PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Mailbag Monday questions and more on Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker being on pace for career highs

Episode Date: August 15, 2022

Answering your Mailbag Monday questions and discussing Arizona Diamondbacks' first baseman Christian Walker being on trajectory for career highs in several offensive categories.SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeWebsite: https://gophnx.com PHNX Locker: https://phnxlocker.com/Head on over to The PHNX Locker to pick up one of our new PHNX hats!SOCIAL: Twitter: https://twitter.com/PHNX_DbacksInstagram: https://instagram.com/PHNX_Sports Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now (https://bit.ly/3Jl1dMX), use promo code PHNX and make your first deposit and get a RISK-FREE BET UP TO ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply.If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visit OPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA). 21+ (18+ WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NJ/NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See http://draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.OGeez! We have free stuff for you! Enter the “Flavoring Life” sweepstakes. One winner will receive 3, YES THREE, bags of OGeez including Orange Creamsicle and Tropical flavors, an OGeez! Hat, a PHNX shirt of your choice and a PHNX annual membership. Sign up at gophnx.com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIplqDYsxYeiotn5Zc6hRahaX0a5qG99eHVzkhOlGZDRdgUA/viewform Check out OGeez! online at ogeezbrands.com and on Instagram @ogeezbrands. You can also find their products at your local dispensary. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Enter to win the “Toast of the Month” sweepstakes to win a $50 Four Peaks gift card, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Go to goPHNX.Com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOabxo8KQxOWwn9wTilMBuTMAJdrL0CaH9lzfuJqgKN9vfSg/viewform FOCO has you covered with the best Arizona Merchandise. They have officially licensed gear for men, women and kids and everything from bobbleheads to swimsuits to crocs. Head on over to foco.com. For all non pre-sale items use the promo code “PHNX” for 10% off 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, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. This guy next to me is vice mayor of PHNX, one and only thunderstick Jesse Friedman. Derek, I can feel it's going to be a good episode today because as we started, the ice cream truck literally just drove by in my neighborhood. And this isn't just any ice cream truck. This ice cream truck is like a. neon orange and it is driven by this guy in like a fantastic costume and what and uh you can just tell the vibes are good in chanler arizona today so just just throwing that out there what kind

of costume does he wear you know i didn't get a great look at it i just know that it was sort of ridiculous when uh when he drove by the first time he had like uh i think he was wearing something similar to like you know the hats that the uh in and out um employees wear if you work in an out burger you have like those uh he was like a real ice cream man that's what you're describing he was he was a real he was a real ice cream man that's not ridiculous that is what ice cream men should wear right i'm i'm picturing uh a white shirt uh sleeves rolled up maybe suspenders maybe not maybe a bow tie maybe i do think there was i do think it's a white shirt and i do think his sleeves were rolled up you're like nailing it right now is that a thing like is is that an

actual thing there's an ice cream man costume You make me physically sick with how young you are sometimes. Like, I understand because I wasn't born in the 50s either, Jesse, but I know these people existed. I've seen pictures of them before. I've never seen like a milkman from like the 50s. It was the same thing. These people dress.

No, Derek. I've never seen. I have never seen a milkman once in my life. Well, I'm not talking about in real life, a picture or drawing. You, I, you disgust me without. I have probably seen. Maybe I've seen a drawing at some point. Maybe I don't know.

Do milkmen have like a, is there like a milkman costume that I should know about too? Like is there some sort of thing they go strolling around and every day? White pants, uh, button up shirt usually again, sleeves rolled up just to signify that they're working and they're doing shit. Zach Gallen is a milkman. Jesse, Zach Gallen is a milkman. He delivers, right? We know he delivers.

We've seen him in the past five games, right? Uh, but. I can't get off topic here because I'm still stuck on this ice cream truck. It sounds fantastic. What is your go-to at the ice cream man? What is your go-to ice cream treat when you go to the ice cream man? Or are you too old for that now at this point? Is that beyond you?

I mean, I noticed you didn't get up and run outside, so obviously there's something wrong with you. Well, maybe I would have if we weren't about to start a show and I had like an actual choice. but yeah, I don't know. There's sort of a lot of kids in the neighborhood. And by kids, I mean people who are younger than I am, you know, they're like eight years old or whatnot. So I would feel a little bit out of place going out there. And especially like when nobody else, like if the,

if the ice cream truck just goes down the street and like none of the kids come out, but like I come out, it just doesn't really feel right. So do you not know where the Michael Jordan quote, fuck them kids originated? it originated with Michael Jordan going out to the ice cream truck. That's how that happened. That's where that came. Wait, really? Is that true? No, it's not true at all, Jesse. Nothing I say is ever true. You know that. I have no idea where that came from. Where did that? No, I don't either. I'm pretty sure. Okay. It's questionable if he said it. But yeah, it's still

something for sure he said. Okay, kids aside, what do you know what you would get? If you didn't have to suffer the embarrassment of the eight-year-olds judging you, what are you getting at the ice cream in. I would probably do like the fudge bar, you know, like the like the classic like fudge. Yeah. Although in Arizona, it's really.

Why are you like this about everything? Ice cream trucks are tricky here because your ice cream melts like so rapidly that like you got to really stay on top of that if you don't want it to be like melting all over you outside. So man. I'm getting anyway, eight times out of 10 I'm getting the teenage mutant ninja turtle Sherbert bar with the with the with the gumballs in the eyeballs that's

and the gumballs are terrible Jesse I'll be the first to admit it I don't that sounds utterly disturbing oh it's their bad does not sound good they don't mush like gum should it just crumbles in your mouth and hopefully you don't swallow enough of the shards that you can keep them together to actually form some sort of piece of gum in your

mouth that will go instantly flavorless before you have to spin it out because you just have enough of it right but still it is That is a staple of my childhood. The other two times I'm getting a chip witch. Ice cream sandwich made out of chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate chips around the edge. It's perfection.

It's perfection. I can't believe you went with a punch bar. I do miss like, I do miss. Yeah, that's probably what I would do. But I have to say I miss, I miss like a like the old fashioned like gumball machines that they would have in

grocery stores. I know those still exist, but they're a little bit harder to find now. And, and you're right that like the flavor last. like 10 seconds and then it's completely gone. But I have very like it was absolutely worth the quarter.

Like it was at like that 10 seconds of glory. It was magical. It was worth. It was magical. It was absolutely worth whatever you had to pay for it. The one bubble you could blow before that gum was just basically a wad of just gross flavorless chew in your mouth. Uh, was worth every, every scent of that.

I couldn't, I couldn't blow bubbles though. I was that I was that child, that poor child who, just couldn't to save his life. I can't whistle. I knew I was going to ask you. I was going to ask if you could whistle. No. I knew if you couldn't blow a bubble,

you couldn't whistle. I knew it. I knew it. You didn't even have to tell me that and I knew it. I can't do the taco tongue thing. Oh, man. Man, a few talents, Derek. All I can do is talk about baseball.

That's pretty much it. And you can bite your ass off about it too. And if you haven't had a chance, read Jesse's writing over at go phnx.com. Get yourself a membership, annual membership, matter. Get a t-shirt, not this one. We're giving this one away, and I'm going to get to that. We didn't give it away yesterday, but we're giving it away today, damn it. But if you're on a

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We appreciate it. We thank you guys for being here. Today is a very important day in PHNX history. Jesse and I are moving along with the rest of our teammates to a brand new, glorious office that we can't wait for you guys to see. It is way better than what you see behind me right now. And I mean, this is pretty good, right? I mean, this is pretty good right now as it stands, but it gets way better from here.

So we're so excited about what this week brings not only for us, but for you guys. We do this for you, and we want to make this the absolute best place for you to be a Arizona sports fan here in the Valley. So we thank you guys for your support. We appreciate you. And we have a shirt to give away, Jesse. I promise that I was going to give this bad boy away tomorrow or yesterday. I was going to give away on Sunday's show. We got all wrapped up and all the Emmanuel Rivera,

excitement. I was told by our graphics team and by ESPO that we can't just change the name of the podcast without discussing it with Brandon first. So I have a meeting. Yeah. Well, they, there's this whole thing with Emmanuel Rivera. He might just let us use his face and his likeness for this. It's exciting. Jesse. We're expanding this stand account that we have going on here. I think I think Brandon just wanted to make sure that the name pH and X was still in there. Like just like the brand the branding is consistent. So it was. It can't just be the Emmanuel Rivera podcast. It has to have that in there somehow.

I push back hard on that, Jesse. I tried my best, but it just didn't happen. So it will be the PHNX, Emmanuel Rivera podcast going forward. But we could easily call it the PHNX Christian Walker podcast, Jesse, for how good that man has been for this team. We, we, we did not discuss him yesterday and how good he has been. It's another egregious error on our part,

again, with this T-shirt. But Christian Walker has been outstanding. for this team. We have talked very much so about his defensive run saved this year and how good defensively he has been. He's still tied for third with 14 defensive runs saved this year for all major league baseball players, not just first base. He's tied for third for all major league players with 14 defensive runs saved. And his hitting as plate discipline, the bad luck that we talked about in the first half, it seems to be, seemed to be rolling in the right direction for him as of late. Yeah, they really do.

And it's funny you mention the defensive numbers for this season because I actually think he hasn't necessarily played his best defense in the last few games. There have been a few mental lapses here and there on a couple of plays for him. But all in all, it's still been, you know, a pretty good season for Christian Walker, especially because of the defense he's played. But as of late, Derek, like you said, he's just been killing it at the plate. He came very, very close to hitting a cycle in Sunday's game. which I think arguably there might have been a shot for that if Cotel Marte's injury hadn't happened on that same play. So it's sort of hard to know for sure on that. But he's 11 for his last 24 at the plate.

And he's just been outstanding. His approach looks great. He has more walks than strikeouts. And that span, he only has two strikeouts in those last 24 at bats. So things are looking really, really good for him offensively all the way around. 21 RBI after the All-Star break. Coming into this game, he had 17, and he was tied for fifth most in the national

league, so I'm curious where he's currently at. But, yeah, he's really turned it on as far as his production here in the second half, and it's not just been with the dingers, which he has still been excellent with, of course, tied for fourth in NL with 16 solo homers, tied for six in the National League with five first pitch homers. So he has been jumping all over pitchers, and he's just been, he's really expanded his value offensively by being able to not just hit singles or homers every single at that, basically. Yeah, yeah, there's just been, there's been more variety to his game offensively as of late. And he's, he's about to set some career highs.

We should probably like keep our, keep our eyes out for this stuff. his career high in RBI is 73. So right now he has 67 as we speak before Monday's game. So and then at home runs, he's right there as well. 29 is career high for homers. He's at 27 right now. So you figure, I mean, he only needs six RBI and he only needs three more home runs in order to surpass both of those markers.

So definitely something to keep an eye out here. He's got a month and a half to do it. So as long as he's able to stay healthy, He should pretty easily clear both of those and set career highs and some pretty key offensive stats. Definitely has a chance to reach 30 home runs and maybe 75 plus RBI. That's huge for him. And I think that's huge for this team. Again, there has been so much talk about Christian Walker,

especially considering the guy that he replaced over there at first base. So it's really nice to see him becoming a well-rounded player. and, you know, contributing to this ball club in a meaningful way. It's not to say he didn't do that in the first half, but it seemed to be feast or famine for him at the plate there for a while. And it's nice to see him be able to contribute like he did on Sunday. Yeah, he really, he really has looked a little bit better. And he's a big part of the middle of the Diamondbacks lineup, right?

I mean, there isn't like the Diamondbacks, unfortunately, with the season that Kutel has had, they don't really have like that elite hitter in the middle of the lineup, right? like Christian Walker has sort of been sort of been the staple there. One guy that I also want to mention here, unfortunately on the other side of things has not looked very good as of late. And I've heard a lot of people kind of wondering what his role is with the team and kind of where he fits in at this point is Jordan Looplo. Jordan Looplo is just not look good against lefties,

against righties. It just like nothing is really looking great for him offensively right now. his batting average on the season is down to 167. And I know you're not bringing in Jordan Loeplo to hit for average. Like that's not what he's there for. But like 167 is really, really low. And even though there's some power there, we've seen that from time to time,

especially against lefties, it's a little bit questionable at this point, like what his role really is. The debacks have used him and continue to use him in some big spots pinch hitting late in games against lefties. And it just seems like it's been a while. since that move has panned out for them. So I hate to kill the mood here at the beginning on Mailbag Monday,

but I've seen a lot of comments about Jordan Looplo lately, and I understand where people are coming from. It is understandable. And to be honest, is Looplo a free agent after this season? Was he on a one-year deal? No, Looplo is not a free agent. I want to say he has two more years of control after this one.

I could check real quick, but I want to say it's two more years. So he's an asset they have for a while, and it'd be really hard for them to move on from him because they have so few right-handed hitting outfielders that doesn't really make sense for them to move on from him because he's affordable. And his numbers historically, at least against lefties, have been pretty good. So I don't know if that's really something they're considering, but the numbers are getting to the point where I wouldn't be totally shocked if that's on the table at this point.

It's completely understandable. And, you know, it's interesting to see moving forward with all of these outfielders that the Diamondbacks do have, how he factors in. Yeah. Everybody factors in. I think that it's not a bad problem to have, but being too left-handed is. And that is something the Arizona Diamondbacks definitely have been is far too left-handed at times, right? And it's, again, it's not the worst situation to be in. It's just a lack of versatility and in some cases getting heavily dominated as a team, right, by, you know, a starting pitcher that's having success against lefties.

I don't know what the answer is for this team, but all I know is right now they're playing excellent baseball and they're a whole lot of fun to watch. And it's, you know, it's, it's been great to see them bounce back from last season, now be one game over their season total from 2021. and have the rest of this, you know, season now looking forward about what, less than two months, just under two months left at this point to see what this team, not only how these guys can evolve, maybe even how guys like Looplo can bounce back, but how the call-ups from the minor leagues like potentially Corbyn Carroll and some others can, you know, adjust to the minors in the short amount of time and, you know, contribute in their own ways to this team.

winning. Of course, we thank you guys again for checking out the show. Like I said, we are pre-recording this episode, all transparency. Jesse and I try to be as transparent as possible. If you're here in the comments, we absolutely adore you, but if we're not acknowledging what you're saying, it's not personal. It has nothing to do. They might be coming up on the screen. They might not. We don't know how this works. Are robots doing this, Jesse? Is it magic? I need I'm just a simple caveman. I just need things explained to me. But of course, make sure if you haven't done so already,

not only sign up for that membership, if you're watching us right now on YouTube, subscribe, do all the sign up notification. That way you know when we go live, leave us a five-star review on your favorite audio podcasting app. Make sure you're subscribed there as well. We appreciate you for doing that. Appreciate you guys for being here.

And since we appreciate you guys so much, it's time. It is time for us to give away this shirt that I'm wearing. No, I'm not taking this one off my back. I got another one right here. It's for you. And we're doing this on the up and up, you guys. This is on the up and up. And when I say that, I have this thing all ready to go. You have to excuse me for one moment. It is the Star Wars Day shirt giveaway wheel of fun. And let me get this up on the screen here. Oh, we have a screen share. We have a screen share, Jesse. Look at this thing. There's a lot of daves on that list. There is a lot of names on that list. And right now, we are going to pick one. So here we go. Given the wheel a spin,

whoever it lands on, Jesse is our winner. Are our names? Are our names in there? Your name absolutely is not in there. It looks like our winner is Brandon Yost at Brandon Yoste. So Brandon, if you're watching this right now, congratulations. We thank you so much for being a PHNX,

Diamondbacks, a listener, viewer, whatever you are, whether you're a listener or viewer, I don't, I don't want to judge. It's however you categorize yourself. But Jesse, Jesse, I have a question for you. Do you have another shirt to give away? Did you have, did you have, I do. I do, I do have one. I was trying to keep that a secret because I need, I need Christmas gifts for people in a couple of months, but, but, but, okay, well, do we want to make people do this again? Or do you want me to just, remove Brandon and spin the wheel a second time. What do you want to do with your shirt?

You know, let's let's be generous. Let's just give away two of them. Are we going to do it again? Let's spin it again. All right, Brandon, we're taking you out. We're taking Brandon out and we're spinning the wheel one more time for one more extra large. This is the way Diamondback Star Wars Day giveaway shirt.

Here we go. Jesse, you're so kind. Too kind to these people. I am very kind. And our, darn it. Now I have to buy more Christmas gifts. This is the worst. We have a winner,

A Godless Key, a godless key on Twitter. So shout out to Brandon and a godless key. You both are our winners, and we appreciate you guys. Wait, wait, this isn't,

they're not instantly winners, right? We're doing this, like, radio style where, like, they have to call us within, like,

they have to call us within, like, 10 minutes or something. And if they don't do that, then we move on. We'll give it to someone else. No, that's not how it works. This can't work that way.

This is a pretty recorded podcast. Even though the video is live on YouTube right now some way by magic, I don't know, heretics, whatever, however it's on YouTube, it's there. And we're not there. Right. You and I right now, I know this is going to fucking blow your mind, but you and I right now are moving boxes. I'm probably putting together furniture right now.

Yeah, I'm like helplessly trying to assemble an office chair, which is like the single. worst task you could possibly be assigned. So I've, I've already come to grips with the fact that it's probably hard to spend all of my Monday. Oh my God. We've been there at this point since eight o'clock in the morning. Yeah. How do you think, how do you think you're feeling at this point, Derek? Do you think you're, do you think you're doing okay? One PM? No, I don't. I do not. I have a feeling I haven't eaten, Jesse. I have a feeling I'm very hangary right now by 121, 1.30 p.m. I have a feeling I'm not.

Well, you've probably eaten burrito express, right? Have you eaten Burrito Express yet? I have eaten my own. Oh, you know, you're right. You're right. And thanks to our friends at Brito Express for coming through that they were part of Shane's golfing experience, the Burrito Express crew on Friday. So I'm sure to follow our friends at Brito Express on Twitter at Brito EXP,

because we thank them, of course, for taking care of our tummies right now. I'm probably very thankful that I had that burrito at one o'clock in the afternoon. I don't know what future Derek's doing. Jesse, this is very daunting to think of this, but that doesn't matter. That's not a question I can answer. But you know what we do, Jesse? You know what we do on Mondays, whether we are live or pre-reported. We do that thing.

Every week, Shark Week, every day is Earth Day. And every Monday, we go to the mailbag. in my mailbox and then once in a while there's a letter that makes me go wow wow yes jesse my mailbox is full we got a lot of stuff to talk about our friend sean mcnally came with a preemptive mailbox question which we always he did whenever you want to take it upon yourself yeah take take take your see that's called taking initiative is what it's called we appreciate you for it sean asks i'm getting in front of mailbag monday what's next year look like at shortstop i feel nick is still a better defensive shortstop and And as bad as his bat has been in the past,

I don't ever remember him batting under the Mendoza line this late in the season. Obviously, Nick Ahmed has been out due to injury. But Jesse, I mean, with what Pardomo has been doing, do we see this being a situation where Ahmed comes back and shares time with Pardoma? Or do we see Nick kind of slide into a potential backup role there at shortstop? Yeah, I think there's some potential for a platoon there. like Pardomo, you know, plays most of the time against righties. And then Ahmed takes the majority of a batts against lefties.

I think that'd be a really good fit because Nick historically has been very, very good against left-handed pitching. Pardomo is a little bit more, a little bit more even either side. I don't think it's like he's a way better hitter against right-handed pitching or anything like that. But we know pretty well at this point that Nick Ahmed doesn't excel against same-handed pitching. So you put him against the lefties, you put Perdomo against the righties with some occasional mixing and matching. I think that could that could work pretty well. But Perdomo is too

young at this point to like, you know, count him out, right? He's 22 years old. He's he's shown some signs, I think more recently. He's hit the ball harder a little bit more recently. So I'm not here to say Prudomo is like the shortstop of the future or like a guy that that you need to play every day or anything like that. But I see kind of a nice mix between those two guys at shortstop next year. I could see that as well. For sure. For sure.

That was my thought, I think. Nick Ahmed still has some gas left in the tank. And it'll be interesting to see, you know, his condition after this layoff, right? Yeah.

I mean, it's going to be tough because it's a shoulder and like his throwing arm is obviously a pretty big part of his value. So how how well he best. bounces back from this surgery, I think is going to be a big part of his role next year. But I mean, you sure hope that Nick Ahmed is still the defender that we know him to beat, which is one of the best in baseball. And if you have that guy on your team, you're not going to just have him ride the bench, right?

He's going to be in there pretty consistently. So we'll have to, we'll have to see how things turn out there at shortstop. I think there's, I could see scenarios where either of those guys wind up taking the majority of the playing time. so we'll just have to see how it plays out. Gabriel, our friend Gabriel, at Boldest Bronze, asks, can a 500 D-BACs team win Lovolo, manager of the year? Okay, so if they finish 500, so if they, like, go 81 and 81, which would be a pretty good finish for them.

Let's throw in just an extra caveat. They get a playoff position. Some wild cards. With a 500 record? let's just say just playing devil's advocate let's just say that is highly highly unlikely but uh if you're playing devil's advocate i guess well just just just play along um okay so they're 500 but they have a playoff spot interesting um i guess they they just eke out one other team right i'm not talking about like you know i'm talking about like they they barely nab the very last playoff spot but is that improvement from one season to a next

with essentially the same roster and few high dollar acquisitions, few big trades made or anything like that, does that warrant Lavello being at least in that conversation? We're talking about 30 game, 30, 30 game, 29 game improvement. I just think it's like a, I just think it's like a hilarious proposition because last year, everyone's like, you know, Lavello's team won 52 games. Like, why on earth are they bringing it back?

we should fire the guy because he's the problem. His team only won 52 games. And now the possible argument here is like, hey, look, Lavello's team won 29 games more than last year. Like, look at how he helped his team, you know, dig out of this rut that they were in. Now he should be manager of the year. I don't know if you could really have it both ways.

But to answer the question, I don't think Toro Lavello's the manager of the year. I think Buck Showalter is probably the manager of the year in the National League, just given how well the Mets have played this. season. After Buck, I don't know if there's really any other clear candidates. So maybe Tori is in there somewhere based on the Diamondbacks progression. But I think the D-backs would have to win more like 85, 86 games at least in order to be in

the mix for that conversation. The team is too talented. The Diamondbacks aren't like, I don't know. We've talked about it a lot. Last year's record wasn't indicative of the amount of talent that they had. And this year, I think things are just kind of coming back. sort of where they should have been with a few other key contributors being present as well. So that's more how I view this season.

And I completely disagree with you. All right. Oh, okay. And you're just saying you're not even going to elaborate. You're just going to go on. Here's what I'll say is that, yes, Tori Lavello did get a lot of the blame. And if you're asking me, if I'm being honest, I really don't think it's because of Lovolo that we've seen this turnaround.

I think that the... No, I don't either. And I don't think it's because of Lavello that. we saw all the issues last year either. I don't think either of those are really because of him. Both of those things can be true, right? But what I will say is we talked about it in the off season. We've talked about it during the season.

We've talked about it so much that I'm sure people listening to the show are sick of it. But the additions at coaching staff are really the reasons why I think this team had this improvement. I think the additions at coaching staff are the reason why this team continues to get better as the season progresses. It's the reason why we see guys like Alec Thomas and Tommy Henry have this level of success as young rookies

coming into the league and adapting so quickly to a major league level. We talked about Strom working with Henry and the small changes we made. Hell, Strom made fucking Madison Bumgarner switch the side of the fucking bump that he's throwing from. After how many years?

How old is Madison Bumgarner? And he's having him switch the side of the bump that he's pitching from? Like there are things like that. It didn't really, it didn't, that particular move didn't equate to Madison, Bumgarner having more success, but he was striking guys out. We saw the WIF come back for Madison Bumgarner by doing that. So who knows if maybe there's still an adjustment period, but we might see some big things

out of Madison Bumgarner before this season ends if he can find success by making those, by adapting in the way that Strom is coaching him. The young guys, though, they're not set in their ways. They're completely coachable. for a guy like Strom. I think we're seeing Jeff Mather have the, you know, the effect, the Mather effect on the, on the, on the, on the,

hitters. And we're seeing, you know, Joe Mather. I think, Joe Mather. What did I say? Yeah, I said Jeff Mather. Yeah, I'm combining my coaches. Joe Mather, Jeff Bannister. Mather was a player on this team one point. Anyway, uh, Jeff Mather, what? Yeah, why did, why is that name?

I think he was a player. I think he was a player on this team. So, um, yeah, you look that up. because I know you're going to matter. I'm pretty sure he was a catcher, but I could be wrong about that. Or something in that neighborhood. It doesn't matter, Jesse.

There's Joe, Joe Mauer, Joe Mauer, the catcher for the twins. That's not the one I'm thinking of. See, everyone in the comments right now thinks we're being utterly ridiculous

and knows who we're thinking of them, we have no idea. You're like read our stuff. Yeah, they're telling us how stupid we are like right now. Yeah, I'm sure it's great. We're from the past and you're technically for us from the future.

So we can't, we can't see each other right now. We can't do this. But it's been fun to watch. It has been fun. And I, I mean, at the end of the day,

I do think that there would have to be a factor like a playoff spot in order to push LaVallo over the edge to be a candidate for a manager of the year. To have your team go, uh, from, you know, losing 110 games to being in a position where you are playing in the playoffs, uh,

for potential. eventually a world series. There has to be some credit given where credits do. I get what you're saying, though. It's a bit like sandbagging and then patting yourself on the back for your own accomplishments when you just didn't do good then. But now you're doing good. So by comparison, like, yeah, it's great.

But there's that last season. So if you're comparing it to that last season, it's not like LaVallo took over a team that someone else was managing last season and then made it into this. So I get where you're coming from on that. I just still don't care. I think Tori Lovolo is my manager of the year. Damn it.

I have no problem saying that. Harley on Twitter at Harley underscore PDX asks an often overlooked part of our system is the plethora of talented pitchers like Fott, Nelson, Jameson, and Walston. Could you guys lay out your opinions on how these guys might end up any potential A stuff with what we've seen, solid middle rotation guys, anything like that?

And I think you can take the lead on this because I know you're pretty familiar. with, I think, all four of those guys, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, I mean, yeah, so I would direct people to the article that I wrote a couple days ago. I wrote an article about eight prospects that are most likely to make their big league debut down the stretch for the debacks. And there's a lot of overlap here.

So I wrote a little blurb about pretty much everyone that we could see through the rest of the season, which includes those guys other than Blake Walson. I know I'm Blake Walson on the list. But yeah, as far as, as far as, far as this potential scouting report here goes, I don't really think there's an ace here, Derek. Not to say it's impossible. Like,

not to say that one of these guys couldn't outpace their projection and become that. It's a lot of mid, mid rotation, back end rotation. There it is. Some potential for, yeah, there you go.

I really made a name for myself. But, but yeah, I mean, that's just the nature of pitching prospects. right i mean there aren't that many pitching prospects that you look at and you're like oh this guy's going to be an ace right like that's not a common thing at all like that's very very rare to have a pitching prospect of that caliber um so i don't think any of these guys are quite that level um maybe

a brandon people expected him to um he was a fifth round draft pick uh one of the last guys taken in the shortened 2020 draft. They outpaced everything that people expected of him so far. So I view him as being sort of a riser. But all in all, there's a lot of talent here in this group.

And I think the Diamondbacks are going to get some big league production out of this. And I agree. I agree. I think that everything that we've seen out of the young pitchers has still looked a bit bleak, but a big part of that is because of where their stops are along

the way, including Amarillo and Reno. We see those ERAs balloon. We see them struggle to put up good numbers, and it's understandable. It's kind of the opposite of what we've said about offensive players and what their numbers typically do, you know, when they're in Reno and how that can, you know, make guys look very good until they come up to a major league level. It's almost the adverse effect for pitchers. So we don't typically know at times what we're going to see out of guys.

We know we've talked a bit about Tommy Henry and how. good he's been at Reno. So seeing him come up to the major league roster now and have the success that he's had isn't much of a surprise considering what he was able to do again in Reno, right? Like if you're able to put up good numbers in Reno, there's a good chance that's going to translate over to success. It's just, again, still AAA, you know, bats. So you never know what major league bats are going to do against these guys. I think that there is some development there. and the one thing the Diamondbacks have going for them is, again, not to harp on it, but Brent Strom. Even with the coaching and such that they get at a minor league level, the interaction, the

face time that you get with someone like Stromi can be so influential on a pitcher's life and their career that you have no idea what their potential can be until they start working with a guy like him. And again, it's not to say other majorly pitching coaches aren't good at working with guys, there's just something special about strong. Yeah. He's able to get the most out of guys, no matter what level they're at, he's able to help guys, again, like we said about Bumgarner, continue to develop, continue to change, try new things, see what works and see if you can be more effective, uh, especially by adapting at an older age at a later part of your career to find success

in a different way. Maybe, maybe it's just enough to throw batters off and, and get you back, you know, get Madison Bumgarner that edge again. So it's going to be great to see when these young guys can come up like we've seen with Tommy Henry and work with someone like Brent Strom because I don't really think we know what we have in our system until they get to that point. Yeah, it's been interesting just hearing about what Brent Strom and Tommy Henry have been working on in the last couple of week. Tommy Henry's already made changes. He's already made changes from his conversations with Brent Strom. and we've had a press conference with Brent Stromen and asked, you know, why didn't Tommy Henry do some of the things that you've been talking with him about earlier?

Why didn't he? Brent Strom was just like, I haven't worked with him. Like, this is my first time, like, working with him directly one-on-one. Obviously, there's some communication between strong-year-league pitching coaches, but it's a lot different with those two guys, like, actually connecting on an everyday basis and work together. And we're already seeing the, the fruits of some of that pay off.

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and you must be 21 years or older to purchase. And Jesse's gone, but I'm still here. and I am, I don't need Jesse. I can do this by myself. I'll do mailbag Monday all alone. I don't care. I'm drinking myself a Joy Bus Wow, because I'm still on the Joy Bus from the Arizona Diamondbacks big series win over the Colorado Rockies.

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giving this one away. I already did that. We gave you two. But we will give you a PHNX shirt of your choice from the PHNX locker as well as a PHNX annual membership. Go to PHNX.com or click on the link below in the show notes. Must be 21 years or older. and enjoy responsibly. I don't know if Jesse's coming back, but like I said, I'm here to handle, I'm here to handle mailbag Monday all by myself if I have to.

I don't, it's not like the first time I've been done it. It's not like the last time I've done it. But we still have some questions on the docket. Our friend at Don's Bread asks, you guys have $25 to get food at the stadium. where are you going and what's the order? This is a great question.

I love this question so much. First of all, we need to have a talk about the food at Chasefield. $25 will get you a lot of food at Chasefield. And I'm not even joking about the incredible amount of food that you can get a Chase meal. But there is, as many of you know, the value items at Chase Field. I'm going to list them off for you. There's a $2.99 corn dog. There's a $2.99 hot dog.

there's a $2.99 popcorn. And there's the elusive, a legend. It's a legend in Chasefield. The elusive $499, 14 ounce beer, as well as a $2.99 12 ounce soda. Jesse's back. I'm so happy he's back. Jesse, we're talking about food. Don's bread wants to know what we're spending $25 on at Chase Field in order to get the best value for our dollar.

And I was just bringing up the incredible value item. menu at Chase Field, right? Now, I'll be the first to say. I understand. There are higher quality hot dogs. There's higher quality food. Most likely, if I'm being honest with you, I'm going to spend all $25 at Hungry Hill. I'm just going to buy like two, you know, Italian sausages or two meatball sandwiches or something like that. However, if you want me to get my most, my most out of $25, Jesse, I'm buying six value hot dogs at $2. You could, you could, you could, you could, you could, buy more. Are they too nice? Are they that expensive now? I thought they were just like two dollars even. No, they're two 99. So you could get, okay, 99. All right. 18 six, six of them for 18 dollars. That's going to leave you seven dollars left over. Seven dollars left over is going to get you either your five dollar beer if you want that. Or you get three dollars. Leave in for you four dollars to get a corn dog or a popcorn. Uh, that's, you're not going to get six, six hot dogs. So it's for you. I am saying all six are for you.

I mean, that's all I want at a baseball game, Jesse. I want hot dogs. That's all I want. Sean Caws, I believe, ate a hot dog every inning at the game he went to. He told us he was going to eat one per half inning. That was going to be 18 hot dogs. Jesse. There's only be like $48, which is really a pretty good deal.

Right. What do you spending your money on? I know now you've had a chance to be back around Chase Field, see some of the new stuff that's been there since you since you left us. So what are your thoughts on your $25 chase field excursion? I think I would just walk up to the Wetzel pretzel counter and just like throw $25

on the counter and just be like, hey, what can this get me and just like have them max me out on Wetzel pretzel because I think Wetzel pretzel is outstanding. Give me the biggest fucking bag of Wetzel pretzels you got. There you go. There's $25. There it is. Oh my God. I did.

I did. And I actually forgot to mention this on the show. I didn't even post a picture of this on social media, which I meant to. I had my first versus dog the other day when the Pittsburgh pirates were in town. I had the versus dog. Sort of a strange experience. Not going to lie. It was a large hot dog, Derek, topped with French fries and coleslaw. Yes. And there was nothing particularly special about the French fries. Is that like a Pittsburgh thing? Like I didn't really understand. I don't know much about Pittsburgh. So I couldn't really speak to if that's some sort of tradition for them. Sort of a for me, I just sort of like ate the coleslaw and then ate the French fries and then ate the hot dog.

I didn't really. It was very hard to get all of that in one bite. So I sort of struggled with my my first versus dog. But it was still pretty good all and all. It also seems like those ingredients battle each other, which I'm not like that's not. They do. Coleslaw is cold. Like,

I'm just not, I'm not digging when, when we need to combine stuff like that. And I do. You're really against that. You're really against that, aren't you? Like mixing,

hot things and cold things, right? Isn't that you eat like a churro dog? Like you want to like make it all the same temperature? I, I disassemble it. I disassemble the churro dog. I will remove the churro.

Actually, here's the great part. You could actually just ask them not to put the churot dog in your churro dog or the churro in the dog. And they'll just give it to you, like wrapped like they would at churro if you were just buying the churro and then you get your thing separate it's key i'm not saying don't put the churro in it it's like a lot of things when you go to a when you go to any place with the suffix burtos here in phoenix arizona they are not putting

quite a few of them there are so i'm just leaving it open to interpretation that's just burtos at the end right they're not putting the salsa in your burrito they're not all right yeah but it's also is a topping like salsa is a topping that's a pretty that's pretty different than this but i'm just saying like there's a sogginess factor there right you reason why yeah add your salsa to later time isn't because they give a shit about how hot or or spicy we want it it's mostly because it's kind of like pico de gallo if they're if they're pico is ice cold it's going to ruin a carneasada burrito because they're putting ice cold pico that's just like gross like cold Guacamole.

Like practically frozen pico de gallo. Like is that even a thing? Places that I've gone to have done that. Yeah, they do that. Like because they keep the pico, it's tomato and onion, right? So they cut it up and they keep it in a refrigerator or a refrigerated

compartment. And then they just take it right from there and put it on your hot burrito of meat and, you know, a tortilla that's been heated up. So that, that's a problem. It's an issue. Like the pico needs to be like room temperature.

You know what I mean? Like it needs to be kind of like left out. And like, I understand. you have to put it away at the end of the night. And yeah, leaving it out at room temperature may not make it saveable. You might have to toss it at the end. Fucking toss it.

Make fresh food. Do the right thing by the customer. But don't put ice cold pico de gallo on my hot burrito. Just like the same thing with the churro and everything else. You're fucking ruining it. I'm not going to eat it right away. By the time I get to my seat, it's not going to be good. If you want to put the churro on the churot dog, do it at your seat.

That's all I'm saying. I'm not saying you have to eat the two things separately. I'm just saying wait until wait to apply the two things. you know, like, like those adhesives, right? That you need the two, like diehard three where in diehard three, you wouldn't get this reference. Diary three, there was two, two liquid components that needed to come together in order to make the bomb.

Same thing, right? Like, keep them separate until it's time to eat the bomb-ass food and then put the two things together. I'm stuck in with that. I'm sticking with that. By the way, Jesse, you definitely got the wrong versus dog because just looking forward at the schedule, the upcoming Phillies dog, cheese whiz and bacon.

I'm all about that. I'm all about that. So something, let's look at the Cardinals dog. I got to find the Cardinals dog. Let's see. I don't have a Cardinals dog, right? We're playing the Cardinals at home, right?

There is no Cardinals dog on this list. I'm pretty upset about that. Yeah, that is a home series next weekend. So that is a little strange. They've left this off this list. I need an updated list now, damn it. But anyway, enjoy the versus dog. That's a good one to enjoy.

Like Jesse said, just go to the Wetzel pretzels and say, you almost sound like you're robbing them. Like you're going up and you're like, give me all the Wetzel's pretzels that I can get for 25. Like that almost seems like a threat. Brett Lee Johnson, our friend Brett underscore Johnson 44 asks Jesse, if you were a closing pitcher and could have a hype walkout song like Edwin Diaz, what song are you picking? Um, huh, trying to think. I feel like just based on my personality, I would sort of struggle to to really maintain the like, oh, I'm gonna like,

I'm here to get you. Like I want to intimidate you. Like that's not, that wouldn't really be my vibe if I were in that spot. I would want to play like a, no, I would want to play like a fun ridiculous song that kind of helped everyone relax,

you know? I like that would be more of my vibe. I want everyone to relax. So, so, um, I don't know. like living on a prayer

I don't know something something along those lines you expect you expect white people to relax during living on a prayer that's one of their favorite songs they love they'll get fucking so excited for that yeah well so I'm not talking about like I'm not talking about like playing Mozart

like I want people to be excited I'm just saying like I want them to be happy I don't I'm not going for like like living on a prayer to me yeah living on a prayer to me just helps me relax like it's fun it's a bit like Charlie Blackman's song. Like I could see everybody as you're coming out for your ninth inning, everybody, you know,

living on a prayer. But that is living on what does that say about you as a closer? I don't feel like that's projecting a very confident. No, no, but that's the point. That's the point. It makes people sort of like take you for granted, you know, the opposing team is like getting distracted because they can't help but sing along to the song. and then and then sure enough

I'm sweet caroline if you want that you know there you go there you go I'd be all right with that one too that one's all right um I'm I'm going in a I'm going in a much different direction Jesse I'm picking a song called Industry Baby by little Nazex

and Jack Harlow because this song gets me hyped every single time I hear it day night it doesn't matter I might start coming out at the wrestling show to this I don't know it all depends if they'll let me or not change my music. Pro wrestling, you commit to music,

and then they want you to do it all the time. It's a whole thing. But no, there's no song in baseball that's going to get you as hyped as that Edwin Diaz song. Shout out to Blasterjacks, by the way, that liked that video. Last question also comes from our friend, Brett Lee Johnson. He wants to know, again, when it comes to things like bobbleheads. He says other teams like the Dodgers and Rockies have been having bobblehead nights

all year. Do we really think the debacks couldn't get them? because of supply chain issues. Brett says I'm starting to think they were too lazy or think of some, to think of some or just too cheap. I definitely don't think it's that first thing. I really don't think it's cheapness other than maybe there was an additional cost to maybe have them.

And maybe some teams were willing to pay that cost. Maybe they went to a domestic bobblehead creator and maybe the cost was much higher. Maybe something more than some teams were willing. willing to pay, but more than other teams. I think it's a different thing, Jesse, because I brought this up on the show the other day, yesterday's show. I think that there is a very good chance that the reason why the Arizona Diamondbacks

don't have bobbleheads is because the 2022 season left a lot of extra bobbleheads lying around with no home. And the 2020 season? I'm sorry, 2020 season. The pandemic season? Yeah, the pandemic season, not 2021, not 2022. I apologize for miss speaking. But the 2020 season, there were because of the canceled season, because they couldn't

give away items to fans, there are apparently millions of giveaway items across baseball that have not been dispersed, right? And because most of them are dated for the particular season or year, in some cases, it's players that no longer play on that game or on that team or, you know, even. maybe even something as far as like logos and such they don't use anymore, right? Like there's a lot that's changed since 2020 for some baseball teams. But I really think that there's a good chance that everybody was still a bit unsure about how the 2020 season was going to play out. Not only were we still in the middle of a pandemic just a bit when this season started,

when, you know, when everything was rolling out at the beginning of this year, but there's also the lockout. And there was a lot of pessimism about the lockout and how long it was actually going to last for. So as much as it, as easy as it is to put that behind us now and not think of that, I really think that the lockout created that uncertainty that caused a lot of teams to not want to commit to potentially more bobbleheads that are never going to see the light of day or, you know, if they are, they're going to make a couple bucks at them by off of them by selling them at, you know, some sort of fan fest type event. yeah that's it those are all good points um yeah i didn't even think about the lockout and the impact that that would have i mean these these giveaway items from my understanding are are created far in advance of when they're actually given away um you know they're they're not like up late like

you know pressing the star wars shirts you know the night before they they give them away that's as funny as that would as that would be uh i don't think i don't think that's that's how it works so um Yeah, there was probably some uncertainty about like, will these things actually get used? And especially if we already have, you know, millions of items potentially, maybe not millions, thousands, whatever it is of items sitting around, you know, in some storage closet somewhere, you probably don't want to add to that mix. But at the end of the day, I mean, at least from my standpoint, I'm sort of just speculating on this. I'll see if I can find an answer.

This is a good question that I'm sure, Brett is not the only one who's sort of trying to figure out what the real reason is behind all of this. I know supply chain issues is the explanation we've given in the past, and I think there's probably some element to that, but we'll see if we can get more specifics on this. The supply chain issues were the reason that I was given when I was asked, or when I asked about it. And they didn't elaborate too much further.

And of course, yes, supply chain issues might be a factor in it, but there's a good chance. There's other factors as well, right? a team like the Dodgers or a team like the Padres have obviously more money to spend than a team like the Diamondbacks. And that's just a factor of having a full ballpark every night and being able to cover the cost of potentially, you know, either paying the additional charge for more expensive domestic bobbleheads or potentially even just willing to eat the cost if this season didn't happen and getting them ahead of time. like you said, ordering them with that confidence that the 2022 season was going to happen. And if it doesn't, oh, well, we'll figure out something to do with them then.

I get it from a business aspect, but I also get that fans, you know, miss that. It's a big part of the game. And I completely understand. And I, of course, want to let everybody know that I know they're not for free, but you can still get your bobblehead fix over at our friends at Focco.com. they have not only bobbleheads, but they have some of the most incredible bobbleheads I've ever seen.

Let's be honest, the giveaway items are good. Some of them are great. There are some giveaway bobbleheads for guys that don't even play baseball anymore that I still hold in very high regard, right? But there's also some duds out there. And that's one thing that Focco.com will never

bring you when it comes to bobbleheads. These are beautifully sculpted. They are art, is what They are not only that, but they have an entire variety over at Foco.com of officially licensed gear for men, women, children, Jesse's dog, everything from bobbleheads to swimsuits, polos to crocs, shorts, everything, everything you need to be decked out for your favorite team. And we know your favorite team is the Arizona Diamondbacks. So fans, head over to Focco.com or click the link below in the description. For all non-pricell items, use the code PHNX for 10% off over at Foco. And also, sign up at Draft King's Sportsbook app if you haven't done so already,

because Draft Kings makes baseball more fun, right? Especially as we wind down this season. The Arizona Diamondbacks may or may not be playing for something special. Maybe they won't be. Maybe they're just playing for third place. Maybe they're just playing to stay out of the seller. But regardless of what they're playing for, you can play for that sweet, sweet cash over at the Draft King's Sportsbook app.

Get down with the bakery, I think, is what, my friend, Sean DePaz calls it because he's also the Pillsbury dough boy, and he's making dough over there at the bakery. But download the Draft King Sportsbook app now. Use promo code PHNX, make your first deposit and get a risk-free bet up to $1,000. That's promo code PHNX, only at the draft king sports book. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. Of course, again, I am questioning, betting the over at Coorsfield ever again. Jesse already talked me out of it. But the results, from this weekend definitely confirm that for me that I am a fool,

which I needed no confirmation for, but you can do better over at the draft. You took the over on 13 and a half runs on Friday. It was like a, what was it like a five to three game? Five to three? Yeah. Just a little,

just a little off there. Something like that. But anyway, I'm sure even the odds makers didn't think it was going to be that low. There were not more than 13 and a half runs in any game in the entire weekend. again, actually. That's true.

That's true. Oh, that damn course field. But, of course, learn from my mistakes and go have fun over at the Draft King Sportsbook app. America's top rated sportsbook app. We thank you guys again so much for joining us on this pre-recorded Mailbag Monday episode. We'll be back with you live on Tuesday at our regularly scheduled time of 1 p.m. Right here on the P.HNX sports YouTube channel. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter.

I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman. this very show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys again for your time. We appreciate you so much on behalf of Jesse and myself.

We always love when you guys come through and spend your lunch with us, whether we are actually here or coming to you from the past. But regardless, on behalf of Jesse myself, we thank you guys so much again for being here. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you spend your $25. correctly at Chesafield.