Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Why Seattle Mariners Need to CAST A WIDER NET in Search For Bat | Mailbag Monday

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

It's Mailbag Monday! Ty and Colby answer your Seattle Mariners questions, including if the club is running out of options to pivot from Brendan Donovan and Ketel Marte.Click to learn more about the Everydayer Club!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!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.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.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.

Are the Mariners running out of options? We'll answer to 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, December 22nd, 2025. You're listening to the Lockdown Marries podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcasts Network. the number one sports podcast network.

My name is Tiding Gazzalas and I'm joined as always by my co-coast Colby Patnode. We're two lifelong Marys fans who've been covering the team for over half a decade. And today we're going to open up the mailbag and answer some of your mayor's questions. So you hear every single Monday. But before we do, I want to shout out our title sponsor today, Fanduel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit Fanduel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long.

Kicking us off here on Mailbag Monday is Colin who wants to know, are the mares running out of pivots they didn't get polanco because the dollars got too high they miss out on brinan donovan because the prospect haul is too much and where will they go it feels like they are running out of options quickly there's been a lot of movement over the last few days brandon low has finally been traded he goes to the pirates Wilson contraris went to the red socks yesterday those were a couple of options maybe for the mirrors to address getting another bat into their lineup seems like in the end the most important thing here is that the mayor is going to bat the position that they play is kind of secondary though they would like for that guy to

play second or third base and now that low is off the board uh the pivots to getting someone like that from brendan donovan or kattel marty are becoming few and far between frankly uh and donovan like they've been connected to him for so long but nothing has really moved forward on that front. Catele-Marté, those rumors haven't necessarily gone away, but given everything that's been reported about him and what the Diamondbacks are looking for, that doesn't seem very likely. So, yeah, what do they do after those two guys?

If they don't get either one of those guys, it's kind of the big question right now. Their margin for error is definitely getting slimmer this winter, but I wouldn't say that it's necessarily time to panic. but the bearers might have to expand their search a bit. Yeah. You know, the focus has been seemingly, just based on who they've been linked to, guys who can play second base are at least able to hit right-handed. You know, they're switch hitters, the two main guys, Polo and Marte.

And if that's all they're looking for, like they're not willing to expand, then, yeah, they are going to run out of pivots here pretty quick. But if you are willing to expand and, you know, Hollander went on, I don't know, Bowden show, I think. Yeah, MLB network or like MLB radio or whatever, yeah. Whatever it is. And you mentioned that like, yeah, they would like the bat to be right-handed and all of that. So, you know, if it's, if they really just want a guy to play second base, they're kind of running out of options right now. But again, if they're willing to expand it to a guy who could play some first,

play some third, play some outfield. There are some other options. He mentioned Ehudhino-Swarez in his interview as well. He would certainly be, you know, primary DH and then also play some first and some third. So that's still an option. Okamoto is another guy that we've kind of heard the Mariners are interested in. It's not really nationally being reported, but we've heard a little bit that they're kind of interested in him. So we'll see if there's a deal there. That's coming up in a couple

weeks. He'll have to make his decision. So right after the new year. So that's a possibility there. And then my favorite guy right now is Ramon Laureano, who is available. The Padres have been shopping him around. He's only making, I think, $7 million this year. And he has a rental. You only get him for a year. But he's a right-handed hitter who had a great year last year. It's just, you know, when he's in the field, when Cal Rale, he's going to DH, you're going to have to play him in right field, which, you know, it's not like the Mariners have a juggernaut out there in right field. And, oh, by the way, if, you know, on the days, Raleigh's D.A., really, in the days Raleigh is

deaching, Luke Raleigh is probably needing to be on the bench anyways, and Luriano's a better offensive player than Victor Robles, so it kind of works out. So, again, if they're focused only on the, he has to be able to play second base part of this, they're pretty much out of options. but if they're willing to expand it to first base to, you know, D.H, primarily the D.H, but first base, third base, corner outfield, there are a lot more options out there. And I think they're just going to have to expand it because I don't think Marte is happening. And I think Donovan is kind of a separate, in a separate category from all these other guys. I think their interest in Donovan is not connected whatsoever to adding the second bat.

like if they can get you know like loriano or whatever i still think they're interested in donovan even if they spend 20 million dollars on their d h okamoto or whatever i still think they're interested in donovan like i think donovan is so cheap money wise and they like the player so much that they are willing to just kind of add him in and figure out how to get everybody at bats later he just kind of feels like a bonus right and like he's not which is weird to say he seems like the priority right now right but and it's like because he's only making 5.4 million dollars it's like we can get him and we can also do like you know some other stuff on top of as well when we had divish on he's like oh you know they could go a little bit above that I think

I think like 166 yeah yeah I think they would go above for Donovan is like yeah they could be at like 170 right they go a little bit above and then in February bloom comes to his senses and he's like you know what I'll trade you Donovan I think they'll pull the trigger on that I think they'll add more payroll to add Donovan because it's so little and he provides enough value so he's kind of in a separate camp to all these pivots I think but yeah if they're willing to expand beyond the he has to be able to play second base thing there still are options but yeah obviously there's fewer options and there were last week that that's how it goes so be nice as they could get on that because they haven't done a you know a major offensive acquisition in the last month. All right, Ian wants to know, and this kind of just continues our conversation here, Okamoto or Gino. Okamoto is a pretty big unknown, and Gino is known to be unable to hit a team mobile with worst defense, assuming their contract is similar. Who would you prefer? I don't know that Gino has worse defense.

I don't really, like, it's hard for us to say anything about Okamoto's defense other than just what we've read. Well, like, I know he's won a couple. gold gloves over there but i've also read that he's below average at third and should probably only play first and you know gino's probably fringe average at third so like if anything i would look at and say that's probably a wash uh at least you know just based on the information i have and i've seen a lot of gino playing third base i haven't seen any of okamoto but uh the spirit of the question is like would you rather have okamoto the unknown or gino the known who's you know all with what we know his red flags are yeah assuming the contracts are like roughly

equivalent like similar aavs at least um i'd rather have gino i think just because i am highly skeptical of you know your big offseason acquisition being such an unproven player and i like okamoto i think he's going to hit like i think he'll be pretty good. But I just, do I want to bank on that? I don't know. So, you know, if it's above like a three year deal or it's three year deal or more, I'd probably take the shot on Okamoto. But if it's just, who do I rather have in 2026? I'd probably take Gino. And again, because the Mariners are in their, you know, win now contention mode, 2026 is the most important here. And so I'd probably give the edge to Gino. But yeah, it's a good question. It's kind of a toss-up.

Gino was just so bad at T-Mobile Park after the trade deadline, but he was actually pretty good on the road, and at the very least, I feel, yeah, and at the very least, I feel like I can bank on that, whereas with the Okamoto, I can't really bank on anything, because I just don't know how he's going to translate to Major League Baseball. I think eventually he will hit, but is that going to take a year? Is I going to take half a year? Is that going to take two years? Like, how long am I going to have to wait for him to finally? turn that corner and get adjusted to majorly pitching it's not like kim who came over and struggled in year one but he was so good to fit like you could bank on the defense like you can't bank on anything he has to hit he has yeah and like you know again say a Suzuki came over and hit right away and i think the two bats are pretty similar in terms of profile okamoto and saya suzuki and he was pretty good in year one wasn't as good you know but he was still pretty good so could okamoto to do that? Sure. Do I want to bank on that? Not really. Now, if the tools, the offense tools translate fairly well to the majors immediately,

Okamoto is a better fit from what the marriage is typically look for in their bats. Yeah, but I mean, Gino's got the history. He's got the clubhouse. One year, $15 million, who you're giving it to? Gino. Yeah. Two years, $30 million, who you're giving it to? gino i think anything beyond that it's okamoto yeah i think that's probably where i'm at too but i think it's a legit toss-up i just again the way i would build a team specifically where the mariners are in their window i would like the more proven asset because again it's not like

okamoto's 26 so you're going to get him for a lot he's 29 30 yeah like i mean he is younger but still it's he'll turn 30 in june right so like technically is age 30 season but who cares really the point is that like there's probably not another gear you're getting a guy who's kind of exiting his prime still probably has a couple good prime years

left but you're getting a guy who's exiting his athletic prime gino's already exited it but you know it's not like you're getting this tremendous upside guy in okamoto I don't think at least no you're you're really hoping that he pops immediately

you're kind of paying for floor, but we don't know what the floor is. All right. We will answer more of your questions in just a moment, but first a reminder of this episode of the lockdown errors podcast is once again brought to you by Fanduel. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. That's what makes live betting with Fanduil so exciting. You're not just watching the game.

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be the pick of the litter justin henry maloy kind of you know the inverse of Dom-can zone, not a great defender, but has tremendous success in the high minors, crushes left-handed pitching. He'd be interesting. And he has two options left. So I think that's a guy who, you know, you claim you stash in AAA and, you know, Victor gets hurt a little bit or, you know, if anybody in the outfield gets hurt. You have a guy who can come up and at least hit lefties. Like there's at least a skill set there. He's got a little bit of major league seasoning. But again, tremendous amount of success in AAA and he has two options left so uh yeah he's the guy that that jumped out immediately to me and i think he's a pretty decent fit uh you know and and obviously having the options

is is huge that's why i've mentioned it three times uh so yeah i think that feels like a jerry guy too he's a high you know he's a high production 20 you know 25 26 year old 27 year old guy he i don't think he was ever like a top prospect but he was you know fairly well-respected prospect for a lot of years and yeah he has a floor of a skill that you can kind of count on so he'd be the guy of everybody DFA that I would be the most interested in just offers more flexibility roster-wise yeah Wade Meckler I got DFA in as well he's a guy that's you know another minor's performer had a cup of coffee a couple years ago in the majors but there's a guy like their sense yeah it's pretty much that

So I don't know. There isn't too much that I saw that I'm like super interested in. The Malloy call is fine. Like if they wanted to take a shot there, that's, that's cool, especially because he has a couple options left. That'd be fine. Alex wants to know, I remembered Ryan Bliss is doing a good job at second base before he got hurt,

but then I looked at the numbers, 76 WRC plus, is he going to come back from his injuries for this season? Does he have a future with the club? Does he have any trade value? It's a lot of questions. I mean that 76 WRC plus came in what like a week so like it was like 12 days or something and you probably remember him doing pretty well because he made a lot of really good defensive plays and he had a couple of good moments on the bases but yeah he had a double

with a torn pack yeah you also made the diving catch to save the game with with the same torn pack yeah yeah really bad year for bliss because he really had an opportunity to kind of establish himself as like the Dylan Moore replacement to some degree and unfortunately you know injuries suck as far as I know he's going to be ready for spring training and he's going

to be you know in the mix for a major league spot on the bench probably but yeah so he'll probably be ready he'll probably be competing for a spot does he have trade value no maybe as a throw in but no yeah

what was the other of the four questions in there. Does he have trade value? No. Is he going to be ready? He's going to be healthy. He has a shot to make the club out of spring training. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, like he'll be competing with Leo Rivas and then we'll see what else

they add to the roster and all that or how that might push some guys down. He's got a couple options left though. We know that he's a, you know, he's a fun player. He certainly has tools. But yeah, unfortunately for him, the injuries couldn't have come at a worst time because he really did have an opportunity to, you know, carve out at least a prominent

bench role for this team for the next couple of years. But, you know, again, got hurt, probably got passed up by Rivas on the depth chart. Williamson jumped ahead of him. And obviously, Cole Young's now ready. The Mariners clearly think Emerson is ready or pretty close to it. Like, there's just not going to be a lot of playing time for him. And it's, Kind of hard to learn a new position, like maybe learn how to play some outfield so you can be a true utility guy. Kind of hard to do that when you're rehabbing off of two major injuries. So, yeah, I don't really have any expectation for him in 2026, but he'll have a shot to make the club, I think, is like the 26th guy. Because, you know, he does have pop.

He does steal some bases. He's a pretty good base runner. He's a good athlete. He has a good range. He just can't really throw the ball. So it kind of limits him to second base or left field. So, yeah, I like Ryan. um it's just i don't see much of a future here in seattle unfortunately for him yeah um actually

it was a bicep uh not uh not peck but and then he tore the meniscus and his right knee and so you know and this is a guy that's obviously very dependent on speed and and so how is that you know working his way back from that how is that going to impact you know one of the bigger parts of his game at least you know to start so yeah i would i would say it's an outside shot right now for him to make the club but he'll be around and you know he's probably one of the first guys in line like if an injury happens at the major club for him to to get called up he's quality depth yeah like he does enough that he has enough of a floor with the speed and the defense and all that and the pop he's got enough of a floor that he's quality guy to have around i just i don't

think he's going to carve out any kind of long-term role for himself unfortunately i think last year was his opportunity to do that. And, you know, maybe he plays well enough to, you know, be this team's Blaze Alexander, you know, and maybe that's the role he can carve out for himself. But right now, it's kind of hard to see. All right. We'll answer a couple more of your questions than just a moment. But first a reminder, this episode of the Locktime Errors podcast is brought to you by GameTime.

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Iron wants to know, thoughts on Paul Goldschmidt's fit. He hit 336 against lefties last year with a 169 nice WRC plus. It can make sense as a compliment to the potential addition of Donovan. He could DH and back up Naylor. Not a bad thought I would prefer Okamoto, but Goldie is projected to earn one year $8 to $12 million. I can tell you if he's making $8 to $12 million, the mirrors are not going to sign him. not to be a weak side platoon backup first base only yeah yeah i know that justin and jerry have kind of talked about like hey we need to find somebody who can play

first base uh you know backup you know nailer at first base that doesn't mean they're going to sign a first baseman they just need to find somebody who can play first base if need it remember polo was working there last year chino worked there last year like they might acquire a first baseman if he can be an everyday d h right But Boldie can't be an everyday D.H. He was 74 WRC plus against Ritey's last year. He was terrible in the second half. Yeah.

I like that Byron gave himself some credit. Not a bad thought. Not a great thought. Yeah. Let me know if you need an ambulance called for you there, Byron. But no, like, I don't think the roster that the Mariners have right now, it makes really any sense to bring on Goldschmidt. Like, if you're going to bring in a guy solely to hit lefties,

then you just bring in Ref Snyder or Miguel Andehar, and those guys can actually play somewhere other than first base, while also probably being able to play first base. So Goldschmidt is a guy right now that's kind of living off the name reputation. He probably has a job next year because, I mean, again, there are teams out there who are just going to need a first base, when it doesn't hurt that, you know, Goldschmidt's a Hall of Famer and that he at least has a role that he can still do. Remember Albert Pujols at the end? Like, he could still crush

left-handed pitching and he found a role. He found, you know, jobs. And honestly, Goldschmidt might go back to Arizona to be a, you know, a platoon bat there. I could go back to St. Louis, honestly, and be a platoon with Burleson if they really are that desperate. So I just don't think the Mariners, it makes much sense because Nailer is going to play every day, even against lefties because he's good enough against them that you don't have to put him on the bench. And so for that reason, you know, you want the primary DH to be a guy who can hit right-handed pitching because that's who he's primarily going to be facing because, you know, probably what's going to happen, most of Cal Raleigh's DH days are going to come against left-handed pitching.

So you're going to put Naylor on the bench for Goldschmidt, 38-year-old Goldschmidt to hit. I just don't see it. I think the idea of getting that, you know, lefty masher, fine. I think that's a good idea. And we've talked a little bit about that. I don't think it can be a first base only, though. No. And like it's not going to be for anything more than I think like three to four million bucks.

Yeah. I could see Goldschmidt getting six or seven this year. Five or six, whatever. But the Mariners aren't going to be the team that give it to them. All right. Yeah. that just might go to number range guys

okay but the Mariners aren't going to be the team that give it there's someone in the comments who thinks they have you figured out yeah okay you've been running this long con every single episode sneaking in there I've been the 6-7 guy long before it was a meme apparently

but yeah the Mariners aren't going to be the team that gives them that so no it's like the thought process is fine but the player is wrong. You need to pick a different player to fill this role. I like Eindor or Russ Snyder. Yeah,

yeah, the only way that I can see them giving like seven-ish million bucks for see how I worked around it for, you know, a weak side platoon bat would be like Ruff Snyder or Andrew Harr, someone that could play third base and quarter outfield, you know.

Right. Like Andrew Har. Andrew Har would be my preference of the two, frankly. I know a lot of people go to Rough Snyder, who, which that would be fine. Like he mashes, mashes lefties, but I like a little more recent infield experience.

I would prefer a refs Snyder too. Like Andahar can stand at third. I'm not saying he's very good there, but he can stand there. No, no. But like if I just, I,

you know, like I need to make it work. I need to make the lineup work. Like. Plus you probably trust Andahar a little more against Ritey's than you do refs Snyder too on like the days where you just need him to play. regardless of it was on the mound. Andrew Har was super underrated last year,

or this year, whatever. Yeah, it was really good. Crush lefties, and he was pretty good against Redis, too. So I think he was, he was really good when he got to Cincinnati, too. Yep. Last question of the day comes from Ross. Any updated thoughts on extension candidates this off season?

Not really. Yeah. Thanks for listening, guys. Logan Gilbert number one, because you're running up against the clock on him. they're not going to extend jp they're not going to extend randy yeah it's to me like i think like number two is either george kirby or brian will maybe matt brash yeah yeah there's like some of like the lower key like extensions honestly like gilbert should be the priority but like if you're we're laying odds on who is the most likely to sign an extension this winter

Colt Emerson might be number one. Yeah. Gabe Spire would be cool. We were actually mistaken on Friday. We said that he has four years left of control. He only has two. Yeah. So.

Yeah. Spire would be a good one. But yeah, like in terms of most likely, honestly, I think it's one of the kids. I think it's Emerson. Maybe it's Cole Young. I think that's more likely. Lock them in. Cost control for a long time.

But yeah, Gilbert, I mean, if you're Logan Gilbert, you're like, okay, I want what Dylan C's got. It's not much incentive for the Mariners to do that right now. So, yeah, I don't think Kirby's all that interested. So, again, JP makes no sense to give him an extension. Randy, considering how bad the free agent class is next year, for hitters, at least pitching, it's very good. Offensively, it's a bad free agent class.

He's not going to take an extension right now. And I honestly don't know if I want the Mariners to offer him one. so yeah it's you know brash spire uh and then probably the kids and obviously logan should be the priority but i don't know there's much incentive for logan to sign right now unless he's actually very concerned about his elbow so maybe yeah but maybe or if he really just does want to stay in seattle and just get it over with yeah but i think the dylan sees thing probably changed the tenor of those those talks

because Logan Gilbert is every bit as good as Dylan sees so yeah we'll see but yeah keep an eye out for one of the kids are a bullpen arm but I don't know I'm not really getting a feel that they're going to ink any kind of extension this winter but we'll see

all right that's going to do it for our show thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown merit's podcast part of the lockdown podcast network your team every day for Colby Patnode. I'm Tiding Gazzalas. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Tading Azales

and Colby at C-Pad 11. That's C-PAT-1-1. We're also on Blue Sky. You can follow me at TDG, Colby at MLB Colby in the show at Lockdown Mariners. You can also find us on Instagram at Lockdown Mariners.

Have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you next time. Peace.