PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - The MLB Hot Stove gets hotter with 83 players becoming free agents on Friday

Episode Date: November 21, 2022

Were you non-tendered? We’re here for you and will be talking about the newest free agents to hit the market. Speaking of hitting, we also check in with former D-back Asdrubal Cabrera and hit up the Mailbag to answer your questions.BUY D-BACKS TICKETS HERE: https://gametime.hnyj8s.net/c/3442941/1410622/10874 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX: Stock up for the holidays! Check out the PHNX Locker on Black Friday. Save up to 90% off everything. And when you spend $75 dollars, get a $15 gift card. Mob on over to https://phnxlocker.com/ DraftKings: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now (https://bit.ly/3Jl1dMX), use promo code PHNX and make your first deposit of FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in FREE BETS INSTANTLY! For every leg you add you can boost your winnings up to ONE HUNDRED percent!If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisiscounseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visitOPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA).21+ (18+ WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NJ/NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See http://draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.OGeez!: Enter the “Flavoring Life” sweepstakes. One winner will receive 3 bags of OGeez, an OGeez! Hat, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Sign up at gophnx.com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIplqDYsxYeiotn5Zc6hRahaX0a5qG99eHVzkhOlGZDRdgUA/viewform. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Four Peaks: We are teaming up with Four Peaks to host all US and Mexico World Cup matches at their 8th Street Pub. Enjoy beer specials, giveaways, guest appearances, and more while watching on their 22’ jumbo screen. Click here to register for free: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/phnx-2022-world-cup-watch-parties-1329339Enter to win the “Toast of the Month” sweepstakes to win a $50 Four Peaks gift card, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Go to goPHNX.Com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOabxo8KQxOWwn9wTilMBuTMAJdrL0CaH9lzfuJqgKN9vfSg/viewform Must be 21 or older. Enjoy responsibly. Bad Birdie: use code “BadBirdiePHNX” to take 15% off your next Bad Birdie order! https://glnk.io/7qnq/phnx-sportsMor Furniture: Sit in the same seats we do! Check out https://morfurniture.comUnderdog Fantasy: Sign up for Underdog Fantasy today! Go to the link https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-phnx and use promo code “PHNX” to receive a deposit match up to $100Liquid Death: Get free shipping on all water and merch at https://LiquidDeath.com/PHNX FOCO: FOCO has you covered with the best Arizona Merchandise. Head on over to foco.com. For all non pre-sale items use the promo code “PHNX” for 10% offWhen you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. 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.

USA, USA, USA! I'm sorry, I forgot what podcast we were doing here. I'm caught up in the moment, but I'm excited. Of course, thank you guys for joining us. This is the PHNX Debaks podcast right here on PHNX. I am your mayor of USA, occasionally known as Derek Montia. This guy over here is your vice mayor of America, the one and only thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. We're here to talk about a real sport, Derek.

I don't know how else to say that. Jesse, you're canceled. Get out. Get out. Go get Sean. Tell him to come in here because it's his time. Of course. I can't be the only one who thinks that.

Like, I know it's not all of our listeners, but I know there's a few of you out there who agree with me. We're like, yeah, soccer. Like, it's not a real sport. So what? You want to be wrong with those people? You want to find the few people that are also wrong with you. I want to find the people that agree with me. Because it's objectively, it's just objectively the right call in the situation.

know what to say there. He's going to say this on World Cup Day of all days. How dare you? People are just entirely too excited today, Derek. It doesn't matter what sport you feel is a sport. This show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Drafking Sportsbook app. America's top-rated sportsbook app. Hello. Welcome in. Your first comment is guys a clown. I think, is it me? Which one of us is a clown? I hope it's Jesse, but I understand it being me. We have baseball stuff to talk about. Of course, that's what we do on this show. show. And of course, the MLB hot stove might have gotten a little hotter. Maybe not hotter, maybe just more crowded, like on Thanksgiving when you have too many pots and pans on your,

you know, four or five hot stove top. But of course, we have information now. Cody Bellinger from the Dodgers, as we thought would happen. Brian Anderson, Luke Voigt, Ramil Tapia, and we're among the 83 players who became free agents on Friday as they were non-tendered contracts from their team. The D-backs did tender a contract to Cole, Sulcer, but did not tender a contract to our friend Reyes Maranta, which hurts my soul deeply. I'm very sad about that. Gabriel says SMH. Jesse is going to make me get rid of my subscription. See, look what you're doing.

Look what you're doing. It's not a subscription, Gabriel. You're a diehard. You're a diehard. Remember that. Yeah, you're for life, Gabriel. You're in for life. Cody Bellinger is no longer a Dodger.

interesting, weird. The guy was the NL MVP three years ago. 2019, correct. So life comes out of you fast. It does. It's fast. But I guess, I mean, a lot of this is because he was the NL MVP.

I mean, it sets such a bar, such a high bar for him in terms of his salary. Correct. And because of that, I mean, in arbitration, he would have made almost $20 million. And understandably, the Dodgers weren't going to give that kind of money. to a guy who struck out 150 times and had a 654 OPS last year. So, yeah, no real surprises here. I think he's going to get a decent amount of money, though, just because of just because of like the name credibility that he has

and the raw talent that people know that he has. More money. More money than he deserves is what you're saying. Probably, probably. And the fact that like every team is probably talking with Cody Bellinger's agent, at least on some level. because he's out there. And he's a guy who's still only 27 years old.

You feel like he's probably fixable on some level. Maybe he can't get back to his 2019 self. But everybody knows that there's still, you know, an above average major league are in there somewhere. And I think it's not surprising at all that there's been as much interest as there's been so far. Bellinger reminds me a bit of like Jake Lamb and a couple of other guys that we've had on our team for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Can't hit lefties? That can't hit lefties.

Yes. That's part of it, yes. But also just had that one shining season. And then by comparison, all other seasons were mediocre to bad. Like when you look at his 2021 season, he did not play a lot, but he hit 165. He was good before the NL MVP year, right? He was the rookie of the year in 17. He was.

He was good. He wasn't great. He was good in 18. He played all 162 games in 2018. But I think the thing there is that when you look at his last three seasons since the MVP, he has not been very good. And I mean, again, I think the Dodgers are a team that are trying to compete at the highest level.

We've seen them part ways with guys that he even contributed to their team quite a bit. So it's not a surprise that they're willing to cut ties with Bellinger, even though he had that one amazing season or like Jesse said, a couple of amazing seasons. Yeah. With the Dodgers for sure. Rookie of the year and National League MVP, those aren't things that, you know, you don't really earn, right? But you need to really be convinced that like a guy doesn't have that in him anymore in order

to really like. Very true. Like when a guy does what he did, you're going to have a long leash, I guess is what I'm trying to say, which the Dodgers did. I mean, Cody Bellinger's had 900 played appearances the last two years. It's not like they haven't played the guy. And in those 900 played appearances, he's hitting 193 with a 256 on base percentage, a 355 slugging percentage.

Those just aren't numbers that you're. I mean, nine under plate appearances, that's a big sample size at that point. I think a change of scenery would probably do them a lot of good at this point. And that's what we're hoping with Kyle Lewis from the Seattle Mariners. Obviously, you know he went through the injuries that he went through, but it's a similar situation where a guy just a few years ago was one of the best in baseball, one of the best in their league. He was the rookie of the year for the American League.

And now here he is being traded to the Diamondbacks. And I'm not going to say Cooper Hummel's nothing. You know, Cooper Hummel is a quality player and he plays a couple of different positions. and can most likely give a team quite a bit of depth, but just definitely not the kind of player we would think Kyle Lewis would be traded for considering what he once was for the Mariners. Yeah, yeah, I do have to say the more that I've, you know,

talk to people and just listen to more things from the Seattle side of this move. I was listening to some of their local talk radio shows over the weekend, just seeing kind of what their local take on this move was. It seems like nobody's really that surprised in Seattle, interestingly, which I know from the Diamondback standpoint, it was easy to be like, oh my gosh, the Diamondbacks just traded Cooper Hummel for a guy who was the rookie of the year two years ago. But from the Mariners side, something we didn't talk about on Friday that I think is important

to mention is that there was a little bit of tension between Kyle Lewis and the Mariners' organization at large. He was not particularly happy about being sent down toward the end of last season. He spent like the last two months of the year with AAA Tacoma. and apparently there was one article I found from the Seattle Times that said that Kyle Lewis was stunned when it happened. He was struggling. Granted, his numbers were not good,

but I think given the track record that he built there, he felt that he would have a longer leash than what he was given last year. He only played 18 games in the big leagues for the Mariners last season, but they didn't like what they were seeing and they decided to have him finish the year in AAA. And from what I can tell after that happened, there was quite a bit of expectation on the Mariners side that, that this relationship isn't going to work anymore. This guy is going to get dealt somewhere else.

Some people maybe thought they would get a little bit more in return for him, but it's hard to really peg much value on a guy who's been through all of the injuries that he has and his most recent performance isn't really all that great. So it was interesting just hearing what they all had to say. Were there any of the releases, the non-tendent contracts, I guess I should say, that either surprised you or you think the Diamondbacks might be interested in? It's a little difficult to say because I did see that, you know, kind of when you looked at the deadline, a lot of the relief pitching that we might be interested in kind of got gobbled up at the deadline, not gobbled up, but contracts were tendered and not. They were on tendered, right? So the market didn't have as many relief pitchers as we wanted to see. And I also think that that could be a bit telling in regards to how the free agent market might be for relief pitching, especially when we see how expensive. some of it has already been. Yeah, relievers have been pretty expensive so far. As far as the guys that

were non-tendered, nothing super shocking. Alex Reyes is an interesting possibility for the debacks, I think. He had a shoulder surgery last year, so he didn't pitch at all in 2020, at least not in the big leagues. But he has, I mean, there's some pedigree there. Alex Reyes at one point was a pretty big name, like back-end reliever for the Cardinals. So I think there's some potential. there for the debacks to maybe buy low on him. And that's what they like to do, right? They tend to like to come in when guys are in that position in their career. It's the reason why Kyle Lewis, I think, was appealing to them.

They're willing to take that chance because right now they're looking for anybody to fill some of these gaps. Are the debacks ever like, when was the last time the debacks bought like high on someone? Like they paid like. Madison Bumgarner. But Madison Bumgarner took a significant pay cut to come here. Like, I mean, they did buy high. a sense because his value was still really high at that point and it was higher than it probably should have been. But I mean, he only took $85 million to come here. And it sounds like at least the

reports at the time where the Madison Bumgarner really wanted to be in Arizona and was like taking a pay cut because of it. So are you not going to say that you's Bonnie Tomas is a buying high situation? That's fair. I just said when was the last time. So that's a valid answer to that question. You could eat, I think Starling Marte is probably someone. You could make a case they bought high on when they got him from Pittsburgh. They gave up some pretty good. Yeah, $206 million coming off the best year of his career. I guess they bought either too. Yeah, these are all good answers to my question.

Thank you, Derek. Well, speaking of free agency and pitching, of course, MLB.com would like nothing more than the pair of the Arizona Diamondbacks with a new better relief pitcher. They had an article out that paired an ideal free agent with each of the 30 Major League Baseball teams, and the Diamondbacks were paired with Trevor Williams from the New York Mets, who posted a 2.47 ERA and 21 relief appearances for the Mets in 2022, striking out more than a batter per inning in the 51 innings pitched. So the guy who was a converted relief pitcher who really, or not converted,

but who really came on strong for the Mets there in the end of the season. Yeah, I'm looking at his splits right now. He made nine starts last year for the Mets. And then he also had the 21 relief appearances. He was sort of like a long reliever for them. 21 innings or 21 games he pitched out of the bullpen and he threw 51 innings. So he was averaging like multiple innings per appearance there. His strikeout numbers went up significantly out of the bullpen.

Yeah, 55 strikeouts and 51 innings. He was like kind of okay as a starter. I guess he only pitched about four innings per start, but he had a 4.19ERA. But it doesn't have fantastic numbers, but somebody that definitely has shown, especially last season, an ability to be very strong out of the bullpen. And I like that because I don't know what kind of contract he would command, but I feel like it might be in the price range of the Diamondbacks. Yeah.

MLB was kind of, they were a little bit more low-key and realistic with the Diamondbacks. I feel like it was one of the few times where I felt like they actually understood the organization when writing an article about them. Meanwhile, they had Aaron Judge going to the Dodgers, and of course they did. Of course, of course they do. Trevor Williams was like a big name. I mean, he, back in 20, 2018, Trevor Williams went 14 and 10.

He was 3-1-1-E-R-A for the pirates. Yeah, he was really good for the pirates. Yeah. In his career, for sure. I think those days are sort of behind him, and now he's kind of transitioned into being more of a long relief type. But yeah, I mean, I could see that. I could see that being a possible fit for sure.

Diamondbacks will take anything that they can get right now when it comes to relief pitching. But when it comes to infielding, I think we're good. So just real quick, we're not going to be answering any phone calls from as Drewball Cabrera anytime soon. we're not going to we're not going to let they need a third basement though

they do need a third basement so I mean let's take this moment to go ahead and spy on our exes real fast with a little segment we call spying on our exes and not in a good way because I don't know of course you guys remember as Drewbo Cabrera former Arizona Diamondback who is now

playing in the Venezuelan Winter League and the other day made was a trending topic on Twitter for all the wrong reasons Leah, you want to play that video. Let's take a look at what happened here. Now, to give you an update,

the player that is about to do an incredible bat flip and just slow walking his home run, his dinger off, that was his third home run of the day. The pitcher wasn't having of it, and neither was as Drewa Cabrera, who came with one hell of a clothesline. Pro wrestling, that is a solid clothesline. He hit the man so hard.

Look at this poor. Look at this dude. This man is, he's crushed. And, yeah, there's, there's a lot of talk about his, Drewbo Cabrera, never playing baseball again after that. A little bit, a little bit excessive, little excessive violence, a little unnecessary roughness there. A little bit, a little bit.

Yeah, he didn't, for those of you joining us on audio, you should definitely go like up this video. It should be very difficult for you to find. But yeah, he didn't slap the guy. Like, he didn't, he did not gingerly tap him with a baseball bat, Like I did you when you were dressed up as a pinata that one time. He absolutely clocked this man to the ground. And it's unlike anything that I've ever seen, like, at least in recent history, a lot of baseball field.

Like, you see guys throwing punches and whatnot. But this was like, like there was some serious force behind this motion from his drovel Cabrera. And the runner was completely taken off guard too. Like that's the most surprising part. You usually have a wide range of vision, a wide field of vision. as you're running down the first base. And apparently Cabrera came just from a side that he wasn't looking for him because he did not see that hit coming.

But yeah, I don't know, maybe. I like his moxie. Yeah. You know, I like the fight. I like the dog in the fight. But anyway, I'll tell you what's going on right now is you guys are missing it. If you're not there, and I apologize if you're missing out on it. You're not missing anything.

There is a tremendous, there is a tremendous time happening down at Four Peaks, Brewery Company, H Street, Foe. Four peaks. Yeah, you should go over there. It is incredible. Right now they are hosting our U.S. versus Wales match, and it is lit. It is fire. It is electric in that building. So shout out to everybody down there.

They are enjoying beer specials, giveaways, guest appearances. Don't miss the next time we do it. It's a fun time. You can check it out on the PHNX sports. Tomorrow morning, 8 a.m. That's right. Oh, yeah. Mexico.

Tomorrow is the breakfast buffet. Tomorrow is the breakfast buffet. With rising, with rising head coach. I said the rising. Oh, right. Not the rising. Yeah, go there for the food, go there for the beer. The guest appearances?

Go there for the guest appearances. He's trying to leave out the football. Don't go there. Don't go there for the soccer. Come on. Oh, he's a bad person. Again, $3 kill lifter and while we specials. U.S. and Mexico, of course, going at it.

And hopefully, U.S. can do some big things. They are still up by, I can't give you updates. I'm not allowed to give you updates. They're up by one goal. I'm allowed to say that. You're up by one goal. There you go. But check that out.

Make sure not to miss it. And of course, got to be 21 or over to enjoy the beer from Four Peaks and enjoy responsibly. We do this thing. I know it's World Cup season. I know we got stuff going on. But until we get back to that game, we do this thing around here because every week on this show is Shark Week. Every day on this show is Earth Day. And every Monday, we go to the mailbag.

Leah, let's go. I'm going to be something interesting in my mailbox. I'm trying to get to everything in my mailbox. And then once in a while, there's a letter that makes me go out. Love Mailbag Monday. Let's get to it. What's our first question? First question comes from Luke, Yorkshire, Luke, X, on Twitter.

And he asks, would you like to see Bellinger come to the debacks? Of course, this is going to be a question. Of course, the answer is no. Moving on. Next question. You don't want another left-handed hitting outfielder, Derek? Is that what you're saying? He's a great defender, though.

He plays center field. He was born in Scottsdale, Arizona. He's of our soil. I get it. But no, we don't want them. Hard pass. We got plenty of those. He's just going to get paid.

We got Cody Mellinger at home. He's going to get paid a lot of money, like I said before. Not 20 million, but more than what I think he's probably worth at least. And yeah, the devax, they do not need a left-handed. They don't need it. So I think it's pretty simple. Yeah. Next question.

Moving on. All right. Diamondbacks, UK, asks, if one of the lefty outfielers has to go in a trade for a bullpen help, etc. Who would you be most okay with seeing leave? I hate this question. I'm going to make you start on this one. This question is like which kid is your favorite and which kid is your least

favorite. Yeah, it's not which kid is your least favorite. It's what it is. I'm going to shockingly say Alec Thomas. Interesting. For me I feel like Dalton Varshot has just a lot more to offer I feel like. I feel like he is more

versatile and honestly I think I've seen him in the outfield play great no matter where he's played so it comes down to Alec Thomas or Dalton Varsho for me if you're asking and I really hate that idea so do you hate it as much as the fact that you didn't mute

your computer before the show? And it's the worst because it's a text I said everybody else knows not to bother me I want to call except Leah there we go yeah this is tough this is a tough question we've touched on in a bit in the past. I think I would go with Jake McCarthy, which I've, I know, I've taken some flack in the past for mentioning his name as a possible trade candidate. But I think there's,

I have some good backing for this. At least I think you'll have to, I guess you'd be the judge of that. You can't trade Corbyn Carroll, right? No. You just can't. I think we can all agree on that. Dalton Varsho has a higher ceiling than Jake McCarthy does in my mind. Don Varsho in 2022, graded out as the best outfield defender in baseball, literally the best outfield defender in baseball. If Don Varsho gets up to like an 800, 850 OPS even, he's a superstar. I mean, he is like a near elite baseball player. Apparently my voice is cracking now. That's what happens when they're playing soccer out.

That's your karma for hating on soccer. I don't think so, no. But yeah, like if Dalton Varshow puts up an 850 OPS figures some things out offensively, which I think he could do, right? I mean, he hit almost 30 home runs last year. Then, I mean, he's basically an elite baseball player. And I think you're taking a pretty sizable risk by trading him somewhere and knowing that that very well could happen.

Jake McCarthy also a great player, right? And in part, that's why I would pick him because I think he has tons of trade value after the year that he just had, right? but you know that his prospect pedigree was not what it was for those other guys, right? There's a reason that scouts have, you know, not necessarily always thought that Jake McCarthy would be the player that he was this last year. And I think also if you look a little bit closer at some of the stats, there's some evidence to suggest that Jake McCarthy overperformed a little bit.

If you look at his weighted on base average, which is basically like, it's like an all-encompassing offense stat that is scaled to on-base percentages. So you basically read it as an on-base percentage. His ex-woba, his expected Woba from this last year was $2.98, which if you think about a $2.98 on-base percentage, that's not very good, right? And his actual Wobah, I don't have it in front of me. It was like $3.40 or $3.30 or something. It was very good. So I think there's a sizable disparity between the performance the D-BACs got from him last year

and at least what the expected stats say. That's not to say it was all a fluke or anything. I don't believe that. But that combined with the fact that Jake McCarthy is not the elite defender that Dalton Varsho is, that Alec Thomas is, that Corbyn Carroll is. I just think it's less, there's less risk there. Like he very well could go somewhere else and be a great player. I think that's likely. But you can get a great player back for him. Whereas Varsho, there's a lot of risk there.

Carol, like I said, you can't trade. And then Alec Thomas, I agree with you, could be a decent trade candidate as well. But again, you're trading him at basically his lowest point. after the season he just had. That's probably the most valid thing you've said as far as. That's the only reasonable thing. No, no. I mean, you're right.

Everything you said about Jake McCarthy is correct. And there's a very good chance that we could see Jake McCarthy regress now that people have seen him a lot. Yeah. He's had a lot of bat bats and maybe he comes back down to Earth just to play more like he's predicted to play. Right. But regardless of that, there's not a very good chance that he's going to play.

better than we've seen him. Maybe he does, but... He could. Yeah, I don't want to say he couldn't. He's played very well right now, right? So of anything, I think the idea of selling high is probably the best idea there. So, yeah. All right, what else we got, Liam?

Brian Lefebvre, who likes my hops hat in the comments, he says, I hate playing Twitter GM and thinking either Sean Murphy or Gabriel Moreno are actual options for the debacks, but do you think there's a small chance that one of them, could be had in a trade that doesn't involve Dalton Varshow. I think they could. I think that the Blue Jays have a bevy of catchers, a very talented catchers. Yeah, talking about Moreno, yeah.

Talking about Gabriel Moreno, I don't know if they would be so quick to part ways with him, but I could see them being very tantalized by not just Dalton Varshow, but potentially any of the Diamondbacks outfielders that are currently playing at a major league level. Same thing with Sean Murphy. I just, I don't know if the Diamondbacks are necessarily in the market for a starting catcher. Right.

Yeah, somebody that's going to replace Carson or make Carson the backup. Right. Yeah, it sounds like at least what Mike Hazen has said is that it seems like it's more likely the devax go after a backup than that they go after a starter as far as catcher is concerned. But if you're thinking about like if you are trading one of these big name outfielders, you know, what position are you targeting in return? I guess catcher would make sense. It's being one of the positions that you would maybe look for.

Moreno is a compelling prospect. I mean, the guy is 22 years old. Anytime you have a catcher hit the big leagues at 22, you kind of know that there's something there just because it's really hard. Like, catchers don't tend to make the big leagues as early as other guys do. There's just a lot more things that they have to figure out. Adley Rushman is 24, right,

coming off the year that he just had in his rookie season. So, yeah, there's a lot to like there. I mean, I think he's a solid defender. The hit tool seems to be legit at 319 this last year in his first 25 games in the big league. So I think he would command a King's Ransom in a trade. You could find a way to do it without Varsho probably, but then you're, I mean, you're not trading Zach Gowan, right? I mean, you would have to package like several other guys.

Like, if Varsho's off limits, if Gowlin's off limits, of Corbyn Carroll's off limits, if Jordan Lawler's off limits, which I'm assuming that Brian probably in his head has those guys as not being in this deal, it would be hard to pull off. Not impossible, but hard to pull off. And I don't know if the debacks are looking for a starting catcher anyway.

All right. Yeah, there we go. Sean Murphy's also very good. Sean Murphy is incredible. I mean, I would love to have any of these guys, but like you said, I mean, Carson Kelly's been extended, and I think that they're still looking for healthy Carson Kelly

to be what. they've seen flashes of at times and I think he could get back to that point so I wouldn't be ready as an organization to move on from him yet yeah Carson Kelly I mean yeah they they just tendered him a contract which they were probably going to do no matter what but Carson Kelly has this this interesting like every other year thing going on right now like he was great in 2019 wasn't good in 2020 great in 2021 not so great in 2022 so 2023 is going to be a great year for him right that's how it works that's how it's how it's how the numbers work well it's we got Leah Question, I don't know where are we at. This is from Gabriel at Boldest Bronze on Twitter. He asked, what do you think about Alex and Rojas being courted by Team Mexico for the WBC, according to Rodrigo Lopez? I think it's great. I just, I don't know. I mean, I'm not against Merrill Kelly being on Team USA, and I would not be opposed to this.

I just think that, honestly, it's more baseball. It's more meaningful baseball during that time of the year. The guys are going to be playing spring training ball anyway. So I feel like it's a chance for them to get an early start. I'm playing against high-level competition. And honestly, the experience is meaningful, especially for young guys like Alec and Rojas. That's my opinion. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I don't really see any reason why you wouldn't want this to happen, right? You know, it happens like during spring training essentially. So I don't think there's any issues from like a readiness for the season standpoint. I don't think there's any concerns there. So I looked a little bit into how their eligibility would work playing for Team Mexico. I don't know if you know more about this, Derek, but Rodrigo Lopez appeared to indicate in this interview that came out that both of them have Mexican blood and would be eligible to play for Team Mexico. I don't know entirely how that works.

Neither of them were born in Mexico. Alec Thomas was born in Chicago. Rojas was born in Litchfield Park. There are other ways of getting around it. You don't have to be like a citizen or anything like that. We claim them as our own. That's the way it works. Yeah, I just,

I don't know exactly how logistically it would work for them. But if Rodrigo Lopez thinks that it's possible, it's probably possible, I guess. I don't have this Puerto Rican flag on my arm just for ships and giggles, Jesse, all right? I was required to get this. I had to show, it's a show in my Puerto Rican. It's showing you're, okay. When you're Hispanic, there's just something about it that no matter. where you were born, you are still part of that culture.

So if they have like a tattoo, then you're saying they would probably be allowed to play. I'm saying if their mother's father was once vacationed in Mexico for longer than two weeks, they can be considered citizens. That's the way it's going to work back on. When it comes to a national team, absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, Gabriel says you're able to go in if your grandparents are a Mexican descent. Yeah. So I don't know exactly the, I don't know the genealogies of either of those players well enough.

to say for sure. But I suspect it, I suspect it would be possible. And I think that would be a really great opportunity for both of them. Let's go. Let's go. I love it. There you go. Don't make me start the USA chance again because that's what you got going on right now out there. What else we got Leah? Which D-Backs, oh, Don's Bread. Don's a troublemaker, by the way, you guys. I just want to make sure everybody's aware of that. At Don's Bread on Twitter asks, which D-Backs player do you think has the most complicated Starbucks order? Oh my God. That's a tough one. Well, okay, so if we're talking about players or coaches, I'm going. I'm going Brent Strom, even though he's an old school guy.

Really? Here's why. You think Brent Strom would just get a coffee. But Brent Strom has researched the history of all the coffees at Starbucks. He has a file folder telling him which ones have the most antioxidants in it, which ones are the healthiest, which combination is going to lead you to have an elite level day. So Brent Strom's order, I think, is going to be complicated. That's what I think. But I get where you're coming from. He's old school.

Old school guys don't know. I would not be surprised if Brent Strong. Someone gets a coffee. Yeah. Like maybe he prefers like the nicest brands and whatnot. Yeah. But I feel like he would just drink like black coffee or something. Okay.

Something that would be really simple. I'm going to tell Marte. I, okay. Ketel Marte without a doubt, goes in and enters a venty mocha. But instead of just a venty mocha, you need to make sure that it's a subblon espresso with three pumps of mocha, non-fat steam upside down with low-fat whip, that kind of thing. And he'll say it all in an indistinguishable accident that makes it very hard for the person. at the Starbucks counter to understand,

but he'll say it very fast because he orders it every single day. That's what I imagine. They probably know. They see him coming. They see the shoes. They see the haircut. They're like, that guy.

It's that guy again. It's with the incredibly complicated order. Yeah. Kattel was on my list as well. Ketel is, I can say for personal experience watching Ketel walk inside the clubhouse. He tends to have a lot of like things with him and whatnot. He brings a lot of stuff with him when he comes into that.

Most guys just bring like a backpack or something. And we don't know what that stuff is. We really don't. No. I don't know if it's game gear. I don't know if it's for stuff for after the game. I don't know what. But yeah, he has a lot of baggage.

And he just like, he also is kind of, at least relatively speaking, like kind of a more exotic fashion sense. He does. And I feel like there's an undeniable connection between like exotic fashion taste and exotic like Starbucks order taste. I think there's definitely something going on there. What are you saying about me? Why are you looking at me like that? I mean, you just wear a Roosevelt shirt. every day. I don't know if that's exotic. It's just they give you free stuff and you wear it.

The other name I have in my head is Alec Thomas, who just, I don't know how to how to explain this in a way that doesn't sound insulting, but he just feels like the kind of guy who would be like a little bit more high maintenance in terms of like his tastes at restaurants and at Starbucks and those kinds of things. I could see that. It just kind of feels right. There's also something about you young people that have grown up with basically Starbucks in your life your entire life. You don't know a world without Starbucks, right? Do you know a world about Starbucks? I know a world. I am 41 years old, Jesse. I know a world without Starbucks. When I have no idea? When did Starbucks originally

I want to say like at least nationally where it reached here in Arizona, probably like the mid-90s? Really? I could be wrong about that. It's that recent? Oh yeah. Oh, yeah. I just started popping up and then just like was everywhere. But again, I could be wrong about that. I also didn't drink coffee when I was a child. So maybe I just didn't notice them when I was younger. I don't remember getting Frappuccino's though. Like my daughter, did like eight. You know, that's a different world we live in right now. But all right.

Well, I will say this. If you are here, that means you're a D-BACs die-hard because you're not watching the World Cup game that Jesse told you not to go watch. You're a monster. Don't listen to him at all.

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Craig Morgan. First one is on Wednesday. That's right. Exciting. Normally it'll be on Thursday, but I guess something's happening this Thursday, so we're changing into Wednesday. What's happening on Thursday? Not a soccer game.

Thanksgiving, Derek. Another thing that you disrespect. Real football is happening on Thursday. All of a sudden he likes football. Also, speaking of mailbag Monday, some of these questions are going to be diverted to Jesse for him to answer in the mailbag as well. So look out for that as well as exclusive video and podcast content. We hope you guys sign up, become a diehard today.

I know you're already, DBAX die hard. So be a PHNX diehard. If you're watching us right now on the PHNX Sports YouTube channel, God bless you for being here. We know there's other things going on. Thank you guys for being here, of course. Make sure to subscribe to the PHNXports YouTube channel. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever any of our shows go live.

Also, if you're listening to us on your favorite audio podcasting app, please subscribe to us there. If you haven't done so. And leave us a review. If you haven't done so, we thank you for doing that. Leah, we got some more mailbag questions. Cleve at Classic underscore KL on Twitter. What should the debacks do with Pave and Smith?

I don't know. Locker room attendant. Wow. No, I didn't mean that in a bad way. I was just trying to give him other jobs so that he could stay busy. I just want him to stay busy. No, I didn't mean that. Paymond Smith actually showed some flashes of being very good towards the end of the last season when he returns.

So I don't know. I think the Diamondbacks right now aren't really worried about their surplus of guys. I think that they just realize they do have a lot of capable, especially when it comes to outfielders. a lot of capable outfielders. And Pavin Smith, honestly, could be a really good, maybe not everyday outfielder, but a backup as well as a backup at first base. Right, right.

Yeah, something that D-Backs just haven't had enough of recently. And I think Diamondbacks fans might be so unfamiliar with this that it feels like foreign and something that they don't have a right to have. But, like, depth is very important in a major league franchise, right? Especially for this team that's been crippled by injuries at times. and absolutely, you know, shook to its core. You need a guy where like, you know, if something happens to Christian Walker or whatever, right,

and you need someone to play first base for two months. Like you just said, Pavin Smith could be a guy who fits in well there, right? Especially if they trade one of their outfielders, Paveen Smith gives you some depth. And again, it's not to say that Paveen Smith is going to measure up to what the guy was doing that he's replacing, right? But it's the reality that you need players,

on your in your organization that can come up and can come in to those situations and just give you stability. It's something that Diamondbacks really haven't had enough of for a very long time. And it oftentimes is the difference between teams like the Dodgers and other teams. It's not necessarily that the Dodgers top line talent is better than everyone else. It's that when one of their top line talent players gets injured, the guy coming in to replace them is not a significant step lower than the guy that they're replacing. Right. And so I think that's a, a big thing to keep to to keep in mind when evaluating Pave and Smith's future. Like he can have a lot of value fulfilling that role for the debacks.

But yeah, in terms of like, like is he going to start next year? Probably not, right? Like I think we're at the point where he's reached sort of a dead end in terms of being like an everyday guy for this baseball team. There's just so many guys in front of him on the depth chart at this point. He could get traded. It's possible. I don't think the debacks are necessarily looking to trade him.

because of all the reasons I just mentioned. But, you know, if another team sees something there and is willing to pay a little bit more than what the Diamondbacks are maybe expecting to get, then maybe that's something they pull the trigger on. But I don't see a need to make any kind of move with Pavin Smith at this point. Exactly. I agree. Well, we got Leah. Who is the best shortstop in D-Backs history?

A-Z Girl at AZ-D-Backs 192 asks. This one is hard for me to pin down. what are your thoughts here jesse so i wrote a story um this was like the like last off season so i think it was like january of 2022 you could still find it on our website um i wrote a story about like the best positions in diamondbacks history so i um added up all of their war at each position um over the course of the entire franchise's history and then made some notes about like the best performers in franchise history at each position so i sort of answer this question there um shortstop has not been great position for the Diamondbacks over the course of their franchise history. But my answer is

Stephen Drew. I think he had the best single season in 2010. Stephen Drew hit 278, 352, 458 with 15 home runs and 10 stolen bases. It was almost a five-war season for him. Other than that, though, I mean, Nick Ahmed, you know, Didi Rigori, like there's just the DBAX haven't had. It's going to be usual candidates, but nobody really sticks out as being great. Stephen Drew, one thing to remember was he would have been the number one overall pick the year he was drafted, but because he was represented by Scott Boris and wanted a large signing bonus, he ended up slipping down to the Diamondbacks at 15th, I believe, in the draft somewhere around there. Yeah, 15th. So that ended up being a huge pickup. And to be honest, I mean, he was a big reason why that team returned to a

playoff team, you know, while he was a part of it. So, yeah, I really enjoyed Stephen Drew's time here with the Diamondbacks. I thought he was a great player. But I will say that the pickings are slim when it comes to shortstop. Yeah, Ahmed's had a couple good years, like 2017 and 2018, we're both decent years for Nick Ahmed overall. He was like in the 15 to 20 home run range. And his offense has always been a little below average, but those years it was at least

pretty close. Another name that is interesting is D.D. Gregorius. D.D. Regorius, if the Diamondbacks had held on to him, I think very well could have been the best shortstop in franchise history. Yeah. Because he got down-ballot MVP votes with the Yankees in 2017 and 2018. He had 25 homers in 2017. He had 27 homers in 2018. He was a pretty good player. And not to say you'd necessarily go back and redo the trade.

I'm not necessarily saying that. That's a whole other conversation. Theobax got some good value back in that deal in the form of Robbie Ray. But it is interesting at least to think about what might have been if he had stuck around. I agree. All right, what else we got, Leah? And that leads us to this question from Travis Moore. More for me on Twitter asks, does Jordan Lawler get the call up this season?

Who could be potentially the Diamondback's best shortstop in team history. Well, that remains to be seen, but I don't know. Jesse, does he get the call up? Do we think we see him early this season? Do we see him kind of get the late call up like Corbyn Carroll got before the end of the season last year? I think it'd be a late call up if it happens. You know, he just got a little taste of AA toward the end of this past season. So probably start in double A next year.

It seems like the debacks, at least at this point, they're not real big on like the going straight from AA to the big leagues thing. So it seems like you'd probably have to go to AAA. Why would they when you can stop in Reno? smash the ball for, you know, a couple of months. I mean, Amarillo is even more hitter friendly than no, I know, though. So I, yeah. About building that confidence, though, you know what I mean? I think it's, I don't know if I'm quite ready to say it's likely that Jordan Lawler gets to the big leagues in 2023, but I will not be surprised at all. Exactly. I will not be surprised at all.

He's basically set up to do exactly what Corbyn Carroll did this year, where he started in AA was outstanding there, went to AAA, continued to be good, and the D-Backs basically had no choice but to call him up toward the end of the year. I think ideally, I think that's what happens here. Injuries will be the biggest variable for Jordan Lawler at this point. He's been injured a couple of times and it could potentially rear its head and slow his progression this season. I still think 2024 is the most likely time when we will see him.

Ah, so you're saying no Jordan Lawler in 2019? I'm saying no. I'm saying it because the Diamondbacks are going to have if Nick Ahmed and, you know, Rolda Pardomo. Perdomo, our risk king can stay healthy. they're going to have the depth there at shortstop. Yeah, they probably won't be in a situation where they're like, we're out of short stops, like give us Jordan Lawley because we don't have anyone else.

That's a fair point. But I don't know. I mean, after what he did in the fall league, like I don't really have any big doubts about him being able to go into AA next year and have a lot of success. And if that happens, I mean, AAA doesn't seem to be that much more difficult.

At least it wasn't for Corbyn Carroll and some of the other DeBAC's prospects recently. So I think it's very possible we see, Jordan Lawler and the big leagues at the end of next year, which would just, I mean, think about the excitement of that happening toward the end of this year. Like all the guys that are already, yeah, like Corbyn Carroll is, you know, first full season from him. Brandon fought. We're probably going to see a lot of getting Jordan Lawler at the end of the year would just be like the icing on the cake. I'm so excited. He's getting me so excited. All right. What else? Why is Leah making a sad

face? Wales just scored. A penalty kick. I'm very upset. I blame you. It's all Jesse's fault. Who cares? Who cares? Who cares. Look at who cares? Throw this man out of here. All right. Last question. Last question. Let's go. What do we got? Let's bring the vibes back and Daniel Cortez is going to bring the vibes. Thank you so much. Danielle. Danielle asks, by the way, at Aberrake, Danielle on Twitter, ask which D-Backs player or coach has the best Thanksgiving spread? Tori Lovolo. Yeah, darn it. That's exactly the name I had. There is no. We've seen this. We've zoomed into this man's house so many times. We also know that he goes and visits his daughter in like, fronels. France or Japan or wherever she's at. China, I think. China is where she was that last time? I don't know. I thought they met up in France.

Yeah, she does speak Mandarin. Yeah, she spoke with Jack Summers, who also speaks Mandarin. Yeah, we showed you guys that clip. That was incredible. We very much agree on this one. Tori Lobolo, it goes all out. He just seems like the kind of guy who would take that sort of thing very seriously. Yeah.

He would dress a little nice, but not too nice. You would come in, it would be a warm, inviting atmosphere. beer, there would be liquor, all sorts of liquor of your choice, but like a food spread that would be incredible. And I bet I don't know. I don't want to, like, I don't know. I feel like this is going to be an insulting thing. But I feel like it wouldn't be cooked.

It wouldn't be cooked in the home. It would have been brought in from some very expensive restaurant or catering service. You think he does takeout? I don't know. I don't know. Oh, that's fascinating. Takeout is different. I'm calling this catering is what I'm calling.

Okay, catering. Let's get it the right thing, right? Like he probably has people that come in and like I don't know He also seems to see this is again This is like the Brent Strom thing for me He also seems like a very reasonable down earth person as well That wouldn't maybe you know need all those bells and whistles But I don't know yeah

You're having a good time at a Tori Lavello party That's what I'm saying part part of the equation for me is that Frankly Tori Lavella doesn't have a whole lot going on right now Like wow Like I mean like he's he does I mean MLB managers stay busy year round There's no doubt about that The man gets 90 days of downtime, Jesse. Maybe.

Yeah, but he's still kind of in the middle of that, right? Like, between the end of the season and December, like, I think managers in general are able to kind of take a little bit of a step back. And you have time, you know? Like, you have time to go all out in your food preparation and not have to worry about work and other things. He's also Italian, so I think you would take a lot of pride in actually preparing the meal himself. Yeah. I don't think he's doing catering. Well, here's what I will say.

Here's what I will say. And this is what I want to reiterate is like he's going to make sure you have a good time. Right. Like he's not going to just throw something together and just have you come in. Sure. Whatever. Like he's going to make sure it's nice. There's going to be like one of those Thanksgiving playlists like Michaela put on at our PHNX

Friendsgiving. That's like classy music, you know, some jazz or something playing. Like Shane kept stopping on his phone while he was walking. He hated it so much. No, I think it was, wasn't it playing from him? his phone and he like kept accidentally stopping it? No, I think it was playing for Max and he was trying to interrupt

it and play like Oh, okay. That sounds like something Shane would do. That's probably more on board, but anyway, is that it? Any of players going to put on a good Thanksgiving? Um, I don't know. Tori Lavello was absolutely the first day that came to my mind here. Um, I feel

like, uh, Mattis and Bumgardner would surprise you, I bet. Like Madison Bumgarner. Madison, I could see it. I could see it. He'd be very wholesome, surprisingly. I think Merrill Kelly probably would have like I think he would probably go all out for for Thanksgiving as well. He is the roles. So of course. Yeah.

Okay. He's the roles. Don't forget that. We got, we thank you guys, of course, for your questions. And we hope you guys, no matter what, are thinking of your guests the way Tori Lavallo would think of you this Thanksgiving and putting together a good, good function. I have a bunch of family coming in town. And I'm probably not supposed to say this publicly, but I'm not looking forward to it. Anyway, but I do have the Drap King Sportsbook app, of course, for me to make some bets and to keep me entertained during all of this.

So new customers, of course, can make any $5 NBA Money Line bet and get $200 in free bets of your team wins over at the Drap King Sportsbook. Just use our promo code of PHNX. That's promo code PHNX on the Drap King Sportsbook app. Minimumum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. Don't forget to check out those opt-in specials that they have up at the top. They have a lot of good deals going on, a lot of good extra values for you to be. bet on. I hit on that on a, I think it was a Derek Henry anytime touchdown. And I got myself

a little plus 100 on that. So make sure to check that out and use our promo code again, a PHNX over at the Drafking Sportsbook app. Also, we know what time of the year it is. We know you have guests coming. You need all that extra furniture you can get. So go check out our friends at More Furniture. We're hooking you up during this time of the year. With the More Furniture Fall Sale at at MoreFurniture.com, you'll receive a $100 gift card for every $1,000 you spend. So make sure to go get all of the chairs that you need because guess what you don't have enough chairs i'm telling you that now i hate to break it to you but uh in the meantime we're going to be having a good time i'm actually going to be out tomorrow because we're giving sean a chance on this show yeah we're

giving him an audition it's finally time for sean to take a swing at the plate so he's uh he's going to be stepping in as the dh tomorrow we're talking major league so uh yeah so don't don't don't miss out on this guy get yeah i will i will be giving my uh my ratings and uh my thoughts on tomorrow. There'll be a little cardboard cut out of me in the background that they'll slowly take little squares of clothing off of and that's that alone is terrifying to even think about. But of course we thank you guys for being

here in the chat. We have to say this, we're obligated to say this whether Jesse wants to or not. Go USA. Of course in the meantime you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at Cap underscore K-Man with a K. Jesse's at Jesse and Friedman. Our show is at P-HNX underscore D-Backs but of course all roads lead to at P-HNX underscore sports

on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for joining us On behalf of Leah, Jesse and myself, we always appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you watch soccer!