Collins It Like It Is

40. We Joined The J's Trident Podcast!

On this special episode we were guests on the J's Trident Podcast talking Julio, France, breaking down the Houston series, and more! You can find J on X @Jtalkhawk + catch the video of this podcast at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_ZZ-CnglBo&t=275s&ab_channel=J%27sTridentPodcastThe Collins It Like It Is Podcast is two brothers talking Seahawks and Mariners. Get ready for WAR, trying sorry receivers, and breaking up family feuds! Like, subscribe, and follow us on X @collinslikeitis

Duration:: 1h 12m
Broadcast on:: 21 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

On this special episode we were guests on the J's Trident Podcast talking Julio, France, breaking down the Houston series, and more! You can find J on X @Jtalkhawk + catch the video of this podcast at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_ZZ-CnglBo&t=275s&ab_channel=J%27sTridentPodcast

The Collins It Like It Is Podcast is two brothers talking Seahawks and Mariners. Get ready for WAR, trying sorry receivers, and breaking up family feuds! Like, subscribe, and follow us on X @collinslikeitis

[Music] Welcome back in to the Collins It Like It Is podcast. My name is Stephen Collins and I'm here with my brother Sean Collins, but this episode is going to be a little different. Usually we're just us and maybe our dad on here and we're razzing each other, having conversations about Seahawks matter as the whole deal. If you've been here for a while, you know, the deal here. We're trying to add your fandom. We're trying to have thoughtful, you know, takes on here. While still being fans, still being emotional, you know, getting the whole deal. How our hearts are in it, the whole thing. That's why you love these teams and they rip our hearts out, man. So we have the conversations. But today's episode is different. Today's episode is special. We actually got to be for the first time I guessed on somebody else's podcast. And rather than doing a whole other episode, we said, let's actually share this with you guys. And so Sean, we have, we have the privilege of being on another podcast. Tell us a little bit. What are we about to listen to? What's the deal here? Yeah. So we were on Jay Jay's Trident podcast. You guys are familiar with them because you have heard him on our show. He helped us out with the Mariners prospect rankings. He also helped us break down an Astro series earlier in the year. And he's just really developed into just a friend, you know, he's been a really great guy. He is a good guy. And it's been a lot of fun, you know, getting to know him and talking ball with Jay. So we were over on his podcast on his YouTube channel and it was a lot of fun. We dove into a number of different topics. First and foremost, we talked about the recent Astro series, but then we also talked about some broader topics. We talked about Scott's service, you know, some of the language that he was using in this series and some, you know, just overarching themes with the Mariners, talked about Victor Robles and the Thai France, how he got put on waivers, all sorts of stuff. So it was a fun conversation. Hopefully you guys enjoy it. You can find it over on Jay's Trident podcast on YouTube. You could also find it by searching on X, his Twitter account, Jay Tock-Hock. And that link will be over there if you wanted to watch it, because we aren't ever, we're just audio only. So we're actually, we're on video, yeah, if you wonder what we look like, you could find it right over there. It was a lot of fun. So it was a blast. It was a blast. So here it is. Here's the audio. We don't want to record two podcasts for good sake. So here we are hopping on Jay's Trident podcast. So here we go. What is up? What is going on? Everybody welcome back and welcome into the Seattle Mariners post game recap. I do have a special, a couple very special guests with me. I have got Sean Collins and Steven Collins from the Collins It Like It Is podcast. They'll be joining me to break down this game, break down the series for the Mariners. And we'll talk about some of the Thai France news and our thoughts on the team overall. I'll get to them in just a second. Let them introduce themselves here, but the Mariners do get a huge win today. Six to four. They defeat the Houston Astros. They salvage the final game in the series. They do pull back even in the West percentage points are technically behind, but certainly a nice different, certainly much better being even than two games back. And now if the Mariners do get a little bit easier part of the schedule, the Angels and White Sox will face some tough pitchers before going any further into it. Do me a favor, smash the like button, hit subscribe if you're new or just lurking and comment your thoughts on today's Mariners W down below just feels good to finally win one here. But before we get into that, welcome in Sean and Steven. Thank you guys so much for joining me today. Sean, tell me all about where people can find you, what you guys do. Yeah. So we're we're a couple brothers, if you can't tell by the Collins last name, we've yeah, we have a Seattle sports podcast that we do together about twice a week. We break down, you know, Mariners series. We don't do a daily podcast, but we break down Mariners series and talk about the teams that we love, both Seahawks and Mariners. We've been talking about these teams since we were little boys. And we thought, you know what, let's just fire for podcasts. We've been talking, you know, in text threads, it'd be a little bit more efficient if we just focused it in, you know. So kind of our vibe, you know, similar to you, you know, just think, you know, guys around a table having a brew ski, you know, at the bar, like that's, that's our, that's our vibe too. We do not take ourselves very seriously. We are always teasing each other in the podcast, giving each other a hard time, keeping it light. But at the end of the day, we do want to be respectful and, you know, I, or I should say, you know, in the comments section of a lot of these posts and forums, things like that, it can get pretty dark and we really want to push back on that and have opinionated, you know, feelings and have, you know, strong opinions about things, but we also want to be respectful and do it in a way that's, you know, positive. So that's kind of our vibe. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I love it. And you guys have had me on a couple of times, we did a prospect ranking breakdown. I think we actually did a series recap for an Astro series earlier in the year. So I guess we, we seem to be hooking up around Astro's time. But no, really great points. And I think that's one thing with the Mariners community that's been really cool with some of these connections. You guys had a tie dank and solace on your show last week on your podcast. I mean, I cannot thank tie enough for all his generosity has helped out my channel. And I know you guys were saying that's where you found me. So it's kind of this great connection that, and now look, we're teaming up and doing things together. So all those little things and being a part of this community has been, you know, so cool and to have the connection. Like you said, I think there can be disagreements. I think we're not, we shouldn't all agree on everything, but we can be civil with it. We're just having a discussion about it. It doesn't mean that one's wrong, one's right. And I'm the same way. I'm just a fan like you guys and I'm wrong a lot. I'm okay. I'm willing to admit that. I just, I want the Mariners to win. Stephen, where can we find it? Where can the folks find your podcast app? Yeah, you can find us on X, Twitter, whatever you want to call it at, at Collins like it is. You can find us there and we're new. We're a new podcast. We just started this in spring training. And so we've been joking around that if you want something really professional, if you want something that's absolutely dialed in, if you want some pros that have been doing this for a long time, it looks somewhere else. We were still figuring this out. We've been joking around when we had like, you know, Brent Stecker on and stuff and Ty. We said, Hey, welcome to the minor leagues. Welcome to the parking lot of the minor league stadium. That's us out there selling hot dogs, you know, we're on Spotify and Apple. Those are the two platforms we're on. So if you search Collins, it like it is on those two places you'll, you'll find us. So yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I'll have the links down below. Anybody that wants to go follow Sean, Steven, please do. And honestly, you know, I know what we're joking around about the park and live bare bones podcast. Those are some of the best because those are people that know their team inside and out. I don't think I've ever I haven't turned on MLB network or ESPN once this year, because you get very vague, you know, very quick interpretations of the team, you know, you fall podcast, like, you know, locked on Mariners and my buddy Jake from race of China, when Mariners Sir comes on here, Collins, like it is podcast, you get people that watch this team. We've I can't speak for you guys, but you've probably watched at least some of every game this year, or at least folded on your phone. So you were getting people that know this team. We're sick as good as anybody. Right. Yeah. We're like pain. You know, we were the Phillies fan right now, you know, or we were a Dodgers fan of the last five years, were we an Astros fan of the last seven years, like, yeah, that makes sense. You know, we're all Seahawks fans too. It's been a good decade Mariners fans. What are we twisted? What are we doing? Crazy. Right. No, we love this team. We love them. And see, that's how you know we're dedicated. Nope. Nobody hears jumping on a bandwagon. I mean, the last few years have been better than previous years, but you know, you're getting people that are dedicated this team coming on these podcasts. So really appreciate you guys both joining me today. Thank you. Yeah, that's man. That's going to be fun. Anytime. Anytime. So let's grab. Let's jump into the game today. Sean, I'll start with you. Thoughts on the Mariners victory today, salvaged the final game of the series, technically back time division. How you feeling? Yeah. I mean, as far as today individually, I mean, I thought the game went really well. It was a complete kind of 180 from what the first two games were like, you know, saw a couple hits with runners in scoring position. That's been our Achilles heel for basically the whole year, you know, saw, you know, putting the ball in play a little bit. I thought it was a big improvement in game three, Brian Wu, you know, I thought it was ironic that we actually won the one game where there was all this scrutiny, you know, you can't start. You got to have Lougan Gilbert pitching in the first three games and I'll be the first to admit it. I thought, what are we doing? You know, every other team had their ace going in game one, two or three. Why aren't we? And it's funny that we actually won the game that Brian Wu, you know, actually was pitching. But I thought he pitched well, you know, that fastball is so deceptive, you know, basically coming out of his armpits, what it looks like for the hitter. But yeah, as far as the game, you know, game three, I thought it went well, Robles. He's continuing to show that he needs playing time. He's really been a spark for this club. He's, you know, probably our best player right now is depressing as that is to say. But you know, Stanik or sorry, not Stanik Santos pitching, you know, and ending in a third, I thought was encouraging. You know, starting to see him get ramped up a bit is great to see. And then Munio's man, he's, I mean, he's just been phenomenal all year. So I thought there was a lot of encouraging things about game three. Yeah, I think that's a great point. I'm glad you brought up that Lou Gilbert thing and Stephen, I'll throw it over to you. You know, I was with Sean on that. I was kind of like, why are we not throwing Logan in this series? I, you know, with the injury stuff and everything and Logan, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, and he's pitched. That's a little bit of it. But now, you know, a good thing about this is you get the W David, Brian Wu, and certainly the Angels aren't a great team, but they were a thorn our side last week. Now you do get Bryce Miller, Logan and Castillo. So you have a little bit better match ups now for the Angels series. What's your thoughts on that? Man, I'll just take a step back. How do I process even this game in the series is, I mean, we were joking before we hit record that like how many times are we going to go down this road? Like how many times am I going to think this team is dead? They're done. And then he just stringed me along like it's just dysfunctional relationship here with the Mariners that can you imagine how dark the fan base would have been and how absolutely unhinged the fan base would have been if they would have lost today? I mean, it would have been insane. It would have just been insanity. And I'm glad they got the win. Of course, like I'm glad they got the win, but at some point, I feel like I'm watching the same car wreck over and over and over again. And I'm being told that like, you know, somehow I'm as the viewer of the problem and it's like, what is going on? Like how many times are we going to go down this road? I mean, mentally where I'm at is I can't ignore there's a stat that I saw on X, actually that our dad. So we do the podcast with us, both the brothers, but then our dad hops on. We're doing like the, you know, Dan Levittard situation there. He hops on his ancillary and he shared the stat from a perleus that's, that's just blew my mind. So he said, since 1969, the fastest a team had ever lost a 10 game lead in the division was 33 games. And I was done twice, both by the angels in 1995, as a Mariners fan, you know what happened in 1995. So 33 games, 10 game lead, fastest is ever been blown. Mariners lost a 10 game lead and 24 games. That is insanity. And I'm just sitting here as a fan, just saying one game against the Astros, you know, obviously does not change all that, right? Like one good game where you didn't strike out 75 times and you know, you're not only being able to manufacture runs by solo home runs. It's like, it doesn't change a lot, but today was encouraging. But I don't think anything today is allowed to overshadow the Julio news. I thought we were about to see broken ankle and seasons over like, I mean, just, we all did the collective gasp, you know, and we all went back to 95, quote, the 95 stat there. We all had shades of griffy breaking his wrist, you know, against the Kingdom fence there. And so just that to me, it was the proverbial gasp that all of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest made this afternoon. I'm glad he's okay and probably avoided major, you know, surgery and injury. But that to me was the biggest storyline coming out today and how I'm feeling is, I don't know. We were a couple of millimeters, maybe away from, you know, a career, you know, if he loses his speed, my goodness, I mean, what, what, what players Julio. So that's where my head's at is a mix of Julio injury, the historic collapse. And you know, just disappointment with where the Mariners are at overall. Same old, same old. Yeah. Yeah. And I think with that Julio injury, I'm with, you know, it's, you're seeing it happen. You're going, and listen, Julio's not had his best season by any means, but you lose Julio and he's been hot. He's swinging about much better here last couple of weeks. I just, there's not much he can do at that point. Because one of the keys that, you know, I know we've talked about, I've talked about on my show, if this team is going to win this division, you know, or they're going to make a playoff run, Julio has got to be a key part of that. And if you lose Julio, you know, I don't see any way, I don't know how it works out. I don't know how you do it outside of going and trading for five guys to take over in this lineup. There's really no way to do it. So yeah, that collective sigh of just, even when you win, nothing can go right. Good news is x-ray sound like they were negative MRI tomorrow. So it sounds like they've avoided anything major. I'm assuming he'll probably be out of the lineup tomorrow just for precautionary reasons, but definitely, you know, avoiding major, major, yeah, there we go. That's where I'm searching for in my head there, a major disaster avoided there. And for the most part, hopefully we'll wait for the MRI results. But yeah, you know, I think, and Sean, I'll shoot it back to you here, you know, I echo kind of what Stephen said. It doesn't, you know, when do they doesn't undo the series, it was a disappointing series for the Mariners, followed up by a disappointing series against the angels before then. And it is another series loss. I certainly, if I'm going to win one game, I'd like to win the last one, makes the vibes a little bit better, at least leaving the series. But kind of what's your takeaway, Sean, as a whole from the series, we talked about the game a little bit, but, you know, overall, what was your thoughts on these three games versus Houston? Yeah, I think for me, you know, as far as the games go, it's a series, like I'm not going to get, you know, too high or too low based on one series, but what really bothered me was the language used around this series, specifically by Scott Service, it really bothered me. Throughout this whole collapse, Scott Service has used language very consistently of, you know, saying, oh, it happens, or, you know, you don't want to get too high, it gets too low. And it's like, this doesn't just happen, you know, losing a 10 game lead to a one game deficit, you know, because well, at the beginning of the day, that's what it was. That doesn't just happen, and that shouldn't be taken casually. You saw Ty France today get, you know, put on irrevocable waivers. So they are making adjustments, but there's just been this language used of like, oh, you know, it just happens. And he compared our collapse to the Astros beginning of the year, and it's like, and almost justifying it. He did that in the pregame of game two. And it's like, because the Astros had their collapse, that doesn't mean that it's okay for us to have our collapse. You know, this is unique, this isn't okay, and there's almost this language that's thrown around that makes it makes me feel like a fan of like, oh, yeah, this does happen. But then it's like, you take a step back, it's like, no, this, this is very unique, and this isn't okay. And that's for me, as far as like just this individual series, that's what irks me the most is just this kind of gaslighting, and it bothers me. So I know that doesn't answer your question great, but that's just kind of where my head goes. Oh, yeah, for sure. And to Steven's point, you know, the quickest collapse of a 10 game lead ever, you know, you could give the white Sox a 10 game lead, and I would expect them to hold it longer since 22 days truthfully. So no, I get it. Listen, I'll, you know, I've defended Scott on here a lot, but my patience is starting to wear out a little bit here as we get further into this. You know, if this was September 19th and the Astros cut the 10 game lead to five, I think that comment would make sense. You go, listen, Houston's good. They've cut into it a little bit. We're still right where we want to be. We've got a handful of game cushion here and about 15, 20 games to go. We feel good where we're at. I would understand it more there. It's tough when you've just literally blown a 10 game lead and now you're a game back and kind of going, well, this happens when it's like, not really, it's historic when you're setting historic collapse. It doesn't just happen. And also there has to be a standard, but we're all in jobs. We all have a standard of excellence like you can't have this level of ineptitude. I mean, and to put some stats to this stuff, I mean, the reality is we're the lowest batting average in baseball. We have the most strikeouts on baseball and we're probably going to set the literal baseball been played for a minute. You know, if you're setting literally major league baseball records, they've been doing this thing. It's like the civil war. So I give you, if you do the most of anything, it's noteworthy. We're going to set probably the most strikeouts ever in a season. We have the fewest doubles. We have the fewest hits. We're bottom five and OPS, on base percentage, slugging runs and RPI's. We cannot hit the baseball and we're top five in virtually every pitching statistic. And so the reality of like, what I want to see, I want to see Scott pissed off, I want to see him fired up. I want to see him care. I'm not calling from what he's job today, but the reality of like, you have to hold people accountable. I don't want to see him just, oh, it's just going to be okay. We just got to have faith. Oh, we just got to ride the storm out. I want to see you ticked off, man. I want to hold you people account. I want to hear things like, hey, whoever has the hot end is planned, because what we're doing is not working. We cannot tolerate this level of ineptitude. I mean, the reality is, you know, if this was the Yankees, you know, if this was the Dodgers, you know, if this was any big name franchise and they gave up a 10 game lead in three weeks, basically, there's heads are going to be rolling. There's going to be major subtractions, major additions, major edits. And I'm not saying we're any of those franchises, but there has to be, we can't just be happy to be here. Like, we don't get participation trophies, like have some level of respect as a fan base and show us the respect as a man or two that like, hey, we're not tolerating this. And it was his posture. It's not even so much the words he said, but just this pot. He was laughing about it. And that really bothers me of the fan that like when I feel like I care more than you do. Yeah. It was nervous laughter though. It was, you know, him trying to make light of a dark situation because he's getting asked questions. He's got to feel the weight of that. I mean, he's made one playoff appearance in nine years. You think he doesn't feel the weight of that. You think his butt isn't on fire there. He feels it. You know, he's trying to make light of that. And I want to give him a little bit of grace there, you know, because we're talking about the same video. It was a video that Marine layer posted and he's, you know, he's laughing a little bit, trying to make light of the question he was asked of, hey, you get, you lost a 10 game series in 24 days, you know, he's that he was asked to comment on that. And yeah, the posture of it was, was pretty rough. And I'll, I'll piggyback a little bit on what you're saying, Steven, like at the end of the day, Major League Baseball is an entertainment product. We are, they are there to entertain and it's not entertaining, you know, it's a rough watch. No. And I'll draw a little analogy here. My wife and I, we went to a Nate Bar Gatsy comedy show at the Saps Center in San Jose and they were having all sorts of technical issues. It was a, it was an objective disaster. And you know, we walked away from that going like, ah, man, they had a rough day, but there's the reality of it. That's their product. Like if that's what they roll out every single day, no one is going to be okay with that. You can have a bad day. You can have a bad week. You can't have a bad month and it'd be like, ah, well, we're just in one of those stretches. This is, this is a 30 game free fall and it's been a hundred game disaster offensively. This isn't just a little blip on the radar. So I just want, I just want that to be the language. Let's just call a spade a spade. Let's just, let's just talk directly. Let's just be real, because this is fake and it's gaslighting. End of take the analogy even further, Sean. Like imagine if Bargetsi he had consistent tech issues on every tour he's ever been on. And then the same ones keep popping up. Like it's not like our pitching was a disaster the last few years and our offense has been carrying us to glory. You know, it's like we've had this, I want, we all watch an 18 inning playoff game versus these Houston Astros. We could score a run like this shouldn't be shocking anyone. So at some point it's the same old stuff like happening over and over again and it's mapping. Yeah. And you can't, like, you know, the Astros getting hot. That's fine. Like if Scott wants to go through like, hey, we can't control what the Astros are doing. And that's fine. I've said that several times. Like I've even made points where I'm like, I'm not even really concerned about Houston. That's not a, that I'm not concerned about Houston. I'm very concerned. They are a great team and they've caught us and odds would probably favor them to win the division. It's just in terms of how the Mariners are playing. Like, yeah, Houston got hot. We kind of think we all kind of thought they'd play better at some point here, but it's just, it's the Mariners. It's how they're handling it. And Steve, you made a great point too. You know, like look how long it took to give Victor Robles every day at bats. I get it. I get he was a waiver claim. Do I expect him to keep this up? Probably not. He was a top prospect at one point. Maybe he has found something and he's just arrived, but it should not have taken this long. And you said he got the hot hand. You need to go up there and go, listen, Victor Robles is hot. He's getting at bats. And if he cools off, we'll take him back out that now they finally done that, which is awesome that I'm happy about that. But that should have happened probably a week, week and a half ago, to be honest, at least when he hit that. We're raking, you know, it's not like we would kill him. And it's like, wow, we got. How are we going to? That's a big rope like that. I don't know, man. All right. We've the lowest batting average of baseball. Like pick anyone, spin a wheel, put them in there. Yeah. Like this should be, I'm willing to try anything, like anything should be a fair game right now. Yeah. When he hit that ball into the upper deck, I think that was maybe a couple of Sundays ago. It should have been like, all right, you got it. You're, you know, you're starting the left field until until you prove that you're not that guy. I mean, when you hit a ball into the upper deck at T-Mobile and the team has a whatever batting average they have and the lowest on base percentage and the most strikeouts, you get a leash. That's the rule. Them's the rules, guys. I just, I don't know. Just be real. You hit up all the upper deck on the worst offensive team in baseball. You get a little bit of a leash. Call me crazy. Yeah. No, 100%. And it's like, I think you guys, but just both said, it's not like you got an outfield that's just raking out there and there's nowhere to play him. So, and listen, do I think that at the end of the year, I'm going to look back if the Mariners miss the pass and go, oh, man, Victor Robles didn't get 11 out bats at some point. Probably not. There's more bigger issues that are going on right now at the team, just the offense in general, not hitting, but, you know, when you're in a tight race, little things make a difference. So, you know, there is one game here there. They could, I think they'll hang in there. I don't know who's going to win the division. I think the Mariners might hang in there. They've got the pitching to do it. So one game here there can be the difference and Victor Robles, one of your three best outfielders for sure. Like sitting might be the best position player on this team right now to be truly honest. You got to play him. I mean, he's making things happen on the base pass. He's a good defensive player and he's hitting. Truthfully, if he keeps this up, he's a borderline MVP candidate, perfectly honest with what he's giving you. So, you know, little things like that, I think are important. You know, Sean, you hit on. I thought Brian Wu looked outstanding today. I'm in a tough start for a young guy. This is kind of, I don't know if you ever put him. I hate saying must win unless it's truly like game three against the Astros, where literally your season is over if you lose. Yeah. But that kind of a must win game day, you're too out if you lose. You are tied with the Astros if you lose today in the season series and momentum just would have been shot. The vibes would have been gone. They're still a little iffy. I'm not saying the vibes are 100% back, but I think a pretty impressive start for Brian Wu today's. Stephen, what do you think of Wu? Yeah, I thought he, I mean, it was the type of start, you made a professional start. Like he stopped the bleep, which is hard to do. It's one thing. You can pitch momentum, right? If there's no momentum at all, it's pretty easy to move forward, but when actually you have a lot of momentum going against you, it's pretty hard to hold your ground. So, I thought it was real gutsy performance, but like this whole season, it's not like our pitching is letting us down. It's not like Castillo pitched a stinker, you know, it's not like Kirby was up there, you know, throwing, you know, turds at the strike zone. There's a reality here of just finally the bats woke up. Like finally, they, they did something around him. I would say all three starting pitchers pitched, I mean, obviously quality starts and pitched well enough to win games. And so there's just finally, like they got some run support. So to me, it was more about the offense finally doing their part than Wu pitching, head and shoulders a bit above what we've already seen in the series even, and that's not a dis on Wu. It's just our starting pitching has been that good. That even really good starts feel like kind of a dime a dozen, which is a great problem to have, which all the more is a reason, go get some bats darn it and go like support them. Like my goodness. 100%. Yeah. And that's a great point. Like I've talked about my last two post game shows, Kirby and Castillo are both good enough to win games. I mean, not even like that's maybe even understatement. They should have probably with how they pitched one game or one D games, I should say. One thing with the office, the offense does break out a little bit today for the Mariners. The Mariners collect nine hits. They score six runs, two walks, only six strikeouts. Sean, I want to get your take on one player in particular. Yeah. Jorge Polanco is starting to swing the bat a little bit. He's starting to look like the player, the Mariners acquired in the off season had a pretty nice road trip. I made that video. I don't know if you guys watch it after that Blue Jays game, and I said, get rid of Polanco, get rid of Ty France. I was done. Of course, Jorge Polanco decides to have his best run of the season, which listen, great. That's good for the Mariners. Any one of these guys getting hot and going out of hot streak is a good thing for this team. I'm not frustrated about it at all. I'll eat Crow on that if Polanco wants to have a 120 WRC plus the rest of the year. But Sean, what's your thoughts on it? Because I look at this lineup and Julio's starting to get hot, kind of expected it. Cal hasn't been quite where we want Cal to be, but he's close. The other guys have kind of done what you need him to do. Polanco seems like the one guy that is really starting to take a step forward. What's your take on Jorge Polanco? Yeah. I mean, I was with you. I thought that Polanco should have been DFA'd if I'm being completely honest. It got so bad. It got so dark for Polanco that I was just like, get anybody else in there, get Dylan Moore, get bliss. Whoever, at least maybe they can make contact and he was striking out at a rate that was just off the charts. As far as moving forward, I don't know. My thoughts on Polanco has a lot more to do with the position. He plays versus how he's playing right now. A couple games, a couple games going into the break and now having a decent series. That doesn't move the needle for me. The reason that you could talk me into saying, all right, let Polanco, let it ride, has a lot more to do with the position he plays. I mean, are you realistically going to be able to get a second baseman that's better? Or at least better enough? I don't know. If he was playing first base right now, like we saw with high France, it's so much easier to upgrade first base. I mean, you have options one and two, there are first baseman available at a reasonable cost at the deadline, or at least there always are historically. It's going to be really difficult to basically upgrade center field, not that we need to. I'm just saying, for example, it'd be really difficult to get a center fielder, a shortstop, a second baseman and a catcher. It's kind of those middle positions, they're just a premium positions, they're going to cost you a lot. Is it realistic for us to go out and get a parades? I would love that. I think that we have the prospects to do that and bolster the middle of our infield. I think it's possible. Do I think it's possible to get an equal horn or a jazz chism? Yes, but that's going to cost you. If you get those guys, you may not be able to go after some of those bigger impact bats. I would get aggressive. If it was me, I would go out and get aggressive. This kind of takes me into a tangent. Are you okay if I rabbit trail a little bit here? Go for it. Go for it. Are you going to do the illustration we were talking about? Yes. I mean, here's the thing. Please do. Please do. Well, there was a statement that Jerry made that really bothered me. Go. Yes. And basically, he made the statement that, "Oh, well, there just might not be anything available." He said that on the Brock and Salk show, I'm paraphrasing, but that was essentially the language he used and it's like, man, you don't have the luxury of saying, "Oh, well, there's just not things available." It's like, yeah, there are. There are. There are jazz chism. There is, you know, reported, you know, confirmed that Luis Robert is available. And this would be the equivalent of, you know, me going on a road trip and, you know, taking my kids to Disneyland and there's a little spot on I-5. It's right after you get through Bakersfield where there's one gas station for about a 20-mile radius and that gas station price is jacked through the roof because they can. It's the only gas station they have. And if we're driving there and I tell my wife after passing gas station after gas station on I-5 and I tell my wife, ah, well, we're about to run out of gas, she's not going to be cool with me just saying, ah, well, the gas price here is expensive. It's like, you got to pay it. Your family is stranded here, Jerry. Like, you have to pay whatever it takes to get a Luis Robert, whatever it pays to get a jazz chism. You don't have the luxury of saying, ah, well, there's not a deal for gas, you know what I mean? Like, you have to pay whatever price it takes to get those guys. Your family is stranded on I-5. So do what it takes and I don't want to hear excuses about it. If I'm being honest, I don't want to hear excuses about why you can't get it done. You've been the GM for now nine years. It's, you know, you built this thing, you got yourself into this mess, you need to get yourself out of it. So, ah, I know that was a roundabout way of getting there, but, um, you know, to tie it all into a bow, I'm okay with Polanco playing second base as long as we are addressing other needs and making impact moves, um, and I'm okay letting Polanco ride, um, as long as there's other things around him. Yeah, there's, there's a world of a difference between saying to, hey, we're going to give Polanco a leash and we're going to see if he can turn around and Julio and Cal versus the entire lineup. Like, there's just some guys you have to say, like, no, I, they don't have a leash anymore. I don't trust that they can get this done and we are going, like, we can survive three guys figuring it out. You can't survive the whole lineup figuring it out. And yeah, it's going to cost you something. But the, the, the exactly we said Sean, we're not at like the question is not, can you find a deal, uh, for gas? It's, we're out of gas and you must get some gas. And we're around now. Jerry's like hunting for deals, like a bargain hunting. And it's like, no, this thing's on fire and we need to put it out. Like that's, that's where it feels right now is, is, it's not time for bargain shopping. It's time to get this done. It's been time to get it done for three years and it's time. It's just stinking time. Yep. Yeah, one thing I, you know, I will say, and listen, I, I, I'm with you guys. I would love to see them go out and make an impact move. Um, you know, I will say with like, I think you can do some bargain in terms of like to fill out the roster, you know, I think like Victor Robles kind of a perfect example, picked up waivers. He's been a nice addition. So I think it's, it's about supplementing it, you know, a little bit like, okay, you can go get a Luis Robert if you can pull that off. And then it's like, okay. Now, you know, there's your new right fielder. So now, you know, now you can go maybe get another reliever, I don't know, whatever you need to do to fill it underneath. But you know, it can't be like, okay, we got Mark, canna, and that's all we're doing. That might be, you know, and listen, that might be, you know, I'm fine. They want to get canna and make that the upgrade over hand or that, that might help the team. I think that probably does make them better possibly. But what you guys were talking about is like, what is better, you know, okay, fine, you're an 86 win team now and maybe a sneak in, but are you going to do any damage with that? We want this team to go from, you know, contender to our division, you know, maybe here to here, you know, to take that next big step, essentially. And to do that, you got to pull the trigger on moves and we'll see what they end up doing. I sometimes try not to read too much into what these guys say in these interviews. I'm with you guys, it struck me to, you know, sometimes I said to go, okay, like, I'll wait and see what now if he does nothing, if they don't do anything in the deadline, then I'll go back and rip those words. You know what I mean? Be like, that was kind of me during the Angels series. That first lost in bothering me, but I was like, but if they lose the next two, I'm going to go back and rip the five of those. So kind of the same mentality, like, if he does something like, okay, he's just talking. But if they don't do anything, you know, it's just, and it, well, you know, it sends that message to the clubhouse too that, you know, we really don't believe in you, essentially. Mayors do make one move today, essentially, at the end of the day. They do place Thai France on irrevocable waivers, who wants to take down and explain to the people if you don't mind what irrevocable waivers is. Sean, you want to take my goodness. I will give it my best shot. You are going to help me with it, though, because it is a duty. We'll try. Okay. We'll do this together. How about that? I love it. Okay. So, Thai France got put on irrevocable waivers. So what that means is basically he's going to go through waivers. If you play fantasy football, you know what waivers are. Basically the worst team gets to pick and they can take Thai France and it's going to go all the way down until you get to the best team. If Thai France does not get claimed, that would leave Thai France with the option of accepting his assignment to Tacoma. If he does that, he would get the remaining salary that he's owed, which is about two and a half million dollars. If he says no, I don't want to go to the minor leagues, then he runs the risk of not getting picked up. So basically if he, if he elects free agency, what that translates to is if he gets picked up by anybody and just signs a minor league deal, or sorry, a major league deal at the minimum, then the Mariners would then owe the rest of Thai France's salary. So it would be pro-rated and the Mariners would pick it up. But I think he's going to do is probably decline going to the minor leagues. I think he's going to elect free or, yeah, elect free agency because I think somebody is going to take him at the league minimum. That would be pro-rated at about two hundred and eighty thousand dollars. I think a team is going to take a chance on that. And what that is going to result in is the Mariners basically picking up about two and a half, or sorry, about two and a quarter million dollars on the remainder of France's salary. Do you think I explained that well? I think that's as good as I can explain it. It's one of those things, I had to look up a bunch of things and we'll get into a couple more things. And just to be clear, just so the people watch this, I think, and Sean, if I'm misspeaking for what you were saying, just correct me, you're not saying he's going to be claimed on waivers. He'll pass through waivers because I don't think anybody's going to pick up that salary. You're talking once he clears waivers, elects for free agency. Someone will then pick him up on a league minimum major league deal and probably throw him, you know, as their twenty six man on the roster. I think that's what you meant with that, right? Am I reading that properly? I do not think that any, I don't think Ty France is going to get claimed. If he is, it's probably going to be by a team that is like the Dodgers, you know, they claim, you know, two and a half million to the Dodgers, nothing. So between their couch cushions. Yeah. Yeah. So it stands like, well, dude, after the dollars, there we go, hold the phone. I think it's important to to acknowledge this, this may not be the last we see of type France. There is a chance that Ty France plays first base tomorrow, you know, or, or Monday, whenever you're listening to this. So I think that's important to realize he didn't get DFA'd, he's, he's, he's still on the Mariners. You know, there's a chance that he accepts the minor league deal. You know, he, he and his agent may sit there and go, Hey, there's not a hundred percent chance you get claimed. You really want to leave two and a half million dollars on the table. It's a lot of money. There's a chance that he goes to the, goes to Tacoma and, you know, God forbid, Tyler Locklear gets hurt. He's the next man up, you know, unfortunately, you know, you know, should he be? That's a different question, but there is a world where Ty France does play for the Mariners again. I'd be shocked if it happens, but it's not impossible. This, this part also probably goes without saying for all three of us, but it's also a bummer. You know, like I like Ty France, you know, at the end of the day, it's been a, it's been a bummer to watch him really dissolve as a player. Sean, we actually, we were actually at the game where he like separated his shoulder, you know, jacked up his arm. I know we watched that game and think like his career is over. Like it looked like a career ending injury type situation. It was gnarly and the fact that he was only out for a few weeks, but his career has never been the same. We, I don't know if we were texting on some stats about that, but just, he's one of those guys that you don't think of as an injury, like, you know, your classic Derek Rose basketball or something like that, or even like a Mike Trout where it's like, just the injuries, you know, they never overcame. Hey, remember we're changed. Hannegger would be a great example of that. I think we are going to tie France actually, his career is really separated because there was a, you know, we, we all as mayor of fans, is it Vlad or is it France was the best first baseman in, in the American League, which sounds insane today. But for a little while there, that was really the question. And ever since that injury, he's been a shell of himself. And that's a shame. He's a good dude. He's hard not to cheer for, but you could just tell like the fire was out man, the clock struck midnight. And man, you hate to see it, but it was clear and you can say something hurts and it's still the right decision. Yeah. Yeah. That's, I think that's a great way to put it. You know, I, I wish tie France the best. Um, it seems like a great guy, great teammate, great, great vibes guy, but it was just so hard to watch. The funny thing is though, even this year before the injury in Kansas city at a 114 WRC plus that's not lights out for a first baseman, but if he was, you know, my, my buddy Mariners serve was saying on Twitter, like, if he still had that number, he'd still be in the lineup every day. So even this year, you know, it shows some signs we're like, okay, I'm, I'm starting to see it a little bit. And then it was just kind of like this whole team and you're like, okay, okay, we're getting better than right back down and, you know, I, I think best case scenario, you know, you guys can fill in this, you know, give your thoughts on as well. The best case scenario for the members would just be someone claims him obviously on waivers. Like you said, the Dodgers just say, screw it to an half millions, nothing for us. We'll take a shot on them. That's probably the best case scenario, but Shonda, your point, like we won't know for a few days because it's going to take a few days for the waiver, you know, order to figure itself out. They could theoretically, not even theoretically, just literally play him tomorrow against Tyler Anderson, a lefty where you may play Ty France. How does that do you got? I don't even know how that works. So is he, do they, can they take him off the roster for tomorrow? Is he? No, they don't. They don't have to. As far as my understanding that the Blue Jays did something similar with Kermeyer and he played while he was going through waivers. So he was on revocable waivers though, Ty France is on irrevocable waivers, your guess is as good as mine. I'm an expert on that. Let me tell you. I got no idea. Yeah. I got nothing there. I think Sean, actually, I think that is an interesting point though, with Kermeyer was on revocable waivers. So as far as I'm understanding, that means that if someone claims him, the Blue Jays can pull him back and go, never mind, we'll keep him or I think anybody. Yeah. If like the Orioles claimed him, they're like, actually, let's not do that. But no, we're going to pull him back. The Mariners can't pull Ty France back. So if someone claims him tomorrow, morning or during the game, they can't be like, no, he's gone. So I just don't know how it works for the roster spot. Like, is he off the roster then or is he just sitting on the bed? Like, that's got to be the most awkward situation of your tie. It seems like it would just be better to kind of, I don't know how it works, but just get off the roster, let Lachler take the at bats and go from there. Steven, I'll bring this next question to you. Obviously, it looks like, assuming this revocable waiver thing plays out, however, does that Ty France probably off the roster. Tyler Lachler will get the initial shot, I would assume, at first base for the team. I've kind of said that's like, I think the quickest, easiest move the team can make to get better. I don't know if it will make them better, but what's your thoughts on that? I think the immediate Bandaid is Lachler, and I'm mentally prepared for Ty France to go to either the Houston Astros and just tap a knife in our back or to go to the Dodgers and do a Chris Taylor and just be like, "Who is this guy? Where has he been?" I'm mentally prepared for both of those, but I think Tyler Lachler is the Bandaid, and I want to see them swing for the fences, no pun intended. Vlad is the biggest fish that you can get right now, and I'd like to see them do everything they can to acquire him. I don't make it on that by any means, but I do think that's the most impact back that we can acquire. I think they should be exploring everything when it comes to first base. That's a position you can't be having via net negative offensively. It can't be a slap hitter. I think that's one of the things that's been really frustrating with Ty France is watching him turn into looking like Tony Gwen out there at times without the batting average. It's just like, that's not going to work at that position. You need some pop, you need some power, and so I want to see them do something. I think Lachler, man, he is one of our, he's our only first base prospect anywhere sniffing Seattle. He didn't look lost when he came up earlier in the year, and so I'd like to see him get some of my bats and see what we got in the short term, but I don't think that Lachler is probably the answer when we're going down the home stretch. I don't know if that's who we're really going to want to be relying on. We're trying to chase Houston, trying to chase Baltimore, trying to chase New York, whatever this is looking like, I think we got to get something a little more stable, steady, that's a pillar in the lineup of first base. Yeah, you know, you could put Luke Rayleigh to first base, but then you lose some value with him not playing defense in the outfield. So you know, I think that's more of like in a pinch, Rayleigh can play there. Sean, what's, what's your thoughts here? Cause you know, I kind of look at it like I think Lachler got into Stephen's point, kind of the band aid right now. I think he's going to get a couple of week audition to kind of show if he can be the everyday first baseman. I'm a big Tyler Lachler fan. So when I said earlier, I don't know if it's going to be an improvement just anybody listening. I'm not saying that I'm down on Lachler, but baseball is hard. He is only had one, he got bats in the big league. So there is a chance he is that kind of puts up tie France number. So Sean, what's your take on Lachler, France in this first base situation? Yeah, I think that he kind of somewhere to Planco, you know, you got about a 10 game window here where you can really show do you belong or not, you're not going to be able to put much stock into stats, but I think it's really going to be looking at it. You know, you're going to have to rely on the eye test a little bit because a 10 game sample size is not much, but he's not going to be worse than tie France because that's literally impossible. So never underestimate the Mariners. I mean, I was green shot this famous last words, it can't be worth it can always. I do agree. I do agree. Always get worse. I don't know. I don't know. There's a lot of devil plays that tie France, not allowed to create an equal because, you know, sometimes you get two outs and tie France did that a lot. So Lachler's glove was awesome in those in that just little window to actually that was something that that really popped to me when he when he first came up. Anyway, so as much as the first base glove can pop. Sure. Yeah, I mean, Lachler, it's it's so tough, you know, sometimes rookies come in and they and they really give a give you a spark. I think about, you know, a guy like Evan Carter last year, obviously he's on the high end. He was a top pick, but you never know. Sometimes rookies come in and it takes a while for the league to adjust. And they really, you know, think about Kate Marlow last year, you know, sometimes guys come up and they really get a jolt going for the offense. You hope that tie France or help time France, you hope that Lachler can do that. Will he? I mean, he's our best option right now. So there's there's nobody else that I would rather see getting those at bats. That's for sure. You know, I think that, you know, that that idea of hitters, you know, sometimes give the offensive jolt. Sometimes, you know, you see guys get brought up in September and give give a jolt too. So I wonder if Cole Young, you know, give give Polanco a little leash here, see if he can do it. And if you can't, maybe you just see if Cole Young. There's no film on him. Maybe he can give you a little jolt down the stretch. That could be what they're thinking too for for second base. But in the immediate, yeah, I think the title of Lachler, I'm excited. It's gonna be fun. Hopefully he can do it. Hopefully he can be the guy. Hopefully we don't need to do anything at first base. Hopefully, you know, he's just the answer and you can use resources for other spots. Yeah, that's, you know, I talk about time on the show is that the best resources the Mariners have. Listen, I'm, I want them to make moves. So for anybody listening, I'm not saying that. But the guys on the roster performing is the best thing this team can do. You know, Jorge Polanco heating up and holding down second base. If he continues to stay hot and does that is the best thing for the team, like to Sean your point earlier that it allows them one to not have to make a trade for somebody and two at a very tough position to do it. First base is a little easier, I think, to acquire somebody, but you know, you just need that little jolt. Me and Mariner, sir, talk about all the time, like even Mike Ford last year came up one 20 WRC plus game a nice little boost. Maybe luckily, like you said, that the book's not really out on them yet. And maybe it will be maybe pitchers will figure them out, but right now you've got 61 games to go. You don't need them to be a superstar. You need to be better than Ty France and just, you know, one nice stretch of baseball. I think you're in decent shape, essentially. Well, you said Jay is, is massive. You said this on our podcast and we've been saying it ever since is that if these guys such as played to the back of the baseball card, we find the best acquisition the mayors can make is Julio being an MVP candidate. Like that's the biggest acquisition. I don't expect Robert to come and be an MVP candidate. I don't expect anybody that we require to be MVP level player, Julio. I expect that. And if we can get that version of Julio, that's the biggest acquisition we can make. If Polanco can play to the back of his, you know, baseball card, that's better than anyone that we're talking about. It's second base. Like that's the best second best acquisition we can get is Polanco just being Polanco. The, I mean, if Mitch Garver can just play to the back of his baseball card, that's one of the best, you know, right handed hitters, you can acquire, that could be on the market right now. And at some point we become jaded and cynical and rightfully so because it's been a hundred game sample size. This is not a bad two weeks, but we can't forget that that the biggest acquisitions this team can make don't require a trade at all. It's actually those guys turning around. Now I don't think we can bank on that. I do think we have to actually go make moves, but what you were referring to Jay earlier about somebody like a Marcana, I think that can be a move, but it can't be the move. We need the move with some supplemental pieces around. And man, this team gets real special real quick if a Julio, if a Polanco, you supplement with a robber, you know, you get a, you know, Marcana in here. This team looks radically different real quick and that's where things get really exciting. Yep. Yeah. I think that's really, and that kind of brings me into the last segment and Sean, I'll start with you with it. I think we made a couple of great points, like said, to lead us into the end here is we're not even asking these guys, you know, I say all the time, it's a cliche. We're not asking to be small Julio, maybe a little superstarish, but Mitch Garver, what's his career average OPS? I don't know what it is off top of my head. Do that. Jorge Polanco doesn't have to have his best season ever. Just have your most generic season that you've had essentially like a seven. I know OPS isn't the end all be oh, I'm just, I've got the numbers up here right now. I'm looking at it. Polanco's OPS is $5.95, if that was $7.22, which isn't great, that would probably be below his career average. His career is $7.67. Yeah. Give me $7.35. Give me whatever Mitch Hannigars is. Give me those numbers. I know it's harder in T-Mobile than other places, but this would be drastically different. Different. Like you said, we're at 101 game sample, clearly like I'm not expecting it to turn around, but even now, as bad as it has been for some of these guys through 101 games, if they can play the back of their baseball card for 61 games, this team I think does have a chance to win this division. Sean, what do you think? Yeah. I think that as far as guys are making a turn, we've seen Julio start that and I want to acknowledge that. He's been fantastic for the last, basically, well, it's probably a couple of weeks sample size at this point. The guy that I'm looking at the most is the most premium position on the field nut short stuff. All of this conversation needs to revolve around JP Crawford. He's been probably maybe the biggest disappointment out of everyone. He hasn't been the worst, but as far as what you need out of your shortstop, out of your lead-off hitter, out of your guy that can consistently throughout the course of his career, put the ball in play, he has not done that at all. It's really hard to get a new lead-off hitter that plays shortstop. It's not going to be something that you can just get at the deadline. We talked about Polanco. You could get a jazz chisom. You could do that. You're talking about DH. You could go out and get a DH tomorrow if you wanted one. That's a pretty easy position to fill. Your lead-off hitter of the play short stuff, if that guy's bad, that's going to be a really tough one to fix and JP Crawford, he's got to get this thing going. He's not quite as important as Julio, but he's a premium position. The team was built for him to be an on-base machine that puts the ball in play, and he just is not doing that. I think this conversation has to revolve around that because he's the most difficult guy to replace other than Julio. Totally. You talk about two guys going in two opposite directions, so that's such a good call out. Julio's got in the month of July, going into today, a 400 batting average with a 1.2 OPS. That's going to work. It's $1,200 OPS for the month of July, JP, batting a buck 58 with a 525 OPS. Does that work? Not going to work. Yeah, I think you need to move him off a lead-off. Julio got moved down to 789, why aren't we doing that with JP? JP's been worse than Julio, so why is he just now stubborn, keep your nose to the grindstone, don't look up with Julio in the lead-off spot? It makes no sense. I know we don't have any great options at lead-off, but it's not for the production side of the lineup. You're doing this for JP. You need to figure out a way to get him going, and he's been in the lead-off spot. There's never been a game where he's not been the lead-off hitter, I should say. Why? It doesn't make any sense. If you're going to do all that stuff for Julio, why aren't you doing all that stuff for JP? It doesn't make any sense to me. To that point, JP's shot is a great call out, and it's someone that I tend to forget to kind of what I throw guys under the bus during some of the videos. I don't know why. I kind of always forget, because he's just kind of there. Like you said, he hasn't been the worst, and right now, I've been critical at JP, but not as much as I probably should have been. And to your point, with the lead-off spot, the other thing is too, and maybe I'm wrong on this. Stephen looks like you've got some of the numbers up. He's not walking. Listen, a pitcher's story strikes, he can't walk, but the walk rate seems to have gone way down too. He doesn't look as patient. He still works the count. I'm not saying he's going up there hacking, you know, unesky Betancourt style, or anything like that to bring up a name from the past, but he's not. He's not. Well, now. Yeah, there we go. It's a deep cut there, for sure. But you know, he's not working the walks like he just in my opinion, maybe the numbers indicate different. I don't have in front of me, but it's just kind of all been downhill and Sean to your point. Like you said, I certainly understand like there's, and that would be Scott's answer. I'm sure, right? Like, well, who do you want to battle lead-off? I get that, but throw Victor Robles, let he's giving you your best at bats. Give him the most at bats. Right. Simple. Give your best hitter the most at bats. Go Robles. Yeah. Yeah, JP Crawford. Yeah. All right. This is a little trivia. What do you think his average is in the ninth inning of this year? So ninth inning, any count, any situation. What do you think JP Crawford's batting averages? This season or career wise? This season. 2024. Ninth inning only. I don't remember a lot of JP's been clutch. I don't remember a lot of ninth inning clutch. It's going to be something crazy. It's either amazingly good or amazingly bad. I'm going to say 113. You're 113 too high. It's zero. You know, I almost said it just as like it's got to be something that crazy. I all know. I'm like, I know he's had to have had to hit something. You could have got out there and done all those at bats, man. I can think of a lot of money. I can think of a lot of money, saying, put me in there for gaming Crawford in the ninth inning. I can do the same thing, buddy. In late. In late and close. So this is, honestly, this stat is where JP, it all comes down to this stat for me in late and close because he's always been, you know, clutch, you got it, you know, all JP's coming up. You know, that was the whole thing last year. He's got a 487 OPS in late and close situations. So that whole narrative about clutch JP, you can flush that down the drain. That's not a thing anymore. Yeah, for this year, for this year, he's just got to get back to it. Like that's the thing, right? Like he'd been that in his career, but just for some reason. Jay, you said something that was so good on Twitter. You were talking about what's been so wild is we have all these outliers towards the negative right now. And there's like no outliers to balance it out. It's just one direction negative you would expect, like, well, Cal batted 315 with 40 overs. And you know what? He's never going to do that again. But ride the wave, baby, or, you know, there's no positive outliers here. Like it's mind boggling. Yeah. No, exactly. And then real quick, you know, Sean, you're talking about the clutch. It matters. Like look at Cal Raleigh, not having a great year, but he's had some big moments. So at least as you know, his numbers are down, he's come through and clutch situations, which is going to help elevate you to win. And yes, dude, I made that point on Twitter for anybody that doesn't follow me on Twitter. I essentially said that it's just crazy that it's the mayor's are having everybody underperform, which listen, you're always going to have a few underperformances. You're never going to have everybody in line, but there is not one over performance outside of probably Victor Robles, who truthfully has had like what 45 at bats. So it's not like he's, you know, been in there since April every day and running an 801 OPS. You know, even the guys that have been okay, like Dylan Moore's been fine, right? 721 OPS utility guy, but that's about what you'd expect. He hasn't been over performing. And even the pitching, I don't think is over performed to maybe, you know, maybe Logan a little bit, but not anything crazy. There has not been one guy like Steve, like you said, like where, even though it's like, okay, his cow can hit 50 home runs every year, no, but that one season where these guys just all go off, like, can someone have an over performance once on this team? Yeah. Yeah. It was JP last year. That's what it was. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. JP last year. Carlos Santana, two years ago, I think he'd maybe consider an over performance. Yeah. I feel like there's been some others too that I'm missing. You know, maybe go ahead, Steven. Go ahead. Suarez. Oh, yeah. Yes. Before we totally jump off of JP Crawford here, what's the job of a leadoff hitter? Like in the end of the day, Sean, we were talking about someone of our episodes, like the most important thing for a leadoff hitter is get on base, right? Like that's your number one job is a leadoff hitter. Get on base. And JP Crawford is a 296 on base percentage. Like that cannot be what you're trotting out there in the one spot. He needs to go to the bottom of the line just to get right, like just he needs to get right. And you're talking about Victor Robles being the guy. Well, the dude's got a 468 on base percentage right now. Right. Right. That sucker. Right. Right. And I don't know if that includes. They are going into today. The dude, like, I'm just saying, what are we doing? Like at some point, like maybe a critique of Scott is going to be, and I'm not saying I could manage better than Scott, like Scott's forgotten more baseball than I'll ever know. So like, don't hear me being cocky here. There's just a sense of like, are we looking at the numbers, like at some point, like come on, man, let's not be stubborn here and just what are we doing? What are we doing? It's not going to cut it. And I really think with, you know, and Robles was two for four days, so if it doesn't include today, it would have gone up because I'm based half as that past today. So, you know, one thing with Scott and company is, and then we'll probably wrap it up here. I'll give you, you know, let you guys keep it going. Keep it going. Keep it going. We're at the beginning of a three hour episode. Listen, if I didn't have to be at work tomorrow for, I would say, well, we'll do it. I'll have you guys back on and we'll do, especially maybe as we get to the trade deadline at the end. I think I'm going to do a trade deadline show with Mariners, someone hopefully try to take the day off. So, if you guys want to come in for that, you know, I'll have people in and out throughout the day and we'll talk about Mariners throughout the day. But I lost my chair. Who are we talking about here? Babycraft. No, JP. Oh, Scott. Scott with that's, they are so big and I'm an analytics guy. And you know, they're big into it that, you know, the lefty, righty matchups and everything. And listen, I think sometimes it pays off. I think sometimes they're patients, I always use example, like Matt brash last year started out very sluggish. His ERA was high. He was getting hit. But if you looked at a Savant page in the underlying numbers, he was getting babbened to death. He was fine. Kudos to them for sticking with it going. We trust the underlying data and he bounced back. But sometimes you just like, who do I think is the better hitter, JP Crawford or Victor Robles? I'd probably take JP Crawford, gun to my head with that. But right now, Robles is better. Like, I'm going to use this for now and ride the wave. That's going to be one of my new slogans now, if you've been trademarked, like, just say, you know what? And like you said, I couldn't manage it better. I did these guys wouldn't have any respect for me in the clubhouse whatsoever. But sometimes you just look at things, you know, in sports, football, you know, I know you guys are football guys. Sometimes you go, this running back's getting me yards. I don't care if the other guy is a more talented back, you know, that's how we end up with Russell Wilson starting over Matt Flynn. It wasn't a, well, then the data tells us Flynn is better. No, they went with Russell Wilson, made the right call. They rode the wave. Sometimes you just got to do it. Yep. Yep. All right. Last thing we'll get into here as we drop the mic on everybody, closing thoughts. I did it with Mariner Sur last week. I'll do it with you guys. I'm going to put you on the spot. Where do you think the Mariners end up this season? It can be not making, well, you know, it can be whatever, however you want to answer it. Steven, we'll start with you. If you listen to our second podcast, which all six of you may be the first getting going here, we did a prediction show and I'm going to stick with my initial predictions that after the Mariners season, which was I created them to finish like a game behind the Astros. We miss the play or we miss the division title, but we make the playoffs. I think we'll sneak into the wild card. I don't know how the seating zone going to work. You know, I don't have the numbers in front of me. I think we finally do slay the dragon. I think we finally do conquer, you know, the final boss level, if you will, when it comes to the AOS. And I think we will beat them in a playoff series. I think that is going to, and I think that will expend all of our energy at all of our that's going to be our world series. We're going to get absolutely wiped clean by the Baltimore Orioles, but I do, I, right now, if you said, what do I do? I'm going to stick with my initial pick, which is, and we're going to miss the division. I'm going to have a big old chip on our shoulder, just, just sneak into the playoffs there in one of those wild card spots. We will beat the Astros, and that finally will be the monkey off the back. That's what I think is going to happen at the end of the day. Love it. Love it. Sean. Well, I think that not to sound like Scott's service here because he takes it way too far, but you know, every team is going to have high highs and low lows. That just is a thing. And the Astros are on a really, yeah, they are on a heater right now. That's just the name that they just are. And the Mariners are on a free fall, do I think that that is likely to continue? No, I think that what's more likely is that the Mariners go on some form of a heater and the Astros come down to earth. I think that I don't want it that to be an excuse from Scott, but that is the reality of baseball. You play 162. So what I think is most likely is that the Mariners are going to go up. The Astros are going to go down. And I think that the Mariners will end up winning the West. I also think that a factor in this is the Astros don't have anything to trade. Their farm system is pretty much bad. There's no other without using, you know, without using a, you know, colorful descriptors. They're not very good. You know, their farm system. They don't have anything to trade. You know, the Mariners can virtually get whatever they want. So I think it's much more likely that the Mariners improve their roster. The Astros really can't. I think that the trajectory of the Mariners are going to go up. The Astros is going to go down and I think we do end up winning the West. As far as my excitement of that, you know, can we do any damage in the playoffs? That's all going to determine on our deadline moves. If we make some big swings, it's going to get interesting. If we don't, well, just be happy to be there and we're going to get, you know, bounced probably in the wildcard round. So we'll see. Yeah, I think those are great calls. Like you said, it's hard to predict when you get to the playoffs. Weird, you know, the Dinebacks make the world series last year. You know, everybody listening. This has hurt my prediction and I think some, you know, I love both the optimism of what the guys I'm there to. It's funny. You know, we can bash this team and they were like, well, I'm going to get in and I'm kind of in the same boat. I'll rip the team apart. But you know, at the beginning of the season, my prediction was they win the ALS. Am I confident in that? No, I do think Houston's probably a little bit better, but Sean, I thought he made a great point that matters, probably have a better ability to get better here in the next couple of weeks than Houston does. But the Mariners haven't done enough for me to change my preseason prediction. Like I can't say they're going to win the West. Their tie, the West was 60 games to go and really change my prediction. I think, Stephen, I think kind of you are in that boat with your prediction, like, yeah, can't really change it. They're right there where they need to be. So not confident in it, but I'll say they get in the, they win this division. It's about time. To watch the division when I was a freshman in high school last time they did. I don't know where you guys were at, but it's been a while. If they don't win this year, when are you going to win the West? Like if not now, win. And I tell you what, if they don't make the playoffs, I'm going to, I'll be out. Like I'll be out on this whole experiment with Scott and Jerry, like you have to make the playoffs. If not this year, what are we doing? So that's kind of, that's kind of how I feel to put a, put a bow on it. I've been a pretty big defender of Jerry, Scott, Justin on my channel. Um, you know, I think overall they've done a lot of good here in this organization's in a good spot with some good core talent. But I'm with, if they don't get in, I mean, like you have to eventually, and I don't trust John Stan coming to hire anybody better necessarily. But you kind of have to look at and go, it's just they're not getting this team over the hump. Now, I think ownership is not helping with that, but you still have to do it regardless. You know, we all have jobs. We might have bosses that are cheaper. I'm not my boss. Watch this. I'm not claiming you're cheap. But like, I don't know how to deal with contract if you don't get it, if you don't get it done, you know, you lose your job and it's unfortunate, but I'm kind of with you. If they don't get in, I think you need to see some changes, you know, I want to see the season play out before I make my claims. Essentially, I think you guys probably in that same boat a little bit. Let's see how this plays out, but I'm, I'm getting to that point where like, especially when like, I don't think it's all Scott's fault if they don't get in the playoffs, but you can't roll back. You'd have to say we got to get at least a different voice in here at that point if they don't get in the playoffs. So Steven, any other closing thoughts from either of you guys? Yeah. That last point you're saying there, Jay, that you can have good process and bad results and you can live with that. Like this off season, I think overall is good process, bad results. And you know what? If you go make some swings and you go, you go actually try to make a run at this thing and you go get Robert or you go get a parade easier, you go, you know, somehow get glad or you do whatever. You know, I know they said the last off the mark, but you get my point. You go make some big, you go try to rebuild this roster and it falls on its face. I'm not going to have a whole lot of critique for them because at least you did good process and if it's bad results, you can live with that. You know, if the local never turns it around or Julio never turns it around, that's, you know what? Hey, good process, bad result. But if they just sit on their hands or they do what they did last year and you're trading away pieces, then the whole thing to me. I mean, it's, it's a, this thing is cratered at that point. So I can live with good process, bad results. I can't live with bad process and expected results. And that's, that's the thing to me that just don't sit on your hands. Go this fan base deserves this pitching staff deserves it. Go make this thing happen. I'll actually even be a little harsher, which is going to sound crazy to some people as much as I've defended this front office, even with the good process. And I'm, and I agree with you a hundred percent on that. So I'm not disagreeing with it. I thought Planco was good process, I thought this off season in general was pretty good. Same thing at the deadline. But I'm at the point now, the results have got to be there. And if it fails, let's say they do go get Luis Robert and he stinks. They go get Vlad. I know they're not going to get both. We'll just say they do and they both stink. I got to look and go, whatever they're doing just is not working. I can like it. And I would look at people go, well, Jay, you thought it was the right move? Well, yeah, I'm a dumb too. So don't listen. Yeah. I don't know. I'm not the GM. You know, I'm not paid to make those decisions. I think Planco was a great process, but so far it's not working. And eventually just got to say, guys, the results aren't there. So I mean, I'm with you a hundred percent. If you're, if you're on a rest, if you get it, if you own a restaurant and you're getting quality ingredients and the food keeps coming out burnt, at some point, you got to look at the cooks and say, somebody isn't cooking this thing. Right. Like it doesn't matter how good the chicken is. If you can't cook it, you're going to start poisoning people and like that, like at some point, that's what you're looking at. If you're a marathon. Exactly. Sean, any closing thoughts from you? No, I thought Stephen hit the nail on the head. You know, hopefully, hopefully the Mariners can take two out of three if from the angels. You know, we got a pretty easy schedule coming up. We are facing, I think all of the white Sox and angels top pitchers, which is a bummer. I think we're facing Fettie and crochet when we face the white Sox. We're facing, we're facing Tyler Anderson and it's like, Oh man. So you're, it's not, it's not going to be a cake walk. I've said many times that when crochet or Fettie are pitching for the white Sox, they are not a bad team. So it's not a team that you can just overlook. We're going to have to show up ready to play and you cannot lose these series period in a story. We have to walk out of the, of the, you know, angels, white Sox, you know, winning, winning the both of those. So hopefully we can get that done. Yeah, and it's, like you said, with crochet and Fettie, it's Felix Hernandez on the Mariners, right? Like those teams weren't good, but when Felix was on the mound, they were capable and the angels will throw Soriano at you as well, who is a pretty solid pitcher. It doesn't mean those guys aren't beatable by any means, but it's not going to be a cake walk just because it's angels and the white Sox. Well, I want to thank both of you for coming on at a great time talking ball. We went over an hour. I told these guys 30 minutes before, but we went a little over nothing wrong with that. We're just talking ball. Yeah. Again, everybody links will be in the description, but check out Collins, it like it is podcasts, Stephen Sean and Larry, both great, all three great guys talking ball and just fun to be able to listen to another Mariners podcast. And you guys are great guys. And I really enjoy listening to you guys. You've been part of my regular Mariners podcast schedule. So really appreciate you guys coming on here and joining me today. Yeah. Thanks for having us, man. This is a blast. Would we more than happy to do it again? This was great. What do you said? 30 minutes like there's no way. There's no way. There's no way. I know. I know. He's talking about it. We're going to go on an hour. We're going to do the intro. 30 minutes. Thanks for having us on, man. This is a blast. Absolutely. I was talking on the last podcast with Ty that I knew talking to my brother and my dad would be a blast. We've been doing this since we were kids, you know, but I didn't know is there's this awesome community that we feel to connect with and you're a key part of that, man. So thanks for having us on. A lot of fun. It's been fun to just make some new community new friends kind of just getting to talk ball. And the thing is there's not a lot of people that you can talk about in JP Crawford's O.P.S. You know, it actually not be like a psychopath. And so it's just fun to be able to actually dive in with some people that like actually care at that level because we're fans. You know, none of us are insiders or anything, but like we're fans that we care about this team. We got shared memories and we deeply, you know, this team is like shape, you know, my childhood and my life. And you know, I'm building memories with my kids, you know, watching this team and it matters. It matters. You know, building a community that just cares at that level. So man, it's fun to talk to you about it. It's been a really good time. Thanks again, Ram and Sal, man, absolutely. Anytime you guys welcome on, like I said, trying to, you know, just build this community. It really is a truly, truly great community of people that are trying to lift others up, which is great to see. Nobody is. You know, I talk about tile the time could easily sit there locked on and go, you know, why would I help? They're going to take views away from me, possibly. I'm not going to help other people, but that's not how it is with this community. So it's been great. And I'm with you, you know, growing up with this team, I've got three kids as well. Poor kids are becoming Mariners fans. So they're going to understand the pain that we've been through. It's time to pass it on. Yeah. Build character. Exactly. Little toughness in them. No, I appreciate you guys coming on as always. We will do it again. Thank you again to everybody for listening. Like, comment, subscribe, check out Steven, Sean, and Larry and the Collins that like it is podcast. I will see everybody tomorrow as the mayor's begin a three game set with the Angels. Take care, everybody. And go mayor's big W today. Feeling better. Peace. Peace. [MUSIC]