PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Corbin Carroll Suffers Broken Bone in Hand, Will Miss SIGNIFICANT Time This Spring and WBC

Episode Date: February 12, 2026

We’re just two days into Spring Training and the Diamondbacks are already dealing with major injury news. According to [MLB.com](http://mlb.com/)’s Steve Gilbert, Corbin Carroll has suffered a broken hamate bone in his right hand, an injury that will sideline him for significant time and force him to miss the World Baseball Classic. We break down what this means for Carroll, the latest from the clubhouse, and a realistic timeline for his return. We also take a closer look at how the D-backs’ new infield is coming together, why Geraldo Perdomo is putting an emphasis on his defense this spring, and Carlos Santana living out a dream by joining this team. Plus, we discuss whether Anthony Banda could be a strong fit in Arizona’s bullpen and debate if the D-backs’ Spring Training caps are hot or not. 0:00 - Intro1:30 - Corbin Carroll injury8:00 - Torey Lovullo on Corbin27:00 - Geraldo Perdomo and the infield35:30 - Bullpen options47:30 - Spring Training Hats 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/coll... 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/ Phoenix Raceway: Get your tickets now for March 5-8! https://www.phoenixraceway.com/march-... 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 visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?ut... bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-... 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 35% 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. #dbacks #diamondbacks #arizonadiamondbacks #mlb #zacgallen #corbincarroll #ketelmarte #mlbtheshow #mlbtraderumors #tradedeadline #traderumors #allstargame Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, last year's trend of Tommy John's surgeries is out. This year's hot spring trend, heymate bone injuries. Well, Ski, that's a sudden end to our sock. I guess it's over already. That's it. I mean, there's no reason to be happy. No, ski, we should probably done the lost music today. I don't know.

It seems too happy. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine, guys. Everything is fine. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondback show. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your. mayor of pHNX got my guy Shane on the ones and twos the mustache behind the Mac. I'm the mustache

in front of the Mac and we are not excited to be talking about what we have to talk about today. Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks, whatever happened in 2025 is still happening in 26. The curse, the sadness, whatever you want to call it, it's still happening. But great to have you guys here. Thank you. Thank you for joining us for this PM show. Of course, we have news. today that broke. Many of you know, according to Steve Gilbert from over at MLB.com, he ruined our morning by tweeting this out. He said

outfielder Corbyn Carroll suffered a broken haymate bone during a live batting practice session Tuesday and we'll miss significant time this spring. This haymate bone, this is the same bone that Gabby Moreno broke last year and

it's a small kind of hook-shaped bone, I think is in your hand. But But yeah, it's a small hook-shaped bone in the palm of your hand near the pinky. It's especially vulnerable for hitters because of the knob of the bat repeatedly presses up against it and impacts that area during swings and it doesn't take a huge violent blow to fracture it. What we know is that the injury happened when Corbyn Carroll was taking live batting practice. It's all Riverfield yesterday.

He hit about a ball that he foul tipped on a swing. He did not get hit with a baseball. I know many people want to know which pitcher threw at him and who we need to seek out revenge on. And I promise you there is no revenge to be sought for Corbyn's injury, unfortunately, unless you just want to blame stupid small bones in the hand, because that's what's to blame for this one. But apparently this injury occurred right after he hit a home run in live batting practice, which is not very common.

Like I have to say that, like just in general, because pitchers are usually ahead of the hitters and hitters are usually not fully up to power. They don't exactly, you don't see a lot of dingers in live batting practice, but Corby and Carroll did hit a home run and then on the very next pitch or very next at bat, he apparently fractured this bone in his hand. He walked off the field.

In fact, he went over to Torrey and this was right about right before Tori was going to speak to the media and he just casually dropped, I think I just broke my hand to Tori. And we have video from Tori discussing that. But again, this sucks. This sucks. This couldn't be worse.

Not only is Corbyn a huge star for this Diamondbacks team and the injury will not only delay the beginning of his season and he could miss opening day, but it could impact his power. Haymate fractures tend to cause batters to take a while to get back to their power once they have had surgery. and have to, you know, recover from the surgery. Corbin did have surgery today.

I'm not sure if it's occurred. I think by this point of the day it has occurred, but Tori did say that Corbin was going to have surgery. And in fact, Corbyn, or Tori talked about this. Obviously, this was the big discussion out there at spring training camp today. This is what Tori had to say about that injury to Corbyn. Nobody wants to hear about Corbyn.

Corbyn is probably very close to having his surgery right now. very unfortunate. Yesterday I walked by him as I was meeting you guys, he was walking off of the field and I had about a 10-second interaction where he said, I think I just broke my hand and I said, you're kidding, right? And he said, unfortunately, no, I'm not.

So he passed by me and went into the training room and I ended up talking to the trainer for a couple of seconds and said, yeah, most likely it looks like a ham-eight bone and that's certainly what it was. So it stinks. He's going to miss his opportunity to represent the youth. United States of America and the WBC, which I know he's looking forward to when I talked to him on the phone last night, that was the first thing that he mentioned, that he wasn't going to be able to do

that. And I think as we move this down field a little bit, getting him healthy is the most important thing. So getting that piece out of his hand, which is happening today, and then getting him mending mended up or healed up to the point where you can go out and start to do some baseball activity. Those will be the next step. So I'll keep you posted on that. long I don't know what the deal is. Well, we have a little bit of a time frame and we do know that there's some good things here when it comes to this injury as as much as there's not really any good really when it comes from an injury, right? But it is Corbyn's non-throwing hand and I am told that it is much more difficult to grip a baseball after having this surgery

than it is to grip a bat. So at least there's one good thing. It is Corbyn's right hand. So he does not have that at least to overcome. However, though, Corbin undergoing surgery to address the fracture, which is a standard procedure for hitters like this, involves removing the broken part of the haymate, which speeds up healing and reduces long-term irritation. It also, I believe, will prevent the need for this before. Tori discussed how common this injury is. but first he actually described the injury itself probably in better detail than I can. Here's what Tori had to say about this injury to Corbyn.

Yeah, it was a live BP swing. And from what I was told, he just hit a home run and live BP. So that's hard to do at this point in time. The pitchers are a little bit ahead of the hitters. The timing mechanism is not there from a hitter standpoint, but not with Corbyn. He went out there. Had a couple really nice swings.

And then one was a foul ball that ended up causing the damage in his hand. It's a part of the game. As you can see, I think two other players had it happen yesterday, right, as I've been reading up or hearing things. But it's just the timing of it. It's unfortunate. But he'll have time to get back in there

and hopefully as miss as little time of the season as possible. So I don't know what that will look like, though. It is becoming the hottest trend this spring. Francisco Lindor and Jackson Holiday. Both suffered a similar injury and both will have surgical procedures to fix their haymate bone. But again, the healing time here is four to six weeks to get basic bone healing and soft tissue recovery. And then hitting off of a T soft-offs would start shortly after that, followed by full swing and live hitting.

And then, you know, how Corbyn feels. and how much pain he is in, how much discomfort he is in. The bottom line is the team is likely hoping for late March and perhaps still for Corbyn to be available by opening day, which again is March 26. But there's no guarantees to that. And obviously with a player of Corbyn's caliber, they are going to take their time with it.

They cannot afford to lose him or have him miss additional time after he returns from this injury. But this is a very common injury. There was much talk of that today. And we have more here from Tori on how many haymate injuries Mike Hazen has seen in his time in the farm system. I don't know that answer. I do know Mike Hazen made the comment yesterday after we learned of the news that when he was a farm director in Boston, he had 60 of them. And I don't know how many years he was a farm director there.

So it's a part of the game. I think it's been in the game for a long time. And I don't know the reason why. I think maybe the shoulder issues that we've had here with a couple of our guys, Cresontes, I think, is the latest one that's dealing with a shoulder injury. I think that is probably maybe some overtraining in one area. I don't know that answer. I'm just making an assumption.

But the hamate for me, it's going to go at any time. and everybody in baseball has had a handmade issue at one point of time in their career. So is it just a swing? It was one swing, looked totally normal with the exception of it. It was like a beast thing. It got him, you know. I wasn't there, but I heard he took the swing and he looked down at his hand like something happened to it immediately.

So it seems like it could be a freak injury, but it's not. In the baseball world, we see this all the time. It was just a foul ball and a normal swing. And, of course, it sucks. As he said, it's something that players go through all the time, and it's almost something that they have to, almost every player has happened to them at one time or another, but it's Corbin.

It's not only Corbin, which means so much to this team. It's the fact that Corbyn Carroll is missing this incredible opportunity to participate in the World Baseball Classic and be part of Team USA. That sucks for him. And I know how much it meant to him, and I know how much this must, hurt more than even just missing

regular season games. I know how important the season is to us fans and to the players, but representing your country in a tournament like this, especially this year's tournament with so much participation in so many All-Stars playing in this tournament, it really sucks to see him

miss the opportunity here. And this is similar to when he almost missed out on participating in the All-Star game due to the Bone Chips situation injury that he had as well. But Nolan Aeronado was out there with Corbyn when this injury occurred. In fact, he was taking live BP with him.

He seems confident that Corbyn will be back soon, and this is what Nolan had to say about that. Oh, all right. Well, we'll get to that here shortly. But of course, Nolan was out there taking BP. It was great to see him. In fact, he had himself a little bit of a walk-off home run kind of situation during BP today, which was cool to see.

He just walked out, took one swing, and knocked it out of the park. But here's what Nolan had to say about that haymate injury and Corbyn's recovery. Yeah, I mean, obviously it's disappointing because I was hitting with him yesterday and hit a homer like the pitch before. So obviously that was tough. But, you know, that injury is frustrating, but it's not a long-term issue. So as long as he rehabs it right, he'll be just fine. He'll come back. It's absolutely great.

And we'll just hold the four down and take him back. And like, again, that was the talk of the day is that these injuries aren't, you know, they aren't significant, but the timing of it, obviously, very unfortunate. Now, the Diamondbacks were going to have to make adjustments in their outfield in general with Corbyn missing time. However, they don't know how much time he's going to miss or if he's going to be available for opening day. So Tori does have to start making a contingency plan for Corbyn to miss more time than just, you know, the six weeks. and in that case it would appear that Alec Thomas may be taking over for Corbyn in right field

and Jordan Waller may be getting more reps, even more reps than he was going to get in center field. This is what Tori had to say about Alec Thomas, or at least in general, the guys all stepping up in order to kind of fill the gap and do what they need to do in order to get this team through this injury. And, you know, the candidates are Tim Tawa, We know that.

And Barrosa, they're very good center fielders. I feel that strongly that Alic can go out and play right field as good as you can play center. I just want the most dynamic defense moving forward. We all know what happened to us defensively last year, and I just want the best moving parts out there that are going to make plays and win his games. And I know you guys are ready for this news, right? Jordan Lawler will probably be getting reps in the outfield as well. So we just want to make sure we put the right guys in right spots.

Yeah, I was going to ask. Is Lala, are you thinking of one specific spot now? Yes, that would be center field. Correct. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So it was he he was asked to clarify if Lawler would be in center field or play other outfield positions. He said center field. I actually got a chance to talk to Jordan today and he seems pumped about the opportunity. And again, I I can't help but feel optimistic about Lawler's future. You know, I do think that he is athletic enough to play center field and that was discussed today. That seems to to be the primary concern. He can work with Dave McKay, and Dave McKay can really, you know, mold him into a center field or the future, perhaps, for this team. The confidence is there.

It's one of the reasons why they sent him in the Dominican Winter League to play center field so that he could start getting those reps in during live games and everything like that. So, again, this is all very interesting. I mean, we went from Jordan Lawler kind of being a rumored possibility in the outfield, to it sounding like he might be their center field or come opening day.

And again, if his offense can come around and if his offense can be what, you know, what it was there for a brief time at the end of last season, then I do really think that he can, you know, maybe this is his opportunity to shine. But Tori had more on Alec Thomas accepting, you know, moving over to right field for Corbyn. And, you know, again, just the flexibility here from this team, considering the circumstances. Yeah, I think so. I asked him. I asked him what he thought. He said, I'll do whatever you need me to do. I get it and It creates some opportunities. A.T. Yeah, whether it's left or right. I don't know. I just said I'm thinking out loud right now with you. What do you? What do you think about it? And he said, I'll do whatever you need me to do Alec is a great center fielder. We know that

But I just want to take a look at all of my options possible that are possible as we get ready to figure out what to do We got a comment in the chat that says maybe I would love to say your name, but I'm not even going to come close to being able to get that. Aberreene says maybe fortunate timing, though, since he won't miss significant time. Yes, I mean, in the grand scheme of things, like as Diamondbacks fans, yes, I mean, this is better than it happening in May. This is much better than it happening in August, like what happened with Gabby Moreno. It's just not ideal for Corby, I think. It's not terrible for the team. And it definitely sounds like even if he does miss opening day,

that Corbyn will be back shortly after that. But again, it's more about missing out on the, you know, the personal, I guess, accomplishment of representing Team USA and the World Baseball Classic. And especially we, I mean, there's no guarantee that this is going to be as fun in the future as it is right now. There's a good chance. I mean, it feels like we're building towards, you know,

this being a very important part of baseball. And it feels like players want to represent their countries and want to participate in it. But it also feels like this year is one of the most exciting tournaments we've ever had. And that team USA team was stacked. So it's unfortunate, you know, again, for Corbyn to miss team time in that, not participate in it. It's unfortunate for Team USA to not have Corbyn as a part of that team. But again, his injury, a little different here. his injury isn't going to last so long.

Meanwhile, we're still dealing with kind of the fallout from Andrew Saul-Frank. We're waiting to see if the Arizona Diamondbacks make a move to add to their bull pen with Saul Frank out. He said today that he was eyeing a return timeline of 10 to 16 months, which is just brutal. Like it's, it might be a worse timeline potentially than having Tommy John surgery. He did go through his throwing program this winter, but could tell something. something was off. That's what he told reporters today. But Ryan Thompson, his teammate, he was confident that they have plenty of young arms that are ready to go guys that had a brief

chance at getting some major league experience last season, showed glimpses of being quite good. And this year, you know, with the additions and the way the bullpen was kind of coming together, it was going to be very hard for some of these young guys to break into this bullpen and get an opportunity. Now, again, there's one more position open. It was, almost a certainty that Andrew Salfranck was going to be one of the seven to eight guys in the bullpen this year. Now there is another spot open for some of these young talented relievers that the Diamondbacks had. This is what our guy T-time had to say about his teammates and also about him seeing high leverage innings or perhaps even that closer role. We have a lot of flexibility.

There's going to be guys that are throwing super high leverage for us that, again, that are going to be maybe outside their comfort zone, but they've shown that they can do it. Like I'm super excited to see what Brandon Garcia does this here, Andrew Hoffman. Like these guys are like, they have a lot of potential for us. And we're going to have a lot of guys because we're depth that you really are. We're going to have a lot of guys in AAA that should be in the big leagues just because we have so many guys. And we're going to have guys throwing the fifth, sixth inning, that maybe should be thrown

eight in the inning. So I'm excited to see how it all shakes out. Do you see yourself in Ohio situations in the years past? You see. I'm ready for it. They want to throw me in the highest leverage, I'll be ready. They want to throw me in the sixth, seventh inning, to bridge to other guys.

I'm ready for it. So I just think we have a lot of flexibility. You know, they can use me against Ritey's. They can use me against the heart of the lineup of the ninth. Like, whatever they want for me, I'm going to be prepared for that. Seventh and eighth inning, he's ready. Ninth inning, he'll go out there like a bulldog.

Don't you dare put him out there in the sixth, Shane? Don't you dare? Absolutely not. Ryan Thompson, he definitely has that right attitude, like we've talked about with Dre Jameson, to be a closer type. It's just a matter of performing. With this bullpen, the one thing that Mike Hazen said just yesterday was nothing is guaranteed to any of these guys. And I think Tori backed that up by saying that all these guys kind of have a clean slate. However, when he said that, he kind of meant more towards the guys that did good. Like, you're still going to have to prove yourself. And guys that maybe had a five plus ERA. You have a wide open opportunity with the completely open, clean slate to impress us this year and win yourself a spot. The problem is that it's hard to not let these injuries get you down. I know I'm morally defeated already. Mentally defeated, morally defeated, physically defeated, all of it.

We're two days in. And I got hit with a baseball yesterday on an errant throw by Cotel Marte. And then today split my pants wide open right down the middle. So I'm not having a good spring training. And, of course, the Diamondbacks aren't either with all of these injuries piling up. And, you know, again, Tori was asked about these injuries and about the similarities to 2025. You don't want to hear it. He didn't want to go there.

This is what Tori had to say. I'm not going to play that game with myself, Cam, because I felt like I was feeling sorry for myself last year with the amount of injuries that we had. So I'm not going to even give myself an opportunity to think like that. And I'm not allowed of the team to think like that, too. I've already started having conversations with some adjustments with some guys, maybe a little bit of a position switch. Total team moment today. I called in Alec Thomas and asked him,

hey, would you be willing to transition around the outfield in preparation for what we're going to be going through here in the absence of Corbyn and Gurriel? So he said, no problem. I'm here for you. I'll do whatever you need me to do, and I want this team to beat it as competitive best every single day. So yes.

What are we going to do? is my focus. I'm not going to feel sorry for myself. I'm not going to complain about it. It's part of the game. We've got to find a way out of this little rut that we're in right now and we will. I mean, you got to give him credit there because, again, you can't. As a manager or as a GM, all you can do is assess the disaster that's going on in front of you and try to move past it. Like the Diamondbacks don't really have, well, with this being said, you got Corby and you have Catel Marte, you have Geraldo Operdomo, right? Those guys are their core. Those are the leaders. and those are the guys they really can't afford to lose, right? Nor can they afford to lose anybody, it feels like,

with the way things are going. But, you know, with some of these injuries and some of these situations, all they can focus on is the opportunity for other guys to step up into that role. And even if it's for a short period of time, it's a learning experience and a chance to develop. If it's longer, it means that they found a way to find success and are helping this team win

at a big league level. Sean in the chat says Derek ripped his pants SpongeBob style that's the exact song that my wife sent me through text message by the way when I told her I ripped my pants so yes it was very much SpongeBob style I I had to go home but I'll tell you this much just like I finished the day I went I had to go do Espos Southwest bias did it with ripped pants you got went in there got Tori recorded got got myself some video ripped pants and and then I I I scooted my way out of Salt River Fields is what I did. But we're going to take a break. We're going to talk about guys that aren't ripping their pants. We're going to talk about this incredible infield. We're going to talk about Predomo taking a step forward defensively.

And Carlos Santana, apparently living his dream by being a part of this team. We're going to talk about it on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHA next time in Beck Show. Well, of course, times like these definitely call for pure edibles, which can help elevate our moods when broken haymate bones make us sad. But that's because pure edicts. has a wide variety of products to choose from with a wide variety of effects that are clearly listed

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one of these fabulous corvettes. Visit play atheela.com for more information. And do not miss your chance to accelerate into luxury, play, earn, and win at any one of their four casino locations. in the chat has a good idea he says screw it let's get archie back for a bit um i don't hate that idea i would love him back on this show as well but in the bullpen wouldn't be terrible i don't even know if archie would want that anymore Shane if you've been paying attention to archie's adventures i feel like he's having far more fun just being archie bradley than he ever could have as a baseball

player yeah he's at every big event he was getting tattooed on the whole 16 last weekend like good man he's probably at the super bowl i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm surprised you didn't run into him at the Super Bowl. Got it good. Yeah, I mean, he does have it good. He's figured it out. He's figured it out. But another group that may have figured it out, of course, is the Diamondbacks Enfield, which looks pretty amazing, I have to admit. To see these guys along with Caden Marte at 11 years old, also tearing it up, is

incredible. But, I mean, for real, the Diamondbacks have themselves a gold glove caliber infield with Nolan Aeronado, Haraldo, Perkins. Pertomo, Catele Marte, and Carlos Santana all there. I mean, obviously not ideal with Nolan Aeronado and Carlos Santana, both being at an older stage in their career. And quite frankly, last year, Perdomo, even with how high he was ranked in Major League Baseball and all of his offensive achievements still had his struggles defensively. And today, Tori talked about him taking that step forward.

He talked about Geraldo Perdomo taking accountability. for his defense and saying that that was something that he was prioritizing to improve this offseason. And of course, Tori loves that. Here's what Tori had to say about Perdomo putting in that work and trying to make defense another thing that he excels at. That makes me happy. He's accountable and he should be because I know it bothered him. It bothered me. And it got to the point where it probably tested my relationship.

with him because I was on him so hard about tidying that up. And he accepted that. He got frustrated with me at times because I was on him. And I want to avoid that. I don't like to live in that space. But my job is a challenge players every single day to be the best version of themselves. And I think got to the point where he had enough and he had to go out and start to make plays. And that's what would end up getting better.

You know, it is about the gloves being broken in. I told you guys that one. I asked him that one time, why you're using a glove out there that, that doesn't look like it's broken in, had a lot of difficult conversation with him. So it didn't bother just him. It bothered me. It bothered a lot of people because he's that good and he spoils us.

So I'm glad that he's taking that accountability and I have all the faith in the world and him that he's going to be a very elite defender for us this year. Using a glove that isn't broken in. Is that hubris a little bit, Shane? Is that like I'm just so good I don't really need to break it in? Or is that just you forgetting to make sure? all of your equipment's ready to go.

Yes. Yes to both. A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B. Well, I mean, again, we know that Geraldo Pardomo is a leader on this team, and we know that, again, he did what he did last year offensively. He was incredible. He was, you know, right up there with MVP candidates. He was technically an MVP candidate with the awards he received.

But we do know that the defense last year for this team struggled. It's the reason why Sean Larkin was replaced. Diamondbacks brought in Tim Bogar. Now they bring J.R. House in over there at third base and as their catching coach as well. The focus this off season time and time again, whether it was Mike Hazen or Tori LeBullo saying it was on the defense. We, again, as a group all blame the bullpen for stinking and the starting rotation for stinking. And Damon and I have said it so many times where we say, give us the middle of the pack, you know, starting pitching ERA. Give us a middle of the league, you know, relief, reliever, ERA, and this team goes to the World Series, right?

But it's too easy just to blame it on the pitching, especially when it seems to be all across the board. You know, you had Merrill Kelly and Ryan Nelson that stood out. You had Zach Gowlin, who was incredible at times, and then really bad at other times. And then you kind of had the rest. You had fought and E-Rod and the bullpen all with. terrible ERAs, all five or four ERA, and all of them collectively caused the Diamondbacks to be in the bottom five here as a pitching staff. But just speculating, you know, that if the defense plays poorly behind them, which has been a calling card of this team in the past, then

it could be the reason why those ERAs skyrocketed and all of those pitchers had the numbers they did. I mean, I said it a few days ago, but it was a frustrating year to watch. It was frustrating to watch, especially early on. The Diamondbacks just not be who they have been, not play Diamondbacks baseball, not play good defense, not cause chaos on the base path, not use small ball like they were trying to blast home runs and ever yet bat. And I mean, in some cases, they were very successful, especially Gino early on. Corbyn had his share of success with power this year. But it still just didn't feel like it was Diamondbacks baseball. This infield, it should excite fans quite a bit.

Even with Carlos Santana and Nolan Aronado, both being aging players that aren't, you know, what they once were at the top of their careers, I think that they are excited to be here. I felt that from Aeronado, and we definitely felt that from Carlos Santana, who we have a little clip here from the clubhouse where Carlos Santana said that playing on this team

with Cotell Marte and Geraldo Perdomo was a dream of his. This is one that my dream I play here with the Damaback and specialize. I love watching the player Marte and Karo, Toma, and Domo. So I love that.

So the last three, four years are watching how they play and I'm asked a couple times to play how it's the good house. Everything is good. It's good. It's great attitude. Everything is possible. How about the infield?

You, Catelle, Pidomo, I love that. Yeah. I love that. You know, everybody know how Renato, Maltese, and Pidomo, you know, on the top player and the league. He thinks is great. And I try, you know, doing what they can do and help to my team the more we can.

But I'm excited for that group. I mean, again, it's, it, these are guys in Aeronado and Carlos Santana that still put up some tremendously good defense, even with their offensive numbers, kind of sliding. So I don't really feel like this is a step back. I fully think that this infield is going to be significantly better than it was last year. And I think that we are going to see this team perhaps get back to the Diamondback standard of baseball that Tories talked about, right? His version of playing baseball.

Now, offensively, I still think this team is going to be solid. And I even think both of these guys are going to both have improved numbers from last year. I could be wrong about that. But I just think with the team not needing them to contribute, you know, offensively as much as they need their defense, I think maybe the pressure can be off. And perhaps we see both of these guys flourish, right? Still don't know how the first base situation is going to work out. I saw Pavin Smith out there again.

Today was the first guy I saw taking grounders out at first base. And I mean, he just looks solid. He truly looks solid out there. So I do think that Pavin is working very hard at being a viable option at first base for this team. I think you add in Carlos Santana to not only increase the competition level over there at first, but also, again, just be a guy who probably won't, you know, hands-on be a mentor to Tyler Locklear or Paveen Smith. But, you know, by watching and by being around him can be the kind of team. that improves your game, right?

Improves the game of these two other guys, especially Tyler Locklear, who we still don't really know what the future holds, but like we were discussing on yesterday's episode, it doesn't really feel like the Diamondbacks have much else going on as far as a first baseman of the future. It would be great to see Locklear take steps forward defensively and mature and find his bat at a major league level

once he returns from his injury. But just more injuries, just still on. just still all the injuries in the world. I saw someone say, Shane, if you could scroll up in the chat, someone had said right there, Jose Ramirez, this is user, bunch of numbers and letters, says, Jose Ramirez had a haymate injury in 2019 and came back in just under four weeks,

so I'm hoping Corbin will be closer similar to that. Corbin's a superhuman anyway, so I would not be surprised if his injury, if the injury, If the normal time frame is six weeks, then it's going to take him three weeks, right? That's the way it works. It's double or half the time or whatever because he's so fast. I don't know. He could probably like just go do a flash style run around the earth and speed things up

so that we could just skip all of this and get to Corby and Carroll returning because I would like that very much. I guess if I have to miss the World Baseball Classic, so be it. But Diamondbacks still have a lot of questions, though. Outside of their infield, most of those questions, involved. Obviously they're outfield now with who's going to play out there and if there's any moves going to be made for the outfield. But we very much know based on what Mike Hazen said that they will be still trying to add to this bullpen. So again, the bullpen here, the bullpen piece

that we talked about yesterday, former Los Angeles Dodger, former Arizona Diamondback, Anthony Banda. He is a guy who really did have some good numbers last year for the Dodgers. At times, you could argue he was their best reliever, at least their most consistent reliever. And overall, just had himself a very good 2025. And in the postseason, 2024 and 2025, he was kind of pivotal and effective overall there in the postseason.

His effectiveness dipped a little bit during the World Series. But overall, it's 2025. Regular season stats, still very good. 65 innings pitch for the Dodgers. He had a 3.18 ERA, a 1.215 whip, and a 4.52 whip, which would both suggest that maybe his 3.18 ERA had a little bit of luck and good defense behind him. But an ERA plus of 131, which is really good for a reliever, far above, you know, average there. And then his baseball savant page.

It just has a lot of sexy red on it, right? You take a look here at, you know, what, you know, what does he do well? well he has a good expected stats which would kind of back up maybe a little bit there his er a lot of red there for pitching run value fastball run value uh breaking run value i mean all of his pitches do pretty well pretty much has a problem with walks his is walking his walk percentage there is in the what second percentile uh he does give up some barrels you know again there's some things there but still uh limits hard hit production uh and he he does strike some guys out, gets good with maybe just not great chase.

Exit Velo, a little bit of a problem. Kind of getting, get balls cruising out of the infield a little bit. But in 209 appearances, he had a 15 to 9 record with the Dodgers. They designated him for assignment in early February here to clear a roster spot, but not because he's terrible. It's because the Dodgers have an abundance of left-handed bullpen depth. and at this point Banda is out of minor league options so he is available to be claimed on waivers.

Biggest thing here for the Arizona Diamondbacks is losing Andrew Saul Frank puts them down one lefty and they don't have a lot of left-handed pitching in their bullpen as it stands. So Banda gives them a southpaw in relief and it just again is valuable to have more than one in your bullpen. He also at this point has had a try.

tremendous amount of experience since his time with the Diamondbacks, including being in some very, very high leverage postseason pressure spot. So again, it doesn't feel like he would be overwhelmed in high leverage situations considering what he's gone through. And I feel like that's something that the Diamondbacks don't have enough of in their bullpen as it stands right now. He's arbitration controlled with a modest salary. So projections for his salary would be around $1.5 to $2 million.

which makes them a low risk financially for the Diamondbacks. And at this point, again, we're getting close to, you know, baseball games being played. We are going to play a game against the Rockies next Friday. It would be great to have, you know, your guys in camp by that point. And as far as players are concerned, they feel the same way. They would absolutely love to not still be free agents at this period of time. And they would like to be in camp, acclimating to their new teams,

learning what their role is and just getting ready for spring training. But overall, there are some concerns here with Banda. Even those 2025 numbers were good. Underlying peripherals, as we discussed there, like his walk rate suggested, that he is a regression risk. And again, he's better use as a multi-inning reliever or a match-up lefty rather than a late-inning lockdown guy. When you take a look at what the Diamondbacks have,

it does feel like they have plenty of candidates to be like a middle reliever or a similar type role. They just don't really have that lefty for that kind of role. If Arizona wants a true late inning lefty, Banda is probably not the guy for that. I also think beggars can't be choosers.

At this point, the Diamondbacks don't really have a ton of options. They do have some good players that they've signed to minor league deals that absolutely could get a major league deal and could be a part of this bullpen. I do think that Lois Sega and Derek Law are definitely candidates for that. I also saw Sean Dubin throwing out yesterday at spring training,

and he looked really good as well. I saw Cade Stroud today, the Diamondbacks trade piece that they got in that trade for Blaze Alexander. His pitches also seem to be to have a lot of life on them as well. So there are some good candidates here. But when you look across the board, the one thing that they are lacking, is the experience that Banda brings. Not to mention, you know me, I love bringing guys back.

I love a good comeback story, especially when it involves a player leaving and returning to the Arizona Diamondbacks and just coming back here and being a, you know, a fun story and a good, good time, right? The Diamondbacks, bullpen depth, again, they need bullpen depth, they need cost-controlled arms,

and they need guys who can eat innings. So that's something. that makes it feel like Anthony Banda would be a good fit. He checks all three boxes pretty well when it comes to that. Not a splashy acquisition. But let's be honest. What flashy acquisitions are left? Right now at this point,

the only thing that Diamondbacks could truly do is bring back Zach Gallen. And even that's not flashy. It's not exciting. A lot of people here that are fans are not going to be moved by Gallin returning to this team. I do know there's a decent portion of the fan base that will be excited to return. It's just, as we've said before, it's hard to get excited about running it back

with the same crew from last year, especially when it comes to pitchers. Pair that, though, with what I said earlier, and perhaps maybe the improved defense might cause this pitching staff overall to be a much better pitching staff, to have much better results, you know, to not have those innings extend

due to bad defense behind them and cause, you know, Zach Gallen to give up three more runs in an inning. He also looked very good. You know, we talked about his numbers post trade deadline last season. And Gallin's, you know, ERA and everything that he did after the trade deadline very much makes you feel like that guy, if you looked at those numbers without his name being a part of it, would be a guy, you're interested. It just makes this whole situation a little muddier, a little less understandable.

Michael Soroka, I don't know how he would factor in to the starting rotation if the Diamondbacks did add that. And I don't know how he would factor into the bullpen. But it sounds very much like based on conversations I had that Christiane Manah is probably not going to be an option for the Diamondbacks out of the bullpen right now. Unless any changes are made, Mena is probably the Diamondbacks number six starter. So there's a good chance he's going to be in Reno getting stretched out and getting prepared for the season. and remaining available for, you know, a potential call-up should the Diamondbacks need another starter. If Zach Allen gets picked up, obviously that impacts that. It makes me curious as to what they would do because none of their starting pitchers have options,

so they can't send them down. And I don't know if Christiane Manna would then be suddenly looked at as potential bullpen piece instead of a starting pitcher. even though I do like Mena and his stuff out of the pen, I do think that Diamondbacks are focusing on him being a starter and that could be the, you know, the future there. But again, it's the reason why an Anthony Banda pick up here would make a lot of sense for the Diamondbacks.

He's a depth bullpen piece with matchup utility. You shouldn't be viewed, obviously, as a front line reliever, not a closer and maybe not even. even a high leverage arm. But again, he likely could still be a strong setup guy or a situational lefty who's cheap and experienced and most importantly has been forged through the fire. He has seen a lot of things out there

and he's experienced a lot of things. This Diamondbacks team needs experience. That's one thing every part of the team could use. The pitching staff could use experience, the infield, the outfield. that's a young, exciting team, but they don't have the experience or didn't before the Diamondbacks added players like Nolan Aeronado and, you know, Carlos Santana over there at first base. When it comes to the pitching staff, you got Merrill Kelly, you got E. Rod, right, who is now definitely a veteran in Major League Baseball. But it gets very youthful after that. There's very much prospects and younger guys, you know.

But, you know, now I'm sitting here trying to do the show. I'm trying to host the show, Shane. And I got Eric gyrating in the window over here. And I'm supposed to not look at that. Are you thrown off by that? Yeah. Just. He was gyrating. Okay.

If I jirate in front of an MLB pitcher, you think he's going to be distracted? No, he's going to deliver a fast-ball. Not Anthony Banda. He's seen weirder stuff than that. I'm sure. I'm sure he's seen a grown man in the clown costume.

Bring your fastball, brother. Rooting for him. Yeah. No, I mean, that's a good point. That's a good point. You know what you definitely shouldn't do. You shouldn't tell the chat that. So then they have to visualize what you just saw.

because then you're being nasty to no i mean it's it's it's as nasty as it could be whatever your imagination pictures of eric ruby gyrating in the studio window that's enough is nothing compared to what i just had to put up with but uh i did want to thank all of you guys for being supporters those of you that signed up sean thank you for your supporters club membership uh ernesto love you you're the best if you have not signed up yet we implore you to do so of course It helps us out. We appreciate the people who support us and keep us going. And the supporters club is a big part of that. You can sign up on our YouTube page for $5 a month. You get a badge

next to your name in the live chat and in comments shows how long you've been a member. Updates over time. And it's a literal badge of honor. Plus, you get access to the craziest best emojis that you can find anywhere else. And also some very, very exclusive content on our YouTube page. So again, just think of it as a fun way to support PHNX. And if you send us, a super chat once a month, this is even better. So again, we thank you guys. If you have signed up, we appreciate it. We thank you guys so much.

And if you are interested in doing so, I promise you the Headbands video where I ruined Damon's chance of coming in second in that game is worth it. It's worth the price of admission alone. Speaking of price of admission, Shane, there's a lot of talk about spring training,

people being excited, people being not so excited about the prices of going to spring training games. And I am not particularly excited about the prices of baseball merchandise currently because tariffs have somehow impacted things. And now when I went to go peruse my favorite time of the year, the spring training merch, things looked pretty expensive. But, and I mean, again, it's understandable. I know.

Supply and demand, though. It's supply and demand. I think they know they made a banger. They made a banger. They absolutely made a banger. And the thing that I'm primarily focused on, as you know, is hats. I'm always focused on hats. And we have ourselves a look, if you have not seen it, at the spring training hats this year.

And they are gorgeous. This comes courtesy of Reddit user B banner. We thank them so much for posting these incredibly gorgeous pictures of their hat that they received. But the new spring training Cactus League hat does, in fact, actually have a cactus on it. It's beautiful. It's right there. It's tucked away behind the A. It also has a cool 26 logo on the side.

I think we have that picture of that as well. And that's nice with the Suaro cactus in the background. Very cool. Love the sunset. Love everything about this hat. But I think my favorite part, Shane, might be this. the inside with the tribal print, that's hot. I, let me tell you, one, the direct way to my heart is to add details that nobody is

really ever going to get a chance to see in a hat except me. That makes it special just for me. But yes, this hat is a butte. In my opinion, Shane, what are your thoughts? I wish, I wish there was a Cocoa Peli in it somewhere. Yeah. But other than that, it's 10 out of 10. 10.

Yeah. Yeah. So this fraud that we work for as a GM Espo, we're going to call him Greg in this segment, hated this hat, hates this hat. He hates this hat. Not only did he text me about hating it and then send me pictures of more that he hated, but then he had me on Southwest Bias today and he wants me to jump on board with his ridiculous idea of hating this beautiful, gorgeous hat.

This is crazy. This is craziness. Tori today was asked about this hat and Tori loved it. Tori said that when they changed over to the teal design last year, he had to send a bunch of them to his family members because they loved them. And now you got the little amazing cactus sewn in that looks great. And everything about this is amazing. Ryan says in the chat out of 10, what would you rate this hat, Mr. Mayor?

It's a 10 out of 10 for me. It's a 10 out of 10. I already have hats that have flowers and things on them as it stands. many of you know, those are usually alternate versions of hats. I mean, you can go to Chase Field and find some incredible hats. My favorite hat last year was the Diamondbacks A hat, but it had the snake that was like sewn into it and it had the All Star Game logo on the side. That hat was perfection. I needed it. I wanted it. It was full price all year long. And then when I found, I walked into my special magic little discount shop on level three. And there was one, one,

one one single hat of that hat sitting there in my hat size, my big old seven and five eighth size, and I was never more excited about finding a hat at Chasefield than that one. But yes, this hat is a banger. I appreciate the fact that they actually incorporated cacti into a cactus league hat. And I see no reason to hate it at all, right? Come on. Dudes that don't want to wear hats with flowers. Let's grow up.

All right. Let's put on a hat and let's enjoy it. Overall, there was also a discussion about the state flower and the state bird during our scrum today. Things got very elementary school. So you know the state bird? I do know the state bird. Chat, do you know the state bird? Do you guys know the state bird?

I'm a big fan of the state bird's brother, the rock wren. The rock wren? Yeah, they're very, very tiny. Are they native to Arizona? They are. Oh, okay. And they squawk. Is it, do they live in rocks where the cactus wren lives in cacti?

I would assume it has something to do with the name. Okay. I've only seen one in the wild before. Well, one knowingly in the wild. I've probably seen many because I identified it on my bird app. And it was on top of a rock. Ah, it was like posing for you. Yeah, let me see if I can get the noise for you.

Yeah, no, I would love to hear the noise. Ernesto in the chat says, speaking of hats, I just bought a sweet Tucson toy. HOROS hat off eBay. Haven't received it yet, but so excited. It's the white with the red stripes one. I'm telling you, man, that's, that's, oh, there it is. Oh, that's a delightful sound.

Yeah, they're very cute. Yeah, it sounds like it's shooting darts at me for some reason. Darts. Also, I want the Reno Aces to be, to move back to Tucson, just so we can have the great Tucson merch. No offense to the fine people in Reno. I like them all very much, and I feel like that's like me rooting against them having jobs, but I don't know.

Las Vegas and Nevada is going to get very complicated when it comes to baseball here soon. So I don't know. But Sir Raiden asked, what's the state fish? Do we have a state fish? Are there state fishes? I mean, I don't. Again, Suaro Cactus Blossom is the state flower.

And I know that the cactus friend. Almost every U.S. state is a designated state fish. Our state fish is the Apache trout. The Apache trout. That's very fitting. I dig that. I also dig these hats and I dig all the stuff that they're going to inevitably have out there. What do you got?

Sidebar. Hawaii's National Fish. You ready for this? Love it. It's the Humu, Humu, Humu, Un Kunu, Kuapua. Yeah. Also known as the reef triggerfish. That's an amazing game.

No, I've never seen figures off. They'll take British people. Oh, that's crazy. Also, there was an episode of this show that my daughter used to watch. called the octanauts that featured that exact fish. And I found it delightful once again every time they discussed it. Look at that's an incredible. These fish are adorable.

That's an adorable fish. They're adorable. Chat, look up trigger fish. Oh, my God. They're disgusting. Okay, so this is, I thought we were going to get into a debate about the hat. I don't know why I thought that, but we're going to get a debate about trigger fish being ugly or not.

This is definitely taken a side, a turn, a turn that I wasn't expecting. But the hats are beautiful. no reason for nobody to not love them. But again, I believe the fitted version of the Cactus League hat, $60 U.S. dollars. And I come from a time when like $40 hats were expensive. I know that time was long ago, but $60 U.S. dollars for a fitted hat just seems to be kind of a lot.

It seems to be kind of a lot. Maybe I would pay that for a Tucson tour. or a Sidewinders hat, but I don't know if I'm ready to pay that for a spring training cap. We'll have to see. When I end up inevitably wearing it on this show, you guys will all know that I caved and I bought the hat. But Brandon says, wasn't it $60 last spring, too? My understanding was the price had gone up. That's what I was told.

But it could have gone up five lousy dollars for all I know. It just sounds like a lot. And I'm just not ready for any merchandise to be this expensive overall. Another thing that I'm sad for is all the people that bought Corbyn Carroll Team USA jerseys. I mean, he's, yeah. That's sad for me. He'll eventually play in it. I'm sure he'll be on the team eventually.

You never know. Yeah. Well, you get four weeks, right? Again, and then it's Corbyn Carroll. So do you take that and then divide it by two? No, because he's just faster at healing than normal humans? No, it doesn't take four weeks. That was a fast.

Okay. All right. So four weeks is already. I mean, yeah, he could be, he definitely could be back. I think he's going to be back in time for opening day. I just don't think that he's going to be back for the World Baseball Classic. I know that there are some people that feel like that's not important. And, I mean, maybe in the grand scheme of things, it's really not important.

But again, to Corbyn, I'm sure it was. And I think that's really what it comes down to is him unfortunately missing that tremendous experience. And hopefully he does get to experience it, like Shane said, in the future here, because that's something, again, that just an honor. And Merrill Kelly told Tori that there's just nothing like it, right? I was also kind of excited about the fact that, you know, these guys were going to kind of get, and they still are, 12 Diamondbacks players are still going to get, you know,

to participate in this tournament and to kind of get those competitive games in spring versus whatever the hell you call spring training, right? Not really competitive. And especially when it comes to the stars like Marte, and Perdomo, those guys aren't, you know, getting a ton of at bats in these spring training games and aren't probably taking them super seriously. Whereas playing for Damon's Dominican Republic team, you absolutely know that they're going to, you know, play their hearts out and get, you know, be competitive. Get off to a fast start. Hopefully it leads to a fast start in the regular season.

Also, let's hope for no more injuries. Knock on wood, I don't know how to do that at this point. and I don't really know how to prevent any more injuries from happening. I will say that we need to investigate hemate injuries now as much as we need to investigate whatever the hell went down with the Tommy John surgeries last year. But this all sucks. And hopefully Corbyn will be back before we know it.

We will be back tomorrow with another 4 p.m. show. I will be back out there for day three of pitchers and catchers reporting and working out. Hopefully I won't have another tragedy befall me. I hope that my foot doesn't get hit with another baseball and I hope that I don't rip my pants again. But we'll see. It feels like things are progressively getting worse for me.

So I might suffer the biggest embarrassment tomorrow. We'll see. I'll be back here to talk to you guys about it. Of course, make sure to join us at 4 p.m. for that. Until then, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Shane is at Shane Deef. And he'll still, I mean,

He's not Damon Dog, but he'll still bark for you, right? No, he said no. He said no, he's no barks for you. Sorry. But you can follow this show at PHNX underscore Dabax. And as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Cesar in the chat says, Derek is their video. If there was, I would make sure it never saw the light of day.

I'll tell you that. Unless it was members only content. Yeah, that's true. That's true. I'm pretty sure Steve Gilbert probably got video of me at some point. So, you know, maybe ask him for it. But of course, we appreciate you guys for stopping by. We love you. We thank you for your time. We will be back, like I said, tomorrow with another 4 p.m. show. So until then, hope you guys all enjoy the rest of your evening. Behave yourself, Caesar, or Cesar, depending on which way we want to pronounce that.

And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you don't break your haymate bone.