PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - A Chicken Fried Win

Episode Date: May 31, 2022

On today's episode, Jesse and Derek are answering Mailbag Monday questions from Twitter and are discussing Torey Lovullo being tossed from the D-backs' game one win over the Atlanta Braves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the PHNXDbacks podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX, and I am joined by my friend, my co-host, my vice mayor of this website we love to do work for. It's the one and only thunderstick Jesse Friedman. Diamondbacks are back in the win column, Derek, after a pretty rough series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. That was good to see for them. It was good to see. It's a win against the defending world champs,

and it's impressive that this team seems to be able to bounce back from a tough series like a four-game sweep against the Dodgers. And the Dodgers then go on to have problems against the Pittsburgh Pirates, which of all teams. They are not good against teams in the state of Pennsylvania, Jesse, and we'll talk about that. But of course, this show is brought to you by the first. find folks at the Draft King Sportsbook. Go download the Draft King Sportsbook now. Get down on the NBA

finals. We got the Golden State Warriors versus code PHNX bet $5 on any NBA team and you will get $150 in free bets. That's, that's all you got to do over at the Draft King Sportsbook. New customers only on that one. Big win last night, Jesse. A bigger, I guess, story coming out of it would be yet again an umpire during an Arizona Diamondbacks. game kind of instigating a situation that involved somebody from their staff roster being tossed for the game. I was there for the game and it was bad shit crazy, Jesse. It was really insane.

I'm sure most people have heard or seen what happened, but Tori LeVolo was ejected from last night's game after arguing not balls and strikes with home plate umpire Libca. He was arguing the umpire himself kind of coming out to instigate an issue with starting pitchers Zach Gallen, right? I don't know personally because nothing, like when Madison Bumgarner goes out there and he's not hitting his strike zone, the umpires are going to know about it. It's the reason why the weird hand holding situation with Bum Gardner kind of occurred because there were other things happening in that game. And you could see it when you go back and watch the game that Bum Gardner was very displeased with the strike zone. He was very vocal about it. And the retaliation that he got was from the umpiring crew, not necessarily the home plate umpire.

What we saw last night was Zach Gallen being Zagallin doing his normal thing in, in, in, in, reviewing the game and going back and looking at the incident that occurred. I didn't see anything, Jesse, that stood out to me that Zach Gallen was being disrespectful or crossing a line with the home plate umpire. It looked like a very, I mean, it's exactly as you're describing. It's a situation where the person in the wrong primarily appeared to be the umpire himself, which is just a very strange situation. Why is an umpire coming out and instigating a situation with a player when,

and they made this point on the broadcast, Zach Allen didn't leave the mound area. He was still on the mound. It would be one thing if he was walking towards the umpire, and the umpire is, you know, simply walking out and kind of retaliating. But that didn't happen.

Zach Allen, he was saying things for sure, but he didn't leave the mound. And so as an umpire, you don't have a right to, just approach the mound at any point you want if you're, you know, at least not for the purpose of, of trying to get closer to someone for an argument.

So it was a really, really bad look. Here's the thing. It was like there, there were a lot of things that seemed to go kind of haywire very quickly, right? Because again, in an unassuming game where you're not really seeing a lot of arguing from Zach Gallen's perspective, but he was unhappy with the strike zone. He was unhappy with the strike zone calls he was getting in the first inning.

That resulted in him giving up two early runs and put the Diamondbacks down early. And I believe that that kind of carried over to this moment, right? It was a tough at bat against Ronald Acuna Jr., who's a great hitter. And the last thing you want to do is walk him. Zach Gallen was wrong if that helps at all. I mean, if you go back and watch the pitch, that was a final pitch, it was a ball, it was low. And it's not like John Libca. was wrong for calling it a ball, right?

I think the problem here is what we're seeing. And I don't know if this is a new edict with umpires. It doesn't seem to be anything new. It's something the game of baseball is always experienced. But it seems to be more so now, maybe magnified because of our, I don't know, of the television viewing experience. I can't explain it because these umpires are getting involved in a way that crosses a line. Like they aren't an authority figure.

And that's where I feel like this gets skewed, right? The situation last night, like escalated quickly because Herrera had to jump up, the Diamondbacks catcher Herrera had to jump up and get between home play dumb down Kyr, Libka, and Galen. Right? Right. It didn't even seem like a situation where that was necessary, right? So the question I pose, the question I wonder, what did Libca say that made Herrera jump up and react like that?

Yeah. You don't just react like that just because an umpire steps off to the left and maybe over to the mound, right? It's like there had to be something yelled at Gallen. There had to be of something audibly said under his breath that Herrera heard that made him realize that this situation was about to like boil over and explode, right? Right, right. But the actions, the actions of both Herrera and Lovolo were the actions of people defending their starting pitcher and I think trying to take the heat from him. So that way he didn't end up getting tossed in the same way that Bum Gardner got tossed in his weird altercation with an umpire, right? The Diamondbacks couldn't afford it.

Not only could they not afford to lose this game after dropping four in a road to the Dodgers. They couldn't afford not only the loss in this one, but how that. now effectively would affect their bullpen going forward in this series. And, you know, the downward spiral that this game could have caused had they had to, had Galen gotten tossed and they had to turn to their bullpen as early as they would have in this situation, right? Toy LaVolo is a gangster, though. Toil of Ollo was not having any of it. Like, I was watching the situation with my own eyeballs kind of happen and develop.

up in front of me and it was chaotic and weird and confusing. But the one thing that made me like kind of sit up in my seat was Tori LaBolo's sprint out of the dugout, which most people didn't get to see because it didn't make the actual broadcast of him running out there, the reaction of him. And not only that, but like, you, people can be very loud in that ballpark and we don't hear them in the press box. I couldn't hear what he was saying. but I could hear Tori LaVolo, right?

Like he wasn't, he wasn't having any of that. He wasn't having any of an umpire once again, stepping in during a game, instigating a situation with one of his starting pitchers, and causing, you know, this team to have to scramble in order to recover from essentially an authority figure or a person, again,

not an authority figure. They're not your fucking kids, man. They're not children, right? These umpires react in the same way I react when I'm disciplining my daughter for talking back to my wife. And I don't even want to get involved in those situations, but I have to. It's the, it's the right thing to do because I'm her parent and I'm trying to teach her

right from wrong. I'm trying to set her on the right path and make her understand why she can't speak to people like this or do this or whatever, but I'm her parent. Umpires aren't players parents. Their job isn't to discipline players for saying something naughty or for talking back in a disrespectful way. It's not your fucking job. Your job is to call balls and strikes. Your job is to call when guys are safe or out at the plate. Your job is not to enforce the authority of the umpiring crew over the players on the field. That's bullshit. And that's where they're crossing

a line. And it's, I think it's the, like, I have to set an example or I have to have a certain amount of respect from these players. You don't gain that respect by doing the shit that you did last night. Like, nobody's going to respect you more for, like, instigating a situation with a player and then tossing a manager of one of the teams out of the game, especially when now awkwardly Lobo is going to be back and you're going to be what at fucking first base or third base tonight? Like, the situation doesn't go away. You're not leaving town. It's going to be the same umpiring crew. It's just, to me, it was so unnecessary, right? And you could even tell by John Libca's refusal to say anything to Tori.

He tossed Tori before Tori was within 20 feet of him. You did. And then didn't say another word to him the entire altercation. It was very weird. And I also want to point out here that Jose Herrera is in his first couple months as a big leaguer. Like for him to step in front of a major league umpire was a pretty gutsy move for a player for as young as he is. I thought that was crazy. I also want to, I don't know if I'm, if I would call this playing devil's advocate,

but I'm curious what you think about this. Do you think, are you saying that umpires that it is their job to stand behind home plate and have pitchers make all sorts of chirping comments at them, but they are not permitted to respond? What do you, what do you think is the proper response? Obviously, it's not this. I think we can all agree that, you know, walking towards. the walking towards the pitching mound is completely inappropriate in this situation.

But what would have been an appropriate reaction here? Or is it just nothing? Should the home plate umpire have simply kept silent or, you know, just acknowledge the comments, but not actually respondent to them? I don't know if even acknowledging the comments as part of their job, but I understand human nature. And I think fundamentally as a referee, as an umpire, as someone that officiates a sport,

you have to understand human nature as well. You have to understand that players are going to be frustrated, angry, emotional during the course of a game. And that sometimes that emotion is going to boil over in your direction for making a call against them, right? Right. If I look at you and you called a ball that I think is a strike, a ball, and I go, come on, man, that's not disrespecting you.

That's me working hard to try to get this strike out. and the ball not that might not even be fucking directed at you that might be directed at me that might be directed at the ball i might be telling the ball come on man get your ass in there why aren't you in the strike zone none of that is permissible in my opinion for you to then instigate a situation with a with a player i've seen the way madison bumgarner is demonstrative on the mound obviously because of his years of experience he's earned that right with a lot of umpires right So there's a lot of umpires that let Mad Bum slide on shit. They might not let a younger pitcher slide.

And see, there again is that bullshit like, oh, well, depending on your veteran status, depends on how much you can yell at me kind of thing, right? But I've seen Madison Bumgarder stand on the mound and like stare an umpire down and say that like that was horse shit or something, right? And the umpire does nothing, you know, they're like as an umpire, unfortunately your chosen profession is to take abuse from people and call you a piece a crap. It's part of the job. I can imagine that it's even part of their training as they're going through it to how to deal with fans calling you names and being angry with you, players calling you

names. What is crossing the line? Like, I can understand if a player goes over and says something fucking crazy to you because people can just say stuff again, emotionally or nuts in the moment. And there are, there is a line. So as an umpire, there's only so much that you should have to take. right but a pitcher rolling his eyes at you or throwing his hands up at you needs to be let go the same way i let that shit go even when my daughter does it to me over me telling her to fold her laundry and put it away right like she's going to go come on it's in the middle of watching a cartoon or playing my legos you want me to fold my laundry now like i'm not going to go in and rail or now i'm just going to be like yeah you got to do that right so like do we know do we know what

Zach Allen said. We don't. We don't. And that's the thing about it. There's a lot of stuff there that was unsaid. But Zach Gallen even made it sound last night. He wasn't free of blame, but he wasn't crossing a line by any stretch of imagination, right? They had Zach Gallen in on the post-game press conference in the in the press conference room, which they don't typically do anymore with the with the starting pitcher, but they knew Gallen was going to get lots of questions about the incident and everything. The thing, though, that I love the most was what Tori Lovolo said. And here, we got a clip of that. Yeah, things escalated quickly.

And I ran out there mad because I just didn't like what I had seen for a couple of pitches. You know, the umpires are trying to get every, every call right. They're trying to get, you know, call strike strikes and balls, balls. And it's a hard job. And sometimes they miss. And sometimes, you know, things, things get a little tense. And I didn't know if it was a ball or strike. I just could tell, by the way, a couple people were reacting that it wasn't the first pitch that they felt like was missed, and they were reacting as such.

But at a certain point, I just didn't like the activity of the umpire, and I felt like it was my job to protect my players. And always, every single day of my career here, I am going to protect the players. That's what I do every single day. And I'll never back down from that, and I felt like I needed to go do that. Eduardo Escobar once said he would die for that man. And after watching that clip and seeing what happened last night, Jesse, maybe I would die for that man too. I don't know.

I don't know. But it's, I think it's an important, it's an important thing for this team after what they've gone through this season to see their managers stick up for them like this in this, in this moment, right? Someone pointed out, and I kind of agree with this, how many overturned calls did the Diamondbacks have in that Dodgers series? Right? How many times.

Now, don't get me wrong, some of them were petty, and some of them were absolutely, like the announcer said, maybe an abuse of the review system because it was things like, did that guy come off the base for just a quarter of a second? Or did he, you know, did the toe tap happen? But that's what the replay is for is to go back and relook at close plays and see if there was an out or see if there was a difference in the call. And the Diamondbacks were right.

like 100% of the time. So not only do you have like umpires instigating, you know, these situations with this team, but you also have this team kind of getting, at least in a Dodgers city series, calls going favorably in the other direction when the Diamondbacks needed to use their replays

in order to get them to be called right on their behalf. So I mean, this team, it's already a struggle keeping up with the other teams in the National League West talent-wise with all the money they're spending, right? But at the same time, this team is also trying to, I think, win some respect from officiating crews, from everybody, from fans, from, you know, other teams, everything. And I just felt like Tori Lavello doing what he did last night was very important. I mean, he's a player's manager, right?

There's no question that that's, that's his identity. That's what he's always been. That's who he's always been. and and what he did last night coming out immediately, um, was perfectly aligned with who we know Tori Lavello to be. I did think it was weird like, like you said earlier,

that he was tossed before he even got to the umpire, like before he was actually in his face. You know, I think it was inevitable. He said a lot of words. He said a lot of words that you can't say on TV. Um, and he said them all.

He tried to get them all in before he reached a plate is basically what I'm trying to say. It seemed like, yeah, obviously most of what was said was exactly what you're describing. But it seemed like his overarching point was like, you know, who are you to be approaching the mound? Like who are you to be talking to my pitcher that way, basically? Which is a totally valid point because that's not how this works. That's not the way that this process. It's not how it works. It's not how it works.

Anyway, we'll have some great information on this coming up. I'm sure I'll get a chance to talk to Tori during the today's came, hopefully for a little bit, get his lowdown on it. But obviously, I want you guys to sign up for a membership so that way you can not miss any of our wonderful writing that we put out on go phtnx.com. And you also get all sorts of members-only access to our members-only discord, members-only discounts over at the phnx locker.com. And two memberships, you can choose.

choose from. Speaking of the PHNX Locker, you can get your annual membership. They'll get you a free t-shirt over at the PHNXLocker.com. It's a free t-shirt of your choosing. And we also have another little announcement to make about a free t-shirt when it comes to this show. But sign up for a membership. You'll guarantee yourself a free t-shirt over at phnx locker.com. If you're not interested in the annual membership, you can get yourself a month-to-month option. You won't get the free t-shirt, but you will get your first month for just 50 cents.

So either way, sign up to become a member of our family over here at go phnx.com. That way you don't miss any of the amazing content that our writers are putting out all the time. Jesse, it's Monday. It's a little late Diamondbacks game Memorial Day. We want to give obviously our regards to everyone out there that serves. And everybody, obviously, you know, we want to thank them who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for us to be here doing this podcast today, doing everything that we are able to do in this country. So big thanks to that.

Alec Thomas last night changed up his plate music just for one night to a very appropriate song, which was Chicken Fried by Zach Brown band. And it was a good, good, it was a good classy move, by the way, had some questions about that. And of course we had questions because it's Monday. And every Monday, you know what we do. We don't just talk. We go to the mailbag. My mailbox.

Always something interesting in my mailbox. I try to get to everything in my mailbox. And then once in a while there's a letter that makes me go out. Big thank you, as always, to everybody for your mailbag Monday questions. And, you know, obviously we know this team has had a lot of ups and downs this season. So at times we are, I would say, equally as confused. about the path of this team as the rest of you. I think last night's game against the, again,

the defending champions was a great example of this team's potential and what they can do. But, you know, again, we still don't know after watching them get beat, you know, two consecutive four game series being swept by the Dodgers. Don't know where they stand in the National League West at all. But we do have some questions. first I want to give a shout out to our friend Chris who gave us a question for this mailbag Monday but basically gave us an idea for an entire completely other show because we can't cover that in one mailbag Monday episode. It'd take 45 minutes easily. She wanted us to draft a new

DeBacks team from other Valley sports rosters, which we're going to do very soon. Great idea. Yeah. First, our question comes from Harley at Harley PDX, underscore PDX on Twitter. Harley asks, what's the honest ceiling for Corbyn on the prospects list? Undoubtedly, will be top 10 by years end, but intrigued to see where he'll be placed. Jesse, I don't know. I think Patrick, or Corby. Corby and Carol is going to be, I think, a special player. I think I've had my doubts a little bit based on his youth and his size, and he's completely

proven me wrong with what he's doing in Amarillo? He's proven a lot of people wrong. Yeah, I mean, he's a little dude. We've talked a lot about this. I mean, if he still, I would say, kind of looks like a high school kid, but he sure doesn't hit like a high school kid, Derek. I mean, he has been absolutely torching the ball in Amarillo this year.

Here's my thing with Corbyn Carroll. If Corbyn Carroll was 6-1, 6.1, six to two, two hundred and ten pounds maybe, he might be the number one overall prospect in baseball. His raw tools are that good. Yeah. Yeah. The problem is that, and I mean, this isn't necessarily a problem, but the problem in terms of his prospect ranking is that he's 510, 165. At least that's what he's currently listed as. And it is very, very, very difficult for anyone who is a evaluator of minor league talent to look at a guy who is 510, 165 and call him the best prospect in baseball over other guys, you know, who have much sturdier frames than what Corbyn Carroll has. And so I think there's there's some bias there in that prospect evaluators just generally side with players who have. those bigger builds in general than what he has.

But we've seen time and time again that you can have a guy who's 510, you know, maybe Corby and Carroll is able to get up to 180 or something like that. But you can have a guy who is around his size be an elite player. I mean, Mookie Betts, Jose Ramirez, there are many examples of guys like that. Especially in baseball. Baseball is just one of those sports where size really doesn't matter nearly as much. as it does in other sports where it seems to be necessary for you to be an elite player. It's more of the exception if you're smaller to be good than the rule.

But in baseball, right, there's, like you said, you gave some pretty good guys and you just listed a couple of the top ones off the top of your head, right? Corby and Carroll could easily fit into that kind of group of, you know, a smaller, quicker player that can still hit the hell out of the ball, much like Mooky Betz is doing for the Los Angeles Dodgers right now. All I know is I don't consider myself to be a very big guy. Jesse, you tower over me when it comes to height. And still, when I'm on field, standing with the guys, chatting with them, talking,

I don't, I'm not very, I'm not much bigger than a lot of the guys on the Diamondbacks team. And I stand about 510 myself, which is about what Corbyn Carroll stands. You mean you're like, you're not much shorter? You're not much shorter than a lot of the guys, though you're saying? I'm, Jesse, I'm taller than quite a few of the guys on the team is my point I'm making. And I'm not basing this on numbers on paper. I'm basing this on me standing next to them on the field. Like, don't know.

There's plenty. Like, most of the pitchers seem to be taller than me. Like, Joe Manspli and, you know, Madbom and, uh, my God, ever, like a lot of them, they're, they're taller than me. But I don't know. I mean, baseball players don't necessarily need that, I think, to be an elite. athlete. So Corby and Carroll, we'll see him next year. I think we'll see Corbyn Carol. If you're asking me when we'll see him. He'll be on the top 10 list. And I think he'll be here in May

next year. I don't think it's going to be much like Alec Thomas. I think once he gets here, you're going to stay here. And we're going to enjoy his presence very much so. Our next question comes from Gabriel at Boldest Bronze on Twitter, who is a meme master, by the way. Gabriel asked, if the D-backs just missed the playoffs, can Tori end up getting the manager of the year anyways? I can't see why not. I can't see why the Diamondbacks couldn't end up being the most improved team of the year, even with missing the playoffs,

and having Tori be rewarded with it. I just don't know if they would necessarily want to give that reward to a team that didn't make the playoffs necessarily. I mean, Buck's show alters out there, right? The Mets are having a great season. So I think he could get votes. Does the team not factor in? I mean, like the Mets have an incredible team.

And I mean, a lot of managers, I think, would find success managing that team. Not to take anything away from managing, right? The Diamondbacks, if anything, have proven how important coaches can be to making a team better. But with that being said, I still feel like that team has a lot of the weapons. and, you know, again, they're doing what they should be doing. Yeah, I mean, I think you could make the same argument for the Diamondbacks that like if you put this team in the hands of another manager, they could also be close to 500, right? I don't know if I would say they're necessarily overperforming. Do you think the Diamondbacks are overperforming?

They're like the roster talent right now, 23 and or 24 and 26. I'm saying that based on the way things have happened in a lot of games, I'm saying, that based on the performances they're getting out of guys that in their careers haven't put up these kind of numbers that they put up this season. But again, I don't know if that's because of Tori Lovolo, right? I like Tori and I think players like him and I think players like playing for him, but I think the impact of the new managers, the new coaches is being seen. You know, and even in last night's game, the Diamondbacks have the luxury of having a deep bench at manager and have someone like Jeff Bannister, who can easily finish up the game when Tori Lovolo gets tossed without

blinking an eye. Yeah, I mean, Tori might as well just keep trying to get himself tossed because if Jeff Bannister is your backup. I'm ready to run through a brick wall right now. I'm ready for it. I think, I think Tori can definitely get votes. I think he will get some recognition, especially just because of how big of a turnaround it is. I mean, if the Diamondbacks finish with around 75 wins, I mean, that's a.

a 33 game improvement right there. So I think that is not a 33 game improvement. That's a 23 game improvement. Apparently I can't do math when we record early in the morning, Derek. I'm a math teacher. This is bad news, people. I hope your students are listening to this one. I hope they're not.

Anyway, so we have our next question comes from, I'm going to answer two questions with the same answer, Jesse. Run for Joe at Adam Box Zero asks, will David Peralta reach 1,000 hits as a deback? And Alex Caruso's burner, oh, I find a Alex Caruso. At Winners Only Betts asks, being completely honest with the current state of the franchise, when do you think we become legitimate contenders for a wildcard spot? The reason why I'm saying these two questions together is it's the same answer, this season. I think David Peralta will get a thousand hits this season.

He currently stands at 926 hits. If not this season, I think you'll hit it next season. And I guess that's where it gets into will he reach a thousand hits as a deback? I'm going to say yes, he gets a thousand hits as a deback. And that happens this year. It might be kind of close. It might be kind of close. He'd have to have a really good season.

but last year he had 126 hits. And if he can do what he did last year with 126 hits, he'll reach. Well, what I'm saying, I'm not saying that I don't think he'll hit, he'll have 74 more hits for the rest of the season. What I'm saying is I don't know if he'll be a Diamondback. Oh, Jesse.

Or a long enough in order to get those 74 hits. And I know I'm probably going to make people angry by saying that. But David Peralta is having a pretty good season. Derek and the trade deadline is only a couple of months away at this point. So if he if he does get. Oh my gosh. If he does get, if he does get traded,

it's probably going to happen before he would be able to reach that number. So it's a really good question. Yeah. No, I mean, I guess that I didn't see it happening before the end of the season, but you do make a good point. And we have another question. about that that references that as well.

But what about the wildcard spot? Do you think that they could be legitimate contenders for a wild card spot? I guess the legitimate contender their part sounds a bit like they're like they're a bit better than what I'm thinking. But their point being for a wildcard spot, I do think this team could contend for one this season. I mean, it's it's pretty open as of right now. We have three wild card spots, of course, now.

one of them is probably going to go to the Padres, and one of them is probably going to go to the St. Louis Cardinals. It's still early, but I think we feel pretty comfortable about both of those teams. They both have really good run differentials and things across the border, just looking pretty good for both of them right now. The third wild card spot,

Derek, is kind of up for grabs. I mean, the giants are there. I think they're probably the favorites right now, just based on how they've performed, but I don't necessarily have the same level of faith in them as I do in some other teams.

So I think it is still open. The Atlanta Braves, I mean, this team the Diamondbacks are are facing right now. They won the World Series last year, believe it or not. And they're a pretty good team in their own right. So I think it is open. I mean, the Diamondbacks right now are three and a half games out. I have a, I guess it depends on what you mean by a contender, right? If it, if it's like within.

I think it contends for a wild card spot means like you're like they're going to get a wild card spot. That's what I take away from that. But they could mean like a legitimate contender to winning in the playoffs. And that, yeah, that I'm not so sure about this season yet. But I think that that could be close. I mean, I think that we could be as close as as next year. And I don't think that they're going to have to, they're going to have to get to if they want to actually get a wild card spot, they're probably going to have to be 86, 87, 88 wins at the end of the year, something around there. even though we have three spots, it's still probably going to take like a mid-upper 80s

in order to get in there. And I don't know. I mean, this Diamondbacks team has looked good this year compared to what we saw last year. But that would be, I mean, that's a tall order for a team that won 52 games last year.

So, yeah, we'll, I mean, we'll see. I don't know if I would use the word contender just yet. Sure. Pump the brakes. Grab some OGs, brands,

gummies, and then settle down this year. Get ready for next year. But let's, Let's all stop by our local dispensary, grab some amazing scratch-made THC gummies from our friends at OGs, and relax a little bit with a chill indica. And then we can get the uplifting settivas ready for when they're ready to contend. But our friends at OGs brands do have an amazing variety of dosages for your liking, depending on if you're looking for a three milligram microdose or 10 milligram regular dose. And they have a wonderful variety of flavors like blackberries of cream, watermelon, orange cream school, and more.

And if you're interested in trying the amazingly delicious variety of flavors at OG's brands has to offer, go to OGsbrands.com. That's OGEZBrands.com to find OGs near you. And Jesse, before we get out of here, I just wanted to cover one more question that we had from Rick Hughes. And that's what you just brought up, which is Rick Hughes asks, and that's at DBL11S3 on Twitter. And he asks, looks like the path forward has been set. How long before we start seeing the vets, Ahmed, Walker, etc. start showing up in trade talks to pave the way for young guys. Open first base for Smith.

So both Varsho and Thomas have regular outfield spots, plus Pardomo making his shortstop his. And again, that goes back to what you were saying also about David Peralta. There's a strong possibility that these guys could be moved this season before the trade deadline, right? Like the not only are the youngsters, which is the path that the Diamondbacks are trying to go on producing, but I feel like they are, they're really like coming. on and becoming major league players in a pretty quick time frame.

Yeah. I mean, Alec Thomas has adjusted pretty quickly. He's in a bit of a slump at this point. But, you know, I mean, that's going to happen. And like Talk and Jake was speaking about the other day on our show. Every player in the history of the game is going to go through that. And Alec Thomas had some early success and, you know, hopefully has the belief in himself that he's able to turn that around quickly.

But yeah, I mean, this is a, it's, it's an interesting situation where some of these guys are on expiring contracts. Some of them are not. Nick Ahmed has two more years. So he has the rest of this year plus next year left. David Peralta, his, his deal expires at the end of this year, which is why I think it is particularly likely that the diamondbacks will at least get phone calls about him. And that they might be willing to entertain those just given that they do have some flexibility in the outfield, getting Alec Thomas and Varshow in there every day. like was alluded to here would be big. Christian Walker wouldn't be totally shocked if there are teams that call about him.

I mean, one of the best, if not the best defensive first baseman in the game. And a guy who's underlying metrics offensively still make it out like he's been a much better hitter than what his peripheral or what his surface level numbers will tell you right now. I think he's been a lot better than what those numbers say. So yeah, I think the Diamondbacks are going to get some phone calls. And I'm not sure Geraldo Pardomo is necessarily a guy that you feel is deserving of an everyday spot at this point. Maybe you want Nick Ahmed to stick around for the rest of this season and a little bit of next year just to continue to help bridge that gap. That's a great point.

Yeah. But they're going to get some phone calls for sure. There's no question about that. Nick Ahmed definitely seemed to improve after he or he seemed to improve the defense after he returned. And his leadership there on the infield seems to go beyond what they have when he's not there. So I think Nick Ahmed really provides that for this team. But I think he made some great points. And it'll be interesting to see if this team does make any moves,

what moves they make and what pieces they add. I feel like if they could trade maybe some of these, they went from having like a shortage of outfielders to kind of having a surplus. So maybe if they can trade David Peralta or one of these other guys for an arm that can really help them out either in the bullpen or in the starting rotation, it may very well be worth it, especially if they can build towards the future of this team and make it better next year, make this team better next year and beyond for those young guys, maybe something that lines up with Merrill Kelly and Cattell Marte's time frame,

as well. And, you know, again, they can, they can contend potentially as early as next year. That sounds crazy, though, after watching them get swept by the Dodgers in eight games. But we'll see what happens going forward. Of course, you guys need to go check out the Draft King's Sportsbook if you haven't done so already. New customers can get down on the Draft King's Sportsbook. Are you ready to watch an NBA champion be crowned? Because I'm not. I'm not. But it doesn't mean that we still can't go in. and all pick the Golden State Warriors to win and make a little bit of money off of it. Right now, if you join the finals action with Drafking Sportsbook,

an official sports betting partner of the NBA, new customers can make any $5 NBA bet and get $150 in free bets instantly. New and existing customers can get down on same game parlays, turn a small bet into a big payday during the NBA finals by creating your own same game parlay, combine multiple bets like which team will win, total three-pointers made, total rebounds and more, and you'll have yourself a shot at an even bigger payout. The more legs you add, the more money you win. This NBA season, a customer placed a $5 same game parlay and won over $5,000, and that could be you over at the Draft King's

Sportsbook. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app now. Use promo code PHNX, make any $5 bet during the NBA finals and get $150 in free bets instantly. That's promo code PHNX, only at the Draft King's sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. 21 and over only, Arizona only gambling problem down 100 next step. New customers only minimum $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. Cedraftkings.com slash sportsbook for details. Jesse, that's all I got.

That's all I got for you guys. We thank you again for your mailbag Monday questions. We appreciate you guys. Of course, being Diamondbacks fans, being here with us, big announcement, by the way. We wanted to thank everybody so much for getting us. to 3,000 followers on Twitter. It's huge for us, guys.

We, again, we thank you for the support and the growth. We're excited to have so many new people following us. And in honor of this momentous occasion, we are going to be giving away on our Twitter account, a free t-shirt from the PHNX Locker.com. All you have to do is follow our Twitter account at PHNX underscore DBEX. Like and retweet our tweet about the free shirt, and you will be entered to win.

free shirt of your choosing over at the pHNX Locker.com. We will be drawing the winner for that shirt next sun or this Sunday. So in this Sunday's post series wrap-up show, we will be drawing the winner. So make sure to get down on that, find that tweet, like it, retweet it. Make sure you're following us. Tell your friends to follow us. Maybe we'll do it again when we hit 4,000. I don't know.

Things are crazy right now. And we appreciate the growth. Of course, you can follow Jesse and myself on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you're listening to us right now in your favorite audio podcasting app, please subscribe to us there. Leave us a five-star review.

That way everybody knows how good, how much you enjoyed us, how good we are, if you feel we deserve it. And also go over to the PHNX Sports YouTube channel, sign up to subscribe there, sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss any of the live content coming out from our show or any of the other shows on the PHNX network. We appreciate you being a member of the family with us. Go to GoPhNX.com. Sign up if you haven't already done so for a membership over there. Again, we thank you guys so much for your time. On behalf of Jesse and myself, we appreciate you hanging out with us. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when Tori Lavolo is your manager. Thank you.