PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Where Do We Go From Here?

Episode Date: September 10, 2021

Derek and Jesse discuss Seth Beer being called up, how he will fit in with this team, and who the D-backs should consider their core for the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And welcome to the PHNX DBAX podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as the mayor of PHNX, and I'm glad to have you guys join us. Of course, this show is brought to you by the one and only Draft King's sportsbook, America's top rated sportsbook. Be sure to download the app today. Use code PHNX, and you will get $200 in free bets after making your first NFL bet of just $1. International Beer Day was a month ago,

but it's international beer day here today on this show. I am joined, of course, by my co-host and friend, the one and only. Jesse, the body, Friedman. Jesse, how are you doing, bud? You're going to pick a different one every single show. I'm going to find one until it works, and there's no way. I'm not clearing it until I get one that excites you. So we're popping it on the show.

I'm going to see which one fits. But you are in Seattle. The debacks are there for a, three games series. You're going to be there in attendance. So what are your thoughts on this series and what we should expect to see out of this D-BACs team? Yeah, well, first of all, keep trying on the nickname front.

I will. And secondly, yeah, no, I'm stoked, Derek. The Diamondbacks have only played in Seattle. This will be the fifth time in franchise history. So this is a treat for me, getting to get out and see some Diamondbacks baseball live and in person here later today. I'm ready to represent. I had to throw a long sleeve under shirt because it is cold in Seattle,

which I know is a foreign, foreign thought for you at this point in time. I'm so jealous of that. That makes me so jealous. Goody season is my favorite time of year and it's still far, far away for us here in Phoenix. It is. Yeah, it is. We are coming into that season around here.

But yeah, no, I'm stoked. Madison Bumgarner on the mound tonight for the Diamondbacks. He's been really good ever since. since coming back from injury since July 16th, Bumgarner has a 339 ERA, which is solid. I think his last couple outings maybe haven't been quite as sharp, but he's consistently pitching deep into games.

And when I think about where Madison Bumgarner was a year ago right now, he was an absolute disaster. We were wondering if this was potentially going to be, you know, the worst signing in franchise history or something along those lines. It wasn't Granky-level money. But last season was the kind of disastrous year that really had us worried. And this year, since coming back from injury, he's really gotten right. And yeah, I'm excited to see what he looks like tonight.

You're right. For a minute there, Madbom was looking to be on the level of comparison to almost to the Ismani Tomas deal. I hate to say that because it's not that extreme. It just was one of those situations where it seemed like a whole lot of money restructured in a way that was. done positively to get, you know, like to get rid of that Thomas deal, right? They, they structured his deal so it was inward so that the majority of what the diamondbacks were

paying to Madison Bumgarner was in those middle years. And it just didn't look like he was going to be worth that money. You're right, though, he has turned it around substantially. The only thing is, and I know we're going to talk about it later in this podcast, is that it still seems like Madison and Bumgarner is that one piece that doesn't fit despite how good he is. He seems like he is that one piece that doesn't fit with the timeline of this team's success. We're not talking about this year and we're probably not talking about next year, but we are talking about the future of this team.

And that's what we're going to talk about today as far as what you and I would consider to be the core of this team and what they should build around for the future. exciting news though in regards to the future somebody i have been waiting for for a very long time to see on the big league roster somebody i've been waiting to buy his jersey in the team shop so i really need him to just i need him to step up and do big things in the big leagues but setth beer was promoted to the big league club today will most likely see some d h opportunities in seattle this weekend uh with with the triple a club in reno aces he was slashing 287 398 with an impressive 511 slugging percentage,

33 doubles, 16 home runs, and 59 RBI, and 100 games played for the Aces. Are you excited as I am to see Seth Beer up here? Yeah, so first of all, I'll start with absolutely. I'm excited. I think this is maybe the most anticipated debut for a Diamondbacks prospect in really quite a while. We saw Geraldo Perdomo a little bit earlier this season.

I think the Diamondbacks just really desperately needed someone to play shortstop. And that's sort of why he got the call. He's probably more a year away. Someone will hopefully see again next year. But Seth Beer is ready to go. He is, you know, if he comes up here and performs reasonably well, I think he's here to stay. He's not going to be an up and down sort of guy. At least I wouldn't expect that.

That said, I have to caution people from looking at the batting line. You just mentioned the 16 homers, 59 RBIs. I think he's top 10 in minor league baseball and doubles. But I have to caution, I have to caution you a little bit, Derek, because Josh Van Meter in Reno this year hit 388, 5388, 881. He slugged almost 900 in Reno. You're going to tell people about Reno, huh? Yeah, go ahead, tell people about Reno.

I think we have to be straight with people that Reno is probably the best hitting environments across all of minor league baseball. I believe Josh Rojas was hitting over 900 during a stretch in Reno, and that's not even a joke. I believe that's actually accurate. But yeah, looking at some of his numbers, he is ranked number one overall in runs scored. So that shows, you know, even though his batting average isn't super high,

it does show that they are able to produce a lot of runs in Reno. That's one thing that you're just going to get out of there. but in extra base hits tied for first with 49 and second with those doubles. So I have some pretty good numbers in the minor league and something the Diamondbacks have really been in need of, honestly. When I was watching their final game against the Rangers, I got entirely too excited about seeing two players hit home runs. It felt like it's been a long time since I've seen Diamondbacks players hit home runs. and I don't know what to say other than it just seems like this team has fallen flat, you know, at the dish. They're still producing runs.

They're still able to get, you know, have reasonable scores. They're not getting blown out in these losses. They just can't ever seem to have their run production link up with a good outing by their starting pitcher. It's always one or the other fall short or the bullpen fall short. This team has just been destined for terrible things this season, it feels like. I've watched them lose games that I didn't even think they were going to lose. You know, I've watched them low leads that I thought were pretty safe. And this is coming from a guy that at one point would start my articles and actually

start writing them as a win or a loss. That's a gamble as a writer. That's a gamble. You are basically giving yourself double work if that game turns around on you. But I think this is another thing about what Tori was saying about the young guys coming up. Right. So we have the younger players getting these opportunities, getting at bats, especially in a season at that at this point doesn't really mean anything. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's interesting. The corresponding move to bringing up Seth Beer was actually

sending down Drew Ellis, which is something I didn't necessarily expect because Drew Ellis seemed to be part of what you were just saying where Tori told us, you know, the Diamondbacks want to sort of see what they have in some of their younger guys. And Drew Ellis was, one of those guys. And the Diamondback sent him down to bring Seth Beer up. Maybe we see Drew Ellis again once the minor league season ends here in another week or two. But I thought it was an interesting corresponding move that it was just sort of a swap at one young guy for another. Well, and you know how it works.

I mean, a lot of times these are actually way more complicated than even we can keep track of. But it has to do with a number of moves and send downs that they have available. There's really more to it than just sending someone down or sending. some, you know, down because they're bad. I've seen them at times send players down that were actually doing pretty well just because they needed to make a corresponding move in order to have relief pitching or starting pitching available for games later in the week. This team at times has been such a mess as far as being able to put out a roster,

you know, just that that's been a balancing act for Lovolo and his and his coaching staff. So it's not easy. It's not something that they can do when they don't have all of the pieces. They've tried to balance it well, but at times do you think that these young guys are getting these opportunities too early and it's possibly impacting their, you know, their, their, their, you know, swing. They're essentially their plan that they were on as a minor league player. Yeah, I think that's definitely what you saw with Geraldo Perdomo, the guy I mentioned earlier.

I mean, the kid is literally, I think he's 21 years old. old. And he is a great prospect. I mean, he's a guy that hopefully we see up here next year and he's, you know, here to stay. But that was absolutely the kind of, you know, emergency sort of situation that you alluded to. But yeah, I mean, this will be, this will be interesting, Derek. I think Seth Beer is obviously a good player, but like even more obviously has like the best name in all of professional sports. And so we are, we, I know there are a lot of people who have been looking forward to this day for a long, long time, partially because of Seth Beer the player, but probably even more so for the name. And that is, that is very understandable. At least his numbers back it up.

I've seen him have some really good numbers in the minor league. So it's been, you know, it's like a lot of guys. The Diamondbacks have a really good farm system. There's a lot of players that are coming up that really could, you know, be stars. And they're not too far off. I think, I think the AAA team has quite a few in Reno that are ready to maybe break through. It's just a matter of, you know, where are they going to play? And I think that's the situation with Seth Beer. This weekend seems to be a great opportunity for him to get some at bats at a major league level. He has not been known for his defense, right?

And it's, you know, he's kind of played time at first base and I believe third or the outfield. But that's kind of been the knock on him at a major league. level is that his defense isn't great, but his bat is. So we'll see at least him, DH, maybe even get some time in the field based on how these games go and really get a chance to see what he can do at a big league level. You can't really, you can't really know until they're here. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's absolutely true. Some guys come up and instantly they're exactly who you hoped they would be in five years. And sometimes guys take all five years in order to kind of figure out who they're going to be in this league. But yeah, you mentioned the defense with Seth Beer is

not great. But that's, you know, I mean, there's a possibility that this offseason with a new CBA agreement around the corner, maybe the DH becomes a regular thing in the National League. And I think it's very possible this is sort of an audition for Seth Beer to maybe fill that role for this team down the road. That's a great. That's a great point. If I was a betting man and I now am, I bet on that DH coming very soon just to kind of bring, you know, some life to the game. They've said that this game is, you know, trending in a downward, downward trajectory as far as interest. So I think more runs, more excitement, you know, the better. But speaking of being a betting man, I just want to remind everybody that the Draft King's sports book,

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It's so user-friendly. I've been having a blast with it myself. But you can download the Draft King Sportsbook app now. and use our promo code PHNX to receive $200 in free bets when you place that $1 bet on any week one game. That's promo code PHNX to get your free $200 in free bets instantly. This week at Draft King's Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL,

21 and over, Arizona only, gambling problem call 1-800 next step, eligibility restrictions apply, max $50 wager, one per customer, see draftkings.com sportsbook for details. And yes, I have moved over to the baseball betting. I did, Jesse. I have bet on tonight's game and I bet on the debats leading by at least one run after five

innings. I have no idea what I'm doing at times, but some of this seems to be a no-brainer, especially when you have Madison Bumgarner on the mound tonight. And there's a really good chance that he will have a great game and inevitably the bullpen will blow it. I am at least taking that five-inning lead that I know Seattle's in it. I know that they have they have some they have some stakes of their own. So Seattle is definitely going to be competitive.

Something the debacks might not be for for some time. So that's what I wanted to talk about with you tonight. Just in regards to this team and where we go from here, where do we build hope? Where is where does this team build around? Is this time for a complete rebuild? or do they have a core of young players that they can start to form a solid team around? Did you say hope, Derek? Is that what I heard? Is there hope? I said hope. I said hope. I did. I'm going to continue to use it because there's always hope. You know who gave me hope?

The Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix Suns won 19 games just a few seasons ago. And this summer, they gave me the best summer of my life. I mean, I had so much fun watching this team. this is a team that I haven't felt this way about since I was a kid, you know, since, since I won't even say like the late 2010 run was as important to me as like that 93 run, you know, so it's like this was exciting and it happened really fast. It happened though, building around a young core of talented players, filling roles and going after guys, not just trying to get, you know, big guys or guys that could potentially be great down the line, really focusing on players.

even in some cases that people didn't think that they should build around and getting to this point. Eventually, they got that young core to be able to just add a few veteran pieces and make that team really good. The debacks are pretty far away from that, but I don't think that that's, I don't think that's something that they can't achieve, right? I think that the Padres and the Diamondbacks, or excuse me, the Padres and the Dodgers are really invested in now. and the Diamondbacks can really start looking on capitalizing on that three, four years down the road kind of game plan. Yeah. I mean, I think, unfortunately, I'm not sure if the Dodgers and the Padres are just going to become, you know, completely irrelevant in three or four years, although I would love to think that.

But at the same time, I do think that there is a good chance that the Diamondbacks have some guys in a few years, like you mentioned. who could be really, really good fits on this baseball team and could be, you know, the Devin Booker, the DeAndre Aiton, the McAle Bridges, you know, those level of core talent players. I think I might be in the minority, Derek. Maybe you feel differently on this. I don't think the Diamondbacks have too many of those guys on this current roster. I think you've got Cotel Marte.

I think Zach Gallen hopefully gets around this injury bug and is able to look a little bit more like the picture we've seen, you know, the last couple of years. but beyond that you know paven smith is a nice piece and you know he came out of a draft that has really produced next to no major league talent so far so it's really just impressive the diamond back got anything out of that draft from what we've seen so far uh josh rojas is a is a great utility player uh in my mind he's sort of a maybe a chris taylor type with the dodgers a guy who could be very very good but he's also you know he's maybe not your mooky bets you know type of court player. He's not your star. And as we saw with the Suns, right, obviously it's a little bit different in

baseball, but you need several stars in baseball to really make a team, you know, to make a team go. I think they have one in Ketelmarte, hopefully Zach Gallen figures things out. Some of those other guys, I want to see them play. I think they can get better. I think there's potential. But I'm not ready to say that, you know, Paven Smith is going to be a big piece of the next, you know, championship Diamondbacks team. I think I'm, I'm a little bit skeptical at this point that that's necessarily the case. I'm going to disagree with you just because I do think that they have the core. And I think everybody that you named are guys that I would put in that core. I think Carson Kelly is really good.

And I think Carson Kelly is still proving to be a big part of this, of that Goldschmidt trade that's actually paying off. I mean, I know he had kind of a hot start this season and then cooled off. but every player on this team at one point seemed to go through an injury stint. So I don't know how to really judge this season with the ups and downs. Marte still managed to maintain his, you know, his, you know, his performance despite the injuries. And I mean, coming back and leaving again and coming back, like, it's just not as easy in baseball to do as it is in other sports. You know, you don't come back healthy and immediately hit the ground running and find yourself in that position. to be, you know, that same level that you were before you got injured, right?

But I agree. We have a comment from Justin McDermott. He says, I think we are two years away from the arms coming or the arms coming are looking good in double A position players are a little behind, but that is mostly due to injury. And I agree with that. And I think some of the young players that are coming, our top prospects are all arms. So that's a very good thing.

But outside of those top prospects, we do have some great guys. like Alec Thomas and Corbyn Carroll, who could end up being the future of this outfield, something that we really still need to determine. This outfield has not, has been a rotating outfield. We have Catelle Marte in the outfield and center field that nobody really wants out there. And it still seems like there's a lot of positions to decide where, you know, where guys are going to play. Yeah, I mean, those guys you mentioned, those are my core guys there.

You mentioned Alec Thomas, you mentioned Corbyn Carroll. those are the guys that I think have the kind of ceiling of, you know, being a star on the next great Diamondbacks team. I'm still, maybe we have a little bit of a disagreement on Pavin Smith, maybe on Josh Rojas being, you know, star level players, although I'm totally with you.

They're productive. I want to see them play every day. Carson Kelly, I'm glad you mentioned him. He has been really solid this season. I would love for him to sort of maintain his production over the course of a season a little bit evenly. rather than start out really hot and then kind of fade after that.

But yeah, there are some pieces on this team right now for sure. But what really excites me is in two or three years, Derek, we've got several starting pitchers that could be top of the rotation guys. You know, there's Bryce Jarvis, there's Blake Walston, there's Drew Jameson. The list goes on and on and on. There's a lot of excitement surrounding some of their minor league rotations right now. And beyond that, Corbyn Carroll, Jordan Lawler, the guy they just drafted, who unfortunately had, you know, a season-ending injury after playing two games,

just the Diamondbacks, uh, 20-21 luck, I guess. Um, but there are guys who, you know, I'm very, very excited to see what they can do in the majors. And, and that is, that is my hope right now, Derek, is that once those guys come up here in a couple years, this team really might be able to put it together. Well, I know you don't like this. I know you want to see this team still perform. But you know what time it is, Jess,

see. It's tank season, baby. It is tank season. It's time to tank. I want to see them lose all these games. Tank season. There it is. Oh, looking good in the tank top. There's tank season. I want the, I want them to lose every game. I want them. And I don't even care if the diamondbacks go after that number one prospect that has been rumored in Elijah Green. I think he looks great. But I just want the Arizona Diamondbacks to get whoever they want. At this point, they have an opportunity to really jump on a couple of drafts. It's already been said about Loller that he could have potentially gone as the number one pick in the draft. There was a lot of issues in the MLB draft. There's guys committed to college and they might not, you know, sign with the team

by getting drafted and then you wasted your draft pick, right? So it's like there was, I think, some skepticism around Jordan Lawler signing. And luckily for us, he did. But unluckily for him and for us, he gets injured right away so he doesn't have a chance to continue his progression and continue his development. I just think right now at this point, the Diamondbacks need to continue stockpiling as many of the top talented players as they can. And if they can get the number one draft pick at this point, why not? I mean, what is what what is the point? Is it is it pride? Is that is that, or do you want them to start just building on next year? What, what would your thought be behind them? Like, let's say going on a little mini.

like win streak to end the season just to just to end on a high note yeah i think i'm i'm definitely not opposed to them having the first overall pick i want i want to make that clear i'm not you're not my case yeah you're not against it he's actively against it they don't i think my point derrick is that i don't think they need the first overall pick because you know who the diamond backs took the last time they had the first overall draft pick they took a man named dan spouss Swanson. They do. Who is actually,

he's okay, but he's not very good. And you know who is taken right after Danesby Swanson? Who is that? I can't remember the order, but Brendan Rogers from the Rockies, who's still an up and comer,

we'll see, we'll see what he can do. He was taken out of high school, so he's a little further behind. But the other guy is Alex Bregman was taken right after Danesby Swanson. And Alex Breggman, I hate to tell you, Derek,

is a far, far better baseball player than Dan's Breswomen. Hansby Swanson. So I think my point is not that they, you know, not not that they shouldn't want the pick, you know, obviously that puts you in the in the best scenario. But in baseball, there often is not a very big difference. And it almost puts a whole lot of pressure on you when you have the first overall pick because you've, you're probably going to have to choose between several guys who, you know, might be all around the same level. That said, Elijah Green looks really freaking good. So of all the years to get the first overall pick. This would this would not be the worst one. That's for sure.

Yep. And our guys in the chat are talking about the Arizona Fall League, which I will be out there for. I can't wait to go check out the young talent. And that's another reason why Arizona is our baseball nirvana, right? I mean, we just get to go check out the next level of talent. We get spring training here. We have Diamondbacks. We have wall-to-wall baseball. It's wonderful. But yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how these guys develop and kind of getting to see them up close and personal will be fantastic. I'm really looking forward to that. I hope. that ball ball happens because I haven't received any word yet on if that's going to be suspended this year again or not. But I did want to talk really fast before we go about our

draft king's pick of the week. We have our draft king's pick of the week. I went ahead and I think I was advised to go with an NFL game. But I went ahead and picked a baseball game since this is a baseball podcast because tomorrow we have the Padres at the Dodgers with an over under at eight. And I went ahead and fully took the under on this because we have Walker Bueller on the mound going up against Chris Paddock. And right now both of these offenses have been pretty terrible. The reason why I thought this was a pretty good slam dunk is I looked back and I don't think in any of their recent series that they've scored eight at any point as a combined score.

So I don't know. I'm not, again, I'm not, I'm not the smartest guy gambling, but this seemed like a pretty good lock, especially considering that these teams have experienced a bunch of injuries and such. And, I mean, I don't know. I've seen our Diamondbacks team tie both of these teams' hands when their rosters were limited due to injuries like they are right now. So be sure to download the Draft King's Sportsbook app today.

Use our code PHNX, and you will get $200 in free bets after making your first NFL bet of just one dollar. Go on there, bet on the Cardinals. Let's go Cardinals. Let's keep it all city here in Phoenix. And let's get, let's have some fun with this. But yeah, that's all I have for right now. I know we have some more future stuff to talk about.

We definitely have probably a whole episode that we could discuss on Christian Robinson's future becoming so murky. Again, another top player in the DeBacks farm system that have legal issues dating back to less. summer, just a weird situation where kind of had a mental health issue, a incident where he was walking along the highway and ended up allegedly punching a Department of Public Safety police officer. He was, yeah, he was found in April of 2020 when this happened. Now, because he's a resident of the Bahamas, there's a situation with his visa. The incident was considered a felony, which won't allow him to get a new visa.

but if he can fulfill the plea deal that has been set before him by the judge, he can come back. So it's kind of a catch-22 because he can't come back until he gets his visa, but he can't get his visa until he serves this time. So this is going to be a really interesting situation, especially considering how talented this young man was. It's really sad to see this situation go the way that it has. Yeah, I actually met Christian Robinson. a couple years ago, I was doing an internship out in the Chicago area, and he was on the

Cain County Cougars at the time. He had just been called up from Hillsborough, where we're all hopped up, by the way, with Eric's. Is that a different one? Is that a new one today? Yeah, this is the dad hat. This is the dad hat. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah, but Christian Robinson had just been called up from Hillsborough. I think I literally watched his first game in Kane County. And he was just the nicest guy. He was so incredibly friendly. You could tell that he'd been through a lot. I mean, if you could imagine, you know, you're 16 years old and you're, you know, moving to another country and just all of the things that he had to go through in order to get here. But he was one of the, one of the greatest guys I've ever gotten the pleasure of interviewing. And just sort of from that,

just sort of, you know, seeing him in the clubhouse that one day, I wish this guy nothing but the best. hopefully his diamond back's career you know continues and there's there's sort of a workaround at some point to get by this but he is a phenomenal human being just from that one interaction and more than anything else i just really wish christian robin the best at this point yes we absolutely all do and it's unfortunate that this has gone down the way it has uh we we hope that it can somehow be resolved and i would love to see him on on on a baseball field again for this team it would be he's a darn good baseball player too. He really is. That's the other. And again, that contributes to the question marks about the future of this team because he was going to be a big part of it. Right. So,

you know, there's there's definitely a lot of changes, a lot of things this team has to take into consideration and, and they got to, you know, kind of at this point, try to help him out as, as best they can, but also they have to worry about the future of this team. So, you know, there's, there's going to be a lot of things changing. And I think the future still looks pretty bright for this team considering how high their farm system is currently ranked. I just hope that these guys can come out and perform. My hope is that this experience that they've had this season of kind of, you know, being thrust into the position of playing at a major league level has really kind of

hardened some of these guys by fire. You know what I mean? Like that that whole situation isn't great at times. But I feel like some guys like Josh Rojas and Josh Van Meter and a couple of other guys have really had some really good moments for this. ball club. Yeah, they need opportunity. You know, I mean, that's, that's really where it all starts. We see, we saw Dalton Varshot struggle for quite a while when he first came up. But he was playing, you know, every other day, every third day, he was playing like eight different positions,

which somehow he still is. He hasn't really moved past that yet. They're still playing him all over the diamond. But it's amazing what happens when guys start to get regular opportunities. And Dalton Varshow, I really want to highlight him because since July 1st, he has. is an OPS of almost 900 and he is top 10 to throw one of my nerdy baseball stats at you, Derek, because I know you love them. He is top 10. He is top 10 in the National League in Wins Above Replacement since the All Star break. Right up there with, right up there with Paul Goldschmidt, not that you wanted to hear that. Yeah. That's, that's impressive, though. That's actually impressive. That's not something I would consider with Varsho. Like, he's, he's obviously been doing it very,

quietly. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's been quiet, but he's a guy that, I guess to our earlier conversation, he's a guy that could be in that core. I am less skeptical about Dalton Varshot as I am about Pavin Smith and Josh Rojas, to be honest, because I think his ceiling is very, very high. He had a lot of prospect pedigree. He was taken high in the draft back in 2017. I think, I think Varsho could be, could absolutely be someone to build around. But like I said, the key, give these guys opportunities. And the Diamondbacks are in a great position to do that because they don't really have any veterans around to play anymore. They've sort of dealt them all off. Like you said, Madison Bumgarner sort of feels like the only guy in that position right now.

Yeah. And it feels like what again, you know, tank season's here. We're tanking. So it's fine anyway, right? It just feels like the perfect opportunity to give these young guys a shot. But I think some people, considering that this team is 50 games below 500, probably would ask why wasn't this decision made earlier. You know, I think that would probably be the only question people that are fans of this team and have been watching this team would say, like, what was the point of still competing when you were, you know, literally 60 games out of first place in your division? So I don't know really who's going to end up being a part of the core, but I do know that they have some really.

really talented players. And at times, this team can really put it together. I think when all is said and done, no matter how bad the record is, I don't really think this team was as bad this season as the record indicates. But it is what it is. There's no changing that. So, oh, I want to thank you guys all as I hit the microphone in my mouth for joining us here at the PHNX DBAX podcast. It's late. I'm tired. I'm swinging my arms around. But thank you again to Jesse Friedman for joining me from Seattle. He's going to go out and watch all those D-backs games this weekend and come back on Monday. We're going to have our first audio podcast on Monday and we will talk all about what Jesse saw and what the future of this team looks like even more after this weekend. So

I want to thank you guys again. And remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's more fun when you bet on it.