PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Starting lineup

Episode Date: April 6, 2022

On this episode, Derek and Jesse are discussing the final game of spring training for the D-backs, Caleb Smith being named the team's fifth starter, and their predictions for the Opening Day starting lineup. 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.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montaia. Of course, I'm known as your mayor of PHNX, and I am joined by my vice mayor, my friend, my co-host, Thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. Derek, the next time we see the Arizona Diamondbacks play baseball, it will be a game that actually means something. And I am looking forward to it. One more sleep, Jesse. One more sleep. And we have ourselves regular season baseball, and I couldn't be more excited about it.

Of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King's Sportsbook app. Go download the Draft King's Sportsbook app. Use our code of PHNX and get down on some golf action, folks. That's right. What were you thinking? You think I was going to go baseball? No, no. Coming from left field, that's a figure of speech.

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We talk about good baseball names. Bryson Deschambeau. That dude sounds like a villain in an 80s movie. But for every birdie, he sinks in the first round, you'll get $25. So get down on that over at the Draft King's sports book. but soon jesse soon we will all be betting on baseball on the draft king sports book app because the regular season is right around the corner it is it is opening day eve as as we like to call it around here on the p h nx d backs podcast and jesse i just have to know have you been a good boy this year and what is on your list to i don't know uh derrick hall what do you want from derrick hall what do you want to bring you this year derrick hall is the equivalent of santa in this That's what I'm going with now at this point.

Yeah. I don't know. Mike Hazen does not seem like. Mike Hazen does not want to be Santa. He's definitely more of a Grinch character. What I want more than anything, honestly, and I know I'm not going to get this sadly, but I want the Diamondbacks to fix the roof of Chase Field, which apparently has some sort of an issue, which is going to keep the team from being able to open and close it

while fans are in the stands, which essentially, means that fireworks are off the table, unless they had the stadium open for the entire game. They're not allowed to open it while fans are still in the stands. And it also means that for any game, if the game doesn't start with the roof open, they're not allowed to open the roof part of the way through the game. So we're probably going to see a lot less of the Chasefield roof open this season. And we might not see any firework nights, at least not during those hotter summer months when the roof is closed to start the game. So that's my biggest wish right now,

but I don't think I'm going to get it until after the season ends. It's a travesty. And not only that, but if you've ever been to Chase Field, you know that you're missing out on that amazing song that they play when they open. That is a great song. It is a great song. It was recorded in a garage somewhere here in the valley. You also have, I don't know, man.

There's something about the fact that, like, they can keep the stadium somewhat cool by closing the roof until the game starts or we get into the first few innings and then they can open it up, especially on those like 510 starts on Saturdays and the 640 starts. It's just it's going to make it very, very hot in that stadium if they have to leave the roof open for long, for extended periods of time prior to fans getting in there. Just pre-paking those seats before you come and sit in them. but I will say that the Chasefield did look beautiful today with the stadium fully open with field open

windows open everything was open and I mean there was just one problem Jesse very very few people in attendance for this beautiful day to watch the Arizona Diamondbacks take on the Cleveland Ardians Edians I don't know they didn't really try very hard to replace the old Indians name at their complex.

They just took off the I-N and they added a brand new G-U-A-R. But, you know, wait, really? Time makes fools of us all, Jesse. So you can tell that there are some new letters that are there and some letters that have been worn by the sun. That's funny at their facility. But, yeah, the guardians were at Chase Field today.

And apparently you and I were discussing this before. got on air but apparently this was due to being some sort of like advantage member which is the new name for the Arizona Diamondback season ticket holder uh an advantage member like game where those i guess you couldn't get tickets if you weren't a season ticket holder already for this weird spring training game it's that's kind of a weird model right like let's make a game exclusive so that there's not that many people in in attendance and and it's not a particular special game. In fact, it's really one of the, probably the

least desirable game to attend at Chase Field throughout the entire season. It's an exhibition game. You don't really have any guarantees of the starters getting a whole lot of playing time. So, yeah, a bit of an odd move. I guess maybe it's because the Diamondbacks have so many new food options now at the stadium

that this gave those people the opportunity to kind of, of course, you were among the few who got the true first taste of all of these different things. Of course, the media had that on Monday. But yeah, that was still a cool opportunity for those special fans in attendance, the people who are most committed to this baseball team to be able to have access to that

before most other people did. That's a great point. And that could have been the reason why they did it this way. And maybe your other reason is the other side of it. Maybe they chose this game as an exclusive game due to the fact they didn't foresee a lot of fans coming out for this particular one, right? Are we going to see that more throughout the season? There might not be many people out there tonight.

So let's just make it an exclusive, try to turn it into something special for the season ticket holders. Not a terrible idea. People are still very bad about the versus dog, which is hilarious to me, by the way, because I've already voiced my thoughts on that. But I didn't. So I never fully voiced my opinion on the live show about the versus dog. Yeah, right. You did yell a lot that day. So I, I, you kind of, I'm not going to say you changed my mind, but you kind of came close to doing so.

At first, I was, uh, I was a little bit perturbed at the idea that the diamond backs were basically just, um, trying to entertain, trying to make the opposing fans feel at home, uh, while they're in Chase Field. You might as well give them a special suite or something at some point. Um, but I, I, if they pay for it, sure. Um, but I do think, I, I do think, I, think that there's some truth to, you know, trying to get people in the stands, trying to attract an audience. But more than anything, I also think that local fans will be somewhat on board with that. It's kind of cool to go to a Diamondbacks game and get a taste of, you know, the city from wherever the opposing team is from. I think that's kind of a cool effect. And it makes it so there's always something new at the ballpark that might have fans coming back. So that's really the reason that I'm actually kind of in favor of it now. Sure. Well, and yeah, that was my biggest thought.

I think somebody had even brought that up at the tasting event and not in context to the versus dog, but they brought up like, yeah, all of this new food is cool and everything. But if you're a season ticket holder, how soon until you go through it and are already kind of done with it? Like, how many games until you've tried the majority of these new items? And also realize that the majority of them aren't that drastically radically different from what you could get in the ballpark otherwise, right? Like Gonzo's grill just has chicken tenders now that are spicy instead of them being not spicy, right? They're covered in chos. That was for the Padres? No, no, no. I'm just saying in general, they have like flamen hot Cheetos. Like there's just small changes to things. So even like the new

dogs that they introduce this year, it's not like the or the burger, like the green hatch valley burger. I think one of the things that disappointed me about it was the green chilies weren't very hot, and it didn't taste much of different than any other burger that you get at Chase Field, right? So I wasn't very high on that, but I was extremely high on OG's gummies. No, I was extremely high on the Buffalo Chicken Sidewinder that I thought was going to be a sandwich. It ended up being kind of like a putteen dish where it's like potatoes, like Sidewinders' potatoes covered in like, cheese and the flame and hot chito dust and some other toppings and they were incredible jesse they were so good like it made me mad because when i ate them i was very full and you know how hard it is to

enjoy something you find delicious when you're very full you're like oh this is so good but if i literally eat another bite of this i'm going to pop that's where i was at with these things so uh the the versus dog though i think that's that's it man i mean it's just a hot dog at the end of the day. We're not slapping Baxter in a fucking Padres jersey and having them go out there and root for the opposing team so that they can appease the fans or anything like that. It's just a hot dog. And I think at the end of the day, that's what's really smart about it is fans will get over it and they won't care. And even home fans will be like, oh, they have this, this series. That's kind of cool, you know, but also, I mean, the opposing fans will love it. And again,

really doesn't matter what laundry you wear or root for when it comes to supporting the diamondbacks that money is going to the diamond backs no matter if it's home fans or opposing fans with the attendance that we've seen during spring training and when whatever the hell this advantage member like even if this was an advantage member game there is not that many advantage members jesse let me tell you from the smattering of people or the scattering of people in the crowd you know there i think it was seven i think it was like seven thousand on i didn't see the number for Tuesday, but for Monday, I think the reported attendance was around 7,000. But yeah, from pictures, it did not look like there were 7,000 people.

I don't believe it. I don't believe it. So, uh, but anyway, it's important that this team does whatever it can, you know, like, so just don't be, if you're a fan of this team, just look away sometimes at some of this stuff. Like, that's all you can do. But you got to understand it's an important, it's, it's an important piece because at the very least, we're, we're, we're, desirable place we have a lot of transplants so not only are we going to be a destination for people to come watch their team but we have people here in the state that want to go watch their team when their team comes in the town it's something at this point we need to embrace at least for the near future uh because this team needs to do everything they can to fill that building up you know yeah i'm

i really do think that bringing back all of the stuff that we didn't even notice was gone is a huge deal right like i know because of covid and health protocols and everything like that they changed a lot of stuff up but like i didn't even realize that they didn't do the people like doing the match game in between innings last year like i didn't even realize that was gone like all of the in between inning entertainment all of the stuff that isn't up on a video board like the hot dog race is now with the you know ketchup mustard and relish all of that stuff was gone but it's all back And that's something I think that people are going to be excited to see once again, right? Today was a fun day.

The Diamondbacks went out. They had a great game against the Guardians. And it was fun to see just them have success in a close game, right? Some of these spring training games have kind of gotten out of control. It's one game when the starters are in, but then when the bench comes in and the minor league guys come in, it somehow becomes a completely different game one way or another. Either a win or a loss, it doesn't matter. but sometimes those games become something completely different.

It was great to see Zach Gallon out there on the mound. He was throwing hard. He was getting outs. He was doing everything. He looked good. My favorite part is like, once again, Tori almost had to physically fight him to get him off the mound because he hadn't finished like, what was it,

like the third inning, I think. The fourth, yeah. He went three and two thirds. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So he had two guys on. think two outs and he just he just he didn't he wasn't having it he wanted to he wanted to finish that that inning up and again there's something about that that i love and i think is just the gamer in him right

yeah spring training game you have zero to to care about like just go out just go sit on the bench man like what is the problem here right but to actually like want to prove yourself that much to want to stay in the game, to want to get out of the jam that you're essentially leaving for whatever reliever to come in the game to clean up. That's, it's, it's big, man. I don't know. Yeah. It's like watching somebody that plays sports, like do something else like board games

and have them be super competitive doing that too. You know what I mean? Like there's just something about Zach Gallo taking a spring trading game seriously that makes me look at him and go, hmm, I like that. I like him. He's a, that's a go-getter. One of these,

one of these games, I'm pretty sure that the, the physical altercation between Toro Lavello and Zach Allen will actually happen. Oh, it's gonna happen.

Like, there's going to be an actual fist fight at the mound. I wanted to be like drunk old man fist fight too, where they both like, I don't know, take off their shirts and like, sloppily throw punches at each other, but there we go.

The umpire has to come out and break it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then they fight the umpire. The, the bench, from the other team empties.

They were like, wait, what? Are you supposed to be out here or not? What are you guys on? Oh, man. But in regards to the starting rotation and fighting guys, interesting bit of information coming out from Tori Lavallo today. Yeah. You can actually get some more information on over at go p.hnx.com.

I'll have an article up on it tomorrow morning. If you're not a member already signed, actually this morning, of course. This morning. This morning. It's time and space and all that. but if you're not already a member, sign up to become a member over at go phnx.com. That way you get in on all of our sweet, sweet membership action. Not only do you get the articles that we're writing and all this content we're producing,

but you also get members-only discounts over at the PHNX Locker.com, as well as access to our members-only Discord, where you chat about all sorts of things, including baseball, but not limited to baseball. Also, if you sign up to become an annual member, you'll get a free t-shirt from a PHNX Locker.com. And more importantly, we have a brand new freaking shirt, drop in Jesse and I can't wait. It's going to happen on opening day so tomorrow you can get that new

exclusive shirt drop over at the Ainsworth. If you're joining us in person for our opening day live party that starts at 3 p.m. If not, that brand new shirt will be available to you on phnx locker.com the following day. So if you do want to order it, if you do want to get that membership over at go phnx.com and grab your free t-shirt as that one. it'll be available on Friday. Of course, if you're not interested in that, you can sign up for a month-to-month option and you'll get your first month for just 50 cents.

So join us over here, become a member of our family and vibe with us. It's what we're all about here. We're all about the vibes. We're all about the good vibes. And I'll tell you, someone that does not give off good vibes, but gives off very, very bad vibes, is the newest member of the D-BAC starting rotation.

And that's Caleb Smith, Jesse. Tori Lovolo confirmed today in a very funny manner because he got up in his press conference and he wouldn't, before he even wouldn't even let a question happen. He was like, okay, shoot, I know. And then he just said the rotation out loud. He's like, bum, Merrill,

Davies, Caleb, Zach. And so that's the lineup. Well, we'll probably see a spot start at some point from somebody in there to get Zach Gallen back to the number one spot in the rotation. but I don't even know if that's necessary. I think that once the season starts and we get past opening week,

it's all kind of reset anyway or whatever, not a concern. What is concerning or not concerning, but interesting is Caleb Smith making the starting rotation. Toyo Lovolo said that this relied heavily on his performance this spring and what he was able to do in camp. And it just goes to show that nothing really is promised to anybody on this team, as we've seen with Luke Weaver now being in the ball.

open. It really was an incredible performance from Caleb Smith. He was very good in the spring. We talked about it the other day. His last 11 innings, I want to say, he didn't give up a single run. And that's a pretty decent resume in spring training. That's a pretty decent line to put out there to get your name in the hat for a spot in the rotation. And yeah, good on Caleb Smith for for getting that spot. I wasn't particularly surprised by that. Corbyn Martin was a name that was thrown around. I don't, I think it maybe if he'd been sharper in his last outing, he might have had a shot, but he really wasn't great in, in his last outing of spring. So, we'll certainly see him at some point, still certainly has a chance to make the roster.

Humberto Castiano also is in the mix and has also had a pretty solid spring. So I'm sure that we'll, we'll see him at some point as well. But yeah, Caleb Smith is not a bad starting pitcher. at least we know that he, we know that he has the ability to be competent in that role based on what he did in Miami. Obviously, since coming over to the Diamondbacks, he hasn't been great in that role. He's been much better in the bullpen.

But he looked really good in spring. And based on what he's done in the past, you know, if we're talking about a back end starter role, a Caleb Smith that is hyped up as usual and, you know, his usual emotional, intense self, I'm sure that he can thrive. a role like this.

Also, Caleb Smith almost murdered three umpires during a game last season. So it's really interesting to see how he comes along with his, just everything, his maturity, his intensity. I was trying to describe to people how oddly intense he is. Some of the weird ass answers he gave at times last season, right? But it wasn't just the weird, like intense answers. It was his almost childlike love of Toy Lavolo and the coaching staff. And when I say that, it was like the way he kind of retreated in his gruffness when someone had basically asked if like what he did kind of made like if it undermined Tori.

And like his response was like, I would never do anything to ever undermine Tori or make Tori look bad. He's just an intense. He's an intense guy. He's a competitor. He just has that sort of intensity. So it's going to come across that way, even if it's not what his intentions really are. Right. Exactly.

And I mean, again, I think I get it, man. I've thrown a video game controller or two in my lifetime and I wasn't proud of it after I did it, right? Like, but, you know, like, I broke a ping pong paddle once. I used to be very intense playing ping pong with my, with my siblings. And I got very frustrated. But yeah, no, I think that he has shown a lot of maturity. I think that's what we will probably see out of him this year. Lovello said one of the things that really won him over for giving him the starting

rotation spot was he went out, watched him at Peoria on, I think it was Monday against the Mariners. And it wasn't, yeah, it wasn't just the performance. It was his communication with Brett Strom, that he was coming back, he was giving feedback on, uh, what was working and what wasn't working with Stromi and Strahmi was giving him instructions. And then he was going out there and putting the instructions, you know, to use and then coming back with feedback on that. And, you know, it was just very productive. And I think that when you see someone that's not only performing well, but is like in that ultimate, like openness of accepting instruction and wanting to do everything they can to be

better, that's, that's, I think that's that grabbing that opportunity that Tori, it was looking for all last season, right? Caleb showed moments of being brilliant on the mound, especially when he was pissed off and he was put in the bullpen after being a starter. He was good. He was good in the bullpen. He was lights out. And now he has a chance to go from undesirable to undeniable, right? Yeah.

So like this is one of those cases where he can't say he's not being given opportunities now. Now he's just got to do what he can with those opportunities. And, you know, there's something about him. There's something about Umberto. There's something about some of these guys that, like, that Noir-R-Maric was one of those guys that I fell in love with last year. Just because even if his numbers don't back it up, like the stats when you look at him, when the season's over, I saw, like, just, you know, hold after hold where he just came out

and did the one thing that nobody in the bullpen last year could seemingly do, which is go out there and throw an inning without giving up any runs and getting themselves in the trouble. So, you know, there's guys on this team that even if they haven't really had that, you know, confirmed, they don't have those stats that say they're great yet or that they're there yet. There's a lot of promise, I think, on this roster, including in that, in that bullpen. Tori Lavello still has not named his bullpen and he said he wasn't going to yesterday, but now we don't have too much time left.

So I'm not too much time left to see that confirmation on who the relievers are going to be once the season starts. Not too many options left, right? We got Noe, Luke Weaver, Joe Manciply, Sean Poppin, Humberto Castiano, Corbyn, Wendelkin amongst Ian Kennedy and Mark Malanson. So we'll probably see one. I think Oliver Perez will probably find his way. in there. I think you need Oliver Perez if Caleb Smith is in their rotation because the diamond backs, the diamond backs need another lefty in that bullpen if Caleb Smith is in their rotation.

So, Sean, I know it sounds like they might go 14 and 14. So rather than having 15 pitchers and 13 position players, uh, like we expected, um, it sounds like they're seriously considering going 14 and 14. So that might allow them to get Jake Hager in the, on the opening day roster just to give the team a little bit more infield depth given the injuries that they're dealing with there. And it might mean that someone like Sean Poppin or maybe Corby Martin, one of those spots on the bullpen side might disappear.

So we'll, there's not, yeah, you're right. There's not really much left that can happen, but those are some of the things that we should be looking at maybe. It does appear that they are going to technically carry three catchers with Dalton Varsho being the third. But it appears with the way he's playing center field this spring that Dalton Varsho is very much so going to stay in center field. He's been making some highlight real catches out there. He was excellent today leading off. He walked and then stole second base.

And there's just something about again, when you look at it. small things, you know, there's something about trying to get things going early on like that, especially from a guy that's hitting lead off. Yeah, yeah, no, he's, I mean, he's just, he's crazy. I mean, how many guys can catch a no hitter one year and then make a diving play in center field like he made the other night is just, just absolutely wild. Well, and I mean, again, there's that versatility, like between him and Josh Rojas, you have like almost every.

Yeah, you could. make a you could make a pretty good baseball team just with john a bunch of josh rohas and dalton varshos everywhere yeah i i don't varshot though you know he was he was our darling he was our you know minor league minor league prospect darling for a long time there and it's easy to just shock it up to saying well you know what they said he was kind of undersized and they said they didn't know what position he would play and doesn't really feel like it's working out you know but Dalton Varsho was one of the Diamondbacks top-rated prospects for a reason, because that guy is just full of talent and potential and athleticism.

And he's put it on display in center field this spring. I wasn't expecting that, to be honest. I really wasn't expecting to see Varsho run away with center field, but it appears like he is going to be the starting center fielder on opening day, which we will get to in a second. But if you haven't gotten a chance, you need to download the Draft King Sportsbook app now. Use our code of PHNX, get down on the golf action.

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1-800 next step, new customers only. minimum $5 deposit required eligibility restrictions apply see draft kings dot com slash sportsbook for details Jesse let's do some predicting i know i'm here with the omnipotent jesse that knew when the end of the lockout was going to happen which is true bullshit it's still my doing by the way i still take full credit for the fact that we have baseball coming in about 24 hours so left it in place for at least two more weeks so i could have gone to disneyland but that's a whole other thing i want to see what your thoughts are on the opening day lineup. The lineup has not been released yet.

We have a good idea, I think, based on some of the things we've seen so far. But Jesse, I wanted to get your opening day lineup from number one to number nine. Yeah, there's nine of them. We're not doing eight hitters anymore. That's the way that lineups work now at the DH in the National League. All right. So here we go. I don't know if I'm going to turn too many heads with this.

This is, yeah, I don't think it's going to be too shocking for people. But here's my opening day lineup. I've got Dalton Varsho leading off playing center field. Ketel Marte batting second playing second base. David Peralta hits third and left field. Christian Walker's batting cleanup playing first base. Paven Smith or actually check that. Seth Beer will be batting fifth playing DH.

And then Carson Kelly will bat six. playing catcher. Paven Smith will bat seventh and right field. Drew Ellis hitting eighth, playing third base and Geraldo Pardomo, batting ninth playing shortstop. Is this what I want the lineup to be or is this what I predict the lineup to be? That's a great question. We could say it's a little, a little dash of column A, a little dash of column B. All that I would change, the Paveen Smith Seth Beer swap is really the only change that I would make. I think that Pavin Smith will probably bat fifth, playing right field and Seth Beer will bat seventh.

But I would prefer that it be the other way around. I would probably put Seth Beer hitting fifth and Pavan Smith batting seventh instead if it was up to me. But I don't feel particularly passionate about that. I don't think Pavan is obviously is a little bit more major league time under his belt. I personally think Seth Beer is going to be a more successful majorly hitter when it's all said and done. But at this point, it's not going to make a huge difference, which way we

go on that. Well, this isn't a very fun game because my lineup looks exactly like yours. Great. I thought this was going to be more enjoyable because I thought we would, here, you hit the nail on the head, though. Like what I want versus what we're going to get are two different things. Do I think Christian Walker is going to back cleanup? Yes. Would I prefer David Peralta batting cleanup? Yes. And I know that sounds a bit weird, but David Peralta has just so much power this year. And I still don't know if I believe in Christian Walker. Yeah. Christian, the only reason I have Christian Walker batting cleanup. And really the, the main source of my lineup came from the Diamondbacks lineup the other day against the

guardians. When I, the moment that I saw that lineup they had, I was like, okay, clearly this is what Tori Lavello is thinking for opening day. And he had Christian Walker bat bat bat bat bat bat batting cleanup and yeah i'm with you i think that's uh you're really betting on christian walker to put him there coming off a season where he you know hit under 10 home runs and had an ops under 700 but he's had a good enough spring that you kind of feel like you know he's maybe earned that he's a right-handed hitter um i think it's it's helpful to have the the balance there with a right-handed hitter in the middle of the lineup the diamond backs really don't have uh any other guys to put around that spot uh unless you want to move

like Carson Kelly back up into the top few spots, which I'm not sure you want to do against a right-handed pitcher. So, yeah, you're definitely taking a bit of a gamble by putting Christian Walker in there every single day. The only swap I had was I had Perdomo hitting eighth and Drew Ellis hitting ninth. That's pretty much it. Sure. And I think that's based on production and Drew Ellis trying to get as few bets

as possible for Drew Ellis. The Diamondbacks, we've talked about it a lot. The lineup is very lefty heavy, which against U. Darvish on opening day is fine. I actually dug into some numbers about the Diamondbacks performance against U. Darvish in the past. And they actually have a few hitters who have kind of raked against U. Darvish. I really didn't expect to see this.

David Peralta is 9 for 20 with three homers and five RBIs against U. Darvish. So he's absolutely destroyed the man. Pavin Smith is four for 12 with three RBIs. Christian Walker is five for 15 with a home run. So there's some, Cotel Marte is six for 13 against you Darvich. So there's some pretty dang good numbers across the board against Darvish.

On the flip side, Fernando Tatis is seven for 14 with two home runs against Madison Bumgarner. So I hear that part. Well, I'm sad that Fernando Tatis is injured in the grand scheme of baseball, but I'm not particularly sad that he is injured to start the season. because we will not have to deal with him this weekend. Haza. Well, we are excited because after this, this is it, guys.

This is it. This is the end of the road. We've come to the end of the road and don't make me start singing boys to men because I absolutely will right now. This is it. We're going to have baseball. And our format, as we talked about on Monday, is going to change a bit. Things will be different. Things, you know, I know, nobody likes change.

Nobody likes change. This is good change, though, but Derek, this is baseball is back change, which is not only the baseball is back, but you're going to get more live shows from us. And of course, the live shows will become podcast, just like this will be a podcast. It will live on the internet much longer than Jesse and I will live. But we will have all sorts of fun coverage coming up for you this weekend. We are not going to do postgame shows for every game. That's not how this season's going to work, but we are going to do a series wrap up. If they walk off every single game, Derek,

we're going to do a post game show. We're post show in every game. But as little, we know that's not going to happen. So of course, we thank you guys for sticking with us throughout the lockout, throughout the offseason, throughout everything. And we look forward to moving forward with you guys

and doing this thing during the regular season. We will be out at the Ainsworth tomorrow. We implore you to join us. We promise you it's going to be a good. good time. I'm going to be there drinking alcohol out of a pineapple. So you know that already that it's going to be a good time. And we hope you guys join us. You can RSVP for that event. We have that information up over on our Twitter account at PHNX underscore Dbacks. Of course, you can follow me. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman.

And of course, all roads lead to at pHNX underscore sports. And that's on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You'll also find on there that invite. to come out to the Ainsworth. That way you guys can get on our invite list to be part of all of our watch parties that we're going to have. It's not just opening day for baseball. We're going to have road parties for the suns during the playoffs. We're going to have opening day for the Cardinals when they come back around.

WNBA, the Mercury, we know they're the most dominating team in the city. Do they call it opening day in football? I think that's a strictly baseball turn. It's opening kickoff or kickoff or whatever. It doesn't matter, Jesse. I'm using baseball terminology. Now is not the time for you to. pipe in, okay? I'm trying to do the thing. But the Ainsworth, Jesse's not going to be there.

Don't worry. You're not going to have him judging you and the words you use at the Ainsworth. But you can join us there. Of course, the festivities kick off at 3 p.m. We will be doing a pregame and post game from the Ainsworth. So even if you're going to the game, even if you can't join us for the pregame, stop by before you guys leave, come hang out with us and be part of our opening day festivities. We will have that exclusive brand new shirt that you can pick up. You can purchase and pick up at the event. So we hope to see you guys out there. If you're listening to us right now

in your favorite audio podcasting app, please subscribe to us there and leave us a five-star review. We'd appreciate you for it. If you're watching us on YouTube, go over to do the PHNX sports channel, subscribe there, sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss any of the content

coming out from our PHNX team. And we thank you guys again so much for loving baseball and being here with us on behalf of Jesse and myself. We can't wait to talk. talk about opening day and this first pitch. Jesse, did you have something? I'm raising my hand. I have one more thing to say before we go. All right. Back in the class. This feels so backwards. So one thing I want to mention before we sign off

for today is, and I'm not, this is far from a guarantee that this will happen, but Gambo tweeted earlier on Tuesday. He didn't really tweet it as a report. It was more just a feeling that he had, I imagine is probably ingrained in something that maybe he knows. But he made it sound like the Diamondbacks very well could acquire a third baseman between now and when opening day starts or maybe it drags on a day or two past that. But just something to keep on your radar between now and opening day, which I know it's, you know, by the time people are listening to this, it's about 24 hours away. But Gam, somebody commented on this tweet and said, do you think a trade is going to

happen and Gambo responded yes. And we know that Gambo is a reporter and probably wouldn't just directly say that unless he had some sort of information that suggested it. So it's far from a guarantee. He didn't come out

and just say it outright. But I do think it is possible that Diamondbacks opening day third basement is not currently on the roster as we speak and they could make a move between now and then. So I just want to throw that out there. there you go there you go that's probably all that is but it's kind of fun speculation you could you could have you could have saved that for opening day i mean maybe not i don't know that might

well it wouldn't really be it wouldn't really be relevant at that point is it could happen before opening day it's it's gamble story you can get get on get off gambo's coattails jessie is what i'm saying is get off gambo's speculative coattails Gambo, he does kind of, that does happen from time. He's good. I mean, he's usually, Gambo's pretty accurate in general, I would say. So I'm going to give him a time. I'll also pull back the curtain and say Gambo's a damn loving guy.

And a lot of what you see is an act because he loves me and I love him. And that's a whole other thing. But shout out to Gabbo. And shout out to all of you for listening to this show. Hopefully, he's right. Hopefully we have a brand new third baseman to talk about. at this point, no offense to Drew Ellis, but things aren't, things aren't looking great over there at third base. So that would be big news for this team at this point. We miss you, Eduardo Escobar.

We thank you guys again so much for checking out the show. On behalf of Jesse and myself, we appreciate you. We appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you speculate about opening day.