Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Who Should Make the Mariners' Wild-Card Roster?

Episode Date: September 15, 2022

Who should make the Mariners' first playoff roster in 20 years? Ty and Colby discuss, as well as look at Seattle's remaining schedule and how conservative or aggressive the team should get with its best players over the final 20 games.Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: [e-mail] the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11 | @InsideMarinersFor more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! 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.

After going three and two against the Padres and Braves, the Mariners have no more regular season games against winning teams. How should they approach their final games? Colby and I will tell you all that and more on today's episode of Locked on Mariners. Colby, hit it. You are Locked on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day.

The Mariners have an off day, but not us. This is Taday Gonzalez and Colby Pat note for the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. subscribe, like, and turn on alerts if you're watching on YouTube, or subscribe to the show and leave a five-star review on your preferred podcast platform if you like what you hear. If you want to hear from us even more, consider signing up for our Patreon link as well as our social accounts are in the description of the show wherever you're watching or listening to this. The Mariners are done with teams with a winning percentage of 500 or higher until the playoffs.

In fact, there isn't even a team left on their regular season schedule that is 15 games within 500. on the show today, we'll be telling you how the Mariners should comprise their first playoff roster in 20 years and look at the remaining schedule and discuss how conservative or aggressive the Mariners should get with their best players over the final 20 games. Plus, we're going to dunk on the Angels a little bit because that's fun. But Colby, when the Mariners eventually have to compile their first playoff roster for the wild card round, and again, you set a specific roster before each round. You go round by round and you can pick players however accordingly.

But two guys have to be left off of the current roster. Mariners currently at 28 guys. They got to shave that down to 26. Of course, in the wild car round, only three games. So you're not going to use all your starters. Is that the way to go? Who gets left off of this roster right now, Colby? Yeah, there's some interesting, you know, things, factors that we have to consider here,

like how healthy is Dylan Moore? how healthy is Mitch Hanigar. You know, it's, you know, are all the pitchers healthy? Is somebody not going to be available because they, you know, tweak their neck? So there are a lot of things that go into these decisions. But I think, you know, in a three-game series,

which is what any wildcard round would be, you only need three starting pitchers. So I think the easy way to go would be to carry as many, you know, as many different types of offensive players as you can. because you're only going to carry three pitchers or three starters, I should say. Now, you're also still going to carry, I would imagine, nine, ten bullpen arms, though, still. So it's a little bit of a delicate act here. There are some guys who I think a lot of us assume will be on that maybe won't.

Because, again, in a three-game series, there's only, you know, there's only so much value in having a guy that might start once or something like that. It's a little bit difficult to say. I have a hard time imagining they're not going to carry Marco on this first playoff roster, though. So just dropping the two starters that you don't use doesn't seem likely. I don't know. The Mariners seem to care about, you know, Marcos earned it, blah, blah, blah, blah, all that stuff.

So I think they probably keep them on the roster. So when you kind of start looking around here, I think, you know, let's assume that Dylan Moore is healthy. I think, you know, the thing you do there is to me, Chris Flexen, no brain. you're not going to use them. He's not making the roster. And then it gets interesting because, you know, Dillmore, again, assuming he's healthy,

he's going to make this team. Haggerty is going to make that roster. Cassali's going to make that roster. So those are three spots right there. Assuming you carry 10 relievers would be my guess. And I think the two extra relievers are probably going to be Marco and Gilbert, to be honest. Then he kind of gets into this, well, do we want to carry,

do we need to carry Jesse Winker? because there's a scenario where if you're going up against, you know, two lefties in this best of five, are you really going to use Jesse Winker against those lefties? Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. But then there's Jake Lamb and Abraham Toro. So my guess is right now I would say Flexen and Toro are probably the two that get knocked off, assuming that, again, that Moore is helping.

Not Gilbert or Kirby, whoever doesn't get that third start. No, I think they'll stick them in the bullpen. Yeah, because, again, you know, I know it's only three games. Bullpen should be able to, you know, be fine with three games in three days. But you look at, you know, the other bullpen options that they could add if they're going to carry 10 relievers. Okay, well, who are the relievers that are already on this roster right now? There's none in AAA that you're carrying. So, yeah, I mean, I think they're both going to be on it.

And I think Gilbert will is a better chance to pitch out of the bullpen than Marco. I think Marco is mostly just there out of courtesy. But you never know. Sometimes these games go 14, 15 innings and you need a guy to kind of carry that load. So I do think they'll prepare for that. And I do think that the extra bullpen arms are just going to be the starters. So to me it's flexing and probably Toro. I mean, at least Tremel can play center field

if you need him too. He can steal a bag if you need him too, but maybe they value Toro and his switch hitting ability. He's got some pop left-handed off the bench, so. But I do have a feeling it's going to be one of those two. Obviously, Jake Lamb is the guy who might find his way off of the roster. But

they have some options. There's a couple surprising guys that maybe don't make this playoff roster, but I think it's probably going to be the two guys we most suspect. to this point. Well, but going back to your point about, you know, maybe one of these games runs for a long time, wouldn't that maybe lead you to consider Chris Flexen for this roster? Obviously, you have Marco, but like, could it be a situation where instead of leaving Flexenoff, it's like someone like Penn Murphy gets left off?

I would rather leave off Diego Castillo than I would Penn Murphy. Yeah, to me, Castillo has like no firm grip on a playoff roster spot. He just hasn't been good. You can't trust him. Murphy, you know, kind of hit or miss this year. He's looked great at times. He's looked kind of mid at times. But for the most part, he's been much more consistent than Castillo.

So, no, I think Murphy's safe. And I, you know, if you want to carry flexin instead of Castillo, fine. I'd probably carry Castillo just because there's a chance he's here. he's pitching well at that point. You know, Diego is very much up and down. So we'll see how it goes there, but I don't think flexing carries enough value out of the bullpen.

He hasn't been particularly good out of the bullpen or anything like that. So I just don't see it. I think, you know, if you're going to carry two extra starters in your bullpen anyways, you don't need Chris Flexing because the length he gives you is already covered by better pitchers. And also you have Matthew Boyd who will see,

but they want him to be able to go a couple of innings, you know, every outing. So there's there's that. If you have Marco, if you have Gilbert, those guys can go multiple innings. So you have options there. If the games do tend to go along. Yeah, Brash, of course. I think that's kind of a break in case of emergency there for Brash. But yeah, so they have options on that front.

I think at the end of the day, though, going back to the offense, I feel like Toro actually ends up making this roster. and Jake Lamb gets left off because Lamb just they're not playing Lamb. They're not playing Lamb at all right now. And so to be fair, they're not playing Toro or Trammell either. It's true. It's true. But it's like I feel like we've seen Abraham Toro and maybe this is just my head canon

and this actually isn't true. But like I feel like we've seen Tramel and Toro more than we've seen Jake Lamb. Oh, absolutely. Toro and Tramel joined this team a lot later than Lamb did. So I just I kind of feel like those guys have more of an inside track to the roster than maybe Lamb does. But does Toro's like versatility in the infield matter?

If you have Dillmore back and Sam Haggertie and Adam Braser. I think it's more just a left-handed bat at the end of that. Well, Jake has a left-handed bat with a much longer track of success. Yeah, I know. But maybe service and company they just prefer his, Toro's bat over land at this point. Yeah, maybe. it's certainly possible.

But I mean, we also should, you know, recognize the possibility that it could be Jared Kallnick, I guess. It could be Kyle Lewis, right? If you're on the 40 man, it could be you. So they don't have to be on the major league roster right now. It just would feel weird if they weren't. So, yeah, it's kind of an interesting, you know, point. I just, I know he's probably going to make the roster, but like, does Jesse Winker absolutely have to be on a playoff roster? because you're hoping he walks twice in three games like

whoopty do you can't run you can't field and let's be real about it he's probably actually going to get starts and left fields in the playoffs probably he shouldn't not in a three game series so yeah um yeah i just like i don't i don't think you need jessie winker to be on your your three-man playoff route if it's a five game series or a seven game series then yeah fine like you probably want that bat or just a

possibility that he might draw a walk or run into one, fine, whatever. But in a three-game set, that feels like a set that is much more about pitching and defense and run prevention. And Jesse Winker does none of those for you. And he doesn't provide any offense at the plate aside from a walk every once in a while, which I'm not saying that's not valuable. But how consequential is that going to be? And how reliable is that skill going to be in the playoffs?

I don't know. So, yeah, we'll see again. healthy dillmore is not healthy and he's just not there it kind of changes things because then you probably do want toro because you need somebody you can play second or third if rager has to play shortstop right so yeah i do think it's interesting but right now i would say it's for me it's flexin and then one of lamb or torro um but i would watch dago castillo and i would watch jessie winker i think they'll both make the roster just because there's upside there but i wouldn't be shocked if one or both of them got left off

for maybe somebody who provides a little more a little more versatility. Do you want Jesse Winker and like the one walk or would you rather carry Jared Kelnick who at least has defense and power? If you're not going to start Winker in all three of these games

I mean maybe it's Haggerty and more in left field. So I just I think you kind of have to watch it you should give as many at bats as you possibly can last 20 games just to hope and pray that he finally does something but if he doesn't then I don't think he should be a safe bet to make the roster all right I want to actually talk about this a little bit more but real quick our episode today is brought to you by bet online

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Bet Online is where the game starts. You're listening to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Thank you again for making us your first listen. So kind of extending off of our conversation about Jake Lamb, what do the Mariners do over the next 20 games? Because we're going to hop into the schedule in a little bit here. And, you know, of course, the schedule is going to get a lot easier. And we've talked about, you know, maybe using this time to get Thai France on the aisle and get him, give him some time to rest up and heal up. maybe Mitch Hanigar on the aisle as well to give him time to rest up and heal up on his back issue.

This could also be a time to maybe cut some start short for guys to give guys extra days off because, you know, again, you look at the opponents that you're going to be facing here. I think you can justify being able to win some of these games without maybe a Julio Rodriguez for. a night, right? Like, you should be able to win some of these games without your best players in order to give them some rest. So I think, going back to Jake Lamb here, the next 20 games

are a great opportunity to get Jake Lamb some action, to get Abraham Toro some action, to get Taylor Tramel some action, and basically use the next 20 games as kind of a pseudo preseason spring training where you're like a tryout. Yeah, a tryout,

right? So, you know and whoever shows up the most whoever performs the most is going to get the playoff you know roster spots so um how do you how aggressive or conservative do you think the mariner should get with some of their best players over the next 20 games in order to get some of these guys action and also just to you know do their best to ensure that they stay healthy going into the postseason uh for me you know assuming they don't put Mitch on the I.L. Which is a mistake. I think Mitch probably shouldn't probably shouldn't play more than 12,

13 of these last 20 games or so. So I'd be pretty aggressive with sitting him. Ty France again, same thing. And honestly, that's kind of the beauty of this. You know, if you want to use like Lamb and Lamb and Tremel and Toro, the guys that they would be replacing on most nights, they're not really helping you much right now anyways. You're talking about what? Thai France, who's been in a massive struggle.

You're talking about, you know, Jesse Winker who's been awful. You're talking about Adam Frazier, who, so what? Like, you're not talking about

pinching, you know, Julio to try and get these guys at bats. You're not. You're talking about, you're not even talking about pinching, you know, Mitch Hanaker or Swares or even JP.

So it's just one of those things where it's like, yeah, why not? Like, why shouldn't Trimel get, you know, 10 days and maybe give Jesse Winker a legitimate shot to sit for three or four days and then, you know, because you got to get Jesse Winker going. You have to. And if that means you have to sit

them for four or five days and really work and put in that work that and find some consistent swing for him, that'll work, then you do it. So I think, you know, ultimately I would like to see Gino get a couple days off. The dudes played. I think the, the guy has only sat out for an entire game once this year. I think he hasn't been in the starting lineup three times, but in two of those, he went back into the game in the seventh and eighth inning. So he's appeared in all but one game this year. Gino probably needs at least a DH day here or there. JP, it would be great if Dillan Moore could come back healthy because JP is a guy who could probably use a couple days. And they just don't really have the shortstop to live with that.

Dylan Moore coming back should help a lot. And then, yeah, Toro should be playing second base. I would say I would play Toro at least half, 10 games. Toro should start because Toro's upside at the plate is just significantly higher than anything Frazier gives you. And honestly, the defense probably about the same, which is sad, but I would say probably accurate. And, you know, Toro can also get some of those starts at third base that Gino would be resting or deaching. and Lamb can play at third base as well. So, yeah, I think, you know, if I'm the Mariners,

I don't want anybody in my projected starting 9 to play more than, I would say, 15 of these 20, like absolute max. And I do think that helps too, because like you said, it does give you plenty of app. You can find the appbats for Jake Lamb and Toro and Tremel pretty easily if everybody else is only playing 15 of the next 20 games. So I would do that, and that includes Cal Rawls.

I know it's tough to watch Kirk Casale right now, but he's 26 years old, and he's caught like every game except for four since May 1st. So, yeah, you probably need to give him some time here in September. It's a delicate act to walk. Remember, you don't have to bench all those guys in the same game, but Scott's going to have to get a little bit creative because he still needs to win some of these games. He hasn't clinched anything yet, and that number four wild cards, or the number four seed is vitally important.

And so, you know, it's kind of a delicate walk, but I think Scott can do it. I think his team can do it. And I think it's important that they do. Yeah, I still want to see them be pretty aggressive here because the job's not finished. At the end of the day, jobs not finished. It doesn't matter how likely it is that you're going to clench. You still haven't done it, though. And so, you know, and also, I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But it's the Mariners, Colby. There's going to be at least two comments like that. Grow up, child. The, but yeah, like, you know, I still want to see them, you know, try to go for the first wild card, obviously. Like, that should be priority number one here because you want to host playoff games in Seattle. You want to avoid any sort of potential going to Toronto because there's a lot of unknowns that go with that as well. That's honestly the, like, outside of just the, you know, what it means to host games and playoff games in Seattle. that's kind of the biggest reason that I want the Mariners to get wildcard one is so

they just avoid any sort of chance of ending up having to come to Toronto and you know for us to have that whole conversation that goes along with that yeah you're awfully afraid of a guy of a team that you went five and two against but okay it's it's not that it's not that it's is is Robbie Ray vaccinated is he going to be able to pitch like Yeah, that'll be an interesting conversation if they go to Toronto and Ray's left off the roster or something like, really, Robbie, really? Yeah. So like I want to avoid that at all costs. So win the wild card one, get aggressive here.

And then, but yes, please sprinkle in some off days here. Let's get Abraham Toro some action. Let's get Jake Lamb some action. Let's get Taylor Chamell some action. Let's see what these guys can do. Also, when Dillam Moore gets back, get him in the flow because obviously he's not, I don't think he's going on a rehab assignment. it. So try to get him as much action as you can get as well because these guys, they just need to get in some sort of flow. You can't ask Jake Lamb, you know, come postseason time if you need

him to come into the game and expect him to do really anything at the plate with having like 10 at bats under his, under his belly. 30 played appearances. Three weeks. Yeah. Yeah. So you need to get these guys some action because it's just naturally guys are going to get rust and you can't just count on anyone to suddenly, you know, come into a game and do any sort of damage for you with, with that limited action. So this is a great opportunity for them to do it. And again, you know, looking at the schedule, no team above 500 remaining and no team that's even within 15 games of 500 at this point. And it starts with the last road trip of the regular season, which starts tomorrow, four in Anaheim against the Angels

three against the athletics in Oakland three against the Royals in Kansas City then it's back home for three against Texas three against the A's and then four against the Tigers so you know it's the path is so clear

the path is so so so clear and especially when you look at the teams that you're in the mix with the race still have series against you know Blue Jays the Orioles six against the Astros Yeah, six against the Astros. I believe the Blue Jays are also playing the Astros three more times at some point.

Like there are losses baked into their schedule. Whereas with the Mariners, I mean, I don't think they're going 20 and O over their next 20. But there isn't like a clear like, yeah, they're going to lose that game left on the schedule. So any of these games can be wins for the Mariners. They can stack those up. And not only can they secure the first wild card here, they can run away with it. Because if the rays and the Orioles and the Blue Jays just continue to beat up on each other, none of those teams are going to create separation. The Mariners have a very clear path to creating separation in the wild card race.

And so that's why, you know, it goes back to the conversation about balancing, being aggressive and being conservative because it's like, well, the path there is very likely. The path to securing the first wild card is very likely. But you also don't want to let that fall by the wayside. so you know you want to be a little bit aggressive there going back to that conversation though let's talk about the pitchers george kirby logan gilbert talk time and time again about this you know innings limit and blah blah blah blah whatever they still look great um you know gilbert's look better uh curby is coming off of his best start of his career do you get conservative with those guys over their last few starts before we head into the postseason or no

I think to some degree you should try to, you know, maybe you don't push them. They get to the fifth inning and they're 85 pitches. Maybe you just, that's it. Like, I think that's probably the move. I don't think you're actively short scripting. You're not like Kirby's only going three, period. I don't think they're going to do that. I don't think they're going to do that with Logan.

But I think it's just about, hey, you know, yeah, we're through five and he's only thrown 75 pitches, but like 45 of them have come in the last two innings. Let's just not push it. Let's just get him out of there. And then we can use that opportunity to see if Matt Boyd can go two innings and all of that stuff. So it's one of those things. I don't think they're going to be like I think they're going to just treat it like they normally would. But I think they treat it like they normally would in like April, where it's early in the year.

And you're like, yeah, you know, let's not push it. Let's, you probably go one more, but let's not. Let's just, you know, eat it. But, you know, there's a fine line there because you don't want to unnecessarily over. work your bullpen before you get there too. So it's kind of a tricky situation. But you know, you're carrying what nine guys in the bullpen right now. You might as well use every single one of them. So don't don't be afraid to use the bullpen. But it is a kind of a fine line. You have to walk between not wearing out your starters and not wearing out the bullpen. And it's a lot less important

for the starters when you're talking about Ray and Castillo and Marco. But Gilbert and Kirby maybe you just ease back a little bit. And the mayors have already been doing that. So I suspect that they'll just kind of continue to more or less just do what they've been doing. And, you know, getting guys action, that doesn't just extend to the offense either. That goes for the bullpen as well. I think, you know, Matt Boyd needs to see a little more action because he's only pitched three times and he hasn't pitched since the ninth.

You know, it's the 15th now. So it's basically been a week since Matt Boyd last pitched. and he did go two innings in that outing you know so maybe you know maybe that did a lot on him because that was his first time going multiple innings at the major league level

so maybe he needed a couple extra days rest coming out of that who knows but I would like to see him get a little more action Chris flex and get a little more action to get these guys you know some reps some innings and keep them warm and then you know again you can also use that as a tryout as well

if you want to. I mean, like, get Diego Castillo in some games. See if he can work through his issues. Get Paul Seawald in some games. See if he can work through, you know, his issues. Even if it's, you know, low leverage situations, right? Mariners are up seven nothing. Just get these guys and some games.

Get them in, you know, low stress situations where they can just work on some stuff. You know, if you have the opportunity to do that. All right. So lastly, with their loss last night, the Angels are at 82 losses now on the season, which means Colby

they have clenched their seventh consecutive sub-500 season and once again, that perfectly aligns with Jerry Depoto resigning back in 2015. Angels have not even finished above 500 since

Jerry depoto left. What? Let alone make the playoffs with two generational talents on their roster. I'm so confused because this is all Jerry's fault. Like Jerry was so bad with the Angels that they've been absolute dog duty for seven years.

That must be why the Mariners aren't. I can't believe that he set back the Angels that far. I mean, talk about a pro move though. You take out the Angels for almost a decade. after you left and you build up their division rival all in the same seven-year stretch. I mean... Are you saying that Jerry Depoto was possibly a mole in Anaheim? It is, you know, just, you know, kind of a secret assassin.

Although, to be fair, with Artie Moreno, it's not like you had to be good at it. So, yeah, it must be so frustrating to be an angel. fan, all seven of them. I mean, don't worry, though, like, they love to, you know, we won't get into Lisa McAdams. But so, yeah, it's a bummer. You know, Shohay Otani's never going to know a winner until he leaves that dumpster fire of an organization. But, hey, at least they have, you know, degenerate, yeah, degenerative back issues Mike Trout for another 10 years.

So that's awesome. They got to trade him. Like they have to. They have to trade Motani. They got to blow this thing up. And maybe that starts when they sell the team. But as long as Artie Moreno's there, he's just going to keep on writing bad check after bad check. And, you know, just churning through GMs.

It's going to be so awesome when they hire Mike Sosha back this winter. It's going to be amazing. Oh, that's going to be so amazing. The content will just be. so good. But the only downside of this is that if they had waited a day, the Mariners could have done it to them.

The Mariners could have handed them their 80-second loss. So that's the one downside. But hey, you know what? The Angels are losers. They can't do anything right, including, you know, waiting long enough to lose to the right team. So I guess, you know,

there's nothing really to say to Angels fans, except for grow up. The Dodgers are right there. go root for a real baseball team. They're fun. It's true. Your team sucks. Like from top to bottom.

Really, seriously. Seriously. No, like for real, like we got issues with minor leaguers. We have obviously the Tyler Skagg situation. And then you get to just the baseball side of things. Like that organization is the model for what to not do as a major league baseball organization. everything you see the Angels doing, if you are an owner,

if you are someone that is running a Major League Baseball organization, you look at the Angels as the prime example of how not to run a baseball organization. It is a dumpster fire over there. This is an embarrassment

to have Shohei Otani, Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon, all these players on that roster, and to not even finish 500 once in the last seven years, Not even once. Like, let's stop, like, let's stop talking about the playoffs here. Playoffs.

Like, just finish above 500 first. Mm-hmm. Hey, Ty, you know who the last general manager and the only general manager to get Mike Trout into the playoffs was? Jerry DePoto. Good old Gerald. Gerard. Jared Peter DePoto. Yeah.

It's okay. The next guy. The next guy will get it done. And, you know, after Shohei Otani leaves you at the altar because, well, you basically lied to him. You robbed him of his youth. And now he can't stand you. So I really hope he goes a new place for the Dodgers, to be honest with you. Mariners would be great, but go play for the Dodgers.

And you can marvel at what could have been. And how are the Dodgers able to win with Shoah Otani? It's you. It's you, Taylor Swift. It's you. You're the problem. So figure it out. enjoy your ineptitude for the next decade.

That's how long it's going to be. And hey, just remember, at one point, you guys were 29 and 19. Hmm. Sucks to suck. By the way, you guys should trade Taylor Ward to the Mariners this off season. You should, and you should do it for Cade Marlowe. Who's in AAA now, by the way? Yeah, hey, congrats to Cade Marlowe.

Very late season promotion. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. all right folks that's going to do it for our show thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown mariners podcast for colby pat note i'm tiding gonzalez and uh be sure to give us a follow on twitter at l o underscore mariners you can follow me at dane g nz lzz and colby at c pat 11 that's cpat 1-1 you can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode and thank you again for making us your first listen now make your second listen the locked on melb podcast will be expert paul francis sullivan brings humor passion and unique perspective on every team and the biggest stories around the league. Follow the number one daily leaguewide podcast, Locked on MLB on the Odyssey app, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcast just like us. And with that, have yourself a beautiful baseball day, and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.

Suck it, Angels.