PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Which D-backs Gold Glove Finalists Have BEST Chance To Win?

Episode Date: October 15, 2024

The Diamondbacks have five Gold Glove finalists in Christian Walker, Ketel Marte, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Jake McCarthy and Gabriel Moreno. On today’s episode, we take a look at each of their cases and decide which have the best chance to win. We also recap another day of postseason baseball and pay homage to five former Diamondbacks players who are still in the hunt for a World Series. Join Jesse, Derek, and Kevin for the PHNX Diamondbacks Show LIVE! 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/olp/open-account?affiliate=365_03330244 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and choose your offer! 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/ Bluechew: Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code ALLCITY at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. That’s https://bluechew.com promo code ALLCITY to receive your first month FREE. Visit for more details and important safety information, and we thank BlueChew for sponsoring the podcast.. Zbiotics: Go to https://zbiotics.com/phnxdbacks to get 15% off your first order when you use PHNXDBACKS at checkout. Pre-Alcohol is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they’ll refund your money, no questions asked. Empire Today: Schedule a free in-home estimate today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx 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! Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. 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! Get 10 FREE meals at https://hellofresh.com/freedbacks. Applied across 7 boxes, new subscribers only, varies by plan. 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, the Diamondbacks have five Gold Glove finalists, which of the guys has the best chance to take home the award. We're talking about it in 30 seconds. Don't go anywhere. Ski and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX debacks podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally a man who gets sick once the temperature drops below 100 degrees. This man next to me is far away from me as he possibly can be. It's the one and only thunder stick Jesse Friedman. And of course, this show is brought to you by our friends at Bet365. Download the Bet365 app right now.

Use that code of PHNX365. When you sign up, choose your offer and find out why it is never ordinary at Bet365. And Jesse, this is the wrong glove company for talking about gold glove stuff. But still, nonetheless, a fun day to talk about the Arizona Diamondbacks and they're five finalists for the Rowling's Gold Glove Award. But before we get to that, we did have to talk a little bit about postseason baseball. we did have a very good day yesterday for New York baseball fans, Jesse. Yeah, yeah, not a not a great day for LA baseball fans, Derek. I think we talked about it a little on our show yesterday that our original headline for the show was talking about how, you know,

it was sort of the worst possible timeline for Diamondbacks fans with how well the Dodgers played in game one. And then the Dodgers were very quickly down six to nothing in game two. and they could sort of clawed their way back. They made the game interesting a 7-3 final. But yeah, as we said on yesterday's show, as ugly as game one of that series was for the Mets, the Mets find a way to bounce back and win a, what was a bullpen game for the Dodgers

with arguably the Mets best starter going in Sean Mania, suddenly they're in a pretty good position in the series. And that's exactly where we find them at this point as the series goes back to New York, tied one-one, The Mets are very much alive here in the NLCS. Right. Essentially, in a seven-game series,

you just need to win one of those first two games and kind of steal home field advantage away from the opposition. You had Mark Vientos, a.k.a. Swaggy Vee now is his nickname. Hit that Grand Slam after they walked Lindor. After the game, he said he took it, he took out a little personally that they walked Lindor to get to him. And he definitely showed them at the end of, at the end of the day, Jesse, but there were some bad omens for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

And one of them was snakes in the dugout. They had snakes in the dugout, Jesse. There were there were snakes in the dugout. Well, can you? Well, can you say there's a snake. It's in the dugout. Dodgers had to quickly dispatch that snake. And I feel like that's just another sign that the Diamondbacks are always there.

They're always watching, always waiting to strike. Haraldo Podomo was definitely behind this, right? He absolutely was. He absolutely was. I mean, after the way the diverbacks handed the Dodgers their asses in the NLDS last year, that can't be a good sign for you as a Dodger player to see a snake in your dugout. No, no, I wouldn't think so. As someone who I've never really, I haven't lived for a super extended period of time in Southern California,

but I did go to college in the area. And I don't really remember snakes being like a thing. I mean, I guess you could find a snake if you looked hard enough just about anywhere, but I don't know, Derek. I think it's a bad sign for them. Lunar forte is right. It seems like a David Peralta bit. It absolutely does seem like a David Peralta bit.

You remember what he did to Eduardo Esbar with the cats, right? So he's known to be a practical jokester when it comes to utilizing animals. But I mean, again, I think that the Mets already have enough good luck charms on their side. when it comes to the OMG remix, when it comes to Grimmis, when it comes to everything going on with them. The Dodgers, this is a bad sign for the Dodgers. Now they have bad luck charms here against them. So we'll see what happens when things turn around in New York.

Could still be an all New York subway series. The Yankees beat the Guardians in their game yesterday in game one of their series five to two. Carlos Rodon just looked absolutely outstanding. Juan Soto hit his first home run of the postseason, Jesse. Yankees look like they're on their way to getting to the World Series. Yeah, I mean, to me, the wildest thing about the Yankees run so far is that Aaron Judge basically hasn't done anything.

Yeah, I mean, that's not literally true, but it, but it feels true. Judge yesterday went 0 for two. He did have an RBI and he did draw a walk in that game, scored a run. But his postseason OPS, Derek is 564. his postseason batting average is 133. I mean, you look up and down this Yankees lineup, and the numbers are really not very impressive. Juan Soto has had a pretty good postseason,

Glaver Torres in that leadoff spot where they've been using him. He's been pretty decent as well. But yeah, it's not like the Yankees have come out and just scored a bazillion runs to win a lot of these games. A lot of their postseason games have looked something like what we saw. where they score five and their pitching is good. A lot of those games against the Royals were pretty low scoring and they found ways to

win those games. So yeah, I mean, it's just a testament to the Yankees pitching staff and the fact that I guess it just feels like in general, the American League postseason, there just hasn't been a whole lot of offense to speak of. The Orioles, you know, they were a team that you expected a lot of offense from. They struggled to score the Tigers and Guardians. in that series, we're kind of trading places getting shut out there for a while. So, yeah, the Yankees have managed to score enough and their pitching has really carried

them to this point. Well, the postseason so far, the story so far, has been pretty interesting. We have this tweet from Sarah Lang's about scoring in regards to the postseason. Teams that score first are 18 and 12. Teams to out homer their opponents are 15 and 6, and then 42.7% of runs have scored via home run. Jesse, with the way that the Diamondbacks season went, this seems like the diamondbacks would have ate in the playoffs.

This seems like it was right in the Diamondbacks wheelhouse. Scoring early and hitting home runs was the key to winning baseball games. They did that a lot this season. Maybe not in the last two weeks very, very much. But, you know, throughout the season, they were very good at those things. Yeah, I mean, we've talked about it a lot. Like, if the Diamondbacks had found a way to get to October, they, they really could have done some damage there, right?

I mean, you don't know exactly what it would have looked like. But if the Diamondbacks had, you know, wound up in that, in that sixth seed in the National League, it wouldn't shock me if they were in the position that the Mets are in right now, right? I mean, the Mets are in that sixth seed. As we've discussed, whatever team gets to succeed in the National League, just seems to have this automatic ticket to the World Series. Maybe that manifests itself yet again with the Mets having evened up the series against the Dodgers in the NLCS.

And I think for me, like, you know, as a as a as a as a baseball fan in general, I think you have to root for the guardians and, and appreciate what they've, what they've managed to do. But the reality is, even as someone who doesn't necessarily love the, the big market narratives that, you know,

kind of dominate baseball from time to time, if you had a World Series that was Yankees Dodgers or Yankees Mets, it would objectively be pretty good for the sport, right? I think the ratings on either of those matchups would be phenomenal. Not to say they'd be terrible if the Guardians made it instead, but I have a feeling that folks in the commissioner's office might have a bit of a rooting interest in the ALCS right now. Well, yeah, and it was like last year with the Texas Rangers

and the Diamondbacks meeting in the World Series. I mean, that's fun. That's exciting, you know, especially considering where those two teams were at just two seasons earlier and, you know, just the fact that, you know, the Rangers were there doing it for the first time, right? I'm, I'm here wearing. Remember yesterday everyone was saying I, uh, my fantasy football team is the Texas Rangers.

Uh, so I would, I just leaned into it with this shirt today, Jesse, but I mean, yeah, that like, I think for all intents and purposes, that wasn't a great world series as far as, like they, as far as ratings would go or far as no, the ratings were the, were the worst of any, of any world series ever, if I'm not. mistaken, which, I mean, the numbers have kind of generally trended down. So it wasn't way lower than than previous seasons. But yeah, D-Bax Rangers was not exactly going to, you know, that wasn't going to command as many headlines as the subway series or Dodgers Yankees could this year, not even close.

Well, and even the Mets are like an underdog, but they're not a real underdog. And they just have this great story kind of going with them. And, you know, again, it's also the Dodgers. right you have otani you have mooky bets you have freddie freeman there's a lot of stories just on that team and you know it does it feels like overall it doesn't matter who gets in but it feels like the guardians is the one that somehow would would make it less interesting right i i kind of agree with you i like the guardians as as as that underdog as far as spending goes right if you're a diamond back span you do kind of have to root for the guardians here because this is a team

that's in a similar position that we are in. And, you know, again, this is a chance to prove that that amount of money doesn't, doesn't really matter at the end of the day. But when you look at three of the final four teams that are here, you can't help but say, yes, money absolutely matters in Major League Baseball. This is just a season where it happened to work out that way. Last year, wasn't that case, right? Like last year, things didn't go the way you expected it at all during the postseason this

year, a little bit more routine, right? Like the end result here is as expected, the only surprise really being the Mets over the Padres. Yeah, I mean, I'm still a little bit, a little bit floored by the fact that the Padres lost that series. It just, I guess maybe maybe too many people were jumping on the Padres bandwagon and picking them to win the World Series. They were, they weren't my World Series pick at the beginning of the season. that was the Phillies, but if you'd ask me who was going to win the World Series, when the postseason started,

the Padres would have been my pick. And I know I wasn't alone in that. There were a whole lot of people looking at the roster that they assembled, especially after the moves they made at the trade deadline. And the offense was there. The starting pitching was there. Obviously, Joe Musgrove losing him was a hit that I think hurt them for sure in that series against the Dodgers.

But the bullpen was outstanding as well. I still it still is is odd to me how the Padres are still not in the picture but that's how postseason baseball works sometimes right I mean you're you're on fire you seemingly can do no wrong and then suddenly you just like don't score for two and a half games and that was that was a bit of an issue for the Padres toward the end there or you picked a fight with the wrong team you picked a fight or too early with the wrong team right Anthony told He knows a little bit about that. He was talking trash to me after one player played in our fantasy football matchup. And to this date, he's the only guy I beat in the entire league. No one else talked trash early and see, that's what happens. It's called sports karma and it'll come to get you. They got the Padres.

And I think I saw a video that said like the San Diego Padres demise should be studied. And it possibly should because it was incredible how that potent offense that all season long, especially as we watch the scoreboard every night after Diamondbacks games, we would see the Padres down at some point, and then we would make jokes that they were going to come back, and then Jackson Merrill would hit a three-run home run, and they would come back, right? So it's like it was kind of shocking to see that offense held in check

for as long as the Dodgers were able to hold them in check, right? That's something impressive. It does feel like the Dodgers might be starting to run a little thin, especially after yesterday's loss to the Mets. So it'll be interesting to see how they manage this series, especially if they need to turn to a bullpen start again, which I'm guessing that's not going to happen, but I don't know what they're going to do otherwise.

Yeah, I mean, I think it probably will happen. I mean, game three is Walker Bueller for the Dodgers, right? And I know he was able to give them some length and his start against the Padres, but he didn't pitch very well against the Padres. I mean,

you could have made the kids. case that you know, Dave Roberts should have been more aggressive there. So this is a Dodgers team that is that is going to have to rely on their bullpen quite a bit the rest of the way. And so far, that's been a winning formula for them because, you know, that just go up and down the list with their bullpen arms. Seems like all of these guys have been sensational, at least the vast majority of them have been sensational here in the postseason.

But Luis Severino against Walker Bueller in game three at City Field, it's hard not to view that as a big advantage for for the Mets. And then you look at even game four. I mean, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was was good in his last start against the Padres. He only went five innings. But Jose Cantana is is probably going to pitch that game for the Mets. And Jose Cantana just like doesn't give up runs anymore, hasn't given up runs in like two months, basically.

So the Mets are they they have an advantage, at least on paper, a pretty big one on the starting pitching front and just a matter of if they can really take advantage of that. All right. Well, we will have more on the Arizona Diamondbacks Gold Glove finalist here shortly and who, once again, we think has a chance to win it. Of course, we do thank you guys for being here in the Ph.NX Sports YouTube channel. Make sure you subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so yet. Sign up for notifications.

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Must be 21 or over and physically located in Arizona. If you were someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800 next step. Text next step to 533442 or visit problemgambling.az.gov. All right, Jesse. Well, the Diamondbacks had a surprising number of Gold Glove finalists. At least I felt like they did. ran through the announcements this morning. I saw Cotel Marte.

I saw Christian Walker. I saw Gabriel Moreno. And there were no surprises there. It was very cool. But then I missed the fact that Lordis, Goreal Jr. and Jake McCarthy were also a finalist here for this award. And this was, I guess, a great nod to the Diamondbacks defense. And I guess my first question to you is,

were you surprised as well to see that many finalists for the Diamondbacks? I mean, I think if you're a Dback and you weren't named a gold glove finalist, you kind of feel left out at this point, right? Basically the majority of the roster. Sorry, Corbyn. Yeah. Yeah, I was, I think Jake McCarthy is the one that would maybe have surprised me the most. None of the other ones really did. I don't know if, I don't know if just like the field is less competitive this year.

no pun intended in terms of like the defensive defensive talent but yeah I mean I think everyone who who was a finalist for the diamond backs deserved it and Jake McCarthy it's not like yeah it's it's not like this was some sort of egregious misstep or anything I think you could totally make a case for him being a finalist as well whether or not there's a case for him to win is is another matter what we'll get to that in a second but yeah as you said the diamond backs have been one of the best defensive teams in the league for for a long time. And this was another season where,

where they excelled on that side of the ball. They had a sound defender at every position on the diamond as they pretty much always do. And they also had some players who really stood out and were elite this season. Of course, Christian Walker, as he always is, a heads up that that list for the diamond backs this year. Well, and Christian Walker right out of the gate seems like a no-brainer. we know Christian Walker always is head and shoulders above the rest of the first baseman in Major League Baseball. And it seems like once again, we should see Christian Walker get the Gold Love Award.

I think we will. Yeah, I think Christian Walker is probably going to make it three in a row. The other finalists at first base are Matt Olson of the Atlanta Braves and Bryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies. Bryce Harper. Yeah, Bryce Harper. He's the first baseman now. and he's done okay for himself over there. But yeah, looking at the numbers, like Walker,

it's not like Walker's numbers are far and away above the other guys, but I think the case is pretty strong. Walker had seven defensive runs saved and 13 outs above average. Of course, these are the two kind of defensive metrics that we use over and over again in these conversations. So Walker was at 7 and 13. Matt Olson was at 14 defensive runs saved, but only four outservous.

above average. So he had, he doubled Walker up in defensive runs saved, but had about a third of the number of outs above average as Walker. And then Bryce Harper was a five defensive run saved and seven outs above average. So Walker had him beat in both of those categories. So yeah, looking at the numbers,

I think there's a pretty good case to be made for Christian Walker here. And at this point, you know, it's not just about the stats. 75% of this is, is a voting process from managers and coached around the league and people know about Christian Walker at this point, right? I mean, he is revered for his defense, I think, widely at this point.

So given the reputation that he's built along with what these numbers say, I feel pretty confident that Christian Walker is going to bring home his third consecutive gold glove award here this year. Which is going to make it that much more difficult for the Diamondbacks to bring Christian Walker back. And like you said, coveted around the league for that defense, unfortunately. Yeah. Cotel Marte, meanwhile, a great sign that Cotel is nominated here or a finalist here. He has just really become one of the Diamondbacks best defenders once again. And I don't, I mean, I feel like he has a shot.

I think at the time, Mist really hurt him. And I'm pretty sure that he's probably not going to take this one home, but it feels like it's just still a really nice step in the right direction for could tell. Absolutely. Yeah, regardless of what happens here, I mean, the reality is that two years ago, we were having conversations about Cateel-Marté having to move to first base, maybe even having to just D-H.

And at that point, yeah, this was a player that the Diamondbacks had just extended and had under team control for five more seasons. So, yeah, the Cattel, just getting back to a viable, solid defender would have been big news. But Catell getting to being what I think is the best, the best second baseman that he's ever been in his Diamondbacks career is absolutely enormous. You look back at his numbers in, I believe it was 2020. If I can find his second base numbers here.

So, yeah, 2022. So this was Cattel's season where he stayed healthy for at least most of the year, but the numbers weren't really there for him offensively. And defensively, that was the season where the questions really began to arise, minus six defensive runs saved and minus three outs above average. He really did not look athletic enough, frankly, to handle the demands of an everyday role at second base. And this year, the numbers are fantastic.

10 defensive runs saved, eight outs above average. And as you said, he did miss some time toward the end of the season. And those numbers theoretically could have been even better had Kattel not gotten hurt down the stretch. Yeah. And I feel like that's the story with a lot of these guys is that the mistime impacts their ability here. Christian Walker still leads his, you know, leads the first basement defensively, even with the mistime. But Ketel Marte has a tough, you know, a tough competition there with Bryce Terrang. And then Gabby Moreno, similar thing.

and great, great catcher, obviously. We're really excited that he's a finalist, but it's hard to believe that he can kind of overcome the time missed here compared to some of his competition here in Patrick Bailey and Will Smith. Yeah, just to put a bow on Kattel's situation, I agree with you. I think Bryce Terang is probably going to win that award. Terang was a 21 defensive run saved and six outs above average. So Ketal is a slight lead on the outs above average front, but Bryce Terang more than

doubled him up in DRS. Bryson Stott also in that conversation, I think, Ketel better defensive metrics than Stott, but it looks like Terang is probably going to be the winner there. As far as catcher is concerned, Patrick Bailey is going to win. I'm just going to say it right now.

At least if Patrick Bailey did not win the Gold Glove Award, I know last year there was a bit of an uproar in San Francisco, the Gabby Moreno won it over Patrick Bailey. This year there would be a full-on riots in the streets, and it would be hard to argue with Giants fans. Patrick Bailey had one of the most, at least according to what the numbers say, Patrick Bailey was one of the most valuable defenders in all of baseball this year.

20 defensive runs saved. He was minus one in blocks above average. So I guess that was the one aspect of his game that doesn't grate out extremely well. But nine caught stealing above average. He was at 16. uh framing above average uh baseball savons metric there which is outstanding he was 100th percentile and framing um and gabby moreno his numbers are solid across the board but patrick bailey has him beat by a by a pretty wide margin uh and it seems to be the same story

with our outfielders like lordis gruel uh had a fine season and i mean honestly you're right even though i was surprised for geryl to be there when you take a look at his numbers he had four defensive run saved three outs above average. And the other, uh, the other finalist are Ian Hap, who had eight defensive run saved and minus two outs above average and Brandon Marsh with seven defensive run save and zero outs above average. I'm not, I mean, I don't know, no, I don't feel like any single one of those guys kind of blows you away above above the other. Yeah, I mean, Ian Hap has, has won this award in back to back years. Left field is just generally a, a, a week.

defensive position, especially in the National League. I mean, I don't think anyone is viewing Ian Hap or even Lordus Guerrille as like a great defensive player. Yeah. We're not, that's not really the conversation we're having here. Unfortunately, with the way that the gold glove is done in the outfield, you wind up with several center fielder who are certainly more deserving, not not getting anything because we have an award that we give for center field we have an award that we give for left field and then we have an award for right field as well so

but then the best outfielders play center field so then there's just kind of like this teams are going to put their yeah they're going to put their best their best options in in center which i mean obviously makes sense so uh yeah it's kind of a flawed award uh frankly in in some ways it's not like the three gold gloves in the outfield go to the best three outfield defenders that's just not the reality of the situation but in left field lord is did have a good season. And I think he has a legitimate shot to win this thing. As you mentioned, the numbers don't really favor any particular player over any of the others in an obvious way. Lourdes does have the lead in outs above average with three outs above average for him compared to minus two for Ian Hap and zero for Brandon Marsh. So, I mean, all of these guys, I think our players you view is like slightly above average

defenders in a corner outfield spot. So it'll be fascinating. I think a lot of this is going to come down to the coaches and managers who vote on this and just sort of what their eyes have told them, what their eyes told them over the course of the season. Maybe Ian Hap, the fact that he has won a couple of these awards already the past two seasons. Maybe that helps them out here.

Or maybe we see Lordus Gurriel get his first gold glove for the Diamondbacks. Well, Jake McCarthy is kind of a perfect example of what you're talking about there because he has his numbers from left field, right field, and center field. And so he is nominated. He's played more center field than right field, Derek. Right. But he is a right field finalist, right? And that's because in 398 in the third innings, Jake had one defensive run saved and two outs above average. And apparently that's enough to be a finalist in right field for baseball.

Again, proving your point about the center field thing. Just get rid of the left field, right field, center field. Just make it the best outfielders and and give it to the top three. Yeah, that's probably, that's probably what I would lean toward. At least, at least right now, it just seems like for whatever reason, I'll maybe take a closer look at this at some point. But it seems like in the past there have been more great outfield corner outfield defenders than there are right now.

There are still many great outfield defenders in baseball at the moment. but as we said, they all just play center field, and it seems like there just aren't like enough of them to go around for any of them to play in the corners. But yeah, yeah, Jake played about 500 innings in center fields. He played just under 400 innings in right field. So it is sort of funny that he winds up the finalist in right. I think South Freelick is probably going to win this award.

Yeah, Freelike of Milwaukee Brewers. Diamondbacks fans have some experience with Freelick, given that he robbed Corbyn Carroll of a home run within, the last month or so. So yeah, his numbers stand out above McCarthy, as well as Mike Yostremski of the Giants, who's the other finalist here.

Well, how is this ward even determined, Jesse? Because you were bringing it up there a moment ago, but it's mostly a coaches and managers voting. Yeah, it is, it is according to Rawlings,

I guess, it is 75% voting from coaches and managers around the league. And then it is 25% based on statistics, but not necessarily the exact numbers that we're talking about. It's based on the SDI Index, which is the SABR, which is Sabre is the Society for American Baseball Research. It is the Sabre defensive index. Sabre has its own defensive metric, essentially. and so 25% of this is based on that. So I think in general,

like the DRS and the OA numbers correlate roughly with that. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see how this turns out. I think big picture Christian Walker, you feel really good about him at first base. I think Lourdes has a shot in left field. There's not really a clear, a clear case to be made there,

at least based on the numbers. and then maybe Catele-Marte wins over Bryce Terang, but I'm not, I'm not really expecting it. I wouldn't expect that either, but of course we will see here soon. Would you know when that the award, the winners are announced?

Yeah, I think it's November 3rd. So we've still got, we've still got a couple weeks to wait on that. I will say on as far as the catchers are concerned, the other finalists there is Will Smith. I know if Damon were here, he would go on a very long rant about how not deserving Will Smith is to be in that spot. And I will say based on the numbers, Smith's case is not, it's not great.

He was at minus four defensive runs saved this year. He was at minus 12 blocks above average, which might have been the worst mark of any catcher in baseball. Almost all of his stats are negative here. Yeah, yeah. Everything is negative except for caught stealing above average. He was good at controlling the run game, but is blocking graded out as one of the worst catchers in the league. And his framing also graded out as among the worst in the league.

So his overall fielding run value at baseball savant is minus five. So they have him in the aggregate as a below average defensive catcher. So yeah, I'm not, I don't think Will Smith is awful defensively or anything. He's a good player overall. He's a really good hitter at that position. But a gold glove finalist, he out of all of the finalists we're looking at, Will Smith stands out as is probably the one guy who doesn't belong.

Sean says need that Damon energy. Get that diehard membership and we'll get Damon's take on after dark on this whole situation. So make sure to join us for that with lots of curse words. So when we come back, we're going to talk here about some of our exes that are having, a nice run in the postseason. And you know what we do. We spy on our exes around here.

So after this word from our sponsor, we will be heading into the postseason and getting a little more sad about former Diamondbacks performing well. Don't go anywhere. And when I say don't go anywhere, I mean unless you're going to Circle K and don't stop watching our show to do that,

but you should probably head to Circle K. I am very under the weather right now. And there is a lot of things at Circle K that could probably make me feel better right now, Jesse. I do need lots of liquid. So that is the place to go. It is America's third stop. And of course, if you join the inner circle for free right now by downloading the

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He did send a picture of the box with the sunglasses in them. But I don't know. I don't know what's happened between now and then. And like I said, I'm going to call the police. I'm going to call Shady Ray's first and tell them what Saul did. But then I'm going to call the police. But I also, Jesse, want to call the police on maybe us for spying on our exes. more on our exes for the wonderful thing they're doing.

It's time for us to spy on our exes here in the postseason. And of course, Jesse, the man that is stealing the hearts of baseball fans around the game is our, it was our one and only Luke Weaver. Luke Weaver is just, we knew he was adorable. We knew he was an incredible personality. But now that he plays for the Yankees, everybody gets. to see it. Yeah, I mean, I think I think Luke Weaver has single-handedly like saved New York,

like the entire state at this point. Because the Yankees went the way, they went through some issues with their bullpen, specifically the back end of that bullpen. And Luke Weaver has come in and not only been an effective back end arm for them, but been their closer. and he had a great regular season. He had a 2.89 ERA in the regular season through 84 innings out of the bullpen for the Yankees. So he was a guy that they were often using for more than three outs.

And then, yeah, here in the postseason, Luke Weaver is four for four and save opportunities. He got five outs in the game yesterday. He has been really just dominant. And I think more than anything else, this is just a testament. to the Yankees and the fact that they can pick up basically any pitcher they want and turn them into an effective reliever. Luke Weaver had a 6.870 RA last season in 21 starts with the Cincinnati Reds. He has he has become not just a good reliever but one of the best in all of baseball and he is a huge reason why the Yankees are in the position that they are right now.

Well, similar to AJ Puck. It just didn't work out for him as a. starter, but as a reliever somehow, he's just really found his groove. 2.89 ERA and 62 games out of the Yankees bullpen. And yeah, he was lights out for them. I think he pitched one and two thirds innings yesterday. Just incredible. He's just been incredible for the Yankees. Yeah, I think he, I think he changed up his, changed up his, his change up grip over, over the,

over the off season, the Yankees just sort of. of worked their sorcery, I guess, and fixed Luke Weaver. Part of me does wonder, like, when Luke Weaver was a member of the Diamondbacks, it's not, there wasn't a ton of success there, but there was some. When he first joined the team in 2019, he had a sub three ERA in 12 starts for the Diamondbacks, right when they first acquired him, he wound up getting hurt, missing, missing the rest of that season. But there were, there were shades of promise when Luke Weaver was here.

generally struck out a pretty decent number of guys. He didn't really walk guys. It felt like the kind of pitcher that would figure it out eventually. And he just never really did for the Diamondbacks. Kind of makes you wonder in retrospect, if maybe the Diamondbacks had tried to convert him into a single inning reliever. You know, maybe they could have found a way to turn Weaver into a valuable asset. I mean, it really is your nightmare, right,

that a guy like this leaves your organization and goes somewhere else. and I mean becomes what he became. But like you said, 6.87 ERA last year with the Reds, he wasn't looking at that point. Like the Diamondbacks regretted him not being part of the organization much any longer. But I mean, it's baseball, right? Guys go through stretches. Another guy, well-known, former Arizona Diamondback,

or not Diamondback, but part of the Diamondbacks organization, Jazz Chisholm, who had an 825 OPS and 46 games after. being acquired by the Yankees at the trade deadline. He hasn't been so great in the playoffs, but he did, I believe, deliver one big home run for this team so far. Yeah, his playoff numbers aren't great. He's three for three for 30,

hitting 100 in the postseason for the Yankees. I mentioned earlier, a lot of their hitters have not done, what you might have expected. But he was a really good pickup for them, really good in the second half of the season, after being acquired by the Yankees at the trade. deadline. And I think for D-Backs fans, like, there are no regrets with Jazz Chisholm.

You got Zach Allen for him. You knew that, you knew that trade a hundred times out of a hundred. But I'm curious from, from your standpoint, like, obviously you would still do the trade. But how much do you miss Jazz Chisholm? Like, how much when you're watching him do his thing for, for the Marlins and now the Yankees? Are you like, yeah, it would have been cool if, if that guy had had become a diamond back? I mean, There is times because I do, he's one of those guys where like if he's on your team, you love him. And if he's not, you can't stamp, right?

Because he's just, he's got so much confidence. He's got so much swag, right? He's like one of those guys that I feel like exudes that to the point that is, it makes his teammates better, right? I just don't know how he would have fit in here. And when I look at the pieces that are there, I don't know where he would have played. I just like there's a lot of questions I have about you know how he would have fit in in the diamondbacks organization so I don't I haven't really lost sleep thinking about jazz chisholm not being part of the diamondbacks like you said when the return was that gallon it's hard for you to look back at any point especially considering what this team did last postseason and say that that was a mistake or a failure or something they shouldn't have done right I mean you're going to have moments right you're going to have times where Gallin struggling and Chisholm's playing out of his mind that in that week or in that month,

you're like, hey, I wish this wouldn't have been. But when you look at the overall body of work, it's hard not to, you know, appreciate Gallen and how much he's done for the Arizona Diamondbacks. It's like Paul Seawald, right? Paul Seawald's had a tumultuous relationship with the Diamondbacks and the fans and his performances, right? But you can't sit there and say, I wish Paul Seawald was never a part of this team because if you do wish that, then there's a good chance you also are wishing away the entire postseason run because I don't think the Diamondbacks obviously make it there without Seawalt. Right.

So like there's there's good times and there's bad with every player. You know, jazz was awesome this season for the Yankees. There was times where I was like, damn, he really like, it's amazing how much he, I guess, thrives in the spotlight and kind of steps up. But then, you know, hitting 100 in the playoffs, right? like he's really struggled in the bigger spotlight when the lights are really bright. So I like, I don't know. I've not missed him at all.

One guy I do miss. Even though, even though like you do have to consider Derek that since the Diamondbacks traded Jazz Chisholm in 2019, they've had zero players on the cover of MLB the show, whereas Jazz Chisholm, he was on the cover of MLB the show somehow. I don't think that he would have been on the cover if he was, part of the Diamondbacks.

Like there was just something weird about him with the Marlins and how much for that moment and time he electrified that team in that city, right? He's probably going to be on it next year now that he's now that he's on the Yankees. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's inevitable. He's a two-timer, but I really miss HUDdy, Jesse. Daniel Hudson, that guy is just the timeless wonder, man.

I can't believe he is pitching the way he is for the Los Angeles Dodgers right now. And like of all of these guys, I mean, Luke Weaver's smile, maybe is number one, just a little bit above Daniel Hudson in general. But Huddy is just he was he was such a, he was such a good dude, you know, like covering this team and covering him while he was here. And I'm thrilled that he's able to still, you know, put up these numbers at his at his age. We talked about it the other day, right? Like it's going to be 2054 and Daniel Hudson is still going to be pitching the eighth inning. for the Dodgers, right? Los Angeles Dodgers.

Yeah, he's, he's 38 years old. And yeah, I mean, obviously, Huddy has been with the Dodgers for a while. So maybe the affections that Diamondbacks fans once had, have since gone by the wayside. But in a big picture, in the big picture, Daniel Hudson is a really good story, right?

He had Tommy John's surgery. He wound up having to turn around and have it again almost immediately. There aren't a whole lot of success. best stories around the league with guys who have had two Tommy John surgeries. And obviously Hudson wound up converting to the bullpen. That was that was part of that for him. But still, after having two Tommy John surgeries to find a way to be a back end relief pitcher, a pretty good back end relief pitcher through the age of 38 is really impressive.

So, yeah, he continues to, he continues to do his thing. And again, I will not be surprised if he just keeps signing one. year deals with the Dodgers until the end of time. Until the end of time. Yeah, no, that wouldn't be surprising at all. Another pitcher with the Dodgers that is a former Diamondback that's found success is Anthony Bonda, Jesse, who was, again, a top prospect, right, when he was with the Diamondbacks, and then he came up and found some success, but didn't stay with the organization.

Yeah, I mean, the Diamondbacks wound up trading him as part of the Stephen Sousa trade. We saw him appear very briefly in games for the Diamondbacks. I think it was 25 inning, something like that. But yeah, I mean, if you look at the Diamondbacks MLB pipeline top 30 lists going into the 2017 season, Anthony Bonda was the number one name on that list and continued to be highly thought of after the trade. And, you know, I think for a number of years after that, people still held out hope that that Bonda could be. you know, a pretty darn good left-handed starting pitcher in the league at some point. And it never really happened for him.

Injuries were a big factor. He bounced around from a number of different teams. Basically, from what I've read, it sounds like Bonda was pretty close to quitting baseball. And then he volunteered at like his nephew's Little League team or something to help out. And he wound up just falling in love with baseball again and deciding he wanted to try to pitch. and much like the Yankees, the Dodgers just have this way of getting the, getting the most out of guys and, you know, turning pitchers who've never really had any success into, you know, really solid, really solid relief arms. And that's what, that's what he's been for the Dodgers, really this entire season and in the playoffs. He's not allowed to run in any of his innings in the playoffs so far.

So, yeah, maybe this one's a little bit of a sore point for D-BACs fans. but yeah, an impressive cool story nonetheless. Yeah, I'm happy for him. I'm happy that when you as a player, you know, we're kind of at a crossroads and you considered quitting the game, you were able to find your love for it again and come back and like not just come back, but throw four scoreless innings in the playoffs for the Dodgers, like at the highest level, high leveraged innings like that.

Like that's, it's impressive. It's a great story. It's unfortunate for the Dodgers. We all know that, but it's good for Bonda nonetheless. And last but not least is Stephen Boat, Jesse, who we all hold a special place in our heart as a former Arizona Diamondback now in his first year as the manager for the Cleveland Guardians, and he leads this team to the ALCS.

And it's impressive, once again, considering that he comes from this organization and he was kind of able to do something similar as to what the Diamondbacks were able to do and get that team with that payroll as far as he was able to do. do and get them, you know, to win their division. Yeah, what a, what a year for Stephen Vote, right? I don't know exactly what the manager of the year. Talley will wind up being in the American League, but you have to believe that Stephen Vote's name is going to be,

is going to be up there. The Guardians coming off a down year last season and finding a way not only to make the playoffs, but to go on the, on the run in the playoffs that they've gone on. Yeah, Stephen Vote is. He heard nothing but good things about him from his time in, in Arizona. Obviously, the debacks got him a little bit past his prime. You know, he wasn't hitting 20 homers a season at that point of his career. But he still had some good moments.

I remember him, us watching him Homer in his last bat back when he was when he was back with Oakland a couple of years ago. That was a really cool moment. Just a great guy all the way around. And he's only 39 years old. I mean, talk about Daniel Hudson. Stephen Vote is one year older than Daniel Hudson. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's now an MLB manager. So it was a bold move by the Guardians. I mean, I have a lot of respect for the guardians, taking a guy who did not really have any experience. You know, usually you see before you become a manager, you're a bench coach, you know, you maybe spend a long time coaching in the minors or whatnot. Stephen Vote didn't do that.

He was a major leaguer in 2022. And now he's the manager of a team in the ALCS. and it's been a lot of fun to watch. Well, and I mean, sometimes that's what you want as someone that can still connect with the team. You know, we've talked about that a bit, but that's one of Tori Lavello's drinks. And of course, Stephen Vogt probably brings that as a manager,

you know, over there in Cleveland. He also, you know, I don't know. He always seemed like he was a manager on the field, you know, and I think as a catcher sometimes you have to be that already. So, but you're right. It's an interesting hire. and so far it's paid off for them. It'd be interesting to see what they can do here

against the New York Yankees. Peace of Yoshi is very mad at us right now, Jesse. He is saying this is J.D. Martinez erasure. He said just because he hasn't played, doesn't mean he isn't here. We're starring on our exes, okay? We have to give an update that he's not played. Like, no, no, these are updates on guys that have done stuff, all right?

And we have Luke Weaver. I mean, he's played some in the postseason, right? He went, yeah, he played in the, in the Philly series and played in the, played in the Mets series. Didn't have maybe the season that a lot of Diamondbacks fans thought he would. Of course, we were people, people wanted J.D. Martinez and no one else was good enough last off season for that D.H. spot. And he did have his moments with the Mets, but it wasn't quite as, he certainly was not as good as he was last year with the last year. with the Los Angeles Dodgers. And Piz, Vyoshi is just screaming at us now in all caps.

And we're just going to move on. You drove in a run in the wild card game, Jesse. Yeah, well, this is all we got now. So if you want to root for one of these guys or maybe multiple of these guys in the playoffs, there's some former Arizona Diamondbacks for you to continue to root for. Sadly, no Tommy fam, the Tommy fam run. Yeah. point otherwise we definitely would have definitely would have included him here yeah for sure but uh we are

going to be back tomorrow with a post game show covering whatever happens in the postseason as well as our first trip out as a family to an arizona fall league game so make sure to join us tomorrow night after all of the fun uh for that show in the meantime we appreciate you guys stopping by make sure you follow all of us on twitter i'm at cap underscore caveman with a k jesse is at jesse and Friedman. Our guy Kevin is at Kev Tom writes. And again, you got to figure that out on your own. Also, make sure not to miss out on some of our wonderful events that we have coming up. We have so much cool stuff happening. We have Sun's Watch parties. We have our trivia night, which I apparently am hosting once again. I didn't blow it last time, Jesse. So I guess they

want me to come back and host it again. But that's going to be on Thursday, November 7th at chicken and pickle. So make sure to join us for that. Sean screamed at us and said, no, King Snake tomorrow. Got it. No, unless it's from an Arizona Fall League game and it's a Salt River Rafter. That's how we'll do that. We just won't make it any of these other teams.

We got it, Sean, loud and clear. But of course, our show is at PHNX underscore D-BACs, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you again so much for your time. We appreciate you for stopping by. We will see you tomorrow night. In the meantime, hope you have a wonderful day.

And remember, kids, baseball is fun. but it's so much more fun when you don't drink out of the same cup as your sick child.