PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Meetings with the Mayor - Steve Zinsmeister

Starting point is 00:00:10 Well, hello and welcome in to, I guess, our inaugural edition here of meetings with the mayor, where I'm going to be chatting with some of my favorite people in the baseball world. And I've already given this guy entirely too much credit. But he truly is one of my best friends in the baseball world. It's Steve Zinsmeister, a friend, pregame post game host for the debacks. Feels weird to say that. But hey, buddy, welcome, welcome in. Thanks for joining me today.

Starting point is 00:00:38 It's equally as weird to hear it. Derek. And also, I didn't realize this was like a mayor thing. I don't ever remember voting for you, but I mean, a lot of people don't. A lot of people don't. It's weird sometimes when you just take the power, right? Like sometimes there's just a role that needs to be filled and you find yourself filling that role. But similar to how you and I, I guess, started our relationship a bit. They just needed something for me to do over there at Arizona Sports 98.7. They were like, I guess go hang out with you. with Steve. I don't know. Like, go do a podcast with Steve. Yeah, I seem to remember them coming to me and saying, hey, we've got this guy and we just need something to do for him. What can you come up with? And no, I mean, listen, you and I did a podcast together for several years.

Starting point is 00:01:27 I mean, I don't want to put a date on it to our benefit. But. To my dad. Are you kidding me? I don't want to date ourselves here. But yeah, no, those are. some good days, man. Just you and me and Bear and Andy Greenberg and the many iterations of that show that we had and sitting in the studio and trying to decipher what we were seeing on the field

Starting point is 00:01:51 and bringing in an expert who was attending all of the games. I'll go hell. I'll say you were the expert. No, that's crazy. That makes it sound like I'm Jesse and I'm no Jesse. That's for sure. No, none of us are Jesse. We're never, no, no, nobody cares about a vertical, uh, drop and all of that as much as he does. But shout out to Bear, by the way, our guy, Cody Fincher. I mean, look at us. Look at, we're all doing stuff. All the ain't no fang guys.

Starting point is 00:02:20 Cody's over there, associate producer of radio and podcast for the Arizona Cardinals and you pregame post game host. Me hosting a show. Who would have thought? I mean, I was actually paying attention to the stuff you were doing, Steve. Believe it or not, when you were hosting Ain't No Fang. I was actually taking, well, at least learning how to write notes and pretend like I was being organized, you know, for the most part.

Starting point is 00:02:43 But we definitely had a lot of fun doing that show. In fact, my send-off episode that you guys created in regards to me leaving, still top, top moment in my life to hear that ridiculous set of, I guess, my own words, you used my own words against me. So that didn't feel great, but it also felt great. I created a like a two or three minute montage of all the dumb stuff that you had said. Not all the dumb stuff. I mean, that would have been much longer than two years. But yeah, like a really smart producer of that would have been like stashing clips all those years.

Starting point is 00:03:24 And then like brought it all back and that would have made the process a lot easier. No, I had to go back and sift through hundreds of episodes of us just blabbering about, you know, J.D. Martinez, as breaking your heart or the king of Reno or Jake Lamb or any of those things that we talked about ad nauseum for years. And yeah, somehow I threw together a montage that did you justice. It's it. I didn't deserve it. I didn't deserve it. If we're being honest, I didn't deserve that much effort. That's for sure. But you're well. You always did a great job at hosting. And you do a great job at hosting over there doing the pregame and postgame show for the Diamondbacks. How has that been for you so far. Are you loving the new gig? Or do you absolutely hate it? Are you just going to tell us

Starting point is 00:04:08 right here how much you hate it? No, I don't think anybody could possibly hate a job where you literally come in, you talk to players for a living, and then, you know, you just highlight them. And that's really my job, especially in the pregame show, every single day, getting the opportunity to chat with the players that you and I get the chance to be around every day. And that's the coolest job in the world. So I'm very thankful for the opportunity. And then postgame show is just so different, as you know, getting the chance to react to games and to react to what you're seeing on the field and kind of guesstimate what's coming. It's an incredible job. I couldn't ask for anything better. And coming from the world I was in where I was doing a lot of like news radio and sports

Starting point is 00:04:53 radio where I was kind of, you know, paying attention to like all these different things I could be doing at any one different time. And then to be able to hyper focus on baseball, which is, as you know, it's just kind of always been my bigger passion. I'm very thankful to be in the position that I'm in now. Well, you were a jack of all trades over there at Arizona Sports. You did so much for not only the sports side, but for KTAR. I couldn't believe sometimes all the things that you did producing and also hosting your own shows and doing the updates and everything like that.

Starting point is 00:05:21 So, yeah, I get that because even from my world of having five jobs like I used to have when you and I work together, it's so nice to finally. be able to put all of my time and effort into this. And you're right, because I think that's the best part about covering this team directly is to be able to tell the stories of these guys, to be able to cover them on the day-to-day basis. And, I mean, honestly, when you learn to,

Starting point is 00:05:47 or when you get to know these guys as people, right? Like, that's the part that's still very fascinating to me, because, you know, they're, to a lot of fans, they're just such big superstars. They're so larger than life, so many of them. I mean, Blaze Alexander is a guy, who refuses to shake my hand because he just has to hug me when we see each other. And I can't tell you how much I love that about him.

Starting point is 00:06:09 But I mean, like to so many people, Blazes like this, like, you know, incredible guy that just kind of burst on the scene that everybody's a big fan of already. And like, when you get to be around them, you get to realize just how much of a dream this is for them and how cool their stories are. Yeah, it's funny you bring up Blaze because the other day, it would have been Wednesday. the last home game of this last homestand. I was in the clubhouse and there was no one there. And Blaze walks in and of course I'm standing near his locker

Starting point is 00:06:40 and he comes up to me, fist bumps me and goes, hey man, how's it going? And I'm like, dude, you had a three hit night last night. And you're coming up and asking me, huh? Like, this doesn't even compute to me. And then I was talking that same day with the hitting coach, Joe Mather, and he says to me, hey, how's your season going? And I'm like, dude, you just.

Starting point is 00:07:01 scored 36 runs in five games. Like we're here to talk about you in the offense. Like, you're asking how I'm doing. Like, I'm playing. Whatever. We get used to that, right? Like, we get used to the fact that we are, I mean, I've spent years trying to be as invisible as I possibly could in that clubhouse simply because I felt like that was kind of my job. I felt like my job was to just be there as an observer gathering information and either writing my story or putting videos on YouTube. And now it's so different because of the role that, you know, PHNX wants me to have. And, and honestly, the relationships that you kind of need to form with these players in order to kind of get

Starting point is 00:07:39 the more in-depth stories that you, for instance, get out of them. And I know, like, that, it is still is strange, right? It's still strange at times because, yeah, we, we do kind of still watch this team as fans. And so sometimes to be in there and just to know these guys on a personal level, uh, it's, it's, it's kind of crazy. sometimes, especially, like you said, after, you know, Catelle Marte coming in and giving you a fist bump while he's in the middle of a hitting streak, you're like, don't touch me. I shouldn't touch, don't change anything. What are we doing here? You know, but. Especially with how superstitious you are. Yes. Yes. You know, you know that.

Starting point is 00:08:14 We can't, we can't change anything. But the whole reason you're speaking of superstitions, by the way, I don't mean to put blame on you or anything, but you are one of the only things to change from last season to this season and the team struggled. So do you feel like you're cursed. Is this more on you or on my mustache? Which one is this more to be blamed on? You know, you're not the first person to blame me for the changes, let's call them. But listen, this team's won five of their last six. So if I have to take the blame, I feel like I should also get the credit. I don't know. That seems fair to me. Well, have you had any favorite moments so far doing the interviews you've done?

Starting point is 00:08:49 I mean, I know you were out there with Pardomo a few weeks ago. A lot of people were excited to see that. but has there been any player that you've kind of talked to that stood out or really just kind of wowed you in a way? There's a lot of cool moments that come to mind on the job. And some of them are interviews. Like I was out with Perdomo a couple weeks ago, like you mentioned, at Guy Fierry's downtown Phoenix Kitchen and Bar. And just catching up with him on how his rehab is going. That was cool. But, you know, the moments that stand out to me, I got to see Greg Schulte receive his National League Championship ring in the radio booth in the first week of the season.

Starting point is 00:09:22 That was pretty cool. just because of how much I respect the gub. And then on the field, usually when the game ends, kind of take you behind the curtain a little, when the game is coming to a close in the eighth and ninth inning, I sneak down to a photo well on the field level. There's my dog, by the way, in the background. Yes.

Starting point is 00:09:41 And so I go down to the field and I hang out in the photo well until the game ends. And if it's a win, I interview a player. And usually what that means in the ninth inning is there's a chance of a walk off. So I was down on the field this past. week when Pavin Smith hit his two-run, home run to dead center field. And I think watching those types of hits, whether it's that one or remember, Cattel Marte hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth with two outs. I think it was against Chicago, if I'm remembering right?

Starting point is 00:10:11 And that sent it to extra innings. So it's like things like that, I get to watch from eye level. And that makes it even that much more impressive. And then I got the Gatorade Bath. You did? You got soaked. Yes. Yeah, that was something.

Starting point is 00:10:26 He certainly got it worse than I did. So I'm not going to complain. But I got to start getting used to the whole, like, keeping an eye out, you know, while I'm interviewing guys. I felt like they kind of sold you out there. TV kind of sent you in first, which doesn't typically seem like the move. Is that usually? Like, you usually get your interview before them? Yeah, I don't know what the process.

Starting point is 00:10:47 I'm new here, Derek. I mean, I got you. Just follow. I think they got you. But, I mean, it's been moments like that. I've had some really awesome conversations. One of my favorite guys, I know is one of your favorites, too, is Ryan Thompson. There was a walkoff.

Starting point is 00:11:02 When Randall Gritchick hit a walk off at Chase Field, I ran out on the field to grab Randall, and Thompson walked by, and he high-fived me. And I'm like, I'm not even in the high-five line. Come on, we're giving about to everybody. He just wants everybody to be a part of the fun. Paul Seawald, funny story I'll tell you about Seawald. So last, I think two weeks ago or so, they were at home and I was in Tori Lavello's office interviewing him like I do for the pregame show. And I came out and I walked through the clubhouse to go back to the elevators.

Starting point is 00:11:38 I wasn't planning on talking to anybody or anything like that. And I'm walking into the clubhouse and the lights are all off. Now, I don't know about you, but I've never seen all the lights off in the clubhouse just before a game. We just recently heard about this. Yes, go ahead. So I walked in and all. the lights are off and Paul Seawald is walking around with a strobe light and it's just going nuts on the ceiling and he's not like partying or dancing nobody else is really doing anything he's just

Starting point is 00:12:05 walking with a strobe light and so I asked him I was like Paul what are you doing and he's like oh I'm in charge of post game celebrations so whenever we win we come back in here and we got to have something going on right and so he's like I so I have these strobe lights and I asked him I was like why is that falling on you? Like you're the closer. Like aren't you on the mound most of the times when you win? And he goes, yeah, but when I came in last fall, when they traded for me, I bought a smoke machine.

Starting point is 00:12:35 And we put the smoke machine in the in the clubhouse. And I was like, oh, that must have been cool. And he goes, yeah, except it took like 10 minutes to warm up. So whenever we had like one or two outs in the ninth, I would tell the clubhouse attendant to run into the clubhouse, turn on the smoke machine so that it was going by the time we got in there. That's hilarious. So I'm telling you, the next time you go into the clubhouse this week on Monday, look at the counters. And I know you know what I'm talking about. On the counters, you'll see one on every corner of the counters is these little lights. And those are the strobe lights that Paul Seewald

Starting point is 00:13:09 installed for postgame parties. And he takes it so seriously, right? Like it couldn't have just been music. It couldn't have just been a speaker he brought in. No, he had to see how the lights were going to look in the dark, he had to see if they need to turn all the lights off or some of the lights off. That's true dad energy that you just can't replicate. Like we talk about him being the dad of the bullpen. But I mean, that's it right there. And man, it's so weird how, again, he's a guy that takes a very simple approach on the mound.

Starting point is 00:13:40 And for the most part, isn't that flashy, doesn't really feel like he would bring the stability to this team that he does. But I feel like it goes beyond just that closer role. It's stuff like this, right? And it's stuff like suggesting to Tori that they take a day off from hitting, you know, in the cage or hitting, doing batting practice before a game just to see if it would help out. And, I mean, it's, I don't know, there's certain veteran intangibles that a guy like that brings that it's, you know, it's the main reason why he's so valuable to this team and feels like he has been since he was traded for last season. But speaking, oh, go ahead. I asked Ryan Thompson about Paul the other day.

Starting point is 00:14:20 day and you know just kind of like hey what's it like to have him back in the mix and what does that do for you guys as a bullpen in general and he says you know obviously he's a great player he's an established closer he you know all that stuff remains true but he said the biggest thing is what it does for all the other relievers which is it lets us know what role we really are in because i get the feeling and i've asked a lot of different relievers about this when paul seawald went out with an injury just after spring training ended. It's not like the organization went to all the relievers and said, okay, now you're the ninth inning guy, now you're the eighth inning guy, now you're the seventh.

Starting point is 00:14:56 That wasn't really how they handled it. A lot of guys just, you know, we'll do whatever we got to do. Kevin Ginkle is a great example. I'll do whatever we got to do to win. So he becomes the de facto closer. But when I talked with Ryan Thompson the other day, he goes, that was fine. But now that Paul's back, we all definitively know when and where we're going to be pitching. And the more information you can give a.

Starting point is 00:15:17 reliever about who they might be facing, when they might be facing them. It just makes their job so much easier. And you look at a guy like Ryan who's been one of the best relief pitchers in baseball since he became a Diamondback. I'll take his word for it, man. I think that the Seawall edition goes beyond just the person, the player. It's what he does for an entire pitching staff. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:15:40 Manteply brought that up last year about Seawall joining the team. He said that when Tori would do the closer by committee, you had no clue on any given day what your role was going to be. And, you know, for the most part, it, you know, it was a great opportunity. But at the same time, guys didn't know when they were going to be utilized, when they were going to be called upon or if they were going to be called upon at time. So it's understandable that you kind of want to know what that role is going to be, what, what the expectation is going to be. And how knowing that can help you, right? It kind of goes on to, you know, like some of the struggles they've had this season. I just want to,

Starting point is 00:16:17 and I wanted to get your thoughts on this. How much do you think the loss of some of that key personnel, not only loss of talent, right? Not only those guys not being there, but just the mental pressure now towards the guys that are there of having to pick it up, right? Like we've talked about Alec Thomas and Geraldo Perdomo. They're great players, right?

Starting point is 00:16:37 But it's not like they are the biggest offensive threats in the starting lineup. So it's not like them returning is the same as like if this team was missing Kattel, Marte, and Christian Walker, let's say. You know, so it's not like they're going to bring that much back to the starting lineup when they do return offensively. I mean, Haldo Pardomo is the risk king, so he always finds a way to score guys, right? But I say that because I just feel like with those guys gone, with the starting

Starting point is 00:17:07 pitching, starting to look thin and starting to lose, you know, guys like Merrill Kelly and now is that gallon, it feels like it could put a lot of pressure on the players to perform even more so than they put on themselves while they're struggling and while the team maybe, you know, might not be doing so well. It's like the more injuries that pile up, it feels like the more that pressure kind of builds. Yeah, I was just talking about this a little while ago with former D-Backs pitcher Josh Colemanter. I had asked him basically the same question, but in regards to Brandon fought, who's going to be starting tonight's game. And, you know, basically what I was asking him was, you know, with Jordan Montgomery, not

Starting point is 00:17:46 having his best stuff over the last couple of outings and with Gallen, Kelly, Rodriguez out. Basically, your rotation right now amounts to Montgomery and fought and then a bunch of young guys. And, you know, Fought definitely still qualifies as one of those young guys. But he has that playoff experience and he certainly has shown a lot of great signs of growth. And so there is pressure that comes with that. But if you look back at what Brandon Fought did in the postseason, that's all he lived for was the pressure. moments. He had to pitch the very first game of the playoffs in Milwaukee. He had to pitch the game, the series clincher against the Dodgers, the first home game at Chase Field in the

Starting point is 00:18:27 playoffs. He had to pitch in Philadelphia. He had to pitch game seven of the NLCS. So I mean, Brandon Fought has done nothing but pitching the biggest moments with the brightest lights. And he comes through. And he's shown a ton of a ton of growth over the course of the last year and half because even he has told me, you know, last season wasn't my best. The numbers weren't great. But look at what he's accomplishing now and look at his pitch arsenal too, where he's added movement on the fastball so that he's not giving up as many home runs. That's been huge.

Starting point is 00:18:57 The sweeper is what it's always been, which is a dominant swing and miss pitch. I think that not just fought, but I think really all the fill-ins have done pretty well overall, or at least as much as we could have expected. And then when you talk about offensively, I'm glad you put it that way. about Perdomo and Thomas, asking them to suddenly fix this offense by coming back is not realistic because it has nothing to do with their skill sets. I think they're both fine players, but it's not like Kevin Newman and Blaze Alexander haven't done pretty well lately with that. Or Corbyn Carroll playing center field really hasn't had any big mistakes in the outfield.

Starting point is 00:19:35 So having those guys back is going to be great for organizational depth and morale and all those things. But it's not like they're going to come in and hit a bunch of home runs. and all of a sudden this offense is going to be the best in baseball. Exactly. You're hoping that it basically just elongates the bench and gives you way more options as you move forward. Well, and, you know, Corbyn talked about it last night that the mental health aspect of it and having your teammates kind of pick you up and you being a good teammate in return for your teammates is important, right?

Starting point is 00:20:02 And so there is something to be said about just the vibes Geraldo Perdomo brings and the kind of chip on his shoulder that Alec Thomas brings that it, times, you know, this team doesn't really have right now. Like, you kind of need that guy. I've kind of jokingly talked about Tommy Fam a lot, but I'm starting to feel like my jokes aren't jokes anymore with the fact that this team at times just seems to struggle so much that it feels like it's more of a, you know, like a toughness, like going out there and not rolling over and dying and not letting this team beat you and not, you know, just some of those things that some of those guys like Tommy Fam says in the locker room that get you fired up.

Starting point is 00:20:43 puts that blood in your in your or that get your blood boil and blood bumping right so and i know tori's great at that but i think that there is something to be said about those guys returning but for the most part it's it's getting corman carroll to have more nights like he had last night in game one against the padres it's getting more slug from some of these guys that haven't really given them a lot of power and i think this team really does have a lot of the assets right now to turn it turn it around still right but i just wanted to ask you before we get out of here what constitutes a successful season for you at this point? Does anything short of the playoffs kind of feel like a failure? Or, I mean, what are your thoughts on that?

Starting point is 00:21:22 I feel if you don't make the playoffs, that's a big, that's upsetting, especially for the fan base. And I would think for, you know, like for a team that decided to put the financials that they earned in the postseason last year back into the team. Yeah. That's, that's rolling the dice on this roster. And they really invested in a way, that this organization never really has in the past. And so I think I thought that was huge. I think a lot of people thought that was huge. And so if you don't make the playoffs, it's going to be, yeah, it'll be upsetting for a lot of us.

Starting point is 00:21:55 But, you know, you also come to the realization, too, after losing in the World Series that only one team gets to win the World Series. And so the World Series are bust people. I've never really understood because, I mean, like, you could be the highest payroll in baseball and the best team on paper every single year like the Dodgers are. and you still only win one. So, yeah. Little Dodger bashing, I figured would go over well on this podcast.

Starting point is 00:22:19 I love it, big time, big fan of that. But you're right. I mean, I think it's got to be playoffs. Playoffs is kind of my bottom line where I'm like, let's make the playoffs and then anything can happen from there. I think we proved that last year. Well, on the playoff run, I think it was just more about, especially for this team, the fun we had, the friends we made along the way, if you will.

Starting point is 00:22:38 But I'm not joking when I say like, just the, the people that kind of fell in love with this team for the first time over the course of that playoff run. And that's not something sometimes you get just because a team has a good season or just because you make the playoffs. The longer you go, the more people get invested. The closer you get to that championship, the more people that might have never even come out to Chase Field for a game want to be there for those big moments. And, you know, sometimes that's truly how you create new fans for life. And this is a franchise that I feel like needs to be. that. So, I mean, I think that's what's so important about this team, continuing to find

Starting point is 00:23:15 success and continuing to make those playoff runs that give us, give us all that fun during October. But I've had it some fun with you. I always have fun with you, had fun with the ain't no fang. And I have more fun now that I get to see you at the ballpark every day. So thank you so much for joining me, Steve. And follow him on Twitter at Steve underscore Zins. That's Z-I-N-S. Of course, I'm at K-U-K-N-X underscore K-B-V-X. But of course, all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports. Steve, thank you again for joining me. Appreciate you guys for being diehards and stopping by.

Starting point is 00:23:49 And of course, we will see you, I guess, at the ballpark or I'll see you on this show because I do like a thousand episodes of it. But we appreciate you guys. We'll see you next time.

PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Meetings with the Mayor - Steve Zinsmeister

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