PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - The Arizona Diamondbacks prepare to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in eight games over ten days

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello and welcome to another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here at PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am your mayor of PHNX. This guy is your vice mayor. He's the one that you lodge all of your complaints with. He's also known as Thunderstick Jesse Friedman. Yes, that is my role around here. If you have a problem with us, then you come to me.

Starting point is 00:00:31 You address Jesse. Anything I say on the Twitter account, you please complain to Jesse. I'm responsible for Derek as well. He is. I've told you guys this before. But of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King Sportsbook app. America's top rated sportsbook app. Jesse, I'm just still thinking about Zach Gallen and all the wonderful things that we had to say about him.

Starting point is 00:00:52 Obviously, he was the only pitcher that could win in this series against the Rockies. But more importantly, I went to bed last night thinking about our conversation of like, six scoreless games, six and what, two-thirds scoreless game or two at a third. And it's just a really impressive streak. And we knew, we knew Zach Gallen wasn't going to lose any sleep over the streak ending. No, it didn't sound like it. It didn't sound like it. But we do have a clip from Zach Gallen after last night's game with his thoughts on not only

Starting point is 00:01:25 this streak and the streak ending, but also the fact that this streak started one day after his 27th birthday. So so far, 27's been pretty good to him. Yeah, I mean, you know, I knew it would end at some point. It's one of those ones where it's bittersweet because, you know, like I said on Friday, like just coming in, I knew it, the franchise record was the one that I was most really concerned about, really. I just, oral and, you know, 59 was in a whole other stratosphere for me. So I just tried not to really concern myself with that one. That was looking way too far. far ahead, but I knew the franchise record was within reach, so yeah, that was my job just to go out

Starting point is 00:02:06 and throw up a scoreless first. You know, obviously, I'm glad it's over in the sense that it's a relief. I don't have to, you know, worry about, you know, trying to be so perfect out there. But at the same time, it's one of those things that you may never get a shot out again to go, you know, World's record. But, yeah, I mean, you know, ultimately it was a good run. You know, it's kind of crazy. Those are the first runs I gave up since I turned 27. Yeah, I kind of been holding on to that for a while. I was surprised nobody caught on that. But, yeah, I mean, I pitched a day before my 27th birthday and, you know, for the last that long. I guess you could say 27, started off on a good year.

Starting point is 00:02:47 Yes, it did. Yes, it did. A historic note for the age of 27. But Zach Gallen will not be pitching in this upcoming series at home against the Dodgers, which makes me very sad. You know who is pitching, though. Today is Brian Nelson. Ryan Nelson. It's a good day when Ryan Nelson pitch is going up against Tyler Anderson for the Dodgers. He's been obnoxiously good. He's been obnoxiously good.

Starting point is 00:03:10 He's like episode 87 of the Dodgers taking like a random dude who wasn't that good. And then the moment he's on the Dodgers, he sort of becomes a superstar. That's essentially what's happened with Tyler Anderson. So color me, color me surprise, Derek, that this has happened. It's very annoying. It's very frustrating, especially with a team that has the money. that the Dodgers have in the way that they can spend. But then they can also, like you said, just grab someone else's DFA and passed away.

Starting point is 00:03:36 They can win a championship with the scrap heaps of other teams is basically what I'm convinced of. Although, I mean, granted, they have Moki Betts and Freddie Freeman and some other pretty decent pieces too. But it feels like they could. Clayton Kershaw going in game two against Merrill Kelly, which is going to be an absolute fire pitching matchup at Chase Field. So if you get a chance to be out there Tuesday for that, that's going to be a fun one. But you bring that up, and I can't help but think, are the Diamondbacks kind of becoming one of those teams? It's not like to say they always work out. It doesn't always work out.

Starting point is 00:04:04 But it seems like the Diamondbacks kind of lately with the pitching staff, they've – pitching staff, with the coaching staff they've assembled, that they now have the ability to do something similar with players that they bring over. We've had a couple of Reyes Maranta. We had Emmanuel Rivera. We've had a couple of guys that the Diamondbacks didn't necessarily pick up from the trash heap, trades, acquisitions, whatever. but guys that weren't, you know, having as good of a year with their previous team as they were with the Diamondbacks once they came over here. Yeah, that's interesting. I don't think so, to be honest.

Starting point is 00:04:36 Not quite at the level at the Dodd. Well, obviously not at that level. But Emmanuel Rivera has been a good story. He also had a run of, you know, he was like 0 for 20 with 11 strikeouts going into yesterday's game. So he did kind of come back to Earth a little bit. But Reyes Maranta, I mean, he's sort of been around the league for a while. I don't think he's necessarily looked that much better with the diamondbacks as he has with other teams. The story there is just that like Reyes Morant is one of the Diamondbacks best relievers and he wasn't good enough to even warrant a roster spot for the Dodgers.

Starting point is 00:05:07 That's more the story there than him like improving that much in my mind. But getting an opportunity and doing something significant with it I think is part of this, right? Yeah. The debacks have done like last year they picked up Noe A Ramirez toward the end of the season. And although he has since been DFA'd and hasn't been as effective. this year, he was really good, like, through the end of the season last year. So the debacks at times have, you know, picked up some some journeymen from other teams and, you know, they've performed pretty well here, but not necessarily for the long haul, you know, not necessarily the way that Tyler

Starting point is 00:05:40 Anderson has blossomed in L.A. or the way that Justin Turner has become like this perennial all-star type after being, you know, like sort of a nobody with the Mets, like Justin Turner wasn't good at all when he was with New York. So, yeah, I mean, the way that the Dodgers managed to to do this is just incredible. And I don't think any team really is like them in that regard. Well, the debacks are two and nine against the Dodgers this season, including writing it's not great. A current eight-game losing streak into this series.

Starting point is 00:06:09 Josh Roas has been pretty effective against Dodgers this season, hitting 308. But nobody has been more effective against the Dodgers since 2019 than Christian Walker. The only other person that has as many home runs as he does against the Dodgers is a little guy, guy named Fernando Tatis Jr. who currently isn't playing. So Chris Walker has a chance to add to that, maybe run away with being the biggest nuisance to the Dodgers, the biggest terrorizer of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Starting point is 00:06:36 But that's exactly what the Diamondbacks are going to need in order to have a chance in this series. And not just this series, but like we talked about yesterday, the Diamondbacks play the Dodgers eight times and 10 days. I don't know what we did to deserve this. I don't know who we wronged, but it's the case is what it is.

Starting point is 00:06:53 It's the reason why when the Diamondbacks, when we looked at the Diamondbacks schedule ahead, we talked about it. And it's not just our opinion. It was factual that the Diamondbacks did have the hardest schedule going into the second half. And the majority of the reason why is because of the number of games they had against the Dodgers and the Padres, to be honest, which are also part of this dreadful homestand. Yeah, Charles Woodall Pike says we can't have nice things, which when it comes to the schedule is sort of the case. The great news, Derek, is that next year the Diamondbacks start the year with like a terror of a first month of the season. So, you know, if the end of this year isn't good enough for you, then next year we get to do all of this all over again. The good news, Jesse, you presented it so positively.

Starting point is 00:07:37 Yeah, sometimes I'm sarcastic. And then I realize you were being sarcastic, but it was just so dry. No, it's, see, that's the way is Jesse has learned on this podcast to present bad news in a good way. So that way, even if it's awful news, he's still telling you in a way. Like the way he just slipped in Emmanuel Rivera was over 20, right? Is that what you said, O for 20 coming into the XJ? O for 20 with 11 strikeouts? Yeah, he just slipped it in there.

Starting point is 00:08:04 He said it with such a nice inflection. It made you believe that it wasn't that terrible of a thing. I was ready to believe. Yeah, yeah. I think Charles Woodall Pike earlier had a comment or a question. I know we're not onto the mailbag Monday questions yet. But he wanted to know what's more difficult playing the Dodgers eight times and 10 days are managing Derek. Am I allowed to like answer that question honestly?

Starting point is 00:08:28 Please. Please. Please. Go ahead. I've been drug through the mud already today. I'm ready for more of it. Let's go. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:08:37 I mean, Derek is truly wonderful to work with. There's really, you know, he's just a, he's an absolute saint. He's only saying that. Derek is a massive diva who has a writer for everyone. Every show. Yes. I have to. She's telling you the truth.

Starting point is 00:08:52 I have to froth the milk in his coffee. She makes such a big deal about we have a frother. Right? I mean, it's not like I'm asking you to do it with a fork. We have an electric frother. It's not that difficult. And it's not that hard to do it without me asking, but she refuses to. So that's why I have to scream at her every single day.

Starting point is 00:09:13 Of course, playing the Dodgers makes me want to scream, but we get to watch that today. Anyway, Jesse. Anything you are looking forward to tonight at the ballpark since you're going to be there? I just am excited to watch Ryan Nelson pitch again, honestly. I mean, he was so good in his debut in San Diego, which there's definitely a trend developing there that I know some people have picked up on. Like, if the Diamondbacks have a young starting pitcher making their major league debut or making their first big league start, you should probably have them pitch against the Padres

Starting point is 00:09:44 just because what Tyler Gilbert did last year, what Ryan Nelson did, year. The Padres for some reason of the team that it seems like you want to face in your first big league start. But yeah, I mean, this is going to be a test form, right? That Padres lineup is deep and he already, you know, performed really well against that Padres lineup. But the Dodgers lineup is even deeper, you know, and if he comes out there and in his first

Starting point is 00:10:08 home start is able to have a similar outing to what he did in San Diego, I mean, that would be, that would be really remarkable. You can't ask for a bigger test than facing the Padres and Dodgers back to back in your first two major leagues. Yeah, you really can't. As a National League West pitcher, right? Welcome to the big leagues kid. Here's Swan Soto and Danny Machado and Justin Turner and Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts.

Starting point is 00:10:29 Yeah, it's pretty brutal. And you know what? I think especially this kind of comes back to the whole theme of this season, right? Getting these guys, this playing time, there's a part of you that goes out and pitches against a team like the Padres that has this aura. Pitches against the team like the Dodgers. Yeah, they might destroy you. That's going to happen every once in a while, even the best pitchers, right? But the point is, is that you can go out there and realize that there's not this mythology about him,

Starting point is 00:10:54 that those are just guys playing baseball. That's just a man in a box that you're pitching against. And the faster, it's just a man in a box. It's a little chalkline box. He has to stay in that box, Jesse. That box is conforming. Don't be afraid of Freddie Freeman people. He's just a man in a box.

Starting point is 00:11:10 He's just a man in a box. But, yeah, I'm just saying it does get to a point where it's this mythology about these guys being so good. And if you can get over the, if you can strike them out, start realizing that you are talented enough to play at their level, then that confidence starts building and you can really start just entering that next phase of your career where you're no longer in that debut still kind of heading the clouds a little bit. Ryan Nelson showed none of that in his first game. So it's going to be great to see what he can do tonight. And it's a true test. It's a true test of, of, you know, his young pitching career. If you want to see that game, by the way, the best way to get tickets to that game isn't the.

Starting point is 00:11:49 go to the box office. Let's go to Game Time, which is the hottest new ticketing website. But Jesse, not, it's not even, we could say hottest new. Jesse can attest to this. He has been using GameTime for years. It's a beautiful app. It's a aesthetically pleasing app. It's easier than ever to score the best tickets to sporting events, concert, shows,

Starting point is 00:12:08 anything you want to go to. I never hear about shows ahead of time anymore. I am signed up for so many email, like, from the concert venues and the sporting venues and everything. And for some reason, I don't find out Weird Al is in town until last night that my friends are there at it. Furious. I was furious. And I could have scored last minute tickets on game time had I known he was in town. And I didn't just see them at the show already having a good time.

Starting point is 00:12:35 And I probably would have saved up to 60% on tickets, which is what you can do when you buy tickets last minute. It's great for these two guys right here that are big procrastinators. If you love PHNX, you will love game time. If you love sports, it's the best way to get your tickets. The best way is to support us by buying your tickets through the link in the description below. And on your way to the game, maybe grab yourself some OGs. Or if you're not going to the game, you can't, you miss down on tickets. You want to kind of bounce back from that.

Starting point is 00:13:01 Get yourself some OGs, gums. Of course, our friends at OGs are Arizona's top selling gummies. I have some right here. It's part of my show prep. I don't know what I want to say that. It's on his rider along with the frost coffee. It explains a lot. It definitely explains why I can't say people's last.

Starting point is 00:13:18 names. But of course, if you don't want to save people's last names properly, get yourself some OGs. You can find them at your local dispensary. They have a wonderful variety of flavors, options for you as far as Indica, Sativa, all kinds of strains, all kind of doses. So make sure to try them out. If you're looking for their products and you need to find them, go to OGsbrands.com or on Instagram at OGs brands. You must be 21 years or older to purchase and enjoy. And also, we're going to try to hook you up with some free OGs in our flavoring, life. sweepstakes that we have every month. Go to GoPhNX.com, sign up for the sweepstakes.

Starting point is 00:13:53 One lucky winner will receive three bags of OG's gummies, including my favorite orange creamsicle, as well as tropical flavors. You'll also get an OG's hat, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. So sign up at gophnx.com or click the link in the show notes below. And again, must be 21 years or older to enjoy our friends at OGs. Jesse? The new studio makes it. Derek looks smarter.

Starting point is 00:14:20 I like that. It's like your Gabe Kapler glasses. Yeah, right. Right, exactly. Oh, man. The Gabe Kapler glasses in the studio? Oh, yeah. I can't through the roof.

Starting point is 00:14:31 Let's go. But, you know, we don't have time for that because today is an important day. Every week is Shark Week on this podcast. Every day is Earth Day. And every Monday, these two guys, we go to our mailbag. Let's go. I feel box. Always something interesting in my mailbox.

Starting point is 00:14:47 I try to get to every day. Your laptop is so bare. Conspiracy hippies right. He says, Get somebody get Jesse some stickers. We need to get to at least a phoenix on that. I feel like this is a perfect illustration of the difference in our personalities. Oh, yeah,

Starting point is 00:15:06 the back of your laptop is this, and then mine is just completely... These are belcrowed on to here somewhere. Let's see those mailbag questions. What we got, Leah? First question comes from Gabriel. He says, is it a requirement from the front office for the scouts? to find the absolute handsomest guys in the draft class because all the rookies and top prospects are handsome A.F.

Starting point is 00:15:28 He is not wrong, Jesse. That's a good-looking group of guys. Not to mention they are, like Jesse said about the game type app, they are aesthetically pleasing, right? Yes, yes. They all have great hair, too. They lead the league in lettuce. They have to lead the league in the greatest hair, right?

Starting point is 00:15:43 I'm just saying. Yeah. He said, Varsho, obviously, Marsha went the shaved route, but respect our short king. He can do whatever he wants with his hair. Yeah, right. I mean, Alec Thomas definitely has like top 10 hair and baseball. I think that's probably fair to say at this point. Drew Jones is pretty great hair. I feel like you're like seriously analyzing both hair and looks right now. And this is where the male black Monday has gotten us here. I take this question very seriously. It's true. Elizabeth says it's true. Stone Garrett, that's a handsome devil right there.

Starting point is 00:16:14 Stone Garrett is ripped. He makes the rest of us look like like lesser than because he's got so much muscle. Yeah, they're all a bunch of good looking guys. And of course, that gives you even more reasons to watch them, right? I mean, yes, we'll have to factor that into our draft show next year. Like handsome, handsome scale. Yeah, like we're out here looking at, you know, hit tool grades. We have to add that to the player cards. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:16:38 Yeah, we can add that in the maybe. Like the handsome scale ready? Can that be like a slider, like dog in him? Like, can we have like a handsome? Oh, we could. I mean, I feel like we have to use the 20 to 80 scouting scale, though. Ah, you're right. So it'll be your task, Derek, to sort through.

Starting point is 00:16:51 like all of the 250 draft prospects and you're going to grade them on a scale of 20 to 80 based on their level of handsomeness. Give me some pictures. Give me a headshot and some OGs and an afternoon of my time. We'll make that happen. What else we got? If you were given control of fixing the bullpen, how would you do it? Wow, that escalated quickly.

Starting point is 00:17:17 I don't know. How would we do it? Jesse, I'm going to leave this one up to you. Oh, man. It's, yeah, it's not the easiest question in the world to answer, as we've seen, right? The Diamondbacks haven't really answered this question for a number of years now. Well, more importantly, they've tried. Like, have they?

Starting point is 00:17:36 Well, here's what I say. No, they haven't tried like personnel-wise. Like, there hasn't been this big, like, influx of changing personnel and such in the bullpen. But one thing we were frustrated about early on in the season was the overuse of Melanson, despite the fact that he wasn't effective in non-save situations. and then they just decide to only put him in in non-safe situations. But since then, we've seen them kind of move away to, like, kind of trying different things. Ian Kennedy really doesn't seem to be working out.

Starting point is 00:18:01 So you're talking about, like, their usage. Just recently. Yeah, just recently. They finally, like, broke the way. It seems like anything goes now. It feels like there is no plan for the closing the game or anything. It's just who the fuck can go out there and stop this, you know? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:18:14 Like, they should just walk around the bullpen and just ask the guys, like, Kianis Mas forte. Like, who is the strong one? today. Like, get out there and start, like, getting their ego and pride involved. Like, you know what I mean? Like, get someone to step up. You know, it's going to be Maranta.

Starting point is 00:18:28 Yeah, yes. Just soy basque forte. Yeah. Yeah, I think that, like, in terms of what they could do over the off season in order to get to a better place next year, it honestly comes down in my mind, which may sound a little bit crazy, and I think it sort of is a little bit crazy. I think it comes down to your young guys, like, which of the problem. prospects coming up, can you turn into relievers? And it might, it might involve some tough decisions.

Starting point is 00:18:57 Like maybe Dre Jameson comes up and he doesn't start. Maybe he's a reliever. And the diamondbacks just kind of let him develop out there. And maybe they leave the door open down the road for him to turn back into a starter. But at a certain point, like, you know, it'd be great if Jay Jameson was a good starter. But like, it'd be even better if he was like a dominant closer, right? Like you would, you would honestly prefer that almost at this point. So the debacks have a lot of interesting young arms. Luis Frius, we've seen a little bit of this year. J.B. Lukas is another name. There's actually a decent list of guys in the minor league system who are still relatively young, who have good stuff, who have back of the bullpen type of stuff. And I think the debacks need to go and trust those guys

Starting point is 00:19:41 and really invest in those guys pitching out of the bullpen. The issue with going any other route is it like we've seen how the free agent market works right when it comes to relievers yeah i mean ask our friends over at dnvr right there the rockies of course spent like a hundred million dollars on their bullpen a few years ago and it was an utter disaster and those kinds of things happen regularly like Craig kimbril hasn't been that good kenley jansen hasn't been quite as good this year for the Atlanta brave so there's just a bad history there and if you want to trade for like a well-established reliever who's like an elite reliever you're going to pay a king's ransom for that.

Starting point is 00:20:19 And it just doesn't make sense for the Diamondbacks to trade, you know, young players who are still developing for, you know, for a controllable reliever that, that is always just so volatile in this sport. So the free agent market feels like sort of a dead end in some ways. We've seen that play out over the last few years. The Diamondbacks aren't going to go sign Edwin Diaz this offseason, right? He's going to cost.

Starting point is 00:20:40 Yeah, stop tweeting us that. That's not going to happen. It'd be fun. It'd be fun. It'd be great. You know, this guy. This guy that used his song to come out of an elevator, like, of course, I'm going to be most excited about that. But stop giving me false hope because that makes it harder for Jesse to manage me.

Starting point is 00:20:56 I'm uncontrollable. I already have my hands full. He has his hands full, folks. But yeah, like you said, there's other pieces. Like Blake Walston isn't ready yet. Brandon Fott. We don't want to see him in the bullpen. We want to see Brandon Fott as a starter, right?

Starting point is 00:21:08 So maybe there's an opportunity there for Tommy Henry to maybe fill a bullpen role. Maybe there's an opportunity for Drey Jamison in there. The Diamondbacks just don't have a lot of. pitchers in their system that are considered their top 30 prospects. And honestly, they keep drafting guys that shoot right up positional players that shoot right up the ladder. And you're just not seeing that many pitchers also on that list. Like Ivan Melendez, the Hispanic Titanic, he's already 10th, the Diamondbacks

Starting point is 00:21:37 prospects listing. So I mean, it's, you know, it's one of those things that when you look at some of the names, it's the same names that have been on there for a few years. And some of them are ready now. And honestly, it's, you know, the six-man rotation thing. That's probably, you know, just for the Diamondbacks doing what they're, you know, for this upcoming week, you know, these eight games against the Dodgers in 10 days. I mean, they've sort of already nixed the six-man rotation. Yeah, they did.

Starting point is 00:22:02 Tommy Henry got sent down. So, yeah, we'll see if the debacks bring that back. He could still get called back up, though, potentially. It might have just been so that he didn't miss a start in between there and, you know, what. It could be like, yeah, like giving him one start in the miners to try to work on some things, and they could just call him right back up to help out with the doubleheader situation in L.A. So that is possible. Or they just call it Brandon Fott.

Starting point is 00:22:26 Or they call it Brandon Fott, which would be very fun to watch. Next question. If you had to pick one D-Backs player to go on the hit CBS show Big Brother with, who would you pick? Oh my God, I love this question. All right. Well, this is 100% for you to answer. I know you don't know this show. No, absolutely not.

Starting point is 00:22:44 So Big Brother is a show on CBS. It's been on for years. It's a game show where people go live in a house together, like real world or anything like that. But they're trapped in the house. So they cannot leave. They have to compete in games for like who's the head of the household. And then they eliminate people like any other reality show like, oh, two people have to go up. One person goes home.

Starting point is 00:23:03 Right. So I guess part of the problem here is it has to be, you know, like if they found out that we had a relationship outside of the house, then we would be targets instantly. That's the way that game goes. But they're saying, who would I want to be in the house with? Okay. I have two very good questions. I have two very good answers to this. The first one is Josh Rojas.

Starting point is 00:23:23 I feel like that's just like our default answer to every. I'll give you a very good reason why. Josh Rojas, to me, is a gamer, right? And you need to be able to do anything it takes to win in this game. It's one of those games where you just destroy relationships and you lie to people and you just, people hate you at the end. And I feel like Josh Rojas is that kind of guy. Yeah, that would be completely.

Starting point is 00:23:44 He would understand what's on the line. He would want to get to the end goal, and he wouldn't care who he hurt along the way to get there. And I'm confident about that. The other person, of course, is our other default answer. It's Madison Bumgarten. And it's not to play with him in the house. It's because to see Madison Bumgarner trapped in a house with other individuals and not be able to get away from them and have to put up with their bullshit, Madison Bumgarner would be an absolute just powder keg ready to explode.

Starting point is 00:24:10 And I would want to be there for it. I would want a front row seat to see him go full evil dick. Again, a reference he's never going to understand on the household and just scream and belittle people. And it would be great. So those are my answers to that. Leah, have you seen this TV show? Do you know what we're talking about? I know what you're talking.

Starting point is 00:24:27 Admittedly, I've never watched Big Brother, but I do know what it is and I understand that. So I watch any reality show that has a monetary prize. I'm a huge Love Island. See, that's the thing. I can't watch reality shows where love. is the prize, Jesse. No, there's money. There's money.

Starting point is 00:24:45 There's money at the end. There is money. All right. Well, then maybe I'll check it out. I don't know. We'll see. They've got three questions in. And before we move on, of course, I want to let you guys know.

Starting point is 00:24:56 Jesse is continuing to write an incredible content over at go phtnx.com. So if you haven't signed up for a membership, you should probably do so. Get yourself an annual membership. Get ready for the football, basketball, hockey season. All of that's coming up. Not to belittle this guy. Not to say he's not worth it. Not to say, okay, now his time.

Starting point is 00:25:12 done, go on and read these other people's stuff. No, we want you to read all of this stuff. And there's a very important sports time of this season coming up right now. It is the perfect storm of all the sports except us still going on at the same time. So make sure to sign up over at go phtonx.com. Get yourself an annual membership, which will get you a free t-shirt like these guys on the wall or the one Jesse's wearing over at phnx locker.com. You can also get a month-to-month membership, and you'll get your first month for just 50 cents. Regardless of your membership status, you will get access to our members only.

Starting point is 00:25:42 Discord, of course, the best place to be an Arizona Diamondbacks fan, and you'll get members-only discounts over at the phnx Locker.com. If you're watching us right now on the PHNX Sports YouTube channel, thank you for being here. Thank you for spending your lunch with us. Of course, make sure you're subscribed to the channel. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when any of our shows go live and leave us a thumbs up. It serves no purpose at all. It just strokes my ego. That's all it does. I just, I like to know you guys like the show. So do that. And of course, if you're listening to us right now in your favorite audio podcasting app. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a five-star review.

Starting point is 00:26:14 Jesse I cleaned up this weekend on the old fantasy football app. Oh. I got, I got, I was playing. I was betting. I was making money. Of course, you can too because it is the time of the year for football to be back. Week one was here. It was exciting.

Starting point is 00:26:28 We had lots of ups and downs. And the Drap King's Sportsbook app, of course, is your place to get down and make some money. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $200 and free bets instantly by using our code of P HNX. And as an added bonus, this is how I won because I was betting on teams going up by 10 points. And I don't care at that point if they won or lost because I got my money, right? So early win promotion over at the Draft King Sportsbook. You can still get down on it for the Monday Night Football Games game.

Starting point is 00:26:55 Excuse me. It's simple. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app. Use promo code PHNX and bet on an NFL team to win. If your team leads by 10 points at any time during the game, you get paid instantly. Even if your team loses. That's promo code PHNX on the Draft King's. sports book app, minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply, see show notes for details.

Starting point is 00:27:13 And I hedged, I hedged my bets emotionally because I didn't bet against the Cardinals, but I did bet on players on the chiefs to do very well. And I wasn't wrong about that. Ah, very sneaky. Because they did. Yeah. See, you can do that, right? Like, you're not, I don't care if my team loses, but I have a feeling that Mahomes is going

Starting point is 00:27:32 to go for 300 yards, which he absolutely did. So make sure to get down. How many touchdowns did he throw? Five. I don't want to talk about it. That's not the show. I just want to add that I won a four-leg, same-game parlay on the drafting sportsbook app this week out. Yes.

Starting point is 00:27:48 Very proud of myself. I had a really good day on draftings yesterday. It was fun. It was fun. I got some free bets, and I used my free bet on a ridiculously long parlay. It had a value of plus 3695, like 3,0695. I missed it on two games. So I was pretty close.

Starting point is 00:28:07 It was pretty close. Two games? I feel like I'm close. I'm going to get closer next week on the drafting of sportsbook app. Leah, do we have some more mailbag questions? Let's go. Ooh, this one's a good one. Ryan Simmons asks, has Pavin Smith played his last game in a Diamondbacks uniform, Jesse?

Starting point is 00:28:24 Wow. That's kind of a bummer, but I think that it's worth asking. Because where, unless Payman Smith starts tearing the cover off the ball and showing some incredible defense, I mean, we have seen him play good defense, but incredible defense, enough to surplant one of the guys that we have out there now. It's maybe a little sketchy. Yeah, I don't know if I'm ready to say that he's played his last game with the Diamondbacks. Like he's still in the organization and, you know, he's not healthy yet, unfortunately.

Starting point is 00:28:59 He's still recovering from that fracture that he suffered in Reno a couple months ago. But I still think he probably figures in next year as a guy who, who will come into spring training and try to earn a role. So I don't know if that counts as playing games in Diamondbacks uniforms, like if they're spring training games or not. But it is hard to see how Pavin Smith could, like, crack the Major League roster again because at this point, there's, what, five outfielders ahead of him on the depth chart.

Starting point is 00:29:26 Like, it's not, he just doesn't, he doesn't hit enough, and he doesn't have the defense or the base running that pretty much all of those other guys have. So it's pretty hard to see how, Pavin Smith factors in. And event, I mean, he's, he's good enough that another team is going to want to take a chance on him, right? He's not going to just, like, fizzle out or anything, right?

Starting point is 00:29:48 I mean, the issue here is the debacks just have so many outfielders already, and they already all bat left-handed. So there's really no way that Pave and Smith can play much of a role for the D-backs. But, yeah, I expect he'll come out for spring training next year and, and, you know, try to find a role somehow, some way. And maybe he has a shot to do that if he has a big, a big spring. But if not, the diamondbacks might look to move him elsewhere. I think the one factor is when we talk about the outfield,

Starting point is 00:30:16 Payman Smith's name doesn't even come up. Yeah, not really. Not anymore. Excuse me. And that's probably more of the problem because we even consider who the diamondbacks might trade, who they might be willing to part ways with. And for most people, including us, that we're guilty of this, Paven Smith doesn't even come up.

Starting point is 00:30:36 And Gabriel says future Dodger-Gra baseball. Oh, my gosh. I hate you so much sometimes. You're hilarious, and I also hate you. But he's not wrong. That's the exact thing that we would see. And honestly, I think the bigger problem is that's the thing that we see with anybody from this outfield that they trade, right?

Starting point is 00:30:51 It feels like anybody from this outfield that they get rid of is going to end up coming back to make us sorry that they got rid of them. So just got to kind of, you know, know that. And once whatever happens, because it's only going to be a matter of time until the diamondbacks are forced to make a trade. and have one of these guys that we kind of adore and covet right now be part of that trade, right? I think I see Pavin Smith more as a first baseman, honestly, than an outfielder. Just given how much outfield defense the debacks already have, there's really just no, I mean, there's just no way.

Starting point is 00:31:24 Like, you're just not going to play Pave and Smith there anymore. And Gabriel makes a good point by saying that Walker would need to be out for an extended period. I think that that sort of makes sense, right? Pave and Smith sort of slots in as the backup first baseman because he plays decent defense at first. base. You can get by with his glove at first base. So the bad is always going to be the big variable there, whether he can figure out how to, how to hit a little bit more than he has. Jagertha, tell all. I hope I said that right. Hello from the other side of the world. You rock. Thank you for joining us. We always appreciate you being here. We've got more mailbag

Starting point is 00:31:58 questions. With the team improving the way that they have the second half, do you think the debacks will look to acquire a closer in their prime versus a Fernando Rodney, Boxburger, Melanson type of signing. As much as I would wish for that to be the case, I don't think it will be the case. What I hope is that like we discussed that the Devonbacks start going more with a youth movement. If they're going to go to somebody, maybe a younger guy, maybe a guy that hasn't had an opportunity, maybe a reliever that just has proven themselves the way that certain guys in our bullpen at times have. Unfortunately, I don't feel like anybody has really played consistently well outside of the way Mantipa was pitching early in the season to be

Starting point is 00:32:37 considered that kind of role right now. Yeah, it's hard to say exactly how you piece this together. But unfortunately, I don't think that, you know, going out and getting a closer right in the middle of their prime, it's just hard to see how that would happen. Like, are the Diamondbacks willing to trade some of their young pieces in order to get a deal like that done? If you're trading for a young closer in their prime, that there's going to be a really significant cost there.

Starting point is 00:33:03 So I doubt the debacks go that direction. least not this off season. Maybe that's something they'd explore further down the road. But at this point, I mean, I think it's a matter of bringing in a couple of veterans. I think they'll still do that. You know, maybe they try to find guys who are a little bit younger than 37 or 38. We've seen that. We've seen how that works over and over and over again, right? If you. Shots fired at me. Shots fired at open shirt, Derek, and I don't like it one day. So, yeah, I think I think you still probably try to get some veterans in here. but you probably try to leverage some of those young arms that the diamondbacks have. And there's more on the way, right?

Starting point is 00:33:43 There's Bryce Jarvis, there's Slate Cicconi. There's other guys in the minor league system who could fit this profile as well. And hopefully if you kind of invest in those guys and give them a shot in that role, maybe a couple of them are able to separate themselves. All right. What else do we got? Oh, potential for trade deadline. Ben says potential for deadline trade 2023 if they're winning.

Starting point is 00:34:07 Wow. Okay. Let's pretend they are because we think they're going to be, right? Let's say they are buyer's next trade deadline. So I don't know if anything I could see them still trying to fortify their pitching arms. Like no matter what, I don't feel like there's much of a focus elsewhere. There's just other areas where you are not as deep. But right now they finally feel like they have something put together where they have some depth on the infield and a whole lot of

Starting point is 00:34:37 depth in their outfield. So I don't know. I still think that that unfortunately puts a guy like Stone Garrett in danger of being part of a trade package at that point. Yeah. Because I don't know if you can even consider Jake McCarthy any longer with the way that he's played as of late unless he comes back down on earth. Like trading him?

Starting point is 00:34:58 Yeah. Like, trading him like seems like insane. See, the flip side, Derek, is that, you know, buy low, sell high. Yeah. Like that's a major sell high opportunity. Jake McCarthy, the last two months, has basically played like an MVP caliber player. And here's the thing.

Starting point is 00:35:15 It's kind of like Jomantipline. I don't mean to knock Joe Mantiply because he's continued to be good at times in the second half. Just not nearly what he was during that stretch. And there was this question that came up at that point, would the Diamondbacks consider trading Jomantipline? And I said the same thing. Just because when you look at these guys' numbers historically, it's really hard to imagine that they were this, their whole, career and then all of a sudden they have this weird peak and that like like that that's now where they're going to be at for the rest of their career yeah it's different for jake mccarthy though

Starting point is 00:35:45 because he's a young player he could be a fucking superstar this could be he could be a superstar you know what i mean but but the diamond backs haven't it's not like the diamondbacks haven't gotten a guy before uh very late in the draft or like a castaway kind of guy who ended up being a pretty all-star like superstar player right it's not out of the question for the diamondbacks to find a guy like Jake McCarthy when they weren't expecting it. I mean, Jake McCarthy wasn't even taken late. No, he was. He was either a first or a second or, yeah, like a competitive balance round pick.

Starting point is 00:36:17 I know he was, wasn't he taken before Alec Thomas? He was taken before Alex Thomas. So he was the competitive balance. CBA, CBA, collective balance round A. So, yeah, he was a relatively high, a relatively high draft pick. But I think just over the course of his. Stop doubting him. Listen to all the doubt in you. Just doubting him.

Starting point is 00:36:35 Just feel good. I'm literally talking about how high he was drafted, which I think is something that people forget about Jake McCarthy, right? Alex Thomas and Corby and Carrow both get a lot of credit for being like top prospects, like as if they were both like a first early first round draft pick. The knock for Jake McCarthy is just that based on his performance in the minor leagues, he hasn't felt like a high draft pick for a while until now where it's like, oh wow, maybe there really is something here.

Starting point is 00:37:02 Maybe there really has been something here all along. He never believed. This guy never believed. That was not a, I fully admit that I make comments that are downer at times or realistic. Like I like to think about them. But that was not one of them, Derek. I'm talking about how Jake McCarthy is living up to the reputation he had back when he was drafted. And he has been very, very good this year for the Diamondbacks.

Starting point is 00:37:26 He's a pick-em player that I'm going to take the higher than over on our friend's underdog fantasy. But of course, we'll talk about that. I know we have another mailbag Monday question and probably the most important one, Jesse. Our friend Chris asks, what's your favorite dinosaur? Well, it's definitely Rex from Toy Story. Oh, wow. You like gave a specific dinosaur. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:37:47 Oh, yeah. I felt like she was like asking more of the general, like, what's your favorite dinosaur species? Well, he's a T. So there you go. There's my answer. Wow. All right. Well, then I'm going.

Starting point is 00:37:57 Whatever Rex is. I'm going with Triceratops because of the same reason. The Triceratops in the Toy Story movies. Oh, sure. by the delightful woman that voices Louise from Bob's Burger. So there we go. There you go. Elizabeth says Brontosaurus.

Starting point is 00:38:12 Ben says my favorite dinosaur's bump gardener. Oh my gosh. Ben, you win. You would best comment. Anyway, yeah. You know what I was going to say? Dolophosaurus. Do you know Delophosaurus from like Jurassic Park?

Starting point is 00:38:30 Oh, I have seen Jurassic Park. Okay. So it's the frilly one that's been. Yeah, yeah. You know, I found out. That's a fucking lie, Jesse. Not only does it not actually spit venom, but it didn't have neck frills. Ah.

Starting point is 00:38:43 So it immediately disqualified it from being my favorite dinosaur. I was so furious after that, but triceratoms. There you go. Jurassic Park has epic music. It has fantastic music, yes, absolutely. Have you seen Jurassic Park? I have. I have.

Starting point is 00:38:55 It was a while ago. Did you watch the Shosh Hank redemption yet? No. God damn it, Jesse. All right, we're going to follow up with him to make sure that happens. I just want to throw this out there. there now that I'm

PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - The Arizona Diamondbacks prepare to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in eight games over ten days

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