Is THIS Seattle Mariners Trade Package Good Enough to Land Tarik Skubal?! | Fan Fiction Friday

Is THIS Seattle Mariners Trade Package Good Enough to Land Tarik Skubal?! | Fan Fiction Friday

Fanfiction Friday is back. Let’s take a look at your marriage trade ideas. Cool. We hit it. You are Locked on Mariners, your daily Seattle Mariners podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Ohoy sailors. It is Friday, October 31st, 2025. Happy Halloween. This is Tutting Gazalis and Kobe Pat Node for the Lockdown Mars podcast, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every day. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets you use across the app. Download the FanDuel app today. And as always, if you want to hear from me and Colobby even more and help support the show, we have a Patreon. It’s called Control the Zone. And on there, we talk Mariners, Seahawks, all that good stuff. For more information, go to patreon.com/controllzone. link in the description. It’s FanFiction Friday, the show where you submit your Mariners trade ideas and we grade them on the 2080 scale based on things like creativity, uniqueness, and most importantly, you know, if if we think they actually work for not just the Mariners, but both teams. 20 obviously being the worst score, 80 being the best. Let’s begin. Mars fan 2412 is going to kick us off here with a big one. Mars get TKO from the Detroit Tigers. one year of Terk Scubble, who apparently got a very disrespectful offer from the Detroit Tigers of four years and $80 million about a year ago. We’ll see if maybe they uh you know up that offer uh this off season, but uh it’s starting to look like Scooble might actually wind up being on the move this off season. Maris fan 2412 has the Mars giving up Durangelo Sanja and Lazro Montis for school. That is a good start, but not enough. I feel like you’re only halfway there. Well, yeah, we can’t be demonetized, so sh um obviously Scoo’s name has been thrown around quite a bit here in the technically not off season, but early off, however you want to phrase it, over the last week or so, really since the Tigers have been eliminated. Um, and while it sounds foolish that the the Tigers would even consider trading Scooble, a lot of people seem to think they will. And based on what they offered him just a year ago after he had, you know, a better season than even he had this year, uh, it it does sound like they’re not prepared to to make him the highest paid pitcher in baseball, which is what you’d have to do to keep him. So, they only get him for a year now. Uh, the team that acquires him can also offer the qualifying offer after this year, and they’ll surely get a high draft pick. uh if in fact the qualifying offer system is something that sticks around after the uh you know the 2026 CBA uh expires. So maybe that’s I know a complicating factor here as well. But um yeah, it’s interesting. I think the common kind of refrain here is that look at what Corbin Burns got the Brewers because both of these guys are Sai Young winners with one year of club control left and that’s kind of the the package you would you would comp it to but Scubal’s better than Burns ever was. Uh no shot at Burns. Um and obviously you have to adjust for like inflation things get more expensive over time. So, if you remember that Corbin Burns deal, it was Joey Ortiz, uh, DL Hall, and the comp round a pick, uh, from the from the, uh, Orioles to the Brewers. And, you know, Ortiz was a top 50-ish prospect, give or take. Hall was at one point a very highly touted prospect, but, you know, had kind of struggled in a cup of coffee at the big leagues and the fade had kind of gone. And then the 35th pick, you figure, is roughly another top 100 prospect. So, two top 100s and then like a really good lottery ticket uh was kind of the cost there. Uh and right here you have one definite top 100, one kind of fringy top 100 guy and that’s it. So like St. J’s probably close more close to the DL Hall of this deal and so I feel like you need um another you know top 100 guys. So, I think you probably have to give up Michael Aoyo or um you know, maybe even a Johnny Carmelo type of guy. Yeah, probably. I mean, probably somebody closer to the big leagues, though. Even uh Harry Ford doesn’t really work here. The uh Dingler is is, you know, locked in as their long-term catcher. Um they probably would ask for Colt Emerson, and I don’t think I’m doing Colt Emerson for one year of anybody, but uh that they’re well within their rights to ask. So, I I think you’re about halfway or twothirds of the way there. So, I think I’ll give you a 40 just because I think you’re you’re awfully light here. I also wonder what level of interest the Tigers have in Laz because he’s like fairly close. He might make his debut in 2026. More likely that it’s going to be 27, but there’s an off chance he makes his debut in 2026 with the presence of Carrie Carpenter there. Like how much interest is there in Lazar Romanes? Especially if maybe they have their choice between him and and Johnny Varlo. Yeah. Or him and Cole Young, right? They have McKinstry and Bayz and Keith. Yeah. So maybe maybe Young’s not even a a great fit there. But um yeah, I do wonder like how valuable Laz is specifically to the Tigers. Um, yeah. So, I’ll go I’ll go 45. Like, it’s a good start. I definitely think like you get the conversation going with the Tigers here. Uh, but it’s just um, yeah, like like Colby said, it’s maybe twothirds of the way there. You just need that that extra piece. I think you probably could really use somebody who you’re confident will make their debut in 2026 as well. Um, and you can’t really say that about Sanja or Lazoy. A Royo. Um, yeah. Or somebody who’s already made their debut like Cole Young, uh, could be in play here. But yeah, the the Tigers are going to try and compete next year. And obviously that’s going to be very difficult if they trade their best player. So, they’re going to want something that they can put in their lineup or their rotation right away, I would think. But maybe I’m wrong. I’m just guessing. Yeah, I feel like maybe a Royo and then like you throw in a Logan Evans for them to just take a shot on a guy to put in at the back end of their rotation to start the year or maybe it’s maybe it’s like a Matt Brash and you trade from your bullpen. Bizardo. Yeah. Yeah, something like that. So, yeah, it’s going to be a big deal. I I I just don’t think you’re I don’t think you’ve gotten to the point where they’re really considering it, but it might start a conversation. Yeah, I think they either start by asking for Emerson or one of Gilbert or Kirby. Yeah, that’s an interesting question to ask. Maybe you guys can let us know down in the comments below how you feel about this. Would you trade two years of Logan Gilbert for one year of Tercoel? Let us know. Zach has a deal with the Dodgers. It’s a one for one. Randy Rosarena to LA for EMTT She. Randy Rosarena is an incredible fit for the Dodgers. Uh their corner outfield situation has been a disaster this year. Even Tay Oscar Hernandez has taken a massive step back. Yeah. Um and I mean look, they have Dalton Rushing who they’re probably going to stick in a corner. Uh but you know, they’re also trying to win the World Series next year. I mean, they’re technically trying to win it this year. Although from the way they played the last two nights, you wouldn’t know it. But uh yeah, so I I do think Randy makes a lot of sense for the Mariners on the plus side from the Mariners side of things is that you can get more athletic uh well better defensively. I guess I would say Ry’s a pretty good athlete, just not a great defender. Uh and you can clear about $18 million if the uh Major League Baseball trade rumors are estimates are anywhere close to accurate, and they usually are. Uh so yeah, there there’s some upside here and Shihan has had a really nice year coming out of the Dodgers bullpen. He also has a ton of experience starting uh in the Miners and the Mariners might need a cheap young starting pitcher, particularly if they trade Luis Castillo. Now, when we’re grading these, we can’t like anticipate like, oh well, I want to trade Castillo in a separate deal. So Sheenhan makes a lot of sense. So you kind of have to look at them for what they are right now. And you get I believe five years of Sheen who right now I think we probably have to look at as a reliever but the Mariners do need relief help. So this is kind of one of those he started 12 games this year and he was a 21 uh pitcher you know 282 RA 293 fip like but again we’re talking about a team that has a lot of starting pitching, a team that has a lot of prospect depth and a team that desperately needs corner outfield help in what is a pretty weak market in the outfield. Uh, now they’re definitely going to be in on Kyle Tucker and if they land him that the need for Randy Rosena probably goes away or at least is diminished. Although they could use two corner outfielders, but again, DH isn’t open to the Dodgers. That’s Otani. So, yeah. Yeah, Oscar kind of just has the blow there. Yeah. So, they really need corner outfield help. Uh, and again, I’m sure they’ll tr go try and get it in the form of either Cody Ballinger or uh or uh Kyle Tucker, but yeah, just on the surface, right, this is a pretty interesting trade. Uh, it is leaves me a little worried about what the Mars would do in the outfield, but they would have $18 million to go and and solve it. Uh, so yeah, I think this is pretty interesting. I think the price is about right for a year. You think about like what half a year of Nelson Cruz got the Twins and it was Joe Ryan. So like you know and obviously Ryan wasn’t what he was now back then. But I I do think this feels about right. You get a guy he’s got a lot of club control, has some upside as kind of a number four uh starting pitcher who you think you might be able to help get a step or two higher and at the very least has a very high floor of a bullpin arm and you save a lot of money. So I I think this is interesting. I wonder if the Dodgers think they could do a little bit better for a little bit less or well maybe not as good but give up a little bit less. So I’m going to give it a solid 50. Wouldn’t the comp though be the Tay Oscar Hernandez trade? Yeah, which was a couple years of a pretty good reliever Nerk Swanson and and a lottery ticket prospect. It’s about a top 10ish prospect in the Mariner system at the time. Not a great M pretty decent mariner system at the time, but yeah. Or top 10, top 15ish, somewhere in that range. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um yeah, I think Shien is is more than that. So, I don’t know how realistic Shihan is, but again, the Dodgers are a team that, you know, the Dodgers are a team that have a lot of value, a lot of excess value, and a lot of young pitchers that they’re trying to get in and really no spot to put them. When you look at Yamamoto, you look at Snell, you look at Glass now, like they have an excess of starting pitching. So maybe this is a case where the Mariners have to kind of like add a little something on their side like a prospect uh and Randy to get Shehan. But I think this is a good starting point. Uh again I I think you can maneuver things around a little bit here and there but getting a you know multiple years of a good arm who’s already had major league success mostly out of the bullpen although again like you said still a fair amount of starts as well. I think getting that type of player for one year of Randy Rose Arena is something the Mariners would actually consider with the Dodgers. Hard to say, but again, it is not a good market for corner outfielders if you don’t land Kyle Tucker. Yeah. Um, again, not sure how realistic Shien is. I’ll land on a 50, though. All right, we got a few more of your trades to go over in just a moment, but first a reminder, this episode of the Locked Ones podcast is brought to you by Price Picks. You and I make decisions every day, but on Prize Picks, being right can get you paid. Don’t miss any of the excitement of this sports season. Whether you’re following the NFL, NBA, or both, there’s no better time to jump in on the action. And if you haven’t tried it yet, prize picks is the simplest way to play. Just pick more or less on at least two player stats, and if you get them right, you win. It takes less than 60 seconds to make your lineup and you can play anywhere Price Pix operates, including California, Texas, and Georgia. Download the Price Pix app today and use the promo code locked on MLB to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s promo code LOC K MLB for $50 in lineups after your first $5 lineup. Price picks, it’s good to be right. And you’re listening to the Lockdown Mars podcast. It’s fanfiction Friday. Let’s get back into your Mars trade ideas. Cooper has a deal with the Cubs. Nico her and Jordan Wixs to the M for Luis Castillo, Cole Young, Troy Taylor, Jared Sunstrom, and Five Million Buckaroos. So really what the crux of this is is Cole Young for Nicoer. Uh, and then it’s Luis Castillo and $5 million uh for Jordan Wix. And Wix is bit of an interesting case. Um, he’s former first round pick, had a really wicked change up. He’s a lefty. I believe he pitched to Kansas State. Uh, and just hasn’t really taken off. And so really I think this conversation kind of stops and ends at do you want to trade five years or six years of Cole Young for one year of Nico her. You’d also end up saving about sevenish million dollars in this trade. Is Wix making ARB? I think he’s prearb but you’re sending $5 million. So, if you’re paying down $5 million, uh her making 11 uh and um Right. Yeah. You would you would save about eight. Yeah. 24 for Castillo. So, the difference there is Yeah. 13. And then you’re sending five. So, the difference is eight. So, you want to trade six years of club control for Cole Young of Cole Young to save $8 million and to get Nico her and maybe not have a replacement for Luis Castillo still because I don’t think you can trust Jordan Wixs to be that guy. Yeah, I love Nicoer. I think he’s a perfect fit for the Mars. Like in a very similar way to how perfect of a fit Josh Naylor felt for them. Yeah, but yeah, but yeah, all that club control all that club control on Kon and I also have to give up Luis and I’m not getting a a proper replacement back and I’m only and I only have 8 million bucks to help my search for that because like I don’t Jordan Wix isn’t the guy for me to to like I I don’t I feel about the same about Jordan Wix cuz I do Logan Evans and Emerson Hancock, frankly. Yeah. I mean, Jordan Wixs is basically like left-handed Logan Evans, and it just that doesn’t carry enough value for me. So, really, it’s Cole Young and Luis Castillo pretty much for Nicoer. This feels like you’re placing way too much value on clearing a little bit of payroll space because you’re not even clearing all of Luis’s payroll space and you have to give up one of your best young players to do it for a one-year stop gap option at second. No, I’m out. So, like 35 pretty creative, but it it’s also I just think a non-starter for the Mariners. Yeah, I appreciate the attempt to try and get a pitcher back in a Castillo deal. Yeah, just don’t think it’s the right guy. I just there’s a lot of stuff here that I’m just I’m not a huge fan of. And again, the fact that like I’m not even really saving that much money in the end on Castillo. Uh yeah, that’s kind of that’s honestly my biggest issue with it. Yeah, I’ll I’ll I’ll match you on the 35. Uh, we have a couple more of your trades to go over in just a moment, but first a reminder, this episode of the Locked Ones podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team is making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanuel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. And you’re listening to the Lock Mars podcast. It’s fanfiction Friday. Let’s get back into your Mariners trade ideas. Got another trade here from Mariners fan 2412. Mariners get Brennan Donovan from the Cardinals for Durangelo Sanja, Michael Aoyo, and Teddy McGrath. Yeah, first things first. I did not realize I picked two trades from the same person. I try not to do that. So, yeah. Um, but uh yeah, I think that’s about it. Yeah, I think that’s about the cost. Maybe a tiny bit more, but I think the comp is the Randy or Rosarena trade more or less. Now it’s for like half a year less of club control, but but it’s more valuable position. Yeah. Um but yeah, like you got your Brody Hopkins and Aiden Smith equivalent here and Teddy McGra is kind of like the Tai Cummings of the trade. Like, yeah, I think this is a 60. I’d give you higher if it was like less on the nose than this cuz like so many people have been talking about Brendan Donovan. Every single Maris content creator that I’ve talked to, by the way, that is doing their offseason plan has Brennan Donovan in their offseason plan. Spoiler alert, we’re probably going to have Brennan Donovan in our offseason plan. Again, when you just go down the checklist, what do the Mariners need? reliable leadoff hitter. Go look at Go look at this guy’s uh um fan graphs page. Every year it’s like the same stat line over and over for the last four years. You could really use some more contact at the top of your lineup. Okay, this guy makes a ton of contact. Oh, you really have holes at second and third and also kind of in the corner outfield. Guess who plays all three of those positions? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, new president of baseball operations in St. Louis. It’s like they’re clearly ready to pivot towards a rebuild or some sort of retooling. He’s only got two years left of club control. This is when you’re going to get the most out of him in a trade market. It just makes so much sense. And the Mariners are such a good fit because again, you could trade for him with the plan for he’s going to be our third baseman. And it’s like, oh well actually went and we got, you know, Royce Lewis or Alex Bre, whoever it is, right? Oh, well, he’ll just play second base and like, oh, but we don’t want to block Young. Well, no problem. he can go play right field or he can play left field because we have those two spots open too. So he just checks so many boxes and I do think this is about what it would cost again. Maybe instead of maybe instead of SA it’s like Michael Aoyo and maybe instead of whatever it’s you know uh well it was a Royo and SA but Right. Right. But like you know what I mean like may there’s like those five or six prospects that are however you want to put together. Yeah. Yeah. Between like five and 10 in the Mariner system. picked two of those guys. It just won’t be Harry Ford. The uh the Cardinals are loaded up with young talented catchers. So, it won’t be Harry Ford. But between Laz, Aoyo, Sanja, maybe Farmelo, and Sloan maybe. Uh, you know, and then plenty of kind of second tier guys like McGra and Taipei and all that. Like, yeah, you can make a pretty good compelling offer to the Cardinals. And I I think the Mariners are in a position to maybe they won’t outbid everybody, but they could put out a very very good offer. And they also, by the way, probably going to have a draft pick to uh to throw into the mix that they’ll be able to trade. So yeah, I think it’s probably 60. Like it’s it’s pretty much I think accurate to what it’s going to cost. It’s just, you know, not a lot of creativity to it. It’s kind of like the the boilerplate deal which yeah doesn’t matter unique not not creative but it’s like it’s talked about yeah I think it’s valuation wise I don’t think we’re going to get better than than that and maybe we’re dead wrong. Maybe he ends up going for like the Colt Emerson equivalent but I doubt it. Yeah, I’d be very surprised for a guy that’s only been like a 120 WRC plus bat. He’s a 3-1 player. Has some injury concerns in the past. Platoon platoon problems. doesn’t hit lefties very well. Yeah. Like Yeah. I think this is what those types of guys cost. All right, Phillip with the last trade of the day. Luis Castillo and Taip Pete or Tia Pete. Is that like a Tia and Tamara thing? Shout out to Sister Sister Castillo and Pete for Jiren Duran of the Red Sox. And then uh Harry Ford, I assume, and Luke for Freddy Peralta. So, two trades in one. Yeah, we can discount the second one pretty quick. Uh, the Brewers have arguably the second best catcher in all of baseball. Yeah, they’re not trading Freddy Peralta for Luke, who, you know, they probably have in their own farm system and and Harry Ford, who’s going to be in the same spot he is here behind Cal Raleigh. So, that’s not going to happen. Freddy Peralt is a good trade target though, but also he’s only making $8 million and the Brewers don’t have to trade him because while the Brewers are cheap, they can certainly afford $8 million for like a number two, number three starter. Is he really that cheap? I didn’t know that. Yeah. Only an $8 million team option. That’s that’s crazy. And then he’s a free agent, so they can just keep him and and offer him the qual or tender him the qualifying offer. So yeah, I like Peralta as a trade. Target certainly not going to be for Harry Ford. Uh, and it’s you’re not going to get like the Brewers to dump uh, Peralta like they kind of did with Burns cuz the money’s just not that much. No. Uh, the first trade uh, Castillo is such a bad fit for Fenway. I assume that was a pretty big last year though. Yeah, but I assume that was a pretty big hangup in their uh, negotiations last year. Why? It’s also funny because the only thing we heard about bad fit last year was that Tristan Cauus isn’t a good fit for T-Mobile Park. Not nothing about Louise going the other way. But I I assume that’s probably why they were also trying to dump Yosha onto you and all all the other stuff that got reported. Um and it’s still like like we still don’t really know like how serious the Kasa stuff was. Like there’s still not really like a definitive answer on like who felt what about who and all that. Like it Yeah. The way that that whole the way those whole negotiations were reported on was very conflicting and confusing. Sadly, it was probably the most fun 72 hours of the entire off season. Yeah. Yikes. Yeah. Um Yeah. Yeah, I just don’t think Castillo is is a a good fit for Fenway. And I don’t think the Red Sox are going to value him enough to the point where they’re willing to give up Jiren Durant, who’s coming off of what, a four- win season, four, something like that. I mean, I don’t know. The Red Sox are weird. Like, Durant’s an okay target. I just don’t think you’re going to get him for I think we’re back to like, sure, we’ll trade you Jiren Durant, but it’ll cost you George Kirby. And it’s just like no. Yeah, he was worth 3.9 F4 this year. 256, 332, 442, 111 WRC plus average at best defender. Uh but he steals bases. Um it’s for more doubles and homers, but Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like good player. It’s just it’s going to cost more than that. Yeah. Yeah. Plus I I there was no money involved here either, right? So, we’re assuming that the Red Sox are taking on the whole contract, whereas it’s about 8 and a half 9 million bucks for Durant. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I just think I think that that deal is dead on arrival. You might have to circle back and look at the Yosha for Castillo trade element. Um, which you know, maybe, but also again now I have to replace Luis and I have less money to do it. the same conversation we had last year. Um, might be interesting here is is what if you replace Don with Kasus? That might be more in the ballpark. Unfortunately, I think both of these trades are like 30s. Yeah, I’m going to go 25 on both of them, frankly. Yeah, it’s just they don’t make sense for the other team. Yeah, like I’ll go 30 and above for like even if it’s a trade that doesn’t really make a ton of sense if it at least gets a conversation going. Like I don’t know. I don’t think this gets either of these deals get a conversation going. I think the biggest flaw in both of these trades is that they don’t look at it from your trade partnner perspective. Like why would the why would the Brewers want Harry Ford? They have contraras, you know, and why would the Red Sox trade Don for Luis Castillo? They can probably get a lot more than that. Yeah. Uh so yeah, I just I don’t think you looked at this from the other side’s point of view, and that’s makes it very hard to find good trades that work. All right. Well, that is going to do it for us and for the first fanfiction Friday of the off season. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Locktowns podcast for Colobby Patnode. I’m Titan Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at l_mmers. You can follow me at Titan Gonzalez and Colby at CPAT1. That’s CPAT11. We’re also on Blue Sky. You can follow me at TDG Colby at MLB Colby and the show at LockedMariners. You can also find us on Instagram at Lockdown Mariners. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we’ll see you next time. Peace.

It’s the return of Fan Fiction Friday! Ty and Colby react to and grade your Mariners trade ideas, including deals for Tarik Skubal, Brendan Donovan, and more.

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