PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Are Diamondbacks ANY CLOSER To Finalizing Their Bullpen?

Episode Date: March 8, 2025

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Well, the baseball games were rained out today, so we're going to sit around to talk about how Jack Summers roped me into a car ride to Vegas with Barry Bloom. Plus, we're going to talk about the Diamondbacks bullpen situation. And if they are any closer to whittling it down to the exact guys that are going to be there during the regular season, all this and more in 30 seconds. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback Show. Don't you go anywhere. To come in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondback Show right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Monty, occasionally know as your mayor of PHNX, and I am bored because the rain kind of ruined our baseball day a little bit. However, we love the rain here, right?

We don't get enough of the rain here. So I'm not going to ever act like the rain is not wanted, but I guess it's not wanted when it rains out baseball games. I am joined by my producer, the man on the ones and twos, the one and only large, intimate Kevin Thomas. and we are going to be joined here shortly by my friend Jack Summers so he can explain to you all why he, how he roped me into this trip to Las Vegas this weekend, watch the Diamondbacks play the Oakland A's. But I do want to give a shout out to our sponsor, the good folks at all pro shades concepts. If you're trying to protect yourself from the elements like today's weather, make sure to check

out the wonderful awnings and all sorts of options that they have available to expand your outdoor space. But Kevin, yes. Today the game got rained out. A few games got rained out, not just the Diamondbacks game. Cody Delmendo from CHGO is in town. I blame him for bringing this terrible weather with him. This is definitely March, February weather in Chicago for sure.

But yeah, I wanted to discuss welcome in. Great to see you guys here in the chat. I wanted to discuss with you, Kevin. What were your rainy day activities as a kid? considering you and I grew up in, I would say different generations. I wanted to know because I always think about this, especially when baseball games get rained out. Like I think about sitting in a classroom when I was in elementary school

not being allowed to go outside and play during recess. So we played pretty much one of two games my entire life. But what did you guys do? Yeah. So, I mean, in situations where like it was a rainy day and we couldn't go out to recess, Derek. I don't specifically remember what. I would do in those kind of situations. I think I would probably just kind of chill in and did you guys not do anything as a class.

No, we did. I just don't off time. Maybe like heads up seven up. Head up. Okay, good. So that's a timeless classic. There was two games we played. It was heads up seven up and quiet ball.

Uh, and quiet ball just, it involved you tossing a soft basketball sized ball around the room and having to stay quiet while you did it. And if you either talked or dropped the ball, you were out, man. That's, that was, that was a brilliant one. that some teacher thought of. Let me tell you. No, yeah, that is. Because she knew,

or he knew, whoever embedded it knew that throwing the ball inside was definitely against the rules. So they were letting us do something we weren't allowed to, but we also had to stay quiet while we did it. And it wasn't even a Nerf ball. It was the lightest, softest ball you've ever seen in your life. And plus, Derek,

I also wanted to mention, I think your take about our CHGO Brethren bringing over the bad weather is totally on the money, because I got reports from, you know, sources say my grandpa texts me today that it's like mid 50s to 60s and sunny in St. Louis. I knew it. I just feel like you're on the money with that. Yeah, they stole our weather, Derek. Yeah, they stole the weather.

They did. They exchanged our weather and I don't like that. But I wanted to ask you, Derek, when you were a kid and you didn't have school, like on the weekends, but you couldn't go play outside because it was rainy, what would you do? Because that's where my mind went, right? I would stay and watch cartoons. You can't go out play with your friends. Yeah, play some franchise or GM mode on some games.

Yeah, my games were a bit different at that age. but yeah like I mean still nonetheless it was video gaming I always had though like I got to give credit to my father because he always made sure I had like the cool video game system so I always had some like even though talking about having a Nintendo or Super Nintendo or a Sega CD more importantly is like very very old stuff now it was very cool and new and modern at the time and nobody I knew had a Sega CD nobody I was the only person but yeah no video games still to this day still to this day. Astrobot and a little Call of Duty zombies is what I'm killing time with when I can't go watch the Diamondbacks play baseball. And obviously this causes some problems. A lot of interesting things here in regards to the schedule. I do know that Jordan Montgomery was supposed to pitch today. And now he will pitch on Saturday as part of the bullpen. I don't look into that at all. I don't believe. But they, I don't know all the details. Because again, I was at home playing video games and not out at Salt River Fields getting good information for you people.

But I do know someone who was and someone who definitely I appreciate for sharing that information. Don't appreciate for who he associates with on car trips. But let's bring him in. It's Sports Illustrated's Jack Summers. Jack, welcome in, buddy. Glad to have you here. I hope you're driving. I hope you're safe.

And I hope the car that we're going to ride in is doing well. Car is doing great. Just putting new tires on us. So we're, we're fired at. I told Tori, I trust a man that put new tires on a car before a road trip. That's that, that, that gives me peace deep downside. Spending a four and a half hours each direction with Barry Bloom, that does not bring me peace, Jack. That very much does not bring me peace.

Um, but I did want to talk to you a little bit about what's going on with the Diamondbacks, uh, pitching schedule change. And I, this, this, this game, I mean, I guess it, I don't know how to look at. at this because it does cause kind of a nightmare for scheduling and with all the games they have this weekend figuring out when guys are going to go and who's going to go when. But they did have a lot of games in a very short amount of time over the course of the next three days. Yeah, they're scheduled for seven games and four days. So that's like crazy. Tori was not happy with the schedule makers over that one. I mean, like he's dealt with it. He's okay with it, you know, but didn't make him happy. I mean, the main thing is, you know, we're doing this.

big league weekend, right? That's what the big league weekend is in Las Vegas. They've done that actually back in 2001, 2002 Diamondbacks played a couple of spring games in Las Vegas against the Dodgers. So it's something that the minor leagues organizations there have done, you know, for many years. So this year it's the A's and Diamondbacks. And of course, the A's are moving Las Vegas. So you got a split squad game on Saturday, Sunday. Where it really got messy was like, why did they schedule a split squad game on Thursday? Like split squads. Yeah.

And then Friday single game, it rained, you know, but, um, and then split squad games over the weekend essentially, right? Yeah. And then no off day, Dodgers Monday, you know, so it, that, it was that Thursday split squad to me that was like they, the schedule maker should have looked at what the diamondbacks had to do on Saturday, Sunday and triggered something else out there. But, you know, they didn't. And the thing at Tori last night.

they I mean they had a pretty good idea that this could happen and he said last night that they actually had figured everything out and worked everything out in the event of a rain out. It wasn't a four-aligned fire. They were prepared for it. They had their contingencies in place to set up who could pitch where and when and not fall out of step. So a couple of key points.

Yeah. Number one. We do have audio here from Tori really fast before we get into it. Let's go ahead and hear from Tori on the schedule. changes with the pitching for this weekend. The rain will force us to be adaptable,

which we are. But let's see. Gallin, Monty, Puck, Jay Martin. Can I close this to you mind? Yeah. Gallo will start tomorrow. Monty Puck, Jay Martin, Miller will be pushed back and

throw in the throw in the game at Sincy. E. Rod, Ginkold, Man to apply throw in a sim game at saw river field um so that'll get everybody in the readings it's not we're not and it's not i was saying yesterday it's not a four alarm fire if this happened but as we get a little closer to the end of the season we want to keep here the line well so there you go it's it's it's not uh four alarm fire but at the same time it's it's a mess right and it's a mess because they have to figure they already had guys picked out to go to this trip to las Vegas they already

had which guys were going to pitch in these two games here in Phoenix. You also have now the need for a simulated game. So it's not even like the weather helps them in any way have less games. It's it's they're not playing that one game, you know, out in Tempe, but they're still playing that game during a time where they have four other games essentially going on during the course of one weekend. And it's just a lot. It's a lot for the players and it kind of, you know, we already knew that Tori wasn't going

to, you know, the. Tori told us they weren't going to make any cuts or make many changes prior to this weekend because it's kind of a all hands on deck situation for the minor league guys and a lot of the players they have in the organization. It just, it seems like a terrible, you know, situation overall, especially to have the games in Las Vegas. Well, the real funny thing was last night, Tori was saying, oh, they won't make us get on the bus and and then can't and wait. He said, we'll know before we get on the bus.

Like, you know, before we have to get on that bus, we'll know if the game's going to be played or not. They won't make us get on the bus and go over there and wait. So we're sitting in a press box. We see the deep backs, you know, because they park out and the bus is parking out past one of the outfield lots. And we see them walking across the outfield and into the dugout. So we run downstairs. We're just getting, I'm just walking in the tunnel from the dugout to the clubhouse. and as I'm walking in,

Tori pops out four feet in front of me of the coach's room and shouts out to the entire clubhouse. Games canceled. Everyone pulls out their phone, starts tweeting, you know, literally that was out on Twitter within 20 seconds of the manager announcing to the team that the game was canceled. That's amazing.

But, you know, he, like, you know, he wasn't happy. Like, he just said, guys, I know it sucks. You know, this is bullshit, but, you know, it's what we got to deal with. So just one more thing, right? Like, you know, seven games and four days, dealing with this funky schedule you were just talking about, you know, just praying they get through safely. And then they got to deal with the rain out. With regards to Zach Allen, the good news there, though, is that there was an extra day built in because of the extra off day. So he's pitching tomorrow will still be on.

track to pitch opening day. Okay. I think the big question is Jordan Montgomery, obviously I don't care. Nobody cares if he's pitching out of the bullpen, but he will be pitching here in Phoenix or not Phoenix, but Goodyear

against the Reds, right? And he will be making his debut. Thoughts on Jordan Montgomery and thoughts on how this impacted. Was he supposed to start today's game? Or was he just supposed to pitch today? He was going to pitch an inning and relief.

Okay. He was going to pitch one inning in relief after Gallen start. So I talked to him a little bit very briefly, too. And he just kind of, you know, he's actually a really nice guy. You know, he had a big smile on his face and he's just like unbelievable, you know, like that this happened on his first day to pitch. Yeah, right. But he said, you know, so I'll be on five days rest instead of four, which is fine, you know, because he's still pitching, you know, he's been pitching bullpins and live DPs and so forth. Right.

So instead of four days rest, he'll be on five days rest, he'll be okay. And Tori was, Tori sounded like he was pretty happy with the way that his live BP went and, or live batting, whatever you want to call it. But he will, you know, be making his official debut now tomorrow. It's, it's kind of funny that it gets pushed off. Like it feels like with Jordan Montgomery, you know, the unveiling of how he's going to actually do is, It just, we just, it keeps, you know, getting push back, push back. Hopefully we finally get to see it tomorrow.

But, I mean, there's, there's a lot of people that still believe that Montgomery could be dealt before the Diamondbacks get to the start of their season. Are you one of those people and how much does him not pitching in spring impact the chances of them being able to deal him? Well, you know, I mean, I thought all offseason that they would deal him and they didn't. and they came into camp with him. And so, you know, he hasn't pitched in the game. He hasn't been under statcast and, you know, real numbers and nobody can see what he's

actually got. Right. You know, I'm sure there'll be scouts watching him when he eventually does pitch. I'm sure, you know, all these teams of analytics departments will be combing over whatever data is there on his pitches. I mean, you're going to get 15 pitches, right? So, you know, I think that it's still. possible he could be traded, but I'm also

kind of becoming more and more open to the idea that he's going to be the fifth starter, and they're going to have to just decide between Fought and Nelson who's sent to the bullpen. It's interesting. You know, I mean, I don't know anything. You know, I want to emphasize that.

I mean, yeah. I know you don't know anything, Jack. I know that for sure, but I know none of us do because that this situation is so there I've talked about it so many times on this show, especially by myself here, but there are there's a logical side, right, where you have to take a look at who has options and two guys have options. And that makes those guys kind of, you know, at risk, if you will, just based on the situation.

If everybody is, if everybody's looking equal and there's nobody that's standing out ahead of one or you're not really winning the job away from other guys, That means that you have a chance of being sent down just so they can keep you in the organization and not have to worry about, you know, taking a bad deal just to panic, you know, and get rid of you. It also, you know, obviously adds to the depth. And that's the reason why they have to send them down so that those guys stay stretched out. But man, I'll tell you, when it really comes down to it, it feels like, you know, it's, it's not really fair for it to work out that way. But it is. It's the way baseball works sometimes.

You know, one of the things I've thought a lot about heading into spring is so much of the narrative around him was, well, he got to spring training late or no spring training at all, not only what that meant physically, but what it meant for him to get used to his teammates, his catchers, bond with everybody, get into the system and integrate into the system. And, you know, as you know, Jordan's a really nice guy. he's a personable guy. So I can imagine how that would impact him on a human level, right? How much would it suck to have the rug pulled out from under you on March 24th and get sent to another organization where you got to figure everything out all over again with a new catcher and a new pitching coach and all that. God, that's a great point.

That's a great point. And that's what happened to him last year, right, was the lack of a consistent, normal, you know, spring training and off season felt he felt like it impacted him and gave him a slow start, put him kind of behind from the beginning. And then you also have the fact that he was on a Diamondback's team that needed him so so dramatically with the injuries that they had to their starting rotation, right? So yeah, you're right. Like to trade him off, you know, a week before the regular season starts, puts him essentially back in that same position does not help him at all succeed. And honestly, I think the biggest part of this is even if they do that,

even if they get something in return, even if it's not as negative, even if it's not the debacks eating as much cash as we've kind of talked about that requiring, you know, that that would require. It's the fact that this deal will always look bad unless the Diamondbacks were able to get some crazy prospect

in return that became a superstar, or unless Montgomery stays and, pitches and pitches well for this team, right? It's just, it's, it's tempting, it's tantalizing, the team has the depth. You have other teams like the Yankees losing starting pitching, you know, due to injury, and that's going to continue to happen. That's not going to be the only team that loses the starting pitchers. So the more, the more desperate teams get, especially teams that are contenders that

deem themselves to be, you know, competing for a World Series title, they're going to maybe give up way more than they should or would want to just to get a pitcher of Jordan Montgomery's caliber. So I still don't know how this is all going to go, but I mean, it's still it all feels like it's still going to go in the Diamondbacks favor. Like they have themselves in a wonderful position right now to be able to make that choice and to be able to have this depth. It just sucks for guys that might deserve a spot in the starting rotation that won't get one based on the circumstance. It's a long season.

At the end of the day, they're all going to get 20 plus starts. One last point from me on Jordan. I asked Torrey, being that the fifth game of the season is April 1st in Yankee Stadium, his former team, and presuming that, you know, it's one, two, three, four ahead of him, does he still have time to get ready for that date? And Tori answered in the affirmative. So, hey,

there's some narrative here. Yeah, I like it. You're good at this. It's like you're a writer's up to Jack. You're good at creating that narrative. But we have so much more to talk about, including more from your article about the bullpen. And if the Diamondbacks are any closer right now

to figuring out which of these guys. And they have a lot of guys right now. They have a lot of moving parts. A lot of guys that have been performing well. A lot of guys that were missing last year that are back. and they have some tough decisions to make here pretty quickly, probably on the other side of this weekend that we're going to watch all these baseball games. So we're going to talk about that on the other side of this break.

We appreciate you guys sticking with us here and being here. Jack, thank you as always for being here. We'll be right back. You're, of course, watching the PHA next Diamondback show. I'm still mad that this tiny box of pizza is empty. It's still here from when the last time I left it here on Wednesday. And that's because Spadados is delicious. It's amazing.

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and their pizza basketball contest at Spanados pizzeria.com. Spanados, the official pizza of the Phoenix Suns. well whether you're a first time home buyer or a seasoned pro maybe somebody that's that's owned several homes buying a home can be tricky and again especially in this market with some of these interest rates and some of these homes available that's why we recommend our friend carroll royce carroll royce and her team they are all about finding you the best deal our real estate market is competitive but like a great manager in baseball carroll royce and her team will build you a game plan to get you a to the perfect home for you can become a VIP buyer and get access to off-market properties that haven't been picked over, haven't had a ton of offers on. You won't find these homes on zillow or realtor.com. You'll only find them through Carol Royce. Carol's so confident you'll love your home that if within 18 months you are not happy with it,

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And again, it's a similar situation as a starting rotation. You've been here covering this team. You've been a part of this team in the past. You understand that this is a kind of a different situation. Like, it feels like in the past, whether it was the starting rotation or the bullpen, the Arizona Diamondbacks were always searching for guys to fill their roles, right? And not to say that this isn't a search, but this feels different. This feels more like whittling down the talented players you had to figure out which are the best, which are competing the best, which ones are throwing the ball the best right now.

And again, I don't know if there's ever been a time where I've covered this team where it felt so complete. they have some great young arms they have some great veterans in the mix and and I mean some truly talented horses you know for Tori Lovela down there like when you talk about whether it's Corbyn Burns in the starting rotation or AJ Puck and some of the other boys in the in the bullpen it's

it feels pretty stacked yeah there there's a lot of talent there there's some really good pitchers there's some powerful arms there's some crafty arms you know they've got a really good mix one of the you know although some bullpins just say well i'm just going to throw seven guys that you throw 100 miles an hour but for the most part you know they have a really good mix of guys that do different things and give different looks so that's a science to it right like yeah you can't just

have a guy like if you if you have seven guys all throwing the same pitch you're not really given the opposing team you know a different look or anything right like there there is some uh strategy to it as elise our known baseball g-m who is here in the chat will absolutely attest to because she's secretly Mike Hazen. I don't know if you knew that, Jack, but yeah, we know that they have found a pretty good mix, you know, like, again, there's, especially when you throw someone like Ryan Thompson with his arm angle or his arm slot and the way he throws the ball, like, that's just a weird thing to deal with for one inning and then come back to Justin Martinez throwing you 102 miles per hour

and throwing you a hundred mile per hour splitter right yeah it's it's pretty dynamic so you know the main thing for them right now do obviously everyone wants everyone wants to know who's a closer and we're not any closer to figuring that out no pun we are you know i think they are i think they know what they want you think so and well i think i kind of deduced what they need to do but they always throw me a wrinkle. You know, really, when you start culling it down and you start thinking about different things, it starts to make sense. So, you know.

What do you, well, you can't just leave us like that. What did you do? What do you think that? I'm coming at it. Yeah. I mean, look, I, you got to fill the bullpen with eight guys, right? Right. And right now, they have four locks.

Tori didn't want to say lock, but it's, they're locks. She's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right. but I hate to say lock. Okay, but it's still a lock. Sorry, Torrey. So, you know, you got Justin Martinez, Kevin Ginkle, Ryan Thompson, and Kendall Braveman, if he's healthy, are four right-handers that are locks on this bullpen and two lefties,

AJ Puck and Joe Maniply. Right. So that's six. Now, you're going to have, you have seven starters for five spots. You're going to have one of those starters make the rotation. And of the other two, They're highly likely to put one in the bullpen as a long reliever. As a long reliever.

So what do you got? You really got one spot plus whoever one of the two losers from the rotation competition. That's it. You got one spot. Sure. Okay. So now of that one spot, you've got right-handers, you got left-handers. Tori said that he does not necessarily think that they have to have a third lefty.

he told Mike, Mike asked him that question, do you need a third left-hander? And Tori's like, it doesn't matter to me. I just want the best guys or the best guy to fill that spot. And I think it's going to be Dre Jameson. I wasn't very subtle in my article. I showed the picture of him with a Scooby-Doo shoes just from the feet down, you know. That's our favorite boy, yes, sir. So I think it's going to be Dre.

But, you know, the thing is, so you've, you know, amongst the lefty candidates, you've got Kyle Nelson, who's coming off injury and's not having to look great this spring. And then you got Jose Castillo, who's a power arm, left-hander. He's pretty dynamic, but he's always hurt. And last year, he had really bad break. He got hit by a comebacker and broke his hand at the end of spring training, and he was about to make the roster. He was right on the cusp. If he didn't make the roster, he was going to be the last cut in the first man up. okay and then he broke his hand was out four months missed all that time and had a

ass season and Reno as a result of that so he comes in the camp this year he's firing BBs he's looking great and then he has a groin injury so now if you figure out like okay if you use puck as your closer then you've only got one other lefty if you go with Jameson and that's Mantiply and you're gonna grind him to dust over using him in all of these leverage matchup situations in the six, seventh, or even eighth inning, right? So if you only got two lefties and one of them's puck and you got him closing frequently, then you just kill him, Antiply.

So if they put Jameson on the roster, then I think that Martinez is going to get the bulk or a dark horse ginkle. I think they'll go with a right-handed closer and keep puck as for set up in seventh and eighth in matchups. So Toro will look at where guys are in the lineup and if there's three out of five hitters or three out of four hitters are lefty in the seventh inning and they're, you know, it's, you know, it's Otani and Freeman or whatever, then he's going to throw a puck at him, right? If those guys are coming up in the eighth inning, that's from puck's going to pitch. And I think J. Mark, either J. Mart or Ginkle are going to close one of the two.

That's what I think they're going to do. I love that. And I think that I have completely been on that same track. You know, it feels very much like it's inevitable that Justin Martinez becomes the closer for this team. But it feels like they don't want to rush him to that spot. They're getting him kind of through just being a very good reliever before they really want to put that title on him. Tori, for all intents and purposes, made him their closer last year.

He just never once wanted to call him that. He never wanted to say that Justin Martinez is our closer, right? And so there are things to that in regards to, I think, not putting that pressure on a young man's shoulders when that's pretty much the thing that differentiates that pitching in that inning versus pitching in another inning. It's that you are out there. The game is on the line. It's basically all on you. You know, it feels very lonely to be a closer and to be out there with that much pressure on you. and I think that they just didn't want to, you know,

even though they were going to use him in that role, they didn't want to add that extra pressure by being like, yeah, you're the closer, right? So, but he has all the stuff to be a closer. And I've been very much against no matter how good he is, AJ Puck being the closer for the exact reasons you said. More importantly, this, the versatility to have that guy be able to come up against some of the best hitters in the lineup late in the game,

whenever that is feels more important than having him just available in the ninth inning when matchup-wise that might not even be a good matchup for a j puck you know to be in there during the ninth inning we've pretty keep in mind though the sit you can say the same thing about j mar which is why i keep bringing up or dinkle true true you think troy'll do it you think he'll he'll he'll do the closer by committee thing again um hard to say you know i mean it really is unless Mike Hazen went out and bought a guy that, okay, here's your closer. And so it takes it out of Tori's hands. It's really difficult to predict what he'll do.

Right. It's a little frustrating. I think there'd be better off naming a guy and saying, that's your role. And this is what you guys are going to do. I personally think that that works better. You know, look, I've been a Sabre guy and analytics guy, you know, for since the 1989, basically, or even before when I was a kid playing stratomatic baseball. And, you know, my saying is, you guys have heard me say it on the show and I'll say it again.

The concept of having a closer is overrated until you don't have one. You're right. You know, and I've just been watching baseball for too many years. And when teams don't have confidence that they have a guy that's going to close it out over 85% of the time in the ninth inning, it just screws everything up. It's so stupid, isn't it? because by for all again by by every you know by every indication based on statistics based on everything it feels like it makes the most sense to not name just one guy your closer at least it makes sense to have two guys as your closers right like one guy maybe a righty specialist

one guy's a lefty you know maybe that kind of thing right but like again that's just because that's how baseball is when you get into the bullpen you're supposed to be able to utilize that bullpen at least in at least back in our day jack before they had this three batter rule. You used to be able to utilize your bullpen to specifically go after attack guys, you know, be strategic about it, be, you know, but always try to figure out

what your best matchup is. With that being said, it feels like having one guy that you always send out there in the ninth inning, it doesn't vibe with that. It doesn't like it, like it doesn't make sense. But like you said, until you don't have a closer,

you don't really see how unsuccessful it is. And I think the biggest thing was the amount of players, the amount of pitchers from the bullpen that confessed to us with the addition of Paul Seawald, how much like peace of mind it brought them just to know when they got to the ballpark that day that they weren't going to be asked to do that. Like they weren't going to be asked to come in in the ninth inning if the game was on the line and they knew that.

And I think part of them could have just been like, ah, good. I know I don't have to do that. You know, I know there's not a chance. that Tori's going to call on me anymore for that because we have a guy to do that. What are your thoughts, though, on Dre Jameson? What are your thoughts on Drey potentially finding his way into that close the role? Is that something?

Oh, a lot of people think that could happen. A lot of people think that could happen. I mean, you know, he certainly seems to have the mentality of being very aggressive. And, you know, whether he's got the, you know, memory of a guppy, that's really, what it takes I've been calling testicular fortitude jack testicular fortitude is what he has but yes he's got balls yeah he's got gumshing he's got balls he's you know he's got red ass to him I mean look dray's dray I think we all know who he is as a as a person he's a uber competitor you know he's got a lot of fire um and he's and he could be an excellent pitcher you know we'll have to

see I mean fastball's 100 miles an hour's a little straight but um you know he's still got do some development work. I just don't think that they're going to, I think he'll make the roster, but I don't think they're going to try to put him in that situation. Now, could he pitch himself into it over three, four months? Absolutely. Sure. Anything's possible. Well, I want to circle back to J-Mart. Oh, yeah. Please. Something pretty cool little anecdote on him. He's really maturing. He's just, he looks different. He sounds different. I went up and talked to him just casually about something and asked him one quick question and you know he answered really pretty well in english which he wasn't really comfortable doing last year and i said hey man you know your english got really good and i

joked him i said no more translator for you and he comes back and he goes yeah i don't need it no more yeah let's go and just his whole demeanor in the clubhouse like you know he just he's really one of the boys now he's playing dominoes with the boys the other day yeah i saw him down there in the dominoes game You know, he just, he looks more mature. He's carrying himself with more maturity. And, and I think that if that translates onto the field, that'll quickly put Tori's mind to these. Look, there's a reason they yanked him from the closer role.

There are some things. There's always things that they see that maybe we don't see that they don't like how he reacts or, you know, how he's accepting some coaching or discussion or whatever, right? Right. Just, you know, how he's doing in certain situations. we don't have that same visibility. So there's a reason why they did that. You know, but I think that he has,

I think he's grown a lot. I think he's matured a lot, at least from what I can see, you know, just as a person, and we'll see how it works out when he gets out on the mound. But my gut is he's not going to need quite so many of those Geraldo Podomo calm down sessions. Hey, I say send him out there before the innings even started.

That's what I've been saying. Why are we waiting until things fall apart? Let's just get Domo out there, gassing him up before he starts to pitch, and then let the man go out there and throw 150 miles per hour. I do like his parents very much. I thought they were some tremendous people when we got a chance to meet them. And again, we've talked a bit about this with this clubhouse and with this team. They've done an excellent job of bringing guys together of character.

And not only bringing people of character together, on this team, you know, talented athletes that have, have character. But Tori does a great job of, of creating this family, you know, and getting these guys to bond and getting them to connect in a way that's not necessarily common in pro sports these days and not necessarily common in every clubhouse across Major League Baseball. So it's, it's special. Yeah, I mean, you know, and when they got together, you know, to take those, these jobs in 2017. I mean, that's where they started.

Yeah. Their initial conversations were around what kind of clubhouse, what kind of culture, you know, what kind of baseball team do they want to build? And it started with that, you know, just getting the right people with the right mindset that are coachable and, you know, caring and, you know, I think the way, how did I put it? You know, I said it really good in an article and not came from my own way. You know, they want guys that are confident but not brash. Yeah. You know,

they want them to be aggressive but not reckless, you know, like they, they, and they were able to get inside guys heads and that's hard with young guys. Right, like it's a young team. So, you know, you're discussing traits that are like common

amongst young players, young athletes, you know, and that's, that's, I think the difference. Corbin, Corbyn Carroll is one of those guys that just seems cut, even at the age that he is from a different cloth, right? Like, he just seems like a completely different type of human being that's just tremendous. He's just a tremendous guy. And the Diamondbacks are very, very lucky to have him. But again, that came down to finding, finding him in that draft and, you know, looking very smart now when you look back upon it and, you know, how fast he became a star in Major League Baseball.

even with an injury that held them back. But Jack, I always appreciate your insight. I'm not letting you go anywhere yet because on the other side of this break, you and I are going to talk about this trip to Las Vegas that we're taking tomorrow. That's already causing us problems with some sort of road closures on the I-17 and detours that we're going to have to take. But we'll be talking about that on the other side of this break. Don't you guys go anywhere?

You're watching the PHNX Diamondback Show. I have to give a shout out once again to all pro-shade concepts. thank them for sponsoring this show, but more importantly, thank them for their hilarious commercials. I love them. I also love their products and their services and what they do. I love being outside in Arizona, but we have a very limited amount of time to do so.

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All right. Before we bring, well, Jack's back. Jack, there's a super chat from our guy, Scurvy Boy. He's been really trying to deliver this point home. He says bring back Jesse because Scurvy thinks I'm the one keeping Jesse away. I said this on Twitter the other day, but I miss Jesse more than any of you do. I'm just going to tell you that right now. And Jack knows that. Jack also loves Jesse. He's also very concerned about Jesse not drinking enough water because

We know he's not drinking enough water. He's probably not eating enough. But we probably won't do that either this weekend, Jack, because you and I are going to Las Vegas for essentially what is the first, like this is it. This is the beginning of the Oakland A's life in Las Vegas if that actually ends up happening for sure. But the Diamondbacks are taking on the A's in Vegas. What do you think overall about stuff like this,

about, you know, expanding the game by playing at minor league parks and doing this kind of thing. Are you a fan of it or do you think, like, if it's a spring training game like this, that's kind of inconsequential, people won't really care as much as MLB wants them to or minor league baseball wants them to. I think it's great to do it as, you know, not as a full season thing. Like they have to do this year in Sacramento and down in Florida for the, for the race. Obviously, that's a whole nightmare. It's a freaking embarrassment in the disaster.

It is. It's embarrassing. But taking spring training games to Las Vegas, even before the A's were, you know, trying to move there, I think it was a good thing. You know, there's a lot of baseball fans in Vegas, and it's great for them to see the game and see major league teams and, you know, see players in person, especially for kids. So I think it's fantastic. Anything that grows the game is great. It's good. We have a diamondbacks fans.

We have some Diamondbacks fans in Las Vegas. I had a few people messaging me to see if they thought that they would actually bring any major leaguers to this two-game series. And that is definitely happening, right? I talked about it a little bit. But Tori confirmed with us the lineup and the lineup is going to consist of. I think Josh Naylor is going out. Tori said he asked guys who wanted to go and then started from there. And I kind of love that because, you know, Vegas isn't for everyone, right?

Like Vegas isn't the kind of place that, like, you really want. want to go if you don't have to go if you don't like to go you know you and me we're not we're not we're not we're not like that yeah well could tell them potomo are going to be there yeah oh yeah oh yeah and you got nailer and then who else they got that adrian del castillo and then one other starter was it McCarthy i think yeah i think McCarthy's going yeah carth it's going it's going to be and then pitcher-wise is going to be uh Tommy Henry and Blake Walston forget the order which one said I think Blake Walston is first and Tommy second, but might not even go. And then the rest of the innings are going to be development players.

It's going to be all minor leaguers. It's not much different than coming out here and watching a spring training game here. It's going to be the similar thing of you're not going to get much starters, but they are sending some guys out and that's going to be cool to have it, you know, again, not be a complete team of minor league players, especially considering this is supposed to be a little bit about bringing a major league team to a minor league park, right? Correct. Correct. Absolutely. It's going to be a zoo. I mean, it's going to be jam packed. You know, there's going to be sellouts and all that. Camp back booth and a jam packed car. That's right. Yeah, a jam packed car. Let's talk about it before we, we've teased it too much. I think I have a shot. Do you have a shot here of us? This is, I mean, this is like, I guess this is like predicting.

There on the left is Barry at a Royals game, or at least a cut out of Barry. On the right is going to be you and I driving with Barry. That's Barry there in the middle to Vegas and then back. That's more of back. I think he's going to be a little bit more lively on the way out, but that's going to be Barry, I think, Jack, on the way out. For those that don't know Barry Bloom, how would you? describe him on a level of 1 to 10 on

on I guess crotchettiness on on on on on on on on on on a scale jack of one of that habitual line steppers tell people how Barry is an 11 is what I want to know. No I honestly I had a chance

to ask Torrey about this. Tori gave me the advice of to listen and I think it sounded like he meant like wisdom-wise, but I felt like it was more, listen to the two of you argue in the front seat as we drive, is what I think he meant. Well, so you got to understand, right? We're both New Yorkers, right?

I grew up on Long Island. You know, we both have kind of similar, like, you know, we get up in guys' faces if we have to kind of thing, right? And we push each other, push each other's buttons all the time. So it's pretty funny sometimes. I know for the rest of the crew to watch Barry and I go out of each other. But, you know, he's talking a lot too. I believe Barry almost fought goose gossage one time in a clubhouse, if I'm not mistaken.

I might be making that story up, but that might definitely be true. He is like, you know, he's a bowling china shop, whether it's in the clubhouse or, you know, just anywhere. You know, but, you know, Barry has been doing this for a really long time. I mean, you know, 50 years. And he's been very much also a mentor. and he's taught me a lot of stuff. And, you know, he's helped me a lot in developing my writing career. And, you know, I love the guy.

I really do. You know, he's a good man, but he can be a handful. I'll just say that. I've taken side bets from people on whether or not you two will fist fight each other over the course of this weekend. And so far, it's split-y-split. I think the house is still going to win on that one, though, because I gave people some pretty good odds.

I do very much look forward to this though. I think that like... What's that? Three will leave. How many will return? Yes, that's the question. How many of us are actually going to make it back to Phoenix on Monday? But now I think this is, you know, this is fun.

This is a bit of history for Major League Baseball just as far as the Oakland A's kind of, I'm sure they may have played games there before, but this is, this is it. This is the real thing. This is like the real first time that they'll be, you know, playing there. their future home. So there's that. But I don't know. The Diamondbacks are kind of on a roll right now.

This is an interesting time, even though spring training games don't matter. And it feels like things are going in the right direction. But more importantly, I can't wait to just go play the Buffalo slot machine with you and see what fun we could get into in Las Vegas. Someone said in the chat, not for me, not to corrupt you, for me not to corrupt you. Yeah. Oh, please.

Oh, brother. They don't know the story. he's Jack. So I don't know. I think I'm getting a bad rap here when it comes to some of these things. But no, I mean, yeah, Jack's definitely a fun guy to hang out with. I appreciate you coming on the show. And you and I are going to do some stuff this weekend in regards to this game, too. So I hope you guys look forward to a little bit more Jack in your life. And I'm going to have him be around quite a bit. So I'm not letting him go anywhere. But Jack, I appreciate you. Make sure to to read all of his stuff over. Is it s.i.com slash diamondbacks.

slash MLB slash Diamondbacks. Slash MLB slash Diamondback. So yeah, make sure to check all that stuff out. Him and his crew have been doing some awesome work. So if you are looking to fill that void in your life for Diamondbacks riding, make sure to check out Sports Illustrated. Jack, again, thank you so much for your time, sir. Thank you.

I look forward to seeing you at 5 o'clock in the morning tomorrow. It might have to be a little bit earlier. Oh, damn it, Jack. No, no. I only want to go at 5. But all right. Well, see you later, buddy. Oh, man. That's going to be fun, and I cannot wait. And, like, let me say, I just want to echo what he just said.

I also love Barry Bloom. I know he's not on here anymore, and I probably should have said it while he was still here. Barry Bloom's a tremendous human being. And for all the crap I've talked about him, I just needed to make sure I said this because I am actually looking forward to that. I get along. I get along with people who yell a lot, believe it or not. my mother and father are both Puerto Rican.

So my household was very loud when I grew up. But yeah, I can't wait to do this because, you know, hey, how often in your life do you get to actually go with someone that has the experience that these two gentlemen all be riding with have and pick their brains while we get stuck in the desert for four hours driving. I don't know. I'm trying to talk myself into it. I'm not doing a good job. But on the other side of this break, I had to get Jack out of here because I'm going to talk more about video. video games, which is what Kevin and I started this show talking about. Don't you go anywhere.

You're watching the PHNX Diamondback show. Big shout out to Pure Edibles. I will need plenty of those with me this weekend. And of course, that's because Pure Edibles has wonderful effects, all which are clearly listed on their packaging. They were founded right here in Flagstaff, Arizona, up there at Noble Earp Dispensary, and they are now made here in Phoenix. So make sure to check out pure gummies.

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So go find yourself some pure edibles right now. You can get their products from one of over 130 dispensaries across this fine state of Arizona. Speaking of having a good time, speaking of, well, this weekend I'll definitely probably be at a sports book in person, but sometimes I find sports books to be archaic because I have Bet365 on my phone and whatever the moment, it's never ordinary Bet365 and I never have to wait in a line to

catch in my ticket or I never have to forget that I had a ticket to cash in and then leave Las Vegas with it and then have it in my drawer for like six months and then now I'm sitting here right now thinking about how I have to grab that ticket, take it with me to Las Vegas and cash it in while I'm there with Barry and Jack and I don't want to do any of that. I should have just bet on bet 365. You should too. They pioneered live in-game betting. They offer the widest range of markets across 78 different sports for live in-game betting.

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next step, text next step to 533442 or visit problemgambling.goth. Well, the reason why, again, I had to get Jack out of here before the end of the show was because I am going to go full-on video game nerd with the dropping. The other day, the unveiling of MLB the show 25's official player ratings, and they were delivering for each franchise the top five players and what those ratings are. Folks, if you've ever watched this podcast before, you know how much this means to me. you know how much even being off by two points will upset me.

And I have to say the fine folks at Sony did not let me down. Kevin, they did not let me down. Let's take a look at the top five players for the Arizona Diamondbacks and MLB, the show, 25. That is Cotel Marte at a 96, ladies and gentlemen, a 96. we not only got a 90 player, we got a guy rated at 96. And absolutely where he should be, right? Am I crazy about that, Kevin?

When you set a record in the playoffs for a hitting streak, I think you deserve to be a 90 plus. Derek, I think you're missing the main point here. What is the main point here? These ratings are trash. What do you mean they're trash? Cotel Marte being 96 is awesome. You love to see that.

Corbyn Carroll 85? No, Kevin. Way too long. No, really? 88 Corby Carol. If my guy Damon tweeted this and he's wise on the money, Corbyn Burns 86, if the guy goes to the Dodgers, they rate him a 95 minimum.

I don't know that. You got to see some of the starting picture rankings. I'm with you. I'm with you on the numbers. It makes a little bit more sense. I just feel like. There's actually a lot less 96 is out there than you would believe. and I will give you this.

Gino being an 86 shocked me. Gino being tied with Corbyn Burns to be the second highest rated player on our team, floored me, shocked me, in what world? And then it's kind of like, yeah, maybe if what you're basing it on is where he was at at the end of the season last year, Gino was a monster. So, yeah, I guess that is something very much, that you could say, I guess that kind of impacts the other ratings.

Let's throw those back up. So Gino being an 86, I think, is what makes maybe Corbin Burns look like he should be higher. That's what I'm saying. I was hearing... Corbyn Carroll to be a little bit higher. R2 Corbans. Yeah, I was hearing what you were trying to say about,

like, you got to look at all the pitchers' ratings and all this and that. But if Gino is an 86, Corvin Burns is not an 86. I would also argue, like, Zach Gallen being an 84 is fairly good, right? like 84 for Zach Gallon is fine. I'm not mad about that. But again, I do feel like if Zach Gallant isn't 84, then maybe Corbyn Byrne should be higher than an 86.

Also, Derek, I want to ask you a question here because I haven't pulled up. I don't care. I'm happy with this. I haven't pulled up over here. Yeah. If you had to guess, and again,

my opinion is that these ratings are trash, but if you had to guess, what would Corby Carroll's speed rating be in MLB, the show 25? What is it? No, if you had to guess, what would it be? I it would what whatever the maximum is plus five so 99 104 but yeah his his his his speed is 94

he's behind he's behind chanler simpson and ellie de la cruz who both have 99s he is the highest non-99 speed guy so he's he's so he's so you know tied for second yeah second yeah tied for second um with day ron blanco so i don't like that yeah i just feel like you know these ratings underrating our guys, Derek. They're under rating our guys. I mean, you're always going to get that. But honestly, it's one of those things, right? They put out updates.

They adjust the player ratings as a season goes on. They try to make it as live and updated as possible. So I think this is fair based on the fact that they are people that are probably not super, there's some guys over there that know the Diamondbacks. There's guys over there that no ball. But you have weird things that you have to factor in. and you always have the fact that this team didn't oh they didn't make the playoffs so like that's somehow going to impact player ratings a little bit i don't think it's right but uh it probably plays in there i'm interested to see after their first update that they do where the guys are at and uh i don't really care honestly i'm still fine with this i'm still fine with katel getting his flowers i'm still fine with corbin being as that high like hey at least they're acknowledging corbin it's probably like over overall and that's Corby and Carroll, not Corbyn Burns.

Overall, maybe, maybe a little bit higher for Burns, maybe a little bit lower for Suarez, but I'm not going to take anything away from any of our guys. That's not what I'm here to do. I'm just here to be excited about that. Put those numbers back up one more time. I just want to see them and I don't care what you say. I'm happy with this.

This makes me happy. What doesn't make me happy is this game not being available on Xbox Game Pass again because that makes me sad. And still, one of the best values I've ever received in video gaming was converting my gold account over three years of gold account over to a game pass glad i got in on that also anyway they're taking away m lb the show 24 away from us like in a week too i'm not happy about that either they're not giving us the new one they're taking away the old one i hated here i real quick i also

wanted to mention that you kind of mentioned that yes they know they know some diamond backs ball over there uh in the mlb the show studios but i also wanted to mention not only should they know diamond backs ball they should be tapped in derrick do you know what company makes m lb the show and has made m lb the show the whole time i'm just going to going to save you the answer. It's San Diego Studios. Now you might be like, oh, that might just be a name. No, that's not just a name. They're named after where they're from. Serento Valley, San Diego. So if you don't know NOS ball and you're in San Diego, what are we even talking about? That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. They're petty. It's pettiness is really. Maybe a little bit of bias.

There's a little bit of San Diego bias from the Padre fans over at San Diego studios. You remember what Anchorman said San Diego. So I'll let I'll let Ron Bergen do my talking with that one. but we thank you the rest of you for being here we love you guys we appreciate you for stopping by i'll have tons of content from the car for sure over the course of this weekend so make sure to keep it locked to my twitter i'm at cap underscore caveman with a k follow me on instagram too that's where i'm going to be live i'm just going to be live streaming the two of them fighting and bickering in the car uh that's also cap underscore caveman with a k our guy kev a large intimate is at kev o posts uh our show is at p h and x underscore debacks but of course all roads lead to at p h and x underscore

sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We love you guys in the chat. We appreciate you for stopping by. Hey, Jerry is a nube. Just wanted to give a shout out to you really fast. He said I wanted to say as a 19-year-old who grew up with our Diamondbacks, I can't stop coming back to the show. You guys are awesome for improving this fan experience every week.

Appreciate you, sir. Thank you so much. I will see you guys, of course, on Monday with a report back from all of the wonderful things we saw this weekend in Las Vegas and all the money I lost. until then wait is there a super chat did we miss a super chat no it's all good oh okay just saw the last one well we appreciate you guys again thank you for your time we'll see you on monday uh and until then behave yourselves and remember kids baseball is fun but it's so much more fun when you drive yourself to las vegas and don't ride in a car with with berry bloom