PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - REPORT: D-backs Starting Pitchers Drawing Interest in Trade Market

Episode Date: November 8, 2024

JOIN THE DIEHARDS FOR JUST $4 A MONTH! https://www.gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube A report from the Athletic on the Diamondbacks receiving calls about trading starting pitching confirmed what Mike Hazen already hinted at earlier this week. We have more on who we think the D-backs could trade and what they would be able to receive in return. Could Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, or even Jordan Montgomery be on the move? We also give our grades for Ketel Marte’s 2024 season and discuss which Diamondbacks prospects are participating in the Arizona Fall League Fall Stars Game. Join Derek, Jesse, and Kevin for the PHNX Diamondbacks Show LIVE! An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ bet365: https://www.bet365.com/olp/open-account?affiliate=365_03330244 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and choose your offer! 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/ Bluechew: Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code ALLCITY at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. That’s https://bluechew.com promo code ALLCITY to receive your first month FREE. Visit for more details and important safety information, and we thank BlueChew for sponsoring the podcast.. Zbiotics: Go to https://zbiotics.com/phnxdbacks to get 15% off your first order when you use PHNXDBACKS at checkout. Pre-Alcohol is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they’ll refund your money, no questions asked. Empire Today: Schedule a free in-home estimate today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details. Branded Bills: Use code PHNX 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. 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! Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. 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. Check out FOCO merch and collectibles and use promo code “PHNX10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items. Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code PHNX for 10% off! Get 10 FREE meals at https://hellofresh.com/freedbacks. Applied across 7 boxes, new subscribers only, varies by plan. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, a report from the athletic confirmed what we already knew, which was the Diamondbacks, we're going to be in the trade market for starting pitching, but receiving the calls, not making them. We have more on who they could be moving and what they could be receiving in return in 30 seconds. Don't go anywhere. Welcome in to Studio K right here. Presented by our friends of Circle K at PHNX. My name is Derek Monti. He occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX.

Still, now, then, and forever, I warned you. And now, look, I'm still mayor. I mean, I don't know why I'm one warning you, but I'm mayor. He's vice mayor. It's Jesse. You guys know Jesse, the thunder stick, Jesse Friedman. And of course, we got our guy, large intimate, Kev Thomas, on the ones and twos today. Happy to have him back.

Happy to have you with us here today. Happy Friday to you all. Maybe not such a happy day in Arizona Diamondbacks history. Today it might be considered a dark, dark day historically in Diamondbacks history. if you go back about 18 years ago on this day, when this happened, Jesse, when the Arizona Diamondbacks converted their logo from our beloved teal, purple, and copper,

to Sedona Red and Sand, which ironically enough you and I are draped in today just to represent this momentous occasion. Yeah, I was going to say red is a terrible color. I hate sand. Nobody should ever wear sand. Nobody likes to wear sand or red, red especially. Red is the worst.

I can't imagine wearing red. Yeah, I'm trying to remember what like, I don't know, I was a small child when this decision was made and an avid diamondbacks fan. And I don't really have a great recollection of how I felt about it at the time. I was definitely the type of kid who just liked new things in general. Yeah. And so I don't think I was disappointed, oddly enough. I actually think I was kind of excited about it.

Honestly, I don't really remember there being like this big backlash to it at the time. No. I don't remember people being upset. I also don't remember people caring much about the team during this particular time. That's fair. No knock to them. But like I almost feel like that's kind of why it was able to kind of fly under the radar. I mean, I think in 2006, they were fourth in the division.

They had been pretty mid for a while there. They had been mid for a stretch, right? And so, like, again, I think that it was a revamp. I think there were things that people liked about it. I do think that one of the brilliant moves of moving this was calling it Sedona Red and not just calling it Red. I remember people were very heavily focused on always calling it Sedona Red when it was new. and loving that because everybody loves to take day trips up to Sedona, right? Like, who doesn't love that?

Right. And I think the, you know, if people were pushing back at the time, the argument against it, which continues to be the case now, is that, well, there's like a bazillion teams that are already red. Right. And so it just, there was no uniqueness factor there. Not in this division, though, right? I mean, and I think that's what's- Right. Not in the division, but still there's so many red teams.

And so the Diamondbacks way of doing damage control, I guess, was to be very specific that it was Sedona red. It was not any other type of red. And I to this day don't really think that the Diamondbacks a shade of red actually looks like Sedona. I'm being totally honest. No. I love Sedona, but those rocks are more of a brownish red.

They're not. Yeah, they're not that shade of red. You're not. Jesse, you're 100% not wrong about that. You know what I do think happened though? I think in 2007 when they won the NL. that made everybody just be on board. And again, it went from introducing this before the 2006 season,

another mid-season in 2006. And then 2007, we're in these colors. You got the little debacks with the little fangs on it. That was kind of cool. People like that part. And we're winning. So I think that that's the reason why people embraced it. And again, similar to this beautiful jersey that's over here.

I mean, the Diamondbacks changed jerseys and then they made it to the World Series. So I think that the run that they had last year really helped people embrace these New Jersey's as the current look and this current generation, this current iteration of the Diamondbacks, right? Maybe that's what allowed it to kind of become something that people, you know, moved on from. I think that there was a lot of purple in the valley at the time. You know, you had the sons have always been purple. So there was that like giving the Diamondbacks a little bit of their own identity. I remember other other people bringing up that now the Cardinals, coyotes, and. and Diamondbacks all had similar colors at that time.

So it was moving in that direction. We knew the suns were never going to change. So we were never going to get everybody on board. But it was, I don't know. I think that's the big thing is I try to think back and be like, how did we accept this? How did people not riot in the streets over the color change from these beautiful purple-teal and copper colors that truly,

you know, truly we're part of the valley? Like that's that color combination is still Unmatched I remember when the Rattlers had a very similar color combination as the arena football league team and I was like this is outstanding I I was mad because I was like the Rattlers name colors and everything is way better than the Cardinals like it's amazing that our professional team is the Cardinals and our AFL team is the Rattlers has multiple championships and has the most amazing colors scheme that existed but hey we're we're here now where we kind of have the best of both worlds But again, not a great day. Most of you Diamondbacks bands out there probably aren't thrilled that that change ever happened. And for those who have not recognized or we're not here with us yesterday, we've started a new thing around here where every Thursday. Correct.

We celebrate throwback Thursday and we change our color palette of all our graphics on the show to the old purple and teal. There we go. Look at that. We can do that today. We should have made today flashback Friday, right? We can use purple on Friday. days too. But yes, we are very aware that people miss the old jerseys.

And yeah, in retrospect, I 100% agree that going back to those uniforms at some point would be maybe the best decision the Diamondbacks could make in terms of like increasing their popularity. Like signing Juan Soto is maybe number one and then a close number two is just going back to purple and teal. Yeah. It would do wonders for the fan base. I don't think that's ever going to happen. You're not allowed to steal him away, Diamondbacks.

You can just take his great ideas, but you don't have to, like, physically hire him away from PHNX. But I do know that you are in the market for some new players, Diamondbacks, and I have heard, according to a report from the athletic, that confirmed basically everything we had put together. I'm not going to act like we're geniuses or we're detectives, or we're brilliant, or we're just so smart and good-looking and very funny also. I'm not going to act like that stuff that people say.

It's what the streets are saying. and but I'm not going to sit here and reiterate that. What I will say is we figured something might be in the works. We knew that the Diamondbacks obviously had an extra starting pitcher. And we've kind of discussed what Ryan Nelson's role would be next year, what they're going to do with if Jordan Montgomery is going to have that bounce back. But it would appear based on things that we heard from Mike Hazen earlier in the week, from the story from Associated Press, and now this report from the Athletic,

but the Diamondbacks are receiving some calls. And it's calls on starting pitching, maybe even veterans starting pitching, maybe focusing at the top three guys at the rotation, or I guess I couldn't say at the top of the rotation. But the guys with the most experience here in Zach Gallen, Merrill Kelly and, you know, Jordan Montgomery, right? Those are the guys that you kind of put together. I doubt the Diamondbacks would be looking to trade Erod, considering he still has that time left on his contract and really hasn't shown what he can do yet at this point. But the other three guys would kind of make sense. Each candidate would kind of have their own reasons why it would make sense to potentially trade them away, Jesse. But what were your thoughts?

Obviously seeing this kind of confirms first, you know, what Mike Hazen, you know, kind of commented on the other day. Yeah, yeah, we've got multiple reports at this point. So no huge surprises here with this report from the athletic. The Diamondbacks have six starting pitchers and, of course, some depth arms behind that. And so starting pitching is always in high. demand and teams want to know kind of where everybody else stands. So no surprises here for me. I think I continue to believe that Jordan Montgomery is probably by a wide margin, the most likely Diamondbacks starting pitcher to be dealt. We discussed the pros and cons of dealing away

Zach Allen on the show the other day. And there are some reasons to at least explore that. It's really hard to imagine a deal like that coming together. Merrill Kelly, I just don't understand why the diamondbacks would possibly trade him. He would have a good amount of trade value, but he's, you know, he's affordable. He's someone that I think you have a more realistic chance to bring back.

It doesn't really make any sense to me to trade him. And then Eduardo Rodriguez, as you mentioned, his contract situation is tough. You'd probably have to eat money to trade him away. And then Brandon Fott and Ryan Nelson are both, I think, really valuable trade chips and pieces that the diamondbacks

probably need moving forward. It's the future. of their starting routine. Exactly. They cannot start taking away those pieces. At this point, they need to start acquiring those pieces. And according to this report, they said that Arizona has expressed interest in adding another late innings reliever.

As we talked about yesterday, we said that, you know, they have Justin Martinez, they have A.J. Puck, but it still feels like they would rather have an official closer to fill that role and let everybody else know what their role is backing, you know, that individual up from there. It was just depending on if they would give these guys a shot or if they would try to try to go out and get someone like that. That could be on the line or the piece also said that Diamondbacks could accomplish this through free agency or via trade when it comes to the back end closer.

But if they trade one of their veteran starters, it's also possible they could land a younger option in return. And so it doesn't necessarily state that they are going to trade one of their veteran options, but they're saying like that could yield a bigger return. Obviously, we know the Diamondbacks want to move in that younger direction beyond 2025 and try to figure out what their next generation of this team essentially is going to be beyond Zach Gallen and some of these other guys being here right now. But it does feel like, you know, this is starting to grow.

You know, at least there was smoke. Now we're pretty sure there's fire there. And this article confirms it in regards to what the Diamondbacks might be looking for and that they are receiving these calls and having these conversations in regards to training these guys. Like Jesse said, trading Jordan Montgomery and his. contract makes the most sense and yields the least in return right yeah you're probably not getting much of anything back but you're saving some money but you're saving some money right there's a good chance that you could save yourself maybe 15 million dollars and considering the diamond back's financial constraints

in 2025 as little as that is that's a lot of money for what they still need to accomplish as far as filling some roles you know they still need to go out there and find a first basement they also still need to figure out what they're going to do at designated hitter. Outside of that, you could say they're fairly set up well where they wouldn't really have a need to go out there. It's not to say they wouldn't want to go out there and still add somebody of value or of talent to this team. They're always looking to do that, especially a left-handed outfielder. That's diminutive in size, right? That's definitely constantly on their radar. But I will say that, you know, they do have some needs that they kind of have to fill before next season, the surplus of starting pitching, not just right now on the main roster,

but like Jesse said, they have depth pieces in the minor leagues as well. Gilbert Diaz proved that he could pitch at a major league level. Dre Jameson will be returning from injury, and we don't know how he could factor in. We do know that he was a starting pitcher and could return to that role if needed, right? So the Diamondbacks have options beyond, you know, just trying to have Ryan Nelson, you know, kind of be that in-between guy and going with the five veteran guy. George Montgomery, it seems like is an easy option there. I still feel like Zach Gallen, even though unlikely is going to bring you the highest return, right?

Yeah, 100% by far. And then, well, he would, he would bring you the highest return of the guys that I think are, are realistic to consider trading. I actually think you could maybe get more for Brandon fought in a trade. Yeah, you could. No, no, no, no, you're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. Or maybe even Ryan Nelson. It's, it's because of the diamond backs wanting to stay in control of guys like that.

Yeah. I guess, yeah, you're right. I don't think they're going to, I don't think they're going to trade those guys. So, yeah. I'm approaching it like they're off the table to be, like honestly. And it's not to say they are, right? Like Brandon Fought again, Brandon Fott is another guy that still, I feel like, has a very bright future ahead of him. And I still don't feel like we've seen the best version of Brandon Fought.

We've seen glimpses of it and glimpses in the biggest moments. I mean, arguably, Brandon Fod is one of the only pictures in the starting rotation that, like, when the lights are brightest is at his best, you know, he's, still has had his, you know, his fault. He still made some mistakes and hasn't had a flawless career. Again, if the return for him is big enough, then, yeah, I could see that even being an option. I don't think anybody's off the table right now. I just think the Diamondbacks at this point are, you know, they have two choices, right? They can they can mortgage the future to bolster this team and try to win now this season and really make this, like really make a significant push talent-wise

to try to, I guess, stack up in some way against teams like the Dodgers and the Yankees. Or they can, you know, again, try to at least be a little bit in on 2025 season, maintain their competitive, you know, maintain being competitive because they will, but also maybe start to build towards beyond 2025 now. And I don't think that is the dumbest decision, even though it's a little painful. It's not going to feel the greatest to see someone like Zach Gallen or Merrill Kelly be traded. Merrill Kelly, like you said, he's just, I don't see it. No, I don't either.

Zach Gallen is the, he's the big name. He's the guy that I think teams are willing to trade a seriously good prospect for, potentially. Merrill Kelly, you know, because of the shoulder injury last year, and he did look pretty, pretty darn good toward the very end of the season. But you're definitely going to net more in a trade for Zach Gallen. I did, I didn't hear this directly myself, but from some other people, I've heard that, apparently Gambo yesterday said on the radio that if the diamondbacks trade at Jordan Montgomery, that they potentially might not have to eat any money at all, which to me seems almost impossible. It's very hard for me to imagine that outcome.

But if somehow that is the case that the diamondbacks can trade Montgomery and maybe get nothing in return but not have to eat any of the money, then that seems like almost a no-brainer. You can do a lot with $20 million. that would be a huge, you know, hugely meaningful for the Diamondbacks off season. Bring back Christian Walker. Yeah, I mean, that in itself pays for the 2025 season of Christian Walker. So I'm a little skeptical, but if that is the case, then, yeah, that would be huge. And the Diamondbacks should probably do that.

I just don't know who would do that and who would trust that. Now, obviously, people in baseball aren't stupid. They know that Montgomery's season in 2024 could definitely be an outlier. And there are plenty. there are plenty of reasons to believe that. You know what I mean? Like to believe he's going to bounce back in 2025 and be what he was in 2023

is actually more believable to me. And I'm just, maybe I'm just too cautiously optimistic about it. But like, that's more believable to me than him being as bad as he was last year again in 2025, right? Yeah.

I mean, I guess the other maybe explanation for that comment could be if the Diamondbacks are taking a contract back. So they're not like they're not technically eating any of Montgomery's money, but maybe, you know, if they're taking back a contract of a player that's, that's a lesser value, but still not a great contract, maybe that's what Gambo is referring to. But yeah, any opportunity to save money on Jordan Montgomery, like I think it makes, it makes a decent amount of sense for the debacks given how they're, I think financially they're going to be, they're going to be limited, obviously. I don't know if they're going to be able to check all the boxes they'd like to, uh, with the Montgomery. money still here.

So, yeah, I definitely think he's he's the most likely out of the starters to be moved. Well, this is definitely not the last time we're going to talk about this. And next week we'll kind of take a deep dive and maybe some of the returns of the Diamondbacks could receive. We did talk about Devin Williams earlier this week. We do know there's some other interesting names that are kind of coming up. So hopefully we'll get a chance to kind of go through those and why, you know, it might make sense for the Diamondbacks to pull the trigger on a trade like this,

despite the fact that it could impact their chances next season. Yeah, yeah. It's not just part of the report was about the Diamondbacks attracting interest in their starting pitching. And the other part is that the Diamondbacks are looking to trade for or sign a high leverage relief or someone who may be as closing experience. And yeah, you mentioned it. We talked about Devin Williams the other day.

There's some other interesting names along those lines. Those things just kind of lined up pretty well. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And there are some other interesting names. that I think could be had in trade as well. And yeah, I mean, in general, you just, it can be a little scary to pay top dollar in free agency

for some of those back end relievers. So meeting that need via trade could make the most sense. Especially if it's just a short-term deal, again, where the Diamondbacks could bring someone in for maybe next season or two seasons. You feel like the potential for Justin Martinez to kind of break out and be. Yeah, you don't need like, five years of a closer necessarily yeah but someone someone that give you some stability in 2025 maybe 2026 that that definitely makes sense i saw our guy mr bananas say hello to us so i just want to

give a shout out to stephen bananas thank you guys for coming thank you all for being here in the phn export youtube channel we always appreciate you guys stopping by make sure you subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so already hit that like button we always love when you do that hit the notifications button that way you don't miss whenever our shows go live sometimes we're crazy around here we just do breaking podcasts. With the news coming out the way it is with Major League Baseball, we never know what we might have to do of breaking news podcasts. Make sure you're ready for that. Of course, if you're listening on the audio podcasting side of things, make sure you subscribe over there on your favorite app. Make sure you also leave us a review. We love those five-star reviews and we also

love that feedback so much. We thank you guys, of course, so much for doing so. On the other side of this break, we are going to break down Cotel Marte's 2024 season and give our grades, which spoiler alert are probably going to be pretty good considering the season we had. So don't go for yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's giving them F something. So make sure you guys don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

Of course, thank you guys so much to those of you that came out to chicken and pickle last night for our trivia night. You guys make events like that so fun. And of course, the Diamondbacks crew kind of cleaned up. We got our guy, Chris and Phoenix taken first place. We got our crew consisting of bread and a little bit of, Charles Woodall Pike getting second place and I know Groundhog Mama Coggs, Jake and Albert got third place.

So no surprise there that the Diamondbacks fans are the smartest fans. But we thank you guys, of course, for coming out. And of course, if you want to make sure you go back to Chicken and Pickle, if you didn't join us last night, you got to check out that facility.

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And again, big thank you to all of you that came out last night. Also, big thank you to Desert Financial Credit Union. They helped me get started on my home ownership journey, and I'm so grateful that they did. Hopefully they could get you started as well. For more than 84 years, Desert Financial has been Arizona's largest, most trusted local credit union. and they're dedicated to creating exceptional experiences by giving back to the community and providing financial solutions that help make your life better. You can look to Desert Financial for checking in savings accounts, mortgages, loans, credit cards, investment options, and so much more.

Join a credit union that is committed to giving back to the community and sharing success with their members. When you open a free checking account online right now, you can get $200 in bonuses. Get started by visiting desertfinancial.com slash 200 today. And of course, we give Desert Financial a huge thank you for always making sure auditing our count on postgame shows because without them, you know, our numbers definitely would not be correct. So thank you to DFCU. Speaking of numbers, not being correct, speaking of finances being kind of out of whack, Jesse, there's an alternate universe where Cotell Marte doesn't sign an extension with the Arizona Diamondbacks. and he would become a free agent right now. Yeah.

He would be a free agent this off season alongside of Christian Walker. And could you only imagine the nightmare that that would be? Because Cotel Marte, with the way he played in 2024, would be receiving top dollar on the open market. And I'm sure he will once he does become a free agent. But very thankful that the Arizona Diamondbacks assigned him to that. Now very thrifty extension looking back on. on it. And of course, we are going to talk about Cattel's 2024 season because it was an incredible

year. I mean, I think that we all knew that Cotel was going to come into this season healthy and going to be a leader of this young team. But I didn't think that we really expected Cotel to, for at least a considerable portion of the season, give Shohay Otani a run for the National League MVP. He was unbelievable. I mean, you see the numbers here, 292, 372, 560 slash line. 36 homers 95 RBI up over six wins above replacement and oh by the way he you know he missed like multiple weeks toward the end of the season with an injury so um yeah could tell is is what what an unbelievable season this was for him um and he was the diamond backs would not have been anywhere close to the postseason frankly if could tell martay had not been able to do what he did um and uh yeah

You mentioned the extension earlier, like imagining the Diamondbacks with Catelle Marte as an impending free agent. Like that's not a happy thought exactly. No, it's not. No, no, no, no. And in March of 2022, the Diamondbacks agreed to a five-year, $76 million extension with Catele-Marté that guaranteed his options in 23 and 24. And tacked on three more years, 2025, 2025, 26, 27, plus a club option in 2020. that the extension looks incredible now based on the performance that kattel's given this team based on how expensive similar players you know based on how much money they were getting

what's wild is when this extension happened i remember it being like oh that's a pretty it's pretty good deal like i don't remember like being like blown away and being like oh my god the diamond back's just absolutely like no like under like low balled kattel i can't believe he agreed to this like it just felt like okay cool Tell is a good player. I'm glad he's going to be around for, you know, a while. Diamondbacks don't really keep guys around, you know. And so this was great.

But now that he has performed at the level that he performed at this season, it's hard not to look back on this and be like, wow, what a steal. Yeah. I mean, it's also weird because, you know, he signs that deal in March of 2022. And then Cotel Marte's 22 season was not particularly good, right? He was around a league average hitter. he was starting to just not look as athletic. We were having conversations about Catelle needing to move to first base, maybe just needing to DH because he just didn't have the athleticism to handle second base.

Obviously, there were, you know, he has a long track record of injuries as well that was contributing to that. He was great defensively at second base until he moved to center field. And then that was just an absolutely failed experiment. Not only did he get injured as a center fielder, but it didn't work. He wasn't good as a center field flat. out like he just couldn't play the position well and then yeah he returned he held his own but yeah it was not it was not an ideal situation given some of some of kettle's just general durability concerns correct and so

then you know you you move forward to you know this season and you finally had a healthy kettle or you know at 2023 you finally had a kettle who was getting healthy and i i still think and i brought this up several times going back to, you know, when he got nominated to start the All-Star game, I still think about the comments he made about playing healthy for the first time in his career and what that meant to him. And like, again, how his health impacted his ability to be this incredible player that he was this past season, right? I mean, we just take that for granted how often these players are playing every single day with nagging injuries that we don't really know about. I mean, we do. It's like, yeah, it's still a hamstring. It's still this. It's like it's not keeping me on the injured

list. It's not preventing me from playing baseball, but it does make me run a step slower. It does make sometimes hitting a little bit harder. You know, it makes, you know, I guess the recouping from a game, you know, more difficult when you don't get the same amount of rest and you're just kind of in the pain that these guys can be in. Yeah, absolutely. Health is is everything for Cattel. And it feels like when he is fully healthy, really this guy is the limit for him. some folks in the chat are pointing out that there are escalators in in kital martay's contract which is true his 2023 through 28 base salaries would increase by three million dollars with a finishing first through third in MVP voting in the prior season or that increases two million dollars if he finishes fourth to

seventh so he's definitely going to finish somewhere in the top seven yeah for this off season we'll we'll find out soon exactly where that lands. But yeah, you're okay giving the guy a couple more million dollars if he's finishing in the top seven in MVP voting. Like, yeah, I think he probably deserves that. I did some work just trying to figure out, like, why was Ketel so incredible this season? We've seen him be good in the past,

but what exactly was it that allowed him to be just elite in a way that we've really never seen before, if you look at some of the underlying numbers? And the explanation that really stood out to me was the fact that Ketel me, Marte just absolutely destroyed four seam fastballs in 24 in a way that we have never seen him do before. You look at his numbers in 2023 against four seamers,

which, by the way, Kattel in 2023, pretty darn good player. Like, yeah, had a pretty good regular season, you know, was the NLCS MVP. But in 2023, Kattel had a 290 batting average and a 426 slugging percentage against four seamers, which is solid, but not, you know, doesn't exactly jump off the page. In 2024, Catelle hit 354 against forcing fastballs with a 684 slugging percentage. And all of the batted ball data, the expected stats, they all support that. That was not a flu. Cotell Marte just absolutely obliterated forcing fastballs last year at a 6.6% barrel rate against four seamers this year. That was 16.3. Last year, a 40.8% hard hit rate. This year, 61.5. Kattel actually struck

out more this year. He actually chase pitches out of the zone more. He swung and missed more, but he destroyed fastball so much more than he ever has in the past. And that's why we're talking about Ketel having arguably the best season he's ever had. What's crazy about the barrel percentage on on the fastball is that like six percent is about as mediocre average wise as you can get. Like barrel percentage, it's like 6 to 8, 6 to 9% is average. Good, fine. And then somewhere between 10 and 15% would be considered like very good, maybe even great, right? When you consider he jumped from 16.6% to 16.3%.

He went from mediocre average to like off the charts as far as barreling up on fastballs. And I mean, again, it's just it's what? what factors there. I mean, you know, part of it is the fact that his, you know,

chase rate, you know, his whiff rate went up actually, right? Yeah, yeah. He wasn't like Ketel made, like,

really great swing decisions compared to his past or like he stopped swinging and missing. Yeah, he's still being very aggressive is what it really is, right? But he, because he, he was worse in those categories.

And is not a lot significantly. Still, like, in the same range of being, you know, averaged out, right? But he went from 24.5%

to 20%, 26%. He goes whiff rate from 20.5% to 21.3, small jump. But still, like, again, it's not like he is picking better balls to hit or waiting for things in the zone or something like that. He's just hitting the, beating the tar out of the baseball, basically. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, it's, uh, that's pretty good. That's pretty good. He was also good defensively. One conversation we've had, and I mean, one thing that definitely could be studied is like, bringing Catea back at the end of the season. You know, you had Kevin Newman, who was playing some great defense for this team.

And even though Catele Marte is a superstar, it felt like there was a point where they just kept trying to bring him back too early. And that could have maybe cost this team. Maybe not just at the plate with Catell not really being able to produce, but maybe defensively because throughout the majority of the season, he was incredible.

But they're down the stretch, he got that terrible injury, which Damon will still scream about if I ever bring up. So I'm not going to right now because I don't want to set him off. Friday. He's not even in the building. No, he is. He just walked by. I could feel the vibes.

Like, I don't know, something. It's like a ghost passed by me and whispered in my ear. Garrett stops. But anyway, Kattel, again, just wasn't the same after that point. But before that, you know, he was so good that you can kind of understand why Tori Lavalo and the Diamondbacks were just wanted, needed Tim to get back in the lineup so badly. You know, it's that right there, that decision is probably right up. there with like needing to get Paul Seawald back in the closing position. Maybe it wasn't a good decision and maybe you weren't doing it based on the actual data in the moment. Maybe it was just on

the fact that like when Paul Seawald was the closer, somehow everything was magical. So we need to get him back there. When Cotel Marte is in there, magic things happen. He was good for this team all year long. We talk about Gino and Corbin kind of resetting in July. Catell never stopped. I mean, Catell outside of being injured and missing time was just you know, himself for the entire season, which was one of the best players of baseball. Yeah, it's, it's really wild for me to think back to when Ketel first arrived in, in Arizona. Diamondbacks make this trade. I believe it was the first, the first move that.

The Taiwan Walker trade. Yeah, the Taiwan Walker trade. And yeah, little did we know that that Ketel Marte and really Mitch Hanigur were going to be the biggest names in that deal when all was said and done. But even then, like, I'm not sure I looked at the 2017 version of Cattel and saw superstar, right? Or even the 2018 version of Cattel. Suddenly in 2019, he just started hitting absolute bombs. He had 32 home runs that year. He hit well over 300.

But also, the baseball was a little crazy in 2019. And so you didn't really know what to make of it. And then in 2020, he comes back during the pandemic, obviously a very weird season. And he wasn't the same guy. He didn't really hit for much power at all. And so there was still this question of like, okay, what exactly is Catelle? Is 2019? Was that just sort of a one year aberration?

And then from what we've seen the last few years, I know that 2022 season wasn't ideal. He was hurt for, you know, significant portions of that year. But you look back over these last couple seasons now and it's like, yes, Cotel Marte is absolutely one of the best players in baseball. I know this is probably not fair to speculate because I don't know if any of this is true. but I do feel like being around him quite a bit. I've gotten to know at least a little bit about Catelle Marte. And that man loves life.

He loves having fun. And I think he really does have this vibrance to him that's hard to describe and not really something that you see in a lot of athletes. A lot of baseball players to get where they're at have this kind of deranged focus, this dedication to the game that that's how they got there. And like Catell just seems like one of those guys. it's just having the best time when he plays baseball, but he's just naturally very good at it.

Honestly, the one thing that I've seen over the years of covering him is his dedication to like off-season training and like his fitness. I mean, he went from being a fairly scrawny, smaller guy when the Diamondbacks acquired him to now like, I mean, you don't get to see Catell with his shirt off much, but let me tell you just from experience, he's ripped. He's gigantic compared to what he was.

The man is, is a beast. Right? And like he again, he's like, uh, his bat speed against, uh, we got actual numbers on bat speed this year. And his bat speed from the right side of the plate is, is insane. It's insane. And like we also saw that this team went to the world series. And within three weeks, there were videos of Ketel, I believe back at home in the Dominican Republic, just training. Like it was a rocky montage. I mean, he was just out there taking BP, just killing it. Like, and I think again, as you get old, older as maybe as you, again, you mature, you do like you find that dedication to this. And I get, I think like again, just speculating. It feels like Catell is the kind of guy that naturally is very good at the game of baseball. But when he started truly dedicating himself to stepping up and getting to like an elite level, he was able to achieve it. And he did that in 2024. And I think it's through because you hear that a lot like Tori talks about how hard Cotel has worked during the off season to get here. and the dedication and the process and everything like that and like again i think like that's one

thing that i've seen out of kattel could tell any and any i think also it's he does it independently like so much of it is him just doing it on his own and like he might not be the first guy that shows up to salt river fields in the morning but that's because he was probably already putting in six hours somewhere else it feels like you know and i i i give him a lot of credit for the fact that he's just like really happy with where he's at and and again he was like I said earlier we really happy he was finally able to achieve a level of health this season where he could perform as like he did one of my favorite could tell narratives is you know he hit a lot he had a lot of homers this year right he had 36 of them but the fact that 22 of those home runs came in either the

first inning or the ninth inning was just yeah was just fascinating oh you 13 first inning home runs this year and he hit nine in the ninth inning, which is insane. And of course, like a lot of those ninth inning home runs were game changing. We're huge. We're clutch. And I think that's another narrative with Cattel is when the game is on the line, you know, some superstars kind of have this narrative where they're, you know, they're great players, but they don't rise to the occasion in those big moments. Cattel is not that guy. I mean, he has risen to the occasion time and time again for this team. He's a huge reason that they made the run that they did last year in the playoffs. And during the regular season, he came, he came through in those big moments time and

time again. I mean, he set a major league record for hitting streak in the postseason. Like that's pretty impressive. And considering the gaps in, in years between that he spent in order to get that record is an amazing, is an amazing feat, right? Mel Flores says, I just got here. What did I miss? Let's see it's a dark day in history because this was the day back of 2006 diamondback switch for purple and teal to sidona red and sand and clearly both of us yeah so we hate those colors so much and black all of them diamondbacks are probably trading a starting pitcher and kutel martay is awesome now he's more so now than he ever was and uh yeah that's where we're at we're about to give our grades to katel marty in fact mel so don't go anywhere we will do that on the other side of this break we appreciate you

guys all sticking around. And we also have to talk a little bit about some Arizona Fally because the Fall Stars game is happening this weekend. I hope you guys have a chance to make it out there. Talk about all this on the other side of this break. Big shout out to Brandon Bill's hats behind me. I also have to point out that I hung up this hat rack. So there's I got pat myself on the back too. But it's a local company from right here in Mesa, Arizona. So I'm happy to work on their behalf. They have partnerships with ASU and U of A and they could have partnerships with you if you are looking to get some custom gear they have some amazing apparel and amazing hats for you to check out and of course if you are looking for some gear to make your

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Well, it is time for us to grade Cotell Marte's 2024 season. And I think that, of course, you know, things are going to probably be pretty positive here. We kind of preface that with us kind of glowing about how good he was. But again, like Jesse said, kind of had to dig in the. the numbers to really see what made him stand out because Kattel as a player kind of always always is himself. You know, again, that's something that I really like about Kutel. I talk to Jesse about this a lot when we're watching games, but just the little antics that Kutel has in between, you know, plays in between innings. His mannerisms are amazing. They're just hilarious.

And unintentionally hilarious. He's not trying to be funny. But I do think he's having a good time out there. And I think that's the thing I love about him. Like when you talk about life, right, you got to find something you love to do as much as Cotel Marte loves to play baseball. Because when you do, you'll find yourself being unintentionally funny all the time as well. And I can think that that's what's happened here is this man found his true calling in life. And I also still love thinking back to spring training when despite the fact it never worked throughout the season, he did get somebody who stepped off second base by holding the glove with the ball on there. And That was just, I like wanted to stand and applaud, but that's frowned upon in the press box.

Jesse, it's time to give out some grades. You are, of course, teacher here at PHNX. So I will let you kick things off. Okay. All right. Here's what I got for Cite. We broke this out into six different categories. The first one is hit.

I'm going with an A there. Power. I have A plus. Don't know what more you really could have expected in that regard. No. To lead the lead the team in home runs? No. Defense.

I have A. he was a gold glove finalist. His defensive metrics were excellent. Had it not been for some guy named Bryce Terrang, he probably wins the gold glove at second base. I'll get to my dog in a second. Durability. I have a C plus.

And that sort of, that might feel a little harsh. Like Citell was healthy for most of the season. I think that one of the big, I think one of the criticisms you could make of Cotel Marte is that when the season was, on the line in the last week, it was not Tori Lavello who chose to sit Catell in the first game of that giant series. It was Cotel himself, which chose to sit that game out. And I don't want to like, I don't know what Catell was feeling that day, right? I mean, it feels like he probably

was totally justified in asking for that day. I don't want to invalidate, like, a player asking for a day off when they need it. But I also think that it's reasonable to at least question if maybe that's a day where Katel could have really pushed through. Obviously, the way the Diamondback season ended, they were one win short of making the playoffs, and they lost the game that Katel sat out. So do I think that things necessarily change if Katel plays that day? No, I don't. But it's one criticism that you could possibly have.

Jesse, you and I have been doing this show together for 38 months. Is it? I have never, besides actually going on PTO, have never sat down with you. in this studio before the show started and said, Jesse, I just can't do it today. I don't have it in me. But I feel like if I did, you would be like, holy crap, I got to give the, okay, we got to do something about this, right?

Catele-Marté strikes me as that kind of guy. And I think the reason why all of that went down was because Tori was receiving the criticism that he was simply for benching him at a very important time. And that's why Cotel, like, stood up for his manager a little bit and wanted to be like, hey, no, I didn't feel right, right? I don't hold that against him But I do understand what you're saying

And when it comes to his durability, I do You know, again, it's not just this year You could say And mine's very close to yours My grade isn't far off I don't mean to be speaking for you But when it comes to his durability You could say like him saying

That this is the first year That he's played pain free Shows he is durable But it also shows that he has not really been Like 100% Probably for a very long time I mean he brought up years He wasn't just saying like

Oh this is the first time playing pain free in 2024. It was like the first time playing pain free in years you know and so again there's that where that you know those injuries kind of pile up and make it hard to 100% trust them

especially like we saw there in the biggest moments but again that's yeah. Garrett stops. So my overall grade is an A and yeah I think maybe C++ is too harsh on durability. He played 136 games. That's a pretty complete season. It was really clear though toward the

of the year that he was being impacted by the injury he didn't look like quite the same level of player uh post uh post garret stubb's moment uh as he looked before that and obviously that's not kettel's fault so maybe maybe c plus is is a little bit harsh but i've got an a overall um i think the only thing you maybe could have hoped for beyond what kutel gave you this year is that he's able to play the full season and um you know if he does that he's probably not beating show hay otani in the MVP race, but he'd be right up there with him. And then I guess I should talk about the dog that I have selected. This is a Yorkshire Terrier.

Explain yourself. The explanation, Derek, is that I found a quiz online that was which dog breed are you. There were a lot of questions. And I answered the, I did it as could tell. And I swear I was taking this quiz for like an hour before the show. Thoreau. Jesse might have taken a psychological exam without knowing it. There were like 100,000 ads on every single page of the, like, I'm pretty sure this, this site made like $30 on me just sitting there laboring through this quiz. But it gave me Yorkshire Terrier and I tried to answer all the questions as could tell given what I know about him as a person as a player.

When it came to like what his other occupation would be, it was like police officer, superhero model. Yeah, we chose model. Model was the answer. Model was the answer. Cattel is a very fashionable guy, and Yorkshire Terriers are very fashionable dogs, right? Yeah, that's true. They are very fashionable. They're kind of flashy, right?

They are kind of flashed. Cte tells the guy who's like out there doing a shimmy before he throws the runner out at first base. People do not like this. I'm just going to say people are turning out of you. I felt that given how much time I invested in this quiz, Derek, I simply could not convince myself to go any other directions. I get it. I get it. I understand.

Mine's going to come a little bit. out of left field, but I also used to be a vet tech, so, and my wife still lives. You just know dog. I know dog. I know dog. You know ball. I know dog. Let's get to my grades. Let's see what I gave. Obviously, yeah, hit in power. I gave A plus there. His defense, I think I think

Cotel Marte is an A plus like capable defender. I just don't know if Cotel always gives the best of efforts at all times. And I think that there are certain guys, in baseball that do. Those are the guys that you are usually like this guy is a beast on defense. And like you said,

I don't disagree that he, you know, he was a gold glove finalist. I don't disagree that it's not, you know, it's not there. Like the qualifications are there for him to be there right at an A, you know,

defender. But I just saw too many things. And especially, like I said earlier, like his, maybe it's his durability there, which I gave him a B minus four that held him back. But he definitely wasn't playing great defense there when it mattered

the most so it's hard for me to give him that. That is true. And that's really what it was because if you look back at some of those games, his, you know, Catell just cost them at times. And so did, honestly, so did Jerry P. This team, of course, just wasn't at its finest when we needed them to be, you know, when those games really were on the line. So I think that still sticks in my mind.

Overall, I did give him an A and it's hard not to give, you know, I don't know. It's hard not to give Cattel an A, maybe even A plus for the. the 2024 season. Outside of that blemish of being injured, which wasn't his fault at all, you know, that's the only thing that you could consider, like I said, with his durability and with a missing time, would keep him back. Now, let's go back to my scorecard because, or my report card here, because the dog in him is a dog many people might not be familiar with, but it's called an American village dog, or as we call him in Puerto Rico, a potcake dog. Pot cake dogs are actually a breed of dog from the Caribbean, right? There's one checkmark there,

or why it's could tell. And they're named after what pot cake is considered is like when you make like a pot of rice with like saffron and like chickpeas or gombanzos in it. And there's those pieces at the bottom that's like stuck to the pan. That's kind of that can be referred to as pot cake. So what when I was in school in Puerto Rico in high school, my classmates used to love that crap and they would like scrape it off and cut it into little squares and they'd be like, ooh, give me one of those. And they'd put it and I'd be horrified. But a lot of times in the Caribbean, we would just give that part to dogs as like a treat, right? Because no one was going to eat it. A lot of times we're going to throw it in the trash. So that's kind of how they became that loving term of potcake dogs. Potcake dogs are the most loyal, loving dogs you've ever met in your life. And a lot of times in the Caribbean, there's no humane society. So these dogs literally like travel in packs and just exist. Like it was the wildest thing to me growing up in the United States and then going back to Puerto Rico and just seeing packs of dogs roaming around. right but potcake dogs are awesome they have the most personality i've ever seen in a dog and of course

they're very unique like they are this wonderful like melting pot of of combinations of dogs but the dna testing is proven that they're like an actual breed that exists in the caribbean and again it's just something about them that they're just so they're such cool dogs like that's my memory of seeing them all the time like again we don't have dogs wandering around just living their best life like tramp from Lady in the Tramp in Disney, right? Like, we don't have that, but in Puerto Rico, they totally do. And I'm sure those dogs exist in the Dominican, too, based on an internet search than I did. But just again, when you talk about Kattel being a very unique individual, just being himself,

being a fiercely loyal teammate and being someone that loves what he's doing, as much as those dogs love going around and getting those delicious treats of potcakes. That's all I can think of. Plus, it's hard to see in that little image on the report card. but if you throw it back up there, I mean, even with his little ear flopped over and stuff, he's got the swag, the Riz, if you will, of Catelle Marte there in that picture. So that's why I went with Pondcake Dog. So there's my choice.

I mean, just thinking about your, you're talking about loyalty and whatnot. Cotel Marte is one of the longer tenured Diamondbacks players, right? I mean, this goes back to 2017. So this was his eighth season as a member of Diamondbacks. is under team control for three more years with a club option for another year beyond that. I mean, he'll go down as one of the greatest players in Diamondbacks history, I feel like. I mean, I'm starting it to the point that I would consider Cotel by the end of his time with this team. If he does, if he does remain with this team throughout that tenure and can be as good as he was this season,

Cattel's going on that Mount Rushmore. I mean, he's going up there. He's going up there next to Paul Goldschmidt. He's going up there next to Randy Johnson and maybe, I don't know, Luis Gonzalez, Brandon Webb. I don't know. There's some other names you put up there. There's one name that I refuse to put up there, and that's Kurt Schilling. But anyway, Cotel Marte again. Right now, he's the man for this team. And, you know, maybe Corby and Carroll is the man of the future for this team.

But in the here and now, it's great to see the way that he's blossomed and become this player that I don't think either one of us ever thought he would be when they made this trade back in, what, 2017? Yeah, yeah, Ketel is already among position players. He is already based on total B-war with the Diamondbacks. he's already third all time on that list. It's Paul Goldschmidt number one, Louise Gonzalez, number two, and Catele-Marte number three. And I think Catell is probably going to pass Gonzo on that list this year.

And he is on track to pass Paul Gultzman at the by the end of his contract if he continues to be a highly productive player. So it's not all that crazy that in 2027, 2028, we're talking about Cotel Marte, at least in terms of total wins above replacement with the Diamondbacks, being the best diamondbacks position player of all time. You guys wanted a statue of Paul Goldschmidt. Anyway, well, okay.

Paul Goldsmith is still maybe like... We're not doing it. We're not doing it, Friedman. We'll do it next time, but we're not doing it today because we still think he might come back to this team. So I got to watch what I say. But we do have to take one last quick break. On the other side of this break, we got some fall league ball. Talk about Fall Stars game with a few Diamondbacks appearing in that game.

So we're excited to talk about that. Excited to see them in that game. So don't you go anywhere. we'll be right back. Of course again, we thank you guys so much for coming out to our wonderful PHNX events. If you have not had a chance to join us, we have so much going on all the time. So make sure to just check out our page over at go phnx.com slash events to see whatever we have going on. Right now we have the PHNX Territorial Cup takeover on November 30th. That's presented by our friends neutral and branded bills. We have a pregame meetup at the bourbon event in Tucson

food, food and drink is included. A game ticket to the Territorial Cup is also included. So of course, If you are a big ASU, you of a fan, make sure to join us for that. ASU is going to kick the crap out of them and take that cutback. Also, PHNX Winter Ball tournament is on December 14th at Chicken and Pickle in Glendale. So make sure you join us for that. We're actually going to be playing. I'm going to be playing. I'm going to make sure Jesse's playing.

We're all going to come out. We have doubled the field since our first tournament with 48 teams this year. All skill levels are welcome. PH&X prizes will be on the line. We'll have food and drink specials. And of course, proceeds are going to a wonderful cause, going to Operation Santa Claus. So again, hit all of those up and go. p hnx.com slash events and we will also be out at hila river resorts and casinos for our cardinals

and sun's watch parties so of course make sure to find out how to hang out with us go to our website on that but anyway just go to hila river resorts and casinos don't wait for us to invite you out there you go have a great night with your friends with your significant other maybe even i don't know a solo staycation i'm not opposed to it i went to a movie once by myself and i might be on board with that. But you can check out any one of their four locations to experience the best that the valley has to offer. You can go big and go home a winner. They have amazing food options. Of course, they have 4,500 slots, live table games and so much entertainment to be had. They also have their sports books, of course, for all of you sports fans out there. So head to Heela River

Resorts and Casinos and let them show you what the next level is all about. You do you at Heala Resorts and Casinos. Visit play athela.com for more details. All right. Well, like we said tonight is the Arizona Fall League Home Run Derby. That's very exciting. And then we have the Arizona Fall League Fall Stars game taking place tomorrow night. Both of those events are taking place at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona. Unfortunately, Jesse, we have no debacks participating in the Home Run Derby, which that's sad because I know in the past, I think we had Davis and Dalo Sanchez. That was a couple years ago. That was pretty exciting to watch. But we do have two guys being featured there in the Fall Stars game, Tommy Troy and Gino Groover are both on the National League teams for the fall stars, which is great. Both guys have been having an amazing fall league, especially Tommy Troy.

We talked about him starting things off going one for 25 and then just absolutely turning things around and, you know, being on fire. We also have Andrew Pintar, who was part of the AJ Puck trade being a participant. He is part of the Phillies system, right? Well, he's part of the Marlon system. Marlon system, I apologize. Okay, I don't know. The Phillies, for some reason, the Phillies podcast were talking a lot about him.

So they had me confused. But 6 p.m. on Saturday night at Sloan Park for the Fall Stars game, 6.30 tonight for the home run derby. And I do know that that home run derby is a blast. You can go out there. We went out there and hung out on the lawn and attempted to catch fly balls. I did not catch any because, again, children 12 and under are, they're demons. They're small, they're small demons, you guys. They're relentless.

And they'll go, they'll go, they'll go at your joints. You know what I mean? They'll take you out of knees, take you out at the ankle. But it was a blast. It was. It was. Yeah, both of these events are a lot of fun. Definitely encourage people to go out and check it out if you haven't or if you weren't

already planning on doing so. Tommy Troy has had a very good fall league so far. He's sitting 291, 380, 468 has an 848 OPS. No surprises that he's on this roster. And then Gino Groover, who I wrote about yesterday over. at go phnx.com. Go read that right now. Stop what you're doing.

If you're watching the show, come back to us later. Go read that and then we'll have a quiz on it later. Gino Groover is batting 370 in the fall week. Which is pretty impressive. That's pretty good, Jesse. All but one of his 20 hits have been singles, which I think is kind of funny.

But yeah, he's hitting 370 with a 444 on base. I was going to say, that gets on base. That plays, baby. Yeah, that's our leadoff guy right there. And that's something I touched on in this story that I wrote. Yesterday, I talked with Termel Sledge, who is the AA Amarillo hitting coach. Gino did not spend a ton of time in AA this year, but he did finish the season there. I was called up on September 1st and was outstanding.

After that call up, I talked with Tim Bogar. I was the manager of the sod poodles. I talked with Javier Kalina, who's the manager of the Hillsborough Hopps as well, where Gino spent the majority of the season. So there's a lot of great quotes in there, stuff you won't find anywhere else. And you do have to become a diehard to read that story. You also have to be a diehard to see Ask Archie, right by the way, which we recorded a brand new episode last night. And I can guarantee you that once again, Archie said the phrase, I probably shouldn't say this on the show, but and then said it anyway.

So do not miss out on all of that great content. Go be a diehard right now. You get that membership card, free T-shirt of your choice, you get entrance to the Discord lounge, you get all of our premium written and visual content, and you get discounts on all of our events. We also decided that D-Backs After Dark is now going to be a live show that will be on the Discord. So all of you that are die-hards, prepare yourselves for me and Damon coming to you soon with D-backs after dark. But until then, you can follow us on Twitter. We thank you guys so much for being here. We would love it if you follow us on Twitter.

I'm at K-Man with A K. Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman. Of course, large, intimate Kevin Thomas is at Kev Tom Wright. Again, I don't care, Grand Hog, Mama. I'm not spelling it out. You figured it out. Good job. Everybody else can, too.

Our show is at P HNX underscore D-Backs, but all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Again, we thank you guys so much for your time. We will see you on Monday with another Mailbag Monday episode. And until then, have a wonderful weekend. Go watch some Arizona fall league baseball. And remember, kids, baseball is fun,

but it's so much more fun when you get a boatload in return for trading one of your starting pitchers.