PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Should Mike Hazen and the Diamondbacks still buy at the trade deadline?

Episode Date: July 17, 2023

After being swept by the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend, the Arizona Diamondbacks are hanging on by a thread in the wild card race — and about to face the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds on the road. Is this Diamondbacks team beginning to show its true colors, or are they still a team worth adding to at the trade deadline?An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Head to https://factormeals.com/phnxdbacks50 and use code phnxdbacks50 to get 50% off.Go to https://saturdayneon.com and use code PHNX for 10% off your order today. Free shipping for orders over $200!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Pins & Aces: Check out https://pinsandaces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping.Circle K: Text PHNX to 31310 to join the Circle K SMS subscriber club and get BOGO 32 oz Polar Pops! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: Learn more about OGeez! at https://ogeezbrands.com//. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome in to the PHNX devax podcast. My name is Jesse Friedman. I am the vice mayor here at PHNX. Joined by the one, the only, Sean DePaul's Mr. Electric. He is here. Derek is not here today. Is he gallivanting around Las Vegas? Yeah, he's gallivanting around Las Vegas,

is probably trying to become the mayor of Las Vegas as well, knowing him. He's probably having those discussions. Manifest destiny. Yeah, attending city council meetings there and whatnot as well, I'm sure. The Arizona Diamondbacks, Sean, did not have a great weekend to say. That's an understanding. The Diamondbacks started the second half of the season. It seemed like the All-Star break was coming at the perfect time for this team.

And then the second half started and the Diamondbacks looked a whole lot like they did at the end of the first half of the season. We have the numbers from this series. It was not pretty. None of this was pretty, Sean, all the way around in the series against the Toronto Blue Jays. As the Diamondbacks just basically got their teeth kicked in, all three games of this series, it felt like. Yeah.

I mean, it was not. Yeah, it was just a series where at no point did it really feel like there was a whole lot of hope for this team. Like it just, even when they were kind of trying to make comebacks and stuff like that, it just felt, it just didn't feel good. I don't know. I don't really know how to explain it.

It was just a different feeling than I've had for watching a lot of them. Then a different feeling that I've had watching D-Bats baseball for a lot of the season. It's just, yeah. And the numbers don't, the numbers say it all. They got their ass kicked in basically every way. And the biggest concern for me was those errors, like they were making some mistakes that were a little more uncharacteristic of this team throughout most of the year. And that's a concern because this team is good, but they're not good enough to be making mistakes and still win baseball games.

That's what's made the Diamondbacks good for a lot of the season, right? Is that they haven't made those kinds of mistakes. I believe they had five mishaps on the base paths in the series, which, yeah, I mean, the Diamondbacks have been known as one of the best base running teams in baseball for the last couple of years, really, and they did not at all look like that in this series. They also have been one of the better defensive teams in baseball over the last few years, and they also did not look like that in this series against the Blue Jays,

just very uncharacteristic in a number of ways. Diving into some of these. number starting pitching ERA, the debacks were at 420 compared to 225 for the Blue Jays. The bullpen was really, Sean, where things were just kind of a mess for the Diamondbacks. They had nine innings from their bullpen in this series. Ten runs allowed by Diamondbacks reliever, six of those by Scott McGuff, who has really taken a big step back here in the last few weeks. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot less confidence in the bullpen in general, I would say, then there was at points in the first half

and for obvious reasons, right? They're just not, they have not been very trustworthy. I can hear Mac in the background revving up the bullpen cart. Yeah, and again, this team is good, but they're not good enough to be playing basically anything less than perfect baseball. And if the bullpen's not working and you're making defensive mistakes, it's going to look a lot like this series. I mean, the Blue Jets are a really good team.

So I don't want to be too, too dramatic because, I mean, the Diamond Bat, the Blue Jays are in basic, they're a playoff team in any other division. And they still very well, might likely will be in the AL. But that, especially against like that, it seems like that. And I know, like, if you want to, if you want to have any kind of success, like you need to be able to beat teams like that are at the very least look competitive. And they just did not at all. Has Scott McGuff lost his local sex symbol title? at this point? Are we in close?

Being close. Maybe once the ZRA crosses over four. Yeah. Does that word? It officially ends. Yeah, Scott McGuff did not have a good series. And frankly, ever since the Diamondbacks sort of elevated him into those higher leverage situations, it just seems like he's totally falling apart.

And in much the same way that Andrew Chafin and Miguel Castro did when the Diamondbacks did similar things with them. Hitting with runners in scoring position continues to be an issue for the Diamondbacks as well. They hit 125, two for 16. in this series. With runners and scoring position, frankly, it's going to be very,

very hard to win a single game, much less or even more, an entire series when you have literally two hits over the course of three games with runners and scoring position. Timely hitting has very much been absent for the Diamondbacks for going on a month, month and a half at this point.

They were really good with runners in scoring position early in the season. That has just completely fallen off for them. And the slug just hasn't really been there either. You see here six extra base hits for the Diamondbacks. compared to 12 for the Blue Jays. They just got work, Sean, in absolutely every facet of the game. And I think this is what a lot of people were kind of worried about coming into the second

half of the season. The D-Backs had a rough patch finishing off the first half, but the All-Star Break gave you a chance to reset. I feel like you have a chance, you know, come out, get a few days off, come out in the second half ready to go with a really hard schedule. Yeah. And so far it's gone as worse as you possibly could have imagined with the D-Backs losing all three of these games.

And now they get the much easier task of going to Atlanta and opening up a three-game series against the Braves, which I believe the Braves basically have their three best starting pitchers going in that series as well. So really, really tough stretch for the Diamondbacks overall. John, I want to ask you concern level on a scale of 1 to 10 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Where are you at? Where are you at right now? Well, I mean, what am I concerned about?

Like, is the concern of them missing the playoffs, of them just becoming like an absolute poverty team? Sure, missing the playoffs. Um, concern, like a seven. I'm concerned. Like, I'm definitely worried about it because, uh, like, again, you need to be, you need to be able to beat these teams. The Dodgers are only going to get better and paying better baseball.

Um, and they, like, as of right now, if they keep losing games, how aggressive are they going to be at the deadline? And if they're not aggressive at the deadline, the team is not going to be good. Like, they need help. Um, so I'm not. so sure that this is necessarily like the roster as it stands I don't think as a playoff team necessarily so if it stays like this then I don't think this team makes the playoff so there's certainly a decent level of concern there people are

sounding off in the chat with their concern levels we got a couple sixes Cesar is a 7.1 one up there you go yeah just a little bit more concerned you are if you look at the at the standings right now in in the National League, things are not great for the Diamondbacks. They're okay. I mean, I guess in some ways they're good. If the season ended today, the Arizona Diamondbacks would make the playoffs, which I think is important to keep in perspective.

Like, I keep going back to, you know, if at the beginning of the season you had told any of us that this is where the Diamondbacks would be at this point, you'd still be really happy. Like, even though the Diamondbacks have lost eight of their last 10 and, you know, have been just really struggling over the last few weeks. They still, as of right now, are a playoff team, which is still exceeding the expectations that we had for them at the beginning of the season. Unfortunately, the playoff race has gotten really, really tight for the Diamondbacks.

They are no longer, they no longer have really any breathing room whatsoever. The Diamondbacks, as you see here, they are at 52 and 42. The Phillies are right on their heels in the Wild Card race. The Diamondbacks occupy. The last wild card spot, the Phillies are right there, half game out at 51. 42. Then the Reds, they've fallen off a little bit. They've lost four in a row. They're still only two games behind the Diamondbacks and the wild card race. Things have really tightened up in the National League.

Yeah. I really don't like seeing in San Francisco there. I mean, we were talking about a little bit. Like, I don't know how seriously of a threat I take, like the Marlins, for example. Obviously, you said the Reds have not been playing great. Yeah, the Marlins have struggled recently as well. And then once you get past the Reds, there's a decent amount of ground to make up. But two of those teams there are the Padres and the Maldres and the. Metz who we I mean at a certain point I'm going to run out but we keep saying like that's a team that like don't let them get hot because if they figure stuff out then they're going to be a very dangerous team too. So the Cubs I don't I'm not worried about it all. The Cubs don't worry about it.

But it seems like the Cubs are the Phillies going to sell. Yeah. The Phillies right being right there like that's that's worrisome. And we saw if this gets to a situation where they end up having to play the Phillies, that's not good. We saw what that could look like. So yeah. definitely a level of concern because whether or not you take the Marlins seriously Marlins fans are probably saying the same thing about the Diamond Vats right now so there's certainly a level concern

and I mean they have a series coming up against the Reds that goes poorly this looks completely different like the Reds could swap spots with Diamond Vats very easily so again certainly a reason to be concerned if that's the Red Series is a series in my mind that they should be able to take care of business and if they don't the level of concern might

pick up even a little bit more Yeah, you're sort of at the point where it's like, yes, there is an extreme sense of urgency. Like, yes, if this continues, the Diamondbacks are very much in trouble. But they're not quite at the point yet where the sky is falling and the season is over and they I don't think. I'm not saying. We're going to talk more about that conversation later. One thing I will say, looking at the 2022 standings at this time last year, it's interesting.

The Phillies had the third wildcard spot at this time last year with a record of 49 and 43. So not as good as where the Diamondbacks are right now as 52 and 42. And the Phillies, right, are also a half game behind the Diamondbacks very close to them. All that to say, last year it appeared that you did not need as many wins to get into the playoffs as you probably will this year. And that's how things turned out, right? Last year, the Phillies got in with 87 wins. If you look at those teams that are in the wildcard race right now, they are all on pace to win 90 games. And there's a couple teams right behind them in the Phillies and the Reds.

who I believe are on pace to win 88 and 89 games, right? So you're in a situation where you've got five teams contending for the wild card that all are on pace to finish with more wins than it took to make the playoffs a year ago. So for people wondering, you know, the debacks are 10 over 500. You know, if you go 2 over 500 the rest of the way that gets you to 87 wins, I don't think that's going to be good enough. I don't think that's going to be good enough. It looks like it's probably going to be like 89, 90 wins, something like that,

that it takes to make the playoffs when it's all set in down. That would be a really tough pill to swallow, winning 87 games and missing the playoffs. Yeah, with the third wildcard spot, right? We figured that those days of like winning 89 games and not making it were over, this year might change that narrative. The other comparison I want to make, Sean, which I think is really fascinating, if you look at the 2017 standings around this time in 2017, go back to July 17, 2017.

Of course, this is the last year the Diamondbacks made the playoffs. There were a lot of fun memories that were made that. year. The diamond backs at the end of play today in 2017 were 53 and 39. So a little bit better, but not, not much. They had lost five in a row. And they had lost eight out of ten games. Very similar position. Ten and a half games back for the Dodgers. Yeah, they were 10. They were well out of the division race, but they were in a pretty good spot in the wild card. The wild card was not nearly as competitive that year. Things were a lot safer for them down the stretch than they look this year. But what did the diamondbacks do when when they were in that spot, right? They made.

made a trade the next day. They made a trade a year ago or six years ago tomorrow and they brought in J.D. Martinez who basically just lit the offense on fire and the diamond backs went on to have a very successful second half, which brings us to this conversation of what should the diamond backs do, right? Should they push in the chip still and try to make this team better? Or should they be like, you know, the wild card race is pretty stacked this year and we're kind of free falling right now and we still have a bunch of difficult games coming up. Maybe the Diamondbacks are considering not going that route after all. Yeah.

I mean, I think this is, I think it's almost good that the schedule looks the way it does. Because you get a kind of a good mix of really difficult opponents and opponents you probably should beat. So you probably get a pretty good tense sense of the team. This feels kind of the opposite side, but similar to kind of the Cubs, what we've heard from them, that like, this might be a last day thing. Like, I think it's going to be a kind of situation where you really have to take. take these next two weeks and see where this team is to make that decision. It seems like it's going to have to be kind of a last second decision. Because this team is good, obviously, and I think they're going to be better next year.

So it's going to be a real tough pill to swallow to kind of push all your chips in when it is this tight. And you don't necessarily have the highest confidence level in this team at this point. That's a pretty big risk to take. So unless they can rip off a few wins, at least take one from the Braves, win these next few series. Like, if they can't do that, then I think you do have to consider what you were going to do with this team. But I do think getting someone, I mean, we keep talking about the power bat. Like if you can get someone, the offense needs a little bit of a left. You wish there was a JD Martinez out there in the market this year, which I don't really,

unless you think of Jimer Candelario as being a J.D. Martinez type. I'm not sure that that that really exists on the market. Yeah, there we go. Yeah, the devax. They take on that contract for sure. Yeah, you're definitely at the point where the debacks can't. They can't coast the rest of the way. They can't go 500 the rest of the way.

Dbacks have to play well in the second half if they want to make the playoffs at this point. And as people are saying in the chat, Connor says, to be honest, I don't think the team is currently constructed gets to the 89 to 90 win mark to make the playoffs. Yeah, that's what it looks like it's going to take right now. August is so tough too. And the debaq schedule, it's not, they're not going to be facing the Braves and the reds on the road the rest of the way. but it is not pretty. The Diamondbacks still have as difficult to schedule

as any of these teams in the second half I didn't really look at the August schedule. Yeah, Giants, probably didn't want to. Dodgers, Padres, Rockies, Padres, Rangers, Reds, Dodgers. That's not fun. No, it's not. That's not fun.

I don't like that. So the Diamondbacks are, I mean, yeah, it's going to be. But that's something you have to take in consideration too. You probably are not going to have a very, you're not going to have an easy month of August either. So, no, you're not. You kind of have to do a little. little bit of projecting and be honest with yourself about the team and be like, okay, even if we

have a decent end of this month, what position is a team going to be in to have a good August too? Because if you have a bad August, then you've just wasted your time at the deadline. Yeah. I mean, obviously, I know people mention Merrill Kelly. Getting Merrill Kelly back would be absolutely enormous. Right now, the Diamondbacks are rolling with a four-man rotation with Zach Gallin, who continues to struggle on the road, plus three probably non-ideal starting pitchers. His next start.

And his next start is, yeah, everything. 9.20 a.m. Mountain Standard. 9.20 a.m. is Zach Gallant's next start. And it is also on the road. So if the stars were ever not aligned for Zach Gallen to do well, that Thursday game in Atlanta does not exactly bode well. We're going to get into that a little bit more later. Suffice to say some of you might be a little tired of watching Diamondbacks baseball at this point, which is understandable. But our friends over at BetMGM have like a baseball game of their own that you can.

also play. So how to join. You're going to log in to the BetMGM Sportsbook app on iOS or Android. And then you can play the bet MGM MLB free to play game from May 27th all the way to September 7th of this year. Be a batter and pick an area of the strike zone. Depending on the area of the strike zone you pick, you will get a single double, triple, or home run or pop out and receive the prize associated with that type of hit. You can play it once a day. Pricing must be used on MLB and expires in 24 hours. If you haven't signed up for a bet MGM yet, use bonus code PHNX. There's a few different offers depending on where you live.

But for our Arizona audience, place your first bet offer and receive up to $1,000 back in bonus bets if it loses with BetMGM. Again, make sure you use bonus code pH and X. Check out the show notes for full details. And now listen to Shane and talk about the disclaimer. Disclaimer 21 plus to wager, visit betmgmgm.com for terms and conditions. U.S. promotional offers not available in Washington, D.C., Mississippi, Nevada, New York, and Ontario. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler. Colorado, D.C., Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana,

Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming. Call 8778-N-Y or text Hope, New York. Call 1-800 Next Step, Arizona. 1-800-5-2-2-7-0-Cansas, Kansas, Nevada, 1-800-3-2-2-0-1-1-1-7 for confidential help. Michigan. Michigan. You know, after watching some of this D-box baseball over the weekend, I kind of just wanted to put that away. Put that. Push that out of my head.

Just sit back, relax. I don't think you're alone. Drink a nice beer. There you go. And our friends over at Fort Peaks, help make that happen. Because they have the best beer in Arizona. That's just a fact, as far as I'm concerned.

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But as always, you must be 21 or older to drink. And please drink responsibly. We have, of course, it's Monday. We have to do the Monday. thing, right? Yeah. Every week on this show is Shark Week. Every day is Earth Day.

And every Monday, we go to the mailback. So let's go. Is Damon going to have to sing the song? I really would love to hear Damon sing the Mailback Monday song instead of I have a beautiful voice. Yeah. Let us hear it. I'd love to hear it.

I'd love to hear it. Not for free. Super chance. Never for free. Oh, super chats. There we go. We can make that happen. All right.

Let's go to question number one in the mailbag. What do we got? A question for Mailbag Monday. This comes from E who DMed us on Twitter. A couple things here. Number one, which epic collapse in a promising slash exciting season would hurt more this season or the September 2018 dumpster fire month of baseball? I feel like this one is pretty easy for me personally.

In 2018, the Diamondbacks were in very good. good position basically the entire season right they had made the playoffs the year prior they were pretty well established and then september of that season came and the wheels just fell off and the dodgers overtook first place and i think it was one of the more disastrous months of diamond backs baseball and in franchise history uh is that is that how you would is that how you would fill sean i don't think they even really compare yeah i mean i wasn't really around for 2018 so i don't necessarily don't have that much of an attachment to it but i'll say we're still in the middle of the season and we're still in a playoff spot right now so I'm not like what the wheels have a completely

falling off yet for me to be like to really acting like this is an absolute collapse train wreck like the diamondbacks didn't make the playoffs in 2018 because of the collapse we don't know how this story ends yeah right what was the second part of these question we're worried up one more time oh we officially worried yet we said but a seven out of time yeah the worries go yeah i think it's you're still again you're still in a good spot the diamond back's still in a great spot If you would ask any Diamondbacks fan at the beginning of the year, if they'd be happy being in the spot that they're in now, everyone would say yes, literally everyone. But yeah, their schedule coming up is very, very difficult, and they have pretty much fallen off the face of the planet over the last couple of weeks. So there's definitely some concern.

Definitely some reason for concern. What do we got? What do we got next? Brettly Johnson, at this point with their recent slide, do you see the team being less aggressive on the trade market? or is this the time for Hazen to light a fire under the guys and be more aggressive? This is sort of like our big question for the entire show, essentially. Brighton Bobbitt asked a similar question on Twitter also. He said, if the struggles continue, would it be better to stand pat at the deadline than

by and let these younger guys figure it out? This is a big one, Sean. This is a tough thing that I'm sure the Diamondbacks front office is probably mulling over right now. Like what do we do in the position that we're in right now? I think it very much depends on what happens over the next 10 days or so, more than anything. There's no reason to make this decision right now. You don't have to. But say the next 10 days pass and the debacks are in a similar spot as they're in right now.

Maybe they have the third wildcard spot, but they have a very slim lead over the other teams behind them. Maybe they drop to the fourth spot and they're just slightly outside the playoff picture at that point. What do the diamondbacks do if that happens? Personally, Sean, I think that if the diamondbacks are in, are in a, position where they are clearly in the playoffs are right outside the playoffs. I mean, they literally talked, Mike Hazen talked coming into this season about how a goal for the team was to be buyers at the trade deadline. Like, this is a position the Diamondbacks want to be in. And despite what's happened over the last few weeks, and I mean, it's crazy to think that they had a pretty sizable lead in

the NOS not that long ago. But despite that, they're still in a good position and they still are in position to try to make a chase for the playoffs, right? And the degree to which the team is going to buy is another question. I do think that because of this, maybe you're not pushing all of the chips in. Yeah, maybe we're not having the show, hey, Nolan Aronado, Paul Goldsmith conversation anymore. But, you know, we're going to talk about a guy later in the show and Michael Lorenzen who might make a lot of sense for this Diamondbacks team and won't necessarily cost a lot.

I'll star Michael Lorenzen. Whether he deserves that is a different question. but yeah I um what was the original question the original question is basically oh yeah yeah the big question yeah a big question I mean yeah I like you said it all depends over the what happens over the next two and a half weeks more or less but I think the reality is and I'm sure there Hayeson is fully aware of this it's going to be a really hard sell to the fan base if you don't do something at the deadline especially because you've come out and said that you are going to yeah and like you mentioned him saying before the season that it's a goal to be in this situation.

If we're being realistic, kind of like we were talking about before the season, the season, if you were in this situation, this is probably what it looked like. I don't think he ever expected to be in this situation to be biased to the deadline and have like a 10 league or 10 game leading to the division.

Like it was going to be close if you were going to be biased at the deadline anyways. So I, yeah, I do think that if you, again, unless they go, they lose the next 10 games or however money they have before the deadline. Like, if they go,

for then you probably shouldn't be buying they go 500 though and they're still in the wildcard spot or a game out of a wild card spot whatever like I think you I think you have to go for it because again you look at the right you look at the standings everything like this is a might be the best chance that they the best chance they had in a while might be the best chance they have for a while yeah so the league seems pretty wide open right now more or less and if you make the playoffs anything can happen so I think you have to be aggressive I think the degree to which you're aggressive, like you said, probably varies a little bit, but I still think you have to go do something and be buyers.

The Diamondbacks are also not that far out of the NL West. Obviously, we don't anticipate the Diamond. Like, if the Dodgers kept that spot for the rest of the year, I don't think any of us are necessarily shocked. They were obviously the favorites coming into the season, them or the Padres, which is sort of crazy. Go Padres, need that future to cap. But, yeah, the Diamondbacks, I mean, it's not only. do you have a shot in the wild card at this point? But, you know, to a lesser extent, you still have some sort of a shot in the division.

I agree with you. Given, you know, what the debacks have been through the last few years. If you've got a shot, I think, I think you have to take it. But yes, it is very much pending what happens over the next seven to ten days with the difficult schedule that they have. Damon, let's go to the next one. Rick Eye, the beer guy says, what happened to the offense? It's gone. You got held up at customs.

Yeah, it's not great, Sean. It hasn't been great. made some notes about some hitting slumps that the diamond backs have had in their lineup. I'm going to go player by player here. Lordus Gurriel Jr. since June 10th, this is the day that he returned from his groin injury. He is hitting 200, 258, 391. Pretty tough for a guy in the middle of your lineup. He actually was pretty good in the Blue Jays series. I don't want to totally be smirched the name of Loris Gariel. He had a pretty good series heading back to Toronto. But on the whole, he has not been much of a run producer over the last month,

a month and a half. Beyond him, Corbyn Carroll, since June 14th, Corbyn Carroll is hitting 215-376. It's another middle of the lineup bat that just isn't giving you very much. And obviously, he's still having an outstanding year overall

and his numbers for the season are still outstanding. So you're not really worried about Corbyn Carroll, but he has fallen down to Earth a little bit. And to be fair, I don't know if his 1,000 OPS that he had in the middle of June was ever really going to be sustainable. Outside of him, we also have Geraldo Pernomo.

Since June 17th, Perdomo is hitting 219, 348, 247. He did have a three-hit game in the Blue Jays series, but he has fallen off quite a bit over the last month. And then finally, Christian Walker, who's probably struggled more than anyone since June 30th, Christian Walker's hitting 091, 21-216 on base, 273-sledging percentage. He is four for 44 in that. span. And those are basically, I mean, that's your offense. That's your offense. Yeah, I mean,

those basically. Yeah, Cattel. And honestly, I probably should have Cotel on here because Cotel has also struggled over the last few weeks. So yeah, the D-backs, like all of those middle of the lineup guys that were doing a lot of the damage early in the season, all of them have basically struggled at the same time. And when that happens, you get something like what you've seen over the last few weeks where I believe the D-backs are averaging 2.9 runs per game over their last 14 games. I mean, That is, it is really, really hard to win games when you're scoring that few runs. And yeah, suffice it to say they need these guys to figure it out if they want to be able to turn this thing around. Yeah, Ketel, for the record, over his last 15, betting three, or 236, 3, 23, 400.

Sounds pretty good compared all these other guys. Yeah, honestly, but still. In the context of the rest of office, I mean, this is, Kroner saying, like, some sort of part of baseball. And I do, I do feel like we've talked about this before. I've talked to other people before. It's just, it seems like this is kind of how it goes sometimes in baseball. Like your offense starts, people kind of slump all at the same time, especially in a team like this where you wasn't ever like any kind of consistent.

There was never like a consistent spark. Like it kind of seemed like it was going to be somebody different every night. And now they're all kind of slumping together. They kind of avoided that in the early parts of the season. It seemed like one guy would be slumping, but then the other ones would be kind of holding it together. Yeah. And yeah, people are mentioning other names, Emmanuel Rivera, has not been, has not been good recently. Jake McCarthy has been just sort of so-so over the last couple of weeks.

Alec Thomas has maybe been one of the better hitters that Diamondbacks had over the last month. But, yeah, the offense has absolutely fallen off. And frankly, the offense is what the Diamondbacks were best at for the first few months of the season. They were scoring over five runs per game through the first few months of the year. And that's how you got to the place where the debacks were, where they had a little bit of a lead. in the NOS that that's what they were best at. That has very much not been there over the last few weeks. What do we got next, Damon?

There's a fun one from Coggs. What is your favorite game of all time? It can be a sport, board game, video game, etc. Very, very, yeah, a lot of options here. All start and say, we've had this conversation before. I have a Caton obsession. Okay. Which, have you played Caton? No.

Okay. Sean has never, Sean has no idea what I'm talking about. Yeah, I've heard about it a bunch, but I've never actually... Have you seen it played? Like, do you understand the general idea of the name? Not really. I don't really know what it's about or anything. I've seen people talk about it and stuff.

I've seen it, but I've never really gotten into it at all to really know what's going on. Well, it's fairly addicting, at least in my experience. So be careful, Sean. Fair enough. That might be for the best. What are you guys? I just love games. Oh, I know what it is.

The Carnival game where you got the little horses and you have to roll the ball up for that right there. all me love that game i'm my most elite game is easily the water shooting i'm not i'm not great i don't i'm not a good shot i can get the shot on the money from the jump no one's ns ggs for everybody i don't think anyone's ever beaten me in that case that's a tremendous skill to have i'm also i'm just i'm a big horrible game guy like popping uh balloons with darts i'm great at that um wow also also um what was the other one i was going to say um i honestly like this is going to sound super pandering but Like, there's very few things I would rather do than, like, go play softball or baseball. Like, I just, especially softball, like, it when it's a little less, like, you know,

there's probably some, like, 35-year-old men that you could just absolutely rake off of. Like, it's a little, it's a little more fun. Like, I need to get you in a softball. Yes, we do. I very desperately want it. Like, I just love, I love being on a diamond. It's that kickball, anything on a diamond I'm about. I'm a downtown ASU Intermural Softball champion.

Oh, look at you. You're looking right at one right now. Wow. Three two pecked. You have a lot of carnival game experience. No, I'm impressed. Listen, the biggest county fair in the country, the Erie County Fair back home in Buffalo, New York, or Hamburg, Europe. Okay.

I've got experience. I used to go every summer. I'm a huge carnival guy, man. I love it. Wait. Describe the game with the horses again? What exactly is happening? It's kind of like a, you got like a wall in front of you when everyone's got a horse.

There's like eight players, right? And you have to roll a ball up kind of like a ski ball type thing. And there's like a triangle of holes. And there's like three holes in the front, two, and then like, like, you know, like another one in the back. And depending on which hole you get it in, the horse goes further. And so you're just trying to roll this ball

into the back holes to get that further and win the race. I love it. It's just such a, listen, I'm a sucker for the ponies. Like I go to Vegas, I want to play the electric ponies.

I clean up on them. I just love, I just love, I don't know, maybe I'm a horse guy. You can just see it in those horses eyes. Yeah, I know which one.

I know which one's going to win. Cog says pH and X charity softball game. That'd be dope. I'd be down. Yeah, I'd be very fun. I also love, Oh, that's the other thing I was going to say.

Anything like go-karting, love go-karting or mini-golf. Like, when minigolf last Saturday, I'm going again tonight. I love mini-golf. Wow. And I love mini-golf. I love go-karting. I love going fast, man. I love speed.

But I'm also kind of a coward, so I'm not like a huge roller coaster guy. So go-karts are for me, man. There you go-karts are kind of like a fun in between. You can kind of feel the wind going by. Yeah, but you don't. Puking afterwards. Yeah. At least that's my experience.

There's no fear. There's not, they think can't go off the rails. I can't fall to my death in a go-kart. Yeah, right, right. Well, hey, speaking of things we love, we are excited to partner with our friends over, with our friends over at Circle K. Check out your local Circle K for the best coffee, beer, and snack selection, and, of course, premium gas as well.

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We're going to continue on here with Mailbag Monday. Damon, what do we got next? From Travis Moore. Got a whole bunch of stuff in here. What are the top concerns for the recent July slump? How do they best get corrected? Trades, minorly call-ups, swing, or pitching adjustments. How do we correct mistakes being made and aren't usually made by this team,

i.e. Base running and fielding errors. Yeah, the last one, I mean, those are just kind of mental mistakes, right? Those are mistakes that I think are pretty fixable. Yeah, for sure. And I'm sure the Diamondbacks coaching staff is kind of doing what is necessary to do that. They're uncharacteristic. Like, it's not like it's something they've been doing all year.

So. Yeah, absolutely. There are other issues, though, Sean, that feel a little bit less correctable. If I'm being honest, some of the offensive struggles. Like, you know, we went through Pardomo and Walker and, you know, Carol and Gurriel. Frankly, those aren't guys who necessarily have, like, long track records of being great hitters in this league. And there was always some risk, right? even when the debacks were at their highest point this year and a lot of those guys were really hitting well,

there was always some risk that something like this would happen where they just fell down to earth. And it's not necessarily like they're making some sort of egregious mistakes or they need to get back on track and get back to the players that they're supposed to be. Those guys were kind of performing over and above what their expectations were. So I don't really know how to approach that exactly. Yeah, that part is definitely concerning. And I think that's where a lot of the fear comes from is it's like it's not like we're not talking about. any like guys who are MVP candidates slumping with the exception of Corbyn, I guess, if you want to consume something like we're talking about guys who like the reason why it was

such a shock that Perdom made the All-Star game because he was one of the worst players in baseball last year. Like it so there's there's there's plenty of reason to be concerned that what we saw in the first half of the season was a little bit of a flu. But on the other hand, like those things may not be fixable, but it could just be a slump. Like it could just be something that kind of figures itself out. Otherwise, like, to answer the question, you got to make trades. Like, I don't think there's any fixing this from within. Like, they're going to have to get, even if everyone is playing to their full potential,

you're still going to need another starting pitcher. You're probably going to need bullpen help. You probably need another power bat. So, like, if they want to be a threat to actually accomplish anything this year, they're going to have to make trades. I think that is the only avenue. Yeah, I think we're all in agreement that if they do decide to, like, stand pat, there's really

it feels like there's no way I mean there's not really no way And even if you manage to back your way into the playoffs It doesn't feel like there any kind of threat To do anything in the playoffs Yeah I mean once you get in Yeah I mean that's for sure Anything can happen

Absolutely but yeah The debacks the starting rotation isn't deep enough The back end of the bullpen is just really shaky And yeah this offense I think could Could used to be bolstered as well So yeah it does feel like trades Would absolutely have to be part of that As far as minor league callups go

I know that was also mentioned I don't know if the deba frankly really have any super impactful minor leaguers. We've seen a little bit of Dominic Canzone in the last few days. It'll be interesting to see what he does as he gets more at bats. Blaze Alexander, you could certainly see him in the big leagues at some point. We talked about Ryan Bliss getting the call up to AAA. He might be an option down the stretch.

But none of those guys are going to be like middle of the order types, right? Yeah. I mean, I guess the nice part is like, especially when you look at like the shortstop, just left off the end field, like it's kind of hard to do. downgrade. So maybe those kids do get a chance eventually. And maybe they have a little bit of a, you know, add a little bit of juice to the team. Yeah, you never know. I mean, D-backs, like Dominic Fletcher was really, really good for this team for a couple weeks. So you never know when one of those guys could come up and be a spark plug. But yeah, you don't necessarily expect that from any of the guys

there. Damon, what do we, what do we got next? I think this is our last mailbag question. It comes from Gabriel at boldest bronze on Twitter who simply asked, will the paint? ever end. No. We live in a consistent state of pain. It's hard. It's going well. Looking at the schedule, it's a little bit hard to be like, oh, yes, of course.

Like, now you're heading into Atlanta to face the Braves for three games. Do we have the probabilities for that series? Yeah, we do. Yeah, can we see the probabilities for that series? I need to off the jump on the probabilities. I need to say, this looks like Weenie Hut Jr. versus the salty split in. Look at their three versus R3. I know Zach Allen is a stud, but like these.

It's a 9 a-a-game. They look like cute, adorable little stuffed animals. And then you look at the Braves pictures, and you're like, oh, my God. They all look like to bite you in the neck. Yeah. So it's Bryce Elder against Zach Davies on Tuesday. Bryce Elder was an all-star and has a sub-3-R-A. Zach Davies was not an all-star.

Does not have a sub-3-R-A. It does not have a sub-3-R-A. You can take Elders ERA and double it, and it's still better than Zach Davis. This is true. Not so on Wednesday. If you double Charlie Morton's ERA, it is going to be a little higher than Ryan. Nelson. But yeah,

Ryan Nelson against Charlie Morton, not exactly a favorable matchup for the debacks. And then as we talked about earlier, that Thursday morning game, Arizona time, Spencer Strider against Zach Allen, an awesome pitching matchup.

It'll be fun to, yeah, fun in theory. But yeah, I mean, Gallon against the Braves on the road and morning start time doesn't exactly feel like a great fit

for the diamond backs. So will the pain ever end? Probably not this one. Maybe not in the next three days, but who knows? I appreciate Sackle, Sackle Mon's confidence. It's a D-Back sweeping the Braves, smoking that Braves pack. I'd like to see it. It'd be cool.

I would, you know, because, look, it's funny, and it's someone you kind of mentioned it. Like, people seem like they're overreacting. It might have been Sackle, actually. And, I mean, there's a certain extent of that, but at the same time, like, this has kind of been a string of bad baseball. And just look at the standings, like, and compare it to where they were at one point. Like, there's reason to be concerned. For sure. But if you sweep the Braves,

I mean, unlikely for sure, but if you sweep the Braves, we're having a very different conversation, I think. You start looking at this team very, very differently, even though it is just three games.

So obviously, this is all very, it's a very precarious situation. But, hey, if they someone managed to do that. This series is really important one way or another.

Like, if the debacks get swept, then like, all right, we're probably having the Diamondbacks maybe shouldn't buy a conversation. I have a terrible name. then we're having, you know, things would be obviously very different.

We have terrible names, Dan, what's happening with Max Bennett? I have received a note. It says, quote, unquote, I will be betting on the Diamondbacks tomorrow. Max. It's over, guys. Yeah, that's just another thing to throw on the fire.

First off, he's just doing that to troll because why in God's name would you bet on Zach Davies in that matchup? Like, there is literally no real reason to bet on the Arizona Diamondbacks other than to be an asshole, if I'm being honest. And Max is sitting there being like, What, me? Yes, you, Max.

You know exactly what you're fucking doing. Max is just optimist. Come on, Sean. He believes that the Diamondbacks win. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't. He knows what he does. Because he bent on the Diamondbacks last week.

And what happened? They got their ass kicked. I guess the history there isn't great. Those are all of the mailbag questions that we have. Didn't end on a great high note there. Cologies for that. We looked at the Probables for the Braves Diamondback series. Not great.

But we are going to have a conversation. about one potential trade target for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Obviously, we are also talking about whether the debacks should even be buyers at all. But for the moment, I think they're still in that position where they should be. And we're going to talk about one Michael Lorenzen, one all-star Michael Lorenzen from the Detroit Tigers, who could be an option for the Diamondbacks at the deadline. He's put up pretty strong numbers this season. He's on a one-year contract worth 18.

$8.5 million. You can see his numbers here. A 375 ERA, a 113 whip. He's averaging right around six innings per start. 7Ks per 9, 2.4 walks per 9, a little bit more of a pitch-to-contact type, although he throws about 95. 1.1 wins above replacement.

Sean, he's not a star, probably not deserving of being an all-star. He was the Tigers lone representative, but he could still be a big contributor to the diamond back. Yeah, I mean, we were just looking at the probabilities. like if this guy is your third starter and replacing whoever you consider your third guy here yeah like if it's Lorenzen against Bryce Elder like you feel a lot better about that like this is

they're not looking for an ace necessarily and I mean I guess this is an ace as far as the tigers are concerned but like well Eduardo Rodriguez pitched really well too we're going to talk about him later but like yeah I mean if this is your number three like that's a significant upgrade and it's just and regardless like you get good performances

but none of those three guys after Merrill are trustworthy. Yeah. You can't, like Tommy's probably the most trustworthy, and that's not a good situation. That doesn't mean we feel good. So this makes this team significantly better if they're able to acquire a guy like this. You need, like that's your third starter in the playoffs.

Like that makes this team a significantly bigger threat to actually accomplish something this season. Yeah. If we look at the pros and cons that we have jotted down here from Michael Lorenzen, on the pros side from a financial, standpoint, pretty affordable. Like I said, 8.5 million for the whole season.

He'd make around 3 million or so the rest of the way, depending on when the trade happened. He is a clear upgrade in the Diamondbacks rotation, 375 ERA. I mean, I know Tommy Henry's ERA is right around there, but obviously Ryan Nelson and Zach Davies have not been nearly that good. And on paper, Sean, I don't think it should cost you too much. I mean, it's two months of Michael Lorenzen. You would hope it wouldn't cost much.

We don't really know how the trade market is going to pan out. On the con side, there will probably be a lot of competition for a guy like Michael Lorenzen, even if he's not that good. And, of course, he is just a rental, just two months the rest of the season. And he does have a bit of an injury history as well. I think it was a groin issue to open the season that he got over pretty quickly. Had some shoulder stuff last year, if I'm remembering correctly. So not necessarily the most durable guy.

Yeah, I mean, the key for me here is that low prospect cost, because we obviously were talking a lot today about how they are right on the fence of whether or not they're even going to be buying or not. This is a good, happy medium. Like, to get someone at a low cost and still have some flexibility if it doesn't work out, especially a guy that has had a few injuries. Like if you trade for him, the last, the worst case scenario is you trade for him, give up a bunch of prospects and then he gets hurt and doesn't play. And he's a rental and then doesn't resign. And then you completely wasted your time. Yeah. So I think having a low prospect cost there is, is.

is pretty key. And I mean, as far as the competition is concerned, the DEVACs have a good system. Like they have good, good prospects. So I feel like they're going to be able to compete with other teams as far as offers are concerned. So on paper for a lot of reasons, I really like the idea of Lorenzo being a debaq

just because I think it gives you a tremendous amount of flexibility to be a good team this year and still not handicapped yourself years to come if it doesn't necessarily work out the way you wanted to. Yeah, this is kind of the direction that I personally am leaning for the devax. Like, all right, you've taken a big step back in the standings. You're still in the mix to make the playoffs. You're still in a good spot.

Maybe you don't get Marcus Stroman. Maybe you don't reach for the top of the market. But like a guy like Michael Lorenzen really adds a lot to this baseball team. And yeah, in a playoff series, like you can start Michael Lorenzen in a game three. I mean, maybe it's not ideal, but you can absolutely. And you're doing that, then you're, especially in a playoff situation, you're assuming you're going to have access to Tommy and Dre or not Dre. Not Dre anymore.

Ryan and Zach, now how much you want to rely on any of those in a playoff situation at all is a different conversation. But you now have, especially a guy like Tommy, like you have, you have guys now, you have a lot more flexibility in the playoffs. Like you have, it makes your bullpen deeper as far as the playoffs concerned by acquiring like a legitimate third starter. because like I mean we all know the playoffs rules are different like it's it's it's do or die anything goes at that point so um yeah like to me and I don't think this and this is the hot take but like the starting pitching is by far the biggest like they need a third arm yeah by far the biggest target as far as I'm concerned um because if they do that I think it helps their team in a couple of ways yeah I mean and it really is easy to forget that like the debacks it hasn't been that long without Merrill Kelly but it has been a little while yeah and And like, they feel that. I mean, the difference between Merrill Kelly and some of these other, I mean, I guess, although they haven't replaced Merrill Kelly. Yeah, I was going to say, they just kind of gone with a form of rotation.

And they won the bullpen games. Yeah, right, right. It is, yeah, but I mean, for sure, it's the lack of just knowing that he's there. I think definitely changes things. Yeah. So it's, yeah, the debacks, obviously, starting pitching is going to be a big point of emphasis. When I was first looking at a trade target to talk about for today, Jordan Montgomery. of the Cardinals is actually the first guy who came to my mind.

But he apparently exited his last star early with a hamstring issue. So isn't he getting traded to the Mariners for? Is that word on the street? I saw some crazy like that we were talking about earlier. I forget who it was. But like it was some ridiculous. For two months of a hobble, Jordan Montgomery. It was the craziest thing.

It's got to be something that was coming out of St. Louis. But it was crazy to me. But it was maybe we can toss around. Connor says Merrill back in Sinci question mark. I do think that is a distinct possibility. He threw about a 75 pitch simulated game. Sounds like things went pretty well there. So I would not at all be surprised if the debacks were able to bring Merrill Kelly back in Cincinnati,

which would obviously be huge for this baseball team. We're going to keep talking about trade targets. Hopefully we get to keep having these conversations. and the Diamondbacks continue to be in a position where it makes sense to have those conversations, which it still does today. But obviously... Logan Gilbert, that's what it was.

Oh, Logan Gilbert. Yeah, that makes... That's ridiculous. Yeah. But, yeah, you're going to see a lot of ridiculous trade offers thrown out there on Twitter. We're going to try to be... I know we were talking about Show Hey, Otani,

Paul Goldsmith, and Nolan Aranado last week. The mood has changed a little bit... A little bit around here. We're going to talk maybe about some more realistic options down the stretch. But for the rest of the season, we really appreciate you all following us here on YouTube, subscribing to the channel, following us on Twitter, on Instagram, all of the different things. But if you haven't become a PHNX diehard yet, you're missing out on the full pH and X experience. If you do that, you can get all of the writing on our website from all

of our writers, including myself on the Diamondbacks, Gerald Borges on the Sons, Craig Morgan on the coyotes and others as well. A lot of our content is free and outside the paywall, but we do have one story every week that is behind the paywall. You have to be a diehard in order to get it. So be sure to go on our website and become a diehard today, if you haven't already. It comes with all sorts of other crazy perks.

You get a $50 gift card to Mountain Mikes, which almost pays for the membership in itself. You get a free item from the PHNX locker every single year. And you also get 20% off of all. all of our events, which we actually have one coming up eight days from now. Our next takeover, Sean, is on the 25th. It is next Tuesday. We hope to see you out at the ballpark.

Damon's bringing his glove. Damon is going to absolutely catch multiple home runs. This is insanity. This is blasphemous. Damon, were you here for that? I don't know if I was. I don't think I remember this. I don't think I remember this.

Anti-adults having gloves at baseball. I think if you're over the age of 14, a few. you're in high school, you cannot, you should legally not be allowed to walk into the stadium with a glove. That's fair. That's fair. I had some, there was a point, I think, when I was in high school, where I went to a Diamondbacks game with a couple of friends.

And they totally had like, they totally thought they had me figured out before the game. They were like, Jesse's definitely going to be the guy who brings his glove. And I was like, no, like, that's not a thing that you do. Like, after you're, too much of a baseball. After you're maybe like 12, 13 years old, like you're no longer a kid. then yeah, you can't. Now, does it change for you? Jesse Freeman's hero.

Does it change for you if you're at like a home run derby? Yeah. Is that different? Or what if you're being there early for bad? I mean, I wouldn't personally, but I'll allow, I would allow another adult to bring a glove and not judge them.

I would say this because I think part of the reason that we were talking about, like our seats are on the outfield, that's a little different for me because you're catching like pot, like you're catching trying to catch a home run. If you're sitting on the foul lines and like the off chance that one comes to you, you're having a glove? Like, that's a little different for me. But if you're in the outfield where you're trying to catch home runs,

potentially batting practice and toss-ups that you consistently get from the outfielders, it's slightly more understandable. But when I see people like in the 300th behind home plate, like dog, if you can't catch it with your bare hands, you don't have a right. Well, all that to say, become a pH and X diehard. We won't judge you.

We won't judge you. We're going at that. Yes, no, but we, yeah, we won't, we probably won't judge. Damon will. Damon might judge you. Do you not do the waves. Yeah, the wave will hit you. The wave is strictly prohibited.

Chris and I will both attack you with our hands and our feet. And your feet? It might not be pretty. It might not be pretty. Don't do the wave. But we would love to see you on the 25th, a week from tomorrow, out at the ballpark. We're going to be meeting at cold beers and cheeseburgers, eating some food. I'm told there are beverages that are just covered.

Some of which the alcoholic variety. Of the alcoholic variety. Yes. You can see all the details. here on your screen. $60, $48, though, if you are a diehard. So part of that diehard member fee gives you discounts to cool things like this. So we hope to see you out there. I can not wait.

Die hards also know are the best place to get some good Mexican food in the valley or in Tucson. Or in Denver, if you're there. Our friends are over at illegal peace. Diehards are some of the smartest people. Diehards are some of the smartest people. Last year, we near the end of the season, we held the diehard meetup, the coyotes did, kind of recruited at illegal Pete's. So another reason we cover diehard.

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don't forget to follow at Illegal Pete's on Instagram to stay updated on all their big events and deals going down this summer. Stay tuned on their story. to win free tickets to the concerts you are dying to see. Illegal Pizza is here to make this summer one for the books. I think it's $4.40. I mean 22, about it by five, four. Oh, yeah, because I was doing the divided by four. I was going to say, let's just let Jesse do the math on this show.

Yeah, no, I didn't. I definitely, I said quick math, so you can't hold that against me because it was quick mass. I hadn't thought about it until that moment. Well, speaking of quick maths, you all should leave us a five-star review, right? A really easy calculation, clearly. One more than four. Quick masks. Everyone can count to five.

We would very much appreciate that if you are one of those people who joins us on the audio-only platforms, or if you join us here on YouTube, get there, Sean, there it is. No, we're not there yet. We're not there yet. What comes out of four? I don't remember. Do you remember? Seven.

There we go. If you're one of those people who joins us on the audio-only platforms, we would love it. If you would leave us a rating and review over there. Of course, also be sure to follow us all on Twitter. You can find me at Jesse and Friedman. You can find Sean at Sean underscore DePaz. I'm getting that right. Yes.

Okay. And then you can follow Damon at Damon dog. And yes, you do have to bark. We are Damon's dogs. When you follow him, we are all Damon's dogs. Do you say we have to bark and then you don't bark, Jesse? That's crazy. No, I don't.

I don't. No, it's, it's all bite. No bark. You guys do the barking and I do the talking during the segment. Anyway, really appreciate you all being with us here today. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you're not playing the Atlanta Braves.