PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Is Hunter Greene the TOP Return D-backs Could Land in Ketel Marte Trade?

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

While we believe the Diamondbacks shouldn’t trade Ketel Marte, but we did explore the one trade Arizona could make that would actually bring a return that we feel would make the team better. We give our thoughts on trading the D-backs All Star to the Cincinnati Reds for elite starting pitcher Hunter Greene and second baseman Matt McLain. We also discuss moves around MLB now that the Winter Meetings are over and the D-backs winning the Minor League Baseball Sportsmanship Award. Plus, Derek cleans up again on another edition of “Are You A Baseball Savant?”.JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/Aura Frames: Exclusive $35 off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/PHNX. Promo Code PHNXPhoenix Raceway: Get your tickets now for March 5-8! https://www.phoenixraceway.com/march-cup-weekend/?CID=PIR_DI_TP_BA_PHNX26Spring_251120ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/APS:  Find instant rebates, discounts and special offers on smart thermostats, energy-efficient appliances and more at https://marketplace.aps.com/default/heating-cooling/smart-thermostatsBranded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotesChicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today!Visit https://www.macu.com/accounts/checking/mystyle-checking?cid=ea-PHNX-AZ-mystyleAugust2025-checking to learn more about their MyStyle Checking Accounts!bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 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/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: 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.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!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.

The winter meetings are over and the Cotel trade rumors are dead. So we're not talking about them anymore. I'm totally kidding. We're totally talking Cotel trade rumors today. What else do we have to talk about? And welcome in to another edition of the P.HNX Diamondbacker podcast live from Studio K. Presented by our friends at Circle K, it is I, your mayor of PHNX occasionally known as Derek Montia. Thrilled to have you guys here.

Happy Friday. to you all. We made it. We made it to Friday. Happy Friday, Emily Williams. Jason, great to see you. Frye. Frye. And a big ski to Zabe, our MVP and our goat, who is untradable. By the way, I'll remind you guys all that Zabe is not going anywhere. I got that man, that voice you heard, the peanut butter to my jelly. It is the Damon Farrell, aka Damon Dog on the ones and twos. Great to see you guys here. Happy Friday to you all. And again, the winter meetings are now over. I imagine I've only been to the winter meetings one time. And it was dreadfully boring to me.

So I was not sad to leave, Damon. I was just more joyous about getting to go home. Yeah. I mean, listen, you're not my scene. You strike me as a guy where like, you know, it's like that. You're either going to be like, that was the greatest thing that's ever happened to me going to the winter meetings or that was a complete colossal waste of my time. Yeah, I'm learning to not do that. Okay, John Sina gave an interview where he discussed that too often in life we assess things as either a success or a failure, right?

And yet we go through school our entire lives learning to receive grades on things on a much, I guess, kinder scale. Like you'll have A's, you'll have B's. And he went on to say, much like myself, you'll have a lot of D days. you'll have a lot of C plus days. You'll have a couple of B minus days and very few A plus days, but not everything in life needs to be an F, you know, or an A plus, right? And you're right when it comes to that. I definitely do that far too often.

I think what Zabe says here is, is a very, like, we need to put like the meta glasses on you. Yeah. And just let watch Derek go to work, schmoozing up GMs, walking into the hotel lobby and seeing Mike Hayes and be Like, hey, you want to, should I grab you a beer? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

I mean, okay, like, I tend to set trends when I come to a bar, believe it or not. Like, I'll come to a bar and order something that nobody at the bar is currently drinking. I'll step up and I'll be like, good day. My good sir, would you get me an espresso martini? And before you know it, every single person at the winter meetings is drinking an espresso martini. Everybody. What's that? Everybody.

What's that? It looks great. It looks great. You look, fancy drinking it. Let's go. I want one of those. The way that you're describing it and the way that it's been described in the past, It strikes me as a very like NFL Combine-esque type of vibe where people are in a confined space.

It's a bunch of famous people in their respective sports. And you're just kind of schmoozing and mingling around with everybody. And can I just say, Derek, I kind of live for it? Yeah. Like that, I didn't know that was my scene until I showed up. And then now I'm like, I'm just like walking up to different media members in the bar being like, what's going on? And it turns out it is exactly. I seen.

What a passing? You know, that kind of thing. See, I think if, I think if me and you went, we would have an electric. We would have a great time. We definitely would have a great time. And I feel like some people did have a great time. The late night meetings at the bar would have been electric, that's for sure. But some work did get done at the winter meetings.

In fact, it's kind of surprising because even though baseball moves as slowly as it does, you could argue that three of the biggest free agents that were available all kind of got signed over the last few days with Schwarber staying with the Phillies, Pete Alonzo to the Orioles. And I mean, of course, you have Edwin Diaz to the Dodgers happening earlier. It's funny because the winter meetings, I've seen a lot of people saying, like, things got kicked off with the Michael Soroka deal. And it was like, well, they got, they certainly escalated after the Michael Soroka deal. I don't know if they got kicked off by Michael Soroka and Stephen Matt's being moved.

We did this. We made this. We made all of this. This was not here before us before we signed Michael Sorokane. a 201 year 7 and a half million dollar deal well the craziest thing is the one market that still isn't moving damon is the starting pitching market at all it's not moving at all like we felt like when we saw the dylan c steel get done so early we were like sign me up this is this is going to be you know fireworks and you know now the the winter meetings have come and gone and

and no real big deals for any team as far as starting pitching is concerned really or like again and the free agent market really hasn't gotten moving, but we have this enormous rumor out there. Per Jorge Castillo at ESPN, a Terrick scuba trade is likely. That is his takeaway from the winter meetings. He said, here's what we know,

Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations, Scott Harris, can shut down speculation by simply saying he is not trading scubel, and he has not done that. Instead, he noted this week that there aren't any untouchables on his roster, trading the best pitcher in baseball when you're trying to compete would have

set the fan base, but the Tigers, knowing resigning scubel next winner is unlikely, appear open to it. Yeah. And the team that they appear to be open to trading scoble to is the Los Angeles Dodgers, apparently, according to... Everyone was shocked. No one could believe it. It's just so ridiculous, right?

And at that point, kill the sport. At that point, I'm done. Because they're the only team that. could legitimately, like they don't even need to do that. They could, they could just wait for this season to come and go. And then they could just sign Scoobel as a free agent next off season, which they are one of the few teams that are going to have the money to offer him what is likely the biggest, you know, pitching contract in history, potentially.

But it kind of makes me sick. Like the trade package isn't even like, it's Emmett Sheehan, it's Sahir Hope, it's Patrick Copen, it's Alex Freeland, it's James Tibbs. Like, they don't even have to give anything up. Ah! Ah! Oh, it's crazy. It's crazy, Damon.

I don't, I, it's just, it's maybe in Dodgers' stands would be like, we're not the only team they could sign them. We're just the only team that wants to. But that's also a problem. And the fact that every single big star that is up for grabs, whether it's via trade, via free agency, every one of them, the Dodgers are at the front. of the line despite having an all-star team top to bottom already.

And the fact that they can add all of these salaries, they can go to Scoobel and say, yeah, we'll just get rid of Glass now. We'll get rid of Glass now. We'll get that contract off our books. And then we'll bring in Scoobel for twice as much money and it'll be perfectly fine. And you're like, how can you do that? If the Diamondback signed Tyler Glass now and he was like he always has been made a glass, we would never be able to get rid of them. We'd be stuck with them forever. Yeah. And it would

just, he'd be debilitating the roster. And meanwhile, the Dodgers just go like, ah, whatever. I guess we'll just have to get Tarek Scuba instead. And he wasn't even bad. No, he wasn't bad. But apparently they're trying to get rid of him now. He's not good enough for them. I heard that about Teoscar Hernandez as well. That is true. He is also on that exact same. It's just, yeah. I guess your job at the end of the day as a GM is to improve your team. Your job as a president of baseball operations is to improve your team. You at no point want to sit back and I think at any point no matter how many championships your franchise has won say, eh, let's let somebody else win it this year, right? Like, that's not your job. And so as much as I scream about the Dodgers on this show and hate them

and Damon takes that hate to a whole new level, they're just doing what they do, right? Right? They're doing what a team should do. And I think when you get past the point of, okay, we won a championship, the next step, as I said earlier, is how do we create a dynasty? How do we make this team historically relevant and the team of this era? And they're already the team of this era. It's hard to argue any other team would be brought up around this period of time in the mid-2020s to be the team of MLB other than the Dodgers, right? but what I will say is that there's other teams out there, Damon, that are getting sneaky good. Baltimore Orioles, I think, are, well, it was kind of sneaky good, but the Pete Alonzo thing,

but makes it much more high profile. But I think the Orioles are getting much better. And now we have Mike Yistremski going to the Atlanta Braves. And the Atlanta Braves already picked up Robert Swares, who isn't even going to be their closer. And now they agree to a 23 million two-year contract that includes a club option for 2028 with Mike Yistremski. And again, I do not hate Damon, these guys leaving this division. I don't hate Roberts Juxtremski getting the hell out of here and going to another team. I mean, he wasn't great last year.

He had 233 with 17 home runs and 46 RBIs. And I know he was already out of the division with the Kansas City move. But again, he spent six seasons with the Giants before being traded to the Royals. And I'm just glad that he is, once again, the hell out of here. I do not like, though, how much better the Braves I feel are getting. And I think that they're going to be, they're back. They're back. The Braves are well and truly back, Derek.

I have been, last season, I thought the Braves were going to be back. I think we were just a year too early. Yeah. Matt Olson didn't have a great year. Like, it was just, it wasn't really written in the cards. Ocuna was coming back from injury, I believe. And he did play most of last season. But I wouldn't be surprised to see them make a big pitching move.

Didn't strider get. He was hurt all year last year. Right. He had the Tommy John surgery. so he should hypothetically be back this next season. The Braves are going to be pretty damn good again. And that division also feels like quite the gauntlet right now. When you factor in the Mets,

I know they haven't made a lot of moves and they've been the joke of the offseason. But they're going to make moves. They'll get people in the door, I bet. And they have a decent core in place as is. Then you factor in the Phillies. They're not skipping a beat. The Phillies are going to keep going for it. And, you know,

they bring back Schwerber. And then you look at the Braves and all the talent that they have. Plus, the Marlins aren't really a disaster right now either. Like, it's a pretty solid division top to bottom. And it might even be more difficult than our division as things currently stand. You like that move for Christopher Morrill by the Marlins there, right?

I mean, that's just a guy. That's the type of move that we've been talking about, Derek. And I think Soroka actually lines up along this, this similar type of trajectory where the only difference, major difference with Soroka being is that he's a pitcher and we've proven that we can't develop those whereas a hitter is a lot easier for us to shape and mold into a really good player. It seems in Arizona with Joe Mather and the hitting development this team has.

But I wanted a guy like a Christopher Morel who has a lot of upside. Maybe he hasn't shown like his best hand as an MLB player yet. But you get him in the right system with the right team mates around him and the right lineup around him and maybe that looks a lot better. The Marlins make kind of a by-low move. Here's the difference though, Derek, and I didn't know this. The Marlins are supposed to be moving him to first base, I guess. They're going to be having him play first base, not outfield.

So I was thinking of him as more of an outfielder. He had a bad defensive season. If you look at his baseball, Sama, he was a good arm, but really not a very, very good outfielder in general. So maybe that's part of the reason for the Diamondbacks is they genuinely probably do. want a right-handed hitting outfielder, but not one that can't play defense. I don't love what the Mets are doing at all when you look at the move the Mets have made. I didn't love the Brandon Nimmo trade for Marcus Simeon.

I do understand it. I thought we liked that from the Mets perspective. I mean, yeah, but like, again, it's just such a weird trade to me because of Simeon's numbers from last year and things like that. I think we liked it from the perspective that you don't really feel like the Dodgers need more bang for their buck. They need some leadership. They need a winner, a proven winner that has experience being there and, you know, winning a

World Series to come in and, and that hurt to say, and come in and help your clubhouse have that culture, right, to improve that culture. I just don't know, you know, again, so far their only move is adding Devin Williams on a pretty big contract and losing, you know, two of their biggest stars. So I mean, I don't love what they're doing. Another move I don't love, this is a small move that probably doesn't even deserve to be discussed, but I'm going to discuss it anyway. The athletics finally made an offseason move this free agent season. They signed a veteran right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. on a one-year contract on Thursday.

Yeah. I talked about Leiter at one point as a potential low dollar addition to the bullpen for this Diamondbacks team. He does come off a bad season. and this contract he signed according to ESPN's Jesse Rogers is worth about $3 million. The deal is pending a physical and hasn't been confirmed by the athletics yet, but I feel like this is the dumbest signing of the offseason. I understand from the athletics perspective that they just need to find people to bring in, and Mark Leiter Jr. didn't have a great season,

so I get it from the perspective of someone that's coming off a season with a 4.84 ERA as a reliever for the New York Yankees. It's probably not getting a ton of deals. But Leiter Jr. is going to be 35 years old next year. Young. 35 years young next year. And I believe, Damon, that this is like a really dumb signing for him. Like, you're going to go play for the athletics in that minor league ballpark in Sacramento

where a flick of the wrist will really get you, a home run. And you're going to do it on a one year deal expecting what? What are you expecting? Mark Leiter, Jr. What's your end game here? Tell me because I want to know. You think your numbers are going to go down with the athletics? You think that team's going to be more competitive? Grabbing it by the collar of his shirt. I need to know what your thought process is and agreeing to this deal. He had a 4.980 already last year, 4.84 this year. I mean, he was good with the Cubs, posted sub four. And again, he's just one of those, the exact thing I was talking about. I don't know if I'm just mad that the Diamondbacks didn't sign him.

I don't know if it's just more confusion on my part. He didn't put up good numbers. And again, this is the kind of guy I thought that they could get on a deal about two or three million dollars. So this makes sense if he was going to a team where he could kind of prove himself a bit and maybe improve his stats and then come off of that season for a, you know, perhaps another short term deal. But regardless, come off of one season. Mark my words. We're going to readdress this on December 12th, 2020. Huh?

Mark my words, pun intended. Yeah, mark my words, Mark. You're gun damn right. We're going to address this in a year when we come back and look at what your ERA balloon do and see if someone's signing you to the new contract. Honestly, it's a good point. I think that that kind of stuff. What pitcher voluntarily goes to the A's right now?

Right now. Not in 20228 when they have that new stadium that they just broke, or not broke ground on. That thing is shaping up. I don't know why people think they're not going to go play in Las Vegas. That is still like this weird rumor that this project is going to go shut down. But the video I saw yesterday, Damon, there's a clubhouse. They brought the athletics to Las Vegas to come check out where the clubhouse is going to eventually be like they are moving along on this.

And I think, believe it or not, despite what the internet keeps telling me, there is in fact going to be a ballpark in Las Vegas right across from some of those low-budget hotels. And no one is more hyped up about it than Derek Montia. Because that's a trip to Vegas to go cover the D-BACs. I mean, you're Mr. Vegas. It's already scheduled. Again, a lot, like, Espos has put together a fairly significant. I don't want to call it a bailout fund. I feel like that kind of labels me and you in a bad light.

We'll just say a discretionary fund should certain emergency situations come. Emergency fund. Emergency fund. Yeah, that's a good way of it. an emergency fund should any emergencies happen like you and I go to jail in a Mexican prison or in Las Vegas I mean that's really hard to go to jail in Las Vegas but it is I think I don't know it's really hard I just don't know why someone would choose to go play for the athletics voluntarily now during this period of time like then things might be pretty sweet and that organization

might have something fun to be a part of at that time I don't feel like especially as a pitcher that struggled in 2025 that this is a smart move or why anybody would choose to do this i think it's a good point derrick uh just in in all of sports contracts like i i feel like and it's similar with how we talk about like the with dodgers fans and how they they don't understand that what is happening right now while it might be good for them is super short-sighted for the overall health of the game of baseball like baseball will cease being popular if the dodgers just continue to make a monopoly on the sport with all stars, right? And so... That's what we feel at these. That's what we hope.

Well, I mean, eventually, like, it's a slow effect, but it will happen eventually. I think the same thing with these contracts. Find yourself a situation that's going to get you paid. You know what I mean? Yeah. Or if you're like a, you know, say like, maybe like an NFL wide receiver is like a good example, right? Where it's like, it's like you have yourself, you know, you're playing for a Hall of Fame

quarterback and you're putting up stats as a wide receiver. but you want more money, right? And you're like, I need more money. And so you demand more money. And eventually they get rid of you. You go to a new team with a worst quarterback. Your stats look worse. And then your contract is lower because your stats are worse.

I think that, you know, like there is something to be said about like Mark Lighter. What if he took one million less dollars and came and played for the diamondbacks? What if? What if he has a good season then? Now his next contract is way bigger than the contract he's going to get after the A's. I think that guys are too, like, about the short term with the money when it gets put in front of their face rather than thinking about, like, what is my best long term avenue to making the most money I can make in my entire career? And I, and maybe this is that type of situation playing out right now. I mean, even the raise, though, are going back to playing in their actual home stadium next year, right?

And I just mean it, I literally mean it from the perspective of playing. Are they still doing the, the, the, like, half and half thing? Is that still a plan? No, I don't believe so. What are you talking about half and half? Montreal and Tampa Bay? No, no, that was rumored a long time ago, but I don't think that's the case. But as far as like the Sacramento athletic situation, I just, again, it's just a matter of.

I just never know what's happening with relocation in baseball. They feel like they make it the most like convoluted thing of all time. Meanwhile, the NFL is like, we're moving to Vegas. Yeah. And they make a huge deal out of it and they host the Super Bowl there. And then that baseball is like, we're moving. moving to Montreal for half this season. Or are we? And you're like, and then, and then you're like, what's happening? And then they're like, there was a hurricane. Now we might actually go.

Yeah. But maybe not. But instead we didn't. Even though that would have been an ideal situation. Yeah. We're going to go play in a minor league ballpark. Yes. Same thing with Sacramento. Go use that ballpark. Go use a ballpark. Go use a real ballpark. Stop playing in a freaking minor league ballpark with a grassy, you know, hills and something that looks like a spring training facility. I hate it. Anyway, we're going to take a quick break on the other side of this break we're going to talk about something else i hate and that is yet another catell marty trade is a trade with the reds essentially for hunter green the only trade that makes sense this off season we think so we're going to talk about it on the other side of this break don't you go anywhere you're watching the p h and x diamond back show well you know branded bills is

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Cool, bro, appropriately says the media. And as much as I scream about Cotel Marte trades and the rumors, here we are adding fuel to the fire ourselves. So I guess we're not a mute. This is the verbal meme of Garfield sitting on the news desk with the picture behind him saying cancel Garfield. This is Derek right now is saying, and the damned media, the damn, the God forsaking media. This goddamn media, I'm telling you. No, I think that, of course, there's something to be said about what.

the Terrick Scuba, what Jorge Castillo from ESPN said about the Terrick Scuba trade. He said, on the thing I read earlier, Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations, Scott Harris can shut down speculation by simply saying he is not trading scubal and he has not done that. You could argue that Mike Hazen could do the exact same thing. Right? You could argue that. You could argue in a way that Mike Hazen, who has, I feel like has been very honest up front and hasn't really added to the speculation.

Again, the last time we heard from Mike Hazen on this show, he told Mike Farron that this is no different than any other year that they get calls on Cotel Marte. And he even sound, you know, he doesn't even know the reason why this is becoming such a big story. So again, I guess really if you're talking bees about how did we get here, we can. got here because some common sense contract things with Cotel Marte being a five and 10 player, meaning he's been in the league for 10 years and he's been with the same team for five. He has no trade clause and that hasn't enacted yet, but it will enact in April. So there's that. And I think it's also the situation Cotel Marte went through with coming under scrutiny, right?

the way that it has been framed is that the diamondbacks feel that now is the time to quote unquote cut ties with Cotel Marte. Yet there was no source to that and there's been no confirmation in any way, shape, or form from anybody in the organization. And that's where we're at, right? Again, the reason why Cotel Marte is the subject of trade speculation is because he's one of the best players in baseball. And he's on a very team friendly contract with a team that has a lot of needs. and not a lot of money to spend. I think that probably sums it up the best. This whole situation the entire time has felt logical

or like an assumption, like a logical assumption based on the facts of his contract and other things, but none of it really feels like it's ever been fueled in any way by anybody saying they spoke to an inside source in the Diamondbacks organization or that Mike Hazen said this or that Toy Lovello said this or that Ken Kendrick said this. So really what it comes down to is it does feel like a lot of the speculation about Cotell Marte trade is from media, from opposing fan bases,

who once they heard that the Diamondbacks might be interested, they started pushing for Cattel and making trade, you know, I guess trade packages and things that maybe the Diamondbacks would be enticed by. I feel like overall Mike Hazen once again has been very honest, but you could agree with the thing that Jorge Castillo, said. The one thing Mike Hazen hasn't done at any point is said, we are not trading Terrick Schuble. Instead, he's gone on record at times in the past saying that he's received calls, not just on Cotel Marte, but other names that you don't want me to say right now, right? Like,

you don't want to hear out of Mike Hazen's mouth that he's received calls on Geraldo Porte Perdomo and Corbyn Carroll. Those are not things that any fan wants to hear. But again, Mike Hazen, who typically plays his cards pretty close to his vest when it comes to deals he's trying to make and things that he's trying to do if case those things don't work out has been pretty open about this situation and perhaps his honesty and openness adds to these rumors because again he never shuts him down but he also says hey we're we're listening but like good luck coming up with something that's actually going to entice this team on a trade our guy jack summer's over at snake's territory basically put together an idea for a trade package

and I think that kind of progressed into actually kind of being one of the trade rumors. And honestly, if you look at the trade package that we're going to discuss today, it's probably the only one that makes you feel like you're getting an efficient return for Catelle-Marte. But at the end of the day, it's not really going to feel like any trade for Cotel-Marte is going to be an efficient return or sufficient is really what I should say, not efficient. This is a professional podcast, by the way. We do, in fact, speak for a living and also struggle at that as well. Yeah, I mean, words are hard.

And again, English is my second language. And I'm not even good at my first language. So if you attack my English, it's a hate crime. Just a reminder. But this trade that has been floated out there involves this move with the Cincinnati Reds. The Arizona Diamondbacks would essentially trade Cattel Marte to the Reds. The Diamondbacks would receive in return starting pitcher Hunter Green and second baseman Matt McLean. This trade immediately solves one of the Diamondbacks biggest needs, which is an

ace at the top of their staff, and replaces Catelle Marte with Matt McLean. Now, the Diamondbacks do not need to receive a second baseman or an infielder in return for, you know, for Marte, because I do think that they have pieces in their organization, players right now on their roster that could play second base should Marte be traded and that unfortunate thing come to fruition. But this right here. I mean, and again, we could get crazy. We could be like, yeah, we're going to do a Terrick Scoobel trade, and he's also going to sign a contract extension, and the Tigers are going to eat half of that contract extension. But all of that is fantasy, and that's actually going to happen. This is a trade that financially makes sense overall, and as far as the players, it's a high

impact swap. It's earth-shattering. It would be one of those big trades that, you know, rocked the MLB. But, I mean, the Diamondbacks trading one of their star, position players for a combination of elite pitching and versatile young infielder does not feel like it's the worst thing that they could do. It feels like at all the trade packages that websites and podcasts are drumming up all have this dream of sending some prospects to Diamondbacks way like that's going to be enough to trade for Catelle Marte. And that's just not happening, period. An unproven prospect is exactly that. And quite frankly, I knew the guy that at one time did the MLB pipeline thing. I'm not trying to throw him under the bus,

but I found out he was just the man. He was just a human being that puts together the MLB pipeline list. And even though a lot of work goes into it and a lot of factors and a lot of scouts and a lot of information is exchanged, at the end of the day, it's still like a combination of factors that equal points and whoever has the most points is the highest ranked prospect. None of it is real. and it's still something that's determined by a man, a man, a human man, a fallible man. There is the proven results of players in Major League Baseball, and what the Diamondbacks need is proven results. They can't trade Catele Marte on any kind of risk. The Cotel Marte trade could be one of the things that helps this organization get back on track,

or it could be the final nail in the coffin for everybody involved in any kind of trade like this, should it not go the Diamondbacks way. I'll put it simpler, Derek. It can't be the Paul Goldschmidt trade. It can't be the Paul Goldschmidt trade. It can't be, hey, Carson Kelly. Well, he's not on an expiring contract. No.

Exactly. There's a big difference in those kind of situation. You're right. It's huge difference there. But even then, we were trading away an MVP caliber player. We all knew it. Yeah. And you were bringing in Luke Weaver, who you were projecting to be decent in Major League Baseball.

was not for this organization. He has since carved out a role for himself. Sure. But as a starter, bad. Carson Kelly, who had struggled at that point in the majors, but had a big prospect ranking, as you said, Derek, and was considered to, to, suppose to figure it out. And it took him four more stops along the way until he figured it out this year for the Cubs. But not for, again, not for this organization.

And then Andy Young, who was a utility player for two years. Like, that's what you can't have. You can't be bringing in three minor leaguers who you think are going to be better than what they've shown thus far or are projected to be good. You need a legit all-star future all-star caliber player. And Hunter Green provides that. And Matt McLean provides, you know, just above-average replacement at that position. I think it's a, I think as far as a trade package goes, I don't, this is like one of me. I think the Red Sox and the Reds are the two teams that I'm even like engaging in discussion.

with because they have things that I covet and want. And this is one of the very few packages that could be put together that I would like go to bed at night and be like, man, I can't believe we traded Cattel. But it's going to be okay. Yeah. The Red Sox trade would involve Duran. It would involve also Peyton Toll who you knew I love. I mean the stash. I've gone on record as saying I stole his look, you know.

I don't even say inspired by it. Like most people would be, oh, I'm inspired by Peyton Toll's all. No, no, no, no. I tried to look like the man. We need the content there for you to, like, talk to him in the locker for the first time, twice his age and be like, hey, you know, I got my mustache from you. Yeah. And he'd be like, that's weird.

He's like, that's weird. What? I don't want to have to deal with this guy for the whole season. Does we have a full season press credential? Oh, my God. Can we get that guy? We need this guy in my face. Not at my locker, please.

No trade, again, is going to make you feel great. Like you said, no trade is going to help you sleep at night. but you feel like Hunter Green is a stud. Yeah. And also locked up long term, Derek. So I put in there that he's making $8 million next year, which is pretty reasonable, obviously, for a picture of his caliber.

Matt McLean, I put the asterisk right next to his because that is a projection. I believe he is in his last year of pre-arbitration. So that $2.6 million is a projection. He then has, what, three years of arbitration? after that of control. So seems like, you know, you'd have Matt McLean under control for a minute here. But Hunter Green's contract is 8.3 million this year at his age 26 season,

15.3 million next year at 27, 16.3 after that at 28. And then a club option for 21 million at the age of 29 before he reaches restricted or unrestricted free agency at the age of 30. Similar to like a Zach Gallup. it's actually like pretty pretty along the same lines as Zach Gowan reached his his final year and you know reached free agency at age 30 as well um so maybe you know you get four years of hunter green here at a reasonable rate uh for a really high caliber pitcher and then you get three years of or four years of Matt McLean as well at a decent rate and in that's the return that's the return that we need we can't do this for two years can't do this for one year I know Catell is under contract what for six more years, right? So yeah, through his age 37 season in 2031, when he's, he's on schedule that year to actually it's backloaded.

It is a player option, though, so a good chance he declines it if he's still playing well. Sure. But it's backloaded to where it's actually, sorry, front loaded to where it's 11.5 million dollars for his last year of his contract. It is, however, 22 and 22 million from his age 34 to 36 season. So you would be all in all Like maybe adding a bit of salary with Hunter Green in total It's fine

But it would be so minimal And he's obviously like He's in like an eight year age or young Age bracket younger than Cotel Martte I think it makes sense and it's it's one Again it's one of the only trades that can be put together Where I'm like all right it is It is what it is

The Red Sox trade I like but I still don't love this trade I don't love Because I don't love any trade for Ctele Martin Catele Marte is a generational talent. Catele Marte became the player he became here. And I said it yesterday, and I will probably stand on my soapbox a lot about this. But as much as we have said, because of Cotel Marte taking two extra days in the Dominican Republic, he's a bad teammate, nobody is talking enough about the team-friendly contract extensions that he signed, even the second one, Damon, even though, like you said, they were giving him more money because he deserved it.

They were extending him, though, a longer period of time. But they were trying to put his salary up to market value and pay him in a way which he deserves. Not many teams have to do that. And I think that's the reason why he signed it. But it's also still a very team-friendly contract. The team-friendly contract nature of it is what makes him so appealing to all of these trade rumors. But shouldn't that be the exact same reason why it makes him untradable? Like, shouldn't that be the reason why Ketel-Martier should play?

until his age 37 season because he did all of this you know Ernesto says it right there we needed to fill his holes is not a good reason and just because oh this guy's going to get like that's not why you sign players to a long-term deal it's like we've talked about the dodgers look at a guy like getel marty and they say how can we add to having this stud on our team right how can we get hunter green right with katel martin whereas the debacks are like how can we trade our best player and get three really good players in the process. And that's the difference between the premier organizations that are in the highest market that spend the most money and then teams like the Diamondbacks.

I think B's said it earlier, but he expects Kattel to be traded. I will go on record and say, I do not. I do not expect Ketel to be traded. And I think that, of course, you know, one of the big problems is the free agent pitching market right now, starting pitching market for free agents, I think it's going to get very high. And I think, you know, the Diamondbacks really can't even begin to consider trading Cotel Marte until they figured out what some of these starting pitchers are going for. They're most likely not going to be in it on a Rangers forres, even though you and I very much

like Rangers forres, they're definitely not in on a Framber. What are we spending our money on exactly is what I'm wondering, because I'm sitting here and I'm like, can we can maybe we could get Rangers or something? No, no, don't do that. that. Don't do that to me. You know that. I try to be reasonable. I try to be sensible. I try to have a little bit of Jesse, like the spirit of Jesse here where I need to be sensible. But I'm not sensible. I'm emotional. I lose it. And I lose it if Kutel got traded. And I do think that they have more money to spend. I think they could get a Rangers for it. The idea of spending and not spending is merely a

decision, right? It's merely a decision. And we never thought they would get Jordan Montgomery. And we never thought they would get Corbyn Burns, right? So who knows what the diamondbacks could do, but I agree with you. The move is to not trade Cotel and get worse at second for the starting pitching to get better. However, if there is one thing I'm going to sacrifice Cotel Marte being a diamond back for, it is elite starting pitching. And as far as offers trades, ideas that I've seen, nothing involves elite starting pitching, not even that trade from the Red Sox. It's still too many unproven factors there. But this, this deal, it does. I think it does give me a enough for me to be okay with it.

I still hate it. She said Mariners or fans are also talking about trading Gilbert or Miller potentially. So that's another package that could involve an elite starting pitcher. I know. I know. And Mike Hazen and the Mariners are just, I mean. They got each other on speed, though. They absolutely do.

But I understand what Coolbro is saying. That's why this package makes sense to me because Matt McLean is a pretty good second basement. He didn't have a great year last year. He's had good years in the past, and he's a player that the Diamondbacks are interested in. I mean, we know that for a fact. They drafted him, Derek. They drafted him with a first round pick.

Mike Hazen drafted him with a first round pick, another small position player that he fell in love with. And then Matt McLean decided to go play ball at UCLA instead. And so we know that the Diamondbacks in the past have been interested in a guy like Matt McLean. That's why it makes even more sense. You're just to connect the dots there. But that's like there's a reason for replacing Cattell's production with a decent second basement and getting an elite starting pitcher are like on my list of like the things that I want to see get checked off. If I'm trading potentially one of the best contracts in the entire sport with one of the best players in the entire sport.

Like it's got to be a hall as a as some of the people in our chat have said. I would venture to say I could see why the Reds would not do this. For sure. Yeah. I think Reds fans might be like, what the hell are you talking about? Hunter Green. Right, right. But if you don't think it's real, if you go to baseball savant right now, Coutelle Marte is the sixth highest searched player on baseball savants behind.

It goes showy, O'Shea, Edwin Diaz, Pete Alonzo, Robert Swares, all guys like O'Shoe, of course, at the top, then guys that have all been moved to new teams, then Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and then you can tell Marte. Derek. Yeah. That freaking stinks. They're looking for him, Damon. Dude, a Diamondback player being there is always bad news, I would say.

It's never good news. That's never good news. Too many people are searching its stats and want to see how much red is on that page. But we're going to play a fun game on the other side of this break. Damon's going to try to stump me and it's probably not going to be too hard with another round of, are you a baseball savant? Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the P.HNX Diamondback show.

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Well, there's a lot of things I don't love right now, but I do love playing some games, especially around the holiday season. And as you may have seen in the past, we came up with this little fun game where Damon pulls a couple of baseball savant pages at random. throws them up there on the screen and sees if I can find a way to figure out who the hell he is showing. Not really at random. I did

theme them up. We did, we got the Diamondbacks players last time. That was fun. I think I did exceptionally well, at least I feel like in my own opinion. So it's time once again to see if I am in fact a baseball savant. What do we got, Damon? What do we got here?

I'm just checking and making sure that we're going to do this in the right proper order here. And let's start off with this one. All right. These are not great numbers. There's a lot of blue on this page. It's a pitcher. It looks like his fastball run value is the only thing of value besides his extension.

And by the way, we do have it predetermined beforehand. These are all free agents. These are free agent pitchers. These are all free agents that the Diamondbacks can. potentially be interested in. Okay. Can I start off with asking are these is this a top 10 free agent starting pitcher? I would say yes. Okay. Most likely yeah. Okay. Um, let's see here. What was his expected ERA was five. Oh, wow. Let's see here is fastball Velo 93.3 miles per hour.

Hmm, this is, this is kind of gross, Damon. This is not a good baseball sabat page. No, it's not, Derek. And honestly, I looked this up and I immediately was like, I'm out. I'm out on this guy. I don't want him in a Diamondbacks uniform. We have spoken about this player before Derek and a few times now because he's come up in different conversations, whether it be the trade deadline, whether,

whether it be, you know, the different free agency periods over the last few years. And we've talked about this picture quite a bit. And he's always seemingly of interest to this organization as like maybe a mid to back end rotation option. Turns out he kind of sucks. This has to be Lucas Gialito then. It is in fact, Lucas Gialito. Yeah. I'm like, wait, that description gave it entirely away.

Here we go. This is his baseball savant page. Oh my God. I had to play the applause for you because you got it right. This is his baseball. Did he have like a freaking sub three? He had like a three and a quarter ERA or three something, right? Like isn't this bad?

This is so bad. Hold on. He had a three, four, one. He had a three, four one. And he was 10 and four. Oh my God. Yeah, yeah. He says this is the guy we wanted to try.

Grade four in 2023? Yeah. It's a, it's a, that's a bad, that's a bad baseball savant, uh, page there. Wow. When your only thing of value is extension and your fastball run value, oh my God, his expected ERA was five? No, hard pass, hard pass. Uh, we'll keep it moving. We'll keep it moving on that guy.

That's a, that's a, that's, that, that's, that, that, that, that, that's, that, like I said, I saw that and I was like, I think I'm out on Lucas Gio Lito. You know. Yeah. That's horrible. You're going to have to pay them like a three-year $60 million contract for those numbers. That's wild. That's wild.

Okay. All right. Next one. All right. What else we got? All right. We got another pitcher. Yes.

Expect a R.A. 4.28. This is that gallon. It is that gallon. I had no idea. It's a baseball. It's a mom page for 2020. was this bad.

His off-speed run value is the only thing in red? What? What? That's crazy. Oh, my God. Yeah, no. That's a bad baseball, Savon page as well.

I'm sorry, Zach. Look, I love Zach Allen. It's my daughter's favorite player on the team. I don't have a bad thing to say about Zach. He has been a delightful player to cover. However, if he's going to go get paid a big contract by another team on a multi-year deal, you know, sorry.

Like, enjoy exactly. You compare to his 2023 and it's, it's just kind of sad to look at it. Yeah, I don't even want, I don't even want to. I'm going to do it anyways.

You're going to do it anyway. I'm going to pull it up anyways. I don't care what you want. Yeah, no, I get it. I don't, you often don't care what I want, but I mean,

I want it. I want to show everybody else what I had to look at, what I had to endure and envision and see myself, Derek, with my own eyes. Damon, again, that's,

that's really bad. And I know, had a bad season and I know it was mostly the first half of the season but let's not forget he had some killer starts in the first half as well I know his first half was bad and very inconsistent but let's not forget some of those

games where we kind of laugh that it was big big big big big games that gallon showed up in New York and other places but just not the rest of the time piece of Yoshi still blames Kaplan and I mean I don't know there's something to be said about what all the positive things we heard about

James McCann at the end of the season as well and I don't know what kind of impact that had on Zach turning things around. But maybe maybe this is like what other teams are looking at and it leads to Zach Allen taking like kind of a discounted deal with the diamond backs. Maybe that's maybe that's a little bit of wishful thinking. But it's like maybe they're also being like these expected stats are terrible. Yeah. But look at this page.

This is his page right now, Derek. You got 24 pitching run value. You know, everything is essentially in the blue except for chase rate, except for, ground ball rate and except for extension rate everything else is and walk rate everything else is bad value being in the 30th percentile is atrocious like i almost can't believe that now this is what his 2023 baseball summer page look oh my god wow isn't that sad wow doesn't that just make you sad we he was so special man but he was special Vince McMahon video right now do you see do you you expect them to get back to this with another team?

Do you expect him to do this with a different organization? It would be the most Diamondbacks thing of all time, frankly. It really would. Oh, God. Yeah, that one's sad. Let's go. Let's go get our next one here. All right.

Ooh, I like all of this. Is this Ranger Suarez? It is Ranger Suarez. I've been staring at these guys' baseball swap pages entirely too much, David. I was coming in here thinking there was no way I was going to get any of these. Three for three right now. I mean, one of them I gave you heavy. Yeah, no, the one I definitely needed it.

The guy would have never guessed Lucas Gialito in a million years. Honestly, I would have never guessed that. And I said, oh my God, pay Rangers swore as whatever Rangers swore as once. Yeah, I mean, especially considering he gave me his expected ERA at 316. You know what 360 means. Austin 316 means I just whipped your ass. Oh, yeah, though. there is so much red on this page.

Like, his fastball velo is really low. That's surprisingly yet. But again, I mean, I would prefer a pitcher that knows how to get out without needing that power, right?

Power is something that can wane on you. Power is something that can cause you perhaps to have an injury. I don't love the fastball velo being that low, but like that's... It's like Steph Curry. It's like he, you know, a dude like that is going to be able to shoot the basketball forever.

He's not going to lose athleticism and be bad at basketball all of a sudden. Right. I hear you there. Like he, his arm might not be the strongest, but he's, he's very effective with it. I mean, when your hard hit percentile,

or your heart hit percentages in the 98th percentile, your walk rate's that high, your freaking barrel percentage is that high. 5.5 percent barrel, barrel percentage? My, my God. Like, again, those are the key statistics that make you feel like a guy like that would be very

successful playing 81 games. at Chase Field. So let's maybe open up the checkbook for me. I just don't understand why we can pay a guy. I mean, I know it's not exactly apples to apples and the contract will be more. But like we can pay Erod and we're like, yeah,

that's who we're going to pony up for. We're going to give him four years. But then a guy like Ranger Suarez becomes available, lefty who's actually good. And it's like, how about we pay him five years with a little bit more money per year? And we make the team actually good. Instead of paying some mid-ass pitcher to be our SP4,

18 million dollars a year or whatever Erod is making. Lrod. Smell more than that. All right. What else we got? We got one more? Yeah, we got one more. Oof.

Not great. Not great, but also not horrific. It's pretty mediocre. Is this Merrill? It is not Merrill. It is an old man, though. It is an old man. Well, well, well, it's an old man.

Let me take a look at my list here. Is it Patrick Corbyn? No. Oh, okay. Who is Justin Verlander? It is, in fact, Justin Verlander. Really? All right.

I tried to get a little bit of a weird one because we haven't spoke about him. He had not talked about Justin Verlander. He has better, I mean, compare him to Zach Allen here. 43 years old, too. Compare him to Zach Allen. Yeah. No, I mean, you're not wrong. I mean, it's pretty comparable.

You're not wrong. Compare him to Lucas G. Alito, he's better, according to a lot of these expected numbers. Like, he had a bad year, but he's not a horrible pitcher at this point of his career. And we have a track record for bringing over former giants that are washed. Yeah. Dude, except Madbun was like 32 when he signed that contract, which is the worst part. But didn't Verlander also start the year off like Owen 12 or something like that?

Like, it was ridiculous. His win-loss record. but he actually, I think he ended the season like a little bit stronger. So yeah, I don't know. Someone in the chat at one point had said Cotel Marte to the Dominican Republic team is official. I was waiting to hear that news. So I don't see it anywhere yet. But if that is the case, then that is incredible.

The only problem, Derek, is that now we got to find a way to get Cattel and Jerry on the field at the same time. Yeah. And I'm a little bit, I'm a little bit scared that, you know, we're going to see Catell at second and that Jerry's just going to be riding pine. And it's like, do you guys want to win or not? Yeah. Herald de Pardomo needs to be in your lineup. But yeah, I'm looking at talking baseball. They posted a graphic right now of Cotel Marte and the Dominican, joining the Dominican Republic team.

That's electric. It does seem official. And I wonder if that was what his posts the other day was actually about because it was the same day that Earl do Pridomo had made his announcement that he had joined the team. Oh, wow. I looked up just the name Catelle Marte. I didn't even see this. Apparently a Red Sox beatwriter for MassLive.com. 80,000 followers, Derek, said that Marcelo Meyer has come up in DBAX trade talks for Catele Marte.

Wasn't he just extended? I don't think he was extended that long ago, yeah. Oh, interesting. I guess he has a big injury problem, but he's pretty good when he's healthy. But that's classic D-backs, too. Hard pass. 82 days, by the way, until the World Baseball Classic starts, 70 days from today until spring training games will be played in 103 days until opening night. So a lot of fun on the horizon.

More fun this weekend, by the way, if you are interested in coming and hanging out with us. We are going to be out. And when I say we, I mean me, your mayor is going to be joining one Bo Brock, one Johnny Venerable, that scamp Noah and the rest of the PH&X crew for the ultimate Cardinals away game. parties out at Heila River Resorts and Casinos Wild Horse Pass. So make sure to join us for that. We're going to be having a great time. I am not working. I will just be there in probably some sort of Cardinals player jersey that no longer plays for

this team. Getting drunk and having a good time with all of you. And then me and Damon are going to go throw some money on Red downstairs. But you can watch the live pre-Hath and post game show with the PHNX Cardinals boys. There are food and drink specials. There will be PH&X giveaways. And as always, the vibes will be immaculate. I am there to curate the vibes.

I am the vibes curator. So I will be there to ensure that the vibes are immaculate. This is December 14th at 11 a.m. We are going to get slaughtered by the Houston Texans and their superior defense. I project that the Diamondback or excuse me, the Cardinals will score no points. No points. Maybe three points, but three or fewer. So there you go if you love getting on the bet, 365 bat.

our SVP for our Cardinals Away Game watch parties at GoPHNX.com slash events and yeah, come join us. We're going to have a great time. Look, misery loves company. So if you're a Cardinals fan and you don't know what to do with yourself because what do we do with ourselves when this team is as bad as it is, you come hang out with other Cardinals fans

and we're just all miserable together and we'll eat waffle fries and have delicious sandwiches. One more thing before we get out of here. The D-Backs did receive an award this week. They were the minor league baseball sportsmanship award for an organization. And I know this kind of sounds like a cheesy award that they just give out. But the award is presented to the major league baseball organization whose minor league personnel best exemplify minor league baseball's commitment to fostering a culture of sportsmanship and professionalism on the field.

I will say that the Diamondbacks organization, especially their minor league teams, have always been on point, the Reno Aces, the Amarillo Saab Poodles, the Hillsborough Hops, and the Basalia Rawhide. They've always been extremely well-run organizations, and you constantly see, you know, the, the players that are there getting recognized. The Diamondbacks were one of four teams that were finalists for the award, including the Orioles, Tigers, and Giants, but ultimately the Diamondbacks were the ones that demonstrated continued improvement and on-field behavior over the past four seasons and recorded

fewer incidents in the past two seasons combined than they had in all of 2023. Remarkably, no player, manager, or coach in the entire Diamondback system missed a game due to suspension for on-field conduct in 2025. Honestly, I know this kind of sounds cheesy, and if Killer Rex was here, he would roast me for this. But I will say a lot of that, in my opinion, does start with Tori Lavello. Absolutely does. I know Tori Lovill. trickles down the entire. He does. And he sets such a standard to not show up your opponents. To the point it makes us sick at times, right? We almost want them to show up our opponents more.

We want them to have something that's a home run celebration in the dugout. We want them to do the things the other teams do that add to the fun of baseball. And you don't necessarily feel is showing up the other team. It's more of a celebration of your individual achievement, especially when it comes to like a home run selling. Right. But yes, as Michael Dixon says, it's the culture, baby. it is the culture that has been set forward by Tori LaVallo. And again, I know that he is a hot-blooded Italian man that at times blows up on umpires and at times has thrown every umpire on the field out of the game, right? Yeah, you're gone, you're gone. But the thing about Tori is he doesn't carry it over.

No. He has a moment to cool down. He goes back. He talks to us in the media room and he expresses regret for his own behavior and apologizes to the umpires and tells them that he knows that they're doing the best job that they can so he he is definitely a big part of it but again it's because all the way down the diamond backs just have quality personnel quality managers quality people developing these young players teaching them the right way to play the game and again just having respect in sportsmanship uh which is something that derrick hall said they

stressed derrick hall said respect and sportsmanship belong in our game and is something we stress to our players and staff, as well as to all amateur athletes that we engage with through our youth programs. And I've seen that firsthand as well when they're doing their camps. And even honestly, their fantasy camp, which is a fantasy camp. It's grown men my age going out there and putting on Diamondback's jerseys and living their dreams for a day at spring training or for a week or whatever. And even then, you know, it's lessons that, again, I know it sounds corny, but it's lessons that can extend over to life. I don't feel like we have enough respect for one another at times in this life in this current world. I think that goes for social media. I think

it goes for in person interactions, right? So I think all of us can learn a little bit from sports in regards to respecting others and showing some sort of grace even in some very stressful situations and some that would cause most of us to lose our minds. I am not a person that shows the best sportsmanship, especially when you get me in traffic in Phoenix, Arizona. I don't... Derek is sportsmanship. The guy is wearing his fantasy football championship ring last night. It happened this season and three quarters ago. How long ago did that happen?

And I even coordinated and planned where I stood in the group picture so that I could put my hand on Anthony Totry's shoulder, who I beat for that championship by less than one point. It's my greatest victory in my entire life potentially, and I will relive it as often as I damn well, please. Damon. All right. One more Damon tries to stop me. There's going to be some rattlesnakes in the lobby or something like that. But anyway, all right. Well, congratulations to the Diamondbacks on being a solid organization. And even though we give them so much crap for their choices and for, you know,

things, the winning percentage and kind of being mediocre team, they do try to do right by the way that they treat others, by the way they treat fans. You know, they still have the lowest prices in major league baseball that ballpark passes a great gift this holiday season and still the best value that i think you can find for any team offering a season ticket so you know kudos for the diamondbacks for trying to do things the right way from the top all the way to the bottom let's just have like can we have some of that good karma carry over onto the field and help our major league team win maybe we can bring home one more championship i think the diamondbacks again still need to be in that win now mode with Corbyn Burns being here for what could be a very short amount of time.

So hopefully they feel that and that's the way that they proceed. Can't wait to see some moves. Still hope that move does not involve Cotell Marte, despite the trade that we floated out there today. So we'll see how things develop. And of course, we'll be back here on Monday with another 12 p.m. show. It's another mailbag Monday. Make sure to send us your questions for that show and make sure to join us then.

Until then, have yourselves a wonderful weekend. I know this time of the year can be very sure. stressful for all of us, not just baseball GMs. So make sure to take some time for yourself and make sure you realize that in the grand scheme of things, all of this, all of this merchandise purchasing, all this gift purchasing. It's all, don't let it overwhelm you, okay? Take your time out there. And again, take some time for yourselves and enjoy your weekend. Try to enjoy your weekend. Hopefully you can get your shopping done for the loved ones that you need to get gifts for. Our merch shop, never a bad idea, especially if you're a diehard. But until then, you can

follow us on Twitter. I am at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon Dog with a D-A-W-G and as always we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but as always all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports

on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Cool bro would like me to thank John Sina before I get out of here and actually I would like to do that exact thing. We were just discussing John Sina's last year in WWE and how they have given us the opportunity to see John Sina do all the things that we never get a chance to see him do. And just how delightful,

what a fan service his last year has been. You know, a tip of the cap, custom merchandise for every city that they go to. You have him, you know, turning heel, which he never did. You had him winning the IC belt. It was just a really nice wrap up. I would like to say as somebody who is now doing this, my start in doing anything journalism related was covering John Sina's 300, hundredth wish granted for the Make a Wish Foundation. I was a young lad, if you want to call me that at the time. And as I've talked about on the show, my father was involved heavily with the Make a Wish Foundation. It's something I still treasure that he was a part of, and I love the fact that my dad was the first national president for the Make a Wish Foundation. But the big reason why

I went to cover this was my two things interacting. My love of pro wrestling and getting to meet John Sina. That was, I believe, America West Arena at the time. I don't know. Maybe it wasn't that old. But at that where the Sun's play, it was my first time being in that media room. It was my first time covering a big celebrity. And I had no idea what the hell I was doing. At the time, I wrote for a local magazine and most of my articles were about gadgets and gizmos and fun news around the world. It wasn't exactly the most scintillating articles by any stretch of the imagination. but meeting John Cena kind of changed my trajectory quite a bit. I felt like that day, a person of that celebrity, at least to me, could have definitely

changed things in a positive or negative for me. I was like a 1930s newsy, Damon. I had a little pad of paper. I didn't even have a recording device to record our interview. I was writing down what he said on a notepad and asking this giant of a man to repeat himself at times to make sure that I got the quotes right. And all he did was was patient with me. He put his gigantic hand on my shoulder while we talked and he gave me all the time I needed to get these questions answered by him. And he was gracious, professional, and amazing,

especially to somebody that he had no business giving his time to that day. So I'm still very thankful that John Sina did that for me because again, I don't know, you know, those moments in life, they're kind of intersections, right? You don't know how a negative experience could have impacted you. I still to this day, don't know if John Sina would told me to freaking kick rocks kid, maybe not kid because I still think I'm quite older than him, but I've told me to kick rocks. I don't know if I would have, you know, maybe gone down this same path. Thankfully, he didn't. Thankfully, he was amazing.

And to this day, not only do I still work in media, but I am a pro-rescently. wrestling manager. By the way, Ocean Avery will smash your face in if you ever say anything mean to me on Twitter. That's just a warning. But anyway. John Sina is 48, Derek. Oh, he is 48. So it was kid. It was kid. He got to kid me. Yeah, for sure. He's older than you. Anyway, uh, congrats to John Sina on an incredible career. And I look forward very much to watching him in his next phase to be an incredible actor. He has done a great job with all the stuff that he's been a part of. And, uh, I'm a huge fan. Uh, again, just a guy that really is, has, has, his, his is so multifaceted. He's so deep. He's so intelligent. Someone was saying that they were waiting

to do an interview with him and he just started randomly playing the piano. And it was the most beautiful piano playing they've ever like witnessed someone play in person in their life. So, uh, this man is incredible. That was the pH and X John Sina podcast. I mean, I'll do a whole pro wrestling podcast if you asked me to. We just did like seven minutes on Sina. I've only done, um, if you want any more proof of them. This is just a vessel of me and Derek's. interest to talk about our own interests. Yeah, for sure. Then this is the proof of it right now because we just did seven minutes on scene.

Let's talk about fast food while we're at. We want to talk about both you want to talk about. I don't know. Well, that was all cool, bro's fault. But thank you so much. Appreciate you for asking that. Because I love to share that story. And again, very, very awesome guy, awesome guy.

Favorite scene a match has to be the ECW match. Has to be the ECW match. By far, great stuff from him in that environment. and it was the thing that turned him, I think, in the favor of a lot of us that were kind of fed up with Super Sina at that point in his career. So again, it's changes, adapting, making, you know, finding ways to still be relevant. He's always done a good job at that. But we appreciate you guys. Thank you so much.

Join us out at Healer River Resorts and Casinos Wild Horse Pass. If you want to talk more about professional wrestling with me, Damon won't let me do anymore. But that's what we're here for. We appreciate you guys so much. again i gave you all of our stuff we thank you for your time we'll see you on monday have a wonderful weekend and remember kids baseball is fun but it's so much more fun when we finally stop talking about trading kattel marty