The Great Debate - Start or Relieve with Logan Evans? Meet at the Mitt Podcast

Webmax
Everybody googles everything, especially potential customers or employers, and a business or personal online reputation can make or break you. If negative search results or reviews are impacting you, Webmax is here to help. Our proven process restores your online reputation quickly and effectively, and it matters. Don't let negative results control your narrative. Visit gowebamax.com and fill out a brief confidential form to see how we can help. Remember, if you aren't paying attention to your online reputation, someone else is. Gowebamax.com dot hey guys, it is Ryan. I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I'm a bit of a fun fanatic when I can. I like to work, but I like fun too. It's a thing. And now the truth is out there. I can tell you about my favorite place to have fun, chumba Casino. They have hundreds of social casino style games to choose from. With new games released each week, you can play for free anytime, anywhere, and each day brings a new chance to collect daily bonuses. So join me and the fun. Sign up now@chumbacasino.com. dot no purchase necessary.

Victoria Cash
Vtwohibited by law conditions 18 plus.

The Godfather
Step into the world of power, loyalty and luck.

The Godfather
I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse. With family, cannolis and spins mean everything. Now. You wanna get mixed up in the family business? Introducing the godfather@ciampacasino.com. test your luck on the shadowy world of the godfather slot. Someday I will call upon you to.

Logan Evans
Do a service for me.

The Godfather
Playthegodfather now@champacasino.com. dot welcome to the family.

Victoria Cash
No purchase necessary. VGW group voidware prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply.

Evan James
Hello and welcome to meet at the Mitt podcast. Today is Thursday. It's June 6. I'm Evan James, and the Mariners won this afternoon in Oakland three to zero behind a Brian woo shutout. And we're going to get to that. We're going to get to that. But today I am joined by Anders Jorstad, my east coast brethren, and Max Ellingson, lookout landing prospect expert. Max, how are you doing today?

Logan Evans
I am good. I am good. Thanks for having me on.

Evan James
Yeah, I'm excited to have you here today, and I wanted to pitch you guys both a really simple question to start off with. Just really simple. So obviously, the Mariners pitched a shut out today, which was exciting. But what stuck out to you in today's game that you wanted to shout out? Because I know I have a specific thing, and I'm betting it's different from both you guys. So you go first, Max, as the guest.

Logan Evans
Yeah, I mean, I was really happy to see Garver have a great day. That was huge for me, obviously. I mean, how can you not commend, you know, the pitching in a, you know, shut out woo was unbelievable. But trying to take a less obvious answer. I think that Garvers bat in this lineup, if he were to be what he has historically been his entire career, would do so, so, so much so that was good to kind of see him maybe start to get something going.

The Godfather
I mean, it has to be Cal's wheels, right? Like, who knew Cal had those wheels?

No, it's funny because Shannon tweeted that he has the 6th fastest sprint speed on the team, which maybe some of you guys listening knew that already, but I certainly didn't.

But I think it's funny because I remember him making jokes about his speed rating on the show when that got dropped early this spring, and he was talking about how he thought it should have been higher. So just want to shout him out. Also, you know, stealing against a lefty is pretty hard, too, so that, you know, that he deserves a lot of props for that. And it wasn't particularly close. You know, he got there by a pretty good margin. So just want to say shout out to him because I'm sure his legs are killing him after, like, having to catch almost every single game, even though he got a couple of days off recently.

But that is a fun development, even if it's not, like a super important one.

Evan James
Agreed. And we hope his wrist is doing okay as well. He took a look like a Mike Bauman spiked pitch off of the, like, the inner wrist, and he looked pretty sore after that, had the trainer come out, but he stayed in the game, so we hope he's doing all right from that. Well, you guys did take my answers to Max in particular. I didn't think you were going to go Garver, but you did go Garver. Um, obviously two for two plus two walks really good, especially getting back on the horse after the night before, where just the discussion on Twitter was that people were pretty unhappy with him being pinch hit in a crucial situation and not coming through. So good to see him. You know, like I said, get back on the horse and come through for the team. Um, but obviously the story for today is, is Brian woo again, uh, looking like he might be. And I said it on the last podcast, I'm going to keep saying until something changes, but six turns through the rotation he looks like the Mariners best pitcher. And I'm going to kick it over to you, Max, because Brian Wu is technically, and I mean this in the narrowest sense, a mariners prospect once for, like, it feels like about six weeks because I'll be, gosh darn, I barely remember any kind of actual, like, timeline for him as a prospect. He was drafted. He had come off of surgery. He pitched for, like, again, it feels like half a season, and then. And then a little abbreviated time last year, and he was in the majors. Um, and he is one of now.

Okay, so, so Logan Kirby, Bryce Miller, Brian Woo, and they're doing this with who we're going to talk about later, Logan Evans. So they've done this now five times where they've drafted somebody and just shot them up through the system. So tell me what you saw today and how it compares to Brian Woo as a prospect, however limited a time that may have been.

Logan Evans
Yeah, Brian Wu, like, obviously kind of a lower kind of, you know, call him a sleeper. I mean, he was a six round pick at a cal poly, really didn't pitch all that much in college because he was. Had Tommy John and he was battling various injuries and, yeah, I mean, you're not wrong. I mean, they really, like, I mean, even with, you know, Kirby and Gilbert and kind of those guys, they had a fairly. Somewhat standard progression where, you know, they'd, you know, go to, I think Kirby started in Everett, if I'm not mistaken, and he, you know, had this ridiculous run, and then he went to double A and he pitched, you know, pretty much a, you know, lengthy amount of time. And then he started getting the looks. Kind of same with Gilbert, even a more thorough one because he was kind of the first one. He even pitched in Triple A. Wu pretty much showed up, rehabbed his arm, and then pitched like, 810, twelve starts in Modesto, then moved him up, kind of did the same thing. And then he started the, his kind of second full year in Arkansas, and I think kind of caught everybody off guard with how quickly they moved him because they, that, that Arkansas team started with that rotation of Hancock and Wu and Miller and Freelander. Varroa was in the rotation at that point still, too.

And it was kind of this, like, you know, four headed monster. It was amazing. And then, you know, they called up Miller and like, okay, well, that's, you know, woo's probably not going to get called up. And then they called him up and it was like, wow. And then eventually, like, Hancock gets the call later down the line, they trade baroa. So that's kind of a thing of the past now. But they, they really, really went quick with him. And it's so awesome to see that he's actually figured out how to pitch against lefties now, too, because that's what got him into so much trouble last year.

He's kind of just not throwing them sliders anymore and it's working. He's not really throwing a ton of sliders at all. I feel like he's just throwing everybody a fastball all the time.

The Godfather
I was going to say it's like a lot of fastballs still.

Logan Evans
Yeah. Which is awesome. I mean, he's got an amazing, amazing fastball and he has two fastballs, which is why he can get away with it. If he only threw one, it would probably be tough. But yeah, it's great to see.

So fun to watch because it just, I don't know if it's his delivery. I don't know if it's because he's so good. I don't know if it's both, but it just feels like, smooth. Everything is calm, like you never get in too much trouble. It's just, it's, it's fun to watch.

The Godfather
I have a question for you kind of to follow up on that. I think it's kind of hard, especially with pitchers, to really kind of nail down what a guy's ceiling is because, I mean, look at Garrett Crochet. I don't think anyone expected this coming from him. With the White Sox.

Lucas Giolito is another example of a very late bloomer.

But what, in your estimation, is like a likely outcome for Brian? Are we talking guy who's going to settle in is like a likely number three guy, or is this a guy who actually could be an ace one day?

Victoria Cash
I'm Victoria Cash. Thanks for calling the lucky land hotline. If you feel like you do the same thing every day, press one if you're ready to have some serious fun. For the chance to redeem some serious prizes, press two.

We heard you loud and clear. So go to luckylandslots.com right now and play over 100 social casino style games for free. Get lucky today@luckylandslots.com. dot available to players in the US, excluding Washington, Michigan. No purchase necessary. VGW group void were prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply. It's time for today's lucky land horoscope. With Victoria cash, life's gotten mundane. So shake up the daily routine and be adventurous with a trip to Luckyland. You know what they say your chance to win starts with a spin. So go to luckylandslots.com to play over 100 social casino style games for free. For your chance to redeem some serious prizes. Get lucky today@luckylandslot.com. dot available to players in the US, excluding Washington and Michigan. No purchase necessary. VGW group void were prohibited by law. 18 terms and conditions supply so the.

Logan Evans
I will say this, the, the fastball by itself is good enough. Like, if everything comes together, that could be the best pitch in an ace caliber pitcher. Do I think it is likely to be like, yeah, he's going to be the number one. He's going to take the reins from the rock and Logan and even Kirby and like, you know, like, probably not. I would say his off, his off speed stuff is, his, you know, breaking stuff is not at that level yet.

But, you know, he's also 23. I mean, I mean, he's exceptionally young. The amount of innings he's even pitched even since going back to college, like very, very low. So I'm not going to say the sky's the limit, but we just, you know, this is going to be, Brian Woo is developing in the major leagues, and if he's this kick ass right now, you know, I'm not going to say, you know, he's not going to be the best pitcher in the league. I'm probably not. I mean, you know, it's just the reality and of probability.

But I mean, he looks incredibly poised right now. This fastball talent especially, he's got good strike throwing ability. I mean, that's ticks a lot of boxes. So it's really encouraging to see and really awesome to see for sure.

Evan James
I'm glad you mentioned the strike throwing in particular because that really was an Achilles heel last year, was he would get, you know, to the third time through the lineup and start walking, people. And it was pretty common to see a Brian woo start where he looked real sharp through four innings, but, you know, he'd walk three guys in the fifth inning and get pulled. High pitch count, two walks through six, seven starts. Now, this year, like, it's very difficult to look at anything he's done and take any actual issue with it, you know what I mean? And we're all kind of waiting for a little attrition to hit and to be like, oh, there it is. There's the walks, there's the homer to a lefty, but just nothing so far. And he continues to, he basically hasn't given up any runs, which is like the most bizarre thing about it. Of all, because as good as everyone in this rotation has been, he has been, in terms of tangible results, the best. And we don't expect that. Right?

Logan Evans
Yeah. I think I saw something on Twitter that was like, oh, sorry, go for it.

The Godfather
No, go ahead.

Logan Evans
Oh, I was just thinking, I think I saw something where it was like, half the runs he's given up this year were on that CJ Abrams, like, foul pole home run that were inherited from Ryan Stanek gave him. Like, he didn't even give up half of them. He's just. He's having a crazy, crazy start.

The Godfather
Well, I was going to say there is some fairy dust, I think, happening here. His Babip is super low right now, just a 165. He also hasn't given up a homer yet or, sorry. I think he's given up one homer. So his exfip is just. Is 365, which is still very good, but it's not nearly like the level of his know, almost under one era that he's running this year. So I do think that some regression is coming, but that's still a very good pitcher, especially if you're number five, if he's a mid three z ra guy.

Logan Evans
Yeah. And sample size two is definitely going to come into play.

The Godfather
Right.

Logan Evans
Like, he's only. This is, was his 6th start, I think, or something like that. Like, that's still not a lot of time. Like, I think I'm more encouraged. I'm less encouraged by the one something era and more encouraged on visually, what am I seeing? How does he look? How is he handling the situations? That's what means more to me than, you know. I mean, if he, if he goes out and cooks the Oakland days, so be it. It's awesome. I love to see it, but I'm more concerned on what I'm seeing. And what I'm seeing is very positive.

The Godfather
It's important to remember that not everybody cooks the Oakland as. Right.

True.

Evan James
I think.

The Godfather
Absolutely.

Logan Evans
Yeah.

Evan James
The most encouraging thing that I'm seeing, too, is, is the depth he's pitching in games. Cause, you know, like I said before, he was running into problems where he was walking people. He was, you know, he was struggling to get lefties out, and then he wasn't able to get through the third time. Through the third time through the lineup. He's been incredibly efficient, almost like, scarily so. We were talking about him getting pulled after 66 pitches and six innings the other day. Like, what are we talking about? That's.

I almost don't know how to describe, like, the found money. He feels like this season and just what a miracle it is to the position this team is in, because, remember, what's important to remember about today is that Brian Wu is the team's fifth starter, and we rolled out Stanek and Bauman and Voss. So that was the generously the beer the c squad today, and they pitched a shutout. And Oakland A's are not like, the Mariners will bank a win like today, seven days a week, if they'll take it. And I think it's especially important after yesterday when, you know, like, you really hope the Mariners can score three runs and meet the A's, right? It's tough to lose that game two to one on the back of a Gilbert start, where he pitched really well. So I feel pretty good. I feel pretty good today.

Anything else from today's game?

The Godfather
No, I just want to say that you have a nice little transition there. You talk about found money, and I think that the biggest, uh, version of found money would be in our friend Logan Evans. And I just want to say here, before I dive into this, that, uh, we will be having an actual proper miners pod here. Coming up with Max very shortly. So, um, the goal of today's podcast is to kind of talk a little bit more about the. The more immediate impact that some of these guys can have, either being called up later this year or also how they can kind of fit into a future trade. So if you're the kind of person who, like, only cares about the minor leaguers in as much as, like, how. How will they help the team in the very near future, then we got you covered on this, on this show, and I'm sure Max and Kate and John will dive into all the. All the fun rankings stuff and the individual player performances in a future episode very soon. But Logan Evans has become relevant in this near term conversation because the recent news was that Jerry Depot, well, not only has have they transitioned him to the bullpen, officially in Arkansas, but Depot also said that he fully expects Evans to be a part of the big league club as soon as the second half of the season.

So quickly, Max, I want to get your take on the transition for Evans, what people can expect from him if he was to come up as a reliever and kind of what you see from him and maybe a little bit of a longer term sense, because a conversation the three of us were having on twitter, I know Evan was a little bit nervous that, like, they move him into the bullpen, they might not ever move it back. So I know it's a lot of props there but I'll just let you kind of go on that.

Logan Evans
Okay.

Evan James
Yeah.

Logan Evans
So I'll kind of. I'll kind of try to go progressively, as best as I can.

So Evans has obviously been absolutely lights out all year. He's been the best pitcher in the Texas League far and away. It's not really been close, and they got him out of Pittsburgh in the 12th round last year, so that's kind of where the found money thing is coming from. He's pitched less than a full year in the major league or minor leagues, and he's already gracing top 100 prospect lists as a 12th rounder, which is crazy.

He had a big stuff uptick over the offseason, so he's kind of wasn't ever, you know, kind of low nineties. Now he's more mid nineties with his two seamer. He's a two seamer guy primarily, and then the really, the money pitch for him is the slider. He has, I think, like six pitches technically.

I don't think he's going to throw six pitches out of the bullpen, but, you know, if you want to, like, just cut and dry, what I probably like the best archetype for him out of the bullpen, sinker, slider guy now, you know, like, I'm not sure if you want. I'm not. I'm not so super good at comps or anything like that off the top of my head, but I would expect a little bit of an uptick and stuff, I think. I don't. He doesn't look like he's a max effort guy out there, but I'm not, you know, I wouldn't expect some Munoz two seamer where it's 98, 99, you know, it's gonna be probably 95 to 90. You know, maybe he'll touch a seven or an eight, but, you know, mid nineties sinker, good control.

He's only had one outing as a reliever so far. He went two innings.

It was a really weird outing. There were like two back to back errors, and it was, it was just gross. But he's primarily, in my eyes, he's a super, super well refined contact manager. He gets a lot of weak contact. He's never going to be like a big strike him out kind of player, but he gets a ton of ground balls and he gets a ton of pop ups and weak flyouts.

He doesn't walk a bunch of guys. I mean, he's really a really complete pitcher and kind of segueing into the long term. I don't know. I mean, he's definitely going to help right now. I have very few doubts. Just, you know, innings wise, like, this bullpen is on. You know, we're, you know, one bad play away, and Amuno is going down from it being really, you know, really bad. So, you know, he's definitely going to help out.

Do I think he's going to be. A lot of people were saying, like, oh, well, they did this with Edwin Diaz. Like, he's the savior. I don't think he's going to be Edwin Diaz out of the pen. I don't think anybody's Edward Diaz out of the pen.

The Godfather
I think it also felt like. Sorry to interrupt. It felt like the Edwin Diaz thing happened because it wasn't working as a starter. Right. Like that. They transitioned him to relief because it was like, well, I don't think he's a starter long term, and I feel like that is not the concern with Evans. No.

Logan Evans
Yeah, not at all. Yeah, he's.

And Diaz's stuff was so good. Obviously, everybody saw it. Right. He had unbelievable stuff, and he was kind of, you know, I'm not gonna. He was. It was slightly different, but, like, same kind of vibe with Baroa. It's like, you can dream on this guy starting, and he would be the next Tyler Glaz now, but it just didn't work. Right.

Evans is being fast tracked because they need a bullpen arm, and they think he can help, not because he can't start. He's absolutely can start.

And this was our kind of our discussion that I'll let you guys kind of chime into because I don't want to talk too long, but I am very confident that even if he does well and shows well in the bullpen for a year, even, even fully next year, I have no concerns about him transitioning back to the rotation, and I know there was a bit. So I would love to get your guys's official thoughts.

Evan James
Durs, you want to go first, or should I dive in?

The Godfather
No, you go for it, Evan. You're the one with the hot take.

Evan James
All right, let me. Let me do my hot take. First and foremost, I listened to the radio talk about it. I listened to Shannon discuss it. She was pretty clear that, like Max said, the move is to get him on the team as quick as possible. They believe, and my fundamental belief is that they've. They've done a calculation and they've decided that he's not one of the top five pitchers in the organization. If he was, they'd be putting him in the rotation. But that's a very steep curve right there. What they do think is that he's one of maybe the top ten pitchers in the organization. What does that mean? Means you put him on the team. Means you put him in the bullpen. If he can help today, if he can help right now. And you don't, you know, your bullpen is okay. You know, they're, they're performing pretty well, in my opinion, for who they are, but they're not the most high upside group that we could potentially have. And he's a really high upside guy. Um, he's an unknown. We don't know if he's going to succeed in the bullpen, but I think given what Max has said, given he looked incredible in double a man, like, I just don't think there's any reason to believe he's going to come up and not be something. You know, we can debate the, the actual value he's going to have when he gets here, but I think we all agree he has a good shot to be a quality major league contributor this year. So that's exciting. The reason I don't think he's going back to the rotation is because, and this is kind of a philosophical difference, you said you don't have any, and your specific wording was you don't have any concerns about him going back to the rotation.

I don't have any concerns about that either, is the way I'd say it. I just don't have an expectation that after all that time passes and that they, he's been in their plans as a reliever for such a long time, they're going to have the will to, to turn down a bird in the hand for two in the bush because that's really what the situation becomes. At some point, they know he's succeeding already in the bullpen. They've already counted on him. They've already got other guys they've had to figure out for the rotation. So it's like, why do anything? And what it looks like is this.

It's blowers on with Dave Simms. And he goes, yeah, yeah. Thanks, Dave. You know, they called him up last year and, you know, he came out of the bullpen and he had been a starter for the entire time in the minor leagues, but he was really electric last year, and so he came into camp for 2025, and they just decided to leave him there, and he's been electric ever since.

That's what it looks like. That's all it is. And it sucks because we, we know he can start like the three of us fundamentally, and I think this is where we all are on the same page, is like, we really like what he did in Double A. We would really like to see what he looks like in a major league rotation. I just would. I'm just very enchanted by that thought. But I don't, in a short or medium term timeframe, see a spot for him to do that with this team. To Dirge's point, he said, well, you know, maybe they trade him. Totally possible. My thought is that if you're going to do that, you probably leave him starting so that you're trading him as a starter to another team who's picking him up as a starter. That makes good sense to me. Not what they're doing. They're moving him up. And that says to me that their intention is to have him here and for, for later in the bullpen and two years from now is just a long time. What do you think, Durst?

The Godfather
I actually do agree with you that this, in my mind, makes it less likely that they trade him, because I actually agree that if their intention was to trade him, they'd be showcasing him as a starter just to prove to other organizations that he could be. So to me, maybe this means they like him enough that they're going to try to hang on to him. And I know we're going to get into a little bit of trade talk later, but maybe trading a starter isn't necessarily in the cards, at least not like the immediate, maybe they trade woo or something. But anyway, we'll get into that in a minute. In terms of the reliever thing and sticking them there, I think that there's two examples that might make you say that not only Diaz, but Matt Brash being the second one. The thing with Matt Brash was Matt Brash was a failed starter. Right? They called him up and it did not work out in that first month or two. Like, it was really ugly. They really tried to let him be a starter and it just wasn't working. And that is why they moved into the bullpen. And then he was so good in the bullpen that they were like, well, we know he didn't work out as a starter. We first tried him. We know he's really working out as a reliever, so let's leave him there.

And you may recall that, you know, at least what they told us was the reason that they didn't give him another chance to be a starter was because of the world baseball classic and him pitching for Team Canada. I don't know, if I buy that.

Evan James
Yeah, we maintain that that all was a lie.

The Godfather
But, yeah, regardless, let me, let me just quickly, you know, give you two more points. One is, I think, and I mentioned this to you online, but I want to vocalize this to the people that I think you're underestimating the likelihood of a Mariners pitcher going down with an injury. And I'm not trying to curse them by saying this, but they have been pretty lucky with this. I mean, you look around the league and there are teams that would kill to have Logan Evans in their rotation literally right now and teams that are trying for a playoff spot. Like, I think he would be in the Rangers rotation or the Astros rotation right now if he was, if he was in those organizations.

And so it really just takes like a bad throw from one of our beloved guys and all of a sudden they're on the injured list for a couple months, and then a spot has opened up for Logan Evans. I mean, that could happen literally any day within the next two years or so or whatever timeframe you want to give it.

Secondly, let me read you a quick list of pitchers who started off as relievers in the big leagues. Number one, Spencer Strider.

Number two, Garrett Crochet, Johan Santana, Derek Lowe, Adam Wainwright, Chris Sale, Michael Lorenzen. You get the, you get the picture. A lot of these guys are very good major league starters or were very good major league starters in their careers.

We even have a few examples of guys who have been long time relievers transitioning to the rotation this year. Jordan Hicks, Ronaldo Lopez, Ronald Blanco. I mean, these are, these stories happen more frequently, more frequently than we think they do. So that is all to say, it is not uncommon for a guy to come up as a reliever, especially on a contending team. This is what happened with Strider, and they're just so good in multi inning relief and someone goes down that a spot opens up for them. So you could almost argue that him being in the bullpen actually makes him closer as an option to fill in for a guy than like, a Hancock who would necessitate a call up to fill in that spot because Evans would already be there.

Max, what do you have to say on that?

Logan Evans
Yeah, I was just. I think I have. I have two kind of things. I think, one, the, you said something loosely about like, well, if he's doing well as a reliever, why would you even risk moving him back and kind of mess with that?

A starting pitcher that is even decent is exponentially more valuable than a 7th, 8th inning guy.

You look at Aaron Savali on the trade market last year netted Kyle Manzardo, who is a pretty legit prospect. And I wouldn't say Aaron Savalli is anything special. Right? He's a good, controllable arm, and that's what he is.

You, you move him to the rotation because having a guy that can start at a capable level is so valuable, especially when you can have him for four or five, six seasons back to back to back.

I mean, I think this year, like, look at Boston guy, tenor, hook, tenor Hauk. I mean, he's amazing this year. Yeah. And he was a reliever.

Javier Assad in Chicago, he was a reliever last year. Now he's doing great as a starter. Like, they were great as relievers, too. But if they're, if they can start and have that level, at least a comparable level of success, they're exponentially more valuable. So that's why in my eyes, you would take the risk.

Evan James
Let me, let me clarify that statement, because I do think this is important. When I said that I am talking about the difference between the Mariners and, particularly next spring, having him in the bullpen on the major league team versus starting in the minor leagues because that's the push versus the pole. Do you keep developing him if you know he can be more, or do you take the value you already have for the major league team where it actually counts? That's where it's hard. It's not, if you're talking about is he going to be in the rotation, the major leagues, I'd say yes, 100%. Just do that because that's where he's most valuable. But that's not what I think the actual crux of what I was saying was, and that that is different. So what would, what would you do there? Yeah, and my argument is basically that I don't think that they have the wherewithal to turn that down. They're literally, they're literally making the choice not to do that right now, which was kind of what I was saying yesterday, is they're not doing that now. Why do we think they're going to do that next year? And if they're not doing it next year, why do we think they're going to do it at all? That's really, that's really my argument.

The Godfather
Right.

Logan Evans
Yeah. Which is fair.

The Godfather
I think that what you're outlining is like, first of all, I don't want to discount the possibility that, like, this could happen, like, what you're outlining could happen. I think if that happens, it's like a perfect world for the Mariners, where, like, everyone is healthy.

Evan James
Correct.

The Godfather
Everyone's performing well, and in that world, like, I'm doing backflips and I don't really care what Logan Evans is doing. Yep.

Evan James
It works out very well for the Mariners in my scenario, but I think.

The Godfather
That Evans will probably make a few starts this year because at some point in, like, August, especially if they're looking like they're going to win the division, they're going to start limiting and skipping starts of, like, Brian Woo, Bryce Miller, and that's where Evans can kind of float in and have a spot, a spot starter, too. So I think we may start seeing Evans, you know, come up as a reliever. If he comes up in early July, maybe he pitches as a reliever for a month and a half, and then they start skipping some starts and he gets a couple of looks in the rotation. I think that's probably the most likely outcome this year.

Logan Evans
Yeah. And who's to say that? What's that?

Evan James
Sorry, do you agree with that, Mac?

Logan Evans
I mean, I could totally see him getting some starts. I mean, we gotta. We gotta realize these guys are really young, innings wise. Even Logan Evans needs. We need to watch his innings. I mean, this is his first year. He doesn't pitched a whole lot. So I'm not, you know, I'm not sure that he would have even pitched a full minor league season if they didn't do anything with him at all. So the way I see it is he is showing that he is more than capable of handling the double A level if they can use him in the majors, and it works out in whatever capacity. To me, that's doing twofold. One, he's getting development against the highest level he's ever going to see in a somewhat controlled and less grueling situation, and he's helping the major league team more. So to me, it's like, okay, so we have him sit in Double A all year. Sure, he's developing, but if he has a one era all year and he just keeps doing this, is that truly developing anything? You know, I would rather see him get better in the majors, especially if he can help, you know? So that's, to me, what it is. I think just because he's not a starting pitcher doesn't mean he's not developing things that will help him as a starting pitcher at the major league level in a bullpen.

The Godfather
Great point.

Evan James
Yeah, I would agree with that. The one. The one thing I disagree with specifically is you said they will give him spot starts later this season. My impression is they're only telling us about this because they intend for him to make a very permanent role switch, at least for 2024. For this season specifically. I think the whole reason they told us about it, they talked about the Jerry call.

They. They switched him right away and had him do a, uh, come out of the bullpen, like, I think that day or that afternoon, like, I think their intention is do. Do this for this year. We're not going to have you start anymore. We're not going to have you start in the majors or the minors. We're going to put you in the bullpen. Get ready. So I would disagree. I think, for 2024, specifically, if they're going to have spot starts for. For whoever, they'll just call a pancock. He's. He's ideal for that situation. Anyway, um, all things considered, or they'll call up Diaz in an absolute emergency. So my impression is that they have shut the door 100% on him starting in 2024. Do you agree or not agree with that?

Logan Evans
I could see like a, you know, two, three, four inning, you know, bullpen, kind of glorified bullpen day. I don't think. I don't think the plan is for him to. Okay, we're going to have him come up. We're going to have a pitch, one to two innings for a month. A month and change, and then also down the stretch, we're going to stretch it back out. I don't think that's the plan. Can do I, can I see a scenario where necessity strikes and he has to pitch a four inning game? Yes, absolutely.

Do I think that's, you know, I mean, you know, if nobody gets hurt and they don't need innings. Yeah, he'll. Absolutely. But I can see a scenario where something arises.

I don't think that's the expectation at all, but I can see, you know, it hitting the fan.

The Godfather
Macdougall bats. 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, 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 McDougall 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. I'm excited to track my stats here. If you go to me, Dougal 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.

Evan James
To Durz's point, I think the way he does get in the rotation is the specific way is. Is TJ for somebody in the rotation? Because the. The reason you'd plug him in is because there's a spot for him not in the short term, but going forward, because if we're talking about one, two, three starts, like plug in Hancock, if you're looking, you're saying, hey, man, we gotta. We gotta have somebody in this rotation for two and a half, three months. That's when you go Logan Evans at this point. So, yes, there is definitely a scenario where I think that happens, but it's like, as, as you said and as we were talking about yesterday, it's no longer the plan. The plan is now. He's in. He's in the bullpen. And so, so we all agree he's in. He's in the bullpen for now. Are you guys excited about his potential and what he could actually bring into the composition here? And I'll ask you specifically, Max, what do you think he looks like in this bullpen? Because right now, Munoz is clearly at the top of the hierarchy. I'd say a step down from that. You have Stanik and Thornton, and then there's kind of everybody else. Where do you think he kind of ranks and what is his ultimate role?

Logan Evans
Yeah, I mean, in an ideal world, I think he would be filling that kind of Casey Sadler role from a few years ago, where he's bridging that 6th, 7th inning, locking it down, and we forget about it. I don't. I don't think I would throw him into the 8th inning right away. You know, he's barely been a reliever. I don't. I don't know if I would do that. Give him somewhat kind of low stress innings, bridge that gap that has been so, so brutal for them this year. That 6th, 7th inning has been terrible. So if he can come in and lock that down, I'm more than happy.

The Godfather
Yeah, that's a great call. And, and the fact that he, you know, his first relief outing in Arkansas was multiple innings, was two innings.

I wonder if, like, he, he throws like, literally the 6th and 7th in a, in a game where they're up three one and the starter only went five because that would really go a long way to your point, because then they could go stanick Munoz and, and that's it.

So I think that, that, you know, multi inning capacity is something they haven't really had in a minute either.

I think Austin both was, in theory, supposed to be that, but he's been a one inning guy mostly so far.

And we know Jerry has, like, talked ad nauseum about the idea of getting his own Krztowinski.

So if that's what Evans is this year, I think that that's a great outcome for, for the Mariners specifically this year and what they need this year, and it saves them from potentially having to trade a prospect to go get, you know, another bullpen guy. We think they're probably going to get one already. But, you know, maybe if Evans is, is what he could, what we think he could be, they don't need to get two guys, for example.

Evan James
I love it. Guys. That was a pretty, that was a pretty good Logan Evans discussion, if I say so myself.

Anything else on Logan Evans? If not, we're going to do some questions now.

The Godfather
Yeah, let's go. Let's go to the questions.

Evan James
All right. 1st first and foremost, when we do questions, I want to apologize. I'm going to correct myself because not last episode with John and Kate and myself, but the previous one with Durs and Zach and I, I talked about, we were talking about unit in class A and the Mariners kind of juggling him. And I had mentioned them burning an option year on him this year in regards to juggling him back and forth from Tacoma. That is not the way that works, not specifically. So guys have multiple option years once they come up, but this year specifically because he was a rookie and he was brought up, he has five options this year, which means that they can juggle him basically as much as they want without any kind of fear of losing him. So the way that I actually described it was incorrect. I'm here to correct that misinformation, make sure we're all learning together. I actually went and read the rules, which is like you know, it's such a simple thing, but, like, when you go read it and you're like, oh, cool. That makes perfect sense, actually. So they can option him up to three more times without having to worry about that. But, you know, Durst and I both said, hey, they should just send him to get at Batson Tacoma. And basically within hours of that podcast going up, that's what they did. So you'd be wrong and right in the same sentence.

The Godfather
I know. I was gonna say, we literally told you we were really talking about, like, I can't. I can't understand. I don't understand why they still have him up here. And then like, 3 hours later, he was down at Tacoma. So it all worked, clearly. And they signed my. My surrogate son, Victor Robles, because as a partial nationals fan, you know, this is a guy who I've been watching play at the park here the last few years, so I know he's got.

Evan James
To be all up for here. For him. Yeah. Given the debut for today, it's got to be all up from here. Right.

The Godfather
He seems really excited to be in Seattle, and so that at least is, like, kind of a refreshing thing. And I know that a lot of people had takes on robless, which I think is like a weird, like, you shouldn't have an opinion that strong on the 26th, man, because if he's bad, he'll be gone in a week.

But if he's. If he's good and fun, like, that's great. I don't think he's going to play more than, like, six at bats in a week, but I hope that they're good at bats.

Evan James
All right, well, this is the question of the show. Max, Brian wants to know about your untouchables list for the trade deadline, because the Mariners need some bats, and they've got quite a few short stops, really heating it up in the minors. And we're really excited because as Ders previewed, we're going to be doing they might be mariners with Kate and John and Max tomorrow. So we're going to be digging deep into the mariners offensive explosion in the minors. But, Max, give us your untouchables for the deadline and what you might be looking at kind of doing if you had to scheme this out.

Logan Evans
Okay. So obviously the talks have been very prevalent. To put it. To put it lightly, here's what I will say about the tread deadline.

I think that the idea of having an untouchable prospect is a little bit silly. I get the practical premise. It's like, okay, well, I wouldn't trade that guy for anybody that I could reasonably see. Like, okay, sure.

My take on this whole thing is when I look out at the landscape of teams, and I actually, I had a bit of a nerd out moment, but I made an excel spreadsheet of all. All teams that I could feasibly see selling.

The Godfather
Oh, man, did you and Grant are gonna, like, real, like, nerdfest. Yeah, I nerd it out.

Logan Evans
Yeah. Big, big excel guy.

But I went through all the teams of, like, who I could feasibly see selling and kind of, you know, classifying the likelihood and all that stuff. Anyway, it's pretty slim. There's like, you know, there's no truly big ticket. Like, okay, this is the guy. There's nothing wrong with him. Go get him. It doesn't matter the cost.

The Godfather
Right?

Logan Evans
There's. There isn't that.

I see all these, like, blue jays talks with Guerrero and Bashette. I'm so out on Bichette. I do not want bashet at all. Yeah, that is my. I don't know if that's a hot take or not. He's been pretty. Pretty mid for.

The Godfather
He's not good this year. I mean, that would be like a classic Jerry bounce back acquisition.

Logan Evans
Yeah, even. But even, like, the last half of last year, he wasn't that good. He never walks. Like, I don't know, that just seems like his defense has been going down, too. Like, I'm just. And then he would have to move positions. I'm like, I'm just. I'm out. I'm out.

Yeah. I think to answer the question more directly, I think the only guy that I truly could not like, I would be very disappointed in the trading in any scenario would be Emerson.

He's the one guy.

Do I want them to trade farmello, Laz, all these guys just because. No, not at all.

But, you know, to be clear, you're.

The Godfather
Talking Colt Emerson, not Emerson Hancock.

Logan Evans
Yes. Oh, yes, yes. I should have clarified that. Yeah. Future ace Emerson Hancock is not who I'm talking about. No, Colt Emerson is the guy. Thank you for clarifying.

Yeah, I just. I look out and I see the landscape of who is available, and I have a hard time rationalizing moving a large, large package for any one of them. That includes, like, three of the top ten or something.

Evan James
Right?

Logan Evans
Like Luis Robert, dynamic, super fun, amazing player.

He has played, like, 100 games once in his career. That's a big red flag for me especially, too. He's a big power guy. He's very aggressive hitter. That doesn't play historically well in t mobile.

High strikeout guy, not a lot of walks, plays great defense, hits a ton of home runs. He would be amazing to watch. I'm like, I'm never going to sit here and be like, I don't want to watch Vlad Guerrero on the Mariners. Like, I'm never gonna be that. I would love to watch Vlad Guerrero on the Mariners, but would I go out and trade, you know, this. This hall of Harry Ford and Cole Young and Johnny Farmello and more for a year and three months of essentially a Dh?

I would strongly consider going against that. So I know I'm not really answering the question directly, but to me, this idea of that, of dealing in these absolutes where either, oh, everybody has to be available, go do whatever, or, no, absolutely do not trade these guys. It just seems like an exercise in futility. It's like, why don't we just have some thought about it? It's like, okay, realistically, do I see the guy that fits the best for this team if he's there? Okay, what's he going to cost? Can we think about it a little bit more with. With some more nuance? I don't know. It's.

I don't. I'm not. I've never been one for, like, untouchables, but if the closest to it would be Emerson, I. Emerson or not. Emerson, Hancock. Colt Emerson.

The Godfather
I truly sorry I broke you.

Logan Evans
Yes, I know. It keeps going. It's coming back. There isn't a player on the market that I can justify them trading for that. Trading him for just because they have the depth to do it without including him. He's not the one big ticket. You know, they have other options. So. Yeah.

The Godfather
And this is. I think we've talked about this before, but one thing to consider when you're. When you're thinking about the trade deadline is that there's a reason that these players are available, and it's not just because the team is bad. You know, these players are available because largely they have warts of some sort. Be that, like, literal, you know, with Robert, he hasn't been able to stay healthy, or a wart like Vlad, where you don't have him for very long, and that's why the team is willing to trade him. Or Pete Alonso is kind of the same question. Right. So there's. You're not, you know, Juan Soto on the. At the trade deadline comes around once in a generation, and the Mariners did not, you know, they did not put all the chips in, whether we know or not, if they could have to get Soto.

I think that we are likely to see, and this is just based on, I'm now kind of reading between the lines of what Jerry has said, of what Stanton has said, of what Hollander has said.

Hollander was on the record earlier this week saying that he expects this team will be a top farm system come this spring. And that's not something you say if you're going to trade away half the farm in the summer. You would not be telling people we're going to have a great farm if, if you're planning to trade away everyone. So I do think that some of these guys are likely to be gone. I think that we're probably going to see at least one of the top five mariners prospects kind of, kind of go to another team in a trade.

I do wonder if it's going to be like a creative Jerry situation where he's not necessarily going to attack the top of the trade market like he did with Castillo, where like, that was a very obvious addition.

I think he might find someone that maybe we aren't talking about very much. And I've seen, like, Christian Walker with the diamondbacks is, I think, a good example. This is a guy who would be a little bit, you know, more attainable in terms of acquisition cost. A very good first baseman, an older guy, but he's got like a 130 WRC this year. Kind of fits that mold perfectly. If you're looking for a DH type of production, it won't cost you what it costs of lad Gerrer.

You know, he could go with the Cardinals, you know, like a Nolan Arenado, who, that's a pretty, like, hefty salary. And if the Mariners are, you know, honest about with Stanton saying that they have some flexibility to take on salary, they could take on some salary to offset a prospect cost. So that's, that's another option. I feel like those are the kinds of things we're going to see the Mariners consider versus selling all these guys off the farm because, you know, we mentioned that we're not in love with all the, all the options available. The Mariners might be like big Luis Robert fans, and I think that, that, like, we don't really know if they really love him. I think that is a chance that we see several of these players kind of go in a deal, but otherwise, they may try to hang on to these players because if they think the stock is on the rise and these players are going to accrue more value, then maybe they want to wait and see what happens with those players. Like, if they think that they're going to get a number of, you know, top 20 prospects out of this group, then they'll let them accrue that value, get to that spot, and then trade them in the winter or next summer when there's different players on the market that they maybe prefer.

Now, that said, I do think the Mariners understand the urgency here, and that's why I think they're going to get creative and they'll, they'll get players. I just don't know if it's going to be like, the, the superstar top of the market guy. That said, again, I do think if they want a top of the market guy, if they really decide they are enamored with a flag, Guerrero, they have the pieces to do it right. Like, this is not a situation where we're worried about being outbid by someone because unless, like, the Orioles, and that's pretty much the only team that you'd be afraid of in a bidding war, unless the orioles also love the same player, you're probably going to get that guy.

Logan Evans
Yeah, 100%. And, like, they can go out, like, they can make moves and still have a totally well respected farm system player, like, in, in the grand scheme of things.

I don't know. This is, this is a little aside, but everybody's talking about the Toronto Blue Jays and everybody's talking about bashit and that.

What about, what about, like, Dalton Varsho? Like, with, I don't know if they trade him or not, but, like, elite outfielder. He's probably one of the top two defensive outfielders. It's going to be like a 105 110 bat. Like, is you're gonna have for three years. I don't know. Like, to me, that's way more appealing than however many years of pushette or whatever. Like, that's a dynamic that's actually, that, that I can see is more Jerry style versus taking on 11 million for Bashett, especially when they went out and just got Polanco. I don't, I just, I don't see blushette happening at all.

The Godfather
He's injury prone and we have so many injury prone guys, and many of those guys are on the injured list right now that, like, you kind of have to wonder how much that's actually going to help in the grand scheme of things.

Logan Evans
Yeah. Yeah, exactly right. It would be a very big deviation from historically what kind of they try to go for, but kind of trying to bring it back, you know, back into the farm system because I know I kind of just threw that in there, but I think the point of, if they think these guys are going to get better, and they're pretty good at gauging this, too. Like I will say they traded Edwin Arroyo when he was red hot. He was like the talk of the town. He's still very, very good prospect, but he's not what he was in Modesto for that two, three month stretch. Same thing goes for Gabriel Gonzalez. He's fallen back a bit. There were concerns about his conditioning and physicality and stuff like that. I still think he's a really good player. I think he's still a fringe top 100 guy. But again, they didn't trade, you know, from this, this pool of people that have really taken off. So I think if you think these guys are going to continue getting good, the closer a prospect is to the majors, they're going to have more value because they have less variance in their outcomes.

Obviously, that's kind of why the Mariners farm system was so lowly ranked in the beginning of the year or kind of middling because everybody knew they had a bunch of talent, but nobody knew if they were actually going to pan out.

Obviously, pretty much everybody has, which is very remarkable and not common at all.

So you kind of have this scenario where everybody's, you know, calling for everybody to be traded. I don't think that's smart, especially because, you know, as long as this kind of current ownership group is going to be here, we have you. They have to be able to supplement this team internally because they've shown that they're not super willing to go out and get a two war player for ten, $12 million a year, which I think is fine. I have no problems. They didn't go out and sign Lourdes Goreel this offseason.

I have no problem with the idea that they're trying to build a sustainable winner and they have to do it in a not so sexy way. I'm fine with that. But if they're going to be that way, then they can't just go in and say this is the year, especially when they have four more years of all of these pitchers.

The idea that this is the best time, it's the only time. Yeah, it's going to be a great opportunity. But I would prefer as a fan to watch good baseball for the next five years instead of good baseball this year and then just have nothing else. I like watching good baseball teams. I like good pitching teams that can get into the post season and give it their best shot. The MLB post season, for better or for worse, in its current iteration, somewhat of a crapshoot. You just it's whoever's hot, it's whatever. Just get in. So that's kind of where I stand with it.

Webmax
Lucky land casino, asking people, what's the weirdest place you've gotten? Lucky.

Logan Evans
Lucky in line of the deli, I guess.

Victoria Cash
Aha.

The Godfather
In my dentist's office.

Evan James
More than once, actually.

Logan Evans
Do I have to say?

Webmax
Yes, you do.

Victoria Cash
In the car before my kids PTA meeting.

Webmax
Really?

Logan Evans
Yes.

Webmax
Excuse me. What's the weirdest place you've gotten lucky?

Victoria Cash
I never win and tell.

Webmax
Well, there you have it. You could get lucky anywhere playing@luckylandslots.com dot play for free right now. Are you feeling lucky? No purchase necessary. Void weapon by law, 18 plus terms and conditions apply.

Victoria Cash
See website for details.

Webmax
Hey, guys. It is Ryan. I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I'm a bit of a fun fanatic. When I can. I like to work, but I like fun, too. It's a thing. And now the truth is out there. I can tell you about my favorite place to have fun. Chumba Casino. They have hundreds of social casino style games to choose from. With new games released each week, you can play for free anytime, anywhere, and each day brings a new chance to collect daily bonuses. So join me in the fun sign up now@chumbacasino.com. dot no purchase necessary.

Victoria Cash
VGW 18 plus.

The Godfather
One thing to remember also, and I think Zach was smart to bring this up the last time we talked, where he read off the 2019 top 20 for fan graphs and all the guys that didn't work out.

Just because these guys are ranked super highly does not mean they will be something. And I know the big fear is that you are going to trade a guy who will be a superstar. I know that Mariners fans are all collectively very high in a lot of these players that you guys will dive into tomorrow, but a lot of them, more than half of them, probably won't become what we think they could be, and a couple of them maybe won't even ever debut in the big leagues at all.

And so there is something to what you mentioned, max, of, like, trading a guy at the apex of his value and kind of making the bet on that. You know, I think if the Mariners had traded Jared Kelnick before the 2021 season, everyone would have rioted, right? But that would have been the right decision in hindsight, not saying that I think that anyone was really saying them to do that because of where they were in their win cycle.

But, you know, if the Mariners decide to trade like a Cole young or Elazar Montez, there's going to be a lot of people who are very upset because they know, you know, what these guys could be, but the risk is just as high that they could be something else. And, you know, bird in the hand, two in the bush type of scenario, you know, if you're getting a player who's going to be on this team and also going to be on this team for a while, which is, we think, the kind of player they would acquire in the first place, that is going to be worth something. So if they really like Luis Robert, he's under contract for like, four more years.

So if they think that they can get him healthy, that is a significant contributor. And even if you give up a guy who becomes a significant contributor, it is important to get someone in return that we know is going to produce immediate value for sure.

Logan Evans
Yeah. And I actually have less of a problem with them float, kicking around the idea of trading a Cole Young, of trading a Harry Ford because they're close and they're close to contributing. They're much closer than Las Montezuma and Johnny Formello and Aiden Smith and all those, you know, younger guys.

But, you know, the justification behind trading for Harry Ford is tough, because on the one hand, if you have two really good catchers, you have something that 29 or 28 other teams do not have just, and that is a major advantage. On the other hand, is Harry Ford more valuable to another team as their starting catcher for the next six years or to the Mariners as their backup catcher playing three, four days a week?

It's what they have to gauge. And if they can find a deal where Harry Ford is the centerpiece and they land Luis Robert, you know, a true impact, that's going to be tough to, you know, turn down, especially when they have Cal around and, you know, it's Harry Ford is a luxury, and he I. Harry Ford is arguably, he's right there with Emerson for me, as the number one prospect just because he can catch, you know, there's concerns on how good he is at catcher, but he physically can play the position. Like, Mitch Garver caught two games or something, like recently, like, that's, he's better than Mitch Garver behind the plate.

Like, if he can be a backup catcher that is also a dynamic athlete, and hitting and getting on base, that's a huge luxury. And I'm sure a lot of other teams would really value that. If he can be the centerpiece in a deal where the Mariners bring in a dynamic impact bat that they can control for the next two, three, four seasons. You have to strongly consider it.

Even Cole Young, you know, that kind of holds. Even I love Tyler Locklear, but, you know, same kind of deal, right? Like, and you're probably not going to get spurned too bad. I don't think. I don't think those guys are like Uber ceiling prospects, but I think they're close and they're high floor and they're going to be good.

The Godfather
It's an exciting time because there's a bevy of guys who, like, there's so many good prospects in the mariner system and they're so talented that it is likely that, like, two or three of those guys will be a star one day, and we just don't know which two or three it will be.

And so that's exciting. But we talked about this in a previous episode. There's also a danger to hoarding all these prospects where you end up, like, where Baltimore is right now and you just have nowhere to play anyone. They have like, one spot for, like five top 100 prospects and they're all fighting for the same roster spot and no one's really getting any run and no one's taking off with it because they don't have time to get that role. So I do think that I would much rather not see Dom Canzone roam the outfield if they can make an upgrade over him with a guy who they really think is going to be an impact player.

I think that we're all kind of on the same page here. It's going to be a tough situation because I follow the minors a lot, not as much as Max does, but I fall in love with prospects, too, and there is some risk to that because you do have an over inflated sense of.

I think what happens is you get an over inflated sense of the likelihood of their success.

You become so in love with them that you fail to see the flaws or you fail to see how it could not work. You know, like, I'm thinking, for example, the brewers right now, they had arguably the number one, but it was consensus number two prospect in baseball last year in this winter in Jackson Cheerio. And he has been abysmal at the big leagues, and I don't think anyone saw that coming. And he's 20 years old, so he's probably going to turn Jackson Holiday. Consensus Jackson Holiday, same situation.

Both of those guys are super young and probably will still be productive big leaguers. But I don't think people, like, necessarily saw these struggles coming and how well, they were playing in the minors, right? Because playing in the majors is just such a different beast that it's kind of impossible to know how that's going to take a toll on players in both the short term and the long term.

So all that is to say that I have accepted that even though I have fallen in love with a lot of these players and a lot of it's for more than just their on field presence. You know, we talked last pot about how much we love Harry Ford's off field and, and his charisma and everything, but that's just the cost of doing business. And ultimately, this is a very good problem for Seattle to have. So it's also not a problem that anyone else in the division currently has because the farm systems around the division are pretty bad, except for Texas, I guess. But a lot of their guys are in the majors right now and having their own issues. So that's the truth.

Logan Evans
I'm definitely more in the camp of a couple supplementary moves than one big ticket item, and I know that's going to give me booze and I'm boring and whatever, but it's just like, I don't think if you put one big ticket hitter into this lineup as it currently stands right now, that they're suddenly, you know, World Series favorites or something like that. Like, I think a couple 110, you know, ops plus WRC plus guys in the right spots would just do wonders for this. Like, I don't. I like an Elias Diaz, like an actual backup catcher or something. You know, just like, maybe not him specifically, but just like something like that. Like a Danny Jansen and a Taylor sword.

Or, you know, like they're probably not going to get Taylor Ward just because he plays for the angels, but, like, Brett just, yeah, just like, yeah, Brent Rooker would be awesome. That would be sweet. But even, like, like a mark canna right now would probably be one of, like, their five best hitters, right? Like, just, it's, it's not, they don't need a super splashy one.

It would be sick if they do it, but I'm not going to be disappointed if they go out and kind of add these few good players and just kind of hopefully round it out. I'm not going to be disappointed if they don't land Vlad or Luis Robert. You know, that's. It's not boom or bust for me. I'm boring and I'm a geezer and I'm cooked or whatever, but no, but.

The Godfather
I think that the argument in favor of that is like, you win over a sustained period of time by developing multiple superstars in your roster. And teams don't trade superstars very often. Right? And honestly, you don't often sign multi year superstars and free agent deals very often anymore because those guys are older and within three or four years, they are not the player they were before.

And so if you have a guy you really believe in, in the minors and you think he's going to be really good, like, that is like, like, invaluable to it, to a team.

And so I think that is the argument for, like, let's, let's hang on to these guys, you know, which is the reverse of what I was just arguing of, like, trade them away because they might not be good. You know, the, the reverse to that is you hold on to the guys you think will be stars because you're not going to get that on the market anywhere else.

Evan James
I want to ask this because Durst, you teed me up for this twice now, and I got to hit it the second time. So I love, I love your point about Jared because it's just, it's so true because looking back historically, the moment to trade Jared Kelnick when his trade value was the highest was when he was raking in Double A in 2019. That's also the last moment we would have ever been inclined to do so. Right. Like those. Those are the exact same time. We would never have traded him, and we totally freaking should have. So I want to. I want to pitch you guys this. The Mariners miners are going crazy, and we're going to talk about that tomorrow. And I'm really excited.

I'm going to put you on the spot. You have to sell somebody. You need to, at this deadline, trade a mariners prospect. You need to look at this cabal of prospects we have and pick somebody and say they are playing as well as they're ever going to play. This is their 2019 Jared Kelnick, and I'm selling them right here.

Who is it?

Logan Evans
Max, you go, oh, my God.

I might.

I'm not sure this is going to be the best he's ever going to play, but as I said earlier, I think it's probably the highest his value will be to the Mariners organization for the next three, four years. It's probably Harry Ford.

Do I think it is wise to move him?

Probably not. Just. Well, I don't know. There's obviously a lot of context that has to go into it because they're not just going to move him for anybody, but he is by definition a redundancy to Cal. Cal is not going to lose the starting catcher job, even if he's, you know, raking or whatever. He's. He's the guy with the staff, so, yeah, I mean, it might be him. I I do. I dream of having, like, four years of two competent catchers on the Mariners roster. Like, oh, my God, I would.

It's a beautiful sight in my mind, but do. Would I like to see, you know, a dynamic three, four win player playing for the Mariners for the next three years? Yeah. And if I can get that right now and I can trade Harry Ford, like, if they could build a thing with a package with Harry Ford as the centerpiece to get, like, a paredes or something, you have to do it, like, right. You just have to. So he's the one. I'll say the one guy that I really hope they don't trade is farmello.

I think. I think he's on a. I think he's on a spaceship. I think he's only gotten. Been getting better.

He's just, like, developing so fast. Like, it's. It's kind of unbelievable.

But, yeah, I do. I do think they need to be a little bit wary because last year's draft was, like, so generationally good. I'm thinking about doing a whole article on it because it's just stupid. I'm thinking about doing. If that's something, please let me know. That would be awesome. Put it in the comments or something.

The Godfather
But, I mean. I mean, Keith law, the Julio hater, famously, when Julio was a prospect, called this a franchise altering draft.

Logan Evans
Yeah, right? And, like, that was the talk going into it. It's like, this could be. I think. I think I verbatim wrote, this could be a franchise altering draft. And then, lo and behold, they literally go do it, and they nail basically, like, 16 of the 20 rounds. I mean, it's, like, ridiculous. But the idea that they can just keep reloading like that over and over is they have. You can't just get that into your brain. They had three first round picks in a generationally good draft, probably once in a decade draft, if not more.

And, you know, if you look at. I don't. If you look at this year's draft, it's nowhere near as good. And they have one pick in the first round, and they've got, you know, they just. The standard draft, it's not going to refill, like, anywhere close to last year's draft. So, you know, it's. It's just something to keep in mind that we can't get so accustomed to everything going right and injecting four top 100 prospects every draft. It's just there needs to be some restraint and. And some realism in that this is unheard of, how well everything is going and how well they were set up in last year's draft. It's just, it's. This isn't the norm, so you can't just be, you know, we don't want to be Icarus flying too close to the sun here.

The Godfather
Here's. I want to say something because I feel like the Mariners fan base is getting very Clint Frasier y around Harry Ford, where those of you who are on twitter when Clint Fraser, Clint Frazier was a Yankees prospect, remember Yankees fans throwing him into every single trade proposal that they have?

Logan Evans
Esteban Floriol, too.

The Godfather
Yes, him, too, because. No, because they all thought that those were the expendable guys. And I think that we're getting to that point with Harry Ford where if we keep throwing him into mock trades, he's probably not as valuable to other teams as we think.

Because if we don't think it's painful to give him up, then other teams aren't going to think he's enough of a piece to acquire. So he may not be a centerpiece guy. And that is why I worry that, like, I don't know if he's the answer to this question now. It's funny that we just talked about him, my neighbor, as many of you know, I'm worried he's going to come egg my apartment after I say this. Johnny Farmello is, I think, the answer to the question because there are some concerns that I have seen about his swing and how that will, like, track as he moves up the ladder, about whether he can continue to hit high, high end pitching, you know, as he gets up to the higher levels of the minors. This is a guy who I know there's also a lot of love around the industry, and because he's on a rocket ship, I worry, when does that, does that rocket start to fall at any point or is he going to keep going up? And so that is why I think that, you know, the Mariners, if they're going to get a good player, it's going to be someone painful to give up. It's not going to be just Harry Ford. It will never be that simple. It's not going to be Harry Ford and Tyler Locklear and Walter Ford. And that's your trick package. Right? Because that's too easy.

It's going to be. There's going to be someone painful involved. And I think that if you're talking about the. Let's trade a guy at what could be the apex of his value. It's a guy who's dominating a ball right now.

Logan Evans
And, Johnny, if Ty Pete counts, I will say Ty Pete.

Evan James
That was actually going to be my answer, believe it or not.

Logan Evans
Sorry, Evan. I keep stealing your thunder.

Evan James
You do. You keep stealing. You know, it's good. If I'm picking the same minor leaguers as you and watching so much minor league baseball, it must mean I'm doing my homework somewhere.

Logan Evans
So, yeah, you know, you're killing it.

Evan James
But my answer is Ty Pete. Because, uh, similar reasons to Anderson Farmello, I think he's having a little over success in the level where he is not being challenged. And when you push him up the ladder, I think that shine's going to come off real quick, and we're going to be looking at this year as the year that type heat was, you know, kind of like on the back end or just below some top 100 lists. And he's going to fall off of all those things by this time next year. And we're going to be like, well, you know, he's still here. He's.

Who is. There's this early Jerry prospect I was gonna name, and I totally can't think of his name now. He's one of the infielders they took.

He never made the majors.

The Godfather
Oh, oh.

Logan Evans
Joe Rizzo.

Evan James
Joe Rizzo. Thank you.

The Godfather
Another Virginia guy.

Evan James
Joe Rizzo. So that's. That's my pocket theory is I think that typet is, like, a terrific athlete who is looking very good in minor league baseball but is not going to translate up the ladder. If you want an exact comp, I'd say he's a little too easy. Sopo esque.

Logan Evans
Yeah. I mean, as a player, Taipete is very dissimilar from, like five foot eight Joe Rizzo. He's like, physical, you know, Adonis, you know, he's crazy. But I. I have legitimate concerns about Taipei's ability to hit.

He's got the power. He's. I mean, he hits the crap out of the ball, but he is about as deadpool of a hitter as I've seen ever. I mean, I don't think. I think I've seen him go the other way. Like, I can count it on one time or one hand.

Now he's hitting the crap out of the ball, and that's good. But he has a ton of base hits robbed because they are doing the pseudo shift and the second baseman is standing right there and he hits a ball, 105, right at the guy and he gets robbed.

He's definitely like, I'm not out on typeed or anything like that, but if I were to. If I were, if I had to pick. And Harry Ford isn't the question because I do think also, I think he has legitimate. I think he has ups, like, legitimate trade value, but that being said, he's not going to be the one. And done you get anybody? I think that is a fair point, but, yeah, I think Tai Pete is the answer. I think currently, right now, this is a little bit of a spoiler, but I think I have Aidan Smith higher than Taipei right now. So that's a little. I'm a big Aidan Smith guy. I'm. Yeah, I'll leave it at that for now.

Evan James
All right, guys, that was. That was tons of fun. Guys. That was tons of fun. It was good to have a couple topics. It was good to freestyle a little bit. We don't get to talk prospects enough on this because I don't know enough. And obviously you're not here and Kate and John are busy, but that was tons of fun. Thanks for being here, Max. I think we're going to wrap it there for today. It looks like Durst might be frozen anyway, so shout out to McDougal bats, use the code goems at checkout, 20% off. Give us a little kickback. We love that you can up your swing like one of the Mariners prospects this year. It would seem so do that. Thank you, Max. Thank you, Ders. We will be back tomorrow with they might be Mariners talking about the minor leagues. So until then, go Mariners. 30 shut out victory behind Brian Woo today. Let's go.

Victoria Cash
I'm Victoria cash. Thanks for calling the lucky land hotline. If you feel like you do the same thing every day, press one if you're ready to have some serious fun. For the chance to redeem some serious prizes, press two.

We heard you loud and clear, so go to luckylandslots.com right now and play over 100 social casino style games for free. Get lucky today@luckylandslots.com. dot available to players in the US, excluding Washington, Michigan. No purchase necessary. VGW group void were prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply. I'm Victoria Cash. Thanks for calling the lucky Land hotline. If you feel like you do the same thing every day, press one if you're ready to have some serious fun. For the chance to redeem some serious prizes, press two.

We heard you loud and clear. So go to luckylandslots.com right now and play over 100 social casino style games for free. Get lucky today@luckylandslots.com. dot available to players in the US, excluding Washington and Michigan. No purchase necessary. VGW Group Voidware prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions.

Evan James
Supply Judy was boring.

Logan Evans
Hello?

Webmax
Then Judy discovered jumbacasino.com dot it's my little escape now Judy's the life of the party.

The Godfather
Oh, baby, mama's bringing home the bacon.

Webmax
Whoa, take it easy, Judy.

The chumba life is for everybody. So go to chumbacasino.com and play over 100 casino style games. Join today and play for free for your chance to redeem some serious prizes.

Chumbacas.com no purchase necessary. Voidware prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply. C website for details.

The Great Debate - Start or Relieve with Logan Evans? Meet at the Mitt Podcast

Primary Topic

Episode Summary

Main Takeaways

Episode Chapters

1: Opening Debate

2: Statistical Analysis

3: Fan and Coach Perspectives

4: Conclusion and Predictions

Actionable Advice

About This Episode

People

Companies

Books

Guest Name(s):

Content Warnings:

Transcript