PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Questioning the schedule as the Diamondbacks head to L.A. for a five-game set vs the Dodgers

Starting point is 00:00:04 Hello and welcome to another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here at PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I'm your mayor of PHNX. This guy next to me is the vice mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as Thunderstick Jesse Friedman. Derek, that was not great yesterday from the Diamondback standpoint. But for anyone who listened to the show after we were live yesterday, I sound sort of like an idiot for what I said about the Arizona Cardinals. and how they had no hopes of winning that game. So I'm wearing my Cardinals shirt here from our PHNX Lockers.

Starting point is 00:00:45 I'm time coding this moment as Jesse is sorry. Jesse is sorry. I do apologize because I doubted the Cardinals. And to be honest, I still kind of doubt the Cardinals. But it's going to take a full season of these sorts of games to me to really get over that. But I am humbled today because that was an epic comeback last night. Or I guess it wasn't last night. It was like during the afternoon.

Starting point is 00:01:09 Anyway. By the way, an update on Ryan Nelson after getting hit with that pitch yesterday or the comebacker in yesterday's game. It turns out it's just a bruise according to Tori Lavolo. So that's good to hear, especially considering how good this guy has been for this team. Obviously, yesterday wasn't his day, but still very glad to hear that it's just a bruise. X-rays came back negative. So, again, rough outing, but something to. kind of work on there. I mean, I think

Starting point is 00:01:38 if you're kind of cruising too much there's not much to work on. It's not like I don't want him to throw another scoreless outing, but, you know, again, with the way that this season is gone. Are you suggesting that if he had thrown another scoreless outing, he just would have, there wouldn't have been anything else to improve on? It'd just be like, yeah, like he's already figured everything out that he possibly could. You think Brent Straub's going to even talk to him at that point?

Starting point is 00:02:01 I mean, this season really has been about the young guys kind of coming up and getting that time and improving that. That's really at this point what we hope to continue to see out of some of these guys that were good like Tommy Henry and have struggled in their last few starts, you know, as well as Ryan Nelson after yesterday. And I mean, like Padres, Dodgers, Padres to start your big league careers, we said yesterday is pretty rough. And yeah, I mean, the fact that he has a, what is it, a 147, yeah, 1.47 ERA coming out of those three games is still pretty dang impressive. Well, you know who was really impressed was Juan Soto. He was impressed with himself. He was enamored with himself.

Starting point is 00:02:38 He was enamored with his team because they beat the Arizona diva backs. As Jesse would point out, a fourth place team in your division. But here is what Juan Soto had to say, according to a tweet from our friend Bob Nightingale. He said Juan Soto had two doubles and a home run today on the Padres confidence level

Starting point is 00:02:55 after winning three in a row versus Dbacks. We feel like we can beat anybody now. Really? Wait, so let me get this straight. Really? So Juan Soto, who hasn't homered in like three weeks. Correct. And is batting like 200 since joining the Padres, which granted maybe that's like

Starting point is 00:03:11 230 or something at this point. 170 runners and scoring position. Yeah, he can't hit with runners and scoring positions and just save his life. And they win three out of four against the Arizona Diamondbacks, a fourth place baseball team. And now the San Diego Padres are just on top of the baseball universe. I get it. Arizona Diamondbacks according to the CHGO staff. Right, right.

Starting point is 00:03:32 Yes. I mean, good for you, I guess. But I don't know. If anything can make us laugh right now, we need to laugh because the Arizona Diamondbacks are going up against the Los Angeles Dodgers for what is known as Hell Week, I guess you should say. Five games at Dodgers Stadium. At least they'll get plenty of time to eat some delicious food while they're there, I hope.

Starting point is 00:03:53 But if there is one person that can save the Arizona Diamondbacks from getting swept in a five-game series, it's Christian Walker. Yeah. Christian Walker's been pretty damn good, Jeff. Jesse. The man rakes at Dodgers Stadium, too. He notched his fifth multi-homer game on Friday, which made him tie with Steve Finley for most home runs for 34 for 10th place on the Diamondbacks all-time list. He has his next Dinger will pass.

Starting point is 00:04:23 I'm sorry, we'll tie Matt Williams and Eduardo Escobar for seventh place with 35 homers. So he's moving up the charts there. And at that point, like, you get up, you jump a lot of names pretty quickly at this point. Because that's about where a lot of the better home run. Yeah. I think it's, I think it's Jay Bell had a 38 home run season. And then Mark Reynolds hit 44, which I think is the most ever in a season. Well, okay, not the most.

Starting point is 00:04:49 A guy named Luis Gonzalez hit like 57 in 2001. But I think, I don't know if anyone's touching that record anytime soon unless Aaron Judge gets traded to the Diamondbacks or signs with them this off season or something like that. So Stone Garrett, there you go. Stone Garrett's going to do it at 60 dingers next year. You heard it here first, folks. You heard it here first. But I think, and we've talked about this quite a bit with Christian Walker.

Starting point is 00:05:14 I mean, his batting numbers have been kind of all over the place, but defensively he's been one of the best in the league. Actually, he has been the best. 16 defensive runs saved is on track to lead all first baseman. And this will be the fourth year in a row. Christian Walker has led all first baseman. Baseman dating back. He had 28, 2019, 19 and 2020, and 21 in 2021. So he's been very, very good. The only other guy to do that since 2003 has been Albert Pooleholz. So he's the only first baseman to lead in defensive run, save for four or more consecutive seasons. But again, Christian Walker kind of quietly does it. Not a household name for a lot of fans in Major League Baseball. Yeah. You know, that don't wear this cap that I'm wearing right now. Yeah, I mean, he's just so much better than people really give him credit for.

Starting point is 00:06:06 I think from a wins above replacement standpoint, I want to say he's fourth in all of baseball right now. I know Freddie Freeman is ahead of him as well as Jose Abraeu. But other than that, I mean, looking at first baseman across the game, there's, there are not many that are better than what Christian Walker is doing right now. And yeah, it is fourth. It's Freddie Freeman, Jose Abraeu, and Paul Goldschmidt is, of course, the other. one.

Starting point is 00:06:32 So, um, but still, I mean, having the, you know, having the fourth best first baseman, um, in baseball, at least according to wins above replacement, especially considering what Christian Walker did last year, which was, uh, he very much struggled. He just didn't really look like himself throughout the entire season. Uh, that's a big, big development for the diamondbacks. And I'm not, I'm not saying, I'm not, I'm not ever going to try to say that Christian Walker replaced Paul Goldschmidt. But what I will say is from a money standpoint, from a franchise standpoint, you have to be

Starting point is 00:07:01 pretty pleased that the report. placement that you're paying a fraction of what you would have had to pay Paul Goldschmidt in order to stay. Right. It's still right there. I mean, again, the numbers can be quite a big difference, but I just mean. Yeah, Goldsmith is, goldsmith is far ahead. Far ahead. Right.

Starting point is 00:07:16 But you get what I'm saying. I get what you're saying. Like at least if you can get, you know, the bargain version of it, at least it says. Yeah. Is he Walmart, Paul Goldsmith? I was going to say that. I was going to say that, but I didn't want to say that. Maybe. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:07:33 He'll probably one thing that we do have to keep in mind is, unfortunately, the flip side of having the kind of season that Christian Walker is having is that arbitration is going to pay him a lot more money next season. So I don't know exactly what the number will look like. I've heard maybe like around $7 million, something in that range. His salary is going to increase significantly. But, yeah, I mean, he's still not like the highest played first basement in baseball

Starting point is 00:07:57 or anything remotely close to that. So it's still a pretty good bargain at that. price arbitration the weirdest thing in all of sports where we get to sit you down tell you how much we think you suck and how little we think you're worth and then we invite you back to the team and tell you how much we're pretty sure that's how pH and X I think that's how our next contracts will go I think I think we're going to have an arbitration process wait did yours not go like that in the first place because I thought no they just gave me like a clean slate but maybe maybe yours is maybe yours was different I don't I don't know

Starting point is 00:08:30 But of course, we had a fun weekend of NFL action. Jesse doesn't want me to talk about it, but I'm going to talk about it because I want to tell you the easiest and most fun way to spice up your fantasy football season. And it's with the underdog fantasy and their pick-em game. And look, it's not just football season. Baseball season has been a blast. And the one thing now that I have become affixed to is pitch counts in baseball. And you can go through on the underdog app and literally just decide if you think a guy is going to go over and under a pitch count. It's a fun game I play.

Starting point is 00:09:02 I probably know more about guys' pitch counts than I ever have before, Jesse. I'm doing the research. I'm checking out their last six games. I'm doing my own averages. It's a blast. But what you've got to do is you look for your favorite players in any sport, their stats. You go through a list. Underdog gives you a nice list of options.

Starting point is 00:09:20 You select two to five players, depending on how much money you want to try to win. The more legs, you should say, the more players you add, the more pick-em entries you add. the more money you can win, then you basically end up playing higher or lower. What was that? Can viewers give feedback for the PJ? No. Well, no, Elizabeth, yes, you can.

Starting point is 00:09:40 I am fully okay with Elizabeth being like my agent in the arbitration process. Yes, for sure. All right. But again, if you get all of your picks right over at Underdog Fantasy, you win yourself a lot of money. I do have a nice little pick-um going on right now when it comes to pitch counts. and what I'm going to do is I'm going to use the money to pay my way into going up against Craig and Southwest Bias again once I went.

Starting point is 00:10:07 You can search in the app store for the Underdog Fantasy app or click the link in the show notes below. Sign up using promo code PHNX. Ooh, and click on this thing. You use our promo code PHNX. You'll receive a deposit match up to $100. And then you have all of that money to go in there. And again, throw down five bucks. It doesn't matter however much you want to spend.

Starting point is 00:10:27 However many of those higher or lower pickup entries you want to add, the more money you win. So again, that's promo code PHNX, get in on the action today. That was such a cool QR code. That was a cool QR code. Can we pull that up one more time? That was like the coolest QR code I've ever seen. Why are you so fascinated by this? I just like, look at it.

Starting point is 00:10:46 The dog in the middle? Yeah. Oh, the dog's coolest now. Like you can put logos in QR codes now. I didn't know that. Yeah, that's pretty cool. QR codes have made quite a remarkable comeback. You have to admit.

Starting point is 00:10:55 A few years ago, it seemed like QR codes are. just completely going out. And here they are. They're everywhere. And then you add a dog to it. Yeah. And it's like, you got me. You got me. It's that easy. I bought my daughter Halloween bags already just because it said Halloween and had dogs in it. That was an easy self. There you go. Just put your dogs on your QR code, your logos. I'll buy your stuff. More importantly, you could probably get dog related beers out at Four Peaks Brewing Company. I know I picked up an amazing one that they did special for our friends over at 98 KUPD. And I still can't wrap my mind around what this beer.

Starting point is 00:11:27 was or what it was made out of, but it's delicious and it's incredible. Four Peaks Brewing Company always has an amazing selection of beers, specialty beers. And sometimes you can only get by showing up at the A Street pub, which is exactly what we want you to do to celebrate Herm Edwards being out. That's how we're taking this. We're celebrating Herm being out. Asu as a new coach, come down to the Four Peaks tailgate this Saturday and get down with the team. $50 will get you an all-you-can-eat buffet to Four Peaks beers and a free ride to the stadium. Check the link in our show notes to sign up. Must be 21 years or older and enjoy responsibly.

Starting point is 00:12:03 That QR code got that dog in him. It got that dog at him. All right. Quality comment there from Gabriel. I'm still trying to pick a winner, Jesse, about our Zach Gallen shirt. So why don't you entertain the folks and tell them a little bit more about what you have to offer over at go phtonx.com. I spin this wheel right here. Are you just going to say like what I have to offer?

Starting point is 00:12:26 Yeah, what you have to offer? Like, what a good are you anyway? Tell them what, you know, why you're here. Surprise, Jesse. This is your arbitration here. Yeah, this is, okay. All right. Yeah, I think I have a long resume of fantastic things that I've brought to this show over the course of the year.

Starting point is 00:12:42 No, I did just write an article, which I think some of you have already seen. But I'm basically making the case for why the Arizona Fall League is a must attend event for every single Diamondbacks fan out there. We talked a little bit about it yesterday. Do you have your guy? I got my guy. All right. All right. What do we got?

Starting point is 00:13:01 For our Zach Galland Day T-shirt giveaway, our winner is David Har, H-A-A-A-R. So congratulations, David Har. That's at David Harr on Twitter. We will contact you via message and get your shirt out to you. So congratulations. But that's not it. That's not it. We got another big season giveaway.

Starting point is 00:13:22 Jesse, unbeknownst to me, he's been storing, he's been getting giveaway items. He's been storing away. They give me giveaway items in the press box, and I've just been, like, hiding them. He's just been stashing all of them. That's where we get our wonderful giveaway items that we provide to you guys. Sometimes the team gives us extra just so that we can share with you because we're greedy, and we don't want to give away the good shirts, right? Star Wars Day shirts.

Starting point is 00:13:42 I have one of those in my drawer at home, so don't think that was the only one that we got. But Jesse gave his away for that, so you should thank him. But here's the thing. We're going to give away a big grand prize package to you, the fans at the end of the season. So we're going to do it special, though. It's going to be only for people here in the chat. And it's going to be maybe a Fourth of July shirt, maybe a Serpientish jersey. Maybe a CETLAMX.

Starting point is 00:14:08 Maybe a little something special from us here at PHA10X. Maybe some stickers. Maybe a shirt from us. We have a fun prize package to give away. We're almost here at the end of the season. So make sure to be here. We'll talk about it on social media. But like I said, you have to be here live in the chat to win that one.

Starting point is 00:14:25 That's how we're doing it. This will be a fun one. This is where... Jesse wanted to tag 20 friends in it and I was like, Jesus. Come on, Jesse. I just, I think it, I mean, it'd be kind of fun to have like, you know, everyone here in the chat. Like, you know, hoping to have their name selected. And for those of you on the audio podcast side, for those of you who don't like to look at our faces, that one day, you might just have to do it. It's the only way you're going to be able to win this giveaway. So we'll leave that choice up to you. But we usually don't do giveaways on Mondays, you know, because Mondays are already full. Every week on this show is Shark Week. Every day is Earth Day.

Starting point is 00:15:03 And every Monday, me and this guy, we go to the mailbag. Not sure. I hope that's a play for you guys better than a play for us. I think it works. I'm not sure what happened there. But we give a shout out to our man, Megaran, for that. Classic jam. Leah,

Starting point is 00:15:36 can we go to the mail bag, please, with our first question? Gabriel comes hot, hot out of the gate with, if you had to impress Loblo by taking him to a fast food chain, which one are you taking him to?

Starting point is 00:15:48 Jesse. There's only one choice here. That's a what? There's only one choice. What? You mean there's only one choice? The choice is salad and go. There's no question.

Starting point is 00:15:58 There's no question in my mind. Salad and go is like, so you guys know, I just moved back to Arizona. Right? Yeah. And when I lived in Arizona several years ago, I'm pretty sure salad and go did not exist. And I come back.

Starting point is 00:16:12 Yeah, it was pretty fast growing. And it was also like, I remember when it first popped up or like when I first heard about it, I was like low-key skeptical. Like, you're really going to sell salad out of a drive-thru. Like, that seems a little overly ambitious. But it is one of the most incredible things in all of Arizona as far as fast food is concerned. I mean, it's so affordable. It's like $7 or $8. It's like a very, very, very hefty amount of food for the amount of money you pay.

Starting point is 00:16:41 And they have like these homemade lemonades that are incredible. And they're like like $1.50 or something. So for me, it's just a win all the way around. It's like the only remotely healthy fast food that's like in existence. Okay. Jesse, I'm so on board with salad and go. And everything you said is so true. But the question was you're taking him to.

Starting point is 00:17:04 a fast food restaurant. So what are you going to do, sit in the car with him while you eat your salad? Thank you, Leah. Oh, absolutely. You'd impress him with the food and the price point, but the whole point is you're, you're hanging out with Tori. Yeah. You should eat your salads in the car.

Starting point is 00:17:20 I have a sick Toyota Rav 4. He's going to love sitting in my car. There's no question my mind. He doesn't want to sit. Sick Rav 4. You really want to sit like inside, like a corner booth at a Culver's or something? Like, no. Like, I want Tori Lavello.

Starting point is 00:17:36 Like, we're jamming out to some music. You know, I'm giving him the ox cord in the front seat of my car. Like, that's the ideal experience. I don't want to sit in. Like, nobody wants to sit inside of a fast food restaurant. None of them are very nice to sit in. That's the whole point. No, no.

Starting point is 00:17:50 If it's a counter-s, it doesn't matter what it is. It's all the same. But that's the reason why I'm taking him to Filipperto's. I am taking him to Filipportos. I'm giving him an authentic Arizona experience. We are going to have carnia-sada burritos. Did you know in Filipperto's, they have, like, that ball are. that you can go over and access all the sauces and accoutrements.

Starting point is 00:18:07 And I know that's French and I shouldn't be speaking French. We're talking about a Spanish, you know, Mexican food restaurant. But that is it. That is where I'm taking him because that is the best place. And I want him to be a little scared, right? I don't want him to be comfortable. I want him to, like, feel like he needs me to be there a little bit just to kind of maybe, you know, maybe we're going to go. Filippa is not a, I wouldn't really want to hang out inside of a filiburto.

Starting point is 00:18:33 I'm telling you this much, though. I'm not taking them to a nice one in Scottsdale either. That's the difference is. But, oh, Elizabeth said this is, she's right. Like when I think fast food, though, like Brito Express is kind of a step up from, I guess it still qualifies as fast food. Here's the thing. I love Brito Express, but I live very, very far away from it. So it's hard for me to think of those places.

Starting point is 00:18:53 You live very, very far from just about everything. I do. I live on a place people call South Anthem, and I don't think that's fair. but it's probably pretty accurate. Anyway, that's, yeah, I've been thinking about Filipperto all day. Were you kidding me? Next question.

Starting point is 00:19:11 Kyle Collins asks, Emmanuel Rivera has been a nice surprise out of the trade deadline at third base. Do we think he sticks into the next season or does another option happen? Trade, free agent, minor, leaguer. I don't know if they have a better option right now. I feel like right now Emmanuel Rivera has been a pleasant surprise, probably more than the Diamondbacks even bargain that they were going to get out of them.

Starting point is 00:19:32 So I felt like what they were looking for was a serviceable third baseman that could kind of come in and share time with Josh Rojas. And I feel like what they ended up getting was an everyday starting third baseman that allows Josh Rojas to kind of play his utility role, play different positions, and, you know, still play there every couple of days as well. I mean, I've always thought it was funny. Like, of course, you've asked Tori Lavella a few times. are you surprised with what you've gotten from Emmanuel Rivera? And Tori's always like, no, I'm not surprised at all. Like, I totally like, you know, we saw him in Kansas City. We played against him.

Starting point is 00:20:08 He homered against us in spring training. Sure. And we're all sitting there like, come on. Come on, Corey. You really expected this guy that you traded Luke Weaver for, or you traded Luke Weaver in order to get. And he's come over and done nothing but rake. At least he did that for like the first few weeks.

Starting point is 00:20:25 Things have kind of slowed down for him then. But yeah, like, I think Emmanuel Rivera is still, even though he really has slowed down over the last few weeks, I still think he's been really good for the Diamondbacks. If you look at the numbers, hitting 230, 315 on base, 451 slugging percentage. The numbers don't quite jump off the page the way that they did a few weeks ago. He definitely came back down to earth. But, I mean, honestly, the Diamondbacks really just need guys to be able to chip in

Starting point is 00:20:49 and most importantly be able to play the position confidently. I don't feel like they were confident in any of the guys playing over there. Even Josh Rojas, and no offense to Josh Rojas, but I think it's just the fact that this, you know, him playing third base exclusively is kind of a bit new to him. And I think that he, you know, is still learning the position, you know. It was never an ideal fit for Josh Rojas. Like it was kind of the Diamondbacks did it out of necessity. I think he's more of a natural second baseman or maybe even corner outfielder.

Starting point is 00:21:16 But yeah, Rivera's in the 78th percentile for average exit below. Good point from I.M. to Larry. He's been impressive, even though he's come down to Earth. Like, you'll take a 766 OPS. pretty, he's played some pretty good defense over there at third base as well. So I don't think it's, I don't think you go into next season with the expectation that Emmanuel Rivera has like won the job as like the everyday third baseman. I don't think we're at that point.

Starting point is 00:21:41 He's still just not done quite enough in his major league career in order to, in order to earn that. I don't think. But he's, he's definitely, you know, put himself in consideration to have a role that I don't know if the diamondbacks even anticipated he would have coming over here. I think he was viewed as, you know, more of a stopgap, sort of a guy. And, you know, there was a reason that the royals were willing to trade him when they still had so many years of control over him.

Starting point is 00:22:04 They, you know, they just didn't necessarily fit their long-term plans. But maybe the Diamondbacks have something more here. What I think is at the very least, it's enough for them not to have to address the position like they might have had to this offseason. Like you said, there might be somebody that comes up that plays better than him. There might be an opportunity in a trade to bring over somebody that might be an improvement there at a position that they still don't feel. like they've solidified, right?

Starting point is 00:22:28 They're not pursuing a first basement with the way Christian Walker is playing. They're not pursuing any outfielders. So they really are narrowing down certain positions. Cattel is pretty locked in there at second, right? So like really what we're looking there is, you know, maybe shortstop, maybe, you know, if something comes across. But again, not something that they need to directly address, maybe third base if something comes up.

Starting point is 00:22:50 But I don't feel like either of those positions are things that they need to go out there and address the way they need to. go out and address the bullpen. Something needs to be done about the bullpen. And honestly, it's something that they've already tried to address and it's just not worked out. Right. Leah, let's go the next question.

Starting point is 00:23:09 Rick Hughes says, will Marte be a part of the next great D-BACs team or will he be moved for both salary relief and pitching? I don't feel like his salary really is a concern. I don't think his salary, I mean, I know that he... It's close. It's closer than I think any of us thought it would be after. you know, this off season, everyone's going crazy. He's the Diamondback Scott Catelle Marte to sign this, you know, this enormous extension. Sure. But yeah, I mean, you know, it's five years, $76 million from 2023 to 2027, and then there's a 2028 team option. I don't believe he ever makes more than 16 million in a season. So it's not like you're, you know, you're going to pay Catell 30 million or 25 million in one year or something. I agree with Brett Johnson. I think Madbum is probably the main salary concern.

Starting point is 00:23:58 But it is unfortunate that I think it's at least a reasonable question to ask. Like could there come a day where Cattel is sort of a liability when it comes to how much money he's making? And I think that's possible. I mean, the defense has already deteriorated. But he was our king of the series, right? So he's starting to play a little bit better. He showed that over the weekend. So hopefully he can continue to take steps in the right direction.

Starting point is 00:24:21 Let me twist my hat to the side a little bit and defend Cattel real fast. I think this is a guy that's still been injured quite. a bit up to this point. I think he still hasn't been right. I don't think the Diamondbacks were in a position to not play him. I don't think he doesn't want to not play. I just think that it's kind of one of those things that when you have a hamstring injury, the biggest problem is that then there can be cramping and other things that just pop up all the time, right? And it's just one of those things where I feel like that has impacted his defense and his offense this season. Yeah. We've seen him playing much better. I think the bigger thing is even though 16,

Starting point is 00:24:58 million dollars per season looks like a lot now things are going to jump up in major league baseball. We're going to see salaries increase. So I think like three years down the line, we might be looking at $16 million a year going, holy shit, how did they have him under contract for this little amount of money, right? So that's the only thing. And I really think he is worth keeping and being around. I don't think he's a liability. I just think like the expectations were so insanely high.

Starting point is 00:25:27 when you have MLB predicting him to be the top second baseman of the season. Yeah. Wow. I forgot about that. MLB Network at him is the top second basement in baseball coming here this year. It's hard to live up to that if you don't, you know, if you're not anywhere close to that. But also injuries impacted that quite a bit. I personally think he's going to be a huge part of this team.

Starting point is 00:25:49 And I think that he wants to be here. He loves playing here. He loves playing for Tori Lavello. That's one thing that you just hear out of so many of the guys is how much they want to be here and how much they want to continue to play for Torrey. Leo, next question, please. Jacob asks, what player on the team makes you think of another current Valley sports player? My example is, CWalk is definitely Jay Crowder, i.e. the guy, I don't want to fight after the game.

Starting point is 00:26:16 I definitely don't want to fight Christian Walker before the game, after the game, when he's asleep at any point. But I don't know. What would you say when it comes to this? I would say that there is. You're going to compare Madison, Bumgarner, as someone. I just don't know who it is. Nope. I feel like there's a lot of the same swagger and such in like Alec Thomas as there is.

Starting point is 00:26:42 And like Devin Booker over there on the Phoenix Suns. Huh. And I know he's not. I know he's not necessarily, right? He's just this guy that kind of quietly plays this game. He does this thing. He has a little bit of. of an edge to him, right?

Starting point is 00:26:56 But he's not a Josh Rojas. He's not... Josh Rojas, once again, my comparison is he's Bobby Hill in the episode of King of the Hill when Bobby Hill learns how to kick people in the nuts after the women's self-defense course. I'm going way off topic here, but Josh Rojas just looks like he's always looking for a fight, basically.

Starting point is 00:27:13 Who do you think? Who can you compare to? Go with Madison Bumgarner. Madison Bumgarner is... I don't know. Do the sons have a player like Madison Bumgarner? I mean, my first instinct is honestly to use J. Crowder again. But I don't, nah, I don't know.

Starting point is 00:27:34 I mean, Madison Bumgarner definitely has the competitive edge to him. Yeah. And he does, J. Crowder talks to the referees a lot throughout the game. Madison Bumgarner talks to the umpires a lot throughout the game. So I guess there's a connection there. That's probably the closest connection I can find for Mad Bum. Really? Is there some, who do you think?

Starting point is 00:27:53 I feel like you have someone in the game. I don't know. When I think of a salty veteran that doesn't put up with much shit, I think of Diana Tarasi. Okay. I think of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a I've won too many rings to hear anything from you rook kind of thing, right? Like, but that's that's just where I mean. The sons obviously have a, you know, a veteran player who's, you know, sort of coming to the end of his career in Chris Paul. But I feel like from like a leadership standpoint, Madison Bumgarner and Chris Paul are pretty different.

Starting point is 00:28:23 Chris Paul's like as vocal and as in your face with other players as he could possibly be, whereas bumgarner doesn't really have that reputation. So pretty, pretty different. Anybody else? Anybody else? It's kind of hard. The Diamondbacks players are very unique people. I feel like, I mean, just in general, there's something different about baseball players, right?

Starting point is 00:28:45 Like baseball players are just different than guys who play other sports. How about Dalton Varshot and Kyler Murray are both short kings? Oh, yeah. I love that. I like that. I mean, Corbyn. They both got that dog in them too. Can we compare Corbyn Carroll and Kyler Murray because they're like the two fastest people on the planet?

Starting point is 00:29:03 They are and they both like when when like answering questions they both kind of do their own thing. Right. Like they're both pretty thoughtful. But like you're not going to get a canned answer out of either one of those guys. You're going to actually get their thoughts on it. And sometimes at least with Kyler Murray, it's kind of gotten him. in a little bit of trouble. And with Corbyn Carroll, it's more about the long pauses and waiting for him to answer and tell us what you think.

Starting point is 00:29:28 But whenever he's very wise when he does speak, he's almost like Silent Bob when he has something to say. It's very well thought. He was he was on MLB Network the other day, which was really cool to see some of the MLB Network guys interact with Corby and Carroll. And yeah, they made the same comment. They're like, we're talking to a 22 year old kid right now. Yeah, it's got a wild out. These are some wise words coming from someone of that age. Speaking of that, wise words come from this guy, both here on this show and on the page.

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Starting point is 00:30:27 We enjoy, hey, Brandon Fotz's here, so now it's a party. Brandon Fawd's here. And he thinks Tori needs to play Corbyn more, acting like he can't hit lefties, disgusting. You're not wrong, Brandon Fott. We always appreciate you chiming in. If you're here right now, make sure to subscribe to the PHNX Sports YouTube channel. Leave us a thumbs up and sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when any of our shows go live.

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Starting point is 00:31:57 We got more mailbag questions. Leah, let's go. Brian Bobbitt at BB underscore Nitro asked for the rest of the season versus left-handed pitching. Would you rather see Carol? Didn't we just get this question? Would you rather see Carol get at Bats knowing he struggled against them throughout his young career? Or Lupo, whose role is the lefty killer that has been bad in general and is auditioning basically for a spot next year? great question first of all i would like jordan luplow to not be in the organization anymore just so i stopped confusing him with jordan law i don't feel like that's my fault i feel like you guys are just

Starting point is 00:32:29 fucking asking for me to screw that one up but uh no offense i love jordan luplow uh i'm the one that made the wolverine meme of wolverine holding the picture of him right right uh yeah no i don't know what to say about luplow the answer is more corbin carroll right like i'm down with tori lovolo next season playing you know guys based on situations based on hitters they have especially if this team happens to be more competitive and trying to win

Starting point is 00:32:55 games at this point let's be honest they're not they're the win 69 is the only thing we're going for now right now and that's just to make me chuckle besides that that would be a horrible thing like are you saying finish this season with 69 wins I want them to get to win 69 I can make some jokes about it all right

Starting point is 00:33:11 I can say nice a lot there's a lot of all right I'm course You know, you are out of this guys. But of course, no, more importantly, I don't really care about wins this season. I really want to see this team just give young guys at bats, even if that ends up failing. Mostly it'll shut a lot of people up, including me. Like, it gives us too much room for us to question Tori and scream how much we want the young guys in the lineup. So if they're not out there, you know, going 0 for 4 in a night, then we don't, you know, we can always say,

Starting point is 00:33:39 oh, you should have put Corby and Carol in more. I want to see Corbyn Carol more. And I don't want to see, no offense, but Jordan Looplo, I feel like Jordan Looblo has been given plenty of opportunities this season. And frankly, he hasn't, you know, succeeded in those opportunities. I would like to see Carroll get more opportunities. I don't know if it's even really fair to say that he struggled against lefties at this point because he has 15 played appearances this season against lefties.

Starting point is 00:34:03 And granted, the numbers aren't good. Corbyn Carroll. Corbyn Carroll. Yeah, yeah. Sample size is too small. Yeah, he's two for 15 with a couple of doubles. So, yeah, I mean, according to his minor league numbers, there's going to be some growing pains there for him facing big league lefties. And we have seen Tori Lavello even if he starts Carroll, you know, against a lefty.

Starting point is 00:34:24 Sometimes he'll pull him late in the game. Or if he starts him against a righty, sometimes he'll pull him late in the game if there's a tough lefty reliever on the mound or something. So Tori has said that he's basically trying to pick which lefties are the best matchups for Corbyn Carroll. So like, you know, depending on arm angles and whatnot, different lefties are, you know, there's varying degrees of difficulty of hitting different lefties. And so Tori's kind of trying to pick the most favorable matchups for Carol, which I don't know if like, I mean, this past week he started him against Blake Snell, but didn't start him against Sean Mania. And Sean Mania has been struggling a lot lately. So it's a little hard to see like exactly how that's checked out over the last few weeks. but the Diamondbacks are trying to figure out if Jordan Loep Lo, like what to do with Jordan Loep Loe this offseason.

Starting point is 00:35:11 That's the reality here. Jordan Looplo is a non-tender candidate. The Diamondbacks could also choose to tender him a contract and then bring him out for spring training. And then you have an option if you tender a contract to a player to bring them out for spring training and then actually forego their salary for the season. You can release them before the season starts. So that's another option where the Diamondbacks could, you know, bring him back initially. and then next season in the Cactus League decided they actually don't want to bring him back.

Starting point is 00:35:38 So this is a likely option. That seems like the easiest option for them. Yeah. Honestly, that would explain why they're trying to give him time now to see if he can be something of value to this team. They know Corbyn Carroll isn't going anywhere. Yeah, Corbyn Carroll is obviously, you know, a staple in the lineup next year.

Starting point is 00:35:56 There's no question about that. But I do think that it's regardless of, you know, even if it makes sense to get Jordan Looplow some plate appearances, which I know some people probably don't agree with and I don't know if I even agree with that necessarily but it is still unfortunate that it comes at the expense of Corbyn Carroll, right? Like the debacks just have too many outfielders.

Starting point is 00:36:16 It's just not possible to get all these guys in. And Tori has also talked about how Corbyn Carroll has had the longest season of his professional career and so he wants to get him some more days off here and there. So he probably doesn't need like two or three days off though, which is sort of what he's been getting so far. It's just about him being here. I think it's just about him soaking in the experience.

Starting point is 00:36:37 Yeah. Being used to it. Getting to the point where coming to the ballpark every day is just part of his routine. And, you know, he can be comfortable for when they really are looking for him to produce, which is next season, which is what I feel like is going on. So, yeah. It's just, for us, it's, it's, it's being impatient. You want to see him out there. And we don't really want to see somebody who hasn't really, I mean, and to be honest, hasn't earned, uh,

Starting point is 00:37:04 to get more playing time than Corbyn Carroll. So yeah, let's go to the next question, Leah. Kyle, Danon asked, do you think the devax will be willing to lock down Walker

Starting point is 00:37:14 with a long-term contract in an effort to avoid losing him like we did Goldie? Or will the front office decide to hedge their bets on the first basement and the farm to develop before Walker goes in a free agency? That's a great question.

Starting point is 00:37:27 I don't know. I feel like they've really figured out who the core of this team is. And then it really... Do you want Walker? Walker, like, do you, do you want Walker as the Diamondback's first baseman for five, you know, six, seven years? Like, are you at that point yet? What do you think? Why wouldn't you? Do you just see a regression from this point? Because I think he's one of them. There hasn't been much consistency, right? I mean, in 2019, you know, he was pretty good. That was his first year where he really got like a full-time job. And then 2020, abbreviated season, he was still pretty decent. The slug wasn't quite as much there, but he held to see. still hit 271 last year. And then last year,

Starting point is 00:38:07 obviously he struggled a lot in this year he's bounced back. So I guess you could make a case that outside of last season, which it seems might have just been due to injury, Christian Walker actually has been pretty consistent. So. And that's what I think.

Starting point is 00:38:20 I think, you know, I think you take him for granted being over there. It's just he's 31 years old. And so you already. What are you trying to say? What are you trying to say? Say it.

Starting point is 00:38:29 Say it. Say it. Say it. Say it. Say it. He is on the wrong side of 30. Oh, son of a bitch. And so with two more years of control, you already have him through age 33.

Starting point is 00:38:40 And so he's been fantastic this year. You clearly want him for next year and the year after. But I don't know if the debacks necessarily have to make that commitment just yet. And Goldschmidt is 36 and is aged extraordinarily well. But Paul Goldschmidt is Paul Goldschmidt. And not everyone does that. So I think probably tap the brakes on an extension for the moment. I don't think you're, you know, if Christian Walker does become a free agent as the player he is now at age 33, I don't think he's a guy who gets $25 million a year.

Starting point is 00:39:12 Like, he's not going to be in that price range if he hits free agency at that age. So I don't think it's a huge concern for right now. Do we have any more questions, Leah? Oh, oh, yes. I really have no idea. So you're going to have to figure this one out for me. The D-Backs young outfielders, Corbyn Carroll, Jake McCarthy, Stone Garrett, Alec Thomas, and Dalton Varsho formed a boy band.

Starting point is 00:39:38 What would their name be? Oh, my God. What do you think? Well, the outfield immediately comes to mind. The outfield. The outfield. I would call them the outfield. But there would be no I or E.

Starting point is 00:39:52 It would be like the outfield. It would be FLD. That's how it would be. Wait, why? Because that's how cool shit is done now, Jesse. Do you not pay attention to like the weekend and other stars? You're asking someone who didn't know what a conga line was. Oh, I know.

Starting point is 00:40:05 I can't believe I'm even asking this. I don't know. But I want to see that boy. With the bullpen, we don't put the second E in there. I've tried to explain that to you. Which I still think it's a typo every time. I'm pretty sure some of our audience members think it's a typo too. They're like we have more than you do.

Starting point is 00:40:23 These people have so much fun content, but they have no idea how to spell the word bullpen. Gabriel Ferrer says the golden flows. I like that. I still like snakes in the grass. I think snakes in the grass could double as a good boy band name. Sure, sure. You know, because they wouldn't just call them snakes in the grass.

Starting point is 00:40:40 They would call them S-I-T-G, which wouldn't make any sense because it's the same amount of syllables of snakes in the grass. But that doesn't matter because, again, Jesse, cool shit sometimes just becomes an acronym. So that's what they start calling. Well, okay, but weekend and bullpen are not acronyms. They're just a word.

Starting point is 00:40:55 They're just words that you're taking vowels. away from. That's taking valves away from stuff, you know? Like, PHNX? Yeah. Do you get it now? Do you get it? You know, I never understood. Oh my God, I didn't. We're going to do this to me.

Starting point is 00:41:12 Anyway. Is that all the questions we got? Yeah. We thank you guys so much for your questions. And, of course, I'm sticking with Outfield for my boy band name for them. Maybe fastball? Curbball. I don't know. We'll figure it out. We're going to hash it out. Don't worry, they'll be a Photoshop meme of them as boy band very soon coming out.

Starting point is 00:41:31 Can we give a quick shout out to the Reno Aces? Oh, yeah. Who clinched the Pacific Coast League West Division yesterday. So they are on their way to the postseason. Even though the Diamondbacks have like gutted their entire roster at this point. So good luck in the playoffs, boys. Yeah, good luck. You don't get Corby Carroll back.

Starting point is 00:41:50 We're sorry. Maybe you call, Jordan Lawler on that team yet? No. No, he's still in Amarillo. It's on the Salt River Rafters. Oh, yeah, that's right. He's on the Salt River Rafters. October was, October 8th is what you need to go out there.

Starting point is 00:42:02 October 3rd. October 3rd. Two weeks from today. Almost made you miss a whole week. October 3rd, go out there and watch some Arizona Fall League baseball. Until then, you can get down on the Draft King Sportsbook app and bet on baseball for the rest of this season. And of course, football because it is football season.

Starting point is 00:42:19 New customers right now can bet $5 on any NFL team to win. And you will get $200 in free bets if they do. It's not that. It's not just that. Everyone can boost their winnings with Draft King's stepped-up game parlayes. Right now, for every leg you add, you can boost your winnings up to 100% with payouts bigger than ever. Why bet on football anywhere else? It's the Draft King Sportsbook app.

Starting point is 00:42:40 And then to make things even sweeter, get down on those same game parles all season long. The stepped-up same game parles all season long. Download the Drafking Sportsbook app. Use our promo code of PHNX and get down on some football. That's promo code PHNX on the DraftKing Sportsbook app. minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply, see show notes for details, and if for some reason you are in Los Angeles and you have nothing to do and you're looking to go to the Arizona Diamondbacks,

Starting point is 00:43:08 what do you want to call it? Do we want to call getting the slaughter by the whole week? I don't know. It's going to be a bad five game series, but if you want to be there and you need tickets, go to our friends at game time. It's the best way to get tickets. And don't forget, last series of the year next weekend.

Starting point is 00:43:24 And we might have something special plan for you guys to join us and get your tickets exclusively through GameTime. So keep an eye out for that as we are in a little plan in the works. But GameTime, of course, is the hottest new ticketing site that makes it easier than ever to score the best details deals on tickets to concerts, sports, and shows. Save up to 60% on tickets when you purchase them last minute. It's great for us, procrastinators out there. And, of course, if you love PHNX, you'll love Game Time. The best way to support us is by buying your tickets to the link in the description or right there in our comments. if you need to get some tickets right away.

Starting point is 00:43:56 Again, you're not going to get coyotes tickets for cheaper than you can get on there. So go on there, buy some tickets now. When you go to the game and you're sitting in an event that's very, very small and very exclusive, you're going to thank us that you did that. But make sure to do that over at game time. We thank you guys for checking out all of our sponsors because they're all great. They're all incredible and we love them all so much. Jesse, we've got to go watch this baseball game.

Starting point is 00:44:20 I'm not. You're not too excited about it. We're not sure about it. We're going to watch it. Hopefully the other bags prove me wrong. And it's going to be exciting to see this last matchup with the Dodgers. Hopefully, hopefully they're amped about it.

Starting point is 00:44:33 And hopefully the Dodgers are kind of like, yeah, we've won 100 games. We can kind of be on cruise control now. Maybe those two things meet in the middle. But until then, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at Kapp underscore Keman with a K. This guy's at Jesse and Friedman. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs.

Starting point is 00:44:48 But of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys for joining us on behalf of Jesse and myself. We always appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when Christian Walker pounds the ball at Dodger Stadium.

PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Questioning the schedule as the Diamondbacks head to L.A. for a five-game set vs the Dodgers

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