First Wave of News and Free Agency Draft.

Chuck Powell and Anders Hirst break down the first wave of MLB off season news including Blake Snell to the Dodgers, Mariners new hitting coach, and much more...It's also time for yet another draft, and they draft the best free agents to each MLB team based on 2024 payroll.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Stove. What a kind of name is that? Welcome into
another edition of Stove the Podcast. My name is Chuck Powell.
Anders Hurst is here to guide us through the next
forty five to minutes the thirty two hours. I well,
so we once we start talking baseball, we really have
hard time shutting it down. Well, and that's why we

(00:22):
love the podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Formatch, no breaks, no timers, let it out of the
open road and open it up.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeah, and it's also a pre Thanksgiving Stove podcast. We
wanted to get one in so that you had the
Thanksgiving week into feast on all of our baseball conversation.
And there's actually a lot to discuss here this week,
a lot of Marriner news. And we did our first
episode last week and anders bless his heart, indulged me and

(00:51):
we kind of just went over my Crystal Ball forecast.
That was pretty much the entire first podcast, so we
really never tackled any actual news, any like real much
going on before that. Well, I'm glad we did it.
I'm glad we did it. But this is really the
first episode where we actually get to tackle some news

(01:12):
respond to it. And there's more than I thought we
were going to have on our plate. Plus we're going
to do an exercise at the end, an exercise in
free agency. So yeah, let's get it underway, man, because
believe it or not, the hot stove is lit.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yeah, it's getting hot in here. As Nelly would say,
so take off all your clothes. I won't do that
to save you, but we'll keep our clothes.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Sounds good, even though I am pretty excited that I
am starting to get into that mode. You know, we
talked about on our twenty four season wrap up podcast
with the Molliwop Boys that you know, I didn't really
want to jump straight into it, but I'm starting to
get into it now. I'm starting to look at the
free agency list, I'm looking at the players that might
be available for trades, and I'm starting to get excited

(01:57):
on what the Mariners could do.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
And there's already been some big news going on.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
One of those is a local guy that I think
a lot of Mariner fans wanted a look at at
least the last two years, because this is his second
straight year of being a free agent, and that's Blake Snell,
who has signed a five year, one hundred and eighty
two million dollar contract with that out here the Los

(02:23):
Angeles Dodgers, did we expect anything else?

Speaker 1 (02:27):
No, not really, Okay, not really. I mean, I mean
I didn't have Snell to the Dodgers. Yeah, I think
that was a little sneaky because everybody thought it was
Sodo would be the target. I'm hoping this means that
they're not getting Sodo, because now you're bordering on this
is ridiculous. I mean it already is. But yeah, and
I agree with that, And I think even a little

(02:49):
bit unfair that you can sign shoe a Otani last
year to the largest contract in the history of the
sport and then he decides to defer all of his
payments until after he's day or something like that. I mean,
I don't think the Dodgers should be able If show
A doesn't care, if he has his money right now,
then that's fine with show A. Cool. But you get
to add the best player in the world and then

(03:11):
it doesn't cost you anything in the interim. Uh. To me,
that's a that should should be a violation. I understood
it wasn't at the time, but Baseball should have got
together and say, wait, we can't allow that. Yeah, it's
still gonna you're still gonna we'll just hold show A's
money for him, but you're not going to get away
with adding the biggest free agent in the history of

(03:32):
free agency and then still be cleared to add to
your roster. So had it, had they had the freedom
to get Sodo, that would have I would that would
have disgusted me. Yeah, so to me, I can live
with Snell. And and so if this means they don't
get Sodo, then okay, take Snell. Good luck to you.

(03:54):
I hope he can't get through the.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Fourth Yeah, I think I agree with you. I think
this means they won't get Sodo hopefully. Yeah, we'll see it.
But I still think that for the Dodgers it's actually
a bigger acquisition than Juan Soto. I think this helps

(04:16):
their team in a bigger way. This was their biggest
weakness last year, especially starting pitching health. I think it's
a perfect place for Blake Snell, who has shown his
ceiling as one of the best starters in baseball at
both the Rays and the Padres, and last year with
the Giants.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
Off to a bad start, but he fixed things he.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
Did indeed, And I think the Dodgers are known for
their pitching development. Similar to the Mariners. They bring in
guys and they get the best out of them almost exclusively.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
One difference who one difference. Oh yeah, they get their
guys hurt. Yeah. Yeah. Every Dodger pitcher gets hurt y,
so does every Rais pitcher. So even though Friedman elevant executive, Yeah,
in Tampa and then now what, the Dodgers might be
the best in the business, there's no doubt they ask

(05:07):
you to throw as hard as you can every pitch.
That's their pitching philosophy. This is something that the Mariners
have in their corner. They actually knock on wood keep
their pitchers healthy.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
Well it's it's not even an I mean, yes, knock
on wood because it's there is a lot of luck involved.
But they've shown a pretty large sample size the Mariners
have that you know, they've been able to do that.
I think Robbie Ray is basically the only exception maybe
a little bit of Brian Wood this year, but the
past three years everyone else has basically been.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
I mean, I got through this year with six guys, yeah, and.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
Twenty twenty twenty two with five yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah. So, like I said, Robbie Ray's an exception.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Obviously you're gonna have those once in a while, but
having to basically lean on the same guys and that
that shows that they're good at keeping their guys healthy. Now,
as I was saying before, I still think they're at
least for next year, well long term. Obviously, you never
know what's going to happen with starting pitching and how
often arms can get injured. But I still think this
helps the Dodgers in a bigger way than if they

(06:09):
were to sign once.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
Maybe there's an argument to be made for, but it
doesn't hurt as much. Have we read that they signed.
I agree Juan Soto, I totally agree in that situation.
And look, this was somebody that wanted to play for
the Mariners, made it very clear that he wanted to
play for the Mariners, but not badly enough to accept
the low ball offer that they undoubtedly were going to give.

(06:32):
Because number one, they don't spend in free agency anywhere
close to the level that Mariner fans want them to.
And then secondarily, that's their strength. So if you are
going to spend thirty seven million dollars on a player
or thirty million dollars on a player, it had better
be an offensive player at this point.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
I agree, totally agree. Random question for you, there's not
It hasn't been come out at least news wise. Of
all of the offers that Smell got. Do you think
that Dodgers' offer was the highest offer for him or
do you think it was lower and he wanted to
go there to win.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
I think it was the highest offer. I think last year.
I think once the Mariners weren't in like where he
he was like, I'm going to give you a discount,
and they're like, that's not enough, because I think they
were interested. You have to be. If they're not taking
that phone call, then you're not doing your job. And
so I'm sure that they gave him a ballpark figure

(07:26):
and then we can trade pitching and make it work.
But I think that after he wanted to be a
Mariner held out to be a Mariner, they never gave
him the offer. Then then Boris screwed him over by
waiting till the very end of the process and he
ended up with a one year deal, missed all of
spring training, then sucked right out of the gate for

(07:47):
the Giants, and was a large reason why the Giants
didn't make the playoffs. He was the first part of
the year, right, I think that he just got to
this free agency's like, I'm not doing that again. I'm
just I'm going to a good team, good organization for
a lot of money. Who's paying me? Yep? And the
Dodgers stepped up.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, And there's a lot of discourse saying like, oh
my god, look at the Dodger's rotation.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
Now, it's probably the best in baseball. I still take
the Mariner's rotation over just telling you right now, if
they're all healthy, Otani, Yamamato, Snell, Glass, now, I take them.
If they're all healthy.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
You think so, yeah, well Mariners, Yeah, I think I would.
I would still take the Mariner's rotation.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Well. I think Otani's one of the five best. I
think Glass now when he's healthy, is one of the ten. Yeah.
And Yamamoto, I think we just got a taste of
how good he is. Yeah, he was very up and
down last year. I don't know, he wasn't healthy. Yeah,
that's true. So, but I don't think they're going to
stay healthy. I think two of them will make it

(08:45):
through next season.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah, and then they have Dustin may Walker Bueler like
I still I still think the Mariners in terms of
every single night, you know what you're gonna get Luis Castillo,
George Kirby, Logan, Gilbert, Bryce Miller, Brian Wu give me
that every single day week.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
I'm probably a little biased there though. Value, Yeah, like
how much they make. Well yeah, obviously, yeah, give me
the Mariner's rotation. But if you're just saying that's what
one's going to be better this year on paper, they
probably they probably will have the better year, but I
don't think they're going to stay healthy. And they cost
a fortune, a fortune which the Mariners could never afford,

(09:24):
right they have. The Mariners have the best starting rotation
that money can buy. Yes, or wait, maybe that's not
the best way. Maybe the Dodgers have the best starting
rotation the money could buy. But the Mariners have the
best starting rotation value in the sport. And it's not
even close, not even close.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
Well, the Mariners did make some news, not on the
player front just yet in terms of additions, but they
did kind of shake up a little bit with their
coaching staff. They have course announced that Dan Wilson was
coming back for twenty twenty five. That wasn't a huge
surprise to anyone, but they did make a higher for

(10:00):
the new hitting coach. It's it's the guy from the
or the Braves last year. What's his name, Kevin Seitzer.
I's sorry, I had to look it up to make
sure I had the name right because I hadn't heard
of him before. But I've all I can say is
how long was he at the Braves?

Speaker 1 (10:19):
For? Two years? Three years? Several? I was thinking, I
think he was there for quite a while. Okay, he was,
but he was this this past year. He was kind
of run out of town.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, because I mean they had a bad offensive year
last year and that was one of the reasons why
the Braves were not what we expected the Braves to
be from twenty fifteen to twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
He was there for ten years. Yeah, I thought it
was ten.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
So he was there for basically their like dominance run
with Ronald Acuna, with you know, Freddie Freeman back in
the day, now with Matt Olsen and all those guys. Obviously,
he's had some really good players, but I've also liked
their offensive approach.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
What do you think higher, Well, two years ago that
was one of the best offenses we've ever seen like
statistically and just to watch them from one to nine,
and they've been an offensive juggernaut here in their ten
years of winning, more so than they've been pitching, which
was not the case back in the Mattox Stays. That
was a pitching team and if they got any offense

(11:19):
they were happy. Yeah, but he is one of the
biggest names of the modern era in terms of hitting instruction,
and he had a tremendous run with the Atlanta Braves
where they were an offensive juggernaut, so his name is
well known. So they got a big name in hitting

(11:41):
instruction in Major League Baseball, there's no question about that.
But he is also coming off a year in which
the team that he coached underachieved in his specialty was
the reason that they weren't well that in injuries. A
World Series contender this year, and he was criticized for

(12:02):
many of the same things that we criticized the Mariners for.
Maybe too much swinging for the fences, too much all
or nothing, not enough putting the ball in play, not
enough advancing runners, being terrible getting in runners from third
with less than two outs. The same war cries that
we've had over the Mariners here for the last few years.

(12:25):
But I mean, I'll just cut to the chase. It's clear, Andrews,
that Jerry actually did have a real moment when they
got to the end of the year and he looked
in the mirror and said, I've got to change the
offense philosophy. And he told us not enough fifty four
percent press conference, But he just gathered the media up

(12:46):
on a zoom call one day and said, I got
to start looking at our offensive philosophy and change the
whole darn thing. Yeah, it's clear that he was being
very serious about that, and so he now has Edgar
Martinez overseeing and Kevin sites are under You don't add
those two. You don't have those two guys in your
organization unless you have decided I don't want anything to

(13:07):
do with it anymore, take it and run with it. Yeah,
you know, Mike Homer is one of the great coaches
of all time. He let his defensive coordinator do his thing,
and Jerry's hands and his nerderama were all over the
hitting philosophy, and he hired guys like Jared de Hart
just so he could push him around, because that guy
didn't have any weight in the sport. He never really

(13:30):
had a hitting instructor there for a while, and then
Brent Brown he only kept for a couple of months
before he popped him. He obviously had a I got
to change my ways kind of moment, and to me,
that's encouraging.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
So I'm encouraged also by the kind of it seems
like Seitzer's more of a kind of New Age, more
analytics driven. I'm not saying he's full on with Jared
absolutely Jerry Depoto like, but he's he's that kind of philosophy.
But you also keep Edgar, which is definitely more of
the old school back totball, hit the fastball, basic like

(14:07):
hitting instructions to hitters. I like how it's there's a
balance of both of them, and I really hope that
that turns into something where it's kind of the best
of both philosophies.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
I hope. Yeah. But then the fear is, are you
going to get halfway through the season hitting two to
oh two as a team at the end of May
and suddenly we're playing got players saying, well, he's telling
me one thing and he's telling me the other. Yeah,
And that's what I'm so I'm a little worried about it.
And the other thing that I'm curious about. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
I really don't know how this is going to play out.
But it seems to me, I don't know how involved
Edgar is going to be. The title they gave him
is a little weird. I don't know if he's going
to be the one overseeing quote unquote everything or if
that's just kind of a Hey, I wanted to be
part of the organization still, but I don't want to
travel with the team. Can I can you give me

(15:02):
something where I'm just I'm a part of the guys
every day and I'll give you tips here and there,
but I'm not the guy that's like in charge of
all this.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
I don't know how it's going to play out. It
is a little strange, Yeah, but they've never done anything conventionally.
It kind of feels to me like he's there spring training,
he's their off season yep, and then he'll be there
for home games. But he just doesn't want to travel.
That's what it sounds like. Yeah, it's a big commitment.
I mean, it's not a big financial commitment, but it is.

(15:31):
Edgar Martinez one of the great offensive minds in baseball history,
with passion for the organization he wants them to succeed,
and relationships with the players too. Yes, and then that's
married with one of the great modern hitting instructors of
our day. Now. I don't know if their philosophy's mary,

(15:53):
but I don't think Kevin Seitzer takes the job unless
he feels and Edgar are on the same page on
most things. And I don't think Edgar would accept Sitzer
if he's really got this title, if he doesn't think
that sites are and he see I do I on
most things, and that maybe Sitzer can add a little twist,

(16:16):
new age twist to what I teach. So do you
think Edgar had a say in the higher I think
he would have been able to say no, Okay, I
gotta believe yeah, I gotta believe that. Yeah. So to me,
the highlight is I'm not sitting here telling you that
Kevin Seitzer is going to solve the offense or Edgar's

(16:36):
going to solve the offense. But I do feel pretty
good considering that my biggest thing at the end of
last year was get the hell out of the way
of offense, bring in people that know how to not
only have the philosophy, but know how to instruct it
and let them do their jobs. And this to me says,
I'm going to do that for you, Chuck.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
He said, for this is literally I'm just just doing
it for Chuck Powell from KJR. He's been asking for
this for so long. Jerry Depoto wanted to make you happy.
I am glad you've been asking for that, because that's
something that I think will help the team. I don't
think we're going to see the same thing the last
two years because it seemed like, God, we can't, we can't,
we can't. Even if it's not everything's fixed, I almost

(17:22):
know for a fact it's not going to be the same.
So there may be some different issues, but we'll cross
that bridge when we get there. Let's get a little
more news this time with the player's side, but not
acquisitions in terms of new players to the Mariners, but
some players that won't be returning at least on the

(17:42):
same deal they were on. And that's two players that
were non tendered. Take us through the non tender process.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
First of all, well, I mean, this is just an
opportunity where if you don't want to go to an
arbitration with a player. If you don't even think he's
worth that, okay, then you just don't even tender him
a contract. Okay. So that freed up ROAs and Sam Haggerty.
There was austin both, yes, and and you know both

(18:09):
was part of the team. He was good. I sure
he wasn't terrible, right, Uh, So that decision was made. Now,
when I did my Crystal Ball forecast, I put the
whole roster on there, and I had at the bottom Revas,
Haggarty or Rojas for the last spot. So I really
wasn't counting on Rojas or Haggarty being here. That's why

(18:33):
I put all three of them getting on. And I
know Revos would still be at least be part of
the organ. And they like him, Yeah, And I liked him.
I liked what I saw out of him. Ye had
a couple of big hits for the defense too. Yeah.
So I'm not surprised by this at all. But I'm
gonna throw this one at you because when we talked
about the lineup last week, you had thoughts of Rojas

(18:53):
being your second basement. How do you feel about them
saying you're not worth four million dollars? You're going.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
I feel that means they're getting a new second basement
check because they they denied the Polanco deal and now
they're getting rid of Rojas, so they don't really have
an option there unless you're planning to start Dylan Moore
for one hundred and sixty games, which I do not
think they are. So this means that they're going a
new direction at least with infield.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
Well, he was also their starting third base, so they're
bringing in a third base and two.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
Yes, they need a second basement and a third basement,
and there's a lot of speculation that JP's job isn't
fully secure at this point, which yeah, so they're they're
looking to shake these things up in the infield. I
think their outfield's pretty set. They re signed Victor Roeblists,
they have Julio locked up obviously, and they like Luke
Rayley and I think he's better in the outfield than

(19:47):
he is at first base. Uh So there's a lot
of questions going into this season about what they're gonna
do with the infield. Jerry loves to shake up his
rosters in the middle parts of the roster, not the
high end as much as I would like but he
loves shaking up those kind of middle of the order
guys to get them, you know, find something that works.

(20:07):
So I'm really interested to see how this plays out.
This means you need probably a new first basement because
Turner is not on the team at the moment. You
need a new second baseman, and you need a new
third basement at least. Yeah, so that's three of the
foreign field spots you need to fill.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
But I'm not broken heart at all about these decisions,
right I thought, I mean, you know how much I
thought Polonka was going to work. Yeah, I did too,
and it didn't work. And I agree. You can't pay
twelve million dollars to a bad defender who now is
a questionable offensive contributor. And I don't want to go
into a season with Josh Rojas. We've now seen enough

(20:45):
of him. And you know, it looked like, I mean,
at the beginning of the year, he was kind of
carrying the team. By the end of the year, it
looked like he was swinging for a bat a wet,
rolled up newspaper. He could not hit anything hard.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
He after April and part of me he was an
awful offensive player.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
And it's very clear that Perry Hill, and I hate
that we give him so much credit because I don't.
I never thought that a coach could have that much
of an impact. But it's very clear that he can
take a lump of sand and turn it into a
good defense or defensive player at third base, because he's
done it like three times now. Yeah, so second base
maybe maybe Colton Wong and Polonko and Fraser, maybe the

(21:26):
same magic hasn't happened there at second base, but third base, yeah,
it's worked at least two times in a row. Yep.
So I'm not broken up by this. I kind of
thought that this was going to happen, ye and so,
and I'm happy that they're happy. They are aware that

(21:46):
we need major improvements at second and third base.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
I'm kind of with you there. The only reason I
was planning on having that be your starting position when
reacting to your crystal ball is because that would mean
in that scenario, I didn't want to give up Castillo
or slash Munos to get in order to upgrade that position.
I think you could still do it in free agency

(22:10):
or with some other trades not involving one of your
best starting pitchers or two of them, including Munos as well,
not a starting pitcher, but a reliever as well. But
that still is on the table at this point in time.
And I'm not saying that like I love Josh Rojas,
I think he's a core piece of this team or anything.
I just thought, you know, I would rather reroll it
with him than try and reshuffle one of your starting pitchers.

(22:34):
But maybe that means they are going to do that,
and I'm still open to that possibility. And JP Crawford's
another big question mark that I don't know how I
really feel about him going into next year. I would
be okay if he was your starting shortstop. I would
also be okay if they moved on from him, to
be honest.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
So I think it's fifty to fifty whether he's here
next year or not. Yeah, And as it stands, you
not really cleared much money all for Polanco and the
four for Rojas. You're looking at like sixteen million dollars
to invest back into the team that's not on the
free agent market. Not much. It might get you a
pretty decent second baseman with some change left over, but

(23:13):
it's not going to get you a decent second basement
and third and first baseman and first base.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah, I mean, you could all always throw Raley back
into first base and you still have Randy for the
outfield to fill out one of those spots. I think,
to be honest, I think they're going to try and
re roll Randy out there. I know a lot of
people are speculating he might be traded. I think they're

(23:37):
kind of married to keeping him as part of that
outfield group and then probably really at first base. Some
sort of something going on there, But we'll see how
it shakes out. I try and guess what Jerry's gonna
do every year, and it never hands out, so I
could be totally off base there. Let's go onto the
next piece of news. There was something relatively breaking news

(23:58):
about a week ago when Cal Rawley, who had the
last couple of years, has been news surrounding him about
his future with Seattle. We all know he's one of
the best players on this team. He's definitely a core
piece of this roster, probably the best offensive player.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
Last year for the Mariners.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
Question Mark, you could argue as him, I could argue
robless or not. I still think in terms of every
day they gave you Cal. But if you add in
defense too. There's no question Cal is your best positional
player in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
Oh you got MVP votes for gonna.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
Say yeah, And I think it's deserved, to be honest,
I really really do. There was a lot of speculation
about whether he would resign here, and I think a
lot of people think the barrier to that happening was
his agent. And he has now dumped his agent, Scott Boris.
What do you think this means for the likelihood that
cal Rawley signs long term here in Seattle?

Speaker 1 (24:58):
It means there's a chance because there wasn't going to
be one with Scott Boris, and Cal didn't seem to
understand that. I asked Cal to his face last year,
is your agent going to allow you to remain a
Mariner a sign extension? Yeah? Yeah, and for life? I mean,

(25:20):
but you know, yeah, for the bulk of his career.
And he goes, sure, why not? And I went, you
know that answer better than I do he does, and
he goes, it's not going to get in the way.
He said that on the air. That was not some
private conversation. That was on our spring training coverage. I've
also asked Scott Boris about what he thinks about Mariner's organization,
which was on our airwaves, and Scott Boris has said

(25:43):
everybody knows they won't spend, they won't do what it takes,
and people don't want to play for them because of that.
So that was never going to happen as long as
Scott Boris was his agent. And I've also asked Jerry
Depoto what about cal and a long term extension the
fifty four sent press conference? That question was asked in
that press conference, but everybody focused on the fifty four

(26:06):
percent and we didn't focus on any of the other stuff, right,
So I asked him in that press conference, Both he
and Scott and Justin all three of them couldn't say
it fast enough. They were like, we've been trying. Yeah,
So they've been trying for two years to try to
get him to sign an extension. And that doesn't mean

(26:27):
Mariner for life. It just means we're going to give
you money now, and maybe that can save us money
three years from now with your free agent per year's sally.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
Push his free agency down the road just a little
bit more.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
Yeah, And so he's a catcher, let's face it, he's
not going to have a long career at six foot
four catching one hundred and thirty hundred and forty games,
at least not as a catcher he wanted. He's gonna
have to play some DH He's got to save his knees.
Salvador Perez has done it, He's been great. Yeah, most
can't do it. Maybe Cal can do it. But they're

(27:04):
going to try and buy away a couple of those
by paying him now a couple of those years, buying
those down after he would be scheduled to be a
free agency. So I think they're doing that. I think
Cal wants to stay here, and I think he came
to realize and this is all speculation that Scott is
never going to allow me to do that. And because

(27:26):
Scott Morris wants his free his clients to reach free agency,
and then he wants all thirty teams bidding on them.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
Yeah, and taking it from a player's perspective too.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
As for how.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
The Major league's free agency works, it takes you what
six point something six point twos, say, six years, six
years of service time they call it before you actually
hit free agency, and that depends on when you get
called up. There's teams that can kind of manipulate that
to make.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
Sure that you have as much anymore.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
Right, there's there's rules against that, but still it. Most
players don't hit free agency till they're at least thirty
sometimes thirty one, thirty two, and that's when you're making
pennies on the dollar and then you get all that
money back by having a signing a big free agency contract.
But there are situations Julio Rodriguez is a great example

(28:17):
where the Mariners know he's going to be good, so
we're going to give you this security now so you
don't even have to worry about free agency, where we
don't have to, you know, play through your arbitration but
then worry about losing you. We're going to pay you
this much now, so you get through all your arbitration
and then make as much money as you can and
have that security so you don't even have to worry

(28:39):
about that next contract. You're playing right now. And that's
something that I think a lot of players value, and
it seems like cal Rawley is one of those players too.
If he wants to be here, and having Scott Boris
as his agent would definitely keep you from doing that.
Because he would always let you go all the way
until your free agency and then take the most money
that's available.

Speaker 1 (28:59):
Well, that's so so every time the Yankees, I mean
he was the Yankees, Padres and Nationals all tried to
resign him and all tried to resign him, and every
time he said, I'm not doing it. It's just not
going to happen, and I am not married to you.
Everybody gets a shot. So that's what Scott Boris wants.
He's got the ideal client in Soto. But after Snell
we mentioned earlier, got burned and Jordan Montgomery he got burned.

(29:22):
This passed offseason, there's there's a little different light shed
on Scott Boris and Cal Rawley's like, Okay, maybe you're
not everything I thought you were going to be. And
I believe Cal when he says he wants to be here,
and I believe Scott Boris would have never let him
do it. Yep. And so this is a good sign
for those that want Cal to be a Mariner for
a life or at least for the bulk of his career.

(29:45):
This had to happen. It did happen. Ding Dong the
Witch is dead.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah, and I one more thing before we move on.
I think most first of all, I think most Farrigner
fans do want him to be.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
I think a part of this core.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
There's you know, very few people that I've talked to
that dislike the way he plays, and I think for
nothing else for his personality and the way he plays.
You talked about it on our last episode that we
need more grit players on this team. He is one
of them. He's one of the only ones that we
have at this point. He's a leader. He doesn't talk
a lot, but he plays through injuries, he plays almost

(30:21):
every single day. He not just for his play on
the field, but his personality and his leadership in that clubhouse.
I think is invaluable to this team. And that's a
big reason why you need to have him, you know,
for the next at least five six, seven years.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
Remember that first game where Rayley did something for a
little while, Yeah, but then he was like the hero. Yeah.
And then Cal got interviewed after the game and he
was asked about Raley. Love that guy. First thing out
of his mouth. That's the type of guy that Cal
wants more of those players around him. That's why I
did the thing with the Randy rose Irene trade in
the Crystal Ball forecast, because he's not one of those

(30:59):
type of guys.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
Yeah, no, he's not there. There's different personalities and it's
fine to have. I don't different types.

Speaker 1 (31:04):
I don't want them all to be that way. I
want I want showman, I like, I like that, but
we need more grit. No, I might say that, I'm
with you.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
Well, now that you mentioned that, let's move on to
our free agent wishes here.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
We're getting close to Thanksgiving.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
We we talk about what we're thankful for, and then
we start to, you know, get into the Christmas season
where you want, you know, you start to ask for
some things that's return. So let's let's go through them.
Just one player on the free agent list that you
could have if the Mariners, for whatever reason, find a
way to sign them.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Will do you? And then me?

Speaker 2 (31:40):
Ok are you picking for the free agent that you
would want the most coming into twenty twenty five?

Speaker 1 (31:46):
I already know who you want. You made that very evident,
and to go first, then podcast, you can go first.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
Okay, it's obvious that Vine would be one, so too.
He's twenty six years old, he has at least another
eight years before you know, he can start to think
about a little downturn from him. But I'm just gonna
say this about Wan Soto. Obviously, he's the biggest name
on the free agent market this year. His age is

(32:14):
very intriguing to me. His defense isn't great, but that's
not what you're getting him for. You're getting him for
his hitting. And I know everyone was obsessed with the
possibility of signing Shoho Tawny last year in free agency.
I think I want Juan Soto more than I wanted
Shoho Tony last year.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
And that is because I think the main reason that
makes sho Heo Tawny. He's the best player in the game,
no question about it, sho heyes. But the main reason
for that is because he is a top ten hitter,
top five hitter probably, and a top ten pitcher, maybe
even top five for both. And that's incredibly valuable to

(32:57):
have on your team. The Mariners don't need him to pitch.
We have a great pitching already. I think Juan Soto
is a top one hitter in baseball, one of one.
He is one of one. I think he is the
best hitter if you look at his streaks. He I tried.
I went through like his game logs last year, he

(33:18):
did not have more than two games without getting on base,
and I went back to I just went back through
twenty nineteen. I did not find more than two games
or he did not get on base. So he is
going to give you offensive value every single night with
slug with on base. Uh, he puts the ball in play,

(33:38):
he hits the other way. He is the absolute complete
hitter that you asked for in today's game. And I
think that is something the Mariners need more than anything else.
And he's twenty six. You're gonna have him for a
long period of time. He's close with Julio. I think
there's just so much to like about it. They're never
gonna do it, but I am still gonna put it

(33:59):
on my wish list one and so.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
I share your admiration. There was a story that was
shared during the World Series broadcast about Brian Cashman was
sort of on the ropes the fans. Fans still hate
him and want him out. That's what a lot of
people don't realize. He's so overrated, it's ridiculous. But he
called up his former hitting instructor Kevin Long I think
was his name. He was there with Jeter and a

(34:21):
Rod and all those guys, and he said, I need
your honest assessment on one Sodo because I can't get
this wrong. And Long told him he's the surest thing
in the sport. There's no weakness, you know, from an
offense perspective. He's the best weekend no no, no, no, but

(34:43):
he's the surest thing. So and to get him at
age twenty six, I mean, honestly, if it's the free
agent wish, that's what the team needs. Yeah, they need,
they need Sodo. And but I also don't want to
wish in one hand and crap in the other in
the knocking the house and see which one fold fills
up first, you know, So I just I don't. It's

(35:09):
not going to happen. It's not I know. But it's brilliant.
I mean, it's uh, it's a kind of a curel Yeah,
I really is. You know. You just put him, put
Julio first, put him second, and and start the season.
He's a lefty. You need a lot another left in
the lineup. We'll protect Julio. He'll help Julio become a
better hitter. Yeah, he'll he'll dominate. He's done.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
He's done it in the biggest stage. Yeah, twice already. Yeah,
it's it. He has zero holes in his game offensively.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
Yeah, I agree. I agree, And he would be the
perfect cure for what ails the Mariners. Now, as you know,
I operate in a realistic way, yes, yes, I know,
and my analysis tries to operate through that world. And
so I'm good. I want to keep talking about him,
and and we'll probably talk about him every Damn Stove podcast.

(36:02):
But the truth of the matter is, the more realistic
thing is they're never going to spend the money that
it's going to take. He's gonna take a lot six
hundred million, and they're not going to spend that kind
of money. So here's who I think should be on
everyone's wish list right now, and that is another pitcher,
and that is Roki Sasaki. Oh wow, I think he

(36:26):
shows up and is the best pitcher in baseball. Really,
he's that good. And so Roki Sasaki's free agency. I
almost forgot about this. So I'm sure a lot of
people listening don't quite understand how this works. Remember when
show A came into the league, and he could not

(36:49):
test the free agent market. He was still under control
in Japan, so they sell his rights to a major
league baseball team, but he can't make money on the
free agent market for another year or two. And so
with Showe, it was everybody's got a chance at this guy,

(37:10):
put together your best pitch, and the Mariners ended up
finished second second in that same thing's going on here
with Sasaki. Every single team in baseball can afford this guy. Yep,
you just use your international pool money. It's already been
set aside. He's not even going to make his decision
based on how much money he's going to make. He's
going to make his decision on who's going to put

(37:33):
him in a position to be his best when the
time comes that he can test free agency. And that's
why there's a very good chance he'll be a Mariner.
And we've already discussed it in this podcast. Why their
reputation for developing pitching and their reputation for keeping it healthy.
The Dodgers don't have that reputation. I'm sure if he

(37:55):
joined Otani in his traveling band of All Stars, Japanese
All Star, Yeah, that he would fit a fit right
in in the club house. He's got two mentors there,
everything else. But if he's got an agent worth his salt,
he's gonna sit there and say, Roki, they injure everybody
they get, including Yamamoto who never got injured in Japan.

(38:17):
Let's go to a place where they know how to
develop you and they know how to keep you healthy.
And there's only one place on the map, Seattle, Washington.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Yeah, might as well play in a park that like
inflates your stats too.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
Oakland can afford this guy. So if Sacramento, I should say,
can afford this guy. So if Sacramento can afford this guy,
Seattle can afford this guy. And then you pull off.
You have to pull off a trade for a pitcher
to get your offense, which is probably the better way
to go anyway. So to me, Roki Sasaki unlocks the offseason.

(38:52):
If they can somehow woo him, recruit him, land him
in the nil transfer transfer portal, Then Roki Sasaki, if
we could be the team that wins that seduction, we
unlock the off season that we need.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
Yeah, and I've heard nothing but very very very good
reviews on him, and we saw him pitch the world
Baseball Classic and twenty twenty three, and it was incredible
to watch him pitch. He was a better pitcher than
show Hey, he was a better pitcher than Yamamoto. He
was probably the best pitcher in the entire World Baseball Classic.

Speaker 1 (39:30):
And younger than both of them thrive here. He's twenty three.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
So that is a very intriguing option, I think for
the Mariners, And like you said, it's affordable, and that
gives you an even bigger opportunity to trade away one
or even two of your starter one.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
Yeah, at least one, and it can be Castillo at
that point, yep. And that wouldn't bother people, No, it wouldn't,
because you if you trade the twenty four million dollar salary,
now you can bring forty million back with the sixteen
that you cleared. I mean that's and that's that's us
assuming that they're going to be cheap and they're going.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
To cap it out or else, or you or you
get a better player who may not be making as
much money, because there are some young players that aren't
making a ton hitting wise, and give more value in
giving away Bryce Miller.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
Or George Kirby. Yeah, yeah, just throwing that out there,
there's options. We don't dislike any of those. No we
don't them all, but no we don't. If you're not
going to spend money on free agents, then you've got
to find creative ways to add off. I like it.
I like it a lot.

Speaker 2 (40:39):
That's definitely a more realistic route than the one I wanted.
But I just wanted to give you my wish. So
let's do our final exercise the day before we get
out of here. I am actually really intrigued to see
how this plays out. We I do this sort of
thing with our Hollywood Weekly podcast with Jackson Feltz and
Christopher Kidd. We do a draft every single episode.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
Why wouldn't you draft? Are the greatest thing? They are
the greatest, better than puppies and family members and sex.
They really are, They really really are. So we're gonna
do a draft.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
We're gonna kind of rank all of the MLB teams
based off of payroll in twenty twenty four, and then
we're gonna draft the free agent market basically to each
of those teams list from the most highest payroll down
to the Mariners, which are sixteenth.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Well, the idea of mine it is. I mean, if
we did a draft of free agents. Well, we can't
go from worst record from a year ago because that
team can't afford the best free agent. Right, So really,
this isn't too far off. No, that's what it's going
to be.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
The most the richest team's gonna get maybe the richest contract.

Speaker 1 (41:48):
Right. The New York Mets spend the most money, and
they're probably gonna get the guy who wants the most money.
All right, So that's sort of the exercise. And so
I just took for our draft to order payrolls, Man
malb payrolls from a year ago, and we're only going
to go through sixteen. So the Mariners are going to
get the sixteenth best free agent out there. And I

(42:10):
think even that's legitimate. I think that's realistic. Yeah, and
once the fifteen highest paid free agents come off the board,
the Mariners can start playing. Okay, there you go. All right,
Well let's start with number one. Do you want to
go first? I want you to go first. Okay, I'll
go first. I means you end up with the baron,
all right, So I'll guide you through it. So the
New York Mets have the first selection. Then in the draft,

(42:32):
who you take it at? Wan so wan So.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Yes, the New York Mets signed one So to a
ten year, six hundred million dollar contract.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
We don't have to go to numbers. It's just that's
that's that's where I would have gone to. I think
that they want to spend it. They want to jab
the Yankees a little bit, and obviously, for reasons we
stated earlier, he's the perfect free agent for just about
every organization. They need some hitting two to be honest, yeah,
they absolutely need it. And so I think when push shove,

(43:00):
they're going to outbid the Yankees and they're going to
get him. So not only would that not be that
would be my move if I were the Mets at
number one and uh, and then I think that is
what they're going to do. I think they're going to
end up with them, although Boston keeps coming there. Yeah,
wouldn't surprise me. Yeah, be honest, all right, number two
pick is the New York Yankees. I'll take that one,

(43:21):
and I'm going to go ahead and take Sasaki. Oh okay.
I think that the Yankees would say, we want you,
we need you right now round out our starting rotation.
And if we sign you, then that still frees up
our money. Yep, we could still get Bregman and who
knows who else in the process. So if they were

(43:42):
sitting there at number two, I think they would put
full court press on Roki Sasaki. I keep wanting to
call him Kaz, sorry, Kaz, Roki Sasaki, and so they
they slought him in at the number two. All right.
That means the Houston Astros are number three. I didn't
even realize they had the third one. I didn't either.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
I think they've had a lot of guys that are
raising up the rankings here. I'm tough between two guys
here on what they're gonna do. I could go with
the obvious with Alex Bragman and bring him back. I'm
actually going to go the other way. I think they're
gonna go more pitching, and they're gonna sign Corbyn Burns,
Corbyn Burns, Corvin Burns the Houston Astros. All right, they

(44:22):
sure up that pitching, and I think that's the main
reason why they've fallen off the last couple of years.

Speaker 1 (44:27):
Another organization with a lot of injuries.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
Yes, and they need they need some sure things on
the starting rotation side, because they have not had it
the last couple of years.

Speaker 1 (44:35):
Well, they've lost Verlander, he'll be a free agent this year.
Mccullurs can't stay healthy. Fan ra Valde has had a
little bit of a bounce back yep, this past season.
Burns makes a lot of sense. I would have gone
Christian Walker there. Okay, that's where I would have gone
for Houston to try to make up for a bray
you not working out a year ago. And I don't
think he's going to be the highest paid guy. And

(44:57):
I also don't think the Astros want to stay at
the third highest payroll in the sport. I think they're
going to try to drop it but still add something
to their offense that they were missing a year ago.
All right, But Burns is the selection fourth pick Philadelphia Phillies.
This is where I am going to take Alex Bregman.
It is part of the hot rumors that are going

(45:18):
out there that the Phillies are interested, and it's one
of the reasons why they are actively shopping Alec Bohm.
They want to create that whole third base. Bregman to me,
fits perfect with that Phillies locker room and culture. A
little bit of a turd, but also a very competitive turd.

(45:39):
That's what Phillies are. Yeah, who produces. And if you
do that, if you play all out in Philly, they'll
love you. And I think that he will be a
perfect addition to them. And it sounds like they're willing
to drop the coinape. That means the Dodgers the loss
on Hennay's Dodgers. Right, they've already signed Snell, but let's
go ahead and be on a they're going to sign

(46:00):
more than one guy. Oh yeah, so let's let's go
ahead and do the draft with the with the Dodgers. Okay,
I'm gonna call Glaber Torres. Oh wow, yeah. Interesting.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
They need some infield help, similar to the Mariners. I
think he is an option for the Mariners, to be honest,
twenty eight years old, he's a really good player. How
to down your last year. You can kind of get
him on I don't want to say pennies on the dollar,
but less than he probably would be owed if he
went into free agency after last year. And I think

(46:37):
his personality fits with the Dodgers a little bit.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
I did not even see I've got sixteen mocked up.
He didn't have him on there. I don't even have
him on there, so I have him available to the
Mariners if they wanted him at sixteen, would you want him? Absolutely?
Would I? Actually, I really like glabor Torres.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
I think his offense has been overlooked because of who
he plays with now. A lot of that is probably
because he has the protection of a decent lineup. Sometimes
he was leading off, sometimes he was batting below the
tip big ones. But I think he is He gets
much maligned by New York fans. I think he brings
a lot more of the table than they realize. I

(47:18):
like laboratories a lot, and the age is intriguing to me.
He's only twenty eight years old.

Speaker 1 (47:22):
I don't think he's a winner. I think he makes
a lot of stupid decisions on the base paths and
in the field. I don't think he gives his all
at all times. I'm a little worried about signing him
at all, fair enough, frankly, especially the fact that he's
probably going to get twenty million dollars per year salary.
But I think he is an option for the Mariners,

(47:43):
and he might want one of those short term deals.
Say hey, I want to get out of New York,
let me go two years. Put up big numbers and
become a free agent again or have one of those
like I have a player between kind of deals. But
I think he's an option. I think he's the first guy.
And then Torres, that's the second guy on our list

(48:03):
that even would be an option potentially for the Mariners.
All right, sixth pick the Atlanta Braves. Now, I had
a Damas going to the Dodgers at five. Oh, okay,
and so I had Burns, Corbyn Burns going here to
the Atlanta Braves. So I'm gonna go ahead and say, hey,
Houston outbid us for Corbyn Burns. Let's just bring back

(48:25):
Max Freed. He's been good for us, very good for us.
We need, we need the starting ditching. So let's not
let him get away. We should have resigned him anyway.
So I'm gonna go Max Freed there at number six. Okay.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
That brings us to the Chicago cub By the way,
it's a.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
Really loaded free agent class.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
Yeah, like my goodness, a lot of underrated players, honestly,
players that you don't even like. William Domas is a
great example. Players that you don't think are like, oh,
you know, Willia Domas, fine player, you know, but he
had a four point eight war last year. He was
a very good life, very very good player, plays good
shortstop still twenty nine years old. You know, Max Rereed's

(49:04):
another one of those, has done it in the World
Series before. It is a great, you know, left handed
pitcher for a lot of those rotations. Okay, I I
love Willia Doomas. I think he's gonna be really good.
Cubs don't need a shortstop though they have Dansby Swanson
locked up long term.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
I think can't play a Damas at third that you're
thinking through the Mariners. Yeah, he's already agreed he would
play third. Okay.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
I still think the Cubs are going to go starting pitching,
and this guy kind of fits in their style a
little bit.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
I'm gonna go Nathany Evaldi. Oh, Nathan Evaldi, uh, proven
post game yes, winner, postseason yeah, postseason winner. That's for sure. Yep,
for sure. I had Freed going there. Okay, if if
a Damas was there, they could possibly go third base.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
You think so at that point, Okay, but they got
rid of Patrick Wisdoms, so they're open to that.

Speaker 1 (49:58):
But I do think you're right. I think pitching would
be their first choice. There, and there's some talent on
the board, and Flaherty there and others. All right, eighth
pick Texas Rangers. I think they absolutely would go pitching. Yes,
I'm gonna give them Flirty. Yeah, I like that. I
like that a lot, and I'd be all right with

(50:18):
that because he is wholly unlikable. So let's go ahead
and let him ruin another clubhouse. Like he almost did
the Dodgers, and he certainly did the Cardinals, and he
almost did the Tigers. There's a reason the Tigers got
better without that dick being around. So give me Flerty
to the Texas Rangers, and let's hope he's poison.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
I also think he's incredibly inconsistent, Like he had a
good first half of the year with Detroit, but he
was pretty bad when he went to the Dodgers, Like
they almost didn't go to him in the playoffs because
he was so bad.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
But he had a really good year. So I'm not
just making that pick though the Rangers. I think he
is going to be high value and the Rangers need pitching.
I think he's the next highest priced pitcher on the market. Okay,
I'm gonna shake things up here a little bit Toronto
Blue Jays. Yeah, number nine.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
I think, well, no, okay, now I'm gonna I'm gonna
go Standard here, We're gonna go Anthony Santander.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
That's where I would have gone. Yeah, I was thinking
about that's perfect for them. Yeah, I think it'd be
good for them.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
I was thinking about, you know, oh, we're gonna trade
Vlad Guerrero and then we're gonna sign Pete Alonzo.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
But you know, we'll see. I think I think they're
gonna hold Serve one more year with Lad Gerrow. Junior'd
be interesting with Adamas if they would go after him.
There's been a lot of talk about moving Bashett off
of Shortstop. I didn't think about that or keeping him
short stop. Moving Adamas the third third as a possibility.

(51:51):
I got San Francisco, Rance, Man. I mean, Adamas might
be the choice here to play shortstop, but I had
Alonso here, which I like as well. Okay, to San Francisco,
they got to make a big splash. I don't think
they're out on Soto by the way, they're not. Remember
that Aaron Judge on they gave Aaron Judge the higher offer.

(52:14):
He just went back for Nostalgia's sake. He wanted to
wear the Yankee uniform his entire career, but they gave
him the higher offer. Giants might do one of these
things like, as soon as you get your highest offer,
give us a chance. Yeah, let us know. We might
top it, but we shall see. Man, this one's tricky
for me. But I'm gonna go with Damas. Okay. I

(52:34):
was gonna go Alonso, but since the Damas is on
the board, I think that he plugs into shortstop for them,
and Chapman and adamis on the left side of the
Heightfield's not bad at all.

Speaker 2 (52:44):
Not bad at all, some good defense with some offensive
upside as well.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
I like that Boston Red Sox. You know who just
screams Boston Red Sox to me, Uh, Carlton Fisk, Well,
that him too, David Ortiz him as well. Pete Alonso.
Oh so you're going with Alonzo? Yeah? I think Pete
Alonzo signs the red socks. Okay. Well, they have Tristan cases,

(53:09):
Cassis cases.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
Yeah, and they like him a lot.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
I did see a very interesting trade yesterday at MLB
Network that had a big package going, Oh gosh, who
was the picture that they got in return? But he
was a stud. Oh, now I can't think of it,
but Casas was in the trade, so in order I'll
think of it before the.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
I just think, I know, like it doesn't lineup wise,
it's not exactly what they need. I just think Pete
Alonzo screams, Boston Red Sox to me, playing with the
big green monster would help his numbers. Did I just
think that total Boston Red Sox move right there?

Speaker 1 (53:51):
Yeah, and then I would afford you the chance to
package Cossas for for something else. I actually actually like that.
I ta Oscar going to Boston and they are rumored
to be interested. Look at him. I could say, they
don't get Soto, They're gonna go all in on Taos
to totally see that. Saint Louis to me, man, this
is this is just a marriage made in heaven. This

(54:13):
is the perfect place for Shane Bieber okay, to refine
his cyon touch. Shane Bieber was an outstanding guardian. He's
had all sorts of injuries. He gets to Saint Louis
there in the Midwest and returns to form for the Redbirds. Yep,
I like that. Ardinals taking Shane Bieber.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
I love that, and I love that for Shane Bieber,
who was one of my favorite pictures to watch.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
We're now to the Diamondbacks. Just loaded loaded.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
Some good, good players here. I think Christian Walker resigns
with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Speaker 1 (54:47):
Okay, that's good. I like Goldschmidt there as well. But
I already had Walker going early. So yeah, if they
are not interested, they're stupid. Yeah, yeah, I'm interested. I
am too. You wanted him the trade deadline last year. Yeah,
let's bring him over here. Like it. I think Mariner
fans would not like it based on what I've seen.
He's well, he's thirty four. So you know this idea

(55:12):
that that's the reason that Polanco Garver, that Jerry can't
tell where our guys hit the wall, and we've just
added another old guy. That would be the narrative. That
would be, That would totally be that, that would be. But
I'm telling you, if we ended up Christian Walker, I'd
be pumped. Okay, I'm gonna skip the Angels. They already
have Kakuchi fair enough. I think that's their big one.

(55:33):
I had a couple signings. Actually, I will give you
the Mariner's pick, Travis daro As well, yeah, exactly, and
they traded for Sol there. Yep, I'm going to take
the San Diego Padres then at number one nineen and
for the Padres they lost Snell never have really replaced him.

(55:53):
They could go Tanner Scott, they could bring him back
as their closer this year, but I'm gonna go Sean Manya.
I like that, Sean Mania to the San Diego pie.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
I have a weird affinity for Sean Many. He's one
of my favorite pictures in baseball. I don't know why,
but he had a really good year last year.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
Too, had a very good year, and I think a
lot of people had written him off. But yeah, he's
improved his value at the right time. Probably the Mett's
best picture last year. Yeah, down the stretch, Yeah, I
think he was. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
All right, that leaves us with the Seattle all right,
man is so here.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
You got a lot of options too. You've got Son Kim,
you got both the Kims, Carlos Santana, Tanner Scott. You
want to get the best bullpen piece, Walker Buehler. If
you want a starting pitcher, you've got Nick Pavetta, piv Uh,
you got Tyler O'Neill. If you want him back. I

(56:52):
was looking at that in the organization. I'm decided between two.
Paul gold Schmid too, Steven Suso wants on the team,
mat Base, you got JT, got Justin Turner. You can
Winker bring him back boring or ain't Polanco's out there?
You want to bring him back?

Speaker 2 (57:09):
Sure, Alex Verdugo, I'm deciding between two two names you
haven't mentioned yet, and I'm gonna give you the choice
between the two because I'd be fine with either one
of these.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
Jerkson Profar ooh or Shock Peterson. Oh, man, I don't
want either one of them. You don't want either one
of them. No, I certainly don't want Peterson really and
by the time he gets here at way four fifteen, uh,
he was really good. I would take Profar for sure
out of those two. What would really be strange is
if after Scott, because Scott Servis has like a relationship

(57:41):
with Jerks and oh yeah, and if they got Jerkson Profar.

Speaker 2 (57:45):
The year after they gotired Scott Service fired Scott, it
would make a lot more sense of Service still the manager.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
So all right, I'm gonna take Profar there there enough,
he's had a really good year. Yes, I'm not trying
to downplay him. It came out of nowhere, but he
had a really good He had a good year. I
like his versatility. He can play literally anywhere on the field.
Has started off as a shortstop, has played third, he's
played second, He's played anywhere in the outfield. He's even
played some first base, which is pretty wild to me.

(58:12):
But I like his versatility. He had a great offensive year.
He's still only I mean, he's thirty two. He's not
young young, but it seems like he's been in the
league forever, which he has. He's had ten years of
service time. He's one of the biggest prospects of the Rangers.
So I'm tagging the Hasong Kim here you are. I
think they will take Haisan Kim. I think they'll take
the other one, and then Carlos Santana rumors are real.

(58:34):
I think I don't like it. He's forty one, man,
like I love Santana. I really do such a whiny respect.
I loved him. I think he's a great player. He's fun.

Speaker 2 (58:47):
He's a new age analytics guy where he gets on
base and then has some pop. But he's forty one.
He cannot be your free agent answer. If you have
those other players available like that we just talked about.
There's Kershaw if you want him, there's uh, you know,
Frankie Monta.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
Not super high, rather Santana than either. They're still ti
Oscar Hernandez available. But that's right, Yeah, that's right. I
had him going earlier in the draft. He might go
to the Padres. Maybe I'll do the Manaia thing over,
okay and take ti Oscar there, Okay, but either one.
I I think the Kims. I think Santana there in

(59:25):
play for the Mariners. Yeah, one of the two Kims
and then Santana. They could both end up on this team.
I am.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
I am intrigued why you wouldn't want Chuck Peterson because
he is a Kylesko You mentioned a big trade for
the last last episode about for Kyle Schwarber.

Speaker 1 (59:43):
He seems like a Kyle Schwarber light to me. He's
kind of Kyle Schwarber heavy now. I mean, he doesn't
need to be in great shape. He's DH and every day.
Well that he isn't like we need infielders. We don't
need a DH okay, and I think that's all he is.
I think he is all DH but he's a good one. Yeah.

(01:00:06):
He hit a nine eight oh ps. Honestly, he weighs
like two eighty now he is enormous. How much longer
can he get away? He's only thirty two. Yeah, I'm
not a big Peterson guy.

Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
I would be all in on Jock Peterson. He's fun,
he hits for powers, pearls, he wears pearls.

Speaker 1 (01:00:24):
Yeah. Yeah, let's look.

Speaker 2 (01:00:26):
Because he kind of was an only against Righty's guy
last year. I want to double check his splits.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
I would definitely take tay Oscar over him. Really, Yeah,
for sure. You think the Mariners would. I think they
wouldn't mind bringing him back. But I think he's gonna
make too much money. Yeah, he's gonna be all for
He's gonna get a lot of money. Sign Peterson to
a one or two year deal.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Five fifteen slugging last year three ninety three on base,
I give me that all day, all day, every single day.

Speaker 1 (01:00:54):
Yeah. But yeah, and as far as the guys that
got drafted in front of them, I think your most
real Sasaki I think is in play. I think Torres
is in play, and I think that the Domas maybe
Maybee the name I was looking at. Maybe a lot
of people want Peter Alonzo to play for the Mariners.

(01:01:16):
I do not never seen such a narrative for national
guys that want Peter Alonzo on the Mariners. I don't.
I'm out on that. I don't. I don't think he
brings I like it. Okay, I'd rather have Jack Peterson
to pe Alonzo personally. Oh I would not. I know,
you would not know, but I would. Okay, that's weird,
that's weird. It's just a better hitter. And then I
bet Christian Walker is a better player than Peter alan

(01:01:39):
I'd probably rather have Christian Walker than both of them. Yeah, so,
and I think Walker maybe, I still think that's probably
getting a little aggressive with John's money. Yeah, gonna space.
But all right, there you go. It's funny. I like it.
I like it. So we got jerks and profar out
of it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
Yeah, Jersey profar or what was the one you got?
There was another name that you mentioned, sunk or high
sunk him?

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
Yeah? Yeah, far on the Kims.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
We like the Padres, I guess, I mean, I do.
I really like the All right, enough.

Speaker 1 (01:02:06):
Well, thanks for joining us. We wrap up another episode
of Stove enjoy or Thanksgiving dinner. You know, it wasn't
long ago where Jerry on this weekend, on my drive
down to in laws for Thanksgiving, pulled off the Taiwan
Walker Mitch Hannegger right, jeans Cigarett, tell Marte T I

(01:02:30):
do too. But that was a blockbuster that made me
get out of the car and like, what what just happened?
Why couldn't that have happened while I was on the air. Yeah,
but so maybe they maybe they got a Thanksgiving treat
up the US. But the off season is here. The
stove is lit. There have been two significant trades. There
have been three free agent significant moves, including one monster

(01:02:54):
free agent move. So the stove is lit and Stove
podcast is up and running for anders Hurst. My name
is Chuck Powell. Have a great holiday. We'll talk to
you soon.