PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Diamondbacks heating up at right time, take three out of four from Cubs at Wrigley

Episode Date: September 11, 2023

The Arizona Diamondbacks managed to win three games out of four against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field thanks to some dominant starting pitching and an assist from the wind. We recap the series win, take a look ahead at their upcoming battle with the New York Mets, and answer your Mailbag Monday questions!An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 WATCH YOUR FAVORITE TEAMS: https://www.fubotv.com/phnx WIN MONEY THROUGH SPLASH SPORTS: https://www.splashsports.com/phnx Head to https://factormeals.com/phnxdbacks50 and use code phnxdbacks50 to get 50% off.Go to https://saturdayneon.com and use code PHNX for 10% off your order today. Free shipping for orders over $200!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Pins & Aces: Check out https://pinsandaces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping.Circle K: Text PHNX to 31310 to join the Circle K SMS subscriber club and get BOGO 32 oz Polar Pops! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: Score 25% off a bag of your favorite OGeez! Fruits of Creams. Go to https://theflowershopusa.com, add a bag of OGeez! to your cart, enter promo code “PHNX” and pickup at a local The Flower Shop dispensary.Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome in. Happy Monday. This is the PHNX QBACs podcast. My name is Derek Montia, known as your mayor of PHNX. This man next to me, Mr. Electric himself, Sean DePaz. And of course, it's my vice mayor and your Thunderstick, the one and only Jesse Friedman. What's Mosh, baby. Guys, big weekend for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Unexpected results here against the very hot Chicago Cubs team. They go in there in a four game series and they manage to take three out of four. I think we would have been happy with two. out of four in this scenario, but considering how much the Diamondbacks need each and every win that they, in these series remaining, this was a great series for them. Obviously, they dropped the finale five to two, but you know what? You still got to appreciate and be very happy that they take three or four. Yeah, it was a huge series for the Diamondbacks, no doubt. I mean, there's a really big difference between being four games behind the Cubs and being two games behind the Cubs. Obviously, if they'd won yesterday, they would be tied with the Cubs.

entering this week, which, you know, I mean, that would be a whole other situation. Sure. But yeah, they are very much within striking distance of the Chicago Cubs with, you know, three more games against them coming this weekend and still, what is it, 17, 18 games to go in the season at this point. So yeah, every, every game is a playoff game at this point. At least that's sort of what it feels like. Yes.

The Diamondbacks took care of business and then some this weekend in Chicago. Taking a step backwards to, I believe Thursday's show, we said that three out of seven would still feel like a win considering the way this Cubs team was playing. So at least the Diamondbacks have already established those three out of the seven, right? But the other thing that really impressed me with this was the way the Diamondbacks made it made a hot Chicago Cubs team like cool off offensively. Like the Diamondbacks pitching staff really did an excellent job against the team who, you know, might not be the best offense in baseball, but they were definitely playing like it over the last

two weeks coming into this series. Yeah. I don't think anyone reasonably, or if they were being honest with themselves, could have reasonably expected the Diamondbacks to look the way they did all four of these games, or I guess the first three. But even the fourth game, I mean, a lot of that I think was fought just not being great. But it was a weird, it was a weird start that last game for sure. Yeah, but like it, yeah, I don't think anybody reasonably could have expected them to perform

the way they did. And even if they were going to win those games, I don't think anyone could have expected them to look the way they did, right? losing winning a one-nothing pitcher's duel against the cubs what i think called everybody a little bit surprised i mean the idea that zach gallon could throw a complete game shot piece i don't think catches anybody by surprise but obviously it all haven't seen that before right so it's like what a time for his first one talking jake was talking about it uh john boy earlier today and he was just like it was that was a it was a complete game shut out in a one-nothing game against a team immediately in front of

you in the standings on the road. Like that was a playoff. It was a playoff game. It was beautiful. And the Diamondback showed out. And they did that through this entire series. Again, I don't think you really could have expected it.

So it was a very pleasant surprise. Yeah. I will say getting back to them winning like the three of seven and already having the vet accomplished. Like if you lose four straight against the Cubs, that doesn't mean anything to me anymore. Yeah. Like it's a lot.

It's more like winning three of seven overall. But if you win the first three. this one. I mean, if you go get swept at home by the Cubs, then who cares about what you did last weekend. So, yeah, the expectations as far as D-Bas versus Cubs, I think it's definitely changed at this point. Tori opted to use an opener, Jesse, in that final game, which was surprising. We had Brandon fought obviously in there, and Brandon fought did pitch. But, yeah, I mean, overall, going with Joe Mantipy there early, didn't really, didn't accomplish much.

Manthiply gave up a run in the first inning and then they still went to Brandon Fott who didn't have a great outing regardless of of the fact that he didn't come in to start the game. Yeah, it was a really interesting decision by Tori Lavello. Brandon Fott was listed as the probable starter pretty close before, I mean, pretty soon before game time, but this decision was made to switch to Joe Manciply. So yeah, the way that Tori Lavello has described the decision is he basically wanted to force David Ross, the manager of the Cubs, to either change his lineup and adjust, which is what the Cubs ultimately did wind up doing.

They changed their lineup around to make it so they had some right-handed hitters stacked at the top to face Joe Manciply. Or, of course, what could have also happened is they didn't adjust, in which case, you know, you could have Joe Mantyply come in and get some good matchups and then bring in Brandon fought after that. But yeah, as I said, the Cubs did adjust their lineup, which it's a little hard. hard for me to see where the debacks had the advantage here because Joe Mandiply just had some pretty bad matchups in that first inning is like you're using a you're using an opener against a bunch of

right handed hitters at the top. So I thought I thought it was probably a smart counterpunch by by David Ross. And the other factor here is you know you don't know how this affected Brandon fought. Did this did this mess with his rhythm? Did this mess? Obviously it messed with his routine to what's agree, you know, did that play into him coming into this game and really struggling. And he didn't have a terrible outing overall, but he gave up solo homers to three of the first five batters he faced, right? He just came in the game. It definitely was a bad start. It was a pretty bad start. And you have to wonder how much of that is because he didn't start this game. And the debacks, you know, kind of switch things up last minute. So, you know, do they win this game if they just start

Brandon fought? Who's to say? I mean, it's hard to win when you only score two runs at the end of the day. So it probably didn't make a difference, but an interesting decision that I honestly didn't fully understand. Baseball players are a creature of habit. It's the reason why Zach Gallen mostly wanted to start the All-Star game. It wasn't the fact that he was going to pitch anymore. It was just routine, right? It was just routine, right? Just being able to start the game like you always do. So I don't really know how much that did impact it. But obviously, that entire situation didn't go their way. It was a critical game for the game. Cubs though. They just lost three in a row to the Diamondbacks and they're a team that in their

own mind, they're not. The wild card is definitely, you know, important to them, obviously, but they're focused on their division and right when they were really getting close to making up some ground there, they, you know, they ran into the Diamondbacks who somehow figured out a way to take those first three games. So it's nice to me on that, this side of that. Yeah, of not being the desperation one. Yeah. Or having your momentum just complete like you, you're good. You go into a series against, like, I don't know, the skidding Mets, for example. And then everyone's like, oh, we're rolling. And then the skidding Mets all of a sudden kick your ass.

And you're like, what are we? And you have to start asking all these questions. It's much nicer to be the ones that are causing a fan base to ask questions as opposed to being the fan base that is having to ask all these questions. Yeah, they all took the Cubs left on their road trip dressed like characters from Super Mario brothers. And I saw a lot of comments about how they needed to save the city of Chicago. and things like that. Shout out to Slickzilla for the Super Chat.

Thank you so much. Slick Zilla says, hey, guys, been watching for a couple of months. Keep doing what you're doing. We appreciate that so much. Connor Mormon, I know we probably threw this up earlier, but he said,

not in my wildest dreams. Did I think we would go into Wrigley against the Cubs offense and completely shut them down in three or four games? I was prepared for a disastrous weekend. Connor, you and I were in the same boat as far as that goes.

That's why it makes it hard to not like on Sunday I hate to admit this especially in front of Jesse because this is going to make Jesse very upset but I was it was easy to kind of check out on baseball because football was going on and the Diamondbacks had won three out of four shameful there so it was easy when things didn't look like they were going good for the Diamondbacks very early on it was very easy to just watch the things go bad for the Cardinals on another channel so but a thing that didn't go too well was Jordan Lawler's debut he didn't play on Sunday and this series was a little rough for him offensively. He really didn't get more than that first hit in his first game. He went one for 11 with that single. He stole base, struck out six times. But I think right now, you know, that's is expected a bit. Like I don't think the Diamondbacks were expecting Jordan Lawler to come in here and hit 386 like he was in AAA. But what are your thoughts on that? And, you know, just kind of how long it kind of can take for a young player like this to catch up to major league pitching. Yeah, yeah, I think the biggest question, it seemed, coming into Jordan Lawler's time in the majors, is just how is he going to handle breaking pitches, especially from right-handed pitchers? Right.

I think his whiff rate on breaking pitches in AAA was something like 40%. And I don't think that was just righties. And that was righties and lefties. That's a pretty high whiff rate. He does have, there is some swing and miss there against breaking pitches. And obviously there's a difference between the breakers you're seeing in AAA. and, you know, like Justin Steele's slider, even though he's a lefty, right? So, yeah, I think it's probably going to take him some time to adjust.

The at-bats didn't look great. I think, if we're being honest, the contact was not particularly hard. It was a lot of ground balls on the infield with, you know, exit Velos in the 70s and low 80s. But, yeah, I mean, it's 11 at bat. So you're not rushing to judgment or anything at this point. But it does look like there might be a bit of an adjustment period for him. And while people, a few looked as foolish. is me and this guy over here when it came to this whole situation, right?

Nick Ahmed, you can't say like, oh, hey, his production wasn't, you know, wasn't, wasn't, like more than this, right? So it's like Jordan Lawler isn't the, he's not, he's not the end-all, be-all to the situation. He did have some really great defensive moment, so that was very encouraging. And you don't know there about, you know, who just Perdomo or Ahmed would make those plays. But he's also had some bad defensive moments. There was a pop up the other day that he. he probably should have taken charge on and didn't.

I know the wind was maybe a factor there and it was maybe a little bit closer to Cotel than it was to him. But the shortstop is supposed to take charge in those situations. Yeah. Yeah. Right. But again, it doesn't really matter because for the most part, Jordan Lawler is still an incredible baseball player.

We've seen him do some incredible things already. And I think the idea here is to hopefully give him enough time that his production is a factor here before the end of the season. And more, more importantly, his offensive production is a factor going in into the end of the postseason should the diamondbacks make it there. Yeah. It's really easy to think of guys in AAA with big numbers

and big prospect status as like the saviors of the season. And because they have a blank slate and you don't know what they're going to be until you know what they're going to be. Right. And I mean, we talked a lot, at least I talked a lot about in the lead up. Like you see this all the time, kids show up and they just like they take the world by storm for a couple of weeks.

Absolutely. I think there was, at least for me, and I think a lot of fans, kind of an underlying hope that that was what was going to happen with him. We want that. But it's not a guarantee. And then he slows back down, comes back down to earth rather than the slow start, right? But the slow start is more common, more realistic. And I think, honestly, there's no better example of it than Kyle Lewis who just continues to mash the ball in AAA. Mashing in AAA, unfortunately, does not always translate to MAP.

And like, every time he comes up, I get excited again. you know and to be fair they don't really give him a very long leash when he is up here you don't see kyle lewis get very extended time he usually gets set back down fairly quickly yeah especially considering you know um you know his lack of production but uh the diamondbacks definitely didn't need a lot of production from their offense in this series because the pitching took care of business let's take a look at the numbers of this four game series against the chicago cubs uh we have here 12 whole runs against nine runs in four games, you guys. That's crazy.

Exactly what everyone expected from the Cubs offense. Right, right. If I had told you guys that the D-Backs were going to score 12 runs in the series before it started, you probably would have thought that you guys were like going to get swaths. If you told me the Cubs scored nine runs, I would have expected the nine runs to have been in one game. And not spread across four games. This is impressive if it's a three-game series. Yeah.

I mean, like obviously it's hard to factor in that last game considering Mantiply as a starting pitcher there. But a 1.25 starting pitching ERA, the starting pitching saved the Diamondbacks in this series. They single-handedly won it for the Diamondbacks. Yeah, I feel like the Diamondbacks won this series on Saturday. That was the game that it was like, I don't know if you're supposed to win this game, but somehow they did. Yeah. 10-inning affair. Lordeus Gurriel made not one, but two.

game saving defensive plays. Incredible catch. There was a favorite defensive specialist. There you go. There was an assist to second base, right? I'm not remembering who the Cubs hitter was, but there was a there was a double against Kevin Ginkle and the eighth inning that was erased. It should have been a double, but it wasn't because Lordis Gereo got the man at second base.

And I think like the next hitter doubled as well. And if that had happened, the game, the game would have been over. The Diamondbacks would not have been able to come out of that with a win. And then it happened again in extra innings with Hortis made a really nice running catch when when Paul Seawald was on the mound. So it was a game of inches. I mean, the Cubs, they had some defensive flaws at the same time. I think there was a passball and a wild pitch in the 10th inning. Debacks only had one hit in the 10th, but man, it's just for two runs.

I think there was also a hit by pitch in there, which helped. So, yeah, the debacks just did a lot more of the little things in that Saturday game. And that was the difference between a win and a loss in that one. and the difference between a series split and taking three out of four, which is obviously enormous in a series like this. It's huge because I think all three of us would have been satisfied with a series split, even happy about that, right? But to win the series to take three out of four,

most importantly, just to hold the Cubs to nine runs when the Cubs have really, I mean, it felt just like yesterday, like when we were at our takeover and we were kind of scoreboard watching. And it's like every time we looked up, the Cubs had scored another run in the game that they were playing. And it was like, my God, we have to play this team next. That's when I started getting very fearful of this series. And things aren't great ahead because when you look at the upcoming three game series, the Diamondbacks have against the Cubs when they come to Chase Field. Yeah.

There will be no Zach Allen. There will be no Merrill Kelly. It lines up for, I know we'll talk about this again when we get to that series. But it lines up for Steele fought on Friday, Hendricks Davies on. Saturday, Wicks Nelson on Sunday. Don't really see a clear advantage D-backs in any of those games. I'm going to stop pretending like I'm ever, like I ever know what this team is going to do. Exactly.

Because every time you think you know, they do something different. It just means the minute you think they're, Davey is going to throw a no-hitter. They're going to score 83 runs. And they're going to sleep the Cubs. And they're going to lose the series somehow. Oh, yeah, yeah. That's probably also what will happen. But let's take a look at the wild card standings.

this was, it was a good weekend. But man, some of those other teams, just like when the Diamondbacks were losing, they were losing, the Diamondbacks are winning. These teams are winning. They're keeping things interesting. We're coming for the Phillies. Those Marlins, man.

What is going on with the Marlins? Like, they are five games over 500 now. How? I don't know. Again, I mean, I said this last week. Like, I feel like every team that's in this wildcar race is having the exact same conversations where you look at the other teams, you're like, how are they still doing this?

I mean, the Diamondbacks were the worst team in baseball for a month and a half. If I'm the Marlins, the Giants, or the Reds, I'm sick to my stomach that the D-backs are still in a wild card spot ahead of us. That's true. I mean, I'm with you on that. Like, it's insane. And I mean, like, look, I was joking about this with Jesse before the show. And I by no means think that the Phillies are an actual, like, that's an achievable spot. But, I mean, they're about to lose to the Braves.

Their bullpen was a mess. again later today. Yeah. They're pitching is kind of a mess. This whole thing, the Diamondbacks could end up with the first wild card spot and they could end up three spots outside of the playoffs. That is very true.

None of it would be surprising. That's true for all the five other teams that are in the wild card below right now. That's what makes this so much. That's what makes this so much fun. The Brewers come to playoff and they've been winning the Central all year. The White Sox inexplicably traded Jake Burger to the Miami Marlins at the trade

deadline and that's a pretty big part of what we've seen. Jake Berger has an 8 49 OPS since that trade happened. Yeah. He's been a big contributor. I mean, the Marlins offense kind of shut down a little bit there in the middle months of the season. But yeah, I mean, their pitching is good and their schedule is incredibly difficult.

And yet they just keep running over like really good teams. They beat the Dodgers two out of three, I think. I think they took a series from the Mariners. They just, I believe, took a series against the Phillies. They just don't stop winning right now. I hope people are saying that about Tommy Fam. I hope when other teams are frustrated about the Diamondbacks, they're like, man, look at what Tommy Fams been doing since he went over them. Like, who would have thought, right?

I mean, I'm sure there's plenty of people in Toronto that are sick to their stomach over. Oh, yeah, that's, that's, that's for sure. Which, by the way, Gabby. Papa Gabby. Congratulations. Congratulations. One of three-year-old dad Gabby, which makes me very unsettled. Let's go.

Well, I mean, we all do things at our own time. It's okay. You're fine. But congrats. I know. I mean, I was really just a decade after having a child. I was really disappointed. I'm trying to start a family now.

He was. He went to Nashville to start a family. And he didn't have it. I'm still frustrated that that didn't happen. But again, congrats to Gabriel Moreno. He is on the paternity list. The Arizona Diamondbacks have recalled Jose Herrera to replace him. But, you know, obviously Felicitis to Gabby.

And hopefully the Diamondbacks get him back soon because, man, they're not very good without him in the lineup. He has been a critical part of their success. I cannot wait for 18 years from now. Or I guess give it. 19 to 20 when Gabby Marino Jr. was making his debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks. When they build his what? When Gabby Marino Jr. is making his debut with Arizona

a dime. That's not even a question. This is the next, these are the next griffies. Like Vlad Guerrero Jr. No, they're going to play together. Gabby's going to be our catcher for the next two decades. And his son is going to pitch and we're going to have the first ever father's son pitcher. A catcher like well into his 40s.

Knees of skill. A 20 year career. That would be incredible. I hope I'm around to see that. Anyway, speaking of other NL West, or other NL East teams that we have to worry about, the Arizona Diamondbacks have a four-game series now with the New York Mets. And let's take a look at that team at a glance.

Of course, here we have a 65 and 77 record, which obviously that and their minus 37 run differential makes for a very disappointing season for these Mets that were supposed to be World Series contenders when the year started. They sure look like it the last time the Diamondbacks played them, though. So not super excited about going into this series against them. Five and five in their last 10, as you can see there, not great numbers. Starting pitching ERA, 4.35, which is 15th in Major League Baseball.

Relief pitching ERA, 4.55, which is 22nd. OPS of 722, good for 18th, and minus 24 defensive runs saved, which is 25th in Major League baseball. I had a dream that Pete Alonzo was traded to, I think, the giants. Elizabeth is right. Wait, what are we doing here? Damon, with the logo covering up and what Pete, what is going on

with this picture on the side? No, no, I think she's right. That's what needs to happen. I'm with Elizabeth. So is like the king, I feel like, of making really weird facial expressions and kind of looking like he's doing something at all the time.

I will say, Like, these numbers are great. They also mean jack shit to me because we all saw what happened. They'll be a completely different team when they played the debacks. We haven't acknowledged this. And I don't want to spend too much, but like, we are playing in New York on 9-11. Like the atmosphere there is going to be different, I think, than one would normally expect playing the Mets. A good point.

Well, below the post- It's going to be emotional. It's going to be very good. Yeah, it is going to be, I feel like a very specifically tonight. And obviously one game can obviously change. the entire series looks so yeah but you don't want to be a visiting team playing against a new york team well no i mean this organization knows that better than anybody that's so like i mean it's it's definitely going to be an interesting as far as tonight's concern um but i mean like the same thing that

happened though the last time we played them at the end of the day it's a on paper it's a pretty good roster um or at least offensively so offensively you can't you can't uh and i mean we You talked about like some of the matchups like I mean though we get Mert but the day we get Mert they go against their best pitcher so like I don't know I don't I at what we do have the Probables let's take a look at the Probables really yeah I mean based on how this season has gone I do not feel good I don't feel bad but I'm not coming into this being like this should be yeah because it's the Mats and because once again it's an important series it's four games and you really don't know you know again what what version of the Diamondbacks team you're

going to see you don't know what version of literally any of those four men that you see on our screen right yeah i mean like i joked about on the road being uh throwing no hitter but it's like maybe he's either going to throw five innings of like one run ball or he's going to give up five runs in the first inning yeah same thing can go for ryan nelson and honestly zack galen no maril's the only one where i'm like he should give us six innings of like three runs and that's again the better matchup here against khodi Senga who was very good against the Diamondbacks when he pitched against him.

Yeah, absolutely. But yeah, no, I mean, I think much like the Cubs series, there's a lot of apprehension here because it's a very, it's still a dangerous team and the Diamondbacks need these wins because we just showed you that wild card standings graphic.

Every game matters. These are all very, you know, it's very close, you know, race and right now with like you said, I mean, the emotions running high on a, on an like this and to be playing in the state of New York it's it's not going to be an easy atmosphere to plan and and I think that the Diamondbacks hopefully can not you know let that impact him too much but this is this is an important series this weekend should be reserved for

the subway series in my opinion I know that's not really how scheduling works but they should always do New York versus New York yeah this weekend that's my opinion as opposed to having that's probably because I mean it is I feel like kind of it not I mean this is like nitpicky, I guess, but it's like, it's kind of unfair to the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Boston Red Sox who have to play New York teams tonight. Yeah, especially the Diamondbacks considering our history of playing them after the Diamondbacks in particular. What happened, right? If we were playing the Yankees this weekend, it would feel a little different. It's like, okay, it's 22.

It's like a little bit of an anniversary type thing I guess. I'm actually on board with that. And the reason why is because baseball was very important when it came to the United States returning to life. I mean, I mean, everyone's seen the footage of George Bush still and not the first pitch. Yeah. It's like, yeah, baseball was pretty big at that. But it's like it's weird. It's weird because, okay, so there's two things now I've experienced in my lifetime that was like this.

And it was that. And then it was, you know, the, the pandemic where it was like life was so different after this thing happened. And like at one point, you just had such a strong desire to kind of like have things return to normal. and like baseball was such a big part of that, right? And it's like, you know, you just, the fact that Major League Baseball decided to resume and get things going again. And I mean, it just,

it was that first thing that made us feel like we were back to normal life. You know, like it's, it's hard to explain because it's like, like I said, the only thing I have to compare it to is the pandemic because those are both just very strange events that, like completely changed my life at one point that I had to kind of live through.

and like September 11th obviously didn't last as long you know the the things that happened after that but it was just it felt like life here in the United States just completely went on hold for a period of time and baseball resuming just felt good it felt like like man we're we're healing you know yeah I didn't necessarily mean to get us into a whole conversation about no I mean it's my my point was is that like there is this is far from being like a normal like a wild car team going to play a team well well out of the playoffs like it's very it's it's not just a good team versus a bad team there's a lot more to tonight and a series in general but my my point was I like your idea about the subway series very much just because I feel like baseball should

kind of do something on the schedule to consider this considering baseball was such a big part of that feeling process none of the american team should have to play in toronto a memorial day that makes no sense to me or the fourth of July I don't I've never understood that. I've never understood why and the Blue Jays should be home for Canada Day every single year. There's no like certain things like that just don't make any sense to me. But those are easy fixes on the schedule. Why do we

always have to play spoiler for the 9-11 team? That's what I'm saying. That's kind of what I'm saying. It's a little unfair to Arizona Diamondbacks. You know what you were doing. The enemy. Yeah. Of America. It's a little unfair. We're not. We're good guys. We like we like America. We're fine. Also, can I just say Mike McCarthy last night wearing an FDNY hat?

while playing a New York team and being the Dallas Cowboys. Another reason it should be New York, New York. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. It's, yeah. The city's bigger than the country at that point. The Mets, regardless of tonight, haven't been very good since the All-Star break.

They've been basically a league average offense and a very bad pitching team. So hopefully. Which is what happens when you trade to future. Yeah, when you trade Max, or Injester, and you replace them with Jose Butto, Buto? Butto? I think it's Buto.

Yeah. I would hope so. I would disregard my first pronunciation of that last name. And I think Joey Luke Casey is also is also in this rotation. At least he made that start last time.

DeBax might see him. I think it's against Zach Gallin in that third game of the series. So yeah, when you replace Scher and Verlander with those two guys, that's a pretty significant drop off. So yeah, this is not the same team that it was at the beginning of the year.

but it's also not that different. I mean, there's still Brandon Nimmo, there's still Francisco Indoor, there's still Pete Alonzo. Yes. DJ Stewart has been phenomenal this year in about 100 played appearances so far for the Mets. So this offense can hit.

It's actually a pretty good offensive team. I think from an offense standpoint, the debacks and Mets are on somewhat equal footing, but the pitching is really what you would think would make the difference. Well, we thank you guys for being here right now on the PHNX Sports YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, make sure to do so.

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money with the emotional hedge yesterday. I bet against the Arizona Cardinals, which didn't feel great until the end of the game. And that also did not feel great. No. That felt great at no point. No, it didn't. It didn't. It felt great at half time. It did. It did actually feel good for a while. Yeah, I did. I bet. I mean, I was I was sweating it, especially when it got close. And I needed James Conner to have 45 rushing yards. Oh my God. Can we start feeding. James Connor the Rock, please. Both my wallet and my fantasy team depend on it. I get it.

I get it. I have James Connor. Yeah. All a different fantasy team. Oh, do you. Yeah, these guys have like 20 fantasy teams. Jesse's just got one. I wouldn't like this year. I can only handle one. How'd fantasy go this weekend? Yeah, I don't want to talk about it. I don't want. I'm in the middle of a suck.

Jesse. Yeah. Yeah. I just need the, I need the bills to put up points on the Jets today. Meanwhile, I'm going to be this week's highest score. So that's the way things go. But again, And this is all the fun you can be having not only in fantasy football, but on the BetMGM Sportsbook app.

If you place your first BetMGM Sportsbook wager through BetMGM Sportsbook mobile application of at least $10, you will receive $200 instantly in additional winnings regardless of your wagers outcome. It was a great, that was a great part of my little parlay that I put against the Cardinals. They had a boost, odds boost that doubled my odds. So I went from $650 to $1,300, won myself a nice little, nice little amount of cash. but you can get a little amount of cash for doing very little on the betmgm sportsbook app just download it or visit betmgm.com sign up with code p hnx that's the important part sign up and place a deposit at least $10 into your newly created account place a wager in the amount of least $10 at a standard odds price and once you have placed qualifying bet you'll receive $200 in bonus bets regardless of the outcome of your wager and look i i'll say this much i have really enjoyed betting very small amounts of money and on very long shot beds. But it doesn't need to be crazy bets. I just build a parlay with lots of legs.

That's been my secret lately. My favorite, like, football tradition is every week I will put a dollar on a parlay of every single game. And one of these days, I'm going to go God mode and I'm going to hit it. And I'm going to quit my job with the $1,300. I was going to say. Was that like $800? Well, you can maybe quit your job after winning $800.

to you one of these days. But don't. Don't do that. Don't do that. John Allen over Russian yards tonight. It's a lock. Lock it. Lock it. Yeah. Put it in. I'm going right now. Yeah, he's going to do it right now. Sign up. Do you like Sean. Sign up for bet MGM.

Use bonus code PHNX. Place your first bet MGM sportsbook wager through the bet MGM sportsbook mobile application of at least $10. You will receive those $200 instantly. In additional winnings, regardless of your wagers outcome. Check out the show notes for full details. And now listen to Shane. Talk about the disclaimer. Gambling problem call 1-800 gambler.

Colorado, D.C. Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, of Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming. Call 8778-Y or text Hope and Y, 467-369-9-9-Y or text Hope and York. Call 1-800-3-5-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-1-1-1-1-1. 1-8-1-1-2-3, Puerto Rico, in partnership with Kansas-Crossing Casino and Hotel. Visit at MGM.com for terms and conditions, U.S. promotional offers not available in D.C., New York, or Ontario. All right, and also big shout out to our friends, Illegal Pets, for feeding us lunch, and for just being an incredible spot. Although, I got to say we got to stop this.

We got to stop this having the food delivered while we're live. I blame Max for that, not the good people over illegal Pete. No, it's absolutely Max's fault. Max delisit deliberately. I'm tired of it. And it seemed like last week, last time we got it, it was 1.30. Today it was 1.15. So they're like, at some point, it's going to be like, hey, food can deliver it at 101.

Yeah. So it comes immediately after your show starts. We will start our show at 105. We'll just start. We'll just change the time we do the show. This was a bastard. Come on live eating tacos because Jacob decides to come out here and start licking his fingers. Yeah, it's ridiculous.

What if we don't want to see us succeed? What if we were just eating like during the show? What if we just ended the show and when people want to watch that, right? Like smelling it and not getting to go eat. It is the biggest torture that we could possibly have to experience. But illegal Pete's right now, let me tell you, the weather is nice, guys. It's back. It's back to patio season.

We are sub 100 degrees here. And I don't know. Are we? Yeah. Yeah, we got like a hundred and four days. But we've been getting cooler days recently. Today's like, I had like a 90. The shade is not bad.

It's great. It's like we've gotten to the point now where you don't want to die every time you step outside. That's correct. That's correct. That was Sunday. But now this is Monday. Now we're out of the bad times. It's a really big bar to clear.

Yeah. I mean, here it is. Look, I just want to get under 100 degrees, you guys. But the biggest thing is whether it's hot out or not, you can get illegals. super strong margaritas the strongest in Arizona and it will they'll get you where you need to go and you have irresistible drinks, mouthwatering food and so much more illegal peats is your go-to spot

stop by for happy hour 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. every day at all 12 locations. Illegals peats the go-to spot for burritos buddies and beers for 28 years. Well it is that time you guys you know what we do around here because every year on this podcast is our year, every month on this podcast is Indigenous People Month. Every month on this podcast is Black History Month.

Yes, that's true. Every month on this podcast is Women's History Month. Every month is also Black Women's History Month. Every week is Shark Week. Every day is Earth Day. But on Mondays, we go to the mailbag. Damon, let's go. My mail box.

Always something interesting in my mailbox. I'm trying to get to everything in my mailbox. And then once six, we go out. All right, Damon. First question comes from our friend Yoshi Piece of Yoshi on Twitter and he asks Are you also disappointed we won't get Gowan versus Senga this week or am I alone and being distraught?

Yeah, no, I'm a little disappointed. At least we get Meryl versus Sango which I feel like not to discredit the great Zach Gowlin But the way Merrill Kelly has been pitching lately He is our he is our 1A, you know, if you will, you know? Literally going to say at this point there I'm very much like a 1A1B to me. So like if we get either of them against the

other team's best pitcher. I'll be pretty happy about it. Merrill has a lower ERA. Yeah. If this was like Davies or Nelson or fought versus Enga, I would be very concerned. But I'm happy that we get one of our two guys against them. I'm not that sad about it. The other thing is that, you know, it's similar story in the Cubs series, right?

It was Justin Steele against Merrill Kelly. But then it was Zach Gallen against James and Tyone. And Zach Gallen against James and Tyone turned into probably the best pitcher of duel of the entire series, right? Maybe the best pitcher duels of the year. Yeah. How many one-nothing games do we have, have we had this? I'm fully expecting

Joey Lou Casey to turn into like peak Randy Johnson or something on Wednesday. And we're going to have an outstanding pitcher's duel between Zach Allen and I think it's going to be Lou Casey that day. It's not confirmed yet, but we'll see. All right. What else we got, Damon? Gabriel

at Bold is Bronze asks, if the debacks make the postseason, what will the roster look like? he says please no paven now uh i know that there's a lot i think our next question is also damon can we see the next one as well it comes from straight mons uh and says why don't we call up jake mccarthy and send pavin down it's the most logical thing to do we are seriously trying to make the wild card so i felt like the both of these questions are related they're both essentially the same question and it's the question a lot of people have on their mind why aren't we turning to jake mccarthy at this point

and sending anybody i mean honestly it could be paven smith it could be a number of guys but to be honest with the way that jake mccarthy is playing i really do feel like i agree with the sentiment that he should be called up jake mccarthy just won back-to-back uh pcl player of the week award and he is just absolutely killing it at a triple a level uh with all of his weapons with all of his tools it doesn't really seem very logical to not turn to him, right? I mean, at this point, he's just been, and again, like we saw with Jordan Lawler, like we just discussed a little while with Kyle Lewis, doesn't equate over to success at a major league level,

but he just seems so hot right now that why wouldn't you bring him back up to see how he's doing at a major league level? He was always a very good defender for this team. The base running, obviously, is a huge asset. Yeah, I mean, Jake McCarthy over his last 15 games. games is slashing 458, 494, 778. What? Like you can't...

458? You can't ask for anything better than that, right? I mean, there comes a point when it's pretty clear that Jake McCarthy just doesn't really belong in AAA. And it's... Correct. I mean, he is far beyond the level of most players in that league. So, yeah, I think it still feels inevitable to me that Jake McCarthy will be called up at one point.

And yeah, if you're calling up Jake McCarthy from a positional standpoint, Pavin Smith kind of lines up with his expected role the best. So there is just kind of a natural match there. Pavin has had some good at bats so far that we've seen. But I think he's 0 for six with three walks. That's still not, you know, not the kind of production that you're looking for. So we've talked about previously for a guy who doesn't have a lot of defensive value, doesn't have a lot of base running value, things that Jake McCarthy obviously does have.

Yeah, that's a big thing for me with Jake is like it. Obviously, I mean, part of it is is Paven's lack of production. But for me, it's just like the way that the times of this team has been most exciting and the most dangerous is when they create chaos. And Jake is obviously much more capable of creating chaos, particularly on the base paths than damn near anybody on this team. Let alone just Paveen. So like even if Jake didn't hit, there's exactly. Exactly. Exactly.

And so at this point, it's kind of, I mean, it's similar to the Lawler. thing in the sense that it's like if these two things are if they're two are comparable then you got to start going to like kind of intangible things and I think the entangible reasons that you would want one of these guys lean in in jake's favor yeah and and it's and it's like in that instance it's because jordan lawler is the future of this team and you want to kind of get him started on the road to be acclimated to a major league level as soon as possible I don't know if jake is a future part of this team but he very much feels like he could be he very much feels like he could be he very much feels like he could be part of this core that they're building that would include Loller, maybe Pardomo, obviously Corbin, obviously Moreno. But they have a lot of guys that are all around the same age, Alec Thomas, you know, and that these guys could all end up being this core of this team that is, hopefully, you know, helps produce a winner here for a number of years while they're there, right? But, you know, it remains to be seen who the Diamondbacks are going to truly invest in

and who they're going to kind of look at as being assets that they can part ways with and maybe bring in somebody else to get them from this level that they're at up to the next level. I just feel like Jake at times is part of that. And I don't know if his sample size is big enough to really consider him a huge part of this team's future. It's just the energy that he brings. Like you said, he doesn't even necessarily have to be swinging the bat well for him to bring something offensively to the team. and obviously we know how good he is in the outfield. Yeah, I mean, is Jake like a part of the core of this team?

Is he one of the three or four best players that you're building around for the future? Not necessarily. I don't think we're quite to that point. If that's not the case for Jake, it's certainly not the case for payment. Right. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I think that's pretty clear.

And even if Jake isn't that guy, he still has a lot of value as like a fourth outfielder. I mean, if Jake McCarthy's your fourth outfielder, I think that's pretty good. I mean, not that many fourth outfielder's play good defense and are among the best base runners in the sport. There's a lot of value in him in that role. So I think that does make a lot of sense. I guess the first question was about the debaq's postseason roster as a whole. So thinking about that for a second, they would have to cut one more additional player. If they were to replace Pavin Smith with Jake McCarthy, they would still have to cut a position player because you're down to 26 as opposed to 28.

where they are right now. So on that front, I think you're probably picking between Evan Longoria, Emmanuel Rivera, and Jordan Lawler is being the three guys that if you were to have to make a decision about taking a player off the postseason roster, one of those three makes the most sense in my mind.

I would feel terrible just emotionally about Evan Longoria being up the postseason roster. I don't think it's going to happen. Yeah, that one just, even though the numbers might point to that, and Longoria really has struggled quite a bit offensively since coming back from his back injury. He's just such a big part of this team from from a leadership standpoint that that's pretty hard to to imagine. So then it's Rivera. It's Lawler. I guess Jace Peterson could factor into

this conversation. I don't know if I see that one being realistic either as seeing how the diamondbacks just traded for him. Jordan Lawler, there are some complications with with not having him on the roster because then you don't really have a true shortstop as a backup. Nick Ahmed is obviously not here at this point. You know, there are other guys who can play. shortstop if you need them to but I think Lawler is probably the the best defensive shortstop outside of Geraldo Perdomo so Emmanuel Rivera I guess is is maybe maybe the guy that would that would make the most sense there then you have I mean I guess jace is your backup first basement if something were to happen I mean I guess if something were to happen in Christian Walker you

would replace him on the on the postseason roster but like an in-game situation you don't have anyone else who plays first base in that yeah I think Gurriel could maybe play first base in an emergency situation. He played first base a little bit last year with the blue days. Jayce has played first base before. Yeah, Jayce, I'm sure. He plays everywhere. Yeah, he, he probably, he probably could do that. On the pitching side, again, it's sort of the same story where unfortunately you'd have to take the 14 that they have right now and you have to bring it down to 13. And then there's also the possibility that Jay Jameson could could still pitch this season, apparently. Tori Lavello said that again a couple days ago to the reporters in

Chicago. So you might, you know, if Drey Jameson were able to pitch, so you could bring him in, and then you'd have to send two guys out. You know, Luis Frius hasn't been here very long. I guess he would maybe be an option. Miguel Castro, obviously, has had his struggles this year. That could also make some sense. And there are probably a couple of other names that you could bring into that conversation. Realistically, once you get to the postseason, like, your pitching staff, more or less you got to think that some of these lower like some of the guys at the bottom of the starting rotation are basically going to be bullpen guys right? Yeah, that's true. Yeah, you're not taking five starters.

Yeah. So some of the lower end bullpen guys are also probably going to get pushed out of in that situation as well, I guess, right? Yeah. Yeah, I agree. All right. What else we got there, Damon? Next question comes from Ryan Hanley. And he says, this is, oh, I love it.

Does Jesse think the Diamondbacks are a wagon and what bets are we looking at for tonight's game? Jesse I love how the first part of this question is just directed at being you. It's just for you, buddy. I listen, I know you don't want to answer that question, Jesse. Yes, they're a wagon. Whether or not Jesse wants to know. Jesse can answer it a different way, but he knows what's being a wagon means. There's no scientific definition for what a wagon.

I mean, I guess there is a dictionary. definition for a wagon. We could have that conversation too. It is. Yeah, I mean, if the question is just, what do I think about the diamond backs outlook over the next few weeks? That's how I'm going to, that's how I'm going to take it. Yeah, I mean, they're in a good spot.

Right. I mean, if the season ended today, they would be a playoff team, which even a few weeks ago didn't seem like that was going to be likely. The debacks fell to 57 and 59. You know, they were as far as, I believe, three and a half games out of the wildcard at one point. and they've come storming back. I know there was the one week against the Dodgers and the Orioles that was that was rough, right?

They went one in five that week. Outside of that, the Diamondbacks for the last month have really turned things around in a big way. And, you know, their schedule the rest of the way is not easy, but it's also not that difficult, right? You've got the White Sox, you've got the Yankees, you've got the Mets. You know, the Giants are still in there. There's another series with the Cubs in there. the debacks finish with the Astros. I do think it's possible that once we get to that Astro series,

the Astros might not have a lot to play for. That's another really big factor that will come up at the end of the season is whether the Astros have wrapped up an A.L. West win or whether they're fighting for their lives at that point, too, like the Debacks would be. So, yeah, you know, the rest of the way, the schedule is not terribly difficult. And the debacks have more than given them a shot to pull this off. all right yes the second part of this question i'm going to give you what my parley would be for tonight's game and now i've no problem letting you guys know uh that if if my custom parleyes were to appear on

the bed mjim sports book app they would be derrick's cowardly parlay and the reason why is because we make money over here at derrick's cowardly parlays uh and i'm taking uh the under at nine and a half on total runs because i hate fun and a zach davy's start you're taking the under oh yeah I'm taking the under, yeah, and we're talking about total runs. I'm taking the player hits, Corbyn Carroll, 1 plus. I'm taking batter struck out three plus for Jose Cantana. I'm taking batter struck out one plus for Zach Davies. I'm playing hits allowed, three for Jose, one walk allowed for Jose, two hits allowed by Zach, one walk allowed.

Now, you can add more, right? Like if you go up, three hits, four hits, five hits, those are all going to get you better odds, right? But my little cowardly parlay is going to get you plus 350 with. very little risk. So you throw a $10 bet on that. You're making yourself $45. I'm going a little simpler. Oh, I love the long parlays that really can be ruined by one thing, but it makes it a fun

roller coaster ride to watch the game. I'm just going Zach Davies over four and a half hits allowed plus 110. You can double your money on Zach Davies sucking. I mean, that's hits too. I like, yeah, you don't even have to suck that bad. I mean, I feel like there's situations where Merrill Kelly. has given up that much and he's going six innings like

of two three run ball or whatever and like the kneebacks still win in that Max just informed me that D-Backs money line is his pick. Okay so we're taking the Mets money line. So everybody paid to add the New York Mets money line into that parlay that I just gave you. Thanks a lot Max for causing the diamondbacks

to lose you rat bastard that's I used it. Yeah. All right. Did I use it right? Yes, you did it. You lose it perfectly. That's is the most rat bastard rat bastard. ever like a thousand percent max is the is the king rat that he's a hundred percent if you ever see him he'll buy you a beer that's the way that he'll bet against go bet on your favorite team knowing down while he's cursed absolutely well the other because he's a rat bastard

bastard don't forget for the record max is literally right here we're not talking behind his back we're talking and did to his face while he'll talk i talk about that's putting beers in the refrigerator right now he's doing a public service for us and we're still attacking him here live on this show uh of course make sure to sign up I bet MGM news code PHNX when making those bets, by the way. Also, Max is stocking our refrigerator right now, but without him, we would all be dying of thirst. And of course, Circle K is the place where we stop to quench our thirst at America's Thirst stop. Of course, right now you can get down on the Inner Circle membership program.

It's new and it's free. You just got to download the app. I'm told you don't even have to download the app. I think you can actually just sign up for it at Circle K at like the gas pump as well. No, the app because you get out like the... Yeah, the app's way more fun. And I'll tell you this much, I did have an issue with finding the inner circle, and it was more probably user error, but I did have to delete the app and redownload it.

So if you have any issues, you should, once you've signed up for inner circle, you should have your, like, barcode up at the top with your phone number for you to scan at Circle K to use your inner circle membership. And it should also have an inner circle option down in the middle that keeps track of all of your spending and all of the wonderful deals you can get, including saving 20, 25 cents per gallon on your first five Phillips. I hope circle A doesn't catch on and the like the mental gratification I get from the seeing the 25 cents taken off because if gas is $4, I would rather than raise the price of gas to

425 and give me 25 cents off. Don't tell them. Don't tell them that. Don't tell them to do that. And so because if you tell me you're okay with that, they'll start doing that. Because the the mental just joy you go through of seeing gas drop off 25 cents for just putting your number in. It's so good.

It's so good. Quite literally. Yeah, it's literally money in your pocket. I don't figure that out. Yeah, hopefully not. Because right now, Circle K does have some pretty great prices on gas as it stands, but you will get 25 cents off per gallon on your first five fillups once you sign up for the Inner Circle. You also get by five, get the Six One free on a selection of Circle K products,

including pizza, coffee, and ice cold fountain drinks. So make sure to join the Inner Circle for free by downloading the CircleK app today. Terms and conditions apply at participating locations. visit circle k.com for details. And also make sure, no matter how hot, cold it is, whether you're a golfer, whether you're not a golfer, that you're still dressing in the wonderful polo shirts that Pins and Aces has to offer.

It is our official golf apparel partner, Ph&X in all city. And I don't know if they want me telling you this, but you don't have to wear their stuff at the golf course. You can wear it anywhere. And it's fashionable, and it's very lightweight, it's stretchy. It's everything you want out of a shirt. People will give you big compliments on it. And of course, like I said,

don't even have to go golfing in order to wear it. They also make hats, golf bags, and even a beer sleeve, which once again is not exclusive to the golf course. So make sure to check out pins and aces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping. That's Pins and Aces.com. I can say definitively that the best I've ever golfed is binging pins and aces. Was it good? No, but was it the best I've ever golfed? Yes.

At our tournament. It will help you make the most. of whatever limited skills. Because if you're going to suck it, like, listen, you don't got to post your score when you post on the gram later. You just got to look at it. I just, I just need a shot, one shot of me kind of not looking like an idiot while I swing. Here's an example. Here's an example at our, at the Keeping at 100 golf tournament we had over the, over the summer.

There was a picture that went out of me because I golf, it was me, Shane, Trenton Borgay, and Jalen Conyers. No big deal. No, MBD. But there was a picture that came out. Hold on. Hold on. Let me pick up those names you dropped really fast. That's me.

Well, it was important because they were in the picture. Yeah. And there's a great picture of us celebrating a Jalen Conyers pot and Jalen's in our limited edition. Right. I mean, you can't get it anymore. I don't think,

but the pins and aces. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And he's walking off celebrating that we missed the pot. He missed the pot. But you know, no one's going to know that because we look good at the position.

He looks fly as hell. You're sitting here right now just telling everybody. Well, I'm just saying it's a secret for us because we as we know everything that we tell our followers stays between us. It's just between us. Yeah. We're like this. So no one's got to know that Jaylon missed the putt, but he looked good. So no one knew. The picture went out later and he just looked good. By the way, can I say watching Jalen drive golf balls is one of the most terrifying and exhilarating experiences I've ever had in my life?

He's going to be in the NFL. The sound the ball makes after he hits it is something unlike I, ever heard it's like when a NASCAR whizzes by you it's just wow it's like something like that yeah no he's a and he was wearing the the pins he was he was he was gripping it and ripping it but all right damon do we have more mailbag questions what else we got uh oh it's king snake cogs one and only uh he says who do you think is the next prospect to make his MLB debut and will it be this year uh cogs i don't know if he got them that specific but i was wondering that because and Holiday. Pete Crow Armstrong is making his debut for the

story behind that. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I think that's going to be an incredible. My computer's dead, but his actual biological mother was the mother from Rookie of the Year? What was she from? Yeah. She was an actress in a baseball movie. That's crazy. Yeah. And now she has the actual, one of the top prospects in Major League Baseball is her biological son. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. No, it was it was my, it was a little big league. which is again my favorite childhood baseball movie of all time yeah that's crazy that's like

imagine imagine that like imagine being an actress you're in a movie about a kid being a baseball and you're like owner not a bad idea we're gonna do that I'm gonna do that in real life

that's pretty great and then she did it I'm tired of people that are successful just getting to be more successful like you are an actress in a big movie You shouldn't also have a son that's a top baseball prospect. That's bullshit. Let me have a kid who's a top baseball.

It's not like she had like a very, I mean, she was in minority report, I think, and she was in this. And I think that's it. Like, oh. That's it. That's it. She's probably a sagg actress. She's probably a sagg actress. She's probably out there right now, you know, protesting, I imagine with whatever it's going on.

But Jesse, who's the next prospect for the Arizona Diamondbacks? Obviously, I'm wondering. if he means like just to make their way up. I feel like it's probably safe to say that no one's making another debut this year, right? At this rate? Yeah, I would be pretty surprised. I think Blaze Alexander is one guy that would make some sense. I guess it would probably be more in the case of an injury

if the debacks needed another infielder who can play some different positions. I think he could make some sense. We kind of speculated he might even get the call before Jordan Lawler because he's already on the 40-man roster. So the fact that he's already on the. the 40 man. That wouldn't surprise me if, well, it kind of would surprise me. I'm not really expecting that unless the diamondbacks have some unexpected need for someone in that position this season. Going into next year, though, yeah, it's, it's hard to say. I guess I would probably say Blaise Alexander again.

If he doesn't, if he doesn't make his, his debut this year, Blake Walston is, is another name that's that could be in there, but he has basically the same number of walks as strikeouts this year. And I, I just don't really see the devax going that direction unless again if they really have to and it's far too soon for ivan melendez to be making his way up here yeah i mean that's the one thing with with luller is that obviously there was like a clear giant hole in a roster that was trying to make the playoffs and potentially win a world series like now i don't know that because we don't have a clear like ace pitching prospect like i don't think that there's any obvious holes that a prospect would be rushed essentially because I think at this point anybody that got brought up wouldn't kind of

of be rushed at maybe the exception of blaze like yeah yeah there's no there's no need at this point I mean even in in at least in my you know opinion prior to him getting called up I thought that that was the case for jordan lawler as well so yeah yeah I mean I didn't expect it to happen but I think what jesse said summed it up best which was essentially he had nothing else to prove at that point at a at a minor league level and it was time for him to get up here and start getting those major league reps so yeah i mean at this point we don't have a jason domingez in our system so i think normally you probably don't want guys getting called up when you're in the middle of a wild card race like and i mean the it's not great if you're doing that no if they had been trying to win something i mean if you're doing

that typically it's either because of an injury or it's because you are still getting on to play for fairly well no i mean if you're if you're in the playoffs and you're doing it because you're you're you're kind of desperately in need of, you know, of someone to give maybe a jolt of life either at a position or maybe a pitcher or something of that sort. I think it can be a good thing for players in general to just get some experience in, you know, in high leverage situations in the majors. But yeah, it's another thing if you're like really counting on those guys, you know, which I don't really think the debacks are with Jordan Lawler. I mean, they are in a sense. But, right, I mean, he's primarily here to face lefties and. He's getting kind of a soft landing here in the majors.

He's not being called up to play every single day. If he doesn't have an 800 OPS, then the Diamondbacks are in trouble. There's not that degree of pressure on him right now. We've even seen Tori take him out of the games in big spots so that he couldn't potentially have like a blunder that maybe shakes his confidence or cost the Diamondbacks a game. Right. So they've been very cautious about about him for sure. What else we got, Damon? Brian, who is here.

Brian says, out of curiosity, what would a realistic trade offer for Mike Trout look like? And could the debacks afford to pay him? Though I'm not sure the Angels would have to pay some of his salary if he is traded. I think I have a bigger question. Do we even want Mike Trout at this point in Mike Trout's career, especially considering how much it would cost? I'm not saying like, oh, hey, picking up a, you know. I mean, which Sean do you want to answer this question? Do you want logical Sean?

Do you want baseball fan, Sean? I love that's the choice we have to be. Because baseball fans, Sean, like Mike Trout is one of the greatest players to ever play the game. I don't care if he's 80 years old. I want to see him in a Diamondbacks. Let's get logical, Sean. Can we have logical Sean? Oh, of course not.

I mean, we're talking about this is a team that wants to resign Zach Gallen, like has dreams of winning a world series in the next couple of years. Like, like, I know he adds something. This isn't the Yankees where we can afford to spend money on a guy who's going to play half the year. Right. And also does not have any real postseason experience either, which is important, which is crazy to talk about when we're talking about Mike Trout. But like we don't know what. Sean doesn't want Mike Trout because it's a lack of postseason experience. Like you're you're there's a lot of obviously I want Mike Trout, but like not for what it would cost and what it would do to this organization.

Like I don't think they I don't think trading for Mike Trout is going to make that put necessarily put them any. closer to winning world series right like mike trout isn't one of those i mean i'm not mike trout is an elite player but at this point in it is in his career is he going to be worth the cost is he going to be elite enough to improve them and get them up to that next step like i i'm i don't mean to diminish mike trout's you know uh accomplishments or the fact that he's still a great baseball player i just think i mike trout is one of those players that ends up costing a team a bunch of money and then like you said can't really stay healthy all the time and doesn't really produce more than another guy that they could have gotten for a fraction of

the cost it's like it's kind of like Carlos Correa like he was really good and then he was obviously in the middle of a very interesting free agency thing this off season but like look at how many teams dodged the bullet by not being able to sign him during this you know contract right now and i mean But, his contract with the twins is far more reasonable than anything he was going to sign with that. I mean, I could you imagine if you were the, who was it, the Giants? So the Giants and the Mets. The Mets were the other one, yeah. Like, yeah.

Oh, can you imagine if you were the Mets right now with that contract on top of everything else? Yeah, that would be tough scenes. But yeah, I mean, of course I want Mike Trout. But realistically, what are you going to have to give up for him? Right. I don't think it's going to ultimately be worth it. And then, yeah, I don't. Mike Trout has not,

Mike Trout has been the best player in baseball, arguably, over the last decade and has not made the playoffs. Like, he's clearly not enough in it of himself, in and of himself to make this team, oh, no one player is, I wouldn't know. Yeah, no one player is in general. That's the story with the Angels. It's not that Mike Trout wasn't good enough. My point is that, like, I don't think Mike Trout doesn't take this team

from being like a borderline wildcar team to all of a sudden being a World Series favorite. If he stayed healthy for a full season, he probably, I mean, he could have that level. He could, but there's other things you have to address. The Angels, I don't think the pitch and staff makes, they try to put a team around him and the team,

at least this year's team, is literally a walking wounded list, right? Yeah. You have weird things going on like the entire Anthony Rendon's situation, which we haven't really discussed much on here at all. No oblo English today. No oblo English today, you know, literally just doing everything he can't. Like if you go back and you like someone made a thread of that reporter's tweets about trying to talk to Anthony Rendon about his injuries and it was just always literally some other thing. Right.

Like so unfortunately they have a weird culture over there and they have things going on. But I mean like I don't know. I think the big thing. I think there is something to say about the fact that like Mike Trout hasn't been enough to get them to where they needed to go. So like would ultimately would he be worth whatever price. He doesn't put a full year. in five years. Yeah.

Like he does not. Even 2018 was 140 games. Yeah. He hasn't played like basically a full year since 2016, really. That's when he played 159. And you don't get to choose when these things pop up. So if you trade for Mike Trout and his bat goes out in September, then it's like, yeah.

Well, now we don't have Alec Thomas or Mike Trout. Right. Well, and he just, he doesn't really fit their timeline. I would like the Diamondbacks to continue. And I know it's going to be very hard to get young. players that are good from other teams because they want to build around those young players as well. But I would much rather see them invest in a younger player that fits Corbyn Carroll's timeline. He fits the timeline in the sense that like, he does not.

Well, I mean, he fits the timeline in the sense that you are trying to win a world series probably over the next two years. Well, Zagelan is still. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, I don't think it's really a timeline issue. The best Mike Trout you're going to get is going to be over these next two years. But I mean, you are in that situation, you're winning now and sacrificing the future. and in that sense, like, yeah, if you don't win right now, then Corby and Carroll becomes Mike Trout.

You have one of the best players in baseball, and you don't have the roster or the means to have a real contending team, and then you just have wasted this kid's career, which obviously nobody wants. Ultimately, it becomes worth it if Mike Trout stays healthy and you win the World Series that year, then who cares? But, yeah, I think that's a massive risk that I do not think is worth taking. And we haven't even talked about what they'd have to give up specifically to make that trade happens.

Just feels like it's going to be too much. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so Mike Trout, I think there's seven years and $250 million left on his contract after this season. So 2024 to 2030, you're paying $35 million per year. Theoretically, the Diamondbacks shouldn't give up anything for that contract. Yeah. If the angels aren't covering any of that, Mike Trout, I don't think is going to produce enough value to be worth that over the next seven years.

And isn't this the problem we're going to see with a lot of these big contracts where the guys are still owed a ton of money. Yeah. Yeah, you can't. It's going to be Miguel Cabrera. Where you're almost like if the team's bad, you kind of just have to throw his corpse out there because it's like got to give the fan something to be happy about. And also we're spending half of our payroll on this guy. We got to play him. It was what happened with Madison Baumgartner.

Like, I mean, and Trout is not at all like he's still a good player. Yeah. His numbers this year. His numbers this year aren't quite as good. This is the first year where his production has been noticeably different. He has an 858 OPS. But yeah, I mean, he still could be good for a pretty good while, but the issue is with the injuries.

I mean, no player hurt half a season is worth $35 million a year. It's just not worth it. And from the Angels perspective, there is zero reason to trade Mike Trout unless you're really getting some serious prospect value back. You're not going to trade Mike Trout just to get off of his salary. Right.

Because I mean, if you're trading Mike Trout, you're not, you're not trading Mike Trout to get closer to the postseason. Like, it's not like anybody, any kind of trade you make for Mike or for Mike Trout is going to make you like really closer to a World Series within the length of this contract. So then you're giving up everyone's favorite or second favorite angel for to suck over the next 10 years. And then it's like, yeah, Armerino already has everyone hating him. I don't know that this would do anything to help that. Yeah, if it did happen, which it won't. It's probably not going to. But if Mike Trout were traded, it would take the form of the angels eating a significant portion in order to get some kind of actual prospect value back.

Are the Diamondbacks the kind of team to make that trade? Almost certainly not, right? There's a lot of risk there. And even if the angels pick up half of the salary, you're still paying him close to $20 million a year. And you're also potentially getting more. rid of prospects for a player who it's not saying you're not going to get good value out of them but how often is he going to play how much is this decline going to impact his production how much are injuries going to impact his production going forward will he ever be that great mike trout that

we've seen ever again it's not to say he won't be but there there's a good chance that you know the the human body once it's had its toll taken on it isn't really going to rebound and go back to being what he was at one point so who knows if if like if his value is ever going to be worth to another team, what it is to the angels, like Jesse said. Yeah. All right.

What else we got there, Damon? Marco says, chances we win most of the rest of the games of the season. We have one of the harder schedules. Well, uh, the one thing is I think this series coming up right now is important. And for me personally,

I've no idea what to expect coming out of it. I feel like my expectations are. fairly high and fairly positive. I feel like I'm cautiously optimistic about how this series is going to go, considering that I felt the way I did about the Cubs series and they were able to take three out of four. I think once we get beyond this, the Diamondbacks do have some tests left. They have a very important two game series with the Giants. They still have three more against the Cubs.

I think that these are all winnable games and winnable series for the Diamondbacks. I just think that it depends on how. hot of a role they stay on. Gabby Moreno not being available right now due to the paternity leave does concern me. His production not being in the lineup is something that they're going to miss. And hopefully he can come back fairly soon without it impacting the joy of, you know, his new child in his life. But yeah, I mean, as far as this series goes, it's important. And I mean, they have three games series against the White Sox that feels like it's a fairly, that's a fairly easy.

That's a team you should meet. Right? Yeah. They have a three game of series with the Yankees who at that point should have zero to play for, but they seem to be playing better now that they have zero to play for. And then they wrap things up against the Houston Astros at home, which again, that could be an Astros team that has nothing to play for at that point or everything

to play for. And we don't know. The Astros with everything to play for is a pretty, that's a pretty tough way to end of the season. That's got Yordon Alvarez. Yeah, the Brent Strom comment about, you know, Kyle Nelson versus the season could come down to Brian Kyle Nelson versus Yordaun Alvarez. And it's like, oh my God. And I've got nothing to do with Kyle Nelson.

That's everything to do with the fact that I don't know. Like it's basically Bryce Harper and then Yordaun Alvarez of guys I do not want to see with like the season on the line. Because they are big time baseball players. Brett still, Brett's dragging us because he's saying we are insane. you don't want Mike Trout. I mean, again, if Mike Trout wants to sign as a free agent and a reasonable contract,

then I absolutely want it. Like, I would, in a heartbeat, if you're telling me, if you're asking you, who do you want in the postseason this upcoming postseason? Mike Trout or Alec Thomas, you're stupid if you're saying

Alec Thomas over Mike Trout, but that's not how this works. There's contracts and years and luck. The D-VACs need a right-handed hitting outfielder. I mean, that is literally something they are going to be looking for, most likely, this office is. Yeah,

Mike Trout, It's great on paper, but there's a lot of complications. On paper. Marcos's question, though. Marcos is here. He says, hey, my question. Thank you, Marcos, for your question. But, yeah, what are your thoughts?

On Mike Trout? No, no, on Marcos' question. I forgot. I forgot the question was already. Yeah, can we see Marcus? Can you throw the question back up? These guys don't listen. Oh, yeah.

We got back to Mike Trout. My God. I mean, I feel like the chances are pretty good. I mean, I don't know. Are they going to win 10 more of their games? Are they going to reach 85 wins? I think so. Feels like it.

I think they have those three games against the whiteslots. Hell if I know, because I didn't expect them to lose every game over a month and a half. Yeah. Especially with this being against the Mets in particular, who were the team, the team that basically tried to end our season, because that's when the Dark Ages started.

That's when the Dark Times started. That's true. I don't know what to expect coming into this. What do you think, Jesse? But yeah, they should. 85? I mean, on paper, I mean, I think the win percentage of their opponents rest of the way is 490 on average.

So it leans toward being an easier schedule. But, yeah, I mean, it's impossible to predict, right? I mean, it's a, they better. I think it's an 18 game stretch and 18 games in this sport. I mean, it's impossible to say, Are the odds in their favor to win more than they lose? Yes. Slightly.

I would say slightly. It's like when you're still in the early stages of your fantasy football game and you have a 51 to 49% chance of victory. Yeah. I mean, it's like if you're like in a baseball game, if you track like the win probability, it's like if you hit a single with with two outs in the first inning or something, like you have a 50.4% chance of winning that game as a, you know, it's just it's such a. you just don't know, right? You just don't know how things are going to go and we'll just have to wait and see how it turns out. You know, so I just thought about

that we just passed, that we have past talk and Jake's record for the season and that we have more wins and he said we were going to have? That's not what I was. Oh, he said 73. 73. Get your heart out of topping Jake. I was thinking about the fact that,

about nine months ago, just over nine months ago is when Gabby Moreno got traded to Arizona. I'll that's I just do with that information what you will yeah I see where you're saying again congrats because I mean Gabriel brought up that that Gabby's not for the boys but I mean this was yeah nine months he was going through a lot nine months ago he had some reasons to celebrate yeah yeah let's we're let's leave let's leave Gabby alone Gabby is I will protect Gabby at all costs but all right well we thank you guys of course as always for your

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Oh man Rano don't know the kid sounds like he runs some shit I don't know what But Dalton Moreno is in charge of something as CEO Dalton Moreno said on Saturday Don Moranita yeah yeah that's great no such a good last name Varsho morano that's even crazier but I like you're gonna have twin boys Dalton and Varsh this is Dalton uh they're both uh They both have all the tools. They both have all this. We thank you guys for being here. Of course, you can make sure to follow us on Twitter.

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