PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Merrill the Mainstay returns to the Arizona Diamondbacks starting rotation

Episode Date: July 25, 2023

The Arizona Diamondbacks need to stop the bleeding after losing five games in a row. Luckily, they have the right guy on the mound for the job. Merrill Kelly returns to the D-backs starting rotation after missing most of July due to a blood clot. We discuss the impact Kelly can have on this team turning things around and more. We also are answering your Mailbag Mon…Tuesday questions!SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Go to https://birddogs.com/PHNX or enter promo code PHNX for a free Yeti style tumbler with your order.Go to https://saturdayneon.com and use code PHNX for 10% off your order today. Free shipping for orders over $200!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Pins & Aces: Check out https://pinsandaces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping.Circle K: Text PHNX to 31310 to join the Circle K SMS subscriber club and get BOGO 32 oz Polar Pops! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: Learn more about OGeez! at https://ogeezbrands.com//. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

another edition of the ph. And Xx D-Bags podcast. My name is Derek Fonty. Of course, you guys know, I am your mayor of the city of Phoenix. This man is, once again, Mr. Electric. He had a good night's sleep. It's John Paws. And of course, I feel like we're energetic today.

He rebounded nicely from the loss last night. Of course, he never needs to rebound in the loss. It's Jesse the mainstay over there. Jesse free. Wow. I thought Merrill Kelly was the mainstay. Well, Merrill Kelly is the mainstay now. Well, you're the mainstay of this podcast.

That's for sure. People look to you. Yeah, I mean, you guys have, like, ditched me multiple times in the last, like, 10 days. Oh, well, did you again? I am sort of literally the mainstay of the podcast. I mean, go on, this guy. This guy, I went to Seattle and then hiked into, like, heaven and took pictures while I was there. Get out of here.

Hey, I wasn't on vacation. Yeah. Yeah. I was getting worse. Yeah. He wasn't hanging out with Mike Tyson at Comic Con. Who would do that? Yeah.

Let me pick up that name. I dropped real fast. Speaking of which, Merrill Kelly is back. And he is back. We knew he was going to be back in the lineup, but it's a full. officially is back in the lineup for the Arizona Diamondbacks not back in the lineup he's back in the starting rotation he'll be back on the mound today's in cleanup tonight he's de-h in uh no merrill kelly is back he will start for the diamondbacks today against the st louis cardinals and i don't know if there is a

better guy uh to see on the mound today than merrill kelly not only is it great for him to return but merrill has just really been uh incredible this season when the diamondbacks were kind of lost like they are right now he was he was the guy that was always able to get them back on track So hopefully he can do that tonight. Yeah, I mean, Merrill Kelly and 16 starts this year as a 3.22 ERA, a 1.14 whip, 98 strikeouts and 95 innings. Like when he went down with the injury, both he and Zach Gallen were having almost identical seasons, really. Like those two guys were very much carrying this Diamondbacks pitching staff. And without Merrill Kelly, I mean, it was obviously an enormous loss for the Diamondbacks.

They really didn't have a great way of filling that spot. in the rotation. So this is a huge get for the Diamondbacks getting Merrill Kelly back. And, you know, hopefully he looks a lot like the guy, uh, that we saw earlier in the season when we were having conversations about, you know, our Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly, the best starting pitching duo in baseball or in the national league. It wasn't that long ago that we were having those conversations. Seems like 84 years ago is what it seems like at this point. But yeah, no, absolutely he. And, and like we said, we've seen over time how, good he has been after a loss. We've seen how good he has been just at times where the

Diamondbacks just needed someone to go out there and give them a good outing. But mostly it's just good health-wise because Merrill Kelly was facing a pretty serious, I mean, it's a serious health condition. And when you've had more than one blood clot, it's something that you need to start obviously being careful about. And, you know, it's just good that he was able to take care of that especially before getting on a flight and potentially you know having things turned for the worst but now with this starting rotation having meryl kelly back and brandon fought being added to it zach davies not currently being a part of it uh forget the trade deadline deadline can this rotation get us to the playoffs oh oh get them to the playoffs can i get them to the

playoffs can can that rotation zat gown merrill kelly brandon fatt ryan ryan nelson i think he can get them to the playoffs. I think you can get them to the playoffs. I don't think it makes them any kind of threat in the playoffs. I'm not, I wouldn't be, uh, really, I'm not really, I'm not putting money on them to the one of the world series with that rotation. But I think it got them to a playoff spot in the first half of the year. Like they were clearly playing very good baseball when the rotation was completely healthy. So, um, I think he definitely definitely get them to the playoffs, but it doesn't really make me feel good about their chances of doing anything in the playoffs. Yeah, I mean, I, I, I, you'd probably like to not find out. Yeah, right. Yeah.

Exactly. Let's hope we never have to know that. You'd like to not have to think about that. And maybe the debacks are adding a starting pitcher at some point in the next week. But it all depends on Brandon fought for me. I think at this point, Ryan Nelson and Tommy Henry, they're not great. But they're serviceable major league starters. You can get by with them.

You know, you're going to get a really good outing out of them every once in a while. And then for the most part, at least they're giving you a chance to win. I don't know if Ryan Nelson did that yesterday. But he did do enough for the Diamondbacks to have a lead in that game. Yeah, he did give them a chance to win yesterday, even though he obviously didn't have his best stuff. So a lot of it does depend on Brandon Fott and what kind of pitcher he is going to be moving forward. The man has an ERA over eight despite what he did in his last start against Cincinnati. So I think there still are very much some unanswered questions there, even though he bounced back nicely in his last start.

Jeff Passon had a story today where he discussed some trade deadline needs for teams. and he did bring up the Arizona Diamondbacks. He said another surprise NL contender to watch, Arizona isn't being shy about its needs. The Diamondbacks want pitching of all manner and variety with Gialito or Montgomery both good fits. And those are both guys that we've talked about as far as our trade deadline targets.

So what do you think? I mean, I feel like when Jeff Passon tweets something, it's way more reasonable than some of this other things that we've discussed. I was talking to discussing about this before the show. if I break my back, don't expect me to be doing anything. I'm not coming in working if I have a broken back. Yeah. Like, I'm not,

I'm not showing up. So don't expect, yeah, I don't know why he's still out here writing articles and tweeting and stuff. Well, because this man's a machine. I'm not. I am not like that.

I am not. Are his fingers broken? No. I guess, yeah, you can come up with trades from your bed all you want. I'm just not like that. I'm not,

I got a broken back. If his check was hitting your account, you'd be doing it. But his check going to be hitting regardless is my point. Like, I mean, you got a broken back, dog. Anyways. What are we talking about? I don't know, but we wish the best to Jeff Passer because he's one of the best dudes in baseball.

So even though we really didn't talk about that much. Yeah, that is a thing that happened. But Jesse, any surprises there like that Gellita or Montgomery would be a good fit for this team, especially what it will take to get them? No, not really. I mean, not that the Diamondbacks would at least have checked in on those names. already heard from John Marosi the other day that they checked in on Lucas Gialito. I don't know if Jeff Passon is necessarily intending on reporting that the Diamondbacks have checked in on these

guys or more just kind of speculating that they would be good fits. But I think it's pretty clear that like the names we have in our heads are probably names the Diamondbacks if at least you know, had come across their their desks at some point. They're casting most likely a much wider net than we are. So yeah, both of those guys make a lot of sense. I know a lot of people in the chat and on Twitter have talked about a Jordan Hicks, Jordan Montgomery package from the St. Louis Cardinals.

Maybe the debacks try to put something together where they get both of those guys. We've also talked about Jack Flaherty as well on that team. There's a number of trade targets from St. Louis. But yeah, I mean, how the diamondbacks play in this is the final week, right? The trade deadline is a week

from today. Pretty much a week from like right now, I believe, as we're starting the show. So the debacks need to stay afloat here over the next week in order to put themselves in position to add. I don't know. I think that they're the one thing that we're going to be asked and the one question we're going to have is, again, if the Diamondbacks don't do something, you know, is this a white flag? Is this the end, you know, of the season for them? I don't know if that's the case.

And I mean, a few weeks back, Mike Hazen kind of walked some of his aggressive comments. about the trade deadline back a bit and he said, you know, it seemed like it was going to be a bit tougher and that the cost was going to be high. And honestly, I think the one thing that a lot of people should consider if this team doesn't make a huge splash at the deadline is that at the end of the day, was that move going to be enough to put them into playoff contention and what was it going to cost them? I mean, I don't think anybody that's a fan of this team wants to see that mortgage the future, right? But meanwhile, when we put out things like our Dillon cease trade proposal, we have people from both sides, the Chicago White Sox side and the Diamondback side, both telling us we're crazy. The Diamondbacks fans telling us we're insane for including that much in a trade package for Seas and White Sox fans saying if fucking Jordan Lawler isn't part of this, go fuck yourself. Right. Like so there is.

It was only a matter of time before some White Sox fans found out of China. Yeah. I'm glad the CHGO guys. It's your fault. We know what you're doing up there. But yeah, definitely. I mean, and of course, we've been kind of picking on a lot of the White Sox guys because of their season and because of the contracts they have availability of guys. I don't know.

The White Sox is one of those teams that I don't know if they're going to really sell off as much as some of us are expecting them to or some people are expecting them to. But I feel like if the return is big enough for that franchise, they're willing to hear any offer at this point, right? I mean, the Diamondbacks did that a little while ago. they got a lot of trades they got a lot of trade picks and i mean mike hayzen was able to turn this farm system around from being one of the worst in baseball being one of the best in like two seasons so i do i want to push back on one thing you said though i do i disagree that like if they don't do anything on the deadline i do think it's a white flag like i mean this roster's clearly not good enough to

be like you know what teams are going to have to beat to be able to do anything on the playoffs like if you don't do anything in the deadline you're giving up on this being a productive season in that sense i think I don't know though. I mean, they are ahead of schedule. And when you take a look at what they might have to sacrifice in order to get somebody players, is that one player that they get going to be enough? Yeah, but I don't think those two things are mutually exclusive, right?

Like, I think, like, the reality is if you want to win this season, you have to make moves. It doesn't matter what the cost is. If your goal is winning, you have to make moves. But at the same time, yeah, like, if they are ahead of schedule, if they don't make moves, It's not like they're like they have no interest in ever winning, but I think as far as this single season is concerned, if you don't make moves of the deadline, you have given up on on accomplishing anything real this season as far as playoffs are concerned. And see, yeah, no, we definitely disagree on that because the Diamondbacks have said like building internally through their organization is is their focus, right?

And that includes this year. But it just, I mean, again, it's a weird thing where the idea here is that if the Diamondbacks make a move, they're in. consistently world series contenders and that's what I push back on. Yeah, I think that they also have any of this is at this point for them to make like one move and get one big name starting picture and that's enough to put them over the edge. I do think like doing nothing is better than just going to get Jordan Hicks or something. And mortgaging too much of the future. No, I definitely I definitely agree with that. But I think at the same time, if you don't do anything, you are saying that this is this year we are not planning on trying to win a world series.

So I think in that sense it is a white flag Even if it is the smart decision It is still like sometimes surrender is the right decision Well Jesse has an article on go phtonx.com where he talks about the Impact that Mike Hazen has had in some of his trade moves and that's the bigger thing is there's been a lot of swings and misses When it comes to Mike as in on trades There's been one enormous enormous home run which was JD Martinez Sure outside of that trade if you look back at the the buy moves that Mike has made in 2017 and 2018

Almost all of them kind of a straight up disaster. Yeah. Not that the diamondbacks gave up a bunch to get these guys and they didn't get much in return. A lot of these guys just like came over to the diamond backs and like couldn't pitch anymore. Like Jake Deekman,

like what happened to Jake Deekman in 2018? What happened to Matt Andries? No kidding. These guys came over to the diamond backs and had ERAs of like nine for the rest of the season. David Hernandez, similar situation. I believe that was back in 2017.

Brad Ziegler is about the only bullpen arm that Mike Hazen has bought at a trade. deadline that didn't immediately flop upon arriving to Arizona and that's when he was like 38 years old back in 2018 he ended shortly thereafter for you know for the short period of time that he was around but yeah I mean and when you take a look at Mike Hazen's moves that he's made that have been positive ones a lot of them involve the you know farm system younger guys things like that that almost seems to be more what of his specialty is anyway the gabriel Moreno lordis gruel trade is probably one of the highlights of his career trading Dalton Varsho who is still doing things for Toronto but as you brought up when we

were cheering him on last night against the Dodgers hitting like 210 and not really not not really as accomplished of a of a hitter as he was here and and you know again a guy that the diamondbacks ended up getting quite the return for one guy's an all-star one guy's our future catcher right so it's like that trade is probably on on the better end of it but like you know that's not a trade deadline. That's not a big move. That was more of a prospect for a current, you know, kind of best, one of the best players on the Diamondbacks. Like as far as Warwick, he's one of the best players. Haysen has not had a lot of good fortune in like, like if he were to go do, you know, a Gialito trade or a Montgomery trade, like those short term rental moves, he's really,

those moves have not panned out for the Diamondbacks. And granted, there's not that many of them because Hazen was only in position to buy in 2017 and 2018. But yeah, to your point, where the debacks have had success under Mike Hazen is kind of those bigger challenge trades. Like we're going to give you Dalton Varsho for the next four seasons, but we're going to take back Gabby Moreno for six years plus Lordus Guerriel. Obviously, we don't really know how to evaluate that trade at this point. But like the Zach Allen trade, you know, back in 2019, that's another example of a deal that's worked for the debacks.

If they do go like the short-term rentals, you know, if they go down that road, Mike Hazen doesn't have a great track record. in that regard. Speaking of the Gabriel Moreno trade, the Brono mirror, Moreno is on the 10-day IL with left shoulder inflammation, even though there was some confusion on that with the media guide. We weren't sure if it was his left shoulder or right-shoulder. Right-shoulder.

But it is his left shoulder. But currently undergoing treatment, no timetable for return yet. Jose Herrera, as we saw last night, has returned. And I think after seeing Jose Herrera last night, we might want to see a little bit more of Jose-Hara. because he was quite good behind the plate for this team. And he saved that disastrous ninth inning from probably being even worse than it was. But Moreno suffered the injury on a BP swing roughly 10 days before the All-Star break, which really sucks.

Tori opted to not tell the media until now, even though he's been asked about where Gabby has been for a little while. We've asked Tori Lavello about this a number of times over the last few weeks. and he's basically just said, no, Gabby's fine. You know, and we've had conversations on the show, too, about why the Diamondbacks are mysteriously using Carson Kelly more than half of the time when Tori was very upfront, that with Carson in the fold, it would be kind of a 50-50 split between those guys.

Now we find out the truth. There was actually an injury happening there all along. So thoughts on that and the impact that could have going forward? Like Carson does not look very good at the plate. And I mean, once again, I feel like Jose Herrera's value is very high for this team because we have another catcher injury, right? Like Jose Herrera has kind of been a bit of a savior for this team.

But I don't know, man. I want Carson to put it together. But after seeing him in yesterday's game, he just, I think you said it, he just can't even catch up with a fastball. Yeah, at times that's what it looks like. I know he's caught up with a few. But I mean, his OPS is like in the mid-400s at this point, which he's a catcher.

You're not necessarily expecting a ton of. of offense from that position, but a little bit more than that. Yeah, I mean, Gabby had an OPE, I mean, he wasn't having an outstanding offensive season. His OPS was a little under 700, but there's a pretty big difference between like high 600s and like 450, which is, you know, what the debacks have gotten from Carson Kelly so far. And I know Jose Herrera was pretty decent offensively earlier in the year, but his track record is still a little bit incomplete offensively. There's not, there's not much there to speak of for him either. Any other updates on Drey Jameson, Jesse?

Because I know that he had that second opinion on his UCL. Yeah, apparently it was like a third opinion. He just keeps seeing. You might get a sixth opinion by the end of the week. I don't know. I kind of like that. That's like that's very Drey Javison. Like I'm going to fight.

I'm going to fight this until I get the answer I want. Yeah. So he, I think he's pretty much gotten all of the opinions he needs at this point. He has a UCL sprain. And so what Tori described yesterday is that he is trying to decide between a more conservative approach where he just takes some time off. And, you know, we see where he's at in a few months as he maybe starts a throwing program or he just goes ahead and has surgery. I believe it would be Tommy John surgery, although there are some slight modifications, some different parts of that process. I don't know if it's exactly your traditional Tommy John surgery, but it is a UCL issue.

So we'll see. it sounds like he's not necessarily in a huge rush to make that decision because whether he has the surgery right now or a month from now, he is not going to pitch in 2024. So he kind of has some time here to take his time, think it over, see what he wants to do. And hopefully we get to see Jayemason back as soon as possible. I hate this, by the way. I hate the idea of it being like take some time off and wait and whatever because I feel like ultimately. The track record there isn't great. Yeah, ultimately what we see, even if they do take time off, is that every aggravation of an injury like this and the surgery be necessary anyway. Dre's a young guy.

I think that we've gotten to a point where Tommy John's surgery isn't as career threatening as it once was. Yeah. But it's still, it's still not a guarantee that you're able to bounce back from a surgery like that. So just wishing the best to Dre Jameson and knowing, letting everyone know that this situation puts fire in our blood, of course. Make sure if you haven't done so already that you guys download and get down on the BetMGM app. You can get down on Nerfie Fridays every Friday. All you have to be is an existing BetMGM sports user. And to opt into this promotion, you just have to opt into the promotion.

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You didn't have to sneeze like a cartoon character. Yeah, all right. Sneez is just interrupting and derailing shows around here. I love this place. If you haven't gotten the ticket for a takeover event, grab one now. Again, we're going to be in left field, cold beers and cheeseburgers. If you're a diehard member, you get a discount on that event. So you can sign up over at Go, PHNX to become a diehard member.

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We're not, look, we're not going to abandon our gimmick and let all of these other goddamn shows around here steal our thing. First of all, they all have to pay me $5 when they play this song. Each one of them has to pay me $5 for every time they play the song. And of course, what they don't know is even though this is actually Shark Week, every goddamn week on this show is Shark Week. Just like every day on this show is Earth Day. every Monday, well not every

Monday, most Mondays, we go to the mailbag. All right, so it's mailback All right, so it's mailback Tuesday, whatever. Jacob, what do we have over there? First question comes from Ernesto and Ernesto

asks, how do we fix this bullpen that has been at times bad every time we lead? Yeah, and that's kind of the gist of it right like we've kind of joked but when there's no pressure on the line they'll come in and be lights out but when we have a lead uh this bullpen can't seem to keep things scoreless we talked about it last night but there have been 17 consecutive games where the bullpen has allowed one earned run or more and as jesse will quickly point out most of the time it's more but uh what do we do

to fix this bullpen. Is there anything that you can do right now with the current guys? Do we just, do we, do we, do we just get rid of all of them and start over with an entirely new roster? What do we do with this bullpen? I mean, you what, I feel like if we, if we had an answer to that, we'd fix it, Sean. Joe, we'd be the GM. Fix it. I mean, do it.

Okay. Well, I guess, all right. Let's ask this question then. I mean, is the only way to fix the bullpen through a trade? Do you think right now is that the point that we're at? If you're the diamond backs, I think, yeah, like, trading for David Bednar would be a good start. Yeah. I mean, like, trading for Paul Seawald, like, that would be, that would probably move the needle.

You're just giving the people what they want right now, aren't you? Yeah, I mean, Joe Holtani. What the people want is kind of what the diamondbacks need, frankly. Like, there aren't really any other great options for this team other than paying probably an outrageous price for one of those established back-end relievers. The Diamondbacks have not really had any success developing them internally. That's ultimately what I think Mike Hazen would like to do is have their own David Bednar's coming up through the system. But that hasn't really happened. And the one guy like that that the debacks had and Joanne Duran, they traded for Eduardo Escobar a few years ago, right?

And he was still at the lower levels of the miners at the time. So it was hard to know exactly what he was going to turn into. So yeah, I think if you're the Dbacks and you really want to solve this problem, you're probably just, going to have to stomach paying a really hefty price for you know one of those established relievers who maybe could be here for for the next few years and you know solve this problem maybe for the next few years because what the diamond backs have done is they've gone basically year to year and tried to build the bullpen back up every off season it's just really hard to do that when you're only spending you know four million dollars a year or so on one one year deals or you know a one year

deal with a mutual option or whatever um they've signed some guys this year that have been all right like Andrew Chafin's been all right. Miguel Castro's been all right in the grand scheme of things, but they're just not really solving the problem. The Dodgers just made a trade. I'm so disappointed in you guys. I don't care about what the Dodgers is right now because the idea that...

I mean, we kind of care. Like what kind of trade? They got Kiki. Oh. Oh, interesting. Let's let Sean have a moment here. You're all right? You're not going to be all right.

Yeah, he's not going to be all right. We shouldn't be all right. God damn it All right Anyway It's a reunion I hate everything about that Yeah

I can't believe you guys are overlooking The fact that the answer is Currently within the Diamondbacks Organization and that answer is calling Josh Rojas up to the bullpen obviously Yes That is the obvious answer And I can't believe you guys

Are not even considering that as an answer To this problem but K.K Hernandez is not having a good season He has a 599 OPS. Let's hope he continues. Which inevitably means he'll come up. You know, he said, Jesse, he is

the Dodgers. It's going to hit 900. And I don't mean OPS. I mean batting it. That's what's going to happen now. I'm just tired of Red Sox going to the goddamn Dodgers. Yeah, the Red Sox just need to have a not trading with the Dodgers rule.

I'm sick and tired of it. Yeah. Anyway, what else we got? Next question comes from Albert. And Albert on Twitter asked with the implementation of the DH and the NL as well as the balance schedule. Should there just be one set of words for all MLB rather than one for each league?

What do you guys think? I personally say no. Let me sit my aspect. I personally say no just because I like it. And I mean, like, that's what they do in the NFL. And the schedule's not really balanced still. Like, you're still playing your division more than anybody else. So, like, you're still playing majority games within your league.

Yeah. And the other, you have conferences. Yeah, exactly. Like, this is how it's kind of how. most leagues work. I mean, I guess with the exception of the NBA really is the only one. Or no, no, the NHL too. I guess so it's half and half.

But we still have like a league MVP, right? Yeah, and I mean, like, that's how the playoffs are divided. That's, I mean, like, plus it's just, this is baseball, there's history. Like, unlike most of these other leagues, it was two distinct baseball organizations that joined forces. So, like, it's a little bit different. Obviously, baseball is, the history is more important to baseball

than there is any other sport, I would say. So I mean, like it's, it really matter to me, to be quite honest. But like, I would generally, I would lean on the side of keeping it. I think it's, I think it's insane now that we're at this point to look back on the fact that at one point, one league played with different rules. Yeah. That's fucking insane. Like, oh, yeah, no, we have a guy that hits for our pitcher. No, our pitcher hits over here.

Well, I mean, the craziest part is that you were a team that all year was like, yeah, our pitchers just don't. pitchers don't hit. We have someone to do that. And then you get to the World Series. And then, no, they're hitting. I'm fucking figuring out. Yeah, I think I would keep it as it is. But it is an interesting question. I guess there's some potential down the road where Major League Baseball becomes less like divisions oriented. Yeah. Yeah. And maybe this is something that like some people think that they should just ditch divisions altogether and just do, you know, the top six teams from the

and the top six teams from the AL. Like, I think that's a pretty reasonable proposal. I don't think it's going to happen. I think we're headed toward expansion. I think we're headed towards eight, 14 divisions is really what I think we're headed towards, which probably wouldn't really change the situation as far as obvious. Give us four division leaders and then like two wild cards for the rest of the league to play for.

Yeah, something like that. Yeah, I would probably keep it as it is because baseball is just so division oriented, which obviously stems from there being the National League and the American League. It just made so much more sense back of the day because playing 162 games and most of them against guys with your own division. And then just sometimes against other guys within your own league and never against teams in the other league really decided who within your own division was the superior team. It was a year long playoff. But yeah, now that we've opened it up and now especially that they've changed the schedule to not play the divisions as much anymore, I really don't feel like divisions should matter as much as they do. Yeah.

It is a little weird. Like baseball is two MVP's. That is a little weird. You make a case that's a little weird. Someone from the American League Central is getting a buy. Well, no, they wouldn't, right? They'd play the worst wildcard team. Best wildcard team.

That would be really messed up. That would be really messed up. All right. What else we got, Jacob? Next question comes from Joey on Twitter. And Joey asks, is there any timeline on when Mark Millanson will return? from injury. We do know that his original time frame was that he was supposed to return after the All-Star break. That's what we were told early on in the season. But apparently at some point,

he not re-injured or but had he had a setback. Yeah, there was a setback. I don't think he's going to pitch for a while. Wouldn't be totally shocked if he didn't pitch this season. But yeah, I think Tori spoke about this maybe about three, three weeks ago or so was was the first update on Mark Malanson, we'd heard the entire season. And he did have a bit of a setback. And as of right now, I'm not aware of any throwing programs or any kind of ramp up happening with him. We'll try to get some more answers there.

But could you imagine Mark Malanson being the answer for this team? No, that would be something. I cannot. I cannot imagine that. What's really wild is that like before last season started, we thought the Diamondbacks that was the answer. That was the answer. That was the closer problem for two years.

Mark Melanson was a two-year deal, and he led the league in saves the year before he joined the Diamondbacks. Correct. And now he's like kind of a distant memory. Oh, and they also got Ian Kennedy, who was also a closer at the time. Yeah, the devax had two closers going into last season, and it didn't work then. And now they're not relying on either of those guys this year. And it's still not working now with the new guys they brought in. See, this is the point we're trying to make.

It doesn't matter who they get. If they bring David Bednar in here, he'll have an 8.67 ERA. and be the worst fucking reliever in the league. We are cursed, damn it. God, I needed to just get that out. I feel better now. Bennar is still, like, very much in the prime of his career. Yeah.

Unlike his baseball savant is a lot of red. It's pretty wild. Yeah. I feel like the debacks just haven't really had relievers on that level. Like even Mark Balancin when he came over, I think he had a 2-2-3 R a or something like that with the Padres. His peripherals didn't really support that. Like, he is not, he was not a big. behind him, right?

Melanson, that's a good defense with the Padres. And that's not to say he didn't be with the Diamondbacks, but yeah, I have no idea what happened there. Just like we don't understand what happens with anybody. Mark Melanson was just really old, right? Like, there was always some risk when the debacks brought him over

and the wheels were going to come off at the... How dare you? What was he, 37 when they were on? He's so old, Derek. I found out I'm the same age as Elvis when he died. I'm not handling things well, folks. What else we got? Gabriel asked a little less than a week to go, are we buyers or sellers?

And I think this is a lot of a lot of people have this question right now, especially with how bad things are going right now. Yeah. I don't think being sellers is part of the equation here. I think it's really just if the Diamondbacks are able to make that that trade and if they're willing to make that trade. They have the assets to make a trade. They have the assets to bring in pretty much anybody that might be available at the trade deadline. It's not a question of assets.

It's a question of how much are they willing to part with for whoever they might get in return. The biggest problem is that most of the names we've discussed have been rentals. And that's really kind of a silly situation to put yourself in. I think any Diamondbacks fan would agree. I think most of us are desperate to see this team figure out this bullpen problem. But at the same time, don't want to see them mortgaging their future like we have in the past for, you know, a trade. and especially a short-term trade. I think the debacks are buyers.

I mean, they're still in the playoff race. I mean, it's what we talked about yesterday, where yes, they're faltering. Yes, it sort of feels like the wheels are coming off. But like, what other team in this race are you really all that afraid of? Like, could the debacks really not be better than the Reds in the second half? Like, obviously what we saw over the weekend wasn't great. But I think they could.

I think the Debacks could be better than the Reds. And they could be better than the Giants, I think. I think the Reds are going to win their division, to be honest. I don't think the Reds are really going to be a concern for the Diamondbacks at the end of the day. Yeah, they're still one and a half behind Milwaukee, but that's still very possible. If the Reds aren't, then the Brewers are, I guess. But I mean, again, like he's saying, though, it comes down to like matchups. None of these teams are all that scary.

Yeah. I guess I said last night, the only team that really scares me there is the Phillies. And they're not even in a wildscars spot right now. Right now. Even like the Padres. Like the Padres almost are scarier down the stretch, in my opinion, than like the Marlins. because the Padres have a... You just never know when they can go off.

They have a plus 48 run differential. Like, they're a much better team than their record shows, and they might actually add at the trade deadline. We don't really know exactly what they're going to do at this point. They're going to end up training for show. I don't know if the Padres have the pieces for that. Like, their farm system is kind of depleted. But I got the money to sign him.

Well, I don't know that they have the money to sign him, but they'll find it in the office. No, no, the money's not there, but they'll still figure out a way to get it anyway. And then we need to do Brett's idea of being in the division with the Rockies, the New Portland team, the Los Vegas A's. Oh, give us. Yeah. Give me, give me. Give me that division.

I want me that division. We would be the Dodgers of this division. I would love to be that. Geographically. Because that makes, yeah, that's what I was going to say. I mean, what? You get the, you know, because like you'll have the podaries, Dodgers. Well, no, but then there's the fourth team in that division.

Or no. Because you have the Padres, Dodgers, and the Giants at that point. And you're going to put in the angels Lane getting just in all California division I guess but like you're just going to be like yeah that flight from Buffalo or that's Seattle from Phoenix Portland makes no sense

could put Seattle in it. Well then I got to be in L then you got really messing up Well I mean Houston did that Yeah but that's I mean That's one team I don't care I want this division Put us in that division I would like to see it I think we're going

Let's see Mo our favorite Dodger troll Mo says I like how all of you have given up any hope on winning the division go Dodgers i hate you i hate you i hope all the bad things i hope all the bad things in the world happen to you and nobody but you mo i hope that um and it's okay that i say that because i lived with him at one point in our lives so that's fine but i'll throw shade at mo whenever i want to just like i will throw shade at this team if they do not do anything at the trade deadline because something must be done but remember when you throw shade you need to do it wearing a pair of shady raids shady raids is gear built to last premium polarized shades

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of polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated by five, rated five stars by over 250,000 people. And OGs, by the way, has a solution for all of life's problems, especially here in the summer. They have some relief for us during the heat. They bring their pink lemonade gummy now to the public to us for us to enjoy. They also have a wide variety of flavors, including their mixed bags. Their mixed bags have a mixed bag of either fruit flavors or cream flavors, and they are a wonderful variety for you to try. That way, if you're not particularly crazy, about one flavor. You can find one that suits you very well. OGs has all sorts of flavors and all sorts of doses and strains to get you where you need to go, including their AquaBerry

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Cody Belanger, I just saw a stat. He's like never bat over like 200 with two strikes in his life. He's always been like one something. And this year he's batting like 250 or something with. He's had an insane like few weeks here for the cup. I think 320 with an over 900 OPS. I would take Cody Ballinger. I had better than watching him hit home runs for the Dodgers here.

We aren't going to stop until the entire city of Chicago hates us for trying to take all of their stars from both of their baseball teams. I'm just saying that now. But before we go on to more Mailbag Tuesday questions, I want to give a shout out to more furniture for always making us comfortable with their wide variety of furniture that they have. They brought it up to all the way up to our suite here. that way we didn't have to carry anything with their white glove delivery service you can get that to check out their website and more furniture.com they do have more than just chase lounges don't listen to jesse they're just not they're not just a chase lounge store they also have they're mostly it i mean that's that's all he shops there for but when i walk in that's all i see i don't know right this way they know they walk in they're like can we help you sir and he said i know where i'm going he's like oh yes jessie friedman you know they then they kind of whisper about him behind his back but uh

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I did it. Mailbag Tuesday questions. Let's go, Jacob. Words are hard for me today. Michael asks, is Alec Thomas the new D.D. Gregorius in that we know how good he is in the field, but wonder if the bat will catch up.

Also, can we talk about how the fall league schedule is pretty much all night games. First, yes, fall league should be night games because, as you know, there is no fall in Arizona. There's just two seasons. It's summer and it's kind of spring. It gets a little cool in the spring, but that's all we got. So I'm fine with the night games. That's totally fun. They're night games.

I can't really be going to day games. Yeah. Like, it's a lot harder to not be at work during the day. than it is at night. But it's so much more fun to ditch out on work and go to a day game. That's valid. Right. But not when it's still 100 degrees out.

We know in October it's still going to be 100 degrees out. I've said this before. The most like euphoric baseball experience I've ever had was going out to surprise for a folly game at night. And I felt like I was in the like field of dreams. Like it felt like there was no world. Like the universe did not exist outside of the confines of that baseball park. The sky was like you and the 600 people that were. There were the only people on the planet.

Try six. It was, there was nobody there. It was so quiet. The only sounds were the game. The sky was pitch black on a star in the sky. It was, and it was like such a, fuck,

like such a specific, unique experience. Yeah. I loved it so much. I would think there were probably a lot of stars at the field of dreams, though. No, light pollution.

Oh, you mean? At the field of dreams? Light pollution? Yes. In the middle of Iowa? It's not enough people. When's the last time you were in Iowa?

I mean, I was in Nebraska. Prove it's right next to Iowa. Cool. Same stuff. I'm not from, I've never been to Vermont, but I'm from the York. Jesse. It's not how geography works. Thoughts on the D.D. Gregorius comparison when it comes to Rualdo.

I mean, I don't know. Perdomo has been a little bit better at times with a bat in his hand. He is our risk king. Let's not forget that. I mean, I think we're talking about Alec Thomas, right? Oh, was Alex Thomas? I'm sorry. Yeah.

Honestly, that's also kind of an interesting comparison. Yeah, I know. I just went straight there, right? But, I don't know. I feel like Alec Thomas, he struggled with his bat, but I feel like ever since he got set down and came back up, he's at least been more consistent at the plate. And I don't know.

He's not softly lining out to the right side every single time like he was there for a period stretch. Yeah, or like rolling over to the right side. That was sort of a big thing too. I think Alec Thomas came up with a little bit more of an offensive ceiling than D.D. Gregorius. Gregorius was like here, here's this great defensive shortstop where you, you have no idea if he's going to hit or not. And he kind of just like came up with the diamondbacks and he sort of did hit for a while. He came up on a tear in, I believe it was 2013. He played his first games with the

diamond backs at age 23. And he was a great hitter for a few weeks. And then it kind of tailed off the rest of the way, finished that year with an OPS of 704, came back the next year and didn't hit much, came back the year after that, and still didn't hit much. And then, you know, and then he was, he was in New York Yankee at that point. And suddenly he found like 25 home run power all of a sudden. And I know Diamondback stands have not, not forgotten about that. But yeah, I see some, I see some sort of a comparison. They're both guys where you feel really great defensively, right, up the middle,

playing premium positions. I think Alec Thomas has a higher ceiling than Gregorius, or at least that's, sort of how he's perceived now. Gregorius, I think, kind of surprised a lot of people by turning into the hitter that he was for a few years there. But, yeah, I think there are some similarities for sure. All right. What else we got there, Jacob?

Next question comes from Kevin on Twitter. And Kevin asks, which P.HNX podcast has the best intro music. Not even a question. It's PHNX Betts. It's not even close. We got the synth wave. Do we have the music on here? Because it is not even, it's not even close.

I don't know if you have it. I mean, I've appeared on. It's quite a few times. Ready? Are we ready? Roll it? Can we roll it? The synth wave?

Are you kidding me? It's not even close. The drums come at some point. Yeah. Well, I mean, the drums, the drums make you. The drums aren't the best part. That's the best part about it is that the drums don't just kick them right away. Then they come.

The drums make you anticipate when the drums. This sounds like kind of like a vintage news reports me. Like a newscast like around 2006. That's no. But it's like, it's like, survive. I will fight you right here right now. This was, this is a song from real genius, uh, from 1980. This is, uh, this is, uh, this is kind of a different body.

This is incredible. All right. Yeah, there's your answer. I'm a lot of honest. The real, uh, Michael says sounds like an 80s heel tech geometric music. That is incredible. That's very FTR. This is a very FTR entrance music.

Uh, we all know that the mailbag Monday song, though, is the best song on this network and there's no doubt. Well, to be fair, the Sons have a song written by MegaRan is their intro. Yeah, I helped to do that. And I don't even have a song written by Mega Rang for me. So the son's- I worked the guy's merch table this weekend and I don't have a song written about me. Sons give all the other shows around for their money to.

Betz is just so, like, I love that vibe. But as far as like actual music's concern, I don't think it's particularly close to the Sons. Yeah. The Sun's saxophone that they play off. Ooh, after wins too. Yeah, sexy sax is pretty good. All right. What else we got?

Jacob. Logan asks, will this suffering ever end? I don't know, Logan. I don't know. I wish I could say yes, but I don't know. It all ends eventually. It ends tonight, right? Merrill Kelly is going to end the losing streak.

Yeah, I mean, I went on a little bit of Iran about this last night. They win these next two and the pain's over. Like everyone will forget and everyone will be back excited about this team. Will we be a wagon again? We'll be a wagon again. Like, I mean, I think of God. If the sufferer is going to end, it's going to end now. Like, you got Merton Gallon.

It's go win baseball games, please. Especially gallon at home. And then you got the Giants after, right? And they've been very bad. They've been very, very bad. So are the suffering? It's a resistible force versus a movable object. If the suffering doesn't end soon, it might never ask to answer your question.

Jesse, what do you think about the suffering? What are your thoughts on the suffering? Yeah. mean, I think, I think the Diamondbacks are still in a really good spot despite what's happened over the last few weeks. And, you know, if this is what suffering looks like in the 20, 23 season, being like actively in position to make the playoffs during it is pretty good spot to be. As far as suffering goes, it's, it's on the more tolerable end of the spectrum, I would, I would argue. I feel like I've suffered worse before. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Diamondbacks fans have been through far worse than it.

Is it is the present suffering going to end anytime soon? I guess we'll find out what was there. What was there? In 2021, what was the record? It was, there was the May record and then the June record, which, which two months was it where it was like they won six games and then they won five games the following month? I think it was May and June. Yeah.

Yeah, they went like. It could be worse. It's pretty bad. That's suffering. That's suffering. What else we got you? Last question comes from COGS. Our only diehard to ever receive a king snake award.

Coggs asks, all right, y'all, we've all been waiting for this one. Barbie or Oppenheimer. Let's go. Jesse's definitely an Oppenheimer. Yeah, that was going to be my. I mean, are we, like, I haven't seen. None of us have seen it. Okay.

So we're just answering which one. Which one do you want to see? I think that tells a lot about your personality. You're given a choice. There are two doors. One is black and metal. One is pink. And there's songs from the other side.

And Michael Sarah standing somewhere in the distance. Which door are you taking, Jesse? I'm saying, I'm going to Oppenheimer. I knew you were going to Oppenheimer. I'm a fucking question for me. I'm obviously a Barbie guy or a Barbie girl. However you, that song goes. You're a Ken.

I'm a Ken. Listen, I'm all in on Barbie. I want to see that thing so bad. But Oppenheimer is my kind of movie. I'm like a little bit of a history nerd. So like, I think Christopher Nolan, just makes really fascinating. And just, yeah, I mean, the cast in that movie is incredible.

It's supposed to be like visually. It's supposed to be incredible. Like, Barbie's dope. But I mean, it's either either the Barbie movie does too much and I'm not going to like it or the Barbie movie does what it's supposed to do, which is not going to be all that much. And I'm going to enjoy it because it's like mindless fun, but it's not going to be like a good movie necessarily. You're both wrong. It's Barbie.

Barbie is the answer. I'm sorry for Oppenheimer. I think I might, I think I'm seeing Barbie tomorrow, though. Haven't seen Oppenheim yet, but I'm prioritizing Barbie. I'll say that. I guess that's your actual answer. The most accurate answer for me is that I'm probably not going to go through either. Because I just don't generally watch a three-hour movie.

I would do anything to walk into a movie theater and the only person there being Jesse alone watching the barb. That would be amazing. Not just watching it with all the merch that you can get. The pink card with the popcorn in the trunk and the beach ball cup. He drove in a pinkie three hours long? The Oppenheimer, yeah. Barbies four. I regret everything.

Oh, no. You've walked through the door now. You got to watch it. No, I didn't walk through. That's just the door I would walk through if I, if I was held at gunpoint and had to walk through one of the doors. To be fair. So like, because Tocry's saying this, I love baseball, but you do watch baseball. Like, it's like, it's not like, this is not like we're, you watch something boring.

Like, it's a form of entertainment, too. It's watching. He's not interested. It's not baseball. It's not baseball. With the pitch clock. You say that like you haven't been watching baseball for years before that. Without the pitch clock,

when games were four hours long. Which again, I was doing too. Just entertaining movies just. Okay. As I just wanted to get to the root of it. I'm so glad I don't do the show alone with him anymore because I need other people that have experienced this with me.

All right. Well, speaking of going to baseball games over movies, if you do that and you're like, Jesse, you should buy your tickets through game time because of course game time is the best place to get last minute deals on tickets, whether it's for concert shows, movies. No, they don't have movies, but they do have all sorts of events. So make sure to check out game time, especially if you are a procrastinator like all three of us are.

You can get it. Last minute ticket deals on the fastest growing ticket app in the country. And of course, snag the tickets without the stress with Game Time. Download the GameTime app. Create an account and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code PHNX for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. And they really do have some great ticket deals over there at game time.

I have set up several accounts. Also, check out illegal peats. It's a best place to go this summer for patio beers, which, I mean, I know that sounds crazy in this heat, but Pete's as you covered. Their patio is an amazing place to be out there in Tempe. They have margaritas, and of course, they have all sorts of wonderful. Happy Hour deal. So make sure to check that out. Their full menu includes bowls, tacos, salads, burritos, nachos, and so much more. And they also have a full bar with custom cocktails and beers. So make sure to check out Illegal Piz. It's your go-to spot this summer. Kickback and enjoy an ice-cold

margarita or cool off with a bucket of high noons, five high-noons for just $22. And don't forget to follow Illegal Piz on Instagram. Stay updated on all of their big events and deals going down this summer. Stay tuned on their stories to win free tickets to the concerts you are dying to see. illegal pizza is here to make this summer one for the books. And make sure to not miss out on all of that great stuff, can make sure to join us tonight, speaking of great stuff at Chase Field for our takeover. We are going to be out there.

We are meeting up in cold beers and cheeseburgers, and there's a few tickets left. So make sure to grab those and join us if you are interested. And we will have another one next month. So make sure to keep your eyes peeled for that as well. But in the meantime, follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. this maniac next to me is that Sean

Untersco. To answer your question, Pete's fishing, you just ruined my day because now I want Pete's so bad. Pete's fish and chips never been there. Oh,

it goes stupid, you've never been a big peats fish and chips. Oh my God, the fish is so salty and crispy. It's delicious. I love Pete's fish and chips dog. I also love filibato's. My brother used to work at Pete's fish and chips

when I was younger and he would bring home the, yeah, leaving home the sauce. No, he'd bring home the leftovers. Oh. from their sauce is also crazy and yeah the charge sauce it's incredible no no no not the we're doing it's fish and chips right now and i don't think they're paying for this max get on the

phone max i'm telling him he's doing an ad again for the thing we're not doing anyway um you can yell at him on twitter again sean underscored a pause jesse will never do an ad that's unpaid for he's at jesse and freedman uh the maniac that is so not true i know how many Saudi or Rats for commercials he's done. He's never received a dime from Toyota. The maniac behind the Mac this week is none other than Fodge. You can follow him at Jacob underscore Franklin Ford. Got it.

But of course, none of that matters. The thing that matters is following us over at PHNX underscore DBAX. And of course, following PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We're also on threads and other stuff, but I don't, we're not going down that path just yet. We're not ready to abandon the X or. whatever Twitter is calling itself right now. But in the meantime, make sure to root on the Diamondbacks. And let's hope that Merrill Kelly can get things back on track for this team tonight.

Again, we will be there bringing all the luck we can. So we hope to see you guys out there. Until then, we thank you for joining us. We thank you so much for watching. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you actually make a move at the trade deadline.