PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Why Framber Valdez Suddenly Makes Sense for the D-backs

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

The Diamondbacks offseason is still full of question marks. Are the Snakes done making moves, or is another blockbuster addition on the horizon? Jesse Friedman from Snakes Territory joins the show to discuss if Framber Valdez still being available means the D-backs would once again have a chance at adding one of the best available starting pitchers to their roster for the third consecutive year. As pitchers and catchers inch closer to reporting, could the D-backs pull off another surprise? We also dive into Nolan Arenado’s future at third base, despite his openness to moving to first if asked. Plus, we share more way-too-early 2026 season predictions, including who could be the first-half ace and which player might emerge as the new fan favorite. 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 visithttps://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 35% 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We know the Arizona Diamondbacks don't have enough money for Framber Valdez, but we are talking about if they have what it takes to once again, add the biggest starting pitcher of the offseason to their roster for the third consecutive year. It's crazy, I know, but they might just do it. We got Jesse Friedman here to talk about it. Don't you go anywhere? We're starting right now. Well, Skinky and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast,

not quite live from Studio A here at PHNX HVHHHBH. thrilled to have you guys here. Of course, my name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. We got my guy, Damon Dog, on the ones and twos holding this down with the beat and with all of the production work. And of course, we are thrilled to have you guys here with us for another discussion about Diamondbacks offseason news. And we have to get a lot of this guy's thoughts on the news we've discussed this week. It is your thunder stick and my friend, the one the only, Jesse Friedman from Snake's territory. Jesse, we have had, I don't know, like a lot of news with the Diamondbacks this entire offseason. None of it's been very productive.

None of it, like there's been so many rumors, so much speculation, so many things that like it felt like it made sense logically for the Diamondbacks to do. Yet, again, despite all of this noise and all of this talk, they really haven't done much this offseason. I think this offseason has really put in perspective. just how little rumors actually mean. Yes. There's a pretty big difference between a rumor and an actual move happening. And I think it also, I won't name any names here, but I think we all have a general sense of like the person who puts out the rumor is important.

And some people are just going to have more sway with their reporting than other people. Like Jeff Passon is a great example of this. Well, he says it's true. It's gospel, Jesse. it's gospel. Yeah, it is. I mean, and anytime Jeff Passon talks about the potential of something happening, you really want to listen in because it's like, well, wow, Jeff Passon is not one to speculate very often, whereas there are other people who are more willing to go down that road. And, you know, on some level, maybe you appreciate, like, okay, we at least have something to

talk about when there are rumors floating around, even if they do not at all wind up coming to pass. but yeah it's been an offseason of rumors for the diamondbacks and some action along the way but as you said not all that much when at least at this point in the off season right right and when it comes to rumors one of those rumors that we've talked about this week that i wanted to get your thoughts on is the idea of zack gallon returning to this team it feels like it's actually gaining some traction and it's starting to kind of shift gears from rumor to potential reality it seems to make sense for from a few angles, right? You know, his familiarity with this team coming back here to run it back with his friend, Merrill Kelly. Financially, it feels like he's not necessarily getting the offers or the terms on a deal that he was seeking when he left the Diamondback. So, you know, again, there's a few names also out there.

I think the Angels are also in play for Gallen services as well as I believe the Orioles and a few other teams have been mentioned as well. But what are your thoughts on Gallen returning and what he could be for this team if he was part of the starting rotation in 26. I mean, I think a pretty big part of this story is that Gallin's market has just not developed the way that we expected it to. And a big part of that is the qualifying offer, right? I mean, he rejected the $22 million from the Diamondbacks on a one-year deal, and it means

that any team that signs him is going to have to forfeit a draft pick as a result of that. And you can understand, like, you're going to have to. pay Zach Gallen if you sign him, but you're also going to have to forfeit that pick. And to what extent are you willing to do that? To what extent are you willing to do that for a guy who's coming off a year where his ERA was almost five, right? You can understand the hesitation from other teams. And if you're the Diamondbacks, I guess there's kind of an opportunity cost loss of a draft

pick, right? If the D-backs, if he signs elsewhere, the D-backs would get a pick. whereas if they were to sign him, yes, they wouldn't forfeit one, but they would, in a way, forfeit one because they wouldn't be getting the one that they would have gotten. So I imagine that factors into their calculus as well, but they probably have less to lose than these other teams, especially if Gallin signs for below 50 million.

I mean, if they have a sense that that's where his market is, then the opportunity cost is smaller, right? the draft pick that they would receive would be after the second round instead of after the first round. So maybe they're more willing to entertain it at that point. That could definitely be it. I also think that part of the problem with Gallin is the term, right? Like you don't want to give up a draft pick for a guy that you're essentially signing to a short-term deal. And I feel like there's hesitancy on the part of teams to sign him, you know, based on his performance from last year. We broke down his post trade deadline number.

version. They were actually quite good, Jesse. And I know you're aware of what he did in his last 11 games for the Diamondbacks last season. But again, I don't know which Zach Gallen you're going to get. And it feels like teams don't know either. We're going to make predictions about 26 later in the show. But I mean, what, what do you feel like? Do you think that Zach Allen is going to have, you know, bounce back? Or do you think that what we saw in the second or a portion of 24 and for a considerable amount of 25, Do you think that it's still up in the air as far as what you're going to get out Zach Gowan consistency-wise?

I think it's probably pretty up in the air. I mean, do I think he's better than his final stats for the year? I would say yes. Like, I think he's going to post an ERA below 481. That would at least be my expectation or whatever the number was at the end of the year. These numbers on the screen are also compelling.

Like, if a guy shows some positive signs in the second half of a seat, season, which Gallin certainly did. You feel like he figured some things out. I'll also point out the 234 Babbip that is shown here is probably unsustainable. I think he was better in the second half, but he also probably had unsustainably good, badded ball luck at the same time. So the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle between what Gallin was in the first

half of the season, what he was down the stretch. Yeah. Do I think he could bounce back and start to, look more like a front line starter at some point. Wouldn't totally shock me. I mean, the stuff that we saw in 25 is still not all that different from the pitcher he was a few years ago. There are some differences, but, you know, it's not like he's throwing 90 now and he was

throwing 94 a few years ago. Right. The below is pretty similar. The other shapes are somewhat similar as well. So wouldn't shock me if Gallin found a way to really regain his form. but your baseline expectation is, you know, probably something like a league average innings eater, you know, maybe a little above league average.

And there still can be a lot of value in that type of player. But not enough for you to forfeit a draft pick potentially, especially for a guy that you might only sign to like a two-year deal just due to that, I guess both sides, hesitancy, right? Like, Gowan might not want to sign a lower AAV based on the fact that he thinks he is going to return to form based on him. believing in himself and a team might not want to give him nearly the number of years that he might want. But again, that's something that we can still wait to see play out. In fact, we are

going to talk about Bramber Valdez here in a little bit being in a similar position as Zach Gallen with the qualifying offer being tied to him and what seems like a shockingly low amount of interest in Framber Valdez throughout Major League Baseball. But first, Jesse, I did want to talk to you about what we discussed on yesterday's show and an update that we got from your guys over at Fowl Territory regarding Nolan Aronado, who they just had on the show as a guest yesterday afternoon. Now, we were playing conspiracy theory a little bit.

We were connecting the dots on some of the posts we saw an Instagram post from Nato where he was playing first base, and it immediately piqued our interest, obviously, as to why he would be doing that. We know that these are all fundamental skills that baseball players do during spring and none of this matters.

Even where they play in the Dominican Winter League doesn't really matter. Yet we have to speculate and wonder and worry about all of this. And I don't know if this is a worry situation, but again, it did feel like, yes, the Diamondbacks had a lot of question marks at both third base and first base.

However, it did feel like third base was a little bit well covered, a little bit more well covered than first base. And the addition of Aeronado, seemed to be a surprise to many because it's yet again another third basement. Now, he's obviously, there's no doubt here that he's better defensively, at least based on his track record than Blaise Alexander, Jordan Lawler. And in fact, his offense, even when it's down, is still probably better than both of those guys as well. So upgrading to Aeronado for the $5 million a year made all the

sense in the world at third base. However, you know, we did speculate a little bit and discuss the idea of maybe he plays first. And it feels like as much as it's not going to be the case, he does have at least the defensive versatility should the diamondbacks need him at times during the 2026 season to play first base that it seems like he could do that. Again, we talked about it being a bit of a waste of his skills over there at third base, considering how good of a defender he is, right? But what do you think?

Do you think there's any chance we see Aeronado play first base? or do you think this is just him showing willingness overall to do what is asked of him by, at one point it was the Cardinals and now it's the Diamondbacks? I think both are probably true in some sense. I mean, if you're the debacks, you certainly love the versatility. I don't think that, I mean, it doesn't hurt that Nolan Arnato is willing to play another position for you if you should want him to. At the same time, like I don't, as you said, I don't really think that. is the best way to use Nolan Arnado.

If they were planning to use him at first, a substantial portion of the time, then I don't really understand the trade because his bat, frankly, just doesn't profile great at third base, and it certainly doesn't profile well at first base. And you're just not going to get as much out of his glove if you put him at first base. Like, he could still be an above average first baseman, probably. But there's just more value in having an above average third baseman than an above average first baseman. And he also, I mean,

Aronano's been in the league a long time. And the diamond backs clearly, I mean, Mike Hazen made it, made it very clear. The reason they did this was for his defense so that he could be a stabilizing presence. I don't really see like,

like he's going to stabilize your defense at a position that he's never played before. That just doesn't really track to me. That's a good point. Yeah, the quote he had from when he was still with the Cardinals was that he'll go over there at a first base and essentially become a gold glover

if they need him to over a first base. And there's no doubt in my mind that that is the case. But like you said, experience means something and not really playing a position you haven't really played before. It does not guarantee success. We don't even know if he'll have success at third base. No success is guaranteed for any athlete or any player.

It did feel, though, like on his interview. Of course, people have to shut down what we talk about on the show, just so you know that moments after we do a podcast, We have players being picked up by other teams just to ruin our headline and our description. And the foul territory guys yesterday seemed to do that by having Aeronado on the show. But it did feel like he kind of shut that down. It's like we were just, again, speculating and maybe making a bit more of a joke about it based on some of his Instagram posts and whatnot.

Also based on the Padres reportedly wanting him to play first, should they had if they had acquired him in a trade. But Aeronado said this on foul territory. He said, I love taking ground balls anywhere, but I love taking ground balls at first. I would do anything, whatever, in this case, it was the Padres asked. I didn't mind. Arizona was just a place that showed me the most interest. And it was obviously one of my acceptable trade destinations.

I just said, yeah, if you can get it done, then I'm good to go. So if Arizona would have told me, hey, we need you to play first base. I would have been like, that's no problem. But he makes it sound here like he said he was very open to playing first, but he will be sticking at third base, it sounds like. So again, that was shut down. And again, we probably didn't foresee that necessarily being the case. However, you know, with the Diamondbacks kind of having all of the positional holes

that they kind of have, it wouldn't be, I think, the worst, idea should you find that Blaze Alexander takes a step forward at third and you feel like you still have a mystery going on over at first with the platoon of Tyler Locklear and and Pavin Smith, right? I still think Pavin is very capable of handling the situation and I think Tyler is very capable of growing into our first basement of the future. However, there's there's still a lot of uncertainty over there and it feels like there's more uncertainty there than at third. Yeah, I mean, the versatility is helpful. We'll see if the diamond backs wind up taking advantage of that.

Clearly, Nolan Aronado did not have a ton of leverage in the, I mean, he just really wanted to get out of town, I think, and he was willing to kind of do whatever teams wanted him to do to facilitate that. But yeah, I mean, maybe in spring training, like, Blaze Alexander looks awesome and Jordan Lawler looks awesome, and the debacks want both of those guys to play every single day. And maybe, yeah, maybe moving. Nolan Arnato over to first base from time to time, I guess against lefties in particular. It could make sense. Make it so you can have all those guys in the lineup at the same time.

I mean, I still think they probably could get all those guys in the lineup with at least the way. Do you something like that? Yeah, you've got DH. You've got whatever the plan is in left field currently against lefties. That's true. That's where Blaze is going to end up. You know it. You know Blaze is going to be out there and left.

Very well might. So, I mean, I think there's still a way for them. to get those guys in there without moving Nolan Arnato over to first. But the more versatility that you have, the more options that you have, always, always the better. You're not wrong about that. Well, when it comes to options, there is one last thing we had to talk about before we go to break. And that is there's another per domo, Jesse.

And Damon's dream of this team consisting of nine perdomos has just moved one step closer to becoming a reality. Let's go! Heraldo Perdomo, Jesse, is apparently set to become a diamondback. It hasn't happened yet. But yes, the younger brother of Geraldo is going to be a deback. And we can't think of anything that delights us more than more, more perdomos. All the perdomos.

We meet all the perdomos on this team. What I'm fascinated by, I guess this isn't all that surprising. But if you Google Geraldo Perdomo, you don't find them. Spelled the exact same way, but with a lot of. instead of a G at the beginning. All of the options, of course, are Geraldo. Yeah. And I'm just wondering like, it's unfair.

Is that, is that like a glitch? And like could Google eventually recover and figure out that they're like two different people? It's like, nope, you spelled it wrong. We know it. And we're correcting it for you. You meant herald. Obviously. It doesn't even give you Jesse up at the top.

The thing that says, did you mean you're all dope? Because we're looking for heraldo. Yeah. You're like, no. Yeah. This is just like the Google thing I was telling you where they're putting guys that are free agents and new new uniforms already. Just because some dope on Instagram did an AI video of them in a new uniform. So Google, we need you to help us out in the baseball community a little bit more than what you're currently doing.

We're going to take a quick break. On the other side of the break, we're going to get crazy and talk about the Diamondbacks doing something that there's no way they're going to do. But you know deep down inside that they might. So on the other side's break, we are going to speculate on Framber. Valdez joining the D-BACs roster because why not? We didn't expect Jordan Montgomery and we sure as hell didn't expect Corbyn Bird's. So why not for Amber Valdez to Arizona? We'll talk about it here in a moment.

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We know that Zach Gallen, obviously, is a name that is, you know, like we said, it's becoming maybe a bit more of less of a rumor and more of a potential reality. But we also know another former Diamondback has been rumored to come back to this team. And we know that name was Paul Goldschmidt, right? So we've talked about it. And I'm sure you guys in Snake's territory have talked about it more on more than one occasion. But there's a reality here where the Diamondbacks don't get Paul Goldschmidt, yet they also don't go with their current setup of a platoon with Pavin Smith

and, you know, what they have right now, whatever they have right now going on. No offense, Tyler Locklear, who's still injured. So again, it would be more about him coming back. But for right now, it would seem Pave and Smith is the guy over there. Recent reports kind of connected the Diamondbacks as having some alternatives at first. first base and I can't lie. I don't like any of them. I don't like any of them. MLB trade rumors in their in their recent post about the Diamondbacks ongoing search for a first baseman. Suggested alternative free agent first baseman due to there not being very many available,

including Reese Hoskins, Thai France, and Justin Turner. Now I know that a lot of these names fans aren't going to be excited about and I also know that Thai France is the guy that every miserable debackspan keeps saying just tell me now that we signed tie france so that i could be disappointed and get over with it get it over with but overall you know again uh these are guys that are younger than you know then paul goldschmidt and guys that you could argue potentially uh have more to give more left in their career more in the tank than him i still think that that that that goldy is the best story and the best fit overall that's that's my feeling and i feel like i've just really talked myself into that. But, you know, Reese Hoskins, 32 years old, currently a free agent,

had a downseason offensively. So it's not, it doesn't feel great over there. But you also don't hate the idea of having the veteran presence of Nolan Aronado at third base and Reese Hoskins over at first. And just what that could do as far as leadership is concerned for, for still very young team. I don't hate the idea of Reese Hoskins. I mean, he had a 748 OPS in 2025. 30 not 30 home runs and that's the number of runs scored that he had not 30 home runs 12 home runs but in a fairly limited sample of 328 plate appearances um i think yeah i think i think it'd be fine i don't know if rees hoskins is going to sign for much less than than paul goldsmith so i'd be kind of surprised if this is the way it wound up working out the underlying metrics for

Hoskins are also not great. He had a 220 expected batting average, a 389 expected slug, which both fall a little below his actual numbers. So he's pretty clearly not the hitter that he was a few years back with the Phillies. He's a far cry from that. He would still be an upgrade for the Diamondbacks over what they have, just maybe not by a huge margin. And it's a little hard for me to imagine that coming together. He does make consistent contact. he does have a certain level of toughness that I feel like this team needs. He does have gold glove level defense over there at first base. But I agree with you.

I mean, realistically, a guy has to fit. And I mean, I still feel like he fits a certain mold here. Like, just as far as being able to help mentor someone like Locklear, be a guy that has been in the playoffs before, been through this 162 regular season multiple times before in his career. and just, again, it isn't going to cost you a ton of money, but if it does cost you more than Paul Goldschmidt, then I do feel like it makes less sense.

And the same thing could go here for Thai France as well. Again, solid defensive first baseman. He can hit around 260, but again, doesn't really provide enough power or on-base impact to justify a regular starting role. and it feels like even if he is quite a low cost option, it's still going to just muddle the situation more than I think correct it. I think if the Diamondbacks are going to add a first baseman through free agency,

it should be a first baseman that fixes their problem. I mean, you're not going to have whoever you get, no matter if it's any of these guys or it's Goldie, play 162 games, and that's fine. You shouldn't expect them to. You don't need them to. But it should be a guy that can offer you something. offensively as a DH and as a first baseman and again,

isn't going to probably expect to play every day, which seems like it might be a little bit of a holdup with Paul Goldschmidt, who does still want to play every day as a regular first baseman. I guess the advantage with Hoskins that stands out is I think he can give you decent offense against both righties and lefties. He doesn't tend to run huge splits. It's not like he's a world's better hitter against. lefties and really struggles against Ritees.

Like you could play Reese Hoskins pretty much every day as long as he's healthy. And that could that could be nice. I mean, the D-Backs have Pavin Smith that you figure will start against Ritees, but it could be a bit of an insurance sort of plan if Pavin struggles. And you also have a D.H slot that's still pretty wide open. So you could see Hoskins getting some reps against both Ritees and lefties. Paul Goldschmidt is kind of on the flip side of that has very heavy splits. Yes, he does.

Those are backed up by the underlying numbers too. Like, I think the issue the Goldie is having right now in free agency is that he still wants to play every day. And as I'm sure you have already discussed, like, I don't know if teams are going to look at his numbers against righties in 2025 and still buy into him as somebody who should be playing every single day. I'll say this about those splits, though. when you look at his numbers against right-handed pitching,

it's still better than some of the Diamondbacks options at times, right? So it's not good and it's definitely a down period in his career. But it's much like Nolan Aeronado, both of these guys were MVP caliber players at one point in their career. So even if they are not what they used to be, what the end result was of 2025 for both of these guys, still doesn't feel terrible when compared to what the Diamondbacks had as options or have as options prior to adding them, right?

But I won't even entertain the idea of Justin Turner being our first basement. I won't, I won't even, we're not even going to go there because I don't feel like that does anything for anybody aside from put more money in Justin Turner's pockets. And I mean, don't get me wrong, Jesse. I would kind of be pumped to cover him in the clubhouse and on the field. I think he'd be an absolute fun person. But again, the Dynamics just don't have any money. They don't have any money.

And that's the wildest thing about all of these rumors that we've been talking about, all the speculation that's been going on this whole time. I feel like Ken Kendrick and Mike Hazen have been very clear about what their offseason plans have been. And circumstances for some reason have made that plan get thrown out the window and caused all these rumors to go all out of control. I never thought in a million years that we would. be talking about Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker to the debacks, but we briefly did. We briefly did. And now today we're going to lose our minds even more and talk about why not Frambervaldez.

Because why not Frambervaldez? I know it doesn't make any sense for this team. I get that. I will say that the comparison of Zach Gallen and Framber Valdez being in a very similar spot, though, does make this intriguing because overall we know that Framber Valdez is an extremely reliable starting pitcher and one of the best on the free agent market. And based on history, based on patterns, Jesse, the Diamondbacks have had a pattern over the last two off seasons of being a surprise out of nowhere and picking up one of the best arms that were available

on the free agent market, even though nobody really attached them to that name. Okay. I think as we get closer to pitchers and catchers reporting, there's a real problem here for Framber Valdez as far as getting a deal done. I don't doubt that it won't get done. I know that teams want Framber and I feel like this is much like they've just much like we were just talking about with Zach Gallen. The main problem with this seems to be that not only do you have to pay a ridiculous amount for his services,

but you also have to give up a draft pick to get him as well. So it's like it's almost adding insult to injury when you're going to pay an enormous contract for him. Now, the reason why I speculate here about a move to the Diamondbacks is because why not, right? Like if things don't go his way and the D-backs and Ken Kendrick suddenly get that itch again, which could happen, then Framber Valdez on a short-term deal to the Diamondbacks does make a little sense, considering how willing this offseason, at least according to reports, they they my my case or not my case i can kendrick has been to throw the plan of reducing payroll out the window and instead going after a big name right so i know you're going to talk me down

off the sledge and that's why i waited until you were here to discuss this but uh what do you thoughts all overall on adding a left-hander here like like framer i mean i think if we've learned anything about ken kendrick the past couple of off seasons it's that he is opportunistic and he's willing to go above and beyond if there's sort of a special situation. A player's market isn't developing the way that we expected or a player really wants to play in Arizona. We saw that with Corbyn Burns. There's also the lefty in his early 30s connection where the debacks have signed a number of big contracts to those types of pitchers during Mike Hazen's tenure. None of them have gone particularly well.

So maybe they, maybe they, maybe stop doing it. Maybe stop doing it. Maybe that would scare them off at this point. But I mean, Framber is a really good pitcher. He's, he's one of the, one of the few out there who pretty much guarantees bulk. I guess I shouldn't say guarantees because nothing's guaranteed for any pitcher in this game. But it was 190. That's what you say when he's coming to the Diamondbacks.

Yeah, we thought Corbyn Burns was like the most durable starter ever, right? Yes. instantly blows out his elbow. So take the numbers with a grain of salt, certainly. But he's been in the upper 100s, low 200s in terms of innings for four straight years. And that's something that can't be said for that many pitchers. He's a guy who doesn't rely on swing and miss all that much. He does have that as part of his game.

But his ability to get ground balls has always been kind of his most unique separating sort of factor in his game. and I think that that could age pretty well. So I like Framber as a pitcher. I think he's going to be an asset for whatever team signs him. I don't really have a great read of whether his market has actually fallen a lot or if it's just taking a while. Yeah, that seems to be like we were waiting for other starting to pitchers to go. And it felt like once Ranger Suarez signed that there was like Ranger Suarez, Dylan ceased,

they're off the markets. Dylan Seas was off way early and nothing moved because of him. It's like Dylan Seas happened and then all of the relief pitchers went. But Framber is a guy that, again, he is an ace. And as much as it doesn't make sense financially because we were told we're going to reduce payroll, that's simply a decision that needs to be made at the end of the day based on what his market is, what the Diamondbacks are going to get from. I don't think that we're going to see a failed attempt at a long-term deal like they were like what happened with Jordan Montgomery,

nor do I think it's going to be Valdez wanting to come to Arizona because he loves it here like Corbyn Burns did, right? So it's going to take a lot of money. In this case, they're suggesting a five to six-year deal worth well over $150 million, which would pretty much put them well out of the Diamondbacks range of being able to afford him. However, when you talk about the debacks needing to win now, pitching is what they need. We could talk about first base and third base and the outfield all we want. We could even sit here and talk about the bullpen. But the bullpen, there's just so many unknowns in the bullpen.

You could easily see a few of these guys working out, and suddenly the bullpen is not nearly as bad as it was in 25. right but the question marks around starting pitching for this team and if they were to go to the playoffs what kind of rotation would they have the idea there is obviously corbin burns would be back by then if they were able to somehow make the playoffs but the idea of having framber valdez and corbin burns and merrill kelly and ryan nelson as your starters in a postseason scenario i mean that that that sounds intimidating to me that sounds great, you know, but this rotation has also sounded great the last two seasons when we stood at the beginning of the year and looked at it and thought, wow, we're going to have one of the best

starting rotations. So there's hesitancy on the Diamondbacks part because we've been burned. There has to be. There's no way a deal like this could happen. Because like you said, how could you have all of those deals fall apart and then still confidently go sign someone like Baldess to even if it was a short-term high A-AV deal, probably 60 million, 50 million at least for two seasons, right? Let's just say he does something crazy like that. Let's say it's 70 million. I mean, still, it just, it still feels like you can't,

as Mike Hazen or Ken Kendrick, feel good about that in your tummy when you're making that kind of commitment to yet another pitcher. Jesse, 25% of the Diamondbacks payroll is currently invested in players that are injured. You know, like, and that's just four of them. That's just the four. That's just the two relievers, Corbyn Burns and Lordus Guriel Jr. Right.

And that's 25% of their payroll. So that's, I think that's a big reason why, you know, Uncle Kendrick was trying to set us up for, you know, this season. being maybe a little bit of a disappointment as far as these offseason acquisitions and additions go with so much being tied up in money and so much being tied up in injured players, right? Like it just makes it really hard for this team that doesn't have the financial, you know, revenue that the Dodgers and other teams have to make high value commitments like this that might not work out.

It doesn't seem likely. Definitely. I mean, Mike Ken Kendrick has surprised us a few. times in the past couple years. It really has. Certainly I would not say that I saw any of those, any of those things coming whatsoever when they, when they happened. Like we thought, we thought they were done adding and then they signed Jordan Montgomery. Corbyn Burns wasn't really on my radar. I mean, I think you and I, a few weeks before it happened, like we mentioned the name.

Somebody might have asked in a mailbag or something, but. And then we laughed it off and said, ha, ha, ha, ha, never in a million years is that going to happen. Yeah, I mean, I think like that one, I, think vaguely you you could you could get the logic going into it at least like okay the debacks are about to lose a couple of big starting pitchers and free agency yeah so yes this team doesn't spend big on guys often but maybe maybe you'd want to maybe you'd want to go out and sign of corbin burns and make him your next ace as you have zach gallon and merrill kelly potentially going out the door so but yeah you certainly couldn't have seen it coming then

I really don't see it coming with Framber Valdez in a situation in this situation now. I think the debacks probably have some sense that like realistically it's just going to be, it's just going to be tough for them to be in a great position in 2026. I mean, you mentioned it, like having 25% of your payroll in injured players for a team like the debacks, it's not going to be near the top spenders in the league. that's just a math problem that's really hard to figure out. Like how do you replace that much production with the money that is going to the players that you actually are expecting to see play?

So they're in a tough position. It seems like even though Ken has been opportunistic, I'm not sure this is the time to pull the trigger on a move like that. Would you agree, though, that there is a sense of urgency for 26 to be a successful season because this might be the end of the road for Corbyn Burns being a part of this team? Like, don't you think that right there is enough to cause them to be a little dramatic this offseason? I'm not, I don't think so, just because I don't really know what they're going to get from Corbyn Burns when he comes back. I don't think they really know either.

And while I'm not going to say it's impossible he opts out, it would surprise. me. I think that it's just generally rare for pitchers coming off Tommy John to be awesome. And certainly Corbyn Burns is capable of doing that. But he also signed a contract, like, very specifically with the Diamondbacks because he wanted to be in Arizona. Is he going to opt out when, I mean, at best, he probably doesn't have that much more money to gain on the open market. I needed this in my life, Damon. I needed Jesse to come in and talk some sense into me when it came to this. I've been panicking about this for entirely too long, but I agree with you.

I felt the same way. Like just based on business, right? Like how is he going to show his value with such a short, you know, sample size at the second half of the season, essentially, and prove that he is worth more than he's getting paid by the Diamondbacks in 27 to another team, right? And I don't think that that's the case. I think that his hope is that we get this whole CBA situation figured out, as well as mine and yours is.

as soon as possible, 27 season can still happen, and then he can really show that he still got something left in the tank, potentially, right? That's a, I hadn't thought about the CBA angle. I mean, especially in next off season for players who have opt outs. Like, if you take that opt out,

then you, you pretend, I mean, if somehow we don't play baseball at all in 2027, I mean, that's a year that you're just not going to have a team. And I mean, I guess now that I'm thinking about,

about it. I think I think players wouldn't be paid in general. So I guess it wouldn't be it wouldn't be a huge factor. But it would be but it would lead to some financial uncertainty and Corbyn Burns isn't getting any younger. So he can't like keep kicking down the road thinking that he's going to get this you know, another big deal. Like you said, he wanted to be here and he's happy here. I think that once you get paid the amount of money guys like Corbin Burns are getting paid. You're not there's no there's no wants or needs in your life. You have plenty of money. You could have more of it. Sure. But in some cases we could all have more money doing something that perhaps made us a little more miserable. Lord knows I could.

Lord knows I could, but I don't. I do it for the love of the game. I do it for the love of this job. I do it for Herald Operdomo propaganda. Yeah, exactly. I do it so that Ryan Thompson can pretend like he's going to choke slam me in the clubhouse. Someone's got to. Yeah, I know.

Someone's got to keep you in line. Jesse's not here in town to do it anymore. I think that was going back to Burns, that was a good point that you made that like, you know, even though he wouldn't make money in 2027 anyway if he just opted back in, like how much value would his 10 really good starts at the end of 2025 have if he's not actually able to sign a deal for like a full calendar year after that? Like our team's really going to be all in on him. Like the only way you're going to opt out is if you're really confident you can do better than

I think it's four and 140 that would be left on the contract at that point. Like that's still a pretty pretty decent chunk of change for a player at his age. You're not wrong. You're not wrong. Well, let's take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, we're going to continue to predict things way too early. We're going to have some way too early predictions,

as I love to do what Jesse comes on the show about the 2026 season. Mostly, I just want to know who's going to be the fan favorite for the Diamondbacks. We need to get that part figured out. But we're going to take a quick break and we're going to talk about it on the other side. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the pH next time in Beck Show. I'll tell you, I love our friends at Pure Edibles, and that's because I not only endorse this product on this show,

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If you are someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 100 next step, text next step to 533442 or visit problemgambling.az.gov. All right, Jesse, well, we know this team is chaotic. which is a good thing. Could be a good thing. We don't know. We also called them volatile on a previous episode. But I just wanted to do some way to early predictions with you as our guru.

You seem to always know the future of this team. So let's figure it out. Let's start off, Jesse, with how many wins are you given the Diamondbacks in 2026? Oh, gosh. I don't know if I'm prepared to make this prediction on January 24th. You can do more of a floor versus a ceiling discussion with the wins. I mean, I still don't think that this team is atrocious. And offensively, I think they're still pretty damn good, right?

So it almost feels like the hope here is that they regain that sense of identity a bit in 26 with playing some stellar defense, making the right decisions on the base path, which we didn't necessarily see them do all the time last year. and hopefully have just a league average pitching staff. I mean, there's nothing that they've done that would give me the indication that that would be the case. But again, just don't have 47 blown saves or blown leads.

I know it was not that many saves that were blown, but blown leads in 25. And I mean, it's simply, there's, there's 10 additional wins right there, I feel like. Am I crazy to say that? I think that, yeah, it's hard. to pinpoint exactly what that what that number would be i mean certainly the bullpen left a number of games on the table it's more than i mean it's more than five i don't know if it's 10 or maybe it's somewhere

somewhere in between but if i have to pick a number now i mean again like obviously the calculus could change if they go and sign from bribaldas or something but sure i think i think i would go i would go like low low 80s maybe 83 if i had to pick a number something something like that which I think it's probably a little bit of $500, but still nothing crazy. Yeah, yeah. I think that's probably a little north of like what the projections would say on paper. I'm looking at like where they rank in steamer right now. And they're in the bottom half of the league for sure.

Looks like maybe around 20th, something like that. So 83 is is theoretically on the optimistic side. But I think there's enough upside with some of these players. I mean, I think Corbyn Carroll, I just sort of have this gut, feel that Corbyn Carroll's going to go out and have just kind of a crazy season where he puts it all together and maybe he goes out and actually wins the MVP. Granted, it's tough to do that when you play in the same league as Otani, but who knows, maybe it's possible.

I think there's enough upside with this. Corby and Carroll, I think actually, like, you're right about Joey Otani because of how good he is, but like if the actual determination is who is the most valuable player, specifically to their team. If the Diamondbacks can find success, I almost find it believable that Corbyn Carroll could get maybe, you know, more credit than Joey Otani because Otani is literally surrounded by an all-star team.

And if he falters a little bit or finds ways to not be superhuman, it's easy for the rest of that lineup to pick him up and not have him going through any kind of slump or any kind of, you know, like, I mean, he wasn't great at time. right like there were definitely times throughout the season and even in the playoffs where show a otani wasn't the uh wasn't the complete answer but you jumped right ahead to one of my other predictions i wanted to see corbin carroll MVP buzz real or just hey he's a good story out there in Arizona do you think he could really get MVP buzz behind him in 26 i think it's totally real

I mean, whether this gut feel of mine turns into reality, we'll find out. But 2025, I know it wasn't like 2025 was far in a way. The best that we've seen, Corbyn Carroll's batting average. Sure. It was in the 250s. It was lower than we saw a couple years ago. But I did not expect Corbyn Carroll to ever, frankly, I'm willing to admit this. I did not expect Corbyn Carroll to ever show the kind of power that he did in 2025.

I mean, he was near the top of the league in terms of barrel rate, in terms of hard hit rate. All of those metrics that when he first came up, I figured he would have power. He would have far more power than you'd expect, given his frame. But he was probably going to be more of a 20, you know, 25 home run type guy at his peak. Like that was going to be the most that we would ever see. But the power numbers, I mean, I think he honestly got robbed. That's what the underlying numbers say that he probably could have hit more home runs

than he did in 2025. Chase Field is really not a good ballpark. It's not. A lot of people think that Chase Field is this crazy hitters haven still, but for left-handed hitters, it really isn't. It's actually pretty hard to hit a home run. I would argue it's more of a hitter's haven for like extra base hits than it is for home runs, right?

Like, because it's got the weird corners for the ball to bounce around in and things like that. like that's that's that chase field i think is more of the reason why corbin carol led the league in triples last year right but again he probably would have done that even without the help of chase field so that's neither here nor there but um do you think do you do you predict that uh he's he's somehow perhaps in a race with kutel marty as well for mvp you think kutel marty could also put up an MVP caliber season next year i i just feel like the like there's a lot riding on these guys like kind of leading the way and I feel like both of them have

already been there where there's been high expectations about them and they have somehow delivered like Pardomo's 25 might be a little bit more of a fluke than these guys right though if Pardomo takes a step forward and these two guys are as good as they've been I mean the sky is the limit for this team at least offensively. Pitching wise and defense or pitching wise and what they do with the bullpen. That's another story. But what do you think about Catell's potential season?

Yeah. I mean, Cotel has been at least, at least gotten some sort of MVP votes, at least down ballot MVP votes every year for a while now. So I definitely wouldn't be surprised if he was in that conversation. I think I like Corbyn

Carroll in my head a little better just because Carol is is obviously much younger. I think he's kind of entering his prime years here, whereas maybe Catelle is kind of on the backside of that. But Catele also, I mean, he was really good for in 20, 25, especially in the first half of the season. I mean, he looked every bit like an MVP candidate.

So it's totally possible that Cotel is in the mix there as well. Can you imagine if Corbyn improves his batting stance again? Like the step that he took forward from 24 to 25 power-wise, was incredible. And we know that he struggled mightily in our time covering this team with how flat his swing was. He had the flattest swing in baseball at one point. And what I think I believe in there, just to add on to what you're saying, is his

ability to continue to get better. He seems relentless in his pursuit of improvement. And that feels like, again, with his age and with him just now break. in to that top 10, you know, ranking for players in baseball, it, it feels like 26 could be his big year and 25 was already his big year, but 26 feels like it could even be even bigger. I think so. I mean, it was, yeah, it was 31 homers in 2025. I think he could easily have 35 in a, in a different ballpark. And as you said, like year after year, we just see Corbyn Carol go out and really work on things and try to get better.

Obviously, there are been some bumps in the road. Like there were some struggles in, in 2024 for sure. But I wouldn't be shocked if Carol can take that next step. And I think it's going to come down to his ability to make contact. Is he able to get the strikeout rate down a little bit as the power numbers climb? We did see some of the swing and miss, some of the chase numbers go up in 2025. So maybe he comes back in 2026 and finds a way to maintain the power while also having a better approach at the plate.

I feel like he could find more success in this team could find more success even if he decreased his power but increased his on base percentage and increased his batting average. Just more of Corbyn Carroll out there on the base path and not necessarily having it be feast or famine between home runs and strikeouts. That's definitely something that I think that that could be the thing that takes him that next step forward, you know, for sure.

But I did want to remind everybody, of course, we thank you guys for being diehards. If you are a diehard already, if you are not, please come check us out. We love you to be part of our family over here. You get all sorts of great exclusive content, including brand new stuff we're doing for 2026. Leah has been doing an excellent job. I've been working with her to try to find in what ways we can provide for you guys more content that you want to see. So make sure to join us and get all of that new content we're going to be putting out for our diehards in 26. We also got our PHNX Discord lounge, which is the

exclusive place to talk about Arizona Sports on Discord, the PHNX personalities and fans. You get your free t-shirt when you sign up as well as 20% off merch and 20% off events. So head on over to go phnx.com right now and prove your fanhood by becoming a pH and X diehard today. I got some crazy ones in here, Jesse, before we get out of here. But I guess the biggest predictions for 2026 has to be pitching related. Do you think the bullpen, do you think the bullpen can take any kind of step forward? At least the way it's currently constructed without Justin Martinez, without AJ Puck, can these guys at least not be one of the five worst bullpens in baseball?

Not be one of the five worst. I mean, that's a pretty low bar to clear. Don't you feel? I mean, don't you feel like if we have. the 17th or 18th worst bullpen in baseball, ranked in baseball, I shouldn't say worse, but 17th or 18th bullpen in baseball,

this team makes the playoffs. Like the catastrophe that was the bullpen for the Diamondbacks last year, I felt like only exasperated how bad things were going at times for everybody, you know, or for this team as a whole. It's hard to hold your head up and come out there after you watch the bullpen blow, you know,

two games in a row or blow these, incredible leads that the Diamondbacks had. The Chicago Cubs game that was somehow ranked as one of the top 10 most memorable games of the year. I want to forget it. That one is one that just literally in April might have derailed your entire season just based on the way that people in the clubhouse feel after experiencing a loss like that.

So I mean, I don't feel like it needs this bullpen to be a top five bullpen for the team to find success. Just not one of the worst in baseball. baseball. Uh, quick, quick side note. I feel like this is something you would appreciate. Didn't, uh, didn't that, that game with the Cubs, that utterly chaotic back and

forth affair show up in a movie. It did. It did. The newest Knives Out movie on that. Yeah. Has it in the background because it's the day the murder takes place in the movie, Jesse. So they shot that whole movie before the date before that game even occurred. The movie was done in the can.

The director apparently had to wait until that day came, and then he had to pick a game that was perfect because it had to be a day game and it had to occur on a Friday and it had to be at that on that date, and that just happened to be the game. They want us to remember it so much, and I just want to forget it. Yeah, that's fair.

It's much better from the Cubs perspective than the Diamondbacks. Diamondbacks fans want nothing to do with no. We want no ownership over that big in any film. It's in that movie until the end of time, Jesse. They're never removing it from the movie. They're never going to put another game in there. Every time I watch that movie, I'm going to have to see that in the background and be sad.

On the bullpen, though, I think it's totally possible. It could, they could be somewhere, at least not in the bottom five. I mean, certainly I think that's a reasonable target that they could hit. There's more young, interesting arms than there's been in the past. I think Brandon Garcia really has good stuff. I'm curious to see what what he's like over a longer period of time. You know, they have a number of guys who throw hard, who have good stuff.

And it's just a matter of seeing if they can put it together at the big league level. Also like Kevin Ginkle and Ryan Thompson are huge X factors here too. Are those guys able to show up? And especially Ginkle after the season he just had. So I think it's totally possible that the bullpour. Penn takes a step forward. But at the same time, it's hard to look at it on paper and think it's anything, certainly not in the top half of the league.

It's probably somewhere in the bottom 10. But maybe they can at least be like 21st or 20 second or something like that. Like I said, I'll take that. I will take that at the point. All right, we got a few rapid fire questions for you before we get out of here, Jesse. And these are all involving like giving guys titles like Mr. Olympia or Mr. America. I'm going to ask you, which player becomes?

Mr. We should have never doubted him. Who is Mr. We should have never doubted him. That's a good one. I guess Jordan Lawler is the first name that like I can see that happening. All right. Yeah. Now that's a good pick actually. Yeah. Because there were just glimpses last year where that offense from him really felt like it was coming together.

But again, see where he plays. All right. Next, Mr. Mr. What does this guy have on Tori Lavolo? who is going to end up in the lineup more than they should that everybody is going to be like, what dirt does this man have on Tori Lavolo? I mean, that's Ben Pavin Smith for probably a while, right?

That's at least the name that fans talk about all the time. I mean, he's going to get the bulk of the time at first base. It certainly appears. So we're kind of in line for that again. All right. Well, last question. I mean, this could be Mr.

fan favorite or Mr. We fell in love with this guy. I think Gino was kind of this guy for the Diamondbacks, right? So is it, do you think Mr. Mr. We love this guy? Mr. Fan favorite becomes Nolan Aaronato over there at third base again or you think somebody else. It's easy to do the

Perdomos, Martees and Carols, but who do you think becomes like a, I guess, an unsuspecting fan favorite? That's a good one. I mean, James McCann, I think people really appreciate it on the stretch last year. Is that we didn't get it up with him.

We get a whole season of him this time, right? Yeah, I think, I think that's a reasonable name throughout there. I mean, I think a lot of D-Bex fans like Blaze Alexander already. Oh, yeah, yeah, maybe seeing him blossom into like a utility guy who's playing all over and continues to look good defensively at a bunch of different positions. You know, if the bat takes a step forward, then I could, I could see his popularity. just increasing all the more. Love it.

Well, he is Jesse Friedman. You can follow him at Jesse N. Friedman on social media. Make sure to check out Snake's territory with our pal Jack Summers. You can get that podcast wherever you get this one. You can follow them at Snake's territory. You can follow Damon and I. You know where we are at. I'm at Cap underscore Caveman with a K.

Damon is at Damon dog with a DWG at the end. And we're all Damon's dogs. Park Park. Our shows at PHNX underscore DBEX, but as always all roads lead to at PHNX. underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you guys for your time. We appreciate you so much.

We'll be back here tomorrow at 12 p.m. Cole Drake is going to be joining us on the show. So I can't wait to talk to him about becoming part of this organization and his journey in baseball. So make sure to join us for that. Until then, behave yourselves and remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you know who is going to be Mr. I Got Dirt on Tori Lavolo.