First Impressions of the Mariners' Dan Wilson Era + Is Bryan Woo the AL Pitcher of the Month?

did we learn anything from the first series of the Dan Wilson era as Brian woo on his way to earning pitcher of the month honors we'll answer that and more coming up here on mailbag Monday Colby hit [Music] it you are locked on Mariners your daily Seattle Mariners podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day Oho Sailors it is Monday August 26 2024 this is time GES and kby Pat not for the locked on maror podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day we're going to be opening up the mailbag like we do here every Monday and answer some of your Mayers questions but before we get into this week's batch shout out to our title sponsor today supply house supplyhouse.com is a reliable way to get parts fast shop for your next Plumbing HVAC or electrical job and get fast shipping from coast to coast that's supplyhouse.com and if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show check out our patreon the link is in the description and you can sign up for a free 7-Day trial Super Soul 8075 is going to kick us off here on mailbag Monday with a very simple question a question that a lot of you guys asked us thoughts on the first series with Dan Wilson as the manager it's always tough to like try and generalize like strategy or whatever off of three games because um you know obviously like yesterday for example they were running all over the place and you say well is Dan Wilson like is that just part of his game is he just going to run more it's like well I mean we saw Scott service have a game like that a couple months ago where he ran all over the Rangers uh Andrew kizner yeah kizner like they had like five or six steals in that game too so is that just because cassal is behind the plan and they don't uh you know respect his ability to control a run game they're obviously very familiar with him right um you know and same goes for Robbie Ray bunch of those three of those steals came against Ray uh while he was in the game uh so did they just do they feel like they knew like his they had him read really well and they knew when he was going to the plate was he tipping when he was going to pick off so they just could take off right away is it because cassali can't throw guys out or is it just because you know Dan has kind of decided that he wants to be more aggressive and he wants to try and manufacture more runs um you know it's tough to say it could be either it could be both a little bit uh but yeah I did think he was a little over enthusiastic to bunt uh in this series but you know it was interesting it definitely looked a little different than Scott service games uh you know I think you look at for example one of the things that stood out is Brian woo getting an opportunity to finish the seventh uh whereas you know he you know the guy gets on base he's at 91 pitches you know Scott probably goes and gets him and he goes to the fresh arm to try and get that guy out uh Dan you know lets him go and it ends up working out nicely because now you just get to go to Snider and then Munos and you know both of those guys a little sketchy yesterday but they got the job done ultimately so uh yeah you know it's pretty interesting uh it's it's tough to say one way or another whether or not like this is a true change or if it's just opponent specific right uh so you know it's a little tough to say one way or another but uh it certainly looked different again there was I think three or four bunt attempts in this series they stole you know half a dozen bags uh you know they were they were being aggressive on the basis so I don't know again is that specifically based on the opponent and they just saw something they wanted to try and take advantage of or is it kind of just the new uh direction that Wilson wants to take his roster and kind of looking at his struggling offense like hey you know let's not hope somebody hits a double when we draw a walk let's get that guy in scoring position and let's see if we can get a hit and and just do it that way so um you know it's it's real tough to say he won two out of three and at the end of the day the only thing we car about from the manager is the result like he wins games uh you know as a fan base so tough to say uh but I did notice some some differences in in the style uh it's just again would Scott have run the same thing against this particular opponent he might have because it's still a collaborative effort and most of that staff is still there so it's a little tough to say but overall I mean again I think you got a little bunt happy there but you know I'm never going to really like bunts so anytime you do it once I'm going to be like yeah you're bunting too much so um you know that's my only real complaint there but yeah so far so good and the early reports out of uh out of the clubhouse seemed to be that they really like Dan and and uh they the wording was they're they're flocking to him like in the clubhouse like they seem to really like d and respect him and that's the most important part right and it was very important to get that that first win on the first game and especially in the fashion that they did I'm you know I I got asked when I did um you know our our postgame show on on the patreon you know how how important was this and I and I think you know maybe from a uh playoff race standpoint you know trying to turn the season around standpoint who knows the jury's still out on that uh but I think just for those guys in particular what they had gone through over the last you know nine days leading up to that game and especially the last 24 hours leading up to that game those guys really needed that and they needed a win like that so I thought that was huge but you know overall not a lot that you're going to glean from three games and it's very easy to get into hyperbole here when we're talking about a three- game sample size because that's the only sample size we have uh but the one thing that I wanted to get your opinion on uh that you didn't mention here was the decision to walk Lamont Wade uh they in the top of the 10th in the first game uh they get the first out on the sliding catch by Julio keeps the runner at second uh and instead of pitching to Wade was it Snider yeah it was Snyder who was pitching instead of having SNY pitch to Wade they intentionally walked him with the uh you know the free base there at first um is that something that you think Scott would have also done in that situation or do you think he would have let Snyder pitch to Wade yeah it's tough to say um you know we we've seen Scott uh walk guys like that we he did it against Aaron judge uh few few years ago where I think that was the ninth inning but it was still very clear like yeah we'll put the winning run on base so I don't have to pitch to this specific player uh Wade you know versus Snyder not a great matchup lefties are still handling Snyder pretty well and Wade's obviously having a great year um so yeah I think I don't know I feel like Scott may have made the same decision I can't say for sure um but yeah I I did you know that was something I saw I was like that that's an interesting like yeah it's it's definitely a something to take note of like it's it's something that um isn't a no-brainer per se like you could make the argument well we have one out so even if he makes an out and advances the runner to third whatever right we still have the two outs so um you know it's it's uh it's tough to say whether or not Scott would have made that move uh gutfield is he probably does but I don't know for sure and and like I said it's one of those calls where um you know is that Dan making that call is that you know ACTA is leaning on him is that Woodworth is like or is it just something they determined pregame if we get in this situation what are we doing how we handling this so again it's really tough to assign credit or blame for individual moves just because it is still a collaborative effort but yeah yeah I noticed that I thought that was uh it was an interesting decision and yeah that was the first thing that I noticed where I went hm that's interesting so we'll see you know all these things that we've we've noticed over the first three games we'll see if those actually develop into trends next question here from SBR who do you think the September cups will be JP you guys missed it he kind of randomly appeared in the lineup uh in Tacoma on Saturday uh so it appears that he'll be back I don't know if he'll be back by this home stand I would assume they would want to give him a couple of games at least down there he hasn't played in in six weeks um so maybe he joins on Wednesday and then they just hit the road maybe he takes a couple days and he joins the team on Friday on the road but uh yeah JP will be back uh looks like before the end of September uh as things are going right now uh barring a setb so end of August yeah yeah yeah end of August so baring is set back which is always a possibility um so yeah uh if it's JP's back by you know August 31 or whatever then they might just send down Ros for a day and call them up the next day like that's pretty easy to do um you know if you're looking for somebody who's not on the major league roster right now as a potential call because they will have to send somebody down for JP and revos is kind of hitting right now so it's kind of tough to send him down in my opinion it should be canzone yeah I agree plus canzone can get regular playing time instead of sporadic playing time uh that's part of my reasoning for it right send down canzone and then obviously Dylan Moore with revos still up with JP up like you can just Dylan Moore kind of becomes that outfielder uh that he takes over and and all that uh late in game so yeah that's what I would do but revas would be the guy if they do send him down it could be canzone they could do the same thing send canzone down and then call him up in September so sure or they could just wait until rosters expand to add JP back to the roster and do it that way um but if you're looking for somebody who's not on the roster right now I would guess Ryan Bliss uh would be the guy that they would call up he is you know putting up really nice numbers this month down in Triple A he's cut his strikeout rate uh he was about 35% it was started to drop uh in the middle of July and now it's down to 19.8% this month he's still hitting 309 407 456 121 WRC plus we know what he does uh what he can do on the bases we know that he has power uh we know that uh he's a a nice guy to bring Off the Bench a little bit and we know that they don't really want to use Roos that much against lefties and if you do this you could put Bliss at second you can move palanco to third or you can just you know put Dylan Moore at third like there there is some value there uh and then on the pitching side of things because remember you only get to call up two guys it's one hitter one pitcher yeah um on the pitching side of things really not a lot down there so my guess is they just call up Emerson Hancock and they just kind of you know use him as kind of a multi- ining middle guy um and then obviously like if they fall out of it or whatever they might just decide to shut down somebody like Kirby or CIO or woo uh Woo is now tied well he now has the same number of innings pitched this year as he did last year so um yeah there I my guess is just hand just because he's the best guy like um unless of course you're telling me that Garcia or Santos are coming back in September which doesn't sound like either are I'd also keep an eye on Lis Aras a really good month of August for him 120 WRC plus down in Tacoma he's really cut the strikeouts out he's slugging right now uh he went five for five the other night uh he's having a really really good month uh also maybe Taran VAV who they claimed off of waivers from the Orioles Maybe because he's a guy just with major league experience can play a couple spots in the infield so yeah um it's not going to be Lo CER it's not going to be um it's not going to be Marlo at least not as the extra call up you might see them at some point in September again if they fall out of it a little bit more you might see some veterans take a back seat and you might see some young guys get called up uh but yeah for now as long as they're still within you know spinning distance of of the division they're going to go with the guy who can help them the most right now uh and that is probably going to be Bliss and it's probably going to be Hancock uh just because there's really no Bullpen options down there in the farm that could help you I if honestly like right now you told me like hey we need a guy from the farm to come up and pitch in some leverage situations for me I might say okay well I guess you're calling up hun Hunter cranton because like he's next up uh and he's got he's close to Big League ready just stuff wise so there's just not a lot down there Vargas has been a disappointment we know about all the veterans they signed this winter they've all been disappointments Cody Bolton's been really hit or miss down there and he was hit or miss here at the big league level so just's not a lot of options down there but keep an eye on the waiver wire the next few days that is also a way uh that you can add some some Talent so yeah just be on the lookout for that all right we're gonna answer more of your questions here in just a moment but first reminder this episode of the locked on Mar's podcast is once again brought to you by supply house get supplies from the site that's made for the skilled trade supplyhouse.com supplyhouse.com is the reliable way to order plum HVAC and electrical products online their easy to use website is packed with helpful resources and the latest product info to help you get the job done right shop a complete inventory of over 200,000 parts from over 400 top brands and get your order delivered right to your door with fast shipping from coast to coast need help with an order get expert support and industry-leading service from the friendliest folks in the business and talk to a real person every time pros and the skilled trades can get a Competitive Edge by joining supplyhouse.com free tradem program every tradem gets access to a dedicated phone line free shipping and discounts on every order join the thousands of trade Pros already benefiting from their free membership at supplyhouse.com sltm and Order Plumbing HVAC and electrical supplies from anywhere with just a few clicks at supplyhouse.com and you're listening to the locked on Mars podcast you can catch all the action between the Mariners and the Rays tonight on the Mariners Hometown broadcast with SiriusXM via the sxm app all you have to do to find that is Search the word Mariners all right let's get back into your questions here on mailbag Monday Jason wants to know what are the chances that Brian Woo is pitcher of the month in the American League and also if we hit the playoffs and he is still dealing he gets a start right all right so let's answer the first question of yours here about pitcher of the month for Brian woo I I think he's got to be at least in consideration here it's probably him or framber Valdez at this point uh Brian woo right now leading the majors in Innings pitched in the month of August how about that for a guy that was unable to get deep in the games to start the year uh and was you know having to have his starts cut short due to fatigue uh he's been incredible this month uh 159 erra 821 K per9 just an 079 walks per n uh he has been worth a full win by fangraph standards uh Colby you have any thoughts on on woo this month yeah he's got a shot uh he's tied with ramber and F4 for the month uh one more start than him uh this month too so uh you know that's kind of is a point in framber uh camp but yeah it's tough to say he hasn't struck out a ton of guys and strikeouts are kind of one of those things that you know people really look at when they're trying to decide things and he's got some stiff competition this month framber has a shot TQ scoel had a very nice month Francis yeah yeah he just he he nearly threw a no hitter the other day yeah he had like 12 strikeouts and eight Innings like yeah so those big performances like that also really carry typically but he's got a shot he's certainly uh top four or five uh in the American League this month so he certainly has a shot it's just you know is he G to beat out bigger names like bramber and Cole and scoble I don't know does he have that out like like Francis where he just utterly dominates and and it's like so memorable that it might make a big impact with the voters or whoever picks it I don't know uh but he certainly is deserving of consideration and if he did win it I wouldn't be shocked he's he's certainly been one of if not the best pitcher in the American League this month it's just that a couple of other high-profile names have also been really great and typically that's where those things go I am just in awe though of what Brian Woo is doing not just this month but the entire season really again you know we've talked about it in the past like he's mostly just throwing fast balls and doing what he's doing right now especially when you look at the you know the hard hit rate against the barrel rate against how low both of those numbers are against him uh again when he's throwing basically exclusively fast balls it's nuts it's unfathomable you know lefties have still hit woo better than rties he's basically nearly unhitable against rties and he's yeah are still giving him a harder time but actually uh he has may have found a a solution here because the change up that we've talked about uh which is really flashed recently uh he's not getting whiffs on it he's only getting a uh it is a 14% whiff rate on the change up against left-handed hitters but lefties against that pitch are hitting just uh they're hitting 128 with a 205 slug so he does have a weapon to use against lefties now the change up is been legit has been legit against that that side of the plate and then obviously he pairs it very well with his fast ball uh so two seamer change up really working against the lefties and then against the righties it's mostly for seamer slider or sweeper um whichever one you want to call it the distinction whatever might matter here because the sweeper has been significantly uh more effective than the uh slider but yeah so you know we talk about what can woo do to to really improve and take a Next Step this year uh get better against lefties and he's done that and it's mostly because of the champ change up he is in the 85th percentile in offs Speed Run value so the change up has been very good he's 97th percentile in fastball run value he's even 64th percentile in breaking ball off speed value so the secondaries have taken a leap this year yeah so on the topic of him potentially starting in the playoffs now you have to get there etc etc etc qualifier qualifier qualifier just skip that out of the way right uh but so you do get there uh this has obviously been um a topic that um our friends TJ and Lyall have talked about quite a bit over at Marine Lair um they are or at least I know Lyall is in favor of starting woo uh in one of those games in the wild card I don't know about the wild card I still like if I had to guess that's going to be that would be Gilbert Castillo Kirby some variation of those three are going to start in the in a wild card series but once you get to the division series I think it's probably a a piggy Back start like between woo and Miller like you throw both of th those guys in the same game at a team what do you think about that or would you just start woo on on his own how you feeling there's too many factors right now and again we're allowing for the low probability or possibility that the Mariners do make the playoffs uh in some form or fashion um how like how did the rotation wind up at the end of the year because if they do make the playoffs it's probably because they won on the last day or two like they're not going to get to reset their their rotation they're going to play the day like the day two days after the regular season ends because they're probably going to to have just snuck in in the last day or two so did they they might have had to start woo in game 162 to get in and then he wouldn't be available uh for that series or they might have had to start Castillo or whatever but I think you know even in that scenario it's a three-game set you're going with your two best guys in those first two games if you can and that would be Gilbert that would be Kirby still and Kirby's had a really bad month um um well especially by his standards but even that Detroit start probably the worst of his career uh but yeah Kirby's been bad this month but he's still George Kirby he's still a guy uh who's not only dominated in the playoffs before but he's actually you know used to this workload and again by the way Brian woo as many innings pitched this year as he had last year at the big league level they're still a month to go so how is woo looking at the end of the year how is is the velocity up is how's his arm feel is he is he healthy because you know you still are looking for a long-term success and if you have a tired Brian woo versus you know Luis Castillo who's been there and done that before you probably would still get the the ball to Luis Castillo so it's not as easy as just like wo's pitching the best right now so fast forward you know a month and he should get the ball in in game one or two of your playoff series it's not that easy because there are factors like fatigue there are factors like how is he pitching right now uh you know like how has he actually looked since this month like if if he goes out there in the last two weeks of September and he's sitting 92 993 and he's given up four runs a game we're not having this conversation so uh I would say right now in a three game set I'm still going uh Kirby Gilbert Castillo in some order uh and then you know if you do happen to get by that if you do happen to make the playoffs and you do happen to win that first series uh then it's really going to depend on matchup and again how is woo feeling so uh it's entirely possible that you uh you can go uh with woo uh in in game one of of the the DS uh and it's just a little like how much gas does he have left can he go six or seven that night or is it one of those situations where I have to go three and then kind of and if you have to do that then you might just go with Miller and then just use woo out of the bullpen uh in the playoffs which you should you know play up pretty well uh all things considering so to me you know I think you're still going with your your three veterans your three workhorses uh in that first series all right we're going to answer a couple more of your questions here in just a moment but first a reminder this episode of the locked on Mars podcast is brought to you by FanDuel you've heard me talk a lot about FanDuel which of course is America's number one sports book well I have something a little different for you today now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a 3-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with a YouTube TV base plan you'll be able able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel anytime just visit fanduel.com lockon that's l c KD n to download America's number one Sportsbook and you're listening to the locked on maror podcast once again you can catch all the action between the Mayers and the race tonight on the maror hometown broadcast with SiriusXM via the sxm app all you have to do to find that is Search the word Mariners all right let's get into your last couple questions here on mailbag Monday switch wants to know 2021 Casey Saddler 2022 pen Murphy 2023 Justin topa 2024 Colin Snider which one is your favorite and why so these relievers that have seemingly come out of nowhere and have had a lot of success for the mirors which one is your favorite Colby uh Colin snd because I saw it coming okay talked about it all winter Colin SN clearly um I mean me it's SN CU he's the one doing it right now sure and frankly this Bullpen You could argue needed a Colin Snider more than any of the other bullpens needed their respective breakout y yeah um yeah it's it's probably Snyder but I I would you know probably say Sadler is a close second just because obviously Casey's a great dude um what was it 067 ra9 I believe oh nice nice uh but yeah I mean and like Casey's just you know a great dude and I I'm sure pen and and uh Justin are also pen Murphy also friend of the show just like Casey sadly yeah yeah so you know it's no disrespect uh but yeah but now he's a filthy Astro yeah a little disrespect right by when did Ben gam join the Astros yeah that that happened to missst the whole Scott service thing so that's how we miss it yeah yeah um but no it's yeah I'd probably go Snyder and then sather's right there and then uh you know Murphy got hurt uh which is unfortunate because he really was just a really great like middle six seventh inning type uh and he was very durable which might be why he got hurt because he got used a lot uh so you know we'll see but yeah Sadler uh Casey is uh is probably way up there too but Snyder obviously doing it right now and uh maybe not the best CRA of the group but certainly more strikeouts than any of them yeah and so yeah I would I would say Snyder is is the guy right now and then Sadler is a very close second but yeah it's every year you're going to get one of these guys it's just you know you can even go back I mean honestly though in 2021 you could say well what about Paul sewald like isn't he the out of nowhere guy who came up and was really good too and so yeah uh it's a bummer that the bullpen has been a bit of an issue and it feels like it's mostly because of injury because if you put Garcia Santos and Brash in this Bullpen right now like holy cow that's a lot of stuff like so sucks but that's the reality of the situation uh then again if you had Brash and Santos you probably wouldn't have traded for Garcia so maybe you don't put him in here but yeah Snider's been just a fantastic and uh probably your most consistent reliever uh this year even a little bit more consistent than Muno although yeah the Home Run he gave up last night or yesterday was uh impressive let's say but so was his ability pitch out of a jam uh so he's come up pretty big uh really since July 1 so he's probably my pick yeah I mean that 10th inning against the Giants on Friday night was very impressive he brought the juice he was fired up assist from Julio uh back in center field nice well for a couple games at least all right last question of the day comes from Dom canzone burner who wants to know who are the top five catchers Mariners history very topical right now with Dan Wilson of course taking over as manager uh for me already it's it's it's Cal Ry with a bullet I think the top two are in the Mariners Dugout tonight yeah obviously being Cal Ry and Mitch Garver so right uh that was a good one I like that it's Cal by a mile as number one uh yeah I mean CS almost caught Dan who's the leader amongst all maror catchers in F4 he's almost caught Dan in F4 in about a third of the games played yeah uh it's it's Cal like whether you want to be like well is he there yet or he's going to get there and he and he has one of the most iconic moments in in franchise history uh he's he's literally an elite company in terms of like the you know the home runs that he's hitting this first four like Piaza and Y it's like okay I mean come on like it's Cow by a mile yeah it's not close the real competition for me begins at number two yeah I do think it's Dan Wilson uh still um I would say ando's probably three for me yes yes absolutely it was a short burn here uh but kji jojima probably four the two years that he had here were just really great and then after that it's like Dave Valley that's what I was thinking I was thinking Dave Valley is I now I didn't I didn't see Dave Valley play I wasn't like you know conscious when Dave valy he was hurt a lot but Tom Murphy does Tom Murphy get a consideration here it just he was never the everyday guy because he got hurt so it's tough for me to to put him up there but he's certainly up there but if you're going to go with part-time guys you know like John J for like the half year he was here was right sure really good uh offensive player uh got aect game yeah you know so it's not a deep uh you know history of of great catchers but yeah to me I think it goes Raleigh Wilson zenino jojima Valley um but based on guys that I actually watched play like I can't throw Valley in there uh even I I got the tail end of of Dan Wilson's career so it's even a little tough to throw him in there but you know yeah you take out Valley because I didn't actually get to see him play yeah it's probably Tom Murphy five um any if you want to throw in like real short time guys uh Austin NOA was really good for the Tom L yep yep uh so yeah um the great Ben Davis of course uh Miguel Leo who could forget now we're just naming guys right John Kino good old Hank blank uh Miguel olivo who Dave KN house loved to call the golden retriever because of all the pass balls he would allow uh yeah Dave wasn't a big fan of alivo Defense uh but yeah it's it's Raleigh by a mile and then I think it's either Wilson or zenino and then after that I think it's either jojima or Valley I think there's you can flip those you flip two and three in whatever order you prefer you could flip four and five in whatever order you prefer but Cal's number one it's not close and yeah uh yeah it's because it's cool uh you get him for another three years uh at least I mean cal cal is already a marinus Hall of Famer like if Cal retired today and I mean there's obviously the rule only years's obviously that this winter no he's not actually but like I he's already accomplished enough in aer's uniform to to validate that I mean he literally has the biggest home run in Mariners history yeah yeah all right you watching right now down in the YouTube comments name of random Mariners catcher that's your challenge for the day just any random Mariners catcher that's going to do it for our show but before we get out of here a reminder that lockon has launched the first ever National Sports 24/7 streaming Channel on YouTube and now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels locked on sports today is here for you 247 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of locked on plus our national shows covering every League find locked on sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app thank you so much for joining us here on the locked on Mar's podcast for kobby patod I'm tiing Gonzalez be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at lorms you can follow me at Tian Gonzalez Colby at cp1 that's cp11 you can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode now head on over to locked on Seahawks to get all the latest on the Hawks before the season kicks off with Corbin Smith in the gang until him Ty and Colby Sena have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you next time peace