet, at least, uh,
Starting point is 00:24:01 yeah, Marte even too. Uh, so one of those six, um, to start negotiations on, on Whitmerfield. And obviously that is,
Starting point is 00:24:10 I mean, to be frank, it's insulting to the intelligence of Jerry Depoto. It's Whitmerfield's not worth any of that. He's not worth anything close to that. And, you know, like you said, Marrifield is, he's a good player. There's no question about that. Whitmerfield's a good player. Average bat, you know, this year's slightly below average, but overall average,
Starting point is 00:24:35 a really good base runner, great base dealer, really good defensively. It can move around, can do a lot of things. he's a nice player to have. But this is roughly the equivalent of, you know, Seattle going to Atlanta and saying, hey, give us Christian Pache for Mitch Hanigar at the deadline. It just doesn't make sense. So I feel like, you know,
Starting point is 00:25:00 the Royals never really wanted to move Whitmerfield. And that kind of makes sense because the Royals are kind of an interesting team. They're kind of similar to. of the Mariners. They're in the middle of a rebuild, but they're maybe on the back half of it. And you can start to see what they're building in the rotation. And they have some really young, really cool young middle infielders. And this winter, they went out and they spent money on guys like Carlos Santana. And they traded for Andrew Penitendi, who's having a pretty nice year, by the way, I think. And it looks like they are trying to make that next step. So trading
Starting point is 00:25:37 with Merrifield for them would kind of be in their mind taking a step back. So I get why they thought they needed, you know, to blow me away offer to move Merrifield. But that asking price is, is frankly ridiculous. And there are only, you know, at second base, there might not be a second baseman in all of baseball.
Starting point is 00:25:57 That's worth that to the Seattle Maritors. So, uh, or anybody, to be honest with you. So yeah, just a ridiculous asking price. It was something that depoto was never interested in doing.
Starting point is 00:26:07 We know that. Um, it doesn't mean that none of those guys will get traded. In fact, I'm fairly certain one or two of them are getting traded this winter, but not for a guy like Whitmerfield who's in his 30s and is a, you know, averageish bat who gives you base running and defense. That's not what Depoto is going to trade these guys for. Yeah, absolutely not.
Starting point is 00:26:28 You just, you can't do it. You can't do it. There's no way to justify that whatsoever. You know, I said when the first report came from Mark Feinzan, that they were, you know, in negotiations with. the Royals about Merrifield that you know at most it would be Taylor
Starting point is 00:26:47 Tramel and you know I made peace with that and I still even then thought maybe that was kind of a little bit of an overpay I feel like what Merrifield's kind of the guy that you trade the Joey Gallo package for you know what the Rangers just got for Joey Gallo which is a good package that's more like you know a couple
Starting point is 00:27:05 a couple B prospects you know a couple C prospects that's you know that's kind of what what merrifield should be going for not no lelvie martay one of the top ten prospects in baseball not Julio Rodriguez one of the top ten prospects in baseball not Jerry Kellnick who is top three prospect in baseball right that's just not that's not who Whitmerfield is those are guys that you trade for like an ace or you trade for for example right hypothetically Let's say that the Mariners had traded Noel V. Marte for Brady Singer. Right. Like, you probably want Marte more in the long run, but Singer's a really nice, you know, interesting arm who has a major league experience. He's got, I think, five years of club control and he's ready to help you right now.
Starting point is 00:28:01 Okay. That makes sense. But a 30-year-old who's got two years left on his contract. 32-year-old. 32-year-old, yes. who's got two years left on his contract. The bat's declining a little bit. I mean, again,
Starting point is 00:28:14 Whitmerfield is a good player. He's not an all-star. He's not, you know, a guy who's going to completely change the outlook of your franchise. He's a good player. The Kansas City Royals were asking for the Mariners to pay elite freight for a good player. That's just never going to happen. Yeah. Like I said, you just can't do it.
Starting point is 00:28:36 Can't justify it. just it's it's they wanted you know 70 cents more on the dollar than than what what merrifield is worth it's not like that you thought that the Jose Barrios trade wasn't overpay
Starting point is 00:28:52 I mean think think about that right think about the Whitmerichold thing like that's just that's just ridiculous and maybe maybe Jack's the Rensick would have done it and to be quite fair he probably has no interest in a player like Whitmerfield, who has versatility, not really a ton of power.
Starting point is 00:29:11 But, you know, but, you know, doesn't belong in first base. Yeah, if Whitmerfield, if Whitmerfield played first base and DH and that was his versatility, Jack would, it would be all over that. He'd be a starting center fielder. You'd be the starting center fielder.
Starting point is 00:29:26 I mean, but, uh, yeah, it's just, it's just dumb. Um, it's a, it's a ridiculous asking price. Yeah. Which means that, you know, and I think you said this was that they probably weren't all too serious about trading them in the end. Nope.
Starting point is 00:29:44 Nope. That's fine. Yeah. And there's obviously some sentimental value with with with with Merrifield and Kansas City as well. And, you know, while that's silly to me, you know, I get it. Teams, teams do do that. Yeah, but, you know, this is a team that literally they won a World Series, right? and then for sentimental reasons, they hung on to Eric Cosmer, Lorenzo Kane, and Mike Mustakis, instead of trading them when they needed to.
Starting point is 00:30:14 And they got nothing for those guys. So, yeah. Yep, it's not great. But hey, you know, Kansas City, they do stuff like that. And then I get it. You know, Whitmerfield's a good player. But we'll see. I would think that this might be a tell that Kansas City is going to be aggressive, you know, for them.
Starting point is 00:30:35 once again this winter. At least I hope. Otherwise, you know, not really seriously considering trading Whitmerfield doesn't make a lot of sense. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:44 And maybe there's something that gets revisited in the off season. Maybe they come down on their asking price. We've talked about it on CTZ that if you can get Whitmerfield, pretty good player. Yeah. No.
Starting point is 00:30:57 He helps you. Very nice. And you can move him around. And you can essentially use him like Dylan Moore. Only he would play more regularly. But we've been told that when it comes to second base, possibly third base, but mostly second base, this winter, the Mariners are, quote, thinking bigger. So bigger than Whitmerfield, you can draw your own conclusions off of that. Sure.
Starting point is 00:31:22 All right. Well, on that note, that's going to do it for today's show. Appreciate you guys tuning in. I hope to see you tomorrow. We're going to get you set for the Mariners four game series with Royals. For Kobe Pat note, I'm Ty Dan Gonzalez, and this has been locked. on Mariners. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-N-S-R-N-Rerner. You can follow
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