PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Is This Torey Lovullo’s Starting Lineup For The Diamondbacks in 2024?

Episode Date: March 12, 2024

Torey Lovullo sent out his A-lineup for the Diamondbacks on Monday against the Oakland As. Is this the same starting lineup we will see on Opening Day for Lovullo and co.? We also have answers to your Mailbag Monday questions about Brandon Pfaadt, the battle for the fifth starter in the rotation, and which Disney characters we actually are.SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to Suns Takeovers, Coyotes & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://gophnx.com/events/Arizona Lottery: Visit http://www.AZAdventure.com for more information on how you can take an adventure with the Arizona Lottery and for a chance to win $1 million in cash and Arizona travel prizes! PrizePicks - Download the PrizePicks app today and use code PHNX for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!NASCAR Weekend at Phoenix Raceway: March 8-10! Find more information at https://www.phoenixraceway.com/spring/ on the Shriners Children's 500, and be on the lookout for racing content from PHNX!Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Empire: Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! Receive a $350 OFF discount when you use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details.Sign up for Gila River Resorts & Casinos $1,000,000 Big Red’s Showdown! Stay in the game and get rewards; it’s that easy! https://www.gilamilliondollarshowdown.com/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Someburros: 20% off your order of up to $100 when you use code PHNX at checkout for the whole month of March at https://www.someburros.com/When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A ski to you all and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX feedback podcast. Right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am a Cately known as mayor of Phoenix. This maniac next thing is Caternalia. Vice Mayor is the Thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. And, of course, you guys know what day it is. So we're excited to get around to some of your questions.

I had myself a fun time out at Phoenix Raceway. Yes. I know you had a fun time covering baseball games that you always do on your weekends. and on your weekdays and on every day that is spring training. This man does not take a day off. But it turns out, Derek, there's a lot of spring training games. They're basically every day. Yeah.

And when they don't happen, we're still doing a show that day. So days off are a little hard to come by. It's ironic. He says that, right? He says that, but he's allowed to have days off. I am not a firm taskmaster that sends Jesse out there. In fact, Jesse was out covering baseball games. while these guys were out with me watching racing.

Yeah, yeah, Diamondbacks were out getting their teeth kicked in, a camelback ranch. Me and me and the boys, that was Mantipli, McGuff, and Tucker Barnhart, Christian Walker. We were all out there having a good time. I feel like if they're taking a day off. You really should. I mean, I'm saying. I feel like that's probably something that should happen at some point. But I appreciate you not pacing yourself for sure.

And I also appreciate you being out there today at Salt River Fields for the Diamondbacks, putting out there a lineup against the Oakland A's because that very much looked like the starting lineup. Do we have, let's take a look at this starting lineup that Tori Lavallo got out there today because this looks like it, Jesse, this looks like it. It does look like it. Yeah, Corbyn Carroll batting first and right field, Kattel in the two hole, second base, Gabby Moreno hitting third, Christian Walker hitting cleanup. Jack Peterson slid into the five spot there. Deaching, of course, and it was Lordus Curiel in left field, Aohenio Suarez, batting seventh at third base, Alec Thomas hitting eighth in center field,

and then Geraldo Pardomo hitting ninth at shortstop. Yeah, this is, I think the Diamondbacks, maybe not their opening day lineup, because I assume that Kyle Freeland would be the Rockies opening day starter, in which case that means there's a lefty on the mound, and so I think there would be some subtle changes. But this could be the Diamondbacks lineup the majority of the time against Ritees. And we're finding that out like several weeks out from opening day.

Obviously, things could change. Maybe guys could move around. But for the most part, there's certain things there that I really do like, including Gabriel Moreno no longer being down at the bottom of the lineup, being there in that three hole. That's very exciting for the Diamondbacks franchise catcher. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that was an adjustment that the Diamondbacks made.

made late in the season. I mean, in the playoffs, you didn't even see Gabby Moreno hit third every time. But eventually they decided not to have Tommy Fam in that spot against Ritey's and just use Gabby in that spot every single time out. And he was pretty good. He was pretty productive in the postseason, obviously, some really, really big moments there.

And I think it just fits together nicely. I mean, you have those top four hitters, Carol, Marte, Moreno, Walker, same exact top four as you had against Ritees in the postseason. And then instead of Alex Thomas hitting fifth, which we saw a little bit of in the playoffs. You have Jock Peterson hitting fifth. I think we can all agree a more formidable left-handed hitter in the middle of that lineup,

kind of separating, you know, giving a bit of a different look with all the other righties that are in there. And then, you know, Gouriel Suarez, Thomas all the way down in the eight hole, Geraldo Pardomo was really productive in the nine hole for much of the 2020-3 season. I think you have to like him staying there. So as we've been saying for a long time now, it's a really well-balanced lineup. there aren't any gaping holes in this lineup for the diamondbacks. And, you know, seeing it all on paper for the first time is, I think, a cool experience for a lot of people.

The only surprise for me here is Gabby Moreno and Gino being in the spots of there. And I think I would have imagined they would have been swapped and we would have seen Gino hit earlier in the lineup. I welcome Moreno hitting higher in the lineup. But what are your thoughts on Gino hitting 7? Yeah, I mean, Gino, you know, looking again at his numbers last year, but I'm, I welcome, you. Gino just didn't have a great offensive season in 2023. You know, he had an OPS of 714, OPS plus of 101.

So he's basically a league average hitter. And, you know, if you look at the homers and RBI numbers, 22 homers 96 RBI. I mean, those are pretty good. But yeah, I don't know if you're expecting A. Oh, Hennio Suarez, to be that kind of middle of the lineup run producer that he was earlier in his career. Not to say he couldn't bounce back and have a season like that. I think the diamond backs are kind of holding out hope that he's able to do that or at least have some optimism that that could happen. But that's not really the player he was last year.

Well, the way the lineup is structured right now, it does give them kind of a power guy. Every couple of batters, it gives that guy an opportunity to have some, you know, maybe guys on base ahead of him to drive in some runs. Yeah. And that kind of goes even for the lineup coming back around, right? You got Alec Thomas and Perdomo in, you know, eighth and ninth. And that is very similar to what we saw in the playoffs last year. and then you come back around, and now you have Corbyn Carroll,

who essentially goes from a lead-off hitter to a very capable, you know, a person that can bring in some runs. You got Cotel Marte that can bring in some runs. So, like, when it comes back around to the start of the lineup, you kind of almost have, you know, a kind of another lead-off situation with Alec Thomas and Perdomo there in the eighth and ninth-old.

So it just very much feels like a very complete lineup. And right now, Tori, I guess you spoke to him about if he's planning on making any of each of, Yeah, this is pretty funny. Tori was asked today, are you still considering anything with regard to this lineup? And here's how he answered that question.

Yeah. Who did the backups would be. When you were thinking about playing together, did you just kind of pick up where you were in October? You're talking about like Corbin, Marte, Moreno, Walker, Peterson. Yeah, it got real good. And I think that's going to be my starting point.

I think Gabby showed towards the back end of the baseball season that he was capable of handling that workload. And that responsibility, hitting that high up in the lineup. So I have no reason to believe that it's going to change. So I'll start there and we'll figure it out from this point forward. Yeah, I love what I saw at the end about last year. It worked really well for us. Love that answer.

Love that answer. I love the long pause. The extended pause, like making sure he wasn't leaving any small change that he might be considering out. And then he said, yeah, we are considering changes. Who are the backups are going to be. So, AKA we are not considering changes, really. Tori seemed to imply there that the lineup we saw today was, in fact, the Diamondbacks

lineup. Not necessarily against lefties, but against righties. I think this is what you would see more often. One of the starting lineups that we will probably see regularly, things could change. Tori doesn't really stay stuck to anything. I mean, he does try to give things an opportunity to work. Yeah. I also appreciate the fact that Tori does give us a lot of credit as media sometimes.

So I think when he is kind of thinking his answers through thoroughly, he wants to make sure that nobody in the room catches him on something or whatever. But that was pretty funny. That was a great pause. And I mean, he often says, I reserve the right to change my mind. That's a, that's a toriism we get often. We didn't actually get that today. So it feels like this has another, another layer of, you know, officialness compared to some of the things he said in the past.

It's like Dave Roberts, definitely for now, you know. Yeah, permanently for. Permanent for now. Yeah, talking about Gavin Love. Like things like that are things that managers, of course, you know, yes, they can say something now. they can make a decision now and then change that. That's what managing is. Managing is adapting throughout the season and making sure that you're giving your team the best opportunity to win.

Yeah. Big part of that is the guys that they brought in and how those personalities obviously fit in with the clubhouse. Now, that's something that's probably important for every single major league baseball team. But you do have to acknowledge that with the amount that it's brought up and kind of the care that they, that they take in talking about it. Bringing in guys that connect with the rest of the locker room is very important for this Diamondbacks team. And Tori talked about how all the new guys,

including Erod, Jock, and EGeno, are all fitting in in the clubhouse. There are great things about all the new players that we brought in, but they've been even better since I've gotten a chance to know. Example, Jock Peterson last Tuesday, brought in a taco truck for everybody for lunch. he's looking to plan some team gatherings.

Eduardo is in the middle of clubhouse, yucking it up, playing dominoes, and just getting to know his teammates on a more intimate level. Eugenio Suarez is good at holding other players accountable and just bringing them together and having them understand for the good of what's happening every single day. This is what we need to do and why you need to do it. So he's upholding what we're teaching as staff members. So those are just some small examples. They've been great.

can't wait to see how it plays out on a baseball field. Look, we're going to get hit in the face. There's no doubt about it. We were going to get slugged in the face at some point in time during the season. It's just baseball. It's sports. And you can't go 162 and O. I want to know what this team's going to look like when it gets socked in the face.

And I'm feeling very good about him being able to stand up and compete still. First of all, Jock brought in a taco truck? He did bring in a taco truck. That is incredible. This is not the taco truck. but this is this is an artist rendering somebody in this room

created this masterpiece and it is a masterpiece I must say of what maybe because maybe Jocko's Tacos is a thing we can like make happen right I mean I know it wasn't

specifically his taco truck and it definitely wasn't this taco truck but this taco truck kind of goes hard is my thought here and that maybe this is but you missed one important detail which is that Jock Peterson's

taco truck would surely be a cyber truck because he's a cyber he's a cyber truck damn it jessie you're right you're right oh man it might be a little hard to serve tacos out of a cyber truck on second thought but you might maybe you could find a way I don't know that's incredible though like jock peterson is a guy that when you see him and you can definitely do not miss him when he is you know around he is different right he is a very different kind of guy like and sometimes when you are a different person, speaking a little bit from experience myself here, it can alienate you from the people that

you're trying to kind of bond with and, you know, mesh well with. And I feel like that's just a supremely cool move to bring in a taco truck, right? Like everybody loves tacos. Who doesn't love tacos, right? I mean, I think it's a, it's a universal sign of love to bring your friends tacos, right? And especially if, you know, if you're really trying to make your coworkers like you, you know, bringing in a taco truck for lunch at work sounds like about the best thing that you can do. If you're a boss or a GM of like a business, like, let's say, hypothetically, media, you know. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, if you were, you know, in a leadership position in a media company, maybe that would help boost morale every now and then.

I don't know. Hypothetical scenario. Are you all right over there? That's all. That's all. That's all that's all the bookman. Anyway, Tori talked about if he's ever had a player bring in a food truck of any kind before. I do remember one.

Let's hear what Tori had to say. Didn't we just hear about that? There's another one. There's a follow-up clip Tori talking about, yeah, if he's ever had a player bring in a taco truck before. Do we have that? Not one. That's the first time. I was pissed I already ate.

I didn't even know. I was so pissed. That's what I told them. Ties tacos. Was that what it was? Tice tacos? Tai's tacos. Oh, he did have Tice Tocco, but we had to go way out there.

I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. It was Tice Tacos. Yeah. That was a long time ago. That's a good memory. The what?

You didn't indulge and have tacos after you ate. So I ate and I went out and got two to go and I had it for dinner that night. Trying to lose weight. I've got 10 pounds of ice cream weight on me. I remember that. I remember that. Taiwan Walker had his food truck out there. It was out in the grassy area of where they make us park.

They made me park the other day. That is a long way to go. It's a long walk. Yeah, you have to go outside the stadium and walk across the street over there. Not to mention the fact that I believe everybody was getting tacos. Like, it wasn't just for the plate. It was for fans walking up could get free tacos. Like anybody.

Members of the media. Members of the media. This guy right here and tried some of ties tacos, that's for sure. But this was different. The taco truck rolled up right into Salt River Fields. It actually drove right by where like the berm and the exit to the clubhouse is and where they do their bullpen sessions. So cool move from Jock, right?

And again, like it's, I feel like it's just a matter of. you know, again, like small gestures, like just small gestures of love, like buying your friend's tacos that helps you bond, right? I don't know. I like Jack. I'm excited for this season. I mean, I do have to add that, you know, if he really wanted the members of the media to, to like him all the more and perhaps say nice things about him, maybe the, maybe the media

should have been included in the taco truck this time around. I'm just saying. I for one, I for one, appreciate he didn't. because then, like, can you trust my unbiased opinion after that, Jesse? Can you really trust me as a journalist? I mean, I don't know if we've ever been able to trust your unbiased opinion. So unbiased is not really a word I would normally attach. Whatever.

Well, one thing that I'm still very much interested in, and I still might have a little biased towards one of these guys, but is that battle for the fifth spot in the starting rotation, right? up, Ryan Nelson and Tommy Henry. We both, I think, were of the mindset. Tommy Henry pretty much is the frontrunner, and it's kind of his job to lose a little bit, but he got roughed up on Saturday in surprise,

and Ryan Nelson was pretty good today. Ryan Nelson was pretty good today. He was different today also. Ryan Nelson, after we talked a lot on here about his revamped slider, how he'd been throwing it harder. We've seen it generally in the, the upper 80s averaging around 88 miles an hour. And today, we did not see that from Ryan Nelson.

We saw a slider from Ryan Nelson that was right around 85 miles an hour in this game. According to Statcast, he threw like two different pitches. They have a slider that averaged 83. They have a cutter in here that average 84.7. My understanding is they are actually the same pitch. I think he's just throwing one pitch. And Stadcast has just continues to be very confused about Ryan Nelson. Let's be honest.

pitches really are like one being a sweeper versus a slider versus a splitter versus like some like these pitches at all it just it's very small differences at times what changes from one pitch to another right i mean there are yeah like like i sure hope we can tell a splitter apart from a from like a sweeper or something like if you can't tell a sweeper and a splitter apart they're probably not very good pitches but uh but yeah i think i think i think statcasts maybe just getting a little confused there. And I also, frankly, am getting a little confused here with Ryan Nelson's pitching arsenal and kind of what the thinking is in this process. It did. I guess I'll start by saying it did work for him pretty well today. This new pitch, if you just kind of pool them all together,

he got three whiffs and four called strike. So pretty effective. Overall, I would say, he hadn't gotten any whiffs on the harder slider in either of his last two starts entering this game. So I guess it was a step in the right direction, but it continues to be a little difficult to sort through kind of what his, he was throwing two different pitches last year, one that registered as a slider, one that registered as a cutter. And then this year, the narrative was that he was just narrowing it down to one pitch. But then there were references today made to like differentiating between two pitches. So it continues to get more and more confusing. I guess the thing we can take away is that the Diamondbacks and Ryan Nelson himself haven't really figured out something that they

like yet and they're continuing to tinker, which is interesting when he is in the middle of, you know, vying for the fifth starter spot in this rotation, a very legitimate candidate for that spot. Usually that's something you're doing with a guy that has kind of a cemented spot in the rotation. Yeah. You're working on pitches. Sure.

If you're Paul Seawald, you can experiment with a new change up. You know your job is secure. You're just kind of playing with a new weapon and seeing if it will work for you. Ryan Nelson is in the thick of a fifth starter. competition and he just like on a on a Monday afternoon is like well I'm just going to throw a different pitch today he said it's a different grip too it's not just like he's you know he's throwing this one not as hard or however you would imagine that happening so but three and two thirds today four hits one earn run one walk two strikeouts 66 pitch is thrown 43 for strikes meanwhile Tommy henry on

Saturday and surprise three and two thirds innings pitch 10 hits loud five earned runs no walks two strikeouts. Yeah. Not a great day for Tommy Henry. Just looking at the numbers at this point, and again, I'm always really hesitant to just, like, I don't think the debacks are just going to pick the guy with the lower ERA at the end of spring, but I do have to believe that the performance in these games does matter for these two guys in particular.

In my mind, it's that carnival game where it's the little horses racing and you have to put the balls down into the holes to make your horse move. Like, I just, and I know that's not really what it's like, but it just feels like. but it just feels like at time you see kind of Tommy Henry take the lead and then here comes Ryan Nelson and now he takes the lead right like and if you're basing it purely on the results that's how you're going to view it it's not how the coaching staff is viewing it they're viewing it based on you know things like Ryan Nelson being able to add another pitch to his arsenal that does make him far more effective than the fastball pitcher

that he was yeah absolutely I mean at the end of the day it's it's going to be about his secondary pitches and how well those pitches are working The change-up was a talking point after this game. He got a couple whiffs on his change-up to left-east. He also threw a change-up to a righty in this game, which was interesting. He said this is the best that he's felt about that pitch so far in spring training. I think that's really important for him. But going back to that slider real quick, here's what Ryan's explanation was for the changes that he made this time around.

Yeah, it's a little different grip, different thought process to trying to get a little. little bit bigger like a little bit like horizontal movement yeah is it similar then to the like slower one that you had last year similar but not quite it's kind of in between the cutter and that one yeah what was the thinking behind making that change just trying to get something something that I can get more swing and miss in the zone whereas the the harder one kind of feels like in the zone it floats a little bit so Well, Ryan Nelson really seems like he's coming along.

Meanwhile, Miguel Castro has really struggled for this team. I know one of the questions we got today was, would the Diamondbacks just consider parting ways with Miguel Castro based on how, I guess, unproductive his spring has been so far? What did Tori have to say about this? I know he talked about it after the game. Yeah, Tori was asked about Castro and his struggle so far. And, yeah, I mean, it's not that many starts, and it's just spring training,

but Miguel Castro has definitely gotten. roughed up. I think he was good in his in his first spring training outing from a number standpoint, but since then he's given up at least one run every time. He has a, I think it's like a 12-7-6 ERA at this point with a 231 whip in spring training. So from a numbers standpoint, it doesn't look good. Tori basically just said that he needs to throw strike one. He needs to get ahead of hitters. If he's pitching from behind, then, you know, that's when he gets, that's when he gets in trouble and we saw a lot of that last year when Miguel Castro was in the strike zone. He can be really good. Like he has really, really good stuff. When he's, when he has the advantage in the

count, he can be one of the better relievers in the game at finishing them off. But when he's behind Miguel Castro, you know, we've seen how that looks at times. And that's kind of how it's looked in some of these outings so far. Well, another guy that not, not that we've been concerned with, but something we've been watching has been Paul Seawald's velocity. Tori talked about, obviously, that he doesn't know Paul Seawald that well, because this is his first spring training, you know, managing him. But he didn't seem concerned at all prior to today. We know Seawald's Velo's gone up a little bit,

but what did Tori said that afterwards still okay with Seawald's Velo being down? Yeah, he was asked, are you still okay with Seawald's Velo being where it is? And Tori said, yeah, he's okay with it. what was explained to him and other D-BACs coaches by Paul at the beginning of spring training is that it takes time for him to build up his VLO and he doesn't tend to get there until the end of spring training. So I think there's still a sense that he'll be able to get some back. He didn't get any back today.

His last start or his last appearance, I believe he averaged 89.8 with his 49.9.9 with his four-scene fastball and today it was 89.8. So it's basically the same as his last start. There's still a couple weeks left. I think you can get some back. But, you know, if you're expecting Paul Seawald to maintain his velocity from 2023, that's not really something I'm expecting at this point. It feels like they are still trying to figure out their infield backup roles and who is going to fill in there.

It feels like whoever they go with here needs to kind of be able to play multiple roles. that's why we saw Emmanuel Rivera playing shortstop today. He did a decent job. He did do a decent job. Yeah, he had one ball where he had to move far to his rights and threw from deep in the six hole, made a really nice throw. It looked smooth.

And then he had another play where he had to charge in on a slow roller, and he executed that one well too. It's always tricky, you know, and you don't have that many innings to give to these guys at various positions. And you really want them to be challenged in those innings. You know, if you put Jack Peterson, left. You don't want him to just get like two pop-ups that are super routine that, you know, you and I might be able to make. You want to see him challenged a little bit. And Emmanuel Rivera

was challenged today with those two balls that went to him and he executed really, really well. And Tori talked about being comfortable with Rivera playing shortstop potentially this season. Yeah. Yeah. I think he's got enough enough infield, overall infield potential where he knows his clock is solid. He's got great hands. I just want to get him from more familiar with the angles of the ball coming at him and look it's about making a routine play and I think he could make a routine play no problem I know he's going to want to excel and make something more than that but he made two tough plays today those weren't easy so overall I would feel comfortable because I just think he's a really good infielder assuming you were happy to see two balls hit right out of him kind

to be in tricky spots yeah yeah the way I'm watching the game is a little different from the fan I'm thinking please hit the ball the short please hit the ball the short please hit the ball the short and they did. They did. And, you know, it worked out well. Bees and Albert are back in the chat. Now it's a party. Happy to have you guys back here.

Tori, obviously, you know, still like that funny comment he made, the backup role. There's still a lot to be determined. There's still a lot to be figured out there for the starting rotation as well. So Rivera will play third tomorrow. We'll have Elvis Andrews. They're playing shortstop tomorrow. Yeah, that is what Tori said.

We just keep shuffling these infielder's around. It feels like I could use like a random number generator to figure out like where Kevin Newman, Jace Peterson, Elvis Andrews, all these guys are playing on a given day. They've been bouncing around a lot. But a lot of it is a test for versatility. If you're going to land one of those backup infield spots, debacks are going to want you to be able to move around a little bit. And all of all of those guys in that conversation were being tested.

We saw Elvis Andrews in his first game with the deep. starting at third base the other day, which is a position I'm not even sure if he played last year, maybe a handful of innings, if anything. So versatility is certainly a factor here. Well, we appreciate you guys being here in the PHNX Sports YouTube channel. Of course, and those of you that have not been around, appreciate you coming back.

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Schedule a free in-home estimate today. All listeners can receive $350 off when they use promo code PHNX. Restrictions do apply. See Empire Today.com slash P.HNX for details. And yes, Michael McDermott says there's a higher chance that Derek is signed to the D-BACs roster than Trevor Bauer. You're goddamn right there is. Have you seen me in left field? I am incredible.

Of course. I mean, if both numbers are zero, can we really... Are you talking about percentage chance? The chance, higher chance? I have to be a fraction of a percentage higher than Trevor Bauer. That's for sure. I don't think you're a fraction of a percentage. I think it's just a blank zero for you and for him.

You shouldn't take it as it's not meant to be offensive. It's just. It somehow is offensive. It's a blank zero for me too. I don't want to know that the ship has sailed on any of my career choices. Whether that is accurate or not, I just want the door to remain open, Jesse. You got to keep an open mind. And that's what we're about on this show.

It's not the only thing we're about, though. Because, of course, you know what we're about on Mondays. Every month on this show is Women's History Month. Not just the month of March. Every single month. Just like every week is Shark Week, not just some week that a channel tells you it's Shark Week in the middle of summer. Every week is Shark Week. Every day is Earth Day.

Because we don't just do that one day a year. We do that every day here on this podcast. But on Mondays, Mondays are special. On Mondays, we go to the mailbag. Damon, let's go. Michael McGarman has given me more than a zero percent chance of making a team. And, you know, he doesn't believe in me at all. So let's go.

What do we got here? He believes in you more than he should. That's right. We got our question, first question from our, oh, no, oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. This is what happens when Damon actually eats food around here. Yeah, I know.

We can't let this happen. Guys, I have no idea what you're talking about. The, the graphic is on the screen. It was there the whole time. It was there the whole time, and we blew it. All right. Well, this first question comes from Bozzo's, Zos, Zos, Zos.

I think he said, Zo, one, not, I think you missed one Zososos. Zosos, Zos. There, there it is. He says, and I like that he I like that he went ahead and censored certain words in this tweet. I appreciate that, but he said, the Dodgers broadcast

was trashing Fots, change up numbers, but I was very impressed with the way he played it off the sweeper and sinker, especially against the Phillies, lefties and the NLCS. Did it improve post Strom intervention, or was it just a playoff mirage, PS, FTT. And I think any Diamondbacks fan knows what FD means.

Jesse, what are your thoughts on Brandon Fotz's change-up? And especially, I guess, the way things didn't go well on Saturday. Yeah, I think that his change-up is a really, really important pitch. This is something we talked about after one of his starts a little while back, something that he had mentioned after a start when asked about. the change-up and if that was kind of a point of emphasis for him coming into the season and he said emphatically yes that is something that he was working on over the off season and really important for him against lefties sweepers are not generally great pitches to lefties kind of no matter how good yours is

we don't see that many pitchers with sweepers use them to lefties successfully it's pretty rare and while i think fots is as good as just about any you'll find and maybe could still be pretty useful against lefties. We saw some of that last year. Having a change up really adds so much to his arsenal. And it did play well in the playoffs at times for sure. The Phillies in particular, Kyle Schwerber, Bryce Harper, we definitely saw guys struggle with that pitch. The fact, the big thing for Fod is just getting to a place where it's more consistent. It has not been consistent really so far. He's been very reliant on the four seam, the sweeper and the sinker. The change up is kind of come and gone form.

If he could get to a place where it is there consistently like it was in that Philly series, that would be really huge for him. Two and two thirds innings pitched against the Dodgers on the tent, gave up four hits, four earned runs, gave up one dinger, struck out one, no walks. So not a great outing for fought. And yeah, the change up, I think, is still a work in progress. I believe that Brandon fought is still a work in progress. I think that, you know, we were asked this before about kind of how he played in the playoffs,

if that was a mirage, if you will. And I still think that the actual Brandon Fott is somewhere between, you know, what we saw at times when he struggled and that pitcher. But, yeah, I do think that, you know, for a brief moment, what we saw was a young pitcher who has a reputation for being very calm at all times. big, huge games, the biggest baseball games that any pitcher could pitch in, and he remained calm. And I think that that was his biggest weapon. When you talk about how effective that change-up was, it was against aggressive hitters that he was just throwing some stuff sometimes that he had no business throwing, and it was working extremely well, and his stuff was really good because he was really confident in it. And that confidence sometimes can just be the fact that he was

able to maintain, you know, his composure so well during those big games during the playoff run, you know. One thing that I do think is kind of funny from his start yesterday against the Dodgers, the numbers, as you mentioned, were not good. He, he did not, I don't believe he threw a single sweeper in the first inning of that game because he didn't want to show the pitch to the Dodgers. And it sounds like he was intending on going the entire game without throwing a single sweeper just so that he wouldn't be revealing that pitch, although they were.

they've seen it before. But you didn't want to show that pitch again in a spring training game to a division rival. And eventually he just broke. I think in the second inning, I'm not sure exactly when it was. He just decided that the results had been so miserable up to that point. And he just wanted to start getting outs again. And so he started throwing the sweeper. And naturally, when Fott throws the sweeper, he starts to have success at that point.

All right. Well, I believe in Brandon Fought. So that's, I'm sure we'll see him find himself. And like, honestly, gamesmanship, I give them a 10, right? If you're trying not to tip your, tip your hand to one of your biggest opponents that you're going to have to face throughout the season, I'm here for it. Spring training games are meaningless. Let's remember that. What else we got?

Next question comes from Travis More More for me. Says, haven't thought about it much, but Hurley hitting a home run the other day made me wonder, how much has the last draft class been playing over spring training? I know Troy is playing in the breakout game, but has he been playing other than that? What about the other guys like Drew Jones? I know Tommy Troy got in for, you know, like one at bat, but I don't think that he's really played very often. I think that, to be honest, it's, you know,

guys that are that far off typically aren't really getting a lot of playing time, especially from this point in spring training on, because they do really want to see positional depth and guys that they are considering calling up this season, potentially should they need them. And I think that's probably the reason why you don't see a lot of those guys. Like, I mean, when Tori says that people are in camp are, you know, fighting for roles, even when we don't think that they're actually in the competition for like the starting

pitcher role or something like that, there is a reason why they're still around, right? And the reason why is because they still want to continue to get a look at them. They still believe that that player could potentially be an asking. at some point during the course of the 2024 season. Yeah, we've seen a few. We haven't seen all that many. I'm looking up the numbers now. So Jack Hurley has two played appearances.

Of course, a home run. One for two there. Drew Jones, we have not seen any spring training games at this point, although I do expect you'll see him in that fun prospect game that we have coming up. Spring breakout. And then Tommy Troy. has had just two at bats in spring training. I guess three played appearances, two at bats.

He did double in, or sorry, this is Kevin Sim. I'm mixing up my baseball reference pages here. Kevin Sim, who is taken by the Diamondbacks in the fifth round in the 2023 draft, he has had three played appearances and does have a hit. And then we've seen Tommy Troy. We haven't seen really anyone else. So you're not generally going to see a whole lot of, you know, last year's draft picks playing in spring training.

It's really just too early for those guys to be seriously competing for jobs. You'll see an occasional at bat here and there just with how the roster is kind of shaked out. I think, you know, the team, they like to see those guys getting in actual games and, you know, showing what they can do on that stage. But it's not, there's no sense in giving Jack Hurley, you know, 40 played appearances this time of year. Those played appearances should go to guys who are, you know, more realistically aiming

for jobs right now. Riley Dunn says both Hurley and Troy are very, very new in their career, so I feel just two at bats isn't just yet enough to judge them. Yeah, probably not. Nor I don't think is the front office or Tori and his coaches doing that either. I think it's just a matter of getting the guys playing time that they need to see. And you're right about those guys being very, very new in their career. So that's the reason why they're not really being considered.

it doesn't mean that things can't quickly change over the course of a season, right? Corbyn Carroll completely spoiled us with how fast he moved through the Diamondbacks minor league system. And sometimes maybe there might be another guy that could do it equally, you know, as fast. It just, you know, is something that, of course, right now the Diamondbacks have a lot of positional depth. They have a lot of guys up here that they are wondering which ones they're going to keep and which ones they're going to possibly either send down to minor leagues or DFA. They, you know, they have to figure out their, you know, their backups right now. And that's kind of who they're looking at the most.

Yeah, the spring breakout game will be fun. You'll get, you'll get to see some of these guys and, you know, a little bit more. But even then, I mean, I don't think you're necessarily, you're getting a bunch of different D-BACs prospects from, you know, a bunch of different draft years at that point. So it's going to be a while before you see much of the 20-23 draft class, just kind of the way. way baseball works. Who is managing that team? Is Tori managing that team? I, Tori is not managing that team, but I don't know who is. Interesting. Tori said the other day, he was asked if he will manage. He said no, but I do not know who is managing that game. All right. Next question comes from our guy, Gabriel, bold as bronze. Gabriel asks,

what's your unpopular D-back's opinion? Mine is that they did the right thing at the time trading Dansby for Shelby Miller. All right, I'll just tear the Band-Aid off. I think that people like idolize paulchman entirely too much excuse me i think people idolized paulchmidt entirely too much i think i don't even know how to start with paul gold you're gonna make damon so angry right now there was absolutely incredible and i'm not saying that he didn't go off somewhere else and become and like still be an incredible player i'm just saying like when it comes to that the loss of paulchmidt as much as it might have been about money, I don't know if it was for Paul Goldschmidt

as much as it would have been the allure to go play for a team like the St. Louis Cardinals. So your reason that he's... I don't know how to respond to this. So your reasoning for this is that he wanted to play for a winning organization and therefore he should be idolized. My reason for this is that at times, well, it's not that I just think,

I think people that are Diamondbacks fans really feel like that like crumbled the organization, like Goldschmidt leaving the organization, right? It represents, I think, an era ending. You know what I mean? Like losing Paul Goldschmidt represents losing that era of Diamondbacks baseball. And he is no doubt, I think, what the, I think he's currently the best hitter we've, we've ever had at a peak. Wouldn't you say so, Jesse?

Yeah, I mean. Yeah. I'm not really sure that's debatable. Yeah. I mean, I would, I'm not even debating that necessarily. You're saying at a peak, though, right? Like, it bounced off. They're asking for a new mayor. These people are not happy, Derek.

No, I mean, for the most part, I get it. I understand you're not going to be happy. It's an unpopular opinion. That's why it's an unpopular opinion. I respect. Did you ask me for a popular opinion? Corbyn Carroll is a very good baseball player. That's a popular opinion.

I said that people idolize, Paul Goldschmidt far too much. And I think that Paul Goldschmidt would have left the organization on his own after the end of the season. I don't know how that would have made people feel differently about it. I don't. But it's like trading him makes it look like the Diamondbacks didn't want him. When in reality it was a matter of trying to get some assets back from a player who kind of made it very clear that he wasn't going to be around after the end of the season. I just don't like people make it out like they got rid of Paul Goldschmidt. Now, on the flip side, I will say that they could have easily kept him and they should

have. And Mike Hazen has even said it's one of his biggest regrets, right? Yes. What he traded away wasn't, you know, that's the one move that I think he sincerely would take back, you know? But do you remember in 2017 against the Rockies, the whole crowd sold out Chasefield chanting MVP, MVP, MVP. I was there for it.

Goldschmidt walks up to the plate, hits a bomb. Chase Field is going ballistic. You can never take that away from you, Derek. There will never be a time where you can take that away from you. I won't apologize for it. I'm not trying. I will not apologize for it. I won't.

I won't apologize for a guy that hit 260 after we traded him away. I won't. Sorry. Anyway, Jesse, do you have any hot takes or do you want to just leave me out to dry on this one? I'm just like I just can't wrap my mind around what you just said. You guys were small children when Paul Goldschmidt was on this team. That is not true. That is as much as I'm usually on board with talking about, you know,

eight-year-old me watching the Diamondbacks. I was not, I was not that little when Paul Goldschmidt played for the Diamondbacks. Paul Goldschmidt was an incredibly good baseball player whom the Diamondbacks certainly should have kept. And the reporting at the time was that it was kind of weird. If I'm remembering correctly, the reporting was that when the diamondbacks were trying to extend Goldie, the prices that were the numbers that were being exchanged were higher than what he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals,

which I guess sort of is kind of your point in some ways, right? Paul Goldschmidt, maybe he just preferred to go elsewhere. He did not want to stay with the Diamondbacks. He just didn't. And I mean, I don't blame him for that. I felt like they made that. He made it abundantly clear. That was, it was just a fact it felt like at the time.

It was just a matter of what were they going to get back for him. And they absolutely did not get enough in return. I don't think that equates to like him being overly idolized. Like he was an unbelievable player and will probably be in the Hall of Fame and very well may wear a Diamondbacks cap into the Hall of Fame. He will not wear a Diamondbacks cap in the Hall of Fame. I think he might. He will absolutely not.

If he doesn't there, then maybe I will jump on this side. I will fucking guarantee that he will wear it for the team that he won the MVP. for. Yeah, but he was close with the Diamondbacks multiple times. About two, I did the math on this.

He was second in voting twice, third in voting once. Yeah, he was very close. He absolutely got to him right. And he never got the credit he deserved as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks, which I think that was an indictment

of the organization more than the indictment of him, right? Which is why he wanted to leave. Correct. We, I mean, me and Damon were looking at the MVP voting for the years that Paul Goldschmidt didn't win. It didn't have anything.

to deal with Paul Goldschman being a diamond back. This, you know what? I just found it. My unpopular take, this might be even more controversial. Paul Goldschmidt never deserved to win an MVP. Oh my God. When he was with the Diamondbacks. He did not.

He did not. It is just, it is just objectively the truth, you know. Growing up was a different story because I was a very, I was a very big fan. I was a very big fan of this Diamondbacks team. growing up and I was all on board with like Andrew McCutcheon sucks and the whole thing. But you look at the years where Paul Goldschmidt was vying for that award. I can go through it real quick, just for you, Derek. Just to make sure that everyone is clear on this.

So 2013. I'm not even talking anymore. Jesse is the one saying these things. 2013 was the Andrew McCutcheon year. Paul Goldschmidt was worth 6.3B war. Andrew McCutcheon was worth 7.8. The argument at the time was that, you know, home runs an RBI way better for Paul Goldschmidt. You know, the OPS was higher for Paul Goldschmidt.

But if you really look at the underlying numbers, the reality is that Andrew McCutcheon was a center fielder. And Paul Goldschmidt was a first baseman. A very good first baseman, but he was a first baseman. And there's just a big difference there. Andrew McCutcheon also had more stolen bases, just giving you more value in other places. people are saying you sound like a Dodgers podcast right now, which is probably a fair criticism. But just to make my point,

2015 was the Bryce Harper year. This is another year where Paul Gullochman finished second. Bryce Harper had an 1109 OPS. Any Diamondbacks fan trying to convince me that Paul Gultzman should have won it in 2015, it's just objectively false. And the numbers, it should not be a hard call to make. It is pretty obvious.

And then 2017, when he finished third in MVP voting, That year you had both Jean-Carlose Stan and Joey Votto in front of him and they just had higher OPS. I mean, really any number that you look at, they were better than Paul Goldsmith. So that is my unpopular take, which is backed by numbers.

And any Diamondbacks fan who doesn't agree with me is just straight up in denial. There it is. We both ate Paul Goldsmith. Somehow what this devolved into. Did we lose all of you yet? Is there one guy in the back that still likes us? Because if not, I will not stop until that man also hates us like the rest of you do.

All right. Can we go on? I'm just going to save the chat here. Mine is that Kevin Ginkle is modern-day Mariana Rivera. God damn it. That's not unpopular. Yeah, that. You're a monster.

You're flingating to the fan base. If I went up to a baseball fan and I said that at all. Damon did not understand the assignment at all. If I went up to a baseball fan and said that to them, they wouldn't slap me across the face. Well, sure, a general baseball fan, but not a Diamondbacks fan. Which is that what the show is? I mean, we're talking, we're talking unpopular D-Backs opinion. It doesn't say unpopular two Diamondbacks fans.

It just says that it has to be. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. Maybe we should work on our reading comprehension, you guys.

Maybe we should, David Dogg. Next question comes for Brighton Bobbitt at BB underscore Nitro. And he says you guys have talked a lot about spring number how spring numbers don't matter but is there anybody that their performance so far this spring has you worried about them Miguel Castro comes to mind for sure that is one name um and that's simply because that was a guy that last year already uh there's a little bit of a mix or a little bit of lack of confidence obviously in his performances and you know again i think that he is a guy that you know it's still very much fighting for his job and the way that he

He kind of as performed, should be, rightfully so. I don't think he should be anointed a position in the bullpen when you have a lot of options right now currently fighting for a job. You're talking Castro? Yeah. Yeah, he just, you know, the contract is guaranteed. I think that just kind of is what it is.

I don't necessarily disagree with what you're saying, though. I don't know if the Diamondbacks care about that any longer, right? I think, I think Miguel, I mean, it is just spring training. And, you know, Miguel Castro, Should he be handed a job? Maybe not. I mean, he didn't necessarily have the kind of season that would warrant that. But I think if you're the Diamondbacks, you're going to start with the players that you have on guaranteed contracts.

You're probably not going to react too too much to a few bad spring training outings. And all in all, if you look at Castro's numbers at the end of last year, he wasn't all that bad. He had a IRA in the low fours. Was it a good season, no? but was he, you know, a reasonably okay reliever? I would, I guess so. And they're certainly hoping for him to get better this year. What was the original question?

Paul Goldschmidt? Am I supposed to talk about Paul Goldsman again? Try Paul Goldschmidt some more. Okay. No, I can do that. Are you actually worried about anybody's anybody? Oh, right. Okay.

So far this spring as you worried about them. I would not use the word worried with Zach Gallen because he is literally, we have seen him, we've hardly seen him in spring training whatsoever. I think it'd be outrageous. But I will say that just in general, I think that, I think that Zach Gallen is going to have to prove

that he is able to bounce back from the kind of workload he took on last year. And it's not something specific to him. It's just honestly any major league starting pitcher, I think, that throws 250 innings. It's a new challenge. It's a new situation. And do I think that Zach Allen can't do that?

No, I think he's totally capable. But it's a question that I think is valid. How will he respond to that? His first outing in surprise, he didn't look great, I guess. Like his velocity was down, you know, lower than we saw it last year at the beginning of spring training. I'm not worried at this point. It's too early to be worried about anything with Zach Allen. But it's just something that I'm continuing to watch.

I wouldn't say I'm like totally disregarding. I'm maybe disregarding like his stat lines in these spring training games. Sure. But if his Velo stays like, you know, well below where it was even last spring training, that's something that I would, I would maybe get concerned about at a certain point. We're just, we're just not there yet. All right. Let's get one more in.

Next question comes from our guy, Ramon. Ramon, A.on 7 on Twitter. And Ramon says, give the diamondbacks, given the diamond backs, minus 19 run differential in spring training. Are there any concerns? Do you think this is a problem that will persist in the regular season? I mean, a lot of that right now is obviously the Dodgers big win, and I don't really have that much concern.

The Diamondbacks did have a negative run differential for most of last season anyway. So I feel like this is the kind of team that most likely isn't going to be an offensive juggernaut, but it's going to be the kind of team that will be in a lot of games and hopefully we'll see them win a lot of games. Yeah, I don't know if it's hard for me to really get worked up about a team's record in spring training, much less, much less their run differential. They're both kind of in the same category. I mean, the reality is a lot of these innings are being pitched by guys who will not throw an inning for the diamond backs all year. A lot of these at-bats are being taken by guys who will not take an bat for the diamond packs the entire year. So it's really like, I mean, I'll talk about how I think individual players' stats aren't especially relevant.

Team stats in spring training are very irrelevant in my minds. Like, not even really worth looking at. I don't care what teams records are in spring training. I don't care what teams run differentials are in spring training. You know, maybe individual players I'd read into some of those numbers. But yeah, there's just too many variables in spring training to put any stock in that stuff. Well, the stats during the regular season matter and the reason why they matter is because of the BetMGM sports book. Right now you can get down on some amazing future bets as well as those matchups that I was talking about where BetMGM allows you to take two players and match them up head to head, see who gets the most home runs, who gets the most RBI, all sorts of wonderful matchups in there.

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They did the thing. I don't know. They were down by a lot and they were up and I had to do a show. But, of course, they're kind of a scary team to bet on right now when it comes to the NBA. But PHNX bets will get you all figured out for that. Again, sign up for bed, MGM and use code PHNX. Place your first sportsbook wager through the mobile application for at least $5. You'll receive $150 instantly in additional winnings regardless of your wager's outcome.

Check out the show notes for full. details and now listen to Damon talk about the disclaimer. Wow. I went high. We got more mailbag questions. No, before we do that, stop it, Damon. We're not done yet because I need a beer. I need a beer.

Can you get me a beer? Do we have any beers? Do you actually want a beer? No, I don't because I got some right here because I got all my Four Peaks beers. These are, I think, Owen's beers, but I'm going to drink them. But Four Peaks, we love our friends at Four Peaks. It is the beer I always look to grab. If you are an establishment, if you're a bar and you want to know what beers to have on tap,

Make sure you have wonderful Four Peaks. It's a great way to bring me into your establishment. Right now, New Year, new beer, they got their Bad Birdie, juicy golden ale, a collab between Four Peaks and our guys over at Bad Birdie. Super drinkable, perfect for the golf course. Perfect companion at the tea box or in your fridge. Visit FourPeaks.com slash locator to find all your favorite beers and events. Check out at Four Peaks Brewer or at Four Peaks Pub to keep up with the latest at Arizona's hometown brewery. Must be 21 or older to drink four peaks.

Please drink responsibly. and do not forget, we are the chicken tendees gang over here on PHNX. Never forget. Never forget that. What do we got here, Damon? We got some more mailbag Monday questions. Maybe we can rectify this ship before people get too mad at us. Brett Lee Johnson, with a very convoluted question asks, after seeing Dune 2, it made

be think, is Corbyn, R. Lise, and, Gabe, that is the main character from Dune and Dune 2. He says, our humble little desert mouse savior has come to take down the Harkin'n in, aka the Dodgers. And Brett, I can't think of a better metaphor for it. However, in Dune, he's a Messiah. He's a savior. And the problem with that is that I don't, is Corby and Carol are Messiah? Absolutely.

Are savior? I'm sorry, Derek. Do you remember the days before Corby and Carol? They weren't fun. I don't know. They really weren't. See, I think in classic movie style that you might not realize that the actual Savior is maybe Catele Martes.

No, I mean, Catelle is awesome. Don't get me wrong, but like, Cotel's been on some pretty irrelevant Diamondbacks teams. Like, Corbin pretty much represents the changeover from the Goldie era to the Corbin era. The savior coming to us and saving us from the evil, the popcorn buckets. Got to save us from the popcorn buckets. All right. What else we got?

This comes, the next question comes from Mike Wazzowski. and he just says, Blaze Alexander, no question, just wanted to say Blaze Alexander. We appreciate that. This is a Blaze Alexander Appreciation podcast, by the way. And yeah, I mean, his name, right?

His name keeps coming up. This has been as far as like, I guess the star, who's the star so far of spring? Well, it was Ketel hitting 600 there for a while, but it definitely feels like Blaze is a name that kind of his stock has grown quite a bit this spring. It absolutely has. And whether that translates to Blaze Alexander being on the opening day roster remains to be seen.

It still kind of seems like things are trending away from that. But you definitely get the sense that if it's not an opening day, Blaze Alexander could have a role on this Diamondbacks team at some point during the season. And this is kind of built up excitement for that. Like whenever Blaze does make it to the majors probably going to happen this year, maybe early in the year. You know, I think a lot of people are going to be excited for that and rightfully so. All right. And Pedro says, Corbyn is my tribal chief. We acknowledge him. We acknowledge him. All right. What else we got? Daniel Casten. Our guy, Daniel Casten asks, draft of 5V5 PHNX employee, Whiffleball roster with Derek and Jesse as captains. Let's fucking go, Jesse. Who gets first pick? We're like an hour into the show. We're going to take first pick. We're going to do this fast. I'm going to take first pick. And with my first overall pick, I'm taking Damon Doug. It's snakes, by the way.

This has to snake. Yeah. It snakes. Okay. All right. I will take, I will take Saul Bookman. That's a good choice. He wins at all of the company games.

He's just so fucking competitive at everything. It doesn't matter what it is. The same level of competitiveness. I will also take Bob Brock, who I feel would just be outstanding. You all it, but our team is about done. What the fuck? That's terrible. Oh, I don't know about that.

With my second overall pick, I will be taking Danielle. Bang! I did. I don't even need any more players. I'm already beating you with just the two of them and me managing. But if I can and I will and I don't care what the rules are, I'm going to extend it a little further because he said PHNX. I'm going all city. Sean DePaz.

Come on over. No, no, no, no. No, it's not fair. It was specifically PHNX. All right. Well, then I'm taking Shane Diefenbach. Okay. Taking Shane. I got Sean, I got Danielle, and I got Damon. All right, you got two picks. Yeah. We're running out of, running out of people here. You don't even know who we work with. He's literally looking up.

I need to see. How are we running out of baseball? There's about 25 points. Well, we're not, let me correct myself. We're not running out of people, running out of people that I would wish to have on my Wiffleball team. That is what we are running out. I will take, I guess I have two picks, right? Two picks. All right. Give me Max, I guess. Reluctantly, I'll take Max.

Is he serious? Take Max. Okay, go ahead. All right. So one more. Give me PD because that just feels right. This is crazy. The TV is a backback.

The team spirit is going to be off the charts. We destroyed Jesse. Can I have Eric and can I have Gerald and can I have the championship trophy, please? Thank you. Thank you. I will take my trophy now. I definitely forgot about Eric and Gerald. Shout out.

Shout out Eric and Gerald. They're right outside the door. You were talking to them before we started this show, Jesse. All right. I still have one more pick, though. One more pick to redeem myself. I can give you three more. pigs and you're still not funny.

This is fucking crazy. I mean, I haven't even played five on five with all to begin with. Give me give me Jacob. Give me Jacob. I want Jacob. Who did you take after Max?

Jesse? You took PD. I took PD. That's right. So my team is me, Saul Bookman, Bo Brock, Max Simpson.

Who do we just say? So tall and lanky. What a strike? And he and Jacob. Petey and Jacob Franklin. Do you even think about the strike zone? Jacob Franklin's going to have? It's huge.

Yeah, he's going to pitch, man. And you're not going to know what to deal. You're not going to know what to do with that downward plane that he's got going on. I think you should have, you definitely should have someone should have drafted Tootry because that's an automatic walk. You cannot pitch to that guy. Yeah. Tootry? Tootry?

You've seen that strike zone? Yeah, it's little. It's very little. It's very little. All right. Moving on. Same with Johnny. You mean James.

James vulnerable. James and. Tootry are absolute on-based machines. They're my lead-off guys. All right, what else we got? Thomas Eastgate, our friend from the UK, D-BACS UK Western asks, mailbag Monday question to Derek, $1 million up front or Kirby and Carol MVP, DeVax World Series, one food item under $30 at a restaurant of your choice.

Wow. This is basically like, am I selfless, right? Is that what he's asking? Am I willing to give up a million dollars you're going to pay me? so that the Diamondbacks could have success? I love that he felt the need to add the one food item under $30 at a restaurant. That's the package, right? He was like, Corby-NvP World Series, that's a bit.

That's a bit too little. Maybe I'll add in one food item of his choosing at a restaurant of $30. Yeah, they're basically like throwing in some chicken tennies at four peaks. And that might put that option over the top, I feel like. But with a million dollars, I can buy all the chicken tending. I want. So I'll be taking the million dollars selfishly. And Jesse made me that way.

And when we asked if I was going to have lunch with Corby and Carol or have a raise at work, Jesse was like, give me that money, man. Screw Corbyn. Guys, I'm all about the team, but that's not even close. It's not. Yeah. It's not. I'm not.

I'm not a good person. You guys know that. Any Diamondbacks fan who answers that question and says that they would take like all of those things, the World Series. They're just straight up lying. They want the million dollars. A better question is like. like $10,000 or a Diamondbacks world series.

Now I'm thinking. Then it, yeah, then it becomes a hard question to answer. With interest rates being what they are today, come on, I need that money. Give me that money. Yeah. In this economy? I'm still probably taking the 10K. Yeah, probably.

You're right. All right. Last question and the best question comes from Elizabeth. And Elizabeth at the Beretosaur on Twitter asks, which animated Disney character do you think best represents you? This question is also for Damon. First, thank you for including the people's producer. Second, why is it that every character I think of is somehow attached to what Jesse would be?

My first inclination is that I would be Ballou from the Jungle Book, and that would make you my Mowgli. And that feels very right, because the way that I try to teach you stuff about life that isn't actually correct, it's just my weird point of view on stuff. But I try to, like, you know, enforce it on you, like, as if it's got it. possible is pretty fair. Yeah. And sheen would make a great Louie. King Louis.

King Louis, the Raggetang? I love this comparison. I think Mobley as Jesse and Derek as as Blue is like the best comparison. Well and you as Bagheera watching over Mobley making sure I'll fuck up his life. Just kind of just like sitting there

and just being like this is good time. Just make sure it continues to be a good time and Derek doesn't screw it all up. I don't hate it. I also said like I'm I feel like the genie would be good for me. Like I'm like to make other people's dreams come true, but I am essentially trapped in a prisoner of the lamp myself. So yeah, that's fair.

What do you got? I feel like Olaf is it a fairly good fit for me. Just like like very happy and optimistic, but more more because of like how naive you are than anything else. Like, oh, he just doesn't get it. He just, he doesn't understand. He loves summer. He loves summer.

Exactly. Exactly. And I try to tell him, you can't go out in that eat without drinking water and he doesn't listen to me. Oh, that's great. Maybe Mike Wazzowski and, you know, like a little Mike Wazowski action. I could be. Yeah. And then you're.

Yeah, you're solely. Yeah. I don't know. James P. Solver. All right. I'm good with those. I, uh, so.

Damon, we got to get yours. I did some research. I did a, I did a quiz. I thought about it doing a quiz. I thought about doing a quiz. I got Aladdin. I've had enough time. You got Aladdin.

Oh, that's good. But Tocry kind of called Aladdin. He did call Aladdin earlier. So then I was like, oh, what should I pick? And I was like, well, what about Olaf? But Jesse took Olaf. Yeah. Well, like, see, Aladdin, what a great, like, Aladdin's got everything.

He has a monkey and a tiger. He has a rug. He has a genie that will make his wishes. He does have it all. He has it all. Jasmine? Bad bitch. Bad bitch.

Bad bitch. For sure. Groundhog Mama says Woody. Buzz Lightyear and Slinky Dog for the three of us. Oh, I'm okay with that. Yeah. Well, I'm going to go with, I would be Woody, right? And you would be Buzz Light.

Is that the way we would go here? Because he's got to be the newer toy. They were saying you're Buzz Light Year. The chat was. Well, that actually makes sense, both the way that we look and in personalities. But I don't know. Do people, people don't like me more than Jesse? That's like the Woody and Buzz Lightyer thing, right?

That's fair. You're right. You know that's not true. Anyway, thank you for your wonderful questions. We love you guys. We appreciate you, as always, for giving us those because you make this show so much better. And if you are not a diehard, make sure to join us. We had our little diehard meeting last night.

Of course, we always have exclusive content. Jesse has an article coming this week. We had a little vlog that we put out there for you from Saturday coverage. So make sure to join us over here, become a member of the family. Get that free t-shirt from phnx locker.com. Discounts on events like our upcoming pool party at Chase Field. and discounts with our partners. So we would love to have you join us over here

and become part of the PHNX family. Of course, we're going to get out of here. We do appreciate you guys stopping by. You can follow us on Twitter. I am at Cap underscore Caveman with the K. This maniac next to me is at Jesse N. Friedman. Of course, the people's producer. Damon is at Damon Dog.

That's D-A-W-G. We are Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Of course, our shows at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Again, we appreciate you guys stopping by. We thank you for your time this evening. We will see you tomorrow. And in the meantime, have yourselves a great night. And remember, kids,

baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun when one of your coworkers brings a taco truck to practice.