PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - What grade would you give Zac Gallen’s 2022 season?

Starting point is 00:00:04 Hello and welcome into another baseball list edition of the PHNX DBAX podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am still your mayor of PHNX regardless of what ESPO says in tweets. And Emma all of a sudden is running and I had no knowledge of this prior to day. She's doing really well in the Gen Z demographic apparently. That's bullshit. I wait till those late Roosevelt's votes come in, as Shane was telling me, we've got the late Roosevelt, you know, votes.

Starting point is 00:00:43 The shirts are voting for you? Is that happening? Are you, I don't know. Does this disqualify you if I lose as vice mayor? What happens to your position? You should be concerned here. Yeah, that's fair. You were appointed.

Starting point is 00:00:54 I guess I do, I do stand to lose from this whole situation. But I think like other, like I think if Emma won, I think she would probably, I could see me being her running mate at some point. So you would just, you would just betray me. and go be the vice mayor of another mayor. I don't have any desire to be the mayor, frankly. So I'm just going to be the vice mayor for whoever takes your role. So it'll be great.

Starting point is 00:01:17 This makes you a bad person. But he's still your thunder stick. It's the one and only Jesse Friedman. We were talking about that. Josh, try to keep up. If it's not, if it's not him, who is it? Maybe it's Josh. I'm the only vice mayor in this office.

Starting point is 00:01:30 I don't know. Josh might qualify. But of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King Sportsbook app. My vote is for sale? Like, like, isn't it can be bought? That is that, I think that's what she's. At first I thought that was like a misspelling of Saul. No, nobody's voting soul.

Starting point is 00:01:48 Yeah, no, that couldn't possibly be. Come on, you have to be diplomatic to be a mayor. You have to, you know, you have to be able to bring people together versus divide, divide, divide. You have to drink beer at 11 o'clock in the morning. Look, I just got done working out. And my post workout meal consisted of a meat and cheese stick, which made Emma, or, uh, Leah, go get one. Now I got M on my brain, and that's pissing me off.

Starting point is 00:02:10 And this Hopnought IPA from our friends at Four Peak. So that's the breakfast of champions after you work out. I'd worked out twice today for inexplicable reasons. Jesse is already shaming me for that, telling me how unnecessary it is. But you know what? There's 141 days until opening day, and the training never stops, Jesse. This is just one chance to get better for the 2020-season, which honestly, a lot of players should be following my lead when it comes to that,

Starting point is 00:02:36 if I'm being honest. The Arizona Diamondbacks is out. You said an example for all of the great professional athletes in the world there. You really do. I think they look to you for inspiration. Tiny chocolate donuts. All right, Jesse, the Diamondbacks have declined the mutual option for Ian Kennedy, worth $4 million for the 2023 season.

Starting point is 00:02:54 The debacks have to pay a $250,000 buyout for Kennedy. But what exactly is a mutual option? Is this like where we mutually break up and we both save face in front of our mutual friends? It's like where a friendship only continues if both parties are invested. And anyone has an out, right? Either party can get out of it if they want to. So we have a mutual contract in our friendship. Yeah, absolutely.

Starting point is 00:03:18 Yeah, at any point, you could break it off or I could break it off. No, mutual options are kind of weird. It sort of feels like they often are declined just because either side can decline, right? It's not that common that it's good to proceed for both. sides, right? Like usually either the player wouldn't be making enough or the player would be making too much and the sides will make their decisions accordingly. So this happens a lot and I don't think there's any surprises here whatsoever. I think we mistakenly said in the past that Ian Kennedy's option was a team option, which has been shown on some website. So apologies there. It seems like it was

Starting point is 00:03:58 actually a mutual option, but that was never going to affect the outcome of this situation. The diamondbacks were not going to pick up that option no matter what. And so sure enough, Ian Kennedy is a free agent as we expected. The wording on this would mean more that the diamondbacks were the ones that declined the option versus Ian Kennedy declined. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, the diamondbacks were the ones who declined here. Ian Kennedy would, as far as we know, would not have. Josh Hunt said, is it mutual if we want him gone more than he wants to leave? Yes. Yes, it is. That's still mutual. Nobody wants him here anymore basically. And honestly, Kennedy had at times, he was inconsistent. He had some good outings this season. He ends the season with a 4 and 7 record, a 5.36 ERA, 10 saves, 6 blown

Starting point is 00:04:44 saves, obviously not great there. But like you said, the $4 million option felt like it would have been a bitter deal had Ian Kennedy performed at a higher level, right? His $1 million contract was close to what he made last year. And I think at this point, point the Diamondbacks have just seen enough that they feel like they need to move on and try other options. And one of those options could be Cole Sulcer. Is that he said? Yeah, Solcer. Solcer.

Starting point is 00:05:10 Yeah. They claimed the Cole Solcer off waivers from the Marlins. But what about what about Kennedy and Sulcer? And what are your thoughts here on kind of moving in a direction of claiming someone off waivers that had kind of a tough season with the Marlins? Yeah. So first of all, Kennedy, he made $4.75 million this year. So you're right, basically like saying the option was for a very similar salary. You know, I mean, next year's his age 38 season.

Starting point is 00:05:35 So I think the Diamondbacks expected maybe a slight drop off in performance there. But overall, it was not a good year for Ian Kennedy. I know his ERA was pretty decent like through the end of August. I think it was like 3.19 or something. You kind of felt like, I mean, he was, he was like the saving grace for a while. Like Mark, Mark Malanson was really struggling in the closing role. And everyone wanted Ian Kennedy to be the closer. and he filled that role for a while,

Starting point is 00:05:59 but it just didn't last. His success there just didn't last. And I think we kind of saw that coming for a while because Ian Kennedy's hard hit rate was just through the roof, really, the entire season. Even in moments when his ERA was good through the first few months of the year, if you look at how much hard contact was being made against him,

Starting point is 00:06:21 it was almost dead last in the league. So I think it was sort of, It wasn't a huge shock that Ian Kennedy's drop off or performance dropped off toward the end of the year. So unfortunately, no real surprises there. As far as Cole Solcer is concerned, it's pretty interesting. It's an interesting move for the Diamondbacks. He had an excellent year in 2021. He was a really, yeah, with Baltimore, right.

Starting point is 00:06:49 Yeah, 60 appearances at 270 ERA. He had a 1.12 whip. He had 73 strikeouts, only 23 walks. He only gave up 48 hits in 63 and a third inning. Across the board, an excellent season. He's still young guy. He's only been in the league for three seasons. This was his third year in 2022.

Starting point is 00:07:06 Yeah, he is. I mean, he'll be 33 this next year. So he's not like super young, but he hasn't been in the big leagues for very long. But yeah, coming over to Miami in a trade for 2022, he just wasn't the same guy that he was in 2021. The velocity fell off a little bit. He had a 5.29 ERA. and that's why the Marlins decided to let him go.

Starting point is 00:07:28 Yeah. And definitely the Arizona Diamondbacks type, right? Much like Zach Davies. Yeah. Had his worst season of his career, even though it's still a very young career last year, coming off a bad season, waived by, you know, released by their team.

Starting point is 00:07:42 And again, here we have the Diamondbacks picking up someone like that that they think that they could potentially get back to that performance level that he was at in 2021. But, like you said, a 5.29 ERA in 34 in 34 innings pitch. Two saves last season with Marlins. Not great. And so we're going to just go ahead and dub the 2022 season for our new friend, Cole Solcer. I'm going to get that right eventually.

Starting point is 00:08:07 There it is. The 2021 season is our OG's performance to forget. The man's been in the organization. How long? And you're already giving him the OG's performance to forget? Look, this is what we want to do. We want to start off with a clean slate on the right foot. So we're going to just put 2022 behind us.

Starting point is 00:08:23 How is what is currently on the screen a clean slate? Well, this is telling everybody to take some OGs. Because we're forgetting about it, Jesse. Clean sleigh. All right. All right. Fair enough. Clean slate.

Starting point is 00:08:35 And of course, our friends at OGs, it's the only edible that makes you say, oh, geez, I'm high. Go get their wonderful variety of flavors and doses. Of course, we have agreed to a brand new deal with our friends at OGs. And we couldn't be more excited about that. Of course, as mayor, I was a big part of that deal. This, again, is the reason why you want to continue to vote for me. as mayor and want me in power. You need me in power. And it's to get things like this new deal with OG's done. Sure, Max did all the legwork on it. Sure, Max is the one that mostly or completely

Starting point is 00:09:08 did, you know, any kind of meetings or discussions with them. However, in spirit as mayor, I was guiding Max the entire time. So you could call me a puppet master, if you will. You could call me whatever. But the important part is, is I am here to make sure that you guys stay fully stocked in your favorite edibles, Arizona's favorite edibles. Remember, they have a wide variety of doses of strains and, of course, the new sleep edition gummy that is the best way to get a great night's sleep. You can find them all at your local dispensary. It must be 21 years or older to enjoy and enjoy responsibly.

Starting point is 00:09:41 Well, I'm still not over. Jesse, Zach Gallen getting snubbed for the Sigh-Young. We talked about it yesterday, Derek. I don't care. I don't think he was actually snubbed. I don't care. You could say that. I'll say he was snub, and people will agree with me in the,

Starting point is 00:09:55 comments. Chris says Emma with free rent and Derek's I don't like that. That's got a point. Probably true though. Let's take a look at Zach Gallin's season and give it a grade, shall we? Because Zach Gallen was very good

Starting point is 00:10:11 at times in 2022, but he also didn't have exactly an all-star caliber first half, right? That's the reason why he wasn't as much as we thought he would be in the discussion for the all-star eventually went to Joe Man. Antiply. But Jack Gallen has been what picked up steam and ended his season with some pretty good

Starting point is 00:10:32 numbers. Yeah, I mean, 44 and a third straight sclerless innings, though. That's all right. That's all right. That'll change the ERA a little bit. That'll get your ERA lowered in a hurry. Did you give your grade yet? I have not given my grade yet. Okay. Go ahead. All right. I'll, I'll give mine. I'm going to agree with Brett Johnson here, actually. Brett Johnson is a minus. That's a little bullish, granted, because Zach Gallen had an outstanding season and giving him anything other than at least an A might feel a little ridiculous. But the reason I'm giving him an A minus is because I genuinely think that Zach Gallen is still kind of just scratching the surface here.

Starting point is 00:11:06 I really think that Zach Gallen has another level that he hasn't reached yet. And the reason I think that is that Gallen kind of forgot how to throw his changeup. Or at least didn't, maybe not forgot how to throw. But like his change up was not particularly effective most of the season, really, especially toward the end, he kind of just started relying on his cutter and his curve ball as his main outpitches off of his four seamer. If he's able to find a way to throw his change up consistently like he has in the past, there's another level that Zach Gowland can reach here. So if we're giving these grades relative to like the player's talent level and like how good they can be, I think it's

Starting point is 00:11:45 an A minus because I think there's a little bit more ceiling here for Gowland to tap into. Jesse, you were a teacher. I was. When you graded papers or graded tests, did you give grades based on their potential? Or did you give grades on how they performed on the test or paper? I can't talk about this on the air, Derek. You're exposing my grading tactics right here. Okay.

Starting point is 00:12:07 I love Zach Gallen. I'm the one saying he was snubbed, but I can't give Zach Gallen an A for 2022. The reason why I can't is because if an A plus is the absolute best a pitcher could do, the absolute best pitcher in the league. Okay. So you're not grading in the same. same way. You're grading. I'm grading his performance in 2020. I'm grading his performance in 2020. Relative to his talent or relative to just the league in general. I'm just relative to a grading

Starting point is 00:12:33 scale that would involve the best pitchers in the league and how far away Zach Gallen was in his performance in 2022. So you're saying he is like a B plus starting pitcher compared to. I'm saying he is a B plus pitcher right in 20. I'm saying he had a B plus season. I am not saying he is a B plus pitcher. There are those are two completely different days. Did I just say your grade before you did? You did. And you just fucking blurted it out and just ruined it, you know? This is why you shouldn't have written it in the rundown, Derek.

Starting point is 00:13:00 Come on, Derek. This is why I don't give it to you. I'm never giving you information ever again. No rundown for Jesse. No rundown for Jesse. 12 and 4 and 31 starts with a 2.54 ERA. Very good in 184 in 184 in pitch. Wow.

Starting point is 00:13:13 Close to that 200. I thought A minus was low. You're giving him a B plus. I'm giving him a B plus. Here's the reason why is because if you know how he, he was in the first half. You also know how he performed in several of those outings where he couldn't get himself to that six innings, that quality start without all of a sudden that fifth inning going off the rails for him, right? So like you said, is there room for improvement? Absolutely.

Starting point is 00:13:38 Do I think Zach Gallen is capable of an A plus? Yes. If I was sitting down to have a parent teacher conference with Zach Gallen's parents and was discussing his 2022 season, I would say, look, I think your child has all the potential in the world. However, I feel like at times he kind of took his foot off the pedal when it came to studying, maybe getting homework in, some of those things, right? It's not to say that he doesn't grade out as an A plus student. You're like attacking his like diligence and like his work ethic and like, okay. He's a very laid back individual, right?

Starting point is 00:14:10 Zach Gallo reminds me of the kind of kid that much like Michael McDermott accused himself of being earlier at one point on this podcast, he's the kind of kid that doesn't have to study Or do homework, but still get A's on his test. Like, you just come in and freeze through test. Okay, Zach Gallen is probably the most meticulous, most detail-oriented. Like, we literally have spent time on this show talking about how he, like, he studies too much. Like, he over-analyzes situations. You're talking about him being, like, laid back, like, chilling in the dugout, not looking at scouting reports or whatnot.

Starting point is 00:14:42 I don't think so. He is incredibly laid-back person. But I'm saying, like. He is. In a sense, but not in the sense that he's like not doing his homework. Right. Right. All right.

Starting point is 00:14:52 But still, B plus. I'm not changing my grade on that. That's insane. It's hard to grade him in A plus without it being like a perfect season. I know he set a record for a period of time. Right. So again, that is where you do you hold your daughter to these same standards? Absolutely.

Starting point is 00:15:07 Like if she's if she's like in the 95th percentile of her class, but she's not, but she's not the top. You're being like that's a B plus quality performance. My daughter finished third in her school spelling B without studying. And all I told her was, what happened if you would have studied? You probably would have won. But no, instead you didn't study. Now look, you only get third. Poor Lily, man.

Starting point is 00:15:32 She has a rough life. She made a Titanic model and she used Legos. And I had to point out to her that they were too big for the size of her Legos. They weren't scale to the size of her Titanic model. I'm sticking with it. I'm sticking with it. She also wasn't supposed to use any Titanic imagery from the movie. And she fucking put Rose and Jack on the, on the, on the, you know, fucking door.

Starting point is 00:15:53 Get out of here. I don't know. She got an age. I don't think she deserved it. And neither does Zach Allen. Zach Gallin, B plus season. But A plus man. A plus individual, A plus pitcher.

Starting point is 00:16:04 So what would you have to do? Like next year, what would you have to do to get into the A or A plus category for you? So you have to just win the Sion Award? Win more. Win more. Okay, like, like contribute more than 12 wins. Are you looking at like literally the win statistic? Yeah, sure.

Starting point is 00:16:22 Okay. You know what I want is I want his ERA not to, you know, balloon up because he has like three bad outings where he gives up a ton of runs in a fifth inning. I mean like, I don't I don't know if I would say it balloon. I mean, every pitcher like gives up a few. He had a 2.5 for ERA for I mean, it wasn't like he gave up a lot of run. You're right that a disproportionate number of those runs happened in like crooked number innings. Yes. Rather than like sprinkling them around. But like that's not necessarily, I mean, it's like the way that he's given up runs,

Starting point is 00:16:55 but it's not necessarily worse than like giving up a run here or there throughout an outing, right? Yes, it is. Because it's so close to being able to be tightened up. And I think we saw him improve on that as the season progressed, right? That's what led him to that streak, that scoreless streak, right? So if you have two pitchers, they both give up three runs and six. six innings. One of them gives up all three in the sixth inning. The other one gives up one run like every other inning. You think that the guy who gives up three runs in the sixth

Starting point is 00:17:23 inning is worse. Like is delivering a... I did not say that. You are just putting words in my mouth now. I'm trying to understand what you're thinking. What I'm thinking is it doesn't fucking matter if he gives him up peppered throughout. I don't think that that's as good of a pitcher as somebody like Zach Allen who all of a sudden at the end of him. outing fucking kind of tanks out, I guess is my point, right? Sure. You're talking about so close to getting out of there with a, you know, six innings pitched one earned run outing versus what the actual outing is, which is, you know, six or five

Starting point is 00:17:58 and two thirds with four or five runs or earn runs in the outing, right? And he did improve on that. So it suggests that like it suggests that there's another level for him sort of. That's what I'm suggesting. He's close to being an elite level like could go seven. an innings scoreless maybe in some of those outings instead. Yeah, the majority of outing, maybe give out two runs or less. You know, we saw him set that record for three earned runs or less to start a career, right?

Starting point is 00:18:23 He also set that record for, you know, scoreless innings pitch. So it's not to take anything, again, this is an assessment of him as a pitcher. But yeah, I think his season left room for improvement that he could be an A plus pitcher. And I think it could be an A plus season in 2022. I really think he did have something click in the second. half of the season where he stopped having those tremendously disastrous innings at the end of his outing, right? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:18:50 I was able to actually complete strong, you know, go through strong. I'm sure working with Brett Strom and the pitching staff and everything as, as continued to improve him, he's still a young guy. I just can't give him an A plus season when he had a lot of bumps. I'm not saying you should give him an A plus. Like maybe, I don't know, get him into A territory at least. Like, the man's going to finish. like fourth or fifth.

Starting point is 00:19:14 And you were a fucking teacher. You were a teacher. I feel like you would understand this more because of great. No, just a, did everybody in your class get an A, Jesse? Is that how your grading scale work? No, no.

Starting point is 00:19:26 Mostly though. It depends. It depends on, it depended on the class. Yeah. As a teacher, you go in thinking like, oh,

Starting point is 00:19:34 I'm going to be a good teacher and all of my students are going to get A's because they're going to understand what I'm talking about. And I'm going to be a good teacher. And then you pretty quickly realize that that's not at all. how teaching works. Jack Summers is a little bit concerned about your 11-18 a.m. Hop-not IPA. I mean, this is called a sponsor, Jack,

Starting point is 00:19:56 and I'm not going to sit here and worry about, wait, Emma's here? Why is Emma here? Get Emma out of here. Can you boot her out of the chat? I'm getting attacked in all sorts of different directions, Jesse. I just can't wait for us to, like, grade Merrill Kelly season. You're totally going to come out with like a,

Starting point is 00:20:12 like a D plus or a C minor. Like I'm fully prepared for just anything to happen. So stay tuned. You're just going to have to wait for that. You're just going to have to wait. Of course, get this guy's wonderful writing over at go p.hnx.com. We have some very exciting announcements in the near future.

Starting point is 00:20:28 But this guy has a wonderful article. Did you get your article up with it? It's coming. It's coming. Jordan Lawler, our exclusive conversation with that yesterday and it's still not up yet. Well, I said today or tomorrow yesterday. So knowing that this might happen.

Starting point is 00:20:42 Get it up on the. website. These people need your wonderful writing. Go get yourself a membership if you haven't done so already. Annual membership will get yourself a free t-shirt over at the PHNX Locker.com. Here are some wonderful options behind me, of course, whichever shirt you want you can get. Also, you will get discounts being a member over at the PHNX Locker. Get yourself a month-to-month membership and you'll get your first month for just 50 cents. Regardless of your membership status, you will get members-only access to our Discord and members-only invites to our events, as well as those discounts as I talked about. Make sure.

Starting point is 00:21:12 as well. If you're sitting here watching us live, we appreciate you guys for joining us for breakfast. Remember, next week. Breakfast? People are you eating breakfast right now? I used to eat breakfast around this time. I just don't eat breakfast in general. So breakfast is just lost on me. Jesse told me that the worst 10 minutes of his life is making himself a sandwich for lunch. Oh, it's so miserable. That he has to put into a bag. It's so because it doesn't come with the instant gratification of like consuming it on the spot. And there's just something about it. Like those, try fucking making it for someone else that you're not even going to eat that lunch.

Starting point is 00:21:48 Oh, that's so, it's even worse. It's even worse. It's even worse. It's even worse. It's the longest 10 minutes of my life every time I pack a lunch. No, like at least you get to know at one point you're going to eat that lunch.

Starting point is 00:21:58 Or one point I'm going to eat it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, uh, I don't know where we were at, but if you're watching us right now here on the YouTube channel,

Starting point is 00:22:06 make sure to subscribe. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever we go live. And also give us a thumbs up just for my self-esteem. this guy over here, he's so completely at peace with himself. He doesn't need your approval, but I have a very high view of myself. It's why I'm the mayor. I need to be liked by everybody so much all the time.

Starting point is 00:22:25 But of course, also, if you're listening to us on your favorite audio podcasting app, please subscribe to us there, leave us a review. We would appreciate you for doing so. Of course, we have a little fall guys update because, of course, you know, we're still doing the Arizona Fall League thing. And of course, we are not, we are your Fall Guys. We are. We're adorable and we lose every single time in the first round.

Starting point is 00:22:46 But we're okay with that. And speaking of losing, things are not great for the Salt River Raptors, Jesse, who have currently lost four games in a row and are actually the only team eliminated from the AFL postseason currently. Everybody else still has a chance. All the teams are really clustered together except for surprise. The Suarez are 18 and 10. The Rafters are 11.

Starting point is 00:23:10 Yeah. I saw he had an outing the other day. Yeah. Yeah, and then Glendale, Mesa, Peoria, and Scottsdale are all either 13 and 13 and 14. So it's always kind of weird how these, like, nobody has any idea going to the Fall League, how these teams are going to perform. Right. Because there's just a random mishmash of players from all different organizations.

Starting point is 00:23:31 Am I wrong? But are there like St. Louis Cardinals players on different teams? I saw them saying, and maybe it was just the- I don't think that would be a thing. Yeah, I didn't think so either. but there was a thing the other day where it was saying teammates were like a Cardinals pitcher was pitching against Jordan Walker. And I didn't know what the context there was because I thought they... Maybe like in practice or something.

Starting point is 00:23:53 I don't know. It looked like it was a game. But again, I just thought maybe you would have some more insight on that. I thought for the most part that they're all assigned per team. Yeah, they are. There's six fall league teams and they all are attached to five major league organizations. Cardinals players would play for Salt River. So I don't know.

Starting point is 00:24:15 That's lost on me. That doesn't make any sense. I don't either. But of course, if it's something wacky that's going to happen, it's going to happen in Fall League. The Rafters were dead last in pitching this season. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:24:26 The team ERA was 6.20 after 28 games. However, not great. DeBack's prospect, Justin Martinez, was a bright spot for the Rafters. 2.35 ERA in 7 and 2 thirds innings of relief pitching, 13Ks, 5 walks, and only one to home run aloud. Charles makes a good point. They did do some odd things in the Fall Stars game.

Starting point is 00:24:50 It was NL versus A.L. And I guess he says the Fall Stars game had NL pitchers pitching. That's what it was. I think it was the Fall Stars game. Which doesn't really make any sense for it being an NL versus AL matchup and having a team pitch against itself. But the Fall League has never been about like. sense? Well, like, it's not

Starting point is 00:25:09 about the competition. Like, it's not like it's about scout. It's about development of players. It is about competition in the sense that it's about seeing the young prospects against the best young prospects, right? Yeah. And of course, there is the idea there that the Fall Stars game

Starting point is 00:25:25 would be the elite of the elite, right? But there are still innings limits and other things that are preventing certain guys. Obviously, Jordan Waller, who was voted to the Fall Stars lineup was not able to play due to injury. Right.

Starting point is 00:25:39 But this, I mean, like Jesse said, it's not really about competition as much as it's about progress. It's about seeing these guys continue their progression as a young player. And, you know, again, getting some more eyes on them because there are more people in baseball that watch the Arizona Fall League than tend to at times watch minor league play because it happens during the same, you know, period of time as the regular season. Sure. At times I'm kind of shocked because we talk to Tori about some things going on.

Starting point is 00:26:09 And we take for granted how busy Tori is running the team, you know, being a manager over a major league baseball team for 162 games. And at times we ask him about stuff that we've seen in the minor leagues or stuff that's come up. And in some cases, he hasn't even seen it. He's maybe like had some numbers come across his desk. But these guys don't get a chance to see this during the regular season. And so the Arizona Fall League, once again, is a great opportunity for the young guys to not only develop, but to get some eyes on them. I'm sure Martinez is one of those guys now that is on a lot of radars that he might not have been prior to the way that he performed in the fall league. Yeah, I mean, a 235 ERA is giving up three hits in seven and two thirds innings.

Starting point is 00:26:53 He has 13 strikeouts. He's been really, really good for the Salt River Rafters facing some good competition. I think the pitchers in the fall league this year, maybe not quite what we've seen at times in the past, at least on. on the Rafters specifically for sure. But the hitters, I think, are really, really good. Fally hitters are excellent in general. The fact that he's had. The Raptors are middle of the pack for offense.

Starting point is 00:27:16 Yeah. I mean, they have Zach Veen and Jordan Walker. The pitching is really what's kind of held them back. Right. We just adopt the rafters because they're where the Diamondbacks are and we have no choice. We really are bound to rooting for them. But I refuse to root for surprise.

Starting point is 00:27:34 Interesting. going to root for them. I don't want to drive out to that stadium. I don't want to. Oh, yeah. Derek is obsessed with the thought that like it takes two miles to drive from what freeway would that be? Is that the 303? No, it's the 101. That the 101. Okay. So you get on the 101 and then it's like two miles off the freeway to get to surprise stadium. Derek is convinced that those two miles will be like the worst two miles that I've ever driven in my entire life. It's the worst stretch. of traffic, lights, people driving poorly. I don't know what it is.

Starting point is 00:28:09 You need to get your act together, surprise. I'm not a fan of your stadium or your traffic or what your entire situation is going on out there. It takes me too long to get off. It takes me as long as it takes me to drive from here on the freeway there to get off, that it takes me to get off the freeway and drive to the stadium.

Starting point is 00:28:25 It doesn't make any sense. I can't explain it. It's awful and I hate it. There, that's my two cents. Justin Martinez got a taste of AAA toward the end of the year. And I think it's totally possible we see him in the big leagues next year. So Justin Martinez, I don't view as being a guy who's, you know, two years away or anything.

Starting point is 00:28:42 I think it's possibly he could contribute next year. And from what we've seen in the fall league, he's fully deserving of that opportunity. The Diamondbacks are obviously going to, it's not going to be completely out of their system, right? They're going to still acquire pieces like we saw with Sulzer, which are guys that are kind of cast off, so waived from other teams, guys that they feel still have potential that they're coaching staff might be able to get back up to where they once were at one point. However, Martinez and some other guys in the minor league system are going to end up being very attractive, especially in a relief pitching stance, you know, going into the bullpen with the lack

Starting point is 00:29:18 of firepower that the Diamondbacks have. And, you know, I don't really expect, I could be wrong. I think Jesse agrees with me on this. I don't want to speak for him, but I don't expect to see any major moves made by the Diamondbacks, not this off season. I would be shocked to see them acquire a big name. And even if it was one of the bigger names on the free agency market, I don't see it being a long-term deal.

Starting point is 00:29:41 I see it being similar to something like Ian Kennedy was brought in on, which is maybe a one-year deal with a team option for a second year or a player option for the second year. Sure. Yeah, something that was interesting that came out today. Nick Picoro from the Arizona Republic is out in Las Vegas where the GM meetings are happening today. He spoke with Mike Hazen again today.

Starting point is 00:29:58 And one of the interesting things that Mike said in that article, is that the diamond backs might be a little bit more willing to look at kind of like riskier options in the bullpen if that makes sense. So guys like Kirby Yates or Trevor Rosenthal, guys who have an impressive history in the bullpen, but have just dealt with significant injury issues. And so maybe there's not much stability there. You don't really know what you're going to get, unlike, you know, a Melanson or an Ian Kennedy who have been generally pretty durable. You kind of know what you're going to get there from an inning standpoint. Some of these other guys, you don't necessarily have that assurance.

Starting point is 00:30:37 You know, these guys have really struggled with some significant injury issues in the last few years. But I think if the diamondbacks do make some bullpen moves, which we expect, they certainly will in some respect. That could be the way that they go. It's, you know, short term, maybe a little bit higher of an annual value than what we've seen recently. Brett Johnson is not happy with you about that.

Starting point is 00:31:01 I mean, like, those guys have a pedigree. I mean, they both were nearly the best reliever in baseball at a certain point. And I don't think you're wrong. I mean, again, like we said, the Diamondbacks have a type, and that type is kind of like broken. I can fix him kind of thing. You know what I mean? We all have friends like that that get into bad relationships constantly.

Starting point is 00:31:22 The Diamondbacks are that. The Diamondbacks feel that their coaching staff is strong enough for them to possibly pick up somebody who had a bad season or two. like you said, an injury that's hampered their performance, you know, something like that. And honestly, I mean, the Diamondbacks are, I've been both fantasy owners in fantasy football and other fantasy sports where you're both desperate to try to fill position or you have so many good players that you don't know who to part with, right? Some of these other teams are in a different position than the Diamondbacks are where they're not going to be able to keep all of their good relievers, their relievers that are kind of on the bubble, but they just, they have. so much talent that we're not that. And so the diamondbacks are probably going to turn to maybe some of those teams that

Starting point is 00:32:08 can't keep everybody and have to wave or have to part ways with some of their players that they could possibly bring over and make a solidified part of this bullpen. I don't think anybody has a job right now, particularly in the bullpen. Obviously, there's guys coming back, right? But I mean, like at this point, I think everything is up for grabs. The closer position, long relief, short relief, guys that Tori can count on. I just, I don't know if anybody right now is really going to be, like, kind of have a solidified role.

Starting point is 00:32:39 Joe Mantiply, I think, is a pretty safe bet. Probably, yeah, probably Mantipy. But beyond that. I mean, yeah, so like, take Kirby Yates, for example, right? Like, Kirby Yates has pitched 11 in the third innings over the last three seasons from 2020 to 2020, literally 11 in a third innings in the big league. So he's been just completely destroyed by injuries. It was elbow inflammation most recently.

Starting point is 00:33:01 last year that kept him out for a while. But if you go back to 2019, like the last time that Kirby Yates actually really pitched, he had a 1.19 ERA and 41 saves for the San Diego Padres, a 1.19ERA. Like, that's how good he was. And I think you're, you know, you're not betting on that happening again. But is there a possibility that at a relatively low dollar value on a one year contract, could Kirby Yates come in for a team like the Diamondbacks next year and reestablish his value and have a really good season.

Starting point is 00:33:33 I think that that's possible, right? That could happen. So I don't know if he's necessarily the guy. There's a few guys that kind of fit that profile of having been hurt recently, but have a pretty good history with some high velocity. It's something the debacks might explore. There were a couple of questions in the chat. Josh Hunt asked, what are our expectations for Mantiply next season?

Starting point is 00:33:53 I would say my personal expectations are not really as high as the first half that he had. Yeah. He was pretty untouchable. and it was kind of one of those things that made us wonder when he was going to come back down to Earth. However, I do think that Mantiply can find a happy medium there because of how his season went in the second half, how unreliable he was. Yeah, it was really a tale of two seasons for him. I mean, he was an all-star for a reason. He deserved the all-star selection.

Starting point is 00:34:22 And if you look at his season as a whole, he had a 2.85 ERA in 60 innings. He walked six guys the whole year. He had 61 strike. out the numbers are really, really good on the whole for Mantiply. So I'm not necessarily concerned about him going into next year, but I think this is kind of the picture that he really always was. Like, you can only, you can only like go so many innings without walking a guy, right? Like, and you can only go so many innings without giving up a home run. Like, there were some things that Joe Maniply was doing in the first half that just weren't sustainable. You can't have a mid-one

Starting point is 00:34:57 ERA, you know, when you're not striking out that many guys. It just doesn't really happen. So he's still a great pitcher. And coming back next year, I expect he'll be a great pitcher again. You just have to adjust your, you know, your site. Like he's probably not going to have a 1.75 ERA at the All-Star break. You wouldn't necessarily bet on that happening again. There was another question from Mack Huff in the comments.

Starting point is 00:35:19 And in a mailbag Monday? Is that mailbag Monday? He said one player you think could surprisingly be surprisingly not on the opening day roster, one player you think could surprisingly be on the opening day roster. I'm going Alec Thomas for not and I'm going for Brandon fought for surprisingly on, even though I don't think that'd be. It wouldn't be that surprising. It wouldn't be surprising as much as it would be like, you know, jubilation.

Starting point is 00:35:46 Yeah, like, oh my gosh, this is happening. Right. Yeah, that's a really good, a really good question. Yeah, I don't, it kind of depends on what you think of is surprising. I wouldn't be surprised if Jordan Looplo wasn't on the team next year. I don't know if that's really surprising at this point. Other guys on the roster, Reyes Maranta as a guy, they could definitely let go of. I could see that happening.

Starting point is 00:36:11 Cooper Hummel, I think his future is a little bit shaky at this point. I'm not quite sure if they see him as the solution at the backup catcher spot. Those are some names that come to mind there. Surprisingly on the roster, yeah, I think you're looking mostly at, at minor league guys. Or a guy like Cole Solcer, right? If he comes in and has himself a nice showing in the Cactus League, that could get him a role.

Starting point is 00:36:35 That's why the Diamondbacks are making these moves to just have a competitive environment in spring training and hopefully have some of those guys stand out with how they perform. By the way, Cooper Hummel in Arizona Fall League play slash 471-591-706. It's hard to ask for more than that. How many played appearance? Is that?

Starting point is 00:36:57 Not very many. Probably not very many. That's only 22 plate appearances for Cooper Hummel, but still, I don't care. Short, small sample sizes count for out here. Of course, we want to thank our friends at Four Peaks for allowing me to drink at 1138 in the morning. Whatever. Stop judging me. But of course, we are teaming up with our friends at Four Peaks to host all their U.S. and Mexico World Cup matches at their 8th Street Pub, our favorite pub to be at.

Starting point is 00:37:24 Enjoy beer specials, giveaways, guest appearances. us, a mayor, a vice mayor, and more. Check the link in the show notes. They're still tallying the votes, Derek. I don't care. I will sue you. I will sue you all. I'm going to tell you that right now.

Starting point is 00:37:39 It must be 21 years or older to enjoy these wonderful beers and enjoy responsibly, but you can't go down to the A Street pub and enjoy their food with your family. Also, more furniture is sprucing up your home during more furniture's fall sale this fall. Of course, it's sports season, and you want your house to look as good. as our wonderful studio does. I sit in these chairs in here, and all I think about is the more leather recliners that are out there and how much I want to be in those

Starting point is 00:38:06 instead of these chairs that weren't provided by more. Yeah. But everything else was provided by more. So shout out to our friends over there. Plus, right now during the fall sale, you will receive $100 gift card for every $1,000 you spend. Before we go, Jesse, I know that there's a lot of talk about whether or not I should remember.

Starting point is 00:38:26 main mayor. I know that right now the votes are tabulating, so there's very little I can do to convince people otherwise. But I just want to remind people that not only am I the mayor of PHNX, but of course, as you guys know, I'm OpenShirt Derek. Oh gosh. And OpenShirt Derek has been around for a very long time running around the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area. So I just wanted to give a shout out to Baby OpenShirt, Derek. Look at that adorable young man. Why is my shirt so open in that class picture. Can you tell me that, Jesse? I don't know. I cannot explain that.

Starting point is 00:39:02 Here's another thing. I've never seen this picture before in my entire life. Are you sure that's you? Yeah, I'm sure that's me. Look at that cute ass kid. Are you kidding me? You had pretty great hair. I'm not going to lie. I had pretty great hair. That's in the past now. But

Starting point is 00:39:19 rolled up sleeves because of course I wasn't able to get Roosevelt's shirts at that age that fit my, you know, biceps properly. Right. So, of course, I had to roll up the sleeves, but I just want to remind everybody, once again, that today's photographs are tomorrow's treasures. And there it is right there, tomorrow's treasure for you guys. If you're listening on audio, you're really, you're really missing out. You should go to the YouTube channel and check it out. I opened up the shirt. The top came off a little bit up here. I'll do whatever I need to for last minute votes is basically what I'm saying. I'm not above pandering, much like Craig did to beat me.

Starting point is 00:39:54 Southwest Bias, which is coming on right now, right after this show. So make sure to stay tuned for that. Totry and Shane. Totry and Shane and the big fella. I can't wait. It's going to be a hot mess. The ASU is never going to be the same after this. No, no, there will be much beef between those two after that, which I mean, they're kind of

Starting point is 00:40:14 already already has them. There already is. Everybody has beef with Totry. I have beef with Totry. I'm pretty sure he voted against me, even though me and him, like, we had a secret pact, right? Like I was helping him win stuff. He was helping me win stuff.

Starting point is 00:40:26 I really thought that he was on my side, but that's tootry for you. You know, you can't count on him for anything. Of course, in the meantime, Isaiah, did you just get here? Isaiah just showed up. All right, now we can start the podcast. Yeah, Isaiah is here. Charles Woodall Pikes says, Sun Devil on Sun Devil Crime, just the way we like it. Of course, Sean is remaining neutral there in that situation.

Starting point is 00:40:48 But in the meantime, you guys can follow us on Twitter. I'm at Kapp underscore Caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but of course all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We love you guys so much. We implore you to watch everything,

Starting point is 00:41:06 all the shows, all the stuff we have going on here. But of course, we appreciate you for tuning in. Like I said, next week, we're going back to our 1 p.m. time slot. Tomorrow is audio only. We will be back on Friday at 11 a.m. But until then, we thank you guys so much for joining us on behalf of Leah, Jesse and myself.

Starting point is 00:41:22 We always appreciate you being here. and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you mutually decide to part ways.

PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - What grade would you give Zac Gallen’s 2022 season?

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