PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - D-backs Insider SHUTS DOWN Kazuma Okamoto Rumors Despite Reported Meeting

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

The Arizona Diamondbacks were reportedly linked to a meeting with Japanese slugger Kazuma Okamoto, who has until the end of this week to sign with an MLB team. However, D-backs insider John Gambadoro quickly shut down the rumors, casting doubt on Arizona’s level of interest. We break down why we think the Snakes may be better off targeting Tatsuya Imai instead and what that pursuit could look like. We also discuss Alex Bregman’s growing connection to the Valley and why a move to the Diamondbacks is starting to feel inevitable. Plus, we dive into Gabriel Moreno being named the D-backs’ breakout player for 2026 and what needs to happen for that leap to occur.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/Phoenix Raceway: Get your tickets now for March 5-8! https://www.phoenixraceway.com/march-cup-weekend/?CID=PIR_DI_TP_BA_PHNX26Spring_251120ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotesbet365: 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!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.

Well, the Diamondbacks are reportedly meeting with Kazuma Akamoto this week, or they're not, because it was apparently just a bad translation situation. We're talking about who isn't on Akamoto and if the Diamondbacks have any chance at adding to this roster here anytime soon. Don't you go anywhere. We're starting in 30 seconds. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNXBAC podcast live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K, It is I, your mayor of P HNX,

occasionally known as Derek Monti. I'm thrilled to have you guys here and thrilled to be once again raking through the muck of these Diamondbacks rumors that we are hearing. Of course, I got my guy. Holding me down on the ones and twos today is the leche to my cone cafe.

It's the one, the only, Damon Farrell, aka Damon Dogg on the ones in twos. Damon, how are you this fine morning? I've been better, Derek. I know you have. Bejan Robin. You've got for parking garage issues. We've had a bad morning around.

Well, I also lost my fantasy matchup last night for a big, big pot. And it was all due to the King of Tucson having the greatest game of his entire NFL career. I lost by five points and Bijon scored 39. Oh, he did. He did. So that was fun. Shout out, by the way, to one Tommy fan. The world is right and everything is good because speaking of fantasy football,

Tommy Fam won his fantasy football league beating a team managed by Clayton Kirshah and Ross Stripling and he did it thanks to one Bijjan Robinson as well also solid performances from Chris Olive somehow some way and Trevor Lawrence good stuff good stuff overall though glad to know that everybody is safe now that Tommy Fam

has won his fantasy football league but we are not safe from the rumors we are not safe from talking more about Alex Brickman on this podcast And we're not doing it alone this time. We are thrilled to be joined by my brother, the one and only Thunderstick, Jesse Friedman from Snake's territory. Jesse, I know we have nothing but rumors to go on. I know we have nothing but hearsay to go on with all of this stuff. And I mean, that's for Cattell rumors, too.

Like, I feel like every one of these rumors is tied to circumstances, you know? Like, don't get me wrong. There are plenty of things to stack up both in the idea of trading Catelle-Marte and the idea of bringing Alex Brighman. But what I'm not really hearing is, like, that the Diamondbacks are firmly shopping Cotel-Marte around or meeting with Alex Bregman or doing these things that would make you think that things are advancing. I know there's a lot of teams in on Alex Brigman, and I know that he's going to cost a lot

of money considering he turned down two years, $80 million from the, Red Sox, right? But like my goodness, a lot of this just, again, just seems to be circumstantial. Tis the season for exactly that there. Although surprisingly with with with both Bregman and Kattel, it's been a few days now. It's starting to feel a little odd. Like we haven't gotten. It felt for a while like it was a daily thing that you'd get some sort of rumor of some kind that probably wasn't all that meaningful, but it at least gave us something to talk about on shows like this. And now it's just been, it's been kind of crickets here for a few days. So I don't know if that means anything. I don't know if it means like, you know, the debacks are, are getting ready to move on

from the idea of trading Ketel. That's certainly been something reported that maybe that time is coming soon. Maybe we're, we're getting close to that point. But, yeah, it's hard to really have any feel for what's going to happen. Obviously there was the Dan Bickley report on Friday and that was very shocking and very confident and made it sound like the Bregman thing was a done deal. But again, the past few days, nothing on that front. So the waiting, the waiting continues. I like Dan Bickley a lot, probably more so than I let on at times on this podcast, considering that at times he's at the core of some controversial Diamondbacks issues and topics, including the Cotel Marte trade and you know him being so confident again he did present this as what he feels

is going to happen he didn't present it as like insider information that he thinks is going to happen or or that he was told that but again much like Gambo right Gambo reported that's what like you were saying about Catel that you know there's teams making a push but as we get closer to the end of the month and to the new year, there's most likely going to be, you know, a shutting down of the idea of trading Cotel, where it goes from Mike Hazen is at least willing to listen to you guys, to, hey, we got to get ourselves focused on 2026 and we have to figure out our roster considering none of you chumps want a pony up anywhere close to what we want for Catele Marte. We've had some new rumors, right, about like the Mets now being interested in him after the

Jeff McNeil trade. That still doesn't make any sense. and that's a whole other thing. But the Alex Breggman situation seems to once again be circumstantial based on the fact that Breggman has such a strong connection to this team. And it feels, Jesse, like fate is actually doing everything it can to not make Alex Brighman a Diamondback, no matter how much he wants that. According to what we've been told, according to interviews of Breggman has done,

he grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as a Diamondbacks fan, as a small child, as a child, as a youth, Jesse. He grew up as a Diamondbacks fan. It makes sense. Like, I grew up in this state long before we had a baseball team, long before we had most of our sports teams besides the Phoenix Suns. So I at times had to just pick a team, right? Like, I guess geographically for residents of Albuquerque, New Mexico, it makes a lot of sense

to be a Diamondbacks fan, but that part of it makes it feel like, again, that this is is destiny for Bregman to be on the diamondbacks, but maybe not, because they had a chance to draft him with the number one overall pick, and they went with Danesby Swanson, which scorned Bregman to the point that to this day he still wears the number two as like a scarlet letter that he was not drafted number one overall. Like the connection with the valley seems to be strong with Bregman, and he lives here, and he wants to stay here. And, you know, again, there are so many things that still make it feel like, you know, that that Brighman like wants to be here, but none of that makes it feel like a deal is going to happen.

Because at the end of the day, none of this feels like it means anything. Like it doesn't, right? It's so expensive. $80 million he turned down for two years, $40 million a year. He turned down. Like, I know that players might want the long-term security, but $80 million, Jesse, my God. I would take that. I would play baseball for two more years and you would never see me again.

I would buy a small island in the Caymans and live there for the rest of my happy, happy life. I guess the basis of Bigley's report was that Alex Bregman feels similarly to Corbyn Burns in that he has young kids and he spent some time in the valley the past couple of off seasons. I think he's worked out here some. And so it sounds like he likes the idea of just having some. some stability and being planted here in Arizona for a long time. And I think that's what Bregman is really looking for in free agency. I mean, that 40 million A.A.V that you referenced, I don't think he's getting that from any

team on the open market over a long-term deal. But I think he's okay with that. Like, he, I don't think he feels the need to maximize the amount of money he's making in 26. He just wants to have some stability. And that's something. something the diamond backs theoretically could offer. They were willing to go above and beyond with Corbyn Burns in order to make that happen. I guess they could be willing to do the same thing with Alex Bregman. Still sounds like it's probably contingent on a Cateo-Marté trade happening first.

And that's something the debacks clearly don't want to, like they don't want to settle. They don't want to accept much less than they feel, tell is worth. And it feels like that's the, that's been the hang up here is maybe there could be an Alex Breckman move waiting around the corner after that happens. But as of right now, Kutel Marte is still a diamond back. And I remain a little skeptical. I've gone back and forth on this many times, Derek, and I probably will go back and forth several more times before this is all said and done. But right now, I'm, I'm leaning a little more skeptical again that this is, that this is

going to happen. It just feels like the diamondbacks don't have a ton of leverage here. Maybe it has to do a lot with what happened over the summer, with Ketel sitting out a few games and not really posing some questions for teams. But whatever it is, the debacks haven't gotten what they want up to this point. And, you know, it's December 30th. I mean, we're starting to get meaningfully through the offseason. As we referenced earlier, at some point, like the debacks, are probably going to want to move on and address some of the other needs on the roster a different way so that they,

so that there are still guys on the table that they could go get. I just, I think sometimes in life, the, the, you have a hard time really defending yourself as a GM from these accusations that you are trading, trying to trade a player away, right? Like this whole situation has always painted it

that the Diamondbacks were trying to get rid of Catel. And now, even with this Breggman situation, it's shifted more to, they need to unload the financial responsibility of Cotel Marte, whose annual contract averages out to like, don't they get hit for like 14 million and change? That's not a lot of money for an MVP caliber player on your roster, right? So it's like, that's crazy to me that like the Bregman move is contingent on Cotel Marte. It's crazy to me that the, I guess, the goalpost kind of keeps getting moved as the reason why Catell Marte needs to be traded by the Diamondbacks.

It's like once the idea was floated out there that the Diamondbacks were open to Cotel, 29 other teams and fan bases jumped on this like ravenously because of Cotel being the quality of player he is. Every fan base, every team wants them. We talked about the Tampa Bay Rays. I went through their tweets. their thirst tweets for Catelle, Jesse. I saw what they had to say.

The amount of raised fans that were like, all I wanted was Cotel Marte under my Christmas tree. Like, it's just crazy, right? So that and that's the raise. That's the raise. Other fan bases, I guess, in a position to be closer to contending, like the Mariners or the Red Sox, they were a little different.

They still very much wanted Cotel. However, they do not want to give up nearly as much as, you know, analysts and people are suggesting these teams would have to give up to get Catell. Alex Bregman, meanwhile, he is starting to have his market, not cool, because he's still the excellent player that he is, right? It's just, it seems like, just like with the Catell rumors, the number of teams that are in on Bregman seems to be dying down. We know the Diamondbacks are very much rumored to be in on him. We also know that the Boston Red Sox very much want to bring him back. And it feels like those two teams are kind of the frontrunner,

one more financially and I guess logically in the Red Sox and then the Diamondbacks that feels like more of an emotional thing that is going to maybe not yield as much financially or maybe requires it to be pushed off longer term but might yield more personally like you said living in the valley having your family be here like this is a big deal I don't think enough fans understand that some players literally make their home base somewhere that is not their home team. and that is where they live. So when they are essentially playing for another team, they're on the road all year long, except when they come to play the Diamondbacks here in Arizona, right? So it's like that is an underestimated aspect of this, considering when you're talking about how much money these players make millions upon millions upon millions of dollars.

There's a point you can't spend it all. There's a point that your happiness comes a little bit before the amount of money you make. That was what happened with Corbyn Burns. And it still very much could be what happens with break. I just hope in my in my deepest soul, Jesse, in my, in my heart of hearts, I hope that this does not require a Marte move in order to accompany it if it was to happen. And that's really what it comes down to for me. And unfortunately, the reporting seems to suggest that it does that the debacks can't get Alex Breggman without trading Kethe first, just for just for the financial reasons, not because the Dbacks absolutely want to move Ketel no matter what, but because.

if you just add say $30 million or you know maybe it's $25 million in 2026 salary for Alex Bregman like that's pushing your 2026 payroll up close to $200 billion already and that's before the debacks get a closer or you know a first baseman platoon guy or an outfielder or any of the other things that they still probably need in order to to round out this roster so let me ask you that yeah do you think that that is more of the reason why a Cotel Marte trade would be required because of the commitment to Bregman handcuffing them financially to do anything else? So it's not that Cattel's contract weighs them down, but it's like in order for them to satisfy the other needs that they have, they have no choice at that point but to try to get a big package for Cotel and satisfy everything else they need in order to make this team competitive in 2026 through that one trade? I think so. I mean, I think if you were to just add Bregman to the payroll right now, it's probably

already more money than the debacks are comfortable spending. I don't know that for sure, but at least the sense that we got going into the offseason where everyone's talking about them reducing payroll. I mean, you know, it doesn't feel like you could just add $25 million to the $170 they're already at and still have room for other needs. Yeah, it's fine. And I. Right.

I figure it out. Where I ultimately land on this is I think if the diamond backs are going to, if they're going to go out there and actually pull off an Alex Breggman, an Alex Breggman move, I think there is a world where the team gets better. If they trade Catea and they sign Alex Breggman, I'm not saying that Alex Breggman is better than Catelle because he's not and Catell is better. And Catell is on a better contract. And everybody who has that hesitation is 100% right.

But it doesn't mean that your roster can't be better once you factor in the pieces you could acquire for Catell. I mean, I think that's really the route for this roster to improve where this isn't just about like trying to get off some bad contract because it's certainly isn't, but where you actually could make your team better by backfilling Catelle with an Alex Breggman signing and hopefully bolstering your pitching staff in the process. The outcome that I don't love at this point, Derek, is just trading Catelle Marte and not going out and signing someone like Alex Breggman. Because I think at that point, it doesn't feel like the offers for Cattel are where you'd like them to be. It doesn't feel like you get Hunter Green in that trade. And then at the that point, you know, sure, your, your pitching staff hopefully gets better. But then I think you look at

the offense at that point and it wouldn't be terrible. I mean, Corbin Carroll is awesome, right? And Gabriel Moreno and Geraldo Prado. But this is already a pretty top heavy lineup as it is. If you just subtract Cattel from that lineup and you don't replace him with, you know, another solid offensive contributor, I think your offense might slip to average, probably below average at that point. point. And then, sure, you bolstered your pitching staff a little bit, but now your offense isn't really an asset for you. And it really just feels like a rearranging of the deck chairs at that point. Yeah. And we've said that if you could get your pitching staff to be middle average, a little above average that this team would be great, but that involves keeping the offense together.

And you could argue they did not do enough to their pitching staff to raise the bullpen ERA to middle of MLB. They did not improve their starting rotation enough right now, at least until we've seen it, until we've seen guys on the pitching staff take a step forward or in the case of Erod find where he was at one point with the Tigers right before we got him, then, you know, then things could look up, right? But they have not added pieces that make you feel like the pitching staff is going to be substantially better, at least good enough to, you know, make this team a contender next year if the offense takes any kind of step back. And the offense already did, right? Like a lot of the offensive numbers from 2025 are still based on guys like Josh Naylor and

Gino Suarez being part of this team. Gino Suarez, by the way, who was a god while he was on this team. And, you know, again, it was a big reason why the Diamondbacks had a top five offense in 2025. So remains to be seen how things shake out. But I completely agree with you. The worst case scenario absolutely is a Cotel Marte trade without. you know, adding Bregman, but I still love the idea of adding guys, Jesse, that want to be here. And that this is not a shot, that's not a shot at Cattel Marte, even though it sounds like it in this moment. It is more of like, that is what I like very much about Alex Brigman, right? A guy that wants to, wants to play for Arizona, wants to wear the Diamondbacks uniform, was a fan of this

team when he was a child. Like, that's the kind of person that gets me excited about becoming part of this organization. A guy that also gets me excited, as I've said time and time again, is a guy named Tatsuya Amai, who continues to say he wants to come here and destroy the Dodgers. And I need a guy like that on my team more than anything. But he is not signed. And neither is Kazuma Akamoto, who had some brief rumors about meeting with the Diamondbacks. And then those rumors were quickly squashed. We're going to talk about it on the other side of this break. again, Gambo is rarely wrong. So we're going to go there.

But we're going to do it in a couple of minutes. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PHNX Diamondback show. Well, you know, it's never ordinary at Bet365. Bet365 is still making the football season fun, despite the fact that many of us, our fantasy football seasons are over. So get down on the action.

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Text next step to 5334.2 or visit problemgambling.az.gov. And, of course, now that the hollows, are over. It is time to focus on 2026. And as a homeowner, I am going to be putting all of my focus onto repairs at my home. And I am going to do that through our friends at the Window Depot. The Window Depot has you covered no matter what refurbishments, no matter what improvements, no matter what you're trying to do around your home. And they don't just have windows. They did get started in 2002, primarily by selling windows. But now they have you covered on whatever you need, whether it's doors, skylights, cabinets, countertops, sinks, and more. They have tons of information. They have tons of

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I do think, Damon and I have talked about this. I do think that we are past the point of wondering if a player's, skill set is going to translate over from NPP to Major League Baseball. I think we've seen that the competition level over there is is equivalent and there, you know, again, there might be some differences, right? Like maybe fastball velocity I've heard and some other things, but you still have some amazing pitchers over there and some amazing players. One of those players was tied to the Arizona Diamondbacks. It's Kazuma Okamoto. The MLB posting window does expire here just on the other side of the new year on January 2nd, meaning that all these players must sign a contract with

a major league team before. That period of time expires or they will return to their teams in Japan. So according to a report, Jesse that surfaced this week, this was a Yahoo Sports Japan report. The Arizona Diamondbacks are one of seven teams that Kazuma Akamoto is meeting with this week. Or is he? because apparently this might have just been a case of bad translating on the part of, I don't know, anybody reading this article. Let's be honest.

Google's translation skills are not the best at times. And translating from certain languages like Japanese to English can be a bit tricky, considering that there are differences in languages that don't allow the, I think there are some words that aren't in both languages and such. but the original Yahoo article has shown info on Acomoto, indeed coming to the U.S. They cite Francis Romero's report that the San Diego Padres, the Los Angeles Angels, and the Pittsburgh Pirates are in on Acomoto and meeting with him. And then they also link in the same article, and this is where the confusion comes in, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Toronto Blue Jays, and the Arizona Diamondbacks to Alex Brickman. It doesn't really make a whole lot of sense why the article necessarily pivots in the moment,

other than maybe saying that these teams are also in on a third baseman. So since they are in on Bregman, there could be interest from these four teams on Akamoto. So, of course, we tweeted out before this was settled, before this was figured out that NBC sports. How could we, Derek? How could we? We tweeted out that Akamoto was meeting with the Diamondbacks, and our guy Gambo shut that down quickly, I believe. Gambo has become like Arizona's sports version of Grock, right?

Like, people are like, Grog, is this true? It's like, Gambo, is this true? And then Gambo's like, no, they're not meeting with him. In fact, we have a Gambo tweet, I think, here that just briefly shut it down. He said, no, D-backs are not in on him, which is kind of a shame. you know, we get excited about these international players and especially someone like Akamoto, right? I mean, he is one of the most consistent sluggers in Japan. He's a career 277, 361, 522 hitter in the NPB, and he has 30 home runs in all but two of his 11 seasons playing baseball.

Not bad. Not bad. Sounds pretty consistent. Sounds like the kind of hitter the Diamondbacks could absolutely add. However, Jesse, you got to admit there's a very fine line for this organization to make mistakes. Damon and I have talked about that being one of the biggest difference from the teams like the Dodgers and the Blue Jays versus the Diamondbacks as far as spending is concerned. They can't afford to swing and miss on a guy like this that might take up a considerable portion of their payroll that doesn't in fact work out in Major League Baseball. Even though we said what we said, it's just still a risk there that the diamond backs can't really afford to take, right? I think so.

I mean, I like Okamoto. I think he has a pretty good chance to have his game translate over and be a pretty good third baseman for a major league team for a good while. At the same time, it doesn't feel like the diamondbacks often spend in this area of the market. We've seen them sign a few international players to free agent contracts over the years. I think of Yoshi Harano back in 2018, 2019, 2020. But Harano was at a different price point, right? It feels like the debacks don't love taking big swings on guys that they've never seen play in the majors.

They'll make smaller investments on those types of players. But we've never really seen them spend big on someone like an Okamoto, you know, like an Imi. or, you know, I guess this kind of goes back to Yasmani Tomas back in way back when, where that move very much did not go well for the organization. And I wonder if Ken Kendrick is just a little bit more hesitant about spending on those types of unknown players. So it's not surprising to me at all that the debacks are not a serious suitor here. I think they probably checked in at some point. I know I think John Heyman reported that the debacks were quote unquote in on open. Okamoto not too long ago, but you never really know what that means.

I mean, does that mean that they were negotiating with him last week? Or does that mean that they like, you know, reached out to his camp in early November just to see kind of what the price point was going to be? So it's not surprising the debacks aren't a serious suitor here. But I like Okamoto. I think he'll probably be a pretty good player, just a little more unknown than this organization is probably comfortable with. 11.3% walk rate, Jesse. It's pretty good. He doesn't strike out.

Yeah, he really didn't strike out much. The quality of contact was solid. He still hits home runs. I know he does never a commie power, but he had 41 homers, you know, just in 2020, in 20, 15 homers this past year in like half a season worth of games. He was hurt.

So, yeah, like I said, I mean, I like the player. and the debacks could use him. I mean, they, of course, if they're interested at all in Alex Bregman, you figure that any third baseman out there could make some sense. But Bregman feels like, he feels like a special case to me, you know, sort of like Corbyn Burns was last year, where when Ken Kendrick sees a player's market fall a little bit or maybe the, you know, maybe there's interest in staying in being in Arizona and taking a little bit less money to make it happen,

as was the case with Corbyn Burns. It feels like Bregman is just kind of in a different category, and that's why the divax are interested in him, while maybe not being interested in all the other third basemen that are out there. It's a great point. Like sometimes in life when you see something, even when it's expensive, but it's discounted, right?

Yeah. This championship belt that sits before me here, Jesse. I spent entirely too much money on this diamond back. championship belt but you know what i didn't spend full retail price once this thing went on sale it didn't even have to go on as drastic of a sale as it went on it went on a huge sale it could have gone down 10% the belt doesn't know that the belt doesn't know it could have only gone down 10% i would have bought it but the minute i see something like this go on sale that's never on sale i go crazy for it so maybe ken is the same way maybe ken values Alex brigman maybe this is not to knock him

but maybe this is again a case of Ken Kendrick treating players a bit like baseball cards, where you kind of get hyper-focused on one that you like a lot, that you feel like it's going to be valuable. There might be things telling you that you're spending too much money on it, but your gut is still telling you like that that's going to be worth a lot of money, right? And someone like Alex Breggman costs a lot of money, but he could be worth a lot of money. You just don't know that sometimes about these Japanese players to pen no matter what, right? But again, I think that entire idea has been put to bed.

I feel like for the most part, the dynamic superstar players we are seeing out of Japan come here and work out more often than they don't. So I don't see a reason why to not take that risk, especially if it's going to save you millions upon millions of dollars and probably a much shorter term deal. Akamoto is not rumored to be looking for a five-year deal. He's looking for maybe a, I've seen some shorter term deals out there, maybe just to prove himself a bit. and then similar to the deal that the White Sox gave Miracami.

But, you know, again, this is like a situation where I don't know, Jesse, I don't, I still want him. I still like him. I don't want him, though, nearly as much as I want Tetsuya Amai, who is now being reportedly connected to the Chicago White Sox. And that is a man who, like his attitude and the things that I've heard him say makes me want him far more than his performance. Like, we know plenty of teams are interested in him. We know Amai is an incredible pitcher.

but when you hear a guy say, I don't want to go to a team with Japanese players. I want the road to be difficult. I want to test myself and I want to grow. And most importantly, I don't want to be a damn dodger. I want to beat the damn Dodgers. And that gets me fired up.

That gets me fired up. And that is a man I feel is going to come to the United States and be electric, right? Apparently the white socks have somehow emerged as favorites to land Tetsu Yamai. Hey, hey. I mean, he said he wanted the road to be difficult. So it sounds like a perfect fit to me.

You're not wrong. You are not wrong. Very interesting there, right? But again, it's like I like what the White Sox are doing because I was telling Damon before the show. The White Sox seem to not give a damn. Like they don't have any pressure on them to perform. So they can kind of take these risks and swing for the fences on some of these guys. And if some of these work out, this White Sox team could be.

surprisingly good in 2026. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks, they're right there where they feel like they were competitive last year and like they're still in that limbo of not really committing one way or another, whether this team is bad or good. They don't know if this team is bad or good. So they can't really afford to take big swings on international players once again because of them feeling like they're so close. They feel like if they add somebody that's a bit more proven, somebody that can really get them over the hump that they could add five, six, seven wins to this team. Maybe you have a pitching staff that's more competent than it was last year and be right back in the playoff hunt in 2026.

Yeah, I think it's a great point. I mean, the debacks have been in this position for a long time. It feels like almost Mike Hazen's entire tenure. They've never been in rebuild mode. They've certainly never embraced that side of things. But I don't know if they've ever had a right. roster where going into the season, you were like, oh, this is definitely a 95 win type team. I guess last year we had relatively high hopes after the Corbyn-Burton-Bern sign.

We had seven starting pitchers, Jesse. We were in such a good position. It was going to be great. Yeah, maybe there were some years where the expectations were fairly high. And then because of injuries or underperformance or some combination of both, things just didn't wind up working out that way. But I think it's a good point that when you're when you're so consistent, right in the middle and trying to thread the needle with a mid-tier payroll, it's tough to justify

throwing $150 million or whatever at a pitcher who's never pitched in the big leagues. I still, I mean, I don't think it would be a bad investment. I mean, the research that I've done on Tatsuya Yami, I think there's a pretty good chance. His game will translate. I think he could even be a frontline type guy if things go his way. He's got some really unique pitch shapes going for him. His slider is unique. It tends to move in the wrong direction, which if I ever saw a slider that moved arm side instead

of glove side, I think that would probably freak me out a little bit as a hitter. Your brain explode. It probably would make my, I mean, just seeing, just seeing like an 80 mile per hour, anything would make my brain explode because that's how bad of a hitter I was in high school. But yeah, I think. I think I, my is, is whatever team makes that investment,

like sure, there is risk, but there's also a really lot of upside with somebody like that. And I mean, maybe that's something that Diamondback should be more open to

than they've tended to be. Like maybe, maybe the reason they're kind of in the middle some of these seasons feels like year after year is because they're not as willing to take those big swings and really aim high

rather than trying to play it safer. You're 100% right. on that and that's i mean but at the same time too uh yeah they they didn't try to exactly play it safe when they went after jordan montgomery nor did they play it safe when they went after corbin burns right so that that well i mean you thought you were playing it you thought you were playing it safe kind of right i mean like jordan montgomery at the time was viewed as like the safest pitcher on the market like sure he's not he's not blake snell but this guy goes out there and has a three and a half e r a every year and erod you know the

ceiling wasn't that high, but you felt like the floor was high. And yet, obviously, the results were not, not there. I believe he has a 4.57 FIP for both seasons he pitched for the Diamondbacks. How hard is that to exactly exact same fit for both seasons? It's mind blowing. Oh, man. But anyway, all right, well, we have some good news to talk about. And that good news is that 2026 might be the season of Gabriel Moreno. We are talking about MLB.com selecting him as the Diamondbacks breakout player of the year next season. And it is somebody who we just talked about on Mailbag Monday, possibly being that kind of candidate. We're going to talk about it on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the P.HNX Diamondback show. Well, you already know

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Well, Jesse, we know that the Diamondbacks are going to look to players on this team next year. That's just the way that it has to be. Like the true success of this team is going to be through the stars that are here, through Corbin Carroll, through Catelle-Marté, still hopefully being here, through Herald O'Prodomo, trying to replicate, you know, what he was able to do last year. The season is going to hang on those guys, but it's also going to hang quite a bit on the pitching staff, right? We know that the pitching staff needs to take a step forward in order for this team to be deemed not only competitive, but a contender at any point.

Huge part of that pitching staff is the guy behind the plate, right? We saw things improve last year with James McCann back there. We still don't know why necessarily. We have our suspicions, right? We've talked a bit about what we've heard from pitchers. Pitchers last year seem to compliment both James McCann and Jose Herrera on their game calling. And we didn't necessarily hear that from Gabby Moreno all the time, right? But we do know that of the three catchers that Diamondbacks had last year, that Moreno is obviously the most talented, the future of this team, and a guy that could have a huge impact on 2026 if he finds a way to get back to what he was doing for this team in 2023.

In fact, Steve Gilbert over at MLB.com on an article that was predicting the breakout seasons for every – or breakout players for every team across Major League Baseball, chose Gabriel Moreno. as the player to have a breakout season in 2026. And man, Jesse, that would be amazing to see. I think that we've all known what Gabby could do since that initial season when he arrived and kind of instantly became not only the catcher of the future for this team, but the catcher of the here and now. Like Gabby felt like he was on his way to an all-star career after that first season here with the Diamondbacks and especially considering how far this team went with him as a part of it. It definitely felt like, you know, the sky was the limit for Gabriel Moreno. Unfortunately, we haven't seen him have that good of a year. I know injuries have been a big part of it. I know that in general, he has made

major strides in plate calling and calling the game behind the plate. And I think that with James McCann here on this team for next season, I think that's only going to get better. I think that's going to be a great relationship and a great thing for Gabby to have somebody with that experience that he can learn from and who I think at this point in his career is willing to kind of mentor a young player like this. But yeah, what are your things here? What are your thoughts here overall on Gabby Moreno and him taking a step forward in 2026? He's definitely going to be one of the X factors for this team going into next year. As we've said, I mean, no matter what the rest of this offseason and looks like the lineup is probably going to be fairly top-heavy

when all is set and done. And Moreno was, I mean, he was a really big part of the offense down the stretch. When he came back from his injury, he was one of the best hitters on this baseball team. I mean, in 30 games, I think it was from August 22nd onward after that injury. He had 311, 396, 466. That's an 863 OPS. It was basically the same number of walks as strikeouts. I mean, he has really all the ingredients to be a great hitter.

His bat to ball skills have always been there. He has an approach. We've seen him take walks at times. He took more this past season. And he's got some sneaky power in there as well. Like he can run into one every now and then. So I think the ingredients are there. As you said, we haven't really seen him put it all together yet after seeing him in the

23 postseason and how big a part of that he was. Yeah. I was fully preparing for Moreno to just like hit 20. Like I thought Moreno might hit 25 home runs the next year. I mean, I really bought into the rise of you of his power. I remember we did some sort of stupid episode about bold predictions. One of the two of us said that Gabby Moreno was going to lead this team in home runs. I'm not going to say.

That was that was a little bit irrational. I didn't say he would lead the team in a home runs. home runs. But it just goes to show how we felt about him, right? Like again, when he comes out in 2023 and only hits seven home runs in 50 RBI, like that's that's the other funny thing. His numbers for last year are equivalent to what he did in 2023, but the postseason run leaves, I think, a different memory for us as far as how he contributed, what kind of player he was. It's like kind of like Brandon fought. He somehow took his game up to another level when the playoffs came around. and that was impressive for a guy who was just 23 years old at the time, you know,

but you also have, you know, the idea here that he was so good that, like, you just saw the upward trajectory. In fact, since joining this team, his OPS Plus has improved every season, despite it not feeling that way. He had an 103 OPS Plus in 2023, 104 OPS Plus in 2024 and a 117 OPS Plus last year. Last year felt like such a down year for him. and yet he still had a better batting average than he had in 2023 just by one little tiny int of a point. But yeah, he was 285 versus 284 and 23. So it's not that out of the question to think that Moreno

could take that Geraldo Perdomo step forward next year, right? But it's also, it's weird to look back on his 2025 season and think of it as being so unsuccessful when he slashed 285-353. those things are good, but then it's his slugging percentage, right? 433, an OPS of 786. It's getting extra bases. It was being out there, quite frankly. He only played in 83 games in 2025.

So I think him not being healthy and missing so much time felt detrimental to the team and is a big reason why you hope to see him get up to 100 plus starts in 2026. You feel like if he can, especially with James McCann as the backup there, that things look pretty good for this team behind the plate. Especially with James McCann in the picture now, I think it definitely raises the floor if Gabriel Moreno does have to miss time or even when he's just sitting. Certainly we don't expect Moreno to catch all 162 games.

Maybe, yeah, I don't know how they would feel about having both of their catchers in the game like that. That's not a great idea for sure. Maybe. Maybe it's something they would look at. I mean, Moreno certainly has the bat for it, right? I mean, like, he's the type of guy where you want his bat in the lineup as often as you possibly can have it, because he's one of the best four hitters on this baseball team right now pretty clearly.

So I think the ingredients are there. The pitch calling stuff is interesting, which you referenced earlier. It did feel toward the end of the season like the D-Backs just trusted James McCann with their pitchers more than Moreno. but it's not great because Moreno's been around here for a while and James McCann just kind of popped up out of nowhere. So you'd hope that Moreno could make some strides in that area going forward. I think that's going to be a really big thing for him. But all the other ingredients are there for him to be a great defensive catcher. We know the arm is there for him.

That's excellent. His receiving skills are solid. So if he can get that pitch-calling element up to, where the rest of his game is defensively, and then what we're talking about with his offense and everything he brings on that side of the ball. I mean, I think Moreno could have a season where he's one of the top two or three catchers

in all of baseball. I mean, I think that is possible. It's just a matter of staying healthy and just finding a way to put it all together in the same season. We've certainly seen him do it in spurts. People in the chat want to remind everyone that the injuries came courtesy of the Cincinnati Eddie Reds in Major League Baseball.

And the grounds crew there for not calling that game. Sean says it is seriously a crime. Yes, you guys might not be wrong about that. And that definitely did lead to him getting injured. But you just never know with this stuff, right? You can't, you can't, I find it preposterous anytime any athlete is the, the scouting report is they need to stay healthy. Right? It's like, yeah, I mean, I'm sure they're trying to.

don't think that there's anybody actively trying to get injured or hurt or miss time. Like players love playing and they want to play, but injuries happen and you can't do anything to prevent that. What you can do is add someone like James McCann to this roster that can help round Gabriel Moreno out to make him a great catcher in every way, right? We know what he can do at the plate. We know what he can contribute offensively. It's far more than enough for him to be an everyday regular starting catcher.

And as someone, Jason in the chat said, a team needs two solid catchers simply because it's the most physically demanding position. He's absolutely right about that. But really what it comes down to is that James McCann offers so much more to Gabriel Moreno than even a Jose Herrera. Like, players aren't looking at an older player and thinking like, oh my God, this guy has so much to teach me more than, you know, someone they see as a peer. Like I'm sure Gabby and Jose Herrera had a great relationship. I'm sure there was plenty of information shared between the two of them. And I'm sure Gabby grew as a pitcher with Jose there as his backup. Right.

But James McCann just offers another level of experience. And I think in my, at least in my opinion, at least I'm just speculating here, I feel like he's the kind of guy that now that he's been on the team for more than a year now. Like now that he's actually been on this team, not only does he know more about his pitching staff and his fellow teammates, but I feel like he might be more comfortable, even more comfortable in 2026 now that this team is bringing him back to offer, you know, his experience up to the rest of his team. You know, like when you're new to a team, sometimes you're not trying to be super vocal. You're not trying to go out there and change

what guys are doing or offer up your opinion to players that you might have just met and barely know, right? But now that James has had a chance to work with these guys, now that he is going to be here for a full season and the Diamondbacks have showed how much they value him, that maybe that, you know, that experience that he can share with Gabby can only increase and make Moreno a better player, right? McCann understands his role at this point in his career. And we've heard from Tori about like the baseball conversations that he generates in the dugout during a game that maybe young players don't necessarily do as often, but they see someone

like McCann doing it and they feel like, oh, wow, this was helpful. something we should all be doing. We need to be communicating with each other and making these kind of positive, I guess, this is sharing of information a thing throughout the team, right? Like, it's stupid for me to say any of this. Like, none of this is like new information, but it just feels like it's going to get better the more time McCann is part of this team. And you feel like Moreno is going to get better with time, the more McCann is part of this team. Moreno truly is the future. We don't know if the Diamondbacks are going to, find a way to extend him and make him a part of the long-term plan.

But he definitely fits in, you know, with the rest of this young core that the Diamondbacks have, like, locked in for the foreseeable future. Yeah, I mean, they've got three more years of Gabby Moreno. And I think that, again, I think he has all the ingredients to be one of the best catchers in all of baseball. You mentioned it was a 117 OPS plus, something like that this past year. I mean, could that push to 125 or even 130? I mean, there are very, very few catchers that are able to operate in that territory.

Basically none. I mean, obviously there's Cal Raleigh, but, you know, and Will Smith. But beyond those two guys, there are not very many catchers who are able to operate in this way. And it's why Moreno is such a valuable player. I mean, it's great to get offense from any position. But when you can get offense, you know, premium level offense from behind the plate, it really sets you apart from a lot of other teams. Our guy, Sean in the chat, Jesse, wants to know before we move on

what your thoughts on the Phoenix Suns and Jordan Ott are. Now, I was going to make a comparison earlier that I didn't know if I really wanted to make to, you know, the Suns trading Kevin Durant and getting the pieces back that they did and having that trade at the time looked like the Suns were just waving the white flag on this season and they were kind of relatively. delegating themselves to being one of the worst teams in the league. Instead, that trade that didn't look like it necessarily favored the Sons at the time, very much looks like it's favoring the Sons now.

And even though they did that move to trade away an absolute superstar and a future Hall of Famer to get back what was deemed smaller pieces and financial flexibility for them to make other moves, this team is somehow where it's at. I know Jordan Ott probably has a lot to do with that as well. So change of manager, change of coach might also be part of that recipe as well. It just feels like, again, these two teams are in a similar position, and it could tell Marte trade could be very similar to that. And that's what you were kind of talking about earlier as far as getting better through a Marte trade. It is possible.

And I hope that if it happens that DeBax fans will at least be open to the possibility of like, okay, it objectively kind of, of sucks to lose a star level player like Coutel Marte no matter what you get back. But it doesn't mean it's impossible for the team to get better in the process. I think especially if you're able to sign some other player to contribute to your lineup, somebody like an Alex Breggman, if the debacks are able to backfill in some way offensively, I think they really could be a better team on paper with whatever pitching they land in that trade. And it doesn't mean they're necessarily going to get better though. I mean, the debacks still need to make sure that they're getting somewhat fair value for Catelle. I mean, you don't want to just give him away. It honestly

felt like the Suns sort of gave away Kevin Durant. I mean, maybe not exactly, but the perception at the time was definitely not that they did well in that trade. I guess it looked a little better after they were able to draft Mollawatch with the 10th pick. Maybe that looks a little worse now because he never plays still makes me sad. But yeah, I think it's I think it's possible that a kutel trade could make the debacks better when all is said and done. But the debacks just need to do their best right now if they are going to trade him to try to get everything that they that they possibly can. Well, we have been having some fun, Jesse, at least trying to have some fun when it comes to watching football, by the way. Plenty of fun to be had watching the suns. Is that possible?

Is that awesome? Not really, but it is when you hang out with diehards. Like, I got my guy Ryan Hanley keeping me company out at Healibur Resorts and Casinos. And that we just, we hug each other. We cry a little bit. We were like, remember, remember when the Cardinals were 2 and O? Remember those days? Oh, those are such good days.

But anyway, we can still get together and have some fun because we have a few, one more watch party here for the Arizona Cardinals out there at Heelabee Resorts and Casinos. So join Bo Brock, Joe and Johnny. venerable. Join me or Espo. One of us will be out there drinking and eating and trying to have a good time. The rest of the PH&X crew for the ultimate Cardinals away game watch parties at Healer Resorts and Casinos, Wild Horse Pass. We got live pre-half and post game shows. Those poor guys have to do a watch-along and three shows about this Cardinals team. So no matter how bad you feel as a fan, you should feel worse for Johnny and Bo. But also we have PH&X giveaways. We have

immaculate vibes and we have a lot of fun to be had. So make sure to join us. You can RSVP for our Cardinals Away Watch parties at go phnx.com slash events today. And again, it's very, very free. So make sure to join us for that. Jesse, it's the end of the year. And we are getting out of here. I know this year has been rough at times. But at the same time, it is a pleasure still to be sitting here doing this show with you, even if it's as infrequently as we do. but before we get out of here, I just wanted to ask you, do you have any New Year's resolutions? I know one of mine is not saying quite frankly nearly as much on this program. Damon has to glock and spiel me for it.

There are people leaving comments saying, you know, drinking games are fun if you drink every time. Derek says, quite frankly. So I'm trying to do that less. But anything on your end, any bad habits you're trying to get rid of? I don't have any bad habits, Derek. I know. You're like literally perfect for sure. No, I actually on that note, I think my, I think my habits are just so poor in general,

but I don't trust myself to be able to keep any New Year's resolution. So I generally am not a big New Year's resolution guy because I've just disappointed myself so many times over and over again. But I would love to go hiking more often in 2026. It's one of my favorite things, one of my favorite things to do now living out in San Diego. it looks a little different than the desert. Not all in a good way necessarily. I don't mean that as like putting down Arizona because there's something.

You're used to the rocks and the stuff out here, the Suaro capital. Yeah. That's your stomping grounds. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. But, you know, an ocean view hike every now and then also doesn't hurt. So hopefully I can get more of more of that in in 2020. Yeah, I will say I tried to make some changes this year.

I don't know if all of them were good. I was on social media less in 2025. That was one of my resolutions to try to like live in reality. And all I feel like is that people were sad that I wasn't posting pictures of stuff I was doing as much anymore. So there is that. But overall, I will say like I think in general, I've heard this phrase. lately about comparison being the thief of joy, right? And I think that far too often, especially in the social media world, we deprive ourselves of the true joy in our real life

because we're too often looking at the lives of others and wishing that we had more. Let me just tell you, I've lived for a very brief amount of time, a rock star's lifestyle for weekends throughout sporadically throughout the year by traveling with my friend Megaran. And let me tell you, for those of you that want that, it's a nightmare. It's an absolute nightmare. He'll be the first to tell you that, too. Not even me telling you that from riding on his coattails or just kind of, you know, accompanying him as a sidekick to places, you know.

I might be the Spliff Star to his Buster Rhymes, but I do not want to live that life. I love this life. I enjoy being here, and I enjoy talking to you guys five days a week. So again, thankful for all of you for joining us. Jesse's right. Resolutions are stupid. Don't wait for a particular time to start doing something. If you want to make an improvement in your life,

you know, sometimes you're like in November and you're like, man, I can't wait until January comes around so I can start dieting. Like do it now. What are you doing? Get yourself, you know, the future is not promised. We're not here for a long time. We're here for a good time. So make sure you get started on those resolutions today.

Don't wait a couple of days. Do it now. But again, we appreciate you guys so much. I appreciate Jesse for stopping by. You can follow him at Jesse and free. You can check out his show at Snake's Territory. You can get that podcast wherever you see this one. Also, just for the hell of it, also follow Jack Summers because he's a delight over at, what is it?

Shoe Wizard, 50. 59. 59. Oh, man, he's going to kill me for that one. But all right. The rest of you, you can follow us, if you don't already, on Twitter. I'm a cap underscore caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon Dog with a DAWG.

We're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. bark bark the dog doesn't always do it at the right time but you pull the dog's tongue that's how that happens yeah yeah yeah it's just like me in real life it's just like yeah it's like it's like it's like damn my own teeth out of it to comment to me some don right you know damon damon are you there no but anyway we appreciate you guys so much of course our show is at phnx underscore debacks but as always all roads lead to at p h and x underscore sports on twitter instagram and facebook we will you guys tomorrow. Our schedule is that we have one more show left. Our guy, Coggs, is going to be here.

We are going to discuss the Diamondbacks bullpen and Cogs believing in the pieces we have. It's going to be an interesting discussion. Can't wait for that. But until then, we appreciate you guys. Hope you have a wonderful evening. We are off Thursday and Friday, so we'll be back after tomorrow's show on Monday. So until then, enjoy yourselves. Happy New Year to you all. I hope you guys all have a safe and happy New Year's Eve. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you properly translate articles from Japan.