PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Who Should Start Opening Day for the D-backs? Why the Decision Is NOT So Obvious

Episode Date: March 4, 2026

The Arizona Diamondbacks tried to sidestep an Opening Day starter controversy… but with Merrill Kelly now unavailable, that debate feels very real. Alex D’Agostino joins the show to break down who the D-backs should hand the ball to on Day 1 and why the decision isn’t nearly as simple as fans might think. Is it about experience? Momentum? Matchup? Or sending a message about the future of this rotation? We also have the latest from the World Baseball Classic exhibition games, including Alek Thomas helping Team Mexico snap Arizona’s spring winning streak, and Team USA overpowering the San Francisco Giants in dominant fashion. JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4 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/ Phoenix Raceway: Get your tickets now for March 5-8! https://www.phoenixraceway.com/march-cup-weekend/?CID=PIR_DI_TP_BA_PHNX26Spring_251120 ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order! Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes 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/   Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.   Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 40% 2+ pairs of off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.   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! 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 pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

After not having an opening day starter controversy, we might have an opening day starter controversy. And welcome in to another edition of the PHNXD Back podcast live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. It is I, your mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as Derek Montia. Thrilled to have you guys here, thrilled to be talking about another day of Diamondbacks baseball. They kind of got their clock cleaned a little bit by a team Mexico yesterday. but not nearly as badly as the Giants suffered at the hands of Team USA. Welcome in to you all. Glad to have you guys here.

Thrilled again to be joined by the one, the only, the weirdest at PH and X, Noah on the ones and twos today. Noah, how are you doing back there? Oh, I'm straight chilling. How are you, Derek?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. Something weird's coming. I know it. I'll brace myself. But that's when we talk about what the Dominican Republic team did to your tigers in exhibition play. We're also going to talk about how, like, overall, some of these situations don't seem very fair, but that's baseball sometimes. But we got a lot to talk about, especially when it comes to DeBAC's camp.

And I am thrilled, once again, I'm just, I'm thrilled about everything today. Thrilled to be joined by our guy, Alex D-H-N-X, also writer for S-I, D-BACs on S-I. Alex, how you doing, sir? Glad to have you here. Doing great. I'm thrilled. You're thrilled. I'm thrilled. Yeah, everybody's very thrilled. We're very thrilled around here, but it's because it's hard not to be thrilled. I know people are losing enthusiasm about spring training a little bit. That tends to happen around this time of the year, but things are still very exciting out at D-BACs camp right now. And I know that you've been out there quite a bit. We were out there watching that team Mexico take on the D-backs yesterday. Great environment out there. I mean, it's just that I think it's the kind of like fans.

and participation that's kind of missing for most spring training games because typically fans aren't paying that kind of attention that we received yesterday. Yeah, it was awesome. I mean, don't tell them that it didn't count, right? Like, they were chanting. I was sitting up in the press box afterward, like a half hour after the final out, like finishing up a couple of things. And Alex Weiner and I are sitting in there listening to the fans chanting loudly outside

of Salt River Fields, like a half hour chanting Mexico. It was really cool. Like they were, they were electric. Well, and I mean, we are, we have some video from the clubhouse, but you and I were there when Tori was talking about, when the players were talking about, like the environment was electric. And I think that, again, that's,

that's what the world baseball classic kind of brings to baseball. It really is, I mean, I know it's exhibition games. I've even heard some people say, like, what does this even matter, right? Like, what does the Olympics? matter. What do a lot of things matter? Right? Like in the grand scheme of things, there's a lot of things you could say that don't matter, but it's because it's sports. It's about pride of country and it's about, you know, just having that little extra enthusiasm when watching a game, even an exhibition game like this. Yeah, I mean, does it, does a World Series trophy really matter in the grand

scheme of things? Like, don't tell us, like, don't tell us. It's a big hunk of metal. What does that matter? It's awesome. It's awesome. That's, that's what the, the, W. WBC is all about. I mean, it's really good for baseball on an international and a local scale. I mean, it's just cool to see that many fans at Salt River Fields in general. It doesn't matter who they're rooting for as long as it's not the Dodgers. Yeah, there you go. Oh, boy. Damon's not here today, so you're not getting any Bradford points. I got to feel it. I'm sure he's watching and he's keeping track of everything we're saying at all times. But with the WBC and with these guys being with their world baseball classic teams, obviously the Diamondbacks of, you know, younger guys in camp that are getting

more playing time, more time out there, you know, in these games and they would have maybe starting earlier or starting in general. Like yesterday, we noticed that the starting lineup for today's game wasn't even complete yet. They were still missing a right fielder around 3 p.m. yesterday or whatever the case may be. So obviously there's a lot of holes for Tori Lavalo to fill as far as the lineups go. But, I mean, just a great opportunity for some of these guys who actually are, you know, kind of fighting for a spot, a major league spot, a spot in the roster, maybe even opening day starting spot to get that extra playing time here with some of their, you know, teammates unavailable right now. Yeah, and that's, and that's, that's the beauty of

spring training. I mean, we're seeing, we're seeing a lot of it. And that's, that's what's happening now that the entire starting infield is gone. And, you know, the Alec Thomas is gone. And a couple of the pitchers, or I guess it's just Soroka, probably that's the only one. Eduardo Rodriguez, too. Oh, yeah, Eduardo Rodriguez. That's right. So, I mean, yeah, you're, it creates opportunity.

And Tori Lavella talked about that, right? He said, like, with everybody going, it's going to create a little bit of, of a difficult sort of maneuver. But at the same time, he's excited to give young guys playing time. And that's, that's what it's all about. I mean, that's, that's the only reason to really pay attention much to spring training in the first place. That's a good point.

Yeah, because they don't care about results of the guys. that they know are going to start. Those guys aren't going to get usurped in spring training and lose their spot. You're not having Cotel Marte get bumped out of there at second base just because he doesn't perform well in spring training. But it is a great chance for these guys to make an impression. And versus other years, I mean, there's just more at-bats available.

There's more played appearances available for these guys for them to impress. But I wanted to get your thoughts. It doesn't necessarily have to be a younger guy that, you know, maybe he's getting extra playing time, but who has impressed you so far out there at spring training and who do you think is really, I guess, increasing and improving their stock with their play in Cactus League play? Yeah, so I'll go with a prospect and an incumbent player. I actually have been really impressed with what Alec Thomas has been doing. Yeah, I agree. At the plate, defensively, I mean, he just, he looks pretty good out there. You know, he's working on reducing

the leg kick, having a more fluid swing. little bit more understated. I think it's working. I think this is going to be a big year for him. He's finally healthy. He's not feeling the effects of the hamstring injury physically or mentally. So I think that's something that that's a guy I'm interested in. And then of course, I mean, this is an obvious one, but Ryan Waldschmidt has been really, really impressive from the prospect side. And yes, he's hitting the ball really hard. But I think like the other day, you know, we saw him run down a 115 mile per hour line drive from Randy a Rosarana. Like that's the sort of thing that's going to stand out more to the Diamondbacks,

to Tori, to Mike Hazen. So, you know, I still, I still, I don't, I don't think I'm comfortable saying he's, he's earned a starting spot on the opening day roster. I think they probably still want to see him get reps in AAA, but he looks really mature. And he's doing the little things that I think the Diamondbacks value a lot, even if, you know, maybe a little, there's a little more swing and miss in there than we're used to seeing with him too. So I think there still is some development that needs to happen, but he's been, he's been really fun to watch. And I think the thing that has impressed me the

most has been, again, and I've talked about this on the show, just kind of understanding the assignment here when it comes to the, how close they are to winning a role and, you know, kind of thriving under this pressure where they know that they're in competition and they all seem to be playing well, considering that there is kind of a lot at stake here for themselves, for their career. You know, this isn't exactly a team that is set on any particular player, like, stealing a role or you're having having a role on this team besides probably the big three, right? You know, so like, again, anybody that impresses can not only win, you know, a job here, a role on the major league roster, but could break out as, you know, an everyday start.

for this team really quickly. Yeah. Also, I'd say keep an eye, keep an eye on Jose Fernandez. I mean, he's been, he can't kind of came out of nowhere. I think the, the diamondbacks have had their eye on him for a while, but he's starting to get himself into the public eye. Six foot three. He's listed at 165. That's, that's not, that's not the case. No way. He put on 20 pounds. He put on 20 pounds this offseason, is what I heard. Tori's talking about him growing into his body and it's like, yeah, did he? Yeah, but it's funny because I remember in the past other players making this same leap,

you know, making the same leap. And when I say that, I mean, like, physically. Like Alec Thomas. Perdomo. Pardombo, Alec Thomas. Like these were guys that like spring training was the first time where I saw them, like after adding, you know, muscle and mass to themselves. And, you know, again, it's kind of funny because they take that leap from kind of looking like a kid.

like a high schooler, you know, to looking like a grown baseball player. Another guy I've been talking about a lot with how good he has looked physically in camp has been Christian Robinson. That is a guy who has gone through so much. And I mean, he is playing really well. And again, physically looks great. Looks like he's, you know, bulked up and added muscle. And he's also very lean.

Like, it just looks like he has been putting in the work to try to get back here. It's not been an easy journey for him. For Great Britain yesterday. Yeah, right? So like that, let's go, right? So yeah, yeah, and that too, like you said. Like he's had kind of a bit of a difficult journey. So I think he's a guy that I think a lot of fans want to root for him and he's starting

to prove people right. Baseball's already so hard as it is, you know what I mean? But then having a setback like what he had and having it be so personal and, again, a scary situation that ended up again kind of derailing his career a bit. However, you know, he's just kept at it. and, you know, really, like you said, it's somebody that you really want to root for. The top 30 prospects list was updated this morning. Don't know if you had a chance to see it, but they had no, I don't think any surprises up at the top five.

Ryan Waldschmidt, Diamondback's number one overall prospect, followed by Case in Cunningham, shortstop at number two, Slade Caldwell, Outfielder at number three. Tommy Troy, second baseman slash outfielder at four, Demetrio Cresontes, second. basement slash third baseman at five. Any surprises there for you? I mean, I feel like those are all the guys that really have emerged over the last year to be the guys that this, you know, that they talk about in this system. Yeah, not super shocking. I think I think that kind of makes sense. I think Chrysontes moved up a little bit, right? I think, yeah. And Gilbert Diaz had the biggest fall, by the way. Gilbert Diaz was number four. The last time they did this, he's down to number 23 now.

Yeah, that's what happens when you can't find the strike zone. I hope he figures it out. I do because he has good stuff. I think I saw Daniel Egan and David Hagamon both had pretty significant jumps into the top 10. Yeah, Hagamon. And that has matched. That's matched. Yeah.

And that matched the eye test the other day. Egan looked amazing in his outing against the Mariners. Got a two out save. I mean, it was like he was toying with them. And I know it's, you know, minor leaguers that he's playing against. but he's, I mean, he played most, he pitched most of his starts in high A last year. So that is his competition level that you want to see him dominated. Sure, absolutely.

And then also Patrick Forbes also moved into the top 10. He's ninth. So the Diamondbacks have some rookies there, have some young guys. They're ranked in their top 10 for pitching, which is good to see something that they have not had a very strong representation on in the past when it came to, you know, depth and not just depth, but the future of this team. A couple of guys that did move down a little bit. Cole Drake books journey brings up Cole Drake falling a bit.

He falls out of the top 10. I'm not sure where exactly he was. I know he was right around 9th or 10th. Lou James Groover, he is in the top 10 for the debacks. And Christian Manah falls just out of the top 10. They're at 11th. Again, just health issues probably holding him back, holding people's opinions of him back.

But again, just not a ton of surprises, but fun to see these guys, these prospects that are ranked so high for the Diamondbacks out there during spring training. And a lot of these guys, again, because of the World Baseball Classic, we'll get those additional reps. And we as fans get to see them more, right? So that's a fun part of it. A lot of fans, though, not super happy with how much spring training costs. And I think you and I can both kind of understand where fans are with that, especially like you said. we're out there. We see kind of, I don't know, the amount of participation from fans, how much

they're paying attention, like what they're really out there to do. And, you know, I think that if they weren't charging as much or found a way to get people in the door for a cheaper amount, not only would they have these spring training stadiums be more full, which they're not outside of games against the Dodgers in Team Mexico. And again, they would also, you know, just in, prove a lot of things like get people in the door concessions and parking and everything else is already expensive enough don't make it you know 60 dollars to go see a spring training game and and sit in the grass you know what i mean like even though those tickets aren't super expensive once those fees and everything get tacked on they they become you know something that people

can't afford to do especially when you can go to a diamondbacks game at chase field for like nine dollars that's that's the funny part right like okay maybe salt river is like a nicer experience than chase field overall right now before they they renovate it but it's it's yeah i mean i remember a couple years ago i i got like grass tickets i got grass tickets at salt river it wasn't a big time opponent i remember who it was i think it was i think it was like the mariners or somebody and it was the first time i had gone in like a really long time and i was shocked at how much it was And it's like, what happens is you're pricing that a lot of the people who are really, really invested in the team are not that interested in going to spring training when it's not affordable. So it just becomes a, like something to do for people that have that.

And if that's like, not knocking that at all, but it's like, it's a lot more, I think it's a lot more filled with people who are just looking for an experience and not following the diamond bags. We have an entire city of retirees in this state, right adjacent to Phoenix. Children can't even live in this town. It sounds like something out of a Disney movie where the villains created a town where no children are allowed. And these people have nothing but time on their hands, right? So a lot of them in the past have spent their days at spring training games, enjoying the weather and being outside, right?

But the problem is, is like you said, when you're talking about people that don't have a ton of disposable income, you know, it's like, it's almost like a, I don't know, it's like everything in life now. It starts off reasonable. Oh yeah, $23. And then you're like, why did for two people, I just spent $112 on these two tickets? What happened to the $23? Right. And obviously I'm being a little outrageous there, but that's what it feels like. And that's what taxes and fees tend to do. But again, overall, spring training needs to be cheaper. The purpose, though, of having you on this show today is because you wrote an amazing article over at go phtnx.com about the Diamondback situation for an opening day starter and what they are going to do in regards to their opening day starter. They tried their best to not have a controversy here.

They tried their best to not have a competition, to not have, you know, questions about it. I still don't feel like it's necessarily a competition, but at the end of the day, they have a decision to make and they've not made that. decision as of yet. So fill me in here a little bit on on what you feel is going on here and what you think is the obvious answer and what should happen. Yeah. So yesterday, Tori said that he basically hasn't had any conversations yet about who could replace the opening day starter or Merrill Kelly as the opening day starter. I don't know. I don't know how much to read into that because personally, like he has to have some thoughts in his head about it. Of course.

I think it's a, my article, I broke down every starter just so that people could have an idea of kind of where each of these guys is at and sort of the recent, you know, updates and what's been going on with them. But I think it's a two-man race. I mean, it's Zach Gallen and it's Ryan Nelson. I'd be very shocked if we saw Brandon Fod or Erodd or Soroka in there. And I think so, so Ryan Nelson obviously had to. the best results last year and he was on the same schedule as merrill kelly i think he threw a live

bp the same day that that merrill was scheduled to throw before he got shut down i haven't kept up as much with that obviously merrill's off his schedule now so so i don't know they can probably tweak things around to to figure that out with somebody else um but that lined up initially that that lined up well at the same time i still think that zach gallon is probably closer to being the frontrunner than fans would probably help for at this point um just because he has the experience he's done it before he's got that relationship and i i asked tory about it i said how much like what's more valuable is it more valuable to have a track record of success or is it or like put the best foot forward or is it more valuable to have kind of that rapport and that experience

and that veteran status. And he was basically like, I kind of, I don't want to only give it to the veterans just because, but I also contradicted myself by going with Zach Gallin over Corbyn Burns like the year before because of his, you know, his relationship with Zach and all that. So I think where it stands right now, I actually think I would put my money on Zach Gallen for right now because even though he came into camp a little bit behind, he's already, he threw two innings yesterday. So he's already, he's ramping up to that process. We still have about about three weeks until opening day. I think there's time for him to be able to get on schedule, to be able to get out there. It may be a shorter outing. It may be like a five, five innings, 65 pitch kind of thing.

It just seems wild to me because, again, yeah, you're right. That's the obvious answer. I think it's the answer fans instantly go to. I don't even know if fans are that disappointed about it. We've been saying on this show. Thank God they added Zett Gallen. I mean, even if Merrill Kelly isn't going to miss any actual time and he can just be, you know, kind of plugged in there at the back end of the rotation,

it still feels like this would have been an absolute panic situation for the debacks if Gallin wasn't here. However, we've talked up about how Ryan Nelson is our true ace. And when you look at consistency and performance,

I mean, we're talking about guy that has one of the best pitches, or last year at least, had one of the best pitches in all of baseball, literally ranked, right? So Nelly has shown that he can handle big moments. He's shown that he can be whatever this team wants him to be. And I feel like just based on what he's done, you know, when you're talking about like loyalty and being a good teammate and all of that, like Nelly deserves it, you know?

And that's no knocking Zach. I'm glad Zach is back. Zach seems very happy to be back. And I still think Gallen probably could have been paid more money to go elsewhere in some way. But this deal to come back to the Diamondbacks just made more sense to him overall. And a big part of that was wanting to stay here. And I think a lot of guys do want to be here. But Nelson has just been that guy that, again, he's just quietly underrated,

been one of the best pitchers on this team for a very long time. At least it almost seems like his entire tenure here. He's had his bumps in the road. He's not been perfect. But overall, he's always been fairly consistent. And again, just, again, quietly, one of the best guys in the starting rotation. I'm with you, though. It does feel like Gallen becomes just the automatic go-to there with Merrill Kelly,

not being available on opening day. And that part, I mean, whatever. You and I know that once we get past the first five games of the season, none of it matters. You're not having ACEs match up with each other. And it all kind of is a moot point at that point. But we also know last year, it felt like Zach Gallin starting over Corbyn birds was a huge mistake. Like we're not going to get that kind of level of mistake again.

However, like you said, it does feel like, you know, Ryan Nelson is on track to actually be ready by opening day. Whereas Gallen feels like he might not be stretched out by that start. You know, so like why not just go with the guy who, is going to be able to give you as much length that you possibly know he can versus the guy that maybe if you gave him one start after that, he would be available for your, you know, for regular length or whatever. But we also have a great point by Robert who wants us to not name an opening day starter at all because should we do that,

it's just going to cause that person to get injured or something terrible to fall that person. So maybe that's the true reason why Tori is not naming an opening day starter. There's a lot, there's a lot of, there's a lot of, I don't know, there's a lot of bad mojo when it comes to that. Before I get you out of here, of course I got to talk to you about Kyler Murray, but not in that way. I know you've gotten, you've had to talk about this way too much lately, but I do want to say, Kyler Murray, that situation, taking a player that was once going to be your franchise quarterback and now just releasing him and not getting anything in return is wild to me as a baseball fan

and to most baseball fans, like just the way that NFL kind of has this drastic thing happen where teams are at their cap and have no choice but to make tough decisions in order to try to prove teams. Like this, it seems chaotic. It seems absolutely terrible, right? And it almost makes me feel like maybe a salary cap isn't the best thing for baseball. I don't really know. Also, I don't know if you know, but we got a new kind of mind.

minority owner. That's the richest man in U.S. sports. So that also kind of changes my opinion on things just a little bit. But I mean, it's, it is weird compared to what, like, this would never happen in baseball. This is like something like this would never, ever happen in baseball unless a guy was just a complete, you know, like the, you know, a few situations that have happened. But for the most part, it just doesn't feel like anything is as significant as this. Yeah, I mean, you've seen that happen like like with like the the the mad bum situation like they had to eat a lot of money yeah great point yeah that is that's what this feels like without the success in the history of right right but the thing is like that that's an aging veteran who is just at the end of his

success right that was that wasn't a oh you didn't work out here kind of situation i think baseball has a lot more flexibility just in the way that they do deals like for example like the cardinals eating that much of Nolan Aranato's salary is crazy. So like that may be, I don't know, I feel like the Cardinals, I'm not sure exactly what they could have done in terms of eating like salary, but that's not really a thing that you see as much in the NFL. In baseball, it's like, well, we'll eat all the salary. You give us like one of your lower level prospects and we'll call it good.

And then I don't know if that's that much better than releasing a guy, but you never know. You might strike gold on the prospect or, you know, whatever. At the end of the day, it makes the job. GM look a little bit better. And maybe that's all it does, right? But you made a great point. What the Cardinals did this offseason,

not our Cardinals, the other Cardinals did this offseason was very reminiscent of what our Cardinals did, right? Like, not only did they dump Nolan Aronado, but they dumped Sunny Gray, they dumped Wilson Contreras, like they dumped a lot of salary and they didn't mind eating all of that salary

because they're trying to do a literal rebuild. There's no, I guess there is penalty. overall if their payroll goes over. But like there's just ways for them to structure it so that if they have a bunch of young guys on their on their on their payroll anyway, those guys won't be causing their payroll to go over the competitive balance tax and they won't be paying anything extra. So overall, it's just a good chance for them to restructure everything.

But yeah, I guess you're right. And I mean, they're like like you said, even the Diamondbacks did that with Madison Bum Gardner's final year. It ended up being one of the best decisions they made to get that guy off this team because they would rather just pay him and not have. of them hurt them every five days by being out there on the mound rather than than the alternative. So anyway, I appreciate your. Yeah, he's like a million dollars for Jordan Montgomery while he was injured from the brewers.

So like, he became the, like he became the most expensive reliever in all of baseball. Oh, God. Anyway, thank you so much for your time, sir. I appreciate you. I appreciate your insight, not only on the Kyler Murray situation, but of course on baseball. he is Alex Dagestino. I hope I'm saying that right. Oh yeah, you got it.

He's at Alex Dagg A-Z on Twitter and everywhere else, I'm sure. I don't call it X around here, so I'll just say social media. Thank you for your time, sir. Appreciate you. We'll see you again here very soon. Have you back on sometime next week, hopefully. For sure, man. Appreciate it.

Have a good one. Thank you so much. He's out there at camp every day. And also our guy, Jack Summers. I miss him. I didn't get to talk to him enough. about Jack, but these are my guys out there. So appreciate Alex's insight.

We're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we are going to talk here about the Diamondbacks, taking on Team Mexico yesterday and losing by a score of six to three and how awkward it was to see Alec Thomas out there. We're going to do that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere?

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The debacks did lose by a score of 6 to 3, snapping their losing or winning streak. Losing streak, that's not fair. Zach Gallen, meanwhile, tossed two scoreless frames with one hit aloud. Jordan Lawler went two for three with a triple and an RBI. Tim Tawa, who we're going to talk about here, he went two for four with a double and continues to When you talk about guys quietly getting the job done, it's Tim Tawa. This is a guy that he's kind of playing all over the place, looking for a spot as a utility player,

more than just a utility infielder, utility outfielder. Pretty much can play wherever the Diamondbacks need him to play. And he could answer a lot of questions for that backup role that they need to fill in, excuse me, and give guys days off. James McCann, yeah, in the dish, he went one for two with an RBI. our guy Lou James Groover went two for two and the team overall had 11 hits but struggled with runners in scoring position going just three for 15. They also made a ton of mistakes out there. One of the most embarrassing ones was Tommy Troy seemed to lose track of the balls and strikes and it was a full

count to his to be fair. But on a strike three call Tommy Troy kind of trotted down the second thinking that it was a walk and was called out when they threw down the first base. Just a few mistakes like that really changed the day for the debacks and ended this game with a six to three loss. This is what Tori Lobello had to say in his opening remarks about those mistakes. A little different energy today was awesome. Fans were great. Our friends to the South were very supportive of their team. And I wish I could be a part of that and watch the WBC from the,

from a different seat, but I'll watch it a little more closely with more intent and root for Mexico. They're a good team, a lot of good Major League players, and a great crowd base. As far as the game goes, when you do a couple things that we did today, you pay for it. When you don't pick up baseballs, when you don't know if it's called ball four or strike three on the bases, when you you know, make some sequencing mistakes and pump Roddy Telez three or four fastballs in a row. They're identifiable things, and those are the things that we've got to take care of. Good teams don't get into those habits. We won't not allow that to happen.

We're going to coach it up as best we possibly can. But that's the reason why we lost the game today. And we got to, you know, we're into that point in the spring where we say, okay, we have worked on it enough, we know enough, and we should not be making those mistakes. So three or four mistakes, and that's the difference in the game today. So they're identifiable. We're going to clean that up. But, you know, there were some good things today.

We didn't walk anybody on the mound. We created a lot of noise on the bases with, unfortunately, couldn't get that big hit, that big moment. So a lot to build off of, but there's also some things we're going to figure out. It's weird because it's, again, it's an exhibition game against Team Mexico. The Diamondbacks fared better than at least the Giants did in the 15-to-1 route that the team USA handed them. But again, you don't want to win.

You want to go out there and you don't want to see the team make the mistakes that they made. You don't want to see them make the mistakes on the base path that could have essentially led to them, you know, tying and taking the lead in this game. And you also don't want to see the pitching struggle the way it did late. Juan Morillo and Dylan Ray, they both had trouble in this game. Morillo surrendered four runs in the fourth inning. Ray allowed solo home runs late in the game that allowed the, you know,

the team Mexico to kind of solidify their lead. Meanwhile, Zach Gallen, pretty good yesterday, made a brief outing, threw two scoreless innings. He only threw 22 pitches. He came this close to actually pitching to Alec Thomas, but he was too efficient. Andrew Hoffman also continues to look very good out there. He struck out two in a clean sixth inning. But we hear from Gallen.

Here's what he had to say about his second start of spring training. I felt like I was pitching after an off day. That's what it felt like. It felt fine. I mean, you know, it's the first few, you're just trying to, you know, get a feel for what seeing another uniform looks like and just trying to put some pitches in the strike zone. So on that standpoint, I wasn't super satisfied. But second one, you know, just kind of building the pitch count up and getting, you know, more comfortable seeing another uniform.

Gallen was also asked about being ready for, I mean, essentially opening day or kind of how his progress is coming along. This goes in relation to that conversation about who's going to be their starter when the regular season starts. This is what Gallen had to say about his preparation. Yeah, I would say so. I feel like, you know, balls coming out pretty good. Even today, just didn't feel the greatest. Like I said, you know, pitching after an off day. but still you know I feel like the below

decently well I feel like when you know I'm getting that point where I think feel a little out of whack I kind of know what the fix is so just to be able to do that a little bit quicker a little bit more efficient I think you know it's gonna take some time but you know come to start the season I think we should be should be fine where we're at our guy Jeremy Strong in the chat is asking what is under Gallin's hat bill

is that one of those security tags no it's like it says Scottsdale that's what it says under there. Scott Stale and like gold. Like I don't want to look at this UV. Look at this undervisor. Look at how good that looks in the blue. It matches the little blue term. I don't want words under there. Take stickers off your hat while we're at it while we're out of the conversation. Take the damn stickers off your hat. But anyway, again, Zach like Alex alluded to earlier, like he said, Zach may not be fully stretched out come opening day, especially considering that he is just a little

behind the other pitchers as far as his, you know, being ready. Gallen was training. Gallin was doing all the stuff that he would have been doing at spring training camp anyway. I think he just missed a handful of days. So it's not like his preparation is much further back from the other starters. But again, it's something to factor in here. And when you have somebody that has proven himself the way that Ryan Nelson has, I don't feel like there's any reason to rush Gallin starting if he's not fully stretched out and ready to go if you have Nelly ready to go on on as an opening day starter again I know it's not super exciting because his name's Ryan Nelson and it's just a name that makes it hard for people to recognize him as a standout that's why again you might not be

familiar with this concept we're searching for and like an old timing nickname we can give to Ryan Nelson to make it sound cooler so that people remember him more like oil can you know what I mean I like oil can yeah oil can Ryan Nelson you know something like that I I don't know, we'll figure it out. But another guy that's killing it out there in spring training, killing it in yesterday's game was Alec Thomas. He went two for three with an RBI and it was very weird to see him doing it against us. It made me realize I don't ever want to lose Alec Thomas as a player on the Diamondbacks.

And he continues to look great this spring. He looks great with this team. He looked great with Team Mexico. And then he came over and invaded the Diamondbacks Clubhouse after the game after he beat them to come over and get snacks and get treatments, it was weird. And I think Jordan Lawler boot him, which was appropriate. That's what I would have done. But Tori did talk about how, I guess, weird it was to see Alec Thomas sitting in the opposite

dugout. Awkward, very awkward. But he's a good player, and I'm excited for him. And I put a couple really good swings on the ball. One in particular was with a man at third base and less than two outs, followed all the lessons that we've taught him and counterpunched us and got the job. job done, so I was really, really proud of him. But it was awkward to see TP in another dugout like that. I got a little used to it last year when he was in Houston, but we're proud of those guys.

We're very proud of him. We're going to be watching them closely. I don't ever want to see Tony Peres Chica ever in another uniform ever. When he was here with the Astros, every single Diamondbacks player went over there to hug him and tell him how much they missed him. And the sentiment was similar on my behalf. Very much felt the same. But some of his other teammates talked about seeing Alec over there. Zach, who, like I said, barely missed pitching to him. In fact, when Zach was removed from the game, Alec Thomas was on deck. This is what Zach had to say both about not pitching to Alec and also about how much

this experience means to Thomas. I didn't even really see him, to be honest. I didn't face him. So I saw him walking across the field. That was really about it. So, yeah, I mean, I think, you know, Alec, I would imagine it's pretty honored. play for T Mexico. I know he came back from the 23 WBC

and spoke really highly of the experience and what he kind of took away from it. So I think for him to go there and now be a veteran on that team, I think it's probably pretty cool for him. So yeah, hopefully plays well. You know, and he's ready to play once he comes with. Well, even though he didn't get a chance

to pitch against Alec, Tim Tawa had a chance to be on the field. against Alec. I think Tawa made the best comparison here what it comes to, when it comes to playing these guys in the WBC, especially your own teammates. He talked about it being like, you know, like when you play your friends in Little League and they're on another team. This is what Tawa had to say about seeing Alec out there. Yeah, I think it was fun to be out there. The environment was cool. The environment was cool. You match the energy a little bit of the fans sometimes. It was cool playing against AT too. Kind of just like look at him over when he's at first base on it.

or hit a double I'm looking at him at center and kind of like, you know, those little like, I don't know, just exchanging looks or glances or just kind of hanging out with my friend. That felt like honestly playing kind of like youth baseball and you got your buddies on the other team and you see him over there and you're like not messing with them, but all you want to do is hang out with him. So that part it was fun. Speaking of Tim Tawa, we're going to have a little bit more on Tim Tawa. I feel like a lot of names come up. A lot of players we've talked about being potential outfielders for this team, but I don't think that Tawa is getting recognized enough and discussed

enough about a potential option for this team. We are going to discuss that on the other side of this break. Don't you guys go anywhere? You're watching the PH&X Diamondback Show. You know I'm a huge fan of Pure Edibles, and Pure Edibles was founded right here in Arizona at Flagstaff, in Flagstaff, in Flagstaff, Arizona at Noble Herb Dispensary. This company makes a wide variety of candies, not just gummies, although they do have a delicious gummy and a wide variety of effects and flavors that you can find. They also have hard candies, chew, soft candies, their version of Starbursts that they call kicks and new stuff coming out all the time. And again, when I talk about the wide variety of flavors and effects, they have some delicious flavors as well as their effects are clearly

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a little bit when we're talking about options for the Diamondbacks. Alec Thomas obviously has been impressive. Ryan Waldschmidt has kind of been the star of spring training a little bit. At least his name has emerged as one that many people are talking about. Many people are interested, as well as Jordan Waller. And for good reason. All of these guys are playing well. But Tim Tawa has hit safely in his five spring training games. He's currently six for 14, hitting 400 with a double a home run, three RBI and two walks. And again, and yesterday. And yesterday Yesterday's game, he went two for four with that double, and just overall has been playing exceptionally well.

And, I mean, he has been given an opportunity here to perhaps get a little bit more playing time, maybe see time that he wouldn't have seen this spring. Otherwise, as well as many of his other younger teammates from the minor leagues. This is what Tim Tawa had to say about the opportunity here and also about wanting to watch his guys in the WBC. Yeah, first off, I'm excited to watch everybody in the WBC. I think that that's something I've been looking forward to for a while. Just seeing everybody on our team go out and do great things,

like I'm sure they will. I'm trying to have to treat less people being here any differently. I just want to take advantage of any opportunity that I'm given. And, you know, it doesn't always have to be, you know, hitting the ball for a base hit somewhere. It can be having a quality approach or, you know, being in the right spot on defense or doing stuff the right way that puts me in a position to have success. But, yeah, I'm not trying to treat it any different. advantage of any opportunity, whether, you know, guys are here, guys aren't. It's something that

always has been my mentality. You kind of have to. It's just, it's what it is. You've got to take advantage of the opportunities you're given. Also, Noah, you'll notice that anytime I ask a question and do video at the same time, it goes full Batman like 66, right? Like, it's like the sideways villain camera, because I can't do two things at once. But again, Tim Tawa, he's been incredible so far this spring and he deserves that he deserves consideration and he deserves potentially to be on this opening day roster as that guy that they're going to need to fill in. I mean, we've been asking that question. We've been asking who's going to play shortstop behind Eraldo Podomo. It feels like the Diamondbacks do have options, but if they're committed to Jordan Lawler

being an outfielder, it feels like they are a little thin at depth when it comes to that. Jose Fernandez is a guy that obviously, as we discussed earlier with Alex, His name has emerged and he's kind of broken out, I think, a little bit. He is going to be a guy that's definitely right there as far as depth is concerned for this team in the minor league system. But Tau was also facing some pretty good competition here from the other guys in the outfield, the other guys who will be playing similar positions as him. Lawler, again, not only a candidate to be in the outfield, but also to be backup infielders as well. He's been just performing extremely well.

He talked yesterday with us about how much he's enjoyed playing with Waldschmidt, how much they've been getting along, and just everything. I mean, he's really enjoying this spring. And you can tell, like, it doesn't feel like he's nervous. It doesn't feel like he is feeling the pressure. He's just out there playing baseball. And this is what Toy Lovello had to say about Jordan Lawler's performance so far this spring. Totally. We want to see that.

First of all, playing a new position, it'll be a little bit of a challenge. He's made some nice running catches, good breaks, commanding traffic out there. We really like that. Climes on a ball up over the plate. Triples, I think, down the left field line. So a lot of good things happening. Executed a really nice butt-based hit. So he's played in the right game.

And his head's on the right way, and he's doing it the way we want him to. I want that to continue. We also saw Ryan Walschmidt make some incredible plays defensively in spring. One yesterday, where he robbed a hit. of a 150 mile per hour exit below ball that he caught in the outfield. This is what Tori had to say about Waldy flashing that defense. Waldie made a great running catch on a ball that when it left about

clearly looked like it was going to be hit over his head. So yeah, we're playing really good. I don't want to miss the opportunity to say that and highlight that. But where I get a little frustrated is when we make the mistakes, we got to eliminate those and play more on the good side. But yeah, I'm very satisfied with the way we're playing defense. We're fast. We've been doing it very, very well at a very high level, so I want that to continue.

Tori's still upset about those mistakes they made early on. But again, just about seeing guys improve, seeing guys get the coaching and make those steps to take their game to the next level. Today, Brandon Fott makes his spring debut for the Diamondbacks. Lou James Groover will be in the lineup. He has been extremely good as well. eight spring games. He's hitting 333 with two doubles at an RBI. Tommy Troy also has hit safely in six of his eight spring games hitting 471. He's eight for 17 with a 1.1.17 OPS. He has four doubles and two RBI. And someone brought him up, but our big fella, Luke and Baker, he has hit safely in

his last three spring games with two home runs, six RBI, two walks and no strikeout. So again, more of the future is going to be out there today in the starting lineup. And it's a great chance for you guys go out and see these diamondbacks, be the future, be the future of this franchise. But the here and now of this franchise, most of them at least, they're over there, playing the Tigers as part of the Dominican and Republic team. They smashed Noah's Tigers yesterday. Basically, no surprise there when it comes to a lineup consisting of Juan Soto, Mani Machado, Cotel Marte, who else, Jr. Caminero.

These guys were on fire yesterday. they ended up winning by a score of 12 to 4, even though it was tied 4 to 4 at one point. It also looked like they effortlessly just like, we're like, oh, it's a tie ball game. Let's go hit a bunch of home runs now. The Dominican Republic is going to be a problem. That's all I have to say.

Geraldo Perdomo yesterday, two for three with a triple, an RBI two runs scored for Jerry P. Carlos Santana came into the game. As a pinch hitter, I think he stayed in the game. He was two for two with an RBI. could tell Marte, O for two, but he did have an RBI on a sack fly. Meanwhile, Junior Caminero, four for four yesterday with a home run. Fernando Tatis Jr., three for three with a double, two RBI, and a walk.

Juan Soto, two for four, with three RBI at a home run. Mani Machado, one for two with a home run. It's just almost exhausting to talk about that lineup and what they did offensively. And their pitching wasn't terrible either. I mean, to be fair, their relievers shut down the tiger's office. offense after they put up four runs early on in that game. And no, I'm not going to talk about

the Tigers and what they did at all, Noah. I don't care about them. They lost 12 to 4. That's okay. That's perfectly fine. I mean, to be fair, some of these world baseball classic teams beating up on rosters that the tournament itself depleted is so ironic, right? Like, oh, we're going to smash you.

Team USA smashed the Giants 15 to 1 yesterday. The U.S. team scored in seven different innings. They're just 15 different players recorded hits. 15, 15 different players recorded hits. Not eight, not nine, 15, 15. Aaron Judge, RBI, two-run single in the first inning that just started things off. Bobby Wood Jr., lead off single, set the table early. Bryce Harper double early, Alex Bregman hit a solo home run in the fourth inning.

Roman Anthony got a two-run home run in the six. Gunner Henderson got in the game. He had a two-run double. Just contributions from everybody. Pete Kroamstrong, Dakota Jordan, Gavin Klein, Cal Rally in later innings. Paul Skeens threw three innings. He allowed one run, struck out four.

He retired his final nine batters in order. Good luck dealing with Team USA. Good luck with that. Bullpen support. You had David Bednar, Matthew Boyd, Mason Miller, Griffin Jacks, Gabe Spire, all combined for the remainder of the scoreless innings with multiple punchouts and no further runs allowed. It's a juggernaut.

That team is a juggernaut. But, of course, we shouldn't be surprised by this. We shouldn't be surprised we put together this All-Star team. And then we go send them out there and Scottsdale to beat up on the poor giants. But we're going to take a quick break. We have some more results to talk about here just briefly. You know I got to get in about Team Puerto Rico winning a baseball game, even if it's an exhibition game. We're going to do that on the other side of this break.

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Get yourself ready for my birthday as well, but also St. Patrick's Day. It's like a week before. March 17th, right around the corner. Don't you get pinched this St. Patrick's Day. Make sure you have your green shirt ready, and you can get your green shirt over at our store. We got you covered with our St. Patty's All-City Collection, which is available now. Tons of different shirt designs to choose from. Can visit our store.

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I'm not getting pinched. I'm not letting that happen. I also am wearing green right now. So I know what I'm doing when it comes to March. But I do want to say, thank you to Candace, by the way, for being five month membership. She has been a met.

I didn't even know we had our, we've had our supporters club up for five months. She's just a day one OG. And not only do we appreciate her for that, but we appreciate her for coming up with some nicknames for Ryan Nelson. We had a quick conversation about it, a quick sidebar.

We might have nailed it with one of these. She says some nicknames from Nelson, the desert dealer, not bad, the Nelsonator, kind of hate that. High noon Nelson? Fire. Now we're talking. High noon, Ryan Nelson?

I'm seeing him on the mound. I'm seeing him. Like, we already got Jordan, you know, the law, lawler out there, right? We're getting some cowboy vibes up in here with high noon Ryan Nelson. I like it. I love it. I like it. I think we nailed it.

I think we nailed it. Speaking of other guys, I like very much. Nolan Aronado playing for team Puerto Rico. He's all in. Shaved his head, kind of. shaved it down low. Went bleach blonde. Damon's trying his best to convince me to do that, told me that I am.

not patriotic from my tiny island of Puerto Rico if I don't shave my head and die it blonde, but I feel like we've already figured this out. Like my hair, those days are over of me dyeing my hair. My scalp, my hair cannot take that. But Nolan Aronado, much tougher than me, much better hairline than mine. He went one for two yesterday in Puerto Rico's five three win over the Boston Red Sox. He had an RBI and a run scored. He also had one walk.

So Arnado continuing to get it done, continuing to knock in the RBI, whether he's on the Diamondbacks, or whether he's over for team Puerto Rico. Tomorrow we're going to talk about the WBC insurance situation and how terrible it truly is. Apparently, I'm disqualified from participating or getting insurance to participate in WBC. Noah's disqualified. Damon's disqualified. We couldn't find a single person in this office who could have. actually get insured to participate in the WBC.

So very interesting how that works. Still not sure about that. But one guy we are very thankful that is participating, Alex brought him up earlier. Christian Robinson, two for four yesterday as Great Britain's DH, Great Britain beats the Brewers by a score of seven to three.

He had two RBI, score to run, struck out once. This is no disrespect to the Great Britain World Baseball Classic team. But I would be in shambles today if our exhibition game was against Great Britain. And we were sitting here talking about the divabacks experiencing the seven to three loss. This is a team that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, their, their, their letters fell off of their jerseys last year while they were playing world baseball classic games. And quite frankly, great Britain could have some, like, I've been

watching, you know, like hockey in the Winter Olympics, Great Britain could have a fire jersey. They have history. They have cool stuff going on. They have plenty of culture, if you want to call it that over there. They could, in fact, have better than Ariel Bold as their font choice. But I don't know. I don't know. What do I know? Christian Robinson, though, he is a guy that I think we're going to continue to talk about not only during the World Baseball Classic, but during this year. Spring training, I think we're going to talk about them at whatever level he ends up, probably ends up with the Reno Aces. And, you know, who knows, maybe we see Robinson finally get that opportunity at a major league level in 2026. If things go sideways for this team, we do have a lot of, I guess, exciting young players that could see playing time should something like that happen.

We don't want it to happen. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it doesn't. but you never know. So Christian Robinson, again, an amazing story for this team, and one, we are going to, like I said, continue to monitor and discuss throughout the year. But we thank you guys so much for joining us. We will be back tomorrow. World Baseball Classic Games officially start just about right now. We're about to get into it. Cannot wait for that. Damon and I are going to put together some brackets tomorrow, and we're going to once again talk about how terrible the process of getting insurance is.

So make sure to join us for that at 12 p.m. until then, you can find out. follow me on Twitter. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. I'm also other places, especially if you want to win some reggae rise up tickets, make sure follow me on Instagram. Noah does not want you to follow him. He doesn't want you to even know who he is. He is a nigma wrapped inside of a mystery, hidden inside of a conundrum. So do not follow Noah. And in fact, if you do follow him, unfollow him. That's what he wants you to do. But our show is at PHNX underscore DBEX. And as always, all roads do lead to at PH&X underscore sports on social media wherever you do your social media in but until tomorrow we hope you guys

all have yourselves a wonderful evening thank you so much for joining us we'll see you back here tomorrow at noon until then behave yourselves Deborah and most importantly remember kids baseball is fun but it's so much more fun when team USA has actual competition