PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Corbin Burnes Experiences INJURY SETBACK, D-backs OPTION Brandon Pfaadt to Reno Amid Roster Shakeup

Episode Date: June 4, 2026

Could a major rotation shakeup be underway for the Arizona Diamondbacks? According to Nick Piecoro, the D-backs are reportedly optioning Brandon Pfaadt to Triple-A Reno while calling up relievers Kade... Strowd and Philip Abner, signaling a significant change to their pitching plans. Alex D’Agostino joins the show to break down what the move means, how Corbin Burnes’ latest injury setback altered Arizona’s strategy, and what the future may hold for Zac Gallen in a D-backs uniform. We also dive into a new report from Ken Rosenthal indicating that Arizona plans to be aggressive buyers at the trade deadline, with a left-handed bat at DH or first base reportedly high on their wishlist. Is help finally on the way for one of the roster’s biggest weaknesses? Plus, we preview the D-backs' upcoming series against the Washington Nationals and take another trip down memory lane for Throwback Thursday. Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $36: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4 An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order! Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 40% 2+ pairs of off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. 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! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Well, we have some breaking news that the Diamondbacks will be optioning Brandon fought to AAA Reno to get stretched out as a starter. And this comes on the heels of the unfortunate injury setback to Corbyn Burns. Alex Dagestino is joining us to talk about all of this. And we're doing it right now. Into another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast. Presented by our friends at Circle K, it is I, your mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as Derek Montia. thrilled to have you guys here and thrilled to be joined by any of our new Dodger fan friends from last night's episode that now hate our guts.
Starting point is 00:00:50 But of course, I'm not joined. I'm not alone in getting hated by Dodgers Nation. I got my guy Damon Dogg, their number one enemy. Oh, you are certainly not alone. I have made myself public enemy number one. But you know what? I think that that is my purpose on this earth. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:01:08 And I'm determined to do whatever it takes. Damon and I live by different creeds in life. I, as the mayor of PHNX and as the mayor of several places, believe it or not, it's not just PHNX. I want to be liked by everybody so much all the time. I want to be feared. Damon, meanwhile, he lives by the, I wish, I wish a mother effer would, is that that's the kind of the creed Damon lives by. But this is the PHNX Diamondback show, and that duality is what makes us special. We are also sponsored by our friends at Bet365.
Starting point is 00:01:42 Go download the Bet365 app right now. Bet365, where winning is everything. Get that app and use our code of PHNX 365. We're also brought to you by the good folks at GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase terms to apply. Well, we got some big news, not necessarily confirmed news from the Diamondbacks yet, but according to Nick Picoro, the D-BACs will. be sending Brandon Fott to Triple A Reno, optioning him
Starting point is 00:02:13 to get stretched out as a starting pitcher. This comes on the heels of the Corbin Burns injury setback that happened yesterday, as well as Zach Gallant once again, struggling in another outing. And to talk about it, we got our guy from Sports Illustrated and from this podcast
Starting point is 00:02:29 or this website right here. Alex Dagestino joining us. Alex, let's see, whenever. There he is. Alex, good to have you here, And a lot of stuff has happened in less than what seems like 12 hours as far as this team is concerned. It all kind of started with a tweet from Gambo last night. And now here this morning, we are hearing that Brandon Fought has indeed been optioned to AAA Reno.
Starting point is 00:02:57 Yeah, yeah. So, and, you know, it was interesting after the game last night and we all went down. Well, some of us went down. Some of us, you know, left early to start the show or something. That's true. That's true. Some of them refuse to stick around to watch this team get slaughtered by the Dodgers. So I don't know.
Starting point is 00:03:15 Who's who's the smart one there? But we're glad to have to tell me about what I'm. But anyway, so we're all sitting in there and it's like, Tori's like 15 minutes late. And whenever that happens, you know that there's probably some kind of move or something being discussed or something coming. So he was asked about it in post game, you know,
Starting point is 00:03:35 are you all good pitching wise? Or there are moves coming? and in typical Tory fashion he was like, well, stay tuned. You know, we'll see if something's coming. And then right after that, he was asked about Brandon Fott, and is it possible that Fought would be getting stretched out again? And he said it was a very strong possibility. So the writing was kind of on the wall about that.
Starting point is 00:03:58 I think, you know, at the time when they had tried to shorten Fought into a reliever, it looked like the right move for him just because of the way that his, splits worked in terms of how many times through the order he was successful. You know, he was pretty good the first time through, not so good the second time through, pretty disastrous the third time through. So it was like, well, if he can stick to a two, three inning reliever type of role, then maybe that would work best for him. It hasn't.
Starting point is 00:04:26 He has not even been able to get through one inning. So I think that this is the best thing for him to go down and just get some reps at the lower level, some lower pressure reps and get stretched back out as a starter. off the heels of the Corbin Burns news and the Christian Mena news and some of the other pitching depth that keeps evaporating. I think the Diamondbacks are like, all right, before it's too late and before we risk an injury, it's time to add him back to the pitching depth cycle. Yeah, I mean, Alex, we started looking over at Mitch Bratt and he had to go on the seven day IL just because we were thinking about him too much. Just because he was doing too well. Yeah, he was doing too well and it felt like that's the reason why all of this stuff happened. The Corbyn Burns injury setback is interesting and unfortunate, right?
Starting point is 00:05:11 But it's interesting because a lot of people feel, again, because a pitcher gets injured, they have to blame it on someone, right? They have to blame it on the Diamondback trying to get Corbin Burns back too fast or blame it on Corbin Burns for trying to get back too fast. And instead, it's just the reality of an aging body sometimes gets other injuries. And this terrorist major strain literally has nothing to do with the Tommy John. surgery at all. However, it's just, it sucks because as our guy, Mighty Schumann says here in the chat, which I still believe might be Jack's burner account, he says the Diamondback star... I've had that too.
Starting point is 00:05:48 Have expected... Damiena, if you could scroll back, it just kind of went away on me there. The Diamondback starting pitchers have expected ERAs of 4.07, 4.54, 5.05, 5.12, 5.12, 5.4.4.7. The Burns News is just brutal. And it absolutely is. We don't love expected stats around here as much as other shows do, but they do have to be discussed and thought about, right? Especially if we're going to sit here and get all excited about, you know, Cotel Marte's expected stats when he's not doing well, we've got to do the same thing with the pitching staff. They do have some underlying metrics and underlying numbers
Starting point is 00:06:28 that would suggest they are not as good as they've actually been, especially E-R-D with, you know, his sub-2-3 ERA. But, you know, again, this, even though we were expecting Corbyn Burns to come back and probably take a little time to get back into, you know, the swing of things and everything like that, this setback just somehow feels like we lost two starting pitchers from our rotation suddenly. Like, that's what this, that's how devastating this news is, considering that it felt like Burns was just one month away from returning to the staff.
Starting point is 00:07:03 Well, and that's kind of, I think, what the team was counting on, right? They were looking at Corbyn Burns as basically a deadline acquisition. I mean, imagine, you know, going into trade deadline and getting an ace, getting a top-tier pitcher back. And unfortunately, that's not going to happen. It sounds like September is like the optimistic return timeline for Burns, and that may not happen at all this year. So I think it's one thing worth noting.
Starting point is 00:07:29 I think our guy Jack, Jack Summers, told me, reminded me, of Merrill Kelly had that same injury and he was out for four months. So to expect him back in September may not be necessarily entirely accurate either. And when he does come back, like, what's he going to look like? It was already a question of what he's going to look like coming back from Tommy John. Now he's like he had to halt his rehab and he's going to have to restart. And so I think it just kind of it takes off the table that feeling of like we are making an addition to this team at a crucial time. Now it's more along the lines of are we going to see
Starting point is 00:08:08 him at all this year. Alex brings up in the chat, a fellow Alex. I'm surrounded by them all the time. Yeah, there's not enough of us, right? It's like Alex in stereo when I'm sitting there in the press box. But Alex says, does this at least mean Burns isn't going to opt out of the rest of the contract? That's kind of been the big question. And I know that we have no way of knowing this, right? but it already felt a little unlikely that Burns was going to opt out, considering that this injury was causing him to miss so much time. It's hard to believe that another team is going to offer him more money than what's already on the table from the Diamondbacks,
Starting point is 00:08:43 considering that it would be a huge risk without really seeing him perform for a substantial amount of time. Now that amount of time that a team might see him or might feel confident that he is 100% back has shortened even more before that decision needs to be. be made. So I don't know. I mean, as much as people want to, as Book's Journey says here, no, he's definitely opting out. I would probably disagree with that. Let's not forget he came to Arizona because he wanted to be in Arizona. His family wants to be in Arizona. I just don't see another team suddenly sweeping in, swooping in and making him a bigger offer than what's already on, you know, that he already can agree to if he opts into this deal.
Starting point is 00:09:30 Yeah, I would say that the injury or this, the setback probably does increase the likelihood that he would opt in. On the other hand, his agent is Scott Boris and with an option and if your agent is Scott Boris and you have an option in your contract, it's kind of just like a default that you're going to opt out because he's going to go and try to wheel and deal and get you somewhere else. So I would say that I am not, like I always kind of assume he would be gone, but I do think this circumstance might be a little bit different because he specifically wanted to pitch in Arizona.
Starting point is 00:10:06 He's made 11 starts as a diamond back, and I kind of feel like him Burns as a competitor wouldn't be super satisfied with that. But I also would definitely not count on him coming back just because he lost a year and a half of his contract. I just think, again, of Zach Gallen and Zach Gallen's worth as far as what other teams determined he was worth, right? I understand that this offseason, you know, he had the essentially the draft pick tied to him. So it's understandable about teams having apprehension in regards to signing him to a two-year plus deal that would require 50 million more or whatever. Or even if they don't, just signing him to like a one-year shorter term deal and still needing to give up.
Starting point is 00:10:53 up a later round traffic regardless. But we discussed it last night. I mean, you know, they talked about it on Snake's territory. You know, Saris came in and kind of broke down what he thought was wrong with Zach. And basically since they started enforcing, you know, the kind of sticky stuff rule in MLB, it feels like Zach's numbers have gone down, right? I am of the mindset that, you know, I'm still very doubtful. The Diamondbacks would have signed him for as much as they did to.
Starting point is 00:11:23 with knowing this, I can't believe that the Diamondbacks wouldn't know this if other teams might have known this. Damon brought up last night on the show that, you know, you couldn't get a good trade value for him at the trade deadline last year. Then you go to the offseason and nobody really had a tremendous amount of interest in Gallen. We had the Cubs rumor and a few other things, but nothing actually came to fruition. So it just, it makes me wonder like, you know, when it comes to gallon. This is a substantial part of his career. Like this might be the end for that Gallon. I don't think it is. I still believe in Gallin. I still think that, you know, despite there being those accusations out there that might actually hold some water, I still feel like since that point,
Starting point is 00:12:13 Gallin has been brilliant in some of his outings, right? Like, you're not going out there against New York and striking out 13 in Yankee Stadium, suddenly if your entire, you know, the arsenal relied on you having extra grip or whatever the case may be, right? Like, I'm still, I'm still skeptical of that accusation. Let's put it out there that way. But I'm also still skeptical that Gallen is washed and finished. His career, though, or his time with the Diamondback seems like it might be in jeopardy with this news that Brandon Fod is getting stretched out as a starter. What are your thoughts on Gallin's future here with his team. Yeah, I mean, it's it's pretty tough because at this point, you're not talking about, oh, you know, something's off with him. It's like, no, this is,
Starting point is 00:12:57 this is kind of, I think, what he is right now, unfortunately. And I do think that there's still, you know, there's still some good stuff there. I mean, like I even said it last night. He's still throw, he can hit like 95 on the fastball and, you know, the curve ball still moves quite a bit. It's just that there's not really any deception anymore. There's no swing and miss on the fastball at all. And when that's not, I mean, you can't be a curveball heavy pitcher if you don't have a good fastball. I mean, it's just, it's, if you can't at least have a fastball that they have to respect. And it just seems like teams don't really respect his stuff.
Starting point is 00:13:34 It's like if there's something that's going to be in the zone, they're going to foul it off, they're going to hit it. If it's something that's out of the zone, they're checking off on it. And so yeah, it looks really bad when he throws a fastball right down the middle to Kyle Tucker. But it's because any other pitch, like, it's not going to be any more productive for him to put it in a different spot. I mean, I think one of the most concerning things about it was when he was pitching against the Mariners the other night and he gave up three home runs, he was actually hitting some really, really good spots. He was dotting the edge of the zone and they were getting crushed anyway. So I just think that teams are able to sit on his stuff. They know what's coming.
Starting point is 00:14:10 They know what he has. They know how it moves. And it's not as deceptive as it used to be. I don't know how much of that has to do with, you know, the sticky stuff thing that, that, you know, Saris was talking about. But it's clear that it just, the fastball doesn't work anymore. And everything else is suffering as a result. Yeah, his swing and miss is so is almost non-existent right now on the four seam fastball.
Starting point is 00:14:34 And again, I know not every pitcher needs a fastball. But the majority of pitchers in baseball need a fastball. need a fastball in order to set up their breaking stuff. No matter how good their breaking stuff is, they need a four seam fastball or a cutter or something at least that sets that other stuff up. So it really just goes to show the importance, especially in the case of Zach Gallen.
Starting point is 00:14:55 But again, his fastball and the drop-off over the last, what, three seasons now has been alarming, you know? And again, it's like one of those things that Gallen was so good for this franchise at one time. that you want to believe deep down in your heart that he is able to get things back on track. However, you know, the Diamondbacks also have not had a, at least recently had a track record of waiting too long for guys to get things back on track. I mean, it felt like they gave Alec Thomas a fairly long runway there, but they made, you know,
Starting point is 00:15:28 a very tough decision when it came to DFAing and trading him. And now with Gowlin, it just feels like a similar position where, you know, you just don't feel like he gives you a chance to win on that fifth day when he's, he goes out there to pitch. That's that's like unacceptable as far as consistency is concerned and what you need out of a starting pitcher in your rotation. Yeah. And I think I said this a while ago too where it's like the problem with with Zach is that
Starting point is 00:15:56 you're seeing the same issues no matter who he's facing. Yes, the Dodgers have a great offense. But I honestly didn't look at last night as oh man, they ran into the Dodgers. I looked at it as Zach Gallen just had a really, really bad night. because the Dodgers are really good at punishing mistakes, he paid for it more than he would have paid for against other teams, right? So it's just, it's one of those things where his issues are the same no matter who he's facing.
Starting point is 00:16:22 And it just seems like you can count on struggling through some kind of grinding start no matter what. Even when he goes out and throws, you know, six and two and it's like, oh, great. And then 15 balls are hit 100 miles per hour or, you know, he worked his way out of traffic three times. And I think the Diamondbacks are grateful for what he's done for the organization, and they should be. And 100% he's earned the leash that he's been given. But it's starting to get to the point similar to Alec Thomas where it's like, I don't think this is going to change anytime soon. And I'm not sure what else they have left to change or to fix or to discover with him. I also think that the pitching staff, and I'm sure you kind of agree with
Starting point is 00:17:07 there was a change of philosophy this year, right, as a whole. Yeah. Not just with the starters, with the relievers, with every single starting pitcher. Like, everybody is striking out less batters. Everybody is pitching more contact. Everybody is throwing in the zone more. There are less walks across the board for the Diamondbacks. What it feels like almost is that that change of philosophy is making Zach Gallen maybe even worse.
Starting point is 00:17:32 You know what I mean? Like, just a little bit. Like maybe Gallen can't really get on board. with pitching to contact and what he's being asked to do because in doing so, serving up meatballs at times and getting rocked, you know what I mean? So I don't know. That's just me speculating again about the pitching to contact stuff, but it does very much feel like that is the case with this pitching staff across the board.
Starting point is 00:17:55 The success and everything, you know, is coming from balls and play that are ground balls or fly balls and you know even michael sorroca went from striking out 10 in a couple of games to you know sub three sub four you know strikeout performances uh in wins and and good outings right so i don't know but um it's unfortunate our guy uh eric in the chat damon asked about getting stretched out and i know this is kind of a question we get uh it's a little back a little back um says what does the term stretched out actually mean is it just getting the pitchers arm stamina ready for lots of innings and work or to prevent injuries. What goes into that, Sim games, bullpen sessions, et cetera.
Starting point is 00:18:38 I mean, Eric, you covered it fairly well. Basically, yeah. Basically everything you said there. I mean, it is, they want to slowly build the arm up. It's the reason why when you go out and watch spring training games, the starters only pitch like two innings, then they pitch three innings. And sometimes they don't even get that high based on, it's more on the pitch count that they're allowed to get to it that they want to reach.
Starting point is 00:18:58 Sometimes in spring training games, they'll even pull them out in a long inning. and then put them back in because they still didn't hit their pitch count or the desired updowns that they were trying to do. Really, it's just about getting stretched out. Baseball is such a stupid game that I don't think anybody, even position players that come back from injury, can just be as good as they were. That's the reason why we have rehab starts.
Starting point is 00:19:19 That's the reason why guys go play in the ASEA Complex League. All of that is because baseball is just such a difficult sport to get you back in rhythm that before they want you back in the major league starting lineup or the starting rotation, you got to get, you know, to a point where, you know, you're, you're ready, you know, essentially, right? What my concern with Brandon Fott is when it comes to all of this is injury risk now at this point. Like, it does feel like Brandon Fott's health and, you know, just in general, his mental, mental well-being hasn't been considered here with all of these changes of direction as far as, you know, he is concerned. They went from having him be a starter to
Starting point is 00:19:59 having him be a long reliever that they still wanted to somehow magically have throw 70 to 80 pitches. Then they finally admitted that he needed to be a short, you know, a regular bullpen arm that went out and gave you maybe one or two innings. And now here they are getting back to him being stretched out again. It just just feels like it's a bit unfair to Brandon overall. I never liked the move to make him a bullpen arm even though I do agree with you. Like in shorter stints, Brandon fought has been awesome. You know, he just always has that one big inning. and usually it's after he's gone through the lineup one time.
Starting point is 00:20:31 So you felt like as a reliever that might be very effective, but again, just doesn't feel very fair overall to thought. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of eerily reminiscent of the Dre Jameson thing. And we know that that did not end well, and there's injury concerns with that. I think the Diamondbacks have changed their outlook on that to be a little more careful of that
Starting point is 00:20:56 with regard to health. But it's, I mean, it's tough to transition like that when you're a routine-based starting pitcher where every fifth day you know what you're doing, you know who you're hitting or you're pitching to ahead of time. You know, you have your rigid routine. And then when you're a reliever, it's a completely different story. You've got to be ready to go at all times. You don't get as much time to warm up, not as much preparation.
Starting point is 00:21:18 You don't really have a rhythm. And some guys struggle with that. And I don't know how much of that has gone into it. because, I mean, Fott was not pitching well as a starter this year, and he's not pitching well as a reliever either. So I don't know how much of it is just really just him struggling in general. Our guy Jack said has been talking about how he really just, his biggest thing is just struggling to get left-handed batters out.
Starting point is 00:21:45 I mean, that's really kind of the biggest thing with him is he doesn't really have anything to throw at left-handed batters. And that's kind of a big deal for being a starter and a reliever. or like you can't get around that when you you want to have success as a major league pitcher. Man, I'll tell you, it's just, it feels like once again Diamondbacks went very quickly from being in a position of what are we going to do with all of these starting pitchers to now once again being like, hey, look, we don't have five. If you think you have enough starting pitching, you don't. No, I mean, those were those were the most insanely prophetic words I've ever heard a player say. When Corbyn Burns said that exact thing sitting at his introductory press conference and looked at all of us and said,
Starting point is 00:22:41 you never make it through a season with just five starting pitchers. Damn, you were right, Corbyn, you were right. You were too right. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for sticking around last night while I got the hell out of here. So appreciate you so much. Again, follow Alex on Twitter. It's Alex Dags, right?
Starting point is 00:23:01 Did I get that on? Alex Dagg, AZ. AZ, that's right. Alex Dags is AZ. I'm sorry. I'm bad. Thanks, David. Appreciate it.
Starting point is 00:23:08 Over the top with the correction. He was, he was for sure. Appreciate all your hard work, man. Make sure to follow him. Check out all the work he does, not only covering the debacks, but covering the Arizona Cardinals as well. This man lives a very frustrating life as a sports writer. So we appreciate you.
Starting point is 00:23:23 Thanks guys Are you on Instagram? I don't really use it much for branding purposes but I might create one at some point There you go, there you go Well thank you for your time Appreciate you
Starting point is 00:23:36 Thanks guys See you Well Damon Let's take a quick break I'm sad now But again interesting Is that why you like to bring people down with you Derek? Because I've noticed that about you
Starting point is 00:23:47 You like to in sports media Like you go hey Alex You know how you cover the D-Backs and the Cardinals, that's sad. And just like kind of just put it in their face a little bit. No, I don't like to do that at all. That's not at all. That's what?
Starting point is 00:24:02 Me? Me? This guy? I don't know. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't think she deserved that. I don't think you're going to talk about it. I've never done that before in my life.
Starting point is 00:24:09 But we're going to take a quick break. And I'm going to shut this idiot daming up while we do that. But don't you guys go anywhere. You're watching the PHA next Diamondback show. Well, of course, Bet365 is here to make all of this baseball action more fun. and we are going to be present at Chase Field today. So, of course, now's a great time. I'm getting nasty on the bet 365 out there.
Starting point is 00:24:33 Live in game betting. David's going to be a menace on the live in game betting right now. I bet balls and strikes like Brendan Sorsby was. Yes, exactly. And of course, if you have not had a chance to do so right now, you can get in on the action thanks to their bet 10, get $200 in bonus bet deals. Right now, all new users have to do is sign up
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Starting point is 00:25:37 Gambling problem, call 100 gambler. 21 and over only must be physically located in Arizona. Terms and conditions apply in app only. And of course, got to do your research if you are ever involved in an accident or serious injury because the lawyer you hire does matter. And that is why you should contact the husband and wife law team first. Mark and Alexis Breyer are the husband and wife law team. They are huge Diamondbacks fans.
Starting point is 00:26:00 They're huge Arizona sports fans. But more importantly, they are one of the best teams of attorneys that you can find. Their team brings hundreds of years of combined trial experience with multiple certified specialists and personal injury and wrongful death. And in Arizona, the state bar is certified less than 1% of all lawyers as specialists in injury and wrongful death litigation, making them expert. So, of course, you know that they will know exactly what to do when it comes to your case. they actually go to trial for their clients. They know what needs to be done to prevail in front of a jury and in front of a judge. And also, they will make promises to you as their client.
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Starting point is 00:27:10 Well, Damon, I am ready to move on past this Dodgers series, but first we got to takeover of Chase Field tonight. As I think Groundhog Mama in the chat brought up, we are going to be having a very, very good time over there. all of the hot dogs, all of the hot dogs. And again, thank you to all of you guys that have purchased tickets. We got your merch ready to go. We got some gift bags for you. We got some fun stuff going on.
Starting point is 00:27:37 But like I said, even though I'm excited for tonight's game, I am ready to get past the Dodgers. If the Diamondbacks win tonight and split the series, I think the 7 to nothing game last night is fairly meaningless. I feel like it's a win for the Dodgers to come to town for a four game series and you split it. You lose tonight and somehow it's devastating and we may never recover from it. That's baseball, right?
Starting point is 00:28:01 At least that's how we react around here. Well, that's why that second game felt so massive. Like if you could have actually won that game, gone up, gotten a split no matter what, regardless of what happens in the show hey game yesterday. And then, you know, you go into today with, as I said on post game, a bunch house money, Derek. You could be going into tonight being like if we can get this third win here of the series, that's massive for, you know, continuing this streak of playing good baseball. But now we're on, we're teetering on all of a sudden being the coldest team in the National League,
Starting point is 00:28:34 right off the back of being the hottest team in the National League. That's so us, isn't it? It is so us. We're so back. It's so over. Ryan makes the best point that anybody in this entire chat has made yet. Ryan says it's a bad day to be a hot dog. And he is not wrong.
Starting point is 00:28:49 It is a... Earlier, he said it's a bad day to be a glizzy. And I favored it. That too. it is definitely a bad day to be either of those things depending on what you want to call it and cool bro with the super chat thank you so much he says i'm ready to get chase field back yes give us our stadium back for sure but dodger fan appreciation week has been a disaster depending on who you ask actually derrick because i think that uh you know based off of maybe
Starting point is 00:29:14 some things that you told me yesterday sounds like maybe some people in diamond vaks organization might be fist pumping fired up about the amount the sea of blue that we've seen out out there at Chase Field. Because that's the intended goal, right? Is to have your rivals take over your stadium. That's what I heard because it's, it makes you the most money. It's so hard to not.
Starting point is 00:29:35 It's so hard to deal with this because, again, like I've told you, countless number of times. I'm going to keep talking about it. As long as they keep doing this shit every year. It's in the team's DNA. It literally is baked into the team's DNA. And I hate to say that.
Starting point is 00:29:48 But way back in 1998, all those ancient years ago, they kind of made this decision. They actively thought of this being a game plan on how they could fill up the stadium. God bless Jerry Colangelo for screaming at a group of people and telling them they're a bunch of idiots, even though I doubt that's how it went down and telling them that what you need to do in order to fill this goddamn stadium up is build a winning team. Wow, imagine that, right? You build a winner and then people come.
Starting point is 00:30:16 And all it took was two seasons for them to have double or some sort of crazy increase. in season ticket holder additions, right? And a lot of that had to do with the fact that that 1999 team won 100 games. I mean, Derek, that's all well and fine, but there's a difference between doing it in year one and doing it in year 28 of the organization.
Starting point is 00:30:39 I mean, year 28 is still a baby as far as Major League Baseball is concerned. And again, it's rough. No doubt, but this town. You've got to start making your own thing at some point. I know. No, you're not wrong. I felt like it was this generation.
Starting point is 00:30:51 of like guys that are your age right now right like people that are your age that grew up with this team existing like you don't know a time when the diamondbacks weren't here right it's like all it's all of us old fogies that need to be like we got move on as is the world out to pasture as is the world right right because we are the ones that still say hey I grew up for you know 25 years in this town with the brewers being next to my house and that's who I root for right and that's what happens here in a town where you have spring training you have no loyalty you have a bunch of people that come from other places to retire here and at the end of the day you still have a very young baseball team that hasn't you know cemented itself with generational
Starting point is 00:31:35 fan bases right like the explanation makes perfect sense i applaud your dad i applaud other dads that have raised their kids right to be diamondbacks fans from day one and don't bring in this like oh well i used to be an angels fan back in 1987 my parents my parents were both my parents were both fans of other teams and left their teams in the past to become Diamondbacks fans and season ticket holders. Exactly. Not saying everybody has to do that. That's a hard thing to do.
Starting point is 00:32:00 I even like, like, I don't like all Arizona teams and I work at this company. And there are times where I'm like, I really wish that I did, man. I wish that I know that it, I mean, there are also times where I'm like, thank God I'm not a full scale. I mean, come on. You're a dolphins fan. So let's calm down. You're a dolphin's man.
Starting point is 00:32:16 We're just one step above in Loserville here. Yeah. But really, like, I understand the explanation of all of it. It makes perfect sense to me. It's just that, you know, we have this platform, Derek, and I feel like if this is not the only thing that I care about in life, like, if this is not my main thing, then I don't know what I'm going to use this platform to talk about. Right.
Starting point is 00:32:36 Because I just feel like we have to change the culture. We have to change the, the community and the way that we approach this stuff. And nothing changes when you have Dodger fan appreciation week in your stadium. every single year. Like that's how you make sure that everything stays the same always. Phoenix will always be a bad sports town. Arizona will always be a bad sports state when it comes to, you know, like fan support, local fan support in your stadiums.
Starting point is 00:33:04 We need to change that. And yes, people like me are getting older and starting to have jobs and careers and their own money. And I think that that'll go a long way in terms of making this more of a, you know, in Arizona a community, but I don't know, man. I just, I, I can't stand this idea of like the organization itself encouraging it. And it's, it's beyond my capabilities of understanding. Like our guy, Owen, our guy Owen is at the game yesterday, Derek, right?
Starting point is 00:33:35 And Owen is from, from Wales. Owen is a Welshman. And he's, so his entire viewpoint of sports culture is different than ours in America. Oh, God, yes. But he's texting me, Derek, and he's saying, they are sending, that he goes, get up and dance for the D-Backs dance cam and it's 5-0 Dodgers and Otani's throwing a one-hitter and Owen's like I I'm beside myself my head's on Mars how are we doing this and I understand baseball is weird thing you got to keep people kind of into the game and whatnot but like it just feels like you
Starting point is 00:34:08 know there there's just such a disconnect of how we do things here and how real like really locked in fan bases do things imagine at a Philly's game as much as we we make fun of the Phillies and in the bank and whatnot. Imagine at a Phillies game, like them being like, hey, Dodgers fans, come take over our stadium. I mean, there would be like full-scale brawls in the stands. There'd have to be a police presence. I mean, okay, first of all, you're talking about that generational fan base when you're
Starting point is 00:34:36 talking about a team like the Phillies. No doubt. But what you're also talking about a locked in fan base? That's the goal. As much as you say that, you and I agreed, we just talked about it today when we were planning our show that this is why everybody does everything. thing about Otani. And even those teams are guilty of doing this kind of stuff. There is no team that's free of the idea that they want to bring as many people to their ballpark and sell as many
Starting point is 00:34:59 tickets and as sell as many things as possible, even if that's not completely comprised of their team's fans, right? I will agree that the Diamondbacks lean into it entirely too much. And I will agree that a big reason why is because as Groundhog Mama said earlier, just disagreeing with you a little bit, we don't have a huge Japanese fan base. And at the end of the day, what the marketing team is trying to do is sell as many of those packages and sell as many of those jerseys as they humanly can. And unfortunately, sometimes that comes with leaning into the opposing fan base and the opposing team, right?
Starting point is 00:35:33 I'm not saying it's right. I'm also saying like, but we only do that with like one team basically. And it's our main rival. Like I said, I mean, but our main rival is also the biggest goddamn team in baseball Damon. So just stop acting like it's just another team. We're not doing it because of that. We're doing it because of the attention. So should every team bow down to Manchester United or Rio Madrid and just like is that how I mean, I'm just trying to think of like there there's a clear social hierarchy in those sports. But I'm just telling you how it works with this and that it's not
Starting point is 00:36:06 has it has nothing to do with being well. It's kind of like the versus dog thing. Right. There were people that has nothing like the versus dog. No, no, no, no, no. But I'm saying it's not because you and I that was silly, right? You're just literally doing a thing that it's a hot dog and it has something from the city of the team we're playing. When I first heard it, I thought of no malice at all. I literally just thought it was a cute idea. And more importantly, I thought it was cool for season ticket holders who come to every game to have like a little new item to look forward to. Oh, hey, they're going to put fried chicken on a hot dog. That sounds kind of cool. I'm going to check that out. It's only available for three games. Some people on this fan base took that as one of the most egregious
Starting point is 00:36:45 you know, things as far as once again welcoming that opposing fan base to our house. Like they were like, you're literally rolling out the red carpet for that fan base. When in actuality, it was just like seen as a thing that might sell some hot dogs, right? That's kind of how it is. It's not to say, though, that there isn't some truth to that. They do know that no matter what fan base we have coming in here, that they're going to welcome a decent amount of those fans. Maybe not with the nationals this weekend.
Starting point is 00:37:12 they also kind of go through the same thing we do of being a fan or team that hasn't been around for too long. But why not do the promotions then when you can get when you need butts and seats? Because they won't sell. This is what we're saying. That's what. They won't sell during national seats. Dodgers fans will show up no matter what. We don't need to encourage them to take over our state.
Starting point is 00:37:29 Right. Right. If they were getting them away free, I would feel completely agree with you. But they're not. They're an additional cost. They're an additional price to your normal ticket. And they're just trying to sell as many as they can. So but 2 BMC says Dodger fans buying.
Starting point is 00:37:42 Serp's merch wild. That is something, Damon, that I saw in spades. Again, when I went to the team shop, people just in Dodgers uniforms. It's people that live here. With this in their hand, buying it at the, you know, at the counter, that was something that was completely odd and foreign to me. Especially when these came out last year, I remember when the, these debuted in the shop against the Dodgers, and they were all sorts of Dodgers fans buying Serpienti's gear.
Starting point is 00:38:08 They're still Diamondbacks fans somewhere deep down inside. That's right. That's what I was saying yesterday on the post game show, Derek. That's the thing that bothers me. When you show up and you give away the team Japan jersey and Shohay's on the mound and there's a kid who's from the West Valley and he's deciding whether he wants to be a Dodgers or a DeBax fan, who's he going to be a fan of after last night's game when you make it Dodger fan appreciation night at the ballpark.
Starting point is 00:38:33 Now you've locked in a kid that's from Arizona to being a Dodgers fan for pretty much ever. He might buy a Serpienti's jersey. Is that worth it to you? No. if he spends $200 in the team shop, or should you want him to be a fan of your team? Because the money that you get in the long run over that is much more significant.
Starting point is 00:38:50 You just can't put a tangible price point on. There's literally nothing they can do about a kid becoming a fan of an opposing player that comes in here and tears us apart. There's nothing they can do about that. So that's a silly comment to make or a silly way to look at it. Okay. Then why don't we just put our hands up and say there's nothing we can do? Everyone go be a Dodgers fan in our own state. And that we're good.
Starting point is 00:39:09 I just think that. It's already happening. We have to use this platform to call out something and talk about it in some capacity or else it's just... I'm just telling you the truth of the matter. I feel like you're just being very ignorant to the idea that it's still a business at the end of the day. Okay. You can just keep saying like flashing the money in front of my face, but my point is that I think long term, you could make the argument that it's more beneficial from a financial standpoint to have a fan base that cares.
Starting point is 00:39:38 You're making me agree with Killer X. it's really not that serious. It's just not. How about you get a Japanese player? That's, I'll agree with KERX. That is 100% true. Invest if you care. That is true.
Starting point is 00:39:49 If you want to get Japanese fans involved, invest in your own team. Don't invest in the Dodgers. And I'm sure they've done Japanese Heritage Night on other nights when other teams were here. And I'm sure it was probably somewhat of a failure. You know what I mean? So I'm sure that this adjustment was made on purpose. But I want to move on because I'm done talking about this. We'll move on.
Starting point is 00:40:05 But respectfully, Dodgers fans taking over our stadium is that serious. But we can move on after this. It literally is one of the most serious things possible. That's what any legitimate fan would think. Umin Lin is not Japanese, by the way, Killer X. He's not. Moron. He's not.
Starting point is 00:40:22 But we got our series preview here with the Washington Nationals. Again, a team that we're not going to have to worry about coming here and taking over our stadium. So let's take a look at that team that's coming here after the Dodgers do leave and get out of here and vacate Chase Field. The nationals this season are 31 and 32. They've actually been a pretty good team this year. Let's take a look at their numbers at a glance. Again, minus 10 run differential. Offensively, they've been one of the best teams in baseball at times.
Starting point is 00:40:53 They currently have a 733 OPS, which is sixth best in Major League Baseball. They also have a pretty terrible pitching staff. But unfortunately, when we get here to the probabilities, you'll see we are, in fact, facing two of the best starters that they have, the best starters. that they have. But they're starting pitching ERA is 4.64 this season, which is tied for 23rd. And the relief pitching ERA, 4.79, which is 25th. So again, you can see that this is a chance for the Diamondbacks to possibly get right offensively against this team. However, they are facing some pretty good starters when it comes to the Nationals in this three-game series. They also have
Starting point is 00:41:32 minus eight outs above average, which is tied for 20th. But let's take a look here at those pitching probabilities that I was discussing. We got to that. We got Merrill Kelly, of course, oh, our pitching probables, beautiful graphic, by the way, sponsored by our friends at 1AZ credit union, one AZ credit union, rooted in Arizona and invested in you. They're also invested in our pitching staff, as we all are. Let's take a look here. We got Merrill Kelly going in game one. I mean, this is probably the best trio right now that you could have going in a series, I would argue. Merrill Kelly and his kind of gross 5.06 ERA, that is no indication of how he's been pitching lately, is going up.
Starting point is 00:42:10 against Foster Griffin, who has been solid this year for the Nationals. In fact, all three of these starters, or two of these starters have been solid. Zach Little, meanwhile, not so much. But Foster Griffin, six and two this year, 3.76 ERA, 65 strikeouts. He is a left-handed pitcher, so I definitely have my concerns about that game offensively for the Diamondbacks going up against the lefty. Meanwhile, in game two, fairly confident about this one with Zach Little. and is 5.01 ERA going up against Argy, Erod, who was 5 in 1 this year with a 2.24 ERA and 52 strikeouts. And then last but not least, it's Cade Cavali, who very, people are very, very high on lately.
Starting point is 00:42:56 He has an incredible mustache, by the way. Three and three this year. He has a 3.62 ERA matching up with Michael Soroka, who is 7 and 3.49 ERA. impressive. Very impressive. Impressive performance, both from Erod and Michael Soroka, despite what the expected stats say about both of those guys. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:43:18 Again, this is a Washington Nationals team that is a little bit of a wild card. I feel like our pitching has been pretty good, and these guys specifically have been good. So feeling fairly confident. However, you know, again, it's all about the Diamondbacks offense right now, and if they can get things going, if they can get their lineup figured out. So I'm very much in favor of, you know,
Starting point is 00:43:43 Cotell Marte returning from having the soft day and hopefully being fresh and ready to go. Hopefully those injury concerns that he had or the reasons why they held him out of the lineup, I won't hold him out any further. But again, tonight, big win, hopefully on deck while we're out there at Chase Field for our takeover. Still, though, got to figure out a way
Starting point is 00:44:04 once you get past these Dodgers to, get back on track and get some series wins. And I do think that that is very possible here against the Washington Nationals, not to say that they are, you know, a team that they should beat in the same way that they should have and did beat the Rockies and the Giants. But it does feel like this team is very beatable, especially here at home. I think the dinaback should also be kind of, you know, pissed off by the way that they got handled here by the Dodgers, especially last night, that's just kind of embarrassing and it is what it is. But like Damon said, the game two loss is the thing that really feels like the one they let slip away.
Starting point is 00:44:45 It didn't feel like they were in last night's game at all. So if they can find a way to split this series though with a win tonight, things look good. They were never going to be in last night's game as the sick part. Yeah. Yeah. So again, that's, I mean, you knew that. You know that. You felt that.
Starting point is 00:45:02 You've told me that several times. Well, everybody felt that. Well, are you mad that Catelle wasn't in the lineup when it comes to that? No, I'm not because it sounds like Catell legitimately has some sort of injury concern that is keeping him a little bit banged up. And so he maybe he looked at the schedule and said, oh, Tani versus Gallen. Yeah, this is the perfect guy. Hard pass on this one, Skip. I think this is the day I'm going to need off.
Starting point is 00:45:26 I've had it circled around my calendar for a while. If that was the case, I'm perfectly okay with it. Eric in the chat is asking how far out is that pitching prospect human land? call them up. Let me tell you, there's actually, with Brandon Fott getting sent down, there's kind of a log jam at starting pitching in Reno. Like Mitch Brad is on the seven day IL right now. I think Blake Walston is still on the 60 day IL and Dylan Ray is on the seven day IL. But outside of that, I mean, they have, I think, six or seven starters there.
Starting point is 00:45:56 So, I mean, again, this is a situation where right now, I don't know how they're going to get all of those guys work, but they'll figure it out somehow. But beyond the nationals, we got the Marlins, we got the Reds, we got the Angels, we got the twins. A lot of winnable series. A lot of winnable series and a lot of opportunities for this team to not only get back on track, but bring this fan base back to the way we were feeling after the game one win against the Dodgers. So again, that's what's on deck. But of course, we are going to be out there today.
Starting point is 00:46:29 And hopefully, like I think someone said it, hashtag the takeover gets things rolling here, Damon. scroll up a little bit. It was from Ryan. He said, what if the takeover sparks the team? Hashtag the takeover. What is? People are talking. People are talking.
Starting point is 00:46:47 Well, let's take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, we're going to take a trip down memory lane once again on throwback Thursday. Don't you guys go anywhere? You're watching the P.H.N.X. Time and Back Show. Well, of course, Don Julio is here to help us celebrate the World Cup being right here in our backyard. And again, they took that, they took the trophy away from me because they know we
Starting point is 00:47:09 have no chance of winning it based on the teams that we picked yesterday. But we are, we are rooting for some of the best teams in Africa. And we are more than ever rooting for Don Julio because of these wonderful iconic bottles they are bringing us in honor of the World Cup. Don Julio 1942 has three iconic bottles for the World Cup, including their original, which is the icon of celebrations, that beautiful trophy that we've been showing off for legends on and off the field and even a mini for small but iconic moments. This is a trophy that everyone can can take home, take home this special edition of Don Julio of 1942 that honors the artistry of tequila making a symbol is timeless as the beautiful game itself and inspired by that beautiful
Starting point is 00:47:49 World Cup trophy. Be on the lookout for our U.S. men national team and Mexico watch parties this summer. We'll be having them all throughout the World Cup. We'll also have samples and prizes for those in attendance. We'll be at Phillies in Scottsdale, Phillies on Priest, Philly's on Warner, and we'll also be at backyard Desert Ridge in my backyard. So make sure to join us for all of that. of course, make sure to pick up one of these iconic bottles of Don Julio, 1942. Whether you've got your favorite spot or stocking up for home, make it a Don Julio, 1942. And Game Time is more than just cheap tickets. Game Time is an app that gives fans the advantage with constant innovation.
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Starting point is 00:49:32 Damon, what time is it? Game time? Game time. It's almost game time for us. We're going to be out there watching this time. team play in person. But we did have some, of course, fun, iconic moments that have happened in this team's history. So let's take a trip down memory lane with another throwback Thursday. This time, on June 3, 2008, we are talking about the one, the only Randy Johnson, recording
Starting point is 00:49:56 his 4,673rd strikeout of Brewers Mike Cameron, not exclusively of Brewers Mike Cameron. That would be some sort of record if he struck out Mike Cameron specifically 4,000 times. But no, no, no. This was his career, 4,673 strikeout, moving him past Roger Clemens into second place on the all-time strikeout list. What a guy. What a guy. And, you know, it's funny because whenever we talk about Randy Johnson and specifically things that he has accomplished, It's always funny to remember how like almost unappreciated he was at the time.
Starting point is 00:50:41 Don't get me wrong. We knew he was doing impressive things. But, you know, we brought this guy over at an older age that everybody was just waiting for his back to break in half or everybody was waiting for him to just completely fall off. And he just never did with this team. He just got better and better as time went on. So again, God bless Randy Johnson. for being a part of the Diamondbacks organization
Starting point is 00:51:05 and helping bring us, well, not helping bring us, almost exclusively bringing us that World Series championship. But he is just behind Nolan Ryan on that all-time list for strikeouts. On June 8th, 2010, the Diamondbacks played their 1,000th regular season game at Chase Field, regular season home game at Chase Field.
Starting point is 00:51:28 And of course, it was a 7 to 5 loss to the Atlanta Braves. Also, on June 6, 2011, the Diamondback selected pitchers Trevor Bauer and Archie Bradley with the third and seventh pick respectively in the first year player draft. First team in history with two of the first seven picks in the draft and we use them on Trevor Bauer and Archie Bradley. Those two guys couldn't have more of a different place in our team's history. Am I right? Last but not least, this one's just for Damon. on June 7, 2022, one Geraldo Perdomo became just the second deback in franchise history to hit a grand slam as their first career home run.
Starting point is 00:52:13 What a feat by our guy Jerry P. How are we not supposed to instantly love him until the end of time when his first career home run was a grand slam, Damon? Incredible. Made for the moment. He really was made for the moment. But again, this team, not a lot. Again, when we talk about the years this team has existed, as we were talking about earlier, not a ton of history here overall for this team in the short time we've existed. So again, it, oh, and Book's Journey says, but was it a wall scraper?
Starting point is 00:52:48 Probably, probably was a wall scraper, I think. Yeah, probably, like, caught the wind and got out by, like, two feet. still nonetheless, shout out to Jerry P for starting his career with this team in an epic, epic manner. But we're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we have some interesting, I guess, trade target rumors brought up by Ken Rosenthal when it came to the Arizona Diamondbacks. We were going to talk about that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback show.
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Starting point is 00:55:26 for you. Call Kim Caballero today at 480-489-5012. That's 480-489-5012 and let her know, PHNX sent you. Well, we were talking about our U.S. men's national team watch parties as well as our team Mexico watch parties and those will be going on. Look at all these wonderful events we have coming up. These are our foreseeable future watch parties. We got June 11th, Mexico versus South Africa, June 12th, USA versus Paraguay. Those are going to be coming up next. week at 12 p.m. will be out at Phillies on Warner and then on Friday, June 12th at 6 p.m. We will be out there for USA versus
Starting point is 00:56:06 Paraguay at Phillies in Scottsdale. We're going to have some amazing drink specials including $4.micholub Ultras, $6 neutrals and $6 dollar stella Artois. We're going to have some fun, Damon. Visit go phnx.com slash events for more details and to RSVP. All right. Well, we got some interesting news this morning from Ken Rosenthal. He reported that the Diamondbacks are expected to pursue a left-handed first base slash
Starting point is 00:56:38 DH. We did it. Yordaun Alvarez, right? That's exactly who they're pursuing, Damon. That was who they said, right? No, it's not who he said. Ken Rosenthal, according to this tweet, said that the players, the Diamondbacks are interested, include Luis Arise.
Starting point is 00:56:58 Lars Neupar, known Star Wars character, Zach McKinstry, T.J. Rumfield, and Troy Johnston from the Rockies. They are listed as potentially available options. Could you pick a more random group of players? You're not wrong. And I don't know. Who's a perceivable?
Starting point is 00:57:18 I mean, I guess R.D.H. spot is not in a good place right now. But which of these guys make you feel better about the team? I don't love. well, I will say this. Watching Louisa Rise play against us made me kind of sick of him in that Mexico City series and it made me kind of be like, why didn't they get this guy?
Starting point is 00:57:40 That's fair. Instead of Carlos Santana. We did talk about him at a certain point of the offseason of like Luisza Rise is like his floor is very high. He's just not a high ceiling player at all because he's such a singles hitter. He might be the only one though that is like maybe a little bit enticing.
Starting point is 00:57:57 Yeah. I mean, Zach McKinstry is playing awful baseball. Yes, that I agree with. As crazy as it sounds, and again, it's probably the, it's probably going to be a name that's less recognizable than Luis Arise and Lars Newbar. That feels probably like, you know, just do the value and do what the diamondbacks are going to have to give up in order to get them.
Starting point is 00:58:15 But you're saying that you think that, you think that a rise and Newbar are going to cost too much? I know, that's insane. Derek, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard you say on this podcast. Well, again, I don't. Rises on a one-year deal, is he not? Luisa Rize is not, I mean. What are the Giants, what are they, what do they want for Luis Arise, dude? There's no way it's got to be, if they want anything significant, disband the organization.
Starting point is 00:58:40 And I talked about the Mexico City series. I was talking about here against the Giants. It felt like the Giants only had him and what, like, why can't I think of his name right now? They're Willie, Willi Adonis. That felt like the only two players that were doing anything. Yeah, agreed. It was the Adomis in the in the in the rise show for sure. What I don't like when it comes to some of these choices is just more contact hitters that get on base.
Starting point is 00:59:07 I don't hate that if you were talking about having them as a position player, right? But when you talk about like Troy Johnston, you know, for instance, he puts up great offensive numbers, but he only has two home runs, right? It's a very small sample size. Yeah, well, I mean, it's 197 at bats this year. So it's not like it's nothing, but it's still, he's slashing three. 20, 377, 437 for an 813 OPS. But it's the slug at being only 437 that, again, and two home runs that I don't love, especially the fact that he's playing in Colorado and he only has two home runs this season,
Starting point is 00:59:39 that doesn't scream like a power hitter to me, even though this is still good, very good numbers, right? It's funny that he's like, Troy Johnson, Derek, is genuinely like maybe the most intriguing name of all the names here. That's the level of the depth that we are going to to find an upgrade, I guess. 100%. 100%. You also have T.J. Rumfield that has more home runs, but not a ton more. He only has eight. Again, that's not great considering that once again, he plays in Colorado for the Rockies.
Starting point is 01:00:10 But he's slashing 286, 359, 457 for an 816 OPS. A 118 OPS plus, it feels like, honestly, as much as we kind of belittle these guys for not being the caliber of player, we were hoping, they would go out and acquire. at the trade deadline, you still can't argue that a lot of them would still make this team better and all of them would probably be an upgrade besides maybe Zach McKinstree at DH slash first base. I guess. I guess. I don't know. I mean, to me, like, I saw this list, Eric, and like.
Starting point is 01:00:41 You puge is what you did. Yeah, it's, you know, the, I'm not going to say it's quite Dodgers fans taking over our stadium levels of anger, but it definitely was like, this is, this is a really, really poor. list of names for what I expected them to go after. Sure. And now do I think that they're going to get Yordon Alvarez? I said that tongue in cheek the other day on the show. No, I don't.
Starting point is 01:01:03 Now, Terrick Scouble, on the other hand, that's all others. They actually should pursue Terak Scoobel, but that's due to they have not like a very long-term plan pitching wise, I feel like. Yeah. But with Yorda on Alvarez, the Astros could fall off a cliff if they go on like a 10-game skid, for example. Sure. And now, you know, getting rid of a guy like,
Starting point is 01:01:23 that at somewhat of a discounted price, obviously it would still take a haul, would be maybe beneficial to them. I'm more focusing on like the Christian Walker caliber of players, though. Like, bring me someone like that who's not a superstar, not even an all star, but a very solid player at his position in baseball, a guy that you can pencil into your lineup every given night to hit in the four or five slot and say, this person is probably the best or second best power hitter on this team right when they joined the team. And when I look at these names, I think, well, each one of these guys could be the seventh
Starting point is 01:02:01 best hitter on the team. I don't think that's good enough. I don't think that's good enough. I think you don't have that. We've talked about it. You don't have that many slots you need to really go after. Right. Right.
Starting point is 01:02:13 This is literally one of the only positions you absolutely feel you need to do something about. Because of that, I want to see them attack it with a little bit of, of, of, fervor. I want to see them attack it with, you know, maybe bringing in an actual, you know, player that's going to change the aspect of the rest of the season. And in this list, like, I like Lars Neupar as a guy, an option, one of your back end starters. I like a rise better than ADC if that's truly the, you know, level of which we're comparing them. But like, I, yeah, I need, I need a better player than this. Lars Neubar hasn't even played baseball this. season, by the way.
Starting point is 01:02:55 See, I didn't even know that. He's going to make his 20-26 debut here soon. So apparently he has not played since last season due to an injury, and he will be making a rehab start with one of the organizations' minor league affiliates. So that would be maybe a good reason, but I can't imagine, honestly, the Cardinals trading him with their team being as unexpected. good as it is and without really knowing what they're going to get out of him until he's back in the lineup fully healthy. I do think that's a guy though, Derek, that like they would maybe
Starting point is 01:03:31 be like he's been on the team for a while and he's not like weather hold, you know, Jordan Walker, Alec Berlinson level where it's like he figures to be a long term piece that they're going to ride with. So maybe they would get rid of him if they could get, you know, a prospect or two that they, that they like. His best season was 2023, re-slash 261, 367, 418 for 784 APS or OPS. He had a 4-48 slug in 78 OPS the season before. He's good, but he's... I mean, 14 home runs, 40-ish RBI, like, again, a guy that is going to make your team a better team, but you still don't know what you're going to get out of him, considering how much time he's already missed, right?
Starting point is 01:04:15 I also wonder, like, what I was going to say is, is Ken Rosenthal, if these are actual, like, names the Diamondbacks are interested in or if this is just the logical connection between players who are reportedly available as far as Ken knows and players that match up with what the Diamondbacks need is essentially so interesting interesting concept though and also yeah yeah I mean it does feel like we're doing some based off the verbiage here it does feel like we're doing some like filling in the blanks of potentially available options right so that's pretty much it But like it's just scary that this is the names being floated are all guys that you think would cost next to nothing. And that really wouldn't be that big of upgrades on what you currently have probably are all upgrades as we talked about.
Starting point is 01:05:04 But like not to the level I think that you're expecting and that we have been talking about on this show. So yeah. I mean, I certainly hope that it's they aim a little bit higher than this when it's all said and done there. Well, you have literally two months. actually, yeah, I mean, almost exactly two months because the trade deadline is on August 3rd. Oh, it's on the 3rd. Yeah. So they have that much time here.
Starting point is 01:05:29 I'm not surprised if there's not a lot of names being made available, but I'm also not surprised that what three of those names are from the Giants and the Rockies with how bad those teams have been this season. So a good chance that they are going to be making some trades before all of a sudden done. Well, we thank you guys so much for joining us here today. We will be back with another postgame show tomorrow and maybe, just maybe, an emergency podcast tonight. I don't know. It depends on how good of a time Damon and I have over at Chase Field hanging out with you guys for our takeover.
Starting point is 01:06:02 But until at least tomorrow for our postgame show, you can follow us on social. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon Dog with a DAWG. And as always, we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Our show is at P.HNX underscore D-Backs, but are all roads. lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you guys so much for your time.
Starting point is 01:06:24 Oh, we got a cool bro super chat. One more. He just wants to reignite the fire between Damon and I. He says there are Dodgers fans that like the debacks and root for them except when they play L.A. And Damon would call those people losers. Traders, losers. Stander for nothing losers.
Starting point is 01:06:39 I think it would be maybe if you gave me a few words to describe them. Maybe one word. How about one word? Stand for nothing losers. That's all. Yeah, just combined all together. Like a hashtag hashtag Stanford, nothing loser. Got it, got it. That's Damon's feelings on it.
Starting point is 01:06:52 But thank you, cool, bro. Thank all of you for stopping by. We appreciate your time. It's your most valuable commodity. So thank you for sharing some of it with us. Hope to see so many of you out there tonight for the takeover. Of course, appreciate you coming by. Hope you have a wonderful evening.
Starting point is 01:07:06 Hope the Diamondbacks, more importantly, have a wonderful evening. We'll see you back here tomorrow. And of course, remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you actually go to Chase Field and root for the Diamondbacks. AZ Katz super chat. He says, see you guys tonight. See you tonight. Let's go. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you have a takeover to go to. That's right. That's true.

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