PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Don't Get So Defensive

Episode Date: September 25, 2021

On this episode, Derek and Jesse provide a TANK SZN update and discuss how bad this team has been defensively this year, all through blue bubbles on iMessage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to the P-HNX D-Bax podcast right here on P-HNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of P-H-N-X. Very disputed, very reputable, however. And, you know, I don't know how occasional it is at this point, Derek. It seems pretty frequent to me. Yeah, it is what it is. It is what it is. At least by you, at least by you.

Hey, hey, other people are buying into it. just the same way they bought into tank season. This show, of course, is brought to you by the Draft King Sportsbook app, America's top-rated sportsbook app. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app. Now use our code of P HNX, and for doing so and simply betting $1 on any NFL or college football game this weekend, you will receive $150 in free bets instantly. That's code PHNX.

Do it now. Get on it. There's some great options out there, and draft Kings gives you that money instantly. So again, I strongly suggest you betting your $1 and then saying, thank you, sir, I'll take my $150 in free bets. That voice you heard, of course, questioning me being the mayor of PHNX, just like everybody around the station and office seems to do so, is Thunderstick, Jesse Friedman.

Jesse, I didn't question how you came to be called Thundersick, so I don't understand this position you're taking. Well, that's because it's equally made up by you. Okay, fair enough. I have to say, though, Derek, before we get any further, today was a pretty good day for me because you went from green to blue in my text message today. This is a big change for you, huh? All you iPhone users are very excited about that.

Everybody's texting me, hey, it's like I got a new job. It's like you're joining our club or something. Yeah, it is. It is. I get it. It's been a nightmare of a, a day for me learning how to use my very first iPhone. I figured how, you know, I don't know how. I think I like Android phones better simply because, you know, you look at these phones and you start,

you stop caring about how much they cost, right? It's, they're also expensive. It's like a computer. You're like, if I'm going to throw 700 at it, what's 1,000, right? And people start having that attitude more and more. Next thing, you know, I am paying $1,500 for a brand new cell phone. I don't even know what kind of world this is. But I went with the iPhone 13 Pro, and I went with the 1 terabyte because Jesse. That is a lot of storage. I plan on dying with this phone. This is going to be the last phone I ever buy.

This is it. This is it. It's right here. It's beautiful. I got it in the baby blue. And I'm very excited to, in honor of me turning to blue, I got it blue. I thought that was the fitting color to choose. There you go.

I wonder if the Diamondbacks locker room is this judgmental of each other, if some of them don't have iPhones. Like, I get it that it's a joke, but I started to really feel judged here, Jesse. I felt I felt lesser than. Well, you know that Madison Bumgarner is probably walking around with like a flip phone from 2004. I can already see that conversation happening in the clubhouse right now.

I still want to see him doing the video, the dance. I want to see that video of him doing the dance. Well, their Diamondbacks aren't dancing much because, of course, it's tank season. And tank season is rolling along nicely right now, Jesse. If you are a fan of this team tanking for the number one draft pick, things are good. Baltimore won last night, which we were hoping that would happen. The Diamondbacks won their final game with the Braves. They keep on the same pace.

They are tied. They are destined to do this forever. Looking at the schedule going forward, though, the Diamondbacks, do have, you know, some, some tough games ahead as well as the Orioles do. Yeah. Right now, the Diamondbacks start a three-game series tonight with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Orioles, meanwhile, are facing off against the Texas Rangers, which is a little bit nicer of a matchup.

Hopefully, we'll see the Orioles win tonight and take that one game win lead, or would it be a deficit? I don't even know how this whole thing works. It's all about perspective, yeah. It's all about the way you look at it. But with nine games left, things really are coming down to the wire for these two teams. Yeah, the Orioles schedule is interesting. They are at home against Texas right now.

And then they're at home with the Boston Red Sox. And then they finish at Toronto. And the Red Sox and the Blue Jays, you want to talk about two teams that have a whole lot to play for right now. They're right now within, I think, one or two games of each other in the wild card race in the American League. That's going down to the wire. We know those teams are going to have something to play for. But like you said, on the Diamondback side, it's a pretty similar deal. They're against the Dodgers right now who are in a super close race.

And then after this three games set at home against the Dodgers, the Diamondbacks go on the road and face the Giants, who are, of course, the other team, you know, locked in this race with the Dodgers. So both of those teams have a lot to play for. And then the debacks finish up against the Colorado Rockies who are actually pretty decent. I mean, we touched on it briefly in our last show. they've actually played some pretty good baseball lately. So, you know, I think the Rangers series right now that the Orioles have is, you know, those are the easiest games that are happening for the rest of the year for either of these two teams. I know the Diamondbacks haven't purposefully been tanking.

And I want to make that clear to everybody that I don't think it's, this is on purpose. I don't think that they're happy about it. I just, I think there's a lethargy there. Like they don't, they don't care, right? there's i don't even think if if they gave a half-hearted effort i don't think we would see lavollo tear into anybody at this point in the in the you know in the clubhouse or in the dugout i don't think we'll see that same passion the rest of the year i just wonder and there's no way to confirm this if they they come down to being tied or something similar to that series with the rockies

if they really just phone it in for that one series I don't know. It's the last series at home. You want to end on a high note. The one thing I admire about the Rockies is that, you know, like we touched on yesterday, they have a lot of positive momentum going into next season. I think they can look at themselves and say, hey, we're a pretty good baseball team. Better than the Padres with all of the weapons and arsenal that they built up during the off season. I would see this as an opportunity to not necessarily. part ways with someone like Trevor Story and not necessarily do a full rebuild with that team when they have been playing so well. I might, I might start to think that that team could contend if if a few more pieces are added to that starting rotation. Well, we talked about it yesterday, Derek. They still have a problem in that Trevor's story is not coming back. I know. That's not going to happen. So without it, without Aeronado and if Story leaves, I mean, I don't know what exactly is left there, but money. They have money. That's what they have.

have money money to spend right the Tampa Bay raise have done an excellent job at this where we constantly see them part ways with players and we ask well what now you guys were doing well why are you just and yet they somehow adapt and continue to be good while still not breaking the bank with their payroll they will never break the bank that's one thing we know about the raise that is not in the DNA, at least not with, you know, not by getting 3,000 fans in the stands every night. Yeah, I mean, that's, that's such a huge thing. It was so eye-opening to me to look at those figures, the attendance figures the other day, simply because on, you know, when you look at the season for the Arizona Diamondbacks,

it shows the attendance figures for all of their games, not just the home games. The, the juxtaposition between the attendance figures at some of these games versus the Diamondbacks at home at Chase Field was mind boggling. Like I, I understand what the players and what LaVolo mean when they say, you know, it feels like an away game at home and, and they would like the support, but they don't feel they're getting it. But man, it's got to be,

it's got to be disheartening to be a member of this team and to go on the road, see crowds like that in support of the team they're playing, and then come back home. and not only have 5,000 to 7,000 people there, but for 75% of those people to be rooting for the opposing team still. Yeah, it's like, it's not, for me, it's less like they're playing on the road and more like they're just playing at the minor leagues. Like it's not, it's just not like a major league caliber crowd, right?

Yeah, like 7,000 people there. That's a great point. It's unfortunate that there happened to be cheering for the team for the other team, But it's also unfortunate, there's just not that many people there in the first place. I mean, the stands at Chase Field every night are pretty vacant. And of course, I guess that might change a little bit this weekend with the Dodgers in town. We've all seen this game time and time again. We know how this set.

Well, I think Dodgers fans even come out from L.A. They make a weekend of it. They come eat some of the great food we have downtown because we have some great food downtown. They have a lot to play for too. I mean, these games are huge for the Dodgers. So unfortunately, those Dodgers fans have quite a bit of incentive to do that right now. Do you want to see them play, spoiler? I mean, do you want to see them at this point with these six games against these two teams,

they could really impact this race one way or another? You know, if they somehow manage to kind of sneak up on the Dodgers the same way the Rockies did in their series and then, I don't know, completely lay down in a sweep against the Giants. I mean, this team can literally at this point impact how this NL West race plays out and finishes. Tank season has always been your thing, Derek. I've never been fully on board with tank season. So you know, you should know where I stand on this. I want the Diamondbacks to go out there and play well this weekend.

And granted, I will, I will acknowledge I also, if they lost it, wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, right? Like I understand where you guys are coming from. But, you know, if Dalton Varsho goes, you know, 10 for 14. with five home runs the next three days, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be opposed to that. All right. Well,

the Diamondbacks are 49 and 104. I would, I would like to see them, you know, miss out on that dubious record. And they could, I don't think they're going to hit it, but who knows,

right now, they are undefeated under Tori Lavallo's new contract extension. So there you go. Something to build on, something to be happy about. And you know what? I'll give you something else to be happy about. Go download the Draft King Sportsbook app.

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because I'm a parlay guy. I've been trying to tell everybody that now. That's more, I was going to change my Twitter handle to that. Like, just parlay guy. Is that available? I don't know. Can you be at parlay guy?

Probably not. There's got to be a parlay guy out there. But you could get a same game parlay. That's what I've been doing where you just kind of mix it up. You can choose the line. You can choose the over under. You can choose how many yards. Kyler Murray is going to absolutely torch the opposing team for.

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21 and over only, Arizona only. Gambling problem, call 1-800 next step. New customers only, minimum $5 deposit and $1-wager required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com slash sportsbook for details. And Jesse, I know you're coming out. I know you're going to get on that draft king sports book when you're out here. And I know how jealous you are that you can't use it right now.

And I apologize, but come on back to Arizona. change that. I'm counting down the days, Derek, in about a, in about a week, I'll be there. And I'm going to download the app. And who knows, maybe I'll, maybe I'll bet against the Diamond backs. Hey. Let's see. We'll see. I feel like that would be you embracing tank season. But that's true. You know what I'm going to, you know what I'm going to do. You know what I'm going to do. Lose your money, however you want to lose it. I'll tell you this much. I've seen a lot of things from the Arizona Diamondbacks this season. and there's been a lot of speculation on who's to blame, obviously.

We've talked about it with the Lovolo situation. Lovolo got his contract extension yesterday, which shows that the organization, Hazen and the front office do not believe that Lovolo is obviously to blame for the way that this disastrous season is gone. And most people don't really want to blame my curse that I came up with, which is fine, I understand. You have got a decent following with that curse, though.

I'll tell you, once I started, writing it, all the pieces started to fall in the place better than I thought they were going to. However, Jesse being an actual writer and an actual very intelligent human being, wrote a piece on go-Phnx.com, which you can access by becoming a member, a subscriber, that talks about the defense really being just absolutely terrible this season, something that used to be their calling card. So I wanted to kind of talk a a little bit more about that without, you know, without giving your whole article away for free. But how bad has the defense been this season?

Before I get there, I think we have to spend a second talking about how good it was. Yes. I was, I was absolutely stunned by this. I honestly had, I knew the Diamondbacks had been a pretty good defensive team over the last, you know, five or 10 years. But this is one stat that I'll give away from the article for free. from 2010 to 2019, the Arizona Diamondbacks had 445 defensive run saved. Now, first of all, Derek, do you know what defensive runs saved are?

I do. Those are the ones you explain to me, which aren't necessarily like errors and such, but situations where it was a good play, right? Right, a play that, yeah, it might, it could have gone either way, essentially, and the defender made a good play on it to either get an out or save a run from scoring. Right. So compared, like, relative to an average team, the Diamondbacks defense saved 445 more runs. They prevented 445 runs from scoring in a 10-year period, which is impressive.

I mean, that's like 45 per year. That's a huge number. The second highest number in that decade in the 2010s belongs to the Boston Red Sox, and they had 274. Whoa. Wow. That's a, that's a big gap. It is not just that the Diamondbacks were the best defensive team, according to defensive runs saved in the 2010. It's that they were the best team and it wasn't actually close, at least according to, according to this one metric, which is crazy, right? Like I never, I don't know about you, Derek, but that was, that was pretty shocking to me when I first found

that out. Yeah, no, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, I, like, like you said, we've always kind of known them to be a defensive team, a good defensive team, even when the team wasn't good, it usually wasn't because of the defense. It typically was because the offense couldn't produce. Right, right. So then came last year and things changed. And the Diamondbacks last year wasn't horrible. They had negative two defensive runs saved as a team throughout the entire season.

So they were below average defensive team last year. And then in 2021, this is when it's a complete disaster. And the Diamondbacks are looking at negative 48. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Yeah. So it's been bad. And I think a lot of people probably, I mean, this is not rocket science, right?

The Diamondbacks have done a whole lot of experimenting this season, you know, throwing Dalton Bar Show in Centerfield, Pave and Smith in Centerfield. If you read the article, the numbers are all there. Centerfield is really where the Diamondbacks have had the biggest problems by far. Sure. Which is not surprising because, I mean, Centerfield is, you know, arguably the most important. and defensive position alongside probably shortstop. Let's just say it's, and it's the position that they don't have a player to play.

Yeah. Right. We complained about Cotel Marte and the entire idea of switching him from where he wanted to play or where he's naturally played to the outfield. But that never even seemed like something that's that well with him. You know, it didn't seem like something he wanted to do. Right. It definitely seems like a fault, a shortcoming of the order.

organization that they didn't think they needed to go get an outfielder. They didn't need to, they didn't think they needed to retain a really good outfield like Starling Marte, right, which is, I know that they made that trade and they decided at that point, that was the direction they were going to go. But man, that guy just seemed to be somebody really wanted to hang on to.

And he's done nothing but be excellent since they've traded them away. I sense a spying on our exes with Starling Marte. I'm writing that down right now. He's going on the sheet. I mean, I think he's a top three center fielder in baseball this year. I mean, the man is stolen like 45 bases or something. But anyway, we could we could get off on that tangent pretty quickly. But this Diamondbacks defense, Derek, you're absolutely right.

Kattel Marte has honestly been kind of part of the problem this year. And I will, I will be open and admit that entering this season, I wanted Ketel Marte to play center field. And I think the diamondbacks wanted Catel Marte to play center field because center field is just a more valuable position than second base. It's a harder position to fill. And if you can, you know, if you're choosing between having maybe a league average center fielder and a slightly above league average second baseman, you'd rather have a league average center fielder defensively because Catel Marte hits bombs, right? Yeah. Yeah. Like, like, if you can, if you can put a guy in center field who plays viably good defense and is as good of a hitter that he is, I mean, that really sets your lineup into a completely different category.

Not that many guys have centerfielders with a 900 OPS. Sure. And you're right about that because I wasn't completely opposed to it initially either. I remember when they first did it, my reaction was, all right, yeah, like, let's, let's see him do this. Yeah, right. Awesome. Right. This would be great.

I think there was one game in spring training that I was present for where he made such just a bad line on the ball from where I could see it from where I was sitting that I, it's like I instantly started having questions about it. You know? Yeah. And it's spring training, right? So it's always hard to rate or get a good idea for how a starter. is going to play in the regular season in spring training.

They're not out there trying to win a position. They're not out there trying to impress the staff. They're just trying to get the rust off. They're trying to warm up. They don't care if they go 0 for two before they get pulled out. They're, you know, the one thing they're instructed not to do is to do what Stephen Sousa did a few years and lay out for lay out for a fly ball in spring training and injure yourself, right?

Oh, man. That's the kind of stuff that they're told to avoid, you know. So you can't really, you can't really judge his ability to play centerfield if he's not going 100% in, in spring training. But that was my first, that was just my first moment of thinking, hmm, yeah, didn't, he didn't, he didn't look good out there. He didn't look like he even knew how to play that ball when it was coming to him. And it was a pretty standard fly ball that I felt in the moment a lot of, a lot of outfielders would have caught, you know. It's easier said than done. I would not have caught it.

I will say that now. I'm not going to act like I go do it, Derek. No, I won't. And I wouldn't have. I'm just saying it. It looked like something that he could have played it a little bit better, you know. And then from there on, we've seen him continue to just have struggles in the outfield, really playing a ball that sometimes seems like it's a standard fly ball that should be caught in the outfield.

Well, hearing you talk about that reminds me, I haven't thought about this in forever. You remember when the Diamondbacks put Chris Owings in center field? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That was another experiment. I want to say, I think it might be A.J. Pollock went down with an injury and they were like, oh, crap.

We don't really have a center fielder. Sure. And for a while, Chris Owings was the guy. And I remember having very similar thoughts about him. It's just something that happens when you put a guy who is inherently an infielder and has been an infielder for forever. They just don't look right. you know, when you put them in center field, their instincts are just infield instincts,

and it's a completely different position to play. So, yeah, I think it was sort of a similar deal with Chris Owings, where he could do it, right? Like, it wasn't a total disaster. His offense suffered a lot during that period of time in his career, from what I remember. Cotele, Marte, fortunately, for the most part, has managed to continue to be an incredibly dominant hitter, which is great. I brought this stat up, by the way, when you were gone, but this still kind of, is amazing to me.

Catelle Marte leads all of MLB with a 321 average since the start of 2019, ahead of Tim Anderson and Trey Turner. That's still a very impressive stat considering how bad this team has been over the last two seasons. 321 is wild. I mean, the Diamondbacks have never had any. I mean, even Goldie in his prime, he might have had one season where he hit 320. But to maintain that batting average over, you know, that's probably like over a thousand plate appearances.

That is kind of ridiculous. And there's nobody to, there's just nobody to consistently get him in or there's nobody consistently on base for him to drive in. You know, that's, right. That's the big,

big problem, I think, with that batting average seeming so, uh, insane. Like it seems so, uh, it doesn't make any sense.

Yeah. I was the team this bad with a guy on the team like that. Yeah. It's kind of felt like, empty calories in some ways. I don't know. Like, Cotele-R-R-Well, very well said. He's like, he's like the 340 hitter that's like, wait, really? Like, I feel like he, I don't know.

I feel like he doesn't, you know, drive in that many runs. But yeah, I mean, you know, he hits near the top of the order. And to your point, there's not really other guys on base for the most part. But yeah, going back to the defense side of things, center field has been a huge problem for this team. And unfortunately, Cotel-Marté has been part of that problem this year rather than part of the solution. that was surprising because in past years he's actually been okay out there that's why i was in support

of this he's actually graded out pretty decently defensively in the last couple years where he's been out there uh but i don't know derrick maybe it's you know his injuries uh you know he's kind of stacking hamstring injuries right now maybe that makes it a little bit harder uh to get to balls in the outfield it's a little bit hard to explain um but the results sort of speak for themselves i don't think i've said this before the diamond backs are probably going to need to find a new center fielder to at least get the bulk of the time starting next season. I don't think you're wrong. That's something that I think they absolutely need to do.

I think that that's, once again, a shortcoming of this organization to think that they could get away with such a shallow lineup. And at the same time, still have somebody like Cotel Marte, switching positions to become a starter in a position that you don't currently have a player for. when you bring up the Owings thing, the big difference there, he was replacing an injured player.

Right. Yes. It was kind of an emergency. Right. Maybe they didn't have the depth that they should have. Maybe they should have had somebody more qualified to play outfield than an infielder. They're switching to the outfielder. It's still because of some reason.

The Diamondbacks put themselves into this position from day one this season, from the offseason. They put themselves in this position. They made the choice that they were going to be. going to make Cotel Marte, their everyday center fielder. And hopefully that, for me, I hope that that experiment is done. I think there's been something just at yesterday's game that I saw against the Braves, where just seeing Cole Calhoun out in right field make plays that he makes look so easy, but you know for a fact if Pavin Smith was out there, it probably would have ended up going

for a double, you see how much value there is in an outfielder that can play the position well. Yeah. Yeah. But I know you have some more from your article. I just want to remind everybody that they can read that article that we're going to talk about a little bit more on go pHNX. And that's at go phnx.com. You can become a member and you will get access to not only all of our written content,

but you will get exclusive members-only deals on our merchandise every week. And if you take a one-year membership deal, you will get one of our free t-shirts. You can check out our t-shirts over at p.nxlokker.com. The first week, we had a buy one, get one free deal on the t-shirts. And then I think this week we got a percentage off for members and such. So we're always doing great deals over there for the PHNX Locker. If you like the t-shirts, it might be worth it to become a member, even if you don't want to read our writing.

I'm just saying. So if you just want to check other stuff out, there's other, there's other perks, right? You can join our members only Discord, which I've been informed. I have been pronouncing incorrectly. Someone really came after you.

Yeah, yeah, you really. Yeah. So I have to, I have to, it's going to be a point of emphasis for me that I say discord, discord. You can join our Discord, or you can get away from the BS on social media. You can get away from people making fun of how you pronounce words.

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And again, if you also want to get in on our Draft Kings Sportsbook app, you can download that app and use our code PHNX to get $125 in free bets for making just one $1 bet on college or NFL. So there's all that stuff, Jesse. And the bigger thing about signing up for go phnx.com is you get to. to read our articles. And I think reading Jesse's article about the defense was very eye-opening for me. I read those numbers and I saw especially some of the players' numbers, Jesse, like that. It just, it boggles my mind that how bad for whatever reason this team has been this year. It's not just the players that have been switching new positions. It's even reliable players. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, I want to ask you a sort of a trivia question here, Derek. I don't know how closely you read the article. But here's my question to you. So we've already talked about centerfield. The Diamondbacks are defensively. They grade out as the worst team defensively in Centerfield this season. Which other position do you think they are dead last in? There's one other position where they rank dead last defensively. I'm assuming you won't remember from reading it. So just like,

Instinctually, what comes to your mind? I will say instinctually, but, okay, so they were last in center field? Yep, they're last in one other position. What's the other position?

Hmm. It was an infield position. I was very mad about it. I want to say it was second base. It was second base. Are you kidding me? It's second base, which is so random because it's like,

you mean where Ketel Marte would have played if he wasn't in center field. Wow. You're kidding me. Yeah, no. I mean, pretty much all signs point to Ketelmarte probably should go back to second base. But what's interesting is if you dig into the numbers,

a lot of it has to do with one guy. And this one guy, Derek, hasn't played very much. And his defensive grades in his limited playing time at second base are pretty dang abysmal. And do you know who this guy's name is? You know who the absolute disaster is at second base? I think I do. If I'm if I'm not mistaken, I'm pretty sure it's Andrew Young.

It is Andrew Young. Yeah, Andrew Young is, this is hard for me to say. Andrew Young has posted negative 10 defensive run saved, which I mean, the entire team. How is that possible? Has he even played 10 games at second base? He has hardly played 10 games. He is, as of the time of this writing, he had played 138 innings of defense. So you're probably talking about 15 games, maybe at that point.

So 15 games. And what that says is that he's cost the Diamondbacks 10 runs just with his second base defense in those 15 games. And I have to preface this by saying defensive run saved is not a not a normally super reliable stat over small samples. So I have to, I have to, you know, we have to say these things with caution. But there is no coincidence that Andrew Young is supposed to the number. that negative and that short of the time it is i mean even with a small sample i mean that is a startling startling number what is his natural position what did he play as a minor leaguer he doesn't really have one that's kind of always been the issue with andrew young he's he played some corner

outfield in the minors and he played second base and you know they've tried him at third base but he really doesn't have a position so for all of you who have been asking a very good question i think over the last couple years like this kid hits why are we not playing him we're not playing him because he is he's not just like a below average defender like he's he's like the kind of defender who really does damage when you put him in the lineup a lot he's a lot he's a liability in the in the in the field basically exactly yeah exactly that's wild because like you said it's not errors necessarily but it's plays that he should have made to secure an out or save a run from scoring and this this passes the i test

too. I mean, have you, like, Andrew Young, every once in a while, I mean, he'll just kind of let one, I don't want to say slip through his legs, but like, he doesn't have very much range defensively. And this, this number absolutely bears that out. It makes sense. And it also makes sense that it's second base when I really think about it. Because second base, they've just had this rotating carnival of, of, you know, clowns trying to play a position. position that is Cotel Marté's natural position. And I mean clowns in the nicest way possible. I just mean that once again, it's frustrating to see how bad this infield has been at times this year with simple plays.

And it's kind of like right field too. Right field, I've seen so many doubles and triples go into right field that should have been outs or singles maybe. I mean, yeah, again, this is me just judging as if I was an athlete that could actually do any better. I'm just saying, when you see Cole Calhoun out there, you see a different level of defensive capability than you do with half of the other guys that they've played this season almost combined.

You know, I've seen Payvon Smith catch a ball in right field, but have I seen him make impressive defensive plays, no. Calhoun makes two per game on average, it seems like. Yeah. You know, plays that he even makes kind of look easy, but you know there was a good chance. Like I said earlier, someone else would have missed it. Pavan Smith is an interesting one. I think the samples are maybe a little bit too small for me to really say anything too, too definitive.

But it kind of looks like he's a first baseman. And that's kind of just, at least right now, I mean, he has played. plenty of time to grow and develop. So I don't want to, you know, put a stamp right now on who, on who Haven Smith is ultimately as a player when he's 25 years old. But, but he might, it sort of looks at least so far that he plays a decent first base and, and putting him really anywhere in the outfield, like you said, he's probably, he's not going to be horrible. He's not going to be maybe Andrew Young level at second base, but he's probably not going to, he's going to be probably a net negative if you put him in an even a corner outfield spot. Well, yeah, man. I,

I don't know what to say. I think that these are all things that we as fans, we as journalists, other people have pointed out. It's just been kind of baffling how the Diamondbacks think they can continue to try to fit a square peg in a circle hole. It's just, you know, it seems like the answers are there. I think in your article, you had some pretty simple ideas on how could fix things defensively.

And a big part of it just involves moving guys back to their natural position and letting them play there every day without constantly rotating guys out. You're going to have guys that come in and give guys a day off. I know Lovolo is never going to play any single player, 162 games, or even 150. Lovallo believes strongly in giving guys time off and giving them rest to make it through the marathon that is the MLB season. It just doesn't seem, it seems like it went too far, much like decapitating Baxter and wearing his head in a celebratory dance. It seemed like the ideas of being able to switch guys and have them be versatile, making almost everybody on the players some sort of, on the team, some sort of utility player. Yeah.

became his calling card when it was more of something he just did in order to give guys time off and make sure everybody was always fresh. The thing that typically annoyed people was someone like David Peralta would be on like a seven-game hitting streak, hit him 450 over the last 10, and he'd sit them, you know, in a game against the Dodgers or something. So planned off days, man. Yeah. They always, you know, you can't always stick to that kind of stuff.

But I don't think that these maneuvers. with the players and the positions they play has obviously worked. I think it was really interesting. One of the things that Mike Hazen said when he was kind of complimenting Tori Lavello and justifying the decision to extend him, one of the things he said that he thinks Tori Lavello has gotten better at is learning to use his players at kind of a diversity of positions, right? Take advantage of positional flexibility.

I think that's something like what Hayeson said. And I mean, I think that's absolutely true. right we've seen that he's gotten really good at it uh but maybe maybe to a fault absolutely to a fault i mean i think we know that and and granted you know this season has been lost for a long time so there's something to be said for um you know experimenting and kind of trying guys out at different positions but i think we can all agree that torre levello has maybe pushed the envelope a little bit too far on some of those things and and played a lot of guys at positions that they probably just shouldn't be playing at the major league level uh yes

And I can't agree with you more, right? Well, we'll talk about this more. But again, if you get a chance to subscribe, if you already are a subscriber, please check out Jesse's article. If you aren't, what are you waiting for? Again, I said yesterday, are we worth a Carmel Machiatto?

Not even a venti. I'm talking about at all. I think we are, at least one per month. And if you feel the same way, please sign up for our website at go phtnx.com. and before we go, I did want to give you guys our Draft King's pick of the week. Obviously, the idea here is to always, especially during tank season, just bet against the D-backs. It's always a good idea.

It's never not. But if you don't feel like doing that, there is a Gary V's special this weekend on Draft King's sportsbook for the New York Jets versus the Denver Broncos, where you will. get a boost for Michael Carter to get 12 whole receiving yards. I'm going to be honest. This isn't a this isn't a slam dunk like the one point thing, right? A receiver or in my case, Christian McCaffrey can go down with an injury and not reach the thing that seemed very reachable and then lose you money. It happens. However, I don't know, 12 receiving yards. I feel like that's one catch. So if I was the betting man, and I am now, I would put my money on Gary V's special for the Michael Carter boost where you will get double, it's a plus 110. You're getting over your double,

you're more than doubling your money. Get in on that action on the Draft King Sportsbook app. If you haven't signed up yet, use our code PHNX, bet that $1 and get $150, excuse me, in free bets. Jesse, I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate doing this podcast. with you. You can get all of this information, of course, like I said, on go, phnx.com. And you can find us on all of the social medias at PHNX underscore sports. That's Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. You can get me on Twitter at cap underscore Kman with a K, and you can get Jesse at Jesse and Friedman.

Just a reminder, if you're listening to this right now on any of your favorite podcasting apps, you can subscribe for us there. If you're listening to us on the website, you can sign up and subscribe for us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or anywhere else you get those. And if you're listening on one of those and you've already subscribed to the audio side, go over to the YouTube. The old YouTube.com and subscribe to us there. We're churning out new content all day long. If you're an Arizona sports fan, I promise you won't be disappointed with what you get. Jesse, let's hope that the Diamondbacks lose.

a whole bunch this weekend. I know you're not in favor of that, but let's get on board with that. I want to thank you guys so much for listening. Jesse, thank you, of course, for your time and all of your information. Derek, I think before we go, Derek, I have to say, I know, I'm interrupting you here, but I just have to say, I mean, your comment earlier was so nice. You just, you sounded so authentic when you said you appreciate doing the show with me. I just want to point out, I don't think it's a coincidence that you got so much more friendly on the same day that you got an iPhone. I just wanted to point out that I think there's maybe some connection there. I don't like this. I don't like

where this is going. I feel like I'm transforming as a person. I don't like that. I feel I feel gross, but I also feel more powerful. So there you go. There you go. It's not a bad thing. Don't let it get to your head, Derek. I'm going to. I'm going to. Well, thank you guys all for checking out the podcast. Remember kids, baseball is more fun. But it's more fun when your text messages are blue bubbles.