PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Why KEEPING Eugenio Suárez Could Help Save the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Season

Episode Date: July 24, 2025

📬 Arizona sports in your inbox! https://gophnx.com/newsletter With the position the Arizona Diamondbacks are currently in, trading slugger Eugenio Suarez makes all the sense in the world. But is there a case to made for keeping Geno and would doing so help save the D-backs season? We have a preview of the Snakes’ series with the Pittsburgh Pirates, a look back on this day at Madison Bumgarner’s debut with Arizona, a quick dive into their first three draft picks from 2025. Jesse Friendman from Snakes Territory joins the show to give his thoughts on trading Suarez and the current state of the Snakes. Join Derek, Jesse, and Aryton for the PHNX Diamondbacks Show LIVE! An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/coll... 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/ 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/ APS:  Find instant rebates, discounts and special offers on smart thermostats, energy-efficient appliances and more at https://marketplace.aps.com/default/h... Chicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today! Phoenix Raceway: Tickets, hospitality and upgrades are still available for the NASCAR Championship Series October 31st through November 2nd! Visit the link HERE to get yours now! bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-... 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/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order! Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. 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! Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnx All Pro Shade Concepts: Call 623-204-1476 or visit https://allproshadeconcepts.com/ now to schedule your free estimate! 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.

While we know it's Gino might definitely apply to Aeueno spores hitting home runs, it also might apply to the answer to the question, who are the Diamondbacks trading? However, we have the reasons today why keeping Gino might be the best thing the Diamondbacks could do. We also have more on the Arizona Diamondbacks first three draft prospects or draft picks and, of course, a preview of the series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. All this in 30 seconds, don't you go anywhere. Ski and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks. podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia,

occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. Glad to have you guys here. Excuse me for being a little tired because I was up late, being sad about Gino and his post-game press conference from last night. Also, the Diamondback season is over, so there was that to mourn as well.

But glad to have you guys here. And of course, this show is brought to you by our friends at Bet365. Go use our code of PHNX365 when you sign up over there. Get yourself some bonus bets. Also, we are brought to you by our friends at game time,

which is the best place to buy your tickets for concerts, sporting events, and more. Make sure to use our code of PHNX. You'll get $20 off your first purchase. And we are going to talk about Gino being the target of trade talks for what seems like every MLB team. But we're not doing it alone. We have our guy, Jesse Friedman, here with us from Snake's territory. Jesse, always good to see you, bud, and always good to talk with you about trade deadline stuff. Miss doing it.

I wish it was under better circumstances. I wish we were, in fact, talking about the Diamondbacks being buyers instead of sellers, but that feels very unlikely now at this point. On Snake's territory earlier today, we were trying to identify some young pitchers that the Diamondbacks could acquire in other teams' farm systems or, I guess, in some case, you know, guys who are already in the majors. And it's a very weird and kind of disorienting process, Derek, because you and I spent a lot of time over the last few years like, hey, you know, let's talk about O'Tonnie or let's talk about J.D. Martinez

for the 100th time or, you know, talking about guys who are actually major league players, their names that people already know, versus just like digging through farm system rankings and whatnot and trying to figure out who you might want in another organization. But unfortunately, this is the position Diamondbacks are in this year. You're absolutely right there. And it is unfortunate. Derek Hall was on Arizona Sports today and he said this and here is the quote he said Jesse, do we want to sell?

No, we all want to buy but I think we have to be realistic and I think that fans also have to be realistic. I think that watching, rooting for, loving a sports team involves ups and downs and I think that the downs really

suck. The downs, especially when they can last a long time for certain franchises, are miserable for fans. to kind of withstand. But, you know, then the ups come around. You have something like we had over the course of the show of us doing this together. The Diamondbacks going from one of the worst seasons in franchise history, making it all the way to the World Series, right? So there are ups and downs, but, I mean, sometimes you've got to ride through it and you have to be realistic that a team needs to make certain moves that you might not like, that you might not be a fan of.

but it needs to be done in order to improve the franchise as a whole. It's a nice fairy tale to sit here and think that the Diamondbacks could keep all of these guys that are on expiring contracts. And when free agent time comes around, bring them all back. Right. But that's not what's going to happen, nor is that necessarily what's best for this team, quite frankly, right? I mean, like the amount that some of these players are going to command is going to be far beyond. I think you would want to pay a player for the production you're going to get back. And the Diamondbacks kind of need to utilize what you're doing, right?

Looking through the potential available prospects and major league ready players that the Diamondbacks could potentially get from another team and see what, you know, where that next, I guess, that next replacement for Zach Gowan, that next replacement for Merrill Kelly could be in another team's system. It's just difficult, right? Mike Hazen is pretty good at that. that though Mike Hazen is pretty good at identifying talent and kind of finding diamonds in the rough it doesn't always work out for him but he's done it in it in the past it is just a really

bizarre feeling to be sitting here talking about trading away players players that that people not only enjoy seeing play baseball but just enjoy rooting for i think a eugenio swarres i mean i think all these guys that the diamond backs could potentially lose at the deadline are are likable and easy to root for. But A&A as far as I think has has endeared himself to fans in probably a different way. And granted, you know, hitting 55 home runs in the last calendar year is a big part of that. But he's also just a great, just to, you know, you and I have both spent time talking to him. He's very, very friendly, just super, super open and really embraces where he is and has clearly

found a home for himself here in Arizona. And I totally understand. I mean, if fans are like, no, like, Gino is why I'm turning on the TV every night to watch this miserable baseball team that I don't really enjoy watching all that much, except Gino is like going to hit 60 home runs this year. You know, it is, it is hard. And I understand that. It's a, it's a weird, it's a weird place for this team to be given the investments that were made this offseason and the expectations that this team had coming in. I don't really think that I even saw this really as a, you know, I guess in baseball you never know, right? But I certainly did not see us being here when the season began. Do you, I mean, the Diamondbacks have the second

best OPS in baseball currently, right? I mean, you are a person of reason. And I think, that you obviously put all emotion aside when analyzing this team. But this is a strange season that is kind of a victim of circumstance, right? Like the injuries really are the thing that that is holding this team back. And I mean, even yesterday, Tori was asked during the pregame press conference, if you were told before the end of the year that you would lose all of the pieces that you would have lost and you would be sitting here two games under 500 at the 102 game point would you believe it and Tori said first he would have thought you got hit on the head because there's no way that those two things would be the same like there's no way a team would

be around 500 while you were also telling me that uh you know that that that you lost all of those pieces right so this team has done well but they are they are kind of a victim of circumstance with the injuries this year, aren't they? 100%. Yeah. And anyone trying to reduce what's happened this year to, you know, Mike Hazen not doing his job or, you know, not having the bullpen that he should, which, I mean, there's some, there's some truth to that criticism, right? I mean, Mike Hazen would tell you that himself.

And, you know, maybe Toro Lavello has made some managerial mistakes. I think we could all, you know, we could all agree on that to an extent. But in the bigger picture, yeah, it's really hard to win games when your two best relief pitchers have been gone basically the entire season, when your best starting pitcher has been gone for most of the season at this point or I guess a good portion of the season and is not coming back. And then so much of your depth behind him is gone as well. You know, it's just a really, really tough place to be. And sometimes the baseball gods just look down on you, Derek. and they're just like, no, nothing's going to go well for you this year. Just deal with it.

And it kind of feels like that's what's happened in 2025. Their representative came to you and we're like, hey, listen, we had a meeting. We all talked about it and we decided that this was not going to be your year. And that's what it feels like very much for the time. But you bring up Gino and Gino is the guy, right? Like, I don't even think, I don't feel like there is this emotional attachment in the same way to other players. And again, that's kind of bizarre considering the length of time that Merrill Kelly and Zach Gallen have been here, right? Like Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly both deserve their

flowers for what they've done for this organization as members of the starting rotation. However, with Zach Gallen having a down year and Merrill Kelly just kind of once again being Merrill, who just does his job quietly and goes unnoticed, it's hard. It's weird because people, again, are more attached to Gino. Now, a big part of that, like you said, is the fact that, that he's on the home run tear that he's on, right? Gino is one of the best players in Major League Baseball this year has been since the first week of the season. And despite having some slumps and some struggles,

consistently has been one of the best sluggers in baseball. It's weird for a team that is still semi in the race with a lot of games left to go to trade away one of the best players in baseball. And again, that's what makes this weird. I don't know if you necessarily see this in other sports where they will trade away a star like this. Now, the expiring contract thing, that is common in every sport because teams do want to try to get something for a player that's not going to be here going forward. However, this, you know, again, this is, this feels strange.

And to tug on everyone's heartstrings just a little bit more, we have video from last night from Gino we're going to play again. This is him talking about wanting to stay here as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks and loving. this team. I don't want to talk to that about that right now because there's nothing happened yet and obviously this deep thing had a part of my heart right here and like I say, I feel like I'm at home. This team has been a lot to me and all the last two years being my career changed everything here in Arizona. You know, I am who I am right now because last two years being great and this is part on, it's a lot about this team, you know what I mean, and like I say, I don't want to think about that

now because it's nothing happened yet. I just want to wait the time and like I say, we got a flight today to Picksburg. I got to enjoy my off-day tomorrow and see what I'm doing Friday. So I go day by day and if something happened, let's wait for it. Like I said, I don't want to think about it. I don't want to make anything change. It is what it is, and I just want to just think about Friday. It has to be hard for him, and it was hard for even me.

Like, I wanted to pull Gino aside and just tell him from, like what you said earlier, Jesse, like from both a professional standpoint, as someone that's covered him in his time here, and as someone that's a true fan of his, I just wanted to think. thank him for his time here, but it felt weird and awkward because I don't know if his time here is over. There is a case to be made to trade Gino, and I think that's an easy case to be made, and most likely the one that the Diamondbacks will pursue. However, is there a conceivable case to keep him? And I mean, do you think that it would be negligent on the Diamondbacks to keep Gino considering how high his value is? That is, and with that being said, that's to say that he

stays on this tear that he's on. There's always the dreaded possibility of Gino staying in Arizona and then also going cold and making it seem like, you know, they didn't sell a stock when it was at its peak, right? There's that aspect. I do think there's a case to hold on to Gino. I mean, as you said earlier, the Diamondbacks are not completely out of this thing. I mean, are the odds very much stacked against them? Absolutely.

fan graphs gives them about a 10% chance to make the playoffs right now, which is not good. It's actually hard when I thought they would give them. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, 10 isn't, 10 isn't nothing. I mean, the Diamondbacks playoff odds dropped to 13% in August of 2023.

And that year, they went to the World Series, right? So I think there is a case to be made to keep, you know, what I think is going to be pretty challenging for the Diamondbacks and what they're probably just going to have to come to grips with is that this guy is in high demand around the league. I mean, Gambo, I think, just tweeted within the last couple hours that 12 teams have checked in on Gino Torres. And I mean, 12 is basically every single contender. I mean, that's really all of the relevant teams in baseball. So I think in a normal year where you're just getting rental prices, which tend to not be all that great. And of course, the debacks could give Gino,

know the qualifying offer if they held on to him and likely get a draft pick right after the first round, which has a lot of value. So I think in a normal year, it really could make sense to hold on to him. But this year, given the amount of demand that there appears to be for someone like him, I think it would probably be a disservice to the franchise in the big picture to keep Gino at that point. This is like, Jesse, in a way, you tend to have a very savvy sales ability where you will buy something and then turn around and sell it for a profit, right? And in a way, I hate to take the human factor out of this and make Gino seem like an inanimate object. But like, yeah, there is a factor of trying to take the emotion out of it.

If you know Gino, if you talk to Gino, if you're a fan of his, if you've watched him on these postgame press conferences, if you watched him sit there last night at the top of the rail and take a moment in at Chase Field, it's hard for you not to want to keep him on this team, not just now, but forever. However, that's where you have to disconnect yourself from it and do what's essentially right, but doesn't have the emotion connected to it. And again, because of 12 teams checking in on Gino, that means there's 12 teams that are going to be competing against each other to offer the Diamondbacks more than the last guy in order to make this happen. And Jesse, I'll tell you this much as much as I hate the idea of Gino being traded. I talked to Damon, me and Damon,

we were, I watched Moneyball on the way to Puerto Rico and the way back on the plane. I would be pumped to see video of the Mike Hayeson phone calls that he was taking in the same way that Billy Bean was taking the phone calls for trades at one point in that movie where they're just quick little conversation and he's like, hurry up, I'm going to give you five minutes to give me an offer on Gino or else he's gone, bam, and hangs up the phone and just starts, just starts playing hardball. I would also love him to eventually trade Gino just to the back to the Mariners, because that would make their entire, and fleece them, fleece Jerry Depoto. So it makes the entire time of Gino leaving and coming back to the Mariners just an absolute failure for them

as a franchise, no matter how good he is. However, it would allow us to get him away from us, but still make him happy and send him back to his friend. So I feel like a Mariners trade is my favorite. It's the frontrunner for me so far. Got to give us Andres Munoz. though that's big big part of the deal i don't know about i don't know about andris munoz but i mean a diamondbacks mariners trade at the deadline is inevitable you can lock it in right now it's gonna happen diamond backs and the mariners we don't know if it's going to be gino but you know maybe it's josh naylor may i actually jokes aside i actually do think josh nair makes a lot of sense for the mariners as well yeah uh well jesse i will before we move on i did want to get this uh from you i know

we've talked a little bit about trades, but I don't think you and I have had a chance to really dive in deep. What are your realistic expectations? Do you think that the Diamondbacks do essentially, I don't want to call it clean house, but they have the four guys that are healthy and that have expiring contracts? We know those are Merrill, Zach, Josh Naylor, Gino. Do you think that they trade all four guys by the trade deadline? That's a really tough question. Based on the reporting that I've seen out there, I would say probably no, pretty much. But every report has unanimously said that the Diamondbacks will trade either Zach Gallen or Merrill Kelly, but not both.

Okay. People don't seem to be talking that way about Naylor and Suarez, so maybe it's more likely that both of those guys could be dealt. But there seems to be a belief within the organization that you wouldn't want to trade both Gallin and Kelly because at that point, you'd just be really depleting your pitching staff and you wouldn't have enough guys to step. been reliably. I don't know if I agree with that if I'm being totally honest because I think that this team as constructed already has pretty long odds to make the playoffs. And if you're going to trade a Gino and a Merrill Kelly or something like that, I don't think it's going to, I mean, your odds are just going to be worse at that point. And I don't really see the need to hold on to a Zach Allen or hold on to a Josh Neeler at that point. I would just try to maximize what you can get.

But there is the qualifying offer element to this as well, where you could get draft pick compensation for really any of these four guys, I think. And because of that, that kind of sets a certain threshold that teams are going to have to clear in order for it to make sense to trade any of them. Well, our guy, Scotty Mack, just stole it from me, but I was going to say you're going to have Descalfani and Bryce Jarvis starting, if that's the case. And that seems pretty far down your depth chart as far as I'm. options are concerned. Now, what would they need to make? Like 10 starts, something like, I mean, there's not a lot of starts that you would need out of those guys. However, it just really does, if that trade does happen, it really does waive the white flag on the season. And, and, you know, again, we feel like if the trades happen in general that it waives the white flag on the season, but I don't really feel necessarily that needs to be the case. I do think that there are moves that could be made that can improve this team and can also shed some of those guys to add,

you know, some depth in some ways and maybe even, you know, set this team up for a little bit more success next season considering the pieces that they're missing to start 2026. But I also had one more question for you before we move on. It's just something that popped in my head because you said it while we were discussing this. But how much does the World Series run really skew our view on everything? with this team, right? Like you were talking about a year

where the Diamondbacks, in fact, got swept by the same Astros team when they needed just to win one game to make the postseason. They almost didn't make the postseason. And for all intents and purposes probably shouldn't have made the postseason, yet they did and they make it all the way

to the World Series. Then they improve in 2024. They win nearly 90 games. And yet in a year when they probably should have made the world, or not made the World Series, made the playoffs, taken away from them by this, you know, weird weather situation that resulted in a two-game playoff by the Mets and the Braves that they split, right? So overall, it's just one of those

things that it feels like because the Diamondbacks did what they did in the playoffs, we are always going to have this feeling that just give us the sixth seed, just let us eke in, just let us get there. And then once we do, we'll hit four home runs in a row against the Dodgers and make it all the way to the World Series. But it's like, it's almost like, and especially because this team is comprised of a lot of the same pieces that was part of that 2023 team. It's almost like that's the reason why so many fans, I think, hold out hope and don't want to see them turn into sellers here at the trade deadline, no matter how bad their record is. It's a really fair point. I mean, I think at the same time, I see some

fairly meaningful differences between this team and that 2023 team. I think, believe it or not, the 2023 bullpen even before the trade deadline was quite a bit better than this bullpen right now. I mean, the diamondbacks are, you know, no offense to any of these guys that they've picked up. I think a lot of them have actually pitched pretty well lately. But, you know, having Jake Woodford come into a one-run game in the eighth inning, you know, these are guys who were in AAA just a few weeks ago, you know, let go by other organizations and whatnot. This team is really, really far when it comes. to the bullpen from where you would want to be. Now, granted, I mean, Shelby Miller, it sounds like

is coming back and Jalen Beaks is coming back pretty soon. Ryan Thompson, maybe not far behind. So maybe if you squint, you can imagine those guys coming back, plus you add an arm or two at the deadline and maybe your bullpen could be okay the rest of the year. Don't give me hope, Jesse. But then there's, you know, there's also the starting pitching side of things where, you know, even if you hold on to everyone, this has been one of the worst rotation baseball, you know, certainly bottom 10, I think pretty close to bottom five. And that doesn't, that doesn't exactly inspire confidence. And the other factor, which is maybe the biggest thing, is that the competition is higher

this year. The bar that you have to reach appears to be higher. The debacks have to leapfrog four teams to get that third wildcard spot. They were never in a situation like that in 2023, even when things, you know, got a little dicey there in the middle of the season. Great point. Great point. Well, we are going to talk about the competition that the Diamondback space this weekend and the Pittsburgh Pirates on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback show. Well, Phoenix Raceway is having the championship race for

NASCAR this October. And let me tell you, I've talked about it to be on the show. I've become a huge NASCAR guy. Go Ryan Blaney. I'm new to it. So forgive me for being a new, but I've enjoyed NASCAR so much since we made our first train. out to Phoenix Raceway. So I implore you if you've never been out, that this is something you have to experience in person. And I was told this and scoffed at it until I did. And now look at me, I'm all in.

I own NASCAR gear, folks. That's not a lie. But nothing can match the smell of burnt rubber and fuel in the air, the sound of the cars and everything else that NASCAR has an offer. And of course, NASCAR fans do get the best access in any sport. And what other sport do you get to go down if you just upgrade your ticket a little bit and mingle with the athletes and take pictures with their cars and all of that. Of course, the Phoenix Raceway has that to offer.

You're in the Desert Diamond Circle Infield Experience up close in the garages, meeting drivers, walking the track, catching the pre-race concert, and so much more. So this is it. This is the big championship race for NASCAR. Don't miss your chance to witness the NASCAR Championship weekend in person coming to Phoenix Raceway, October 31st through November 2nd. Tickets for Sundays Cup Series Championship race sell out every single year. So move fast to get yours before they're gone.

And here's the kicker. It's been here for a while, folks. If you are not familiar, the NASCAR Championship race has been here in Phoenix almost every year. And now, after this year, NASCAR is taking championship weekend on the road starting in 20206. So this is your last chance to catch it in Phoenix for a while. Tickets, hospitality upgrades, and more are still available. Get yours at Phoenix Raceway.com. And July is a great time of the year for pool parties, for hanging out with friends,

for celebrating America on July 4th, but it's also time for your air conditioning to be overworked and for your bills to skyrocket. So you can get yourself a smart thermostat if you don't already have one. That smart thermostat can help you schedule your temperatures in your home. You can also change those temps on your way. It's a great feature and it will save you lots of money. A smart thermostat works with your APS rate plan to help you automatically adjust the temperature in your home. And for every one degree you raise your thermostat, you could save up to two to three percent on your cooling costs. So check out if you don't have a smart thermostat right now, the APS Marketplace. APS customers may be eligible for smart thermostats for as low as $0 when you enroll

in the APS Cool Rewards program. If you already have a smart thermostat at home, you can see if it's eligible to enroll in Cool Rewards. Plus free installation is available at Marketplace. APS.com. Must be an APS customer and pay shipping and taxes. Other restrictions do apply. Go to Marketplace.APS.com for more information. Well, the Arizona Diamondbacks take on a fairly hot Pittsburgh Pirates team this weekend, Jesse, in Pittsburgh. One of my favorite ballparks in all baseball, just gorgeous, gorgeous view. Also a team that has not had a very good season, but did just dispatch with the Detroit Tigers. I think they swept the Tigers in their three-game series.

So let's take a look here at how the Pirates season has been going so far. A beautiful shot of one Paul Skeens there. 42 and 61 this year with a minus 62 run differential. They are four and six in their last 10 games. They do have a 3.78 starting pitching ERA and a 3.93 relief pitching ERA. The Diamondbacks, as I said, their OPS is second in all of baseball. Meanwhile, the pirates, they're vastly in the opposite direction. They are 30th in baseball at 643 for their OPS.

They do have 15 outs above average, though, which is good for 7th. So they're a pretty good defensive team. And again, pitching, Jesse, what I wouldn't give, once again, to have the 9th best starting pitching ERA and the 17th, best relief pitching ERA. Diamondbacks would probably have 10 more games under their belt if they did. They, yeah, I think that is pretty safe to say. The pirates to their credit, Derek, they pitch pretty well.

The offense thing, they don't do that so well. They have a 78 OPS plus as a team coming into this series, which is very, very bad. O'Neill Cruz, I think, is their only everyday player who has an OPS plus north of 100, and even he is only at like 103. So it's not a good offense by any means, but they can pitch, and unfortunately for the debacks, they're going to have to deal with Paul Skeen's

in this series on that Sunday game. They are, and we have the probable pitchers for this series. Let's take a look at that. Jesse, I hate the fact that this Zach Gallen Paul Skeen's matchup on Sunday should realistically be a huge marquee matchup, and yet with the way Zach Gallen has pitched this year, It's hard to say that. We do have Ryan Nelson going in game one against Mike Burroughs.

He is 1 and 3 with a 4.70 ERA. Game 2, we have Merrill the mainstay going up against Andrew Heaney. He is 4 and 9 this year with a 5.03 ERA. Both of those guys haven't been great for the pirates, but you know who has. And that's one, Paul Skeen's going up against the Milkman in the finale. Paul Skeens this year, 5 and 8, 1.91ERA, 137 strikeouts for schemes. And Jesse, there's even talk, a little talk in Pittsburgh about possibly shutting schemes down early with how bad the pirate season has been. Could impact his ability to be in the Cy Young race and also not something baseball fans in general outside of Pittsburgh want to see.

I'm not even sure fans in Pittsburgh want to see that. But yeah, Michael says it in the chat. He says, good Lord, 1.91 ERA and 5 and 8. again this is why wins and losses make no difference in baseball at all the amount of times that man has received no run support is staggering i don't know derrick i think he's just not a winning pitcher he just doesn't have he's a bum he's a bust get him out of here i'm a miss man yeah paul skeins uh to the point of potentially them shutting him down it has been interesting to see his his pitch counts have been lower lately uh he's been

in the upper 70s to mid upper 80s here for a while. It doesn't feel like the pirates are really inclined to push him all that deep into games, which certainly bodes well if you're the debacks and you're able to see some pitches as this team often does pretty well. You might be able to get Paul Skeens out of the game after five innings. That's actually kind of been the norm for him here in recent days. So I guess that that may be inspires some confidence. But yeah, still mind-blowing to think the pirates are 10 and 11 this season.

in games started by quite possibly the best pitcher in the sport. It's pretty hard to believe. It's also, like I said, a little sad that we are not super hyped about a Gallin Scheen's matchup. It's hard to be with the way Gallin's pitched this year. However, Gallin does step up for the big occasions, and I feel like facing off against Skeens might be enough of that. I don't know.

It's a way game. It's not happening in Chase Field, so there's one in the category for Zach Gallen having a good game. And again, it's also just a. a big big time matchup. I know usually he reserves those good outings for like the New York teams he's trying out for. However, this like piece of Yoshi says, you guys aren't hyped about East Coast Gowan. So yeah, again, he might be right about that. Maybe the location will have an impact on him. But this won't be the first gallon skeins matchup that we've seen even this season.

We saw Gowan and Skeens match up, I don't know, back in April or May. And, the Pirates won that game 10 to 1. So not great history there from the Diamondback side of things. Well, the Diamondbacks again, I'm tired of saying like they need to win. That time's over. And I think that Derek Hall's comments today confirm that, right? Like, yeah, they have this nine game road trip. Yeah, they could show out and go 9 and 0.

I don't really think at this point, obviously the road trip ends or extends beyond the trade deadline. But I don't think even if they go on a streak between now and the trade deadline, that's really going to be enough to impact or change the direction it's gone. And honestly, I don't know if it should. I don't really know if suddenly playing good baseball is enough to make you believe that they're going to continue to play good baseball on the other side of the trade deadline. But that's what makes this team, I think, so confounding this year.

And again, it's like you also feel like speaking of those position players, somebody suggested that maybe we trade the pirates for Keller and Bednar and we can just have guys walk across the field while we're playing the pirates. And I wouldn't hate that. Maybe that's that's something that they're no, no, we wouldn't. We wouldn't do that to our players. No way would you send guys to the pirates. That's a fate worse than death. But I will say that like, again, it's hard not to, you know, feel like this is irrelevant, right? This stretch. I mean, you do want to see them play well, but I don't really think that there's much. that they can do. I also hate the idea that the trade deadline is the end of their season, right? Yes, the Diamondbacks might sell. Yes, like you said, they are rumored to trade mostly, maybe two guys, maybe three at the most, but probably not all four guys that are on expiring contracts. So maybe, just maybe they find a way to start winning with the changes that they make. It's just, it's hard to believe that that's really going to happen. And I can understand the front office, not really thinking that's that's the case it it'll be a long shot i mean even if they were to

to buy uh completely i mean it would still kind of feel like a long shot at this point but there's there's enough like weird randomness in baseball that by no means is the diamond back season over on july 31st or right now or you know yesterday whenever people want to say the time of death was. I gave it on Monday, Jesse. That's when I gave it. It was on Monday. No, Tuesday. I understand where people are coming from. I mean, this is obviously a really important hinge point because, you know, if you buy it the trade deadline, then you're up in your chances. And if you sell, obviously those chances are going to go down. But I still think about the Tigers last year, Derek, when the Tigers on July 24th a year ago, so a year ago today,

the Tigers were also 50 and 53. and the diamondbacks are five and a half games out. The Tigers were six games out of the wild card. And they had five teams to jump over. And the Diamondbacks had four or have four. And beyond that, the Tigers did sell at the trade deadline. They traded away Jack Flaherty, one of their best pitchers. And because they didn't really think that things were going to work out for them.

And then before you know it, they're making a pretty deep run into the postseason. So you never know, Derek. You never know in baseball the time of death is not going to be anytime soon if it does happen. I can't believe you just gave me more hope. I can't believe you did that of all people, Jesse, of all people. Well, on the other side of this break, we are going to talk about on this day in Diamondbacks history. And Jesse, hilariously enough, today was opening day for the Arizona Diamondbacks back in the pandemic season of 2020. on July 24th and one Madison Bumgardner made his illustrious debut for this franchise.

We're going to talk about it on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHA next Diamondback show. Well, you might want to get yourself some pure edibles in time for the trade deadline because you might not like what happens and you might need to either get yourself some sleep or elevate your mood and you can do so with our friends at pure edibles. Their products are wonderful. They have their effects clearly listed on each.

tin. They let you know what kind of strain you're getting, whether it's a hybrid, a sativa, or an indica. And they also, of course, like I said, lists the effects that you'll get from those candies. And Pure Edibles is a full-fledged candy company. They don't just make gummies. They also make hard candies, chews and their kicks, which are their version of Starbursts. And of course, like I said, they have a wide variety of strains, doses, and effects that you can choose from. They are a company from right here in Flagstaff, Arizona. They originally created at Noble Garp Dispensary, the home of Puref, edibles and now they are made right here in Phoenix, Arizona, and they are designed to be ripped

or a bit in half, making them easily shareable or easy to dial in your exact dose. So go find yourself some pure edibles right now from one of over 130 dispensaries across Arizona and get yourself prepared for that inevitable Genos-Horres trade. Speaking of making things better, speaking of getting away from bad times, you can do so at Heela River Resorts and Casinos. It is the place to take a staycation this summer. And let me tell you, Summer might be over soon, but that doesn't have to stop you from going out and having a wonderful time at Heelah River. You can check out their pool. They have the bar out there with the pinia cladas.

You know, that's where you'll find me. They also have a wide variety of games on their gaming floor. Of course, over 4,500 slots and live table games, some state-of-the-art table games as well. And you can catch every thrilling moment of sports action at their bet, MGM sportsbook with massive screens, delicious food and drinks and all the action. Make sure to catch everything you want to catch there. It's the ultimate place. To watch and win, place your bets, and experience the excitement. You do you at Heela River Resorts and Casinos.

Visit play atheila.com for more details. Well, it is Thursday, Jesse. Glad to have you here on a non-game day. I still feel like maybe your appearances on this show might have impacted the health of the pitching staff as well. But that's just speculation. But we do every Thursday talk about some historic moments in franchise history, as it is Throwback Thursday.

And boy, today was a big one. on this day on July 24th, 2020, the Diamondbacks finally opened up their baseball season. For those of you that have completely put the pandemic out of your memory, we were not playing baseball for most of the year. And thankfully, after watching a lot of KBO, Major League Baseball finally figured out a way to bring baseball back without fans in the sands.

We eventually got to see fun cardboard cutouts around stadiums around Major League Baseball. I got to go to some pandemic games where I had to wear a mask and stay very far away from Jack Summers in the press box. And also, Jesse, we very much had the debut on this day when baseball finally opened back up of one Madison Bumgardner for the Arizona Diamondbacks franchise, making his debut against the San Diego Padres in a two to seven loss back on July 24th, 2020. And this is a period of time. I think we all wish we could forget, including the Madison Bumgardner tenure for the Arizona Diamondbacks. What a day, Derek.

What a day this was in Diamondbacks history. Yeah, Madison Bumgarner averaged 87.9 with his four-scene fastball that game. I'm looking back to the numbers now. And somehow I don't remember being all that alarmed by it at the time. No, well, because it was a weird season, right? Like, we were all talking about how weird the spring training was, how weird it was not to have fans in the stance.

So, like, anything that happened during that time was kind of attributed to just how weird the world was and how long it took for opening day to come around, right? And, I mean, that I remember that definitely being the narrative around his, his velocity for his first couple of starts. And to be fair, his velocity did come back to an extent the next season. And unfortunately, he was never really the pitcher that Diamondbacks hoped he would be. But yeah, I remember this game. I remember Mad Bum throwing up five zeros.

I think the game was zero, zero going to the sixth inning. And it was like, all right, the VAT, you know, the Velo's down. This pandemic thing is weird, as you just said. But look at Madbom. Like, this guy's a pitcher. He's just going out there and he's doing the thing. And then in the sixth inning, he started giving up some hard contact. I think the Padres put up three runs.

Eric Hosmer, I seem to remember hitting a ball into the gap. And then the Diamondbacks go on to lose pretty as sort of half blowout fashion with a seven two final score. So yeah, I, I for a while there, Derek attributed Mad Bum out of the gate, as you said, to, you know, it's a weird, weird situation, but it looks, you know, he looks like the same guy who's just got, knows how to use his arsenal and all the things. but obviously that's not the way things turned out. It's good stuff.

And I mean, again, we made lots of excuses for Bad Bum, but essentially the biggest one was that guy wanted to be a cowboy here in Arizona more than he wanted to be a Diamondback, that's for sure. But Killarex says red flag from the jump, for sure. And there's also talk about Mad Bum's numbers actually being better than Erod's numbers as a member of this franchise at a similar point in their career. Now, what I will say about Erod is, again, excuse. Let me throw the excuse out there, but I'm going to anyway.

It's never felt like Erod has been healthy his entire tenure as an Arizona Diamondback. And in fact, after he came back from the most recent stint, I heard him talk about feeling good, better than I've ever heard him talk about it. And it carried over just to the other, his last outing where he went scoreless, right? Errod said that his fastball command finally felt where it was a few. years ago and that he felt good, he felt healthy, he felt strong. And I mean, this is a considerable amount of time off since he took that brief stint on the IL. So it just feels like maybe, you know, maybe that was a big reason why we've never seen Erod be at, you know, what we expected him to be as a member of this franchise. Also, Diamondbacks free agent starting pitchers never seem to

work out. So that, that is a curse that is bestowed upon us, thanks to Randy Johnson, and we will never get past that curse. But a couple of other things happened this week, Jesse, and Diamondback's history. On July 21st in 1999, Tony Womack hit the first inside the park home run in franchise history. And it wasn't just an inside the park home run. Womack laid out in the ninth inning and inside the park grand slam off of well-known reliever Billy Wagner, the ace. Yeah, to give the Diamondbacks a seven to four victory over the Houston Astros. Wow. Wait a second.

So it was an inside the park home run. It was inside the park grand slam. Okay. Okay. So it's not a walk off. He didn't walk them off. No, no, no, no. But it doesn't specify that.

But it does say it was the first inside the park home run in franchise history. So that's its importance. For some reason, for some reason I like mentally added. walk off to what you said. And I was like, no, I did not. I did not, but they did win the game because of it. Running if they won the game set, like if like you only need five runs to win the game if the other team has four, you don't need to keep running around the bases.

But that, yeah, that makes more sense. Right, right, right. Also for the third straight year, the Diamondbacks made a deal back in 2001 before the trade deadline acquiring starting pitcher in Mesa, Arizona native, Albee Lopez from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at the time, devil raise. And again, that was, of course, the reason why they won the World Series, the addition of Albi Lopez, for those of you that don't know, the great Albi Lopez. But last but not least, the most important thing here besides the pandemic opening day is that on this day in July, not July, not on this day, but one day ago, two days from now. July 26, 2008, Brandon Webb struck out Giants Dave Roberts for his 1,000th career strikeout, joining Randy Johnson as the only other Diamondback to reach that mark.

I will say that Brandon Webb is one of those pitchers that I feel like his legacy, the farther we get away from the time where he pitched, the far the less people know about how good Brandon Webb truly was in his career. And what a devastating loss it was to lose him to injury when he did have to hang it up. Yeah, it was kind of a bizarre situation. I mean, obviously we're seeing all kinds of pitching injuries in baseball. Absolutely. But Brandon Webb was not, you know, he wasn't great because he was throwing like 99 miles or hour every single game. He was, you know, he was a sinker baller, you know, had some good secondary stuff on top of that. So very unfortunate, Derek. Of all, I know you guys have been talking about what ifs in Diamondbacks history recently. No kidding. Yeah. That's definitely one of the. That was one of mine for sure. Yeah, absolutely, man. I mean, where does this team go if Brandon Webb stays as its ace and can maintain that level of excellence that he was.

able to maintain. But we have more to talk about here. We are going to switch gears here and talk about the Diamondback's first draft picks, first couple of draft picks. But before we do that, I just wanted to remind everybody right now that the PhDNX die hard training camp sale is here. It is live. And it is basically the cost of a t-shirt. So once again, if you want to get in on being a die-hard and join the PHNX family, Cardinals training camp is here. And so is our best die-hard deal of the year. Join today for just $36 for the entire year. That's just $3 a month for full access to Cardinals coverage, a free t-shirt, exclusive access to our Discord. We got merch and event discounts and so much more, including exclusive content for our diehards as well.

The Cardinal season starts now. Make your move over at go phtonx.com slash intro dash offer dash social. And once again, Jesse, football coming in here, muslin their way into our baseball season. and we're not even to our trade deadline yet. We're not even into the thick of it. Here's baseball being like, we're here. We're here and everybody's going to clamor and go watch football. But we do have baseball to talk about.

And maybe one of the reasons why football is so exciting is because when you have a draft and you have young players added to a team, they make an impact. They make an impact immediately in some cases. They're immediately out there becoming a star. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks drafted 20 young men, 17 of which have signed, and we have no idea when we're going to see any of them. But we're going to talk here about the Diamondbacks first three draft picks from day one.

A little on draft talk here. Let's take a look at what we have. Kaysen Cunningham, Jesse, the Diamondbacks first round pick, 18th overall. The one thing that I heard time and time again about Cunningham is that he was the number 14 overall prospect by MLB Pipeline and that the Diamondbacks kind of got themselves to got themselves a little bit of a sleeper here for, four picks deep at 18. Yeah, I mean, it seems like the reception across the industry from all the different pundits and whatnot who know things about the draft. A lot of people speak very positively about this pick for the Diamondbacks.

He is short, Derek, which is a bit of a trend with this organization, of course. case in cunningham is listed at 510 182 and it's never it's never stopped the diamondbacks before and it certainly didn't hear but he the diamondbacks feel that he has perhaps the best hit tool in the entire draft at least among high school position players which is really impressive i think especially with guys out of high school you you like to have a a good hit tool to sort of fall back on it just I think gives you a little more confidence in the grand scheme of things that that long journey through the minors and up to the major leagues is something that the players is really cut out for. So, yeah, I mean, we'll be able to really evaluate this pick in probably like four, five, or six years.

But right now, I think they did pretty well here. He was ranked the number one draft prospect in the state of Texas by MLB Pipeline and Perfect Game. And that's impressive because we know Texas produces some good baseball players. number three high school prospect by prep baseball. So again, this might be a guy. Again, a little far off being only 19 years old, but we know how baseball is. And it does feel like now that baseball players are moving through the system a bit quicker than they have in the past.

We know that's not the case with a guy like Drew Jones, but, you know, again, Corbyn Carroll is one of those players that kind of changes your eye level when it comes to how quickly a prospect can get into the majors once they're healthy, right? like Corbyn got held back by that shoulder injury, but the minute that Corbyn was healthy, he just kind of sped through the process. He was older, so it made a little bit more sense.

But, I mean, again, this is getting to a point now with baseball where we are seeing draft picks, you know, get called up at an earlier age. A lot of guys making their debut at 21, 22 years old. So no idea how long until the Diamondbacks see him, but with their bullpen kind of, or not bullpen, excuse me,

their farm system being a little depleted, a little, you know, lacking a little depth. There are a lot of opportunities for these young guys in the organization if they can have success to move up through the system fairly quickly. Absolutely, yeah. And I think case in Cunningham is, I mean, you never want to place like big expectations with with a timeline for a high school player. But I think the fact that he that he does have a very well-established hit tool, he has a good feel for the strike zone and, you know, is able to hit line drives all over the field. I think that's a that's a big asset for him. and he's mostly filled out already at this point. So I don't think he's the type of player where you're waiting a couple years to kind of see him grow into, you know, physically what you would want him to be as a big league year.

I think he's kind of already there. So obviously still a lot of a lot of development to be done here. But I think, I think an exciting young player and, you know, yet another guy who plays up the middle who projects to be a pretty good big league year potentially someday. Well, the other guy that the Diamondbacks get in essentially the first round, I know it's the compensation round, but their compensation pick was Patrick Forbes. He is a college player. He's from the University of Louisville, 21 years old. He is the number 31 overall draft prospect by MLB Pipeline. I don't want to say a reach for the Diamondbacks when you're there in the compensation picks. But again, a guy that the Diamondbacks get a right-handed pitcher who has a lot of accolades. He was on the 2024 USA Collegiate National Team. 24 college sports communication, academic all district team, and the ACC academic team. So he's a smart guy, made a lot of, like I said, a lot of achievements here in baseball. And over three seasons at Louisville, he had himself a 227 opponent batting average and 159 strikeouts. So not terrible there in regards to what his numbers were that he put up there.

But also, again, this is baseball. so you have no idea what you're going to get. You have no idea even how college stats are going to translate over to the minor leagues, let alone the major leagues. I don't think Brandon Fott would be very happy with you right now, Derek. Oh, my God. I mispronounced it, didn't it? I said Louisville.

I did it twice. I did it twice. Oh, my God. Sorry, Brandon, Louisville, Louisville, sorry. There we go. There we go. Yeah, Patrick Forbes is interesting to me. He's a guy with a big fastball.

that's kind of the first thing that stands out to me. It's mid-90s up to 100 with a lot of ride and carry from what most of these scouting reports seem to say. And he has a pretty big slider as well to go with that. I don't think he's had to branch out beyond those two pitches a whole lot. Apparently, he has a cutter, and then he's messed around with a change-up a little bit too. Oftentimes, you can still be pretty effective in college without really needing much, much more beyond those two pitches if they're as good as his are.

So yeah, I think that this is a guy who has a fairly high ceiling. I mean, you think about a big fastball and a big slider. I mean, that's definitely the type of pitcher that could one day be near the top of the rotation. It is interesting to me, though, that if you look at his numbers at Louisville, his ERA is actually not particularly good. He had a 4.42 ERA in. 15 starts this past season. I think you might have mentioned that. So it hasn't quite translated

in the way that maybe you would expect, given how big the stuff is, at least it didn't in college. But he also, you know, hasn't been pitching for for real long in a rotation. So I think there's there's still a lot to work with here in the long run. That's probably what is most enticing is like you said, his stuff kind of being big league ready. even though the results and the stats aren't there because at the end of the day, you don't really care about what their results were. You just care if a player like him is talented enough to coach

and to develop in a major league system and could become a major leaguer one day. And yeah, absolutely looks like he has that potential. Last was Brian Curley, Jesse. He was the number 102 overall draft pick, drafted 92nd by the Diamondbacks here in the third round. and he was already a 16th round draft picked by the Pirates back in 2024, but he did not sign.

He now goes in the third round, so significantly higher here by those standards. And he signs his deal with the Diamondbacks. Again, he's a right-handed pitcher. He's 22 out of the University of Georgia. He posted, it looks like he made 17 appearances, 10 starts going 4 and 4 with two saves and a 3.55 ERA. and that was in his season in 2025.

Yeah, this is another guy who's a little bit undersized. He's listed at 510 to 12. So, you know, sometimes you think about the long-term projectability. Like, could a guy at that size succeed in a big league rotation for a long time? There are some valid questions to be asked there. But there are also some very good pitchers in baseball right now who are around 5-10. It's not a total deal breaker in terms of a place. player's development. Another guy who has a pretty big fastball, some good carry from what I've read,

up to 100 miles per hour. He actually started the season as the closer for Georgia, and then he moved into the rotation and was their number one starter by the end of the season. So another guy who hasn't been pitching in a rotation as a starter for all that long, and I think that maybe makes it a little bit easier to dream on what he could become. If nothing else, I think there's a solid relief pitcher profile here, maybe a chance for him to come through the system relatively quickly if the Diamondbacks decide to move him to the bullpen relatively early on. It's hard to be excited about draft picks and baseball, like I was just saying about the football comparison and how quickly those players make an impact on their sport versus, you know,

what you get here from this draft? But overall, what was your feeling about how the Diamondbacks did drafting? Did you think they did a good job? And again, it's it's like evaluating based on other people's evaluations, based on other people's evaluations. You're talking about 17-year-olds and 16-year-olds in some cases that have barely even had chance to live life, let alone become, you know, potential Major League Baseball stars. But what were your thoughts on how the Diamondbacks do? I think, yeah, I mean, truthfully, I'm not really qualified to assess a draft given that I haven't seen any of like i haven't seen any of these guys in person certainly and i don't have access to the

very large amount of of data and information that teams do when they're making these picks so it's hard for me to really evaluate i'm just kind of going off of the same reports that you know keith law and people of baseball america who really really dig into this stuff i'm just going off all that stuff and they seem to speak pretty positively about what the diamondbacks did uh they they took a lot of pitchers I think it was 13 out of 17, 14 out of 17 pick, something like that. So given the state of this farm system right now, probably not a bad thing that it worked out that way. The Diamondbacks are pretty thin on the pitching front, although, who knows, maybe in a week. They'll be actually in decent shape from a pitching prospect standpoint.

But certainly that's a need for the organization right now. That's gross. It's gross that you said that. But it's true. I think that again, when with all these trade rumors and everything, everything. And I'm glad you clarified earlier about the Diamondbacks pitching situation and how realistically, it's not to say they don't have the human beings to fill out their starting rotation. But if they trade Zach and Merrill, their options aren't good. And I mean, forget that.

What happens if they have an injury beyond that? That's the other thing. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. I mean, you kind of just assume, like, in your head as you plan out what a, what a buy, course would look like or a situation where they hold on to the pieces they have. There are certainly no guarantees that the Diamondbacks are going to make it to the end of the season without sustaining any more injuries. In fact, it's probably unrealistic to expect that. So, but you never know in this sport, Derek, as I said earlier, you know, I'll give you guys the fan graphs numbers and try to be realistic.

But you also have stories like the Detroit Tigers from last year that do happen. And I think- Stop giving us hope. He keeps giving us hope, Ayrton. He keeps telling us this. He prefaces it with logic and then he has to keep bringing up the tigers. That's my job, Jesse. I keep bringing up the tigers from last year.

I'm the one that's supposed to give false hope. Not you. But you're right. And I think that's the reason why this whole thing is crazy, right? Baseball in general is crazy. Baseball in general is where if you are hitting a ball 10% less than another guy, you're a bum and that guy is a star. And that's literally how the difference in stats can work with this game.

Same thing with teams, right? You know, the Diamondbacks were 53 and 50 at this time last year. And yes, they went on during the month of July and August to be one of the best teams in baseball. So that definitely is the reason why they went on that run. That's why last year's team is different than this year's team. Right. But at the same time, it's like, man, it's literally only a difference of six games. And yet last year, we weren't even talking about selling at the trade deadline.

And we were all in, and the Diamondbacks came one game short of making the playoffs. Now, this year, a difference of six games means that they're horrible and that it would be, it would be an idiotic move to not trade all of these pieces. Obviously, a lot is different between these two teams, including the number of guys on expiring contracts at the end of the year, and how good those guys actually are. I mean, that's the other thing here is that the Diamondbacks aren't just the talk of the trade deadline because of Gino Svores. They are also the talk of the trade deadline because Josh Naylor is having an incredible season. Zach Gallen is known to be one of the best pitchers in baseball. And Merrill Kelly can quietly change a staff overnight by being added to it. So there's a lot of assets the Diamondbacks have to move.

And essentially the windfall could be hard. It just could be too tempting to turn away. But Jesse, I thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you stopping by. Make sure to follow him on Twitter. He is at Jesse and Friedman. Snake's territory is on YouTube and anywhere you get your podcast

and also follow Snake's territory on Twitter follow Jack Summers as well. He's at Shoe Wizard Was it Shoo Wizard 58? 59. 59. I shorted him one. Why are there 58 other shoe wizards? I don't know about that.

We need to figure that part out. But anyway, until then, make sure you follow Jesse. Also make sure you follow me. I'm at Kapp underscore K-Man with a K. Our guy Ayrton has been on the ones and twos. Thank you for your support today in the absence of Damon, abandoned us because of how bad this team is.

He's at Freckled Mambo, which is still the best Twitter handle in this entire building. Our show is at PHNX underscore Dbacks, but as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you for your time. Jesse, thank you for your time. I know this isn't an easy time, but we will be back tomorrow with a postgame show after the Diamondbacks first game here against the Pittsburgh Pirates. So make sure to join us for the post game show tomorrow.

And until then, keep hope alive. Who knows what's happened. Gino didn't want to take those questions about being traded for good reason. He doesn't know what's going to happen, and neither do we. So maybe here in a week we're talking about somehow, some way, Suarez still inexplicably being part of this team. But again, we thank you guys so much for your time. Make sure you guys have a wonderful evening and a day off from baseball.

We'll be back at it tomorrow. Until then, enjoy your evening. Enjoy your time with your family. And remember kids. Baseball is fun. but it is so much more fun when we can just finally get through the trade deadline and start talking about something else other than gutting this team.