PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - BREAKING: Diamondbacks Lose ANOTHER Respected Coach

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

JOIN THE DIEHARDS FOR JUST $4 A MONTH! https://www.gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube The Diamondbacks have lost their fourth coach this offseason. According to reports, third base coach Tony Perezchica is leaving the organization to become the new third base coach for the Houston Astros. We have more on the impact of this decision on Torey Lovullo and the D-backs. We also give our grades for Zac Gallen’s 2024 season and celebrate the birth of Merrill Kelly’s father, Geraldo Perdomo.An 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/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 pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are losing their fourth coach this offseason. We have more on the impact of Tony Perish Chica leaving for the Houston Astros in 30 seconds. Don't go anywhere. And welcome in to another edition of the PHMXDbacks podcast right here on PHMX. My name is Derek Monti, occasionally known as your mayor of PHMX. This man, occasionally known as your thunder stick. He is the one and only Jesse Friedman. Of course, we thank you for being here today.

This show is brought to you by our friends at Bet365. go download the Bet365 app now and use that code of PHNX365 when you sign up, choose your offer, and find out why it is never ordinary at Bet365. And it is never ordinary for the Arizona Diamondbacks, especially this offseason because they are in the process, according to reports of losing their fourth coach this off season. We do know the Diamondbacks have parted ways with their pitching coaching staff essentially of Brent Strom, Mike Hazen, Dan Carlson. now reports are stating that Tony Parrish Chica, third base coach for the debacks, will be leaving the organization to become the new third base coach for the Houston Astros. And Jesse, I hate it. I hate it so much.

I can't stand it. For however much you hate that, Derek, I think people in the chat hate what you're wearing a little bit more than that. I get it. I get it. For those of you joining us on the audio side, would you like to? explain what I'm wearing a hoodie from our trip to Chicago. Yeah, just any old, any old.

I'm wearing a hoodie from Chicago. A hoodie from Chicago that I purchased in the city of Chicago as a souvenir from Chicago. I just want to say, I want to chime in here. Derek likes to complain a lot about fans in the chat that think he's not truly aligned with the DeBax Nation. Correct. And then he does this.

Right. Or he has me put, or he has me make Yamamoto Kingsnake. Make you. You, I told you, there are checks and balances and you failed, Kevin. You failed your first test as producer of the show. Damon would have never permitted that to go on and you know it. But yeah, no, this is, if it helps anybody, I bought this in lids across from Brigley Field for $25 on clearance. And then they had another special 50% off.

I don't know if that makes it any better. I'm just, I just love deals and I love telling people about the deals I got. Jesse can attest to that. I rarely does a day pass, though I don't tell him about some smoking deal I got. But the Houston Astros here, they might have gotten a smoking deal on a third base coach, Jesse, because Tony Perishika, one of the best. We will miss him on this team very much so. I mean, he's been a part of the organization since 2003.

I don't know a time of watching this team. Like, as long as I've known of the Diamondbacks, Tony Perishika, I feel like has been a part of it. At least, you know, dating back almost as far as. I can remember. 2003, that's a long time. And I had not even realized how long Tony Parishika had been with the Diamondbacks organization until the news came out today. Yeah, the Houston Astros have hired away Tony Parishika.

This is not the same situation as Brent Strom and Dan Carlson and Mike Feders. Those guys, the Diamondbacks decided to part ways with them. This is a different situation where Parishika was offered a job in Houston that is similar, but comes with some more responsibilities. It sounds like he's also going to be involved in with some of their minor leaguers as well as a as an infield instructor. Yeah. Something that he also did with the Diamondbacks at various points. But yeah, I mean, the Diamondbacks have had one of the best defenses in baseball.

Really ever since Tony Pereschika became their third base coach and took on the job of of being their primary infield coach. Tori Lavello hired Paris Chica for that role when when he, uh, joined the organization heading into the 2017 season. And you look at the numbers since then. The Diamondbacks are second and outs above average. They are fifth and defensive front saved in that span. And that's not all Tony Peres Chica. You know, there's some Dave McKay working with the outfielders in there as well.

There's also just the talent level of some of these guys like Nick Ahmed was the team shortstop for, you know, a portion of that time. And obviously was super talented in that regard. but Tony Paraschika was also, I think, really good at what he did. And he's getting a cool opportunity now with the Astros. Well, and I mean, there is something to be said about the fact that both Tony and Dave McKay have just been instrumental in coaching the guys up and getting this team to play that level of defense that we know as Diamondbacks baseball, right?

As Tori describes it, right? but I'm just I'm curious in regards to what the future holds right now for Tori and the coaching staff. I mean, Paris Chica obviously we we know about how good he was as a teacher and a mentor to young players. However, you know, we've just like with Brent Strom, there's some questions there. There's some times where we've joked about Parishika sending guys or not sending guys or being gun shy based on something that happened a few days before or whatever. So, but I mean, essentially he has been Tori's third base coach the entire time. Tori has been a manager. Yeah, he has. Tori has also had arguably one of the best coaching staffs

around him up to this point. I mean, that again, arguably based on experience, based on how good these guys are based on how well respected. Yeah, very well respected across the board. You know, Jeff Bannister. We don't know what the future holds now for this team. There's a good chance that Jeff Bannister might be departing. And there's no information floating out there about that. We don't know if Bannister's been, you know, applying for positions or if there's interest there, it just feels like, you know, based on what Tori said in his postseason press conference about Bannister and, you know, that any team would be lucky to have him as a

manager. He, it almost sounded like Tori was foreshadowing that that is something that could be happening down, down the, down the road. We could see Tori coaching for the first time in a lot of. time with a completely new staff. I mean, Joe Mather's still there, but outside of that, like, it feels like there is going to be change everywhere. And honestly, with the way the offense performed last year, I don't see there's any, there's no reason to make any changes with the hitting coach there. But, I mean, who knows? At this point, it's just, it's interesting. I wonder

how exposed Tori Lovolo will be without some of these great minds around him helping him manage this team. Yeah, it's an interesting question. I think you're, you're totally right that These guys are all well respected. I mean, obviously the debacks decided to to make some changes on the pitching side of things this this offseason. But yeah, I think this has been a pretty solid group throughout Tori's tenure. And Tony Pereschiko is certainly a part of that. We got nothing but good reports along the way from guys trying to hone their craft defensively. Christian Walker, obviously, is maybe the biggest success story for the Diamondbacks defensively in this span blossoming as the best first.

baseman in all in baseball. And I remember Josh Rojas talking about working with with TP and speaking very highly of him there as well. So this is a promotion. I mean, this is the Houston Astros saying, hey, we want that guy. And I imagine the diamondbacks had to grant some sort of permission in order for this to happen. But yeah, good for Tony Peres Chica.

I mean, he has given a lot to this organization. You do not see guys stay within the same organization for 22 years very long. The diamond backs have not been around for much longer than that, right? I guess he joined five years into the diamond backs even existing in the first place. So, yeah, this is a big loss. And Brent Strom, even though the diamond backs voluntarily decided to move on from him, that's also a big loss. That's a guy who is very well respected around the game, even if it didn't work here.

And this team not only has some big decisions to make on the fields, but they have some big decisions to make as far as their coaching staff as well going into next season. I think, well, Groundhog Mama says Dave McKay is a silver fox. Let's address that real fast. Tony Parish Chica is a gorgeous man as well.

All right. For an older gentleman, he is a very, very good looking man. And the Diamondbacks are definitely less good looking without Tony Parishika. But I will say that. I know we've seen Dave McKay quite a bit out there.

I can't recall seeing another coach out there helping guys. individually with their fielding as often as I saw Perichick. And that's part of his responsibility, you know, with this team. And I'm sure it'll be part of the responsibilities for the new third base coach, whoever that should be. But it's just, you know, a lot of these guys are, are, they've come up within the organization in the last few years.

This staff is all they know. So it's going to be interesting to see how having new mentors come in here can impact them. I mean, maybe in some cases, you might not have gotten a long. with one of these coaches. Maybe in some cases, you maybe didn't see eye to eye with them in regards to their teaching philosophies or their methods of coaching you. So there is that that maybe a new pitching coach, maybe a new third base coach could improve this team because we really don't know. I mean, we just don't know how a different, you know, voice could have an impact on this team. But, you know, again, especially with the coaching staff and some of the things we saw,

I don't blame Brent Strom, but I am looking forward to seeing how what this team looks like. like with a different leader in there for the for the coaching for for the pitching staff yeah it's it's it's going to be really interesting to see how the diamond backs fill fill these spots and uh you also mentioned jeff banister earlier and how he he totally could be a viable candidate for a team uh looking for a manager this off season torrey spoke very highly uh in his exit interview about banisters uh him being a good fit for a role like that obviously banisters managed in in the majors before has a pretty good amount of experience in that regard. So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see.

It's always tricky to know, like, you know, what really was Tony Pereschika's impact? Like, without him or are the Diamondbacks a middling defensive team over the last six, seven years? Like, probably not. I mean, I think the talent is a really, really big factor there. But, again, we heard nothing but positive things about TP along the way. And obviously, the Houston Astros saw something positive in him. as well in order to want to try to pluck him away from the diamond backs as they're doing.

We got Josh's comment there that says, crazy to think Tony P moving laterally to the Astros. Wonder if there's an ascension into management promise soon after. Hopefully we don't suffer too much defensively with his loss. And I think, yeah, he is getting, it is a bigger role. It is not just the third base coach of the Astros. There was some reporting that there was something, something beyond that in it for him.

It sounds like he's going to help with some of their minor leaguers and whatnot. So I think it is it is technically a promotion in a sense. I think he's suggesting though that maybe there's also the promise that in the future he could move up. Yeah. Yeah. You know, maybe maybe even get a shot at managing that team one day. And who knows, right? I mean,

I would be pretty surprised. I don't, I don't think teams really hire third base coaches with stuff like that built in. But I'm not, I'm not suggesting it's built. And what I'm suggesting is that it's possibly part of the discussion or possibly the opportunities over there might be, you know, might have been explained to them that there might be opportunities in the future. And then that's it's just a wider open opportunity that maybe here with the diamondbacks. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, maybe, you know, well, we'll, I'm sure, find out a little bit more about this situation here in the coming days. But yeah, he's, he's really good at what he does. And I guess the other part of Parishika's job that does draw some scrutiny from time to time is the fact that the third base coach is responsible for deciding whether you're going, whether you're stopping at third or whether you're trying to score. And I think any third base coach is going to draw some criticism. I don't think any third base coach is widely revered in that regard. The Diamondbacks did not have many putouts at home this past.

season. I think they ranked near the bottom of the league in that regard. So for for whatever for whatever that's worth. But yeah, that that is another another part of this job that people probably notice even more than what goes on behind the scenes with with the defensive work and whatnot. Known baseball GM Elise. If you scroll up there, Kevin had a comment about right there. Doesn't Orlando Hudson help with the infield? Could he take on a bigger role? Yeah, that's a good question. And, yeah, Orlando Hudson does help with the infield. I think he spends most of his time in the minors. As of right now, we tend to see him in spring training.

And then he generally is not around during the regular season. Although I do think he popped into Chase Field at some point, was maybe doing some. Oh, you know when he's there. You know when Odog is there. You definitely know when Odog is around. That's a good point. But yeah, that's a good point for sure. Maybe the Diamondbacks would look to hire from within as opposed to going outside the

organization. Yeah, that definitely could be the case. And we will obviously keep you posted on what happens here in regards to the coaching staff. But like I said earlier, this might not be the only role that they have to fill here within the coaching staff before all is said and done this offseason. So we'll see how things shake up for Toro Lavello's staff and for some of the remaining members. Of course, I think it was, was it Ryan that that transitioned into out of my hoodie discount into an All-City. I mean, he might be doing this better than I am. I'm not sure.

But, of course, I was talking about getting my hoodie at a discount. And Ryan was saying that right now, no, I know of a good deal. It's the die-hard membership right now. Well, well done, right. There you go. $48 for a year. You're not wrong, sir. You're not wrong.

For those of you that might not know, All-City is creating an inductory die-hard offer for just $48 for the first year, or just $4.4. or just $4 a month billed annually. And of course, what you got to do, got to go out and check out all the stuff we have to offer. It's not just, you know, the shirt you get. It's not just the things, the items you receive. You get access to all of the written content on our website.

You get access to the special diehard only content that we have coming, including another edition of Squeeze Play, which is our game show featuring you die hard. We will also have Ask Archie as a brand new segment that's just for diehards only. Only diehards get to ask the questions and only diehards get to see the answers for Ask Archie. And most importantly, D-Backs After Dark, where me and Damon are just going to curse so much that I think we're going to put a little curse counter in the bottom corner and just rack up the curse words as much as possible. So do not miss out on all of this wonderful content, especially for this wonderful inductory offer of just $48 for the first year. And do not miss the Discord Lounge, by the way.

There is no better community in sports here in Arizona, other than Discord Lounge. It's the best place to be in Arizona sports fan. Yeah, I'll also say on the writing side, you know, not to toot my own horn, but I will. I will speak to some of my colleagues. Craig Morgan is one of the best beatwriters period in Arizona, probably the best beatwriter in my granted somewhat biased opinion. And he covers the Cardinals for us. So if you want access to his Cardinals coverage, which I think is second to none, become a diehard. Same story with Gerald covering the Sons.

Obviously the Sons are about to start up their season tomorrow, I think. Suns Clippers, tomorrow night, if I'm not mistaken. Wednesday night, correct? So, yeah, Gerald does outstanding work. He just, Gerald just put together 17 straight days of season previews. He's a sick of. He's a sicko who makes content for sickos. He absolutely is.

And it really is worth, you know, we understand that in this day and age, like paying for written content, like there's a certain standard that you have to reach for it to be worth that. For sure. And we spend a lot of time thinking about like, how can we really make this unique and different from anything else out there? And we really try to execute that across the board. And I won't speak for myself, but my colleagues do an outstanding job of that.

Let's get it over here, Kevin. I'm going to speak for him. Let's talk about Jesse Friedman's writing. Oh, dear. Because it's incredible. And, of course, nobody does it better. Like he said, he works very hard, tremendously hard, to bring stories, to bring information about the Diamondbacks from a unique perspective that you won't find anywhere else. So make sure not to miss out on the wonderful writing.

He has a article I know he's been writing and working very hard on in regards to Gino Groover. That's just a little sample of what you'll get, not to mention the fact. that he relentlessly covers this team through the regular season, postseason, off season, preseason, it doesn't matter. Jesse is there covering them. So don't miss out on all of this wonderful content we have, not to mention the fact that we will offer, you know, again, the ability to hear Archie curse a lot more as well as me. And like down the Groundhog Mama said, Dback's Discord is the best.

It is the best place for you to be a sports fan. And again, it's a community year round, not just during the regular. season, we're here all the time. So of course, we'd love it if you would join us. We have some wonderful things to offer. And I have a feeling once you become part of the family, you won't want to leave. So we thank you again so much for those of you that already are diehards. And of course, if you are not a diehard, we implore you to check it out for sure. On the other side of this break, we are going to give our first grade of the off season to Zach Gallen's 2024 year. So of course, don't go anywhere. We will have more on that here shortly. But of course, we're very proud of

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especially in Erod's case, it was a combination of both, a little bit of disappointment with some of his performances, a little bit of disappointment with the injuries that he suffered. But Zach Gallen, of course, is the ace of this staff still. And he remained that this year. I mean, I think last year there was a little bit of a question between him and Merrill Kelly at times. I think Merrill Kelly had an excellent season in 2023. And obviously there were times where you could make a case that Merrill was the ace of the staff. But Zach, you know, kind of bounced back this year.

He struggled with injuries himself. He struggled with missing time. But there were times where he was still that guy. the guy that we know him to be, the guy that is the ace of the D-BAC's pitching staff. Let's take a look here first at his numbers from the 2024 season. Zach ended the year with a 3.65 ERA and a 1.26 whip. He had 148 innings pitched. He had a strikeout percentage of 25.1% or strike percentage,

a walk percentage of 8.7% and a foire of 2.8. Now, obviously, these numbers in comparison to the rest of his career are not, by far not the best numbers that he's put up. And so you could easily say that this was a down season overall for Zach Gallen. His strikeout rate was the lowest of his career. And he really struggled with some of his pitches, including like his forcing fastball really being effective with it. Yeah.

I mean, the first thing I'll say is, is, you know, a 3.65 ERA is that great? It's not great. Not at this stage, not given what the run environment across the league. was like in 2024. But for a guy having what is widely viewed as a down season, it's still pretty good. Like if 365 is, you know, if that's the worst you're going to do, you can live with that.

And it really wasn't all that different from last season either, right? He had a 3.47 ERA a year ago. Granted, he did sort of falter toward the end of the season, had a chance to finish with an ERA lower than that. I think the biggest thing that stands out for me this year with Gowan is just how he really struggled to get deep into games. Yeah. This is really a trend, especially toward the end of the season, when you felt like the

bullpen was really running on fumes and you were hoping to get as much length as you possibly could, especially given the instability throughout the rotation for pretty much the entire season. Those extra innings were really important. And Gallen just really struggled to deliver that. You mentioned he finished with 148 innings. If you average that out over his 28 starts, he only averaged 5.3. innings per start. So basically five and a third. And granted, part of that is skewed by a couple of

games that he exited early with injury. So maybe it's more like 5.5 innings per start. That might be a little more fair. But it still pales in comparison to last season when Gallen was well over 200 innings and, you know, made made every start during the season. So yeah, I think that there were some injuries at play in that, but there was also just Gallen being a little bit less efficient and less effective in 2024. And I think it's a it's it's not a startling trend, but when you look at his numbers from 2022, 22, 23, 2024, he's not trending in a great direction, right? It's not trending in a way where he's getting better. It's not trending in a way where he's been extremely consistent over those three years. I mean, the numbers have kind of gotten

worse as that time has gone on. So I do think that these this is something. to consider overall in the Diamondbacks deciding whether or not to give Zach Gallen a long-term deal. Yeah. Right. And again, I think that's why this season coming up is so important, so vital to Zach himself. It's vital for the Diamondbacks to make a decision should they want to pursue. I'm sure the amount of money it's going to cost in order to bring them back after next season. But it does come to a point where, you know, again, the Diamondbacks can't be giving Gallon a

contract based on his numbers from 2022 for the rest of his career if if the trending you know direction of his performances are going in a negative direction you know i mean and like again it's not like it's three six five not only is it a wonderful tie into our sponsor but it's also still a really good era right overall for for a starting pitcher you don't want to lose somebody that caliber and if that's a bad season for him if that's considered a down year then that's that's that's somebody that you do want to do want to stick around but when you look at his opponent batting average since 2022 right you go he had a opponent batting average of 165 in 2022 22 238 2023 280 last season right yeah those are on his four seamer in particular right yeah i'm sorry yeah

i should have i should have addressed that but but even even across the board it's basically it's similar um i guess i guess last year and this year we're pretty similar but 2022 he had a 186 a and batting average, which is obviously incredible. And then 238 and 2023 to 37 this past season. So yeah, you're right. The overall trend here is is in the wrong direction. He has, you know, he had a 2.5-4 ERA in 2022 and then a 347 last year and a 365 this year.

If you look at his whip numbers, the differences there are even more significant. He had a 0.91 whip in 2022, which is exceptional. It was the best in the entire National League. And then he had a 1.12 whip last year. And then this year was 1.26, which is not terrible, but it's pretty average. It's a pretty average number, a pretty average amount of traffic on the bases. And Gallen was still able to wiggle out of some of those situations and put up, as we've been saying, a pretty decent ERA. But this was not, I wouldn't call his season dominant.

I would call it like solid, you know, like when he was on the mountain. you felt pretty good that you'd have a chance to win the game, especially given how good this offense was. But it was not the, it was not the season that you would hope for your ace starting pitcher to have. Justin McDeermont says struggling after two strikes and then walking the guy towards the end. Yeah. That really did.

I mean, I don't know if that was just specific to Zach Gallen. I think that was something that was problematic with many pitchers on the pitching staff this season. But that specifically seemed to be something that, especially when you watched, watched, excuse me, those outings where things suddenly did kind of spiral out of control for him. That seemed to be the case.

You'd see him getting a heading counts. And then it's not even about attacking the zone and not being able to put the guy away. You just saw him, I guess, get too cute with it where, you know, he would start throwing a knuckle curve

way outside of the strike zone. He'd start throwing the change up outside of the strike zone. He just wouldn't be aggressive in attacking the zone and get, you know, put up those same numbers that he has in the past. Yeah, and you mentioned it earlier. His four seam fastball was a big reason why he was not the same caliber of pitcher this

year as he's been in the past. You said it earlier, a 280 opponent batting average on his four seamer, 460 slugging percentage this year compared to 238 and 360 last year and 165 and 301 in 2022. So his, no one was doing anything was Zach Gannon's fastball in 2020. who was one of the best, one of the best four seamers in all of baseball the last couple of years. And then this season, it just wasn't. And we talked about that midseason.

I wrote a deep dive on that at one point about how his fastball was kind of the, the biggest difference for him this year. Just getting hit around a lot. The swing and miss on it is diminished pretty significantly at a 13.3% whiff rate on his four seamer this season, which is far in a way the lowest it's ever been. It was in the 1920. 20% range the last couple of years. So yeah, that was a really big difference.

And you look at the characteristics of the pitch, his Velo was down early in the season, but then it was actually higher than normal toward the end of the season. We saw some like 97s, 98s. It was weird. It was very bizarre. So it wasn't really a Velo thing. The movement on the pitch, the induced vertical break was pretty similar. It's generally trended downward, but not alarmingly so.

So the biggest difference, I think, is location. He just, he just was not able to dot up the fastball the way that we're used to seeing Gallen dot up a fastball. One of my favorite metrics for, for looking at this is location plus, which is kind of a newer thing. Basically, 100 is average. And then anything above that is better than average, lower than that is below average. And Gallen was a 95 on his four seam fastball this year. So he had below average command of his four seam fastball. ball and that's been like his hallmark throughout his careers he can throw any pitch in any

location and he just was not able to do that in 2024 well and meanwhile his curveball was the best that it's ever been essentially and i know he had to rely on that a lot i think cam or somebody was talking about um chase rate uh Tanner said he had to rely on chase uh and i mean the curveball was working well and it felt like after a while that became a pitch that he started to trust as that out pitch. But if if you're not swinging at it, right, it's not, he's not placing it in the zone. At least he shouldn't be placing it in the zone. And it made for a lot of success with it, but it also made for, I think, Gallen to have a lot of lengthy outings or not lengthy outings, a lot of, a lot of high pitch counts and which allowed him not to go very long into his

outings. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's all, it's all connected, right? If you're not able to really spot up your fastball, you're not able to get ahead and counts. His first pitch. strike rate was far in a far and away the lowest it's ever been in his career when you're not able to get ahead of guys in that same way with your fastball then yeah it puts more pressure on getting guys to chase you know those breaking pitches out of the zone and uh to be fair when they did chase zach allen's curve ball or even when they swung at it in the zone they didn't really do anything with it no uh gallons curve ball is it is the reason that he is still a very good pitcher even as he's gone through some of these struggles in other areas.

It had a whiff rate just south of 40% in 2024, which is very, very good. Opposing hitters at 148 against it with a 230 slugging percentage. Those numbers actually significantly better than where they were in 2023. So he has a lot of weapons, right? And even though some of the other weapons have faded a little bit, his command hasn't been as sharp, his curveball is so freaking good that it's still a loud gown. to be a pretty darn good, pretty darn good starting pitcher. His other secondary pitches has changed up his slider.

Those were still good, but just not getting those numbers. And like you said, it all relates back to the fastball. Yeah. Yeah. You're just not getting batters to swing at your change up or your slider as much if the fastball isn't a threat. Yeah. Yeah.

I think it really is that simple in a lot of ways. And yeah, the change up is is another pitch kind of like the fastball that we've, I think location-wise. was actually quite good in 2024. Gallon has always had a pretty good feel for bearing that change up, you know, down in a way to lefties, down in the zone in general,

to righties. But yeah, he's not getting the same level of swing and miss on his changeup as he did at the beginning of his career. He had, I think, a couple of seasons with with width rates over 40% on his change up when he first came in the league. That was arguably a better pitch than even his curveball at the time.

And we've seen those pitches very much trade places, where Gallin's change-up is a solid pitch. It's totally fine as kind of a third weapon, which is basically what it is. But he doesn't throw it all that much, and it's not a huge swing and miss weapon form at this point. He had a 26.5% whiff rate on the change-up this year. And opposing hitters, we're able to do some damage against it,

a 270 batting average, a 32-slugging percentage. The expected numbers are actually a little bit worse than that. So, yeah, it's a good pitch, but it's not. It's not the pitch that it was when he first came into the league. And it's not a pitch again. It's, I think going back to the root problem was, you know, he was able to locate his other stuff. He was able to get those secondary pitches in there. But it just goes to show you without a fastball, without a fastball that you can rely on.

It can't really set up this secondary stuff and have it be nearly as effective. Right. And again, this is a guy with a 3.65 ERA. So he was still effective. It's just he was still good not as effective without that fastball being You know kind of what it what it was in the past so you just know that like if you take the best version of gallon's fastball like when his command of that pitch is as good as we've seen it at times Plus his curve ball as good as it was this year plus the change up what what we've seen that pitch be at times like gallon could be the best I mean he could be close to the best pitcher in the sport if he had all of those things clicking and so but he doesn't and he never does and he never does and he will be the first

person to tell you that he doesn't yeah even on a night gallon goes out there strikes out double digits and gives up one earn run he's still probably going to tell you all i didn't have a good great feel for all of my pitches or something like right right because he never does right and and yeah there's some truth to that like i i don't think that's all gallon being a perfectionist i think it is just like yeah yeah his change he really has a man you should He's like, yeah, to throw, you know, the curveball a lot tonight because right. These other two pitches weren't really working. And his.

And his curve ball is good enough that he can throw it like half the time some days. And it works. I mean, I think about his last start against the Giants, his last start of the season against the Giants where he was so good. He just threw a bazillion curveballs out of the zone. And the Giants just like could not help themselves. They just kept swinging and missing and swinging and missing over and over again. It's a great pitch.

And it, you know, it tunnels really well with, with his fast. The Arsenal really really works well together, but yeah, it's still, Gallen is just, he's one of those guys that you can dream up a scenario where with everything working, he could be just so good. And so to see him, you know, kind of take these gradual steps back the last couple of years. It's almost hard to watch in a way. It's like, you know, you can just envision him being so much better than what he's been, even though what he's been again is still a pretty darn good start. sure. Cam says sometimes it feels like Gallin is humble, uh, bragging when he does that.

Uh, yeah, I mean a little bit, but not really. Like he said, yeah, I don't really read it that way. We know we've been there present enough that we really just feel like he's

being honest. And sometimes when you go back and look at his pitch selection or what he threw, it'll back up exactly what he's saying because you'll see that he kind of backed off a particular pitch that he said he didn't have a feel for, even if it's that curveball at times. Usually if that was the case. he wasn't having that good of an outing.

But I mean, Zach is still Zach Gallen. And I think he's still a very, very valuable piece of this organization. Next year is going to be interesting, man, because there's a lot of guys playing for this team with a lot on the line next year. Yeah. Personally, not for the team,

but for themselves, for their careers, for what lies beyond 2025. So I'm interested to see how these guys come out next year and play essentially for the team, the bag and you got a lot of guys doing that next season so uh i don't know i mean obviously you know like in christia walker's case as much as he wanted to do that you know injuries held him back a little bit and he didn't have the strongest end of the season that he would have what would have

wanted to have i'm sure galen would probably say something similar about this year if this was you know his final year with the diamondbacks but it's not we get at least one more season with Zach Gallen and in an honor of that I suppose he is our very first subject of our offseason grades so let's take a look at what our report cards have in store for Zach Gallen's 2024 season Jesse I'll allow you to go first all right here's here's what I got um we'll talk about the the dog in a moment don't don't you worry uh that's amazing is that an English bulldog it is it is an okay I I guess we're talking about it now. No, no, no, go down the order.

We'll get there. We'll get there. I'm just excited. Okay. So, yeah, we broke this down into a few different categories. The first one is stuff. I have gallon is a B plus there. Even though, you know, I think at times the fast ball wasn't, wasn't quite as dominant,

even from a stuff standpoint. The change up we mentioned has regressed a little bit. His curve ball is so good that I still can't help but give Gallon a very positive grade in that regard. So I have a B plus for stuff. Command. I have a C plus. which again is is going back to like that 95 location plus metric that I mentioned on his fastball that was tied for the worst mark of any diamond backs pitcher a minimum 20 innings so just to give

you a sense of the scale 95 is actually quite bad it's not just that it was just a little tick up below average it was like this guy had had very very poor fastball command relative to to his teammates So I have a C plus in that department. His command was really good on the curveball and change up in general. But the fastball is obviously such a big part of his game. Durability. I'm going with a C on that. He did miss some time.

There was the hamstring. There was another star that he left early with cramping. It's similar to what we've seen with Merrill Kelly time and time again. So no alarming concerns or anything there. But I felt C was appropriate. at 148 innings is not not really what you're looking for from from your a starting pitcher obviously had an enormous workload last year and and that kind of plays into things but yes now we'll get to the dog uh i had in instead of instead of i guess in the past did we did we just give him a

great yeah we just gave a dog in him grade but we decided this year that we were just going to name the dog in him the breed of the dog right right in these players every player does have a dog Yeah, it's not a matter of not that. There's nobody is at zero. Yeah, right, right. There's always some level of dog in you as a person. It's just what is that dog? Is it a chihuahua?

Is it a pit bull? Is it Cosmo the Wonder Dog? Like what dog is inside of you? Yeah, exactly. Right. So Jesse is giving Zach Allen an English bulldog. You want to explain your decision behind that? Yeah, I don't really know much about English bulldogs.

To be totally honest. However, I do know that Zach Gowan Allen has an English bulldog named Moose. And so that just felt appropriate. This is placating. If the player has a known dog, then I feel like we have to match the breed with the player. Like he gets an English bulldog. It only felt right.

In Jesse's defense, they do say that the dog takes after the owner and that they start to behave like each other after a while together. Right. There is some smoke to that fire. Cosmo has also started missing whizzing on the toilet when he goes. Oh, my gosh. You're just like me. Go ahead. What are you going to say?

I was just going to say in this case, instead of like the dog becoming more like the person, we're saying that the person is a reflection of the dog. So it works both ways, is what I'm trying to say. Yes. My overall grade for Gallin, though, to finish things off is a B minus, which maybe I'm, maybe I'm being a little bit harsh there. Like maybe I'm kind of grading a little bit relative to what I know Gallin can be. 365BRA and 150 innings really is a pretty solid outcome in general.

But we've obviously seen Gallen be much better than this in the past. Yeah, it's a little difficult overall because you do start. And I mean, that's a question we discussed before we started doing this was, do we grade Zach Gallen on Zach Gallin? Or do we grade Zach Gallen on being a pitcher in Major League Baseball, right? Those are two very different things. I think Zach Gallen, you expect more if you're grading Zach Galen based on his past performances and what you believe, I guess, Zach Galen could be. However, you know, you got to start

comparing him across baseball. And that's kind of what I did here with my report card for Zach Gallen. I still think his stuff is great. And I mean, you're right. The fastball was trash this year. But I also think that when I look back at how it ticked up at the end of the season, like you said, you started getting these crazy 96, 97 plus days. And I, and I, I just still think the stuff is there. And that's why I went still with an A minus. If I disagree with anything on this list after our chat, it's probably my command.

I probably should have gone lower with the command based on that. But, you know, when you- It wasn't terrible. Overall, his overall location plus, I think was 101. And the full body was above average. And I started looking mostly at his secondary pitches like the curveball and being at 108 location plus 107 location plus for the changeup, right? But you're right.

when it comes to the fastball and essentially it all kind of unravels without that fastball there. But the command really was the big issue there. Durability also a big issue. I have him as a C plus there with durability. There were those times this season where we watch Zach Gallen just look over at the dugout in a certain way and it made my tummy upset. You know, like he would just glance over at the dugout in a way and kind of make a little face and you were like, no, not again.

And whether, and it was, it was never like a devastating injury where it looked like something happened to him. He would just be after he threw a pitch. And suddenly you could see him like touching his, you know, his thigh or something or saying that there was some sort of cramp, some sort of issue. And it's something we know very well with Merrill Kelly that Merrill Kelly has gone through. And I mean, it's gotten to the point where between the injuries, which I believe Tanner said earlier, every team has injuries.

And yes, we're like, we're never going to say that. the Diamondbacks experienced more injuries than other major league teams. And that's the reason why they had, you know, they came up short there at the end of the season. What I will say is, is that the injuries, especially to the starting pitching, were just constant and just depressing all season long.

And it was just hard to ever feel like you were getting healthy and getting right. And I mean, there are some people that completely blame like, you know, the strength and conditioning coach and other people in the, organization. I don't know if it's fair or not to blame those people. Yeah. You know, I mean, it's it's we all we are a lot of us live here in the desert. We understand again that the weather is always trying to kill us here outside. So I mean, it's it's hard to stay hydrated and it's hard

to do certain things. But I mean, Zach just seemed to have nagging ongoing issues that maybe never got right and they kept popping back up. And that durability really just costs his team. But you could say that across the board as far as durability. Like this team, we made jokes. We made jokes about it, but it was like every time someone came back from the injured list, another sacrifice had to be made to bring that person back. So for dog and him, Jesse, I went there with a Basset hound. Okay.

There's a very particular reason I went with a Basset hound. Basset hounds, when you look at them, they have the big floppy ears, right? They have the short legs, right? They got the extra skin. They're like, they're funny looking. They're, you know, whatever. But Basset hounds are. hounds. And even though they are one of the most laid back dogs, when push comes to shove and it's

time to get work done, those dogs are going to do work. Ask why basset hounds are like out there hunting foxes and stuff when it comes to game hunting and stuff. Basset hounds are crazy. It's like one of those dogs, again, that you just don't expect to have the dog in it that it does because as you look at him, that dog's laying there just very chill, very, very nonchalant, does not look like a competitor. But you'll be fooled. That dog, that dog is, that dog has dog in him, if you know what I mean. But that's why I went with Bassadown. So you're kind of saying like Gallen punches above his weights a little bit.

Oh, I'm saying when you look at Zach Gallen, he looks like he should have a surfboard in his hand and not a baseball glove. That's what I'm suggesting. He is a very like, he is not particularly tall. He is not particularly like, I mean, obviously you have to be strong in order to throw a baseball 95 miles an hour. It's not like Gallen is, you know, like crazy in that regard, right? I mean, he sort of looks like a not a totally like you don't look at Zach Gallen walking around in his jersey and you're like, oh, this guy's clearly. Yeah, or like one of the best players.

You're like, oh, this guy is clearly a major league baseball player. No, he kind of looks like a normal dude. You question, you question if he could like what his golf score would be. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, maybe a good golfer. I don't know.

Like that's the best I'm going to give him as far as an athlete goes. but there you go see and old salty says i had a bass down turned my backyard into a rabbit graveyard see there we go jesse that's what i'm talking about that's the dog that dog's got that dog's gonna hunt you know what i mean that dog will hunt uh rabbit graveyard that's so that's so sad oh it it trust me uh pests verments they can be very adorable jesse but they also must be dealt with you know what i mean No, but rabbits are different. Derek, they're cute. Until they eat your garden.

They would never do that. No rabbit, no rabbit would ever. Jesse, I'm telling you. They're big rats. I refuse to believe it. All right. My overall score, much like Jesse's, was a B minus for Zach Gallin season. And yeah, I mean, I felt like that was fair.

I felt like Gallin still, you're still considering him above average as a pitcher in major league baseball when when you're looking at his overall stats and even considering the ups and downs that he had this year i would say that you might even want to give him a little credit for being able to still put up those numbers despite the fact that this was probably one of the more erratic seasons of his entire career yeah absolutely it was i mean there there were moments this year where i was like gallon might finish with like a four and a half year i you know some of the games just were not looking right he had games where he would just walk several batters in a row um his his walk rate was up significantly this year.

We're used to seeing him really be all over the strike zone. So it was a weird year for him. But going back to the earlier conversation about how important 2025 is, Zach Allen could make himself a whole lot of money if he puts it all together. If he has a two five like he did in 2022 and maintains that over a full season, people are going to forget about, you know, this season being a little bit of a downy here and even last season to some degree. And on the flip side, if he sort of continues the trend of kind of going in the wrong

direction, which is now continued for three seasons, if he adds a fourth season to that, then I still think he's going to do totally well in free agency. There's no doubt about that. But there's a pretty wide range of outcomes with the price tag, I think. Like I could see Zach Allen getting, you know, well over $200 million if he has like the best season of his career. or on the lower end he's still probably going to be still probably going to be in the nine figure range

but maybe it's closer to 120 or 140 or something like that there's there's a decent range of outcomes here and it'll be interesting to see how he responds well the diamondbacks here's the thing about 2025 this is an all in year again and that's what's fun about looking forward yeah it's depressing maybe for some fans to look beyond that and i suggest maybe don't do that. Maybe don't worry at least it right now beyond 2025 because that team in 20206 is going

to be a completely different team. I think that's what they're afraid of though. Oh, I know. I know. But I mean, we have no idea what really that means as far as being a completely different team. We know that the young core is still going to be here. We know there's going to be pieces from the team that went to the World Series that are

veteran pieces that are still here in 2026 like Lord's. But there's going to be a good chance we're seeing, you know, Jordan Lawler every day out there by that point. And, you know, a lot of the young guys coming up, we could see a starting rotation that potentially consist of human Lynn, Gilbert Diaz, you know, Brandon Fott, guys that we have already seen have success at a major league level. But, you know, right now there might not be space for them. But again, next year, that's what makes next year so exciting,

especially considering that three starting pitchers in their rotation, are basically playing for their futures next season. And I mean, that brings the best out of guys. Competition, money, that contract, dangling that carrot. That brings the best out of these guys. And I think that's something that we can very much look forward to next season. Again, it's suffocating if you try as a fan to think beyond that and what they're going to do. And if they're going to be able to bring Zach Gallen back and this guy and that guy, it really, honestly, 2026 should be a little excited.

because again, they have, they're going to have money potentially at that point to play with that they don't really have now based on the contracts that they are committed to. That's true. And there's the possibility that they might go out and make a splash and free agency and not do a full rebuild going forward, but just add new components to it once the guys that are here, maybe go elsewhere. Right. But that's then. That's to worry about then. Right now, you know, again, Merrill Kelly, Jordan Montgomery, Zach Gallon, these guys are all. playing for, you know, their, their careers, essentially beyond the 2025 season.

Yeah. So hopefully what we'll see is the best versions of all of those guys next year. If we did, if we saw the best versions out of those three guys, I would have a hard time betting against the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2025. Yeah, they, they could be a very, very good baseball team if that happened. And it was the same this year, right? Like if Jordan Montgomery had had the gap. between what Montgomery was and what we thought he would be was enormous.

I mean, it was what we thought he could be is one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. And what he was was arguably one of the worst. Statistically the worst, you know, depending on like what you sit the innings threshold at. So, uh, yeah, if you're able to get the best versions out of these guys,

which again, much easier said than done, you can't necessarily count on that. But there's a world where this diamond back starting pitching staff goes, for being one of the worst in the sport to one of the best, even without any personnel change whatsoever. Justin McDiermont asks, is it more all in than this year was? Yes.

Not as in the front office spending. Yeah, well, we don't really know the answer to that yet. I would guess not. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, I think it's more in as far as the players themselves are concerned, right? You, you, I mean, we kind of saw that last year, right?

We got we picked up Gritchick and Peterson on essentially what was one year deals. I mean, we know the mutual option is no way going to be picked up. It's fake. It's not a real thing. Right. But like they had career years potentially. I mean, Jock Peterson had one of the best years, if not the best year of his entire career. So as far as money goes, uh, I don't know if they're all in like, uh, if they're going to be more all in than this year because they not might not have that money to spend once again, right?

like they went an all in because of the trip to the world series because of the essentially the the postseason income that they received the share of the postseason revenue that they received allowed them to make those moves but now they're kind of committed financially and they don't really have flexibility nor do they have that additional influx of of revenue from the postseason to aid them in going this off season and picking more guys up so yes i think it's it's more of a personal all in from the team team rather than more of an all in from the front office standpoint of them going out and acquiring free agencies or free agents because I think it's they're they're going to have their hands tied

a bit spending. Yeah, I think I think you would hope as well that the front office and ownership is also all in to some extent on 2025. I mean, yes, the team is not getting a postseason check and that has an impact for sure. But next season is also a, uh, a big year with going back to Zach Allen. If this is going to be Zach Gallen's last season with the Diamondbacks and if he is going to go out there and have a great year and earn just $250 million or whatever it winds up being, you want to capitalize on that, right? You want to make sure that in the last year that you have a true ace, one of the best

pitchers in the sport, that you push the chips in, at least to some extent, right? you'd hate to see the team kind of tap the brakes in terms of spending going into a year where you have some of these very, very good players who are in their final year. And Merrill Kelly is, I guess, the other part of that as well. So we'll see. Yeah, we'll see. It'll be interesting to see what kind of investment the ownership group is willing to make. There's another worst timeline that we're not really talking about here,

which is the fact that with so many expiring contracts, if the Diamondbacks don't have a good season in 2025, they might be able to get an absolute haul at the trade deadline. That's true. Giving some of these other teams, some of these guys. You've already made people pretty angry by wearing your little cup situation, Derek.

I don't know if you want to go there. This is my same thought as the.