PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Ranking the D-backs’ BIGGEST Offseason Needs Ahead of 2026

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4The Arizona Diamondbacks have a lot of positional needs to address this offseason, so Derek and Damon take a swing at once again spending Ken Kendrick’s money and ranking the most important shortcomings they need to take care of on a limited budget. Plus, our Sea-Backs aka the Seattle Mariners advanced past the Detroit Tigers in one of the craziest extra innings games we’ve ever witnessed and now have a one-game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS. Plus, we preview the NLCS between two teams we hate and answer your Mailbag Monday questions.An 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/ALLCITY — 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/APS:  Find instant rebates, discounts and special offers on smart thermostats, energy-efficient appliances and more at https://marketplace.aps.com/default/heating-cooling/smart-thermostatsBranded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Zen Leaf: Visit our friends at Zen Leaf (http://zen-leaf.store/phnx) for 50% off using promo code ZENPHNXChicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today!Access Auto Insurance Agency of Arizona, LLC (Access Auto) is a renowned agency offering personal and commercial auto insurance options to Arizona residents. If you’re on the hunt for a new policy, call Access Auto today at 1-480-400-0546 or get a free insurance quote by visiting our website www.access-insurance.com.Visit https://www.macu.com/accounts/checking/mystyle-checking?cid=ea-PHNX-AZ-mystyleAugust2025-checking to learn more about their MyStyle Checking Accounts!bet365: 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/Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order!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!Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnxWhen you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, the Diamondbacks have a lot of needs to address and not a lot of money to do it with. So Damon and I are going to take our shot at spending Ken Kendrick's money and fixing this team. We're going to prioritize the needs. We also have answers to your mailbag Monday questions. All of this in 30 seconds, don't you go anywhere. Hey, to you all, welcome in to another edition of the PHNXTVACs podcast live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. It is I, your mayor of PHNX. Now, perhaps the mayor of Disney, Arizona.

I don't know, though. I might have stuck my flag down there. But thank you guys, of course, for being here. It is your mayor, occasionally known as Derek Montia. And I am not alone. I got the one, the only Damon Dog on the ones and twos behind the Mac today. We are glad to have you guys here. Happy Monday to you, Deborah.

Happy Monday to everybody in the chat. Again, thrilled to have everyone here. Beautiful start of the new week. And, of course, we have some good news when it comes to our adopted team. as well as the fact that Damon and I are going to try to figure out what the hell is going on with this debacks offseason, how to prioritize needs, and how to spend the limited budget that the debacks have this off season. But, of course, got to let you guys know that this show is brought to you by our friends over at Bet365 in Game Time. Go download the Bet365 app right now and use our code of PHMX365 when you sign up.

Get yourself some bonus bets there for following a few easy steps over at Game Time. Use our code of PHNX. actually you'll get $20 off your first already low last minute ticket deal over there at game time. Damon, we might have backed a winner this time. I know we haven't done that successfully in our time as baseball fans. But yeah, I mean, it feels like all we do is back losers in our entire sports life. Yeah, I mean, we are Arizona sports fans. Disappointment is all we know, as was on display this weekend fully, fully on display here in the Valley.

I'm glad I don't do that Southwest Myel show anymore. Not just the valley, brother. Not just the valley. The entire state is Loserville. Yeah, you're not wrong. You're not wrong. But at the very least, our adopted sea snakes, aka the Seabacks,

aka the Seattle Mariners, advanced to the ALCS with their win on Friday. That one was an incredible 15-inning marathon that took them into the ALCS over the Detroit Tigers. Polanco had the game-winning hit in the 15th inning of that game, and then he went on to add to his postseason resume with their game one victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. And I am very surprised by that. I don't know what to think of layoffs when it comes to baseball,

because I feel like it is one of the only sports, quite frankly, that I don't know if you benefit from a layoff. I will say this. I don't think there's any way to say all teams benefit or teams don't benefit. I feel like with layoffs, it's depending on the team, depending on the need of the team, right? So I think that it's just amazing to see the Seattle Mariners go through that 15-in-in-annibal marathon to end that game five, go through a lot of emotions, celebrate, do all the stuff that they did after that game, and then less than 48 hours later be playing against one of the most prolific

offenses in the playoffs and holding them to just one run in that game one victory. I mean, it was incredibly impressive. You know, two nights, if you want to call it two nights after that 15-inning classic, the Mariners dug deep to find more Etsy witch magic. And again, they also had a cross-country flight, Damon, to get out there for that game. I mean, to Toronto, that's just a pretty amazing. That's a heavy distance. Right.

You know, and again, I would have thought that the Blue Jays would definitely, if in any game, have the advantage, it would have been game one. And boy, was I wrong. Cal Raleigh continued to do what he does. He hit a game-tying home run in the sixth inning, and then Jorge Prolanco did it again. He ripped a pair of run-scoring singles, silenced a, if you want to call it a raucous Rogers Center crowd. I don't know how raucous Canadians get. However, I will say there was a gentleman sitting in the front row wearing a t-shirt that was described as questionable at best.

It was a very anti-Cal Ralee T-shirt. I don't think we can even describe what was on the T-shirt, nor can we show the man, Damon. But I think that if any of you have been paying attention to social media or watch that game, you saw this gentleman on national television clearly wearing one of the most embarrassing shirts that a person could find. I thought, quite frankly, people from Canada had a little bit more class. But it feels like no matter what, whether you're wearing a pro-Cal rally, a.k.a. big dumper shirt or an anti-Calrally big dumper shirt? You're making some sort of statement on a t-shirt that doesn't, it is definitely weird out of context wearing it anywhere else. Yeah, I mean.

The guy that had the dump here shirt in the outfield. I think it's counting up how many times he's dumped there. I think you're in your inference that Canadians are not dirty is is pretty insane. I feel like these guys invented hockey. Hockey players are classy. Hockey players are are dirty individuals. I mean, they, they, they, they. They love the sexual jokes.

And Canadians created hockey. I think that it pretty much goes hand in hand. Canucks like love a good vulgar joke. You're left holding a bag on this shirt, though, especially in a loss. Oh, especially when he hits a bomb. When he hits a bomb and you are framed up perfectly behind him while he hits the bomb? Like they chose that image. They did it for a purpose.

Rally, two for four, one home run, his second of the postseason. Polanco, two for four, two RBI. our former snakes, of course, Gino Suarez. He had a double in that game, one for four. And then Josh Naylor, I think, still experiencing quite a bit of jet lag and new dad syndrome. He was 0 for four with two strikeouts. We'll excuse him.

Josh Naylor can go 04 for the rest of the playoffs, and I'm still not going to even have a problem with it because just the fact that he's showing up for both his family and this baseball team. I don't know how he has any energy left. but shout out to Josh Naylor. The real, I think, Kingsnake of that game one victory is Mariners starting pitcher Bryce Miller. This man went out there and gave the Mariners exactly what they needed.

And, I mean, it's huge against this Toronto Blue Jays offense. Six innings pitch, two hits, allowed one earned run, just a bomb by George Springer in the leadoff spot. Walk three, struck out three. But, man, those six innings were so important to an absolutely taxed, you know, Bullpen, you know, Mariners end up using in that game 5, seven pitchers, including a few of their starters. So they were in a bad position and did not have very much time to bounce back from that game 5 victory. But somehow they pulled it off and win this game by a score of 3 to 1.

George Springer, by the way, somehow has become one of the most prolific home run hitters in postseason history. He hit the leadoff home run. It was his second of the 2025 postseason. him, 21 home runs for George Springer in 72 career playoff games. He moves into fifth place all time, which he might be, Damon, the most underrated, you know, fifth place home run hitter in postseason history. Like the other names on that list are, you know, Manny Ramirez, Jose Altuve, there's other guys that are very recognizable that you can think of their home runs and how big

they've been. But George Springer in his time with the Houston Astros was, you know, know, I believe the World Series MVP back in 2017. And again, just kind of wild to see him listed up there now with some of those postseason grades. Yeah, that is an insane stat. It doesn't compute, right? No, it really doesn't make any sense.

I mean, also the fact that he's had 72 career playoff games, that's wild. That Astros team went to the playoffs a lot that he was a part of. Well, okay, we got, you know, bless you, game two coming up today. We also have game one of the other series there with the Cubs being eliminated. Their season ended on a 3-1 loss in game five of the NLDS to the Brewers. The Brewers won all three of their home games. And again, all the home teams won in that one. They just lose that series three to two.

Disappointment for the Cubs, but they had a nice run for sure. It's got to hurt, though, to lose to the Brewers like that. Now the Brewers move on to take on the Dodgers. And this is a matchup of two of the worst. we could imagine. However, I don't feel like it's a hard choice there on which team most Diamondbacks fans are choosing to back in that scenario, no matter how much we still hate Ryan Braun.

However, whoever wins this matchup will be the team we root against regardless in the World Series. That's the way it's going to go. The winner of this series gets to be the heel in the main event of the championship here for this podcast. But will the Brewers continue their regular season, dominance over the Dodgers because that was impressive this season. Brewers went 6 and 0 this regular season over the Dodgers.

And I just can't believe that. And I feel like that is just begging. That is begging to be turned around, Damon. That is a postseason storyline that's just there for the taking. And you know the Dodgers want to make that happen. Meanwhile, the Brewer's bullpen, much better than the Dodgers bullpen, though. The Dodgers have figured things out there with Sasaki being a big part of it. Brewer's bullpen has posted a 1.20 ERA so far this postseason.

So just impressive. How Dodgers is the Sasaki thing, by the way? What's that? How Dodgers is the Sasaki kind of? Yeah, to just walk into some guy that was already on your roster. Oh, a guy that was a bump. A guy that was so bad that the rest of the league was making fun of him, Derek. Everybody was sitting there going, you know, this is how embarrassing.

The Dodgers finally missed on a free. agent not that it like precludes them from replacing that guy in the offseason but i mean it finally felt like dodgers missed and then they were like nope he's actually our closer no we just needed to figure out what role he was going to succeed in now he pumps a hundred out of the pen and he has no confidence issues and you're like wait what what happened not only that but you also have the fact that he you know he freaking like is able to go out there and give them multiple innings of relief like he's insane and just just stayed dialed in like that.

I mean, but again, the Dodgers offense is the thing that's more concerning here. And hopefully that will play into this, play into the Brewers having an advantage here. The Dodgers only scored 13 runs in the NLDS total, Damon. And so, again, they didn't allow very many runs, but they also didn't have their stars, Otani Betts and Freeman like overpowering that, you know, that anybody so far this postseason, it really feels like it's been more about the fact that they've had some phenomenal, nominal starting pitching and how they stack that starting pitching with Blake Snell and Yamamoto is going to be key here against the brewers. And I mean, against the brewers might come out with a strategy similar to what we saw the debacks throw and throw a opener out there for the first inning just to go after those three guys and then, you know, turn it over to a starter.

It did kind of work for the debacks and it could work for a team that has a better bullpen and better starters for sure. Yeah, yeah. No doubt about it. I mean, you're saying the Brewers and their chances of beating the Dodgers? Yeah, yeah. I mean, in regards to just having a, you know, bullpen arm go out there, go lefty on lefty against those guys and then, you know, turn it over to whoever their starter is in the second inning just to not face Otani

bets and Freeman. Yeah, I mean, the Brewers are the best team in the National League all season long, right? Like, there's a reason for that. They're a really complete team. They have great pitching. And I think that the thing. about the brewers in particular that is so difficult to beat is, like, they're just such good contact hitters that everybody on their team, like the Bryce Terrangs of the world,

just feels like they just constantly are on base. And so, yeah, I mean, I think as is with every team that we're going to be rooting against, you know, rooting for against the Dodgers all postseason long, the matchup is going to be the key matchup that is, is going to be how do you do against the Dodgers relief pitching? How do you, how do you explain? How do you exploit the Dodgers relief pitching because that's the weakness of their team. The rest of their roster is stacked from lineup to starting pitchers. They have all-stars at basically every slot. So it's like, yeah, how do you win? You win on the margins and you win late. So I think the brewers are going to have to do with really what they've been doing all season long and, you know,

not let the Dodgers and Rokees Sasaki and whatnot figure some things out in the pen. Well, Damon, as you know, I've been pushing my agenda to bring Terrick Scoobel home. My little trip to Bisbee, Arizona, even though it is not Kingman, it's quite the opposite direction. Still. It's also quite the opposite vibe. It's very, no offense to our Kingman residents that may or may not be watching this show. No, no, but yeah, definitely the kind of town that I would see this entire town also shutting down any time a guy that grew up there pitched, right?

That's, I could see that happen. Yeah. And in Bisbee for sure. But what I will see is I'm going to continue my agenda to bring Terrick Scouble home and I'm going to exploit any. chance I can find to engage that any kind of, you know, divide between him and the organization and, and just really tear this relationship apart. Derek, we set the narrative.

We are the media. We are the mouthpiece for the fans and we set the narrative. A thousand percent. And if that narrative that needs to be set is something is not right with the Tigers and Tarek School Bowl, I think that we have to just kind of wedge our way right in the middle and just be like, is he a diamond back? I mean, that's... Without a question, right?

What I'm picking up. Basically, that's my question is, is the diamond backs answer to their starting rotation problems, training for Terrick Scoot. Now, what we have here is first, this earlier tweet from Evan Petzel, does a great job of covering the Tigers. He first tweeted out just a couple of notes about this team after the postseason. The first tweet was some Tigers notes, Glaver Torres, will undergo hernia, search. That's unfortunate. Terrick Scuba won't talk to the front office about his future.

So there's that. It feels like we kind of buried that a little bit. Yeah, like, yep, just wanted to sandwich that one in the middle. There are people that have contradicted this saying that it was more about him not wanting to talk about his contract and more focus on winning, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Now, I'm going to say Terrick Scouble has no interest in coming back to the Detroit Tigers and is forcing a trade. And I think that this one tweet is obviously. an example of that. Now we also have this other tweet from Evan.

This one says that Scott Harris said on Terek Scoobel's future. I can't comment on our players being traded. I can't comment on free agents. I can't comment on other teams players. I'm going to respond by just not

actually commenting on it. Hashtag Tigers. Now, for those of you that might not know, Scott Harris, in regards to Tigers is basically, you know, very, very important person over there. He is the president of baseball operation for the Detroit Tigers. And as far as that comment is concerned, that means that they are trading Territ Scoubles. That's the narrative, once again, that we're going to push here.

We're going to, Damon, I think we should have a little thing up on the screen that says scubal to be Diamondback or Dback or something. You know what I mean? Confirmed. Yeah, to scuba to Dback's confirmed, basically is what we want to say there. But no, I mean, again, this is one of those situations that no matter how much fun the last two years have been for the Tigers, they did give A.J. Hinch a contract extension, so they do like what he's been doing there as a manager. It does feel like the tigers, and again, not to compare them too much to the debacks, but like it almost feels like they might have peaked, and now we might start seeing them have some of the same issues with expectations and getting back here and contract extensions and all this stuff that the debacks have. you know but that's that's a good team over there and i would love

uh to steal away tarrick scubble that's that's again that's the only reason for this segment is just for us to push that narrative as far as we can go uh but speaking of other interactions or other transactions of course that have occurred in major league baseball uh the philly's announced they're bringing back rob thompson that's no surprise he's done a great job managing that team i don't blame him for the shortcomings of that team but maybe the philly's fans do I'm sure they do in the same way Diamondbacks fans scream for Tori Lavello's head for the way this team has performed. But another manager in the NL West is no longer the manager of his team. Padre's manager, Mike Schilt, has retired today.

They announced his retirement. So thus, there is another team in the pool looking for a manager. That makes it, I feel like even more difficult and makes me, once again, that much more glad that Damon and I will continue having Sunday dinners over at Tori's house. Sorry I had to miss that this week. I was driving back from K, uh, from, from, from, from, we missed yeah. We missed yeah. You know, Mrs.

Lovolo, Derek, she set the table with your usual spot. Oh, that's so sweet. And just said, you know what? We're just going to keep this one empty as if Derek was with us. But, uh, yeah, the, the, uh, the, uh, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, ball, uh, parmesan that, that she made was just exquisite. That sounds delightful. Yeah.

Yeah. Uh, I mean, this is good for the diamondbacks in the division, right? Like, overall here, the Padres feel like they're a little bit of a mess. They have a lot going on. They sacrificed a lot to get Mason Miller, which again, still is unfortunate that he's going to be part of that team for years to come. But they have other players that are under contract.

I think we're going to break it down here on an episode this week, exactly what's going on with the Padres. But it does feel like them looking for managers isn't great. And there's a lot of things that are changing in San Diego. Plus, they still have some inner turmoil there over. ownership of that team and I don't know how that's going to, you know, weigh down on what they do this off season and and any moves they make here to bring in a new manager. But a good thing, at least for the Diamondbacks of another team in the division is going

to start off 2026 in a bit of a mess. But we have, of course, now I think a total guys of 10 former Diamondbacks left in the playoffs total. If you do want to count guys like Chad Patrick, who was on the Milwaukee Brewers, and one Anthony Banda, who was on the Dodgers. I think I've said it on here, Derek. I met Chad Patrick at Hot Chick here in Scottsdale.

And he was pretty cool. And at the time, I was like, yeah, I mean, whatever. Like, I wonder if this guy probably, he's never going to play in the majors. And now he's playing in playoff games. And we traded him. away. And just shoving. Yeah, and I'm like, damn. Yeah, well, Dalton Varsho didn't hurt the Seattle Mariners, but you know he's going to Tyler Heinemann and Max Scher all in Toronto Blue Jays.

And then the Mariners, again, RC snakes, aka RC backs. They have five former Diamondbacks. If you want to include Gabe Spire and Carlos Vargas in there with a Josh Naler, Gino Svarez, and Dominic Canzone. So we'll be keeping an eye on all of those guys throughout the playoff run. But of course, we are going to take a quick break. And on the other side, of this break, we have this team to fix the Arizona Diamondbacks. We are going to talk a little bit about what the Diamondbacks are going to do in 2026. Me and Damon are going to do our best to prioritize spending roughly $25 to $30 million this offseason, which is not a lot of money. So don't you guys go anywhere. You're watching the PH&X Diamondback Show. Well, Pure Edibles was founded right here in

Arizona and is available in over 130 dispensaries statewide. They offer a full range of candy, some delightful treats to check out. Not just gummies. They have hard candies, choose. They have their kicks, which are their version of Starbursts, and so much more, and such a wide variety of delicious flavors, as well as strains and effects, and those effects are clearly

listed on each tin. But more importantly, you've got to check out their new collaboration with Mother Road Brewery from Flagstaff, who says Happy Hour Ever Has to End with Noble Roads, new Tower Station IPA all in one. That's right. They have combined the greatness,

of the tower station IPA, one of the finest beers you'll find in this state, with an all-in-one, so it's hoppy hour all the time. The new offering captures the crisp citrus and pining hops of Arizona's favorite IPA, but with a smooth THC twist all-in-one device. If you're in Arizona, got to stop by, select dispensaries and grab your tower station all-in-one IPA, and also just go find yourself some pure edibles products from one of over 130 dispensaries across Arizona. And whatever the moment, it is never ordinary at Bet365. Bet365 has 90 million users worldwide. And I think football season might be the best time of the year to get down on Bet365.

Not only do they have some great offers for new customers, but throughout the season, you'll find some great offers on Thursday night football with a $10 safety net bet offer. You can get in on part of a $365,000 jackpot with Sunday night football. And Monday night football features a 50% super profit boost. Tukon token. Oh my God. Words are hard for me sometimes. A super profit boost token on single game parlay. So do not miss out on all of that along with a very special offer where you are a winner. If your team goes up by 17 points betting on football, regardless of the outcome of the game, this counts for college football and for the NFL. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when you bet $5,

win or lose. All you got to do is sign up, use that code of PHNX 365 when you do, deposit $10 and place a bet for $5 or more to get $200 in bonus bets if your bet wins or loses. Bonus bets can be used on the spread, totals, players, props, futures, and more, whatever the moment. It is an ever-ordinary bet 365. Must be 21 or over and physically located in Arizona. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call one and under next step. Text next step to 5334-2 or visit problemgambling.azzo.gov.

Well, Damon, there is a lot of problems to fix around the Arizona Diamondbacks, and that's not just around Chase Field with the new money they'll have from that bill that got passed. But they have a lot of things to fix when it comes to this team. And unfortunately, they cannot use the money generated by that tax revenue on adding players to the roster. But they will have to be very creative this offseason in order to fix at least some of the shortcomings that they're going to have to start 2026. So Damon and I, as we talked about on Friday, we're going to take a look at trying to fix it with our own little challenge here. on how we would prioritize spending the Diamondbacks money this offseason. The budget for the Diamondbacks is going to vary.

We still don't know what the amount of money is going to be that they need, but they are definitely going to have in the neighborhood of around $30 million. That's probably, honestly, a high estimate. Most likely they might have less than that to spend, but again, this is a, I guess a gray area, right? because we're basing this on Ken Kendrick's comments and the idea that based on what the Diamondbacks spent last year, they're going to have to spend less. But with contracts increasing and arbitration, players are going to naturally receive more money. So they are going to have less money to spend overall, despite the fact that they have the contracts off the books that they have off the books.

And again, guys like, you know, Zach Gallen, who most likely won't accept that qualifying offer because he will be seeking out a multi-year deal. one that the Diamondbacks most likely won't be able to afford. One of the reasons why they can't afford it is this amount of money. They can get very creative here when it comes to adding to the roster. There are other ways to do this. And I think that structuring contracts in a certain way, deferring payments or even making trades is all going to be key here to the Diamondbacks being able to survive the first portion of the 2026 season

and add enough players to this team. but we, like I said, are going to prioritize what we think the Diamondbacks should do and how much money they're going to have to spend on, I guess, improving this team to start the 2026 season. Now, Damon, I know you and I don't necessarily agree on all of this, but really when it comes to this team, I think the number one overall priority has to still be pitching, whether you strategize that as relief pitching first or starting pitching first.

Right. But I do feel, like starting pitching has to take precedent because I ask you just based on the way that this team currently is, if no additions are made, how do they have a five-man starting pitching rotation? They do so with most likely, right, like let's look at the organization. And I know they had a ton of injuries. So that makes it more difficult, right? Because I think you could easily come up with five, like not that it would be the best

rotation in baseball, but you could come up with five. but you could come up with five because you got three right you got erod you got ryan nelson you got brandon five we all know that those three are are going to be here no matter what um you know you look at the organizational depth uh i believe blake waltston is still going to be recovering from his injury correct um Tommy henry also still recovering from injury i mean we're we're almost down to a point of calling up human lin and and and yelbert diaz who was awful this season. You know, he seems like the guy with the most major league experience probably in the organization

that would take over one of those spots. And so that probably, like, we're stretching with Yolbert Diaz, Derek, who again was terrible and was demoted this season. Yeah. And that's our fourth pitcher that we have right now if we had to pick one. Right. That's crazy. It is.

The fact that they DFAed Nabil Khrismat, like he could at least be a guy that started the season in their rotation. next year and he might be a guy that comes back to this organization but still in order for that to happen they're going to have to spend money on him and overall it feels like there isn't a priority higher than starting pitching for this team so as far as the five I guess biggest needs for this team starting rotation has to be up there at number one in my opinion at the very least you need one starting pitcher but you're most likely going to need two right

Starting pitching extremely expensive. I think you assuredly need to, to be honest with you. Right. So how much can you get away with paying a starting pitcher for? Obviously, they know Corbin Burns is returning. So that's a big impact. You almost want to have a guy that's a starter that could convert in the way that Ryan Nelson kind of was in theory seen as, is a guy that could convert back to the bullpen. Yeah.

you know, after Corbyn Burns returns, right? Around the same time, you're also expecting Puck and Justin Martinez to return from their surgeries as well. But again, you have to make it until the middle of July in order to get that. And that's three months of hell if you're really trying to just stretch every fifth day into a bullpen start from this team, right? So, Damon, I think that starting pitching there should probably be number one overall. how much money of 30 million can we get away with spending on this?

I feel like it's a majority. Am I, like, I know that. I mean, if we only have 30 million and you need two starting pitchers. You got a factor at least 20 million for starting, right? Like, even if you get creative there with structuring their contracts inward, signing a guy to a multi-year deal, let's just say they bring back Zach Gowan, right? Maybe you can convince Zach Gowan to take $10 million for, the first season and then have it go up as they've structured other contracts in the past.

I've seen them do this, right? So I don't think it's that uncommon, but I think quality starting pitching is expensive. And quite frankly, the Diamondbacks just need a fourth starter, period. Like, they need a fourth starter even after Corbyn Burns returns. So that's a big key on this is that, like, yes, you could bring back. of Merrill Kelly, you know, and that would very, that, that I think is the foregone conclusion that too many of us think is going to happen. But even Merrill Kelly might be too expensive for this team. So again, that's why starting pitching not only is going to be a priority,

but it's going to eat up the majority of this available budget that you have. Now, it's, it's almost, instead of one, two, it's almost one A, one B, right, Damon, where relief pitching is very close, if not as equal of a priority as starting pitching for this team this year. And they do have some good arms, right? Like, they have some good options. That's the reason why I almost feel like relief pitching is maybe something that they can get away without adding too much to. They have some untapped resources that really didn't get a chance to play much this season at a major league level in Drey Jameson and a few other arms. I like Philip Abner.

I still like super bad Andrew Hoffman. And outside of that, you could see that there's quite a few guys this season that I've kind of stepped up for the Diamondbacks. I don't know. I think post-trade deadline when Mike Hazen retooled getting a lot of new younger relief pitchers in, I do think that that maybe changes the math a little bit on the needs. So Brandon Garcia and Philip Abner feel like like certified relievers for this team. do. I think when we had this initial discussion, I think I was a little bit too in the moment with just how this season has played out and not looking at the bigger picture of like, look at last year's team. The problem was relief pitching. I mean, the problem was starting

pitching too. But in my opinion, the problem was the crux of the issue was blowing leads and having a million different relief pitchers because everybody was either getting hurt or you traded them. Right? So that was, I think the reason I went, I leaned relief pitching, but I agree with you. I think there's more in the cupboard from the Diamondbacks organizational standpoint to fill those relief pitching needs than the starting pitching needs if we truly had to go like for like on them. It's not to say that the relief pitching looks good going into the season. And Mike Hazen needs to add there. There's a reason that relief pitching is number two on our list.

Not that we're not saying it's not a need. but I agree with you. I think you look on paper, you say we need two starting pitchers. And the relief pitchers, you're right, the Philip Abner's, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, those guys, those guys, Juan Murillo, he throws really hard. Yeah, I mean, I'm not out on Juan Mario in general. I think that there are some dudes that maybe potentially could help you out here. And then you just got it, Mike Hazen's got to go out and find me like two or three Shelby Millers, frankly. I'm not asking for world beaters.

I'm asking for guys that get the job done eight times out of 10. You know what I mean? And just do their job. Get me a bunch of Shelby Miller. You're absolutely right. And I just have to bring this up because I don't know if we've really addressed it. But can you imagine how backbreaking that would have been to the organization had Shelby Miller suffered the injury, he suffered with the Brewers while he was with the Diamondbacks?

I don't know how this team would have been able to keep it together to have that guy still here throwing the way he was and then for him to also go down for a season ending injury. It's just misery upon misery with his pitching staff. You could say, though, that that trade maybe helps Diamondbacks add another piece this season because of the Jordan Montgomery factor. And the fact that he's injured, really, I mean, he wouldn't have been able to help this team. As unfortunate as that is, I feel very callous saying that because it sucks that it happened. We really liked what Shelby Miller did.

And honestly, he was a really enjoyable guy to be around. The K-chain was fire. I just, yeah, I think, I think, you know, in hindsight, you know, that would have been terrible, but also probably the D-backs got away with one there, getting rid of Jordan Montgomery saving that money. And maybe we can use that to spend on, as Scott Mack says here, a closer. Yeah. Like, and that's, I know that's a foreign concept of Mike Hazen, but after this year, you might think that he might actually heavily invest in that position. I'm so fed up with it because you feel like adding a closer.

is as far as this priority is concerned. Like that falls in the relief pitching. I put that as number two for that exact reason. A closer being added to this team feels like it makes everything lock in the place. A little bit. It feels like it pushes everybody up into a role where you do have enough guys, not to mention the fact that you have A.J. Puck and Justin Martinez returning, Kevin Ginkle returning.

So like those arms right there are enough. might be cooked sadly ginkle might be cooked and you know what I hate to put this out in the universe but you have no idea what any of those guys returning from those major surgeries were going to be upon their return either it's it's too common that everybody is back to their normal selves but you know again these surgeries are risky for a reason and you never know if a guy is going to still have the same stuff that he had pre you know pre surgery after after he hasn't you know something like that but like yeah when you take a look at you know available clifely closers on the market, there's just not a lot and they're going to be very expensive as well.

Then you also factor in that those guys are returning. So how much of a closer do you need? Do you just need a first half closer? Do you just need a solid reliever that maybe ends up as a setup option once those guys return? Or maybe you just get a closer and let everybody else be relievers and go back, you know, from there once AJ Puck and Justin Martinez returns, maybe you finally have a good bullpen. But regardless, it feels like it needs to be addressed. it needs to be one of the prioritized off-season moves, right? So when it comes to that, again, there's not a lot of available, you know, start really closers available out there that are going to be cheap.

Yeah. And you factor in the fact we're already setting aside roughly $20 million to go after a starting pitcher on the free agent market. You're probably left with paying a guy at least for the 2025 season, somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 million. which max max and i mean that also could be spread around if going after other bullpen arms that's a lot for relievers but still if you're talking about going after quality arms and not just you know an available guy on the market like i i don't know i think that that's something that you're going to

be uh spending some money on uh somebody's bringing up kyle finnigan uh yeah i don't know if i want that after i saw what he went through with there's that aspect and someone else said it in our chat the other day and I actually was was you know I thought it was a great point I'm not targeting relievers that are making deep postseason runs those guys have pitched more than any relief pitcher in baseball give me the the relief pitchers that good point that had decent seasons for middling to bad teams yeah and those guys want to get out of their situation it's just and they're rested they're rested they've had a full off season I think that like even even you know that I know that I know the Yankees won one series, but like even the Devin Williams is of the world. I know he

didn't have a great year. But like that guy's a free agent, you know, he didn't have a deep playoff run. He pitched in two series. I'm fine with that. I don't want the, the Finnegan's of the world. The guys who are in the championship series, I think that that's just too much pitching. Yeah. You could be right about that. Well, relief pitching, again, you got to set a decent amount of money aside. So let's just say theoretically, we have three more positional needs to fill and we have five million dollars left to spend between those three positions now we already knew that first base was going to be something that the diamondbacks may or may not address i believe mike hasen basically made it sound like they have it covered with the platoon they have over there but i

don't like that so much um but yeah damon i will ask you this what do we need to prioritize next and do we combine a DH with a first baseman with a first baseman or an outfielder who I mean so are we doing this is my question I know that we we were maybe planning on doing a separate list but I feel like we're kind of in this together at this point there yeah we're just we're in the we're in the we're in the muck together personally and I don't know if people agree with this but this is this is my personal inclination I think I won an outfielder. Yeah.

I think I can't go into this season with Jake and Alec Thomas as my as my two starting outfield options at center field and left field and feel good about that, Derek. And that's where I'm like, I look at some of the options on the free agent market. How realistic are they truly? I don't know. I mean, I have some notes here. I compiled some. Like, obviously, like, the number one guy is going to be Kyle Tucker.

That guy's not reasonable at all. Like the dying backs aren't going to be in on Kyle Tucker. But what about Cody Bellinger? You know, I don't think that that's unrealistic. Maybe it's shooting for the stars a little bit, but I don't think it's unrealistic. I think it's- We covered that. And I don't either.

Just because of how many needs he covers, right? It could be a DH. He could be a first baseman. He could be a left fielder. Absolutely. Cover a lot of ground. And in fact, his best season defensively was as an outfielder. So you feel confident that the other positions, you know, having him D.H or having him play first base,

obviously is much easier than that. If he's still athletic at age 38 to play a great left field, then I feel comfortable having him play anywhere. But cost is going to be a huge problem there. Totally. I doubt Bellinger is going to give us the same kind of hometown discount that we got from one, Corbyn Burns. Maybe.

That would be nice. But I mean, I think that, you know, that's obviously pie in the sky, right? If Cody Bellinger, I think, would be maybe the most transformational position player that the dying backs to bring in realistic. Because you could literally say that he would fulfill whatever the next three needs that we most likely have. I mean, we'll talk about it. But third base, I'm sure, is something we could also throw in there as well. But overall, I feel like left field or outfield in general is pretty important for this team.

I don't like the options that they have. They have depth if they add an outfield piece. Like the guys that that would play behind another outfield are being added there makes you feel comfortable. Jake's a great fourth outfielder. I don't know about great, but he's a good fourth outfielder. Well, and again, there's not a ton of value for Jake, nor is he costing you a lot of money. So I just don't know if Jake, if trading Jake is going to get you a lot in return or anything like that. I still feel like Alec Thomas is the one that is tradable, that a lot of people, a lot of teams would have interest in and still see a lot of value in over Jake.

But again, that's what it's going to cost you is potentially an Alec Thomas. Like overall, though, I think that an upgrade is needed there. There are some other options in Outfield as well, but I agree with you. I think Outfield could be our third spot on our priority list. What about a guy like Luis Robert, Derek? How do you feel about maybe a by-low move like that with a guy that, you know... He's still 28 years old. He still has potential.

He fits this team's DNA. I was going to say he, I feel like in not to like, I mean, I think that this is just natural, right? Like a Spanish speaking player is going to fit in better with other Spanish speaking players. And I feel like the Diamondbacks are a really well-suited team for maybe making a guy who's been down and out feel more comfortable, feel like he can get his groove back in Arizona. And I don't know. I think that that's the type of move that like that's a, you know what it is, Derek? That's a risk move. That's a high-risk move.

but that's the type of move I want to see the Diamondbacks make this offseason. It's because we know we have a team that can win 80 games. We've shown that, right? I think Tori Lavolo has shown that, you know, even if you give him a rag tag group, he's still going to have about a 500 record. That being said, you know, how do we get better than that? And I think you go after a dude like Luis Robert,

maybe give him a one year plus like a club option type of contract for a, you know, a cheaper price, like, or maybe a little bit. higher APY price to get him to sign, approve it type deal and see if that maybe bodes well for him in kind of reviving his career. But you know, you mentioned the Alec Thomas thing. Like he maybe he's the guy with value. I think a guy like Harrison Bader makes a little bit of sense. Keeping Jake, trading Alec, getting Harrison Bader as a free agent. And, you know, Harris Bader had 17 home runs this season. He was really damn good. So, you know, I think at least this season, 4.4 war, that's the type of needle mover. And now,

field that you're looking for. Tyler O'Neill had a terrible season for the Orioles. He did. Another player, kind of like Luis Robert, where I'm like, he's been good. He still posted a 2.2 war. He's been, and he hit 199. I don't think he hits 199 again. That's the worst season of his career.

And I think I think Louise Robert kind of can have a resurgence somewhere else, too. 100%. I think that those are the type of players that I'm looking at. Tyler O'Neils, Luis Roberts, the guys that we can rehabilitate their image a little bit. Harrison Bader is a guy. I feel like it's probably going to cost you too much. Obviously, Kyle Tucker is going to cost you way too much. And if we're being honest, Cody Bellinger is just far too expensive for you to put that many eggs in one basket.

This team has already experienced going out there and picking up high-price free agents and having that turn on them very sour based on injury. Nothing else, right? Like you could say that about Jordan Montgomery, even though he stunk. He also ended up getting injured. Same thing with Corbin Burns. He was very, very good when he went out. But, again, putting all of your money in one guy like that. even if Bellinger could theoretically cover a lot of,

a lot of, you know, positions for you, if he goes down, then most likely, and you went after, most likely you weren't able to add other pieces to this overall. So,

but I do feel like Outfield is next. I personally don't care what Mike Hazen says when it comes to this, but I feel like a first baseman is absolutely necessary. And I would post that as the fourth need for this team. Again, the name- Do you think slash DH or do you- Yeah,

let's just say slash-d-h. because whoever is going to be the first baseman for this team is most likely also going to be need to be that you know and i don't know what they're going to do in regards to this platoon and tim towah and bait you know whatever i still love the idea of picking up a paul goldschmidt not only bringing him home but for him to kind of be you know a little bit of a mentor there to tyler locklear at first base yeah i think that's a great fit you know what i mean and also i don't think that it's going to cost you nearly as much as some of the other available first baseman that are out there on the market quite frankly that's a big problem is that first baseman is guys like pete alonzo you know ryan o'herne uh your josh nailer is not coming back here you know so god no i i was i was compiling some players at each position derrick of these needs and i was laughing putting josh nailer on my notes because i was like there's just i i can't think of one player who'd probably resign with us less likely yeah you know yeah and then i guess last there on the list would be uh if you want to put it on here is a third basement

and I think that that is one thing the Diamondbacks could very much go without. But if you're being honest and talking about upgrading this team, their third baseman situation without Gino Swarra's over there isn't great. What I will say, Damon, is that a couple of times watching our sea snakes, I did get a chance to watch Gino play third base once again. And I do strongly feel in my heart of hearts that Blaze Alexander was an upgrade defensively at third base. And I know Blaze struggled a bit there as, you know,

as a third basement offensively at times after his nice start, but I still feel like one of those guys, Jordan Lawler or Blaze Alexander is the future third basement of this team. And again, these all needs can kind of be moved around a little bit, but you could definitely say like the, you know, the going with the outfield could solidify third base, going with someone at third base could solidify the outfield. I feel like those two positions kind of,

like they involve each other a little bit. So depending on which direction the diamondbacks go, they could have, they might not need one of these other things, you know, but as far as this list is concerned, I think this is pretty accurate as far as what the diamondbacks need to address.

Now, again, with $30 million, $25,000 to $30 million, there's no way they're going to be able to do all of this. So putting that out there, just being realistic, that's a big problem. But, I mean, I think this is what the diamondbacks need to prioritize as their offseason. needs. I'm with you Derek. I like this list. I, you know, I think that maybe the only thing you could really disagree upon would maybe be switching outfield in first base. But yeah, the reason that

I still don't love that they don't have a first base been. The reason that I think that you, you got to rank it like that is because it seems like the diamondbacks are more comfortable with their first base options potentially than their outfield options going into next year. So personally, if I'm if I'm putting together, you know, kind of just a mock off season real quick in my head, I'm going two starting pitchers, one of them being kind of a front line guy, right? One of them being more of a middle rotation guy. I'm going two relief pitchers that walk into your bullpen as options that you would use late. I'm going a high profile, more high profile, I guess, but doesn't have to be Bellinger,

outfielder. And then I'm grabbing a DH like a Paul Goldschmidt maybe on the margins that can spot some first base minutes. And then I guess I think I'm probably trusting law. or in Blaze. One of those guys to hopefully. If you upgrade the outfield, I agree with that. Round out that group and give you good play because I think that you just need one of those dudes to kind of step up for you just like you need the first basement too.

But it's going to be rough from a corner outfield spot this, or infield spot this year, in my opinion. Again, there's something to be said there about how that could impact, right? Because if you have those guys available to play more infield, perhaps Blaze can play more second. Ketel can D.H for this team. You can get Ketel off his feet more. And again, these things could work themselves out depending on what direction they're able to go with that limited budget. But shout out to so many of you guys here. Of course, Al Gaiio.

I think it's the only one really that we missed is backup catcher. Yeah, he says I'm surprised you didn't say backup catcher. And it's important with Gabby's injury history. It is. James McCann, baby. And McCann, again, he's a free agent. So that's something they do have to address. And that is part of the money they have to spend.

He also says, I don't think Goldschmidt wants to return. He's the perfect example of trading players. that wouldn't want to return. I don't know how true that is. You might be on to something. I personally can't say I saw anything one way or another, but I know that Goldie was very involved in the community here, and he just quietly did things,

bunch like Corbyn Carroll did, especially to support Phoenix Children's Hospital. I was lucky enough to work with him on some of that stuff alongside with a fan group. And again, it was amazing to see all that he did for the community here. But perhaps the organization, and he doesn't feel the same about. So we're going to take a quick break, though.

Before we do that, Tony, thank you so much for your super chat. We appreciate you greatly, sir. He said, absolutely on board with what we need. Hope that the injury bug doesn't follow into next season. We do too. No amount of money can stop that. Open to building the pen from our minors. I think there's more trading this offseason.

Great point. And I think that that is going to be the absolute truth when it comes to how they're going to have to build this team. But it's going to hurt, guys. Just know that. Like, this isn't going to be like, oh, trading Jake and getting a haul back in return. That's not what it's going to be. It's going to be trading Ryan Waldschmidt. It's going to be trading Hansel-Louise. It's going to be trading,

you know, maybe some of these arms that we got in a trade back in order for this team to figure things out. But again, flea ball says our problems start and end with relief pitching, and that absolutely is the case when it comes to how many blown leads this team has had. But we're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, you know what day it is, you know what we do. We're going extra long a day. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the P H&X Diamondback show. Well, if you're a sports fan, there's no better place to do your banking the Desert Financial Credit Union.

It's the only place you can show off your team spirit every time you make a purchase with exclusive debit cards branded with your team favorites, including the Arizona Cardinals, which I don't know if you want to be reping them lately, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University. For more than 84 years, Desert Financial has been Arizona's largest, most trusted local credit union dedicated to creating exceptional experiences by giving back to the community and providing financial solutions that make lives better. They helped make my life better.

They got me started on my home ownership journey. They can get you started on your financial journey as well. Look to Desert Financial for checking in savings accounts, mortgages, loans, credit cards, investment options, and so much more. When you open a free checking account online, you can get $200 in bonuses. Get started by visiting Desertfinancial.com slash 200 today. And at Heila River Resorts and Casinos, no one does it better. You can visit any one of their four locations here in town to experience the best of the Valley has to offer. Two of those locations are AAA four-diamenings.

resorts. You can let relaxation take charge with unbeatable desert and mountain views. Let me tell you, I didn't. It wasn't necessarily a staycation. We did have to drive three and a half hours to get there, but sometimes the best vacations involve you not having to travel very far. And Heila River Resorts and Casinos is a fine example of that plus you can go all in with over 4,500 slots and live table games or catch all the action at any one of their sports books. Again, great night out on the town if you're not looking for a staycation. With an unprecedented level of entertainment and excitement, you won't find anywhere else in the desert. We know they've set a high bar.

You do you at Hela Resorts and Casinos. Visit play at Gila.com for more details. Well, Damon, it is this day. It is Monday. And as you guys know, every Monday we do this thing around here because every year on this podcast is our year. Every year on this podcast is the year of the snake. Every single month on this podcast is Hispanic Heritage Month.

Every single week on this show is Shark Week. And every single day on this show is Earth Day. because, of course, Damon and I recycle. But on Mondays, we do something special. We go to the mailbag. Damon, let's go to the mailbag. Always something interesting in my mailbox. I'm trying to get to everything in my mailbox.

And then once in a while, there's a letter that makes me go out. All right, what do we got in the mailbag today, Damon? First question comes in from Jason, who asks, any thoughts on Marte becoming the regular DH to get him off his feet and stay a little more healthy and get Lawler and blaze both regular A.Bs. Jason and I are on the very same wavelength for sure. I just brought this up. And yes, that is totally the case. I think that, again, their DH situation, not good. It's one of Damon's favorite stats to read besides how unproductive they were at first base.

And those two kind of go hand in hand. They do. Yeah, I really do think getting Cotel Marte more time off of his feet is good. I think it's beneficial for everybody. Plus, Cotel talks to his bat in between innings when he's not out on the field. and I think that's something that we all need more of in life is him just having conversations with his bat. It worked.

It maybe not, didn't have an immediate result, but the next day he was smacking home runs over the outfield wall. So again, I don't know. I mean, Cotell, he is a good second baseman.

Is he great? I don't think so. And I think that injuries and things, especially the hamstring injuries that he's experienced have really just caused him to lose a little bit of his range, which was one of his biggest strengths over. over there at second base. So I do like this idea very much. And I think, again, as Damon suggested so strongly, if we go after an outfielder, it moves all the pieces around. It does allow Blaze to be

your fourth outfielder now. And that allows both Alec Thomas and Jake McCarthy to potentially be pieces that you could trade away. You don't need to trade both, but maybe those guys help you get some relievers in return that can help bolster the bullpen. And there's some, you know, costs that you're saving there overall. But you also have to, you know, theoretically here, you know, look at how does Jordan and how does Blaze get playing time if they're both playing third base? And I think this is the easiest route to that because both of these guys play all three of those infield positions pretty well. And I do think that Jordan Lawler, you know, was kind of potentially more of a natural second baseman shortstop and kind of converted to third base because that's where the

organization saw his future at. So I don't know. I think. this could work out well and again I do think that Teltlmarte having more time off of his feet would allow him to continue to be the you know the biggest offensive threat on this team when he's healthy quite frankly so yeah I don't hate it but I also think that allows for a lot of flexibility and allow creative lineup creations so uh I as long as the diamondbacks are able to add one piece like this that allows everybody to slot over and fill some roles and and find their playing time I'm all for it for sure what else we got next question here comes from ed who asks should paul gold be brought back for a last season ed you need to watch the show last week pal um we are we already

covered this no he's right though i i yes i think so here's his stats from 2025 once again uh goldie still has something left in the tank i don't his hairline might not neither does mine but um man yeah i'm taking shots today you know it's it's a weird it was a weird weekend But what he does have- You and Polly are roughly the same age, Derek? I think I'm older than that gentleman. You are, but I'm giving you a little bit of benefit. I appreciate that. I appreciate that.

But I definitely couldn't put up a 1.2 war in Major League Baseball at this point in my career. He averaged 274 with a 731 OPS, 10 home runs, 45 RBI. Didn't play a lot at first base because he did have that position kind of taken over by Ben Rice. But again, this is what Damon was talking about there with Goldie, where as a DH, as a first base, basement. You don't hate this option. You don't hate the idea of him being able to provide you mostly with some mentorship and take over. Like Goldschmidt can start the season there and get you

until Tyler Lockler comes back. According to the current projection, he should be back by the start of May. And that would give, you know, Goldschmidt some time over there, allow you to get through that first brutal month of April, start the season, and then, you know, start sharing time with Tyler and slowly take over that DH role. Right. And again, it works on multiple levels because he's not going to cost you nearly what most of the other options at first base or d h are going to cost you he still does have this need to play baseball and a desire to play baseball and do it at a high level and i think he's still once again has something you know to give i don't think he's he's done yet so again i think this makes sense you factor in the the story right and how good it is to have goldie come home and potentially

wrap up his career here where it started it makes sense on every level well uh before we move on i did want to let you guys know that we are going to take this party into overtime. I still like to call it extra innings. Damon fights me on that. I think also does does, does Faj Jacob, fight me on that? I don't know. But we're going to go into overtime. If you guys are watching right now on your favorite app or wherever else you're watching, come on over to go p hnx.com. And we are going to keep asking us or answering some mailbag Monday questions in another few minutes. it's here. So thank you guys again for being here. And thank you for your questions. It always makes mailbag one day fun. I think we got one from flea ball who's here in the chat. Damon,

what do we got? Yeah, we do have one from flea ball as I pull it up here. And this is Ed's question. So give me a second. No, no worries. Shout out to Ed, by the way. I didn't mean to attack you for not watching. Shout out, Ed. Flea ball says, do you think the debacks have spring training at home contribute to the slow starts to season after season? That's a great question. man because I feel like that was a that's a benefit right like overall I feel like one of the things that we heard from several guys including Corbin burns who had several factors play into why he signed with the diamondbacks was essentially getting to be home all year long and not having to change where you were at during spring training and and you know go through all of that I I don't know though

I mean it's it's not something I really thought of I feel like most people in this chat would probably blame it more on Tori. And I do think that that probably plays into it a bit more than spring training. I feel like hearing Tori talk about needing to get off to a faster start in 2026, to me, was one of the more laughable moments considering how often I've been there present where Tori had all the patience in the world in spring training and in, you know, the first month of the season. It didn't feel like anything mattered because it was a long season and it was. was a marathon and not a sprint and, you know, things were still happening. Like this team, their philosophy might have been in the wrong place and the manager might

be the reason why that was the case. I can't say that inside of the clubhouse. I really don't know. I can just say that based on being someone that was present at many of Tori's media availability and press conferences early on in the season, right? There is kind of, and I don't think he was wrong. I kind of understand where he's coming from when it comes to not wanting to come out of the gate super hot, press guys too hard, and caused those injuries to happen in April. I think he was more taking a cautious approach with how often he played guys and how many days guys played in a row because he didn't want there to be a pile of injuries

like we ended up experiencing regardless this season. I think at the end of the day, you can't really control injuries. And no matter how slow you try to play a baseball season to start it, it could still result in what has happened. And maybe that's what changed Tori's mind to have more of a sense of urgency in April. But you could say that having a sense of urgency has probably plagued this team all throughout 2025. It never felt like they had a sense of urgency in so many instances. And it costs them so many baseball games that quite possibly could have put them into the postseason had just a handful of those gone a different way.

Right. But yeah, no, I mean, as far as the spring training thing goes, I don't know. I don't think that that's a negative. I really don't. I think that that's something that, again, maybe there's a complacency there. Maybe you're on to something in regards to that. I do know that baseball seems to be a sport, as we talked about earlier, where having certain layoffs and having certain, I guess, luxuries afforded to you that you don't have otherwise during a regular baseball season might not do much to prepare you, right? I will say this, let me say this as a dad, that I don't think my daughter's elementary, school in junior high did much to prepare these kids for high school because these teachers and these

life in general much more difficult at a high school level and the one thing I've heard from so many of my daughter's high school teachers is that they feel these kids were coddled up to a certain point and then all of a sudden life comes at them very fast so maybe that's it maybe it's the fact that everything's so nice for them and they're here at home and they don't have to like be on the road for 30 days essentially because most of them have to be on the road, you know, when they're in either Florida or Arizona for their teams until they go back to their home stadium for the last few games of spring training.

So maybe not being on the road doesn't get them battle tested for a long 162 game season as the guys that do have to do that. So, I mean, I don't know. It's an interesting thought, though. What do you think, Damon? Is that too much? I mean, maybe it's making them soft that they get to just be here at home. I don't think it

I don't think it's a negative at all Yeah, I think it's pretty much solely a positive That the Diamondbacks get to do spring training here And that they have You know, their facilities just down the road They can have guys go play rehab games And then come right back down to Chase Field And hang out with the team right after

So It seems to be nothing but advantages And it's one of the few advantages Diamondbacks Have over other teams Because of a few in Florida, right? The only thing that might not be an advantage out of it is that maybe like you don't get to expand your your your your your your your your your your fan base by because it's in the exact same spot that you have your team but point plus this

fan base is already kind of divided a bit because how many spring training yeah that's that's that's the old that's what I'm trying to say I guess is the only benefit of it or the only non benefit of it is that other teams have fans in your city and you don't get to expand your fan base not that you know the diamondbacks would you know have a bunch of fans in California or something if that's where spring training was. Hey, you never know. There are some that live over there. I know dozens of Diamondbacks fans that don't live in the state.

There are dozens of us for sure. Anyway, speaking of dozens and dozens of you should show up for the Sun Devils live show at the Rally House out there in Tempe on October 17th at 530 p.m. Those guys, those crazy maniacs from the ASU Sun Devils podcast are going to be out there at the Rally House at Tempey Marketplace. the night before ASU's biggest home game of the year taking on Texas Tech. Don't love their chances after what happened against Utah, but hey, still come on out. We'll be having a good time.

We can all be in misery together, if that's the case. Come see Eric and Totry in person, plus get yourself ready for game day with rally houses, wide selection of all your game day essentials. For those in attendance, we will be raffling off $50 rally house gift cards. We have five of those. So make sure to come out, check out the best duo in sports. It's P.HNX. Holly House. Visit our website for more details. Can't wait to see you guys out there.

Damon, I believe we have some more Mailbag Monday questions. What else we got in the bag? Jarmy coming in strong. How do we all feel about managers in 2025, not even being able to write their own lineups? Is the committee approach the right way to run a team? Oh man. I really feel like this is a personal preference on the manager's part and not so much. like is this good, is this bad overall. I will say that I have never seen Tori LeVolo as being the kind of manager that only used his own opinion, his own voice to make decisions. He's always been the kind of guy that has managed by a committee. He's always discussed how much guys like Dave McKay, Tony Parrish, Chica, you know, have met to him in the past, especially Jeff Bannister, right?

It's like his right-hand man. So I don't know if it's terrible, but I do say that the more we find out about the front offices involvement in the creation and not just with the Diamondbacks, but many Major League Baseball teams, the creation of the lineups, who's going to start when, which relief pitchers are going to use. It, one, makes some of the situations seem a little less baffling, considering that we have screamed about certain guys being available despite not getting used in situations where the Diamondbacks needed. you know, another arm to come into a game. But I do think that it could be just over tinkering, right? Like, there gets to a point where there's too many people involved. And if that's the case, how is a manager, Tori, or any other managers supposed to use things like, you know, their gut instinct in the moment or their years of experience without worrying that

they are going to get second guest or worrying that what they're doing isn't going to coincide with what they were told to do or, you know, all of this other stuff? like a coach, a manager is put in that position, win or lose to be the decision maker. At the end of the day, that's the person that deserves to take the heat for those decisions. And if they're not their own, how can we expect that person to take the heat for those decisions? Right. So, again, it could be the reasons why certain teams moved on for managers. It could be the reason why the Diamondbacks chose to have Tori come back for a final season of his contract.

I think Tori has good instincts. I think he's a good manager. I just think that things go sideways on him in certain situations because at the end of the day, he might, one of his biggest flaws might be that he's too much of a player guy, you know, and that he wants to do things in the moment for the player and their development and their continued development, their confidence and their self-esteem and using them three days from now,

rather than it being who's going to help me win this baseball game right now, this guy didn't do it. I think that there's things like that that he could be better at. at. And sometimes that's because he believes in his players too much and wants to show them that he believes in them far too much. But I will say that B.C., who is a known Dodger fan and a bad person, no, no, not actually. But B.C.'s right. He says, Tori massively overachieved in 2023, raised expectations to an unrealistic level. And maybe Tori didn't overachieve. Maybe that was just the team overachieving. Maybe that was, again, the shot in the arm of this team finally having a

solid closer at the time in Paul Seawald and the impact that he had on the pitching because Tori was King Midas in that postseason run though. Yeah, he was. Like I don't, I think it's, like he did overachieve, but at the same time, it's because the players kind of overachieved because any time he leaned on someone, it felt like that was the right call. But again, this is what it is to be a manager. When things go good, you get credited for it when or you don't get really enough credit. Like I'm not giving him enough credit or BC's not giving them enough credit. But at the same time, you know, you got to tip your cap to what this team did in 2023 and you can't act like it's nothing. I do think he's right about that it raised expectations to an unrealistic level. And that's the

truth. Not to mention BC, it caused your Dodgers to lose their mind and ensure that they would never lose to us ever again. So they went out and spent a billion dollars. But that's a topic for another day. but overall I do think that I don't love the idea of a manager not managing and honestly if you don't believe in your manager making those decisions and those moments without the involvement of the front office or you don't believe in the manager

deciding on the best starting lineup or the best pitching rotation that maybe that person's not the right man for the job. I think to be honest this is far more about analytics and like statcast stuff coming far more into play with the decisions rather than

it's not actually trusting your manager. It's really just about having computers tell you what the best option is. They're all on chat GPT, and they're all asking chat GPT what the answer is. All right, what else we got, Damon? Our next question here comes from Dumplings, who, JJ, who asks, if you can sacrifice one thing, you enjoyed a dark magic in exchange for the debacks having the best luck next season. What would it be? See, I feel like this would have to be big, right?

significant. Yeah. This is like, again, this is the trade scenario where I'm saying, like, as much as we talk about fixing this team through trades, it's going to hurt. It's going to be something big. It's not going to just be, you know, Jake McCarthy. You're not going to get Jose Herrera back and then trade him for the relief pitcher you need. So, uh, I will say, what am I willing to part ways with? That's crazy. Um, I love the game Donkey Kong Bonanza more than I think I love members of my own family. So I, and, and, and this weekend in Bisbee, we went on a copper mine tour and I lost my mind after spending the last two months digging through caves and caverns in search of gold and treasure boxes and most importantly bananas and fossils. I was in a level of excitement that I just

can't explain to you people as we drove down on this tiny little train car through a copper mine. So I would trade finishing Donkey Kong Bonanza for the Diamondbacks to make it back to the World Series and win it all. Like I'll never play the game ever again. Right now I'm on, I believe, what is it, the poison layer? If I'm not mistaken, I'm, I'm pretty far along, but I'm not done yet. So I would, I would trade that. I'm thinking like ice cream. Oh. It would hurt bad, but I do it. Like just all ice cream? I do it for my, for my sweet, sweet snakes.

Oh my God, Damon. I don't think I could make that level of sacrifice. You know what? You know what? Taste good, Derek? Victory. Victory tastes good. I know, but you also taste good. If me and you are...

It's a DQ. Oh, they taste great. If there's a, if me and you are leaping into each other's arms again, that's well worth it to me. Did you know that most ice creams aren't actually called ice cream because they have so many other ingredients in it that if they bypass a certain level of having ice cream in their ice cream that they can't call it ice cream anymore? Now, does non-dairy desserts count as ice cream? I think that's the biggest question. Can I still buy things that aren't actually considered ice cream or are all frozen treats now off the table with sacrificing ice cream? Yeah, any frozen type of tree, any ice cream substitute, frou, gelato.

No, any of that. Sorry, sorry. I mean, and some of us love our snakes and some of us don't. That's crazy. Frozen yogurt? People remember. Margaritas? Remember what Derek was willing to do for you and what Damon was willing to do.

Listen, I think frozen alcohol drinks. I'm not willing to make. Frozen alcohol drinks are off, are not the same discussion. Okay, all right. Okay. Wait, there's one very, very discerable. Like a smoothie is not the same as an ice cream. So dolewips from Disneyland would not be ice cream.

No, that's off the take. No, no. Then the answer is no. That's soft sir. No. That's soft sir. I don't care. It's not, it's not negotiable with me.

I'm not not eating dull whips. That's not going to happen. The rest of my life, just for the black magic to bring us one world series trophy, Damon, there's other ways. We can make moves in the footage. Derek, when I'm dropping to my knees and tears are streaming down my face. I'm not going to be thinking about how I don't have ice cream

in my hand. I'm going to be thinking about God damn it. They did it. The boys just did it. There used to be a free cold stone ice cream in the press box. I'm going to say, I'm going to go, we, we did it. I'm not part of your vaccination. I won't be part of your we, I guess. I'm for sure. What else we got? We got one more in there. Yeah, we do have one more in here.

And it is from da da da da da da da. Not me on screen. Oh, our guy. Our guy. Our guy Evan. It is from Evan. And Evan asks, how do Arizona fans reconcile reading for the Mariners while also hating the Seahawks? This is a crazy question.

It is. I've actually received this because our account has gotten very pro-Mariners. And one or two accounts out there have retweeted us, quote tweeted us, attacked us for our love of the Seattle Mariners, aka the Seabacks, aka the sea snakes. This is easy.

They are not in our division. Whereas the Seattle Seahawks are. Simple. It is that simple. Not only are they not in our division, they're not in our conference, right? They're not in our league. They're an American league team. If it wasn't for the stupidity of interleague play, we wouldn't even play them during the regular season.

We would never even play them. We would never play them. Let me ask a question, Derek. Did Cardinals fans hate the Chargers? Yeah. They're in L.A. Yeah. I thought we hated all the L.A. teams.

Or does it only apply to teams that you actually play very often like the Rams and you hate the Rams because they're the LA team that you play in your division. That's how it works. The Chargers were my father's favorite team. Do you hate my father now? Is that how that works? You hate the Chargers? Do you hate my father? No, you don't hate any of those teams. Like he said, you hate division rivals and that's really what it comes down to. Also... Or you hate like the Texas Rangers for beating you in the World Series, but we don't have any reason to hate you. Give me a reason to hate you. Give me a bulletin board material. It's not just because Josh Naylor is having a wonderful time up there. That's not the only reason. It's not because

Gino changed his icon to a Seattle Mariners phone before the body was even cold. It's not that either. There's nothing to hate these guys. Like I said, there's five former diamondbacks on there. They're non-division rival. And most importantly, I can't tell you guys what this is going to do for this office if the Mariners win. Because Shane is in charge of production around here. And Shane is going to be so incredibly happy that the next six months are going to be just a delight around here. But now that they've come this far, if the Mariners don't make it all the way,

it's going to be a nightmare around this place. Damon's life is going to be a living hell if the Mariners don't go on to win the World Series at this point. Shane is going to be a wreck for at least three months, at least before he even gets his stuff together. And then once he does, it's just going to be anger and fury all the time. Goodbye, Mr. Funny Mustache Man.

He's going to shave off the mustache. That's when you know, stuff's going to get serious and we're all in trouble. So we need the Mariners to win for more than just one reason. And that is our sanity around this office. Can I also just add the Mariners haven't won a playoff series since when? Like you always root for teams that are losers. And the Mariners have been losers for their entire organization's history.

Yeah, we're going to root for them to be good when we have no reason not to want them to win. and they have like the Cinderella story. A hundred percent. I am 100 percent on board with the Brewers Mariners World Series. 100 percent. It would feed families. And not only would it feed families, but the history there is significant, considering that the brewers used to be the pilots and the connection that those two teams have

and the history there. It means everything. It means everything. So it would be great. Plus, again, we got to see our boys shine on the biggest stage. But we appreciate you guys so much for sticking around here for this very. very long mailbag Monday episode. I don't have enough content to be having episodes to go this long, Damon.

What the hell are we even doing? But again, we thank you guys so much for your time. We appreciate you. We'll be back tomorrow with another postgame show after game two of the Dodgers versus the Brewers. Jesse Friedman will join us for that one. So we hope you join us as well. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter.

I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon Dog with a DAWG at the end. And of course, we are all Damon's dogs. Bark, Bark. our shows at PH&X underscore D-BACs, but as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

We thank you for your time. Again, it's your most valuable commodity. Be careful who you share it with. Thank you for sharing it with us. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Until then, have a wonderful evening. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun

when you have a team to root for in the postseason.