PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - BREAKING: Diamondbacks re-sign Lourdes Gurriel Jr to three-year, $42M deal

Episode Date: December 17, 2023

The Arizona Diamondbacks brought back a key piece to their World Series team in Lourdes Gurriel Jr.! We discuss what La Piña’s return to the D-backs means for the clubhouse and if he was the best option for Arizona.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See EmpireToday.com/PHNX for details.Sign up for Gila River Resorts & Casinos $1,000,000 Big Red’s Showdown! Stay in the game and get rewards; it’s that easy! https://www.gilamilliondollarshowdown.com/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.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!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head on over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find out where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. WYNK Seltzer + THC: Go to https://drinkwynk.com/ and use promo code “PHNX” for 50% off. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Oh, hey there. Just polishing up our award for a comeback pot of the year. Welcome in to an emergency edition of the PHNX DBAX podcast, the PHNX pod of the year, right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am known as an occasional purple-haired menace myself, and I'm joined by my vice mayor, the one and only, Thunderstick Jesse Friedman. Jesse, we got big news. We got big news. We're here to talk about it.

We just speculated on Wednesday about it. We thought maybe, maybe there's a chance this could happen. And it has. It looks like the Arizona Diamondbacks are bringing back Lordus Gurriel Jr. To fulfill that right-handed outfielder spot that they were in need of due to him leaving. And I think it's a very, very good move for this team. Have you dyed your hair purple yet, Derek? Yeah, I've already started looking into stuff.

I don't know which. I don't know if I'm going to go that same shade of purple. Gabby also has his hair lime green, so I have choices this year. But maybe they get on the same page, right? Lordis changes his hair up. Maybe he goes lime green. Maybe we all go lime green. I can't wait to find that out.

But I also can't wait to see La Pena back on the field for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was such a huge part of the team this year. And honestly, I feel like this is the best move that they could have made. I know there's some other names out there that probably would have been a little bit, I guess move the knee. for some people more as far as a free agency move, but I think team-wise, this is possibly the best move they could have made. From a value standpoint, we just got the numbers three years, $42 million.

There's kind of a lot happening in this deal. It sounds like there's an opt-out after the second year. And there's also a club option for a fourth year. So there's kind of a lot of moving cases. We don't know, we do not know yet the breakdown. At least I haven't seen like a year-by-year breakdown. I'll be curious to see what that looks like. But my biggest takeaway here, Derek, is that the Diamondbacks were more serious about spending money than I think, at least I personally expected or realized at this point.

We talked, yes, we did talk just like a few days ago about whether bringing Lordus Guriel Jr. back was the best answer to the Diamondbacks right-handed hitting need. They clearly still needed one more right-handed bat in this lineup. up and we discussed that a few days ago. And I think you were more like, you know, maybe you saw the vision a little bit more than I did. My perspective a few days ago was that, you know, if you only have one bullet to fire, it might not make sense to bring Lordus Guerrille Jr.

back over someone like J.D. Martinez or Justin Turner. A lot of Lordus's value does come from the fact that he still can play defense, right? And if you were to bring in Lordis but not have the resources for someone else, it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me because then Lordis is in, is in left field. I mean, that's where he's going to be most valuable. He hit better while playing defense last year than he did as a DH.

But if you do that and you only have the one bullets of fire, then your DH spot becomes a little bit weak, becomes a revolving door with, you know, Emmanuel Rivera and Jake McCarthy and guys that you just don't really know what you're going to get from, right? So that was my skepticism at the time, was if you only have one more bullets of fire,

which was kind of my sense of the situation at the time, Lordus didn't make the most sense. But what really seems to be the case, I know Bob Nightingale's reported this, Jeff Passon alluded to this as well. The Diamondbacks, it still looks, are not done yet offensively. It appears that they, in fact,

had two bullets to fire here and not one. And I was skeptical that they would bring in Lourdes thinking that they didn't have the resources for someone else. It looks like they do have the resources for someone else. And because of that, this in my mind is pretty ideal for the Diamondbacks. I mean, there are certainly better, you know, corner outfielders in baseball, but in terms of guys who are reasonably affordable, guys who want to play in Arizona.

We certainly saw last year that Lordus Guriel seemed to gel really well in the clubhouse, seemed to really enjoy his time in Arizona. And yeah, I think it's a great fit. As long as you have the resources to go out and do something in that DH slot, this is pretty much ideal for the Diamondbacks. We saw what Lordus Coriel could do in 2023. And he's the kind of guy where, you know, even though he is, getting older. He's the kind of guy where I think you feel somewhat comfortable moving forward

that he can continue to provide value not only offensively but defensively as well. The power of friendship lives on, as Ryan Page says, very well said. Ryan Stimman says a lot of Ryan's in the chat today. The vibes in the dugout are going to be off the charts this year and they absolutely are. And the vibes, right, are important. Their vibes are important here at pH and X, definitely. We have an eight point vibe check scale and things like that that we have to make sure on every show. But we also have the fact that Lordus coming back is good for him, good for the team. There's a point where, you know, obviously my, my big skepticism about this was what Lordus could get elsewhere,

right? And that was going to be the big deal. This was his chance to get that big contract. Well, you said it. This contract is adapt. It adapts, right? Like there's a chance for him to potentially opt out and find a new home. And that gives him that security that he's not going to be potentially stuck in a bad situation should his time here in Arizona turn. And then there's also the option for this to be a long-term deal for him to stay here in Arizona for four years, five years, right, potentially, or four years at least, right? And then, you know, who knows beyond that. But I mean, like, it allows him to stay here for a substantial amount of time, which is something that a lot of pro athletes don't get.

They don't get that security of being able to stay in one place and feel like you have a home. I felt like he very much made a home for himself here this year. And I think that coming back here may have, you know, may have impacted his decision to give a slight discount. Like not much. Maybe he was getting similar offers in the free agency market. And the Diamondbacks were just close enough or right there. That staying here makes sense for him.

It makes sense for, you know, his family and everything in regards to that. I think I was just hoping that he stayed because sometimes it's hard. You know, like we talked about the improvement that, or at least the addition of Tommy Fam and how it seemed to improve this team. And that was something we didn't know because of Tommy Fam's reputation. You never know how he was going to be as a locker room guy. Turns out he's incredible locker room guy.

And Lordus this year was that. It's hard to know if you're going to go out and get any free agent that's going to gel with the team if the team chemistry is going to be the same bringing guys back is not only something the fans love but it's something the players themselves love to to be able to have that camaraderie and to be around guys that they have you know formed bonds bonds with you know i just think that this is even if you might have been able to go out there and get a horace saler or somebody like that i don't think it solved you know the issues or or the positional needs as much as Lourdes does.

There should be more to do. There should be a D.H. that they pursue. We saw a Jeff Passon tweet that looks like that's going to be the case. But if they don't, I still feel this team is in a really good position. This is what Jeff Passon tweeted out today, though. He said, since the Arizona Diamondbacks went to the World Series, they have signed Eduardo Rodriguez for four years, 80 million,

re-signed Lourdes-Guriel for three years, $42 million, traded for a Heueno-Swarres. They're planning on adding a power-hitting DH, win, then improve how it should be. Wow, that is something to be said about this organization. Jesse, one of the replies to that was from a fan, I don't know of what team, but the person said, like, imagine what it's like to root for a team that actually tries to win.

And that comment was just so hilarious to me, considering in my time covering this team, which is longer than I cared to admit at this point, that was the sentiment about this team, that they weren't trying to win, that they weren't trying to improve. And honestly, I don't necessarily feel like that was the case. We've discussed in the past that when they had a good season, when they made the postseason, they tried to improve the next year and things didn't just, didn't necessarily go this way or go their way. But this offseason does feel different.

And, you know, bringing back a guy like Lourdes from a team that went to the World Series seems like the absolute correct move. Yeah, I mean, I can't really echo Jeff's tweet enough. This is really the way that it's supposed to be, right? Not just for teams that get all the way to the World Series, but if you make the playoffs, like, you know, going into the next, you know, into the offseason, into the next season, it only makes sense to be aggressive and try to spend and try to add and try to make your team

as good as you can for the next year's run. And that's what the Diamondbacks are doing. We heard from Ken Kendrick a few days ago that the Diamondbacks, we're going to feel the largest payroll in franchise history in 2024. Like I said earlier, we haven't seen the breakdown on this deal just yet, but it is abundantly clear that I'm assuming after this move, the diamondbacks have already entered that territory. I think this puts them roughly in the $140 million range for 2024,

depending on the breakdown of the deal, could be a little bit less, would be my guess, if anything. But yeah, I mean, if the diamondbacks are at 140 and they're still interested and going out and getting, you know, a JD Martinez, Justin Turner type, like it, like, seems to be the case. Then you're pushing into the $150 million range at that point, you know, maybe even approaching 160 when all is said and done. We know the debacks still want a backup catcher. We know that Hazen has talked about, you know, exploring solutions in the bullpen as well as adding to the starting rotation potentially. There's still, there's still more to do here.

And it is abundantly clear that not only are they surpassing what they've spent in, you know, back in 2018 when they had that franchise high payroll, they might, they might really blow past it. Like they might really, you know, completely set a new, a new level here for spending in this franchise. And obviously the World Series money is playing into that, the Diamondbacks extended postseason run. I don't know the exact number that they got from that, but it was significant and it clearly is playing a role here. but this is the way that it's supposed to be. And like you said, I mean, it says a lot that, you know, people are starting to look at the Diamondbacks is like, this is the way that it should be done.

Like, man, I wish I rooted for that team that gets it, that got deep into the playoffs and it's trying to add pieces, unlike what we're seeing from certain other teams around the league. This is the way that it's supposed to be done. This is what it's supposed to look like when you get close like the Diamondbacks did. And yeah, I mean, it certainly, it certainly has blown past. past my expectations, given that they are still very much not done at this point. There's been organizations that you kind of envy like people are talking about when it comes

to the Diamondbacks. And I think part of it is where you are doing it in a way where you can respect it as a fan of an opposing team, right? It's hard to respect sometimes the way that teams like the Yankees construct themselves because it feels like they just go out there and hire hitmen. They go out there and hire the gunslingers at the highest cost, and they have all the money to do so. So it doesn't even feel like it's fun or fair. But then you see a team like the Diamondbacks, and you know that they're a small market team.

You know that they are, they don't have the money other teams do. Yet they're improving with names that aren't maybe, you know, aren't at the top of the market, but still look pretty good when you look at their stats from last year and compare them to those names at the top of the market. you factor in the fact that now they're bringing back a guy that helped get them to the World Series and they're putting that money towards someone who already contributed to this team to bringing them back instead of going out there and getting a free agent from just anywhere else. And that is a way that you respect a team, right? Like paying guys that are part of your team to stay as part of your team when they were such a big,

you know, a big portion of how you got to where the success you had, where you got to, where you got That's where you got, right? But let's take a look at Lordus's numbers from 2023 because his stats there, like we said, on Wednesday when we were discussing this as a possibility, are really good. And when you take a look at his stats, again, these are numbers that if we would have been taking a look at some other free agents from another team, we would happily have this guy, you know, over here as a snake. But 261 batting average with a 309 on base percentage and a 463 slugging percentage. He had 24 home runs, 82 RBI, and a fan graph wins above replacement of 2.1. So again, Lourdes, just a huge part of this team. We touched on this the other day, but I mean, now that the move has happened, I guess we should revisit. Lordus is an exceptionally streaky player.

We certainly saw that in 2023. He had a 699 OPS in April and March in April. he had an 1130 OPS in May was right up there with the best hitters in all of baseball seemed to be having a breakout year at that point. And then in June he had a 625 OPS in July. He had a 480 OPS and almost 100 play appearances really, really struggled as a number of Diamondbacks players did in that month. And then he kind of bounced back again toward the end in August and 846 OPS and then

September leading in October an 826 OPS in the regular season. And also certainly had some big moments at times in the postseason. You know, we saw him come through with a big home run in the NLCS and so on. There were some moments there for him as well. So, yeah, he is, you know, is Lordus Gouriel a game-changing player in a lineup? Not necessarily. He had a 108 OPS plus this past season. His on-based percentage of 309 that you pointed out, it's not, that's not an elite number, right?

Right. But there's certainly still some power here, 24 home runs. And the biggest thing is he's just a big step forward over what the Diamondbacks had in house. I asked Mike Hazen at the winter meetings, you know, are you comfortable having all left-handed hitters in the outfield on opening day? Because that's sort of how things lined up before this move was made, right? You've got Alec Thomas, Corbyn Carroll, Jake McCarthy, Dominic Fletcher in the mix as well, Pavin Smith. If you want to still consider him an outfielder, all those guys are left-handed. It didn't seem like an ideal situation. And Mike's answer at the

the time was, you know, we'd be okay with that as long as we had, you know, we were more heavy on the right-handed hitting side and other areas of the roster. But it always, it never seemed like really an ideal scenario to plan out a roster that way, where, you know, you always have to fill your outfield with all lefties, even if there's a tough lefty on the mound. Lordis just helps add a lot of, a lot of balance. And, you know, even though he is a really, a streaky hitter, we saw last year what he can do defensively.

He was productive defensively, had 12 defensive runs saved, arguably should have been in the mix for the Gold Glove Award and left field in the National League. This is a big step forward and just adds a lot of stability over what they had in house. If you guys are here in the PHNX Sports YouTube channel right now, we appreciate you for stopping by and watching our emergency podcast. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, make sure to do so now. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when any of our wonderful shows go live and leave us a like. We always appreciate those thumbs-ups, those out-a-boys. If you're listening right now on the audio podcasting side,

make sure you subscribe there as well and leave us a five-star review. We always appreciate that. Of course, a great gift this holiday season is a die-hard membership for any Arizona sports fan in your life. So if you are considering what to get the tough to shop for person this holiday season, just head over to go p.nx.com and check out the die-hard options. It comes in a beautiful little package, a shirt, free shirt, part of that from the phtonx locker.com.

wrap that, put it under the tree, makes a great gift. So make sure to check that out. Lourdes is a great gift for this team. And as we talked about with Jeff Passon's tweet, Mike Hazen has been just an excellent Christmas shopper this holiday season. He has nailed all of our wish list items that we could have asked for. I think, you know, obviously an upgrade from Lourdes was going to be tough. We talked about the options out there on the free agency market.

And Lourdes was in the top four, top five of a, available outfielders and losing him was going to require them to go out and get one of those top guys. So I think bringing him back, especially for his defense last year, which was just surprising, surprisingly good. It's hard to find a guy that does both of those things. Well, also, there's that unknown that I spoke about earlier, where you just have no idea how he is going to mix with the rest of the clubhouse. We know he's been a tremendous clubhouse guy. We know he's given me some incredible he's given me some of the best moments of my entire life jesse between between dapping me up when i died my hair purple and then the hidey wotney bit with making me mayor

of phoenix uh that was it's it's all because of him it's all because of him i got i was in a parade yesterday jesse walking the streets of uh downtown phoenix with a sash on as a mayor it's crazy stuff but uh lordis coming back is definitely good uh for me personally so selfishly i'm i'm just Yeah, and I do want to touch on a comment that was made here. If I can find a WBS 777 said, what's the move with Jake McCarthy? Kind of what is this, what does this mean for him? And yeah, I think the answer there is it just just adds depth, right? It just.

Debacks were kind of in position to be banking on Jake McCarthy becoming like 2022 Jake McCarthy, right? Like they were in position had this move not been made, the debacks had just gotten a D-H and not an outfielder. You would have needed Jake McCarthy or I guess Dominic Fletcher would have been in that mix as well. You would have needed one of those guys to come through and be an everyday player for you in a corner outfield spot, which is not easy to do. Like you want to get some offense out of that spot.

And this just allows Jake to, you know, not necessarily have to be that guy. You figure based on the way that 162 games go, there's probably still going to be an opening at some point like Jake McCarthy will still probably play a good number of games in the outfield for the diamond backs when all is said and done. But it just kind of, it puts the debacks in a more favorable position where they're not counting on a guy who kind of struggled in 2023 to come out and, you know, be a really big part of the offense in 2024 as they would certainly like. And you look around the, you look around the diamond at this point, Derek,

Lordeus and left field, Alec Thomas and Center, Corbyn, Carol, and right we assume that's going to be unchanged on the infield you have swarez at third perdomo at shortstop maybe that turns in jordan loller at some point can tell marty at second christian walker at first gabriel moreno as your everyday catcher once you get a dhs there are no holes in this diamond backs lineup right there is there like there's nothing like what we saw at third base last year right aohenio swares is here fix that problem there's lordis Gouriel is still in that in that outfield spot. And at DH, all indications are that the diamondbacks are going to get someone might

even be a step above what Tommy Pham gave them in 2023. It's a well-rounded lineup. You know, is it, is it Atlanta Braves? Is it L.A. Dodgers? You know, is it like elite? I'm not sure it's quite there. But it's a really well-rounded lineup, certainly the best that the diamondbacks have had in a long time.

And like I said earlier, I mean, you have to, you have to. to appreciate the diamond backs willingness to just try to like not just fill a portion of the holes but fill basically all of them right and you got your third baseman you've got your left fielder you know it sounds like they're going to get a dh they've already added a big piece to the starting rotation in edwardo rodriguez this has been by all accounts a pretty ideal off season for the diamond backs up to this point obviously there are no guarantees we have to see how all these things play out. But on paper,

this is a, this is a formidable, a formidable lineup and just a well-built team that doesn't really have any clear weaknesses at this point. Just to clear something up in the chat, Doug Allen was talking about the Diamondbacks not being a small market team. The city of Phoenix is not small market. It's very big,

but the Diamondbacks are a small market team because that's not how they determine who are big markets and who are small markets. It's, it's the top 10 teams versus the rest of, baseball pretty much the diamondbacks factor in at the bottom 15 uh as far as markets go i think they were last i saw they were like 17th or 18th in major league baseball but it also there's also some surprisingly big teams that are were ranked below them as far as the market size like the st louis cardinals are have a smaller market or whatever than the diamond backs that seemed unbelievable to me with

their history and the success but that it really doesn't have anything to do with the size of the city Backs are considered small market. I agree with you, though, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that they don't have the potential fans here to turn them into baseball fans. I think it just, it has to do with a lot of factors. We talked about being an Arizona baseball fan, considering how new this team is, how divided your allegiance can be, whether it's between who your family rooted for, or maybe who you've just rooted for in your neighborhood during spring training over the last, you know, some odd years.

But this is, this, this is a fun time to be in Arizona Diamondbacks. fan. It's a great time for people to hop on the wagon with us and enjoy this ride because I think this team is going to be good next year. Surprisingly so, Jesse, as much as you thought I was going to maybe say they were going to be bad, surprise, I think they're going to be awesome next year. Jack Summers has updated his projections to 85 wins. And I think that's pretty fair while still being reasonable, way more reasonable than I'm going to be. I'm already seeing 90, 95. maybe 100 wins. I don't know. I'm going to go crazy with it. But the big thing is, is that going back to Passon's tweet, this team is improving. And it's improving in a way that doesn't seem like you're just kind of out of control with spending and desperate, right? Like this seems like, you know, like we talked about Eduardo Rodriguez as much as Mike Hazen didn't want to admit to it. We know. We know he was a trade target for this team during the trade deadline. And the fact that they were able to hear to, to, to get him now as a free agent after the season is over means everything to them.

I'm sure because it's somebody that they've obviously held an interest in for a while. And to go after a guy like that and eventually be able to make them part of your team feels like a well-calculated move that has a lot of information involved with it, a lot of, you know, a lot of data, a lot of analytics. And also just that feeling that this is the right guy. So, you know, you could like the Diamondbacks could have been in on some of these big free agents. they could have gone and got Yamamoto. And that would have been awesome. It would have been great to be the talk of the sports world. But we talked about some of those pitchers coming over from a different league

and still not knowing what you're going to get out of them. I think that going after a guy like Eduardo Rodriguez is a much more, it has lower risk with high reward, high rewards still. And I think that, you know, all the moves they've made have been really well thought out as far as making this team better. This move, though, this is like we said this is probably just from a team perspective and and keeping this team together keeping that connected team environment uh is is a big move and lordis is very talented so it's not

like you're just overpaying for a guy that was on your team to come back and and play here again to keep the vibes immaculate this is more of a move where he really was one of the top names on the free agency market bringing back makes sense as far as, you know, improving this team in 2024. And it makes sense on the other mushy stuff, too. People loving each other and friendship and all that stuff. I do think that's important. I mean, I do mean what I said earlier about, like,

Lourdes is clearly beloved in this clubhouse. I'm sure Gabrielle Marino is just like on cloud nine right now, thinking about Lourdes returning to the Diamondbacks and being his teammate for, you know, presumably several years to come. And yeah, there's, you know, there's certainly risk with, with any free agent signing. We've talked about some of those things with Eduardo Rodriguez. Lordus Coriel is 30 years old.

So, you know, of course, there's some level of risk here. But the contract is pretty reasonable. Like three years and 42 million is on the lower end of what I really could have imagined this being. I think MLA trade rumors had four years, 56 million, is their projection for Lord Gerell. I want to say it was fan graphs. Might have been some other side at 3 and 36, which always felt really low to me.

I don't think that was ever really realistic. So, yeah, I don't know if Lourdes took any kind of a discount here to return to the Diamondbacks because he wanted to play there. But this is a very reasonable contract for a guy who was worth, you know, somewhere between two and three war this past season. The defense is still legitimate, as we touched on earlier. Like, he can, he can play. You can go get it a little bit and left.

field more so it seemed that he could have in years past i guess you know shout out shout out dave mackay on on that front uh you know the diamondbacks are certainly known for their outfield defense and uh you know lordis took took big strides in that regard in 2023 and offensively he's a guy who doesn't strike out a whole lot which at least for me when i'm thinking about guys moving forward and how they're going to age contact is key and that's something that lortis really excels in he's a guy who makes a lot of contact. He doesn't swing and miss a whole lot. And that just bodes well as you think about, you know,

what is this going to look like a couple years from now? You know, I think there's good reason to believe that Lordus Griel is going to be a fairly productive player moving forward. And as we touched on on Wednesday, he's been an above average hitter every single season in the majors. It's looked different at times. Sometimes it's been a little bit more power. We saw in Toronto in 2022 where he hit almost 300, but the power wasn't there quite as

much, that kind of fluctuates, but he's always been a productive hitter. And I don't really see any reason why Lourdes would just suddenly drop off a clip. There's just not as much risk here as there are with other guys in the market. Lordus, in his career, you know, he actually had kind of a down year for batting average and some of his stats in 2023. So still even with all his contributions. But yeah, like his on base percentage and batting average were actually below his career norms in 2020.

And I think somebody in the chat brought it up earlier, but, you know, again, there's something to be said about him being comfortable, being here now, you know, and knowing, knowing Tori and Tori knowing him, right? You know, they have a chance to know what his weaknesses are and what he needs to work on from last season. There's just, there's a lot of, there's a lot of positivity for him staying here and his performance improving from what we saw last year versus it regressing anymore. Who knows?

like you said, there's, there's no way to know, and he still is a very streaky hitter, but there's just a lot to be said about bringing him back. And I think all of the reward outweighs the risk. I, Cog said here in the chat, Cog showed up on a Sunday, glad to see Cogs. He said he had him at three years, 45 million. So I obviously, whenever you can get those projections, especially from some of those websites out there, like MLB trade rumors, and you could see that the deal ends up being less than that. you have to feel like the team got at least a little bit of a deal there.

And again, it's definitely not an overpayment like we saw that he might get from another team that just valued him and his season, you know, more, more than the Diamondbacks did. Are you going to burn the house down, Derek, if the Diamondbacks don't sign JD Martinez? I mean, I did tweet out the thing about being inconsolable. I will be inconsolable. But now I'm not going to not going to have a tantrum necessarily. I do think that's going to happen, though. And I do think J.D. Martinez, if I was put my money on someone, I still would put it on J.D. Martinez because it doesn't really feel like the Dodgers are going to need him anymore.

And it's not to say that there aren't other teams that won't be in the pursuit of Martinez, but it kind of feels, once again, like between the connections he has with the front office, with Tories, with Mike Kaysen, the connections that he has, you know, with the Diamondbacks organization, there's just, there's a lot of positives there that feel like he, could end up coming back here. But we'll see. We'll see. For the most part, though, I don't feel like I need, need it as much, right? That's, I think the big key here is, I know you don't like their options at DH. I still think that the Diamondbacks would do more of a rotational, you know, DH kind of thing where they would do a rotational thing, but I just

don't know if you were to keep it as is right now. I mean, you're rotating between, several players, but I don't know if you're projecting a ton of offense from any of those guys. Well, no, I mean, you're talking, yeah, but you're talking about those guys. You're talking about those guys. I'm talking about like starting lineup guys that Tori is inevitably going to put as a DH so that they have a day off at their position and things like that. But once you put in, once you put one of those starting lineup guys in the DH spot, then you've got to put one of the bench guys into the field. That's how it works. That is, I'm well aware of how Bench. No matter what, there's a spot in the lineup that would be fairly unreliable, I guess I would say. But again, based on the reporting that we're seeing here from Bob Nightingale and Jeff Passan kind of alluded to it as well,

there's not really a sense here that the Diamondbacks were done or that adding JD Martinez or Justin Turner is unrealistic. We're still expecting them to go out and make a move like that. But think of what you're saying. think of what you're saying you're literally saying like oh man if we don't do anything then that means that there'll be one position in our starting lineup that isn't dangerous and that's true but incredible thing to say about this team jessie that's an incredible thing i will say this if the diamondbacks were to stop here i don't think the lineup would actually be all that much better than it was last year because basically what you would be doing is you'd be taking the whole

that you had at third base and sort of fixing that one with aeohenio Suarez lordis is just staying so that's just keeping the status quo there but it's sort of like the hole that you had at third base you're you're patching that one but then there's a new hole that opens at dh right because there's no tommy fam anymore and so you're not getting at the end of the season i mean you're right as far as that goes i'm talking about the diamondbacks lineup compared with the end of the season like if you look at the Diamondbacks World Series lineup compared to what it would be right now if opening day was tomorrow, there's not a big difference. What would make there a big difference is if you, is if you go get a J.D. Martinez or a Justin Turner or someone like that, more so a J.D. Martinez.

There, you know, there's certainly a difference there between Martinez and Turner. But really any of those guys is what in my mind would move, would really move the bar forward. I know Jack mentioned Tom Murphy in the chat, someone that we, uh, that we discussed on the show the other day. Yeah, like someone like that. It doesn't, it doesn't necessarily have to be a, Yeah, a JD Martinez type. And I'm not, by the way, like someone's like I'm with Jesse. I'm not arguing against it.

This isn't an argument. I absolutely want to do anything else. Yeah, that's exactly what it is. No. This is a wild comment, a wild direction to take it. Not everything is a goddamn disagreement. What I was saying was if they aren't able to do that, right? Right? Like if they aren't able to get a deal done for one of those guys, I don't think.

I don't think it's the end of the world. I really don't. What you're saying is there's not that much of an improvement versus a team that made the World Series last year. Okay, I'll take that. Right. I think that this team is going to be improved from what we saw this year. That's not guaranteeing they're going to make the World Series, but I'm just saying I already think that this team has improved with this move for Lourdes. And I think what it is is it's just a sense of satisfaction. I've said this before. Sometimes as a parent, you know, there's other shopping to do around the holiday season.

You know, there's stuff you forgot. But for the most part, you got the Nintendo Switch. You got the Super Mario game. You got the things that they wanted off the list that you knew that you needed to get to make it a happy holiday, a Merry Christmas or whatever. Right. So it's like, I feel like we're at that point now. Now, it's not like an imperative need to go out and get another guy. There's other.

It's just kind of like the way with the starting rotation. and do I think they need another starting pitcher? Yes. Do I think they have the money to go out and do that and get that done? I do not. Not anymore. But they could surprise me because we have no idea how much money they're going to spend. So much like that, I'm okay with the options that they have for that fifth starting

rotation spot. I don't think that they have great options at DH, but I do think that the way that Tori manages this team will be fine if they don't get out and get that DH. Will they be better with the DH like J.D. Martinez or Justin Turner? Hell yeah. You're going to be, you're going to have JD Martinez at work, son?

Hell yeah. Like, you ain't going to get a negative out of me, but I'm just saying I do feel like that this team is just, they did enough now, this off season, to not sit back and say, wow, they went to the World Series and they didn't take an opportunity to improve that team. That's crazy.

They have fans, like I said earlier, literally saying, I wish I rooted for a team that was trying to win. and the diamond backs are obviously trying to do that. I do think it is pretty important that they add another piece to the offense, but it sounds like they are going to do that, which sort of goes back to, you know, the initial conversation of like whether we expect Lordis to resign

with the diamond backs in the first place. If you're, if you have the resources to go get a DH, it totally does make sense. And all indications are that the diamondbacks are going to go out there and they're going to go and add another piece to this offense. And that version of the team is, substantially better offensively.

We already know that the pitching side of things is substantially improved well with the addition of Eduardo Rodriguez. The bullpen, there's probably going to be some level of additions there. Might be more minorly guys. I don't expect them to get any kind of back in arms, but the bullpen was about the best thing about the diamond backs late in the season and into the playoff. So you don't necessarily need to improve a whole lot there.

And you're at the point where, you know, if they are indeed able to make that final. addition offensively. This is a team that is that is well-rounded. And, you know, are they on paper going to be better than the Dodgers or whatever going into opening day? Mike Hazen at the start of the offseason said that's probably not going to happen no matter what the Diamondbacks do, which I think was a perfectly reasonable and just realistic

thing to say. The Dodgers are, you know, perennially projected for north of 90 wins. That's not a normal thing in this game. But, yeah, the Diamondbacks have put themselves in person. position to at least be somewhat in the mix with the Dodgers for the division. It's baseball. You never know what can happen. And on top of that, like very much in the mix in the wild card race.

If you think about the wild card race in the National League right now, the diamondbacks are probably right there near the top. The Phillies are certainly another team. You know, maybe teams, maybe people would serve the Phillies higher. Outside of the Phillies, I'm not sure that there's another clear team that would be ahead of the diamond backs in the wild card rates. They've put themselves in really good position to be a contender for the postseason again in 2024.

And I think that's really all you could have expected this offseason is just put yourself in really good position to get back to the playoffs and see what can happen just like what we saw in 2023. And by all accounts, they've done that. They've shown, you know, kind of an unprecedented willingness to spend some money. That's at least the sense that we've gotten so far. and we'll see where it goes from here. I'd say so.

I mean, they definitely bucked that idea that they weren't going to spend. And I don't know. I think that the big key here is that Mike Hazen is a general manager that I put my trust in when it comes to these moves. It feels like ownership is doing the same thing. It feels like they are allowing him to make the moves. Like, again, they're not giving him show hay money because we don't have showay money, but they are giving him the ability to go out. Well, I don't know, Derek. Have you, have you not seen the breakdown of the...

Oh, yeah, $2 million a year? I think we could have afforded that. Jesse, two million a year? Geryel's deal is actually $1 million each season. And then, you know, and then it's just $39 million in a lump sum of the year after that. No, I don't, I don't anticipate there being any referrals. Although we don't know. We haven't seen numbers yet. So who knows, Derek?

Maybe something crazy is going on here. It would have had to be like that wonderful Wolf of Wall Street video that someone made on Twitter that was going around where they said at the end of the 10 years, we're going to sell the team. That's how you would have had to do it. Like you get Show Hey to sign, you get him to defer the payments for the 10 years after his contract, and then you just sell the team. You don't have to honor any deal. So anyway, the Diamondbacks, though, doing a great job.

We will continue to monitor what they do. Of course, we'll be back on Monday at 1 p.m. With our mailbag Monday episode, so make sure to shoot us some questions for that. And we'll have more on this deal. maybe we'll get some more information about how the year-by-year breakdown occurs. But until then, you can follow us on Twitter. We appreciate you guys. Stop by.

I'm at cap underscore caveman with a cage. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We appreciate you guys stopping by. We thank you so much. We hope you have a wonderful Sunday. We'll see you back here on Monday.

And remember, kids, baseball is fun. But it is so much more fun. when you bring La Pena back to the Diamondbacks.