PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Ep. 38: Torey Lovullo's future, who plays CF in 2022, possible September call-ups, & more

Episode Date: September 2, 2021

In this final episode of The Rattle Podcast, we discuss the possibility of Torey Lovullo sticking around past this year, the organization's future in CF, and why an exciting September call-up or two may still be around the corner. We also answer a ton of questions and reflect on The Rattle's five-year journey as a premier Diamondbacks podcast. We can't thank you enough for your support over the years. STAY SUBSCRIBED -- an exciting announcement is on the way! 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 38 of the Rattle Podcast, as always. My name is Jesse Friedman along with Jeff Weiser, my co-host. Jeff, I know it's been a couple weeks here for us. So we've got some things to talk about. We have a boatload of questions to answer from our listeners, which is always we appreciate. But we want to get some news out there here before we move too far in this episode. we have to announce that very sadly with a tear in my eye, we are here to announce here at the beginning of this episode

that episode 38, this episode of the Rattle Podcast will actually be our last. And I say that knowing that something very cool is around the corner. You should stay subscribed. You should stay following the Rattle Twitter account. There are cool things yet to come. But the Rattle podcast, as it stands right now,

Jeff, this is our last show. And this is sort of a somber moment here for us in episode 38. Yeah, absolutely, man. You know, I know we'll take some time. We get kind of to the end of the show to bring this back up and reflect a little bit. But yeah, absolutely. A little sad. I think kind of joking off air, I was like, I don't think it's hit me yet.

But, you know, it probably will like next week when I'm trying to think, oh, no, we need to coordinate schedules so we can record. and, you know, where will you be in a week? Where will I be in a week? What will we be doing? How will we make this work? But yeah, I mean, somber in one sense, but exciting in another. And I know there's more to come.

And I think people are going to be really excited about that. So we still have, we still have episode 38. And we do have a lot to talk about. So that's exciting too. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we're going to roll back around to that, as Jeff mentioned, at the end of our show. Well, maybe I unfortunately, we can't really share a whole lot right now because as I mentioned,

something cooler is around the corner. We can't really say much too much just yet. But stick around with us until the end because we're going to kind of recount some fun memories and maybe share a couple more details that we can share then. But yeah, for now, this is episode 38. We're here to talk about the Arizona Diamondbacks. So let's go ahead and jump in. Jeff, I know today is kind of a day that we've been looking forward.

to for a while. This is September 1st. It is not the day when MLB rosters expand to 40, as was once the case. But it is still a day where MLB rosters expand from 26 to 28. There was some excitement building up that maybe, you know, maybe we see Luis Frius, maybe we see Seth Beer. Alec Thomas recently got promoted to AAA, although I don't think any of us were really expecting that to happen and probably still don't. But the diamondbacks did make a couple of moves today, Jeff. Maybe not, not exactly what people were hoping for. But Luke Weaver is back from injury, which is good news. He started today for the Diamondbacks through six innings look pretty good. And the Diamondbacks also activated Stewart Fairchild, who was up with the Major League team about a month or so ago. He's

back up with the Major League squad. Potentially for the rest of the year, we'll see how things shake out. But Jeff, that's what the Diamondbacks did with their two extra spots. Maybe not the most exciting things that they could have done. But we know that there could still be more to come on this. There's still some transactions that could be made in the coming days. But I guess safe to say they didn't exactly start it off with a bang here on September 1st. Yeah, I think folks were probably clamoring a little bit for something more exciting. And I don't blame them.

you know, kind of been through quite a bit this season and there hasn't always been a lot to look forward to. And this is one of those few opportunities where it seemed like something pretty exciting could happen. But, you know, Weaver coming back and, you know, pitching relatively well against the Padres today, you know, might be exciting in itself. And so that's a good thing. I think Stuart Fairchild, I still think there's a chance that he has a future on this team as a sort of a fourth outfielder type comes up. And so it's not for nothing. I also think, you know, you're right in that there may be more to come. It's by no means, are these the only moves that they can make this month?

But yeah, I don't think anyone had the date circled, you know, for a suit or fairchild coming back up. I'm not sure that's what everyone was hoping for. But, you know, in some previous episodes, we've kind of foreshadowed that, you know, they probably weren't going to do anything super splashy. Yeah. You know, so, and I think they kind of stuck to that. It seems to be that that's kind of the direction it's gone right now. And I think we were, we were probably right about that the first time around, but it is what it is right now.

Yeah, we did some digging on the on the 40-man roster, which of course is kind of the key to this whole deal. You can't bring someone up unless they're on the 40-man. The Diamondbacks 40-man roster is full as of right now. and that's even after they put as dribble Cabrera on waivers. He was claimed by the Cincinnati Reds recently. So he's no longer with the club. But even after that, the Diamondbacks have filled the 40-man roster completely.

But Jeff, I think it's safe to say looking up and down this roster, there are some guys on here that will just say we wouldn't be totally shocked if the team moved on from them at some point in the next week or two. a Miguel Aguilar maybe comes to mind you know 5-8 lefty reliever hasn't had a whole lot of success

I think there's some other guys filling roles in the bullpen right now that maybe we have some questions about their long-term future with the club so the diamondbacks do have some flexibility I know Jeff we were Seth Beer was kind of the big name that we talked about in our last show

as you know someone who could draw some excitement and you know a guy who has at least the potential to be a big part of the club moving forward. And I still think, at least personally, I still think there's a pretty good chance we see Seth Beer here at some point. Yeah, I think you're right.

I think you're right. I think there are a few guys they may have seen enough of that are on the 40-man roster, they'll probably let go, you know, whether they release them or designate them for assignment and just kind of move on to open up a spot for probably Seth Beer is your most obvious fit.

And I, you know, I know that we were, You know, I was, I was sort of thinking about, you know, it's hard to sort of fit him in. You know, you have Pavin Smith needing, you know, still getting some reps, maybe at times at first base with Christian Walker. How's that going to work? You know, how do they, how do they kind of pull that off? And then, you know, looking ahead at the schedule, well, they're going to travel to Seattle here in just over a week. Right. You know, they'll get the benefit of having a D.H.

It's going to be playing in an AL park. They have a couple of games because of Dodgers and they go to the Astros, where again, they'll have that same benefit. So actually wouldn't be really shocked if we see that move for Seth Beer to come up in about a week's time. The other part of that, too, is that, you know, he will be Rule 5 eligible this winter. And obviously, they're not going to expose him to the Rule 5 draft. So he's got to get added to the 40-man roster over the winter anyways. So there really may not be much harm in doing that. now and they probably prefer to just run him out as a DH would be my guess.

So that announcement could come any time, but, you know, I definitely kind of expect it in the next week or so. A couple of other things before we jump into our very long list of questions to answer in this episode. Since our last show, we have seen a couple of guys make their first major league appearances, Jeff, Jake McCarthy, the outfielder, left-handed hitting outfielder. He is a guy I don't think we really do. talked about, but we probably should have is a guy who certainly was probably going to get a

major league opportunity this year. He doesn't really have a whole lot else to prove at the minor league level. He's a 24-year-old, a left-handed hitter, left-handed thrower, good base running skills. We've started to see that a little bit showcased at the major league level. Drew Ellis is the other guy I'm thinking of who has been called up to the major league level. Jeff, I don't know if we necessarily see Drew Ellis or Jake McCarthy as, you know, pieces to build around in the future. But maybe for people who might not be super familiar with their games and at least kind of what our expectations are for them, what's sort of a brief scouting report on, on Drew Ellis and Jake McCarthy?

Yeah, I might, you know, I'd take that, I guess, maybe start with Ellis, who, you know, was drafted, you know, right between Pave and Smith and Dalton Farshow back in 2017. So, yeah, I mean, those three are back together. And that's interesting kind of in itself. It's not often that, you know, it's hard to, you know, draft and develop like major league players. And they were three for three in their first three picks. And the fourth pick in that draft was Matt Tabor, who's in AAA and is probably going to have a big league future some kind too.

So that's interesting in itself. But I think, you know, I think Ellis is, you know, third base. Baseman by trade. I know he got some time at second base the other day, but more of a third baseman. The defense is okay. You know, not a, has, you know, kind of steadily produced and climbed isn't real flashy. But he's kind of slowly like, you know, just climb the ladder and been like a steady, steady producer. And he's looked a little overmatched here at the big league level. I don't know how else to really say that. So he's just been beaten by Velocity in the same. zone at times and that's an adjustment he'll have to make. But I will just say this about his game is that he's done this before where he's been promoted, maybe had some tough sledding early going and kind of worked through it and pushed himself up the ladder. So certainly not someone who's accustomed to giving up. And then with McCarthy, you know, that's another guy. It came out of the same, you know, college as Paven Smith. He was a UVA, University of Virginia guy.

Kind of flat swing hasn't necessarily hit for a ton of power, but can hold down, you know, hold down the outfield defensively, does some nice things. Like you mentioned, kind of on the basis is probably a better, like all-around baseball player than just a pure hitter. And his ceiling is probably more that of like a fourth outfield type. And that's going to be a little dependent on how well they feel like he can handle center field. So I'm actually really interested to see how he does handle center field. And we talk about this being a time for evaluation purposes. They're probably watching that pretty closely too.

And so I wouldn't be surprised to see him get a good little bit of action here as I try to figure out sort of who really needs to be part of the equation in 2022. And these are two guys I think they're given a look at. Yeah, McCarthy, I think in the absence of Tim LaCastro, probably because becomes the team's best base runner for, you know, for whatever that's worth right off the bat. He in the minors this season across 85 games, still 29 bases, was only caught four times. So there's certainly something to be said for that. The Diamondbacks feels like it's been quite a while since they were a team that did a whole lot of running. Yeah.

But Jake, yeah. Jake McCarthy at least, you know, put some pressure on the defense when it comes to that. So there's certainly some value there, potentially off the bench. as you mentioned. And yeah, Drew Ellis, you know, I mean, we saw with Dalton Varshot. He was a not very productive MLB player for, you know, a whole lot longer than, uh, than Drew Ellis, uh, has been in the majors so far. And we've seen Varsho turn a corner.

Uh, and certainly Drew Ellis, uh, could do the same at some point. Um, speaking of Dalton Varshow, I know he's a guy we, we kind of talked about a lot in the last show. I don't think I ever made this prediction on the air, which I wish I, I wish I would have because it would make me sound a whole lot more credible right now. But my prediction, following my Madison Bumgarner prediction, that he would finish the year with an ERA under four in the second half, which I still feel pretty good about at this point.

My other prediction that I made shortly after that was that Dalton Varshow would find his way to an 800 OPS by the end of the season. And he actually exceeded an 800 OPS about a week ago. Unfortunately, he's had a few non-eastern. as good games in a row. So I think he's back down in the 750 range right now. But there's not a whole lot of it bats there. So, you know, he has a game where he, you know, has a couple of extra base hits and that's going to push back up pretty significantly. So Varsho continues to be a guy that we are certainly excited about. I think at least for me, Jeff, when I kind of, you know,

when I think about Pavin Smith and Josh Rojas and some of these younger pieces that the Diamondbacks have, I think I'm about as bullish about Varsho as anyone. I think we all would agree that, you know, Varsho just has more ceiling than some of those other guys. And at some point, you know, you don't want just nice players. You want guys who could be really good on, you know, a playoff contending sort of team. And I think Varshow more so than just about anyone else has that kind of ceiling.

Yeah, I tend to agree. I think that's, you know, they've got the, I think they've got the makings of some of those nice, like, those guys that kind of round out your roster in a nice way. I think I got that. And there's going to be more of that coming. You're absolutely right. What they need is they need a guy or two.

And it doesn't need to just be on the position side. I mean, we need this on the pitching side as well. But, you know, a guy or two to really step up and sort of take the reins as like, you know, a well above average big league producer. And I was doing some kind of digging of my own and looking at, you know, since the All-Star break, kind of where Bar Show ranks. And, you know, he actually ranks as like the 15th best hitter by way to Runs Created Plus in baseball. Really? Since that time. And I know he's been wildly productive and that's probably not going to hold. But just purely as a hitter, he's been excellent, really, really excellent, you know, in that in that time frame. So, um, That's certainly encouraging it. It does tell us that it's in there. You know, doing it at this level.

I mean, almost no one can do this. I mean, if he was to hit like this, you know, I mean, he'd be a MVP candidate. So doing this over 150 games is a whole other story. But on the flip side, I also wanted to dig up some of his, some of his framing numbers about how he is as a catcher. Yeah. Because I think it's really interesting.

And this is going to kind of tie into some of the questions we received. but where is his future on the roster? Carson Kelly's going to be around for a while. He's not going away. And Varsho, for what it's worth, just has not rated well by baseball prospectus' metrics as a pitchframer. I, you know, filtered for catchers with, you know, at least 3,000 pitches caught in the majors this year. There's about 70 of them. And he is near the bottom of the list.

64 in terms of his called strikes above average, which really is a metric that, you know, essentially rates his framing on a per pitch basis. So he's one of the poorer pitch framers in baseball. I know he just hasn't had a lot of reps there. And I guess I'm curious, Jesse, like where, you know, maybe where you'd rather see him play or how he fits. And with Carlson Kelly in the fold, like, how much. much they can really afford to like take starts away from Carson Kelly who I should note

fares much better on this list um you know to to continue to try to develop Dalton behind the plate I think the dream for the Diamondbacks is that with this new CBA agreement that we've talked about that's probably coming over this off season if there could just be like three DHSs Diamondbacks would would really be in a solid position I mean like for real you think about it and a lot of these younger players that we're, you know, kind of getting excited about, they're not necessarily, they haven't really found a position. Pavin Smith is not a horrible defender by any means. You know, I mean, they've thrown them in center field, for goodness sakes.

And, you know, I think there's definitely, you know, you could play Paveen Smith at a corner outfield and you're probably fine. But I don't really know if you want Paveen Smith's bat. for a corner outfield spot. It doesn't necessarily play that well there, at least at this point. But it doesn't really play that well at any position that I think Pavin Smith

is super well qualified to play. And of course, there's room for improvement there. He's a young guy. So I don't want to make any big judgments there yet. But Varshot's kind of in a similar boat where they've thrown him out there in center field. And I don't think he's necessarily been horrible, but I don't think he's been great there either.

And so it kind of feels like between Varsho and Pavin Smith and Seth Beer on the horizon as well, if he hits well enough to work his way into the lineup, the Diamondbacks are going to have quite a positional problem on their hands. Where these guys just, it just doesn't, you're probably going to wind up playing guys at positions where you maybe would rather not play them. Or positions just where like their bats kind of, leave a little bit to be desired for what position they're playing.

And I mean, I guess we shouldn't be that shocked that, you know, those are the sorts of issues that teams that are 45 games under 500 face. So I guess that's not really that surprising at the end of the day. But I'm sure that's going to be an issue at some point. And Varsho, I think, is probably the most athletic of those three. In fact, I think we can say with confidence, he is the most athletic of those guys I just mentioned, I think he has a better shot at landing somewhere and being able to stay there. You know, there's a reason he's, you know, actually like a good base runner and has other

skills despite being a catcher that a lot of other catchers don't have. But it's a problem, Jeff. I don't really know how to say it any other way. This team is is a little bit positionally confused right now with a lot of players that play sort of everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. Yeah, and I mean, to a lesser extent, right, Andrew Young sort of falls in the same boat. And I think there's something to be said for, you know, having flexibility for how to sort of line up your roster is helpful. Yeah. But there is, like, there is a difference between being like Ben Zobrist who can sort of play everywhere and being someone who just doesn't really have a home. Like, I feel like there's a difference there. There's another problem that you and I discuss before we.

kind of took to the air here. And that problem is that Josh Rojas, Pavin Smith, David Peralta, though, he's not really part of the future long term, Josh Van Meter, Dalton Varsho, Jake McCarthy, Alec Thomas, all these guys. I don't think about that. Seth Beer, even down to Corby and Carroll, if you want to go there. They all have something in common, and that's that they all bat left-handed. And so this team really is, you know, they've really, you know, kind of loaded themselves up with lefty bats, that that's going to be something that's going to have to get worked out.

Now, the success rate, you know, on these players, I mean, some of this attrition will take care of some of this. But I'm kind of think long term in the way that, you know, some of these players are hitting the majors now and or are, you know, you know, predicted to hit the majors next season, that's a lot of left-handed bats with more on the way. So I wouldn't even be shocked if, you know, there is some, you know, manner of transactions, some manner of trades that take place over the winter to help the team develop a more balanced lineup moving forward and maybe also in the process help rectify sort of the, some of the positional overlap or deficiencies maybe. I'm sure they would love to keep a strong amount of flexibility.

But at some point, you know, you also need like plus defenders out there. So I think maybe these things might go hand in hand and maybe we see even some younger guys moved just to kind of help this along. Yeah. Yeah, there's definitely help on the way in terms of the positional side of things with you mentioned Alec Thomas. I think he's a guy we might feel comfortable playing center field. But you're absolutely right. This left-handed batter thing has really crept up on us. I really didn't even notice that until you mentioned it to me before the show today. This is a very heavily left-handed team. And it kind of, it's very different because I feel like in the past, the diamondbacks have been

very right-handed. There was a time, yes. There was a time. Paul Goldsmith, A.J. Pollack, JD Martinez, of course, in 2017, kind of their big three hitters were all right-handed. And that certainly is no longer the case. It feels like almost everyone on this team is left-handed. And there's definitely something to be said for, you know, lefties who can actually hit left-handed pitching versus, you know, a Jake Lamb type who is just very, very limited in that sense. Dalton Varshow actually has reverse splits right now for whatever that's worth. in an albeit short sample.

He's actually, his OPS is more than 100 points higher against lefties, which is a little strange. I don't have Rojas's numbers in front of me, but I think he sort of held his own, as has Paven Smith. So it's probably not a Jake Lamb level issue where you're just not going to have anyone who can hit a left-handed pitcher. But it's certainly, it's certainly an issue to monitor.

On the flip side, I feel like the diamondbacks have several hitters, they're right-handed guys. who really don't hit right-handed pitching at all and actually rake against lefties. We view Carson Kelly as being this, you know, offensively, you know, a solid offensive catcher. When in reality, if you look at his splits,

he actually just destroys lefties and doesn't really do much against righties. And we all know Nick Ahmed against righties. Nick Ahmed is, you know, it's, I hate to say it, but it's close to a pitcher, batting when Nick Ahmed is facing a righty. It is, it is very, very bad. Whereas against a lefty, there's a reason that the team has been batting him lead off because he actually, he actually sort of rakes against lefties. So, and then of course, we all know Catal Marte is batting like literally,

I checked today, he's batting 427 against lefties this season. So it's really weird, Jeff, with a lot of guys who, um, on the right-handed hitting side, very, very specialized against hitting lefties. And on the left-handed hitting side, maybe guys have a little bit of ability to hit left-handed pitching. But one way or another, it is a tricky roster to fit together right now. Yeah, I agree. It's, you know, it forces, it forces the team to carry a bench if they're going to have so many left-handed guys, they're going to rely on a nightly basis. Basically carry a bench of righties to be able to mix a match with. And that can maybe just just be difficult. I think it underscores, you know, maybe just where they're at right now,

which is just a more raw evaluation of where everybody is individually and the worry about making the pieces match up later on. So I think it's just a note to maybe file away for the wintertime, you know, if and when the CBA issues get worked out, transactions open back up and things start to move this winter. This might be the kind of stuff that we see happen. And, you know, maybe you see a guy get moved that you think, you know, on the surface, oh, it doesn't really make sense. Why would they move him?

This might be why. So I think they'll worry about kind of fixing some of these things down the line. But it is something just to be aware of, you know, as we're already kind of turning our focus to 2022. Well, speaking of that, moving our focus to 2022, we have a couple of questions. about the Diamondbacks manager, who I believe is not under contract as of right now for next season. I believe the Diamondbacks would have to renew his deal in order to bring him back at this point. Jeff, it's an interesting situation.

I don't necessarily view Tori Lavello as a guy who's done a horrible job by any means. But there have been some pretty head-scratching defensive plays that have happened. happened all too often throughout this season. I think that's maybe one sign you look for of a team that, you know, just maybe is not quite playing with the level of focus that you would want. And of course, whether he deserves it or not, Tori Lavello is just naturally the fall guy when something like that happens. How do we feel?

How do you feel about the future of Tori Lavello with the Diamondbacks? Is he going to be back next year? Yeah, I think if we, if we think about what, you know, manager's role is in today's game. I think it's so much about managing personalities. It's about managing people. It's less about in-game tactics. Tactics, yes, there's some of that, but they're also very well prepared heading into every situation of kind of what move to make. So there's a little less, you know, reliance on maybe being really inventive on the fly. I think he probably heads into games with quite a bit of background there. So,

really kind of falls back on that management of people. And for this team, where they're headed, they're going to get younger. They're going to continue to go through some of these ebbs and flows and, you know, try to really build that momentum back. And I think that's the question you have to ask yourself about Toro Lavello. I don't think the, you know, the decision has really much to do with the team's win-loss record right now. I don't think that's really what you're asking. I think what you're asking is who's the best person to lead a young team to find some footing, to find some confidence, to work through some of these things on a daily basis and make improvements, you know, small incremental steady improvements.

If you think that person is Tori Lavello, I mean, you know, the team is in a good position to make that evaluation. And I'm open to that. I'm not someone who really desires to see Toro Lavello gone. I actually would be pretty interested to see how he does with that group of people. He inherited a pretty veteran team, a team with a lot of guys who've been around a while, some real anchors, and he's held on to a few of them. The team's held on to a few of them, and he's had them in his dugout. How does he do when those guys are gone, when David Peralta's not there, when Nick Ahmed's not there? How does that work?

Yeah. I'm interested to know, and I know that they'll know better than I will, but I'll say for me, if Tori Lavello is back, I'm not going to be upset about it. I like Tori Lavello. I think he's done some really good things for the team. But it's also a question that Tori Lavello has to ask himself, is that what he's really looking for right now, too? So the fit has to be good, but, you know, if he sticks around, I won't be upset about it.

Yeah, I think I'm there. with you. And on top of that, he's, you know, some managers you let go and you kind of wonder if they'll ever find a job in the sport again. Right. And some managers you let go and you know that, you know, there's going to be a pretty long line of suitors before not too long. And I think Tori Lavello definitely falls more in that latter category of guys who, yeah, he just has a good reputation. He's just a good guy. He's known as a player's manager. We all know that. He'll make, he'll make you scratch your head at times with the way he manages a bullpen or whatnot.

I don't think we're really too worried about that this season given what the team has been through. But I'm with you. I don't, I would not be mad if Tori Lavello is back. I wouldn't necessarily be mad if they let him go. Because, you know, I mean, there's something to be said for kind of freshening things up.

And I wouldn't say, I think we're lying to ourselves if we say that this Diamondbacks team has, you know, really like matched their ceiling or, you know, really overperformed in any respect. They have, they have underperformed even the very low expectations that we have for them at this point. So I wouldn't really be too mad either way personally.

Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I'm not sure who's going to be out there, like who that fit, who that person is, if it's someone else. I'm certainly open-minded about it. I'm just not of the belief that, you know, I think, I think so much of it isn't a personal not the belief that it really matters kind of how the team. has performed this year so much.

Yeah, I think we've kind of been down that road. They've just played at a talent deficient level, you know, basically all season long. And that's been really, really tough for them. So I'm open-minded. You know, I'm not sure who some, maybe those rising candidates are and maybe who the best fit is on a young team. And we'll see kind of how they want to play that. But I think Tori Lavello has a lot of positive attributes.

And you're right. I think if he were gone, if Tori Lavello wants to. to take a year off. You go into the off season of 22, 23, and there probably be a lot of people calling him. Yeah, oh, absolutely. That was Brett Lee Johnson and Kyle Collins who wanted to ask about Torrey.

So thank you guys for submitting those questions. Moving along here on our questions list, Casey Thorne asked something, which is kind of along lines of what we asked, what we were talking about earlier. Who do you see as prime candidates to play center field for 2020? I think that's a great question.

I do too. That position has a lot of, a lot of question marks right now. I mean, you know Cotel Marte can hold it down out there, but I don't know if he can stay healthy while doing it. And Dalton Varsho, Paven Smith,

I don't know if those guys are necessarily long-term solutions. Jeff, what comes to mind for you when you think center field? Is it, I guess it's, is it the youth movement with Alec Thomas? You know,

it's interesting. It's like the third, there's going to be the third year in a row. we head into the offseason without a clear understanding of who's going to be in center field for this team. So this has been an issue for a while now. I think they have some internal options. I think Alec Thomas is probably capable of holding the position down in the short term

if they want to do that. Ultimately, his best fit is probably going to be in left field. So that's really probably where he'll end up. But while he's young and runs super well, you could probably hold down center field for a year or two if you want to do that. I think long term Corbyn Carroll is probably the more natural fit and center. That said, you know, Dalton Varshal could, you know, continue to sort of, you know, hold that spot down on sort of a rotational basis. But they could also have to kind of look outside the organization.

Unfortunately, the free agent market just looks terrible at Centerfield. I mean, I don't really know what else to say. It's bad. There is not much out there. you know, there's really no one that's like under the age of 30. I mean, you're looking at like Michael A. Taylor, who just has never hit at all. The Lion-O. De Shields is probably the youngest player, but really isn't like, you know, an everyday guy. I mean, it's just there's really nothing very enticing out there.

And so it might have to be some amalgamation of some internal candidates. Maybe it's an Alec Thomas Dalton Varsho kind of timeshare sort of situation, but they both bat left-hand and they both pretty much need to play every day. Just don't see a real clear picture here. I think this, again, will be another place where we see if they're willing to swing a deal and make a trade for a young center fielder where that has been something we've kind of looked at for a couple years now. They did pull it off once for Starling Marte.

It wasn't necessarily super young. But, yeah, they're probably right back in that same boat. Yeah, Starling Marte was kind of supposed to be the answer there. but obviously they moved on from him pretty quick and really ever since AJ Pollack left other than Starling Marte, they really haven't had an answer in center field. I think it's pretty clear it could tell Marte,

you probably want him at second base if you want to give him the best shot at really playing every day, which is obviously something the team needs. So yeah, it's a tricky one. I think maybe Alec Thomas is your best defensive guy who's not going to hurt himself. So maybe you go that route.

But I think you're right. It's probably going to be some sort of a committee situation without really having one clear guy there. All right, let's see. Moving down the line here, Patrick Lyons, a good friend from our friends over at DNVR Rockies. Good to hear from you, Patrick. He says, payroll is plenty of room to spare

for the addition of an upper tier free agent or two. Does that happen this offseason or next? I love how Patrick just kind of assumes that it's only a matter of time. Welcome to, welcome to the Arizona Diamondback side of things, Patrick. I know in Denver maybe things aren't all that different. But yeah, I don't know, Jeff. I would be pretty shocked if they went out and made any kind of significant splash this off season after being as bad as this team has been. They have just a lot of unknowns at a lot of positions.

I don't think there's really any particular spot where you can say, you know, here's a position where I clearly want some veteran to come in and, you know, take five or 600 plate appearances. I'm just not sure if there's really a position like that. Maybe third base in the post-Edwardo Escobar world. I guess that's probably the clearest option where they're probably going to need some sort of a veteran presence there. But other than that, I mean, Nick Ahmed is already here, David Peralt, is already here. You really already have too many veteran types who you might have to clear out

in the next couple of years. So I don't know if I see anything like this happening. I guess on the pitching side of things, this is maybe more likely to happen. Sure. They're going to need some stability down there. There's just a lot of question marks, especially in the bullpen, maybe also in the rotation. If I had to guess, you know, where they would make a move, it would probably be there. But whether it's an upper tier free agent. I think we might be waiting a couple years for that. Yeah, I do too. That said, if Mike Hazen thinks he can get a deal, he's going to get a deal.

But yeah, aside from someone maybe sitting on the market too long and a price falling in him swooping in kind of the 11th hour, I don't necessarily forecast it. I will say this. I think the CBA is going to continue to lean large. the you know presumably MLB has leaked some information from recent negotiations which have suggested a salary floor of like a hundred million dollars for teams and the diamondbacks have kind of been right on that cusp like especially even this year um so uh you know politics aside um there may be a harder cap there could be a salary floor those things could weigh in on what eventually shapes up with the free agent market. Yeah. So I just say that there may be some sort of external factors that maybe play into this,

but all told, I think they're probably at least another year away from doing something like this. If they did anything at all, I'd be more inclined to think that they maybe look to consolidate some of the depth that they have in their minor league level and move maybe a couple of promising prospects for someone that's maybe potentially really impactful who just doesn't fit on another roster somewhere else in baseball, but from a free agent perspective, I think we're probably another year off. Yeah, yeah, sad to say, but probably true. Moving on here, Tyson says, especially with Luke Weaver making a start, which he did today, does Tyler Gilbert

go back to the bullpen when Merrill Kelly comes back? It's a good question. Diamondbacks are kind of bringing some guys out, moving other guys in. Obviously, Luke Weaver returned today. The team has announced Taylor Widener will be moved to the bullpen, which is maybe a little bit more indicative of his long-term outlook with the team. Tyler Gilbert, though, at least for me, Jeff, is probably in that same boat where I don't know if you're going to see this guy in the rotation long-term. The bullpen might be kind of his long-term destination.

I don't know exactly right now what the outlook on Merrill Kelly. Lee's return is. Obviously, we're kind of running out of time there. But I guess if he did come back, you'd still, you know, you'd have to kick someone out of the rotation. What do you think? Do you think the team wants to look at Tyler Gilbert right now in the rotation just to kind of see what they have? I guess it's hard to, it's hard to take a guy out of the rotation who threw a no hitter, you know, within the last month. So I guess that's a factor too. Yeah, I agree. I think his long-term fits probably out of the bullpen. But right now, I think they're looking for someone who can really come and absorb some innings.

You know, we've had some comments about whether or not someone like, say, Luis Frius, would come up and, you know, make a few starts. And I think we're already starting to see it in some levels of the minor league system where they're really trying to limit some workloads for some of the younger pitchers. That said, it seems like Tyler Gilbert, you know, still has some ammo left and has some innings left to throw. And I think they're going to continue to let him do that. Taylor Whidner is going to head to the bullpen now, which ultimately is probably a better fit for him as well.

So Tyler Gilbert, though, we'll continue to get some work. I did find it kind of interesting. I want to say his start after the no hitter, he went like three more innings without allowing a hit in his next start. Yeah, he did. He did. Yeah. Yeah. So it's been a, he's kind of falling back to Earth since then.

but yeah, I'd imagine you'll kind of stay there. And if nothing else, just to kind of soak up the innings. Yeah, yeah, I think that's probably a fair point. All right, moving on here. Let's see, I had one in front of me. We have a lot of questions. We have a lot of questions today. Have we said that yet?

All right, back to Brett Lee Johnson. Do you think the Diamondbacks will stay in Chase Field, as long as they get the renovations they're asking for, Do you see them moving elsewhere? This is a big storyline. I don't know, maybe like a year ago. It's hard to even place when that happened. There was the whole rumors that the Diamondbacks were looking at Henderson, Nevada, right

outside of Vegas. It's some stadium options out there. I haven't really heard much on this front recently. As far as I know, Jeff, the team seems to have kind of come to terms with the county and things are looking up a little bit more for the. their partnership there. I think the Diamondbacks in some ways kind of had to look at other options just to kind of show the county they were serious about leaving.

And of course, that would be sort of devastating for the Arizona market. I think Chase Field is probably here to stay for a while. I would personally love to see the team find a new place to build, maybe move closer to the East Valley if that's remotely possible. Or even if it's still downtown, I think the Diamondbacks might be. in order for a new baseball stadium at some point here. But we've certainly seen Major League Stadium stick around a lot longer than the Diamondbacks one has, even though it is kind of on the older side now.

I would love to see that at some point, but I doubt it's sort of an urgent need. I think the renovations that they were planning on doing are probably enough to keep the building going for a while. and we're probably stuck with our airplane hangar with a swimming pool for a little bit longer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I tend to think of it more as a, you know, a mid-sized swimming pool that just has a very large enclosure. But yes, I think so. I think so.

And it seems like, you know, there's been maybe some new local taxes that have come up that will help fund sort of the renovations. I mean, I do think in the short term, the Diamondbacks will stay there. And, you know, for, you know, again, I was kind of just say politics aside. I mean, the dime backs have always driven a really hard bargain, whether that's with players or even with the local community. That's just how they've been run from a business standpoint. And they're not afraid to sort of like flex whatever muscle and leverage they have, which makes it hard to read sort of the threats around like going.

to Las Vegas. Like, is that leverage? Is that real? You know, how does that play out? So I think, I think, you know, the odds are that they stay. It's, you know, easiest to see that happening. There will have to be a move at some point. But I think they, you know, whether that's, you know, staying put kind of locally

into a newer, more modern stadium, you know, that may be an option. But I think they'll probably stay at Chase Field for the foreseeable future. I am also really interested in how baseball maybe, you know, approaches expansion and realignment. Las Vegas might just get its own team as part of an expansion effort to put another team kind of the Western United States. So it might take Las Vegas off the table entirely. I personally prefer they just come to Portland, but that's just me. But yeah, I think it's a good question. And you're right.

It's been kind of quiet. the coronavirus and, you know, what's been going on. I think it's really dominated the headlines there. But at some point, this is going to come back into the spotlight. And we'll, we'll see kind of where things go and how it develops. So I'm kind of interested. I'm actually kind of, I'm going to be looking for news on this. I'm just, it's very intriguing to me how they handle this situation.

Have you noticed, Jeff, why this is sort of off topic, but have you noticed watching games recently? just how few people are in that stadium. Yeah. Yeah. It's been, attendance seems obviously like it's been really down. You know,

and that's, it's been really rough. I mean, we've seen some of the TV figures have been reported. You know, teams like the Rockies and the Diamondbacks who've had miserable seasons have lost huge swaths of viewers. It would only stand a reason that they've also lost huge swaths of people coming in the

gates, even for those that feel like it's safe to do so. So, yeah, it's, it's really weird. You know, it's, it's been a weird, it's been a weird, you know, year and a half. So, but it has been, you know, really strange to see so few people at Chase Field. And, you mean, let's face it. Like, Chase Field wasn't a guaranteed sellout every night, but this is, this has been another matter entirely. Yeah, yeah, it's been like five to eight thousand most, most, most.

days and nights at Chasefield lately, which is, you know, usually even though, as you mentioned, the Diamondbacks are not selling out these games, usually they're in the, you know, low mid-20s, on average for home games. So obviously the pandemic is still very much going and that's going to be a big factor in things. But you, but you do, at least I have some concerns long term about, you know, once the world truly is back to normal, fingers crossed that that day will come at some point, don't know. Like, will the Diamondbacks just all of a sudden get 25,000 fans on a, you know, Thursday, Friday night again? I really don't know. That's something that we're, yeah, we're going to have to just sort of wait and see on that. All right, here we go. Last question before we jump

into just sort of remembering the good old days and our last part of the show here to close things out. All right, Kyle Collins, once again, he says, who are some of your favorite they were diamondbacks question mark. So these are basically just guys who played for the diamondbacks at some point, but you may have limited memory because maybe it wasn't for very long. He mentions Adam Dunn, Carlos Quentin, Levan Hernandez, Eric Chavez, and the almost perfect Armando Gola Raga. Oh, still painful.

Still painful. Yeah, I wrote a piece on this a couple years ago on the website that I assume is still up there. The Diamondbacks have kind of a lot of fun. They've had a lot of fun players that their stints with the team were very, very short. But yeah, Adam Dunn played for the Diamondbacks. Richie Sexton played for the Diamondbacks. Sean Green played for the Diamondbacks. There's kind of a long list of just like random players who had really good Major League careers

that made just like short stops in Arizona. Who comes to mind for you, Jeff? I'm going to think of, I mean, first and foremost, sadly, the person will always for me be Yasmani Tomas. Oh, man. You had to go there. I had to go there. And just because, you know, really, you know, for the time in which, and this will maybe pull us

kind of into our other conversation, but for the time in which I really found the diamond backs and really dove in, like head first. Yeah. You know, it was really kind of as things like this were starting to really progress. Man, just all of, like, I'll never forget kind of where I was when that news broke. I was walking home from my office in downtown Los Angeles to my apartment. And I literally like pulled into it, like just walked into a tavern that had Wi-Fi and pulled my laptop out and was like, I have to write about this right now. I can't walk the six blocks home.

Like, I just have to write about this right now. and, you know, we have seen how that worked out. So just will always be one of those things where, you know, he didn't end up playing that much, didn't play that much of his career out. So that will be one for me that I know that folks will just always be glad that they kind of forgot. And then one of the other guy that will come to mind for me is someone who seems to have played for almost everyone. I think he set a record recently for the number of teams he's played for. But Edwin Jackson in his perfect game.

Yeah. You know, he played part of the 2010 season with the Diamondbacks. But then also played. I have to, I have to correct you. It was not a perfect game. It was a no hitter. He walked eight. Ah, yes.

Excuse me. Yes. His 100 and I want to say 149 pitch, no hitter. I think that's right. Yeah, there we go. So yeah, his hundred and something like that, yeah, a ton of walks. But I'll never forget kind of, you know, forget that one as well because that was a time when I was really starting to to really

pay more attention to the debacks and I mean that guy has just played everywhere um but like a really odd uh no hitter uh like a huge pitch cowl no hitter uh and just one of the many stops uh along edwin jackson's like wandering baseball career so those are those are two for me yeah man there's there's there's a lot um I feel like there's there are a couple guys who are more recent that come in mind, which I don't know if I can honestly say that like we really have vague memories of them playing with the team because it wasn't that long ago. But J.D. Martinez will always have a very special place in all of our hearts. I think he literally played for the Diamondbacks from, you know, right before the trade deadline, whatever it was, like July 25th of 2017,

through the end of the Diamondbacks postseason run, which granted only went through the NLDS. but it was it was just one of the most spectacular things i have ever gotten to witness when he hit four home runs in a game against the dodgers the diamond backs won that game like 13 to 1 or something it was it was pretty glorious to watch at the time from what i remember um he just he basically had you know one of the best half seasons in baseball and for a lot i mean he slugged like 750 for the and backs in that half of the year. It was absolutely absurd. So I will always have fond memories of just Stingers, J.D. Martinez.

And yeah, I mean, there are a lot of other ones, too. I remember being excited as a kid when Adam Dunn was on the roster and, you know, hearing about his monstrous power and whatnot. I don't think he was even that great for the team when he was here necessarily. And I mean, Adam Dunn was kind of a limited player. he struck out a ton. But he had some pretty monstrous power, and that was pretty dang fun.

Jose Valverde is another guy who comes to my mind as, oh man, there was some real entertainment value there. There was some real blood pressure raising there too. But, yeah, I mean, he was about as animated of a closer as you'll ever see in baseball. And there was something about the fact that not only was he animated, but he was actually pretty good at least in 07 when the team made their playoff run. And I will always have fond memories of Jose Valverde doing what he did. Yeah, yeah.

Valverdi was fun. And it's easy to forget, yeah, how good he was for a time. And man, some of the bullpen names, like, and I know you can play this game with like every franchise. man, go through, you ever have like a lonely evening, go through some of the old bullpen names and remember some guys, you'll have a lot of fun just thinking about some of the guys that have pitched in a deep X uniform that we've long forgotten about. But yeah, this was a fun question, a fun thing to think about. Well, speaking of fun memories, Jeff, this is it for us, which is sad to say, scary to say.

I don't know what I'm going to. Yeah, I don't know. This is just going to be weird, not, you know, texting you every week trying to set up a time at, you know, midnight to record our episodes of the rattle. Once again, I can only share so much information right now. But what I can say is that this is not the last time. You will hear my voice on this podcast feed. Do not unsubscribe, please. We are coming back very soon with something that's pretty cool and exciting.

So definitely stick around here. Jeff, I'm going to take the liberty to say this is, this is fingers crossed, not the last time. We'll hear your voice on this podcast feed as well. Exciting things are around the corner. So stay tuned for that. But for right now, you know, this is it. We did 38 episodes plus some other random interviews and stuff.

For those of you who don't know, the Rattle podcast started back in 2017, actually prior to the arrival of Jeff Weiser onto the show. Some of you may remember, Sean was the previous co-host that I did the rattle with in 2017 and 2018. Sean got busy. Jeff stepped in. We had an exciting vision and added some written content and some new exciting stuff.

We built a website and everything at the beginning of 2019. It's been a journey. And it has been so much fun, just all of you, the listeners, and being bombarded with questions weekend and week out, as we were very fittingly, once again today. It's been a lot of fun over the years, Jeff. And I know we'll miss, I know we will obviously stay in touch, but we'll miss getting to talk over the airwaves once a week about a team that we both have followed for a long time. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

I know I definitely, you know, I think I'm sort of at a point where, you know, I've really kind of covered this team on a pretty regular basis for, you know, about 10 years now, you know, just shy of a decade. And so I think, you know, there was a time when I had, you know, all the time in the world to research, to write on a regular basis. I think, you know, you and I have talked to that, you know, When I was riding with Ryan Morrison and Inside the Zona, we would publish four or five research-related pieces a week and then record a podcast every other week or so too. So, you know, that time just doesn't exist in my life anymore. And at the same time, I didn't really ever want to, you know, not really be engaged with the Diamondbacks, be engaged with the Diamondbacks community. there are so many awesome, awesome people on Twitter, people that have left us comments at the website over the years, all that.

And so, you know, the opportunity to sort of step in here, you know, and do this maybe rattled 2.0 thing with you has been just a really, really tremendous, you know, fit, a tremendous opportunity in a sense of like a podcast, you know, still kind of fit, you know, it kind of fit my life a little better, you know, careers change and, you know, you find yourself with less and less sort of free time, you know, there was a time when I could peel off and, you know, hit the tavern and write about Yasmani Tomas on my way home from work. And, you know, these days, that's like not really in the cards. And so, you know, being able to stay engaged this way and, you know, talk to you on a regular basis and have all of our interaction in

between has certainly helped me stay engaged, despite the fact that, you know, some of my ability to really lean into this space has, you know, become limited a little bit over the years. But yeah, it's been a ton of fun, man. It's been a really good time. I have to ask, you mentioned 10 years you've been sort of covering the diamond backs. How many of those 10 years did you actually live in Phoenix? I actually don't know the answer to this question. Yeah, I lived in Phoenix for only, only for a year. I only lived in Phoenix for a year. That was really kind of when I started.

I started really just before I moved there. When I was still living in Seattle, actually. Lived there for a year. I had friends that worked for the team. I was able to really kind of, you know, meet some folks, start to network and really get a delay of the land. And, you know, then living in Los Angeles, obviously, for about three and a half years, I really wasn't very far away. Still had friends in the area. So I was back over in Phoenix on a pretty regular basis.

and kept my media credentials so I could cover the team, you know, when they would come play the Dodgers. My office was about two and a half miles from Dodger Stadium. So, you know, it was like, you know, good thing you don't have to wear your, you know, you don't wear any team stuff. When you cover a game for the media, because you're kind of hostile territory. But I got to have a slice of Tommy Lasordas birthday cake one year at Dodger Stadium. Just a lot of really amazing experiences, you know, covering.

this team and being able to kind of, you know, stick with it, you know, with you has been, has been really great even though I live in the Pacific Northwest. I know you're here now too. So, um, yeah. And just, uh, you know, I think our world is so connected today. I mean, you don't really have to be physically present to do what I do. I think you really have to be physically present to do what our friends, uh, Nick and Zach and Steve, uh, do on a regular basis. So that's a different story. But I've enjoyed being able to kind of move around but stay engaged with the team. Yeah, we've made a, there have been a lot of fun, a lot of fun memories and a lot of fun things over the years. What really sticks out to me the most is I don't even remember when this was Jeff, but you and I did a video live stream episode at one point.

That's right. Which I have like almost forgotten about. But we went, we went crazy and showed you our faces just for one day. So that was a lot of fun. And I also want to give a quick shout out to we've had a lot of cool guests on the show. I've kind of done some side interviews, just me and some different broadcasters from the team or whatnot. We've had Jody Jackson, Greg Schulte. Mike Faron has been a regular on the show for a long time.

Big shout out to Mike. Always been a big supporter of ours. But yeah, there have been a lot of great memories. over the years. Jeff, any final words for our, for our audience here as we, as we in a very somber tone end this episode 38 of the Rattle podcast.

No, I mean, I think for me, I'm, you know, I don't really know, I don't really know what's, you know, quite, you know, ahead. I know I could definitely use a little bit of a break from doing some of this, but at the same time, I think, you know,

I was reflecting on this with, with friend of the show, Matt Steele recently, that you put so much into something like that for so long, it does definitely kind of become part of your identity. And whether that's your identity, you know, kind of online as people know us, or, I mean, it's also just part of my daily habits. I look at box scores before I go to bed. If the games aren't over, I pick it up and refresh and see what happened in the seventh, eighth,

and ninth innings when I wake up. You know, those things are just, they're just kind of ingrained to me. So, you know, I don't know if I want to lose all that. And so I'm still kind of figuring out what that'll look like. But I also have to be pretty realistic about, you know, about life and about, you know, what I can commit to and what I have going on, you know, outside of our work. So still kind of finding that. But, you know, I don't anticipate that I'm just going to disappear into thin air either. So, you know, I'll be around, you know.

and will also be kind of pretty eagerly looking to see what you got cooking. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, you have two dogs now, Jeff. That's true. More than enough. More than enough to keep you busy. That's true.

All right. Well, as we wrap things up here, I also want to give a shout out to Joshua Inman, who has been as big of a part of the rattle as me and Jeff have been. Although you're not hearing his voice on the show, he is really been. our pretty much our most consistent writer since we started this. So Joshua has really continued to deliver quality stuff over on our website. So a big shout out to him. But with that, folks, this is, this is sad to do. Once again, I want to assure you, bigger and better things are coming. An exciting announcement is around the corner, despite our somber tone here in this episode.

I think it's safe to say both me and Jeff, you can't really take Diamondbacks baseball away from us. So in differing capacities, granted, but we will both certainly, certainly be continued to, we're going to continue to be dialed in with this baseball team. And an exciting announcement is around the corner. Stay tuned. Don't unsubscribe. Don't unfollow us on Twitter. Bigger and better things are yet to come.

But with that, it is time to say farewell here in this. final episode of the Rattle Podcast. For the last time here, folks, for Jeff Weiser, my co-host, my name is Jesse Friedman. Thank you so much for all your love and support for us over the years. We really appreciate it, and we say so long for now.