PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Could Pete Fairbanks Be the D-backs’ First Big Signing of the Offseason?

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

The Diamondbacks enter December knowing they need to shop on a budget, but does bringing back Merrill Kelly help stabilize the rotation without breaking the bank? We also dive into sources claiming the D-backs are in talks with reliever Pete Fairbanks as they search for high-leverage bullpen help. Plus, what are the Winter Meetings really like behind the scenes? And did MLB overstep by surveying its Fan Council about “competitive balance”? Jesse Friedman from Snakes Territory stops in to break down a busy day of rumors and realities as prepare for the Hot Stove to get even hotter when it comes to Ketel Marte’s future.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!Access Auto Insurance Agency of Arizona, LLC (Access Auto) is a renowned agency offering personal and commercial auto insurance options to Arizona residents. If you’re on the hunt for a new policy, call Access Auto today at 1-480-400-0546 or get a free insurance quote by visiting our website www.access-insurance.com.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.

According to a source, the Arizona Diamondbacks are currently in talks with reliever Pete Fairbanks. Could he be a sneaky solution to the Diamondbacks high leverage situation and perhaps even a closer? We got our guy Jesse Friedman here to talk about it and so much more. We're going to start in 30 seconds. Don't you go anywhere. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNXD bags podcast. Here you all. Here we are not in Studio K, our normal home, but in Studio A here.

and we are thrilled that you guys are joining us. Of course, I got a Damon Dog on ones and twos today. Bark Park, the Damon Dog. Bark, bark to you all. This show, of course, is brought to you by our friends GameTime. Make sure to download that GameTime app. Make sure you create yourself an account. Use our code of PH&X and get $20 off your already low last minute ticket purchases over there at GameTime.

And like I said, I'm not alone. I do have Damon Dog here joining me. And we also have the one, the only, the thunder stick, Jesse Friedman from Snake. territory here. Jesse, thrilled to have you here and kind of surprised by all of this actual movement that we have going on prior to the winter meetings. Winter meetings are right around the corner, Derek. The hot stove seems to be heating as we've gotten several fairly big names that have signed in recent days. I know Cody Ponce also has signed here recently with the Toronto Blue Jays. Blue Jays seem to be going kind of crazy.

But yeah, it's that time of year where you start to see some more meaningful moves roll in. And who knows, maybe the Diamondbacks will be involved in one of these before too long. It's going to be interesting to see how the winter meetings do move along some of these talks, especially some of these trade rumors. We know that's where the trade talks really start getting going, even though we've already had some pretty high profile trades already this off season. But yes, you do bring up the Blue Jays and a former Blue Jays has now. signed with the Angels, Alec Manoa signing a one-year deal with the Angels.

And Manoa is a guy that, I mean, has had just such an up and down career. Unfortunately, he was widely considered one of the best pitchers in baseball at one point. He was a delight, an absolute delight in the All-Star game. It really made a big splash with, I think, the baseball world with some of his just personality and just who he is, the fiery competitor that he is. but unfortunately injuries and some other setbacks kind of have had made him, you know, come to a point at an end of his career with the Toronto Blue Jays, getting DFAed by the Blue Jays, and then getting claimed off of waivers by the Braves, but then getting non-tendered. So the only reason why this was interesting to me, Jesse, is not that I really wanted to entertain the idea of Alec Manoa, despite the fact that I still think that his numbers here are really decent, especially in his little comeback. that he's been putting together in his rehab starts and things that he you know things look like

they were trending in the right direction at the end of last season for him but it's more of like this is the kind of deal that the diamondbacks needed to make maybe you know with a guy that is a bit more proven they couldn't really risk signing a guy like this that might not end up even being able to help you out any longer as a starter and might not even be a competitive pitcher in major league baseball like that still remains to be seen but you know this is a one year year $1.95 million deal. And I do feel like in order for the Diamondbacks to meet all of the needs that they have, a deal like this needs to be something that they can find. I mean, again, a guy that they're going to have to take a risk on in one way or another, but it really truly

feels like not to say they missed the boat here on getting Alec Manoa. As Damon said earlier, the only thing missing from the deal is talent. But that's probably unfair and mean to say. But what I will say is that, again, you know, we know that we brought in a guy like Merrill Kelly, who was kind of a risk, kind of a, you know, a low-cost starting option for this team. And then that guy ended up becoming one of arguably the best pitchers in franchise history, right?

So it just feels like this deal that the Angels made is the exact type of deal that the debacks need to. need to try to find. I mean, I think the reality is the debacks need two starting pitchers this off season. And we're probably fooling ourselves if we think the debacks are going to be able to go and get too well-established pitchers that you really feel good about. I mean, I think hopefully you can get one guy like that that you really feel could be

at the top of your rotation, maybe more likely somewhere in the middle of your rotation. But yeah, I think there's a decent chance that you have to kind of take a gamble on somebody. I wondered if Cody Ponce coming over from the KBO could be that guy for the DBAX. You know, DBAX is, as you mentioned earlier, they have some history plucking pitchers from the KBO and Merrill Kelly coming over. Ponce is kind of a similar storyline. But he put up some pretty loud numbers in the KBO last year. He was the KBO MVP. and he goes out and he gets three years and $30 million from the Toronto Blue Jays.

It's like, yeah, he is sort of an unproven commodity, but at three years and $30 million, you're kind of paying him like he's more of a sure thing. So, yeah, I don't know if Alec Manoa was necessarily the guy you'd want if you're the debacks, but you make a good point that they might have to go get a starter who is less than proven or a bounce back candidate, something along those lines if they're going to fill out. this rotation. I've tried to kind of set that expectations with our with our fans. You know what I mean? Like the Diamondbacks fans need to not overreact when the signings or the moves that happen for this team aren't big splashes, aren't flashy because they just have too much to get done.

And outside of making some trades happen, that could definitely rock the world, rock the rock the organization. It doesn't feel like they're going to be able to make a move like that through free agency. But you bring up Merrill Kelly. And again, Merrill Kelly is still seeming more and more like the fit that the Diamondbacks are looking for. It's just almost too good to be true, Jesse. I mean, even in a recently deleted post by the Phoenix Suns, former debacks pitcher Merrill

Kelly was at a recent Sun's game with a guy named Miggy that we all know and love. Are we seeing negotiations happening in real time? Is this him in town maybe having some chats, maybe having some discussions? Or is it just that Merrill Kelly probably still has a house here and probably has a lot of friends and people he knows. And the weather's nice and the suns are good. So why not come into town and do that? I don't know, Jesse. But it's still fun to speculate.

I still feel like the sons are doing more to recruit players for the debacks and the debacks are potentially. So that is something at least I am thankful for our Phoenix sons for not only being good, but for their recruitment efforts. But I mean, we've we've kind of talked a lot on this show about Zach Gallin coming back and would we want that and what it would look like and if it would be kind of a disappointment, how he would have to pitch in order for it to feel like a success. But Merrill Kelly is kind of a guy that we've just referenced at times because it almost felt like a sure thing he was coming back. and then it started to feel like it was more and more perhaps a pipe dream. But when you take a look at the Diamondbacks needs, especially maybe not that first starter that they need, but that overall secondary starter that you can get,

maybe on a bit of a cheaper deal, maybe on a, you know, not such a long-term deal, just somebody that can help you kind of fill the gap between now and, and, I mean, 20, 27 and beyond potentially, right? So Merrill Kelly starts to feel very much like that veteran force of stability that the Diamondbacks could go out there and bring back to this team. And he's just a guy that we know far too well for his consistency. And I guess you could say for overperforming, you know, all of those expectations when we brought him back here from the KBO.

I don't know. I was ever thinking that a Merrill Kelly return was a sure thing. But it does feel like based on the reporting, we've gotten so. far that the odds are maybe a little lower than I thought earlier. I know Bob Nightingale in his column today. I don't want to read too much into this, but he wrote, the Diamondback spent a franchise record last winter, missed the playoffs, and will open next season without free agents,

Zach Gowan and Merrill Kelly. Maybe he's just pointing out that they're free agents. He's not trying to say that there's no chance that the debacks bring either of those guys back. but we've gotten some other reports along those lines. I know Nick Piccoro wrote recently about how it's going to be difficult for the debacks to bring back a gallon or a Kelly just given where the starting pitching market is at right now. So yeah, it feels to me, Derek, like if the debacks are going to bring back Merrill Kelly,

it maybe happens closer to the end of the off season if he goes out and maybe his market isn't what he thought it was. We know he would love to be a diamond back. I don't think he's trying to go elsewhere intentionally. But, you know, he's been on some very team-friendly contracts up to this point in his career. And I mean, if I were him, I would go out there and, you know, certainly explore the market and see what I could get. It comes down to, though, what would he get? What would Zach Gallen get?

I still think Zach Gallen is going to get far more than we're anticipating, both in dollar amount. and years that a team is willing to offer Gowan. And I still feel like he deserves it, even though when we said that last time on the show, we definitely got pushback from people in the chat in regards to that. Do you think it's over 100? Would you take the over or the under on $100 million for Zach Gallant? I would take the over.

Wow. Yeah. I'm kind of leaning that direction too. I mean, if Dylan ceases 210. Right. And he and Zach Gallen have nearly identical, you know, at least run prevention numbers the past few years. It's hard to argue Gallin isn't worth at least $100 million. Dylan Seas also had a bad season last year, too, just like Zach Gallen did, right?

Like so I know it wasn't as bad as Zach's, but you could argue that if you looked at the run, Zach went on in the second half, that would give you as a team a much better, a much better feeling about him bouncing back that, you know, like, hey, the first half he really struggled. you know, look at how consistent he was in the second half. But Merrill Kelly, I mean, you know, again, there was the fact that Merrill Kelly had a tremendous amount of value in the trade that we got from the Texas Rangers. Like the Diamondbacks won that trade, period. Doesn't matter what happens because Merrill Kelly, even if he resigns with the Texas Rangers, he could have done that in free agency during the off season anyway.

The Rangers gave up a ton of pitching prospects to get Merrill Kelly only for that team to still miss the playoffs and end up winning exactly as many postseason games as the diamondbacks did. So I'm just saying like overall, that's one of those trades that there's a lot of change. You really can't decide who won and who didn't win. But with what the diamondbacks were able to add to their farm system and how high those guys are up or are as prospects in their farm system, it's hard to argue that the diamondbacks didn't win that one, especially if Merrill Kelly goes back to neither one of these teams and just goes to another team, we definitely won that trade. but uh but i i personally think i would wait until we have a little better feel for what cole drake and Mitch brad and david magnet are actually it's we already got we already got

them in our system and i don't care no you're right though you're right we got we got definitely see what they can do um but i still think the diamondbacks got a lot of value for merrill now yeah what that also could say is is that like what you were saying that merrill's value is still fairly high as far as baseball teams are concerned other organizations are concerned If the Rangers were willing to give up that much for him and teams weren't willing to give up enough to get Zach Gowan, then it really starts to feel like maybe we are vastly underestimating with what Merrill Kelly is going to get here in free agency. Because he, even though he's older and doesn't necessarily have the same track record in Major League Baseball that Zach Gallen does, I mean, he is still fairly coveted from a lot of teams.

always very positive things said by baseball GMs and front offices across baseball about Merrill Kelly. There has been this bizarre run lately of pitchers who had ERAs and the mid-fours, just getting paid like way more than any of us thought. I mean, Dylan Williams and Ryan Ellsley. Yeah, Devin Williams. Merrill Kelly is not in in that category, which is a good thing. I mean, he had a good season, not a bad season in 2025. But he also doesn't have. the big swing and miss stuff that any of those guys have. And I think it's pretty clear that teams are looking beyond DRA when evaluating pitchers. They're really digging into the underlying numbers.

They're looking at whiff rates. They really want guys who have good stuff and can miss bats. That's not an area that Merrill Kelly necessarily excels in. At the same time, I mean, I just think the pitching market in general, it just feels like everybody so far has gotten more than we expected they would. And it's hard for me to believe that's. not going to be true for Merrill Kelly as well, a guy who has decent stuff and also has put up good surface level numbers year after year. I mean, if I'm a team looking for starting pitching,

like, I think Merrill Kelly could be one of the best values out there, even if you do have to pay a little bit more for him than what a lot of people thought. We were taking a look yesterday at our guide, Alex Degostino's priorities for the Diamondbacks this off season, Jesse, and one of his, you know, obviously his main focus as, as ours has been when we've talked about what the Diamondbacks need to go out and do, it has been pitching, right? But it, it's apparent that the Diamondbacks are not going to be able to check off all of Alex's list. It is apparent that the Diamondbacks, like, they're going to be certain things that they're just going to come up short on this offseason. I don't know if they necessarily need to fill all of those

positions you know we've talked about the outfield and the right-handed bat we've talked about first base we've talked about other things but it just still feels like pitching is so important however even then can you really afford to go out and add a closer and a setup man to this team this offseason probably not not if you're also going to bring in starting pitchers and perhaps a position player or two i mean there's just so many needs still for this team and i think the biggest problem as we've addressed is that you cannot squander corbin burns his time here with this organization there's a very small amount of time that one of the best pictures in baseball is part of this team and uh the other season might already be ruined by a labor dispute and major league baseball

somehow wants to get uh fan groups involved and get their takes on that we're going to talk about that later but uh this is just too important for the diamondbacks right now considering they made the investment in Corbyn Burns considering they made the investment in Eduardo Rodriguez for them to kind of just lay over and be a bad team right now. So it's just a tough predicament that they are in. I know that Merrill Kelly, like, again, solves a lot of problems for this team and seems like a good fit, but like you address, they are, he might be far too expensive and, and it's still not an upgrade. You look at the starting pitching ERA from last year and what it's been the last two seasons. and this goes back to my theory that the only thing that's really going to feel exciting

is going to be bringing in a new name and not necessarily a Zach Gallen or Merrill Kelly. Like it's just not going to excite the fan base. Those guys coming back are going to like kind of feel like we're whole again a little bit, but it's just not going to be an exciting move that makes you optimistic about the future. I think that's a fair point. I mean, Merrill Kelly bringing him back would be. more about raising the floor of the team than raising the ceiling. At least for Merrill in particular, like you feel pretty good about his floor as a starting

pitcher even in his age 37 season. But is he going to go out there and finish top three in the Sy Young vote or something? Like, probably not. As he continues to age, if anything, you expect him to regress as many, many pitchers do once they get into their upper 30s. So that's a fair point. realistically how do the debacks do better than Merrill Kelly it's probably via a trade right i mean it's probably trading uh Ryan Waldschmidt or there i say trading kettle marty or you know like you

have you have to be willing to really part with a significant asset if you're going to bring in a better starting pitcher than someone like merrill Kelly well with the winter meetings just four days away we will have a clear picture about that i'm sure rumors are going to heat up or maybe die down completely about Cotele. We're also going to get Jesse to tell us what, what goes down at the winter meetings and what all the excitement, uh, where, where all the exciting things to do are at the winter meeting. You're going to be disappointed, Derek, just a short preview there.

I know, I know. Well, just save it for the, save it for segment three, Jesse. Save it for segment three. But before we do that, we're going to take a quick break on the other side of this break. we are going to talk about me having sauces. Gambo's not the only one with sauces around here. I got some sauces about the Diamondbacks currently in negotiation with Pete Fairbanks. So we're going to talk about that.

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visit play atheela.com for more details. Well, yes, like I said, like I alluded to, I might have some sources. I might have some sauces around here, Jesse. And according to a source of mine, the Arizona Diamondbacks are currently in negotiations, currently in talks with Pete Fairbanks. And Pete Fairbanks is a relief pitcher who has played the majority of his career for the Tampa Bay raise.

And, I mean, at times has been brilliant. but he's just done it on a Tampa Bay Rays team that hasn't been very good and doesn't receive very much attention. Pete Fairbanks, meanwhile, though, Jesse has received quite a bit of our attention. I know you and I have probably done multiple trade frenzy episodes and free agent episodes about going after trading for Pete Fairbanks because we've always loved what this guy's done out of the bullpen.

And I mean, honestly, he really has kind of defined himself now as being one of the elite relievers in baseball that not many people talk about. Yeah, I mean, Pete Fairbanks went out this past year for the Tampa Bay Rays and kind of did what he's done for a while now at 2.83 ERA in 61 games. He had 27 saves, 60 in a third inning. It was nice to see a durable season from him. He's had some injury issues here in recent years. You know, is Pete Fairbanks the same pitcher that he was,

few years ago, probably not, but he's 31 years old. You know, he's not 36 and he still throws about 97 miles an hour, which is something that you can't say about some of the debacks closers that have struggled here in recent seasons. So no, certainly no shock to me that the debacks are showing interest there. And we'll see if something pans out here. He's certainly the type of pitcher the debacks need. He is the exact type of pitcher the debacks need. Like you said, taking a look here at his 2025 stats.

Pete Fairbanks in 60 and a third innings pitched. He had himself 27 out of 32 save opportunities. He had a 2.83 ERA, a 1.044 whip. He had an 8.8 strikeout per 9K ratio and a 1.2B war. He also had a 3.63 FIP, excuse me, FIP, and a 3.28 strikeout to walk ratio. Jesse, he's just a guy that, yes, like you said, he might not be exactly what he was, but he's still much better than every reliever the diamondbacks have.

And quite frankly, the diamondbacks just don't have any stability right now when it comes to high leverage roles. They have some young guys that are forming into that, but untested, unproven guys that you really still don't know what you're going to get out of a Brandon Garcia or a Philip Abner in 2026, right? So here now after missing out on guys like Devin Williams, on missing out on a Ryan Helsley, Fairbanks could really come in here and serve so many different roles, right?

I mean, he has the stuff right now compared to the other Diamondbacks relievers to be their closer. At the very least, is going to be a high leverage arm for them going forward and probably could fill that closer role until AJ Puck and Justin Martinez returned, should they return in a decent amount of time? Like I feel like we, again, we were talking about the certainty that we talk about Merrill Kelly coming back.

We are just so certain that Corbyn Burns and Justin Martinez and A.J. Puck are all going to come back and it's all going to be at the All-Star break and everything's going to be rainbows and great afterwards. And I mean, again, that's a big assumption because none of these guys heal at the same rate. You never know if guys are going to take longer than other guys. And in some cases, it feels like a lot of articles and a lot of. of baseball, you know, experts are stating that there's no certainty that any three of these guys come back for the 20, 26 season at all. They could all miss the entire 2026 season. So like, I hope that's not the case. And when I saw the fire in Corbyn Burns's eyes when talking about this,

I know that man will be back up the All-Star break, but there's no certainty for the bullpen at all. So you do have to kind of build 20, 26 like those three guys aren't coming back. And again, that's the thing here about Pete Fairbanks is he's versatile, but he would immediately come in and factor in as probably the closer on day one. And again, just has that ability to also play other roles in the bullpen. He does have strikeout power. Diamondbacks bullpen are kind of contact prone relievers, Jesse.

So it just feels like Fairbanks could really be that. guy that we are looking for. And at the end of the day, he might cost fairly less than guys like Ryan Halsley and Devin Williams cost. I think it's possible. I mean, even though he put up a sub three ERA last year, as we said earlier, he is not missing as many bats as especially Devin Williams has, has missed here recently, which in some ways is somewhat concerning.

I'm not going to lie. I mean, Pete Fairbanks had a 24.2. percent strikeout rate. I think you mentioned earlier, 8.8Ks per nine. Yeah. That's not great. Like for a closer, that's actually, I would say below average, maybe well below average. He's not missing a ton of bats, even though he's still throwing 97 miles an hour.

Really what Pete Fairbanks has excelled at the past couple of years is missing barrels. He's found a way to really prevent hard contact, even though he's not missing nearly as many bats as he as he did you look back at his 2023 numbers he had a 37 percent strikeout rate in 23 that's what that's all was super sharp and the slider were super sharp yeah his i mean and you look at the movement numbers on the fastball and it makes a lot of sense uh and the velocity i mean in 23 is four seamer average 98.9 and had 19 inches of induced vertical break um heck 2022 it average 99 miles per hour and at 20.7 inches of induced vertical brake. So tons of ride up in the zone. And in 2025, it average 97.3 and average 17.2 inches of induced vertical break. So you're talking about

two, three inches less ride on the fastball than he had at his peak. And you're also talking about roughly two miles per hour less than that fastball was at his peak. So I don't think it's fluke that Pete Fairbanks isn't missing as many bats as he once did. At the same time, maybe that means the debacks can get him for not all that much. I mean, this is kind of an opportunity for the debacks to Zig, you know, as the rest of the industry's ads. Like, maybe instead of paying big money for the reliever who had a four and a half ERA but had awesome swing and misnumbers, maybe the debacks can pay less for a guy who's not missing as many bats, but still has really managed to prevent runs pretty effectively.

We got to talk about his consistency though, Jesse. He just incredibly consistent. Yeah. If you factor out his first season in 2019, you throw that out. That was when he was originally with the Texas Rangers, and then I believe he was traded to the Tampa Bay raise. This man has a freaking 2.87 ERA, 2020, 2021, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.

He has a 2.94 FIP. He has a 1.1.130 whip. And then again, just some incredible numbers. I mean, consistently over his career. You're right, though. I mean, you could take a look and see, like, you know, his ERA is, you know, impacted by defense and opportunities a bit, like you said, missing barrels.

But still, I don't care. I like this. I like him. I've liked him for a long time. Hearing that the Diamondbacks are talking to him makes me think that that's exactly the kind of savvy move. Like you said, that they could be pulling, right? Just zigging while the rest of the league is zagging. I mean, they're, they were going to have to do this.

They were going to have to do this. But this is a guy that doesn't come off of a season where he put up a five ERA. This is a guy that comes off of Tommy John surgery without having to make or having made a major league start or a major league appearance yet. This isn't a guy that has all of those other risks that, quite frankly, the Diamondbacks can't afford. They can't afford those risks any longer. They kind of need to go with an option that might be a little bit more mooring, might not have as much upside. You know, might be on the other side of his career, but still, as far as his numbers are concerned, they're still putting up better numbers than anybody else right now that you have as an option in your bullpen.

And I mean, again, this is also a guy that wasn't a closer. He did close. He did save games. You know, he had 27 saves in 2025, but still. I think he's been the, he's been the raise primary. I'm sure that. For what, like three seasons. Right.

The rays always have like eight different guys that they can use with closers if they want to. Right. But he's gotten, I think, the majority of the save opportunities for the past few years. Well, and I mean, from that perspective, also one of the things that I've talked about that I was a little bit worried about is having a guy. that you're converting from one role to another. It sounds like he's pretty used to that, and he's especially used to coming in in high leverage situation. So it's just the exact kind of guy.

I feel like we're looking for as far as his versatility, but also these numbers that he's putting up, man. I mean, again, he's still putting up some really good numbers and could be just such an excellent compliment should AJ Puck and Justin Martinez both return. I think it's also worth noting that the race, actually had a club option for $11 million on Pete Fairbanks in 26 that they chose not to pick up.

Interesting. On one hand is like, oh dear, the raise are smart. Like they didn't think Pete Fairbanks was worth $11 million. You know, maybe we shouldn't either. At the same time, they're the raise and they don't spend much money. Never on anybody. Yeah, they don't spend much on anybody. And so especially for them, spending $11 million on a relief pitcher who

is pretty clearly not quite the same guy he was a couple years ago. It does. It's not totally shocking. I don't know if that means that Pete Fairbanks's actual value is under 11 million. I mean, maybe he's still able to get somewhere around that from another team. I think it's probably going to be a two-year deal, most likely. Hard to imagine just a one-year contract with Fairbanks only being 31 years old. So, yeah, I mean, maybe I think MLB trade rumors has two years. years 18 million. That's a pretty reasonable price to pay for a guy who could totally just slot in as your closer, somebody you'd feel pretty good about. You know, there's no arguing that he's as good as Robert Suarez or some of the relievers, Edwin Diaz, you know, the guy's really at the

top of the market. He is a more affordable option for a reason, but you could do a lot worse than Pete Fairbanks. But let's be real. Are the Diamondbacks going to get any of those guys? No. Right. Like, no, there are too many teams that are still looking for those exact guys that have the money to spend. And honestly, are more desirable landing spots for a player. I say that from just a perspective of competitive nature, right? You don't necessarily want to go to a Diamondbacks team that's struggling to figure it out right now. You want to go to a team that's close to winning a championship if you have the agency to do so.

If you have the ability to pick where you go and make decisions and you have teams all kind of offering you a similar pile of money, why wouldn't you go for the more attractive, you know, destination or location? And that's kind of not here. It's it's here based on the weather, Jesse. The weather's great right now. So if we can just get guys in town the way that Merrill Kelly was here for the Sun's game, we can convince these guys. Maybe they take a little bit of a payout.

But that's all we really got right now. definitely don't have like a well put together team now that's not to knock our team i damon will stand up for this team damon will die for this team jesse whenever i start talking about if i have to this team sucking next year already before the year has even started but we do have a solid core we do have things to build around so it's not to say that you couldn't start getting excitement about this team right like i i've already talked about the suns twice in this episode but they're kind of an inspiration for what they were able to put together after trading Kevin Durant away and how good this team that was supposed to be awful this year has played. Like the Diamondbacks could

absolutely be that. You bring together key players. You bring together the right guys that are role players that all do their job and do it well. Everybody plays a good defense and you bring in somehow a couple of pitchers that can really start turning things around for this team. And this is not a bad team. This is not a bad location to be. But it's just hard to convince, I think, a player that's at the top of their game, that that's at the top of their market right now to come here if there are other suitors that are far closer to being world championship contenders than we are. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be really interesting to see how the debacks approach the

off season, given the resources that they have. It's just, it's really hard to figure out how all the pieces fit together and how you can actually fill all of the holes that the debacks on paper need to fill. I do think, I mean, Pete Fairbanks is a pretty compelling option. There's a steadiness to his performance in recent years. He's 31, not 37. You know, even though the stuff has dropped off a little bit here recently, it's still good enough to get out. Certainly has been the past few years.

He has a lot of closing experience. There is a little bit of health history there. He did have a lat strain toward the end of the 2024 season. I think there was a nerve issue earlier in the. that year. So maybe there's a world where you could get at Pete Fairbanks for one season, but even on a two-year deal, I think it could make sense. And maybe that's a path forward for the debacks to fill that closer role with a totally solid option and still leave some resources available for all of the other needs that they have. Yeah, that's, I think that's,

that's what I like. And I also just think that, you know, you got, you also got, you have to start looking at the bullpen as a whole. And Diamondbacks, as you have written, as you have talked about time and time again, have just always had a bad bullpen. It's always been hard for this team to put together a solid bullpen. So it would be great for them to put together a good bullpen for the second half or for the first half that could become a dominant scary bullpen in the second half with a few guys returning. So, but we are going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we're going to talk about another scary, scary thing, and that is the winter meetings. So don't you guys go anywhere? We are going to take a quick break. We'll be back back back. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback Show.

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Well, the winter meetings, they start in four days, Jesse. And I guess I know that you've been out there. I know we've talked to you live from the winter meetings. We've had you out there on our behalf. what what are the winter meetings like i mean i've been to the winter meetings one time in my life and as you know i am not cut out for that sort of thing that is not my scene necessarily although i do love talking with guys like jeff passid and bob knight and gale i get to see all the time here at diamondbacks games but uh what are your what are your takeaways

from the winter meetings like it's a weird thing that this is where like all the negotiations for trade talks began, yet these general managers won't even speak to each other face to face, even if they're staying in a hotel rooms and share a wall. It is funny how technology has that impact. It's like, what is even the point of this event where we're all together in the same place and we're just constantly texting each other anyway? My cousin that lives in Florida, Jesse. That's what it's for. So I can go and have an excuse to see my cousin that lives in, in Jackson. Jacksonville. I will say there, there's a lot of in-person chatter that that happens at the winter

meetings. I'm sure that general managers, you know, presidents of baseball operations, those people are involved in that. But more so, it's, it's members of the media. It is other, other members of front offices, probably less so the people at the very top. But, you know, your scouting directors, you're all all of the other people, the assistant general managers, all the other people that make front offices run, you know, all those people are there. And they are hanging out and they are, you know, the hotel bar late at night is a happening place.

It's popping. It is popping. Granted, I've very little experience hanging out there myself, which I'm sure comes to the shock. That's why you never brought us back to good stuff. It makes sense now. It's all happening at the hotel bar downstairs. Right, exactly.

This is where all the fun happens. Yes, but it is still a, I mean, it's a cool event, especially if you are, you know, a newer media member, somebody who's looking to build relationships for people who are looking to get into the industry. It's a really big opportunity for people in that position for sure. But, yeah, it's not like you're walking the hallways and there's Mike Hazen talking with Jerry Depoto about a trade. You know, that that's not the kind of thing that you really see on an everyday basis. It's really just a great time to catch up with friends around the industry, people that maybe you don't get to see very often and to build new connections.

I think that's really its purpose. And beyond that, it's funny how you talk to some vet reporters who've been doing this for years and years, they're kind of over it at this point. Yeah. They're sort of sick and tired of it. It kind of has the meeting that should have been an email vibe for then, which I can understand. And we know that every year and we still come back the next year.

We still do it again next year, you know. Rob Manfred's going to speak about some stuff. There's going to be some things that happen, but for the most part, it's just so weird to me. It's weird to me because I know, like you said, I think you hit the nail on the head. Technology has changed this. There was a time long before you and I ever, you know, even thought about covering a baseball team where I'm sure that the winter meetings did that purpose, right?

It's like a lot of things in life. As ridiculous as we think it is to have to take off our shoes before getting on a plane, there was a reason for it. One guy screwed it up for all of us. And now we all got to take our shoes off, right? So there are times where things like the winter meetings do seem archaic and out of place, considering that so many of these GMs talk all the time. They text each other.

They call each other. Like, there is no reason for them to literally do this, considering they're not going to increase the amount. of communication. There's not going to be a door-to-door visit by each GM to each GM to just kind of check in on how they're doing and ask about family and see which players they might want to trade. But however, I mean, it does, it does signal to the GMs, to the front offices that now is the time to start these discussions. Now is the time to start getting serious about that. As far as we are concerned, this is very important because everybody in the baseball world

right now wants to know if the Diamondbacks are serious about trading Cotel Marte. It's, it's, I addressed it. I think the day after you were on the show because I really wanted to talk about it with you. But it was amazing how the telephone game kind of happened with this information, right? You brought up Bob Nightingale earlier, and you even talked about Bob Nightingale just saying words and then speculating on them on yourself. Bob has so much like pool that he just says facts and then they become rumors and stories somehow. Like when he talks about Cotel Bartay, he said there was no actual, there was no actual like information he was given that made him think that the Diamondbacks were trading Cotel Marte. He was just bringing up facts

of the situation. And as we know, the biggest fact about Cotel Marte is how highly desired he is by other teams and what that return would be for Cotel Marte. And we know that there's nobody else. I mean, even if you traded Corby and Carroll, even if you traded Heraldo Pardoma, which would cause Damon to burn this building to the ground, you would not get the return for either of those players. I do not believe that you're going to get for Cotel Marte. Maybe Corby. Corman Carroll, maybe Corbyn Carroll, but still, you're not trading Corbyn, you're not trading Herald or Pardomero. You're not doing that with either of those guys. So the entire Cotel Marte trade scenario to me has always just felt like common sense and logic dictating that it would make

sense for Marte, no actual informational words behind it. Then we get reports. as we discussed, where it's that the Diamondbacks were actively listening for offers on Catel Marte. But I swear, just a day or two later, that turned into headlines saying the Diamondbacks are shopping Catel Marte around. And it was like, you click on those articles, which are very clickbaity. They're doing that on purpose to get you to view it. But you go in there. And again, no new information being shared. No new rumors coming up that the Diamondbacks are, in fact, shopping, you know, Gatel Marte.

and it very much changes within the articles to the active listening thing. And, oh, yeah, they're taking, you know, they're listening to what teams have to offer, right? So, like, this whole thing with Marte has just been this weird speculation and weird, like, logic, common sense. This is why it makes sense, kind of to these two factors. But this is when we find out if Cotel Marte is, in fact, like, being shopped around. if these rumors are going to like catch fire, go from being like smoldering kind of ashes to being a full-fledged fire again.

I really have no idea if the debacks are actually going to trade Ketel when all is said and done. My gut is that they don't. I think it's just hard to imagine how they would get all the pieces that they would need for it to be worthwhile for them. It would theoretically leave a pretty large hole at second base. Right. If you trade him and then you're just kind of rearranging the furniture at that point.

I will say, though, I think it's important to note that no team is ever going to come out and sort of openly admit that they are shopping a player. And based on what we heard from Mike Hazen on this, I know to an extent he sort of shut it down, but in my mind, he really didn't. He said that a Ketel trade was, I think his quote was mostly unlikely. Mostly unlikely. Which to me felt very suspicious. like to me very unlikely and mostly unlikely have two drastically different meetings.

Look, look, look. There was a reason why a hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy they labeled humans is mostly harmless and not very harmless. Right? There's a difference in wording there that felt intentional. And, you know, totally. Like there's a lot of clickbait floating out there. It's hard to know what's real and what's not. but J.P. Morosi came out recently and said the chances of a Cattel trader at least 50-50.

Jeff Passon in his story today about the players that are most likely to be traded. He had a Catelle trade at 40% chance of happening, which was fairly high compared to other potential trades. Like there were, trust me, there were plenty of 50% in higher trades. But, I mean, Cattel was definitely in the higher percentage as far as the players they were talking about in that article. I think it was 12 players that they addressed around Major League Baseball. But yeah, Jesse, I didn't love seeing that. I didn't love seeing that. I didn't love hearing it from John Marosi either. You know, and again, I think that's a bit of a cop out. 50-50 just feels like you, you get to come out as the winner no matter what, like commit to a side here, Marossey.

I think his words were at least 50. Which is, I mean, I guess that means it's likely. I guess that means it's 50% or above. But yeah, I still have my doubts this comes together when all is said and done. But I do think that will be a big storyline at the winter meetings. And I think Jeff Passan wrote about this too, that at the winter meetings, teams are expecting to have a better sense of how real the debacks really are about this. Clearly, they're willing to listen. I would even go as far to say that I think they are kind of shopping, Cite, even if they won't admit it, but how realistic are they willing to be on what they can get back? Are they just going out there and telling people that he's available? That's kind of what Bob Nightingale

wrote today that they have told anyone and everyone that they are willing to listen to offers on Cotel Marte. Are they just going out there and doing that? Or are they actually making, you know, proposals and counter proposals and really getting down into the nitty gritties that's negotiating right when you are actually negotiating that is when you're actually shopping him around i also know as we've discussed time and time again the mike hazen keeps his cards close to his vest right so you're right about what you said when teams aren't going to actively say they're shopping a player around because that's just going to upset the player his agent his family everybody involved it's going to upset fans like I've even felt like this entire situation,

there was no information coming out, but there's smoke. There is smoke. And where there's smoke, there's fire. There's water damage in the house, Jesse. There has to be a leak. The water isn't coming from nowhere on this wall over here. So it's like when all of these prominent reporters,

Jeff Passon, Bob Nightingale, John Rossi, when all these guys are talking about it, I almost feel conspiracy theory wise that it's like a purposeful leak so that it helps ease the pain of a Cotel Marte trade when it inevitably happens. Like that's what it feels like, you know, because it's just such a slow kind of thing and we're just inching our way there. There are still a lot of people that feel like this team is still very angry at Cotel for what happened at the All Star break. I don't know if that's the case, nor have I seen anything that really makes me think that there's still bad feelings towards Cattel. However, when you start to have your feelings about a player and their commitment to your team, once you feel like that player is no longer really committed to playing baseball and winning baseball as their number one priority in life,

then it might be that much easier for you as a general manager as a front office. to make that decision where you know that even though it's going to be an unpopular decision, it's going to upset fans and it's going to break people's hearts, it's going to be what's best for the organization in the long term, right? I just, I just can't imagine Kattel's actions and what became of that whole situation being egregious enough, being disrespectful enough to the organization for them to be like, that's it, man. The minute we get a chance, this guy's gone, you know? Like obviously they know, his value is extremely high and his contract is extremely team friendly.

So they're not going to let him go for just nothing. The same way they wouldn't let Zach Gallen just go for nothing at the trade deadline, despite the fact that they really had no reason to keep Zach Gallen anymore other than, like, hey, if we're not going to get anything for him, why get rid of them? We still can get that compensatory pick at the end of the year by offering them a qualifying offer, right? So that was far more valuable than whatever teams were offering the Diamondbacks at the trade deadline. And they knew the way this whole thing was going to play out.

And they knew that there was a good chance Zach would be scooped up by another team. And they would at least get that compensatory pick as, you know, a consolation prize overall. But I don't know, man. I mean, this really does feel like there does feel like there's something here. But it just kind of drives me wild because of the lack of like actual stuff, you know? Like lie to me. Tell me sources. Tell me this guy.

Tell me whatever. Like, tell me something that makes me believe that there's more to this than you just looking at his contract and looking at certain things and being like, this makes logical sense. It's probably going to happen. Like, it just doesn't make sense to me, I guess. Nightingale did say for what it's worth that the Red Sox Tigers and Rays are all on the radar when it comes to Casal Marte. So do with that what you will. Do you say the raise? Apparently.

I mean. Okay. If the Diamondback trade him. the raises they really did want to punish him and they really are mad at him like that's really what's happening there i don't care that they fixed their roof you'd be pretty close to home that's true i don't know if he would like here you want to spend so much time in the dominican we're going to get you there uh we're going to make the flight a four hour one stop nonstop flight is what we're going to do for you but uh anyway jesse i do i did bring up alex a little while ago he's been doing an

excellent job with our p hnx daily newsletter of course if you guys are interested in checking that out Make sure to subscribe completely for free over at go p hnx.com slash newsletter. Alex is now running it doing a tremendous job. Yesterday's yesterday's newsletter had a line about the Diamondbacks looking for a closer. And I believe he said also the sky is blue. The kitchen has forks and the Arizona Cardinals are a terrible football team. And I was like, oh my God, huge pop, huge pop. So to get to get one liners and amazing things like that from Alex, along with

biggest news in Arizona sports in your inbox daily at 6 a.m. Make sure to subscribe to our new newsletter over there and be the smartest sports fan, you know. Jesse, before we get out of here, I just wanted to discuss this last little bit of information that came out from an athletic article today. Evan Drellich wrote about the MLB, kind of abusing their created fan council a little bit. Is that the best way to describe it?

Major League Baseball created a fan council. It was like prominent fans across Major League Baseball, people with big Twitter accounts, people that were super fans, people that just kind of got invited based on being season ticket holders and other criteria. And this was, the purpose of this was to ask fans their opinion to have a viable space for Major League Baseball to go to and propose just different things and see what fans' thoughts are. It's actually not a bad idea at all. Fans are the lifeblood of sports, and they should be considered everything you do if you're going to alter a sport or you're going to change rules or you're going to do anything. However, after going to this fan council for a while to kind of gain their trust and ask them questions about kind of friendly things, all of a sudden they started asking this fan council, Jesse, about competitive ballots and what do you think about labor disputes? And what do you think about teams that spend too much money? And how can we keep these teams from spending money?

And how can we make baseball more fair? And it definitely felt like baseball is weaponizing this fan council a little bit to get ahead of this inevitable labor dispute that we're going to have at the end of 2026. It is fascinating. I mean, it doesn't feel like a total coincidence that Major League Baseball is trying to get a sense of how some prominent fans feel about competitive balance. And, you know, it sounds like they, they presented these fans with data. There's, there's information in this article about these slides that were shown in these online. I think they're just like online video calls.

And they, they were basically given a presentation about competitive balance and payrolls and the impact that payroll has had on winning in baseball compared to other sports. and, of course, the very large disparity that exists between the highest spenders and the lowest spenders. So there's a range of opinions in this story. The athletic talked to a few different members of this council and kind of getting their sense of what they thought. Some people were just like, I just think Major League Baseball wants to know what we think, and they're just trying to collect information. I don't think they're trying to push a certain point across or anything,

while other people lean more toward like, yes, we are being indoctrinated. That is the, you know, that is the point of this. Yeah. Yeah. Baseball is kind of trying to set themselves up for what could be a pretty ugly CBA negotiation next winter. So I don't know what to make of this, but it is very interesting that it's happening right now. To be fair, they could be doing both things at the same time, right? They could absolutely be, and I guarantee you, they are.

they are gaining feedback from these, you know, these meetings and all of this data that they're getting from these fans. They are compiling it. They're taking it into consideration and all of it is a big part of this upcoming labor dispute. It's just information is king, Jesse.

Information means that you are more powerful than your enemy. If you can have more information and Major League Baseball does have a way to gain more information than the MLBPA does because of the fact that they're baseball and their MLB. You also have the other side of it, too, like you said, the brainwashing indoctrination part of it. I loved my favorite part was when they were like, hey guys, you know, it's like football, you know, look at how bad the Dallas Cowboys are, right? They're the most prominent brand in football. They would be so powerful if football didn't do things to limit their power. And look, instead, they kind of suck, despite the fact that everybody knows who the Cowboys are, like the Cowboys

are, and I don't even know if that's the case. The person feeling this might have been very old and might still be thinking of the cowboys from the 90s. I just don't know everybody that thinks about football things. I think everybody thinks about football things are like the Kansas City Chiefs now, right? Like even like Josh Allen and the bills far more than they think of the cowboys. But their point stands and there was a decent point. Like they were just trying to say how in sports,

these particular teams based on their popularity, already have an advantage over every other team in their sport. Just based on the fact that most of these teams that are prominent, like Dodgers, like a Yankees, like LA Lakers, people want to play for those franchises. People grow up as fans of those franchises and they want to play for them. So it's already enough of an advantage that they're kind of just more of a prominent, you know, franchise than the other franchises in the sport.

But now you factor in, you know, how baseball doesn't stop anybody from spending an ungodly amount of money. And I mean, you know, while they're not wrong, it is kind of wrong to use this fan counsel for that. It's like when you want, you want to ask somebody their opinion, but you really just want to get them to give you the answer that you want, right? Like, hey, what do you think of this shirt? Do you think of this shirt? Or do you think of this one? You think of this one? Oh, like this one's really, I just got this one. What do you think I should wear this one? Like, just based on your body language, you know, you're sending a message to people, you're asking certain questions about. And the MLB,

body language was very apparent in this situation. They were very much trying to like, hey, what do you think about this? Because it really sucks the way that baseball is not competitive, right? You know, like, it's like, wait, but we didn't have any 100 win teams this year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, sure. But the way the Dodgers keep winning, right? Like, we got to do something about it. And like, that's, we're not against that either. We are totally on board with that. So you don't need to brainwash us. We want to do everything to stop the Dodgers. But again, It's this, it's this like, we basically want to get you on our side before this war breaks out between us and the MLBPA. And that's kind of the part of it that feels like you are taking advantage of people that kind of trust you to just be using, you know, them for information and just to be asking them ways to make the sport better, not trying to brainwash us into agreeing with you and getting on board with whatever it is that you guys are going to.

do. It is really interesting to me that the the major league baseball employee who gave this presentation about competitive balance was Glenn Kaplan, according to this story from the athletic. And Glenn Kaplan is the primary spokesperson for MLB on labor issues. Yeah. So this is not just some random guy within Major League Baseball. This is a guy who has a pretty big hand in how things are going to go next winter with the CBA negotiation. So I think there's clearly some level of indoctrination happening here for sure. But, you know, there's also people who took a pretty balanced approach. There's a quote from

Rockies fan, Shannon Hurd, who's a member of this council. Shannon said, it wasn't like they said, we're going to sit down and talk about a salary cap. The presentation was basically educating us about payroll and how much money has influenced team performance over the past, very detailed slides and graphs that really gave facts about how important payroll is to performance, and more so in MLB than other sports. So that naturally led to people talking about a salary cap. So MLB has, it doesn't sound like Kaplan brought up a salary cap in particular in his presentation. He just presented information about competitive balance and the impacts of payroll that very

naturally lent itself. Yeah, yeah. Jesse, if I wanted a new car, I'm not going to present to my wife that I want a new car. I am going to tell my wife why my old car sucks. And I'm going to tell her every single day. Oh, man, the air conditioning isn't working. I'm getting terrible gas mileage. I can't keep air in these tires. Did you know that a car after 10 years old really should be replaced? I am not ever going to come right out of the gate and be like, I need a new car. That's not the way that works because I'm not going to win that battle. But you can win by being fairly suggestive with it and making fans like Shannon feel that way.

But I also think she's right. I do think that the information presented does kind of present a case for itself overall as far as like, you know, that that baseball, in order for this to remain fair and fun, does kind of like have some issues. And like the minute, like you don't even have to like really detail out of salary cap.

You, you just kind of lay out the way that baseball is structured. And there are people like, wait, how is this different in other sports? And you're like, ha ha, got you. The minute you start asking that, we're like, oh, yeah, well, it's different because of a salary cap. That's why it's different. But overall, I just still don't love this. I don't love baseball misusing fans, misusing a fan council like this.

I mean, this is the type of thing that should be about, you know, what to do an extra innings. What do you feel about concession advancements and technology? What do you think about like not having a human being when you go get a beer? You know, what do you think about these things, right? Like I don't think that we should be involving fans and what do you think about us getting a new CBA with the major league? Like that's between y'all. Sorry, that is between you guys. Don't get my daughter. My daughter does that all the time. We, I'll actively look at my daughter. I'll be like, wait, didn't she say? And my daughter will be like, nah, no. No. Do not involve me in whatever you two have going on right now.

And that is really at the end of the day what it should be. Do not involve us fans in what you two have going on. I do want it resolved though, Jesse. And I mean, I don't think I think I'm kind of a coward here when it comes to this whole fight that we are going to have. I want peace. I want them to figure it out. I want this to end amicably before the December,

2006 deadline. And I don't want to miss a single day of baseball. but there are fans out there who they want this fight because they feel like it's necessary to change baseball for the better for the future. And if that means we have to lose part of or almost all of the 2027 season, according to a poll we discussed it on an earlier show, fans are okay with that if it means that baseball gets fixed. and that just goes to show how badly baseball is broken, or at least how badly fans perceive baseball to be broken right now when it comes to these labor negotiations and this contract situation where teams like the Dodgers can do what the Dodgers are doing.

Well, good luck with wanting peace, Derek. I don't know if you're going to get your race there. There is no room for peace, Jesse. Not in this world, not in this lifetime. But hey, I'm glad. that I'm glad I got you having my back in this war because I don't know who else I could trust to have my six besides you and Damon. So appreciate it. Make sure to follow Jesse.

All this stuff he does. He's on Twitter at Jesse and Friedman. The show is Snake's Territory. You can get it wherever you get your podcast. You can follow Snake's Territory at Snake's Territory. Subscribe, like it, do all of that stuff. David and I, we are also on Twitter. I'm at Kep underscore Caveman with a K.

Damon is at Damon Dog with a DAWG at the end. And we are all Damon's dogs. Park Park. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-BACs, but as always all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We love you guys. We thank you so much for your time.

We'll see you tomorrow with another 12 p.m. show. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day. Have a wonderful evening. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you don't get us in the middle of your arguments.