November 13, 2025 • 55 mins
Chuck Powell and Anders Hirst are back with another season of Stove. Chuck gives his general thoughts on the 2025 season as a whole. Chuck and Anders talk about the likelihood of bringing back Josh Naylor, Eugenio Suarez, and Jorge Polanco. The boys talk about the manager of the year and if Dan Wilson deserved to win, and give one wish for the offseason.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The best open and all of opens.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Actually we shouldn't erase this, we should keep this on
the podcast. Yeah, it's all impairing the open and reminding ourselves.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Oh yeah, we've got an open, don't we we do?
It is the best one there.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It is Stove.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
What a kind of name is that. It's good to
be back. It's good to be back.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
The off season is here, and we almost made it all.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
The way to the end of the regular season.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
And postseason this year, so that does change a little
bit our off season podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
But we are back together.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
My name is Chuck pow Andershurst with you as well.
Another season of Stove comes your way starting today. It's
our Mariners off season podcast. And man, we could go
sixteen hours today.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I wish she could.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Obviously I could talk Mariners off season for days on end.
And that's why we love doing it here on the
Stove Podcast. And it's good to be back, Chuck Powell.
It's great to do this again. I'm really excited about it.
Thank you for kind of including me on this. I
had a great time last year.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
It is our third year, right.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yes, this is our third year, right, you're right. This
is Wow Flies Flies The Mariners as a whole. Well,
kind of, we won't do it. You guys have heard
enough on the kind of recap of the Alcs and
in breaking down every single play, all the decisions, all
the plays and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I don't even want to go over it again. No,
I just like, this is an off season podcast. I mean,
let's just guess get there. I mean, I understand a
little bit of the season's got to come into for sure,
for sure, but yeah, let's just I mean, we're doing
things differently this year. We're actually doing the first episode
in the dark because our lights are on the fritz.
(02:00):
And I mean, some people can't handle my baseball analysis
to begin with. Show I can't even imagine, when I'm
having a seizure how poorly it will be received. So
we turned out the lights and for the most part,
Andrews and I are doing this by candle light.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, exactly, We're going in good old days, right. I
don't even know what that would constitute in terms of
the radio technology that we would use, but.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Let's do it. Let's go.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I want a quick thought as a season from the
season as a whole in twenty twenty five from you,
because I think it's really easy right after the ALCS
and the way it ended to kind of really focus
hyper focus on that and even the playoffs as a whole.
But now that we've taken a couple steps back, it's
been a couple of weeks, the whole baseball season is over.
(02:47):
How do you evaluate the Mariners season as a whole
or even not even an evaluation? What is a thought
based off of twenty twenty five as we lead into
twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I think there's any other way to look at it.
It was a successful season. At drag your forty plus
years of misery into a conversation about the twenty twenty
five Mariners. They can't be held responsible for all of
the failures that came before them. The season in itself.
You made the playoffs, you won the division. You seem
(03:17):
to have taken over power in the American League West
from the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers. Don't forget
about them. You earned a first round by you gave
us another chapter of amazing postseason memories and including some
of the most entertaining postseason games individually that we've ever seen.
(03:40):
And then you came up very short. You know eight
out short of the World Series, and yes, there are
things to be upset about, and there are things that
we as armchair managers might have done differently down the stretch,
and there are players we wish would have stepped up
in this occasion or in that occasion. But to me,
this is the way you slice it. It was a
(04:00):
very successful twenty twenty five season. I think that the
ownership and management learn some lessons I'm hoping that are
going to help us thrive going forward. I think we
are on track to be competing for a World Series
for a number of years in a row going forward,
which is exciting. But there's also disappointment. You have every
(04:22):
right to feel disappointed about having it in the way
that it did, sure, and still being deprived. I hope
everybody in Seattle that has ever rooted for and certainly
worked for the Mariners is disappointed that it didn't end
with a World Series. And so you know, that's still
the goal and you didn't reach the goal. But successful
(04:43):
season and yet still something to chase.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
We're not satisfied.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Maybe I'm just a petty bastard, but I feel a
lot better about the season as a whole because the
Blue Chase lost in the World Series, and that's not
just because of my personal issues with the Blue Jays
and my hatred towards them, but.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Have grown, which has grown recently.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
It has grown, for sure, But I think if they
had won the World Series over the La Dodgers, I
would have felt like, dang, that could have been us
for a long time. And I still kind of do
feel that way too, But it gave me a little
bit better feelings towards the Alcs, especially how devastating their
loss was compared doubt.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
True, and I would say one other thing about that,
and I think that this is what Mariners should feel,
fans should feel good about. I thought the Dodgers were
going to destroy the Blue Jays right I picked them
in five. I told Ryan Healy, it's not going to
even go back to Toronto, and Toronto I think in
a lot of ways outplayed them, probably outplayed them, and
(05:48):
it you know, the weird part about baseball is some
of those balls don't fall and others do and stuff
like that, and the Dodgers end up pulling it out.
I think a Mariner fan can go into this offseason
feeling like we're as good as anybody in this game
completely agree, And guess what our situation financially, our age
as a collective on the roster is in great shape
(06:12):
to prove next year we do play.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
With anybody in this league right now.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
So I'd be encouraged by the Blue Jays taking the
Dodgers all the way to the end.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Even though they came up a little bit close.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
And I couldn't root for either one of them right
because I think the Dodgers are ruining baseball Dave Roberts,
and I hope Manford does get his arms around that
at some point here in the near future without creating
a strike or a delay in future seasons, because we've
got a lot of future seasons of success lying ahead.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Yeah, And I think I generally feel a similar feeling
towards the season as a whole. I've been I view
these windows, whether it is the Mariners or whoever you're
looking at, it's kind of a stepping stone, right as
long as you continue to move forward in your championship windows,
so to speak. Like first step is making the playoffs.
(07:03):
Second step is winning a playoff series, Third step is
winning a division. Fourth steps going to the World Series.
Fifth step is winning the World Series. Continue to do
something that you haven't done before in this current window,
which the Mariners did this year. They won represents growth
exactly exactly. They won their division, and they made it
to the ALCS. They made it farther in the playoff
(07:24):
or the baseball calendar than they ever have before, making
it to a Game seven of the ALCS. So yes,
I think this season as a whole was a success.
But I'm not even gonna say my take on this
because I'm curious what you think. How important compared to
previous off seasons as we look forward to twenty twenty six,
how important is this offseason to kind of continue that momentum,
(07:47):
continue that growth that you were talking about as a whole.
What things do you see that need to be done
and just in general, how important is this offseason for
the Mariners.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Well, I mean because I got a few when people
found out we were doing stove again, wondering when we
were going to air our first one. I had to
laugh because I got a few tweets and they were like,
this is the most important offseason in Mariner history.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
We've said that like the last three years.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
We have said that literally every year that we have
done stove going all the way back to when I
did it with Bucky, from the first couple of years.
Every year we have said this, I think what that
illustrates though, since we have said it every year we've
been in a championship window. Since we made the playoffs
the previous time. What year is that twenty two, So
(08:40):
since twenty twenty two we've been in the championship window.
Shame on management and ownership for not doing more to
recognize the value of twenty three and twenty four. And
I think that they finally did learn from their ways
and then applied it. Nate not the last off season.
Remember how angry we were about the it was a
bad offseason, Solana, But they did apply it to the
(09:02):
trading deadline in time to kind of get you where
you needed to be, not where you wanted to be,
but where you needed to be. And so when once
you're in a championship window, and we are in one
right now, every off season is important because every single move,
you don't know which one that's the one that pushes
(09:23):
you over the top. You're gonna miss on some you
always do. The Dodgers do as great as they are
as much money as they have to spend.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Look at how.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Narrowly they got through serious the postseason each of the
last two years to win the world title. So yes,
I don't know if this is any more important than
last off season, but they're all important once you're in
a championship window, and so I'm expecting a lot. I mean,
I got to the end of last year and gave
(09:52):
it an f the off season. Ye it was Donovan z. Yes, yeah,
the off season, not the team, the off seasons. But
this year, I certainly don't think that we're going to
be talking about that and spring training how disappointed we
are with the offseason. I don't think it's going to
be robust. I don't think it's going to be the
(10:12):
type of offseason where they're making a bunch of additions
and they're going to be new players to get to know.
I think primarily it's going to be focused on keeping
what we have and like and then maybe making a
couple of alterations to that. But even that, even if
they can just achieve a few of the things that
I'm sure you and I both have on our list,
(10:33):
that we're going to feel better about this offseason than
we did last off season.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeah, and I kind of want to follow up on
that because that's what you think is going to happen.
Do you think it's important if it was your choice,
is it important to kind of just get the guys
back that we'll talk about the big names here in
a second, and just kind of run it back, so
to speak. Or do you think it's important to take
another step in terms of the roster and bring someone,
(11:00):
whether it's via trade or free agency, to really raise
the ceiling once again of this Mariner's team. Or do
you think that if you bring back at least the
majority of the group that you had last year and
then kind of sprinkle in some other pieces here and there,
that will be enough to get this team back and
having that next step of growth.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Well, I want to say like thirteen things all at
the same time time, because that's such a load. I mean,
that's the entire episode here. Do they have stoveyep is
trying to sift through all of that? Man, where do
I start? I think I will start with I think you.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Can count on this.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I think maybe the organization, even learning from their errors
of the past, may try to operate with a very
similar blueprint to what they did a year ago. Okay,
and that is like I said, I think they're going
to try to bring back Naylor, and I think they're
going to try to bring back Polonko. I don't think
(11:58):
they'll do much else of significance, right and so, but
if you just did those two moves, even if you
lose sores, even if we don't add a free agent,
even if we don't make some sexy trade this offseason,
that team is good enough to be in the race
(12:20):
and to be to maybe lead the race in the
American League West all season long and then and this
is what they seem to like to do, because they've
done it now three of the last four years.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
I realized we've only made the playoffs two of the
last four years.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
But this is a real misconception by marin or fans
that they don't ever do anything at the trading deadline.
Since they entered this championship window, this is where they
like to make Hey, it's at the trading deadline. They
have been very aggressive and very effective with the last
three of four trading deadlines, and I think this is
the way they want to do business. And when you
(12:56):
think about it, anders when you step back like a
Josh Naylor. And I know they want to resign him,
but the idea is, we just added.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
A twenty million dollars first baseman at the trading deadline,
and we're only going to have to pay him a
percentage of.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
The last year on his contract. So what did they
end up having to pay him? A million and a quarter?
Not much for what he brought to the table last year.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
I think they fell in love with.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
That, that idea of man, if we can add guys,
and because believe me, they did not want to add
guys that were on the last year of their contract.
Now I think they're like, oh, trial, run we like
nailor run keep him. I'm not sure if we still
(13:45):
like Suarez, we might not keep him. But for that
period of time, we only had to pay a fraction
of their salary, but we got two All stars while
we were in the race to help get us where
we wanted to go. And I have a feeling, from
a blueprint standpoint, you might see them try to repeat
(14:06):
that sort of thing. Not the same offseason, right, but
that sort of approach to the entire calendar year of
acquisitions going forward.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Yeah, And I think in terms of value. That's where
you're going to get the most bang for your buck anyway,
because there are teams that are out of it that
are going to be looking to kind of just recuperate anything,
whether that is a nailor Assuarez.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Like it's I don't like it.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
I don't love it because I could see where how
that's how they operate. It works for both the front
office and the ownership because front office is like, we
don't have to trade as much in the trading deadline
as you would in the off season, right because you're
not getting them for very long, right, So they like that.
They don't like that too, they like they like the
prospect hoarding.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Yeah, but at least they were willing to part with
some this year.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Absolutely absolutely, And it works for ownership because, like you said,
they have to pay less money than they would have normally,
but you risk kind of what you could have done
throughout the entirety of a six.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Mon's a great point. I mean you can make that argument.
But then our you and I's argument like we were,
I mean, we were pounding the table for Josh Naylor
on stove last offseason.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
And it would have made you cut up. Probably could
have made the same trade.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
You probably could have made the trade same trade, maybe
even less. Yeah, and and maybe you didn't have to
go through the gut wrenching ebbs and flows because it
was still gut wrench Yes, I mean, I know it
was a success, and I know you punched your ticket
to the playoffs and won the division, but there were
still numerous moments you were like what the f is
going on with this time? Absolutely, maybe you wouldn't have
(15:45):
had to experience those dramatic ebbs and flows had Josh
Naylor been in a Mariner uniform from spring trade.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Absolutely, and maybe you would have had a better chance
of signing it. Maybe you'd already be signed.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Yeah, and possibly at a again, looking this is all,
you know, hypothetical, but looking at if you had done
it earlier, he could have had a cheaper deal because
he now he knows his value and how many big
moments he had for the Mariners, and like.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Yeah, there's all it's a great counter ardy.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yeah, I mean, I honestly like and for people who
are looking for the Mariners to make these big splashes,
I'm not saying that they're going to. I just I'm
just pointing out that that's what can happen if you
wait until the trading deadline to upgrade your team. But
I think I agree with you that's probably the route
they're gonna go, kind of keep the same core together.
I think adding Josh Naylor is in their priorities. They've
(16:32):
mentioned that.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
There's a lot of.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Speculation, whether you look in a social media posts or not.
I don't know if you saw Josh Naylor. Let let's
just get straight into the Naylor, Polonko and Spoor. But
I think most people, I assume you feel the same
way that Naylor's first priority. I don't know how you
feel about Polonco and Suaz can kind of talk about that.
But if the Mariners were to just sign Josh Naylor
(16:56):
and then you know, maybe a bullpen arm or something
like that, nothing other big besigdes besides just signing Josh
Naylor to whatever contract it is.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Is that a good enough offseason for.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
It's a million times better than last offseason already, just
on its face, No, that wouldn't be enough for me,
But I do like hearing from them he is the
top priority. Yeah, And if not, I mean you have
left yourself a hole at first base. I mean, there's
an argument that you have.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
We've got us. We've got at least.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
A temporary solution at third, and we think that we've
got enough parts that second base won't be an issue.
But if we lose Nail, we don't have a first baseman. Literally,
there's no way you can count on Raleigh after the
year that he had a year ago. And so I like,
I do like hearing how aggressive they've been and how
forthright they've been about that, and that they're making that
(17:52):
a priority. Nobody knows what makes Josh Naylor tick. He
seemed to enjoy himself. He seemed to like the roster.
I think there are enough guys on this roster, like
a cal Raley, that he thinks like them. But who knows.
If he's chasing the biggest salary, I don't think he'll
(18:15):
be back if the Mariners. If he's not, and the
Mariners at least, and we can't be sure that they will,
let's face it, yep, if they at least give him
a fair market value offer four years at least, then
I think we've got the best shot of any team
(18:36):
out there in Major League Baseball to have him. And
at this stage, look when we made the trade. I
went on the air. Hugh Millen was actually filling in
for either Softy or Faint, I don't remember who it was,
and he asked me about you know, how important it
is it to keep him? And I warned everybody, I
don't think that's the goal here. I don't think that's
the goal to keep Josh Naylor. He's got a really
(18:57):
bad body, and I don't think that they're I mean,
I think they would keep them, but I don't think
it's a priority. As soon as he started to play,
and as soon as he started to fit with the
fan base and with the clubhouse, and then you saw.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Oh gosh, we've been missing this.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yes, then I think that it did become a priority
for them. And maybe it was all along and I
had it wrong, But to me, hearing that that's the
number one priority coming out of the offseason, I think
they're right on.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Point with that. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
And it's weird because it's not like he absolutely lit
it up when he came here. He was basically the
exact same player that he was in Arizona for the
entirety of his season this year, which is a very
good player. But it's more the intangibles that make him
as valuable as he is number one. Like you said,
I think the biggest thing is that they don't have
another first baseman. So and he is a good defensive
(19:50):
first baseman. He enjoys the clubhouse. I think, like you said,
his personality kind of fits in really really well with
this group to kind of mix it up a little bit,
have the flashy Julio's and Randy's and Victor Roebliss and
even JP a little bit. You have the very down
to earth quiet Cal Rawley, and then you have just
(20:11):
the piss and vinegar of a Josh Naylor at first base.
It's like a perfect combination of all of them exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I mean, he's the flashiest dresser. Yeah, so he's the
flashiest guy. And then he's the grittiest guy.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
So he gets along with that group. And then he
might be the most cerebral. I don't want to take
that away from Cal, because Gal's thinking of everything at
all times.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
But he is a brilliant, absolutely baseball mind to have
in the batter's box, and at first base.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
He was a much better defender than I thought he was.
He stole thirty frickin' basses this year. I don't think
there's a fan base that wants some more than what
we do. I don't think there's a front office that
wants him more than what ours does. I think there's
a good chance that he will be back, but I'm
not here to tell you there's a great chance. I
don't know how Josh Naylor ticks. I don't think anybody does.
(21:05):
If he's going, hey, I got one crack at this,
I'm going to make the most money possible and I
grew up in Canada.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I'm going to live where it's warm.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
If he's got that mind and that approach, then we're
not going to get him. But I do at least
appreciate that the organization is recognized.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
That's where it starts this offseason.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, and I agree. I think they're not just saying that.
They're not just saying, oh, it's a priority for us
to resign them. I think they absolutely know that it's
a priority to resign them. And there's we'll stick in
this episode mostly to the internal candidates. We'll look at
a couple external factors. Like the first thing I think
of is the first base market. How many other teams
are going to need a first baseman. And you can
(21:49):
look at it two ways. But the Pete Alonso opting
out of his New York Mets deal both A, he
puts another first basement on the market for other teams
to look at, but b adds an other team that
needs a first baseman in the New York Mets.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
So you could look at that both ways. I think
it's bad.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, Okay, I mean, well no, I put it this way,
like the Red Sox need one yep, and then if
Alonzo leaves, then that there any but Alonzo could go
to Boston, you know, and so you know, I see
what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Yeah, but.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
If he left, I mean there are some stopgap guys there.
I think a lot of people have been curious about
what Luis Arise could do with the in the Mariners lineup.
The guy that is just as good at putting the ball,
I mean, not coming off a great year, but putting
the ball in play great. Ryan O'Hearn's coming off a
(22:43):
good season. Reese Hoskins is somebody that has had success
that you could probably get cheap. Paul Goldschmidt show over
the Yankees that he might have one more decent season
in him. But to me, if you lost a nailor that,
here's where the influx comes. Because if we just move
the decks around the Titanic, then you're you're just you know,
(23:05):
some people get to fill their holes and there'll still
be the other. Right, But we've got two first basemen
coming in from overseas, and so to me, if you
don't sign Josh Naylor, you have to get Morikami. Okay,
that's that's my approach to it, because that's a twenty
million dollars Now. I think there's a way to get
both of them absolutely, which you're not gonna like, but
(23:28):
there is a way to get both of them, even
under the tight fisted financial restrictions that we operate under
his Mariner fans. But if you don't bring in Naylor,
then you have to get Morikami, and I will roll
the dice on that guy. I realized there's strikes out
a lot and has trouble putting the ball in play
(23:49):
and seem to have a big hole in his swing.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Not great defensively.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Eighty power, Yeah, you know a few players at the
professional level we're graded with eighty power. That's like John
Carlos Stanton yes, at twenty five.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Not even Cal not even Cal.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Yeah, So yes, I'm interested and I want both of them. Frankly, yeah,
I do.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Too, And we'll kind of do a deeper dive on
the external names. I think Mark Kami is one of
the biggest ones out there that Mariners fans are looking at.
I'm curious to know what Chuck thinks about him personally,
like kind of evaluating him as a player, how he'll
fit into MLB and all that stuff. We'll do that
on probably the next episode, but I want to stick
close to the options internally that the Mariners will or
(24:35):
will not bring back.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
So let's bring another.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Guy that you could have described the same way as
Munataka Maurakami, a guy with not maybe not eighty power,
but good power, maybe not great defensively, definitely on the
older side. It's Aheno Suarez. What interest level do you
have in bringing him back? What interest level do you
think the Mariners have in bringing him back?
Speaker 2 (24:58):
The part I hate is that I think he really
wants to be here, and I'm not sure they wanted me,
even though Jerry announced to the world that was the
dumbest thing I've done as Mariner's general manager was trading
him the first time and not realizing his value. But
for years, all the Major League Baseball has been operating
under this belief that Geno Suarez is at the end,
(25:20):
that the bat has slowed, the defense is not very good,
and he just keeps defying that. And now he's got
one of, if not the biggest hit in Mariner's history
under his belt as well. And so to me, I
think the Mariners have interest, but it's not like Naylor.
(25:41):
It's not like, all right, we'll play ball with you,
we'll pay mark value for you. You're our priority. I
don't think Geno Suarez is the priority. I don't think
they will. I think he would have to give them
a deal, and he might maybe he will, and I
don't think. I mean, there are a lot of rumors
out there that he's going to make more than Nayl
per year. Really yeah, And so I mean, if you
(26:03):
go to any of the projection sites, it's not the
long term deal. It's just the aav Yeah, it's like
two years fifty yeah, stuff like that, two years forty five,
which the Mariners won't do, which the Mariners won't do.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Now, So I think of the three.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Bring back two of them, and I'm including Polonco and yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
I'll get to him in a second. Yeah, So to.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Me, I think it's Naylor Polonko if I'm choosing, If
you're choosing Naylor Polonko, sorry, Gino, if you'd like to stay,
here's all I can give you. We'd like to have
you back, but here's all I can give you. So
that'd be my priority. But if Naylor left, I think
Gino enters that conversation of the first basement that we
just went through.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
And that's what I was going to bring up.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
So if you don't get Naylor and you can get
maybe Gino on the maybe two years thirty something like that, Yeah,
you can like kind of work around. He wants to
be here, he sees that there's an opening there. Would
you be comfortable throwing him at first base?
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Okay, Yeah, I mean it's not Naylor. But I didn't
think Naylor was as good at first base.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
As what he is.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
I was stunned by it was too defensively. Yeah, I mean,
Geno's turned into a near gold glove third baseman on
Perry Hill's watch type, France became a gold glove first
baseman under Perry Hill. And I know people might get
sick of us talking about Perry Hill, but obviously he's
(27:31):
amazing at what he does, So I don't have any
concerns that if Gino's spent an entire off season and
spring training getting ready to play first base, that he
can play first base.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Okay, so let's move on to the third name there,
and like, I'll kind of just quickly give my thoughts
on Gino.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I love him.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Everyone knows how much I love Suarez, like he might
be my favorite Mariner ever.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I don't know why that is.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
It's just he's unbelievably likable.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
Yes, and as someone who who has been around the
clubhouse a fair share of the past three or four years,
it's it's awesome to be around him. You kind of
see the impact he has similar to Naylor, but in
an obvious different way, just in the intangibles department. You
need those guys in the locker room. I don't think
it's a coincidence that, you know, when the Naylor's made Naylor's,
When the Mariners made the Nailor trade, everyone's like, yeah, okay, great,
(28:21):
that's a great addition. But then when they made the
Ano Suarez trade. Even the players were like, oh okay,
it's on, let's go. And it wasn't even like what
he was going to bring on the field. He didn't
have a great couple months. He didn't not at all,
not even a great postseason. A couple of good moments,
but one phenomenal moment, A couple of good moment. Yeah,
And but you could tell the impact he had around
(28:42):
with everyone around him.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
It just felt like you could tell the impact he
had with Naylor absolutely.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
I mean like Naylor treated him like he was like
his long lost brother who he thought had been washed ashore.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
And he's played one year with him.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, well not even that, yeah, just a few months. Yeah,
So it shows you out likable he is. So yeah, yeah,
I'm with you. I think there is value there. And
you know, to Gino's credit, like I said, major League
Baseball has been telling him for years that he's almost cooked.
He was a throw in in the Winker trade. Winker
is the guy we wanted. We had to take Gino
(29:16):
Suarez to get Winker, and it turns out Gino had
a forty nine homer season in him five years.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
After that deal. Yeah, it's wild isn't that crazy? So wild?
Speaker 3 (29:28):
So yeah, I think the general feeling amongst Mariners fans
and even analysts is that, you know, Okay, he's done.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
We can move on from him. I don't want to.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
I don't want to, Like you said, make it a priority,
but I think there could be something there if you
are in an emergency situation and you don't get Josh Naylor right.
But I think I agree with you. I think Naylor
Polonco or my two priorities. So let's move on to Polonko.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Man.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
This is a weird situation because you make the trade
for him. Going into twenty twenty four, you and I
were all in on that. We love the trade. Yeah,
we've been big fans of Fim for a long time.
When he turned out to be good, and he was
bad for an entire year twenty twenty four, and then
when the Mariners, he basically kind of just was like, yeah,
(30:14):
I'll stay here, stick around, kind of figure it out.
For twenty twenty five. Everyone was pissed. Everyone was like, oh, well,
here we go again. They're just resigning the guy that sucked.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
It's close to losing him to Houston. I know, yes,
and I'm holding my fingers together very close. And that
would have sucked because he would have raked there. To
imagine if he had gone and did what he did
in Houston, we wouldn't have won the division.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
And there's an argument to be made that he was
your second best hitter this year.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
By the end of the year, when he came to
the plate, and including the playoffs, I felt better with
him at the plate than anyone. Yeah, I agree with that,
including cow agree with that.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Bices so.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
And to think about where he was at the beginning
of the year, brought back reluctantly from the fan basis perspective,
introduced to a new position, third base, which he failed
at miserablet he sucked at third immediately gets injured, which
is his reputation, even though he was hitting at the time,
(31:19):
could only hit from one side of the plate for
about a month. Yep deliberated over whether or not we
should put him on the injury list. Never did, Nope,
and then he ends up being better from the right
side of the plate than the.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Left side of the plate by the end of the year.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
For the entirety of the season, his numbers from the
right side of the plate were fantastic this year, and
to think at one point we were taking him out
of games when left handers were being put on the mound,
and Hora Polanco ended up putting that season together. It's
a little volatile obviously with Ora Polanco, the injury history.
(31:59):
You can't over look. He's not a great second baseman.
He's not even a good defensive second base.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
I thought he looked okay there, okay, I'll give you okay, yeah, you.
I don't know. Maybe you could experiment at third again
with him, but.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
It looked so bad. But I wont him back. I
wont him back. I think they won him back. I
wouldn't be surprised if he wants to be back. A
very likable guy as well in the clubhouse, in a
completely different way than Gino, and for whatever reason, because
well I know the reasons, age and the injury history.
The market valley is going to be around two years,
(32:36):
twenty five, twenty six million dollars, and I think that
that's something that John Stanton would be happy to sign
off on.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Yeah, and I think also the big thing all that's
the same question with him, as I asked Suarez, would
you be comfortable moving him to first base if you
needed to, boy, because I personally I would feel more
comfortable with polonqu at first than third.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Okay, I think mainly he's gonna be your DH. Okay,
remember we don't have Mitch Garver anymore.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Sorry Mitch.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
You actually were pretty good in the playoffs, to be honest,
But yeah, it's it's nice to move on from that.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Isn't he your DH?
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I mean, you can't get in the way of the
development of Cole Young or if Ryan Bliss were to
somehow beat him out or whoever. At second base. I
think Polanco is there. You can play second base, you
will play some second base, but I think he's primarily
going to be there to DH and then when Cal
(33:41):
needs to DH, then he played second base.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
And so I.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Don't want to get in the way of Cole Young
because even though Cole Young didn't blow me away this year,
I still think that there's a high floor there, absolutely,
and most scouts that I read tell me, oh, no,
he's the real deal. Yeah yeah, So so.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
I think that's more probably more d H than first base,
third base, anything with a little bit of second base sprinkled. Yeah,
I like that.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I and to my own question, I would feel more
comfortable with Gino at first pace than I would Polonco
if if it came to that situation.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
First base, yes, yeah, first base base. It doesn't matter. Okay.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
So, uh, just kind of wrapping up the big three
here with Jorge Polanco, a Henio Suarez, and Josh Naylor.
We both think Josh Naylor is a big priority. Need
to get him back. You don't have another first baseman.
His age works, he looks like he likes being here,
and uh, you know, it's it just makes a lot
(34:45):
of sense for the Mariners to really really push to
make that deal happen. What just depends on, you know,
the market value and all that stuff. We both probably
value au Heno Suarez more than a lot of other
analysts and fans at this point from an intangible perspective,
but it's not a massive priority. I wouldn't be devastated
(35:05):
if they lost him, especially if you were to sign
Naylor instead.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Well, I mean, of those three guys, I think they're
going to try to fight to keep two of them.
And just to warn everybody who has visions of Kyle
Tucker dancing in their head, no way and Kyle Schwarver.
We just I mean, that's fine to talk about, it's
fine to wish for. It's even fine to be angry
that the Mariners never spend money on a guy like that,
(35:30):
But the reality is they're not going to spend the
type of money it takes to get a guy like that.
So to me, I don't think they would do much
beyond this, which is a little disappointing. But I think
that you can circle those three dudes. They're going to
try to keep two of them, and I think the
priorities and they would be mine personally as well, Naylor
(35:52):
Polanco and then Swarez. Yep, those would be the priorities
going into the off season.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
And if they can pull that off, we're even.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
If that's all we did in the offseason and entered
spring training with the same team that we had a
year ago minus one of those.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Guys, we are fine.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
And then, as I said earlier, you start the process
of all, right, we're in the race. It looks like
we we're a playoff team. Then you get to the
trading deadline, injuries, attrition, all sorts of other things pop
up along the way. Where are our holes? And now
we'll be aggressive at the trading deadline to fill those holes,
to make sure that we have our best team by
(36:30):
the end of September and not at the beginning of April.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
One hundred percent. And I think that's a good approach,
at least for what the Mariners constrictions are. As we
all like to talk about, it's more likely that that's
going to be what happens. And I'll say one more
thing about Polanco two before we move on. I don't
think it's a coincidence that his good year happens to
be in his second year after he's settled somewhere. Everyone
(36:53):
talked about how hard it was for him to move
on from Minnesota. He looks like someone who when he
feels comfortable, and that I think that shows itself with
the whole injury history and everything too, swinging from the
left side, everything, he likes to do what's comfortable, and
once he started to feel comfortable, that's when he started
to really hit his stride. So I would feel pretty
(37:14):
confident even with his injury history. He's thirty two, like
we said, not amazing defensively, but I would feel comfortable
with him being able to replicate what he did last year.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
At least offensive, especially if you are saying DH primarily,
and then I think one more thing would have to
be said about him. And this is on the other
side of things. I've seen projections of three years forty five,
like he's coming off a really good year, and so
somebody that can hit from both sides of the plate
(37:47):
that plays middle endfield, I mean, somebody might be willing
to pay a lot more than what the Mariners. But
most of the projections out there are right two years,
twenty five, twenty six, And you're right if he has
difficulty like adjusting to new places, and that gives us
a leg up. He knows he's on a really good team, yes,
with a great pitching staff, and maybe he is somebody
(38:07):
that is a little reluctant to change, so maybe that
works in the Mariner's favor.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
And for those who kind of are looking at the
hot stove rumors going around there and seeing that katel
Marte might become available, I'm just going to tell you
right now, and I love katl Martin. I think he's
one of the one of my favorite players to watch.
Like I was upset when the Mariners traded him.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
I ember tell you the story about where he used
to be a Mariner and I loved him and they
traded him away, and I was heartbroken and I was
very angry. And I was the only person in town
that hated that trade.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
I did, but I was before I met you. This
is back in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
I hated that. I hated it too. I hated it too,
and I honestly.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Everybody, all Mariner, not a so many Mariner fans give
no the Hander trade, Now, that was a great trade.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
I got to give Jerry that one. I'm like, that's
no money screwed out. It was one of his worst. Ah.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
But I'm just gonna say right now, how or I'll
will ask how much of an upgrade would could tell
Marte be over Jorge Polonko, a thirty two year old
second base slash dh switch hitter.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
It's a lot of the same traits, sort of an
injury history for sure, exactly history.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
And I realized could tell Marte right like he's better,
Like he's a better player. But he also has a contract.
Then he has like five more years on maybe even six.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
So I mean it's a pretty good contract. It's good.
It's like less than twenty million when you're.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Saying Polonko at two years twenty five versus Marte.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
And I don't have it in front of him. It's
like five years, one hundred something like that.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Yeah, and you have to give up a lot to
trade for him. Yeah, I mean you signed Polanco and
you don't.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
I love.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
If you've met anybody who loves Katel Morte more than you,
it's probably yes. I mean, and I do a fantasy
baseball and I'm every year every year. Are you going
to trade me coateell Marte? No, No, not gonna trade you?
So so yes, I mean, if they did it, I'd
(40:16):
be excited.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Will they do it? No, I don't think they will. No,
I don't think that's the direction that they'll head.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
Absolutely, So all right, again, we'll dive deeper into possible
names to be looking at on a later episode. We're
just looking mostly internally. But I do want to touch
on something not necessarily Stove related, but that has happened
in the MLB off season, and that's awards season as
(40:43):
we are upon us here. If you guys don't know,
we record the Stove Podcast. It's on Thursday, November thirteenth.
The day that cal Rawly gets announced if he is
winning the AL MVP. So if you are listening to
us after that moment, I'm sorry, we won't have reaction
to if he wins or if he doesn't win it.
But we do have reaction to Dan Wilson getting third
(41:05):
in the AL Manager of the Year voting. So I'm curious,
Chuck Powell'll just leave a blank canvas what your thoughts
are on that.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Did he deserve to win it? And anything else? You
have to say?
Speaker 2 (41:14):
No, I gave him a C minus grade this year.
So here in Seattle, that doesn't get your Manager of
the year, doesn't even put you in the top three.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
All right, Now, what normally people do with the Manager
of the Year.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Awards and really all of these awards because they can't
watch them every single day.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
So the guy that was voting for American League Manager
of the Year in.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Detroit didn't live through every single decision like we did
with Dan Wilson this year. That was his problem and everybody,
I hope he even recognizes it. He wasn't great making
in game decisions. But what the voters recognize is they
just look.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
At what do you have? What did you have?
Speaker 2 (41:56):
To overcome and did you achieve more than you should
have under those circumstances. That's how the Manager of the
Year vote goes down, and that's why Steven Vote won again.
You got a low pay roll, you had a gambling scandal,
your team played like crap for two months, and you
somehow dug yourself out of a hole when you absolutely
(42:19):
had to with no offense and figured out out a
way to win enough games to win the division and
make the playoffs again. So that's why Steven Vote got there.
So from that perspective, I think some national people looked
at never won a division first year.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
On the job. He came in and won the division.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
To me, you did exactly. You didn't do anything more
than you should have with the talent that you were given, maybe.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
A little less. I predicted eighty six wins for the
team this past year.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
They were on pace for exactly eighty six fin before
the trade deadline. And then once you had that and
you knew the Astros weren't the team that they've been
and the Rangers could and figure it out and apparently
there was a lot of internal chaos going on there,
then you were clearly the team that was the team
to beat in the American League West. So the fact
(43:10):
that he pulled that off, I don't give him too
much credit for that. Where I will give him credit,
and this is where we sometimes get bogged down in
the weeds and watching a team play every day. More
of the job of manager is about managing the personalities
on the roster and getting the most out of the
(43:32):
individual players and the collective. And I think Dan Wilson
aces that, Yes, we are in an era. Look at
the managerial hiring cycle that took place thoughs offseason. Weirdest
FN thing you've ever seen in your entire life, like none,
very few people you've even heard of.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
Padres hired a relief pitcher, who puts a relief pitcher
as their manager.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Yeah, I have no idea what managed.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
What baseball organizations have recognized is because they went through
a wave of old farts, yes, to try to correct
the wave of analytics too much analytics. Yes, So then
they went through the Tony Larusa got called out from
the grave, Bruce Bochie got called out, Buck show Off.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
So then we went through a wave of the old guys.
And now I.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
Think what everybody is recognizing and we have one of
these guys. Dan Wilson is one of these guys. So
this is a really good thing what they think they
have to do with today's athletes. Today's athletes don't respond
to curudgeonly, you know, uh managers being given orders, getting
(44:41):
barked at, Nope, getting yelled at.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
They don't respond to that.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
They respond to Cavin sitz or coming up and saying, oh, man, Gino,
you look terrific today. The arm around the shoulder, how's mom? Now,
let me help you with your swing, son, because I
think we can get your power going. I think that
worked for the Mariners. Dan Wilson works from that standpoint
(45:05):
for the Mariners. So what you saw in the managerial
cycle is personalities, guys who relate to today's young players
and know what buttons to push and which ones not
to push to get the most out of them. So
from that standpoint, I think he aces this and I
think that we've got We already got the guy that
(45:28):
ten teams in Major League Baseball went out this offseason
to try to.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
Find and are looking for it. Still there's a couple
of them now.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
So yeah, there's a lot of thoughts regarding Dan Wilson,
I'll just say number one, I think Stephen Vote did
deserve to win Manager of the Year. But I also
think that both with manager of the Year, coach of
the Year and other sports as well, it does turn
into a all right, who had the worst team that
still made the playoffs select and then they just choose
that manager because it's like, all right, the common denominator
(45:56):
that means their coach is good.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
I think it should be more than that. There should
be more.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
Than like, like I think Dave Roberts is a fantastic manager.
He's never gonna win it because he has the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Well, he shouldn't have want it this year.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
No, like you didn't even had to play in the
first round of the playoffs, right with the best roster
money could buy.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
Right, But then you see what he's able to do
because it just is it's obvious that they coast through
the regular season and then but you see his every
button he pushes is the right one. But that's just
kind of a general thought because I think even if
you have a good team, and like you said, managing
personalities can sometimes be harder on better teams when you
have a lot of big personalities. So I think that's
(46:36):
where Phil Jackson didn't win Coach.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
Of the Year greatest example.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
Yes, right, So that's just in terms of the Manager
of the Year voting cycle. So I think like there
should be more of a viewpoint on you know, who
does that better, and you're never going to be able
to quantify it for these people that don't want every game,
So I understand why it is the way it is.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Going back to Dan Wilson, Honestly, I would have been
fine with vote. I would have been fine with Schneider. Yeah,
I would have been fine.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
I would have personally voted for Alex Korra and everything
that he overcame to win in Boston this year and
make the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
Yep. I mean the only one that I wouldn't have
voted for in that group is Dan Wilson.
Speaker 2 (47:17):
Yeah, so that's the only one. But he was voted.
He got votes for the same reasons that we're talking about. Yeah,
and people perceived that he got more out.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Of the Mariners than what Service did. What Service did? Yeah, yes,
so he must have done a great job and he
didn't do a bad job, but he does have to
work on those managerial.
Speaker 3 (47:42):
And that's where all kind of point out. I think
you've put it perfectly, where there's two parts to manage,
not more than two, but there are two main parts
to being a baseball manager. Number one is the in
game decisions. I get incredibly frustrated with.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Him on that.
Speaker 3 (47:55):
Like there are a lot of ones where if you're
a follower of the Mariners postcast, you know like how
frustrated I get with his in game decisions. And I
think that will come as well. This was his first
year as a baseball manager period, not any level.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
I think he needs a better bench coach.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
Joe Torrey was not a great X as an OS guy,
but he managed players in.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
Credit and I love maniacta I do too. I'm not
sure he's the guy though, if you need someone to
kind of help you with that, he's not. If you
just got a little better. But what about Bob Melvin?
Speaker 2 (48:28):
Oh yeah, exact same personality and could just sit there
and just whisper in his ear like maybe this Dan, Yeah,
well maybe just saying yeah, he doesn't have job right now.
He's not gonna get hired again as a manager. No,
He's had way too many chances and he hadn't gotten
the job.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's a great thought, so that
that's something we could look forward to. But I also
don't think it's a coincidence that cal Rawley had the
season he had the year that Dan Wilson took over,
like a point that you don't I don't think almost
anyone else gets that out of cal Rawy because he
puts him out there every day. He doesn't worry about
the analytics of making him rest. He caught the most
(49:05):
games in the American League, maybe even the MLB.
Speaker 2 (49:07):
This year, our starters played the most games exactly. I mean,
he was like, well you can if you can walk,
you can play.
Speaker 3 (49:13):
And there was that the whole Polanco talk we talked
about earlier, that thought about he might go on the aisle.
Dan Wilson wrote him out, even though it was a
terrible may from him, and he ended up working out
amazingly because he turned into the player that he was.
So I think there's a lot of really really good
things on a day to day basis besides the in
game decisions that Dan Wilson does amazingly. I just hope
(49:33):
he can improve on those decisions so we have less
to complain about come the end of the year, but
I think they got to where they were a lot
of because Dan Wilson.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
I just feel like.
Speaker 3 (49:43):
Another manager would have been able to take them over
the top a little bit.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
Well, and maybe that's what gets adjusted this year, and
that I mean, he's smart enough to learn from mistakes. Yes,
And I know some people will argue he didn't make mistakes.
Some people argue for those decisions that he made. I
felt like I was criticizing Dan day to day more
so than I was Scott.
Speaker 1 (50:06):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (50:06):
Yeah, this year doesn't mean that I'm right right, but
certainly I wasn't alone.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
No, you're not. I mean, I'll join you on that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
Well, and every time I went to the ballpark, that's
what all of the baseball people would pull me aside.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
And talk about with me.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Yeah, and on MLB network, I don't know how many
times they took time to talk about Dan Wilson's bad
decision last night. So I don't think I was imagining it.
I don't think you were imagining it. Maybe we nitpicked
him too much, but I'm happy he's our manager. I
don't have any problem with it. I don't think we
needed to go on a managerial search, but I wouldn't
mind getting a better bench coach for him. And I
(50:46):
do want to touch upon the other awards just quicker. Yeah,
because even though this will be a little bit dated
talking about the cal Rawley MVP, I think we do
need to at least discuss it. Yeah, and that is
I defendatively think that he should have won the or
he should win the award, or should.
Speaker 1 (51:04):
Have won the award. See if he does, however, the
cookie crumbles.
Speaker 2 (51:07):
Yeah, But I mean Aaron Judge was phenomenal this year,
and as many advantages as cal has defensively and points
defensively over Aaron Judge, Aaron Judge had two hundred plus
points of ops A higher than him. He was higher
war sixty percent higher ops plus. I mean, we're talking
(51:32):
about one of the elite seasons in Major League Baseball history.
So I think the offensive gap probably is that large
on the other side. So I think that it distinctively
cal Rawley should win the award, Yes.
Speaker 1 (51:46):
But it's close either way.
Speaker 3 (51:48):
Yeah, I don't think either guy deserves it more than
the other, to be completely honest, Like you could make
an argument for both, Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (51:55):
Then the other one is the cy Young because Trek
Scooble won that again in the American League. We saw
him up close and personal more often than we wanted to,
even though we beat him every single time. Yeah, and
it's very interesting and I'm sure we'll get into this
at a later date, but that these rumors about Trek
Scuoble are popping up to Seattle, and that seems crazy
(52:17):
to me that the Mariners would be interested in that
considering this strength of their starting rotation.
Speaker 1 (52:25):
I don't know, Okay, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
I think there are other ways. I mean, because not
only I mean, you be renting him. There's no way
we're signing him to a ten or four hundred million
dollar deal. We're not that team, So you would be
renting him. And I don't know if I would spend
the amount of trade capital that it would require to
get somebody in an area that we should be great at. Anyway,
(52:47):
So that's going to be an interesting thing.
Speaker 1 (52:50):
I am excited to talk about that. We'll do that
in a future episode for sure. Yeah, And so I'll
just close with this.
Speaker 2 (52:55):
These are the only two things that I want to
see out of this off season. If I could have
a wish it would be that I want to make
sure you do have the payroll at the beginning of
next season that you ended with this year. That's what
you told us, and that's what I'm going to hold
you to. Okay, And then number two, I do want
a gift, and we'll talk about this on the next
(53:16):
episode of Stove.
Speaker 1 (53:18):
I want I mean thinking about a wish list. You
want something under the tree at Christmas. You just don't
want somebody to mend your pants and give them to.
Speaker 2 (53:24):
You, you know, So I want Murakami and there is
a way to do it that we'll get into in
the next episode of Stove.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
I have a feeling I know where you're going.
Speaker 2 (53:33):
And he he of course has to sign before Christmas.
So in terms of like a Christmas present, that would
be a nice Christmas present to have before the season
gets here, because I'm very intrigued about adding this dude's
power here in Seattle.
Speaker 3 (53:51):
Yeah, I'm with you. I think that would be something.
Those are two fascinating conversations because I'm gonna go with
my one wish. I mean, I'm gonna shoot for the
stars again. I think this team and we'll try to
get won Soto again, but on along that same front.
Maybe it's maybe it's my Seattle you alum and me. Uh,
(54:14):
I'm on trek school. Yeah, even if it's just for
this year.
Speaker 1 (54:17):
We'll get into that.
Speaker 3 (54:17):
We'll get into the details on a deeper analysis basis
next episode, because I'm really intrigued by what you how,
how you break this all down, how I break this
all down. I also want to talk Morecami with you
next episode. We haven't talked about possible outgoings either, which
I think kind of falls into a lot of that category.
(54:39):
Uh So we'll do that on the next episode of Stove.
Speaker 1 (54:41):
Guys. Welcome back. It's good to be back. Awesome, we're
here once again.
Speaker 3 (54:45):
If you're listening, we're recording November thirteenth, So we don't
have a cal Rawley MVP reaction. I just I hope
he wins it. It would be so cool as a Mariner
fan to via fan of the MVP. Because I was
born the year Griffy won is MVP, literally the summer
that he was playing before he won his MVP, so
I haven't really experienced anything like that. Each your own
(55:08):
two thousand and one as well, so I think I
was four years old. So again, I haven't really experienced
anything close to this, but it would be so cool
anything any last words before we move on.
Speaker 2 (55:18):
It's just gonna be a fun off season. I think
we started later last year, so to me, there just
seems like there's an appetite for you. So we're gonna
dive right in and this thing will twist and turn.
And I don't know how busy of an offseason it's
gonna be for the Mariners, but there I can promise
you this, there are no shortage of topics. So enjoy
(55:42):
as we get to go and here this offseason. Thank
you Andrews. We appreciate it. My name is Chuck Powell.
We will talk to you again next week. Hope you
enjoyed this episode of Stove
The best open and all of opens.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Actually we shouldn't erase this, we should keep this on
the podcast. Yeah, it's all impairing the open and reminding ourselves.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Oh yeah, we've got an open, don't we we do?
It is the best one there.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It is Stove.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
What a kind of name is that. It's good to
be back. It's good to be back.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
The off season is here, and we almost made it all.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
The way to the end of the regular season.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
And postseason this year, so that does change a little
bit our off season podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
But we are back together.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
My name is Chuck pow Andershurst with you as well.
Another season of Stove comes your way starting today. It's
our Mariners off season podcast. And man, we could go
sixteen hours today.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I wish she could.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Obviously I could talk Mariners off season for days on end.
And that's why we love doing it here on the
Stove Podcast. And it's good to be back, Chuck Powell.
It's great to do this again. I'm really excited about it.
Thank you for kind of including me on this. I
had a great time last year.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
It is our third year, right.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yes, this is our third year, right, you're right. This
is Wow Flies Flies The Mariners as a whole. Well,
kind of, we won't do it. You guys have heard
enough on the kind of recap of the Alcs and
in breaking down every single play, all the decisions, all
the plays and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I don't even want to go over it again. No,
I just like, this is an off season podcast. I mean,
let's just guess get there. I mean, I understand a
little bit of the season's got to come into for sure,
for sure, but yeah, let's just I mean, we're doing
things differently this year. We're actually doing the first episode
in the dark because our lights are on the fritz.
(02:00):
And I mean, some people can't handle my baseball analysis
to begin with. Show I can't even imagine, when I'm
having a seizure how poorly it will be received. So
we turned out the lights and for the most part,
Andrews and I are doing this by candle light.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, exactly, We're going in good old days, right. I
don't even know what that would constitute in terms of
the radio technology that we would use, but.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Let's do it. Let's go.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I want a quick thought as a season from the
season as a whole in twenty twenty five from you,
because I think it's really easy right after the ALCS
and the way it ended to kind of really focus
hyper focus on that and even the playoffs as a whole.
But now that we've taken a couple steps back, it's
been a couple of weeks, the whole baseball season is over.
(02:47):
How do you evaluate the Mariners season as a whole
or even not even an evaluation? What is a thought
based off of twenty twenty five as we lead into
twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I think there's any other way to look at it.
It was a successful season. At drag your forty plus
years of misery into a conversation about the twenty twenty
five Mariners. They can't be held responsible for all of
the failures that came before them. The season in itself.
You made the playoffs, you won the division. You seem
(03:17):
to have taken over power in the American League West
from the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers. Don't forget
about them. You earned a first round by you gave
us another chapter of amazing postseason memories and including some
of the most entertaining postseason games individually that we've ever seen.
(03:40):
And then you came up very short. You know eight
out short of the World Series, and yes, there are
things to be upset about, and there are things that
we as armchair managers might have done differently down the stretch,
and there are players we wish would have stepped up
in this occasion or in that occasion. But to me,
this is the way you slice it. It was a
(04:00):
very successful twenty twenty five season. I think that the
ownership and management learn some lessons I'm hoping that are
going to help us thrive going forward. I think we
are on track to be competing for a World Series
for a number of years in a row going forward,
which is exciting. But there's also disappointment. You have every
(04:22):
right to feel disappointed about having it in the way
that it did, sure, and still being deprived. I hope
everybody in Seattle that has ever rooted for and certainly
worked for the Mariners is disappointed that it didn't end
with a World Series. And so you know, that's still
the goal and you didn't reach the goal. But successful
(04:43):
season and yet still something to chase.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
We're not satisfied.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Maybe I'm just a petty bastard, but I feel a
lot better about the season as a whole because the
Blue Chase lost in the World Series, and that's not
just because of my personal issues with the Blue Jays
and my hatred towards them, but.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Have grown, which has grown recently.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
It has grown, for sure, But I think if they
had won the World Series over the La Dodgers, I
would have felt like, dang, that could have been us
for a long time. And I still kind of do
feel that way too, But it gave me a little
bit better feelings towards the Alcs, especially how devastating their
loss was compared doubt.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
True, and I would say one other thing about that,
and I think that this is what Mariners should feel,
fans should feel good about. I thought the Dodgers were
going to destroy the Blue Jays right I picked them
in five. I told Ryan Healy, it's not going to
even go back to Toronto, and Toronto I think in
a lot of ways outplayed them, probably outplayed them, and
(05:48):
it you know, the weird part about baseball is some
of those balls don't fall and others do and stuff
like that, and the Dodgers end up pulling it out.
I think a Mariner fan can go into this offseason
feeling like we're as good as anybody in this game
completely agree, And guess what our situation financially, our age
as a collective on the roster is in great shape
(06:12):
to prove next year we do play.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
With anybody in this league right now.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
So I'd be encouraged by the Blue Jays taking the
Dodgers all the way to the end.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Even though they came up a little bit close.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
And I couldn't root for either one of them right
because I think the Dodgers are ruining baseball Dave Roberts,
and I hope Manford does get his arms around that
at some point here in the near future without creating
a strike or a delay in future seasons, because we've
got a lot of future seasons of success lying ahead.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Yeah, And I think I generally feel a similar feeling
towards the season as a whole. I've been I view
these windows, whether it is the Mariners or whoever you're
looking at, it's kind of a stepping stone, right as
long as you continue to move forward in your championship windows,
so to speak. Like first step is making the playoffs.
(07:03):
Second step is winning a playoff series, Third step is
winning a division. Fourth steps going to the World Series.
Fifth step is winning the World Series. Continue to do
something that you haven't done before in this current window,
which the Mariners did this year. They won represents growth
exactly exactly. They won their division, and they made it
to the ALCS. They made it farther in the playoff
(07:24):
or the baseball calendar than they ever have before, making
it to a Game seven of the ALCS. So yes,
I think this season as a whole was a success.
But I'm not even gonna say my take on this
because I'm curious what you think. How important compared to
previous off seasons as we look forward to twenty twenty six,
how important is this offseason to kind of continue that momentum,
(07:47):
continue that growth that you were talking about as a whole.
What things do you see that need to be done
and just in general, how important is this offseason for
the Mariners.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Well, I mean because I got a few when people
found out we were doing stove again, wondering when we
were going to air our first one. I had to
laugh because I got a few tweets and they were like,
this is the most important offseason in Mariner history.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
We've said that like the last three years.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
We have said that literally every year that we have
done stove going all the way back to when I
did it with Bucky, from the first couple of years.
Every year we have said this, I think what that
illustrates though, since we have said it every year we've
been in a championship window. Since we made the playoffs
the previous time. What year is that twenty two, So
(08:40):
since twenty twenty two we've been in the championship window.
Shame on management and ownership for not doing more to
recognize the value of twenty three and twenty four. And
I think that they finally did learn from their ways
and then applied it. Nate not the last off season.
Remember how angry we were about the it was a
bad offseason, Solana, But they did apply it to the
(09:02):
trading deadline in time to kind of get you where
you needed to be, not where you wanted to be,
but where you needed to be. And so when once
you're in a championship window, and we are in one
right now, every off season is important because every single move,
you don't know which one that's the one that pushes
(09:23):
you over the top. You're gonna miss on some you
always do. The Dodgers do as great as they are
as much money as they have to spend.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Look at how.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Narrowly they got through serious the postseason each of the
last two years to win the world title. So yes,
I don't know if this is any more important than
last off season, but they're all important once you're in
a championship window, and so I'm expecting a lot. I mean,
I got to the end of last year and gave
(09:52):
it an f the off season. Ye it was Donovan z. Yes, yeah,
the off season, not the team, the off seasons. But
this year, I certainly don't think that we're going to
be talking about that and spring training how disappointed we
are with the offseason. I don't think it's going to
be robust. I don't think it's going to be the
(10:12):
type of offseason where they're making a bunch of additions
and they're going to be new players to get to know.
I think primarily it's going to be focused on keeping
what we have and like and then maybe making a
couple of alterations to that. But even that, even if
they can just achieve a few of the things that
I'm sure you and I both have on our list,
(10:33):
that we're going to feel better about this offseason than
we did last off season.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeah, and I kind of want to follow up on
that because that's what you think is going to happen.
Do you think it's important if it was your choice,
is it important to kind of just get the guys
back that we'll talk about the big names here in
a second, and just kind of run it back, so
to speak. Or do you think it's important to take
another step in terms of the roster and bring someone,
(11:00):
whether it's via trade or free agency, to really raise
the ceiling once again of this Mariner's team. Or do
you think that if you bring back at least the
majority of the group that you had last year and
then kind of sprinkle in some other pieces here and there,
that will be enough to get this team back and
having that next step of growth.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Well, I want to say like thirteen things all at
the same time time, because that's such a load. I mean,
that's the entire episode here. Do they have stoveyep is
trying to sift through all of that? Man, where do
I start? I think I will start with I think you.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Can count on this.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I think maybe the organization, even learning from their errors
of the past, may try to operate with a very
similar blueprint to what they did a year ago. Okay,
and that is like I said, I think they're going
to try to bring back Naylor, and I think they're
going to try to bring back Polonko. I don't think
(11:58):
they'll do much else of significance, right and so, but
if you just did those two moves, even if you
lose sores, even if we don't add a free agent,
even if we don't make some sexy trade this offseason,
that team is good enough to be in the race
(12:20):
and to be to maybe lead the race in the
American League West all season long and then and this
is what they seem to like to do, because they've
done it now three of the last four years.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
I realized we've only made the playoffs two of the
last four years.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
But this is a real misconception by marin or fans
that they don't ever do anything at the trading deadline.
Since they entered this championship window, this is where they
like to make Hey, it's at the trading deadline. They
have been very aggressive and very effective with the last
three of four trading deadlines, and I think this is
the way they want to do business. And when you
(12:56):
think about it, anders when you step back like a
Josh Naylor. And I know they want to resign him,
but the idea is, we just added.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
A twenty million dollars first baseman at the trading deadline,
and we're only going to have to pay him a
percentage of.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
The last year on his contract. So what did they
end up having to pay him? A million and a quarter?
Not much for what he brought to the table last year.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
I think they fell in love with.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
That, that idea of man, if we can add guys,
and because believe me, they did not want to add
guys that were on the last year of their contract.
Now I think they're like, oh, trial, run we like
nailor run keep him. I'm not sure if we still
(13:45):
like Suarez, we might not keep him. But for that
period of time, we only had to pay a fraction
of their salary, but we got two All stars while
we were in the race to help get us where
we wanted to go. And I have a feeling, from
a blueprint standpoint, you might see them try to repeat
(14:06):
that sort of thing. Not the same offseason, right, but
that sort of approach to the entire calendar year of
acquisitions going forward.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Yeah, And I think in terms of value. That's where
you're going to get the most bang for your buck anyway,
because there are teams that are out of it that
are going to be looking to kind of just recuperate anything,
whether that is a nailor Assuarez.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Like it's I don't like it.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
I don't love it because I could see where how
that's how they operate. It works for both the front
office and the ownership because front office is like, we
don't have to trade as much in the trading deadline
as you would in the off season, right because you're
not getting them for very long, right, So they like that.
They don't like that too, they like they like the
prospect hoarding.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Yeah, but at least they were willing to part with
some this year.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Absolutely absolutely, And it works for ownership because, like you said,
they have to pay less money than they would have normally,
but you risk kind of what you could have done
throughout the entirety of a six.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Mon's a great point. I mean you can make that argument.
But then our you and I's argument like we were,
I mean, we were pounding the table for Josh Naylor
on stove last offseason.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
And it would have made you cut up. Probably could
have made the same trade.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
You probably could have made the trade same trade, maybe
even less. Yeah, and and maybe you didn't have to
go through the gut wrenching ebbs and flows because it
was still gut wrench Yes, I mean, I know it
was a success, and I know you punched your ticket
to the playoffs and won the division, but there were
still numerous moments you were like what the f is
going on with this time? Absolutely, maybe you wouldn't have
(15:45):
had to experience those dramatic ebbs and flows had Josh
Naylor been in a Mariner uniform from spring trade.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Absolutely, and maybe you would have had a better chance
of signing it. Maybe you'd already be signed.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Yeah, and possibly at a again, looking this is all,
you know, hypothetical, but looking at if you had done
it earlier, he could have had a cheaper deal because
he now he knows his value and how many big
moments he had for the Mariners, and like.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Yeah, there's all it's a great counter ardy.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yeah, I mean, I honestly like and for people who
are looking for the Mariners to make these big splashes,
I'm not saying that they're going to. I just I'm
just pointing out that that's what can happen if you
wait until the trading deadline to upgrade your team. But
I think I agree with you that's probably the route
they're gonna go, kind of keep the same core together.
I think adding Josh Naylor is in their priorities. They've
(16:32):
mentioned that.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
There's a lot of.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Speculation, whether you look in a social media posts or not.
I don't know if you saw Josh Naylor. Let let's
just get straight into the Naylor, Polonko and Spoor. But
I think most people, I assume you feel the same
way that Naylor's first priority. I don't know how you
feel about Polonco and Suaz can kind of talk about that.
But if the Mariners were to just sign Josh Naylor
(16:56):
and then you know, maybe a bullpen arm or something
like that, nothing other big besigdes besides just signing Josh
Naylor to whatever contract it is.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Is that a good enough offseason for.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
It's a million times better than last offseason already, just
on its face, No, that wouldn't be enough for me,
But I do like hearing from them he is the
top priority. Yeah, And if not, I mean you have
left yourself a hole at first base. I mean, there's
an argument that you have.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
We've got us. We've got at least.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
A temporary solution at third, and we think that we've
got enough parts that second base won't be an issue.
But if we lose Nail, we don't have a first baseman. Literally,
there's no way you can count on Raleigh after the
year that he had a year ago. And so I like,
I do like hearing how aggressive they've been and how
forthright they've been about that, and that they're making that
(17:52):
a priority. Nobody knows what makes Josh Naylor tick. He
seemed to enjoy himself. He seemed to like the roster.
I think there are enough guys on this roster, like
a cal Raley, that he thinks like them. But who knows.
If he's chasing the biggest salary, I don't think he'll
(18:15):
be back if the Mariners. If he's not, and the
Mariners at least, and we can't be sure that they will,
let's face it, yep, if they at least give him
a fair market value offer four years at least, then
I think we've got the best shot of any team
(18:36):
out there in Major League Baseball to have him. And
at this stage, look when we made the trade. I
went on the air. Hugh Millen was actually filling in
for either Softy or Faint, I don't remember who it was,
and he asked me about you know, how important it
is it to keep him? And I warned everybody, I
don't think that's the goal here. I don't think that's
the goal to keep Josh Naylor. He's got a really
(18:57):
bad body, and I don't think that they're I mean,
I think they would keep them, but I don't think
it's a priority. As soon as he started to play,
and as soon as he started to fit with the
fan base and with the clubhouse, and then you saw.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Oh gosh, we've been missing this.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yes, then I think that it did become a priority
for them. And maybe it was all along and I
had it wrong, But to me, hearing that that's the
number one priority coming out of the offseason, I think
they're right on.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Point with that. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
And it's weird because it's not like he absolutely lit
it up when he came here. He was basically the
exact same player that he was in Arizona for the
entirety of his season this year, which is a very
good player. But it's more the intangibles that make him
as valuable as he is number one. Like you said,
I think the biggest thing is that they don't have
another first baseman. So and he is a good defensive
(19:50):
first baseman. He enjoys the clubhouse. I think, like you said,
his personality kind of fits in really really well with
this group to kind of mix it up a little bit,
have the flashy Julio's and Randy's and Victor Roebliss and
even JP a little bit. You have the very down
to earth quiet Cal Rawley, and then you have just
(20:11):
the piss and vinegar of a Josh Naylor at first base.
It's like a perfect combination of all of them exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I mean, he's the flashiest dresser. Yeah, so he's the
flashiest guy. And then he's the grittiest guy.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
So he gets along with that group. And then he
might be the most cerebral. I don't want to take
that away from Cal, because Gal's thinking of everything at
all times.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
But he is a brilliant, absolutely baseball mind to have
in the batter's box, and at first base.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
He was a much better defender than I thought he was.
He stole thirty frickin' basses this year. I don't think
there's a fan base that wants some more than what
we do. I don't think there's a front office that
wants him more than what ours does. I think there's
a good chance that he will be back, but I'm
not here to tell you there's a great chance. I
don't know how Josh Naylor ticks. I don't think anybody does.
(21:05):
If he's going, hey, I got one crack at this,
I'm going to make the most money possible and I
grew up in Canada.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I'm going to live where it's warm.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
If he's got that mind and that approach, then we're
not going to get him. But I do at least
appreciate that the organization is recognized.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
That's where it starts this offseason.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, and I agree. I think they're not just saying that.
They're not just saying, oh, it's a priority for us
to resign them. I think they absolutely know that it's
a priority to resign them. And there's we'll stick in
this episode mostly to the internal candidates. We'll look at
a couple external factors. Like the first thing I think
of is the first base market. How many other teams
are going to need a first baseman. And you can
(21:49):
look at it two ways. But the Pete Alonso opting
out of his New York Mets deal both A, he
puts another first basement on the market for other teams
to look at, but b adds an other team that
needs a first baseman in the New York Mets.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
So you could look at that both ways. I think
it's bad.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, Okay, I mean, well no, I put it this way,
like the Red Sox need one yep, and then if
Alonzo leaves, then that there any but Alonzo could go
to Boston, you know, and so you know, I see
what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Yeah, but.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
If he left, I mean there are some stopgap guys there.
I think a lot of people have been curious about
what Luis Arise could do with the in the Mariners lineup.
The guy that is just as good at putting the ball,
I mean, not coming off a great year, but putting
the ball in play great. Ryan O'Hearn's coming off a
(22:43):
good season. Reese Hoskins is somebody that has had success
that you could probably get cheap. Paul Goldschmidt show over
the Yankees that he might have one more decent season
in him. But to me, if you lost a nailor that,
here's where the influx comes. Because if we just move
the decks around the Titanic, then you're you're just you know,
(23:05):
some people get to fill their holes and there'll still
be the other. Right, But we've got two first basemen
coming in from overseas, and so to me, if you
don't sign Josh Naylor, you have to get Morikami. Okay,
that's that's my approach to it, because that's a twenty
million dollars Now. I think there's a way to get
both of them absolutely, which you're not gonna like, but
(23:28):
there is a way to get both of them, even
under the tight fisted financial restrictions that we operate under
his Mariner fans. But if you don't bring in Naylor,
then you have to get Morikami, and I will roll
the dice on that guy. I realized there's strikes out
a lot and has trouble putting the ball in play
(23:49):
and seem to have a big hole in his swing.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Not great defensively.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Eighty power, Yeah, you know a few players at the
professional level we're graded with eighty power. That's like John
Carlos Stanton yes, at twenty five.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Not even Cal not even Cal.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Yeah, So yes, I'm interested and I want both of them. Frankly, yeah,
I do.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Too, And we'll kind of do a deeper dive on
the external names. I think Mark Kami is one of
the biggest ones out there that Mariners fans are looking at.
I'm curious to know what Chuck thinks about him personally,
like kind of evaluating him as a player, how he'll
fit into MLB and all that stuff. We'll do that
on probably the next episode, but I want to stick
close to the options internally that the Mariners will or
(24:35):
will not bring back.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
So let's bring another.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Guy that you could have described the same way as
Munataka Maurakami, a guy with not maybe not eighty power,
but good power, maybe not great defensively, definitely on the
older side. It's Aheno Suarez. What interest level do you
have in bringing him back? What interest level do you
think the Mariners have in bringing him back?
Speaker 2 (24:58):
The part I hate is that I think he really
wants to be here, and I'm not sure they wanted me,
even though Jerry announced to the world that was the
dumbest thing I've done as Mariner's general manager was trading
him the first time and not realizing his value. But
for years, all the Major League Baseball has been operating
under this belief that Geno Suarez is at the end,
(25:20):
that the bat has slowed, the defense is not very good,
and he just keeps defying that. And now he's got
one of, if not the biggest hit in Mariner's history
under his belt as well. And so to me, I
think the Mariners have interest, but it's not like Naylor.
(25:41):
It's not like, all right, we'll play ball with you,
we'll pay mark value for you. You're our priority. I
don't think Geno Suarez is the priority. I don't think
they will. I think he would have to give them
a deal, and he might maybe he will, and I
don't think. I mean, there are a lot of rumors
out there that he's going to make more than Nayl
per year. Really yeah, And so I mean, if you
(26:03):
go to any of the projection sites, it's not the
long term deal. It's just the aav Yeah, it's like
two years fifty yeah, stuff like that, two years forty five,
which the Mariners won't do, which the Mariners won't do.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Now, So I think of the three.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Bring back two of them, and I'm including Polonco and yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
I'll get to him in a second. Yeah, So to.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Me, I think it's Naylor Polonko if I'm choosing, If
you're choosing Naylor Polonko, sorry, Gino, if you'd like to stay,
here's all I can give you. We'd like to have
you back, but here's all I can give you. So
that'd be my priority. But if Naylor left, I think
Gino enters that conversation of the first basement that we
just went through.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
And that's what I was going to bring up.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
So if you don't get Naylor and you can get
maybe Gino on the maybe two years thirty something like that, Yeah,
you can like kind of work around. He wants to
be here, he sees that there's an opening there. Would
you be comfortable throwing him at first base?
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Okay, Yeah, I mean it's not Naylor. But I didn't
think Naylor was as good at first base.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
As what he is.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
I was stunned by it was too defensively. Yeah, I mean,
Geno's turned into a near gold glove third baseman on
Perry Hill's watch type, France became a gold glove first
baseman under Perry Hill. And I know people might get
sick of us talking about Perry Hill, but obviously he's
(27:31):
amazing at what he does, So I don't have any
concerns that if Gino's spent an entire off season and
spring training getting ready to play first base, that he
can play first base.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Okay, so let's move on to the third name there,
and like, I'll kind of just quickly give my thoughts
on Gino.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I love him.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Everyone knows how much I love Suarez, like he might
be my favorite Mariner ever.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I don't know why that is.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
It's just he's unbelievably likable.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
Yes, and as someone who who has been around the
clubhouse a fair share of the past three or four years,
it's it's awesome to be around him. You kind of
see the impact he has similar to Naylor, but in
an obvious different way, just in the intangibles department. You
need those guys in the locker room. I don't think
it's a coincidence that, you know, when the Naylor's made Naylor's,
When the Mariners made the Nailor trade, everyone's like, yeah, okay, great,
(28:21):
that's a great addition. But then when they made the
Ano Suarez trade. Even the players were like, oh okay,
it's on, let's go. And it wasn't even like what
he was going to bring on the field. He didn't
have a great couple months. He didn't not at all,
not even a great postseason. A couple of good moments,
but one phenomenal moment, A couple of good moment. Yeah,
And but you could tell the impact he had around
(28:42):
with everyone around him.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
It just felt like you could tell the impact he
had with Naylor absolutely.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
I mean like Naylor treated him like he was like
his long lost brother who he thought had been washed ashore.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
And he's played one year with him.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, well not even that, yeah, just a few months. Yeah,
So it shows you out likable he is. So yeah, yeah,
I'm with you. I think there is value there. And
you know, to Gino's credit, like I said, major League
Baseball has been telling him for years that he's almost cooked.
He was a throw in in the Winker trade. Winker
is the guy we wanted. We had to take Gino
(29:16):
Suarez to get Winker, and it turns out Gino had
a forty nine homer season in him five years.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
After that deal. Yeah, it's wild isn't that crazy? So wild?
Speaker 3 (29:28):
So yeah, I think the general feeling amongst Mariners fans
and even analysts is that, you know, Okay, he's done.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
We can move on from him. I don't want to.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
I don't want to, Like you said, make it a priority,
but I think there could be something there if you
are in an emergency situation and you don't get Josh Naylor right.
But I think I agree with you. I think Naylor
Polonco or my two priorities. So let's move on to Polonko.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Man.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
This is a weird situation because you make the trade
for him. Going into twenty twenty four, you and I
were all in on that. We love the trade. Yeah,
we've been big fans of Fim for a long time.
When he turned out to be good, and he was
bad for an entire year twenty twenty four, and then
when the Mariners, he basically kind of just was like, yeah,
(30:14):
I'll stay here, stick around, kind of figure it out.
For twenty twenty five. Everyone was pissed. Everyone was like, oh, well,
here we go again. They're just resigning the guy that sucked.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
It's close to losing him to Houston. I know, yes,
and I'm holding my fingers together very close. And that
would have sucked because he would have raked there. To
imagine if he had gone and did what he did
in Houston, we wouldn't have won the division.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
And there's an argument to be made that he was
your second best hitter this year.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
By the end of the year, when he came to
the plate, and including the playoffs, I felt better with
him at the plate than anyone. Yeah, I agree with that,
including cow agree with that.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Bices so.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
And to think about where he was at the beginning
of the year, brought back reluctantly from the fan basis perspective,
introduced to a new position, third base, which he failed
at miserablet he sucked at third immediately gets injured, which
is his reputation, even though he was hitting at the time,
(31:19):
could only hit from one side of the plate for
about a month. Yep deliberated over whether or not we
should put him on the injury list. Never did, Nope,
and then he ends up being better from the right
side of the plate than the.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Left side of the plate by the end of the year.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
For the entirety of the season, his numbers from the
right side of the plate were fantastic this year, and
to think at one point we were taking him out
of games when left handers were being put on the mound,
and Hora Polanco ended up putting that season together. It's
a little volatile obviously with Ora Polanco, the injury history.
(31:59):
You can't over look. He's not a great second baseman.
He's not even a good defensive second base.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
I thought he looked okay there, okay, I'll give you okay, yeah, you.
I don't know. Maybe you could experiment at third again
with him, but.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
It looked so bad. But I wont him back. I
wont him back. I think they won him back. I
wouldn't be surprised if he wants to be back. A
very likable guy as well in the clubhouse, in a
completely different way than Gino, and for whatever reason, because
well I know the reasons, age and the injury history.
The market valley is going to be around two years,
(32:36):
twenty five, twenty six million dollars, and I think that
that's something that John Stanton would be happy to sign
off on.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Yeah, and I think also the big thing all that's
the same question with him, as I asked Suarez, would
you be comfortable moving him to first base if you
needed to, boy, because I personally I would feel more
comfortable with polonqu at first than third.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Okay, I think mainly he's gonna be your DH. Okay,
remember we don't have Mitch Garver anymore.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Sorry Mitch.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
You actually were pretty good in the playoffs, to be honest,
But yeah, it's it's nice to move on from that.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Isn't he your DH?
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I mean, you can't get in the way of the
development of Cole Young or if Ryan Bliss were to
somehow beat him out or whoever. At second base. I
think Polanco is there. You can play second base, you
will play some second base, but I think he's primarily
going to be there to DH and then when Cal
(33:41):
needs to DH, then he played second base.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
And so I.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Don't want to get in the way of Cole Young
because even though Cole Young didn't blow me away this year,
I still think that there's a high floor there, absolutely,
and most scouts that I read tell me, oh, no,
he's the real deal. Yeah yeah, So so.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
I think that's more probably more d H than first base,
third base, anything with a little bit of second base sprinkled. Yeah,
I like that.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I and to my own question, I would feel more
comfortable with Gino at first pace than I would Polonco
if if it came to that situation.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
First base, yes, yeah, first base base. It doesn't matter. Okay.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
So, uh, just kind of wrapping up the big three
here with Jorge Polanco, a Henio Suarez, and Josh Naylor.
We both think Josh Naylor is a big priority. Need
to get him back. You don't have another first baseman.
His age works, he looks like he likes being here,
and uh, you know, it's it just makes a lot
(34:45):
of sense for the Mariners to really really push to
make that deal happen. What just depends on, you know,
the market value and all that stuff. We both probably
value au Heno Suarez more than a lot of other
analysts and fans at this point from an intangible perspective,
but it's not a massive priority. I wouldn't be devastated
(35:05):
if they lost him, especially if you were to sign
Naylor instead.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Well, I mean, of those three guys, I think they're
going to try to fight to keep two of them.
And just to warn everybody who has visions of Kyle
Tucker dancing in their head, no way and Kyle Schwarver.
We just I mean, that's fine to talk about, it's
fine to wish for. It's even fine to be angry
that the Mariners never spend money on a guy like that,
(35:30):
But the reality is they're not going to spend the
type of money it takes to get a guy like that.
So to me, I don't think they would do much
beyond this, which is a little disappointing. But I think
that you can circle those three dudes. They're going to
try to keep two of them, and I think the
priorities and they would be mine personally as well, Naylor
(35:52):
Polanco and then Swarez. Yep, those would be the priorities
going into the off season.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
And if they can pull that off, we're even.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
If that's all we did in the offseason and entered
spring training with the same team that we had a
year ago minus one of those.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Guys, we are fine.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
And then, as I said earlier, you start the process
of all, right, we're in the race. It looks like
we we're a playoff team. Then you get to the
trading deadline, injuries, attrition, all sorts of other things pop
up along the way. Where are our holes? And now
we'll be aggressive at the trading deadline to fill those holes,
to make sure that we have our best team by
(36:30):
the end of September and not at the beginning of April.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
One hundred percent. And I think that's a good approach,
at least for what the Mariners constrictions are. As we
all like to talk about, it's more likely that that's
going to be what happens. And I'll say one more
thing about Polanco two before we move on. I don't
think it's a coincidence that his good year happens to
be in his second year after he's settled somewhere. Everyone
(36:53):
talked about how hard it was for him to move
on from Minnesota. He looks like someone who when he
feels comfortable, and that I think that shows itself with
the whole injury history and everything too, swinging from the
left side, everything, he likes to do what's comfortable, and
once he started to feel comfortable, that's when he started
to really hit his stride. So I would feel pretty
(37:14):
confident even with his injury history. He's thirty two, like
we said, not amazing defensively, but I would feel comfortable
with him being able to replicate what he did last year.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
At least offensive, especially if you are saying DH primarily,
and then I think one more thing would have to
be said about him. And this is on the other
side of things. I've seen projections of three years forty five,
like he's coming off a really good year, and so
somebody that can hit from both sides of the plate
(37:47):
that plays middle endfield, I mean, somebody might be willing
to pay a lot more than what the Mariners. But
most of the projections out there are right two years,
twenty five, twenty six, And you're right if he has
difficulty like adjusting to new places, and that gives us
a leg up. He knows he's on a really good team, yes,
with a great pitching staff, and maybe he is somebody
(38:07):
that is a little reluctant to change, so maybe that
works in the Mariner's favor.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
And for those who kind of are looking at the
hot stove rumors going around there and seeing that katel
Marte might become available, I'm just going to tell you
right now, and I love katl Martin. I think he's
one of the one of my favorite players to watch.
Like I was upset when the Mariners traded him.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
I ember tell you the story about where he used
to be a Mariner and I loved him and they
traded him away, and I was heartbroken and I was
very angry. And I was the only person in town
that hated that trade.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
I did, but I was before I met you. This
is back in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
I hated that. I hated it too. I hated it too,
and I honestly.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Everybody, all Mariner, not a so many Mariner fans give
no the Hander trade, Now, that was a great trade.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
I got to give Jerry that one. I'm like, that's
no money screwed out. It was one of his worst. Ah.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
But I'm just gonna say right now, how or I'll
will ask how much of an upgrade would could tell
Marte be over Jorge Polonko, a thirty two year old
second base slash dh switch hitter.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
It's a lot of the same traits, sort of an
injury history for sure, exactly history.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
And I realized could tell Marte right like he's better,
Like he's a better player. But he also has a contract.
Then he has like five more years on maybe even six.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
So I mean it's a pretty good contract. It's good.
It's like less than twenty million when you're.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Saying Polonko at two years twenty five versus Marte.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
And I don't have it in front of him. It's
like five years, one hundred something like that.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Yeah, and you have to give up a lot to
trade for him. Yeah, I mean you signed Polanco and
you don't.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
I love.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
If you've met anybody who loves Katel Morte more than you,
it's probably yes. I mean, and I do a fantasy
baseball and I'm every year every year. Are you going
to trade me coateell Marte? No, No, not gonna trade you?
So so yes, I mean, if they did it, I'd
(40:16):
be excited.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Will they do it? No, I don't think they will. No,
I don't think that's the direction that they'll head.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
Absolutely, So all right, again, we'll dive deeper into possible
names to be looking at on a later episode. We're
just looking mostly internally. But I do want to touch
on something not necessarily Stove related, but that has happened
in the MLB off season, and that's awards season as
(40:43):
we are upon us here. If you guys don't know,
we record the Stove Podcast. It's on Thursday, November thirteenth.
The day that cal Rawly gets announced if he is
winning the AL MVP. So if you are listening to
us after that moment, I'm sorry, we won't have reaction
to if he wins or if he doesn't win it.
But we do have reaction to Dan Wilson getting third
(41:05):
in the AL Manager of the Year voting. So I'm curious,
Chuck Powell'll just leave a blank canvas what your thoughts
are on that.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Did he deserve to win it? And anything else? You
have to say?
Speaker 2 (41:14):
No, I gave him a C minus grade this year.
So here in Seattle, that doesn't get your Manager of
the year, doesn't even put you in the top three.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
All right, Now, what normally people do with the Manager
of the Year.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Awards and really all of these awards because they can't
watch them every single day.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
So the guy that was voting for American League Manager
of the Year in.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Detroit didn't live through every single decision like we did
with Dan Wilson this year. That was his problem and everybody,
I hope he even recognizes it. He wasn't great making
in game decisions. But what the voters recognize is they
just look.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
At what do you have? What did you have?
Speaker 2 (41:56):
To overcome and did you achieve more than you should
have under those circumstances. That's how the Manager of the
Year vote goes down, and that's why Steven Vote won again.
You got a low pay roll, you had a gambling scandal,
your team played like crap for two months, and you
somehow dug yourself out of a hole when you absolutely
(42:19):
had to with no offense and figured out out a
way to win enough games to win the division and
make the playoffs again. So that's why Steven Vote got there.
So from that perspective, I think some national people looked
at never won a division first year.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
On the job. He came in and won the division.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
To me, you did exactly. You didn't do anything more
than you should have with the talent that you were given, maybe.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
A little less. I predicted eighty six wins for the
team this past year.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
They were on pace for exactly eighty six fin before
the trade deadline. And then once you had that and
you knew the Astros weren't the team that they've been
and the Rangers could and figure it out and apparently
there was a lot of internal chaos going on there,
then you were clearly the team that was the team
to beat in the American League West. So the fact
(43:10):
that he pulled that off, I don't give him too
much credit for that. Where I will give him credit,
and this is where we sometimes get bogged down in
the weeds and watching a team play every day. More
of the job of manager is about managing the personalities
on the roster and getting the most out of the
(43:32):
individual players and the collective. And I think Dan Wilson
aces that, Yes, we are in an era. Look at
the managerial hiring cycle that took place thoughs offseason. Weirdest
FN thing you've ever seen in your entire life, like none,
very few people you've even heard of.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
Padres hired a relief pitcher, who puts a relief pitcher
as their manager.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Yeah, I have no idea what managed.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
What baseball organizations have recognized is because they went through
a wave of old farts, yes, to try to correct
the wave of analytics too much analytics. Yes, So then
they went through the Tony Larusa got called out from
the grave, Bruce Bochie got called out, Buck show Off.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
So then we went through a wave of the old guys.
And now I.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
Think what everybody is recognizing and we have one of
these guys. Dan Wilson is one of these guys. So
this is a really good thing what they think they
have to do with today's athletes. Today's athletes don't respond
to curudgeonly, you know, uh managers being given orders, getting
(44:41):
barked at, Nope, getting yelled at.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
They don't respond to that.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
They respond to Cavin sitz or coming up and saying, oh, man, Gino,
you look terrific today. The arm around the shoulder, how's mom? Now,
let me help you with your swing, son, because I
think we can get your power going. I think that
worked for the Mariners. Dan Wilson works from that standpoint
(45:05):
for the Mariners. So what you saw in the managerial
cycle is personalities, guys who relate to today's young players
and know what buttons to push and which ones not
to push to get the most out of them. So
from that standpoint, I think he aces this and I
think that we've got We already got the guy that
(45:28):
ten teams in Major League Baseball went out this offseason
to try to.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
Find and are looking for it. Still there's a couple
of them now.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
So yeah, there's a lot of thoughts regarding Dan Wilson,
I'll just say number one, I think Stephen Vote did
deserve to win Manager of the Year. But I also
think that both with manager of the Year, coach of
the Year and other sports as well, it does turn
into a all right, who had the worst team that
still made the playoffs select and then they just choose
that manager because it's like, all right, the common denominator
(45:56):
that means their coach is good.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
I think it should be more than that. There should
be more.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
Than like, like I think Dave Roberts is a fantastic manager.
He's never gonna win it because he has the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Well, he shouldn't have want it this year.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
No, like you didn't even had to play in the
first round of the playoffs, right with the best roster
money could buy.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
Right, But then you see what he's able to do
because it just is it's obvious that they coast through
the regular season and then but you see his every
button he pushes is the right one. But that's just
kind of a general thought because I think even if
you have a good team, and like you said, managing
personalities can sometimes be harder on better teams when you
have a lot of big personalities. So I think that's
(46:36):
where Phil Jackson didn't win Coach.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
Of the Year greatest example.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
Yes, right, So that's just in terms of the Manager
of the Year voting cycle. So I think like there
should be more of a viewpoint on you know, who
does that better, and you're never going to be able
to quantify it for these people that don't want every game,
So I understand why it is the way it is.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Going back to Dan Wilson, Honestly, I would have been
fine with vote. I would have been fine with Schneider. Yeah,
I would have been fine.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
I would have personally voted for Alex Korra and everything
that he overcame to win in Boston this year and
make the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
Yep. I mean the only one that I wouldn't have
voted for in that group is Dan Wilson.
Speaker 2 (47:17):
Yeah, so that's the only one. But he was voted.
He got votes for the same reasons that we're talking about. Yeah,
and people perceived that he got more out.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Of the Mariners than what Service did. What Service did? Yeah, yes,
so he must have done a great job and he
didn't do a bad job, but he does have to
work on those managerial.
Speaker 3 (47:42):
And that's where all kind of point out. I think
you've put it perfectly, where there's two parts to manage,
not more than two, but there are two main parts
to being a baseball manager. Number one is the in
game decisions. I get incredibly frustrated with.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Him on that.
Speaker 3 (47:55):
Like there are a lot of ones where if you're
a follower of the Mariners postcast, you know like how
frustrated I get with his in game decisions. And I
think that will come as well. This was his first
year as a baseball manager period, not any level.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
I think he needs a better bench coach.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
Joe Torrey was not a great X as an OS guy,
but he managed players in.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
Credit and I love maniacta I do too. I'm not
sure he's the guy though, if you need someone to
kind of help you with that, he's not. If you
just got a little better. But what about Bob Melvin?
Speaker 2 (48:28):
Oh yeah, exact same personality and could just sit there
and just whisper in his ear like maybe this Dan, Yeah,
well maybe just saying yeah, he doesn't have job right now.
He's not gonna get hired again as a manager. No,
He's had way too many chances and he hadn't gotten
the job.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's a great thought, so that
that's something we could look forward to. But I also
don't think it's a coincidence that cal Rawley had the
season he had the year that Dan Wilson took over,
like a point that you don't I don't think almost
anyone else gets that out of cal Rawy because he
puts him out there every day. He doesn't worry about
the analytics of making him rest. He caught the most
(49:05):
games in the American League, maybe even the MLB.
Speaker 2 (49:07):
This year, our starters played the most games exactly. I mean,
he was like, well you can if you can walk,
you can play.
Speaker 3 (49:13):
And there was that the whole Polanco talk we talked
about earlier, that thought about he might go on the aisle.
Dan Wilson wrote him out, even though it was a
terrible may from him, and he ended up working out
amazingly because he turned into the player that he was.
So I think there's a lot of really really good
things on a day to day basis besides the in
game decisions that Dan Wilson does amazingly. I just hope
(49:33):
he can improve on those decisions so we have less
to complain about come the end of the year, but
I think they got to where they were a lot
of because Dan Wilson.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
I just feel like.
Speaker 3 (49:43):
Another manager would have been able to take them over
the top a little bit.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
Well, and maybe that's what gets adjusted this year, and
that I mean, he's smart enough to learn from mistakes. Yes,
And I know some people will argue he didn't make mistakes.
Some people argue for those decisions that he made. I
felt like I was criticizing Dan day to day more
so than I was Scott.
Speaker 1 (50:06):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (50:06):
Yeah, this year doesn't mean that I'm right right, but
certainly I wasn't alone.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
No, you're not. I mean, I'll join you on that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
Well, and every time I went to the ballpark, that's
what all of the baseball people would pull me aside.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
And talk about with me.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Yeah, and on MLB network, I don't know how many
times they took time to talk about Dan Wilson's bad
decision last night. So I don't think I was imagining it.
I don't think you were imagining it. Maybe we nitpicked
him too much, but I'm happy he's our manager. I
don't have any problem with it. I don't think we
needed to go on a managerial search, but I wouldn't
mind getting a better bench coach for him. And I
(50:46):
do want to touch upon the other awards just quicker. Yeah,
because even though this will be a little bit dated
talking about the cal Rawley MVP, I think we do
need to at least discuss it. Yeah, and that is
I defendatively think that he should have won the or
he should win the award, or should.
Speaker 1 (51:04):
Have won the award. See if he does, however, the
cookie crumbles.
Speaker 2 (51:07):
Yeah, But I mean Aaron Judge was phenomenal this year,
and as many advantages as cal has defensively and points
defensively over Aaron Judge, Aaron Judge had two hundred plus
points of ops A higher than him. He was higher
war sixty percent higher ops plus. I mean, we're talking
(51:32):
about one of the elite seasons in Major League Baseball history.
So I think the offensive gap probably is that large
on the other side. So I think that it distinctively
cal Rawley should win the award, Yes.
Speaker 1 (51:46):
But it's close either way.
Speaker 3 (51:48):
Yeah, I don't think either guy deserves it more than
the other, to be completely honest, Like you could make
an argument for both, Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (51:55):
Then the other one is the cy Young because Trek
Scooble won that again in the American League. We saw
him up close and personal more often than we wanted to,
even though we beat him every single time. Yeah, and
it's very interesting and I'm sure we'll get into this
at a later date, but that these rumors about Trek
Scuoble are popping up to Seattle, and that seems crazy
(52:17):
to me that the Mariners would be interested in that
considering this strength of their starting rotation.
Speaker 1 (52:25):
I don't know, Okay, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
I think there are other ways. I mean, because not
only I mean, you be renting him. There's no way
we're signing him to a ten or four hundred million
dollar deal. We're not that team, So you would be
renting him. And I don't know if I would spend
the amount of trade capital that it would require to
get somebody in an area that we should be great at. Anyway,
(52:47):
So that's going to be an interesting thing.
Speaker 1 (52:50):
I am excited to talk about that. We'll do that
in a future episode for sure. Yeah, And so I'll
just close with this.
Speaker 2 (52:55):
These are the only two things that I want to
see out of this off season. If I could have
a wish it would be that I want to make
sure you do have the payroll at the beginning of
next season that you ended with this year. That's what
you told us, and that's what I'm going to hold
you to. Okay, And then number two, I do want
a gift, and we'll talk about this on the next
(53:16):
episode of Stove.
Speaker 1 (53:18):
I want I mean thinking about a wish list. You
want something under the tree at Christmas. You just don't
want somebody to mend your pants and give them to.
Speaker 2 (53:24):
You, you know, So I want Murakami and there is
a way to do it that we'll get into in
the next episode of Stove.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
I have a feeling I know where you're going.
Speaker 2 (53:33):
And he he of course has to sign before Christmas.
So in terms of like a Christmas present, that would
be a nice Christmas present to have before the season
gets here, because I'm very intrigued about adding this dude's
power here in Seattle.
Speaker 3 (53:51):
Yeah, I'm with you. I think that would be something.
Those are two fascinating conversations because I'm gonna go with
my one wish. I mean, I'm gonna shoot for the
stars again. I think this team and we'll try to
get won Soto again, but on along that same front.
Maybe it's maybe it's my Seattle you alum and me. Uh,
(54:14):
I'm on trek school. Yeah, even if it's just for
this year.
Speaker 1 (54:17):
We'll get into that.
Speaker 3 (54:17):
We'll get into the details on a deeper analysis basis
next episode, because I'm really intrigued by what you how,
how you break this all down, how I break this
all down. I also want to talk Morecami with you
next episode. We haven't talked about possible outgoings either, which
I think kind of falls into a lot of that category.
(54:39):
Uh So we'll do that on the next episode of Stove.
Speaker 1 (54:41):
Guys. Welcome back. It's good to be back. Awesome, we're
here once again.
Speaker 3 (54:45):
If you're listening, we're recording November thirteenth, So we don't
have a cal Rawley MVP reaction. I just I hope
he wins it. It would be so cool as a Mariner
fan to via fan of the MVP. Because I was
born the year Griffy won is MVP, literally the summer
that he was playing before he won his MVP, so
I haven't really experienced anything like that. Each your own
(55:08):
two thousand and one as well, so I think I
was four years old. So again, I haven't really experienced
anything close to this, but it would be so cool
anything any last words before we move on.
Speaker 2 (55:18):
It's just gonna be a fun off season. I think
we started later last year, so to me, there just
seems like there's an appetite for you. So we're gonna
dive right in and this thing will twist and turn.
And I don't know how busy of an offseason it's
gonna be for the Mariners, but there I can promise
you this, there are no shortage of topics. So enjoy
(55:42):
as we get to go and here this offseason. Thank
you Andrews. We appreciate it. My name is Chuck Powell.
We will talk to you again next week. Hope you
enjoyed this episode of Stove
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