PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - MLB Projections Paint GRIM PICTURE For D-backs’ Playoff Hopes

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

The outlook for the Diamondbacks’ 2026 season isn’t exactly optimistic after FanGraphs released its latest playoff odds. But can this organization prove the projections wrong with the moves they made this offseason? We break down why the D-backs may be better positioned than the numbers suggest, plus why Corbin Carroll landing on Shredder’s Top 10 list only scratches the surface of his true value. Also, why he belongs in the top three outfielders in all of MLB. We also dive into the D-backs choosing Carlos Santana over a Paul Goldschmidt reunion, why the Pirates could become a real problem if they land Framber Valdez, and wrap things up with Derek’s tales from Grammy weekend.LIMITED-TIME 60% off Diehard Offer: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtubeJOIN 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.#dbacks #diamondbacks #arizonadiamondbacks #mlb #zacgallen #corbincarroll #ketelmarte #mlbtheshow #mlbtraderumors #tradedeadline #traderumors #allstargame  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, Derek, I know you're one on vacation and everything, but we kind of got to get going here. We got to start the show. Damon, let me live my life. Hey, and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast, Kind of Live! From Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. It is I, and Mayor Ph.NX, back from Los Angeles and living all of my childhood dreams. whether it was going to Super Mario World or gallivanting around Harry Potterland. I've just come back here for the sad realization that we did not get Paul Goldschmidt.

But of course, I am your mayor, occasionally known as King Bowser. Thrilled to be back. Thank you to my guy, Damon Dogg on the ones and twos for holding it down while I was gone. Damon, bark, bark to you. Thank you so much for all of your hard work. But you really dropped the ball. I got to admit it. You dropped the ball.

While I was not here, how do you figure? You did not get Paul Goldschmidt. You allowed a 40-year-old Carlos Santana to join this team. I did not hold the line. You did not hold the line while I was out. That hurts the year. I won't lie.

Let me take, let me take this hat off. I had fun wearing this hat. I'm going to put this hat on, I guess. It was a, it's a disappointing couple of days. I won't lie. Shout out to my guy,

Megaran for making it. As far as he did, unfortunately, we did not bring the Grammy trophy home, Damon. We did not get Paul Goldschmidt. And then I get back here to Phoenix and hoodie season is over.

This is, this is a disappointing last couple of days, despite the fact that I got to hug Beetlejuice yesterday. That was fine. I did ask him to help out with this team. And he said, good luck. Him and the fan graphs projections,

I suppose, agree on that outcome for the 2026 season, which we'll talk about, here shortly, but I do have to discuss the Diamondbacks acquiring Carlos Santana. The Diamondbacks have come to an agreement on a one-year, $2 million deal, as Damon has discussed with Carlos Santana. This was from MLB.com, Steve Gilbert, on Tuesday. The Diamondbacks have still not confirmed the move as of time of recording this podcast. But again, this at least does give the Diamondbacks help at first base, which we knew they needed. I mean, he's a switch hitter.

He gives them a complimentary first baseman that they've been looking for this winter to go along with Pavin Smith, left-handed hitter, and Tyler Locklear, obviously when he returns. It's another veteran, so like Nolan Aeronado, he brings 16 years of MLB experience, all of these things that Damon has covered on this show.

But I just think that this sucks. And it's not because it's Carlos Santana. It's because it's not Paul Goldschmidt. At the end of the day, it felt like it was maybe too good to be true to have a reunion with Paul Goldschmidt. And that turns out to be the case. Now, I believe it is John Marosi does not close the door completely on a deal with Goldschmidt. He did say that this solves the Diamondbacks first base issue for now, or at least at a deal with Goldschmidt isn't imminent for now.

But the Diamondbacks could still pursue a deal here with Goldie. overall though I am satisfied a bit that the diamondbacks went out they give they get themselves again a first baseman a righty somebody who can definitely add to this team defensively because we know uh through his years and years of of defense for these years of years of service in major league baseball how good defensively Carlos Santana has been. Damon I think you guys discussed on yesterday's show with the you know obviously pulling up his baseball savant page all. of his defensive metrics and how good everything there looks even at this age right but yeah he's eight outs above average last year one of the best at first base which is which is really solid and i mean again he's just one of the best defensive first baseman in the league however you know he he is an older player in baseball and i mean again there's there's a lot of question marks around that his offensive numbers last year were not great obviously and a lot of things there seem i don't know

They just, they feel a little bit like it's more of a consolation price. Now, they did only get them for $2 million. So the one thing here was the estimates for Paul Goldschmidt started to sound like they were creeping closer and closer to $10 million per season. The fact that the Diamondbacks were able to add to their first base platoon over there for $2 million does potentially allow them to still go out and add a relief pitcher to this bullpen. Not to say that that isn't necessarily the case, but last season, again, you know, Carlos Santana did not have himself a great slash line. It's kind of gross, actually. 219, 308, 325 for 633 OPS. He had a 77 OPS plus batting-wise, but defensively, again, a great addition to this team.

Mike Hazen has said a few times this offseason, that defense was a priority. and when you take a look at the two players that we're discussing here, whether it's Goldie or Carlos Santana, you do feel like they went with a better option defensively and a better option as far as what they were going to ultimately have to pay whoever they added, you know, for this season. And I think there was some sort of, you know, a tweet I think that was by,

I think it was DeBAC's prospects that talked about that defensive emphasis in this off season in particular, and you now look at the additions, and it's Nolan Aeronado, it's James McCann being brought back, and it's, you know, it is now, you know, Carlos Santana at first base, all three of those guys as the position player additions, guys that are really, really good on the defensive side of the game. So I think that, I think that that was very clearly a point of emphasis from the DeBACs organization this off season was to improve the defense out there. there and every move that's been made so far from a position player standpoint has only gone to to kind of further that point well damon he also is dominican from your home island so there's

that connection Derek i'm not lying to you i today i saw i got an ad today for world baseball classic hats type of hat that i like uh saw there was one that had a light blue bill dominican flag right here on the side and i was like i think i have to buy that as a bit for the show and just show up one day wearing it and surprised Derek and it was sold out. Oh, well, I had bad news for you. What a disaster. While I was in L.A., we were actually staying in a part of town called Little Tokyo, Damon, and I got a little bit of intel in this newspaper slash magazine that I got from a market there.

Say it ain't know. This is bad news for you because in this, they actually have a special World Baseball Classic section where it would appear that Team Japan is doing some intel work on their biggest competitors, biggest contenders for their crown, the world baseball class of crown. And right here, front page, I don't know if you can see that. Team Dominican Republic, number one enemy said Team Japan right there. You see Catel Marte and Heraldo Perdomo both showing up on the diamond. Also on page two, they got the intel on Team USA.

So it would appear that the Dominican and the team USA are both on their radar as far as who their biggest competitors are. That's good. I'm glad that they're worried because guess what we're going to do with team Dominican Republic. We're going to play our game of baseball, our brand of baseball. And guess what? You guys conform to play against us because we're just going to keep doing our thing. Heraldo Pardomo, Cotele, Marte, we're going out there. We're playing our style of baseball.

And guess what? the second that they saw Geraldo Bredomo and Catea, they said, that's our enemy. That's our enemy. And I love that. I love that for our team, our island. They should. I'm wearing a, this is a Martee Shurzy from All Star Weekend, by the way. Love this one, by the way.

Shout out to the line. What happened to Shurzies? Oh, the big old fanatics happen to Shersies, Damon. I saw, true. I saw Goldie happens tweet this the other day and he was like, I used, we used to be able to get like, freaking the most obscure t-shirt jersey. of all time. We used to like,

why can't you get an Ildamaro Vargas jersey? Yeah. Huh? So easy to screen print. A James McCann jersey. Oh, give it to me.

But with like, I'll take a medium. You know what I mean? Well, no, you'll cut the sleeves off. I'll cut the sleeves off, but I also wanted to be tight

on my torso, Damon. I want to be too tight. I want to look like a sausage in casing. I did want to point out something else. A John Curtis jersey. Oh, don't say his name. He will appear. I don't know if you will appear.

Yeah. Not in the studio, not right now. But another thing you dropped the ball on while I was gone, Damon, you let another team possibly sneak into the race here for a wild card spot. We already know based on what we're going to talk about here later, that the Diamondbacks' chances of making the playoffs are not great. But it would appear that the Pittsburgh pirates might become a problem. And as you know, they could easily win their own division because that division is whatever. But per Ken Rosenthal at the athletic, the pirate. are making an aggressive push for Framber Valdez.

And despite his age and the premium draft compensation that goes along with acquiring his services, it would appear that he would slot in really nicely as a number two next to Paul Skeins. Not to mention the rest of their lineup with Mitch Keller and a young arm like Bubba Chandler, it would be pretty affordable and dirty starting rotation. That's the best rotation.

baseball full stop. I mean, again, if you add for Amber, yeah. And it's wild because here's, here's a pirates team that we've criticized for not spending enough money, right? And then especially those of us that are also in like a similar position as this team, I think that a lot of markets would see the addition of for Amber Valdez to the pirates and say like, no, no, no, no, no, never mind, don't spend money. Please don't because we don't want that. And I mean, this entire offseason, And it felt like the Pittsburgh pirates were kind of trying to buck that trend of not spending and going out there and, you know, trying to acquire some top free agents. They haven't been super successful in their pursuit of these top free agents.

But we have heard the pirates being attached to a lot of free agents this off-season. Yeah, I mean, that would certainly make things a little bit more interesting for when it comes to the pirates. And any time that you have a rotation that is Paul Skeen's, Mitch Keller, Framber Valdez, and the guy with upside like Bubba Chandler. I think that that's got to, you know, raise some eyebrows around the league. I'm sitting here, though, Derek, wondering, we obviously brought in the pirates, what was he, the director of pitching in their farm system. And he is now a big part of the Diamondbacks organization in Brass at the top.

And we've credited him with, you know, creating the Paul Skeen's, you know, the player that we know as Paul Skeen's in a lab. He did. It was all him, essentially, that he was the reason. and he made it through the minors in six months and was ready to pitch at a major league level, like an ace. And Mitch Keller, same thing.

Like he created Mitch Keller. He's responsible. I'm trying to figure out of the way. I know his name is Jeremy Blake, but his actual name is Paul Skeens. Because, and I know it gets confusing, but like Paul Skeen's monster, right? Like Frankenstein?

Like, it's Dr. Frankenstein. So it's Dr. Paul Skeens, but then Paul Skeens is like, Paul Skeens. Yeah. But it's Paul Skings. I get it. It's a literary thing. It's very confusing.

I get it. I'm just sitting here wondering if they get Framber Valdez, how I'm going to spin that into him also being responsible for that move being made. I think what it is is that he essentially set that rotation up for success that when you get to a point with a franchise where you know who your core is, that is when you can go out and add a Framber Valdez, right? The Diamondbacks felt like they had an established core after the World Series run. I mean, they do, right? But the problem is, is that their established core is essentially based around position players and does not really contain an established core of pitchers, starting pitchers. Brandon Fott got extended.

So he would be considered part of that core, I think. But outside of him, there probably isn't another starting pitcher or even a relief pitcher. May Justin Martinez, right? He's part of that core too. Justin Martinez, I mean, I would say Ryan Nelson is because he's got a few years of control left. I agree with that. I would be shocked if they weren't trying to extend him or. or at least bring him back when he's at the end of that contract

because he's he's a guy who feels very ingrained in what we have going on here. But like he said, so good the last couple of seasons. All the Pirates pitchers, young, controllable core pitchers for that team. You come in and you add one of the best free agent arms to that starting rotation. And boom, you just went from being like, hey, they got some talented young guys that the Yankees are going to pick off from them someday to being an actual contending team in your division.

The anti-D-BACs is what we're going to. start calling him. It's going to be the Diamondbacks averaging seven runs a baseball game with a 500 record versus the pirates who give up two runs a baseball game and also have a 500 record. Yeah, that's probably. Yeah. It's like the Mariners. Remember like how we were talking about the Mariners? Yeah. Except the Mariners ended up having such a good end of the season and making the playoffs and whatnot and going far. But the Diamondbacks at the time, there was like the Mariners were the top rotation in baseball. The debacks were the top offense. And both teams were just mid as hell.

And you're like, oh, this is fun. I just know that overall here, the debacks have to focus more on, you know, these young controllable starting pitchers that they have in their organization. It's a reason why Cole Drake, Mitch Bratt, those guys are very important to the future of this team. Daniel Egan, another guy. Several of these guys that we've had on this show are very, very important to the future of this organization because they could be that exact thing that we're talking about. They could be, you know, the pitch.

of the future for this team and guys that could be the core of the starting rotation very soon. Like that opportunity for young pitchers in this organization is going to present itself quickly, far faster than it would for other teams. So, so again. Yeah, there was a, there was a recent and I apologize to Big Jake who I had on on Wednesday as my, my guest co-host, but he sent in this, this updated top 10 debacks prospects list, Eric. and I'll just go ahead and read it off because we don't have it here available,

but it is Ryan Walschman 1, Tommy Troy, 2, J.D. Dix 3, Demetrio Cresontes, 4, Kaysen Cunningham, 5, and then Coltrake 6, David Hagamon 7, Slade Caldwell 8, John Selaw Louise, 9, and then Daniel Egan 10. Pretty good, man. So Cole Drake, David Hagamon, David Hagamon's really cruised up the rankings. And Daniel Egan, all three of those guys,

somehow making it into the top 10 after the debacks trade for those arms at the at the trade deadline which you know you love to see because it does go to show how the lack of organizational depth that pitcher that this team had like like they they did such a bad job acquiring decent pitching a young decent pitching but hopefully the players that we traded away are worth it in the long run of of getting these young controllable pitchers in who who are you know, maybe not thought of as like top 100 guys when it comes to major league baseball, but could potentially come to become something down the road. I'll tell you, more of those top 100 prospects, like, seem to not make it than those who do.

I know that's their job. I know they're getting better at that. I know all teams are getting better at, you know, ensuring that those top prospects in their organization develop and find a way to make it to the major leagues. But I know you guys spoke on yesterday's show about Drew Jones and his development where he's that defensively. Jake's going to figure it out. That's what Jacob,

that was what was decided. We didn't, okay. Jacob's going to figure it. Second time he brought up Big Jake, and I need to address something here. His appearance is on this show when I am hosting it. He apparently made some accusations or had some questions about being banned, and I would like to just address those accusations.

He is banned. I don't want him on this show, and he knows exactly what he did in Chicago to deserve. to deserve it. And I'll leave it at that. I will leave it at that. So you're still doing the Chicago thing? Look, some things stay.

You and Jesse want to go out to dinner? No, don't even get me started. Don't even get me started. Was that not something that you were trying to tag along with? Please do not get me started. Damon? I'll ever, ever. Piaa is forever ruined for me.

And I will never forgive him for that. Never. That's a whole other story. We'll talk about it another day. I do want to talk, though, about Corbyn Carroll, of course, and where he was ranked on Shredder's rankings. I don't understand why we're turning to a teenage mutant Ninja Turtles villain for our rankings of Major League players,

but we'll figure that out on the other side of this break. Don't you guys go anywhere? You're watching the pH next Diamondback show. I'll tell you, the Window Depot is where I go to get all of the things I need for my projects, and I am one of those people who sometimes just starts projects randomly. I will see something in my house that needs fixing, and I will not say I need to address that at a later time. I need to address it right now. And thanks to the folks at the Window Depot, I know I can confidently go there and get anything I'm looking for, and not just Windows.

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Well, Damon, according to MLB shredder, Corby Carroll is the fourth best outfielder in all of baseball. That's not a surprise to us. We already knew that. We know that Corby and Carol Cerell once again is number one in our hearts, just like Geraldo Pardomo is.

I don't know how they're both number one in our hearts. I guess 1A, 1B, and then you get to decide there. But regardless, Corbin Carroll, we already knew is one of the best outfielers in baseball, And of course, this projection just goes to further prove it. And I guess further publicize to a national audience, how good this Corby and Carroll kid that plays for Arizona truly is. By the way, the shredder is not a teenage mutant and Turtleville,

and I found out, by the way, it's MLB Network's Advanced Ranking Methodology for top 10 players. At each position, it is produced by the network's research team, and it is a blend of performance, multi-season track records, advanced metrics, and expert context from analysts on MLB network. So that is what the Shredder ranking is. And Corbyn Carroll comes in fourth on the list here for right-fielders. He is behind Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and Kyle Tucker from the Dodgers.

And we all know Corbyn Carroll's 2025 season was outstanding, and we know that he's only gotten better year after year. So he has a proven track record of what he is capable of, making, you know, obviously having a historic season for this franchise. Last year, he posted a career best OPS at 884. He hit 31 home runs, stole 32 bases, join that rare 30-30 club. He contributed elite base running and game-winning defense at times.

And even though his 20-25 stats definitely outlawed. outpaced Kyle Tucker, the shredder factors in multi-year performance. But overall here, we would definitely like to argue that Corbyn should be ranked higher, definitely above Kyle Tucker because it's 2025 production. And most stats was superior here. But again, like we said, the reason why, much like when we were talking about other rankings that have come up, there's no reason why, you know, that this, the reason why I would like with Pardomo is that there's not a super long track record here in a similar fashion that there is with Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and Kyle Thur. But again, you could definitely argue that Corbyn Carroll belongs in the top three.

Damon, I believe we do have, you know, the infamous stat cast comparison here. I'm getting that ready to go as we see. speak. For sure, between these two players. But what this ultimately means at the end of the day is, is that Corby and Carroll, again, is one of the elite players in baseball. And as much as the 2026 season does look bleak, as much as it would seem that the Diamondbacks really didn't do enough this offseason in order to make this team a contender or competitive for next year, a lot of the talent lies here on this team already. And I think it's easy to overlook just how good Corbyn Carroll is.

Putting him here in this top five of right fielders and Major League Baseball makes all the sense in the world. And it really does illustrate how, again, you know, experts around Major League Baseball view Corbyn Carroll. The secret is out. And again, we know that he is an incredible baseball player. but I think, again, we kind of feel like we've seen the most out of Corbyn Carroll. I don't think that's the case. I think this is a guy that strives to get better year after year. And even with how good his numbers were last year,

we could see an even better version of Corbyn Carroll in 2026, which is mind-blowing to say overall. But still, regardless, he is a guy that, you know, has had an incredible season. The outlook for his 2026 season is very good. In fact, fan graph projections for Corbyn Carroll, which, you know, fan graphs, steamers, a lot of these projections can tend to be conservative. But the fan graph projections for Corby and Carol for 2026, really good, actually. And I think they're almost conservative in both negative and positive ways, right?

Like, don't you think that, you know, usually when like a guy, for example, like maybe even like a not saying it's this year, but like I think you'd look at like Jake McCarthy's after a good, after a down season when he had a good season the year before. And a lot of times the projections are like, like he has like a three war season because they, they think that the players, he's going to bounce back. Like that was a anomaly. Like I'm sure they probably think that like Eduardo Rodriguez is going to be better than maybe a lot of Diamondbacks fans probably do.

Sure. So they're, they almost kind of, I think. always kind of trend towards the middle and middle ground and trying to evaluate these players and yeah that's no different with with the like top guys as well. That would go with the conservative though. They're not going to swing

into outlandish directions with projections and it's going to make more sense. But if you take a look here at his projections for 2026 fan graph projections, pretty good. 28 home runs and 840 OPS, 93 RBI projected to

have 35 stolen bases and projected to have a 5.1 war season. Like, yes, this is conservative compared to his 2025 season and the numbers he put up there, right? He had a 5.8 war season. He had 31 home runs, 32 stolen bases, 84 RBI. But it still is trending in most directions for an improvement overall. 883 OPS he had last year versus an 840 OPS. I think it still is projecting in a direction that says Corby and Carroll is trending to be an incredible player.

His projections before the 2025 season, pretty good, pretty good overall, right? Like, so his projections in the past have definitely looked like kind of close, right? They projected him in 2025 to have very similar numbers to what he ended up having. And again, it was because that was kind of more of a leap of faith that Corby and Carol was going to get better. And he did. So I do think, though, that overall that argument definitely could be made for Corby and Carol for Kyle Tucker. It does feel a little bit here like we are just ranking people based on what teams they play for and how much they make versus the actual numbers. that they put up, right?

But again, the difference here for these projections is that Kyle Tucker has a little bit longer of a track record, obviously, in his career of putting up consistent numbers and being one of the best players in Major League Baseball. Corby and Carroll, still very, very short track record. How long has Kyle Tucker been in the league for? That's a great question. I don't have that right in front of me, Daniel. Like what does he have, like two more years under his belt, essentially, than Corbyn Carroll?

because I feel like we've seen enough of Corbyn Carroll at this point to know that, hey, this guy is an elite baseball player. And like I don't think that there's really any world where he's not considering he had such a down start to his sophomore campaign. And he still ended up putting together a really, really productive season. And I think that he that proves right there just his star status. He bounces back last year in a big way. And yeah, I think we could be like embarking upon like not only is Corby and Carol at top five out. fielder in baseball but now he could be year in and year out an MVP type of candidate if if he puts together the season that we for sure we are are all expecting from corbin carroll

kyle tucker eight years of service in major league baseball corbin carroll four so there you go i just i don't yeah i don't know if and and his first season he was atrocious he slash 141 236 203 for 439 ops that was cal tucker yep yeah yeah interesting well we do have the stat comparison between Kyle Tucker and Corby and Carroll ready to go. This was their numbers from last year. And again, this is the one that a lot of people are focused on here. Not a lot of green on the Kyle Tucker side. OPS Plus slightly better at 143 versus Corbyn's 140.

Kyle Tucker had a better batting average at 266 versus Corbyn's 259. And then on base percentage, probably the only category that you could say that there was a significant difference between the two as far as Tucker having. the advantage. 377 on base percentage to Corbyn Carroll's 343. That is something I would definitely like to see Corbyn improve on in 2026. One of the main areas of focus, I don't really need his power numbers to increase. I don't need other things to increase.

I would like to just see him get on base, have that on base percentage increase and have the number of stolen bases increase. But again, 32 stolen bases to Tucker's 25, 84 RBI. Now, Corby, you know, had his a little bit longer of a season overall, obviously there, too, on the stat tracker, but. Stathead. Stathead graphic. But Kyle Tucker, again, he's, it just goes to show in baseball, once again, how crazy the difference can be financially for what you pay one player versus another. Now, when Corby and Carroll's contract is done, there's a good chance that he is going to be.

at that point, one of the highest paid players in baseball. It remains to be seen, and I don't even want to get, I don't want to talk about it. It's a gross, terrible, dark timeline that I do not want to start marching down here on February 4, 2006. The point is, though, is like you said, he's in. We might have a new owner by that point. We might. We might, baseball might not exist by that point.

Who knows, but MVP caliber. Tony might have ruined the entire thing. He did. He ruined my weekend in Los Angeles, Damon. We're going to talk about that. here in a little bit he ruins everything he's always there he's always watching uh and it's it's the worst but i'm ready to start calling him he who shall not be named that's how that's how that's how i like tower in in in fear when i think not even fear just just anger i'm so mad at the way that he's

ruined society i mean he has definitely ruined people ruined society but uh corbin carroll he's trying to be that superhero that saves us all corbin carroll the opposite yeah the opposite the life The light versus the dark. Yeah, for sure. Trying his best to be a hero here. So again, the point I was trying to make at one point is that Heraldo Perdomo, Cotele, Marl, Corbyn Carroll, like this Diamondbacks lineup, if these guys find a way to improve, if Nolan Aeronado finds a way to bounce back

and even have a similar season that he had in 2024, right? Not even, I'm not talking about recapturing his MVP caliber days. I'm talking about just two seasons ago. Yeah. which I think is fair and totally possible. You have a formidable lineup here, and I do think that the pieces that they have in place are vastly underestimated,

mostly because, as you and I have discussed time and time again, not much has changed. And in fact, the pieces that have been added are a lot of toys from a misfit island, right? You know, but sometimes those toys band together,

and it's less of a misfit island situation, more of a toy story three you know situation i don't know i'm getting too deep in the weeds with these toy toy here here's my room for optimism talk here derrick in this episode give me something gabriel morano ranked the sixth best catcher going into 2026 we talked about it earlier in the week i know that you kind of wanted to get a chance to talk about it as well but gabby had his best offensive season of his career last year if you if you you know take the short sample shorter sample size into account only 83 games but go look at those baseball savants you know numbers go look at his just you know regular on the surface numbers and you'll see that he was

really good at the plate last season if gabby can play just a something close to a full season give us 120 games yeah that is so massive for this team lordis gurriel when can that guy be back we need it as soon as possible because he's dragging trucks around by his leg have you seen his IG it's insane Lordus is a guy that, you know, I've shown some frustration with in the past. And I think, you know, we talked about it with Zach with Jacob yesterday. Lortis and Zach, I think, were largely responsible for how bad this season went in the first half of the season with how awful those two guys were. But Lourdes is such a better player than that. And he was showing that when he started winning Player of the Month and the National League a little bit later.

And we know he's a streaky player, but that streakiness can win you baseball games on its own. sometimes. Well, the streakiness can be harnessed. The streakiness does not have to be there. You don't have to be a streaky player. I know he has a reputation for that, as did Gino, right? But again, if you can harness it in a way where you find a way to find, to have more consistent at bats, more consistent approaches,

look at those times when you're streaking in the positive way and you're going on a nice little run, you're hitting 400 over two weeks and just find a way to bring more of what you're doing there to the rest of your season. Baseball is like that. And again, I've said that the difference between good and great players really is consistency. It's not that you can find a way to hit 275. It's that you're, you know, realistically getting a hit close to 30% of the time and you're doing it all the time. You're not having stretches where you're really good and then stretches where you're really bad. You're just throughout the season going one for three, days or, you know, maybe even two for four every once in a while. But that kind of consistent

production can mean so much more, especially from a guy like Lord is, than him having that two-week stretch where he hits four, 20 to five, you know, and that kind of thing. Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, long story short, he's still like a three-war baseball player if he plays a full season. And that's valuable and that brings value to a team, especially a team that has such elite players at the top like the Arizona Diamondbacks do. So, so I think that basically what trying to say is I agree with you on Aeronado. I think Aeronado is going to have, you know, he's going to give you 15, 20 home runs. I think he's going to give you a 250 average. And I think he's going to give you great defense. So if that's what he does, that is so helpful to this team. If Gabby

can put together a little bit stronger of a full season, if Lordis can come back from injury semi early, I think this team can be a lot better than maybe people are giving it credit for. Because those three players, that's six players in your lineup all of a sudden that I think are good to great offensive players. Now, here's where things get a little bit dicey and I think that here's where the season resides. How good can Alec Thomas be? How good can Paven Smith be? How good can Jordan Lawler be? Because I think that how good those guys can be with the amount of at bats that they're probably going to get with the DH position wide open, with first base basically being given to Pavin Smith now against right-handed pitching, which you face most of the time.

And with Alec Thomas, you know, the Jake McCarthy trade him being the full-time center fielder, those guys need to step up for this team because they are going to be given golden opportunities to be surrounded by really good major league baseball players. So there's no excuse at this point. And a lot of those dudes have been shown a lot of grace, all three of them actually. Alec Thomas, Pavin Smith and Jordan Lawler have all been shown, I think a lot of grace in terms of like, you haven't really done much for us so far. So let's figure it out and let's find ways to be productive

over the course of an entire season for all three of those dudes. And they're all three dudes that have a ton of potential. So they could put together their best career seasons this season. And I would not be shocked any of them. But it's going to be kind of what makes or breaks this Diamondbacks team, in my opinion. The rest of the lineup outside of the guys not named Corbyn Catell and Perdomo for sure. And that goes for Aeronado. It goes for what Corlo's Santana.

can bring this team like yeah again we can't have the melb's active leader in walks by the way carlo santana i know but that is also because he has been in baseball for 150 years damon and when you've been in that baseball for that long you have a lot of walks he also hit 105 last year for the cubs for a very small stretch now tell me what do you get for the twins brother no i 220 look if we get 225 we get 225 316 33 out of them that's actually kind of a win and again it's going to be in a limited capacity, but it's also for $2 million a year. I think it's more about the defense. If he can still be solid defensively and give you 125 games, then again, it's not a

terrible pickup, especially considering, like you said, Pavin Smith is going to get those at bats. You know, Tyler Locklear is going to get time at first base when he returns from injury. So overall, it's about those guys, right? And it's about what they can do for this team. They have to take steps forward because this organization needs it. They need their core players, even if you don't want to consider those guys to be core players, to continue to develop. And that's really what it's about.

It's not about grace. It's about development. It's about still believing in guys. And you could say that at times last year, the patients wore thin with a lot of players. But they were also like sifting through this organization and finding any able-bodied pitcher and any able-bodied player they could, fill roles that they needed to fill. I think the frustration was more with vets, no. What's that?

The frustration was more with vets than lack of development, in my opinion, from last season, like the guys like Zach Gowan, like Lordis, like, you know. Yeah, I just meant, I meant like as far as what, what the kind of amount of time they were giving guys that they added to the bullpen earlier in the season versus the second half when they were like, yeah, you got, you had two bad outings. You're, you're out of here. We're, we're DFAing you or we're sending you about down and we're adding someone else. to the roster, we're picking up somebody from waivers, like there, there, there was this panic last

year to try to find anybody that would step up and, and again, just perform for this team. And they were having trouble with that. But I mean, in the past, it felt like they were far more patient with some of those young arms, allowing them to go out there and kind of have their struggles at a major league level before quickly pivoting and going in a different direction. Hopefully, though, this season coming up will be much better than last year. unfortunately projections don't appear to say that we're going to talk about the projections for 2026 from fan grabs why we hate them and how the diamondbacks can overcome this adversity we're

and do that on the other side of this break don't you go anywhere you're watching the ph next diamondback show you know i love racing i've become a big racing fan over the years and there's a historic weekend coming up here uh in at phoenix raceway that you absolutely can't miss for the first time ever NASCAR and NTT IndyCar series are racing during the same weekend at Phoenix Raceway, and you can get a front row seat to all of it. You can smell the rubber burning from two different types of cars. You can see the crowd of two different types of race fans. We're all the same race fan.

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be a part of all of this NASCAR and NTT IndyCar series weekend at Phoenix Raceway March 5th through March 8th secure your seats now at the link in our description and I know on your way out there to Phoenix Raceway there is a circle K that is in prime territory for you to stop make sure you get yourself wet your whistle get yourself a little snack on the way in and and prepare prepare yourself for all the fun you can be having there or anywhere here in the valley as things get warmer. Like I said, a hoodie season is gone and the sun is out and things are hot. So go get yourself something to drink and do it for less by joining the inner circle for free right now. It's easy to download the app and get enrolled.

Then you start saving by using your phone number. Get yourself 79 cent polar pops, 99 cent frosters and all sorts of other deals, including saving 25 cents off per gallon when you buy three Coca-Cola 20 ounce. products. So do not miss out on saving money. We all need to save money and Circle K wants to give you stuff basically for free. So join the Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today. Terms and conditions do apply at participating locations. Visit CircleK.com for details. Well Damon, Fangraphs has come out with their playoff odds report and we knew things were going to be bad. In fact, I would argue that we want you to not think highly of this team.

We want to be an underdog. We thrive in the underdog role. And I am completely fine with the entire world being against the Arizona Diamondbacks. And I mean, this isn't terrible projections. It's more of the same, essentially, which, I mean, how can you argue against that, considering that it's more of the same with this team? We bring back James McCann. We bring back Merrill Kelly.

We had a veteran third baseman in Nolan Aranato. we had a very veteran first baseman in Carlos Santana and outside of that make few moves to improve one of the worst bullpins in baseball outside of adding Taylor Clark, right? There's some minor league additions that could work out for this bullpen. Derek Law. But I mean, come on. The guy knows how to spell his name and he did put up impressive numbers the last time he pitched.

I hope he can be that secret weapon for the bullpen and the big addition that this team needs. However, it's hard to argue against what Fangraphs has projected. for the 2026 season. This is based off simulations, run off the average of steamer and Zip's projections, and the Diamondbacks are now projected by fan grabs to win 81.2 games and lose 80.8. Or, as we know it, go 500, which they finished just under 500 last year. This would actually be an improvement on their record from 2025. they have a 31% chance of making the playoffs.

Only six teams in the National League have a smaller chance of making the playoffs, Damon. You want to guess which six? Six teams in the National League have a smaller chance of making... Yeah, have smaller percentage chance of making the playoffs. Then the Diamondbacks. Okay, I'm going to go nationals. Correct.

We'll go nationals as our first guess. we'll go, we'll go Rockies, obviously. Yep. We'll go, I think I'm going to say pirates. No, they have the pirates hired. Pirates, that one was going to be a little if. Pirates have a 38% chance of winning the playoffs. In fact, the pirates have a higher chance of making the playoffs

than the San Francisco Giants do a 37%. I just gave you one of the answers. So Cardinals? Cardinals, yep. Marlins? Marlins, yep. See, that one was iffy as well, because the Marlins have some decent players on the team. And they got our Pete Fairbanks and we're not happy about that.

Yeah, they absolutely do have Pete Fairbanks. So you got two more. Two more. Yeah. I think we're good in the east. The Central is a little bit scary. The Reds. Reds are below the Diamondbacks, correct?

That one was going to be really close. The Reds have a 16% chance of making the playoffs. And what was the Diamondback? even with the addition of Gino Saurad. And what was the Diamondbacks? Diamondbacks have a 31% chance. Oh, so we're way higher than the red. Yes.

Interesting. Yeah. And then I'm going to go Padres. Padres correct. 21% chance of making the playoff. So the Diamondbacks, those are the six teams above the Diamondbacks. And so who's, and then who's above us? You have pirates, giants, giants, giants, giants, giants,

giants, giants. It's hard to argue with any of those. It really is. Maybe pirates, because if they get Framber, maybe we could have a different conversation. I think that maybe I think that the Diamondbacks currently constructed are more likely to make playoffs than the Pirates are. Braves. They play in a crazy division. Braves projected at 88%.

The Braves are projected really, really highly this year. I was looking at that as well. That popped up on my feed the other day. Like they're the team that is most expected to outperform what they did last season. They could be brought. The Brewers were the team that was projected to most underperform what they did last season. 42% chance of making the playoffs. And the Brewers, obviously, we're the one seed in the National League last year.

So, yeah, I think that makes perfect sense as well. It's crazy. It's crazy. But really, when it comes down to is the some projections do say the Diamondbacks have a solid chance of being the second best team in the National League West. Hard to project them above the Dodgers. I think you would be a full too. They have a 2% chance of winning the division. So basically that feels rich. It does.

It does. But at the same time, as far as I'm concerned, let them count us out. I honestly feel like one of the biggest problems with this team in the past has been expectations. We've talked, Damon, on the show several times and made jokes about Tori's failed attempt at kind of reshaping expectations into a different word. Standards is what he used. But the expectations were big. And they weren't there when this team went on their crazy run in 2023,

but they were certainly there in 24. And then even after a bad season in 2024, a disappointing performance from their Jordan Montgomery edition, you had 2025 come around and the expectations went even higher because they added Corbyn Burns. Yeah. And we were talking about this team having one of the best rotations in baseball. So here now we sit with a lot of questions,

especially about pitching for this team. and we sit in not a great spot as far as the projections are concerned. Still, again, like I said, currently projected to finish better than they did last year. But I just think that Tori Lobello is an underdog. I think a lot of guys in this team are underdogs. I think Corbyn Carroll has been a guy that a lot of people have counted out his entire career and he's proved a lot of people wrong by now being ranked as the fourth best right fielder in baseball. You have, you know, just a lot of discussions here about what, where,

these guys came from what they were like everybody's an underdog growledo perdomo that might not expected to ever do what he's done could tell martay was just a throw in for a trade involving jean sagura and taiwan walker true right so it's like a lot of these guys come from a perspective of being underdogs that have proven a lot of people wrong and i think that really at the end of the day that's what galvanizes this team in that clubhouse and it is what has produced the best you know the the best product on the field. I do think they need to get back to their roots. I do think that Tori has a standard to uphold, right?

But that standard, that Diamondbacks baseball, that it wasn't not really what they've been playing the last two seasons. You could argue it's what they played in the second half of last year, right? Where it was nobody counted them. No one gave them a chance and yet somehow they were in the, you know, wild card hunt the entire second half. No one gave them a chance to overcome, you know, all the trades and everything that happened.

And yet they still found a way to win baseball games. So I just feel like overall, and that was when they lost a lot of their talent is right when that happened. Right. I mean, I harp on it far too much, considering this team that this team I'm going to discuss hasn't really found success per se. But it's comparable to the sons who were counted out this offseason. And now all of these people can't stop talking about Jordan Ott.

And they can't stop talking about how guys like Connor Gillespie suddenly are, look like one of the best pickups of the off season, right? There's a good chance that the Diamondbacks could have a very similar story of just outperforming projections like this, having a guy like Nolan Aeronado perhaps be that guy that people say, man, I cannot believe they got him for $5 million and got the Cardinals to be a bunch of chumps and eat his entirety of his contract, basically, financially. Like there is a lot of breakout potential. As we've said, there's almost too much of.

it teetering on anything but potential possibility. Like you just don't feel confidently that this team right now is going to go out there and be its best version of itself. But it could be. It definitely could be. And I think that the parts that they've added, the pieces they've added could definitely be the key to that, right? Like Carlos Santana's defense at first base could be pivotal pivotal to shaping Tyler

Locklear's future. You know, he is going to, once he returns from injury, going to be over there. Same thing with Jordan Lawler being around one of the best third basement in MLB history of Nolan Aronado, right? So like there's a lot of the way that this, the additions made this year could set this franchise up for future or for the future going forward if guys can develop and become as good as what I guess you could say they're mentors at these positions are now. Maybe Jordan Lawler needed a bit of that underdog mentality because that's a guy that probably hasn't necessarily had that underdog mentality most of his career. He's been a, he was a five-star prospect at a high school. He was a top-10 pick at a high school. He's been a top 10 MLB prospect before. Like, he has long been considered

just an absolute stud every step of the way. And maybe a little bit of a kick in the ass, a perspective change in an underdog mentality could be what makes him into a valuable MLB player. It's a great point. So I don't know. I mean, I don't think it's time to give up hope on these guys. But like I said earlier, I really do think that like a lot of this season, because I'm confident in Aeronado, Gabby, and Lourdes once he comes back, I do think a lot of this season rides upon Jordan Lawler, Alec Thomas, and Paven Smith and what those guys can provide you this season.

And we're going to find out because it's not, it's not like they have shown absolutely nothing, I guess. I mean, Jordan Loller less so, but he was by far the most valued of those three going into their major league debuts. but Alec and Paven have had moments. It's time for those moments to become way more consistent rather than few and far between. So I'm excited, man.

I'm ready to play some baseball there. I really am. I can't wait for spring. I can't wait for the WBC. By the way, I got to get my guy, Nolan Aeronadoes back. Team Puerto Rico, Damon, facing some backlash, facing some criticism from fans, according to his interview on foul territory,

Nolan Aeronado, who decided to switch jerseys after playing for Team USA in the last two World Baseball Classics will be representing Team Puerto Rico in this year's World Baseball Classic. And he said that was a decision that did not sit well with some Team USA fans. He said, quote, obviously playing for Team USA or for the USA was great. I've already had some pretty harsh DMs coming at me by some people. one fan sent the Diamondback star a video of himself throwing Aeronado's USA jersey in the trash, while another called him a traitor.

Can I just say on behalf of my tiny island that Puerto Rico is part of the U.S. I know it's not fair that he has like an out here to play for a different team, but so do a lot of players in Major League Baseball. you know, because sometimes you can traditionally come from perhaps two different backgrounds when you have two different parents, right? So those parents could just hypothetically come from two different worlds and you could basically perhaps play for any of the options above. But Puerto Rico is a territory that's owned by the United States.

So he's not really being a traitor. This is more like if like Hawaii had a team in the world baseball classic or Alaska. And those, let me tell you what, like Shane Victorino would have been playing for. Oh, the client's one. But I'm saying every Hawaiian dude would represent Hawaii.

I know. I know. What I will say, though, is that I definitely think that that shouldn't be allowed, but I'm not going to blame a guy for trying to play and represent. you know, a part of his heritage when, you know, he otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity. But I do think it should be like how it is for like, you know, playing World Cup or the Euros or in soccer where it's like if you play for that team at a competitive level, you're tied to that team and you can't go just go switcheroo.

I am sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But in this case that this is a different situation considering that the Puerto Rico, Guam, Commonwealth thing is so unique, right? Like it does make it convoluted. You know what I mean? Like, yeah,

it's not like you're just switching allegiances, like, team Puerto Rico is technically team USA. That's kind of the way it works. I don't know who needs to hear this. Maybe people that were booing bad bunny or aren't fans of him performing at half time. I just want to say once again, Puerto Ricans are Americans.

Don't need to, I don't know. I will say, though, Derek, I will say that that does apply, though, in soccer when you're talking about, like Great Britain and England versus like Scotland or Northern Ireland or Wales where those players all represent those their country. Right. And but sometimes if they're like say a Scottish player is like he's like from England,

but his dad's Scottish. So he played for the Scottish team. But then he didn't play a competitive game because he waited in case England would call him up. And then he went to go play for England and then he's tied to England forever. But he played friendlies with Scotland. Like it kind of gets a little bit messed up. But you can't play a competitive game for another.

team. Yeah. Even. And so I think that if you've played two world baseball classics, I'm kind of sitting there going. I think it seems like you should be on the United States. I think the difference. Or not.

Here is perhaps he hasn't gotten an invitation from Team USA because they've moved on to better players, right? Like, yeah, no doubt. No knocking him. But he still is better than most of the options perhaps for third base per team Puerto Rico. So again, I get why he would do it. I just don't think it's like a world baseball classic free agent.

I think they should make a rule against that. It's not his fault. It's not his fault. He has to be grandfathered in or something. So like Garell, he could play for, he could either, Guriel is from the Dominican Republic. He could either play for the Dominican Republic or Team USA because now he's a citizen for the United States.

Well, like Gabby will tell you he's from Arizona, right? He's from America. Speak to me in English. Is Gabby going to play for Team Venezuela? Oh, what do we think? No. Oh. That might be the one guy where I'm like,

Gabby, what if we just sat you at home? I wouldn't be, I wouldn't be upset about that. Because he just has the injury thing. I would not be upset about that. And we need Gabby so bad this season that I'm kind of like, being a catcher is so difficult too. Like, again, it's the reason why you don't go through it.

Like a backup catcher isn't a backup. It's a backup catcher is a catcher who's going to play every three days or so, right? It's the catcher part specifically. And also I would understand in a time like this, though, Gabby potentially wanting to represent his, his country with everything that's going on there like i totally would get that so i wouldn't i wouldn't blame him for wanting to represent venezuela at all but it'll be interesting to see because these rosters are set to i believe fully get announced yeah tomorrow yeah is it tomorrow soon yeah it was

i think let me let me look up like exact time on that but yeah we're we're recording this as we've told you so uh it might be happening at the exact time while we're doing the show but i did want to possible, I guess. I did want to remind you guys about our little push to 50K, by the way, while Damon takes a look at that, because right now, Damon, we are so close. We've never been closer. In fact, we are less than 300 people away from hitting our goal of 50K. And again, we thank you guys so much for subscribing. Let me tell you, after this weekend, I just realized overall the importance of support and the importance of everything we do, creatively, artistically, all of that how important the support from the community is and i will tell you like we can't thank you

guys enough for subscribing being with us uh hanging with us this whole time uh and being part of the show so again we thank you guys so much if you haven't subscribed yet please do so now we can move us ever so closer to our goal of 50k and again if you just share this uh this website i one of my best friends from high school Aaron quinton just discovered our web website, Damon. And he was calling me before the show. And I was thrilled to hear from him. But again, see, even sometimes your best friends from high school don't know you do a dumb little baseball podcast on YouTube. You just answered the phone and you went full government name off the back. Oh, yeah. What? God's name?

I could only begin to tell you the tales and stories that that man and I have experienced together. So again, great, great to have him as a subscriber and great to have all of you guys as a subscriber. Oh, wait, is that right? Oh, the roster reveal show, Derek, is going to be tomorrow. It is, yep, it's right after our show here. So we're going to be, we're going to be just fine. 7 p.m. Eastern on MLB Network is the February 5th roster reveal show for the World Baseball Classic. So why don't you turn this one off? Maybe take a beat, take about 45 minutes and then go turn on MLB Network and you'll find those final rosters that. Hell of you. Cannot wait for that. By the way, Damon, before we get out of here, I did want to share with everybody that we had ourselves a great weekend out in Los Angeles for the Grammys.

I sent you all sorts of pictures, though, of how my weekend was ruined. Unfortunately, our guy, Megaran did not win the Grammy for Children's Best Children's album. But, again, the exposure and everything that somebody like him got over the course of this weekend was amazing. I just have to say from a personal perspective, all of these nominees, all of these people I met, they all had incredible stories, right? So I could see how hard it is for a voter because I was meeting people from all over the world

who were there, just like Megaran for their very first time being nominated. It's a life-changing event for so many of these people because it's like entering into a fraternity a little bit. You're part of like the Grammy's world now because you were nominated. They're going to invite you back for events. They're going to continue to interview you. They're going to continue to give you the flowers you deserve. And I will say that's something that I felt like my friend for years did not get.

You know, when you know somebody that's truly talented, it's incredible to see the process and the struggle pay off eventually. You know, because it did feel like even though I felt I knew that he was one of the most talented people, like we've said earlier about Corbyn Carroll, we know the secret. There's no secret here with us. I knew my guy, Megaran, was one of the most supremely talented people I've ever met. Not to mention, he has inspired the hell out of me. And I feel like it's one of those rare situations where somebody in life that you meet makes you a better person. Makes me a better person just with patience,

makes me a better person with understanding, you know, what you got to do sometimes in order to make your dreams come true. And again, he allows me to tag along with him on stuff like this to the Grammys. I was at the Grammys watching the Grammys. I had no business there at all. I will say this, though.

The Grammys is held at crypto.com arena. It's a very secure lockdown event. You can't buy tickets externally for it. You have to know somebody that's nominated or knows somebody that's like in the committee in order for you to get tickets. And then even then, tickets are very expensive. But it takes place at the same place where the L.A. Lakers play. And to see women in white gloves and ball gowns and guys in tuxedos

eating hot dogs and wetsles pretzels from the same stand we all purchased them at for sporting events hilarious, classic, priceless, in fact, Damon. I was there in my little suit deal and all that,

right? It's having a good time. I was, I refused. I will go get a cocktail. I will walk around looking at, I'm not going to eat

Wepsils pretzels in my suit. I'm not doing it. I'm just not. And that was probably, again, the funniest thing. Also, I sat a mile away from the viewing experience. cannot recommend it, did not recommend it.

You're like sting in the rafters. Yeah, I was like sting in the rafters. The very concept of what we were there to witness, even though I was honored to be a part of it, was like the rest of us being invited to watch a party of famous people. But we're not invited to the party, Damon. No.

We're not even allowed down in the party section. You're behind the looking glass. Yeah, we're just out of here spectating. It's like a Roman Coliseum, and we are out on the outside while the celebrities are essentially fighting the lions in the middle the common folk yeah we are the common folk but i'm gonna go ahead and say that megaran got second place i already asked you if there was like a final ranking and you told me no but i'm declaring it right here on this very podcast second place so deserved

from our guy megaran you're not wrong uh unbelievable and you know just so close just a couple votes away from getting first place derek i mean that's that that's something to be proud of i was so i mean sometimes again this might be loser talk but sometimes even in sports you guys to acknowledge when you felt like the best team won and even though our guy didn't win shout out to fuch and his daughter because they have been doing some incredible things and if there was anybody i wanted to see when that particular category other than megaran it was it was another father who was doing something special with i got some question marks about about how things behind the scenes are going with that oh yeah i mean i got some question there's some conflicting i will say this he gave

Megaran a shout out during his accepted speech. And I don't know if that was bittersweet or exactly what, but got to give a shout out to that's exactly what someone who was scheming up behind the scenes would do to try to make this blow off the scent, Derek. I know. I know. This guy, I'm going to look into him to find out what exactly happened. You seek revenge and I like that about you.

Other people might find it off-putting, but I appreciate your like bloodthirsty quests for retaliation. I will say also the entire concept of being. at the Grammys was absurd to me. I know it. I don't belong there, but it was a lot of fun. Had a great time overall in California. We went to the Philharmonic.

My daughter got to get to a little bit of culture. I also took her to Universal Studios. That's where my dumb hat comes from. But no matter what I did, Damon, my weekend was ruined because everywhere I went, every step I took, every move I made, there was someone watching me.

and that person was Shohei Otani. I could not get away from this man. This was the view from my hotel, Damon. That, the both of these, the guy, the mural on the left was him just peeking over the parking garage at me at all time, checking in, just see, letting me know that he's always there. He's always going to big brother the hell out of me. And there's nothing I can do to get away from it. I walk into a store and there's a photo. up set up but that's a store this was a store for at least had goods and services in it had other

items i think we have that picture of that damon had these items in there everywhere it wasn't just oh here's a show a otani shirt no here's a show a otani shirt with his goddamn face plastered over it as many times as we could have fit it on the fabric same thing with the baseballs they're giant baseballs and they're fun and they're squishy but they're not fun because it's still the showy Otani's face. But my hotel? Damon, my safe space? I walk in and I check in,

and this is what I see, a giant top baseball card on the wall with a sign inviting me to take a picture with Otani. I politely declined that offer, sir. And you are going to get a three-star review at best from me after staying at this particular establishment. me. Not to mention

there's that son of a bitch decoy. Oh, don't even get me started on Decoy. Damon, they wrote a book? I know. Did you see the book? Yeah, we talked about it on this show. What a disaster. What do you mean? What a disaster? That's not the actual name of the book. That is a fraudulent name of the book. The real name of the book is Decoy takes the fall.

You know what I mean? Decoy serves time for a betting-related scandal based on show Aotani and his experiences. Zab asked about it on Mailbag Monday, Derek, and I said that if Shoyotani is writing a damn book, how about how to have a fall guy for dummies? Yeah. That's what I think. That's the only thing I want to hear out of Shohay's mouth.

I want to hear how he got away with it. You know, because I know, I know. Oh, the dog knows all the secrets. The dog knows all the secret. Yeah. The bigger problem here, Damon. Decoy saves opening day. Opening days against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

so you mean to tell me that that son of a bitch dog is going to get involved with our game he's going to save opening day for who for what how is he going to cheat on the daughter's behalf how many deferrals is he going to make the only way decoy could save opening day is if he somehow implemented a salary cap system into the major league baseball that would save that would save opening day we just got to end it on that instead we're going to we're going to have a lockout yeah you son of a bitch i'll say it again decoy locks out MLB be. That's what the book should be called. Decoy caused the lockout. Well, we love you guys. We thank you so much for stopping by. I right now am at the waste management Phoenix Open. Um, and no, there are

not two of me. That would be a disaster. That would literally be a problem for mankind. But I will be back on Friday with another live episode, 12 p.m. back here doing our thing. And then next week, pitchers and catchers report. So we made it, Damon. We did it. We successfully navigated the offseason. Baseball. And we defeated the Cotel Marte rumors.

That's another thing that I was going to get on you about. You let the Cotel Marte rumors come back while I was gone. What the hell? I was like, that's definitely in safe hands with Damon taking over control of the ship. But just can't help himself. How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man? We won't stop until.

we get you to actually lose this number. But again, you guys don't lose this number. You come back tomorrow at 12 p.m. We'll be back here doing more baseball talk. Join us for that. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. I am at cap underscore K-man with a K. This delightful human being is at Damon Dog with a DAWG.

And as you know, we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs. But as always, all roads lead to at pHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys. We love you guys. we appreciate your time. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Until then, have a wonderful evening. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you know who's on your world baseball classic team.