PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - REPORT: Red Sox END PURSUIT Of D-backs’ Ketel Marte After Willson Contreras Trade

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

It would appear there is one less team in the mix for a Ketel Marte trade after news broke that the Boston Red Sox have instead sent a package of prospects to the Cardinals in exchange for Willson Contreras. We discuss the move and how angry we would have been with the return St. Louis received. More importantly, does this mean the Tampa Bay Rays are now the lone suitor for a Marte trade? We also hear from Merrill Kelly after the Diamondbacks made his signing official on returning to the team, Arizona being home, and his message to the fans. Plus, it’s Monday and you know what that means on this show!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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, according to reports, the Boston Red Sox who have traded for Wilson Contreras are now out on trading for Catele Marte. Or are they? We're going to talk about it in 30 seconds. Don't you go anywhere? Happy Monday to you all. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast live from Studio K. Presented by our friends in Circle K, it is I, your mayor of PHNX and your mayor of Christmas occasionally. as Derek Martia.

Thrilled to have you guys here. Happy holidays. Happy holiday week to you all. I hope you all are getting a little of time away from your jobs to spend with your family. And I'm here with my family, the one, the only, the incomparable, Damon Farrell on the ones in twos, aka Damon Dog, literally the leche to my cafe this morning. So thrilled to be here with him. I'm thrilled to have you guys here. And, of course, this show is brought to you by our friend to Game Time.

Go download that Game Time app. create an account and use our code of P-H-N-X for $20 off your first purchase on those already low ticket prices. Terms do apply. Good morning to you all. Hello, Deborah. Great to have Deborah always welcoming everybody to the chat. We have Jason here who says, I'm convinced all this Marte-Chatter is to keep Valley

enthusiasm for this team alive. It's more marketing than marketplace from the front office. He might not be wrong. Damon and I will say this. the true win here for this podcast, for this program, is that they gave us all of these rumors to talk about for weeks, brought people in to hear if we were in fact going to trade Catell, only to keep him, right?

That's where we all win. We win with the numbers, and you guys win with keeping Cotel Marte. Sh, Derek, don't tell them that. I'm sorry, Damon, I'm supposed to tell them that. I'm not supposed to, but I'm supposed to. I'm very honest and open here. It's because, as you know,

I am sick of hearing about these Catele trade rumors, and I am more sick about talking about them. As many of you are, I'm sick of hearing about them. As Giant Jules in the chat says here, we've implored you to lose this number. And that's because we don't want to trade Catelle Marte. Luckily, we had word that the Boston Red Sox, who completed a trade over the weekend, reportedly, will, in fact, be out of the Cattel. Marte trade race. At least that's what we thought, right? The Red Sox traded for Wilson Contreras. Contreras. That's for you, Jesse. They traded, they get Wilson Contreras and cash. The Cardinals, meanwhile, get a bunch of prospects. They get right-handed pitchers Hunter Dobsons and Yohiker Fajardo and then also Blake Ida. I know I got his first name wrong, but I'm sure that I got Fahardo right because that's the name of the town. My mom used to live in when she was a small child. But So is he Puerto Rican?

I'm assuming, but again, it could be a name from the Caribbean in some way. Is he part of the brotherhood? He's probably part of the brotherhood. I mean, my brotherhood, not your Dominican brotherhood. That's two different brothers. Completely different things. Completely different brotherhoods. Now, this trade, of course, brings a power hitting first baseman, former catcher.

I guess he can still catch, but he's been playing DH in first baseman in his older years to the Red Sox. and they get a guy who brings consistent offensive numbers, even though his numbers last year weren't elite by any stretch of the imagination. And more importantly, that at least according to Bob Nightingale, takes the Boston Red Sox out of the trade contention for Cattel Marte. This is what Bob Nightingale tweeted out. Bob said here, the Red Sox, who will be responsible for $33.5 million of the $41.5 million, owed to Wilson Coen-Contreras are now expected to end trade talks with the Arizona

Diamondbacks for second baseman Cotell Marte. There we go. That's good news. That's great news, in fact, Damon. Well, I mean, Bob has been the main guy who has been, you know, kind of peddling the Catel rumors for, you know, at least from what this fan base has been saying in large part. So I feel like from him saying that, like that holds a little bit of weight. Yeah, for sure.

But we also have this report coming from a lesser known reporter. This was translated from Spanish to English. This one is from Marino Pepin. And Marino said, good morning, my people. Happy Monday. Red Sox intensify with D-BACs, the acquisition of Cotel Marte. They've been negotiating for a couple of weeks and everything could conclude in the next few hours. Marte is being sought by several teams.

But at the moment, the Red Sox are in the lead. Turn on the bell. I think that was turn on the notifications for him, and we continue positive and okay. So I don't know. I don't know. So I don't know. I still trust Bob in saying what he said. This is apparently not a credible source, but still a source nonetheless.

So who knows, really, I still think that this is a whole lot of nothing. I still think at the end of the day, Ctele-Marté was not really in danger of being traded because I don't think any of the offers got serious. especially when it comes to the Boston Red Sox. If you look at the package that they traded to the Cardinals, they trade essentially a bunch of prospects. Now, again, Fahardo was Boston's number 23 overall prospect in Major League Baseball Pipeline rankings, and they get three right-handed pitchers.

They also, according to a source, told Mark Feinson that the Cardinals are sending $8 million to the Red Sox to help cover the balance of the $82.5 million. contract that Contreras signed with the Cardinals prior to the 2023 season. So I guess the big question is I know that Wilson Contreras did not put up the numbers that Cotel Marte did. I'm not, this is kind of like the, you know, the thing with the Diamondbacks going after, you know, other players, right? Like this isn't a comparison about, you know, Wilson Contreras being better than

Cotel Marte, but he slashed 257, 344, slug 447 for a 7991. OPS. He had 20 home runs, 80 RBI, and he put up 2.5 baseball reference war. For a guy that was on a pretty bad Cardinals team, again, not bad numbers by any stretch of the imagination, but definitely not what Cotell Marte is capable of or what Cotel Marte puts up. You look at what they got, though, and again, this is the type of package that I am sure teams are trying to send to the Diamondbacks in exchange for Cotel Marte. And this is a package that's, reminiscent of what the debacks got for Merrill Kelly on an expiring contract at the trade deadline, but this is by far not enough for the Diamondbacks to consider a trade.

This is the most lose our number trade package that I could imagine. And again, not to say that Cotell-Martin-Wilson-Contrares are close, but, I mean, you've got to argue that Contreras is a guy that is still a stud in baseball and is going to help the Boston Red Sox get better and, again, put up, I don't know, close numbers. You know, not exactly identical, but Cotel Marte didn't blow his numbers out of the water. So again, I can't imagine a package like this being anywhere close to what Diamondbacks fans would be satisfied with. and this, if the Diamondbacks got back for Marte, three minor league prospects, Damon would grab the nearest pitchfork-shaped item, as much as that would pain him because of his hatred for ASU and a torch,

and he would be down in Chase Field by, like, he would bypass doing his show to go down there and start the riot. Yeah, I mean, listen, we need proven production. If we're trading our best player on one of the 10 best contracts, in baseball, we need proven production right now, Derek. No way fans are buts about it. So that if that's the Red Sox, that's Jaron Duran, that's Marcello Mayer. That's, uh, if it's the, the raise, it's Ryan Pepio.

It's Andy Diaz. Like you need players that are going to help this team not be the worst team next year. Because why are we training Ketel if it, if we're just trying to, you know, rebuild for the future. I don't, I don't think that I think fans across baseball have this idea that the Dbacks are trying to enter rebuild mode. And I don't think the Dbacks are entering rebuild mode. all. They can't. They're in retool mode.

They can't. They can't. They're not in rebuild mode because the players that they acquired, Merrill Kelly's too old. Corbyn Burns is too valuable and he's here for potentially too short of amount of time. So there's no reason to waste that amount of time by trying to do some sort of rebuild. And I believe somebody said it up there in the chat. The contrarious trade is definitely different. He said it's a productive salary dump, different trade altogether. You're absolutely right about that. And the Cardinals are entering a rebuttal. They are.

Right. They're in a different phase of as far as the franchise is concerned. Full scale done. And the Diamondbacks have young players that are really good. They just need pitchers that are not the 25th best starting pitching unit and 27th bullpened baseball. Correct. Correct. But I'm saying that a trade like this, even if you add a major league piece to this,

is still insufficient for a player of Cotel Marte. And I'm sure at the end of the day, most teams are trying to offer a package like this, plus maybe one major league position player, maybe a second baseman to replace Marte, something of that sort. And it's, again, I'm just saying that overall, this is not enough. This is not what the Diamondbacks would be seeking out in return.

It would have to be, you know, like we were talking about, Peyton Tolly, it would have to be Duran. It would have to be those kind of level players for the Diamondbacks in order to accept it. Meanwhile, if this is in fact the case, if the Boston Red Sox are out on the Ketel, Marte sweeps stakes. That means that we not only have one less team in this race, but maybe,

just maybe, Damon, we only have one more team to defeat. And that last team would be the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays are now considered the lone favorite to land Marte via trade somehow. And John Marosi tweeted this out on December 19th. He said, the following is true. The D-backs are willing to listen on Ctele-Marte, especially if pitching prospects are involved. Two, the Ray's have more talent to deal than they did 24 hours. This was after the, this was after the trade they made with the Boston Orioles for Baz. And three, the Debacks and Rays have made five trades in little more than eight years. Do the math on how many trades we've done with Seattle, John.

I feel like, and Derek, correct me if I'm wrong, but did we not put the raise as one of our teams that Kattel had on his no trade list? And now they might be the favorite that could tell. Yeah. We did a pretty good job on that list, but we were so close. might actually have the one wrong team on there as the team that is actually the team that trades from. That'd be interesting. I still don't think that any of this is the case. And I still think that when all of a sudden done, my wish will come true. And we will have had all these rumors to talk about, discuss, and mostly dread, right?

Like, that's been the feeling. It's been a feeling of dread that the Diamondbacks are, in fact, going to trade Cotel Marte. I don't know how to explain. I don't know how you would explain it, Damon. That's what I feel. It's what I feel every morning. When I get up in the morning and I see that I have 86 missed messages, the first thing I think is that Catell got traded. Yeah, Catell is done.

And then I just found out that it's my friends arguing about the latest Nause album and premier's production on the tracks. You know, it's things like that. Classic. Oh, my God. I can't believe how many messages I have about this. But nonetheless, it does feel like the opportunity to trade Cattel is closing. The window is closing. and I think that the Diamondbacks once again

were never in a place to have to trade Cotel Mart today. I think that a lot of this, again, as many people have suggested, has been more about the storyline itself and the fact that, you know, again, Mike Hazen never at any point shut down the rumors by saying they weren't trading Cattel,

though he did, I think everything short of that. I felt like Mike Haza was trying to be honest because, again, if someone does do something crazy as we've seen at times in baseball, that Hazen would be open to it. He has to be. It's his job as a general manager. I just don't think that at the end of the day, he was really entertaining these offers as much as any of us are led to believe.

And again, we are also guilty on this show of Perg for trading these rumors. I don't want to act like I am free of guilt here. But as you know, I take all of that guilt and I place the blame on Damon. That's what I do because it's Damon's fault. I don't want to talk about these trade rumors. I would rather be talking about this list of minor league, or not minor league, under the radar relief pitching options that the Diamondbacks might have be a free trade, be a free agency.

I can't even speak anymore. I'm so upset. Do you want to see it right now, Derek? Yeah, let's throw it up there. Why not? I want to see this list. There's this list of the top 10. Just baseball.

Under the radar free agent relievers. We've talked about a couple of these guys, including Sean Newcomb. I think we've talked about Jacob Junis in the past. Michael Copick throws very hard. Pierre Johnson is a name that we have not really talked about enough. Yeah, these are the guys that especially should another team this week come in and make a deal for Pete Fairbanks that we will see the Diamondbacks most likely targeting. I don't know. I guess targeting would be the right term.

But, you know, at least these are the options that the Diamondbacks would be left with. This is the kind of stuff I want to talk about. But no, no, Damon won't let me talk about this. Damon wants me to talk about all that could tell me. Marte trade rumors and make me sad. But I do think that again, even though the list does drastically drop off after, you know, one Pete Fairbanks, because none of these guys are really closers or elite closers. These are the names that you might see the Diamondbacks picking from.

So there was that. There's that. And again, we're going to cover some more of those guys. But hopefully the thing that we will be covering is the end of the Cattel-Marté trade rumors. One other thing I'm sad about involving free agency is that the White Sox have agreed to terms on a two-year, $34 million deal with Japanese free agent, Munitaka, Miracami, apparently, according to the club. Yeah, I'm sad. I mean, I know, look, I know the Diamondbacks didn't have $17 million a year to spend on a first baseman. That's fine. But I'm still sad the debacks didn't sign them.

That's what I'm sad about. This man went back-to-back MVP awards in the MPB in 21 and 22. He's a four-time All-Star and a 2019 Central League rookie of the year. He led his team to a championship in 2021. And again, just a guy, just a guy, just a thick boy that I think is going to hit the baseball very hard. You know, like when teams make deals like this that I want, you know, that I wanted in on, I hate to be a hater, but now I have to kind of like root against him and hope he has a bad career. I don't know.

I thought you were going to say that you were sad, not because he's not a Diamondback, but because he's a White Sox. Oh, I'm sad for him for that. Did nobody tell him? I feel like nobody told him. That's probably why it's two years. It came down apparently to the Angels or the White Sox. Yikes.

Man. I think he chose poorly, honestly. Two listless organizations. Could have been in L.A., though. And you know what? I love Chicago. Orange County better than L.A. I kind of love Chicago.

Chicago a little bit when I was there. The White Sox have a vibe about them, Derek. I was out there at that ball. park this summer and it was fun man it really was it's the city yeah you're out there with the people yeah no i mean it's a great city it's less of an instagram ballpark you know what i mean it's just inner city baseball it's what it's all about he gets to go to piquads he gets to go to mr beef i'm thinking the socks are back my to be fair i i always that's a crazy thing to say but i do i kind of to be fair i i like the white socks because my grandpa was from the south side of chicago it used to go to

games growing up so I have a little bit of a liking for the white socks so I always have but yeah I was wearing my I was wearing my white socks shirt at cubby's white socks and yes you got the w yeah yeah 17 million dollars a year though I mean it's a lot of money I'm not saying it's a lot for him particularly I think he has a pedigree that makes you believe in him again I think we've kind of put to rest the idea that players playing in japan or somehow playing on a less competitive level than major league baseball here in the United States I will say though that you know again I 17 million dollars would make me question why we weren't spending that 17 million dollars on starting pitching versus taking a chance on a pitch any any position player

that hasn't played here in the United States. Yeah. I mean, as as folding Chable or AKA RA puts here in the chat, like people said he's like Japanese Gino. He has, he's a, he hits a lot of bombs. He has a ton of raw power. He, I think they said like his, his power scale grade is like 70 or something, something wild like that, right?

but he has a lot of like concern about his his swing and miss so it is a bit of a risk I think to sign him at that much money it also could work out really well for you but I think from his perspective like he makes good value for the next two seasons and then he gets to leave the white socks if he's successful and go sign with an organization that's going to pay him very handsome that's fair that's fair I actually think from his perspective it's a pretty good deal you're absolutely right you're absolutely right and I mean again he gets to go to a team that desperately needs a spark like needs something fun to happen and help them. And, you know, yes, as our guy, CWP says, the Chai Sox have the actual Pope on their side now. So they have to be back. There was a lot of Pope jerseys when I was down there. They're on a mission from God, is what they are. They're on a mission from God.

But we're on a mission from God to make sure that Cotel Marte doesn't get traded and squash these rumors. So let's hope that that's the case. I do like in that tweet that it did say that, like, it sounds like it's going to come down today. so let's hope it doesn't and then we can move on from that one. I think that the Tampa Bay Rays aren't much of a danger unless we are truly talking about the Diamondbacks, getting a haul of prospects.

And if that's the case, again, it's riot time, as Jason would say. So we're going to move on and we're going to talk about something a little bit more positive. But the Cattel Marte rumors, again, like the child that won't go to bed on Christmas is still peeking at the door, Damon, and still not letting us put those presents under the tree because we can't go. You won't go to bed. Go to bed. Go to bed. Go to bed.

My God. Anyway, we're going to talk about Merrill Kelly, his first media availability as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks, you know, because we haven't had Merrill here for a couple of months. So we're going to hear from Merrill and how much he loves Arizona. He also has a message for the fans. So don't you go anywhere. You're watching the P.HNX Diamondback show. If you're an Arizona sports fan, there's no better place to do your banking than Desert Financial Credit Union, it is the place that you can show off your team's spirit

every time you make a purchase with branded debit cards that feature your favorite teams, including the Arizona Cardinals, the Arizona State University Sun Devils, and Northern Arizona University Lumberjacks. And for more than 84 years, Desert Financial has been Arizona's most trusted credit union dedicated to creating exceptional experiences and giving back to the communities that they are a part of. And of course, you want to be a part of a credit union that does that. You also want to be a part of a credit union that can help you reach your financial goals. I have said it time and time again, but thanks to Desert Financial, I got started on my home ownership journey. And again, I'm so thankful here nearly 20 years later that they did.

And of course, they can get you started on your journey as well. Visit Desert Financial for checking in savings accounts, mortgages, loans, investment options, and so much more. And of course, join a credit union that is committed to giving back to its community and sharing success with their members. When you open a free checking account online right now, you can get $2,000. and bonuses, get started by visiting desertfinancial.com slash 200. Now it's a great time to get an extra $200. Also, now is a great time to check out the rally house. If you need to get your last minute shopping done, head over to a rally house location.

They have shop locations in Tempe, Mesa, and Glendale today. And you can get that sports fan in your life fitted no matter what you're looking for, whether it's drinkwear, signage, coolers, all the stuff for tailgating. Or if you just need to get that Marvin Harrison Jr. jersey, get yourself. a Devin Booker jersey for that loved one that sports fan in your life. Stop by Rallyhouse today. Every time you visit Rally House, you're guaranteed to find something new, unique, and that matches your game day vibe. So find your local Rallyhouse location and shop their entire product assortment online at Rallyhouse.com today. And let me tell you, if you have that hard to shop for sports fan in your

life, guarantee you once you go to Rally House, you'll find something. You're guaranteed to find something they'll like. Well, again, something that we like around here is Marrily. Kelly returning to this team might have to go get a Merrill Kelly jersey from our friends over at Rally House but we got a chance to hear from Merrill Kelly on his first media availability back with the team the Diamondbacks made that move official on Friday it was part of the Kyle Bacchus trade essentially because that what that's what opened up that 40 man roster spot for them to add Merrill Kelly and here we got some more from Merrill himself he talked about reflecting overall on his journey and especially his journey here in Arizona, just the fact that he went to school here,

he came back here, and now even after this trade, he is somehow able to once again return to the valley and make this place his home, a place that seems to be very special to Merrill. It makes it that much, I think, more special to all of us that we're able to bring a guy like this back to this state that wants to be here so much. But here's what Merrill had to say about reflecting on his journey. Yeah, a decent amount. When we agreed to the terms, we were actually at Alec Thomas's wedding. We're actually getting ready for A.T.'s wedding in Mexico this weekend.

And a lot of emotions, you know, like you said, me knowing what this last deal or, you know, possibly this last deal brings for me and my family. And like you touched on kind of where we've been to get here in the journey that we took, there was a good amount of emotions and a good amount of, I guess, reflection. And like you said, is the right word on where I started on my journey, just career-wise, and how many years it's been. It goes by fast and looking back on the last 15 years to kind of all culminate into what this deal is and what it means for me and what it means for me is in reference to the DBACs organization and where that could lead me. I think about it a lot and I'm forever grateful for the DBACs.

organization for allowing me kind of to finish my journey, you know, with this deal and I'm forever grateful for the journey that has ultimately brought me to this spot for sure. I think we knew from literally the time that Merrill Kelly was traded up until it was rumored and then it was reportedly a done deal and that was official that Merrill was coming back, right? In fact, Damon was giving me a hard time today because I think at one point, Damon never acquiesced. Damon never, he refused to ever believe that anybody other than Merrill Kelly was always going to be coming back to this team. And I meanwhile had to set up some of our conversations for other starting pitchers.

But deep down inside, I don't think many of us really truly believed that Merrill Kelly wasn't coming back. We discussed it being the perfect crime entirely too many times. going into the Rangers organization, stealing three of their top pitching prospects, sabotaging them and ending their season, and then coming back here, he's the best secret agent in all of baseball, and we salute him for it. But he was asked if there was doubt on his end about coming back after that trade, or if he was confident that the Diamondbacks would, in fact, resign him, and this is what he had to say.

Well, I think anytime you get traded, there's always a bit of doubt with wherever that situation. is, but the conversations that I had with the front office with Hayes and Amiel after and during the trade, you know, right off the bat, they expressed interest on me coming back. You know, we all know the nature of the beast in this industry, and we know that sometimes nothing's a lot, most times nothing's forever. You know, luckily I'm in a spot where I get to come back and try to make it forever. But I was pretty certain that they were going to be in the mix. and I have to hand it to them.

They were the first ones in the door, first ones to make an offer. And, you know, ultimately showed me that what they said at the trade deadline about being serious about bringing me back. They definitely showed that. So we were excited about that. I think, like I said, the doubt is always going to be there just because in our industry, there's no certainty of anything.

But I think there was definitely more hope than doubt. Yeah, I mean, and again, you never know when you're a player, if that's just like, you know, them blowing smoke at you a little bit, you know, just trying to lessen the blow of trading you by telling you that essentially at the end of the day they're going to have interest in bringing you back to this organization. But I think Merrill made, it made a lot of sense for the Diamondbacks. It made a lot of sense for Merrill. He fit a lot of their needs. He is a player that was not going to be seeking a long-term deal based on his age. And I think this just kind of works out for everybody. Also, much like,

appreciation, you know, the fan appreciation, the organization's appreciation in him. There wasn't going to be another team that truly appreciated Merrill or another city that appreciated Merrill as much as him coming back to the Diamondbacks, right? So like, this just made a tremendous amount of sense. And, you know, it's also like we talked about, when you look at the free agent pitching, it's a considerable drop off after Merrill Kelly. you bring back Kelly and he's costing you significantly less than a Zach Gallen deal would cost you and bringing you far more consistency than Gallen was able to bring you in 2025.

So Merrill Kelly was excellent with this team and he has remained consistent at an older age, much like one Zach Granky, who he was asked about. This is what he had to say about staying consistent and what he is doing essentially to continue to stay at the top of his game. But I think consistency, the word that you talked, about is really just what I hang my hat on. You know, going into these next couple of years, I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel. I'm not trying to, you know, necessarily remake myself. I'm going to try to stay as consistent as I can. And if I come back in the league shows me that, you know, they're starting to adjust to what I do, then I'm going to have to adjust with what I have

to work with. Obviously, as we get older, we can never know or guarantee on how our body's going to feel or how the ball is going to come out of our hand. But I'm for sure going to try everything I possibly can to give, you know, give the DBAX organization, give the DeBACs fans, you know, the best version of my, you know, 37, 38 self that I possibly can. We didn't have the portion in there about Zach Granky, but he mostly just said that he hopes he stays as good as Zach does in his golf game. So shout out to Granky, apparently, for being very good at golf still.

And also shout out to Merrill for understanding here the, the, the, the, the, the, the key to, you know, the fountain of youth a little bit. I will say that Merrill Kelly has less miles, not actual miles, but, you know, less pitching miles on his body than some other major league starters that, you know, that are, would be a similar age as him. So there's, there's that, you know what I mean? And also he was saying, like, with Granky, he was just saying, like, like, how he's just, like, a model for consistency for a guy who doesn't throw very hard, kind of similar to Merrill.

Exactly. Utilizes command. And just essentially was saying that like he can take a learn a lot from Grinky in those in those moments. And I think a lot of players can, right? Yeah. We talked about this in the past that like as you get older, you have to find a way to adapt. It's one of the reasons why, you know, our criticism of the pitching development for the Diamondbacks goes far beyond the young pitchers. It goes to the older guys too who have to continue to find ways to adapt when parts of their games start to get exposed when they start to lose the velocity on their.

you know, fastball when, when things aren't working for them, find other creative ways for them to still get out. Merrill is some, is a master at that. And that's one of the reasons why he's able to stay so consistent at an older age. He also loves this state. He loves Arizona. And he discussed Arizona being home for him and obviously that playing a big part in him wanting to return him here as there was other teams, you know, as we heard rumored, making offers. Yeah, it means a lot. You know, like I touched on earlier, Arizona's, Arizona's home. It's always going to be home. I was always very vocal during the trade and after the trade that I did want to spend my whole career here. Like you said, us laying roots here and having my whole family be here and be from here. I didn't really want to go anywhere else. I was obviously open to going anywhere else just because of taking the best opportunity that we could. But being back here means a lot, not only for me, but my direct family, you know, obviously. with my wife and my kids, but also, you know, my extended family with my in-laws and my, you know, and my parents being here and my friends and family that have watched me play for so long, it means a lot knowing that they can, you know, continue to do that.

Merrill referenced several times that this deal could be the last of his career. And it's something we kind of speculated on as well. I feel like that probably isn't the case. You know, we see a lot of relievers right now that are on the market that are 40 years old and older and they're still able to provide, you know, reliable innings for for their teams. So it's not to say that this is the end of the road for Merrill. However, I think him having that point of view, him having that kind of attitude that this is it, I think that means that he's going to give this team his all in a way that you can't guarantee

any athlete you sign does, right? There's something to be said about the lack of effort that certain players have given this team, especially very high dollar starting pitchers, wink. And I don't think that Merrill is that guy. I think Merrill has one thing to do at this point, and that is win. I think he wants to win. I think he wants to lead the Diamondbacks to victory. I think he wants a ring before the end of this deal.

And I think that that's the proper motivation that I want out of any free agent that the diamondbacks go and pick up, right? Plus, he loves it here. He wants to do it for the Valley, I think, at this point. He got a proper payday. His financial future is secured $20 million a year for the next two seasons. So I think at this point, he's going to go out there and do everything he can to help this team win. And that's amazing.

He also helped this team by fleecing the Rangers. And he talked a little bit about that deal. He talked a little bit about the return, essentially, being three of the Rangers' top prospects for him at the trade deadline and what that kind of said about, you know, his value. Yeah, and that's why I said at the time, I think it was the best move and I think they did a really good job doing it. And I would like to think that they partly made that trade because they knew that they had a pretty good shot of bringing me back.

You know, I think it's easier to pull the trigger on trading someone when you have a decent idea that they're going to be back with you at some point. You know, it's easier to say goodbye when you know that you're going to be saying hello again pretty shortly. But I got to hand it to those guys. I know there's a lot of Rangers fans that are a lot less happy about that trade than the debacks, the fact that they had to give away three top prospects. And we didn't make the playoffs just for me to sign back with Arizona from what I've seen on social media.

There's a lot of Rangers fans that are a little upset by it. But like I said, I got to hand it to those guys. And they really showed up when they said they were going to show up. And I think that's, for me, that's one of the most important parts about signing back with Arizona. as they said they were going to be in the mix. They said they were going to make it happen. You know, obviously we went back and forth on contractual stuff, but they got to where we wanted to be,

and we met on a good place that I think helps everybody. So the fact that they showed up and kept their word and really were serious about bringing me back, I think means the most to me. You heard what he said. He saw the comments from Rangers fans. He knows, we know, everyone knows. We got him, Damon.

We got him. We placed them! We placed them! Let's go! It was like a heist movie. We were all in on it. We were all part of it. You son of a bitch, I'm in. We were all in on it together. Yeah, 100%. Because during like trade rumor season, we were like, you know what? If you want Merrill Kelly, you better pay up. You better pay up. Exactly. You want this? You want this ERA? We were playing our part. You want this level of consistency? We all had a part. Sometimes we're like, we were the distraction. We were like, hey, look at us while they went in and stuck in and stole three of their top prospects. Col Drake. Mitch Brad, David Hagamann, all factoring in the Diamondbacks top 20 prospects rankings now. Also, potential players that they're not, I'm not going to say that they're not in love with and they haven't embraced as part of their organization. But players that they could easily move now. And if they were able to get Merrill Kelly back and somehow turn those prospects into a trade that brings a big name here or brings the Diamondbacks a closer or somehow.

helps them, you know, figure out one of these positional needs that they have, then maybe all is great. Also, those guys are outstanding, and I really can't wait to see them develop into the future of this team as well. Regardless of what they do with them, it was a fleecing. It was a fleecing. The Diamondback should be charged with robbery,

larceny, breaking and entering. I don't know what other fraud. I don't know, whatever else. I know they can't be. I know this was completely legal, but I still love it. I also love the fact that a, Apparently, Merrill Kelly learned this news at Alec Thomas's wedding in Mexico.

So that's a beautiful thing. And he tried his best not to, and this is how you know he's a good friend. He tried to not let this news overshadow his friend's wedding, which is very difficult, right? Like, if I got the call, I'm walking straight over to the bar and grabbing a bottle of champagne, no matter where we're at in the reception. and I'm popping that bad boy, David. It's like as if you're in wedding crashers. That gift that's popular.

Yeah, that's Derek, no matter what. Slow motion somehow. Are you kidding me? Yeah. I got paid. I'm getting $40 million. I'm not supposed to find the nearest bottle of champagne and just drink that whole thing.

Like we just won the NLCS? No, no, sir. But here is what Merrill Kelly had to say about learning this news and the reception from his teammates at AT's reception. Yeah, it was fun. You know, I tried to keep it as low-key as I could. I didn't want to, I didn't want to overshadow on, on what the, the real celebration was of AT getting married. But everyone was excited.

You know, it was kind of that young core of, you know, Ryan Nelson, Fott was there, Gallen was there. You know, Blaze was there. A lot of those guys, McCarthy, Paving. So just being able to agree to the terms and then, you know, and then kind of celebrate with with all the guys that I knew I'd be back in the locker room with was a pretty cool experience. My heart broke a little bit when he said Galen was there. That hurts, man. That's what I was saying the other day.

Like, that hurts. I'm not going to get over that, Derek. That's not just going to be something that just doesn't matter to me. No, you're right. I'm going to miss them. You're right. I'm going to miss us. I'm going to miss us.

I'm going to miss using that milkman man mania gif. I put a lot of work into that video. But speaking of a lot of work, some work was done with Kenny Dillingham. He is staying here in the valley. Merrill Kelly was asked about if he had talked to Kenny and had any news at the time in regards to Kenny's decision, which had not been made at the time of this media availability. But I do wonder if in Kenny's press conferences, Merrill was the guy he was talking about donating a $20 million check. It's just too suspicious.

This man just got paid $20 million, and now Kenny's just randomly asking for some random billionaire here in the Valley to donate $20 million. That's too much. This is like when your friend, you know, it needs $10, and they're talking suddenly about the $10 that you owe them from 2019. So, but anyway, here is, here's what Merrill had to say about Kenny Dillingham staying here in the valley. No, I haven't reached out to Kenny. I figured he's probably getting, I figured he's probably getting blown. up left and right about all the rumors that are kind of swirling around. So I try to stay out of the way on that stuff.

I know that he lives in Breeze, ASU. I know if he had a perfect world. I know that he would stay in Tempe. You know, I think he's been pretty outspoken saying that that's pretty much his dream job. Obviously, with the school that's in the mix, I know that's a, I don't follow college football very much, but I know Michigan is obviously a big time program and a big time job for him. We actually saw his wife this morning at school, and we were just kind of picking her brain about where they're at. I know they got a lot of questions that answer and a lot of people to talk to, but obviously I wish nothing for the best for them and their family.

And I hope that he can get some clarity because the state of college athletics is a pretty wild place to be right now. And him being in the center of it, I know he's thinking long and hard of. do next well we know what he's doing now and we know that uh kenny's priority there was making sure his staff got paid so that was cool but again uh i love to see guys i guess the common theme here that want to be here right i mean i think that's what it comes uh down to it comes down to um just honestly uh being being pumped that people want to live here want to help these teams win and you know want to give them, you know, everything that they got. So, uh, Merrill, Merrill had one last message to the fans.

And again, if you have a brick wall near you, I suggest you secure it because you might want to run through it after you hear this. This is what Merrill Kelly had to say when asked if he had a message, uh, for you guys. Yeah, the reception's been great. Um, you know, me and my family are very honored, very humbled by the reception. It seems like, um, pretty much all the Debex fans, uh, are. are happy to have me back. They're happy with the choice that the front office made,

which obviously makes you feel good. It makes you feel respected that, you know, the fans who pay so much attention and pay so much of their time and effort into the team are excited about, you know, you being on the team again. I guess my message would be thank you. You know, thank you for always supporting me, always being behind me.

And I hope that you guys continue to do that for the next couple years and just know that as hard as I've tried to be consistent and reliable for you guys, I'm going to continue to try just as hard these next couple years. I'm going to cool aid man through this wall real fast, Damon. I'm ready to do it. I mean, again, there's a lot of free agents they could have picked up, but would anybody pump you up that much as far as, you know, the message that they're bringing here to the fans?

I mean, it fires me up to see Merrill Kelly back. It would be, you'd feel, it felt gross to see him in a ranger's uniform. did I didn't like it did yeah you're right this guy's a diamond back for life he's hasn't really been associated with any other MLB team let's keep it that way yeah let's keep it that way keep him a valley guy keep him a valley guy well speaking of Valley guys make sure you guys if you're a sports fan here in the valley you sign up for our pH and XNX newsletter it's the biggest news in Arizona sports in your inbox daily at 6a m it's from our guy Alex Dagostino who knows so much about this Arizona

Diamondbacks team himself as well as well as the Arizona Cardinals which he writes about for the PHNX Cardinals. It's completely free. It can be the smartest sports fan, you know. Head on over to go phnx.com slash newsletter right now to sign up for absolutely free. And we are going to take a quick break on the other side of this break. You know what we do on Mondays. You know what we do around here. You know exactly what our vibe is. And don't you go anywhere. We're going to do that. This is the season for over $80 million in prizes. And now is the time of the year for all of you. procrastinators to rejoice because scratchers make the best gifts anyway. And since you waited until

the last minute, you can just stop by your local Circle K or wherever you get your scratchers at. Pick some festive holiday scratchers up. There are six festive designs to choose from night right now, including cash countdown where you can win up to a quarter of a million dollars and Candy King cash, which just smells delightfully like peppermint. So win or lose, you really win with Candy King Cash. Plus, you can dash to instant prizes with Holiday King. Fast Play ticket. So do not miss out on gifting holiday scratchers right now from the Arizona lottery to all of your friends. They make great stocking stuffers. They make great white elephant gifts. And most importantly, if you buy too many, you can just keep the extras for yourself.

Love to play and spread holiday cheer with holiday scratchers from Arizona Lottery. Play and gift today must be 21 or over to play. And let me tell you, if you're like me, you use technology to make your life easier. And at this time of the year, I use technology to save money and save thanks to the folks at APS. Now, I will say that holiday lights can definitely be a drain on your electricity, but when you get set up properly with the right kind of timers, the right kind of smart switches and all of that, you can save on forgetting to go turn your lights off.

I got mine set for midnight every night. Those inflatables, they come down once the clock strikes 12, just like Cinderella in her shoe. I'll tell you this much. You can also save on your thermostats over at APS. If you're going to use all this technology to save money elsewhere, why not use a smart thermostat to help manage your energy cost? It's one of the best things I've done to save money. Not only can I adjust my thermostat while I'm away, but just like those holiday lights, I can set my thermostat to a timer so that it is ready to go.

And has my house either cooled down or warmed up before I get home and I'm not wasting money on doing it when I'm not there. So again, you can set it automatically, help you save, and APS customers right now can get a new smart thermostat from them as low as zero dollars. Visit APS.com slash sale. Shipping and taxes, not included, other restrictions do apply. Well, Damon, you know what today is, and we have a short week around here. We are celebrating.

We are off on Wednesday and Thursday for the holiday. We'll be back on Friday. More importantly, we're having ourselves a little friends holiday with Jesse Friedman. stopping by here in studio to join us and chat about the Arizona Diamondbacks. Let's hope that we are not covering any crazy Cotel Marte trades. But today is Monday, and every Monday we do the same thing around here. Every year on this podcast, though, is our year. Every year on this podcast is the year of the snake.

Every month on this podcast, Hanukkah. Every week on this podcast, Christmas week. And every day on this very podcast is still Earth Day because Dame and I recycled. But on Mondays, you know what we do around here. Damon, hit that Grammy-nominated artist's music, please. My mailbox. Always something interesting in my mailbox. I'm trying to get to everything in my miss.

All right. What do we got in the mailbag today, Damon? Our first question, of course, comes from Travis Moore, who wants to know. Thoughts on the fan graphs write up on Slade Caldwell. Should we be concerned? Seems early, but it's reading out similar to a Drew Jones outlook, albeit different critiques slash reasonings on the low hit and power. tools projections yeah i took a look at this uh i think slate caldwell is ranked 21st by fan graphs

and the diamondbacks prospects um i you know it's it's hard to make that same comparison i will say sometimes prospects don't work out that's a part of drafting prospects and trying to develop them i think that the diamondbacks definitely have a type and called well fits that type i still think that a lot of his numbers and a lot of his projections still look much better than drew jones so i feel like like he might not be in that same space as Drew Jones, though that you might see some of the criticisms, as you said, being similar.

My biggest problem is that we drafted Drew Jones with the second overall pick. And that's the problem here, I think overall, is that you can't really compare a later round draft pick to somebody that you drafted second overall. The criticism is always going to hang over Drew Jones's head based on his pedigree,

who his father is, and also where he was drafted. So I just don't know if Caldwell really is the same, but I will say, yeah, the concerns are similar. And those are the things that you hope to see develop through his minor league career. You're glad to see that his defense is considered to be so solid and you're still glad to see some of the numbers that he's putting up offensively. He's also, you know, going to be in vastly improved offensive ballparks as he, you know, progresses. So we might see that tick up. You also hope to see that develop, you know, overall.

But I don't love his, I think it's his barrel contact percentage. His barrel percentage isn't very good. He just hasn't been doing a great job there of getting the bat on the ball and the way you'd like to see. Even in some cases, a prospect, you just want to see productive outs and you want to see certain kinds of contact being made that make you feel a little bit better about, you know, the potential, right? The low power and, again, some of the critical. criticisms about his offensive approach at the plate might make it hard for him to break into the big leagues. I also wouldn't be surprised to see someone like Slade Caldwell a part of a Diamondbacks trade package right around now based on how high he is still ranked in their prospect system. And, you know, again, their surplus of the positioning place, essentially, right?

It still feels like the Diamondbacks have a lot of outfielders, a lot of speedy guys. And I just, again, it's not to say that, you know, the opportunity won't come up for him to play. We've seen that. We've seen that time and time again. Hell, the Diamondback started 2025 with seven starting pitchers. Let's not forget that. That's crazy. I'm what, Derek, I'll say that Slade Caldwell is 19 years old.

He's at the same level as Drew Jones is right now. Right. So they're both playing in Hillsborough. Drew Jones is still young at 22, but he's three years older than Slate Caldwell. Very true. So, I mean, I, it's a little bit concerning. There's no doubt about it. his power numbers don't look good,

but it's not as if the rest of his offensive numbers are bad. Yeah, that's exactly. He's still playing productive baseball. We got to figure out how he can start putting some more balls over the fence. But I'm not completely out on Slade called. Well, it is concerning the fan graphs who are ball knowers have him that low. But I will also say that like in, you know,

you said the dinembacks have a type. It's time for them to start hitting on some of these types, Derek, because other than Corbyn Carroll, what draft pick are we touting right now that is like, man, Mike Hazen really knocked it out of the park with Pavin Smith top 10 or Jordan Lawler sure has been unbelievable and, you know, Tommy Troyle actually looks pretty decent and seems to be moving through the system,

but he has yet to make an impact, right? And he was a college player that they took in the upper half of the first round. Like, it's time for Mike Hazen to hit a couple more draft picks here. This organization needs it. Ryan Nelson's second round 56th overall of the 2019 MLB draft. That's fair. And that's a pitcher, which is shocking. Yeah.

My jaw is on the floor there. I actually can't even believe that Mike Hayeson drafted a productive pitcher. But it's time for like Tommy Troy, you know, Ryan Waldschmidt, these guys to make an impact on this team because it's been a while since prospects have come up and really made that impact since 2023, really. when Corby and Gabby and all of them were starting to come up and really, you know, put this team on the map. So and we need it now more than ever with with the lack of resources we have to spend. You're not wrong. You're not wrong. All right.

What else we got? Our next question here comes from Jarmy. And Jarmy says, what other teams are in a similar? Should he, Marte, stay or should he go boat as the debacks? Knowing what other teams are dealing with may help put Hazen considering. may help out Hazen considering trading Marte in context. That's a good question. I mean, I think the...

He's asking like what teams are like maybe have a star player that they're considering trading for good value, but don't want to just get rid of for nothing, essentially? I'll tell you... Is that what he saying? Yeah. I mean, essentially in a similar position where they're trying to trade somebody, but it's hard because most of the players that are rumored are guys like the Diamondbacks had at the trade deadline last year on expiring contracts.

I don't feel like enough fans factor that in, the length of the contract. I know you guys are ball-knowers, so I'm not talking about you guys. But I'm saying overall, I feel like people just think like, oh, go get a Terrick Scoobal. Great, for what? One year? And then have them leave you for an enormous contract that you can't even come close to getting, similar with Freddie Peralta. Freddie Peralta is on a very friendly team deal,

which is the exact reason why the brewer should keep them, especially considering how good their team was last year. there's no panic mode to trade him when they can still trade him at the trade deadline and probably still get a haul for him in a similar capacity that the Diamondbacks got for Merrill Kelly at the trade deadline, right? So there are options for most of these teams

and a lot of them have to do with the fact. I would say Hunter Green is probably the other comparable trade rumor to Cotel Marte, a guy with years of control left, a young guy and a guy that, you know, again, has been excellent, has been incredible, should be a staple of your rotation, should be your ace and you shouldn't even be considering it. Not sure why the Reds have rumors out there floating about Hunter Green.

It's the reason why we did an episode that paired these two teams together because those two players seem to make the most sense as far as making a trade for them. But even in that capacity, look at the way we are. We're like, yeah, yeah, Hunter Green, but also Matt McLean, right? Like we're not even taking Hunter Green for Ketal as a one for one, right? Maybe Duran with the Red Sox, also another guy might not. not as good as Cattel Marte, but in a similar position where he's not on an expiring contract, I don't believe, but there's strong trade rumors out there that the Red Sox are, in fact, going to trade him.

So I guess those would be teams that are in a similar spot. Really, at the end of the day, it's someone that you have no reason to really trade, yet those rumors exist out there. Why do those rumors exist? Well, because some of these GMs might just be too honest. And instead of saying that they're not trading these players have had no problem, saying while we're listening right so uh Joe Ryan he said is Joe Ryan on an I thought Joe Ryan was on an expiring contract that's the other reason why I

thought that's why we did when we did that that trade show on Joe Ryan that yeah I don't have that in front of me but yeah that would definitely be another case right like again just a star player that honestly should be a big part of your future someone you should be extending and instead somehow has come up now Marta is different from all of these guys because everybody has this locker room ordeal where apparently the locker room is mad at him for missing time. And we don't even know the extent of that as far as, you know, who is really mad at him. How mad are they at him?

How mad is the team at him? We've heard that it's drastic enough that now is the time to quote unquote cut ties with Marte. And I just don't believe any of that. But that would probably be the one thing that once again differentiates Marte from even those other guys. It doesn't feel like anybody else is a part of trade rumors due to any kind of behavioral reasoning. it's simply based on, you know, rumors and teams being interested and those teams listening to offers on those players.

And specifically the 10 to 5 rights thing, right? Yeah, the 10 to 5 rights is huge, right? I don't know if there's another player that has that. Trades, right? Yeah. I don't know if there's another player out there that has the 10 to 5 rights thing that will give them essentially a no trade clause moving forward. So that could be part of it as well.

But Joe Ryan, answer for you, $6 million is his estimated pay this year in his second. in his second arbitration year. Next year will be his final year of arbitration. He will become an unrestricted free agent. You mean 27? Yes. This year and next year he has arbitration. And then the 2028 he will be an unrestricted free agent.

He has two years of control. Yeah, Gary, I mean, you're right there, multi-year deal, but still with the number of years of control of Ketel, it's hard to imagine. Like at least Hunter Green has multiple years still left on his contract versus just two years there for Joe Ryan. So again, it's hard. That's why the Marte trade still seems very unlawful. likely and that's why we hope at the end of the day, this is the end of it. What else we got

there, Damon? Next question here comes from Ragnar and Rugginar asks hypothetically if a friend were constantly saying how Ketel is going to get traded, what is the worst thing one could do to said friend that wouldn't result in legal repercussions? Asking for me? I think it's fair to take everything away from them that has any kind of connection to the 2023 World Series run. That's fair. Or a Catele-Marty. Yeah.

Like if they have a Ctele jersey, it's yours. Yeah. If they have a Ctele-Marte bobblehead by law, it's legally yours now. I think that if he has any kind of memories, any kind of pictures, you're allowed to take those pictures and assume his identity. If he was president, Chase Field, feel free to Photoshop your face right onto his and frame those pictures in your living room. Those memories are now your memories.

He's not allowed to have those memories anymore. And I know this is drastic, but no more kettle corn for you. No more kettle corn for you. Wow. Right? I mean, no. I don't think that that's too far. I think no more kettle corn.

So, or you're not allowed to use a tea kettle. I don't even know if people use those anymore. But that's it. I'm not going to ban you from Chase Field, though. So that's, you're allowed to still roam and watch a baseball game. Just all of your memories from 2023. Those are our memories now. that's the way that works but we're going to take a quick break on the other side of this break hopefully we won't talk any more about kettel marty rumors or teams being interested or thirsty for our katel marty but we will answer more of your mailbag monday questions don't you go anywhere you're watching the ph next diamondback show well if you're as thirsty as some of these teams are for a katel marty trade then you need to stop by circle k get yourself stumped in the drink it's america's thirst stop and if you sign up right now for the inner circle rewards you can save on all sorts of you can save on all sorts of you're not you can save on all circle you're

sorts of tasty beverages, including 79 cents op polar pops, 99 cent frosters, and also you'll save 30 cents per gallon when you buy three 12 to 60 now Celsius. They just had one of their inner circle fuel days last week. It was amazing. Not only did I fill up my car, but I also grabbed my wife's car and I filled that up. And then I took my car back and filled it up again because not only am I a psycho, but I knew that I was only going to get that 40 cents off that one day. So keep your eyes peeled for that. And of course, sign up now to become an inner circle. Wards member, that way you're ready for the next one that comes around and join the Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today. Terms and conditions apply at participating locations,

visit CircleK.com for details. And you know you do you at Heel of Resorts and Casinos. And as I've been saying, now is a great time of the year. If your loved ones are coming into town, Heel of Resorts and casinos is the best place you can take them for a fun night out with over 4,500 slots and live table games. plus their amazing sports books. There's always something to do at Healy River Resorts and Casinos. Plus, you can suggest that they just stay at one of their two AAA-4 Diamond Resorts. And then that way you have an excuse to go visit them instead of them coming to your house. And everybody wins.

Okay. So make sure you check out the unprecedented level of entertainment that they offer that you just won't find anywhere else in the desert. You do you at Heela River Resorts and Casinos. Visit Play atheila.com for more details. All right. Well, do we have more questions here in the mailbag, Damon? We do. We do have more questions.

We have Geek Martinez here. Hey, Derek. Out of curiosity, do you know anything about CMLL wrestling in Mexico City, aka the Ciudad? The Ciudad. I only ask because I'm taking my dad to our first ever wrestling event on December 27th in La Ciudad de Mexico. Well, that is an awesome way to spend Christmas week. So let me tell you, CMLL is electric.

I love CMLL wrestling. You get to see one of my favorite wrestlers in the world, Hetchi Serro. Also, there is an amazing, for those of you that I'm geeking out now, so this is going to lose half the audience. We'll see you guys. It's been a good show. Yeah, yeah. There was a WW wrestler years ago named Sincara who wrestles in CMLL under the name Mystico Damon. The entire crowd sings his song, which is this ballad about wanting to kiss his face.

And it's hilarious because he wears a mask, which is what makes it so incredible. I think this is an incredible way to spend family with anybody. Make sure you root for Hecisero. He is the mad professor. And also, I am going to take Damon to watch CMLL wrestling if we can when we're in Mexico City to watch the Diamondbacks take on the Padres. I can't think of a better way for us to spend some of our free time. Damon, meanwhile, has been sending me food videos from Instagram. And that's getting me pumped up.

weekend. Michelin Star rated taco spot where it's like less than 10 bucks. Yeah. Insane. Yeah. Now, pro wrestling is a whole lot of fun and I will once again make the comparison that I've made in the past, which is, I don't know, I myself have had the opportunity to work in pro wrestling to see a lot of pro wrestlers kind of make that journey and it's very similar to baseball

in the minor league journey and guys just being regular everyday people that are trying to live their dream and have this path to that dream and somehow can make it there. But yeah, it's a lot of fun. Enjoy it. Root, like I said, for Hedicero and Lepo. Derek, are we going to sleep when we go to Mexico? Oh, no, no, no, no. We're going to be there for entirely too short of time. So we're definitely 48 hours and we're packing like, like maybe, you know, 72 hours worth of stuff into it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's fine. I mean, we're, we're going to not sleep for 72 hours. So there's that as well. But what else we got in the mail bag? We got one more before we got here. Sleeps for the week anyway.

is for the week. You're not wrong. We have one more, Michael Rokickey, who is here in the chat and was fired up to hear Merrill Kelly say that Pavin Smith was invited to Alec Thomas's wedding, to which I had a slightly different reaction behind the video. And just in private to Derek, but we'll leave it at that. Michael Rokickegee wants to know, Derek, what would the 2025 DeBak's Festivus look like? Oh, my God. What a great question.

What a great question. Festivus, as many of you know, will be held. on December 23rd tomorrow, Tuesday. And we are going to have Festivus at Chase Field. That is where we're holding Festivus. It will be tomorrow night. We'll have a great time. He wants to know what DeBax Festivus looks like. It's easy.

First of all, we take down that little piece of like fence off of the right field pole and we strip it of paint. And the right field pole will be the Festivist pole, unadorned, of course. No decorations on it, no lights on it. It's minimal and it's it's minimal for a reason. It's the purpose that we're trying to teach our children here about commercialism and and ownership of material goods, right? Feats of strength would feature Jeff Bannister fighting James McCann. In a number of ways, they would battle over who is essentially stronger. Mostly arm wrestling. We'd probably get one of those carnival games where you hit it with a hammer to see if you can make the bell ring up at the top.

Wackamol? Maybe whackamol. I mean, maybe one man tug of war, where it's just the two of them pulling on a rope to show their dominance over each other. Sure. It's mostly a spectator sport, but it's pretty much for the two strongest men

to assert dominance over the group. And I figure who's in the same category as Jeff Pannister and James McCannes, shirtless. Erring of grievances is just everyone telling Cotel Marte how they feel about them. basically. Just get it all out. All of it. Just let's get it out. Let's be done. Tori Lovolo can also step in and air his grievances with the bullpen. That's my thought.

A piece of Yoshi is asking what's happening. You showed up late, first of all, so you don't get to come in here and demand to know what's happening. Second, we are discussing festivist. The audacity. If you came in late, Festivus pole, right field pole, stripped down a paint, no fence on it. Second, feats of strength. Jeff Bannister and James McCann, fighting each other. Third, airing of grievances, everyone telling Katal Marte what they think about him and what they thought about a missing time. Tori Lovolo also can air his grievances with the entire pitching staff. He can focus on the bullpen, but he can just include everybody. He doesn't have to single one guy out because I think in just general talking about everybody would cover it. And then Festivist dinner, of course, would be the delicious, like, prime rib dinner that they

have from opening day in the press box as well as the omelet bar. I thought you were going to pull out the Korean pork belly nachos. Oh, I should have pulled. That's the, that's the appetizer. but we will watch Festivist from 2023 is what we're going to do because at Festivis you typically watch Festivis from a past year or past multiple years. So we'll watch Festivis from 2023 to remember that

feeling again, that feeling we had of hope and excitement and what was to come. Not this feeling of dread for the 20206 season or more dread for the 2027 season not even happening. All right, but that's pretty much where we're at. Anyway, I think

we got all those questions answered. We thank you guys. as always for providing those questions. This wouldn't be the show it is without you guys. So we thank you, of course, for stopping by. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon Dog with a DAWG at the end. And as always, we're all Damon's dogs.

Bark, bark. Our show is at PH&X underscore D-Backs. But as always, all roads lead to at pH and X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Jesse Friedman will be joining us in studio tomorrow. Excited for that. So make sure that you join us at 12 p.m. Well, until then, we hope you guys all have yourselves a wonderful evening. Behave yourselves, piece of Yoshi.

And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you can eliminate yet another baseball team from being in the Catele-Marté trade sweepstakes.