PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Xander Bogaerts to the Diamondbacks?

Starting point is 00:00:03 Welcome in to the PHNX Debax podcast. As always, my name is Jesse Friedman. Today, joined by the one, the only, Sean DePaul's. He's back, everyone. The reigning and defending MVP of PHNX. There you go. There you go. You heard it from the man himself.

Starting point is 00:00:29 Derek is not with us today, unfortunately. He is actually at the celebration of life for his father, passed away a few weeks ago. So our thoughts are with Derek and his family today as he goes through all of that. We have more to talk about today, Sean, than frankly I expected to. There was a lot of a lot of noise around not only the hot stove in general and baseball today, but with regard to the Diamondbacks in particular as well. So let's go ahead and jump right in.

Starting point is 00:01:04 But before I do that, I do need to tell you all that this is. of course brought to you by the Draft King Sportsbook app America's number one rated sportsbook app. And with that said, now we can jump in. Zander Bogartz, apparently the Diamondbacks have shown interest in the free agent shortstop, according to Jeff Passon,

Starting point is 00:01:24 who included that as a very small nugget in an article he released over at ESPN today. Of course, it blew up all over Diamondbacks Twitter with everyone trying to figure out, Sean, of Diamondbacks, a team not expected to expand their payroll necessarily by a whole lot next year. Why are they possibly interested in a guy who's probably going to command, you know, upwards of six years, 160, 170, 180 million, depending on on who you talk to. So not a rumor that I frankly was expecting at all. But Sean, I know you grew up as a Red Sox fan and you've, you know a thing or two about Zander Bogart's. Yeah, I mean,

Starting point is 00:02:07 I think naturally, like, he's one of the best second baseman in baseball. I think generally speaking just about any team would want Zander Bogart's on the roster. But I do agree. I don't, does not make a whole lot of sense to me. Um, why this team.

Starting point is 00:02:19 I do think that if you could get a guy like Xander without like affecting the, the rest of your goals, right? Like I, I, obviously I think the bullpen has got to be their biggest, their biggest point of concern. The one thing that they want to address.

Starting point is 00:02:34 If you feel like you could still address that while also getting Zander, Bogart's on like a relatively reasonable contract, then sure. But otherwise, I don't really understand. It just seems a little unnecessary right now, especially considering the prospects that you have coming up. Yeah, right, exactly. And I think that's immediately what came to mind for a lot of people when they saw this is,

Starting point is 00:02:55 don't the Diamondbacks have like the best shortstop prospect in baseball and he's like potentially going to make his major league debut at the end of 2023? Doesn't necessarily feel like a great time to sign a shortstop. stop, you know, on a six or seven year contract. So yeah, I think that was kind of the initial thought that a lot of people had, which is totally fair. I do think there are probably ways around that if the Diamondbacks wanted to. Scott Boris has come out and said that Zander Bogarts is a short stop. It seems like that's the position that he prefers. I know you have some experience watching Xander Bogart's at third base in the past. I think he got some opportunity there back in 2014. It didn't go so well,

Starting point is 00:03:36 John? No, it was not great. Other than the fact that he was somewhat publicly unhappy with playing third base, like you could see it in his stats. I mean, obviously his defensive stats weren't that great, but his bat struggled immensely. Like it is obviously only his, what, second year in the bigs,

Starting point is 00:03:53 but it was his, yeah, by far his worst batting performance of any year. He batted 240 that year. And people around the Red Sox, I think, partially attributed to the fact that he was playing on a position. He was just generally was not in a good spot that year. So yeah, I don't think,

Starting point is 00:04:10 especially at this point in his career, I don't think he's playing, there would be any shot of him playing third base. I think more likely would be Lawler playing third. But again, it just seems wildly unnecessary. I would like it selfishly. It would be a lot of fun. And I do think he's a good second baseman,

Starting point is 00:04:28 but it just doesn't seem like, it doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense right now. Yeah, the timing here, like we said, with Jordan Lawler coming up is a little bit strange. Yeah, 2014 was kind of before Zander Bogarts had really had a great year in the big league. So maybe that played into it. But yeah, I mean, like you said, it sounds like he wasn't necessarily very happy playing there. Anyway, the other fact that I think is important to bring up is that Bogart's actually

Starting point is 00:04:55 graded out quite well defensively at shortstop this past season, which is not the norm for him, at least with defensive run saving outs above average. if you go through some of the numbers in his career, it's really not pretty. I'm kind of surprised that he's managed to stay at shortstop for as long as he has with those numbers. But in 2022, sounds like it was a point of emphasis for me

Starting point is 00:05:18 at four defensive run saved plus five outs above average. Both of those are good numbers. Maybe there's a way, Sean, where, I mean, I'm not surprised at all that Scott Borges came out and said that Zander Bogart's is a shortstop because, frankly, shortstops make the most money in the open market. And so it wouldn't be advantageous for him, regardless of what Bogart's thinks right now,

Starting point is 00:05:40 to come out and say like, oh, yeah, he'll play third base because he doesn't have as much value there. I mean, Zander Bogart's hit the offense is still for real. If you look at his numbers from this past season, you know, he hit 307 with a 456 slugging percentage. His on-base percentage was 377, pretty good across the board. But he also only hit 15 home runs. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:06:01 And it's one thing to have a shortstop who, hits 15 home runs. It's another thing to have a third baseman who hits 15 home runs. Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, I don't think there's any situation in which he really plays third. I mean, you look at kind of the makeup of the Red Sox last year. Like there was never really an opportunity for him to not play in the field. Like he just kind of had to. They don't really have another option at shortstop. And I have a lot of the list of people who would be a DH above him, like a Raphael Devers, who was some pretty much terrible at third base defense. defensively. And then obviously a guy like J.D. Martinez, who is almost exclusively a DH.

Starting point is 00:06:37 He essentially has to play the field. So, I mean, it was good to see that he improved. But, yeah, I would just at this point in his career, like, he's an older guy now. He's 30 now. So, like, I don't think he's really at a point in his career where he's going to want to make a position switch like that, especially for a team that is not immediately going to be a contender. I do think that in addition of Xander Bogartz, generally speaking, could push this team towards being a playoff team, but not a playoff team that has a real threat of winning a world series, obviously. So I just don't, even if he was, did have a slightly open mind to it and would consider playing third. I think it would have to be a pretty ideal situation where he thinks he is going to have an opportunity to win a ring right away, which again, is obviously not the situation the DEVX are in right now.

Starting point is 00:07:19 Yeah, I mean, and the other thing you could bring into this is that Jordan Lawler also is not necessarily locked into playing shortstop long term. Watching and play shortstop in the Arizona Fall League this past year or this past Arizona Fall League season. he did struggle at times, which is not necessarily all that surprising. I mean, this is really his first year as a professional. So he's basically one full season removed from high school at this point. So I don't think I was necessarily expecting him to be mistake-free at shortstop. But there are some scouts and some evaluators who think that Jordan Lawler will be best served at third base in the long term.

Starting point is 00:07:59 So all that to say, I think that positionally, there is a way for this to make sense. However, I do have to bring up that John Gambadoro at Gambo 987 on Twitter did sort of crush the dream just a little bit. About a hour or two before our show started, he tweeted out. It is highly unlikely that the debacks will make a play on Bogarts. The cost will be too high. Arizona is increasing payroll for this season, but too many needs to spend that money on one guy. You can take him off your list. I don't know if you've been following Gamble on Twitter for a while, Sean, but this is sort of like, this is very in line with the Gambo brand, right? And I, I love Gambo. I've gotten to know him personally a little bit. But this is the,

Starting point is 00:08:45 these are the types of tweets he tends to put out there, right? Not just for the Diamondbacks, but for the sons, pretty much any big name that is rumored to possibly be coming to an Arizona sports team. Gambo's the guy who goes out there and says, no, there's no way this is happening. which yeah which makes a lot of people angry but frankly he does tend to be right most of the time as far as i can tell um and even when i first saw this rumor i was i was far i don't know about you sean but i was far from a place of expecting that zander bogarts was going to become an arizona diamond back it kind of always felt like a bit of a long shot yeah no i mean when i when i woke up to that news this morning i was just like really i mean like yeah i i don't think that's going to happen i i

Starting point is 00:09:30 And I mean, to the credit of a lot of D-Bex fans, I think a lot of them also understand that, like, Zanderbergos is a very good second baseman, and sure, it would be nice to have a second baseman like that, but not necessarily for what he's going to cost and not on this timeline. Like, he just doesn't fit what the D-Bex are trying to accomplish right now. And I think most people understand that.

Starting point is 00:09:51 So I don't, I'm not sitting here holding my breath. If it happens, it'll be cool, I guess. I don't know how excited I'll be, because again, I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense. But we'll see, I guess. If he comes a deback, I'm buying a Sandra Bogart's deba back jersey. I can probably see that. But I don't see it happening.

Starting point is 00:10:11 Yeah. So maybe tap the brakes here a little bit on the excitement of this actually happening. But I do think there's still something to be said for the fact that the Diamondbacks checked in as far as we know. It was reported by Jeff Passon, who is about as reputable of a baseball writer as you'll find. mind. So I still think it's a credible report that the diamondbacks checked in on him. But as Gambo said, you know, maybe this is something that that the diamond backs are ultimately priced out of when all is said and done. The other teams that were interested that Jeff Passon also mentioned are the Phillies, the Cubs, and the Dodgers, all of whom have

Starting point is 00:10:48 significant money to spend this offseason. And all of whom have probably a pretty decent chance to land one of those big name short stops at some point. Yeah. Yeah. And a team, team, yeah, the teams that are, could be a player like Zander Bogarth away from, from winning a World Series too. Yeah. So again, there's a, especially the Cubs excluded to a certain extent, I guess. Yeah. I was going to say.

Starting point is 00:11:14 Yeah. Dodgers, Phillies are two teams where it kind of makes sense for everybody. They obviously have the money for it. They have the space for it. Like, he obviously would be an improvement at that position for those teams. And for Zander, like if you're leaving a team like the ball in Red Sox, You're probably doing it for a team that's better than the Boston Red Sox because you're going to get your money. You're probably going to want to go somewhere that gives you a pretty good chance at winning a ring.

Starting point is 00:11:38 Arizona's not that again. So, yeah, it's going to be very interesting to see where he is. Again, this is a player that I have a soft spot for that is probably my favorite Boston Red Sox or former Boston Red Sock now, it seems. But we'll see how it all plays out. Yeah, it was interesting to me that when Trevor's story came. to the Boston Red Sox that they stuck with Bogarts at shortstop. And Trevor's story wound up playing exclusively second base this last year. Bogarts wound up playing exclusively shortstop.

Starting point is 00:12:09 I might have, like you maybe alluded to earlier, I might have had those guys switched around. But yeah, I mean, the point is that Bogarts' market is very, very strong. I saw some other tweets out there today. I think it was maybe Buster only who said that Zander Bogart's market is going to be strong because a lot of teams are in on him. The fact that, you know, 30 years old is not as young as some of the other short stops that are out there in the market. But it's still not, it's still not that old.

Starting point is 00:12:39 And the fact that Bogarts is about as steady of a player as you'll find in baseball, I mean, if you look at his numbers, like year after year after year after year, it's like Bogart's almost never had a down season since, you know, the initial hiccups coming into the league. And he's also been a very durable player. If you go through the number of games that he's played every year, it's pretty much always in the 150s. He hasn't really had any major injuries to this point in his career. So there's certainly a lot to like there.

Starting point is 00:13:08 It seems like the Diamondbacks are probably not the team for him when all is said and done. But it's a situation that will certainly continue to monitor. Something else that stuck out to me, Sean, in this article from Jeff Passon, which a lot of people, I haven't really seen anyone, anyone bring this up yet. And maybe I'm reading too much into the wording here. I'm curious what you think.

Starting point is 00:13:29 Jeff Passon wrote this. He's talking about how things are going to pick up at the winter meetings and how this year's winter meetings could be potentially just sort of like a frenzy of moves, how there could be a lot of things happening. And so he wrote this about the outfield market in particular. He said the outfield shuffle could accelerate when Arizona moves one of its young, left-handed hitters, not Corbyn Carroll, though. And then he talks about the St. Louis Cardinals,

Starting point is 00:13:58 possibly offloading some as well. So he specifies that Corbyn Carroll is not on the table, which we've known for a while now, no surprises there. But I don't know, Sean. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I just couldn't get it out of my head that he said the outfield shuffle could accelerate when Arizona moves one of its young left-handed hitters, not if.

Starting point is 00:14:18 What do we think here? I mean, I don't know. It could most seriously. be like a win because he knows or just a win based on that kind of the assumption that I think a lot of debacks fans are making just there is a surplus there and teams are going to come calling and there's probably talking amongst other GMs that like you know if there's a team you're going to go and try and get a young outfielder from it's probably going to be a team like the debacks who have that surplus so I don't know it is definitely it hasn't strike me as the kind

Starting point is 00:14:49 of person who chooses words willy nilly like I think he probably yeah he'd chooses his words on purpose. But again, I think this is kind of the assumption that at least I have an operating under is that they are going to trade one of these guys and it's not going to be Corny Carroll. So it does just kind of see. I already thought it was a matter of time. But yeah, this definitely makes me feel a little sure. I'm a little more sure that one of these guys is not going to be on this roster from the start of the season. So we'll see who it is.

Starting point is 00:15:20 But again, it's nice to see that it's been pretty. clear that it is not going to be Corby and Carol, which I think we all could have assumed. Yeah, yeah, that's been reported by a few different people at this point. And frankly, I think Diamondbacks fans would riot. I don't really even care what the return is for Corby. I think a lot of people would be grumpy if the Diamondbacks decided to move on from a guy who was as good as he was toward the end of the year and will probably go into next year as the favorite for the rookie of the year possibly. I mean, he is, he gave no doubt in the month plus that we saw of him. He gave no doubt that he could be every bit as good as we thought that he might be.

Starting point is 00:15:59 So that's certainly something to watch going into next season. But yeah, a lot of movement. The winter meetings is only a few days away now. We are five days away from the start of the winter meetings. Yours truly will be out there in San Diego, bringing you the scoops on the daily. be sure to give me a follow on Twitter at Jesse N. Friedman. Follow us on Twitter at PHNX underscore D-Backs as well. We'll be posting a lot of content there. While I'm at the winter meetings, we'll try to get all of the scoops to you as soon as we possibly can get them.

Starting point is 00:16:32 Also, on the front of the Diamondbacks trading and outfielder, I actually wrote an article yesterday about the possibilities of which outfielder the Diamondbacks might be looking to trade. That's a question that we've gotten so many times on mailback. Monday the last few weeks, even longer than that, really, at this point. And so I just figured I would write everything out, my full thoughts on on everything relating to which outfielder the diamondbacks might be looking to deal. So be sure to check that out over on our website at go phtonx.com. If you haven't become a diehard yet, Sean, I don't know what people are waiting

Starting point is 00:17:09 for if they haven't. But you probably should get after that if you have not already. That article that I wrote yesterday is free as the majority of our articles on our website are, but we save the best ones for the diehards. And I'll have my, I'll have my weekly full count newsletter, which is exclusively for diehards coming out tomorrow. So if you want access to that and newsletters from Craig Morgan, Gerald Borgay and Howard Ballzer as well, who covers the Cardinals for us, does a great job over at go phtonx.com. Be sure to become a diehard. Also, it's unfortunate. if you missed out on our cyber weekend sales at the PHNX Locker because they were extraordinary. But even if you missed out, there are a few items that frankly weren't on sales to begin with

Starting point is 00:17:59 because everybody wants them. And I think they're probably going to sell no matter what. So we just released some new hoodies, which you can find over at the PHNX Locker. So yeah, you're not missing anything out. You're not missing out on anything. if you go buy a hoodie from the PHNX Locker right now. So be sure to do that if you have not already. I'm a huge hoodie guy, Jesse.

Starting point is 00:18:21 I'm a huge hoodie guy. It's hoodie season. It's hoodie season officially. Today was perfect shorts with hoodie weather. Perfect shorts with hoodie weather. There you go. There you go. Bejure to check out Ph.NX Locker.com if you have not already.

Starting point is 00:18:37 And you could find all of those great deals over there. Sticking with the hot stove here, Sean, this is maybe not quite to the level that these Andrew Bogart's rumors were. But we do have some things that have come out that are tangentially related to the Arizona Diamondbacks. I'm going to start with the news that former Diamondbacks legend Shelby Miller in the latest edition of the Shelby Miller saga.

Starting point is 00:19:04 He is now a Los Angeles Dodger, Sean. How do we feel? I mean, not good. You don't like seeing anybody. the Dodgers, right? Because if there's any team that's going to turn somebody into like a star out of nowhere, it's the Los Angeles Dodgers. Plus, you just, I don't want to see. I like, I just want players to leave. I hate the Dodgers. Even before I was a DeBacks fan, I hate the Dodgers because they stole mooky bets for me. And by stole mooky bets for me, I mean the Red Sox willingly traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers. But, yeah, don't feel good about it. Like Hakeen said in the comments, watch, he's going to win the Sayyong. And it just would be so on brand for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. So yes, not great about it.

Starting point is 00:19:50 I'm not so sure about the Cy Young, given that I don't think Shelby Miller will ever start a game for the Dodgers. You would really have to have a heck of a season as a reliever to be in the Cy Young conversation when all is said and done. But I will say that I kind of love the move for them. I think Shelby Miller, he literally made four appearances this past, in the big leagues. He was good in AAA, which he's done off and on over the past few years. So that wasn't necessarily a huge surprise. But when he got to the big leagues, he actually

Starting point is 00:20:21 looked really good. He looked really good against the Diamondbacks in particular. I think it was the game that we did, that we had like our little get together with our pH and XDbacks crew. Some of you in the audience today, I think we're there. And we watch this game and Shelby Miller was just lights out. I think it was two and two third scoreless innings. I don't think he gave up a hit. He had with seven strikeouts, I want to say. He struck out like almost every batter he faced. Yep. Two and two thirds, four hits, seven strikeouts. Okay. So it was, it was four hits. It was four hits. So the debacks knocked him around a little bit. But, but yeah, I mean, he, he only made four appearances this year with the San Francisco

Starting point is 00:21:06 Giants, but all of them were pretty eye-popping, except for the last one. He kind of got shelled in San Diego or against San Diego, I believe. But yeah, I mean, Shelby Miller is not the guy that he once was. His pitching arsenal in particular is very, very different from what you probably remember from his days as a Diamondback. We have a little illustration here that shows that Shelby Miller is, in fact, not the same guy that he once was. So this is basically looking at all of the different pitches

Starting point is 00:21:41 that Shelby Miller has thrown over the years and the percentage that he has used each pitch. You can see, Sean, he has dramatically simplified things. He is now all the way far to the right here on the graph. You can see he is now just throwing a four-seem fastball and a slider. And that slider is a new pitch for him within the last couple of years. He didn't even throw a slider back when he was with the diamondbacks. But if you remember his cutter, his sinker, his curveball, he fooled around with a change up a little bit at times.

Starting point is 00:22:11 All of those pitches have gone by the wayside and he's really simplified things down. And it seems to have been the right move for him. Yeah. I mean, I kind of go that way with believers anyways. Like I'm comfortable with them just having one or two pitches. They can just dominate. The variation, how he's used his fastball over the years is wild to me. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:22:32 But yeah, it'll be very interesting to see how he plays out. Someone in the comments did mention that Corvin Carroll does need somebody to hit the division clinching home run off of. So I guess it makes sense that he goes to the Dodgers because it's just it's in the stars for Corbyn. There you go. There you go. It is inevitable that Corby and Carroll will hit a division winning walkoff home run at some point in the 2023 season. And who better to hit it off of than Shelby Miller himself. But yeah, I've kind of looked at Shelby Miller honestly coming into this.

Starting point is 00:23:05 this off season as a good by-low candidate for any team, including possibly the Diamondbacks, although I think that might have been a bit of an odd fit, just given how much things fell apart the last time he was here. But yeah, I mean, he's not the same guy that he was before. And unfortunately, Sean, for Diamondbacks fans, if there's any team that can help him to kind of put things together and figure it all out,

Starting point is 00:23:32 the Dodgers have a long track record of being able to do this. yeah like I said it would be a joked about the Syung thing but like to turn like the jump from what he is now to being like a very legitimate service reliever who gives the debacks trouble on on a few occasions is I mean it seems like a very realistic possibility considering the franchise he now plays for so hopefully that's not the case hopefully it just doesn't make that a big a difference but I would have felt comfortable with him going to just about any other team yeah Yeah, pretty much. I mean, I think that's kind of how you feel with most free agents.

Starting point is 00:24:09 Yeah, fair enough. If you don't go to the Dodgers, then maybe you're all right. But yeah, the Dodgers have just been so incredibly good at taking like no name relievers and turning them into, you know, like the guy that every single team in the league would want for their closer. But he's like pitching in the sixth inning or something for the Dodgers because they have that much depth. It's just kind of ridiculous what the Dodgers had managed to do with their bullpen. It's a $1.5 million deal, so they didn't really have to put up much of an investment. I do think there are some incentives built into there as well, but it will be interesting to see what Shelby Miller looks like coming back next year, trying to put things back together,

Starting point is 00:24:50 really for the first time since leaving the debacks back in 2018. The other news that came out yesterday, Sean, is that Stone Garrett has found a new home. No surprises here that it didn't take very long. I mean, when a guy comes up and, you know, hits 28 home runs in the minors and in 100 games and then comes up and has an 850-ish OPS like he did for the Diamondbacks in his first taste of the big leagues, you're going to, you know, you're not going to have that hard of a time finding a job when you hit the open market.

Starting point is 00:25:22 So Stone Garrett lands with the Washington Nationals. Sean, what's your perspective on just Stone Garrett and the fact that the Diamond back to let him go and allowed him to get to this point in the first place. Yeah, I mean, I'm happy for Stone, first off, and I'm glad that it's, it's on the other side of the country in the conference, or in the league still, I guess, but the other side of the country. Yeah. But, I mean, it's, it's tough. I think they were kind of playing with, like, found money in Stone, right?

Starting point is 00:25:53 Like, they never, he didn't sign a guy like Stone with the expectation that he was necessarily going to be, like, a full-time big leader. So it is what it is. I think there's, I am sad, right? Like I was a fan of Stone, but it's just like there's so much other things that I'm kind of concerned about with this team that losing Stone Garrett is kind of at the bottom of my priority list, I guess. But it's still sad. I would have like, he was a face that he was part of what made the deback so fun last year. And to have a guy like that not here anymore is sad.

Starting point is 00:26:28 But I guess he's kind of going to kind of kind of have. have to get used to that because like we talked about you're probably going to lose another one of these young outfielders so this is kind of the nature of a rebuilding team you can't get too attached to anybody too fast Josh Hunt says I am stone cold sad um Brian abdallas is now stone will get national attention I yeah I guess that's a pun but um yeah it'll be interesting to see um stone garrett with the Washington nationals and what he's able to do uh the deba back because we've talked about, we're concerned about how much he was striking out and how little he was walking. His strikeout rate was basically the highest on the diamond backs of

Starting point is 00:27:10 anyone who had a significant number of played appearances last year. And his walk rate was basically the lowest. So you can understand why there would be some concerns there despite, you know, the 850 OPS and the fact that he really knocked the cover off the ball when he first got called up. It is good to see for him, though, just that the Washington Nationals, frankly, have way more just openness in their roster. They really can give Stone Garrett the opportunity to be an everyday guy. And I think even for DeBax fans, like, that's something that people probably want to see, right? Even if it's not in Arizona and there's some sadness that comes along with that, if Stone Garrett, you know, is an everyday player for the Washington Nationals and is able to contribute in a meaningful way for them,

Starting point is 00:27:55 that's probably a pretty great outcome for everyone involved. Yeah, that's how I was I said. It's not like, and I mean, D-Bex fans still generally, like obviously root for Paul Goldschmidt, but it's not like you're losing an MVP caliber candidate. So it's, I think, a little easier to swallow,

Starting point is 00:28:09 like him going to play somewhere else that, again, is not in the division and easy to root for his success. Plus, it's not like the nationals, at least as far as I'm concerned, or like a unlikeable team. Like, I feel like they're a relatively likable prize, more or less. And, like, they have the best city.

Starting point is 00:28:25 connect jerseys in the league in my opinion. Sorry to Serpiente's jerseys, but the cherry blossom jerseys are so good. But yeah, I know, I feel like you got to kind of be happy for him. You just got, especially considering a story and everything, like you're just happy to see a guy like that continue his professional

Starting point is 00:28:41 career at all regardless. I mean, honestly, even if he was a Dodger, you would still, I'd still have a soft spot for him. So it's cool. I'm rooting for him for sure. Up until the point where obviously the Nationals play, the debacks and the NLCS. Sure. And I And I got to root for his failure.

Starting point is 00:28:56 But up until that point, I'll root for him. And I'll root for the Nationals. Well, I think Stone Gear would have had quite a monster season if the Washington Nationals wind up in the NLC. Yeah. That would really dig something with the roster that the Nationals have. Although the Nationals, they're kind of an up-and-coming team. They've netted quite a few big-name prospects of the last few years by trading away like

Starting point is 00:29:20 every big-name talent they've had. So, so yeah, there's certainly, there's certainly some hope in Washington, D.C. Hopefully Stone Garrett can become a part of that at some point. It's just good to see him, you know, in a place where he really has an opportunity, even if the Diamondbacks had kept him here. It would have been really hard for him to find consistent playing time, I think, in Arizona. So I do really view this as being a win all the way around. Sean, I can't be at the office today.

Starting point is 00:29:50 Unfortunately, I'm still getting over my sickness. is it safe to say people are watching this this world cup game over there Mexico I believe it's currently happening yes I was I was out there watching it before I came in here yeah Argentina and be in Saudi Arabia and Mexico and no Mexico and Saudi Arabia and Argentina and Poland right now so two big games but yeah Mexico game is huge doing a watch party as we speak right now at four peaks it is a it's a good time to be a sports fan I love the World Cup yeah it's a lot of fun as I talked about yesterday, it has sort of grown on me just a little bit, despite my initial hatred

Starting point is 00:30:28 and the fact that I've never been particularly entertained by soccer, maybe some of you can relate. Yeah, I think there is some truth to the fact that there's a reason that, you know, everyone in the world is watching these games right now. And everyone in the world should be at four peaks because they have done an absolutely outstanding job hosting all of these watch parties for all of the U.S. and Mexico games. This is another big one happening right now, as you mentioned, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. Another match day watch along with our friends over at Four Peaks. They have a 22-foot screen that we like to take advantage of with a number of different watch parties.

Starting point is 00:31:06 So yeah, it's a good time over at Four Peaks. There's really no better place to take in a local sporting event. So be sure to check one of those out if you have not already. Of course, it was a big game yesterday. well with the USA beating Iran. Sean was, I assume that that was also a big event around the office. Everyone's talking about the World Cup game.

Starting point is 00:31:31 Oh, yeah, we were all hanging around. It was a big win. It got a little nervous there at the end. It was a little too close for comfort. But USA got their win and now they get to play Netherlands, which if you don't know, it was one of the best teams in the country or in the world. So that's going to be interesting.

Starting point is 00:31:48 But hey, they got out of the group stages. That's all I was really hoping for. So that means we have more, that means we have more watch parties at Four Peaks then. We have at least one, at least one with this one and potentially more, depending on how this Mexico game goes. So yeah, so be sure to get out there and check that out. If you haven't been to one of those already, like I said, there is really no way, no better way to watch one of these games than over with our friends at Four Peaks. They have beer specials, giveaways, all of the, all of the incredible things that you could possibly want. And we'll continue to be monitoring that Mexico game because that has a lot of significance in its own right as well.

Starting point is 00:32:26 Someone asked in the comments if we already talked about Xander. We did. That was like the first part of the show. Maybe we'll revisit a little bit of that toward the end of the show. Obviously, that's the biggest topic of the day. But before we get to that potentially one more time, I do want to talk about the fact that we are about to have the first ever MLB draft lottery. There is literally never been an MLB draft lottery because Major League Baseball has not had a lottery. Generally, they just use basically the reverse standings in order to determine the order of the first year player draft every year.

Starting point is 00:33:03 That has changed now with the new CBA. We now have a lottery system where the three worst teams in baseball all have an equal shot at getting the number one overall pick. this, of course, in a way to try to bring a little bit of, try to prevent tanking, frankly, try to keep those bottom teams from just trying to lose all other games to get that number one overall pick. Obviously, this is something that's been used in other sports, Sean, not necessarily a huge surprise to see baseball moving in this direction. Yeah, no, I go back and forth on it a little bit because for the most part, obviously

Starting point is 00:33:41 baseball is not a sport where there's like a consensus number one or not necessarily not a consensus but like like just because you're drafted first overall is I mean you're going to be a great player necessarily that you're going to make the bigs um which is not necessarily like you look at a sport like hockey I think they obviously that's the case sometimes but sometimes you also get like generational talents who are pretty obviously going to be um contributors in the in the at a high level um so I go back and forth I do think with baseball like owners have the ability to influence I think the team more than just about any sport. Like they can just kind of decide not to spend the money on a team and not really put them.

Starting point is 00:34:17 So I like it for that respect. Like I think it might discourage teams a little bit from tanking obviously. Like that's the goal. But I just I don't necessarily, I don't think like just because, again, obviously depends on the year. But just because you get the first or second or third pick, like it doesn't necessarily mean that like one of those is better than the other. Like it's not a short. thing. So I kind of go back.

Starting point is 00:34:43 I don't know how much of an effect it's going to have, but I guess generally speaking, I lean in favor of draft lotteries. I think it ultimately does more good than it does bad, but I don't know how much of an impact it really has either way. So I'm kind of indifferent towards it. Yeah, I feel pretty much the same way. You know, it's something that you can do to try to prevent tanking, whether it really impacts how teams are are performing at the end of the day.

Starting point is 00:35:09 it's a little bit hard to say. This does have some ramifications for the Diamondbacks in that they have a shot at the number one overall pick technically. We have a graphic that just kind of shows all of the different odds for all of the teams. And if this is on your phone, I'm sorry, because these numbers are probably way too small for you to possibly see.

Starting point is 00:35:30 But the Arizona Diamondbacks have a 1.4% chance of landing the number one overall pick in the draft. They also have a shot, slightly higher shot at getting picks two through six. If you add all those numbers together, I would come up with 12.5%. That's their chance of landing one of the top six picks in the draft, which is, I mean, 12% is something that at least could feasibly happen. The most likely outcome is for them to land at number 11. There's a 54.9% chance of that.

Starting point is 00:36:04 There's also a 29% chance of them slipping to number 12. So yeah, it's interesting how this, how this system works. DBAX have a chance of getting picks one through six. Somehow, for some reason, it is not possible for them to get picked seven through ten. So it's sort of like if they don't get picks one through six, they're probably going to land at number 11 or possibly fall to number 12. Yeah. Yeah, first off, I feel like producer will be having war flashbacks to the NHL draft lottery.

Starting point is 00:36:35 but yeah I don't fully understand the kind of setup here like you said but not there's no possibility for them to get 7 through 10 which is a little interesting to me but I think it's

Starting point is 00:36:45 I think that part is cool about draft lotteries is having these teams who are not necessarily bad or not not not they're not bad but they're not like you know a bottom three team in the league they have an opportunity to get the first overall pick and I think that can accelerate like a middling team

Starting point is 00:37:01 not necessarily I wouldn't call the debacks middling obviously there's been progression, but a team that's that finished in the middle of the pack to kind of just accelerate their their rebuild a little bit. So that's cool. Obviously, selfishly, like as a D-BACs fan and as a reformed Red Sox fan, like both of those teams have an opportunity at the first overall pick. And like your team, you go into a draft, you had no expectation of the first overall

Starting point is 00:37:26 pick and then all of a sudden you get it like, oh, okay. That's a lot of fun. So it's cool for that reason. Obviously, if I'm the worst team in baseball. And I'm a fan of the worst team in baseball and we get jipped out of the first overall pick. I would I would not be happy about that. So obviously no one is going to be pleased, which I think is ultimately that the biggest negative to a draft lottery is that someone is ultimately going to get.

Starting point is 00:37:51 Like from a fan perspective, someone's getting screwed over because the fans weren't sitting here trying to tank. And now they had to sit through their team being the worst just for them to get the third overall pick. So that kind of sucks. Yeah. Yeah, furiously nodding her head behind the Mac as coyote's fans can relate. to this. So I go back and forth. But hey, if the debacks get the first overall draft pick, I'm not going to, I will be the biggest proponent of the draft lottery you will find on this planet.

Starting point is 00:38:17 Yeah. Well, I was thinking about like, obviously the diamond backs were close to the first overall pick a year ago, right? They wound up with the number two overall pick. And that was only because Josh Van Meter hit a walk off home run on the last day of the 2021 season. And ultimately, that was the difference between getting the number two pick and the number one pick. But it got me thinking of like, how would this have changed things for the debacks if a year ago this system had been in place and rather than the debacks being locked in at number two, maybe it was,

Starting point is 00:38:49 you know, maybe it was them and a couple other teams who had equal odds at the first overall pick and equal odds at the third overall pick, right? There's also a chance that it could move you down instead of moving you up in that situation. So I don't know, Sean. It was kind of an interesting thought experiment of what it would have been like for the debacks. I don't know if they get Drew Jones at number three. If they had wound up at number three, obviously it wouldn't have really made much of a difference for them at number one.

Starting point is 00:39:17 It sounds like they would have taken Drew Jones anyway, but sort of an interesting thing to think about. Yeah. And again, to bring out the coyotes, they were in that exact situation. Second worst team in hockey ended up with their overall draft pick. And it, I guess, ultimately worked out. I don't know. Like, I'm not going to get into the,

Starting point is 00:39:34 the, they probably would have picked the same guy. Yeah, exactly. They picked at three, so it worked out. This coming, upcoming NHL draft is like one of the best ever.

Starting point is 00:39:45 So they have to land in the top three. And if they don't, it'll be very. Yeah. And I mean, honestly with the coyotes last year, you can argue that if they had gotten the first pick, it might have been worse for them

Starting point is 00:39:55 because they might have felt the pressure to draft Shane right, who ended up falling the fourth. I don't think they would have. Yeah, I think they would have ended up drafting Logan Cooley regardless. But still, like, you, it takes that decision away from you a little bit, I guess. But Jesse, the coyotes have never moved up a spot in a draft lottery ever. The NHL has been doing the draft lottery since, like, 2005.

Starting point is 00:40:15 Hey, but if there's a year. They've never moved up. They've either stayed or fallen. If there's a year, Uncle Gary, Gary Batman is going to call on the fix. So, yeah, and that's also another thing. Conspirator, like sports fans are, I think, kind of naturally conspiracy theorists to a certain extent. And now with the draft, you're going to open up a new Pandora's box of, oh, this envelope was coal, was frozen. And the Rangers, a lot enough a few years ago.

Starting point is 00:40:39 And then also the Edmonton Oilers won it like three years in a row. Yeah. We're going to get over the box. The draft lottery is really brings up. Yeah. So, I mean, that is a really interesting dynamic to this, I think, is that fans are naturally going to start questioning the legitimacy of the MLB, of MLB, when things don't. go their way and in a weird way right like if if if all of a sudden you know the the the a big market team is is near as like the third worst team and they all of a sudden end up with the first overall

Starting point is 00:41:12 draft pick over a team like the diamond baxter or a team like the rays like a small market team quote unquote small market team like people are going to start naturally asking questions so the mLB is kind of opened themselves up to that um but again i understandably so like there's obviously an understandable reason for why they would do it. So it's going to be interesting to see how it affects Major League Baseball in the coming years. If I'm not mistaken, the Sons don't have a great track record with the draft lottery either. I know they got Aiton. That was the one year where they did get the number one overall pick. But I want to say there were a few years in the past where like mathematically they had a better chance to be higher than they wound up. Yeah, it sounds right. But again,

Starting point is 00:41:54 the Sons are an interesting example too because you, they drafted DeAndre Aton and now you have people questioning whether or not they made that right choice. And if you lose the lottery, like the coyotes, for example, obviously there's still room for that because of Shane Wright falling in blah. But like, you get that pressure taking off of you. And from a GM's perspective,

Starting point is 00:42:13 you kind of, there is, there's no room for fans later on to be like, why would you draft this guy? Their hand was kind of forced because they were pushed down to the third pick. So, it is, it's very interesting. I think it changes a lot for, for the league and for GMs and just kind of,

Starting point is 00:42:29 of how fans view them and just the way they they kind of all interact. I think it's going to be a very interesting, or at least potentially for a very interesting dynamic. It could ultimately just end up being chalk and just everyone getting the pick they deserve and then it's boring. But yeah, we'll see, I guess. I feel like if the Diamondbacks like land the number one overall pick or something, it's probably going to make, I don't know,

Starting point is 00:42:53 maybe that changes the course of like draft lotteries in Arizona, you know, with the Sons and the coyotes not getting great results. If the debaes can bust the curse, I will take it. Or if they can steal the coyotes bad luck, and then the coyotes can just like, if the devaks want to get screwed over in this draft, it's not like they were our first overall pick team anyway, so I'll take it.

Starting point is 00:43:16 Before we go, I feel the need to mention that Zag Gallin has put out a very mysterious tweet that some of you have talked about in the chat. it's just the four little eye emojis. And I don't have any firm information on what this is about. People are wondering if potentially he's going to play in the World Baseball Classic, which as of now, he has not been named part of that team. Other people are wondering if he's signing an extension with the Diamondbacks. But this is all pure speculation at this point.

Starting point is 00:43:48 So be sure to come back and join us tomorrow. We'll be live at 1 p.m. once again. And then hopefully we have a little bit more clarity on the Zach Gallen situation that we can shed at that point. If you joined us during the Midway part of this show and you're wondering where all the Xander Bogart's chatter was, we talked about him for probably the first 15 or 20 minutes of this episode. So be sure to go back and check that out. We can just kind of close with some final thoughts on that, I guess, Sean. Again, with something we don't really expect to come to fruition and not something. I really expected to come to fruition when I first saw the rumor either.

Starting point is 00:44:27 I just think it's interesting that the Diamondbacks did check in at the very least. That's not necessarily saying a lot, but the other teams that were mentioned along with them are teams that are seem to be, you know, seem to be likely to spend a lot of money this off season. So just the fact that the Diamondbacks were kind of willing to venture in there and, you know, maybe just see what some of the numbers look like. At the end of the day, I think Xander Bogartz is probably going to be just, just a little bit, a little bit too expensive for the Diamondbacks when all is set and done. Yeah. Again, like I said, it is one of those things that would be really cool. It would be fun.

Starting point is 00:45:02 I don't think anyone's going to complain about having a player of that caliber on the roster, but people might be complaining about how much money they had to spend to get them there. And at what point in their rebuild, they spent that kind of money. So, again, it would be fun. I would buy the jersey, but it doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense for this team. So I wouldn't be holding my breath if I was a D-Bex fan. Yeah. And when all is said and done, the debacks don't necessarily have the best of track records with some of the longer and more expensive contracts. I don't know if this team is really at the stage yet where I think they should be, you know, kind of pushing all the chips in and making that move. Bogart's a compelling player. I think he's a, you know, he's a pretty big get for whoever winds up with him. But there is a lot of risk in, you know, going out and getting a 30 year old.

Starting point is 00:45:53 Some of his power numbers this last year dipped a little bit. I think there are maybe some reasons to be somewhat concerned moving forward that at some point maybe he's just, maybe he kind of has to play third base, but his bat doesn't really play there anymore come a few years. So if the diamondbacks don't wind up with Xander Bogart, suffice it to say it might not be the worst thing in the world when all is said and done.

Starting point is 00:46:17 But that is all that we have for you here today. Thank you once again, Sean, for hopping on with us. You continue to impress and the people seem to like you around here. So we'll keep inviting you on every now and then. You can find, you could find Sean DePaz on Twitter at Sean underscore DePaz. You can find me at Jesse and Friedman. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter for our show account at PH&X underscore DVACs, but of course all roads lead to at PH&X underscore sports on Twitter.

Starting point is 00:46:52 And that's also on Instagram and Facebook as well. If you haven't already, be sure to drop a like here on this video on YouTube. If you're joining us live, we always really appreciate that. It boosts the YouTube algorithm and just shows our video to more people. So we always appreciate that. And be sure to subscribe on YouTube as well as on your favorite podcast app. Maybe even leave us a five-star review if you think that Sean is worthy of a five-star review, which I happen to think that he probably is.

Starting point is 00:47:24 And if you don't, you're a hater. Absolutely. So we would really appreciate it if you would be able to do that. But once again, thank you all for being here with us today. We really appreciate your time. We'll be sure to keep you posted on all of these rumors surrounding the Arizona Diamondbacks. We'll talk about some relievers on the show tomorrow. I know that's something we didn't quite get to today.

Starting point is 00:47:48 But until then, thanks again for hopping on with us today. We really appreciate it. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you show interest in Xander Bogart's.

PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Xander Bogaerts to the Diamondbacks?

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.