PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - REPORT: MLB Insider Says Ketel Marte “Likely” To Be Traded, Red Sox Lead Race

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

As much as we want them to go away, the whispers about the Diamondbacks trading Ketel Marte continue to deafening.We break down Mark Feinsand’s report that the D-backs are “likely to trade” Marte, even though nothing new has emerged. Plus, hear from the newest Snake, Michael Soroka, on why he chose Arizona, his personal connection to the team, and how he’s adapted after multiple injuries. We also analyze how Luke Weaver could fit in the D-backs’ bullpen and why his 2025 numbers are more impressive than they seem.JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/Aura Frames: Exclusive $35 off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/PHNX. Promo Code PHNXPhoenix Raceway: Get your tickets now for March 5-8! https://www.phoenixraceway.com/march-cup-weekend/?CID=PIR_DI_TP_BA_PHNX26Spring_251120ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/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!Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotesChicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today!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/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.#dbacks #diamondbacks #arizonadiamondbacks #mlb #zacgallen #corbincarroll #ketelmarte #mlbtheshow #mlbtraderumors #tradedeadline #traderumors #allstargame Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I don't want to talk about Cotel Marte trade rumors anymore, but Damon is making me, and it's his fault. So I think if anybody here wants Cotel Marte traded, it's Damon. We're going to talk about it in 30 seconds. Don't you go anywhere. And welcome in to another edition of the P.HNX Diamondbacks podcast from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. It is I, your mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as Derek Montea.

And today I'm mad. I'm upset, I'm angry, and I am tired of the Cotel Marte trade rumors. Yet here we are discussing them again, and it's all Damon Farrell's fault. He's the one on the ones and twos. He's the one that wants Cotel Marte traded. He can't wait to do another Cotel Marte trade thumbnail and headline. I, meanwhile, over here wanted to talk about Michael Soroka, being a wholesome boy that wants to live in Arizona, which we will get to here shortly. but unfortunately, we got to address Cotel Marte trade rumors once again, and I hate it.

Of course, this show is brought to you by our friends at GameTime. Make sure to download that GameTime app, create an account, use our code of PH&X when you sign up. You'll get $20 off your first already low ticket purchase on those last minute ticket deals. In terms, do apply. Now, I made the metaphor, I think twice on the last couple of shows that putting the Cotel trade rumors to bed is like trying to put a small child that's excited for Christmas to bed on Christmas Eve. They don't want to go to bed. They don't want to stay.

They don't want to peacefully go away. They don't want to accept that it's that time for them to stop running around in our heads and instead need to go to bed. And again, even when you think they're put to bed, even when you hear Mike Hazen make comments about how this is no different than any year and there's no actual offers that are being, you know, kind of put out there that are good enough for this team to even consider trading Gattel. Here we are once again, hearing from MLB insider Mark Feinson.

And I think Michael Dixit said it in the chat. He said if the MLB insider is Jeff Passen, we're cooked, and Gatel Marte is gone. If it's Heyman, we're okay. Well, in this scenario, you might want to split the difference with Mark Feinson there. It's not to say that he is not a knowledgeable insider that has broken many stories. but in his article in regards to trade rumors and the best fits for certain free agents that are still available on the market, Feinson went on to say, All-Star's second basement could tell Marte appears likely to be moved,

even after Arizona signed Merrill Kelly to a two-year free agent contract. The Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Mariners are among the teams interested in Marte who can block trades to five teams. The athletic reported those teams are, as we covered yesterday. the athletics, the Yankees, the pirates, the giants, and the Cardinals. It's also been reported that the Boston Red Sox are the front runners now to acquire Cattel Marte. But not so fast. Because according to other reports and other insiders, especially close to the Boston Red Sox, we're hearing, Damon, that the Red Sox are not close to a trade package,

that they are not willing, it sounds like, to offer up enough for the Diamondbacks to accept an offer for Cotel Marte. And I think we have several tweets here. Yeah, I'm going to have it here in just one quick second. Sorry about that. Yeah, no, no problem. We have tweets about the Red Sox being further up than reported. Boston has been linked to the Diamondback second baseman for a minute now. I mean, other names have come up.

The Toronto Blue Jays also have been a team that have been connected to. Catell for a bit and the Mariners, which is no surprise because the Diamondbacks have an ongoing trade agreement, open trade agreement with the Mariners and Jerry Depoto. So it's a special symbiotic relationship. The Mariners have probably called about Corbin Carroll a thousand times. Oh my God. Jerry, Jerry probably jokes with Mike after they get off of talking about Catell. He's like, well, what do you think? And he's like, I'm thinking it's too much, Jerry. And he's like, all right, well, let me kick some things around with the team just to see. And we'll give you a call back. And he's like, all right, well, you have yourself a happy holidays. He's like, hey, Mike,

you do too. Hey, any chance Corbyn's available? And Mike's like, oh, Jerry, you know the answer to that and hangs up. I mean, I know we freaked out about the Corvin Carroll, like, you know, saying Mike Hazen being like Corbyn Carol, I mean, I'm getting trade offers for him. But at the same time, it's like, maybe it is just Jerry the Poto. Maybe it is just the Mariners that we're calling. He's being truthful and that he's getting calls on Corbyn, but it's a crazy lunatic who's trying to get a, you know, a hometown hero back home. Well, my thing with these trade rumors, Damon, is that they drive me nuts. I didn't even want to talk about this. Oh, they do. This is why I'm blaming Damon for us even having this as a headline today. He can attest to this. I hate this. I hate this because no offense to all

of these credible reporters who I respect and I admire and I've been a fan of like many of you for years. received my information on Major League Baseball from for years. It's just that when I hear all of these Cotel Marte trade rumors, I don't ever hear any actual news. Tell me some news. Tell me you talk to his agent. Tell me you talk to a source. Tell me you talk to someone within the Diamondbacks organization.

Say that there is something, you know, fishy. Tell me Cotel Marte is looking for houses in, you know, Toronto. Tell me something. Tell me something that's actually. tangible news to hold on to because all the tangible things we have to hold on to are quotes from Mike Hazen, who despite the fact that he has not outwardly said they are not trading Cotel Marte, has basically done everything short of that. And I think it's because Mike, like saying that they're not going to trade Cattel or acting like they're not receiving offers on him is only going to

make the rumors grow and make things be worse. I feel like he's been very honest and open about. it. However, I also don't feel like anything has really changed. I think that maybe the interests in teams have changed. I think that the, you know, obviously the amount of teams that think that they could kind of poach Cotel Marte and come in here, like the Diamondbacks are, you know, a dead animal on the side of the road and pick, pick the corpse here a little bit. Like, that's not the case. And this team is not in a mode where they are desperate to trade Cattel. The teams that have emerged here that Mark Feinson addressed are teams that have probably the assets in order to get Marte. It's just depending on what they are going to give up. The Diamondbacks have said

publicly and probably to all of these teams calling that they have been actively looking for young major league ready pitching in return, not just prospects. So we're not talking about prospects here. We're not talking about prospects, you know, that are major league. League Ready and right there knocking on the door. We are talking about players that have played a Major League Baseball. They might be young players. They might be guys, you know, obviously with years of control left. That's something that the Diamondbacks have to seek out here. We've talked about trades for a guy like Terrick Scoobal, maybe Freddie Peralta. None of those are a match for the Diamondbacks because it would make zero sense for them to trade somebody

who was under team control for as long as Katel is to a team that's going to bring them back, you know, a starting pitcher on an expiring contract at the end of the season. right and again the diamondbacks have said they are not actively shopping kattel martec we know about his five team trade list no trade list so i think we heard the pirates were one of the teams uh in in that conversation you're gone so that just kind of cuts it down to six teams based on those original seven you know mike hazen was just laughing his ass off at the pirates being reportedly yeah yeah he's like i bet i bet oh i bet i sure do they know do they They know what I know? Have they seen his contract?

Do they know that he actually named them as one of the teams he said, I will not be traded too? Right. But again, the cost here is entirely too high for most teams. And the cost, as Damon has looked at, is bumming out Red Sox fans. Red Sox fans are like, absolutely not, for most of these trade proposals. I'm looking at a, this is a, it comes from a official Red Sox podcast, Derek, that has 3,000 followers called PlayTessi.

They made a graphic that says, there's a handful of guys I'd trade Marcelo Mayer for. Catelle Marte is not one of them. And that's the discussion that's happening around Cotel Marte right now is that they believe that they're being like held at gunpoint for a, you know, slightly above average baseball player or something. And it's like, no, you're getting a top 10 hitter in the league. This is an MVP candidate.

You're getting a top 10 hitter in the league. a perennial MVP candidate on one of the best contracts in baseball. And unfortunately, you got to pay up if you want to get superstar level players. So I'm like if Marcello Mayer is where you draw the line, then where I'm telling you, lose this number. Lose this number forever. I'm good. Lose this number.

Like, don't call me back about Cattel then because you clearly don't even want to, you don't even want to begin to reach the threshold of where, you know, like Marcello Mayer is I'm starting the conversation, Derek. That's the key piece. And then I'm going, throw in Jaron Duran who you don't want and throw in a starting pitcher in your minor league system that has potential.

And that's the package I want, you know? So it's, I just think it's, it's baffling seeing all these fan bases be like, this is, uh, this is, this is somehow like, it's out of left field to expect, uh, one decent MLB caliber player and then like a prospect for.

or a top 10 hitter in the sport. It feels like people are trying to turn this into like the Rafael Devere's situation where the rift between the player and the organization is so great. Totally. Totally. That they're going to have to totally be, you know, this has to end. And Ketel has to leave this organization. And if he doesn't, things are just going to, no, absolutely not. Cattel's teammates adore Kattel.

I will say that. I don't know this, they might talk trash beyond his back. They might, some of them might hate him. I don't know. but what I've seen is true love for Catelle Marte from his fellow teammates. Merrill Kelly's his best friend. And they bring back his best friend. You expect me that you expect me to believe that they're going to reunite best friends and then tear them apart?

Like one of those best friends necklaces? That's not happening. Not in this organization. Not when the power of friendships are on the line, Derek. Oh, man. It makes me sick, Damon. But I think the reason why it makes me sick is because I can't shake this feeling that, again, There is smoke. Your house is on fire. We're sitting here on the patio right now watching black smoke plume out of our attic. And you and I are just drinking beers going, it's fine. It's fine. It's fine. And it doesn't feel fine. But what makes me feel fine is all of these reports that also say, Ketelmarte isn't being traded. In fact, every time we have something like this come out, I feel like we get more.

More reports that say, per a source, there is nothing moving on this situation, right? And that's kind of where we're at, Damon, is like, again, we have this bevy of tweets. We have all of these tweets, multiple sources, noted sources, Francis Ramiro. We got our guy, Gardo here. Gordo, we got Ari Alexander. Yeah. Someone hearing him very familiar with. I could break it down here pretty easily, Derek.

So Ari Alexander used to cover U of A in Tucson. He's a pretty reputable guy. Covered the Astros. Now covers the Red Sox. Says, latest on any potential Cotel Marte trade per league source, Red Sox are trying, but I don't think they've had much headway. And then says, the sense I've gotten all week from different people essentially boils down to this.

The debacks have a certain amount they want for Marte. The Red Sox have enough to get to that amount, and they haven't gotten to that amount yet. And then Francis Romero says nothing imminent regarding a possible Cotel Marte trade. So that is more so the, Derek and I assuming here, connecting some dots from the Catelle side of things, because Francis Romero has a really good relationship, especially with the Latin players that live like in Miami, in and around Miami.

Where we know Catelle is. Where we know Catelle is right now. So we think that that's more from Catell's side. And then this is kind of a culmination of tweets that this Boston sports Gordo put together. and it was basically just saying from Mark Feinzan that the Red Sox are the number one team in on Marte. And then, of course, you know, we have the other report from FeinSand that he believes Ketel Marte is likely to be traded. But that was not per a league source like our guy, Ari Alexander's tweet up here was sourced information, Derek, which is what you were looking for. That's all I'm looking for.

And again, I know that sometimes that these guys don't even want to put per source on information that they are getting because then that starts to. you know, it starts to be more about who that source is rather than it being about the actual information. But I just don't feel like there has been anything concrete that makes me believe that a trade is in the works. But what do I know? I don't know anything. I am much like you. I agree with Michael Dixon. I can live with likely. I can live with them, you know, using qualifiers like that that will allow them to back out should this trade not happen. essentially say, well, I didn't say it was going to happen. I said it was likely to happen, right?

Very true. The one thing that I hold on to, Derek, when I look at that tweet collage, though, that is interesting to me and that I think is a little bit of a development, is you look at the Ari Alexander tweet and or the one where he expands upon it, right, on the top right here, where he says, this is the sense that he's gotten all week, that the debacks have a certain amount that they want for Marte and that the Red Sox have enough to get to that amount. That tells me that the debacks actually have put together a Red Sox package that they have told the Red Sox,

if you guys can meet this amount, we would be interested in trading Cotel Marte, which I think is a little different than anything that we've heard before because Ari Alexander is a specifically Red Sox reporter. And if he's hearing that, then I think that that's somewhat interesting. No, like that's more along the lines of like a, the debacks are actually seeking a trade than anything we've really heard before. I mean, you're not wrong about that yet I still don't feel like what you just said to me has any, like, again, sources to it, right? And again, it doesn't mean anything.

I mean, he said per source source in his tweet. Yeah. That was in a thread of that tweet that said per source. I just, I don't know, man. I'm just like a lot of fans. I think I'm sick of it. I don't want to sit here publicly and have egg on my face. if the Diamondbacks trade could tell.

So I'm definitely not suggesting it's not possible. I'm just saying I think it's a huge mistake. And I think that... I think you could easily argue that. And Derek, just to let people know so that we have this out here publicly, Derek is not lying. I did say we should make this the show topic today. And I'm pretty sure Derek, like, wanted to, like, jump the table and strangle me dead

in the middle of the office, but didn't do so against his better job. judgment just because, you know, that's a crime. Thank you for disclosing this information, everyone, because this is now the second day you've talked about how abusive I am when we're not on air, and I don't believe. Well, this time I think it's actually, yesterday was a little bit, yesterday was a little bit maybe made up. This is only going to result in this really more abusive after the show.

Like hurt people, hurt people, David. That's the way it works. This is actually real. Like Derek hates me. I hate he hates my guts right now. He hates his guts. I mean, yeah, he like tried to joke his way out of it. Like, aha, I'm Damon.

and I'm precocious and cute. And I was like, get the hell out of my office. Ah, I'm so sick of it. Like, you guys, I'm sick of it. And I think that my main argument is, is that we have to sit here and do a show. And there's so many other things I want to talk about. And during the off season, it's not easy.

It's not newsworthy things happening every day. I myself don't feel like these reports are even worth bringing up. And the reason why is because you have to give me something new. You can't just keep saying it's likely, and it's this and it's this, yeah. I mean, I feel like the Blue Jays have made it very well known that they're interested in Marta. I feel like other teams have made it well known on their end

that they're interested in Catelle. I'm just so goddamn sick of this being out there without actually having anything attached to it. Nobody wants to man up and say, per a source, the Diamondbacks are, you know, I feel like it's time to cut ties with Catell, like was reported in that other article. I feel like a lot of things are just filled in with creative writing by guys that have been doing this for a long time.

I also feel like these guys are very good at their job. So they would not be reporting this crap if it wasn't actually something that they should be reporting. So that's the part that drives me nuts with this whole situation. Yet, again, no news, no information. And for the most part, every time something comes out, we have somebody like Francis Romero who comes in and just is like, well, I don't know what's changed. Even Mike Hazen at times has kind of made that known when he's been interviewed around the winter meetings and such. that nothing has changed and that he still feels like all of this speculation about Cotel being traded is weird, considering that every year he gets these talks.

I love Steve Gilbert, but even Steve Gilbert's reports that a lot of people are going on now kind of contradicts the report that he wrote right at the end of the winter meetings, right? At the end of the winter meetings, it was said that if a top front line starter was added to this team, that the likelihood of Cotel Marte being traded would go down. Now they add a top end front line starter in Merrill Kelly, you could argue. Maybe that's, maybe that's it. Maybe Merrill Kelly isn't like a good enough considered starter to be the one that that makes the Cotel trade rumors go away. Yet reported right after the Merrill Kelly signing by Steve Gilbert was that the Diamondbacks,

this does not change the likelihood of Cotel Marte being traded. And it just shifts the focus on what they're asking for in a package in a return. Right. So I don't know. But again, I will say that Ernesto is right, as he always is. Ernesto said overpay or GTFO. Seriously, no, like genuinely. GTF.

Oh. That's what, that's what, like I'm saying about Red Sox fans being like, not Marcello Mayer. That's way too much. It's like, what do you think it takes to get a elite player? Best player at his position in the sport. If it, I would argue that an overpay is actually what it will cost. Like, that's what happens when you have a guy who has five years left on his contract at a reasonable price.

So overpay or lose this number. I'm going to keep saying it. And also, we're probably going to do this again, like, later on this week. Yeah, right on. And Derek's going to hate me all over again. So, you know, you guys have a lot to look forward to on this show. It's funny that he said, hate me again, as if the hating of him is going to somehow stop for a period of time between now and when we do that next show. And it's not.

It's not, Damon. I hate to tell you that. Just like my hatred and your hatred of the Phillies is endless. They added and some other free agency updates as we discussed yesterday, Adoles Garcia to the Phillies. That move kind of baffles me a little bit. Cheater. Rangers get added. They get Danny Jansen.

So the Rangers finally do something there and adding catcher Danny Jansson. And Hysong Kim returns to the Braves on a one-year deal. I do not love what the Braves are doing over there. And I don't mean that in a judgmental. criticism way. I mean, that was an awful signing. The Braves, you think that's an awful signing? He hit 2.30 last year and he, he's getting paid $20 million, Derek. I mean, that's insane. They're bringing, they have so much money to spend. That's what I'm saying. Like, people were saying that Merrill Kelly wasn't overpay. Are you kidding me? One year for $20 million. That was,

that's a decent signing. Hotson Kim had one of the worst years of his entire career last year, got cut by the raise, Derek, got claimed by the, by the Braves. And then now I, I saw that he had larger offers elsewhere for more years. And so the Braves probably had to overpay for this one year to get him to sign that contract. But 20 million is half of our entire offseason budget for a guy who does he even get you better as a team at all? So I don't know.

I mean, I've always liked toss on Kim, but that felt like a massive overpay to me. I'm going to say this in regards to what the Braves have going on. It's, it's a, it is a little bit of a desperation. right but it's also a team that we wanted to be like so much just a few years ago you know and it shows that even though they did things the right way and secured their future all it took was a few injuries to bring them down and then not really have the money in order for them to like make up for it totally team like the Braves that makes so much money off of that teams make so much money off of that

facility over there that they own right that's a part of their it's so baseball stadium right it's absolutely sick so um i'll say this the runoff on closers continues. Closers are off the market. It's fairbanks or nothing at this point. Elite arms are off the market. I'm going to tell you something very funny. There are two relievers

that are essentially in the top like, I don't know, 20 of available free agent relievers this year that were age 32 or younger and it's Pete Fairbanks and Luke Weaver. The pickings are slim

when it comes to one of those guys is going to be a diamond back isn't it one of those guys that feels pretty likely is going to be an arizona diamond back and no we've talked about pete fairbanks quite a bit we are going to talk about luke weaver coming home on the other side of this break don't you go anywhere you're watching the p h nx diamond back show well there might be a run on relief pitchers in baseball but as you know with damon and i there's always a run on red at the roulette tables over at hila river resorts and casinos that's where you will find us That's where your boys will be enjoying an unprecedented level of entertainment that you just won't find anywhere else in the valley. Take me back. Take me back right now, Dam.

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pH and X30 for 30% off your order at fascinations.net. Fascinations, Nottie list approved. Kobe says, wait, we got Fascinations ad re-now. Yeah. Oh yeah. We know who's on the knotty list right there it's Kobe but uh another guy who might be on some of the diamondbacks fans nonny list uh might be one luke weaver who still brings back uh kind of sad memories of a paul goldschmidt trade uh honestly almost poetic now that we sit here considering a catal marty trade the goldschmidt trade was one of you know the one of those trades in franchise history that devastated this fan base and it made far more sense to trade paul goldschmidt than it does to trade katel martin right i mean am i wrong about that damon no no he was on an inspiring deal and he wasn't playing it didn't

seem like he was likely to resign right like he wanted he wanted to go and and go like expand elsewhere whereas catel martay like by all accounts you know it was a rough season a little bit but this dude loves arizona like he loves this organization he does his teammates he does and he's done everything he can to stay here for a long period of time he has the ability to test free agency he had the ability to at least dip his toes in the water and see what other teams will be offering him at certain points in his career. For sure. You cannot argue that Ketelmartay right now probably wouldn't be receiving an offer in the quarter of a million dollar, billion dollar range.

Excuse me, quarter of a billion dollar range. And yet here he is playing for Arizona, right? So there's a lot of differences there. But Luke Weaver has become a different pitcher in his time. And Arizona still needs more reliability at the back of the bullpen. We've seen Weaver in the playoffs specifically be. inconsistent, but also be phenomenal at times and also not very good. His recent bullpen work does show better strikeout rates.

It shows better control, shows better command, and an ability to limit damage in baseball game, something that the Diamondbacks desperately need when it comes to having an elite reliever. But again, the Yankees are still very interested in bringing Luke Weaver back. That's going to make it a hard, you know, a hard sell to imagine the Diamondbacks being able to somehow outbid the Yankees for Luke Weaver. But let's take a look at his stats here from 2025. As you can see, even on a season where he struggled at times and was inconsistent,

he still posted in 64 and two-thirds relief innings, a 3.62 ERA, a 1.021 whip, and a 3.60 strikeout rate per walk rate. The Bewar here is 0.8. He also had a decent FIP, Derek. I think it was like 3-8-9 or something like that. So his fielding independent pitching was very similar to his ERA. More importantly, his baseball reference page shows a lot of good stuff, right? Or not baseball reference, I'm sorry.

Baseball savant page shows a lot, a lot of red for Luke Weaver. And it shows that he did have, you know, some better, at least some better expected stats than what the numbers showed. Right? When you look at his baseball savon page, he had an expected ERA of 2.98, and he had an expected opponent batting average of 195 versus the actual results here. You know, his ERA last year, 3.62, as we showed you there, 1.02 is strikeouts down a little bit. His walk out, his walk percentage still pretty good. But again, he does not get a lot of ground balls. His ground ball percentage is in the 1%.

centile here. But again, a lot of red on there. A lot of red when it comes to pitching run value to his off speed run value. And he gets a lot of chase and whiff. You know, so again, there's there's just a lot of good about Luke Weaver. It's weird when a guy kind of gets stigmatized as having a bad season. And then you go back and look at the numbers like this. And you're you're kind of questioning how is this a bad season?

I mean, this would be our best reliever we've had in a decade. This would be our best. God damn picture on this team damon what are you talking about yeah i mean no disrespect to gordon burns and ryan nelson but i would probably start luke weaver with this kind of baseball savon page again yeah i mean the yankees fans obviously like that it goes to show that like the threshold for what is considered you know acceptable and there is a lot different than in in arizona in arizona we we would chop at the bit at this yeah plus you know like having you know maybe him having

some bad moments where he chokes and it doesn't look great. But like overall, the body of work is great. It's fantastic. The body of work is great. And the Yankees fans, all they remember are those big moments. And they're like, get this bomb off my team. Right. And his underlying metrics from the prior season suggests that he wasn't just lucky either. Right. So it's like the phenomenal 2024 season is kind of a disappointment with his ERA and certain numbers going up. But again, when we show you those expected stats and what his baseball sabat numbers look like from 2025, you know, it just feels like you want to bring him home. You know, he offers a lot of flexibility to Tori Lovelo.

He could be a multi-inning bridge when the starter has to exit early. He matches up well against right-handed hitters. He's a high leverage setup arm. He's just a guy that could change this team. However, it's still not a closer. And I think that's the problem. You know, bringing him home to Arizona, I mean, it just kind of feels good. even though his earlier tenure was not perfect, he's a different picture now.

And the organization kind of has firsthand knowledge of his makeup and work habits and who he is as a person. We've seen him just improve and mature as a major leaguer and get better in a very tough environment in New York. Let's not forget that that, like Damon said, those fans are fickle. They're so fickle and they don't really accept people, you know, having a down season and whatnot, right? So, you know, his recent bullpen success is encouraging, but there's always risk his career has had plenty of ups and downs that's how he ended up in the bullpen instead of

being a starter but um again uh if his if if the market value rises for one pete fairbanks perhaps that would allow someone like luke weaver to be affordable to the diamond backs my only concern here is that he is more of that you know bridge that set up man that multi-inning reliever that you're looking for to keep you close in a in a game um but he is not the closer that i think would bring that sense of balance and give guys an idea of what their role is that you would bringing in any closer. And again, when you look at the available options, things aren't great. Right. So we've heard that teams are being aggressively or have been aggressively pursuing Pete Fairbanks. We know that the Diamondbacks are in talks with Fairbanks. So the hope is,

is that when they say, especially one team is being especially aggressive here in the pursuit of Fairbanks that it could be the diamondbacks and we hope that it is. However, I still think that Luke Weaver in his delightful, precocious nature, much like Damon's, would come here to handle high leverage, would be one of our best relievers, if not the best reliever in the pen until Justin Martinez and AJ Putt come back. He's just a guy that has the ability to go along. He has the up, down thing, right? Where not a lot of relievers can go back to the dugout, sit down, come back out for another inning. That's something that Weaver is definitely, you know, good, good with doing here. But overall, I still think that the Yankees are going to probably pursue him too much, and it's going to

make it hard for the Diamondbacks to be in on that. I don't think the Diamondbacks, I mean, it's no secret. They can't afford to overpay for a guy, but they specifically can't afford to overpay for a reliever that you wouldn't necessarily consider to be elite. We have said that Pete Fairbanks is the lead, though. And our guy Jack Summers made a comparison on Twitter in regards to these two players. And when you take a look at those baseball savant pages, there is a lot to like about Luke Weaver's side of things. And again, it's not to say Pete Fairbanks doesn't have his fair share of red on his page. But you could see where perhaps, you know, it's not, you know, it's not a thing where,

Fairbanks's head and shoulders a better option above Luke Weaver. I also love nostalgia. You know that. So bringing back Luke Weaver just makes me happy. And I don't know. I don't know. But again, it's really about the Diamondbacks having to contend with overspending, which they are going to contend with more.

And they're going to need to continue to find diamonds in the rough here with, you know, free agents and other pickups. They may have found one in Michael Soroka. And we had the pleasure of speaking to him today prior to today's show. My apologies to Katie, not Katie, I think it was Emily, who was wondering why we started late. It is because we got a chance to talk to Mike and had to delay things a little bit. So we appreciate your patience with that. And again, we're going to have more from that press conference with Michael Soroka on the other side of this break.

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But you're going to have to wait. You have to stick around and watch Michael Sterling. Roka, answer questions about loving Arizona, and we will get to that before the end of the show. But first, I wanted to say, Deborah, where have you been? We've missed you so much. One of our resident, our resident greeters. We were worried sick about you. We're worried sick.

So glad to see you in the chat. Glad to see the one, the only Erica Day in the chat. I don't even know what she's doing here. She might have gotten lost, but I'm thrilled to see her here hanging out with us. No, Erica loves her snakes. She does, and she knows that Catele-Marté isn't going anywhere. At least she knows that he shouldn't be traded anywhere. But since she also knows balls, she knows that Michael Soroka is a very interesting addition here by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Mike is a pitcher that at one time was considered one of the best young arms in all of baseball. Like on the same level of some of these other arms that have really broken out this year, maybe not the pedigree, maybe not the expected like performance of one Paul Skeens or. or you know, even a Jacob Mizorowski, but you could say that there is definitely an exciting start to his career. Unfortunately, injuries really hampered, you know, hindered everything that he was doing. And he experienced almost every injury

you can imagine with his pitching motion over the last few years. So it's been an unfortunate struggle for Mike to stay healthy and stay on the field. However, today he discussed that and so much more in his press conference. and specifically focusing on staying on the field. But I know a lot of people are curious,

and here from Michael himself is why he chose to come to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Every off season with Safari's Free Agency, and we kind of identify the teams that may be interested in me and then also the teams that I'd be interested in, you know, no matter of their situation. So the debats for me were one that fit both of those. You know, it was pretty obvious early on that, you know, they had some needs as far as starting pitching went.

And, you know, I've called Arizona and Phoenix home for the last, I guess, year and a half now. So it's kind of a dream scenario that everybody kind of wants to be able to live in their house all year and, you know, be able to compete for this organization. I think, you know, over the last couple of years, they've given me some tough times. You know, they've had, you know, a really good team put together and a really tough team to play against. So for me, that's one more lineup that I don't have to worry about. So, you know, there was lots of things that fell into place. And they made their interest clear early on. And we saw no use in waiting any longer.

And I think it's a great opportunity for myself and to be able to help this team take a step forward. You hear that? Arizona. Once again, a competitive advantage. Let's go, baby. Came back here because he's lived here, wants to live here. let's get every player that lives in Arizona to just be a part of this organization. I bet we could put together an all-star roster.

It would be amazing. But also, shout out to Megaran. As Michael Dixon says, it's not Monday, but we never miss an opportunity to play our Grammy-nominated friends' music on this show. Yeah, sorry. We just had to make our Megaran appearance real quick. Oops. Yeah, we wanted Mike, who's a big music fan. He was asked by our guy Jack Summers about his music tastes and described my favorite part about that,

described that his love for playing guitar started with guitar hero. And I felt great until he said when I was a kid. And then that made me feel 150 years old. But again, Michael Soroka has been around here in Arizona for a while. He is not just here because he recently moved here. Apparently, according to his answer here, he has been coming to Arizona for a long time since he was a kid and just kind of always had a connection to the valley. Here's what he had to say in regards to that. I grew up coming down here quite a bit when I was a kid, actually. So I'm from Calgary, Alberta, which is basically straight north, straight north of here.

So I actually going there tonight for Christmas here for a couple weeks. But, yeah, we came down a lot in October and March for spring and fall ball. And we got our asses kicked quite a few times and got a little dose of reality and, you know, what was all out there in baseball. But I knew the area pretty well. And obviously you get a 50-50 chance of being here for an extra six weeks in spring. And the outside chance that you get to be here all year is obviously a cool one also. But for me personally, I've always liked it out here. I like to be able to see when I'm driving.

I like to be able to see for a long ways. That's the way Calgary is. It's, you know, you've got the mountains to the west. But other than that, it's all prairie and land. And it feels a little more like home, I guess, just quite a bit warmer at this point of the year for sure. or I guess at all points of the year. But yeah, it's, again, it's been easy to settle into, and it's a place I love,

and obviously no shortage of other guys to throw with here and hang out with as well. I'm glad he understands the weather situation here, right? Like, that's a man that's prepared to pitch in Arizona and understands what July is going to be like around here. I don't want any surprises for these guys that only show up for the open and spring training. in March, right? I mean, he has lived here for a year and a half, so he had to see those

electricity bills, I'm sure, at some point. But it's a great thing to have somebody that, much like Corbyn Burns, feels like they wanted to be here. I have had my opinions over the years over Jordan Montgomery, and some things I actually really liked about him. But one thing I didn't like was when Jordan Montgomery was acquired by the Diamondbacks, in his opening press, conference. It felt like he couldn't muster up the energy to sound like he wanted to be here. He very much didn't sound like he wanted to be here. I don't think you ever want that out of a guy that's signing here. You could say that, you know, sometimes there's some intrepidation. Sometimes they're not going to be overtly enthusiastic. But to bring in a guy like Corbyn Burns who

chose to be here and wants to be here and even gave the Diamondbacks a bit of a discount on getting him is it feels good and it feels like it's the right choice as far as talent acquisition. Mike, you know, talked quite a bit about Arizona and spoke about just his love for not only the state, but his appreciation for how good this team is and how much he doesn't actually want to pitch against them. He even went on to talk about 2023, but of course the big concern with Soroka is his health. You know, he's gone through so much over the years. You look back at those numbers from when he was a rookie breaking out into the league in his first seasons and how excellent his numbers are to now.

And again, things have changed. He has changed. His body has changed. So here he is talking about being a different pitcher than he was during that breakout period of time in his career. I think as far as stuff goes and physically, yeah, quite different. I think different in a very good way, to be honest with you. I think that's pretty indisputable. I think that a lot as far as just stuff on paper has taken a lot of steps forward since then.

And, you know, there were some things I did last year that honestly did a lot better than, you know, when I was an all-star in 2019. I think, you know, it's difficult when you remodel inside deliveries was basically what I did, you know, trying to stay on the field and be out there and be able to compete. is a difficult thing to do in this game and I realized that's what I needed to do if I wanted to extend a career and you know there was definitely a couple years where it was just really difficult to find everything

and kind of find a you know rhythm if you will and I think last year fell into it at times to where it was like wow this is this is what I felt like mentally and competitively when everything was clicking and I think a lot of that comes down to command

I think you know people will look and say, okay, it was the sinker in 2019. It was, that's what it was. And while, yes, it was a bit of an outlier pitch because the way I threw, I think if you really dove into the numbers, you'd see that really a lot of the reasons I had success was how the off-speed performed and how the off-speed was commanded. You know, I could kind of throw anything at any time and started to take that out of heart a little bit at the end of last year again.

And, you know, I think I had a really good opportunity with the Cubs to learn. about my delivery and what makes me click now. And that's where we were able to kind of hone in on a couple of those things and add a couple of pitches as well. So, you know, I got a chance to work on those as soon as the season was over. And I'm really excited about where those sit moving forward. And obviously the Diamondbacks see that as well. And I'm very thankful. Now, again, that there was several things that he spoke about in regards to like what he's learned.

And he definitely credited the Cubs several times for his pitching development, Damon, something we've talked about this team being so bad at, right? This is a guy that went through injuries and was incredible at one point and just kind of had like ran the entire gamut in a few years of a baseball career. Went from being like a rookie of the year, all-star candidate to being, you know, to questioning if he would ever pitch again in a very short amount of time. So, again, the fact that he credits the Cubs with what they did to not only help him learn about his body mechanics and his own health, but also help him learn how to be effective considering the changes to his arm over the years after those injuries.

And more importantly, not his arm, but his Achilles and his delivery because he's suffered multiple Achilles injuries and just had problems staying on the field. And he was asked about that, about his health. and if his health is a concern, and he answered it in the most, I think, honest way that you could. He didn't want to give all the details out here, but he does take a lot of, he shows a lot, an understanding as to why teams would find him to be a risk considering that history of injury. Yeah, I mean, obviously, again, it's no, it's obviously something I talk about, it's awesome that I've been asked about a ton. So it's no problem.

It's reality, right? Like it's what it is. And I understand that that's, you know, it's ultimately separating, you know, being able to do it on a daily basis. And, you know, there were some things as far as internal health that I think we'd kind of figured out that, you know, I'd rather not completely dive into.

But, you know, we'd had some things that I've been dealing with for a long time that I didn't really understand and didn't really know about to this past year and we'd figured that out and I think that's going to be one really big key is just being able to actually recover and not deal with a ton of inflammation at all times. And ultimately that's kind of where injuries have added up for me is just chronic inflammation and the ability to clear that. And I think what I was dealing with had a really big part in that. And obviously working on delivery, you change things.

You work on new ways to do things. efficiently and I think that all kind of started to come into place and this was kind of the last key so you know moving forward is something that I really feel confident and and stuff that I'm able to you know just bounce back from but also get help from you know my training staff here has actually always been in Chandler Arizona actually so I get to work with them a little more closely and the the pitching group that I work with that rotational athlete solutions up in Scottsdale here is Casey Upperman. They've done really well with showing me some things with shoulder health and, you know,

how to really bulletproof that. And I think we've talked endlessly about injuries in baseball in general and why it's happening and why guys are throwing harder. And, you know, the answer isn't necessarily to throw less hard. It's to be able to give yourself the best chance to be out there and, you know, bulletproof it. So I think we've done a good job addressing those things. And, you know, it's a process.

and I think that's ultimately the number one goal is to just be out there all year. So be out there all year and throw a lot of innings and I think we'll be in a good place. Let's freaking do it, Bubba. I'm excited for that. And see, like guys like Michael, I feel like get you excited about them as a person. Like I didn't know much about Soroka. I have not had a robust history with him. But after listening to him for the period of time, we had the chance to speak to him,

I definitely am feeling, you know, very excited. about him being added to this team. I'm also very excited, of course, by all of you guys here. So many of you here, great to see you here. Make sure you hit the like button if you're here. Help us out. It's the little thumbs up. I mean, you can go thumbs down.

I'm an understanding individual, but I would much prefer a thumbs up while you're here. And also make sure to subscribe to the PHNX channel if you haven't done so already. It's great time to do so. It's also a great time to go over and sign up for our PHNX newsletter. It's completely free. You'll get the biggest news in Arizona Sports

in your inbox daily at 6 a.m. He's very diligent about that. It's our guy Alex Dagostino. He was on the call here talking to Michael as well. And you can be the smartest sports fan you know. He's running in now and he'll make sure to get you good information. This poor man has to cover that Arizona Cardinals team. It's a struggle.

It's a struggle. But head on over to go phnx.com slash newsletter. Support Alex and all of his wonderful writings. And maybe he'll make him feel better about having to write four articles a week about those Cardinals. But again, very excited for Michael Soroka again to be here. There's been some talk of the additions that he made to his arsenal last year. The biggest one being this slurve pitch that has gotten very good. He also added a cutter and a gyro slider. Let's first hear from Michael about that slurve and what makes it so effective for him. Yeah. So to be honest with you,

it was honestly a pitch that I've had my whole life. It hasn't really changed. I haven't really messed with the grip. It's just kind of how consistently I'm able to get to the front of the baseball. I think the new delivery allowed me to do that. I'm staying looser, moving a little quicker, and really able to kind of turn that wrist over. And that's what kind of led to the added movement. And, you know, it really started to click on that at the end of 24 and realize that's when I got a lot of the swing and miss, regardless of whether the velocity was 79 or 83. As long as I got to the front and spun it properly, it was pretty good. I think, you know, I got to watch Charlie Morton a good bit.

And, you know, we kind of had the same sort of thoughts with that breaking ball. Obviously, at times it's a little bit bigger. And, you know, you take things from different people. But as far as the consistency to be able to get to that right spot really is what kind of took off for me this past year. So I think at times earlier in my career, I didn't quite understand it. And I overthrew it a little bit sometimes and threw through it. And the velocity creeped up and it turned into more traditional slider, which wasn't necessarily a problem. It's just now knowing how to separate the two is going to be really useful.

And I think if you watch a lot of really good starting pitchers around the league with the exception of a couple, they have the ability to manipulate a breaking ball two or three different ways. And that's going to be obviously what I'm going to be doing this coming year, I think. So yeah, I think it's a pitch for me that I have a ton of confidence in. You know, I don't mind going to it at any point, whether it's for chase, swing and miss, or in-zone, it doesn't really matter for me. So to have a pitch to lean on like that is really special. That's something that, again, it's going to be probably,

used a little bit less hopefully with the addition of the other couple pitches. And that way, when we're able to use it in counts and situations that really matter, you can go for the kill shot and get it. So, yeah, that's a pitch for me, obviously, that I've leaned on a ton and we'll continue to do so. We talked earlier about the Atlanta Braves,

and even though Damon hates the Kim signing a lot, and he's probably not wrong to, I will say that the Braves are an organization that you feel like you trust having someone come up and develop. pitching development. That's what this is all about, develop in their system. When you hear him learning from a guy like Charlie Morton, who has figured out how to be so effective for so long in his career, these are the people that you want pitchers learning from and the experience

that they're sharing and information that they're sharing to make them better. But I also like at this point in his career that he's working on his arsenal and working on adding these pitches. I mean, it's again, at times there's a lot of information out there about you as a pitch. but also this is a guy that has kind of had to change how he pitches and what's effective for him over the years. And again, he talked about that slur, but he also added a cutter and a gyro slider to his arsenal at the end of last year. These are things that Mike Hazen brought up that he very much liked in going after Soroka. And this is what Mike had to say, not Hazen, Soroka, about adding those pitches. So three actually.

I mean, we're going to play with them continually. And I think I've talked to Brian Kaplan already, who I actually already knew when he was down at Eric Cressy's facility in Florida. I was there in 18, 19, and 20. And we developed a really good relationship there and kept up with each other. And obviously, getting a chance to work with him again, it's going to be great. So we've kind of already started that process on talking about usage and what that's going to look like.

But the first one was a cutter. You know, it's going to be traditional cutter, like a fastball cut. I'd already at times tended to cut the ball a little bit, just naturally being a little bit supinated through release. And that's something that we played around with actually in this past offseason going into this year and tabled it a little bit because, you know, I wasn't sure how it affected the fastball, but now having a full year to kind of get the understanding of what it's going to do to everything.

It actually, at times when I was able to throw it, I found my sinker going the other way. So that's going to be a lot of fun to use that one. I think that one's going to be probably the most used out of the three. And again, the Cubs and Tyler Zombrough was able to kind of show me some things with just the way that I was able to stay supernated with certain pitches and throw the cutter as well as a sweeper. So essentially, it's throw it the same way as my slurve or curve. curb ball, if you will, just with a different grip and it kind of stays on that straight horizontal axis. And again, it's going to be useful for just giving guys a different look. I think it's, it's, I don't have an idea in my head on how much it's going to get used at this

point, but it's definitely a, you know, very usable pitch as far as what I've thrown in bullpens and, and to, you know, Phantom hitters. I threw one actually in a rehab outing in AAA at the end of the year, but coming back in the bullpen, there was, there was no time to mess around with, you know, learning certain things. It was kind of just attack with the best, too. So, yeah, having time this fast off season to really kind of focus on those has been, has been really, really useful. And then the last one's a traditional just gyro slider, if you will, which again is kind

of basically the curveball grip thrown like a fastball. So that was the key with all three. these is that I really didn't need to do too much. I didn't need to manipulate anything. I was already kind of set up right to throw it. And Tyler was able to show me exactly how all that worked. And yeah, so some pitchers to kind of model after that are able to throw, you know, five, six, seven different pitches and how you're able to give guys different looks and

ultimately get deep in ball games because that's out of everything last year. That was a thing that gave me, you know, the most frustrating. was not necessarily getting hit late. There really wasn't that much actual damage late. It was more or less all of a sudden counts got deeper. Strikeouts were a little bit harder to come by because I was trying to go to the same couple pitches over and over and over again.

So ultimately that's going to be the thought behind adding those. And I'm pretty confident with where all those sit that they're going to be extremely usable in the big leagues. So they're not really too much of a work in progress. anymore, if you will. Groundhog Mama asking the important questions after she called him a cutie, behave yourself. We told you this. Is it Mike or Michael?

I don't know the man personally, so I feel like I should still like it's the Spanish thing of calling using Usts-Vetus. I'm still trying to use his proper name. But I do believe it's Mike Soroka. And that is what it will be going by for the time being. And I don't know if his name had anything to do with Mike Hazen's interest in it, but he probably recognizes a real one, you know, a felt. Hello Michael that knows that Mike is the superior form to go by, right?

But he has been interested in Soroka for a while, and that's something that has helped make Soroka kind of feel loved here in Arizona. Before we get out of here, we're going to give you one more from Mike Soroka. Here he is talking about the Diamondbacks pursuing him and being interested in him for the amount of time that they have done so. I'm not sure I was. You know, I think, you know, there's different things and things go different ways. and obviously I was traded to the White Sox in the beginning of 24 at the end of 23 rather.

You know, it's awesome to know that, you know, there's people out there that see something. I think that's the thing with trades is you get a bit of a change of scenery. And obviously this will be team, I guess, four in the last couple of years now. So, you know, I've learned a lot from all these different places. And I'm very thankful for those. and it's time to apply a lot of that. And again, prove the Diamondbacks right. I think, you know, anybody can say that, like we said,

they're taking, you know, a bit of a gamble on the injury stuff. And I understand that. And I want nothing more than to prove them right. So it makes me feel good. And again, it's an organization that I've looked at over the last two, three, four years as a really up-and-coming one. I think, you know, they gave me some of the toughest games. over the last couple years, especially in 23.

I said in, I guess it was May. I pitched against him in May, and I wasn't the same pitcher. I didn't have the same stuff or, you know, command at that point, but I still said it was the toughest game I had all year. So again, it's, it's an organization that I was happy to join and really glad that they, you know,

identified me as someone that they wanted to bring in. I'm pumped about that. I love him saying that I want to prove them right, Damon. And that's what we need. We need someone that came in here, was given an opportunity, appreciates the opportunity, and hopefully we'll deliver for this team and overperform expectations. But I cannot say enough about how sick I am of the Cattel Marte trade rumors. And I really do hope that maybe we can start to see those once again go to sleep once and for all.

We do have to do as we promised and pick a winner of the diehard holiday giveaway. We've been trying to spread some cheer. We have some fun gift packages from our partners around here. And we have been picking a winner today. I get to select a winner. Damon, I think we have a wheel ready to go. I think we're ready to pick a name. Let's hit that wheel.

And let's see who our winner is for today's die hard holiday giveaway. and the wheel is coming to a stop. And who are we landing on here? Vega Robb. Vega Rob? That's got to be how that's pronounced. I'm terrible at pronouncing things like this. But Vega Robb, that is who we have selected.

Of course, if that is you, make sure to contact one Leah Merrill via DMs, I think, through our Discord is what we're doing. Congratulations to you very much. And again, we will be continuing to pick diehard winners throughout this week in an effort to spread some more cheer around here. So we appreciate you guys being here so much. Thank you guys for your time. We will be back tomorrow with another 12 p.m. show.

And on that show, we are going to feature one Jesse Friedman from Snake's territory. And we are going to talk all about these Alex Breggman rumors that are suddenly popping up. Does Breggman to the Diamondbacks, in fact, mean that a Cotel Marte trade has to happen? I don't know where they're going to get the money for Brickman, but we're going to talk about it with Jesse on tomorrow's show. So make sure to join us at 12 p.m. for that. Until then, you can follow us on Twitter. I am at Cap underscore Kman with a K. Damon is at Damon Dog with a D-A-W-G at the end, and we are all Damon's dogs.

Bark, Mark. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but as always all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for stopping by. Make sure to hit that like button on your way out the door. you back here tomorrow. Until then, behave yourselves, Karen, Groundhog Mama, maybe even Katie, too, behave yourselves. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when we can stop talking about Cattel rumors.