PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Ep. 34: Hottest Team in the National League!

Episode Date: July 23, 2021

We discuss the D-backs' four-game winning streak, a few trade deadline thoughts, whether Ketel Marte needs to move back to second base and more. 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.

Welcome in to episode 34 of the Rattle Podcast. As always, my name is Jesse Friedman. And back on the show this week is the one, the only Jeff Weiser. Jeff, we missed you last week. How was your trip? How was everything? Oh, man, trip was great. Nice to get away for a little bit.

Nice to time the getaway with the All-Star break where, you know, I missed a little bit of all-star festivities, but I didn't miss that much actual baseball. So no complaints, man. Just nice to be refreshed. You know, much like the Diamondbacks, I'm, you know, I'm feeling loose, feeling limber. I'm ready to get after it. Just ready to attack again. Yeah, I think all you miss, and I talked about this last week, I think you listened to it.

So you probably know. But all you really miss, Jeff, was Liam Hendricks, just like cussing nonstop on national television. I did hear about that. That, yeah, poor, your take on the miced-up player thing, I'll just say was pretty accurate. That's, no one is prepared for that. Do they not like train? I just, I'm really super curious about what the instructions are like before that happens. Like, yeah, totally.

Assume this thing works. Just don't, don't, don't. Just be, don't speak unless you're not talking anything relating to the game that you're actively playing. And that you're speaking in a PG level of language at the worst, yeah. Which, I mean, we all know, I mean, most baseball players while they're playing, of course, speak in a family-friendly tone. Absolutely. Absolutely. Of course.

It's America's pastime. It's a family game. Yeah, no swear words. Oh, goodness. Yeah, that was sort of a mess. But yes, granted, other than that, it was the All-Star break. There wasn't a whole lot of a whole lot of baseball while you were out. But, hey, we look back at this last.

week, Jeff, I think your return is a good luck charm for this baseball team because they actually played some pretty good baseball coming out of the All-Star break. They won four their six games so far. They lost two out of three to Chicago, but then they came back and swept the Pittsburgh Pirates. And granted, the Pittsburgh Pirates are sort of a scuffling team in their own ways right now. But things are starting to look a little bit better for this baseball team. Jeff, for me, it's really just kind of refreshing to see this team healthy and just like get a taste for what the diamondbacks, what this season could have been in many ways. And I still don't think that's a great team, even if they're fully healthy as we talked about at the beginning of the year. But we're starting

to see what the diamond backs look like when they have really just like viable starting pitchers on the mound day and day out. And it's looked pretty good so far. Yeah. Oh, sorry, that was me moving my broom after we swept the pirates. Yeah, no, a sweep. Jesse, a sweep. Like, how long has it been? I mean, it just feels like forever. The team has won four games in a row.

I guess it's probably because it has, but. Yeah. Goodness gracious. It has been nice to see them healthy. It's been nice to see viable starting pitching, you know, on a fairly regular basis and see them start to get some of the results even from maybe not the names you'd expect, but even like, dare I say, the bullpen was somewhat decent. Yeah.

Yeah, just really interesting. I mean, Soria's been, you know, had some sort of hairy moments, but has also kind of locked things down fairly regularly of late. And all that's been been really great to see. So old friend Tyler Clippard, maybe. his return yesterday. There are some, like, little glimmers of the team being better. And I'm with you 100%.

I don't think that really makes them actually all that, all that good, especially with Catomarté still out. But certainly better than the product we've been seeing on a regular basis. Well, a couple weeks ago, when you were on the show, we, of course, made our bold second half predictions for this baseball team. and yours was that they would win 60 games. Is that right? Yeah, I think so.

I think I called 60 games. I know I called 32 games after the halfway mark. So, yeah, that'd be about right. Yeah, yeah. So you had them playing like slightly under 500 baseball in the second half, but like way better than what they did in the first half at least. And certainly things are looking good on that front. So far they're four and two, as I mentioned.

And my prediction, Jeff, so far. I'm not trying to jinx anything, but we're looking pretty fabulous over here. I said Mattis and Bumgarner would come out in the second half and look a lot better and help us feel some semblance of confidence about his future with the franchise. And so far, in his two starts, granted it's against a scuffling Cubs team and a Pirates team that has really never been very good this year. But he's only allowed two earned runs over 11 innings. I think I also kind of put the icing on the cake over Twitter and said, putting a number on it. I'm saying a sub four ERA for the second half of the season. And Jeff, so far,

we're sitting at 1.64 in his first two starts back. So I think we both have reasons to feel to feel pretty good so far. Yeah, I mean, it's early. The returns are good though. And you always take the good returns. I mean, you've got a ways to go on Bungarner. He's got some ground to give and still make you look good. And the team, I mean, I didn't think they were going to be, you know, really foreign to it just about any point here along the way. So I'll certainly take it. I know we weren't, you know,

maybe the boldest of the bold, but, you know, still positive signs. And man, it's just, it's been so bleak. I mean, I'm ready to really celebrate like anything good right now.

Yeah. And so this certainly qualifies, even if it is, you know, a sweep of the pirates. And, you know, as you mentioned,

I mean, they really aren't, they really aren't a very good baseball team. and, you know, objectively just kind of, like in a vacuum, I think you could really make the argument that the Diamondbacks, you know, are probably a better baseball team. And that they're, and I think that just, you know, they're going to continue to gain some ground, you know, throughout the rest of the way. So I think we'll see some other teams really continue, you know, to take kind of a nosedive while the Diamondbacks, I think will slowly kind of

maybe pull themselves out, depending on what they're left with after the next 10 days or so expire. Well, they've won four in a row, as we said, and no other team in the National League has won that many games in a row. So technically the Diamondbacks are the hottest team in the National League as of right now. So we'll hold on to it very tightly while we can. But, okay, something I want to get your take on, Jeff, that I guess you did sort of miss while you were out. We had the draft. Last week we talked with Keenan Lamb about what the diamondbacks did in the draft and even what they might look to do next year.

We'll circle back to what they did in this year's draft. But something I've seen circling on Twitter and something that I tweeted about that people have been a little worried about as well is that the diamondbacks would maybe behoove themselves to sort of wind up with the first overall pick in next year's draft. Obviously, that would be sort of a nice thing. Elijah Green is out there. Keenan Lamb, our guest from last week, certainly had great things to say about him being a possible once-in-a-generation sort of player. And people are a little concerned that, you know, if our wishes come true for this baseball team in the second half, maybe the Diamondbacks sort of

pushed themselves out of out of that position of having the first overall pick next year. So there are some concerns that maybe this could be a bad thing if the team suddenly starts to play better and regain some ground here. Do you think that is a bad thing or is that just something we shouldn't worry about right now? I don't think it's worth worrying about it all. I think we know that they're going to end up with a record that is going to have them picking near the top. I still think they're probably end up the top three pick. And we saw, I mean, you know, this draft is not very far in the rearview mirror, the 2021 draft. Marcel O'Maire was the, you know, kind of ended up being sort of the consensus best player available.

And he fell to four. Yeah. I don't think there's much of a scenario in which the Diamondbacks don't have a top four pick. So, you know, I think they're going to end up with another great opportunity to get, you know, potentially a really good player. There are a handful of guys that are in that conversation with Elijah Green as the best players. And, you know, these drafts, I mean, this year was, we've talked about it. This year was really unique in that the top of the draft board really shuffled and reshuffled and reshuffled again several times heading into the draft.

And the 2022 draft will be the same way. We have our, you know, a lot of the prep kids are on the showcase circuit right now. They will be, you know, doing things this fall. And we may not really see them much again until the spring. And a lot can change in that amount of time kids grow a lot. you know, they'll make velocity improvements become stronger. Maybe they do some types of training and gain some new skills. And then, you know, for the college kids, I mean, some of them are on the Cape right now.

We're playing other, you know, college league baseball. And then we have a whole whole college season to go. People will get hurt, et cetera. So I just don't worry about the MLB draft the same way I might, you know, like a, you know, like an NBA draft or an NFL. draft or something that way. I think it's just way too volatile. But they're still going to end up with a great opportunity. They're going to put another really, really strong talent in the pipeline.

And I think that's the thing that we can pretty safely bet on. Yeah, absolutely. Well, hey, for everyone out there on Twitter who is panicking about the Diamondbacks moving out of the first overall pick, you can maybe just feel a little better about yourself after after what after what Jeff just said um yeah so that brings us to to this year's draft which you alluded to briefly there Marcel O'Meer like you talked about wound up fell falling to number four and Jordan Lawler of course fell to number six with the diamond backs Jeff give us your take on the diamond backs um first round draft pick yeah I mean I think I think Kenan did a good job last

week of really talking some of the particulars I just think from a from a wide angle perspective It was the type of, if they had not gone that route, I think I would have really been kind of loath to see them do anything else. The fact that Lawler was there for the picking, I think they really had to take him. I know he's not signed yet. News has come out this afternoon that Marcella Mayer has signed with the Red Sox for about $6.6 million. It looks like the Diamondbacks, you know, I've been kind of doing the on-the-side calculations. I know Nick Piccoro's written some really good pieces this week about what kind of financial resources the dimebacks will have to sign Jordan Lawler, but it looks like they should easily be able to have about $6.5 million to get that deal done. It'd be an overslot deal, but they've been able to save enough along the way now that we've seen some of the financials come in on the other draft picks.

So there's no reason to think they can't get this done. I think they absolutely will. I think they drafted Lawler with the expectation that they could get a deal done. I know that, you know, getting the compensation pick in the year following, you know, was, I mean, it's a, I think of it as like some insurance, I suppose. Sure. If you can get a player that some considered the best overall talent and pretty much everyone considered a top three overall talent at number six, you're going to pull out all the stops to get that done, especially for an organization that has had a lot of bad press around it. things have been really negative just in terms of

on field performance and whatnot you're looking for like a silver lining here's your silver lining write the check get it done yeah I mean when you think about Lawler and you think about Corbyn Carroll

who we've spent a lot of time talking about on the show seems slated to be you know probably on top 25 in all of baseball prospect list pretty soon maybe even top 20 or top 15 Obviously, his shoulder injury that has him out for the year doesn't help with that. But I think he's probably on the road to being that level of talent. And Jordan Lawler is certainly a guy, you know, once he gets in here, hopefully it gets done.

The signing gets done. And the Diamondbacks are able to get to work with him as soon as possible and just get him some reps at the Arizona League or whatever it is. You think about him. And then with the Diamondbacks probably having a top, you know, three or four, whatever, it winds up being picked. next year's draft and just looking at what that draft looks like as of now and the diamond backs probably having a pretty good shot to get a top tier talent next year as well. Suddenly, this farm system has the makings of some real, you know, elite level talent that is pretty easy to get excited about.

And I guess this is nothing new. I mean, the diamond backs have had a top tier farm system for quite some time now, which is well documented. Obviously, this year, I think. And with the shutdown last year, some guys have taken a step back. But they're still certainly in the upper echelon around baseball. And moving forward, this is, you know, this draft and next year's draft, this is a real opportunity for the Diamondbacks to take that next step.

Yeah, this is how you build it. This is how they have to build it anyways. Right. Until the organization decides to, you know, spend quite a bit more money, this is the way to go about their business. They don't have a lot of alternatives. is if you're going to, you know, broadly speaking, be in the bottom third of spenders in the league, then you're going to have to find other ways to get value and this is their way of doing it.

So, and, you know, one of the things that is beneficial about it is that it is, you know, fairly sustainable. What it does do is it does put pressure on your ability to take these picks and turn them into viable major league players, which is something that we have and haven't seen. Yeah. Yeah, you know, and I think, I think that that's, you know, there's a rate of attrition that is pretty common throughout the game. And it's, you know, it's always hard to, you know, to turn, you know, there aren't a lot of eighth round Paul Goldschmits that become Paul Goldschmits. But, you know, then you look at a team like the Dodgers who seem to, you know, find some guys with, you know, unique, unique attributes and certainly notable flaws and be able to find ways to make those players work. So there remains a pretty large gap, I think, in terms of teams that are able to, you know, squeeze a little extra juice, if you will, and really do that. And I don't know that the Diamondbacks are one of those teams or at least have proven to be one of those teams.

I also don't know that until, you know, the last couple of years, this group has had a ton to work with either. So, yeah. I think it's still, I think there's still a little bit of wait and see. but hey you know that coming in the door with more talent is always better

than having less I mean trying to work miracles and you know pulling off a few hey that's cool like that's a fun story but I'll just take the dude who's really good

yeah yeah no I think that's that's totally a fair perspective I think I think you bring up a good question though in something that I think I've heard some of our our listeners concerned about

is you know does this team have some sort of systemic problem with with just developing players and as you said squeezing as much juice out of every guy as you possibly can it's it's easier said than done and and we know that particularly in the game of baseball probably more so than any other major sport you know there's a reason there's so many rounds to the draft and you have so many you know different levels of the minor leagues and these organizations are big because not that many guys are able to make it. Not that many players are able to play at this level.

And so, you know, player development in baseball is in some ways, especially for a small market team, it is the premier skill that an organization needs to have. And the Diamondbacks, frankly, don't have a great reputation. And I don't think that's totally unfair to them. I mean, you look at almost every top prospect that we've talked about on the show and even before our podcast existed over the last decade or so. It is hard to think of a guy who outperformed what we expected in a big way. It's sort of been disappointment after disappointment after disappointment. Or in some cases, like with Max Scherzer and Trevor Bauer and Robbie Ray is the latest case where guys just struck.

here, or maybe it's the team moves on from them too quickly, which is probably the case with at least a Scherzer, I would say. But whatever it is, guys will struggle here, and then they'll go somewhere else. And sometimes it just doesn't take them that long to find it. Even Andrew Chaffin, the journeyman relief pitcher, has moved on to Chicago and has been really, really good as a lefty for the Cubs this year. So I don't know, Jeff.

It's hard. I mean, we're not, you know, in single. A, AA, AAA, AAA, we're not in the dugout in the clubhouse on a day-to-day basis, seeing what kind of coaching the Diamondbacks have for these guys and, you know, whether they're being held back in any way by the organization or it's just sort of bad luck over the years. But I think it's a reasonable question. Does this team have some sort of challenge, some sort of difficulty when it comes to developing players?

Yeah, I'm going to give kind of a two-part answer to that. And I'm thank you for bringing it up because it's, definitely a question that I know you and I both have received, and I'm not sure we've talked about too directly. You know, on one hand, I still think there's been, you know, quite a gap in terms of, you know, acquiring talent. I wrote that piece a few weeks back now about the dearth of return of their 2012 through 2016 crop.

But even if we fast forward the tape, the 2017 draft has been all around bad for like virtually for everyone. Everyone. I mean, you can go through. I would encourage people to go through and look at the top 30 picks, if you'd like. And I think it serves as a good reminder of like what a baseball draft can be. And they're getting something out of Phaven Smith. They're getting something out of Dalton Varsha. They got some really well-timed home runs out of them yesterday. But, I mean, that's been a bad draft. 2018. Matt McLean didn't sign. You've just lost your, you know, know, the first round talent that you could have had. So, and then, we'll see if he signs this year. I know. I'm sure he will this time around. But yeah, I mean, he'll make himself a little money in the process.

But it did, you know, just that's a first round talent that the debacks weren't able to plug in. And then, you know, 2019, 2020, those are all way too recent picks to have had, you know, really any success at this point. So on that side, I don't think they've really gotten much in the, the amateur acquisition side in terms of player development. And as we speak to some guys finding some success in other places, I mean, I think of the guys that maybe they would regret the most. I think the one might be actually like Taiwan Walker. Yeah. I forgot to mention him. Yeah, rehabbed and then walked away from.

I think they were probably scared of the medicals. That's always kind of been my stance. I don't have any to substantiate that. But, you know, they built him all the way back. He came back through one inning before the end of the year, looked good. And velocity was fine. and then non-tendered him. So you assume there's a reason for that.

Robbie Ray, I mean, I'm going to be really honest. I mean, that was just an absolute crap shoot. Like, the day that that guy would just, you know, somehow figure it out. I mean, I don't know. Let's rewind the tape and I'll go back and retroactively take people's bets on how you would play that situation. I mean, most people wanted him run out of town anyways. Yeah. And really, he's basically the same pitcher.

He's just walking fewer guys. And like Andrew Chaffin has been brilliant this year, but he has a BABIP under 200. He's pitched almost 40 innings and has somehow, in 42 appearances, only surrendered one home run this year. I mean, anyone who else wants to, you know, bet me that that's going to stay, you know. So I think there's some things that look bad on the surface and maybe by the time it's over, it's maybe not so bad. but yeah context is important i think all this stuff you know it may look or feel a certain way and i also think there's something to be said for like when stuff sucks like everything sucks you know yeah if this team were running away with the national league right now and

andrew chafin had a great era in chicago no one would care we just wouldn't worry about it you know we'd have we'd be talking about we'd be talking about how the diamond backs were somehow holding off the Dodgers in the division. We wouldn't be talking about how Andrew Chafin is breaking out in Chicago at the age of 31. So it's easy to be critical. It feels like everything has gone wrong. And I think I just kind of lump that into this category. That said, I mean, I also don't feel like there are a bunch of clear examples of like shining, you know, player dev victories either.

So, yeah. I mean, I would like to see more too. Don't get me wrong. But I'm not willing to really like. come down with a hard verdict yet. Yeah. Yeah, I think, I think that's fair. I think that's a good, just kind of balanced approach to the question.

It does seem like, I mean, you look up and down this roster and almost none of the things that the Diamondbacks have had going for them, like over the last few years even, not much of them seem to have to do with like player development within the organization. I mean, you think about Catelle Marte. I guess you could make an argument. I mean, maybe he could tell Marte is a good example because he was not viewed as an elite player coming over from Seattle.

No. So maybe he could tell Marte is sort of the counter argument here of a guy who came in with very little expectations as being just kind of a nice, speedy shortstop who probably would have to move to second base and could hit a little bit. He's obviously taken a turn for the better in a big, big way since coming over.

Zach Gallen was pretty much a finished product. I don't think the Diamondbacks can really take much credit there. He's obviously the other majorly valuable asset on the team. Carson Kelly, maybe they take some credit for how he's developed. Obviously, he's hurt now, but he looked good for a while. I guess just something to continue to monitor, Jeff. I mean, it seems like kind of the unanswerable question. Yeah, I agree.

I think it's a wait and see. And one note, I'll say on Cote, the one guy they revamped to get Katel Marte was Mitch Hanigur. Yeah. Got Mitch Hanigur back on track. He becomes a tradable asset. That helps you get Katel Marte. So we can probably dig and find some things, but it's not necessarily, you know,

overwhelming one way or another. So yeah, I think it's a, it's an item to follow for sure. Well, we've got some listener questions. But before we jump into that, I think it's safe to say we're probably going to see some trades in the next nine days or so. We've already seen a couple, Tim LaCast. Castro is now a Yankee and has since torn his ACL. Really sucks.

Yeah, really hate that. Hopefully he's back ready to go next year and able to have a good year wherever he winds up. I assume he might be back with them. But beyond him, Diamondbacks also traded Stephen Vote, which I don't think you'll find a better guy for your clubhouse, a better leader type. He genuinely cared about the game and this team,

even through thick and thin. So I think we have nothing but good things to say about Stephen Vote as a person. As a player, he kind of faded a little bit this year, not quite as effective with the bat, which is probably his main calling card. Diamondbacks traded him to the Braves, and I think they got a 25-year-old first baseman

who's still playing in rookie ball. So probably looking at a, yeah, I think you're looking at a salary dump there, which is probably fair. I mean, Stephen Vote doesn't have a whole lot of value. I think he's in the last year of his deal. So now we've got nine days to go. Eduardo Escobar is kind of the hot name right now.

I think he's pretty much a lock to go. I don't really see a reason why the diamondbacks would not deal him. Although I think we have a listener who wanted to ask us about that. We'll talk more about that later. But beyond Escobar, maybe Peralta, some of these other veteran guys, you might see targeted in deals. Is there anyone in particular that you? you're thinking of, Jeff, that you think in the next nine days, you would just be shocked if they were still a diamond back? I'm not going to go as far as shocked, but I do think I actually

wouldn't be surprised if, like, Joachim Soria is moved. I know his overall line is pretty ugly. It's still marred from some of those early season outings, but like I said, better of late. That seems like the kind of guy that you move. I do think there's something to be said for, you know, I think a name that's probably really hot. Probably the one I'm watching the most because it tells us something is Merrill Kelly. There are a lot of teams that could use a Merrill Kelly. Yeah. Not, you know, just durable, dependable, keeps you in the game.

You know, four out of every five starts are pretty strong. It's, you know, it's not flashy, but it's effective and it's really inexpensive. And there's an option to keep him for 2022. So I do think he'll continue to draw interest. I've seen some reports of interest. him. And I think that, you know, I think my stance on Merrill Kelly's been, I sort of feel like they'll keep him. I don't think they'll trade him just because this team is going to need innings again next year. Yeah. And Merrill Kelly gives him to you and you trade, you could trade

him again, you know, you could trade him next July instead. That's still kind of my stance. But if they go another direction and they decided to move him now, at that point, I don't know what, you would, you know, at that point, I don't know why you're keeping Nick Ahmed or David Peralta or things of that nature. I don't know. It seems like if you're going to be willing to move Merrill Kelly, you might as well just start really like trading most of the things, you know, selling anything that isn't nailed the floor. So yeah, he's the one I'm watching for sure, but my gut says he stays. Merrill Kelly is low-key been one of the one of the better moves this organization is made in the last few years. Coming over from Korea. Yeah.

I want to say. Yeah. I mean, that, that is an incredible find, a guy who has come over here and he is about as consistent as you'll find and gives you, I mean, the other day he pitched eight innings probably could have gone the whole game. I know there's some people are probably still mad about that. Tori Lavello has had a very, a very quick, very quick hook so far this season. Probably has to do with, actually, that's something I want to ask you about, Jeff,

because I have seen so many people angry with Tori Lavello. pretty much on the daily because, you know, the starter has gone five or six innings and they're at 78 pitches and that kind of seems to be it most of the time is my take on this is that Tori Lavello has basically been told by his medical staff slash he thinks himself that after as short of a season as we had last year and just the bizarreness of the schedule that these guys have had to go through the last year, you probably want to err on the side of caution with their workload. Do you think that's what we're seeing here?

Or is Tori Lavello as absurd and ridiculous as some of our listeners may think? Tori Lavello for the first time in many months is probably actually getting some sleep right now because he has some viable starting pitching to put out there. And the last thing he's going to do is let it rot on the vine, leave it out too long, and then suffer six more weeks of sleepless nights from the end of August through the end of, from the middle of August through the end of the season. So I think your intuition is correct. One note on the Merrill Kelly signing.

The Diamondbacks for a long time have been lauded as a really strong organization in terms of scouting Asia. And so I think this is another example of them doing well there. They haven't necessarily panned out in it very well, but the team has signed a handful of, you know, sort of intriguing Taiwanese, um, amateur players over the last few years too. So just something to keep an eye on as we move forward. The divax definitely have a, you know, a respected presence in Asia. Hmm. Yeah, yeah.

Glad you brought that up. All right. Let's jump into some listener questions here. I already talked about Eduardo Escobar briefly. So we'll jump into that one. Kyle Collins said, would the debacks be better suited to resign Eduardo than trade him? Don't see them getting a ton for him. he's a fan favorite with positional flexibility.

I would be pretty shocked. I think Eduardo Escobar, if he's still a diamond back in 10 days, I would be pretty thrown off by that. I think that even though, I mean, you're not going to get much for pretty much any of the assets. The diamond backs are realistically going to trade right now. But I think Escobar is more value than probably anyone, enough to get something that's at least noteworthy.

I mean, you're going to get more than a 25-year-old. he's playing in rookie ball. And Eduardo is also, I think he's raising his stock right now. He has actually played very well in the last week and even before the All-Star break. So I think you could get enough that it's probably worth it. I don't think, I mean, fan favorite. I mean, yes, but I mean, let's face it, there's only about 8,000 people going to these games anyway. I don't think you're going to keep someone because they're a fan favorite.

And I think the Diamondbacks have the depth from the miners. that they could pretty easily cover his spots. Nice. Yeah, I agree with you. I think he goes. I don't even know that the positional flexibility part is starting to kind of fall further and further short as he ages. Yeah. And if you trade him in July, I mean, he's still, you know, going to be a free agent at the end of the year.

So, um, that says you can't, can't maybe go back after him. But I think the, uh, I think he's, I think he's a pretty sure bet to go. I would be really surprised if they didn't trade him. I think, you know, the one thing is they don't really have a sure solution at third base. So they're going to have to go shopping one way or another. But yeah, I think he's gone. I think he's probably had his bags packed for quite some time at this point. All right.

We also have Kyle Collins said, when do we see Seth Beer and are these struggles with Christian Walker a blip or something to be more worried? about. Oof, I'll let you go first here, Jeff. This one's tough. Yeah, so I'm going to start with the Seawak part. And I have been pretty disappointed with Christian Walker season. I'm sure Christian Walker is much more disappointed with Christian Walker season. But it really has not come around.

And, you know, I think there was a narrative that, I mean, I was comfortable with not that long ago, that he was a sort of sneaky, you know, middle to low end, starting first baseman who, um, could you use a, uh, you know, an upgrade there, maybe a, um, a, you know, more slugging kind of first baseman? Sure. I don't think that he's necessarily was among the tops in the game. But for what he was paid, I felt like Christian Walker was a really good fit there for, especially where the ball club was. Um, his regression this year has been pretty, uh, pretty steep. Um, it has not gone well. And there just really haven't been many signs of life. He hasn't

hardly even gotten hot for like a week or, you know, had a month where things really clicked. Hopefully that's still ahead of us, but I really am concerned. I don't know how much longer, given his age, the team can work

with the assumption that he is a viable everyday first basement on a competitive baseball team. Problem is Seth Beer is not exactly pushing for his job. Seth Beer's numbers in AAA, even though it's Reno, are pretty lackluster. He's hit eight home runs in 63 games. It just really hasn't been, really his power numbers just haven't been there in the way that you

would expect in the PCL, especially in Reno. I don't know that there's, I think probably continuing to give Christian Walker opportunities to get out of his funk. It's probably the best path forward right now. I don't, I think Seth Beard's exactly a nipping at his heels. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess the narrative is the Diamondbacks at first base might be in trouble. Yes. I don't know if either of those guys are guys you're particularly comfortable with there. Yeah, I mean, Seth Beers slugging under 500 in Reno, which is kind of like slugging under 350 in the majors, it feels like. I mean, that's, uh, it's a pretty pretty low number for, you know, for a first basement.

I mean, we've seen El-Domaro Vargas slug like 800 in Reno during stints. So it, yeah, I mean, the power numbers, eight homers and 63 games, as you mentioned. That's pretty concerning. And yeah, Christian Walker just some just doesn't seem like the same guy this year. No. I don't know if we should have maybe seen this coming, but frankly, I don't know if we ever had reason to believe that Christian Walker was the long-term answer at first base. I think he was.

he was really just like the guy who was there when they traded Paul Goldschmidt. And I think the plan was just to kind of ride him as long as, you know, he continued to perform well. And to his credit, he really did. He stepped up. And I mean, we were comparing his numbers with Goldies over and over throughout the last couple years just because he was actually pretty comparable. But, but yeah, I mean, he's an older guy. He was a late bloomer coming up from Reno. You know, he's been another organization.

organizations who have moved on from him before. So I don't think this was ever a guarantee. And unfortunately, we're seeing the results of that right now. Yep. But hey, before we get too much farther on the show, we have to hear a quick word from our sponsors. So we're going to do a quick ad read here, take a quick break. And then we'll be back with a couple more questions here in just a moment.

Well, the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo are here. And that means, thanks to our friends at Draft Kings, it is your turn to compete for the gold. Draft King's free-to-play pools are available every day of the games in Tokyo and are offering a free shot at up to $5,000 in total cash prizes. Here's what you do. Download the Draft Kings app, go to pools, and choose from a wide variety of free contest for an opportunity to win. All you have to do is answer a handful of questions about what you think is going to happen during that day's events and then track your results throughout the day, see if you come away with the gold. Draft King's

is safe, secure, and reliable, so you can deposit and withdraw your money at your convenience. So download the top-rated Draft Kings app now and use promo code Dry Heat when you sign up to get your free shot at up to 5 grand in total cash prizes every day of the gold medal games. Head to Draft King's Pools page to get your shot at huge cash prizes. That's promo code Dry Heat.

For a limited time, only at Draft King's eligibility restrictions apply. See Draft King's. com for full details. All right, and welcome back into the back half of episode 34 here of the Rattle podcast. We'll continue answering our last couple questions to finish things off here. And we have another one from Kyle Collins. Thanks, Kyle, for keeping us busy here.

Kyle was wondering if we could give a possible pitching preview of some guys in the minors that we might see toward the end of the season, if any at all. And I'm not quite sure. He mentions Bryce Jarvis and Levi Kelly. Correct me if I'm wrong, Jeff. I'd be pretty surprised if we saw either of those guys at the major league level. But there have definitely been some exciting things to go down on the pitching front in the minor leagues lately. Jeff is our resident D-BACs minors guy.

So I'll hand it over to you, Jeff. What do we got going on right now? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, in terms of some of the top arms, I don't think we're. going to see much in the major leagues in terms of the top arms. You know, you made a good point earlier about Tori really managing the major league starters as workloads. I know that at the minor league level, that is just as much, if not even more of a point of emphasis, which I think diminishes probably some of the likelihood that we would see some of the late season promotions

that maybe we're used to. I think there's going to be a real hesitancy. especially for teams that really don't have much to gain to risk running guys out for an extra starter too. I think come early September as the minor league season is wrapping up, there's going to be a feeling of if you got through this thing healthy and kind of hit your, you know, hit your innings mark, we're not taking any chances. Put some ice on that shoulder and go home. So I don't think we're going to see a whole lot, which is a little frustrating, I think, from a, you know, from a fan perspective. I mean, there's certainly guys that we'd like to see. And there's been some nice progression, but I just don't think that some of those top, any of those really,

you know, those top arms will see. But there are some exciting guys at AA. I mean, Jarvis is there, although he is on the injured list right now. He was recently put there. Levi Kelly's had a really tough go of it. He got off to a late start. And if there was a guy that seemed like maybe could see some major league time. His at least timeline made sense and the fact that he got a late jump on the season. And so you could have said, well, hey, maybe out of the bullpen or something in September, he could have used some extra innings. But it's been a rough go for him. He hasn't even transitioned really back into the starting rotation. It's just, it's been really tough. So I don't, I don't see that really happening. And there's a bunch of other guys that, you know, started the year and are still

continuing to make their starts. Matt Tabor, Ryan Nelson, guys like that. Tommy Henry had a recently had a decent start. Louis Frius as well, but, you know, the odds of them, I think seeing big league time are pretty slim. So I think if we're really looking for much, it's going to probably come from AAA. To me, you know, the guy that's really, we should maybe even be worrying about at this point is really, you know, back to our old friend, Corbyn Martin. Things have continued to be kind of rough for him.

But any signs of life and any chance to get him back into the majors and find any success, like if there was a way that he could end his campaign with like three decent major league outings and head into the winter with a little bit of confidence, that would be like a paramount importance to me. Yeah. I'm not sure even he'll get there. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, Corbin Martin had already pitched in the majors before the trade, which is crazy to think about. Right. It's a long time ago. Yeah. I mean, he had Tommy John surgery and then had more hangups last year trying to work his way back. So it's been a long time. But yeah, if I remember right, his numbers in his few starts with Houston before the trade were pretty ugly as well. So I think you're looking at a guy who still has a high ceiling.

We've seen this stuff. I think there's clearly some potential here. But yeah, I imagine his confidence in his ability to pitch at the major league level is pretty shaken at the moment. So I think that would be totally huge. Last thing here, we have another one from Ollie, which is I'm sure there's some sarcasm baked in here. but will Catele-Marty ever play a game in a Diamondbacks uniform ever again? If this is alluding to a trade, I don't think that's really a serious concern.

He was curious, you know, there's no timetable on the injury and no reports on it with the trade deadline coming up. I do think we heard an update from Tori not too long ago about this. I think it was a couple days ago, and he had an MRI. There was an issue with the MRI. machine, which was funny. People were just like, oh my gosh, the Diamondbacks, everything. Even their MRI machine is quitting on them.

But yeah, so the MRI said or showed that he is near a full resolution in the words of Tori. So we did get an update on that recently. As far as I'm concerned, I really think a trade is totally out of the question here. And hopefully we might see Katel again in this lineup within. maybe the next week or two, as this hamstring issue continues to heal. And that would be pretty big, Jeff.

I mean, at that point, we'd be like actually pretty close to seeing the baseball team that we thought we would be seeing or that we hoped we'd be seeing throughout much of this season. It's just been so fragmented from the beginning of the year with injuries.

And Kattel coming back would sort of be the icing on the cake. Absolutely. Yeah, I don't think he's going anywhere. I don't feel any sort of threat that he's going to get. get moved. He's still one of the more valuable and better players in baseball. Yeah. So and finding out that, you know, there's nothing tragically wrong with his hamstring is

good news. You know, and I saw that we had a comment from, from Stephen to Ollie's question and even seeing some other sort of banter about it, I think on fan graphs earlier in the week. but you know there is some concern that that really this move of kattel to center field is like really causing some harm to him physically yeah um i don't know if that's selection bias recency bias or you know us just wanting to have an easy answer um to why he's all of a sudden been hurt so much over the last little while sure but um yeah i i think there there might be something to be said for that um they've been hamstring issues he certainly runs more in center field than he ever did at second base.

And perhaps we see this winter a real concerned effort to find a way to make sure that Cateel Marte moves back to second base on a very, very regular basis. I think he affords Tories some real luxuries and that he can cover center field. But, you know, he has filled out. He has gotten heavier. He does even look to me at times like he's lost some flexibility. Yeah. He also hits the crap out of the ball in a way that he didn't do when he was younger and a little thinner.

So yeah, I think that's a tradeoff you probably take in terms of overall production. But monitoring his health, I'd love to see if there's something to this and getting him back at second base on a regular basis might help. But for all intents and purposes, yes, we will see him back in a devax uniform very soon. and you and I will rejoice. Okay, quick follow up here. Would you, if the only way to get Catea out of centerfield over the off season is to put either Pavin Smith or Dalton Bar show there on a regular basis or some, I don't know, maybe there's some other guy on the roster I'm forgetting about who could maybe slide over to center at times. Do you think that's a move worth making? I do.

I think having him, I think having him, I think having him. in your lineup for 140 or 150 games is worth just about any tradeoff you have to make. I also think that Dalton Varsho can cover that spot defensively well enough that it's not really a big concern. I would like to see Pavin Smith probably stay out of that spot as much as possible, but he's done a good job with what he's done there. I just don't think it's really his best spot. That said, I also acknowledge that Dalton Varshow has had a lot of issues.

Something I dug into this week, and there may be a post coming on that, or at least something we can discuss next week on our show. But, you know, his offensive struggles have been tied to certain things. And we need to see a little more out of him. I think yesterday's home run was a great sign. He took a, you know, a high fastball and turned it around. And, you know, that was fantastic. But those kinds of things need to happen on a more regular basis.

He's been a little bit of a letdown here in the early going. So, yeah, I think that's a tradeoff I'd make. But I also think that, you know, shopping around on the open. market, you know, for someone on a short-term deal might make even more sense when you know that you can, you know, presumably stick in Alec Thomas or a Corby and Carol in that spot before too long. Yeah. Well, I guess we'll go ahead and hold off there here in episode 34.

Thank you all for listening. I want to give a specific shout out to our brokenhearted sons fans out there who were, had a rough week. But hey, we got good news for you. everyone. There's a, the hottest team in the national league, the hottest baseball team in the national league is right here in the valley of the sun. So, uh, jump on the bandwagon. Um, it should be hopefully a more bearable second half to the season, um, than it was in the first half. Maybe, maybe this team is a little bit less championship bound than the sun's work. Um, but we'll go

ahead and stop there. Be sure to, uh, give us a follow on Twitter. If you haven't already, you can find our page at at the Rattle AZ. Uh, you can find me at at at Jesse and Friedman, Jeff is at Outfield Grass 24. We have some plans in the works. We are hoping to record our show next week from a Hillsboro Hops game. See some D-Backs minor league action. So hopefully we can get that going for next week. Next week should be a pretty fun show.

But until then, thanks again for listening and we'll be back again next week to talk more about the hottest team in the National League, the 2021 Arizona Diamondbacks.