PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Ep. 1: Onward and Upward

Episode Date: April 9, 2019

In our debut episode of 2019, hosts Jesse Friedman and Jeff Wiser announce an exciting new vision for The Rattle. They also discuss the D-backs' 5-5 start, Robbie Ray's rocky career path, and a surprisingly torrid start on offense. 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.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2019 debut of The Rattle Podcast. As always, I'm your host, Jesse Friedman. And joining me today is someone who I'm sure is familiar to all of you. His name is Jeff Weiser. Jeff has joined the show in the past several times as a guest. But guest no more is Jeff, as he is now joining on board with the Rattle Podcast. They'll be here with us every single. single week. Jeff, welcome to the Rattle. Hey, Jesse. Glad to join you, man. We are very excited for

what is really kind of a new start in a way for us here at the Rattle. Me and Jeff have been working really on this for the last several months. So we really appreciate all of you who have shown us some patience as normally the Rattle podcast starts way back in January or February with some early on shows. But we've been working on on something new here. And to start off this episode, before we get into some things about the Diamondbacks and their five and five start, we of course want to talk about all of that for the most part of this show.

But before we get into that, we want to jump into our vision for the Rattle of 2019. As I mentioned, we've been working on this for a while. And tomorrow, Jeff, it all comes to fruition. Yeah, absolutely. It's been a lot of fun and a lot of work. putting things together but I'm excited to see kind of you know everything go live and and see the the website come to life with the analysis and and you know commentary and and work just around the team to really accompany what was already you know a really good

podcast and so I think it's really cool that that you and I've been able to sort of connect and and sort of find a vision for what we want to see the Rattle become and so it's just very very cool to to have the day like you know finally be there because we really have been working at it for quite a while absolutely so we want to go ahead and jump into a little bit more specifics on what exactly the vision that we're talking about is real quick before we jump into some debacks talk so basically the rattle as all of you know who have listened in the past it has been a podcast for the last couple of years we've really had a lot of success with the show. We've built a lot of great connections with all of you, the listeners.

We've really appreciated your support over the last couple years. And this year, we basically decided to step things up. So not only will you be getting the Rattle Podcast as you have in the past with me and Jeff Weiser every week, but you will also be getting some written content that Jeff mentioned on our new website, which will be released tomorrow. Tomorrow, I guess it depends on when you're listening to this, but April 10th is officially our launch date for the rattle.net. So the rattle. Dot net will be our URL where you can find all of this analysis and this commentary.

And essentially what this all will come into is the rattle being not only as you all know it to be as a podcast, but we're also going to have a written element with regular new content and potentially some other things as well as we get into the season. So we are very, very excited about all of this. We've got some new branding, a little bit of a new look for the Rattle, so we really hope that you'll kind of jump on this train with us and join us for this next season. So with that, we can go ahead and jump into some talk

about the 2019 Arizona Diamondbacks. Jeff, so far, this team is five and five. They started the year in Los Angeles, dropping three out of four. They followed that by taking two of three. of three from San Diego at home, and then two of three from the defending world champ Boston Red Sox at home as well. So the Diamondbacks are a 500 team. And from my perspective, I want to get your thoughts on this, Jeff. This team has looked almost the exact opposite of what I think a lot of us expected it to be. We enter today, April 9th, the Diamondbacks will play the Texas Rangers

tonight with Zach Granky on the mound. But we enter this game with a 6.30 team ERA, which is 28th in Major League Baseball, almost dead last. The Diamondbacks pitching, in short, has been horrible to start the season. And on the flip side, the Diamondbacks are fourth in all of baseball, with 61 runs scored over 10 games. That is averaging over six runs per game. And I think for all of us, this has almost been a dumbfounding start to the season.

about a team that traded away Paul Goldschmidt, as we all know, the jury's out. I don't think we need to hash out that trade anymore. It is done. Goldschmidt is a member of the St. Louis Cardinals now. And maybe this hurts even more. A.J. Pollack is now a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers signing with them a four-year deal. And then the Diamondbacks have, between those two guys, that is a big chunk of your offense. And not to mention Patrick Corbyn on the pitching side as well. This is a this is a diamondbacks team that was heavily gutted this off season. And they have started this season with an offense that is absolutely knocked the cover off the ball after getting rid of Goldie and A.J. Pollock. And I think it's a dumbfounding start

to the season. Obviously, we're talking about a small sample size. But I don't know about you, Jeff, but this is not what I expected the 2019 diamondbacks to look like. So I, you're saying, You did not expect Adam Jones to be on a 65 home run pace this year. Well, I didn't say that. I believe I did actually predict that Adam Jones would do that. Yeah. No, I feel you 100%. I mean, look, the strength of the team was supposed to be at the rotation.

It's, you know, the area that, you know, really didn't have, you know, as much turnover. Of course, they lost Corbyn. But they added some other arms. And so, you know, you kind of thought. you know, okay, well, they'll just continue to lean on on guys like Zach Grinky and Robbie Ray and, you know, get what they can out of Zach Godley. But, yeah, it's turned out to just be really wacky. You know, we're seeing like a huge surge of power throughout the game. But, you know, even if the ball's juiced a little bit or has been changed a little bit, everyone's still playing with the same baseball.

And, you look, the Diamondbacks are, like you said, you know, up near the top of the league lead in the, in the, in the game. runs and you know like one of the teams ahead of them is is the mariners who have played two extra games with their opening series in japan so um it's even maybe a little more impressive i mean it's it's just wild it's it's so far so far beyond i think like you're you're totally right what any of us expected i mean david peralta has been an absolute like doubles machine and you know adam jones has been awesome kattel marty has been you know just fine nick omit has not embarrassed himself in any way. And like Christian Walker looks like kind of the real deal. I mean, I don't know. I'm just as surprised as you are. And, you know, small samples aside, it is really, it is really intriguing.

Like, you know, I guess the question that it raises for me is like, how much of this do we think is real and how much of this do we think is fake? Yeah, I think that's probably the question of the day here on the Rattle podcast is, is this Diamondbacks offense actually here to stay? And I think it's a tough question, a question that personally, or I think it's a question that Diamondbacks fans probably don't want to address because it's really fun, I think, for people to see this happening to this team where they're just knocking the cover off the ball. But I think you ask a good question. I think it's one that the Diamondbacks are going to have to confront. Is this actually for real? and I think you really have to go player by player.

You've got to go up and down this roster. And you've got to look at these guys and, you know, take them one by one and figure out whether or not they can keep this up. And looking at this roster, I think it's hard to imagine how many of these guys can. I think you mentioned Adam Jones, the historic start to the season that he has had, which I think is only more impressive because he got such a late start to the season with a time in back signing him so long. late, but this is a guy who hasn't had an OPS above 800 since 2013. And I believe that Baltimore is even ranked near the top when it comes to being a hitting ballpark. Or at the very least, it's not really known as being a pitcher-friendly park.

So this is a guy who has shown time and time again over the last six years that he is pretty much stabilized in who he is. as a hitter. And as a guy who's into his mid-30s now, he's not someone you'd really expect to necessarily take a big stride forward at this point in his career. So I think with Adam Jones, I think it's hard to imagine this really continuing into the future. And I think David Peralta, a guy who you mentioned who has been off to a toured start for the diamond backs, I think he has looked exceptionally good. And Peralta, you know that he's not going to hit over 400 for the entire season. I think that's that's probably safe to say. But this is a guy who won a silver slugger award last

season for a reason. And I think it's very well within the realm of possibility that he could do that again. So I think Peralta, if you're going to, if you're going to bet on a guy to continue to be very good offensively, I think Peralta is the easy guy to take on this Diamondbacks roster. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I think I think Peralta, Peralta saw, you know, kind of the writing on the wall with, you know, the subtractions of Goldschmidt and Pollack that he was going to have to be one of the guys that really drove the offense. And then the injury to Stephen Sousa and then now to Jake Lamb, I would say, you know, he probably really knows now that it's in some way, it's kind of up to him to keep this offense moving along. And I think for a guy like Adam Jones, I mean, Adam Jones. I mean, Adam Jones has been, you know, one of my favorite baseball players for a long time.

I mean, he speaks his mind. He's an honest guy. He plays hard. And he knows, like, you know, he's on the downside of his career. He's on the wrong side of 30. And I think, you know, having held out, you know, a big bulk of the winner, he probably came to the debacks with, you know, a bit of a chip on his shoulder. And, you know, an angry Adam Jones is maybe. you know, maybe a pretty good version of Adam Jones to have on your ball club.

So, you know, I don't know how much those things tend to matter, you know, over the course of the season. It's easy to kind of carry that energy for the first two weeks. But the season is long and the season is a grind. And, you know, come July, August, September, things can feel very different. So, but it has been a breath of fresh air to see some of these guys, you know, really step up and kind of to fill that void that was that was left behind it i mean you know if you looked at the diamondbacks and thought hey they're going to have you know what version of the diamondbacks are going to produce you know good offense you'd probably look at a version where stephen susa has you know a bounce

back campaign jake lamb is is doing his thing and splitting some time with christian walker who kind of comes into his own right and with those two guys missing i mean you're not just missing two bats in, you know, Pollock and Goldschmidt. You're really, now at this point we're kind of missing four, you know. So it's been pretty crazy. And, you know, even with

the offense producing as it has, I mean, guys like Eduardo Escobar have really struggled. Wilmer Flores hasn't done much in his first 10 games. So it's been pretty top heavy. And I'm sure some of those things will even out, you know, as we go along.

I think speaking of even of evening out that's kind of the one hope that I have for this Diamondbacks offense is as skeptical as I am that they are able to keep this up with the roster they have and like you mentioned, essentially missing four bats

from what they had last season. There's the makeup of their lineup every day just feels a little bit different because it feels like one through eight everybody can hit. There just isn't, in years past it's felt like the Diamondbacks were a very top heavy offense. You had Goldschmidt,

you had Pollock, you had Peralta in the middle of the lineup. Sometimes you'd have Jake Lamb if he wasn't on the DL. But that was really the main source of the Diamondbacks offense. And you look at the lineups that they're putting together every day, you don't necessarily have the big bats in the middle of the lineup, or I guess you do right now so long as Adam Jones is still hitting his heart out. But I do think that there is some sustainability. to at least some sort of offensive success with the diamondbacks, just because they are pretty well balanced one through eight. I think especially if you could get the kind of offense that we've seen from Carson

Kelly so far, which of course is an extremely small sample size because he hasn't even believe he's played in probably around half of the Diamondbacks ten games so far. So you're talking about an extremely small sample size there. But he has shown some offensive potential. And if the Diamondbacks are able to fix the dead spot, that has been the catcher position in their lineup over the last few years. And if Nick Ahmed continues to hit, which I think there might be some sustainability to that at this point.

I do too. Yeah, we saw him take a big step forward last year. And I think he's starting to make some changes to his swing that are actually sustainable for the future. And you look at this lineup one through eight every day and you don't fall in love with anyone. There's no Goldschmidt. There might not even be a Pollock caliber bat, at least maybe. not aside from David Peralta, but this is a lineup that is competitive, one through eight.

And I think there's something to be said for that. I do too. I totally agree. This is the first time that I've really seen, even missing those bats that we talked about, that you've really seen it, you know, kind of be this deep. It might not be quite as robust, but it's deeper. There have been some times when like seven, eight, nine, sometimes like six, seven, eight, nine were just, it was like a total black hole in the lineup.

Like if Nick Ahmed was facing a righty, uh, Gerad Dyson was playing center, um, Jeff Mathis was catching and you had the pitcher hitting ninth. It's like, okay, that's, that's, uh, you know, four out of your nine batters are just like, you're literally crossing your fingers and hoping that someone can get a hit tonight. Um, so I think it takes maybe a little bit of the pressure off and it, it can help them sort of string things together. And, you know, Mike Hazen's talked about trying to assemble a team that doesn't strike out as much. They've achieved that to some degree.

They're kind of in the middle of the road in the strikeout category, but that's, you know, it's probably fine. And that's just kind of who they're going to have to be. I mean, they're not going to be the team that continues to just thump you. I mean, they have been so far. But they're going to have to be able to kind of like string things together. And that's why, you know, when you mentioned sustainability, I think you could see a guy like Peralta, you know, start to come into a more realistic range of outcomes. A guy like

Adam Jones kind of come into a more realistic range of outcomes. Meanwhile, you know, Eduardo Esquire is probably not going to struggle like this all year. Wilmer Flores is a professional hitter. Yeah. Defensively, probably leaves something to be desired at second base. But, you know, so you could have a couple guys come down as a couple guys come up and you might not really miss that much. And maybe they're really able to kind of, you know, string hit. gets together and there might be those nights where they're a little hard to come by and there might be some nights where they're really able to just kind of like, you know, single, double, you know, making out, walk, double, you know, and it just kind of just keeps the train moving.

So instead of just relying on like, well, it's Paul Goldschmidt going to hit a home run right here because if he doesn't, we're in trouble. And I mean, frankly, like, it might not be a star-laden, but it's been really fun. Oh, absolutely. I don't think there's anyone who would disagree with that so far. The Diamondbacks' offense to this point through 10 games has not been the issue for Arizona. But flipping the coin, I think it's time we talk about that issue. The Diamondbacks pitching staff, as I mentioned, 28th in baseball with a 630 team ERA.

City of Chicago has had it pretty rough because the White Sox and the Cubs are 29th and 30th on that list. I thought that was interesting. But the Diamondbacks have struggled to say the least. and I think there is a good reason to believe that some of these things are not going to continue Zach Ranky as an ERA over nine. He did not look good in Los Angeles in his first start of the season. And frankly, I don't think Zach Rankie has really ever looked good in Los Angeles since being moved over to the Diamondbacks. It just seems like he always struggles in his former ballpark. But beyond that, I think there's reason to believe that the Diamondbacks can figure this out.

I think part of the reason for that 630 ERA is the Matt Cook effect, which I hate to call it that. But Matt Cook has thrown some, albeit these are mop-up type of innings, nothing really horribly important. But he has given up 15 earned runs over seven in the third innings and allowed six home runs in those seven in the third inning. So I think part of the Diamondbacks ERA is simply due to Matt Cook having a tough go in some of those later innings of some games at the Diamondbacker. just worn in. But on the whole, Jeff, how do you feel about this Diamondbacks pitching staff? I think it'll improve. I think it'll, you know, get a little closer to normal. I mean, you make a good point, right? Like a guy like Matt Cook, his job is not to go out and save a game of the ninth inning. It's not to go out and pitch, you know, seven shutout innings as a

starter. It's literally to mop up the rest of the innings so that the rest of the bullpen doesn't have to be overworked. Right. So, I mean, yeah, you look at him. He's given up 15 earned. You know, John Ryan Murphy managed somehow to give up seven earned in only two innings. So, I mean, you sort of, you know, you sort of walk some of that back and you're like,

okay, well, on the surface, this isn't quite nearly as bad as it looks. Right. You know, so I think it'll improve. Granky is a guy that, you know, when he's good, he can. can he can look pretty good. And when he's off, he just doesn't have the stuff to get away with being off anymore. Right. And so, you know, on those, you know, like opening day, I mean, the Dodgers just hit like

750 home runs, but, you know, Frankie made some mistakes. Those guys also just didn't miss. And there's times, I mean, how many times we watched a pitcher miss a location, middle, middle, the batter swings right through it or pops it up to the first baseman or something. So, I mean, there's some luck. There's some variance there. So I think they're going to be okay. The two guys that almost worry me the most are Robbie Ray and Zach Godley.

Yeah. Those are two guys that they really need to be able to kind of lean on, especially as we're all kind of waiting for time on Walker to get back. So, you know, Ray's velocity has been down. It was down early last season. And then he went on the DL and then he came back after missing something like six weeks. And it was kind of back. Like he was back to 96, 97 at times. And early this season, we've seen a lot of like 91 to 93.

I mean, there's times that he'll pump like 95, but we're kind of, I'm kind of waiting C mode on him. I don't know if he's just kind of a slow starter. And, I mean, there are a lot of guys that it takes them a while just for their arm to get that loose and kind of find that easy velocity again, but it hasn't really been there. And he's just still, the breaking balls come a long way. And it's been really awesome to see Robbie Ray over the years develop like some decent secondary pitches.

But he still needs to be able to establish the basketball. And if it's not coming in with the same kind of heat, you know, you just kind of wonder if it trims the margins for him. And Zach Godley still just looks like, unfortunately, just kind of a mess on the mound. Like he's all over the place. He's flying around like his mechanics are just, you know what I mean? it's hard right because he's had pretty much the same mechanics you know for his his majorly career and you know they've been effective at times but then at other times it's just like man he's just kind of all over the place so that one really hurts um you know merrill kelly has been sort of a

a big surprise and you know luke weaver had you know has been kind of up and down but i i think they'll i think they'll be okay but i don't think um i don't think this is a group that's going to like be a top five starting pitching staff this year. I think they're probably destined for a little more middle of the road. And maybe that's okay if the offense keeps it up. But I'm just, you know, unless Robbie Ray can really kind of find something and Zach Godley can kind of calm things down, it might be really tough. Because I think Granky's going to do what Granky does. But the other guys are just, you know, it's not been really encouraging so far.

I think the Robbie Ray situation is really interesting because Tori Lavello actually talked up Robbie Ray in spring training quite a bit. I think Robbie had something like 32 strikeouts in just over 16 innings of work, which is absolutely ridiculous. Yeah, it is. Typical Robbie Ray fashion. He probably threw like 6,000 pitches in order to do that. But Tori Lavello at the start of the season was telling the media about, you know, the stuff

looks different this year. It looks like it's coming out of his arm different and it's coming in hot. And I think a lot of people were very excited to see Robbie Ray pitch this season because there's been this narrative with Robbie Ray that he is so close to being a a Cy Young caliber starting pitcher. He is, his floor at some times can be pretty average, but his ceiling is about as high is anyone's in the league. And it's because we've seen this kind of stuff from him in the past.

You mentioned the 96-97 velocity. A couple years ago, that was regular for Robbie Ray. He always had that kind of velocity. And it seems like he's traded that for some better breaking pitches. And it's kind of just turned his game, not necessarily, it hasn't really made it better, it hasn't really made it worse. And I think Robbie is the kind of guy at this point in his career. I think he has figured out how to be a,

usable starting pitcher, no matter where he's at last season. He didn't have his best stuff for most of the year, but he's still finished with a sub-4 ERA. So he is the kind of guy who, you know, he's a major league caliber starter. You're not looking at a minor league stint for Robbie Ray if he's struggling with his mechanics because he's not at that place anymore. But there are so many Diamondbacks fans who I think want to see this guy figure it out and put it all together and become the next Randy Johnson.

You know, he has, he has. has that that kind of potential. And we know that he's very close to that, but he just hasn't been able to get over the hump. Yeah, I don't know why, but you kind of nailed it. I always seem to think of Randy Johnson. When I think of Robbie Ray, I mean, it's not just the left-handedness, but, you know, I did some writing a while back on, like, the best all-stars in D-BACs history. And obviously Randy Johnson was at the top of that list. And, you know, it wasn't really until I started digging back into his past. I realized what an absolute mess Randy Johnson was early in his career.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. He walked everyone. Everyone, like very, very bad. You know, I was like, is, did I click on the wrong Randy Johnson? Like, there's no way. But Robbie Ray seems like a guy that just like, if he could just find it, you know, it would be incredible. You know, I'm looking just kind of at some of his numbers for this year.

And I mean, he has the highest swinging strike rate of any of the starters on the team. But he's only thrown first pitch strikes in like 38% of the abats that he's had so far. And it's only two games, but he needs to be closer to like 55, maybe 60. And granted, like, he's not the kind of guy that has to be in the zone to get swinging strikes. but he does need to not start, you know, more batters off with balls than strikes. And that's just doing him a disservice. It's putting him in a hole. It puts pressure on the arsenal, you know, really kind of limits where he can go, you know,

with the second and third pitch of when a bat. So, you know, he just kind of seems like a guy that struggles still at times to get his timing right, you know, sinking up his upper and lower halves to really find the zone. If he does, though, I'm right there with you. And I think, you know, over a baseball perspective is, you know, heading into the season, I was asked, like, you know, which guy, like, who are you kind of hitching your wagon to this year is, like, the breakout guy? And I was like, it's Robbie Ray. It's got to be Robbie Ray.

Like, he's the guy that's most primed for a big, you know, breakout season. And still waiting to see it. It's obviously early and he's got plenty of time. But it's not falling behind, like the majority of batters would be a good place to start for him. It almost seems like that guy's always going to be Robbie Ray. Like if Robbie doesn't figure it out this season, I think next year in spring training, we're going to be thinking the same thing of, you know,

he's so close, you know, he's just a little bit more command away from being that starter that we've envisioned him to be for years. And we forget in 2017, he was that guy. He got Cy Youngboats. He had a sub-3 ERA. He was an all-star that season, but he just hasn't been able to finish things off. and I think that's something that hopefully Robbie is able to turn things around here this season

and figure some things out. Moving on to some other aspects of the Diamondbacks pitching staff. I think the bullpen has been fascinating so far. Yeah. In that Greg Holland, I have never seen a pitcher be such a mess in spring training. And then the moment the regular season starts just snap a finger and suddenly he looks like, you know, the dominant closer that he's been in years. past obviously. Once again, you've got to preface everything with small sample size at this

point in the season. But I think he's looked really good. And on the flip side, I think Archie Bradley still looks like a little bit of a mess out there. The command is not where it used to be. The curveball still seems to be a little bit inconsistent, even though he seems to talk it up as a pitch he's more comfortable throwing now than he was last year when he had the injury issue. But I think the Diamondbacks are going to need Archie Bradley to be that kind of bullpen ace that he's been in years past. And it seemed like something just happened near the middle of last season where Archie Bradley just kind of lost it.

And he's in some ways become one of the faces of this franchise. I don't know if we're at the point where we can call him the face of the franchise. But he's, you know, now that Goldie isn't here, he's like one of the main guys you think of when you think Arizona Diamondbacks. And the fact of the matter is, Jeff, right now he's just a pretty average major league relief pitcher. Yeah, I mean, that's unfortunate because you mentioned that, he's struggled quite a bit with with the curveball and he's he's throwing it plenty um you know he's

trying to to make it work for him but you know when it's not there i mean he's a one-pitch guy i mean he's a one-pitch guy he's he's got a fastball that's got a little bit of run on it and you know it does have some you know quote-unquote rise it does um it does spin well but yeah he's he's really really um you know that that puts him in a tough spot where he's walking like a super fine line. And it's weird because you can, it's one of those things where you can tell that he just doesn't quite have the feel for the curve consistently because there's times that it comes out of his hand and you go, oh yeah, that's it. Like that's the hammer curve. Like that's the one I'm looking for. Right. It looked like a fastball down the middle and then it dove like straight into the dirt

and the batter, you know, missed it by a mile. And then there's other times where, you know, he hangs it or he misses with it terribly or just as you're like, what's going on? Like, is this even the same pitch? You know, so he's got to get that ironed out. He's down to being at times like a one pitch pitcher. And for as fine as his fastball is, it's not good enough, you know, it's not good enough for him to be a one pitch pitcher. He's, you know, 96 now is not, you know, out of the realm of normalcy for batter. and it's not like he's Jordan Hicks throwing 104.

So he's got to dial in that curb ball, and I think we're going to kind of live and die with the results of that pitch. I think the Diamondbacks bullpen also has some other interesting characters right now. Yoshi-Hirano is a guy who was phenomenal last season in a middle late-relief role, and this season has just not looked like the same guy.

I think part of that has been some bad luck. I think some ground balls have found some. holes on him here and there but all in all the walks are up and it and it just doesn't seem like he has the same fastball command that he had last year i don't think yosha rano is ever going to live by you know mid-90s heat with the fastball that's not really his main pitch it just is kind of the the playoff for his for his splitter um but so far that the fastball just hasn't really looked like a very competitive pitch and you're not going to chase the splitter if if he can't manage to throw a fastball in there for a strike um so

I think Yoshi-Hirano is an interesting guy, someone, the diamondbacks really need to figure some things out. And elsewhere in the bullpen, I don't think it excites you too much, but I don't think you're too scared of it. Yohan Lopez has thrown some good innings for the diamond backs. I think occasionally you see him kind of lose control, and then he seems to find it again. All of a sudden, he's been a little bit off and on. John DuPontier is maybe another guy.

We should mention at least briefly, making his major. major league debut for the Diamondbacks, a guy who I think a lot of people are very, very excited about by some people. They would consider him the Diamondbacks best prospect. I don't know where you stand on that, Jeff. But the Diamondbacks have some pieces in this bullpen outside of Archie Bradley and Greg Holland to get some things done. But I think there's, you don't really know exactly what you're getting from a lot of these guys, DuPontier included in that. Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, the samples are small, obviously, and so it's hard to draw a ton of conclusions,

but at the same time, you know, the best thing you can kind of do at this point in time is sort of trust your eyes and just kind of try to understand where everybody's at. And, you know, Harano's fastball has been kind of all over the place. He does leave him up quite a bit and always kind of has, but, you know, at 90, you know, and a nice round 90 miles an hour it probably looks a little too hitable at times but you know the splitter is still just absolutely nasty guys just don't hit it period

but he has to be able to get to it and like you know you made that case and I think that's absolutely true Greg Holland doesn't throw as hard as he used to and that's not coming back but you know he's you can kind of buckle down and get it done when he needs to it looks like and we'll see how long that's able to hold up

I am really interested in Duplanteer and sort of how they continue to try to use him this year. My guess would be that at some point in time, he's going to head back to AAA and probably get stretched back out as a starter. But I think this has been really, really good experience for him. And I had a chance to interview John right after he signed. He was assigned to the Hillsboro Hops, which is here near Portland. And I guess got to spend like 10 minutes talking to him. He's just a super intelligent, super bright young man. And I think fans are really going to love him.

But I do think that, you know, this is just a great way to kind of get his feet wet. And then they can kind of work on stretching him back out. And, you know, we probably do see him in the actual rotation at some point this season, even if it is, you know, relatively late. So, yeah, it's kind of wait and see on a lot of these guys. And the last guy I'll touch on that you mentioned was John Lopez. and the stuff can be sharp, the stuff can be lively. Where it's going, I'm not really sure. But it's fun to watch.

And you can see it. I mean, it's pretty easy heat. Some of the breaking pitches can be pretty sharp. So he's, you know, his saga has gone on for many years. It's kind of amazing that he's been in the system this long, and he still, you know, kind of looks this raw at times. Yeah. But maybe it's just, you know, some nerves and, you know, being, you know, pitching like in Dodger Stadium and, you know, pitching at Chase Field.

And so I do want to cut him a little bit of slack. But, yeah, he's a got to keep your eye on. And I think, I think it sort of underscores, like, you know, if guys like Holland or Bradley really strong, I mean, there are some guys that are, like, ready to come in and, like, do more. Andrew Chafin has been just fine And he can be pretty nasty Especially against lefties So I mean I think there's going to be a little bit of competition there

I mean we probably do see Jimmy Shurfi again at some point So there are some dudes that probably want to push these guys And the guy like Archie Bradley like really really struggles Like it wouldn't be a surprise to see him kind of get shuffled back in the bullpen a little bit I know we talked earlier in the show about how at the beginning of the season on offense people were pegging Jake Lamb and Stephen Sousa as basically the X-Factors for the Diamondbacks, and if they can have big seasons, then the Diamondbacks could be okay. But as we all know, Stephen Sousie Jr. is out for the season.

Basically tore his entire knee to shreds. I think all of our thoughts and prayers are with him as he tries to navigate this tough situation. And then Jake Lamb, as well has hit the injury bug as several Diamondbacks have early on in the season. Alex Vila is also on the disabled list. So the injury bug has struck early here in Arizona. But Jeff, I'm curious, if you had to pick a new X-Factor that's not Lamb or Steven Sousa from the Diamondbacks offense, who do you think that would be? That's a good, good question.

I think I would probably put it on Cattel Marte as the guy that's capable of, you know, producing, you know, not just average offense or slightly above average offense, but frankly is capable of doing much more than that. I think his, the tools are there. I mean, he's strong. If you follow Cotele Marte on Instagram, his off-season workout regimen was pretty impressive. So he's a tough dude.

And I'm really excited to see what he does. I think that he has the ability to take it like several. steps forward. And so, you know, if Peralta continues to kind of rake and Christian Walker is who he is and Adam Jones remains like a very viable player, like you still need another guy or two. And that's going to lean on a guy like Catelle Marte because you said something early in the show and I think you're right. I think Nick Ahmed's offensive game really has actually improved. Like it's he's never going to be a force to be reckoned with against right-handed pitching. but it's passable now.

Yeah. But Catelle Marte has the ability to, like, do damage against everyone. And so seeing him kind of come into his own would really go a long ways. If he could, you know, produce offense something like, you know, 15 or 20 percent above league average, that would end up being, like, a really, really helpful player for this team because they're going to need to lean on more than just David Peralta and Adam Jones. With that, I think this concludes the first 2019 episode of the Rattle podcast. Thank you so much for listening.

We always appreciate it here on The Rattle. Once again, as we mentioned earlier in the show, tomorrow, April 10th, is the big day for us here at the Rattle. You can log on over to the Rattle.net starting tomorrow, where you can find some Diamondback's commentary and analysis, which will already be posted there for you. So please do check that out. and we're excited to have all of you on board with us for the 2019 season. Thank you once again so much for listening and we'll be back soon once again with another episode of The Rattle.