PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Ketel Marte Criticized AGAIN by Anonymous D-backs Source Over Days Off

Episode Date: June 8, 2026

The Arizona Diamondbacks dropped just their third home series of the season, losing two out of three against the Washington Nationals. But the biggest story coming out of the weekend is yet another report claiming an anonymous source within the organization is frustrated with Ketel Marte for missing last week's game against Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers. We break down why these recurring rumors do nothing to help Marte, the clubhouse, or his trade value, and discuss whether there's any real substance behind the latest noise surrounding Arizona's star second baseman. Plus, we preview the Diamondbacks' upcoming series against the Miami Marlins and dive into your Mailbag Monday questions, including whether adding outfielder Max Kepler could make sense for Arizona as the trade deadline approaches. Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $36: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4 An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ ALLCITY — 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/ Branded 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 visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes 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 40% 2+ pairs of 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.

My mayor, Puerto Rican, my hot dog Sonoran, DBAX needs some help with scoring. That's the best I can do. But beyond what happened against the nationals this weekend, we have yet more Cotell-Marté rumors popping up, unfortunately. And we are going to scream to the heavens why this once again is an idiotic thing to be taking place. Don't you guys go anywhere we're talking about it all right now. And welcome in to another edition of the P.HNX Diamondbacks podcast from Studio K, presenting by our friends at Circle K. My name is Derek Monti,

occasionally known as your mayor of P-H-N-X. thrilled to have you guys joining us and thrilled to be here talking about Diamondbacks baseball. Of course, I am not alone. I got my dog, your dog, the D-Vax dog, Damon Dog, on the ones and twos, aka Damon Farrell. Bark, bark, Damon, we're doing that guy early.

Hello. Mark-bark to you. Happy Monday to you all. Thrilled to have you guys here. As always, this show is brought to you by our friends at Bet365. Bet-365, where winning is everything. the app today and use that code of P HNX 365 when you sign up. We're also brought to you by the fine folks at GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.

Terms to apply. Well, we got a question right away from Jay Giberson in our chat, and it is Mailbag Monday, but Damon, he wants to know, does any fan actually want Ketel gone? And I think the answer to that is most likely no. There's been some people in the chat here and there this season who throw in like a, hey guys, I got a hot take. I think we should have traded Cattel, but it's very few and far between. Most D-BACs fans are either on the side of I never wanted to trade Catell or I'll even throw in like a guy like Big Jake Franklin, Derek, who texted me after the walk off home run against the Dodgers and said, my mistake, we should have, we should never have ever thought about trading the Cattel.

Sometimes it's okay to admit you're wrong. And that's what normal people are doing when in this entire. situation, Eric, where some people apparently are holding on forever about this idea of trying to trade Cattel. Well, let's get to it, Damon, because we were going to talk about the national series, just the Diamondbacks third series loss at Chase Field this season. And they've all been to teams that you probably wouldn't imagine them losing the series, too.

Their losses are to the White Sox, the Pirates, and now the Nationals this year at home. But we'll get to that, even though we don't really want to talk about that much. The bigger news that kind of eclipsed what happened to the Diamondbacks against the Washington Nationals this weekend is this blurb from a Bob Nightingale article that was mostly about C.C. Sabathia, but this was just part of his notes about teams from around the league. Bob Nightingale wrote, Meanwhile, Diamondback's second baseman could tell Marte, who the debacks tried to trade

during the winter. I could argue with that. continues to frustrate segments of the organization by opting to take days off. He sat last week when Shohei Otani, the Los Angeles Dodgers, pitched against the Diamondbacks, and then played the next day and had a walk-off Homer. That's how he worded it poorly there at the end. But regardless, this is yet at another anonymous source, an anonymous take here that, quote, segments of the organization are frustrated by Catelle taking Diasoff.

Cotell has played in 60 out of 67 baseball games, Damon, which is what? Just like two less than Pardomo and Corbyn Carroll? I believe it was one. I think it was one less game than Corbin Carroll and Heraldo perdomo this season. And this was during a game that he had felt and experienced some sort of issue in his first at bat, as we saw when you kind of, ran out of the box slowly on a ground out and it didn't look like he was trying very hard. But Tori said that he had aggravated a hamstring back issue that he's had that's been nagging him for years.

And they sat him against Otani and the Dodgers in a game where Otani pitched as he has been masterfully. And the Diamondbacks lost seven to nothing. As I covered on debacks after dark last night with my friend Rock Knowledge, Ketel wasn't hitting seven home runs in that game, y'all. and I think we all know it as fans. In fact, to answer the question from earlier, the only fans I've seen that want Cotel gone are fans from other fan bases who have been saying,

yeah, this is awful, you should totally trade Cotel to Tampa Bay, and the guy has a Tampa Bay logo in his profile picture, right? That's the guy, that's who wants Cotel traded, other fan bases who want to take him from us and bring him over to their team, because that's how little they care about this BS. They straight up are like,

oh yeah you want to get rid of katel we'll just we'll take that clunker off your hands Derek they'll it's tweets that are like hey lifelong debacks fan here uh you know my favorite player is Orlando hudson uh kattel martay will never be the best second basement in franchise history we should honestly punish him by trading him to the red socks and making sure that he rots in boston for the rest of his career you click on the profile it's david ortees is in the the header. And, you know, yeah, it's, and when you put it that way, it's pretty obvious that this guy is an unbelievable player and that every team in baseball essentially wants because he's the

best player at his position in the entire sport, right? Like, full stop, not even close. I can't think of one second baseman that even comes close to touching what Catell gives you offensively. So, yeah, everybody wants Catele-Marté. But not everybody can have Cotel Marte, Derek. we're ready to put our feet down and say, enough is enough. This needs to stop.

Yeah. And I'll say, again, the anonymous sourcing is what it is. It's never going to change. But again, as we said on after dark, why not put your name on it if you're going to continue to say these things about Cotel Marte? Yeah. The more important thing about this is I don't know what this information getting out there does. I'm not sure if it was purposeful.

I'm not sure if it was just Bob Knight and Yale having a conversation with someone off the record and at least being able to report anonymously what this person said or if this was just more of something that was said perhaps in passing or whatever. Right. But I will say that as far as a strategy goes, this doesn't do anything. Is this supposed to motivate Cattel? We already know that Cotel doesn't necessarily get motivated by this type of criticism. No. Not coming from within his own what he considers to be a family, right? I mean, you saw how emotional he got over the course of this offseason with all of these rumors flying about him and about who he is as a teammate and as a person.

And, you know, like he's, he's, you know, putting stuff on his Instagram story, not a good teammate, huh? He's tearing up a little bit when he's talking to media about the entire off season and just kind of how the situation played out. I don't doubt that Catell is a bit of a frustrating individual as a lot of superstar type talents are. There's, you know, I'm not going to sit here and say that he's the model of leadership as an athlete or that, you know, he's not the perfect, you know, like servant of the Diamondbacks organization because that's not the truth, right? But at the same time, this, like you're saying, Derek, this serves no one. He has a no trade clause now. So he's locked in here. What is what is pissing him off going to do?

Right. What make your best player play worse? Right. That's the goal is to. What does it do for his trade value? Yeah, I was going to say, what does it do for his trade value? You make him so unhappy that he's willing to accept a trade. Like, I really don't understand what the end goal of this entire rumor mill, you know,

I guess re-igniting is. I got it in the off season, which is, you know, we might trade him. But now with this vested 10 to 5 rights, we won't trade him because he wants to be here. He's made that clear. I want to be in Arizona. So this is just like the dumbest. thing I can possibly think of. It feels like it's like something that like a Dodgers front office person

threw at Bob Knight's Yale. Yeah. Yeah. Or a Padre's front office. Hey, I've been hearing that the Diamondbacks are still not so happy with Catelle. Just saying maybe throw a report out there about that. Because why would the Diamondbacks want to throw a wrench into the middle of their season when they're five games,

four games over 500 or whatever they are? It's ridiculous. No, you're 100% right. That's why this does nothing for anybody. It's also wild because this isn't even like an article that Bob wrote. To be fair. It's like a little just

around the league blurb that he threw in there on this hall rumors, man. Right. So, I mean, I've seen these people saying like, oh, Bob did this for clicks. Like, no, it's not even like that. It's just, there seems to actually be a source. But again, it's more about

what was the purpose of this source giving this information to Bob Knight and Yale and why, what did they think they were going to accomplish in doing so, right? That's the answer I want to know, actually. Like, out of all of this entire situation, who does this benefit? Who is going and giving this information to Bob Nightingale? And why?

Right. Because I can't, for the life of me, wrap my head around it, Derek. It makes no sense why you're trying to antagonize your team's best hitter. When you're, especially when your offense has been living and dying with him as of recently. They have, they have. They have, yeah. Like the Cattel Marte hits have been huge. He was the NL player of the week.

He delivered in that series the very next game that he didn't miss. He hit a walk-off home run. I know. I ascended to the heavens with my fellow tarps off brothers. I'll never forget it as long as I exist. Right? So, I mean, again, it's Marte overall being this guy that seems to just be such a linchpin to this team, a guy that seems to be critical to this offense.

And right now, the one thing you would want is for there to not be any distractions impacting his performance on the field. Again, a statement like this coming up impacts his performance if he hears this noise and it impacts his trade value if that's what your end goal actually was here overall, right? Yeah. I will never fault Mike Hazen. And that's another thing is I don't like the part of this blurb that says who the debacks tried to trade during the winter. Did they? Arguably? I mean, I would argue with that.

I feel like Mike Hazen was very clear in the fact that he wasn't trying to trade a Cattel but was. taking phone calls for him and was being very forthright about that. He also said he was taking phone calls on Geraldo Perdomo and Corbyn Carroll and everybody else because that's what he gets phone calls on. However, I do think that Hazen had his role as a GM to do his due diligence to see what they could have gotten for Marte because of Marte's value was what they perceived at an all-time high and some team like the Boston Red Sox wanted to give them a package that includes someone like Peyton Toley, who's pitching out of his mind this year, then it's worth hearing them out on. However, Damon, like you brought up to me before the show, could you imagine if they pulled

the trigger on the trade that involved those other guys that all suck right now for the Boston Red Sox? That would be a disaster, especially if Ketel was raking over there in Boston, right? So, again, not sure about what this does, but I don't think there's a lot of support really when it comes to this idea. And again, I hope we can move on from any kind of Cotel Marte noise. I even feel, once again, Damon, responsible for having to discuss it on this show.

However, it's what we do. We cover this team. We cover these players. And when this stuff comes up, I feel like we are forced, our hand is forced to discuss it and have it be a main topic on today's show. No question about it. It's outrageous that we are once again talking about any kind of Cotel Marté. Like, problems with his days off when this man has truly

missed so few of days and we are sitting here on June 8th this year. Yeah. No, it's absolutely wild, Derek. I really truly like, I know I'm just going to keep repeating myself, but I, it doesn't make any sense to me what the idea of what we're trying to accomplish with this, this situation is. But yeah, we're already getting like your show tweet today. You didn't go out and say like, and Damon and Derek are against it, but you did say we have thoughts on it. And we're already getting a couple replies from people being like, this is ridiculous. He missed one game because they're not like tuning in to listen about what we're saying. People are just upset that Catelle is being kind of dragged through the mud right now,

which is understandable. But I promise you that everybody that watches this show knows this. But if anyone's tuning in because of this situation and this is their first time, like, you will not find a more pro Catele Marte podcast than these two boys right here on the show. Like we love Catell. We think Catell is, you know, every bit of staple. of this organization. Is he the model franchise clubhouse locker room leader?

No. No, he's not. Not every single superstar has to be that guy. And that's why you have guys like Geraldo Perdomo who maybe are not superstars on the field and he was last season, but clearly has not been this season. But he provides that leadership that you require on your teams. That's why you have guys like Nolan Aranato who have, you know, command that kind of respect in the locker room.

And guys like Prudomo that want that role and take on that role. You don't need Catelle to do it. Exactly. And so you don't need Catell to do it. I don't want Catell to change a goddamn thing about himself, period. I love his swag. I love the way that he plays the games. Maybe no more vacations during the middle of the year.

That's the one thing I'll push back on. Yeah, maybe. I mean, it depends. Are you an All-Star or not? If he needs an off day, I'm perfectly fine with that. And to be honest with you, like, Derek, if we're looking at it from the most practical sense possible, I know that it's put in here specifically by Bob Nightingale, like in particular, that he sat last week when Shohei Otani of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched against the debacks.

Clearly people are upset that he quote unquote ducked the premier matchup of that series from the pitching standpoint. Sure. But from a practical sense, does that not make the most sense to say, we're going to lose this game. Shohei is going up against bum-ass Zach Gallen on the other side. We're going to lose 100%. Maybe I sit out this one and I come back tomorrow night and I hit a walk off home. run that wins it ever thought about that maybe he doesn't hit the walk off if he plays that game right

also maybe he sits the next game and then doesn't go in and hit the walk off that's right there's there's a bigger thing here though yeah it's it's kind of takes us back to what you know the point that our guy um gonzo was bringing up and that was you know that like you said it's a premium matchup right people feel cheated because uh oh we didn't get katel martay versus show aetani fine. I'm not going to say that that's not fair, but I'm also going to say that's how sports used to be. Sports are not like that anymore. And definitely we're not just going to start with baseball now all of a sudden, considering how much load management has been done across NBA and other sports. No one's claiming Corbyn and Jerry are ducking games or sitting out or, you know, refusing to play.

And yet they've played one more game than Ketel this entire season. Like Corbyn Carroll is a guy that, like, could be shot with a gun and he's going to try to convince Tori Lovolo that I'm playing in the starting lineup tonight right? Yeah. I'm batting third right? And Tori's like maybe we're going to give you a couple days in the hospital, pal. But Kattel, yeah, he's not wired like that. He has still played one less game than Corbyn, one less. Why is that such a big deal? Why does that need to be called out to the national media? It makes no sense why we're making this into a big deal. It only serves to hurt this organization. It really truly does. And again, maybe maybe we're part of the problem, but we're not on that side of things. And we'll never be. We'll never be, right? Again, athletes are going to miss days throughout the season. This is a way that Tori has been criticized for managing his team before, right? Like, we've heard this about Tori time and time again. Guys are going to hit go five for five and then Tori's going to sit him the next day, right? Tori's handing out orange slices to Catella at the locker. Right, right. So again, I appreciate the fact that Tori took, you know, took the responsibility, took accountability for,

not playing Catell and saying that he gave him the day off. And that, as far as I'm concerned, what he said is how this situation went. Any other anonymous source that wants to claim any other anger or frustration with Cotel can put their name on it. And they can put their entire quote out there instead of hiding behind the idea that you can just say things like this and not, you know, have to take accountability for how, you know, what you feel, how you feel. But regardless, they did lose this series this weekend to the Nationals. We already covered Friday's game, which was a disaster. I'm not even going to go into that one. A national disgrace.

National disgrace. That was a killer, a thumbnail. It was. 14 to 1. They lost game 1. Some of your strongest work. Saturday wasn't much better. They lost 6 to 1.

The offense has just been ice cold, man. And again, Eduardo Rodriguez was just unable to keep pace with this nationals lineup that has been red-hot offensively, not just now, but this entire year. So hats off to the Nationals, they're one of the best teams on the road, and they are one of the best teams offensively in all the Major League Baseball. I know it's the Washington Nationals, and again, it's just like the White Sox and the Pirates. You want to sit there and look at those three teams that the debacks have lost series

against and say, those are the teams that beat us, right? Like, those are some mediocre teams. The one thing that they all have in common, they're all young, up-and-coming teams, and they all you could say maybe to a degree the diamondbacks took them for granted where they you know step up a little bit more for a podre series or a dodgers series or whatever the case may be but uh regardless uh Washington jumped out to an early lead they put up a bunch of runs on erod and never looked back Arizona never really mounted a serious threat on Saturday well erod settled in I will say he did but then he gave up the two runs later right like he gave up four earned runs total before the end of the game and again it was just he had a good sixth inning though like his six inning was one, two, three, I believe. Like, he was ending up sitting guys down. The problem was, as you said, the offense can't get going at all. Yeah.

He's, like, is, like, not that great of a pitcher, but he's been pitching really well. Coming into the last few games. Yeah, I think he had a sub two five ERA in that game. I forgot what, I was listening to the radio and Chris, uh, said something to the effect of, like, it's like Zach Lattel and like, I'm trying to think of who the other pitcher was. It was like Otani or something, or like the, have the lowest ERAs in the last, like, five starts in all of Major League Baseball. Like he was pitching great. And 2.33 was his ERA entering the game over those five games.

Yeah. Yeah. We unfortunately got, like, the Nationals are a team that, yes, they're very good offensively. We got their three best pitchers and we got one of them at the absolute worst time possible in terms of like what he was. The worst pitcher out of the three that we got was the one that was pitching the hottest baseball. baseball at this moment in time. So kind of got the Nationals at a rough time in the schedule. Thank God they salvaged that last win against Cavali at the end there because, yeah, that would that would have been a disaster to get swept by the Nationals.

And they got outscored in those first two games, 20 to two, right? But they finally showed some life on Sunday. Corby and Carole and Gabby both homered and Michael Soroka delivered one of his best starts of his career dating back to 2019, allowing just one run over seven innings. So the win preserved the sweep from happening, salvaged a pretty bad series. And overall, this one was about the Diamondbacks offense disappearing, scoring just seven runs total in the series, two runs in the first two games. And runners in scoring position, Damon, it's a problem. It is a problem.

It is a problem. Like I feel like it's that same problem, like we talked about, about this team trying to hit three home runs and one at bat when runners are in scoring position as it is when the offense is struggling. Like they just try to do too much and just continue to not be able to hand the baton off. They also seem to still be chasing entirely too much, which is frustrating to see against, you know, pitchers like Zach Lattel. Who just, I don't know, didn't seem like he was as good as the Diamondbacks were making him look once again. and that's something that's been happening entirely, you know, too much. But Washington exposed the Diamondbacks weaknesses in this one for sure, because no matter how good your pitching staff is,

the Nationals' offense just seems to be, you know, suffocating right now. And the debacks just struggled to match the Nationals' energy, right? Watching the Nationals felt like watching the Diamondbacks from two years ago. That's what it felt like. Watching them steal bases on us, watching them hit home runs, watching guys you've never heard of have a two home run game and score six RBI like all of that was stuff that you are like

wow this is reminiscent of a young Dback's team that doesn't do these things They have a fun, really fun young core in D.C. And yeah, the Nationals definitely figure to like, I mean if you're a Nationals fan, like you got to be fired up about CJ Abrams, James Wood, Louise Garcia, like for the extended period of time,

I mean, it sounds like a fun little roster that you got in the works there. So I don't want to talk about them anymore. It's gross. It's gross. I'm jealous and I want to move on because James Wood, what, 17 home runs? He's unbelievable. Incredible.

But we also. The Padres, by the way, Derek, disaster. In case you were wondering if James Wood would help the Padres and if trading for a year and a half of Juan Soto was a smart move. Was it? James Wood has 17 bombs and Fernando Tautis Jr. has Uno. How many does Mani Machado have? like 11, but he's hitting 167.

So he's basically hitting a home runner getting out all the time. Love to hear it. Love to hear it. Couldn't happen to a better team. And Zander Bogart sucks too. Well, we added a guy. We added Max Kepler, who is currently serving an 80-game suspension due to a PED violation to the Diamondbacks roster.

We finally did it, Damon. We finally stopped caring about all that other stuff and said, look, we're going to, PED violation, we don't care. It's hard to play unethical. hoops. The Dodgers are already doing it. So why are we not allowed to play on ethical hoops? Let's get in the mud, Damon. We're going to talk about it later for sure.

Let's start roiding up everybody. Let's make Jerry into a 30 home run a year guy. Oh, let's not go there. But let's take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, we are going to preview the series with the Miami Marlins, as well as get into York Mailbag Monday questions. All of that coming up. Don't you go anywhere?

You're watching the PHNX Diamondback show. Well, Bet365 makes games like Sunday's game where we won, even more fun than watching the Diamondbacks win and Michael Soroka shove. But of course, baseball is in full swing out there at Chase Field and now is the perfect time to prepare for summer here in the desert. Thanks to the bet 10, get $200 in bonus bets deal from our pals over at Bet365. All new users have to do is make their first bet of $10 when they sign up and Bet365 will toss you $200 in bonus bets. It's a lot easier than getting those Chase Field pool tickets for sure. We also love spending a full

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Use our code of PHNX365 when you do. Bet365 where winning is everything. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler. 21 and over only must be physically located in Arizona. Terms and conditions apply in app only. And of course, if you are ever involved in an accident or serious injury, the lawyer you hire does matter.

That's why you should contact the husband and wife law team first. Mark and Alexis Breyer are the husband and wife law. team and they are an attorney that's focused on your best outcome, not how much money the firm makes. Their team brings hundreds of years of combined trial experience with multiple certified specialists in personal injury and wrongful death. That's important because here in the state of Arizona, the state bar is certified less than 1% of all lawyers as specialists in injury and wrongful death litigation, making them experts in the field. They also go to trial for their clients, and they know what needs to be done in a courtroom to prevail in front of a judge and a jury. So of course,

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If you've had a serious injury, call the husband and wife law team first at 602-783. 8841 or visit their website at the link in our show notes and tell them PHNX sent you. Well, we got another young, hungry team coming up here, Damon, and the Diamondbacks are taken. I thought you were talking about we got another young hungry D-backs fan here in the chat in the name of Coolbro. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, wow.

Oh, wow. We got a fourth date for our guy, Cool, bro. For those of you that might not be up to date on our saga with Cool Bro, he, uh, He took a non-D-BACs fan on a first date to a D-BACs game and has been going on dates to D-BACs games ever since, winning her over and winning over, I think, us as a group in honor of, or I guess in favor of this relationship. We're all rooting for Cool Bro. We're all behind you and excited that we got a fourth date coming up here soon. So great stuff from you. And thank you again for the Super Chat as always.

But we do have a young, hungry Marlins team here that the Diamondbacks, has to come. Oh, he said she was a D-back span before. Okay. We're just winning her over more into the baseball world. But we got Marlins coming in, or the Diamondbacks going to Miami. Hope they can not party too much based on these rumors, accusations. I'm just joking, but Miami's a fun town.

And the Marlins are a team right now that they did have a hot start to the season, but they have kind of come back down to earth a little bit. though one of their players is hitting a ridiculous batting average right now, Damon. We got the Marlins here at a glance. Let's take a look at their season. They are 31 and 35 so far, and they come in with a minus 20 run differential. They are 5 and 5 in their last 10 games. Their team OPS currently stands at 698, which is tied for 21st.

For those of you out there wondering where the Diamondbacks currently stand, they are hitting 695. tied for 23rd. So the Diamondbacks actually have a worse OPS than this, which we shouldn't be surprised by with the way that their offense has been performing over the last, what, seven days at this point? Dating back to that series with the Mariners in Seattle, right? Their team OPS, or excuse me,

they're starting ERA 469, nice, 26th in Major League Baseball. Meanwhile, their bullpen, pretty damn good, 3.60, which is good enough for 10th, and their outs above average are two. two, four, 14th in Major League Baseball, just right there, right around average, as far as defensively, just a little above. But Damon, again, Marlon's come in with a hot hitter here. Yeah, yeah, I mean, what was it, 336 Otto Lopez, I think?

Otto Lopez. We saw, Derek, let me... The Pride of Canada. Yeah, the Pride of Canada, as everyone knows, he played on the Canadian national team during the World Baseball Classic this past year. Otto Lopez in 65 games this year has a 336 average Derek for a 365 on base percentage of 480 slug. Good for an 845 OPS. I mean, and then their second baseman, Xavier Edwards is hitting 302.

They have two middle infielderers that are hitting above 300, which in today's modern baseball is like an absolute shock. It's insane. Middle infielders hitting above 300? And their team OPS still 698. So it still seems like they don't have a lot of slug. perhaps a lot of power there to that team. But again, contact hitters is where it's at. They pay the bills, that's for sure.

So Dianbacks have their work cut out for them here. Again, not a terrible offense. But again, the 26th best starting pitching ERA. Hopefully they can jump out ahead, take advantage in some of these games. More importantly, you know, after just scoring two runs against the nationals in the first two games, the hope here is that finally breaking out and getting five in the finale will lead to the Diamondbacks being able to get this offense back on track. I'm doubtful of that.

I'm skeptical because it feels like that's never the case with this team. So their offense has been, this truly has been one of the most inconsistent offensive seasons we've seen from this team in three, four seasons at this point. It's been frustrating to watch. But pitching staff, meanwhile, also kind of a wildcard. here when you take a look at the upcoming Probables for the series with the Miami Marlins, thanks to our friends

at 1AZ Credit Union, of course 1AZ, rooted in Arizona and invested in you, invested in our pitching staff. Love them for it. Zach Gallin takes the mound on game one against his former squad.

Are we going, what Zach Gallin are we going to get? Are we just purposefully pitching Zach Gallen against each team's best pitcher so that we can just call it a and move on to the next game. It's matching up that way, isn't it, David? Well, I mean, sometimes that's just the way it's going to work. Sorry, Zach.

Somebody has to be the sacrificial lamb to go up against Max Meyer, who is 6 and 0 this season with a 2.81 ERA and 81 strikeouts. He almost has double the number of strikeouts as Gallen, who only has 43 and is 5.32 ERA, 3 and 5 this season for Zach. Game two feels like a bit more of a win, right? We got Ryan Nelson here with his improving ERA currently sitting at 4.60 going up against Ryan Gusto, who is 0 and 1 with a 10.80 ERA. He has just had one start this season. And then last but not least, we got Merrill Kelly on the mound.

I don't know what we'll get out of Merrill. I'm still worried about that. He still has a 5.71 ERA. He is 5 and 4 this season going up against the nefarious TBD. So I don't know, Damon. I will say that I hate the fact that now whenever we get a three-game series that has Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly pitching in the same three-game series, I don't feel good about it.

I don't feel confident. Hopefully they prove us wrong. I feel like at times we've had a little bit of an abundance of confidence in these guys. So maybe now that we're doubting them, maybe once Damon is completely out on both of them, we will see them improve their performances. I don't know. Yeah, I'm out on Zach Gallen, done with them. Can I just say, by the way, like, no offense, and I hate to do this to the fellas when we do these graphics.

This is not, you know, the goal of this podcast. But, like, Ryan Gusto looks like he eats, like, crants for his, like, regular diet, doesn't he? Like, what a crazy headshot. Oh. Again, like, apologies. No offense. Yeah, but his neck is as wide as his ears. It's just,

it's one of the craziest headshots I've ever put down on one of these graphics, Derek. Oh, my God. That's something. That's something. I appreciate that. I needed a good laugh. But I think we should take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, you know what time it is.

You know what day it is. And you know what we do around here. But again, shout out to our friends at 1AZ Credit Union. their mission always to help our Arizonans live our best lives. And of course, with our probable pitching staff there, our probable pitchers, hopefully these guys can help us live our best lives as fans by beating the Miami Marlins. So let's go ahead and take a quick break.

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Every single year on this Arizona Diamondbacks podcast is our year. Believe it or not. Every single year is the year of the snake. I don't care about stupid horses, even though we were talking about getting alone on a horse just a little while ago. I care a little bit about stupid horses. I mean, I care about their well-being. Golden tempo. I just don't care about the year of the horse.

It makes me think of the Rangers, and that disgusts me. But I also know that every single month on this podcast is Hispanic Heritage Month. And every single month on this podcast, it's Pride Month. There you go. Every single week on this podcast, Shark Week. Every single day on the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast is Earth Day because Damon and I recycle. But on Mondays, every single Monday, we go to the mailbag. Damon, let's go to the mailbag.

Well, of course, shout out to our friends at Game Time for always sponsoring our Mailbag Monday segments. Game Time, go get those tickets right now. Save 20% off on your first purchase. Damon, I am sitting here with a cup that I brought gleefully, this baseball bat cup that I brought. And as I'm sitting here doing the intro for Mailbag Monday, this cup just split and cracked and broken twain and now my water is leaking out all over all over the desk what this it just it just it literally just cracked and broke just like a baseball bat would when as water pours out of it on to my computer and onto my desk area what picture broke your bat i didn't even do this i didn't swing

i swear i didn't swing all right i'm gonna go get you a nap i appreciate i'm gonna throw up the first question from our guy Travis more and you can read it and go through it while i go get you Wouldn't mind. Thank you so much. Travis Moore, our leadoff hitter. Thank you, as always, at College and Curry on Twitter. He asks us a very, very important question per the Enosaris interview on Snake's territory. Our guy Jesse and Jack over there doing great job. Beyond the gallon stuff, he stated there's no pitcher in the DeBacks farm system he's enticed by. Is there anyone you'd care, you'd prop up as a counter argument? I would, I would, I would, I would, I would argue quite a few guys within the Diamondbacks organization are very exciting as pitching prospects. I don't quite understand how, why he's completely out on their top 30 prospects here when it comes to pitching sources. Thank you for the whole role of napkins here. We had none and Aspo just came in with it. Oh my God. The timing on that incredible, incredible timing. But again, when you start to look at the Diamondbacks top pitching prospects, I mean, I know that

They don't have a lot of guys that are in their top 10, for instance. I know Daniel Egan, I know where a lot of us are eager for Egan. He is the Diamondbacks number seventh overall prospect. I have seen some things about him that I really, really like, and I do think that he has a bright future with this team. I also think that David Hageman, based on all reports, has really come on as being potentially one of the best prospects that the Diamondbacks acquired during that.

the Texas Rangers trade, right? And that didn't seem to be the case at the time. Cole Drake, who's Diamondback's 12th overall prospect, he was kind of seen at the time as being, you know, the crown jewel a little bit of that trade. Cole Drake's 6 foot 5, 220 pounds. But again, David Hagamon, he has really impressed some people, and he is still at, I believe he's at Hillsborough right now.

So, again, he's kind of been seen. And all, I mean, all three of those guys from that trade. seemed very appealing as far as I'm concerned. Mitch Bratt, another guy, even though he experienced that injury and is, I think he's still currently on the seven-day I-L, I do feel like this is, that batch alone is pretty impressive. We fleece the Rangers.

Even if, like, one of them only turns out to be a major league or, like, we fleeced them. Yeah. We got three, like, really intriguing arms for half a season of Merrill Kelly and then got Merrill Kelly back. It's crazy. Christian Manet. even though he's going through that injury, I think is still a future starter for this Diamondbacks team. I hope so.

I think he has good stuff, man. I do worry about the injuries a little bit. Totally, yeah. Overall, though, I would disagree. I don't, I can't imagine really looking at these guys and thinking that these guys aren't, you know, aren't exciting prospects for the future. I mean, maybe beyond that, it does get a little thin, you know, when you start talking about that next batch. But these guys are kind of all spread around. Like I said, David Hagamon.

He's at Hillsborough. You got Ashton Izzy, another guy we've been very high on. He's the 18th overall prospect for the Diamondbacks. He's currently, I think, with the Amarillo Sad Poodles, if I'm not mistaken. So I don't know. I mean, I'm not willing at this point to act like the farm system is completely depleted of, you know, potential future stars when it comes to pitching, right? Maybe stars a bit much, but I think that there's guys.

that could be back-end slash middle rotation starters that are in the organization right now. The three guys you mentioned, as well as Christian Mena, I think are all decent prospects. Like, maybe they don't turn out to be frontline starters,

all-star caliber guys, but I think that, you know, you're throwing darts at a dartboard here when it comes to these guys. Yep. All right. Well, what else we got, Damon? Our next question here.

Let's hope that my coffee cup doesn't explode now during this question. Yeah, that would be a disaster. Sure. Karen with the C wants to know more about Max Kepler, Derek. Of course, D-BACs just signed Max Kepler over the weekend. What is the plan with another outfielder? Let's see. You want to know about Max Kepler? I have everything you need to know about Max Kepler. Full name, Maximilian Kepler Rozycki wild. We are going to, I hope he, I hope. It's almost like Roakiki. Oh, almost like Roakkekekekekekeke. Don't get him started. He's going to bring the entire cult of Pavin in here if you mentioned his name. But he's originally native of Berlin, Germany, and he has played 963 games in right field,

161 in center, 101 in left, and he has dached 15 times. He's played 11 seasons, and overall, at one point, was one of the best outfielders in the American League. His 67 outs above average ranked fourth in MLB over the last 10 years, and again, he also ranked among outfielders, first in games played, first in doubles, third in hits, third in extra base hits, third in RBI, tied for third in home runs, and fourth for walks. Seems pretty good, right? But he was suspended 80 games after testing positive for epitrendelon.

Epitrendelan? I think that's how you say it. A banned performance enhancing substance. Major League Baseball handed down the suspension to Kepler on January 9th, 2026. He was a free agent, I believe, and the band carries specific conditions and impact for the outfielder. Now, if he was not brought back, the Phillies had him. In 2025, he slashed, or he hit 216 with a 691 OPS. So not great with the Phillies in 2025, but he only played sparingly overall in that span.

but again he had this condition essentially if the Phillies did not pick him up or if a team did not sign him by opening day, then the amount of games played throughout the season, I believe by the Phillies would serve as the number of games of his suspension. So he is officially eligible to return to the active roster on June 25th. However, he is not eligible to participate in the postseason. very weird situation for the Diamondbacks to be acquiring an outfielder like this. He is a left-handed bat. He is a guy that can play DH. He is a guy that can play outfield.

So this obviously is the Diamondbacks trying their best to buy low on a guy that is coming off of a, you know, a pretty bad situation, a pretty terrible suspension for him as a player and as an athlete to have to go through. and, you know, just making him kind of look like a, you know, cheater. I'll say it. I'll say the word. I mean, yeah, he did cheat. He cheated. Yeah.

But overall, I'm sure there's an explanation for it. If he was wearing Dodger Blue, he'd probably get away with it. No, there you go. Right? Like, there was a way he was going to get around back to it, and I'm impressed. Like, he did it very, very masterfully. But overall, here, a weird signing just goes to show, though, how important they right now feel like adding to this roster is to try to find somebody that can help this offense get going, right?

He brings a veteran presence to this team. He spent 10 seasons with the twins hitting a career 237 with a 746 OPS. And just overall, again, one of the best American League outfielers that there was for a 10-year stretch. Is he on the other side of his career? Yeah, absolutely. Is this 80-game suspension going to help him come back from baseball and be better? Probably not. So again, when you look at the numbers last year with the Phillies, 216-691 OPS, that sounds like how our offense is performing right now. But maybe he can help. And if not, it's still a very low risk signing that if it doesn't work out, the Diamondbacks can part ways with them on, I think, fairly easily.

And in general, with him not being able to participate in the postseason, he doesn't seem like he's going to be part of their long-term plans anyway. Right. So, Brown was said, when would his first eligible game be July? Technically, his first eligible game would be, he's eligible to return on the actor roster June 25th. And in between then, he can play rehab games and he can play in minor league games to get back. So, Damon, what are your thoughts on bringing Max Kepler on here?

I got to be honest. I don't really have all that many thoughts about bringing in Max Kepler. I don't know that he's going to be on the team at any point this season. It feels like it's more of an organizational depth move. Sure. Than it does. Like, this is a guy who's going to be on the active roster and getting important A-Bs on a regular basis.

So maybe I'm wrong. I'm willing to be wrong if that's the case. I hope Max Kepler joins this team is what he was on the twins when he was in his prime years and is hitting 28 bombs. You know what I mean? That would be awesome. I just don't necessarily know that that's in the cards. at this moment in time. But, you know, like with the injuries that we've sustained this year,

it's always good to have guys that you feel can, you know, play a role in a pinch. And he at least has had time in his MLB career where he has been a good player. So. Well, from the Diamondbacks, he will earn a pro-rated share of the league minimum, which is $780,000. Based on my quick, dumb math, I'm guessing around 400, $450,000 is what the Diamondbacks would be on the hook for. And then there's also a $500,000 roster bonus. He has a chance to earn a $500,000 in roster bonuses. So again, not a very high risk signing here for the Diamondbacks. Like you said, if it's merely a depth piece, then at least it makes you feel a little bit better about having nothing.

But kind of rookies available to us now should the Diamondbacks experience another injury or should something catastrophic happen. also though again this does give a guy that has proven that he can play at a major league level an opportunity to come back and once again prove that he can play at a major league level Nolan Aronado has been substantially better this season than he was with the cardinals and he is having a little bit of a resurgence here offensively so perhaps something similar can happen for Kepler especially on a team that needs a left-handed bat so much right now right? So even if it's just a short-term fix, maybe it's something that can help the diamondbacks win some baseball games overall.

I don't know how he's going to fit in, though, and it feels once again like the debacks are going to have to make some roster moves and DFA some guys in order to add any of these guys back to the roster or to bring some of these guys that are currently on the IL back. So they're going to have a lot of difficult roster decisions to make, which is probably a phrase we have said 1,000. times on this show over the last month. Well, I mean, it goes to show, I guess, the depth that you have in the organization, right? Like, you have, you do have some established pieces and players that could make the jump from being in that, like, AAA range to making it to Major League Baseball or kind of that quadruple a player that we talk about a lot, like that's a little bit in between. It feels like the debacks have a lot of those guys.

Yeah. That's why when we're talking trade targets, I want to go get a difference maker. Because it feels like this team is one offensive difference. away from being a really, really scary lineup, you know? And I know the offense hasn't been playing well, but what if you added like an all-star caliber DH to the team? Like, what does that change? I think it changes a lot.

Yeah. So that's why, like, I think moves like this is why I definitely am not like, yeah, let's get, you know, Tommy Fam at the trade deadline. Like I want people that are going to, like, move the team forward a little bit. And Max Kepler doesn't really move the team forward. also doesn't cost you anything in terms of like trade pieces or whatnot. So I'm fine with the move. Just, you know, when we keep going through and get closer to the deadline, I want to start hearing some bigger names than, you know, these guys that I'm looking at right here.

Louisa Rice, Lars Newbar, Zach McKinj, T.J. Rumfield, Troy Johnston. Why not just throw Reese Hoskins in there while we're at it, right? Yeah, it's always Reese Hoskins when we're talking DH. Here's what I will say. I was looking back on this list a little bit more, Derek. Yeah. And I started warming up to it more than I did when I initially saw it. That's fair.

I think Louisa Rias is a big floor raiser because, you know, what he brings is so much better than what our DHS this season have really brought to the table. Yeah. Even if he is a very flawed player. Very true. Lars Newbar, kind of intriguing. Oh, you know I love. You know I love me. But like kind of intriguing.

Like he obviously, his stock's probably a little bit low. He hasn't played. he didn't play until this week. And he hit a bomb in his opening game, Derek. And he is. He's back. He's never been more back. He is a good player.

But they're not trading him. That Cardinals team is good. I don't even know why they would trade, why they would trade Lars New Bar. It doesn't make any sense. Because they're not trying to win the World Series this year. I think that they're trying to build around their new young core. And part of that is when you have a guy like Lars Neubar who's kind of past what that

young core would be. Like he's in the old guard a little bit. I think that you could hypothetically probably try to get something for him. I don't know what his contract situation is, though. I think that that probably plays a lot into it here. So if he has like one year left on his contract, then yeah, it makes perfect sense. Alec Berluson, Derek, is another guy. He's their third hitter right now, the Cardinals, third hitter.

And he's playing really, really good baseball. And he was thrown into an MLB trade rumors article in regards to the Diamondbacks. Right after this report came out from Ken Rosenthal about players they were interested in, they threw Alec Berlison into that mix as well. And he's too good of a player to be on the trade block unless the Cardinals are seriously being like, yeah, we're overachieving this year. We're really investing in J.J. Weatherholt and Jordan Walker. It's not about the Lars Neup bars and the Alec Berlusons of the world.

Those guys are a little bit past where their maybe window would be. But it looks like Newbar is on a one-year $5.2 million contract this season. and goes into arbitration again next year, and then is a unrestricted free agent the year after that. So it seems that maybe he has a year and a half left of his contract. So I think they'd be open to moving him potentially. We got another guy with a year and a half left on his contract that maybe his team might be open to move in.

And it's our next question in the mailbag, Damon. What do we got there? Yeah. Next question here comes from K-dot, or D-dot now. K1 Burner says, what do you all think about going and trying to make a move to get CWalk back? I think he would sure up first base and we could just have the rest of the guys cycle DH until someone starts hitting. Man, I'll tell you, bring me my first basement home. I don't care that he still owed Damon $20 million for next year.

Another, what, $10 million for half of this year? I don't care. I don't care that he only has 16 home runs. 16 home runs. he would instantly be the home run leader on this team. He has a 247 batting average, 45 RBI, which are the most in the American League. And the Houston Astros kind of stink. So, yeah, they should be all in on getting rid of him.

What is it going to take? Probably a lot, but we kind of have a lot to offer, right? More importantly, I don't think that they're going to be looking necessarily to take on a ton of, you know, contract or anything like that, right? Like they're going to want a young prospect, but, but, you know, not maybe not a very high prospect, maybe not a top 30 prospect for Seawok because it might just be about getting rid of his, you know, essentially $30 million they still owe him for the rest of this year next year. Yeah. Personally, I think, Derek, that this is going to be one of those trades that it's going to be about salary or prospects,

like one or the other. So if the debacks would prefer that the Astros are paying some of his salary, then I think you probably would have to give up more in the trade. Yeah, very true. But if you're going to take on the salary, I do think it would actually be a pretty cheap buy because I would imagine that the Astros, given the season that they're having, given Christian Walker's age and contract, they're probably looking at it going, we wouldn't mind getting off of this.

And the Diamondbacks, conversely, probably are looking at the situation and saying, well, we weren't going to pay them what the Astros paid him, but our offer was blank, five million less than that. Yeah. What if we got the Astros to pay that $5 million? Yeah. And we got him at the number that we tried to sign him at when he was a free agent two off seasons ago. So I'm interested in Christian Walker.

I think that, yeah, we could, when I'm saying like I want to aim high, I really want to aim high. Yeah. Christian Walker is pretty much like the baseline level of first basement DH that I would want to bring in. Better than the damn good player. It's better than the options we just discussed there. Absolutely. Absolutely. And he's a damn good player.

So like that's very pie in the sky. but I do think this team is they need a power bat so bad. It will unlock the rest of this roster that I'm willing to pay a lot to get that guy in the building. And Christian Walker might be like kind of my backup option. Like I would like a little bit better of a player than that. But you want a guy that's going for the AL Triple Crown right now. I want Yorgaon Alvarez. Correct.

Is that too much to ask you? You are literally the best pitcher in the AL and the best hitter in the AAL is what you want. Is that not? No, you and Marcus. You and Marcus. Marcus says Alvarez and Scoob will go for it, quit dancing around. Well, and I don't expect both, but like you should be at the table for both of them, I think. Like, you should be interested.

Yordon Alvarez fits exactly what this team needs when you look at what they need on paper. And again, I say like, you know how much a guy would unlock a really good bat would unlock this lineup? Imagine adding the, maybe the best hitter in baseball. I mean, he's probably not judge level, but like imagine adding arguably the best. hitter in baseball to this lineup. And, you know, now you have lineup protection behind guys like Aeronado

hitting fourth with Yordon in front of him. Christian Walker has partly been unbelievable because Yordon Alvarez is on his team and they're so scared of him. That's fair. And so like that's where I would love to get involved in obviously a trade like that. It would be incredibly

expensive. There's no question about it. But I want to be interested in these trades. And I feel like, I I feel like that's the sign of a team that's trying to win and be competitive is a team that is involved in those type of trade talks. Some would call us delusional. I say we're dreamers is what we are, Damon. We're dreamers. But let's take a quick break and we have some more mailbag Monday questions to answer on the other side of this break.

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It's funny Ernesto says that we would have to trade the entire Reno Aces to get Yorda Alvarez because I tweeted that like three days ago, Derek. I said give the Astros the Reno Aces for Yordaan Alvarez. The organization. No, the whole, I want the employees to go to the Astros. I want the stadium. It's like now one of their minor league teams. Correct.

They have two AAA teams and we have zero. That's a good trade. That's a good trade. I would do that trade. That's a good trade. I think the Astros would actually not do that trade is the funny part. The sod poodles can handle AA and AAA duty. Correct.

Right? Correct. Or we'll just bring the Hillsborough hops right up to AAA. I think with their new stadium, they earned it. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And Mighty Schumann, I agree with you.

And obviously, I'm a fan of the team that wants to see exciting stuff happen. I'm not going to sit here and deny that or tell people like, oh, this is the most realistic trade that could possibly happen for the Arizona Diamondbacks. But I think part of what my point is, is that you're talking about the offense being inconsistent. I think the offense has the best. pieces to be very good, but they're missing a guy in the middle of that lineup that is a staple, that is somebody that is, like, feared when he comes up to the plate because right now you have pure hitters and Corbyn and Cattel, but you don't have, like, that, that, like, power hitter

who's, like, feared. And I feel like that goes a long way into making your entire lineup work around everybody else. If Corbyn and Cattel are hitting in front of a guy like Yoran Alvarez, is what does that do for the entire offense? I think it's worth paying up a lot for. So, yeah, obviously, I'm being crazy. I'm being very pie in the sky. But I don't think that it's like, again, like a situation where the dime back should just be outright.

No, we are not involved in these trade talks because we're too far away from being in a place where we should be attempting to get those luxury-type players when I think they absolutely should be at the table and at least in these talks and in these conversations, figuring out what it would cost and trying to see if they can make it work because I think this lineup is talented enough. They're just missing a little bit to make them and push them over the top.

It's not like this team has not been all in on some pretty big names during the free agency season. Recently, recently, right? It's not that out of pocket to believe that they would try to do something like this. But I will say this. If you want to come hang out with the crew from here at PH&X and watch a little World Cup action, we are doing that this week, Damon, this week. We got a couple of watch parties this week, June 11th and June 12th, join us for World Cup watch parties presented by Buchanan's, Casa Amigos, Don Julio, and Mickelope Ultra. Thursday, June 11th at 12 p.m. will watch Team Mexico take on Team South Africa at Phillies on Warner.

That's at 4-855 East Warner Road. And on June 12th at 6 p.m. we'll be watching Team USA take on Paraguay at Philly, Scottsdale, at 1826 North Scottsdale Road. Plus, as you can see, all of those other watch parties up there. Drink specials include $4. Michaelob Ultras, $6.00, $6.00, Stellartoe. And you can sign up right now. It's absolutely free. Just let us know you're coming at go phtonx.com slash events for more details and to RSVP.

Damon, I believe we have some more questions in the mailbag to get to. Yeah, more mailbag questions, brother. Jarmy is here and he says, any idea what the coaches are like, just wondering what kind of top-level coaching the players get and how you manage a team of high-level athletes. I heard Banny lit into the pitchers after Nellie Vargas, max tilt, munchy, munchy collision for not always covering first base. He said max tilts munchy.

That's a hell of a game. Look, yeah, because Torrey talked about that. Tori said that Bannister lit into the defense or the pitchers or whatever. And I believe that's probably a common occurrence. And can I just say, like, as a guy who was very, mad at Max Muncie and still is by the way and still thinks that he's a complete loser and made a really dirty move like that does not mean that Ryan Nelson is completely devoid of blame in this entire conversation sure sure I think that's been the biggest thing with these

Dodgers fans that I've been getting into it with Derek is like they they this idea that like well because Ryan Nelson didn't cover the first base properly it's fine for Max Muncie do all all other things are allowed yeah everything else It's perfectly fine. Max Muncie could take out a gun, shoot Ildemarovarovaris while he's running to first base, and he's safe because, well, because Ryan Nelson didn't cover the back. Yeah, no, I mean. Okay, but Max Muncie is more concerned.

Go watch the replay. He's more concerned. It's a targeting penalty in football. It's a targeting penalty in football 1,000 percent. Max Muncie was more concerned about making contact with Ildemaro Vargas and being the initiator of that contact than he was about hitting the base properly or running fastest to first base. You can prove this by saying he hit the back left portion of the first base bag, which is something that Derek never ever happens at a major league level,

never happens at a t-ball level. I was talking to my parents yesterday. I have run to first base thousands of times in my life, whether at practice, whether at games. I can't think of one time where I ever hit the back left portion of the back. You always hit the front right portion of the bag because guess what? The fastest point from point A to point B is a straight line, not zigzagging all over the place and veering inside,

which gives yourself up to be tagged because now you're back in the baseline again. I don't even know how we got down this path. Because I have to talk about it. But I will say this. We also had a play just this weekend where Gino Groover, I'm sorry, I'm not supposed to call him Gino anymore, Lou James Gruver, or as Rock calls him, Lubron James Gruver, he covered first base and he got stepped on, right?

And it was his fault. there was no us attacking the Nationals for a dirty play. It was a collision. It sucked. It happened. Luckily, neither guy got hurt. Neither guy had to leave the game. But it was Grover's fault for the way that he covered the bag for where he put his

foot. He missed touching, you know, he missed propping it up against the end of the bag and had his ankle stepped on. And that's the kind of, that wasn't a worse injury because that looked like it could have been awful. It looked catastrophic when it happened. Yeah. It looked disastrous.

It looked like Paul George breaking his. leg in that in that game like it did and so yeah I mean that and again like we can put our hand up and be like that was Lou James Groo that was Lou James Groo's fault right but then Perdomo getting hit in the side with a baseball on a on a checkover to first base that's not pernomo's fault so stop hurting our guys at first base is I guess the point I'm trying to make here stop abusing our players at first base but to get back to J army Jarmie's question I've seen the coaching. I've seen the way Tori LaBolo talks to these guys. What is presented publicly is nothing compared to the true coaching, the way they talk to these guys, the way that these conversations

go, especially when it comes to the number of F-bombs that are dropped throughout, you know, these conversations. Tori is a guy that very much knows how to explain publicly and kind of downplay. He's never going to show up his own. opponent, but more importantly, he's never going to show up his players. 100%. Tori is going to come into an interview. He is going to take the blame. He is going to take accountability.

He is going to make excuses sometimes for his players and athletes. Even though they themselves aren't making excuses, they are taking accountability. They are saying it's their fault. They're talking to us and, again, taking the blame. And even Tori is probably blaming them behind closed doors. Exactly. Exactly. But he's not doing it publicly to the media.

he's not sending messages. He's not doing weird things. You know, like he even has times where unfortunately he gets put on the spot by us because we're asking him stuff like, hey, when's Perdomo going to get moved down the lineup? This is kind of bad, right? And he's like, yeah, guys, just give me a second. I was just going to have that conversation with him in like 15 minutes,

but I can't talk to you about it before I talk to him, right? Those are the kind of things that Tori does. He's at least honest in those kind of moments, but at the same time he does his best. to protect his players, to get their backs, and to ensure that at the end of the day, what they do coaching-wise stays in-house, who they blame, conversations they have, that stays in-house. They have been a very good team about that.

Overall, when it comes to, like, targets for free agent rumors, other things internally, like the Diamondbacks do a good job of keeping this shit in-house. However, that's why it's frustrating that once again, you got Cotel-Marté rumors out there in any way. going back to Damon our point from the first segment why what is the point of this when you guys do such a good job of protecting this information

and not letting it become public what is the point of this coming out to Bob Nangale yeah I mean Tori is like listen as much as people hate Tori and hate on Tori and get mad at him for his you know a bullpen move or a lineup decision which really has nothing to do with him

I do think that you know the bright side of Tori the positive the biggest positives that he brings the table is that leadership aspect where his players respect him and he's going to do everything in his power to make sure that that respect stays intact. It's reciprocated. And that's why he's going to go and take blame for these type of situations. 100%.

And then handle it internally. Exactly. Be kind of that human shield for the organization because that's kind of what he is. He is. He takes on a lot of blame. Absolutely. And I think that as we cover this team, Derek, we see it in the intricacies of it a little bit more than other people.

but his job title literally should be like Diamondbacks Human Shield, where it's like, well, you want to blame somebody? Here's Tori Lovolo. Would everyone like to yell at him? Yeah. And it's like, sure. But, you know, that's far from the problem. I know for a fact that Tori is not the guy that's leaking this kind of stuff.

Like, there's just no chance that he would ever do that to Cattel. So. Well, we got another Cotel question, Damon, in the bag. Let's go ahead and take a look at that one because I think it's relevant. And I'm not going to spend too much time on this. Joey says, help us understand the Catelle is a bad teammate narrative. I also don't understand what segments of the organizations mean. Organization means.

I don't see it. I don't see him being a bad teammate. I see him being actually a really good teammate. I see him loved by his teammates. And I see him being a guy that, again, as we discussed earlier, isn't, he's not even really viewed as a leader. Right? He's just viewed as one of the best players in the clubhouse. Leader on the field, but not really like an emotional leader or a verbal leader.

Who's their MLB Player Association representative? Corby and Carroll. Who's their on-field captain, Geraldo Perdomo? You know, who's the guy that stands up for the bullpen, bullpen, veteran Paul Seawall, right? He's the guy that usually does a lot of speaking for those guys, right? Yeah. So it's like you have leaders in the clubhouse for your different groups and for all of that stuff to go to, right? I even, you know, I even like Michael Soroka's, you know, answers, even though he's tough on me about ground ball rates.

He is still a guy that definitely sticks up for his teammates, sticks up for the defense behind him. And again, he's a guy that might not be a leader, considering he's not been here for very long and might not be here very long with how good he's pitching. But he is a guy that definitely shows leadership qualities when you talk about leading by example. Ketel Marte does that too, but he just lives life in a different way.

And I don't, like I said earlier, don't want him to change a thing about his game. I love the way he interacts with opposing players and his own teammates. I love the love that he has for this game and the way he plays it with such fun and enthusiasm. And I really do not care if a man who is at his age needs a day off and gets it, right? Especially if it's an automatic L when you're facing Joey Otani. But I-a-day off, not a series off in the middle of the season after the All-Star break. And I think that that's where we can have some, like the people that are mad at Catel for

is the way that he acts, like, we can be honest about the situation. There are things that are not exactly perfect, but this just feels so stupid and made up and just convoluted to, like, create this problem for no reason at all. Like you said, it feels like an opposing GM leak. Yeah, literally. Just to kind of try to ruin the Diamondbacks even more. The Dodgers are too busy doing stuff.

A Dodger definitely did it. Yeah, that's probably true. All right, let's get one more in. Then we got to get out of here, Damon. What else we got in the mail bag? Yeah, long show today. demand says, is it just me or is Soroka not talked about enough? They said on the broadcast yesterday that he was knocking to get in the building and didn't have a key card. Not sure about all the

contract stuff, but I'd love to see him in a future seasons based on his performance. Oh, hey, look, look, sometimes when you work at Chase Field, like I do, sometimes you have to use a parking pass app in order to get in. And sometimes you can't find your parking pass app, or sometimes your key car doesn't work getting into the building. I don't know. Michael Soroka is an incredible pitcher. And he is a guy that the Diamondbacks took, took an absolute chance on and has delivered in ways I don't think we could have imagined, Damon. Maybe one guy on this podcast has been kind of sounding the horn. Maybe one guy has been standing on the mountaintops shouting Michael Soroka's name since the day he got here and saying that this is the Diamondback's

best value pickup that they could have made, right? Start one, you were ready to come out and be like, I think Michael Soroka is him guys, and I was like, all right, slow your roll. Capital H, big I, really big M, him. Michael Soroka recorded his first seven-inning game with one run allowed or fewer since August 10th, 2019. Nearly seven years since this man has done this. We joked when the Diamondbacks picked him up that, man, could you imagine if we could get Atlanta Braves, Michael Soroka? That would be amazing. talking about Mike Soroka, not even Michael Sorroca days, right?

It's his seventh occasion of pitching a seven-inning game with one run, a loud or fewer, but all of those occurred before August 2019, and his eight wins as of yesterday are tied for the National League among starters with Chris Sale from the Atlanta Braves. I can't say enough about how good Michael Soroka has been, right? Not only did he have an incredible start, and in his three starts, his name being tossed around with Randy Johnson for, you know, the first, the most successful three games in a Diamondbacks pitcher's history. But he is just consistently delivered for this

team. Everything hasn't been perfect. He's had his fair share of bumps and, you know, of rough starts. I think what's impressive, though, is like a lot of the guys in this staff, he has been able to be knocked around a little bit and still finds a way to get, you know, to still get some innings in and to still ensure that this doesn't become like a complete disaster in this outing and the Diamondbacks have to go to the bullpen super early. But 3.28 ERA and 13 starts this year. And again, just some incredible numbers from Soroka. I don't know. Again, he has a 4.24 strikeout to walk ratio, Damon. That is the highest of his entire career. I mean, a 1.149 whip. It feels like when you saw what he did last year with the Cubs as a reliever, or as a starter

in a very, very short stint, or no, he was a reliever. He played six games, but he only started once. It felt like maybe we were seeing something, you know, coming back, but again, you didn't want to overreact. You didn't want to get crazy. Here, Soroka with the Diamondbacks, this has just been everything we could have hoped he would be. And I agree with the question. Like he deserves his credit and he definitely deserves to have his key card work. Right? Maybe he deserves priority parking, I feel like, is what he deserves at this point. But let's see.

We got some super chats to get to before we get out of here. Cool bro says, first show that Damon isn't wearing a hat. Is this the camouflage hat thing? Yeah, it's a camo joke, Derek. All right. Ha ha. No, I'm just kidding. Look, he's getting a fourth date.

So he deserves it. He deserves it. Give them the laughs. And also, Roberto in our chat, he also has a super chat about Cool Bros. Date, he says, ninth date, you got to do the 999 challenge. Facts. And then 10th date is the wedding at Chase Field. Right?

That's the way that that works. It's the way it has to work. I don't know, but we... The wedding actually probably would have to be at Chase. I think Elizabeth might have already floated that. Oh, yeah, no, no, no. It's happening at the Chase Pool. We're going to do a whole thing.

Back through's the best man. We're all invited. Yeah. We're going to do tarps off. We're going to meet Coolbro for the first time, like in person. I've met him before. True. You met him out at Salt River, right?

I'm going to meet him for the first time at his wedding. It's going to be electric. It's going to be electric. We're going to have a great time, bud. We appreciate you guys so much for stopping by. Thank you for your time. It's your most valuable commodity. Can't thank you enough for sharing some of it with us.

We'll be back tomorrow with another postgame show after game one between the debacks and the Marlins. So make sure to join us for that. Until then, you can follow us on social. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. Of course, Damon, you're waving at me? Yeah, I just wanted to say right here, Lando put in here, can you pull up the tweet from Francis Romero? And I believe Francis Romero said something to the effect of Derek while,

right after we started the show, saying like, you know, essentially that there's no issue between Catell and the Diamondbacks organization and that, you know, this is a situation where it's maybe getting a little bit overblown here. So let's see. Hopefully that's the truth. We got several industry sources have told me that Cotel. Marte will not be traded to any other team. I've also been told that there are currently no issues between Ketel and the D-backs

and that some of the stories circulating on social media are simply not true. As for the game in which he did not play against Otani, Marte was dealing with general body soreness or there's nothing to be concerned about. Marte isn't going anywhere, one source said. Say it louder, Francis, for the people in the back. We win, Derek. We always win, Damon. We never lose.

That's a damn fact. remain undefeated. But of course, we thank you guys again. Our show is at P. H&N. Oh, wait, Damon, Damon Dog. He interrupted me while I was in the middle telling you where to follow him at. Doesn't matter. Damon Dog, follow him everywhere. He's got a DAWG there at the end, and 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. Thank you guys so much for your time. We'll see you back here tomorrow for another post game show. Until then, behave yourself, Ryoma. And remember. kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you stop with the anonymous rumors about

Cotell Marte. Shut up already.