J AND SUR PODCAST: The Offseason Begins
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- Опубліковано 24 жов 2024
- The Mariners season ended 2 weeks ago, and the playoffs are in full force, MarinersSUR and I discuss some thoughts on the 2024 Mariners and even talk a little about 2025.
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Needed my trident fix. Got real excited to see this!🔱🌵🔱🌵🔱
Appreciate it!!! Feels good to be back! Need a Hawks W on Sunday!
Greetings, Sir, and Sur! Ok, here is the Tommy LaStella deal. Our supposed bench, with the exception of back-up catcher Tom Murphy, all suffered injuries during Spring Training. Dylan Moore, Taylor Trammell, and Sam Haggerty all went down, and missed significant playing time to open the season. Initially, it was thought (hoped) that they would be back in a matter of several weeks, leading the of course frugal M's management to look more towards a stop-gap replacement in LaStella. All three missed more time than it was initially thought they would, compounding the problem. The M's "plan" for that season had been for the DH position to be manned partly by giving a "half day off" to regular starters when the "crippled three" gave them a "day off" from playing in the field. The remaining DH days would be from the three themselves. So there was no true "by-design" DH on the roster. So suddenly the M's found themselves without a DH and the bench they had envisioned all winter. So, the plan "to be cheap" at DH led to more cheap stop-gap signings like LaStella, who ended up being apparently the most experienced and talented "fix" they could come up with. So LaStella ended up opening day as your DH instead of (pick one) Moore, Haggerty or Trammell. Injuries can and do occur, and when trying to win on a budget, they can cripple a team's chances of being as competitive as had originally hoped. Depth can be huge when the injury sweepseps into town. Lack of quality depth is on management, 100%, so LaStella being your opening day DH is 100% the fault of management's desire to be competitive on a budget. The lack of what was hoped to have been a versatile bench went out the door with the "rotating DH" plan. But it was three injuries during Spring Training that set it all in motion, and the lack of a bench, imo, ultimately hurt the M's worse than having a highly ineffective DH. Seattle could have signed a more expensive (read: talented) DH to play until the bench returned from Hospital Duty. But by choosing to be cheap about a DH in the first place, it was completely in character for the M's to go cheap with LaStella. Now, what bugs me to no end is that when this LaStella as your opening day DH is brought up, no one ever mentions the three Sping Training injuries as being a part of it all. And this story cant be correctly or accurately told with no mention to the chain reaction those injuries set in motion. Note that i do not mention the injuries in any attempt to cut management any slack. I blame them 100%. I'd just like to see this accurately told, which is impossible to do without mentioning the injuries. Keep in mind the M's plan being to begin the season with Moore (.205 career BA), Haggerty (.153 career BA), and Trammell (.182 career BA) as our bench and DH. LaStella not only had a higher career BA than any of those injured bench players, but far more MLB experience. So if Tommy LaStella is unforgiveable as opening day DH, then the M's plan to start at DH being one of the three bench players is even more so!
Just what I wanted to see today! Glad to see you guys back, I'll try and answer the questions myself as you go.
What felt worse, 23 or 24?:
Definitely 23 for me. They were in the hunt/looked like a strong team all year, but they collapsed at the end because their roster was filled with unsustainable pieces. Locked On Mariners talked about Kelenic as a starting RF and not as a joke. Compared to 24, the team looked flawed in May and had a really bad slide in July, the fact that they were only 1 game out is more surprising than them missing the playoffs. The nice thing about this off season is that Jerry has an opportunity to fix some underlying issues with his player acquisition strategy and has said they're adjusting their model to get guys who can hit in Seattle. That's way way more promising than thinking a AAAA player who is pretty unwatchable is destined to be a starting OF for an allegedly competitive team.
The Payroll Question:
Seattle's MSA is closer in population at 4.034 million (#15) to Cleveland at 2.063 (#25) than Miami at 6.139 (#10). Detroit (#14) is larger than Seattle at 4.345 million people. All cheap teams that have made the playoffs more recently than the M's. I'm not sure where this idea comes from that the M's need to be big spenders or why they get called cheap while repeatedly giving extensions left and right. The Seattle roster is already more expensive than it needs to be and most of our problems can be solved with guys on the league minimum. Our ownership is not one Uber rich guy, but a growing collective of paper rich status chasers who don't have the cash flow to support a large payroll. We should act more like Cleveland or Tampa than the Dodgers or Yankees, and I'm tired of hearing this narrative BS. If you want the M's to spend, make the ownership group an offer and supply the cash yourself.
What are you most excited about in 25?:
A full season of Luke, Randy, Victor, and Julio in the OF. There's a possibility all 4 go 20/20 (or more) next season. Obviously, how the starters develop will be fun but you guys covered that lol.
Does consistency matter?:
Yes, absolutely. I think 2/4 bats they need should be guys who are between 100-115 wRC+ all season not just buoyed by a strong month. 2024 is what you get when you have only ceiling and floors.
Should they trade a starting pitcher?:
Yes, they should absolutely trade a starting pitcher or two. Castillo and Hancock are more likely, but I would prefer to use Woo at his maximum value. I just don't trust his health and he's fastball only, best to get what we can for him now.
Sleeper candidates for Trades?:
For me, Jake Burger is a guy who sticks out as a very Jerry bat with defense "Perry Hill can fix" on a bad team. I also would keep an eye out for either Mountcastle and/or Westburg from Baltimore. The Castillo swap I personally like is to the Braves for Matt Olson. Then get Montgomery from AZ for Haniger, the DBacks owner said some stuff that suggests he'll force either a cut or a trade.
Should the M's pick up Polanco's option?
No, unless they think they can trade him like we did for Wong a few years ago.
Great video guys! Always good to have MarinersSUR on the show. I agree with most of what you guys said but just added my two cents. Or I just reject the premise of the question lol. This off season is going to be interesting for sure.
The consistency is key. For example, having 8 hits in two games can only help you win two games. Having 8 hits across 8 games can help you win 8 games
Before the season began I said it would be Mariners vs Dodgers
in the 2024 World Series.
My prediction was half right!
It just was the wrong half! 😅
Therefore given my powers of prediction I hereby declare
2025 World Series
Mariners vs Rockies