PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - We miss Paul Goldschmidt

Episode Date: April 29, 2022

On this episode, Jesse and Derek are discussing the D-backs struggles against Paul Goldschmidt and the St. Louis Cardinals, Nolan Arenado playing despite receiving a 2-game suspension for a bench clearing against the Mets, and updates from the farm system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the PHNX D-BACs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. And I'm joined by my vice mayor, the one and only Thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. Derek, that game yesterday, I'm not sure anyone actually watched it because. Oh, there was a game. Yeah, apparently, I'm told there was a baseball game yesterday. And most of the state of Arizona was unaware because they were watching. lose in St. Louis and nobody watches it. Did a game take place?

Philosophical question, Jesse, and we'll talk about that shortly. But of course, this show is brought to you by our good friends over at the Draft King's Sportsbook. You don't have much time. The son's already got the job done last night. So they are no longer in the first round of the NBA action. But new customers still have time to bet $5 on any team in the NBA first round of playoffs and get $150 in free bets instantly. with our code of PHNX, you win no matter what over at the Draft King's sportsbook. But the debacks, Jesse, did not win yesterday. They had a very tough time with the St. Louis Cardinals in St. Louis. Humberto Castiano's kind of had another rough outing as a starting pitcher.

Really, it seems like his major flaw is a lack of consistency. He can be brilliant at times. He can get himself out of jams without giving up runs or he has an outing like he did yesterday. I'm going to forgive him because he just came off of paternity leave, and I have a feeling that he might not be getting sleep. He's a new dad, so I don't know. But I have a feeling that the Arizona Diamondbacks aren't going to have the same amount

of patience with him that I am because I feel like they haven't been giving many people a very long leash this season. Umberto only, uh, only was able to generate two swings and misses yesterday, um, which is, which is, you know, not great for, for a starting pitcher. He didn't have a strike out in the game. Um, and, you know, obviously they, they pulled him pretty quick. It was just a two-inning outing when it was all said and done. He only threw 44 pitches. Um, but I think that's always going to be the knock on, on a guy like Humberto Castiano is that, you know, the stuff just isn't, um, you know, the stuff, it doesn't scare you if you're a hitter, right?

I mean, you know, he can, he can pitch to soft contact at times. He can still be effective. We've seen that. But this is kind of part of the larger narrative that we've been talking about lately, where as good as this diamond back starting rotation has been, and I do think it's been good, I'm not sure that it's quite up to, you know, top three in Major League baseball level, at least not at this point. And Castiano's, you know, yesterday struggled a little bit.

And I think this is part of kind of a larger correction that I'm expecting here. I think the debacks rotation is maybe due to fall back just a little bit. This might be the beginning of that. Well, yeah. I mean, we saw historically low ERAs from so many guys. I mean, Zach Gallin still is absurd with his ERA. I felt like Merrill Kelly's was, you know, 0.50, basically. Basically, you know, they're, yeah, it's not sustainable, like you said, because unfortunately.

Bum Garner's 1.00, I think, right now. Yeah. Right now, Gallen has a 0.60 ERA in 15 innings pitched. That's ridiculous, right? It's not really sustainable, you know, like you said, but it's still encouraging. It's encouraging because it shows that the starting pitching can keep them in games. It's just that they still need a fifth starting pitcher, really. is what it comes down to at this point.

As much as they wanted to name, you know, somebody right away, it seems like every selection so far hasn't really worked out. They've had spot starts where they were able to, you know, have some good outings put together by the bullpen mixed with whoever they started, but unfortunately they still don't have that fifth starting pitcher. And, I mean, yesterday it showed that the St. Louis Cardinals didn't even beat up on Castiano's. they just St. Louis Cardinaled him to death. You know?

Yeah. He just played really good baseball. They did all the things that like at times I think the Diamondbacks are capable of, but then they don't do. And it kind of leaves you scratch in your head, right? Just instances where they were able to move guys over from first to third with a sacrifice fly or something like that where like somehow they were able to do some pretty amazing things that got themselves in scoring position.

and they didn't miss when they did have guys in scoring position to get. At least they're early on. Like the Diamondbacks did do a good job, but just not their typical job of keeping themselves in the game once that big inning had come up, right? So even though they got close, they didn't get close enough. The final score was eight to three.

They struggled again a bit at the plate, but that really wasn't the concern as much as giving up the eight runs. I mean, the Cardinals had 15 hits in this game. And, you know, it's, it's always going to be pretty tough to win when you allow 15 hits. And to your point about being Cardinals to death, all 15 of those hits were singles. The Cardinals didn't have a single extra base hit. Yeah.

It was wild. It was wild. It was. But of course. Yeah, you don't see that. Of course, Paul Gulch bit with three for four with three RBI. And was the player of the game. So that, that happened.

and it made us miss him even more, Jesse, even after that video of them getting in that fight and seeing that big gorilla run out there, like he was going to just fuck up the entire team. I miss, I just, I just miss him so much, Jesse. He's such a good baseball player. And I really,

you know, his numbers haven't even been that great, but they seem to always be good against the years of the Diamondbacks when he plays them, that's for sure. He really bounced back in a big way last year. I mean, last year was pretty much Goldie, just going back to being Goldie. I mean, 31 homers, 99 RBIs.

He had 294. He even stole 12 bases, which is the first time that he stole double-digit bases since 2017. I was jumping up on him, Jesse, by the way, and I found a just this wonderful treasure trove of articles from St. Louis asking if they gave up too much for him. Oh, interesting. a few years ago. It's not recent. It's not recent. It's from when the Hartford-Kelly, Luke Weaver trade happened. But I just find it hilarious because we still hear from D-BACs fans about that trade, like as if that trade really was a trade. I implore people to understand that Paul Goldschmidt was going to leave the Arizona Diamondbacks after that season. I wish the Diamondbacks

could have paid him and kept them. But I don't even know if that was an option, right? I don't even know Goldie wanted to stay here and if they could have paid him enough to get him to stay here. I'm sure they could have. But the whole goldsmith trade thing kind of drives me nuts because I really feel like it was just a team trying to get something for somebody that was going to leave anyway. But because that trade happened prior to the season, everybody sees it as, you know, them trading away Goldschmidt. They did.

I'm not going to, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. But at the same time. They did it because I feel like they had every inclination from Paul Goldschmidt and his camp that he wasn't going to stay here. And that's that's why they did that. But I know that that trade is something that both sides will always look at. And I just, there's not a way for the Diamondbacks to win that trade. Paul Goldschmidt met so much to this team that the numbers and stuff don't even matter to me. It's, it's what he meant as a person on this team.

This dude could have had a statue out front of Chase Field. You know what I mean? Like, that's the kind of player that he was and how much he meant to this franchise, how much he meant to this fan base. So, yeah. Yeah, that's still, that still hurts. But I do, I just want everybody to know, like, I don't think that the Diamondbacks could have done much to keep them.

I could be wrong. I mean, they, they probably, they probably could have. They, you know, I mean, it's clearly, it's. Yeah, overpaying him. clearly an issue of, it's clearly an issue of, you know, the ownership group not wanting to show out the money for that, which is not necessarily a poor decision. I mean, we've seen a number of big contracts given out to, you know, first baseman when they turn 30 years old that don't work out well, right? Um, so it's not necessarily a bad move. But in, in this instance,

I think Diamondbacks fans are, you know, he appears to have been worth every penny at this point. Well, here's what I'll say. What if Paul Goldschmidt would have stayed on this team? What if they would have given him $110 million? What, what then? What then, Jesse? What if Paul Goldschmidt was playing first base instead of Christian Walker? How much better would this team actually be?

Not very much better because he's one guy that can't really like, I don't know. I don't know the answer. Sure, sure. I don't, I mean, I don't think you can make like roster choices based on like, oh, this one player only improves you this much and therefore, you know, it's a fair point, though. I mean, in 2019, Christian Walker and Paul Goldschmidt were almost identical offensively.

Their numbers were very, very similar in 2019, which is the reason that all of those articles you talked about were published about a year after the trade happened. Because as of that moment, Paul Goldsmith just wasn't the same guy in St. Louis. He only hit 260 that year. His power numbers were okay at 34 home runs, but the doubles were down. And he just didn't get on base nearly as much as we've seen in the past. But, yeah, I mean, Goldie, I think it really does come down to what you said earlier. It's just that Goldschmidt really could have been a fixture in Arizona for years and years to come.

The Diamondbacks really don't have that type of guy. They've never had a player who's stuck around for that long. And I think that's, I think if, you know, if we're going to point to anything in the history of this franchise as being like a serious issue, like over the course of the entire franchise history, that's probably the biggest knock is that they just haven't really kept guys, right? And sometimes that's been a good move.

But in this case, it appears to be something that they may have regrets over at this point. my daughter has loved Paul Goldschmidt since she could talk, basically. Sure. I don't know if she just loved the name. I don't know if it's the folk hero like aura or, you know, way I discussed him and talked to him. You just indoctrinated her. Right, exactly, right.

But to this day, she's 11 years old and she'll still be like, how'd Paul Goldschman do? Is he still in the Cardinals? And I'm like, yeah, she's like, how'd he do? I'm like, oh, he was really good yesterday, three for four. got three runs and like i just see it in her little face that she would totally be rocking if i allowed her to a powder blue paul goldschmidt st louis cardinals jersey because that's still her guy you know and she's not the only one that feels that way you could almost feel a shift in the arizona diamondbacks fan base when paulchmidt left that people

kind of left with him at least you know it's supporting this team that's that's when it ended for them. And, you know, again, it's, it's that heartbreak of the, your favorite player, the guy you love, the guy you watched this team for, you know, go somewhere else, right? But again, I'm going to just start crying here and sobbing if we don't move on. But Noel Aeronado also had another great day against the Diamondbacks yesterday going two for four. And just a ridiculously outstanding player, but did get in a fight the other day against the New York Mets, which is something... Who isn't getting in a fight?

A lot lately. Yes. And apparently in that fight, he received a two-game suspension, which he would be serving during this series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. But he is not due to him appealing that suspension. The other person that got suspended in that was Cabrera from... the Mets and I believe he already served his suspension on Thursday, which is when we would have maybe seen Nolan Aeronado out of the lineup, but now with the appeal, most likely he'll play

in all three games against the Diamondbacks. Yeah, the D-back certainly had a shot here to scoot around Nolan Aeronado for a couple of games, which I'm sure, you know, I'm sure they wouldn't have, they wouldn't have complained about that too much. I would not have complained at all either, Jesse, not a bit. he's had quite a quite a season so far uh he's at 382 early in the season with an ops around 1150 so he's really been the anchor for them so far and and the cardinals are a really good team i don't want to i know i know that i've said in the past that you know this this hell

is started to get right against the cardinals and the marlins yeah yeah and the cardinals are 11 and seven so they're not exactly the kind of team that you'd get right against right now so Yeah, maybe we should have tap the brakes a little bit on that. But after the end of April, we assure you that the schedule does start to look a little bit easier for the Diamondbacks. That's very true. And you've got to make sure to be falling along over at go phtnx.com. If you're not a member already, sign up to become a member. I covered the Dodgers series and why it's important that the Diamondbacks were able to finally win their first series against Los Angeles Dodgers in nearly three years.

which is ridiculous. It was also a two-hit victory, which they haven't had a lot of those. So check out my article over at go-Ph-NX.com. If you haven't signed up to become a member already, get that annual membership, and you'll get a free t-shirt over at the P-HNX Locker.com. I think it works for hats, too. They're the same price. So get your free t-shirt or free hat.

Pretty sure you just get a code for a free $30 item. So whatever you want over it, go or at P-NX Locker.com, that's what you'll get by getting your annual membership. If you're not interested in that annual membership, you will get at least a month-to-month membership, right? You can get your first month for just 50 cents. Try us out. Unlock a world of Arizona sports coverage you never imagine possible

and find out what it's like to redefine what it means to be an Arizona sports van over at go phtonx.com. Of course, not only do you get access to our PHNX locker discounts for members only, but you'll also get access to our members, only Discord. And yeah, we're talking Diamondbacks, good, bad, ugly all season long over at the Discord. So please join us over at go phnx.com. But speaking of that fight, Jesse, that fight that we got to see Paul Goldschmidt just run out there like an absolute maniac and defend his teammates. Like we- I don't know if I've ever seen him run like that. I mean, he was-

It's terrifying. It is terrifying. If you haven't seen that, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, posted a tweet about it showing him run out there. Yeah, if if if Paul Goldschmidt ran it you like that, you would just fall to your knees and pray for your own death to happen before he reached you is really the way I feel about it. But apparently the St. Louis Cardinals are not the only ones who are mad about this fight. The Mets are very angry about what's going on. Apparently in MLB with pitches, uh, the Mets and Major League Baseball are set to chat. on Friday today over the club's issues with baseball, and they're growing pains over their hitters,

over their hitters being hit by pitches. Mets hitters have been hit by 19 pitches in 20 games this season, including Pete Alonzo being hit in the helmet twice. Francisco Lindor was hit in the neck. Chris Bassett, one of their starting pitchers, has called out MLB for a lack of consistency with ability to grip baseballs, which is, you know, something that might be impacted by changes to the baseball or the humidifier, because now every baseball stadium has a humidor, right?

It's not just the Arizona Diamondbacks with El Humidor in the right field, right? But Chris Bassett says MLB has a very big problem with the baseballs. They are bad. Everyone knows it. Every pitcher in the league knows it. MLB doesn't give a damn about it. They don't care. We have told them our problems with them.

They don't care. That's a quote. There's a lot of we don't cares in there. But Jesse, apparently the Mets are having a huge problem with getting hit by pitches. They're hitting pitches. They're fighting people. So I got to ask you,

is there this big epidemic in baseball with people getting hit by pitches this year? There is not. Sorry. I'm dying. Is this just a Mets problem? this appears to be pretty much just a Mets problem from what I can tell. I mean, I'm sure there are a couple of other.

Slowly at the top when people are hitting you by pitches and you're mad about it. Yeah, I mean, and we all know that Buckshowalter is certainly one of the, you know, he likes to, he has a certain intensity about him that I think his, his presence might, might lend itself to that sort of thing a little bit more often than other teams might have to deal with. But yeah, it's actually.

It's a vibe. Right? Like it's, it's a feeling that you put off. It's kind of like why I wonder why so many people argue with me in traffic. Well, it's because I drive around in traffic, just looking for people to fight with. You know what I mean? Like, I bring it on myself, but then deep down inside, I'm like, why is this happening to me? The Mets bring it upon themselves.

No, it's actually funny. So last year, the league-wide hit by pitch rate was 1.16%. And this year, it is 1.1.4. 15%. So it is comically, yeah, it is actually, it is actually a decrease. So obviously the baseballs have changed in many stadiums. They haven't changed in some stadiums theoretically. The, you know, like you said, the humidor is in effect in Chase Field this year and it has been in past years, the ball in stadiums that already had humidors appear to be behaving pretty much exactly the same way. What has changed is the stadiums that got humidors. The ball is just

not flying the way that it has in the past. And so that's been a concern for a lot of people that I think is valid. But what Chris Bassett is saying, you know, I mean, I'm not the one gripping the baseball. So I can't really speak to what he's experiencing. But at least from a statistical standpoint, there doesn't seem to be any evidence of, of the ball being harder to grip or, you know, an increased hard hit or an increase hit by pitch rate across the league. One of my favorite moments. when this happened or one of my favorite moments of of humidor history for me is when the diamondbacks were struggling i believe after the humidor was added so the diamondbacks got a humidor in the off season before the 2019 season right was it 2019 i thought it was earlier than that well no they got it 2018 2018 i think i think in the off season before the 2018 season. I couldn't remember. I know it happened in 2018. I just couldn't remember if it was that off season or before the 2018 season. But yeah, I think it was the 2018 season, right? And

the Diamondbacks were struggling offensively, kind of like they are now. Right. And I was on field. Mike Hazen walks by me, and he's on a telephone call, and I probably shouldn't be repeating this, but I'm going to anyway. And he screams into the phone, or not screams. I should just said loudly enough for me to hear. He's like, well, the other teams don't seem to have a damn problem hitting it. Like, I knew exactly. I knew exactly what was going on in that conversation just based on the context. Wow.

And what had happened to offensive. So it is one of those things. Like at times, that humidor thing, I don't think they can, I'm sure there's a quantifiable, you know, relation to offense and adding a humidor to a, to a, stadium in the balls and everything like that. But, you know, again, it's, it's also one of those things that, like, yeah, at the time, the Diamondbacks were getting beat the other team that had no problem hitting the ball out of here. So it wasn't, it wasn't a one-sided thing, you know, or it wasn't both sides. It was definitely just on one side, right? That's where it starts kind of

becoming a mental thing, where you're just wondering if it's us, are we thinking about it? Do we know that the ball, so we're thinking that the ball's not, so we're not hitting? I don't know. Like, I don't know how that creeps in the ability as a hitter to hit the ball. But it's kind of the same thing here going back to the Mets. Like the Mets not only are very good, right? So that's naturally going to bring this kind of stuff on it, right? Yeah, some extra angst. The angst them, right?

Yeah, exactly. But there's also, like you said, the energy, right? There's, you know, sometimes when you try to bring that energy, like Gabe Capola bringing to the Giants, right, with the unwritten rules stuff. Like, I feel like Game Capler was just setting the Giants players up to now be in a more aggressive state towards their opponents with all of his talk about how, well, we don't give a damn about the, at the rules and stuff like that. Realistically, the ones who are going to pay for that are the guys in the box when the

giants are facing opposing team. And when they don't do something, when they do something they feel is against the unwritten rules, they're going to plunk a batter, you know? And like what's going on with the bets right now, I'm sure some of it is just unfortunate circumstance, right? I'm sure some of it is the fact that their hitters are very good and they're trying to, you know, do more, pitch inside to them, do things like that.

And it's relating to the hit by pitches. But really, really? It's probably just that New York energy, you know? The Yankees fans are going insane in the outfield, right? We talked about that. That's true. Yeah, there's a lot of craziness in New York right now. state area, I feel like.

But hopefully the Arizona Diamondbacks can eke out, you know, some wins. I'm pretty confident about them going into Miami, but this series against the Cardinals is yet another tough series for them. And they looked a bit overwhelmed in that first game. But hopefully here coming up, they can rely on their starting pitching to be better. Madison Bumgarner going. And, yeah, I think that they can maybe turn some things around. It's going to be a, yeah, a big series for them. You'd love to, you know, I'm sure they'd love to finish the first month of the season here on a high note.

But yeah, I mean, it's a four-game series. So they slow three-point. Yep, yeah, it's a four-game series altogether. So we should see every pitcher except for Zach Gallen at some point in the series since he finished up. Who will start against his old team, the Marlins on Monday. He will. see what they missed out on with him. That's a nice feeling to be on this side of that.

But then we also see Jazz Chisholm, which we're going to back on the other side of it then. Yeah, yeah. And Jazz Chisholm has had a really good season to start the year. I want to go back to something you mentioned earlier, though, just with regard to the humidor at Chase Field. When you were talking about that, I just couldn't help but remember what it was like before the humidor at Chase Field. I mean, it was literally for a while. there. It was basically course field, which was far and away, you know, the best hitters park. And then Chase Field was like pretty much number two, maybe number three, depending on the season.

This used to be an extremely hitters friendly park. And now, if anything, I think the numbers suggest that Chasefield kind of leans toward being a pitcher's park at this point. And so the effect of that Humidor, which it was 2018, that was the first season, the debacks had it in place. and yeah, the effect of that humidor is significant. I guess, of course, it should go both ways, right? It shouldn't make it so the Diamondbacks can't hit, but the opposing team can still hit equally well to, you know, how they were hitting before.

And I think that's what Mike, what Mike Hazen was maybe not so happy about in that phone call that you observed. But, yeah, I mean, it's been a dramatic shift here in Arizona. And a lot of other teams around the league are seeing that same kind of shift as they adjust to having the humidor in their ballpark. It's interesting because, again, we come out of a time where the Major League Baseball is hurting a bit for attendance. They want the fans back. Yeah.

Plamping down on offense is not really the way. Yeah, they're going the opposite direction that they did in 1996, 97, right? Where they wanted the ball juiced and they wanted as many home runs and as much offense as possible. I think that the flip side to a lot of offense in baseball is, long games, right? So ever since then, ever since the mid-90s is when the game time started getting absurd on average, three hours plus, right? So I don't know. I think that, you know, you don't really need to overcorrect and make the ball, you know, do this, right? But yeah, other things that they've done to keep baseball moving along and make these games quicker,

you know, is far more effective than, you know, sogging down the offense. However, The Cardinals had no problem putting up eight runs against the Diamondbacks and doing it through a whole shitload of singles. So, just like hitting against the shift can be done. Offense can still be had without home runs. Of course, good times can be had, but they're made better by OG's Gummies, right? That's the best part about it. You can still have a fun time watching baseball, but how much better is watching baseball on OG's gummies? That's not quantifiable, you know, of course.

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That's OGEZBrands.com to find OGs near you. And again, either have the best night of your, sleep of your life with an indica or enjoy every Marvel movie more than you ever have by going with a Sativa. And then according to Mac, you'll stay up cleaning your floors or something. But anyway, go check out OGsbrands.com. Roster moves, Jesse. We had some young guys call up, including getting their first call-up of their career, as well as some mindly guys still doing some amazing things. right now in the minor league system.

There were a few things, yes. Luis Frius was recalled from AAA Reno for the first time this season. We saw him toward the end of last year. The guy is a flamethrower. He can throw about 96, 97 miles an hour, maybe even up to 98. And he's got a pretty good curveball as well. He's been starting down in Reno. And he had a pretty decent amount of success doing that

in his three starts so far, 13 and two-thirds innings, five earned runs. That's a 3.29 ERA, five walks, 20 strikeouts. So some pretty impressive numbers. We all know how difficult it is to pitch in Reno. So factor that in as well, a 3.29 ERA over those three starts. That's pretty impressive. And then, yeah, the other addition that we saw yesterday is Tyler Holton, the leftee, is also recalled from AAA Reno, who actually made his majorly good.

Yeah, selected. Recalled, I guess, is when they've made their debut before. Selected is their first. That is an excellent point. Use these right words. You know, if you're going to get me right words, I'm getting you on them. Fair enough. Tyler Holton made his major league debut last night and recorded his first big league strikeout.

So congratulations to him and his family. I'm not so sure how long Tyler Holton will stay at the big league level or really even Luis Frius. Of course, we're not too, too far away from the roster sizes moving back down to their normal 26. So the Diamondbacks will have some hard decisions to make here soon. So we'll have to see what, yeah, what direction they want to go with that. But his number is a little bit less impressed in Reno.

Yeah, go for it. I saw some talk about Tyler Gilbert getting optioned, by the way. And like, again, that's just because he has options. it's not anything towards Tyler Gilbert. It's the fact that they needed some fresh bullpen arms for this road trip. And I don't think it's much more than that. It feels like every year there's, you know, that one guy that you feel really bad about because he's been sent. He's been sent down and called up like 47 times because the team is just like, you know, wanted him and then sent him down once he was used up and then called him back up when he was fresh again and then send him back down.

Jimmy Sherfee was one of those guys. Jimmy Sherfee. And I liked it. Oh, yeah. It's going to be good for this team. But then you got to wonder about those, you know, recalling and sending Mac down and recalling and recalling, you know. It's got to be an exhausting lifestyle for these guys.

It really does. It really goes. It really goes through that. They also released Oliver Perez from the roster because, obviously, they couldn't trade him once they d-fate him. But a couple of minor league. tidbits. Stone Garrett, by the way, on when would this have been? Wednesday had a eighth inning two-run, home run that extended his hitting streak to 13 games. He has reached base safely,

Jesse, in all 18 games this season. Impressive. It's impressive. It's pretty impressive. Hitting 369 with a 414 OBP, 692 slugging, and a 1.106 OPS. those are those are some decent numbers right i mean that's uh yeah i guess you got to apply the rino adjustments but um i feel like it's hard to argue with that right but it's it's more of the reaching base safely i think of all things here it's just the getting on base right that's something that the diamondbacks absolutely need more of at a major league level right now is just guy's ability to get on base we have a couple of guys that are starting to get there right Cooper Hummel is a guy that like when you you literally during their win against the one of their win against the Dodgers while you were at the airport you're texting me why why why are they doing this why are they pinch hitting Cooper Hummel and then Cooper Hummel gets on base and scores what essentially is the you know the tying run or the winning run it was it was strange there was a righty on the mound and I think Tori pinch hit for Pavin Smith who's a left-handed hitter and yeah Cooper Hummel of course is a switch.

hitter. So we've seen the diamondbacks go to him a fair amount when there's a lefty on the mound, which could make sense, you know, get Pavin Smith off of having to hit a lefty, bringing Cooper Hummel who can flip around and bat right handed. But yeah, but he didn't get on base. So I guess Tori knows his stuff. And didn't the Dodgers then swap out for Graterall? I think the Dodgers made a corresponding move with their relief pitching or something. But anyway, you know, these guys like Cooper Hummel, again, he's one of those guys that his numbers aren't outstanding. But he does have this ability to get on base, especially in key moments already.

You know, he's proven himself in a few key moments already, just like a couple of the guys on the team. I mean, I'm starting to very trust Dalton Varsho very much. I'm starting to trust some of the guys in the bullpen very much. You know, the Diamondbacks right now, I feel like they're sifting through and they are finding guys that can help them win games. And when they're proven, you know, to not, I would say, you know,

you, sometimes they're moving on quicker than we've ever seen them move on, right? I don't think this is the end for Humberto Castiano, but I think this might be the end of his, of him as a starting pitcher for this team, at least for the foreseeable future. I do think they have other options. I think some guys, you know, again, right now are, are proving that they have more effective. stuff like you said. It's not that his ability to go into a game and

pitch and get out is there, but he has this lack of consistency where you don't really know what you're going to get out of them some games. And I think that the Diamondbacks have a lot of guys ready right now, even in the minor league system, that want that opportunity. You know, so just a different feeling right now with the diamond bags. I like the fact that when someone has a bad outing, I find myself going, I better watch it. You're on thin ice. That's different than like before,

like last season, it was just the only option, right? They didn't have the option to like move on to the next guy and move down the line and give someone else an opportunity. It was one of the biggest frustrations with this team was the lack of guys grabbing that brass ring, you know? So there's there's been, I mean,

the leash is just in a completely different spot this season than it's been in the past, right? I mean, Luke Reaver didn't even open the season. season in the rotation. Caleb Smith got one shot and then he was out of the rotation and sent down to the miners, not even in the bullpen, right? So I think that's a big reason why you can probably feel comfortable about this diamond backs team improving on what they did last year. As long as, you know, the amount of injuries that they see this season, you know, hopefully doesn't come close to what they went through last year. The diamond backs are showing a little bit less

patience, especially on the pitching side of things. I think you're willing to kind of, you know, go through some of the early struggles of Cooper Hummel or Geraldo Perdomo, some of these younger hitters who you think have some potential, you're willing to give those guys time. But guys who have been here for a while, guys who are 26, 27 years old and haven't really made a name for themselves at the big league level yet, Diamondbacks are in a position where they have some hungry young players who are rising through their minor league system. And those guys are next in line. And I don't think that they have to wear it out with some of these veteran players

when they have those guys waiting in the wings. Yeah, I agree. And I also think that Lovolo's attitude about it has changed. I'm not sure if he would admit that. I'm not sure if he feels that same way. but I feel personally, like I've seen a change in him philosophically, right? Lovolo used to kind of be everybody's best friend on this team.

He used to be like the dad. He used to constantly refer to these guys as like his kids and like they were a family. And unfortunately, it's not to say that that still isn't. I think that's still true. Yeah. I don't think it's a feeling that they still don't cultivate, right? They still have that family feeling.

But I feel like Lovolo, is different now because I feel like when you treat them like your kids, it makes these tough decisions that much tougher, right? You're a manager, your coach of a team, and sometimes you have to kind of keep a bit of a distance

because of the fact that you're going to sometimes favor these guys just because, or not even, because like, Lovolo isn't even responsible sometimes for these call-ups and send-down. Like they might ask him his opinion, but at the end of the day, he's not the one making these decisions, right?

Sure, sure. It does make it that much more difficult on him, you know, as far as being, you know, critical of their performances and making those decisions, especially when it comes to like, you know, Oliver Perez, who I'm sure is a very lovable guy. I'm sure everybody knows him. And, you know, he's such a veteran. He brings years of experience. And it's probably wonderful to be around, but wasn't performing well. And when you don't have any other option other than to DFAM, that's what you have to do, right? They just have too much young talent waiting right now for them to not turn to that talent and see what it can do.

Alec Thomas yesterday hit a home run and also rob someone of a home run. He's so damn good in center field or wherever he plays, right? But I think the bigger thing is that Alec Thomas is ready. I think he's proven that he's already a superstar at a AAA level. and it's just it's time to get him up here and start his major league career, right? Start those struggles that we have to get through this year so that he can be comfortable, he can gain that experience, and he can be ready to go when 2023 comes around and be what he what he's doing at a AAA level at a major league level, you know,

there were a lot of question marks around Dalton Varsho, but people constantly as a minor leaguer thought very highly of Dalton Varshow. now we're seeing Dalton Varsho be Dalton Varsho, I feel like, at a major league level, right? And he's getting there. He's wonderful. Like he's still putting it together at the plate consistently, but his ability to transition to the outfield and do the things that he's doing, like, it is incredible. The day after we talked about what a amazing outfielder he's become, he made another outstanding play in center field that like most guys would have had a real hard time, making at Chasefield. It's just awkward. But I'm ready. I'm ready for the future of this team.

And I think the debacks are too. Alec Thomas is the numbers don't look quite what they were last year. I mean, when he was in Reno last year, Alec Thomas hit 369. It was kind of crazy. Right now, he's 263. He's slugging 500, which is a pretty impressive number. He has 11 extra base hits, which is a lot. The offensive numbers, Yeah, or maybe not quite what we saw last year. And, you know, in Reno hitting 263 is not necessarily, you know, knocking the cover off the ball. But, yeah, I mean, I think at this point, it's pretty clear that Alec Thomas is just about ready to start his career at the majorly level, like you said. And another thing that I'll add to that is that Alec Thomas has stayed in the minors for enough games.

I don't know if, you know, if people are going to be super happy about this. But Alec Thomas has played enough games in the minors at this point where if the diamondbacks call him up, they would still get an extra year of service time. So the whole service time manipulation thing, there were some changes made in the CBA, but not that many changes. And so the diamond backs are at the point now where they're safe to call him up and still get the extra year of service. Let's do it. So what you're saying. There's no reason not to do it, is what you're saying. I'm saying that, yeah, I mean, I certainly hope that their reason for keeping him down was never service time manipulation.

And I honestly didn't think. I didn't think it was. I really, I really did not think it was because he had a manipulating the service time. I know, crazy. Crazy too. What kind of crazy talk is that? There are some provisions in the CBA to fight against it, but it's really only if a guy comes up and, you know, wins rookie of the year. In that case, you get the full year of service time regardless of when you came up.

But, yeah, I don't really think that service time manipulation was ever the reason the Diamondback sent him down. Alec Thomas really wasn't great in the Cactus League. And it kind of looked like he might be able to use another, you know, 100 plate appearances or whatever in AAA to start the season. But I think we're at the point where he hasn't had a great year. Yeah. He started out. He just started out pretty rough. But, you know, I mean, if you if you look at his performance over the last five or 10 games, you know, he, I mean, he's been pretty good lately. So it's probably only a matter of time. I think we're getting pretty close to when the Alec Thomas era of Diamondbacks baseball begins. And it really has a chance to be that. a chance to be an era defined, you know, I'm not, I'm not ready to say Alex Thomas is a

Goldie or, you know, like a superstar level guy who you really build a team around. Yeah, maybe, maybe not from day one, Derek. Maybe to have the breaks on that, but, um, but his hair is worth a statue alone. There you go. There you go. Uh, but yeah, I mean, he has a chance to be a really, really good player in this league and I think we're getting pretty close. Before you go, before we go, before all of us go, it's the weekend. I'm flying off to Seattle to go see Jesse, but I'm not going to be, you're going to be in Seattle?

You're coming to visit me? Coming to visit Jesse. He doesn't even know it yet. I'm going to just show up. This for me. Yeah, but draft king's sports book, let's give you guys our draft king's sports book pick of the week. And of course, let's look at the diamond.

For some reason, the Chicago White Sox had been terrible. are favored against the Los Angeles angels. So I'm taking the angels to cover the spread in that one. I'm also taking the giants over the Washington Nationals because they're not good. And Logan Webb is on the mound for the giants. And then last, I'm taking the Cleveland Guardians who have been very good over the Oakland A's, who again, have it. They're also playing at home.

And there will be nobody there at that crowd at that stadium. There'll be three vendors, four people would season tickets. and basically family members. That's who's going to be attending that game. But regardless of how many people are in attendance, I'm still taking the Guardians at plus 115 over the athletics, and you can do all that. You could put those together for a multiple game parlay.

You could grab one of those and do a same game parlay. Mike Trout has been hitting the cover off the ball. So if I were to do a same game parlay for that Angels White Sox game, I'm pretty sure I would pepper in a Mike Trout hit or two maybe. And you can do that over at the Draft King Sports. book. Of course, new customers right now can not only get in on the MLB action, but you can get down on the NBA action during the first round of the NBA playoffs. New customers can bet $5 right now and you will get $150 in free bets, no matter what, no matter if your team wins, if your team loses, it doesn't matter. But if you're looking to get down on the first round of the NBA playoffs, you do so over at the drafting sports book. Existing customers can get down on same game parlayes by combining multiple bets from the same game for a bigger payout. The more legs you have, the more money you win. Plus, place the same game parlay each day with three or more legs during the first round, and you will get up to $25 back if one leg

doesn't hit. That's right. If one leg, if one leg doesn't hit and that's that one leg that blows it for you, you will get $25 back in free bets. And then you can bet that on maybe a more conservative same game parlay. I feel so bad for people when that, when that happens, like when someone has like a 12 leg parlay or something ridiculous like that. And they get all of them but one. It's so sad. It's happened to me like three times since I've been using the Drafking sports book. And every time it's heartbreaking, I would much rather miss out on half of the legs than just one.

It's it really is heartbreaking. But that's not going to happen to you guys. You guys are going to get down. You're not even going to need to $25 because you're going to hit on your same game parlay. I'm putting that out there. I'm sprinkling the magic around. for everybody to get down and win. Over at the Draft King Sportsbook,

download the Draft King Sportsbook app. Now use our promo code of P HNX, bet $5 on any NBA team to win their game during the first round of playoffs and get $150 in free bets instantly. That's promo code PHNX at DraftKing Sportsbook an official sports betting partner of the NBA. 21 and over only, Arizona only gambling problem,

dial 100 next step. New customers only minimum $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com slash sportsbook for details. Jesse, that's all I got. we thank you guys so much for joining us jesse i appreciate you and i will see you next week after we do our post series wrap up for this cardinals dbacks series we i'm gonna i'm gonna find you when you're in when you're in when you're in seattle there i'm i'm gonna drive around you're gonna find i know

at a wrestling show escorting yeah oh yeah yeah yeah i know you're going to some wrestling nonsense and i know basically nothing about wrestling but i'm gonna figure out what show it is and You just might see me there. It's what it is. That's what I participate in. But the first rule of underground fight clubs is you don't talk about underground fight clubs on your podcast. We thank you guys for joining us. You can find me on Twitter and track me around Seattle.

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