STILL No Mariners Moves, Yoan Moncada an Option? Roki Sasaki Next Domino to Fall?

Chuck Powell and Anders Hirst start off today's episode with a rant about where baseball is at and if it needs major changes: If the players that every team can afford STILL move to the big market teams for less money, is the system broken?  Is Yoan Moncadad an option at 3B? What are the chances the Mariners sign Roki Sasaki? And if they do, how much could that change the whole offseason outlook?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Stove. What a kind of name is that it's the
best name for a podcast in Christine history. Gosh, you know,
why don't you sober up? A Welcome into the latest
episode of Stove of our first of twenty twenty five,
our first since the beginning of the holidays. Anders Hurst
is here. My name is Chuck Powell. And even though

(00:22):
we haven't done a podcast in about what three weeks,
two and a half weeks, we haven't missed anything.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah. We joked last time that we did it that hey,
maybe that we say this time that the Mariners didn't
do anything, that they're going to do something, and they
did not.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yeah, still have not, yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Have not yeah, in a long time, like nothing, not
even just like little news.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah. I mean, you know, podcasts can get outdated quickly.
So I'm just going to say it is ten thirty
seven on January ninth, that's when we're starting to do
this podcast. We have not made a move.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
No.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Now, on the flip side of that, Anders six, other
teams have not made a move. I mean to be
in this current environment of Major League Baseball right now
that has always been on the lip on the verge
of being unfair as a league, you know, the haves
and the have nots, the spenders and the not spendings.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
It's the capitalist league. Yes, yeah, NFL is the communist league.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
And yet I've always defended that approach, and I've always
felt that that hasn't necessarily been that big of a detriment. Sure,
the Yankees and the Dodgers win more consistently, but it's
not like they're stacking championships on the top of championships.
And I also used to be as recently as I
don't know, like a couple months ago, opposed to the

(01:45):
expanded playoff because it has led to, in my opinion,
unfair results and the playoffs that not the best teams
are winning the World Series? And why did we play
one hundred and sixty two game six months schedule if
you we're not, if we're going to just say at
the end of that, you know, whoever's healthiest and gets

(02:06):
on a role is gonna win the World Series. But
now it's like it's becoming the saving grace to the
sport because we are seeing small market clubs that don't
spend a lot of money get into the playoffs at
a pretty good clip. But our last however, many champions
tend to all spend big money, and so that's now

(02:30):
we're but now we're entering this era and it's a
little bit disturbing that not only has the league been
on the verge of being unfair for the for the
modern era last twenty five years. Now we have organizations
out there like the Dodgers who defer money. So they're
playing with fake money. Now. Not only are they playing

(02:51):
with money, yes, yeah, they're not even been playing with more,
which we reluctantly accepted. Now they're just playing with blaytont
fake money. It's cryptocurrency that they're using to pay their players.
Going forward, we have a Mets owner and a large
market who obviously is treating this as a hobby when

(03:13):
most organizations are trying to run it or have to
run it as a business, and he's running it as
a hobby. He's saying, I would rather be a hero
to Mets fans everywhere than give money to my kids.
They're jerks, They're a bunch of losers. You go make
your own money or to charity, you know, step up
charitable need people. So he's just overspending. And now we

(03:37):
even have players like Haisan Kim that are saying, I
don't care what you pay me, I just want to
play for the Dodgers. So we even have the guys
that all teams in baseball can't afford, Mariners and those
lower can afford these guys, and they are saying, ah,

(03:59):
I still want to play for the Dodgers, the Yankees,
or the Mets. So what a trap that we're caught in.
It's like a bear trap this offseason, the difference between
forget about the Mariners and the Mets. Okay, we're one
of seven teams that hasn't spent a dime on free agency.
At seven, seven out of thirty teams have not spent

(04:20):
any free agent dollars. The tenth highest spending team in
the offseason is the Astros one player, Christian Walker, Yeah,
sixty million dollars. They've invested number one, nine hundred and
seventy five million dollars. The Mets have invested in their
team this year and beyond. Think about that gap. And

(04:41):
now I am looking myself in the mirror as a
baseball fan and saying we need a salary cap. I
am looking myself in the mirror saying thank God for
the expanded playoff. It's the only chance for the mid
to small market clubs because not only have they had
an unfair advantage for the last quarter century, now Rob
Manford's letting the use fake money with stupid owners with

(05:04):
stupid money, and even the guys that Jerry and Justin
are trying to get on the cheap are deciding I'd
rather make less to go play for that team that
spends all the money. Yeah, what a horrible spot. I
feel that the sport is in right now.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, it's funny because, like this is usually hot Stove podcast,
we talk about, you know, options for the Mariners, but
we've gotten into a bigger picture conversation with baseball and
how to fix it and everything.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
And I didn't even warn you know, how to do it.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Oh yeah, And I was kind I kind of blindsided
by it. But I'm happy because I've always honestly, it
just came out. As as much of an advocate as
I have been for spending for the Mariners. I have
always thought there should be a salary cap in baseball,
and not for that exact reason. Now, I also think
there should be a salary floor so that the Oakland

(05:54):
Athletics of the past ten years, fifteen twenty years can't
do what they have done. Tampa Bay is same thing,
even though they have been mildly successful in doing so.
But then maybe a third thing you add on to that.
You definitely have to fix up the arbitration rules so
that players can get paid earlier. But I think the

(06:14):
model is there for there to be a more fair
kind of thing, because we just talked about at the beginning,
like this is the capitalist league that haves and the
have nots, and then the NFL is the socialist or
communist league where they spread all the wealth around all
the thirty two teams. And I think that's probably the
model that needs to be the case for a professional

(06:35):
baseball league because of how much people need parody, and
just especially if you want to grow your game to
the larger amount massis.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
I think we have enough parody. The stats are there.
Jason Stark puts it out every year, more different champions
in baseball than in NFL. Over the last twenty five years,
we have better turnover, believe it or not, in baseball
than the NFL. More different teams make the playoffs set
every year. I don't know if that many small market

(07:04):
clubs are winning the World Series, but nonetheless they're getting
into the dance and with a shot at winning the
World Series. Parody is not the concern that I have.
It's the pr It's the perception that I am a
baseball fan. I want to be a baseball fan. I
want to root for my team, but they don't have

(07:25):
a chance because my owner doesn't spend enough money. And
that's not just a Mariner fan. That's an Orioles fan.
That's a Cardinals fan. More than that. I grew up
in Saint Louis. They've always run that organization very well.
All my Cardinal fan friends, smart people, great baseball fans

(07:47):
furious we don't spend enough money. Yankee fans are furious
they don't spend enough money. Get right that, how do
we stand? Yankee fans are actually saying, how do we
stand a chance against the Mets with the way they
spend Like this sport has a problem when eighty percent

(08:09):
of its fans they are blaming their owners. The reason
that I'm not happier in the summer is because my
greedy baseball owner, who sits on mounts and mounds of
bullyon in his basement, will not spend more than the
New York Mets, because I know he has it, so

(08:31):
that that is a perception problem. The NFL owners are
sitting on more cash than baseball owners. Yes, they've capped
their players from their for money for decades now, and
yet you don't hear football fans complaining that we don't
have a chance or that our owner is cheap. Just

(08:53):
from the pure pr standpoint, Baseball should have a salary
cap so that they make all of their fans feel
like their favorite team has an honest chance at the
beginning of the year.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
It's funny that you mentioned that, and you know what
it really reminds me of. It reminds me of European
soccer because that is very much the haves and the
have nots the world.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
You have the small more extreme.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yes, because I mean rarely do you see small clubs.
I don't know, people watch ted Lasso like the AFC
Richmonds of the world. It's not a real club, but
people kind of the general masses if you're not a
soccer fan, that's kind of a good example. You never
see them win titles, right, rarely ever, except in twenty
sixteen when Leicester City kind of pulled out the impossible
at five hundred to one to win the title in

(09:36):
the English League. But that's that's kind of the same
sentiment where they've almost accepted to this point, like we're
it's a cultural thing for us. We're never gonna win
the title. We're never gonna go win trophies left and right.
We're but we want to enjoy ourselves and stay up
in the league. That's the other part is there's relegation,
so like a big win for them is staying in

(09:57):
the league that you're in. So there's a lot of
different their aspects to it. But that just reminded me
of that kind of thought process and blaming the owners
and how much those smaller teams owners fluctuate and kind
of cycle because they have trouble making a ton of money,
and it's it's just a I don't know, I don't
know what the fix is, but yeah, I.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
Think a salary cap is going to be the fix.
And I've never been on that bandwagon until the last
couple of years. But the Players Association is never going
to go for it. Bucky. You'll tell you that that's
the strongest union in America is the Baseball Players association,
so they're not going to go for it. Obviously players
are making money, Obviously owners are making money. Like everybody's

(10:36):
making money in the sport, despite the lack of television
ratings that we have. But I mean, think about it.
If it's affecting local fans on a moment to moment
basis and keeping them from going to the games or
keeping them from buying the merchandise or even watching at
home on television to drive up local ratings, then the

(10:57):
national picture, which is far more bleak, is it's become
more and more of a regional sport that every year
that passes well, they certainly aren't going to tune in
to watch teams that they feel have not just unfair advantages,
but are operating on another planet than what their team
operates on. So they go from being angry at their

(11:19):
own team for six months to being so hateful of
the teams that are in the playoffs that they refuse
to watch them. That's not a good recipe for growth
for this sport. So I think Rob Manford needs to
behind the scenes, you know, circle the wagons, get with
the players and convince them for the good of the game,

(11:42):
for the good of the fans. For the good of
the future. We are going to have to go to
the salary cap, if for no other reason, then for
the pr that it will give us. Because football fans
don't complain about their owners not spending enough money. No,
they realize they don't have a choice. Don't have a choice.
Okay where Baseball? Every single franchise right now, including the

(12:06):
Dodgers and Mets. They're fans on Twitter Met fans. Now,
if we could just resign Alonzo and get Bregman, I'll
be happy about this all.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
Can we let Roki Sasaki go to another team? We
know you have the money, Steve Cohen.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
No, Mike Petriello writing that the Dodgers really need Roki
Sasaki right now? What the f are you talking about?
The Pirates could use Roki Sosaki. There's a team that
could use Rokisaki. Put him with Skeens, in with Jones
and they might have a fighting chance this year. Yeah.

(12:44):
But anyway, it's something I think that they have to
greatly consider going forward. I think we're years away from it.
And this is the way sports operates, unfortunately, is that
it has to get disastrous before they make the necessary changes. Chase.
He had to break somebody's leg sliding out of the
baseline in order for them to protect second basement. Buster Posey,

(13:07):
the face of the San Francisco Giants, had to break
his basic back in order for them to change the
play and the collisions at home plate. We will have
to break baseball before they will make something this dramatic,
make this kind of a change. But I wish for
once they would take a page out of college football's

(13:27):
book and realize how stupid college football was for one
hundred years. Yeah, and make changes before they have to
be made.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yeah, and I totally forgot about the Chase Utley breaking
leg slide. Thank you for putting that back into my mind.
I wonder if this is a question for Bucky, because
you know you mentioned it. He's obviously a former player,
and you know he said they're never going to go
for the salary cap. I wonder if if you added
the salary floor and then you vastly changed the arbitration

(13:58):
rules so that players could get paid earlier in their careers,
if they would have any sort of budget movement on that.
And I don't know how that would look because baseball
is different than almost any other sport in that when
you draft a player there most cases, except more recently,
they've been ready earlier than they ever have a history
of Baseball players that have been drafted. So but maybe

(14:22):
like I don't, I honestly don't know. You Like, in
the NFL, you have a three or four year rookie
contract and then then you start to sign another contract.
And in baseball it takes six years of even being
in the MLB before you can earn free agency money.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
So I go on to something. I mean, all they
care about is as long as that you're not capping
our ability, our earnings ability. So if you rose the
floor right and then set the cap yep, and then
as long as the money flowing through still getting to
the players, right, then I would think they shouldn't have
a gripe. But any kind of inference that we're going

(15:00):
to cap anything and the players have, you know, come
at you after you with pitchforks and torches, right like
it's the owners that you know. I get why baseball
wants to have its big market clubs being relevant every year.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
Dodgers Yankees World Series last year, whatever I.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
Mean that's not been repeated that I mean it's been
since the seventies.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
But I'm saying, like, that's that they're good for baseball.
In their eyes, that's great, right.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
If that matchup happens every twenty five years, that's awesome, right.
That's because it's a great rivalry. It's been way too
long since we've had it. I was glad to have
had it too, but but the truth of the matter
is that you know you can't have it, and it's
not happening every year, But the perception is that it
is happening every year. That's the perception of things.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
And I think it will start if the rules don't change,
it will start to turn into those teams more often
than not being at least one of them being the
last team standing.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
You have to convince them, because right now they don't.
Those they're like five precious teams. There was a record
number of luxury tax money this year. Blew it away
like ten times the most ever spent, and the Dodgers
don't give two blanks about that though. They those teams,
the Mets and Dodgers have decided whatever will give money

(16:21):
to the poor. Who cares. We're not going to stop spending.
It's not threatening us. And so convincing them at this
point will be harder than convincing the players. The players,
I think, and they're going to be almost impossible to
convince the players. So you have to somehow tell everybody

(16:44):
involved in baseball this is just for the betterment of
the sport and for its growth and our financial abilities
in all of our markets to arrive at this point.
But you've got to captain, which means you've got to
share resources, which you know, financial recas sources, and so
it's gonna be almost impossible to get to. But someday

(17:06):
it will when the sport nearly breaks, they'll make the adjustment.
But I'm just saying I've never been more worried about
the way the average baseball fan. Forget about the novice
that you're trying to lure to the sport, the actual
baseball I had is just, you know, eight out of
ten of them hate their ownership. Yeah, doesn't matter which

(17:30):
franchise their whip, except for Mets fans. Right now, eight
out of ten fans hate their ownership and blame them
for why we don't win a championship every year.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah, And I don't know, it's I'm with you. I
don't see it changing soon because you would really have
to incentivize whichever side you're talking about, the players, owners
that you know, you have to hit them with what
they care about them. That's their checkbook, right and until
that is affected, that's when it nothing will change because

(18:00):
you will be telling them like you have to give
I think you're right the player's side. You could convince
them that overall you would be having a higher earning
potential with a new model as long.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
As we keep giving you this percentage that we agree
to in the collective bargain agreement. Why do you care
what rules we put in place for the rest of
the league. It's going to be harder, though, to tell
the owners that we're going to change things. And part
of it is because Rob Manford truly does want the
Yankees and the Dodgers to be relevant. He doesn't want
them to go through long stretches of having to rebuild.

(18:34):
Right if the Astros have to do that every fifteen years,
we don't care. And that's a big market, right, We
don't care if that team does. If the Mariners never
do get off the ground, we want the little guy
to have a fighting chance. But we are really mainly
concerned with making sure that those big market clubs. I
almost think here's an interesting idea, because I know we
got a lot of to get to. What if you

(18:56):
had kind of like soccer, and you put all all
of the big market clubs in one league and all
the smart market clubs in the other league, everybody made
the playoffs, and then the two met in the championship.
That'd be kind of cool and have the chance for
David to slay Goliath every single year because in a
seven game series, anything can happen. The small market club

(19:16):
could get there. But put all the small market the
cutoff line fit. The problem is Mariners would be in
the big market clubs. Unfortunately, Yeah, but and then and
then we're really at that point. But I do wonder
if maybe that's the radio or you just have the
take the eight giants and then of the league and
they play in the same and they get an automatic

(19:38):
bid into the playoff, and then you divide the other
twenty two up into various divisions so they have a playoff.
Back in the state of Illinois, I'm from the state
of Illinois. Our high school basketball tournament was always a
really big deal for us from small town in Illinois.
So Dad would take my brother and I every year
to the state tournament. We dream of playing in it

(19:59):
our our selves. It was at the University of Illinois.
Even though the campus smelled like manure, we thought it
was heaven, and so we would drive up there and
we would watch the game. And so we would always
go to the small schools because that's where we were.
We were a small school operation. So we would go
to the small school tournament, take in the championship, and
then go home with dreams of playing there ourselves. And

(20:20):
we never reached it. But the Double A, which was
the big teams, they would always give one spot, one
spot out of eight to the Chicago Public League champion.
So all of Chicago, our only major city in our
entire state, but only you only get to occupy one

(20:41):
of the eight spots in the state tournament, even if
you have the eight best teams in the tournament. So
they would keep it. So what ended up happening is
winning the Chicago Public League became became bigger for Chicago
schools than actually winning the state tournament. But they would
still show up at the state tournament and they were
convinced they were gonna beat everybody by a thousand points,

(21:03):
and they didn't. There were teams from other parts of
the state that would beat the Chicago I mean more
often than not they won, but it wasn't every year.
It was usually like two out of three years that
the Chicago Public League champion would win the state championship. Maybe,
and this is fantasy, yeah, world that we're operating in.
Maybe there's something there. Maybe there's a there's a division

(21:26):
of the eight big market clubs. They can spend as
much money as they want, they can outspend each other
all day long, and then the rest of the league,
twenty two teams, they're divided up. The three division champions
come out of those teams because everybody's in a playoff, right, Yeah,
there's gonna be the playoff with the big teams. There's
gonna be playoff with the twenty two, and then the

(21:46):
twenty two come together for a tournament at the end
of the year and the champion faces the Chicago Public
League champion in the World Series. Now, you got small
market represented every year, you got market represented every year,
so ratings should be okay. The fan bases of everybody
has somebody to root for. I'm going to root for

(22:07):
the little guy to knock off the giant from the
small fan bases. Both small market and big market get
tournaments at the end of the year, so you're gonna
have a playoff feel for both. Maybe there's something there
anders because I don't know if the model as it
exists right now is going to be something that all

(22:30):
baseball fans are going to continue to buy into. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
The only problem with that, I think that's a good
idea that would force acceptance from mister Robert Manfred that
he can't that what's going on now isn't working, and
I don't think that's happening anytime soon. So I think
he thinks that the game is in a great place
and it's never met as healthy as it is right now.

(22:53):
We saw the money in the Dodgers Yankees World Series.
The ratings are up. Yeah, I don't the money is
being spent. I'm with you. I think something needs to change,
whatever that means. If that means going to, like you said,
a soccer version of a promotion relegation situation where you're
you're forced to the bottom. Teams are forced to spend money,

(23:14):
and I always thought it would be harder to convince
the kind of lower end owners to have a salary
cap and a salary floor. Then it would be the
upper end owners because, like you said, for pr reasons. Now,
the up brand owners don't have to spend as much money,
but they can say, hey, we spend all the way
up to the salary cap. We did everything we could

(23:34):
and you know so. But then it would be the
lower owners that are forced to spend more money that
are like, I can't do that, and well.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
It's not just luxury tax, right, it would be revenue sharing. Yeah,
so they don't have a choice. Exactly, you have to
spend a certain I mean, inn fl you have to
spend a certain amount exactly you got to be and
it's almost all of your cap. Yep, it's not like
some low figures. It's not like one hundred to two
hundred million, No, you know, teams up to one hundred
and then I think the low bars like ninety six

(24:03):
or ninety four or something like that. Yeah, so they
may they force you to spend the money, but I
don't know. I mean, you're right, we're probably a long
way away from any kind of change, much less something
as significant as what I just suggested in my fantasy world.
But I do fear this direction that we're heading in
now that the Dodgers not only have their normal unfair

(24:23):
advantages but get to play with funny money. Yea. And
Steve Cohen has come in here and decided I'm just
gonna buy championships because I can. Yeah, well, it's say,
by way, he still doesn't have a good team.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
And like I was gonna say, is that actually gonna
get him a championship?

Speaker 1 (24:37):
I mean they posted the lineup on MLB Network of
the Mets, their projected lineup, and I'm like, man, Soda
looks really great in there, but you don't have anything
after hit or number four. Yeah, you still aren't even
that good. Brandon Neimo's you're cleanup bitter?

Speaker 2 (24:51):
Yeah what Yeah, not my first choice. I think Soto's
on a better team last year's that's up anyway.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
I know, I know, I got it talking about getting
you off on the different track.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
Now they're off our soapbox here. Let's go into the
hot stove because it has cooled down quite significantly since
we talked last time. It was it was in full
steam when we checked before the holidays. It's now like
you said January ninth, we're getting close to Rookie Susaki day,
seven days away, one week for the first day he

(25:23):
can sign, and you mentioned this to me. That doesn't
mean he will sign on that day, but let's give
some updates at least in regards to Mariners prospects, not
prospects as in our system. I mean, yeah, prospective signings
for the Seattle Mariners. Like you mentioned it, High Song
Kim signs with the Dodgers. I don't even have the

(25:44):
deal in front of me, but it was.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
There's twelve mil. That's it very.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
Very reasonable for almost any team that needs a second basement.
And I believe I cannot confirm this, but I believe
the Seattle Mariners need a second basement.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
And they were apparently in on him. Yeah, you tell
me how this makes sense. Mariners are in on a.
Mariners are in on a. Mariners are in on him,
and then he signs four years twelve million dollars. That's
like barely above league minimum, right, I mean, they had
to have offered him more than that.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
I would have hoped so. I would hope so.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
And yet he's still and I know that other teams
did those have been reported. There have been other reports
that other teams were like four years twenty five I think,
and he still went to the Dodgers for four years
twelve million. So obviously he's spent all this time and
he took it all the way up to the deadline
and just signed with the team his favorite team in baseball. Yeah,
that's obviously what he did. But it does make you wonder,

(26:43):
like what I mean, I mean, are you going to
be able to lure anybody here? I Sung Kim I've
talked about since the offseason began on this podcast. I
don't think he's going to hit the ground running. If
Hasan Kim didn't and Jung Hu Lee didn't, who are
supposed to be better players when they got here and

(27:04):
they took a year to get to get acclimated. Then
I was there's there should have been no expectation that
Hasan Kim was going to come in here and oh,
second base is solved. Yeah, I don't think. I don't
think that's the player that he's going to be for
the Dodgers. I don't think that's the player he was
going to be for the Mariners. I did look at
it as that's a nice investment because I think when

(27:24):
he does get acclimated, I love what Hasan Kim.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
He was one of their best players last year.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
And Haisan Kim might actually have a little more athletic ability,
And so to me, it looked like a really nice investment.
He can be super utility, don't put too big of
a role on him in year number one, and then
he's your future second baseman beyond that. So I don't
think not getting him is all that bad a thing
for twenty twenty five. I don't think he was going

(27:53):
to hit the ground running anyway.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
But he filled a hole.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
But you do wonder like, how did you not we
had a guy who signed for four years twelve million dollars.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
That you wanted. Yeah, yeah, that you wanted it. Yeah.
I don't know how that makes sense. Either there's something
that doesn't add up. Either he signed for less money,
which is a very high possibility, or the Mariners weren't
in on him and they never offered him because the
knew maybe he was going to go to the Dodgers.
And you know, we've seen these reports that, oh we

(28:23):
were this close on Marcus Simeon. We were the next team,
We were the next team on the show. Hey, Tony,
like I not his free agency, but before that, Yeah,
I don't know. I don't know if it's a if
that all that is true, that the Mariners are in
on all these guys and they just keep missing out,
or if they are trying to just keep the fans
happy by telling him that you know, we were actually trying,
but we just can't do it.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
Yeah, Carlos Santana.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
Oh that's I was gonna bring that up too.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
You wanted Santana and apparently you were bridesmaid on Carlos
Santana And okay, at that stage, you want Carlos Santana
anders and I recognize that he brought a little bit
to the table when he was here as a whole.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Ty Sunkin also.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
Coming off a very good year despite his advanced age
this year. So had that been a move that the
Mariners made? Okay, Yeah, but it's like, but it's all,
wait a minute, I don't have to have Carlos Santana.
But how did you not get him if you wanted him?
And why weren't you prepared not to get him? Because

(29:24):
those first basemen came off the market, six of them
in forty eight hours, and Christian Walker did not sign
for anywhere close to the deal I thought he was
going to sign. Josh Naylor didn't get traded for anywhere
near the package that I thought he would be traded for.
You had to have been interested in all of those guys.

(29:45):
What were you offering fourteen dollars an.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
Hour lower than Minimaysias?

Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yeah? What were you offering? You know, all right, we'll
give you two years ten million, but you're not going
to get dental. Yeah, gonna do four on one k
We're not gonna match.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
And even then, what were you offering?

Speaker 1 (30:03):
So I don't know.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
What's more concerning is that they were banking on Carlos
Santana to be their big signing of the off season,
or that they didn't get Carlos Santana, who they were
banking on to be their big signing of the off
season in terms of free agency.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
Well, Christian Walker, I buy, would have been their choice
over Carlos Santana because they were in on him. Those
were the reports. But he but what how short did
you come up on? That? He only signed for twenty
million A years should be doable. Now, that doesn't mean
he would have signed for twenty million dollars here, right,

(30:40):
I mean, he's Southwest, he played in the Southwest, goes
to Houston. Maybe he likes warm weather.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
And it's an organization that has proven their winners and
gotten the most out of almost every hitter.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
They signed, very hitter friendly for right handed power hitters
with the Crawford boxes out there. So I'm sure the
Mariners would have had to have spent more. Right, but
if you'd offered three or seventy five, which was the
projected value of the guy, I mean, do you if
you have to go beyond that? Okay, I understand why

(31:13):
you don't do it, but you should have gone up
to that for a player of that caliber. And then
Carlos Santana goes to the Guardians, who are cheaper than
the Mariners, way cheaper. And the only reason Santana's with
the Guardians is because Josh Naylor went to Arizona for
a draft pick and a top twenty prospect who had

(31:35):
a six and a half ra this pas.

Speaker 2 (31:37):
That's the one out of all of those moves, that's
the one that I think you couldn't have done that.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
I agree, like now what I've heard different people in
the marketplace, say he's not worth a comp draft pick.
You know what, giving up the potential of six years
control in the major leagues over a draft pick for
one year of Josh Naylor. Maybe it's not. Maybe you
do strike gold in the middle of the first in

(32:05):
the second round on a draft pick. But we've talked
about this for three seasons. Where are the win now moves?
And who cares if the Guardians take the fortieth pick
in the draft and it turns out to be Chipper Jones,
who cares seven years from now? Right? Like, come on,

(32:27):
we're supposed to be in a championship mint window adding
Josh Naylor as a championship move when the Arizona Diamondbacks
and the Oakland Athletics are embarrassing you with their financial
aggression and their wining guardians too, their win now aggression. Yeah,
then what is happening? What is the plan? I don't

(32:51):
I mean, have you really gotten caught off guard by
the marketplace this badly? Or is there a plan? I
mean they've been awfully quiet. They're scared of the media. Well,
they're scared of talking to the media now after what
happened last year. I mean, so maybe you've got some
plan up your sleeve, but we've raised past plan ze.
Luis Castillo is not supposed to be made available. He's

(33:13):
clearly been made available to other teams, and you don't
like the offers that you're getting. What plan are we
on right now? That we still have not made a
move at this point.

Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, and even if Luis Castillo has been made available,
a lot of the teams that have needed starting pitching
have already made those trades like or signings wherever they are.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
Well, that's the other part of the market that you know,
that's how you read the market. And now all of
a sudden, your trip the chip that you have to
play in terms of depth, which is a starting pitcher,
which you don't even want to move. I know, personally,
I do not. Well, all of those teams are satisfying
their pitching holes and and all of the first basemen

(33:55):
that are available in third basement and second basement. The
pile keeps trip and shrinking to the point where we're
considering yoan Mancata, Oh my gosh, just go ahead and
push me off the cliff at this.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
Point, well, before we get into what's now available, like
I I have made my thoughts clear. I don't prefer
trading Luis Castillo, and because that was inferring that you
would make these small moves, the Carlos Santana's, the High
Song Kim's signings. But you haven't even made those moves.

(34:31):
It's been zero zero zero. So like that's the frustrating
part for me. I can understand if if you want
to keep the core of your pitching together, I agree
with it, and then you kind of nickel and dime
your way to actually fill holes. Right, this isn't even
to Jorge Polanco and uh, you know, Mitch Garver, Colton

(34:53):
Wong Territory. Those were filling holes. You had major league players,
or you thought you had major league players in those positions, and.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
You thought you had a grade, right, You weren't just
plugging it in with a guy that's played bas We
haven't thought you had upgrade.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
We haven't even done that. We're up to Austin Shenton
at third base. Second base a combination of Dylan Moore
gold Glove win or Dylan Moore and Ryan Bliss, and
first base is completely open unless you want to throw
Tyler Locklear into there. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
I can live with one of those holes at the
end of the yeah, but you got to kill two
of them. Yes, Like if we end up with Alec
Bohm at third and Justin Turner and Luke Rayley at first,
I can live with Ryan Bliss or Dylan Moore until
we figure something out that's better.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
And someone brought this up to me the other day.
There's still a hole at DH, Like, I mean, you
have a couple of hitters that you know aren't maybe
aren't playing the alphat You can throw him DH Mitchanniger,
but I don't want him playing every day next year.
I really don't.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
But like that's not even addressing that. And then the
people want to upgrade shortstop too.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
That JP.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
There's question marks there. There's there's places on this team
where I can understand if you want to kind of
hold pat and keep your core together in the pitching
staff and that, but but you have to be doing
something at the positions you literally have nothing. I don't understand.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
Are you in for the Yoshida Cassus for Castillo thing
because that fills your DH and as in those three
team trade no no no, uh Masataka Yoshida the red
Sox the trade the Red Sox will give you Cassus
for Castillo.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
Yeah, I put Suzuki in my head, Sorry not instead
of yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
Yeah, but we're we're gonna throw in you have to
take Yoshida. My response to that was, I'll do it,
but you're gonna take Hanniger. So you take one year
of Hanniger off our plate, and we'll take three years
of the money you don't want in Yoshida. We get Cassus.
You also take twenty four million off of our books
so that we can then pivot and get a spend

(36:54):
some free agent money at third base or second base.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Castel and Hanneger for Cassas and Yoshida. I would do
I would too, I would do it. I think Yoshi
does an upgrade on Mitch Handiger for sure.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
Yeah, and he's put the ball in play guy. I mean,
he hasn't it for power, and that's why Boston wants
to get rid of him, and so maybe he won't,
but by their own announcement, yeah, they want guys to
put the ball in play, and he has put the
ball in play ever since he came into the Major leagues.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
High high average guy. He had actually a pretty good year.
Last year, I want to say it really bad.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
No, it wasn't bad. So, like he's not hit lefties,
and they found out he's atrocious.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
Defensive, not good defensively all right.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
So and he hasn't it for as much power as
they thought. They gave him eighteen million dollars a year
for goodness sake. But he does kind of fit what
you were looking for. And look, if you're going to
be cheap, get rid of Hanniger, there's the swap, and
then move him in the off season for a bucket
of balls if you don't want him after this year,
but to try him out this season as an upgrade

(37:54):
over Hanniger, and you actually save money on the deal
so that you can take that money and go get
a second basement or a third basement with it, and
then I can.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
Live with white Hole. I'd be much more open to
that than I would be just castillo for Cassas personally,
I'd be way more comfortable because it fills two holes,
and you get rid of Mitch Hanniker, Like, honestly, it
sucks for that, you're at that point, but we are
at that point.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
He's a really good mariner, and I like him a
lot too. I think everybody that's around them like somebody
he's awful.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
Yeah, and that kind of brings up you know what,
I don't know. We have to keep moving on here.
I'll bring that up another time. Let's let's get onto
what's available.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
I fear that you might go on a thirty minute right,
I would.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
I would no, no, me, I would go on a
thirty minute rant. But we're just that way anyways, So
talk about the holes. If you're not making trades, which
it doesn't seem like that's impending anytime soon. Who knows. Uh,
there are a couple options available. You mentioned Moncata. What
are your thoughts on the availability of one of the

(39:00):
most polarizing baseball players of the last five years. I
would say there's some people that like thought he was
about to be the next big thing.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
Well when he was signed, yeah, well yeah then and
then I mean he got traded for Chris Sale for
goodness sake, right in Sales Prime, right, So he was
supposed to be a superstar. Uh, And the way he
started out in major leagues, it kind of looked like
he was heading that direction. He got money and got lazy.
He's had trouble with his weight, and he can't stay healthy.

(39:29):
He's really not a profile of a player that you
want at all. But I suppose that if you invest
in the way you have now, if you invest in
a very little amount in him. When he has been
on the field, he hasn't been terrible at the plate.
He's been terrible in the field. Good noight night. I mean,

(39:53):
I'm trying to talk myself into being okay with it,
but I'm not. He's terrible, and he's terrible for the
club out and he's terrible for the team. And yes,
maybe he's met God in the off season and seeing
the light and it's spent his entire off season in
the gym and in the cage, and he's ready at

(40:14):
age thirty, shouldn't be over the over the hill and
ready to finally live up to his potential. Well, let
him do it for somebody else. Let him do it
for the raise. Yeah you know, yeah, I just that's
just not something I'm rolling the dice on.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
So I do wonder. I'm not saying this is the case,
but there is a thought in my head that's like, well,
there are so many of these players that have these
mental makeups that are coming from one organization, and I
do wonder that's the Chicago White Sox. Yeah, and I
wonder how much of it is the organization and the
culture there versus you know, when you take the player
out of there.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
It's a double edged sword. Yeah. I have a sibling
who worked for the White Socks, so I know have
a little bit of intimate knowledge here. It's a double
edged sword. They're not good organization, They're not about winning,
and so they have a bad culture. And then they
decided to invest in players, players who are lazy and talent, yeah,

(41:15):
but don't want to do the extra things. So you
so they come in if those same players they signed
come to the Yankees, and the Yankees are like, all right,
first things, first, shave your mustache off, get rid of
your beard, because we're gonna teach you discipline right off
the bat. That's the only reason they do that, yep
stuff yep, just to remind everybody we rack like pros

(41:35):
around here, and you have a responsibility and we're in charge,
so you want to do that. And then we're going
to introduce you our strength coach. And our strength coach
has a lot of power in this organization, So you
better listen to him. He's part of the coaching staff,
you better listen to him. So if and then we're
going to team you next to Aaron Judge, and Aaron
Judge is.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
Not gonna let you get away with it, captain right.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
I mean, look what Marcus Stroman did, called out his teammate,
and who was up in Marcus Stroman's face, Aaron Judge.
So the culture, if you added Louis Robert to the
right culture, then maybe he flourishes. But add Louis Robert
with the penchant for being lazy, yon Mancata for the
penchant of being lazy, and then have him joined the

(42:21):
White Sox and they look around like, well, nobody's a
professional around here. Great, there's nobody to learn from or
answer to. So whatever.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
So the question is, do the Mariners have a type
of clubhouse that would get the best out of those
types of players?

Speaker 1 (42:37):
I don't know. It seems like it's a pretty good clubhouse. Yeah,
it really does. And it seems I mean, and I
think Julio's energy could be infectious. Yes, I mean you.
Louis Robert was number one on my list at the
trading deadline last year. And that's despite my brother telling
him me, you don't want him, right, he was still
number one. And I just had a conversation with my
brother like three days ago, saying, I still think if

(43:00):
you put him next to Julio.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
Loui Robert or Moncatta Louis roberta you put Louis Robert
next to Julio, and Julio's infection and enthusiasm for playing,
if they respected each other, might rub off on him.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
And now all of a sudden, you've got two superstars. Yeah,
there's no one in the sport more talented than Louis Robert,
not named Shoe a Otani. He's that gifted. He hits
six hundred foot home runs in batting practice. I mean,
he's a Gold Glove caliber defender. He just doesn't care.
Doesn't care, and you've got to get him to care.

(43:36):
And Joan Mancatta cares less.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
Yeah, okay, all right, Well that tells me everything I
need to know. Yeah, is he better than what you have?

Speaker 1 (43:44):
Now? Would you rather throw a shirtin out there? Or
would you rather throw If you commit to Mankata, then
the search stops. I don't want the search to stop.
And even though the free agent market is horrible at
third base. We still got to make a move. We
gotta make a trade to something, all right here? You
so this is great for a Mariner's podcast, and you're
I don't know, I don't know what it's gonna sit
with you, Okay. I'd rather bring Polonko back and have

(44:07):
him played third base than Avion Mancatta.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
I'd rather. That's a tough one because this is the
arena on Houston.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
No, no, he's a rumored to go to the Yankees
right now where three forty next year?

Speaker 2 (44:25):
I thought, oh, that's right, he was rumored to go
to Houston. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I that's it.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
I don't think Polonko was terrible, No, last year. I
don't think he except as a defender. But I think
he brings more to the table than what Moncata does.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
I think, out of in terms of ability as a player,
I think you're right, I think out of pr you
you just can't go back to it.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
You can't.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
You can't go back to Polanco.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
But did people hate Polonko? They were disappointed in Polanco,
but he wasn't.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
Gar No, No, they didn't hate him, but it was like, oh,
you tried at second base, Like, how bad would it
look if it was you moved on from Adam Fraser
to upgrade for Colton Wong disaster. You moved on from
Colton Wong to upgrade to Jorge Polanco borderline disaster.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
So I'm not saying he's like playing a b C.
I'm saying, at this stage in the process, if we're
entertaining Joan Mancata, yeah, I'd rather have plan.

Speaker 2 (45:33):
I probably would too, but it would not sit well.
I think for the average baseball fan who maybe doesn't
have as much faith in Horrory Polanco because they just
watched him last year and maybe they hadn't watched you
Moncata last year, it would look better for most people
to sign you on Moncata than it would Johey Plonco.
But I don't disagree with you. I think Polanco will

(45:54):
probably be a better player next year, like pretty significantly.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
Planco signs of the Astros and Yankees. I'm just telling
you right now, two seventy five, he's going to have
a seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
To eight ten ops every day.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
Uh, they'll figure out how to limit him as a
defensive liability. Probably will d H yep most of the time,
and he'll be a productive player. He just wasn't here. Yeah,
and that is a mystery that still can't get solved. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
So anyways, Uh, well, let's look at some other second
base options. Now the high song Kim is gone. Uh
how first of all, how comfortable would you be if
you filled the other two holes but you had Ryan
Bliss and Dylan Moore coming in it at second base
next year?

Speaker 1 (46:35):
Not not No, Dylan Moore needs to be a utility player.
That's the only value he's going to bring to her team.
And Bliss did could not catch up to a high fastball.
You can't catch up to a high fastball at the
major leagues. You're not going to get anything but high fastballs.
Nobody's going to play your game so that you can
get on base and steal second, third.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
And home.

Speaker 1 (46:56):
Okay, he's a nice little weapon to have off the bench,
and I will let him continue his development to try
to figure out how to hit a major league high fastball.
But there's no way I feel comfortable starting with him
at second base. If I have to live one of
those three positions with what we have now, I'll live
with Rayley and Locklear. At first base more so than

(47:17):
I will live with more Bliss at second or Shenton
at third. Okay, all right, so yeah, I don't feel
good about it at all. I like Dylan Moore on
this team, but in the role that he's because, by
the way, he didn't want a gold Glove for second base. No,
you want a gold Glove for utility, which I'm glad
they have that now in baseball, and he earned it.
But that is his lot in life. Dimpled face utility boy,

(47:40):
that's him.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
Does he have dimples?

Speaker 1 (47:42):
Yes? Okay, very deeply bigger than yours. Wow. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Yeah. So there is a name that I have always liked.
I've always liked this player. I think he's been incredibly underrated,
played for some really good teams. Is more of a
utility man, but he's I think, made a more of
a career at second base than almost anywhere else. Key
ca Hernandez, he is a winner.

Speaker 1 (48:08):
I think he's done.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
You think so.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
I think the value that he brings is what he
brought to the Dodgers. Okay, put him on a great team.
Let him be a jackass that keeps everybody loose. See.
I love that plays hard, love that guy. He plays
hard that you don't have to worry about, that wants
to win. But he's a little bit of a loose cannon.
And I don't think players like that work on organizations

(48:34):
that you know, don't have as strong an identity as
with the Dodgers's. He works on a team loaded with superstars,
and then he can be comic relief. Yeah, okay, so
like you saw Ocean's eleven, right, Yeah, yeah, he's he's
like the comedy boy that they just throw in on

(48:56):
the team at the very end. He's not Clooney Pitt, No,
you know, he's the good comparison. He's the Asian acrobat flipped,
you know, flipped out of the safe. That's what kek
Hernandez is. And that's all. He's not getting many lines
in the movie, right, but he can play a role
on the team. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
And maybe it's just me always seeing him play for
good postseason teams.

Speaker 1 (49:20):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
And I just I love the way he plays. Like
he said, he plays hard. I'm looking at his stats.
There's nothing to be right home about. He had six
fifty four oh ps.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
Last year, so worse on an average poor team. And
I don't think we're gonna have an average team. I
think we're gonna have. I think we're gonna have a
solid team this year.

Speaker 2 (49:38):
Yeah, actually makes a move.

Speaker 1 (49:39):
If they make some moves, right, But I don't think that.
I think he has to be or surrounded by superstars
and that's where his value, all right.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
So I'll accept that and I tend to agree. But
I just love him as a player. I just I
love watching him play baseball.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
All right.

Speaker 2 (49:55):
Let's move on to one more possibility for the Mariners
in this season, and kind of a big domino that
has yet to fall, and that's Roky Sisaki. It's been
reported that there's been a mystery team quote unquote that's
in on on Rokie, and there's a lot of speculation
that could be Seattle because supposedly they haven't met with

(50:19):
him yet publicly, because you know, all these meetings between
the player and the team get reported. Supposedly they haven't
met with him yet, but there is a mystery team
on him. And the longer obviously he can't sign yet,
But the longer this weight goes on, the less optimistic
people are that seem to be in the Padres camp

(50:41):
because he was kind of the potterys were like the
number one team supposedly that he was going for. It
seems like the longer this goes on, the less confident
people are that he's going there. What are your overall
thoughts on the Rokie Sisaki sweepstakes? If you were to
sign with the Mariners, what does that mean? Do you
think they have a chance.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
Well, there's there's a positive way to look at this,
and then there's a negative way to look at this then,
and I'm gonna start with the negative. The negative is
it's starting to feel the meat based off this conversation
that we've had about this inactive offseason that they have
there now to the point past plan z right now

(51:20):
of they have way too many eggs in this basket.

Speaker 2 (51:24):
They're putting all the chips in the It.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
Kind of feels like they're at we got to get
Roki Sasaki to save this off season. We've talked about
this at the beginning of stove. This might actually be
a better signing than Juan Soto, not that he's a
better player, but seven hundred and fifty million for Sodo

(51:46):
versus two million for.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
Definitely more likely signing Minnesota.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
Yeah, Well, I mean two million versus seven In terms
of the investment on a win. Now move a guy
that's ready to join your starting rotation, which we'll get
to the positive spin on this in a moment, But
they are putting an awful lot of eggs. It feels
like in this basket it might be out of desperation.
And so this is the lot of the Mariner fan

(52:15):
this offseason. Unfortunately, we're hanging our hopes on being the
mystery team for a guy that has never played in
the major leagues before. By all accounts, he's spectacular. Yeah,
he's going to be one of the best pitchers in
Major League Baseball from jump. Put him with Pete Woodworth
and the Mariners pitching philosophies, and I think he's going

(52:35):
to be He could potentially be a pitching superstar here.
But we haven't even been granted an interview and he's
only gone to big market teams for interviews. Now we
probably don't know all the interviews that he's done. Yeah, right,
And the agent is telling us market size isn't going

(52:57):
to matter, and yet the only places he's visiting a
big markets at this point. He's also said everything that
he said about where Roki wants to sign sort of
speaks loudly about the Mariners. We don't care if it's
a big market. We want to be able to be
competitive right off the bat. But this is mostly about
pitching development and developing his game into the future, and

(53:18):
having a little bit of a Japanese culture around him
so that he doesn't feel completely left out in the woods.
Those sort of things have been described well. That fits
the Seattle Mariners to a t. But we haven't even
heard that they've gotten an interview yet, and it kind
of feels like this is the last chance to save

(53:41):
the off season. So that is terrifying.

Speaker 2 (53:43):
Yeah, Okay, they don't get him disaster.

Speaker 1 (53:47):
Now, on the flip side, maybe there is. Maybe this
helps explain why there's been so much in activity. Okay,
that didn't work, that didn't work, that didn't work, that
didn't work, that didn't work. So far, nothing has worked
that we kind of hatched this offseason. We have another plan.
Justin and Jerry think about this more than their own wives.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
Okay, how to make the Mariners better under the restrictions
that they've been given, which they don't really seem to
mind that they've been given them.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
Yeah, so they have a plan. I do wonder since
the break holiday break, if they're sitting on it until
we find out this information, because anders if they can
somehow pull this off, and John Paul Morosi said as
recently as Wednesday that he feels the Mariners are the

(54:42):
mystery team. Not only is there a mystery team, he
feels they are the mystery team. Now let's go ahead
and cover that. John Paul Morosi's terrible at breaking news.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
Yeah, okay, not the best, most reliable guy, right.

Speaker 1 (54:55):
So I don't trust him as far as I could
throw them. But if there's any truth to that, if
they could pull this off, then maybe it does behoove
them not to be making moves right now, because if
they could get Sasaki, that unearths a completely different treasure

(55:16):
map for the Mariners this offseason, and there's still enough
out there to be acquired. Now, all of a sudden,
you don't feel so bad about trading Luis Castile. You
have a fifth member of your starting rotation. Maybe you're
not needing to maximize in your head what Castillo is worth,
and suddenly you are pulling the trigger on that Casus

(55:37):
Yoshida trade. Okay, Also, if you sign Sasaki as much
as Mariner fans really don't want to think about this.
It opens you up now to trade a Miller or
a Woo or a Gilbert or a Kirby because of
the financial match that we're talking about here. Now, all
of a sudden, if teams really do want Gilbert or Kerby,

(56:00):
if I can flip a Gilbert to Baltimore for Mayo
and Westburg, Now I've got my first basement of the future.
I got my third basement of the future. My corner
infield is set for now and for the next seven
to ten years.

Speaker 2 (56:11):
You have a bunch of middle infielders coming up soon.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
I got Sasak that replaces Kirby. And then I've also
not committed any of the finances that I've sat aside.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
Still if they're actually there.

Speaker 1 (56:24):
So now exactly so, Now I got Rayley and Mayo
at first and DH, and I've got Westburg at third,
And now I got twenty million dollars that I can
spend on second base, DH or whatever the case may be,
relief pitching, whatever the case may be. So okay, just

(56:45):
to recap putting this many eggs in this basket sounds insane,
and I frankly don't think it's going to work, and
I think we're going to get another we were second
place story out of this?

Speaker 2 (56:57):
How many of those have we had recently?

Speaker 1 (56:59):
And then we're where do they go from there? But
on the flip side, if you're like, okay, nothing has
worked out, let's just wait till the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth.
If we can get him, it unlocks all sorts of
potential for us for the rest of the offseason, and
maybe we can still pull off a dream off season

(57:21):
because getting Roki Sasaki for as little as you're gonna
have to pay him could be I mean, it's a pearl.
I'm telling you, it is a It's the biggest pearl
and the smallest oyster. Okay, And so I do wonder
if after that didn't work, that didn't work, that didn't work,
that didn't work, why rush anything more? If we could

(57:42):
get Sasaki, we put all of our energy into Sasaki
and we should know by mid January where he's going
to sign. Look at how much flexibility we have financially
and trade wise to go finish out the rest of
this lineup and this roster. So I don't know if
that gives anybody any but just another way to look

(58:03):
at it.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
I think it's good perspective. If I was gonna bring up, like,
you know, did they think they messed up the last
three years of the offseason, and like if they had
just run it back with the two previous years, so
from twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three and then
from twenty twenty three to twenty twenty four, like it
would have been a better team than it turned out

(58:25):
to be. That they're like, Okay, maybe we should just
hold pat or this is a much different explanation that
they're holding out hope for this one move, and that
will kind of set the domino for the rest of
the of the roster because you can't really make other
moves in assumption that you're gonna get him because you
don't know yet, right, So like say the Mariners, like

(58:48):
with it would work differently with other free agents because
you wouldn't have to wait till this point, right. He
wasn't posted until December fifteenth.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
So but and then that's another thing, yeah, because every
team in baseball can afford him. That you also open
up more trade possibilities if you are going to move
a starting pitcher. So imagine if you do land him.
Even if you don't land him, all.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
Those teams that didn't get didn't get him, that might
be more apt to.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
Look to the Mariners for a pitcher. Yeah, okay, but
if you do get him, man, now all of a sudden, okay, now, look,
we we can even entertain portraying one of our young
starters for a couple of young patsy and really start
to fill this thing out. Plus we haven't tapped into

(59:38):
any of the money that we claimed to have to
spend on free agents. So it's something to think about.
I mean, I'm not trying to say they've got some
master stroke of strategy planned. I'm going to tell you
right now, I think they are crapping their pants. I
think they all wear one pair of pants over there,

(01:00:00):
and they've all taken turns.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
Crap, they're all soiled. That's all soiled.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
I there, crap. But they're like our pants are already ruined.
So the way to salvage a great off season we
can try to just piece together a little bit of
a roster. But if we want to salvage like a
great off season, let's see if we can get Sasaki
and then that opens up the floodgates for a lot

(01:00:26):
more possibilities than what we have now, and so I'm
just gonna hold out hope that that's the plan, and
that's why they've been so inactive since over the holidays.
But I also I'm not sitting here telling you that
we're a strong candidate because it feels very, very very unlikely,
and it feels like another very huge miscalculation that you

(01:00:50):
are perhaps weighing on this far too much.

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
Yeah, I completely agree, and both sides of it. I
think if this did pull off, it would be a
very good explanation for why they've been inactive, But that
doesn't mean it's the right thing to do, right, So
I really hope that it does happen because I'm with you.
I think he instantly would be a top five pitcher

(01:01:15):
in MLB.

Speaker 1 (01:01:17):
He kind of sounds like it. Yeah, I've seen some
scouting reports that say, hey, don't be so overly sold,
don't get too carried away with this. But you know,
I can also probably find a couple baseball people that
know what they're doing that would tell me and give
me a report saying he could end up being the
best guy in the world.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
Yeah, and like immediate at age twenty three, at age
twenty three, which is crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
It was one hundred and two. Yeah, with work ethic.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
And a splitter that literally jumps off the table, which.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
Is supposedly his best picture. Yeah. So I mean, I'm
in and if and if Jerry and Justin have cartoon
hearts floating around their head over Roki Sasaki, and they
want to see this thing through and they're not going
to give up until, you know, he hands out the
final rows. You know, if they want to just see
this thing to the end, it shouldn't be that far away.

(01:02:06):
We should be about a week away from it, and
then they either have to pick up the pieces after
that or they've unlocked the potential for an even better
off season than we had hoped.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
Yeah, and that's that's how much risk is going into it.
I really hope that at this point next week we're
talking about the Mariners signing rookie Sasaki, because that will
be exactly it's the fifteenth, which is next Wednesday. I
believe hopefully we can come to a point where we're like,
all right, what's next? In a good way? Yes, yeah,

(01:02:41):
but who knows.

Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
But it has been infuriating and hopefully that's what you've
gotten from both of us in these podcast this offseason,
and it's particularly this podcast. It is infuriating. It is
hair pulling. Yeah, and I really do think that they
have struck out every which way. They've struck out in
the front office more often than their team did this
past year. Whoa hello, Chuck coming in hot. Yeah, so

(01:03:05):
they I think they've struck out left and right. So okay,
but it's not too late to save it, and the
best way to save it is that you gets this off.

Speaker 2 (01:03:13):
So one one last question before he head out of here.
You think they have struck out and not just not
walked up to the plate?

Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
I do, okay, Yeah, I mean there's one thing pulling
our chains as fans when you already are guarded about
what you say in the media. Yeah, I mean he
has a problem with being too honest with us. That's
probably Jerry's biggest fault.

Speaker 2 (01:03:41):
And he hasn't spoken in all this off because he's.

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
Actually pretty slick behind a microphone. He just tells us
things that he should keep secret.

Speaker 2 (01:03:48):
Well, and people are smart enough to know when someone's
being slick, and it's like, all right, Okay, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:54):
But this is somebody that's already guarded and then said
in his only public comments that trading a starter would
be plan Z And we're already past that, all right.
So yes, they've struck out, they've gone to bat, they've
struck out, and now they're like, Okay, I'm tired of
striking out. Let's go. Let's just wait and let's see

(01:04:19):
if we can still say salvage a great offseason. So
it's one of two things. They get him and that
unlocks a lot of potential, or they don't get him
and now they're left picking up the pieces. And the
more likely thing is they're left picking up the pieces
by a substantial margin. By the way, Yeah, i'd give
it about a five percent chance that they signed him,

(01:04:41):
that we get him. Yeah, but we'll shall see. All right,
other things to discuss. Hopefully we'll actually have another, an
actual signing, an actual transaction to the league next week.
And for those of you that were wondering, well, why
didn't you talk about that transaction with that Blue Jays player,
Because it's not worth talking. It's not worth all right,
So we'll talk to you next week. For Andershurst, my

(01:05:02):
name is Chuck Powell happy stoving,