PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - BREAKING: D-backs to Sign Former ALL STAR Michael Soroka to One-Year Deal

Episode Date: December 8, 2025

The Diamondbacks reportedly made a move on day 1 of the Winter Meetings to help give them a full starting rotation for 2026, agreeing to a one-year deal with former All-Star starting pitcher Michael Soroka worth $7.5 million. We have more on Soroka’s 2025 season, his long list of injuries suffered, and why this is the exact type of low-cost gamble the D-backs needed to make with their budget constraints. Plus, we break down other activity at from the Winter Meetings, including which teams have checked in on Ketel Marte and how Zac Gallen was a Cub for two hours, and answer another round of Mailbag Monday questions.JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/Aura Frames: Exclusive $35 off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/PHNX. Promo Code PHNXALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/APS:  Find instant rebates, discounts and special offers on smart thermostats, energy-efficient appliances and more at https://marketplace.aps.com/default/heating-cooling/smart-thermostatsBranded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotesChicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today!Visit https://www.macu.com/accounts/checking/mystyle-checking?cid=ea-PHNX-AZ-mystyleAugust2025-checking to learn more about their MyStyle Checking Accounts!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/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.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: Use Monarch to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnxWhen 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hot stove season is here as the Arizona Diamondbacks make a move on day one of the winter meetings. It's not the move we all wanted to see, but it was the move we knew they had to make in order to fit in their budget constraints. Michael Soroka is now a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks according to multiple reports, and we are going to talk about why this is the exact type of signing the snakes needed to make. All of this in 30 seconds, don't you go anywhere. Happy Monday to you all. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks. podcast love from Studio K.

Presented by our friends at Circle K, it is I, your mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as Derek Montia. Happy Monday to you all. Thrilled to have you guys here and thrilled for the hot stove to be so hot for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Of course, this show is brought to you by our friends at GameTime. Make sure to go download that GameTime app right now. If you haven't done so already, create account and use our code of PHNX.

When you sign up, you'll get $20 off. You're already low. First ticket purchase on those last minute ticket deals. And let's remember they are the king of last minute deals. We thought the Diamondbacks might be the key kings of last minute deals, considering how little money they had to spend this off season and the circumstance that they're in. They are in some dire straits here to fill a lot of needs with some budget constraints. And, you know, we knew that they had to kind of ball out of air on a budget.

not know that they would be making a move this early to bring in a picture like Michael Soroka. And guess what, guys? Hot stove season is here, baby. Give me those air hones, baby. Hot, we are here. It's hot stove season. It doesn't get hotter than this.

Michael Soroka. No, it's not actually the kind of signing. I think most people were going to be excited about. But we are going to talk about Soroka and why, believe it or not, this is the exact type of deal the Diamondbacks needed to make. I am not alone. The man on the air horns, the man on the Glock and spiel. The man on the ones and twos is the jelly to my peanut butter.

It is the one, the only, the incomparable Damon Farrell, who's having himself quite the morning as a U of A fan doing Victory Labs, I think. I think he's having himself a good morning. That would be mean, Derek. I would never do that. I would never do something like that. Me personally, I'm just kind of solacing in the fact that I was correct about Sam Levitt the entire time. And you know what?

Sam left it. Derek, I welcome all ASU fans over to this side. The water is warm. No, we're not doing that. We're not doing that. Feel free to start agreeing with me for once. Absolutely. I'll do the show by myself.

I'll run it on the ones and twos. I'll come back there and put the headphones on. But Elizabeth says she would take victory laps and Michael says you were going hard on Twitter. People have been watching, Damon, for sure. But good afternoon to you all. Welcome in to the Michael Soroka podcast. That's right. Per multiple reports, the Arizona Diamondbacks have agreed to a one-year deal with

former all-star pitcher Michael Soroka. This is a one-year $7.5 million deal, according to Nick Picoro. And I believe Jesse Rogers from ESPN had this deal first along with Jeff Passon. Michael Soroka is a name that some of you may remember. Some of you may not. It depends on when you started watching baseball because if you just started watching baseball in 2023, then you might not even know who Michael Soroka was. But prior to 2023, prior to, prior to 2022, prior to 2021. Michael Soroka was an absolute stud for the Atlanta Braves. He was one of the best pitchers in baseball, quite frankly, in 2019 and 2020.

In 2019, he posted a 2.68 ERA in 29 starts for the Atlanta Braves. He had a 6.0 war that season. He went 13 and 4 as a starter, and he was outstanding, including having the best home run per nine ratio at 0.7 in the National League. He was an all-star that year. He came in sixth in Sy Young voting and came in second in rookie of the year voting for the National League. Now, a lot has happened to him since then.

And that's the reason why Michael Soroka's career was derailed. Two Achilles' tears essentially wiped out more than two full seasons, maybe even two and a half full seasons of his career during what would have been essentially. his prime years. And so now we sit here where the Diamondbacks, as I have suggested, as I have tried to warn

you guys and our fan base, we were going to make a signing like this. The Diamondbacks needed to make a signing like this. This is one of those signings that, yes, as Kyle says, if you told me about this signing five years ago, I would have been stoked. And he's not wrong, right?

But since then, Michael Soroka has had a long, a long path back to being healthy. He's suffered a lot of injuries, and there's a lot of things that are very ugly about Michael Soroka's career. But we're going to go through all of it. We're going to go through the good, the bad, and the ugly here with the reported signing of Michael Soroka. Let's start off with the fact that he's 28 years old. He's 6'5, 250 pounds.

He throws a four-seem fastball, a pretty damn good slurve, a cheque. change and a sinker. His numbers or his strengths are in his breaking stuff. Teams hit just 118 versus his slurve last year. And he had a 4.52 ERA in 2025, which is not very good. A lot of people will look. I think we have his stats here from, is this his career stats or stats from 2025? Which one would you prefer? Let's take a look at his 2025 stats first. This was his season between the Washington Nationals and the Chicago Cubs. Honestly, it was pretty good in a very, very small sample size for the Cubs. But overall, he pitched 89 and two-thirds innings.

He had a 4.522ERA, a 1.126 whip, a 4.23 FIP and a 0.6 B-WAR overall. But over his career, his numbers have been steady. At least, I mean, he's been, he factors in. You have to factor in those early years where he was so good. But 415 and two-thirds innings pitch, not very much. A 3.85 career ERA, a 4.12 career FIP, which is at least slightly better than average. And 2.71 strikeout to walk ratio, not very good. 6.9 B-WR good, but six of that is from one season.

So, again, the thing about this signing is that it is a low-risk, moderate reward signing. this is the exact kind of thing Soroka kind of needed for his career he needs a prove it season with a team that he feels like he has a strong chance to be a part of the starting rotation for the entire season and he could basically be so good

that the Diamondbacks wouldn't be able to afford him to come back next year. That's from his perspective. That's the I guess why he has the opportunity here to go out and sign a deal that's only worth $7.5 million plus bonuses, according to Nick, on a one-year deal because he's still 28 years old. He could still bounce back and sign a longer-term deal if he comes in here and has a good season with Arizona, a team that needs him, right? And again, this is not the signing most people wanted to see. And I don't think the Diamondbacks are done. What this serves is that starting pitcher that we did not know who would accept this type of role.

We talked about guys like Nabil Krismot and other guys, guys that are essentially relievers that would be looking for a starter role. It's much harder to convince a starter to come into a team where you're going to be the number five guy essentially in theory, unless you work your way up in the rotation, and you're going to essentially be looked at as the first one out when Corbyn Burns returns from his injury. Not a lot of starting pitchers would trust that, I guess, instability. The lack of, you know, the lack of knowing what they're going to be. A lot of starting pitchers don't want to convert to a long reliever potentially when another injured player comes back. So it was hard for the Diamondbacks to go outside of the organization

and find a pitcher that would be willing to commit to this team in this way in a very short-term deal and a very affordable deal. That would, again, be willing to accept this type of role. role, right? So again, it's, it's, there's moderate upside here with a depth piece for a rotation that needs innings. And that's really what it comes down to for the diamondbacks. They have to get two starters, not one. Signing Seroca to a $7.5 million deal allows them the financial flexibility now to go out there and sign one of the better starting pitchers who will in theory be your number one guy, even though it should be Ryan Nelson and we all know that. But if you bring in one of these

not the top arms on the market, but a very good starting pitcher, maybe sign him to a multi-year deal that allows you to, you know, inwardly structure the contract. Maybe he's not getting paid nearly as much in 2026 due to the budget constraints, but he could get paid more in 27 and 28 theoretically. And that would, you know, allow the Diamondbacks to bring in perhaps one of these bigger names. Now you talk about that person, Corbyn Burns, you know, Ryan Nelson as your one, two, three, that feels pretty good. It gives Michael Soroka here an opportunity to be good enough that he moves himself up in the starting rotation and puts somebody else who isn't performing into that danger of being the guy that is no longer in the starting rotation.

That opportunity is wide open. We might scoff at bringing in a guy that last season had a 4.52 ERA, but check the stats. that ERA is actually better than a number of our starters from last year. So if he can find a way to have a bounce back season, if he can find a way to be better with Arizona, which quite frankly, a lot of these numbers suggest that he is, his defense behind him wasn't very good. His expected stats are pretty good.

I think we have his baseball savant page, and his baseball savant looks damn good. if I'm not lying. When you look at his expected ERA last season, 3.46, his expected batting average there very much in the red at 210. His breaking run value up there is at 84. His breaking stuff is good. Barrel percentage, he allowed 6.7 last year, does not allow a ton of barreled balls. And overall, like, might have just been a little bit of a victim of bad defense behind him, maybe a bad team behind him, maybe nothing really to play for, except personally for him to get a deal with another team in 2026.

I just don't think that these numbers scream that he's a bad pitcher to me. He fits the by-low strategy that Diamondbacks needed to find. And again, those options are not going to be out there in spades. A lot of guys, again, you see what Devin Williams got as a reliever for putting up, honestly, numbers that aren't much better than Sorokas, right? He has ground ball tendencies with fits Chase Field. He can keep the ball on the ground.

He plays just better into overall the Diamondbacks defense. And he gives Tori Lavallo flexibility, flexibility that they needed if they were going to have a guy willing to accept this kind of deal. He can start. He can shift to a long relief swingman role. He could be a bridge-legged, you could be just an innings eater

if other starters struggle at one point he could end up as a high leverage arm for this team. The opportunities are wide open for a pitcher coming into the Diamondbacks right now because nobody particularly has a role and nobody has won that role to the point where they

have a job given to them and it's secured other than maybe Ryan Nelson right? Like Ryan Nelson he has been consistent and good enough that there should be no talk. I'd say fought too just because he's a valuable enough asset and the diamondbacks have given him that extension where like he has so much investment into him that he is definitely

a member of the rotation. But other than that, like nobody, right? Like not not even E. Rod who, you know, you'd say has struggled with injuries and consistency since he's been here. They haven't shied away from giving guys with a big contract still like, you know, putting them in the bullpen like they did with Jordan Montgomery, right? or wanted to or did. I mean,

wanted to. They did that with Jordan Montgomery. Yeah. And there's no coincidence at all here, Damon, that Elise is here on a day where the Diamondbacks actually made moves, right? Known baseball GM,

known Mike Hazen-Burner account. Elise showed up here in the live track for the first time. Mike's got to set the record straight. Yeah, no, he just wants to make sure that anything that I'm saying on the team's behalf or about this move is on the up and up. He also wants to see what we think about,

obviously. So great to have you here, Elise. If Soroka does rebound in the first, half, right? The diamondbacks have all sorts of options too, right? They could flip him for whatever at the trade deadline. I mean, if he's, if he's valuable, if he's that valuable and the team is doing well, then again, like we just discussed, I don't think anybody is impervious to being pushed out of the starting rotation if they're not performing well. Nobody. Ryan Nelson isn't. Nobody that the diamond backs have. I mean, maybe Corbyn Burns. I mean, but again, that's only because

they're going to give Corbyn Burns plenty of opportunities to come back and be healthy and be right before they decide, hey, we're going to shut them down this year, right? And that would be more of the injury and other things factoring in and not just Corbin Burns being bad. I don't see that happening. But I also, as I have cautioned with a signing like this coming, caution everybody to not just assume that Corbin Burns is going to be healthy and return at the trade deadline or excuse me at the All-Star break because we don't know that for sure. But on the bad side of things with Michael Soroka, his numbers, they're not good, they're not great. He's not a stopgap ace. He's not somebody that's going to excite this fan base with the signing, as you may have seen in our replies this morning on Twitter. There are a lot of people that are calling this guy Gibroni and saying he's not even a starting caliber pitcher.

When he's off, he's very hitable. And that's extremely dangerous in the National League West. Is it not where the lineups will just punish you if you make mistakes? But there's, there's, I mean, I don't think that the Diamondbacks right now in our position for their roster to be a problem for him to block a player, a younger player that might get this opportunity. And some people have suggested that. I don't even know who this player is that fans are talking about that the Diamondbacks could essentially, you know, maybe one of those guys they got recently, maybe a Mitch Brat, maybe a Cole Drake, maybe a David Hagamon, maybe our guy Daniel Egan, who. was on this show and was just tremendous. Maybe he's ready next year. That seems to be putting a lot on him considering where he was at to start last year. But prospects have been moving faster

through the minor league system, I think, because we don't need to have 10 years of information on them before we decide if they're ready to take on Major League pitching and hitting and whatnot. But I don't know. I think overall the ugly here, the risk with Soroka is the injury history. And it's bad. Like when I talk about Soroka's injury history, you're not going to like it. It's worse than his ERA. In May of 2018, he had a right shoulder strain. In June of 2018, he had right shoulder inflammation. In August of 2020, he tore his right Achilles tendon. That was a devastating injury. He suffered a full tear of his right Achilles tending, or ending the 2020 campaign. Then in 2021, he retore the right Achilles while rehabbing. And it required another

surgery and cost him to miss the entire 2021 season. And then during a minor league rehab assignment in 2022, he experienced soreness in his right elbow, which slowed his return in early 2023. After returning to the majors, his season ended due to forearm inflammation in his right forearm in 2025, he suffered a right bicep strain as well as a right shoulder strain. And that was after he suffered a right shoulder strain after being traded to the Cubs. He left his first outing early with right shoulder discomfort and was placed on the injured list. I don't love any of that. Some of those setbacks, forearm, bicep shoulder, at least they didn't require surgery.

But, yeah, I don't love it. I don't love it. And I mean, you could say just as the good side of things, each time he has returned, he shows flashes of his pre-injury form, but his durability over a full season is definitely in question. Right. And maybe the Diamondbacks don't view that as the necessity here. Maybe they view it as a guy that they only need for half a season to get them to the return of Corbyn Burns. But this is a calculated gamble and, again, a very low risk one because the Diamondbacks are only paying him $7.5 million. If he is bad next year, he's bad.

I mean, you know, he's bad. But again, he could stabilize the back of the rotation. He can give you competitive starts. He could give this team a chance to win and he can become either a useful piece for a playoff push. If they should happen to be that good in 2026, fingers crossed, or a tradable asset come the end of July at the trade deadline. So, I mean, the worst case scenario here,

for the Diamondbacks is that he just gets injured again. And he forces the Diamondbacks back into bullpen games and emergency call-ups because they don't have the depth to overcome a starter. They don't have the finances to go out and get three starters or add more depth to this organization. So it would probably be an emergency call-up or Bryce Jarvis or Christiane Manah that would be the one that would fill in should Soroka get injured again, right? but just still feels like this is a low-risk move. It's smart for a team that's operating on a budget.

But it's not enough. It's not, it's not, don't get me wrong. Like we tweeted about this being one of the moves that they needed to make. Yes, because this is the low-cost number five starter that you needed to find. You needed this because you don't have five starting pitchers. You don't have four. You have three right now. You have three healthy starting pitchers.

Your options in the minor leagues are limited. and really you're at the bottom of your barrel as far as pitching depth. So two starters are honestly a minimum that this team needs. Two starters is a minimum. But, you know, again, it's also not the kind of move that's going to excite the fan base. It's not the kind of move that makes you feel like this team is competitive in 2026. It's merely a gamble, the exact type of gamble that we have described, we thought we would see this team make.

It's a low risk option, a guy that's rebounding from a band, Bad season, a guy that's looking for an opportunity and a guy that has a proven history of being good at one time in his career. He has suffered setback after setback when it came to injuries. And like, that's not something any of us that watch the Diamondbacks in 2025 want to hear. We don't want, I would just prefer that the risk is that he was just going to be bad. But, I mean, again, there there's the fact that he is. I don't know. Tommy, or wait, I'm sorry,

Cool Bro said Gambo reported Soroka is unlikely to be a starter. I mean, then I think that if that's the case, that this might be an unnecessary move. Maybe things fell through with Pete Fairbanks and maybe he's no longer the relief option that they're looking to. But I can't imagine that Soroka isn't a starter. He's a starter. He's been a starter in the past.

And he's a guy, again, that they need to take a risk on in order for him to come back. be a starter once again. Like he's, he started 16 games for the Nationals in 2025. Gambo's tweet says that he is going to be a starter. Oh, okay. Yeah, it says the signing of Michael Soroka is pending a physical,

but he will be a starting pitcher for Arizona. That makes far more sense. It does not preclude them from signing or trading for another starting pitcher. Arizona is still actively looking to add to their starting rotation and bullpen. And as we discussed off air, Derek, I think that, you know, like he's, he is going to be a starter and he is going to be on the back end of that rotation, but he very easily could be put in the bullpen, taken out of the starting rotation,

traded potentially. Like this does not mean that he is written in Sharpie in the starting rotation, but as things currently stand, now we have a higher floor with Michael Soroka in the back end of that rotation. I mean, it just at least means that there's somebody capable of starting. And again, he's also capable of accepting any kind of role that he might be given

throughout the year. Since returning from his injuries, he had a 6.40 ERA in his first year back with the Atlanta Braves. That was just in six games or seven games, excuse me. In 2024, with the White Sox, he had a 4.74 ERA in 2025 or in 25 games.

And then in 2025, he had a 4.52 ERA in 22 games. Played. 16 with the Washington Nationals, six with the Cubs. What I'm saying about Soroka here is that at least you can see a little bit of progression in the right direction.

And again, as much as we want to criticize his ERA looking bad, some of the peripherals look much better. And he still is giving you the same quality that you might be getting from some of your other starters right now, even though it's not great quality, for $7.5 million a year. Like that's really what it comes down to is the Diamondbacks don't have the money to spend to get all of these players and make this team good. So they have to gamble on guys like this.

Michael Soroka might be exactly what this team needs. And by the way, I'm going to stop saying Michael now. It's officially Mike. And yeah, now that I've done that, we can all get on the same page. It's Mike Soroka, not Michael Soroka. But, yeah, I don't hate the signing. I actually like the signing. I'm not surprised by the signing.

Now, with that being said, the Diamondbacks need to do more. If this is the signing and then another pitching signing happens that's let's say similar to this, then I would definitely start getting on the page of we are already screwed for 2026. The next addition to this team needs to be a starter and it needs to be one of higher quality. I would even say that with this move of Michael Soroka, I don't know if adding Merrill Kelly is enough to make this team competitive in 2026. They might need to shoot a bit higher. They might need to spend a bit more money. And again, again, Again, they also might need to get a younger guy who can be on a little bit longer term of a deal that allows them to structure the contract creatively.

That means that he might not get paid as much in 2026, but understands he's doing so, whoever they sign, to allow the debacks to have a bit more flexibility and make this team a winner. And then, hey, you're going to get the same amount of money. It's just going to get, you're going to get more in 27 and 2028. I don't know. But this move, this move for now is a good move as long as it is paired with more. you bring in a Paul Goldschmidt, you bring in a Pete Fairbanks, and you add another starter that is one of the better free agent pitchers that's available on the market, even if they're older, even if they're coming off a bad season. And I still feel like you have done your job this offseason to give this team a shot. Yeah. And then force Mike Hayes in the front office to make buy moves at the deadline.

Right. Like have a good enough front half of the year with AJ Puck and Justin Martinez hopefully and Corbyn Burntz coming back in the second. half that there's enough there for the debacks for an office to invest. I think that that's not completely unrealistic, but you need these type of signings like Michael Soroka to be hits. Yeah, for sure. But what we're going to do is take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, as I've said earlier, it is winter season, winter meeting season. And we're going to talk about all of the rumors, the moves made, and why I could tell Marte rumors may never, ever go away. We're going to do that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching

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I'm excited to not be there. And that's not an attack on the winter meetings. I know there are people that apparently wanted to go and were not allowed to go. They were not credentialed. Jared Karabas was not credentialed by MLB. Nor was Dallas Braden, an MLB announcer that currently announces for a current Major League Baseball team, was not allowed to have a credential to an event. That's so wild.

I feel like there's details missing on that. I know I do things like missed the deadline and then I'm like, oh, they didn't get me a credential. But all at the same time, you know, it is what it is. Derek, we could get credentials for that. I think we could. I know our guy. I know we could. I know our guys from Rockies, I believe.

The DNVR Rockies show are out there. You're really, you're happy you're not out there with the Florida sun touching your skin. Oh man, the meetings there in Orlando. No, I do not enjoy Orlando as a city. I do not like it there. That is not the Derek that I know. I know. It's crazy to say that because I'm such a theme park guy, right? Like a theme park guy, a Disney guy, a lover of Universal Studios. I went to Universal Studios and then Hollywood 16 times in one month when I was a lad, Damon. And that's how much I love Universal Studios. But no, no, no, no. I do not like the city of Orlando.

I do not want to be there. I mean, no one's asking you to spend time in the metropolis that is Orlando. We're talking about like Kissimmee, Florida, where the Disney parks are located. I mean, you're not hanging out? First of all, it's, Disney owns an entire city down there. It's insane. You get on freeways and the freeways have Mickey Mouse on it. That's not something that I...

It's pretty crazy. It was unnerving. Come on. they have like Harry Potter world? I know you're into that. That's the thing, Damon. If I went to Orlando, and this was definitely, I know we're going to address Espo status as GM of PHNX here later, but.

As we should. As we should on every episode, quite frankly. But when it comes to sending me to Orlando, right call not to. I would not go to the winter meetings. I would spend the entire time at Epic Universe. I would be hanging with the classic universal monsters. I would be in Harry Potterland. You would not tear me away from Super Nintendo.

land. In fact, I am going to the Grammys next February and I am planning a trip to Universal more than I'm planning a trip to the Grammys itself. So is that a, is that a price thing? Are you not really a Disneyland man either? No, no, no. It's like I hate the, I hate it. It's such a weird city dedicated primarily to miniature golf courses and theme parks. I've never seen anything like it. It bothers me. It disturbs me. The bars close at like 10 o'clock? Do you have no idea? We had to make a bartender at Hooters Break Protocol to let me and my friend Darrell stay there extra long one night just so we could actually drink enough alcohol to make us drunk, Damon? What if? So this is this is where I'm

what I'm trying to figure out here. So Disneyland, okay, because they went to Los Angeles, California, Anaheim technically, where there were already were a bunch of people and things that were built. And they said, we're going to build the theme park here in this place where there's lots of people. Orlando bad because Walt Disney bought all that land and like built basically the entire place around it. Yes. And that's what. Yes.

The fact that it was not organically a city before Walt Disney is what bothers you. It's weird. It's the it's everything about it. There are so many things. Don't even get me started on Orlando. I'm so fired up right now. I could tell. It rains every day at 3 p.m. in Orlando. I can't operate on a schedule like that.

Every day it rains at 3 p.m. That's nuts. Oh, and then you walk around. Like you go places. There's so many. Yes, there's those theme parks, but then there's the weird other theme parks. You know which ones I'm talking about. The ones you would not let your child go in because of their questionable nature. And I don't mean of adult content.

I just mean in general. Creepy as hell in the middle of nowhere. And like, oh, hey, here's a castle in a medieval theme theme park. Yeah, like I'm going to let my kids go to that. Absolutely not. But Orlando, also the thing that bothers me is the winter meetings themselves. Don't get me wrong. The winter meetings, I am not equipped to attend winter meetings.

I get bored very fast. And you expect me to just stand around in a lobby until eight, nine o'clock at night waiting to watch a bunch of executives celebrating the bar that they traded for someone. That's how it happens. That's where the excitement is. It's in the bar at 9 p.m. when the news is broke and the team is celebrating the signing of a player, which doesn't even happen very often. It sounds pretty.

Or trade. That sounds pretty electric. I know. Well, I mean. Just hanging with a bunch of baseball GMs in the hotel bar. Yeah, right. Like they want me there as much as the pro wrestlers want me there for sure. Yeah.

I mean, listen, Derek, that's when that's when you got to let the personality shine through. You go to the hotel bar. You have a couple, maybe six. And then all of a sudden, you and the GMs are getting along real well. I mean, that's shirt off vodka correctly into the mouth territory. Yeah, 100%. You're Bert Kreischer in it at that point. But even before the winter meetings officially started,

there was already a notable trade. The Seattle Mariners traded for left-hander Jose Ferreira of Ferreira to the Washington Nationals Exchange for top catching prospect, Harry Ford. And that is somebody that I've seen the Mariners fan base say absolutely no to all the time. yet, uh, yet here he is being traded. Kind of wild. Um, but again, just the beginning of things. The meetings are expected to hopefully get this hot stove.

Let's ramp it up a little bit. Like Michael Soroka, it's a nice little appetizer potentially. It's good for us. We need news. We need stuff happening. But yeah, this is not. It's not even wings though for the table. It's not even not.

No. No. No, this is you ordered an order of like six, you know, mozzarella sticks and there's four people. Yeah. And you're like, yeah it's not perfect it's going to be a little bit of a of a starter everybody at least gets one everybody get a little bit of marineries are you giving me one and and you know i'm going to let you have a little bit

extra of the next app but yeah this is it's not exactly what uh it's not exactly filling it's not what people are clamoring for it's the kyle schwarber is the main dish right Kyle schwarber is the gigantic everybody sharing get in on this and there are multiple teams that reportedly are interested and dining on the Kyle Schwabber free agent addition. That's a rib-eye. Yeah, it's a porter-house. That's a porter-house. That's a big fella.

But it's funny because I love that most of the reported, like other teams interested in Kyle Schwerber seem to be other teams in the NLEs. So I need that infighting to go on in the NLEs. That would be objectively hilarious just in terms of how much those fan bases dislike each other. No, 100%. Also, I think it goes to show how good Kyle Schorber truly is. the teams that play him the most are like, please. Yeah.

He's available. Yeah. Whatever it costs. Like that guy is the best DH in the league. It's not even close. No, without a doubt. But, I mean, again, he's also going to cost you a lot of money. And there's a lot of players out there that are costing a lot of money.

As guys continue to sign, that market continues to go up. Otani. We saw, yeah, it's all Otani's fault. No, I just realized Otoni is a DH. And I said Schwerber is the best D. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, there is that. Is he a pitcher who hits?

I'm sitting here and I'm like, Otani DH is a lot, doesn't he? He does. Meanwhile, Zach Gallen was a cub for two hours, Damon. I believe if it was that long, per Bob Nightingale, there were reports of the Cubs were close to signing Gallen to a multi-year deal worth roughly $22 million per year. Here is Bob's original tweet and then his updated tweet. That changed, that added the word,

hopeful to it, which the Diamondbacks are hopeful of trading Cotele for Paul Skeen's. So, but yes, but those reports were quickly cast into doubt by some other insiders like Jeff Passon, who explicitly said, as we retweeted, Gallin does not have a deal and is not close to finalizing one. So we got in fighting with reporters now. And this is, Zach, go to the AL. If you wanted me to really go. to the winter meetings. It would be seeing that I would I would go to go see Bob Nightingale

and Jeff Passan to have a verbal argument over Zach Gallen's contractual status in the in the lobby of the hotel. But again, Gallen comes off of a down season and the one thing I kind of laughed about here again, 4.83 ERA. The Diamondback just signed a guy that has a better ERA for $7.5 million dollars so uh 4.52 era versus zack gallons uh 4.83 over under i mean it was over under 92 inning so again uh overall zach just had generally worse strikeout numbers worse walk numbers than his previous ace seasons and uh again for the cubs it's a high risk uh signing for him because it sounds like it's going to take zach gallon it's going to cost a lot they said 22 million dollars i had some people asking like why aren't the diamondbacks in on that but again that feels

like it would be a five-year deal or something like that for Zach at this point. And some people believe it was an overpay. Overall, many of the Cubs fans did not like this signing. They said that this would be a mistake, especially committing this much to Zach Gowlin. And then, you know, again, doing so on unreliable reports before the deal is signed also doesn't bode well for this whole thing. But that's what the winter meetings are all about. Rumors, rumors, rumors.

And sometimes incorrect rumors. But Damon and I, we have been monitoring the Cotel Marte rumors very closely. Damon and I have been making sure to keep an eye on everything Cotel Marte related. And now we're starting to see all of the vultures that are trying to pick the Diamondbacks carcass of Cotel Marte, which teams exactly that was. We did an exercise to see which teams actually we thought were the ones that called about Cotel Marte. trading and we are delighted to report that we got four out of the seven teams correct so these these are the teams that we said we are these are the heathens that we're trying to get our

cartel marty the boston red sox los angeles dodgers new york metz san diego padres philadelphia phillies seattle mariners and the toronto blue jays so now with the rumors coming out we are hearing that the boston red sox are very much in on a cateo marty trade and In fact, they might be the ones that are willing to give up the most. Meanwhile, the Seattle Mariners have also stepped into the arena, and we are seeing a lot of ridiculous trade proposals with the Seattle Mariners, but trade proposals nonetheless. We also have heard about the Toronto Blue Jays monitoring Marte's availability,

and we also know that apparently the Detroit Tigers and the pirates and the Tampa Bay Rays have all made inquiries. in regards to Cotele-Marté. So no Dodgers, no Padres, no Mets. Instead, the other three teams were the Pittsburgh Pirates, allegedly, the Tampa Bay Rays, allegedly, and the Detroit Tigers. Interesting. What are you, what are the Rays and the Pirates even doing?

You know what the Rays in the Pirates see, his team-friendly contract? They're like, oh, yeah, we could get a superstar and not pay them. That's totally a raise and pirates kind of. thing to do is it not. Get them out of it. Yeah, I mean, I can't believe that. Four out of seven is pretty good, I will say. You did all right.

And guess what? I think the Dodgers and Padres probably would be the, they'd be the first two teams calling if it wasn't the D-Backs on the other end of the line. You know what I mean? 100%. If it was any other team across baseball, I guarantee the Dodgers and Padres would be interested in Cte-Mar-Calibre player. But, you know, the D-backs, they probably know better than Nicole Mike Hazen.

and they call Mike Hayes and the Dodgers, and he just goes, ha ha ha ha. Their numbers blocked. It doesn't even ring when they call. They're like, that's weird. That's,

yeah, we'll take Otani. And we'll just pay him whatever you guys are paying him up front. You guys call the defers. Yeah, good stuff. Good stuff. Speaking of more from Bob Nightingale on Cattel Marte.

He said this in his update on winter meetings rumors. And I did not love this part. of his article. Bob went on to say the D-BACs, however, believed now is the tie to sever ties. I think he meant time. The D-BACs, however, believe now is the time to sever ties and are in desperate need for pitching.

The Red Sox raised tigers have all checked in with each having the pitching death to satisfy the D-BACs needs. It's the, it's the D-BACs believe that now is the time to sever ties with Catele-Marty. That makes me sick to my stomach, Damon. Just the idea, just the concept

that Cotel-Marty as an individual and as a player has soured his relationship with this organization so much that they believe now is the time to quote-unquote sever ties. I hate that. I hate that. Again, this is more... One more time, what was the full context? It says the debacks, however, believe now is the tie. to sever ties and are in desperate need for pitching.

And then it goes on to name the Red Sox Raised and Tigers have been teams that checked in and they all have the pitching that pitching depth to satisfy what the Diamondbacks would need. But nobody seems to know what the Diamondbacks need. Most of the trade proposals for Cattel Marte have a bevy of prospects as part of it.

It's like, no, that's not what we need. We need major league ready pitching, guys that have already been in the majors. I mean, I think that an important part of what Mike Hazen said that this team would be looking for is young controllable pitching. The immediate connection there, the immediate assumption

is that that young control pitching has to be guys that are unproven. And yeah, I mean, I don't know. I don't know if unproven prospects are going to move the needle enough, no matter how many you give them for this team, that as we have said time and time again,

have a sense of urgency to be competitive now. They might not be. They might not get the job done, but they need to be competitive now. They have the prime years, if you do not trade Cotel Marte, of Cotel, of Corbyn, of Coyle, of Corbyn, of Coyle, of Coyldo Pardomo,

all happening now, plus one of the best pitchers in baseball for a short amount of time on this, as a part of this organization in Corbin Burns. There is no punting on the season or punting on the rest of Corbin-Burn's time, because if you do, it is ultimately a,

gigantic failure. It's the Jordan Montgomery experiment was a gigantic failure. You can't have another one of your huge free agent signings essentially go down at the end of the day as another gigantic failure. And that is what this would be considered if the Diamondbacks don't find a way to be competitive while Corbyn Burns is part of this franchise. That's why they have no choice but to try to make this team competitive. they have no choice, but to try to go now, not later.

You know, and that's why a Cotel Marte trade for prospects in a future situation doesn't really make a lot of sense, you know, especially some of these ridiculous trades. Somebody floated us a, I'm sure some of you saw it because I know some of the names in our chat have been arguing with this person and telling him how dumb he is, but someone wanted us to trade Cattel Marte and Ryan Nelson to the Mariners. What? what are we even doing? Let's just fold the franchise up and move it at that rate, right?

What are we even doing? I mean, from a Red Sox perspective, I think that they actually could put together a decent enough package. I was just looking at their prospect list right now, Derek. I know you just said you don't want prospects, but they have multiple pitchers that have MLB ETAs of this year that are in the top 100 of the MLB prospect. They also have

Jared Duran, who it seems like they're trying to offload and fits the D-backs in a sense with, you know, the D-backs probably looking for an upgrade offensively in the outfield to an extent. And then maybe, you know, you could hopefully get a middle infielder

out of them as well. Like there is a haul that the Red Sox could potentially put together. It wouldn't be the worst offer in the world, but I know Jacob, I don't know if Big Jake is watching this show, but Jacob Franklin He's always watching. Has very much been

liking the potential of a Red Sox offer in particular. So for what it's worth, that's just a team that does make a decent amount of sense. You tell Jacob, I don't like that. And I don't like his attitude about this. And he shouldn't be liking any trades that involve Cotel Marte. That's how I feel. And that's my stance on this. What I will say, I agree with you.

I did see some Boston Red Sox fans bring up a point. I don't know if it's a valid point. I don't know if it's something to consider. However, and it wouldn't it would be more of something for the Boston Red Sox to consider, but that's a tough fan base. That's a fan base that yells a lot of mean things at you. And we know they could tell Marte had the incident in Chicago that kind of just blew up and became something bigger. And I'm not trying to, it was a scumbag move and it's something that I don't want to make smaller than what it was.

Right. But again, very difficult to play in certain markets considering that your own fans, not the opposing fans, not one random jerk in the crowd, your own fans will scream some of the meanest things you've ever heard at you in those parts of the country when you are a professional athlete. Might be looking into it a little bit too much, but there's definitely something there of like... It's something you've got to consider, right? I mean, these teams, they interview players, they do a lot when they want to determine if they want to make a move like this or whatever.

Or at least they try to talk to agents and work some of this stuff out. But again, you know, the way that guys handle certain things should be factored in. And it's not something you can control when you're the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees. Your fans are just going to be like that. And it's something that, honestly, like, again, not anything the Diamondbacks need to worry about, but something if I was one of those teams that I would take into consideration. I also don't believe that Catelle Marte is that mentally weak. I think Cotel Marte has been an athlete for a long time.

And I think he has had lots of mean things yelled at him. So I don't think that he's not capable of taking on that kind of heat. I just think that that incident this year was particularly hard on him and was particularly directed at something that he's sensitive about. But that information's out there. So again, if you're talking about some of those AL East fans, they're just going to, I mean, some of those terrible people are just going to use that, you know, and make it a thing.

And again, it's, like you said, it's definitely overthinking it, but it's something that a team that's acquiring him might have. have to think if the diamondbacks according to bob nightingale believe now is the time to sever ties with him over him spending a brief extra period of time in the dominican republic during the all-star break then you know the then i don't know this whole situation still doesn't scream like it makes sense to me there still doesn't seem to be a lot of logic tied to a cattel marty trade uh and at the end of the day for me the diamondbacks are the ones that need a superstar player on a team first friendly contract. They don't need to be looking to offload one. They need to be keeping one here

in this city. I agree. I agree with you. I mean, you could fill multiple holes. That's what the, you know, the counter argument to that would be. But I, I 100% agree with you. Like, Catelle has one of the best value for his contract and production deals in the entire league right now. And on top of that, like, he's like the most valuable player at his position. Yeah. In the sport, which is incredibly impactful. So, I mean, I think it'd be egregious to get rid of him. I like what Jarmey said in the chat. He said trading Ketel would be like trading one of our military branches away.

It'd be like getting rid of the Navy. That's crazy. We can't leave ourselves that open to attacks. Not in the ocean. Anyway, we're going to take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, you know what we do on Mondays. You know what we're here for. We're not here for any of these rumors or any of this other stuff.

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a good time of the year to get some extra cash with the holidays here training all of our bank accounts. You guys know what day it is and you know what we do on this day. I'm excited to get to these questions. And of course, it is winter meetings related. But as you know, every year on the PH&X Diamondbacks podcast is our year. Every year is the year of the snake. Every month on the PH&X Diamondbacks podcast is Hispanic Heritage Month.

Every week on this podcast, Shark Week. every day on this podcast, Earth Day, because Damon and I recycle. But on Mondays, you know what we do. We go to the mailbag. Damon, let's hear that Grammy-nominated award artist Megarin. Welcome us to Mailbag Monday. I'll never miss a chance to hype that man up. Let's go.

Anyway, Damon, what do we got in the mailbag today? Derek, you are probably one of the all-time hype men's. I look I've asked him I like I want to be his spliff star okay I want to be the spliff star to his buster rhymes I can stand on a stage I can dance I can say yeah and come on and what I can say all of that so yeah let's get let's make this happen let's make this happen all right let's get to the mailbag first question comes from Travis more who asks is the soroka signing a hopeful placeholder for an expected burns return during the season I'm as I'd assume that's the idea if they can land another solid arm the rotation, whether through a free agency or trade. 100%. I mean, this is it. This is exactly what it is. It's the move we've talked about that we didn't know how they would fill what role that would be. If it would be someone like

Chris Bassett, who's probably going to cost far more than someone like Michael Soroka, or just maybe an actual long reliever that has had some experience in their past of starting. So the Diamondbacks could plug them into the rotation as their fifth starter to essentially have a live warm body out there every five days pitching and hoping that that person, whoever it is, could give them a chance. But more importantly, it was a person that needed to be able to adapt.

When Corbyn Burns comes back, if Corbyn Burns comes back in 2026, there's just going to be some moves that need to be made. We discussed earlier what we think might happen. Who knows, right? I think, again, the wonderful part about being a player on the Diamondbacks and the thing that makes it so nerve-wracking for us as fans that watch this team is the opportunities for most positions and most players are wide open. Any young player from the minor league system, anybody that they bring in that might have come off a

bad year or somebody that, you know, obviously for some reason, has a reason that their value on the market is not as much as other options, then those guys have an opportunity that's wide open to come in here, win a job, and be an everyday regular starter. It doesn't matter if it's a pitcher. it doesn't matter if it's a position player. Like, yes, Herald O'Prodomo isn't going anywhere. Yes, Corbyn Bairns isn't going or Corbyn Carroll isn't going anywhere, right? Like certain guys in the lineup aren't going anywhere.

However, that doesn't mean that if someone comes in, they can't, you know, potentially win a spot. I mean, it's crazy as it is. If you outplay Haraldo Perdomo, you could win a spot. You're not going to. Don't even think you're going to, but just hypothetically, in a fake fairy tale world. anybody can be replaced by a guy who is having himself a great season. That's the reason why this team is perfect, is wide open for any player to join. And that, again, is the beauty of what's happening here for Mike Soroka.

He's getting another chance to come here, get a starting opportunity, prove himself, and raise his stock here. Right. I mean, he could end up, like I said, being so good that the Diamondbacks can't even consider resigning him after the one-year deal is up because his value might have skyrocketed based on his performance in 2026. And it's enough for him to get a longer term deal at age 28, age 29 in 27, still not an old guy, still a pitcher with plenty of career ahead of him after making his debut at just 21. So I think that's a good point. Like that in an ideal world, he is probably playing for another team next year after this season because he's so good this year that he becomes unaffordable. Exactly. That would be the ideal

scenario is that he's so damn good that he goes and signs a five-year $200 million deal after this year because he just wows another team so much, right? That would involve him being extremely good and yeah, it could involve the Diamondbacks benefiting

from that. That's a deal I'm willing to make right now. Meanwhile, Katie wants to go on the negative side and said he could have ended up injured. Yes, Katie, that's absolutely the case. As a matter of fact, a friend of mine and I were texting Peter Griffin memes to each other about, you know, Soroka two starts into the season holding his knee and, you know, being injured. There is a tremendous amount of risk here. The only, the only thing here

is they're only paying him $7.5 million. At the end of the day, he, like I said, the reward isn't probably even a high reward. You couldn't say it. It's a moderate reward. You, you want him to be mid at best and maybe a little bit better than mid. Average is while the Diamondbacks need him to be. When you look at his numbers, that, is what he was last year. He wasn't great, but he was slightly above average with his FIP and, again, had some good, you know, peripheral stats that, again, expected stats, expected batting average, expected ERA that make you feel like, you know, at least he could be a serviceable member of the starting rotation and a guy that, again, gives you somebody that gives you a chance to win every five days, right?

But I do think, going back to the question, that's probably the scenario overall. And again, when Damon talks about best case ideal scenarios, it would be that Mike Sorok is so good this year that he doesn't lose his spot in the starting rotation because the Diamondbacks can't afford to move him out of the starting rotation and then they move someone else. Someone else loses that job. That opportunity is very much on the table for him, for sure.

Lando in the chat, by the way, says Lucas Gialito would be a solid option to fill in until Burns is back. And Lucas Gialito, he's another guy that is, he came off a very good season. betting on himself, but I feel like Gioido versus Seroca is that Gio Lido is looking for a higher contract and more money, maybe more guaranteed years. I'm not opposed to the Diamondbacks giving that to somebody, but my problem now is that the next signing that they do for a starting pitcher needs to be somebody that you feel more

confident in their consistency and not somebody that you're taking a gamble on in the same way that you're taking a gamble on Seroca here. What else we got, Damon? Our next question comes from Herald O'Prodomo's biggest fan. debatable. It's crazy. If we get Merrill Kelly to how do we feel about the rotation and what would your order be

and also if we get Merrill Kelly to does that make the chances of a Marte trade go down since the rotation would be technically full? Yes. And of course because Marilyn Ketel are best friends. Our best friends yes as we know. Yes to the I guess the second question. I think

if the Diamondbacks brought back Merrill Kelly we're able to get another starter through free agency they're there they're I mean you're not trading catelle marty for relief pitchers and prospects you're not trading catelle marty for a first baseman unless you're talking about like freddie freeman you're not talking about you know catelle marty going to some other team for a fourth outfield or a right-handed outfielder like i just i do feel like bringing back merrill kelly does solidify that situation and if the diamondbacks were going to trade marty the hope would be that it is major league ready starting pitching uh but i do like the idea of adding kelly but i will agree, and I think I said it earlier, that bringing Merrill Kelly back and adding it to a rotation of Ryan Nelson, Brandon Fott, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Mike Soroka does not scream to me that the Diamondbacks are going to compete in 2026. And that's what I think the rotation would be. If Merrill returned, Merrill would be the ace of this staff until Corbyn Burns returns.

Then from there it would probably be Merrill, Ryan Nelson, Brandon Fott, E. Rod, or maybe interchange those two guys, and then, you know, Soroka at the end of the starting rotation. I don't love that starting rotation. And I have kind of been an advocate in the past. I still think Merrill Kelly is going to be the starting pitcher they signed. I think that's the move we should prepare to see. I agree. I have been told by people that Merrill bought a new house here in the Valley.

We know that the sons had welcomed him out and he was there with Miggy. So there's things that make me believe, plus the, you know, report that there's mutual interest from both sides on a Kelly return, feels like Merrill Kelly, once again, is that lower cost option that still gives you a consistent quality starter, somebody that's close to our heart, and somebody that can help you win, I just, again, don't love that starting rotation overall. Those guys all have a chance to definitely prove themselves, for sure. And I do love the flexibility, once again, financially, that it gives the diamondbacks.

But I don't know. We'll see. We'll see what happens. I feel like that's the move that's going to happen, though. What else we got, Dan? Our next question here comes from Austin. And Austin asks, after Soroka signing, does the next starting picture come from trade, or do we bargain shop again?

We prefer Fairbanks and another starter signing over Merrill back at this point. Right. And, see, that's the debate. And, I mean, people have talked about not wanting Zach Gallen back and people have talked about not wanting Merrill Kelly back. The reason why is because it's like insanity. It's expecting the same results without change. changing anything. It's the reason why our guy, Killer Rex, who probably had enough of my

positive talking left the chat. But it's the reason why people like Rex and people, other people in this chat and on Twitter, want Tori Lavello fired. Because they feel like this is crazy to run it back with the same manager and expect different results. They tend to blame quite a bit of what happened to the Diamondbacks in 24 and 25 on Tori's managing. I would argue that some of the big moves didn't work out, injuries piled up, and some new coach hires have questionably impacted this team overall, right? Sean Larkin was replaced. You got Brian Kaplan that still has a lot to prove in 2026, but, you know, again, there's

just the pitching was trash for the Diamondbacks and that's it. That's what lost the Diamondbacks both seasons and somehow 2025 got worse than 2024. I will say, though, that was for you, Rex, but again, expecting the same thing or different things with the same people, same players. That's the part that doesn't sit well with a lot of people. And it's the reason why if you bring in somebody from outside of the organization, even if they put up worse numbers than Merrill Kelly, but just comparable, people would feel more excited about that. They would feel more excited about the potential, the possibility of what could be rather than what they already know Merrill Kelly to be. I love Merrill Kelly, though. I think he's a very

consistent, has been a consistent pitcher on the mound for us his entire career. He was always a great story. He's a valley guy. And there's just a lot there that I think still bring me around to thinking that that's going to be the signing. But I mean, a trade could definitely happen. The Diamondbacks still don't have a lot of money to spend. And if they go after Pete Fairbanks, you have, you know, the $7.5 million you're paying

to Soroka. Fairbanks is estimated in the $9 to $10 million range. So let's just say you have $18 million next season wrapped up in those two guys. you still have to get another starting pitcher. And at that point, that leaves you in the neighborhood of spending $20 million on a starting pitcher or less to keep you anywhere close to the budget that you were supposed to stick to. That would still put you at $38 million. And you still wanted to go out there and add a first baseman and a right-handed hitting outfielder.

So the idea that the Diamondbacks have this starter and perhaps Pete Fairbanks, a deal in the works with Fairbanks, that leads me to believe that they may need to make that trade in order to get that next starting pitcher, that guy. That could come from someplace like the twins with Joe Ryan. It could be as crazy as Freddie Peralta, though I know the Diamondbacks don't have the assets for that. They don't have the assets for most trades unless that asset is Catelle Marte.

That is what, once again, brings us back time and time again to these Cotel trade rumors because Cotel really is the one asset that team, would covet and give you an absolute haul for in exchange because of his team-friendly contract, him being an MVP candidate, everything about Ketel, being the best second baseman, all we've talked about. That's the reason why these rumors come back, because if the Diamondbacks make a trade in order to get an elite arm, it would most likely require them to part ways with Marte. There are still the other trade rumors out there involving Alec Thomas, involving Jake McCarthy,

unless you package those guys with some of the top prospects, again, I don't believe the value there is high enough for you to get back a major league ready, young, controllable starting pitcher, as Mike Hazen said, he's been seeking out. I wouldn't be surprised still, though. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Diamondbacks fill the next starting pitcher spot through a trade either,

because, again, $20 million is not a lot of money to spend unless that deal, as I said earlier, is a multi-year deal where you structured it inward and you have, you know, maybe a pitcher getting paid $15 million this year and like $25, $30 million next year in the following year, it's not really going to work out financially for the Diamondbacks. So we'll see. I'm going to leave so much with we'll see. Damon, what else we got?

Our next one here comes from front of the show, guest goes to the show, Cogs. Let's go, Coggs. Cogs, I'm picking up the phone for Cogs because Cogs has a real. offer. No doubt about it. Coggs wants to know if the pirates are supposedly in on Catell, would you trade Catell for Paul Skeens? And if not, who do you want headlining a trade to Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh does not have the assets that I'm seeking unless it's Paul Skeens. Mr. Skeens is is well welcome in the great state of Arizona. We already know him and Tori have a relationship. Why not? Get him over here. If you start talking crazy like that, then yes. But again, this is why we've said that any package involving Cattel always goes like to the borderline of being outrageous for you to think the Diamondbacks would accept that on as a return. And then it's always an insane return on the other team's part where you're like they would never give up that much. So not to discredit your

question, but looking at the Pirates lineup, I mean, I don't know if I feel great about a package from the Pittsburgh Pirates. I still don't even understand why they're calling Mike Hazen. I don't want what they're trying to do. But, yeah, I get it. Pittsburgh has always been the kind of team that wants like a superstar. And Cotel Marte fits that. But he's on a very team-friendly contract, which also fits what the pirates are always trying to do.

So I get it. But again, this goes back to whatever I tell you I want from the pirates is already going to be too much. So if you're talking about giving me a young controllable stud, one of the best pitchers in baseball and ball skeins, then yes, you can have Catell-Marté right now. I will pack his bags. I will take this jersey off my back and send it with him.

And I will happily upgrade at the Chasefield team shop to a Paul Skeen's jersey this afternoon. So, yeah, like if you're talking reasonably, then yes, that's a trade I would accept. But it's not reasonable. And that's the problem with that trade and any trade that comes to the Diamondbacks. It would literally take a team to want to risk it all and do something like that. order for me to want to sign off on any trade. So it's why Mike Hazen's job is so hard in Orlando. Plus, his job is also hard because he's not allowed to go to Epic Universe or Disney World or Animal Kingdom or any of those theme parks. And again, that would make me so grumpy just to be

in Orlando with all of those chain restaurants and I can't go to the theme parks or play miniature golf. Get out of here. So anyway, I do want to tell you guys, though, thank you so much to our guy, Jason, Jay Army Strong. A. Z. Appreciate you being a supporters club member. If you are not a supporters club member, you get access to all sorts of fun stuff, including exclusive content from us. We got our boys playing headbands, and the theme is Valley Villains. We're going to get that one up, and that is for supporters only. There's so much more as well, including that badge that tells you you have been with us for so long. Updates with time. It tells you how long you've been a member. You also have access to those

custom emojis. And again, all the other behind the scenes, vlog, experimental of content, everything else we're doing. Just a great way to support us. It directly goes to us, and we can't thank you enough. For those of you that already signed up, if you ever send a super chat, again, once per month, this might be a great way to sign up and become a supporter instead of that super chat. So regardless of if you are a supporters club member or not, we appreciate all of you for the

support, especially us here at this baseball podcast. We keep it going during the off season, and we can't thank you guys enough for the support and for being here. And of course, shout out to everybody that has already joined that supporters club. Speaking of Super Chats,

I think we have one. We do. I'll read it off. This is more of my style. Remember when ASU fans thought Kenny Dillingham was in the running for the Auburn job?

Dillweed was never getting in the running for no Auburn job. That's the wrong show for it. $5. Champi. Appreciate you guys. Thank you, Champi. I actually,

I'll actually take a back. I actually really like Kenny and I think Kenny's a great coach. I think Sam Leavitt is overrated and that's what I was getting killed for all season. Turns out I was right. Turns out everyone actually agrees with me somehow who could have seen this coming. Hold on, hold on.

But who do you remember telling you that exact thing months ago that also roots for ASU? Yeah, you were never a huge Levin. I mean you saw it. You saw through it earlier in the sea. I think you were hyped in the off season and you You won a big 12 title last year.

I'm not going to be hyped. After the Mississippi State game, you're like, oh, that's not the Heisman. He's definitely not that. Definitely the Mississippi State game. That's not the high school. You can't be rattled by cowbells. That's not how you get rattled. Come on.

82 yards. Oh, God. All right. ASU's going to be fine. They won games with Jeff Sims. They're going to be fine. I don't think they are. But we appreciate you guys also for being diehards, by the way.

And we have our Discord. We have some, I think, some questions from the Discord as well as Twitter. What are we got here? This is from. Durkiewicz and Durkowitz. I don't know. Yeah, that's good. Based on currently available information,

place the percentages on if Ketel was straight. Oh, God. I hated the 50-50. And I might be there, Damon. Nah. I'm going like 80, 20. He stays. I still feel like it's impossible for a team to come up with a package.

So it's going to take a lot. I'm going to say I'm cautiously optimistic that it could tell Marte trade won't happen. and I'm going to go 6535. It's the best I can do. Okay. I can't go lower. Best I can do. There's too much smoke.

There's too much smoke. And you know I love smoke. But again, when there's smoke, there's fire. Do you? Oh, I love certain guys. Next one is here from Russell who asks, do the debacks make a huge signing or small signings? Has to be small signings.

It can't be a huge signing. They just, they don't have the money for it. And a huge signing, no matter what position, no matter what starting pitcher you're talking about, no matter what player, The market is just going up. And I mean, that doesn't mean that there might not be a guy or two that drops through the cracks a little bit, slips through the cracks and ends up unsigned closer to the starter spring training and the Dinembacks might pull a move that we've seen them do in the past. I just still think that in order for them to fill these needs, it's going to have to be small signings.

I don't know what you would consider a small signing, though. I still think Paul Goldschmidt means more to this city and this fan base than he would mean to most cities. right so I think that that kind of is in the eye of the beholder there Pete Fairbanks is an incredible reliever so if the Diamondbacks managed to land him as we are hearing rumors about I just think it's kind of an under the radar signing but then when you look at his numbers and such you might say like how did this guy go to the Diamondbacks without other teams swooping in right so there is that and and again I mean if they do something for the outfield but

really it comes down to the pitcher and I just don't think that they will have the budget big enough to land a big name starting pitcher. They do land Merrill Kelly that's similar to Paul Goldschmidt, where it means more to us in this city than it would probably mean to most teams and most fan bases out there. But yeah, I don't see them being able to do too much. If anything, if anything is a huge move, once again, it's the Cattel Marte trade. All right, what else we got? Our next question here is from Espos, who asks, why does Esposuck as a GM?

God, dude, I thought we were like reserving questions like this for like when we had time to do it on like a whole episode. Because there's a lot that goes into this. Yeah, we'll hit that later maybe. No, well, here, I'll tell you why ESPO sucks as a GM. Espo sucks as a GM because he cares too much. That's why ESPO sucks as a GM. Because he works too hard. Because he works too hard is why ESP sucks as a GM.

My only criticism of ESBO is his ability to provide us with water. Yeah. It's really like he's trying to like drive us out of this office with the lack of water. Well, isn't that the first thing lack of water makes you insane? Right. So maybe he just wants the content to be like off the rails. Yeah, but I mean there's there's other ways to do that. He could slip mushrooms into a catering order.

There's lots of different ways. That would be insane. An institute that everybody has to smoke weeds. in the office policy instead of one where nobody can smoke weed in the office? I don't know. I mean, there's, there's, yeah, there's a lot of ways he can make us insane. But one way that he does not make us insane is by being our GM. I want to take some time to stand up for our guy and just say that despite a lot of

ups and downs that we've had here at PHNX, a lot of good and bad. Espo has always been a stand-of guy. He's always been an incredible leader for us. And he's always taken accountability around here. But at the end of the day, he truly loves this place, this company, and he just wants it to be something that lasts forever, you know. And I think that that's something that I think we all appreciate. And Espo has done a tremendous job of having, I think,

every single one of us working in this office buying in on him as our GM 100%. So do definitely appreciate him for everything he's done. But, yeah, he does suck as a GM. It's terrible. He cares? It's crazy. Saul Bookman used to yell at me once per week. Scream in my face.

Espo hasn't screamed at me once. Not one time. Anyway, what else we got? We got one more question before we get out of here. We got two more actually. Oh, let's go. What else we got?

We got number one D-Baks fan in Texas. What is the most overrated Christmas food? You guys are going to hate this. Wow. It's ham. What? Ham is the most overrated Christmas food. Are you even Puerto Rican?

I know. Well, see, here's the thing. You are saying ham, pork is different. You're right. You're a bitch and you know it. I'm just saying that I'm sure I know Puerto Ricans love the pork. Oh, I love my pork. I love Bernille.

I love pernil. I ate preneal every single day for the five days that I was in Puerto Rico. That's fair. Every single day. I found a place that basically serves it by the pound like a barbecue style. And I'd never needed to eat anywhere else the entire time that I was on the island. White people ham is different than like pork. and I'm sure.

Yeah. Brian's right. Fruitcake is never good. Right? Have you ever had a good fruit cake? I've had good pineapple upside down cake. I've had good other cakes. Harvey Wallbanger is an incredible cake.

If you've never heard of that, that's got like alcohol in it, makes it even better. But no, I hate ham so much. And fruit cake. In general, Puerto Rico, yes, it's a per neal culture. And that's why we hate ham so much. I'm not a big casserole. guy. I'm not really a fan of any type of casserole. Yeah. Like that's a, you know, you wanted to make something, but you also wanted to sit on the couch for an hour and a half while it cooked. Like,

I don't, I don't. You don't respect that. Yeah, right? Like, you got to get up every 10 to 15 minutes and stir something or flip something in order for me to feel like you're actually cooking. But our guy is a G. Ferreira says, it ain't Puerto Rican Christmas without some of Roos con Gondoles. You're Arozco gandoulos, tostones, uh, you know, maybe some, uh, mafongo? Mofongo? A love, love me some Mopo.

I'm just, I just, I only know that because the day and a little big poppy. Yeah. Uh, yeah, definitely. Uh, all right. What else we got? Oh, no, no, Ryan, not eggnog, not eggnog, Ryan. Eggnog is not, no, no, no. You need, again, come over, Ryan. We'll, we'll eat per Neal and I'll make you coquito.

And we'll have a great time. I promise. All right. Let's get to the last one there. Last one is from Rognar who wants to know. Corbyn once said he thinks he could take a giraffe in a fight. Derek, without your superb wrestling coaching, do you think Damon could take a giraffe? Oh, my God.

Okay, so. So Corbyn said that that would be the biggest animal that he could take it in a fight, I'm assuming? In a giraffe. Yeah, giraffe. I think Corbyn is vastly underestimating the neck strength of a giraffe, right? Not even the neck strength. Is this a full, I'm assuming this is a full size giraffe. He didn't say baby giraffe.

He didn't say baby giraffe. Have you seen a giraffe kick like a lion and knock it out cold or kill it with one hoof to the temple? The only, I am, I've never been more like, this is like a horse that's like five times stronger than a horse kicking me. It's good. It's not going to end well. It's not about the neck. It's about the hoof I'm about to catch to the, to the throat. Damon, the only way either of you are beating a giraffe in a fight is taking the giraffe by surprise.

Yeah. Right? Like the giraffe doesn't know you're in a fight. If you are talking about a mortal combat style setup where the two of you know you're in a tournament and are looking at each other eye to eye and there's an official of some kind that screams fight in between you, you are not beating that giraffe one on one. No. Maybe not even one on three. Like what is the biggest animal I can take down in a fight? Here's the thing.

Cosmo gives me a bit of a struggle. I think. And he's the size of a baby hippopotamus. Right? So like, I would love to act like I could beat a wild animal. But in all honesty, most dogs I've ever owned have been quite submissive to a human being

yelling at them or disciplining them in any way. Not Cosmo. Cosmo is the most defiant dog that I've ever owned or met. And like, he only ratchets it up when he gets more in trouble. He peed on the Christmas tree like three times, Damon. You know, I hate that. And you know what? I don't have any choice but to just accept it because I can't.

You know, I've kicked him out of my house. I've evicted him. And he came back. Yeah, he doesn't leave. He doesn't leave. I think I could, you know, I said this when I was in Tennessee and I saw a lot of these. I think I can take a black bear I don't think you can

I don't think you can I would like to see you do that I would like to see you do that I know you can't take a giraffe though and that again you couldn't even take Jeffrey the giraffe the mascot for Toys R Us that's what someone alluded to earlier

you think Jeffrey hasn't had someone run up on him from behind before the man he stays ready he doesn't get ready or I shouldn't say the giraffe he stays ready but he's also out of a job right now so no use to discussing him. I still don't think either one of you, though, can take a giraffe. And I'm, I'm, honestly, Corbyn, he's usually a bit more logical than this, right? Like, saying, you think you would have thought this one out a little better. Like, maybe he can outrun a giraffe. Is he talking about beating him? First of all, a lion in the middle of the ocean, against a full school of full grown tuna? I assume it's off the coast of Madagascar.

Yeah, well, we'll see. again we'll have to see i want damon to put his money where his mouth is with the black bear and i want corbin to fight a giraffe now these are i want this more than i want news out of the winter meeting but again we love you guys we appreciate your questions as always we thank you so much for stopping by uh we went extra long today and i think i said at least two curse words i'm not allowed to say on this program any longer fuck it that's wrong he did it too so anyway we love you guys got to follow us on twitter i'm at cap underscore caveman that's for the wholesome clean content if you want to on all of the curse words. Follow Damon at Damon Dog with a DAWG. Of course, we're all

Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Dude, you have a foul mouth. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Appreciate you guys stopping by. We will see you tomorrow with another 12 p.m. episode. Make sure join us for that. Maybe we'll get some more news out of the winter meetings. But until then, we all get to take a look at Michael Soroka's baseball's Savant page and keep our fingers crossed. Until tomorrow, you all behave yourselves, Katie, specifically, Ryan, you too. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun when you have five starting pitchers.