Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Will Jorge Polanco Put an End to the Mariners' Second Base Woes?

Episode Date: March 12, 2024

Our position preview series continues as Ty and Colby look at the Mariners' middle infield situation, discussing J.P. Crawford, Jorge Polanco, and the depth the team has built up the middle.Ask us que...stions!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!RobinhoodRobinhood has the only IRA that gives you a 3% boost on every dollar you contribute when you subscribe to Robinhood Gold. Now through April 30th, Robinhood is even boosting every single dollar you transfer in from other retirement accounts with a 3% match. Available to U.S. customers in good standing. Robinhood Financial LLC (member SIPC), is a registered broker dealer.Amazon Fire TVFire TV recently created Fire TV Channels to deliver a constant supply of the latest videos from your favorite sports brands, all for free. That includes all of us at Locked On and most of the big pro leagues and college conferences as well. To Learn More, visit www.amazon.com/LockedOnFireTV PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedonmlb and use code lockedonmlb for a first deposit match up to $100! eBay MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON 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.

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Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Can J.P. Crawford do it again with the bat? Will Jorge Polanco finally end the Mariners stretch of disappointing second base acquisitions? We'll discuss that and more in our middle infield preview coming up here on the Lockdown Marrars podcast. Colby, hit it. You are Locked on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team every day.
Starting point is 00:00:29 Ahoy, sailors. Actually, let me put on my radio voice here. It is Tuesday, March 12th, 2024. This is Todd Ian Gonzalez and Colby Batnode for the Lockdown Mariners podcast, brought to you by PrizePix. It's the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports, of course. Pricepix.com slash locked on MLB. Use the promo code Lockdown MLB. That's all lowercase for a first deposit match up to $100. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. We're having fun today. Subscribe, like, and turn on alerts if you're watching on YouTube or subscribe and leave a five-star review on your preferred podcast platform.
Starting point is 00:01:04 what you hear. And if you're part of the crew and rock with us every single day, let us know in the comments below. We'd love to hear from you. And if you want to hear from us even more, please consider signing up for our Patreon. You can now get a free seven-day trial to check out the show. The link, as well as their social accounts, is in the description of this episode. And we are continuing our position preview series with a look at the Mariners Middle Infield. And we've got to start here with the captain J.P. Crawford, who's, of course, coming off a career year at the plate. We all know the story about driveline. 266, 380, 438.
Starting point is 00:01:37 That's a 134 WRC plus this past season. 4.9 F4.19 homers. That's 10 more than his previous career high. But the question here is, can he do it again? Or at least something similar because, look, other than 2023, JP was at best a league average bat. So, Colby, what do you think? First of all, I think that according to MLB on Fox, J.P. Crawford has only ever been a league average bat because apparently he's not one of the ten best short stops in baseball.
Starting point is 00:02:12 I mean, according to MLB on Fox, does J.P. Crawford even exist? Apparently not because they thought Ellie De La Cruz was more deserving of being on the top 10 list. Look, Ellie is really fun. I like Ellie a lot. I think Ellie will be really good one day. But Ellie's coming off of an 84 WRC Plus season. J.P. Crawford literally 50% better. Yeah. Yeah. Anyways. Yeah. So, yeah, can J.P. Crawford do it again?
Starting point is 00:02:43 You sure hope so. But I think expecting a guy to repeat a 130 WRC plus season before they've done it a couple times is probably asking a bit much. And, you know, JP was a, what, top 15 hitter in all base or in the American League at least last year by WRC Plus. So I don't think that that's realistic to expect or project him to. to repeat exactly that. But I also don't think it's fair, realistic, or whatever you want to phrase it, to project him to be a league averageish hitter again, just barely, you know, cracking 100. I don't think that's for either.
Starting point is 00:03:19 J.P. Crawford's made tangible, noticeable changes to his swing, to a setup, to his bat speed. He's getting to, you know, some raw power that's always been there on the pole side. And, you know, I think that expecting J.P. Crawford to be, you know, between 110 and 120 is is totally reasonable in the WRC plus department. So, you know, can you get all the way back to 130? Probably not. I kind of doubt he's going to run a 390 on base again. But I do think that the power is somewhat legitimate.
Starting point is 00:03:51 I don't know I would be expecting 20 home runs a year going forward. But I do think that you're going to see more pop. We know JP's going to draw walks. It's just a matter of how many walks is he going to, going to draw. And, you know, he's sitting in the ball with authority more to his pull side. So we'll see. There might be more hits for JP. So it's possible the average goes up a little bit too.
Starting point is 00:04:12 So do I think a 130, what is it, 135, WRC plus, whatever it was? Do I think that's repeatable? It could be, but I wouldn't bet on it. But what, but if you ask me, is it more likely he goes back to 2022 JP or 2023 JP? I would bet heavily that it's much more likely he's closer to 2023 JP again. Then he goes back to what he was a couple of years ago. Steamer projects him to hit 259, 355, 391. That's a 115 WRC plus.
Starting point is 00:04:43 I think that's close-ish to where I'm at with JP going into the season. I think it's probably going to be, yeah, I think that's probably right. Maybe like 120 WRC plus. I don't think he's going to be a sub-110 guy again. I think the changes that he's made are legitimate. I think he is going to hit for more power. I don't know if I'm on board with him slugging sub-400. I think he's going to slug over 400.
Starting point is 00:05:12 It might only be slightly above 400, but I don't know if I necessarily agree with the 3-9. Because I think at the very least he's going to hit doubles. And it does appear that he's also made another small tweak. He's not wrapping the bat at the top. At all, no. Really at all this spring. And so we'll see if that makes any kind of a different.
Starting point is 00:05:30 But yeah, it's a much quicker swing than it was, you know, two years ago. And he had the long bat wrap and it just kind of slow through the zone type of swing, which led him to have almost no power. Now it's a quicker swing. It's a controlled swing still, which is an important part of the game for J.P. Crawford. But yeah, he's going to walk 10% of the time. He's going to strike out 20-ish percent of the time.
Starting point is 00:05:54 He's going to go 260, you know, 350 to 350 to 370, probably in there and 4.4. 400 or higher slug. I feel pretty confident that JP is going to be good this year. Uh, is he going to be elite like he was last year? I sure hope so, but you know, the Mariners don't need him to be. The Mariners are much better positioned to absorb just, you know, good JP Crawford, uh, than they were last year when they really needed elite JP Crawford and they happen to get it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:06:23 So last year was 19 homers, 35 doubles. Maybe this year it's like 14 homers and 40 doubles, right? Um, you know what I'm really looking forward to watching this year, though? J.P. Crawford cut the bases. It's one of the best sites in all of baseball. It's so smooth. It really is.
Starting point is 00:06:42 It is actually when he loses the helmet. Oh. And then the flow, the flow gets going. Dude. It's great. Yeah. Uh, J.P.
Starting point is 00:06:51 Crawford, like, it's one of those things like Javier Baez tags where you're just like, right. Yeah. Mm. Yeah. Like, there's no way to quantify it, really. But you just watch. you're just like oh yep yeah it's just one of those little things that you're just like watching jp
Starting point is 00:07:05 cut second as he goes to third you're just like mm-hmm that's right that's how you do it yeah jp cutting the bases is up there with like left-handed calrally hitting an absolute dog shot you know like yeah it's the barry zito curveball you're just like just aesthetically you're like yep yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah that looks right so uh any other thoughts on jp before we uh move along here Just that the Mariners need them to be, you know, out there 145 times a year. So, you know, it's J.P.'s the captain. Whether the mayor's ever want to make that official or not, he is. I don't think anybody's debating that.
Starting point is 00:07:47 Put the sea on his chest. Just do it. It might distract from the ugliness going on in the back. Right, right. So, yeah, J.P. Crawford, definitely the captain of this team. And, you know, he carries a lot of weight in the clubhouse and his leadership role gets bigger and bigger every year. So, yeah, JP's incredibly important to the Mariners. And he's also just an incredibly easy dude to root for. So, yeah, JP is awesome. You give me a club with 26 JPs. I'll give you a World Series title and a heartbeat. So we'll see exactly what the production looks like this year. But I would not bet against J.P. Crawford. Yeah, JP is like a fool's errand. Yeah, JP is absolutely the type of dude that you need on your team to win a championship, right?
Starting point is 00:08:31 He's the glue guy, right? You hear it in every sport. Everyone talks about having that glue guy. And JP, even if it is kind of a year of regression for him offensively, he's still such an important part of that ball club. And he's still going to contribute in a lot of ways that we're not even going to see as fans. If Julio Rodriguez is King Griffey Jr., then JP Crawford is J.B. sure like just really good player means a lot in the clubhouse and we won't ever actually be able to quantify that but yeah jp croff are an incredibly important part of this club and i sure i'm glad that he's here so it's time to talk about arguably the biggest edition the mayor has made this off season that's horay polanco in just a moment but first a reminder this episode of the locked on marries podcast is brought to you by prize picks football season may be over but the action
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Starting point is 00:10:04 That is promo code Locked-on MLB for a first deposit match up to $100. Pick more, pick less. It's that easy. And you're listening to the Lockdown Marys podcast. Thank you again for making us your first listening. Oh, God, the music is back. As a reminder, Lockdown has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. Locked on Sports Today is here for you.
Starting point is 00:10:29 Yeah, we really do. Locked on Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Locked-on, plus our national shows covering every league. Go to Locked-on Sports Today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel,
Starting point is 00:10:44 part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team. Every day. Like we talked about yesterday, we have kind of a game plan a little bit of what we're going to be doing here on the show for the next couple weeks leading up to opening day. So, Colby, tell us a bit more about that.
Starting point is 00:11:02 Sure. So, you know, I think this year's schedule is going to be roughly the same as last year's schedule as we ramp up towards opening day and kind of begin our usual coverage of, you know, just talking about the game the other night and then what to look forward to today. And, you know, just kind of the standard ends and outs of daily, the daily grind of Mariners baseball. So that'll start on opening day. But before then, you know, we're going to do a lot of.
Starting point is 00:11:26 prediction stuff like a lot of the the the type of like honestly like like sports radio show segments for shows so uh we have a couple mondays left before opening day and obviously those will be mailbag mondays and that trend will continue into the season of mailbag mondays is going to be around for a long time we like we like yeah we like talking to you guys we like hearing what you're thinking about and also we don't have to plan that show to be perfectly honest and that's a nice bonus. So yeah, we just answer your guys' question. That's going to be back every Monday. But we have a couple more before opening a day. And obviously the type of questions will change a little bit once we get into the season. We're also planning on doing our standard bold prediction episode, our MLB award slash, you know, divisional winner, like just a standard prediction episode.
Starting point is 00:12:17 We have team predictions, who's going to be the team Cy Young, who's going to be the team MVP, all that stuff. we have of course our flag player episode coming up in the next week or so where tie and I will each pick five players that we are claiming as you know our guys for the upcoming season however you want to raise that it's not really a competition yet somehow we turn it into one every year and then we completely forget the results yeah like by may so look we have enough of you at this point now 11,000 plus of you can one of you keep track for us just one of you sure so yeah it'll be we'll do like um we'll do swing players we'll do breakout players we'll do stuff like that it's just going to be very basic a lot of list over the next few weeks but the standards yes we will be doing bold predictions we'll be doing MLB you know season predictions we'll be
Starting point is 00:13:09 uh you know we'll be doing flag players it's going to be a lot of stuff like that so it should be fun it's going to be a lot of like will be made over the next, you know, 10 days or so as we get ready for opening day. Most of them will be incorrect because they'll be coming from Thai because Thai makes proclamations. I make accurate predictions. I do share a birthday with Nostradamus after all. That is true. You can actually fact check that.
Starting point is 00:13:40 Yeah. But we're going to be. Remember, I'm not wrong. I'm early. We're going to be, we're going to be standing on business. Can you do that in silent? There you go. I can do this
Starting point is 00:13:53 it was it was this this and then I think that's how he did it whatever better be careful I might have done something very offensive just now and I apologize that's why I stuck to a hoi boat people right also the the content creator
Starting point is 00:14:11 spotlight is not going anywhere we're just going to be dropping it on a different day now it's going to be a bonus episode on Saturdays now Not every Saturday, but if there's going to be one, it's going to drop on a Saturday. This upcoming Saturday, we got Jay's Trident Podcasts joining us. So look forward to that. So, Jorge Polanco.
Starting point is 00:14:32 Arguably the mayor's biggest acquisition of the off season and that trade with the twins. They sent four players to Minnesota for Polanco. They can potentially have Polanco for two years if they end up picking up that option next year. But that's, of course, going to require Polanco being pretty good this year. So the question that I asked in the cold open, I'm going to ask you it here now. Do you think Polanco is the guy that's going to finally break, I don't know, I don't like to throw the curse word around, but the curse of the mayor's second base position since Robinson Caddo was traded. It's really only been a problem for like two years. So I don't know.
Starting point is 00:15:12 That qualifies as a curse. Second of all, Jorge Polanco is sitting 500 this spring. So clearly the answer is yes. Right. You just don't roll out of bed and hit 500, okay, against double a pitching when you're a 31-year-old, you know, established big leager. All right. Colby, cool, real quick. Tell me a good mayor in a second basement since 2018.
Starting point is 00:15:36 Dylan Moore, 2020. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Nailed it. Nice try, miss me. We don't count that season, though. Oh, we absolutely. That season didn't exist.
Starting point is 00:15:47 Wasn't real. Sorry, Cal. Louis. But so yeah, anyways, score one for me. Doesn't fit my narrative, so it doesn't like this. How very, you know, Seahawks' Twitter of you. Anyway, so. Polanco, I feel pretty good. This episode is wild today.
Starting point is 00:16:05 It is. Who knows where this is going to go? This is like a CTCZ episode. Except for still somehow much more cleaned up. But anyways, Palanco, I think for a year, he'll be fine. Like I don't expect much from him defensively, but I also don't think he's their long-term second baseman. And by long-term, I mean beyond this year. Like, I think there's a good chance he's back next year at his salary.
Starting point is 00:16:29 It's still very reasonable. And I feel pretty confident that he's going to produce. It's most of my questions about Polanco are, you know, A, can he handle second base defensively? And B, can he stay on the field? So the Mariners have already made it pretty clear that they think Polanco's issue staying on the field the last couple years have been flukes. but we'll see if they're right or not. But yeah, I feel reasonably comfortable that he's going to produce.
Starting point is 00:16:53 I think that he's the type of hitter that, you know, will perform quite well at Team Mobile Park. It certainly has some pull power and he doesn't hit a ton of fly balls up the middle. So, you know, it's definitely a profile that plays pretty well.
Starting point is 00:17:05 So I think Palanka is going to have a good year. Be really hard not to be significantly better than Mariners second baseman last year who put up a 75 WRC plus. So if he's only a 100 WRC plus, just league average. He's a 25% improvement over what the mayor has had last year. And I think there's a pretty safe bet that he's going to be better than a 100 WRC plus. So yeah, I feel pretty confident about Palanco
Starting point is 00:17:29 producing. How often he'll be available to produce is kind of the question as it is with a lot of, you know, the mayor's acquisitions this, this winter. So I feel pretty good about Polanco. I think he's probably going to be fine. He's going to help the Mariners at second base this year. Next. year is assuming that he's still around, assuming that he hits well enough to be around, I think he's probably the answer at third base because I think Cole Young has pretty,
Starting point is 00:17:56 I mean, a lot can happen between now and, you know, a year from now. But I feel like Cole Young has put himself in a really good position to be on the opening day roster next year as the second base one. So we'll see what happens. We'll see if Young's even in the organization next year. But I do feel like Polanco is the appropriate bridge to hand the ball off to, uh, to Cole Young in 2024 or 2025 rather. And I think he'll do more
Starting point is 00:18:21 he'll be more than capable of playing a good second base this year. So Polanco this past year just 80 games played, missed a lot of time in the first half of the season. 255, 335, 454, it's a 118 WRC plus. It was worth just one and a half
Starting point is 00:18:37 wins, but again, missed a lot of time. 14 homers, 48 RBI, 25.7% K rate, 10.5% walk rate. The K rate has gone up each of the last three years, which is a little bit of a concern. It was 15 and a half in 2020, then went up to 18.3 in 2021, 21.3 in 2022, and then 25.7 this past year, like I mentioned, but his career K rate is only 18.2 in spite of those last three years and really just the last two years where he's been north of
Starting point is 00:19:17 20% in the strikeout department, but even 25.7% of the time, if you're hitting homers, if you're walking a lot, you can live with that. And really here, the biggest boon potentially for the Mariners with adding Polanco is that he gives you power output or the potential for power output that you typically don't get at second base. This is a guy that's hit 30 plus home runs in a season before just a couple of years ago. You know, again, and just 80 games played this faster he hit 14. So even if you don't necessarily get the over-the-wall output that you necessarily want at third base from Luis Arias and Josh Rojas, Polanco should help
Starting point is 00:19:58 make up for that a bit over at second base. So we're going to talk about what else is behind Polanco and Crawford. That includes Rojas and Arias, who can also play some second base, even a little shortstop, if need be. and some other guys behind those guys in just a moment. But first, a reminder of this episode of the Lockdown Marys podcast is brought to you by Amazon Fire TV. Fire TV is your destination for sports,
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Starting point is 00:21:14 to mention great news, entertainment, gaming, travel, and cooking videos as well. Check out Fire TV channels on Fire TV and Alexa devices. And if you haven't checked out Fire TV channels, you should. Trust me on this. To learn more, visit Amazon.com slash Locked On Fire TV. And you're listening to the Lockdown Airs podcast. Oh, God. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. Oh, this one is gross. This one sounds gross. You sound gross. Right. So let's talk about what else the Mariners have in the middle infield behind Polanco, behind JP,
Starting point is 00:21:55 and then even Rojas and Arias who might slot over there from time to time. So that includes, of course, Dylan Moore. Then there's guys like Sam Hagarty, maybe, even though they more so view him as an outfielder, as a corner outfielder. Samad Taylor, who they brought in in that trade that you and I both really liked. uh with royals how do you feel about this whole uh situation uh the depth yeah they're pretty reasonably covered um you know it's it's not like they have a all-star shortstop playing third base uh you know so you can't be like oh well if jp gets hurt you just slide willie adams over
Starting point is 00:22:32 and it's like nothing ever happened so you can't do that but eurace has played plenty of shortstop at the big leagues at the big league level he's fine there uh particularly in a pinch uh josh rojas is shortstop. You could probably handle it if you absolutely needed to. But Dylan Moore is the primary backup here. He'll get most of the reps that's short if something happens to JP. And you're fine with that. Like you trust Dylan Moore.
Starting point is 00:22:56 You pretty much know what you're going to get from him. The bat is not one that you should play every day. He'll run into some homers. He'll draw some walks. And the rest of the time, he'll strike out and look absolutely awful at the plate. And defensively, he'll make the routine plays. Like, I don't think you really want to count on Dylan Moore to make anything spectacular happen, you know, defensively. he'll you certainly are okay if you know a routine ground or sit to him you feel pretty
Starting point is 00:23:18 confident that it's going to be an out so they're pretty well you know managing shortstop Cole young can play shortstop if they need him to uh absolutely but that's more of a you know let's see where he's at in july and august before we start to seriously consider him um as a call up and then you know of course there's ryan bliss who uh you didn't mention a bliss can play short he is yeah bliss is plenty good at shortstop uh so the mariners are actually pretty well covered if JPS to miss, you know, a couple weeks, you know, knock on wood. But they're pretty well covered there. And by extension, that means they're pretty well covered at second base.
Starting point is 00:23:53 Eureas can play second base. Rojas was actually really good at second base if you like outs above average as your defensive metric of choice. He was like plus six in August and September at second base, which is elite. Like he was as good at second base in two months as Matt Chapman was at third base in the entire year according to outs above average. So, you know, you know what we say about defensive metrics. Don't take them as the gospel.
Starting point is 00:24:18 But when they support our narrative. Sure. Great. Yeah. We can be like Seahawks Twitter too. So yes. The Mariners are actually pretty well covered there. Now, it's not, they're better covered at second because Samad Taylor factors in at second base.
Starting point is 00:24:33 You know, Sam Haggurty factors in at second base a little bit better. So, yeah. And Taylor, to me, is a really interesting guy. Yeah. I think most years, he would have a good shot in making this team. But because you have Rojas, because you have Urias, because you have Dylan Moore as established big leaguers,
Starting point is 00:24:49 he's just not going to crack this roster unless there's a trade or an injury in the next few weeks. So you feel pretty good about Taylor. Ryan Bliss has certainly shown some things this spring. And he's going to, in theory, he should get a shot or crack at the big leagues at some point this year. He'll start the year in Tacoma. So the Mariners are actually very well covered at shortstop and second base.
Starting point is 00:25:11 they have a couple of guys you could play both if need be they have um kind of you know the guys who you need them to be the everyday guy for a couple weeks they can certainly handle that so uh the mariners depth in this in this and i mean like actual major league depth at this position group middle infield is actually pretty darn good so they're pretty well situated now if jp you know has to miss four months like yeah obviously that gets dicey uh same goes for polanco but If you're just covering, you know, to give a guy a rest day or the guy has to go on the 10 day IL because, you know, shin splinter or whatever, like you're going to be fine. Like you will survive with these guys. They have enough guys that you can have a fluid rotation here.
Starting point is 00:25:59 Like if, you know, what you described happens. Again, if they, they lose JP for the whole season or, you know, four months or whatever, knock on wood, that's a different story. because, I mean, you're just, you're losing one of your best players. It doesn't really matter how much depth you have. You're losing one of the best players, you know, in the entire league, right, at that position. So, uh, despite what MLB on Fox says, uh, I can't let that go. I'm sorry. Uh, so yeah, I, you know, this is kind of what we talked about leading up to doing this preview is, you know, they, they went out and they got themselves a little too much, right? They already have, you know, Ryan Bliss, who's another option that they're really excited about.
Starting point is 00:26:38 but let's also get Samad Taylor, right? And let's add him on top of Sam Haggerty. And also we got Cole Young potentially, you know, coming up at some point this year as well. Like, you know, there comes a point. And look, this is not how it's going to end up because injuries are going to happen. Some guys are not going to perform the way you want them to, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Starting point is 00:26:59 But there's a non-zero chance that you get to a point here where like, how do I get Cole Young on the roster? How do I get Ryan Bliss on the roster? How do I get, you know, know some mod taylor on the roster right you know and and that's a good thing to have that's a really good thing to have um right so the the marins are in the best position i would say just from a pure depth standpoint not overall not big picture but from a pure depth standpoint and the best position they've been in since jerry depoto took over in their middle infield uh because they
Starting point is 00:27:30 just have options on options of options of high floor guys some high upside guys and then some in between. Sure. Maybe the starting duo is not quite as good as Seguera and Canoe when Jerry first got here, but certainly they have a lot more options in their back pocket. Like they have better than Sean O'Malley. No offense to Sean.
Starting point is 00:27:55 You know, they have, I was there. That was awesome. You know, they have better options than Andrew Romine, right? Like they're not so desperate that they're going to keep Andrew Romain
Starting point is 00:28:05 Romine on the roster all year. offense to Andrew Romine. So, yeah, the marries are in a really good shape from, you know, in a depth perspective. Overall, probably a little less ceiling on the, on the top end than the Segura Canoe. But certainly the back end is much better. And they're much more prepared to handle the surprise Robinson Canoe 80 game suspension. They're much better shape to handle that than they were when that happened five years ago, six years ago. Yeah, I think the Mariners, I feel pretty confident about this, this group, this position group.
Starting point is 00:28:41 I feel like it's a good blend of skill sets and depth and and upside and floor. So I think, you know, if you're grading this, this group of players, I think it's probably B plus just because you're a little concerned about the defense. Right. And when, when you have this step too, it allows you to put guys in better positions to succeed, right? It allows you to. Yeah. It allows you to not have to force guys into being something more than they are. Like they've had to do with Dillamore.
Starting point is 00:29:11 You know, that's a guy that I look at that could potentially benefit from the depth that the Marinus had built and getting him better matchups over the course of the year. I think this is, again, it's a really fluid and healthy rotation that they can potentially have here. That's going to help everyone, right? So, yeah, I really like what they've done in this particular area of the roster. and you know
Starting point is 00:29:37 and especially you know topping everything off with Jorge Polanco and all-star second baseman this off season of all off seasons two where second base options were very very very limited and Polanco was the best guy that was feasibly available out there
Starting point is 00:29:56 and you were able to go out and get him and you added more depth behind him on top of what you already had brought in with Bliss you know at the desert line and then having someone like Sam Haggurty. It's just, it's really good work by Jerry Depoto and Justin Hollander. So I applaud them for what they've done here in the middle infield. And I think it's going to pay dividends for the Mariners this season.
Starting point is 00:30:18 So any closing thoughts before we get out of here. But the captain's crest on J.P. Crawford's jersey. Do it. Do it. Do it. It's incredibly easy to do. It create a ton of hype before the season. A lot of goodwill. Like, it's such a no brainer.
Starting point is 00:30:35 It is such a no brainer, which is why there's a zero percent chance it'll is that who whose decision is that is that the clubhouse is that scott's service is that i would assume be the players decision right yeah like it should be it should right i don't know how like but like how does but how does that topic even get brought up you know i don't know like jp going to bring it up so how about you just give me that c right right i mean will fanatics even allow their work to be desecrated by something that would look good yeah we'll have to see if uh if salvador where Perez still has it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:13 Yeah. Captains aren't a thing really that much anymore in Major League Baseball. They should be though. They should be. They should be, but also like you don't necessarily have to like. You don't have to have one.
Starting point is 00:31:25 I mean, like in hockey, not every team has a captain. They have alternates or whatever, like the guys with the A on their jersey, but like. That's just weird. That's weird.
Starting point is 00:31:33 But like. They should just all be captain. Like the Cracken don't have a captain right now. They don't have a guy wearing a C on their chest. must be why they suck. Sorry, they're mid. Very, very mid. But yeah, I mean, I don't know what the process would be.
Starting point is 00:31:48 The Mariners and never had one. So never an official captain. So maybe that's just something that they don't ever want to do. Also, it makes so much sense to have a captain on a team named the Mariners. Right. Right? I mean, Scott's service is technically at the helm, but like. I put the C on, on.
Starting point is 00:32:10 P's chest. Put the C on J.P.'s chest. Please. Just do it. It would be sick. It would be so sick. Everybody has to address JP. They have to, ahoy, captain. You got to learn Captain ASL. I'll see what I can do. First, I'm going to look for more music. Yeah, we need more music, more royalty-free music, so we don't get sued. We absolutely do. our corporate overlords don't send us emails. That's going to do it for our show.
Starting point is 00:32:45 There it is again. Thank you so much for joining us. Actually, let me do the voice. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Marriers podcast. For Colby Pat Dood, I'm Tadang Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Marys. You can follow me at Tyding Gonzalez. Colby at C-Pan-11.
Starting point is 00:33:04 You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. Thank you again for making us your first. listen have yourself a beautiful baseball day we'll see you next time peace crazy ira clean your room

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