The Deadline Cometh - Meet at the Mitt Podcast

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John Trupen
Hello and welcome. Thank you for meeting us at the Mitt. My name is John Truepen. I am deputy managing editor@lookoutanding.com thrilled to be talking to you on this trade deadline eve.

It is the day, the evening in which all the good little GM's wait under their tuck in, under the covers, hiding their phones to text one another, the increasingly desperate and or defensive trade dreams and wait to wake up in the morning or at 06:00 p.m. eastern time, I believe, Tuesday, July 30, to see if their dreams of improving their team in the present or future have come true.

I am pleased to be joined by my two favorite trade deadline elves. I have Evan James, audio engineer. Evan, how are you, my friend?

Evan James
I'm doing pretty good on this fine day. It's a rainy day for sammamish, Washington summer, but, you know, we'll take it. It's a little change of pace, a little cooler weather. The chickens need that. I went out and picked some blueberries this morning, and the mariners made a trade while I was out. So, uh, it's hard to beat coming home to a surprise like that. So I'm excited to talk a little bit about that today, even if I'm a little, uh, a little mixed on some of it, but we'll get into that for sure.

John Trupen
Likely thing for them to be doing, uh, making a trade.

Also joining us from the other side from. From just 3 hours closer to the trade deadline, if you don't think about it at all and how time works. Underdor said, how are you, my friend?

Underdor said
Yeah, I'm doing. I'm doing phenomenal. I can. I can tell you the mariners may have made a move in those ensuing 3 hours, but you'll never, you'll never know because I won't tell anyone.

John Trupen
Well, you're. You're good.

You are a trustworthy soul, and that's. That's why we wanted to have you on. Let's.

Let's. Let's get hints of these moves here. It's. We're recording.

Generally speaking, I believe podcast protocol, given that it's not a live medium, at least as we do it is not to immediately date the thing itself, but for this particular endeavor, I think it's worth understanding where we're at right now as we hit record, because things could just happen as we're going.

So right before we hit record, I.

Underdor said
Mean, things literally are happening as we're going.

John Trupen
Yeah, literally. The Mariners are playing baseball, which is one thing. And then the Mariners also saw their opponents, one of their core enemy, ostensibly get better by trading their current, supposed to be starting today, starting pitcher Jake Bloss did the Houston Astros to the Toronto Blue Jays for you say, Kikuchi, presumably there is more going back to Toronto.

Underdor said
Cormac got pulled before this game, so I wonder if he's part of that deal.

John Trupen
That would be extremely interesting and does make me curious as to what else that might entail there.

Could that be Kiermeyer varsho? Mandez? Well, I bet we're going to find out the answer to that, but we do have some things that we know for sure, so let's start there. And as things unfold, you'll be learning it right along with us, provided you have not checked Twitter or read any news stories in between when things have happened and when they're hitting your eardrums.

Evan James
Here, Johnny, we actually. We actually have to go back a little even further than I think you're going to start, because when you guys did the last podcast, you're talking about the Mariners acquiring Randy Rosarena, which is obviously exciting, but they did something else that afternoon, unfortunately. So we have to. We have to talk about that, too, as well. Cause they acquired Garcia for.

John Trupen
That is correct. Jimmy. Jimmy.

So, yes, we're gonna. We're gonna go through the Mariners moves thus far. Talk about how we're feeling, what we think of the roster, what we think or hope might still be to come.

And let's start right there. Let's start with Jimmy. Jamie Garcia, as he is, uh, requested, it is pronounced, has pitched twice already since we've recorded, I believe, at least maybe three times, I think just pitched twice in the Chicago series, two shutout innings.

Uh, one of the better relievers of the past several years.

Uh, just a very steady sort of setup reliever.

And obviously, I want to point out.

Evan James
That Ryan Stanick was traded before he got here, and Ryan Stoenick did not pitch to shut out innings for the Mets this weekend. So wondering how that's gone so far.

John Trupen
Yeah, shut in innings, if you will.

The. The inverse, the tough, the tough sledding has continued for Ryan Staniko. I certainly wish all the best liked him as a mariner, made a huge impact, especially in the early few months of the year while the bullpen was very thin, where it had been expected to be a strength and a lot.

Evan James
More bizarre than we all expected, frankly, a lot.

John Trupen
Yeah.

Yeah. So. So I'm very appreciative to Stan. I had a few big moments, a few big roars and hair flips coming off the mound with big strikeouts. Hopefully he can straighten things out there for the Mets, the improvements for Garcia.

Do we feel settled at this point with the bullpen where it's at, or are we hoping that there's still another improvement to come? I know another room. It's always nice, but is that where we want them to spend their efforts?

Underdor said
I would love one more.

I know that that's always going to be the prevailing thought. It's like, I will always want one more. I think that's always true. The Mariners especially. Especially. Um. But with Santos having his health issues, you know, Munoz has not been perfectly healthy this year either.

Garcia himself hit the injured list earlier this year with an elbow issue. Worth pointing out that Garcia has been very consistent health wise previous to that.

He's pitched 60 games at least every season dating back to 2019, and that's, of course, excluding 2020. But he was pretty healthy that year as well.

But, yeah, I would just like another guy to make sure that they're short up there, especially subtracting Stanik. They basically replaced Stanik with Garcia rather than actually acquiring a new guy. So I would like them to get at least one more bullpen piece. And it sounds like based on depot's comments, that that's probably in the cards. And if the Mariners have made a move since you've last, you know, since you were listening to this and we don't know about it, it's probably for a bullpen pitcher.

John Trupen
Yeah, it's, it's the, the bullpen as it stands right now, probably Austin Voth or Colin Snyder are probably the last folks. The lat, the sort of seven and eight. Does that seem realistic to say? Because you've got munoz, you've got Garcia, you've got Santos as well.

Underdor said
Spires kind of leverage, folks.

John Trupen
Right?

If Spire is back to where he has been the past year, then that's another genuine quality leverage arm. So then you're looking at Thornton, Voth, and Snyder as well as saucedo as your second tier arms, and that's very solid. I completely agree that I think another option, especially given that Munoz and Santos are far from beacons of health and in addition to Garcia's issues this year, as you said. But, yeah, I think I wouldn't be. I guess the challenge to me is everyone they have now is at least decent, and it's a lot easier to upgrade over very, you know, over bizarro than it is to upgrade over a decent reliever, especially because most teams aren't going to trade you in return all that much for a decent reliever. So, yeah, that's, that's, I guess, where I'm, where I'm curious how they're going to go about it. But I do think you're right that that's still on their priority list.

Underdor said
I think one thing that's interesting, and I know we are going to get to the other move the Mariners made, but both the guys they've gotten from Toronto have been these guys who are free agents at the end of this year, and both are quite, quite old, not to speak of someone in their thirties as being old, but in baseball terms.

And so it speaks to me as they are definitely trying to win this year. But neither of those moves did they give up a guy where it seems like they're like all in, you know, every chip that they have is in the table. You know, they're, they're basically soft buying at this point is, I think, what you call outside of the Rosarina trade, which I think was very much like a hard buy type of move, but like, those other two moves are more in the soft by category. You know, your Justin Ruggianos, your arcade menace cabinet.

Evan James
Lamb.

Underdor said
Jake Lamb. Exactly.

These are all guys who, like, you know, their stints in Seattle are short lived, and that was kind of the intention, which I think is fine. You know, every playoff team has a couple of those guys, but I, it doesn't seem like they have made moves that are completely surrendering the farm to this point.

John Trupen
Absolutely. I mean, they have traded.

The best prospect that they've traded is debatable. It depends on where you feel about Brody Hopkins, Naden Smith, as well as Johnson Classe, who classe coming into this year was the highest rated prospect of any of those.

I don't think he has played himself out of where he was. I do think other players have played themselves above him.

But, yeah, I think that's the, that's sort of where, where things are at at this point is none of the prospects they've traded would be considered top 100 types, and they have a bunch of those that, no, but I do.

Underdor said
Think that Smith was. Yeah, you're probably about to say this. I think he was on the trajectory to being maybe on a list at the end of the year.

John Trupen
He certainly could be, especially if he continued performing to the level that he has been.

But I think that the depth of the system affords them it being completely reasonable to do this. And we're obviously big fans of Class A as a player and as a person.

And it's sad to me that he is not able to be part of this Mariners team anymore, but I think that's a very worthwhile trade. Jacob Sharp also exists. Good on you.

Not. Not like a knock. It's just not a player that I have. I've watched some. A decent amount of nuts games. He has always been perfectly gromulant. I think that's about. That's about what you're looking at there.

Underdor said
I will say that the class A move, he's only 21. He is so young. There's still a lot of time for him to become something special. But I think that them giving him up for a half a year of a 33 year old reliever says to me that they did not really see him becoming more than a fourth outfielder. Maybe a guy who starts in a pinch, which I think is probably a fair assessment, but I think that maybe some of the shine had fallen off of him compared to where we were, say, a year ago or a year and a half ago when people were really excited about his tools. I think that maybe his contact woes were becoming too worrisome for Seattle and they were trying to do what we asked about earlier this year. Who's a guy that could give up at maybe the peak of his value. There's some argument to be had that this was the peak of Class A's value.

John Trupen
I would also say, even if it's not the peak of his value, the way that Class A gets to being more than that is by being an everyday player or getting incrementally more of a role. And they certainly didn't give him a ton of opportunity at that. He got like a week basically of like consistent playing time, which does not.

Evan James
Over four different call ups, too. It's, you know, it's important to remember they've called him up four times this year at this point.

Underdor said
That is obviously tougher for a younger kid, but Robless basically did what they probably were hoping Classe would do.

John Trupen
Yeah, no, not about Robles is what, 27 like and in a productive big leaguer on multiple occasions before, whereas I think for Class A, Class A might very well. They might believe in him to become a big leaguer. A productive big leaguer in two to three years when he's 23 or 24, still quite young. But that is not as consequential to the Mariners organization, especially given that even then, they have other outfielders who are on the roster right now who are just as good or who are likely to be there in two to three years as well. So that to me is, I think it's a reasonable move, and I'm not upset with the organization about it, especially with how steady Garcia has been.

Evan James
Yeah. And the reality is that the Mariners right now are in a two year window. They have their remaining, the rotation as it exists today for two years at least as far as, without extending anyone, without doing any re signings and so forth. Obviously, no injuries. We're praying for that, but they have a window for right now. If guys aren't fitting in that window, they should be moving assets around to get guys that do. And that's part of what this was. Class A is obviously ready for a big taste of major league action, but they don't have time to, like, give guys experience on the fly while they're in first place competing for a playoff spot, which is also what you're going to see with Tyler Locklear, which we will get to how I feel about that as well. Cause it is complicated, but they're, they're not in a mode where right now where they're auditioning young guys to see if they can carve out a role. They're looking for somebody who can be a good offensive edition today, yesterday, months ago, if we could have picked right. So that's what this is, and that's okay. And they got a real. Randy Rosarena is the best hitter on the team, period. Today, like legitimately, especially with no Julio. He is.

Underdor said
So I would put Raleigh probably ahead of him, but I think it's arguable.

Evan James
Comparative for a catcher. Most. Most definitely. Like, absolutely. But in terms of overall, Randy Rosaria has the highest WRC plus on the team today. So when you look at Aidan Smith and who they gave up in that trade, those guys both are probably top 150 prospects next season as soon as, and like, that will hurt more at the time than it does today. But you make that trade because those guys are not Mariners next season or the season after. Generously. Three years from now, we're, you know, we'll be looking at them being major league players, but they accelerated the timeline by condensing some prospects into somebody who's ready today. That was the move they needed to make, and that's what they did.

John Trupen
There's also not looking to shift into the next trade they made.

They, the Mariners have acquired infielder, technically Justin Turner from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for minor league outfielder RJ Shrek, who is a who.

Evan James
Sorry, he's been no good.

John Trupen
He is. He is. He is absolutely a who for. For folks. If you are not pretty deep into the minors, if you are pretty and deep in the minors, you would say, yeah, he's not bad.

But that's. That's kind of what you're looking. Right. I mean, Ders is. That's fair to say.

Evan James
Yeah.

John Trupen
About Trek.

Underdor said
This is a classic Mariners thing that they do, right. They draft a guy in the later rounds who ends up being, like, better than expected out of. Out of the. Out of college into the draft. And he was a. He was a fifth year senior sign, I think, and he, like, put up some pretty respectable numbers in Everett, and they bumped him up to double a. And this is maybe another example of a guy who's at the peak of his value because they've done this with other players. When they got Adam Frazier, I forget who the outfielder was. They dealt then. That was a very, very similar situation of a early minors performer from college.

John Trupen
Yes.

Not Colin Davis, but the other one.

Yeah, the other.

Underdor said
I also mix them up frequently as well. Yes. But he ended up not being of any consequence with the Padres either. And so not say shrek necessarily won't be. But this is a very classic thing mariners like to do with, with their college performance on Turner.

I think that we first have to. Before we talk about Turner, I think we have to talk about the Vladimir Guerrero sized elephant in the room, which is that we know from various reporting sources, divish being one of them, that the Mariners were pressing pretty hard for Vlad, and the Blue Jays were just like, really, really not wanting to give him up.

Vlad is a free agent at the end of next year, so if the Blue Jays don't think they'll be good next year, it makes sense to trade him now while his value is higher. Cause you get a year and a half of lad instead of just a year of Vlad.

And it sounds like the Mariners are putting together a pretty aggressive, aggressive prospect Layton package for him. And the Blue Jays just decided they weren't ready to tear down to the studs.

And so the Mariners settled for Justin Turner, which is a real shame because, you know, Vlad would have obviously injected just so much positive energy not only into the team, but into the fandom.

I think it would have gotten a lot of players excited. I was thinking about the possibility of, like, would it have gotten the big three young guys into being more interested in signing an extension, knowing what the Mariners were doing, but that's obviously not on the table anymore, so it's a bummer. And when you get Turner for the Blue Jays instead, like, that is obviously a notable step down. But I think that this is a solid move when you consider, you know, Shrek, you know, I think could become like a platoon outfielder, bench outfielder. And that's not really of consequence to the Mariners. In a year or two, they would rather have a guy who could be like the Carlos Santana of this year, basically. And I think that's kind of what Turner should be viewed as.

He is not the player he used to be, similar to how Santana was, but he is still a guy who puts together professional at bats, is going to hopefully rub off on some of the younger guys in terms of how to. How to approach an at bat.

A guy who has been in the league for a very long time, who has been on winning teams for a very long time and has really kind of gone through his lumps. You know, this is a guy who was not a very good player for several years and really turned it around and became quite a valuable hitter.

So I'm very interested in him being that kind of guy where you don't feel like you have to start him every day. You know, blocklear can still get his starts.

Garver can still get his starts. Turner will probably play four or five games a week, and that's fine.

And he'll be like an average hitter, and I think that's totally fine.

Evan James
Can I pause on something right there real quick? Because you mentioned Locklear. Do you think Locklear stays on the roster, or do they send him down to Tacoma and keep Mossler? Cause I've legitimately. I'm not sure. I figured they'd keep Locklear, but now that they've actually acquired a. I either they want to play. I could see them sending him back to get real playing time, I think.

Underdor said
And my dad actually asked me about this. He's like, oh, do you think they're going to use Turner as a mentor to Locklear? I'm like, that actually isn't, like, a bad idea.

So I kind of wonder if, like, that maybe is also partially the idea is like, get a guy who shares the position with, you know, you're basically the top prospect you're auditioning at the time, and he can kind of level them out a little bit and show them the ropes because I do think that that is a more valuable experience for Locklear to have at this point than trying to continue crushing AAA pitching. Because the difference between AAA pitching and big league pitching is just so stark at this point that he might as well start to get his lumps in and figure it out at the big league level when there's not as much pressure for him to be the guy because Turner is a free agent at the end of this year. So if Locklear doesn't play in the big league now, then he's only playing basically opening day next year and he's going to be, when he's asked to be the full time guy. So at this point he can kind of struggle and if it's okay because they can put Turner out there instead.

John Trupen
Right. And Wassler is in no way, shape or form someone that has cause to be expected to be better. Right. He is a 30 year old who is on his third big league team and has basically had one season where he had a stretch of hitting decently.

Evan James
And then, well, he's exactly the type of guy Jerry finds and is insistent that his, whatever performance he was doing in Triple A is going to, to transfer over and gives him some time here. Jerry loves this archetype, right? Am I wrong?

John Trupen
Well, sort of. But like last year, I think you could argue the, the opposite was true, where like Mike Ford was easily their best player during a lengthy stretch where they literally couldn't play anybody else, and then they kind of just stopped playing him.

They faded him as soon as they could.

Not entirely wrongly, but I think that they've done this where it's been desperation, but like Caballero last year, again, as well as another person, where they had nobody else they could really play, and that ended up working out to a certain degree.

They're still given much shorter shrift outside of someone like Robles, where there's a bit more of a pedigree there. I think that they do still ultimately lean towards either their guys or the people who at some point were more well regarded in terms of, in terms of leash.

Evan James
I respect that totally. I think all of that's totally fair to say. My read on the situation is that now that they've acquired Turner, Locklear is not the starter. Like definitively you're going to play just in Turner. He's playing better this year. He has the pedigree, he has the playoff experience. He's the guy. He's a starter going forward. Okay, so you're not playing the prospect anymore. Well, who's going to be the backup? I think that they kind of like Vassler. He's had, and again, I'm very skeptical of the total profile for all the reasons you said, he's not actually been a good player ever. So, like when we're assuming he might be good at anything, we're wish cashed in a little bit of deep in the weeds. As far as this season, the 2024 Mariners.

I think they like what he's done both at the major league level and at AAA this year. His plate appearances have been pretty good. And now I'm going to talk Locklear. The first time Locklear was up, he had a couple bad plate appearances and then really seemed to flip a switch, was suddenly hitting the ball, you know, had a couple of home runs, had a lot of hard contact. Even if he wasn't getting on base this second call up, not quite as assuring, to be entirely honest. A lot more swing and miss, a lot more just impatience at plate, swinging at a lot more stuff that I thought he'd lay off.

He had a walk yesterday, which was like, is probably his best played appearance since he's been back.

And even then there was two a called a called ball that he basically swung at. And it just wasn't the most inspiring plate appearance I've seen from him.

I want him to have the playing time because I believe in the talent and I think that he is the right guy to invest in. But I am defensive of their choice to not do it because where they are, they need the wins more than they need anything. And he looks a little undercooked. And I'm disappointed because I love prospects and I love a prospect guy and I want them to play my guy, which is Tyler Locklear. It's been for years now.

I don't think they should do it, and that sucks, right? Like, that's really how I feel. I don't think they should play him. I think they should play Vossler and I think they should play, you know, now Turner instead. And I. I'm disappointed by that, to be entirely honest. But I think that is the right move. What do you guys think?

John Trupen
I would.

I would expect them, I suppose, to make another move here because if they don't make another move and they're going with this roster, I think they are going to stick with Locklear in the hopes that he is not only something for this year, but something longer term and also so that they know if he's not something they can, like you said, they can go more into the realm of, we're going to have Turner play more first base and we're going to have Garver DH more again or whatever. But if, if they don't get another person, then I, especially another big bat, then I think they've got to let Locklear go.

The upside is bigger than Vossler's, and the longer term benefit is also more significant.

There's not a way for them to also really augment any further from the farm. So I think that that's kind of, it's, Locklear's their best shot, and it makes sense to give him the time to kind of work it out and calibrate.

Underdor said
Yeah, that's, you basically have my same line of thinking. If you think it's basically a toss up between who's better in the short term, which I think it generously is, if we're being generous to Vossler, then you go with the guy who's more interesting, more exciting, has higher potential to be something. Right. If the Mariners are in the situation there now, and especially if they don't get another big bat, like, the potential for one of them to break out is greater with Locklear and be like a top three hitter on this team the rest of the way. The potential for that is greater with Locklear than it is with Fossler. So you go with him, especially when you have a backup guy where if it doesn't go right, you just start playing Turner more.

John Trupen
Yeah, I think that they're really, the next 24 hours almost to the dot or less than 24 hours at this point are going to be incredibly, incredibly important because if they don't get an upgrade over what they think Locklear can be, then they are just then, then they are putting so much faith on him.

I, you know, they could roll with Vossler, but there's, there's just nothing that much of a track record. He's, he's obviously not hit very well since he's come up and he's been a decent hitter, but not a, not a eye opening hitter in, in triple A. And I just don't think they can look at this roster, especially given the work they've done to improve the team in the short term, and say, yeah, we're set, this is good enough because Houston has made just one move thus far, but I think that they will make more. I think that, or maybe, I suppose this, this Blue Jays move is going to be larger than we expected, but I think that it's hard to build a sort of profile for the rest of this year where they are particularly successful in outpacing Houston without at least a little bit more.

Underdor said
Can we. Can we talk about this for a second? The, like, kind of the state of the market? I think it's worth talking about because.

John Trupen
Right.

Underdor said
What Jerry has been saying, and I actually do believe him. I know people have reason to be skeptical of things that Jerry says, and with good reason.

I do believe him that the market just isn't there right now. And the Mariners. I also believe him when he says they're trying, because the Mariners have taken on a lot more salary than you probably think they have during this summer.

John Trupen
Yeah.

Underdor said
They are actually walking the walk that they said they would when Stanton and Depot were saying that there wouldn't be salary issues, basically, in making the roster better, Turner, not only being 36 years old and very whelming, is also.

They have to pay him like $7 million now. And they also paid. We haven't talked about this, but they paid the reds for them to take on tie France. Like, they are eating the entire tie frame contract for the right to take his. For the right to take him away from the roster. Basically.

John Trupen
They're paying a million of it. They're paying half of it. Oh, half of what's left.

Underdor said
Got it.

But still. Yeah, I think you can view the Ryan stanick move as a partial salary dump. And, like, maybe it was, but. But, like, they also took on money with Garcia. They took on a lot of money with a rosarena. Cause he's going to be very expensive next year and is quite expensive this year. So, like, they are taking on a good amount of salary. And we know if they were looking at Vlad Guerrero, that would have been like, a real hefty amount of money to take on for this year and next year. Yeah.

So I'm very pleased by this, you know, and I believe Jerry when he says they've been really trying and that the market just isn't there. I mean, it basically has been the Rays and the Jays who've been willing to give up. And even the Jays are like, we're kind of selling, right. The Rays have been the only ones who are like, yeah, the whole team's for sale. And maybe you can reasonably be angry they didn't go get Yandy. Also.

You can be reasonably angry they didn't get parades. Also, you know, we don't really know what the Rays liked for the Mariners that would have gotten them paredes instead of the Cubs. Or maybe the Mariners themselves weren't high on him. I don't. It just seems like there are not many options out there right now when you look at the players who've been dealt. And so I don't think the Rays.

Evan James
Feel urgency to do anything, too, after all the prospects they've hauled in at this point.

Underdor said
Yeah, well, basically the only player they still have as we're recording, which may not be true by the time we're done, is Yandy.

John Trupen
For now, they could also deal Brandon Lau. But I, again, I think that, I think you're, you're generally correct that they don't have to move pretty much anyone.

Underdor said
Yeah.

Evan James
They cleared out some payroll and got the.

Underdor said
Really tearing it down.

Yeah, that's, that's a good point.

So I just don't know what to wrap this all up. I just don't know exactly what's still out there for them to upgrade.

John Trupen
Yeah, the, the, it's, it sounds sort of obvious to say, but, like, pretty much all the good players are on good teams at this point. Like, the bad teams just don't really have many good players, and there just is not all that much to be, to be sort of sucked out of the bottom of the league. Right. The White Sox don't have a lot going for him other than, you know, Luis Robert, and that is just seemingly not going to happen. The White Sox are doing wild stuff. Maybe it does, maybe the Mariners go get him. But I would be surprised at this point.

Evan James
Can I tell you why not? I'll tell you exactly why not. And why a Rosareena instead of him? Because a Rona Reina has played good recently.

What are the Mariners love? They love recent performance. A rosarina has been good recently.

Underdor said
Yeah.

Evan James
Luis Robert Junior has been the same recently, and he's having a bad year. He's actually been worse. He's been batting 200 over the last month. So the Mariners are not doing that.

Underdor said
And if Roberto was actually demanding or not him, but the team was demanding a Soto esque package for him, then what the Mariners gave up for Rosarena is like, more than reasonable for the, for the difference in playing quality between a Rosarina and Robert. You know that. I think that you can argue that the production in the next couple of years could be similar depending on how healthy Robert is for the rest of, you know, his contract.

But. Are you smiling? Cause I'm saying it wrong.

John Trupen
Yes.

Underdor said
Well, hopefully if he's not a mariner, I don't have to worry about it ever again.

John Trupen
That's true. It's true.

The, I mean, I really, I was going through what other sort of options they have at their disposal in any way, shape or form because it really is like a toro.

Underdor said
Absolutely.

John Trupen
Yeah. I mean, I don't know that it's all that likely, but, like, there really are very few players out there who either are remotely realistically available or actually an improvement meaningfully like Brent Rooker would be. But it's, it's hard to say if that that's something that the Mariners want to do.

The Cubs rosters, kind of weird, and I think it made sense that the Mariners were apparently in on Morel.

I didn't want Morrell personally, but I get it as a, as a.

Underdor said
That's like the fifth Dylan Moore. We don't need a fifth, Dylan.

John Trupen
Right. Exactly. Like, hey, you wanted, you wanted more strikeouts, but occasionally they absolutely obliterate a ball. Right. That sounded, that sounds appealing and easy for your blood pressure.

Evan James
And he's an infielder to play in the outfield. Yeah, John, that sounds like a mariner.

John Trupen
Infielder to play in the outfield. Yes, exactly. Exactly.

Like I was thinking about to, you know, who were some of the players that we were looking at before the season and I think, like, Josh Naylor was a player that we had talked about as a possible option. I still would love that. But the Guardians are the, like, I think they're just the best team in the american league record wise right now. Uh, yeah. At least at the start of today they were, and I don't think they're going to trade their very solid first baseman even for how cheap they are. So you really are pinched on options. I do still think there's a chance that the Mariners do go for Matt Chapman because they have so limited of options for where to upgrade right now in terms of what's available on the market and in terms of where they think they're going to improve internally. If you trade for a second baseman, they have to be better than what you think Polanco is going to be the rest of the year. If you trade for an outfielder. I don't really think you should weigh this too heavily, but it has to be better than what you think Robles and, and, and maybe Rayleigh are going to be for the better for the rest of the year.

Evan James
And that's, that's a tangled web we weave on that one, isn't it?

John Trupen
It's, it's tricky. You know, it is.

It shouldn't preclude them from getting a better buy, but it is like, that's where they have to nail it because once Julio gets back, the outfield looks better. And there's very little reason for Mitch Annegur to be playing much.

And so unless you're, unless you're going for another, another really blow it out of the water level player, I don't know exactly where they're finding this additional upgrade.

It is a tricky thing. I think you're right to say McDougal bats.

E
McDougal Bats is a bend, Oregon based baseball and softball bats company, family owned. They are big Mariners fans, and they build baseball bats and softball bats that are fantastic to use for your own league if you have kids that are getting into their seasons. Now, I think we're in at this point and, you know, we are approaching summer ball. I know at least in the Seattle area, we're, we're sort of in the midst of the high school seasons and middle school seasons. But if you have woodbat leagues, those typically get started around Memorial Day. At least for baseball, I think it is very worthwhile. One of the big perks on a McDoodle bat is that they have a longer sweet spot and they are designed to last for really as long as you keep swinging that bat. Though they are not a composite bat, they essentially are incredibly sturdy. They are not liable to break on you. I actually have now a McDougall bat that I am excited to be cracking open this coming weekend, getting into games. So I am excited to track my stats here. If you go to McDougall bats, that's macdougall bats.com and order a bat, if you use the discount code goms, that's goms, you will get $15 off your order and we will be very pleased. We'll get a little extra bonus from that as well. So go check them out.

Underdor said
I hadn't. I had not realized how good Matt Chapman has been 3.2 out so far. That's crazy.

John Trupen
Yeah, crazy that this very good player every year of his career is very good again.

Evan James
Wow.

John Trupen
Who would have thought that this winter, the very, the player who's been a three win player every single year except for 2020, when he, you know, was on a three win pace and before that he was a superstar, would be a three win player again? I wonder why. I wonder why we thought the Mariners should sign him.

Underdor said
I also think it's hilarious about all the rumors we heard about the Mariners possibly going after Cody Bellinger, because all we heard this winter was that the Mariners weren't really very high on Bellinger.

John Trupen
So, yeah, I think that the sun's shining in. Finally into the room a little bit, and it's. It's looking like, oh, we. We need good players of any sort. So, yes, Cody Bellinger is one of those. Cody Bellinger is back off the injured list as of today. I would not be upset about it. I don't know that it makes the most sense, but it is a way to improve their roster, definitely.

With that said, if this is it, what would our feelings be about the death? Obviously, we can't know, because we don't know everything else that's happened yet, but I. Most of the major pieces that we expect to move seem to have moved, I think, is probably one of the biggest. Sorry, go ahead, Ders.

Underdor said
No, I think we haven't really talked about like this in terms of speculative names, but I do think we agree that another bullpen name is likely. So, like, I'm just going to assume they're going to add another bullpen guy somewhere. That'll probably be, like, a 7th inning guy.

I think it will be a fine deadline. And really, has anyone done more at this deadline?

I don't think so.

John Trupen
I mean, I think Randy or Rosarena is the best player who's been moved at the deadline.

Underdor said
Well, Paredes is pretty good, too, but I don't know.

John Trupen
Paretis is pretty good, too. Paredes is. Yeah. Paredes would be the other best option. And I guess jazz. Jazz is in. In the conversation, although does not have the consistency, but certainly has the upside.

Underdor said
Right.

Evan James
But also, our condolences to raise fans who I'm sure are having a very, very bad time. Uh, that must have been rough the last couple of days, and I genuinely feel sorry, because.

Yikes, man.

John Trupen
Yeah. Ripping up the floorboards over there, it's a tough.

It's a hard knock life to be.

Evan James
Raised, if anyone understands. We do. For the record, the mariner fans, like, we. We've been there. When you rip up the floorboards, it's not always pretty. And trading a Rosarena dust, like, I'm sure was painful. I saw tweets that, like, people were upset. Dude, he rocks. For the record, rosarena, impeccable vibes. Ten out of ten. Very 20 out of 20 vibes.

John Trupen
Yeah.

Evan James
Rules. So, thank you.

Underdor said
To answer your question, though, John, I think I will actually be.

I would give the trade deadline, like, a b minus. I think if. If this is it, even. Even if they had in the reliever, I I will. You know, obviously, I think we all want. Wanted more. This is like, when they added Tae Oscar, were like, keep going. And they didn't, you know, that's kind of like Randy in this sense, because they. The prop, they just needed too many things, and I don't think the deadline was capable providing all the things, but, like, they didn't give up. Like we talked about, they didn't give up very much a consequence. You know, Smith is probably the best player that gave up, probably the player that hurts the most to give up. But, like, they had, what, eight top 100 prospects at Baseball America and they did not give up any of them. When we all were, like, we had all signed off Harry Ford and Logan Evans from ever touching T Mobile grass and a Mariners uniform again or in the first place, it now seems likely that they will unless they get traded this offseason.

So I think that's actually very surprising to see that those two guys, at least as we're recording here, are still within the organization. They've held onto so many players that we basically were talking about maybe them giving up and they still got better. I think you have to be pleased, if not like, ecstatic.

Evan James
Durst stole my grade. I was going to say b minus two, but I'm going to say c plus because I think the moment this deadline pays off for us the most is next year, if the prospects are still here. To your point, if Harry Ford can take real time behind the plate next year, that's a win at this deadline. If Cole Young isn't traded and he can be a part of the solution next year at second base, that's a win from this deadline.

None of that can be materialized now. So, you know, I might have to revise the grade, but I think who they got were the right pieces. You're totally right that they couldn't finish it. My exact terminology would be very good. Not enough or right, like, they need. They need something else. They need one more bat. They need one more credible offensive player. Good Lord.

John Trupen
I want to put.

I want to, I want people to remember this moment this winter, because the Mariners have said, depot has said, the Mariners front office has said, the problem with free agency is that you only have the players that are, you only have a limited pool of players available.

And so when you. And you often have all these imperfect players at your, at your sort of.

That you can negotiate with, and that is absolutely true. It is a challenge right now. The entire league is available to them.

Yes, a lot of teams are competing, but, and it would take some significant creativity to make a lot of things move. But this is the other time where you try and improve your team.

And short of trading the offseason, where even more teams think that they're going to be contenders, so it's often even harder. You, you probably couldn't have convinced the Cubs to trade cody. I mean, they signed Cody Ballinger, but you couldn't have traded the convinced the Cubs or the Giants or, or the Rays or the Blue Jays or the Rays. Right. You. These are not teams that would have been willing to trade. So you had an even smaller group of teams that would comfortably trade you good players. So that excuse that they have trotted out a number of times when trying to improve the roster, it's important to remember that this is where they're now employing the opposite as the same excuse.

Even though I do agree, durs, like, there's just, it is hard to improve a lot of, uh, to try and trade for.

That's the deal. There are not that many players to go get who, who are on bat are good on bad teams.

Underdor said
This is why, you know, John, I know you were also very strongly on this train, and Evan, like, begrudgingly became on the train after the fact. The Juan Soto train. Like, that's why you go out and get him is because that is a perfect player, literally a perfect player. Player who is available and which happens very, and that's why, like, if Vlad was available, you have to get him because, right. There just are not very many instances where a player that, like, obviously good is available in the first place. So, like, the price, you're gonna, you're gonna pay the price.

And, and that's why you and I both really wanted to pay the price for Soto. And, like, in, you know, hindsight is very much 2020. That would have been a game changing move for this team if they had done that.

John Trupen
Yeah.

Underdor said
And we would not have been really, I think at this point, the farm would have been recovered enough that we could have handled whatever, you know, if they had to give up woo or whatever, you know, we would have been fine.

Evan James
I would have cried. I would have cried.

Underdor said
But, like, you know, and you sign.

John Trupen
Michael Lorenzen and it's okay, you know, it's like a little worse, but it's so much better. Right.

Underdor said
Like, who has not been available much of the season anyway.

John Trupen
Right?

Underdor said
So, like, how much of a loss.

John Trupen
Combination of Wu and Hancock. Yeah.

Underdor said
Yeah. In retrospect, obviously, you know, everyone was just like, you cannot trade Brian Wu. Like, this is why teams entertain things like that is because sometimes the player doesn't work out the way you envision them. To not say woo, like, you know, he could be amazing next year or the year after that. But, like, this year, Soto would have been much more valuable to this team than Wu plus whatever they would have had to give up to get him correct.

Evan James
And I want to give John credit, Jon, when we did our last podcast, I was kind of in despair, still sort of in despair of what the Mariners have done to themselves.

John Trupen
And they are getting their teeth kicked in at the moment.

Yes, they are really change anything. But, boy, howdy, they are getting their. They are getting their asses handed.

Evan James
We kicked off this podcast with a triple play against the Mariners. That's about the start of they were off to. So I don't. You guys may have missed that.

John Trupen
The first.

Underdor said
I'm not watching. I'm just looking over my phone buzzes and seeing another run added to the score alert.

John Trupen
There's having. I have a lot of notifications. I should not have run score notifications is.

Evan James
You got to ditch that. Yeah, you got to ditch that too.

John Trupen
Much, especially opposing run score notifications.

Here, let me. Let me make. Let me have a only second sadness. Let me check. Yes. For the literally only sadness button I want repeatedly.

Evan James
John, let me give you your flowers for this.

Let me finish my point.

John Trupen
Or lead change, rather. That's at least, you know, could go either way. Sorry.

Continue to laud me, Evan. I've.

Evan James
Last I. Last I checked, it was 70 Boston, and I turned the game off to continue podcasting. So I'm no longer following the score.

John Trupen
It's not that anymore.

Evan James
Okay.

Underdor said
You know, John, that never actually occurred to me until you've explained it. And this is, like, you work in the correct field as a therapist, because, like, this is not something I ever considered.

Evan James
Here's. Here's what John was right about. Here's what John was right about. When we talked a couple days ago last week, whenever it was my mind as much, John said, part of the thing you trade for at the deadline this year for the Mariners is not just for this year, it's for next year. And I had a hard time visualizing that when he said it because I had Amy Garcia and whoever else they've acquired this year to be kind of plug in players. And I was looking at the offensive lineup and thinking, you cannot fix this. And I was. I wasn't wrong that you can't fix this. But what I was wrong about is that you don't fix it. You do something. And they did a thing, which is they got Randy or Rosarena, and he is the best offensive player on this. Godforsaken, team, and he'll be here for two more years while they have this pitching squad win, I don't really care what else they do. Like, they needed to make a move like that in a vacuum, and they did. So credit to you for pointing that out. Credit for them for doing it like they needed it, like, like a dying. Like a drowning man needs oxygen. They needed Randy or Rosarina at this deadline, and they got it. So have they finished the job? Are they going to the playoffs? Are they going to win the AO West? I don't know, but they needed this because they needed to have offense in this organization going forward, and he's an important piece of that. So credit where it's due. Credit to you for being right about it, John.

John Trupen
I appreciate that very much. I also do like the analogy of the mariners as drowning person who's been given, like, scuba gear and like, an oxygen tank, but they still don't know how to swim. So, like, they don't, they now can breathe for a while, but they are still flailing and sinking.

Underdor said
So.

John Trupen
They need a very quick, very easy to translate pizza french fry versus version for skiing of how to paddle.

Underdor said
Is a good swim instructor.

John Trupen
I bet he is. Absolutely that. Yeah, no, no doubt about it. Montreal, where I think he was, he was born. I know he was born in Canada. I don't remember if it was in Montreal.

Underdor said
I think he was Montreal expose fan.

John Trupen
Well, his dad was.

Underdor said
We have to assume a very good playing fan.

John Trupen
You have to assume he was a fan.

Evan James
Way to carbon date me, John.

John Trupen
I'm just saying that's, there's a reason he was born in Canada, and I don't think it was tourism.

Underdor said
So it could be like the Bryce Dallas Howard situation, but I don't need to get.

John Trupen
I mean, listen, this is not pertinent. Vladimir Guerrero has a lot of kids.

There are.

Vladimiroushe Guerrero Junior has a lot of half brothers that are scattered across various systems right now.

Underdor said
Remember Gabriel Guerrero, who was a man a decade ago, but he was a nephew of Vlad.

John Trupen
Yep. And then there is just prolific in.

Evan James
A lot of ways, on the bases, off the bases, like, you know.

John Trupen
Absolutely.

There is literally a player named Vladi Guerrero, which is Vlad I, who is Vladimir Guerrero junior. S half brother, who is a minor leaguer. And I want to say the Mets system.

Underdor said
It sure is a decision to name all of your kids. Not, not just one, but all of them.

John Trupen
Ask yourself, yeah, it's some real. What's his face, the boxer who named all of his kids after him, after himself.

Kate's gonna be so upset that I. That we've done this or that I've. That I've done this and that's a I. Oh, he makes grills also.

Evan James
George Foreman.

John Trupen
Thank you. George Foreman. All of his children are named either George Foreman or Georgina foreman or Georgia Foreman.

Evan James
George Foreman junior. For the record.

John Trupen
Allegedly unverifiable. What do we want to see happen with the trades that are not related to the Mariners here? Obviously, we just kind of don't want the Astro on the one hand, like, we don't, I'm assuming we all don't really want, you know, a big improvement going to the Astros. But also, the Astros trading their best pitching prospect in Jake Bloss, who's not amazing but is a pretty good pitching prospect for you. Say, Kikuchi, who nobody knows if he's good or not. Even still, is he not like, is.

Underdor said
He a free agent this year, too?

Evan James
I think after next year, I'm pretty sure he signed for one more year.

John Trupen
I could be signed a three year deal, but I don't remember.

Underdor said
No, this is last year, so he is a free, this is his last year.

Evan James
This is also his best season. Metrically, he's had more success this year than any before. Even when you went to the all star game, he might be really annoying to the Mariners for the rest of the year. And I, I really like you say for the record, like, I like him. He's a good dude. I like the Mariners signing him. It frustrates me to no end that we are at this exact juncture.

Underdor said
No, but, but, John, you make a good point. Like, how, how down bad will the Astros be next year with, like, an even worse farm and an even older core group of players?

John Trupen
Right.

Underdor said
Yeah. That is something to consider.

John Trupen
I feel like that's maybe getting too cute with it to be sort of hoping the Astros blow it on, you know, on players that we don't necessarily think are going to help them that much long term, especially when this is the moment.

Evan James
As soon as we promise that Texas will bounce back. Right. That's the deal we've made with fate. As soon as we are sure that we can bury the Astros adolesce, Garcia is going to bat 470 for a half.

John Trupen
Yeah.

And, and they are, they are certainly, I think, in the, in a space where right now looks real bad for the Rangers. And the Rangers, John Gray, who's been absolutely stellar for them this year, is going to miss at least a month.

They are working Josh young back, but he's still not there yet. Like this. Their roster is just not in, in position still, to be fully competitive, I don't think they're down so bad that they're going to sell hard, but not this year.

Evan James
But, like, looking forward. If they don't hit better next year, they have a couple guys they got to make hard decisions on quickly.

If, again, not, not this year. Texas is going into the offseason thinking bad season. We'll reload, we'll redo, we'll would entirely, entirely remake the pitching staff because God knows it is held together with string and duct tape.

But not this year. Next year. If it is like this, at the same time next year, they have very hard decisions to make because they are not, they're not built to give up this many runs, frankly.

John Trupen
Yeah.

All right, y'all. Well, I think we should wrap it there.

We will be back within 24 hours here.

Again, just. It is fascinating. I think they are willing to trade their top prospects, but like, like you've said, there's. I just don't know if the market's there. And so we, we may be looking at mostly what, what they've been able to do here with, with another move. So, hopefully wrong. I did see, I want to find the credit here because I've seen it and then lost it. But someone did note that the Mariners are currently getting absolutely trounced. I believe it's ten to one right now.

Two years ago on the day, this is Brennan at pint size analyze.

Two years to the day, the Mariners got obliterated by the Houston Astros. Eleven to one. And that night, traded for luis Castillo. So probably not another move of that caliber, uh, on the table. But if they could make it happen, I think it would be more than worth.

More than worth one loss like this for a, uh, an improvement like that. So thank you, ders. Thank you, Evan.

Thank you, everyone, for listening. Thank you, McDougal bats.

And until next time.

The Deadline Cometh - Meet at the Mitt Podcast

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1: Introduction and Sponsor Message

2: Discussing Recent Trades

3: Analyzing the Bullpen

4: Broader Trade Market Analysis

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