PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Did Ryne Nelson SECURE his spot in Diamondbacks starting rotation?

Episode Date: April 15, 2024

The Diamondbacks successfully took two out of three against the St. Louis Cardinals at Chase Field over the weekend, which included the first shutout of the Red Birds at home since 2016. We have more on the starting pitching in the series, including Ryne Nelson who the D-backs may need to lean on for the foreseeable future, and the Snakes scoring in bunches and only bunches. We also have answers to your Mailbag Monday question and more on Brent Strom doing the Lord’s work when condemning a young fan’s Dodgers cap at the Vault. An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to Suns Takeovers, Coyotes & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://gophnx.com/events/Factor Mealkits: Use code PHNXDBACKS50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box and free wellness shots for life with any active subscription at https://factormeals.com/phnxdbacks50Arizona Lottery: Visit http://www.AZAdventure.com for more information on how you can take an adventure with the Arizona Lottery and for a chance to win $1 million in cash and Arizona travel prizes! Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Empire: Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! Receive a $350 OFF discount when you use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details.Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.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!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow 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.

It's key to you all. Hello and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as the mayor, according to this picture on the wall behind me. This man, your vice mayor, my thunder stick, the one and only Jesse Friedman. Arizona Diamondbacks come off a successful home series against the Cardinals. I've taken two out of three. And here we are. Happy Jackie Robinson day to you all.

I got my fit on in honor of Jackie Robinson. but the diamondbacks have a big series now against the Cubs that they start tonight at 640. Meantime, they're at 500. They did the thing. They overcame the Cardinals. Ryan Nelson, Zach Gallen, both looked very good in the series this weekend. They really did. Yeah, I mean, things changed pretty quick this time of year it feels like.

I mean, I think a week ago, the sky was falling around here. The Diamondbacks after losing that first game to the Rockies were four and seven. It was over. And people, yes, people were not, not super happy about things. But yes, now, now we are back. Diamondbacks go four and two against the Rockies and then against the St. Louis Cardinals this weekend. So, yeah, all in all, a pretty successful week for the Diamondbacks. We'll see if they can continue the good vibes.

You're there. Known Jace Peterson Truther, piece of Yoshi, says two out of three, both games, Jace played start to finish. Coincidence? Yes. Yes. absolutely. It's absolutely a question. It's because the starting pitching shoved. And to be honest, the bullpen was actually pretty good in the series as well. Ryan Nelson went out there,

six innings plus pitched. He gave up seven hits, one earn run aloud, one walk, and four strikeouts. And Ryan Nelson was exactly what the Diamondbacks needed. All three pitchers in the series went out there and gave them six innings, which was, again, something that they very much needed with what's been going on with their bullpen, at least how unreliable the bullpen has been. But Some pieces have been very reliable, including Bryce Jarvis, who has proven so far to be an asset for this team. I wonder if there will come a time not too far from now where Bryce Jarvis will take on a more significant role in the Diamondbacks bullpen. Those weren't necessarily, you know, it wasn't, it was a low leverage situation that he pitched in yesterday. It wasn't necessarily a mop-up role.

I mean, the Diamondbacks still had a lead to protect, but it was a bigger lead. and up to this point we haven't really seen Bryce Jarvis in some of those tighter late game situations that have been a big problem for the Diamondbacks bullpen so far. And you wonder, I mean, if he continues to really have success with this new cutter that he's been throwing, he's throwing the four seamer less, he's throwing the cutter more, or he's throwing the cutter at all. He didn't have that pitch prior to about a month ago as far as we know. And yeah, he's looked really good in that role. He kind of reminds me of Dre Jameson last year when the Diamondbacks bullpen,

wasn't necessarily fantastic. Drey Jamison was able to come in and give them some length and some in some really key moments. And Drey did pitch in some higher leverage situations. Dre got that fire in the blood. He did. He did have some fire in his blood.

And it appears the Price Jarvis may also have fire in his blood. Yeah. Diamondback secure their first shutout win over the Cardinals at Chase Field since 2016. That's a long time considering how long, how many games they play against the Cardinals every year. This isn't like the Yankees where it's an ale opponent that comes in rarely. And, you know, there's been gaps.

This is somebody that comes into Chasefield quite often. So a great, great, great win to get the shutout. However, still a little surprising little shock there that that was the first shutout since 2016. The Diamondbacks, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but the Diamondbacks like all time record against the Cardinals is really bad. I'm pretty sure. I do not think the Diamondbacks play the Cardinals well at all. I don't want to know what it is. But, yeah, I mean, the Cardinals, there.

not are not the team that we've seen over the last, the larger part of the last decade, right? Like, uh, and not to say the Diamond Beck's just went in and took two out of three from the Rockies. I think the Cardinals are a better team than that for sure. But I picked the Cardinals to win the NL Central, Derek.

And I don't feel so great about that here in the early going. It's still very, very early. So who, I mean, who knows? But, uh, yeah, I mean, even you, you could tell like Paul Goldschman and Nolan Aronado, although they did have their moments throughout the series.

I don't think those guys are fully locked in at this point, and they really need those guys to both be excellent hitters for that lineup to really work. Aaron out of the hell out of a ball in one of these games. He did, that's for sure. That was a big three run home. Bob and Steve were talking about like Goldie, like retiring. Yeah, I don't really know what that was about.

They were talking about how like theoretically his last abat on Sunday could have been his final at bat at Chase Field because this is the last year of his contract with the Cardinals. And I guess you don't really know what he's going to do. from this point. And then they were like, they said something like, you just never know, you know, like with what's circulating or something, something along those lines where they made it seem like it was like a rumor. And then I looked up out, I was like, he's not that old. He's 36. Yeah. I know, I fully expect Paul Goldschman to continue playing. I mean, I guess if you were to sign with an American league team, like, you know, maybe the debacks would play that team on the road next year. Here's just a one year deal. One thing I think. One thing I think is that Paul Goldman strikes me as a kind of. guy that doesn't want to go out there and perform the way he's performing right now, right? Yeah. So I feel like based on his simple approach to the game itself, which we used to joke about,

the whole Paul Goldchman, I'm just going out there and trying to hit the ball hard. After a while, you felt like that that really wasn't just a mask. It wasn't just an easy thing for him to say to us as the media to get us out of his face. It was legitimately a mantra of his. It was legitimately his mindset. He's trying to go out there, clear his mind as much as possible. He didn't want to know how many RBI he had that point of the season. He didn't want to know how many home runs he had.

He didn't care about that. And he felt like when he knew that information, it would just impact him negatively. He liked to take as simple of an approach to the game as possible. So I don't know. There's something about him that strikes me as the kind of person that would potentially, you know, not want to continue playing baseball. If he feels he can't still perform at a high level, right? That's, yeah, that's fair. He has a Hall of Fame push he needs to make, though.

That's the problem is that he's kind of a borderline guy, and every statistical improvement helps him get over that line. So I don't see him retiring because he wants that bust in the Hall of Fame. I mean, yeah, and I think it's important to keep perspective on, like, Paul Goldschmidt wasn't his MVP self in 2023, but he still had a 120 OPS plus and, you know, is still a pretty good defensive first baseman. Like, that's still a really valuable player.

And I expect him to be that again this year. Like, yeah. Elise says Derek hates Paul Goldschmidt and isn't afraid to tell everyone. I, you're disqualified from talking about Paul Goldschmidt. I don't hate Paul Goldschmidt. What a lie, Jess. I absolutely don't hate Paul Goldschmidt. You get a load of this, Jesse?

Yeah, there's, yeah. We receive about seven text messages this weekend from Derek making fun of Paul Goldschmidt, and he has the audacity to tell us that he doesn't hate Paul Goldschmidt. I don't hate Paul Goldschmidt. It's the overrated, right, Derek? That's how you feel about this guy? Now he's closer. He's closer to my actual opinion, but I do not hate Paul Goldschman.

I actually very, very much like Paul Goldschmidt. Like I said, Goldie was always. No, no, no. I'm like every Diamondbacks fan. He was a godball. He was here. He played credible. I mean, he was everything to this franchise.

I still think that if he does make it in the Hall of Fame, he absolutely should be a Diamondback, even though most likely he wouldn't be, but hopefully he would be. I don't know. I'll be on that. if he chooses to be a Cardinal, I'll be on your side with you.

How does that sound? Okay, that's fine. Until then. Right or die. Goldie forever. But I'll say like as far as a person goes, he was a tremendous person. He was a very, very good person to be around. He was absolutely great to this community.

And I was involved with actually his charity that he was doing where he was raising money for the Phoenix Children's Hospital. So I don't hate Paul Goldschman. Don't you dare. I just think that some people shouldn't be idolized. And that probably goes from most baseball players. When you were out at this charity event, Did you tell Goldie about how you think Diamondbacks fans like fell in love with him a little too much?

Did you explain any of this narrative to him while you were out there? This was before I really established this narrative. He was still a Diamondback at this time. So you were still a scene person at the time. Okay, got it. Yes, Seth Harper, absolutely. Walker, Goldschmidt way down here. Anyway, oh, my God.

Let's not even go there. But the Diamondbacks have, by the way, scored a lot of runs in bunches. In fact, all of their runs seemingly come in bunches. And those bunches do not come late in the game. In fact, after this series, the Diamondbacks have now scored 77 runs this season innings one through six, which leads all of Major League Baseball in those innings. And then they have nine runs total in inning seven through nine. Yeah, I mean.

Nine runs total. Yeah, they just took two out of three against the Cardinals. but like it wasn't like scoring runs in inning seven or nine like wasn't even on the table right I mean it's just not something the diamond backs do at this point it's just not in their DNA this team is ridiculous yeah there's a lot of there's a lot of weirdness early on like it started out as the diamond backs only score runs in the first inning that's true and now it feels like we veered I mean they still did score a run in the first inning in one of these games I can't remember which one off top of my head yesterday's game yesterday's game no they didn't score

No, they didn't score anything until. I'm sorry, Saturday's game. It was Saturday's game. You're right. Yeah, they scored a run in the first inning on Saturday. But yeah, I mean, outside of that, like on Friday, the Diamondback scored all six of their runs in the fifth inning. They were down six nothing and came throwing back and died the game.

Didn't win that one, of course. They lose nine, six. And then, as you said, on Saturday, they get one run in the first. But then their other three runs come on a big Lordus home run in the fifth or in the sixth inning. And then on Sunday, all of their. all of their runs come once again in the fifth inning with a five spot there. So yeah, now it's just become, I don't know how to explain it, but they just score all their runs at a given time.

And it's not necessarily a bad thing. No, I guess. Five or five runs, six, like these numbers will work, but it's a little weird how it's happening. It is a weird. And you would, I guess there would be some comfort in it being spread around because you don't start overthinking this, right? You don't start over analyzing if this team is going to be this bad in late innings. all season long if they

are a team that once they have once they're behind going in the inning seven they never win a baseball game right like that's yeah that's the thoughts that start creeping in here they have come from behind late they just haven't scored a lot of runs so far this season but I mean it does start you start to wonder

if it's going to become a concerning thing but right now you can look at it at the opposite like the Diamondbacks at any point can post six runs in an inning almost effortlessly you timed it it was 13 minutes that they went from being down six to eyeing the ball game in that one game, right? So like this team can just instantly be back in a game no matter the deficit.

And that, if you want to be, if you want to be a glass half full, if you want to be cautiously optimistic, that is something that is good, that this team can score in bunches the way they have and doesn't really feel like a lead is safe when they're down. However, it doesn't really feel like a lead is safe when they're up either. And that's the problem. At least this series, much more encouraging. Let's take a look at the count for the series. And you will see here, Diamondback.

scored more runs in the series of the 15 to 11. The Redbirds out hit the snakes, 29 to 22. With runners in scoring position, Diamondbacks were excellent in this series, 8 for 21 for 381 batting average to the Cardinals, 6 for 26 with a 231 batting average. Starting pitching ERA, good for the Diamondbacks, 3.50 to the 5.87 for the Cardinals.

But then, once again, the Diamondbacks make a relief, you know, the bullpen look like absolute all-stars. I can only imagine what their ERA is against bullpens this season, but it has to be sub one. It might be sub one. Jesse, what do you think that is? It's probably pretty close to sub one. Yeah, I mean, if they've only scored nine runs in inning seven or nine the whole year, then yeah, it's probably around one. 16 games, nine runs.

Not great. Not great. Yeah. But the Diamondbacks did have kind of a different star every night of this one. And that's why it was a little bit hard for us to determine the king snake, honestly, because nobody was really, nobody stood out. Lordus Gariel had himself an excellent game on Saturday. He had the big hit. He had the big hit.

Christian Walker was huge for this team on Sunday. Agueno Suarez, great on Friday. Each day it was a different guy that stepped up. I think that is what the character of this team is, right? Like there's going to be nights where Corby and Carroll goes 04, but he has other teammates that are going to pick him up and have a great night. So far, we've seen that out of the Diamondbacks. Aside from Catelle Marte really managing to stay fairly consistent, feels like this team kind of goes up and down.

But luckily, they have somebody that steps up so far every night. Yeah, yeah. And I mean, I think we expected that to be a characteristic of this team going into the year that it wasn't necessarily that their middle of the lineup was going to be better than their opponent's middle of the lineup. I think oftentimes that might not be the case, actually. It's just that the Diamondbacks have a very well-rounded lineup, that you have Cotel and you have quarter.

And you have Christian Walker and Lordus Gurriel and Jock Peterson and Gabrielle Marino. There's just a lot of, and A. Oh, Hanois Juarez. There's just a lot of weapons that the Diamondbacks have. It's a much more balanced lineup than we've seen in recent years. And it's certainly paid off for them so far. Well, the guy that we are giving the King Snake to is the milkman, the real milkman. Zach Gallen, six innings in his start on Sunday, zero earned runs, seven strikeouts. Gallin has been incredible in four starts.

He has a 1.64 ERA, I believe, if that's correct. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, 1.64 ERA. My God, I mean, the milkman has in fact delivered. He has. And there were a lot of questions coming into the year, you know, with all the innings that he piled up last season and kind of a delayed buildup this year, which was very intentional.

What was this going to look like for Gallen? And so far, so good, you really can't have asked for anything more. We talked about some concerns with his fastball life and the velocity. And I haven't looked at the numbers from his start yesterday, but at least in terms of life, some of the vertical ride numbers jumped in his second start. And frankly, he's Zach Allen, right? And he just at this point is the kind of pitcher who can put up pretty good results,

even if he doesn't necessarily have his best stuff. And I really don't think he's had his best stuff overall this season. But when you're crazy. Yeah, when you're dealing with a guy who just is such an elite level talent like Zach Gallen is, sometimes you kind of just throw that stuff out the window. And it's like, yeah, he's Zach Gallen. He's still really good, even if he's, you know, 80% of himself or whatever. We want our Sayung this year.

We want our Sayung this year. Yeah. It's coming home. It's a pretty good start. I put some money on it. That's for sure. Of course, speaking of money, one thing that Jesse likes to put his money on is numbers. He loves numbers.

He got super excited when I was doing some in my head math earlier, right? I did the ERA for the bullpen, which was really easy in my head. You figured out that if they went nine innings and gave up four and runs. Their ERA is four. That's all. I did that, son. I did that math. But Jesse actually has some better numbers for you for this week's edition or today's

edition of Numbers Don't Lie. What do we got, Jesse? Yeah. So today's number is 31. and 31 is the percentage of pitches. There it is. Ryan Nelson threw 31% cutters in his start on Saturday, which was the second highest, second highest percent.

Behind the fast bar obviously. Yep, yeah, four seamer was definitely his most used pitch. But with Ryan Nelson, it's no secret. He's been searching for a secondary pitch that would work well with his four seamer for a long time. He has a variety of pitches, right? I mean, he throws a change up, he throws a slider and a cutter. But what we saw from him on Saturday was a cutter that was better than I think anything we've seen in the past. What action does a cutter have that makes it different from a fastball?

Because it's still a fastball, right? Yeah, a cutter is still, yeah, it is technically a subtype of fastball. But a cutter is a little bit sliderish. Generally, four seam fastballs move arm side, whereas a cutter would move glove side. So it sort of moves like a slider, except just not. as dramatically. It tends to be thrown a little bit harder, which was actually a big story for Ryan Nelson. Last year, his cutter, according to Stadcast, average like in the mid-80s. And so far, at least in that start on Saturday, is cutter average 91.5, something around there. That would be like

throwing a fastball in the mid-80s, essentially, right? Yeah, yeah. And so the way that he described it after the game is that throwing it that hard, it makes it harder for the hitter to separate the cutter from the four seamer. It looks like a four seamer longer coming in. And as a result of that, it's just more deceptive to the hitter. He got some ground balls. He didn't get a ton of swing and miss.

He only got one whiff on that cutter in that game, but it was still really effective, just pitching, pairing that with the fastball. Those two seem to tunnel really well together. And we have a clip. I believe we have a video clip of Ryan Nelson after the game talking about just how he feels now that he knows he has like another weapon in his arsenal.

tough spot a little different a little bit of confidence just knowing that I have another weapon in my back pocket to go to when backs gets a wall and that probably lets you have a I don't know the Steve's question you know kind of handle that sort of tough spot a little differently knowing like

yeah 100% if it's second and third and they know I'm just going to throw a bunch of fastballs it probably goes differently well and I think obviously because of the high percentage of fastballs he typically throws having any kind of pitch in there that kind of changes in any way and is different, comes off the bat, just doesn't hit the bat the same way because of its movement, is going to be effective for him. Yeah.

Especially considering, like you said, if the tunneling there, if the pitch motion is the exact same as the fastball, it's going to be hard for them to pick up when he's throwing one or the other. And that could be all Ryan Nelson needed because we know his fastball is good. We know that he has been effective for this team at times. It's just a matter of he tends to rely on that fastball a little too much. and if he's not locating, that's problematic for him, basically. I mean, there's, there's no out for him. When Zach Gallin loses a little bit of velocity or Zach Gallen isn't locating,

he has ways like Jesse said, and that's why he's an elite level pitcher, to creatively get around that so that he's still effective without having to rely on that particular thing that might not be working that night. That's why Gallin always says something isn't working because for him, everything doesn't work on any given night for Gallen, right? And it makes sense, but it also doesn't because how are you so good? when a part of your arsenal wasn't working, right? Ryan Nelson doesn't have as many options as Gallen,

but still he is developing. That's the point of these young guys getting this playing time. When you see Ryan Nelson, when you see Tommy Henry in there, again, these guys, even if everybody comes back and they're no longer needed in the starting rotation, it doesn't mean that they won't be called upon, again, at some point this season. That's just the way that Major League Baseball goes, the way that depth goes. You've seen all of these tweets about how many guys are injured

and how many elbow injuries there are and all this stuff. I mean, for the most part, at least the Diamondbacks have avoided anything catastrophic, but they could still have, you know, even guys out for short term that they're going to need to rely on Ryan Nelson again. Right now, we don't know when Erod comes back, and Ryan Nelson could very possibly be who the Diamondbacks keep in the starting rotation. But we will talk about that here shortly. Of course, we do thank you guys for being here in the PHN Sports YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, do so now. Sign up for notifications.

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Earlier, Damon was talking about Zach Gallen for Sy Young. So now it might be a great time to drop a little bit money of money on Zagallon for Syng over at the Bet MGM Sportsbook app. Of course, if you sign up yet, did you? Did you get on that? Yeah, that's a good. That's a good get. I might tail on that, but you got to download the sportsbook app first on iOS or Android or visit betmgm.com and sign up using our code of PHNX.

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It's Monday. Every year, obviously on the show is our year. Every week on the show is Shark Week. Every month on this show is Women's History Month. Of course, every day is Earth Day. But on Mondays, Mondays are special. Every Monday, we go to the mailbag. Damon, shall we go to the mailbag?

My mailbox. Always something interesting in my mailbox. I try to get to everything in my mailbox. And then once in a while there's a letter that makes me go out. All right. First question. smart guy. Aaron Hughes. Thank you, Aaron Hughes for the strong, strong podcast download numbers in Germany. We appreciate that, by the way. We did look like top 10 in Germany. Yeah, we were top 10 in

Germany and when we looked at each other, we were like Aaron Hughes. It's got to be because of Aaron. So we appreciate you, Aaron. And Aaron's question is what do you think happens with the roster situation when Monty makes his debut? Obviously, we're talking here about Ryan Nelson and his chances of staying in the rotation. So far it does feel, especially with that cutter added to his arsenal, that Ryan Nelson has kind of made a step forward and possibly become the

favorite to stay in the rotation once Montgomery joins the group. By the way, Tori still not down with Monty because, as he said, he doesn't really know him yet. So he can't just be calling a guy. He doesn't know nicknames. And that's something that we should probably maybe follow on this show.

But anyway, Monty, Jesse, what do we do until Monty comes back? Or when Monty comes back. Yeah, I mean, if you'd ask me this on Friday before Ryan Nelson had had pitched against the Cardinals, I probably, I mean, I don't, I wouldn't have known then and I still don't know now, so I want to make that clear. But if you would ask me then, I probably would have guessed that Tommy Henry would be the guy to stay in the rotation and that maybe the Diamondbacks would look at moving Ryan Nelson to the bullpen to see if he had more success there. After seeing Ryan Nelson do what he did on Saturday, it's going to be hard to take that guy out of the rotation after the

start that he just delivered. I think there's been a sense for a while that Ryan Nelson's ceiling is higher than that of Tommy Henry. I mean, he has a potentially elite level forcing fastball. It's just a matter of kind of figuring out the rest of the arsenal. And he's starting to do that. And I don't know if you really want to take him out of the rotation at this point. So, I mean, the way that things line up, Ryan Nelson, it would be slated to pitch, I believe, on Wednesday, if I'm not mistaken. Or no, on Thursday. So Ryan Nelson right now would line up to start the first game of the San Francisco

series and then Jordan Montgomery. You could slide him in for the second game on the 19th. The 19th is a date that he gave that he told the media when he was originally introduced. So at the very least, I feel like Ryan Nelson bought himself another start, right? Sure. I would be surprised if the Diamondbacks moved Montgomery to the 18th in order to just remove Ryan Nelson from the rotation. Maybe the debacks want to buy more time, though.

Maybe they let, I mean, Tommy Henry's going to start in this Cub series. Maybe, maybe Ryan Nelson, you know, he gets that start on the 18th. And maybe they wait until after that to decide whether, what they're going to do moving forward. I mean, they could take this all the way up until basically the day that Jordan Montgomery makes his first start with team and then, and then, you know, push that decision down the road. But yeah, I'm still intrigued to what Ryan Nelson could give the debacks in the bullpen. I think it could be really good. And this is a team that does need bullpen help.

We've certainly seen that in the early going. But I don't know if they're about to take him out of the rotation after what he just did. Here's what I think is going to happen. I think Tommy Henry, when the time comes, will be sent down to Reno to stay stretched out as a starting pitcher. I think meanwhile, I think Ryan Nelson, when Erod comes back, will be pushed to the bullpen. And I think that at that point, we might see. see, I don't know, a more complete pen. I don't know what they're going to do as far as roster moves because they have a lot of

things to take care of in regards to that, a lot of difficult decisions to make because once some of those decisions are made, they're not going to be as easy as, you know, sending a guy down. They're going to be a bit more permanent. So that's going to be difficult when that comes along. However, I do think that that is a good reason that all of these guys at this point should stay motivated. Nobody's job is safe, especially if you're a pitcher in this organization.

at this point, unless your name is Gowan or Kelly or Fought, but like nothing is, your future is not secure. So right now, some of the guys who aren't performing in the bullpen like Scott McGuff and, and, you know, Castro, for instance, like those are guys who might become a bit more expendable when those tough roster decisions come around. That's really what's happening. But right now, the Diamondbacks just don't have a choice. They don't have enough arms for them to, you know, kind of move on and give other guys

opportunities at this point. I feel like the fact that Erod had that setback, it does, it does make me, at least if I were the diamondbacks, I'd be a little more hesitant to push one of the guys in the bullpen and lose that option in the rotation. Right. Because then if another injury pops up, then you don't have a whole lot of depth at that point, right? I mean, Slate Cicone is there in Reno. You'd probably feel okay about giving him another shot. Yeah. But behind him, there's not really an obvious, like, oh, yeah, this guy in AAA is ready to make starts in the majors.

Christian Mena, Jesse. Potentially. But I don't, I don't, I mean, I'd be intrigued to see what it would look like. Give me Justin Martinez up here. You want Justin Martinez for five innings? No, no, no, no. Just I just want him in the pen. Just give me these guys from the minors right now.

They are showing. Yeah, they just might be more careful with their starting rotation depth given what happened to Erod. But yeah, we'll, we'll find out. Yeah. All right. Next question comes from our guy, Travis Moore. And I think this is more of the same question. actually.

More for me, he says, whose spot is Monty taking in the rotation? Do they head to the bullpen or down to Reno? I think we kind of answered that for the most part. But I did want to highlight another part of Travis's question, in fact. He sent a wonderful note. And he said, P.S. Damon, I appreciate the shout-out from last week. I could talk ball and specifically D-Backs ball all day long.

I love your guys' show on top of that. It's probably my favorite to listen to when I run in the morning, especially on recovery days. When you guys do the mailbags, it feels like. like I'm part of the conversation for a brief moment. And I already, I really enjoy that. Thanks for always engaging us. Well, thank you, Travis, for always sending your wonderful questions.

Travis, much apologies for Derek killing your Iron Man streak of being question number one. Yeah. That felt a little. Yeah. It felt very unnecessary. I'll be honest. If he said P.S. Thank you, Derek.

Yeah. In that message, there's no chance. It's not the first question. I was going to kick one of the questions out just because he addressed Jesse directly. Like, is it what am I not here? Am I chopped liver? It wasn't a question about teaching in Seattle. It was a question about ball.

I get included on all those. Jesse doesn't include it in the wrestling ones. I get unincluded from the math ones. That's the way it works around here. Anyway, thank you, Travis. And I think hopefully we answered your question. But yeah, I mean, things get complicated for this team. That's essentially what this comes down to.

When the Diamondbacks do have these guys return, these decisions don't get made any easier. And then there's the question of, does Jordan Montgomery continue to perform the way he's been performing in Reno so far, right? I know this question might be a few questions down, Damon, but can we get the one from, I think it's 13, Alanis.

It's the final question of segment one. And that question is, Jesse, this was the one I was talking about, like I'm fucking chopped liver over here. Jesse, what are your thoughts on Monty's two starts with Reno, specifically against Tacoma? Tacoma Daddy, the bum from Tacoma.

Will the results translate to Major League Baseball? A few thoughts on this. So, Jordan Montgomery's line for those who didn't see on Saturday and his last his final tune up presumably for Reno three and two thirds nine hits seven runs two walk six strikeouts not exactly what you're looking for from your 25 million dollar man and his final tune up before he joins the team his sinker Velo was still down a bit 91.4 so it's about two miles an hour lower than where it was last season with the Rangers still probably too early to be all that concerned about that but yeah you know I

looked through some of the some of the batted ball stuff and uh there there were a few hits in that game that were i think there was a double that was kind of a chopper there was a single that was a chopper and you know not hit super hard there was a double at like 85 off the bat he gave up two homers one of them was very much legitimate by kate marlowe but the other one looking at the uh the exit velo and the launch angle uh probably like just barely got over the fence or something so for whatever that's worth i mean I'm not here to say he pitched well. I do think I wasn't there for this, but Tori was asked about this the other day, and he seemed to not be concerned at all.

He said something about how Montgomery was really trying to get a feel for his sinker, and so he just kept going back to it over and over again more than he normally would have. So I think, yeah, I think he left some pitches in bad spots. He was, you know, obviously working on something. I wouldn't be too concerned about it at this point. Yoshi in the chat says Montgomery is doing his spring training. And that is something to be said about that. Like you want to see better results.

But if the purpose of him going out there right now isn't really necessarily to try to have a great outing, but it's to work on one specific pitch. Yeah. That's kind of easy to figure out for the opposing batters. And there's nothing like absolutely crushing a pitch against a man that makes $25 million when you're a AAA minor leaguer. So those guys are going out there and trying to do their damn. am to cause to cause him to have a bad night and they succeeded but I'm not worried either. I think that Jordan Montgomery is going to be just fine.

And I think even even if he comes up in his first couple of starts aren't great, aren't, you know, what you want to see. I think it's still a matter of the timing, how lady signed with this team and him just getting back on track as far as the starting pitcher is concerned. He's just been really consistent. I mean, a few pitchers have been as consistent when healthy as Jordan Montgomery. So, yeah, I mean, Zach Gallen had some spring training starts for. He was terrible.

And now he has a 164 ERA. So it's way too early to really be concerned about anything with Jordan Montgomery. We'll see what he looks like in the majors and then kind of evaluate from there. All right. Next question comes from Cameron McCarthy. Any relation there to maybe somebody on this team? Expanding on the earlier question from Aaron Hughes, Cameron asks, what happens when Perdomo and Thomas get back? Yeah.

So Geraldo Perdomo when he gets back, I mean, I guess the debacks are going to have a, I mean, Kevin Newman is probably the obvious answer there, right? You probably send Kevin Newman back to Reno and then Geraldo Perdomo becomes your everyday shortstop. I mean, maybe, you know, if Blaze is in a place where they would rather get him everyday A.Bs and Reno, I mean, maybe that's something they would consider. But yeah, Kevin Newman wasn't, you know, he wasn't here on the opening day roster. He is very much here to kind of help make up for Perdomo's absence. So that would probably be my expectation there if I had to guess. Blaze gets pretty regular ABs. I don't think that should be an issue.

I mean, but he's getting, he's getting regular ABs in part because Perdomo is not here right now, right? I feel like he was deaching against. But he also was deaching in part because Randall Grishik wasn't back. So once you get Perdomo back and Grishick is also here, He's earned a lot. It becomes a little bit harder to find at bats for, for, I think he's earned up bats comparing him to Gritchick. But that's what Grishick is here for, right?

Like, you signed Grishik for almost the sole purpose of being your DH against left-handed pitchers. So I, I don't know. I mean, like, I don't disagree with you necessarily. I think Blaze has certainly earned a shot. But, and I don't know if Kevin Newman is necessarily like someone that they value super highly in the like feel like they really need to have stick around beyond when Perdomo comes back. So that would still be my expectation there. As far as Alec Thomas is concerned when he comes back, that one, I imagine that Jake McCarthy

would maybe be the odd man out there now that now that Randall Grishick is back. But we'll have to wait and see. There's a lot of things I hate about this just because nobody's doing a good enough job single-handedly to be the obvious answer, right? Feels like Blaze is the obvious answer due to his bat and his contributions. And again, we know that he's not as bad defensively as he's shown. We know this is kind of just a bad stretch. Hopefully, much like pitchers that come in and get shelled and then are able to settle down and have better performances like Ryan Nelson has had recently,

this is something that he can get under control and can still be an asset both defensively and at the plate. His arm is incredible. So for Blaze to be, I guess, a detriment. defensively out there. That's, it's, it's sad and it's not really the case. I think it's just temporary. So hopefully we see them step up. But they have a lot of difficult decisions to make.

And again, there is the factor that when these guys come back, they have to make sure that they are outperforming the players that they're replacing because then that makes things even more complicated should they struggle when they come back. So Diamondbacks just need healthy bodies. Let's get everybody back. Let's worry about who goes down and where they go later because right now I, I, I, I'm still worried about when we're going to see Geraldo Prodomo again and when we're going to see Rod make his debut. Yeah, the timing is also a factor for sure.

I mean, I think there's a pretty good chance that you see Alec Thomas before you see Geraldo Prado. So, you know, maybe that factors into which players they would move on from. But yeah, we'll see. All right. Well, else we got there, Damon. Chris. At Sir Giro, Chris asks, Derek, do you prefer Violet. Eric, do you prefer violet, orchard, orchid?

Is it orchid? I don't know if that's the orchid or lavender. I was going to say orchard. Orchard? I don't know. Orchard? Is it orchard a color? I don't believe so.

I don't really think orchard is color. I think we need to dunk on Chris for that. Because Chris is trying to dunk on me. Yeah, yeah, it's orchid. It's a orchid. It's a shade of purple. And I get where you're going with this, Chris. He wants to know where the hair counter is at, basically.

is where he wants to know. He wants to know which shade of purple I'm going to dye my hair when the Diamondbacks inevitably do have a winning record in the month of April. How many are, do we got eight more? They need eight more wins. They got two over the weekend. We were at 10, I believe, last week. Yeah.

Yeah, they need eight more wins. Yeah. They go eight and seven or better the rest of the way. Derek is dying as they're purple again, which is amazing. I need a least to send you a neutral full. weren't they four and seven when you I don't remember the record when you said that but yeah they've things have trended in the

things have trended in the direction of Derek dying his hair purple which is a delightful thing for all of us I don't find it to be so delightful I don't think that I feel like what the diamondbacks are doing are sandbagging I feel like they're purposefully losing games they need to be 500 by the end of the month is that right I said a winning record winning record I said a winning record in the month of April I think they were Yeah, I want to say they were five and eight when you originally made that declaration. They had to go 11 and 7 the rest of the way.

Tony is suggesting that if I haven't picked out a stylist already, maybe I use the same one that Lourdes uses. That'd be awkward if we showed up on the same day. Like he got there for a touch-up and then I'm sitting there reading a magazine waiting. I've told you guys that I actually like my barber said he cut Lortis's hair one time. Really? Yeah. So we could get you over there, Derek. At least I need the neuterful.

Like, it just got to be respectable again. It's just, it's like, it's there. But it probably might not be if I die it again. So we'll see what happens. But, yeah, that much bleach two years in a row. Probably not good. Probably not good. I'm too old to be doing this kind of stuff at this point.

But should they have a winning record, I am a man of my hair. My hair? A man of my hair. I'm a man of my word. But yeah, I guess we have a tracker now thing that did you change it? Is he a troll doll now? Oh, look at that guy. There he is.

There he is. Any more games till that guy makes his first appearance. So that's great. Of course, a great way for you to go watch these games here at home, especially the series against the Cubs to get your tickets through game time. That way you can root on the diving bags making me dye my hair purple in person. You save up to 60% off when buying. last minute for not only Diamondbacks games, all sports, all concerts, comedy shows, all sorts

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That sounds so good, right? I might have that later actually well have you fed yourself today let me ask you that no have you consumed any food besides that cup of coffee in front of you know it's you know the deal I know the deal if Damon doesn't eat illegal peats he doesn't eat dare that's actually true I'm happy and illegal pizza that's that's my entire diet his regimen is like reverse nachos and peso dip and uh that's it and this margaritas because obviously margarita strongest in Arizona the nutrition you need it's all I mean it covers all four food groups, Jesse. It absolutely does. But Illegal Pete's

is here to bring you a win with their legendary sound check deal. Bring in your ticket stub from any ticketed event and get a draft beer or house margarita which is probably the way you should go. For a penny, Illegal Pete wants to celebrate with you whether it's a pregame or post game party. They got you covered on all your game day needs.

Must purchase an adult entree to redeem Illegal Pete's sound check deal. That's easy enough. Go to Illegal Pete's, your go-to spot for burritos buddies and beer and Damon. We got some more mailbag. Monday questions, that notorious troublemaker piece of Yoshi sent us one. I know that. Let's get his out there.

The Jace Peterson fan club, founder and proprietor of the Jace Peterson Pan Club. It's a fan club of one, Jesse. It says, are we going to do something about the MLB Twitter account calling Colton Kouser the milkman on Galentine's Day yesterday, or are we going to let it slide? I think I have some bad news for D-Backs fans here, Derek. Couser I mean That's pretty good

Like Couser lends itself To the milkman nickname Better than Gallin does Absolutely not Number one gallon is not spelled Like the actual gallon Like of milk

Okay And number two You can have a gallon of more That gallons don't just have to be of milk Gallon is simply volume measurement You can have a gallon of gas You can have a gallon of gallons of gas What else do we measure?

Why haven't we done that yet? Gallons of gas? Yeah, maybe. I don't know. Maybe we have to branch out a little bit. Circle. Gas by the gallon. Circle K.

Tion is right there. My God, what are we doing? Max is going to be furious that we haven't done this already. You can measure multiple things with gallons. But cows are like that's, I mean, he's got a point.

He can be the cow. They can moot him. There's other things they can do. Just because he has cow in his name does not make him the milkman. first of all, gallon delivers, right? And he delivers by the gallon. And here's the thing, he looks like a milkman. Are we not going to say that he doesn't look like a milkman?

Has anybody not seen Zach Gallen and thought, milkman? Because he looks like he's got the glasses. He just needs the white hat and the shirt. He looks like a milkman. This is crazy. It's crazy talk. Not to mention the fact that that's not the way nicknames work, right? All these people were getting on me because apparently when he was younger,

Corby and Carroll nicknamed the machine and everybody's like Poolhol's is the machine and I get that I get that Pool's not somebody we need to worry about anymore that nickname can now be passed on Maybe he's like El Eho Nobody calls Corby and Carroll the machine Apparently his high school

They're called guys old teammates did I don't know but it was in there Anyway a nickname can't just be Like yeah it's a cool nickname but it's already Zach Gallons that's the way it works Right I mean has this man been called The Milk Band for years and years and years before Zach Gallen

goes back to the origin story of the nickname right? Jesse you can't just steal someone's nickname like that it doesn't work like that you have to snatch their chain first maybe if Colton Couser hits like three bombs off of Zach Gallup I'm the milk man yeah so you're waiting for the head to head to

no no it's Zach Gallants he has the original until it gets stolen from him it's his you can't just be like you can't you can't steal the kid off of Ken Griffey exactly that would be absurd Jesse listened to you. No,

it would be like somebody coming in calling themselves the mayor of Phoenix. It would be insane. Without having beat up Kate Gallego for us. Theo Mackey says calling himself the thunderstick. You're cool with that? Yeah. He's right.

Did you imagine? Oh my God. He would be furious. You'd be furious, Jesse. Can't just steal another man's nickname. He's right. You have to beat him up. That's the way it goes.

All right. Next question. What do we got? Ryan Hanley, Hanley asked if you could have any job within Chase Field, what would it be? I would be a Golden Glover. I would be the worst, but it would be must-see TV. I've been told that I don't have the fielding skills to be a Golden Glover,

and you're probably right. Yeah. Golden Glovers have sometimes some line drives at them. I have no interest in doing that in the name of what, just being out there to, like, protect the fans or what? Like, what is the Golden Glover's job now just to make sure the balls get out of play so that, like, an outfielder doesn't have to go get it and throw it out of the way? I get it. Not interested.

Derek, you'd be the pork belly nachos guy. Let's be real. I mean, that's low hanging fruit. Let's be real. No, I wouldn't.

I'd be terrible at that because I would eat them. Right? So I'm supposed to sell them. I'm not saying you'd be good at it. I'm saying that that would be the job you would pick because you'd be speaking a bunch of snack breaks. Taste of Chase does have a connecting door to the Churotog headquarters. There are located in that state border. I feel like I would take over the organ.

How is my answer, Derek? One of us is like actually like played piano and like actually played an organ before. And it's not you, my friend. All right. Well, you can fine. Can I be the PA announcer? I'll take over for Chuck. That's a good one, right?

I think you would be a great organ guy and Derek would be a great PA announcer. That actually would be probably pretty good. I think that's an insult to my PA skills. You're not, you are a commentator if you would, right? You are somebody who could call a game. I'm not saying you're bad in the broadcast booth, but your voice booming through Chase Field or mine. I think it'd be pretty electric personally.

Lordus Gourrienne Jr. That's what wasn't a good one. I hate it already. Anyway. I would be a rally back. Just dancing on top of the dugout. Yeah, you can pull that off. With the new philosophy of the rallybacks, you would be great at it

because their job is to tell fans what to do. So you would go, like when James out wave, don't do the way. When James Outman is in the battery box, you would literally be inches away from him yelling at the crowd, boo this man. Yeah, you'd be great at that. Outman. Yeah. Outman. Actually, Ryan makes a good point here.

I think I would really love to be on the grounds crew. That'd be therapeutic. That's just guys being dudes. That's just, yeah. It is. It's not simple. It's a good time. All right, what else we got?

Our guy, RV and bunch of numbers, says, Derek, ever since you did the AI episode, I don't believe you are real anymore. Prove to me, you're him. I don't know how I can do that. How are you supposed to respond? I don't know. I don't know if I am really, Derek or not. Like, wouldn't AI be confused and think that they themselves were, in fact, the person that they were supposed to be copying? I don't know.

I mean, you did a whole thing about how I was an AI robot too. Well, yeah, I mean, you still are potentially AI. I haven't decided that very much myself. But I don't know. I could do the first verse of the Animaniac song about the world. And I think that that, I don't know if that proves I'm AI or I'm not. United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru, Republic, Dominican, Cuba, Caribbean, Green Line Al Salvador Tour, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela, on tourist, still, Guatemala, Bolivia, and Argentina.

in Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Bahraga, Bahamas, Tobago San Juan, Paraguay, Uruguay, Suriname, French Guanos, Barbados, and Guam. That's the first verse. I just did that off the top of my head. AI would need time to research that in order to get that song, right?

And there's no way it's playing in double time. So I hope I've proved myself, and I don't know how I can otherwise. So that's all I got. Next question. Let's move on. Elizabeth, of course, here, has to absolutely set the world

on fire at the Brito Sor with her question. What is the correct way to eat an Oreo? Hmm. There is no way he's getting this right. The correct way to eat an Oreo, Derek, is to remove the Oreo from the package, insert the Oreo into your mouth and chew. And it's great. It's awesome.

What an absolute. It tastes amazing. That's insane. I don't know why we have to overcomplicate this. Because it's a sandwich cookie and there's a very particular way to eat it. First of all, you're starting out with a regular Oreo. What are you new here? I don't mess with anything less than a double stuff.

Okay. Fair enough. I'm going mega stuff. If I'm being honest, because when we know mega stuff exists, what's the point of going back? No, I'm not because I'm going to tell you exactly how I eat it. I very gingerly crack the Oreo. I turn it, thus making it free from the cream, right? But you got to do it carefully or else you might break one of the cookies.

And then it's useless and you have to throw it away in the trash. Yeah, start all over. You take one kind of bite, if you would, of the cream in the middle, thus leaving a little bit of cream on both edges. Thus, you've had, you get to experience the cream on its own. Then you get to twist it back together. Dunk it in milk, half of it, eat half of it. Then dunk the other part. I get your fingers a little in a little milk.

I get it. But, and then you eat the other half. And that's how you eat an Oreo. I've never been down with the dipping. in milk thing. That is crazy. That is crazy. It's really good with milk. I know it is good. It is good. It is good. But they got it. They got to be separate, Derek. I'm all for having a glass of milk with Oreos. But I want to take a bite of the Oreo and then I want to drink some milk. And I go and we go back and forth and they compliment each other perfectly. I don't need to, I don't need to try to merge them together into one thing.

That's not the way it was meant to be. That's why they're so hard. That's why. Why the cookie is so, it's meant to be dunked. It is a superior product when combined with milk. Do you eat peanut butter by itself with no jelly on the other side? No, no, that would be outrageous. But that's not like the consistency there works together. Here you're taking like a cookie and then you're just making it like all soggy, which like cookies aren't meant to be soggy.

I don't feel like this is complicated. Because you left it to milk too long that long if it's soggy. There's a process here. It's called dipping. It's not called leaving it soaking milk in Jesse. It is called dipping. Oh my God. I knew I was going to get angry at you, but I had no idea that it was going to be.

Look, Ryan says Jesse is unhinged. Jesse with all kinds of bad milkshakes to that. You have me. Look at snakes on the diamond. Do you know how much it pains Michael to write that Derek is 100% correct here? It killed him to write that. And he still did because I'm right. Oh, anyway. All right. Do we have a last question? Let's give it up to our guy, Tim. Tim Ankenman, of course, sends us an incredible question. And he says, why is there a 2018 team calendar in the team shop? Why would anyone buy this for $5? If the PHNX crew made a calendar, who is on each month and what are they doing? So first, let's address the picture. Damon, if you would, this fucking calendar is still for sale. It was, it reduced $4.99. But the other day when I looked at it, it wasn't even $499.

Jesse, it was like 10 bucks still. It didn't make any sense. So you're saying we could get a good deal if we waited another week. That's what I'm hearing. Who would ever buy it? Why would we want it? Where would we put it? It's ridiculous.

Look at all these traders on the cover. AJ Pollock and David Peralta. You think I don't want to celebrate these guys? Not interested. The two people I hate most in the world. Hard pass. Hard pass. Not to mention that this isn't what, does 2018 somehow line up with the calendar days from this year?

Like, why is there just a 2018? why stop there? Why not put a 2014 calendar or 2012? Why are we like, why? What are we doing? I mean, the 2017 D-backs were pretty good. So I guess they felt the need to make a calendar the year after that, which brings up the question, where is our 2024 Diamondbacks calendar, right?

I mean, you could do something with that. Team went all the way to the World Series. There's some pretty good photos along the way. Oh, God, some electric photos. Give me 12 months of Alec Thomas planting the flag. I knew you were going to say that. At the bank. But he asked another part of the question, and that was, if we put together a calendar,

who would be on it, what would they be doing? January, obviously, Saul in a diaper, right? February, also Saul in a diaper, but with Cupid wings. No, February would be us giving you Valentine's Day because, you know, pitchers and catchers are reporting. Galentines. Galentine's Day. Yeah, come on.

Right there. It's right there. It's a little exact gallon on that day. Let's see. March obviously belongs to Craig Morgan and his fire St. Patty's Day. No question about it. There's no question there. But just an addendum, every holiday except St. Patrick's Day, has a face of Petey on it being mad that that holiday exists and saying something about it being, you know, like, oh, this is just a greeting card holiday or something like that. But then on St. Patrick's Day, it's just a little picture of Petty playing the guitar. because that one he likes, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Is that, I've never even caught on to that with P.D., is that a thing? He doesn't like any holiday, but St. Patty's Day? He doesn't like a lot of things in life. He just doesn't enjoy,

he doesn't, like New Year's Day, it would just be Pity, and it would be like, oh, there's a bunch of drunks on the road. I'm going to stay home and fall asleep at 9 p.m. That would be what the New Year's Day little thing would be, and it would be Pee making a sad face.

April is like maybe Shane and Totry in like a sheep and a, lion costume, you know, that going like a sheep come out like a lion thing. Yeah, that feels, that feels right. I don't, I mean, we could do this, but this is, we're pretty much just going to dress people up in costumes that look funny the whole time, and that's essentially going to be it, right? Yeah, you try to me.

This is Jesse once again, December is Jesse waits at the last minutes to buy Christmas to gifts. Yeah, yeah. It's him just standing in a store. It's me with like a very full grocery cart, like a target on Christmas Eve, something like that. It's packed empty shelves. Yeah. It's great.

Yeah. Anyway, Gabriel says Derek and Jesse holding hands like Alex and Corbyn. No, it would be me and him doing what Ludus Curiel and Gabriel Marino were doing in the dugout the other day. We're probably going to have to recreate that. Yeah. If you died of my hair purple, we'll figure that one out. We could do the outfield celebration. Yeah.

The three of us. Yeah, we get the sexy one going on. There's no way he's doing that. There's no way. There's no way. All right. We'll find someone else. Yeah.

We'll find someone. You know who do that with us? Sean, we'll get Sean back here. We'll have him fly back out just for that. We'll see them eventually. But of course, we thank all of you guys for your Mailbag Monday questions. Mailbag Monday would not be what it is without you. So again, thank you for the wonderful questions.

We appreciate you guys stopping by today. Before we get out of here, we did want to take a moment to, of course, have you drop a like because Gabby loves that as much as he loves nestling into Lordus's hair. But we also very much love Brent Strom doing the Lord's work, Jesse, because Brent Strom, according to this tweet, Brent Strom was dressing down a young man at Chase Field who apparently was wearing a Dodgers cap. Now, there are several things that are right about this, right?

Of course, first of all, you see Brent Strom very sternly talking to this young man that does not appear to be like a joking situation. And he's got the finger point down. He's very engaged with him. This is not a Dodgers game. So I wonder if that's part of what Shrami is saying to him here. Right. You're not, this isn't the time or the place.

That's the worst move. Read the room. All the people that wear Yankees and Dodgers stuff to chase field for games against the Diamondbacks and Rangers. Legit question. What's worse? Doing that about two teams that aren't playing in that game or just wearing a completely different sports jersey like a like a Sun's jersey to a Diamondbacks game.

I'd rather see a Sun's jersey. Okay. I mean, what if it was like a, was like a Luca jersey year like Janus or something I mean it like I I guess it's just like to me that that's just like a shirt and like this situation is like you're actively there kind of being a dick you're like you're like hey look at my cub shirt like dude no one cares about your cub's shit yeah yeah this is a diamond bags fucking cardo game like yeah yeah yeah no one no one cares but um what do you what do you say what do you think about this what do you think

about Brentstrom doing this is this is this I I think it seems. It seems pretty on brand to me, honestly. I can't, I can't say I was all that surprise. You have this makes me think of is one day, and I've told this story on the show before, Evan Longoria had a little kid asking for an autograph. And this kid was obviously just asking any player that walked by to sign his ball. Didn't even care. Like the ball boys might as well sign the ball as far as this kid was concerned. Six year old could have done his research. Right. We could have, you know, oh, no, no, no, no, don't do that. This kid was older than that. Yeah, no, he was.

He was much older than that. But Evan did ask him, like, what's my name? And the kid had no idea. And honestly, sometimes that life advice sticks with you. When someone like Brett Strom looks at you, it tells you like, hey, don't wear that hat here when we're not playing the Dodgers. In fact, don't wear that hat at all. Or when Evan Longoria asked you what his name and says, hey, you should really know

players' names before you ask them for an autograph. It's good advice and it's advice hopefully that sticks with you as a young man. But he's right. Don't ever wear that goddamn Dodgers hat. I feel like that, yeah, I feel like that kid is probably never going to wear a Dodgers head to a dynamax game again after getting a talking to from the Brent Strong. No, in fact, he's going to come back in all Dodgers gear with all of his Dodgers friends, Jesse. That would be, that would be unfortunate. That's what this generation does.

They're not scared of anything. That would be a sad ending in the situation. But I also suspect that guy will be able to throw like a 96-mile-hour rising fastball in a few years, too. That's another result of this, this Brent Stronger action. That vertical ride is going to be incredible. But, of course, tonight, Diamondbacks have the Cubs at 640. Make sure to stay tuned for that. Of course, you can follow us on Twitter.

I'm at K-Ur-N-Feadman with a K. Jesse's at Jesse N. Friedman. Of course, Damon, the people's producers at Damon Dog. That's D-A-W-G. We are Damon's dogs. Bark, Bark. Our shows at P-H-N-X underscore D-Backs. Make sure to follow us tonight for all the updates on the game

and maybe some more memes that I can turn out while I'm doing my taxes. But in the meantime, make sure all roads. I have a procrastinator. No, right. Yeah, I knew you were going to get me on that one. All roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We will be back tomorrow with a postgame show and another postgame show on Wednesday. So keep it locked right here for all of that. Also, make sure to check out Jesse's brand new episode of On the Record with Ryan Herrera from the CHGO Cubs podcast.

Yeah. Great information on this Cubs series coming up that starts tonight. So you can get caught up on all of the visiting teams information with this guy on the record. So do not miss that. That's on YouTube. Down to seven here. Yep. Let's get it down to, no.

Let's, what, no. What are you doing? No, don't confuse. Big opportunity tonight, Jesse. Oh, yeah. Big opportunity. Big opportunity. You win tonight?

You just got to go 500 rest of the way. Yeah. It's huge. It's in the bag. Yeah. Mistakes were made. But anyway, all right. Well, we thank you guys again for stopping by.

Of course, we will see you again tomorrow. And in the meantime, you guys have yourselves a wonderful night. We appreciate you so much. Ryan says tax days. Jesse's Christmas. Oh, he did love. These two were talking about how much they loved doing their taxes. David, too, though.

He's guilty, too. He was like, oh, it's so relaxed. I wouldn't say I loved doing my taxes. It did take a long time when I was up late last night. But turbo tax, man, no free ads. No free ads. I'm not going to say anything else. No free ads.

Literally, like, maybe like minutes before the show me and Jesse were like, yeah, we don't really mind doing our taxes all that much. And Derek's screaming at us just. Angry. Yeah, because you guys are psychopaths. But anyway, you guys are wonderful. We appreciate you guys so much for stopping by. We will see you tomorrow.

And in the meantime, have yourselves a wonderful night. Thank you for stopping by. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when Brent Strom doesn't have to yell at you for wearing a Dodgers hat at Chase Field.