PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Is Anthony Santander The BEST Option To Replace Lost Power In Diamondbacks’ Lineup?

Episode Date: December 5, 2024

The Diamondbacks will be looking to replace some of the power they’re potentially losing this offseason with Christian Walker and Joc Pederson becoming free agents, so we are discussing if Anthony Santander would be an effective - albeit expensive - way to replenish their offense. We have more on Tony Tater’s number at Chase Field and if the D-backs have the budget to make a big signing like this. We also have more on this historic week in Diamondbacks history and a recent report on how the starting pitching market could impact Jordan Montgomery’s value. Join Jesse, Derek, and Shane for the PHNX Diamondbacks Show LIVE! An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ bet365: https://www.bet365.com/olp/open-account?affiliate=365_03330244 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets!Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/Bluechew: Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code ALLCITY at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. That’s https://bluechew.com promo code ALLCITY to receive your first month FREE. Visit for more details and important safety information, and we thank BlueChew for sponsoring the podcast..  Zbiotics: Go to https://zbiotics.com/phnxdbacks to get 15% off your first order when you use PHNXDBACKS at checkout. Pre-Alcohol is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they’ll refund your money, no questions asked.  Empire Today: Schedule a free in-home estimate today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details.  Branded Bills: Use code PHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order! Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.  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!  Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.  Check out FOCO merch and collectibles and use promo code “PHNX10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items.  Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code PHNX for 10% off!  Get 10 FREE meals at https://hellofresh.com/freedbacks. Applied across 7 boxes, new subscribers only, varies by plan. 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's show, we're discussing if Anthony Santander, aka Tony Taters, would be a ample, but albeit expensive way to replenish the Diamondbacks offense in 2025. All this in 30 seconds. Don't you guys go anywhere? And welcome in to another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHMX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. This guy is occasionally known as your vice mayor. It's one and only thunderstick, Jesse Friedman.

So great to see you guys here today. It was so great to see so many of you guys last night. We had our first ever episode of PHNX Live. It's not an episode. No one recorded it. Well, one guy recorded it the whole time. I hope that footage finds its way on the internet at some point. But PHNX Live was a blast.

It was great to see you guys out there. It had so much fun with our Q&A with Archie Bradley. Archie, of course, was Archie, man. I mean, that guy never ceases to amaze me. And he is an open book. He was last night, that's for sure. He was a little bit too much of an open book. Yeah, at one point.

There was one particular detail that RG shared about himself. I don't want to talk about that. It was a little bit disheartening for some people in the audience. I may or may not have had to leave the stage area at one point, but he might have told on himself. And the question, he didn't even get asked the question. Yet he still gave an answer that none of us as Diamondbacks fans wanted to hear. And I can't reveal any of that because if you weren't there, you missed out. So make sure to not miss out the next time we do our PHNX live event.

Again, it was an absolute blast. I think we have a picture from live. night of us hanging out and doing our thing. But it was a great, great time. Jesse. Shout out to the fine folks at Heel of Riversorts and casinos for, you know, having us out there. They had our own menu.

We deserved our own menu, Jesse, with Grand Slam nachos and sliders and stuff on it. It was pretty good. It was pretty great. Yeah, I had a great time. You and I basically just got to sit on stage and do pretty much nothing. because Archie was up there answering all the questions. And frankly, people were there more so to see him than to see us. Yeah, that's fair.

I felt like I knew my place. And it was a great time. You and I, along with Damon Dog, got to enjoy ourselves a little cheeseburger afterwards. And then Damon and I went and enjoyed the fine table games there at Heelibur Resorts. I'm proud to say after gambling at roulette for an hour, I walked away only down $20. very nice really feels like a win when it comes to me in general but again thank you guys that we're out there

for stopping by and I hope to see more of you guys out there at the next one Ryan Ryan Peterson Peterson there's Petterson I'm gonna go yeah you're right it's Pedersen great seeing you last night Ryan it was awesome to see you no Gabriel is out there Gabriel's keeping a tight lip but he

also knows the moment we're talking about with Archie out there for sure if you were there you definitely know it But again, thank you guys for stopping by. We know that there has continued to be speculation about the Arizona Diamondbacks in regards to what they're going to do this offseason, though. There's no moves being made yet. This is another throwback Thursday edition of this show. And we are going to talk about this being a very historic week for this franchise.

I guess you could say looking back. And we'll get to some of those moments that have happened during this week here in today's episode. but calls are picking up on the Diamondback starting pitchers, according to a report from Nick McCorough, Jesse. They are, yeah. And we suspected on this show that given some of the contracts that have been given out to free agent starters in recent days, right? There was a two-year $29 million deal for Matthew Boyd.

There was two years $34 million for Frankie Montas. Both of those deals certainly coming in above expectations. And it was hard to know exactly what to make of those deals because as we talked about, I think both of those guys are in pretty different situations than the year that Jordan Montgomery just had. But at the same time, it certainly wasn't bad news for the Diamondbacks that those guys signed

at the dollar values that they did. Correct. And we got similarly good news along the same lines today as Luis Severino signed a three-year $67 million with the A's. The Sacramento A's. The Sacramento A's is what we will refer to them as, even though officially they're just the A's apparently. But yeah, all of these deals for free agent starters have come in above expectations.

And it feels like as this market continues to unfold, there could be a world where Jordan Montgomery is actually worth pretty close to what he is going to be paid in 2025. Right. So maybe the diamondbacks are able to move him and not actually have to eat all that much money at all. Let's first start off with the fact that Jesse has said on this program many times that today's money is not tomorrow's money. know that this is just a very short, small example of that. But Jordan Montgomery's contract just one season ago looked atrocious. And now when you are looking at what other guys that you could consider to be a little bit above average starting pitchers are signing at, it's not looking like Jordan Montgomery's,

you know, one year that he is owed by the Diamondbacks is as big as of an albatross as we once thought it to be. So now the idea here is that the Diamondbacks might be able to actually. get something for him or or according to report from ken rosenthal maybe they don't trade him at all which finally jesse i get my redemption uh because i can stop sounding like a crazy person when i have said over and over again that if he's going to rebound as a starting pitcher and be what he was at one point why not do that here with the arizona diamondbacks i guess the only reason not to is because the diamondbacks do have a surplus of starting pitchers and considering what's going on

right now with this market. It's hard for Mike Hazen to not consider moving one of those guys, but it might not be Jordan Montgomery. Yeah, this is a report that came out from Ken Rosenthal today on the topic of the Diamondbacks moving Jordan Montgomery. Rosenthal said that club officials, talking about the Diamondbacks club officials, are somewhat mixed on the idea knowing Montgomery is a strong candidate to bounce back back next season.

And yeah, if you are the Diamondbacks and you believe that Jordan Montgomery is going to bounce back next season, why wouldn't you want it to happen for your own team, right? Right. Because if he does bounce back, he probably is going to be worth $22.5 million, right? And maybe more than that. And at that point, it's like, why are you eating any money at all in order to get off this contract if you really believe that this guy is going to bounce back?

So, yeah, we can definitely understand where the diamond backs are coming from on that front. It still sounds like out of their six starters that they currently have lined up right now. Jordan Montgomery, in my mind, is by far the most likely to be traded just because of his contract situation and the fact that the diamondbacks very much could use that money for other to address other needs on this roster. But it does sound like there is a chance that the diamondbacks could be open to moving just about anyone. In a story from Nick Piccolo yesterday, Mike Hazen said that he is open to moving any diamond back starting pitcher if an aggressive offer presents itself. You know, does that mean Zach Allen is included? Does that mean Merrill Kelly is included? It seems like a long shot that either of those guys would be dealt.

But based on what Hazen said, I don't think that's totally out of the question. How aggressive of an offer are you making? And how can the Diamondback, how much better can the Diamondbacks get in the future by making this move now? That's something that Mike Hazen has to weigh. And also the fact that next season is a season that this team appears that they're going to be all in. Hazen also said, according to Pecorro's report, that he is open to a salary dump type trade or taking on another pricey contract, something we've discussed here in regards to the Diamondbacks moving Jordan Montgomery, that either of those things are not only a possibility, but likely in order to move Montgomery. Right. But Hazen went on to say that if the debacks do a salary dump, they would likely do it sooner than later.

We haven't seen any moves being made. We know that Diamondbacks are, according to this report, receiving a lot of calls on their. starting pitchers, but again, I think that when you combine Nick Picoro's report with what we're hearing today from Ken Rosenthal, you can see that the reason maybe that a move hasn't been made is that is that indecision, is the club officials having mixed feelings about Montgomery. Right, right. I think the worst outcome is that they trade him or move him, and then he goes back to being himself, right?

He goes back to putting up the numbers that he did in 2022, 2022, if that should happen, then this is ultimately an awful move that the Diamondbacks will always look back on and say, you know, almost unjustly, why did we get the worst out of Jordan Montgomery of his entire career?

Why was that one season that we signed him for just the absolute, you know, the ass season of his career? It's, it doesn't seem right. So I think at this point, again, and something we've talked about with this deal, if Montgomery can bounce back next year and if he can do it for the diamond bags,

then overall this deal that they signed him to for two years doesn't look as bad. They can walk away if they're like, well, hey, at least we got one season of a sub three, three and a half ERA Jordan Montgomery. We'll take that and that'll help us forget about what last season looked like. And I mean, he can still help this team win. I think that if that's the case, then you look to. back on this deal. Jordan Montgomery can go maybe sign elsewhere after, you know, after the end of the

season. Like you said yesterday, maybe the diamondbacks, maybe he's so good that the, you know, diamondbacks give him a qualifying offer and he turns it down and they get a draft pick out of it. Like, there's a lot of possibilities here that are still very positive for Jordan Montgomery to stay with this team for 2025. I think I agree with Ryan, what Ryan said in the chat about the worst outcome being if the diamondbacks hold on to Montgomery and you get kind of a similar.

season, right? I guess. If you move him this off season and you save some money and you spend that money well on other needs on your roster, even if Montgomery goes out and is really good for another team, you still could be okay with that, right? It's like, okay, we didn't get the best version of Montgomery, but we still were able to satisfy some other needs on our roster with that money. If Montgomery, if you bet on him bouncing back next season and he's not able to do that, then you've just made the whole situation worse, right? You've gone from one season of a somewhat disastrous version of Jordan Montgomery to two seasons of that where you're paying him the kind of money that, you know, guys at the top of the market

seem to be getting. So I do think another interesting thing that stands out to me in Nick's story from yesterday is that if the Diamondbacks are moving Montgomery, especially in a salary dump situation, you probably want that move to happen pretty quickly because that is going to dictate how much money you have to spend on some of these other guys and presumably next week as the winter meetings get underway, we're going to have probably some action in the free agent market

and you'd hate for the diamondbacks to be hamstrung by the fact that they don't have a good sense of how much money they have to spend because they haven't been able to actually make that move with Montgomery yet. Well, a couple of other guys we've spoke, we've talked about and potential replacements for Christian Walker. We're also included in Ken Rosenthal's article. He said that Cleveland is open to trade offers for Josh Naylor and Lane Thomas.

Josh Naylor being someone that we talked about being a potential replacement there at first base. Yeah. Teams are also talking to the St. Louis Cardinals are under the impression that the team will not trade Ryan Hesley, which is a guy that we thought could solve a lot of the Diamondbacks issues as well. I just, that one doesn't really make any sense to me. Like if you're the Cardinals, I mean, Hellsley is one year to free agency. It doesn't really sound like the Cardinals are all that serious

about trying to contend next year. I mean, like staying in the mix, but they're not, they're clearly not pushing all of the chips in on 2025. They're trying to get younger. It sounds like they might move in Nolan Arnado. Obviously, Goldschmidt is expected to depart in free agency. So couldn't you potentially get similar, if not?

the exact same value out of him at the trade deadline versus doing it at the beginning of the season. That's a fair counterpoint. I do think that at the trade deadline, it feels like if you hold the most highly sought after reliever on the market, which there's a decent chance Ryan Helsley would be that guy. Right. You can almost ask for whatever you want. We, you know, we saw the Marlins get a pretty healthy return for Tanner Scott at the trade deadline this year. But still, I think that you could you could ask.

more for Ryan Helsley now because not only is it a full year of control versus two months of control, but going back to what you were saying with Jordan Montgomery and a potential qualifying offer there, if you get Ryan Helsley now, then he also could net you a draft pick next winter if you give him a qualifying offer and he declines it. That would not be on the table if you were traded at the deadline because if you're moved at any point during the season, you're not eligible to receive a qualifying offer. So to me, that rumor about the Cardinals feels a lot like a rumor about the Brewers, which I believe circulated about a year ago where they were saying that they were going to hold on to Corbin Burns. And we all saw what happened there. So I still sort of expect that the Cardinals

will move Ryan Helsley before the end of the offseason. But who knows? Maybe they don't get the price they're looking for. And they really do bet on trying to get as much as they can at the trade deadline. Well, speaking of the brewers, another option we talked about for the Diamondbacks was Devin Williams, and it seems more likely that the brewers will trade Devin Williams, according to this Ken Rosenthal article. Ideally, they want a young starting pitcher in return, which is something the Diamondbacks can very much offer them. It is. It is. Yeah, I mean, it all depends on which young starting pitcher we're talking about, I guess, right? Can I offer you one slightly used Jordan Montgomery?

I know, but like a Gilbert. I'm not sure Jordan Montgomery qualifies as. young at the stage in his career. Are they like a Gilbert Diaz potentially? Right, right. I think it's, yeah, it's, you know, do the brewers want Gilbert Diaz? Do they want? Obviously, that's not enough value that probably need to be more than that for Devin

Williams, right? Or what do you think? I mean, it's just one year of a reliever we're talking about, right? Like, if you're the Diamondbacks, I don't think you want to be giving up a ton more than, you know, six years of control of a young starting pitcher. But yeah, it all depends on how the brewers are evaluating these guys. The Diamondbacks do have kind of a lot of them. You know, Christian, Mena, S, Sussian,

Slade Sacconi, Drey Jameson, I guess, it sounds like the Diamondbacks are more viewing him as a reliever right now, but maybe someone that another team would be interested in. Maybe there's one of these guys that the Brewers really believe in and would be interested in having in this kind of a move. But yeah, even if it is just Gilbert Diaz, you know,

I don't know if that's an easy move for the Diamondbacks to make. If they really believe that he can be part of this rotation for a long time. AV-14 says, is Ken Kendrick going to spend any money this off-season? We've heard no Diamondbacks rumors besides they want Jack Peterson back. Well, you have not been watching the show then because we've been trying to make our own rumors. We've been talking about every rumor. It's the off-season. We're a week away from the winter meetings or less than that.

A few days now at this point. So I do believe based on what we've heard that the Diamondbacks are going to spend money, they don't really have a choice. I mean, they could do it via trades, but they're not going to be. able to fill their positional needs with the guys that are necessarily leaving if you're if you want to just account for all the free agents going elsewhere the diamond backs will need to spend money most likely i mean they they could potentially find bad options within the organization to fill those roles i don't know if that's necessarily the case for the bullpen i think i i have

this weird belief that the bullpen would be just fine if they really didn't add this huge name or or go out and grab a closer. I think that there are players in this organization that they could, you know, that could fill that role and that could be good at. I still believe in AJ Puck. I very much believe in Justin Martinez. But I do think that there is a desire to make this team better,

specifically the bullpen. And I do think they're going to go out and try to acquire, you know, a closer. But overall, the point being that this is, this is a team that is going to have to spend money this offseason. Yeah. And they have money to spend, right?

Like they're sitting somewhere. between 140 and 150 and payroll right now. And from the reporting, we've gotten, it sounds like they're expecting to run a payroll somewhere in the same range as they had in 2024, which is around 175 million. So depending on exactly how you want to work the math, I think they have about $25 million to spend as of right now. And if they traded Jordan Montgomery, as we've been discussing, that number could push up to $35 million, maybe even close to $40 million.

And who knows? Maybe Ken Kendrick, as we've seen at times in the past, when he feels that his team has a chance to contend, he's sometimes willing to push the envelope a little bit farther than where he originally decided. So I think this team is definitely going to spend some money. You know, are they in on Juan Soto? Probably not. Yes. That's a, I don't expect them to play and not part of the market. He's not in those meetings.

He has no way of telling you that. Maybe they are. Who knows? Again, we're creating our own rumors on this show. But we do have a good way for the Arizona Diamondbacks to spend some money. And that is on the aforementioned Anthony Santander, which we will be talking about on the other side of this break. So don't you guys go anywhere? We'll be right back.

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would be with, I guess you could say, Baltimore Orioles great Anthony Santander, Jesse. This guy had himself a pretty decent season for the Orioles. Let's be a little more local here. Shane's Fantasy Legend. Yeah, Shane's Fantasy MVP. Shane's Fantasy Championship Team Legend. Oh, wow. Oh, wow.

So we talk about fantasy championships on this show. I didn't think we did that on this show. But only pertaining to the sport, talk about. Oh, okay, all right, because I was going to talk about my championship in our PHNX Fantasy Football League from last year, but I don't really do that often because I'm kind of humble. I may or may not be on Waffle House watch right now. It's okay, Derek So I'm. Yeah, so ashamed, but the week for you guys. It's a huge week for us. And I mean, the real, I mean, we really need to unite here as an office and make sure that Saul ends up in the

Waffle House once again. That's what we really need. I think that's the best case. That's the best I will say this, and I know that we're just getting completely off topic here, but I'm just going to derail. I will say this. I think that the best case is probably salt to go back to back. But the second to best case would be keeping the trend continuing and the champion from last year going to Waffle House the next, the following year. What nobody wants to see is me there because one, there's not really, like nobody really wants to see that. And two, I feel like I'd have too much fun. Like, I would really enjoy it.

You want to see misery at Waffle House. You don't want to see a guy who's just out there having a ball. having a glass. You think I'm not going to have a fun time. I'm going to have the fundest damn time. You've ever seen someone have at Waffle House. I will out fun you, Shane. No, you won't.

Oh, my God. I'm going to bring, like, my keyboard, and I'll play music for people. Don't we all want to see that? I think we all want to see that. I don't think anyone wants to see. That's really what we all want to see. I'll tell you one thing we do want to see is Anthony Santander in a Diamondbacks uniform, mostly because that might be the only name that rivals Ryan Mount Castle.

for the coolest name we could add to this team. That is a big selling point for sure, Derek. Another big selling point is that he hit 44 home runs in 2024. If we could look at Santander's stats in 2024 season. 5.06 slugging percentage. Pretty good numbers here across the board. 235 average 308 on base, 506 slugging percentage. 44 homers, as I said, 102 RBI, 3.3 fan graphs, wins above replacement.

Four. This was four, yes. this was his walk here and he showed up and was pretty darn good for the Baltimore Orioles and figures to get a pretty nice payday at some point this offseason. And I think the best case for the Diamondbacks here is that you are potentially losing Jack Peterson and Christian Walker and that is that's about 50 home runs off of your major league roster, right? And some of the guys we've talked about to replace him.

them, you know, could approximate their production in some ways. Sure. But losing home runs, like there is a lot of value in the long ball. And Anthony Santander is a guy who could theoretically replace both of their home run production combined. At least that's basically what he did in 2024. MLB.com released an article today that discussed the biggest questions for each team heading in to the winter meetings. And the biggest question for the Diamondbacks, according to Steve Gilbert, is what are they going to do to replace this offense that they're losing, right?

Right, right. We've given you our suggestion, which is the best replacement for Christian Walker, is Christian Walker. But Anthony Santander could be a very good replacement, like Jesse said, for both of these guys. And, I mean, with the money that we discussed spending, it's not ideal for the Diamondbacks to go out and spend as much as it would take to get Santander. However, you know, it would be a move that I think would keep the Diamondbacks relevant in an NL West that is most likely going to continue to get more and more difficult. I have no idea what the Giants are doing, but I'm a little worried. Like there, you know, there's a lot of teams not making moves, but the Giants like, they parted ways with a lot of guys. They have a lot of like space.

It's like I never trust what the Giants are going to do. And we already know how good the other teams in the NL. that aren't the Colorado Rockies are. So that's something that the Diamondbacks have to consider when they go out this, you know, in free agency, this offseason. We've talked about a lot of low cost, low budget options. However, that's not necessarily what the Diamondbacks need to do in order to stay competitive in an N.S that's outrageously competitive. When you take a look and you compare Santander's last three seasons to Christian Walker's last three seasons, there's very comparable, very comparable numbers there.

You have Santander slashing 244, 317, 478 with 105 home runs, Walker slash 250, 332, 481 with 95 home runs. Santander had a 125 OPS plus over those three seasons. Christian Walker had a 123 OPS plus B-WR, BWR, Santander's 8.3 war on baseball reference, and then 11.4 for Christian Walker. Obviously, Walker having more value there due to his defensive value. Right, right. Yeah, Anthony Santander is not an outstanding defender. And he also doesn't play first base, or at least he hasn't played much first base.

One game. He played one game at first base in 2024. And I believe he played a handful of games at first base last season with the Orioles. So he has some experience at the position, but not much. He was primarily a right fielder in 2024, played a, 130 games there, 25 at DH as well. So positionally, this doesn't feel like an ideal fit necessarily, right? Probably DH a lot for them.

Yeah, I think more than anything, you're looking at a DH. And as we discussed a little bit yesterday, if the Diamondbacks were to trade one of their left-handed hitting outfielders, then it would be nice to have someone else on the roster who could play that position if needed. And so Santander could be someone who could fill a corner outfilled spot if needed. So it does sort of make sense from that standpoint. But ultimately, Derek, I think the biggest hindrance for the diamond backs in getting Santander is the cost. MLB trade room has him projected for four years and 80 million. And 100%. Yeah, what Cam was saying earlier, are you really going to pass on, you know, giving Christian Walker 3 and 55 so that you can sign

Santander to a. a four-year, $80 million deal? I don't think so. The one thing I will say to that, though, is I think there are a lot of, I think there are a lot of comparisons between Teoscar Hernandez from last offseason, who's a free agent,

and Anthony Santander this off-season. Guys who have a reputation as being kind of lower on-base percentage, Teosker definitely strikes out more than Santander, but they have a similar profile, a lot of power, but not much OBP. and Teosker's market did not really develop last offseason. He ultimately had to settle for a one year, $23 million deal with deferrals, of course, with the Los Angeles Dodgers, right?

And so- Los Angeles deferrals. For me, that might be, I don't want to say that's the only scenario that I could see the Diamondbacks getting involved here, but I think the price has to drop in some sense because, yeah, otherwise you're just giving this money to Christian Walker, someone who is a clearer positional fit than Anthony Santander. I didn't know how we were going to get there today, but I figured it out. The Mariners are going to sign Anthony Santander.

There we go. So if we want to talk about the Mariners for a little bit of weekend. Yeah, there it is. Of course we do. Police Sack actually predicted that he would go to the Mariners. And then the Donovanbacks can trade for him. Which I scoffed at because the Mariners spending 20 million A.AV is ridiculous. Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen.

Elise makes some very good points. First, she wants to know if he has a noodle arm. She says how is his throwing arm though? His arm strength is above average. His arm value on baseball savant is showing up as minus one. Not great. So I don't know if it's a huge asset necessarily, but in terms of his arm, just his arm strength,

that appears to be higher than I guess Lordus Gerell is probably in that same range. So not an elite arm if that's what we're looking for. She also says I can already hear Bert emphasizing his last name even more dramatically than Contreras. I don't want to sign him for that reason alone. Yeah, every time it would be, here we go with Anthony Santander. Something like that.

I don't know. I like that, actually. I thought that sounded good. But let's take a look at his baseball savant page so that way we can discuss some of these factors, at least with his batting. Again, not terrible at all. Jesse's got some pretty good. numbers here but yeah uh chase rate uh not great and then you know his expected batting average

shows that he uh got a little lucky basically yeah yeah it does and and that kind of goes back to what i said earlier of is there a world where santander's market doesn't develop the way that he wants it to that the four year 80 million dollar deal or whatever he's looking for it might be higher than that uh you know maybe he's looking for five and a hundred like you could ask for that after hitting 44 home runs sure teams are are going to look at at this, at the underlying data, and they're going to see a player who appears to have overperformed by quite a bit in 2024. And sometimes when that happens, it leads to guys taking shorter-term deals at still

relatively high dollar values and then trying to re-enter the market the following year. And I could, I don't think it's likely, but I do think it is possible that a player of Santander's profile, that that's how his free agency ends up. And if you're the Diamondbacks and yeah, you're not giving him $100 million, it just doesn't really make sense for this team in the long term. But would you give Santander, you know, one year at a pretty high dollar value to just like rake in your DH slot, maybe play some corner outfield for you for one season? That's something I could see the Diamondbacks getting in on in much the same way that

they signed Jordan Montgomery to that sort of a deal entering 2024, right? That's something I could maybe see the Diamondbacks stretching the budget a little bit like, oh, this guy's market is not what we thought it would be. Yeah. What if we just went in there and tried to make this splash that we weren't really expecting to make at the beginning of the off season? I'll tell you why they wouldn't say that because that's the exact same thing they said to themselves about Jordan Montgomery last off season.

But, I mean, it's hard to resist when you're talking about the guy that was third in Major League Baseball and Home Runs last season behind Shohei Otani and Aaron Judge. You had Aaron Judge, Shoahe Otani, Santander, Juan Thur. Soto. That's a pretty elite group to be in as the essentially 40 and over club for home runs in Major League Baseball last year. Offense has been down. So it's not, you know, it's just not as common to see a guy with this kind of power. I believe someone else brought it up in the chat. I'm not in love either with his on base percentage or is batting average. However, we've seen that the Diamondbacks really, I mean, they need both, right? They need guys that can get on base right now.

and they need power and you're not necessarily going to get both of those things out of one guy. So I think that there is that addition, you know, that's what he brings. And then, you know, the Diamondbacks will have some more moves to make, you know, in regards to who else they could bring in. That could be those kind of on-based guys. But honestly, maybe- He is a switch hitter too, which I feel like is makes him more valuable, right? He's not a guy who has big splits. His numbers against righties and lefties were very similar this past season.

So I will say like again, this might be overthinking this, but much like a closer and the fact that a closer brings in kind of an idea here that that like everybody knows their role. I think a true power guy like Santander allows the guys that get on in front of him to really take that role of more wanting to get on base to do something to just be there and be driven in by a power hitter. It's not to say they didn't have that same respect in Christian Walker. just last year's lineup was more of like anybody doing it at any time. Like there was a period of time where I would have wanted guys doing everything they can to get on base in front of Jock Peterson without he was hitting and Geno, right? So, but it's it's, I guess an idea where maybe some of the guys can have a different mindset and maybe try not to go out there and hit two home runs and one at bat and try to do a little bit more about getting on base. I don't know though. This team had the best offense in baseball last year.

You might call the fluke. You might be right, but I think they're still going to be pretty good. They just have to find a way if they do lose Christian Walker and their two DH, you know, their, their DH platoon, they're going to have to find a way to replicate that power. Yeah, yeah. I mean, again, I don't, I don't view Santander as being super likely for the Diamondbacks. No. But you could see a world where this could make sense for them again, if maybe.

It's too late. Landau's already buying his jersey. We already got someone out there. going to get a Tony Tater's jersey. Yeah, you might, you might slow down just a little bit on that. But, yeah, Santander is a middle of the order bat. And this is a team that after theoretically losing Jock Peterson and Christian Walker, of course, they could bring one or both of those guys back.

That's still on the table. But if you are going to lose one or both of those guys, then you'd like to be able to replenish the middle of your lineup a little bit. And Santander, as a switch hitter, is someone who hit. a lot of home runs in in 2024 and is reasonably young he's 30 years old and he's been pretty consistent those those numbers over the last three years that you mentioned earlier like this is a guy who's been a well above average hitter every season for for a good while now and I don't think people have necessarily noticed that much like I think he's kind of flown under the radar

until this year where when you hit 44 homers you start to get some recognition but maybe maybe there's a world where this could make sense for the diamond back. It's almost like there's so many good players on that Orioles team that it's hard to like stand out. Right. Because everybody else, it felt like everybody else kind of got their shine. It's like everyone hits 30 homers. Yeah, what's so special about 40? We're all almost there anyway.

Well, we got some more. It is throwback Thursday. So we got some more stuff to talk about the Arizona Diamondbacks and including like I said earlier, how historic this week was for the franchise. We got some big signings. and one trade that, again, is going to make me probably feel bad about things I said in the past about Paul Goldschmidt. Don't you guys go anywhere. We'll be right back after this break. I come on here and talk about how much fun you can have at Heala River Resorts and Casinos quite a bit.

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Chocolate covered almonds are on the way, and that's all we need. Oh, elite. Go get all these snacks. Stop by America's Thursday stop. It's America's snack stop and get yourself something to eat. Again, Throwback Thursday is here. We love Throwback Thursday because it gives us a chance to talk about something other than trade speculation. It's also Throwback Thursday because there's a familiar face right here in the studio.

Get your tall, lanky butt over here right now. We got the one and only. I mean, he's the father and overlord. of television now basically but we got fage in the house uh fage uh what what's been your favorite trade rumor so far that we've speculated on uh the most recent do you guys talk about the most recent stupid red sox one oh yeah we do we ripped that one apart Zach gallon and katel barter go go jump in a river for uh marcella mire yeah no no thank you hard pass hard pass i mean there's no good diamond back trade rumors out there right now it's all like oh yeah the diamondbacks are going to leverage everything

they own for you know some crappy prospect yeah what about the mariners trade rumor we're not Nico herner would you tell Shane it's not a Mariners podcast he doesn't seem to understand Shane does love a mariner Jesse what do you think about that trade this is the Mariners getting Nico Horner for what uh no prospects I mean I like Nico Horner for the mariners like they they've needed a second baseman for a while as you well know Shane but it does feel inevitable that the moment he puts on a Mariners uniform he's not going to be able to hit anymore. My favorite part about talking Mariners

with Jesse is that he just completely goes in and is down. My favorite is that Shane produces his show and just starts cutting the camera so that he can talk to. He wants to talk to. He really abuses his power back there. See? There goes again. There goes again. We're just chop liver. I miss you all.

I miss you, Fodge. Wow. He's never told us that while he was actually working with us. So that's amazing to hear. But speaking of amazing things that happened. This week was the anniversary of the Arizona Diamondback signing one Zach Granky in a move that shocked the baseball world when it happened. I know it shocked me.

I didn't believe it was a real thing. We talked about that. But yeah, Jesse, Zach Granky becoming an Arizona Diamondback. Where were you when that happened? I was just going to ask you the exact same question. Honestly, I don't know. I do not remember where I was. but I do remember seeing a tweet.

I think it was Ken Rosenthal who broke the story and being just utterly shocked. And I remember being utterly convinced that Zach Rankie, the addition of Zach Rankie, regardless of what else the Diamondbacks did that offseason, that I was going to see the Diamondbacks play in the postseason the following year. Yes.

And of course, that's exactly what happened, Derek. The 2016 Diamondbacks were everything that we all hoped they would be. And no, they won, what was it, 68 games, 69 games the following year. Things did not at all go the way that I expected them to in 2016. But there was some redemption, of course, in 2017 when Zach Rankie was very, very good. I was also at Zach Rankie's first start as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. And were you at this game?

Yes. Yeah, this was the game where Trevor Story hit multiple home runs. And my ears are still reeing with all of the whole. hard contact against that cranky in that in that first start so it did not get off to uh it did not start anywhere near how you would have how you would have hoped no i think i remember i was driving in my car and i remember hearing it on the radio screaming a lot and then calling every single person i knew related to uh covering the sport like i started calling uh paul who i used to with and I think I got down to just calling random friends at one point asking them if they had

heard the news like this was this was what way back in 2015 when we still used phones for phone calls I mean it was a wild time a long time ago but yeah no it was definitely earth-shattering news I mean again this was during a time when the Arizona Diamondbacks weren't really expected to be very good and weren't really expected to spend money that was the other thing was the the shock of this kind of contract. It was like a six-year deal, I believe. It was a six-year deal for $206.5 million. Wild.

It was, uh, wild. Yeah, it's safe to say far and away the biggest investment that this team had ever had ever made in a free agent. Uh, the previous record, I believe was Yasmani Tomas at the time. Uh, that deal also, that deal didn't go so well. Oh boy. But, uh, that was 68 million, right around 68. million. And yeah, it was wild. I mean, it was the Diamondback spending three times more on a

free agent than they'd ever spent in their entire franchise history. And I think in retrospect, it's, it's, it's really interesting to think about whether this was a good move for the franchise. I am of the belief that it was a good move for the franchise. You know, did Granky's tenure end with the Diamondbacks getting another team to eat or having to eat a good portion of his contract to move him to another team, it did, right? I mean, that deal with the Astros that they made in 2019, that, that involved the Diamondbacks eating some money. And it also involved them getting back some players that did not really pan out for

this team, right? You look at the return of that trade in retrospect. I mean, it was Seth Beer and Corbyn, Martin, J.B. Bukowskis and Josh Rojas, like, as of right now, the Diamondbacks, there just isn't really much there that's still on this team. There's basically nothing that's still on this team from that. that trade. So that trade didn't really go all that well. But the signing in the first place, like would the 2017 Diamondbacks have gone to the playoffs and given us the memories that that team did if they hadn't signed Zach Rankie and been so aggressive? I don't think so.

And for that reason, I think that it was worth it for the Diamondbacks to make this move, even if it wasn't always perfect. On the other end of the spectrum, we have a low-key signing, A guy that not a lot of people knew. A guy, not a lot of people were familiar with, but had connections to right here in Arizona, quite a few of them. And that was when the Diamondbacks signed Merrill Kelly, which also happened this week.

It's the anniversary of signing Merrill Kelly. And I don't think those two deals couldn't have been more opposite. Nor could I, I mean, again, like Jesse said, when it comes to Zat Grangecky overall, it's hard to look at his numbers, look at his career with Arizona, and say that it was any kind of disappointment that they signed him, right? It definitely was a team that probably didn't have any business spending that kind of money

on one single player considering how they could have spent their money and maybe gotten a lot more or gone in a completely different direction other than going out there and getting, you know what I mean, like one of the biggest names available on the market, right? But Merrill Kelly, he's a guy, again, you weren't expecting a ton out of, and you couldn't, you could not look at Merrill Kelly's career as an Arizona Diamondback and not say it hasn't been a huge success. He definitely has been a very good pitcher for this organization. And last year at one point, not last year in 2024, last year in 2023, he was at times one of the Diamondbacks best pitchers.

I mean, he was even pitching better than Zach Gallen was. One of the best moves that the franchise has made, not only the initial signing, but also the extension that they signed Merrill to prior to the 2022 season, I believe that was huge. Without that extension, Merrill is not on this team now. And of course, we expect him to be a big part of this rotation in 2025. One of the biggest things about Merrill that blows my mind is that his career ERA in the KBO is actually higher than his career ERA in the majors. 3.88 ERA over four seasons pitching in Korea compared to a 3A2 career ERA in the majors. None of us, frankly, I don't even think the Diamondbacks were expecting Merrill Kelly to blossom the way that he has when they initially signed him out of Korea. They expected him to be a guy who could eat some innings, a guy who could hold his own at the back of a rotation and be a valuable member of a team.

but this is a guy who struck out nine in a dominant outing in the world series, right? Like Merrill Kelly very much carried the Diamondbacks from a pitching standpoint throughout that 2023 run and he has been everything they could have hoped and more. Not to mention Merrill Kelly can see Walk and I don't know if there's a lot of pitchers you can say can confidently do that as well as Merrill Kelly can. So we love having Merrill Kelly. I'm very happy that the Diamond. are able to have a father and son tandem like that on a team with Roldo

Pardomo and Merrill Kelly. And again, I, much like what people are saying, I hope that the imbacks can go out there and re-sign them. It would be great to see them bring Merrill Kelly back. I just don't know. You know, honestly, again, this is something that Archie brought up last night and this is something that was discussed. I believe someone asked Archie about like Christian Walker taking a discount to stay

here in Arizona. you know i don't ever think poorly of these players for going out there and and agreeing to these huge deals and and that's one thing i think we as fans should all remember although it sucks to lose a player to free agency it sucks to see them go sign with some big team like the yankees or some other team that has way more money than our diamondbacks have but uh i will say that like baseball is just one of those sports where people that deserve it sometimes never get that big payday and again like we might see it as just a few more million dollars per year here or there but uh for for some baseball players who this is like this might be it for them as far as

like contracts as far as their playing days are concerned they got to do everything they can to get every dime and it sounds really selfish it sounds like you know kind of a thing that that that you don't really want to hear when the diamondbacks are a team that doesn't spend nearly the amount of money that other teams do but it's very real like these guys spend so much time connected to one team and not really making any kind of huge amount of money that you know when when that opportunity presents itself especially after they've had a few good seasons or you know especially an amazing one particular year it's it's time for them to cash in uh baseball does need to change a lot of things but again when it comes to like someone like merrill kelly i really do think that he deserves to go out

there and get a big payday. I hope it comes from the Diamondbacks, but, you know, again, it's for him as a person. I think he definitely deserves it after the, you know, kind of journeyman career that he's had up to this point. That 2020 season was was just so incredible from there. Obviously, he'd look really good in 2020. And then he had the thoracic outlet surgery. Yeah.

Came back in 2021, you know, was healthy, but it was, it was just okay, right? it was an ERA in the mid-fours. And then the Diamondback signed him to that extension before 2022. And from their standpoint, good thing they did because Merrill Kelly went out and threw 200 in a third innings with a 3-3-7 ERA, came back in 2023, had a similarly great season. Obviously in 2024, he had the shoulder injury, which kept him out for significant time. But toward the end, he was starting to look like himself again. And that's sort of the pitcher that I'm expecting again going into 2020.

I talked to a lot of people who root for this team and they just love watching Merrill Kelly pitch, right? He just, he's one of those guys who goes deep into games, who doesn't throw an inordinate number of pitches, has a deep arsenal. You know, it's it's not uncommon. We see Merrill Kelly use all six of his pitches in the first inning. He's, he's just that guy and he's found a way to evolve as the years have gone on and remain pretty effective. even now as he's 36 years old, you still expect big things from him moving forward. Well, we have more throwback Thursday chatter on the other side of this break. And we will talk about another guy who left this team on this day years ago.

Don't you go anywhere. We'll be right back. Big shout out to Chicken and Pickle. Of course, Chicken and Pickle is where we will be having our winter pickleball tournament on December 14th out there in Glendale. But Chicken and Pickle is a place that you should not go just for our tournament. you should go any time that you need to enjoy yourself at their indoor, outdoor entertainment complex. It has a casual chef-driven restaurant, sports bar, and like I've said, not only do you have

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com to see all the fun you can have at their Glendale location and then pitch them my idea of chicken ball. I don't know what it's going to entail. I don't know. This time was Chicleball. Chicleball. We're coming up with new sports on this show every single day. Also, Empire Today, there's nothing new about Empire Today. Empire Today is a classic. It has been around for years and there's a good reason why Empire Today offers you the best service that you can find, shop at home convenience, the right product for your needs, quick and professional installation, and a price match guarantee. They also service there in warranties, so it's all in one. You don't have to track down the manufacturer's phone number or anything like that.

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See Empire Today.com slash PHNX for details. all right jesse well let's uh you want to let's just do it let's just rip the band-aid off six years ago today six years ago today was a terrible day oh god that didn't happen six years ago today did it maybe it did it did i don't know uh but it definitely was the trade of paul goldschmidt i don't know when they went over and shook hands uh there's an amazing image that exists on the internet somewhere that i can't find of a very sad paul goldschmidt sitting at the at the table he looked as sad as as Diamondbacks fans did, losing him. And I know what some people are going to say, not you, Derek, not you.

We heard what you said. And yeah, no, I can't live those accusations down. But I will say that this was a terrible day in Diamondbacks history, Jesse, mostly because this guy's a legend. This guy was our guy. Are you sure you think that about him, Derek? Have you had a change of heart? People think this guy is a legend, Jesse.

People say, people have said he deserves a statue. People have rumored that he might be the greatest player to have ever played for the Diamondbacks. I don't know. But I will say. Randy Johnson is probably the greatest players ever played for the Diamondbacks. But on the position player side, yeah, you could definitely make a case for gold. Like, I'm not going to say Randy Johnson isn't ours, but there's a lot of people that when they think of Randy Johnson, Shane will tell you what jersey they see him in.

And it's not a Diamondbacks jersey. Sure. Right. But, I mean, at the same time. I'm talking about the Mariners. I'm talking about the Mariners, of course. You want to talk a little mariner ball? Yeah. No, but I will say that like, again, that's that's what Goldschmidt was for us. Like, Goldschmidt was a diamond bag. He was a diamond bag. And he was, I think even when you talk to other people across the league, that's, he was like Mr. Diamondbag. So I think, you know, it's very, it's very fitting that Mike Hazen said that that is his biggest regret in his tenure as GM of this franchise. And it went on beyond just the production that they lost. I felt like he

What he said was more about like the impact it had on the on the clubhouse and in the locker room and I think it's just beyond losing Goldschmidt as a person again We've we've we've said this other people have said this Archie said this if you weren't going to give Paul Goldschmidt a big contract if you weren't going to extend Paul Goldschmidt who were you going to extend right nobody right? You know absolutely. Yeah, it's interesting to go back and and See what Mike has and said about this deal when it first happened. His quote, there are decisions that you want to do and there are decisions that you feel like you have to do. I feel like this fell in the category of the latter, which yeah, like no team wants to be trading away the face of its franchise. And that's ultimately what this amounted to.

I will say at the time, I don't think the return for the Diamondbacks was viewed all that negatively. Looking at the story from the Arizona Republic that was published back on the day of the trade. and there's a number of scouts quoted in here from around the league who thought the diamondbacks did pretty well. Of course, I don't know if people want to be reminded of this, but the return was right-handed pitcher Luke Weaver, catcher, Carson Kelly, infield prospect, Andrew Young,

and a 2019 competitive balance around B draft pick, which ultimately turned into Dominic Fletcher for the Diamondback. So those are the players they got back. And frankly, I don't think any of them, necessarily had the tenure with the diamondbacks that people would have hoped well uh today is also another very very legendary day for the diamondbacks because it was the day that they acquired one eric chavez jesse it is it is and everybody knows of the when we talk about diamondbacks legends forget paulchman we got eric chavez to talk about yeah i think i just want to move on from

paulchman talk as quickly as possible before at least says any more things in the chat this was December of 2012 when the Diamondback signed Eric Chavez to think it was just a one year deal and then they came back the next off season and brought him back for another season. I love Aaron Chavez. Eric Chavez had a really impressive major league career.

Not a Hall of Famer, but a really impressive major league career and it ended with the Diamondbacks. He spent his last two major league seasons in Arizona and in 2013 he was, I mean, both of those years, he was pretty good. In 2013 he slashed 281, 332, 478. That's an

8-10 OPS, a 120 OPS plus. Eric Chavez, you know, only 80 games that season, 44 games the year after that. But when he was on the field, Chavez was pretty good toward the end of his career for Arizona. R.A. is pointing out in the chat, what does RJ wear on, what hat does RJ wear on his Hall of Fame plaque in Cooperstown?

We know what hat it is, right? All right. Well, okay, he's a diamond bag. Sorry, Shane. Sorry, Shane. He's not a mariner. He's a diamond back forever. he's ours. Honestly, where do you find him hanging out the most?

Where do you see him just milling around like with nothing to do just in a polo for the team? He's a diamond bag. And we love him for that. But there he is. There's our guy. He wants to drink every beer at cold beers and cheeseburgers. And I just gave out a free ad before getting out of here. What's that? I tell you that I definitely haven't told you this. I met Randy Johnson at a chucky cheese. That's an insane place to be when I was a child. And when you were a child, why? Why was he there?

He was just there for like another kid's birthday party? Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. His kid and I are about the same age. Oh, yeah, that man, yeah. I guarded a summer basketball game once. That's incredible.

Or high school basketball. Is his kid as tall as he is? He was very tall. Yeah, he's very tall. Yeah, he's very tall. I can't speak to his height now. I could imagine that he didn't shrink. So he's probably still pretty tall.

I still need to get my shirt people to make him a matching top and bottom from the sandlot. Like I was wearing the day he saw it because he wanted one in his size. So that was my favorite interaction with Randy Johnson. We could do this for days. But it's throwback Thursday. It's a good day to do it. But we're done now. So we'll see you tomorrow on another 1 PM show.

Bye. No, but of course you got to follow us. That's the last thing you got to do. I'm at cap underscore Kman with a K. Of course, Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman. And our guy, Shane, is at Shane Dief. But of course, our show is at PHNX underscore DBEX. And all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

We love you guys. We thank you guys for being here. Again, we'll see you tomorrow with another 1 PM show. We hope you have a wonderful evening. We hope you behave yourselves. And remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when I don't acknowledge the things I've said about Paul Goldschmidt in the past.