PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Does Paul Goldschmidt’s COOLING MARKET Make D-backs Reunion Inevitable?

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

We are thankful to report that Cody Bellinger is going back to the Yankees and staying out of the NL West. More importantly, are the Diamondbacks getting closer to bringing Paul Goldschmidt home as his price continues to drop on the free agent market? We have more on his market cooling and if the Nolan Arenado trade made this a more attractive destination. We also give our thoughts on Geraldo Perdomo being named a top-25 player in baseball by MLB Network. Plus, we celebrate LuJames Groover being honored as one of baseball’s top third base prospect and react to the latest Hall of Fame voting results.JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/Phoenix Raceway: Get your tickets now for March 5-8! https://www.phoenixraceway.com/march-cup-weekend/?CID=PIR_DI_TP_BA_PHNX26Spring_251120ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotesbet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets!Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

MLB Network is telling us something we already know, which is Heraldo Perdomo is a top 25 player in baseball. That's old news. But speaking of old news, we might be bringing back old friend Paul Goldschmidt. We have more on why his cooling market may make this deal, possibility for the debacks. A reunion is in the works. Let's talk about it. Don't you go anywhere. We're starting in 30 seconds.

Today, Wednesday, team, all welcome in to another edition of the PHNXDBAC podcast. from Studio K presented by our friends at Circle K it is I, your mayor of PHMX occasionally known as Derek Montpia. Happy Wednesday to you all. thrilled to have you guys here for yet another discussion

about bringing our guy Paul Gold Schmidt home. Of course, this discussion would not be complete without the input from my dog and your dog, the one the only, Damon dog on the ones of Tuesday. Damon Farrell, Damon, how are you doing today?

How is your Wednesday going? What's going, Derek? It's going. I'm here at work. It's going to be a long one. We got a Wildcats tip off tonight. And so, you know, not a typical regular day over here, but excited for it, man. Yeah, for sure.

It's hard to complain when you get to talk about sports every day. I know. That's the truth. And it's hard to complain when you are the team that actually landed Nolan Aeronado and not the losers who did not. According to reports, the Oakland Athletics, wait, we're not allowed to call them that anymore. The athletics. No, we're not allowed to call them that anymore, right? Like, they're not, they're not the Las Vegas athletics because that name has been turned down. So, well, we're allowed, actually, we're allowed to make our own t-shirts about it, Derek. It's the opposite. It's

not that we're not allowed to call them that. It's that everyone is allowed to call themselves that. And the A's can't do anything about it. Let's get Eric started on some Las Vegas athletic stuff. A hundred percent. Let's do that. For now, we'll call them the elephant boys. And the elephant boys, apparently, according to multiple reports, had a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals in place for Nolan Aeronado before the dominoes kind of all fell, if you will. You had Alex Bregman being signed, and then the Diamondbacks quickly pivoted to this trade for Aeronado,

and that was ultimately where he was dealt. The A's were actively shopping for an impact third baseman of Nolan Aeronado's caliber, somebody who could bring everything that Aeronado would bring to a young A's team, right? That's a team much like the Diamondbacks that has a lot of youth and that team could use the veteran experience of someone like Aeronado. Plus, they saw Aeronado as an upgrade for a club that's currently in transition, right? This is a club that's kind of running out the clock right now until they get to Las Vegas and figure out what they're going to do then. However, it would appear, it would appear, excuse me, that the Diamondbacks are,

excuse me, that the athletics are trying to put themselves in a position to be in success as they go in the Las Vegas, right? But Aeronado had a full no trade clause and he reportedly indicated he would not approve a move to Oakland. Because who would, Damon? Who would approve a move to Sacramento? Who would approve a move to go play? Well, I mean, maybe it's not the worst thing for him to go play in a minor league baseball park and smash dingers out of it. But I feel like, you know, again, that there obviously are more. preferential destinations and it makes it a hard sell for players that aren't already part of the

athletics organization to want to come sign there. Yeah, I was a little confused with that situation. It seemed like to me basically that Aronado was maybe essentially, you know, saying that like, you know, the A's were one of his trade destinations that he would accept. And that's why the Cardinals were talking with the A's. And then maybe Aeronado, like kind of was like actually I'd rather be in Arizona so I'm taking the A's off of my list essentially to you know force and move through to the Diamondbacks yeah that's that's my understanding of it at least I could be I could be off on that but it seems like he was open to the A's until the Diamondbacks became a realistic possibility and then he said I'm going to do

what I have to do to get to Arizona because that's my preferred destination well and I think that like again it's no surprise I don't think anybody would really want to to go play for the athletics. There might be reasons there. And in the future, that might be a destination. But for now, I definitely don't see that as being someplace that a player who has a no trade clause would be willing to waive that for. I'm sure the athletics overall might have had more to offer than the Diamondbacks offered the Cardinals. But this was the deal that got done. Geographic and competitive preferences likely played a role here, right? and then again the Diamondbacks just got this done kind of fast.

So they kind of came in. And that was, I mean, the Diamondbacks were a team that Aeronado said he had already added to his list prior to this trade taking place. So again, it might have just been easier for the Cardinals overall to go with a team that was added to his list instead of going to play in Sacramento. As someone said, R.A. said, crazy Aeronado wouldn't want to play in Sacramento in a minor league park during the middle of summer. Imagine that. Isn't Sacramento, like, insanely hot? Yes. Like, shockingly. Like, you think, you kind of think of it as like Northern California when you,

when you kind of, you know, put it together in your head. Because it's, it's obviously north of what is Southern California. So it's, it, it almost is like, oh, yeah, you know, San Francisco is freezing cold in June all the time. And then you see the Sacramento temperature or like Fresno or something. And you're like, it's a hundred and 45 degrees outside in the dead of the summer. It's unbearable. Yeah. Yeah.

Why would you want to go to a place that has, you know, crappy weather, not great fan support, you know, is a minor league ballpark, doesn't pay their players? Like, it's not really the ideal destination for a professional athlete. No, not at all. Not at all. But, again, it's one of many reasons I'm sure Nolan Heronauta didn't want to go. there and again the Diamondbacks this is a good place to play a lot of people want to

come here in fact that's been our selling point we've talked about the geographic preference for a lot of players who most likely already even own a home here oddly enough it feels like players that don't even have a reason to own a home here other than their team played spring training here and they like the weather here like players that have never even played for the Diamondbacks have homes here so absolutely so it's like that that that is one selling point that we have over other teams, you know, but. Yeah, this has become a destination city.

Yeah. You think about like even like Kevin Durant, right? Like it was it was pretty much made clear when that whole trade from Brooklyn to Phoenix was happening that Durant really wanted to live in the valley. Like the Durant really like, you know, Scottsdale and North Phoenix and whatnot. I think a lot of these professional athletes like this is such a desirable place to live these days. It's crazy what's changed.

Like I've had a I've had some, as we talked about, I've had some car troubles. the Uber run into work. And I've gotten some old timers, Derek, on my Uber's into work. Some guys that were probably 70 plus that have been living in Phoenix since Phoenix was like a nothing city. And they're telling me like less than a million people when they first moved out in the 60s and whatnot. And to see what it's become now is wild. Like it's crazy. But I do think that this city, this market is becoming a little bit more of a destination for people than it ever previously was.

especially for baseball players who, you know, can then settle down their family and live somewhere for 12 months rather than, you know, here, here, here, here all over the place. Yeah, for sure, for sure. But the Diamondbacks moves are not making sense to a lot of people. They make sense to us on this show. In fact, outside, I feel like of the Pete Fairbanks move, the Diamondbacks have done everything that we've kind of asked of them to do, right? In fact, you could you could say that they've done more. We wanted Merrill Kelly back. We definitely wanted James McCann back.

We wanted them not to trade Cotel Marte. We wanted them to add, you know, somebody. I don't know if I'd say that's more. I'd say that that's like they did what they did the bare minimum, which is not trade your best player. They did the bare minimum. And re-sign your backup catcher and resign your one of your two pitchers that was a free agent. For sure. Like I think I, you know, they could still use a DH in particular.

We'll get into that later. We will. And just to address Robert Berman, who will not chill out and keeps trying to direct us on the show. We will get to Goldschmidt here, Robert, shortly. Promise you. But we have other things to talk about. We do things called segments here on this show. And that is one of the designated segments. I'll throw it all out there. We're going to talk about Lou James Gruber being honored as one of the top prospects in baseball. We're going to talk about the Hall of Fame boat. And we're definitely going to talk about Goldschmidt coming back to the show. But we want to talk

about the Diamondbacks breaking Chad Jennings from the athletics because he is one of those people who doesn't understand the moves that the Diamondbacks have made this offseason. Understandably, So, I mean, the Diamondbacks, again, are somewhat running it back with the same squad, especially pitching staff after, you know, arguably having one of the worst years that one of their pitching staffs has ever had, at least as far as what our expectations were at the beginning of the year versus what the end result was. Derek, we've been talking about, like, is this Diamondbacks rotation? Probably more so when they had Jordan Montgomery in 2024. But, like, there were conversations on this show.

I believe past shows that were done of, is this the best rotation in baseball? Right. And it was a rotation that consisted of Zach Allen, Merrill Kelly, Brandon fought Eduardo Rodriguez and Jordan Montgomery is what we were talking about as the best rotation in baseball. Right. Yeah, we've been, we had seven guys at one point. Remember, we had seven guys.

Well, it turns out the six guy is our best pitcher. And it's really not even particularly close in Ryan Nelson. Kind of wild. I mean, he was the eighth guy, I think. Damon, wasn't he the eighth guy? Oh, that's a whole other discussion. But yes, according to reports here from the athletics, Chad Jennings is questioning the Diamondbacks moves.

Now, we had recently discussed the Diamondbacks potentially bringing back Cody Bellinger. That is the big news of the morning that Bellinger will be staying with the New York Yankees. Now, again, even though there were, I don't know if there were rumors. There were odd rumors tying the Diamondbacks to Kyle Tucker. there were definitely very, very loud rumors tying the Diamondbacks to Alex Brigman. And then I mean maybe a few ideas thrown out there, especially by us on this show due to him being a hometown guy of bringing Cody Bellinger back.

But again, much like those other guys, none of those moves really made sense for the Diamondbacks. Though, as Jesse and I discussed yesterday, Bellinger probably made the most sense, considering what he would bring to this team and what, you know, positions he could play, which are positions the Diamondbacks have weaknesses on. But he will stay with the New York Yankees. And quite frankly, what was the deal that he signed, Derek? I'm thrilled that he's a five-year deal to return to the Yankees. $162.5 million, including opt-outs after the second and third season.

Okay. That's what I wanted to know. No defaults by the Yankees, according to Mark Feinson. And there's also a $20 million signing bonus with a full no trade clause. I would say that we will be back talking about Cody Bellinger to the Diamondbacks in two years when that opt-down happens. I'll put it on a rundown for two years from that. Yeah. Would you mind putting that in our notion on our segment rundown from two years from this exact day, Derek?

Because it feels like he's like the one player like we just can't escape. We can't. We talk about Cody Bellinger every offseason, every trade deadline. Are the Diamondbacks going to bring Cody Bellinger home? Probably not. But are we going to talk about it? all the time. Absolutely. So I have been covering, we'll do it again in two years. I have been covering this team now, Damon, for 14 years, 14 years. So my Cody Bellinger for a while there was

Nolan Aeronado and we finally got him. So there's that. But yeah, no, there are guys that trade rumors get tied to for eternity or at least teams that players get tied to. Of course, Bellinger being a guy from here in the valley is going to have those ties. But again, we know why they didn't make these moves, right? We know even if there were rumors about it that we came on the show and said it really wouldn't make a lot of sense and that, quite frankly, if they were actually considering it, we would prefer that they spread that money around and address the needs that they have to make this a more complete, well-rounded team rather than just getting, you know, stars in their eyes over in Alex Bregman or Cody Bellinger and spending a tremendous amount of money on those players that,

quite frankly, this franchise doesn't have, right? It would need to be deferred, a hundred 100%. There would need to be deferrals, the big deferrals in both of those contracts if they happened. As UMMA puts in here, like $32 million a year is a lot of money. We, you know, we had been told that the Diamondbacks purse this offseason was $40 million. So when you put that into perspective of 40 million versus 32 million APY for this guy, It never really was realistic for the Diamondbacks to get involved with one of these big-name dudes unless they traded away players on their own roster, which didn't seem like really made much sense either,

you know, from a Coutel-Marté standpoint or any of that. Like, the only player that I really want his contract, like, badly off this roster right now is Eduardo Rodriguez. That's the one guy where I'm like, get that away from my franchise. But other than that, I don't really think that anyone is, like, severely overpaid or whatnot, you know? Yeah. Well, again, according to the athletics, Chad Jennings, he said he seems confused by the Diamondbacks moves. He said, apparently they're not trading Cotell Marte, but they did trade for Nolan Aeronado, question mark.

Jake McCarthy is gone, but Merrill Kelly is back, question mark. Zach Gallen is still a free agent, but Michael Soroka is now in the rotation, question mark. I mean, it's unclear what's happening with every non-Dodgers team in the NOS, so maybe this is good enough. And at least he gives us the good enough. I don't know if it's good enough. I wouldn't say it's good enough. But I'll say trading Cotel Marte, not trading Cotel Marte, a win, right? Jake McCarthy gone, Merrill Kelly back?

That's a win. No attack to Jake McCarthy. However, the Diamondbacks were able to free up a roster spot that allowed them to trade for Nolan Aeronado. And of course, we knew that a trade of Alec Thomas or Jake McCarthy seemed inevitable with the rumors and the way things were going this offseason. Zach Gallum versus Michael Soroka? well, that's a $7.5 million cap hit with a lot of potential upside that you still might not know what you're going to get out of Soroka, considering how good he was in the second half of last year, versus Zach Gallen, who was very bad last year and is going to cost you probably $25 million a year.

That's the reason why that happened, right? So it's like, while it might be confusing to a lot of people that are looking at this team from the outside, we completely understand what they were doing. and we understand, as we said yesterday, that Mike Hazen had to go thrifting, and he has found some pretty good buys here, including getting Nolan Aronado as their third baseman for $5 million a year. They, as you said, they had $40 million. I don't even know $40 million is how much they had, right? We know that they are going to probably increase their payroll,

despite the fact that they said they were going to try to decrease it in 2026, which seemed very difficult to do and is proving difficult to do. However, you could argue that they've done a good job of staying in close to the budget. Like, yeah, you went over a little bit, but this is like going over by, by $5 on a $20 holiday gift limit rather than you going out and getting a $200 gift for this person. Well, they haven't spent their full allotment yet, have they? Like out of the $40 million, Soroka was seven and a half, as you said. You got $27.5 million for Merrill and Syroka. Right.

Then you have $5 million being added on here for. Nolan Arenado that pushes up to 32 and a half million. And then like about two million for James McCann. Two and a half million for James McCann. So you're right now at like 35 million, right? Little under, yeah. I mean, I'm just saying like there and again, 40 million seemed like a, like it was far like 40 million would have pushed them over the budget for last year. They kind of had to keep it more under 35. It's not to say that they're done making moves. I still think that they could potentially add someone, including one Paul Goldschmidt, should he be able to be added on a five to seven million dollar per year contract. And again, we're going to talk about that here

momentarily, but it's to say that if they do that or they make another move, that is going to be the end of it outside of potential trades, most likely. So that's where we're at when it comes to why the Diamondbacks had to make these moves that have confused pundits nationally, right? But here's some perspective. And I think that, you know, I'm as much of, and Derek knows this, like, I want the pie in the sky rumor. I want Alex Braggman with Catele-Marté. Like every time that there's a rumor like this, I'm like, yeah, let's do it. I'm all for it.

But at the same time, you know, this is a team that the last two seasons, you can't, you know, draw up worse luck. This team from an injury luck standpoint, from performance, you know, and just like performing. Yeah, yeah, like expectations going into a year and then just, you know, your pitchers all at the same time collectively being bad outside of Merrill Kelly and Ryan Nelson. You know, it's like this team has had some horrible luck the last two off seasons or just seasons where, you know, if things go, you know, normal, I think both years you probably make the playoffs. And so I think the diamondbacks are sitting there going, yeah, you know what, we we probably downgraded a little bit on paper going into this season. but if we just have a normal luck season where we're and if we have good luck in the way that bad luck is just not facing us at every single corner you know what I mean like I think that this this team could be pretty good but it's going to require better injury luck and not every single one of your pitchers being a disaster at the same time and I think that you know there's we're due for that to happen to be honest with you after the last two years we're due for a little bit bit of overperformance from our pitchers. We're due for, uh, you know, some better injury luck where guys are not just dropping like flies left and right. And, and, you know, maybe that's what the

Diamondbacks are thinking too is like, we have the core in place. We just need some better luck and things will go our way. And then you can buy at the trade deadline if your team is, is competitive. Uh, well, you mama in the chat says, imagine playing, uh, Aranado and Goldie, paying Arirano and Goldie, 13 million between them next year when two years ago they made six, $60 million between them. Crazy. Crazy. Masterclass.

Chris Talk Sports says, Damon, you are asking for normal from Arizona sports. Come on now. Fair. No, you shouldn't be asking that. Also, though, maybe they don't need to upgrade because we already have

some of the best players in Major League Baseball right here on this team, and we know it. We already knew it. We didn't need MLB Network to tell us this. We're still waiting to hear

where Corbyn Carroll and Cotel Marte inevitably land because they are going to be in the top 20, I imagine. But meanwhile, they've been slow playing the top 100 players in baseball, and it was revealed by MLB Network that Geraldo Perdomo is the 24th best player in baseball. He's number 24 on your score sheet, but he's still number one in your heart. Spots 40 through 21 were unveiled yesterday, and Perdomo came in at number 24.

He noticeably did not appear on last year's list, and Damon wanted to write about that. But he is coming off a 2025 campaign here where he slashed 290, 389, 462, hit a career high 20 home runs and 100 RBI. So we'll get the rest of the spots, not the rest of the spots, but we'll get spots 20 through 11 revealed tonight on the MLB network at 6 p.m. And then the top 10 will be named at 6 p.m. on Thursday. You expect Ketel and Corbyn to be on tonight's revealing, or do you think either one of them gets top 10?

I think there's a good chance one of them could get top 10. I think both of them get revealed tonight. You think so? I don't think they're sitting there being like, yeah, Celle Marte is a top 10 player in baseball, and he might be. He's the number one second baseman in all of baseball. Absolutely, no question about it.

But there's pictures and other players. No doubt. I think he's a top five hitter, though. If you go just look at his stats and what he produces when he's on the field, you know, I think that it's hard to say that there's better peer hitters. you know, there's five better pure hitters than Catelle Marte. But yeah, I think both probably get revealed tonight. Great to see Jerry getting some national love, though, because, you know, he's the type of guy,

as we've talked about, where like, it makes sense. I think that if any of them were to get screwed, it would have been him, where they'd be like, he's the 87th best player in baseball. And you're like, he had five wars. He was by far the best shortstop in the league last year. So it's good to see him getting his rightful due and resists. respect. I wonder how many short stops are ahead of him on that list. Probably like Bobby Witt and I don't know, Lindor probably. But I, you know, after that, I don't really know if there's an

argument for anybody else. So yeah, I mean, absolutely love it. Well, we will find out and we'll see if we're right. I think Corbyn could even end up on the top 10, quite frankly. But we'll see. We'll see. And that's two quite frankly's in this episode, Damon. So you've got to Glock and spiel me now from this point going forward. But is that your allotment that you're allowed to? And then if you hit three, then that means. Yeah, once I venture into like four territory, that's where this becomes a drinking game and people in the chat. Well, people are getting hammered. Really hammered.

Yeah, for sure. But we're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we're going to talk about, once again, bringing our Messiah back home, bringing Paul Goldschmidt back to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHA next Diamondback Show. Not get a checking account that gives back to you. Mountain America's My Style checking account has perks just for you. So it doesn't just take your money away, but gives back to you, including restaurant deals that can save you money, mobile phone protection, in case you already have to pay for that, they can take care of that.

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Goldschmidt would get on the open market. In fact, it seemed like at the time, there was a good chance that Paul Goldschmidt could return potentially to the Yankees or go to another team and it would cost probably $10 million plus. But it seems like as time

has gone on and more and more free agents stay available on the market that Paul Goldschmidt's market for himself, as as kind of cooled here in a little bit. So according to, of course, our guy Gambo over at Arizona's sports, he first reported when the Diamondbacks

traded for Nolan Aeronado that this did not rule out a reunion with Paul Goldschmidt. In fact, he said that this might have even perhaps increased the likelihood of Paul Goldschmidt coming back to the valley. We know that Arizona has expressed interest in at least exploring a reunion with Goldie,

and of course that could be in a part-time platoon role where he platoons with Tyler Lockley, platoons potentially with Pave and Smith, maybe DHS for this team, and apparently that could be the reason why there's a holdup or perhaps why a deal has not been made as of yet. Understandably, at this point of his career, in his career, Goldschmidt wants to still play,

has a lot to offer a team or at least feels like he does, and wants to explore what options are out there, right? This does feel like an attractive landing destination for him overall, considering his history with this team. And again, you know, the fact that a teammate of his that he was apparently close with, it has been traded to the Diamondbacks, makes this whole thing feel like it is inevitable. But it might not be because Paul Goldschmidt still wants to kind of be

in everyday first basement and it feels like he's still exploring opportunities. opportunities to do that. A one-year affordable deal with the Diamondbacks makes a lot of sense, and some have projected it to be in the neighborhood of $5 to $7 million. Now, if that's the case, I couldn't be more on board with Paul Goldschmidt. I'm completely on board. I'm wearing, I'm wearing dock shoes. I have a Pajmina Afghan on. Like, I am so on board that ship of paying Paul Goldschmidt, five to seven million, because that would essentially close out the Diamondbacks Free Agent budget here, but it would still look like a big win, at least if you are familiar with this team's situation financially and all the holes they needed to kind of fix with the

limited budget that they have, right? And again, Goldschmidt being a low-cost veteran piece here makes strategic sense. It might have made a little bit more sense when the Diamondbacks didn't have much of a veteran presence on this team at one point during this off season. They bring back Merrill Kelly. They now add Michael Soroka. They have Nolan Aronado. They add James or bring back James McCann. So there is a lot of veteran presence on this team now that might not have been, you know, when when this offseason first began. But again, that's a good point. Honestly, they didn't really have a lot of experienced players before they brought back Merrill before they traded for Aronado before, you know, they potentially brought a Goldschmidt in.

You could say that's the focus of Mike Hazen's offseason has to been to add veteran players that aren't going to cost you nearly as much and aren't going to expect as long term of a deal, but still statistically could be as good or maybe even better than somebody like that bum Kyle Tucker. Yeah, yeah, Kyle Tucker is a complete loser. I mean, when it comes to the playoffs, obviously. But anyway, Ryan's right.

Ryan's right. There is the whole me having to apologize for things I've said in the past about Paul Goldschmidt, which weren't really mean. But you guys took it as that, especially Damon, and you ran with it. But Damon also ran with the fact that I said that at one point years ago, last year, that the Dodgers, like, weren't very hateable. I mean, I feel like you say it to me all the time. But anyway. You'll text me it. I'll just be sitting there on my off day and Derek just said, oh, what's that?

Derek shoots Damon a text. Hey, did you see Mookiee Betts' new podcast? Did you watch it? I'm in his 1% listeners on my Spotify wrapped of Mookiee Betts podcast downloads. Go away. I don't want you up here anymore spreading your lives and your hate. But what I will say is I have always respected Paul Goldschmidt a tremendous amount. I think what my point was as far as people that wanted to build the Paul Goldschmidt statue was just like the

idea of him going to St. Louis, seemingly meaning more to him. So there was that. I also felt like at times Goldie wasn't the most clutch player, right? He definitely doesn't have the, you know, I don't have the memories that I do of like Cotel Marte getting walkoff wins for this team from Goldschmidt. But overall here, I still think that Goldie is a great fit for a team that still needs a DH. I still don't know what they're going to do for the DH. I mean, right now it would seem that Adrian Del Castillo is going to get those plate appearances and whoever isn't playing first base once Tyler Lockley returns. However, you know, the idea of bringing Goldie back here on that size of a deal fits

the Diamondbacks payroll strategy, fits everything that they're trying to do here this offseason. And again, it's just about upgrading this team in ways that needs to be great. Even if he's not any longer an everyday player, he still crush his left-hand pitching. It's something that the Diamondbacks could obviously leverage into a strong platoon with also him being the DH. And, you know, again, I don't do not hate it. I do not hate it at all. The full-time role, though, that might be the thing holding this up.

That seems definitely unlikely with the Diamondbacks. It also seems unlikely with other teams. His splits against Ritees are bad enough that, you know, everyday first baseman duties for Paul Goldschmidt could hurt. team overall, right? His defense is still great. Like, he's not a true long-term solution, but for a Diamondback's team that wants to not only add, you know, some depth to this team, but also, like I've said in the past, needs to still market itself and be a team that people want to buy a ticket to come watch. Goldschmidt's going to help you with both of those things. And obviously, if Tyler Locklear emerges this year as your true first

there's opportunities for Goldschmidt to, again, play DH and still get out there against, you know, left-handed pitching. But, I mean, his numbers from last year aren't terrible. And again, these are numbers that, you know, you'll feel, you feel pretty comfortable about paying a guy in the same neighborhood that you're going to pay Nolan Aeronado for. I mean, 2025, he hit 274 with a 731 OPS. Yes, he's not the home run hitter he once was. He only had 10 home runs. and 45 RBI, but he still posted a 1.2 baseball reference war. And you still just feel like there's so much that he can offer, especially from a batting standpoint, like I said.

Defensively, again, he might not be what he once was. But offensively, that's where I feel like he could really find a role on this team should one of the other younger guys, you know, kind of emerge as a strong first base option, at least defensively. We have his baseball reference war here. And you'll see there's a lot of red still here. His baseball savant. Sorry.

His baseball savant page here. A lot of red here when it comes to batting from last year. Fielding not so much, base running not so much. However, you know, again, his strikeout percentage and his whiff rate low or, excuse me, in a very high percentile as far as baseball savon is concerned. But still, a lot of red on this page still has a lot of red on this page still has a lot of the ability to find the sweet spot of the ball and still has the ability to get on base. So even though he doesn't put up the power numbers that he once did, you just feel like,

you know, again, there's no reason why this wouldn't be an attractive option for a team needing to balance, you know, some of the things they did this off season and still find a way to bring in better options at first base. I don't know what they're going to do with Blaze Alexander or Jordan Lawler, and I don't know what a Paul Goldschmidt, you know, addition would do for Haven Smith or Tyler Locklear. However, I know competition brings out the best in guys, and I know that Goldie has a lot of experience that he can share with the younger players, just like Aeronado can.

I just think that, again, Goldschmidt being at first base is going to play far less as a defender in the field than we're going to see Aeronado at third. Yeah, I mean, you know, I think that what Paul Goldchman represents is a very high floor, right? Like, you don't necessarily expect him to start replicating his MVP type performances, but, you know, he's the guy that, you know, you look at his baseball savant and all of those numbers are generally in the 50 to 70 range, right? Like, all of those are slightly red, and it's because he's just a consistent hitter. He's a professional hitter.

And I do think that, like, the Diamondbacks could use a veteran who, who does raise the floor offensively for your team a little bit, for that lineup, without knowing what the wild card of an Adrian Del Castillo or what a Pavan Smith or Tyler Locklear could become. I know you say competition brings out the best in people, and I smiled because I thought to myself, well, everybody except for Jordan Lawler,

who apparently needs just to start every day or else he'll never turn into a good MLB baseball player. But like I agree. Like I think Paul Goldschmidt being in the building would drive hopefully Pavin Smith and Adrian Del Castillo and Tyler Locklear to be better baseball players, right? Having that veteran presence next to them, having a guy that, you know, the Diamondbacks know is like an 80 out of 100 all the time. But could those other guys be a little bit more than that? And so that's where, you know, I think that this move just makes a lot of sense. I think this lineup has a big hole missing, you know, a guy.

that can put up double-digit home runs. And I think Paul Goldschmidt can be that guy for the team and even play some spot, you know, innings at first base when you need him to. But it does seem like there's been some rumors recently that like Goldie wants to start all the time. I don't know if that's going to be the case anywhere. I don't know if that's the case in Arizona.

But I certainly think that he could get 100 starts at DH and first base combined for the Diamondbacks. And so I'm hoping that, you know, that's what ends up being the case. I do think that this is the type of move that could, you know, just give you a little bit more of ground to stand on going into the season, like how you're going to replace some of the power numbers that you lost last year. I think that if you look at his numbers, find me a hitter that could be our D.H.

That's going to put up those numbers that he put up last year and is only going to cost you $5 to $7 million. And even if you do, right, like talk about like Louisa Rise, right? he's an even worse defender at first base. So you're not going to put a rise out there at first, as nearly as often as you're going to feel comfortable putting Goldschmidt out there. But when you look at this 274 batting average, Damon, I got to dig into those splits I talked about earlier. Hitting against left-handed pitching, Paul Goldschmidt posted,

he slashed 336, 411, 570 for a 981 OPS in 100. And he's a lefty killer. He kills lefty pitching. Meanwhile against Ritey's 247, 289, 329, 329 slug 619 OPS. I mean, this is. That's why we have Pavin Smith, brother. We have Pave and Smith for. It's the platoon that we all were hoping for when we drafted Paving 7th overall.

Well, I mean, again. Goldschmidt and Pavin, 2026. Tyler Locklear, right? There were a lot of things that needed work. work last year when he got, you know, major league playing time. But again, he could still be the first baseman of the future for this team if you give them a chance to develop. And you don't have them out there necessarily playing every day costing you games, right?

Like not have that pressure on it. Just striking out all the time. Overall, like, again, it does feel like much like what you said about the Jordan Lawler situation. It does feel like there's not enough at-bats for all of these guys, including the third-base situation. it feels like maybe if the Diamondbacks do add a Paul Goldschmidt, then we start talking about other players on this team being expendable and perhaps being involved in a trade to improve this team. If they do add Goldie, that's it for finances.

Like, again, it's up to Uncle Ken for him just to decide that, right? Like, he can always add more money to the pot, and that's just a decision that needs to be made. But again, as we've said time and time again, playing in the confines of the rules, right? If you add Goldschmidt for $7 million a year, you're over budget and you're not really able to spend a dime more unless you do it via trade. Even then, like the Aeronado situation, you're trading away a minor league or you're just adding another $5 million to your payroll by bringing in Aeronado. You're not getting anything off the books.

It's why that Ketel Marte trade was something that needed to happen according to national journalists and analysts in order for them to add somebody that would cost them. as much money as Alex Breitman, right? But Goldschmidt, again, when you look at these splits, when you look at these numbers, it's just crazy. Baseball's crazy. You have a guy that's hitting 336 against left-handed pitching and 149 at bats, right? Why wouldn't we add that man to our lineup?

I get it. Left-handed pitching isn't very common. However, it just feels like Goldschmidt has so much still in the tank and could really at this point focus just on hitting as a DH for this team, maybe playing first base some, but maybe he could get those everyday reps that he's seeking as a starter every day, but more as a DH for this team and a part-time first baseman, not necessarily the full-time first basement.

So maybe that's the way that they can accommodate him and have him be happy with the deal and happy with his playing time while also still bringing him in, you know, on a dollar amount that is, you know, reasonable for this team. At this point, they can't spend over $10 million on any player that becomes available, though I'm sure if it was, you know, Bregman, Ken would have done it. Pavin Smith's numbers against Ritees for Luis here in the chat. I wanted to know his splits. 265, 361 OBP for a 456 slugging percentage, which equals out to an 817 OPS, did so in 226 at Bats last season, eight bombs 28 RBI.

Now, those numbers look pretty good on paper. I will caution everybody that Pavin Smith is maybe the world's, you know, worst person to look at his cumulative stats over the course of, especially last season and try to determine whether or not that's the consistent player that you're getting over the course of a season. Because if you look at his splits overall, in March, he hit 571, Derek, with a 1,625 OPS. obviously that's only two games but in April he hit 318 with a 1,049 OPS and then I don't have the

stats in front of me cumulative rest of the season but from May through August he never got higher than a 700 OPS except for the seven plate appearances that he had in July which is basically the same sample size as March he played two games in July hit good in those two games and then went back to being a bum again. So Pavin Smith, you know, over the course of the season, 817 OPS looks pretty good. If he can be consistent and give you that all year, that's a great platoon with Goldschmidt hitting lefties and him hitting righties. And I think that that works really well on paper. But you need Pave and Smith to do that over the course of many months rather than just being like, I'm going to help us in April and then never help this team again for the rest of

this season. So you just need more consistency from Pavin. Until he has a three home run game. And then he's back. Then he's never been more back. That's what he does. Right when you are ready to give up on Pavin, he has the greatest game of his career, hits a grand slam.

And you're like, oh my God, did we wake him? And then he sucks again for 30 straight days. And you're like, okay, that's the Pavan Smith I know. I mean, Jacob's right here. He says more importantly, Pavin has worked one scoreless inning in his pitching career, move him to the bullpen. Not opposed to that. Let's not forget also getting back to Goldie that Steve Gilbert, when he appeared on Bickley and Marotta last week, revealed a very interesting text message that he got from former Diamondback, Paul Goldschmidt, in regards to the Nolan Aeronado trade.

Steve said, I got a text from Paul Goldschmidt who said, Nolan Aeronado is a good one. He said, you're going to like him. He's going to play well for the Diamondbacks. Pretty good testimonial. And it feels, once again, like Aeronado being added to this team. might have just made this that much more of an attractive destination for Goldie. Yeah, I think it's, you know, they're friends, obviously. They know each other.

They wanted to accomplish big things in St. Louis together, and it didn't work out that way. So why not go where, you know, you're familiar. Go where people love you, right? Aronado, you know. Everybody knows your name. 100%. Aeronado is not an Arizona guy, but he was committed. to ASU.

And it seems like Aeronado is a guy that always wanted to be in Arizona. But Paul Goldschmidt is, man, it's hard to give takes when Derek's singing right in your year. Yeah, you're hearing it louder than the rest of them. Impossible to do.

I'm done. That was awesome. Oh, well done. Well done. And I'm sure we're going to get DMCA'd for me singing the cheers thing. But we're going to take a quick break and we are going to talk about

if maybe after Nolan Aeronado, the future third baseman of the Diamondbacks is waiting in the minor league system in one Lou James Gruver. We're going to do that here on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PH&X Diamondback show. I love branded bills, and of course

if you love hats, you'll love branded bills too. They have partnerships with the Phoenix Sons as well as ASU and U of A as part of their campus collection. But more importantly, if you are a company that wants to make your brand stand apart from the crowd look no further than branded bills they have you covered with the best custom headware you can find and they have a wide variety whether you're looking for snapbacks fitted hats beanies

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but because of all of the sporting events going on here in the Valley, including a historic one out at Phoenix Raceway. For the first time ever, NASCAR and NTT IndyCar series are racing during the same weekend at Phoenix Raceway, and you can get a front row. seat to all of it. Nothing delivers the intensity of race weekend. The engines firing, the smell of the rubber, and the crowd erupting as the field charges into turn one. You can get the best access in motorsports, of course, with the Desert Diamond Casino Infield Experience. You can go inside the garage, walk the track, meet the drivers, and catch the pre-race concert. I'll tell

you, that was almost better than the race itself. It was an absolute blast, and I got to meet my favorite driver. You can do the same. There are ticket options. There are camping options. And so much more. So of course, do not miss out on this historic weekend. The 2026 spring NASCAR weekend at Phoenix Raceway is making history with NASCAR and NTCR IndyCar Series sharing the same track on the same day. And you'll want to be able to say you were there. NASCAR and NTT series Indycar Series weekend at Phoenix Raceway, March 5th through March 8th. Secure your seats now at the link in our description. Well, we have been hearing some praise for the Arizona Diamondbacks Farm System or their prospects. We talked about the Diamondbacks having three.

second baseman on the top 10 MLB Pipelines top 10 second base prospects list. That's very exciting, especially considering all three guys are at different stages in their career. And kind of as I alluded to, it makes sense considering that we have kind of a MVP caliber second baseman on this team already, that those guys are going to get stacked up at that position. However, we've talked about third base, and we know that the Diamondbacks have Aeronado for the next two seasons. But, what happens with third after that at least for the time being it would appear that diamondbacks have a real one in their farm system in one lou james gruver uh formerly known as gino grouver the artist formerly known as gino gruever his mama call him lou james i'm gonna call

him lou james but it's like it's like it's like dr dr dr dry you know it's like it's like a rapper who just changes his name yeah to his real name yeah or just like or just you know is is like you know what, I'm going up for a switch. There's another rapper who does that a lot, but I'm not going to make that comparison on this show. Here, I'll make another comparison. It's like pro wrestling in a way. There was already a third baseman named Gino. So Vince McMahon had to go to Gino Groover and be like, look, kid, I know you got a great name, but we got to come up with something different.

He's like, well, my grandfather's name was Lou James. And he's like, that's great. That's solid. That's what we're going to go with Lou James Groover. And that's how it's like mankind, Derek. It's his alternate personality. It's like when he called draws puke. He wanted to call draws puke.

That's a whole other thing. Watch that documentary. But speaking of Lou James Gruber, he is considered by Jonathan Mayo and MLB pipeline as a top 10 third baseman in the minor league system. In fact, Grover was sixth was sixth on the list of third base prospects. He is the Diamondbacks number 10 overall prospect and their fourth among infield. prospects. He spent 2025 with the Saudis posting a 309, 399, 434 slash line with an 833 OPS. He is incredible with the bat. And again, we have some of his numbers here from last season. But again, he'll most certainly begin the 2026 season in Reno with the Aces. And should again be

a bat that might even be potentially available to this team. As soon as 2026, right? Yeah, I think so for sure. Like we've discussed in the past, I mean, just on Mailbag Monday, we talked about the minor league system and what each level really means. I think once you get to AAA in the Diamondback system, you really don't have much else to prove, right? And we've talked about Reno and the, you know, just everything that goes, how the ball flies out of that stadium. you know, it's not like it's an accurate depiction of what your offense is, especially in the PCL overall. Derek, you're going to need to enunciate Saudis a little bit more in the future because CBK in the chat thought that Gino Groover or Lou James Groover was out there playing minor league ball in Saudi Arabia.

Look, they probably pay far more than double A, I'm going to guess. Do you think they love ball like that, though? That's the question. Baseball podcast. You know what's actually crazy? And this is like deep cut. No one cares, but I'm just telling this because Derek would find it interesting right now. Hell yeah.

Kid I went to high school with grade older than me, really good football player, went to Air Force to play football. His name was Jake Shazek or is Jake Shazek. He's still with us. Okay, good. I was going to say. What happened to him? He played on the Little League World Series Saudi Arabia team. Isn't that insane?

That is insane. There's like pictures of him at 12 years old playing for the Saudi Arabian team. He didn't even play baseball in high school at our high school. Yeah, that's wild. That is wild. That is wild. Well, meanwhile, like I said, Grover,

nothing but glowing, you know, comments about Gino Grover. Do we have his stats here, Damon? We do. Take a look at his stats from 2025. Again, 309 batting average, 399 on base percentage, 434 slug. You have 12 home runs, 56 R3. RBI and again, just a big part of the future of this team.

Also, nice yellow city pigweed's uniform. He's got rocking there. He might be him, Derek. I'm actually like, I'm pretty hyped about Gino Groover. I was reading the evaluation that was given by Jonathan Mayo on these third basemen. They have Gino Groover as having the best hit tool of any of these third baseman here in the top 10. And that's not, obviously, that doesn't have anything to do with. power and I do think that you know he leaves a little bit to be desired from a power

standpoint at that at that corner stamp spot you know 12 bombs in Amarillo isn't necessarily like a crazy amount of run at all the ball also flies out of Hodgetown yeah for sure so in both amarillo and reno but you want to see a little bit more home runs but that hit tool is pretty special they're saying here rarely strikes out 13.5% career K rate never misses a fastball just a 20% overall miss rate. Like he's he is just a pure hitter. And I do think that like given that he was playing ACC baseball two years ago and he was a high pick and, you know, he was, you know, playing high level college ball.

I think that this dude could be on the major league roster next year, especially if there's, you know, an injury, God forbid that happens. Well, again, they're just getting stacked up with young talent and it feels like someone needs to kind of take that opportunity, right? Who's going to be next? we still don't know, like I said earlier, what's going to happen with Blaze, what's going to happen with Jordan Waller. And, you know, as time is going on, you're starting to see,

especially Jordan Lawler, Andrew Jones's names included in trade packages more often than not, simply because it feels like, you know, again, you feel like they might not, other teams might not have given up on these players yet, but you might also feel like, you know, their progress is enough, or has gone slowly enough that the Diamondbacks are not in a position to wait for them, that continue to develop. I don't know if that's the case. I do know that, again, we as fans are far more impatient with the development of these young players than, you know, the organizations themselves are. They value the statistics and the numbers at the end of the day far less

than they do. Other factors like coachability and, you know, what the approach look like at the plate and other things that people like me are far too stupid to pick up on for sure. but I was concerned, Derek, about this, this farm system a little bit more before these recent lists have come out. And that's not to say that, you know, obviously like, I'm not the guy who's scouting the organization. So, you know, I don't know everything about these prospects, but it's good to see in top 10 lists of different positions, you getting multiple guys on these lists is, you know, three second basement is wild. Four infielders out of the top 20 second basement and third basement, right? Yeah, it's great. of four infielders in the top 20 list for those two positions.

You can't. Feels like we have the next crop ready to, you know, kind of make their way through and hopefully make their mark on this organization. But definitely need pitching. And I mean, that's one thing that's going to be interesting to see. We do feel like, obviously with the additions of Cole Drake, Mitch Pratt, David Hagamon at the trade deadline, other guys who are already pitching out a major league level, right? Andrew Hoffman, Brandon Garcia.

These are all guys that have already contributed at a big league level. So, you know, Mike Hazen did his best last year to prioritize adding, you know, pitching to this organization. And I feel like a reason for that is because they do have such great talented players in their system right now. You have Kaysen Cunningham. Yeah. And you have, of course, Ryan Waldschmidt both ending up on, I believe, the top 100 prospects list. So you just-Waltzman should be on the outfield list, you would think, of the top 10 outfielders. and outfield list comes out for sure.

So it does feel like the future is very bright for a lot of position players, but still a lot of question marks for pitching. And again, it's more about what does the future hold for some of these young guys, where they're going to play. And again, if they're actually part of the Diamondbacks future plans or if they become, you know, pieces to trade away. The big problem for the Diamondbacks right now is that it doesn't feel like prospects are as hot, you know, in the trade market, right?

also it might be teams reluctance to trade prospects, but it does feel like, it feels more like teams do not really want prospects in return in the trade market. And that's going to make things difficult for this organization. That's one of the only ways, once again, that they can build their roster out is by trading young, desirable players

that are in their farm system for these guys that might be on contracts that are nearing expiration, not necessarily. We don't want to do that for guys like Freddie Peralta who are going to be, you know, gone at the end of this season. But I do feel like, I would do it for Freddie Paralta.

You would do anything for Freddie Peralta, Damon. Yeah. And honestly, if they tell me, yeah, the Dodgers are online too, I'm saying, okay, I'm up in my offer. Yeah. What do you want? Yeah. Like, you take your pick of the litter.

Let me give you a menu. It's called our roster. Yeah. You order off of this menu. I mean, I'm start, like, I don't, we're all out of Cotele Martes. I think that this organization from a depth standpoint minor leagues, like, I'm not trying to unload a lot of these players. But if I can get an MLB caliber pitcher for.

for Jordan Lawler, I am doing it because it doesn't seem like the path for Lawler to getting the A.Bs that he needs, apparently, to show that he's not a complete zero baseball player is not really available at this point, unless he's going to play left field with Lorda Sal, which I don't think is going to be the case. So if we can get like a Freddie Peralta guy, even if it is for just a year, I'm fine with it. Yeah. Well, especially if it's. I don't think it would be, though. I think we can resign them. Especially I was going to say if it increases the likelihood of resigning him, I'm definitely on board with that. He's not a, he's not a Boris guy. So, you know, I think the Diamondbacks would have more of a shot of, you know, not, him not testing free agency than, you know, like a Zach Gallen, for example. Well, we got to give a shout out to all of our diehards for not testing free agencies themselves. Thank you guys for being part, being a part of this team, being a part of this organization.

Of course, if you want to sign up, you do so right now. You get all sorts of wonderful benefits, including some new things that we're bringing. your way in 2026. But of course, when you sign up to become a diehard, you get yourself your free t-shirt from our merch locker. You also get 20% off all future merch purchases, 20% off events. You get access to the PHNX Discord lounge, which is the best place to be an Arizona sports fan and hang out with us, hang out with me and this guy. So much more. So head on over to go phnx.com and prove your fanhood by becoming a PHNX diehard today. Again, thank you to so many of you that have signed up not only for our diehard but for our supporters club as well you guys

are the best and we appreciate you so much i mean if if you don't if this isn't sell you on the on the diehard discord i don't know what will derrick when the kyle tucker news happens obviously derrick and i got to get some tweets off from our actual twitter accounts about it oh dodgers ruining baseball again you know just the the old classics you bring back the classics but in the discord letting it fly i'm letting that chop a sing derrick in the Discord. F-bombs, crazy, crazy talk is happening. I mean, it's, if you want unfiltered thoughts, become a diehard, get in the Discord. That's where we really let it loose. Can I also say this? I put a breaking graphic in the Discord only when we got Ruben Gallego signed. Apparently it was the

wrong Ruben Gallego, but what? Funny enough. I thought you had that one on the money. It's not the senator, apparently. Son of a. I'm not putting that out. But we got good news on the hall. We got, we got, oh, are we going?

We want shirtless Derek back. You guys don't want shirtless Derek back. Nobody wants that. Damon doesn't want that. I actually, I'm cool with it. Shirtless Derek also comes with a baseball bat full of champagne. Actually,

it's preempted by the baseball bat full of champagne. We need more, we need like big Ws for Derek to take his shirt off. We're not just doing it for, for nonsense reasons. Like, Derek will take his shirt off. If we get a multi-time all-star via trade,

or if we win playoff games. Those are the two things that we are, that we're going shirtless for. These people in the Discord yesterday wanted me to dye my mustache teal. I'm like, I'm done dying my face and head colors. Can we not do that? Can we come up with something new? I'm going to throw something out there this week, Damon.

I am going to put out there another infamous Derek Montia's stupid bet based on the Diamondback's performance in 2026. We're going to do that on Friday. And I'm probably really stupid. for offering this up but I'm going to do something I love it I'm going to do something and you know what I'll say it again Derek and I'll put it out here we we tried to do it last year but I just want goodwill here going into the season I'm willing to do Cotel Marte eyebrows slits if we make the playoffs I really am I'm just willing to do Cotel Marte eyebrows slits period at this point damon I just want to rock it

because our beautiful boy is staying yeah right that you can't take him away from us not being traded I want to do it but I could also do it in honor of Carlos Beltran a fellow Puerto Rico being added to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Yesterday they made the official nominations or official guys that are in. It's official for two really good baseball players. Carlos Beltran, who gets in with 84.2% of the votes on his fourth year on the ballot,

and Andrew Jones, father of Arizona Diamondback prospect, Drew Jones, who makes it in with 78.4% of the votes on his ninth year on the ballot. And really you couldn't be happier for these two guys. These are two guys that I think when you and I looked at this list, we were like, yes, those guys. Those guys are Hall of Famers. I'm a big Andrew Jones guy. Huge Andrew Jones guy.

I remember when I was little, my parents told me that he's not really like the most likable of dudes or something like that. And so I didn't really like him. But I look at his stats and I just respect a player like that. You know, double digit gold glove wins in his career. It's crazy. 400 bombs. He's just the pillar of consistent. can see in great defense.

10-time gold Glover. Deserved to get rewarded. Silver Slugger, just everything you can imagine. I mean, just an elite baseball player led the National League in home runs in 2005 with 51 or all of baseball with 51. 128 RBI led the National League. You know, he was a big part of that Braves team being a juggernaut. And he was just an incredibly fun player, incredible defender.

And just unreal. Again, definitely somebody worthy of it. Who else is kind of like that mold of player? Because what comes to mind, the one guy who comes in mind for me as like a like just a defensive player that like was a Hall of Fame caliber defender, but maybe the hitting was just under what you would consider typical to be a Hall of Fame player. Like Tori Hunter comes to mind of like, remember how incredible he was in the outfield for the twins back in the day when he's just catching everything and you're like, oh my God.

This guy's nuts. It's such an asset to have a center fielder who is just that good at defense. We saw it in the 2023 run with Alec Thomas, and hopefully he can kind of get back to that level. But it's why Alec Thomas is on this roster still, not because he can hit. And, you know, it's great to, like, I want a center fielder like that. A guy who can, you know, supplement his offensive numbers, but is just a dog on defense. And Andrew Jones was that.

I wish Drew Jones was that. I wish he was a fraction of his pops. Yeah. It would be incredible. Yeah. Meanwhile, you got nine-time all-star Carlos Beltran, three-time gold glove winner, two-time Silver Slugger, Roberto Clemente Award winner, 2017 World Series stud. He hit 325, 415, 500 for a 915 OPS for the Mets back in 2009. And again, just a guy that overall his numbers are incredible and they always were everywhere he went.

Very consistent. Very consistent player. Fun fact about these two guys, by the way. These two players were born one day apart in 1977. Andrew Jones was born on April 23rd, 1977, Carlos Beltron, April 24th, 1977. So very cool. Meanwhile, there's quite a few guys on here that are getting closer. Felix Hernandez in his second year on the ballot, he got 46.1%. of the votes. King Felix will inevitably be a Hall of Famer.

Good. Chase Utley on his third year on the ballot is up to 59.1% of the votes. I know you would love that. Dodger and Philly, Chase Utley. I will say this for sure. And this was before my hatred of the Phillies has become what it has. You know, because we didn't play them obviously in the, in the, you know, NLCS yet. But I can't stand Chase Ellie. I never have been able to, you know, stand Chase Ellie. I think that the guy. sucks. I think that he literally ruined a guy's career and he'll, if you listen to him talk about it, he's like, I wasn't trying to do that. Okay, well, don't stick your cleat six feet in the air and rip a guy's leg in half and no one will accuse you of trying to do that. Chase Ellie's a bum. He's a war merchant. Go look at his, his stats are nowhere near what his level of war. And if he didn't have that war, he wouldn't even be a Hall of Famer, but he is inevitably going to be one. Hate the guy.

I had to say that. Arod, meanwhile, he's at 40% of votes. This is his fifth year. It feels like Arod will get there. What are we doing? One guy that won't, Manny Ramirez, this was his final year on the ballot, his 10th year. He does not get in, and he ends up at 38.8% of the votes. Meanwhile, a bunch of other guys that probably won't get in.

But here's a list of guys that for sure won't get in, because if you get less than 5% of the vote, you drop off future ballot. and I am pleased to announce that the biggest villain potentially in Diamondback's history, Ryan Braun, falls off the Hall of Fame ballot, only getting 3.5% of the votes. Ryan Braun is out of here. That's my Ryan Braun impression. Yeah. I didn't cheat. I didn't do anything wrong.

Oh, that guy diluted my sample. And you're like, dude, close your eyes a little bit, freak. Yeah. We'll see you, Ryan Braun. another another absolute loser other guys that did not get the 5% that will drop off that might be a little notable edwin incarnation Matt kemp uh geo gonzalez howie kendrick 0% for geo howie and daniel murphy uh so all of those guys nick marquesas got one vote uh Alex gordon got one pity vote so a lot of guys falling off the ballot there but guys that we didn't think we're hall of famers yet anyway but one more update before we

get out of here. We did get confirmation that apparently Eduardo Rodriguez is going to play in the World Baseball Classic for Team Venezuela. And I'm not sure how you feel about that overall. I'm not sure how ERA. I mean, like, there is a part of me that feels like these guys that are competing in this World Baseball Classic are going to kind of get a little bit of an early start. And with the amount of players that we have now confirmed to take place in the WBC, I mean, it feels like perhaps, you know, I mean, there's, you know, there's at least maybe a little bit of advantage, less than not advantage. I actually, I think it helps out the Diamondbacks because you get these guys playing competitive baseball earlier on in the process and they're just, you know, kind of more ready to go for the season, right? And last time there was a World Baseball Classic, didn't we go to the World Series?

I think so. So I'm not saying that's what helped us, but Merrill Kelly was pitching in that thing and he was certainly pretty good that entire season. So I don't think it's going to affect the team too much unless there's like an Edwin Dia's style, sorry, Yoshi injury that happens. And I'll knock on wood for that, God forbid. But I do think that this will help the Diamondbacks just, you know, get their players up to speed playing competitive baseball. Because there's a lot of them on this list, Derek, that we'll be representing. Yeah, for sure. And there is still some chatter that these players might not play for Team Venezuela just due to the uncertainty of what's going on with that country right now, right?

I mean, it's. Oh, you got to let them. play ball. I mean, yes, you're right about that. I'm just talking about players themselves potentially changing their mind on wanting to participate. Should the situation turn into something that, you know, might feel either unsafe or more importantly, I'm not sure about being a safety concern as much as it just being an uncertainty about like flights and infrastructure and things that, you know, that that you might participate in. But I don't believe these players or these teams to go to the countries that they play for necessarily unless a world baseball classic game

is happening there. So again, that might not be necessarily a concern with the world baseball classic. However, I think in a time like this, nothing's set. Yeah, sorry to catch you off. I think in a time like this, the team Venezuela, like, you'd almost be more galvanized to like want to represent your country on a big stage when you're, when you're, you know, the people, your population of your country probably needs it more now than ever. needs something to be prideful about.

100%. Yeah, he'll fire him up. So I hope there's no issue. Sports in the past has has been the thing that brought us back to some sense of normalcy, when out whatever is going on, whether it's a pandemic, whether it's, you know, international incidents breaking out. It always feels like sports is the thing that helps us, you know, as weird as it is, as an important as sports is in the grand scheme of things. it's just that thing that always brings us this sense of community and things being okay again right

I mean maybe especially because in the grand scheme of things sports is so important that like seeing sports being played again makes you feel like okay things are back on track we're you know this isn't literally the end of the world right but sometimes it can feel like that right but speaking of the wBC the diamondbacks now have a lot of players playing in the world baseball classic Corbyn Carroll. I'm pumped. Corbyn Carroll will be part of Team USA as we've discussed. Catelle Marte and Geraldo Perdomal will be part of Damon's team Dominican Republic.

We have Eduardo Rodriguez here committing to Venezuela. Michael Soroka will play for Team Canada. Nolan Aeronado plays for La Bolivocas, team Puerto Rico, after he's already played for Team USA. The DR is going to destroy the PR. David just wants Aeronado to pick a side. Like, you already paid for team USA and now you're playing for team Puerto Rico. All I was saying was that, and I know I keep bringing up soccer comparisons on this show, but when you play for a team internationally in soccer and, you know, another sport,

unlike, you know, football like in America where, you know, there's not really a national, you know, type of event that happens. But when you play a competitive game in soccer for a country, you're done. You're tied to that country for life. That's your country. And you can go and like there are, there are oftentimes where. like an English player has ancestry that's Jamaican and so they can't make the English team because it's so difficult, so competitive.

So they'll use their grandfather's Jamaican, you know, ancestry to become a Jamaican citizen and go play for that team. But then they can't, if they get good enough and England's like, oh, we want them all a sudden. They can't then go play for England because they're cap tied to Jamaica. That's what I'm saying. Isn't, uh, didn't Araldus Chapman want to play for Great Britain because Great Britain was, or Jamaica was a.

territory of Great Britain. Yeah. I mean, it's still in the Commonwealth, I'm pretty sure when it comes to like what the, you know, the stupid royalty resides over. But team Puerto Rico, we're not going to address that on being a U.S. property? No, I won't. I just think that Nolan Aeronado, like, if you're already playing for Team USA, I don't know how he can then switch over to Team Puerto Rico when it benefits him because

he can't make the USA roster. How do you? How dare you? How dare you? How dare you? I will die for Nolan Aronado now that he's part of team. Oh, I know.

It's probably your favorite thing in the world. He's my favorite player on this. Listen, Derek, all I know is that my home island plans on destroying your home island in the world baseball classic. And it definitely means just as much to me as it does to you. Watch along. Watch along, David. We have to.

We have to. I'm going to paint my face the Dominican Republic flag. I'm going to go white cross here. This might be where you guys see sure with Derek come back out. just so I can pop off this shirt and get this Puerto Rican tattoo out there in the public. But we appreciate you guys so much. Did you say Drew Jones was playing for the Netherlands? Drew Jones.

I forgot that. Drew Jones also, part of Team Netherlands. I think that that's cool. And I actually, like, hopefully that gets Drew Jones maybe just a little bit more up to snuff, right?

Because that's the most competitive level of baseball that he will be playing at in his entire career. And if he can show some signs of life, I think that would go a long way towards making me feel better about Drew Jones's trajectory in his career with Diamondbacks, but it's going to be fun to watch. I mean, I do think the Netherlands is interesting because their territory is Kurosau, and Kurosau has a lot of these really good players. Like Zander Bogartz is from Kurosau, and the Jones family is obviously from Kurosau.

And so then they can just go play for the Netherlands. So the Netherlands just kind of becomes the best European country in the world baseball Classic. Hell yeah. Because they just have all of these dudes from the Caribbean who are really good at baseball, go play for them. And they're like, what are you talking about? He's Dutch.

He's been Dutch this whole time. Jones? Drew Jones. Obviously Dutch. Anyway. Israel also really good because of similar reasons. They just, they're like, yeah. Oh, he's Jewish.

Apply for citizenship. And then they get hella good at baseball. and you're like, okay. Well, we thank you guys for being here. We will be back tomorrow with another 12 p.m. Oh, you're right, Yoshi. Zander Bogartz is from Aruba, which I believe is also right next to Curacao

and owned by the Netherlands, I think, as well. Pro Far is from Curacao. Profar is from Curacao. But yeah, similar vibe. Aruba Curacao, I think both those countries funnel to the Netherlands, which is interesting. Well, that's it. We've gone way too long, Damon,

and you're not even letting me wrap up the show right now as it takes. so. I mean, I appreciate it, though. I could sit here and do this show for four and a half hours, and it wouldn't bother me none. After we turn off this camera, me and Damon keep talking. We don't stop. That's kind of a problem for the Wildcats show. But not tonight. Make sure you check the Wildcats show out later tonight. Damon, I have Damon all to myself after this show to laugh to him about. But don't forget to catch those boys. Of course, make sure to come back tomorrow for another 12 p.m. show of the Diamondbacks podcast. Until then, you can follow us on social media. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon. dog with a D-A-W-G at the end and we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Our show is at P-H-N-X underscore D-Backs, but 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.

We'll see you tomorrow. Until then, have yourselves a wonderful evening. Behave yourselves, Deborah, and remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you pick a side for the World Baseball Classic.