PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Did the D-backs' SWEEP of the Dodgers Change EVERYTHING Before the Trade Deadline?

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

The Arizona Diamondbacks closed out the first half of the season with an improbable three-game SWEEP of the Los Angeles Dodgers, fueled by Tim Tawa's uncanny transformation into Christian Walker at Dodger Stadium. But is this statement series enough to convince Mike Hazen and the D-backs' front office to become buyers at the MLB Trade Deadline, no matter what? We're also joined live by Jaime Lynch of the PHLY Phillies show from MLB All-Star Village to preview All-Star Week, break down the Home Run Derby favorites, and discuss what it's like covering a team that fired its manager. Plus, we dive into the Diamondbacks' 2026 MLB Draft class, share our thoughts on Arizona's newest prospects, and answer your Mailbag Monday questions. Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $36: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4 An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order! Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 40% 2+ pairs of off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're still not over the Arizona Diamondbacks sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers, and we have to ask the question if this is enough to solidify this team as buyers at the deadline. I know it's Monday, and I know it's bright in here, but we're turning on the cactus lights whenever we beat the Dodgers, and we are starting right now. I'm into another edition of the PHNXDbacks podcast, and it might be too hoarse for this, but love from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K, it is your, mayor of P. HNX, occasionally known as a man who may have been screaming too much at home about the Diamondbacks beating the Dodgers over the course of this weekend. And I'm

unapologetic about the condition of my voice because we beat their ass. We swept the Dodgers. We handed them their first sweep of 2026. And we should all be proud of this team and how they finish the first half. My name's also Derek Montia. I got my guy, Damon Dogg, aka Damon Fowell, on the ones and two. And you know, there's nothing in life he loves more than beating the Dodgers. And Nate Cleveland has just made me be mayor of L.A., so I'll take it. That's, I don't know, I don't know if I want that title. They got a lot of problems in that city that I don't feel like dealing with.

But great to have you guys here. Great to be joined by our guy, Jamie Lynch from the PHLY Philly's podcast and the Ph. H.L.Y. Sports. He's going to be joining us live from All-Star Village. Give us a little preview of the. home run derby as well as talk about why the Phillies want Lordus Gueriel Jr. And also, no, don't, no, don't do, don't take you. No.

We would just, we would just hate that. Earmuffs, earmuffs, little Lordus. Also, we're going to talk a little bit about what it's like to fire your manager and have your team go on a run. I know some of you are going to be very interested in that topic as well. But first, we do have to talk about the Diamondbacks, taking three out of three against the Dodgers, sweeping the. Dodgers in Los Angeles for the first time since 2017 and sweeping them in general for the first

time since the NLDS. And yes, that counts. I'm not going back to 2018. I'm going back to the NLDS because that's when we swept them last. But this three games sweep, very satisfying. Diamondbacks dominated the Dodgers in the first two games offensively. What I should say is Tim Tawa dominated the Dodgers offensively throughout this entire series. But they win game one, nine to three. They win game two, nine to two. And they win the finale by a score. of five to three. And I think Sunday's game might have been the most impressive win in my mind, but we're going to get to all this.

Of course, this is the PHNX Diamondback show, and I'm too pumped to be talking about the Diamondbacks being the Dodgers. We are presented by our friends at Bet365, where winning is everything as it was this weekend. Go download the app today and use our code of PHNX 365. We're also brought to you by GameTime. Download that GameTime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.

Terms to apply. Happy Spirit Week to you all. Happy All-Star Week to you all. Thrilled to be going through these festivities. We are going to talk about Diamondbacks players that they drafted in the MLB draft over the weekend as well as, like I said, a preview here of the Home Road Derby. Big show. Big show. Stacked.

Stacked. Very long. Yeah. Long. And Nate said I kind of expected an emergency podcast last night. honestly sometimes our resources are limited and sometimes Nate we're just not at home to do a podcast but I should have just you did it you did an audio show I did do an audio show so make sure to download that because me and my pal rock gave our our thoughts on this and what it means and

Damon and I are going to discuss what this means for the diamondbacks as far as being buyers at the trade deadline but we do have to talk first about them winning this series scoring 23 runs over the three games to the Dodgers 8 for a plus 14 run differential. The Diamondbacks bullpen almost flawless over the course of this series, a 3-0 record there. Eduardo Rodriguez continues to own the Dodgers. We talked about that on our post-game show on Friday. It was a great way for this team to get the series started.

But again, like I was saying momentarily ago, the win on Sunday. By far the most impressive. We get news that Zach Gallin has been placed on the 15-day IL and was replaced by Mitch Bratt. Now, I'm sure we're going to do a whole dive into Gallen and his injury. And I know there's a lot of people that are skeptical of it being a real injury, or if this is just the Diamondback's way of letting Gallen kind of gracefully ride off into the sunset without him being DFAed and also without him impacting this team as far as how bad he's been this year. my money is still on there being a real injury but I don't know maybe I'm just maybe I'm just

gullible you know but you've been team Gallen the end this entire time being like oh I believe in him he's going to figure it out so not figure it out I have said that gal I don't even know where you're getting that from I've said Gallin has to figure it out I know and what I was saying was for his own purposes Damon that he has to figure it out I had no point expressed any kind of belief in him I said he has two starts at the most left to make. And if he's as bad as he's been, he's not going to turn things around. He has the proper motivation,

but he also had the proper motivation last year because it was a contract year and it should have been the year that he had his best season. That's not what's happening for Zach. And it almost feels like the more Zach tries or the bigger the moment it is for him personally, the worse he performs. But in this case, I do think that there might have been an injury.

I still, like I said, with Rock on D-BACs after dark, here's my position on it. I'll believe it, but if they put him on the 60-day IL and the only diagnosis is right elbow inflammation, then my conspiracy brain will start going a little bit there. If they come out and say that something's wrong with him and, you know, that it's a specific injury, I don't think that they're going to go that far to fake it. I just think right elbow inflammation is just vague enough for them to get away with putting him on the IL and it not necessarily being again like as embarrassing to him or as detrimental to his career as DFAing him right so that at least the injury thing leaves it up to

maybe maybe the injury was why he didn't perform well this year even though most of us feel like that's not the case but is replacement Mitch Bratt didn't give the Diamondbacks very much length or too solid of a start in replacement of gallon but he did keep the Dodgers to just three runs and the Diamondbacks overall end up pulling out a bullpen game in the final game of the first half. And that bullpen game once again was impressive, six scoreless there by the bullpen, zero hits allowed. And they dominated the Dodgers there late and were able to hold on to this game for a five to three victory. So that was the day again. The Dodgers had a lead first. Diamondbacks offense didn't look like it was able to do much. You had Shohei Otani

still homering and doing what he does, but overall the sweep just feels like it's important. Not only does it hand the Dodgers, their first sweep of the season, but it's the Dodgers. It's always good to beat the Dodgers, but I think it really does beg the question, does this change things?

Is this enough? The Diamondbacks currently have a record of 49 and 47. That's how they finish up the first half. Most of us probably would have said, that's not bad at the beginning of the year, considering all the injuries they had. And if you told, if you told me that Corbyn Burns wouldn't be back,

AJ Puck wouldn't be back, and they would still be 49 and 47, I'd probably be pretty blown away by that, considering how many injuries this team has had and how many setbacks they've had. But, you know, doing this to the Dodgers in Dodgers Stadium is just enough to push the Diamondbacks here to the All-Star break with significant momentum.

At least feeling like this team is not as bad as what we've seen during stretches this season. They continue to be inconsistent, though, and that's probably one of the biggest problems with this team. They're so confusing. Are they good? Are they not? Are they able to beat teams,

or is it because of, you know, the Dodgers making more errors in a series than they've made all season long? That definitely helped the Diamondbacks out. They were not, you know, they were not exactly tight defensively, but I think that this is a situation where, you know, this is huge and it does enough, at least in my opinion, to give the front office time over the All-Star break to think more about being buyers than being sellers.

I think, is that fair to say, Damon? Yeah, I think so. I mean, you see, you kind of kick their ass. Yeah. I mean, obviously you swept them, but like, you know, like you played good, clean defense. That's the other side of that coin, right? It's like, you know, the Dodgers, yeah, is it they're sloppy. defensive series of the year.

Absolutely as I put my non-camera on screen. But at the same time, I think that, you know, you have to say that the Diamondbacks showed up and they played a level of defense that, you know, they've shown all season long. It's one of, it's probably been the strength of the team. Yeah. We've probably underrated that as the strength of the team this season. Oh, God. Their defense, especially on Sunday was amazing. Yeah.

I made a joke about it, but I literally couldn't keep up with the web gems they were making. Yeah. Because they were happening so fast. No, absolutely. It feels like the Diamondbacks are. are a really strong defensive team, which has helped their, you know, them stay afloat when they're pitching and they're hitting statistics, really have them more towards the back end of baseball.

You're above 500 at the break. That's better than we probably could have hoped at this point with the injuries. Yep. I think you do have to buy as of right now. I agree. And again, at the very least, it puts you in a position of not coming in, like, limping into the All-Star break. this was a

this was set up to be a terrible week for the Diamondbacks four games in San Diego against the Padres followed up by three in Los Angeles for them to come out of this with a five and two record is extraordinary extraordinary and it changes a lot now it's not to say that the Diamondbacks

couldn't theoretically stumble again between now and the end of the month and change things this is a very important month the entire month of July. Now, the teams that we have ahead of us on the schedule, they're not unbeatable. They're not the Dodgers.

They're not other teams like that, but their teams that have been playing good baseball and their teams that are kind of up-and-coming teams. Those teams have kind of kicked our ass this year, right? I do like the idea of us coming out of the break and going right after a St. Louis Cardinals team that essentially played a role in us having to lose a day off. I think there's going to be the right kind of anger and motivation

and pointed their way to get the Diamondbacks hitting the hell out of the ball in that series. But I mean, it's teams, Damon. Don't let Paul Seawald pitch. Don't let Paul Seawald pitch in that series. Paul Seawald would be sick to his stomach pitching. He might throw like 99 in that game. He might still just go out there and lecture the entire St. Louis Cardinals team once they get the field.

Could you imagine Paul Seawald gets out there? He's so angry about them having to replay that game that he's just, he starts pumping just high 90s. Something we've never seen. before out of Paul. Seawall just hit 97? My God. But yeah, I mean, like I said, pirates, Cleveland Guardians on the schedule ahead.

There's like teams that you look in, maybe at one point, if you would have looked at this stretch of the schedule preseason, you would have thought, oh, hell yeah, after the All-Star break, they're going to be able to stack some wins. But now those teams are teams that are like sneaky good. They're pretty good, yeah. And they're teams like the Pirates that have had the Dynambacks number so far this year. there are also teams that are ahead of them in the wildcard race and that's why it makes it,

you know, as important as it is. Absolutely, right? Like that I think that the games against the wildcard teams become the most important games the rest of the way. It's the, it's essentially the entire NL Central, the Cubs, the Cardinals, the pirates, right? The reds have kind of dropped off. But, you know, the teams of the Diamondbacks are going to have to make their money against are not the Brewers, not the Dodgers, as much as you love.

love to see a series sweep against the Dodgers, but it's definitely the wild card competition that you're going against. And yeah, a big opportunity out of the break to stack some wins against teams that you're competing directly with. I saw a thing that like the pirates are like the most mid team that's ever existed. Did you see this, Derek? Yeah, yes. Pirates at the break. They're outmitting the diamond backs. It's pretty special. Hey, and again, lately Paul Skeens has looked mortal, that's for sure. So it's a good time for it, especially considering, you know, that now is when we're playing them.

But also, I think that this is, I mean, this just sets a certain kind of tone that, yes, you know, the Dodgers had some things not go their way. Otani wasn't able to make the start on Friday, whatever, reasons, reasons and reasons. But the Diamondbacks still put belt to ass when it came to beating the Dodgers this weekend. And nothing really. changes that. No amount of mistakes. No, nothing like that. So it really truly is about, you know, just giving this front office the right things to think about during this offseason. We've already heard Mike Hazing kind of make a comment about how he doesn't have, or he

wants to go out there and get a first baseman. He wants to get that power bat. That seems to be like something that he's pursuing. I think that he might have had talks and such to, you know, that may have been encouraging and that may have been a reason why it made designating Pavin Smith for assignment that much easier. But as much as I don't want to kick dirt on Paven's name, I have to say that the Diamondbacks get seven hits and seven RBI along with two home runs out of Tim Tawa in this series. Unbelievable. He's a huge reason why they won. And you just can't help but think what if they didn't make that move? And what if that spot over these three games was taken up by Pavin Smith instead of Tawa being called up from AAA Reno and giving you that?

Yeah, absolutely, Derek. I think that, you know, like Tim Tawa already has provided some of the best first base production we've seen all season long. El-Damaro had his stretch. There's no doubt about it. But he also did some of that work, D-Hing at first base. You know, like, I'll-Morrow's kind of played all over the place. But out of strict first baseman, like Tim Tawa, that was, that was Shades of Christian Walker, you know? As you tweeted out, Derek, like with the new Dodger killer, his name is Timothy John Tawa.

And you're going to say his name. Yeah. You will say his name, Dodgers fans. So, yeah, I mean, what a special weekend for Tim Tawa. You love to see it. And, yeah, it's, you know, hopefully he can keep it going because we need first base production more than we need anything. right now. You're not wrong. We're going to take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, we are going to be joined by our guy Jamie Lynch from PHLY to preview the All-Star weekend and talk

a little bit about the home run derby tonight. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback Show. Well, 1AZ is rooted in Arizona and invested in you. Their mission is to help Arizona live their best financial lives, whether that means buying a new car, starting a business, or planning for what's next in life. OneAZ is part of our community and they are proud to be celebrating 75 years of dedicated service to the state of Arizona. And with 25 branches here in Arizona and an online banking app, you can access your money easier. Plus 1AZ is your one-stop shot for all of your financial needs. Whether you need one-on-one financial coaching or a document notarized, as I have recently done,

their friendly associates are ready to help you at branches across the state. And they'll give you some great advice to when it comes to all of your financial needs and something else I can attest to. For a limited time, open a new checking account and complete qualifying activities to earn a $350 new member bonus. Use code CHK 358. That's code CHK 358. Terms and conditions apply. Visit 1AZCU.com for all the details.

And if you're looking for the ultimate spot to watch the game, place a few bets, grab some drinks, and make an entire day out of it, you got to check out Heal River Resorts and Casinos. Not only is it where we go do all of our live events, but it's always. also Arizona's number one casino destination, and they seriously know how to do sports right. Every bet MGM sports book is built for fans with wall-to-wall TVs, giant screens, tea, delicious food, by the way, and also a very convenient way to make your bets

so that way you don't miss out on all the actions. So whether you're sweating out a same game parlay, cheering on your favorite team, or just looking for the best game day atmosphere in Arizona, this is the place to be. Grab your crew, celebrate the big wins, and enjoy everything Heela River and resorts, excuse me, Heila River Resorts and Casinos has to offer.

Heela Riversorts and Casinos all the ways you do you. Visit play atheela.com for more details. Well, I am pumped. It's All-Star Week. I have a lot of thoughts and complaints about All-Star Week. I might wait a few days to make those. I don't want to sully the day of the Home Run Derby with my complaining. But I will say that I'm excited for the Home Run Derby.

excited for the All-Star game and I'm also excited for the Diamondbacks to get this little break that I think is going to be very important to them just in regards to this, in regards to what this season has been. This has been

a hell of a season for this team and I as much as I feel like they're getting hot and of course when they get hot just like Tori sitting someone when they're hot and not putting them in the lineup I feel like it's not the ideal time for the Diamondbacks to be getting time off, considering they just swept the Dodgers.

However, you know, the bullpen game on Sunday and everything that they've been through this year, I think this is a very well-deserved break overall. And, you know, it's still my favorite time of the year, even though I wish that MLB was a little bit better about, you know, promoting all of this stuff, including the MLB draft, including the futures game and including all of the festivities and fun happening out there at All-Star weekend. But us are the baseball heads, we know. We know it.

And we are thrilled to be joined. Speaking of which by our guy Jamie here from PHLY, he is live at All-Star Village out there. And he's going to be joining us. I'm sure it's going to be loud, but I don't care. I'm excited to have him here live from All-Star Village. Dan, let's get Jamie in here. Let's go. What's up, buddy?

what's up man yeah i hope you can hear me all right oh it sounds great as you can see behind me here we got like a home run derby going on over here behind me somewhere else over there is the mascot nice nice how baxter was a nice it was a nice corner here until the mascots got on the field and started doing their thing they're talking well uh what's what are the vibes like i imagine especially with you guys having two, two of your biggest stars in the home run derby. I feel like today is a, is a really fun day in Philadelphia.

Yeah, it is. Just sorry as I try to center myself properly. Oh, no, you're good. Sorry, David,

don't get me. It's great. Just walking through town from our offices to get here. You see MLB jerseys littered across the streets. I mean, this weekend was awesome.

I took my family down here on Saturday. The girl, my girl, was out of blast. The ghost gave it a 9.5 out of So it's virtual, home run derbies. They got to be on the same field as the fanatic. That is the football.

There's a ton of MLB Hall of Fame was here. Phillies alone. It's a really, MLB is doing a really good job with promoting the game. Because Derek, you know, there's the kids care again. The youth is into the game again. Like, they have some momentum behind it.

So to see it kind of thriving center stage here in Phillyiswomen. That's why the last. lockout. I fear the lockout so much. You know what I mean? Like it's like we have so much positive momentum building. Everybody seems to be really happy with the changes they made to the game, the way they've sped up the time of games, all of that kind of stuff. So it's it's just why I hate that so much. But yeah, I mean, I was a young kid in 93 94 and I had the 93 Phillies. So I got like I was at the prime age where my baseball team finally got good. And it was a. full memory of life.

And then I couldn't understand as an 11-12 year olds, why they weren't playing the game. Yeah. And it seriously turned me off of baseball for like two years. I mean, it took the steroid home run chase to kind of call me back in. And I don't see that happen to this generation. No.

Too much money. The owners make too much money. Figure it the hell out. Yeah. I completely agree. I completely agree. Plus, we're not going to have any steroid home run chase to save us this time.

I do You never know You never know But I do love this news About the Phillies being interested In Lourdes Geryl Jr. I think it's very interesting to me I know we discussed on on PHLY

Phillies that you know This market is weird We know there's a lot of buyers And we are kind of hearing that we might see more Major League for Major League Talent that we've ever seen What is what's the what's the interest from the Phillies end in Lourdes?

Well, we're about as desperate as you can be for a right-handed hitting outfield bat. We got Derek Hill from the White Sox earlier for a count of nothing straight. And he's performed pretty well. Like his numbers, we get the Phillies great. I don't think anybody here in town really wants to go into the playoffs

if they're getting significant something. So, you know, we need a right-handed outfield bet pretty bad. So a lot of people look at it. I mean, I've heard Gouriel a lot, Joe Adele, Taylor Ward. It's kind of weird because the right-nhythm, I feel bad, it's kind of disappeared. Like, everybody kind of needs one, and nobody really hasn't.

So, Juryel, to me, I have scars from two years ago. He looks great in the series against him. So to me, he's a guy we're taking a shot on if he's got some money. Yeah. I, I, hey, and we have a surplus. So we'll happily make a deal with you for, Lordess, no worries about that. But a lot of fans, including a few that are in this live chat right now,

they've kind of wanted us to pursue moving on from Tori Lobello. And obviously, that's something that the Phillies know a little bit about, considering your change at manager. What has Don Mattingly done to be so effective over Rob Thompson? Well, a little bit I've got to know, I said to know, but like, we're Don more and more. He's very full on. And he's the hit man.

So he has that major league, Ross and A, that of Bryce Harper or Kyle Sourder, those guys are going to respect the hell out of and listen. And I think when he came in, the first speech he made to the team is like, guys, I love Rob, you loved Rob. He's not here anymore because you guys aren't performing. And sometimes baseball teams,

you just need that kind of like accountability. I don't think Rob was doing anything wrong with Joe. it was since they needed a take up and a change of energy and Don Maddenly has given them now. Well, and again, it feels like that bluntness kind of goes well with the personality of that team. You know, we've heard about Bryce having no problem expressing his feelings to Rob Manfred on things in the clubhouse.

And it just feels like that kind of edge, that little bit of a tougher attitude is, you know, maybe that thing that goes well with the personalities in the clubhouse. Yeah, Zach Wheeler was kind of, took the other day because he got pulled, the rare struggles for him. So he starts to go. He got pulled after five and two thirds. And he thought he had the right to finish the inning. And he kind of said it after the game. And he was pissed. And Doc Maddenly, the next time he was in the dugout was like, yeah, me and he was that talk, we're good. And it was just like, all right,

cool. You know, like, it's just like they're blunt, they're direct, they have adult conversations and they move on. It's not like, this isn't like JV. High School. mean, it's professionals that know the goal here Don Baden is the guy they respect. That makes sense.

That makes sense. Well, I know you're going to have a lot of fun. It's not all done because the Phillies turnaround happened when Zach Wheeler returned to the team. He has been,

you know, Don's getting all the accolade that rightfully so, but Zach Wheeler is not Taiwan Walker. So we didn't have to wait below flag that it was okay. Yeah.

Well, and I mean, I totally get that. And that's fair to say. But that's the kind of the problem we're having right now with Philadelphia native or Pennsylvania native, Zach Gallup. You know, I mean, and it sucks to see because he's a guy that we have trusted so much. It's a guy that was our ace at one point. But that's that feeling that you described is how it feels when Gallen was out there, you know, every fifth day. It felt like it was just becoming an automatic loss.

And that kind of drugged this team down and made it hard to get on any kind of role. Yeah, Aaron Nola is the guy going to do the same. stuff with us and I wonder some of these guys like yeah they lose stuff I wonder how much the ABS affects the guy like in Moa and Zach Allen where they used to nibble around the edges sure now it's so exact they can't and then they go across the zone nor and just get it's definitely a change in the game that I think there's a lot of business well like I said you're going to be having fun out there I know you're going to be having a blast who is your pick which Philly is your pick

to win the home run derby tonight? I mean, it's kind of hard to go against Sordor right now. He is the favorite. I don't like betting favorites, though. I like betting favorites and some juice. Okay. So I'm probably going to take Bryce Harper. I think he's like eight and a half to one.

It's like a plus 850. Left fielders or left-handed hitters, I could say, have an advantage tonight in the derbyes because the right field porch is a little bit shorter than like left center. Okay. So I think the left things are going to have an advantage. So I'll take Bryce at 8.50.

No offense to Kyle. I don't hate that. Well, Jamie, we appreciate you, man. Thank you so much for your time. Have fun out there. And, you know, we'll talk about that Lourdes trade very soon. Yeah, yeah, August 2nd. We'll be in touch.

We'll be in touch. All right, man. All right, man. And yeah, that's just what a fun weekend. It is. I remember being out of this one in Texas. I had the time of my life. Not only did they do a great job,

but setting up that entire All-Star Village. But the home run derby, just so much fun. It's also way faster, Damon, in real life, than it is when you're watching on TV. And it already happens really quickly on TV. But when you're there in person, you're literally still in the middle of watching one go for a home run. Yeah, balls are flying all around you.

You're like, oh, my God. It feels like you're being fired on by enemies. 100%. It's relentless. It's relentless. It's much like Tim Towell was this weekend in Los Angeles. It's just bomb after bomb. He had his own home run derby.

Yeah, I mean, it's fun, though. I mean, you got a lot of big names in here. You got the new format where MLB scrapped the time format in favor of a swing count format. So that should slow some of that down because the timer was a big reason why guys just had to crank out home run after home run. Players will get 20 swings.

And then the top four advance, semifinals and finals, they'll get 15 swings, and if players are tied, the longest home run is the first tiebreaker before a swing off, if necessary. And again, this is just intended to reward efficiency over just being able to smash the bat as fast as you humanly can and have your dad out there throwing pitches faster than anybody else. But he's right, Kyle Schwerber, he is the king, he gets the hometown advantage. He has MLB leading 32 home runs. and one of the most prolific

home run hitters is going to be hitting in his ballpark. So there's a really good chance that Schwarber does go ahead and do that. But you also have Bryce Harper, Junior Camerro, Jack Caglione, which I believe is the only guy that isn't an All-Star that's in the Home Run Derby. Thoughts on that? Rock asked me about that. I don't really care at all. I feel like this has happened plenty of times throughout baseball history.

Oh, yeah, no, I'm not acting. I'm just saying in general the thought of. And non-all-star competing in the dirty. And I'm just saying that, like, I haven't been mad about it in the past. So why would I be mad about it now? Yeah. You know? Yeah.

Doesn't bother me. We also have Miracami making his derby debut. And that's, I think, that's, we're pulling for the plumber on this podcast. We're plumber fans. The power man. Jack Kegleone, best raw power. Favorite here is Kyle Schwarber. And then Jr. Camerero, that's been my pick.

I feel like it's hard to go against him with how good he's been lately. I mean, he's just putting the ball over the fence every game. I mean, it's crazy. So that's why. Like, it's exciting. It's exciting to have, like, the best home run hitters in the derby because I don't feel like we necessarily get that every single year, but we're getting that this year for sure. And then we have the entire All-Star weekend festivities, right, which kick off with the MLB draft

on Saturday while the season is still going on. And I don't know, man. Like, when I sit here and take a look at how MLB does things, nothing ever makes sense to me. The draft taking place during MLB weekend, All-Star Weekend, and being the event that essentially kicks things off is weird. They had it start at like 10 a.m. West Coast time. And like, same thing with the futures game. It starts super early instead of it being in like a prime time slot. And those aren't your marquee events anyway.

So I still don't understand why baseball doesn't have their. marquee events on the weekend. I know the season is still going on, but the season could wrap up on like Thursday, and then we could be doing All-Star stuff on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, with Saturday and Sunday specifically being reserved for the home run derby in the All-Star game.

I don't know. Am I off base on that, or do you not care that it's on a Monday and Tuesday? I mean, it's pretty dead time in the sports calendar right now. I feel like you, the baseball, like they, that's what bothers me about the draft, I think, right? I know that it's obviously, like, we're in the midst of the FIFA World Cup. So it's a little bit of a different year than typically, Derek.

Sure. But, like, that being said, is it not, you know, just baseball and, you know, summer leagues going on right now? Like, it's not like it's like this, you know, like wild of NFL's happening. Yeah, I know. So, like, why can't the draft be its own thing that they actually want baseball fans to tune in for be hyped about so that these prospects are known before they come into the major leagues right like i think a lot of sports do that better than than baseball where like fernando minosa is a superstar before he's even played a snap of NFL football victor wemnon yama was like a

known hall of famer and everybody knew who he was when he was like 16 he was the number one pick for years and so it was it just feels like baseball i know it's a lot different with the development, but they could capitalize more on on owning the summer in a way. Yeah. That's a great. That's a great way to put it. That's why I don't get too bothered, I guess, by the summer. Yeah, the All-Star break being when it is on early in the week because what else is on? That should be the marquee event that people, sports fans want to watch right now. And so if they just don't get enough viewers, that's on them for not marketing it enough. But it really is like the only thing happening, especially with these World Cup semi-final games happening during the daytime.

So, yeah, I mean, I don't have any problem with it being early in the week. I just think that they need to just be like, we are the summer sport. Everybody watch our sport. It's the only thing that's happening. Yeah. I also think MLB needs to get their, their, like, top 10 draft picks in the building. I think they need to have more of that like the other sports have as well. For sure, like the green room.

Yeah, I mean, there was just, almost everybody was at home on a Zoom meeting. And it is what it is. I'm not going to act like that's that big of a deal. I also think day two is kind of ridiculous because even though I feel like it would be a slight to not air it, they move through the draft picks on day two like bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Like it's so fast that they don't even really have a chance to highlight the picks or really talk much about them. So again, I don't know what the value is there if you're not going to at least do some sort of video package or graphic for every pick that gets made. but yeah they should slow it down maybe a little bit

give each pick a little bit more time on on their own i guess you know it they don't do that in the nfl when they get to like rounds four through seven sure so i guess you could say that maybe it's just kind of their version of that rather than you know the first couple of rounds and the competitive balance rounds are are the marquee rounds but i don't know they just they do a lot they just don't handle it properly at all they do like 300 picks on the first day or 100 not that many but like 150 picks on the first day it's a lot so yeah outside of that you're really starting to you know just get to the really really really late picks however those guys in baseball can be as much of stars as the top picks

that's what that that's one thing that makes baseball so weird um but the diamondbacks do take a catcher first overall with the 15th pick they take rider hellfrick which is an incredible w bnx t name and also an incredible defender when it comes to um behind the plate. It's a left-handed power bat. He's an athletic defender. He has really good framing skills, which people feel like is something that's getting phased out of baseball.

And I don't know if that's the case. I think that it still has value because I don't know if the diamond, I don't know if baseball as a whole is going to move too far away from the current ABS system that they have. Maybe they go full ABS one day and framing does kind of become a thing of the past. But for now, it still feels like it has its value. And again, overall, just the future of the Diamondbacks behind the plate, which right now is definitely uncertain, right? I do know that Adrian Del Castillo is still going to be developing as a catcher, but does he really seem like, you know, the catcher of the future to replace Gabriel Moreno.

If that day comes, I'm not sure. I mean, Gabby and ADC are probably around the same age. Are they not? That's what I mean. Yeah. And they're around the same point in their careers. He's just not as good behind the plate. and I'm not sure if he's ever going to get there at this point, to be honest.

Yeah. So I guess I view it in two senses. We talked obviously before the draft of like, what would you like to see the Diamondbacks pick? And I said, you just go best player available at all times. You never, you never stray away from that. You never go based off of need in the MLB draft. It just doesn't make any sense because you don't know if these guys are even going to make it to the majors, potentially. A lot of them are going to be involved in trades anyway that you make to make others to improve your current team. As much as Pavin Smith is a, like,

kind of a joke right now in this fan base and him being a top 10 pick is is like a disaster go look at that draft and go see in the first round where you would rank paven smith among the the players that that made it out of that and made it into major league baseball in that draft he's legitimately like a top 10 player in that draft class like and that just goes to show that it's so hit or miss and so you're going to be doing a lot of who in that yeah i i have no problem with them taking a catcher when you have Gabby on the roster. And from the other sense, Derek, if you do want to go to a need perspective, yeah, I mean, when ADC has been catching this year, it's free running all over the place,

all over the diamond. Everyone gets to steal wherever they want. When Aramis Garcia had to come up, it was the exact same thing, right? And, you know, ADC, like I think we've seen flashes that he can hit, hasn't been very consistent at all these past couple of seasons where the average is really low. then he gets a hold of a home run and you go, oh, look, maybe it's there. Yeah. But it just doesn't, it's not consistent as we keep talking about.

They do need another catcher on this roster to help spell Gabby. We've also talked about Gabby's injury issues. It hasn't been a problem this year so far. But at the same time, you know, I just think that, you know, you do have to prepare for a world without Gabby potentially. Again, don't base this off of need ever. but I don't think that the pick is like it didn't like I think he's going to be a good player college player definitely has a high floor kind of like a Tommy Troy a Ryan Waldschmidt recently that they've drafted these high level conference college guys SEC dudes like Ryan Walshment for example

and this is an Arkansas SEC catcher exactly I think that you know he'll make his way through the minors probably pretty quickly I would I would give him about two three years before he's probably up on the major league roster helping this team win so yeah you You know, I like the pick. The only thing that I didn't love, Derek, and this is really the only pick I'm, like, super, super, like, I guess, like, I actually really have a take on. The rest of it, I'm kind of like, yeah, what are you going to do?

I really hope we don't look back in, like, five, ten years, and, like, Gio Rojas is just this unbelievable. I saw your tweet about that. I saw your tweet about that. I, young award candidate pitcher. Like, when I see a guy whose comp is Chris Sale, and he's a six foot four lefty, who tops out at 98 at 18 years old,

I sit there and I go, oh my God. And the thing is, Derek, is that we talked about it before we went into the weekend. I said don't even draft any pitchers ever the entire time. Correct.

So it would then be hypocritical of me to then come onto this show and be like, and be like, why didn't you pick the pitcher? I was going to point that out. If we pick, if we think I was going to point that out, if we picked Gio Rojas, he would be a disaster.

His arm would fall off of the, bone like it was like a nice like smoked rib smoked brisket Derek I mean but now that he that's the problem now that he went to pick later than the diamond backs he's probably like let's get the Hall of Fame bust ready to go in in Cooper's town right now like the Rangers just drafted a an absolute stud let's be honest the the truth of the matter is no matter how good he is you're never going to actually know what he would have been in the Diamondback system and I still question their ability to develop pitching it's the reason why you and I both said that we didn't really want a pitcher being taken right but then they did take a picture the next pick they did

now that's where I was like now I kind of want the pitcher with the last right but they they did take a high school kid that is basically a giant he's six foot six he has a fastball that touches 97 miles per hour and again he's a high school kid right so there's a lot of athleticism of his is game he's He's got swing and miss stuff. That's what they said on the broadcast was that they did like a, they do their and will be combine. Uh, and that he, and I'm, what was his name again, Derek?

Uh, his name is, excuse me, uh, Blake Bryant. Yeah, I knew it was B. Christian Academy. Yeah, Blake, Blake, Brian, I had, they said on the broadcast immediately when he got picked that in that combine, they do a lot of, you know, athlete testing and that he came out really, really, yeah, well out of that. Like his, his athleticism scores were, were very at the top of, you know, his class and his, his comparable, you know, positions that he was, you know, competing with there.

So, yeah, I mean, that's, you love to see that shows some projectability, hopefully. Absolutely. Plus, I mean, I don't know if it's an advantage, but having that MLB combined here at Chase Field has to really change your perspective when seeing these guys on the field here where they will play in the future, right? So when a guy, even if he's supposed to be a later pick, you know, really impresses you, it's hard for you not to have that player stand out. I mean, he wasn't even the best high school arm available on the, in the draft, right? But there's just something about him the Diamondbacks seem to like. And meanwhile, Ryder Hellfrick, he was supposed to go in the top 10 for a lot of projections.

So the Diamondbacks were able to get themselves a top 10 pick at 15. Doesn't seem like the worst thing. And he is the best catcher among a green. that's not very good. It's not a very good draft class for catchers. So I'm sure that makes Hellfrix stand out a little bit. And perhaps a future need is there in mind. But when all of those things match up, you're like future need, best available player, best player at his position in the draft, then, you know, those things definitely make sense to go for. And I'm okay with that. They also took a shortstop Carson Curse from Georgia Tech in the second round at number 53. And they took

outfielder Braden Dowd from Florida State who posted nearly a 500 on-base percentage this year while playing center field. Is that good? People told me that's good, but I don't know. If getting on base 50% of the time is good, then yeah, that's pretty good. Also, a bunch of other picks, and we're not going to sit here and do that or else this would be a two-hour show. We're going to give them the same respect that MLB gives the draft, which is to none.

To not advertise them at all. but I flea ball says draft pitchers signed free agents and trade position players I mean overall damon's right the the key here is to just get the most talent here in-house and not really worry about what their ETA is and when they're going to impact the roster and all that kind of stuff but that's easier for us to say as fans a GM really does have to think about that like those those things whether you want to go after a high school guy or college guy pitcher non-pitcher position player all of that stuff. Like,

you have to have some sort of plan for the future and it can't just all be grabbing the best available talent. However, that does make a lot of sense when, again, a lot of times these guys don't pan out. They don't make it to a major league level or they just end up becoming parts of trade packages anyway.

So no matter how good they were, they're not going to be a part of your organization. Yeah. But I don't love like the D-BACs fan recent trend of like just being toxicly negative about every single situation because obviously our fan base since the World Series run has been a little bit out of control in terms of their expectations and whatnot. But I can't lie. Like I do fall into that category when a guy like Gio Rojas gets picked one pick after the debacks where I sit there with the rest of the doom and gloomers and I say, well, there it is.

There it is, fellas. Another Diamondbacks absolute stinker. When it comes to prospects, the draft, you name it. we just can't get it right when it's pitchers in particular. I think overall what it ends up being is that we know in general drafts don't work out, right? The stuff they say about guys, it's just somebody thinking that. It's just people believing in a guy and then you never know if they're going to work out at a pro level, period, no matter what sport it is. But other sports, it feels to be a little bit more of a sure thing.

Yeah. Whereas baseball, you're drafting them so young. Who the hell knows? Yeah, and I mean, it just tends to be a grab shoot, right? Like, it's, it's so weird. So when we see in the case, like I just said here of Hellfrick, where you're like, oh, he was supposed to be top 10, we got him at 15. That's good, right?

That means good things. We did the thing, right? Or in the case of Gio, who was, eh, like, he was projected to go right around where the Diamondbacks picked anyway. There was a few mock drafts that had him connected to the debacks. And he was there at 15 and wasn't picked, right? So because of that, we don't really know. I mean, we don't know anything.

We don't know anything. But it's easy to immediately after the draft is over be like, well, that's a C minus and that's a B. And that's an F. Did you see the guy who gave the Kaysen Cunningham pick last year at D? He graded all the picks, first round picks from last year. And as far as I could tell, Kaysen Cunningham was the worst graded player that he had in the first round. And the dude has like a 350 average. I mean, he doesn't,

he hasn't been putting the ball over the fence. Yeah. Which is, I guess, like the one thing that they're basing that off of is that his power metrics aren't necessarily like, not only are they not there right now, but I guess they're not really projecting to be at a level that they think is

requisite to be a solid major leaguer. But it feels like these kind of guys, like all the time, you get like a young high school age guy in the first. round he has great bat to ball skills he's really fast and then you know he he figures it out once he continues to get older and older yeah and the home runs they they they come with the bat to ball skills and with growing up and getting stronger yeah having inside of a melb weight room right for for multiple years having a trainer and per domo was like like people would be like he couldn't

hit the ball out of the fence at a little league ballpark in his minor league career he hit 20 bombs last year in the majors. And again, it's probably his anomaly season from that standpoint. But it just, it seems crazy to me to be like, hey, the guy who by every standpoint, except for home runs has been incredible, he's actually a complete bust. And you're like, I think the Diamondbacks are thrilled with what Kaysen Cunningham is doing right now. Yeah.

In Visalia. I agree. I agree. And then their day two strategy did focus on pitching. They picked up three pitchers, four pitchers to start. day two. And again, it looked like a typical Mike Hayeson, Ian Rebben draft, where they got up the middle position players and projectable pitching. Overall, they did get college performers mixed with high school talent sprinkled throughout. And again, the Diamondbacks first four players were all

players with either standout, athleticism, or elite bat to ball skills that you were just talking about there. Day two, focus more on, you know, enhancing that pitching depth for the organization overall. But Diamondbacks pick 21 players overall, 11 pitchers, and 10 position players. So that's where we sit. And we'll see how all of this stuff works out for this wonderful team of baby backs in the future. But we're going to take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, we're going to do what we do every single Monday on this podcast and will until the end of time. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PH&X Diamondback show. Well, Damon's right. Summer is about baseball, but this summer it is all about soccer. And Mickelope Ultra is the proud sponsor of the

2026 FIFA World Cup. The entire planet is still locked in on the World Cup. We'll win them back here over to baseball soon enough. But here in the valley, we're all still going crazy for soccer. And Mickelope Ultra is brood right here in America. And they say that the same grit that gets the U.S. soccer players to the world's biggest stage is brood here too. Mikulob Ultra is the beer to match the moment, whether you're packed into a bar watching at one of our watchalongs with us or yelling at. your TV at home for every match, every goal, every play on the world's biggest stage. Crack open something superior.

Mickelope Ultra official beer sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 26. Enjoy responsibly, copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch, Micaholub Ultra Light Beer St. Louis, Missouri. And Pure Edibles is a great way to spend the All-Star break. You know, you got some downtime. It's a great time to try out the full line of candy. Pure Edibles has. They have far more than just gummies. They have hard candies, choose their version of Starbursts that they call

kicks and so much more and they come in a wide variety of delicious flavors and those flavors are clearly listed on each 10 along with the effects that you'll get from each candy and again again got got themselves a mood elevating candy a good sleep edition gummy and so much more plus they also have their collaboration with mother road brewery bringing us the finest IPA and all the land tower station IPA now in a delicious THC all in one device no pouring no waiting just a good tasting high whenever you want it. If you're in Arizona, go find yourself some pure edibles products from one of over 150 dispensaries now including True Leaf. And Damon, this is a big show. It's a big week. For those of you that don't know, it is spirit a week around this joint. And we are having

ourselves a blast doing all sorts of fun Spirit Week stuff. Today was have a special guest day from one of our other sister stations. That was the reason why we had our guy Jamie on the show. But we would have Jamie on the show just for fun because this week is all about Philadelphia. This week is all about the All-Star game and the Home Run Derby. So great to have Jamie join us, especially there from All-Star Village, one of my favorite places. But again, we got a stacked show and a stacked week here with it being Spirit Week, 2026 overall here. Damon and I have some fun stuff planned, including tomorrow being Hot Take Tuesday. now we're going to be doing a postgame show on Tuesday for the All-Star game but Damon and I are going to bring in our hot takes and quite frankly I don't know if we're going to still be a podcast after Tuesday like diehard days Wednesday and that's supposed to celebrate you guys but Damon and I and I may never speak after Tuesday ever again are you going to say something like Carlos Santana is 100% playing for this team again or because then maybe maybe we can debate if if he did or not I mean I look at

Maybe we can debate that whole situation. Wednesday, diehard day. Thursday is Big Brothers, Big Sisters Day. And I know that that is not only a great day of giving, but that is a day where Damon and I are going to have some big rewards that we're going to have to fill on this show, including I may or may not be offering to take my shirt off again. I may or may not be taking batting practice live in this office

should you guys reach a certain. donation total there. So we'll get to that. And then Friday, quiz show day. Quiz show day. And that is also our first post game show of the second half. We will be back here at Chase Field taken on the St. Louis Cardinals. But that is then. This is now. Today is Monday. And you know what that means. That means that every single year on the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast is the year of the snake. It is our year. Every single month on this podcast. is Black History Month. Every single month on this podcast is Women's History Month.

And every single month on the P.HNX Diamondbacks podcast is Black Women's History Month. Every single week is Shark Week. And every single day is the home run derby. Huh? You like that one? I like that one. That would be a fun life. If you got stuck in like a Groundhog Day situation, but it was on Home Run Derby Day, fantastic stuff.

I think that that would like get old fast. All right. I get it. I get it. Schwabber wins. God. Philly's having the best time. All right. But of course on Mondays, you know what we do. Every Monday, we go to the mailbag. Damon, let's get to it. Always something interesting in my mailbox. I'm trying to get to everything in my mail box. All right. What do we got in the mailbox? Mailbag today, Damon. Our mailbag, by the way,

powered by game time as always and always getting you those cheap last minute tickets over there for any event you want to attend but what do we got in the mailback today damon our our first question derrick comes from of course Travis more who else of course yeah he's the lead off hitter he says he could tell we don't change him like sometimes he might not bring the hottest questions sometimes he doesn't even show up but no matter what if he's here and he has a question it's going to be in the lead off spot yeah i mean and it's because he refuses to hit anywhere else in the order which is that's that makes it that makes Travis seem bad but that's fine it's a problem and it's own right, but he's kind of, he's kind of an ego monster like that. But that's how superstars are,

Derek. They have egos like Travis Moore. It's true. And he says, how surprised were we by the D-back's draft? I didn't have college catcher high up on my list of probabilities for the first overall pick, wasn't expecting an investment at prep arms either. Yeah. I mean, it was a surprising draft, but I think when all was sudden done, it still looks like a standard Mike Hayes in draft. they got the guys that they were trying to bolster, you know, those positions that they were trying to bolster and add depth to for sure. I know that premium athletes is always a big part of what they're into, especially college athletes. You were right about the prep arms as well. They like that high upside high school talent, especially when it comes from those preps.

And they like projectable pitching. So that's what they got here in this draft. at least that's what they feel like they got overall. But I do think that, you know, there were some outfielders that they were tied to early on. Plus, as Damon brought up, Gio Rojas was a name that I kind of liked. I also liked LeBron, Justin LeBron, simply because of the thumbnails that we would have been able to do with him as a part of this team. But overall, I still feel like they got, you know, the best available talent that they could. and I think they were really excited overall from what I've heard about getting, you know, their first overall pick, right?

Like, there's something that they've liked a lot in Hellfrick, and I think the fact that he fell to them was, you know, a blessing in their eyes. So I truly think they see this as a very successful draft for the organization. But, again, the reason why we don't know and another reason why the MLB, Draft is so unpopular overall as an event is because the impact of these players getting drafted to these teams takes so long to come to to to to happen right to to come to fruition. So it's it just makes it that much more difficult to be that invested in these picks at this point until we've seen them develop at a minor league level. All right.

What else we got, Damon? Our next question is from Jarmie and he says, what's Hazen actually seeing? right now a team that just swept the Dodgers so let's buy or an inconsistent team that just swept the Dodgers but should avoid the entire state of Florida sellers so how far back does his memory go for these decisions I don't know I don't know what do you think I think it's I think he wants to buy I think he wants so if if this team gives him expressed that yes he has and if any team gives if this team gives him any sort of reason to buy like a Dodger sweep right before the all star break I think that that just leads to Mike Hazen doing what he's wanted to do this entire time.

Yeah. That's the way I view it at least. I think that if the team performs poorly enough, you can't justify making trades, you know, especially if those trades are going to involve parting ways with the future of this organization, minor league prospects that we still have no idea what they're going to be at a major league level, to get a player that's a rental. for the rest of this season and then miss the playoffs. Like that's that's rough, right?

So again, I think that it has to be a little bit of a certainty that they feel like this roster can make the playoffs. I would say based on some of the ways they've played this year, you can feel that way. And that's why you're talking about, you know, memory. How long is his memory? How many of those losses did Mike Hazen flush? And how many of them did he hold on to?

Some of the losses aren't as devastating as they were at the time. I still go back to the Chicago White Sox loss, series loss, and how, like, just, like, how much that seemed to stop the momentum that the Diamondbacks had going on prior to that particular series. But the White Sox are a good team, and they've been playing good. They're leading their division. They have 50 wins at the break. So it might have just been the debacks not, you know, being prepared for them,

or it might just be the fact they're a young, exciting team that outplayed, you know, Arizona for three games. Overall, I think that, you know, this, like we said earlier, this sweep at least sits in their collective minds, the front office, Mike Hayes, and everybody involved in the decision making while the Diamondbacks aren't playing baseball. You don't come into the break, losing two out of three, or getting swept by the Dodgers, which would have made the common. conversation and the way that they felt about this current roster, feel much different than coming in after sweeping the Dodgers. At the very least, if Mike Hazen needs to make the argument to Ken Kendrick or others, he can say, look at how they performed in that series in L.A. Even if they're below 500, when the end of this month comes around,

it still feels like this sweep is going to be a strong Exhibit A in the case for why this team, should be buyers at the trade deadline. That at least is enough for me to feel confidently that they will be. And like Damon said, the other part of it is that Mike has expressed interest numerous times in being a buyer at the deadline. And in one fact, sounded very confident that they were going to be. Things weren't so great after that. I mean, we played better recently than we did before when he was saying that, I feel like.

That's what I mean. Yeah. When he said that, I mean, they weren't playing the best baseball, but things got pretty bad after he said that. But you're right. Yes, like they've been playing good baseball and finishing up this stretch five and two against the Padres and the Dodgers looks so much better than if you would have come out of this stretch two, two and five. Absolutely. I'm not saying anything that's mind blowing there. I'm just saying these hot take alert.

Hot take alert. But these people that are in there make the decisions for the Diamondbacks. What do you mean these people? Those you people that make the decision for the Diamondbacks. And you know exactly what I mean by that. They are humans. And my point being is that like when you sit around and think and lose sleep over this team, like Mike Hazen inevitably is going to do for the next few weeks,

it's much easier to lose sleep thinking about the fact that they just swept the Dodgers rather than the alternative. Yeah. I was just going to say that I think that, you know, in a way what DW is saying here is true, it probably has a little bit more to do with what the decision on Tori Lovolo is going to be at the end of the season. Are they going to extend him? Are they going to let him walk? But it does feel like there is a bit of pressure at this moment in time to get better and be back into the postseason from a hazen and Tory regime standpoint.

So I do think that there's a little bit of pressure to put a good roster on the field. That's why you have Derek Hall coming out and saying on the radio. you know, we feel like we've let our fans down with the way we've played recently. Like they have expectations of being a playoff team being good enough to make a wild card run. And so, you know, I do think that they want to ideally add players to this roster that get them into the playoffs. So I mean, that's it's encouraging. Like I don't know if they're going to go balls to the wall, but I think that they want to make upgrades, which, you know, we need upgrades more than anything. Do I think it's a done deal?

No. And then the Phillies can have Lord. Do I think it's 100% that they're going to be buyers? No, I don't. No. I also don't think even if they are sellers, it's going to be nearly as dramatic as last year's sell-off, if you will. But it could be if they decide to try to get a haul for some of these guys

that they still have under team control for next year. All right, Damon, what else we got? Our next question here is from Zabe from Uckley. Zabe from Uckley. And Zabe, Derek, asks us to take 30 seconds, to laugh evilly about sweeping the Dodgers. Tim Tammle. Tim Sable.

Freddie Freeman hit into the double play. Almost every single time. Every single time there was runners on baseball. Where did all the Dodgers fans go? I didn't see one of them, the entire series. They weren't in my mentions. They weren't in the live chat. No, where's BC?

Where's BC? Back to back. Back to back. I'll tell you what. Back to back to back wins for the diamond backs. That's what I saw. Loser-ass Dodgers. Oh, it reminded me of 20203 and it was so delightful, Damon.

It was the one of the most delightful things that ever witnessed. Yeah. I saw a thing that was like first deback sweep since 2018. Wrong. Wrong. Remember the playoffs? It's 2023. Losers?

Yeah. Throw the hell up. All right. What else we got? More like lodgers. Get them. Next question comes from Zach and Zach says, Detroit is in need of an outfield vet and a great catcher.

Do you think a trade with them involving ADC and Gurriel? I know he's not the same as he was, but he's still a solid left fielder for Scoobel would be a good trade all around. Add some prospects to sweeten the deal. Yes, Zach. Yes. In fact, Damon loves that trade. Damon approves that trade right now.

He says, yeah, you can have them. And by the way, and we can offer him Pavin Smith once he gets back in the organization as well. Here. And you can have this watch too. Sure. And you can have anything you have. You want to take my phone. And I'll drive.

And I'll Derek and I'll drive. Damon dog. I mean, I know. I'll go. I'll take the fellas in a minivan to Detroit. And then I'll, I'll get back with scoble. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Listen, whatever it takes. Whatever it takes. I do. Whatever it takes. I obviously were joking. I would love to be involved in a scoble discussion. If that's, if he's on the block, we need to be involved in it. Because we need a long term, we need long term pitching.

And this guy's from Arizona. We can't just let the Dodgers get him. Like we just can't, you can't do that. So I mean, even if it's costly, probably going to put us out of the race. But I want to be making phone calls and see what the cost is and have those active discussions there. Now, just have a phone call. Just have a conversation. I would love, I would love to trade.

Lordus. Yeah. I know that earmuffs again, Derek, but on Lil Lordus, but I mean, 14 million next year, he's got like a 550 OPS. If some team thinks that, you know, in a seller's market, that there's a reclamation project to be had on Lordus by all means, man, we are open for business. We already have our left fielder of the future. So and we do. He has a club option for 14 million next year. That's it. In this market, that's like nothing. That's what Derek Spiel was on the PHLY Philly show this morning.

I may or may not have tried just in case ownership watches that program to send just the right kind of message and vibes about how good Lordus has been lately. Damon. Yeah. Fantastic player. Let's go on to the next question.

All star. All star. He's an all star. He was an all star with the Diamondbacks. That's a fact. That's a fact. Appeared in the World Series. You're 100%.

Hit a home runoff. Last home runoff. Jason Millie. I forgot that one. Boom. That's what we need to put that. Boom. Put that at top of the resume.

All right. What else? Our next question before break here is from flea ball who says we understand injuries happen, especially during games, Soroka, Troy, Waldie. But why are our pitchers constantly getting injured and experiencing setbacks while not in the game, a la Corvin Burns, AJ Puck and Zach Gallin? Is it time to seriously look at our medical staff? I feel like once again, this takes a.

back to our friend Jack Summers tweet about this stuff or a thread that he started. We feel this way because we watch the Diamondbacks and we feel like we experience more injuries and more terrible stuff happening to us than any other team when in reality it's kind of an epidemic around baseball with injuries and such, especially when it comes to pitchers. Pitchers unfortunately just have been experiencing, you know, injuries probably due to the changes to the game, right? The time clock or the pitch clock, the, everything, the expected increased in velocity.

Just everything that they have to deal with now. And the speed of the game in general, I feel like, is a big reason why we're seeing pitchers get injured. However, I have felt like this, and I want to say that. What he says here in this question, I think is the way that all Diamondbacks fans have felt because it really truly does feel like our team has this happened more than any other team.

And I think what makes it worse is it happens to these stars of Hars. You know, you have especially pitching stars, Corbyn Burns, Jordan Montgomery, all of these other injuries that prevented like big free agents that we thought we're going to put this team over the top as far as being competitive were turned out to be terrible signings. I'm not going to say the Corbin Burns one is, but I'm going to say like overall, it's, it's just disappointing that, you know, when we go to get these type of guys and we spend the money that the Diamondbacks have spent on these players, that they immediately get injured and can't, you know, give the team what they were supposed to give them, you know. But again, I still don't feel like this is something that's isolated to the Diamondbacks. I feel like it's something that when you look around at every team in baseball, they're all experiencing it. And a lot of fan bases are asking the same question about their team that this one is.

Yeah, there's no doubt about it, especially in the National League because of how competitive the wildcard race is. Like we talk about the American League, you can be a straight up bad team and you could be sitting there going, hey, we're not too far out of a wild card. Whereas in the in the NL, like you could be, we're two games over 500, but we're not in a wild card spot right now. And we're sitting there saying like, is this team even worth buying more? And it's just weird, like the dichotomy there. You're above 500 and you're questioning it. It's like, yeah, but look at the National League, right? Yeah, there's just so many teams that are in and around the Diamondbacks that it makes the math weird.

Even at two and a half games back, there's like five or six teams in between us in that final spot. Yeah. And that's what makes it so insane. And as Yoshi says, like there's teams like the Cubs that have a million players on the IL as well. Like, you know, we're not the only team with injuries. So it just feels like it because this is the team we love. Well, and we've had a million injuries the last couple of seasons. It's not just this season, right?

And like I remember during that Padres broadcast, one of the, when we had that ESPN game, they were like, oh, the injuries for the Padres. And it's like we currently have three of our five starting pitchers out right now between Soroka, Ryan Nelson, and there was at the time there was one more, I'm pretty sure. And, oh, Corbyn Burns. Duh. And it's like three of our five best pitchers are just not available. It's like you're going to find it hard to make me feel sympathy for a team that has a bunch of injuries because of what we've experienced the last couple of seasons. Before we hit the break here, Derek, I did want to hit this this celebration of six months of membership from our guidebook's journey who gets the cactus light on and then off again. I mean, it's a strobe cactus light.

I think for the first time in D-BACs history, but says my issue with the D-BACs first pick is they have three catchers in their top 30 already and a young catcher on the current roster. Thoughts, Derek. Does he mean Gabby by the young catcher on the current roster? Yeah, Gabby as the young catcher on the current roster and saying three of the top 30 prospects in the organization are already catchers outside of that. I'll say that overall I feel like, and I get what the sentiment is there.

I feel like part of that is the Diamondbacks. inability to develop pitchers in their minor league system. Having Amarillo and Reno as part of your minor league system also does not help those guys develop much either. Those are very difficult places to play that shake your confidence to your core and make you ever question if you ever wanted to throw a baseball across a plate ever again.

But I do think that the writing seems to be on the wall a bit about Gabby. They tried to extend them. We know they tried to extend them. from what we've heard, they basically could not come to an agreement on an extension. And it sounds very much like he will probably be testing free agency when that time comes. Even though that that is going to be a few years from now, the debacks do have to start planning on that catcher of the future. Drafting a college catcher is a way to get that guy here that much sooner.

And I know typically you're not really drafting a college or high school catcher anyway, but it does feel like Hellfrick is in intended to be that that that catcher, that part of our core of the future. If he, if he develops and works out properly. So two more years of arbitration for Gabby than his unrestricted free agent year in 2029, which would line up right around when Hellfrick would be ready to be in the majors. You would think. And I think that they're, I think that their willingness to try to get an extension done with Gabby shows that they value him and that they want to keep him around.

Absolutely. But I do think that like Gabby's inability. to consistently stay on the field really hampers his value in the eyes of the diamondbacks. Like they're probably saying, well, we think of you as this caliber of player. We think that you're a top five to ten catcher in the game. But when we stack up, you know, how much you're playing as compared to the other guys, it's probably less impactful, right? So they're saying, like, because of that, we probably want to pay you more around the

middle tier. And Gabby's saying, well, I'm quality enough to be paid in that upper tier. So that's, I would imagine where the disconnect is. Sure. But if Gabby can finish out this season, healthy, maybe does it again next year, like all of a sudden that changes that math from the deback side. Like maybe they're willing to pony up a couple extra bucks because Gabby shows that he can consistently stay on the field or whatnot.

But he's having a great year this year and certainly it would, you know, up his leverage in negotiations moving forward. 100%. 100%. Well, we're going to take a quick break, and then we're going to get to some more mailbag Monday questions on this supersized edition of PHNXDbacks. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching us, yeah. Well, Bet365 makes all these games more fun, including when you bet on a little live in-game action when Eduardo Rodriguez is on the mound.

Me and Damon paid for dinner, thanks to Bet365 and the Diamondbacks, and you can too. The sweetest part about that was when our parley's got the, what was it, Damon? the early payout the early payout up to up well it's up to in soccer which has been fantastic during this world cup but believe up five early payout when it comes to MLB games and it was the we took the diamondbacks winning that game and that was just a nice little checkmark on your parley marked off just something light marked off just something to buy yourself dinner maybe a little maybe a little jersey or something from online but this is all the fun you could be having on bet three six five especially with that early payout offer where when you're a baseball team goes up by five runs you're a winner on straight bets which will be instantly paid out as well as parlay selections like me and this guy that got marked as winners also if you're a new user now is a great time to get down on bet 365 thanks to their bet 10 get $200 in bonus bets deal all new users have to do is sign up and make their first $10 bet and bet 365 will throw you $200 in bonus bets win or lose it's a lot easier than trying to find 24 friends to get into that chase field pool suite but if you get that app right now you can use that code of PHNX365. Get yourself those bonus bets. Bet 365, where winning is everything.

Gambling problem, call 100 gambler. 21 and over only must be physically located in Arizona. Terms and conditions apply in app only. And yes, the World Cup is wrapping up, but there's no reason why you shouldn't grab yourself a Casa Amigos, ready to go, Margarita, and take it home to watch some of these final games. And I told you this already, but it was a,

I got myself a little slug. machine. I got myself some Casa Amigo spicy, ready to go marg, dumped that bad boy in there, walked away a few minutes later, I had myself some delicious margaritas. And those are made with simple ingredients, blanco tequila, lime juice, and natural flavors with just 110 calories per serving. And two delicious flavors to choose from including the spicy, as well as the classic. So be on the lookout for our World Cup watch parties that are going to be happening here as the World Cup watches wraps up.

We'll have samples and prizes for those in attendance and so much fun to be had. So Casa Amigos, the drink of the World Cup, whether you're at your favorite spot or stocking up for home, make it a Casa Amigos.

All right, Damon, we got some more questions there in our mailbag? Yeah, we do. What do we got? We do have more questions in the mailbag here and our next one comes from

Michael Rokicki who says, would it be a hot take to say this year has been Tori's best manager? job. It would be a hot take to say that in front of Killer X, for sure, but I think it would be in general. I do think it's a hot take. I think that, I mean, the, like, we have to include the postseason in what we discuss here. It's not like the postseason just isn't involved in the year that Tori had in 2023. That's fair. I get what you're saying, like, maybe like regular season to

regular season, but like the way that he managed that 2023 postseason was special. So that's where I think that like you just have to say that that's easily his number one managerial year. Back end of last year was pretty good. Front end was pretty bad though. So that's where I think people are probably going to say that wipe that one away in history. But I mean, it's been in, you know, he seems to be doing. I can't really blame Tori for the downsides of this team, which has been kind of the theme of this show all season trying to explain to people that Tori's not really at fault for the team's

problems and we have a whole segment just for that. We have a whole segment just so we can assign blame properly. But here's what I'll say about Tori, Damon, is I don't know if it's his best year managing, but I will say that he has once again been given just one hurdle after the next as far as injuries are concerned. The way that this team has had to call on minor league prospects to save the roster, to save, you know, this team being short-handed and to save from having position players playing out of position in areas that they have no business playing. You got to give them credit for that. Like, we do get excited because you and I are guys that are excited about seeing the future

of this team on a major league field as soon as possible. Brian Walschman, Tommy Troy, a guy like Jose Cabrera getting the opportunity he got when he started this particular season in minor league in double a right amarillo yeah i i think that i'm pro phasing out the guys that we know what they are and bringing in guys that are on their mysteries more so that's fair because one we don't know how those guys even if they are hitting 350 at a minor league level are going to perform at a major league level and two you and i both would rather see the the future of this team start to develop at a major league level rather than giving a guy that's hitting 150 more opportunities to go out there and go over four on any given night and be a black hole in your

lineup. These guys, even though they're not consistent, even though Ryan Walshmidt has struggled with strikeouts, even though Jose Fernandez was a god and then came back down to earth, even though Tommy Troy has been inconsistent but good at times. Like at the very least, all three of those particular guys I named have actually helped you win baseball games this year. And they did it relatively quickly after they were called up. So as far as Tori being a part of that, I think he is the manager to do that. And I think that that is the reason he is a big part of why they had success at a major league level. I think he is that kind of manager. But

I'm with you. The Diamondbacks are two games over 500, which is what it feels like they are all the time and always have been under Tori Lobello. And even when they weren't, they were much worse back in 2021. But even that 2023 season, we've talked about a few times, this team did not finish strong. This team did not win their way into the postseason. This team needed all of the help in the world to get there. And even though he managed well in the postseason, there was still that that fizzling out at the end of the season. That's something that happened in 24 and 25. And we just can't have happen again in 26 or else it truly will be the end of Tori's time with this team.

which I have a strong feeling it might be regardless of the outcome of this season. Not because he's going to be fired, but because his contract is up. And I'm just not even sure if Tori wants to resign and, you know, be a manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks anymore. I don't know that. I'm just saying as far as directions they could. I'm sure he does. I think he loves this.

And I think he loves the guys and loves the team and loves doing it. But also I think that Tori is a guy that takes accountability. for his actions and especially if this team doesn't make the playoffs this year would be the first to say this is on me I understand needing a change at manager so but that's that's what we're at with that what else we got our next question is I like Michael rocicki choosing violence though that's always amazing our next question is from Richard Perry says any updates on Lawler Burns puck Jmart when they'll be back and do we really know anything up with carroll really struggling to miss missing pitches he usually hammers thank

y'all pH and X all you y'all do to keep us informed thank thank you rich we appreciate that a lot i will say that um let's see as far as that list is concerned laller puck i have my concerns about them because they just had an MRI and no real information has come back other than they have not they they there's no changes to their situation they're both shut down still corman burns meanwhile had an MRI it came back clean and he is back to his throwing program and that's very encouraging because with the rest of July and August still to go, we were already told that Burns did not have to work all the way back from zero to get to 100% to be starting in baseball games.

So, you know, you pair that information with how much time he has between now and the end of the season. And it feels very much like Corbyn Burns not only will be back this year, but he'll be back possibly to make starts in August, which would be crazy. And I know that might be a little too soon of an estimate. However, it feels like that at least if it's not, then it should be right in early September. That's encouraging.

And then there's been no change overall to Justin Martinez. His ETA was August, so I expect to hear some updates in regards to him on the other side of the All-Star Break. Hopefully what we hear is that he's begun his throwing program and that he's getting himself into, you know, being ready to start throwing bullpens and then start. start rehab games, which he'll be a very welcome site as well. Yep, need those guys. We need them. Let's move on to the next question here. Well, we got.

Our next one is. Damon's got this other show. He does call him. I do do another show. Wildcats. Debra Owen says Derek and Damon, what decisions would you like to see done? I would like to see Damon and Derek both get raises. It's fair to say, right?

No, as far as decisions for the Diamondbacks, first base, D.H., no question. Yeah. No question. I don't think you need to do anything to add to the bullpen. And you've been up the mindset that you would like to see them at a starting pitcher. Controllable starting pitcher. Controllable starting pitcher. Ideally.

Jack Summers is a big guy that's been pushing Reid Detmer's as a potential option for them, which I really like that as well. Yeah, a lot of, I've seen more than just Jack talking about Reed Detmer's on DeBack's Twitter as well. Like it feels like that's a guy that a lot of people have highlighted that his underlying statistics, look pretty good. He fits what this team needs. He has two years left on his deal. So he could be a part of his team next year as well.

Which they need. I would be all in on a guy like Reed Detmer's, which it's all we're talking about, Derek. Get me like a slightly above average pitcher and things are way different. You are right, though. When you go ahead and look up Reed Detmer's on Google, I think every team

that's seeking a starting pitcher is tied to him. Every team is like, hey, what about Redetmers? Because he's probably seen as a affordable yet. Yeah, 4.39 ERA is not going to cost you the world. But in this market, that's a very coveted player. It's also the fact that we know the angels don't care about winning. That's what I'm saying, yeah.

Right? The angels don't care. They're one of the few teams that actually might sell off their guys. Yeah, that's very true. Yeah. All right. I think we got one or two more left. Two more left.

We got two more left. What else we got? Our next one is from Tim, who says, why is the All Star Break not over the weekend? Yes, Tim. It doesn't seem to make, it doesn't seem to make much sense to have the all star game on a Tuesday. Do you not agree that the all-star game being on Sunday night would be better? Yeah, I guess on Sunday night. Yeah, probably. Right. And then the home run derby on a Saturday night, that just seems electric. It feels like other teams or other sports all-star breaks are over the weekend as

well. Like, I don't know. I think maybe we get conditioned to it, but I also think I, I just hate the idea of it being on Monday and Tuesday. I like it for the idea of us doing the show and having stuff to talk about during a week where the Diamondbacks aren't playing baseball, but I don't love it from a fan perspective. A piece of Yoshi does, though. He says it's fine where it's at. What do you think? Yeah, I mean, like I said earlier in the show, I just think that they need to like own the summer a little bit more. I don't, I don't have a problem with them making it on a Tuesday. I just wish that like all the festivities and everything would be a little bit bigger of a deal like maybe it was back in the 90s and early 2000s when baseball was extremely popular. So.

That's kind of more where I sit. I'm not super opinionated on it. Pisa of Yoshi says baseball isn't played Sunday night. Didn't we have a whole show called Sunday night baseball at one point on ESPN? Don't we not? I thought we did. I thought we did. All right.

Let's get one more. What else we got, Damon? We got to get out here. Yeah. Our last question here is from Tusk. And Tusk says it's no secret that the debacks need some to fill holes, to need to fill some holes on the team, which of these young players from most likely to least likely do you see traded before the deadline.

Waldschmidt, Troy, Grover, Chrysantes, Drew Jones, Slade Caldwell, and J.D. Dix. Wow. Well, first of all, let's start with Troy, Grover, Walschman. None of those guys are going anywhere. In order, I think Troy is the most untouchable at the moment. Walshman right behind him. Yep. And then a decent size gap in Grover probably third there. Yep. And then I would put Chris. Cresantes after Groover. Same. Then Caldwell.

Then Jones. Then Dix. I think I might do Cresontes Jones Caldwell Dix in the order that it's there. Because I guess my thought process is a, and Caldwell probably falls into this a little bit more as well. But he also was a higher pick. He wasn't a higher pick. So I don't know why I said that. But I think Drew Jones, as we've talked about on this show a lot, you'd be selling low on him.

Like, and I don't know if you want to do that. I think that the upside is still super high. And yeah, he hasn't shown like what you want him to show as the, what, second overall pick so far. But, yeah, I just don't know if you would sell low on him like that. And, and J.D. Dix is a really good player. He's played well, but you've so many second baseman in the organization. That's my thought.

That probably plays a little bit into it. He by far would be the most expendable. Plus, I mean, you could, Chrysontes, you could say the same thing about, I guess, because he's a second basement as well. I just think he might be that. Cresontes has way better numbers. He might be the best second baseman prospect that we have in the entire organization right now. And as far as having Cresontas and Dix, it just feels like when is J.D. Dix who really doesn't play any other positions besides second base and D.H.

going to see Major League playing time with Catelle Marte, you know, here for the foreseeable future. So yeah. And Dimitrio Cresontas just being a higher, you know, value prospect. I think the best the best way that one of these guys earns playing time long term, like a guy like Cresontes, is. Catelle moves to D.H as I've talked about for years to maintain his body at the back end of his career. And then you move in a guide to play second base. But you got to get Catell to buy into that because obviously Cotel has been pretty structured with the way that he likes to hit first or second and play second base. He's not exactly the easiest guy to work with in that regard.

He's a creature of habit. Absolutely. So I, I, maybe the second baseman aspect of things, maybe puts back Cresontes and Dix at the very end of that list. Who knows? But, my personal order of preference there, I think I would go Troy Waldschmidt. I might even put Grover back behind like Chrysantis. If I was doing it personally, I don't know what the Diamondbacks feelings are. But yeah, I mean,

you got a crop of players that you could hypothetically sell off for an upgrade if you really wanted to. For sure. For sure. And I mean, again, if a guy has had major league playing time and proved like Grover, Walt Schmidt and Troy, that they can play at a major league level,

they're so much more valuable. to an organization as a product because they're still a prospect right so they can still mold in shape and develop them but they've proven that they can play right so those guys i'm sure we'll we'll get get a few calls on them as well but we thank you guys for your mailbag monday questions this show and mailbag monday would not be what it is without you so thank you so much thank you for stopping by and giving us a little bit of your time more today than normally but we'll let you guys get out of here uh damon of course has that other show to do. Make sure you watch that and follow him on social media

at Damon Dog. That's a DAWG at the end. And we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark, until we maybe trade off the dog for something from the Phillies. I'm at K-U-N-Sk-Man with the K. Our shows at P-H-N-X underscore D-Backs, but as always, all roads lead to at

P-H-N-X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for your time. Pump to go watch the Home Run Derby. We'll be back here tomorrow night with a post-game show after the All-Star game. So make sure to join us for that. In the meantime, behave yourselves. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun during All-Star Week.