PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - BREAKING: Diamondbacks Hire Pitching Coach, Jordan Montgomery Involved In Trade Rumors

Episode Date: November 12, 2024

JOIN THE DIEHARDS FOR JUST $4 A MONTH! https://www.gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube The Diamondbacks have found their new pitching coach, hiring former Phillies assistant pitching coach and director of pitching development Brian Kaplan. We have more from Join Derek, Jesse, Steve, 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/olp/open-account?affiliate=365_03330244 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and choose your offer! 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/ Bluechew: Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code ALLCITY at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. That’s https://bluechew.com promo code ALLCITY to receive your first month FREE. Visit for more details and important safety information, and we thank BlueChew for sponsoring the podcast.. Zbiotics: Go to https://zbiotics.com/phnxdbacks to get 15% off your first order when you use PHNXDBACKS at checkout. Pre-Alcohol is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they’ll refund your money, no questions asked. Empire Today: Schedule a free in-home estimate today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details. Branded Bills: Use code PHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order! 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! Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. 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. Check out FOCO merch and collectibles and use promo code “PHNX10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items. Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code PHNX for 10% off! Get 10 FREE meals at https://hellofresh.com/freedbacks. Applied across 7 boxes, new subscribers only, varies by plan. 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Coach and Brian Kaplan. We have all the reasons why he's the right man for the job. In 30 seconds, don't go anywhere. To another edition of the PHNXDbacks podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montiakian. As your mayor of PHNX, we got my vice mayor, Jesse Friedman, aka your Thunderstick. And of course, one of my favorite people in the whole wide world, my former co-host and current pre-game and post-game host for the Arizona Diamondbacks, none other than Steve Zinsmeister. Steve, thank you so much for joining us, pal.

Yeah, what a day to do it. What a day to do. We got ourselves a pitching coach. Yeah, we do. That's absolutely correct. We have so much more on the Arizona Diamondbacks new pitching coach as well as Jeff Passon confirming the Arizona Diamondbacks might be moving Jordan Montgomery, as crazy as that sounds.

We will get to that here shortly as well as some of Steve's favorite interviews from his time as the pregame and post game host for the Diamondbacks. But first, obviously, we have breaking news here with the information that the Diamondbacks have hired Brian Kaplan from the Philadelphia Phillies as their new pitching coach. Kaplan was their assistant pitching coach as well as their director of pitching development. And so far everything I have seen, we have seen out of them, you can't help but like considering that you know this Diamondbacks team is going to continue to build from within. This team is going to do things to develop those young pitchers and having a guy that has this experience feels

definitely like the right move. Yeah, I guess I'll start by saying that I'm not sure there was ever a day where an organization, specifically the Diamondbacks hired a new coach and people were like, oh, that was a big mistake. I think just naturally, yeah, like that never really happens, right? I think there's always optimism on days like this where a team decides to go a new direction and picks the specific person who's going to take them there. But that said, I do think there are legitimate reasons to be excited about Brian Kaplan as the Diamondbacks new pitching coach.

he was with the Phillies for the last three years, which I feel like speaks for itself in a lot of ways. The Phillies have been outstanding in really every respect the last three seasons, but specifically on the pitching side. So yeah, I think there's a lot of reasons to be optimistic about this higher. And we'll get into some more of those here over the course of the show. A term you're going to hear quite a bit about Kaplan.

And of course, Steve is very familiar with this. This is bio mechanics when it comes to what he has a big focus on. And specifically, like, health care and I guess you could say, like, the taking care of yourself as a pitcher in a different way. Like that so far seems to be what everybody has to say about him and kind of what his role was with the Phillies. Yeah. So what we've learned about Brian, I honestly, admittedly didn't know much about him

before all of this. But what we've come to know is that this is a guy who was a pitcher at Notre Dame and his pitching career basically just abruptly ended. Right. when his arm just stopped doing the things that he needed it to do. And we learned later that it's thoracic outlet syndrome, which nowadays, you know, several Diamondbacks players, including Kyle Nelson this past season, have had their careers or their seasons interrupted.

But it's something you can overcome nowadays. Back then, it meant that, you know, you had to find something else to do for a living. Way back then in the olden days of 2001, you know, back then when we didn't know nothing about no medical stuff. But no, it is actually quite hilarious. It's different. I mean, he has a lot of, he has a lot of knowledge about thoracic outlet syndrome and the surgery. And considering the Diamondbacks have three pitchers that have had that surgery, which is a very rare procedure that you don't usually see or hear of a lot of pitchers in baseball having.

It's, I mean, I feel like just that alone is very valuable considering those guys are all going to be on the roster most likely this season. Yeah. So this is a guy that, you know, found a living selling gym equipment and designing. gymnasiums and stuff like that for people to work out in. He ends up helping to co-found several prominent sports facilities, training athletes, including a lot of big name baseball players, and then finds his way into the coaching realm in Major League Baseball. And here we are a few years later. He's very highly respected for what he's been able to accomplish when it comes to biomechanics. That's a word we're going to hear a lot. That's the word of the day. I texted with someone who covers the Phillies in Philadelphia just trying to get an idea of this guy

and this hire, he said, quote, home run hire, super smart, biomechanically inclined. There it is. Of course that word was going to be in there. The key one here is pitchers love him and trust him. And I think when we heard from him, which we're going to hear some clips here in a little bit, he and Tori Lavello made it pretty clear that messaging to the pitching staff is a big reason why he was hired. Well, let's get to that opening statement. We have more from Brian Kaplan on joining the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. Obviously, I'm extremely excited.

This is an incredible opportunity. First-hand knowledge of how talented this team is, especially in 23, obviously. So, yeah, I'm really excited. The interview process that Tori was talking about, it was intense, but for all the right reasons. I got a chance to kind of meet all sides of the organization from the front office to the coaching staff, to the analyst, to the medical staff, strength staff. and I think that was done intentionally. And it gave me a really good understanding what this organization's like.

And I think through that process, I got a really good understanding of the product across the field for me when I was competing against you guys. So I couldn't be more than thrilled to be here. You know, I'm sure you guys are going to ask me a couple questions. My role in Philly was assistant pitching coach and director of pitching. Some of the things that I want to bring here,

is an emphasis on health, an emphasis on performance, and what it means to tie those things together. So having really strong relationships with the strength staff, the medical staff, being able to handle a lot of complex information going back and forth from the analysts and trying to filter those things and simplify those things and relay them to the players in a digestible manner. So just trying to put together the most well-rounded message and hopefully move this team step forward. Yes, according to the chat is getting it. We are going to lead the league in biomechanics. That's what the important takeaway here. It's what it's all about, Derek. No, biomechanics, by the way, is like about, again, how the body kind of interacts a little bit there

with the physics of the game, right? And basically, I think a big focus from his perspective is on health and conditioning, strength and conditioning. And we know the Arizona Diamondbacks had a huge problem with that last year obviously and every baseball team does when you have a pitching coach that obviously has that as as you know something that's very important to them and and you pair that with a team that struggled to keep pitchers healthy not just the not just the setbacks that they had early in the season which brian addressed and said that a lot of those setbacks had kind of a you know like an effect on the rest of the season right you you you eventually see that effect on on the bullpen and such at a later point in the season.

But it's more about the fact that they really have struggled to keep pitchers healthy and keep pitchers honestly in a position where they're at their best to go out there and perform for this team. Yeah, I mean, you look at the Phillies over these last few years, right? Like they've got several workhorses in that rotation, obviously. And those guys have posted, right? Like you look at Zach Wheeler the last few years. I think it's 32 starts every season, at least give or take somewhere in that neighborhood,

Aaron Nola, similar story. Christopher Sanchez, I believe, has stayed pretty healthy. I know Ranger Suarez missed some time this year, but it stayed pretty healthy. And that's something that a lot of teams have been unable to do, right? That was a big narrative throughout the sport this year was everyone's getting hurt. Like, all the starting pitchers are getting hurt around the league. And, you know, a big part of pitching is certainly being effective when you're on the field. But another big part of it is just keeping your guys healthy throughout the season.

And yeah, I don't know, like, you know, does the addition of Brian Kaplan automatically, you know, mean that none of your starters are going on the IL. Like, I don't think that's necessarily how this works either. Oh. But that was wishful thinking. That's probably wishful thinking. But that was a big storyline with this team in 2024 was just not being able to stay to stay on the field. Well, and again, the Phillies have had a tremendous amount of success with their pitching staff.

That's something that like that they've kind of hung their head on. I mean, even with the lineup that they have, you could say at times that the. pitching staff was more impressive, especially over this last stretch of 2022 to 2024, where they led the majors with a combined war of 69. Nice. But I mean, I know it's not all Brian Kaplan, but again, there's the idea that he can bring not only his knowledge and expertise, but part of that culture, culture from the Phillies over here to the Diamondbacks. Yeah, look at how many All-Stars Philadelphia had last year. It feels like, I think, I think four, did they have four starting pitchers in the All-Star game, if I remember right? And then they had a bunch of guys from

the bullpen as well. So yeah, if you're looking solely at what the Philadelphia Phillies accomplished, certainly is going to look a lot better for the Diamondbacks who had what, the fourth worst ERA as a team in baseball. I think the only teams lower were Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins and Colorado Rockies. Those are the three worst teams in the game. Right, right. And so I think he will be a really good bridge between the strength and conditioning staff, the medical staff, and the coaching staff. I think that's certainly his expertise. And then what I'm most interested to see now is how you fill out the rest of the staff, specifically an assistant pitching coach, who maybe has a skill set that leans more toward the strategy

of the pitching, Arsenal's pitch shaping development. I think that still remains to be seen. No disrespect to Brent Strom at all. I will say that everything you've always heard about Brent Strom has been a, he's been a big believer in analytics and combining kind of his experience with like newer metrics and whatnot. And I don't think that he is necessarily. necessarily a guy that was left behind. But Brent Strom is an older pitching coach. And at times it's hard for me as a 43 year old to keep up with slang terms from Twitter,

let alone anything else in life that young people are doing. Right. So like I feel like there's a point where maybe just based on the way that the game has changed and coming from a period of time where we used to literally rub dirt on it when things, you know, to make it feel better and go back out there and play the game. Right?

Like maybe maybe this is a big help for the Diamondbacks and maybe it's just a change in philosophies that can help this, you know, this pitching staff bloom. Brian Kaplan, very familiar with the pitching staff. And Jesse asked him what his big memory was about that 2023 little NLCS. He had mentioned it earlier. He brought it up for his statement. Yeah. Here's what Brian Kaplan had to say about remembering the 2023 NLCS against this Arizona Diamondbacks team. The 23, I don't, I don't think I paid any attention.

to the pitchers. I think I was probably a little too over focused on the lineup out here. I do remember Ginkle kind of embarrassing us throughout the entire series. So that stands out. But yeah, I was definitely more hyper-focused on the lineup at that point. I'm clearly impressed with what you guys have put together. But no, I'm really excited. I mean, it's not a big piece of what I tried to do in Philly last three years was kind of help recreate the starter starter role, you know, and kind of define it a little bit differently than the direction it's been going. And I think we did a really good job of that with our rotation. And there were signs that we were building some really strong starters in the minor leagues. This staff has that.

Like, this staff has a lot of horses and starter depth. And you really can't say that about too many orgs in the game, too many big league staff. So I'm really excited. Obviously, I'm excited to get to work with the entire staff. But it's, it's, it's, I feel lucky to have that amount of starters at our disposal and see the best way we can kind of, you know, get them moving forward. What do you guys take away from that when he says redefining the starter position versus the direction that it's going? Does he mean kind of bringing back that length? Is it versus like the fact that starters don't go as long as they used to? What do you think he means about that?

Well, you also kind of talked a little bit about taking the pressure off the bullpen. Usually the conversation is flipped. Usually it's how do we take the pressure off the starter. So, yeah, I mean, some of that might be him saying, let's find ways with those biomechanics that we're talking about. Let's find a way to optimize pitcher's bodies to the point where, yeah, instead of five innings we can get six or, you know, on any given day, our pitcher doesn't have to leave due to cramping,

not hinting at anything specific there. But I think that ultimately what he's talking about is in Philadelphia, they were able to find ways to get guys like Christopher Sanchez or Ranger Suarez who maybe weren't the biggest names. All of a sudden, there's some of the best pitchers in baseball. Sure. And I think you do that by optimizing what they have already in their arsenal.

I think we can all admit that when Ranger Suarez was in the like Sy Young conversation early on in the season, we were like, yeah, no, there's no way. And it's not that he dropped off and came back down the earth in a way we thought he would. He still stayed very good. He wasn't as good as he was early in the season. and then it kind of dropped off.

Sure, yeah. But yeah, I mean, again, the injury impacts that more than him, just, like, becoming an average pitcher once again, right? But, like, there has been some impressive things they've done, like you said, with kind of limited resources. And this team is kind of the opposite. I still remember Jesse and I talking about how excited we were about this starting rotation at the beginning of last year,

you know, before everything kicked off and went the direction it went. And, I mean, you kind of still feel like the talent is there. We've talked about it. We're also going to talk about Jordan Montgomery, now possibly being that piece that they trade away. And I don't even want to think about how that will feel if he ends up being as good as we know he could be next season with another team. However, I do think that there's still something, Jesse, that hangs in my head. And that's the fact that, like, there was this, you know, problem with the pitching staff that Brent Strom kind of needed to dress across the board. And, like, I'm sure it wasn't with every pitcher, but it was something that they were doing enough of.

And I don't really care what it is now because it doesn't matter. Right now it doesn't matter. But with a new pitching coach coming in, I am very encouraged by the idea that whatever that widespread problem was across the board is something that a new pitching coach can possibly address and fix with this team. Yeah, something that stands out to me about Brian Kaplan is in a story over at the athletic that just came out a little while ago from Matt Gelb, who's their Phillies writer, does a great job.

He wrote this. He said, free agent pitchers and their agents, raved about Zoom meetings that they had in recent off seasons with Cotham, who is the Philly's actual pitching coach, Caleb Cotham, and Kaplan, who worked in tandem to create improvement plans. So, yeah, I think there's this sense, and it's not just this comment. It's a number of other things that we've seen, including some of these clips that we're about to show,

where there's this sense that this guy really connects with players. And really, the way that he delivers messages is digestible. And I think he's relatable, maybe. in a sense. And that's huge. I mean, ultimately, you can have all of the great ideas as a pitching coach, but if guys are not willing to buy into what you're selling them, then it doesn't really matter.

And we don't know exactly what the dynamics were with Brent Strom. I don't want to speculate too much. But there have been reports that have come out that have sort of directly said that Brent Strom's working relationships with some of the Diamondbacks pitchers, not all of them, but I think at least some of them was not ideal, was not what you would hope for. And I'm sure that the Diamondbacks are hoping that Brian Kaplan can can really connect with everyone in that room. I'm purely speculating here. But something that we heard from like Brent Strom's first meetings with pitchers was that he would show up at a coffee shop with this giant three ring binder with information on you.

Right. And I'm not saying that that's not good or thorough or helpful. But what I am saying is that in 2024, I'm sure a lot of these guys are sitting there going, why the hell isn't this on a tablet? You know what I mean? like little things like that like and and again that just goes back to like all the respect in the world to bernstrom and maybe that's why it makes it difficult is you do respect him and you do know he has a ton of knowledge and experience but at the same time we're moving into a world where there are newer different philosophies and bringing in a guy that actually doesn't have much coaching

experience but has been so well regarded in the pitching world and has moved up in a way where like he just seems kind of like a prodigy that people are pushing to these positions you know like you said, he was a guy that started out more in the healthcare kind of or physical, you know, well-being space, you know, of working out, of strength and conditioning and things like that, of like owning, you know, like or working like that in that space versus now being in major league baseball and getting this opportunity that he talked about today, which is as a blessing to get an opportunity to be a major league starting, you know, a major league pitching coach. Like that's not an easy job to acquire. And when you look at his track record, it's not like he has

this body of experience that someone like Brent Strom does that makes you say, like, this is one of the best, you know, options that we have. You interview him, though, and then you find out that his answers and the way he speaks and, like, the knowledge he has about health and conditioning as a pitcher and his experience from being one himself who had his career kind of tragically. And due to, due to health issues that he had and a point where he couldn't have, he didn't have feeling in his right hand. He feels like very much the guy for this team that struggled to keep guys healthy and to keep guys, I guess, giving their best.

I mean, last year was a disaster as far as looking across all of our starting pitchers and, you know, the seasons they had compared to the rest of their careers. Coaching, while I hate to boil it down to one thing because it's certainly a lot of things, but coaching could be said that it is mostly messaging. And once you come up with a good game plan, it's about not only how you're packaging that message for somebody to hear, but how they receive it and how receptive they are to your ideas.

So part of this, and you can hear it in Tori Lavello's answers today too, was he was kind of, I don't want to say taken aback, but he was mostly impressed with Kaplan's ability to be received well by the Philadelphia Phillies pitchers and their staff. And I think that that's a huge portion of this because I know he's smart. I know Kaplan's going to put together good game plans. I know he's

going to have good ideas for routines for certain guys to optimize them. I don't have any question about that. The real work starts now for Kaplan is, and I'm sure he's actually like one of the types of guys that loves the grind of trying to figure out what works best for each individual guy. What makes Ryan Thompson's mechanics, you know, as goofy as they may be. How can I optimize that? How can I play with that a little bit? Okay. now let's go over to Joe Man apply and what can we do with him i think that's going to be the fun part for kaplan over the next couple of months uh just to Riley in the chat it's bio biomechanics is what we're looking for not biometrics you were close but the answer we were looking for is

biomechanics you got to all remember that term we're going to use it 50 more times before this episode's over but you're right we did have tory kind of talking about that messaging and and again having players receive your coaching is kind of the most important part there right like being able to provide them with feedback, provide them with ways to make themselves better, and having them actually implement those things instead of just sticking to whatever they want to do is a part of it. These are grown men that no matter what you tell them, they can still go out there and pitch the exact way they want to. And if they're not actually, if they don't feel that that coaching is making them better,

then I imagine there's a point that you might stop listening to it. But we do have Tori discussing here why Kaplan was the right man for the job. and again, that messaging that Steve's talking about. He just hit on her. Being able to deliver the message the right way, I think there's a uniqueness in being able to address, talk to, and connect with players. And he explained how important that was to him.

On a given day, you know, he will have a certain type of a conversation with, for example, a starting pitcher, knowing where he is in his five-day process. And I was very specific about some of the questions that I was asking on that five-day process because I think it outlined how you're able to talk to, communicate, and want to understand the timing of one-two and how to communicate with a player. He talked about performance. Just now he addressed that as well.

It is about being able to key up that guy, get him on the mound, and go out there and help him get outs. And today, that conversation about how you're going to do it may look different than tomorrow. And, you know, there's a feel and a process to which he was going to be able to dig into and talk to and get to know his player and get to know what those cues were. You know, we all know that every player is different. And there's a getting to know process. there's a there's a understanding of how to build trust um how to show care uh and and go out there

and gain that that that that players overall faith in you that you're you're there with them and trying to help them get better every single day those were a few things that stuck out to me and of course we have a little bit more from tori on basically kaplan answering every question the right way but i mean it goes back to that messaging thing like he very much understands, I think, the needs of this organization. And I think, again, that's what made him so much the right man for the job. His particular, you know, I guess this particular area of expertise is a weakness right now for this team. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, this is, I don't think there's anything more important for the Diamondbacks this off season than getting their pitching right. I mean, yeah, there's, they still have some, some work to do certainly as far as their roster is concerned and trying to fill a hole at first base and fill a hole at designated hitter. but really the most important kind of development that the debacks need this offseason is just internal development, just finding a way to get the most out of the pitchers that are already here. And yeah, again, the hope is that Brian Kaplan is able to do that. Well, Tori really like the fact that all of his answers were the same answer that Tori would give himself.

Here's what it sounds like when you basically say like, yeah, these answers were what I would say. So I hired him. This is what Tori had to say. the way in which he was explaining things to me is how my mind works and I could tell that we were aligned with how he was thinking through the process. And that to me was an immediate connection. I thought as far as our relationship would be going during a baseball season, it was going to really work for me because he was he was hitting things exactly the way I would be saying them as well. It was overlapping with my next thought. So every time I was getting ready to think about saying something or ask that next question,

he was already answering it. And I could tell that we were aligned very quickly. So Tori hired himself is basically what I just heard. That's a good move. That's a good move. I did the opposite when it came to Jesse, obviously. But we could see what happened there. No, I mean, I guess there is part of the idea here that like you were going down a line of

questioning and thought process. And instead of having to even ask those questions, you have this individual, you're interviewing that's already like three steps ahead of you and already bringing up like what you're going to ask. I mean, that feels like someone that immediately has to be impressive, you know, impress you when you're doing all of these interviews. Do you guys ever watch Arnett Development? Oh, yeah. I love to rest development.

How did I know that Derek would have anything? Anytime you ask a question like that, you're going to get one yes or no. Unless it depicts our film that we both saw it. That's fair. Will Arnett, Job, his character. is trying to entice Ben Stiller and he just keeps saying same. Like even though they're clearly not thinking the same thing. He just makes it seem like they are like same.

Oh my God, same. That's the vibe I got on a Tori. Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, biometrics. I mean, biomechanics, whatever. Yeah, why. Like that same. I was thinking about that too.

I think, I think Tori went into this interview process, really understanding what he wanted out of a person, maybe not who that person was. I don't know how he heard about Kaplan, I don't know what the relationship was prior to this, or, uh, what kind of references he got on him. Sure.

But I think he knew that this was the kind of individual that he wanted to be on his pitching staff. And obviously, like we talked about, you still got to fill out the rest, right? And other guys they bring in are going to have different skill sets as well and how they complement each other. I mean, that's how you build the staff. Right. And he said that they are still doing those interviews. And of course, Kaplan is a big part of building that staff.

So the key piece is in place. And it's something, of course, that also can kind of maybe shape how the Diamondbacks look at free agents and look at maybe trading starting pitchers, which we are going to talk about on the other side of this break. Does Kaplan change things for the Arizona Diamondbacks when it comes to starting pitching? We'll talk about that. Don't go anywhere.

We'll be right back. Big shout out, of course, to Sanderson Ford. If you're in the vehicle market right now, looking for a new car, looking for a new truck. You've got to check out Sanderson Ford. We're proud to have Sanderson Ford as our vehicle partner and their Black Friday sale is right around the corner. These Black Friday sales are everywhere.

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I'm still, especially, I still do slushy drinks in this weather. So I'm a maniac. It's crazy. What's crazier is that the Arizona Diamondbacks might actually be able to trade Jordan Montgomery away. And of course, like I said, we know he's going to go shove somewhere else and make us all hate life. But per Jeff Passon, the Diamondbacks do apparently want to move Jordan Montgomery, which it should be no surprise. I don't think they're just a surprise that they want to move Jordan Montgomery. But Jordan Montgomery, it's sounding like is that name that the Diamondbacks are trading or attempting to trade as far as they're starting pitching is concerned.

We have discussed a few options. We figured that the younger guys are probably fairly safe and probably not available. But we did kick around the ideas of why maybe Zach Galen. Might be an option or Merrill Kelly, maybe not so much, but just again, those two guys with expiring contracts might be who they were talking about. It would appear now, though, Jesse, that apparently according to this report by Jeff Passing that, that Jordan Montgomery is the one that they're trying to move. No, no surprises here. We've talked about it the last few days. Like, yes, the Diamondbacks are attracting interest in their starting pitching.

And it felt like there was one guy that was far more likely to be traded than the rest. And that was Jordan Montgomery. Passan also said in this report, the Montgomery is near the top of the list of players that are most likely to be traded this offseason. So, yeah, I mean, it's not a done deal. We don't know if this is happening, but it definitely seems like there's some sort of momentum

toward a deal happening. And Jeff also mentioned that the Diamondbacks are willing to eat some money to facilitate this deal. And we've said from the beginning that if you're trading Jordan Montgomery, you're going to have to eat at least some of this money. No, I don't think any team is going to pay all 22, and a half million dollars for him coming off the season that he just had. So no big surprises here for me.

It's just a matter of kind of waiting and seeing if this actually happens. I don't think there's any doubt in any of our minds that the Diamondbacks would do this and eat money. We've seen them do it in the past, most famously with the Madison Bumgarner deal, where they did not really shy away from, you know, making a change. They might have tried to trade Madison Bumgarner, but I think that was just sort of money. Heck, they attached a first round pick to Bromgarner. to Bronson O'Royo to get rid of him.

Correct. Different regime. I don't care. But there's precedent there. Yeah, there's precedent that shows at least under the current ownership group that they're willing to make those same exact moves if the end result is to make the team better. Yeah. When you look at that 2023 season and you realize that Madison Bumgarder was a part of that team to start the season and made starts for that team in the beginning of the year, you can't help but think like, We've talked about this.

They wouldn't have made the playoffs if he stayed on that roster. They wouldn't have been able to do the things that they did in the 2020, postseason. And again, the fact that they were willing to make that sacrifice financially and do it for the benefit of the team being better, it worked out for them. I mean, they kind of got rewarded for the fact that early in the season, they made that very difficult decision to eat money and move on. And the team made it all the way to the World Series somehow, right?

So like, again, the precedent is there. We know that the diamondbacks don't shy away, but does it make sense to do it, especially with a new pitching coach coming in and the unknown factor being, we don't know what Jordan Montgomery is going to be with a normal offseason, a normal spring training, maybe a little bit of motivation to be his best,

a lot of motivation to be his best. And honestly, maybe a little less, I guess, things distracting him as far as how bad he felt last offseason went. Yeah, I can't help but think about it. from Jordan's perspective. I don't think anybody is more frustrated with the way his season went than him. Right. And so that's first and foremost.

But then also, too, you bring up, he's in a contract year, which means that no matter how much money he's getting paid this year, he's concerned about what it means for the future and what kind of contract he could be looking at in 2026. And so I think he needs to be in a situation that best suits him rebuilding his image as a starting pitcher. Right. Is that with the diamondbacks? I think that's a legitimate question.

If they have six guys on their rotation right now, as they do, and if he's the odd man out, it doesn't really benefit him much to be in Arizona either. Sure. I'm not saying he's asked for a trade. I certainly haven't heard anything like that. But he might be thinking about, you know what, there might be another contender out there that if they're willing to trade for me, that's a good situation for me to help rebuild my image as a starting pitcher so that when I do hit free agency again in a year, you know, it'll be a

better story for him personally than it would have been if he had opted out. here this off season. That's a good point. Like the diamond backs are not, I don't think he would come into spring training being guaranteed a job, right? Whereas if the team trades for him this offseason, presumably they're they're invested in acquiring him. They have, you know, they have a plan in place. They've got some ideas of how to get him back to where he's been in the past. So yeah, you can understand how this would just kind of make sense from from all sides of the equation. You know, the diamondbacks have, they've got some other guys. They've got Ryan Nelson, obviously, who, was really outstanding for them toward

toward the end of the season. It's hard to imagine a scenario where Ryan Nelson doesn't start the year in their rotation. And then beyond that, it's like, all right, well, Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly, they're certainly holding onto their rotation spots. Brandon Fott, I don't think you're moving him to the bullpen or sending him down, right? Eduardo Rodriguez, as long as he's healthy, he's going to be

in there. It really comes down to Ryan Nelson. And Ryan Nelson had too good of a year last year for him to actually be having that conversation about it's unfortunate because the only thing that's driving that conversation is the amount of money jordan montgomery is getting paid not who had the better season if it was who had the better season ryan nelson is is in the rotation without a doubt right and i mean again you're also talking about developing a young pitcher for the future that is going to be part of this organization for years to come versus some guy that's costing the diamondbacks a whole lot of money and is most likely not going to return after the 2025 season even if he is

here as a pitcher right so like there are all the reasons in the world to go with ryan nelson over jordan montgomery and everything you said is correct i think rudy in the chat asked how much uh would would it how much would we eat a little bit up how much would you think we would eat so i think you passed it there uh how much right there rudy uh i mean how much i mean i think yeah it's hard to say the initial thought here is that a lot of it right and then that that gets to the point of what's the point of even trading him if you're going to have to eat more than half of it. Yeah, I mean, I think the question is what would Jordan Montgomery get if he was on the open market?

Theoretically, that determines how much of this you have to eat, right? If he was getting one year 10 million on the open market, then the debacks home 22 and a half. That means you'd have to pay down 12 and a half, right, in order to get that number down to 10 million for whatever team acquires him. I have a hard time believing that that's how little he would get on the open market. Yeah, it's hard to say. Even after a bad year. Yeah, I think it's probably, yeah, I don't think he gets five million on the open market. I think it's a double digit number. I don't know exactly what that is.

The other variable here is what the Diamondbacks rather pay down a little bit more in order to like actually net a return? Or is this just a deal where they're just paying down the smallest amount that they can? They're giving up Montgomery and like, yes, they are going to get something in return. but if they just did it that way, they probably wouldn't be getting anything. That's the version that makes the least amount of sense. If you're saving $8 million by dumping a guy that could end up going back down and being the guy that he was last year,

then that, not last year. That's 2023. Not the guy. Well, 2020 was last year. We don't want 2024, but yeah, you get what I'm saying, right?

But like, yeah, again, I mean, my main thought there is if the majority of the money is going to be covered by of Donovacs and you're not getting anything in return, then what's the harm in at least having him come out in the 2025 season, pitch maybe be a little bit better and then trade him then when his value's kind of gone up because his value couldn't be any lower than it is right now at this spot. The only way a team is reasonably taking that risk on him is because you look at his track record, you go, this guy has to get back to where he was at.

That's like, that's the risk you're taking is you're throwing last year out as an outlier and you are saying, I still think he can be this guy that he was in 2022 and 2020 for us in 2025. And if you believe that, then you're willing to go out there and make this trade with the Diamondbacks. But again, if the Diamondbacks aren't going to get that much and not going to save that much money, they're going to need depth. Did you not watch what happened last year? I don't care how good Brian Kaplan is with biomechanics. He's not going to keep every starting pitcher healthy for the entire season.

That is not happening. So you got to also think about that. And again, the measure the risk and reward versus keeping him and getting rid of him. Like, yeah, I know. You're not going to go with six starters. And it's going to be a difficult decision as to who is going to be in your five-man starting rotation. Doesn't competition bring out the best in people, though? And if everybody's healthy and guys aren't just getting a role because the Diamondbacks need them,

then they are going to compete against each other in spring. And you could see George Montgomery in the first month of the season that, least lower that ERA and return to form a bit. And then I don't know, maybe you can make a trade at that point. Or maybe you just decide to keep them and roll with them. I don't know. It just, I feel like, again, Elise said it earlier in classic Arizona sports fashion, we're going to trade him away and he's going to shove and we're all going to be sad.

And Elise is always right about everything. And you guys know that. She says in true AZ sports form, when we trade Monty, he will go on to have his best season ever with his new team because that's just how it works here. Well, in fairness, GM, Mike Hazen did say in his radio interview today that it's more than possible that Jordan Montgomery could be pitching for the Diamondbacks in 2025. So I don't think he's going to be desperate or dumb about it, right? No. He's not going to be too brilliant for that.

They're not going to do a move just to do a move. In fact, he said as much on the radio today. So I think both Hazen in that interview and then Kaplan today in his introductory press conference, they both focused on how much they liked that they have so much starting pitching. So who's to say that even if the Diamondbacks do go out and move Jordan Montgomery, that doesn't preclude them from bringing in another starting pitcher. And I'm not saying that you're going to have six guys who are all making Major League money and one of them has to sit in Reno for a while and wait until somebody gets hurt. That's not what I'm suggesting. But this is a pretty good problem to have just because the Diamondbacks decide to move one guy or multiple guys from their rotation doesn't mean they're not going to bring in other guys as well that they like. That's a good point.

I will say I do think that you mentioned earlier, like his value will never be lower than it is right now. And I definitely see where you're coming from. But I would say that like if Jordan Montgomery comes out next season and and has a six and a half ERA for the first two months of the season or whatever, if he does have a role, I think his value is over. It's never been more over. I think right now you can, if you're an opposing team, I think right now you can talk yourself into a narrative of like, well, he didn't have a normal spring training. This was a very bizarre situation for him. Sure.

Give him a normal season and he'll look like the guy he's been for basically his entire career. But you can't actually see him first and have him be bad. Right. If he comes out next year and struggles in the first half and you're trying to like move him at the trade deadline, then I don't think the team is eating any money at that point. You're right. You're right. I'm so dedicated to this narrative that he's going to be good next year.

And that's like I honestly. It's possible. It is possible. I really think I at this point would be surprised if he was bad. I'd be like, huh, wow, really? That's crazy. But anyway, well, we have more actually from Jeff Passon's

story as well as that interview that Mike Hazen had with Doug and Wolf on the other side of this. With Doug and Eric, a few years off of that. I'm old. I told you earlier, we old people. We have a hard time acclimating to new things. It's on Wolf and Luke. Luke's way handsome. He's way more handsome.

Anyway, we'll be right back after this break. don't you guys go anywhere. I did say I'm old and I am old, but I will say that I still really, really enjoy things like the Bet365 app. I know Bet365 is newer and I'm not supposed to like new things or even understand how to work the internet. But Bet365 makes sports so much more better. Right now you can jump on there.

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So, of course, get 10 meals for free at hellofresh.com slash free debacks. Applied across seven boxes, new subscribers only, varies by plan. That's 10 free hello fresh meals just by going to hellofresh.com slash free debacks, HelloFresh, America's number one meal kit. All right, well, again, we had so much more. on this today. We had Mike Hazen on Wolf and Luke. I got that right this time. We also had more from Jeff Passon's article on Arizona Diamondbacks players besides Jordan Montgomery being the only one that might get moved. We did get confirmation that the Yankees are all in on Christian Walker,

which is no surprise to us. According to Passen, Walker's prime to snag a three-year deal, which again, no surprises there. This is all information we already knew. Walker's leaving to the Yankees on a three-year deal and that's what's going to happen. It makes me sad. Meanwhile, there's another guy that the Diamondbacks still have to deal with. I guess to make a decision on. And that's Jack Peterson, who apparently warrants a multi-year deal according to pass in. And I think I agree with that. It's most likely, you know, again, not to make him sound ancient, but most likely the last opportunity to get a multi-year deal. And the way Peterson performed last year, I feel like he deserves it.

Yeah, I think there's a pretty good case for that. We talked about this the other day about how the path for the Diamondbacks to retain Jock Peterson is maybe not all. Maybe it's not all that much of a long shot. Maybe it's pretty similar to the value of the mutual option that he turned down just on a two-year deal and instead of a one-year deal. So, yeah, it's going to be hard to replicate Jordan or to replicate Jock Peterson's production in that D.H. slot going any other direction. I mean, even if you do bring back Jack Peterson, I'm not sure you're expecting him to have the exact same season because it was unbelievable what he did. But yeah, if you don't bring back Jock Peterson and you're trying to fill the D.H. role a different way, it's hard to imagine you're going to get at that much production from that spot.

I think if you look at, well, especially with Jock having been kind of tossed around the National League the last couple of years, I mean, after his initial stint with the Dodgers, he went around all over the place. Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco. I mean, he's kind of been all over. And so I don't blame him for wanting a multi-year deal so that he can finally settle in. someplace but as far as the production goes if you look at the three position players that are free agents correct me if there's more than this but Walker Peterson Gritchick those are the three on those those are three offensive I guess Josh Bell and Kevin Newman okay more bench yes is yeah yeah but those three are the the focus those are the three that had a really good

season and most likely to leave of those three I think jock is the one that I would say if you have to get one of them back I want jock back the most now that's no slight to Christian Walker, certainly, because he's big on both sides of the ball. He's your cleanup hitter. He's the best fielding first baseman in the game. But just knowing what we know about how the free agent market might elevate his salary requests. And obviously, the signing of Pete Alonzo is probably going to play largely into that discussion. But Jack Peterson, he's probably worth a raise from what he was paid last year by the Diamondbacks. I say so. But probably not a lot. I mean, I don't see a platooning D.H. only getting more than 20 million a year?

Stop repeating what Jesse said yesterday. We're like so insane. Did you say this early? I just, I think is he worth a raise? Yeah, get him the raise. But he's probably not going to make a ton more than he will. Yeah. Christian Walker might. Yeah. Christian Walker. And so that might prohibit them from getting him back. So that makes me think Jock is probably the more attainable guy to retain. When you look at Christian Walker's offensive numbers and realize that he might have himself a year in a different ballpark that is in Chase Field. And then you mix that with how good his defense is.

Like the bidding war could be up there, depending on what Pete Alonzo gets in the market. I wouldn't be surprised to see Christian Walker wait until Pete Alonzo signs before he signs. But that's only because I feel like he's a little bit of the hotter commodity. He's the guy that I've seen talked about a bit more. He's the one the big teams like Yankees are interested in. So again, I wouldn't be surprised to see him wait for that. And you're right.

I mean, it's all the same reasons Jesse outlined yesterday, too. and you said the same thing. I mean, at the end of the day, it's a platooning DH who had the compliment of Randall Gritchick, who also had an incredible season playing alongside of him, right? He deserves a raise, too, by the way. Yeah, I don't know how much, but yeah, he's going to get one too. Well, and even Gritchick's value might be a little bit higher there because of the ability that he can actually play the outfield and other things that he's not going to necessarily

be a liability in the same way Jack Peterson is defensively out there playing as a position player, right? So his value is pretty much limited to that DH role. however that DH role is more important now than it's ever been in baseball I feel like so I don't know I mean obviously the diamondbacks have a lot of decisions to make there I think that I still think Christian Walker should be the priority but I'm with you on the fact that it feels like it's slipping away and it's getting more and more likely that he's not going to return so if he doesn't then I do feel like jock is the next highest priority I don't even know that it's slipping away I don't know enough yet about who his suitors are and what they're willing to offer if the Yankees are in on a guy usually that's a pretty good sign that he's going to make bank it's not a team you want to get into bidding war but i'm sure you guys have broken down the numbers and we heard from mike hazen today he suggested that the total salary for the team should be about the same as last year we'll see right i tend to think it would probably be more likely lower than higher um but i think that that number should

be relatively close and do you want to spend more than half of that on one player that's something they might have to think about if another team drives the price up on walker well he did say on wolf and Luke today that they have plenty of resources to have a winning team and the payroll somewhere in the same area as last year plus or minus. And again, you know that they already have close to the same amount of money they had committed last year to this year's team as far as a payroll is concerned. Yeah, I think it's, uh, we went through the math a couple weeks ago. I think they're, they're somewhere between 140 and 150 right now in terms of commitments just because Jordan Montgomery picked up his player option and they picked up the, the Gino Suarez option and the Merrill Kelly option.

So, uh, yeah, if the, if the total payroll is going to be in. in the same range, then as of right now, you might only have about $25, $30 million to spend. And I guess that takes us back to the idea of maybe trading Montgomery and trying to save some money there because then you can bring that number up a little bit higher. Which despite Passon's reports, Mike Hazen kind of sidestep the rumors on Jordan Montgomery today. She kind of has to in some way. Of course he does, especially considering that the last time we heard from him earlier this week

in the Associated Press article was that he had had a conversation with Mike and kind of did so, or with, with, uh, Jordan did some damage control a bit and kind of accepted some responsibility on the franchises in. Jordan accepted some responsibility there. There may have been something said or not said during that meeting that maybe made it my case and a little bit more likely to move them. Maybe he got after that conversation. The idea that maybe Jordan Montgomery doesn't want to be here and, you know, again, when you

kind of might feel that about a player, you might be willing to make, uh, the sacrifice and eat that money in order to move them simply, basically. on the fact that you know this is going to impact team chemistry and you feel like this guy isn't going to be a good guy to have a round and i know that the diamondbacks have had that in the in the past and you know based on some things we've been told it can impact the clubhouse quite a bit to have somebody that is not really down with the team chemistry in there but yes he also has to do that you're right you know and and there is a scenario where mcgomery can be pitching for the diamondbacks in 2025 i don't think it's that out of the question yeah that's what mike said and because of

that part of that conversation had to have been my case and and the coaching staff trying to find a way to make sure 2025 is better for jordan yeah than 2024 because he's under contract right now with the diamond backs and if you can't find a trade that you like for him or for any of your pitchers you still need to have that plan in place to make sure things are better going forward right he was also asked about the gallon rumors is that right yeah well it was funny he was asked about i think about the Jordan Montgomery rumors. And then he was like, yeah, you know, there's rumors out there about a lot of our players.

I think someone was reporting that Zach Gallen was, you know, also likely to be dealt. And yeah, Mike's statement on that was I don't know how to help you with that. So don't believe everything you hear. Yeah, that's how I hear that. Hey, we were breaking it down. We knew that they were going to trade starting pitching and we kind of analyzed who made sense.

And to a degree, Zach Gallen is probably, the only player that actually does make sense in their starting rotation to trade other than he's Zach Gallen and he's an incredible starting pitcher and you don't want to move him when you want to compete in 2025. But from an honest perspective, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to move Jordan Montgomery. But that seems to be the name that actually everybody here is hinting at. The reality of the situation with Gallin is you only have two opportunities to trade him if you want to. One is this offseason. One would be at the deadline. Right. The deadline feels much less plausible because, like you said, you plan on being competitive in 2020.

The competitive teams don't trade their best pitcher at the trade deadline. Except for the Detroit Tigers. I guess, I guess so. Well, the other guy. Why did you do that? They were very much not. Who won the Cy Young. That's true.

They were very much not in the mix when they traded Jack Flare. That's kind of a different situation. But, you know, reality is the Diamondbacks front office is likely having some conversations right now with other teams that would make us feel uncomfortable. Yeah. They have to throw around the idea of trading Zach Gallen and getting something in return when we know Boris clients like to go to a free agency at the end of the year. Oh yeah. And same conversation needs to be had about Merrill Kelly, who's also been very good for the Diamondbacks, was certainly a huge piece of their playoff run last year. He's just so affordable.

That's the only reason why I get it. But only for this year. No, I know. And then he hits free agency. I know. So it's kind of the same thing where, okay, if we want to try to get value for these guys, running out of time to do it. And it's a really uncomfortable thing for Diamondbacks fans. It's so hard for me to imagine the gallon trade actually happening the more that I think about it.

When we broke it down the other day, like there are some cases, some reasons to consider it. But I think we ultimately landed on it's probably not happening. But the more I just think about like the Paul Goldschmidt trade that Mike Hazen made going into the 2019 season, like that's one of the biggest regrets that he has as a general manager. He's been very open about that. And that was a pretty dang similar situation, right? I know that Zach Allen is maybe not quite the caliber of player that Goldie was at the time, but he's a really important part of this team. And Mike Hazen very much regretted dealing really the face of his franchise going into his last year before free agency.

It's hard for me to imagine him turning around and doing the exact same thing here, especially also given that I think this Diamondbacks team is probably better positioned to contend in 2025 than the 2019 team was. So it just does it just does not feel like a Mike Hazen kind of a kind of a move to make Well speaking of running out of time we are doing exactly that but we are actually Believe it or not going to talk to Steve about his time doing the pregame and post game show for the Diamondbacks in 2024 And and and interview him because he's here on a day where we had some breaking news and we're getting nothing but analysis from this guy But I definitely want to know why he understands heraldopredomo is the greatest person to interview in Diamondbacks history. So make sure you guys don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

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There it is. That's not even the final score. Yeah, that's a good one. But, of course, make sure to go check out chicken and pickle. You can watch football there and then grab your friends about beating them in fantasy football. Or you can also beat them in table tennis, which I'm sure this guy would absolutely do to me. You would destroy me in table tennis. But there's pickleball.

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I am new to that. But if you're new to Biggle Ball, they have Newby Nights as well. So you can learn how to play the game and have a blast with people in a similar, I guess, the skill level. So head to chicken and pickle.com to see all the fun you can have at their Glendale location. All right. Well, like I said, I know we've had fun watching your interviews this season. Very memorable. On the radio, you had fun watching those?

Oh, no. We came down to watch you do the pregame and postgame show a person, sometimes the pregame stuff, especially out there in front of Chase. But I know, you know, again, we still talk about Geraldo Perdomo's answer. to your question about what did he miss the most about baseball? And he said being down 02 in the count. Yeah. That's just, I just slightly that injected in my,

that's one of those ones where I, I think I expected the typical player answer of like, just being around the guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The daily grind. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The fans. And Domo was like, man,

I miss being down 02. And fighting my way back and like drawing a walk. And I was like, what kind of person are you? Yeah. You're wired so differently than anything I can comprehend. Yeah. If you needed anything to tell you. you about DOMO. I think that was it right there. But yeah, no, tons of great interviews we did over the

course of the year. I'm really excited to get back to it next season. I know that's a long way away or it feels like it. It's really not. It'll be here before. It'll come around the corner. But yeah, so many great times talking about the players especially. And I mean, this is your first game or first year doing this. And you've done an amazing job, by the way. I got to compliment you on that. No, I legitimately mean that and I hate you. So you know, fair enough. It's been a weird relationship. Yeah, for sure, for sure. But. I mean, honestly, like, again, it's, it's hard at times to bring personality out of players because of that. Like, sometimes they're just wired to give you that predetermined answer. And I think you do as good of a job as anybody can do in getting them to be themselves.

Well, I appreciate that. First of all, I don't think I'm any sort of expert in this field. And it really feels like most days I just go to the ballpark and I'm, what's that S&L character Chris Farley used to do where he's like, hey, remember when you hit a home run? That was cool. That was cool. And then I just see what they say. But no, there was one in particular one day where Christian Walker hit two home runs. It could have been any of the four times he did that during the regular season.

Several times. And I walked up to him after the game and I was interviewing him. And I basically did one of those Chris Farley questions. You hit two homers. That was cool. And the detail he went into of, well, before the game, I was on the trajectory hitting machine and I was focusing in on this specific pitch in this location and how it spins and recognizing.

And he just went on for like two minutes about the details that he was working on that lead to that home run. And I kept thinking to myself like, my question must sound so stupid compared to his answer. You're like, that question did not deserve that answer. I don't know why you gave me such a wonderful answer. And I think the more time you spend around coaches and players in particular and talk with them, the more you realize how little you know about a game that you think you've known your whole life. And like you think you understand why people do. I read all the time on Twitter or what.

whatever, like guys are like, why would you pull that guy there? And then you find out later like, oh, maybe he wasn't feeling well that day. And like going five innings was a big deal. Or stuff like that, you know, or like he broke a bone midseason and nobody knew about it. Stuff like that where that's what was most fascinating about the job for me was finding out how little I actually knew about baseball. Admittedly. Admittedly. Yeah.

Well, I'd make that admission every single day. But we do thank you guys that are watching on TV. We encourage you to come over and keep watching. We're going to talk about some more things with Steve here on go phtonx.com. So don't miss out on the conversation. Join us right now. Chat's fun. We appreciate you guys for being here in the PHNX Sports channel and your chat.

You guys are amazing. And I know Randy Johnson, I watched you conduct the interview with Randy Johnson. I know he's a at least used to be a very intimidating presence, right? But is he still that? Like, was it intimidating to have Randy Johnson come sit down with you and like answer questions? or, I mean, because my perception is I feel like he's just moved into a place where he's much happier in life not being a competitor. And it's allowed him to just kind of relax. And I hear all these stories from guys like Barry Bloom and even Steve Gilbert that have covered this team since the dawn of time that, you know, talk about how how difficult it was to talk to Randy.

And now he just doesn't seem to be that person. Randy's a different human being. I remember I had him on a radio show years ago when the team finally. brought him on board as like a member of the staff or whatever. And when they dedicated Randy Johnson way to him and he came on the radio and I think they did like a 16 minute interview, I think two questions were asked. And just the fact that he can go and go and go and go and go. And everybody that I told like, hey, I'm talking to Randy Johnson today on the pregame show,

they all look at me on, oh, have fun with that in a good way. Yeah. In like a you might not get to talk kind of way. And so I think in your head, you know, you're still like, this is one of the greatest pitchers that ever lived. Yeah. And I'm sitting down and getting the chance to, you know, talk with this person, not just about baseball, but before the interview off the air and just talking about like, I had knee surgery last month. Oh, how's that going? You know, it's the little things you don't

think about. And to have that opportunity to talk with guys on that level, it blows my mind. My favorite moment with Randy Johnson, besides watching Daniel Bryan geek out over him because he grew up in the Seattle area and then like watching, watching somebody that people currently idolized as the WWE champion at the time, like meeting his idol and fanboying while meeting him. That was great. But it was Randy Johnson turning to me during the cold beer and cheeseburger opening and saying, is anybody going to drink that beer that was sitting on the podium? And he was saying in a way where he was like convinced like, if nobody's going to drink it, I'm going to drink that beer. And I was like, it's all yours, big man. And he got to smile to me. He's

like, I guess I'll wait until the press conference is over. And that whole interaction with him meant a lot to me because like you said, it's like you're just having this normal interaction with another human being like you would in that moment. It could have been a cameraman. It could have been another reporter. I mean, in fact, he was acting as a cameraman that day. So he wasn't even there like as media or

I mean as one of the people like opening cold beers and cheeseburgers. It was just the fact that you do find yourself going, my God, that is Randy Johnson. That man is like literally a legend in the game and will be until the end of time. Yeah, I think the more time you spend with any player

former player coach anything like that the more human moments you get out of them that's really cool i think thinking back on some of my interviews that i did over the course of the year those are some of my favorites are like you know i know a guy that we all like a lot is ryan thompson because he's one of the most personable guys in the world he loves to talk about his life like he loves to speak about the things that he's into you know what i do with brian in particular i tried to do this with a lot of players is i don't even ask them about him about him you know like you could talk about yourself and that's fine but i find that guys want to talk about their team They want to tell you what they like about other players, what they do well, maybe even sometimes

what they're working on behind the scenes that maybe they wouldn't reveal themselves. Sure. So it's guys like Ryan. It's guys like Paul Seawald, who I know is hitting free agency, but he was one of those guys that I like to lean on, Kevin Ginkle. We had a lot of these guys out at the pregame show at Guy Fierrez, and it was just so much fun to be able to sit and chat, especially with some of the young guys, too, Slade Cicone, Brandon Fought, who hasn't been up all that long when you think about it.

and to talk with them about, you know, where they're at in life. I mean, these guys have literally been on this journey that takes years and years just to get to the major leagues. And now you've got to worry about staying in the major leagues. It's a lot of pressure. And so talking with those guys about those types of things is really cool. I'm curious if any moments from Tori Lavello talking with Tori over the course of the year standout, I think in some ways we can take for granted, you know, as a journalist like covering a baseball team,

Frankly, it matters so much who the manager of the team is because we're talking to the manager every single day and having a manager who Who gives interesting quotes and is you know he's he's really great with the media in general That's that's an enormous benefit for people like us. So are there any any Tory moments that maybe stand out over the course of the year? I know you you probably spent What the equivalent of about 20 days with that man over the course of the season. So yeah, we definitely got to know each other pretty well but yeah I have have the unique pleasure of being able to do five minutes one-on-one with Tori in the pregame, especially home games. We're all jealous. Well, some days that's great. And other days after, you know, a horrendous loss, you find yourself wondering, what can I ask? Yeah, sure, sure, you know, put me on his bad list. And two moments stand out that were pretty hilarious in their

own right. One day I walk into his office and there is an NLCS trophy on his desk. Oh, wow. And I, and I'm looking, and you know, those things are huge. Yeah, like a full size one. I think they're made by like Tiffany's or one of those companies. I forget. And we're like, holy cow, that's the NLCS trophy. And he's like, well, it's mine. And we're like, well, it's the teams, right?

I mean, it's not really. And he's like, no, no, I bought one. He bought an NLCS trophy. Really? Like, I guess when you go to the NLC, when you win the PEN or whatever, they allow you to purchase one if you want to. And Tori was like, well, you never know when you're going to go back, right? That feels a little messed up that he had to pay his own money in some ways, right?

No. Yeah. I know. Like he said, that's a team trophy. That's not something that Tori gets to like keep in his house. You're keeping that trophy in at the stadium. You're going to keep it at Salt River Field. It's going to go in that beautiful trophy room over there at Chase Field where you walk in

in and they have all the awards and such, right? But to have the opportunity to buy your own, when are you going to get that opportunity again? So he bought it. It came in this big case. I think the case itself was like $1,000. of dollars. I mean, it was massive. And, you know, it's funny, too. I wasn't in the room when this happened, but he told me that Mike Hazen, when he saw the trophy, he basically wanted nothing to do with it because it reminded him of what they didn't accomplish in that playoff run

rather than the good things they did. The other moment that stands out to me that was funny was the only time Tori Lavello ever yelled at me. And I don't know that you guys, have you ever seen Tori yell at anybody? Because I hadn't. Like playfully, maybe. That's the thing. Yeah. So I was coming off of, I took a couple of days off to get married in July. How dare you? My wife and I. How dare you? And I came back.

In July of the baseball season? Couldn't wait until December, we planned the wedding way before I planned on working in baseball. But, no, I got married on Wednesday. We flew back. And then I was back at work, I think on Saturday. And I was walking past Tori's office. he was going the other way in the hallway. And I'm the only one in the hallway other than him. And he goes, hey, what that?

Yeah. And I was like, like me. Like are you? Tori's never yelled at anybody, let alone me. I was like, I didn't do anything. This is my first day back. And he's like, what are you doing here? And I was like, I work here.

I was like, I work here. I don't know. He was mad that you were back so early, wasn't he? He confronted me. And I'll go back to Jesse's point. Admittedly, it was a little bit in jest. You were actually mad at me. He goes, what are you doing here?

You just got married like yesterday. And I was like, well, it was Wednesday. It's now Saturday. And I thought you would respect the grind. I thought you would respect that I wanted to come back to work. I'm a bollard. And he was like, if I got married, I wouldn't be back for weeks. And so we joked about that.

Well, he is Italian. So, you know how that goes. And we know how his benders are. The narrative. A chocolate ice cream involved. Yeah. So the time that he did jokingly yell at me and confront me about getting married in the middle of the season.

Yeah, I was going to say, I've gotten in trouble. And Tori, Tori's, I guess, lesson to me was very jovial and fun. And we had a good time joking about it. We're lucky we have a manager like that. You're right. You're right. Because, I mean, when I started doing this, and I mean, over the years, I've been under some managers that it was very difficult to be in that room with them. And I know how some people feel about Tori.

And there's a lot of, especially after a loss, there's a lot of talk about Tori giving out juice boxes and Pat everybody on the back and being just too nice in general. But there's never going to be a different version of Tori. That's who Tori is. Tori loves with his whole heart. And if you're a part of his family, which his team is part of his family, that's how he's going to treat you. I can also understand like some players maybe not liking that.

Like maybe not everybody wants their manager to be their best friend. Maybe not everybody who doesn't want their manager of a baseball team to be like their, you know, their surrogate dad or whatever. But I'm sure most of the players do. And I'm sure most of the players love him and appreciate him right back. And I know we do because of the chance that we get to have those moments like that with him. I will say that again, when it comes to this team and Tori Lavolo as a manager, the hiring today, very important for the future of this team,

very important for the future for Tori LeVolo, because again, this is kind of a new era with the Diamondbacks, with this new pitching coaching staff. He's going to have a new third base coach, both of which he addressed today, that that would be the next priority is as far as hiring goes. but I mean yeah it's it's going to be a big prove it season with this team and if they can bounce back after you know pretty good year in 2024 that ended in disappointment yeah I mean you look back at it really the best way to summarize the season in my mind is you had the number one

offense in baseball you had the number one defense in baseball and the pitching was quite frankly we don't speak of the so you had the best offense and defense in baseball and you didn't make the playoffs and that's unfortunate that it happened that way. We don't have to rehash all of that and that weird double header day that was one of the weirdest workdays of my life. That was weird. But I think you look back at it and you wonder what could

that team have done, even with the pitching the way it was, what could they have done in the postseason? How far could they have made it? So wait, could Derek have bought an NLCS trophy? No, I think it's just a thing they offer to like the team and maybe even just the managers. I was going to say, like, because you have the rings

that not everybody in an organization that necessarily gets. But if you do work for the Diamondbacks in some capacity, you could like pay for your own if the team didn't give you one. But we can't pay for our own that we also as fans like might be. Right, right. So I imagine it's a similar thing. Maybe the players don't have that same opportunity. But again, I spent so much money on a Lego set this past week.

I would definitely spend the money on an NLCS trophy of giving the opportunity. I guess that trophy might cost a little more than your Lego. I don't know about that. It was the X mansion. It was kind of costly. It can be a little outrageous. It's going to be putting in a call to Tiffany's after the show. I hope my daughter's not watching this.

I definitely hope my daughter's not watching this because I just ruined Christmas. But anyway, yeah, no, I'm definitely buying myself an NLCS trophy. I also very much appreciate you stopping by, man, Steve. We appreciate you. You did an amazing job last year. We look forward to seeing you do your thing again this year. And of course, you can follow him at Steve Zins. Yep, no, absolutely.

I appreciate you guys having me in. Thanks so much. No, thank you. Of course, you can follow me at. cap underscore caveman with a k jesse is at jessie n friedman he's an absolute maniac over there big intimate kevin thomas is on the ones and twos you can get him at keb tom rights again you have to figure that out on your own that's a fun puzzle to figure out our show is at p h and x underscore debacks but of course all roads do lead to at p h and x underscore sports on twitter instagram and facebook we appreciate you

guys so much for sticking around with us we thank you for your time we look forward to what brian can do here as the new pitching coach so uh keep keep keep Keep your fingers crossed that this can be the improvement that this organization need to get the pitching staff back on track. Until next time, we appreciate you guys stopping by. We will see you tomorrow at 1 p.m. Make sure join us for that. We will be back at 1 p.m. Today was a little fluky, but you can understand why.

Maybe they're going to hire another coach tomorrow. Yeah, no, I probably should be. We might be at 1 a.m. tomorrow or we might not be. So keep your, of course, hit that notifications button. That way you don't miss whenever we go live. And, of course, we thank you guys so much for your time. We'll see you tomorrow. And until then, have a wonderful evening.

And remember kids, baseball is fun. But man, it's so much more fun when you actually have a pitching coach.