PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Competition for starting rotation spot is heating up during day 2 of Diamondbacks spring training

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

It’s only Day 2 of Diamondbacks spring training, but the battle for the final spot in the starting rotation is already starting to heat up. We have more from Tommy Henry on the competition and from Torey on some key injuries and how he plans to utilize Eduardo Rodriguez. We also discuss people hating the new Fanatics jerseys without a single game being played yet.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to Suns Takeovers, Coyotes & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://gophnx.com/events/Arizona Lottery: Visit AZAdventure.com for more information on how you can take an adventure with the Arizona Lottery and for a chance to win $1 million in cash and Arizona travel prizes! PrizePicks - Download the PrizePicks app today and use code PHNX for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!NASCAR Weekend at Phoenix Raceway: March 8-10! Find more information at https://www.phoenixraceway.com/spring/ on the Shriners Children's 500, and be on the lookout for racing content from PHNX!Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Empire: Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! Receive a $350 OFF discount when you use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://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 over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Let Someburros cater your next meal big or small! Order online or find one near you by visiting someburros.comWhen 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.

Well, ski to you all and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Debax podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am your mayor of PHNX. This is my vice mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as Thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. Jesse, we had another day of being out at the wonderful paradise that is known as Salt River Fields, where it is very cold in the shade and very hot already in the sun. but you're still out there. You couldn't get enough, so I see that you're still there.

Elizabeth is accusing your background of being fake. She says Jesse's background looks fake. It does. It does look kind of fake, because spring training looks kind of fake, Derek. It's just so beautiful. The weather is beautiful. I know you said it's chilly in the shade,

but I've got a couple layers on. I'm feeling pretty comfortable. And the background behind me is not, it is not fake. No, it's not. I love the look. the even even the sounds of people mowing actual grass. Can you hear that? I wondered if you could hear that.

Oh, we can hear that. We can hear that. But that's all right, because this is, we were bringing you the sights and sounds of spring training. If you can't make it out, like so many people did. Again, huge crowd out there today of people, not huge, but a nice showing of people out there to show their support for this team. I feel like the fan, the fan contingent stayed stronger than the media contingent.

Jesse, there's still. similar number of fans, not as many members of the media on day two. But the fun comparison they were making was like, you know, it's like day one is the exciting day. And then every day after that is like ground hog day leading up to whenever they start playing, you know, actual baseball games. And, you know, that's not too far away. But we did get a chance to be out there and, you know, enjoy all of this wonderful, you know, pictures and catchers reporting that's still going on right now. Yeah, another successful day.

I'm not really sure what would make an unsuccessful day at spring training. You know, guys are taking batting practice, throwing bullpenes, taking PFs. You know, I'm sure there were some guys who maybe would have liked for their respective things to go better today. But it's a little early. I don't think anyone is too stressed out about results at this point. We did get some injury news today, which we'll get to here in a second. Well, that's actually it. I mean, obviously the guys out there are having a great day, but the guys that aren't able to play right now, not having nearly as fun. We did get some confirmation from Tori on a couple of injuries. Some things we didn't know, some things we did know. Dre Jameson is out for the year, which is something that we had already discussed and forecasted due to the nature of the surgery that he had. But again, it was great to see Dre out there on day one in that spectacular looking. uniform. And I mean, he's with the team. He's out there training and doing everything that he can,

at least in the meantime, to keep himself ready for when he can come back to play. Yeah, I mean, you have Tommy John surgery in mid-September. It's going to be really tough to come back and pitch it all the next year. So, yeah, Tori didn't really leave much room for interpretation or any kind of leeway there. It's pretty much just Jerry Jameson is out for the 2024 season, which, as you said, it's kind of what we, what we expected. all along. No brace or anything, though. He was just out there, just, I mean, he, he looked like, he looked like he was ready to go. And you know, Dre, he probably is. They have to, they probably have to hold him back. But yeah, definitely, he probably wants to do too much. Another injury that

we heard about that we didn't know was about Kevin Ginkle. And it's nothing, I don't think it's any cause for concern, but here's Torrey talking about Kevin Ginkle having some, some elbow soreness? Yeah, the only thing that is worth mentioning is Kevin Ginkle is going to just slow play a little bit. There's a little bit of

I'm going to just say right elbow soreness, nothing that's going to be a hindrance to him. It's just a little bit of red flag at this point in time. We don't have to hustle through this. He threw a lot of baseball games for us last year. So we're going to pull it back a little bit and start his clock and start his time a little bit later

than most. The exact time, I'm not sure, probably about a week ago, I would say. He has it. He has and everything is fine. So again, no cause for concern there when it comes to the injury. They said he did have imaging. Everything's fine. But again, the short offseason really does leave some of the guys still kind of recovery from just pitching not too long ago. Yeah, I mean, I hadn't realized actually how many innings Kevin Ginkle through altogether last season.

He was at 65 minute, third innings in the regular season plus 11 and two thirds in the playoffs. I think he had a few, like a handful of innings in Reno as well when he was sent down for a couple weeks back in June. So, yeah, I mean, that's a huge workload, really, for a relief pitcher. You're talking about, you know, right around 80 innings altogether over the course of a season. And, you know, there were certainly some moments where the Diamondbacks had him pitching on back-to-backs or whatnot. It seemed like he struggled a little bit more in those situations, as many relief pitchers do. And, yeah, certainly not good news to have him dealing with some elbow soreness here early on in camp. But as you said, and as you heard from Tori there, it doesn't sound like a significant concern.

No structural damage or anything like that. It's just a slow play situation. Sounds like Kevin Ginkle still has, you know, at least a decent shot of being ready to go by opening day. Is this, this is different, though, than Zach and Merrill, who also are going to be kind of slow played as far as their progression. They have no injury. They have no, they have nothing, but there's, there is something there with Kevin Ginkle. And again, it's nothing to be concerned with it this time, but it is something at least to be aware of because he was such a huge part of that bullpen last year. He really was.

I mean, yeah, Kevin Ginkle went from, I wrote this in a story the other day on our news. letter. You know, Kevin Ginkle went from this time last year competing for a spot in the Diamondbacks bullpen to, like, he was not guaranteed a spot in the bullpen last year as, you know, odd as that might be to think of. This year he comes in, you know, projected by not a huge margin necessarily, but projected as the most valuable reliever on this team. He and Paul Seawald, you know, are kind of, you know, far ahead of the rest of the competition, at least most of the other guys in this bullpen. So yeah, Ginkle has very much emerged for this Diamondbacks team coming off the season he had last year. He's a really, really important part of this bullpen. You know, I think about guys

who, if they got hurt, would be very difficult for the Diamondbacks to replace. Kevin Ginkle is, I mean, I know he's a relief pitcher, but he's near the top of that list for me. Like, if you lose your, you know, your best high leverage relief pitcher, that's a big loss. And, you know, this Diamondbacks bullpen is better than it's been in the past, but it doesn't necessarily. have a ton of depth, especially at that at that back end. Yeah. And Connor said it. You know, Kevin Gingle just threw so much. Like, and that's something definitely to consider here. This is, this is new to some of these guys. You know, some of these guys have not had this short of a period of time to recover from,

from pitching as many innings as they did last season. And, of course, you know, you're right. When you talk about where Kevin Ginkle was to begin last season, or even where he was at the point of this year where he got sent down to AAA, right? Like to think of that and then to think of what he was for this team at the end of the year is kind of incredible. You know, he, but even when he was sent down, you and I were very confused by that. We knew it was a thing about options and such. It really wasn't about his performance because he was performing well at the time. Another guy, though, Jesse, that could be absolutely huge for this team.

and this also comes on the back of some injury news is Corbyn Martin, who is a, you know, a guy that was competing for a spot last year, looked very good and then lost the whole season himself due to injury. Yeah, he did. I talked with Corbin Martin a few weeks ago. Should have a story coming out on him here in pretty short order. And yeah, he told me it was in, he was in like the most pain he's ever been in in his life. I mean, you think about your a tendon care.

in your shoulder, like a very important tendon. It does not sound like a pleasant experience at all. And, yeah, it was rough for him. Tori talked about today. I think we have a clip of just the progression that he was on last year, how good he looked in spring training, you know, being in a good position to make the roster. And then having that happen,

it was really unfortunate this year. It sounds like Corbyn Martin is ready to go. And we saw him pitch yesterday, he threw a bullpen yesterday, look good. The curve ball looked nasty as it did last season as well. So, yeah, this could be a big season for Corbyn Martin. I mean, he could be a, you know, one of those relief pitchers who not only makes the team,

but develops into a higher leverage arm, you know, by the end of the year. It's a, it could be a low key weapon for the time and backs that not many people are really considering. You know, we are often talk about the, we often talk about the, additions through free agency and such. But Corbyn Martin could absolutely be a big part of this team out of the bullpen. And this is what Tori said to say about him being a full go. Corby Martin is a full go.

And he's thrown the ball very well and feels healthy. If you can remember back to last spring, he was on a journey to make this team. He was probably, I know the conversations we were having. he was right in the forefront of those conversations and then got hurt. It was a terrible day for all of us. So I continued to remind him of that throughout the course of his rehab. And he's picked up right where he left off. So he's healthy.

We want to see him go out and execute and make a decision moving forward for him. I mean, when you talk about him being an excruciating pain and then Tori talking about it being a terrible day for all of us, like I think that just illustrates how bad this injury truly was. It was a weird day, too. I don't think I was here covering that game. That might have been the only night game at Salt River Field last year. And it was rainy that day. I think the game, I think it got rained out, actually.

It was like they played like four innings or something like that. And then, you know, they just called the game at that point. But yeah, before that happened, Corbyn Martin threw a pitch. And I want to say it was his breaking ball. And he felt something. It was not a good feeling. You know, Diamondbacks training staff runs out there. It was very clear that it was, you know, something with his arm, which of course is always what you dread when you're, you know, a pitcher is on the mound and experiencing an injury.

So, yeah, it was, it was a rough blow for the debacks last year. I think they absolutely could have used him. His curveball, as I said, I mean, looked good the other day. It looked good last year. I checked on on the whiff rate of that pitch in spring training last year. I want to say it was like 40% or somewhere above that. Granted, it was he only threw about five innings in spring training last year. here before the injury happened.

But that has a chance to be a really good weapon for him. And, you know, the Diamondbacks, when they acquired him from the Astros for Zach Granky a few years ago, they were hoping that Corbyn Martin would be a starting pitcher, you know, a formidable starting pitcher, someone that they had been trying to acquire for a while, the fact that he had had Tommy John surgery, kind of opened the door for them to do that. They were able to get him in that deal for Granky. But, yeah, I mean, coming over, it's just been, he just hasn't really had consistent opportunity in the majors.

He comes over, he was dealing with Tommy John's surgery. There have been other smaller injuries that have popped up, and then the big one last year, he hasn't really had a chance to prove himself at the big league level. And I think he's 28 years old now. He's not the up-and-coming prospect that he maybe was when the D-BACs first acquired him. But that doesn't mean he can't be a valuable member of this team,

specifically in the bullpen. I don't think you're going to see Corbyn Martin buying for a rotation spot, but in the bullpen, I think he could be a weapon. Well, we are going to be talking about who is going to be buying for a rotation spot. And Tori today did make it sound like the competition was a little bit wider than what we're speculating, which I think most of us are just kind of focusing on Ryan Nelson and Tommy Henry. But there's a few other names that are in the mix as well that Tori discussed today.

Another thing that was discussed today by Geraldo Perdomo was us and our video. because Jerry P. basically told us, I saw what you said about me, and I saw your video. And that made me laugh very much because I replied by saying, yeah, I know, we saw your Instagram. That's why we made the video, right?

Like your Instagram picture, loving your teammates, and just reminiscing on the season that was 2020, 2020, 23 is what made us worry, what made me panic, Jesse. And of course, I'm glad he knows that I panicked about, a very innocent set of pictures that he posted on Instagram,

which looking back on it now in hindsight was maybe a little bit overreactionary. I mean, I think we kept it in perspective. Like, we didn't really strongly believe that Geraldo Promo was being traded by the Diamondbacks. And I mean, that would be kind of a weird thing for, you know, Haraldo to do before, before any news of a trade had come out for him to just like start,

you know, going off on Instagram saying, you farewell to everyone. We do know how things work sometimes, right? Like sometimes we know that that information is passed along internally, obviously, before it makes the news before they make it official, right? So sometimes in some cases, and maybe I'm a little guilty of this, some people just put too much stuff about their life out on social media too quickly, Jesse. And maybe that's a hundred percent.

What we saw. Yeah, you're 100% guilty of that. Harralophramah. I mean, this isn't really even his personal life. Like, this is just his teammates, right? Yeah, this is just teammate love. Yeah. It was, it was still funny.

I mean, yeah, all in good fun. I think Geraldo probably understands whether it might have been some speculation there. But, yeah, all indications are that Herolo Perdomo is very much going to be a part of this diamond vaccine in 2024. I don't anticipate any traits happening, just as we said, back when this whole thing happened. well I mean after after the way you smiled at us while he was talking to us about this I like now I want that I want to make sure he stays the diamond back forever until the end of time but yeah no the the smiles were were we're all around Jesse in the clubhouse everybody was having a good time I think I counted if I have it correctly the words connected were

said 38 times so 38 times people said that they were connected and I smile you're just you're just counting connected and dangerous oh yeah dangerous connected and dangerous. That's like, that makes me do what like peewee used to do. It's like the secret word like, ah, he said it, you know, that kind of thing. But connected mostly. Because of course, you know, we heard Tori talk about that quite a bit.

He talked about how many position players were out there, both yesterday and today. And, you know, that essentially aside from a few guys that are spending some extra time with their family and aside from a visa issue, everybody is at camp. and that includes all the position players as well, which, I mean, I know this isn't that uncommon, but it does, it is kind of cool to see this team this excited to be back out there,

back together. I mean, I know Ryan Thompson brought that up, that they're just kind of excited to be back around each other and, you know, training and getting ready for the 2024 season. Yeah, we talked with Tommy Henry for a while too, and now that was something he emphasized is just like the best part of spring training is the time in the clubhouse, we touched on a little bit yesterday. This is the time of year where the players have a little bit more,

a little bit more room to just be able to hang out with each other and, you know, crack some jokes along the way and whatnot. It's a more lax time of year for them. And I think they really enjoy that, you know, and Tori talked about this as well. Like, this is the time of year where you really do, you're going to form a bond, you know, on some level throughout the course of a very long baseball season. but you also can start that process right now here in spring training. You know, it's going to take more than just the Diamondbacks 26 man opening day roster to get through the season.

You know, a lot of those players that are going to be helping out, not necessarily on day one, but over the course of the year, are here in spring training right now. And they have an opportunity to, you know, all kind of get to know each other at this point as well. So this is a really foundational part of the year for teams to just really, really build that bond with one another. after two days jesse who's our favorite coach and why is it o dog already orlando hudson is is uh no one's ever accused of being quiet and that that definitely as a member of the media watching these kind of mundane practices you definitely want to figure out where o dog is and make sure that that's the you know you're watching the practice you want to be a particular field uh there's going to be probably more entertained and value there

than anywhere else. There was a ball that, first of all, I'm pretty sure that Odagh could still win a gold glove award. You know, he's hitting this age might be a little bit suspect, but at second base, he still filled in the grounders to facilitate some of these things.

He looks pretty good out there, Derek. Yeah. He did miss one though, Jesse. And then I believed he accused that ball of being broken. Is that right? He tossed it over to you. He accused it of being broken. And then he rolled it to the side.

And it did, yeah, oddly enough, to me. I don't know if that was supposed to be some sort of a statement that I was the one who broke it. I didn't interpret it that way. If that was the way it was intended, no hard feelings, oh, dog. It's all, it's all good from my end. Maybe that was just like the misfit toys. Like, he was putting it with the other misfit toys is what he was doing. And, you know, I don't know. It's definitely, definitely not, no, no reflection of you at all, Jesse, of course. You did, you did say that, yeah, getting out there, uh, is definitely, this is, like,

if you love baseball, this is the best time to be here. And if you are here in town and you are from anywhere else, of course, the one thing you have to make sure to not miss out on while you're here is the Mexican food, is the Sonoran-style time-tested recipes of our friends from Somboros. And of course, some boros is located all around the valley. They have their brand-new locations in Goodyear, Peoria, and of course my location, which I frequent quite a bit, up here at I-17 and Joe Max, South Anthem, I think is what my friends call it.

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head on over to OGsbrands.com. Big shout out to you guys for being here in the PHNexports YouTube channel. Of course, if you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, make sure to do so now. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever we go live, because especially these spring training days, we don't know. Sometimes when we're going to go live and sorry about yesterday because that was once again, I'm not saying, I'm not saying that there was another fire in our building. But what I am saying is that I suspect that fire did more damage than we know. But anyway,

we will still be bringing you this show. No matter if Jesse and I have to do it together in his living room on his cell phone, we will be here. That was actually a possibility today. We didn't quite make it to that point of desperation, but it was discussed. So maybe one of

these days. We picked far better backdrops for today, but of course we thank you guys for being here. If you're listening on the audio podcasting side, you cannot see Jesse's wonderful backdrop, but I assure you it's breathtaking. Of course, make sure you're subscribed over there. Maybe stop by and check out the YouTube show every once in a while if you haven't done that. And also leave us a review. We always appreciate those reviews very much. Thank you guys, of course, for listening. I did want to give a shout out to my guy, Jackson.

Jackson here says, Derek, it's me, Jackson. We met today. I just want to say, speaking of breathtaking, Jackson's fit today was breathtaking. I walked up upon this man. as I was entering the media gate, and he was wearing the brand new cream-colored home jersey. He had on the teal, you know, spring training cap. He had an amazing mustache, and he looked ready to go for the season. He looked ready to go for a playoff run already. And then he called me the mayor and told me that he's from Flagstaff

and listened on his way down, listens to the show. So thank you, Jackson, for listening. And, of course, thank you for showing up ready. You ready to rock and roll today, that's for sure. speaking of being ready. How come I didn't get to, I didn't get to meet Jackson. That doesn't. I've, because I refuse to introduce him to you. I don't know. He called me the mayor and then I thought maybe he might show you more love as does everybody that we meet. So I was like, no, I'm not. I'm keeping this one for myself selfishly. I'm keeping it. Of course, Jesse, we do know that the battle for the fifth and final rotation spot for the Arizona Diamondbacks is going to be a pretty significant competition. Like I said earlier, even though. we've kind of discussed that it's between Ryan Nelson and Tommy Henry. It isn't just between those guys.

And there is a few other names that have kind of come up. I know today Tori was asked about both Bryce Jarvis and he was asked about Blake Walston. And he didn't turn down the idea that either of those guys could be in the running potentially for this starting rotation spot. Yeah, I mean, you know, I think in some way that's manager speak at the beginning of spring training. Sure. Yeah, you can't say no. Yeah, you kind of leave, you kind of leave the door open on everything. Like, you know, looking back to last season, we were having similar conversations about

the Diamondback's fifth rotation spot, you know, I look back to that and I'm still asking myself, like, did Brandon fought really have a shot last year? Was he really in the running for that spot? That's sort of what we were, what we were led to believe at the beginning of spring training, but then he went and pretty clearly outpitched the competition. And yet, you know, he was, sent back to, you know, minor league camp, you know, a decent amount of time before opening day. So I think at this point, you're going to see Tori cast a pretty wide net, you know, not close the door on any, on any particular player at this stage of spring training. But yeah, I mean, you know, he said he likes what he's seen from Bryce Jarvis so far.

He was asked today if Bryce is in the running for that fifth starter spot or for a bullpen spot. We kind of saw Bryce in more of a reliever role last year, like a reliever. opener type role. And we don't know for sure yet. Tori said that he wanted to have that conversation with Bryce first, and then he would be willing to share that information with us. So I imagine tomorrow we'll get more clarification on exactly where Bryce Jarvis stands in this race. Blake Walston threw a bullpen today. Tori talked about that as well and said that he really liked what he saw in moving the fastball around, the breaking pitches and whatnot. Yeah, again, on paper, I'm not sure if I see Blake Walston as being.

a legitimate contender here. It feels like, you know, the path for him is probably to start in AAA and then maybe, you know, maybe even likely get an opportunity to come up at some point when injuries and whatnot arise over the course of the year. But yeah, I mean, maybe, maybe this race isn't just Ryan Nelson and Tommy Henry. I think Slate Sikoni certainly has at least some chance to nail down this role. He's, he's another guy in the running as well for sure. Are you muted?

Is that just me? I was muted. No, it was just me. Tori did discuss, like you said, how he've used the starting rotation now, and this is what he had to say. Yeah, I think it would do be real nice. So you guys were probably thinking about it the same way. I haven't announced anything, right? To potentially knife them in there between two and three would be a pretty good thing.

So I haven't said anything to anybody. I'm saying to him, but just to be totally honest with you, I think that that would give us a nice little slice right in the middle of a bunch of rice. that was actually in regards to erod right yeah right yeah um this is actually can we have the other clip of tori on how he views the starting rotation now don't have one okay um how about uh sorry apologize for that i thought we have uh we do we do have um more though and that was tory talking about erod though and of course um that erod was a topic of discussion as well today Tori was asked on how he viewed the 2016 version of Eduardo Rodriguez versus the current one. And, I mean, that discussion right there was Tori talking about maybe where Erod might factor in.

But first, this is what Tori had to say about how Erod compares now to the former version that Tori once coached. Probably a little bit more relaxed. I think he has exhaled from the last time that I've seen him. but it's been a long time, right? It's been seven years. He was a young kid when I saw him, and he was, he was very pressure on the way, he's trying to do the right thing at all times.

He still does, but he was young, and I think, you know, he was on edge, and he was doing everything he could to do the right thing. I think he's taking a big exhale and said, well, I've established myself, and now I've got to just take care of my business, and that's where he's out for me. And, I mean, obviously, he's come a long way.

Like you said, it's eight years since then, But I mean, there's something to be said about what was discussed about ERAD today. And that was he showed a lot of kind of veteran leadership out there in doing some of the drills with the young guys. And I know a lot of people already are big fans of his effort and just kind of his personality. Like he definitely seems to be a guy clicking with a lot of his teammates already. Yeah, we got a chance to watch PFBs. Every pitcher's favorite thing, our favorite thing to watch for sure. And, yeah, Erod was out there in a group with Tommy Henry, Brandon Faud, Andrew Saul Frank was in there, a couple of other guys.

And, yeah, I mean, you know, in small ways. But you can kind of see him. Like, he's clearly, he's clearly been doing this for a while. And I saw him, like, point something out to Tony Perishiko, was running the drill. Like, oh, we're supposed to do it this way now. And Tony Perishik was like, oh, yeah, you're right. We are supposed to do it that way. So you can see, you can see just in, you know, little bits and pieces like that that Erod is a veteran.

he seems to be a guy of high character, someone who is a good, just a good person to have around, you know, seems to really care about his teammates, definitely something the Diamondbacks value about him. And in that first clip that you shared of Tori talking about Erod, it's a little unclear to me. I'm not sure if Tori was specific enough for me to make any firm judgments, but he did talk about Erod sliding into the rotation in the middle. He likes the idea of a lefty, like kind of. in the middle of all the righties.

It sort of sounded like his plan is to have Erod as the Diamondback's number two starter sandwiched between Zach Gallin and Merrill Kelly, you know, going right, left, right, as opposed to having a couple righties at the top of the rotation and then Erod in the number three spot. I don't think we know that for sure yet. Tori didn't make anything official. And it's a little hard to really understand exactly what he was trying to say there. But that wouldn't surprise me if that was the outcome.

You might see Erod start, you know, maybe it's Gowan on opening day and then Erod on day two and then Merrill Kelly in game three. It'll be a little while before we can say for sure, but we'll probably know before Tori is willing to say, because you can kind of piece together based on when guys are starting in spring training, how the order is setting up. So that'll be an interesting thing to watch over the course of spring training. I think it's going to be a little confusing, though, because with Gowan and Merrill Kelly both being held back a little bit, we might not see them.

you know, we don't know when we're going to see them start games and we don't know how they're going to get them warmed up. We do know that they're going to try to give give those guys specifically a little extra time just to give them, you know. And Merrill Kelly, when you talk about Merrill Kelly, Merrill Kelly had a huge season last year, you know, not just, not just, you know, the cramping issues and the blood clot issues that he had and and the additional time in the, you know, in the playoffs and in the World Series. But Merrill Kelly also started on Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. And that was a long season for him. I would see, you know, right now, Erod factoring in maybe at the two as a way also to, I mean, just give Merrill a little bit more time. Give him, you know, just that extra time to be, even if it's one day, an extra day away in the rotation from making his starts. I also like what Tori's saying in regards to, you know,

breaking up, you know, and sliding Erod in there where he slides in that. Damien, can we play the clip again? Because let's just see if it's managers speak or if we're really picking up what he's saying. Let's hear that one more time. Yeah, I think it would do it be real nice. So you guys are probably thinking about it the same way. I haven't announced anything, right? But to potentially knife them in there between two and three would be a pretty good thing.

I haven't said anything to anybody. I'm saying to him, but just to be totally honest with you, I think that that would give us a nice little, nice little slice right in the middle of a bunch of rice. I like when he says, like, you guys know, probably, you know, he always like infer, like, you already know, I don't have to say it, right? You know what's there. You know what question you're asking, answer it yourself, you know, but anyway, you know, and again, that's, that's in regards to the rest of the rotation, which we feel like is fairly set, but getting back to that competition for this fifth spot in the rotation. I feel like it's again, you might be on to something. You know, for the most part, it might be really, really still down to just Tommy Henry and

Ryan Nelson. I just think back, Jesse, and I've been covering this team for a long time. So my, the gray in my beard is about to get grayer and expand. But like there was a time where Patrick Corbyn was the odd man out. And the battle in spring felt like Patrick Corby really wasn't part of it based on the other guys, the Diamondbacks had, one who I won't name because it makes people very mad when I just bring up his name. But Patrick Corbyn, that spring,

even though, you know, even though it sounded very much like, you know, that Corbin wasn't going to be the prospect that got called up and got the spot in the rotation, Corbin outperformed everybody in spring. And the next thing you know,

this is 2012, he's getting, you know, he's getting the call. instead of Tyler Skaggs or Trevor Bauer or I said the thing. I shouldn't have said it. But yeah, I mean, there are times where, you know, someone can really outcompete the competition,

even though they weren't a favorite in spring and win that job. So that, and Tori touched on that. That's the clip that we don't have. But Tori basically touched on the fact he likes that competition. He likes the way that it does bring out the best in guys. And it really does make guys understand that nobody's position is really safe because anybody really can get outplayed out here and possibly lose their job. So, like, even though that sounds very negative,

the competition is real for everybody and not just the ones that we know about. Sorry, the sounds of spring training have gotten pretty loud behind me. So if you're, I think there's, I can't. I can mostly make out what you're saying. No, apparently there's some college baseball stuff, like the Desert Invitational or something like that is happening here tomorrow. So I think they're getting the field ready for that. But anyway, yeah, something that was interesting to me also about this is Tori didn't say that the number four spot in rotation is open.

Brandon Fott is going to make a team. That was something that he said one through four in the rotation, we feel good about. There's no questions at this point that Brandon Fott is going to be in the opening day rotation. No surprise it's there really. I mean, after I know Fott had an ERA in the high fives last year when all was said and done. but you look at his numbers in the second half. You look at his numbers certainly in the postseason. I think he clearly earned that spot.

So I wasn't hugely surprised there, but worth bringing up. Ryan Nelson has been out here working out for a long time. That's something that Mike Hazen mentioned back in December that Ryan's been out here, really putting in the work for a while, doing everything he can to earn that fifth starter spot. Tori was asked specifically today about him and what he wants to see from Ryan in order to kind of get to that next level. And he mentioned not being too relying on one pitch with fastball.

Something we talked about a lot on this show. Brian Nelson has a really good fastball. It took a bit of a step back last year. And really no one's fastball is good enough as a starting pitcher to just be throwing it and throwing it and throwing it. You know, he needs to develop those other weapons. And we saw that in spurts last year. Tori talked about a really big game that he pitched in San Francisco on the road.

but I think it was seven innings of one run ball or something, and the role that has change up played in that game specifically. And also the slider, another pitch that Tori talked about. He really wants to see Ryan, you know, continue to work on that pitch and get more comfortable using that pitch. So, yeah,

Ryan Nelson has certainly been putting in the work and, you know, seems to have it really is good a chance at getting this spot as anyone else. We also talk to Tommy Henry, and Tommy Henry has also been putting in the work. And you asked him about competing for that fifth. rotation spot, and this is what Henry had to say. I'm the type of guy where I try not to focus on that type of stuff.

I try and make the most of today, and I feel like if I can stack that up as many times as I can, then, you know, I'll like where I'm at or at least accept the fate of, you know, whatever happens at the end of spring training. So if I can stack up a bunch of good days in a row and build towards, you know, putting myself in the best chance to be my best, then I think that gives me the best shot. You know, I, it's so weird to ask someone about competing for a spot, right? Because essentially, they're not really competing against their fellow pitchers. They're not, it's not a hand-to-hand combat.

They're not right. Yeah, right. It's not, right? You know, it's not. Right. So, like, there is the, the idea here that, and we've heard this time and time again from guys, Dre Jameson, I remember specifically last spring, him talking about this. You can control what.

you can control. You can go out there and you can have a good outing and you can just focus on listening to your coaching and making the improvements that they're asking you to do and working, basically being coachable and, but also at the same time trying to realize that you're not out there just to get coached. You're out there to compete for a job and that every single outing is important. Every single day, even out there at Salt River Fields at camp is important for these guys that are that are in this competition for starting rotation spot. I just, I like Tommy Henry a lot. And I think he has a lot to offer.

Tori discussed that of the guys in the competition, that he had the lowest exit below of the group. And of course, that's something when we talk about the peripherals and such, when we talk about some of the numbers that no matter, no matter how good your numbers are, it's great to throw a ball that guys can't hit hard. And that's not something every pitcher can necessarily do.

Yeah, that was a really big asset for Tommy last year. You look at his numbers last season. And, you know, the strikeout rate isn't going to blow you away. The walk rate isn't going to blow you away because these sounds are really getting I don't know. What is he doing? Escalating. I don't know.

It's just it's yard stuff. It's yard boards, Jesse. Yeah. What kind of yard work requires this kind of noise? But yeah, Tommy, Tommy's not going to blow guys away with his stuff. And he walked a few more batters later than you like. But yeah, I mean, you look at some of the data from stat cats. Like, he, I mean, his expected IRA was, I mean,

I believe pretty close to was actually R.A. in the low force. He was just so good at limiting hard contact. And on a year-to-year basis, it's pretty hard to know how much staying power that has that tends to be from a number standpoint, not as sticky as some of the other metrics, meaning that it doesn't necessarily hold up year-to-year in the same way that like a strikeout rate or a walk rate, something like that holds up year-to-year. But it certainly is telling of Tommy's ability to miss the barrel. His chase rate was really high cue last year. So even though he wasn't getting a ton of swing and miss, he was getting guys to swing and pitches out of the zone. And yeah, I mean, that's obviously a huge part of pitching if you can do that. So I think he's in

good position. And I mean, the reality is when it comes to this starting pitching battle, like, no matter who gets that fifth spot on opening goal, Brian Nelson and Tommy Henry and Slate Cicone and probably Blake Walson and Bryce Jarvis. Like these guys are all going to get opportunity in the majors at some point this year. You're always going to need, you know, nine or ten starting pitchers in order to make it through a full season. That's just kind of the way it is. So, you know, whoever misses out on this spot, they're still probably going to get an

opportunity sooner than later. Jesse, Kevin, and the chat is calling us out on our headline. He said competition heating up on day two. Come on, man. and the guys are stretching and drinking coffee. I saw nobody drinking coffee. Nobody was drinking coffee, but you are right. I mean, yeah, it is early in the...

It's not, yeah, it's not so much that the competition is heating up in, like, the on-field competition for sure. But kind of the narratives around the competition are what's heated up. Like, we kind of know the... I think the table is sort of set for, like, who's involved, you know, guys' perspectives on it, how they're approaching it, as you heard there from Tommy Henry. So narratives are developing around it, but yes, granted, we haven't actually seen anyone pitch yet in an actual cactus league game. So this is very much a developing story and probably not going to resolve until, you know, maybe up until basically the last day of the regular season. I mean, that or of the spring training.

I mean, that's really what we saw last year, the Diamondbacks decision to start the year with Ryan in the rotation and have Drey Jameson open the year in the bullpen. That was something that came in like, what, 24 hours before opening day or something. So, yeah, we're not going to know for probably quite a while at this point. And that was a little controversial, right? There were a lot of people that didn't really like that decision at the time because Dre Jameson, he put fire in our blood, Jesse. And you just not everybody, just like the exit v. Loat thing, not everybody can put fire in our blood.

But you did get a clarification on Luis Frius and how his option situation might change some of, like, for instance, your predictions as to how this roster could kind of stack up here when opening day comes around. Yeah, this is clarification I got today directly from the Diamondbacks. They confirmed that Luis Free us has one option remaining, not zero, as had previously been mentioned

in a couple of stories and probably on this show about yours truly. So apologies for the mix-up there. Fangraphs is often accurate on these things, but it is not, Fangraphs is not always accurate on these things. And so Fangraph says zero. That is not the case,

I'm told at least Freez has one option remaining. I haven't dug in, I haven't had a chance today to dig into exactly how that option came to be. I know some people were asking about that on Twitter. My under, you know, talking with some of the other reporters, people didn't necessarily have a ton of clarity on this themselves. But I think there are just certain cases where, you know, generally you have the three option years. But there are certain situations where you're given a fourth year and Priya somehow, some way met that requirement. I'll do some digging and try to get an explanation for why this is the way it is. But for what we, I mean, it is significant news in that the Diamondbacks had the ability

to send down Louise Free us and not likely lose him in the process. Previously, if he had no options remaining, the Diamondbacks would have had to designate him for assignment, pass him through waivers. He likely would have been claimed by another team if the Diamondbacks had decided not to have him on the opening day roster. So now there's less pressure on the D-backs to put him on the opening day roster, just for the sake of making sure he stays in the organization. If they feel that he's not, you know,

one of their eight best relief pitching options, then they have the ability to send him down and they wouldn't lose him as a result of that. Well, make sure you get that information for me, Jesse, because you screwing up the options thing. I mean, the competition isn't just for the starting rotation spot. I mean, cogs is waiting in the wings at all times to steal your spot. So just remember that.

Just, just, just, again, not a threat. just something to keep you on your toes, keep you at your best, if you will, like what Tori wants with this competition. But I will say, speaking of the best for more than 84 years, Desert Financial has been Arizona's largest, most trusted local credit union, and they have been dedicated to creating exceptional experiences by giving back to the community and by providing financial solutions that make lives better. Jesse, Damon, can you mute, Jesse? Because I, this is, I can't read. Listen, they. you get them out of here. Thank you. Let's mute him for the rest of the show. This is how

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All right. I just wanted you for that part. Jesse, we did hear a little information today about how sick of fanatics some people are. And we know Fanatics at times has made our lives as sports fans very difficult, but it would appear that some people very much do not like the new Major League Baseball jerseys. And I say that as a thing across Major League Baseball, this isn't specific to Arizona Diamondbacks, but we understand that Nike has kind of outsourced the creation of MLB uniforms to Fanatics. And some people aren't happy. There's been some complaints that there are less customization options.

for pants for like pitchers and such. I kind of got some word today that there's kind of like three options instead of like a series of measurements that that players could have. There's just a lot of things. Apparently people just think the back, the lettering on the back looks janky. Like people are happy. They're not happy.

I know we saw the St. Louis Cardinals, like spring training jersey looks as basic as a good look. I mean, it looks like I made. it, Jesse. That's all I'm saying. I mean, this is, like I said, the letters, the letters like aren't, yeah, then I think it was the numbers on the back of like a Miles Michael's jersey,

but like clearly not aligned properly which did seem, it seemed not ideal. There's an article over at the Athletic talking about this and how it is an issue that's come up in a lot of major league clubhouses. The union is apparently involved in this as well. My understanding

is that Nike designed these jerseys engineered and designed them. They do have this nicer feel. You know, they feel like wearing a t-shirt almost. So I think there are some positives from a feel standpoint. But yeah, they were manufactured by fanatics. And yeah, people are not happy with the way that they came out from a visual perspective. There's talk of them looking like replicas rather than looking like an authentic Major League jersey,

which I do understand, honestly, as someone who's seen these in person, I think they do look good. But I can't really put my finger on it. There's something about them that gives me a replica vibe over the actual authentic jersey vibe. I don't know how to explain that. Maybe you can. It's because it's cheap, Jesse. It's because you have a replica's company making it. You don't have a company that understands the difference between an authentic jersey and the small things you need to do quality-wise.

Like sometimes it's so stupid. Sometimes it's little embroidered logos versus it being silk screened on there. Sometimes it's a matter of using, like, I don't know. I mean, this came up with the NHL jerseys. Adidas used to make the NHL jerseys, and they were so nice looking. The material was nice. The way that, like, the shoulders had a different material than the rest of it. This, like, little NHL jersey right here was, like, chrome and looked quality.

It looked like you were wearing an authentic jersey versus buying, you know, a cheaper version. Like, honestly, jerseys having tiers has always been. been a thing. That's nothing new. Ever since I was a kid, I was always buying the silk screened basketball jerseys because I couldn't afford the embroidered ones. Not to mention, I didn't really like the feel of them because they were heavy and they had the big patches on them that like, if you tried to wear it, like just, it felt weird and it felt like it wasn't very natural, right? Like these jerseys for the players should have a difference in quality than the replicas. There should be things to them. I feel like the letters are supposed to.

I haven't had a chance I'm close but I did get a chance to see the Diamondback snake patch on the sleeve on a jersey today and I didn't I couldn't really see like a stitching going around the edge and sometimes like that embroidered edge that stitching that's that's that quality that that differentiates it from a replica with like a logo just being silk screened onto the sleeve and I think that that's kind of the problem now don't get me wrong there are advancements in the jerseys that they're making for the players so that they are more

lightweight and stretcher stretchable uh that's something that tommy henry brought up. Tommy Henry had no complaints about the new jerseys. In fact, he said he liked them more. Everything he had to say that he felt was different from last year's jersey was an improvement. So there were no no complaints on his end about it. But, um, we didn't get a chance to ask him about like the pants having less options. For instance, it's like, they used to like do measurements. And if you wanted like a tight pants or if you wanted a loose pant, like you had all of those abilities yourself to pick and choose what you, what, how you wore your pants. Like Merrill Kelly wears a very baggy like pant and you can tell that's kind of his preference. That's not just because

Merrill Kelly doesn't, didn't get the tailored version of pants. Everybody else got it. It's a preference thing. When it comes to athletes being comfortable and performing at their best, you want them to be comfortable. You don't want to limit their options to the same options that we as fans have to customize the same stuff. Like they should definitely have a more customized version of the jersey and the pants and a higher quality one. So I understand. I mean, it's just spring.

So it remains to be seen, but I just don't know if this is going to improve come the regular season. You do have a replicist company making your jerseys now. And that might right in itself be the problem. Yeah, it is interesting having Nike like designed them, but then fanatics doing the actual manufacturing. you know, maybe if Nike was doing the entire thing. I mean, they are obviously involved in the making of a lot of professional jerseys

used around sports. You know, maybe that would have been the better option here. I know when they... Go ahead. There's little things Nike does that I like and it's stupid. I even tell my wife sometimes it's stupid, right? But it's like, oh, wow, they put the, like, they put the little, like, logo on the, on the, zipper or they did this or this is embroidered down here in the corner.

Like, it's small stuff that really is meaningless at the end of the day. and most people that see wearing it probably wouldn't even see that or notice it. But it's those little things that makes me feel like spending the extra $40 on this jersey versus that jersey was worth my month. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, I know when they originally released these jerseys that were going to be used in spring training, there was a quote from Nolan Aronado. It was, you know, very positive. like they of course in the initial press release they had some you know some good stuff from players some

good feedback from players in there but that's not always you know once you release them to the masses and there's a bunch of you know hundreds of players around the league putting these on every day you know the full the full scope of feedback starts to trickle in and it hasn't been great so yeah let's talk to some more debacks players see how they how they feel about especially the the lack of customization with the pants that you mentioned I imagine that would be you know an for some guys. But yeah, I mean, maybe, you know, the union getting involved tends to make things happen. So if the union, you know, is able to have their way here, I wouldn't be surprised if there was, you know, some kind of solution to this issue before too long. How did we drift so far

from snake skin colored snake skin belts being, you know, customized right outside of the locker room door to this, Jesse, like it happened so fast. Yeah, pretty pretty soon they're going to be like, do you wear a small, a medium, or a large? We got those three sizes. Maybe we could do an Excel. We really need it. That's all we got. Sorry, sorry, pal.

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It's expensive. There's a lot of other places you can go. Yes, there is. Damon, have you gotten some piping hot queso from illegal peats in you? I know you, I know you've been back for a while, so I imagine you've made your stop to illegal Pete's. What's funny is I actually have. I went on, I know you.

I went on Tuesday, my second day back. Because it's like inject it into my veins, inject the pipe and hot caseo right into my veins. And that's, uh, I love that. That's why if you need to find Damon, that's typically where we go to find him. We'll, we'll search Studio B. And then Jesse and I just get right in the car and drive the illegal peats. to try to find David because we figure that's the second place will be. Illegal pizza does have Arizona's strongest margaritas,

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Of course, we thank you guys so much for joining us. Jesse, are you going to drink water? What are you going to do? Are you going to go down? Hey, I've been drinking water. I have my, oh, boy. My hydroclass on there. Ready to go right here.

I think I'm going to have to go help them mow the dirt, though. It sounds like they've got a lot of work. Maybe you go to explain to them that the dirt doesn't need to be mowed. I don't know. That might be a conversation for another day. But you mow the grass. You don't have to. Oh, the dirt.

All right. Well, we will be back at it tomorrow. Of course, we'll be back at Salt River Fields. So make sure to join us this same time tomorrow at 2 p.m. Hopefully in studio. No, no promises there, though. We might just make this a regular thing. I'm going to go join Jesse where he's at because even I'm jealous of looking at his background right now.

Of course, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Bex, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys for stopping and bye. We appreciate your time. And we will see you tomorrow.

In the meantime, have a wonderful evening. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun during spring training.