PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Mike Hazen: D-backs Will PUT AN END To Ketel Marte Trade Talks "Shortly”

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

According to a report from MLB.com, Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen indicated that the team expects to put an end to the Ketel Marte trade rumors SHORTLY. But even if Arizona officially shuts the door on a deal, has the relationship between the All-Star second baseman and the organization already been strained? We explore the human side of the baseball business and what weeks of trade speculation can mean for a player and a clubhouse. We also break down the remaining bullpen options available to the Diamondbacks this offseason and evaluate whether Arizona’s current relief group is strong enough if the front office ultimately decides to stand pat. Plus, our friend Cogs stops by to have some fun by making New Year’s resolutions for Diamondbacks players and give his thoughts on the state of the bullpen.JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/Phoenix Raceway: Get your tickets now for March 5-8! https://www.phoenixraceway.com/march-cup-weekend/?CID=PIR_DI_TP_BA_PHNX26Spring_251120ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotesbet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets!Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Have we finally vanquished the Catele-Marté rumors once and for all? Well, Mike Hazen might have shut it down yesterday, and we have more on this being the point where we can move forward and hopefully find a way to fix this relationship. We're talking about it in 30 seconds. Don't you go anywhere. And welcome into another edition of the PHNXD Beck podcast live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K.

My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. Happy last day of 2025 to you all. Happy New Year's Eve to you all. I'm thrilled to be joined by the Enigma that is cogs like share or sting. It is cogs. Coggs, thank you so much. Of course, joining me to talk to you back to baseball here on the last day of the year. Of course, we got our guy, Damon Farrell, aka Damon Dogg on the ones and twos, the leche to my

cafe, Con leche at all times. So appreciate you guys being here. And again, happy New Year's Eve to you. all hope you all have a wonderful day evening hope you're all are safe tonight and make it into 2026 and can move forward from there can have yourselves a fresh start and can look to all of the wonderful things that you can all achieve in 2026 that is what we are hoping for with the Arizona Diamondbacks and could tell martay here we have news yesterday from an article published by steve gilbert over at melb.com where mike hazen is fun

finally told us it's almost over shortly. It will be over shortly, Coggs. You know what this means it's celebrating? You got tequila. We're getting shots. We're drinking shots because Ketel is not going anywhere. Our goal has been achieved. I've been waiting for this for months.

It's been nothing but reports of will they, won't they? There's been tons of fan speculation from D-Bags fans saying, oh, they won't trade them and every other fan being like, will you take our two prospects that we think are- Have this trash. Have these two players that have never played a single inning of Major League Baseball. And we'll take one of the best players on the planet. I think not.

Shut it down, Mike Hazen. It has been two months, at least, of just slot trade packages. The cycle has been, I don't believe. Cheers to you. It's been packages that are terrible. It's really quite good. are terrible. I would hope so.

Yeah. It's just three amigos, so it's great. But all these packages are terrible, awful. And it's because they're all like just people trying to put together a trade package. It's not actually what any team is offering the diamondbacks. We have no idea what any team is offering the debacks. What we know based on what Mike Hazen's comments have been has been this entire time. There was no actual effort to trade Ketel only as Hazen,

had said, you know, the team, he as GM, listening to offers from other teams, right? And this has been probably one of the craziest trade rumors I think we've ever experienced covering the Diamondbacks or being fans of this team, right? Like, I don't think that there's ever been a trade that made less sense, yet picked up as much steam and became as much of a story as it is. I mean, Cotell Marte somehow became the main character of this offseason. They were connected to every single team. I don't think I've ever seen a single player have more rumors surrounding them.

Like you talk about Aaron Judges for agency. There was all these little things where it's like, oh, will you go to the Giants? Will he end up back in New York? But that's free agency too, right? You know what I mean? That's different. And even then, nothing near to the level of every day there was something new about some new rumor about Katta.

I couldn't scroll my feet for an hour without some new piece of information showing up about a player who has no need to be. traded. Right. Right. Other than, as I said yesterday, circumstances. And as Jesse said, you know, here with Cattel, this really has never made sense, but it doesn't mean that it's not the big story. Like we, we are actually kind of shocked to go a few days without hearing any trade rumors. I mean, just this week, we heard about the New York Mets checking in on Cattel. And I mean, maybe that's what caused Mike Hason to finally shut this down. Maybe Mike Hason was like, these offers are so reckless and absurd that I'm not I'm done doing this. And also maybe even Mike Hazen hung up

the phone after talking to the Mets and was like, why the hell do the Mets want him? Just like we've all already said about this when it comes to the Mets, right? Apparently, according to SNY, the Mets checked in on Cotel Marte earlier this week. And the article said Cotel has been one of the busier names on the trade market this winter, as we just discussed. Numerous teams have expressed interest in the three-time All-Star. And according to reports, the Mets threw their name into the mix after trading Jeff McDeal to the A's. And for some reason, they're fans that might not know ball want him to play in the outfield for the New York Mets because they are not in need of a second basement.

Cogs. Does anybody else have access to baseball savant besides us? Does anybody else know that Cattel Martay, as a reminder, has minus 11 defensive run saved and minus seven outs above average as an outfielder? Like, you really want to trade for an All-Star. and then put him in a position that he's proven that he can't really play, doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense to me.

And as a lot of these trades have not made sense, I think that Cincinnati Reds one involving Hunter Green kind of came up, and that became at least a viable trade where you feel like the two pieces that are being exchanged were somewhat equivalent. Both had time left on their contracts, both had fairly team friendly deals and years left, right? Like plus both are very, very good at the top of their game for their individual position. So that made sense.

Yet even that trade, if you went to Reds Twitter and Reds Reddit, you would find very quickly that the Reds fans hated the idea of trading Hunter Greenaway for Cotel Marte. Oh yeah, absolutely. So it just kind of became a similar thing where it's like, yeah, that's a nice to have on our end. But that's probably too big of an ask to expect the Cincinnati Reds to give up an elite starting pitcher in exchange for a second baseman. Yeah. And you look at the Mets. If this speculation had happened a month ago, it would be way more realistic. Yes. But since this whole rumor mill has started, they have traded for Marcus Semyon, signed Jorge Polanco to already play out of position. First base, right? Yeah, first base. Where are you going to put Katel? Right. They have, obviously, their right field is filled by Monsoto, center field. They like Carson Benj and or Tyrone Taylor. Roman left. field? Why? You just traded a second baseman left fielder in Jeff McNeil. Are you going to put him at DH? I don't even think you have the room to put him at DH in that roster. Plus, plus the proposed trade packages, although enticing a little bit because of what these guys could do, involved once again,

really unproven prospects that they've debuted in Major League Baseball. They are Major League ready, but they didn't really have a lot of success in their first little stint up at a major league level. proposed packages so far have included names like Brandon Sprote, which is the Mets number five overall prospect and Jonah Tong who is the Mets number four overall prospect, right? But Tong posted a 7.71 ERA and five major leagues starts last year and Sprote posted a 4.79. It's not to say these guys are washed and they're done. These are definitely top prospects, some of the brightest pitching arms in baseball. And Mets have quite a few of those because they continue to add to their roster and kind of keep those guys pushed back at a AAA level ready for depth, but still not getting that

opportunity that they would get on a team like the Diamondbacks. However, once again, we will remind you that if what you are calling us for is to offer a trade package of prospects for a potential MVP candidate, the answer is the same as it's always been. Lose this number, boys. Stay with me. lose this number. And that is where Mike Hazen finally is at. According to this report from Steve Gilbert, Mike Hazen is finally ready to tell all of Major League Baseball,

lose this number. When it comes to Cotel Marte, he said in a report on Tuesday, we are very likely putting an end to this shortly, which sounds, that's scary. That, though, that sounds scary. That sounds like it's foreboding. But Mike Hazen said in regards to the exact timeline, I haven't figured that out yet, but this isn't going to continue to linger. We need to focus our offseason.

Again, my gut this whole time was that a trade of Marte wasn't going to happen. And I think it seems likely that that's the case. And we want to focus on other things we need to do. That is very understandable because we do know that a trade for Ctele Marte was going to fix a lot of other things on this team. Right. So that's the reason why they might have drugged their feet on going after a reliever or a closer or even some of these other position players. But while he hasn't given a firm deadline, Hayeson said he did let those clubs, they've been engaged with know that time is running out. TikTok, TikTok, it's time.

It's time to put up or shut up. And as far as the Diamondbacks go, you know, again, this has kind of been a situation that may have. have been blown out of proportion, or maybe not. We still don't know internally how people within the front office and the organization feel about their relationship with Catalmarte. And at this point, you have to ask the question, is this relationship fraction? This is a business, right? Players are grown, you know, grown men, but they're also humans.

And it's hard sometimes to separate the emotions of not feeling wanted here in Arizona any longer and you know and then trying to be professional about it and you know and again it's understandable for to tell martay now to have some hurt feelings when it comes to this my kazen has said that when all of these trade rumors are said and done that you know there needs to be a conversation had as to what went on and you know again you know just to kind of reiterate to marty how much he means to this organization but again like i said it's understandable on marty's part if this whole situation has kind of made him feel unwanted or, you know, feel like this incredible effort he's given this organization and his time as a member of it

is, is all for like, it's all a wash now. It's all a waste because of some mild, you know, time off disputes, if you will, that that occurred that apparently upset a lot of people.

Yeah, I mean, he's one of the best players in franchise history. And I think, provided they don't trade him, I think when all of a sudden done, he will be arguably the best position player in Diamondbacks history. I know that's a tough mark to beat, especially given everything Paul Goldschmidt did. But he's got so much value on the field, but there's such a value to the fans that he brings.

I mean, he is your superstar level player that, I mean, everyone MLB knows his name now, but even the local fans. I mean, do you imagine, imagine what would happen if they traded him? imagine the uproar there would be no matter how good you could be given Aaron judge and the Yankees are paying us for contract and there would be hundreds of fans upset that they traded Catell and I would kind of agree I could see where they're coming from. Catelle is my favorite player on the Diamondbacks. I don't think I've held back about saying that right, but I have my own reasons for liking that. You could argue that perhaps the reasons I love Cotel Marte are the reasons why an organization might not feel like he takes these things. or the game or being a part of a franchise seriously, right? Ketel Marte lives life with a certain amount of joy. And he plays the game with that same amount of joy.

He plays the game like a kid out there, you know, whose friends are on the other team. And when they get to second, he's going to give them a hard time. He's going to try to tag them when they take a foot off base. He's going to try to do silly little fun stuff that most of us playing, you know, little league did at times, especially like I said, when your friends were on the opposing team. But that, you know, I guess the way that he is could translate over into some of these problematic issues that makes you feel like at his age and at this amount and his tenure in Major League Baseball that he should be more of a leader, that he should be taking things more seriously, that he should be what you expect him to be as a player or as an individual.

Perhaps he's not meeting the Diamondbacks standard, right? Tori Lavello talked about setting a standard and he might not be meeting that. But, I mean, at the same time, too, you can't do this to star players where you force them to be something they're not. I have said time and time again how I witnessed in my early years of covering this team. And again, this is going to date me and make me sound very old. But Justin Upton, right, being essentially the best player on the team. But a guy who no discredit to him showed any kind of indication of being or wanting to be a leader of the team. He was merely just a guy that was a part of the team that once again was extremely good at baseball.

Yet because of how good he was, that leader role was kind of thrust upon him. And then when he didn't really seem to want it or kind of embrace it, then it was kind of questioned about his commitment to the game, his commitment to the team, almost in a similar fashion here of what we're experiencing with Cotel Marte. He just didn't have any like incident of missing time or anything like that that exasperated it seemed to make it into a bigger issue. I just think that, again, there is a side of this that we haven't explored quite enough,

which is how could tell Marte is going to respond to the way this offseason went. You know, I mean, again, it's hard. I can imagine it's hard for him to feel the same way. You know, life is difficult sometimes. Sometimes when there's been a riff of some kind, rift of some kind, when there's been an argument, when there's been a disagreement, when you've felt like the place you work wants to kind of cast you off it's hard to feel the same way about it, right?

Like you sometimes your enthusiasm level wanes and it's not necessarily your fault. You're just human and you feel like perhaps that that place that at one time seemed to think the world of you, that that job, that employer doesn't feel the same way any longer. And I think again for Cattel, the idea here is that, you know, it might be difficult for him to still, you know, be a part of this team on his end. I think there's a lot of hurt feelings to get over here. I mean,

again, he's a professional. And overall, this is something that happens with most baseball players at some point in their career. You have a team that drafted you or a team that traded for you, a team that was very much excited to make you a part of their future and then suddenly things change. I still remember, speaking of old days, this is going to date me once again, talking to Travis Lee in an article that I wrote that was about basically the anniversary of the Diamondbacks. And I was expecting a very, I don't know, a fairy tale-esque interview. I was expecting it to go very nice. And instead, I got Travis Lee complaining to me about the Arizona Diamondbacks changing

like directions and kind of making him feel this way that I'm describing where at one point they thought the world of you and you were the future of the franchise and thing you know you're being traded for Kurt Schilling because the team is in a win now mode two seasons after you know existing or whatever right so it's like that is the business and sometimes it's hard but my hope here is that what my Kaysen is saying is true my hope is that these talks are done and that we can move on to figure out how you're going to continue to make this team competitive in 2026 and how you're going to fix this relationship with Cotel Marte who despite you could argue brought some of this on himself,

hasn't really deserved this amount of, you know, I guess, what I put it? Like speculation didn't deserve this amount of like kind of hate that he got and like making it sound like he is a clubhouse problem of some kind, right? There's a lot of talk about him being a bad teammate and all that. And you talked about being a leader. I think with to say that Dimex says, I think it needs to be a good example.

There are a lot of young players on the team, but I don't know necessarily the thing that he needs to be that sole leader of the team. I know he's this superstar, but we have Ronald Perdomo, who has willingly been wanting to be the leader, and it's been an excellent leader because of that. And he has become that. That is what he is for this team, right? So like you said, you don't need that.

You just need somebody to lead by example. Exactly. Right? And sometimes the idea of taking time off without it being approved by the team, especially in Major League Baseball over the course of the regular season, it seems like it could definitely be a problem, just not one that requires a star player, or quite frankly, any player to be removed from the team,

as much as it just needs to be handled internally and discuss that this is unacceptable and it can't happen again, that kind of thing, right? But, I mean, again, going back to Cattel Marte, having perhaps some hurt issues here, we saw this Instagram post yesterday, a story, and we have Cotel Marte discussing being, I guess a bad teammate.

I don't know what to think of this. Marte posted, it reposted a post from the debacks, which is an incredible picture of him and Corbyn Carroll, celebrating both men for those of you that are listening on the audio side, have expressions of pure joy on their faces. And Kattel added the subtitle here on this Instagram story of not good teammate. I don't mean to like,

like make this into a bigger thing than it's not. like it kind of now that I'm looking at it, it looks like Catell just hit a home run and he's excited that he hit a home run and he's hit he's like dapping up Corbyn Carroll and he comes back in the on deck circle after he comes back and then he's claiming that he's a good teammate because he's excited about his own home run. I did so good, right? Yeah, it does it does look a little bit like that. I'm not going to lie. Well, and also you could interpret this in a number of ways, right? I think Coggs, you first looked at this and you were like, Is he saying Corbyn Carroll? Is it a good teammate? What is this post about? I thought that was crazy. That was my initial thing was he was calling Corby and I went, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up.

Yeah, but again, you could tell, right? Like, Catelle, this noise is far too loud for Citell to ignore. So it's, you know, again, this might not be directed at the D-BACs. This might just be directed in general at laughing at the situation a bit or claiming, like, just kind of being like, yeah, look, I'm not. a good teammate, look at how much I'm, again, enjoying life and enjoying playing the game of baseball. That's never been a question. And I don't even know if him being a bad teammate is the question.

I don't know if I would categorize what Cattel did as a bad teammate. And people that do, I mean, maybe they're in their right too. I think, if anything, and it's probably the worst word you could use, but I've used it several times with players is that he was a bad employee. You know what I mean? And that's all you could say. Like it's not a bad teammate, although you could equate that to that. Like all of us have had jobs where someone called out and now we had to pick up the slack

and work extra hard because of that person not being there that day. Right. And so, yeah, you could say that about Marte in this situation. I just, again, still don't see this as being an egregious, you know, incident that requires you to remove this person from this team. I'm glad that these talks are almost over and I will once again take. another shot of this tequila or maybe drink the whole damn bottle once we actually hear that we're not talking about trading Cotel Marte anymore. But as Mike Hazen said, there's plenty of work

to do. This guy has some thoughts on what we're going to do for the bullpen, whether it's through free agency, trades, or maybe, just maybe in-house candidates. What? What? We're going to talk about that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere you're watching the PH and X Diamondback show? Well, of course, Arizona law. lottery wants to give you free gas for a year before 2025 is over. And right now you can enter for a chance to win free gas for a year. I have no idea what I would do with that much money, but I definitely would appreciate it with how things are going in this economy. And thanks to Arizona Lottery, I have a chance not only to win, as you do, uh, on their scratchers or

any of their tickets, but you also have a chance to win free gas for a year. It's this simple. All you got to do is get in there, get a hundred players club points, players club members, will win gas for a year at circle k all it takes is that hundred players club points uh if you have not entered or have not signed up yet all you got to do is head to your local circle k pick up a 10 dollar lottery ticket then enter it into the players club at a z a z players club dot com to receive 10 points per dollar spent that 10 dollar ticket is 100 points for you to enter in and you got to do it today today is the last chance for you to enter december 31st of course uh we'll get you in there and get you a chance to win free gas for a year so swoop in there get it done

done today and make sure to enter for your chance to win big. Also over at Healer River Resorts and Casinos, you have a chance to win big there as well. Not only do they offer an unprecedented level of entertainment, you just won't find anywhere else in the valley, but of course you get a chance to go out there and have some fun like I did. Go in there, get $20 in on the Buffalo when yourself 110. They have, of course, a wonderful gaming floor with over 4,500 slots and live table games. They also have their amazing sportsbook where you can go watch giant screens, watch your favorite teams, and get that little paper ticket in your hand.

It is the best place to go out for a night on the town. And they, again, offer an unprecedented level of entertainment that you just won't find anywhere else. So you do you at Heal River Resorts and Casinos. Visit play atheela.com for more details. Well, we know that the Diamondbacks don't have a ton of choices left when it comes to bullpen arms. They could add. In fact, when you take a list, look at the... the relief pitching list of available free agents this offseason.

It's nearly all filled in. We heard yesterday that Kirby Yates reportedly signed the deal with the Los Angeles Angels. We also have, who else, Harvey getting picked up by the Cubs, right? Yes. Yeah, so we've had, you know, again, quite a bit of maneuvers here that you could argue that the relief pitching market went faster than any other position. starting pitching is still kind of, I'm not going to say it a standstill, but kind of. I mean, it still hasn't really, we thought Dylan Cs was really going to get things moving, and it really never did.

So we're just kind of stuck in this mode of starting pitching, still kind of being stuck. But now the Diamondbacks are moving on from Cotel, Marte trade talks. And that means that if they do make a trade or if they make a free agency pickup, it's going to be a little bit more difficult. They don't exactly have the assets. We do know that, you know, Jake McCarthy and Alec Thomas have been discussed as potential trade pieces, as well as perhaps some of their prospects, prospects that we don't want to lose, like Brian Waldschmidt or maybe some of the guys we just got in the Merrill Kelly deal. But again, the Diamondbacks do have prospects to trade, and they do have quite a few needs. So I know you came up with some names and

some pretty good pitching names as well as one guy that pitched in Colorado and you just never know what's what Colorado is going to have to offer but you never know I mean again we could talk about the names that are left on the free agency market it just doesn't really feel like that is like there's much left it's again we're down the sticks and stems and I know that's a reference you don't really get but what what do you think about free agency pickups at this point

we did talk about Sir Anthony Dominguez and we still feel like If that's a guy, we could see the Diamondbacks target. So according to my spreadsheet, there are now officially no more true closers left on the market. The last one was Kirby Yates and even that one was always fringe. I am, if we went out there inside Kirby Yates, I think I would have been mad straight up. He was not good last year despite easy's on the way on the aging side. But you look at set up met, some guys who can be that bridge closer as has been coined

recently. Yes, Anthony Dominguez is out there. McCannley had some up and down here. He's on the aging side. He's lost a lot of velocity, but could still get a lot for this team. Jalen Beeks, and him that hasn't been talked about enough about coming back to the Arizona and Diamondbacks, a guy, by the way, that we signed right, I believe, two days before opening day, and he ended up being great for us.

He was below above average. And then the last time I really have is Ryan Stanick. There's some talk about Jonathan the Waisa guy as well. Both guys who have a little bit of experience closing that can be kind of thrown in there for the first half of the season and then work their way back if into a seventh, eighth inning role where they have so much more experience over the years. That's the free agency market, though. There's just, there's a lot of names, but none of them are your traditional high leverage

and in guys. And you could argue there actually aren't a lot of names because when you look at the list, it is like 80% signed. I mean, yeah, when you start scrolling down, there's some guys left. There's some guys that are injured. You got Ryan Presley, who had himself a good stretch for the Chicago Cubs. He's a name that I still like, but like you said, when you take a look at his statistics from 2025, I think he had a 4.35 IRA last year, something like that.

Like, it's not going to bowl you over. It's not going to be the kind of reliever any longer that you feel like is going to be a game changer for the Arizona Diamondbacks. And that's something that I feel like they definitely missed out on. We know how important getting that elite arm that is able to close games out is to the rest of this bullpen. They have a lot of young guys, young guys who we both very much believe in

and could be the future of this bullpen. However, you even had at one point a season veteran like Joe Mantipli saying how big the addition of Paul Seawald was to the bullpen because everybody knew what their role was going to be and what their job is going to be. That seems to be something that the Diamondbacks have to implement in 2026.

They can't have this free-for-all in the bullpen where Tori is just picking up the phone and grabbing a guy and having them go out there. People need to know what their roles are. And I'm not even suggesting that was the case last year. I'm just suggesting with the amount of turnover that they had in the bullpen last year, it was hard for anybody to know what their role was going to be on any given night. And if you succeed, like Andrew Hoffman did for two or three outings.

Next thing, you know, you're being put into the most high leverage situations of certain games, right? So like even some of the guys that did get those opportunities and succeeded, maybe this team asks too much of them at a young point in their career. But yeah, when you take a look at the first, I mean, out of the top 20 available relief pitchers on the free agent market, the ones left are David Robertson, who is 41 years old. He is almost as old as I am. You got Jacob Junis. And that's old.

Yeah, it's very old. As I've talked many times on the show, Danny, is it Colum? Danny Coolum, yeah. Yeah, I mean, then that's it. That's your three available relievers that would be considered top 20 guys. Now, some of these guys are younger guys. Some of these guys haven't really had a chance to prove themselves. But in fact, most of these guys are on the older end.

You're seeing a lot of pitchers that are 35 years and older. So that plays in, obviously, it's the reason why quite a few of them are relievers now at this point of their career. But it does feel like the Diamondbacks will have to get creative in order. to finish filling up this roster, finish addressing the needs they have, which they probably at this point can't address all of them. Sure. Fair to say. But again, the way that they might be forced to do that is through trades.

And there are some good arms that have been, you know, said to be made available via the trade market. And with teams that might just might be willing to part with these guys in exchange for what the diamondbacks have to offer, whether that is prospects or that is a major league ready outfielder who could still very much have a lot to offer a team like Alec Thomas or Jake McCarthy. Yeah, I want to lead it off with Brian Abrae. The Astros are probably the closest to contention out of these candidates where it's like they might decide, hey, we want to go all in.

But right now they're kind of in a limbo where they haven't done a ton in this offseason. Yeah. But they've been selling off pieces. Yes. That's what it's felt like with the Cardinals. But Brian Abraeu and the Astros man has been great. He has been their setup man. They have a bona fide closer and Josh Hader.

So all of these guys come from positions of access where they have a certified closer. Right. This guy could be a closer on another team. Brian Abrae, looking at his baseball savant page, a whole lot of red. Pitching run value overall, 87th percentile, breaking run value, 94th percentile. He had 99th and 98th percentile both with percentage and strikeout percentage, according to baseball savon.

He gets hit a little bit hard, but he throws hard. And he's kind of that prototypical closer type. He's got a good swing and miss pitch. He's got a good fastball. And that's all you are looking for in a closer. And, you know, he's that guy that could show up in that eighth-inning role. And then you get a Justin Martinez or an AJ puck role, one of those guys back and you want to make him the closer.

Guess what? He's an experienced setup man. You don't have to worry about shoving a true closer into an eighth-th inning role like you would maybe with you know a Pete Fairbanks or a Kyle Finnegan if you would have got one of those and then you don't have to worry about the guys you want to be closing games being forced into a role that they're not supposed to be in right in that set up man role yeah well and I will say that when it comes to the Astros like you said their team that's contending so the allure of adding a major league ready player like an outfielder might be exactly the thing

to get a deal like this done especially considering the surplus that they have. But the problem is, is that the pieces that the diamondbacks have to offer again, and Jake McCarthy and Alex Thomas, they're not exactly the most intriguing offensive pieces that you can offer. In fact, one of the things that the Astros have had a problem with has been their average exit velocity, which has been very, very low. So they're looking for guys that can hit the ball hard, not exactly something that you're

getting out of McCarthy or Thomas at this point in their career. However, again, they averaged 4.23 runs per game, runs scored per game last year. So it does feel like offensively they need to improve. Plus, there's a good chance, actually a very good chance that they're losing Frambraldez. So again, I mean, they have pitching issues that they need to address and that starting pitching. So again, it feels like this is a team that, you know, again, could potentially be willing to trade a reliever like this that comes over. and has a much bigger opportunity with the Arizona Diamondbacks. That's the name of this for any of these relievers,

whether it's through free agency or a trade. Like if you are a guy that's considered to be a closer candidate, but you're kind of stuck in a setup role or a high leverage role, the Diamondbacks have the opportunity for you here right now. You know what I mean? So it does feel like, again, it still feels like Diamondbacks don't have enough to offer them, right? Yeah.

That's the problem with a trade, especially with a contender, because I feel like it's going to take a, like, again, no disrespect to McCarthy or Alec Thomas, but like a good player that, you know, again, is going to move things and make this a little bit more appealing on their end. Yeah, they're looking for impact bat. And while the outfield, like, is probably their weakest link right now for the ayesha. They have your Don and left, who's been great, but I don't even think they want him in the outfield due to circumstances where he's going to be. Sure.

And then they have Hazu, Sanchez, and Wright, and Jake Myers, and Center. The last two are batting in the bottom three of their order. I don't think Jake or Alec would be necessarily an upgrade for them offensively. Although Jake McCarthy, even your odd here, maybe he could be. And maybe they buy into that. Yeah. Well, I got a guy from your list that I very much like that we were just saying a moment ago from the St. Louis Cardinals, Jojo Romero, he was incredible for the Cardinals.

And you wouldn't know it because no one was really paying attention to the Cardinals team, right? Posted the 2.07 ERA last year. and like you said when it comes to red on his baseball savant there's a lot of red on that baseball savant page you pair that with the fact that the cardinals are trying to rebuild like this feels like a true rebuild for the cardinals so when you're talking about a trade for romero you feel like a trade with prospects being involved instead of major league ready players is probably a bit more alluring to st. Louis yeah i mean he has been great i believe he got moved into that closer role a little bit last year after they dealt Ryan Ellesley to the Mets. He picked up eight saves. But yeah,

that 2.070 already, he struggled a little bit with walks, you know, eighth percent, eighth percentile walk percentage, but he gets soft contact. The average X velocity was 91st percentile averaging 87.3 miles an hour, which is something that we don't see a lot of the nine bags bullpen, a lot of guys the bullpen. They can get results, but they've been getting hit hard. He would be an amazing asset. He has a little bit of that closer experience, but he is a setup, man through and through. So he kind of fits that bridge closer rule that they're really looking for. He also has one of these things. A badass mustache. He has a top tier mustache for sure. Last but not least when it comes to these trade candidates, a guy from the Colorado Rockies.

And again, you can't really ever base a Rockies pitcher on their ERA or their numbers. And I mean, this is a guy that had kind of a small sample size last year. But in 2024, he posted for Colorado as a member of the Rockies playing for Colorado as a pitcher in Colorado for the Rockies, a 1.46 ERA in 2024. Again, I know it's a small sample size with this guy, but still, that's like not giving up a run at all ever. That's like throwing perfect immaculate innings every time you go out there. It's incredible. The results weren't amazing.

Even a little bit of the underlying stats, they're like mid-tier, but, he throws incredibly hard, which is something the diebacks clearly like. Right. He has 100th percentile fastball velocity, averaging 100 miles an hour. I like that. He gets a decent amount of width. He struggles with walks, as a lot of these fireballers might. The expected ERA was, you know, 4.46.

So, but he recorded 11 saves last season. So he's clearly worked in that high leverage role. He's more of a long shot, but because he's also a long shot, he's probably going to cost you a little bit less than trading for Jojo Romero or Brian O'Brien? Quite a bit less, most likely. Even though it's still within the division, the fact that you have a new regime there in Colorado makes it a little bit easier because they aren't going to be necessarily attached

to any of these guys, and they're going to try to offer, you know, try to get something in return that they feel like impacts the future of that ball club. I don't think the Rockies are anywhere close to being competitive considering the disastrous year they had last year. So this is another rebuild situation with the Rockies like the Cardinals, right? Not to say you're going to take advantage of them. He's still a young guy.

He's only 25 years old. And he could definitely be a part of the Rockies' future plans. But, again, after going in 39 and two-thirds innings pitch, posting a 5.20 FIP and a 4.99 ERA, you know, it might be the time to strike as far as his number's not looking great. you just still have a hard time feeling like any pitcher that comes to the Diamondbacks at this point is going to improve. That's on the Diamondbacks and not on those pitchers. Their pitching development here has not been very good. It's in fact been atrocious. Hopefully it gets better with the changes they made this offseason, but we still don't know that.

We still don't know how effective Brian Kaplan is as a pitching coach. If that entire experiment is good or a disaster, it's wild because Kaplan is a, kind of, you know, I guess, attacked by the fans quite a bit. But yet when you speak to people within Major League Baseball, they love Brian Gaplin and think the world of him. They also think that he is a great pitching coach or going to be a great pitching coach at the very least and has everything it takes, you know, to do so.

I think the only thing that he's truly missing is experience because he hasn't been doing it very long. Yeah. There's a lot of flack on him for all the Tommy John surgeries. When that's like, it's not his fault. It's not in his control. He's not going out there telling. these guys to change their arm slot or pitch differently or something like that.

He just got unlucky with the amount of injuries that happened last year. And I think with like you look at there were a lot of issues with him and the third base coach. The third base coach has a way more direct impact on the game so much so that he was taken out of his role. Correct. Brian Kaplan, what did you want him to do? Yeah. Repair their arms himself. Yeah.

And Sean Larkin obviously has enough to offer this team that they kept him around and they want him to be involved in the interior, you know, interior defense or, you know, things like that, right? But I'll tell you, man, I think that, you know, the diamondbacks once again need a guy like this. They most likely at this point will need to make a trade. And, you know, they need to kind of maybe either gamble on somebody like Halverson who didn't have a great year last year. But you feel like it could be much better in a different, you know, situation or, you know, go after one of these other guys and be aggressive at this point. I like whatever trade the diamondbacks make at this point just due to their lack of assets, I feel like it's going to hurt.

So let's just pull the bandaid off and get it over with, right? I mean, fans have to kind of accept at this point that it's going to be a fan favorite. It's going to be Jake McCarthy, Alec Thomas. I mean, maybe some of you have your feelings about those guys. It could be a Cattel Marta still, even though Mike Hazen shut down those rumors. or it could very well be a Ryan Waldschmidt or a guy like Slade Caldwell that we feel like is the future, potentially the future of this team despite recent scouting on him, making him sound a bit more like Drew Jones than being close to majorly ready.

Also pitching prospects that we really can't afford to part ways with, but we might need to just in order to try to improve the major league roster at this point. So again, prepare yourselves is what I'm saying. Prepare yourselves to be hurt by this situation. but also prepare yourselves for the Diamondbacks to not do anything at all. That's a very real possibility here, Coggs, and I know that it's not the worst thing. We have said, I think we were asked on Mailbag Monday, like, is them not doing anything worse than them making a huge move like trading Ctele-Marté?

And in a lot of scenarios, I kind of feel like the answer is yes, because this team is very good with Marte as a part of it. But again, perhaps mortgaging your future for a tough season isn't the right call. And perhaps the young guys getting playing time and just kind of being the option in the bullpen might also be the right move for their development and for this team. Yeah. I, there's a lot of talk about the dime backs are running back the same bullpen as last year. That's not true.

They're running back a lot of the same pieces. But there were a lot of guys getting key innings in the bullpen last year that are not returned. or are not on the major league roster anymore. You look at Jake Woodford. You look at John Curtis. You look at Taylor Rashi. You brought back Curtis and Rashi as depth in AAA, but they're not expecting those guys to be in their bullpen.

They're hoping not. They're hoping not. Obviously, they could always add more depth. And I do think they'll add, if one, if not two arms. They're probably not going to be arms who are necessarily big fans of this bullpen. But with the bull, if they ran out this bullpen right now, I think I would be okay. I wouldn't be particularly happy about it.

Not necessarily cautiously optimistic about it, but still maybe slightly optimistic about it. I think there's a lot of young talent in this bullpen that could be very successful. I do too. The fan grass protected bullpen is Andrew Solfring as the closer. I disagree with that personally, but I think he's going to be an excellent key arm. I think he's your fireman. He's your lefty killer. or well, your left-handed killer.

He's going to be thrown into situations to put out fires when things go bad. He has good results as the closer. Had incredible results last year. It was insane. As in safe situations, he pitched 12 innings to the tune of a 2.25-E-R-A. The opposing slash line was 195, 222, 317 for no PSS below 600. It was below 550. And it's great, but he's a key lefty.

Now, if you can get some evolution from a guy like Brandon Garcia, where he can be your lefty fireman, maybe Saul Frank could be the closer. Well, I think Saul Frank, if you were looking at not changing anything, had the best results for last year. And that's why it's easy to slot him in at a sub two ERA. Oh, yeah. You know, that makes it a no-brainer. But like I do like Brandon Garcia.

And I think of everybody in the bullpen as far as young guys goes. He gave the diamond backs the most out of anybody. And I felt like he really found his rhythm after a while. I felt like he became somebody that Tori could count on. I also think he's one of those guys that I mentioned earlier, where in 2025, they asked too much. They asked too much of certain guys, but those guys are now still going to be a part of this team. And perhaps asking too much of them in 2025 made them absolutely prepared for what is going to be asked of them in 2026. And I would think that guys like, you know, guys like Brandon Garcia, Philip Abner, that's another guy that I think really showed me what he had.

I still I still kind of obsess over the inning that he pitched against the Dodgers far too much. But it was an extremely important game. It was extremely high leverage. And this man went in there and took care of business against three of the best hitters in all of Major League Baseball. So again, you might not be seeing the results, you know,

replicated every outing or every time he goes out there. But when you see certain results like that, you believe that that can be what he can be. He just has to figure out how to do it consistently every time out there. You also have to figure out if it's just because he's a new guy and they don't have a lot of information on him. So it was a bit easier for him to handle the offense. But in terms of closers, everyone loves a fireball or closer.

Everyone wants that guy who can pump heat. There are multiple arms in this bullpen who have that capacity. Now, they don't have the closing experience. So, yeah, it might not be the opening day closer. Or they might win the job out of spring if they have a good spring. but the two key arms that I've been thinking about have been Drey Jameson and Juan Murillo. Both of them, Jameson obviously has a pitch to a ton.

He had dealt with a lot of injuries, but Trey Jameson throws hard, and he looks good out there on the mound. He could absolutely turn himself into a true closer in a matter of, I would say, like a month of game experience. He has, I said it yesterday on yesterday's show. I'm so glad you brought this up. He has the makeup for it.

Chemically, physically, mentally, he is a closing. And in fact, there were rumors about him potentially being a trade target as well for other teams because other teams still believe in Dre Jameson as a starter. And that's wild to me. That's wild to me. And it makes, well, again, it just makes you wonder why don't the Diamondbacks view him in a similar manner, right? What is it about him that makes other teams believe in him as a starter and makes the Diamondbacks not?

Now, it could be information. We were just talking on yesterday's show about the minor league information situation and how teams are going to have to share it with everybody starting next season, right? This could be a situation where teams don't have enough information on Dre, despite all the scouting, despite all the info that they might have. And the Diamondbacks might just have enough for them to know that they don't believe Jameson is a long term, you know, the ability to go out there and give 90 pitches, 100 pitches in an outing, right? But again, I will say that he is a guy that I feel like he's easy.

to believe in. And I don't feel like at any point in his career, when you look at the results that's ever been bad. That's the reason why it's kind of baffling is why isn't Dre Jameson used more? I do know he had the injuries last year and that was a big part of it, but just feels like this guy is ready to have his own breakout season in 2026. Yeah, I mean, career ERA, 2.65. He has struck out 61 batters to just 28 walks across 68 innings. He's done it before. He's gotten saves. He's got one save this year.

And his last, his first crusade was in 2023 before that injury. Why not Dre Jameson? And so I raise you. Why not Juan Maria? Juan Maria. He's got good stuff. He's electric out there on the mound. Obviously, there are clear flaws in his game.

He walks a little too many batters. But that's something in, this was his first year pitching an MLB. He'd been a journeyman minor leaguer, came up to MLB, and actually was above average. you had a 104 ERA plus, a 4.190. It's not the prettiest. No. The whip, you know, a 1.6, it sure's not great.

But he has the bones to be developed into somebody that can be that bridge closer. That can be a true bona fide closer with, you know, in offseason's work. And having had that MLB workload now. Yeah. And I think that, again, one thing that we are not factoring in enough is how much of a, you know, the point of view for the Diamondback seems to be. changing the focus. Pitching seems to be the priority this off season. And it feels like with the changes that they're making that we could see several guys here take a step forward. And honestly,

several guys who now are perhaps more secure in their role than what was going on last year. Last year felt like Mike Hazen was trying to keep five plates spinning at all times, you know, and stuff kept falling off and breaking and then you needed a Brandon Garcia and then you needed a Taylor Roshy and then you needed a John Curtis, right? Like they were doing their best to keep this whole thing moving,

but it was, I mean, it was a disaster, frankly. It was they didn't have the pieces. They didn't have the pitching depth. They didn't have the starting pitching depth. They didn't have the relief pitching depth. And that's not their fault. They experienced the catastrophic amount of pitching injuries last year.

So it's not like this team wasn't prepared for it. They were prepared in the same manner. Other teams were prepared for it. It just, they got hit harder than some other teams did. And the result was, Hazen having to do what he could

to pick up pieces from the scrap heap on other teams that had been DFA'd and let go, guys that never got signed to a contract, you know, all of those kind of things. And that's how we ended up with the patchwork that was the bullpen last year. This bullpen, like you said, is different. This isn't that bullpen.

This is a bullpen that is filled with young, pitchers that are being given an amazing opportunity at this point in their career. And again, they're going to be given that opportunity to thrive and be, you know, in a situation where if you do well, you will get high leverage innings. And if you do well there, you're going to stick around and be a part of this team. Not every baseball team has the ability to offer young pitchers that opportunity. You know, getting into that bullpen can be difficult at times, making that leap, right? So it's just, again, this is going to be a different bullpen next year if they don't make any changes to it.

However, it's hard to be confident in these guys and think that this is going to be a team that helps the Diamondbacks contend in 2026. Yeah, I think, I mean, you want to talk about like, there's a lot of talk, oh, well, this team's projected to do, they're going to do so bad, all they're pitching. I think last year, everything that could have gone wrong for the debacks went wrong for the debacks. I mean, you got career bad years out of both Brandon Fott and Eduardo Rodriguez. You went in the season and saying, oh, we have two different options at closer. This is great. All of them got injured in the same week. Yeah.

Like, they. Oh, God, I forgot that. Oh, my God. They train it at their offense. I, like, I bought a Justin Martinez, Jersey. The day that he tore is in UCLA. That's neat. That's neat. It was, it was tag.

Like Blame Cox? There's talk. There's talk on the show. streets about it. I went and I picked up my jersey and I went this is awesome and then I went oh what happened. Okay you have your own name. I do have my own name. Okay good. Good. Did you, did you tear any ligaments in your elbow or your arm when you got that? Oh no. No, okay, good. I wish it would have been me and I would have given you my ligament. Take my elbow. Take my elbow. Justin Martinez. Um, but like you have a couple seasoned veterans in this bullpen in Ryan Thompson.

Again, Kevin Ginkle, terrible, terrible year. I just don't think that performance. is going to repeat next year. Damon doesn't either. He might not be, you know, your, your sub three ERA guy, but he's certainly not going to have an ERA in the six is like he did last year. He's a beast. He's a monster. Yeah, I mean, agree.

Yeah, and then the starting rotation, I think, I think Brandon Fogg's going to do better. I think Eduardo Rodriguez, even if he's still, you know, not amazing, I think he'll be better. I mean, he underperformed even what was not an amazing fit. You add Michael Soroka, you bring back in Rochle, you add Ryan Nelson. One of those two guys at the top of rotation is going to become. an ace. I'm confident one, if not both them, will be like an all-star candidate. This team is going to be better than you think. There are a lot of expectations. You want them to compete. There's a lot of question marks, but I think when all of a sudden done, and Fangrat's

projections agree to me, Fangraps has this team as the sixth seed in the National League. They are just beating out the Chicago Cubs to make the playoffs with this roster that everyone is so concerned about that they're going to add pieces to. They're going to add a platoon D.H or a platoon first basement or a platoon outfield. They're going to add another bullpen armor to. They're going to get better. And assuming that everything that went wrong yet last year does not repeat, and that would be one in a million chance that everything that went so bad last year happens again. Knock on wood right now. Thank you. Knock on wood. I think this team is going to be competitive. There might not be, they might not be, you know, a 90 win team. But they're going to

be competitive in every game and they're going to have a shot of the playoffs just like they did last year even after trading all of their guys well we are excited for that and we are hopeful but again cautiously optimistic when it comes to the pitching staff we're going to take a quick break and on the other side of this break we're going to assign some new year's resolutions to members of the arizona diamondbacks here on new year's eve and uh maybe i don't know uh maybe squash the idea that resolutions are something that should only be done during new years we're going to talk about on the other side of this break, don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PH next time in Beck Show. Well, you know branded bills make some amazing hats. I'm wearing

one right now, one of my favorite hats. You can get yourself fitted with some amazing hats from branded bills by checking out their website. They have partnerships with the Phoenix Suns. They have partnerships with U of A and ASU as part of their campus collection. And they offer a wide variety of Arizona hats that are just absolutely gorgeous if you love this state as much as Damon and I do. No offense, Cogs, not to leave you out on that one. But I don't know. I don't your love for this state. I haven't tested you yet. But of course, if you are a brand here in Arizona, you can get your brand to stand apart from the crowd by turning to branded bills. They have you covered with the best custom headwear, whether it's snapbacks, fitted, beanie, trucker hats,

it doesn't matter. They also have t-shirts. They have bags. They have all sorts of items for you to brand. And of course, they do an awesome job over there with some quality craftsmanship, making a superior product. So again, check out branded bills. They're a local company from right here Mesa, Arizona. And if you log on to their website over at granitebills.com today, you can use our code of BB, PHMX for 15% off your order. And you already know Phoenix is one of the best cities in America for sports, and you know that spring is one of the best times to be here in this state for sports. We got the waste management open. We have spring training, baseball going on, but this spring, we have one of the most historic weekends out at Phoenix Raceway for the first time ever NASCAR,

and NTT IndyCar series are racing during the same weekend at Phoenix Raceway and you get a front row seat to all of it. Nothing delivers the intensity of race weekend. The roar of the engines, the smell of the tires burning. And of course, everybody's spectating that big turnaround turn one there. But of course, you can be there in person and experience not only the race, but experience some of the best in person kind of activity that you can get at any sporting event. They offer you an unprecedented level of access there at Phoenix Raceway. You can go inside the garage. You can walk the track.

You can meet the drivers. You can take pictures with the cars and catch the pre-race concert. All of this, if you upgrade to the Desert Diamond Casino infield experience. And again, something you won't find at any other sports. So make sure you secure your seats now at our link in the description. The 2026 spring NASCAR weekend at Phoenix Raceway is making history with NASCAR and NTT IndyCar series sharing the same track on the same day and you'll be able to say you were there do not miss this uh amazing weekend march 5th through 8th out there at phoenix raceway we discussed on yesterday's episode our new year's resolutions

of course jesse was perfect and he didn't have anything he did say he was going to hike more so there's that but what we didn't do was assign new year's resolutions to the arizona diamondbacks players and now this might be um there there's no way for us to not get mean spirited when we do this I mean, this is all just for the improvement, the self-growth of these players. We're not trying to insinuate that they have any shortcomings. But if there was New Year's resolutions to be had, we feel like we could help identify for the Diamondbacks players. They might be like Jesse and think that they're perfect. And in fact, we might be able to like give them, enlighten them on some things that they need to do.

Right. So for Corbyn Carroll, who's everybody's homegrown wonder boy, right, the golden boy. Like he's perfect, right? There's nothing that Corbyn Carroll needs to do. for a New Year's resolution. I actually have one. I think Corby and Carol needs to slow down. Not on the base path.

Not while playing the game. I think he just needs to slow down and experience life a little bit more. I bet that that man, it's like the flash. I bet like his life, and I think everything's fast. I bet he tries to be as efficient as possible.

Like when he gets up in the morning, he doesn't drink his coffee and enjoy it. I think that Corby and Carol just slams it to get that caffeine in his system. so that he can get out there and make himself a more excellent baseball player, improve himself one day at a time. And maybe just maybe he needs to slow down and smell the flowers a little bit. Maybe he needs to just have some chill moments in life.

That'd be great. And on the flip side in baseball, I think he needs to steal more bases. Well, okay, that's fine. But I mean, it's weird to say, like, I want you as a resolution to steal more, right? Like, see more. But that's fine. That's fine. Heraldo Perdomo, I feel like we need, again, talk about a man.

that's perfect, right? Very little I could say that Eraldo Pardomo could do better. I mean, he could be like he's the leader, like you said earlier. He is a good teammate. He in fact defended his teammate, Cotel Martang, came, said how much everybody loves him, right? But I think that in 2026, Prudomo could study zoology a little bit more. Right? I'm just saying, just be up to date on your animals. When you're making a reference, like being cold-blooded, you have to be. You have to be up to have to recognize that the team that you play for is in fact a gold-blooded animal that you didn't need to turn to frogs in order for you to make your point. Tori even said that afterward. Story was like he really he really botched that one, you know? He could, it could have been so good.

Yeah. And now next year we have to have frog giveaways. Oh yeah. Like how are we not having a frog giveaway? There will at least be one, right? Like a stuffed frog or a frog in a in a in a snow globe. Absolutely. Right. It would be baffled if they didn't do. opportunity if they don't get i mean 100% i don't want it's going to be a frog shirt it's going to piss me off i don't want a frog shirt i want a tangible frog item put it on this on this set next to little lordis and damondog here bark bark or they're going to like put it on a hat or something yeah no i don't want that like the good giveaway items are unique and unique for a reason right we get a million hats and shirts throughout the year we get jerseys this guy little lord is right this was a kid's club

item and people lost their minds over it mostly because you can't have it you're not a kid you don't get it sorry i don't know how i got mostly because i i won't stop whining about stuff until i get it for sure but you got do you have any resolutions for these guys what do you got for i mean for domo we want to get realistic maybe a little less time on social media listen it's i love scrolling on ticot and and seeing that he's live with some with two random women fair but like Hey. Oh, my fan. Check his posts.

I missed that one. It's great. It's great. I love it. You get so many funny photos. But like, you know, maybe. Well, it's always healthy to limit your time.

Well, I mean, it sounds like it's working. It sounds like whatever he's doing, he should do more of, in fact. Yeah. I will take that and I will say that maybe Mike Hayson needs a digital detox

after what he's been through, right? Somebody take Hazen's phone away from him. Uh, get him a boat, a cabin for the weekend, something. And that's why I wanted to give him for Christmas. I said a crux where he has no reception at all for his cell phone.

That's what Mike Hazen needs right about now, right? Him and him and Tori both involve all the flak naked. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, you're right about that. Tori stays away from it, though. Mike has no choice but to answer that phone. Mike is like me. True.

When you have a mother that lives somewhere that you might get a call from a random number just due to her age and due to things going on, you have to answer every single random phone number. And poor Mike has to answer. He doesn't know if it's the Cubs calling or if it's the Yankees calling. It might be Brian Cashman using his wife's phone. You never know these things. So again, he has to answer every phone call.

It must be exhausting for him. Meanwhile, Tori, sorry, you got to give up the chocolate peanut butter ice cream. And you have to give up the thumb-sucking. You have to give up both. No more thumb-sucking, no more chocolate peanut butter ice cream. I need him at an elite level managing this year. There is a lot on the line in 2026. You're only allowed vanilla.

Wow. That's it. Wow. I did make some killer banana ice cream with a peanut butter swore. with a peanut butter swirl in it that you wanted some of. I did not bring you any. Sorry. It's messed up.

Yeah, it is messed up. Ken Kendrick. I want Ken Kendrick in 2026 to be more fiscally responsible, right? Everybody wants him to spend more. I say, Ken, you have done too much for us. Maybe saying some money. I don't know. Things are, I don't need you opening up your checkbook every time an All-Star

suddenly becomes available and wants to live in Arizona, perhaps. I don't know. done too much no more left-handed starters mr keny more more more left-handed starters maybe i i like the idea of being more fiscally responsible there but i don't know if i'd argue that he's done too much i said too much not done too much those two things are very much well you didn't i'd like to see the tape back all right well okay that's that's fair that's speaking of guys doing too much the cardinals crew they're going to be in here shortly they're doing too much but that's only because that's because of this team. This team doesn't deserve Johnny venerable and Bo Brock. They don't,

but you get them anyway. So thank God for them. And you can join them out at Heila River Resorts and casinos for our final away party watch party. We're going to have a blast. I'll probably be out there. It's on January 4th versus the Los Angeles Rams, who hopefully is going to sit their entire team. And then it's going to be a mid-off between a team that doesn't want to win any more football games and a team that's playing their third string players. But there will be a live pre-half and post-game P H&X Cardinals show as well as food and drink specials and a PHNX giveaway. Also, vibes immaculate as always. So RSP for our Cardinals Away game watch parties at go PHNX.com slash events and do that right now.

We got some more before we get out of here. This is, again, these sound rude, but it's just more of how I feel like they need to get better, right? I think Gabriel Moreno needs to hit the gym. Now, this might be based on personal spite because a few years ago, my bold prediction was that Gabriel Moreno was going to lead the team in home runs. But I really need that now from him. I need that. I know he only hit seven home runs the year prior to when I said that.

So it's an insane thing for me to say. But I need him to prove me right. So I need him to get in there and bulk up. That was my last year. I was looking for Perdomo. And I think he came through. He actually did come through. He came through.

Gabby could be top top three catcher in baseball. If he hit for some power, he's already got great contact skills. Yeah. Go get in the gym. Go add 10 pounds of muscle. let's do it let's do it i remember talking to um daniel hegan i think it was daniel ligand and i was like he was talking about throwing harder and i actually said to him i'm like that's like a technique thing right like you don't get in the gym and he's like actually i got in the gym and started like working

out and i got bigger muscles and i could throw the ball harder and i was like ha that does work i didn't think it worked i didn't think it was that easy like corbin carroll when we said could suddenly have a cannon for an arm from the outfield i mean corbin did bulk up between the 24 and 25 season so that could account for it and I think you also again he's he's always getting better he's not he's relentless he's probably in some school right now that he's not supposed to be trespassing just so that he can practice more but um to tell marty I'm going to suggest he takes more time off yeah yeah approved time off approved time off but time off nonetheless more time with the family right spend time people again this is you got you have co-workers every once in a while they go about it the wrong way right

They call out the day after Christmas when you know that they're not sick. And you're just like, come on, bro. It's Monday after a weekend where I know you were in Vegas. I know why you're calling out. Let's just be up on the, plan ahead. Plan ahead. Ask for the PTO days ahead of time. Yeah, take some time off, enjoy, enjoy life, enjoy the family.

And I come back better and stronger. Yeah, this feels rude. That feels mean. You got any more before we get out of here? Brandon Fott. I mean, what's a good resolution for Brandon Fott? What does he need to do? I want Brandon Fought to stop listening.

the soft music before he goes out there in pitches. Brandon Fott has a very, very calm playlist that he listens to on days that he pitches. I know when Brandon Fought's pitching, I don't even have to check the schedule because when I go out and I hear the, I hear the tunes, I'm like, oh, it's fought on the mound of it, right? I need Fought to start listening to Metallica. I don't know if he's a fan of Metallica, but I just need, I mean, I need them to get a little bit more amped up. Now, again, Michael Soroka said that you can't really do that as a starter.

Can't get yourself too excited early on because then you go out, you throw hard early, you gas yourself out early, right? But you could be too calm. But you can be too calm. See, he gets it. It's like when Jake McCarthy was walking out to Green Day, brains do. Yeah. Perfect amount.

Perfect amount. Perfect amount. Perfect. It gets the crowd. I mean, yeah, I mean, maybe he doesn't really deserve a millie, right? Like, yeah, that's questionable. But anyway. First of what you per Jake McCarthy, I love the curtain-angle theme.

It's got to go. I can't be shouting you suck at you. It's been bad the whole time. He is right. No, no, the Kurt Angle theme needs to go. It needs to go. You expect me not to shout you suck. I want to do it.

I want to do it in jest because like Kurt Angle was a very good pro wrestler. So we like shouted you suck at him as part of like the storyline thing and more like he doesn't suck. So it's more funny that you shout you suck. I feel bad shouting you suck at Jake McCarthy when he's getting 167. I'm supposed to be okay with that. And he's doing that. to me. He's making me do that. You make me do this. Yeah. All right. I think we got this. I think we're

ready for 2026. I thank you guys for being here all year long. Like I said yesterday, 2025 was a very difficult year for me personally, for the show for us, but I am so thankful that we are here right now talking to you guys, talking about baseball and ending 2025 on a high note. So again, we wouldn't be here doing this without the support of each and every one of you. We can't thank you guys enough. Can't thank Cogs enough for being here joining me on the show. And of course, again, Damon Dogg for holding me down all year long. Damon, thank you for all of your hard work.

Damon Farrell is one of the hardest working people here at this station and often gets kind of undermined here because he has to work with me. So people just are like, whatever. I mean, what is that show that they do about baseball? It's a silly little goose over there. I appreciate you, Derek. I appreciate you too, man. Well, again, we thank you guys so much.

I've said it probably too many times to count this year, but your time is extremely valuable. And I think every single one of you in 2026 needs to care about how much you give people who don't deserve your time, your time. It's a commodity, right? It is one of the most valuable things any of us have to offer. So we thank you so much for sharing your time with us in 2025 and look forward to you sharing it with us again in 2026.

Until then, you follow all of us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Cogs at what was the number? T.R. Coggs. No numbers. See, smart boy. T.R. Cogs. Damon is at Damon Dog with a D-A-W-G at the end.

And of course, we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Our show is at P.HNX underscore D-Backs. But as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you guys again. Hope you all have a wonderful new year. be safe tonight. Have yourself a wonderful New Year's Eve and let's make 2026 our year. It's the year of the snake. We talk about that every Monday on this show. But of course, until we come back next year,

we appreciate you guys, we love you guys, we want you all to behave yourselves, and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you can make it through 2025.