Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - What Should the Seattle Mariners Do About Andrés Muñoz After ANOTHER Blown Save?! | Mailbag Monday

Episode Date: June 8, 2026

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What in the world is going on with Andres Munoz? We'll answer that of more coming up here on mailbag Monday. Colby, hit it. You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Ahoy, Sailors, it is Monday, June 8th, 2026. My name is setting gzalas, and I'm joined as always by my co-coes.

Colby Patnaud. This episode is brought to you by Fandul. The biggest stage in world soccer is here. Let there be goals. on Fandual. Visit fanduel.com to get started now. And on today's show, we're going to open up the mailbag and answer some of your merri's questions, starting with this one from Josh Naylor's lover at I love Josh Naylor. All right. What the hell did Andres Bunoz do over the off season to have

him go from a top five closer to Fernando Rodney? Because whatever he did, he needs to never do it again. Yeah, I don't know. what he did this off season. I know he ramped up a little earlier because of the WBC, but I don't know if that's something that's actually affecting him right now. But obviously it's not good enough, whatever he did, or whatever he's doing right now, not good enough. And yeah, it is, it's time to, you know, consider some changes,

but kind of the tricky situation with the Mariners, and we've talked about this quite often, you know, you can take him out of the closer role. Munoz is still going to be pitching high leverage innings. like this team doesn't really have a lot of opportunities for relievers that don't come in high leverage spots. Like that's just kind of the nature of the team. They play a lot of close one-run games and they're supposed to win them because they have this really good bullpen. And, you know, yesterday kind of an outlier because Cooper Chriswell pitched one of those innings and he got, you know, exploded.

So, yeah, he, you know, bottom of the order up by three, that's an okay spot to use Chriswell. I just didn't get it done, unfortunately. And then obviously, Munoz just imploded. Again, couldn't throw strikes. So again, you can take him out of the closer roll. That's all well and good. But it doesn't really solve your problem. You need Munoz to be good.

And so it doesn't really matter. Because, like, Munoz, hypothetically, if you did want to move Munoz into lower leverage spots, he would have pitched that seventh that Chriswell went into. And obviously he didn't pitch much better than Chris well, did he? So you're kind of in this weird spot with Munoz. I don't know what he did this winter. Something needs to happen.

He just doesn't have the slider command right now. And obviously, he's losing the fastball command way too early, or way too often, I should say. You know, it's also worth noting that he's dealt with back issues in the past. He's also had a couple of bouts of fatigue. Like, you know, the random time he leaves the game or what's sick or we don't know what that is. Not necessarily leave the game, but there has been some times where they've had to bring out like fluids to the mound. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, he's said in the past that he does sometimes get nauseous when pitching. So, yeah, I have to wonder if maybe he's been dealing with a little bit of that. Yeah, I don't know exactly what's going on. You know, really my big question is what's going on with his confidence in the slider? Because he only threw it four times out of the 19 pitches that he threw yesterday. And at that point, if he's not going to throw his slider right now, he's, he's, he's, he's, away because his foreseamer is just objectively worse than it has been in the past it is fundamentally a different pitch than it has been in the past it's not getting anywhere near the armside run that it that it has

in the past and it's getting smoked right now and that was a that was really the only pitch that he really trusted yesterday and and you saw what happened you know it's the the pitch that he gave up the game winning hit on it was the pitch that he threw you know for consideration executive times to walk Perez maybe I don't know I don't remember but or was it

McKinstree one of them whatever yeah yeah either way you walk two guys in a row and I think he threw seven fastballs so either he either he can't either he can't locate it or if he does throw out for a strike it's probably catching way too much plate

and it's a relatively straight fastball that is pretty easy to pick up and isn't going to blow a ton of guys away. And look, the slider is still really good this year, even with some of the command and control issues that he's dealt with over the course of the year. It's why his peripherals overall are actually, you know, in some cases at their very best that they've been in his entire career. So I'm just, I'm wondering what's going on there with that pitch right now with him. Yeah, there's just not a lot of consistency because we've seen Munoz not in the distant past, just dominate guys with the slider and go one, two, three, and breeze through it.

And you're like, okay, he's back. And it's just been a lot of up and down, up and down for Munoz. I do have a note here. I don't know if this means anything, but I figured I'd bring it up. So Munoz yesterday was the first game he'd pitched in a week, six days. and so I was I was curious you know like hey is there some kind of correlation between not pitching often or whatever and so I looked it up eight of his appearances this year which I believe is one third of his appearances have come with three or more days off in between appearances five appearances five of those eight have come with four days off or more so I was just kind of looking at what batters did here with no rest No rest day in between appearances. Opponents are hitting 261, 375-65.

So back-to-back, Munoz, not that great. With one-day rest, opponents are slashing 200 across the board. Average on base. 200, 200, 200, yep. Hasn't allowed an earned run with one-day rest. With two days' rest, opponents are hitting 227, 261, 364. Pretty good. Pretty good.

With three days rest, opponents are hitting 462, 467, 769. So there appears to be a sweet spot there. One or two days rest is when you want to use Munoz. If he pitches back to back, struggle a little bit. If he gets three or more days off, he struggled. So maybe there is a usage concern here where you need to use him at least once a series, even if the situation doesn't dictate it.

Maybe that can help him get back on track. But, yeah, I mean, again, that's just the theory. have any hard evidence for that. I just thought that was interesting to look at the numbers and see how we did get a question from someone else that asked about how strictly using him out of the closer role might be impacting things. Yeah. Sure. Sure. I think that's fair. Look, you know, I don't know if we have another question about this or not. No, I, you know, like I said yesterday when I put the tweet out, we were going to pick one Munoz question and just kind of answer everything. So maybe I don't know. Maybe this answers another.

question in a way. But look, I've long been an advocate of not having any kind of innings-based roles in the bullpen whatsoever. So if them having to give Munoz a mental break or whatever as the closer

leads to them actually utilizing a bullpen that's based 100% on matchups, then maybe this ends up being a good thing in the long run because Munoz shouldn't be safe for the ninth inning. Munoz should be pitching the seventh when when situations dictate it.

And sometimes for Eric can pitch the ninth or sometimes like I don't really have a problem with the way Dan laid out his bullpen yesterday. Um, it was kind of weird to see Bizarro up and ready to go, but not pitch the seventh, especially when you knew that spire was going to face the lefties. Like so that was a little weird. But again, up by three to the bottom of that order, Chriswell should get those guys out.

Yeah. And he just did. So. And Chriswell's been really good this year for the most part too. Again, it's very weird, just kind of a fluky. thing. You know, it's funny. Ferre really struggled, but he actually struck out Riley

Green on four pitches, but because Laz is, you know, an idiot. Ferre has to use what, he ended up throwing 18 pitches, I believe, to get that one out. And at that point, he's toast for the seventh. So like, you can draw a line between, you know, hey, if that strike three is called,

Ferrear probably pitches the seventh, and then Spire probably pitches the eighth, and then you know, Munoz probably pitches the ninth, with a three-run lead, more or less. I mean, we don't know how it would have played out. But, yeah, it is just kind of one of those weird things. Look, Munoz has to pitch better end of the day.

That's what it is. We can try and look for explanations for it. And maybe it's the rest, maybe the amount of rest days. Maybe they're not using him enough. Maybe they need to, you know, move him out of this innings-based use and kind of just pick their spots and pick their matchups in the lineup to get him in there. We don't know. But at the end of the day, what it really is Munoz has to pitch better.

Like that, that's the full story. All right. Well, we will answer more of your questions in just a moment. But first, a reminder of this episode of the Locktime Era's podcast is brought to you by Fanduel and Hems. The biggest stage in world soccer is here. And every match feels like it has the potential for a memorable moment. One goal can completely change the energy of a game, shift momentum and alter the outcome in an instant. That's what makes tournament soccer so exciting from the opening whistle to the final kick. And now, FanDuel is giving fans.

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the number one sports podcast network. Don't forget to check out the Everyday Club for ad-free episodes and access to a group chat with me and other listeners of this show. Tap the link in the description or go to locked on mariners. Dot supercast.com to learn more. Let's get back into your questions here on Mailbag Monday. All right.

Our next question here comes from Seatown Collex. Who wants to know is a Roldus Chapman back on the menu even with the off the field stuff? I really hope not. Just from a personal standpoint, I'll be very honest and straightforward about that. I really hope not. But regardless of how I feel about a Roldus Chapman and how Colby feels about a Roldus Chapman and to be very clear,

we don't want him on the Mariners. We don't want to cover the guy. The real question, though, is how do the mayor's feel about a role this Chapman? Because, like, let me ask you this. When was the last time the mayor has brought in someone with furious off-the-field questions, concerns, issues, whatever you want to call them? And I'm not talking about someone with questionable politics. I'm talking about someone with a real off-the-field incident in their past that resulted in

punishment, which in Chapman's case was a 30-game major league suspension. I can't think of anything off the top of my head. Not recently, for sure, unless I'm just completely blanking on something in the moment. To me, it seems pretty clear, and I don't know this for a fact, but to me it seems pretty clear that this Mariners regime has a zero tolerance policy for players like a Roldus Chapman. Just given how much homework they do on players' backgrounds and how much they value and preach clubhouse fit

and just overall bringing in good dudes. So I would be, for that reason, I would be very surprised if the Mariners seriously explored bringing Arola Chapman into the fold, even with how good he is and even with the potential high leverage bullpen need. I especially can't foresee them bending their rules on that

for a player who would give you, you know, 20 or so innings. and would cost significant resources because it's going to take a lot to acquire him from the Red Sox even though that he is a rental and he's also making a little bit of money which that part shouldn't matter overall

but it is just another element to the whole thing. So I would be very surprised and I'm totally fine with them not exploring that and I think that they can accomplish what they ultimately need to accomplish in their bullpen on the trade market via other pieces like Rico Garcia, for example.

Layla wants to know, Dan and company seem to be pretty bullish on Johnny Parada. Do you think when Cal comes back, they have enough confidence in him as a backup catcher to keep him over Mitch Garber? Right now, we don't know 100% because we don't know if JP's going on the IL. It doesn't seem like he is, but maybe he does. But by the time they have to make this decision, obviously they will know. And that could factor into how, because you can't really carry three catchers with, without having a backup infielder. Patrick Wisdom ain't it, although he did make a very nice play yesterday.

So, yeah, but, yeah, I think ultimately what the Mariners probably do, not what they should do, but what they probably do is they just then parade it down, and they just roll with Cal and Garver, and that's fine. What they should probably do right now, because they have Colt Emerson, because they have Cole Young, because they have shortstop covered. right on the infield if jp goes down or something they probably should just carry that third catcher um and have garber essentially take ref sniders role because really the difference between refsnyder and garber right now as bench players is non-existent because you're not getting

any extra flexibility with refsnyder you have your you have your fourth outfielder already in victor robles so like he doesn't even give you that aspect of it and it just comes down to who's hitting lefties better, Mitch Garber, and it's not close. So, yeah, I think what they should do is that they should, when Cal comes back, they should DFA, Raf Snyder. They probably should do it before then, but whatever. I'll pick my battles a little bit. So, yeah, I think they probably should just keep Parada up and have Garber kind of serve as

the platoon DH with Canzon. And then also, obviously, he would catch sometimes against lefties and Cal can D. So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see how they get three at those three guys playing time because I think with Parada, you kind of want him to hit a little bit because he is hitting and he is giving you quality at bat. So it's kind of a tricky situation, but I personally don't think they will carry the third catcher. Again, unless they think Garber just isn't a catcher, which clearly they do think he is. So it's just really tricky, but I think they won't carry three. That would be my guess. Should they carry three?

yes because again refsnyder and garber their their flexibility is basically the same anyways all right we will answer more of your questions in just a moment but first reminder this episode of the lockdown errors podcast is brought to you by ethos this is jeff car from locked on reds and you know i've reached the point in my life where my wife and i are looking toward the future we've got the house we've got the career we even have an awesome dog but now we need to secure that future that's where ethos comes in for us. When I look at this insurance or that insurance and I try to pick one, I might as well be reading an entirely different language.

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Ethos.com slash locked on MLB. Application times and rates may vary. And you're listening to the Locktime errors podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast network, your team every day. As always, if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show, we have a Patreon. It's called Control the Zone and on there we talk,

Marrers, Seahawks, all that good stuff. For more information, go to patreon.com forward slash control the zone. Link in the description of this episode. Katie wants to know

are there any right-handed potential platoon bats that interests y'all at the deadline? Yeah, we talked about a couple of them last week when we did our top five

hitting trade targets list. What was that, Thursday? Yeah. And I have more. so you know some of the guys that made that list Romney Gonzalez

talked about him awesome Martin from the twins Matt Vierling is the guy that we saw yesterday and over the course of the weekend he's hit lefties pretty well

and he could play multiple spots both on the end field and outfield Oswald Paraza from the Angels but it's the angels so Joe Adele

I would I would I would say is a platoon bat, especially for how the mariner's would specifically use him. Spencer Torkelson, another guy on the Tigers, that I would, I think you could say he's an everyday bat, but for how the mariners would specifically deploy him, how I think the mayors would specifically deploy him. He would be more of a platoon bat. Lane Thomas of the Royals.

I think that's it. Yeah, that's everyone. I don't know. There's a few guys. but again, you know, like we talked about on Thursday, it's just the market for bats, especially right-handed bats, is very large.

So options are going to be limited. Yeah, probably going to have to overpay a little bit. Which fine. Again, you're in a World Series window. Sometimes you pay a little bit more for a bench player because that can make a huge difference. My favorite option is still Austin Martin. Yeah.

I just think he makes a ton of sense. And he's got multiple years of club control. left. So, you know, you're looking for Dylan Moore, the new Dylan Moore. It could be Austin Martin. More on base than power. But like, yeah, Austin Martin is the guy that I would want. Romney Gonzalez is very interesting. And, you know, right-handed platoon bass from Boston, never struggle in Seattle. So kind of seems like the ideal fit right there. Yeah. But yeah, Austin Martin is my, my number one target for that specific role. Last question of the day comes from Matthew, who wants to know, rank these four starting

pitchers based on the trade return that we get if moved at the deadline. Freddie Peralta, Tarek, Scouble, George Kirby, Logan, Gilbert. I think Peralta is clearly number four. It only gets all that close. Peralta's been good this year. It hasn't been normal Peralta. He's not getting the number of strikeouts that he has. Again, he's been good.

He'll get them at something pretty nice at the deadline. But Logan is about as good as Peralta right now, and Logan has the extra year. So he's going to get way more. I do think he'd be third. I think Kirby might get more than Scoobel because he's got two full years of club control after this year, and he's a number two, or number three. Scoobel, I think, is going to get the Tigers one premium prospect,

and then like one good prospect, and then kind of more of a throw-in. And I just, you know, again, there's not a ton of good examples. David Price was in, rental starting pitcher and that got the that got the Tigers Daniel Norris and Matt Boyd. Norris was the top 20-ish prospect at the time. Boyd was kind of a

I think a fringe top 100 guy at the time. So again, a really good prospect, an okay prospect and then a lottery ticket. I think of Cliff Lee. He was a rental in the Mariners traded him. What they get, Justin Smoke, who was top 10 prospect at the time, give or take. And then, you know,

Blake Bevin, I guess. Yeah, and so really these guys don't get traded all that often. C.C. Sabathia, I think netted a top 100 prospect. I don't think he was pitching as well as obviously Scoble when Sabathia got traded. You're also getting into territory that just really doesn't apply to them. No, I mean, David Price doesn't really apply. That was more than 10 years ago. There's just not a lot of these rental pitchers who get traded. Like, Cy Young candidates, Best pitcher in baseball.

candidates, they don't get traded at the deadline all that often. So maybe they end up getting two top, you know, 30 prospects or whatever. Maybe I don't know. At that point, I think he gets more than Kirby. But Kirby's got two years left. If the Mariners got offered a top 20 prospect and kind of a fringe top 100 guy for George Kirby, they would laugh and say no, not even close. So for that reason, I think that Kirby is actually a little bit more valuable on the trade

market than Scoobel. again. We don't really have a comp for scoble. That makes things pretty difficult. And the market changes every single year. Would the comp for school be somewhere in the ballpark of what the race reportedly offered the Angels for Otani?

Maybe, but I doubt it. Because Otani Yeah, you're trading for essentially two players in Otis. Two like elite level players. It was Caminero and who else? Carson Williams I think. Yeah, Carson Williams. Yeah, I think that's

Yeah. So maybe one of those guys. But scuba ain't hitting. And that's what you're really trading for. Like you're trading for 60 games of Otani with the bat and maybe six to eight starts, plus whatever you get in the playoffs. Whereas with scoobull, you're probably trading for 10 starts and that's it. And then whatever you get in the playoffs. So, yeah.

Scoobl's going to cost a pretty penny, but no, you won't cost as much as Otani would have, just because he's nowhere near as good as Otani. So I think maybe half of what Otani, which was an elite prospect. Yeah. And also, yeah, it depends. Do you want a top 10 prospect or would you rather have two top 50 prospects? Do you want more bites at the apple or do you want to take your one shot? Because I think Scoobel is probably more likely to get the one shot type of guy.

And I think that Kirby's probably a bit more likely to get like the Jet Williams type of prospects. whereas Scoobel might get a Kate Anderson type of prospect if that makes sense. Yeah, so I think Peralta for Gilbert 3, Kirby and Scoble kind of a toss-up. I think it's the extra years of club control, but yeah, it's just tough. We just don't have any really historical comps. Like the closest we got was when Scherzer got traded, but he was traded with Trey Turner. Yeah. A year and a half left.

So that doesn't really help us at all either. Yeah. It's just tough. Like, I could see it get crazy because scoble is just that big of a difference maker, potentially. But there's also the elbow thing. How much is that potentially going to drive the price down if the whole league kind of airs some level of concern in their negotiations with the Tigers? I could see the Dodgers doing like, what's the name, DePaula. It's like a premier prospect.

And then also trading in like Alex Freeland just because Freeland is kind of extra for them, although. with the way that's playing, you know, Max Muncie's injury concerns, like maybe not, but you know what I mean? Like the Dodgers can afford to overpay. But, and at that point, you're kind of screwed. But yeah, it's tough to see. We just don't have enough comps for a scuba like trade recently for me to feel good about it, at least.

But I do think the extra two full years would carry Kirby over the top of scubal at this deadline. But maybe not. Yeah. I'm open to hear. in both sides of that. But to me, Peralta is clearly number four and Logan's clearly number two,

or number three. All right. Well, that is going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Locktime Marrars podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. And once again, if you've never missed an episode,

it's time to make it official, join the Lockdown Every Day or Club and get ad-free audio access to our members-only discord and more are all built for our most loyal fans. Kobe Pat note, I'm Tadeng Gazzal. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Tad de Gzalus and Colby at C-Pad 11. That's C-PAT-11.

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