PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Can Diamondbacks Gabriel Moreno become best National League catcher in 2024?

Episode Date: January 9, 2024

YO GABI GABI! Catcher Gabriel Moreno has already become a fan favorite and a valuable piece of the Arizona Diamondbacks young core, but can he ascend in 2024 to being one of the elite catchers in baseball? We also have more from Jesse Friedman’s article on D-backs roster projections for 2024 as well as video evidence that at least one person owns a Madison Bumgarner Serpientes jersey. 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.

Hello and happy Tuesday. Welcome into another edition of the PHNX VX podcast right here on PHMX. My name is Derek Monti, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. This man next to me is occasionally known as a Sons reporter lately, of course. He's also my vice mayor and still your thunder stick, the one and only Jesse Friedman. I tweet, I have about two sad Sons tweets that come out from my account every week. I don't know if I would quite deem that worthy of the title Sons Reporter. Why don't you have happy sons tweets ever?

Because there are no happy. There is nothing happy in the world of that basketball team right now, Derek. I don't know what to tell you. Look at me drenched in my LVIA stuff as you sit here and bad mouth this team. Of course, we welcome you guys. And thank you for being here, a ski to you all. And of course, we're still talking about the Arizona Diamondbacks 2020 season because we can't still get over it. but we are taking a look at head because, of course,

there are already rankings coming out into the future. Of course, Aaron is here. Aaron Hughes knows what we're talking about today. Aaron Hughes knows exactly what we're talking about. Aaron Hughes says, Patrick Bailey can get out of here. My dog. Framing.

What a joke. It's our baby boy, Aaron Hughes. Me and Aaron in the trenches together. Yeah, I know. You guys. It always should be. There's a, I shouldn't pull the curtain back, but there's a lot of love for Aaron on this set by these two guys.

I don't know what's going on there, but we do appreciate. Not from Derek. No, not all. Me and Dean. Yeah, no. Aaron actually brought up a great question that we didn't address on Mailbag Monday, but he once again did cleverly call Patrick Bailey, which I don't hate that at all. But here's Aaron's question from Mailbag Monday, if we do have that.

Aaron asks, let's see how Gabby actually stacks up against Patrick Bailey. And of course, this is in reference to a recent graphic that's been going around that from MLB nerds that ranked catchers in baseball for next season. And it did not see our boy Gabby in a very favorable light as far as, I guess, a high ranking. We do, let's take a look at those rankings. Do we have, let's start with the top ones, I suppose. Let's get to those at the top or wait, where are we? Nope, here's where Gabby is. So this is the bottom half.

Gabriel Moreno is ranked the 14th top catcher in baseball heading into 2024, which isn't bad, I guess. Not great, though. It's above average, right? It's above average, but just slightly. I hate that. And we know this guy is way more valuable to us than being the 14th best catcher in baseball. Get out of here with that.

There's a lot of names on this list that I completely disagree with as far as being ranked above Gabby. but maybe it's just because people still don't know what Gabby can do. Maybe it's because people don't believe in Gabby yet until he's been able to do it for more than just a portion of a season like he did for 2023. Sure. Yeah, I think there's something to be said for, you know, a player having to kind of prove himself over the course of multiple years before you're going to put him in, you know, the top five or something of a list like this.

And yeah, I mean, you look at Gabby Marano's numbers. It's not he was clearly the second or third best catcher in baseball. I think this is actually a period of time in the sport where there are a lot of a lot of really productive catchers, not only defensively, but offensively as well. All right. Well, let's take a look at the top half now because we have the top 10. And this is egregious. It's egregious. I'm just going to say it.

Will Smith as the best catcher in the National League in what world, in what universe? I mean, I don't think that that's that crazy the choice to be told. Will Smith is pretty good. Patrick Bailey as number seven overall in baseball? Come on. What are we doing? Jesse for Will Smith. What are we doing here?

I think two is a little high for Will Smith. Yeah, I saw a lot of people. I mean, who on this list are you putting ahead of Will Smith? I guess is my question. I think that is unreasonable. I know. Well, you don't have me on this show to be reasonable, Jesse.

No. Yeah. That's not why I'm here. That's long been established at this point. That's not my job. But yeah, no, I mean, Sean Murphy and Real Muto. Sean Murphy fair. I think you could make a case that Sean Murphy should be higher on the list than Will Smith.

I don't think it's obvious necessarily, but I think you could make that case. JTOM, Utah had a little bit of a down year in 2023. His OPS was around 750. He didn't draw so many walks. I think he had like a 750 OPS, something like that. Will Smith was a more valuable catcher in, in 2023, in my opinion. But I feel like what we're really getting at here, what really makes this list egregious, is the fact that Gabriel Moreno is.

is number 14. That's what's a good. And Patrick Bailey is number seven. And yeah, I mean, there, there's been some talk about those two guys and kind of debate about which one you would rather have. I feel like when people make these top 10, top 20 graphics and float them around social media, this is exactly what they want us to do. They want.

We fell into the trap. Yeah, we're absolutely falling into the trap. We're just out of advertising for MLB nerds. Yeah. By getting us to show their graphic on our show. and talk about this episode. But yeah, I mean, I think defensively, this is an argument, a debate that we've had, right? Patrick Bailey versus Gabriel Moreno.

Gabriel Moreno winds up winning the gold glove in the National League. Giants fans were not happy about that. We talked a month or so ago about the comparison between them. And I don't think it's outrageous to say that Patrick Bailey is a better defensive catcher than Gabriel Moreno. I don't personally agree with that necessarily, but it's, pretty close. But once you factor in offensively what these guys gave you in

2023, that's where I just don't think you can reasonably put Patrick Bailey higher on the list, especially this much higher, like Patrick Bailey number seven, Gabriel Moreno number 14. It's completely unreasonable, Derek. It makes no sense. It's egregious. It's egregious. It's pretty egregious.

What I will say, I pulled up a leaderboard today on fan graphs of Wins Above Replacement for catchers. Patrick Bailey is number seven on the list. And I have to believe that the MLB nerds people, they didn't just pull up the Fangraphs leaderboard and copy and paste it. It's not quite that exact. But there's a lot of overlap between their list and the Fangraphs wins above replacement list.

Fangraphs, however, liked Patrick Bailey considerably more than baseball reference. Baseball reference war had Patrick Bailey as being below one, below one win above replacement for 2023. That's because baseball reference is a G. Now, we don't deal in fake forecasting and magic around here. We deal in facts. And the facts are their stats for 2023. Damon, can we take a look at the comparison?

No, no. All right. Well, we'll have that here for you in a second between Gabriel Moreno and Patrick Bailey. But they did have some identical stats. They were close, like you said. It's not like it's that far off as far as their production. But when you factor in what Gabriel Moran, Moreno did offensively.

That's just during the regular season, not to mention the fact that he really did show a different level in the playoffs, right? Like when you get to the yoffs, right? And by the way, I'd have to appreciate Elizabeth's comment. She said, Derek looks like he's about to go skiing or skiing. That's a good one. Ski to you all, by the way. There was just a different level of intensity for Moreno, the exact kind of thing you want to see. In fact, it's kind of the antithesis to what happened to Christian Walker, right?

Christian Walker was an offensive threat all year long. And when he got in the playoffs, he kind of struggled there, right? He went into a slump. Meanwhile, you had Gabriel Moreno who almost, you know, just seemed to become elite in the playoffs when it came to, you know, him still being a rookie, essentially, right? And so it's it's just I don't know. I think that the potential for Moreno is still there. Like I feel like we haven't even seen all of what he can do. And I also think that, you know, there has to be something to be said for how clutch he was for this team when it mattered.

He really was. Yeah. I mean, clutch is a great word to describe Gabriel Moreno. I mean, he hit, I think it was four home runs in the postseason and all of them just seemed huge. Right? or at least like kind of iconic in some sort of way. That also went. Like the three.

It was the bad flip. It was the bad flip. Yeah, the bat flips every time. We're of course on point. There was the foul homer followed by the fair homer. There was the three run home run against Clayton Kershaw in game one of the NLDS, which is just kind of a statement maker as the Diamondbacks put six runs on him right off the bat. If you look at Gabriel Moreno from when he returned from his shoulder injury in mid-August to the end of the post,

season, he was an excellent hitter. He slashed 286, 356, 478. That's from, I believe, it's like August 12th through the end of the postseason, which is not a terribly small sample size. And with how deep the diamondbacks went in the postseason, those were those were important games for the diamondbacks, nearly all of them down the stretch. Gabriel Moreno was starting basically every single day. And so that's a decent chunk of games. And Moreno found a way to take this huge step forward offensively. We started to see not only the batted ball skills that he showed in the first half of the season, but we

saw him, we saw him coming to some power as well. And that was really the big next step that Gabby Moreno took in the second half. Well, we do have that comparison graphic now, and this is to answer Aaron's question from Mailbag Monday. And, I mean,

really, just to prove the point that we're trying to make here between these two guys, player A, player B, which one would you rather have on your team. Am I right here? Yeah, yeah. And I did think it was funny earlier that Cog said that like B-War is the best because it supports my narrative. There's a lot of that with Patrick Bailey and Gabrielle Marino because Fangraphs loves Patrick Bailey and thinks that he's the better player. And baseball reference

adores Gabriel Moreno and thinks that he is the far, far better player. Gabby Moreno was over for B-War in 2023 compared to, as I said earlier, under one for Patrick Bailey in 2023. But yeah, running through these numbers real quick. In 2023, the whole season, Gabriel Moreno slash 284, 33, 33, 33, 3359,

that's not very close. Extra base hits. They were basically right around the same, 27 for Gabby, 26 for Patrick Bailey. I think Gabby had like 30 more played appearances or something. Defensive runs, say we're at 20 for Gabriel Moreno compared to 13. for Patrick Bailey. Baseball reference uses defensive runs saved.

So this is a big reason why baseball reference loves Gabby so much more than Patrick Bailey. These numbers are being factored in there. If you take the average wins above replacement from fan graphs and baseball reference, Gabby was at three compared to 1.8 for Patrick Bailey. So just splitting those numbers down the middle, Gabby comes out on top pretty decisively. And I mean, obviously there's the idea here, I guess, that they're both still, young right but uh i i don't really i don't really consider that patch i don't really think patrick bailey is going to blossom into a better offensive player than gabriel merino and and i

think moreno is still going to just get better defensively he has the athletic skills that are hard to have like it's hard to it's like what we saw with corbin carroll right it's hard to have a better throwing arm you know sometimes and gabriel merino is just locked in when it comes to gunning runners out. The other things are things that you can improve on that yes, they're skills, but they are skills that are coachable that you could become better at. And I think that's the trajectory for Gabriel Moreno. I am not, I don't even feel like it's a, it's a gamble to say, maybe not in 2024, but by 2025, I do believe that Gabriel Moreno will be the best catcher in the National League. And I just, I just say that because even though,

like you said, there are a lot of good catchers in baseball and there's a lot of good catchers in the National League. There's something special about him that I think that is going to separate him from the pack and he is just going to be a guy that people are going to talk about. I think it's going to take some more iconic moments like you called them, but I think he's capable of it. And I think that if this team continues to be competitive and continues to make the postseason, he'll continue to have opportunities for those iconic moments. And from what we've seen in the small sample size that we've seen out of him he doesn't shy away from the big moment you know not to mention again that he's he seems to be an incredible teammate he seems to be the kind of guy that you want purple hair now don't remind me there there's a lot of people reminded me about that jesse sent me the instagram video quite yeah quite a few number of times there but uh it's just it's exciting the thing that this team hasn't really had you know we talked about this we've covered

this is that you know that franchise catcher really in its history just like this team's never really had this quality of bullpen before and it finally feels like there's some things that are turning and I can only say I guess the quality of bullpen from August through the end of the postseason but still nonetheless it feels like things that we've never had are starting to finally yeah you know those those needs are starting to be fulfilled so I do want to touch real quick just on like okay, why are some, why does fan graphs have Patrick Bailey so high? Where is it getting this stuff from? Answer the question, Dan Zimborski.

Yeah, yes. Yeah, this is all Dan Zimborski's fault. Yeah, it's his AI, I know it. No, so Fangraphs pulls its defensive metrics, I believe, from baseball savant, which is basically stat cast. And those defensive metrics do favor Patrick Bailey over Gabriel Moreno. I mentioned defensive runs saved before. That has Gabriel Moreno being the better defense.

under. But according to some of the numbers at Statcast, both catchers graded out extraordinarily well in terms of catching base dealers. Marino was at the top of the league, but Patrick Bailey was not far behind. Gabriel Moreno graded out as a much better blocker. He had 10 blocks above average, this kind of new stat that they have over at Statcast. Patrick Bailey had minus nine. So that's a big, a big net win there for Gabriel Moreno. But on the flip side, Patrick Bailey was like a god tier framer in 2023. He had 16 framing runs on statcast compared to minus two for Moreno. So Moreno was a little bit below average in that regard. And framing is tricky because it is on paper contributing a ton to Patrick Bailey's value. But it's a little it's a little bit harder, I think,

as a baseball fan to just understand the impact that framing has. And also these metrics are a little bit and precise. Like at the end of the day, these metrics are depending on calls that real umpires are making and like how many of those calls Patrick Bailey is getting compared to Moreno. The difference is not necessarily all that Bailey is a better framer. It also can just be that umpires are human beings and like they could have just happened to give Patrick Bailey more calls than Moreno in certain situations. Um, so there's there's clear evidence that Patrick Bailey is a better framer. That's why fan graphs adores him so much.

And I think that's probably why Patrick Bailey wound up so high on this list. But yeah, framing, I think it's something that can be taught to some extent. Something Gabbyro Moreno could get better at over time. And these stats are maybe a little bit less precise than some of the other ones. I think somebody

up in the chat, Gabriel said it. He said it's not being good at framing won't matter in two years when we have the automatic strike. That is also a great point. Yeah, there is a very real possibility that in a few years Patrick Bailey's biggest asset defensively has no impact whatsoever. Yeah. Cog says Derek will have purple hair soon. I don't appreciate that one. Bit Cogs.

Elise has my back and I think everybody should listen to Elise where she said, I don't know if Derek's hair can handle the bleaching. It will take to get purple again. I don't think my scalp can handle that either. Shout out to Chris. Chris C. in the chat says, thank you for your super chat. He says, I will also say that Gabby is one of the reasons why our bullpen was historically amazing as it was in October. We were able to switch the bullpen. I think I think Gabriel Moreno is a big part of that. I'm not sure if he's the, you know, a big part of the reason why the bullpen was necessarily better there at the end. I think personnel was a big part of it, obviously, because of the changes.

Paul Seawald probably had the biggest impact there. But Gabby, again, he is one of those guys. I think I've quoted this a few times or at least discussed. Zach Gallin saying it, but like, Zach Gallen had a sincerity to him when he said that like Gabby is in the trenches in the war with you when you're out there as a starting pitcher. And that metaphor, you know,

makes it feel like, again, you as a catcher who typically is kind of alone out there, right? Like you're the guy. If you mess up, it's on you. You know, there's not a lot of places to blame it.

When, you know, a pitcher is out there throwing, you know, throwing beach balls and, and the opponents are knocking them out of the park, right? But like to have that guy behind the plate that you feel that way about, to have a catcher that you feel is in the war with you,

it's a different level of, you know, I guess confidence and it's a different type of relationship when it comes to connecting, you know, with your teammate, with your starting pitcher out there on the mound. So we've heard nothing but great things about Gabbyrono Marino, and I, you know, am very excited to watch him and the other young guys on this team grow into, you know, the hyperbolic nonsense that I throw out there about them. Like, they're all going to be big, huge superstars. Watch. Just watch. But anyway, if there is one person, I truly do believe about that.

Besides, believe that about besides Corby and Carroll, it is Gabriel Marino. I do feel like he definitely has a superstar quality when it comes to catchers that not only is the skill level there, but he just, again, like, he's electric at times. and that's not something you can necessarily always have. There is kind of this like flare for the dramatic element that really came out in the postseason. We've talked about before how Gabby Moreno was the Diamondbacks number three hitter for the majority of their postseason games on a team that won the NL pennant, right? And yeah, shout out to DVX-2-3, long-time listener, first-time live chatter, ski from the East Coast. Do you all? Welcome. Welcome.

Happy to have you here. I mean, obviously there's other competition around the National League. And when I say he's going to be the best in the National League, it's still. It's a pretty bullish statement to make. I'm not going to lie. Right. Because you do have Sean Murphy out there. You know, you have Will Smith, again, really good war, 4.3 war.

Sean Murphy, 4.1 war. William Contreras. There's always a contraris that's good behind the plate somewhere, right? But yeah, there's definitely a lot of competition. J.T. Real Muto. Francisco Alvarez, a lot of these guys that are still out there as very good catchers. I think that maybe if he doesn't end up being the top catcher in the National League, he definitely still has that potential to be one of the elite catchers in all of baseball.

Totally. Yeah, I think the big thing that stands out to me comparing Gabby with all these National League guys, you just mentioned, Murphy, Smith, Contreras, both of the Contreras, I guess, Real Muto and Francisco Alvarez, those guys hit home. homers, right? Sean Murphy, 21 homers this past year. Will Smith 19, William Concheris, 17, Rheumuto 20, Francisco Alvarez, 25.

That's not the end-all, be-all. I don't think Gabriel Moreno needs it, 25 homers to potentially be the best overall catcher in the National League. He's obviously bringing so much defensively. But I do think that that is kind of the next big step for him. And if he finds a way to tap into that power even more, that power that we saw in the second half, as I mentioned earlier from mid-August through the end of the postseason, he slugged 4-78.

If he can be that guy over the course of a full season, then suddenly you're talking about Gabby Moreno offensively being pretty much right up there with everyone on this list. And as much as I wouldn't project Gabby Moreno to be the best catcher in the National League as of right now, if he's able to be that guy over the course of a long period of time, that I don't think it's a totally outrageous goal for him to reach at some point. We got a lot of people in the chat here from other places right now. Not only do we have our friend joining us for the first time from the East Coast. We have Aaron Hughes who says ski from Western Germany today.

By the way, we out here late night in the cold, Aaron put on a jacket. I'm worried for you now. I'm not going to get good sleep tonight making sure you were warm enough. Cogs is ski from Beaumont, Texas. I worry about all of you. I worry about all of you so much. Gabriel, I'm sure, somewhere, too. I don't know where in the world Gabriel is,

but Cogs has ski from Beaumont, Texas. Again, thank you, Cogs. I hope you're enjoying your train ride, and I hope you enjoy the Beny's when you get to New Orleans. We appreciate all of you guys being here right now in the PHAGNX Sports YouTube channel, no matter where you are in the world. If you haven't subscribed yet, make sure to do so now. Sign up for notifications.

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I was trying to, I was trying to like do some sort of firmware update on a new piece of arcade equipment that I got. And I have to have a like a Windows PC in order to do it. And that just that seems very, very. Do they sell those anymore? I don't know. I don't even know someone who can't even borrow one from someone. Everybody I know has an apple. Anyway, I will also tell you if you want to save some money, of course, if you want to make some money,

if you want to secure your financial future, a great place to do so as a Desert Financial Credit Union. For more than 84 years, Desert Financial has been Arizona's largest, most trusted local credit union. I trusted them with the purchase of my first home. And of course, they can get you started on your home ownership journey as well. You can look to Desert Financial for checking and savings accounts, mortgages, loans, credit cards, investment options, and so much more. Join a credit union that is committed to giving back to the community

and also has your financial interest in mind. When you open a free checking account now online with Desert Financial, you'll get $200 back in bonuses. Get started by visiting desertfinancial.com slash 200. What's going on here? Derek clearly doesn't play compiler games. I don't have no PC. Yeah, no, you're right too.

Apple computers are terrible for playing computers. games on there they do have some limitations for sure they definitely do but uh jesse did something fun over at go p h nx dot coms i don't know if fun is the right word he everything he does over at go phnx is arduous by the way he has every every article he writes takes takes all of his all of him uh it takes this one in particular he leaves it all on the field when it comes to writing these articles trying to project the diamond vax opening day roster nearly three months before opening day is just thankless is a bit of an ambitious task. It's pointless. Yes.

Got Mike Hazen still out here in the weeds, you know, still hiding, ready to make moves, ready to pounce, ready to change the roster up and make you look like a fool. I am thankful that he whatever the Diamondbacks are going to do next. I'm thankful it didn't happen like within two hours of me posting this story.

That was great of him. I was fully expecting that to be the case. I do appreciate them waiting to sign JD Martinez until I could go on a week long vacation. That was very kind of the front office. I appreciate that. But if no further moves were to be made. Jesse did his best to project what the roster was going to look like.

I know we've talked about way too early roster projections in the past. Here's another one, I guess. So let's get into it because I think that so far, fairly spot on, hard to argue with a lot of this. I know this one has been a big question for a lot of people. We got it on Monday as a mailbag question and we'll probably still get it going forward. but people wanted to know who you thought, who we thought would get that final spot in the rotation. And here is Jesse's projected rotation for the Diamondbacks. It goes Zach Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Fott, and Tommy Henry getting the fifth spot in the starting rotation.

Yeah, this is by far the least stressful part of this article for me. Starting rotation is pretty clear at this point with the top four Gallen, Kelly, Rodriguez, and Fott. We've talked a lot about that top four and how it has the potential to be one of the best front fours in a starting rotation in the sport and how, according to Zips, all four of those guys are projected for ERAs below four. We talked about that the other day. The only question here is who gets that number five spot. We've talked about that a little on the show as well. Tommy Henry is sort of the default choice, I think, just given the season that he had in 2023. He had a 415 ERA.

in, I believe it was 17, 18 starts, something like that. And he was consistent for the Diamondbacks at a time when there was a lot of volatility in the rotation. There were guys getting hurt. There were guys struggling, certainly. But he was a steadying presence. So I have him in there in that number five spot. Of course, we expect, you know, how these guys perform in spring will matter.

Ryan Nelson, certainly in the mix for that spot. Slate Coney, Bryce Jarvis, Blake Walston, as well. all of those guys are on the 40-man roster and figure to have some shot at that at that number five spot. Not to mention the fact that there again, there could be a potential deal that makes this completely, changes this completely. We don't foresee that happening because as it stands, this is a fairly strong starting rotation still, especially for a young team that is giving these young guys an opportunity, right? it would almost be advantageous with the potential that they have out of Tommy Henry, Ryan Nelson, Slate Sacconi, you know, Blake Walson, to have that last rotation spot open

to see if one of them can kind of emerge and become the actual starting pitcher for this team. Like competition is good. We've talked about that quite a bit. It's been good for the starting rotation in the past for this organization. And I think that when it comes to, you know, these young arms, especially the ones that have had experience pitching out at a major league level over the last year for the regular season

like Tommy Henry and Ryan Nelson. There's there's it's kind of like a time to prove yourself at this point and prove your worth especially as a starting pitcher. There still might be value out of you out of the bullpen instead of kind of wavering as a potential starter and I'm sure they would like to find out if they can utilize some of these guys in those rules.

Yeah, I think Ryan Nelson is a really interesting one I mean, going into the 2023 season, maybe it's a little bit harder to remember this now, given the season he had. But Ryan Nelson, there were a lot of people excited about Ryan Nelson heading into 2023. He came up and had like a 1-5 VR-A and three starts. Drey Jameson, too. In 2022, Dray Jameson was certainly well thought of as well. Tommy Henry kind of struggled in 2022. He got a little bit more opportunity than those guys and didn't look quite as good.

But yeah, with Ryan Nelson, it's just a matter of, of, you know, finding some secondary pitches that are going to work for him. We've seen, you know, the curveball, the slider, the cutter, the change up. He's kind of mixed it up over the course of the season, kind of what his preferred secondary pitch was. And he just wasn't really able to settle on anything that was going to work, right? But there's always been that potential. Like when he execute, when he's able to execute and when he has. good feel for really any one of those secondary pitches. It's like, oh, yeah, this can, this can work.

Like, we can, we can kind of see it. Including coming out of the bullpen during the postseason. Yeah, yeah. I mean, in that, in that one world series appearance that he made, Mike Hazen said the other day that he was pretty excited about what Ryan Nelson looked like in, in that World Series outing. And he also mentioned that Ryan is already out and at Salt River Fields doing work and, you know, trying to put himself in as good a position as possible for the 2024 season.

So the fastball is good. There's no question about that. It's just a matter of finding some secondary pitches that are going to work for him. It was so odd the way that the young guys came up and found success so quickly for this team in 2022, right? I mean, we felt like it was unrealistic, but we also still had a lot of hope that what we were seeing was actually what we were going to get. And that that wasn't the case, obviously. but it was just interesting how things kind of work themselves out in 2023, right? We saw a much more improved Tommy Henry versus the regression that we saw to both

Jayemason and Ryan Nelson. And that is one of those things that makes me think we might see Ryan Nelson come back and have a stronger like third year here after, you know, what we saw out of him and what we saw out of Tommy Henry last year. I think those guys are still very good and I can understand, especially with the other needs, especially with a designated hitter need, right-handed bat, things like that, that you would be prioritizing all this other stuff over trying to find another starting pitcher. But it gets asked quite a bit.

Like if a lot of people feel like for the Diamondbacks in order for them to be truly a contender, they need to find one more starting pitcher, I don't think that's the case. I really do think that their opportunity is or their option is in-house. It would be great, but I don't know if you're going to be a bad thing. Yeah, I don't know if you're going to get that much more potentially out of another guy, then you might get out of one of these four, you know, for young studs that still have a lot to, you know, lots of learn at a major league level and a lot of experience to gain. I saw back there we had another new fan watching or another person watching for the first time from Wichita, Kansas.

Is that right? You scroll back there, do we have anyone? Is there anyone in the chat who is currently in the state of Arizona? He's actually here and has watched the show before. Mr. Stubbs, 3590, welcome. He said, love the show first time able to listen live. Dback's number one fan from Wichita, Kansas. Oh, Wichita, Kansas.

He claims to be the number one fan from Wichita, Kansas. I mean, I believe it, I think. I mean, I want to put it out there, maybe put it on Twitter seat. There's any other Wichita fans, right? Do people live in? How many people live in Wichita Kansas? Can we make them like have a quiz off or just maybe physically fight each other? I don't know.

I want to find some way to rank the fans in Wichita. is easily number one yeah all right well come at the king welcome mr stubbs we appreciate you being here uh let's take a look at some of the other uh projections jesse has including let's go let's go to the bullpen do we have the bullpen here we go these are my guys oh my god look at that look at gink just i'm fired up jessie just it doesn't even need to be in video form just the the photo is enough to fire me up but uh these are the guys these guys uh did good work last year uh the only name here you're that really we didn't get a chance

to see that out of I guess late in the season in the playoffs there's Scott McGuff. Yeah, yeah. Scott McGuff got hurt toward the end of the year wasn't available toward the end of the regular season

or in the playoffs. There was a point during the season where Scott McGuff was pitching very well and was closing games for the Diamondbacks and seemed to be an excellent pickup. He obviously faded down the stretch. But yeah, I'll go ahead and just list off these names real quick.

Seawald Ginkle, Thompson, I think that's, that's easy money right there. In that order. In that order, yes, I guess. 9th, 8th, 8th, there you go. Miguel Castro and Scott McGuff, they both have guaranteed major league contracts going into 2024. I know they didn't have great seasons when all was said and done, but I have to believe that

that gives them a little bit of a leg up over the competition that at the very least, the Diamondbacks are going to give those guys another shot before, before moving on and going elsewhere. Luis Frius pitched fairly well for the debacks down the stretch at a 406 ERA over the course of the season. He is out of minor league options. So the days of stashing Frius and AAA and kind of having him be this up and down guy, those days are over. The Diamondbacks either have to put him on the roster and keep him there or more most likely lose him to another organization. Joe Mantiply and Andrew Saul Frank, I have rounding out the list here, those top six guys the name were all righties. The debacks are going to need a couple lefties. So Joe Manipli and Andrew

Saul Frank were my picks there. Kyle Nelson being the primary, the one that it really kind of hurt to leave off. It was hard to pick two out of the three of Mantiply, Saul Frank, and Nelson. All three of those guys, you know, pitch for the Diamondbacks in the postseason. There was extra room because Scott McGuff was injured. But yeah, Manteply and Saul Frank were my choice is there. Nelson was really good in the first half of the season. But from July forward, his ERA was over six. He really struggled with with the long ball in the second half. I love to see the reverence for St.

Seewald there, our patron saint of saves. I appreciate him. Our Lord's Savior, Paul Seawald. Of course, a lot of this doesn't fall in the place without him, right?

And that's one of the big reasons why that acquisition is, is huge. The addition of Seawald, kind of, it feels a little bit going back to Gabby, like when they acquired Gap. Like you didn't really know at first a lot about Moreno or considering how young he was, how soon he was going to contribute. And he kind of got thrust in that position.

And then he became like a godsend. Like there was just this instant feeling like that the Diamondbacks found somebody that was going to change their organization. Paul Seawald had about as rocky of a start as you could getting traded over from, you know, Seattle and starting here and sitting into that bullpen. on that the other day. We really did. And yet there was something that after, you know, after a week, that's when we started calling him the dad is just that, that quiet comfort he brought to this team and this organization by being there.

So he is the anchor and he is very important there at the end. And I think there's not many changes from last season, especially towards the end with the addition of a few names there. Like, I guess Frius was part of the mix there at the end of the season. So Scott McGuff really being the guy that's back and healthy, But yeah, I mean, that like I think Dean said it, that's the first time I look at the bullpen. It doesn't give me hives, right? Like it makes you feel confident.

Diamondbacks fans have been through a lot with bullpen. We really have. It's not easy, man. And I mean, again, it's such a big part of why not only has it been why this franchise has struggled, but why it's been painful to watch it because of the hard. It is the, there's no worse way to lose games than with your bullpen. following it at the end. Just having some solid starting pitcher go out there and give you five, six,

seven solid innings and then just watching the bullpen choke away a game. You know, it's just, it's kind of been a big part of our past, and hopefully that changes in 2024. Let's take a look now at the projected catchers and infielders for 2020. Can I, I do want to touch just real quick on some of the other guys that were left off this list. I mentioned Kyle Nelson.

Corbyn Martin is another interesting name that I didn't have in here. I think has a chance to make the team. Martin was very much tracking to make the team last year as a reliever. He had really good stuff in spring training. He pitched around five innings. It was a pretty small sample, but he was pumping like upper 90s and, you know, a pretty good breaking pitch as well.

So Corbyn Martin should be healthy for the 2024 season as far as I'm aware. He had shoulder surgery, wound up missing, missing all of all of 2023 after spring training, but should be back. He's a name to keep an eye on. A big part of the return for Zach Granky back in back in 2019. He's still around.

Justin Martinez is another name that warrants mentioning. We got a little glimpse of Justin Martinez during the 2023 season. And yeah, there were some high moments with Justin Martinez for sure. He closed the game in San Diego. I was going to say including when we went to talk to him the first time and I was holding out my little Bluetooth mic. And he just decided to take it from me and hold it up himself. What a good dude. Like who does that?

Not everybody does that. That's indicative of a back end reliever right. He's taking an issue. Helping me out. Helping me out more than he needed to. The stuff there is obviously amazing. Justin Martinez is throwing over 100 miles an hour with regularity. Like Luis Friest, right?

It's just about control and it's about can you get major league hitters to swing and miss at your stuff? It's not about. Yeah. Because, I mean, man, I'll tell you, you can throw 104 miles an hour, but if you're still throwing it right down the middle of the plate. Or if you're throwing it, like, like eight inches outside. Yeah.

Like those are, it's not great, right? Command is everything. What's interesting to me looking at the bullpen is, how does a young guy break into this bullpen?

Now, where are the weak links? Would it be like an Andrew Salfrank potentially? Is it maybe trying to get a spot from Miguel Castro, from Luis Friest? Like, where if you're competing for a job, how do you break into this bullpen?

It'd be hard to take the job of a mantiplier or a Salfran or a Nelson if he wound up in there. Just because of the left. Because they're lefties. You probably want two lefties at least in here. But yeah, I mean, I mentioned Luis Friest and the fact that he's out of options. If the Diamondbacks see him in spring training and don't necessarily love what they see, there is a chance where they just let him go on to another organization.

And then if they believe that Justin Martinez is going to give them a better chance to win games, then I could definitely see them going that direction. And there are some other guys too, Colin Snyder. I just picked up off waivers from the Kansas City Royals a few weeks ago. Peter Struislecky, who was acquired in the Andrew Chafin trade at the 2023 deadline. And then there's also a lack of a long man of the group of eight that I came up with. So I do think it is possible that a Slate Cicconi or Bryce Jarvis or Ryan Nelson, one of those guys who misses out in the starting rotation competition,

that one of those guys could make it as a long release. or kind of like Dre Jameson did last year. Just think about how different, though, this entire team was by the end of the season than it was at the beginning, including starting pitchers and the bullpen, right? So like you said the other day, there is no way any major league team is getting through a season with just five starting pitchers. Same thing with the bullpen. You're not starting and ending the season with the same guys in your bullpen just due to injury, just due to the fact that some guys might not be, might not perform in the same way that they did last year.

There's a couple of guys on this list like Ryan Thompson. It just didn't even make sense how good he was for this team, right? Like it didn't. It really didn't. Being a DFA candidate from the Tampa Bay raise that got released and picked up by the Diamondbacks, like that is not necessarily the guy that you come in and expect to now be your third best pitcher in your pen. But that's where they're at. And who knows if he's able to keep that up next year.

So it'll be interesting to see how the bullpen that starts out the year kind of strong can adapt and maybe getting stronger as the year goes on, especially with these young guys still fighting for a spot. We will take a look now at the Diamondbacks projected catchers and infielders for next year. We got here, of course, at the top, my baby boy, Gabriel Moreno, Christian Walker, Cotel Marte, Jerry P, Eduardo, or I'm sorry,

Eh, E Eugenio Suarez, Jase Peterson, big fan, Kevin Newman and Tucker Barnhart. So, Jesse, thoughts here. on the projected catchers and infielders that you put together. Yeah, there's a lot of tough choices here. Yeah, I hate it. It starts with the backup catcher roll. You know,

the debacks just brought in Tucker Barnhart on a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. We expect him to compete with Jose Herrera. Yeah. Yeah, one of those two. I mean, looking at their 2023 numbers, Barnhart and Herrera, neither of them were great offensively. Neither of them were great defensively. Barnhart is a guy who graded out very well from a framing standpoint,

which we were talking about earlier, of course, with Patrick Bailey. So that's kind of his biggest asset defensively at this point, as well as what we've talked about in the past with just the rapport that he's built with pitchers and kind of developing a reputation for being really good at that. So, yeah, really tough to choose between Barnhart and Herrera at this point. I went with Barnhart partially because Herrera still has a minor league option remaining. So you could keep Herrera in. the organization as minor league depth and have Barnhart in the majors, whereas if you were not

to give this roster spot to Barnhart, he has an opt out at the end of spring training and likely would head elsewhere. Yeah, not great options there in the backup role, but still a very, very strong infield when you look at Gino, Jerry P, Catell, Christian Walker, Gabby Moreno. The starters are all. That is a strong, strong. It's pretty good across the board. Yeah.

But yeah, the backup guys on the infield side also very difficult to pick from. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. I will say this. Jace Peterson last year was in the rotation to play third. And yes, it wasn't like he wasn't an everyday starter, but he was kind of an option to be an everyday starter at times for this team or at least platoon there.

This is a much better situation starting the year with Suarez over there. Right. And having those three guys as backups. And again, the opportunity there for Jordan Lawler for some of the younger guys to win that opportunity. It's a matter at sometimes though about

like again with Lawler him getting at bats. You want him to get regular at bats. You don't want him to be in a backup role that some of those guys are going to be in for this team and not be getting regular at bats. Yeah and that's I know people are probably thinking of all the names that are not on this list. Did we list off everyone? I guess we did.

Yeah, we didn't get to the outfielders or DHA. Okay, yeah. We'll do that in a second. So yeah, Jordan Lawler is not here. Pavin Smith is not here. Emmanuel Rivera is not here. Blaze Alexander guys on the 40-man roster figures to have a shot is also not here. I think all of those guys have totally real chances to make the roster, which is why this was so difficult. Jace Peterson is someone that the Diamondbacks just traded for at the trade deadline.

He has a good reputation as a solid clubhouse guy. The Diamondbacks owe him $3 million in 2024. no matter what. So it was hard for me to leave him off, kind of for those reasons, I included him. And then you just need a backup shortstop, is really what you're left with at that point.

And the choice there, I guess is Kevin Newman, Jordan Lawler, Blaise Alexander. I wound up going with Kevin Newman just because he's kind of the most proven sure thing out of those guys. What do you bring him in for

to not be that role, right? Like, you don't, again, you don't want Blaze Alexander being on this roster and being up at a major league level

and not getting at bats. And again, if that's going to be the case, it's different if he impresses you enough to think that you're going to maybe split time with him in Pardomo or something of the sort. But it's probably not going to happen, right? I mean, or split Loller in Pardombo, you know. I think Lawler probably has a chance to come into spring and like have a monster spring.

And who knows, maybe even be like the regular everyday shortstop. And then Heraldo Pernomo kind of bounces around in a utility role. I don't think that's impossible. but just given what we saw at the end of last year and the initial struggles upon reaching the majors. Did you hear the thing? I feel, I felt like I had to, uh, had to go with Newman, just him being kind of a veteran player and someone who's who's proven against left hand. The look of rage on Damon's face when Jesse said something even slightly.

Was it the per domo thing? It's the prodomo comment for sure. It's the perdomal slender. I made that very clear. The moment that I like suggest. Perdomo is like anything other than the Diamond Vax's primary shortstop. Damon breaks out in Hives. But yeah, and Blaze Alexander is another guy where he has the ability to play shortstop.

And with a strong spring, I think he could totally earn that role as well. So that one is very much going to depend on how things look in spring. Manuel Rivera is in a tough spot because he's out of minor league options. And I don't know if I see him fitting on a roster that already has a right. handed everyday third baseman in Gino Suarez, as well as with the other decision I made, Kevin Newman, you know, if you have a right-handed hitting backup shortstop who can also play third base, I don't know if I really see a spot for Emmanuel Rivera in that world. So not to say it's impossible, but the fact that the debacks have it, a Eugenio Suarez makes Emmanuel Rivera. It's

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We'll have to hear the rest of that. We appreciate you being here if you are a diehard member, by the way, if you haven't gotten yourself a diehard membership, get yourself the gift of joining our family. Go to go to go phnx.com. Join us. You'll get Jesse's news letter. You'll get the access to all of our content, including access to our Discord lounge. Get access to our members-only discounts with our partners as well as that free shirt from the PHNX Locker.com of your choosing. I'm rocking this bad boy right now, by the way, which is the, this is the like jersey shirt.

can't get it in this one there it is all right looks great it looks great when you're wearing jackets and stuff that you want to leave open like this i'm just going to crack that open you're wearing way too many colors today like there's teal in this and the suns have teal and then there's purple orange teal purple and sedona red by the way those are still downback's colors why it all goes together you know what just because you are sitting over here mr drab in your gray's and your blues you're You're gonna get on me. I'm wearing my wonderful shirt from PHNX Locker.com. You get yours for free.

I'm becoming a very professional, Jesse. Thank you, sir. Appreciate that. I don't know. No, I don't dress like this to not be complimented on it, Damon. What are you doing? I didn't say anything about you. I just said,

I thought Jesse was very professional. Espo. You said he looked drub and dull. Would you come compliment me, please? Because Damon's not doing a good job of it as our producer. I love the shirt. Thank you. I love the shirt.

Is it too much? I don't love it together. Oh my God. There we go. Take the microphone back. Get out of here. You guys are monsters. Oh, man.

I don't know. You look like a road accident or something with all of it put together. I feel like there's just not as much love for the suns anymore. Joey says I look like I'm going to raid the Capitol. Damn it, Joey. You're probably right. All right. Well, we do have one more thing to cover when it came to your projections for the roster.

Yes. We have the projected outfield. And D.H. Which, why did we even do this? Oh, I see. There it is. Projected free agent D.H. Jesse, you genius.

I know. You snuck that one in on me. Let's go. I mean, it would have been completely outrageous for me to like in my opening day roster projections just like put Jorge Saler or something in there. So we just have we have a placeholder. We have an open slot. It's because you don't want to say J.D. Martinez yet, but it is for J.D.

Martinez. It is for whomever. J. We, TBD. We'll see what happens. But as far as the actual outfielders that are already already in the organization, Corbyn Carol, Ortis Curiel, those are no-brainers. Alec Thomas, I have him making the team not quite as no-brainer-esque as Carol and

Guriel, but still seems highly likely, especially given his performance in the postseason. And then the debacks are going to need a fourth outfielder. They have a variety to choose from Jake McCarthy, Dominic Fletcher, Jorge Barrosa, also on the 40-man roster, could factor. in as well. I went with Jake McCarthy there. He's the most established of that trio. I still very much think it's possible that Dominic Fletcher or even Jorge Barrosa could find their way on the opening day roster. Barrosa has the distinction of being a switch hitter rather than being a left-handed hitter. The debacks wanted a platoon guy for Alec Thomas and Center or something like that. I do think

Barrosa could make some sense. But my sort of default, you know, my best guess as of right now would would be Jake McCarthy in that four spot. My favorite part about your projected roster for next year is how similar it is to this year's roster. I mean, that's kind of the way. That's kind of the way you have to do it. Right. I mean, if I came out and made like sweeping changes everywhere, that would seem a little,

a little bit out there. There's something in professional sports that these teams do. The Diamondbacks are guilty of it. Other teams are guilty of it. And it's not to say the diamondbacks aren't still going to add to the roster not only before the season starts. make changes but as the season progresses like we said last year's roster was vastly different from the beginning of the season than it was at the end of the season but like there is no need right now to

do anything drastic when it comes to this roster and this team i felt like they yeah they showed you last year what they were capable of they showed you that if you maybe didn't have to do a bullpen start every every five games that maybe you could be even better than what you were and i like the fact even with the success they had they didn't drastically change the this team they're just adding pieces to it which is what you do after you've established your core you know who your core is you know who you want to keep here you know who you want to extend and obviously they're not going to be able to extend everybody and keep everybody here but what they can do is they can absolutely do their best to kind of grow this young team that was that achieved this great you know this great postseason run

ahead of schedule and without needing to do anything drastic and you can just try to build on it going forward. We're seeing something again with the Sons right now that is pretty sad. And a big part of it is because right when they got close with the pieces they had, they decided to really try to up their game. And like again, they established who their young core was and who they were going to build around. They added some pieces. They got close to the championship. They didn't get it done. And then they just kind of went in more on like, okay, well, let's double down. Let's, let's risk some of these guys that we consider to be the core. And let's try to bring in some real true superstars with, you know, veteran experience that can get us over the edge. I'm so conflicted on

even talking about this because I'm a huge Kevin Durant fan. He's my favorite player in the NBA. he plays on my favorite team and yet i also feel like maybe it wasn't a great idea yeah i think i think but it's because of that in comparison to the diamondbacks i feel like that's where they went left where the diamond backs are kind of you know hopefully they don't they don't feel the need to do something that drastic in order to bring your championship to the valley yeah i i think there are some key differences like in the NBA i think the more top heavier roster is the better in some ways right that's very Like you win. Because that's who's going to play out there the majority of the time.

Yeah. Four guys can really tow the load in the NBA way more than you could say that about the nine guys on the field needed for a baseball team. Plus the five starting pitchers plus the bullpen. Like you need to have a lot of good players at different positions in baseball in order for your team to find success. Right. Totally. So I think that's like a big thing. And it seems like the sun's felt pressure to like, all right.

You know, it might be that we're capable of winning 60 games every year, but when push comes to shove and we're playing the best teams in the biggest moments, we fall a little bit short. And so you can understand why they felt the need to make some of those decisions that they made, even though, yes, I'm with you. In retrospect, I have questions. But yeah, for the Diamondbacks, it's different. Baseball is a different sport.

It's a more team-oriented sport. It doesn't matter as much. I do think that having a top-heavyer roster maybe plays better in the, the postseason, there's some sense of like, you know, how does your star power kind of compare with the other team's star power once you get into the NLCS and the World Series and those, those biggest moments we certainly saw the Rangers stars kind of outperform the Diamondback stars when push came to shove. But there's also a reality of ownership differences between the Diamondbacks and the Suns. The moment that Matt Ishbia came aboard for the Suns, money was no object and they are paying a hefty

amount of money for the team that they have now. The Diamondbacks are not in position to trade some of their young players to get, you know, players who are making 30, 40, 50 million dollars a year. So a very different situation in that sense as well. And that's ultimately why I don't think the Diamondbacks will ever really go down a similar path as the Suns. It's just not financially sustainable for them. Well, I will say that one of the things that infuriated us as the roster changes happened

last year and especially infuriated Damon Dog was the fact that, As the season progressed, there were still only, what, two Serpientis jerseys with a player name on the back that you could find regularly in the team shop. And one of them just kept selling out. Obviously, that was Corbyn Carroll, right? But there was this Madison Bumgardner jersey that seemed to hang around. And this is no knock at Madison Bumgarner, but you often ask the question. Yes, yes. Who's buying that?

Why is it still on a shelf? Why? More importantly, is it not been clearanced off for just a fraction of the price so that we can move these units and get this out of here? Well, I think we found the one person that bought a Madison Bumgardner jersey. Damon, do you have the tape? That's noted internet comedian Drusky talking trash to James Harden before yesterday's game here in Phoenix while he was wearing a Madison Bumgartner, Serpientish jersey, that again, where do you even? find that now it was a topic of conversation from like me and sean in particular for like the entire year like you just made us sick to our stomach yeah you want to these were the two options actually it wasn't corbin carroll you had to customize that it was mad bum and randy johnson no i swear to

don't a randy johnson serpientist jersey that he definitely never would have worn i feel like that makes you less sense that they sold in the team shop yeah you're talking like after mad bum was d f a I think they might have taken those out of the team shop. They took it out. They did still sell them as one of the two player non-customizable jerseys on like fanatics. That's infuriating. That's infuriating. It's disgusting.

I don't understand. Obviously, we know that there was the jersey change. So we have a feeling that that impacted why we weren't able to get more jerseys in the team shop last year like that they were holding off on it. But the Serpientish jersey isn't going anywhere. Why couldn't we have more Serpientis jerse? I mean, you have such a fun young team and like capitalized on them. Gabby Marino, Alec Thomas. on the Serpianz jersey that goes so hard and now we have druski we have druski here before the sun's game

right that was the sun's game right well i don't know i mean the court is is lakers oh okay lakers court okay so it's a clippers hard and warming up okay it's a lakers clippers game because they just played the clippers and the clippers actually just wallop the sons am i not mistaken no they did they absolutely did but i i don't i don't think okay because i was like this is two nights ago the clippers The Clippers when they played the Sons last night were coming off back to back. It's too close. It's too close to the Clippers playing the Sons to have a man out there in a Madison Bumgardner jersey.

Sure. Interacting with a team that's going to play the Sons. Like I feel like that curse is just, it's, it carries over. It's not. I thought it was funny that Bleacher Report, their caption of this said nothing about the jersey that Drusky was wearing. It was just Drusky was messing with James Hardin before last night's Clippers game with like the crying laughing emoji and everyone in the comments is like who cares about drusky messing

with james hard and drusky is wearing a bad as some bump corner jersey we talk about that is happening here that is the real story here you missed the headline here bleacher report i know very little about drusky which i'm sure shocks many of you but does i mean he doesn't have like any Arizona ties that i'm aware of at least like why is he wearing a diamond back jersey of all You want to know why, and I guarantee you this is the reason why. He thought it was a really cool jersey. And that's one of the two options for players that they had available. And that's my point this entire damn time.

Well, isn't Randy Johnson probably the choice there? I mean. But he didn't wear that jersey. He was 20 years away from that jersey. That's a terrible choice for a jersey. Sure. If you're promoting Corbyn-Garren-Warren-War that jersey, like that's an actual jersey. If you promote Corbyn-Carrul carol, now Drewskiy's wearing a Corbyn-Carrul jersey.

Yeah. And that's sick. Yeah. And look at the Blumgartenarren Garl. loan opportunity. I mean, wasn't KD wearing Corbyn't Carole jersey? Isn't that why that blew up so much because KD. was wearing a

caroled zoned because he knows ball. Well, yeah, I had to get a KD jersey customized. It's all full circle. That's the only way I was able to get the streaking son, Kevin Durant, jersey. I do think it takes a while for like really young players to catch on maybe from a Jersey standpoint.

Nope, I don't believe that. That's bullshit. We talked about this. Josh Dobbs. There was a Josh Dobbs jersey the next day after he led the Vikings to victory in their team shop. Yeah, but Josh's done around for a long time, right? Like if a guy is, has nothing to do with it.

If a guy was just called up from AAA, even if he has lofty prospect status and he's knocking the cover off the ball, you're probably going to wait before you put his jersey in the team shop. Are you mean to tell me? You mean to tell me. You mean to tell me that even if a guy is a young prospect that isn't thought of very highly and he comes up, let's say he goes to the major league roster, And he goes on to say, I don't know, hit an opening day walk off home run that you wouldn't invest the money into creating a shirt with potentially his likeness on it, but not actually his likeness.

I feel like you're making my point, though. You're talking about Seth Beer. I am not talking about Seth Beer because we didn't make a Seth Beer shirt, Jesse. We made a Seth Servesa shirt, which is totally a different thing. Well, you're talking about the diamond backs not making. like a set beer jersey right right after he hits the big opening day home run. I'm just thinking it would be foolish for you to invest in a merchandise item that you sell on your shop merely based on one guy hitting one home run in one situation that happened to

result in me getting a kiss on my cheek from the stranger. So you're still making my point. I probably am. I probably am. You're right. Anyway, I don't know. Maybe put more jerseys out there. That's that's Damon.

That's all David. We can say as of now, Corbyn Carroll should, like, that jersey should be widely available. Gabriel Moreno should be widely available. Where are the damn perdomo jersey? If you put, everybody's asking. I'm just saying if you put an Alec Thomas team Mexico jersey in the shop at Chasefield, you won't keep it in stock. I'd sprint from this office to Chasefield.

Cogs would buy every single one of them. I don't know what he would do with them, but he would buy every single one. I'm beating Cogs. Yeah. And he would take a train to get there. So Damon wouldn't have a chance. That's a good point. Damn, that trains right outside the stadium.

Trains go very slow. You'll be all right. Anyway, we thank you guys, of course. No matter where in the world you currently are for joining us today, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at K-M-A-M-W-A-M-K. This maniac next to me is at Jesse N. Friedman. Of course, Damon is the people's producer.

You can find him at Damon Dog. That's D-A-W-G. We are Damon's dogs. Bark. Bark. Of course, our show is at P-H-N-X underscore D-Backs, but all roads do lead. to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for stopping by today.

We appreciate your time. We will see you tomorrow at 1 p.m. We also still have a very big guest on Thursday. So make sure we're going to keep teasing that until we actually tell you it is. But stop by on Thursday for sure. In the meantime, again, we appreciate you time. We thank you for stopping by and remember, kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you can find all the young,

exciting players from your team's jersey in the team shop.