PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Could Nick Pivetta Be the D-backs’ Next Big Pitching Addition This Offseason?

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

The Diamondbacks are still searching for a reliable starting pitcher, and a recent ESPN report sparks the question: could trading for Nick Pivetta be the solution to stabilize Arizona’s rotation? We break down what such a trade might cost and whether it makes sense for NL West rivals to get involved. Jesse Friedman from Snakes Territory joins the show to weigh in on the Pivetta trade idea and share insights on the MLB Draft Lottery, which saw Arizona drop five spots. Plus, we discuss the D-backs’ reported hiring of former Pirates pitching development director Jeremy Bleich as their new assistant GM.JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/Aura Frames: Exclusive $35 off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/PHNX. Promo Code PHNXALLCITY — 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/APS:  Find instant rebates, discounts and special offers on smart thermostats, energy-efficient appliances and more at https://marketplace.aps.com/default/heating-cooling/smart-thermostatsBranded 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/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotesChicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today!Visit https://www.macu.com/accounts/checking/mystyle-checking?cid=ea-PHNX-AZ-mystyleAugust2025-checking to learn more about their MyStyle Checking Accounts!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 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!Monarch: Use Monarch to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnxWhen 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.

Things do not get better for the Arizona Diamondbacks in the MLB draft lottery as they actually lose ground overall with where they end up. We're going to talk about that with our guy, Jesse Friedman, and so much more. Don't you go anywhere? You know what you're watching. And happy Wednesday to you all. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNXD bags podcast. Live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. It is I, you're a mayor of PHNX. thrilled to have you guys here occasionally this is Derek Monta.

I'm thrilled to be here once again with my guy, the peanut butter to my jelly. It's the one, the only, the incomparable Damon Farrell, aka Damon Dog on the ones and twos. This show, as always, is brought to you by our friends at Game Time. Make sure to go download that out right now, create an account and use our code of PHNX to get, get yourself a $20 off your first purchase there. Terms to apply. And again, get to yourself some great last minute ticket deals over at game. time. I'm thrilled to be joined by our guy, Jesse Friedman from Snake's territory, once again

here to discuss all the things, Arizona Diamondbacks. Jesse, great to have you here. And things aren't great. Things have yesterday, I believe we said, I don't think things can get worse. Well, they kind of did yesterday afternoon. And in transparency, just in case something insane goes down. I do have to let everyone know, everyone know we are pre-recording this actually on Tuesday. Sorry, I have to be, I have to tell you, because Wednesday is a very volatile day, Jesse. And not only do we have the Rule 5 draft, but there could be trades, there could be acquisitions, and we could be sitting here talking about the Diamondbacks, getting Mike Soroka and Ketelmarte trade could happen right while we're in the middle of talking about this. So we know we don't want to

sound like crazy people ignoring any breaking news that's happening. But, like I said yesterday when we did do that show, we talked about Edwin Diaz to the Dodgers and we felt like the world was caving in on us a bit. It feels suffocating for the Dodgers to continue to add the best players in baseball to this team even after winning two World Series titles. I mean, is anyone surprised?

I kind of wish maybe you were, but you're not because this is just what the Dodgers do year after year. And especially over the last two off seasons, they've shown a willingness to spend in the bullpen, an area that we actually haven't seen them spend all that much money in recent years. But then last year it was, you know, Kirby Yates was a big move for them, Tanner Scott, of course, as well. And even though neither of those moves really panned out, here are the Dodgers just going back and kind of doing a similar thing. Granted, Edwin Diaz is arguably a bigger get than probably not arguably.

he is a bigger get than either of those guys were last off season. And this is just very Dodgers of them to pull something like this off. It really is. There was also an awkward interview on MLB Network where they tried to talk to Andrew Friedman about this deal that is not final. And he had to be like, well, I don't know. But if it was word happened, it would be great, you know, that kind of thing. Like that's funny. I know you and I have dealt with having the reports come out,

but not being able to directly ask Mike Hazen or Tori LaVolo any questions about it, considering that the deal wasn't confirmed or wasn't finalized, but this is just a deal that once again makes the Dodgers more powerful. It's one of their areas of weakness during a year where they won the championship. And, you know, again, this this Dodgers front office feels like they want to do something historic. They don't want to just win one or two World Series. they want to create a dynasty in Los Angeles. And with the addition of Edwin Diaz, it made us very sad on yesterday's episode.

It made us very much want to just kind of already give up on the 2026 season. I know it's a loser talk. I know it's not the best, most positive route to go. But it does make it hard to get excited about any moves that Diamondbacks have made, like the addition of Mike Soroka or any moves that they're going to make, right? like even if they do something kind of fun, you'll enjoy it for a minute, and then you'll once again be reminded

that we're in the Dodgers division and it's kind of insufferable. I mean, the reality is, yeah, the debacks could make moves in their bullpen this off season, but they're not going to get anyone of Edwin Diaz's caliber. I mean, there's only one Edwin Diaz out there. So there is a very real element.

Maybe Robert Suarez, maybe him, but even that sounds like, I'm not saying the Diamondbacks could get him. I'm just saying as far as somebody of his caliber, but still, like, there are too many teams that are still interested in adding an elite closer, and most of those teams have far more money to spend than the Diamondbacks do. Exactly. Yeah, I mean, Robert Suarez is out there, and maybe you regard him somewhat similarly, but it's hard for me to imagine the Diamondbacks

landing a reliever of that caliber. I mean, $23 million, like, that's a pretty hefty AV for even a closer, even arguably the best closer in baseball in Edwin Diaz, like relievers are still really volatile. I mean, there have been some pretty steep drop-offs for relievers that were once elite. And that does mean there's considerable risk, I think, in the Dodgers doing this. At the same time, like, what is $23 million to them, right? If this goes south, it is not going to really destroy them. in any kind of a way.

And of course, that's the big benefit of having the resources that they do. On yesterday's episode, I think I said 33 million a year, not 23 million a year, but regardless of the outrageous amount that he's getting, it, you might as well have gotten 33, right? Might as well get 50 million a year. I mean, it doesn't matter. Like, as far as the Diamondbacks go, right? It's like, it's not like they were going to afford him and whatever he got is what he got,

right? But, I mean, there are impacts on the market, right? him getting yet another deal that is worth, that that is historic for a reliever to receive it is three years, $69 million, $23 million a year. It's almost, again, just as frustrating that they can spend that kind of money just on a reliever when that is close to the Diamondbacks entire budget this offseason, right? Like we know that they're not going to spend north of $40 million, and we suspect that they might even spend closer to $30.

than 40 million, right? Like so, again, you're talking about $23 million just on a relief pitcher. The Diamondbacks have so many needs. They have so many things they need to address. And this doesn't help because this makes the market more expensive for other elite relievers. They were in talks at one point reportedly with Pete Fairbanks. I'm sure those talks with what other closers are receiving has probably gotten more expensive while those discussions have been going on.

I mean, Fairbanks put up some pretty good numbers. And even though he, you know, some things kind of slid back in 2025 a bit, still feels like he is going to get probably far more than what was estimated, which was originally around like $9 million a year. It is interesting to me that like if you go to MLB trade rumors, they actually had four and 82 as their prediction for Edwin Diaz. So I guess the average annual value at $23 million is a little higher than what would work out to for 4 and 82, but the total guarantee is actually quite a bit lower.

So I don't think the Edwin-Diaz contract is alarming. Maybe that adds to the frustration because, of course, it's the Dodgers who managed to sign someone for, you know, the one free agent we've had who signed for less than what they were maybe expected to get. Of course, it winds up landing with them. But yeah, I think, you know, the pool, the guys that the diamond backs are going to be, contention for Pete Fairbanks. And we heard a rumor about Pierce Johnson recently. I know Nick Bacoro reported that. Those types of guys are certainly in a different tier of the market. And you would hope that

even with some of the higher prices we've seen so far, I still think Pete Fairbanks has a, there's a chance that the Pete Fairbanks market settles maybe right around the expectation or maybe below that. I'm still very curious how teams are viewing him, given that his strikeout rate has really dropped off considerably the past couple years, and it feels like that's what teams really want the most right now. Well, and other bad news for the Diamondbacks, the MLB draft lottery was held yesterday afternoon.

Some teams moved up quite a bit, including the San Francisco Giants that were able to move all the way up to the fourth pick in the 2026 MLB. draft. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks were one of the big losers of the MLB draft lottery. They essentially finished the season with the 10th worst record. So they had the 10th pick overall. And their lottery, this lottery drops them down to 15th instead of 10th. Such a Diamondbacks thing that happened. Go from a top 10 pick down to 15th, Jesse. And of course, we also saw the Tampa Bay

raise so be uh get the second selection overall and the chicago white socks it's the number one overall pick uh this is now what a number one overall pick for the black hawks the bears and the white socks in like the last four or five years it makes me sick and i don't know what that's like we've never we don't we when we get a a top pick we squander it and we mess it up but um anyway we got the Tampa bay raise at two got the Minnesota Twins at three, the Giants at four, the Pittsburgh Pirates at five. I was having a tantrum during the draft lottery, Jesse, and people here in the office didn't understand why I was so upset about the Giants moving up so much and the Diamondbacks

moving down. And then they all dismiss the draft. And they're like, who cares? We're not going to see these guys for like nine years. And I just kind of had my fill of this office for the afternoon. They all made me sick. Well, for starters, it's all Jake Lamb's fault, right? It is Jake Lambs' fault.

He was the Diamondbacks representative. So if you're going to be upset at somebody, their most recent coach hired. It's a bad start, Jake. It's a bad start. Yeah. It's not great. But you're right. This is very much on course for an Arizona sports team. Of course, Major League Baseball has not had a draft lottery for very long.

Just a new thing here in the past. several. I want to say this is the fourth season it's been in play. And unsurprisingly, the devax are already dropping quite considerably from what they would have had in the old system. So, you know, you can't take the Arizona out of the Arizona Diamond Vax. That's, it's just the way this is going to be. I had nerds in my, on my mentions, Jesse telling me about like where Aaron Judge went and where people went. Oh, look, I know. I was here when Paul gold trimbers drafted. I know that sometimes there are diamonds in the rough and like being 10th doesn't make things better than being 15th or whatever. I mean, Drew Jones definitely has not worked out as of

yet for this team and he was a very high draft pick, right? So sometimes having those high draft picks doesn't necessarily translate into those guys making major league baseball. That's why there's not that much interest in the draft itself or the draft lottery. But I did find it delightful that the league worst Colorado Rockies were not eligible for this year's lottery because this team, a team in baseball cannot receive a lottery pick in three consecutive years. So suck it, Colorado, they will pick 10th in the draft. And then also you have the nationals and angels were not eligible because they are teams that give rather than receive revenue sharing dollars cannot.

receive a lottery pick in consecutive years. So there's a lot of that with the draft. There's also ESPO was asking me like about trading draft picks and I told them that they can't do that. And then he proceeded to ask me, why do they have a draft lottery? And I was like, I don't know. I can't answer you that. MLB makes these attempts at making stuff seem fair, right?

But it's not when you have a team that finished like the Giants, what, they were like 12th in the lottery order and they move all of it. way up to fourth. Like, yes, I guess per chance, based on chances, it's fair, based on balls rolling around and such, like, it's fair because it's all just random, random chaos. But I think with a sport that needs help with parity, I don't really think this is the answer. The White Sox still ended up with the number one overall pick. So that part's fine. But it's kind of like the way the draft like kind of works out from there. A lot of teams, I felt like got screwed, not just the Diamondbacks.

And then a lot of teams got, you know, kind of rewarded for nothing other than fate choosing their ball later than they chose other teams' balls. My question is from a Rocky standpoint is, you know, isn't the lottery itself made so that teams are discouraged from tanking so that, you know, you can, you know,

not just finish last every year and get the number one pick? Yeah. So how do they still end up with? So how is there now a rule against if you finish? in the lottery three years in a row that now you can't even be in the lottery any it's like the lottery itself is to discourage tanking so now you're discouraging being in the lot you're just discouraging being bad yeah at this point well i mean and the rocky shouldn't get rewarded for how bad they've been or how much they've mismanaged that team so i'm fine with it i just don't think they should have

been given a top 16 pick i think that it should be more of a drastic like you know just no no first round pick for you. If you get a lottery pick three years in a row, somebody else gets yours. I think like, I don't know if the lottery is a total necessity in major league baseball. I never, I never really have thought it was, but it serves the same purpose as for other sports. I think it is just to discourage tanking. And, and yeah, I think it makes some sense that the Rockies would get push down a little bit because you want to discourage tanking. You want to be like, all right, you've got to, you know, you can't just do this year after year after year. Maybe you should go and spend some money in free agency. And I know the Rockies still wind up running a reasonable payroll,

but certainly they could have done more of the past few years to try to be a more competitive team than they've been. Granted, if they sign an extra free agent here or there, are they actually going to avoid being a lottery team? Probably not. because they have lots of problems to work through over there. Sorry, I'm laughing, Jesse. I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at our producer of the Cardinals show, Noah, just showing up in the darkness of our office through a glass door.

And I almost screamed. I almost screamed and ran out of the studio in the direction that isn't an exit door just because how much he just terrified me while we were in the middle of recording this. But we have so much more to talk about, including the Arizona Diamondbacks, adding a new member to their front office, a new assistant general manager. We're going to talk about this on the other side of this break.

Don't you guys go anywhere? You're watching the PH&X Diamondback show. Well, Rally House is your go-to spot to shop for all your favorite local Arizona team gear. And of course, you know me. I'm fitted in mine. I got my Corbyn Carroll shirt on. And of course,

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the debacks have hired former Pittsburgh Pirates, Director of Pittsburgh Pirates, Director of pitching development, Jeremy Blige, Blike, I'm sure I'm going to mess that name up. There's no chance. But either way, Blike, I think, will take on an assistant GM role on the D-BACS side next to Mike Azen and Amiel Saaday. So this is obviously a guy that has, according to Pirates Media, has had a huge impact on the Pirates pitching development and how good that pitching staff in Pittsburgh has gotten. So this actually makes a lot of sense considering the focus turning here towards pitching for the Arizona Dinovats.

He made Paul Skeens, I heard. He created Paul Skeins in a laboratory. That's correct. Yeah, I mean, I think he'd take sole credit for the pirates drafting Paul Skeens. No other team. I would have made that selection. It's only because of him. I guess there was some controversy there.

Yeah, I think it makes a lot of sense. I mean, it's always hard to know from the outside looking in how much of an impact one front office official can have in this regard. But from all the reporting we've seen, like he really has been a significant part of the pirates being as good at pitching development as they've been. And they have been really good at it. I mean, I know it's they're kind of the brunt of a lot of jokes because they don't spend a lot of money and they just have not really been very successful in recent years.

But pirates can pitch. I mean, that has not been an issue for them. And even thinking about, of course, they've been mentioned among other teams as a potential destination for Cattel Martte. You know, I don't know if they have any pitchers that you would really want for Cattel other than, of course, Paul Skeens, but there's no way they're going to trade him. You know who I want. You know who I want.

Yeah. Yeah. He wants five as mustache. I'm out here. I'm out of your recruiting. ball schemes every single day with my stash. There is one pitcher that you clearly want on the Pittsburgh Pirates if you could get it, but I don't think that's going to happen.

The Pirates do have a lot of other solid young pitchers that have come up through their system here in the past few years. Jared Jones had elbow surgery last year, but was very promising. Mike Burroughs is someone who's attracted some trade interest. They just traded a pitcher to the bottom. and Red Sox as well. They've got some other, some other interesting names there too. So this is something that the pirates have excelled at

and the Diamondbacks have really struggled with. So maybe Blight can come in and help the debacks get on track with their pitching development. Well, I mean, pitching development is abysmal with the Diamondbacks. It's just a problem for this franchise. Can't really figure it out. and it's something that has gone on, I think, for a while now. I mean, there was a period of time where the Diamondbacks felt like, it felt like the D-backs were the team that were kind of creating some young pitching stars.

I remember that being around the time. And it's unfortunate that this group of guys kind of is so tragic and bad and awful now to, like, think about. But it's like they were all studs. It was Tyler Skaggs, Trevor Bauer, Patrick Corbyn, all of those guys all at the same time. started emerging as young pitchers from this organization and they all seem to be developing and they all went on to have at least at points, you know, be really good major league pitchers, right? So again, I mean, something has happened that that's become a weakness for this franchise

and not a strength. And yeah, you could argue that the pirates, they've had no problem creating pitchers and developing pitchers. It's more about keeping them. They have their Garrett Coles out there. They have all of these guys. that have been very good pitchers in Major League Baseball, but it goes back to the problem with the pirates being one of the teams that don't spend. And then they create these studs for MLB. And then, you know, the Yankees or the Red Sox or the Dodgers or some other team and come along when it's time to pay them their big contract and scoop them up.

Right. So it's a good organization to be stealing someone like this from, especially as you said, so many of the reports are crediting him. with being very good at pitching development, which he will oversee pitching development for the Diamondbacks as well. And that is something that it's good to hear. It's obvious that the focus this off season

is on the Diamondbacks pitching getting better. And I mean, you could argue that, sure, young guys, you know, they don't have a consistent track record of developing young guys, but you could also say the same about some of the other pitchers that have been brought over to this team and paid a lot of money like an Eduardo Rodriguez that have kind of struggled their entire time here too.

It's not like he's necessarily developing, but, you know, picture development goes far beyond just the young guys. It's something that helps the guys that are established major leaguers continue their development, continue to adapt and continue to get better as they age and certain things fall off like what you were talking about with Pete Fairbanks and his strikeout numbers, right? There's other ways to still be very effective as a pitcher as you get older,

but the organization needs to kind of aid you in that and help develop you into your next, you know, into your strengths and what what you have going on. And there's so much more that goes into it than just a pitching coach can help. Yeah, I think that's a great point. I mean, I think it's really easy to just fixate on who the pitching coach is and praise, praise that guy when you're pitching is really good and think that that guy is the problem when you're pitching is not good. But there really is a whole lot to this behind the scenes.

when it comes to not just developing these guys, but also acquiring them in the first place, figuring out which pitchers you should be chasing after to begin with. D-backs haven't done well in any of these areas in recent seasons. So I think it totally makes sense. And look, the D-backs don't have to be great at pitching in order to get to get this thing turned around and back into the consistent contender that,

I guess I shouldn't say back. I'm not sure the debacks have really ever been a consistent contender. But the path to get there is to find a way for the pitching to just be okay. You don't need the top five pitching staff. If you can just have a top 15, maybe top 10, if somehow you could pull that off, pitching staff, then this offense has enough weapons where that could really play. So I think it's an interesting move. And we'll see if it pays dividends for them.

Definitely. And, I mean, he has been a very well-respected part of the Pirates, you know, franchise. He's been with them for six seasons. So I kind of love that because I feel like this isn't just like an overreaction. You know, this is something that like he's time tested a bit in Pittsburgh at helping their pitching get better. He's a former player. And again, there seems to be a lot of lamenting from the Pirates, not necessarily fan base, but from the media that recognized how big of an impact he had on this organization.

You also have Jesse the fact I don't want to be doomsday or whatever you want to call this that I'm going to say. But Amil Sadeh was interviewing for the Rockies GM position. And there's a good chance that with his track record, his pedigree, he is going to be coveted for a GM position in baseball. He is going to eventually get that. And it might come sooner than many of us. would like because he has been instrumental in putting together this young team and, you know, especially the core of very talented players that the devaks have right now. But, I mean, again, it, even though he might not necessarily be a potential replacement or

however you want to see it, it's, it's kind of nice to have perhaps a future assistant GM that is the only assistant GM under Mike Hazen learning from somebody that, you know, again, has been Mike Hazen's right-hand man. And, I mean, again, just a lot of information, a lot of experience and knowledge can be shared there. Yeah, it's interesting that this is, I mean, he's being hired as an assistant general manager. I mean, that's a pretty big title.

And I think it points to the Diamondbacks recognizing that, like, they need someone in a fairly high-ranking position in the organization to help them out with this. Yes. You know, they're not looking to lower-level, executives to try to turn this pitching thing around. I think this is

a recognition as a franchise that like, hey, we're not real good at this and we need to look seriously at kind of outsourcing this work to someone who has had more success in this area. And to the DeBax credit, they have had a lot of success on the position player

side. Like Mike Hayeson and Mike Fitzgerald and Amiel Saadeh, like those guys have really been quite a team when it comes to drafting, developing position players, getting value for them in the trade market. It's just that pitching side that has not really clicked here for a long time. So, yeah, I mean, I think it's a really interesting move for them. It is. And, you know, overall, the one thing I'm excited about is to see what kind of impact, not only he can have on the overall pitching staff, but the Diamondbacks just made a signing

for a guy. Mike Soroka, which, you know, We've talked about them on this podcast. I know you and Jack have discussed it on Snake's territory. I like the move. I think that Sroka still has a lot left in the tank at being only 28 years old. And I think that a lot of things, a lot of things that you would,

you and I would actually nerd out about together, including his expected stats, actually make me think that, you know, for getting a guy like this at $7.5 million is a pretty good deal. and could end up being, you know, one of the moves that surprises Major League Baseball. You know, I know these numbers for his season don't look great, and we discussed that, but, you know,

we also discussed, again, his expected batting average, or excuse me, he's expecting opponent batting average, his expected ERA, and just some of those stats, baseball spot, you know, have on him from 2025, right? So, like, there are some things that I like about bringing in, you know, someone that specializes in pitcher development now when you're adding a guy like this who, quite frankly, could benefit quite a bit from the Diamondbacks adding someone like Blake to their, you know, to their staff.

Yeah, it makes me curious if Blake had any say in the Diamondbacks making, making that move. And we're hearing about both these stories like right around the same time or maybe not. I mean, maybe Michael Soroka is someone, the debacks have been targeting for a while here. But he is definitely the type of pitcher that, you know, on paper, like, are you going to bet on the diamond backs of all teams to find a way to get the most out of someone like Michael Soroka? It's a little hard. Yeah, it's a little hard to feel that way. But that's, I mean, that's part of what they need to get better at. And even looking at 2026, like, I don't think there's any way.

said this on on snakes territory as well i i don't think there's any way that the diamond backs this off season are going to be able to build a team that's like 90 wins on paper i mean they're going to need some things to break their way they're going to need some unexpected breakouts to happen and michael saroka is a candidate for that like he is not your uh relatively high floor but low ceiling number five starter type he's someone who, yeah, he might be more of a number five type starter when all is said and done, but he's shown the ability to give you more than that. You look back at his rookie season, which I know is way back in 2019. He's dealt with some pretty significant injury stuff since then,

but looking at those underlying numbers that you just mentioned as well, like there's evidence here that you can get more out of Michael Soroka than what he's been able to produce recently. and it would be so big for the debacks to find a way to get more from someone like this than what they've been able to produce with other teams. It feels like when there's like expectations for a guy to do well because they have a track record and they're a superstar and things like that, it doesn't work out for the Diamondbacks. But when it's Ryan Nelson that no matter how good he did,

they wanted to stick them in the bullpen or wanted to not really make them part of their starting rotation and we're just so reluctant to until they absolutely had to, he ends up being a stud for this team. You know, I think that there's things about Soroka that we discussed the other day that, you know, again, I still feel like you were going to really have a hard time finding a starter this cheap no matter who you went after because if they were a starting pitcher with any kind of track record of starting, they were most likely going to want more, even if they had a bad season last year.

And look at what we're seeing some of these relievers get. I mean, Devin Williams put up some pretty atrocious numbers in 2025, and he still got paid. So, like, this is not a cheap market. And we haven't really even seen the market move yet for starting pitching outside of Dylan Seas and Mike Soroka and a few other moves. So we really have no way to know other than Dylan Seas seem to get paid more money than people expected him to. And that most likely will be the case with those top seven guys, including Zach Gallen. that gallon will probably be part of that class. But that all makes things far more difficult for the debacks here

as far as what they're going to do to get that next starter that they need. The next starting pitcher needs to be a much bigger name than, than no offense, Mike Soroka, just because if they expect to hang with the Dodgers and everything they're doing and adding in with Diaz, they have to bring in some help. They have to bring in somebody that's going to essentially compliment Corbin Burns, very well when he returns, but until then, might be able to hold the line down or hold the fort down

with Ryan Nelson, maybe going, you know, one, two with him there. But we are going to talk about perhaps if that guy is Nick Povetta from the San Diego Padres on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere you're watching the PHA next time of that show. Well, you guys know that I love pure edibles and make sure you check out the full variety if you love edibles as much as I do.

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I mean, maybe their parents weren't even born yet. I don't know. I'm feeling very old. But I cannot wait to see World Cup action here in the States. And the best way to get your tickets to that is through game time. Game time, the app is such a lifesaver. We've already discovered how often and we find ourselves benefiting from those last minute ticket deals. But right now, of course, it's the best way to get your tickets to the World Cup. Getting tickets, going to be brutal, but not with game time. Fees are included so you always know your total up front of game time.

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Again, terms do apply, create an account, redeem code PHNX for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go, download the GameTime app today. Jesse, we have a little bit, not a rumor. This was just an idea kind of floated out there, but our pals over at ESPN put out an article discussing who they think would be the best trade candidates for which teams. And this was specifically, I believe, about pitching. But they linked one San Diego Padres pitcher, Nick Povetta, actually to the Chicago Cubs as the best fit for Nick. So excuse me for just disclosing that first. I'm trying to be very honest and transparent tonight, Jesse. But they listed as another team to watch for Povetta, your Arizona Diamondbacks.

They said with Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly being free agents and Burns injured, the debacks need a top of the rotation starter. No surprise to us. Their farm system, rank 13, added a lot of depth this past trade deadline. They're suggesting here that the Padres might be open to perhaps a pitching prospects, made a few pitching prospects in trade for Nick Povetta, who had an absolutely breakout season last year with a 2.87 ERA over 181 and two-thirds innings.

It was the best of his career. So he might not be the best time to be asking the trade for Pervetta, but he's under a four-year, $55 million deal that he just signed in 2025. Contract is backloaded, and he has an opt-out after the 2026 season. So a trade for Povetta essentially could just be one year of his service. We've talked about a few guys out there that are being shopped around, but not really being

shopped around. Freddie Peralta, Terek Scouble, cost far higher on those two guys than a Nick Povetta. However, is it worth the risk for the Diamondbacks to go after any starting pitcher that they're potentially only going to get for one year of his, you know, know, one year of service. I guess the positive with getting a guy who's, who's probably only one year is that we don't know if the second year would be played anyway.

There's obviously a, you're a monster, Jesse Friedman. I mean, isn't that kind of the reality of this? I mean, I don't know. Oh, no, that Edwin Diaz ensured that we're going to have a lockout. The Edwin Diaz to the Dodgers ensures that the other. Think about it. We talked about it on yesterday's show.

Tanner Scott was the straw that broke the camels back for most of the owners. Not Otani, not any of these other signings, not Yamamoto, not Roki Sasaki. No, Tanner Scott. That was the bridge too far for most owners as far as like, even the Yankees were like, enough is enough. This is crazy. We're like, you're the Yankees. What do you mean?

Right? So there is no doubt in my mind that Dodgers landing, Edwin Diaz is going to be once again, another case for the owners to demand some sort of firm, hard, much harder cap or harder competitive balance tax than we currently have. But you're, you're not wrong. We might only get one year no matter what, but whatever. I don't even do that with me right now. But he's, again, he's like an under the radar kind of guy. And I don't know if under the radar is the right term. But the good thing about this is that his contract does get more expensive as the years go on. So if he does opt out, if the Diamondbacks do make that move and he opts out

after 2026, whatever, then go, he can go get a bigger contract somewhere else. Much like, Mike here that we already got, I would love it if whoever we get is so good on a one-year deal that essentially the Diamondbacks can't afford him after this season, because that would mean that a Mike Soroka or Mystery Man, whatever, Nick Povetta, would be so good that after the 2026 season, they would want to go somewhere else and get their huge payday. The Diamondbacks need that kind of energy. They need that kind of like go out there and take an opportunity with this team.

But again, overall feels like a top tier starter on the short term is not really doable for the Diamondbacks, nor do I really feel like that is what Mike Hazen has necessarily addressed. what he wants to target. I think it's just a tough trade fit with the Padres. I mean, first of all, there's the fact that the Padres are in the same division as the diamond back. Why would we do anything to help out the Diamondbacks, right? Yeah.

That would totally be more of a Diamondbacks helping move, right? We haven't seen many moves between A.J. Preller and Mike Hazen in recent years. I can't even remember the last one. And I'm not sure there's really ever been a significant one during the tenure of those. two guys so it seems pretty yeah that maybe they i mean we know that we know that a j preller uh is is down to down to talk shop at any time you know but yeah i don't i don't think mike hayson is exactly on speed dial for him so yeah i i it's hard for me to imagine it nick pavetta's on one of the weirdest contracts that i've ever seen where he made if i'm reading this right one million

dollars in 2025 but is set to make 19 in 26 And that's why the Padres would consider trading him in the first place, is the Padres have suddenly become this kind of cash-strapped team that's trying to cut in areas where they can. But they also need pitching. Like the Padres are in kind of a similar situation as the debacks where they actually need to add pitching. Right.

And yet they're leaving Michael King for sure, right? Yeah, yeah. They're probably losing Michael King. And of course they don't have you Darvish for next year. And they've already. lost Dylan cease, right? So like they have they have a lot of work to do in terms of filling out this rotation. The only reason they'd even consider moving Nick Povetta is that he makes $19 million. And maybe for them, given the season he just had, you'd rather flip this potentially

great 2026 season for Nick Povetta and go get you, you know, a young, a young starter with, with some potential. So it's hard for me to imagine it happening with the Diva. backs though. I just think the inner division thing. D-backs don't seem to enjoy that. I don't really think the Padres do either. But I mean, he'd be a great fit. Like Nick Povetta just had, just revisiting

his numbers from a season ago. It's kind of startling the year he had. I mean, a 287 ERA and 181 and two-thirds innings, a whip under one. You finished sixth and Cy Young voting. Like, if you're the Padres, this is everything you could have hoped.

and more that Povetta would be. But yeah, now it's left them in this weird situation or maybe it makes too much money. So we'll see what happens. Well, one of the reasons why that franchise could potentially be trying to shed contracts like his is because of this ongoing, you know, battle between the former owner, Peter Seidler's widow and his brothers.

And from my understanding, one of the solutions, obviously, is to just sell the team. I don't think either side wants to do that. But when things go down in a certain way, divorces, things in life happen, like there is no other recourse, unfortunately, than to sell the assets and split, you know,

what, you know, what the, what it brings in. So as far as the Diamondbacks are concerned, I hope the infighting, last forever. I hope it brings that franchise to its knees, Jesse. And I think that at this point, we can use all the help we can get. So if they want to sell and they want to shed some of their contracts before doing so, we will happily take their Povetta. But yes, I mean, again, AJ Preller is very, very good at his job. And he typically does not trade for prospects either. He usually pushes those guys away and goes all in on any player that he can. So overall, this doesn't feel like, you

know, a likely deal, but it does feel like the Diamondbacks might need to make a trade to get that starting pitcher. The more we explore different options, the more we take a look at the available pitchers on the market, it's going to come down to either being extremely disappointing for Diamondbacks fans or it's going to involve a trade. Like that, I feel like those are the only made two results because when you start looking at the available starting pitchers on the free agent market as we discussed yesterday, things get bleak after Merrill Kelly. There's like a sudden drop-off when you're looking at the performance and the war and everything of the available free agent pitchers once you reach Merrill Kelly. And even Merrill Kelly might prove to be too expensive for

this team. I don't believe that's the case. But considering what they still want to do considering that they still need to go out and add a reliever. So considering that they still need starting pitching and a first baseman and an outfielder. Like it feels like even Merrill Kelly at a sub $20 million asking price might be too much for this team. I hope not. I hope that's not the case. And again, in looking at the options, it feels more and more like a reunion with Kelly is the smart move for this team, especially after hearing that there's mutual interest from both sides and that, you know, hopefully they're working towards something. But even Kelly, Jesse, isn't going to feel like it's a big enough addition to this team

in order to make anybody, I think, that roots for the Diamondbacks feel like we're competitive in 2026, right? Like, it's not to say that they can't be. And Damon right now will punch me in the face if I get any more negative than I was yesterday. So I have to watch what I say. But it does feel like, you know, it's a hard. sell to fans to say, we added Merrill Kelly and Mike Soroka to our pitching staff, and we are going to go out there and hang with the Dodgers next year.

Like that's something that I would have to see to believe before I would even begin to get excited about it. I mean, I think that's fair. Like Michael Soroka and Merrill Kelly is, I think it would be fine, but you're right. It's not going to feel like a significant needle mover. going into next year and this is a team that just won 80 games so like there's a decent amount of ground to make up and of course you're you're missing pieces on the offensive side as well that you had for for a good portion of the year and in josh naler and in aohenio swarres i'm sure the

debacks will try to patch some of those holes they're probably not going to be able to land players of that caliber so i thought it was interesting in in steve gilbert's story that he published after day two of the winter meetings. He said if the diamondbacks are able to land a front line starter without trading Marte, talking about Ketel, of course, then the likelihood of him staying in Arizona would grow exponentially. So if somehow there's a way for the debacks to land a starter without dealing Marte, then it sounds like they would just keep him at that point.

Does Merrill Kelly qualify as that? I'm not totally sure, but I think he probably would because, I mean, if you sign merrill kelly then i mean those are your five starters right like your rotation is filled out at that point and you probably don't need to trade kattel you mean that you mean the answer to keep in kattel marty is bringing his best friend back here that's what the answer is right right so damon i think we got this one locked down buddy where meryl kelly comes back kutel doesn't go anywhere we had pitt fairbanks we bring in paul gulch bit for the vibes we lose 80 games still it's going to happen it's fine the same exact record we have every year we're going to have a

great time it'll be fun though we're going to have a good time maybe mike buys at the trade deadline instead of sells who knows we can get crazy we can get nuts the bullpen will suck where'd you heard that before oh man well you know it doesn't suck the new hats in our shop by the way we got some amazing new hats over at our p h and x merch shop you can get there by going to store dot all city network or go p hnx.com to find the latest merch here for your favorite sports networks we got three branded bills designs uh featuring their new canvas model we also have this brand new amazing phnxanx cardinals hat so much more these things are gorgeous i already i already bought mine derrick did you yeah i got the uh these are limited so you got to act now before supplies run out but

i don't even know damon what the uh i think we have a little little little image of our hats, right? But we do, but it's not the right file type. Oh, you know, those file types, but we have a crest hat that I don't, like, I don't even know what it's for. And I love it. Like, it's just this crest design that the fine folks at branded bills made us. It's a yacht club. Yeah, it's like it's yeah, it's a yacht rock hat is what it is. And that's what I'm going to do with it. I'm going to list to yacht rock and wear it. But you might actually take it some yacht rock contract. Oh, I definitely would. I've definitely would. I'm of the age to definitely go to yacht rock, uh, concert. But I, I would tell Jesse to go.

buy the hats. And I would tell them to get them for his family members as gifts. But I know for a fact that Jesse does not plan on doing his holiday shopping anytime soon. I mean, he has. They wouldn't, they wouldn't, they wouldn't ship in time. Yeah, yeah, you do have to worry about shipping times. That's true. But we also have to worry about the fact that, as I said earlier, we are recording this in the past and not the present. And because of that, the rule five draft is happening right now as we speak. Forget as we spoke. we speak. It's already over. They were like, here's my envelope. I got to get out of here. I want to go home. So it's definitely understandable that

that happened. But the Diamondbacks did have the 13th overall pick. I'm kind of fascinated to see if they actually select anybody. Most teams don't just due to the money you have to pay for that player, even though it's not very much. It's $100,000. And the

more importantly, the stipulation, right, where you have to keep that player on your team for the entirety of the season. And not just your 40-man roster. You have to keep them on your 26-man active roster, which I think that's the thing that makes it more difficult. It's easy to store a minor leaguer on your 40-man roster, but not necessarily on your 26-man active roster.

And that's where things get complicated, Jesse. Yeah, I, I'm curious if the debacks will make a selection. It's been a while since they have. I wonder if this would be a year. where taking a reliever makes sense because it's going to be hard for them, I think, to fill out this bullpen with the resources they have, like maybe taking a gamble on some guy in AAA who has really nasty stuff and is trying to get all the pieces together.

But again, the Rule 5 draft is now over as all of you are watching or listening to this. They're like, these idiots, what are they talking about? We didn't take anybody at all. Well, I would sound like a genius. though, if they did just select a pitcher, then I would, then I would sound very smart. So, Jesse, I covered this the other day, but there is a guy. His name is Robert George Petit, aka RJ Petit. Still don't know where the Jay comes from. 300 pounds, 6 foot 8. This man is a hoss. And I mean, he's a slim 300, has an excellent mustache. Put up some

amazing stats. 2.44 ERA in 2025 and 66 in the third innings pitch with a 1.06 whip. I don't care if it was just for the AAA affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. I want this man. I want this man on my team. I want right now for people to be cheering as I am saying this. I want this big boy here in Arizona on the 26 man roster and who knows, right? Like I think, I think for the Diamondbacks, you know, if you take a look at the Soroka signing, it's a gamble, right? Because even at $7.5 million, this is a man that has had every body part involved with his pitching mechanic injured at one point. Knee, Achilles, shoulder, elbow, like his injury list is a mile long, right? So it's like taking a gamble on him is a gamble.

it's a risk because there is definitely an injury history there that is concerning for a team that just suffered quite a bit from injuries in 2025. But that's only a risk if he gets injured and it doesn't work out. But it's $7.5 million. If he ends up being a guy that posts anywhere close to a 4-ERA or below and is serviceable gives you a chance to win every five days when he goes out there on pitches, you win with a. $7.5 million contract. And I would argue that a 300 pound, six foot eight gentleman that pitches has a 2.4 ERA is somebody worth taking a risk on if at the end of the day, the biggest risk is that you won't be able to keep them on your 26-man roster and you lose 50,000 of the $100,000 that you paid for them, right? Because the tigers would have to buy them back for 50,000.

So I hope that as we sit here talking about this, that this man that was born. in the same year that I graduated from high school is on the Arizona Diamond Facts, but it's a bold prediction. I think trying to nail exactly who they got in the Rule 5 draft is an impossible task. But again, I mean, this team just kind of needs to take chances. That's that's it. You have yourself a guy that has a pretty good track record of developing pitching. I would feel a bit more comfortable right now taking some of it.

of those risks as long as those risks are low-cost risks that allow you still some financial flexibility to still go out and get the other players that you need to add to this roster. Yeah, I mean, I think it makes sense for the diamond backs on some level. RJ Petit is a name that also very much stood out to me, not just because he is six foot eight and 300 pounds, but you can't teach that, by the way. You cannot. You cannot teach that. But I mean, the strikeout numbers are pretty good. He had a 34.4% K-Rate in AAA this past year.

Really, he's been pretty consistent. His walk rates have never really been alarming during his minor league career, which is always a good sign, especially for a pitcher of that size. Getting all the mechanics to work out can be a little tricky. It is a little strange to me that he's 26 years old and has not broken into the big leagues. It seems like the results have been. consistent enough that he should have gotten an opportunity by now. But I guess this is why the Rule 5 draft exists.

Like when a guy is deserving of an opportunity but gets kind of stuck in an organization, then then that's that's why this thing exists. So there's a few guys in this, in this category where I could see it making sense for the debacks. Well, and the debacks themselves kind of have some positions that are blocked for the foreseeable future. So they have guys like Blaze was starting to kind of become one of those guys. that it felt like he wasn't going to get an opportunity.

And yet here we stand. And I mean, he got many opportunities last year at different positions. He's currently there. He's currently set to start at about three different positions for the next year. And all at the same time. All at the same time, exactly. Oh, man. But yeah, again, again, like he was starting to become one of those guys.

We were like, yeah, Blaise is a good player. You take a look at his numbers in Reno. He's putting up good numbers. but you never really, you didn't necessarily see a path to the majors. You know, yet here we are. And again, he's done the thing and had success last year. Like he was a pleasant surprise for this team. And a big reason why, you know, they were able to make any kind of run there at the end of the season.

He was, he still drifted off before the end. His offensive numbers weren't great. But anyway, we'll see, we'll see what Blaze does next year. And we'll see if RJ Petit is a diamond back. in real time. But we appreciate all of you so much for hanging in with us. Jesse, appreciate your time.

As always, sir, make sure to follow Jesse over at Jesse and Friedman on Twitter. Also follow Snake's territory. Make sure to download that podcast, get it wherever you get your shows from. They do excellent work over there. And definitely miss,

as always, doing the show with this guy. So appreciate your time, sir. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon dog with a DAWG at the end and we are all Damon's dogs. Bark bark. He does the little bark bark thing too. It's just because I can't do it by myself.

So like without you, I got to have them to do it. But our show is at pH and X underscore Dbacks. But as always, all roads lead to at pH and X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. I don't know why things got so bleak yesterday. And I still feel a little bit of that hanging over my head. but I will say this before we get out of it. What did you say, Derek? No, it's the, it's the Edwin Diaz thing.

It's like, it's just so the Dodgers. It's just so, and you're right. I will say that I myself am even surprised at how upset I was considering that that felt like a foregone conclusion. It felt like Edwin Diaz opting out of his contract with the Mets was directly in an effort for him to go to the Dodgers. And even when it, but then when it happened, I was still upset about it. But I will say this, baseball. is baseball for a reason and we need baseball to baseball right we need we need the dodgers to be smited and we need something crazy and fun and unexpected to happen and maybe just maybe uh it's this team i don't

know i still want tatsuya my jesse so that's a whole other thing i know we won't be able to afford him either but if he really wants to beat the doctors if that's what his true goal is i will happily pick him up from the airport and show him around town and we uh meeting me and damon will definitely bad mouth the Dodgers the entire time just to just to make it that much more appealing to him but again we appreciate all you guys for your time thank you so much we'll see you tomorrow with another 12 p.m. show until then guys behave yourselves have yourselves a wonderful evening and remember kids baseball is fun but it's so much more fun when the MLB draft lottery doesn't further ruin your life