Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Which Teams Should the Mariners Be Talking to Right Now?

Episode Date: January 20, 2025

It's Mailbag Monday! Ty and Colby answer your Mariners questions, including which of Pete Alonso or Nolan Arenado they prefer, if Jurickson Profar is a fit, which teams they hope the Mariners are actively talking to, and more.Check out our Patreon!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11Follow the show on Bluesky: @lockedonmariners | @tdg | @mlbcolbySupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Rocket MoneyCancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/lockedon today. SelectQuoteGet the right life insurance for YOU, for LESS, at SELECTQUOTE.COM/LOCKEDON.SelectQuote - They Shop. You Save. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Which three teams are we hoping the Marrars are talking to right now? And for which players? We answer that and 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, January 20th, 20-25. This is Tanya Gonzalez and Colby Patnode for the Locked-on Marys podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. We'll be opening up the Mailbag. we do here every Monday and answer some of your meritor's questions. But before we do that, quick shout out to our title sponsor today, Fanduel. From the first whistle to the final drive, Fanduel makes the NFL playoffs even more exciting. Right now, new customers can bet $500 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win your first bet. Visit fanduel.com to get started. And if you

want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show, check out our Patreon. What you have to do to check that out is click the link and the the description of this episode. Kicking us off here on Mailbag Monday is Big Lobb. Who wants to know? Do you think the Mariners are the mystery team who may have interests in a Paul Alonzo signing or is that wishful thinking? I don't know about Paul Alonzo, but I think the Mariners should have a lot of interest in Pete

Alonzo. But to answer your question, yeah, I do think that is wishful thinking that they are the mystery team that was reported by Ken Rosenz. last week. As for who the mystery team is, I mean, that's what makes this whole situation so interesting because really the only great fit that I could see outside of the Mets for Pete Alonzo at this point

is the Seattle Mariner's. I don't think the Toronto Blue Jays are a perfect fit for him, even though they were mentioned alongside the mystery team and the Mets in that Rosenthal report last week. So who does that leave? I would say the Giants, because they have money theoretically, and Pete Alonzo would be better than what they have currently at first base, but it could also be the Cubs. It could be the Angels.

It can be the A's, yikes. Maybe it's one of these teams that needs to add payroll, and they're like, hey, Pete, let's sign you and we'll trade you midseason. I don't know. I don't know if he would ever get that desperate enough to do something like that. But, yeah, I really don't know who the mystery team could be. Again, I'll go with the Giants, but I don't even feel great about that. Yeah, the Giants make the most sense. But first of all, let's respect Dr. Paul Alonzo, who is a respected journalist, journalism teacher at Georgia Tech.

Okay. Go yellow jackets. I think that's their mascot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Megatrons. Yeah, yeah, yeah. also do I want to say Joey Bart

Demarius Thomas went to Georgia Tech I can't think of any baseball players who went to Georgia Tech somebody's got drafted out of Georgia Tech like in the top of I think it was was it Bart or was he another Florida State guy I'll look into that while you while you answer the question but yeah so I think the Giants do make the most sense

it is probably wishful thinking that the Mariners are in on this, even though they should be. We talked about that. It was Jerry Byrd. Good job. I feel like maybe Matt Wheaters as well. But anyways, Seattle should be in on this.

I don't think they are, unfortunately, but we talked about that on Friday, so there's no reason to rehash that. Yeah, I think the Giants probably make the most sense. It's also possible that the mystery team doesn't exist. It's just a made-up thing that, you know, Boris typically likes to throw out there when he's desperate, which is kind of always when it's not one of his elite players.

But teams really don't fall for that that often. I could tell you like an absurd mystery team that would be hilarious. Although I don't think they would do this again. But what if it's like the Colorado Rockies who are known for bidding against themselves and giving bad contracts out. But yeah, I think they- He did 50 plus summers. of course.

Yeah. I think the Giants are probably the most likely of the mystery teams. Toronto's out, I would imagine, at this stage. The Mets, certainly a reunion with the Mets is still possible, even though they've said we think he's probably going somewhere else. So, yeah, Seattle should be the mystery team. I think it's probably wishful thinking that they are. But, you know, maybe, like I said,

it makes a ton of sense for Seattle to be that mystery team. So can't dismiss it offhand. just based on the behavior of this pathetic ownership group, I would be shocked if they were, in fact, the mystery team. So some other baseball players from Georgia Tech, Colby. Matt Wheaters, you got that one, right? Mark McSherra. No, he went to Georgia Tech, okay.

Jason Veritech. No more Garcia-Para. Some more recent ones. Justin Henry Malloy. Xavier and Curry Okay Yeah so not a lot of hits Not a lot of hits for Georgia Tech

As a baseball school though You get a couple number one picks in there like yeah Yeah Welcome to Lockdown Georgia Tech That's right Go yellow jackets Did I get that right? Yes

Byron wants to know With the report from Cardinals live That the Cardinals are willing to pay a massive amount of Aeronado's contract. Would you rather have Nolan Aeronado at three years for 35 mil or Pete for three years 70 mil with player options? This is perfectly breaking in our favor, but you know, money. For me, it would still be Alonzo,

because that's more than likely going to be a one-year deal. And even with Aeronado's number being lowered from what it is now to 35 million over three years, there's still a deferred money that has to be accounted for. So yeah, that whole situation is just really complicated. I'd rather take the shot on Pete that he's only going to be here for a year. I'm going to get the impact that I want.

And then he's going to hit the market and try and get the bag that he wanted this off season that he's not ultimately going to get. So, yeah. Yeah. Also worth noting the more money that the Cardinals eat, the better prospect you have to give up to get him. So you also give him. And so you're also giving up a prospect to the Cardinals in exchange for Aeronado.

Yeah, and then the deferred money is just such a mess. If you told me that the Cardinals were just going to eat all of the deferred money, and they were going to take Mitch Hanager, and it was going to be like a Logan Evans type of prospect, not a Cole Young type of prospect. I might consider Aeronado over Alonzo, but I don't think any of those things are going to be true. And so the deferred money continues to be my biggest hang up on the Aeronzo. Aronado front, you know, not that Seattle can't or shouldn't be interested. I also don't know if Aronado would waives no trade clause, but maybe.

So I think I would probably just, there's too many sticking points in the Aronado thing. So I think I'd probably say Alonzo. Yeah, 100%. All right. We're going to answer more of your questions here in just a moment. But first, a reminder of this episode of the Lockdownerrorist podcast is brought to you once again by Fandul. From the first whistle to the final drive, FanDuel makes the NFW. NFL playoffs even more exciting.

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Marist talk wants to know is Jerks and ProFar fit. Positionally? Where is he going to play? Can't play in the infield. He's really bad in the outfield. I guess he's a DH. And the yes and no really comes down to like how much money is he going to command? How much are you willing to invest in ProFar's 2024 after he was literally the worst qualified

head or in all of baseball the year before. Yeah. Your outfield's already pretty well set up right now. And Profar, like you said, is a really bad defender out there. We haven't heard a thing about ProFar, really all winter. Well, and going back to like how much are you investing in 2024 after the year that he had the year prior, like seems like a lot of teams are going, yeah, not that much. Right.

I think what we heard at the very beginning of the offseason is that he was looking for three or four years at about $15 million. Again, as we always say, the Mariners shouldn't be a team that scoffs at $15 million. That's, you know, or they shouldn't opt out because a player wants $15 million. They should be interested in a good player like that. But pro far is pretty scary. And so it's just a question of how much do you believe what he did last year?

So far, the market has said none at all, not at all. But that could also play into Seattle's hands because if he wants a, you know, if he still wants a three-year deal, but he can only get $10 million a year, Seattle might be interested. If he's only to take a one-year deal at $12 million or whatever, Seattle might be interested at that point. So, yeah, Profar, I think, is an interesting fit for Seattle. It's not an ideal one because, again, where do you play them? I guess you can try and get him to play second again, but, like, he hasn't done that in a few years, and he's not very good in the outfield.

So, yeah, pro far, you still have the DH to give at Bats too, right now. Pretty much locks in Solano and Rayleigh as your first base platoon. So it can work. And at a certain, you know, at a certain price point, you should do it. I'm just not sure if we're going to get there this off season. But it is interesting that Profar's market, as far as we can tell, is non-existent. And we are less than a month out of spring from spring training now. D. Panky wants to know. What three teams would you? you hope Jerry and Justin are most active in trade talks with right now and for which players. It's interesting because, I mean, at this point, I would take literally anyone,

would take any sort of activity from the narrows. To boil it down to three, I would start with the race because obviously the trade history between these two teams and the raise have Yandi Diaz. They have Brandon Lau. They have Pete Fairbanks. quite a few guys over there that I really have quite a bit of interest in. I would still say the Cubs, even though seems like Nika Horner is not going to be able to start the year healthy. I would still have interest in him. I would have an interest in Michael Bush or

even, you know, one of the outfielders like, say, a Suzuki or Ian Hap, depending on what else the Cubs might do. Maybe they sign Pete Alonzo. Maybe they sign Alex Spragman. And that makes, you know, one of those guys that I just mentioned available via trade. And obviously the mayors have had quite a bit of talks with them this this offseason. So like they know what Chicago likes and wants. I'll make my third team Miami or just one of these teams that has to add more payroll before there's a grievance filed against them by the Players Association because, hey, maybe I can get them to take on Mitch Hanager or maybe I can get them to take on Mitch Garber. And then I can go use those resources to actually pursue Pete Alonzo. since this is like a hope thing like what do we hope they're doing yeah i would i would say like all right

they're going to try and free up money with one of these teams so they can go and get alonzo yeah um i mean like technically that would be great but uh i'm still looking at like teams that could actually help me and so i'll go tampa yeah st louis like minnesota uh chicago in the mix um yeah and obviously you know the players there it's really At this point, there's not any new players that we haven't talked about quite a bit already. But yeah, I still think the teams that they've talked to a lot this winter. Typically, those are the teams that get stuff done. And so that would be the Cubs.

And I don't know if they've talked to Tampa a lot this winter, but they talked to Tampa a lot in general. So, yeah, I think it's probably the usual suspects, honestly. I'd love to say Toronto, but they're delusional as hell. So, yeah. And they just gave Sontan Daird, what, $92 million? Is that what it was? Up to six years and $110 million.

So they're not going to sell. Well, they will in July, but by then they'll get pennies on the dollar for what they could get now. So, yeah, Tampa Bay, St. Louis, Minnesota, Chicago, and maybe one of the teams that needs to add payroll. All right. We will wrap up Mailbag Monday. here in just a moment, but first, a reminder of this episode of the Lockdown Marries podcast is brought to you by Rocket Money.

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Go to RocketMoney.com slash Locked On today. That's rocketmoney.com slash locked on. RocketMoney.com slash L-O-C-D-O-N. And you're listening to the Locked-O-O-Marris podcast. Yes, it is Mailbag Monday. We got a question from Dashing Quinn. He wants to know with Hassan Kim, going to be out until May. How much would it cost for the mayor is to sign him?

Lots of versatility for the infield. Well, that's kind of the question, right? Because at the start of the off season, it seemed like Hassan Kim was going to be one of the first names to go off the board. And now we're here on January 20th, and he's still unsigned. and I would have to assume that a lot of that has to deal with the fact that, yeah, he's not going to be ready to go by opening day. And I think that's also the reason why the Marys are probably out.

Because when you're working with a limited budget, you want guys that can impact you right away. Now, I know that's a bit hypocritical when we've also been talking a lot about Nico Horner. And it seemed like the Marys didn't really care about that with Horner. Maybe at the time they thought he actually might be ready by opening. day. But yeah, I think Kim not being ready until at least May, that's what seems to be the case. It's probably why the mayors are not interested because, again, with limited funds, you know, if they had all the money in the world, then they're like, yeah, we'll take a shot

on Kim and we'll just stash them for the first, you know, month or two of the season, for sure. Why not? But, yeah, they're going to want impact as soon as possible. And so I think that just makes it a no-go on Kim. Yeah. I think one of the reasons they might be more interested in Horner is that they would, in theory, as we know it, they would trade Castillo for Horner and shave some money. Whereas, you know, by signing Kim, they're just spending money. So, yeah, Kim may at the earliest, it might be June before they see him. And it doesn't sound to me like Kim is interested in a one-year. stopgap deal and then kind of pro rating it for how long he plays. And so if he misses two months, you know, he misses a third of the season essentially. And he wants 12 million bucks like per year, like, okay, is he going to take nine million on a one year deal? Is he going to take $8 million on a

one year deal? Probably not. So yeah, I don't know what Kim's market is right now. But obviously him missing the first couple months of the years is going to dampen what he can expect to make. And in theory, you would think he would want to sign and get back and be healthy and have a good year and then try again next year. But honestly, I haven't heard any talk of him like looking for a one-year deal. He seems to want a multi-year deal. And that obviously is going to impact, you know, his market in general. And I think specifically for the Mariners, they might be thinking like, hey, like we signed this guy and he's ready by June. Well, Cole Young might be ready by June.

And that's not going to cost us $12, $15 million. So I don't think Kim, and you know, Kim's upside. He's a good player. Don't get me wrong. But he's an average hitter at best. And so, you know, it's not like you're getting anything offensively that's really worth waiting for. And you probably feel like defensively, you're fine without Kim.

And so, yeah, it's just a little bit of a weird fit. And I think ultimately it's too much risk for the Mariners, which is a bummer, because again, they should be willing to spend that type of money on this type of player. But I just think they're not, I don't think they're even have them really on their board right now. Now, if you take some one-year deal and it's dropping anyone six, seven million bucks and just get back and get healthy and try again next year, that changes things. But it does sound to me like he really wants a multi-year deal and Seattle's not going to be the one team that gives it to them, I don't think. Last question of the day comes from Oren. wants to know what is a realistic salary dump trade of Hanager or Garver to say Miami look like

what player would we target and what prospects would we package to them so yeah just talked about that a few minutes ago in the show um you're not getting a player back right you just want them to take the salary that's the important goal of this so you're not really targeting anyone here really comes down to just what's the best prospect you would attach to Mitch Hanager to get most of the contract off of the books now again the marlins need to add how much money still 27 million something like that yeah so they can get over a hundred or else players association is likely going to file a grievance against them They could lose their revenue sharing, which would be about $70 million.

Yeah. So it's either spend $25 to $30 million and get $70. So basically make $40 million. Or it's don't spend that and lose $70 million. So it's kind of a no-brainer. Yeah. But they're running out of time. You don't.

It's like, do you have leverage here if you're the Mariners? Not a lot. like I don't think there's going to be a shortage of teams that have a contract that they would like the Marlins to take off their hands. Sure. Yeah. And if you're the Marlins, you don't really care about, you know, well, he's an outfielder. We need an outfielder. That meant, like, you don't care.

But also, like, I don't know what, like, what good does it do the Marlins to be like, sure, we'll take Hanigur, but we're only going to pay half of his salary. Like, you're the Mariners, you jump all over that. Sure, fine. But, like, if you were the Marlins, like, do you. take all of it. Like, why are you trying to, you're trying to spend money literally just for the sake of spending it. So I don't, it's, it's kind of weird because, like, if you want them to take all the money,

you probably have to give them a much better prospect than if they want to eat half. But if you're the Marlins, like, no, it actually benefits us to take on all of this. So, you know, the Mariners know that, but the mayors know that too. So it's kind of this weird negotiation where it's like, this is beneficial to us. It's not like a regular salary down because you do need to add salary. Like, you know, like, so there's something in it for you too. So the prospect that you send back would be the really difficult one. And so like is, do you actually have to send a better prospect if they're eating all of it?

Or is it the same regardless of how much money they're eating? You know what I mean? So. Right. I guess it's just more in comparison to what other prospects teams are offering to get them to take on those. you know those contracts right so I don't know like just in a vacuum here what's the best

prospect you would attach to Hanager for Miami to take them on um maybe like absolute best maybe Harry Ford but I'd really rather not I think I'd probably be looking at the

Williamson Logan Evans somewhere in that range but you know again like is that going to outbid other teams who are trying to dump contracts on the marlins maybe they might be like i don't know for sure uh but like the absolute high end would probably be for like i'm not giving up type heat i'm not giving up sanja i'm not going up sloan i'm not giving up you know any of the obviously i'm not giving up any of the top 100 type of guys uh so yeah i think probably like a williamson type and part of that too is that i don't trust the mariners

to spend the money uh all that yeah what's what's the reward at the end of the tunnel? Right. Because if the 17 million, right, then that changes things. But at that point, you almost be like, okay, well,

go sign Alonzo first and then try and, because at that point it's like, oh, okay, so in order to afford Alonzo, again, and this is stupid that they have to think this way. But in order to afford Alonzo,

we had to trade Harry Ford, I guess, like, okay, like that's easier to swallow. And you have, it in hand, right? Like, you have the prize in hand already. So, yeah, but like if you're going to clear the $17 million and it's literally just to go get, you know, Yon Moncada and Paul Seawald and you're going to be like,

and we're going to save the rest for the deadline, like, no, no. You're going to trade a good prospect and, you know, Mitch Anagher and you're going to go give the money to Hassan Kim, who won't even play until June. Like, eh, that's borderline for me. So, yeah, I. part of it is I don't trust them to spend the money in a wise way. So it's a really tough situation. But yeah, the Mariners absolutely should be exploring it. I mean,

there's no question about it. They should be trying that avenue. It's just can you come to an agreement on the money? Can you come to agreement on the prospect? And if you actually do want something from the Marlins, then obviously you have to give up. At that point, it's basically like two different traits, right?

You go like, hey, we'll trade like hypothetically, Andrew Nardi is the guy we talked about. if you say, hey, we want Nardy and we want you to take Hanager. Well, the deal might be like Hanager and like Hanager Ford and Williamson, whatever, right, for Nardy. Sure. But in reality, it's Hanager and Ford for you to take that salary or Williamson or whatever. And then it's Ford for Nardy. So in reality, it's basically two separate trades.

Just do it all at once. It's pretty interesting. We'll see if the marries go down that avenue. They should at least entertain. it especially if you know that's the only way that they could make a Pete Alonzo signing happen which again we are fully

on board with they absolutely should pursue that pursue that aggressively and if that's the way that they can make that happen then yeah they should go do that it has to be the means have to you know the result

has to be worthwhile like otherwise you're just dumping money just to dump money like if you're not reinvesting that immediately back into the ball club what are you even doing yeah all right that's going to do it for our show thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown mirrors podcast for colby pat note i'm tiding gonzalez be sure to give us follow on twitter at l o underscore mirrors you can follow me at tidang gonzalez and colby at c pat 11 that's cpat 1-1 we're also on blue sky you can follow me at

at tdg colby at m lb colby and the show at locked on mariners have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you Peace.