PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - What We Learned From First FULL SQUAD Workouts for Diamondbacks

Episode Date: February 17, 2025

Become a PHNX Diehard for just $4 a month! http://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube The Diamondbacks are BACK and the gang's all here! Ketel Marte is back to mashing balls out of the park, Gino Groover had some lightheadedness, and Kendall Graveman has arrived as a Diamondback. Torey Lovullo spoke to the media and had alot to say so join Derek Montilla and Damon Fairall on the PHNX Diamondbacks Podcast! PLUS! Mailbag Monday is here! An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Gila River: Win a Lamborgini! Visit https://playatgila.com/promotion/350k-lamborghini-luxe-giveaway/ for details Branded Bills: Use code PHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order! Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! Check out FOCO merch and collectibles and use promo code “PHNX10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items. Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code PHNX for 10% off! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. #dbacks #diamondbacks #arizonadiamondbacks #mlb #zacgallen #corbincarroll #ketelmarte #mlbtheshow #mlbtraderumors #tradedeadline #traderumors #allstargame Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, all the gang is here. The boys are back. The mailbag is back. We have a lot of things to discuss, including more than one episode of this show this week. Very excited for baseball to be back. We're going to be discussing it 30 seconds. Don't you go anywhere?

Baseball, so happy to have you guys here. Of course, my name is Derek Monti, occasionally known as your mayor, P-HNX. This man next to me is the one-and-only Damon dog himself joining me for the return of Mailbag Monday. And of course, we've got to give a shout out to Waymo. Waymo is my way of getting around town. I don't need anybody else driving me

because I got Waymo taking care of me. You should too. I actually, I used a Waymo for the first time on Friday, Derek. Incredible. Can I say? I'm actually not even playing. Can I say something that makes me sound like a terrible person?

I like that the Waymo doesn't talk to me. That's by far the best part. I was just going to get into that. I don't have to have a conversation with the Waymo. I'm just saying, you know, the car doesn't have feelings. I get to pick my own. tunes. Yes, that's great. Those two things right there.

Like, that's, Waymo is far superior. Right. And if you are in town for spring training and spring camp, use Waymo. Get wherever you're going with Waymo. I'm pumped to be back out at Salt River Fields. Pumped to see the full squad out there today. And most, most importantly, I'm

pumped for this sound. Kevin injected into my veins, please. Man, that sound. That's a good sound. Seeing Cetel mash dingers into the centerfield parking lot and presumably break someone's windshield. I did hear hear a crash at one point. I heard a screen. Yeah, that's too. You should you should watch out if you're out there. That was really cool. Honestly, when I came out from the office, there was an incredible, incredibly big group of fans out there.

You guys are doing the thing and the players love it. They appreciate it. And it's just awesome. It's awesome to see so many fans out there. It's awesome to see the full squad back. we were missing one. Geraldo Perdomo due to a doctor's appointment, according to Tori Lavallo, no other reason. I did see Perdomo out there on day one at pitchers and catchers. Doctors appointment. Can we, can we not get that taken care of on a different day? I'm not judging the man.

I'm just saying day one. I got to be honest. Like that feels like such a non-Jerry move. You told me that. And I was like, he's the captain of this team and he's missing day one. Yeah. Day one, Jerry. We did you hear.

You could have rescheduled that doctor's point. I mean, you're professional baseball player. Absolutely. There's no doubt that the doctor is going to stick around until 5 p.m. for you today. When things are kind of fixed up, like I don't understand how we couldn't work around this at all. You need to tell me somebody as wholesome and amazing as Geraldo Perdomo can't get a house call. He can't get special treatment. I mean, if there is somebody I think that deserves special treatment, it's Jerry P.

Speaking of which, there were murmurs about maybe a potential extension in the future. for Geraldo Perdomo. I want that injected directly into my veins. I mean, we talk a lot about Gabby. We talk a lot about like obviously Zach Gowan and other guys, right? But I mean, Geraldo Perdom extension does feel like it would mean a lot, not just obviously to Jerry, but like to the team.

It would be exciting. The haters would be sick, Derek. The haters would be sick. But his slugging percentage is not nearly good enough to give him that extension. Jordan Lawler is for sure the starting shortstop next year, right, guys? Yeah, well, Jordan Waller, he is going to be getting some, you know, backup, you know, there. Tori was firm in saying that Geraldo Perdomo was, is there a shortstop? Yeah, because they love.

They was their shortstop. Is there shortstop? He said that. He's the lifeblood of the team, Derek. He is. Speaking of lifeblood, fire by blood, Dre Jameson, day one out there beating the other pitchers in a foot race. Why?

No reason. There's nothing that comes of it. There's no award attached to it. No accolade. But I saw him run three heat. and he beat them every time, Damon. The man does not lose anything. And I can't wait to see Dre Jameson back on a mound.

That's something that I think is very underrated for this team going in to 2025. We also have the signing of Kendall Graveman, which we'll talk about here in a little bit. And the bullpen just looks great. I mean, there's a lot of positive things to say about this Diamondback's bullpen. It feels much different than this year than it did last year. I know last year when the team kicked things off, there were a couple of guys with injuries. There were just some, I guess, parts of the roster that weren't going to be available to Tori in one way, shape, or form. Now, I mean, the talk of today was a lot about competition

where there's going to be a lot of competition for the bullpen for starting pitching. And even for some of those position players as far as, you know, again, not to say that any jobs are on the line, but there's still some roles that kind of need to be figured out, you know, utility infielder role that, you know, the primary function is going to be kind of the backup shortstop there. So that is a role that a guy like Jordan Lawler might end up being very good for for 2025. Yeah, I'd be pumped to see Jordan Lawler in that role. I mean, goodbye to our sweet Kevin Newman. Yeah, man.

He's with the Angels now. Yeah, right? The Angels got everybody that it was just such a weird offseason for them. I mean, they're trying to do the weirdest team ever. I said this last week. They're trying to do kind of the Royals signing thing a bit where they like, it's not like they're going out after the top. free agents, but they're very active in free agency trying to kind of like build a new team. And I don't hate what they're doing because I'm familiar with a lot of the players that they went after. They were a

lot of players that we talked about the Diamondbacks, you know, kind of pursuing. Kenley Jansen was another guy that they added. Yeah. We were talking about that last week when that happened, right, where it was like Kenley Jansen, like, I would have loved to have seen the diamondbacks get in on him. I know he's frustrating at times and and people, you know, there are some people that are not the biggest fans of Kenley Jansen, but he would have been by, you know, easily the plug and play closer on this team kind of everybody else gets to settle into their own roles. And I thought it would have played well for us. But, but yeah, they'll probably, I mean, let's think about it. They'll probably trade Kevin Newman and Kenley Jansen by the time the trade deadline comes

around for extra compensation. Maybe we get one of them back. Yeah. Maybe we get, uh, Newman back. But back to your original point, like Jordan Lawler in that utility role, you know, with his upside behind, like at the plate. I think it, I mean, that would be, you know, just an incredible, you know, upside for this team. I know I already said that. But like it's it's just the Kevin Newman and Jordan Lawler's ceilings are completely different. Right. So Kevin Newman, while he was very good at getting singles last year, very good at getting on base,

he had a good defensive season as well. Maybe Jordan Lawler isn't able to match that necessarily. I do think that just, you know, what he can provide from an offensive standpoint is just like that that would even and Kevin Newman's had to step in with injuries to Catell. injuries to Perdoma. Right. Now Jordan Lawler slides into those roles and maybe he develops along the way. So yeah, that could be pretty fun and something to watch for as a Diamondbacks fan in 2025.

And again, we know that Jordan Lawler can play shortstopping and play third base, right? So, you know, again, being able to provide that versatility might be key to him winning that role. And I don't know. I mean, again, it's something to remind baseball fans is that if a guy like this does not necessarily end up in that role, the main reason might be because they don't want him writing the best. bench and not getting a lot of playing time, right? So if they feel like someone else might be a better fit, and that might be who they go to a bit more, which they do have options on that.

MacDaddy 714 said, are we sleeping on Blaze this year? I don't think so. And Tori was asked about the possibility of Blaze getting some time in the outfield. He gave Steve Gilbert, who asked that question, bonus points. He gave him an A plus plus.

I was kind of bummed out because I was going to ask that. You wanted a day plus plus. I wanted the out of boys so bad. Especially from Tori. We've talked about this before the show a little bit, Derek. Like, Tori is just such dad, dad mode all the time.

Yeah. Like, I need, I need his approval. A hundred percent. Like, I've, you know,

I've never even spoken to Tori because I don't really go out there. You guys kind of keep me locked up. Like, that's for good reason. Yeah, I get it. You see how you know, yeah,

I get him, I'm an emotional guy. You don't want me like hugging Jerry or anything. But, uh, that being said, like, almost nothing to me in life matters more than Tori,

like, shaking my hand and telling me, and telling me good job. You know what I mean? Never, never spoken to the guy once. And it's like I care about that more than like my own father. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, this is ninth year, ninth season for Tori as a manager of this team. And again, we talked a little bit about Blaze speaking of hugs. I got a hug from Blaze. I also got a hug from Ryan Thompson.

He told me that I looked like I was sweating waffles. He also told me that he was mad at me for not inviting him to my Royal Rumble party and now demands that I have an elimination chamber party. So Kevin, we got to set that up. That's something that we have to do now. Just six foot eight Ryan Thompson walking in the door. That's why I tried to say. My house isn't big enough for that.

Like, it's just not. It's not set up for that. I had to add an extra TV just for a room. I saw Ryan Thompson at Zips one time. Yeah, just taking up the whole room. And I almost walked up to him and just like, hey, I know you don't really know me, but I know you, you rock with Jesse and Derek hard.

He does. Just go, just go ask him who his favorite pro wrestler is right now, who he thinks he's going to win at Manny. He'll tell you. But again, Tori, in his ninth season here talking a bit about his message to the team, at least what he could tell us on his message to the team on day one. This is what he had to say. Yeah, I think part, the part that I'll share with you guys is just to take care of today. And I've been transparent. I think I've said

to you guys have a day one attitude. You have a day one attitude today and wake up tomorrow. I do the exact same thing and just remain stubborn to our beliefs here. things that are important to me should be important to them and things that are important to them should be important to me and let's continue to build relationships and grow and learn about one another because you can't just roll the balls and bats out there you got to be able to go out and execute so today was starting that the start of that process and I'm really anxious to see where this team goes this year I mean there's not it's day one right so obviously it's not going to be a lot of there's not a lot of negativity anywhere like Tori said every single team

doing their bunting drills today. But it's, this team feels different. This team feels exciting. And I mean, again, when you have the new pieces that have been added to this,

especially from Tori's perspective, I mean, he talked about it at the press conference introducing Corbyn Burns, but like the shock of this team going out there and essentially adding the top free agent pitcher to the roster has to make everyone feel better about it. But this year,

the team seems healthy. There's a lot of just encouragement. I mean, everything, everything was very, very happy on day one. And this team, again,

very likable team. The most. It's just insanely how, like I felt, I honestly, I shouldn't do this, but I did do this. I said,

awe about like the groups that were together based on, because today they divide them up into hitting groups, right? So like Corbyn, Alec Thomas, Randall Gritchick, and,

um, Jake McCarthy were all together in one group. And when I saw that, I went, aw. And I don't know why. It was like a hiccup or a reaction. Like, I shouldn't do that. I know there are sweet, sweet boys,

and I know seeing them all together makes me feel special. They should all be at happy jewelers getting new chains or something like that. But still nonetheless, they are like the most wholesome bunch of all of any sports team, really that I've paid like super close attention to. And we're watching them grow up, right? Like we saw a few of them get like engaged and married this off season. I was about to bring that up.

I was just about to bring that up, Derek. Like, did you see that Valentine's Day post? Oh. There was like, it was like seven engagements from like the off season to now, Kevin. Yeah. But on the diamond backs, they're just like all the dudes there are like 25 are just getting married for the rest of their life.

Love is in the air. Like, I'll tell you what, Derek, I believe in every one of those damn marriages. Yeah. Yeah. Those are, I mean,

they're, I know all those guys are just too nice. They're built on a solid foundation of friendship. A hundred percent. Right. When you build your foundation on. friendship. That is what happens. We love. Tori was asked why this

team is so likable. We know why, but this is what Tori had to say. This is why this team is so likable. Yeah, you know, I think there's, this is my ninth year here, right? So I think there's a lot of players that have been here through good times and bad and come out the other end. There were young players that were in the system through the course about those nine years.

And it's just, it's just a really good group. And we feel like it's our time to bond and take this and take this to the next level and be able to tell a really good story. So they're likable because they get what it means to be in Arizona Diamondback. They're likable because they connect with everybody inside of the front office.

And they're just good kids. We have vetted this thing the best that we can. Not to say that the kids were here before, it weren't good, but these are Diamondback players. And the ones that have joined from the outside, I think we've done a really good job of filtering that. So they're just likable and they're just really good kids that care about the right things at the right time. It's, I mean, we already knew all of this, right?

Like I said, this is not new information to us. But of course, they're adorable and likable and the greatest altogether. So fun times there. My guy Jake is in here. He said late but here. Good afternoon, fam. I just got to give a shout out to Jake's wife, Jess, who we got to go watch perform love songs. Speaking of love being in the air, she performed some love songs on Valentine's.

day. And she is by far one of the most incredible singers I've ever had had the pleasure of listening to. So tell just out, shout out to Jess. Tell her she did amazing. Other Jake, big Jake, Jacob Franklin says Bobby Hurley has had a job longer and easy than Tori. And that is jarring to think about. Hashtag Bobby forever, Kevin. That's what we mean Kevin been pushing that for a while. It's a new movement. Hashtag Bobby forever. You've upset Tori is or Tootree over here as much as Totry's haircut upsets me right now, but that's, I do want to comment on, uh, on what Tori had to say, though, uh, on, on that last video, like, I feel like there's something to be said about like when Mike Hazen now they're, they're fully, it takes time for players to go through the process of

being in the minor leagues, right? Sure. When Mike Hazen and Tori have sat down with these guys that they've now drafted, signed throughout the entire roster, they've been here long enough where these are all their guys. Yeah. And clearly they factor in personality fits to what they do because they only draft like Corbyn Carols and, you know, sign Geraldo Perdomos. And it's like that's their whole, that's their whole mentality. Let's get guys that just love baseball.

This is all they care about. And they're just great dudes. And I think that like, I'll tell you what, I've been a part of some, you know, obviously a much lower level. But I've been a part of some sports teams that were a lot less talented than other teams. And the chemistry was just so good. Sure. That it, you know, everybody knew their roles. Everybody wanted to play for one another.

Everybody worked hard. And that goes to show over the course of a season. It can make a big difference. I think that this Diamondbacks team is like, everything worked against them last year. They lost a ton of close games, right? They blew a lot of games with the bullpen. They had some of the most injuries in the entire league and the entire sport, like outside of maybe the Dodgers who had a ton as well.

Sure. You know, they had tons of injuries. They missed playoffs by a game. the vibes are incredible right now. Like I think that this is gearing up to be almost a like I would say that like there's a ton of expectations on this season. Sometimes it's better to miss playoffs and have that mentality going into the next year of like we have to make it this year.

Especially when you improved. Right. You won any you want 89 games. It should have been enough. There are so many lessons to be learned for that. Right. Like that you can get better than you were and still come up short that every game, every inning matters. Tori talked about that, right? Like, there is no better, there's no team that

knows that now more than the Diamondbacks, you know, the fact that a lot of them still talk about sitting in the clubhouse or sitting at Chase Field together watching that Braves Mets game, that double header. Yeah. And just being sick to their stomach over the result of that and over the fact that because of that they missed out, right? Like so. And you're kidding if you don't think Tori hasn't been pounding that drum the entire off season. He is going to pound it all year long. You remember that Braves Mets game? Yeah. Like just all off season long, all season long.

They might just, they might just like air it in the clubhouse from time to time, just on a loop, you know, just the final parts of it. But yeah, I mean, there is a lot to be said about the way that this team has been assembled and even the additions, right? Josh Naler, I gained a tremendous amount of respect. I love that he's everybody's favorite psycho on this team already and everybody's ready to get behind that, that energy, that emotion that he has. I loved what I heard him say about his parents. I loved the respect that he has for this game. And a lot of his answers were just something that makes you feel very good about the person he is joining this team. Like, yeah, he might have those clips of him headbutting another grown man with a baseball helmet on while he was, did not have a helmet on.

I'm fired up. But I'm ready to get fired up about that too. But I mean, again, it's character, right? Like I talked about how much I enjoyed listening to things Corbyn said, both, you know, at his press conference and in the clubhouse when pitchers and catchers reported he just seems like a leader he seems like somebody's vibe uh whose vibe is going to fit very much with this locker room and maybe a guy that's not afraid to take that step forward as a leader somebody who the rest of the team already respects and you know honestly like while there are guys like Zach Gallin who've been here for a while based on his personality that

galen just doesn't strike me as that kind of guy that even like wants that that that responsibility like he'll help his teammates out and provide them with words of encouragement and things that he might see that they're doing help them like improve as a player. But he doesn't strike me as a kind of guy that really wants that, you know, wants to take that step forward and be a leader amongst his peers, right? Whereas Corbyn Burns comes in from a couple of clubhouses that he talked about, which were young,

you know, filled with younger guys. And now he steps into another one. He's not that old himself, but just as far as experience and accolades and being one of the best pitchers in the league, he has a chance, you know, to kind of be that for this team, right? So you just, you know, you do get the impression that the chemistry of this team is exciting for this year and that they are going to be those things you described guys that play for each other, guys that play somewhat self as selflessly.

And there's, I mean, there's there's a lot of decisions to be made. Like Tori, you know, talked about that with, you know, Blaze Alexander and how they're going to utilize him this year. And he also talked about a lot of other guys and, you know, kind of how exciting it is to have this many weapons, I guess, and this many tough decisions. to be made. There are a lot of tough decisions to be made still. One thing that did happen today that got a lot of attention was Gino Groover was potentially injured but not really injured. A few fans told me that they thought he might have been hit by a ball or had something happened to him. Apparently he just kind of fell down while fielding while out there doing defensive drills. Apparently it was due to lightheadedness. This is what Tori had to say about Gino and the situation. Yeah.

I was actually on that field, and, you know, your players were trying to flag down a trainer, so you're holding your breath as you're running out there. So I got out there. The trainer did an unbelievable job of asking him questions. Gino never lost, was never, never out of touch with the questioning. He was right there with him the entire time. He was just lightheaded and feeling very, very dizzy. So I think there's a lot of – I don't know that answer.

It wasn't overly hot today. He said he'd been hydrating. I asked him if he's been sleeping. He said he's been sleeping great. we don't know, so we're going to uncover that the best that we can. I don't have a diagnosis right now, but you know, you hold your breath and I think he's going to be okay, but it was a scary moment for us because when your athletes laying down on the field, you're wondering what's actually happening.

We found out he didn't get hit by a ball. So this was something that was internal, but we'll get them right. We'll get him healthy. They asked about hydration, and maybe he might have not had enough to eat potentially. It's an exciting day. kind of busy morning you got to get out there and you want to be a part of everything and sometimes speaking from experience sometimes you forget to eat some that's sometimes I don't take care of myself and I mean we as adults sometimes forget to do that

I need someone preparing my meals for me again is really what I need but we had another question about the another guy who wasn't in camp and that's human Lynn of course we love human Lynn here a lot at this show more than anything more More than most, more than most. But there he is right there. There's our guy. Hit that like button while he's here. Unfortunately, he's absent from camp.

And it might not be due to a visa issue. Tori clears it up that Yumen Lin might still be serving his mandatory military time in Taiwan. This is what Tori said about his absence. Yeah, that's Lynn. He still has not arrived in camp. I think it's a little bit more than a visa issue. But nothing alarming. he's from another country where I think he has to serve his country and be there for his country.

So before I throw it any further, we'll just leave it at that. And when he gets into town, I'll be able to give exactly what happened. Speaking as someone who hosts a show, who at times talks about Yumen Lin and when he does possibly get a majority of the country of Taiwan watching that episode, I need him back, please. Can you please return him to us? I need him on the mound. I need him striking dudes out and I need video of it so that I can put it on YouTube. We need to go interview him, put up a YouTube short of it. Like this is.

These are corn. Full disclosure like this. They've told us here at PHNX, they said, hey guys. Yeah, you guys get human limb back or else. Yeah. We will cut the show. We need this to be a human lin podcast. And Derek and I said, hey, you know, that's what we're here for.

Chris says on a scale of payments, how much are we missing human lineland? Lynn. Yeah, a piece of Yoshi's right. It's five out of five payments. Might be six. Might be six. Might be six out of five. But we have more from camp and we have more on the Diamondback signing Kendall Graveman to this team and what his role might end up being here once the season starts. So don't don't you guys go anywhere. You're watching the pH and XD Back show. Of course, pure edibles is an amazing company that I've had a chance, you know, to dabble in. And you should too, if you haven't had a chance. It was founded in Arizona. It's available in 130 dispensary statewide. and their gummies are not covered in sugar like all their competitors.

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Well, I know he wasn't the name that a lot of people were hoping to see the Diamondbacks sign. And maybe they're not done. Maybe they're not done. But the Diamondbacks did add, I guess you could say, veteran reliever Kendall Graveman to their squad. Graveman missed all of 2024 due to a shoulder surgery. I think he had a torn labrum. So missed the 2024 season, spent 2023 with two teams, I believe it was Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros. So had some pretty good numbers.

We have to take a look here at his stats from 2023. He had a 3.12 ERA with a 1.312 whip, opponent batting average of 2.15. He had a 23.4% strikeout rate, which was up, 12.8% walk rate, which wasn't great. And also a 1.4B war there. So honestly, a guy here who could fit in great to the bullpen, really, when you take a look at the signing,

I believe they signed him for $1 million. so it's not a very expensive signing. He has a lot of upside based on his past. And, I mean, obviously a strong desire to return to baseball, considering missing the entire 2024 season. Is he the answer at closer? Probably not. Probably not, but we don't know.

I mean, really, it's not necessarily an arm that when you see what he's done in the past, you immediately think that he's going to take over that closer role. But it could be another arm for this pen that just helps round things out and allows the Diamondbacks to perhaps name one of their internal candidates that they already have as that closer.

Tori was still kind of, you know, he still didn't want to bring up the closer role or if he's going to name somebody as the closer. It still feels like there's work to be done from the front office. Like I still feel like that might be the main reason why this feels more just like an addition to the bullpen and not necessarily

that addition that we're looking. looking for them to make. Yeah, I mean, I like Kendall Graveman. I, you know, I think he, he has a decent profile. Obviously, he was hurt last year. Right. At age 34, you never know if he's going to be able to fully recover from that or not. But I'm going to go back in time a little bit.

And yeah, you could say this is a long time ago. But in 2021, he was like elite. Yeah. Elite. Yeah. 177. ERA. 5 and 1.

10 saves, 56 innings pitch, 61 strikeouts, a whip under one. Yeah. He was, he was awesome in 2021. He was good in 2020. 22, good in 2023, and then didn't play last year. So his last three seasons, he's been elite to good. Yeah. So, I mean, I think you can easily, you know, wrap your head around why they made the deal.

I think that he, you know, there's, there's a world in which he's better than some of the other guys that are in this bullpen as of right now. Yeah. And so I think, yeah, you improve a little bit. But to your point, like, AJ Puck, I think is good enough to be the closer. But we've talked about this ad nauseum, right? You want him as that chess piece. that you can use in big moments whenever you need them. Hey, we're in a jam.

Right. We're going up against Shohei Otani, Freddie Freeman in the next, you know, two of the next three batters. Right. Let's get our big lefty in there in the eighth inning, seventh inning, and shut them down because that's what, you know, I think that would be the ideal usage of an AJ puck. So it makes it a little bit interesting.

That's why a guy like Kenley Jansen probably would have, you know, been a decent move or trading for a Ryan Hensley or something like that. But, you know, I think. I like the pieces in this bullpen for the most part. Like I look at this ginkle, Manciply, Ryan Thompson and Justin Martinez, Ryan Nelson,

if he's going to be in the bullpen, has been really good in those role, that role, right? So like the bullpen looks solid as a group, but yeah, you might just need that top dog guy to like step up. And maybe it's Jmart,

man, maybe it's J-Mart. I think that's the ideal thing for this team is have the, you know, the guy who's what, 23 years old, 24 years old, win the job.

throws two of the fastest pitches on the team. Yeah. I think, again, it's about maturity with Justin Martinez. It's not about if it's about when, you know, but I also can see that they don't want to necessarily have a young pitcher that doesn't have that much experience constantly put in those high pressure situations. Yeah. We also talked about it.

Make sure you go have a pet talk with them first, you know, get out there, get ahead of it. Don't wait until things go off the rails. That's Jerry's. Yeah, you send Jerry out there, get the pep talk in early and don't mess around with this. But Derek, you didn't have this in the rundown. And I was wondering if you were just maybe trying to like skip over and pretend like it didn't happen. But Shelby Miller, are we just going to pretend like that's not a thing? So how electric is Kendall Graveman's entrance music going to be, right?

Like, I mean, because we could do like an undertaker thing with like the gong or like someone said grave digger like the grave digger like truck. You know. Oh, yeah, Shelby Miller back on a minor league deal. I don't know why it gives me nightmares. It just does. It just does. Did you see my tweet where I was like, it's impossible to say who won the Dan Zwanstoned for Shelby Miller trade at this point? Who could say?

I mean, the book isn't closed until Shelby Miller's D-Back's career is over. Do you want to know what in his current D-BAC's career before this season takes place, Shelby Miller in three seasons or more like two and a half has a negative 1.1 war. He has a ERA of 6.35 in 2018. starts and 29 games pitched. He's allowed 20 home runs and 62 walks and struck out a hundred nine in that time. He is he is like I see RA here. Let's just move on, Damon.

I tried. He has he has absolutely just scarred this fan base. Absolutely. It's honestly, it's kind of impressive work from him and big of him to even want to come. I'm shocked by that. You know, the problem is, is that isn't this more of an overarching story now that it's just Shelby Miller's story. Like it's this story of the

Diamondbacks not being able to bring in somebody that's been doing awesome and have them continue that same path with them and this team. While trading away the number one pick from last year's draft. I mean, it could be free agency. It can be anything. Mark Melanson led the league and saves the season

before we picked him up. I could go on, but I'm not going to. But that's just that's classic Dave Stewart. were Tony LaRouca ball, as Sean puts in the comments here. Like, there is no world where Mike Heisen and Tori Lovolo would pull off something like that. Could you imagine? Like, they probably told them as they walked to the door and they like screamed. Yeah.

Ah. Ah. Yeah. Yeah. I do have some good news, at least. And that is that today, Derek Hall and Uncle Ken Kendrick were out there to support the team. And Derek Hall today said the Diamondbacks are in the midst of negotiations with unspecified partners. to broadcast as many as 15 games over the air in 2025.

That's from my guy Jack Summers over at Sports Illustrated. They are going to air some free games. 15? Love it. Is that enough? I mean, again, especially with a team like the Diamondbacks, right? This is about building a fan base. We kind of know what being on, you know, Channel 3 is done for,

or Arizona's family is done for the Sons. Like, even though a lot of people don't want to currently watch those games. still they're available to you for free. And so we'll some Diamondbacks game. So that's exciting. Yeah, real quick, I want to say about the sun since you brought it up. So I don't put it in the chat.

I think it was like T.O. put it in the chat. But like when we were talking about the vibes of the debacks, the sun's in the debacks. Like could you find two more opposite teams when it comes to vibes? That's everything that I'm talking about. Yeah. So much talent.

Vibes are in the gutter. Yeah. And that's when it leads to the wins. I mean, the team looking like that. But like I know nothing about what's going. on in there. But if you were to tell me, if Gerald was to tell me that, you know,

that things are bad, like you know from being in there. Like, I don't know. There's been times where I was in the Diamondbacks Clubhouse and things were bad. Like, you could just tell. There's the air is thick and the animosity is there hanging over everybody and you don't know what it's about.

Yeah. You know, we had, of course, Archie, when he was here, he talked to us a bit about, you know, certain guys being in the clubhouse and the impact. of their attitudes and the way that adding them to this team kind of drove a weird wedge between the team and like being happy like having good vibes like you know it's 162 game season one thing you can't really do is get down too much on the losses at times however like we said earlier tory is absolutely going to use last season as an example probably for the rest of the

time as a manager and maybe even long after he's no longer manager maybe just to his grandchildren he'll use it as an example of not quitting and not giving up and how much every day going in and giving 100% means right but getting back to the the son's conversation of it like or with the with what ishbia did getting the sons on on easy family is you know i think that there is something to be said about building this fan base out right like the sons have been established here in the valley since the 70s and it's why they're the most popular team right They are a team that could have charged for, you know, to watch. For sure.

Yeah. And people would have paid for it. They are the team out of all the Valley teams. Sure. Sure. And the debacks are, you know, they're the team that's, I know the Cardinals were here first, but I think the debacks ingratiated them, say, selves more to the community. Oh, for sure.

For sure. And, you know, I think that we're finally seeing, and I was talking about this someone the other day, we're finally seeing those, those kids that were D-backs fans from the moment that they grew up get to, you know, being adult age. Yeah. I am a perfect example of that. Like I was my parents took me to games when I was four or five years old. I mean even when I was an infant child, but like more so when I was getting into like preschool age knowing what's happening. But like I, you know, I'm like I've been around the debacks my entire life. And now I'm an adult ready to spend money on this team. And I think you're going to see this fan base just like you're going to see it just exponentially grow. I believe as the team continues to be competitive as people, you know, that are from Arizona and have lived there with their whole lives, you know, get to that stage where they. can spend money on tickets themselves.

Like I really do think that like you're going to see this debacks fan base grow exponentially. But part of that comes with being competitive every year. And I think that they're in a good spot with that. I'm just envisioning Dennis taking you out as like a little baby and holding you up. I told you. I was at like I was at the first debacks playoff game. Yeah. Ever.

Yeah. I was so for context, I was born August 99. The first debacks playoff game was October 99. It's in his blood, folks. Literally. blood fire and it was like like two months old in the crowd just just chilling watching ball and I mean again it's you're absolutely right about that excuse me I'm starting to see that I'm from the generation that did not have baseball here I'm from the generation that I grew up here in town watching the Braves and the

cubs on their super stations because that's the only baseball that we could watch here right so I specifically remember time kind of loving baseball and being interested in it but not really having that team to root for or really care about, right? And so this is different, but it's great to see. And I think that that's something that we're seeing with the Cardinals as well in football here in the valley, right? But the Suns, they've been around forever. And yeah, well, we'll see. But the Sun, you know, the Sun's, you know, being being live on over the air is great.

But the Diamondbacks, you know, of course, this could be a big for them. Derek Hall said we've talked to a number of our local stations about a small window that we built in with MLB to have some games over the air. and so we're working on those negotiations right now to see if we could take a package of games almost like a game of the week and have those on over-the-air partnership. We're speaking with several right now. We're excited about that opportunity. So everyone else should be too. They have their 99-99 package back $100. You get to watch Diamondbacks games, all of them, no blackout.

So it is separate from the MLB package. It's something you get through the Diamondbacks directly. But they want to get this team out there. They want to have people watching this team. I was just pumped to see certain guys around the first day, just looking in the condition that they're in. Got to see Jordan Montgomery again today. Give me some names here. I mean, who's looking good.

I'm going to tell you who's looking good. And it's Randall Gritchick. He looks jacked. He looks ready to go. And he was excited about being back here. And like, again, he's one of those guys that I think was like, he excellent in his role last year and what he was asked to do. but now that he's back in 2025 without being part of the platoon with Jock Peterson, I think he's going to be asked to do more.

Most of his at-bats were actually as an outfielder. He really didn't DH that often. So I think we're going to see him in there more often as a DH. And also just adding that versatility for Tori to be able to have, you know, a guy in your lineup who is a DH who maybe later on you want to move to the outfield and then maybe fill someone else into that DH role. It's all about versatility for Tori. But man, yeah, Randall Gritchick looked great.

all the boys playing dominoes look great Eduardo Rodriguez could tell Marte that was a game I wanted to get in on really badly you know just sit down and play dominoes with the boys Why not electric but do you know how to play dominoes I do I do is that when you learn lots of years of my dad screaming at me The way we play dominoes was like in partners

So you had to like you work together with your partner as like a team against the other pair You were playing against right So there was a lot of strategy like a lot of unspoken strategy Yeah, like my father looked at me a certain way, like, that means he was playing sixes and I needed to help him out in any way that I could. Like, that's the way that it works. Hand signals. Oh, yeah. That's, Domino's is a very like Caribbean thing. Yes, very much.

Yeah, like, I mean, I remember spending a lot of time like places on the beach that had like set concrete domino tables and yeah, I mean, it was like, I feel like Miami has got to be the domino capital of the United States. It was electric. We, we, we, the cruise last year. Yeah. This time was there was a very very long period of time we spent out of like a Domino's like Park I guess you could say again just bunch of tables and stuff but I think I'm gonna I'm gonna keep this as like PG as possible here sure and that's never a good thing to start off with But when you said renal Gritchick is look like huge jacked first thing it popped in my head was like

Gonzo level jack no no don't do that don't do that I didn't say anything but it does it's you spoke it's like there's a lot of unspoken you can Yeah, make your inferences wherever you want, but that's just what popped in my head. So I was like, maybe hopefully a little left. Maybe not that jacked, but maybe like almost jet, like 80% that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 80, 20. But yeah, uh, no, I mean, he looked great. And again, so many other guys. Again, we talked to Tori about like, like, guys just being out there at camp early, you know, like you just, it, it, it feels like they're, they're excited to be about the, uh, part of this team. And for good reason, right? I mean, this team is a team that did some special things last year. And you could. say that, you know, this season, this is a better team, right? I mean,

pitching staff-wise, it has to be a better team because it was almost one of the worst teams in baseball as far as ERA and such. So a lot of positive things. And again, we'll see how things shake up. A lot of competitions in camp. And that's the most exciting thing right now

is to see how these competitions shake out what they do with. They're starting rotation. And if there are any more moves to be made, which still feels eminent for sure. But we are going to do the thing we do every Monday, and it feels good to be back. So don't you guys go anywhere? We got all of your answers for all of your questions.

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Just visit cornbread hemp.com slash pHNX and use code pHNX at checkout. That's cornbread hemp.com slash pH and X and use code pH and X for 30% off your first order. This is the good life. Well, we talked a little bit about the Waymo and that is also the good life because I hate driving in traffic traffic brings out the absolute worst in me uh and what i would much rather do is have one of their wonderful autonomous rides uh take me away whisk me away while i sit in the back and i do my little twitter thing and i get on my laptop and i do some work uh but i mean these these are jaguar vehicles by the way so good luck finding something as nice as this uh on other ride

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Of course, guys, every year is our year, Damon, on this show. Especially this year. Especially this year is our year. every month on this show is black history month. And people think that that's like some sort, no, look, I don't wait for a specific month to celebrate anybody. So every month on this show is black history month. Every month on this, every month on this show, it's women's history month.

And specifically every month on this show is black women's history month. Every day is Earth Day and sometimes it's Passover. But every Monday, we go to the mailbag. Kev, let's go the mailbag. I'm trying to get to everything in my mailbox. And then once in a while, there's a letter that makes me go out. Before we get into the mailbag questions, I did have a super chat from our guy, R.A., I think. R.A. said, snakes alive, fam, so pumped for this year.

Oh, yeah. Same to you, sir. That was actually coming out of Jesse. Yeah. That's our guy. All right, what do we got in the mailbag today, Kevin? How excited is everyone for this year's ball club? Even national media continues to repeat that the team does not have any serious holes on the roster.

Also, Derek, pancakes or waffles? I don't know if what I had the other day could even be classified as a waffle. They were so soft. They were so much, there were so much better. I still have nightmares about it. I don't ever want to talk about waffles ever again. No more waffle related questions on this show, please. And the answer is pancakes now, then, and forever.

More importantly, yeah, I mean, we've seen some clips talking about this team. being the team to be the Dodger beaters, which of course we that remains to be seen. But I mean, if you talk about teams in the National League West, it's hard to think of another team at least giving the Dodgers a run for their money. It's not just that this team's good. This isn't just a scrappy team of young guys. Like give credit where credit is due. The addition of Corbyn Burns is a big league move, big league move.

Like understanding the situation, understanding the assignment, even though this team already had six starting pitchers, that's a decision. that just shows how much they want to win and understanding how important pitching is to achieving that goal, right? They're not going to keep all of these guys, or at least they're not going to keep them in this current, you know, rotation. So that's why that that's the biggest question mark in camp, I think, right now is who's going to be the closer? What are they going to do for their starting rotation, right? Who's going to pitch on opening day? We didn't get a chance to ask Tori that.

Usually we harass them with that every single year. but, I mean, overall, it's right, right? Like, I mean, they went out. They already had a fairly solid team. They did have some losses in Jock Peterson and a few other guys, Kevin Newman, who we talked about. They just did a good job of going out there and improving. Obviously, Christian Walker being one of the biggest losses, right?

But they went out, they found, if not, somebody that was as good as the person that they were replacing, at least a suitable replacement for them. And also the Corbyn-Burn signing that still doesn't make a whole heck of a lot of sense, but I'm very glad it happened. I think the dying backs were one of the deepest teams in baseball last season. And it showed over the course that they had tons of injuries. Yeah. And the replacements played fairly well. And that's why the team won 89 games throughout the season. You know, if health, you know, here and there versus, you know, Perdomo getting hurt early in the season. Like that cost a team a win here or there. Uh, Kattel getting hurt, you know, because Garrett

Stubbs is the most despicable man in baseball. That cost the team a couple wins probably. So you look at those situations and, you know, like injuries, you know, stacked up, but the depth showed out, I felt like. Yeah, I agree. The, the weakness of last year's team was the ERA, right? I'm looking here at the last year's pitching rankings. And I know that this is like the stat, everybody knows, but Rockies, Marlins, White Sox, Diamondbacks, highest ERAs in baseball. They don't even need to have the same offense they had last year in order to be a much better play team. As long as that stat improves. Those teams won on, are lost on average, 107 games. between the three of them.

And then the DBAX won almost 90. So you look at that and then you add the best free agent pitcher on the market. Yeah. Yeah. Plus you factor in gallon contract year. A healthy. Merrill Kelly. A contract year and a healthy Merrill.

Both of them both got hurt. So like if you can those three, that's one of the better three man rotations in all baseball. Both two of those guys had injuries. You didn't have one of them the other like last season. I think that, you know, you look at this year and you think to yourself, this is one of the deepest teams in baseball. They have, you know, a lot of players top to bottom.

They have pitchers, top of the line starting pitchers. I think the only concern that I would really have is, you know, can they match the top of the line elite level players that say a Dodgers has? Yeah. Because, you know, we look at the Dodgers lineup and they have what, like five all stars in their lineup or whatever. Easily. The, the Diamondbacks, you know, it's Katel, it's Corbyn.

And then after that, it's a lot of good players. Yeah. Good players, but not elite players, like maybe Catell and Corbin are. But look at the way. Is that going to stifle the ceiling a little bit? I think that's going to be what's interesting, but certainly the team is one of the deepest teams in baseball. Didn't mean to cut you off there, but I mean, you know Kevin Newman, you of a guy, right?

Look at the way that we viewed him at the beginning of the season versus how we viewed him at the end, right? Like he was critical in, and this team's success last year, considering the injuries that they had and how he was able to step in and fill those roles at. times, right? That's a guy that we weren't expecting to get nearly that much out of at the beginning of the year. We covered the signing. You know, it was great to have, you know, have somebody that played ball here in the state come back and be a part of this team. But I don't know if we really understood the value he was going to add. And I mean, again, good for him. He had a great season and

was able to go and get signed by the Angels. But we do have another question that kind of relates to this. Let's get to the next question. Kevin, your mom works at the post office? Yeah, she does. Rain, leaders know that's what they said my grandpa my grandpa's a post office legend brother hey let's stand up let's go work there for like 50 years who who knew that to be the case but we love mailbags too damn much we always find out something new about each other uh what do you got we got the next one from uh groundhog mama yes who do you think we'll get the opening day start burns or the milkman yeah i love i love asking tory this question on day two of pitchers and catchers reporting uh no I mean, what do we think?

I feel like, I feel like one, it doesn't matter. That's true. And I feel like they don't think it matters. I think it matters more to us. Yes. Because it's a definitive answer to who they think is the best pitcher on the team, right? But that's not always the case. It might just be the way that they're structuring their rotation.

Yeah, I'm totally with you. You know, I think it definitely doesn't matter because it's really just going to, they're going to get around the same amount of starts if they're both healthy throughout the course this season, right? But I think Corbyn Burns is the better pitcher. Right. So I think that automatically, I'd say that's probably your starter. But Zach Gallen is the guy who's been in the room for a long time. Yeah. You know, he's he's kind of earned, you know, that role to an extent. So I guess I would talk to Corbyn Burns on the side if I was Tori. I think Tori's really good with people. And I think he likes this aspect of managing. I think I'd ask Corbyn Burns, how much does it

matter to you. I'd ask Zach Allen, how much does it matter to you? And I'd kind of factor in my decision based off of that because if Zach Allen was like, I listen, I want to be the opening day starter. I've done it, you know, what is it three years in a row now or something like that, I might be like, okay, that's you take it. Because we're splitting hairs a little bit. They're both elite pitchers. He strikes me as a kind of guy to that that would mean something to gallon and he would allow that to happen. Right. Like you said, this could potentially be Zach Gallin's last season with this team. So I would lean towards Gallin just based on

It's so sad. Like a tradition, right? Like and like honoring what he's done here, right? Not to say it's over, but like for this to potentially be his last season as an Arizona Diamondback, I'm sure a lot of people would like to see him get that start. It's like you've just told me how many days I have to live left. And I'm just like and you're like take advantage of it, brother. Start checking things off the bucket list.

263 more days. Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Enjoy on opening day if you want to. Yeah. No, I'm with you though. I think that like it feels like Corbyn Burns would be the call if this,

none of this mattered, you know, but I think that there's some sentiment to it. I really, they will all tell you. Like once you get through the first five games, it doesn't matter anymore. And like the rotation is just kind of wherever anyway. But yeah, Sean,

you're right. This took a dark turn. It's my fault. I think. It's more of your full. I think I was just speaking. I just speaking facts and these are facts, people. All right.

What do we got? Next question comes to us from our friend Peace of Yoshi who says, do you still think Jordan Montgomery gets traded or is it less likely now that workouts have begun? I mean, God, I think it would really suck to do that to him again two years in a row for him not to have like a normal, stable, you know, spring training. Yeah. I think that I personally think there's a similar feeling within the organization that I have expressed here, which is the only way for the Jordan Montgomery deal to really work out and not look like an absolute mistake is for him to come here to spend the second season here now that he, you know, accepted the option. And for him to pitch, for him to shove and go out there and be the pitcher that the team thought they were acquiring last year. and you know that I think a lot of people know he can be he is in tremendous shape he looks ready to roll

I feel like he took this offseason seriously and personally and that sometimes that's the best motivation we talk about Zach Gallin and Merrill Kelly being in contract years but so is Jordan Montgomery right he wants to increase his value he would like a multi-year deal after this season so I think that he's going to be at his best I think that he's already proven coming into camp in the condition that he's in that he should trying to be at an elite level and trying to be at his best. I think it's hard because, again, I think if a deal comes around that makes sense for this team that gets them maybe that elite level closer that they are hoping to get, then I think that they're still going to pull the trigger.

I think ultimately at the end of the day, Mike Hazen is going to do what's best for the Diamondbacks and maybe not necessarily what's best for Jordan Montgomery. If a trade were to come down the pipe, that was intriguing. and he felt like made this team significantly better. I also think that there could be a very good possibility that we see Jordan Montgomery in a Diamondbacks uniform for the entirety of 2025. And I think I feel like that, again,

just based on the fact that, you know, instead of making Ken Kendrick's comments into something that changed him for the worse, I feel like those comments helped change him for the better and make him, you know, want to come out here. Maybe make him want to eat, you know, have someone like Kendrick, eat his words a little bit and come out and shove. Maybe again, it's about his contract. Maybe it's about a lot of things, right?

I know Jordan Montgomery was not happy with himself last season. And I think that's the most important thing is that he, you know, definitely wants to be what the Diamondbacks paid for. And it sucks that he's not. You know what I mean? But he had a bad off season. That's something that I still attribute a lot of, you know, his shape last offseason coming into camp and just the whole,

know, way everything went. Yeah, it's like, it's set up a lot better for him to be successful now. I was laughing because when you said that maybe Ken Kendrick's words made him want to eat, and then you like stop mid sentence and then you picked it back out by saying, make him eat is worse. Yeah. But at first it was just make him want to eat. And I was like, we looked at each other because that's exactly where my mind went too.

I was like, I hope it didn't. I hope it made him not want to eat. No, no, that's probably a bad place for me to have stopped in the middle of that. Yeah. But I do think to answer the question, I think every passing day makes it feel like there's a less and less chance that Jordan Montgomery is traded. Honestly. If you ask me that at the beginning of the offseason, I would have been like, yeah, they're going to find a way to offload them for sure. As they haven't been able to find a deal, I think, you know, they've kind of factored him into the plan of this season.

And yeah, I mean, I expected to be a lot better than last year. He was the worst pitcher in all the entire sport last year. Yeah, yeah. So I think he'll be better than last year. I think, yeah, he clearly looks like he's in a lot better shape. The offseason did him well being on a team and not worrying about his contract situation and whatnot. So yeah, I mean, I think Jordan Montgomery will be, I would say decent this year would be my expectation. Yeah.

I also don't know what that means because I don't think he's in the starting lot rotation right now. Yeah. Like he's, he's definitely like probably like seventh man in the rotation right now. I saw a projected rotation. I think it came from MLB. and he was not in it. Yeah, I didn't see that as well. They had fought five.

They didn't have Ryan Nelson in the bullpen. Yeah. So, and I think Ryan Nelson based off of what he did last year, he deserves it over Jordan Montgomery. He really does. If there's, if we're going six starters or who's the next guy up if someone gets hurt,

I think it's Ryan Nelson. So it's so exciting to think about Ryan Nelson and his fastball coming out of the bullpen. It is. That could be another weapon that we're not really thinking about. If he can just pitch like he did out of the rotation, like you have a guy there for sure. But yeah, I mean, I think that they would ideally like to trade Jordan Montgomery, but I just, I don't think that it's, it's shaping up for that to be the case.

But I just, they're not desperate to, I think that's it. Right. Like, I mean, I'm sure that they've had offers and those offers probably involve them eating more money than Mike Hazen really wants to eat. For sure. Yeah. Maybe the return isn't there, right? But like, they're not in a position to have to trade him because they are desperate at this point. They want something back for him that could help the team.

Right. They don't want to just take back like a, like the Diamondbacks did when they traded Bronson and Royo to the Braves. And they were like, we just want to get rid of this contract. Like that we're willing to give up prospects to make that happen. The Diamondbacks want to trade Montgomery for something that would bring back value. But I did want to say real quick, Derek, if you're watching over with our streaming partners, head on over to go phton.com. Continue. The party's going to continue over there.

We got another segment of mailbag questions. We got more mailbag. We're not done. We're getting all the questions today. But again, we appreciate you guys. We love you on the TV side. And yeah, head on over to go phtynx.com right now and catch the rest of the show. We do have another question here from our guy, Michael Rokickey.

What do we got, Keb? What is your bold 2025 DBAX take, boys? World Series are bust. Wow. Yeah. That's kind of insane. Yeah. You think if they made the World Series again, you'd be like, you'd be like mad.

Yeah. Wow. Wait, like, you mean like, wait, no, what? I wouldn't be mad. Last time it was a dream. didn't make it there. If they didn't make it there. You're saying, so you're saying,

make the World Series or make the World Series or bust. It's just so tough in baseball. I know, it really is. Like, Tori brought that up today. He was saying like, it's like the natural assumption was almost that they were going to be back after, you know, you're going to get back to the World Series.

You're going to win it. You got there one year. You were close. Baseball doesn't have that. We talked about that a lot. That's why I'm like, I was so sad about how that played out with, you know,

blowing game one, uh, blowing game. five against the Rangers there because you never know if that this team is ever going to make it back and you had a real opportunity if you took control of things where you could have won game one one game two and then one game five hypothetically and you know what I mean and that's that's you're a game away from winning the world series like so you don't know if you'll be able to get back that is a bold take I'm I've proven in the past that I'm bad at this but I'll give a real bold take you the

gaby one was the Gabby one was insane um My real bold take here is that the Diamondbacks pitching staff is going to go from bottom five to top five. Okay. I actually do kind of, I kind of rock with that. Like, I think they're going to have the biggest improvement. There's an avenue there.

Yeah. There's an avenue there. Connor said it and it's kind of what I was saying earlier. Like the defense can take a slight step back without Christian Walker, without Jock Peterson. If the pitching is better. Because it was number one in the national league, at least last year. It might be number one in the whole league.

I'm kind of forgetting right now. but maintain a, no, it was. It was. Yeah, but maintain a top 10 offense. Exactly. And get your pitching middle of the pack, even 15. Top 10 would be great. Top 10 would be outstanding.

Yeah, but I'm with you. That would be absolutely incredible. I think they're capable of it. I think there's a lot that went into last year, right? You had Gilbert Diaz, who was great at times and wasn't, there was a lot of young players that we don't take into consideration that made starts for this team last year just to fill those gaps due to those injuries that we're discussing. So, I mean, the pitching is one of those things.

that I think not only has to improve, but it's going to improve. I like some of these takes in here. We got Pavin, the new Dodger killer, taking over for Christian Walker. I got Pavin Smith, 100 RBI, which would be insane. I love it. I love it. Injecture right into bread. That would be so good for content, wouldn't it?

It would be so good. But what do you got? You have anything crazy? I don't know if this is crazy. I'll say Josh Naylor hits more home runs than Christian Walker next year. Whoa! I love it. I love it.

But I don't know that that's that insane. Like they're fairly even. So like I think that, you know, like that's not, that's kind of like a 50-50 call. I do love that. I mean, you're not going to get the defensive production from Josh Naylor. I did see him out there, though, really working on that. I think we're going to see improved defender with Josh Naylor. But offensively, yeah.

I mean, we could see him have a better offensive year than Christian Walker over with the Astros. That would not surprise me one bit. Yeah. I'm trying to think of something else. He's got a little bit. That short porch over there, though, that's for sure. I, like, didn't, wasn't Jesse's something about Cotel being an MVP? Yeah.

And that was like on the money. Yeah, it was pretty good. That was such a good take last year. And, and I mean, he probably, I mean, he probably would have finished what? Maybe even higher if he didn't get injured, who knows? How about Corby and Carroll getting in that top five MVP race? Oh. In the nationally.

That's bold. I were so back. I like that. A little sophomore slump. year two. And yeah, I think I think year three we see Corby and Carroll become an MVP candidate again. I like it. I like wasn't wasn't Corbyn't Carroll like the first position player to report back just because

is because he loves ball so damn much. Yeah, no, yeah, I think you're right. Yeah, maybe he's gearing up for something big that we don't know about. Maybe he knows something we don't. You know what I mean? This man once got locked in a high school here locally because he had his mother broke into it so he could get some reps in. So she could pitch him.

Yeah. So she could do so she could pitch to him. Behind an L. I think this was like during COVID perhaps so he we talk about Josh Naylor being a lunatic Corbyn Carol's a lunatic about baseball that's for sure and that goes into my topic earlier of like I think he was born in like a Tori Levello my case in lab that's very that's very they're like they're like they talk to him one time and they're like that's it that's our first round pick that's the guy we're picking this guy just loves baseball more than he loves anything in the world he's he's he's a machine

when it comes to that I love it 2575 let's do it all right what else we got there kev our next mailbag question comes to us from the true rugginar who wants to know aside from the bobbleheads uh is there any giveaway you're looking forward to the most this season oh i love giveaway time i think we have the list of giveaway items do we have that list uh oh it's very small yeah like you said pre-show it is very small i'm looking on my computer so we can but yeah we do have the give away home can see it there's there's a lot of good stuff here i mean i'm mostly intrigued by there was a jersey to be named later on here which makes me very suspicious that we're going to

as as has been rumored get that new city connect jersey and that will most likely be a giveaway item in regards to the city connect jersey i i won't lie i really do like a lot of the uh shirts the jersey giveaways because i feel like they've been producing just some really super high quality um jerseys right i mean like they've been solid i saw a bunch of fans wearing like the replica Serpientish jerseys out at camp today. And I still think some of those black, the reverse where they were black with beige and the letterings still look better. That is, those are incredible.

I wish that they, they like switch to those halfway through. Here's what I'll say about this promo schedule. Take off the fireworks on every single one of these. We know, we know their fireworks. This could have been bigger. We know there's, could have been bigger.

Yeah. It could have been more stuff on here. We know fireworks happen on Friday nights at home. We know that. And that's, that's awesome. and on July 4th if there's a game, you know, so be it. But, but yeah, I mean, just looking at this. I mean, he said no bobbleheads, but like the Jerry bobblehead.

I will be there no matter what. And the Corbyn Carroll has a Star Wars night bobble. He's a rebel pilot. Yeah. I might be there wearing a rebel pilot helmet myself just in support of him. You probably own one of those because you just have an outfit for every occasion. Absolutely own one of those. Yeah.

Are you kidding me? You kind of look like a X one of the excellent guys. Like my like my nickname would have been. pork shop or something like that, right? Because there's pork ins and then pork chop. I don't know. But yeah, I definitely like, especially when I have the mustache, you know. Yeah, that you do. You're given like, yeah, you're given

you know, X-wing fighter vibes. But here's what I'll say. A cross-body bag for Mother's Day? Oh, yeah. That sounds pretty nuts. Yeah. My wife still loves hers from a few mother's back. It's one of her favorite bags to take to stuff. I need like them to get more creative though. Like I appreciate Star Wars night, but we're starting to see. teams across the league implement other nights and I want them to get weird with it.

The Reno Aces do a great job of this. They have all sorts of crazy nights. They had like Scooby-Doo night. They had like the office nights from minor league baseball. Yeah, take notes for minor league baseball. Switch it up a little bit. I like I love Star Wars more than most people. It's literally the I was raised on it.

It's what it's the the history that I was raised on. But Waffle 5 standing by. What were you going to say, Kevin? I was just going to hop in on the Star Wars thing real quick and say as someone who hasn't watched any of the Star Wars movies, I don't care about Star Wars. Every team from every league. They do it. Does Star Wars stuff. And it's always for the coolest like Bobblehead nights.

Like I have a St. Louis Blues bobblehead, right? It's a Mandalorian one. I never watched the damn Mandalorian. But I watch my team and I love the bobblehead. But I'm saying I'm going to jump this table right now. I just can't believe you said I've never watched the Mandalorian. Do the Star Wars things, but I love the idea of just add more brands. Like, add more pop culture stuff.

That's what it comes down to. Star Wars that deserves a reference, right? True. You bring up, like, other teams are doing fun stuff. The, the, I always go back to the Haboob Globe globe. Oh, that's still one of the greatest items that they ever gave out. Yeah. Haboob snow globe.

Yeah. Kevin. How, how awesome is that? Like, find me more creative things like that. I would love it. Oh, that is so. I'm looking at it right now. Michael's right.

Like, I can't move past the fact. that you just said you've never seen Star Wars. I tried to watch the first one. It's just not my speed like it's just not my my get down like and it's okay. You know, I's just I'm not a sci-fi guy. See they're doing other nights, but they're just like more of like a promotional ticket thing. There's probably some more stuff who pretends like he knows nothing about Star Wars as he

repeats everything about Star Wars to me like oh, it's kind of weird. Oh, Mace Windu is the only guy with a purple lightsaber. And then and then he's like, but I'm not a Star Wars guy. I'm not a Star Wars guy. I just know everything about it and watch all of it. It's just to infuriate John. He doesn't just do infuriate John. It works.

Damn it? Because I'm hot. I don't listen to them anymore. There's also women's night on May 30th. They're copying off of us doing, you know, every month. That's kind of our history month. Whatever. Hello Kitty on June 29, Pokemon Go on August 10th, which by the way, Pokemon Go is doing

like a special partnership with MLB this year. This is all for Charles Woodall Pike. They are doing a special Pokemon. go thing where there would be like special trainers and events going on inside baseball stadiums so that's also something and then stranger things night on september 18th pumped for that stranger things absolutely pumped for that yeah not a sci-fi guide though but you're for stranger thing yeah let's be clear yeah i think in general like i not a sci-fi guy just gonna be out there dress like 11 but i love the show where there's aliens that are conquering

the earth and upside down and and then you do have me there okay that's fine that's fine but i would say like in general in terms of movies to be specific like I'm just not I'm just that's not my get down that's just not right it's it's okay it's okay it's stranger things is a hit though I'm just I don't know but Star Wars not a head but Star Wars never heard of it it never seen it yeah no I like again they do add stuff during the season so that's what I'm curious to see if they do add because this feels a bit you know generic but again I think if you're asking me the the high quality replica jerseys are are the thing to look out for because those those are winners for sure and like you said take the take the post

the game fireworks off the schedule yo yeah I was I was going to to our Bok Eakens right away off the bat when we were talking Pokemon D-backs those are those are snake Pokemon and if you spell our Bach backwards yeah for me for a second yeah cobra cobra and then Eakins is snake backwards oh they're very creative over at Pokemon all that's Vipers with S C in front of the book but I don't want to get drunk during me down into this Pokemon go snake's snake lore what else we got kevin all right our next question comes from hailey who wants to know no what is no more waffle questions you could eat in one sitting at derrick um i learned the

other day that that answer to that question is 12 i just like i was asking kevin before the show like what it what qualifies as a sitting because like typically i'm not sitting at a waffle house for 12 hours like you just did yeah see i ran out of steam around three yeah that was right three waffles was right around where I was like, I don't really want to do this anymore. But then, you know, you kind of get through four and then somehow five and six are okay. And then seven brings you back to three where you start regretting all of your life decisions, everything you've, every relationship you've ever made. Whatever events transpired in a series chronologically that led you to this moment. You just regret all of that. Yeah. Meeting Saul Bookman. Yeah. I mean, like,

drafting some who who who can we blame Travis Kelsey AJ Green oh well Travis Kelsey that was definitely it was that was the start of all of my name is karma it was that's that of a gun Travis Kelsey that is the way I showed up to the draft I think led me down that bad to you that was a bad start turtle neck might have been a bit much the turtle neck might have been aggressive the glasses the chain yeah yeah I think that maybe that now that now that we're rehashing that. I think that that might have been problem. These are things that I definitely regret like your pinky that you were walking around with. I was definitely going to wear my championship ring. There was no doubt about that. You had to though on that one. But yeah,

for me, I mean, I'm listen, I'm not like a massive eater. I, you know, I'm sure that's a shock. He's a little guy. But, uh, I like, I think I'm going to say two hours is a sitting. Okay. I think that's a fair amount of time for a sitting. Uh, and I'll say I could probably put down like, I want to say I could put down like, I don't know, six six waffles if I pushed it. I would feel like garbage afterwards. I call your bluff and I want to see it happen. This is what I'm saying now. They are big.

They are big. Oh, I don't want to do this for fun. Oh, I had the whole conversation about how they just changed the irons and they used to be smaller, but now they're bigger and they got the irons for the Bell Road one up with this one. Are you calling To Totee's Waffle House excursion, a Mickey Mouse? Oh, and Salls. Ands, both of them, Mickey Mouse.

So bragging in the chat that he had 13 and saying he had so many more than me. that is one more than me. Saul's equating waffles to dog years saying like I like somehow he ate seven more just because he ate one more. It doesn't make any sense, Saul. And again, it goes back to the thing I said earlier regretting meeting you,

but that's only because it's your fault. How do we properly track the new record holders now? It's like if when you add the three point line, you have to adjust the way that you do the record book. So how do we do this? It's like Megarang says, let's wait, what do we do here? Megarant says we have to throw out all,

any stats that happened before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and I'm with it when it comes to waffles. Before Waffle House broke the iron barrier. Before Waffle House started serving thicker waffles. All other records are thrown out. All right. What else we got, Gab?

Oh, okay. Next question is, are you both drinking enough water today, boys? That absolutely is a no. I'm not eating enough. I'm not drinking enough. Derek came in here in a panic and was like, I need to put something in my body.

I haven't eaten a calorie today. and I just, and I didn't want chips at all. I'm not doing a good job of taking care of myself at all. I think maybe it's like with my daughter, like my daughter kind of is self-sufficient now, right? So like when I made food for her, I also made food for me or there would be leftovers or whatever. I had to cut the crust off.

Sometimes I just ate the crust of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Like being a dad's a hard job. You basically eat like you're a trash can, basically. You get the leftovers, right? But no, I don't, I don't know. I don't know how to take care of myself anymore. I barely kept my devices all charged. Last Wednesday, my phone ran out of battery before I could get to the end of Tori's press conference.

So I'm still, I guess I'm still learning. I'm still, it's like the guys. I'm still in spring mode. I got to get, got to be able to, you know, get my, get my feet underneath me and figure out what I'm going to eat and when I'm going to drink water. But my answer is also no. I don't know. If anybody who watches Ph. and X Cardinals, you guys would know that me, Bo and Johnny have you know,

undertaken an abstinence period of sorts. But my abstinence is from being lazy. So I go to the gym every day now. Johnny gave up candy and sweets and refined sugars. And Beau gave up caffeine. And Beau gave up caffeine. I drank so much caffeine today, Bo.

Yeah, I need a little bit more caffeine, actually. But we are this was, we started this last Monday, Monday show last week. And now, so this has been about a weekend.

And, you know, the workouts are going good. But I definitely could, focus on drinking a little bit more water. So it's a good reminder, Elizabeth. Or should I say Zabe, we will lock in on that. I haven't used Zabe in a while.

Yeah, it's good to use Zabe. I mean, it's insider jokes. And if you're part of our diehard crew, you would probably know this. You would know, you would probably have a nickname if you were part of our diehard crew. We got one more question. Then we got to wrap this whole thing up. What do we got there, large instrument, Kevin Thomas? Last but certainly not least, we got, if you, if you knew you were going to your last ever game

at Chasefield. What would you do differently? Long story short, my parents are moving home to Scotland after 25 years in AZ and I'll have to be at the Braves homestand as part of my farewell trip in April. Oh, that's, first of all, it's a bit heartbreaking. I understand now, right? Like sometimes stuff happens in life. It's your last time visiting. And yeah, I mean, that's a great question. First, I want to say that we don't always get a chance to know it's our last time visiting something or doing something. So at least you have that. There's the benefit of that that you can make it a little special. I think my biggest thing is take lots of pictures of yourself. You know, take pictures with Baxter, take pictures, you know, around with you and the family, like

make sure you document it because I don't know. I mean, I've gotten to a point where I don't really care about a lot of things when I go on vacations or trips or do special events. I don't need autographs or I don't need necessarily to buy souvenirs all the time. What I like is to get pictures. And I think honestly, even speaking to players and people around like Chase Field and stuff, I don't know if you're nice and you're respectful. I don't know how many people ever will hate on the idea of you wanting a picture with them. I take pictures with the ushers and stuff at Chasefield because I love them equally as much

as I love some of the players and stuff. Wow. What a what a just cater to, you know, to the audience type of call from you there. What? Oh, I love, I'm just as big of fans of the ushers and support staff as I am.

I tell Marte. I talk to them more. They help me more. Yeah, they're your friends. They're good people. But, yeah,

I like that idea. Take some pictures. I think get there for batting practice and hang out for batting practice. Yeah. Try to see if you can get some talk to the players, maybe bring a sign that's like, we're moving back to Scott. We're going back to Scotland.

That's a solid move. Yeah. Because I know. Our last game at Chase Field. I know every knee backs. I think it's, I know we've met it before. Yeah,

absolutely. He's really nice dude. We met his family. Like, I know he's going to be out there with his kids. So bring a sign with the kids. It says something. Try to get,

you know, some of the players are like Tori or something to come over and maybe just like take a picture or sign some stuff for you guys. I think that that could be fun. I saw that today with the players and Tori and a lot of people like, they have a lot going on. Tori expressed several times how busy today was. but it was important to Tori.

It was important the players to come over and sign and still spend a few minutes with the fans. And I mean, like, again, yeah. And when I say important, like you as fans think that like sometimes they're like they're in a rush or like they're actively talking about when like when they're not around the fans. They're actively talking about when they're going to go over there. Like I got to go. I got to go say out of the fans and stuff. Like it's part of Tori's schedule almost.

But. This is why the DeBaks community is the best community. I love it. The lemonade guy. Because me and you didn't think of that. Yeah. Both of us now are like, oh my God, it's so true. Lemonade, lemonade, lemonade like grandma made.

You got it. You've got to find him. You got to take a picture with him. The literal goat. Yeah. He is Chase Field. He is. Eat from Hungry Hill.

I know there's no free ads, but eat from Hungry Hill. Go get yourself a deep bag dog or something. Yeah. Like, I mean, yeah, like, I think everything. I think the biggest thing I would suggest is like, I don't know with me working at Chase Field. It's very easy for me to turn it just into that place that I. go to work and i mean even some fans that are like season ticket holders it's like oh i got another game oh i got another game i would say like you know uh do it up big and and enjoy the day and make

the entire day about i like what he said especially about like maybe getting out there right uh after batting practice and getting some balls uh in the left field stands and things like that like uh all of that is is special about going out there but stuff yourself fools that's one thing get get get a churro dog and eat it the way there see groundhog mama and me we're on the same path get a churot dog but eat it in the way i've told you for years which is ask them for the churro on the side it still doesn't make any sense to me that a piping hot churro would come on top of frozen yogurt those two things ruin each other and they make each other less good and like maybe i don't know if it's a chemical reaction or what but wait until you're about to eat it before you add the churro in or maybe just don't

add the churon at all i don't know that's a whole other thing eat it on the side but I hope you have a great time. Hope you guys all have a great time. I think we have four more days, three more days of camp. I mean, they're still out there when spring training games are going on. But we had someone ask us today if this is free. And if anyone can come out. Yes, and yes, anyone can come out.

The crowd is growing and it's great to see. You might not get autographs like you once were able to because it's a little competitive, just like the starting rotation, just like the bullpen. There's competition for you fans out there. That's trying to get your autographs. That's why you got to bring that sign, man. You got to try to get someone's attention. Big letters.

Like last game. Bring a cute child works too. Well, for sure. How the kids hold it. Yeah. These are all things. Maybe like Scalland in a different material,

like a multimedia kind of situation where it's like the Scottish flags. There's Scotland in there somewhere. So it really pops. You're getting so complicated. No, because there's a lot of big size with big text. You want yours to be colorful. Stand out a little bit.

Like I like it. Like last game with like a Scottish. flag behind. Last game playing to Skolin flag. We're trying. Do the whole thing. Do it up. Do it up. Hope you have a great time. Hope you guys all have a wonderful time. Like I said, don't miss the chance to get out there. Games start on Friday. So we will be back

to spring training games. That's it. No more weeks without baseball. We have baseball back in our lives and it's a great time to be alive, especially right here in Phoenix, Arizona. So make sure you get out there. Enjoy yourselves. Until then, we'll be back on Wednesday with an update for you guys. And then we will be out at Innings Fest this Friday.

and Saturday. We would love to see you guys out there. If you're going to be at Innings Fest, make sure to hit us up. If you want to go to Innings Fest, make sure to check out our website at go p.nx.com, I think slash Innings Fest.

And you can enter to win some free tickets. So again, do so right now. There's that. There's extra Innings Fest. We've got all sorts of wonderful stuff going on. Wrestling's in town this week. I'm going to be busy and having the time of my life. So, of course, I'll be taking Waymo everywhere I go.

And that's an important part of this. We appreciate you guys stopping by. You can follow us. on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. This maniac next to me is a Damon dog. And me and this guy over here, we are Damon dogs, bark, bark. That's large intimate Kevin Thomas. You can get him at Kebbo posts on Twitter.

But our show is at PHNX underscore Dbacks. And of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much. We are equally excited for this season. Hope to see some of you guys out there this week and beyond because baseball is back, baby. Great to have you guys here. We'll see you on Wednesday. Until then, have a wonderful evening and Tuesday.

And remember kids, behave yourselves and also remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when Tori Lavello is telling you why this is such a likable team.