PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Should D-backs SPEND BIG on Ranger Suárez or Double Down on Zac Gallen Reunion?

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4Now that the dust has settled, we’re officially backing the Toronto Blue Jays as they take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series starting Friday. From George Springer’s towering home runs to Julio Rodriguez’s scream of anguish, we break down the key matchups and weigh whether the Jays have what it takes to topple the Blue Crew. Plus, we dive into the Arizona Diamondbacks’ offseason pitching options: Is Ranger Suarez worth the investment, or is Zac Gallen the smarter, more cost-effective choice with comparable career numbers?An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/APS:  Find instant rebates, discounts and special offers on smart thermostats, energy-efficient appliances and more at https://marketplace.aps.com/default/heating-cooling/smart-thermostatsBranded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Zen Leaf: Visit our friends at Zen Leaf (http://zen-leaf.store/phnx) for 50% off using promo code ZENPHNXChicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today!Access Auto Insurance Agency of Arizona, LLC (Access Auto) is a renowned agency offering personal and commercial auto insurance options to Arizona residents. If you’re on the hunt for a new policy, call Access Auto today at 1-480-400-0546 or get a free insurance quote by visiting our website www.access-insurance.com.Visit https://www.macu.com/accounts/checking/mystyle-checking?cid=ea-PHNX-AZ-mystyleAugust2025-checking to learn more about their MyStyle Checking Accounts!bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets!Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnxWhen you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's the Toronto Blue Jays versus the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. And if the Blue Jays happen to find a way to win, I'm going to drink this entire thing of maple syrup on air. I might even give myself a haircut, not give myself a haircut, but give myself a mullet just to be as Canadian as possible. We're talking about the World Series and the Diamondbacks pitching options in free agency in 30 seconds. Don't go anywhere. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNXD Backs podcast, live. from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. It is I, your mayor of the Great White North,

occasionally known as, I don't know, Derek Canuck is where I'm going with. And we got Damon Pooch on the ones and twos today. Try my best to use as many Canadian terms. We got some wonderful Canadian wares here on the table, including this Toronto Blue Jays hat on our boy Jesse Jr., because we do not want any Dodgers fans that stopped by this podcast to get it twisted. We are, in fact, a Blue Jays podcast. Now we're pivoting from the Mariners as much as it hurts our feelings and very much hurt Shane's feelings.

But welcome in to you all. Glad to have you guys here. This is the PHNX Diamondback show, and we will be talking Diamondback stuff as well. But welcome in to this show presented by our friends at Bet365 and Game Time. Make sure to use that code of PHNX 365. When you sign up over there, get yourself some bonus bets for following them. few easy steps over at game time. Make sure to use our code of PHNX. You'll get $20 off those already low last minute ticket deals. Glad to have you guys here. Not thrilled to be saying goodbye to our

Seattle Mariners. That one is still heartbreaking to us. And the ripple effects can be felt across this office for sure. But like I said, we are Canucks now. The Toronto Blue Jays will take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series after beating our sea snakes and game set. by a score of four to three. And here we are. We're down to those final two teams. We are ready to rock and roll and it still hurts. There's a lot of things that still hurt from this.

I mean, obviously we were fully on board with the Mariners. Not only did they have a lot of former Diamondbacks players on there, but like I said last night, when you proceed to, you know, root for a new team, you now take on loving that team, right? Like I was doing it for the show purposes. I was doing it just to support our head of production here, Shane, and our guys, Zach from our sales department as well. But with time, I found myself now adoring the Seattle Mariners team,

becoming a Julio Rodriguez fan. It's already, it's easy to be a Julio Rodriguez fan, right, Damon? Like, that's not a guy that's hard to root against. It's a whole team, honestly. It's the reason why, and I said it before, I said it when it came to the Dodgers, and it's the reason why Damon labeled me as a Dodgers fan originally, and understandably so. But I had said that that Dodgers team, this Dodgers team is a very hard team to hate simply because the guys that are there aren't really hateable baseball players,

the Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman's. The potential criminals, that's how you feel, for sure. Alleged criminals, for sure. But with time, win time, success. will make me hate you. That's the way it is. I consider myself to be a mildly successful person in life. I mean, I do get to do this show for a living and it is a dream come true. I won't lie about that. But there are people that are far more successful than me than I hate for no other reason, simply because of how successful they are 100%. And the Dodgers are definitely in that category now.

Should the Dodgers go on to win consecutive World Series that it's easily a hateable team from the top of the roster to the bottom of the roster. But I'm still heartbroken over what happened to the Mariners team. And I don't think anything expresses that heartbreak as much as this clip during the postgame show that has been going around on the internet where Brian Wu was giving a postgame, you know, doing a postgame wrap-up, trying to be a professional and answer questions from reporters. And in the background, you hear this.

Damon, if you don't mind, can we play that clip? Having Connish further than any other team franchise, history. Legacies. That was Julio Rodriguez screaming in the clubhouse after that loss. Is there anything more painful than that?

No. No. Like, it's blood curdling. It's terrifying. It's heartbreaking. It's it saddens me. It brings tears to my eyes because you can hear the pain,

the anguish in that scream of, you know, of how much this meant to this Mariners team. How much this meant to this Mariners fan base. Say what you will. Make the jokes about them never making the world, you know, making the World Series and kind of being born into this life of disappointment similar to what we live here in Arizona, right? But that's a different level of disappointment. Not to mention the fact that after all of this time, never having made the World Series to come that close, one game short, one game short after winning the first two games

of the ALCS is utterly heartbreaking for that team and for that fan base, right? And I can't express that enough. I think it sucks. And as someone, like I said earlier, that's kind of grown attached to this team, rooting for them during this playoff run, that breaks my heart hearing that scream from Julio for sure. I think it does show, again, once again, it shows how much it means to these players.

We tend to think athletes don't care that much or that they, could essentially get over it because they'll get on a private plane. They're getting paid millions, yeah. Yeah, they're getting paid millions and they'll get on a private plane and they'll do whatever. That the scream personifies how that clubhouse feels after this loss and not making the World Series and how much that Clubhouse cared about making the World Series and ending this drought for the Mariners franchise. So that's just the, I guess the victory, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat right there. But on the thrill of victory side, you have that George Springer home run, which Damon, will that go down as one of the most iconic home runs in Major League Baseball history?

Like, we don't have a lot of decisive. I think it depends on what happens next, right? Sure, sure. That's very good point. Right. It's as I said about the Reds making the playoffs right do you even remember the reds made the playoffs no one ever will no not even reds fans no and and as much as we wanted to be that team i fear we would have suffered a similar fate as i've said before damon doubts me david tells me i'm the loser talk and then i hate you he hates me right that right rightfully so you should all hate me for saying that but it's the reality of the situation and i am a man of science so i can't help rhodomo was going to turn into barry bonds in the playoffs okay all right let's

calm down let's calm down a little bit little bit. All right, but I will say, I will say we have no idea what would happen. And that's an alternate reality that we can't even peek in just for fun. But again, that that is part of the problem here with playoffs. Espo and I were just talking about it. And when the sons were a team that made the playoffs, for instance, often, but didn't really like make it as a high seed or didn't really stand a chance once that first round came along, you tend to feel like you stop caring that they make the playoffs. Right? Like there was a point of time. my life where if my team, like in an eight-seeded playoff bracket, was like the sixth seed or lower,

I didn't even care that they made the playoffs. And typically, I was right to do so because typically they would just get bounced in the first round. When your team does make the playoffs often, then the expectations and the demands from the fans change, right? That's what we were talking about last week with the Brewers, where, you know, they have a good game plan to consistently make the postseason. but when you always come up short and you can't even make it to the World Series, doesn't even matter that you have success in the regular season and had the best record in the National League.

Not really. It's a footnote. It's something that will be discussed who had the best record in the National League in 2025. Outside of that and outside of flying an L flag against the Cubs and then immediately being swept, there's not much about, you know, the Brewer's playoff run that's really going to be remembered, right? So that tends to be the case. you are absolutely right. George,

that's George Springer home run does become iconic should the Toronto Blue Jays go on to defeat the Dodgers here in the World Series. And this is not going to be an easy, you know, an easy feat.

But I will say that the Blue Jays are one of the teams that it does feel like when you look at their numbers from the 2025 season, they have a chance to beat the Dodgers. And the World Series is set to begin this Friday on October 24th.

This marks the Blue Jays first World Series appearance since their back-to-back championships back in 92 and 93. while the Dodgers are aiming for their second consecutive title and fifth in nine years. And second, that doesn't have a little asterisk next to it. But game one is on Friday, game two on Saturday. Then game three and four come back to Dodger Stadium. Those first two games are at Rogers Stadium in Toronto.

Games three and four come back to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. That is on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday if game five is necessary, if the Blue Jays haven't swept the Dodgers by then. And then game six, we'll take. place on Halloween, something we very much remember from 2003. And then if necessary, game seven will take place on Saturday, November 1st, again in Toronto, those two games. Do you like the, I know it makes sense

travel-wise, obviously, but do you like the two, three, two format that baseball uses Damon? Or like, does it make it a bit more fair to have the two-two-one-one format? Yeah, I mean, I honestly, I don't Honestly, that's always an interesting discussion. I really have no idea like what I on if I feel like if you're the if you're down to oh and you're the road team, you you almost prefer the three games in a right, right, right. Right, right.

And that's the reason why I just think it's weird because essentially going up if every team wins their home game, it's almost a disadvantage really for for the team with a better record because they'll have two games and they go three back at the opponent's home. And now the opponent just has to win one game of the. final two theoretically to to you know win the series right so like and then there's the Phillies and then there's the Phillies got them they weren't even they weren't even doing anything they were just innocently standing there you just got them anyway good job i mean like i guess in that series that's a good kind of way to look at it right because i mean the diamondbacks were down

two oh they clawed back two and then they lost game five right three two yeah uh and it felt like it was over because the Phillies just had to win one more game in Philadelphia. Right. But some teams are mentally tougher than that and built to win on the road in the playoffs. And unfortunately, the Dodgers, I don't think, have lost a road playoff game yet. Right. So, I mean, maybe they're that team. But, yeah, it's going to be an electric world series.

The home environments for both crowds should be insane. They definitely should be. The Dodgers, their electricity will start around the fourth inning, though. whereas things should start right away in the Rogers Center. I would still, I could only imagine staying in that hotel during the World Series to be able to get to watch a World Series game from your room. Those prices have to be astronomical. We need to look into that before the end of this week.

Let's see if we can make a reservation. I'm going to doubt it. But looking at these two teams, like I said earlier, they are fairly, well, it's a fairly good matchup between these two teams. They are pretty close on a lot of categories. If we take a look at the Blue Jays at a glance, you'll see here their record. This is their numbers from the regular season. Same thing with the Dodgers.

Blue Jays had a 94 and 68 record. They finish one game better than the Dodgers giving them home field advantage in this series. Their OPS is with this season during the regular season was 760, which was third. Starting pitching ERA this season, not great. 4.34, which was 20th in Major League Baseball. their bullpen 3.98, which was 16th in Major League Baseball, and their outs above average 16, which finished 9th. Interestingly enough, just ahead of the Dodgers there defensively.

Damon, this is another situation. I know we usually do these at-a-glances during the season, but man, with the 20th best starting pitching ERA in baseball and the 16th best relief pitching in baseball, the Blue Jays managed to have essentially the second best round. record in the entire league. And it just once again reiterates to me how different the Diamondback season was if their ERA for their bullpen could have managed to be there right there, around 15th, 16th in the league, just middle of the road. We would be talking about them,

not only being in the playoffs, but my opinion probably would have changed drastically about their chances against the Dodgers. But speaking of the Dodgers, let's take a look at their season at a glance. Dodgers were 93 and 69 in 2025, like I said, finishing just a lot of just one game below the Blue Jays. Their run differential was plus 142, which goes to show that this Dodgers offense is a powerhouse. And really, we haven't seen this sleeping dragon that is the Dodgers offense wake up much here during the postseason.

Their starting pitching has absolutely dominated this postseason, and that is the big reason why they are where they are at. But also that man, Shohei, aka Parley Otani, He is definitely a man that had himself a huge game there in the finale against the Brewers, hitting three home runs and striking out 10. The Dodgers OPS this year was 768 as a team, which was second in all the Major League Baseball. They had a 3.69 starting pitching ERA, which was very, very good. Fifth in all the major leagues.

Bullpen, meanwhile, a lot of questions there and have been all season long, but they have been performing much better here in the postseason. They had a 4.27 ERA this season, which was tied for 20th. and outs above average was 12 for the Dodgers defense there, finishing 10th, again, just below the Toronto Blue Jays in Major League Baseball. But obviously Otani, the reigning World Series MVP, he is going to be a dual threat. Don't speak of that on my podcast, Derek. I'm going to pull the my podcast card. Yeah, no, you should.

You should for sure. We'll just move on. Yoshinov Yamamoto has had an incredible postseason in 2025, 1.83 ERC, 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings, Damon, in 19 and 2 thirds innings pitch. Just incredible. And then you also have two-time-Syenne award winner Blake Snell. And it's kind of funny to see Dodgers fan just being like, thank God he's on our side now. Because they were sick of losing the Snell and he has been dominant for the Dodgers with a 3.15 ERA over his 10-year career span.

and it's almost non-existent here in the postseason. Then you have Tyler Glassnow, who's just there also having himself a fine postseason, like not as good as Snell and Yamamoto. But with the way Otani Yamamoto and Snell are all pitching, you might not even need Glass Now in there as a starter. You might be able to stash from away or maybe have them come out of the bullpen should any of these other three guys falter for a longer relief pitching appearance. And that wouldn't be the worst situation for them.

that formidable pitching staff has a combined 1.40 ERA and 81 strikeouts over 10 postseason starts. Nuts, nuts. Nuts stuff from them. But meanwhile, the Blue Jays, their offense is potent. Like I said, this is the immovable object versus the unstoppable force with these two teams. Vladimir Guerrero was named ALCS MVP after hitting 385 with three home runs and four walks in the series. George Springer, of course, delivered what I am calling an iconic three run. Homer in game seven of the ALCS.

And then they have Boba Chet on the horizon that is expected to return from a knee injury for the World Series. So the Blue Jays look to be strong there, at least depth-wise. Dalton Navar show has also been having himself an excellent, you know, postseason for sure. And they just, they have a balanced offense. They have, you know, a high contact rate. They hit home runs. They get on base and we'll single you to death.

they've been making hard contact all postseason long. And again, the Mariners did a good job in a couple of those games at holding the Blue Jays, especially after, you know, the layoff that the Blue Jays had a little bit longer than the Mariners. But again, the Blue Jays came roaring back and their offense looks like it is on a roll now for sure. But the Dodgers obviously do enter the series as favorites based on their pitching and their postseason experience. but that Blue Jays offense, man, they're resilient. They have a really good bullpen, not from the season, as you can tell by those numbers, but in the postseason, their bullpen has been lights out.

So it's going to be interesting to see how the ace heavy rotation there from Los Angeles Dodgers can, you know, do battle against these dynamic Blue Jays hitters. And then obviously it's about what George Springer, one of the best now best postseason hitters in MLB history. and what Vladi Jr. can do here against this Dodgers pitching staff. But really, really fun matchup here. And like I said earlier, I just feel like this is a comparable matchup between these two teams. It's going to be one of the best offenses versus one of the best pitching staff. So can't wait to see how this all turns. But I also am still feeling very sad for all of our

Mariners fans here in the office. But we'll go ahead and move on from this because we need to start fixing the Arizona Diamondbacks. And on the other side of this break, we're going to talk about a pitcher that we started speaking about last night, Ranger Suarez, at least for now, former Philadelphia, Philly. He is a free agent this offseason. We will see if going after Suarez makes sense or if just bringing back Zach Gallen is a much cheaper, comparable option there for the Diamondback. So don't you go anywhere or you're watching the PHNX Diamondback show?

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So we were not off topic. We weren't off topic, but we might have been going a little unrealistic or realistic, depending on your point of view on this. Now, the Diamondbacks have a very limited budget this offseason. I've heard people say they're so sick of hearing that about this team. And trust me, I am sick of saying it. But it's the reality of the situation, right? With contracts, increasing, players receiving more money.

And quite frankly, Ken Kendrick saying that this team is not going to spend as much next year, as they did this year. It's a foregone conclusion that they will have a limited budget based on what they're already committed to and what their budget was last year and deducting even a small amount from that total. Right. So we're still sitting in the neighborhood of the Diamondbacks having $25 to $30 million to spend this offseason. Not great. Not a lot of money. Now, with that being said, it doesn't mean that the Diamondbacks necessarily have to give someone a contract that pays them that much on an annual value just this year, right? All the time they've gotten creative with the way they've structured contracts. Hell, look at what the Dodgers did with Joe Hay Otani.

Maybe we're not going to be able to convince somebody to take that big of a pay cut and a deferred payment situation. However, there's creative ways around it, right? So no matter what an annual adjusted or expected annual value is for a player's salary, the Diamondbacks can find ways to structure it, depending on how much that player wants to come here and join the Arizona Diamondbacks. Now, not a great situation, right? So I'm sure that there aren't going to be a ton of players clamoring to come join this team due to how competitive they are. However, some teams don't care about that. Some teams want, you know, a little bit more of a centralized location thing, as you've seen with Corbyn Burns and others,

where living in Arizona and being part of this Diamondbacks team is something that they desire and will make their lives considerably better. Some players very much enjoy living here. There's players that don't even play for the Diamondbacks and never have that have homes here simply because of spring training and because of how much they enjoy the weather. So with that being said, we are going to discuss the pros and cons of going after these two guys.

But there were two starting pitchers that are of similar age, similar statistics that the Diamondbacks could go after. One is a very familiar name as far as face on this team. The other one is a very familiar foe. And that's who we're going to start with today. It's who we discussed a little bit yesterday during the Mailbag Monday session. Ranger Suarez, former Philadelphia Philly. Ranger Swares is a free agent this off season.

And he had himself a very good 2025, which is definitely a pro for Swares. He had a 12 and 8 record with a 3.20 ERA over 157 and a third innings pitched, including 151 strikeouts. His whip stood at 1.22, and again, he was a very effective pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. We can take a look here at his career numbers, and as you can see, at 30 years old, Ranger Suarez has had himself a pretty consistent, good career. In 762 innings pitched, his ERA stands at 3.38. He has a baseball reference war of 17.8, 705 strikeouts, and a 1.27.

Whip. Ranger, again, he has been considered one of the best pitchers in baseball at times. He's an elite pitcher. He has, you know, again, that resiliency in high leverage situations. He's contributed significantly to the playoff success for the Phillies. And I feel like he doesn't even get credit at times for being one of their best pitchers. It always feels like the Phillies have a bigger name that kind of sits atop of the rotation and kind of is that star pitcher for them. But meanwhile, Suarez has just been doing it over his entire career for the Phillies. And he has been, you know, durable. He does, he has had some injuries.

Like, he experienced some reoccurring back issues. And, you know, a notable back issue last season that affected his ability to perform there later in the season. But again, the Diamondbacks really, and that could be a good reason not to, want to invest so much in someone like Ranger Suarez, right? But when he's healthy, he's been, durable and, you know, again, those back issues seem to be in the past for him. But a bigger, I guess, con here than just his injury history is the cost for Ranger Suarez, right? We were trying to look at available free agent options yesterday, as Damon said, that were reasonable. And right now,

Suarez is projected to receive a contract worth around $161 million. over six years, his expected market value is $27 million per year. So again, the Diamondbacks could get very creative with a Ranger Suarez contract. And as far as what the debacks are going to do long term for their starting pitching staff, it would be great to have somebody that's been as consistent in his career as Suarez locked up for the next six years. You feel like that would be a great transition as Corbyn Burns was expected to, be, you know, from the Zach Gowan Merrill Kelly era to, you know, what would come in 26, unfortunately due to injury, he won't be that. But Rangers Suarez could be an incredible

number two pitcher for the Diamondbacks behind Corbyn Burns when he returns. And for the time being, quite frankly, Ranger Suarez could be the ace for this staff. But again, the $27 million dollars theoretically, as I said earlier. That would be the Diamondbacks' entire budget for this offseason. They would not be able to add much else free agency-wise, and we know that there is no way that the Diamondbacks can only add one starting pitcher this off-season and have that be enough to make this team competitive for 2026. Pitching needs to be addressed, and the Diamondbacks, quite frankly, right now need two starting

pitchers. Wherever they get those from, that's fine. but they need two starting pitchers. Like we said with the bullpen, it's not a great situation, but the bullpen has enough living, breathing, human beings in it to start the 2026 season. Is it the best options for you?

No, but you feel pretty good about some of the young pitchers in there. You feel good about Ryan Thompson being a little bit of now a veteran leader of that staff. And you feel pretty good about guys like Brandon Garcia and Philip Abner being able to come back next year and be very good. potentially for this bullpen even though they're very young, you know, arms that were called upon pretty quickly in their career, including Abner, who we've talked about going from Hillsborough to, you know, striking out Otani over the course of one season. So that was a pretty fast track progression for him. But like I said, you do feel like you have enough arms for the bullpen

to play baseball, to play a regular season. Meanwhile, you can't say the same right now about starting pitching and quite frankly they can't just get one starting pitcher they need two so sweres would be the entirety of your budget if you don't figure out a way to defer payments or structure the contract inwardly where maybe he's getting paid higher uh in 27 and 28 than he does in 26 just to allow that flexibility financially for the team and i think players are willing to do that i don't think that's the the end of the world for them they're still going to get paid millions of dollars for the particular season that's going to be you know get paid less but they also have the bigger payday to look forward to in future seasons so uh that that that could be a way around it however it still feels like the cost

is going to be too high and quite frankly i just don't know if the diamondbacks will be able to go after one of the elite available free agent pitching arms on the market right so ranger swore is though 30 years old another guy that's 30 years old zack gallon we're going to take a look at his numbers and see how comparable he actually is to that to that to Ranger Suarez because despite the fact that it feels like these two pitchers are in very different places than, you know, they actually are much closer than you might think. Really with Swarez, it just comes to the fact that the Phillies had so many years of making the playoffs. Suarez has been involved in so many winning seasons for that team. And, you know, again, he, I even remember

a really rough outing against the Diamondbacks back in September of this year, where he allowed six runs over four innings and you just kind of felt like, you know, again, maybe, maybe Ranger was washed a little bit. That's how quickly we feel these way, this way about pitchers. And Zach Gallen has received that treatment for his 2025 season. Gallen would probably be the first person to tell you that his 2025 season was absolute garbage. He would be probably the first person to tell you that he's better than he was in 2025. The problem is, is you could argue that last season was so bad for gallon that it significantly impacted his value during the worst possible time in his career. So did it impacted enough or Zach Gallant, Gallen might be a value

buy for the Diamondbacks in 2025 or excuse me, in 2026? As crazy as that sounds, it's possible. But Damon, Ranger Suarez overall, what are your thoughts on him as a viable free agent? And, you know, again, looking at those numbers, that ERA over his career, is he worth that cost of $161 million roughly or $27 million per year over the next six seasons? I mean, it's a hefty price, right? But I think that what we've seen is if there's a willingness to get it done on the player side of things, I feel like Ken Kendrick is open to being flexible with his plan. You know what I feel like he's shown that the last two seasons.

We thought the Diamondbacks were done spending after, a pretty big off season. And then would they bring in? Jordan Montgomery for $20 million out of nowhere when we thought that there was no budget left, right? So I feel that, you know, there's a scenario where maybe Ranger Suarez is holding out for a contract that doesn't come because we all know how weird baseball free agency is. Sure.

And Arizona maybe, you know, makes a couple bigger signings. You know, we're going to talk about the DH situation. But maybe they do what, what me and you have determined is the plan, which is, Ryan O'Hern times Paul Goldschman as the platoon, right? And maybe they bring in another pitcher. Like they re-sign one of the D-BACs guys. And so it feels like the budget's kind of taken up. But Rangers out there and Mike Hazen comes to Ken and says,

Hey, Ken, I feel like we got a, we can get pretty good value here. I wouldn't be shocked if the dying backs went a little bit above that threshold that you're talking about, Derek, of that like $30 million range. So while I do agree that I think that the expert, should be that the budget is going to take a step back this year. I do think that it's like that that's a good place to temper expectations, but that it's entirely possible that the Diamondbacks go out there and make like a big signing. We didn't think Corbyn Burns was possible either.

I completely agree. I completely agree. And Michael Dixon asked a great question. If you scroll back there, David. He asked about when can free agents start signing 10 days after end of series or is that qualifying offer? So MLB free agents can sign with a new team beginning the day after the World Series concludes, the day after. But there's a five-day exclusive window for teams to re-sign their own free agents before they can officially sign with any team. That's the qualifying offer period that you're talking about, Michael.

So it's five days. And during that period of time, only the team that just lost the player can sign them. After that exclusivity period ends, the player can sign with any team. So that's where we're at. And of course, that would be. November 2nd, 204, or 2025, excuse me. I always think it's

wild when you're in the middle of like an NBA playoff run and two teams that didn't make it are trading with each other. And you're like, what's happening right now? Why are you doing this? Yeah, why are the Hornets in the jazz making a trade right now? Sure. It's pretty insane.

Sure. And then let's say, Deborah asked any chance they do not make changes, save money and you have contracts ending next year, such as Tori. they could punt on 2026 absolutely debor I don't think they will I don't think there's a chance of that but there's also no chance that they can't make any changes they have to make changes I mean unless that unless by not being making any changes

they bring back Merrill Kelly and bring back Zach Allen right like that gangs back together get the gang back together minus Gino and Naylor yeah and someone else even asked about that and I mean again you got to realize that the Diamondbacks made those moves for those guys not because they couldn't keep them, not because they wouldn't resign them. Maybe a bit of that, especially with how hot Gino was here,

and Josh Naylor perhaps gave them the impression as he did to many fans that he wasn't happy here and didn't want to stay here. I still don't think that's the truth, but I don't know. I mean, I can agree that after seeing Josh be as happy as he was as a Seattle mariner, maybe there was some truth to him being miserable here.

Maybe Josh just likes to win. And the way that the Diamondback season was going was as much as it was for all the fans wearing on Josh Naylor's mental mentality in a way that is similar to us where it's like man dude we feel like we're winning all these games late we blow them we should have like a 10 game better record than what we do like it's disheartening I'm sure when you're in the moment too it's just some players like a corbin carroll are really good at you know pretending like it doesn't affect them you know what I mean damon despite my sunny position, I am one of the

source losers you're going to find on the planet, right? So like, yeah, like I remember there was a time where, believe it or not, I was playing in an indoor co-ed soccer league. And I hated every single game. We were such a bad team. We were a bunch of

misfits that just decided to play for fun. Meanwhile, there were former D1 athletes on the opposition that were just out there to kick the ass of people like me, right? So, also, girls were very mean, very mean. in co-ed soccer. Very mean. And we got beat every single game. I don't know if we won a single game in the two seasons. Two seasons. I played indoor co-ed soccer. And what I will say is that I never got

used to losing. And like I just, I felt like my entire demeanor changed over that period of time where like I hated every, it was like Tuesday nights. And I just, I would wake up grumpy on Tuesday knowing that I had a game that night because I knew we were just going to go. I was going to get a cramp in my side, and we were going to run around and get beat by another team for 60 minutes is what was going to happen, right? So, like, yeah, that kind of stuff can't impact you, especially. I'm not even used to winning as I covered earlier in this episode. I just hate losing. I just hate losing, right?

That's why I tend to abstain from competition. I just enjoy being on the sidelines, making funny, dumb comments about how you guys all are doing out there. It's what I was put on this earth to do. commentate. But again, when it comes to this situation, Ranger Suarez, the price seems a little too high. The back issue concerns me. And more importantly, we are going to talk about another 30 year old man that we are much more familiar with than Zach Gallen, who might just be the better option and might not cost this team nearly as much money as Ranger

Swares as well. We're going to do that on the other side of this break. Don't you guys go anywhere? You're watching the PHA next time and back show. Well, Pure Edibles was founded in Arizona, and we love them for it. We love local. And of course, they are available in 130 dispensaries statewide. But again, this company from Flagstap, Arizona, makes some incredible candies. They don't make just gummies like a lot of companies do. They make a wide variety of gummies or candies depending on your preferences. They got hard candies.

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So get all of this savings right now by joining the Inner Circle for free. Download the Circle K app today. Terms and conditions do apply at participating locations. Visit CircleK.com for details. Well, Mike, we have discovered Roger Bessions. What is this? This is Roger Bessions, right? Mike Shade.

No one else talks about throwing the Roger Besson's football slider other than Roger Besson. So I think we found his burner account. I mean, yeah, Derek. I mean, that's obvious here. But I will say this, that nobody on this staff. Love you, Roger. Yeah, no one on this staff should throw the football slider because I don't think they're qualified to do so.

Throw like a football stiff wrist. Roger taught Otani, the football slider, actually. I don't know if you knew that. I heard he also taught him how to use. No, we won't do that. But anyway, what we will do is we'll go into Zach Gowland's numbers, like I said, because believe it or not, Zach Gallen and Ranger Suarez are very, very comparable here on their career numbers.

Now, Zach Gallen obviously had himself a very bad 2025 at the worst possible time, quite frankly, in his career. And if you look at his numbers overall, he has been trending in that direction since the Diamondbacks World Series run, quite frankly. 2024 was it great for Gallen and 2025 was even worse. But over the course of his career, Zach Gallen has been fairly consistent. and that's what makes the struggles this season. So kind of mind-boggling, especially the juxtaposition of how good Gowin was at times versus how bad he was.

But looking here at his career stats, Gowan had himself in 1007 and a third innings pitched. Do we have those stats, Damon? Zach Gowan had a 3.58 ERA, a 20.7B war to, once again, compared to the career war of Rangers' Juarez, who had a 17.8 war, 1,060 strikeouts in those 1,07.3 and a third innings pitched to the 705 by Ranger Suarez. And then, again, a 1.159 whip for Galen to the 1.270 whip for Rangers.

Now, of course, Gallen did this in seven seasons for the Arizona Diamondbacks to Rangers' Suarez's eight seasons for the Rangers. Ranger had a couple of really bad seasons, including 2020, where he did not pitch. He only pitched three games, 2018, and his rookie season, he only had three starts. But after that, he spent some time in the bullpen in 2019. Meanwhile, Zach Gallen kind of had the opposite kind of career trajectory. And that's where you could say looking at Suarez's numbers, Suarez is improving here over the course of his career. And His ERA, you know, from 2023 was 4.18. His ERA in 2024 was 3.46 and then his ERA in 2025 was 3.20.

Meanwhile, like I said, Zach Gowlin's numbers have gone in the opposite direction. 2022. Gowan had a 2.54 ERA. 23, 3.47, 24, 3.65. And now in 2025, the worst ERA of his career at 4.83, especially for a full season. Gallen did have 23 starts in 2021 where he posted a 4.30 ERA. But as you can see, as I said there, over the last few seasons, you've kind of seen that ERA get higher over the course of his career or over the course of his season.

And now we don't know if Zach's proven track record is a good thing or, you know, if quite frankly, he's washed, washed. I like to use that phrase when I can't think of anything. better. Gallin, Gallen has consistently been a reliable starter over the entire course of his career. That is what Gallin is for this team in 2025 was such an outlier for him. He did end up still, like, still not awful at 13 and 15 with a 4.83 record, just not Zach Gallen-esque, right? Not what we're- He had a good second half. He looked Zach Gallen-esque at the end of the season. Exactly. Exactly. So if you want to go based on recency, you know, that's definitely something to consider.

he did have a strong first half of his season. Deborah asks, do we know why Gallin has struggled? Not really. I mean, I do think that when you look at what was going on in the first half of the season, a lot of it had to do with this fastball command. I also felt like it had to do with Zach nibbling too much instead of attacking the strike zone. Like, again, you sometimes just have to put that pressure on batters in order to, you know, to get them to swing, you know, and Galen and tired had too many walks.

You saw him go up 02 in counts and then lose guys and walk them on a full count. There was just entirely too much of that. And I don't know if it was Gallen not believing in himself. Michael Dixon agrees with me. He says because he nibbles too much. And that's, yeah, that's it. Nibbling's fine for Cosmo. Cosmo is allowed to nibble only a little bit, though.

I mean, he can really bite hard. But nibbling, as far as Gallen was concerned, wasn't great. And I felt like it was a weird lack of confidence, right? Candice says he seems like he seems like he was scared to pitch the difference that James McCann made seemed to be simple You know James McCann yes there were a lot of great things we've covered that McCann did right glue guy Throwing the sunflower seeds in people's hair sexy arms sexy arms with wraps around them that I still don't understand like I If I wasn't meant to compliment his arms and there's no reason why you should have had him wrapped up like he was the ultimate warrior right But I will say that

the one thing that someone like McCann was able to do was he was able to be like a person from the outside coming in and reminding Gallen who he was. Right? And sometimes that's all you need is like this third party that you're not really

familiar with. You might have spoken to a couple of times or you might know them on a casual basis but now for them to be a teammate of yours and look you in the face and be like, dude, you rock. You're awesome. You are one of the toughest pictures I face. I'm sure the language which was a lot more colorful than that.

But still, Zach Allen has a proven track record of being a reliable starter for this team. And that is something that you kind of know you're getting out of Zach. I don't think that his performance is going to decline. I think 20, 25 or 26, you know, at 30 years old, will be one of Gallin's best because now he has a wealth of experience on the mound and he still has a heck of a lot of skill. I think he also has a lot to still prove.

like things were going in a really good way in a good direction for Zach and then he faced a lot of adversity over the last two seasons. So again I think that he wants, as every player in baseball wants that big contract and I think that he will get it

just depends on when he's going to get it. Right now Gallin is expected to reject a qualifying offer from the Diamondbacks and test free agency, right? And according to Spottrack, Gowin's market value is that of a get this, Damon, four-year deal worth $74.8 million.

Sign me up yesterday. If that's the deal, Derek, I am all the way in on bringing Zach Gowan back. 18.7 million dollar annual value. I saw that yesterday. I told you, I think that, I think it was after our show. I told you that I think that that seems too low and that other teams will value Zach Gowan higher than that. We also talked about the qualifying offer aspect of it and whether or not he would probably just play for 20, million dollars and go about his offseason again the next year.

But even though he's a Boris client, which is, you know, not a usual thing that a boris client does. Derek looks like he's willing to add to the pot, though. I have a crisp $5 bill to throw on it right now as we speak, Damon. And as you know, I don't throw around money all willy-nilly. I don't have the money to do that. But I will give you this $5 to, I mean, if we all throw in $5, right, there's got to be enough of us Diamondbacks fans and at least that takes care of one year of his salary. I don't know.

I mean, what are you like 20th in attendance? Yeah. There's enough of us. There's enough of us. There's dozens of us. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think that that eight, right, 18.7 for you, Derek is enough to to sign him up on a multi-year contract if that's what it takes. Like, well, that seems very reasonable and like a, a really, really good contract for a elite SP2. Like Zach Gallen maybe could be. Maybe he isn't that guy anymore. Who knows? But I think that we've seen the flashes of that. And when Corbyn Burns gets back, if you're one-two is Corbin-Burn and Zach Gallen,

you got to feel pretty good about that. Maybe he doesn't want four years. Maybe he doesn't, maybe Gallen doesn't want to commit to four more years of this team. Maybe he doesn't see, you know, that being his future. But a two-year deal, a two-year deal, like that could help everybody. Gallen accepting the qualifying offer, again, is a win-win for the Diamondbacks in regards to the qualifying offer, right? Because for Gallon, it's going to be, what, $22 million, roughly.

So Gallon's going to receive more money through this qualifying offer for one year, giving him a chance to come back to this team that he's very familiar with. Once again, be the ace of the staff because he will until Gordon Burns returns. Yeah, and he can be that guy. Then he's still 1A, 1B, arguably, whatever the hell you want to call him, whatever. That's fine. But we know he's two. Right, two is what he is.

Your number two in the start of rotation. However, like, again, that's fine. And it could just be enough for Gowan to continue the stretch that he had on the second half of the season, rebound to be the Zach Gowan that we all knew he was from 24 and 23 and 22, and then get that big contract after the 2026 season. Nothing is promised for us beyond the 2026 season. Baseball may never come back. December, 26, that might be the end of me as a person, Damon.

and I might fade away into the, into dust in the wind when baseball goes away. I might, again, that's the purpose that I was on this earth for is to cover baseball. But for the short term, it makes a lot of sense for Gallen to take an annual value that's more than what he's going to receive on a longer term deal, right? With the potential that after 2026, he could get even more money. And at that point, he could potentially get that five-year deal from the Yankees or another team. Yeah, I mean, I feel like he'd probably like to work in some sort of, you know, player option potentially in a deal like that where like a two years. Yeah, two years with like a player option for that second year of like, well, if he doesn't have a good season, then he can go ahead and collect 20 million more dollars in another basically one year deal. It just gives him a little bit more security.

I don't know if that's something that's up Zach's alley, but I'm all for attempting to bring him back. I've said that, you know, long before like Zach Allen, Merrill Kelly. I want one of those guys back this this offseason, and hopefully we get it. Well, you know, you could say again, if he does reject it and doesn't return to this team, 4.93 ERA over his last 41 starts. That goes back to mid-20204. So that just shows that Gallen for an extended period of time has been a nearly a five ERA. Yeah, he hasn't been himself, right?

And I think I think that- But like you said, the second half of 2025 is a much better, a much different story. It does factor in overall and does get that ERA down below five without the way we pitched in the second half. We would probably be talking about nearly a six ERA for the for the two seasons, season and a half. It's honestly true. I mean, I think that yeah, that's that's the, that's the only thing that's for me to save in grace. Like if Zach Allen finished the season out, pitching how he pitched in the first half, I'd be, I'd be sitting here being like, you know what? He was a great diamond back. We had a lot of great memories and in Sianara.

Mr. Gallant. we wish you the best but i think that the fact that he did pick it up and it wasn't like a short sample size it was basically half a season of baseball that you know he was a quality pitcher again the guy that we remember watching even if he wasn't his tip top again right but i think that bodes well for he's gonna he was going to always positively regress back to his average his mean and that is a good starting pitcher in major league baseball he just didn't have enough starts left once he did turn things around to really turn the entire season around, right? It wasn't going to be an equitable amount of games from the first half, right?

Because it's not even – that's another dumb thing about baseball. The first half isn't even the first half. The first half is like, what, 100 games or something like that? So anyway. But I will say that Gallen overall makes me believe in him. But El Gairo is not wrong here. Neither is Debra. Debra.

Debra says, please, hit the like button. She's definitely not wrong. But El Gio says he could get hurt. It's too risky for pitchers. What's too risky? Is he saying the... I think the longer-term deal. I think, like, for instance, with Ranger Suarez, right, a six-year deal with Gowan, you know, a long-term deal, right?

And I do think that that's something the Diamondbacks have to... That's where they have to live in a way. In order for them to get guys like Corbyn Burns and Jordan Montgomery, most likely, it can't be on a long-term deal because of the fact that if they do get injured, if what happens happens, it's devastating to this franchise. We've talked about the Dodgers and their money. and how they have the money to overcome mistakes that they made with certain roster decisions and not even a roster decision, right?

Just having a player get injured and having that strongly impact your team like it would any other of the 29 other fan base or MLB teams, right? Any of the other teams have a significant catastrophic injury to their best player and they are handicapped. The Dodgers could have it happen and they have three other guys waiting to step up who will probably pitch better than he did before he got injured, right? So but when the diamond backs, you know, you do got to consider Suarez's injury to his back and then Gallin's injury with the hamstring thing, right? That seemed to be a persistent injury that started in 2024 and we saw it rear to Ted a little bit over the course of 2025 as well.

But these are things you got to take you can't worry about this because what happened in 2025 was such an anomaly for this team that you can't let injuries now prevent you or make you gun shy on pulling the trigger on deals to bring in talent to this team. to help it win. Yeah, I know you absolutely cannot do it. Oh, he's saying, he's saying one year deals are risky for pigeons. That's kind of what I thought at first. Yeah, you're right about that. I went in the other direction. But yeah, you're right.

The only reason why you could take it is once again, because if the deal that they would be offered is a four-year $18.7 million dollar AAV deal. That's why. I mean, I think that that would be, to your point and to our point, that that would be the only reason why. And that's why I speculated that he probably would never even take the qualifying offer. he probably would take the quality like around that price with an added year of. Yeah, yeah.

Reject the qualifying offer but sign a new deal that's in the same ballpark as that figure. But gives him a little bit of extra financial stability of like. Especially a player option. If I get a mutual option, not a club option, but a player option. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. And I always, I saw a mutual option where I was looking at these lists yesterday and I was,

I started laughing thinking about what Jesse's always said, which is like mutual options are the stupidest thing. and most pointless thing in the history of baseball. Yeah, that's not going to happen. That year's not going to happen, basically. Not one person. There's never going to be a time where both the team and the player think, yes, my value is exactly that.

I will play for that. There's always going to be a disagreement on who thinks, who's valued more. So hopefully we don't ever see a mutual option this summer because we know that that just means nothing. You're right. You're right. But, Damon, you know who I value more than maybe not you,

but maybe, maybe it's members of my family. Depends. I need to hear who it is. It's the supporters club members. Fair. It's the supporters club members. Deborah. Candice.

Yes, of course. Candice is like our OG supporter club member. I feel like the minute we were like the supporter club has happened, she hit the go button on it. And thank you to Candice. You say jump. I say how hot. Yeah, that's right. But the rest of you, you can absolutely join our supporters club today.

We thank you so much. We've been kicking ass. We have the most supporters in all of Allstate. And let me tell you, we are definitely not the strongest in numbers. Those CHGO folks came and just blew right past us with all those Chicago sports fans. But thank you. They might have more listeners in the state of Arizona than we do, Derek. They might.

People are talking about it. But our supporters are strong and loyal and vocal, and we appreciate you guys so much. You ever seen the movie 300, Derek? Yeah, exactly. That's kind of how I feel about this is P.HNX. kick the guy into the endless pit. Nobody likes us. We don't care because we got our supporters group.

That's right. But of course, you can join, get a badge, get access to some amazing emojis. No offense, but we need to get ski in there. And I think the Mercury season is done. That seems mean to say. But I'm just saying, Kellan, thank you so much. Appreciate you for that. Of course, you get access to those custom emojis to use in the chat.

And we get more. The more supporters we add, the more emojis we get access to. So this is a fun way to support us here. Not a paywall, not essential content. But of course, if you already send super chats, it's a great way for us to get that support. And again, just $5 a month. We're going to be bringing you some next level stuff for you, Hall of Fame members as well.

So you can join the Hall of Fame for $15 a month to unlock some bonus content. Again, we appreciate you, even if you are not part of the supporters club, especially here on this show during the off season. We appreciate you guys for being here live. It means the world to me. It means the world to Damon. And we hope you guys enjoy us still doing some off season content. We will be back tomorrow with another 12 p.m. show.

But first, Damon, I wanted to drop some fun facts about Toronto since this is our new adopted home. We are Canucks. You got 50 seconds, Derek. Let's rip them. The city of Toronto was founded in 19 or excuse me, 17, Very old city. The population of Toronto, over 2.8 million. And we welcome all of you here to this show, because this is now a Blue Jays podcast,

at least for the next, what, nine days, hopefully nine days. But the name of Toronto, the name Toronto, is believed to come from a Mohawk word, meaning place where trees stand in water. Sounds like Vladdi Guerrero to me, right? Like, it's referring to a nearby portage route, but again, the city of Toronto still called Toronto to this day. And again, not to really get involved with the Space Needle CN Tower debate that was happening here in this office, but that was a debate that was happening. The CN Tower is the tallest freestanding structure in the world. Just saying it's a beautiful shot from inside the ballpark.

But we are ready to go root on the Blue Jays. We will be back tomorrow with more. free agency talk. We have more starting pitchers to break down and take a look at for the Arizona Diamondbacks. So make sure to join us for that in the meantime. You can follow me on Twitter at Kapp underscore Caveman with a K. You can follow Damon Pooch at Damon Dog on Twitter. That's with DAWG. And we are all Damon's pooches. Bark, bark, you know, or something. I don't know. A, bark, bark, hey? Thank you to you guys. Of course, our shows at PHNX underscore Dbacks. But as always, all roads lead to at pH and X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram.

and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for being here. We thank you for now being Blue Jays fans. We will see you tomorrow at 12 p.m. Until then, have a wonderful evening. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's way more fun if you actively root against the Dodgers.