Lookout Landing

Hello Seattle Mariners faithful! What an absolute roller coaster ride of a week it has been. The Mariners have rocketed back into contention with an 8 game win streak and taking 16 of their last 19. After a May that was so dreary most of us had largely written the team off, they find themselves rolling into the All Star break with their lone representative, a rookie on a 6 win pace, and comfortably sitting in wild card position. Isabelle Minasian joins Evan, Kate and John to dig into the new, good Mariners. Collectively the crew stands in amazement of the turnaround the Mariners have conjured, while acknowledging works remains to be done. Isabelle assets that now is a key time to spend and invest in the team, especially since they have thrust themselves back into contention and she advocates for Toro to get the lions share of playing time at second base for the next few weeks to see if he can’t catch fire and ignite his way into a trade. Kate and Evan look at some potential replacements for Frazier in the inf

Hello Seattle Mariners fans! This week John, Kate and I look at the surging Mariners, fresh off of beat down series against the hapless Baltimore Orioles and the sinful Los Angeles Angels. After a win last night against the w”A’s”hed Oakland Athletics, the Mariners find themselves a mere 4 games under .500, with winnable series ahead and some injured stars returning. We assess the Mariners spot in the second wildcard hunt and try to envision what the trade deadline might look like for a team in this position. We collectively emerge from the covid fugue state to answer twitter questions from our diehard fans. John digs into Jarred’s Tacoma Rainiers stat line and identifies improvements. We look at the Mariners pitching situation and who might cover Kirby’s rookie innings gap over the final quarter of the season. We barely even mention Julio because he’s so good that functionally he has become a separate entity entirely. Long live the J Rod Show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adcho

Hello Seattle Mariners fans! We have been away, and ill, as two of our fearless podcast hosts have come down with the ‘Rona over the past week. We collectively remind everyone to get boosted if you can, mask up, stay healthy, because being sick is neither fun nor fiscally beneficial. In the interim, the Mariners finished off a good stretch of play by dropping a series to the Angels in pitiful fashion. There has been real anger and discontent amongst the fan base, and whispers for change (read: firings) have grown louder as the team has tumbled. Kate digs into her article about the Mariners leadership and the persistent faith we have in Scott Servais as a manager. We touch on Abe Toro, Jesse Winker and some of the other Mariners who have most underperformed so far, and perhaps what can be done about it. We try to understand just where we are, how we got here, and what a path forward looks like. Full disclosure, this is a deeply sober podcast, reflective of some tangible disappointment with the team. Yet even i

Hello Seattle Mariners fans! Fresh off an absolute shelling of the much maligned Baltimore Orioles, John, Kate and myself sit down to compare and contrast the Mariners rebuild to their modern contemporaries (Orioles and Kansas City Royals specifically). We break into listener question on pressing topics: Trammel’s hot start, Cal Raleigh 2.0, the continued development of George Kirby and just who is Zach DeLoach? We look at whether or not the Mariners are still in the hunt and need reinforcements at the trade deadline or if they can hold out till the winter. I take immense relief in knowing that Kyle Lewis is only injured in one way, instead of several. Kate reveals that despite all appearances, the Mariners playoff odds are not as dire as they may seem. With six weeks to go before the All Star break the team needs to turn it up against the A’s, Angels, Orioles and Rangers to stay afloat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello Seattle Mariners fans! A little delayed this week, but we are back. The Mariners are in something of a free fall in the standings, gliding comfortably into last place, and there is understandable disappointment. Yet despite the grim outlook from a playoff perspective, there are clear reasons for optimism in the performance of the kids growing their way into full time roles: Cal, Ty, Julio, George, Penn and Wyatt. Things have gone wrong, but things have gone right too, and it’s important to recognize both sides. Kate and John look at the Mariners from a financial perspective, and give a sober assessment of the competitive position relative to the on field investment; it ain’t pretty. John and Kate talk bullpen, and wonder what the immediate future holds for Penn Murphy in the absence of Drew Steckenrider. Lastly we zoom out and try to understand the wider context for the wilderness in which the Mariners find themselves, and what it means for the team, the organization at large and us, the fans. It’s been

Hello Seattle Mariners fans! After Tuesday’s Souzapalooza/Souzening/Souzyphus on Mt. Vesouzavius, the Mariners sit five games under .500 at 16-21 and spirits are a little low. John breaks down the introduction of the automated strike zone into the PCL while Kate details her experience witnessing it firsthand. John and I try to understand the details of the new system, specifically the two dimensional zone. We zoom out and examine the state of the team relative to the rest of the AL West (not great), but John breaks down why the Mariners schedule has been torrid and better performances could be ahead. Kate breaks down the Los Angeles Angels and Houston Astros dominant early showing and tries to foresee a future where the Mariners might compete? Maybe? We look at Kirby and the pitching in general, trying to wrap our heads around the confusing results over the first quarter of the season. All three of us take a shot at guessing a roster move or tweak, anything to provide a spark. We also collectively lament at h

Hello Seattle Mariners fans! After a ghastly road trip, the Mariners decided to go on spring break instead of play the Rays, and slide into the first game of the series with the Philadelphia Phillies with a resounding 9-0 drubbing. We stumble out the gate to remain composed, but ultimately find the focus to dive deep into the state of the team both literally (in the standings) and mentally (spiraling). Our twitter faithful ponder the meaning of life, joy and suffering as it relates to the Mariners, but also existentially. We collectively try to understand the Mariners through the lens of the new dead baseball and the strange new offensive environment that skews our ability to comprehend the statistics in usual ways. John talks about physicist Dr. Meredith Wills, her research on the changes to the baseball over the past several seasons and the secrecy behind that information. We thank Kevin Cash for his crucial role in snapping the Mariners losing the streak and giving the team a much needed victory. John prev

Hello Seattle Mariners fans! Today Matt Brash faces off against Justin Verlander, capping a particularly rough road trip for the team. After a brief respite as the best hitting team in baseball, the offense has gone into freefall….all the way down to 5th in wRC+. Hitting across the league is WAY down to such a degree that it is skewing many of the offensive statistics. Will this correct over time? Will baseball change the ball to restore lost offense? Who knows, but we look at some possibilities and try to figure out what’s real and what’s not in the early numbers. John talks Kelenic’s bat, and how he might be making some mechanical tweaks at the plate. Evan wonders how long Jarred’s leash is, after struggling so mightily. John reminds us that in fact, no one is hitting, and one of the bright sides of the current offensive drought league wide is that it buys some of our younger players more time to turn it on. We look at the first few starts for Matt Brash and try to figure out just what he is. Starter? Relie

Hello Seattle Mariners fans! Last night was surreal. After two weeks of slowly heating up, finally, at long last, Jarred and Julio went back to back driving in big runs for a signature Mariners win. Yes it’s just one game, and yes it’s just one night, but it was the first night we got to see the kids come together and put the team on their shoulders. It feels like we’ve been waiting to see what we saw last night since the rebuild began, and it is cathartic, healing even, to bask in the glow of Jarrulio. Anyways…John, Kate and I enter the podcast fugue state to dig into some of the hot starts on the team, namely Matt Brash, JP Crawford and even perhaps one Chris Flexen. We answer Twitter questions about who are the bigger surprises so far and what to make of the 3 man catcher rotation. We talk George Kirby, who he might replace (or not?) and what a potential timeline could be for his arrival to the show. We eat Eugenio Suarez flavored crow and admit, albeit happily, that it does appear the shoulder is healthy

Hello Seattle Mariners fans! The Mariners are right at .500 after taking the home opening series against the Houston Astros to sit comfortably at 5 – 5 through 10 games. Today we are blessed with the return of Looking Landing Podcast prodigal son and New York Daily News writer, Mr. Matthew Roberson, fresh of a dunking from Buck Showalter and an elevator ride with Chris Christie. We have Matthew reveal all the secrets and behind the scenes tips from a true baseball media insider. We look around the league and analyze the returns from the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox series. We get explicitly political as the ambient sounds of New York envelop the podcast. Kate and John dig deep into the emergent legend of Matt Brash. We overwhelmingly concur that Ty France played Yu Gi Oh. Matthew outs himself as a Verlander Truther and we collectively dismay that JV has returned to haunt the Mariners into eternity. Lastly, we look ahead to the Texas Rangers series, kicking off with (maybe) Gray vs Ray, the battle of

Hello Seattle Mariners fans! The team has returned to T-Mobile Park for the home opener with a record of 3 and 4, taking 2 out of 4 games from the Minnesota Twins and losing the series to the Chicago White Sox 1 to 2. The returns are early, maybe too early, but we are here to dig in to the admittedly brief results. Who’s raking? JP. Who’s not? (everyone else) That’s besides the point! Baseball takes some time to stabilize the data, and currently the Mariners stand in the midst of a free for all of decent starting pitching, elite bullpen work and meager hitting. Will this continue? Is Matt Brash really the monster the analytics nerds have made him out to be? Is Marco cooked? Will Flexen repeat? How worried should we be about the tepid starts from Julio and Jarred? Kate, John and I are here to assuage your concerns, to talk you off that ledge, to wrap you in a warm blanket and remind you that come snow or shine, the Mariners do indeed have another *checks notes* 150+ games to play before any sweeping conclusion

Hello Seattle Mariners fans! With the big Julio related news out of the way, we return to our Hope Springs Eternal miniseries for a second and final episode. With the Mariners story entering the season well told by this point, we shift gears and take a look at the competition in the AL West, and the league at large to see how the Mariners fit in. Everyone takes a guess at the best and worst team in the west, with John and Kate agreeing that the Oakland Athletics post fire sale are the likeliest to occupy the basement, and Houston still way out in front of the pack. We dig first into The Los Angeles Angels, and try to parse whether or not, after a decade of treading water, they can finally put it all together and maximize on their stars and scrubs talent mix. We talk Houston Astros, our hated rival, and try to squint to see a fall from grace while knowing that even should they stumble, it’s still a long way to fall back in line with the rest of the division. We pick over the carcass of the Oakland Athletics fi

Hello Seattle Mariners fans! Today is a beautiful day. At long last, after years of hearing rumors, myths, legends of his minor league dominance, the Mariners biggest prospect in an era has finally arrived. Yes indeed, Mr. Julio Rodriguez, number 44 has made the Mariners out of Spring Training, and it’s hard to feel anything but sheer, unbridled excitement about this late stage of the rebuild. Aside from maybe a Kirby, the kids, for the most part, are here, and ready to roll. Saddling up next to uber prospect J-Rod is rising star Matt Brash, who won the 5th rotation spot with an electric camp. We talk about Julio’s absolutely bonkers 4 win projections and try to parse what is and isn’t real, and how to cage expectations while still being excited. We do some rough player comparisons for Julio and discuss the things they get right and wrong about projecting our young star. We look at his role on the team both short and long term for 2022, and how different the team looks with him on it. For this special episode

Hello Seattle mariners fans! Spring Training is finally here, baseball is in season, and all is (mostly) right in Mariners world. Things have started to settle in nicely and as we prepare for the upcoming season, we wanted to take an episode (or two) of the podcast to reflect on the positives, and find out “what could go right”. Despite some mixed feelings about the specific upgrades the Mariners made individually, there is a ton to like about the competitive position the team finds itself in, especially as it relates to the young core of prospects rising from the minor leagues. I personally (me, Evan) wanted to come up with a list of things that you, as a Mariners fan, should 100% unequivocally feel good about moving into the 2022 season, because there are numerous reasons to be excited. There will come a time to worry about the Mariners, but today is not that day. Today hope springs eternal, as all potential futures are laid out in front of us and anything, even a ring, is possible. Part 1: 1.     The Seaso

Hello Seattle Mariners fans. So this is podcast #3 this week, because the Mariners be shakin and movin and doing all of the things. Today we are honored to be joined by Wick Terrell of SBNation sister site "Red Reporter", who helps illuminate this weeks trade from the other side of the mirror. The general sentiment from the last podcast was that we were, and I quote, "Too Negative", so we wanted to bring onboard someone who might be able to enlighten us otherwise. Wick is very high on both Winker and Suarez, and has only good things to say both personally and professionally about the Mariners two trade acquisitions, so if you were looking for the upside perspective on the trade, we got you covered. We also talk about the various prospects the Mariners traded to Cincy (Fraley, Dunn and Williamson specifically) and why Reds fans should be excited by the young assets the team has acquired. Let me be clear: There are many, MANY reasons to like the trade. The podcast negativity yesterday had less to do with the tr

Hello Seattle Mariners fandom! Well, here we are. The team did it. After intense speculation, hot stove rumors that burned us all, and a seemingly lack of real free agent acquisitions, the team has address the biggest holes in the lineup with two the Cincinnati Reds biggest stars. While this doesn’t necessarily preclude the team from otherwise making a big spending splash, Jerry seemed to admit on Monday that free agent quests “hit dead ends” and this seems to be more or less the infield/outfield we should expect going forward, or at least for now. There’s no question at all that the team is better today. We on this pod have openly advocated for moving Jake Fraley, and Williamson has long been seen as the most pliable prospect on a team littered with quality arms up and down the farm system. But is this the fleecing some are making it out to be? And with Suarez in particular, what kind of performance can we expect going forward? The only way to find out is to listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit po

Hello Seattle Mariners Fans! After 99 long days locked out of the sport we all love, the chains have come off the doors and it is time to come home to baseball. Yes indeed, the players union has reached an agreement with Major League Baseball that was confirmed earlier this afternoon (Thursday, March 10th 2022), an as of 3PM PST free agency is back open for business. Kate is here to bring us into the big news with myself (Evan James) and prospect expert Joe Doyle to break into the juicy details behind the new agreement. This includes things like the Universal DH appearing for the first time in 2022, a major pay increase for young players, and a new competitive balance system aimed at penalizing teams for repeating losing seasons. We talk about some of the major changes in the new CBA, and how some of the tendrils could affect the Mariners operations moving forward, especially as it relates to highly regarded prospects. We dig into a wealth of twitter questions about potential trades or free agent signings by

Hello Seattle Mariners fans, baseball fans, sport enthusiasts and workers rights advocates. Today is a hard day. John, Kate and I were hoping to discuss the terms of the new agreement between the players and the league. After 9 consecutive days of negotiating, including deep into the morning hours on March 1st, the two sides ultimately did not come to an agreement. I don’t want to get too deep into the general notes about those disagreements, as I am reading the same news as everybody else, but the short version is that the league continues to seemingly act in bad faith, pushing the players to the edge of self-imposed deadlines and then resisting substantive changes. This sucks. After sorting through that mess of news, we move on to some Twitter questions regarding expectations for the team in 2022, the minor leagues, and whether or not some of baseball’s biggest stars might go overseas to play in the interim. It’s always darkest before the dawn, but it feels very dark right now in regards to baseball and all

Hello Seattle Mariners fans! Last night John Trupin, Kate Preusser and myself (Evan James), stayed up late hoping to catch the wave of breaking news that a new agreement had been reached between the players union and the league. Needless to say, that glorious moment did not occur, but we did witness a flurry of activity up to and including an extension of the deadline to cancel games, with both sides hurdling towards a deal in the 11th hour. We dig into the rumored changes to the agreement that have floated around online, specifically the Passan and Nightengale tweets. We talk about the expanded playoffs, and how it might affect the competitive landscape both in MLB at large, and hopefully for the Mariners. This is a somewhat abbreviated podcast, as we decide to wrap early (11PM), and call it a night, so we can get back to the grind, hopefully for an emergency podcast when a deal is ultimately agreed to on March 1st. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello Seattle Mariners fans! While Major League Baseball continues to be locked out with little genuine hope on the immediate horizon, minor league baseball is the flavor of the season. Who might be Mariners? The prospects! The prospects might be Mariners. John, Kate and prospect whisperer Joe Doyle break down why now is the best time there has ever been to get into following minor league ball, especially for Mariners fans who want a peek at the #1 FARM SYSTEM IN BASEBALL. The crew breaks down the Mariners more recent international spending and picks, reading in between the lines about how the Mariners scouting strategy has evolved in recent seasons. Joe talks about the Mariners scouting hierarchy and details some of the changes to personnel that could be significant in influencing some of those directional shifts within the organization. After that, they break into the prospects: -         Frankie Montas -         Felnin Celesten -         Lazaro Montes -         Are the Mariners a hot destination for Latin