PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Will 2026 Be Eduardo Rodriguez’s DEFINING Year With D-backs?

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

Eduardo Rodriguez’s time with the Arizona Diamondbacks hasn’t lived up to the $80 million price tag, but is 2026 the year everything changes? We break down E-Rod’s struggles, what went wrong, and why his dominant World Baseball Classic championship performance could be the turning point that finally unlocks his full potential in the desert. We also hear from Derrick Hall on the latest offseason upgrades to Chase Field and why there’s a growing belief that something special could be brewing for this D-backs team in 2026. Plus, with a surprising vacancy at a Tucson baseball stadium, we throw out some ideas on what could come next. 0:00 SkeeYee  3:00 Updates from Salt River Fields  8:00 Is Jordan Lawlar the starting CF?  14:00 Venezuela wins World Baseball Classic  18:50 The best start of E-Rod's career  24:20 Can Eduardo Rodriguez save his D-backs career?  40:30 CEO Derrick Hall interview  49:50 Tucson needs more baseball  53:50 Bring Minor League Baseball back to Tucson!!! Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $36: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube 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/ ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order! Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 40% 2+ pairs of off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We saw the best version of Eduardo Rodriguez that we possibly have ever seen in the world baseball classic championship game. So will 2026 finally be the year that he earns this $80 million contract with the D-BACs? We're talking about it right now. Wednesday, welcome in to another edition of the PHNXDBACs podcast live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. My name is Derek Montia occasionally man, known as a man whose voice is incredibly taxed from like five hours of podcast. night but welcome in you guys glad to have you here of course I'm joined by my guy your god your dog daman dog aka david feral on the one no and uh yeah very excited uh we got a question right out of the gate from zabe she wanted to know why I am not participating in the mini hoot madness

I don't really have an answer to that unfortunately Damon I was wondering that too when did we kick you out I I think I just failed to hit the Thumbs up on Emma's post, perhaps. Wow. I don't know. I'm pretty good at mini hooping. I think I could have held my own. But no, I got, I was not included.

And I'm sorry. I was wondering if maybe you were so bad that maybe we like didn't allow. I made several in a row yesterday. What is several to? Six. No way. You made six in a row. That's the second.

That's the second record. I don't believe that. There's got to be more that's made. But that basketball that they use, very big, very big. Welcome in to you guys. Glad to have you guys here. Thrilled to be talking about baseball. Still a little hungover from the World Baseball Classic Championship game last night. That was a lot of fun, and we're still not done talking about that.

But the Diamondbacks do have a baseball game today. The Diamondbacks actually face both NL and AL Central teams in their next three games, including the Chicago Cubs today, Thursday night out at Campbellback Ranch. versus the White Sox, and then Friday night back at home against the Brewer. So we have some fun games, some fun matchups coming up. More importantly, what we have is a lot of guys returning now from the WBC. I mean, we've complained quite a bit about spring training prices and other things. But here with the last week, we should see things ramp up, not just for the Diamondbacks,

but probably for all teams across Major League Baseball as they try to prepare for opening day and get their squads ready. but Merrill Kelly will make his second spring start today after recovering from that intercoastal nerve irritation. And that's kind of what I'm going to start to call Noah, I think, is just intercoastal nerve irritation. I feel like that's a fitting nickname for him. It's long. It's lengthy, Damon. We're going to have to figure out how to maybe condense it down. But more importantly, Nolan Aronato, Geraldo Perdomo, and Carlos Santana will all make their first spring starts today since returning from WBC play.

The boys are back in town, Damon. The boys are back in town. And I don't know. I mean, again, this is, it's kind of a weird thing. It's almost like what I was saying about Merrill Kelly. Like, we still don't know if Merrill Kelly is going to miss time come to the beginning of the season, if he's going to be put at the back end of the rotation,

or if perhaps the Diamondbacks will move him, you know, one full rotation move out, right? But, you know, it feels like the only problem with that, is that Merrill Kelly will get games that are backlocked games, simulated games. That will be how he gets that time once the regular season starts. So similar to this, is it kind of a, I don't know, like, is it kind of a bringdown, Damon, of going to the WBC and participating in that and then coming back and playing in spring training games? Like, you were just playing at the highest level of competition yesterday, two days ago,

three days ago, and now you're back to spring training games, where arguably nothing really matters. Yeah, I mean, I would assume it's for sure a difference in a switchup in, in terms of like what's going on with you. But at the same time, I feel like it almost just makes you hungrier for the regular season. Right. Yeah, like I wonder if you go out there now in spring training after experiencing the WBC and you're just like, no, I'm not, I'm not going back to like half swings or whatever.

Like now I'm in full in regular season mode and you're going to see me be like a lunatic out here on the mound against the opposing team or at the dish against the opposing team because now I'm ready for the regular season. Yeah. Yeah, I don't have too much more to add. It feels like it's definitely like let's let's get this thing going. Let's play some baseball that matters because obviously the baseball that doesn't matter is not as fun. Well, and obviously. Like it's obviously important to a lot of guys that still need time to get back into a groove, right? But just, you know, again, it's just interesting to me about the WBC guys.

Ildemarro Vargas, he's been doing extremely well. Vargy's been hitting 361. He's 13 for 36 with an 861 OPS. He has a couple of doubles, a home run, and 5 RBI in 11 games. So what's interesting is that he is also playing equally as well as Tim Tawa. and it feels like both guys are kind of vying for the same spot there. Tim Tawa hitting 303. He's 11 for 35.

He has a 1.003 OPS. He has three doubles, two home runs and seven RBI in 12 games. Both guys right there, right? I mean, feels like this is the 700th time of Vargas being on this team, but it finally feels like Tawa is kind of, you know, performing well offensively and kind of earning that role as well. Yeah, I have a feeling that Ildamar. Vargas is going to be the new Jace Peterson, new Emmanuel Rivera, where we're like begging them to not no longer give him at bats as consistently as he's getting at bats.

Jose Herrera is another great example. Like, just guys where you're like, oh, my God. Like, he's not helping. I don't care if he's a great guy. I mean, maybe that's unfair. I hope he proves me wrong. But I have a feeling that we're going to be sitting here being like, Tommy Troy's doing pretty good in Reno. Yeah.

Well, I mean, it is players like that because unfortunately those guys don't really get regular at bat. So they don't really get a chance to be an everyday player and have that, you know, get into that groove once again that you have to kind of be in as a baseball player. But Zabe forgot about Jace Peterson. Zabe, I got to be honest with you. How? I could never forget about Jase Peterson if I tried. Yeah, Damon dreams about him once a week. I wake up screaming.

Yeah. I call Derek in the middle of the night. I say it happened again. Yeah. And Derek knows exactly what that means. That means that I woke up like the undertaker, but full yelling. Yeah. Sweat dripping off his head.

I'm like, what happened this time? It was Jace. He was in the batters box. Jase Peterson getting World Series A-Bs. That's what's doing it to me. Jordan Lawler, by the way, he is hit safely in six of his last seven games, and he has made now 12 starts in center field. We've already said it, but he's found his home.

Right? I mean, that's where he's. going to play he'll probably back up again prodomo in some rare instances but even then it most likely is going to be who their infielder is right like i mean i don't feel like they're they're making any plans on bringing jordan lawler back to the infield at all based on the way things are going yeah i mean it definitely feels like there's more playing time available in the outfield right whether that's in center field getting at bats from alec or whether that's uh you know being in the infield uh in you know sparing opportunities when guys need rest but feels like starts are definitely more available

in outfield so it makes more sense absolutely absolutely but again it's just interesting because we know that he was a stellar shortstop and like again it's it's really just about i guess him playing as much as possible so it feels like him backing up you know multiple positions is his best shot essentially playing regularly once he had potential at shortstop stellar is Yeah. That's a lot of heavy lifting. Isn't that the best position he played, though? I mean, when he played in the infield for the Diamondbacks, he's been a little bit rough.

You know, he hasn't played very well. There's a reason that, like, Blaze was getting a lot more playing time than him, and it's because Blaze was a lot more reliable with his glove and, you know, how much that Tori values guys that can play defense. For sure. Especially at third base last year. That was third base. Yeah.

I'm talking more about shortstop for Lawler, which he really didn't get a chance to play very much of, but. Nor should he. Yeah, well, I mean, when it comes to Jerry, I know you're not going to give up your playing time. Or second base, though. Like, it's like it's that goes for the same. Like there's, why would Jordan Lawler get at bats over Geraldo Perdomo? One of the best performers in the lineup consistently for three seasons now.

Because it's not about getting that bats over him. It's because that Perdomo is not going to play 162 games, essentially. He should play 150? Yeah. I mean, he's going to probably play at least 140, right? So that's why I mean, like, it's, it would be a very limited sample size. But again, when you're carrying potentially Tawa and Vargas, maybe even both of them, you know, I doubt that they're even going to give Lawler those reps at any point in the infield if they have those guys available as backups. But someone said in the chat that he, Mighty Schumann says he's in left field today.

That's interesting. I like that better. I've been saying that for a while. We haven't heard that yet, right? Like, I don't think he's taking a single rep in left field, at least during spring training games. It just, that seems like the spot for him. That like it's, you know, he's been a little bit more of, you know, left sided of the infield guy, put him in left field. He's probably a little bit more comfortable moving directionally in that in that spot.

It's not as hard of a throw to make. You have Corbyn out there and right, um, locking right field down. And even though Jordan Lawler does have a pretty good arm, uh, but I feel like it's just easier to learn left field. The expectation is not as high. Yeah. And at Chase Field, we all know how, like, fly balls can get lost up in the air. And I feel like you need a center fielder that can track. And, like, I don't know if I want a guy learning on the job necessarily.

I don't know if that's a good fit. It's like Ketel playing center field. And they're like, oh, no, don't do that. Or when Pavin Smith played center field for a few games, you're like, God, no. I think anybody other than Alec Thomas makes Alec Thomas look so much better. Like Thomas makes playing center field look so easy, especially in those balls hit to the wall underneath the porch. And I just, you know, you see someone else play center field and you see how awkward it can be and how, again, how easy he makes it look compared to other guys in center field. But I don't know.

I'm kind of with you there. I definitely don't think anything is settled. And again, Lordus Gurriel's return, which I'm still hearing from people is eminent. and surprising, shocking is the words I'm hearing. Like people are still amazed that Lordus did this, what, September 1st? Wolverine. And he's going to be back before April 1st, right? So it's looking like that.

And I still like your theory a little bit that when Lordus initially returns, I wouldn't be surprised to see him DH to get in there initially before he gets time out there in left field. Jordan Lawler playing the outfield. They at least have the luxury of having someone, that they don't really have to worry about because so far in spring training, he's looked good defensively and he's looked good offensively.

We're talking about how Zabbe's pointing out this is a ladies chat today. It's ladies night at the PJX-D-Backs podcast. So good to see all the ladies here. Shout out to Candice, Zabe, Groundhog Mama. Ladies getting free. Ladies get in free on this podcast. Belis, super chats.

Yeah, yeah. $10 super chats for the boys. Anyway, you guys get in here. for opening day. We are having our watch party, by the way. In case you missed it, we are going to be out at Crybaby, having a great time. It starts at 5.30. Actually, doors

open at 5. The game starts at 530. We'll be taking on, as you know, the Los Angeles Dodgers with one Zach Gallon on the mound come opening day. Crybaby is located at E. E. Rod? People are asking. People are saying. People are talking. The streets are

talking. But again, come join us. We're going to have a blast. pre-game show and then we'll be hanging out watching with you guys they have huge TVs to watch food and drink available for purchase and you can RSVP for absolutely free

over at go phnx.com slash event and over there you'll see all of our events so make sure again you RSVP for that Ryan says I'm there Ryan we already knew you were there we committed you already

I believe we RSVP Ryan I don't know if you I don't know if you were in the chat still yesterday at the end of the show but I specifically I believe committed you to the event. So you have to be there non-negotiable, unfortunately.

Sorry. I hope to see all you guys there, though, for sure. I'm still not over the World Baseball Classic, though. I still had so much fun. We watched this Venezuelan team celebrate last night, and it was electric. It was electric. Still a lot of questions about Team USA. Mark DeRosa made comments about wanting to return to

manage this team. I have thoughts on that that I won't share. No thanks, bro. The one thing I think that I thought of after we wrapped last night is how we really shouldn't be surprised about this Venezuelan team, Damon. Because even though we are, understandably so, that they beat Team USA, they also beat Team Japan. And I don't think that's something that we have discussed really enough. like we were you know obviously excited about the favorite in this tournament getting knocked out and what it now meant for the remaining teams in the pool but we also hate otani yeah exactly but Venezuela beating japan 8 to 5 was really impressive and should have been kind of a you know like a signal to us that that this venezuelan team was not to be taken lightly especially especially with ronald akunya junior on that team hitting that lead off home runoff of yamamoto just to just to set the tone in that game. But we have a big victory first championship in the WBC in Venezuela's history,

first time appearing in the championship. And just an overall excellent performance there. Credit, where credit is due after they built that 2-0 lead, Bryce Harper hit that huge two-run, home run, scoring Henderson. And it was an exciting game. But the way that Venezuela came back, got that base runner. It was Luis Arise. Then they swap him out for a pinch runner who steals a base, setting himself up in scoring position. And then he scores on Gino's go ahead, RBI double. And, yeah, I mean, it was just a really well-managed end of the game for Venezuela there to get that run and to take the lead.

Excuse me. I am dying and pulling back the curtain. We have no water in this office right now. So I'm going to continue to die on this episode. But the bullpen, they just allowed the one swing of damage for Venezuela. Most importantly, Erod as the starter. He set the tone early. He shut down an elite lineup.

And he looked outstanding. Also, so did Daniel Palencia, the closer for the Chicago Cubs now. I'm sure he's the closer. He had himself a perfect ninth inning. Damon, there was a moment that they captured where this man had a tear in his eye before he threw the final pitch. Right? And like we tried to discuss last night and express how important this really is to these guys,

these players that are doing it for, you know, their country and just for all their fellow citizens, right? All their fellow countrymen. And this overall was just just showing. how big, how much this tournament means, right? You have a pitcher on the mound, tearing up before he potentially finishes off the game and wins, you know, closes the door on Team USA's chances of coming back and helps solidify the win for Venezuela. Just a magical moment in baseball.

It's crazy to me that that was like a situation where he could even, like, control himself to throw the pitch. You know what I mean? Like, he's right. He somehow is aware of the moment. from an emotional standpoint, but then, you know, he still throws like a strikeout caliber pitch against a really good hitter, you know? Well said.

I mean, yeah, because most people would fall apart feeling that emotion. And again, sometimes in order for you to get yourself through a moment like that as an athlete is to kind of not think about how big that moment is, right? To not put that pressure on yourself just to try to simplify it down to you doing your job right now in this minute against this batter and this is nothing more than just me facing another batter as I've done so many times in my career. Right?

But again, you're absolutely right. Knowing the knowing how big, knowing the gravity of the moment, knowing how big it is for Venezuela, obviously it showed, the emotion showed, but it was also very beautiful to see them somehow just dig down deep

and get that final strike. So shout out to Venezuela. Aggressive base running. and I mean, Team USA, honestly, their stars disappeared outside of Bryce Harper. That's the most surprising thing about this impressive Team USA lineup. Also, what's surprising is what Erod was able to do to Team USA. Eduardo Rodriguez retired 11 of the first 12 batters. He only allowed one hit.

He struck out Kyle Schwerber, Buxton, and Aaron Judge two times. and he finished with a four and a third innings pitch, giving up only the one hit, zero earn runs, walking one, and striking out four. It's amazing. It's amazing. And again, when you talk about emotion, when you talk about the feelings,

kind of bubbling up and showing it was, you know, Erod just with tears flowing from his face last night and the postgame interview and discussing how much this meant to him, how much this means to, you know, his teammates, and everything like that. So again, the World Baseball Classic is just absolutely beautiful and it doesn't need to change. I don't think. I think they've really figured some things out.

Implement the ABS system so that we don't have another prognomo strikeout situation. Maybe find a way to get more teams involved. Someone had a great Jack Fait on our last episode suggested that perhaps they do something similar with like 19-year-old kids that are, you know, playing in minor leagues, right? Like almost like the spring breakout game that they're doing where it's just featuring prospects. But a tournament that accompanies that particular tournament where you also have one where the

teams are sending like a like a futures team to a world baseball classic. I love that idea. The more baseball, the better. But the only problem with that is that kind of deplete everybody and then there's nobody playing spring trading baseball, which is that the worst thing? I don't know. But we're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we are going to continue to talk about Erod, and we're going to dive into his entire career with the Arizona Diamondbacks, take a look at exactly what has gone wrong, and maybe discuss if 2026 could finally be his bounce back season as a member of this team.

We're going to do that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PHNX Diamondback show. Let's hope that none of you are involved in this. But of course, the lawyer you hire does matter, and that's why the first lawyer you should contact is Mark and Alexis Breyer, the husband. husband and wife law team. Let's face it after a serious injury, you want to hire an attorney that's focused on your best outcome, not how much money the firm makes. That's the husband and wife law team. This team brings hundreds of years of combined trial experience and multiple certified specialists in personal injury and wrongful death, which in Arizona, the state bar has

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discuss. If you've had a serious injury, call the husband and wife law team first. at 602-78383841 or visit their website at the link in our show description and tell them PHNX sent you. And Healer Resorts, River Resorts and Casinos wants to help make your life better. They want you to drive into luxury, drive into excitement with their fabulous Corvette giveaway where you can win one of four Corvettes that they are currently giving away at one of their four casinos. Each casino has a Corvette they're giving away.

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Oh boy. Don't remind us, Mark, about how hot it's going to be out there at spring training games this week. They move these games to 610. Damon, does that make it any better? Maybe a little better. maybe not sitting in the sun is as miserable. Sitting in the sun in 80 degree temperatures can be kind of miserable. Yeah, it's a lot better without the sun beating on you.

Sure. I'll be real about that. But at 610, what's the temperature going to be? No, it's still going to be hot. It's still going to be hot, but you won't be sweating as much. You won't be getting sunburn as well, which is, that's all that matters. That's a key. That's a big key.

But another key to the Diamondback season could be Eduardo Rodriguez, somehow figuring out how to replicate his WBC performance. over an entire season. And I know that there's a lot of people that have kind of given up hope on Eduardo Rodriguez. Baseball is a weird sport when it comes to this kind of stuff because it is easy to discount a guy. It is easy to write off a player that struggles at any point.

I don't know if there's a sport where the end of a career comes as suddenly as baseball. Is that fair to say? I mean, other sports kind of require an injury to occur or something like that. I just mean as far as you being an asset to a team and being someone that helps a baseball team win versus suddenly not being able to get an out or not being able to hit the ball, it's just, it's wild how baseball is that kind of sport that the struggles could come suddenly out of nowhere and then that could be it for you. I hear you.

I think, you know, maybe in a similar sense, like golf might be a little bit like that. Yeah, that's fair. Of like a guy just might have it one day and then the next day he just never has it again. Or yeah, has it over the course of one year somehow wins a championship or something like that. And then or at least vise for a championship and then is never heard of from again because he's at the bottom of the rankings completely the next year, right? I do think that there's like, and I know you said from an injury standpoint, but like football players are just so in and out of the league that I'm sure that that's probably the true. the true answer to that question but i feel like again a lot of times i feel like injuries impacts that i just don't know if football players necessarily are really good and then really bad just suddenly out of nowhere

based on their skill set usually like running backs is a perfect example their careers can be short so short lived but a lot of times that's due to the wear and terror that is on their bodies not necessarily due to their skills diminishing right now in edwarda rodriguez's case there there might actually be reasons why, you know, he struggled and why he hasn't been able to put together a good full season for the Arizona. Diamondbacks, obviously, injuries have greatly impacted that. But taking a look back on his time with this team, Erod was the Diamondbacks big offseason acquisition first before Jordan Montgomery after the 2023 season, right?

This team experienced an incredible amount of success, made it all the way to the mountaintop, just didn't get the job done, and pretty much assessed. that their biggest problem was pitching. They go out, they add Erod on a contract, four years, $80 million. They do also add Jordan Montgomery close to opening day. And of course, the purpose of Erod was to come in here and bring a number two pitcher,

a stabilizing veteran to factor in right behind Zach Gallen. And then Jordan Montgomery gets signed, and it feels like, okay, well, now we have Zach Gallen, Jordan Montgomery, Eduardo Rodriguez. We have, you know, Merrill Kelly, things are good. And instead, coming off of that 2023 season with Detroit where he posted a 3.30 ERA, he gets shut down in March of 2024 and placed on the IL with a left shoulder strain before the season even began. And then he continued to experience setbacks with that left shoulder strain, the like oblique area, shoulder area.

There were some imaging done that showed a little bit of something. and Erod goes on to miss most of the season. He doesn't debut until August 2024 and he obviously never fully ramped up or could find rhythm between then and the end of the 2024 season. Shoulder injuries would kind of become a reoccurring issue here with Erod.

2025, he starts the season healthy-ish, but ineffective early on in 2025. and it's followed by another IL stent in May of 2025 where he's placed on the IL again with left shoulder inflammation, same shoulders 2024, which is a major red flag. You're starting to feel like perhaps ERA does not, you know, get healthy. And I think health has been the biggest concern of his tenure with the Diamondbacks. It's unfortunate.

It sucks that it happened, but it also sucks that the Diamondbacks have lost as many pitchers and players to health as they have. There's an alternate timeline somewhere where Corbyn Burns, Justin Martinez, AJ Puck, and even Erod never get injured, and somehow this team wins multiple championships and we're all the happiest fans we've ever been. But that's an alternate timeline that has been pruned by the TVA and we will never get to see that timeline. Instead, we have EROD opening up the 2025 season with a one and three record and a 7.05

ERA through his first nine starts. Yikes. he had command issues he was getting hit hard and then again eventually gets put on the aisle with another shoulder strain he finishes the season with some pretty terrible numbers and over 154 innings pitched i think we have his stat graphic for the full 2025 season erod went nine and nine in the season he had a 5.02 a 4.57 FIP which crazy enough was the exact same FIP from 2024, which almost feels like that's the exact picture he is. He had a bat pip of 333, which is not good at all, and he had 8.3 strikeouts per nine, which is pretty good. I mean, Erod's never had any problems with striking guys out. But as you know, if you've been watching the show, I won't shut up about the five-game stint that he put together before the end of the season. I think he had one start after this.

He did. And I left it out purposefully because it doesn't help my point at all. But based on his starts between August 30th, 2025 and September 21st, 2025, Erod went four and him. So four of his nine victories came in this 20-day span, essentially. This is 22-day span. His ERA was 1.84. His FIP was three.

3.37. His batting average against balls in play was 2.67, and his strikeout per 9 went down a little bit 6.44. I think that obviously a big part of that, especially the strikeout rate being down, is he was trying to get outs and trying less to, it wasn't focusing as much on those strikeouts. And, of course, that can be a big part of a team's or pitchers, you know, progression and step forward as they get into the later stages of their career.

But more importantly, the D-VACs won all five of those starts during that stretch. And that five-game stretch was against the Dodgers, the Boston Red Sox, the San Francisco Giants twice. And in fact, the Giants in the second game, they were the only team over that five-game stretch, I believe, to put up any runs against D-Rod. Seeing him the second time through in consecutive starts probably made it a little easier on them there. I think they put up five earned runs against him.

and that's where the 1.84 ERA actually comes from. And then the final game was against the Phillies. And he had one more bad start before the end of the year where once again he gave up 500 runs. But this stretch right here is what I'm choosing to focus on because not only was it late in the season when Erod was claiming that he felt better than he ever has, but it was also at a point where the Diamondbacks had a little bit of a change there

behind the plate. James McCann came in. James McCann seemed to be pretty. pretty effective with a lot of the pitchers in the starting rotation and seem to bring out the best in all of them at times. So I'm encouraged that perhaps a little different game plan, perhaps the change in philosophy as we discuss with Dan Heron departing from the team and the team looking to analytics a bit more to focus on their pitcher's strengths versus the batter's weaknesses.

Maybe we'll see the best out of Iran, 2026. This is a huge contract, four years, $80 million. and in order for things to turn around and in order for this deal to start looking like it was a good deal for the Diamondbacks, Rodriguez has to do it this season. I mean, we've talked about a lot of guys

having a make it or break it year. We've talked about Jordan Lawler, you know, we've talked about a few other guys. But Erod, I mean, he could come out and still have a good year in 2027 if that season even happens. And it would still feel like even if he does perform well that this contract was a dud.

But there's a real opportunity here for him to turn things around similar to the way he did in the second half of last season. And again, that's where things started to really pick up for him. You know, after the All-Star break, he went six and three. He had a 4.01 ERA. His stuff wasn't awful. His fastball command still seemed inconsistent, something he was much better with in the WBC championship game last night.

And his change-up was less effective over that stretch as well. Again, something that changed last night. we saw his velocity up a tick and again this is early in the season so when we're seeing Erod almost hit 94 miles per hour you feel pretty encouraged about his fastball velocity and what we could see out of him this year I mean the one thing you could say about him

so far with this team at least in the second half of last year was that he was available just not reliable and boy did he show flashes of greatness late but arguably and understandably not what you would pay 20 million million a year for. And I don't even know if that's the case. Like it felt like when we paid, when we got Iran, we paid him 80 million,

$20 million seemed like so much. But now here, just a few season later, $20 million doesn't seem like an outrageous amount of money to pay for a starting pitcher. If he can find a way to bring his ERA back to what it was with Detroit at 3.30, the Diamondbacks are cooking this year, you know, the pitching situation is going to be the X factor. I don't even think I need to say that as a,

I'm like, oh, here's a big revealing thing. Like, I think everybody knows that. The offense might take a step back, but I think this offense is going to be extremely potent, and I think this offense is going to be running on all cylinders. I have no concerns about the amount of runs this team can score. What I have concerns about is them needing to score a huge amount of runs just so that they can keep up with what the pitching staff is allowing.

Let's hope that's not the case. Let's hope we see these guys all take a big step forward. So far, Zach Gallen has looked incredibly good in spring training. We're seeing Ryan Nelson have flashes of, you know, what he was last year, even though he struggled in a couple of starts. And Erod last night again, you can't help but be encouraged by what you saw out of him on what is arguably the biggest stage outside of the World Series, right? Maybe the postseason, but it's up there.

and as far as these guys are concerned, they're playing for pride of country, it's probably equal to appearing in a game seven of a World Series. But hats off to E-run. I think so many of us just wanted to see him go out there and do a good job, maybe not look terrible. And instead, he was awesome.

So let's hope that he can figure out a way to be awesome for the Diamondbacks in 2026. Because if he is, you start to feel very good about this pitching rotation. So we're going to take a quick break. But on the other side of this break, we are going to talk a little bit about Derek Hall's comments from yesterday. We got our interview with Derek Hall and what changes were made around Chase Field, what he's looking forward to. Also, there's a little bit of magic around this team.

Errod forming in a WBC final, one of our starting pitchers. Same thing happened back in 2023. And it's also the 25-year anniversary of the Diamondbacks winning their only World Series. So maybe 26 is a little more special than we thought. We're going to talk about it on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. Well, now is the perfect time for you to get started on your next home project. I have a lot of stuff still to get done.

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Bonus bet wager excluded from returns. New customers only, 21 and over only. Time limits, minimum odds, and terms and conditions apply in app only. Boyd were prohibited. Well, Damon and I had a chance yesterday, along with our social guru, Emma, to go out to Chase Field and see what was new out there, including the food. That was mostly what we focused on, all the delicious food. Damon, there are still things that I'm thinking about that we saw that we didn't even get to try that I haven't stopped thinking about. Do you remember that there was like giant

corn dogs, right? Yeah. Did you see those like covered and stuff? They were huge. And they had like long corn logs. Yeah. And they had like like Cheetos and stuff on the outside. Like there is a lot of stuff that we didn't even scratch the surface on that's coming to Chase Field. As far as food is concerned, also the amazing giveaway items, which we'll talk about here. I'm going to give you a guide to promotions and how to know if you have to pay for it or if you don't have to pay for it. So we'll do that. But first we have Derek Hall, who we had a chance to catch up with yesterday. We discussed with Derek or at least asked him about the offseason improvements, as well as his thoughts on this team and maybe a little of the magic surrounding the 26 team.

here's my little chat with Derek Hall. Well, we are out here for one of the best events of the year. As far as I'm concerned, the what's new at Chase Field, and I know you're very proud about the changes you guys have made up around here, not just with the food, but obviously with the scoreboard and everything else. It's amazing. And when you see it all activated, just how great it looks and how much it's going to improve the experience and the engagement with our fans,

you know, we were always proud of that board. It's hard to believe that we had put that in like 2009, right? And so now the added LED ribbon boards, We replaced one we always had. We put a new one on the upper deck, and we have one over the press box, it's going to change everything. And to see our creative staff put it to good use today the first time.

I'm thrilled they're going to really enjoy it our fans. It looks amazing. And I know fan experience is a priority for you, obviously. You also were talking about, like, other small things. Like there's a new sound system outside and just everything to kind of make it, especially maybe if you're waiting on those bobblehead days, a little more pleasant.

I'm really excited about that one. I mean, you know, to have welcome messages from your players, your manager, the mayor, we're going to get everyone involved, whereas you're coming in. It really feels, I think, exciting to kids, to fans, you know, to come through the gates. The first time you see that ballpark when you walk through a door is amazing or through a, you know, front entry or you come through the retunda. But now it starts beyond that, right? It's always been, how does the parking attendant treat you? How does the GSR that takes your ticket?

Well, now you're going to hear fans and you get even more excited. I love that concept. Well, and also this team this year is the roster-shaping. up to be very good. We have so many guys participating in the WBC. What are your thoughts on this year's team and just everything that they have kind of up against them in 2026? Yeah, I think, you know, we suffered all those injuries last year, but they're coming back a lot quicker. And then Corbyn Carroll got hurt, but he looks like he's going to be ready to go. It's been tough to assess the team because we did have 12 guys in the WBC. Corbyn would have been 13. So we wouldn't

have seen him either. We lost our entire infield to go play in the Dominican or Puerto Rico. But I think if we can keep our heads above water, we have a good roster, we have great starting pitching staff, we have excellent offense. We're going to be able to hit the ball and score some runs, but we have to stay in this thing. We have really tough schedule the first six weeks playing all these contenders, you know, whether it's the Dodgers and the Tigers or the Phillies and the Braves and the, it's unbelievable. The Toronto Blue Jays, it's amazingly difficult. So we've got to hang in there. And when we start to get those reinforcements back in Corbin Burns and Puck and Martinez and Guerrilla, It's going to be like acquisitions at the trade deadline.

That's actually what we've been saying on the show quite a bit, is that it's like you know that there are trade deadline acquisitions coming. There's no doubt about it. It's just, you know, how much can this team kind of be in it up until then? And honestly, Tori has always struck me as the kind of guy that manages better from an underdog role like this. I completely agree. You look at us traditionally. Years that we've been favored, we've come up a little short.

When we weren't expected to do much, we shableness. the world. So I'm hoping that's one of those seasons because you look at what people are picking us, anywhere from third the division to fourth in the division. We think we're a much better team than that. I agree with you. Players love to play for Torrey, especially young guys that are given a chance they've done it this spring. I've loved seeing some of our prospects come up and continue to contribute night after night, day after day. It's been fun to watch. Yeah. And there's a little bit of magic here. I mean, we have the 23 season, which was the same year that obviously the WBC was played. Now we have it this year. We have a starter in the championship.

games just as we did before right and plus it's the 25th anniversary of the world series like so it does feel like there's at least some some positive things I hope so I totally agree with you we say that but there's magic in the air right so so let's hope we can strike strike gold again want to get back to the World Series and the playoffs and we came up so close the last couple of years after you know and 24 was a heartbreaker we were just a game out obviously and three three teams with a tiebreaker last year was tough we started to get back into it even even after we made all those trades at the trade deadline,

and it looked like we were just seller, seller, seller, and we were, but then our team played even better. Yeah. So this is the year. Let's hopefully turn the page, get back to our winning ways, and bring some excitement for the fans. Thank you so much. I appreciate you, always.

Always great to hear from Derek. And again, he is somebody who is a true fan of the organization that he is a part of, obviously. And he knows, just like many do, that this is definitely an underdog situation for this team. But again, this has been a fun team to watch. And I think the 2026 edition is going to be very fun to watch. My hope is that it's less frustrating, right?

Because 2025 was a very frustrating season when it came to living up to the expectations and living up to what we thought that team could be. So many of those blown games, so many, you know, so many games that we watched just slip right through our fingers. And, you know, again, it was a tough season. tough season but overall I think that what we're going to see this year is a much better team defensively a much better team as far as pitching is concerned and maybe just maybe they're still as good offensively as they were last year all these things can equal to this team having a winning year

and making it back to the yops that is all that is all we want deborahs is there a video or anything about the food oh boy is there Damon we got it we got a couple of uh we got a couple of videos coming for you, including an interview with our friend chef Steve, Steve Tilder, who is one of the most incredible human beings over there at Chasefield. And he talked to us about some of his favorite items. Damon got plenty of beautiful bean footage of all of the food out there. So we will bring you that. We'll have a little vlog that we put together for you guys on that. But we appreciate you guys so much for the interest. Obviously, Damon, I know that infrastructure-wise, things are going on well out there at Chase Field, but people still only care about one thing.

The food's great. New scoreboard's awesome. Ribbon boards are awesome. People just want to know about the air conditioning. That's all they want to know about. And I have no updates for you on that, unfortunately. But what I will say is it's definitely a top priority for this team. It's just far more expensive than us getting a new $4,000, $5,000 unit put on the top of

of our houses and having a dude with a crane come out and put it up and one day. So hopefully they'll get that fixed soon, but I do think that they've made actually some improvements to the system to help it keep up because I think that's really what it comes down to is the heat in this state is oppressive at times and it's hard for that air conditioning to keep up. So we should see a little bit, hopefully a little bit cooler chase field here in the future. But we're going to take a quick break on the other side of this break. we have one more thing to talk about, and that is a sudden vacancy at a stadium in Tucson. And I know Damon's going to have some thoughts on how we can fill it.

We're going to talk about that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere you're watching the PHN next time on the back show. Well, APS wants to help you manage your bill during these hot summer months. And I think that's the hardest thing on us as citizens of this wonderful state. When June and July comes around, our energy bills can spike. And in some cases, they can get pretty out. of control. But of course with APS, they can help you get your budget intact and they can do that with their new budget billing, where you will get an average of what your bill is throughout

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Once or twice? Yeah. Was it for more of your like your baseball career or was it to watch baseball? Early in my life, it was to watch the Diamondbacks and the White Sox play their spring training there. And then as I grew up, those teams. left and it was to play my own baseball there. No way. Because those facilities were wide open with no teams in them. We have the Kino's Sports Complex and the Kino's Veterans Memorial Stadium, which was home

to the Tucson Sidewinders, the PCL, for like a decade from 98 to 2008. And then also home to a few other teams that used it. Most notably, and most recently in May of 2025, we had our first. Mexican Pacific League team relocate to the United States, the Mayos de Navajo, based in Navajo, Sonora, since their inception in 1959,

until the end of the 2025 season, when they moved across the border to Tucson, to become the Tucson baseball team. They never even got a nickname, Damon. They never even got a mascot. They never even got an animal added to them. because before their inaugural series, which was scheduled to take place in October of last year,

October 16th through the 19th, they had to be canceled. The series had to be canceled since so many players and staff members did not have visas from the United States government to participate in baseball games in the United States. And now as of December 2025, the team has been forced to play all of their games in Mexico. They'd never even played a single game in Tucson.

on and now they will not be returning to the Keno Sports Complex, opting instead to relocate to Mexico. This feels like this wasn't very well thought through. Like, I feel like crossing an international border might have been the very first hurdle that you figured out before contacting the fine folks at the Keno Sports Complex and asking them how much a lease deal or how much a deal to put a baseball team there would cost or what it would have to do here, but I could be wrong, Derek, but I think that there were some like immigration laws that may have been changed that really provided a big hurdle. You are right about that. The U.S. consulate general in Hermosillo Sonora, Mexico informed the team that the B1, B2 visas were not appropriate any longer based on changes to policy for players.

Like I think when they when they made the decision, it made, it was going to work. but then there were changes made to immigration policy that made it where it was essentially impossible. Right, which is crazy. Also, though, I find it equally crazy that you're going to have fans, you know, like I understand, fans can cross the border. Mexicans can come into the United States, same way United States. Well, it was like the relocation. It was like the fans were supposed to come from Tucson. It was supposed to have the people from Tucson to be the fan base of this team.

But you're talking about a team that's been around since 1959 and now you're literally, creating like a conflict for maybe fans of theirs that want to remain a fan of theirs and come see the team coming to the United States and watch them here at home right like that's just a small thing that's just a small thing but more importantly keynote sports complex now does not have a baseball team damon and they don't have anybody to come play baseball there they have a brand new state of the art field they have some incredible stuff going on down there and I can't help but wonder if this is finally the time for you and me to roll out the red carpet and bring the Reno Aces home.

Brother, I've been pounding this drum for so long. It just makes too much damn sense. I know. It really does. And again, oh, oh, this guy needs a rehab start before we bring him back up. Why don't we drive him down I-10 for an hour and a half? And then he'll be at our AAA team. and then he can pitch and then we'll drive him right back up i10 an hour and a half and he'll be

right back home in phoenix like it's convenient as hell it's it's not just that but i mean it's the idea that there's there there is a certain heritage and lineage to having the minor league team in tucson right so toros sidewinders and then they took everything from us they did they took everything two of the hardest names in the history of minor league baseball the tucson toros and the Tucson sidewinders and they just cooked? I will say that I would have a hard time bringing certain other minor league organizations over. And this is no disrespect to the Reno Aces because I really do love the people over there. And it's a very well-raned organization.

They can come to Tucson. They can definitely move here, you know. But my point being, Damon, is that they just don't, like, there's just nothing exciting or memorable really about the Reno Aces. And that's my biggest problem. even when they had an opportunity to switch. I like the Michelotas. That's probably the best thing they've done.

But, you know, like the silver foxes and other things they've done. And meanwhile, everything that the Amarillo sod poodles are doing is incredible. The Hillsborough hops have a brand new stadium and the best logo and name in single-A baseball or perhaps all of minor league baseball. And there's nothing that needs to be changed about either of those organizations. You know what I mean? But there are minor league teams that are very forgettable, like the, Massalia, Raw Hyde, you know, or Reno Aces.

Why not put them in Tucson? Even at minimum? Yeah. There should be at least one team that plays in Tucson that is connected to the Diamondbacks. I agree. There's a stadium that is sitting there waiting for you. And it's the facilities I'm telling you, they're nice. Like, it's good quality stuff.

For sure. I was watching some videos on it last night. More importantly, the elevation in Tucson, 26, 200 to 2,700 feet. Meanwhile, Reno, 5,000 feet. Just saying. I'm just saying. Maybe our pitchers can actually have some success at a AAA level. I don't know.

I just want minor league baseball to be closer. I want you talk about sending the players down an hour down south. I want you and me to be taking a little road trip down south to watch the baseball. We're friends with our minor league teams. That would be probably extremely doable, some content with the Tucson minor league baseball team if that was one that could happen. But 2BMC does say that this is like the big Tucson thing is that when they made the Kino Sports Complex that it was like a disaster because there was nothing built up in that area at all. And now it's a little bit better than what it was because it used to be just dirt. And now there's at least like an in and out burger across the street.

That's all I need. Seriously. It's what Michael B. Jordan needed after he won an Oscar. It's what I need after a baseball game. So, I mean, that was always the issue is that in like high corporate. it, for example, is at Reed Park, which is like the biggest park in Tucson, some in the middle of of the city. Some people wanted it like more closer to downtown like that sports complex to be made closer to downtown so that it would be near bars and restaurants and whatnot. It is a little

bit further than that. And I think that that does present issues. But I also think that like you have a city of a million people. It just like it feels like from a number standpoint, you're just leaving some ability to maybe just market to your major league team on the board you're leaving ability to you know get i mean a fraction of those people could be a decent outing for a minor league stadium you would you would think well right you also have the fact that i mean few people are really taking road trips to reno but can you imagine how many diamondbacks players are going to take a trip down south to go watch a minor league team in tucson like you're there's a big difference there as far as having your fan base close and connected,

even if it's an hour and a half drive. Yeah. What about a Flagstaff team too? Would that be electric? Are we going to talk about the Bisbee Frisbys? Are we going to get down on Bisbee? Busby Frisbee. I just need a reason to go back to Bisbee.

What about Sedona? Let's go. The Sedona Sky Chiefs? I don't know. I don't know if we're picking that one. That was a Syracuse. They made them get rid of that one. But anyway, we'll figure something out.

But until then, of course, we thank you guys for watching baseball, loving baseball, and hopefully we'll have a minor league team in Tucson real soon. Even if it's not part of the Diamondbacks organization, I put this out to any minor league organization. If you are having problems at your ballpark, call the Kino Sports Complex. They have a vacancy available for you. But, of course, we thank you guys for stopping by.

We appreciate you. We love you. Your time is your most valuable commodity, so thank you for sharing a little bit of it with us. You can follow us on social media. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon Dog with a DAWG, and as always we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Thank you guys for stopping by. We'll see you back here tomorrow at 12 p.m. noon. We are off this time next week. next Wednesday, we have our off day in preparation for the season. Plus, I'm going to be hung over from my birthday. So we'll be back here one week from tomorrow for our opening day show and our opening day watch party. Make sure to join us in person for that.

Make sure to come back here and watch. And, of course, bring yourself back here tomorrow at 12 p.m. We'll be doing more baseball chat. So until then, hope you guys all have a wonderful evening. Thank you again for stopping by. Behave yourself, Deborah, and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so. so much more fun when Erod can replicate his WBC performance for the entire season.