PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Mailbag Monday!

Episode Date: June 7, 2022

On another Mailbag Monday episode of the show, Jesse and Derek are answering questions from Twitter, including which value item to get rid of at Chase Field, which ballpark they would want to hit a home run in, when is Fernando Rodney coming in that door, and more! 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.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the PHNX Debaks podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am your mayor of PHNX, and this show is brought to you by the Drafking's Sportsbook app, America's number one sportsbook app. I am joined, of course, by my vice mayor, my friend, my co-host, the one and only thunderstick Jesse Friedman. Dallas Keikel is an Arizona Diamondback, Derek. This has got big news today. It's big news for two years ago, for sure, definitely.

but definitely at this point, I'm not turning anybody away from this roster because the Diamondbacks have done some pretty impressive things so far with guys that we didn't think had very much left in the tank. But of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Drafking Sportsbook app. Go download the Draft King Sportsbook app now. Use our code of PHNX, make any $5 bet during the NBA finals and get $150 in free bets instantly. Jesse, yeah, it's a big news, mostly because for the Arizona Diamondbacks, I feel like it is a low-risk, high-reward deal on bringing Dallas Kikell over. The majority of his contract this season, or the entirety, I should say, of his contract this season will be picked up by the Chicago White Sox.

I believe it's close to $13 million. And then there's also like a, you know, like a, if they cut them, a what do they call it like a release or there's a there's a there's a buyout in a contract by thank you thank you didn't think of the word but definitely uh so far the diamondbacks uh it seems like we'll sign him for like the league minimum pro rated uh for this season uh we don't have any official details i don't believe on that yet but uh again a very good pickup for arizona at this point signing dallas kike'll do a minor league deal a guy who could absolutely work out for them or if he doesn't,

it doesn't seem like there's much risk there in signing him to, to this one year deal. There's really no risk whatsoever from the Diamondback standpoint. Yeah, I mean, all of his contract is still being paid by the Chicago White Sox. The Diamondbacks, you mentioned a pro rated league minimum. That would only be if Dallas Keikel gets to the majors, which, you know, he's a big name, right? I mean, he won a Cy Young Award seven years ago.

But I also don't want to make it sound like it's a guarantee that Dallas Kikel is going to pitch for the Diamondbacks anytime soon. He very well could sit in AAA for a while. I know there's a there's an opt out in his deal where if the Diamondbacks don't promote him to the major leagues after a certain amount of time, I don't think we know what exactly that time frame is right now. But if he's not promoted after a certain amount of time, then he has the ability to opt out of the deal. But the Diamondbacks are under no obligation to bring him up to the Major League level. this season. And I mean, rightfully so, right? I mean, he's made eight starts this year for the White Sox. He's two and five with an ERA of 7.88. There's not a whole lot to be excited about when

when you look at the numbers this year. I do think he's probably been the victim of some bad luck. There are some signs that he's probably pitched better than the 7.88 ERA at least indicates. but you're a far cry from being an effective major league pitcher at an ERA that's obviously that high. So we'll have to see what happens. I mean, getting him reunited with Brent Strom, I think is the big story here. Obviously, Brent Strom is really the guy who's credited with making Dallas Keikl what he was when he did win that Cy Young Award seven years ago. So who knows what could happen, Derek?

I mean, I guess Keikl will be down in the minors. and Strommi, of course, is with the debacks at the major league level, but I'm sure they'll be talking and sharing ideas, and we'll have to see what happens. I think the thing, Jesse, that gives me hope here is Zach Davies and how well he has pitched at times this season, considering that last season, when he was with the Chicago Cubs, it was one of the worst seasons of his career, right?

So, again, it might be false hope, and that most likely is the case, but the Arizona Diamondbacks right now aren't in a position to turn down any ideas, to turn down any, I guess, suggestions for making the rotation better, making this team better. Even if it's not a long-term move, even if the purpose isn't to improve this team in the future, Kuyko could be a valuable part of this rotation, who at this point is just looking for stability when you talk about the fifth spot in the rotation. There are other options by far.

And I'm not saying that Corvin Martin and Tyler Gilbert aren't options. That's not to say, Humberto Castiano, when he's healthy, still isn't an option. But it would be great to see this team pick up somebody like Keikl and kind of have him have a resurgence in his career. We know he was great at one point, and we know at that point he was working with Brent Strom. So that at the very least is enough to give it a shot, considering that this team this year really is still playing with house money. I know I've thrown that phrase around a lot, but that's the truth.

The more this team wins, the more this team kind of does well unexpectedly, even though that wasn't the result of today's game against the Cincinnati Reds by any stretch of the imagination. But the more that this team does well, the more they can kind of afford it. honestly, even if it goes in the other direction and they don't, and they don't do well, they can kind of afford to give guys like Kichol and an opportunity and see if it ends up

working out for this team. Still not a big huge plan, part of their future plans, but enough to make this team competitive in the short term. And speaking of that, they got their asses kicked today by the Cincinnati Reds in only seven innings. I think the, it was a rained out game that ended after seven. and I thank God that it did because I wasn't seeing anything out of the Arizona and Diamondbacks that said that they could do anything.

I believe they had one hit in the game that was Dalton Varshot's hit. And this team again now, when you take a look over their past, they have one run in their past 27 innings. That goes back to game one against the pirates through tonight's seven inning game against the Reds. Not an encouraging stretch for this team off. I think it's been three full games that the Diamondbacks have gone without a run batted in. That run that you mentioned that they scored against the Pirates came on a wild pitch.

The Diamondbacks having had an RBI in three full games, which I believe someone posted on Twitter, I believe that's the first time that's happened in Diamondbacks history, where they've gone three straight games without an RBI. So it's been a dry spell for the offense to say the least. and Hunter Green, I mean, obviously the guy's throwing 98, 99 miles an hour. He's been spinning a pretty good slider as of late as well. So in some ways, it's, you know, it's a respectable opponent. It's not like, you know, it's not.

60RA, Jesse. Yeah, the numbers haven't looked good this year. Of the way he's been pitching lately. He's been very dialed in lately. But still, this Diamondbacks team continues to make opposing. starting pitchers look like Sy Young candidates. Every time they, they, you know, when they get, when they get, I should

say no stretch like this, when they get into a slump like this, it's just kind of baffling because it's the entire lineup. It's, it's from Varsho all the way down to Perdomo, the bottom of the lineup, it's everybody. It's, it's like it spreads throughout this lineup that nobody can hit. Everybody's pressing. Everybody's seemingly trying to. hard and the results are no runs or one run over 27 innings that's a bit embarrassing and kind of harkens back to the beginning of the season when they were having such a difficulty with run

production it also doesn't help that david peralta left this game with back spasms as well cooper hummel came in to replace him in the middle of the game so um yeah not not much that was really all that great happened in this baseball game Derek. I mean, seven nothing. Of course, only seven innings. It ended in a in a rain out. But yeah, it feels like the kind of game where the Diamondbacks might have been spared having to, you know, use some bullpen arms that that probably weren't going to be used in a winning effort in this one. I think the most depressing part is we we kind of knew what we were going to maybe get with Pittsburgh, right? We were a little bit worried, apprehensive going into that series.

The Diamondbacks take game one. Things start looking up. And the last three have really, again, try not to be too reactionary. The last three have sent me right back into the first two weeks of April, where it feels like, oh, my God, how bad is this going to be? When is this offense going to wake up? When are we going to see, you know, any kind of output? it. More importantly, though, back then, at least we were getting quality starts from the starting

pitching. And now the Diamondbacks don't seem to have that or the offense working together at all. I mean, yeah, so true. April was like the month of the starting pitching. And then May, the Diamondbacks had a top 10 offense, close to a top five offense in some categories. And then, yeah, June is not started particularly. well for this team. The Diamondbacks are down to 26 and 30 now. They're minus 44 on the year, Derek. I mean, that's a, I know we've, we've enjoyed what we've seen and there's been some excitement about this team, but minus 44 is for a lot of it, right? We do. We do. We do blame the Dodgers, but I think there's, there's a reality check here that that probably needs to happen where we

recognize, you know, this Diamondbacks team is, is more fun to watch than last year's team by a long shot and things are moving in the right direction. But it appears the team is still a ways away. And at least these last few games against the pirates and now the Reds have have shown us that. The debacks now stood at 26 and 30. Coming into this game, believe it or not, they actually led the National League with 39 home runs on the road, which was ahead of every other team in the National League for home runs on the road. So this team had, like you said, it's, it's, it's been a top five offense at times. It's been more than competitive.

It has been one of the better teams in the league, but it's, it's for short spurts. And baseball is a game of runs. It's a game of, you know, slumps. It's a game of all of that. And the Diamondbacks, unfortunately, are in one right now. It doesn't seem to be something that is ending against a weak team like the Reds. And hopefully they can bounce back in game two. Maybe the rainout is exactly what they needed to just kind of cleanse themselves of this lack of offense.

This particular game seemed worse than any of the games against the pirates. So that's the one thing here. Bumgarner struggled for sure. but even if he gave up two runs and had an excellent outing, the Diamondbacks still had no run production, no run support for Bum Gardner in this one. But, you know, again, it's a road trip.

The Diamondbacks are definitely experiencing the lows right now of being on the road. And hopefully they can bounce back and, you know, kind of salvage this trip before things get too bad. I will say that the one, even though that the ghosts of last season kind of feel like they've gone away, there's still these stretches of like going into a losing streak and how long those losing streaks will last. It's a bit terrifying based on what we saw last year because we know how quickly

the season can turn from seemingly being, you know, a good season, maybe nothing to write home about mediocre, but still right there around 500, middle of the pack to something as disastrous as we saw last year. So hopefully the Diamondbacks can avoid that and can turn this road trip around. We will have some more information for you on all of this stuff over at go phnx.com.

Please make sure to sign up for a membership if you haven't done so already. We would love yet to become a member of the PHNX family. Tonight we were out. By the way, Chirsten Sousel, an absolute bully. Just knocked completely not. Jesse, she knocked a beer out of my hand and, like, got all in my face and was like, uh, for no reason at all. Uh, I, I'm just bringing this up because I accidentally dropped a beer, uh, while

Chirsten was near me and I needed to blame it on somebody. But, uh, I love our pH and X family. We're going to have some amazing, uh, hangouts, uh, all sorts of, uh, things. Can't wait for Jesse to get here in town so that we can, uh, plan some, uh, debacks related events as well. Um, but of course, when you are part of the pH and X family, you get invitation to all that. You get members access, members only access to our discord, members only discounts over at the phnx locker.com. Most importantly, at gophnx.com, if you sign up for an annual membership, you will get one of our free t-shirts over at

the phnx locker.com, as well as all of our wonderful content coming out from Jesse, myself, and all of the other writers here at p hnx. If you're not interested in joining us with the annual membership, you can sign up for a month-to-month membership. You'll still get all of those perks that we talked about, except the free t-shirt, but you will get your first month for just 50 cents. So no matter which way you go, we want you to join us. We want you to be members of the family. We're looking to build this thing. We're excited to have you guys not only supporting us, but to be here, to be enjoying the merch like we're enjoying it, to be enjoying all of the writing. I know I myself, I'm a big fan of everybody here at go phtnx.com. So it's been an honor

not only to work with my coworkers, but to also read their wonderful writing about the beats that they cover. So definitely make sure to check out go p hnx.com if you haven't done so already. And guys, you know, we could go on forever. We're not going to, we're not going to beat up the Diamondbacks because they were already beat up not only by the pirates, but by the reds today. But what we are going to do is we're going to do what we do on this show. Of course, as we say, every week here on the pH NX-Dbacks podcast is Shark Week. Every day is Earth Day. And every Monday we go to the mailbag. That's right. It is Mailbag. We are going to the mailbox. We thank you guys once in a mailbox. We're supposed to have a live show tonight. We are supposed to have a live show tonight. And we actually were together doing a PHNX function. And my boss.

canceled the live show and I'm blaming it on on the GM of our show uh solid bookman but it was for well I I do have to I do have to say real quick that the discord that there was where'd you go? The look on your face is. There was some gone out. I made a you know on Google Chrome like if you swipe your touchpad in a in a certain way then it then it goes back to the previous page. Yeah, so I went back to the previous web page and it was gone.

Anyway, sorry. Where should I just pick up from where I was? The Discord thing, yeah, yeah. Well, okay, so Derek, I have to say there was some clamor in the discord about this whole ordeal. Chris the Dula was asking what was up with the show, where were we? And then later, Brandon Buck said, hashtag blame Derek, which I am fully on board with. So say say what you will about other people canceling the show. But I am I am ready to blame you for the lack of a live show here today.

No, I blame the Arizona Diamondbacks for sucking and for their game ending early. But I blame a various number of reasons that none of them are my fault. I'm going to blame Chirston-Susel. That just seems like a good, that seems like a good person to blame. It was all her fault. It was all her idea that we didn't go live. And I think you guys should all tweet her and let her know. More importantly, not to bully me anymore because I've definitely felt attacked and didn't feel comfortable doing a live show any longer based on the treatment I received from Chirston.

So please make sure she is aware that she, her energy affects other people. But we are here nonetheless. We are here to answer your questions from Twitter. And we are definitely here. And I apologize for not being ready for you guys in the chat or anything like that. But of course, everybody has questions about Dallas Keikle. And I hope that we did our best to answer them tonight, at least as far as, you know, what our thoughts are on him coming over.

But definitely from our mailbag Monday questions, we, not only do we have some really solid questions, but we have some probably some of the best discussion questions that we've ever had. So I'm going to start out, Jesse. Let's get some of the Diamondbacks related questions out of here. Gabriel asked the debacks have a 38% true outcome percentages this year. Is this what Joe Mathers' hitting philosophy has been for this team, or is it just the inexperience of the team contributing to this? I'm going to say that any reflections that you think are from Joe Mather as a hitting coach right now.

I mean, I know he's been a coach with this team for a couple of months. but I still don't know if it's a true reflection of his hitting philosophy on this team. I also don't know if, you know, if everybody's had a chance to adopt what, you know, what he's bringing on board for each one of them. The other thing is that Joe Mather is very new to this as well. So as much as we've given him quite a bit of credit for everything that's happened with

the Cincinnati Reds in the past and this team at times this year, I do believe this is his first time ever as a hitting coach. So I think there is going to still be some experience and some growing pains when it comes to, you know, his hitting philosophies and how this team adapts to them. It's an interesting question. I want to say that, yeah, it probably is not a reflection of Joe Mather as a hitting coach. I think it's more reflection of just the personnel that the Diamondbacks have, especially when you're playing a lot of young players. the Diamondbacks have a lot of young players who will walk a lot, strike out a lot, and at least so far have hit a fair number of home runs, right?

You think about guys like Dalton Varsho, right? Walks a lot, strikes out a fair amount, but also is his fair share of home runs, right? Christian Walker sort of fits in that camp. I think Alec Thomas and what we've seen from him so far definitely fits in that camp. So, yeah, I think it's probably just a reflection of the nature of the roster. Another guy who comes to mind, especially for this, is David Bralta, who really has never been a three true outcomes kind of a guy, but this year has taken a big step in that direction. He's striking out more, but he's also hitting with a lot more power.

So, yeah, I mean, it's only been two months, so it's hard to really make any claims about like a correlation between the numbers and your hitting coach. I think we need to see more before that happens. Definitely something to watch moving forward. But yeah, right now, Derek, I think it's a lot. has more to do with just the players the diamond backs have and and the way that those players are used to to going about hitting next question comes from gsell and gsell underscore underscore gsell soto on twitter gsell rbell of course with carson kelly rehabbing right now who would get sent down

when he is ready and do we really want to see him back asking for a friend i don't think she's asking for a friend jesse but i i know where she's going with this um who who are you seeing being sent down right now by the Arizona Diamondbacks? Yeah, that's it. That's an interesting question. I mean, I think it is pretty much a given, first of all,

that Carson Kelly is going to come back. I really don't see a scenario where Carson Kelly, you know, doesn't immediately get his role back once he's, once he's back with the team. He's just been too big a part of the Diamondbacks offense. And over the last couple of, of years for that to happen. But yeah, who sends down? I mean, probably not Jose Herrera.

Probably not. He's been pretty good. He's been pretty good. I don't know if he's an everyday guy like the Diamondbacks have kind of been using him lately. But I think he's a valuable depth piece. They do have Jake Hager on the active roster right now. Jake Hager's probably an up and down sort of a guy. So that was that was my guess. I was yeah. Yeah, that would be mine too. All right. Now, let's get, let's get to some of these more fun questions that we got, because we got, we got some people sending us some good stuff. First of all, our first question comes from, first fun question comes from at Don's Bread. Don's Bread asked Jesse, you can only get rid of one.

Value popcorn, value beer, value hot dog. well that's an easy question for me because i am not particularly fond of beer i'm that that weird baseball fan who's not a big beer drinker so that's that's an easy one for me it's an easy one for me too because i i'm not a big popcorn fan that's fair i don't think i don't think i've ever had popcorn at a baseball game it doesn't feel like a ballpark food no it's a movie theater food. It's absolutely a movie theater food. And even then, Jesse, I prefer candy and icies over popcorn when going to see a movie. At the Diamondbacks game, we used to have like some, but some considerably nice snack items around like the fifth inning in the press box that they don't

have anymore. But one of the items used to be popcorn. And I never got popcorn. They still have it. In fact, I should, I should, I act like. Yeah, they do. You can still get popcorn in the press box. And I just, I don't know when the last time I had it, right? However, I will say this, there was a period of time where they would bring the popcorn that was left over from the stand downstairs up. And this popcorn was a hodgepodge of like the popcorn that they had that they hadn't seasoned yet mixed with like the kettle corn mixed with like the kettle corn mixed with like, the salted butter in just a giant bag that then they, you know, mixed together and put into smaller bags and put out for us to take.

And for some reason, that popcorn was some of the best popcorn I've ever had in my whole entire life. What? It was just, it was salty. It was sweet. It was a little buttery. It had some good life to it. I can't explain it, right?

Because popcorn sometimes, like, isn't really good an hour after you popped it. Right? It's like, that's a short shelf life. And after it gets to that point, this popcorn seemingly lasted forever, Jesse. I can't even explain it. It was magical popcorn that came from downstairs at the stand. And I'll never forget it as long as I live. And we don't get it anymore.

The popcorn that they have up at the stand or in the press box, not even nearly as good as it used to be. But all right, I'm going to move on from that because I could be on this whole popcorn kick forever. And no, I'm not giving away my value beer or my value hot dogs. that's crazy. Value hot dogs are. Value hot dogs are a gods. Sean DePaz from PHNX.

He ate four value hot dogs and then a real like quality hot dog that cost more on one sitting. And I was in awe of him, Jesse. And it's not to say I couldn't do it. It was just the fact that he had the confidence, the bravado to as a single person by himself walk up to a stand and order five hot dogs all to himself knowing he was the only one that was going to eat it. I wish I had that level of. confidence, Jesse. Because even if I did, I wouldn't do that. I would make multiple trips up just so I wouldn't look like a gigantic fat man eating five hot dogs at once. Sean didn't care one bit. Cudos to him, all the respect in the world. Josh on Twitter at Huntstar 5-05, of course,

troublemaker, world-renowned. Resident troublemaker. He wants to know if you could hit a home run in any stadium besides Chase Field, which one would you choose? Oh, like me personally? Like if I'm the hitter? If you're a hitter. I know mine. Look Covey Cove, San Francisco. Okay.

I mean, nothing is better. Are you a lefty though? You're not a lefty. That's what's even better about it, Jesse. That's what's even better about it. You're going to opposite field. Apoc taco. Oh, yes.

I'm just saying it just because of the satisfying feeling. of hitting a ball out, out of a ballpark, out of a ballpark. It goes out, it leaves the ballpark and enters the body of water. That, like, that I can't think of a more powerful thing in my love of a ball, leaving a ballpark after I hit it with a stick. And it went so far that it went out of the ballpark and landed in water. So you're saying that the Chase Field. So the Chasefield swimming pool doesn't count because that's still like in the ballpark.

Jesse. No, the pool absolutely does not count. No. I'm absolutely saying the pool does not count. That's a fair. Yeah, it's understandable. Okay,

I would, I would hit my home run over the green monster at Fenway Park. That's a good one. That's a good one. I mean, you need some serious launch angle in order to get up that high, but that's fine. That's fine.

Some exit be low behind that one too, but that's a good. That's a good place to hit it. All right. Before we go on, of course, I mean, I would be remiss to not remind you guys that if you're listening to this podcast, the ultimate, I guess, accessory to listen to this podcast is OG's Brands Gummies. I mean, if you're, if you're listening to this, if you're watching a movie, if you're watching a television show, of course it makes all of that better, but nothing makes this podcast better than having OG's brands near you. O.G.'s Brands Gummies has an amazingly delicious variety of flavors and also a variety of doses. Remember what Uncle Derek says.

You can't, once you buy your ticket, you're taking the ride, right? So let's make sure that you're taking the ride at the right pace. And O.G's brands has a wonderful variety of doses to make sure you get where you're going in the right way that you want to get there. Not only do they have the 10 milligram regular dose, but they also have a three milligram microdose that might be. might be a little bit easier to dip your, dip your toes in the waters of edibles. But regardless of what dose you choose, OG's brands has amazingly delicious variety of flavors, such as Pena Colada, orange creamsicle, fruit punch, all sorts of amazing tropical, all sorts of amazing varieties.

I've tried them all. They're all delicious and they're all great and they all make everything. Remember, the key here is they make everything better. So if you're interested in trying, the amazingly. delicious variety of flavors that OG's brands has to offer. Go to OGsbrands.com. That's OGEZ.com to find OGs near you. And of course, I have mine near me at all times, Jesse.

But I will say this. Make sure you're using OG's brands responsibly. Just like everything else, we want to make sure we're doing it in a way where, you know, again, you're watching a Diamondbacks game. You're at home. They're down seven to nothing. It's the perfect. time to crack into OG's brands, uh,

edibles and, uh, make that seven run loss a little bit more palatable with OG's brands. Uh, but Jesse, next question that we have comes from Elizabeth. Uh, and this is another fantastic question. And she wants to know what's the best non-bobblehead giveaway the D-backs have ever had. And what's been the best bobblehead? And this is an incredible question. There's so much research, so much research that I feel like has to go into this. And I have, I have two answers immediately.

Okay. For the best non-bobblehead giveaway. First of all, I forget the year. I want to say it was 2002. The Arizona Diamondbacks gave away in honor of Luis Gonzalez, Gonzalez. a gonzo doll a doll from the Muppets

Gonzo from the Muppets Wow Blue-nosed wearing a Diamondbacks jersey hold on I know we're not doing a video podcast but I'm showing this to Jesse on the audio podcast regardless

That bears no resemblance to Gonson He has Gonzo and number 20 on the back right there Gondo. Number 20, Gonso. It didn't matter if it bared a resemblance. It was fucking awesome that they had a Gonzo Muppet giveaway to go

with Gonso, our hero from the World Series. Yes, it's an amazing little creation. You could probably get something pretty significant for that on eBay, couldn't you? It's in really good condition. It's funny because there are two things my wife had in like

boxes that she took very good care of. that I once had that lost, that I lost, and they were both stuffed animals. One was this, the other one. I know you can't see it, but it was Alf from the show Alf. And it was like one of my favorite stuffed animals when I was a little kid. And I lost it somewhere along the way, but I know mine was trashed and in terrible condition. And my wife had like a mint alf in like perfect condition. I couldn't believe it.

When we were going through her shit and I pulled out Alf, like, I didn't even ask her for it. I just took it and was like this Alf that you once had in your life is now my elf. But the other Diamondbacks giveaway item I'm going to say is one of the best items they've ever done. And it was it was referenced in our chat in response to this question. And it was the Haboob Globe globe. The Haboob Globe was live far one of the most creative and innovative things. Like the one thing I hate about giveaway items or anything in baseball, Jesse, is when they do them for all the teams, right?

Like, I hate when they do something universally. for, oh, hey, we're just going to switch it up a little bit and put, you know, your team's logo on this one and your colors on this one or whatever, right? I like things that are unique. And it doesn't happen often, right? But I will say the Diamondbacks with our culture here in the Southwest and everything, have had some pretty fun, unique items, you know, that are specifically for us. But nothing is bigger, nothing is more Arizona, especially in the middle of the summer,

uh, than the Haboob, you know, not with you. we have the great Pedro Gomez thing about the the the boboon globe and everything else right but it's just it was just an amazing use of something like a snow globe to put you know brown uh dirt in there and have chase field in there and and make that into a giveaway item I still think it was brilliant marketing and one of the best things they've ever done do you think they could actually make like some sort of a recreation of the baboon moment like like some like some some sort of a replica of like the city of Phoenix with a baboon like. Yeah, like running around.

Absolutely. They could absolutely do that. I would say put it on a little track and just have it do like laps around the city of Phoenix. You could be chased field and there could just be a baboon terrorizing chase field. It's the way I've always imagined, you know, what Baxter does with his time when he's not actively participating in baseball games. But I guess the second half of that question would be what's the best bobblehead they've ever had? see i haven't collected nearly as many as you have collected so you would probably know more than i would here's one thing to say is like i don't even want as many bobbleheads that i've collected from this

team so like this season for instance there's no bobbleheads but they're also not giving us as media uh the free giveaway items anymore uh on one hand it's a little bit of a bummer right but on the other hand i used to give most of the stuff away to people anyway like i didn't really want a lot of those shirts or hats or stuff they gave away. But I never gave away the bobbleheads, Jesse. I've kept every single, just like every media badge I've ever gotten. I still have. I have every single bobblehead I've ever gotten.

So I would say like I'm partial to the Star Wars bobbleheads. I still think the Josh Colemanter one that they have of him as a Jedi making the ball float was a really, really good bobblehead. But realistically, it's hard to argue with the David Peralta train sound. bobblehead the fact that it had actual game recordings in it from that game the fact that it also had like the train sound and the you know and the call from shulty about david peralta like it's so much cool stuff all in one bobblehead you know i i like the interactive ones like there was the robbie ray strikeout counter that was really good you know there was there was a few that had like interactive

features to them that were just kind of outstanding but i mean if if you're going for like basic non-themed. I don't know if this would be a non-themed one, but Catele-Marty as the luchador is still a top five bobblehead for me as well. I've, I mean, it's, it's a luchador. I'm a wrestling guy. It's not going to be hard to get me with that, but I will say that they, it did kind of bother me when they started doing theme night ones where they, you have to buy like a special ticket to get them. I remember they did like a Taiwan White Walker from grand, Game of Thrones and I wanted that one so bad.

And I didn't get it because it was like a special thing and whatever. It is what it is. I'm not bitter at all. You guys know that, of course. But I still want that goddamn bobblehead. All right. Next question comes from at gray corpse. I'm not Shasta.

I know who you are. You're going to send us sting gifts is what you're going to send us. But he asks, when can we bring Fernando Rodney or find someone else for the closer role? you don't want Fernando Rodney back, nor do you want someone else at this point. The Diamondbacks aren't going to get anybody better than Mark Melanson, I don't think, unfortunately. Jesse and I have talked this, tried to be very analytical and talked about it at length. We'll be the first ones to tell you that Mark Malanson is very unimpressive and isn't really

doing much to overpower pitchers or fool them, really, when it comes to him being out there. So I just feel like, and this is my feeling, I feel like they're completely, 100% committed to him. And this really isn't going to change based on anything other than, I mean, unless we see a string of bad performances that result in them having no other choice than to go in a different direction, I don't see them going in a different direction with Malanson just because he blows an occasional save here, there. I mean, Fernando Rodney is only 45 years old.

So, I mean, if you can go then, I mean, let's go. You know, I'm going to defend a 40-year-old guy. He's still in his 40. He's not 50 yet. Let's fucking go. Oh, man. I mean, it's impressive that, I mean, he did pitch through age 42. That's how old he was when he finally retired back in 2019.

But anyway, yeah, I don't think Fernando is coming back anytime soon. I do think Mark Melanson is, I think he's probably running out of leash. I don't think the Diamondbacks will stick with him for that much longer. We have seen over the last few years. I wrote an article about it a few weeks ago, just going through the history of Diamondbacks closers under the Mike Hazen, Tory Lovello regime. And they have moved on from guys, not every time,

but they have moved on from guys. Greg Holland didn't have his job for very long when he was here. That's an example. So I think it's possible that the Diamondbacks would move on from the Lansin. I mean, his numbers right now are worse than any closer the Diamondbacks have had at this point in the season. I mean, we're into June now, right? I mean, this is, we're almost into mid-June. So you're talking about a pretty substantial sample size and a guy who still has an ERA around seven.

I think the leash is pretty short. But I don't think we're there yet. I think Mark has been the victim of a little bit of bad luck. I think a few more grounders have gotten through for base hits than normally would be expected. He hasn't allowed a whole lot of extra base hits this season for whatever comfort that that provides, which granted for fans right now might not be too much. But yeah, I think there's some leash left, but I don't think it's necessarily that much. Bo at Bmaster 30 on Twitter asks, is there any non-40 man position players that might get the call up this year? We've seen Thomas, but he was expected.

I was thinking Stone Garrett. He said he meant to put that in the original tweet. So he was thinking Stone Garrett. Jesse, what are your thoughts on guys that we might see get called up this year that aren't Alec Thomas? Yeah, Stone Garrett was definitely the first name that came to my mind. That's definitely something that I expect to happen at some point. I think the other guys, if there is anyone else, it might be one of the two Dominics. there's Dom Canzone and there's Dominic Fletcher,

both who have put up respectable numbers this year in Reno. Neither of those guys are on the 40-man roster just yet. Dom-Canzone hit 368 in 11 games for Amarillo and then was promoted pretty early in the season. Hasn't quite been as good with Reno so far. He's hitting 252 and obviously a pretty hitter-friendly environment. So I think it might take a little bit more before Kanzone would get the call up.

Dominic Fletcher, on the other hand, has looked very good this season. He's already sitting in an OPS of near 1,000 on the year. He's batting 3.46 with a 414 on base percentage on the year. Most of that did happen in Amarillo. So he's only played 15 games so far with Reno, although he has looked very good in those 15 games. So I would guess one of the two Dominics,

I don't know if either of them is clearly in front of the other in terms of getting that call up. I guess Dominic Fletcher's has better numbers in Reno this season. So maybe it would be him first. But, yeah, Stone Garrett's the guy that I feel pretty confident about no matter what he'll probably get the call up this year. By the way, Dom Canzon, there's a wonderful article from him on the Reno Aces website about when he was in fourth grade, finding out while he was in school about his mother, Amy, being diagnosed with breast cancer and everything that he went through watching his mother persevere through a two-year battle

with breast cancer and everything he learned from that. And it's a really great story. And I think that this team is filled with great stories like this. I think that the minor league system for this team is stronger potentially than it's ever been. And I think that the minor league system, you know, but we've also thought in the past that this team had a very strong, you know, minor league system and things didn't work out, right? I mean, even right now, I watched Taylor Widener, you know, pitch tonight in tonight's game against the Reds. And I remember how much, you know, how much faith, how much, you know, how much potential everybody saw on Taylor Widener at one point.

So I think after being through this for a long time, the one thing to say about the minor league system for this team is that they, you know, they feel like they have a lot of solid superstars in the future there and they're going to take their time with them. So I wouldn't be surprised to see this team kind of not continue to not do anything crazy. I mean, I know we're going to get questions about the trade deadline and what they're going to do at the trade deadline. I think that this team is still going to just kind of hold steady. I know someone, I couldn't find the question, but somebody asked about David Peralta, and I definitely wouldn't be surprised to see David Peralta, of all people get moved,

especially with kind of the way that he's kind of pulled up the season and been better at the plate this year. But, you know, tonight, like you said, of course, he injured himself, and we'll see how long it takes for him to get back to 100%. Kyle Collins on Twitter at Kyle Collins 5 asks, how long do we think Dallas Kichol stays in AAA and what should we expect? Personally imagine somewhere between what he's done in Chicago and with Strom

Houston. And yeah, I think that's the hope is that we can get that version of Kikl somewhere in between there. I think it would be, you know, obviously too hopeful to say that we're going to get the Houston version of him. But I definitely think that the Diamondbacks will get something out of him. I definitely think that, as a matter of fact, I don't think it would be a surprise at all to see him

on the starting rotation at some point, you know, before the end of the season. Yeah, definitely not impossible. Yeah, like we said earlier, he has, he has an opt out in the contract. If the Diamondbacks don't call him up by a certain day, then he has the ability to opt out and try to go somewhere else. So, I mean, he's trying to get a major league

opportunity and he's also represented by Scott Boris. You know that he didn't sign this minor league deal with the understanding that he would, you know, very likely stay in the minors. I just don't think that a guy with his name credibility would put himself in a position like that. So I expect we'll probably see Dallas Keikle in the majors at some point this year. I don't think it will necessarily happen all that soon.

They're probably going to work on some things in AAA. try to iron some things out. The Diamondbacks aren't so desperate for a starting pitcher right now that they just have to plug and play Dallas Keiko immediately. Very true. Right. He has some time. He has some time to try to figure things out.

And I'll be writing an article in a couple days that talks about what we've seen from Kikell this year compared to last years and what exactly the issues have been and what they might be looking to do with him. Yeah. I think the thing here is that, you know, It's not like there isn't going to be those opportunities with like a double header or whatever where they don't want to impact the rotation, much like what we see Tyler Gilbert, Gilberto Castiano is still in the rotation, right? So there's going to be those opportunities for him to get called up and put into the rotation and see how he does. The one beautiful thing about this team, just in the same, I guess in the same aspect that they're not trying not to block any of the young guys from coming up and, you know, making a splash and earning a spot.

there's plenty of opportunity to be had on this team. There's still no positions I don't think that are guaranteed for hardly anybody on this team. I mean, there's a couple of guys, maybe five or six guys at the most that have kind of a guaranteed spot regardless of their performance. But everybody else, it's wide open. So Dallas Keikle is in the right place. And I think that's the reason why guys like him want to come to a team like this,

to be frank. I think it's the fact that they can see an opportunity. where they might not get an opportunity elsewhere with this franchise. And Brent Strom, right? And Brent Strom. Fuck, yeah. Hell yeah. And in the same breath,

Jordan Kuda at J underscore Kuda 90 asks, when does Corbin get called up? Can't do much more down in the farm. And like, yeah, I get where they're saying. Like Corbin Martin is definitely a guy that seems like he's knocking on the door and ready to come up and be a part of this team. But it, you know, with the, with the addition of someone like Keikl, it definitely feels like things are a bit crowded. And there's, you know, it reminds me of when you're waiting in line for anything and some asshole in front of you is holding a spot for their friends, right?

Corby Martin was almost to the front. He saw maybe like two guys in front of him. I always said, Tyler Gilbert's in front of me. Cool. But then after Tyler Gilbert, I'm going to get my chance. And all of a sudden, there's like three other assholes in front of them, right? You know, like so that part sucks because you think you're almost there to the front of the line and then you kind of get pushed back. But really, again, it kind of goes back to at least for me, what I was just saying.

Corby Martin has all the ability right now to go out there and win the position, right? But it requires you to do that. It requires you to go out there and perform and to impress. And especially in a place like Reno, I feel like you have a certain degree of leading. way. I think they understand what the environment is like pitching in Reno, but they also expect you to still perform and they want to see, you know, something more out of you than an eight ERA. Corbin. Corbin Marr has pitched really well lately in Reno. His last two starts back on May 27th, five and two thirds innings, two hits, one run, three walks, 10 strikeouts. And then his last time out on June 3rd, so just a few days ago, six innings, four hits, just one earn, run, one walk, four strikeouts. So when you're evaluating a guy who's pitching in Reno, I mean, streaming together,

even just those two back-to-back starts is significant. And we know the Diamondbacks are invested in Corbyn Martin. They've still talked about how they believe that he could be a, you know, a front-line starting pitcher for a good Major League team someday. And they've said that he's not quite there yet, but he still has the ability to get to that point. I know he's 26 years old now and the fact that he had Tommy John surgery and some other issues over the last couple years has delayed his timeline. But there's still a lot of belief in this guy from what we can see. And if he continues to string things together in Reno, I could totally see the diamond

backs turning to him pretty soon here. Jesse, the Draft King's Sportsbook app right now is the place to be for baseball action. And I know. We're almost done with the NBA season, and they still want us to keep an eye on what's going on between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics in the NBA finals. But I just want to remind everybody over on the drafting sportsbook that there is a wonderful array of options for you,

if you're a baseball fan, to get down on to bet on, to add all sorts of options for a same game parlay. like for instance in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Pirates game after what I saw against the Arizona Diamondbacks, you bet I'm adding a hit from Jack Swinsky to my same game parlay, and I'm taking the Pirates to beat the Tigers. So all sorts of wonderful options for you as a baseball fan over at the Draft King's Sportsbook. Not to mention, if you download the Draft King Sportsbook app right now, use our promo code of PH&X and make any $5 bet during NBA finals,

you will get $150 in free bets instant. And I mean instantly, like instantly. Turn around right after you make that first bet and you will have $150 waiting for you to go get down. Like I said, on this baseball action. That's promo code PHNX only at the Drafking Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. And Jesse, yeah, I won't lie.

I got down on the Draft King Sportsbook during game one of the NBA finals. and I got, I mean myself a tidy little payday. They had a nice little, they had a nice little promotion. And that's one thing about Draft King's sportsbook is you got to, you got to open your account, go in there, and keep up to date on all of the promotions that you can opt in on. You never know what you're going to get. Sometimes it's a daily change.

And for the first game, they had a promotion where if either team went up by 10 points, you won your bet. And both teams did go up by 10 points. So whether you bet on the Golden State Warriors or the Boston Celtics, you came out on top on the Draft King's Sportsbook with that promo. Of course, use our code, again, of PHNX to get that $150 in free bets for new customers. That's all I got this week. We're excited to see the Arizona Diamondbacks, hopefully battle back here in Cincinnati.

They have three more games. So most importantly, we need the series to quickly change direction. not continue to go in the direction that game one went or games two and three against Pittsburgh went. I don't know how they kind of reset themselves out of this funk at this point, but hopefully we can watch them do it. Of course, you can follow along with us. We will be tweeting about it.

We will be talking about it on our members-only Discord. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Our show is at P.HNX underscore Dubex. but of course all roads lead to at p hnx underscore sports on twitter instagram and facebook if you're listening to us right now in your favorite audio podcasting at please make sure to subscribe to us there if you haven't done so already and leave us a five-star review then go over to the p hnx sports youtube channel subscribe there as well sign up for notifications that way you don't miss any of the live content that we're putting out from all the fine shows here at p hnx uh god bless the diamondbacks hopefully uh they can figure out how to score some runs because if not this is is going to be a very, very ugly road trip. On behalf of Jesse and myself, we appreciate you guys taking the time to join us and remember,

kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you score more than one run in 27 fucking innings.