PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Are changes to the Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitching rotation imminent?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX DBAX podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, of course, formerly known as your mayor of PHNX, currently known as your mayor of Wrigley Field. Very excited to be back. And, of course, very excited to be here with my baseball loving brothers. first I am joined of course by the vice mayor he still keeps those rights and your thunderstick it's jesse friedman Eric you're back you survived i did and i came back with my voice this time which is much nicer than my last trip but uh they're still very very tired jesse i did not drink enough water as you asked me earlier i did not call you enough uh did not what a hypocrite gary i am i am i really

Starting point is 00:00:51 i really am i am that's one thing i definitely can confirm i am but also joining us and looking just splendid in this 4K view that we have of it's Mr. Electric. Sean to pause, what is happening, sir. Yo, yo, you got to love a show where you get a little bit of news minutes before. Minutes before, yeah. Normally this kind of thing happens usually 10 minutes after we wrap. So very able to actually get some news. And of course, that news being that the Arizona Diamondbacks have optioned Josh Rojas to AAA, Reno,

Starting point is 00:01:26 and they have recalled Alec Thomas, who has been killing it offensively right now in Reno. And great to see Alec Thomas back, especially with his defense. Not so great to see Josh Rojas sent down, especially considering that he quote tweeted us wanting to also be back to early April, Josh Rojas, just like we wanted him be back to. But what are your guys' thoughts on this move? Jesse, I'll start with you. Yeah, something we've kind of wondered about for a while, right?

Starting point is 00:01:54 I've been wondering for a while how long the leash really is with Josh Rojas. I mean, there comes a point where, you know, when you're playing third base, when that's your role on the team, that's a position that you need offense from. And the Diamondbacks have been rolling with three third basemen on this roster for a while. And it sort of worked. They've been able to use the DH spot to cycle guys in and out. But at a certain point, Josh Rojas just wasn't really in the lineup all that much. And I think the debacks are better served sending him down,

Starting point is 00:02:24 trying to get him right, trying to get him to, you know, figure some things out, getting regular playing time, then playing in what has really turned into a part-time role, not even a platoon role at this point, just sort of a part-time role in the majors. As far as Alec Thomas is concerned, I talked with Joe Mather, the Diamondbacks hitting coach the other day about what he's heard about Alec Thomas down in Reno, what the debacks are looking to see before they bring him up. and it did sort of sound like this decision was not far away. Joe Mather sounded very impressed with what he's seen.

Starting point is 00:02:59 We know that Alec has made some adjustments. We talked about the leg kick. The D-Wax tried having him remove the leg kick. I don't believe that change stuck. We'll kind of see what it looks like when he gets back up here. But he did work on some weight transfer stuff. So there is some mechanical changes that he made there that seemed to be paying dividends in AAA. So yeah, it sounded like this was a.

Starting point is 00:03:22 that the debacks were close to making. Joe Mather said that Alec Thomas is putting pressure on decision makers to get him back up here, and that's the decision that the Diamondbacks made. Sean, it sounds like, I mean, honestly, we've seen this with the Arizona Diamondbacks players. We just saw it with Alec Thomas, right, where they can't get right at a major league level. And honestly, at a major league level, sometimes you can't try to work on things like what Jesse's talking about with the leg kick and just different mechanics. because you're doing it at the cost of the team succeeding, right?

Starting point is 00:03:56 With the team being in the position that they're in, the send down, optioning these guys down to Reno so that they can work on this stuff and not ride the bench without getting playing time, seems to be the right move. Yeah, I mean, that's exactly what was my first thought. You look at it with Jake McCarthy, right? He obviously struggled for a little bit.

Starting point is 00:04:14 Scotson down, came back, and he has been pretty damn good since then, right? And you were the best while I was gone, right? I saw him in the best. Yeah, right. So you kind of hope that that is, like, I guess a model that can be replicated with Alec Thomas and now with Josh Rojas. And so far you have like the numbers to back it up of it, like we're kind of talking about. Alec Thomas has looked amazing in AAA recently. So you have to hope that that transfers to the major leagues again like it did with.

Starting point is 00:04:51 McCarthy. And if it does, and if it happens with Rojas, then the team is in pretty damn good shape. And it's nice to know you have that little bit of a fallback, that system you can send guys through. That's going to get them back to playing at a high level of the majors, not just in Reno. We talked about them having like roster issues, but good roster issues where they don't know who they're going to send down and what moves they're going to make because guys tend to be playing well at the same time. They don't seem to have a lot of good options all the time. But yeah, you're right. Like this seems to be right now the way that it's working the best to get these guys that are still valuable to the team that they still need in order for this team to be successful.

Starting point is 00:05:32 Right. But they're not doing it at the cost of, you know, and at bat every nine guys, right? And in some cases, that's kind of what it felt like with some of these guys. It's what it still feels like with a couple of guys on the roster. So, I mean, we might not just see just Josh Rojas. So the thing is, not everybody has the options left. And that's a big thing to keep an eye on depending on what the Diamondbacks do at the trade deadline and maybe some other moves that they make here. But one move that we know that they have to make is to do something to reinforce the starting pitching rotation.

Starting point is 00:06:05 Even though the Diamondbacks take two out of three from the Guardians while I was out, they did get blown out on Sunday with Zach Davies on the mound. And I mean, we're talking three and two thirds, nine hits, nine runs, eight earned, one walk, two strike. out, just a complete disaster of an outing. The Guardians are not a good offensive team either. You know, I think when the Phillies were out there and the Phillies were, you know, one of the hottest teams in baseball coming in, you could kind of understand when Davies struggled against that team. Still are, by the way, after they played the Diamondbacks, they're still on that role, you know.

Starting point is 00:06:39 Yeah, yeah. The Phillies have continued to really run over the National League in a lot of their recent games. The Guardians have played better baseball of late, but, you know, it's still. kind of Jose Ramirez, you know, Josh Naler to some degree, and then everyone else, you know, that this offense is not, is not at all what it was last year and really doesn't compare with the Phillies offense at all in my mind. So, yeah, I mean, the reality is the last time, the last two times that Zach Davies has pitched, Josh Rojas has pitched the ninth inning. And that is not, that is not, that doesn't bode well, right, for your future in the rotation.

Starting point is 00:07:18 and we talked about this a little bit on Twitter and how a number of people sound off, there comes a point when you have to ask the question, are the Diamondbacks not just looking for one starter at the trade deadline? Do they have to go out and make multiple moves in order to really stay in this thing? Obviously, they're 43 and 29.

Starting point is 00:07:38 The record is still really good. They're still in a really good spot. You know, they've managed to win a lot of these games despite, you know, what the start. pitchers have not been able to do for them. But there comes a point down the stretch when you feel like those kind of things catch up to you and you really can't afford to have any more games like what happened with Zach Davies. There's a difference between, you know, four and two thirds, three runs or, you know, five and a third, four runs or whatever it is. And what Davies has given you the last

Starting point is 00:08:10 two times out, he really hasn't given you much of a chance to win the game. Right. And yeah, I mean, I think coming into the season, I also had some questions about who Zach Davies would be. We talked a lot about, you know, when he first came back that you kind of feel like you know what you're getting. You know, you feel like he's a steadying presence in the rotation. But there's also this flip side where if you look at Zach Davies' peripherals from a year ago, he wasn't actually that good. His FIP, I believe, was just shy of five.

Starting point is 00:08:41 If you look at some of those peripheral numbers, they paint a picture of a pretty well below average starting pitcher and, you know, we've really seen that the last couple times out. You do bring up, though, that we got to see Josh Rojas. So that's a benefit when it comes to he was nasty, man. He was nasty. Now, now who's who's next. Yeah, who's coming out of the pen now. Who's coming out of the Penn? Yeah. I mean, Rojas, let's take a look at that line. One innings pitched, one hit, zero runs, one walk, one strikeout. And, you know, he lowered his ERA to 18. like what more can you ask for from a guy that's going to give you such depth, you know? When we talk about Josh Rojas truly being a utility player, he can play anywhere.

Starting point is 00:09:24 He can play anywhere. And that's what the Diamondbacks lose with Josh Rojas getting sent down. But let's take a look at the numbers for this series with the Guardians because once again, even though the Diamondbacks take two out of three, it's a not the friendliest outcome or result thanks to that blowout in game three. Yeah, I mean, that the, the, This is one of those series where it really felt like they had a sweep right in their hands up until the start of that last game. And, I mean, it's really hard to sweep teams in Major League Baseball regardless of who it is, right? So I guess they were bound to have a bad game, but the fact that it was as bad as it was is obviously a much tougher pill to swallow.

Starting point is 00:10:09 And that third number right there with the batting average of money to scoring position. Like it's again, like them struggling to drive in runners that are in scoring position is a hole that kind of keeps popping up with this lineup. And you hate to see it kind of rear its ugly head again against a team that's not all that good. Yeah. Five dingers though. I like that. Like a little home run action, Jesse. Three of them came in one inning, right? That was the eighth inning the other night. So, yeah, there's kind of been this narrative that the Diamondbacks don't hit, don't hit that many home runs. And that, I mean, the numbers don't really tell that story.

Starting point is 00:10:53 They've kind of been right in the middle of the league in that regard the entire season. So, yeah, that six three win on Saturday was really, you know, I think that was a fun night at the ballpark for a lot of people. The answerbacks doing their thing coming back in the eighth inning and really taking over that game. That was, that was a nice win. And yeah, on the whole, the debacks took two out of three from the Guardians, which is good, right? I mean, that's a good result at the end of the day. But you can definitely see that the holes on this roster are making themselves very clear in recent days. It's like, okay, you absolutely need a starting pitcher at the trade deadline.

Starting point is 00:11:32 If the Diamondbacks don't get one starting pitcher at the trade deadline, that feels pretty egregious at this point, as long as they're still, you know, in the playoff mix as they are right now. Now, at this point, it's so clear that I don't think the Diamondbacks even have a choice in that regard. A couple of things I wanted to bring up. And Sean kind of reminded me of this when he said that this should have been, you know, a sweep. We've said that a lot about some of these series that the Diamondbacks have won. And rightfully so. Like, I'm not going to say that you shouldn't say that they should have swept the team, that they kind of had this, you know, things were rolling well against in the first two games.

Starting point is 00:12:12 But like, are we getting to a point where we're expecting too much? You know, like, I don't know. I mean, obviously, the expectations have changed drastically with this team. But it feels like, and especially when they lose in the final game of the series, they win the first two and like this. It feels like we're still left with this, you know, heaping mound of disappointment, despite the fact that the Diamondbacks won yet another series. And they continue to have a decent lead.

Starting point is 00:12:41 I mean, we're a couple of days. away from the Dodgers possibly being third in the National League West. You know, like, they're already, they're already third in the national. Oh, are they there? I didn't. I've kept up on this. The Giants did some work in Dodgers Stadium over the weekend.

Starting point is 00:12:57 They're half a game over to the Dodgers. You know, that's just incredible to me. And I mean, honestly, if you can't look at that and think that this is wide open this season for this team, then, you know, that's crazy. But unfortunately, in baseball, the Diamond

Starting point is 00:13:12 Backs aren't the only team that feel this thing is wide open for. There are a lot of teams that feel that it's still wide open, which is going to, it's going to be what makes the trade deadline so difficult to navigate and so difficult for the Diamondbacks to get that return. I know we've talked about it a couple of times, Jesse, but you've said it. Like the Diamondbacks don't just need one starting pitcher at the trade deadline. They need two. I mean, that might be a bit drastic, but that's what it feels like at this point

Starting point is 00:13:37 when we see what is what is occurring right now with the starting rotation. Yeah, and there's also this element to me, as far as the starting rotation is concerned, where not only does it feel like you really have to make these moves, but if you do, the margin by which you are improving the team is really significant, right? For some teams, they make an upgrade at the trade deadline. You're replacing a pretty good player with an even better player. The Diamondbacks are in position right now to be replacing guys who probably shouldn't be in a major league rotation with potentially like a Marcus Stroman right like that is an enormous

Starting point is 00:14:17 amount of improvement and if the debacks are able to find a way to do that twice which i'm not so sure about i still if i'm if i'm a diamondbacks fan i'm probably still just kind of looking for one starting pitcher at the deadline getting to given how much you know the supply and demand situation that we're expecting getting to might be might be impossible frankly but even if you get one that's a really big improvement over what the diamondbacks have, and the debacks have a chance to improve more by what they do at the deadline than that margin for some other teams. And really what it comes down to is I know in the playoffs,

Starting point is 00:14:52 they're going to need to be deeper, but how deep do they really need to be if they have three quality starting pitchers like Zach Gallen, Merrill Kelly, and someone they potentially trade for as part of this rotation? Like that just changes things significantly, even if they don't, like, even if they don't get that, that fourth starter, even if they are not able to sure up the back end of their rotation, it still feels like with the way this team is playing and a very strong, you know,

Starting point is 00:15:18 like at least three starting pitchers that this team could very much do something that many could be considered to be extraordinary. I don't know. The Phillies have me thinking crazy things, not just because of the way they whipped us, but also because of what they did last year. It's hard not to take notice of what the Phillies did, what kind of season they had. how what kind of playoff run they ended up being able to to put together right so there's a lot of teams that are right there on the bubble that that probably look at that philly's team from last year and think hey we might still be able to be that so that again is what is going to make that trade deadline so difficult to navigate but uh one thing that is not nip difficult to navigate

Starting point is 00:15:58 is who is our king snake for this series because it was absolutely walker walker walker walker walker Walker single double triple walker uh and jessie i noticed in one of your tweets you left a walker out so uh i need you to tighten that shit up when i'm gone but christian walker here uh just outstanding 545 batting average in the three games two of the diamondbacks five dingers in the series six rbi i uh walk is back it feels like yeah full full disclosure on on that i'm literally like sitting in the jaysfield press box like singing the burger king song Is it four Woppers or is it three Wauper? I had that moment the other day where I realized it was four instead of three.

Starting point is 00:16:42 And I recognized the mistake, the egregious mistake that I made. But yeah, Christian Walker is, you know, it felt like it was kind of his turn to sort of, you know, take over this line up a little bit to be the guy that the Diamondbacks offense can lean on. And he was absolutely that in this series. he's absolutely risen to that occasion and continues to be one of the better, more underrated first baseman in the game. And I like how you put it about his turn because it does feel like that with this lineup, right? Like it does feel like these guys just kind of tag in and out as far as who's going to be the hero, which again kind of answers that question at times. Like how the hell did this team win this many games?

Starting point is 00:17:26 Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's good to see. And it's funny, like a little tinfoil hat theory. Oh, you heard. Oh, here we go. You heard Hayeson talk about how this team needed a power bat, right? And then all of a sudden, Christian Walker starts turning up as well. Yeah, he heard it.

Starting point is 00:17:43 Do your job is what basically. Is that not me? Am I not this team's power bat, right? I thought I was the power amount. Am I not the power bat? Yeah. I heard Derek say I'm just going to hit her now. But he's, I mean, yeah, he's been amazing recently.

Starting point is 00:17:57 I think Balli's tweeted out of something like 12 or 13 extra base hits over his last 15 games. like he has been like you said the guy like seems like this team has guys tagging in and out and this he's tagged in recently um he he's been what this offense has needed in a lot of a lot of big moments it seems like um and that's a little more reminiscent of what he was last year and so that's always i guess really good to see yeah yeah we need we need last year christian walk back but just not without the without the lack of luck like the one he was hit 110 exit velo right and into the short stops glove. But someone else, of course, that's been really good,

Starting point is 00:18:36 is our very own MVP candidate, our very own rookie of the year candidate, Corbyn Carroll. Jesse has an amazing article on Corbyn Carroll's first 100 games. And I just, I can't believe this guy is real, Jesse. I just still can't. It's unbelievable. Yeah, I was, you know, racking my brain at 3 a.m. the other night trying to figure out, like, how do I put in perspective what,

Starting point is 00:19:00 what Corbyn Carroll has, has accomplished in his first 100 games as a big leaguer. And yeah, you know, there's some, some eye-opening stats in that article that I wrote, his 937 OPS over his first 100 games is the highest in Diamondbacks history. Actually,

Starting point is 00:19:16 there was one player, Rubiel Darazzo, who's actually... I love Rubial Dorazo, yes. Yeah, DeRazzo was really good. He was really good. I think his was 933 over his first 100 games, so those two are really close. Goldie was in the 840, 850 range, something like that.

Starting point is 00:19:34 But yeah, I mean, Corbyn Carroll, as I wrote, you know, the Diamondbacks have lacked a true consistent superstar since Paul Goldsmith left this organization. There's been, there's been a hole there, right? And I know some people would say Cateel Marte, he kind of at least looked like that guy. You could make a case that in 2019 he was that guy. He finished fourth in MVP voting.

Starting point is 00:19:58 Yeah. But he hasn't been that guy consistently. right in order to really be a superstar in this league it's not about just having one star level season it's about stringing them together and becoming a force becoming the face of the franchise corbin carroll is it's so abundantly clear and i don't i don't want to say he is that already because it has only been a hundred games but he couldn't really have done anything more over these first 100 games to make a statement to this organization and to its fan base i am that guy i am the guy who's going to come in here and I am going to be your star player for, you know, he's under team control through 2031.

Starting point is 00:20:36 And as I said the other day on the show, if you're a fan of this team, like, you should probably own this guy's jersey. Like, you should probably become an enormous Corbyn Carroll fan because not only is he an amazing, intelligent person off the field, but he's an extremely good baseball player. And what he's accomplished in his first 100 games is already historic. As Michael points out in the chat, he said batting stance guy even did his Corbyn Carroll. When batting stance guy is doing your batting stance, like you're a superstar. But when we talk about superstar, this just still blows my mind. Let's take a look at Corbyn Carroll in the National League MVP race with Ronald Acuna, which, of course, is a very, very good baseball player, Jesse.

Starting point is 00:21:25 And I am very excited that we are even making this comparison. To even have this graphic in front of me right now kind of melts my brain. Yeah, it's pretty wild. It's pretty wild. I don't know if Sean wants to weigh in on this race and where this whole thing might be headed. But yeah, I mean, we were making the rookie of the year graphic, right? This graphic was made with the intent of comparing Corbyn Carroll with his biggest rookie of the year competitor. You know, we were kind of playing the game.

Starting point is 00:21:55 with L.A. Daly Cruz there for a while, but at this point, Corbyn Carroll is so far ahead of any competition in the rookie of the year race that this comparison is more fitting at this point. Yeah, I mean, and I mean, let's be clear, like Ronald Acuna is clearly at the favorite for this award at this point. Absolutely, yeah, he definitely has. The stats are in total better than Corby and Carols, but like it's ridiculous. were even talking about this. Like that's what I was going to say earlier.

Starting point is 00:22:26 It was like, I know Jesse and I, last week we're talking about the potential of a sweep, and an award sweep, and this is obviously the hardest one, but like, yeah. I think we're losing sight of the fact that, like, he is even, like, if this was part of the conversation,

Starting point is 00:22:44 and Corbyn-Carroll was just, like, the runaway for rookie of the year. Like, that would be a crazy story in and of itself. The fact that, like you kind of said, we're even making this comparison is ridiculous. And this is still a very long season, right? Like, there's nothing to say that on one hand that Corbyn Carroll doesn't eventually look like a rookie, which, as I said last week, he has yet to really do outside of the kind of coming back from the injury portion.

Starting point is 00:23:12 And ultimately, there's nothing to say that Ronald Acuna doesn't slump or not that I've knock on wood. He's a guy that's dealt with injury before, right? So there's nothing to say that Ronald Acuna continues this all year. Right, right, right. Like he's in it. He's in the race. Like he's not, he's not leaning it right now, but he's there.

Starting point is 00:23:31 And I mean, he's definitely in the top three as far as your consideration for MVP candidates. I think what then kind of happens is what's the directions of the team? Like what direction do the team does the team go? What direction do the Diamondbacks go? The Diamondbacks continue to win. And Corbyn Carroll continues to be a major driving force behind that. that might be something that even if the numbers kind of swing in Acuna's favor for a couple of categories, that still might be like between that and the fact he's a rookie and he's doing it this

Starting point is 00:24:01 year, all of that might swing in the favor of Corby and Carroll when you put all of their factors side by side. That's a great point. That's a really good point. I mean, a lot of people like those narrative games, right? Yeah. The Braves without Ronald Acuna would still be a really good baseball team. Yes.

Starting point is 00:24:18 The Diamondbacks without Corbyn Carol. Yeah. I don't know. It's a little scary to think about where they would be without what he's what he's given them this year. Right. Right. And that's what it's about, right? The most valuable player, right? So, and I mean, we talked about winning being a part of that. But sorry, cut you off, Sean. Go ahead. No, no. It's just, I feel like we always forget. It's just human beings that are making these decisions at the end of the day. And we can look at numbers as much as we want. But like, human beings are the ones that have to decipher how important those numbers are. And each, it's subjective. at the end of the day. And it's hard not to be like, man, we have the opportunity to make history here. And I'm not saying like it's the best thing,

Starting point is 00:24:58 but factors like, you know, again, like how good of a story this would be and stuff have to creep into people's minds when they're making these decisions, right? So it's not like you're completely free of that of being biased when you really take a look at that. And then Michael points out, if you can find his jersey in the team store, L.O.L.

Starting point is 00:25:16 I don't like that. I don't like that. Maybe you've got to make a custom one. Sometimes you've got to do that. I did that with my Durant jersey for the Sun. So I don't know. But things are going good. Speaking of the Suns here in the Valley and the Diamondbacks, hopefully the Diamondbacks can get some of that good trade mojo that the Suns just kind of had going on.

Starting point is 00:25:34 I think those teams were definitely in talks with each other, right? D-backs were just having a terrible, terrible day at the ballpark in front of 42,000 fans on Father's Day. So they were just begging the Suns. Like, if you're going to make a trade, you better make it right now. Save our news cycle. Yeah. We just want to escape without anybody noticing us. They're like, say less, fam. I got you. Speaking of saying less, say less about where you need to go.

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Starting point is 00:29:00 about the Arizona Diamondback. So make sure to sign up for a diehard membership today. Well, it is Monday. I am on one hour of sleep, so I'm going to push through this, and I'm going to try to make it without dying, but I don't care what day of the, I don't care how tired I am. It's Monday. Every week on this show is Shark Week, regardless of how tired I am. Every day on the show is Earth Day. And every Monday, we go to the mailbag. Damon, let's go. My mailbox. Always something interesting in my mailbox. I'm trying to get to everything in my mailbox. And then once in a while, there's a letter that makes me go wow, wow.

Starting point is 00:29:36 Okay, I don't, I'm sick of that guy's voice. I spent the entire man, so I've had enough of his voice. But, Damon, let's go to the mailbag. What do we got for our first question? Brian Bobbitt asks, if, days if davies looks like he has his last couple of starts how long of a leash will they give him uh and i was going to get into this earlier but i knew we had this question so i wanted to let you guys give me your thoughts uh zach davies continues to struggle how many more starts do you give him jesse i i don't i don't think the leash is it can be particularly long um i think a lot of it depends on his next start if if zach davies goes out there and has another start where they're calling on a player to pitch the ninth inning. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:30:20 I think there may be as a scenario where Zach Davies makes one more and then they feel the need to make some sort of a move. When you have a guy who makes three straight uncompetitive starts like that, you know, in the middle of a playoff race, I think, you know, I think that that case would have some weight to it. A lot, of course, depends on the alternative, on what the Diamondbacks would do instead. And so it's almost like, I think the leash on. on both Ryan Nelson and Zach Davies probably has less to do with how they pitch and more to do with how Brandon fought pitches.

Starting point is 00:30:53 If Brandon fought dominates, he pitched yesterday. He was okay. You're skipping ahead. You're skipping ahead. We got another question about Brandon fought. Don't worry about. I'll stop. I'll stop there. But yeah, suffice it to say it doesn't. Yeah, it's not all about how Zach Davies and and Ryan Nelson pitch. A lot of it has to do with the contingency plan. I think that's fair enough, Sean, would you agree? Yeah, no, that's exactly what I was going to say is. I think it really just depends on what the alternative is. Options. What options you have? His leashes as long as they don't have an option, he's going to be up here, I think. But even then, it's not like we're that far from this team actually making options or making moves,

Starting point is 00:31:42 if they do plan on making moves for starters at the trade deadline. So, yeah, it's hard to believe that his leash is very long if he has another bad start. But, I mean, the reality of a lot of the guys on this team is that every time that they get close to thinking you need to cut them or wave them or send them down or whatever it is, they end up having some kind of performance. And we know that every guy in this rotation is capable of having a good performance. So who knows, right? Like, I think it's just as likely that he has a decent performance in this game that it is as he has a bad one, not necessarily because he's a great pitcher just because that just seems to be how this season goes.

Starting point is 00:32:23 Yeah. Well, your job is on the line. You start to know it and there's two directions you go. You feel the pressure and you buckle or you kind of step up and you give yourself some more time. Like we've seen, you know, we've kind of joked about that with Pavin and his timely hits, right? but we and even when discussing this we're talking about Zach Davies going out there and shitting the bed in his next start and having like this kind of start what happens if it's just kind of a mediocre start what if it's five innings and he gives up five earned and the diamondbacks are in it or they maybe even win it because of their offense overcoming the five run deficit but like that's not a great start and that's still not super encouraging it's just again I think I think you said it Sean it's it's options and Jesse too right like it's like some of it's like some of the dudes I know They're only as loyal as their options are, if you know what I'm saying. So anyway, what else we got for questions?

Starting point is 00:33:13 And now Jesse can bring his Fott case. William Laguna asks, should we bring back Fought? And obviously, a big part of that, a big caveat to that is, well, is Brandon Fott going to be able to pitch well at a major league level at this point in his career? I don't think he's not going to be a very valuable, good pitcher at some point. I just don't know if, again, if they have to go to him kind of an emergency break glass situation, if he's going to be able to come up to the major leagues and do much better than what you're getting out of Ryan Nelson. Yeah, Fogg gave up three homers in his start yesterday. The final numbers were pretty good.

Starting point is 00:33:52 Six innings, only three earned runs. I think he gave up five runs total, but only three were earned. So he's looked better. His last two starts have definitely been better. And, you know, homers in Reno, you always take four, you know, with a grain of salt because of the, the hitting environment there. I haven't had a chance to go back and look at the batted ball data, but usually when a guy gives up three homers in Reno,

Starting point is 00:34:12 at least one of those was, you know, a Reno PCL homer and probably wouldn't have, wouldn't have gone over the fence. And the guy sneezed while hitting the ball and it went for a dinger. Yeah, right. Achoo, bang. Oh, gone. But yeah,

Starting point is 00:34:25 I mean, I think to what you guys were talking about earlier, I also want to add that I think the leash for Nelson is probably shorter than the leash for Davies, just because if, If you, I mean, like, Zach Davies is a free agent signing, right? The debacks aren't sending down Zach Davies, I don't think. If you decide, yeah, if you decide that Zach Davies, you know, is not, is not fit for your rotation.

Starting point is 00:34:50 You kind of just have to move on from him entirely. And I don't know if the diamond backs are, I think it's going to take them a while to get to that point, whereas with Ryan Nelson, it's a really easy roster move to make. so even if Davies is maybe even struggling more, I think the leash there might be a little longer. All right. What else we got? Oh, I'm sorry. Did you have something, Sean, to add?

Starting point is 00:35:12 No, no. He summed it up. I feel like it is. I think all of the pitching moves are kind of tied together, right? Yeah, yeah. I feel like it's just a matter. As far as Davies is concerned, it's a matter if I'm getting forced out.

Starting point is 00:35:25 And yeah, I agree with Jesse that Nelson's leash is probably a little bit shorter in that regard. It's kind of like what we talked about Evan Lengoria for a while there when he struggled and some of these other guys, right? Like, you know, there's a difficult decision. So sometimes even if a younger player might be playing slightly better or might be offering slightly more, like Brian Nelson is doing better than Davies. But I think Jesse's point is astute. I think it's, you know, yeah, because Brian Nelson right now, they have that option with

Starting point is 00:35:53 him to still send him down. And that still keeps him in the organization. Also, like what we talked about earlier with Alec Thomas and some of the hitters going down to work on stuff. We've seen an improvement when guys go down to Reno and work on things. They're able to come back up and be better than they were. Zach Davies just doesn't have that option. He doesn't have that opportunity. So it's going to be a much more difficult decision to part ways with him. However, this is a team that cut Madison Bumgardner.

Starting point is 00:36:20 So let's not, let's not even act for a moment like they are above making that kind of decision. But it did it took them. It took them a while, Derek. It did take a while. Ends endure quite a bit before they, for the, obviously the money there was. Jesse, Jesse, they endured April and maybe like the first, what, like, well, they endured. They endured last season, too, right? I mean, they've endured quite a bit, but, you know, the money is obviously enormously different, right?

Starting point is 00:36:48 Zach Davies is making four million this year. Madison, Bumgarner, you're talking about eating, you know, like $40 million dollars going into next season. So, yeah, you just, but you just know that they're not like, they're not. not going to mess around. Like they have no problem. They did that. They have no problem. You know, cutting Zach Davies. And obviously, again, when you talk about Bumgarner in last year, what are we talking about, Jesse? We're talking about the options that the organization had. And they didn't have many options when it came to guys going out there on the mound and starting.

Starting point is 00:37:14 But shout out to Nicholas Gruders in the chat for the super chat, $5 super chat. He said, I don't think it can be understated what the defense of Alec McCarthy and Carol out there means to the pitching as well. Keep paving out of right. That I didn't even get a chance to bring that up earlier with Alec Thomas, but man, I mean, it's great to have Alec Thomas right at the dish, and that's going to be great for this team if he can continue to do what he's doing in Reno at a major league level, but I just can't wait for his defense to be back. Even Jake McCarthy, who is arguably one of the better outfielder that the Diamondbacks currently have on the major league roster has struggle at times in center field, whereas Alec Thomas just like just

Starting point is 00:37:52 smoothly made that look easy. And I miss him out there. So good to see Alec Thomas. back. What else we got, Damon? Nicholas asks, what does Rojas need to work on most in order to keep Davy's spot in the rotation? That's really what the big question here is. We're not like, we know Josh Rojas got sent down because of the information today. Obviously, some of these questions, they're going to not make a lot of sense now that Rojas is gone. But no, I like this question being in there still because I think that's what Rojas goes down in the minor leagues and works on. Forget third base. Forget hitting.

Starting point is 00:38:28 I think Roas needs to go work on his pitch selection and, you know, just adding a little bit of Velo to that, to that curveball, the 44 mile an hour curveball. Well, he had like a, it was like a 67, 68 mile an hour curveball yesterday. Let's go. Struck out. He just stretched out, Jesse. He just needs to be stretched out. Yeah. The D-backs definitely, yeah, if you think that they sent him down to work on his swing, I mean, no, they said they clearly.

Starting point is 00:38:54 They sent him down to work on his fastball. command and you know to improve his location on his curveball and maybe perfect the johnny quato shimmy just a little bit more than just work on work on not being off balance when you any chance of adding another pitch yeah yeah he's going to come back with a with a forkball or something yeah exactly the knuckle curve uh michael and there's uh says josh rotani and that's what we're calling him from now on. That's it. And speaking of Michael, next question comes from Michael. Michael, let's see your question. He says, what happens first? Corbyn Carroll gets to 25 steals or Josh Rojas hits a home run? This is

Starting point is 00:39:40 interesting because now there's an interesting wrinkle to this question. Does Josh Rojas hit a home run in Reno? Oh. Oh. Or does Corby Carroll get to 25 steals first, right? Like this just got more interesting. Worst pitching, different environment. I think Rojas has five dingers in like the next two weeks. We'll see. Yeah. My initial reaction was that Carol's going to have a little bit of

Starting point is 00:40:08 a head start, I guess, now. But if we're including the home runs of Reno, I'm giving it to Rojas. I think he gets one soon. I'm with you. Yeah. Yeah, the hitter friendly environment there. Right. It just changes everything.

Starting point is 00:40:25 That's the best thing that they could have happened. My answer, honestly, coming into the show, before the roster move was made, I was making the assumption we were talking about in the big leagues. And my answer was going to be that I think Corbyn Carroll gets the 25 still on bases first because I don't think that Josh Rojas is going to be on this roster for very much longer. And obviously, we got that news today. You did that. You did that to him. Corby and Carol, by the way, 15 dingers this year himself. so well on his way to his 20-40 season, maybe his 30-40 season, maybe his 40-40 season.

Starting point is 00:40:59 Who knows? We'll see what happens. I'm getting crazy now. But that's also because, like I said, I'm tired and I'm hungry and I need some pizza. I wanted pizza bad. My wife made me a sandwich, and it's just sitting, it's dying in my living room right now, waiting for me to finish the show. But that's because I wanted pizza. And I'm going to maybe be a brat about it and see if I can get my way.

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Starting point is 00:41:47 Tucson locations to place your next order. And reminder, new diehards get that $50 voucher upon signing up. So if you haven't signed up for a diehard membership, do that right now and then go get yourself some pizza. Before we go to our more mailbag Monday questions, we have to thank our friends over at Moore Furniture for making Jesse their official spokesperson of Chase Loungees at Moore. And also for offering a wide variety of furniture, you know you need a new recliner. Again, Father's Day has passed, but some of you didn't get your dad a good gift. Like, go back that up. Go get your dad that coffee table he wanted.

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Starting point is 00:42:38 Now we got some more mailbag Monday questions. Damon, what else we got? Travis Moore asks, trying again hoping this gets answered on the mailbag. And I'm guessing he has tried to get us to answer that on Twitter. and now he's like, screw you guys, answered on the show, and he says, define what you mean by a pitcher's stuff.

Starting point is 00:42:58 And I like this question because I think we use this a lot. And like, yeah, there are some people who I don't think have any clue what we mean when we say pitcher's stuff. He said, I admittedly am only making guesses at what it means when you guys start talking about a guy having his best stuff on any given day. I think that transfers over to like saying a guy has good stuff. But, you know, maybe the results aren't there. We've said that, you know, it's almost a cliche. around here. But Jesse, stuff. Let's talk about stuff and what you mean by that. And especially, let's take for example, like Zach Gallen, right? When we say Zach Gallen doesn't have his best stuff,

Starting point is 00:43:33 we even say he doesn't have a best feel for some of his pitches. What do we mean by that? Yeah, that's a great question. Yeah, like stuff, movement. These are all words that I don't know if we really define like we should. And people don't really know what we're talking about. What the hell do you mean? You know, it's just stuff. It's stuff. Let me use the word stuff. Admittedly, I do think there's a little bit of gray area there. But yeah, when I'm talking about stuff, I'm specifically talking about swing and miss.

Starting point is 00:44:02 That's what I, that's what I have in mind. So, yeah. And some, that's why you know, some pitchers have better stuff than other pitchers. It doesn't necessarily mean that there are better pitchers, though. Yeah. So for example. It doesn't mean they're hitting the strike zone more. It doesn't mean it just means.

Starting point is 00:44:20 that when batters are up there, they are absolutely perplexed at times by the pitches these guys are throwing. Right. So, so, yeah, some, some pitchers have incredible stuff, and yet they might not have a whole lot of success because they can't command it. So like an example of that would be Carlos Vargas, right? Diamondbacks pitcher that they acquired from the Guardians in a trade over the off season. If you saw him pitch in in spring training or early in the season when he was on the big league roster. Carlos Vargas, there's over 100 miles an hour. He throws a slider that I think is maybe identified as a cutter in the low 90s. His stuff is insane, right? It's really hard to hit when he's throwing it in the right places. But the reason he's not effective is because he's not able to command

Starting point is 00:45:07 his stuff very well. So stuff is sort of like a measure of like nastiness, right? It's like if you throw, if you throw a hundred and two or you've got some insane ride on your fastball or like, Like Zach Gown's curveball is an insane pitch, the amount of movement that pitch has. Whereas there are other guys who are good. Like I don't know if I would say Merrill Kelly has insane stuff, right? He's throwing a very cerebral pitcher that like outsmarts his opponent and he knows like when to use certain pitches or when to do things. But like, yeah, like his his fastball isn't that impressive in the context of fastballs versus other starting pitchers. Same thing with Zach Gowan.

Starting point is 00:45:45 When we say he doesn't have his best stuff today. we're looking at like a drop in Velo for his fastball average. We're looking at, wow, Zach Gallen just threw two pitches today. He threw the knuckle curve and fastball and nothing else. Like that says to us that he doesn't feel comfortable throwing his other stuff because for whatever reason he doesn't have a good feel for it that day. And again, even feel. That's kind of as vague as stuff sometimes.

Starting point is 00:46:10 But feel is just like, hey, I went out there and I started throwing my change up during warmups and I couldn't fucking get it anywhere close to the strike zone. or like it wasn't moving or was going too fast. So it's like I'm not really throwing a change up. I'm more throwing like a slow fastball almost. And so I ain't throwing that shit today. So we're going to have to game plan around that. And like that's when they don't have a feel for their pitches or they don't have their best stuff on a given day sometimes.

Starting point is 00:46:37 Yeah. And feel is another word, right, that we throw around. Yeah. I think it's hard for a lot of people to understand because in our mind, if you know how to throw a pit, just throw the pitch just throw it like MLB the show right like you should be able to throw it where I tell you to every single time because you're a goddamn computer now do the thing and it's like no that's not how human yeah we think of it as like like driving a car like you don't have better feel for driving a car one day or another you just do it well that's not how it well that's yeah sometimes

Starting point is 00:47:10 some but yeah with pitches it's not necessarily like that right and especially with Zach down. He's a big so-called feel guy, which just means that some days he just, it's hard to explain, but he just has a feel for a pitch, you know, just the way that it's coming off. And he doesn't feel comfortable throwing it, right?

Starting point is 00:47:29 Or he doesn't. Yeah, and that dictates a lot of his plan on the mound. Really, really good question. Yeah, I love it. What else we got, Damon? Well, Chris, the answer is to this question is yes. Chris says, is Thomas getting called up? He's hitting 349 in Reno.

Starting point is 00:47:46 Again, a little bit of a dated question there. Obviously, with this news happening today, yes, we knew this was imminent. We knew that there was a good chance that he would get called up. Like, we've been watching his numbers. We've been sending out tweets about him hitting dingers in Reno. But, yeah, it seemed like it was going to be hard for the Diamondbacks to avoid calling him up for much longer. And I feel like they made the right roster move and optioning Josh Rojas down so that he can try to also get right and contribute to this team. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:48:16 Yeah, like I was saying earlier, I think it just made sense. Rojas hopefully can go through this system that they've built now of guys kind of getting rehabbed, if you will, in Reno. And hopefully everyone comes back better baseball players. Yeah, right. Alex's defense was enough. I don't even need him hitting 3.49. He could have been hitting 270. I would have been like, get him back up here.

Starting point is 00:48:40 We need his. Yeah, that's why I always compare him to Jackie Bradley Jr. Because the Red Sox went through this a lot with him really in his career. where his glove was clearly, he clearly wanted it. I think the Debecks now have, it's kind of their ideal outfield with Alex and Center and,

Starting point is 00:48:56 and Corbett and McCarthy on the corners. But you just have to, his bat is at least serviceable to just at least be a bottom of a lineup guy and have that glove out there. That's all they really need from him bare minimum. And if you can be better than that, then that's all plus house money at that point.

Starting point is 00:49:16 He just needs to get on base, like Jake. Like him and Jake, they just need to get on base. Like, they just need to get on base, frustrate opposing defenses and start creating that chaos on the base path. The three of them, the three outfielders, just their ability to find a way to do that is not really, it's, you can't really measure it, right? So, like, I just need to see Alec Thomas doing that because I feel like that's, again, something that generates, it, like, gets the offense going. It kickstarts things. And there's going to be a lot of games where they're not going to. to do it like they did in the series against the Guardians with the home run ball.

Starting point is 00:49:49 There's going to be a lot of games where they're going to need to manufacture runs. If they plan to continue to win and try to make a push for the playoffs, that's what they're going to need to do. I will add on Alec Thomas that I think I view Alec Thomas pretty differently than I view Jake McCarthy. Like Jake McCarthy for pretty much his entire tenure as a prospect in this organization was more of a fourth outfielder type, you know, kind of a defense. first incredible speed sort of a guy but not necessarily a guy that you would you know plug into the

Starting point is 00:50:22 middle of your lineup and that perception kind of changed last year when he came up and did what he did in that in that final big league stint and i think you know i think his ceiling has gone up a little bit uh but alec thomas is not really in that camp for me alec thomas was a highly touted prospect and and pretty much throughout his entire time coming up through the miners it wasn't just defense like like Alec Thomas really hit well all the way up through the miners. He has incredible strength for his size. We've seen him hit the ball really, really hard at times. The question with him is just, you know, is his swing a little bit flawed?

Starting point is 00:51:01 Is he a little bit too, you know, is he wired a little bit too much to hit ground balls to the right side of the infield rather than channeling that power in a more positive way? So the ceiling for Alec Thomas is. is a lot higher for me. I think that, you know, as much as, yeah, it would be great if he just kind of comes up and shows a little bit of improvement. I do think there's some possibility that he comes up

Starting point is 00:51:23 and, you know, hopefully for the debacks looks like a different player. Looks like the player that he kind of looked like he was going to be when he first came up last year. Ban that man from the chat. Mo Shoebares just been for him down to make it right. See, Mo, he's coming in here with his Dodger, uh, his Dodger trolls and I don't know.

Starting point is 00:51:42 No, I'm not having it today. You don't get to talk. about Corbyn Carroll. What else we got, Damon? Next question comes from D-BACs network and says, do you see Mike Hazen sticking around much longer? Will there ever be a new ownership group of the D-backs? Would we even want a new owner? And I like this. Obviously, the Mike Hazen thing, we talked about, we really don't know how long Mike Hazen's contract is for. I feel like he's done. I think we kind of know now. Well, yeah, yeah, now we do. Based on the comment that he made in that Tori Lavello Presser, I think we know that.

Starting point is 00:52:14 Mike Hazen is through next year. Through the end of 2024, right? But like, he's done an excellent job. And I still, I know that the Diamondbacks haven't achieved the ultimate goal, right? Which a lot of teams don't achieve and don't get a chance to achieve. But I feel like when you look at what Mike Hazen has done with this roster, what he's done with the minor league system, the way this team was able to rebound from the absolute disaster that was created back in those Dave

Starting point is 00:52:40 Stewart, you know, Tony LaRoucadais, that this really is, a man that deserves to be here and like all diamondbacks fans should should want him as GM to be honest he's he's a tremendous individual and even with all the adversity and all of the terrible stuff that has happened to him personally in his time as GM of this team he hasn't wavered he hasn't he it's like he's barely even taken time off at times it feels like and I mean there's just something about his dedication to this organization in this team that you can't help but say this is absolutely the right man for the job. And I know a lot of people are going to criticize the ownership group. I mean, that other part of that question is a whole other thing because

Starting point is 00:53:21 yeah, I mean, after seeing what like Matt Ishbia has done for the sons and his desire to try to immediately make this team a winner, yeah, that would be exciting to have a new owner come in and be like, literally, I'm going to throw all of the money I can at the problem and try to win a championship for this team as soon as possible. What we have seen this year is, other owners do that exact same thing. And those teams are below 500 right now. So it's like it's not really something where you can sit there and say like, man, if we had new owners that actually spent money, you know, yeah, that would be great

Starting point is 00:53:55 if the owners spent money. But there's there's a business model and there is a, this is a different franchise than some of those organizations. It's a different franchise than even the sons. Sons are king in this town, right? The Diamondbacks had the kind of attendance numbers the sons did. They absolutely would be spending the kind of money. that the sons are trying to spend, I feel like.

Starting point is 00:54:14 But, you know, that, that's up to you, I think. I mean, I'm not going to try to sway people one way on Ken Kendrick or not. I just think that Kendrick receives a tremendous amount of unnecessary flack, considering that he really does love this team. He loves baseball, and he wants to make this team a winner. It's just hard when the organization isn't, you know, as popular as other baseball organizations are. I mean, I was going to tell this story at some point, but my experience at Wrigley Field was religious this weekend.

Starting point is 00:54:46 I can't even tell you guys the feelings I felt at that stadium. I bought $28 standing room only tickets. It was the best thing I ever did with my life because we just toured the stadium, walked around, had ushers be hell of nice to us and tell us where we can stand and that, like, oh, hey, over here's a great view. All you have to do is stand against the railing and you're fine to be over there. I was eating peanuts, Jesse, and I was breaking the peanuts. and they were falling on the ground and a man would walk up with a broom and a little thing and sweep it up.

Starting point is 00:55:18 And then I would apologize to him. It was like Disney world. It was exactly like that. It was like Disneyland met baseball. Like I'd apologize to this man and say, I'm sorry that I threw peanut shells on the ground. He's like, this is my job to keep the concourse clean. And I was like blown away by this. Like I probably talked to like a hundred different ballpark workers just in a very short amount of time I was there because there was like attendance and supervisors. and people cleaning and ushers and all this stuff.

Starting point is 00:55:44 Like things like it's it's so completely amazing how different baseball is in a stadium like that, in a town like that, right? Like if I was a Cubs fan, I would be furious going to those games and seeing every single seat filled like that game was on Saturday and then not having the team spend money, right? Like that's that's where you get to a point where you're like, what the hell is going on here? But man, let me just tell you, I don't know how we can do it, but we need to figure out a way to get, you know,

Starting point is 00:56:12 our fan base, our love for this Arizona Diamondbacks team to somewhere close to that level. That's generations and generations and generations of families rooting for the same team. So it's hard to get there for a team that's just been around since 1998. But man, it was just a different feel. I ended up running into Sarah Spain from ESPN after the game, like literally on the streets outside of Brigley. At first she was very annoyed with me, I think, trying to be like, hey, do you remember me? from spring training that one time in 2018. How do you not?

Starting point is 00:56:44 But we started talking about Wrigley Field and she said like, I'm biased, but there's just nothing like this. And even in baseball. Like she's like maybe the closest thing you get is Fenway. But like the history and the love of the game and the way that like that section of town that Wrigleyville just literally turns into baseball nirvana, which we use on the show about Arizona quite a bit.

Starting point is 00:57:07 But it was it was just incredible. And so like I don't. know. I don't know how we get to the Diamondbacks to that point without years and years and years of passing. But like it feels like this young core of guys and this team this year is is kind of the right direction. Like, you know, Corby Carroll's mom quote tweeted us about the fans being amazing in that game and the energy of the stadium. And like, that's something that to be honest, I haven't felt in a very long time when I start adding the years up. We're talking about over five years since the last time I've seen the stadium be like it is during a regular season game lately.

Starting point is 00:57:45 So things are shifting in the right direction. But man, it's just, it's hard for an baby organization like the Diamondbacks to really be anywhere close to where some of these historic organizations are. A man on the street gave me the bobblehead. There was a bobblehead giveaway that day. And I just brought up to him because I didn't know who these two gentlemen are. It's it's Boog and J.D. I thought it was like weaning in the butt, but it's like their announcers,

Starting point is 00:58:11 boog and JD, and it plays a call. And when I talk to this man on the street, asking him what the bobblehead was, he just gave me one. He just gave me one. It was an absolute magical experience at Wrigley Field, and I don't know if I could ever replicate what happened.

Starting point is 00:58:27 I did drink out of a beer bat, like our friend Cody from the CHGO Cubs podcast. TSA confiscated that beer bat on my way back, which I'm still not very happy about. But like, man, I feel inspired after going to Riggly Field. And like, I don't know how executives on baseball teams can't feel that way. Like, we all have to, like, all the National League teams eventually have to take a road trip into Riggly or like, you know, especially, you know, or like Fenway or one of those places.

Starting point is 00:58:56 Like, how do you not go there and stare at what was going on like on Saturday and not be like, how do we do this? How do we like, I need to try to make this happen in my city, in my town, you know, I don't, I don't know. but there was just a lot of things that made made made made made an incredible experience i will say i had a lot of people tell me that rigley was like a shithole and like it was like all falling apart and stuff and i i saw zero evidence of that i saw a pristine beautiful ballpark that was absolutely being taken care of and was just like spectacular to to be at so i'm sorry i'll get off my i'll get off my i'll get off my rigley field uh thing here but it was just a They're just going to talk for another half an hour.

Starting point is 00:59:39 It was religious. It was religious. But anyway, I guess I didn't let you guys answer the question. But Hazen, I guess we'll just focus on Hazen. Hazen probably should stick around and continue to be in charge of this team. I feel like for the foreseeable future. Yeah, it's hard to say that you should not be rocking with the GM or the owner as long as they are winning, right? And obviously, I think the big kind of.

Starting point is 01:00:07 I think that can change all of this as far as the ownership is concerned is that maybe the future of the stadium. Obviously, you saw the coyote go through that where their stadium future is in question and then ownership becomes a question. But outside of that, like as long as they are committed and I say like it takes time, right? Like the trade deadline is not necessarily the easiest time to make moves. So just because like trade deadline doesn't go perfectly, I'm not going to say like, oh, we got to burn it all. But we now know that this team is in a place where they look like they're going to. when you start winning games and you need management and ownership to respond to that in the offseason.

Starting point is 01:00:43 And as long as they seem like they're committed to that, then I say you rock with them as long as they are. It's just too easy to expect the trade deadline to instantly fix stuff because it might not. Yeah. Yeah. It really is. I think how Mike Hazen performs at the trade deadline is going to be important. But at this point, it feels like barring a disaster, Mike Hazen is probably.

Starting point is 01:01:07 probably going to get a multi-year extension and his Diamondbacks tenure will continue for a pretty long time. And yeah, I think he, I think he deserves that if you consider his full body of work here. He has not been perfect. You can definitely point to trades and whatnot that he shouldn't have made. He's been very vocal. He would vocalize the ones that he still lose his sleep over. Yeah, he's been pretty upfront about, you know, the Starling Marte trade being a disaster and the Paul Goldschmidt trade, you know, even though the debacks got Emmanuel Rivera out of it eventually, uh, that, you know, that that didn't work out the best. And I think just the optics of that move, he really hates looking back on that what, what that did to the franchise from

Starting point is 01:01:52 just like a stardom standpoint, not having that guy in your lineup every day. Um, but yeah, on the whole, I think Mike Hazen is, is really good at what he does. And I think the process that he's using behind his move seems to be really sound. Uh, and, you know, You have to even even that Goldschmidt trade like Carson Kelly was one of the most highly touted catching prospects in the game. And in his first season with the Diamondbacks, like in 2019, there was a time when that trade looked like a huge win for the defense. As crazy as it is to say that. Louvre had a sub three ERA. Carson Kelly had like an 850 OPS halfway into that season.

Starting point is 01:02:32 And Paul Goldsmith was not good in his first few months with the St. Louis. was Cardinals. Christian Walker was putting up better numbers for a period of time. We were tracking that. Right. Then Paul Goldschmidt. So like, yeah, for all intents and purposes, that trade looked like a slam dunk, like six months after it happened.

Starting point is 01:02:50 And ultimately, it wasn't. Ultimately, it was not. And even then, even though the results were good at that point, it was kind of unprecedented. And it felt like maybe the debacks were getting a little lucky there, if anything. But yeah, you know, there have been some mistakes. I think that's clearly the biggest. one. But I think overall with where this franchise sits right now, where their farm system is, the current roster that they've put together, the big trade that the Diamondbacks made over

Starting point is 01:03:16 the offseason, which, you know, the early returns with the with the Guriel Moreno trade have certainly been positive. I think Mike Hazen, barring, you know, a disastrous finish to this season, I think he's in a really good spot. I mean, the Corbyn contract extension, the Grillele Marineau trade, like you said, like, my God, like how can you not, especially lately. It's kind of been one just win after the next. I mean, the trade for Emmanuel Rivera to send Luke Weaver to the Royals, like just all of these things that they've done lately have just really been working out. So I agree with you. Well, we got one more question in the mailbag. What else we got? Our friend Greg asks a very important question. Greg wants to know when do playoff tickets go on sale.

Starting point is 01:04:00 Now, I'm going to say September, Greg. I'm going to update you because as much as I would like to say that maybe by August 27th, the Diamondbacks would be in the driver's seat enough. They play a lot of games against the National League West at the end of the season. And it sucks, but these teams aren't going away, right? You have the Giants, the team that's not even supposed to be good in second place, breathing down the Diamondbacks neck. Now you have the Dodgers that still have a lot of pieces that are going to return at some point to make them a very formidable opponent.

Starting point is 01:04:35 and the goddamn Padres are still one game below 500 and they're just not going to be that all season long. Like you can't, there is no way the Padres continue to be a sub 500 team. Maybe, maybe they do. I just can't envision it. It's much like the Phillies that we saw where we were like, this is not a sub 500 team. Even though that's their record right now,

Starting point is 01:04:55 this is not a sub 500 lineup. Feels the same way about the Padres. Yeah, I feel like the Giants series coming up next weekend is going to be really big for the Diamondbacks. Because that team, much like the Phillies when the debacks caught them at an unfortunate time last week, it appears they're catching the Giants at an unfortunate time too. That team has been on an absolute tear.

Starting point is 01:05:21 And we're seeing the playoff picture in the National League change a little bit. The Miami Marlins somehow, as much as, you know, we've talked about their run differential and like, how can you possibly maintain this performance? They're doing it somehow. They're still playing really well. The Cincinnati Reds have really come out of the woodworks ever since L.E.

Starting point is 01:05:42 Dela Cruz came up. That looks like an electric young team that might be in position to get better. Yeah. Matt McLean. Yeah, Matt McLean has been outstanding for them too. So, yeah, you know, between the, you know, the Giants, the Marlins and the Reds, you're seeing some teams really get hot and start making some noise. So the debacks have to have to keep their feet on the on the gas pedal here.

Starting point is 01:06:09 Things are getting, you know, there's more teams involved in the NL. I don't think any team outside of the Rockies can be counted out there. And there are some other teams around the NL that are starting to get hot. Well, and I mean, even when we said like, oh, hey, June isn't that bad. We were taking into account, oh, like they have the Giants, which aren't very good. That's not the case anymore. And similar to when we played the Phillies, like, I don't think we wrote the Phillies series off as like an easy win. but we definitely looked at June and we were more concerned about the bookends of the Braves and the raise more so than a lot of the teams in between.

Starting point is 01:06:41 Diamondbacks took care of business against the Guardians, but Guardians haven't been a very good team this season. So I think you're absolutely right when you say that this series with the Giants is going to be pivotal. And if they don't have a good showing, we could talk about this team potentially, you know, seeing their lead dwindle down to like a half a game. You know, so like it's definitely important. And just important, I think, mentally to like you said, keep your foot on the pedal. Speaking of keeping your foot on the pedal, keep your foot on the pedal with all of your road trips this summer and stop by our friends at Circle K, who have, of course, the best coffee, beer and snack selection and premium gas. I was disappointed. I took a road trip from Chicago to Minneapolis over the course of this weekend.

Starting point is 01:07:19 I didn't see myself on one gas station pump, and I got to tell you, I wasn't thrilled with that. But Circle K, that's the place to go for premium Derek entertainment. You can also get ice coffee for just $1.89. Red Bulls 3 for $8, Monsters 3 for $6, and so much more. Make sure you're not missing out on all this great stuff. Right now, text PHNX to 31310 to join their SMS subscriber club and get a buy one, get one free offer on 32 ounce polar pops.

Starting point is 01:07:45 Head to circlek.com slash door dash locator to find CircleKs near you. While you're at Circle K, get yourself some beer. Make sure to check out our friends at Four Peaks that you can get your beer there or anywhere you get your beer. You can also check them out at the baseball games. at D-Backs games. They're the official craft beer of the Arizona Diamondbacks. And of course, they have their Four Peaks draft room at Chase Field, which is a wonderful place to drink, eat, and enjoy baseball from on the sweet level.

Starting point is 01:08:09 So make sure to check that out. Also, check out our D-BACs takeovers. We are going to be meeting up at the Four Peaks draft room. So check out the events page in our show notes to find dates and tickets on our next one. And we will be having so much fun with that. Also, let's do it for the teachers. School's almost back in session. As terrible as it sounds, me bringing that up on June 19.

Starting point is 01:08:29 But my daughter goes back to school at the end of July, and so do most of these teachers. So let's do everything we can to show them love and thank a teacher. You can go to 4Peaksforteachers.org and complete the form to nominate a teacher for several prizes, including $11,000 cash grants and one lucky teacher winning a Teachers lounge lounge renovation provided by Four Peaks. Last day to nominate teachers is on June 30th. So do not wait. Get out there and do that. Now, if you are a teacher, go ahead and check out the age. A Street Pub because they are hooking you up.

Starting point is 01:09:01 Teachers Tuesdays are back. Every Tuesday through July, bring a valid teacher ID and receive $4.00 pints of KiltLifter, wow, hazy, and hop knot. And again, go to 4Peak4Peaksforteachers.org to nominate, donate, or reserve your kit for teachers. Check out at Four Peaks Brew or at Four Peaks Pub to keep up with the latest Arizona's hometown brewery.

Starting point is 01:09:20 Must be 21 or older to drink Four Peaks and please drink responsibly. Boys, I appreciate you, holding things down for me while I was out on Friday. We thank you guys. for being here and for loving the Arizona Diamondbacks. You can follow us all on Twitter. I'm at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman.

Starting point is 01:09:37 Sean is at Sean underscore DePaz. Our producer Damon is Damon Dog with a DAWG at the end. You got to do that part. You can't follow him without doing the bark. Our show is at PHNX underscore Dbacks, but of course all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We appreciate your time so much

Starting point is 01:09:56 and we thank you guys for stopping by. We'll see you tomorrow. We're going to be doing our postgame show tomorrow. So make sure stop by postgame. Wild, weird, weird, weird, wild week, including three with the brewers, one with the nationals. And then they start that series with the Giants. So keep a lot right here to go.

Starting point is 01:10:15 Go ahead. Can I add one, one Brandon Fottnugget here before we go? Absolutely not. The time for Brandon Fought Nuggets were early. That was segment two, Jesse. Yeah, well, you know, we're going to take a hard left turn here. So I'm looking back at the statcast number. of Brandon Fott's start yesterday.

Starting point is 01:10:31 So he gave up three home runs. We said that earlier. One of them, 102 off the bat, expected batting average of 1,000. So not a particularly, I guess that one went 400. That one went 431 feet, which I don't think it would go.

Starting point is 01:10:46 Expected XBA of 1,000. That's incredible. Wood thing in every ballpark. That was sort of a no doubt home run, although I don't think it would have gone nearly that far in other ballparks. But his other two home runs that he allowed, One of them was 101.5 XBA of 190.

Starting point is 01:11:03 So that was a cheap shot home run. And then the other home run, 92.5 exit Velo with an XBA of 090. So that was about as cheap as a home run as you can possibly have. So yeah, all that to say, the Brandon Fought start yesterday, I do think was a lot better than it probably looked from a box score standpoint. So, you know, I don't think it's necessarily. like you got to get Brandon Fought up right away. But, you know, you always have to take those numbers with a grain of salt. And that's some pretty important information.

Starting point is 01:11:38 Well, you can follow Brandon Fott on Twitter to keep up with his stuff as well, by the way. So make sure to do that. But of course, we once again, thank you guys for joining us. We appreciate your time on behalf of Jesse, Damon, Sean, and myself. We thank you for joining us. And remember, kids, baseball is fun. But it's so much more fun when you send Josh Rojas down to work on his slurve.

PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Are changes to the Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitching rotation imminent?

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