PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Did D-backs Make HUGE MISTAKE By Trading Blaze Alexander to Bolster the Bullpen?

Episode Date: February 6, 2026

The Diamondbacks made a surprise move on Thursday, trading utility infielder Blaze Alexander to the Baltimore Orioles for reliever Kade Strowd and prospects Wellington Aracena and Jose Mejia, according to multiple reports. We break down Arizona’s return, examine what this move means for the D-backs’ bullpen heading into 2026, and debate whether this trade could end up being a mistake by the front office. Plus, we dive into the Tigers’ blockbuster addition of Framber Valdez and their arbitration loss with Tarik Skubal. Does Detroit now boast the best rotation in Major League Baseball? We also wrap things up with a look at the finalized World Baseball Classic rosters and the 78 All-Stars set to compete in this year’s tournament.LIMITED-TIME 60% off Diehard Offer: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtubeJOIN 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.

The Diamondbacks have traded away one of our favorite players, infielder, outfielder, and all-around swell guy, Blaze Alexander. And welcome in to another edition of the PHNXDbacks podcast, live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. It is I, your mayor, PHNX, occasionally known as Derek Montaia, if Damon Dog would let me talk at times, I guess. I got David Doc on the ones and twos. He's fed up.

Shut up, Eric. He's fed up with hearing about any. thing to do with any of us hosts around here with all the producing he's been doing this week. But I love you guys. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondback show. Glad to have you guys here. Not thrilled to be talking about the news that we are going to discuss this morning with Blaze Alexander being traded to the Baltimore Orioles. But it's happened.

It's real. It's reality. As much as we hate it, one of our favorite players, especially around this podcast, has been traded. And of course, we have to take a look here at the return and see if the Diamondback got any better. I will say that before we get into this, obviously, you guys know how we feel about Blaze here. There's nothing more I could say about what a great person,

Blaze is, and what, you know, again, what a good player he was for this team. He was asked to do several different things. He did whatever was asked of him, and he kind of did it really well, especially defensively, whether it was third base, whether it was the outfield, or whether it was to participate in our shenanigans and kidnap our pet snake here, right? But I will say that there was a question about where Blaze was going to play this year. We've been discussing it quite a bit.

There's also questions about where Jordan Waller is going to play this year. We do know that the Diamondbacks need an outfielder still. We don't know if this still means that additional moves could be made. by the front office before we head into the, you know, start of spring training. We got pitchers and catchers reporting next Tuesday. So we really don't have a lot of time here for this team to fill in potentially some roles there for the outfield. Right. There is an opportunity for young guys to come in and play.

But that opportunity was probably there, regardless of if Blaze was still part of this team or not. I think Blaze was going to have a problem getting playing time when the Diamondbacks made the trade for Nolan Aeronado. I think that solidified that Aeronado was going to be over there at third base defensively for the majority of the year. Obviously, you know, Loller and Blaze could have factored in there as

a third baseman as well, but he was going to see the majority of the playing time, which just makes it that much harder to find a place for both of these young players to get playing time. I will say, just in regards to this trade before we get into it, that a lot of people immediately started

discussing, much like the Jake McCarthy-Aleck Thomas situation, the idea of trading Jordan Lawler over Blaze Alexander. And this is no disrespect to either one of these guys. But I would say that, you know, Blaze kind of had himself a nice start to the season, but he came back down to Earth offensively. I still blame quite a bit of that potentially on just the fact that he was asked to do quite a bit, both playing, you know, third base and the outfield. And I think at one point he just really started to press.

He wanted to deliver in a similar manner offensively that he did earlier on, and that didn't seem to happen for him as he struggled late in the season. Lawler did come around and have a much better end of the year offensively. It felt like Lawler was building up, even though there is definitely not enough there to, you know, assume that he is going to come around and be that next year. It just would feel like in this case that perhaps at this point, Blaze had a little bit more value and was able to get the return he did versus what teams might

have been offering for Jordan Lawler. Also, the franchise just might have been committed to Jordan Lawler a bit more based on how high have a prospect, how I have a draft pick he was for this team and how much they want it to work out, right? I think it has a lot more to do with selling low on a guy like Jordan Lawler. Correct. They probably could have gotten more for Jordan Lawler in the past. So now Mike Hazen's probably sitting there and saying it's not smart to trade Jordan Lawler right

now, whereas Blaze Alexander might be, this might be the highest his value has ever been after the way he ended the season last season. It could be. Jordan Lawler definitely feels like he has far more potential to reach, whereas Blaze was doing things that were extraordinary. I mean, Blaze was a human highlight reel at times for this team. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks get back from the Baltimore Orioles. One of the things that they have needed desperately this offseason, which is young controllable pitching for their bullpen. And they get back relief pitcher Cade Stroud. Cade Stroud is a right-handed pitcher, a reliever that honestly had himself an incredible debut last year for the Baltimore Orioles. He posted a 1.71 ERA in over 26 and a third innings pitch there,

26 and a third innings pitch. He had a baseball reference war of 0.2 in a very small amount of time. He had a 3.40 FIP and a 1.10 whip. And I mean, again, he also comes along with two prospects as well. The Diamondbacks get 21-year-old righty Wellington Arsena, which is a right-handed pitcher. Again, another guy that has strong minor league numbers and upside as a future starter or potential reliever for this team. And they also get infielder Jose Mejia, a 20-year-old infielder with strong offensive production there in rookie ball this year. So the Diamondbacks kind of achieve their goal here of adding more to their bullpen while also adding an arm. And they lose a guy who was the super versatility,

super versatile utility player who can play multiple infield positions, outfield. He batted 230 or slash 230, 323, 383 with seven home runs in 28 RBI over 74 games in 2025. To be honest, it felt like Blaze played far better than those numbers indicate. And that could be why, as Damon said, this is the time for the Diamondbacks to sell on Blaze. The Baltimore Orioles got themselves a real one, and I know Blaze is going to be a star.

But again, when you take a look at the needs for this team and where they have a surplus, it's young third baseman, right, and young infielders, and unfortunately what teams want is major league ready talent and not necessarily a prospect. Perhaps the Diamondbacks saw Blaze going a little bit in the direction of Jake McCarthy, who at times was incredible for this team and, you know, a rookie of the year candidate.

And then also really struggled offensively, especially lately. So this absolutely could be that. For Baltimore, they're going to get themselves a backup utility piece with defensive flexibility, speed, right? He's like in the 90th percentile for speed. And again, that multiple position eligibility that really is something that can help a team like that that's trying to win now and kind of needs. a flexible player like Blaze Alexander.

But according to Mike Hazen, the Diamondbacks needed bullpen help more than a bench bat, and especially that goes double after trading for Nolan Aronado. They saw Alexander's role Titan with Aronado's arrival and other infield pieces, and he felt that Stroud could compete immediately for bullpen innings and fill a clear roster gap, which they have right now.

So what are the Diamondbacks getting in Cade Stroud? I think this, again, is a small sample size from last year, but if we take a look at his baseball savant page, hopefully this gets you a little excited. Again, he's not qualified due to not meeting the minimum number of innings pitched. However, that's a lot of red, Damon. That's a lot of red, red. It is a lot of red.

And I don't hate that. I mean, that looks like our best bullpen arm. It looks like our best pitcher on our team, period. Yeah. That's what it looks like, right? It does. He went to West Virginia University for college where he pitched mostly as a starter before he turned pro. He was drafted in the 12th round by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2019 MLB draft.

So he has been a guy that's been in their minor league system for a very long time. He spent several seasons climbing through Baltimore system from low A to AAA. And he's just had mixed results along the way. But again, this is a guy who is now putting it together and has proven at least in the small sample size from last season. that he really has figured some things out, especially when it comes to his fastball. Looking at his numbers over the seasons, his numbers are not great in the minor league system, right?

So that's one reason why it might give you pause. There is not exactly a proven track record there for him, for his success. He had an ERA in the mid-fives at times, fours. Even in high A, had himself an 8.05 in 21 games. So again, this is a guy that has struggled throughout his minor league career. But, you know, again, the reason why guys are in the system, the reason why you draft guys and develop them is to get them to the point where they get through these struggles and figure out a way to be effective

and most importantly, figure out a way to get out. And that seems to be what Cade Stroud can do. Again, he's not going to factor in immediately in like high leverage situations or anything like that. But those numbers would suggest to you that Stroud, has been impressive with strong run prevention and solid strikeout numbers so far in his rookie year. And the Diamondbacks get a young reliever with options who might play a middle-to-leet relief role or even maybe look to get into more high leverage spots as the season progresses.

But again, this is a move to make the Diamondbacks better for the future and specifically better for 2026. unfortunately it comes as a sacrifice to one of our favorite players, an absolute fan favorite on this team, a guy who so many people wanted to see continue to develop, and a guy who many of us believe this guy right here is going to go on to be a superstar in Major League Baseball. I think that he's going to have to go earn playing time in Baltimore, and it's going to perhaps be even more difficult for him to find opportunities there

than he would have with this Diamondbacks team. But you've got to want to win. wonder if this is a huge mistake by the Diamondbacks. They lose a versatile everyday contributor who was really growing as a major league player. He was far more than just a bench bat or a bench player or super utility player. He became the primary third baseman for the Diamondbacks after they moved Genos-Woraz last year. And he hit well enough to be seen as a breakout piece on this team. Not to mention, as I said earlier, he couldn't stop making highlight real plays.

So there is that when it comes to what he was doing for this team. But he becomes a premium asset here for Baltimore based on the flexibility that he showed last year. I don't think that they need his bat as much as they need him to be that defender and be that utility guy that can come in off the bench. But if Alexander blossoms into a regular MLB starter with the Orioles, that will mean he has deserved it. He has earned it. and it could end up looking like they traded what would have been potentially another piece of their core for a relief pitcher and some prospects, right? Yeah, I mean, if Blaze carves out a role in the middle infield, for example, with Jackson Holiday and Gunner Henderson already on the Orioles, then that means that we made a big mistake. We made a huge mistake.

But that's probably not going to be the case. I think that, you know, someone said it up here and, you know, we all love Blaze, but it was Robert. Like a three for one trade for a guy who is maybe your super utility might be a steal. Yeah, I don't. I don't hate it because, again, you just need one of these pitchers to essentially be a guy. Right. And honestly, I think that, and I'm forgetting is like Arcana or whatever, the younger pitcher that we got in this trade throws about 100 miles per hour. Like that guy has Eresina.

Eracina. Yeah, he has a very good profile for a potential like high profile arm. I mean, I'm not saying that he's going to turn out to be anything. His stats are kind of similar to Cade Stroud in the way that you were talking about it, where it's like you're not going to be overly impressed looking at his numbers just year by year by year. But his last season, he showed some flashes of being a really high level pitcher. And he has, you know, the high upside that you would like in an arm like that. So hopefully him, hopefully Cage.

Stroud, like if one of those guys works out, if both them work out, then this feels like a big W. But it's also just sad to see a vibes guy like Blaze walk out the door when you feel like this team is, you know, it's the power of friendship. It's the, it's the vibes team and Blaze fit so

perfectly into that. So it's sad to see that guy go. Oh my God. Nothing, nothing brought me more joy. Even even though it came at the expense of him needing to hold my son hostage, then seeing Blaze pop some Sour Patch kids from the bag we had to give him his ransom into his mouth before he did an interview

with the press just so he could have a little bit of sugar, a little bit of pep in his interview. That made me proud. In fact, Damon, I mean, we have to address this because we have been getting some weird accusations thrown my way. And that is that people somehow feel like I was involved or I approved of this trade based on Blazes, kidnapping of Jesse Jr. And I just want everybody to know one thing. Don't ever come between me and my son ever again. There will be ramifications for it.

That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm throwing out there. Do we have the video, by the way, the ransom video for those of you that might not have seen it. When our snake went missing upon our move, we did find out that it wasn't just a coincidence that there was Tom Fullery and shenanigans involved and that Blaze Alexander was a part of it.

This is what he sent us. Hey, what's up, bro? Hey, I had Jesse Jr. with me. If you ever want to see him again, you've got to dye your beard teal and give me some sourpatchez. He also told me that my dyed beard was a look and that I needed to keep it. I don't know. This man might be a criminal and we might have gotten away with a good trade here. You dericates the beard now.

Oh, yeah, no, I'm never, I don't know if the beard's ever coming back. We might just be playoff stashes all the time on this program. But we didn't bring up also that, once again, our scene is first name is Wellington. So we got another Beef Wellington as well on this team. And Cade Stroud, again, he is the exact pitcher that the Diamondbacks have been seeking. He is the exact kind of relief arm that the Diamondbacks needed for their bullpen. Is he proven? No, that's definitely not the case.

But I will say that it feels like between the two prospects that we got and Cade Stroud, at least his performance at a major league level last year, that you feel pretty good about this, right? Stroud's numbers, again, very limited sample size, even if they look strong. on paper, but his peripherals suggest he might not be as dominant as his ERA indicate, meaning there's some risk there that he doesn't replicate last year's performance. I wouldn't expect him to. That's a pretty high standard that he set there, putting up a 1.71 ERA. But again, this is more about the fact that the Diamondbacks were getting to a point with the

acquisition of Nolan Aronado that they weren't going to have potentially a position for Blaze Alexander to play. Perhaps there's even another move to add an outfielder to this team that was going to push Blaze further away from getting playing time, you know, getting at bat. So that might be what's coming still or, you know, again, they might just feel like they have a better option. Mike Hazen did say that they were going to allow these minor league players like Ryan Walschmidt and other young outfielders to have a shot in spring training to not only make the 40-man roster but to earn a starting role so that's out there you also have the fact that lordis guriel junior and lindsay vons seem to be training at the same facility to repair uh aces because i don't know

if you've seen these two superhumans but linds von meanwhile like tore acl and three days later with titanium in one knee and torn ACL and the other is going to compete in the olympics and lordis guriel is going to be ready by opening day according to his instagram so what the hell is going on I don't know what's going on with ACL injuries anymore. But again, this trade could be a mistake for the debacks if Blaze does become a productive everyday contributor for Baltimore, which is going to be difficult. Meanwhile, this trade doesn't pan out if Stroud

doesn't turn into a reliable bullpen arm, which seems doubtful. However, the track record is there to question if he's going to be able to replicate last year's performance, and you also have these prospects not developing. But overall, right now for the Diamondbacks, it's hard to say that this trade isn't hell. It does make sense on paper.

It addresses a bullpen need. But the longer term value and opportunity cost here of getting rid of a guy like Blaze Alexander may change this trade in the future. You know, like Damon said, if you somehow find a way to earn opportunities in that particular infield, then there's a good chance that Blaze is playing out of his mind. Also, it's not just the infield, right, Damon? I mean, Blaze has proved that he can play the outfield considerably well. And, again, is going to be able to make Baltimore a deeper, better team.

That team is going for it all now, even though the Diamondbacks kind of have a lot riding on 2026. They're definitely not in the same position as far as building is concerned for the 202026 season. But I will say this. There is- As the Orioles? The Orioles? You think the Orioles are above the Diamondbacks in that regard? I would say so.

I think that they made some aggressive moves this off-season because they're in a division that is as tough as the NL West, maybe not as tough. It's as tough. I think those are the two divisions that are the two most difficult divisions in the league. Yeah. With the actually, you know, what's interesting is the NL East has gotten really, really pretty brutal as well if you look at Phillies, Mets, Braves, and then even the Marlins are not really the disaster that they used to be. So that's a tough one. The Nationals, you feel bad for them. They're like the Rockies of that division.

But I think the Orioles and DeBacks are in a pretty similar spot. I think that they made a little bit more aggressive moves this offseason. But partially that's because the Diamondback's best players are already under contract. To tell Marte Corb and Carol Herald Operdomo are already signed and signed to extensions that make it where we have to find players that are more on the peripheral to kind of fit around these guys because the Orioles maybe have a little bit more players that are on arbitration contracts or just on service time contracts like Jackson Holiday or Gunner Henderson who haven't signed their extension. yet. So yeah, I mean, I just think that maybe they had more money to play with than we did, but generally in terms of caliber of team, we're looking at pretty similar calipers of team here. I think the difference here is that they are building on their core right now, which the Diamondbacks probably aren't at that point right now. I mean, in fact, you could argue that

based on what Ken Kendrick said at the last, at the end of last year, you know, about reducing the payroll that that sounded a bit like they don't believe in adding to this core at this time. Like I think that's the only difference. We've talked about that. You got to establish what your team is, who your team is, the identity. And then you go out, you add a Pete Alonzo. You add some of those other names that are going to make you a better team. But yeah, definitely.

I would say that, you know, they still have a very tough battle in a very difficult division, as do we. And you could argue at least that we might be a little bit closer to the top of our division than they are. So there's that. But we're going to try to figure out where all of these guys fit into this bullpen. Believe it or not,

as much as we've been talking about the Diamondbacks not addressing their bullpen, there's a good chance that this entire relief core could be completely different in 2026. We're going to figure out who stays and who goes on the other side of this break. Don't you guys go anywhere? You're watching the PHA Next Diamondback show.

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That's the town of Marana to you, you son of them. Please don't have your parents come from me. But we have some things to figure out. Actually, the Diamondbacks do. Luckily, we are not in charge of that organization because we would have ran it into the ground by now. But we do have some things to talk about when it comes to the bullpen because Cade Stroud now makes another addition to this pen

that we have been talking about this offseason, not really having additions to yet here. we stand looking at the changes the diamondbacks made, the trades they made, the free agents they have acquired, and there is a lot going on here when it comes to the bullpen. If you want to factor in what typically teams do, teams typically carry seven to eight relief pitchers throughout the season. And obviously this is going to be an ever-changing roster for the debacks as the season progresses. There's no way that this bullpen starts out. with a certain number of guys and then ends that same way.

We know we're going to have the return of Justin Martinez and AJ Puck, which could either add some relief to this pen or could further complicate things if guys are pitching well. But as it stands right now, you have to kind of factor in that this move to trade Blaze Alexander for Cade Stroud means Cade Stroud is in the bullpen, right? None of these are guaranteed. We're going to talk about names that we think are in

and which guys we think are on the fringe and which guys could fact. are in here, right? But even the guys that we think are in, Damon, might not actually be in. There's a good chance that a lot of these names that we discuss still have to, I mean, everybody still has to perform. There's no given role to anyone relief pitcher on this team because nobody has solidified themselves as that. You could say that Andrew Saul-Frank had himself an incredible 2025 was the shining bright spot in a very dark, dark relief core. So I would say that Andrew Saul Frank, again, is probably in based on his sub two ERA from last year, right?

Safe to say that. It could also say that Kevin Ginkle and Ryan Thompson, based on their years with this team, and they're 2025, probably safe to say that they're in, even though, again, nothing is for sure, right? Kevin Ginkle at times has pitched poorly enough that I could see, you know, him potentially not landing in the bullpen. And, you know, of course, there's always questions about Ryan Thompson. Ryan Thompson has been fairly consistent for this team, but he struggled as well in 2025. Then the Dinembacks acquired Taylor Clark, who did have a very good season with the Royals last year, but still, again, not numbers that are going to necessarily blow you away. However, again, much like Cade Stroud, is it wrong to assume that Taylor Clark is going to end up in the bullpen, Damon?

Or do you think that even though they went out and added him through free agency, the Major League roster, that they are, still looking at him as a potential addition. I think that any time that you sign a guy to a contract as little as 1.55 million that you're not necessarily being like, this dude is 100% going to be a staple of this bullpen next season. Like he's making next to nothing. No, no, really nobody is. I think as we outlined, like the only two people I think that you can feel extremely confident

in are going to make the opening day bullpen are Kevin Ginkle and Ryan Thompson because despite you know maybe some you know drop off in performance in the last year two years I think that this organization has proven that they're going to let those guys at least go out there and prove that they don't belong versus having to prove that they do because they have proven that in the past that's fair but like this is a loyalty built kind of organization so I think those guys might be safe I think Cade Stroud because of what you just traded for him and how he performed last year, like is pretty much a shoe in. And other than that, I think it's like a group of like 10 dudes who are competing for the remainder of the spots.

And I would say Taylor Clark, you know, even though he had a great season last year for the royals, that's not necessarily been the case for his entire career. He's shown inconsistency. For sure. It's not like he was absolutely electric. when he was on the Diamondbacks in the past. So yeah, I mean, I think that I think he'll probably make it, but I'm just him saying that I don't think that it's like set in stone

that Taylor Clark's on the roster right there. And this is more of, like I said, more of an opening day roster and less of how it's going to evolve throughout the season. There's a good chance that young arms that get an opportunity can definitely outperform some of those guys that get a spot. And like we said, the Diamondbacks, they're loyal, yes, but they've proven, at least they proved last year,

that they're not giving guys as long of a leash as they have in the past. So like you said, if those guys do get an opening day roster spot in the bullpen and then don't perform, there's a good chance that they could be yanked far sooner than we would have seen in the past. But one of the reasons why that is is because outside of those five, let's just say that those five are in, right? Those five would be Cade Stroud, Andrew Saul Frank, Ryan Thompson, Taylor Clark, for argument's sake, and Kevin Gingle.

I don't feel like the Diamondbacks would have added Taylor Clark to the Major League roster like they did if they didn't intend for him to be a part of the bullpen. Well, and I think a differentiator there, and unless I'm wrong, I don't think he signed a minor league deal. Right, that's what I'm saying. So there were four guys that they signed to minor league deals. Might have been more. I might have even missed some of the deals. LaSiga, one of them. Yeah, you got Jonathan Lozaga.

You got Sean Durbin. You got Junior Fernandez. And then you have Derek Law, who missed all of last year with an injury. But Derek Law's numbers in his career have been outstanding. as well. And then I think you also have Taylor Rashi and John Curtis, who were brought back on those deals as well there. He said his name and he appears.

He is John Curtis. By the way, thanks to Ryan Thompson, we now know that John Curtis has an album that you can listen to on Spotify. Go find it right now. Turn off the lights. John Curtis is singing. Oh. Turn them off.

But yeah, I mean, all four of these guys have major league experience, and all four of these guys could come into camp looking great and earn a roster spot. There is a good chance that, you know, these younger players that were added to the 40-man roster that have options could be option to Reno very easily because they were just, they just needed to be protected from the Rule 5 draft.

And at this point, I do believe moves can be made, and those guys obviously could be added to the major league roster. And, you know, they've asked. enough of those guys with major league experience that you feel like one or two of them should rise above right the cream always rises to the top oh yeah and that's a good good chance that could happen with someone like derrick law someone like lociaga i like both of those guys and i think there's a really good chance but again outside of those guys you also have a bunch of guys that i like two that are on the fringe that are already on the 40 man roster already part of this roster uh christian

Manna, I think, is going to have a huge year for this team as long as he can stay healthy. And I really think that he is a guy that is kind of a forgotten name because of, you know, not really having a ton of major league experience. And, you know, again, that sample size of his success being very small. But again, Christiana Mana is a guy that's proven to have some great stuff. Also, you know, I think that's like your sixth starter as of right now, right? Christiana Manna? Yeah.

Perhaps him or perhaps Gilbert Diaz right now. would say both of those guys have the ability to give you a start to they've started in the past. Is D. is working out of the pen more? He is. Yeah, he is working out of the pen. So I wonder if maybe he's going to be kind of in the spring being kind of placed in that in that bullpen type of role.

It's seeing if he could beat out one of these guys that you traded for in like Andrew Hoffman, Juan Burgos, those type of guys. Perhaps. Whereas I think Mena is like a full-time starter for sure. And I like what I've seen from Christian Mena. I mean, he looked good last year in the very. very limited time that we saw him. And, you know, I just think that, you know, he's a guy who has some pretty electric stuff. So I think somebody also ranked him like the most under the radar D-backs prospect going into

26. Yeah. As well, there was like some publication that ranked him that. And I think that that's honestly a fair evaluation. This is a guy with starter level stuff that is just not being talked about. Well, and again, for now, the Diamondbacks have him as a reliever. And with him being back from injury and again, with how. good his stuff is like he if you're talking about fringe guys that are minor league guys i feel like

he's right there you're also right because he does give them a long relief option which i'm not sure if any of these other names that are in the pen necessarily do mid maybe taylor clark does because he was a starter as well for the debacks at one point in his career but beyond mayna you have brandon garcia philip abner one burgos andrew hoffman juan morillo and like i said dray jameson our favorite guy these are all guys that are all vying for what feels like maybe three spots, right? So you have those guys, those seven guys that I just named on top of the four minor league deal guys that have major league experience, plus other names. Like, I'm not even covering the Taylor Roshy's. I'm not adding John Curtis right now to this list. So there are guys that pitched for the Diamondbacks

last year out of the pen that are part of this team, part of that signed a minor league deal. easily could find their way into this mix. I'm shuddering with fear thinking about last year's bullpen. It's crazy, right? And again, please God know. What's crazy about it is like, let's just say something wild happens.

And again, I don't want to disrespect Ryan Thompson or Kevin Ginkle, but if this bullpen ends up being like Cade Stroud, Taylor Clark, Andrew Saul Frank, Derek Law, Christiane Mena, Dre Jameson, Brandon Garcia, right? Like that's that's kind of crazy.

I mean, that is almost a completely different bullpen from last year. And we've talked about how much it hasn't been addressed. We talk about how much it hasn't really been something the Diamondbacks have focused on. Yes, they didn't go out and add the guys we wanted them to. They didn't go out and add Pete Fairbanks. They didn't add some of these other higher name relievers. They definitely didn't get Sir Anthony Dominguez and Damon will never let you forget that. But what they did do is they,

made some savvy moves that are under the radar, low risk, potential medium to high reward, especially if you got two guys like Andrew Saul Frank and Cade Stroud putting sub sub two ERAs in the pen again. And this is all just for them to hopefully make it through the first half of the season until they get reinforcements in the form of Justin Martinez and Puck. I don't hate what they've done. I just have a lot of unsuited. certainty about it. What they have done is create a tremendous amount of competition for all of these guys. As you said, Damon, no spot is secure here. So every single one of these guys, even a Kevin Ginkle and a Ryan Thompson have to compete and have to compete fairly strongly in order for them to

potentially, you know, outdo some of these newcomers that have been added to the roster. Yeah. I mean, I think that, you know, there's at least a lot of options. And we've talked about it in the past. Like you're just throwing darts out of dart. board and hoping that maybe you land on a couple bulls eyes. Got a sift through the dirt to find the diamonds and the gold, right? And while it feels like maybe this team hasn't necessarily invested all that much in free agency into the bullpen and for a good reason, because they haven't, you know, bringing in Jonathan LaSiga and Taylor Clark and Derek Laugh isn't necessarily, you know, just adding to the

bullpen left and right. But that being said, they've traded for so many bullpen arms, young bullpen arms, trading Gino for him, trading Josh, Josh Nailer. for him. Trading, you know, Merrill Kelly was more for starters, but you still got, you know, back a lot of minor league arms in that deal. I think that, you know, this is, you're just embarking on, like, hey, we probably didn't have the money to go out there and sign the top free agent arms out of the pen this off season. And maybe Mike Hazen was looking one step ahead and saying, what's our next best bet trading for guys that we've scouted that we like and that we can get for, we think,

decent value as of right now. So that's what we're going with as an organization is, what What are these guys that the Diamondbacks in Mike Hazen traded for going to provide for you in 2026? And it's up to, you know, about eight dudes to collectively come together and provide just, just, you know, a little bit of resistance out of the pen. We need it. Like oxygen. Like we asked for. What we need is amid bullpen. Is that too much to ask for?

17th best bullpen in Major League Baseball. We go to the World Series. I mean, we went at all. We had the 18th best bullpen in Major League Baseball. literally went to the World Series in 2023. After that, we've had nothing but bottom 10 bullpens. And we'll just win the division and we'll win it all. Society if the Diamondbacks had a top half bullpen and it's Utopia in the background.

Yeah, it really is. Speaking of Utopia, I don't believe we have any more pre-recorded episodes coming up, Damon. But we're going to talk on the other side of this break about Framber Valdez actually signing with the tigers and not the pirates and how pre-recorded episodes work. and why Major League Baseball always wants to make me and Damon look foolish five minutes after we've wrapped doing any episode of this show. We're going to talk about it on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. This is the Ph.NX Diamondback show. Well, branded Bills is taking over the world.

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Visit maceu.com slash my style to apply. Insured by NCUA. Membership is required based on eligibility. Some benefits require no cost, registration, activation, terms, conditions, and exclusions to apply. Well, yesterday they had us out at the WM Phoenix Open, by the way, had a great time out there, got this sweet Trevor's hat. I know it's Friday, so it's free ad Friday, so I'm allowed to do that. But if you get a chance to go out there, don't, don't miss out on all of the wonderful fun to be had. There's Don Julio. Don Julio. Go check out Don Julio

everywhere because Don Julio is giving away free margaritas and free like $10 lift coupons so you can get home safely from the event or at least park your car somewhere reasonable and don't deal with the mess that is over there at the event itself but we got some news to talk about including Damon some super chat so let's get to those first we got our guy Coolbro 297 asked does this mean Lordus returns very soon in regards to the diamondbacks trading blaze out Alexander. I don't know. I think it means more that Jordan Lawler, they feel comfortable and are willing to put a lot of their faith in Jordan Lawler, to be honest with you. And there was immediately a

report that Jordan Lawler is going to be taking a lot of those left field abys with Lord's Gurriel, you know, on the mend and ready to come back. So I think Jordan Lawler is now the guy out there in left field to start the season. I can only wonder how much seeing him right now at Salt River Fields playing the outfield, you know, makes a difference. I'm not saying it does. I'm merely speculating here, but the guys have been out there at Salt River Fields training and doing stuff for a while. And I can only imagine that, you know, Mike Hazen goes out, watches what they're doing, has to make decisions, has to put all, factor all of this into their thought process. Perhaps Jordan Lawler just kind of is starting to look good out there as an option.

He is going to need to be that super utility role for this team if he wants to have a bad so again playing the outfield seems like it's going to have to be part of his game in twenty 26 uh michael rocicki is already getting ahead of the things a little bit we're going to talk world baseball classic rosters here soon but uh michael says trading blaze is not nearly as bad as no perdomo world baseball classic jersey that is violence against damon let me just add when michael added me on on twitter about this i immediately went and went to go check they don't have like individual Perdomo jerseys that they're selling like

they have Juan Soto pre-made and Tatis pre-made and stuff like that but you can get the customized option and select Perdomo too and buy this jersey. Did this man not have over 100 RBI last year? He did but for 20 bucks more you can get a Perdomo jersey it's just not going to be one of those pre-made options

honestly you should pay $20 more for a perdomo jersey if anybody wants if anybody wants to start you know a little diehard go fund me to get your boy who happens to be making the first big boy purchase of his life right now and doesn't exactly have an extra $200 to spare for a Peraldo Pardomo jersey, feel free to. Let's get a crew together in the diehard chat. Let's get 20 folks willing to donate $10 and let's get Damon a Perdomo jersey. Shameless, shameless, shameless begging out of me right there. That's crazy, but it, I mean, somehow I got a mayor Serpiente's jersey from these fine folks. So I wouldn't be surprised if it works out for you.

Also, Michael wants us to all wish the ginger goat himself, Pavin Smith, a happy birthday. Happy birthday, Pavin. Coolbro, 297 also wanted to know, let me know if that food analogy I put in is good. Cool, bro said, trading blaze is like replacing some protein. You eat your diet for other stuff like fiber vegetables for a more well-rounded diet. I mean, yeah, that's probably fair, but I will say that Blaze is more than a protein. Blaze has so much more to offer. Blaze is not a snack.

Blaze is a whole damn meal. Let's not forget that. Speaking of whole damn meals, Frambervaldez goes to the Tigers, and I did want to address it yesterday. After the trade or the move had been made, we had it on our podcast that we recorded on Wednesday night. That is because I was very sleepy coming back from L.A.,

but I also had to go out to the Phoenix Open yesterday. The People's Open. They needed the mayor out there. And in order to do that, we had to pre-record the episode. As you know, whenever we talk about a move on this podcast, like McKenzie Gore trade or anything like that, it has to happen and it has to be different

and it has to go down like 10 minutes after we record, which is what happened with the Framber-Baldez move to the Tigers. He signs a three-year contract with Detroit worth $150 million. Pending physical, he can opt out after the 2027 season, which is a big plus for Baldez, considering that he could still be very good at that point. and could still get himself a long-term, even higher A-AV when it comes to that. But at about $38.3 million per year, it is the highest average annual value for a left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball history.

It's also the highest AAV for a Latin American player. So thank you for doing it for mehente, Valdez. But again, this is a guy that sat on the market for a few reasons. We talked about the reputational thing with him crossing up his catcher. There was also the draft pick, the compensatory draft pick tied to Valdez, which the Tigers will have to give up in order to sign him. But he does become part of one of the American League's deepest rotation instantly. We talked about the Boston Red Sox having an incredibly good rotation.

And now you have this guy who has, you know, World Series experience and pedigree, joining Terrick Scubel as one of the best one, two punches in all of baseball. Not even a one-two, one-a-1-1B. So again, this is a little crazy overall on what they did. Things drop off a little bit from there. Jack Flaherty, veteran third starter. So I still think that they have a good one, two, three. And then out of that, got homegrown option in Casey Mize,

who rebounded in 2025 and had himself a good season, dependable piece in the rotation, as well as Reese Olson, which is likely their fifth starter. The Tigers could still also maybe go in on available free agents, Zach Gallen, if they just wanted to say, screw it and give up all of their draft picks. I don't even know if they could do that with the compensatory situation, considering they would have to give up two for him.

But overall, again, the Tigers, luckily keep Framber Valdez in the American League and away from the National League. We talked yesterday about, you know, the pirates obviously getting better. Should they add him? they would have had one of the most formidable one, two punches in all of baseball, and they could have had one of the best rotations. But again, now he goes to the AL. So thank God for that.

Meanwhile, overall, Terrick Scuba on the other side of things, the 1A there in the 1A1B, he wins his arbitration case, Damon. So he went to the ballroom and he got the job done. Terik Scouble awarded $32 million for 2026. The arbitration panel did decide to go with his number. over the Tigers or like a mediation amount. It is the highest arbitration salary in Major League Baseball history.

So they now have the highest left-handed pitcher A-AV, highest Latin American player AAB, and highest arbitration AAV in history. Scoobal compares to the best on the free agent market due to his service time and his numerous accomplishments, including his two Sigh-Young Awards. I don't know how the Tigers thought they were going to go into this and win, right? Like, he's arguably, not even arguably, like he is statistically, categorically,

the best pitcher in Major League Baseball, at least in the American League. And you didn't have a hope there. He gets a huge raise from the $10.15 million that he was making last year, and it sets up a potential massive free agent deal for him when he inevitably signs with the Los Angeles Dodgers. And again, Tigers, they're making moves. And it feels like there's a lot of competition once again happening in the American League and I'm fine with it. As Tori once said I'm tired of the best talent coming to the

National League West and now that is staying out of this division and out of the National League, thus not making it any harder for the Diamondbacks to get in on that wild card spot. But Damon overall, what are your thoughts on pre-recorded episodes?

Thoughts on pre-recorded episodes? No more of those, right? We don't do any more of those after this. We've our lesson? I don't know. I don't really care. People can deal with it. My thoughts are more related to what Jacob is talking about in the chat. I was really rooting against the Tigers to sign any sort of high-level pitcher this offseason. Because it's a replacement for Terrick Scoobal because I think it's, as I've said to our guy, Noah Wolberg, who is a Tigers fan who works here at PH&X, I think that this is just a move to say, hey guys, look, we are trying as we trade Scoobel next

year because they're they're trying to build up some goodwill, have one year of rotation where it's maybe the best one, two, in the sport. And then next year, they'll be like, what do you mean? We already have our number one. He makes less than Scoobel. His name is Framber Valdez. And we traded Scoopal, kind of like how the Diamondbacks were thinking about trading Catel Marte for a hall that gets them a big package of players that they can then say to their

fan base, look, we upgraded at three positions rather than just having one of these guys who's such a superstar. And they could still do that at the trade deadline, right? Like there's no doubt. They probably will. You know, but ultimately what it leads to is Terrick Scoobel being a Los Angeles Dodger. Yeah. I know.

We all know it. Yeah. It's time to stop beating around the bush. This is horrible for baseball. Frambervaldez signing with the Tigers is an absolute disaster because it is a domino effect that will and a butterfly effect that will lead to what we all are rooting against. And that is Scouble going to the new. Evil Empire.

Way to stay positive on a Friday. I mean, that's just the facts. We've already been told. Look at Jacob wants back in. Look at Jacob wants back in. Does he not know? Did he not hear about the paella? Did he not remember?

Anyway, that's all the thing. We know, we know somebody who is friends with Terrick Scoobal who trains with Terrick Scubal and we have been told that the Dodgers are coming. Oh, it's inevitable. So the only thing they can stop it now is inside baseball there, little sources action. Collected bargaining agreement.

C-V-A, C-B-A. Bluebaugh in the chat says, terrible take on this trade. Lawler is a bust, Blaze was, and will be a better player at the end of each player's career. That's a weird, weird way to take that. I don't think it's any point where we're saying... Words that were said.

Right, yeah, like, Blaze, it wasn't Blaze or Lawler. Lawler's value wasn't high enough to get a return like this, and they decided to trade the player that had value that they saw as being expendable at this point of his career. I disagree with what you said. I think Lawler absolutely has, more value than Blaze still. I just think that you would be selling so low on Loller based off of what you could have got for him a year and a half ago where it just doesn't really make sense

to do that. You like selling high on players and buying low. Not the opposite. And doing a Jordan Lawler trade right now would be selling at the absolute lowest value. Now some people might say, this is the last time you'll ever have value because he's so bad that he's going to go out there and play like crap again. And then all of a sudden now he has zero value forever until the rest of time. That might be true. But I don't think the diamondbacks feel that way. And that's why they're going to invest more into Jordan Lawler and give him the opportunity to build that value back up. Sorry to cut you off. I was going to say what you could also say that about Blaze as well, there is a good chance that based on Blaze's trajectory over the 2025 season that he could be more

of this 233 hitter than he was when he was hitting close to 300, right? So absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I think Blaze is a guy that Derek and I both love. We think he brings great vibes to the table. at the minimum, his defense showed vast improvements last season. He had some crazy flashes in the outfield. Canon of an arm. When he really didn't have much opportunity in the outfield at any point of his career thus far. Like, we were excited to watch Blaze this year. I also think that, you know, if Kate Stroud becomes one of the better bullpen arms that you got,

maybe this was the right move. Now, I don't know that Derek and I are up here saying that Lawler is better than Blaze Alexander because he has not proven that yet in his career, I think he has potential to be better than Blaze Alexander. And I think everybody pretty much agrees with that. But a lot is riding on Jordan Lawler in this next season. I've said that for a few shows now in a row. But for me, it's Alec, it's Pavin, it's Jordan Lawler.

What can these three guys who have shown flashes of maybe being good at times mostly have been really, really inconsistent at the plate? They're going to be given a lot of ABs next year. What can those three guys do with those A-Bs next season? I think that's going to make or break the diamondbacks. I agree with that. But, like, again, this kind of goes back to the Jake McCarthy-Aleck-Thomas discussion, right? I mean, if you're asking us, Alec Thomas had more value,

and Alec Thomas was the player we would have preferred to keep. However, you know, based on trades, it's Jake McCarthy's value was low. They still got something for him, but it felt like it was more of a clearing of a roster spot so that they could make the Aeronado, you know, move the trade for Aeronado, rather than necessarily, you know, getting much back for Jake McCarthy, right? So, but yeah, overall, it's going to, it's weird because it's going to be tied to these two guys, despite the fact that we never know if it was, what, if it was ever down to Jordan Lawler or Blaze Alexander. It might have just been the fact that they liked the trade with Baltimore and Baltimore liked Blaze.

And it made sense to improve this organization overall. But Hayeson typically does well when he does these like major league for major leagues. swaps instead of, you know, guys in the minors. Like if you're, you know, and I think that this maybe was bordering on more on the minor level, but like when he traded jazz for Zach Allen, you know, I think jazz is a good player, don't get me wrong, but that was a good trade for the Diamondbacks. Like, you got, you got a front line arm for a second baseman when you already had Gattel Marte on your team.

Yeah. You look at, you know, like even the Varsho trade, like it looks good for the Blue Jays now, but at first we were like, holy crap. Oh, we what an absolute fleece them. absolute flee shot by Mike Hazen. And you get two players that were starters on a World Series team. And so I think that generally when you're making these trades, Mike Hazen is doing,

where you're trading away a guy of value that's at the Major League level for another guy at the Major League level, it's worked out for us in some circumstance of like that player that we traded for was helpful to the team. So hopefully Cade Stroud kind of fits into that because this team needs bullpen help so bad that, obviously if you were if you were asked eric would you rather have a super utility middle infielder option that could maybe bounce in the left field and you know be like your 10th starter or would you

rather have a guy that you know is going to be a middle bullpen arm middle rotation bullpen arm and is going to give you us uh around a low three zara which one i mean there's no question about that i'd take the reliever but again with this it's more about blazes development and his potential his future, what he could turn into. I think we've seen him grow as a major leaguer, and I think that he kind of reminds me of Corbyn Carroll, where I don't really see this being like something that kind of fizzles out. I think he's going to continue to get better.

I don't know if the situation in Baltimore is the best for him. I don't know, like I said, I don't think it's as good of an opportunity for him as a player as it was here for the Diamondbacks, because I feel like he's going to be relegated to a backup role. whereas with this team he could have easily earned playing time, easily earned playing time if he played well, where I don't know if he's going to get the batts.

He needs to play well, nor do I know even if he does play well enough if it's going to be enough to usurp some of those names that they have as a part of that roster. But there are some, there are a lot, a lot of names on the World Baseball Classic roster, Damon, and a lot of Diamondbacks on your Dominicana team, by the way. But first, we did want to tell you guys,

that this is Super Bowl week. Our guys are out there on Radio Row working their butts off, doing a great job. Johnny's meeting, CM Punk. He met Phil, Damon? I'm so jealous. Johnny just met the mountain right now. He just meant the mountain? He met the mountain.

He met the mountain. That's amazing. Well, think about that visual. I need a picture of that. But of course, make sure you guys take this opportunity to sign up for our diehard membership. We have a sale going on. right now and you can get down on a 60% off deal.

That's right, $32 for your first year, which is regularly priced in $79.99. And of course, this is to get down on Super Bowl and all of this excitement we're going to have. Baseball season is kicking off. It's a great time to join us to become diehard. You get that free shirt. You get access to our Discord lounge. So do not miss out on this huge sale. 60% off diehard memberships going on right now.

And it is for a limited time. So do not miss out. and yesterday we had the finalization of the World Baseball Classic rosters. The Diamondbacks have 13 players participating in the World Baseball Classic, which I thought was a lot until I realized counting it up that the Diamondbacks have the eighth most players in the WBC at 13. The Mets have the most with 17 players participating in the World Baseball Classic. The Diamondbacks also have hitting coordinator Brad Marcellino, but we'll be managing

and coaching the Great Britain team that will feature Christian Robinson as a part of that team, Damon. That was kind of cool to see. Meanwhile, we know Corby and Carole outfielder for Team USA, Coutel Marte, Perdomo, and Carlos Santana, all playing for Damon's Team Dominican Republic.

Eduardo Rodriguez will pitch for Team Venezuela. It appears that Gabby will not participate in the World Baseball Classic. Nolan Aeronado will be the third baseman for Team Puerto Rico, who is in some trouble Damon, team Puerto Rico, they're in trouble. Team Mexico will feature Alec Thomas and then

on Team Canada we have Michael Soroka and Indigo Diaz who is representing the Diamondbacks organization. Team Netherlands has Drew Jones and Jatween Kelly, a right-handed pitcher from the Diamondbacks organization. Yumen Lin will be pitching for Chinese Taipei

and Christian Robinson will represent the Diamondbacks on Taiwan on the UK team. Taiwan, excuse me, Taiwan. The World Baseball Classic decides the name. I'm making a stand, Derek. I'm not trying to get, I'm not trying to get political here. You can do whatever you want.

I'm making my stand. Global politics out of my world baseball classic. I've planted my flag now in this debate. So take it for what it's worth. If you're missing, if someone wants to, you know, Chinese Communist Party me, that's fine. I'm going, I'm taking side of Taiwan. All right. You meet.

I will say this right now. 78 players. A lot of players, Damon. A lot of players participating in World Baseball Classic. I think that truly is going to make, not players, excuse me, 78 All-Stars, 78 Major League Baseball All-Stars are taking part in the World Baseball Classic. Not just 78 World Baseball Players in general. 78 All-Stars. It's the most star-studded lineup in World Baseball Classic history. We know Team USA is crazy with Aaron Judge as their captain. You got Bryce Harper. Paul Goldschmidt been added to team USA Bobby Witt Jr. Yes, Paul Goldschmidt is part of Team USA. Corbyn Carroll, Pete Crow Armstrong, Brian Buxton in the outfield and depth, Cal Rally, Will Smith behind the plate, Gunner Henderson, Alex Bregman, Bryce Terang, Ernie Clement for infield depth, rotation anchors feature Paul Skeens, Terrick Scubal,

and then, of course. We need Will Smith on the bench, is what I just heard there. Clayton Kirshah on the starting rotation there. team Japan thank god team Japan features showy otani siya Suzuki

monoteca murakami yoshinobi yamamoto and masataka yoshita all on team japani machado bladimir guerrero junior juan soto domenicana damon do you care

to comment on your dangerous gattel marty heralda perdomo i mean the list goes on and on and on with superstars in the d r but it's that's hey we're just going to play our game of baseball we're going to go out there and we're going to win this damn thing. Venezuela's got some representation.

Ronald Acuna Jr., Salvador Perez, Jackson, Churio on that team. Meanwhile, like I said, team Puerto Rico. No Gabby on that team, right? No Gabby on that team. No Gabby. Like I said, that might be the one guy I was kind of like, maybe we don't play the WBC Gabby. Just because he's had struggles with playing an entire season,

I don't feel like giving him an extra. 10 games of baseball before the year would be all that beneficial to one Gabriel Moreno. But I did find the Drew Jones move interesting, Derek. And I don't know if this is going to be how it plays out, but I saw a mock roster of the mock starting nine of the Netherlands team. And Drew Jones was in the starting lineup. I think it was like seven, eight MLB players. And then Drew Jones was the de facto other outfield option. I think Andrew Jones is a somewhat.

associated, if not in charge of the entire roster. So I don't know if that factors into maybe given his son a little bit more playing time or something. Christian Robinson is starting in center field for Great Britain. I'm not going to act like Great Britain has an incredible roster, but he's starting in center field according, like you said, to the initial roster, you know, information. I mean, I'd love to see. I was just going to say, I think this could be good for Drew Jones.

Being around guys like jerks and pro far, Xander Bogart's. Like, I mean, they have good players on that Netherlands team. I completely agree. Get him some high-level A-Bs against some really good pitchers, and let's let him get a little bit more acclimated to playing this level. Now, he's in high A. It's not like he's at the highest level right now, but I would love to see what Drew Jones can do in this tournament.

I think it's going to be a lot of fun to watch that guy in particular. Don't even need him to put up crazy numbers, but if he can just show competence, like if he can hit in the 200s, I'm pumped. I'm pumped about Drew Jones. Well, and I mean, honestly, this is great. experience because it's real baseball. It's competitive. It's high

leverage and it's representing your country. So it feels like it feels perhaps even more important than like regular season games in May. So I think that that's going to be good for having 13 guys that are out there competing like this early. Not great

for spring training, right? Because it means that we're going to be missing a lot of these guys out at Salt River fields, guys that really didn't need necessarily to play for the Diamondbacks on the spring training team, right? Like Catelle, Pardomo, Corbyn, it's just one of the things we like to see. We know we're only going to get one to two innings out of those guys when we go out to

watch spring training games. But obviously, the stretch at least from March 5th through March 17th where the World Baseball Classic will be taking place will feature a lot less of the stars that we're accustomed to seeing out there. But still, it should be fun times. Weather's beautiful. We're very blessed to be in this state. don't forget it's baseball nirvana but uh again world baseball classic runs march 5th through march 17th

can't wait pool play across san juan puerto rico houston texas Tokyo japan and miami florida with the finals being there in miami derrick and i will do some extra content over here on the channel on phnx sports when that thing rolls around maybe sure maybe a watch along maybe uh maybe some die hard extra diehard content Derek, maybe a little audio-only stuff. So, yeah, be on the lookout for all of that. Can't wait for the World Baseball Classic to roll into town. Can't wait to root on my tiny prideful island

that is in the Dominican Republic. I mean, I'm, I've already won the Super Bowl because Benito is performing at the halftime show. But that's a whole other thing for us Puerto Ricans over here. Speaking of Puerto Rico, I mean, Javi Baez, what's going on with your guy? Ineligible due to World Baseball Classic suspension.

We're still testing players for weed in the Big 26, Derek? Come on. Are you serious? What are we doing? In the Big 26. I feel like I, I feel like I'm under attack. I feel like I'm under attack. I mean, a Puerto Rican guy just got arrested for marijuana, Derek.

I'd say it's, it is 100% a personal attack against you. Also, no Francisco Indoor, no Carlos Correa. Wait, what happened there? They just, uh, they opted out. Availability issues have affected those guys, Damon. Availability issues. I'm not feeling good about the PR's chances. Look, you should never feel good about our chances.

It doesn't mean we still won't be out there trying our hardest and doing everything we can and still competing. If Lindor is going to sit out, then what's going on? That's our guy. And we want to criticize Nolan Aronado. This guy's trying to go out there and save the island single-handedly. I don't understand what we're doing here. Leave my guy alone. But again, we thank you guys so much for being here.

We love you. We appreciate your time. We will see you back here on Monday. A little programming note for next week. We are going to be changing times due to media availability out there at spring training, at least for the first week with pitchers and catchers reporting. Tori Lavolo is taking over the 12 p.m. time slot, apparently. So we're going to find another time to do this show.

You got to say something to him, Derek. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Hey, Tori, are you going to, what were you going to talk about? you just doing your availability at the time of our show every day? Why can't he do the availability on this show? Like he could just talk on this show. That would be huge.

We could get the other reporters to send in super chats and such. Steve Gilbert, Steve Gilbert, five dollars. We got a super chat here. Tori from Steve Gilbert. Steve says, who are you feeling on opening day? That's the first question Steve's going to ask for a lot.

We're just rack it in cash just so, you know, baseball writers association, you know, members can can get their questions across. They got that sweet, sweet baseball rider money. You know that day. We've got to get into that. Anyway, we'll be back here, though, at 12 p.m. on Monday. We are doing 12 p.m. on Monday because, of course, you know for a fact that it's mailbag Monday, and we do that every Monday.

So we'll be here for that, but then pitchers and catchers report on Tuesday. So I believe we'll be going around 4 p.m. once we get our studio situation fixed out. We will have an update for you on our time for next week on Monday. But before we get out of here, we've got one more super chat from Coolbro. Thank you so much, cool bro, for your super chats. He says, Derek, what heel faction are Dodgers? He asks the bloodline. Now, here's the thing.

What he's referring to is groups in pro wrestling, Damon. There's safety in numbers when you're in pro wrestling. So you typically have to find some friends, group together, call yourself something cool, and then, you know, again, try to beat up other teams that have lesser numbers than you. Very, very poignant when you're talking about heel factions in pro wrestling, because they do typically try to do the numbers game. And while the bloodline is a very good comparison, the bloodline is family.

The bloodline is a strong family of Sam Owens who are related and have years of knowing each other. That is not the Dodgers. The Dodgers are out here acquiring high-priced free agents. Way too cool. Way too cool to be died. Yeah, the bloodline, yeah, there is no Roman reigns on the bloodline. There is no head of the table.

I will not acknowledge anybody. on the Dodgers. But what I will acknowledge is that the Los Angeles Dodgers, as far as heel factions and pro wrestling, are the corporate ministry. At one time, there was a dark faction that was led by the undertaker of a bunch of creepy guys. And then there was the corporation led by Vince McMahon and his money as the owner of WWE, which seemed very unfair at the time.

But he couldn't overcome the Dodgers here, the Vince McMahon. in this scenario, couldn't overcome Stone Cold Steve Austin, a sole protagonist, a true anti-hero that came in out of nowhere and kicked the ever-living crap out of Vince McMahon. That would be the Diamondbacks in the 2023 playoff run. They are Stone Cold Steve Austin in this scenario. So again, it wasn't enough. He couldn't, they needed more. So they merged together with the ministry, bringing over Undertaker and Kane as part of their, you know, team. Two of the, biggest guys, two of the meanest guys in pro wrestling, you can say that that was Freddie Freeman and Shoahe Otani. Maybe Muki Betts. I don't know who the first move there was, but regardless,

that is who the Dodgers are, the corporate ministry. That checks out. I mean, that all checks out. Yeah, good. I'm glad everybody in the chat. There are about two things I hate in this world more than anything. And this is a damn fact. I know one. And that is, and that is, pro wrestling analogies. No, no, no, no, because I actually like that pro wrestling analogy. It is the bigwigs at the top of corporations and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Those are genuinely, I'm not even kidding with you right now. Those are my two least favorite factions of human beings that exist in this country on planet earth.

And so comparing them together and putting them in one little pool, cinema. I mean, that works for me. I'm all for it. Yeah. Katie says wrestling is boy soap operas 100% facts, Katie, 100% facts. But does your soap soap opera have someone doing a topes suicida over the top ropes into the crowd? No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't.

That's all. Anyway, we thank you guys. We love you guys for your time. We will be back, like I said, on Monday at 12 p.m. Until then, you can follow us on Twitter. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon dog with a D-A-W-G at the end, and we're all damon's dogs. Bark, bark.

Our show is at P-H-N-X underscore D-Backs, but is always all roads lead to at P-H-N-X underscore sports. on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We love you guys. We thank you so much for your questions and your time. We will see you on Monday. Until then, have yourselves a fantastic weekend. Get out there, enjoy this beautiful weather that we have. Go watch some golf and behave yourselves, most importantly, while you're out there, right?

That's a big point. But remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you know that the Diamondbacks can stomp a mud hole in the Dodgers ass and walk it dry.