PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Should The Diamondbacks TRADE Cubs For Cody Bellinger?

Episode Date: November 22, 2024

JOIN THE PHNX DIEHARDS! https://www.gophnx.com/join-diehard The Diamondbacks may have an opportunity to swap one bad contract for another and bring home Valley native Cody Bellinger in exchange for Jordan Montgomery. We have the reasons why that deal would - and wouldn’t - make sense for the D-backs. We also have more on who Mike Hazen said could be playing centerfield next season, if a trade with the Mariners for Andres Muñoz solves the closer problem, and a look back one year ago to the another trade with the Mariners for third baseman Eugenio Suarez. Join Derek, Jesse, and Kevin for the PHNX Diamondbacks Show LIVE! An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ bet365: https://www.bet365.com/olp/open-account?affiliate=365_03330244 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and choose your offer! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Bluechew: Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code ALLCITY at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. That’s https://bluechew.com promo code ALLCITY to receive your first month FREE. Visit for more details and important safety information, and we thank BlueChew for sponsoring the podcast.. Zbiotics: Go to https://zbiotics.com/phnxdbacks to get 15% off your first order when you use PHNXDBACKS at checkout. Pre-Alcohol is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they’ll refund your money, no questions asked. Empire Today: Schedule a free in-home estimate today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details. Branded Bills: Use code PHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order! Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. 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! Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Check out FOCO merch and collectibles and use promo code “PHNX10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items. Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code PHNX for 10% off! Get 10 FREE meals at https://hellofresh.com/freedbacks. Applied across 7 boxes, new subscribers only, varies by plan. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Should the Arizona Diamondbacks bring Cody Bellinger home in a trade? And would the Chicago Cubs be willing to accept one Jordan Montgomery in return? We're talking about this ridiculous deal on today's show. Join us here. We don't go anywhere. We might have the reasons why this is a good and a bad idea in 30 seconds. Stick around. Happy Friday to you all.

We made it. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNX DBAX podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. occasionally known as your mayor of this joint. This man next to me is your Thundersick and my vice mayor, the one and only Jesse Friedman. And great to see so many of you guys here. Got some fun stuff to talk about today, including possibly bringing back the Valley's own Cody Bellinger in a trade that may or may not make sense for both parties involved. But first, we did have Jesse some interesting takeaways from a Nick Picoro story for Easy Central yesterday.

just in regards to some moves the Diamondbacks might make. None of it was surprising except for one kind of caveat there about who might be playing center field for this team next year. Yeah, yeah. The crux of the story that Nick wrote was that the Diamondbacks are receiving interests in their center fielder's, which isn't really news. That's a report that we've gotten in the past. No huge surprises there.

But Nick did write something interesting about how the Diamondbacks would at least consider moving Jordan Lawler and or Blaze Alexander to center field, which probably would not be necessary if the Diamondbacks just kept the outfielder's that they already have. But if you were to trade a Jake McCarthy or an Alec Thomas, the back's trading outfielders, probably one of those two guys. I don't think Corbyn Carroll's going anywhere. Then you'd have a bit of a gap to fill. It'd be nice to have a little bit more depth in the outfield. And one way to do that would be to convert either a Blaise Alexander or a Jordan Lawler into a center fielder. And in the story, Mike Hazen seemed to indicate that Blaze Alexander would be a better fit for that than Jordan Lawler.

I think the Diamondbacks maybe don't want to give Lawler more to handle, given that he's just sort of trying to stay healthy, trying to actually be able to play in baseball games more than anything else. It was obviously a struggle for him staying healthy this year. But yeah, it could be interesting to see what one or both of those guys look in the outfield. You know what's interesting about this is that the diamondbacks have a surplus of outfielders, and we've talked about that. Yet you take, you know, Randall Gritchick out of the situation, you know, and remove him. You also still have some uncertainty at first base.

And again, you might use one of those guys in order to acquire a first baseman and fill that hole. And then suddenly you find yourself in a position where Blaise Alexander or Jordan Lawler now are playing center field. those guys might not just be being asked to do that just based on need. I mean, there might be an idea here that both of those guys could potentially be really good centerfielders. And I will just ask for a moment, can you imagine having a center fielder with an arm like Blaze Alexander? That's what I was just going to say. I just, I can't because we've never had that. And I don't know what that would be like.

I mean, the Diamondbacks, right, they started out with Blaze playing primarily on the left side of the infield, mainly short. stop and it didn't go so well. I think they trust Gino over there defensively more than they trust to Blaze Alexander. It seemed like second base is maybe where they were most comfortable using Blaze. But second base is just, it's kind of a bummer to put a guy who has like a, you know, a 70 arm, maybe an 80 arm on the 20 to 80 scale and put him at second base where you're not really going to get a whole lot of use out of that. You know, in center field like the arm is not the most important thing. We've certainly seen that. The Diamondbacks have several pretty good defensive centerfielders who are good despite having non-ideal arms out there.

So you're not necessarily getting like a ton of value out of that if you put a Blaze Alexander in centerfield. But it would be fun every now and then to see Blaze Alexander just just go all out on a throw to home plate. We haven't really had that experience much lately given some of the arms of the Diamondbacks have out there. And they're currently in a position right now where they don't. have the depth in the outfield that they used to have going back to, you know, trading potentially either Alec Thomas or Jake McCarthy. So that, I mean, there's one reason why that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. However, if the offer is overwhelmingly good, then I think that the diamondbacks are willing to, you know, hear them out on it, sacrifice that depth a little bit in order to make

the main roster better. But the one thing that Hazen said that they do not want to do is deal four years of control of a young outfielder for a reliever only. So that kind of takes us out of the Ryan Halsley conversation that we had the other day considering that, you know, again, most likely it's going to be one year of Halsley if you do get him. Yeah, I mean, I think there could still be other routes for the Diamondbacks to acquire a Ryan Heldley or Devin Williams than trading one of those outfielders. But it's understandable, right? I mean, Alex Thomas is under team control through 2028. I believe Jake McCarthy is the same. And, And yeah, that's a lot of control of a young productive player, and you'd hate to get one year of a relief pitcher in particular in exchange for that.

So it doesn't make sense unless you're in our diehard chat where you people are insane. And you know the ones I'm talking about. The people that gave me grief for not wanting to make this deal because of the years of control versus Ryan Helsley. Not to mention the fact that I'm still like, again, Ryan Helsley is very, very good. and I'm not going to take anything away, nor am I going to say that he's going to be bad if the diamondbacks do acquire him. I'm just still skeptical as far as how good any reliever is going to be in this bullpen because I've been hurt before and I've learned not to trust. But yeah, I mean, I think that when people do see this, they might see the idea of Loller Alexander being names that could play in center field as like a bit of a failure. But we don't know how those guys would be in those positions not to mention the the organization wants to get both of those guys up to the major leagues and playing

Somewhere contributing in some way because they're both very ready to do so I mean I guess the the template here is is Jackson Merrill right a guy who came up as a shortstop and then the Padres had a need in center field and we're like hey you want us to teach you how to play center field and it worked Jackson Merrill just like got down ballot MVP votes and was great offensively and was a pretty darn good defensive center fielder as well. So it can be done. And I don't really think it's a failure at all. I mean, if Jordan Lawler winds up being a, you know, a solid hitter who plays a good center field, like that's a tremendous asset. If you have to move to a corner outfield spot, then then that's not maybe an ideal outcome for those guys. But yeah, learning how to play center fields would I think would be helpful for the diamond backs if if either of those guys were able to pull it off but it's it's easier said than done like this is I don't at least at a professional

level neither blaze nor jordan lawler have played in the outfield at all and center field like chase field center field is not for not for the faint of heart so that would be that would be a tall task for sure well we definitely have some good information from here I I think the biggest thing here is what Hayeson said just in regards to what they would want in return and that it wouldn't be a reliever. It sounds most likely that if they were to make a deal like this, it would be for a replacement for Christian Walker. And then maybe someone that can handle a DH responsibilities like a hitter and possibly a young hitter with some years of control, not necessarily a rental that would just be here for one season. Right.

Yeah, I think a first basement potentially. I wrote a few days ago about some options that the diamondbacks could trade for to replace Christian Walker at first base if they wanted to go that route. Relievers are also an option for sure. I think the biggest thing is just the diamond backs are not looking to trade a Jake McCarthy or now a Thomas to get prospects back. Like if they are, if they pull the trigger on a deal like that, it's because they think they can make their 2025 team better.

And it's not super easy to see how a trade like that could come together necessarily. Mike Hazen, it sounds is a little bit skeptical that a deal will ultimately happen. But this is an annual tradition now for the Diamondbacks, Derek. They have to trade it. They have to trade a center fielder every offseason. It has to happen. So maybe it will. We'll see.

As much as adding a 5 foot 10 left-handed outfielder is part of the MO as well. Speaking of making the team better next year, MLB's non-tender deadline isn't about, what, four and a half hours from now. Coming up on as today at 6 p.m. Arizona time. And I guess the big question is, do we expect the Diamondbacks to non-tender any players? They do have a couple of candidates that might be players they non-tender. I guess first, Jesse, what does it mean to non-tender a player? Let's start with that. Yeah, yeah, that's probably the right place to start.

Yeah, if you non-tender a player, you're basically just deciding to let them go and not pay them their, they're, uh, the money that they, that they would be making. Uh, this only applies to guys who have, uh, generally under six years of service time. So these are your guys who are either pre-arb or in arbitration. You can't, you can't non-tender Jordan Montgomery. That's not possible. Damn it. Uh, Hugh, he was signed as a free agent. So you're locked into paying that money.

Uh, but guys who, who have below six years of service time, haven't reached free agency yet. If at any point you feel like they're not worth what you would be paying them, you can just nondender them and let them go elsewhere and become free agents. So generally we see this with guys who are in arbitration

because that's when you start to see their salaries escalate a little bit. Pre-arb guys are making essentially the league minimum. So you don't see pre-arb guys non-tendered all that often. The Diamondbacks don't have any obvious non-tender candidates. I think the one that comes to mind more than anyone else is Kyle Nelson, left-handed reliever who had thoracic outlet surgery and wound up missing almost the entire 2024 season. I do think he should be healthy for 2025.

He is in arbitration. This will be his first year of arbitration. He's projected by MLB trade rumors to make $800,000, which in baseball terms is really not very much money at all. So I would be a little surprised if the Diamondbacks not tendered him. because that's such a low, reasonable dollar figure. And he does have minor league options remaining. So he can be a left-handed reliever who maybe comes up if someone gets hurt or if you feel

like you want a third, a third lefty reliever for a stretch of time. And you also would have the option to send him down as well. And it's not just that. I mean, at one point, we had a lot of faith in Kyle Nelson and we have no idea what he will be upon returning from thoracic outlet surgery. Yeah. However, $800,000 is worth the risk to see. How much, you know, or if he could still be a very reliable reliever for this team.

What is the advantage to a team non-tendering a player? Is it just shedding that payroll essentially? Yeah, yeah. Because it seems like a lot of times the guys that they do non-tender aren't really making a lot of money. So it doesn't really feel like it's going to impact the overall payroll that much. However, it's also about creating roster spots, right? To a degree. Yeah.

Yeah, one of the most famous non-tender situations happened a few years ago with Cody Bellinger, where he was going to make, I think, $20 million in arbitration because it had several years that were very, very productive. And so that caused his arbitration numbers to escalate. But the Dodgers were like, we don't really think Cody Bellinger's worth 20 million anymore. And again, this is before he had reached free agency. He was still under six years of team control at that point. So the Dodgers decided to just nondender him and let him become a free agent. So I believe Kyle Schwerber is another example.

He was also non-tendered at one point because I believe it was with the Chicago Cubs because, yeah, that salary figure in arbitration just escalated so high that it was like, I don't really think this guy's worth that. So it's relatively rare because players in arbitration don't generally make a ton of money. But if you have like a couple really good seasons that gets that. figure up a little bit, then if the player regresses or whatnot, you might find yourself in a situation where you don't feel like they're worth that money anymore. You've now made it so that we have to talk about Cody Bellinger twice in one show.

That's true. And I think that that's well done. You slip that in nicely. A couple of other guys are potential non-tender candidates. One name is a name that's going to make you all lose your minds, at least are loyal diehards, and that's Paven Smith, who is out of options, but seems safe after the Pave and Smith game, right? That game alone, bottom time. Not to mention the 2024 season yet, because Pave and Smith was very good for this team. As far as what they're going to do at first base and

in other roles that they need to fill, they still don't have that figured out. And Pave and Smith could very well be a part of those plans going forward. Maybe not who they completely rely on, but maybe a platoon in some way, both at D.H. and first base with Paveen. So I think he's fairly safe. As of right now, the Diamondbacks very much need Pave and Smith. Correct. They don't He is their first baseman. Yeah, he is their first baseman. And even if they do make some moves and add some pieces around him, I still think that given how good Pavin Smith was in 2024, he's worth a shot, right?

He's worth a look. And he's not going to make a ton of money in arbitration either. I think it's $1.6 million, I want to say. But damn it, Pavan has given his all for this team. That's one thing that I will say about Pavan Smith is like he plays when he gets called up, he gets sent down, he gets called back up for a week, it's sent back down for three weeks. Non-sendering him would be pretty brutal

after everything that he's been through here. I mean, God, and like, again, he's, you know, we've criticized him just like fans have, and it's understandable. Like, he's looked bad in the outfield and at other times defensively. He's also looked really good for this team. And again, it's consistency. I think Payman Smith, getting consistent playing time would be even a better version of himself than we've seen

at a major league level. It's just hard. It was hard for them last year to find time for that. I mean, Randall Gritchick was amazing and he barely felt like he barely played for this team. So like, yeah, they had plenty of options and the offense wasn't necessarily the problem.

It was, you know, other parts of the, of the team. But man, I'll tell you, I think Payvon Smith at least deserves a shot to be a piece of this, you know,

starting lineup next year, even if he's not, like I said, not a regular starter. Yeah, yeah. So Paven's, payvins,

uh, projection and arbitration. is $1.6 million, which, yeah, he doesn't have any minor league options remaining. So maybe there's a world in which you do pay, Payvin, that money, and he winds up looking a little bit more like he has in the past, and he's not an everyday player. And, you know, maybe you spent $1.6 million that you wish you wouldn't have. But again, in the grand scheme of things, that's not a very high dollar figure.

And I think Paven warrants the investment with the 2024 season he had. The other guy who stands out as a potential non-tender guy is Jose Herrera. a longtime catcher here in Arizona. He's now out of minor league options, which does make him a little bit less valuable of an asset because you can't send him down. Although, I guess in certain situations you could, that might still be possible.

But yeah, he's someone who is pre-arb. So he's going to be making essentially the league minimum. It's not a lot of money at all, somewhere in the $700,000 range. But he's someone I could conceivably see the Diamondbacks non-tender, even though I don't really expect it. Well, I mean, the one thing to remember here is the Diamondbacks need low-cost options in 2025 to fill, you know, or to give them depth and to fill some of the roles that they're still, that they still need to fill. They have a lot of money already committed.

So I think that when you look at these guys, even though, you know, even though you're not saving a lot of money, it might be a little tempting to maybe part ways with Jose Herrera, considering you have like an Adrian Castillo that did do a good job, at least, you know, for part of the time when he was called up. And really should be part of this team's future plans with the way that he played at a major league level last year. So maybe Herrera, but even Herrera, I could see them not needing to non-tender and still needing him as a backup to Gabby on the major league roster next season. Yeah, I guess you could try to pass Jose Herrera through waivers so that you could send him down. That would be the one way. But yeah, I think it's fair. You might not love the idea of being locked into Jose. Jose Herrera on your major league roster the entire season next year.

You know, offensively, he's never been great. And defensively, his metrics were not particularly strong in 2024 either. So if the Diamondbacks are very much set on trying to find another backup catcher situation, then maybe it would make sense to just non-tender Jose Herrera. And, you know, maybe he could catch on somewhere else as a backup catcher in another organization. Well, we have some more Cody Bellinger talk, and maybe, just maybe we can figure out a way to dump two bad contracts onto each other with the Chicago Cubs. Give them a little Jordan Montgomery action. We take back Cody Bellinger and everybody can still be miserable.

We have all the reasons why this does and doesn't make sense for the Diamondbacks on the other side of this breaks. Don't you go anywhere? We'll be right back. Of course, we're talking money with the debacks. We're talking finances and nobody knows finances better than Desert Financial Credit Union. For more than 84 years, Desert Financial has been. in Arizona's largest, most trusted local credit union dedicated to creating exceptional experiences by giving back to the community and by providing financial solutions that help make customers

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You can't miss it. It's gigantic. It's amazing. All right. Well, of course, we are talking about Arizona. And when we're talking about Arizona, we're now talking about an Arizona native. who has some rumors flying around them. This is one of those situations, Jesse,

where we're going to take a Jeff Passon rumor about the Diamondbacks wanting to get rid of George Montgomery and a Ken Rosenthal rumor about wanting to get rid of Cody Bellinger and just mash them together because why not? It's November. What else are we going to talk about? Don't blame us. Blame the system.

Ken Rosenthal in a report said the Cubs would like to deal Bellinger. It makes quite a bit of sense that they would like to do so considering the size of his contract. And if you look at his numbers from last year, he did not have great numbers last year. According to the article, the Cubs might need to take back an inflated contract or accept marginal prospects in a deal.

And that would be for Bellinger. So that contract does pose a challenge for the Chicago Cubs. It does. Yeah, I guess we can start by looking at Bellinger's stats from 2024, just so people have a sense of what his numbers look like. He hit 266, 325, 426.

It's an OPS right around 750, 18 homers, 70 RBI, and 2.2 wins above replacement. Imagine this being a disappointing season. I mean, it's not that bad, right? It's really not, but it is when you take a look at how much Bellinger is being

paid. He's being paid at an elite superstar level and he is not performing at that level. He's performing more around just above to just below. Like a league average. regular a little bit above that for sure right so for the diamond backs uh cody bellinger on like looking at those stats a player that you might like to have right the diamond backs need a first

baseman cody bellinger maybe he's not he's not christian walker i think we can all agree on that absolutely but he's relatively close right like walker was i think a 2.7 war player this last year belliger 2.2 you feel like you're not losing a ton there plus plus versatility right i mean he also played in the outfield and he did he did he did play outfield pretty well, so it's not like he's, he's, he's not just serviceable out there. He's a decent outfielder. So you have, you know, versus Christian Walker who you weren't playing anywhere else but first base. I mean, with how good of a first baseman Walker was, though, you don't want to let's not

pretend. Yeah. Let's not pretend that if you put Christian Walker in center field that he's not getting it done out there. Oh, yeah. No, that's a good point. Yeah, he would probably just be awesome at right field or something like that, right? Yeah, no, you make a good point about his versatility, especially if the diamondbacks were

to move one of their center fielder's, like we talked. about earlier, Cody Bellinger could kind of double as a first baseman who also can provide some depth in the outfield to sort of cushion the blow. The problem with acquiring Bellinger, as you pointed out earlier, is his contract. He just exercised a $27.5 million player option for 2025. And beyond that, he also has a $25 million player option for 2026 that carries a $5 million buyout. So either he's opting in and you're really getting two years of him at over $50 million or he winds up opting out for 2026, in which case you still have to pay him $5 million and a buyout. And at that point, you're paying him $32.5 million just for one season.

So the money here is the problem and it's why the Cubs want to trade Cody Bellinger. And it's also why a team like the Diamondbacks might be hesitant to pull off a deal like this. And it's a good reason to, especially the club option for 2026 because if we take a look. Well, it's a player option. Player option. I'm sorry. Yeah, it's not a club option. It was a club option.

Yeah, it's totally different. You're right. The player option for 2026. I misspoke. But yeah, the reason why is taking a look here at his baseball savant page. You know, it's not to say that he is not, you know, still good in areas. But this is not the Cody Bellinger that, you know, does like Jesse talked about in the first segment that got that $20 million dollar, you know, basically what he was going to make an arbitration based on how well he performed,

he is not the same player any longer. And that is the reason why you don't really want to just not, not only not commit to him potentially in 2025, but you definitely don't want to give him that player option for 26. It's a very similar situation that the Diamondbacks are in right now with Jordan Montgomery. And that is that he did not perform well last year. And he had a player option for this season. And he would have been crazy to not take that player option based on what he would

most likely make for another team if he was a free agent this offseason. So again, that's the reason why Bellinger isn't a good option. However, however, speaking of Jordan Montgomery, the one way that this might work is if the Diamondbacks find a way to have the Cubs take one used, slightly used, Jordan Montgomery off of our hands.

Jordan McComery makes $22.5 million next year. Bellinger makes $27.5. So the Cubs would be saving themselves $5 million. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks would be increasing how much they're paying a potential high risk and low-performing athlete. But, you know, again, the idea here is that the Diamondbacks do have a surplus of starting pitchers. And at this point, everybody probably thinks that George Montgomery is going to bounce back next year. I feel like that is the reason why when we hear these rumors from Jeff Passon that the Diamondbacks are receiving interest in Montgomery is the belief that he's more. more going to be what he was in 2023 than he was in 2024 for whoever he pitches for next season.

Yeah, yeah. I agree with you that the one scenario where this trade could possibly make sense for the Diamondbacks is if they're getting off the Jordan Montgomery contract in the process. Even then, though, I still sort of have my questions from a Diamondbacks perspective because, again, there's that extra option year. And if you're the debacks, you might like the idea of only having to pay, you know, know, five million additional dollars to get Bellinger instead of Montgomery in 2025. But then you're also locked into another year of Cody Bellinger if he doesn't have a good season,

right? If he does have a good season, then he's going to opt out and you're going to pay him five more million dollars and he's going to go somewhere else. But if you make this trade and Bellinger is not particularly good in 2026, then he's probably exercising that player option again. and then you're stuck with him for $25 million that he probably is not fully worth at that point. So from the Diamondbacks perspective, like, I think you can talk yourself into, oh, yeah, I'll pay a little bit more money if I can get rid of the Montgomery contract entirely and get Bellinger, who's legitimately useful players still in return. But then you're also committing to Bellinger for a season beyond that potentially.

And that's where this gets a little bit dicey for me. I'm going to give you the reasons why I want Cody Bellinger, and that's because, as many of you know, Cody Bellinger on July 13th, 1995 was born in Scottsdale, Arizona. Cody Bellinger went to the Little League World Series for the Chandler team in 2007. And I am all for bringing our guys back home. It worked out with Merrill Kelly in a really good way. This obviously is kind of, I guess, the opposite end of the spectrum. them. But still, nonetheless, I think that this deal, if the Diamondbacks could find a way to make it work, where even if they had to eat part of Jordan Montgomery's contracts still and send Jordan Montgomery over there in exchange for Cody Bellinger, I like this deal. Again, like Jesse said, and like I covered, the only part I hate is the player option for 2026. Because, you know, again, I would be willing for the team to take that risk in exchange for Jordan Montgomery for one season, but then to put themselves behind, you know, behind, I guess, a, a, another huge contract for a player that isn't worth the money they're paying him for another season,

that could be very bad for a team that's going to need to figure a lot of things out in 2026 and beyond. You know, however, we have said that the Diamondbacks still need, you know, kind of some of that veteran leadership and they need to figure, you know, have a guy. Maybe that could bring some experience to this team. And I don't, I don't hate it. I just think that overall it feels like a deal that we could regret. in the 2026 season more than next year. Yeah, and I guess from the Cubs perspective,

I should also say that I'm not totally convinced that the Cubs would be in on just making this a one-for-one deal. No. Like Bellinger was a far better player in 2024. I know like projections for 2025 might be fairly similar on Montgomery and Bellinger. But 2024, Bellinger, you'd much rather have Cody Bellinger than Jordan Montgomery, right?

And so I think it's possible that if this was a one-for-one swap, the Cubs would want more than just saving a little bit of money based on the difference of these contracts. They might want the Diamondbacks to throw in a prospect or something like that. And once you get into that territory, I think it probably doesn't make sense at all for the Diamondbacks. So, you know, it's a fun little thought experiment. Like, it's not totally outrageous. When we first thought about talking about this today, I was like, no, this is like the dumbest thing ever. I refuse to even entertain this idea.

It does sort of make sense. Like, as Ken wrote, the Cubs would have to take back an inflated contract or accept marginal prospects in return, right? Like, that's sort of the expectation in the industry and that's sort of what we're talking about here. But I still don't think that the Diamondbacks are going to be, if any team is willing to pick up the Bellinger deal, I just don't really think the Diamondbacks are going to be that team. Once again, it brings us back to a statement we've made time and time again. the best replacement for Christian Walker is Christian Walker. So if you're going to end up paying that much money to Cody Bellinger for two seasons, you might as well just pay that much money to Christian Walker and keep them here.

Yeah, yeah. I guess that's, and that's the other side of this from the Diamondbacks perspective is if you sort of do what we've been kind of assuming the Diamondbacks will do all along, which is trade Montgomery to save maybe like $11 million that way. And then sign, if you were to also sign Christian Walker on top of that, that, then you're saving 11 million and then Walker costs you 23, 24 million a year. So at that point, you're basically, it's a net of about $12 million or $13 million that you're spending on Walker and getting rid of Montgomery, whereas what we're talking

about here with a Bellinger deal is a net difference of $5 million, where you're spending $5 million more to get rid of Montgomery and get Bellinger. And so at that point, you're comparing what I rather spend $5 million more to get Bellinger along with his potential 2026 option, or would I rather pay $13 million and just have Christian Walker and what that contract looks like? I think you might choose Walker out of those two, but I could maybe see either side of that argument at this point.

Just keep Christian Walker. That's all I want. Just keep Christian Walker. But anyway, we know that that most likely won't happen. Dimebacks are going to have to get creative on how they feel that, roll. I just, again, the one thing that made this stick out like it was almost talking about the Diamondbacks, even though Ken's article did not bring up the Diamondbacks is that that inflated contract that they'll need to take back and what the Cubs are currently in the market for. So

if Montgomery makes sense for them and Bellinger makes sense for the Diamondbacks, then this deal could happen. But I don't, yeah, that's the other thing is I don't know if the Cubs like is starting pitching really on the forefront of the Cubs wish list right now. They want Sasaki according to every single Cody Domendo tweet. I mean, everyone wants Sasaki because the money is going to be just so ridiculously low that you might as well. You'll find a room for the guy if you have to, right? Oh, yeah.

But yeah, I don't I don't really know if having another starting pitcher in the mix like Montgomery, who you don't really know what you're going to get. I don't really know if it would make sense for the. the Cubs to target something like that. But yeah, Gabriel makes a good point. Cubs would potentially be saving like $30 million if this deal was just straight up. I guess it just depends on how much do they value Bellinger in 2026.

Like they just signed that deal with Belanger too. Yeah. And it seemed like it might be, it might be a really good deal for them, right? I mean, some people were thinking Bellinger is going to get $200 million coming off that, you know, that awesome 2023 season that he had.

Wasn't he like the comeback player of the year or something? I think he was. Yeah, I mean, he had an 881 OPS in 2023, but his baseball savant page didn't look so great that year. And a lot of people were skeptical. And sure enough, in 2024, he regressed a lot. And his baseball savant pages we showed earlier looked even worse than it did in 2020. The numbers don't lie, people. The numbers never lie.

Baseball nerds always went out here. You always went, especially with your ex-wobah, you know? Oh, man, that ex-wobo. Anyway, on the other side of this break, we are going to talk about another potential trade candidate for the Arizona Diamondbacks. And this time, it's for the bullpen. We know that first base and relievers are really where the Diamondbacks are in the market for. So we're going to go and try to do another deal with the Mariners here and make Shane sad. We'll be right back after this break.

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I've got to go bug Max for one right now. Speaking of bugging Max, Max bugged me last night to remind me that gas was significantly cheap over at Circle K. If you missed out on that, I'm sorry that you did, but it'll be back around again because Circle K always has cheap gas. And of course, if you are part of their Inner Circle program, you save every single day. the inner circle for free right now by downloading the circle k app today terms and conditions apply at participating locations visit circle k.com for details when you do join the inner circle

you'll save 25 cents off per gallon on your first five fillups you'll save three cents per gallon every day if you waited until yesterday to sign up you probably saved yourself something like 65 cents per gallon and that sounds pretty awesome doesn't it you can also go inside circle k you don't have to just stay outside and get gas go inside get yourself some snacks get yourself some food And of course, get yourself something to drink. It's America's their stop. If you do sign up for that inner circle for free right now, you'll get your first five polar pops for absolutely free.

So again, stop by Circle K right now. Get yourself something to drink. Get your car something to drink. And keep yourself hydrated. It's, I know it's cold, but you can still stay hydrated out there. Or you can get dehydrated. Let me tell you. They named me the dad of PHNX the other day.

So I have to give out this advice like Jesse drink water. Make sure you eat something. He doesn't listen to me. but I still give them this advice every single day. I'm drinking water right now. Yeah, it makes me happy. It makes me very happy. Another thing that would make me happy is the Arizona Diamondbacks

figuring out their bullpen specifically their kind of closer role. And we know that the Diamondbacks very much like taking advantage of the Seattle Mariners, quite frankly. I don't know if they would view it as taking advantage. I guess there are certain trades that have maybe worked out that way. But yes, the Diamondback. did get their previous closer from the Seattle Mariners in Paul Seawald. And who knows, Derek, maybe they will get their next closer from the Seattle Mariners as well

because we are here talking about Andres Munoz, the closer for the Seattle Mariners as Shane hovers in the background angrily. He's already. Let's take a look at Andres Munoz's numbers for 2024 to get things started. Munoz was very good for the Mariners. 59 in the third innings, a 212 ERA, 096 whip. 33.2% strikeout rate, which is exceptional, 11.2% walk rate, a little on the high end, but you're generally okay with that for a reliever, and he was 22 for 27 in save opportunities.

Well, and I mean, again, those numbers are excellent, and we know that the Diamondbacks right now, I think, have enough arms, I feel like, and we've talked about this a bit, they have enough arms in their bullpen right now, that if they were to acquire someone of Munoz's status, that you feel like that kind of be a pretty darn good bullpen locks everything in right much like the acquisition from seattle of paul seawald right when we talked about this every everything just settled in for the diamondbacks beyond that um and munoz right now is on a pretty i don't know how would you say this deal is he signed an extension with the mariners after the 21 season is four years of club control remaining so it's very team friendly it's very it's very team friendly and it's again it's exactly what the diamondbacks need to be

looking at. I mean, I know that we've talked about them being all in on 2025, but I mean, realistically, they need to start building towards the future beyond this now. And if they could lock in a future closer that's going to be here for this amount of time, I mean, it just makes you feel really good about having those other high leverage arms like Justin Martinez and AJ Puck available for the earlier innings and having Munoz there to close things down from now until 2028 essentially. Yeah. And it's club options too. So that's very good as far as the ability. If if he doesn't perform to go in a different direction and not have to pick up a bad contract

like we were talking about with Bellinger and Montgomery. Part of me is sort of dumbfounded that Andres Munoz signed this deal because it's about the most team-friendly extension that I've ever seen. But yes, he is set to make $2.5 million in 2025. And then he has club options for 2026 through 2028. So three straight years of club options.

It's going to make $6 million in 2025. If that club option is picked up, 8 million in 2027 and 10 million in 2028. Or an elite level back end reliever, you're very much willing to pay that. And I know some people might be thinking of Paul Seawald. Like, yes, Seawald was great in 2023, but ultimately the last time the Diamondbacks traded for a closer,

got a closer from the Mariners, it didn't necessarily end the best. Munoz is a very, very different pitcher than Seawalt. Not to say that, you know, if they did, pull off this trade, it would be guaranteed to work for the entire duration of the deal or anything. But Munoz is 25 years old. He is still very much in the prime of his career. He still relies on deception in some ways, but he doesn't throw a 92 mile an hour fastball. He throws a 98 mile an hour fastball. He doesn't just throw two pitches either. That's the other thing. Yeah, he's a slider, four seam sinker guy. Yeah, four seam this past year average 98.4. A sinker average 97.5.

and then the slider is in the upper 80s, one of the best sliders in all of baseball. So, yeah, Munoz is in a very different stage of his career than Seawald when the Diamondbacks made that move. Well, and again, there's, I don't think it's necessarily one of those situations where you feel like just getting a closer from Seattle is going to be a bad thing.

I think what the problem is is that, you know, at this point, the Mariners locked him in to such a good deal. and for how good he is that they're going to just, if they're going to flip him, they're going to want a lot in return for him, right? Because they know the value of this contract and they know the value of Andres as a reliever, right? So he's very important to the future of their club as well.

That's the one thing that's going to make it kind of difficult to pry him away from the mariners. However, they have a lot of needs right now. And one of those needs would be offense. Right. Yeah. I think that's primarily what the Mariners are looking for this offseason. And that's where it's a little hard for me, frankly, to see a fit here with the Diamondbacks. I do think it's possible the Mariners would trade him because let's not forget, this is Jerry Depoto that we're talking about.

And Jerry Depoto, if anyone loves to make trades, it is Jerry Depoto, the GM of the Seattle Mariners. And I also would give an example of the deal back in 2018 when Edwin Diaz, the Mariners closer in 2018, had four years of team control remaining, and that did not stop Jerry DePoto from trading, from trading Diaz to the Mets in a massive trade that still sort of blows my mind to this day looking back at it. So I do think it's possible that Munoz could be available, all that to say, but yes, the price tag is going to be high.

This is four years of club control on a very team-friendly deal of one of the best back-end relievers in all of baseball. And as far as what the Mariners are looking for, in return. It's probably going to be offense, and I think it's probably going to be infield, more so than outfield. The Mariners already have Randy or Rosarena. They already have Julio Rodriguez, and Victor Robles was also very good for them this past season in the outfield as well. So I think their needs are more on the infield side. And I don't know if there's any infielders, Derek, that you're willing to part with. But that's probably where we have to go with this conversation. I'm already,

I'm already texting Jerry DiPoto right now. Okay. All right. I got a got text message keyed up. I'm like, yo, Jair, bear, what up my dog? It's the mayor. Hey, hey, my God, did you see Pave and Smith three home run game? Why don't you send us, Munoz? We'll talk. I'll finish that up later. But yeah, we'll get him on the phone. I mean, he's an easy sell. He doesn't need much, much convincing to send us an elite player like that that will help our team be better. And someone said it in the chat, but Ernest, I think it was Ernesto. Ernesto might be right. Ernesto said, the Diamondbacks and the Mariners just need to merge into one team at this point, right?

They could just kind of like, they could play here through May and then go to Seattle for like their June through August, September games. You know what I mean? And then like, I don't know, maybe put their contracts together and still spend half as much as the Dodgers do. Well, well, speaking of these two teams basically merging,

what's funny is that I think, I think of all the players the Diamondbacks have that like they could conceivably trade, although I don't expect it. That would make sense for the Mariners. I think Gino Suarez is probably, at the top of it. I mean, obviously the Mariners would love to have Cattel, but there's no way that Diamondbacks are trading Gintel for Andrews Munoz. So the Mariners kind of need a third

basement, Derek. And I know that it was literally a year ago today, which we're going to talk about more later. That's right. A year ago today, the Diamondbacks acquired a Eugenio Suarez in a trade with the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners do need a third baseman. And they could use Gino Suarez back in 2025. I don't think that's going to happen realistically, though. So outside of him you mentioned paven smith somewhat jokingly i i could maybe see a world where where the mariners kind of talk themselves into what paven smith did offensively in in 20204 or like hey like but but he he would have to be part of the deal you're i don't think the mariners are taking paven smit for andres moonio straight up i think the diamond backs would have to give up more and i'm not really

sure how to how to make the pieces work can i interest you in one use jordan montgomery yeah i don't think that's going to fly there either. I don't know. They already have five like number two starters basically. So I don't know if the diamond back. Do you need a number five starter? I can interest you and I mean, maybe like one of the Diamondbacks younger starters that does have value like a like a Gilbert Diaz or you know, we've we've seen Depoto do a thing where like he'll he'll acquire something he doesn't really need from one team. And then he'll kind of create the need by trading. away someone else that we didn't see coming like yeah you can't really rule anything out with the poto but the way the mariners roster is set up right now it doesn't really feel like there's a

there's a great fit here with the diamond backs if i'm being honest i will say this just in regards to one of those guys like dray jameson might make a lot of sense as a trade chip even though i hate it because you still don't know what dray jameson is going to be so as far as the diamond backs are concerned there is there there is some risk to keeping you him if there's some interest in Jameson in a trade and maybe he isn't, you know, as good as he was prior to the surgery. But, you know, I would, knowing Dre, I refuse to believe that. Dre is going to, Dre literally is going to be the $6 million man. He's going to come back better, stronger, faster.

He's going to be a better pitcher because he was down due to injury. And I know that because of the type of person he is. So I think that in the end trading Jay James, Drey Jameson might be one of those things where, you know, you end up regretting. that. And I think that's what the diamond backs are going to try very hard not to do, especially considering that right around the corner, they have an exit from the franchise for perhaps both Zach Gowan and Merrill Kelly. And they're going to need to figure out what this team is, what the starting rotation is beyond, beyond 2025. I mean, the diamond backs do need like a utility player, right? So, so bring back Josh Rojas, send Gino back to the Mariners. And then, I don't know,

maybe the Mariners are going to, the Mariners are probably going to, trade Randy a Rosarena because Depoto's Depoto. I don't like this. And then the Diamondbacks can also send like a Jake McCarthy or something to, you know, sort of swap out there. I don't like that. I'm trying to think the way that Jerry Depoto thinks. Anything is on the table, right?

It's all possible. Can I interest you in one use Jordan Montgomery? That's still something I keep coming back to. But speaking of Gino, it was one year ago that the Diamondbacks made that trade for Gino. And we are going to revisit that trade and talk more about the Mariners, giving us really good players on the other side of this break. Please don't go anywhere. I say don't go anywhere, but of course I will allow you to go to Heila River Resorts and casinos

if that's where you're going because I know if you're going there, you're going to have a fun time. That's what Heela River Resorts is known for. No one does it better. You can visit any one of their four locations to experience the best the Valley has to offer. You can go all in with 4,500 slot machines, live table games. And of course, there's sports books, which is what better place is there to watch sports than at a sports book, Go Big and Go Home a winner with an unprecedented level of entertainment and excitement. You just won't find anywhere else in the desert. Heela River has set a high bar. Head to Heel

River Resorts and Casinos and let them show you what the next level is all about. Of course, we will be hosting events there for our Cardinals and Sons this year. So make sure to join us. Stay tuned for information on how to come hang with us. You do you, though, at Healver Resorts and casinos anytime, whether we're there or not, visit play atheela.com for more details. And speaking of events, you know, I already talked about the PHNX Winter Ball Tournament, which if you are interested in coming to that, there's a good chance. Jesse might go ahead and take you out in table, what is it, table tennis? What do we call it ping pong?

And normal people call it ping pong. I don't know. It's a, I don't know. I thought that's what they call it in the Olympics. But of course, join us for the PHNX Territorial Cup takeover on November 30th. That is going to be an amazing party in. Tucson. Jesse just got done trashing Tucson in our text message conversation.

It was amazing because mostly I know he didn't mean it. I know he didn't mean it. But he really, he really trolled these guys. This is presented by neutral and branded Bills. It includes a pregame meetup at Bourbon Bent and Tucson with food and drink included. So it's going to be a wonderful time. You also get your game ticket to the

Territorial Cup and you get to go watch ASU bring that cup back to Tempe. Tickets are available at go phtonx.com slash events. Go check it out right now. And you can check out all of our wonderful events that we got going on at our events page. Hope to see you guys out there soon. Traveling back in the time machine one year ago today, Jesse,

Gino Suarez trade went down. I do remember I was in the middle of watching the Iron Claw. Yeah, where were you there? I was with Megarren. Where were you when the Diamondbacks acquired? Where was I? I know exactly where I was. I was right about the midpoint of the Iron Claw.

I can just say not knowing where I was actually at the movie that a bunch of terrible stuff had happened in that movie. And I just had to experience that. sitting next to my friend Rahim, who was invited by, like, the studio to see an early signing. And there was a lady with a clipboard outside of the theater who was going to ask us our thoughts on the movie after we left. And now, because the Diamondbacks decided to trade for Gino Svarez in the middle of me watching this film, I needed to get up halfway through and leave to go do an emergency podcast. And it was a very awkward, like, stare down.

I feel like you've had a lot of situations like that because you're always in a movie. when the Diamondbacks. Oh, I'm always in a movie. Sometimes I refused to leave, but that time I was okay with it because that movie is a bummer. But this trade was not a bummer. This trade was actually electric. And of course, Suarez, we know what he became for this team throughout the year. And at the time, we knew that he would be a great fit.

However, things didn't start off in the Diamondbacks time with Gino Suarez, as we hoped. It took a little while for him to get going for this team. But that trade to the Mariners for Sebi Zavala and Carlos Favala. and Carlos Vargas looks now in retrospect like a pretty darn good trade. I think the most surprising part of this trade, as crazy as it might be to say, is that Carlos Vargas with the Mariners, like, we sort of figure that the Mariners would figure out how to make Carlos Vargas like an awesome background reliever, right?

But not only did that not happen, but Vargas spent the entire season in AAA Tacoma, and he didn't really strike any of that. went out. And it's really weird because he throws like 100, 101, 102 miles an hour, right? We got to see him pitch in spring training and whatnot in the past. And yeah, he had 6.8 Ks per 9 in AAA in the Mariners system. So that was sort of baffling to me. But yeah, we said it at the time. It was sort of a salary dump for the Mariners. I mean, the Diamondbacks really didn't give anything of serious value in this trade. And Gino Suarez wound up being worth every penny that

the Diamondbacks paid him in 2024. And an option that we didn't really see being exercise was sort of a no-brainer. The Diamondbacks picked up Gino's option for 2025 as well. And he figures to be a really big part of this team next year as well. With the loss of Evan Longoria and quite frankly, the carousel that they had at third base in 2023, Gino, even when he was struggling offensively, was a welcome site defensively over there at third base. And it was just it was nice to have somebody that, complimented Christian Walker so well in the corners that you just felt like went out there and got the job done every single day.

But like I said, it took until July for him to get on the on kind of the on track offensively. But boy, when he did, he was really, really good. And his numbers for the season look incredible considering it. We basically took like three months off. Yeah, I guess yesterday we were we were talking about whether we thought Gino would get down ballot MVP votes. And sadly, he did not. He did not. He did not.

And Corbyn Carroll did neither. Kattel Marte wound up being the only, the only member of the Diamondbacks who got any, appeared on anyone's MVP ballot this year. But the fact that he even could have received like a 10th place vote here, there, shows the kind of player that he was in 2024 for the Diamondbacks. I mean, 30 homers, 101 RBI, OPS of 788. This was not maybe peak Gino Suarez, but it was, you know, one of the best seasons that he's had in quite a while. And you're right.

The Diamondbacks have had this whole at third base. I'm still trying to figure out what third base will look like for them. Once Gino presumably reaches free agency next off season, there are still questions to be answered there. But he was enormously beneficial for them in 2024. I mean, the gap between what they got from third base offensively in 2020, in 2024, it was enormous. And it's one of the big reasons why the Diamondbacks offensively were such an unbelievably good team. year. Well, speaking of taking a peek into the past, a couple of Arizona Diamondbacks or former Arizona Diamondbacks are new additions to the Hall of Fame ballot, Jesse. Yes, yes. We got ourselves a little

Fernando Rodney action, as well as Adam Jones, who, like I know I've told this story many times on this podcast, but no one has simultaneously made me feel as good and bad about myself as Adam Jones simply because of the fact that almost every single night he saw me wearing one of my crazy Roosevelt shirts in the clubhouse, he would always come compliment me on how much he liked it, which made me feel very good. But he also did it in a manner in which he was saying it to me like it was the first time he had ever met me in his whole entire life, which made me feel bad. But nonetheless, it was, it's, oh, Adam Jones was one of my favorite people in the clubhouse. He finished his career in Arizona and then retired.

He went to, didn't go to Japan to play for a little bit and then he finally hung it up. Yeah, sorry. I'm getting distracted because Max is, Max is whispering to our producer in the background. Get out of here, Max. Go, go bench your quarterback in fantasy football. Free ad.

What did I give a free ad on? I think, yeah. Oh, Roosevelt's. R-S-D-L-T-S-S-D-S. Go ahead, Jesse. Yes, you're right. He did play briefly in Japan in 2020 and 2021. But yeah, the last,

the last game that Adam Jones played as a major leaguer was as a member of the Diamondbacks. And I don't know if he's going to make you to the Hall of Fame, Derek. But I do know that if he does get to the Hall of Fame, he better be donning a Diamondbacks hat for that one season. All right. Forget the 12 years with the Orioles or whatever it was. That's literally all I know him for.

I forget even played for our team. of how much I know him as an Oriole. But yeah, now that won't be happening. But Fernando Rodney, he's a guy that most likely won't make it in to the Hall of Fame. But still, a fun career. And man, was he really good that one season for the Diamondbacks for sure? He really was. I was just looking at this.

Rodney had a 12.60 ERA for the Diamondbacks in April of 2017. And that's when everyone was sort of calling for him. to be removed from that role and understandably so. Yeah. And then how'd he finished that year? And then Fernando Rodney turned around at a 2.38 ERA. Let's go. From May 1st through the end of that season.

And yeah, it was a really big part of why the Diamondbacks were able to go as far as they did. Certainly Archie Bradley was the most valuable reliever on that 2017 team. But Fernando Rodney really was able to lock down the ninth inning pretty well after that brutal month of April. So he had a fun season with the Diamondbacks. Continue to pitch in the majors for a couple more seasons after that. He finished his career with the Washington Nationals and won a ring, which is a pretty awesome way for your big league crew to end.

And believe it or not, Derek, Fernando Rodney, I don't know if he's playing to pitch in the Dominican Winter League this year, but he did pitch in the Dominican Winter League last year at the age of 46. Oh, my God. This man refuses to hang out. Litome for life, bro. the dome for life. I respect that. Riley Dunn and Brett Johnson

both point out in regards to our Gino discussion that the Diamondbacks could go from Gino to Gino. And that's a lot of fun. Potentially. I think... From Gino to Girover. Gino Grewver might be a little bit farther off than just next season, yeah. I mean, I could see Gino making it to the majors next season, potentially, but I think it's going to be an uphill

battle for Gino to be an everyday third basement just from what we've seen defensively. Not to say it's impossible, but it feels like first base is a more likely outcome for him in the long run. All right. Well, of course, we thank you guys so much for stopping by today. We always appreciate your time.

We will be back on Monday with another Mailback Monday episode. So make sure to get your questions ready for us and make sure you're hungry next week because it's Thanksgiving week. If you haven't done so already, make sure to sign up for a diehard membership over at go phtonx.com. I promise you the benefits are worth it. And it is a great time to become a diehard. You can also get down on our newsletter as well. Our guy Patrick is bringing you some amazing information every single day. So you can get that over at go phnx.com slash newsletter.

Meanwhile, you can find Jesse and myself all the time on Twitter at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Of course, our guy Kevin on the ones and twos, aka large intimate can be found at Kev Tom Wrights. That's once again a fun little puzzle for you guys to figure out how that's spelled. Our show is at Ph.NX underscore debacks. but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Shout out to Rickety Bridge, by the way. I know you're new to Major League Baseball.

We appreciate you being here. We appreciate you trying to learn the game. And we hope you're enjoying what we have to offer. And of course, we think whether you're a baseball savant like so many of you or brand new to the game, we thank you guys so much for being here. Rickety Bridge can now tell us friends about what non-tender means. That's right. That's right.

Go out there. Let those other non-baseball fans. What your friends will think you're so cool. That's right. Wait until he gets to ex-Wolba. You're going to blow your mind. But of course, until that point, we hope you all, including Rickety Bridge, have a wonderful weekend. We hope you guys enjoy yourselves.

We'll see you back here next week. And until then, remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you don't trade one awful contract for another.