PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - There's Always Money in the Banana Stand

Episode Date: December 7, 2021

On this episode, Derek and Jesse are discussing how the minor leagues will go on regardless of the Lockout and if we would listen to offers for Ketel Marte and Carson Kelly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, officially known as the mayor around these parts. Your mayor of PHNX. And this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King Sportsbook app. Go download the Draft King Sportsbook app now. Use our promo code of PHNX bet $1 on any team to score. And when $100 in free bets, if they score, you score with promo code PHNX this week at Draft King's Sportsbook.

Of course, I'm joined by my vice mayor. My friend, my co-host, the one and only Thunderstick Jesse Friedman. Derek, how are you, sir? Jesse, I am good. I am good because even though we're locked out, and I know people can't see it, but I'm throwing the lockout season graphic up just to remind Jesse and myself that it's lockout season.

But it doesn't mean that we still don't have transactions happening, Jesse. I know that they might not be the type of transactions that we want to see, you know, the big league type. But the transactions are still happening at a minor league level. Recently, the San Francisco Giants signed pitcher John DuPlanterier to a minor league deal. Sounds like a familiar name. That's a guy. That's a guy we know, right? and let me tell you, I just have to question with all of the hype that was once around him,

with how excited we were supposed to be as a top prospect. I have to ask the question, is he now one of the biggest minor league disappointments that we can remember in DeBax history? There was always some risk with John DuPontier just because of his interest. injury history. And unfortunately, there's there's kind of a, I don't want to say a tradition, but there's a bit of a trend with pitchers coming out of rice, which is where John DuPontier went to school. There's a bit of a trend there with pitchers struggling with arm related injuries. And unfortunately, that was a big, a big issue for him here, Derek. I don't necessarily know

what John DePontier would have become had he not had. so many injuries these last few seasons. But you have to wonder, I mean, it's not long ago that John DuPontier was a very big name in this organization. I mean, in 2017, this was his first full season of professional baseball. How about a 1.39 ERA in 24 starts? It was, it was ridiculous. That was with Cain County and Vysalia.

of Isalia at the time was the team's single A advance squad, and then Kane County was the short season, a single A squad. He performed pretty much equally well in both places. And at that point, you had to wonder, I mean, this guy really might be the next ace of this franchise. And the next season, he kind of backed it up, 16 starts,

and he had a 255 ERA, that coming with AA, and then there were some rookies, league outings in there also due to injuries. And ever since 2018, Derek, he just hasn't. He either has been injured or he's been on the field and just not performing the way that we expected he would. The velocity dipped down. And really for several years now, we haven't seen much of John DuPontier at any level,

not just not in the big leagues, but he hasn't really been pitching that much in the minors either because of those injuries. So there's always some risk here for that. I think there's also a case to be made that this ongoing issue that the Diamondbacks have with player development plays into this as well, right? You wonder if other organizations might have been able to get more out of a guy like John DePontier. But this is an all too familiar situation for Diamondbacks fans watching a once highly touted,

particularly pitching prospect that just unfortunately didn't pan out in this organization. and now he's headed to San Francisco and Derek, I know there are people tweeting at us already. You might as well crown him the Cy Young winner now as he heads to another organization and we see what he's able to accomplish there. Sounds about right. And like he said, he appeared 15 times in 2019,

4.42 ERA in 36 and 2 thirds innings. Very promising. 3.95 FIP, struggled to stay healthy, basically and pitch 21, 21 endings total in two seasons after that between AAA and the major. So just a significant drop off there. And obviously a big part of that was that inability to stay healthy. This season, 13.15 ERA.

So, yeah, that's not great. Hopefully, honestly, he's one of those guys. I feel like I personally will continue to root. for. And I feel that way, kind of about Robbie Ray, right? Like, Robbie Ray, I'm not, I'm mad about it, but I'm not mad at Robbie Ray. And I'm very pleased for him to go get that contract with the Mariners and for him to get paid. I wish him nothing but the best. And I hope he continues to be successful now that he has this longer term deal, right? I feel the same way about John DuClauntier. I, I almost hope just a little bit, just just a little tiny bit that he comes back to

to make us a little upset about, you know, not holding on to them, right? It's understandable that they did. And that that's the thing with some of these guys. Like you can blame the Diamondbacks as much as you would like to, understandably so, for, you know, not sticking with guys and letting guys go. However, I will say this. We also tend to blame them for hanging on the guys for too long. We tend to blame them for putting too much stocking guys that we, as fans,

tend to move on from, you know, quicker. Like they know this guy, they know what he's capable of. We're judging him based on his performances during these games during the regular season on the field. There's just a different assessment going on there because sometimes they feel like if they can get these guys to break out of whatever's holding them back in live games, you know, they've seen them really show a ton of promise

or, you know, they've seen them smoke the ball in batting practice. or at other times, they just, it's not clicking just yet into success during a game. But we, we as fans, we don't, we don't care. We just, we want to see it work. And if we, if it's not working, we're ready to move on to the next thing, right? We tend to be a little less patient, I feel like, than the team does. The Diamondbacks are definitely one of those teams that are, are more patient. And Mike Hazen has admitted to that, you know, about how that player assessment, when you're so

involved with these guys, your judgment is clouded by, you know, how, how close you are to these players. And like I talked about in a previous episode, how you're, you know, you're secretly rooting for them because then you're also proving that you were right by putting your trust in them and acquiring them as a player and all that kind of jazz. So anyway, uh, John D'Plante, we wish you the best. We do. We do. Yeah, I, I want to mention that, uh, I believe, uh, Jeff Wiser, our good friend, was in, you know, Jeff lives in the Portland area. And when John DuPontier came through Hillsboro playing for the hops, of course, I remember Jeff telling me about a conversation he had with him. And just how John DuPontier is just one of the

most intelligent people that you will meet. He's incredibly well spoken. And so I just, yeah, I want to throw that out there. Just that John DuPontier is really, like we truly do wish him the best he's an incredible person um he made some profound statements about a year and a half ago um when all of the you know unrest around our country uh was occurring with protests and whatnot um you know just talking about the place of black people in america and john du pontier was part of a round table uh had a lot of insightful things to say a lot of sad stories um but a lot of insightful things to bring to that conversation so i think we've all benefited from from john duplante in one way or another you know outside of of what he's done on the

field but but certainly certainly wish him the best moving forward i want to say i i forget exactly which game it was but there was a game back in his debut season in 2019 it was at home i want to say it was against the chicago cubs in april or may and he had a great outing. He came in, I think in relief. I want to say. He was mostly used as a reliever at that time. Well, I want to say that he came in and the, maybe extra innings game or something like that, right? He came in into a situation and he just pitched great. He pitched outstanding, right? He got, I think he gave up one hit, didn't give up any runs. I think he struck out. you know, four or five.

And after the game, I was leaving. I parked in the garage behind Chase Field. And they were, I believe, sending him down, if I'm not mistaken, after that game. I'm not sure if that was the case or, because it was like a weird send-up call-back situation. Yeah. Right. Like he got set down and then called right back. And I remember, I remember.

I'm walking out to my car. Like I said, I park in the garage behind Chase Field, so I'm getting ready to cross over the train tracks. And I see John DuPlanteer outside standing on the corner with like his bag, like a rolling luggage bag. And I guess they had called for a car to come pick him up. And this is all understandable, right? We're in this model.

of like lifts and such and I don't know if he called it himself you know I don't know if it was like he was waiting for his car to arrive or what the situation was but it just it seemed very weird to me like I was kind of like

I feel like I would take better care of my young pitching prospect yeah who just came in you know after being called up and dazzled, essentially, in his performance. And now we're sending them back down to Reno, I imagine is where he was going back down to.

Sure. And, you know, it was just, it was a weird situation where I was like, it's kind of, no, this is odd that they're like, just sending him on the, like a car to go, like really, nobody from the organization can drive them over to the airport. I mean, maybe that's a little too unofficial. I don't know how protocol is. I don't even know if this is weird.

But it was like, again, it's pretty late after, you know, we do the media appearance and after I finished up my story and left. So seeing him out there, it was like all the fans were gone. Even the people that asked for autographs and stand around the entrance where the players drive in and out of were all gone. It was just DuPlanteré by himself. And I just, it just couldn't, it just struck me as like, man, I don't know, but I would take care of a guy like this a little bit better than this.

That's just that's just me, I guess. I don't know. So he wasn't, he wasn't like in the players parking lot or anything. No, he was on the street of, and maybe again, maybe that was,

maybe that was hit on him. Maybe there's a better place for him to wait. And he's just unfamiliar. So he just walked out to the street. He's a very nice guy, right? So logically, I would see him as being the type of guy that's like,

why should I wait behind this security? be gate. That's going to complicate things for the Uber or Lyft driver when I could just stand out here on the street and wait for him to pick me up and then I could just hop in the car and leave. I'm an efficiency guy myself, so I get it. But like he was standing out there with this tall like hard luggage bag and stuff, you know, it just just asking to be robbed, I suppose. Like, I don't know. It's not a great area over there by Chasefield. I just wouldn't have had him out there like that. I think I think Robin, John DuPontier is probably easier said than done. No, good point. Good point. I wouldn't, I'm not so sure if I'm going to be confidently trying to take him down.

Six four. Hey, hey, I'm not, let's put it this way. I'm not going on the Draft King's Sportsbook app and putting my money on the attacker. Let's just say that. My money would be on John DuPlanter. Unfortunately, Jesse, as you know, I cannot bet on street fights on the Draft King Sportsbook app. But what I can do is I can bet on NFL games. because they are the official sports betting partner of the NFL, and you can get in on it to new customers can bet just $1. And any team the score can win $100 in free bets. It's literally that simple. Draft King Sportsbook customers can also get skin in the game with new same game parlayes. I'm still talking about it, Jesse, because I won on my Cowards Parlay this weekend,

but I am proud of it. And you can be too, you call it whatever you want. call it a call it the smart man's play whatever you want to call it i still haven't come up with a nickname for myself but i used to call myself mr parley for instances just like this and you can call yourself that too call yourself big papa parlay it's a much cool nickname anyway to buy multiple bets from multiple games from the same games for a bigger payout from multiple sports it doesn't matter the more legs you add the more money you can win draft kings is safe secure and reliable best of all you can deposit would draw your cash whenever you want you can also get same game

parlay insurance that you'll see on draft king's sports book that they offer you the ability to bet up to $25 and get that money back in a free bet should you lose not saying that you will because you know what you're doing at least better than what an attacker would be doing try to new attack John Duplantea so remember download the draft king sportsbook app now use our promo code of phnx bet one dollar on any team to score and win $100 in free bets if they score You score with the promo code PHNX this week at Drafking Sportsbook. 21 and over only. Arizona only gambling problem.

Dial 1-800 next step. New customers only eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com slash sportsbook for details. Oh, Jesse, Jesse, Jesse. So I don't know. I might be getting crazy. It might be this IPA I'm drinking right now. But I have to ask this question.

if for some reason baseball cannot resolve the collective bargaining agreement. I know they will, but let's just pretend they don't. The minor league season, the minor league season, Jesse, will still go on.

That is pretty weird, isn't it? Yeah. If opening day comes and goes and there is no baseball being played, the minor league season will still go on. I don't know how long it would go on for, which is just a really, weird prospect.

The minor leagues, obviously, as people know what they are for baseball, their entire importance would be to, you know, keep these players. And I kind of like that they would still go on because these players are supposed to be advancing in their career. They're supposed to be getting better. They can't sit around because the major league players association is having a work stoppage. They need to still. It doesn't.

It doesn't. It doesn't. What is being discussed is not really. going to be about them at the end of the end of the correct correct because players on the 40 man would be ineligible to be a part of this but players who are not on the 40 man which essentially is kind of locked right now right like yeah they can't make transactional baseball moves so they can't change their 40 man roster right do you could you imagine if if players who were on the 40 man were allowed to just to just ditch and just play in the minors instead here's an interesting

prospect. I will tell you what players can do, Jesse, Friedman. They can go play overseas. Oh, true. They are able to go play overseas. So if for some reason this does drag on, we're going to see some top tier talent, the KBO. That's all I'm saying. I mean, if this drags on, the KBO is going to get awesome. I mean, I don't think you're going to see Mike Trout go over to the KVO. But I see what I see what you're saying, like players who are kind of on the, like kind of on the bubble, you know, hopeful. they might get a major league contract, but not totally sure. It'd be like, yeah, why sit here and mess around waiting for this thing to resolve

when I can just go play baseball right now overseas? That I could totally see. Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly is a perfect example of somebody whose career was not impacted negatively by going over and pitching in Korea, right? Yeah. He went over there. He became desirable. The Arizona Diamondbacks brought him on.

That's one of the reasons why he's here. once he was here he proved himself at a major league level he's been one of their most consistent starting pitchers over the past few seasons and kind of kind of is the blueprint for if you need to go that route to try to get better and and you know then get noticed it's it's it's still a route that you can take to the major leagues i i think it would be hilarious though honestly it would be so awesome if if there was no major league season and and somehow players on the 40-man roster were allowed to just play in the minors instead. Obviously, this is not a real scenario.

I don't care. I love the scenario, though. Could you imagine? Could you imagine, like, like, you know, all of these small towns across the country, you know, South Bend, Indiana is hosting this game that has all the, you know, Shohei Otani and, you know, Mike Trout and Carlos Correa and all these guys playing in it. It's not that uncommon, right? just because at times when guys get injured in a rehabbing,

they do go play their rehab starts in minor league games. I have seen the Reno Aces lose their shit about certain guys making their rehab starts. I was in Tosborough when Carson Kelly was there this last year. And that's his hometown. And people were going crazy. Carson Kelly's like siblings and parents were walking around. And you could see how much he looked like everyone. It was pretty funny.

They're there's local celebrities. basically at that point. They are. Yeah. Well, and like you said, there's 120 franchises, 120 franchises in the minor league system, right? I'm not saying that it would sustain baseball because obviously this whole thing would fall apart if the collective bargaining agreement doesn't get done.

And the minor league year comes and goes. I don't know what would happen, but baseball at that point would be literally in shambles anyway. So the last thing we would have to be worried about is the minor league system, right? But at the very least, if baseball does not, you know, start on time or does not play a season for some reason, minor leagues could take over America just because it wouldn't be a hot, like people would go. They would be a big event. Yeah.

It's a fun thing. You can't watch it on TV very easily. A lot of games like, I imagine like, I don't know, are the Las Vegas aviators? are they, what are they like, double A, triple A? I don't know on top of my head. I'm guessing they're one of the upper levels if they're in Vegas. Yeah. Yeah, they're an Oakland team, I believe.

Like how many people would start flooding Las Vegas Atheaters games while they're in Las Vegas doing other stuff to go see some baseball just because you miss seeing it, right? Like there's plenty of opportunity there for people to still see baseball. And I think it would be interesting to see if baseball did, stop if we would see this big boom in minor league stadiums or if people just would overall lose interest because of the work stoppage and then maybe even impact the minor league teams negatively. I like I can totally see it going either way and I don't know which way it would go.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it looks like the aviators are a AAA team. So yeah. I could totally, I could totally see in like a, you know, a bigger city like that people would totally. totally flock to games because there's no baseball on TV. There's no baseball anywhere. So where else are you going to get it, right? And I liked their stadium. I went to their stadium one time. There wasn't a baseball game going on.

But again, it was kind of like what I was saying about the Amarillo, right? It's just kind of like a really nice stadium. It's like, yes, it's not as big as, you know, your major league ballparks. But there's something that I, as a baseball lover, has come to appreciate about stadiums like that and enjoy going to. I mean, it's, it's what spring training is all about. I felt like I kind of fell back in love with the spring training parks a bit because I didn't have to deal with, which sounds crazy, but the normal crowds that I have to deal

with during spring training, right? This was, there was plenty of parking. It was free. I didn't have to, like, find out where the, where the media lot is or try to finagle my way into not paying for parking, you know, all that kind of stuff. right right and like yeah i could there was a smattering of people where i could sit wherever i want nobody cared what i was doing or what i was doing you know where i was at it was just great it's great and uh i uh i really enjoyed that atmosphere i know spring training is way way more crowded

and and way more hectic than that but it was still really nice just to get back to kind of like baseball being small and not so big as it's grown to be in in you know in the major league I know there are some major league ballpark still also that have that small feel, right? That's it's, again, it's one of the things that I have kind of lost because of how many games we cover a Chase Field. And I am not going to say that Chase Field is a bad place because apparently people really, really enjoy it. But it's a goddamn plain hanger and I don't like being in there when the roof is closed. however, if the roof was open, it'd be so hot, it'd be miserable, and I would be complaining the entire time.

Well, in the press box would be air conditioned, right? Yeah, I mean, no, but you know, let me tell you. I have been there during some hot games where they had the, you know, roof open and the air conditioning on kind of fighting each other. It was a losing battle. It was still, it was still unpleasant. Maybe I feel like that that, that in some ways could be to blame for the Diamondbacks lack of spending is just like,

what is the air conditioning bill like in a building that you're not really filling with that many people, right? Like, I mean, they're paying, I guess, the same amount no matter what. But that is an expense that the Diamondbacks pay that not many. I mean, are there any other teams? I'm trying to think. What other baseball stadiums are air conditioned? I'm already 100% convinced that the Arizona Diamondbacks are hiding blind.

in one of their like convenient stance because I don't I don't know where the money is going jessie so I feel like Ken Kendrick's lining the walls of you know in the grand scheme of it their air conditioning bill is probably not prohibiting how much money they spend on the field I mean it's not like it's not like they're spending 25 million dollars on air conditioning so we can probably put that to rest here's the thing he doesn't have to show his book so he could say if he told people from Seattle that he was spending $25 million on air conditioning at Chase Field in the desert of Arizona, they would say, yeah, that seems about right. I know they would, Jesse. I know they would. And he would have to do nothing to back to Seattle. Exactly. I think air conditioning around here is pretty rare, yeah.

Oh, you guys are so lucky. However, anyway, back to things not during this time of the year. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. I don't know. I've been talking about hiding money places. It reminds me of the arrested development episode. I know you're not going to know this. But when they, there's always money in the banana stand, Jesse.

And there's always money in baseball somewhere. There's going to be money in the minor leagues. There's going to be somewhere to watch it. There's going to be somebody that capitalizes on it. I don't think people, even though I've speculated on it, I don't think people are going to turn on baseball. They'll just find other places to watch it. Really. Other things will step up.

Look at how many leagues are tried to usurp the NFL, which seemed like a fruitless endeavor from the get-go. The XFL, the ugly alliance, the AAFL, whatever. The other one was called out. What was called is stupid. They're all stupid. A bunch of idiots throwing money in a pit. Then they all lost money because you can't beat the NFL, right? The NFL is entirely too powerful, so I don't know what would make you think.

that now would be the time other than they were seeing like the backlash and social pressure from people about the NFL on a lot of their issues. A lot of the ways they're treating players on a lot of their, you know, social justice issues, things like that, right? But people, it still wasn't dwindling in popularity. There still wasn't a weakness there for you to exploit and try to create another league now that lets people do what they want, you know, like. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no, just because you were going to let your players kneel or stand. was not going to make a difference of people watching your new league versus the NFL, right?

I will say that baseball isn't really in a position either to, like, lose out to a new baseball league. But come on, man, I'm saying if they don't, if they, if they don't play, people will find other baseball to watch because other baseball will see the opportunity like KBO to make their product more available to us here in the States, just like what happened during the pandemic when they were the only baseball being played, right? and ESPN and other people will jump on it. I'm not so sure, because I don't, I am not totally convinced that there's a, like the problem that Major League Baseball is having is that interest in the sport is, is kind of dwindling relative to other sports.

I'm not so sure that's a market that a new startup league is going to want to enter. That's what I'm saying. Not a startup. Not a start. That's why I said, not a startup, but somebody like the KBO. And that's what I thought I said that. I might have said that incorrectly.

I meant not like a new league at this point to jump on it. Sure, sure. Somebody else, even if it's the minors, right? Even if it's the minor leagues figuring out television deals or some way to air it, if it's not available now, you know, or just seeing a huge increase in people coming out to the ballpark. I mean, people will find a way to go still see. baseball and one way or another, whether it's on TV or if it's going out to see these minor league teams, you know, I just, I think baseball is in a different position than the football

was. I think baseball, again, is one of those sports that, or one of those leagues that, I mean, they kind of need to watch what they're doing because they're already kind of weak. And really, that interest, that waning interest can easily be focused elsewhere, just to get that little bit of a baseball fix and then, you know, for the most part, be okay with MLB not playing baseball. Right. Well, we were, we were all NC Dinos fans for a few days last year. So it's not, it's not the craziest thing in the world. Go dinos. Hell yeah. Man, they still have, I bet someone still, I bet they pass that sword trophy around to everybody on the team like they do with the Stanley Cup. Like everybody got to have the sword for a day. Took pictures. What? What? Go ahead. No, what? Go ahead.

ahead. What were you guys like? I was just going to say that the dinoes are somehow the only team name that I remember. I don't remember any other KBO team names. Was their branding just way better than everyone else's? Well, I guess, you know, the thing with it is they're all like the KBO teams were all like Samsung this and Kia Tigers and like they're, they're all a bunch of like really, really heavily sponsored teams. So the thing about the that's like and even the names you don't recognize like LG has a team right and I think Samsung has a team I think it's the the Samsung lions and so like the thing about NC dinos is it sounds it I've determined this this is why the dynos are the most popular team

it sounds like you're saying the North Carolina dynos right everything else is a weird name right like the Dusan Bears and the Kia Tigers and I think it was the LG twins, you know, and like it's literally LG, the one that has all of my electronics in the, in my house, right? It's the same company. And these are all company sponsored teams. So I just, I think NC Dinos just sounded a lot like, uh, like, uh, like, uh, like an America team. I don't know. I could be wrong about that. I also really like their logo. And I think it was talking Jake or, uh, John Boy or maybe it was the barstool. sports guys. Somebody got really big on their

on their mascot and I know that a lot of people jumped on board because of some of the fun people were having and see that's the thing. We'll find ways to have fun. We don't need you MLB. We will find ways. Well, I need you. Jesse need you. We need you to be employed. I shouldn't be saying these things. So I take it all back, but other people don't need you. We need you. And we need you guys to go to go phtnx.com. and sign up to become a member. You can sign up, become an annual member, and you'll get a free t-shirt over at the P-HNX Locker.com,

which you can check out and get yourself some excellent t-shirts. I absolutely love our T-shirts, and I have quite the growing collection, by the way. Or you can sign up to become a month-to-month member, and you'll get your first month for just 50 cents. Remember, members can get access to our members-only Discord. You also get members-only deals over at the P-HNX Locker.com as well. So join, become a member,

and when we say member, we mean a member of our family over here at go p hnx.com. Get all of our articles. Jesse has a great piece on Mark Melison. Mlanson. Mlanson. There it is. And again, I did it. I did it.

I screwed it up again, Jesse. Mark Malanson. And also, we'll have all sorts of content for you, regardless of if there's a lockout or not, we're not stopping. They might stop. We don't stop. But interesting reports coming out, Jesse, that of course, teams are interested in the Arizona Diamondbacks best players.

The vultures are circling, and I think what they are seeing is the Arizona Diamondbacks timeline and how it might be adjusting more towards 2023, 24. So maybe they want to part ways with the likes of Cattel Marte and Carson Kelly. I guess I have to ask you, would you part ways with these players at this point? That's a tough question. I mean, it all depends on what you're getting in return. I definitely would not, I don't think I would pursue moving either of these players, just because they're both here until, they're both here until 2024.

Carson Kelly, I believe, is here through 2025. So when you look at it from that perspective, you know, we've talked about the Diamondbacks, all these pitching prospects and everything. It's not crazy that they could be in somewhat of an interesting position to contend. in 2023, right? And especially 2024. And, you know, when that time comes, if and when that time comes, which hopefully it does,

as these prospects start to get up here and, you know, start blooming at the major league level, I'm going to want Catelle Marte and Carson Kelly to be part of that team. I mean, those are the two, you know, biggest names on this roster currently. And when you have control over them for for that long, I think it's incredibly valuable. I would answer the phone if I was Mike Hazen, and I'm sure. he will answer the phone because I'm also pretty dang interested in what you could get for Cotel Marte because of just how highly valued he will be by other teams. But it's not a move I'm looking to make, but it's a move that I'd listen and just see what's out there. I mean, if you can find

guys who are controllable even past that date, you also have the kind of ceiling that Cotel Marte does, I wouldn't say it's a totally crazy idea, but I don't think that's something I'm trying to to do at this point. I'm going to say I'm not, I'm not taking this trade, but I guess you're right. I wouldn't, I couldn't help but listen to offers. Yeah. I think, I think my issue with this is that Marte and Kelly are, for me, the core of this team along with Zach Gallen.

Yeah. Those are the guys that I want to want to want to build around. And you and I have had debates about other, you know, other players, but the other players that kind of, you know, are in the realm of those three, those guys aren't untouchable the same way. I would see these three as being untouchable. If someone wanted to make me a deal for Madison, Bumgarner that took his contract off of our books, I would take it in a heartbeat, in a heartbeat, you know, but that's, he's still very valuable

to this team. It's just different. These three guys are the future of this team. these three guys are the ones that honestly if if the timeline for this team is let's say 2024 um i don't know i want these guys performing at a high level in their contract season trying to either get money from from the diamondbacks or elsewhere and and trying to win you know trying to make that their big season their big splash i it the stars are lining up in a certain way. And I'm getting entirely too hopeful. So I stopped talking. I'm going to just,

I'm going to just leave it alone. But it feels like, you know, the front office is very aware of where their window might open up. And it's not going to be that far into the future. But I definitely don't think it's 2022. 2022, I think, is the season where they're going to build confidence and feel like they definitely made huge strides in the right direction from where they were at last season. Yeah. And then hopefully 2023 is that year where that confidence somehow manifests into just a different level of, of, you know, playing baseball where you feel like you're going to win every game. It's like Lamolo said, where you get to that level, where you walk into the clubhouse

every day, knowing you're going to win instead of hoping you're going to win. And that's where the Diamondbacks need to get to. They're very far away from that right now, but 2022 could be the year that changes that that thought process for them mentally in the clubhouse. But I don't know. I've definitely listened to the returns, but that return would have to be big, and it can't just be prospects.

You know what I mean? Like, I don't know if I'm just taking prospects any longer on guys that are that valuable to this team. So better make those deals fat if you want us to hear them out. But reminder for you guys, we thank you guys for checking out the show. You can go on the draft Kings sportsbook app.

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