PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - D-backs Get MASSIVE WIN to Split Mexico City Series, But the Injury List Keeps GROWING

Episode Date: April 28, 2026

The Arizona Diamondbacks salvaged a series split with the San Diego Padres in Mexico City, but the real story might be the growing injury concerns that followed them home. Arizona added Zac Gallen, Geraldo Perdomo, and Adrian Del Castillo to an already mounting list of sidelined players. We break down what it means moving forward, including who could be back sooner rather than later. We also preview the upcoming three-game set against the Milwaukee Brewers and why finishing April with a winning record could carry serious momentum into the heart of the season. Plus, we’re diving into all of your Mailbag Monday questions! 0:00 SkeeYee!  2:45 Mexico City series recap vs. Padres  8:00 We always believed in Tim Tawa!  16:40 Injury updates on Perdomo & Gallen  25:40 Milwaukee Brewers series preview  33:00 Upcoming PHNX D-backs takeover games  38:30 Mailbag Monday  43:20 Worry level with Pfaadt & Nelson  1:00:05 Underrated D-backs prospects Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $36: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube WHILE SUNS ARE IN PLAYOFFS Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $32: https://gophnx.com/suns-playoff-offer-youtube JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4 An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order! Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 40% 2+ pairs of off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Diamondbacks are fresh off a huge comeback victory on Sunday where they split the series with the Padres in Mexico City. But at what cost? We have more on the huge pile of injuries that the D-Backs are currently dealing with and when we can expect to see any of our beloved players back. Don't you go anywhere? We're starting right now. The PHNX D-Backs podcast from Studio K, presented by our friends in Circle K. If I had a full weekend, I might have had a little bit. My name is Derek.

Mayor of PHMX, and this is your PHNX Veebacks podcast. I am not alone. I am joined by my dog and your dog, Damon Dog, aka Damon Farrell, on the ones and twos. Bark, bark to you, Damon, aka Mr. No Days Off. Yeah, it's good to see you, Derek, eight in a row. Eight in a row. Who's counting? Who's counting?

Definitely not Damon, that's for sure. But this is, of course, the PHNXDBACs podcast brought to you by our friends at Bet365. Bet 365, where winning is everything. Download that app. today and use our code of PHNX 365 when you sign up. And we're also brought to you, of course, by our friends over at GameTime. Download the GameTime app right now and create an account. Use that code of PHNX for $20 off your first purchase terms to apply.

Well, Damon and I should be more hungover because we should have been in Mexico City watching this series. I'm sure the elevation would have really killed me at this age. But yeah, we would have been like three drinks in just hammered. Yeah, because you know we weren't going to. properly feed ourselves. We never do. We didn't do it during the watch-along on Sunday. And we're not going to start now. We weren't going to start now. But I don't know. After all the food videos, David sent me over the last 60 days, I'm sure we would have gotten our fill of tacos while we were down there. Nonetheless, whether we were present or not, the deback still did an amazing job

of not letting this become a complete disaster losing both games to the Padres there. They instead had a huge comeback, as many of you know, on Sunday, winning that one. by a score of 12 to 7 and coming back and splitting the series here overall with the Padres. This was very important because it did feel like the Diamondbacks were kind of spiraling a little bit. It's not like it's a complete disaster, but after the loss to the White Sox in that series, just their second series loss of the season, it was, you know, it felt kind of critical here that the debacks had a good series in, you know, Mexico City. Now, game one, even though they lost it, I see.

still feel like was a very winnable game overall. And I think that we've discussed quite a bit why we felt like, you know, the Diamondbacks kind of gave that one away a little bit. We did not love, and obviously hindsight is 2020, but we did not love Brandon Fott staying in as long as he did. And I still feel like even though we're going to discuss it later in Mailback Monday, that Brandon Fott can be a very effective weapon for this team out of the bullpen, not as a starter hiding in the bullpen, but as an actual bullpen arm. If the Diamondbacks are reluctant to do that, then not sure how effective they can expect Brandon Fought to be to always come into a game and have to throw 80 pitches. But that was Saturday. And again, that game, as much as we want to blame pitching and

blame what happened in the seventh inning there on Brandon fought and everything that, you know, basically went down there. The Diamondbacks offense definitely came to a halt in that game and did not add on more than just the four runs that they gave that team early on. But Sunday was a different story. The Diamondbacks offense was still kind of in that slow swing. They were no hit for at least half of the game until Lordus Guriel and his bloop single broke everything up. But, But, you know, again, this team found a way to have a huge, huge two-inning, you know, offensive explosion, and find a way to come back and win that game in a big way. It feels very important. Not only is it a division rival, not only was it an important international series that you want to have a good showing in, even though it wasn't nationally televised and poorly promoted by MLB overall.

it's just again the diamondbacks were on the verge here of letting their winning record kind of slip away and possibly before the end of the month of April having a losing record. That would be far more in line with what we expected from this team overall and that's why it would be at this point kind of a disappointment. You know, I've talked about some of my beliefs here over the last few days as to why maybe some of those series that they want. on that East Coast road trip weren't looking as important as they were or as at least, you know, as they weren't looking like wins against good teams anymore with the way those teams have been performing as of late. I believe the Mets just lost a double header yesterday to the Rockies. And this is no knocking the Rockies, but looking back on the Tigers who I think are 500, the Phillies, the Mets who are both very, very much below 500. and even the Orioles, it doesn't really feel like the Diamondbacks, you know, those early series wins are, you know,

something that you can hang your hat on as much as we thought they were going to be when those wins happen, right? So now again, they have a Milwaukee Brewers team that's still a very good team and a very good, very, very competitive division. And after that, they have the Chicago Cubs coming up who are absolutely red hot. But before we get there, let's take a look at the numbers from yesterday's win or from this series split overall here with by the numbers.

The Diamondbacks actually did end up outscoring the Padre 16 to 13. They out hit them 22 to 17. Diamondbacks and Padres both had four home runs each, 6.75 starting ERA for the debacks to the Padres 4.50. Relief pitching ERA was a disaster, 18 for the Padres, 5.40 for the Diamondbacks, and then one-in-one series record here for both teams. So again, the Padres have been playing very good baseball,

so it's just nice to get out of this series with a split and move on, right? The diving backs have a pile of injuries, and we'll be getting some of those guys back soon, but they have more names added to that injured list, if you want to, not actually on the injured list, but just more injuries, guys that are day-to-day now, including Geraldo Perdomo, who sprained his ankle on Saturday, Zach Gowan, who got hit by a pitch on Saturday and had to leave the game.

And then yesterday, Adrian Del Castillo got hit by a pitch and dislocated his left ring finger, I believe. But we'll talk about the injuries here shortly. First, what I do want to talk about is the fact that Tim Tawa hit his first career grand slam in yesterday's win. And I do believe that Damon and I very much acted accordingly. Damon, do you have proof of how we acted? Yeah, give me one second. We'll get to that. But again, Diamondbacks second grand slam of the season and their 11th grand slam since 2025.

But we someone in the chat has already asked it and they wanted to know, did we, did we all believe in Tim Tau the whole time? Of course we did. We never doubted him for a second. And there's no way that our reactions would suggest otherwise. Damon, if you wouldn't mind. Here are the pitch. This guy's five foot six. It's not going to hurt that bad.

Or do that. with it or do that oh my god or do that Tim Tawa like a man from the dead We have risen Tim Tawa We rose Tim Tawa

from the dead Derek Holy shit Yeah Yeah feel the Tawa feel the tower We all believed We all believed and we never doubted him

for a second But a guy that we truly have never doubted is Jose Fernandez who recorded his second career three-hit game, his first being on March 31st there against the Tigers. Can't say enough about Jose Fernandez and what he's done for this team. He's just been an absolute star and is sincerely growing as far as a National League Rookie of the Year contender.

I mean, it's leading all rookies to all National League rookies and hits. But when you talk about growing towards an accomplishment, growing towards being acknowledged, Ildemar Vargas is an all-star. He is. He just is. I don't care what he does for the rest of the season. Ildemar Vargas is already an all-star. Career best 23-game hitting streak. Longest active streak in Major League Baseball.

Second longest overall streak since 2024. His 20-game hitting streak in this season is tied for the major second-longest streak to start a season since 1998. And his streak is currently the fifth-longest single-season streak in Diamondback franchise history. He's a star. He's a stud. And if you needed any more reason to,

to wonder why I say he's an all-star, Damon, I believe we have an early baseball subomp page here for Olamour of Argus. And let's just say, there's a lot of red on it. There's a lot of red up there. Oh, is that good? Oh, are those numbers good? Is 99th percentile for expected batting average good?

is 87th percentile for sweet spot percentage good what about 86 percentile for whiff percentage and strikeout percentage 93 percentile the man is incredible his ex woba's in the 88th percentile expected slug at 536 is in that what 89th percentile he is just lighting the world on fire and you know honestly he's made some mistakes and he hasn't looked perfect but his outs above average are at one. And I mean, that puts his range there at like the 83rd percentile, fielding run value is high, base running value is high, batting run value is high. You know, Vargas isn't exactly like a slouch. He played a lot of games for the Nationals in his three-year stint with that team. And when you go, you go back and you look at his, his numbers from that

season, he, or from those seasons, he was a consistent player. He wasn't this. He wasn't wasn't hitting 300 or anything like that, but he definitely has shown in the past that that he can be a consistent bat and an underrated player. But now here in his 34-year age season, he's just doing some incredible things. Not only that, but he's doing it with just this true joy for the game and, you know, just having the best time of his career out there. Yeah, Tim Tawa said when they were interviewed. viewing afterwards that he's never had a teammate that is as positive on a day-to-day basis as

a guy like Ildemarovar Vargas who just brings I think just like a happiness to his teammates and good chemistry and that kind of stuff is undervalued I think and the diamond backs don't undervalue it but I think fans on an outside perspective who are not you know knowing these guys as people 100% that doesn't get really notified as much where it's like that's that's actually a big piece of a team the fact that Perdomo and Cattel and everybody loves this dude. It's going to lead to better team chemistry, which will lead to more success. 100%. And I like I can echo that just from the sentiment that like as a member of the media,

you could best describe our relationship with players a lot of times as like maybe the way you would with coworkers in the same building that you work, but you don't know and you don't work with. That's kind of how it is. Like where you see people every day and when you pass by them in the hall and you're going to be like, hey what's up hey how's it going and like that's the that's the extent of your interaction with some of those people and that is what we as media members have with a lot of these players understandably so we're not friends and we're not you know necessarily close so it's it's just the way it is but

vargas just treat you different and vargas at least for me he's one of those guys that like again he shows such an amount of just love for a stranger that he basically doesn't know well but just sees often enough that he's like super cool with so many of us that that you feel that. You know, he's that he's that kind of guy that you just, you just want to give that kind of energy back to when he gives you that kind of love. And that, again, that's just speaking as a member of the media. That's not as a teammate. So I can only imagine how it feels to be around a guy like that.

Plus, I can only imagine how it feels for guys like Ketel, who have known Ildemar of Argus for as long as he has, seeing him blossom. them and have this season that he's that he's having right it's it's just got to be a joy to watch as somebody that's known him for as long as marty is known you know ill tomorrow uh speaking of kattel somebody in the chat wanted damon mark says damon we need you to start doubting kattel so that some of those hard hit balls stop finding gloves i you know and and i didn't want to do this derrick but to be fair you were the one that were that was first on tim tow i should have worn that pitch now did that get cut that clip get cut by you and not me i'm not i'm not naming names i'm not saying anything i'm more

agreed with and i'm not and i'm not naming names but i was agreeing with someone else that may or may not have been on set with me who who threw out the hit by pitch uh like you should have worn that pitch and then i was like yeah agreeing with him uh as as as maybe a co-host or or you know a friend would but uh it seems as though now now now i now i I'm I've taken. Oh, I didn't say you. Oh,

yeah. I didn't see. I didn't say you. Yeah. Yeah. So I, I just, I just wanted to throw that out there.

But yeah, maybe I will start doubting some, some more players on this team. We still need you to be out on this team. Unfortunately, no matter how much in you want to be after yesterday's win, we need you to be out. But we're not going to make you apologize to I'll tomorrow of Argus today,

not until he extends his hit streak again. So we'll hold off on that. Next post game show. But to add insult. to injury with more injury. The Diamondbacks, again, like I said, have Gallen, Perdomo, and Adrian Del Castile all exit games over the weekend.

And the full list of injuries is something. It's something to behold. Adrian Del Castillo, Gabriel Moreno, Geraldo Perdomo, Zach Gallin, Pavan Smith, Carlos Santana, Jordan Lawler, AJ Puck, Corbin Burns, Christiane Mana, Tyler Locklear, Justin Martinez, Andrew Saul-Frank.

That's a lot. That's a pretty big list. Most of those guys, a couple of those guys, aren't expected back anytime soon. But obviously the ones who are are currently listed as day to day. Del Castillo dislocated his left ring finger. He's currently listed as day to day. Gabriel Moreno left oblique strain.

He is currently scheduled to join the team in Chicago against the Cubs. And again, with not knowing how long Del is going to be out for, there's a good chance that the Diamondbacks will absolutely need Gabriel Marino to return by that series with the Cubs. They currently have James McCann and Aramis Garcia right for their catching situation

which is not great. I feel like I'll tomorrow, you know, we throw him back there. He could probably play a little bit. 100%. He's caught a little bit. Yeah, he can do it all. That man can do it all. But Heraldo Perdomo, Damon, left ankle sprain.

Luckily, we got a report back from Tori on Sunday morning that sounded like him and Zach were both feeling much better. But I'm sure they're going to be cautious, especially with Pardomo, considering how quickly those ankle sprains can go sideways on you. Yeah, I mean, I think also, I mean, Zach got hit with a ball, right? Yeah, he just got hit in the right shoulder.

So yeah, you would think that it would be a little bit more of like a, yeah, a bruise situation, you know, can he, maybe he'd miss a start. It doesn't feel like it would be a thing that would hold out Zach down for a long period. time, whereas a sprained ankle, depending on what the grade of that sprain is, could actually be really, really impactful on a season. So what were you going to say? No, I was going to say, interestingly enough, according to this report, he was available off the bench yesterday. Yeah. So it seems like it was better than anticipated like a pretty low scale sprain. And so, you know, I wouldn't be too concerned, especially after hearing Perdomo say that he feels pretty fine.

but yeah i mean it's always it's just a constantly growing list so it keeps it keeps you on your toes a little bit when you know you lose three players potentially in a two game series in a foreign country and then you know you have to add that to the already laundry list of injuries that you have in the organization i mean it's it's been something that we've discussed we've talked about the injuries we've talked about being cursed thanks to this guy on the shirt i'm wearing dan hausen i have your $425 in human monies. I just don't have the human teeth. Believe it or not, human teeth are far harder to come by than the human monies part. So until we get that, we still can't get Danhausen to uncurse our team. What we do have, though, is these guys that have no business playing as well as

they are holding the line, Damon, and I know you're a fan of that line, but, you know, there are, there is a lot of flowers that deserves to be given out, specifically to Ildemar Vargas. specifically to Jose Fernandez, as we've already done. Yeah. But even guys like Alec Thomas, O'Nolan Aronado, who in this time of need has finally, truly stepped up for this team and started putting things together,

looking like Aronado in a Rockies uniform lately, both defensively and offensively. Yesterday, ending the game like that is just, it's the most Nolan Aronado thing you could possibly imagine. And honestly, like, good for him, man. I think that, you know, the, the disrespect was loud, when he was playing as bad as he was, which made sense because it wasn't only just at the plate,

it was his fielding that was not looking very good, that you were, you're sitting there and you're like, dude, like at minimum, we need you to be able to be the Hall of Fame defender that you are. But I, you know,

this is huge that Nolan Aeron Ato has shown signs of life. And I'm fired up for him. Make the, make the apologies as loud as the disrespect, Derek, I love it. A hundred percent. And I think the thing is,

is that he's just taking what's given to him, you know, like he's getting a lot of singles. He's walking, but it doesn't matter. He is a base runner that's been putting together more, you know, two for three, two for four performances than O fours lately. And that's just what you would love to see. And like you said, it was his defense that was more of a disappointment. It was the fact that you can overlook his offense and say,

well, we kind of knew we were going to get that based on his numbers with Cardinals last year. Meanwhile, you know, defensively, we expect you to still at least be at the gold glove level. if you're not at the platinum glove level, and there's been a lot of mistakes made. The reason why the Diamondbacks won as many games as they have so far this year, though, has been defense. It has been Arnado's defense. It's been Perdomo.

It's been Marte. And again, these injuries and these lineup changes and such have made it difficult for this team to still play that same caliber of defense. I think that also added to the loss on Saturday. I think if the Diamondbacks were playing error-free defense on Saturday, that game might have gone differently. obviously as well. We don't lose Prodomo. He maybe turns two when we get out of that beginning. A lot of ifs. There's an whole alternate timeline that we don't currently live in that

exists. But in this timeline, what we know we have is a whole bunch of injuries. And hopefully the Diamondbacks will start getting guys back sooner than later. It feels like this entire list that I went over, the majority of these guys are expected to be back by June. And then at that point you have Corbyn Burns returning a month later and then, you know, Justin Martinez returning another month after that. And it just really much feels like this team should be able to continue to transform. However, the best part about this is the pieces that they have found along the way. Ildemar Vargas, Jose Fernandez, I think Mark said it, we need the top of the lineup guys to start hitting, but you feel confident that those guys will start hitting. So when those guys start coming

around as long as the production doesn't truly drop off from these six, seven, eight, nine hitters, then this team is going to be dangerous. They already currently rank in the top ten with OPS. And that doesn't seem really, like this team doesn't feel real. It doesn't. It doesn't seem like this team should be good enough to rank in the top 10 OPS with the way the offense has performed. I can only think of like three games where their offense really blew up, right?

The one where they needed it to in game two of the White Sox. And then another game yesterday on Sunday when they needed. to in order for them to come back, you know. So anyway, well, we are going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we are going to give you a preview of the upcoming series with the Milwaukee Brewers, for some reason, a whole bunch of TBDs for the probable pitchers, as well as answer your mailbag Monday questions because you know what day it is and you know what we do around here.

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at APS.com slash let's talk. And of course, you know, again, not just the heat is here to bother you, but so is the sun when summer comes around. That's why everyone in Arizona needs a solid, pair of sunglasses. Get yourself. The sunglasses that are, you can't lose them basically because of the lost and broken replacement plan over at Shady Race. They have incredible frames, crystal clear optics with their polarized lenses, but most importantly, they have the craziest lost and

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attest to that, like I said myself from several emails I've had to send. Shadyrays is indeed eyewear that has your back. Go to Shadyrays.com and use our code of PHNXSR for 50% off two or more pairs of polarized sunglasses. Well, the Diamondbacks have a big series coming up here in Milwaukee with the Brewers. And when I say big, I mean, you know, here's a chance to close out the month of April, this month that we were dreading, this month that we were very much unsure about what the future held for the Diamondbacks and they have navigated this month as well as as you could hope just about, right? I mean, I think obviously a better record is always something you could have dreamed about that I don't think many of us anticipated them having a record

where they won, where they had a winning record by the end of April, quite frankly. Like I said, I feel like there's a lot of reasons why that happened and they're not all just the Diamondbacks playing great baseball. There were some lousy teams along the way that we thought were going to be much better than they are. They're not playing very good baseball. That doesn't matter, though. The Diamondbacks still took care of business against those teams,

and they have only lost two series now in the entire month. And they have a chance to close this out strong with a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers, who have still been playing some pretty good baseball themselves, but their division has also been playing incredible baseball. Damien, I mean, I can't even explain it, but so many teams in that division have a winning record. It's like, it's weird. They don't really play incredible baseball, though.

They kind of just all play two games above 500 baseball. Right. That's what I'm saying, though. Like, how are they all two games above 500? It makes no damn sense. Every team in the NL Central is above 500 currently. The Cardinals and the Burrs are 14 and 13. The Pittsburgh Pirates are 16 and 12.

The Cubs are 17 and 11. And I mean, even the Cubs. The Cubs were one of the hottest teams in baseball. They came in and beat the Dodgers in the first game of that series. And, you know, I think they had won 11 in a row up to that point. But now they did what happens against the Dodgers, which is they lost a couple of games. And, you know, now they sit second in their division behind the Reds who are 18 and 10. Bo Bond.

Meanwhile, the NL East couldn't be worse. The NL East couldn't be worse. Yeah, Bo just kind of like came in here and went through the laser maze. Yeah, that was nuts. I've never seen anything like it. I have to credit myself for not missing a beat that entire time. Yeah, for sure. Something I have to say something.

No, no doubt. I mean, listen, I thought that for sure he was kicking over this tripod here. I thought he was going to kick over the cat. Like I thought my shot, we were just going to see just like, oh my God, the bomb has hit Damon's side of the building here at B.HNX. He really did. I mean, Kevin's not even in here, but he knows what Boe did. He knows where his backpack was located.

He knows he either had to like crawl like a worm on the ground, which Bo's not doing that. Bose above that. He's above that. He's going to step over cords. He's a grown ass man. Yeah, I mean, he really is. But the NL East is not a grown ass division, Damon. They're not many good teams right now playing good baseball in that one.

Miami Marlins are in second place with a 13 and 15 record behind the Braves who were the league's first 20 game winner. They're 20 and 9. Got the Marlins at 13 and 15. The Nationals at 13 and 16. The Phillies at 9. and 19 and the Mets at 9 and 19. The Phillies are 1 and 9 in their last 10 games.

The Mets are 2 and 8. Again, not trying to discredit these teams or discredit the wins that the Diamondbacks had. But again, the Baltimore Orioles are 13 and 15. The White Sox are 11 and 17. The Toronto Blue Jays are 12 and 15. Like so many of these teams that the Diamondbacks have played, unfortunately, are not playing good baseball. But again, I'm not going to take anything away from what they've done.

like I said, they've taken care of business and they did what they needed to do. Now what they need to do is close this month out strong with a series here in Milwaukee and finish April with a winning record. That right there is just a huge win. Not just because of the fact that they had to wait for these reinforcements that are returning

to come back in the way like Lourdes did, who Lourdes was a big part of yesterday's win after struggling offensively. But you also have now additional losses that have happened while the season has taken place. Carlos Santana, Pavin Smith, Jordan Lawler, all lost during the course of the first month of the season.

It's just kind of unbelievable. Now, over this two game, we had a two game series and we lost three players during it. Like, this is how bad things are for the Diamondbacks. Please, Danhausen, for the love of God, return by DMs. But Brewers, again,

they've not been playing terrible baseball, but like Damon said, mediocre, I guess, 500 baseball. Let's take a look at that team at a glance. They have a record, like I said, of 14 and 13 with a plus 19 run differential this year. They are 5 and 5 in their last 10 games. Their team OPS 678, which is 26 in baseball. Big part of their success has been their starting pitching as it always is. They have a 3.59 ERA, which is fifth best in MLB. Their bullpen has a 4.09 IRA, which is 15th best in ERA. And in a bullpen ERA.

and then outs above average, they are literally average at zero outs above average tied with like three other teams for 15th there for outs above average. So that's your Milwaukee Brewers at a glance. A strong starting performance is hopefully what the Diamondbacks can do perhaps is put up some early runs against their starters or outlast their starters and get to that bullpen as they have a few times so far this year and found a way for their offense to put up some runs there on the board. The D-backs have not announced any pitchers for this series yet. They still have TBD slated throughout the three games, though it should be. Merrill Kelly in game one, Eduardo Rodriguez in game two, and Michael Soroka there in game three. Makes you feel pretty good about winning that series. However, on the flip side of things, the Diamondbacks could potentially send if Zach Gowan

Allen isn't ready for his next start. Brandon fought and Ryan Nelson as two of the three starters in Chicago against the the Cubs. That doesn't feel particularly great, but we'll deal with that when we get to it. First, we got to deal with this Brewers team. Meanwhile, the Brewers will send Chad Patrick to the mound with a 2.35 ERA in game one.

My friend, Chad Patrick. Your friend, Chad Patrick. I've said this on the podcast before, but this was probably two years ago at this point. And I came onto the podcast and I said, Jesse, Derek, I have news to report. I went out this weekend to Old Town

Scottsdale. I went to Hot Chick-Chic the bar and I met Diamondbacks at the time I believe high A pitcher Chad Patrick who is like the you know 28th prospect in the organization and then they traded him kind of for you know pennies on the dollar and he's become a Patrick the jace peterson yeah he's become a he's become actually a good starting pitcher two point three three pretty good uh brandon spro he has a 6.4 5 er a oh and one record 20 strikeouts and then in the finale will be Brandon Woodruff going up against what looks like it'll be Michael Soroka

Woodruff has a 3.770 R.A. 23 strikeouts so far this season. So Mark in the chat says I don't feel good about any D-BAC starting pitcher. That's fair. We've had a bad stretch. I still very much believe in Michael Soroka and it's

kind of wild to say that of all the guys in the starting rotation right now, my after one month of baseball, Michael Soroka is my ace. He's my Randy Johnson. He means everything to me. He's all I've ever wanted in a value starting pitcher that you pick up for less than $10 million during free agency on the offseason. Well, he's Kurt and Erod's Randy because lefty righty.

I know, but I'm talking numbers wise. I don't know. Looking at those glasses. You're right, though. I will say this. We can have this debate in person because we are having two D-BACs takeovers coming up. And we've made some decisions to change some things around. So not just one.

We're not doing the pool suite this year, but we are doing the All You Can Eat section. So join Damon, myself, your fellow D-Backs diehards for two games this season, June 4th. It's Thursday, June 4th, versus the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yeah, we're going to do a lot of screaming and we're going to eat a lot of hot dogs in the All You Can Eat section. We're going to fight people. Maybe. I mean, we're going to arrest Otani. Let's hold on. Am I writing checks that we can't cash as a company?

No, it's fine. I mean, I get it. I kind of feel that energy and I appreciate it. Okay, fine. Guys, I will do my best to make sure that Shohei Otani goes arrested and that we fight Dodgers fans. I'm not going to, I do not speak. Damon Farrell and Damon Dog entities does not speak for the rest of PHN exports and those employed by the company. Done. All right. On June 25th, we're going to take on the Cubs.

Hopefully, Damon won't arrest anybody at that game. But maybe you when you wear your freaking Cubs hood. Hey, hey. I'm just saying. We'll see if I wear it or not. Your ticket includes, of course. Your Harry Carey Roosevelt shirt. You're going to put on that day.

I got, well, I'm not rooting for the Cubs. I just got their longtime legendary broadcaster. There, I love it all over my shirt. His great grandsons. They're my best friends and I love them both more than anything. Oh, anyway. I will say we have a fun little surprise for you. Your ticket for these takeovers include a piece of P-HNX D-Backs merch,

either a hat or a shirt of your choice, game ticket in the Bar S-All You Can Eat section, and of course, die-hardt, as always, get 20% off to all events. So get your tickets now at go ph-NX.com slash events. Jason says he can't make June 25th, or it's not June 25th. It's August 25th, Jason, and June, 4th, June 4th, and August 25th. Those are our dates.

So make sure to join us for that. We're going to take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, we're going to do what we do on this show on every Monday and have since the beginning of time. And we're going to do that when we come in. Not last Monday. Well, last Monday, we took that one off. We had to rest.

And the people were upset. Oh, I'm, trust me. It's like when you find out, I'm not going to say it. Yeah. There's kids that listen to this podcast. Yeah, no. So you found out something's not real. Save it for D-backs after dark.

It's like when you find out something blank is not real. Oh, oh, how dare you? I didn't say anything. It's like when I said yesterday, it's like, you know, Santa Claus taken off his shirt, which is weird. But anyway, we're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back. You know, I am a huge fan of pure edibles. And that's because they are a wonderful edible company from right here in Arizona.

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You do you at Hela Resorts and Casinos. visit play atheela.com for more details. Well, the Buzz Light says, I believe June 4th is Mexican Heritage Day. And there's a special ticket. I believe that is that fire D-back slash Team Mexico jersey as part of that package. So you're not wrong. Decisions are there to be made. But hopefully you join us.

Or if not, just come swing by. Say hi. Come visit the fam. We'll be thrilled to see you. But of course, that's then. Today is what today is. And you know that every year on the PHNX Debax podcast is our year, regardless of record or how things go. Every year on this podcast is the year of the snake.

Every single month on this podcast is Black History Month. Every single month on this podcast is Women's History Month. And every single month on the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast is Black Women's History Month. Every single week is Shark Week. Every single day is Earth Day, even though we miss the actual Earth. day acknowledging it. And that's because Damon and I recycle every day. We don't just wait for one day to recycle.

But on Mondays, on Mondays, we go to the mailbag. Damon, let's go to the mail box. My mailbox. Always something interesting in my mailbox. I try to get to everything in my mailbox. And then once in a while there's a letter that makes me go, wow, wow. My mailbox. All right.

What do we got in the mailbag today, Damon? Well, we start off mailbag, of course. all as always with our lead off hitter yeah oh i'm losing my uh i'm losing my graphics here oh yeah i was gonna say as always with travis more for sure but also game time is sponsoring the mailback or second game game time knows that mailbag monday is the most important thing we do around here make sure you grab those tickets with the game time app i'm telling you procrastinators this is made for us it's our time to rejoice get those last minute tickets for up to 60% off on that various aesthetically pleasing app over there.

Use our code for PHNX to get $20 off your first order. What else we got there? Damon, let's get to those first questions. Yeah, let's go ahead and do it. And I'm realizing that I didn't have the questions in there at the exact moment. So we're going to do this right now with our guy Travis Moore,

who says, seems like an obvious question, but just to clarify, if a guy is on a new contract like Fought that pays more, his pay isn't affected if he gets optioned to Reno, correct? Is it the same for no? Nelson, who is an arbitration year, I know this is a huge, this is huge for roster bubble guys. I think the only time that this would impact their salary, Travis, is when they are pre-arb,

which is basically rookie contracts. I think maybe their second season, those guys can actually have their salary reduced or, actually, to be fair, it's an increase in salary from what they're making at a minor league level. But they do like this weird thing where when they call up minor league guys and they don't spend an entire season, at a major league level, they get like a pro-rated amount based on what that minimum amount that rookies receive is. So it's like you'll come up, play for a month and get paid like $3,000 for it, something like that.

But with players like Brandon Fott that are on guaranteed contracts, it's a one-way deal with Major League where they are paid their full salary regardless of whether they are on the 26-man roster on the injured list or assigned to the minors. with Brandon Fought, and I think we're going to get into it more because obviously we are not, there's more questions here about Fott and Ryan Nelson and everything like that. But, you know, with Fott, I don't really think that his contract impacts the decision, nor do I think that's the case with Ryan Nelson. I do think that at the end of the day, the debacks, Mike Hay's in the front office,

Toy Lovolo, everybody feels like these guys being on the Major League roster gives them much more of a chance to win than without them, right? However, as we've discussed, it's always a difficult decision to make for major league starting pitchers. Because you either have to make them, turn them into a bullpen arm and make them a reliever, or you have to option them to the minor leagues and have that be where they stay stretched out until they are potentially needed. In this case, it was almost very quick that the Diamondbacks needed a starting pitcher. If Zach Gallen is not able to go in that next series there, then they will need to be. to turn to Brandon Fott as a starting pitcher. So that's how quickly things have changed.

If they do need to go to Fought, then it's kind of a blessing that they never put him to AAA Reno, right? Because that doesn't waste his minor league option, and then they don't have to just immediately turn around and call him right back up. I think this was the intention when they decided to put him into the bullpen is that they felt like they could keep him both stretched out, but also not have to option him down should they need him at any point here over the next few months until Corbyn Burns returns. I think once Corbyn Burns returns and Ryan Nelson and Brandon Fott are both essentially,

they would both need to be moved out of the starting rotation or somebody would at that point. It's easier to maybe minor league option one of those guys and keep the other guy in the pen. But maybe they don't even do that. Perhaps when that time comes, you know, the Diamondbacks proceed to keep both guys up there. but yes, that's what is Ryan, what is Peace of Yoshi talking about? I don't think it's been enough days. Oh, are you talking about as far as sending what?

I don't know. Anyway, what else we got? Damon, next question. Our next question here comes from Kellyn, who says, should we be worried about Nellie and Fought? Fott hasn't looked good starting or relieving, and Nellie hasn't been very consistent either. I think it's fair to say yes,

that we should be a little worried. However, the fact that the Diamond back's kind of had this roster problem that was coming up, it does make that decision a bit easier. I disagree with the notion that Fought hasn't looked good starting or relieving. I think Brandon Fott has looked very good at times. And to be fair, I know I've said it probably entirely too many times since Saturday's game, but I don't blame Brandon Fott for what happened on Saturday. I think Fott is a reliever. And as I've said, you can't have your cake and eat it too with this situation with Brandon Fott.

You can't keep him both stretched out, but put him in the bullpen. And that seems to be like what the Diamondbacks want to do here. If they need them for even just one start, if Zach Gowan should miss one of those starts, then it looks like a genius move. But if he stays in the bullpen, I do think Brandon Fott can be an incredible weapon for two innings, three innings max, but he can't be a guy that they expect to throw out there when a starter struggling in the second and have him eat up another six innings

for this team. They just can't. And that's not, he hasn't been effective in that way. He hasn't been effective with base runners on. And I just don't love the idea that, you know, they thought they could do this on Saturday with him. I feel like that 4 to 1 lead needed to be protected as best

as possible considering how offense, how fast offense can start happening in that stadium. And I don't believe the Debex, you know, Tori LeBello and the DeBex took that seriously. when it came to having fought out there. I also think that there is a pitch count thing with fought that they're trying to reach that also impacts their decision in how long they leave him into games.

With Ryan Nelson, it's been more about the fact that he has not really had that secondary pitch, that complementary breaking pitch come around and help his fastball. And that's resulted in him throwing entirely too many fastballs, right? I still think Ryan Nelson has shown at times that he's been incredibly effective. as a starter, and I have not lost belief in him there either. I almost feel like perhaps, you know, Ryan Nelson going to Reno and getting a chance to primarily focus and work on those breaking pitches could be a huge, you know, a huge part of his development.

He's still a young pitcher and could be the thing that, you know, helps him get back to the, you know, main roster, get back to the starting rotation with a, you know, a little bit more well-rounded approach. His fastball is still excellent. It's still one of the best pitches in baseball. baseball, you know, but when you have to rely on that pitch entirely too much, it, it, it, it, it becomes a problem, right? There's no, there is no team in baseball that's going to have you throw 80 fastballs against them and not, you know, take, take, take one out. But piece of Yoshi is bringing,

bringing up that pitches don't break in Reno. That's true. That is very true. But it's also not the primary place they play when they go to Reno. Not all the baseball games are played in Reno, nor do we really particularly care about the results of what's happening with a pitcher in AAA Reno. It's more about, again, I still think, I've always thought Ryan Nelson would be the more effective arm out of the bullpen considering how good that fastball is, but I don't know what the debacks plan here is to do in the future. Keeping them both in the pen could also be a very good plan, you know, so I don't know how it all works out, but I know we have another question here about Ryan Nelson's fastball, I believe. Daman, what do we got?

Our third question here is from Zach Ainsworth, who says, am I crazy for thinking that the Nelly as a starter experiment might just need to be over, elite fastball, develop a wipeout slider, and just use him as a setup man in the bullpen. It just really, it's just really hard to be a starter for long stretches of the time for our 95% fastballs. Well, I mean, he says develop a wipeout slider, and I think if he does that, then you're talking about him being an effective starter, right? Like the smaller sample size and the fact that he can come out of a pen and overwhelm you with a fastball,

that's much better than what you've been seeing all day from whoever the Diamondback starter is, is the benefit there. That's the thing I think that would make him an elite reliever. However, I don't know, man. I'm not ready to give up on that. And I still think that Ryan Nelson and Brandon Fogg can both be a big part of this team's future going forward. You know, but that time is ticking. The Diamondbacks did extend Brand.

had fought already. So, you know, again, that seems like a guy that they believe in and want to invest in, you know, for the future. Ryan Nelson still seems like he's a big part of this team's future as well. But, again, these guys have been, you know, it's multiple seasons now where we've been hoping to see them take that step forward. With Nellie, I think we've seen it at times, especially early this season when he had that slider really working well for him, dropping out of the zone and coming out of the same

arm slot as his fastball. But Brandon Fott, I think, you know, there's definitely been some questions still about, you know, consistency and, you know, him not being able to always have that big inning that blows up on him or turns sideways on. So I don't know. We continue to say these guys are going to be a big part of the future of this team. There comes a point, though, where they might have to start looking at the other young pitchers that we have. Mighty Schumann brings up a few pitchers that are doing well in Reno like Yilbertia. as Kate Stroud and Mitch Bratt.

Mitch Bratt has been doing very well. Also, David Hagamon has been the guy that I've heard a lot about. A lot of people are very excited about him, and they feel like David Hagamon could be the actual, like, star piece of that Merrill Kelly trade with the Rangers' last trade deadline. We are going to take another break, and then we got some more questions to answer. Don't you guys go anywhere. You are watching the P.HNX Diamondback Show.

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Damon, I think we got some more mailbag Monday questions. What do we got out there today? Yeah, our next question here is from Jarmie. And Jarmie asks, remember bullpen carts? Let's bring them back. What's the ideal design for a D-Backs bullpen cart? I find the, the, the, the, the, the, of the bullpen cart.

Our little guy's like right here. He's right here. He's hanging out. Yeah. Our little adorable bullpen cart. There he is. There he is. What a weird thing, Damon.

What a weird thing the bullpen cart is. There are a lot of times in life where I feel like we have advanced as a society so far. We've come so far, especially from where, you know, life was when I was a small lad, right? But one of the things that I thought that we got over is like this male machismo, idea of looking weak, right? I thought that we were like, hey, we're all just people. And sometimes people want to take a cart from the bullpen that's a quarter of a mile away, rather than having to walk that whole route.

But what we discovered was when the Diamondbacks were the only team in baseball to implement a bullpen cart, nobody wanted to ride in it. Nobody. And when you think of it, Isn't that the silliest goddamn thing you've ever heard in your life? Like, I mean, okay, maybe maybe the problem is, is that there wasn't enough pageantry, right? Maybe that was it. Because I remember at one point being present when a exterminator arrived at Chase Field to take care of a beehive that had collected behind home plate, which stopped play and wouldn't allow us to advance.

You guys remember the B game? when this man was brought out in a cart, people cheered for him. And he raised his hands to the sky and accepted their cheers and their adulation and everything that was going on. They just soaked it in. Why can't our relievers do that in a bullpen cart? Why can't they just be brought out like the heroes they are to save the game

and to have our fans, you know, cheer them? Maybe we could have fireworks shooting off the cart. Oh, it could be so great. But instead, it's seen as a weakness. Jason says, add massaging seats and cup holders everywhere. I don't think that's going to change things. I will say this, though, that maybe what we can do is make the bullpen cart itself cooler. Maybe the problem was that it was, you know, this baseball look like this.

It's basically a golf cart. Everybody can see it's a golf cart. It's a golf cart underneath there. I don't want to be brought out in a golf cart. I want to be brought out in something cool. Maybe a tank. Is a tank macho enough for you to be brought out in? maybe that. How about this? There was an ad, Damon. We came across for a bus. It was for a zoo

in Copenhagen. And this bus design is incredible. Let's take a look at that. That bus with the snake around it. Yeah, I'm grabbing it. Oh, okay. Sorry, I thought he was looking at me dead in my eyes saying, what the hell are you talking about? Look at this amazing thing. Imagine if whatever our cart was out from the bullpen looked like this. Would that be cool? enough for you. Be pretty intimidating. Right? That's what I'm talking about.

Let's get some intimidation. What if the whole thing just looked like a snake? What if it was just a snake car? I don't know. Big fangs hanging out? I don't know. I don't know what needs to be done

in order to make the bullpen cart manly enough to make our actual relievers right out in it. But I still don't understand how that happened and why it went down the way it did. Very disappointed. I was so excited to see guys

coming out in the bullpen cart. But maybe that's just me. I don't know. I like guys saving their energy until they get out there and want to throw, you know, 99 mile per hour gas. What else we got, Damon? It's also electric, though, when someone, when one bullpen guy just sprints out of the bullpen. I mean, yeah. Maybe he gets tired, but like you're going to tell me that that doesn't fire up the crowd.

It fired. Look, I'm an easily excitable boy. Now adrenaline's flowing. Now all of a sudden he's throwing three miles per hour harder. I'm not even joking. You're probably right. Like, there probably is. a legitimate, like, idea to that, especially considering that most of the time in the bullpen,

you're just sitting there for the majority of the game. You probably get up a little bit to stretch in the eighth inning if you can see your team has a lead. They're going to need you and you start throwing, right? But like, you probably have been doing very little up to that point. So sprinting out probably feels pretty good, you know, and it probably gets the blood flowing a little bit. I just, I still love, I still love the bullpen cart. I still love it. What else we got? Our next question here is from Michael Rokickey, who asks, which Bertism is worse. Contreras or Dell? Why can't he call ADC Del Castillo like a normal person? What is he? A computer? I'm not ready for Contreras this week. Oh, don't they have two Contreras on that team in

Milwaukee too? No, no, just the one. The other one's in Boston. Yeah, that's right. Contreras is definitely worse than Dell. A hundred percent. I will say that Dell actually gets called Dell. That's kind of the problem. Yeah. Del for sure. That's what Tori calls him. Yeah, that's what Tori calls them. That's what the other players call them. It's like Vargy with Vargas. You know, Vargy is their nickname for him. So that's what they call them. That's why I'm going to call him. But Vargy is definitely a team like nickname for Vargas, right? Same thing with Dell. Everybody calls Del Del Del. Contreras feels like Bert is doing that specifically to upset Jesse Friedman. Yeah. It's a deliberate attack on Jesse Friedman every single chance he gets on

air to do it. He's not doing it for the crowd. He's not doing it for the laughs. He's not doing it to perp, to pop the other guys in the booth, you know? He's not doing it for Tom Candiotti. He's, he's not doing it for anybody. He's doing it to anger one man. And he knows that every time he says it, inside Jesse dies just a little bit, just a little bit. But yes, Contreras, I don't even know. That one stinks. I don't, that would, that would stick. The thing about Adrian Del Castillo, and this is, it's funny that it's, this is the conversation,

Derek, because we dealt, we actually dealt with something extremely similar with the Arizona basketball season in the team. There's a guy on there as a basketball team named Anthony Del Orso is his name. Oh, yeah, yeah. Anthony Del Orsoe. And so we all started calling him Delhi. It's kind of an opposite situation. We were all calling him Delhi.

Deli's good. Like Matthew Delavadova. He's also Australian. Right. So it kind of fit in that regard. And to come to find out, the entire team, including Tommy Lloyd, calls him 80. Or sorry, the other way around. We called him ADO.

And then the entire team, including Tommy Lloyd, calls him Delhi. So then we all started eventually started calling him Delhi because it was what the team nickname was. And so, yeah, I feel like we're in a similar situation here where D-Bax Nation has, fully hooked on to ADC. Oh, yeah. But the Diamondbacks themselves are like, no, no, no. We call him Dell. And you're like, yeah, ADC might be a little bit better.

I agree with that one. I agree with that one 100%. But it's kind of funny how it worked out the almost the exact same way with a Dell as well. I'll tell you, you know, something about those dells. You do suffer the same kind of like problems with dicknames from one guy to a next. And the low hanging fruit is always going to be low hanging fruit when it comes to what you pick for a guy's nickname. I remember when someone in, what was it,

sophomore year basketball started just calling me the demon because my name was DE and then my last, or my first three nils initials of my last name are M-O-N. I think I've been called demon once or twice, Derek. I don't know if that is. Well, that doesn't surprise me at all about you, but with me being such a sweet angelic boy, I didn't understand it.

And it was the first time in my life, I had even made the connection that my first two letters of my first name and the three of my last name were demon. But hey, my name almost is demon. Well, it's pretty close. I feel like there's a good reason for that. We can move on. What all we got? We got one more question in the mailbag? Yeah, we do have one more question in the mailbag.

And it is from K1Ber, D.DOT, who says, who is each of your favorite DBAX prospects that aren't ranked in our top 10 trying to get more tapped? into the farm system. I got one for you, Damon. His name is Jose Fernandez. Oh, come on, man. And he is the 27th ranked prospect in the Diamondbacks organization. No, I'm joking.

Obviously, there's a few guys, actually. I've been very high on Ashton Izzy, the pitcher who we got last season at the trade deadline. I think Ashton Izzy is going to be a guy who is going to develop into a star, and I've, again, heard nothing but very, very, very high praise for him. Right now, is it standing? And Cole Drake and Mitch Bratt are both just on the outside of the top 10. And I think both of those guys are going to be incredible as well.

I do think the Diamondbacks did a great job of adding some solid pitching prospects to, you know, their minor league system at the trade deadline last year that are going to have a huge impact on this organization at one point, either, you know, obviously coming up and performing or maybe, you know, being parts of a trade in some way. but as far as names that, you know, we don't hear a lot. I know that one guy, Yonsea Luis, another guy who we got during the trade deadline, or I don't know if we got him during trade deadline deadline. He was signed as an international, I want to say as an international draftee, but he's another guy that, man, just hear nothing but praise for as an infielder

and a guy who has some powers, a lot of speed. signed in 22 yeah signed in 22 um who do you got you got anybody yeah i guess uh christian may not also yeah i mean yeah i mean it feels like he's you know if he the injury didn't happen like this was probably a year where he would have gotten a little bit of run here uh but i like um and we've talked out of him a few times in relation to the blaze alexander move but i like wellington arsena a lot oh yeah yeah uh you know i i think you know you look at the blaze move and yeah we or maybe a little bit jumping the gun on being like, well, he could help this team because Blaze is actually not playing very well. And the guys that the Diamondbacks traded for kind of

are playing pretty well in the minor league so far, Kate Stroud included. But I think that this Wellington Arsena guy might be the crop of that trade potentially, Derek. He's, he's right now, as currently stands in Hillsborough has a 174 ERA on the season in three starts. 176 average against. I mean, he's been, and he's been good every stop. 2.25 ERA last year in 2025. Like, he's, he just seems like he's putting together some really, really strong seasons here back to back. And, yeah, it's really early for this guy, but he's young.

And I think anytime you get a pitcher that's putting up statistics like that makes you feel pretty solid about his potential in the long term here. He's from the Dominican Republic, which, of course, that's Damon's home island. And he had. So it means everything. 1.95 ERA over his first 27 and two-thirds innings. That's pretty impressive. Yeah, you're right, Mighty Schumann.

He does throw like upper 90s to touching into the lower triple digits there. He throws really, really hard. There's some exciting young players in their minor league system right now, and I think that again. How about Yulbert Diaz? I saw some people talking talking about him recently, 142 ERA right now in nine games in Reno. Yeah, yeah. Out of the pen. Does not compute.

12 and 2 thirds, 0.95 whip. I mean, he's, he's pitching really well. Obviously, we've seen him before, and we've heard the name, the Candyman. But I think that, you know, he definitely could like in a different role than what he was last time with Diamondbacks as a starter, I think be called up to this team at some point this year and provide you some valuable innings out of the pen.

So even though he's, you know, someone that we've heard of before and watch play for the major league roster, he's outside the top 10. and I think he can make an impact this year potentially. I love it. I love the pitching prospects they have, and I do think that, you know, obviously not all of them are going to work out,

but it's the reason why when I bring up Brandon Fott and I bring up Brian Nelson, it's not to say that they're washed. It's not to say it's a wrap. This is a weird year with a few guys on one season, you know, deals. And, you know, Fott and Nelson are going to be needed next year, if there's baseball next year. But there is like a sense of urgency.

here for those guys because with this new crop of prospects kind of establishing themselves and, and, you know, taking their game to the next level, there could be a point where fought and Nelson very much quickly find themselves kind of pass by by that next crop of young players. And they might not be the future of the starting rotation like we think that they are. I still believe in both of those guys and I still think that even if they're not starters, they can both very much help this team win baseball games. So at the very least, we have that with Nellie and Fod, but hopefully those guys can still be that part of the future.

Before we get out of here, I do have to give a birthday shout out to one of my stupid best friends. In fact, one of my best friends in the whole wide world. Happy birthday to Josh Lag. I will say this. Josh is one of those friends that kind of completely changed my life in a way. And it's weird to say that about a friend.

But I don't know if I would be sitting here at this desk if it wasn't for the fact that one night randomly at a Monday night Raw in downtown Phoenix, me and Josh sat next to each other and suddenly became best buds. So shout out to him and a reminder to all of you to, hey, maybe strike up a conversation with a stranger. You never know when your next best friend is sitting right next to you. And a few years down the line, you're standing next to them in their wedding. That's how things happen in life sometimes. Bear down, Josh.

Oh, don't do that. Don't do that. What do you mean? Don't do that. I thought there's his birthday. He loved that. I bet he loved that you say. that. I bet he did. I was already gave him the birthday shout out. I wasn't giving him that on top of it.

But yeah, shout out to Josh. I appreciate all of you guys for being here. We thank you so much for your time. It is a valuable commodity and we can't thank you enough for sharing it with us. Damon and I will be back tomorrow night with another post game show after game one between the brewers and the D-Back. So make sure to join us for that. In the meantime, you can follow us on social media. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon Dog with a D-A-W-W-G. And as always, we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, Bark, Bark. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you guys so much for stopping by. Hope you guys join us tomorrow for the postgame show. Until then, have a wonderful rest of your Monday and a wonderful evening. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when your players stop getting injured.