PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Will Jordan Montgomery be TRADED By Diamondbacks This Offseason?

Episode Date: October 8, 2024

Things don’t seem to be great between the Arizona Diamondbacks and pitcher Jordan Montgomery. While it does appear Montgomery will opt in to his player option for $22.5 million next season, is it possible the D-backs will attempt to trade him this offseason? And what team would be willing to take him after he posted a 6.23 ERA in 2024? We also have more on Pete Alonso’s Playoff Pumpkin being another good luck charm for the Mets, MLB Postseason being closer than ever, and players from the Diamondbacks organization to keep an eye on during Arizona Fall League. Join Derek, Jesse, Damon, and Kevin for the PHNX Diamondbacks Show LIVE! An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ bet365: https://www.bet365.com/olp/open-account?affiliate=365_03330244 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and choose your offer! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Bluechew: Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code ALLCITY at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. That’s https://bluechew.com promo code ALLCITY to receive your first month FREE. Visit for more details and important safety information, and we thank BlueChew for sponsoring the podcast.. Zbiotics: Go to https://zbiotics.com/phnxdbacks to get 15% off your first order when you use PHNXDBACKS at checkout. Pre-Alcohol is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they’ll refund your money, no questions asked. Empire Today: Schedule a free in-home estimate today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details. Branded Bills: Use code PHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order! Mint Mobile: To get your new 3-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to https://mintmobile.com/diamondbacks. $45 upfront payment required (equivalent to $15/mo.). New customers on first 3 month plan only. Speeds slower above 40GB on Unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, & restrictions apply. See MINT MOBILE for details. Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Check out FOCO merch and collectibles and use promo code “PHNX10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items. Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code PHNX for 10% off! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I guess for trade, one slightly used left-hander doesn't work, but could be fun to fix. We're talking about potential Jordan Montgomery trade options on today's show. I know it sounds crazy. It probably won't happen, but hey, we got to talk about it right now in 30 seconds. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNXTBacks podcast right now on PHMX. Of course, we are sponsored by our friends at Bet365. Go download the Bet365 app right now. Use that code of PHNX 365 when you sign up, choose your offer, and find out.

know why it is never ordinary at 365. My name is Derek Monti, occasionally known as your mayor, PHNX. This man next to me is the one and only David Farrell, occasionally known as the people's champion. Yeah, we're going with that. And then down there is that trader, Jesse Friedman, aka the Thunderstick or Espo's running mate. I don't know what happened there.

We're still at odds, but that's mostly because we don't have Arizona Diamondbacks playoff baseball to talk about. So we're just very grumpy in general. It has been fun to watch the postseason. it hasn't been fun to miss the postseason. But talk about parity in Major League Baseball fellas. First time in division series history that the series are all tied at 1-1. We got that from this wonderful tweet from Sarah Slang,

who always, of course, has her pulse on everything in baseball. But this, again, is this just another example of how close MLB was this season? I guess. I mean, I don't necessarily know if this is, if this is sustainable or, you know, a sign of a trend in the game or anything like that, you know, people, I think a lot was made of the fact that there were no 100 win teams this year. And while that is significant, I also think that it was kind of an anomaly more than anything. Like, do any of us really believe that the Dodgers don't win 100 games if they don't lose like 47 starting pitchers?

Similar story with the Atlanta Braves. Like, if they're remotely healthy, I think, I think they probably coached. to a 100 win season as well. So I'm a little bit skeptical of the parody narratives at this point. I still think that there were a couple of teams, at least coming into the year, that had a lot more talent than some of the other teams in the league. But it's still fun to watch. Like as a sort of outsider in this situation,

there's been a lot of very entertaining baseball so far. Sometimes the division series are even better than the championship series and what we're seeing in really all of these matchups, it's going to be hard to beat in the next round. You're not wrong, but Damon, I mean, injuries happen every single year. And honestly, teams that you expect to be good can be disappointment every single season.

I don't know. I mean, I still feel like in a way baseball is very competitive right now. It might be due to all the injuries. I know that injuries are, we're rampant for the Diamondbacks and other teams, right? Like the Braves aren't probably aren't here right now, do the catastrophic injuries that they face the season.

Baseball is kind of, for me at least, in a weird conundrum where it's oftentimes like the similar big market teams are oftentimes, you know, always making the playoffs good. But at the same time, if you get into the playoffs, you're not like predisposed to losing to those teams, even though they were clearly better than you all season long. So it's kind of a weird sport in that regard. Like you just got to get into the dance. You know what I mean? And it's why Jesse doesn't like,

expanding it any further and doesn't isn't a big fan of it because like I agree like those big market teams yes that can sustain you throughout the season and it can get you to a division title or it can get you into the playoffs and make sure you're there like you said like with the dodgers almost every single year it feels like but as a diamondbacks fan that that's I mean like I agree with jesse like making the playoffs more or less exclusive is like kind of I mean I feel like it kind of degrades the season a little bit and you know it used to be baseball was so special because you'd win the pennant and then you'd go straight to the World Series. And that was a really cool thing that baseball did.

But as a Diamondbacks fan also, it's like, I'm glad it's not just division winners or a pennant because then we'd just be seeing the Dodgers do it every single season. And we essentially wouldn't have any shot of even making playoffs. So it is weird. And like you said, I mean, that's why it's so much fun to watch the playoffs.

Anything can happen. Everything is so close right now in the division round. Plus, you had the races come down to like the final series of the year for the regular season before we determined who was in the playoffs. So it's, it's just things are, are very close right now.

And it makes watching baseball in these, you know, playoffs a lot of fun. But, I mean, one thing that we did talk about is that baseball doesn't seem to have, like the dominant closers of, of the past.

And it's kind of the, there were a few. There were a few in baseball this season. And they all seem to be bad this postseason. They're all terrible. Yeah. I, I just think,

it's such a sign of just the nature of baseball and the fact that once you do get into October, truly anything can happen. I also think it's kind of unfortunate because it also means that there's almost no way to truly protect yourself from these kinds of outrageous things happening in the playoffs. Looking at some of the best relievers in all of baseball and how they've performed in October, it's pretty wild. A manual class A gave up a three-run home run yesterday, which was apparently the first three-run home run of his major league career, which is wild. And yeah, Class A now has a 13.5 ERA in the postseason. Granted, it's only two innings, but these are sort of the two innings that matter most out of the entire season. Devin Williams got just totally

hammered, right, in the previous round. That's kind of a big reason why the brewers are not playing baseball anymore, right? He had a 21.6 ERA, allowing four earned runs and an inning in two-thirds in that series. The Phillies, Matt Strom and Jeff Hoffman. I think those two guys, two of the best relievers in all of baseball. And Strom has allowed four runs in one inning, and Hoffman has allowed three runs in a third of an inning.

He has gotten one out, has an ERA of 81. And then even Edwin Diaz, who I think is generally pitched pretty well in the playoffs. He's been used a ton. But he also, you know, got hurt a little bit the other day as well. as well as now giving up three earned runs in two and a third innings in the postseason. So, yeah, it's kind of an unfortunate part of baseball in some ways because you want teams to be incentivized to go and get these types of players.

And when these types of guys go out there in the biggest moments and are terrible and statistically like some random guy from AAA probably would do better than what they've done so far, yeah, it just sets up kind of an unfortunate situation. Well, it's crazy because I think you look at this list, and these are generally a lot of the best relief pitchers slash closers in all of baseball. Yeah. Like I think Class A and Devin Williams, you could make a case those are the two best relievers in the game. And I, the reason that those teams are in the playoffs is in large part because of the performance of their closers all season. I mean, you're, you get, you know, 10 extra wins or whatever it is, like out of high leverage guys that are just shut down that are, you know, going to sustain it for all season.

But that being said, like once you get into the postseason, it's just a different animal, man. Like the leverage is is insanely high. It's higher than it's been all season long. You're playing the best of the best lineups. Right. Like it's it's just kind of a different situation. So these guys are they're so valuable to their team getting to that spot. But then the playoffs is just such a different animal.

No, you're absolutely right. And I also think this relates back to like the Diamondbacks and their struggles, right, this season. They didn't have that dominant closer. they didn't have someone that came in. And like you said, I mean, the win difference for them could have been as high as 10 if they had one of these guys. But at the same time, look at what is happening to the best relievers in all of baseball, you know, in the biggest moments so far this season, right? It just relievers are one of those things that at times is as good as they are, just like AJ Puck having his worst outing of the year when the Diamondbacks essentially needed him the most. Yeah.

It just never comes at a great time, and you always just have the idea here that those big pressure, those big moments that's going to change how a guy pitches, unless, of course, you have a good luck charm. And that's a very important factor here that not enough of these teams seem to incorporate. The Diamondbacks, they obviously had Tommy Fam as their good luck charm last year, and that changed things remarkably for them. Meanwhile, the Mets, they just have all of the good luck charms. They have all of them, which could explain why they're going on. this magical run that they currently are going on. Jesse, it started, of course,

with shortstop Jose Iglesias's hit song, OMG, right? Bangor. Just an absolute banger, a celebratory rallying cry after home runs, that he also performed after a game. And as Jesse pointed out to me, would only perform if the Mets won that game.

And the next thing you know, they have this OMG sign in the dugout that they're holding up, that it's just hard to avoid because you see it everywhere. MLB loves it. They put it on every single commercial that you can watch right now for baseball. But that's just the beginning of it. That's just the beginning of it. Because they also stole Grimmis from McDonald's.

I think Grimmis actually, I think the Grimmis first pitch actually predates the OMG. Oh, so Grimmis is first. Yeah. What about sending Frank the tank out as a counter agent as a spy to wreck other teams and to cause them bad luck? Does that predate grimace? That, yeah, I guess, I don't know.

What was the Frank the Tank day? I mean, that was just, you're just talking to the Diamondbacks. Frank the Tank went out to all sorts of teams around baseball. Sure. And destroyed their chances at making the playoffs. So it's amazing. The debacks, again, did start actually playing extraordinarily well after Frank the Tank visited Chase Field.

Because he only touched Paul Seawall. Yeah, Paul Seawald less so. Seawald was a victim for sure. Verbal meme, it feels like Frank the Tank is kind of like the Reaper going to each door of like the Mets enemies this season. Like I know he threw out a first pitch of the Brewers game. Metz obviously end their season. Met's kind of indirectly and the Diamondback season with their egregious lack of effort in game two of that double header. Like kind of feels like Frank the Tank is putting stink on everybody for his own personal gain, which is a power that I wish I had personally.

Meanwhile, Grimmis, who started out as a villain but became a baby face. Somehow is now replacing Mr. and Mrs. Met as the team's mascot. I don't know what's happening there. That shot cutting to him, holding his hand us over his eyes, was one of the greatest things I've ever seen in sports history. Like, genuinely, like, the greatest shot. Did you guys see that? Yes.

I don't know what you're talking about now. After the Phillies took the lead for like whatever time they did, because that game was so back and forth, they cut the Grimmis in the stands, and he was like this. covering his eyes. It was the greatest shot I've ever seen. I'll find it. I'll send it to Kev to pull up.

It's great. But now we have the playoff pumpkin that Pete Alonzo brought in. After visiting a farm with his wife in Milwaukee and bringing a pumpkin back, Pete said in regards to the playoff pumpkin, it's the playoff pumpkin. Nothing's more fall than playoff baseball and pumpkins. That's his reasoning for having it. It also fits in his hand. And that was another reason for bringing it into the clubhouse.

I don't know. what any of this magic means, but I do feel like it's just all great vibes. They're just exactly. It's all about like confidence and it's all about just having fun and playing baseball and not being all verclimped about it. It's probably to an even heightened degree, but it just makes me feel like how I felt last year. Like I look at the Mets and I'm like, man, the vibes are just so good over there and like they feel like a team of destiny. And it just, it's just kind of gross. It's gross that they made it over us like at the last minute and they had this crazy end of the season.

And then they're just like stealing our vibes from last postseason. And I'm just, I'm just so jealous and just disgusted to be honest with you. The Diamondbacks just couldn't keep any of their good luck charms because they didn't seem to actually be good luck. They brought Jesse Jr. on. Diamondback suddenly couldn't hit a home run. They had the best things would south.

They took the minute something goes wrong. They ditched the vest. The thing just gets ditched immediately. And I do, is that the answer? I mean, a good luck charm should technically bring you. good luck. So if you incorporate it and it does it, I guess you should cut its head off like they tried to do with Jesse Jr. Yeah, I mean, I think the Diamondbacks in general, they just seem to, they're just not into this stuff, Derek. Because they, because they are

powered by the power of friendship. And that's all that that's all the good vibes that that they need. I don't like my friends some days. I'm just saying, like you don't like your friends every day. That's fair. with the diamondbacks have gone on this same magical run that the Mets are going on like would they be the Mets if they made it or I mean was the end of the season like we don't know right but I mean it's hard it's a hard question to answer I don't I like I still don't feel it but then dating back to it once again last year it's hard to think back and be like yay we made the playoffs I think we're going to go do some things in playoffs no it it felt a little like this when they made the playoffs right where I'm doubting if with the way they were playing the final week of the season if they really would have any kind of a splash and I felt that way when they backed their way in last year absolutely yeah I wasn't like yeah they're going to go do it I was I was pretty I mean I was pretty couldn't I thought that they were going to lose to the brewers in the first round I honestly like I the thing it would fill me with confidence is the playing the brewers in the first round because they can't get out of the first round so I think

yeah the diamondbacks would have had a solid shot of winning that series uh as well and zach gallon pitched a really good high leverage game and his final start of the season. So I have confidence that he would have shown up. I have confidence. Merrill Kelly, he always shows up. It feels like to me at least.

So I think the Diamondbacks would have a good shot at being the Brewers. And then you play the Phillies and you know they'd be shaking. With the Diamondbacks coming into the bank, our home stadium, our home number two, there's no way they would have felt confident about that. Like I know they probably don't feel confident about the Mets. who are one of the hottest teams in baseball with all these great vibes who are division rival. Like obviously, you know, that doesn't, that's not an ideal matchup either. But I just, I have a feeling that Philly's fans would have been just like disgusted playing the diamondbacks after what happened last year.

It was an electric afternoon at the sports book in casino in the casino on Sunday. Let me tell you. There were some Mets fans that got very high and then very sad during the end of that game yesterday. But again, a lot of fun here. Don't really, I don't, I don't really feel like any particular team is standing out as being like, you know, better than the team of playing. Right. Yeah, it very much feels that. I will say that the third wild card spot in the National League is just like a ticket to the World Series at this point.

Right. I mean, that's that the Phillies did that two years ago. The D-backs did it last year. The Mets are in that spot this year. And it wouldn't shock me if they found their way to the World Series without they're playing right now. I mean, they had a legitimate shot to, you know, a couple nights ago to really. I mean, if they had taken both games in Philly, the series feels almost over at that point. So the fact that the Phillies were able to bounce back late and salvage a win at home was, was really big.

Keeps the series really interesting. But, yeah, I mean, even going back to going back to Queens now, I mean, it really feels like like anything could happen there. Well, we were, we're going to let MLB the show decide. on what the Diamondbacks fate would have been in the playoffs had they made it made it because we're going to do a pH and X plays Doing a fictitious 2024 postseason about the Diamondbacks and what they can't have real playoffs. We can at least yeah well video game playoffs This is what we'll have there you go we'll do post game shows and stuff. It'll be great We do we are not actually

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like button just for my own personal self-esteem. When we come back from this break, we are going to talk about the idea here, floated out there by Bleacher Report and Sports Illustrated about Diamondbacks possibly trading Jordan Montgomery this offseason. Is it possible? Is it something they can pull off and what team would even be interested in a slightly used left-hander with a 6.63 ERA? We'll talk about it on the other side of this break. We are thrilled, of course, to be partnering together with our friends at Sanderson Ford. Sanderson Ford is an amazing dealership for you to check out if you are in the market for a new vehicle or even if you're just thinking about it.

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Text next step to 53342 or visit problemgambling. AZ.gov. All right. Well, in regards to the Arizona Diamondbacks and what they might do this offseason, we do know that the big question is what kind of pitcher will Jordan Montgomery be next season. It feels like it is a fairly done deal that Montgomery will opt into his player option, which is a $22 million deal, $22.5 million deal.

And from that point on, we don't know. if the Diamondbacks are going to proceed with George Montgomery as being part of their starting rotation, or if there is a chance that they could pursue possibly a trade for Montgomery. Now, part of that would be a complete loss here, as we will discuss in regards to what they would have to probably do to eat a portion of that deal, Jesse. Yeah, I think we can, I think it's safe to say that no team is going to pick up $22.5 million. for Jordan Montgomery in 2025. And it's not exactly his market rate.

Unless, oh, just go ahead. I was going to say, unless it's like a Bronson-Aroyo situation where they're attaching like a first round pick to that. Yeah, right, which would be,

like personally, I would hate that. Yeah, this regime would never agree to it or something like that. So, yeah, you would have to get another team to eat a significant portion of money. How much that is is,

is hard to, say, I don't think it's necessarily like 21 million of the 22.5. Sure. Like, don't forget, I mean, Luis Severino, who is pitching big playoff games right now for the Mets, signed for $13 million this year. And he had an ERA of 6.65 last season. So it's not like if you have, you know, if you have some name credibility and you have a big time down year, it's not like your value goes to zero.

You still have some value based on the success you've had in the past. Jack Flaherty is another guy that didn't have a great ERA last season. Yeah, and also has been very, very good this year on a one-year deal. I think his was one year $14 million. So, yeah, it's not like if Jordan Montgomery were to decline his player option, which again, we don't think he's going to do. But it's not like if he did go down that road, he would get $3 million on the open market. His value is higher than that.

And I think theoretically, if you were to entertain trading him, you wouldn't have to eat 18, million dollars i think you could maybe find a deal uh where another team was willing to pick up not a lot you know but but maybe another team picks up eight million or something and the debacks cover 14 and a half or or maybe they'd be willing to to take even even more than that depending on on what the deal looks like so uh yeah i i mean i don't think the debacks are going to do this like i think they are interested in knowing what jordan montgomery could be after a full spring training correct They've talked about that. Mike Hazen has commented about that.

So I don't think this is something that they would seriously consider, but I also don't think it's a crazy idea, especially if the relationship between them and Montgomery is strained in some way. And based on what Ken Kendrick said on the radio the other day, I don't think that's totally out of the question. Right. It feels like it was an attempt to alienate Jordan Montgomery a bit. It felt like it was, I mean, we know Ken Kendrick at times says how he feels and maybe it's not a calculated move on his part for Jordan Montgomery to hear it and be upset about it.

He's not like a PR savant. Yeah, it was definitely. I don't think it was not a PR. No, but what he does is he speaks his mind and sometimes it's a very bold take. And in this case, what Ken Kendrick was trying to do was take the blame for Jordan Montgomery, the signing of George. Jordan Montgomery and how bad it's gone. Basically, he was saying it was his decision. And he kind of pushed Mike Hazen to do so.

But we talked about this last week, and we have Mike Hazen's comments here once again in regards to how that deal went down and how Mike Hazen takes responsibility for picking up Jordan Montgomery as the GM. Also, Mike Hazen's feelings on how Montgomery might rebound next season. This is what he had to say. Look. Yeah. Look, there's two things I want to say to that.

Number one is ideas come from everywhere, and I am ultimately responsible to say no to a lot of things or yes to a lot of things. He presents me with ideas and options sometimes, and Derek does and Ken does, and Fitz does, and Amiel does, and we kick around a lot of things. And ultimately it's my job to make decisions for this organization, and I believe he trusts in some of the decisions, and almost all the decisions that we make.

And that was a group process. And I understand why we made that decision at the time. And I believe that Jordan Montgomery is going to have a better year next year. And I think for whatever myriad of factors went into this year and it ended up the way it did, it didn't work out. It didn't work out. But I also think next year is going to look a lot different. I mean, Mike, right there, you know, obviously. he's saying very positive comments about Monty and he does echo some of the feelings we've had

about like how would his year be different next year? How much would the Diamondbacks potentially regret trading him or him moving on in any way if he goes on to be the pitcher they were hoping to get this season next year for another team? That could very well be the case. I don't believe there's any chance that he doesn't pick up that player option. So the Diamondbacks would most likely have to trade Monty in order for him to not be on the team this year. Now, the problem with that is who would take Jordan Montgomery? And I really think when you are talking about eating a part of the contract, that's going to be a necessity regardless of what the deal is.

But I do think that, and based on, like I said earlier, a Bleacher Report article and some other rumors, I guess you could say out there, some other... I would know if I would call them rumors. It's self-created rumors by other websites. speculation right we've reached the portion of the year where people are wild speculating yeah yeah absolutely no i i think the diamondbacks are going to get uh fernando tautis this off season there you go yeah that will be that as a headline we'll replace what we just did is that no but the reason why is because i think that there is that ability for two other teams to see jordan montgomery uh as a possible

deal to get back and that's teams that are familiar with him the boston red socks yeah and the texas rangers And the only reason why I say that is because when you had a player that caliber in your organization that pitch for you as well as Monty did for both of those teams, I feel like, or at least the way that the Red Sox felt about him this off season because we know that they were pursuing him as well. It just wasn't the right deal. I think maybe the reason that that Montgomery was so unhappy with coming to Arizona potentially was because he would have rather gone to Boston on a long term deal rather than end up here on the deal that he ended up won. But that's again, just me speculating. do think, though, that those teams that have a connection with him and a relationship with them would be willing to see that this year was more of an outlier and that possibly bringing him back home to one of those franchises would reestablish him as what he was previously. Now, they have an opportunity if the Diamondbacks were to pursue a trade to do it on a deal here, basically. And it might just be worth the risk there of committing money to someone that had a 6.63

ERA or whatever he had for the potential that he might, you know, come back and be the player that he was. The only teams to me that are realistic for a type of trade like this is a team that has money to spend, a team that is more of a big market franchise. I mean, I know the Rangers maybe technically you wouldn't consider them a big market franchise, but they've spent a good amount of cash in the season. They have TV troubles. Yeah.

So, I mean, it's just like a team that. If you were connected to Valley, do you have TV troubles? A team that could take that risk and it wouldn't derail their entire season by adding in $10 million to the payroll. You know what I mean? I don't think a team like the Royals, for example, would be of any interest to, like Jordan Montgomery wouldn't be of any interest to them. But a Red Sox, like a team that had interest last off season, maybe looking for him on a discount, I could see a world where that is somewhat of a viable option. And I don't know if they will trade him, but I do think that like two years ago, I would have said there's almost a 0% chance. But the Diamondbacks have shown in the last couple of seasons that they're a bit more of a cutthroat organization and in a little bit more of a win now mode than they had been in the past.

So with guys like Nick Ahmed and Madison Baumgartner, they've shown that they're willing to eat that ending of those contracts. And, you know, if that's what it takes, if they think it makes them a better baseball team. I mean, they did that with Montgomery this year by putting him in the bullpen. They essentially took the idea of, very true. We don't care about the money we spent. We are not going to sacrifice wins for this person to be costing the team the opportunity to win. Yeah. And I mean, I think the big question here with regard to a potential trade is do other teams view Jordan Montgomery as someone they can fix, right?

And do the debacks view Jordan Montgomery as someone they can fix? Because if they do, then they're probably not looking at trading him. They're probably very interested in seeing what he looks at. looks like next year after a full spring training. I do think, you know, we made the Louis Severino comp earlier, the Jack Flaherty comp earlier. Those situations are a little bit different because Luis Severino, for whatever reason, had a miserable season last year, even though he was still throwing like 97 miles an hour. His stuff, as far as I'm aware, did not drop off in an alarming way, whereas Jordan Montgomery this year, he had an ERA over six and his stuff did drop off, right?

there are tangible differences between his pitches this season and his pitches last season. And so I think his value is probably less than a than a Severino type because of that. Teams are always willing to pay for, you know, big velocity and stuff, even if, you know, the results aren't necessarily there. So, yeah, I think that's really what it comes down to. And I don't know where the Diamondbacks stand on that. I don't know where other teams stand on that. You know, maybe there's a consensus in the industry at this point.

that Jordan Montgomery is just not really someone that you want to, that you want to bet on. But I would imagine that there are some teams out there that still think he has a shot. And, you know, let's not pretend that Montgomery is the kind of guy who's relied on, you know, Velo. And he's never been that type of a pitcher, right? He's more of a command, like live on the edges, sort of a guy. I don't think it's all that hard to imagine a scenario where even with the diminished stuff, he could find a way back to being pretty effective.

Obviously one of the fixes is easy and that's just normal C2 is off season, right? Having a normal off season, being able to come into spring training, have your entire spring training be with the team and start a regular season. He had a chaotic offseason last year, was not happy with the way things went and then had to kind of start not only become a part of this team, but then kind of be relied on so heavily as one of the only two regular starter. in the rotation that was healthy at the time. Right.

So there is that. But there also is, like you said, there's things to, you know, for instance, these heat maps that we got, Jesse. Yes, yes. We love heat maps around here. So, yeah, I've done some work trying to figure out what went wrong for Jordan Montgomery this year. And there's a whole lot there to sift through. We mentioned a couple of things on the show yesterday. We mentioned how Jordan Montgomery actually generated a ton of whiffs.

early in counts this season, but as it bats went on for whatever reason, he, like, he just couldn't put guys away. And that's why his strikeout rate was, was so incredibly low. He actually, his overall swinging strike rate was actually higher this season than it was last year. He generated swinging strikes at a higher rate in 2024 than he did in 2023, even though his ERA basically doubled from last season to this season. So there's a lot of kind of weird dynamics at play here. He also got more chase out of the zone. He got more. He got more. more swings on pitches out of the zone. He also got more, had a higher whiff rate.

So it's not all bad if you look at some of the underlying numbers here. One thing that Montgomery did really struggle with, which I kind of alluded to earlier, is putting guys away. Once he got guys to two strikes, finding a way to either end the about with a strikeout or end the about with some sort of soft contact. And one way to look at this is to look at his two strike pitches from last season versus this season and kind of see. what they look like from a location standpoint.

So we start from, we'll start with last season. So this is what Jordan Montgomery, this is his heat map, to locations of pitches with two strikes last season. And then if we flip it over to 2024, it looks like this. And so there are still some pitches in good portions of the strike zone. It's not like, it's not like he threw everything right down the middle. But you see a lot of bright red in the middle. of the zone here, right? Like pitches that you don't really want to be throwing with two strikes.

So there's clearly a command element. There's clearly a just pitch execution element with two strikes specifically that kind of held him back this year. He also gave up a lot of walks this year, which I think you had a career high. Yeah. Walk rate, well, close to a career high at 3.4 walks per nine. And I mean, like you said, that that was him getting ahead in those counts. and then not being ahead. Yeah, he was, he was decent at getting ahead, but he did he did falter in that area as well. Last year, his first pitch strike rate was about 65%. This year was about 63.

Last year, about 48% of his pitches were in the zone. This year, that dropped to 44. So he did get more chase out of the zone, like I mentioned, but he probably needs to be in the zone a little bit more as well. So he needs to be in the zone more. and he also needs to execute two strike pitches better. I'm sure there's a whole lot more to sift through here. I'll probably do more of a deep dive at some point.

But if you're trying to fix Jordan Montgomery, those are some of the things that you're probably looking at. El Gai on the chat says, what will they get in return a thank you card? Pretty much. Well, I mean, that seems like a lot. I feel like you're asking for a lot. Like, is this a premium thank you card where you go out and purchase it

or is this like one of those ones where you have a hundred of them kind of laying around just says thank you on the front and it's blank on the inside I was kind of thinking one of those ones that like it's just like it has a message on it already and then and then whatever team yeah just like like red socks yeah and that's like that's just the whole that's that's all they did like they just put a dash little smiley face or is this like when your kid gets you like a like a best dad in the world yeah like are we just making our own that's a lot of effort though like yeah they're not that if you're making a thank you card from scratch that's showing that you care

and that you feel like you actually got a lot from that person. I take a ham sandwich. Maybe you get them the wrong thank you cards. This feels like you get them like a happy anniversary thing. You know what it feels like? It feels like you got someone a thank you gift and now they have to get you a thank you card. Like when does the thank you stop by giving away Jordan Montgomery? But I think on a slightly more serious note along those lines,

if you were to actually trade him, yeah, like the return might be extremely minimal. if you're just if you're just picking up the smallest amount of money possible to where the other team will take the deal right but there also could be another world where you where you eat a little bit more money than the other team you know maybe other team would be willing to help you on more but you're like no we'll actually kick in a few more million dollars and then we'll we'll try to actually get some sort of prospect capital in this trade i don't know if the debacks are in position to uh you know just try to to get off Montgomery's contract as best as they could. I mean, I guess that's a viable strategy. Like, you're not at all concerned with the return in the deal. You just try to get another team that will eat as much money as they're willing to, whatever that number is. And you take your $7 million of savings or whatever it is and run.

But there's a few ways they could approach that. That seems crazy to me, though, just based on the fact that we have no idea what kind of pitcher Jordan Montgomery is going to be next season, right? So it feels like the risk of that. If you're not going to get anything back aside from cash considerations to his contract that you'll still be paying the majority of anyway, you might as well kick the tires on him next season. And then if things don't work out, you can abandon ship quickly, much like you did with Madison Bumgardner when things didn't work out with him. It's just an unfortunate route you want to go down.

And I think I have to cancel myself from the show for bringing up he who shall not be named just now. But I will also say like the Diamondbacks don't need Jordan Montgomery with the way Ryan Nelson pitched this year and the way that their starting rotation is set up. The only reason why they would need him is depth, which again, if they do bring him back, I don't know how that would factor in. And if Ryan Nelson would now, in fact, be the odd man out of the starting rotation once again based on him returning, right? Like Ryan Nelson pitched so well that I have a hard time believing that he is now just considered the throwaway here out of the starting rotation if they bring Jordan Montgomery. back so there's that as well like they don't need a sixth starting pitcher theoretically i say that after i just watched what happened this season of this team so that's probably a dumb statement to make yeah i i think what what you described is the reason why i don't think the diamond backs are

actually going to to trade montgomery or maybe even really consider it the the the upside for dealing him is not all that high right it's probably seven eight million dollars maybe that you could that you could save in the process get get another team to help you out a little bit. Well, I think that upside lies in the fact of like that $8 million could potentially help you re-sign a Christian Walker. Yeah. That's where it comes to that.

If that's the difference there, then absolutely you could make that case. On the flip side, it would kind of suck if you traded Jordan Montgomery to save seven or eight million bucks. And then he goes out and, you know, has a three and a half ERA for some other team. I, you know, I'm not sure you're expecting that after the season he just had, but it still feels possible. It does. We do see team.

We do see guys who have strong track records just sort of turn in a total dud. And then they find a way to write the ship the next year. So you'd have to at least consider that possibility as well. It's crazy because in the last four years, right, he hasn't had an ERA over four. Yeah. You know, 3.8, 3.69, 3.11, 3.20, 3.42. And then last year with the Rangers, 2.79. And then Diamondbacks, 6.23.

It's the curse of Arizona sports starting pitchers. God, I can't stand it. Well, I will ask you, how much do you think a new pitching coach could impact him at this point? Like, don't, again, that might be a good reason to not even consider trading him because you don't know how that individual you hire might impact his production and bring him back to where he was at. Yeah, I mean, I think the organization needed maybe just a little bit of an injection of new blood in terms of the pitching situation given how last season went.

We all love Brent Strong, but I know there's been some, there's been some speculation, rumors that, that maybe like there were people that didn't, like weren't really taking his direction as well. I don't know that Jordan is one of those guys, but.

Well, some guys have been around him for a while. And I can imagine if he, if it's been ineffective, you have to continue to put up with a very, I don't know. I mean, I don't, I don't know his approach enough.

But like, I still think, of like someone approaching me with a binder on me and how much I would run in the opposite direction of doing that. If Espo was like, let's talk about the last three years at PH&X and pulled a binder out of his desk, I would quit right then and there in that moment. I don't want to know what's in that binder, you know? I don't know.

Yeah, I get that. I mean, I, it's possible. I think, you know, we're sitting up here and we're trying to think of every possible scenario to make Jordan Montgomery better, better than he was last season. And they're all decent ideas. is that I'm sure the Diamondbacks are working through. But yeah, I just to be honest, I think maybe just the biggest impact would be potentially just having that spring training, having that off season with a team and going from there.

Because like Jesse mentioned and like you were reading off his stats, like he's been the model of consistency throughout his career. Yeah. It's possible this is just a one-off situation or it's possible that he's just completely cooked at this point. So I guess we're going to see. We do things based on the power of friendship. around here.

Yeah. It took him a while, but he found his friends in the bullpen. And I don't think he needs to stay out there. But I still love the idea of that Jordan Montgomery as a starting pitcher next year still goes and hangs out with the bullpen. I just, I love that idea. But I don't know, Jesse. I know Brent Straw made some comments not too long ago that kind of were interesting now

looking back on them based on the fact that the Diamondbacks have moved on from him as pitching coach. Yeah, yeah. And this is something that I'm writing. about right now. Yeah, either at some point this evening or early tomorrow, I have about way too many words. I think it's like 3,000 words that I've written on the Dynabaks pitching staff this year and a lot of the things that have gone wrong. So be sure to check it out when it comes out. But as a bit of a teaser to that, one of the quotes in the story, which is

something that I think you may be alluded to on the show before, but we've never actually talked about it in detail is this quote from Brent Strom which I sat down with Stromi in Colorado so this was a couple weeks before the end of the season just talking about some of the the pitching trends that he was seeing and why this season was was so much of a struggle on that point and here's what he had to say he said I had a feeling that regression might take place with some people although it's just normal there's some major issues I think that need to be addressed is there another is there another part to this, just that, okay. Yeah, so, yeah, and he basically went on to say that he didn't want to go into details,

at least on the record, he didn't want to discuss exactly what he was talking about, but it's pretty clear from that quote that, yeah, there were some issues behind the scenes. We don't know exactly the nature of those issues, but Strami was clearly not happy with the way that things went. I know in Nick Bacoro's story over at the Arizona Republic the other day on, Brent Strom and the Diamondbacks moving on from him. He mentioned that Strommi had maybe some strained relationships with certain guys on the team or at least not ideal working relationships with guys on the team.

That seems to be a factor here as well. So there are some stuff kind of going on behind the scenes or that went on behind the scenes that contributed to what this was for the debacks, which is one of their worst pitching seasons in franchise history. Well, and yeah, like I said, that's one of those situations where, unless you're talking about an illness spreading amongst the pitching staff. Any kind of wide spread issue is a bit concerning, you know, like, and I don't know exactly what that could have been.

I know that there was, I know there was a lot of talk about the way that the Diamondbacks pitchers were kind of shying away from attacking the zone when they were ahead in the count. And that did seem like a little bit of a widespread issue, but I don't know if that's necessarily what Stromi was getting to there. So make sure to check out Jesse's article, because he has some wonderful things on the way. And of course, if you haven't had a chance to sign up for a diehard membership,

do so right now. You get all sorts of wonderful benefits, including a free t-shirt or hat of your choice from the PHNX Locker.com. You get access to all of our premium content, including our upcoming shows like D-Backs After Dark with me and this guy cursing a whole bunch, or ask Archie where he'll be cursing the whole bunch. Basically, we're just bringing you a bunch of cursing as die-hard benefits.

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So I hope you guys are excited for that. We're going to talk a little bit more in detail about some of the guys you should be watching from the Arizona Diamondbacks organization here on the other. side of our break, so don't go anywhere. Unless, of course, that place you're going is Circle K to get yourself a drink. Circle K is America's third stop. And right now, you can get yourself some free drinks by joining the Inner Circle for free, by downloading the Circle K app today.

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They're not Circle K. Not Circle K. Forget it. I'll just stop at Circle K on my way on my little road trip back, which I did, got myself some drinks. So make sure you do the same. Terms and conditions that apply at participating locations, visit CircleK.com for details on all that. Also check out our friends at Shady Ray's. The future might be bright for the Arizona Diamondbacks. We won't know until we get actually in the free agency season. But you do got to plan accordingly if you live here in Arizona. You got to get yourself a good pair of shades. And you can get some of the best premium polarized sunglasses you can find with our friends at Shady Ray. They are an independent sunglasses company offering a world-class product that doesn't cost you nearly as much as some of their competitors. They have durable frames, crystal clear optics, and hundreds of styles for you to choose from.

They also have the craziest lost and broken replacement plan in all of eyewear, where if you lose or break your Shadyrays, even on day one, they will send you out a brand new pair, no questions asked. So check out Shady Rays exclusively for our listeners. Shady Rays has given out their best deal of the season. Head to ShadyRays.com and use code P.HNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated five stars by over 300,000 people. There's been some rumors that former GM, Saul Bookman, may have stolen our office Shady Rays, but that's where the broken and lost replacement goes into it. If your GM takes your entire box, your entire shipment of sunglasses, just contact Shady Rays and they'll send you out maybe one or two new pairs.

I don't know. Why does Saul need all of those sunglasses and how does he still have access to our mail? just despite us. We have to change the keys around this place. We have too many. We have too many keys still on the loose. But, uh, well,

we are converting to the fall guys once again because it is time for Arizona fall league. And we're excited about it because, you know, last year we were too busy covering playoffs and world series runs. You know? And we miss that on all of this ball league fun. Guys.

Guys. I think it's a, I think it's a worthy trade. Right. Derek? You would rather be in the baseball send scenario that is sitting in the front row at Salt River Fields. I put my feet up. There's no sounds.

Just the crack of the bat and the ball hit in the mitt. And it's the best audio you can get anywhere. The fall league is it's like my way of ringing in the nice weather in the valley because you kind of start and it's still pretty toasty outside. And then by mid-November when the fall league is over, you're bringing jacket. It's out to the out to the ballpark every night. Well, nights are nights have been pretty nice recently. So if there's night games, that's debatable, Damon. I don't think we can say anything positive about the Phoenix weather situation right now.

When the time for the day is still 93 degrees. It is not nice at night. But it will be soon. It will be soon like next week. We're getting into the 90s and then the 80s. And I'm sure it'll only be around for a week and then it'll be 115 degrees again. But he's right. It's great to go out to fall league games at night.

It's just great to go out to games in general. I think this year, though, is one of the most exciting seasons. I remember as far as being able to watch Arizona Diamondbacks prospects on the Salt River Rafters because they have all the guys that we want to see. And I mean, even some guys that we know very little about and are very excited to kind to get a glimpse at in game action for the first time. I will say that because of the Arizona Fall League, we knew about J-Mart. We knew that Justin Martinez was going to.

We didn't know if he would throw strikes in the big leagues, and that did prove to be a bit of a challenge at times. But when he was in the fall league in 2022, it would have been, he was just blown away guys and in showcasing that crazy splitter that we've seen and, you know, throwing 100 miles an hour and whatnot. So it is really, really cool. And we talked about it some on the show yesterday. What I wanted to do today is just dive a little bit deeper on a couple of these guys. we kind of had to rush through it a little bit on our show yesterday. So here's a list, once again, of all of the Diamondbacks participants. A couple of guys that I want to highlight, Tommy Troy is definitely the biggest name for the

D-backs. Yes. In the Fall League this year, he is one of their top prospects. It kind of depends on which list you look at at this point where exactly he lines up. Everyone has Jordan Waller, number one. Troy is somewhere in the top five. I think that's a consensus. It's just sort of up for debate where exactly he lands.

This was a really rough year for Tommy Troy. He wound up playing in just 72 games overall. He had a groin injury that came up, I think, in spring training, and he didn't really address it in the way that he needed to. So it sounds like that kind of lingered for a while. And then once his season did get going, he was struggling a bit for not very long at all. and then he wound up missing a couple of months with a hamstring injury,

really brutal hamstring injury. He missed quite a bit of time for it just being a hamstring. So, yeah, he finished the year with a 666 OPS from conversations that I've had with the Diamondbacks Farm Director, Sean Larkin. He basically tried to make up for his last time in every bat. After he returned from the injured list, he was trying to get three hits with one swing. It's sort of the way that it was described to me. and then down the stretch toward the end of the season, mid-August and beyond,

he actually put up really good numbers and finished the year strong down in High A Hillsborough. So for Troy, this is an opportunity to get, you know, to get some reps against high-level competition. He's going to be in there against a lot of double-A and AAA pitchers. And it's also an opportunity to just make up for lost time, having missed those two months during the season. So he is probably the headliner for the Diamondbacks. I mean, their first round pick from last year,

be really interesting to see what that looks like. Do we know what position he's going to play, Jesse? I think he's going to play second base. The D-Backs made the decision. They drafted him as a short stop. He stuck there for a while, but they made the decision in the final months of this season to convert him over to second base.

And yeah, I expected that's where you'll see him play, at least most of the time in the fall week. And I'm sure there is a lot of time we're going to spend on a lot of these guys that you say, you know, Tommy Troy is the main event there, but this would be by pro wrestling comparison, a stacked card, Jesse, because he is not the only one here. And there are a lot of guys here that I think absolutely are going to be fun to watch. And there's a lot of good storylines. Obviously, similar to Tommy Troy, you have Gino Groover, who was a high draft pick and a guy a lot of people like.

And then there's Yumen Lin, who we have highlighted here, who obviously is going to be a huge draw. A lot of people can't wait to see him pitch. is going to be moving one step closer this season to becoming a part of the Arizona Diamondbacks roster by being AAA Reno. But there's also a lot of guys that are interesting storylines that aren't necessarily those top prospects

that we know are kind of the future of the organization. You do have Christian Robinson, who obviously has had such an erratic career with the Arizona Diamondbacks, a lot of ups and downs. He's back with the team. He's in AA and he will be, you know, part of the fall ball team this year.

He's an interesting story to watch. And then you just have some of these other guys like Philip Abner from High A, who's a very good pitcher, but missed a lot of times this year, but had an amazing season when he was pitching. Yeah, I also think Kyle Ament is another name to highlight. Talked about him briefly yesterday, but he had just some really big swing and miss numbers. You look at Amense. He's a reliever, right-handed reliever, 24 years old.

Um, his numbers and he started the year in, in Hillsborough. He had a 0.68 ERA there with 27 strikeouts and 13 in the third innings. Wow. I know it's high A, but that, that's like, that's more than two strikeouts an inning. That's pretty ridiculous stuff. And then he went up to Amarillo. Uh, his ERA was 289 there, which is very, very good for that level. 30 strikeouts and 18 and two thirds innings.

So still running a really, really high strikeout rate. Um, and then he went to Reno to finish. the season. Not as much success there, a 5.25 ERA. His walk rate skyrocketed. He had 14 walks in 12 innings that really held him back. But even there, he still had 18 strikeouts in those 12 innings of work. So I am fascinated by him because now that he's actually, or he reached AAA, I was able to look up some of his pitch metrics and whatnot. And I was expecting like, all right, this guy probably throws, you know, 96 with like an 85 mile an hour slider, right? He's your prototypical reliever who gets a lot of swing and miss.

Maybe the command isn't really there. But what I saw was a very unique pitcher. A MENT throws a cutter more than any other pitch. He threw a cutter in AAA about 60% of the time. He also throws a curve ball. He used that about 25% of the time. And he has a four seamer and a slider as well. And both the cutter and the curve ball got a whole bunch of swing and miss.

And he doesn't really throw very hard at all. The cutter averaged, I believe it was right. around 90 miles an hour. So he's not really a hard thrower. He has a, yeah, a little bit of a different way of attacking hitters. I'm just very fascinated to see what that looks like. Like how did this guy rack up these kind of strikeout numbers and the minors when, you know, he's not really throwing all that hard and, you know, he's throwing a cutter most of the time.

That's not usually a huge strikeout pitch necessarily. Well, and it's not just that. He was also, he was a ninth round draft pick in 2003 out of Dallas Baptist University. Go Patriots. And then you have him come up and he moves through the minor league system in a crazy speed, right? We talked about Corbin moving through fast. But this guy went through the entire minor league system since being drafted in 2023. And here he is in AAA.

So he has a great arsenal. I mean, he looks like he throws four pitches technically. You're not going to really sometimes get that until guys really make it up, you know, to this level. So it's going to be interesting to see how he can impact the Diamondbacks main roster next year. You also have the fact that he's rule five eligible in 2026. A couple of those guys. So, I mean, it's just something to consider. I know that things have kind of gone, at least luckily, the Diamondbacks way in regards to Rule 5 draft guys leaving and coming back or whatever the case may be.

Hey, Jim. Thanks, Ray J. Puck. Still, yeah. Yeah, I think, you know, a lot of times you see teams put guys on the fall league roster, because they are Rule 5 draft eligible. They want to get them the scene out there, right? Well, you really just want to know, like, is this guy someone that I'm going to put on my 40-man roster and protect?

Or is this someone that I'm okay if they are selected in the Rule 5 draft? So that's not an issue for a man, as you said, he's not eligible until 2026, which leads me to believe that including him on the fall league roster, I don't believe he missed time, at least not a considerable amount of time during the regular season. So I think this is about like this guy could actually impact the Diamondbacks bullpen next year. And they want to see what that looks like against some of the best minor league competition. I mentioned he did hit a bit of a speed bump once he arrived in AAA this season.

So maybe he's able to write the ship. And maybe he's going into spring training next year, trying to earn a spot on this scene. I know we talked about it yesterday a little bit. But I expect the back end of this bullpen to look a lot different. And this is definitely a guy that you would look at as a potential factor into next season where I mean, you could say that about a lot of teams in baseball. Like I don't think any, I don't think there's really any team that's like we're bringing back all our worst relievers from last season. But he is an intriguing prospect for sure. And all of that stuff that you laid out is incredibly interesting.

That just reminds me about how some of the relievers like said goodbye to me when on the last day of being in the clubhouse and how some of them were literally like it was good. knowing you. Like some of the relievers are like, yeah, I ain't coming back. And I'm not going to name names, but my God, it was a sad moment because some guys are unsure of their future. And you're right, because of the way things went, especially if I was part of the bullpen. And my name wasn't AJ Pucker, Justin Martinez. I don't know how comfortable I would feel. I respect my man's Kevin Ginkle. Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry, but I'm just saying. How dare you. I mean, you know that, right. There's some guys that you can, you can pretty much write in pen for the 2024 bullpen a j puck ryan thompson kevin ginkle um joe mantiply i think would

be in there as well justin martinez would also be in there so but but there are some there are some open spots there as well i i don't think the debacks necessarily are locked in to to anyone beyond those names so there is some opportunity here for for a guy like a meant to step in and you know i'm not necessarily expecting it like he was a ninth round pick just last year he might still need a little bit more time but he's someone to keep an eye on for sure but you alluded to it earlier and that is that this diamondbacks team is only going to get better through draft picks and through having young players in the organization come up and be the stars of the future it's it's a vital part of this organization continuing to keep pace in a national league west and one of the only ways they can truly build a winner

is with the young players that did it last year continuing to come up through the system and and aid this team. That is why this is so much fun. Go out and make sure to catch an Arizona Fall League game we will be out there so if you are out there make sure to say hi to us. Speaking of which Stefan Carey who is calling some Arizona Fall League games will be

joining us in the studio on Thursday so we are always excited to have our guy back of course voice of the sod poodles as well as Arizona Fall League and just a all around good dude. A very handsome man just without especially without comparing him to his brother and

how much they look like like yeah that his handsomeness gets to stand on its own but baseball royalty yeah absolutely baseball royalty Ryan makes a good comment here in the chat he said what happened to Ryan's dogs bro yeah you didn't even mention Ryan Thompson I thought you were one of Ryan's dogs I mean I am

Jesse and our both his dogs and I mean we are and we'll always be Ryan's dogs bark bark but of course we don't know what the future holds for anybody really I mean Jesse's right a lot of those names you could probably write in ink but of course Maybe, maybe Bryce Jarvis. I'm not, I'm not totally sure where if he would be like guaranteed a spot going into spring training.

He did have a low ERA this year, but some of the underlying numbers there were not, not so great. Will Dre be participating in spring training? That's it. Yeah, I think Dre as far as I'm aware, should be ready to go. I'm going on in my blood right now. I mean, the D-backs could, they could try to bring back Dre. as a starter. That was a question that was asked at one point during the season.

Tori didn't really have an answer, at least at that point, what their plans were with him. My guess is that you just... What you're saying is that they forgot about Dre? No, no. I mean, I don't think so. Tori... Tori basically just said he hadn't had that conversation yet or something along those lines. It was just a song title.

I just needed to do it. I know. Do me a favor. Tell Ryan, I love him. I miss him and I'll see them for Survivor series when we watch it together. In the meantime, we thank you guys so much for joining us. We'll have more tomorrow at this same time. So make sure to come back.

Until then, we hope you guys all have a wonderful evening. You can follow us all on Twitter. I'm at Cap underscore K-Man with a K. This man next to me is at Damon Dog. That's D-A-W-G. We were Damon's dogs. That man over there is at Jesse and Friedman. Of course, the man on the ones in Tuesday is our guy, Kevin.

He's at Kev Tom Wrights. And again, you can figure that out on your own. Our show is at PHNX underscore debacks, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. So just to clarify, forgot about Dre as a song by Dr. Dre. Correct. Okay. Good job. All right.

I'm caught up. He got it. I know everyone was seeing me struggle there. I was expected to have a long conversation with it. I'm going to play it after the show for him. Yeah, Jesse almost forgot about Dre. I'm sitting here in absolute shock that Jesse even knows who Dr. Dre is. It's hard to get away from that one, but I don't know. Generally speaking, I have heard of these

people. I might not be able to tell you anything about them, but I did know that Dr. Dre was existed and was a musician. I mean, that's farther than I can go on a lot of these, a lot of these guys. He was a musician. Not dead or retired, Jesse. Is a musician. Okay. All right. Well, again, we thank you guys so much for your time. We appreciate you stopping by. We'll argue about this stuff more tomorrow. So make sure to stop by for that. In the meantime, have a wonderful evening. Behave yourselves and remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you figure out something to do with Jordan Montgomery.