PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Cautiously optimistic

Episode Date: March 31, 2022

On this episode, Derek and Jesse are discussing David Peralta's power in spring, Zac Gallen's first start for the D-backs, and why the Cardinals needed to put up nearly 30 runs in an exhibition game. 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 welcome to another edition of the PHNX Debaks podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. And I'm joined, of course, by my vice mayor of this very fine network. It is the one and only thunder stick, Jesse Friedman. There's a certain player, Derek, who hit another home run in his last spring training game. And I think we might need to talk about it because it just keeps happening and happening and happening. and it is it is exciting we eventually got to acknowledge it of course but before we do that we have to let you guys know that this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the draft king sports book college basketball fans right now can get down on the action with the draft king sports book using our code of phnx if you do you will get $200 in free bets betting on any team to win their game should their team win you will win with the draft king sports book go download the draft king's Sportsbook now and use our code of PHNX. Jesse, let me tell you, I am excited about this team.

I am tempering my expectations. I am trying to just be cautiously optimistic instead of being full-blown optimistic, but they've had some pretty good offensive performances this year in spring training so far. Most importantly, the freighter. train David Peralta seems to be souped up on the tracks, new wheels, new engine, new whatever, whatever new things you put on trains. He seems to be, he seems to be the new 2022 model. He talked obviously about how much he worked during the off season. He talked about his footing, primarily the getting his.

you know, his plant foot kind of down earlier just to give him some more time to see, see the ball. And so far in spring training, he is seeing the ball much better than he seemed to see it in all of 2021. That is, that is an understatement even. Four home runs, two doubles so far in 19 Cactus League at Bats. It's, it's been a crazy spring training so far for David Peralta. And if you look historically, obviously spring training numbers don't mean a whole lot.

And we would never want to read into them too much. But David Peralta has never homered four times in the Cactus League before. And he has done that this spring in only seven games. You know, usually you play about 15 to 20 Cactus League games. And David Peralta has already set his career high in spring training and home runs after just seven of them. So certainly we take numbers with a grain of salt this time of year. but that's not to say that spring training numbers don't matter at all. I remember a few years ago when the Diamondbacks picked up Gene Seguer.

He also messed with his swing and he had a breakout season for them in his first year in town. And we saw it happen in spring training. It really was just carrying over what he was already doing in the Cactus League. So sometimes when players make adjustments, it shows up in spring training and it does carry over into the regular season. I think the exciting thing here for me is that we have said, where has David Peralta's power gone? You know, primarily, that's one of the biggest questions. And that seems to be the thing that that's back the most. He is smoking balls, Jesse.

I mean, even the outs are long outs to the warning track. balls hit hard. All the things you want to see from somebody just absolutely dialed in for this team. More importantly, four home runs is half his total for the entire season last year of 20. Yeah, and he was healthy.

He played 150 games. Oh, yeah. See, I was going to add on to that. I was going to say, it's not like, I could tell Marte, right, where his numbers are, you could say some of his numbers are impacted by

how little he played. Still, can tell Marte nearly hit 320 last year even with his significant time, you could say, on the IL. David Peralta, not much time on the injured list at all healthy, but more importantly, he seems to have fixed whatever was wrong with his swing from then to now. I don't know, I mean, how that's going to transition, if it's going to continue to have success, we're not we can't tell the future jesse i am not if i could i wouldn't be doing this podcast there's so many other things i would be doing with a superpower like that yeah you'd be you'd be

writing top 30 lists for mlb pipe no don't know like william board a baseball writer no i would not i would be a gambler in vegas and i would be worth billions that's what i would be doing if i could actually see the future but um that's only because i'm a degenerate and jessey you are a sweet boy who would use your powers for good, uh, and just putting together the best top 30 list. You wouldn't just get the diamondbacks and the Padres with that power. They'd give you all 30.

They'd be like, Jesse here. This is yours now, all of this. But, uh, as far as seeing the future, this team right now, just has something about it that I can say, uh, let's wait and see. Shall we? Like, let's, let's, and I'm saying that almost more about the negativity than the, than my absurd positivity. I'm just saying, like, let's actually see this team play some games.

They haven't looked great. They didn't come out of the gate in spring training great. They took them, I think, four or five games before they won their first game of the season. But, you know, once they got locked in, more, most importantly, their offense has looked really good. Seth Beer has looked excellent as a designated hitter, something that we absolutely thought that he could be for this team. So far, again, just spring training, but so far he looks very, very good, very consistent as a designated hitter for this team. You know what? You know what is, I feel you with this sense of optimism and this sense that, you know, this team really could be more than what we,

than what we're expecting them to be, right, than what most people are expecting them to be. I'm sure we'll do a podcast just dedicated to this at some point, but their schedule, Derek, and April, man, they're going to know who they are quick. They're going to know, you know, whether they match up well

with the best teams in the league right off the bat. They're going to have a chance to prove themselves right off the bat. I mean, we're talking four with the Padres, two with the Astros. They're on the road against the Mets for three. they're probably going to get to Grom or Scherzer for the first of those games. That first one is the Mets home opener.

And you know there's going to be just crazy amount of it. It's also Jackie Robinson Day. You know, there's going to be just crazy attention over that weekend series in New York. They get a bit of a break in D.C. The nationals are a little bit more in flux. And then they're right back at it. Three more against the Mets, three against the Dodgers. And then they finish the season, or they finish the first month of the season.

season, excuse me, at St. Louis against the Cardinals. Yeah. It's a really tough, it's a really tough schedule out of the gate. And on, you know, on one hand, you could think about as being intimidating. And on the other hand, you could think of that as, as this being an opportunity for the Diamondbacks to come out. And, you know, if they're even 500 in April, I mean, that would be a significant accomplishment.

I agree. And I don't think, I do think that they dodge some bullets with the. way that their season would have started originally. But this does allow them to start at home, at least have a five, I think it's five, four, or six games. Is it six games? Because they have four against the Padres and then two against Houston. Yeah, six games.

And then there's, there's off days on either side of the Houston series. Which is like their only off days, off days they get after that point. Because if you look at the schedule, they almost play every day, including. including travel days. And I know New York and D.C. are close, but still, they play consecutive days in New York and then in Washington. DC and Phoenix are not close. So. Right. All right. Definitely not. So it's definitely going to be a lot of baseball. It's going to see how deep this team is. And it's going to test if this team honestly is any good. I'm not completely hanging my hat on what this team is, whether it's good or bad. after that first month. But I will say that if they can come out on the positive side of things, I don't know how you couldn't be at least cautiously optimistic about how 2020 is going to go,

right? I'm just, I'm just prepared for the Diamondbacks to be like one or two games above 500 in April. And then we're just going to be like, they're going to win the World Series. Like it's going to happen. They come out of that month to that good of a record. we're going to be outlandishly optimistic about this team moving forward.

I will say at least to kind of going back, I think it was Josh Hunt's question from our live show yesterday or somebody might have ultimately asked it. I apologize if I got that wrong. What, you know, what does it take for us to get excited? What record? What happens this season, right? We talked about the moments.

We talked about that a lot during the off season. the great moments that we had last year. The things that you can hang your hat on, those moments that you can go back and just see as high points for this team when there wasn't much to be excited about, right? We had a no-hitter from Tyler Gilbert. We had the seven-inning no-hitter from Mad Bum. We had, you know, some walk-offs,

including the final game of the year that they didn't need to win. which was devastating, of course, which was just devastating to me personally. There was a lot of stuff. I love that that was Josh Van Meter now. And now that he's been DFA, everyone has these hard feelings against Josh Van Meter for hitting that home run on that day.

People are happy with him. They remember. That's why, Derek, that's why they DFA Josh Van Meter is because he hit a home run on the last day of this season. Yeah, I mean, again, you could say whatever you want about Toro of all those sitting, Catel Marte on the last day of the season because it was a

off day. But we know what was really going on there. We know what the game plan was. It's like what I said about the coyotes on meetings with the mayor, Jesse. They came out of the where they came out for that game in a tank, wearing a tank top, drinking tank array listening to the tank girl soundtrack. They were trying to tank and they were trying to get that one loss to ensure they would get the top draft pick.

And they blew it. They blew it. And it's all Josh Van Meter's fault. I will say this, though, about Josh Van Meter. I feel like them DFAing, and this is no attack on him as a person, player, or thing. I will say that them DFAing Josh Van Meter really shows to me that they are being aggressive about sifting through the guys on this team that they've given a chance to, that they don't feel like have a place. Not to say that we predicted that, but on the day.

before he was DFA'd. You and I questioned what the hell his role was going to be exactly with this team when you look at the pieces they have. We joked about the law firm, which is now defunct. I don't know who's going to partner up and be a part of. Yeah. Are we down to Ellis, Ellis Rojas and Davidson? It's Davidson. Davidson Ellis and Rojas now. That's the main partner now. but it'll be interesting to see who else this team parts ways with as they continue to seem to like acquire other pieces. The Zach Davies acquisition seemed to be a bit kind of out of nowhere as we were in the middle of determining who is going to win that battle of that fifth starter rotation. And now it seems like that's locked up by Davies, no matter how good or bad he prefers. forms, I think, in the first couple of outings that he has.

That's a, yeah, that's an interesting point. He wasn't particularly great in his, in his first Cactus league outing. I believe he gave up a couple of home runs, left some pitches up in the zone. I've been looking a lot into Zach Davies these last few days and should have an article coming soon with, with just more information on, on exactly who he is as a pitcher and and what went wrong last season and what's gone right for him in some seasons before that when he was actually pretty good. And yeah, I mean, Zach Davies, I mean, the brutally honest truth is that Zach Davies is just

not a, he's not a front of the rotation guy. He's not really a mid-rotation starter either. He's kind of always been, you know, a back-end sort of starter who can eat some innings and, you know, is generally pretty durable and is going to, you know, still play a valuable role on your team. But he's, you know, he's just not a front line guy. He throws about 88 miles an hour. He's got a sinker change-up combo that he's pretty much exclusively reliant on this,

at this point. It'll occasionally throw a cutter or a curveball. But yeah, I almost am kind of curious what the team is going to do with him in this new role. If like you're saying, it really doesn't matter how some of those other guys competing for a spot due because they gave him a major league contract and he's presumably going to make the major league roster and he's presumably going to occupy a spot in the rotation so we'll we'll have to see the one thing i will say about my case and is he has no problem admitting when he's wrong he has no

problem admitting when he's made decisions that are tough and he has no problem even you know costing the team money, but parting ways, you know, with guys that they might still owe money, too. Not to say that's what's going to happen with Zach Davies. But I'm just saying it does, nothing seems promised to anybody on this team. And we'll talk a bit more about that. But like Jesse said, make sure to go over to go phnx.com. If you're not already a member and sign up, that way you get all of the great benefits of being a member. You'll get Jesse's excellent article. I had an article up there about Cotell Marte and his five-year extension with some some very deep insight from Mike Hazen,

Marte himself, including what he said specifically about wanting to be an Arizona Diamondback for the rest of his career. And Tori Lavello's thoughts on what, you know, what he means to this team and how they really, they wish they had a whole team of Cotel Martes. And that seems to be something that's been brought up quite a bit about them. his work ethic, his ability to adapt and do whatever the team asks of them. It almost makes me feel like they go to other guys and ask them to do stuff and they just say no.

Like it's weird. I don't know. I work for people, right? Like Saul comes to me and asks me to do things I don't want to do, but I do it. Right? Saul would never. Hey, go be on the bet show. I don't want to do bets.

I'm not I'm not I'm not good at bets but anyway um you know it's Derek has a serious self deprecation problem by the way I do you all you all should send you all of a good track record all of the Twitter love and Jesse told me that that at 41 for 41 I need to be more confident in myself so we'll see where you go go read my writing and tell me what you think go read that Jesse's piece about Zach Davies once he gets it up as well as all the other articles we have from our co-workers and our compadres

over here at go phtmx.com there's some amazing stuff coming out at all time. So sign up to become a member if you get that annual membership. You'll get a free t-shirt over at the phtonx locker.com. We have a new design coming. Excellent stuff coming as well as those

hats. I don't know if the coupon code works on the hats, but they're the same price as the shirt. So maybe you can get a hat instead of a shirt. I don't know. New members get that. Can people get a hat instead of a shirt on a... They are the same exact right.

They are 2999 over at the PHNX Locker.com. So I would suggest chart it out if you want the hat. If you sign up to become a member, get yourself a shirt or a hat, whatever you want. Add extra stuff on. Get yourself the other thing that you don't get. Get a sticker pack. Get all of that stuff. Over at the PHNX Locker.com, you sign up to become an annual member.

If you do the month-to-month option, we still got your back. We'll hook you up with the first month. for just 50 cents on the month-to-month memberships. Sign up, and that way you can get the discounts for the PHNX Locker.com, as well as join our members-only Discord. That way we can chat about baseball, the Diamondbacks, Life, the Moonnight episode one, moon night drop. We've got to chat about that and there.

We've got all sorts of stuff to talk about. But Jesse, yes, going on to Mike Hazen and his decisions, he talked about the good and the bad in his press conference with Cattel Marte. but mostly it seems to be one of those things where the Kittel Marte signing seems to be a commitment to the future of this team, right? Like it's the first, right. They called him the anchor. You know, the anchor is the fastest.

The anchor's the best on the relay team. And at this point, I feel like he's the anchor for the core, for who's going to form around him at this point. and now they know that there is no indecisive this. There's no, they don't have to do this trade speculation thing with him. They don't have any of that that they need to do. They can just focus on this point about who they can build around him and how they can make this team an actual winner. Now, I feel like this team has been a bit rudderless at times, right?

I feel like that's probably been the biggest problem. Are we rebuilding? Are we not? Are we retooling? are we adding on what are we doing what phase are we in you know i've talked in the past about the three phases of building a winner right and i don't really feel like the diving backs have even completed the first phase but signing catal marte is that first phase because the first because the first phase is identifying your core and doing everything you can to build around them in the time frame

that you have them right we talk about zach gallant zach gallant had an excellent day to day. He had his first outing for the debacks. He pitched two and two thirds. He gave up one hit, was hitting 95 miles per hour on the radar, and he looked excellent. Tori Lavallo had said prior to the game that Zach Gallen had been throwing very hard, and that was something that we were excited to see, and it didn't take long for us to see it. He was efficient. He was his old self. And at this point, the only concern for me is, is injury pretty much for Zach Gowan. But if we can get Zach Gowan staying healthy and being this, even this very, very tiny sample size version of himself that we saw in this game, that that's exciting. Yeah, I mean, he was really,

he was really good in his outing. And I know some people, you mentioned injury. Some people were a little bit nervous because the diamondbacks pulled him after two and two thirds innings and 36 pitches when prior to the game, Toro Lavello said that the target was three innings or 45 pitches. But it turns out everything was totally fine there. The diamond backs just sent him down to the bullpen, had him throw his last nine pitches down there. And then that was that was the end of the end of the day for him. So I guess that was just protection to make sure that the next at bat didn't, I don't know,

maybe the next at bat could have gone more than more than nine. pitches and then they were trying to be cautious and make sure they didn't go over that pitch count limit just given what he's been through this spring training they can control it in the bullpen you're absolutely right and that's they even did that the other day with clayton kershaw the dodgers did against sure and they were contemplating i don't know if they did uh because i had to leave right around that time but they were contemplating putting them back in even though they pulled them out another one of those funky spring Yeah.

It's no wonder that the MLB game day people, you know, who like make it so you could track everything that's happening in the game on the app or on MLB.com. I feel like they just kind of take spring training off because they're like, this is impossible. Oh, what a nightmare. Yeah, what an absolute fucking nightmare it is for those people to track all the stupid shit that goes on. And I mean, none of it matters, right? So none of it goes to stats. None of it's important. but when you're sitting at home

and you're not able to watch a game live it is important to you because we want to know we we reporting on it want to know we as fans just want to know what's going on accurately there was one game you bring that up there was one game that people are just like what the hell is going on how is this person like doing the home run

and what is this and yeah I think someone was drugged at the button well because because they don't even they don't even have to I heard this the other day when I was listening to to a broadcast, they don't necessarily have to even keep guys in the same batting order, apparently. There have been some games where you can just literally mess everything up, and there's no rhyme or reason to what's happening. So I certainly feel for all of the poor people

over at MLB.com trying to give us some semblance of what's going on, even though none of it makes any sense at all. Here's a very good thing about that Gallup, is with this start today, He is not very far behind the rest of the starting rotation. Right. So he did basically his three inning thing today. So his next start would probably be four and then it would be five after that, I'm expecting. Right. So maybe you're only two starts away from him being able to play in a game. And theoretically, that would be the first weekend of the season. That would that would line him up for San Diego.

Right. Right. Right. at the very least it would put him because San Diego, like where is he going to fit into the rotation, right? Is he going to? Right. It's not going to be number two. Right. Because it takes longer for him to get in there.

Or is he going to jump into his natural rotation spot, which would be what, like the second game against the Astros? Yeah, that's a good question. So, I mean, so he started on, we're recording this here on the 30th. So he started on March 30th Wednesday.

So if you take four days off from there, then that would be the 31st, the first, the second, the third he's off. He would pitch again the fourth. And then, yeah, I mean, four days off from there technically lines him up for Saturday, April 9th. So maybe, I mean, that would be not taking any extra days off the whole way, which I don't know, maybe they want to take advantage of one of those days.

But yeah, I mean, could Zach Gallen throw five? innings on April 9th with Madbum going on opening day and then Merrill Kelly going game two and Zach Allen sliding into that third spy. I guess we can't rule that out at this point. Well, something that you can't rule out at this point is how much time is left on the clock for you to get down on the action with the draft king sports book right now. You as a college basketball fan can turn your team's victory into your own big win. New customers can bet just five dollars on any team to win and get $200 in free bets if they do it's that simple if they win you win uh i have not been winning but something jessie i will say is that i have been

adding entirely too many legs at times to my parley's choose what you want to do with your same game parley's wisely because the most frustrating part is when you know you got six legs and just one lost you and you were like, I didn't even need to have that one in there. Right. So, but remember, it's all for fun. That's what this is all about. Uh, existing customers can get down on the action like I do with the same game parles. Combide multiple bets, not too many now from the same game for a bigger payout. The more legs you add, the more money you win. Draft Kings is safe, secure, and reliable. Best of all, you can deposit, withdraw your cash whenever you want. And I do frequently. That's another thing I do. Just a pro tip. I just take my money out. You know,

people say, I leave it in. there. I don't. I take it out. That way it's real to me and that way I have to put it back in. It's just sure. It's not like a separate bank account. What's that? It's not a separate bank account. It's not a separate bank account. You're right. Well, my theory is the more you leave it in there, the more it's not real money. It's just a credit, right? But no, I pull it out into my bank account. It makes me think that much more about putting it back in. And that's just something I do. I don't know. You do what you want. And again, that's the best part about Draft Kings is you can withdraw that cash. whenever you want. Download the Draft King

Sportsbook app. Now use promo code PHNX, bet just $5 of any college hoops team to win, and get $200 in free bets if they do. If they win, you win with promo code PHNX this week at the Draft King's Sportsbook. 21 and over only, Arizona only gambling problem

dial 1,800 next step, new customers only, minimum $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com slash sportsbook for details. And Jesse also, don't forget about those hats. over at the PHNX Locker.com. They're credible, and I tried to grab you one,

and you are insufferable because you didn't like the one I grabbed you. And now I have to- I like it. I'm a little skeptical. Well, you have to understand, Derek, is that I am very white, like extraordinarily white. And so if you put a white hat on a very white man, it doesn't always look the best.

So I need a little, I need a little bit more. skin tone contrast. That's how you see. Jesse knows himself. That is one thing that I love and appreciate about Jesse Friedman. Jesse knows his limits. He knows who he is as a person. And I love him for that.

I didn't say it was a limit. I just said my skin is very, very pale. I know. I know. But it's the, it's known what kind of hats you can wear, right? Like, that's something.

Sure, sure. Another thing people need to know is that the St. Louis Cardinals, are absolute monsters because today they decided to put up 15 runs in a single inning against the Washington Nationals. And I think that if I was the nationals, I would have called the police on them at that point. They were already up 14 to 8 or 13 to 8. Wait, before the inning?

No, they were up 15 to 4. They were up 13 to 4. And they still felt like they needed to hang up 15 on them in a spring training game in the eighth inning. Shout out specifically to Paul Dejong, who had like five RBIs and a whole bunch of runs scored. Oh my gosh. And everybody that participated in kicking this Washington Nationals team that has only won one spring training game while they were down. I kind of love stuff like this, but holy shit, I couldn't imagine how unnecessary it would be. Like, do you think that that stadium was absolutely empty by the time the nationals came up to bat in the bottom of the eighth?

I think they must have been loving it. I mean, isn't that what, isn't that what Great Fruit League baseball, I guess is all about? I mean, 29 or 29. That boy, Jesse, they were up 28 to 4. when do you leave to start beating traffic? I just love that the nationals responded by putting up a four spot in the bottom of the eighth. What can you do? It had to be one of those moments where they said, well, here we go.

Well, Paul Goldsmith was, Paul Goldsmith was four for four in that game. Four for four. We miss you. There you go. And Al, okay, this makes sense, though. It was Albert Pouls's first game back as a St. Louis Cardinal. He was only one for three. But of course, the Cardinals were going to come out and score 29 runs.

They just have instant superpowers now that Albert Pooholz is back where it all started. That's scary. You might be right about that. And that is terrifying if that's true. But yeah, shout out to Paul Goldschmidt. We still miss you, pal. There you go. We're still talking about you.

I don't know if you heard the show yesterday. I'm sure Goldie listens daily for sure. I know he does. I know he does. Anyway. Well, we have not that many spring training games to go. Basically, one week from listening to this podcast is opening day for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Wow. Oh, my gosh. That's crazy. It is crazy. It happens so fast. I think we have three games at Chase Field prior or two games. I'm not sure. I know one's a night game.

Yeah, we have the two awkward, like, exhibition limbo games where, one of the star players always gets hurt right before. You have to say that. I'm clipping this. It's a reverse jinx, Derek. If we speak it now, it won't happen. I can feel it. I don't like that.

I didn't like that. But we will be out at the Ainsworth where I will be on Wednesday, where I am at Wednesday with the Sun's podcast crew. Which you realize you're speaking about the past at this point. Yeah, that was the past. I was there last night, wink. I will be there a week from today. while we celebrate opening day.

So come out, join us. We're going to have a blast. We're going to be taking donations. We're going to be drinking, eating, watching the Arizona Diamondbacks, having a great time. Hopefully you stop by. If you're going to the stadium,

you could stop by before the game and join us, and then we'll still be there after the game. I will be jumping over to the stadium in between those shows, but I will be broadcasting from there. Jesse, unfortunately, cannot join us here in Phoenix, but he will also be here via the magic of the internet. So make sure to join us.

You can't get rid of me. Because we are excited to be broadcasting our first podcast event, even though Jesse once again is it here, but he's going to be here via the magic of the internet. And we will do the damn thing next Thursday. We thank you guys so much for checking out the show. Of course, you can follow us on social media. We'll keep you updated on that event as well as so much more. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. our show the premier coverage of Dback spring training is at PHNX underscore Dbacks. But of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Also, follow PHNX sports on YouTube as well as sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss any of the content coming out from our PHNX team. And if you're listening to us right now in your favorite audio podcasting app, if you haven't done so already, please subscribe to us and leave us a five-star review. We would appreciate it and we would love you for it. We thank you guys again for being here with us. We are excited about opening day, and we're excited about this Diamondbacks team.

On behalf of Jesse and myself, remain cautiously optimistic. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you pretend like your team might be good.