PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - How can the Diamondbacks effectively replace closer Paul Sewald?

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

The Diamondbacks received some devastating news about closer Paul Sewald on Monday. How can Torey Lovullo replace the dad of the bullpen? We also have more on Blaze Alexander CRUSHING a home run in the D-backs final exhibition game, Lovullo making his starting rotation official, and the first-ever rainout at Chase Field.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to Suns Takeovers, Coyotes & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://gophnx.com/events/Factor Mealkits: Use code PHNXDBACKS50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box and free wellness shots for life with any active subscription at https://factormeals.com/phnxdbacks50Arizona Lottery: Visit http://www.AZAdventure.com for more information on how you can take an adventure with the Arizona Lottery and for a chance to win $1 million in cash and Arizona travel prizes! PrizePicks - Download the PrizePicks app today and use code PHNX for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Empire: Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! Receive a $350 OFF discount when you use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details.Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Someburros: 20% off your order of up to $100 when you use code PHNX at checkout for the whole month of March at https://www.someburros.com/When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. 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.

Ski to you all and welcome into another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known once again as your mayor of Chase Field. This man next to me is the viceroy of baseball because he refuses to leave a baseball game while it's still going on. It's a one and only thunderstake, Jesse Friedman. You were one of those people who would leave games in like the sixth or seventh inning growing up, weren't you? No. I, no, stay until, no, see, I would stay at baseball games until the bitter end. In fact, I knew that the best time to be a fan at a baseball game, Jesse, is well after the game ends. Because in my day, the ushers didn't kick you out and yell at you for hanging around the field there.

We could hang out down at like, you know, by the dugout and get some autographs when the guys were dressed and such. Yeah, things used to be different in my day. It was a simpler time. But, of course, it was a simpler time for the Arizona Diamondbacks. they lost Paul Seawald due to an injury. We know yesterday that that information came out about Seawald's left oblique injury. I knew something was wrong, Jesse, when Tori said that he was suffering from aches and pains because... Normal body aches.

Because he hadn't been around in a minute. So it's like normal body aches are, I guess, if you miss one outing or whatever, but it didn't feel like things, you know, we're on the up and up. and now we're finding out that he does have this left oblique strain. It's a grade two, which as Tori told us, we can go research on Google and figure out how long that's going to take for him to get back. But based on those Google results, things don't look good. Yeah, it's going to be probably around two months or so. Tyler Glassnow, for reference, had a grade two oblique strain last year at basically this exact same time.

And he returned on May 27th. He was out exactly two months, I think, from the first day that he was on the injured list. So yeah, this isn't going to be a two or three week thing. You know, we have some hope that Eduardo Rodriguez could return in relatively short order. I don't think that's the case with Paul Seawall. The debacks are going to have to find a way to get by without him for probably a couple of months. And, you know, we've talked about the players on this team that are really hard to replace. Gabby Moreno is certainly one of them.

We've talked about him, Corbyn Carroll, of course. Paul Seawald is another guy on that list where, you know, maybe you feel pretty good about Kevin Ginkle stepping into that role. We're going to get into some of the debacks options to replace him. Gingles certainly at the top of that list. But even so, like, Seawald is a really, really important part of this bullpen. It was a night and day difference when he joined the team last year. The bullpen became a strength of this team, basically overnight. It is a really, really tough loss for this team, you know, about right now 48 hours before the season starts.

Here's what Tori had to say in regards to losing Paul Seawald and what they're going to try to do in order to replace him. We have an additional player I need to make you aware of Paul Seawald has a grade two left oblique strain. So he's going to miss some time. We all know what that is. You guys can go ahead and research and Google it to find out how long people are out when that happens. But I'm not going to give you time table. I never do because our athletes train hard. We have an excellent nutritionist.

We have an excellent medical team. And Paul is an extraordinary shape. He's very dedicated. So what could be X amount of days, could be X minus that. So that's why I don't want to give you any timetables. But it is going to be in terms of weeks, not days. And we're going to miss Paul. We're going to miss Paul.

And it's time for somebody to step up. It's just what happens in this game, all the time. happens in this industry. We do things in a very uncommon way here. It's part of our culture. We make adjustments. We're adaptable. We accept challenges and we just fight on.

And that's what I'm here to say. This team will do and just hold serve until Paul gets back to us. Now, I do like what Tori said there, you know, in regards to them. Like, they've faced adversity like this. This is what kind of galvanized this team, like I've said in the past before last year, right? They just had to kind of come together when they lost. key members of the roster, whether it was to injury or due to the team DFAing them like they did with several guys. So it's very interesting to see how this works out.

What we don't like is the closing by committee necessarily, right? I think that Tori worked so well last year, Derek. I will fight you right now. Tori referenced while he was talking about this that there was a guy we all knew who he was thinking about, right? We all knew he didn't bring him up by name, but we were all thinking. thinking about the same guy. And I'm guessing that he meant Kevin Ginkle there because Kevin Ginkle obviously was electric. His name was brought up later in the press conference.

And I think Tori responded by saying, oh, was that the game that he went out and tried to fight someone? Like that game? It was the game with the Ronald Acuna incident, you know? But, I mean, of course, you know, we know, ginkle was, you know, obviously electric for this team. We know that we've said at times that he could be the future closer. And, you know, obviously that seems at least. to us, based on watching the closer by committee stuff last year,

a much better option than doing it based on matchups. Yeah, and it's interesting because I think everyone knows, we all know that Kevin Gingle is the clear best option here, right? Tori said the most logical option, right? Yeah, yeah, Tori himself referred to a certain pitcher as the most logical option we all know he's talking about Kevin Gingle, but it doesn't sound like the Diamondbacks are planning to just give this job to Kevin Gingle. Tori was asked, you know, are you going to kind of play the matchups like you have in the past?

And he said, yeah, we're probably going to start there and then see where it goes from that point forward. I imagine Ginkl will get the first crack at this, right? You have to believe that he's going to be the first one called upon when a safe situation arises. But the Diamondbacks are not just simply anointing Kevin Ginkle as their closer. You know, last year they were in a difficult position at the beginning of the year. This was before Ginkle had really rid of. into the pitcher that he is right now. Correct.

And we saw a really a revolving door of guys. I mean, Andrew Chafin got some closing opportunities early in the season. Scott McGuff got a couple closing opportunities out of the gate, wound up being used in that role more later on in the season. Miguel Castro for about a month was their top option as a closer. Kevin Ginkle even, I think there was a stint in July where he had a few save opportunities and he looked pretty good in those games. That's, we're kind of back to that.

It appears. You know, even though Gingle seems to be the obvious choice here, I don't think the Diamondbacks are just going to go ahead and give it to him. I know Tori doesn't watch this show because he's not a fan of one of the hosts. I'll leave you. I'll leave you up to decide who he's not a fan of. He can't stand. He just can't stand it.

What did I do? The one thing that you heard from everybody when it came to Paul Seawall joining this team, and I mean, we heard it several times. When I say we've heard this from guys in the bullpen, I mean, we heard it when Paul Seawald joined the team. We heard it during their postseason run, how the bullpen became so good down the stretch and how good it was in the postseason. We've even heard it during the offseason leading up to this opening day that we're about to experience on Thursday. Everybody said that the acquisition of Paul Seawald let the other guys in the bullpen know what their role was.

Right. And I think that's the biggest mistake. Like logically, the idea of going to closer by committee makes all the sense in the world. I think I made several cases for why I agreed with it. Tori was going to do it last offseason, and it obviously didn't work. But logically, just like going to your bullpen, you're going to have different better matchups sometimes in the ninth inning rather than your one guy you've anointed that closer. So it makes sense sometimes to leave that door open to possibly using a lefty or a righty,

depending on the circumstance, depending on the lineup that you're facing. However, that didn't allow anybody to really know what their role was going to be in. Like we've heard from Joe Mantiply, we've heard from Kevin. and ginkle. We've heard from several guys that the acquisition of Paul Seawald and him coming in, knowing he was going to be the closer, and everybody else kind of falling into their role behind him, made everybody know, like, feel more comfortable. I think the thing Manthipli said was at times when you're in the bullpen, you didn't know what your role was going to be. Like, you didn't know if that night was going to be the night that Tori was going to come to you. Sometimes it just mattered, it came down to a matter of the

numbers kind of dwindling down and you realizing you were one of the last guys left available when the ninth inning came around. Sure. That's not a good. good way to do business. And I understand not, you can't really make that decision before the game, but I imagine that you could at least let two guys know that they're going to be one of two options potentially when we get down to the ninth. It just, the game might not go that way,

and then Tori has to use them earlier. I don't like the idea of doing a bullpen by committee. And it's just based on what we saw last year. It was a disaster. Paul Seawald, he's not, you know, Paul Seawald doesn't have like the most incredible stuff. I think the thing about Paul Seawald, even as a player out in the mound, is stability, his consistency. You know what you're going to get out of Seawald, and rarely do you not get that

out of him. And I think that that's what they're going to miss the most. But here was Paul Seawald on the oblique injury and what he had to say in regards to going through this. I pitched on last Monday I pitched and I didn't feel anything. And then I was kind of at home and was like, oh, it feels a little bit sore, but I was throwing harder, kind of moving faster. And came in the next day and was almost not even going to tell. the training staff because I was like it's really low grade but felt like I'm out as well and they said okay that's no big deal just you know you just won't pitch on Wednesday but you know after the off day you should feel fine and felt absolutely nothing for the next three days so uh they gave me the okay to pitch

on Saturday and while I was pitching on Saturday it just really didn't feel good and kind of got to the point where I was like this seems like something to be concerned about so woke up Sunday didn't really feel great so went to go get the MRI yesterday and then it said it was a low grade too oblique strain and so I'm just going to get to work and fixing that this is terrible it is bad it is hard to overstate the importance of Paul Seabald to this team right it it just is I mean he was so good for the diamond backs down the stretch and as you said he doesn't necessarily have elite level stuff even at times it wasn't the prettiest I know the World Series was it was a little bit rough for him and his two outings there but just this sense of stability where he's going to convert saves you know

more than 80% of the time. That's basically what he's done for the last couple of years. And yeah, for this Diamondbacks team that I don't think necessarily had like a ton of depth in the bullpen, it puts them in a difficult spot because if you, you know, say you have a day where Kevin Ginkle does step into that closing role, then I guess Ryan Thompson is your setup man. But then how are you bridging the gap? Like if your starter goes five innings or whatnot, who are the guys that are getting you

from the fifth to the eighth inning? And not to mention, there's going to be days where games. and Thompson aren't available, right? You're not going to have access to those guys in every single close game you play. So, you know, we talked a little bit over the off season. Should the Diamondbacks have made some improvements to the bullpen? They really didn't do anything at all. I kind of always felt that they should have.

And, you know, maybe this works out. Maybe Ginkle steps into that role in time and becomes the established closer and has success. And this winds up not being a big deal. But the Diamondbacks bullpen pre-Pal C-Wald was. not a very good bullpen. And you have to at least wonder if it's going to kind of look like that for the first couple months of the season. What do you think Scott McGuff could possibly add?

I mean, he is a guy that we lost due to injury. And he's kind of like an X factor for me, especially if they're maybe not relying on McGuff in that close a role. But maybe they turn to McGuff for that setup role for Kevin Ginkle there in the eighth inning. Is he a guy that we can count on? I mean, it just felt like he was just kind of a bad option in the ninth inning. But other outings kind of made it made him look like he, you know, could still be a reliable arm out of the pen. Yeah, there is a time where Scott McGuff that he did take his turn as closer in June after Miguel Castro started to struggle.

And Scott McGuff was really good for a while there. Like I think his ERA might have dipped below two or was around two in the middle of June. He had a really nice stretch and just was inconsistent, right? At the beginning of the season, you didn't really know what you were going to get. He got hot in the middle of the year. And then toward the end of the season, he once again was just, you know, starting to really struggle again. He is, though, it's interesting. Nobody has more professional closing experience in this bullpen than Scott McGuff.

Because he had 80 saves when he was pitching in Japan from 2019 to 2022. He had 38 in 2022 the year before he came over to the Diamondback. So he's someone who I think could be in the mix to get some closing opportunities and certainly in the mix to pitch some higher leverage innings. Miguel Castro is another guy that I mentioned in my article. He, as we talked about earlier, he spent some time in the closing role last season. The debaks are going to need him to step up in some of these situations. I also have Joe Mantiply on this list because if Tori's talking about playing the matchups,

you probably want a lefty. Like, you probably want a lefty that you can go to in a save situation or at least in a high leverage situation. And so I think Joe Mantiply's role becomes that much more important as well. Well, he's not the only injury that the Diamondbacks are currently dealing with, and he's also not the only key injury. We know that the Diamondbacks picked up Randall Gritchick, and Lavello commented today that it's leaning that way when it comes to him starting the season on the IL. Yeah. We've been trying to get Tori Lavello to just spill the beans and admit that Randall Gritchick is going to start on the IL for about a week and a half. It's like he's right.

He hasn't quite gotten there, but we got really close today. We were so close. And it's the same thing as like Erod, right? It's like obviously based on where he's at, we're not stupid. And he says that quite often. When we ask him these questions without confirming, he will say at times, you guys are smart. You can figure it out.

Like he just can't confirm it. And that's kind of why you're saying it that way because confirming it is an official part of the Diamondbacks process at times. And Tori tends to not like to wait for those confirmations, right? But you can tell where both guys are at right now that neither guy are going to be ready to start the season on Thursday. And that's just the truth of the matter. It just doesn't, it's a matter of how long is it going to be

until these guys can be added back to the Major League roster. Yeah. I need the psychopath that is Kevin Ginkle. Like, it just has to be. Yeah. I mean. I like when Tori, because Tori referenced him, like, fighting a guy. And then it was the Ronald of a Cooney being.

You've got to kind of be a little bit of a psychopath to be a closer. What's funny is, then he followed it up with like, He's like Kevin, he's like, he's so not like that. And we had him here in studio. He's an angel. Like, he absolutely doesn't seem like the kind of guy. But like, that would chase a runner back to third base just because. Remember the playoffs?

Yeah, remember the playoff? I mean, he's the strikeout and then he comes off the mountain basically laughing like a madman. And he's like, ah! That Snake's Alive series really highlights that moment specifically. And they do a great job with all of that stuff. But, of course, we did have a positive update for Tori. and that was on Erod, if you want to call it that. Tori did say that Erod is going to pick up the ball this week.

Or expected to pick up the baseball? Well, he's expected to pick up the ball this week. He's not going to throw it, but he will. He's going to pick it up. It's the first step in the rehab process. Feel the threat a little bit? Maybe sign it? I don't know.

No, he's going to throw the ball. And, of course, that's a good sign. We know Erod already said last week that he was at 95%. and, you know, of course, we knew it was only a matter of time. Now is a matter of how long does it take him to start throwing the ball and then get back to being ready to be a starter for this team. Can I say one more thing about Kevin Ginkle? You can say.

Am I allowed to do that? 40 things about Kevin Ginkle. The floor is yours. I just want to say that this is a big opportunity for him because Paul Seawald's injured or not, free agent at the end of the season, not necessarily given that the debacks were going, going to bring him back. Kevin Ginkle, I think we all viewed entering this season as the next closer

for this Diamondbacks team starting next year. I know I did. And this is sort of his audition to show the world that he can do that, right? And based on what we saw in the postseason, what we saw in the second half of last year, there's a lot of reason to believe that he's ready for this opportunity. And he also has some closing experience. I mentioned, I think he was four for four last year when put in those kind of traditional ninth inning save opportunity. Saves are a weird stat. you can get saves in like the sixth inning or whatever. So if you get rid of that stuff, Kevin Gingle was four for four in true save opportunities last year.

And he also has some experience doing that in Reno. I think he's 17 for 18 going back to 2019 down in AAA closing games. So he's had some experience in that role. And this is a really big opportunity for him to come and kind of show the world what he can do. Ryan made me so sad just now. He said sad I won't be able to jump around to start the season. Jesse, remember the light show that we just experienced? Honestly, that was one of the first thoughts that I had yesterday.

I mean, they've got to come up with a dramatic entrance for Ginkl, right? Or I guess if we're going by committee, they've got to have a dramatic entrance for Gingle, for McGill, for McGill, for McGill, for G. For McGove, for Castro. They all need dramatic entrances. Look, when I was a kid, I used to love cartoons from the 80s, and some of the things G. G.I. Joe and Mask did really well was making a big deal out of like a special guest star.

Yeah. And sometimes you had no idea until the show was going to start, who that was going to be. So maybe, maybe, maybe. But not, I'm always at least is right. It's going to just be an absolute nightmare of stress and ulcers for me is what it's going to be. But, you know, that's what closer by committee means. Of course, we want to make things less stressful for you guys. And we thank you guys for being here in the PHN Sports YouTube channel.

Of course, if you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, do so now. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever we go live. And most importantly, drop us a like. There's a lot of you in here right now. We appreciate it. We love our likes. Gabby loves it when you drop a like.

I love it when you drop a like. like Jesse, he's on the fence about it. But he does love our listeners. I love our listeners. So if you're listening on the audio podcasting side, make sure you're subscribed over there as well. And leave us a review. We always appreciate that feedback.

And those five-star reviews do mean the world to us and this podcast. And you guys meet the world to us in this podcast. And we want to help get one of you out to opening day on Thursday. And when I say one of you, we have a pair of tickets, some really, really good tickets, Jesse. Some really good. You mean like. Like maybe their bleacher seats?

No. No. Maybe 300, but like behind the plate? No, I'm talking about. I love me at 300 level like right behind home plate. I used to have season tickets up there and they were really good. But you know what are really, really good? Section 128, row 39.

That's pretty good. Seats 1 and 2. Yeah, that's pretty good. And that's what you could win. So how do you win it? It's very easy. All you got to do is drop a little, let's do a little baseball emoji in the chat. If you are here in the live chat, drop a baseball.

I am going to collect all the names of every single one of you that drop a baseball emoji. And on tomorrow's show, we will pick one winner to win a pair of tickets donated to us by our den mother, Chris Smelton, who we absolutely love and adore. And of course, we are looking forward to helping some of you guys get out there. Do people get multiple entrances if they have multiple baseball emojis? No. One per person? No.

Why are you trying to cheat? Why are you trying to find a griff in the system? Jesse. I don't get it. But of course, drop those baseball mojis and we'll make sure to add you guys all. And again, we love you guys. We appreciate you guys for being here. And we are looking forward to having a very, very fun season here covering this team, even without Paul Sewell. I mean, it's not going to be as good. It's definitely not going to be as fun. I refrained from jumping around to that, you know, do that example that we got shown. Jesse looked at me like, don't do it. And I was trying to be professional. Now I completely regret not jumping around. because that's the last time. Who knows when I'm going to get to do that again? God, I hate it. I do sometimes jump around at Circle K, and that's only because I'm part of the Inner Circle

membership program. And right now is a great time to be a member of the Inner Circle because gas is expensive, folks. And right now you can get some cheap gas at Circle K, and it can be even cheaper when you sign up for the Inner Circle Program for free by downloading the Circle K app today. Terms and conditions do apply at participating locations.

Visit CircleK.com for details. But when you sign up, You can save 25 cents off per gallon on your first five fillups, which can be very valuable right now. You also save three cents off per gallon on every day after that. You get a buy one or buy five, get a six one free on a selection of Circle K products like drinks and coffee and pizza. You also get all sorts of fun coupons in the app. They'll just give you free stuff all the time. Circle K loves you and they're always hooking you up.

So make sure to join the Inner Circle program for free and become part of the Circle K family. Also, part of the Circle K family are our friends over at Arizona Lottery. It's exactly where you can get all your Arizona lottery tickets, including their brand new Arizona Adventure Lottery, featuring three iconic landscapes from here in Arizona. It can also enter your tickets that you get from Arizona Lottery on their website to possibly win up to $1 million in cash and travel prizes. Or most importantly, you can take some adventures here in town. Jesse takes the Ravre 4 on Adventures. Yes, he still has the Rav 4. And that goes on adventures.

It's the adventure car. But if you have an adventure car like Jesse, you can check. and at geolocated adventure spots, 10 destinations across the state from Flagstaff to Yuma. So do that and have yourself a fun adventure here in town. Arizona Lottery says proceeds from the ticket sales, support environmental conservation, among other important initiatives across the state.

And they are not just about playing games and winning prizes. They are also about giving back to the state and its communities. Visit aziaadventure.com for more information on how you can take an adventure for a chance to win $1 million in cash and Arizona travel prizes. All right. Well, it is time for essentially what is our very last spring training update presented by Factor Meal kits. Head to FactorMeals.com slash PHNXDBax50 and use code PHNXDBax 50 to get 50% off. And of course, this is it.

The exhibition games are over, Jesse. It's a wrap. I had to pull this man out. Next one counts. I had to pull this man out of the game and then he didn't come. He lied to me. He fooled me. He was like, yeah, I'll come.

And then he just went and sat in the seats and let me walk out. getting my car by myself, but that's because, you know, he loves spring training. He loves baseball. He's so happy that's back. And you did get to see quite a collision out there. Is that right? What happened? I saw a pretty crazy collision. Yeah, I think it was Luis Petino, DeBox's prospect, who was at second base. Tommy Troy, notched his first, his first hit ever at Chase Field. So congratulations to Tommy Troy. And yeah, Petino rounded third, came home and had a big old collision with Domney Nunez, the Guardians, the Guardians. The Gargians. The Artian stature.

Petino is fine, but Nunez did not seem to be fine. He was on the ground for a while. It was removed from the game. Hope he's okay. Don't love to see stuff like that in exhibition games for sure. But yes, I did get to see that because I stuck around. I hate to jump in. I know we're in the spring training mode.

I need to address Chris in the chat because Chris says, Derek, you were the one that started the rev for rumors, don't act so innocent. I started no such rumor. I merely took a picture in a car with my friends. You internet sleuths were the ones that realized that that was no rab four that we were in. That's not my fault. I wasn't pulling the curtain back. It's not my fault that this man is secretly wealthy and owns an entire fleet of cars.

None of this is on me. I am just living my life and documenting it online. I think a fleet of cars is overstating the situation. Incredible. I don't even know. I think he owns the entire complex. I don't know what's going on with him. But the debacks have only lost two of their last 12 games. Yeah, there were some ties in there as well. But does that mean anything? I mean, they are coming into the season hot. Tori talked about it today. Obviously, you don't want to just win five games in spring training and then try to turn it on once the regular season is here. But the nine-and-backs are actually, like, locked in there a little bit. And I feel like, you know, it's at least considering the bad. news that we have heard from this team over those last week. It's a silver lining on the season that they're heading in at least a little, with a little, you know, bit of a push behind them.

Yeah. Yeah. Tori did talk before the game about whether that can actually translate to the regular season, like if you finish spring training looking especially good. And he seemed to think so. But yeah, I don't, I don't really think that them winning, however many games they've won in their last 12 means a whole lot. spring training just doesn't the results of the games doesn't really mean much for me no matter

what portion of spring training you're at so i see where tory's coming from but i'm not reading a whole lot into the some of the recent results well brandon fought was very good today i mean he was he was he looked dialed in he looked ready to go to start the season and uh that's good because he has not competed in a actual baseball game that we've seen in a spring training game in quite some time yeah yeah It's been, I think March 10th was the last time Brandon Fott has actually pitched in like a normal competitive baseball game. There was a rainout. There was also an off day that the debacks had where they just had him throw on a backfield. So he said after the game it was good to actually get back in a normal competitive environment, which he got that opportunity today.

And yeah, I thought he looked good. A bit of a rough first inning for him. His pitch count was climbing into the mid-20s. The debacks got the bullpen up just to make sure that he didn't throw, you know, 30. five pitches or something. I think they were about to pull the plug and bring in someone out of the bullpen and then bring fought back for the second inning, but they didn't have to do that. And yeah, by and large, he was good today.

I think he only gave up three hits, just the one run in that first inning. He looked, he looked sharp. Toro Lovolo confirmed today that his opening day roster is essentially set, right? It's filled. Well, the opening day rotation is set. The opening day roster. The opening day roster. There's still one guy we got to figure out, right?

Right, exactly. But the opening day starting rotation is set. And according to Tori, it is going to go Zach Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Tommy Henry, Brandon Fott, and then Ryan Nelson. So the four guys, Gallen Kelly, Henry, and Fott will start against Colorado. Ryan Nelson will make the first start against the New York Yankees in the second series. So I guess, no surprises there. And I think, again, as another silver lining to this injury situation,

Tori is kind of in a fortunate spot, considering that Ryan Nelson and Tommy Henry have both been fairly good and they have both been competing for a starting roster spot. So it's not the case where they had to like start, stop, start someone again as far as being a starting pitcher. These two guys essentially were competing up until the day when, you know, the E-Rod injury was kind of about. announced. Right. You know, of course, we knew at that point that the decision most likely had been

made on who they were going to go to, but it does benefit them now that those guys were both competing because that means that they're not just getting it going now kind of the way Brandon fought was in today's game, right? Brandon Fott had a much better showing, and I agree with what Michael said earlier in the chat about it seemed like, you know, some of his last starts, he was a bit more lack ofadaisical or maybe not just, maybe not just focused as much on the results as much as maybe he was working on something, right? It's a different spring for Brandon fought. So I think he's approaching these games much differently.

But Henry and Nelson have been locked in. And, you know, I think that that's going to be an advantage, considering that they might not have had that if these guys weren't both competing for that final spot. Yeah, I mean, Tommy Henry threw a complete game shutout yesterday as things turned out, right? We're going to talk about the rain. Jesse, that might be my favorite sentence you've ever used.

I said that sentence to Tommy Henry. You'll hear his reaction here in a little bit. But yeah, I mean, it wasn't a great spring overall for Tommy Henry, right? I mean, he got off to a pretty, a pretty, I guess he got off to a good start. His first couple outings were really good. But then it looked like Ryan Nelson had definitely made some progress. Because at one point you said it really was Tommy Henry's spot to lose. And it felt like that.

It wasn't something that sounded that outlandish. But we did see Tommy Henry have some, you know, struggle. I mean, it almost felt like Ryan Nelson kind of struggle at the same time. But then we saw Nelson really develop his second. secondary pitches a bit. He doesn't throw them more, but he seems to be having a little bit more success with them. He still throws the hell out of that fastball. He does. He does. And he's always going to. But again, it did feel like we saw Ryan Nelson take a step forward as far as his pitch selection. Yeah, we talked about it the other day. As fastball is as as effective as I think

we've seen it with the increased extension, the velocity being up a little bit. I think he's just locating it better too at the top of the strike zone. That's been a really good pitch form. The the other, the rest of the mix, kind of started to come together a little bit. I still think there are some questions about what exactly the secondaries look like moving forward. But I think he'd certainly done enough to win the rotation spot. That was at least my sense of the situation coming down to the wire. But then Erod, of course, gets hurt.

And Tommy Henry and Ryan Nelson, both of those guys in the opening day rotation. For those asking, I know I've seen a lot of people on Twitter or whatnot saying, why is Brandon Fott starting game four and Tommy Henry starting game three? fought, of course, the kind of the more established starter out of those two guys. It just came down to the way that the pitchers lined up in spring. DeBacks, of course, did not anticipate Eduardo Rodriguez getting hurt. They had fought lined up for that fourth spot. And I think they could have tried at one point to move him back a day and get him lined up for that three spot.

But that didn't wind up happening. They would have had to pull the trigger on that a while back. And they wound up not doing that. So I don't think the order of your rotation matters a whole lot anyway. So I wouldn't be too worried about that. The fact that FOTS in the number four spot, Henry, in the number three spot, not going to make a huge difference at the end of the day.

Didn't Tori reference wanting, you know, to split up the righties and the lefty have a lefty in there, in the middle to split up the two righties and the two righties? I'm glad you brought that up. Yeah, Tori did also mention that today. So having Tommy in the number three spot does, I guess, make sense for that reason. I still don't. I mean, I guess there could be some value in giving opposing teams a different look.

Right. I still don't see it being like a game changing decision that Tommy Henry's in the three spot spot instead of the four spot. But I guess what it does is it makes if the opposing manager has to change their lineup, then it's just a change of lineup for that one day over the course of a series, right? Like I get what you're saying. In the grand scheme of things, a lot of these things don't matter. But it'll matter more if it's a playoff series or something.

of that sort. It's why Eduardo Rodriguez was kind of maybe they thought of putting him at the two spot in between Gowan and Merrill Kelly just to have that lefty break those two guys up so you're not getting righty, righty back to back. But I get it. I get it and I don't get it because baseball's weird and ridiculous.

Tori also talked about Bryce Jarvis making the team as a long reliever. We know he was in that competition for the starting rotation as well, even though it didn't seem likely that he was going to be the option they went with. Jarvis just looked good this spring. That's it. Yeah.

And he's looked really good with a new cutter that he's developed and he's been throwing really well. And Tori also talked about, you know, his ability to give him some length early in the season. He did talk about how hard it is to kind of keep a long reliever stretched out for long relief when those opportunities not might not present themselves very much. You almost hope that they don't present themselves very much. Right. But, you know, again, you hope you don't need them. But you also hope that you need them enough in order to like get some regular work and stay. and stay stretched out.

Yeah, Bryce Jarvis, he didn't pitch much in today's game. I think he had been scheduled to throw yesterday on back of Tommy Henry, and we all know how that went. Bryce Jarvis got in today's game instead and through 12 pitches. And he did throw. He threw four cutters. Four out of his 12 pitches were that new cutter, and he got three whiffs in four pitches. So it's hard to beat that.

I've heard some positive things about that new pitch. Tori talked about it today. Bryce Jarvis himself seems to like the shape. of that pitch as well. The big thing with Jarvis is just finding a way to keep guys off his fastball. That's been an issue for him coming up as his fastball has just been pretty hitable. In the past, it doesn't have great life. It doesn't have, you know, the VLO is good, but it's not good enough to, you know,

kind of make up for the fact that it doesn't have great life. So, yeah, having a bigger arsenal and just more weapons to go to has been really big for him. And this cutter certainly seems to be that. Well, they still have some decisions to make when it comes to the roster. I think pitchers they're all set with, according to what Tori said for the most part. We know who their pitchers are going to be, but Mike Hazen is going to talk tomorrow afternoon, so we'll have some more updates. Then Tori couldn't pinpoint a time when he was going to have his roster nailed down.

It sounded more like... They're really going to the last minute with this thing. And for good reason, Jesse, because I think you have given all the reasons why, Blaise Alexander is most likely not going to make this team. Yet Blaise Alexander keeps doing things to call you a fool, to refute your claims, to make it known to everybody that Jesse's an idiot. I mean,

I'm not the one who thinks Blaze Alexander should not make this team. I'm just saying I don't think Blaze Alexander is going to make this team. And for understand, like your reasons are solid. But I think the reason why, going back to you saying that they're really waiting until the last minute is, I think he keeps making the decision very hard, right? Yeah. These are, these are, there's, there's,

there's these decisions over here that make all the logical sense and it's all the things you normally do when it comes to baseball decisions. That's why they're predictable. That's why we know. That's why we say, that's why I've been screaming about it, get you too angry, because I know it's going to happen. And that's why I'm pissed off about it because it makes logical

baseball sense. But it doesn't make logical sense in the fact that you have a kid that's absolutely fucking raking right now and you're going to send them down to Reno! For what? So he can go hit 500 down there and just going to prove nothing. He's just going to go down there and crush the ball and you're going to wait and call them up when you have an injury or something.

That's insane to me. This kid should get an opportunity and not just a backup. He should get an opportunity to play. He should get an opportunity to win more playing time. And I don't, like, I get it. Like you said, Jerry P. Great shortstop. We love him.

Damon's not here so I can fucking say some of the shit. But in reality, Herald O'Perdomo was going to split time last year. And the reason for that was because Nick Ahmed is a veteran. There was more about kind of not only giving Nick Ahmed time off of his feet and giving, you know, Perdomo playing time, but also, you know, the fact that you have a very young player and a guy that's been around the league for years. And those two things can come together and help both of those guys, right? Blaze and Hualdo Podomo are there's not a lot that you can do besides play them, you know, split time with them. There's not a whole lot of. I mean, Blaze can, they both play a variety of positions.

That's true. have a lot of flexibility. And that's the thing is, it's like right now, Blaze, uh, he had a 444 foot dinger that went so far that I lost sight of it. I lost sight of it. It went out of my, I'm old. I'm just turned 43. You guys know that, but it went out of the range of my eyesight. It just disappeared. As far as I was concerned, Jesse, that baseball just vaporized into thin air because he hit it so hard. The man hit it up to cold beers and cheeseburgers. The, the look of the crowd in left field staring up in disbelief was the same as me wondering how my eyesight got so bad, right? So like the guy just absolutely is crushing the ball this spring. And I think,

you know, I think what we've heard is that he's very coachable, that they, they like the fact that he's been giving such an effort to learn all the, or, you know, perform at all the different infield positions that they want him to. It's just once again feels like he's not a backup guy and they're looking at this final role as being a backup role. Like you're not going to get that much playing time. and much like Jordan Lawler, you just don't want a guy that's this good sitting around, not playing baseball. Let's play a game. Uh-oh. Who do they face on opening day?

The Colorado Rockies, Kyle, Kyle Freeland. Yeah. Which hand is he? Jesse. He is left-handed. What does Jock Peterson not do well, Jesse? Oh. He does not hit lefties especially well.

So you want Blaze as the age. Not only do I think Blaze. has earned a spot on this roster. I think Blaze has earned a spot to start as the DH on opening day. I mean, the problem with that argument is that that's not actually any additional opportunities for Blaze beyond what I think he would already be getting if you were making the team. If Blaze made the team, it would be because they want him to start against lefties at shortstop, right? So if you're willing to put him at D.H. against lefties, I mean, that's, he would have been playing against lefties.

That's true. As long as Randall Gritchick is out, that spot could be his and you still get Heraldo prodomo in the lineup. Look at what my man, Zach says. That's fair. That says Blaze could back up Marte. Marte can split with the DH, keeping him healthy in the long term, especially with Gritchick on the I.L.

I don't hate that. I mean, we saw Cattle Marte, Bacha, double play today that looked like it was a fairly sure thing. That's coming from me. I'm kind of a heavyset guy that's not. not athletic. So I probably shouldn't ever be saying any play is easy at all to make. The big, the big question is can you get Blaze in the lineup against a right-handed pitcher? Because if the answer is no, then you are looking at two starts a week for Blaze Alexander, right?

It doesn't matter, D.H. shortstop, whatever position you want to put him at, if you're not willing to start him against a right-handed pitcher, then there is not more than a couple of starts a week for him. And it sounds like the Diamondbacks don't want to do that. That's crazy, though. Yeah, I'm not saying I agree with that thinking. That's crazy. The thing is, is that I don't really think it's an all or nothing situation. Like, even if he's not starting, I think that there's a lot of times where Blaze could be an injection of life into a team late in the game or when the pitching matchup comes up through the bullpen that it makes sense or stuff like that.

I get it, though. Like I said, that's the reason why the baseball logic side makes sense about Blaze. But right now it comes down to one more player that they, need to cut. And those guys, those names are Jace Peterson, Emmanuel Rivera, Jake McCarthy, or, or Blaze. And I don't mean cut like cut loose. It's only cut in the situation of essentially Jace or Emmanuel Rivera.

Yeah. If you don't know with either of those guys, you're going to lose those guys. But Jake McCarthy and Blaze can both be sent to Reno. And that's the reason why it makes sense, but it doesn't make sense. I don't think the other thing I'll say is I don't think starting Blaze at DH makes a whole lot of sense. because one of the things he's best at is defense, right? He has an incredible arm. He has probably the best arm in the Diamondbacks organization.

I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense of starting at DH. And there's not DH opportunity against Ritees anyway. So then you're faced with would you start Blaze over Pardomo against Ritees? And I don't think they're there. So, yeah, you know, I'm not going to say it's impossible. I guess one way to do this with, you know, keeping Rivera and Peterson on the opening day roster, which it does kind of feel like those guys are going to make the team. The other way to get Blaze on the roster would be to put him on the roster in place of Jake

McCarthy to not have that extra outfielder, which I think the debacks probably want that extra outfielder because Jack Peterson would then be your only backup in the outfield. You just don't have any options at outfielders. Blaze played any corner outfield? That's what I wanted to know. No, no. I don't like I don't care. Put him out there.

He has an incredible arm. Yeah, let's not. Let's not do that. Let's let's not. He's a great athlete. Jesse can play anywhere. The other thing about Blaze is that, and I think it was Azy Snake Pit who tweeted this out today, and I thought it was a good point.

Kyle Lewis had an OPS of 1250 something. And what did he do? He started opening day in the designated hitter slot. And he did. He forced his way out of the opening the roster. But his situation was pretty different. Kyle Lewis wasn't, you know, an up-and-coming prospect. He was someone who's been in the league for a while.

and just trying to find a role. His situation was different. He was more of a comeback story. I think that's why he made the team. And the other part of this is that Kyle Lewis didn't stay on the Diamondbacks for very long. He obviously had the illness that kept him out for a long time. He didn't wind up playing very much. He didn't get much opportunity to be fair.

But he wasn't exactly great when he was on the field. So it's not as if a big spring training OPS equates necessarily to being great in the regular season. I didn't see Manuel Rivera hit a, or I'm sorry, Kyle Lewis hit a 444 foot home run. But I will also say that Kyle Lewis probably did. He probably hit multiple 44 foot homerats. If you're trying to make the case that plays is different than, God, that's not the, that only that's the case you want to make.

But the case I do want to make is I think obviously Kyle was different, right? They wanted to see him as soon as possible because they wanted to kind of get a feel if this was a guy that they were going to be able to have helped them at a major league level. He's not a prospect. You're not keeping him in your minor league organization for very long, you know, if it doesn't work out at a major league. league level for him to continue to evolve and get better.

He's already too far along in his career at that point. So it's understandable. And the point you make does make sense. I just hate you for it. Again, I'm not like, if it were up to me, I probably would put Blaise Alexander on this baseball team. I'm just saying that I think that's how the Diamondbacks are viewing the situation. That's all I'm presenting.

So I would be a little surprised if they announced that he's on the team tomorrow. But who knows? I mean, you know, Rivera didn't have a good spring. Like he had a 500 OPS, not that that's the end-all be-all, but he didn't exactly prove a whole lot. You know, maybe the debacks want to start the year with Rivera and just kind of give him another shot to prove what he has to offer. And, you know, maybe they, maybe they would move on from him after a few weeks if things don't work out. But I guess we'll find out, we'll find out tomorrow. I think we'll find out.

Hopefully we find out tomorrow what the opening day roster actually looks like. It should. It should. It should. It does seem to bode well that as Homer came off Trista McKin. Who's a major league starter? Yeah, a good one. I guess, but the man is also, today I learned he weighs 165 pounds. Yeah, Tristan McKenzie's listed at 6.151. 6.5, 165.

It was windy out there. I was afraid he was going to fall away. He's got a good negative 45 pounds on me. My goodness. Yeah, I'm a pretty skinny guy, but like my height and weight compared to his height and weight, like Tristan McKenzie is skinnier than I am. So now he's almost a foot taller than me 100 pounds less. than me. But anyway, moving on. Get your Blaze Alexander Rookie of the Year bets down over at

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credit cards, and investment options and so much more. Make sure you bank with a financial institution that has your best interest in mind. When you open a free checking account online, you can get $200 in bonuses. Get started by visiting desertfinancial.com slash 200 now. Jesse, yesterday was history. I'm so excited. I'm so excited to talk about this. It was history. It was history. It was like, it was my favorite day ever at Jason. Field. Like, I've seen some pretty cool things at Chase Field, but yesterday it was, it was the best. Jesse loves baseball.

He loves Chase Field when the roof is open, and he loves rain. I do love baseball. He got all of that yesterday, and Chase Field's first ever rain out. Now, people were dunking on the Diamondbacks, and they were using our video footage to do so, and understandably so. However, it's wild how many people don't really understand what's going on with the Chasefield roof as far as what's actually broken on it. There's just,

I mean, people just don't get familiar on it. So, I mean, especially now with the new lights and the new sound system, we're getting some of that as well. Like, why did you spend the money on that instead of the roof? The roof still works. The roof still works. And there's actually nothing wrong with the roof.

There's nothing broken. There's nothing wrong with it. What is wrong with it is that the roof is old. There's something wrong with it. Well, it's old as hell is what's wrong with it. And they had basically safety inspectors would what sounds like a company come in and tell them that one of the cables could come loose when they could break essentially and come loose and that would be a very bad thing considering where those cables are located and if there were people in the stand you have no idea

what kind of you know injury could occur due to a cable snapping and falling into a crowd of people uh i don't even want to bring up the movie ghost ship but go check that on youtube you'll see that anyway there's a whole other thing here though it's mostly about you know, if something were to happen, having some sort of, you know, safety measure in place. Before the Diamondbacks were looking at replacing the roof mechanism, which was going to cost a lot of money. Tens of millions of dollars? Like, who knows how much it would have cost for them to actually redo the mechanism that opens

and closes the roof, which, like I said, still works. The only problem is after they found out from the safety inspector that there's this problem that that could happen, they're completely liable. Obviously in the first place they're liable, but now they know that it could happen. They're further liable for anything because at least you can complain, claim some ignorance if you didn't have an health inspector come in and say, you know, these are really bad, right? Or whoever this guy is, right? So they are going to install a catch-all system.

It sounds like it's going to be a net. It's not going to prevent the big opening. It's going to go on the sides where those cables actually are. But again, that's safe. Did you imagine if it was a net? Just over the whole sky. Look, they put them down the first base lines and the third base lines. We're just putting nets everywhere.

We're netting in the whole field. That's the way that this works here. Reminds me of the mock-up of when they were renovating Sun Devil Stadium. And they were like, by the way, we're going to put a giant sunshade over the whole thing. Yeah, yeah. You know how fast those wear out in the Arizona sun? That ain't going to last. But anyway, it sounds like that they found this too late, essentially is what Derek Hall said when we spoke to him.

And they found it too late in order for them to install it this off season. so it has to wait till next. We will have the roof back open. Everything will be fine. But in the meantime, you're getting, you're getting too bogged down in the details, Derek. Chasefield has a roof.

It's hilarious that it has a roof that opens and closes that they couldn't close while it was raining. And, you know, I don't know. I mean, sometimes rainstorms just happen in the desert. So you can't always blame people for these things happening. But it's,

it's not a good look. It's not a good thing. Can we go to, uh, this is what Tori Lavella. had to say about the chaos that was happening as this game was ultimately rained out. I quickly about faced it, and I said, all starters off, and I was basically banning and I were shouting out positions of the new players that were supposed to go in,

and it was madness there in the dugout. And then the umpire Rob Drey came over and said, you know, look, what do you think about the field? How does it hold up and what do you want to do? At that point, I started to think about it on a different level. I don't know those answers. I don't know what that turf's going to feel like when it's soaking wet. I don't know what's going to happen to a field that doesn't get rained on.

It just made sense for me to help make that decision and push it in the right area, right direction that was to cancel the game. But I don't know. I don't know what it's going to be like. We should go out there and slide on the turf. Let's go. You want to go right now? Let's do it.

All of us. Let's go right now. I would have done it. I would have done it with them. You would have been so down. I would have been so down for that. I would die for that, man. I absolutely would die for that man.

But it sounds like chaos. It sounds like absolute chaos. Just shouting out, Melendez, yeah, everybody get in there. You guys out. Stargars out. We can't have you guys getting hurt. It only rained for maybe, maybe like five or six minutes. Really?

This is not, this is not extended. It did rain. Yeah, it rained pretty hard. It caused the fans to go running for their lives at Jay's Field for sure. Yes, they were running for their lives under the overhang. It was absolutely, I could not believe my eyes. It was hilarious. It was amazing. But yes, this is the first, this is the first rainout in Chase Field in Diamondbacks' Chase Field history, for those who weren't clear on that. Nick Picoro of the Arizona Republic, I need to find this real quick.

He did discover that this was not the first rainout in Chase Field history. Wasn't Diamondbacks Chase Field history. It was a girls basketball game. That is correct. The roof was closed, but there was a leak down the middle of it. Okay. So it rained so hard that they couldn't continue play. Because if you think a turf is slick, imagine a basketball court with rain leaking down on it. You can't get a drop of water on that stupid surface. This isn't talking about a leak in the roof.

This is from Nick's story. He said there had been one previous weather-related incident at Chase Field. In 2006, a women's basketball game between Arizona State and state. Texas Tech was called due to rain late in the second half. On that occasion, the roof wasn't able to be closed quickly enough before the court became dangerously wet. And with a basketball court, you can definitely understand. Like, that's a playing surface that very much is not supposed to get wet.

My understanding was even when the roof was closed during that game, there was still like a lot of water coming in. That also, yeah, that also could be the case. We have seen some leaking happening with the chase group over the years. It leaks right down. It goes like from the pitcher mound right to home plate is where it goes. shows when it leaks in the roof. Is this right up there with the rally baboon?

I don't know. The rally baboon, that's a moment in time that you had to be here before. Yeah, and that wasn't a real, that wasn't a real thing. Yeah, it wasn't. No, baboons were obviously in downtown Phoenix taking out Transformers. It was for as incredible as a moment as that was. Yes. Shout out to the late Pedro Gomez for sure.

But this moment was, I mean, this was, this was hilarious. It was utter chaos inside the. building. And yeah, I mean, if this had been a regular season game, I think the Diamondbacks and Guardians would have found a way to finish this one. As I said, it only rained for maybe it was longer than five or six minutes, maybe it was 10 minutes, but it didn't rain for very long. The playing surface, as you heard Tori discuss there, like they don't know a whole lot about what the surface is like when it gets wet, but it wasn't that much water. I think they could have continued this game. Tori talked about that after the game that if this had been a real

game that they, you know, they likely would have found a way to complete this. But, I mean, this is an exhibition game. It just didn't make any sense for them to take any kind of risk whatsoever. And Tommy Henry had already gotten his work in. So that that box was checked. Yeah. I think Bryce Jarvis was getting set to come in at that point. Yeah. And he was able to pitch today. So that didn't matter. The Diamondbacks were up, what, six to nothing at that point. So, I mean, you know, just call it. Let's call it. Let's wrap it up. You did ask Tommy Henry, though, about the rain and about his complete game shutout. Yeah, let's roll that.

First rain out in Chase history. I don't know if that's done fact checking on that. But yeah, how wild. That was wild. Yeah, I don't know. That was unexpected completely. It's a complete game shutout. I mean, if you're going to give it to me, I guess I'll take it.

I don't think that counts. But sure, sure, yeah, we'll take it. Look, if Mad Bum gets the seven-in-a-nay-no-hating no-hater. I was waiting for it. We're giving him this. Never mind that this is an exhibition game. This should go in the record books as a complete game shut out. This is the same man that wouldn't leave an exhibition to game today.

The audacity to take this position. Tori also very much enjoyed the other improvements, though, even if it's not the roof, the improvements that have been made around Chase Field. Yeah. I know that the lights at Chase Field are so damn bright now, and the music is so. damn loud. The brightness is a good thing. The music, I'm not so sure.

I'm curious what people think once they've attended a couple of games this year about... It's very loud. It's pretty ear piercing at moments. And honestly, I kind of felt that way last year, too. Like, the previous sound system might have had some issues. Old man, McGee over here. Like, the ability to

turn up the volume was not one of them. So I imagine... I think it was the inconsistencies that people complained about, though. Like, it could get really loud certain places, and it'd be really quiet in others. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. That is, yeah, and maybe maybe that's better.

I also have to wonder if having more people in the building would help, just having, you know, a pretty empty stadium. Like we've had the last couple days certainly doesn't help. Today wasn't bad. The crowd actually came out today. I was kind of impressed with the support the team got today. So, but it is very loud. But the lights are amazing. Everything's amazing.

I even turned to Tori and I asked him if you saw the seawalled entrance. And we just both at the same time, we're like, it's a leg. It's amazing. But here's Tori on the lights at Chasefield. Lights were great. Lights were great. I knew in BP when I went out there that it was a little bit different. You know, it felt like we were on Broadway. And the lights were shining on every single one of us. So it's a great improvement. This organization did a great job and putting some really special lights in there. Why is he so folksy? Like, why is it? Like, he's like, he? He's just the best. He was fun. It's like we're on Broadway.

Like the lights were on all of us. That's exactly what it feels like. I mean, and they also installed the same lights from the field in the men's bathroom in the press lounge. So now when you come out of there, all the other lights look dim and yellow. I'm going to have to wear sunglasses in the men's bathroom. It's awful. It's like staring into these lights.

I'm staring into right now that I should keep looking up into it. Keep blinding me. But, no, the lights and everything look great. Of course, I did want to answer that one question that a lot of people on. Twitter do you have about that? And that is, why did they spend money on lights and sound system and not fixing the roof? And essentially at the end of the day, we're talking about a huge difference in cost between those things, not to mention the fact that based on what they were talking about in the past was tens of millions of dollars versus this much more affordable

safety option that they were able to find that allows them to essentially keep the same system in place and not have to worry about the risk of danger with this stuff. So, Yeah, I also think it would have, I think I heard that it would take about three months in order to do the roof repair. Yeah, that's what they said. And this offseason, I mean, they almost literally didn't have three months because obviously they, you know, last played a game. Hopefully they don't get to do it next off season either, right? Yeah, I mean, but it sounds like they're not planning to do it anyway because they have this new net system that they're going to use instead, which presumably doesn't take three months to install. So, yeah, hopefully next year we don't have to have the.

roof conversation. Three months seems like it's never going to happen with the concerts and such that they have planned out there anyway. So it doesn't seem like at times they would ever have the time to actually install the new mechanism versus like what you're saying, the safety feature. I just, I don't know. I get it because the lights are great and the sound system is great. And they're continuing to improve Chase Field even though they have no clue if they're

going to stay there. And I think that's ultimately why we're seeing them. Like sometimes you're not going to completely renovate your home. home if you don't plan on staying there. You might just fix up some stuff so you can deal with it while you're there and that it's a little nicer while you live in it, but you're not going to, you know, do some major renovations. And I think that's where the Diamondbacks are. Despite the agreement that they have with Maricopa County and everything that's kind of taking

place, they still don't know if they're staying at that, at that stadium. And I think at the end of the day, that's the reason why we're not going to see tens of millions of dollars spent on some sort of fix, right? Right. I feel like it was almost inevitable. that we were going to have something like this happen at Chase Field. It had to. Because the weather forecast is not always completely accurate, right?

I mean, the Diamondbacks for the last couple of seasons now have been deciding whether the roof was going to be open or closed before the game started. Correct. Knowing that once the game started, they didn't have the ability to close it. And so it felt like it was, this was just going to happen at some point. Maybe it was, in my mind, I probably would have had it. like a decade but I would have thought it would have been more like the haboob you know something like that that kind of because those those windstorms can come out of

nowhere right yeah that's that's fair they can be a nightmare whereas but like like you said if if a storm develops quickly and there are people in the building there's nothing you can do about it you think we think we get a haboob like late like in during the actual season if we do we're winning the whole thing there's zero visibility at chase feels because of a dust storm happening, that'd be, that'd be pretty rough. Tyler mentioned that watching on TV was impressive with the lights and I did, I did want to very much agree with that. I feel like watching Highlights is like watching Christian Walker's home run back yesterday. It was like, whoa, the lighting in that place looks very different. It looks very like naturally bright, right?

Like it looks when you're when you're in there and the roof is closed, it looks very naturally bright. I just can't wait to see, you know, the home run celebrations and everything. Like yesterday's home run, like you said, with the Seawalk. It was incredible. So anyway, we have a big guest coming up tomorrow who has a lot of explaining to do because not only did he do what he did when it came to picking the Diamondbacks before last season, but he was supposed to go defend the pool at Chase Field. And I don't... Just a failure on all fronts, really. I don't know if he did a very good job. His last appearance on the show was the day of game five of the World Series, right?

I think that was, I think it was the day the Diamondbacks got knocked out of the World Series. Talking Jake is back. And he also came on this show before last season started and said the debacks were going to win. Less than 80 games. 73 games, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, I don't know. Why are we having him back? Yeah, I don't know.

This seems like a bad idea now. I guess we like him or something. Our guy talking Jake is coming back tomorrow. So make sure to tune in, of course, if you drop that emoji in the chat, make sure to be here to claim your prize. We're giving away those two tickets tomorrow. I think the most important thing is go get yourself a brand new shirt. Look, I don't have money for, I don't have like new shirt money unless I get these either sent to me for free or like all of my shirts or like giveaway items and such. But you can go get yourself some brand new shirts, especially if you're diehard or you're joining us as a diehard.

You can pick one of these shirts out for free. We got our brand new shirts. It's a Sunday, fun day. Defend the pool. Let's go. We got the, look at those beauties. We are defending the pool, Jesse. We're going to do that literally in person on July 31st.

We're defending the pool that day. I love that Sunday Funday shirt, by the way. I really love that. So go out and get these new shirts, of course, over at the PHNX Locker.com right now. And make sure, like I said, to join us tomorrow, our guy talking Jake will be here to talk. Snakes. And, of course, we play for rings in the desert. I'm not sure if you've heard that, but we'll be giving those out later this year.

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It's a mega version of Peg's Raspberry Orange RSO. One of the company's most popular products, one of my favorite products, is perforated into 10 slices, each with 10 milligrams of THC, or, as I call it, one big 100 milligram gummy. So make sure to check those out today wherever you get your gummies. Of course, you can check out OGsbrands.com to find out more about OGs and where you can purchase their wonderful gummy. Also, Heela River Resorts and Casinos is all about you.

You doing you right here in the Valley. Of course, you got to make sure that you take care of yourself and a big part of taking care of yourself is a staycation here in town. I know I could use one already after spring training because we sat in a lot of traffic. And what I could use is just a nice, quiet day by the pool. I've aged a lot on the 101. You really have. We've lost about at least three days of our lives sitting on the one.

101, we can use a vacation. Of course, the place to do it is at Heel of Rivers and Resorts and Casinos. Not to mention, we're going to be having our big draft party over there for the PHNX Cardinals. Make sure to join us for that. But also, make sure you just go out and have yourself a good time. They have an unprecedented level of entertainment and excitement.

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I don't like actually be. You like traveling. I do. I can tell. You look forward to road trips. And that's wild. I appreciate that about you, though, of course. And I know eventually we're going to send you on the road, but we don't have to

because the Diamondbacks have like seven games right in a row to start the season. So we will be covering all of that. Of course, make sure to keep it locked right here. for the ticket giveaway. And then on Thursday, we'll have our pregame show and a postgame show. And then we'll be back at it again on Friday with another postgame show. So, of course, we thank you guys for being here, for joining us, and for being diehards. Those are you the diehards.

You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore Kman with K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Of course, our father, overlord Jacob, aka Fage. And you can find him at Jacob underscore Franklin 4 because he is the fourth best Jacob Franklin. What are we going to do to move up that list? You've got to kill the other ones. It's the only way.

It's like Highlander. You know, there can only be one Jacob Franklin. That's the way it works. But, of course, our shows at PHNX underscore D-Backs, and all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for your time. We hope you have a great night.

We'll see you back here tomorrow, along with our guy, Jake. In the meantime, enjoy yourselves. And remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you finally add Blaze Alexander to your roster.