PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Should the Diamondbacks enter the fray for Dylan Cease or another top starting pitcher?

Episode Date: December 19, 2023

The Diamondbacks have made several big additions already this offseason, but could it be that their biggest one is yet to come? We take a look at several starting pitchers that could be available in the trade market, including Dylan Cease and Corbin Burnes. We also rank nine Diamondbacks DH targets into various tiers.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 Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See EmpireToday.com/PHNX for details.Sign up for Gila River Resorts & Casinos $1,000,000 Big Red’s Showdown! Stay in the game and get rewards; it’s that easy! https://www.gilamilliondollarshowdown.com/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.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!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head on over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find out where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. WYNK Seltzer + THC: Go to https://drinkwynk.com/ and use promo code “PHNX” for 50% off. 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.

Well, let's see you all and welcome it to another edition of the PHMXTBACs podcast right on PHMX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as Lordus Guriel Jr. Jr. That's what I'm going with with this outfit. This man next to me, of course, is my vice mayor and your thunder stick, the one and only. Jesse Friedman. Jesse, ski to you? Ski to you as well. There we go.

And we're getting greedy on today's show. We're getting a little greedy. Okay. And yes, we are going to talk about. whether the Diamondbacks could trade for a noteworthy starting pitcher. Let's go. Whether the degree of realism on this show might be a little bit lesser than normal. I'm sure you're going to hate this.

We're also going to separate D-Backs DH targets into tiers, which is something we've wanted to do for a while. We're, of course, expecting the Diamondbacks to still make an addition in that regard. and Derek is dressed up as Lordus Guriel from last Christmas. Yeah, first of all, there's something I need to address here. This is the image that I'm replicating here a little bit. Here's Lordis with his absolutely gorgeous family, wearing the exact same holiday toucan jacket that I'm wearing.

Now, to address the elephant in the room when it comes to where I got this jacket from, first, that's none of your business. Second, I just wanted to confirm I, in fact, have had this jacket for longer than Lordus Gereal Jr. has been a part of this team. This has been a- Wow. This has been hanging in my closet for a minute. And I'm just proud that me and my purple-haired twin both have the same exquisite taste in holiday dresswear, if you will, holiday formal wear. Your purple hair today, however, is very fake. I mean, you don't have to be pulling the curtain back too far, Jesse.

by God. I mean, he has a D-BAC's logo on it, Derek. That's fine. It's fine. Ski to Connor in the chat. Great to see you. Great to see all of you.

Cheap crazy Buffalo already here with the hot. Let's trade Pave and Smith for anything takes. I'm okay with that. But just so that Jesse can feel at comfort a little bit, we will talk about actual facts here first before we get into ranking DHS and talking about crazy trades for starting pitchers. And one of those facts is that a guy we were looking at as a potential target for the snakes is now off the board.

Tom Murphy went to the Giants on a two-year $8 million deal, which seems a little frustrating, Jesse, because two years, eight million seemed like that would have been quite this deal for Tom Murphy, who, as we talked about in the past, might have been a good option for them, both at DH and as a backup catcher. Yeah, I guess the deal can max out at $12 million. So there's also a 2026 club option in here. So, yeah, but it, yeah, it's a very reasonable contract for. sure and for a guy that we talked about would make some sense on on the diamond backs for sure right tom

murphy uh you know his numbers while he was on the field in twenty twenty three with the seattle mariners very very impressive and he kind of looked like maybe an ideal candidate for the debacks as someone who could dh a little bit who could also serve as that backup catcher behind gabriel merino that we know the diamond backs are are looking for um but yeah they're apparently going a going a different direction and Tom Murphy is heading to San Francisco to be the backup catcher for one Patrick Bailey, another one of the, you know, exciting young catchers in this game. And Jack Summers in the chat is he says his soul is crushed at Tom Murphy signing elsewhere. It's not just, it crushes my soul because I feel like that was actually

the deal that the Diamondbacks were looking for, somebody that they could have signed to a $4 million a year deal that would have, would have solved potentially two of their needs, you know, right now. Maybe, maybe they're swinging for the fences and maybe Tom Murphy is, maybe it's below what the Diamondbacks are looking to add. Yeah, I think that's probably what you have to hope here if you're a debacks fan. We don't know exactly how much money they have left to spend, but I think we feel pretty confident that they can spend $4 million, which is, you know, roughly what, what Murphy

will make in 2024. So, yeah, maybe the debacks are shooting higher than this. And, you know, we're going to talk about some guys. here momentarily that that will cost a little bit more than that and we're going to kind of rank where, you know, where they fall. Where they fall. Yeah.

But speaking of spending a lot of money, Yamamoto and the Yamamoto sweepstakes is kind of heating up. Right now, the Yankees have kind of emerged as a favorite potentially. And since that's the best case scenario for us, of course that means he is in fact going to land with the Dodgers. Am I right? Correct. Yes.

Because going to the Yankees again, just takes him completely, just like I wanted with Otani to just kind of be out of our atmosphere as much as possible. Yamamoto going to the Yankees would take him considerably away from any concerns the Diamondbacks had about phasing him regularly. And then, you know, again, for his talent, it would be great to not have him be part of the Dodgers starting lineup or starting rotation, I should say. Yeah, it does seem like he will be a Yankee. That's certainly just looking at the reports out there. things seem to be trending in that direction.

And as we've talked about before, the Yankees have been pretty aggressive this offseason and chasing after some of these guys. And I'm a little terrified personally to know what Yamamoto is going to get. Because they're saying it's over 300 million for sure. Yeah, it might start with the three. And then you've got the posting fees on top of that.

Like this is a guy that when free agency started, I think we all had maybe $200 million, maybe even including the posting fees in our heads. At least that's what I had in my head. Yeah. Now we're talking about like maybe $400 million including posting fees for Yamamoto. I guess that's what happens when you have a guy who is 25 years old who projects as a, you know, a front line starting pitcher that those guys don't really hit free agency very often.

So I guess this is just the result of that. And that makes sense. But it also just comes with that caveat, that risk that he's never pitched. in the United States in a major league baseball before. It still seems outrageous. It's just outrageous. That's the outrageous part.

Like when you're proven in this league, then it's different, right? And it's not to say, you know, like we said, I feel like that entire stigma is kind of done as far as thinking players that played either in Japan or in Korea

aren't on the same level as here in the United States because as we've seen, they've produced some incredible athletes. And it's becoming more frequent now that those guys are making that jump from Korea, from, you know, Japan over here to the United States. Even in the cases, you know, like we kind of saw this with guys coming out of, you know, Latin America and the Caribbean.

And we have for years in baseball, right? It's these guys that kind of emerge. They're young. They're from a different country. And teams are willing to take a huge risk on them. But this is possibly one of the biggest. I mean, at one point, we were talking about Yassil Puegg's deal being one of like the most kind of crazy deals to bring over some guy that was from a different country, including all of the posting fees and everything that you had to pay in regards to that.

But this is big. And I think, again, whether it's a colossal failure or success, I would much rather see it happen in the AL East than potentially having it be just a huge win. And I mean, obviously, next year, that would be crazy if he was on the Dodgers. But could you imagine if he is as good as people think he's going to be? And then you have him in a starting rotation along with Shohei Otani on the Dodgers. that just makes me sick. So, yes, please go to the Yankees. Yeah, I mean, the Dodgers 20, if they got Yamamoto, the Dodgers 2025 rotation would just be ridiculous.

I don't want to talk about it. I mean, Yamamoto, Walker Bueller, Shohei Otani, and Tyler Glass now. No, that seems a little, a little much. That's unfair. Which is why, I mean, the Dodgers do not often spend at the very, very top of the market. Obviously, it did with Shohei Otani. That was a bit of an exception. But that was also an history-making deferred payment situation where that probably

factored into how much money they were going to give them as well. Sure. Yeah. So I still don't think. I still would be surprised if the Dodgers landed Yamamoto when all is said and done. They just don't seem like the team that would decide to fork over this much money for a player who's so unproven. It doesn't feel Dodgers-esque to me from what we've seen from that front office over the

last few years, but yeah, I guess we'll, I guess we'll find out. Another huge deal that could happen is Cody Bellinger landing somewhere. And according to reports, he's seeking 200 million plus. Is Cody Bellinger going to get over $200 million, Jesse? You know, he wants it. There's no question about that. I also want to be paid $200 million. There are many things that we want in life.

David, I want $200 million. done all right that boy i i would be i think it'll be a little bit less than 200 is is my my gut feeling on this cody belliger you know the surface numbers make you think like yeah he probably should get 300 million dollars right yeah cody belliger's 28 years old you look at his numbers in 2023 307 356 525 that's an 881 ops he can play solid defense in center field he hit 26 home he stole 20 bases. Like, yeah, that's a, that's a $200 million player at least at age 28. But again, I know we've talked about this before.

If you look at some of the underlying numbers with Cody Bellinger, there are some reasons to be concerned that the breakout season that we saw in 2023, not that it was all smoke and mirrors, but that it wasn't quite what it maybe looks like in the box score. And at this point, every front office is very much key. into that. There's no front office that's not looking at those numbers and doesn't have a sense of like, okay, we should read beyond the 307 batting average and, you know, the 525 slug. If you look at some of the hard hit numbers for Cody Bensor, they are not that of an elite level hitter. They're

not of a good hitter, but they're not that of an elite level hitter. So yeah, my guess is under 200 million when all is said and done, but I wouldn't be surprised given the craziness of this market. It wouldn't, it wouldn't shock me if it wound up a little bit north of that. The Arizona Diamondbacks, as many of you know, bring back Lordus Gurriel Jr. That's their latest move, at least. We're still waiting for that. That's still not official, right? But that is going to be, once we see it from the team, that's official.

Yeah, it has yet to be made, it has yet to be made official. But everybody's talking about it. It seems like a good move by the snakes, but another potential guy they could bring back. We've talked about it just a little bit. I think we maybe even talked about it more in our YouTube comments, but that's bringing back Tommy Fam. And we know at times Tommy Fam didn't put up the best numbers with this team. And it's not to say he's not capable of being at his best again next season.

But Tommy Fam really is a vibes guy, right? Like there's just something about bringing back a guy like Tommy Fam that, again, much like what we're talking about that you're getting as kind of an uncalculable. dynamic with Gino coming over from the Seattle Mariners. We've heard he's just such a great locker room guy. And same thing with Lourdes. We know a lot of guys like Lourdes. He seems to keep things light and have a lot of fun.

We know Tommy Fam had quite an impact on his teammates and just on the attitude of his team. It felt like this team kind of got a bit of a chip on their shoulder when they got Tommy over here. And I don't think that even though his numbers, you know, his OPS Plus and things like that with this team weren't great at times. I do think that there's a lot of benefits bringing him back. For sure. Yeah. And I think there just goes back to how much money the diamondbacks have to spend, what they're willing to throw in on a DH.

There is a world in which Tommy Fam is, you know, the highest that you can shoot as far as that position goes. And that's pretty good. Like Tommy Fam was a better hitter than what the diamondbacks would have in that spot. Otherwise, he's a clear improvement over the other options in that DH. slot right now, assuming that Lordus plays left field every day. So yeah, it would, it would certainly still make sense. Would the Diamondbacks like to aim a little higher than that?

I imagine they would. And I'm sure that fans maybe feel the same way. But yeah, I think Tommy Fam kind of endeared himself to, you know, not only his teammates, but also the fan base a little bit that, you know, he is, he is a little bit of a peculiar personality at times, uh, talking with Tommy Fam and the clubhouse. You never quite know exactly what you're going to get. But he, you know, he's insightful and he clearly has developed leadership qualities kind of in his own way. And from everything that we can tell, Diamondbacks, you know, his teammates certainly enjoyed having him around.

So, yeah, I think it could make some sense, even though it's not really an ideal option on paper. And I don't think that he's the best option if that's who they're bringing back as a DH. and Jack Summers again very timely with his comments here he says fam abysmal is DH 152 and low 500s OPS and that's definitely a good reason not to look to fam for your to solve your DH issue for sure I feel like that would be more bringing Tommy fam just kind of to mix in with the outfield to like yeah he would DH at times but if they don't get an actual true DH they're not going to have one guy have that spot anyway. I mean, it does, it does bring back a piece of your team that was

valuable at times, but yeah, Jack's right. If that's who you're relying on for your DH, then that's definitely not an improvement from last year. And I know that that's what the Diamondbacks are looking to do. So in, in the spirit of that, we are going to go ahead and rank the available free agent designated hitters on the market right now based on our favorite thing the the s is we call this the s tier it's the yes tier it's the it's i mean the s tier is just the top it's the it's a tier maker system so here we're going to take a look here at the tier maker and decide on which of the free agents on the market uh at designated hitter we would rank at these different tiers here so jesse do we want to start at the bottom do we want to start at the top what do you think in here

I guess we, maybe we just go left to right with the players, with the players at the bottom. Okay. And we just kind of go one by one. All right. So at the far left, we have one Adam Duval, who I'm not totally, I was a little hesitant to even include him here because I think he's more, he was more of a outfield solution than a DH solution. He still has some defensive value. So I'm not sure that it would make sense to bring him in when you already have coverage in the outfield. and you don't necessarily need someone who plays outfield.

But I guess you can never have too much depth in that regard. Considering someone who can do that as well. Tori loves depth. He loves giving guys days off. He loves never using the same starting lineup two days in a row. That's for sure. So I think that that value that you're talking about kind of wouldn't, wouldn't that give him a little bit more value here as a DH due to his versatility?

Yeah. He's not going to be just a DH. The diamond backs. I talk with Mike Hazen about this at the winter meetings. something you said a couple of times. In a D.H, they would like to have someone who has the ability to give them some coverage in the field. It's not a necessity.

Mike said it is not a deal breaker, but it is something that they would like and outfield in first base or the specific positions that he pointed to. And I imagine Catcher, you know, maybe there's a world in which, you know, we're going to talk about Mitch Garver in a second. You know, if you get a DH, you can give you some coverage there.

That could be helpful as well. So what are we feeling here? What are we feeling here with Adam Duval there? I am taking a look at Adam Duval's numbers. He had some pretty good numbers last year. He hit the slash 247303, 301 with 21 home runs and 58 RBI. And, you know, it didn't play that much to put up those kind of numbers. But he's 35 years old.

So I feel like if we're talking about age impacting it and maybe impacting the deal, I'd probably put him at a B tier here. And I think that's just due to the versatility. And again, achieving that goal. that Mike Hazen could be seeking of having a guy that not just play not only plays DH but can also back them up in the outfield. I okay um I would maybe I would maybe lean towards C on Adam Duvall okay uh just you know I can see let's see Damon says C yeah we'll go with C I guess he had a 119 OPS plus in 2023 which is quite good yeah I think some of the expected numbers were

were a step below that um but he's 35 years old and he's kind of had some ups and down. So, so, so, was a, was a really good season for him,

but you look before that, and he hasn't really been that guy super consistently. So, 109 OPS Plus over the last three seasons. Yeah. So it's a little bit more about, about him over,

over that, that span rather than just last year's numbers. Right. I think it's actually, I think it's 103. Yeah, I think it's 103. Yeah.

So, yeah, 103 OPS plus of the last few seasons. He's, he's shown himself to be a slightly above average hitter. I'm not sure you want to expect much more than that. I think he's kind of similar to Tommy fam in some way. So we'll go with,

we'll go with C on Adam Duvall. Mitch Garver is next there on the list. And again, Mitch Garver, there's a lot of things to like about Mitch Garver when it comes to, again, his versatility and try and fill that role

that the Diamondbacks are looking for. He could be a backup catcher to Gabby as well as fill that DH hole. And he had some pretty damn good numbers himself last year and has continued, to do so over the last few seasons. Damon wants Mitch Garver and S. Oh, no.

I've been warming up to Mitch Garver, but I'm fine with A. We're not doing A either. We're not doing A. We're not doing it. Wow. Okay. All right, Derek. You want to put him in D?

Yeah. Is that what you think? Yes. Let's, let's do that little of Mitch Garver. Let's do him in D. No, no, he had a 270, uh, batting average last year. 273, 370, 500. You are you crazy?

You wanted him in S, Damon. He's, wake up. He's the third best player on this list. maybe fourth depending on how Hoskins comes back the the durability is a big question with Mitch Garver so is it with Solair though yeah I mean there are durability questions with a number of these guys I mean some of them are are basically Turner's going to be 40 before this contract's up so I I feel good about putting Mitch Garver in the A tier I think um S tier feels a little much just given that There are such durability questions here.

Mitch Garver, if you look at his past few seasons, it's not just that, you know, in, in, uh, 2023, he had trouble saying on the field. That's kind of been a thing for him every, just about every season in the big leagues. He played 87 games this year. He played 54 in 2022. He played 68 in 2021.

He has never played more than 102 games in his major league career. Uh, and you know, maybe just moving him to full time DH where he doesn't have to worry about catching it all. Maybe that helps. But part of his value also would probably be being able to contribute on the catching side of things. So they wouldn't move him. I don't think they'd move any player to full-time DH.

Like there. Well, there are some guys on this list. That's true. Justin Turner again is not going to. You don't want JD Martinez roaming around the outfield. That's very true. And for that reason, that gives Mitch Garber definitely the edge as far as, you know, versatility, right?

Like being able to be that bad cup catcher. So I'll allow it to go. you'll allow him to be in the A tier. But you guys are ridiculous. Your S tier shit here. All right. Then what else? Who else is next there?

We have looks like Reese Hoskins next on the list. Interesting, considering Reese Hoskins missed all of last season. Yes. But outside of that, he has been an incredibly good player in baseball. And I think that, again, maybe that absence is why, you know, you don't think of him as often. but Reese at 30 years old still has a lot left in the tank. Yeah, I mean, you think so. You hope so, right?

I mean, he was out for the entire 20, 23 season, as you said. So there is some, you know, there's some lack of assurance here for sure. But I am pretty in on Reese Hoskins, I would say. I think that he's been a very consistent hitter in the majors. He's been a good hitter every single season and not just good, like a little above average. good but good like pretty like a middle of the lineup type hitter good uh in his last full season 22 22 he hit 246 332 4662 40 homers that was in almost 700 played appearances in ops plus of 123 his ops plus uh over his past three seasons that he's played is 127 also a really good

number i'm feeling a or maybe b i could go either way on this one i would go i would lean towards b um but the only reason why is again because of the unknown and not knowing uh how he's going to perform after you know missing all of last season baseball is just a fickle game like that you can never know if a guy is going to be the same player he was the one thing he definitely has going for him though throughout his career is consistency i feel like if the diamond bat and and and he's had power he i mean 30 home runs in 79 rbi in 6702 plate appearances is is is nothing to sneeze at right but that's that's right on par with christian walker i feel like the bigger thing here though is is his consistency and i don't know if the diamondbacks have a bat as consistent as he's shown to have in the past so but yeah

i'm i'm down with the b tier for that one i'll allow it thank you i appreciate that all right uh s moving on just jd martine martinez goes straight to s what are we do if we's not what are we doing here yeah four hundred seventy nine plate appearances the man had 33 home runs and 103 RBI. And it felt like the Dodgers didn't, didn't even need that production from him. It felt like it was just a casual year of hitting 100 RBI and 33 home runs in 479 played appearances.

The man's a beast. I think, again, you, you address the only concern, I think, is that that's all you're getting out of him. You are literally just getting a designated hitter, but I don't care. I want him. Yeah, I feel like the vibes, the vibes would just be so good. The diamond backs landed Dady Martinez. I think that's what

puts him into the S tier for me. I'm cool with him being in the S tier. 134 OPS Plus in 20203. That's as good as anyone on this list. Mitch Garver did actually tie that. He was also at 134 this past season. He was more efficient and less played appearances, but he didn't have anywhere close to the RBI's and home runs.

But again, RBI didn't. Yeah, Mitch Garber didn't play as many games. like JD Martinez missed some time. But yeah, as you said, I mean, even with missing almost 50 games, he was still pretty darn productive and had an OPS right around 900. That's a pretty perfect bat to put in the middle of the lineup. There are some weird things happening over at Steamer on fan graphs. You know, they have their little projection system thing.

And they think that JD Martinez is going to be a very mediocre hitter in 2024, which I don't really understand. I think it's a 106 WRC plus that it projections. for Martinez in 2024, which I find to be quite bizarre. I guess it maybe it has to do with Martinez's strikeout rate, which we've talked about before. It's quite high in this past season. But yeah, I'm okay putting Martinez in the S tier.

There are some questions as he continues to age, but the vibes would be too immaculate to not put him there. Thank you. Derek, when was the last time that you turned off the lights and pulled up J.D. Martinez's baseball savant page? What time is it right now? 127 so about four and a half hours I don't I don't see the problem here I don't understand why you're even asking me this question

you guys know it's hard it's hard not to be a diamondbacks fan and still remember that magical half a season we had of J.D. Martinez so like Jesse said the vibes are just off the charts with with J.D. coming back to the diamondbacks all right well speaking of S tier guys we have Andrew McCutcheon up next don't you absolutely not. Don't you dare? I don't even know why he's on this list. What are we doing? Yeah, maybe Andrew McCutton doesn't belong in S-tier. I get the sense that he's probably just going to go back to the pirates because it's sort of the riding off into the sunset with the team you started with, all the all the good storyline vibes. We get it. But we did talk about him on

this show as someone that would fit, would fit reasonably well if he were willing to come to a team like the Diamondbacks. We talked up his 3.78 on base percentage and the fact that that's pretty cool. And no one else on this list had an on base percentage that high, although Mitch Garber did get pretty close. Shout out Damon. But yeah, I think that we can't put McCutcheon beer higher. He clearly, at this stage of his career being 39 years old, I mean, you know, impressive what

he's able to do at this age. but moving forward he is pretty much a DH at this point and you know it kind of feels like the wheels come off at any point with a guy like this. Derek, I guess I'm leaving you the choice between C or D. Where do we want to put Andrew McCutcheon? I'm going D just because I think the thing you said made the most sense is that he's not leaving Pittsburgh. Like I don't think anybody's going to value him the way the pirates are for him to come back and finish his season there. It's more of a story. it's more of a of a good good feeling and i mean the pirates are a young exciting team that they

showed some promise last year so they're not exactly in the in the area of like oh hey let's just do something for the memories but you know he still has value and he still has been able to play the game at a high level so it's not to say like you're throwing it away it just this this kind of is why i was surprised the diamondbacks re-signed lordis courriel was the opposite right it's like I thought the Diamondbacks valued Lordis, but I also thought some other team would value him just more based on those, not the in-depth stats, but the big things, you know, the All-Star appearance, making it to the World Series. Sure. Like I just felt like this would be one of those guys that, you know, that someone would have overpaid for. Luckily, the Diamondbacks brought him back and it wasn't too unreasonable for them to bring him back.

with McCutcheon, it's the opposite with the home team. Like I just feel like he means more to the pirates than he's going to end up meeting to another team at this stage in his career. Like you said, 39 years old. Still good OPS plus. Yeah, 113. Yeah, 113 OPS plus. Like shout out Andrew McCutcheon, mad respect for what he's been able to do at this stage in his career. He doesn't like ever chase pitches out of the zone.

His plate discipline is immaculate. And that's really the way that he's able to do what he does. but yeah for the debacks you know i i don't think mccutcheon is really going to want to go anywhere outside of pittsburgh and uh for the dbacks they might they might want someone a little more reliable you know who also has a great chase right jesse who we who we talking about mitch carver oh midgiver yeah no big deal there you go why don't you just marry mitch carver already all right i might just go marry him who else we got he was on the rangers you guys are stabbed me in the back Tommy fam in a met's jersey we couldn't have

found Tommy fan a Diamondback's jersey? What the hell, David? ESPN didn't update his headshot. So we got what we got. All right. Well, I think Jack Summers message earlier conveys my similar feeling. I would like Tommy fan back, but just not as a DH. And I think that his numbers don't really warrant him playing DH, but he still had pretty good, you know, decent numbers.

111 OPS plus last year. He slashed 256, 328, 446, with 16 home runs, 68 RBI, one short to be a nice. In 481 plate appearances. Last three seasons, though, he's been a league average player, literally 100, 100 OPS plus. Yeah. Yeah, this feels like probably a C to me, fits in that Adam Duval tier. Agreed. I think pretty clearly below Reese Hoskins, who we have in B, Mitch Garver, we have an A and J.D.

Martinez, who we have an S. Yeah, but definitely an advantage. here to the Diamondbacks bringing him back again similar to yeah the unspoken advantage of Lord is coming back which is just being part of the team you know there's something to be said about bringing back pieces of this team that made it as far as they did last year and and and having that cohesion as a as a unit connected teams a dangerous team I don't know if you've ever heard that quote before but I feel like a favorite quote of mine I feel like it's disrespectful for us to have Andrew McCutcheon on this list but not Joey Votto

I know that they're, you know, their, they're 20, 23 seasons were kind of in different places. I was specifically looking at right-handed hitters because it seems like that's the more likely route. But shout out Joey Votto, although he would probably be, if we had an F tier, Joey Votto might be in the F tier. Wow. Those numbers in 2020, we're pretty rough, even though obviously the person, you know, is someone, as far as clubhouse guys, I don't know if you can do much better than that. Yeah, no, you're right about that. but we got three more names on the board. The next one, Jorge Salare, I believe is the next up.

And man, what a, what a big addition he would still be at this point for this team. I'm not sure. Like someone else asked earlier, if the dominobacks were out of the Yamamoto sweepstakes, yes, they absolutely are. But I, that would be a plot twist. That would be a plot twist. But I kind of think, you know, honestly, what they did with Lourdes does take them out of, like, potentially trading for Randy a Rose Arena or some of those other things we talked about.

Jorge Salar could be still an option for them. I don't feel like he's that out of range. And his numbers last year weren't exactly fantastic, right? I mean, he had some power, the power, though. Pretty good. The power is what we're looking for there, right? But, I mean, yeah, Jorge, again, is that power bat that the Diamondbacks can absolutely be looking to add into the middle of their lineup. Feels like a B to me.

Yeah. Uh, 250, 341, 512. Solid slash sign in 2020. He's 31 years old. Uh, probably looking at a three year deal here a little longer than most other guys on this list. He did hit 36 dingers in 2020. A 128 OPS plus.

But he's been pretty inconsistent. That's the main, that's the main knock here for me. Uh, why I wouldn't put him higher even though his 2023 numbers were pretty high. Uh, so I'd, yeah, I'd stick him in in that B tier. We think B, seriously? I was thinking A for Solar. It's just a consistency thing. Over his last three seasons, his OPS Plus is only 109.

It's actually not that good. He was traded from the Royals to the Braves, I believe, in 2022. And he was not at all good for the Royals, but the moment he arrived in Atlanta, he suddenly was very good. And the season prior to that, he was not productive. I'm getting that mixed up. So 2021 was the year where he was with the Royals,

traded to the Braves, was not good with the Royals, was very good with the Braves. Overall was basically league average. And then in 2022, he had a 95 OPS plus. He was a below average hitter. So there's just some consistency questions here for me. That's why, yeah, I think Mitch Garver has some consistency questions too, but I think I would probably lean toward putting Salarian the B tier.

Some injury concerns as well. Yeah, that too. B is our injury Our injury to the injury We don't know what we're going to get out of you But we think you can still hit I'm not quite sure how Mitch Garver escaped the injury bucket But

That doesn't feel right It's the ones on the one and twos over there Because I am I'm God All right All right we're almost there Justin Turner We have Justin Turner This one's rough Justin Turner I don't mean to be ageist

But that immediately has to impact 39 years old. The wheels have to fall off at some point here. I could speak from experience on that, but still putting up just incredible numbers for being the oldest guy on this list. He hit 276, 345, 455 last year in 23 home runs with 23 home runs, 96 RBI. And he played a lot, 626 plate appearances. So, you know, I know that's the OPS Plus 114 OPS plus last year, 118 OPS plus over the last three seasons. So you kind of know what you're getting out of him. You might be regressing a little bit. But obviously, I think a big benefit here is that Justin Turner is probably going to be on a short-term deal and most likely isn't going to cost you nearly as much as a JD Martinez, but I still

feel like his name is, you know, his career. You're paying for experience there. You're paying for a lot. I think that he's still going to get more money than potentially a 40-year-old DH deserves. at this point. Plus she's going to get a lot of money there, right, from the Boston Red Sox still. That's still crazy to me. Yeah, yeah, the Red Sox are going to pay him like almost $7 million to play somewhere else.

Feels like a B tier guy. Yeah, it feels like a B to me. Although I do think like Solair and Hoskins also being in that B tier. Those guys, I would expect to be better hitters probably in 2024 than Turner. But yeah, Turner, I think is a step up over, you know, Tommy Fam, Adam DeVall,

in that tier below. So yeah, let's go Justin Turner and B. And then to finish things off, we have someone who we haven't talked about at all on this show. It is Eloy Jimenez, who is a last minute addition to our tier list here, someone I decided to throw in. A guy who makes probably more money than he should as a member of the Chicago White Sox and someone that I think could be available in a trade where maybe the White Sox pick up a little bit of his salary, the debacks send over a prospect or two. Someone where the acquisition costs, I don't think, is super high. And he has had some pretty good seasons recently. 203 wasn't great. He at 272, 317, 441, a 104 OPS plus, so just a little bit above average. But over the last three seasons, that number is 114. He was exceptionally good when he

was on the field in 2022. So, yeah, a guy that on the trade market that I think is at least worth worth considering here. 27 years old. It feels a bit like Jorge Soler with the Royals and what you were describing, right? Where like it feels like he could go somewhere else

that maybe coached him a bit better, maybe that he cared a bit better. I know that the White Sox organization was all over the place last season. So I mean, I can understand players being a little checked out, a little disinterested, you know,

not playing their best baseball. Yeah. I still feel like they're like, uh-oh. We talk about a member of the White Sox God, Herb shows up in the chat. He says, do it.

He says, take him off our hands. Oh, man. I still remember seeing him for the first time in a spring training game. And my God,

did he hit the ball harder than I think I've ever seen any human being ever hit the ball before Jesse? He was a monster in spring training. He's one of those guys who got an extension before he played a game in the big leagues.

So this contract, which now, like, it's not awful, but it, I wouldn't see. say he's really lived up to it. He was like a basically a replacement level player in 2023. If you play him in the outfield, it doesn't provide a whole lot of value. Probably best serve as DH. But yeah, there is some ceiling here. There is a, I mean, we've seen Elo

Jimenez have seasons where he was very, very, very good. So you're kind of just hoping that, you know, you trade away a couple prospects. You maybe get the white socks to take a portion of the salary. And you're hoping you kind of catch lightning in a bottle and get one of those really good seasons from Milo Jimenez when he's still pretty young. I mean, 27 years old, he's still, you know, he's a lot younger than a lot of other guys on this list, that's for sure. And I think that's the big thing is he fits the timeline. And if they're going to go out and sign one of these guys to a multi-year deal or trade

for him and, you know, have somebody ever multi-year deal that he would make a lot of sense. But we still don't know what we're going to get out of him. There's a lot of questions there. And again, last season, a 104 OPS Plus definitely isn't worth the money that he's, is getting paid. So yeah, I don't know necessarily if that's a reflection of the player that he is going to be, uh, or could potentially be with a different team, but I think there's a lot of potential there. Are we going C tier here? Are we going B tier? I mean, he seems pretty young and talented to put below B, B, B no, no, can't be B. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's probably C.

Yeah, which I feel really, I feel like we're just totally disrespecting Andrew McCutcheon, but putting him down there when we absolutely had a better season than some of these other guys. Do you want to move Tommy down there just so he's not lonely? You know what, Damon, do it. Move Tommy down there. Sorry, Tommy. You're disrespecting Tommy. I'm not there, too.

That's a man you do not disrespect. We know that based on history, but I just didn't work. Her Jason Mackie, the Pirates just resigned Andrew McCutche in five minutes ago. Wow. We did it, Jesse. We figured that. One year, five million for Andrew McCutche. Yep, take him off the board.

I guess we do we take him off the board, delete him. He's gone. Can we delete him? No, he has to stay there now. He's stuck. Sorry. Let's move. I feel like we have to move Tommy fan back up.

That's fine. Because Andrew McCutcheon has his partner. Yeah. You know, he's back with the pirates. He's home. Yeah. He's not lonely.

No, we'll put him on C. Yeah, we'll put Tommy fan back up to see. There we go. All right. So I guess we just don't have anyone in the detail. Because we're nice guys.

We're good guys. We try not to hurt people's feelings. Right. Does that feel good? I mean, we try to hurt your feelings every single day. We know that. for a fact.

Interested to see which of these guys, the Diamondbacks, go after. Of course, we know that the right answer here is J.D. Martinez. So let's just get that deal done today. That would be great. We'll do emergency pod. If that could happen, we'll appreciate that. Speaking of emergency pods and all sorts of wonderful transactions, make sure to check out our friends at Desert Financial Credit Union.

First of all, they are the kings of our transactions. And they, for more than 84 years, have been Arizona's largest, most trusted local credit union dedicated to creating exceptional experiences by giving back to the community and to their customers. Of course, they got me started on my home ownership journey and they can get you started as well. Look to Desert Financial for checking and savings accounts, mortgages, loans, credit cards, investment options, and more. When you open a free checking account online right now, you can get $200 and bonuses. is get started by visiting desertfinancial.com slash 200. Let's see. Jack says,

what about zagging and sign a lefty with powder power, Jock Peterson? Yeah, I thought about the lefties. I thought about the lefties, Jack Peterson, someone on Twitter is angry that Brandon Belt was not on the list. Yeah,

yeah. I get it. I hate Brandon Belt, man. I think I would be surprised if the DVACs went left-handed with this. It wouldn't be an outrageous decision. I mean, their lineup is kind of stacked with righties at this point, but I would be fairly surprised if they went, if they went lefty.

Well, one way we can help out is with our Arizona lottery scratcher tickets. I mean, I don't feel like I should have to contribute my winnings to the Diamondbacks, but if it means getting J.D. Martinez, I happily will, Jesse. I happily will because we're going to take a look into the future. We're going to take a look into the Snow Globe to see what the Diamondbacks might be cooking as far as starting pitching candidates. But, of course, right now is your time to go get some Arizona lottery holiday scratches from Arizona lottery. Make it, they make great last minute shopping gifts. They make great stocking stuffers.

Jesse, the procrastinator over here. I know he is going to get some on his way over to my house when we sell. Or wherever we're going to Texas Roadhouse, I think, is where we're going to have our Arizona, PHNX Diamondbacks Christmas party. But he'll stop on the way and get some scratches. You can to whatever party you're going to if you don't have a. gift. Scratchers start at just $1 and can top out at half a million. So make sure to pick up some holiday scratchers right now. You can get them to anybody whether they were not or nice on your

list. But remember, half a million dollars might just want to give one to the nice ones on your list. Go out and buy your holiday scratches today. Find a retailer like our friends at CircleK near you at Arizona Lottery.com. Must be 21 years or older to play. And now I'm going to go ahead and scratch this while Jesse tells you about if the Diamondbacks went out and traded for Dylan sees. Yeah. Why not? Why not?

It's going to happen, Derek. It's going to happen. Everyone knows it. No. Will the diamond backs actually make a move for a top tier starting pitcher at this point? Seems unlikely. They already got their guy in Eduardo Rodriguez. It feels like they were already shooting pretty high when they landed him.

But I want to be greedy. Yeah. But I want more. But the diamond backs have yet to make a trade where they really expended any kind of serious assets, right? Eugenio Suarez. That deal, you know, it just took Sebi Zavala and Carlos Vargas. Debacks have not traded from the top of their farm system. Presumably, they do have the assets if they wanted to to make a run out of Dillon

Seas, out of Corbin Burns, you know, out of a Shane Bieber, guy who would probably cost a little bit less. And Mike Hazen has talked about wanting to continue to add to pitching, to starting pitching. I don't see that as being likely. I don't see that as their top priority what we were just talking about with this right-handed DH stuff. Well, it almost can't be.

This is clearly taking precedent, but if they, if they do, I mean, they, they have other needs. And like, starting pitching is actually something that they technically have enough of right now, right? It would be nice to continue to upgrade and get better at starting pitching. Right. But they don't need that as much as literally being in need of a DH. Literally be a DH, yes. They need a backup catcher. Yeah, absolutely.

Those are things that they need more than they need a starting pitcher. this would be a get greedy like let's you know try to take down the dodgers sort of a you know it would be the devax really trying to push in the chips on these next couple of seasons and uh you know we've talked about the merits of doing that when you only have zach gallon and maryl kelly under team control for a couple more seasons there is something to be said for trying to go a little crazy here two timelines you got to have two timelines you got to have that shorter timeline and then you have the longer timeline of how are you going to keep those 23 year olds here happy and get getting better every season and helping them win in the long term once you potentially do lose

your ace is due to due to free agency. Are you done? I'm not done yet. I'm taking my time with this one because I'm getting, I want to see. I got a couple of spots. A couple of things are cooking here about halfway through here. But we can go ahead and talk about who you want to give up for Dill and C so that everybody can get mad at you and not me.

Well, I do want to go back real quick to the Jock Peterson concept because I don't know. I'm realizing that if we had had Jock Peterson. Peterson on this list. He probably would have wound up in the same tier as Tommy fam. And that just would have been hilarious and amazing. So that was a serious missed opportunity on our part to not have their two faces right next to each other. But, uh, yeah.

And you guys say I'm the troublemaker. He's the real trouble. Trouble maker on here. Keep working, Derek. Sorry. You're like the kid. He like keeps talking. Sorry.

Sorry. Sorry. Yeah. It's a lot of concentration going on. Um, but yeah, I, I think as far as a starting pitcher is concerned, it's, it's certainly not something that the diamond backs absolutely need, but it is something that theoretically they would have the assets to do it if they wanted to. And I imagine that, you know,

the money that you would take back in a Dillon C straight and a Corbyn-Burn trade, that certainly would butt into what you're able to do in other areas. Maybe that makes it so that you'd have to, you know, you'd have to compromise a little bit as far as adding that other right-handed bat. Maybe you have to, you know, you have to be more in that C or D-tier range rather than near the top of the list if you were to make, one of these moves. But I think it's just something worth mentioning.

I don't expect the debacks to do something like this, especially like the Dylan Cis, Corbin-Berns variety. That just seems a little unrealistic. But, you know, we've seen Mike Hazen time and time again acquire starting pitchers that have a lot of control, the Luke Weaver thing, the Zach Allen thing, of course. And you can just sort of never count Mike Hazen out from doing something like that. He really likes to add starting pitchers

that are controllable if he has an opportunity. And I doubt that he will, but it's not something that is impossible. Jack's trying to have a real, a real wild clubhouse. He said maybe they should sign both to platoon at DH, meaning Tommy Fam and Jack Peters said, just to bring them both in the same clubhouse. Yes, I want to be a part of that fantasy football league for sure. They're platoon partners.

That's amazing. I mean, Dylan Seas, obviously, is an incredible pitcher. and kind of the talk of the trade world a bit, it feels like there's the free agents, there's the big, big money pitchers out there, but then you also have Dylan Cic, constantly is kind of in the mix.

When you look at his 20, 23 stats, they don't jump off the page at being this guy that everybody should be interested. Am I wrong about that? No, I mean, yeah, 4-5-80RA, there's nothing all that attractive about that when you first see it. But yeah, it's because of the swing and miss.

I mean, he had a fifth in the three sevens. You know, a strikeout rate of 27.3% is really high for a starting pitcher. I think there's a belief here that Dylan Sees is better than these numbers show. And we've certainly seen him be significantly better. And then there's that mustache, Jesse. And then there's the mustache. And that more than anything else is the best argument for the Diamondbacks to acquire Dylan Sees. His mustache is why I have a mustache, kind of.

I'd give up an extra trade prospect because of the mustache. Because of the mustache. Yeah. Going to take too much to get them? Do the Diamondbacks have enough assets to get a guy like Dillencies? Yes. But, I mean... It's going to cost too much.

But the DBA, yeah, I mean, the D-Backs have a lot of tremendously valuable trade assets. Do they have assets that people will actually be willing to give up? That's another question. And I suspect the answer is, no, you're not trading Brandon Fought in this deal. You're not trading, you know, any of the Diamondbacks young kind of cornerstone pieces. those guys are out of the question. Alec Thomas, I guess, you know, maybe someone that the White Sox would

be interested in on some level. But yeah, we've talked about Dillon Seas before as a trade candidate going back to the trade deadline. And it was never super clear to me exactly what the fit was here. If the debacks don't trade Jordan Lawler, it's a little hard to see

it happening. And I don't think they would trade Jordan Loller for Dillen Seas. So yeah, these top tier guys in the market, it seems like the cost is just going to be too high. Well, there are some other candidates and they might not cost as much just, well, maybe, I don't know. Dunn's this is two years of control. That's the biggest thing is the years of control.

Corbyn Burns is just one. And Corbyn Burns, of course, is Corbyn Burns. If the Diamondbacks truly are all in on next year, Corbyn, trading for Corbyn Burns feels like the move. I mean, it really just does because Corbyn Burns, honestly, it, makes this the best starting rotation in baseball. Does it not make it the best starting rotation in baseball? Am I crazy to say that? If they got Corbin Burns?

If they added Corbyn Burns to Eduardo Rodriguez, Zach Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Brandon fought, those five from start to from fucking one to five, find me a better rotation in baseball. Am I wrong? Am I crazy? He would easily be the best in baseball,

I'd argue. The Mariners. Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Logan, Gilbert, Brian, Bryce Miller. That's really good. And they're getting Robbie Ray back at some point. Yeah, they are getting, yeah.

And if he is what he was for Toronto. Yeah. It'd be close though. I don't know. I mean, I think there's maybe a debate to be had there. Sure. Yeah. And that's why you would do something like this.

I mean, you would be like, all right, we're not just satisfied having a solid rotation where it works and we have more depth and we feel better. We want to have like the freaking best rotation in baseball or like close to it. Right. That's what this move would. be and I yes I do feel skeptical that the diamond backs feel the need to do that right now but you know I mean there's something to be said for for going crazy after you're in the world series and you're trying to you're trying to do the thing again knowing that Zach Allen and Merrill Kelly might not be here for all that long so let's take a look uh do we I'm I'm I'm behind here let's take a look at corporate yeah we have actually showed the numbers uh 3.39 ERA in 2023 25.4 percent sure. strikeout rate 8.4% walk, a 1.07 whip. Just incredible numbers. 3.4 wins above replacement.

And I mean, again, just a guy that has been an absolute killer. This is a man that was very unhappy with the organization he was with. And he still went out there and did that for that team in 2023. I don't want to say he's a professional. I want to say that had any impact on it. right but sure he went out there and in the face of all of his feelings about arbitration and everything he went through with the brewers that man still went out there and performed at an elite level and was one of the best pitchers in the game last year so

all I'm saying is imagine what those numbers look like when he's happy in Arizona there you go working with brent strom chilling with that guy doesn't have to face corbin carroll again in the wild card series right yeah that's nobody wants to do that Nobody wants to do that. This is like almost a down season for Corbyn Burns, frankly. That's true.

I mean, yeah, 3-3-9 ERA obviously really good, but he's been doing sub-3s for, you know, several years in a row prior to this. So he got off to a bit of a slow start. And at the end of the season, you look up and yeah, Corbin Burns has 200 strikeouts and almost 200 innings. And, yeah, there's only one season of control here. So you'd think the price would be maybe a little bit lower than Dylan's C's. Sure.

It sounds like the brewers are increasingly inclined to just hold on to Corbyn Burns, maybe revisit this at the trade deadline. But yeah, he's a name that's out there. Another name that's out there that could also make the Diamondbacks starting rotation very, very good and arguably one of the best of baseball is Shane Bieber. Shane Bieber had, again, he didn't pitch as much as some of these other guys in 2023, but still had himself a pretty good year last year. 3.80 ERA 20.1 strikeout rate 6.4% walk rate 1.23

WIP and 2.1 wins above replacement. Shane Bieber, again, which of these guys do you think actually could be not a not we know this is stretching for all three guys? Which of these guys

could actually be reasonable as far as the trade assets and the cost that it's going to take to get them? Beaver is definitely the most realistic yeah and the guardians are kind of a quirky team to trade with because i don't know i feel like the guardians like they're like yeah give us your second baseman who like has you know is like a utility guy who can play different positions but is never really hit much you know like he like they're saying paven smith are you saying payment smith can be involved in this deal i i don't know if pavon smith would be a center piece of shame beaver trade but

It would be awesome is if they added him to the trade and then removed him like the way that they did during the playoffs every time they burned him as a pitcher. That would be incredible. That would be very sad. But yeah, there's, there's again just one one season of control here with Shane Bieber. As someone said in the comments, stuff is is down for sure. He doesn't throw 94 anymore. He's more of a low 90s guy. He's not a Cy Young caliber pitcher at this stage.

But could he be a solid addition to the. rotation in 2024 and push, you know, push some of those younger starters down. Yeah. You figure you're still going to see Tommy Henry. You're still going to see Ryan Nelson, the DeWax. Even if they got another starting pitcher would still have to use those guys. You can't get through a full season with just five starting pitchers. So it'd be just kind of a depth play.

And you could, you know, I think it would make some sense for them. I imagine the guardians are asking a pretty high price on, on Beaver, just given the name credibility there. And, you know, his history is being a very, very, very. very good starter in this league, but he's only 28 years old, and he could certainly make some sense. Well, I wish we could go on BetMGM right now and bet on which of these guys the Diamondbacks are going to get. I would wonder, I would love to see the odds on that. Be hesitant to bet on.

On Seas or any of those guys. There are better things to put your money on. There definitely are. Like JD Martinez, like J.D. Martinez. Like J.D. Martinez. But, of course, there are lots of great options over at the BetMGM Sportsbook app. and right now you can sign up as a new customer and deposit at least $10 into your sportsbook account using our code of PHNX. Place your first wager and if your wager loses, you will get up to $1,500 back in bonus bets.

If it does lose, your bonus bets will be available once your initial wager is settled. But all you got to do is sign up for bet MGM today and use that bonus code of PHNX. Place your first bet MGM sportsbook wager through the mobile application of at least $10. If that bet loses, your bonus bets will be available once your initial wager is set. Check out the show notes for full details. And now listen to Shane, Diefenbach, not Beaver, talk about the disclaimer. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler, Colorado, D.C., Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Jersey, New Jersey, Wyoming.

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Yes. And that's not something that you used to be able to find here in the Valley so much. It just, I don't know, it just feels when it's real dice rolling on a table, I feel differently about it than video dice. You know, it's just my paranoia. I can't trust computers unless they're robot bumps. But I will tell you this, slot machines are always incredible. It's a great way. I am a big, of course, Lotus Land guy myself.

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Listen to you. Listen to you, you monster. He's like, I'm just seeing secure. I'm just insecure. I know. You know, a major league starting pitcher could all it could be, you know, a much better writer than me. But yeah, this is a very,

a very, very cool story at the players. It absolutely is. He talked about the Diamondbacks postseason run. Um, and he said his favorite part of the run was seeing fans get behind this team. And there's something about that that makes me a little emotional because like, I think Christian Walker addressed it a couple of times and there were some kind of there was some negative feedback in regards to it or whatever

like it's kind of a weird attitude where here in the valley towards the diamondbacks there's almost the like well win and will support you kind of you know attitude towards this team whereas when you play for other franchises in baseball there is just an undying love of you yeah there's a more good or bad yeah through the through the good times through the bad times all of that, right? But like, I would have to say that I can understand because based on his time here in the valley, this was probably the most support that this team has ever seen. I think it does go beyond the winning, though. I think it goes into this year's team had guys that people were truly fans of. We started to love these players on this team. And Zach Gallen is one of those guys,

right but it also goes yeah on the corbin carroll alec thomas jerry p you know gabby all these guys tommy fam the amount of jumping i did for paul seawald every time ryan thompson came out just going crazy for tea time you know like there was just things about this team that i felt like this year's squad was different from even successful teams in the past for the a Arizona Diamondbacks. It's young guys. It's guys that are going to be here for a while. And I just, I feel like the support for this team did shift and it goes beyond just the fact that they made the run that they did. Yeah, this is how the story started. I just have to read this because it really is so good. Zach said there were a lot of cool things about the 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks

Run to the World Series, but I have a pretty strong opinion on what was the coolest. It wasn't taking care of business in Milwaukee. It wasn't coming back from 02 against the Phillies, winning game 7 at their place. It wasn't Marte barreling up everything you saw or four home runs in one inning. Honestly, it wasn't even sweeping the Dodgers. Those things were all amazing. Don't get me wrong. If you asked me, the best thing about this run was the pure joy our fans got to experience, the looks on everyone's faces, the energy around the city, the roar that we'd hear at Chase when we were stringing hits together or when Mert or fought or Ginkle needed to make a big pitch. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced and it made me so proud to be a part of this

organization, this city, this community. I won't forget it as long as I live. Sign the contract. Right now. Right now. I know that's what everyone is thinking. I'll draw it up. I didn't win on this card, but you can have this quarter.

I don't give a shit. I will give you anything I have for this man. Jesse, you went on to say, we didn't win it all obviously, and I hate that. But what we did do was still pretty fucking sick. And it really felt like we did it together. Yeah. And man. If that doesn't get you choked up about this team, I don't know what will, right?

Like he, this is, this is a guy who honestly is like one of the more cerebral people in the clubhouse. And at the same time, also one of the most laid back, right? Like so for his emotions to come out like this and for him to say that for, you know, seeing that reaction was his favorite part. Like, that's amazing. You know what I mean? That's, that's an amazing feeling. And, you know, obviously, we.

know the contract stuff is what it is we know that the outlook on that isn't great but um it you you get the feeling that this city and this team means something more to that galen and that yeah that should be something that this front office is pursuing and trying to keep here for for the long term 100% and there's no doubt about that obviously i'm just preaching to the choir here but the way the story ended jesse tier tier tier yeah it's pretty pretty good stuff at that's the end too. I guess I'll just read it again. Zach said before this year, ever, ever, I can speak. I promise. This is what I do for a living apparently. Before this year, ever since I arrived in 2019, there hasn't been much for people to cheer about and that's on us.

We didn't play up to our potential and our fans weren't happy about it. Rightfully so. I wouldn't have been happy either as a fan. But that was a different time and we're never going back to it. It's a whole new era of DeBacks baseball as far as I'm concerned. I can't wait to see where things go next, see you all in March. Give me a brick wall. I need a brick wall right now. David, find me a brick wall. Oh, my God.

I think, I mean, if you're a fan of this team and you didn't have like a deep emotional reaction to reading this story, I don't really know what to tell you. Check your pulse. Check your pulse. This is everything that, you know, if you're a Diamondbacks fan, this is everything that you want to see out of like your front line starting pitcher. Except one thing. What are we missing?

Jesse, when he said D-Backs baseball, he's an apostrophe. That's, you know what? I wasn't going to go there, Derek, but if we have to. No, I've been said. Let's talk to your editor, pal. We got to talk about proper, proper, what is it? That's on the players to be. All right.

That's their job. We know that Zach wouldn't have made it at a mistake that. Absolutely. Absolutely not. But yeah, he also, in this story, he definitely plays into the narrative of the debacks being the underdog. And, you know, he talks about looking at Tori Lavello during the Dodgers series and, you know, saying, hey, we, you know, these people don't think we belong here.

And Tori agreeing with it and being like, yeah, they don't think we belong here. And just the satisfaction of time and time again, just being able to overcome those expectations that people had for this team. It's clear that the Diamondbacks as a team embraced that. And clearly, Zach Allen was right at the center of that, you know, embracing those narratives throughout the postseason and taking the Diamondbacks much farther than they were expected to go.

So what kind of fan energy are we bringing next year? I mean, you have to think like we've seen this in the past where when the Diamondbacks make the postseason, it feels like the next year is really when you feel it, where there's just a, there's a different energy from opening day as the season gets going. And I have to expect that that's what will happen in 2024. Like on opening day, I think Chase Field is probably going to be rocking a little bit more than it has been in years past. The debacks are going to be putting up an NL pennant banner, right? Like you have to, you have to think that people are going to rally around this team in a way that they have it before.

And Zach Allen is certainly counting on that and hoping for that. And I think I think fans will probably deliver, you know, it might not still be the crowds. You see it at other stadiums around the league. I don't think the debacks are going to be selling out every night or anything, but it should be noticeably better than what we've seen in years past. A big help. Connor and me are like this. I was just going to say a big help to that is $300 season tickets.

That $299 ballpark pass is. a reflection of this team trying to get more people out to watch it, not trying to make money off of the fans, which is something that, and rightfully so, some fans have accused the Phoenix Suns of doing ever since they became successful, ever since they made their finals appearance and had become a team that now has been making the playoffs regularly,

ticket prices on average at the Suns game are higher than league average. They are one of the higher end now, and they've continued to go up over the last few years. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks continue to be the best value in baseball, and they have done so on the back of a season where they had tremendous success. So I think that shows that they want us as fans out there. They want people in that building. And they don't care if it's only going to cost essentially $2.50 per game or whatever

for you to go to a baseball game. They want you out there. They want you rooting for this team. And of course, there are benefits still to, you know, the franchise of. us eating and parking and doing all of the other stuff that we spend money on when we're there but to get people in the door to get fans out there watching this team I think is a great move a great move by this team

and again this is the kind of feeling that the fan support creates in a player it's hard to remember that because we think that it's all about dollars and cents with them we think it's all about kind of like being like you know guns for hire and going whoever has the most money but people want to be they want to play for a franchise they want to play for an organization that has tremendous fans and tremendous fan support and i love the fact that zach here is admitting that this organization at times isn't the the type of organization you should be happy with in in the past right but sure i think that the the fact of the matter is is there's been times in the past where the team

could have spent money like they did this off season and still not have been any closer to the goal of being a successful team because they just had still too much to build on. This year's team was so close. So for them to go out and make the changes, the upgrades that they have this offseason really shows that they are trying to jump on, you know,

the success that they had last year and make things happen this year. I love that tweet that shows the Diamondbacks right now are the third highest spender in Major League Baseball this off season. I can't get enough of that. And that's something that we should all remember when it comes to supporting Zach Gallen and his teammates in 2020. 64. 65 days until spring training starts, Derek.

Let's go. That's still the first game. Pitchers and catchers is even less than that. I don't know the exact day. February 14, 15th. Yeah, we're less than two months away from pitchers and catchers reporting. So, yeah,

it's amazing how short the off season is when you go as far as the time and backs went. I booked myself a cruise right for, right at the end, right there, Jesse, just because I know that's the end of my, my social life is like three months long and then it goes away. But I'm going to have fun in the meantime.

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they're Rick Simpson oil. They are extremely effective, and you should definitely check them out at a dispensary near you to learn more about OG's gummies and where you can find them. head on over to OGsbrands.com. Well, uh, Andrew McCutcheon off the list. We got some more guys coming off those lists. Diamondbacks don't have a lot of time to find their DH.

So hopefully, uh, we get an announcement. They signed JD Martinez very soon so I can just lose my shit. But what are we going to tier rank next, Derek? That was kind of fun. I feel like, I feel like we need to make this in every show. Yeah.

Okay. There we go. Yeah. Yes. Seve's a ball. Come back. Anyway, uh, we thank you guys, of course,

for stopping by. You can follow us on Twitter. Mitch Garver S tier. Backup catcher. Yes, I'll agree to that. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore K-Ban with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman.

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