PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Are The Diamondbacks In Trouble After Dropping Two Straight Home Series?

Episode Date: April 28, 2025

Our best Diehard deal! Just $3 A Month https://www.gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube The Diamondbacks managed to avoid getting swept by the Braves on Sunday, but is it time to panic after the Snakes lost their last two series in a row? Dalton Feely from Jomboy stops by to chat about Brandon Pfaadt continuing to be the D-backs best starter, Eugenio Suarez’s historic four-home run day, and Corbin Carroll being the fastest man alive. We also have answers to your Mailbag Monday questions and more! Join Dalton, Derek, and Kevin for the PHNX Diamondbacks Show LIVE! An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Branded Bills: Use code PHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order! The D-backs are hosting Golf Night on Monday, May 5th vs. the Mets. Purchase a Special Event ticket package through the special link and receive a game ticket and a limited-edition D-backs rope hat courtesy of Branded Bills! https://www.gofevo.com/event/Dbacks6165 Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnx Waymo: Download the Waymo One App and Ride Today! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/waymo-one/id1343524838; https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.waymo.carapp Carol Royse Team: To buy/sell your home, call Carol Royse at 480-776-5231 or visit carolroyseteam.com All Pro Shade Concepts: Call 623-204-1476 or visit https://allproshadeconcepts.com/ now to schedule your free estimate! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. #dbacks #diamondbacks #arizonadiamondbacks #mlb #zacgallen #corbincarroll #ketelmarte #mlbtheshow #mlbtraderumors #tradedeadline #traderumors #allstargame Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

After losing their last two series, are the Arizona Diamondbacks cooked? Is it time to wrap up to 2025 season? We have our guy, Dalton Feeley, here to bring the good vibes. And we're going to talk about Gino's four home run game and Corbyn, Carol, being the fastest man alive. In 30 seconds, don't you go anywhere. And welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast, live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K.

My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of this ship around. down here. And of course, I am here with some of my favorite people to talk about baseball. And of course, here it is the end of April. So we're going to talk about if the Diamondbacks, even though they have a winning record. We're going to talk about if they're cooked. We're going to talk about if it's time to wrap it up. Of course, I got my guy, large, intimate Kevin, Kevin, on the ones in two today, Kevin. Happy Monday to you, sir. How you doing? Feeling Usi today. You feeling good? Feeling Usi.S. All right. Well, we got another guide joining us as well to talk about

a little snake ball. It's the one and only Dalton Feeley from John Boy. Dalton, glad to have you here, sir. Looking great. Is this the news place or where are you at the office? Where are we at? Currently at the office. So last time I was here,

new place set up. Right now I'm in basically the tech room of the office. All right. Because the studios are being used. I will admit, I have been jealous of John Boy many times in my life, but no more so than seeing the Simpsons clip this morning,

I lost my mind over that. I lost my mind over that. That is an incredible feat. And what a way to be forever immortalized in pop culture like that. That's awesome. Yeah, that was kept pretty underwrapped. I didn't know about it to fairly recently and then they made an announcement like a little while ago,

like a couple days ago, a week ago, whatever. So that was really cool to say. Breakdown of a cartoon. It's awesome. It's awesome. By the way, this show's brought to you guys by our friends at Bet365. Of course, if you haven't downloaded that app yet, go do so right now. Use our code of PHMX 365. When you sign up, you get yourself some bonus

bets. Go over also to Game Time. Shout out to Game Time for getting us last minute tickets at the best price. You can sign up there using Code PHNX and you'll get $20 off your first order. Dalton, obviously, it's time to panic. It is time to lose our minds because the Diamondbacks lost two out of three to the Braves over the course of this weekend. They did manage, not to get swept there on Sunday. But, yeah, things aren't very happy right now in the Diamondbacks universe in our, in our fandom right now. Yeah, it's a little nerve-wracking right now.

Losing tooth to the Braves, losing to the Braves and Rays this week. I feel like those are two teams in most, like in recent history, the Dimebacks have struggled against. I don't know why. The Rays, like, we haven't won a series against the Rays in like half a decade at this point. And the Braves are a good team. I know they've had their struggles to begin in the year. That is a good organization.

They're going to be a very good team. They're probably going to make the playoffs somehow this year, too. So I'm not really too worried about the Brave series. I'm more worried about the in-house stuff, the performances of some guys, the health of some guys. I think that's the bigger concern. Hopefully this travel day, this rest day will be huge because we got a lot of snakes baseball coming up over the next few days. And that's going to be a true testament to this diebacks roster.

Yes, the Mets are very tough at home. hopefully you'll get a chance to go see the Diamondbacks and bring some of your good loggins. Nice. That's good to know. Obviously, Gino had himself a big day on Saturday with his historic four home run day. I feel like you're to blame for that somewhat. Maybe we're all to blame because we all got on Gino,

I think on Friday, especially after Friday's game. He was bad defensively. He's been bad offensively. And he seemed to really, turn things around on a dime there on Saturday. He's the seventh player in Major League Baseball history, or excuse me, not history.

That's a false. Since 1998, in history, there's a million of them. But he's a seventh player since 1998 with a four home run game. And he actually becomes not only the second Diamondback to do it, since J.D. Martinez did back in September of 2017. But that was also the last time anybody did it. So the last two four home run games now, are from members of the Arizona Diamondbacks franchise,

managed by one Tori Lavalle. Tori. Yeah. And that's a pretty neat fact, like the last two, these occur less often than perfect games. And we highly regard perfect. They're perfect. And it's really impressive that JD did it,

and it's been seven years, eight years since JD did it in the September of 2017. The ironic part is Scooter Jeanette was the, I think, the second most recent guy prior to Gino. And Gino and him were teammates back in Cincinnati. So just some fun nuggets with the Eughenio Suarez four home run game. It's pretty neat. Is there anything worse, though, than having a player hit four home runs for your team

and still losing that game because I can't imagine anything worse than that? No, I mean, the dime backs become the third team in MLB history to have a player hit three home, four home runs and then lose the game. So not in the great side of history at that point. Yeah, I'll admit, Derek, hand up. I don't know if you guys saw on Twitter or X. That was the first timeback scheme I've missed in the entirety of this season, was the Saturday.

Gino four home run game. My best friend's birthday. I was out in New York City. We're having some fun going to karaoke and whatnot. So I was getting the alerts. And I literally, it's like 1130 my time. And Gino hits the fourth home run against Iglesias in the ninth inning. And I'm like, wait, what the hell's going on in this game?

This is the one I decide to miss. This is the first one I missed of the series in the season. But, man, an electric performance by Gino. Bob and Steve mentioned it on TV. He seemed to start getting it right over the last couple of days in terms of his approach. He really wasn't chasing that low and away breaking ball like he's been doing in the past. He wasn't missing those high fastballs. So the approach was there.

And finally, I think we saw the results come in on Saturday where he was hitting everything at Grant Holmes. Whether it was a first pitch fastball, first pitch slider, a hang-in slider, a three-two fastball to tie up a game. Like he was mashing everything. He was seeing the ball really well. And Sunday, I think he made it nine straight plate appearances, breaching base. So he was doing everything with the last couple of games for the nine backs. Well, and of course, you know, it's not always easy for a player to be struggling

and kind of will themselves out of it. But it felt, it feels like that. It felt like Friday was rock bottom for Gino. And then, again, you know, suddenly you see this resurgence, you know, and it's baseball. So it's never, it's never surprised when this thing happens, especially from a guy that we know is very capable of being one of the best,

you know, hitters in baseball. We saw that in the second half of last year and the first week of this season. It's just the, the dramatic streakiness of it is just never, it's never not surprising to me, how guys can go from being so dialed in to not being able to hit the ball to now. I mean,

his game, he was, he was, wasn't bad at the dish. Friday's game was much more about him in the field defensively than it was about his performance, right? But then, you know, Sunday the Diamondbacks bounce back. They have themselves a good day here. They win in the finale. They avoid getting swept, which they've avoided, you know, for the most part this season. Corbyn Carroll sets a career best with two triples. He's the 11th Diamondback to record two triples in a game. And it wasn't just the fact that he was getting those triples, which, I mean, again, he's been doing that a lot lately. He has three triples in his last three games, so that's impressive. But, you know, again, it's the way that he's able to stretch what should be a double into a triple.

He logged the fastest home to third speed in 2025, two of the fastest home to third speeds in 2025. In one game, one was 10.8, seven feet per second. and then he posted 11.02 feet per second also in the same game. So Corby and Carroll remains very fast and I still want to see him and Dre Jameson in another foot race. I just want a fair documented foot race

on a track with officials involved and like, you know, I need an actual race between these two human beings. I mean, per source, is it sounded like people from the timebacks that Dre Jameson would beat Corby and Carol in a race. haven't seen it yet to prove the case we need to see it we need to see it we definitely need to see it uh just try to back around me yes he's allowed to he can come in get it get him on the mic i kick him out

but he said to me he's talking to jolly and i met this guy so boo uh he said he wants the snakes to sweep him so he's an honorary snakes fan at least for this all right um let's go going back to corvin carol and then dray jameson like three of the first three of the first three of the first more fast as speeds home the third. It's been really impressive. Uh, I do have a fun game for you because I want to look it up. I feel like Corbin's been mashing all over this season, but it's really been, especially when he's ahead and account. So my question to you, Derek, uh, what do you think his OPS is when he's ahead and counts? Now when he's behind, when he's got a picture right on the ropes, what do you think he's batting this year? I take a wild guess. Somewhere around 1,200.

Let's go two times that. Two point six nine four when he's ahead and the count. He said, let's go double that. Wow. Let's go, buddy. Best in baseball, not even close to being number one than number two. And that's among guys in baseball with 40 plus plate appearances this year. So the sample size doesn't even have to be that big,

and he's still crushing it when he's ahead and counts. He has been literally single-handedly keeping the dimebacks to float offensively, especially without Catah Marte. The bright side is the dimebacks haven't played a lot of lefties yet, And obviously that's a bigger weakness for Corby because he matches those right-handed pitchers easier when you're a lefty. When Kitella comes back, there'll be some protectional lineup

the whole way through, but then also versus lefties. Dimebacks have struggled a little bit. They're number one against right-handed pitching for their OPS 821 versus middle-to-pack 17th with a 657 versus lefties. So, you know, Corbin's been mashing. I want him to keep it going. I just know lefties are going to be tough

from this nine-backs lineup. Yeah. I mean, and you know what? the thing about it is is that right now it's it's been him it's been haroldo perdomo he had a big home run yesterday Josh Naylor tied his career high with two doubles

and again these are the guys that are doing it for this team right and again no disrespect to Gino like you said he's getting back on track as well just you know that if if Lordus and Gino could not even be

as bad as they've been just I mean just league average you really feel like that would boost the production from the offense quite a bit, at least boost the consistency from the offense, right? I mean, Lordus Guriel recorded his first stolen base in yesterday's game in a year, almost a year since he did it in August of last year. And he also has four sacrifice flies in April, but not really doing much else. It's a career best, four sacrifice flies.

But Brandon Fott, really, that's the guy that, That continues to be impressive, man. I mean, set a career high with his five-game winning streak, one of the first pitchers in baseball to get to five wins. He is the first D-back to win five-plus consecutive starts since Merrill Kelly did it back in 2023. And the D-backs are five-and-one in his last six starts. So he's just been tremendously good.

He's been tremendously consistent. He hasn't been giving up that big inning or at least when he does. He's been able to keep it to a few runs. like we're still seeing him be kind of dominant throughout an outing, but having, you know, one inning somewhere in there where he struggles a bit. Now it feels like instead of giving up those, you know, the crooked numbers, three, four runs, something like that. We're seeing him keep the damage limited and be able to get out of it. Yesterday, he was pretty masterful in the beginning of the game, considering he did not look like he had his best stuff. He had runners on

second and third with no outs. And then he somehow gets out of that inning without allowing a run. I just, you know, I can't say enough about how good Brandon Fott has been. And with how, I guess with the pedigree of his teammates in the starting rotation, it's kind of wild that Brandon Fought is the one leading the way. Yeah, and to add on to your point with Brandon Fought yesterday, second and third and amount, it's Corbyn Carroll. I mean, not to harp on the guy being the most valuable player in baseball currently. Oh, his throw?

He catches the fly ball, throws out for Dube at the plate. What are we doing? That's amazing. Huge that the play was called. out because I don't know if replay would overturn it because that was such a bang, bang play. But quite frankly, great job by Corby to make that play and then fought to adapt and get out of the inning without going to run. He had his struggle in the seventh inning and then it got a little tight ropey towards the end of the game with the bullpen coming in. Luckily, Shelby holds it to 4-3.

But yeah, man, Brandon Fawt's been awesome. I think a big stat that goes off of Brandon Fought, his on-base percentage allowed with runners in scoring position, one-six-seven, it's the best among qualified pitchers in baseball. So when he's allowing runners on base, he has been lights out. He's been nails. He's not giving up that big hit to opposing teams. And I dare I say it, so far, he's kind of been the stopper of the Diamondbacks rotation. Burns, not that he's pitched bad.

He's bounced back over the last couple starts, but he hasn't been quite, frankly, sharp yet. Gallons had the Yankee game, but he has not been close to sharp since that Yankees game. And then Merrill Kelly and Ery have shown their flashes, but they haven't been super consistent yet. Brandon Fawth's been pretty darn consistent. He's, I think, pitched six innings in five of the six starts. And the one start he didn't was versus Miami when he went five and two thirds. Yeah, yeah. Tori pulled him just short of that quality start.

That was memorable. In his four home starts, he has tossed six innings and allowed three runs or fewer and walked two or fewer batters. His 2.78 ERA is the best in his career through six starts. He had a 9.82 ERA after six starts in 2023. 4.60 ERA there after six starts in 2024. So it's like big game Brandon from the playoffs is finally here for the regular season. And it's exciting. And the Diamondbacks needed it because it very much felt like they were going to get swept this weekend against the Braves.

Their bullpen has just flat out been bad. It feels like this bullpen has just been in disarray since that Cubs game. You know, that first game of the Cubs series at Wrigley. It feels like everything has just fallen apart for this bullpen since then. It's kind of back to the old, like no matter who's really pitching well. When put into high leverage situations, they don't seem to really be able to be as, I guess, lights out as we've seen guys so far this season. And it just, it kind of sucks because it goes right back to the Diamondbacks, not really having everything working at the same time. Again, starting pitching is getting better, but it's still a bit of an issue for this team.

We're going to talk about that on the other side of this break. But before we go to break, let's take a look at the numbers from this series presented by Desert Financial. Because, again, here shows why the Diamondbacks lost this series, pretty much, is they get outscored by the Braves 20 to 15. The Diamondbacks outhit the Braves and home runs, three to five. Diamondbacks had more home runs. Runners in scoring position, Braves had 10 more opportunities, didn't do a great job of taking advantage of them. but again, 13 for 37, Diamondbacks 7 for 27. Relief pitching ERA, though, really tells the story here.

Diamondbacks 7.36 ERA for their bullpen to the Braves 3.48. And then starting pitching for the Diamondbacks wasn't bad. I mean, each guy gave up three earned runs or less. You just, again, had the bullpen giving up a lot of runs in these games. And the only one where they gave up one earn run or less is the win on Sunday. But, yeah, I mean, just a lot of. It's just an erratic situation now with a bullpen that we thought was going to be a strength for this team. It looked very much like a strength early on.

Yeah, and you highlighted the Cubs game. Obviously, that was the big one. The Miami series, how that was mismanaged. That could also be a domino effect to the bullpen struggles. But it's been really bad over the last two weeks since two weeks ago, the Monday, the 14th, dimebacks have the highest bullpen era in baseball, 638. That's not going to do it. Prior to the last two weeks, if we're starting from the beginning of the year to then,

they were ninth with the 3-29 era. Like this bullpen had been pitching really well, but now we are really feeling the effects on no Kevin Ginkle. You have Kendall Graveman coming back from injury as well, hasn't pitched this year. Drey Jamison just came back. Justin Martinez is banged up. AJ Puck's now in the aisle. We're feeling the effects of the Diamondbacks bullpen being completely battered and bruised.

You know, hopefully there's another breakout star. Shelby Miller has done a fantastic job to begin the year. Jalen Beeks outside of that Saturday game has been nails too, which I will say Jalen Beeks is not allowed to run since when I watch a 9-backs game this year. So basically has a zero-zero ERA in my head. So there's that. But yeah, we need someone to break through in that bullpen, kind of get the momentum back on the side because over the last few weeks,

it has been brutal. Ooh, well, I do have an update here in regards to, I think Ernesto in our chat said, according to Kevin Ginkle's Instagram, he is in fact in New York City today out at Central Park. So it looks like we might have a Kevin Ginkle call-up situation while the Diamondbacks are playing the Mets. We also know that there was another guy playing catch out at the park today. One Eduardo Rodriguez posted this little video of himself enjoying Central Park.

We got that? Just having a catch out there. Central Park, enjoying a beautiful day and enjoying baseball. This is amazing. I think a 12 strikeout day is incoming for Eduardo. I'm seeing this. I might be jumping entirely too far to conclusions here, but I'm excited for this. How do you not spend a nice day off playing catching the park?

I don't know. I would think baseball players would want to get as far away from any baseball-related activity on a day off, but that's just me, I guess. I mean, some guys are just addicted to the game. They're just sickos, real sickos. They love playing ball. And you know what? That's so heartwarming.

I wish I knew he was at Central Park. I kind of would have been stalking him a little bit. Right. I want to play. I want to play. Yeah. Go out there with your glove. Have a catch.

I don't think that's the worst idea at all. But we're going to talk a little bit more about what's wrong with the Diamondbacks right now. And if it's time to panic, hopefully Dalton is ready to say no. But we'll see. I don't know. It might be already time to wrap up. the season. We'll talk about it on the other side of this break. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback Show. Of course, got to give a shout out to all pro shade concepts. They do a great

job with extending outdoor living spaces. And if you are looking to do so before that hot, hot summer heat gets here, now is the time to give them a call for a free estimate. Of course, they are, they have hundreds of designs to choose from, hundreds of colors to choose from, and they can work with your HOA for approvals to make sure that any awning that they add to your home is HOA compliant. They have rolled down patio shades. which can block the sun and keep the patio up to 20 degrees cooler, and that includes outdoor or indoor roll-down patio shades. They can also replace and fix most old or outdated patio shades and motorized awnings.

They've been in business for the 20 years right here in the valley, and they started making window shades by hand for friends and family in Phoenix. Now they do it for everyone. So make sure to give them a call. They are licensed bonded and insured. Call them at 6232041476 or visit allproshaidconcepts.com right now to schedule your free estimate. And of course, if you are interested in this little beauty that I'm wearing on my head right now, you got to check out branded bills. Branded bills and the D-BACs are coming together for a

wonderful golf night on Monday, May 5th. It's just around the corner against the New York Mets when they come back into town against the Mets. You can purchase a special ticket package through the special link and receive a game ticket and a limited edition, D-Backs Roe-Hat courtesy of branded bills. And let me tell you, I love this at a lot. Of course, you can elevate your brand as well with branded bills if you are interested in getting some custom headwear clothing shirts whatever apparel to make your brand stand apart from the crowd branded bills has you covered with the best custom headware can start your order and their dedicated team will help you create the exact custom apparel you need they have partnerships with as u of a they have sons gear they have some wonderful uh

uh uh arizona gear as well which is some of my favorite stuff and they're a local company from right here in mesa arizona so head to brandedbills.com and use that code of ph and x for 20% off your first order. And go do so right now. They have some amazing hats. Can't get this one there, though. This one's special. You can only get that at golf night at Chase Field.

So speaking of Chase Field here, Dalton, the Diamondbacks go on the road. They are not going to be back here for a little bit. They haven't been great at home. They haven't been terrible. But they've been concerning this season. Again, the biggest problem that fans wonder, ponder is what even is this team? Right? this team this year has shown some fight.

They've shown some ability to beat some good teams in baseball. And then they've also had some teams be a problem for them. I think that the Braves, for instance, were a fairly hot team coming into the series. It's something Jesse and I discussed on Friday's episode. And then you see what teams like the nationals have done. And, you know, they've beaten some good teams. This isn't like the teams that the Diamondbacks have lost to that have been really disappointing have been, you know, like teams.

that haven't been capable of winning against teams with an above 500 record. But it just feels lately like, you know, we went from the Diamondbacks not losing a series to now them losing two in a row with a very, very difficult May coming up ahead. Yeah, I think it's also been the way to Diamondbacks have lost too. Because over the last couple of extra hitting games, they have not go to Diamondbacks way. So that has been a struggle too.

I feel like every close game, every close balance has not gone Arizona's way so far. And I think that also adds an extra element of not winning the closed games. Like, oh, man, it's games we should have won. So I think that puts some weight into it. I think May 15th, and circle this on your calendar. May 15th will be, we'll get way more clarity on what the dimex, what this team is for 2025. Because they have 16 games starting tomorrow in a row, no off day. They've had an off day every Monday.

But no more towards the schedule. The schedule monster is now hit starting Tuesday. You have three at City Field. You have three at Citizen Bank. You got three against the Mets at home. You have four against the Dodgers at home. That's a massive series. And then you go to the Bay, take on three versus Giants before that final off day.

Those are four really good teams and five very competitive series. If we want to know what the ninebacks are going to be in 2025, let's take a look over the next couple of weeks and see how they play. Because the competition level is now going to take even a step further. This is going to be a true test. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Four with the Mets in the month of May overall. got three with the Phillies, seven with the Dodgers, three with the Giants, three with the Cardinals.

And then again, some other teams that you can't overestimate because they've been able to beat some, you know, good teams as well. We just saw what the pirates were able to do against the Dodgers, at least in one of those games. And in general, give them some trouble, right? Like the Diamondbacks so far have proven that they can't overlook the teams that you might write off as a win on the schedule because those are the teams so far that they haven't beaten, to be honest.

But starting pitching really feels like it's been the big problem for this team. We've talked about it quite a bit this year. We know how erratic Zach Gallen has been. We know what you're going to get out of Eduardo Rodriguez. Thankfully, Brandon Fott has been better than we could have imagined him being. But, you know, so far, it's been fairly disappointing, especially the combination of Zach Gallen and Corbyn Burns. And overall, this starting pitching ERA right now is 4.21 this season,

which it ranks in the bottom, you know, bottom 20 of baseball, but, you know, bottom 10 in baseball. You also have the fact that it's very close to what they're starting pitching ERA was last year at 4.79 to end the season. And I think that's the part that makes me want to scream despite the fact I obviously don't have much voice left. Dalton, I just can't believe after all of this, after the nightmare that was the Diamondbacks pitching situation last year,

that here we sit in a very similar position, and it's just kind of, it's confounding. It's infuriating, in fact. I mean, they have a new pitching coach. They added Corbyn Burns. Everybody's healthy. What is going on with the starting pitching staff? Yeah, and I mean, I think the most frustrating thing about the dying back's rotation

is that the assets have been put into this rotation. It's not like it's a banded rotation that's struggling. And you're just like, hey, go out and play. Like, no offense, their teams in. Major League Baseball, that throw some guys out there. It's like, hey, you're going to go on this hill and give us five, and whether you give us zero runs or nine runs allowed, you're going to go give us five innings and we need to pitch.

Dimebacks, they've invested into this starting rotation. And that's been the struggle because it's been a letdown. You pay of Corbyn's $210 million this offseason. You give Monty just $25 million over the last two seasons. Eron gets the $80 million deal. Brandon's fought gets an extension. Obviously, he's been the best pitcher so far. Gallons on a contract year, you kind of expect a guy on a contract year to

pitch his best baseball. In fact, we've seen his worst, arguably. And then Merrill Kelly is probably one of the most cost-friendly deals on the roster, and he's been pretty consistent outside of this year. What's been the struggle is no one's looked completely sharp yet. And I just feel like when the dime back at the two strikes, they're not able to put guys away. And it's been, I kind of did some research for talking baseball on this. Gallin's been a big nimbler. Erod, too, has been, when he gets ahead and counts, he's struggled trying to fund his strike zone. And the stat that really stood out, and we're going to see it over to the series, the Dynbach's rotation have allowed 12 home runs on two strike counts.

That's the most in baseball. Only one other team has allowed 10, and that's the Angels. So that's not a great group to be in. No. That's who we play this series. You don't how they've allowed? Zero, the best in baseball. So that's going to be the stat to watch this series.

Can the Dimebacks defend the, they're at bat with two strikes, and can the pitchers put guys away? They have not been able to do it. And I don't know what it is. I think Burns his Cutters finally back. E.Rod has shown some flashes. Merrill's shown some flashes. Fought's been a dog, Gallon. I don't know.

I'm hoping something clicks for him. It's, I'm worried. I don't know. Where is, is it a red light flashing for you? Orange light? What's, how are you feeling about it? I mean, I think I still have this odd level of patience because it's just April. And this team has made changes, right?

You know, having a new pitching coach and Brian Kaplan that's going to bring in new philosophies and new ways of preparing starting pitchers for, you know, for the team they're facing, you know, game planning is going to be new. I just think deep down inside, I've always kind of wondered what went wrong with Brent Strom, right? Brent Strom is one of the most respected pitching coaches in all of baseball. And it seemed like his firing wasn't just letting him go because of the poor performance of the starters, it felt like it was a disconnect with the starting pitching staff and maybe even some of the relievers.

It's understandable a bit due to the age of some of those players, versus the age of someone like Brent Strom. But for the most part, the feedback has always been that Strom was a good communicator and that he, like, you know, he had a great integration of kind of old school methods with new school analytics, right? When you have one of the most respected pitching coach, is kind of, again, I'm not saying he was blamed for it, but I mean, how else can you put it when

you say the pitching coach is fired? You know, he's taking some responsibility, some blame for how bad the staff is. And now this year, the staff is just as bad, but this year they're healthy. This year they added, you know, a Cy Young winner, right? This is like, this is a different staff. And this staff should be much better than what we saw out of last year. So again, I'm confused by it. I'm confused by the lack of success. I'm confused by how these starting pitchers that, you know, are good elsewhere can come to this team and just be not bad, but even mediocre, right? Bad is Jordan Montgomery last year. I'm not, I would say Corbyn is better than average, but it's like you don't, you just don't really feel like you're getting those pitching performances

you were going to get out of adding this ace to your staff. So I'm still not super concerned because I still feel like a lot of it, just like the defense is growing pains, right? But the defense has been so bad that at times, you know, I truly wonder if are they going to get back to being as sharp as they were or is a part of that component gone from this team now in Christian Walker? And because he's gone, we're not going to see this team be as sharp defensively at all without his presence over there at first base. I think that it could be a factor that impacts even some of these pitching numbers for the starters, right?

Because Christian Walker, again, was such a lock over there at first base that he helped to make these pitchers look good because of his ability to be so good defensively, right? We talked about this team right now is not making those really good plays that we're used to seeing them make. Well, that could be the difference maker in, you know, this starting pitch. staff struggling as well. We kind of relied on them being not just good defensively, but kind of outstanding defensively. And they're not that this year. So I feel like that's kind of a, you know, a cascading effect on everything else. I completely agree. I think that was

like the most articulate and eloquent rant I've heard ever. And I and I, and I, dido everything you just said, because you're 1,000% right. And the defensive identity the Dinback's had, the chaos ball identity they had in 2023. It's kind of faded and taken a back seat towards adding some power and pop and some veterans into this roster. And the one note I would like to add on the fielding component of it is that Corbyn Burns, his strike, you know, it was a big talking point this entire off season that his strikeout rate was down year over year over year. And he's become more of a ground ball pitcher. When you're facing a cutter, you can jam those lefties, the righties. If it's going away from them, they're going to hit the opposite field. And you have a vacuum at first base in

Christian Walker, no disrespect to Josh Naler, whatsoever. It's more so Christian Walker was that good. That's why it's that big of the difference. And so this whole defensive identity losing a guy like Christian Walker at first base does play a dramatic role. Because also, we don't know everything behind the scenes. He could have been a veteran leader within this doing infield drills and like helping guys out. We've seen them countless times picking balls, whether it was for Gino or Pardomo last year

where, you know, they're trying to make a throw. they're in a hurry, 99.9% of the times Christian Walker's going to pick something for them. So I think you're so right. And that hopefully that the identity, someone takes charge like a prodomo that can help unify this group. I don't know what would take or who will do it. But something has to happen because this defense has not been nearly a sharp over the last couple of seasons.

Hopefully it's Ketel when he returns, right? And we know that that's imminent. Right. Hopefully he should be back here. Our estimate has him being back around the start of that Mets series here at Chase field, I think May 5th. So we need him back. Kattel was playing in a backfield game and he hit two home runs in that game. And I was like, what are we doing? Get him up here. Get him back here immediately, right? The guy looks ready to go. Yeah. So everything, everything is trending in the

right direction for Kattel. Maybe his offense and defense can both help, you know, both sides of the ball kind of have some consistency here. But of course, he's the MVP of this team. Yeah, and I think my one thing I do want to say, like the urge for caution a little bit, is that it's a lower, it's a muscle injury, it's a lower leg injury, it's a hamstring. I kind of hope they ease him back defensively at second base and let him get from reps at DH. I know that could take some time away from Pavin and some Randall Gritchick in the DH slot, but Tim Tawa has done a pretty good job after the first week of him getting MLB experience, playing second base and getting acclimated with the professional level.

I kind of want, Katel, make sure your legs are 100% underneath you. Because yes, we need his bat versus lefties especially. But I don't want to see him make a diving play at second base and then reaggregate something. Yeah. Connor Mormon in the chat says Jack Summers reported. Kattel is going to play in Philly. So that is good to new. Good news.

It's a little bit ahead of schedule. But again, they said less than two weeks a few days ago. So of course, it's just great to have him back. Of course, it's always great to have Dalton Philly here. Make sure to follow him. Thank you, of course, for your time, buddy. thank you for loving this team because we need it right now follow him on Twitter you're right he's at D-feely 14 also make sure to check him out he's a warehouse games MVP an absolute stud out

there so appreciate you stop and bye buddy we'll see you maybe next Monday let's go I appreciate it always always love being on so see you next Monday all right buddy thank you so much excuse me I'm about to die here again don't don't go hang out in a pool during WrestleMania weekend, folks. That's one recommendation I can make. But yeah, no, it's not the best idea. We're going to take a quick break,

but on the other side of this break, we are going to get to the mailbag and answer your questions. And of course, thanks again to Dalton Feeley. He's the man. Appreciate him for stopping by. You guys are wonderful for sending your mailbag questions

and for being here. And again, thank you so much. We will be back in two minutes. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PHNX Diamondback show. Of course, does it better than Heela River Resorts and casinos. Of course, you can visit any one of their four locations right here in town.

And let me tell you, staycations might be my best form of vacations. You got to experience the best the Valley has to offer at Heel of River Resorts and Casinos. You can go all in on over 4,500 slots and live table games. And let me tell you, their tables far more updated, far more advanced than the tables I saw in Las Vegas. So got to give a shout out to Heela River for being at the four. front of cool new designs, including like, I love their roulette table that has the numbers projected down on the table. A lot of cool stuff to be found over at Heila River Resorts and casinos. And even if you're not interested in that side, you can stay at their wonderful resort side.

Go hang out by the pool. Get yourself a frosty beverage. Of course, it's going to be hot. It's a great place for you to go spend some time. And most importantly, you do you at Heala resorts and casinos. Visit playatheela.com for more details. And if you are going on vacation, even on a staycation, make sure to stop by Circle K, wherever you're going. It is America's third stop. And you can join the Inner Circle right now for free and save yourself all sorts of money. And get your first five polar pops for absolutely free. You'll save 25 cents per gallon on your first five fillups.

And you'll save three cents per gallon every day after that. Plus plenty of other member exclusive deals and discounts in the app. By the way, May 6th is the Circle K big giveaway. customers can enter to win prizes, cash, and more. All you got to do to enter is visit circlek.com slash big dash giveaway, but most importantly, make sure you join the Inner Circle for free right now by downloading the CircleK app today. Terms and conditions apply, participating locations, visit CircleK.com or details.

And let me tell you, it is the place to go for gas, especially on their Inner Circle fuel days. We'll make sure to get you the next round of those as well. So keep your eyes peeled for that. budget your gas accordingly and make sure you can get there. It's kind of like NASCAR where you got to make sure you get enough gas to get to your next pit stop, right? So we'll let you know on the inner circle fuel days.

But today is not an inner circle fuel day, Kevin. Today is Monday. And even though every year is our year on this show and every month on this show is Black History Month and every month on the show is Women's History Month. And every month on this show is Black Women's History Month. We also have the fact that every week is Shark Week and every day is Earth Day, which we were at Earth Day and I didn't say the Earth Day. And that's a tremendous. That was a big slight to Earth Day considering how often I say that.

But today is Monday and you know what we do on Monday. Every single Monday, we go to the mailbag. Kevin, let's go to the Mailbag. All right. 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. All right. What do we got in the mailbox today, Kevin?

First up from Travis Moore. How can we fix Zach Gallen? Ooh, that's a good question. I think Zach Gallen honestly is on his way to being fixed. I think obviously getting ahead in the count and throwing just throwing more first, you know, first strike, first count strikes. that seems big for him. I think that his fastball command has been off. There's things that Zach Gallen can do to get back to being Zach Gallen.

And I don't think he's that far off from it. I just can't help but wonder about the impact that a new pitching coach has on the staff and how much time it takes for, again, as I described earlier, those philosophies, those pitching methods, the ideas that he wants to incorporate can impact guys that already have a routine or already have what they're doing, you know, going on over here. And now they have to kind of mesh what a new coach is trying to get them to do over here into one, right? So I don't know the impact that Kaplan is having on these guys. But what I can say is that Zach Allen is still Zach Allen.

Realistically, I think Zach Allen needs to just be more aggressive and attack the zone. And it really does feel like at times, much like you could say about, Tori and and other problems with this team, the base running perhaps and maybe some of the lack of you know creating that chaos on the base path is all about just having some intrepidation, some some fear, some lack of you know wanting to be aggressive and wanting to attack right and you know saying screw the results screw if you get out you were pressing the action you were doing things to you know be aggressive on the base path be aggressive in the strike zone right so I think getting ahead in the count is going to help Zach a lot.

And so far, that's what we've seen him struggle with so far this season. Fastball command, getting ahead in the count. Those two things are related to each other. And again, I think Zach is still Zach, right? It's really just about him getting back in a groove this season. I don't think that there's anything medically wrong with him. And I think he has all the motivation in the world for this to be the most important season of his entire career. Perhaps that's it, right?

I mean, at times, I really do feel like pressure can negatively impact baseball players more than perhaps any other sport, right? And that could be both at the plate and on the mouth. I think that there is more pressure on Zach than there's ever been, not only with the expectations for this season for the Diamondbacks as a team, but for him personally in regards to this being, you know, his walk season and being a free agent after this year. So, yeah, there's that. And Tanner says his fastball is getting crushed. There's also that too. So maybe those all three things are related because if your fastball is getting crushed,

you probably don't want to throw it in the zone as much or be as aggressive with it. And it's, you know, again, it's about velocity. It's about a lot of things. But I do think that he is, he's going to get back on track. That's my, I'm fairly confident about that. And no, it's not because I called him the milkman. was that right that time? I think you said it right that time.

That's how I normally say the word milk. I don't know why. All right. What else we got? Next up, JJ says, could you rate your personal stress level zero to 10 when each Diamondback starting pitcher is on the mound? Honestly, this might be a bit surprising.

So yeah, let's go in the order from highest stress level to lowest stress level. Eduardo Rodriguez stresses me out the most. It's like a nine. And I think, again, the reason why is because Eduardo Rodriguez can go out there and have 13 strikeouts and still somehow give up eight runs, right? Eduardo Rodriguez, again, you know what you're going to get out of him a lot of times, but I feel like deep down inside Erod is a much better pitcher than we've even seen him for the Diamondbacks, at least consistency, right, consistently. he he you just don't know what you're going to get out of him yet it just feels like at any point he can be completely dialed in and be outstanding yet we don't really get that out of him right so i guess erod is a nine then zach gallon would be right under him at an eight i would put burns right about a five as far as stress level is concerned burns doesn't really stress me out but the results kind of stress me out and i think like many of you i want to see the return on investment for the diamondbacks pay off i want to see corbin burns go out there even if he's losing a game i want it to be because the bullpen got shelled or he didn't get any

run support and loses in a two one game i don't want to see corvin burns go out there and and be giving up four runs i don't you know again these are the things that make i think all of us feel like the diamondbacks can never have anything nice in free agency that we can't really bring some of the best you can't bring one of the best pitchers in baseball to our team and have him continue to be one of the best pitchers in baseball. That's what I would like. But again, I'm not, when I look overall at the results for Corbyn Burns, I'm still not that upset about it. I'm still very patient with him. Meanwhile, Merrill Kelly is probably a two and Brandon fought right now is a one. I am so confident the Diamondbacks are going to win when fought is

on the mound that like it's a surprise if they don't. So yeah, that's where I'm at. Peyton wants to know where the cactus light is. I'm not telling you, Peyton. And again, you might never see it again. Again, you guys got to relax about the cactus light, okay? Cactus light is not the star of the show. You guys aren't even bringing up where LG3 is on this episode. And quite frankly, I don't know where he is either.

I'm upset. Did you leave him in Studio A? You did, didn't you? Oh, man. I'm upset. What else we got? Let's go on. Got to go the next question.

Ed says, what great are you thinking the debacks deserve for this month of the season? Better yet. Why this grade? Oh, Ed, I'll give you both. First of all, I will give them, I can't give the Diamondbacks anything better than a C for this month. I think that while they have shown that no lead is safe from them coming back, that they've been able to score runs late and they've been still able to score runs in bunches like they were able to do last year. they have found new ways to lose games. And I think that it's pretty demoralizing at times for your team to be able to come back,

for your team to be able to hold the lead up until late, and then lose baseball games. And so far, that's what we've seen. Some of these extra innings, losses, and just in general, some of these games where the Diamondbacks weren't able to, you know, come back and then hold on to that comeback has been frustrating. But, again, there's been a lot of positives, this, this, month so far. I think that the record is disappointing. If the record was a little bit better,

then maybe we could be talking about more of a B minus, perhaps. But I can't give this team anything better than a C. And if not, it'd probably be lower than that. Corbyn Carroll has been a tremendous highlight so far, Pavin Smith, Josh Naylor. There's been some very good things going on with this team. Brandon Fott deserves his credit for that as well. It just still, it's still one of those things that I think at the end of this month it's hard not to look back at some of these losses and scratch your head about how they even happen.

So a lot of you guys are suggesting C as well. Ernesto says C minus on the account. I'm blowing two historical moments in baseball. Yep, I agree with you on that. Ryoma says blowing winnable games one after another is pretty bad C minus. So yep, I'm with you guys on that. What else we got?

We got one more and then we'll go to a break. Next, Tyler Sissell wants to know Melbag Monday, does Brandon Fott enter MLB's discussion as an NL Cy Young candidate by the end of the year? Tied most wins by NL pitcher thus far, his ERA continues to trend down. My answer is yes. And I think Brandon Fott at this point

has become like an elite version of himself that we haven't seen so far. I talked about his ERA through his first, you know, through his first six starts. But really, realistically, there has been a slow maturation for FOT. And I think what we're seeing now is him finally be the pitcher that a lot of people projected him to be. Again, he's probably better than we could have hoped for this season.

He has been by far the best part of the Diamondback starting rotation. And it's hard not to consider him when, once again, you look at his teammates that are also part of the starting rotation and have, have him as the standout. Now, it's going to be difficult because there's going to be a lot of good pitchers in Major League Baseball this season, but it's hard to imagine that there are, you know, I mean, it's hard to imagine that Brandon Fott can't be in that, in that conversation, right? The consistency is there, his ability to just be this very calm individual and, you know, stay calm under pressure is going to help him, especially as, you know, you know, you,

get more pressure on him, right? As he continues to perform, those expectations are going to be there, and they're just going to increase. So I think if there's anybody I've seen that's capable of handling those expectations, Brandon Fott, definitely could be a dark horse there. But I don't even know, like, I mean, again, I would take over one guy being necessarily a Sye Young candidate. I would take this entire starting rotation getting back right and being what, at least we've seen them all be at one point in their career. right so i guess i would make that sacrifice but you know as far as his his teammates go brandon fought definitely looks like a scy young contender right now what would you have set the odds at

preseason if i had told you like we were doing like a bet three six five prop of like which deback is most likely to win the n l sai young it what what would the odds have been for for gallon burns and then fought yeah fought would have been like plus two thousand uh burns would have been like plus maybe 500. I still wouldn't have expected like a Cy Young bit out of Burns, but I would have expected him to be the guy that definitely had the best, or, I think it'd be closer to like, best odds. I think it'd be lower than 500. If you're just picking which player from the team would be closest to have the run, it'd be like plus 120 for Burns, right? Yeah, probably. If you're just talking about Diamondbacks players, yeah, yeah, you'd probably be more in the

plus 120, gallon probably a little bit above 500 and, yeah, fought, fought distant, distant there. I mean, I might even put Merrill Kelly above Fought. But anyway, we got more Mailbag Monday questions to get to on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PHMX Diamondback Show. Of course, I love some pure edibles. I just had a chance to do a little taste test on their berry, very sleep edition edible yesterday. And it was tremendous.

They have said that the kicks tastes like Starburst. I will counter that they are more like a now and later. But regardless of how much candy or what candy you love, there's a good chance that pure edibles has something for you. They're a full-fledged candy company offering gummies, kicks, chews, which are soft candies like carmels and hard candies as well. They're not covered in sugar like all of their competitors. Their effects are clearly listed on each tin so you know exactly what to expect. And again, there wasn't any missing it on this one.

It had a little moon sleep edition. It was telling me that when I take this one, it's time to go night night. And I'll tell you, I did. It's a great night's sleep. And you can get one too with pure edible sleep edition. They also have mood enhancing, uplifting effects, and again, all of that is listed right on the tin. They were created in Flagstaff, Arizona at Noble Orb dispensary, and they are made right here in Phoenix, Arizona.

So go check them out right now. You can find yourself some pure edible products from one of over 130 dispensaries across Arizona. And we have some big news from Sanderson Ford. We actually have some big news from David Kimmerley, president of America's most awarded Ford dealership, Sanderson Ford. Ford just announced they're from America for America employee pricing, where now you will pay what they pay on the full line on new Ford's with no hassle, no pressure, and no nonsense. And no added markups. That's another important part because employee pricing levels of the playing field for all

Ford dealerships, they're all offering it. But what you'll get at Sanderson Ford is no markups. You'll get no add-ons. Sanderson Ford won't do that to you. They have the inventory and a 70-year reputation of customer service. And Ford is undeniably the most America-first automaker in the world. So now is the best time to buy a new Ford with the From America, for America employee pricing does exclude 2025 expedition, 2025 Super Duty, Raptors, Mustang,

and Bronco specialty vehicles. And if you do head out there, don't miss having lunch at the Starliner diner. You'll thank me later. All right, we got some super chats before we get to the questions. What we got here? Cap. A piece of Yoshi says, can we discuss the doing of the wave while Shelby Miller was fighting for his life? I am notoriously anti-wave. Just in general. Just in general. Even in a ballpark with a pool in it. I am anti-wave.

I'm anti-wave. I don't want to participate. I don't want to be forced to participate in your little game, Kevin. I'm sitting here. You are absolutely forced. There is public scrutiny and pressure being applied to you as you sit in your seat. Like as if you were somebody that was opposing the anthem and refused to stand up. You know, it's on that same level.

of people giving you the stink eye and be like, why is it this guy doing it? What does he hate America? Same thing with the way you don't stand up and throw your arms in there. They're like, this guy must hate America. You can sit down and throw your arms in the air. No, you can't because that's half-assing it. I refuse to participate anything where I half-ass it.

I'm on a full ass it or I'm not doing it at all and I'm not standing up. I have a beer in my hand. I was having a good conversation with my friends. Now I have to monitor this and keep this in my eye rate. Not to mention he's right. We're doing this while Shelby Miller is out there fighting for his life. The other day I saw the most pathetic wave I've ever seen in my life, Kevin. It was awful.

I couldn't believe it kept going on. There was an entire section of empty seats. And somehow the wave kept making through that section over to the other section. And it was nonsense. Ban the wave. People in the chat agree with you, Derek, for the most part, I would say. Yeah, I don't know. Candace says, what do we do?

His like snakes. Yeah, we all bring our little rattles and we rattle our rattles. That's an intimidating sound. If everybody in that stadium had those little snake rattles and we were all shaking them at the same time, yeah, yeah, that's going to get in the opposing pitcher's head 100%. All right, what else we got?

Let's get back to the mailbag. I'm fired up now. Next up, Torbitt Carroll Enthusiest wants to know when do you expect the DeBack City Connect jerseys to finally, mercifully I'll add, be released. Never. They're never coming out. They're never being released.

No, I mean, we know, of course, talked about it. The Diamondbacks have a set date for them to debut their new purple City Connect jerseys. And yes, I said that out loud on the field. But the problem is, has been the fact that there are still two more teams that need to officially debut their jerseys. And I have not seen that happen yet.

From my understanding, those two teams have games where they are going to debut those jerseys very soon coming up. I believe it's both the Miami Marlins and the Boston Red Sox. It feels like at this point that the debuts are going to take place very close to the game itself where they are supposed to wear them. So I don't know, man. I still put it around May 5th, but that was also my date for

Cotel Marte coming back. So I don't know. At this point, it's got to be before May 9th. What I can say with great confidence is that the supply of Arizona Diamondback City Connect merchandise, Kevin, and chat, it has arrived. Oh. It is there.

It's ready. It's ready to be taken out of boxes. It's ready to go up on shelves. And it's ready to totally invade your wallet and your credit card because let me tell you, it's going to be here soon. I was actually joking with one of you in the chat because I'm pretty certain that at one point the Diamondbacks had the new hat from their city connect jerseys, just being sold on the shelf.

It might have been a slight variation of it, but I am 100% sure. I know that Espo sent me a T-shirt of what, of kind of some merch that looked very much like the City Connect jersey. So like I feel like maybe some of it was hiding in plain sight again

and then not. Do you think it was like inspiration? Do you think they saw that design? It was like, that's what we should do for... I'm 100% certain that a hat that's very close to what the hat, the final hat is going to. be people own and was available last season, not just, not just this year, last year.

Because, you know, the purple stuff started to pop up. They started to have variations of it. Tanner wants to know if it's purple. Yes, it's purple. I'm just throwing out. Yeah, what are the details you guys want to know? I don't, I'll spill the beads on this show. Why not?

No, I won't because then I'll probably get in trouble with somebody. I don't like long phone calls. And Saul Bookman already called me in the middle of this show. and I'm just sitting here nervously wondering what that was about. But anyway, yeah, we have not a lot of time left. So again, at this point, the Diamondbacks will be releasing it within the next two weeks. You guys will all see it. And hopefully, hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

What else we got? Next up, Yoshi wants to know, was anyone else cackling when the primary camera broke on the broadcast yesterday? Or was that just me? It was not just you, but it was also another. sad, sad event that made me just wonder like how long can we last with with this current equipment and stuff in the stadium. I don't know. But yeah, it was pretty funny. And honestly, speaking as people that do a live show, you got to roll with the punches. So as much as I thought it was funny, I probably wasn't cackling because I tend to feel bad for the people that have to

figure out how to continue to broadcast a baseball game without their main camera. But yeah, That wasn't great. For those of you watching on TV, by the way, we're going to keep this show rolling over on go phnx.com. So, of course, come join us over there. We got a few more mailbag Monday questions to get in before we get out of here. So what else we got, Kevin? Hanley wants to know, what are your sense of the vibes in the locker room? Is the power of friendship still alive?

Yeah, I would say so. I haven't seen anything that would indicate otherwise. I think that the vibes aren't probably. as high as they are when they're winning or things are rolling their way. You know, however, Kevin and I were talking about before the show how with doing this show, with Kevin doing the two shows he does, you kind of start to hear some of the things that Tori says and it gets into your head and you start to realize how, I guess, how, how profound it is for us that do this show, right?

We come here some days, some days I'm good. Some days, as you guys know, I'm not good. I'm not, I'm very, very bad. Words don't come out of my mouth correctly. There's a lot of things that can go wrong with me when I'm hosting this show, right? But we still have to come out here. We have to do this show. Then we have to do it again tomorrow, right?

And so I think that one thing that's the vibe with the Arizona Diamondbacks is that you don't really see them get too high on the winds. Like, yeah, when they win, the music is blaring in the clubhouse. But you're not exactly seeing guys, you know, high-fiving and jumping around or doing anything crazy, right? This is a fairly even-keeled team because over the course of 162 games season, it's, uh, you can't really get too high on the highs or too low on the lows, right? So I do think that the power of friendship is very much alive. I've seen these guys still hanging out together outside of, you know, outside of games and, and still doing stuff together. So, uh, I just think that realistically it's, it's weird, right? We as fans sometimes don't even want to see them having a

time if they are losing, right? Have you ever had that where you see somebody just smiling or laughing too much in the dugout? Bradley Beal this season. Yeah, Bradley Beal is a great example of that, right? But again, as a baseball player specifically, right, 162 games, you can't let these losses weigh on you mentally and have it, you know, impact your mental health and have you just moping around over it. You're never, you're never going to get out of it with that kind of attitude, right? So you also don't want them playing too tight, playing not to make errors.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think that that's part of the problem this season. Again, there's pressure.

And then when you're not performing well, you want to perform so well that you try even harder. It's, it's wild because sometimes it doesn't work. It doesn't lead to the best results. And then sometimes you go out and you hit four goddamn home runs in a game. So can go either way. After people were like,

do we have the DFA conversation? Do we do this again? He hit more. More home runs than letters in DFA. That's a bar. That's a bar right there. All right. What else we got?

Said stick it. Ernesto, with a mailbag in the chat, says, hypothetical for all of us. Would you include Tim Tawa in a hypothetical, sorry, Ryan Helsley trade. I bet the cards are rather cards fans would want Lawler or Grover, but that's beside the point. Yes, I would. I would. And I think with the situation the Diamondbacks are in this year is they have a lot of guys that won't be part of this team next season, right?

You locked up Ketel Marte. You got some questions about where some of these young guys are going to play, right? So, again, the fact that Tim Tawa has major league experience and has been experienced success at a major league level, but the Diamondbacks will probably, you know, obviously send him back down. Maybe they keep him as a utility out infielder and DFA Hamson. But, you know, again, there's going to be a change here

when Catea comes back and that does make Tim Tawa a little expendable, right? I'm not big on ever trading any future pieces of this team simply because the Diamondbacks are a franchise that need to build from their farm system. That's the only way that they're going to be able to find success is to not only develop these guys and have them come up, be an asset at a major league level, but also at times trade those assets for other pieces that can improve the Major League Club. the Diamondbacks are in a win now mode.

So bringing on someone like Ryan Helsley makes a lot of sense. And I don't want to sacrifice or mortgage too much of the future. This might be a time, though, that I'd be willing to piece part ways with a guy that, again, has shown some promise at a major league level. It's not easy to get called up and do what Tim Tawa has done. So again, he seems like the kind of guy that could really develop into one of those players that you regret trading down the line. You know, unfortunately, Diamondbacks don't have a lot of.

of time with four really good players on their roster right now. So they kind of have to do everything they can to solidify this bullpen closer situation and, you know, make this team a winner. Ryan Hellsley's elite. That's the thing that that makes the difference there is he's elite. But there's also the this curse of this team. So he'll probably come over here and have a 4.5BRA. I'm broken.

I'm broken. Don't expect me to have a very positive outlook at times when it comes to bringing pitchers to this team. What else we got, Ken? Last, but certainly not least, the basketball and football guy wants to know. Derek, will you die? He did correct that to D-Y-E. Your beard on camera when Gino hits his 40th home run,

parentheses, you can always just do it now, since we all know it's going to happen, end parentheses. No. No, I don't, much like the cactus light, I don't think I can give you the satisfaction of actually seeing me die it on camera. besides, I don't know. I don't want to do that because then I'm going to have to die it here and I'm going to need a mirror. There's going to be stuff involved.

We'll figure it out. It's going to be a messy process no matter how, no matter how it happens. But it's not going to happen. So Gino's not going to hit 40 home runs. What if they go 15 and 11 in April, Tanner says? I already said that that wasn't part of the deal, Tanner. I already said that. So anyway, we appreciate you guys.

guys so much for your questions, of course. We appreciate you for being here. We will be back tomorrow with another post game show. So make sure to join us for that after game one of the Diamondbacks at the Mets. That'll be around like 7 p.m.ish. So make sure to get your dinner in and join us for that. Also, we do have, I don't think we showed the probabilities, but I think the probabilities could be wrong because piece of Yoshi in the chat was saying that Senga will not pitch in this series. So this is what the ESPN had, at least for the series. This is who the Diamondbacks have going. No surprises there. Erod in game one, Corbyn's in game two, Zach Gallen in game three.

Again, it just makes me sick that you can't look at a, you know, three-man line up against a team with Zach Gallen and Corbin Burns in it and feel confident, confident in your soul that they have a chance to win those games. But the Mets have been incredibly good at home. In fact, historic right now at 12 and 1 at home. And they have one of the best records, if not the best record in Major League Baseball. So it's going to be a tough task for the time. Diamondbacks. We will be here after game one, so make sure

to join us for that. In the meantime, follow us on Twitter. I am at cap underscore K-man with a K. Kevin is at Keb-O posts. Our show is at Ph&X underscore D-Backs, but as always, all roads lead to at pH and X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for your time.

Appreciate you stopping by. We will see you tomorrow for the post-game show. Until then, behave yourselves. Don't worry about the cactus light. And remember kids, Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you can figure out a way to beat the best team in baseball right now.