PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Zac Gallen addresses his future with Diamondbacks at Celebrity Golf Classic

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

Is Christian Walker a top 3 first baseman in baseball? Sarah Langs thinks so and Sarah Langs knows ball. We are also joined by Erik Kratz from Foul Territory to discuss the emergence of Gabriel Moreno, the Diamondbacks offseason acquisitions, and more! Plus, we caught up with Zac Gallen at the Diamondbacks Celebrity Golf Classic, who is getting recognized more often these days and had some thoughts on staying in Arizona.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Michelob ULTRA: It’s only worth it if you enjoy it. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. https://www.michelobultra.com/Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See EmpireToday.com/PHNX for details.Sign up for Gila River Resorts & Casinos $1,000,000 Big Red’s Showdown! Stay in the game and get rewards; it’s that easy! https://www.gilamilliondollarshowdown.com/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.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!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head on over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find out where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX-D-Backs podcast right here on another Flavoring Friday. A big ski to you all. And of course, shout out to our friends from OG's Brands, the official sponsor of Flavoring Fridays. Head on over to OGsBrands.com to see their full lineup, including their two newest gummies. and my favorite, the big OGs, as well as the OGs naturals, and find out where you can purchase said OGs. Well, I, of course, am your mayor of P. HNX, occasionally known as Derek Montia. This is your vice mayor, your thunder stick, the one and only Jesse Friedman. Jesse, how is the lyrics to a millie going?

Have you had them recognized or all memorized you? I'm working on it. Yeah. It's a process. I mean, he's struggling because he's asking me what so much of it means. and then that causes a whole other conversation to happen. But we are very excited to be joined by Eric Kratz from Fowl Territory. Our buddies over there at Fowel Territory are always doing fun things.

He will be here shortly. But in the meantime, we did have another top 10 ranking for an Arizona Diamondback. This time, it was MLB top 10 rankings of First Baseman. And it is our very own Christian Walker appearing on this list. Christian Walker, according to MLB Network, as we've discussed with their other rankings this week. He comes in at 9th for first baseman in baseball. You have Freddie Freeman for the Dodgers at number one, Bryce Harper, two, Matt Olson from the Braves 3, old friend Paul Goldschmidt at 4, Yandi Diaz from the raise at 5, Pete Alonzo at 6, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at 7, Brandon Belt. Really? Really? At 8? Christian Walker at 9 and Tristan Cassis from the Red Sox there at 10.

I'm going to agree with the lease here. This list seems to be a little bit. bit like a joke to me. Are we playing games? You're playing games with me now, MLB Network? Luckily, someone over there, noseball, Jesse. And that someone is Sarah Langs. Yes, yes, Sarah Langs came on the air during their show where they were unveiling this and gave her list and had Christian Walker at number three trailing only Freddie Freeman and who else? Oh, Matt Olson. Yeah, it was just Freeman and Olson and then it was Christian Walker at number three. And I can understand why she did that, honestly. I think that I think it's a pretty clear one too with Olson and Freeman.

Olson doesn't have the track record that Freeman does, but he had an outstanding 20-23 season. The man just hit 54 home runs. He's certainly deserving of his respect. But yeah, after those top two guys, I think there's a lot of different directions that you could go, including, I guess, Christian Walker, I think there's a case to be made. He was more valuable than Paul Gulchman in 2023. He was more valuable than Pete Alonzo.

He was more valuable than Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Brandon Belt. He was, yeah, that one, I don't know what we're doing with that. Brandon Bell had an outstanding season with the Blue Jays as a platoon bat and really more as a designated hitter than a first baseman, at least at this point, at least moving forward, I'm not sure how much first base you're necessarily going to want Brandon Bell to play. He can hold his own over there, but I'm not sure a team is really going to sign him to play first base all the time.

And he's really a platoon bat. He doesn't really hit lefties at this point in his career. He also struck out like 35% of the time. And I don't think he's going to get paid like a ton in free agency. So having him ahead of Christian Walker did seem pretty outrageous to me. Walker should be higher on this list for sure, although it's open to debate. Like after those first two guys, I think Walker is kind of, he was more valuable than a lot of the guys above him in 2023.

But, you know, like if you want to put Pete Alonzo higher on the list than Christian Walker, I think we can all at least understand where that's coming from. Alonzo had a bit of a down year by his standards in 2023, but it's certainly been one of the best first baseman in the game for a while. I want to point out that not only is it's Sarah Langs, but it's also Elizabeth and Elise in the chat and that women know ball. See, because they are laughing at this list, and it's right to laugh at this list.

You're right. I mean, I think the one thing here that kind of irks me about it is the fact that Christian Walker is such a superior defender to so many of those first basemen. Yeah, and people are not real. And they're not taking that into consideration. That's absurd because first, I know first base is one of those positions where like you're kind of an unsung hero. You go, you do things quietly without notice.

And for the most part, when, when you're doing your job and you're being a good defender over there at first base, you're just, you're just getting out. You're doing what you're supposed to, right? Like, it's not, you tend not to make the same spectacular plays you might see out of a third baseman or a short stop and things like that. But it doesn't mean that the Diamondbacks would be absolutely lost without Christian Walker over there and his contributions on the defensive side of the ball. He has been an outstanding defender not only this year, but year after year, he has been one of the best defenders. I believe in 2022 he led all of, or he was close to leading all of baseball and outs above average.

So, I mean, he's just incredible. Yeah, I mean, over the last two seasons in Fangraph's war, Christian Walker is fifth, trailing only Freddie Freeman, Paul Goldschmidt, who of course, that would include his 2022 MVP season. Matt Olson. Yanni Diaz is put together a couple of really nice seasons offensively. He's not the defender that Christian Walker is. But yeah, I mean, there's a pretty decent drop-off between Christian Walker and Pete Alonzo. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is not near the top of his list, frankly.

I think there is a very real case as much as Vladdy Jr. has, you know, certainly has the name cred that, you know, Christian Walker doesn't. But looking at the numbers, I think there's a very valuable. case to put Christian Walker higher than Vlad Jr. on this list. Bryce Harper is an interesting case. He hasn't been a first baseman for very long. I think from a value standpoint, Christian Walker, I think was more valuable in the regular season. But Bryce Harper was coming back from injury. And, you know, I think you expect to get more offensively from Bryce Harper than Christian Walker moving forward. So I would at least understand putting Harper above Walker.

We do have breaking news, by the way, that does impact the Diamondbacks and does impact the NLS Do we have the ESPO breaking news sounder? Is that around right now? I feel like I can't move on to breaking news until we have that. But it's, I don't know. Is that around? No, I don't see it in there. Dang it.

Anyway, I'll do it. Wee-wee-wee-wee-wee-wee. Breaking news. Breaking news. Jeff Passon tweeted out 13 minutes ago that star closer Josh Hader has officially signed a deal with the Houston Astros, taking him as far. away from us as we possibly can get for right now. At least they sign him to a five-year, $95 million contract according to a source that told ESPN. So the deal does contain,

contains no deferrals. It is the largest present-day value contract for a relief pitcher in baseball history. Not too surprising. I think Edwin Diaz, the raw number was higher, but with the deferrals, I think his was worth like $94 million or something in present-day value. So yeah, Josh Hader gets more than that. And I don't know how I feel about paying a relief pitcher, you know, $100 million for five years. It didn't work out great for the Mets. Not really Edwin Diaz's fault necessarily. But yeah, there's a ton of risk in this.

But granted, Josh Hater, if you're going to take a risk like that, he's been about as consistent as I think you reasonably could. But at the same time, he also had an ERA of like five with the Padres, just a couple couple years ago. So relievers are just going to be volatile. And even even the guys like Hater who are, you know, at the top of the list in terms of their ability to get swing and miss and, you know, just dominated in a year to year basis, they're going to have some volatility too. So I'm not sure that if I were the GM of a team, if I'd really want them to be making this investment. But it, it certainly bolsters that Astros bullpen and makes an already very good team even a little bit better.

Josh Hader had a 1.28 ERA in 2023 with 33 saves. He had a whip of 1.101 and a war of 2.4. So, I mean, it's really crazy numbers from a closing. You just don't get numbers like that from a pitcher at all anymore. So I think that that's the reason why you do pay for a guy like that because you want to close the end of games down. And I'm sure the Astros saw too many slip away last year. especially after their stellar, you know, starting pitchers at times got them so far.

And again, this is another case of those teams that are still, you know, like the Dodgers, like the Astros, even though they're able to win 100 games or even if they're able to win and get in the playoffs, they're still seeking ways to get more powerful and seeking ways to get back and win that World Series. I don't know, though. I mean, this seems like a lot of money. It's just a lot of money. It is a lot of money. I can't believe it.

Can't believe it. But anyway, we do appreciate you guys being here. And knowing Ball, by the way, in the PHNXports YouTube channel, if you haven't subscribed yet, make sure to do so now. Sign up for notifications. That way, you don't miss when any of our wonderful shows go live. If you're listening on the audio podcasting side, make sure to leave us a review. We appreciate those five-star reviews. Make sure you subscribe there.

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stabbed my goddamn eye out with a plant trying to pick up tools on the ground from trying to fix my shower, right? Was that even possible? Yeah, Jesse? Yeah, yeah. It's an, it was an amazing, it was an amazing series of events. This is the reason why I don't do

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Puerto Rico. We're not doing that. Yeah, I'm not over the loss of Ontario, Derek. I know. See, what a great way it would have been to end Ontario being part of that disclaimer by doing our road trip to Ontario, all the Ontario's. We were going to go to all the Ontario's, and then we found out they're very far apart, and I don't think that road trip is.

Damn, now we'll just have to go to all the Puerto Rico's. I guess we'll have to go to all the Puerto Rico's. Let's go. I'm so sad that now I have to take a tropical beach vacation. It's not going to Ontario, California. And then Ontario, Canada, by the way. That's also not very pleasant. But what is very...

Don't be hating on Canada like that. That's true. Canada's beautiful. It's going to be mad at you. You're right. Jesse, are you aware of the weather in Ontario, Canada at this moment in time? I mean, I'm not saying we should go now. Yeah, yeah, that's a good point.

I wouldn't want to go now. But I'll tell you where a great place to be right now is Jesse here in Phoenix, Arizona, or more importantly, in Scottsdale, Arizona, where it's very beautiful. The weather is very nice. And you have people that miss out on all of this. I didn't want to say hello to Joey. Joey says ski, first-time message, but Daily Watcher, great job, guys. Let's go.

Joey, glad to have here. And, of course, we had Jesse Friedman out. enjoying the weather, by the way. He got to go out to the Diamondback Celebrity Golf Classic. Is that what it was called? Something like that? Yep. That is it.

It's a generic title, so it's easy for me to mess up. But not very generic was the things that Zach Gallen had to say. Very interesting. You got caught up with Gallen. Who else was out there, Alec Thomas? We talked with Alec Thomas. We talked with Paven Smith, Ryan Thompson, Tommy Henry. Teetan.

So, yeah, it was fun. It's the best part is asking everyone. how confident they are in their golf swing. It's for as confident as some of these guys are as athletes, they're not necessarily confident in all sports, it turns out. Alec Thomas basically said that all of the outfielder's are just terrible at golf. He suggested that he was probably the best, although that wasn't saying much. He said that Corbyn Carroll is solid, like maybe below 100,

but that Jake McCarthy is like basically never golfed in his life and is pretty rough. So I love I love I love dishing the dirt on who's good and who's bad I also love the fact that these guys Play a game that's kind of actually similar to golf, but then they're bad at it. That's kind of ironic is it not? Yeah, that's that's fair Swinging and hitting a ball right? But this one's stationary and you're having a harder time doing that than a baseball that's on the same way I like I have a decent baseball swing and my golf swing it might be the worst thing that anyone's ever seen is there a correlation there is it the fact that you're not supposed to baseball swing I think so I think so and it's so hard to take yourself out of that mindset. I slice everything opposite way, which is like similar to my baseball swing.

So I think I'm like hitting it with the outside face of the club, like angled. Yeah. I had I told you. I've told this story a few times. I'm sure I've told it on the show before. But I've definitely had my fair share of advice given to me. And some of that advice has been very odd, including one time I was told to stick my ass out like a like, you know,

like someone twerking. Crazy enough. Is that the key to success? It was the best piece of advice I have ever been given, okay? I'm very rigid, so I guess I needed to do that. But we are going to talk about Zach Gallen's very interesting comments that he made that should please a lot of you here shortly. But, of course, we are also excited to be joined today by a very special guest, Jesse.

Yes. We made friends over the playoffs with our guys from foul territory over there who do an absolutely outstanding job of covering Major League Baseball. In fact, I get a little jealous of how incredible their guest list is at times, Jesse. Yes, very star-studded. It makes us need to step

our game up, of course. Well, you know that, you know, if they're going to have you on the show, then their ability to get guests must be top-notch. Yeah, Jesse, by the way, when I appeared on foul territory, the first person I received a message from was Jesse Friedman, who

basically put up the graphic of the three guests that day and asked what business do you have been it was ken rosenthal and derrick montia were next to each other on a graphic and i was disgusting when you think of baseball you think ken rosenthal and then you think derrick monta yeah absolutely yeah that's the way this goes but uh i know when i think baseball i think about our guys over at foul territory we're very excited to be joined by eric crats uh from val territory what's up my man how you doing what's up guys oh doing great we just sorry we just went we just went a little late on the show we were breaking the breaking news yeah breaking news with the with the hater signing so yeah we had

that going on so sorry i hopped on no no worries glad to have you appreciate it and we were just talking about that as well we're very excited to have him out of the n l west so that very much uh that that pleases us as far as not having to deal with that threat no doubt yeah i mean that that's i i love i love that dude as a man as a teammate as a player but if you are needing to face him when you're trying to win a four to three game in the desert. Yeah. He's not the guy you want on the other side. Yeah, right. Oh, and I mean, that really changes things for the Astros because I know that they've, you know, had their issues with relief pitching and trying to get somebody of him, like of anywhere close to his caliber to be in their closing

games for them. So I think they're going to be a problem in, in 2024 for sure. Definitely a problem, especially with the fact that they already have one of the elite postseason and closers in Ryan Presley. Yeah. And Brian Abraeu hasn't given up a run since NOM. And Opio Montero, like, I know we had a bad year last year, but his ability is still there. Now of a sudden, like, this team, I just got done saying it like twice on our show. I said, this might actually be because it's completely out of the norm for Jim Crane to do this.

It was tear down the team, you know, the whole rebuild. tanking stuff, build it up to what they have been and what we know the Astros as now. But now it's time they don't have a farm system. They don't have the young guys, but they still have a really good team. So to me, this signifies to Tucker. This signifies to Yordon, who already got an extension. This signifies to Bregman and Altuve, who's looking for an extension. Breggman's going to be a free agent saying, hey, you know what, guys?

We're still going all in for this. a one year like huge money pickup this is five years of an elite closer and most likely two more years of presley but i know the debacks are debacks fans aren't looking to talk about the no no like i said we're happy we're happy he's out of here so we'll listen for as long as you want to talk about that but i mean it it is kind of one of those situations like what the diamondbacks went through when they acquired paul seawall right like for them adding that closer completely changes the dynamic of that bullpen and allows other guys to maybe know what their role is and be even more dangerous. It felt like when the Diamondbacks did that with Seawald,

obviously that's kind of where things turned around for this team, especially like the free fall that they were in there in July. But I guess, you know, our first question to you is, to what extent did you buy into the Diamondbacks in their playoff run and seeing them, especially once they were able to get past the wild card and go beyond? I'll start off with saying, we didn't have very much confidence. We were just happy that they were, you know, in the playoffs. and we were happy that they got past the brewers.

Like that felt right there like we had already achieved enough to be satisfied with. But did you see something different about this team? I didn't. I didn't. I had the, you know, I had like everybody else. They were down 2-0 to the Phillies, showed no life, showed no ability to get out. You had Brandon Fott going in game three. To me, that is who changed this whole series around.

Because there was, I mean, we were waiting for a long, time to see what the diamond backs were in the playoffs. And the diamond backs in the regular season were good pitching, solid defense, base running galore. And we go into the postseason, it's like, just don't know. I don't know if that's going to play here. And they're like, okay, you don't know if it's going to play. That's fine. We'll just hit some dingers. And we'll hit more dingers. And then all of a sudden, it's like, wait a minute, like we can hit dingers and we can run the bases. I saw a lot of Corby, even before they played to Phillies, I saw a lot of correlations through the wild card, through the Dodgers series,

to the fact that they're going there and they're saying, you know what, we're just going to play our game. Oh, and we hit some dingers off of Corbyn Burns. Oh, we held mooky bets to one hit. And the correlation for me was the team that I was on, 2014 Royals. Yeah. We had a really good team.

And all of a sudden, we go into LA, we face the Angels. Mike Trout, he hit a dinger. That's it. Mike Trout was not a, he was not a factor in that series. Albert Pohost was not a factor in that series. Same thing as they did to Muky Betts and Freddie Freeman, not a factor. And then all of a sudden, he started hitting dingers, and all of a sudden turn around.

the team you thought was going to win, this is why I think some teams are reticent to spend money to just get to the postseason. Yeah. And this is the exact opposite reason I think you should spend money because when you get to the postseason, then it's time to win. And the Diamondbacks personified that year. And I was super excited to watch them play. Does that like, because we have discussed that they were never in a position where I think

anybody believed that they were going to win, right? They were kind of in the underdog position, the entire playoffs. And it felt like it allowed them to not feel that same pressure. Is that kind of what happened with that Royals team where you're like, it can almost reverse the pressure because, hey, you know, no one's giving us a chance anyway. So it really does put it more on the team that, quote, unquote, is supposed to win versus the other team.

I think maybe at different parts of the game. But believe me, in 2014, I didn't even get in a postseason game. We lost in game seven to the Giants. Well, not to the Giants, to Madison Bumgarner, but to the team that Madison Bumgarner played on. And I never got in a single game. So you talk about, you know, people will say, because I'm getting roasted for something I said on our show today already,

but you say, oh, well, you weren't even in the game. You don't know about pressure. You feel that pressure. Yeah. You feel the pressure. But there's never a disbelief. Like you think you're going to beat the Dodgers. You think you're going to beat the Dodgers.

You think you're going to beat. you know you have confidence in Zach Gallen. You have confidence in Corbyn Carroll being an MVP candidate in your lineup. And you sit there and you go, like if you look back, if before the series, you would have said, yeah, you know what, Zach Gallen's not going to pitch well and Corbyn Carroll's not going to get any big hits in the Philly series. I'm pretty sure you're probably going to get ousted.

Yeah. I mean, Carol hit that rocket. I think it was against Corbyn Burns in the Brewer Series. And you sit there and you go, that's how this team has to win. But if you told me that they were going to lose their Merrill Kelly start and their Zach Gallen start to start the series, that would have been like, what kind of money are we getting that series? They're done. They're cooked.

Yeah, no doubt. And I think Diamondbacks fans would be honest. and I think even players would be honest, but you never lose that conviction that you are the better team. And so the pressure is still there. Like the pressure is what it is in the playoffs. You are, you're grinding.

You're grinding through like, you're like, whoa, baby. But once you get into it, it all goes away. When you get into it and you're playing, when you're sitting on the bench for an entire playoffs, yeah, you're panicked. Eric, I know you mentioned earlier, Brandon fought and how big he was for the Diamondbacks throughout the postseason.

A big narrative for them throughout the playoffs was, although fought stepped up, they had three starters, but they didn't really have four starters. Of course, this off season, they go out, they get Eduardo Rodriguez.

They've made a couple of other moves. What's your perspective on, on, you know, what they've been able to do this off season so far? Um, I mean, how many teams actually use their fourth starter?

You know, when it comes into a series, you sit there and you go, do we really need four starters? To get through a season, you need four starters. To set yourself up to be a healthy team, to be a healthy Paul Seawald,

there is a direct correlation to how long your starters can go. I don't mean just one guy. I don't mean two guys. I mean all five of your guys, how many innings are they taken up? And it takes too long to explain, but if you look at it this way,

Zach Allen's going to give you seven. Okay? Merrill Kelly can give you six. Brandon fought to me, his new repertoire, what Brent Strom and him have unlocked for him since he's gotten called back up is elite. And I think he can be a six guy. If Eduardo O'Riguez can be a six-inning guy, now of a sudden you only, in those four games, I don't know who's going to slide in and number five, but in those four games, you only have to pick up nine, 11 innings. Yeah. But all of a sudden, now if you bring in somebody that's not Eduardo Rodriguez, you bring in a one year kind of contract, a guy who's more of a five and dive kind of guy.

Brandon fought doesn't make. Now of a sudden, each week, each five days, each cycle through the rotation, you're picking up an extra two innings. And that wears on your bullpen. That is two other guys that need to throw. They don't get those days off. So this, all that to say, the Eduardo Rodriguez signing is huge. And I love, love, love that for the Diamondbacks because they saw value in him. And they said, we're going to strike.

This is a guy. He's a consistent, to me, he's a consistent number three. Yeah. And that is huge, especially if fought can be the number three to have a true one, a true two, and two threes. Whoa. That's awesome. Yeah. we agree. We were very excited about that. And the Diamondbacks have been interested in Erod for a while,

so it was great that they were able to get that done. Another big move that changed this team was acquiring Gabrielle Moreno through their trade with the Toronto Blue Jays at the beginning of the year. And like he's become a fan favorite. We love Gabby here in the Valley. And obviously he quickly became a huge piece of why this team was able to get as far as they did. But what were your thoughts on Gabriel Moreno's emergence this year and kind of how he became the guy. behind the plate for us. Ditto. Yes. Everything that you just said. I have loved this guy since I heard about him in the minor leagues to the

point where the guy who was telling me he was a catching coordinator with another organization and he was telling me this dude is going to be the real deal. So when I saw he was in the trade for somebody who I also think is the real deal, he had a down year that Dalton Varsho was a huge loss. with the Diamondbacks. Oh, yeah. But what Dalton Varsho brought to the team, I think the diamondbacks have not duplicates of Dalton Varsho

because he's elite in what he does, but they have, they have the ability to be coached to be able to do the things that Dauvin Varsha did. Anyway, Gabriel Moreno is an elite player in the sense that he doesn't try to do too much. Yes, he can hit the ball out of the ballpark. not going to hit you 40 dingers.

He can control the running game. Absolutely. People are going to say, well, you know, besides the Diamondbacks, not many people steal. It still means something. But what he did behind the plate was what pushed this team the whole way. That worked with Brent Strom, that work with, I'm not sure what other coaches he worked with

to get those pitchers through. And you've got to give credit to the pitchers, too, because they're working with a young, a young up-and-coming catcher who hasn't had all that experience. Right. But you never saw, you never saw them show him up. You saw there was a lot of respect there. Yeah.

In his game calling, in his conversations, all that stuff. What I really like about him, and this is how you differentiate a defensive catcher and a big league potential All-Star is he puts together good at bats with runners in scoring position. He's not going to try to do too much. and he's taking his hits to right field. Towards the end of the World Series,

he started to, I think, if I remember right, he started to kind of get beat a little bit, and he wasn't having this success. And even during the Philly series, he was driving a lot of balls to right field. There's so many RBIs in right field. And to me, a batter who wants to get his RBIs and actually has the ability to change his approach and do it,

those are winning players because they're looking to give up the fact that, oh, a dinger would be awesome. Everybody's going to remember his foul homer and then the next one that was an actual homer. Like how many times did that happen? Everyone's going to remember that. But to me, I remember the base hits the right field to just the nail in the coffin to put

the game away, the dagger that you're like, oh, I just got through this part of the lineup. And now we can't get Gabriel Moreno out with Evan Longoria still waiting. Like we could have pitched around. you know, Moreno to get to somebody else who was struggling, like, and he, to me, I see that, and people are going to roast me for saying this, but I saw that early with Yadda or Molina. I'm not saying he's Yadir Malina because Yadir Malina, because Yadir Malina is a Hall of Famer, but I'm saying, please do. He's better. He's better than Yadda or Molina. I will. That was your, your comments, not fine, but I saw it early. Yaddy, when he came up,

They were both young. I think Yaddi was much younger than Gabrielle, but you're just not, you're not fully grown. Yeah. I get it. You're, you know, you're an adult at 22, 23 years old,

but you're not fully grown into your baseball strength or your baseball ability to be able to take advantage and just, you know, whack a ball at the ballpark. But if you're able to stay within yourself, go to the opposite field, elevate a pitch to the right center field gap, I see Gabrielle Marino doing that, And to me, that sets a team up when you are strong up the middle.

Who plays center field for the Arizona Diamondbacks? Yeah. Alex Thomas, yeah. Right. Who played shortstop for the Arizona Diamondbacks? Maybe a little in flux, but you have Jordan Lawler coming out. And he'll be the guy, but you have strong middle with Gabriel Moreno, out Thomas, and then you have your Corbyn, MVP, year in and year out candidate in right field.

Yeah. And you're right, because he, uh, Gabriel Moreno used to hit. that ball to right field so often that the local broadcast team start calling it Gabby Lane, right? Just because it was like it was almost the same all the time, like those infield singles up the middle or the right field. But yeah, no, I mean, he just became a consistent part of this team when, you know, I felt like what you said when it came to that trade, not often do you trade your position player with the highest war and to have it be a success for you. And it ended up being good for both teams because each team had a surplus of that position, right? They have some amazing

catchers in Toronto that who knows when Moreno was going to see, you know, as much playing time as he deserved to see. And the Diamondbacks just have have a ton of talented young outfielders that make it hard to not, you know, do something like that. But it really, it is like, it was just serendipitous because they ended up losing, you know, Carson Kelly for a large amount of the season. And, you know, Gabrielle Moreno comes in. Not only does he step up and become that guy behind the plate for them but he made it so that carson kelly became expendable considering that marino was their guy now you know yeah 100 percent i i completely agree and and some people could say well why wasn't gabriel marino just automatically slot it in that is a hard position yeah slot in a young player don't ever get it

twisted what adly rutchman is doing over in baltimore is elite that's like buster posey type stuff so So don't fault the dime back coaches for not just slotting him in right away. And he's like, oh, why can we have that bum Carson Kelly? Because Carson Kelly knows what he's doing back there because he has experience. Yeah. Right. Eric, I want to ask just about foul territory. You guys are kind of the new cool kids on the block.

And all of us are very intrigued at what you have going on. It's been a lot of fun just kind of watching you guys grow over the last few months. How did you get involved? And how did this whole thing start? Yeah. I mean, I appreciate saying that, man. That's the first time I've ever been called the cool kid. I am always like the last one.

Like, hey, what are you guys doing? But no, it's something that's been super. It was kind of the brainchild of Scott Braun and Mark Wiener. They have such a knowledge of the landscape, what it is to put out baseball content. And both of them working at the MLB Network forever. and being, you know, top players over there and seeing where this is going, seeing where people digest their content, whether it is from baseball to football to dogs doing funny tricks. Like they're getting their content. Nobody pulls up your, nobody pulls up your remote and goes, gee, I wonder what kind of funny tricks dogs are doing on cable. Yeah.

Like nobody's doing that. You're picking up your Instagram. You're picking up your Twitter. Kids are picking up TikTok. And to me, what intrigued me about it, other than the fact that I needed a job and I didn't want to go coaching because that would take me away from my family, intrigued me about it is I was afforded so much in baseball. I was afforded an opportunity to play at the big league level, to play into minor leagues

for 13 years, and really to play a game my whole life. And I see baseball falling behind football and basketball. And I don't think it should. I love the game of baseball. And I don't think it is sold the way it should be sold to the younger crowd. You guys doing this show, people can hop on. Boom. They can have it on their phone.

Hop on. They don't need this whole like subscription plan and scheduling. And to me, one of the coolest things. And I know the guys will probably be like, what? Why is that the coolest thing? For me, you sell the game to the younger crowd and our ratings in TikTok for baseball content on TikTok are some of the highest out there. And that's that demographic is 16 to 23 year olds. And that is the younger crowd that to me needs to see baseball.

And we're not, we're not being scandalous or like, you know, tons of fart jokes as much as I love a fart joke. Oh, but we're just, we're bringing the players. to the fans, which everybody wants a connection. And baseball has so many cool personalities. And so this show affords us to show, we had Davis Schneider on our show, which we had Aaron Boone on the same show today. Like, these are people that we get an opportunity to show fans.

You have a connection with Davis Schneider, because he's, you know, he's from New Jersey. You have a connection with Aaron Boone, because he's a family guy who lives up in Connecticut. Everybody has a connection and the show has afforded this opportunity. I'm super blessed to see how it's grown, but I wanted to grow more so that it really can continue to prop up our game of baseball and help it grow.

Not just prop it up, but just help it grow. No, I appreciate that about you guys so much. And again, it was kind of our mission statement as well. Like we wanted to help build a community around a team here in the Valley that didn't really feel like it had. good options for for things like this and again like I loved baseball so much when I was a kid and we didn't even have a team here when I lived here in Arizona we didn't have a team so I was like a free agent watching you know baseball other teams and liking just individual players and just watching

highlights on sports center and and you know all of that stuff and like I just I don't really feel like you know it's a kid's game it's a game that as a kid you can definitely like and enjoy and and feel like you you gravitate towards these players. And I like, like you said, I think that the players are so interesting. And they don't necessarily get a platform at times to show off their true personalities like they do. But we thank you for doing it. We love you guys.

We appreciate it so much. Thank you for stopping by. And make sure to follow Eric on Twitter. And also make sure to check out foul territory as well. Fowel Territory at Fowel Territory. There's also Fair Territory. Ken Rosenthal had to have his own thing. Ken, well, Ken's an absolute beast.

Ken's an OG. So he gets his own thing. He gets, he has, you got to check out the fair territory because Ken does really cool. The dude and the dork thing that he does is awesome. But we also have, we also have brew crew territory where we do a brewer's show. All right. You guys kind of squash the, the playoff hopes for the brew crew territory. Happily.

Yeah, we also do more of like a podcast version. You know, the show, foul territory is more like a show. And the podcast version, we do a legends territory where we interview a bunch of legends that, I mean, we've gone from, let's see, we've had Mark McQuire. We've had, I'm not sure Sheffield's not out yet, but we're Ryan Howard. We had, if there's a legend out there, we have had them. Jonathan Papelbon. Jonathan Papelbon. We definitely had.

We also had Pat, when you were on, and he kind of stole your thunder a little bit, but that was vintage Pat. I loved every minute of it, but make sure to follow them at Fowl Territory TV on Twitter. Eric is at Eric Kratz 31. I think the D-backs are maybe in the mix for some catching debts. Eric, if you're interested in making a comeback to the game. Yeah, we're looking for a backup catcher, by the way. D-backs might have some interest.

Just saying. No, no, no, no. I have no interest. I tell people, I did not retire. I quit. I'm playing. I could have physically played at a completely mediocre level. like I did my entire career, but it's time to be home.

And I'm having too much fun doing this too. So I got no desire. I'll help you find a backup catcher. I'll call somebody and be like, hey, the Diamondbacks need somebody. I thought you guys, honestly, I thought you guys should have picked up Jacob Stallings. I thought that was a solid Diamondbacks pickup that the Rockies were like, no, we'll take him and ruin a season of his career. not trying to win. I mean, I'm happy for him,

but I thought he would be a great pickup for you guys. Winning player, awesome behind a dish, awesome dude, and he looks like my little brother. Awesome. Well, this is why people come for you on Twitter, so we appreciate it. And we thank you so much for stopping by, man. No doubt.

Thanks for having me. All right. Thanks, Eric. Oh, man, that was great. Make sure definitely check out Feltore territory, like you said, wherever you want to because they are everywhere. And they're doing some incredible stuff. They've just grown, like, so quickly.

Yeah. I remember a few months ago, we were like, oh, what is this foul territory? Yeah, this is kind of cool. And then I was like, hey, they want me to be on it. And you were like, yeah. That's when I started to question. Yeah, that's really, yeah. It went up and back down a little bit.

We got to get Papalban on this show. Yeah, we'll get Papalban. I think Populban was on the PHLY show like a couple days ago. He was. He was. I wonder how many. I mean, I don't really know. How many drinks deep was he when he went on the Pagel Bonn doesn't exactly have any like, like,

like, clear diamond. Back's connections. Oh, I want one. Me and him are like this. What are you talking about? The connection is that Derek and Jonathan Babelbon are best buds. We're best friends. Okay.

All right. I guess I'm okay with that. We eat him like at least six whiskeys deep. Oh, yeah. At least. Yeah. Maybe we'll do like a drinking game off air beforehand and then we'll have them on the show. We could talk about rooster fighting and stuff.

Oh, you phrased that much differently than he phrased it on Belter territory. Well done. That was just like Jesse's use of the word. What were you calling Phillies fans? Passionate. It was a good. It was a good word. Anyway, if you're passionate about your sports fans, fandom, I guess you could say, don't miss out on any sporting events, concerts or shows.

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I was just there last night. Yeah, what did you get? I got gasoline. That's it. I'm just gasoline. That's my plan stop on the way. Like I said earlier, I was having a terrible day this morning. I was going to stop at Circle K and get gas on the way in, ran out of time.

Just like I ran out of time to shave because I was stuck for 45 minutes trying to fix a shower that I have no business attempting to fix. And I just eventually had to shut off the water to my house. That's how I fixed it. With my Inter Circle discount, it was the cheapest gas within like. Oh, I made the mistake of trying to go to another gas station just because I thought that gas station for a store. store you have a membership to, Wink, you know who I'm talking about, was going to be cheaper. And it wasn't. It wasn't. Circle K was cheaper. So make sure to stop by Circle K. But you did need to fill up your gas because you were out, like we said earlier, at the Diamondback Celebrity Golf

classic. Yes. And you got a chance to see all of our favorite guys. But most importantly, Zach Gallen, who is being recognized here in the Valley more often. That's fun. Apparently, Zach Gallen had to be asked if he was Zach Gallen, which, by the way, I received. somebody messaging me on Twitter. I think it was our friend Brian who asked me if this was Zach Gallen. And it was like so obviously not Zach Gallen? Like they wanted me to confirm if it was that gallon. Wait, someone like sent you a picture.

Sent me a photo of somebody and was like, hey Derek, is this Zach Gallen identifier for people? Apparently. Well, Zach Gallen is the Zach Gallen identifier. This is what this poor man has to go to. He talked about being recognized more lately and not having to be asked if he's actually Zach Gallen. Before it was like, I was getting a lot more of like, are you Zach Gallen? It's the worst question for me to answer because I don't know how like, before it's like, no, that's not me. I just didn't know how to deal with it. And I still don't really know how to answer it. But now it's a

lot more of like people know they just, I think that they're just trying to be polite and respectful. But yeah, it was for a good month there. It was anywhere. We went anytime we left the house. You know, we went to the mall like a month ago, and we had a very interesting experience. I was a little scared of the mall for a little while. There was just a lot on the weekend. Yeah, so it was, but I mean, it's fun. That's what you, that's what you want. You want that to, that means you did something.

You play well. People, you know, want to come and talk to you. And I'm pretty easy to easy going, so I can talk to whatever. But, yeah, it's not, it's definitely changed. Life has changed a little bit. You know what it is. is like people can be okay about meeting a famous person, right? And so like, you know, getting recognized in like a mall scenario.

And that's fine. It's the overwhelming nature of it. Like I have been with my WWE wrestler friends before. And we went from being anonymous people walking down the street to having like a crowd of 200 people following us down, you know, because they, they saw him. And they literally followed us like zombies, right? Like when you reach that level of fame, it's almost kind of scary just because that's, that's overwhelming to have like a group of people come at you. It'd be like, yeah, yeah. Jack Allen, right?

Like, that's kind of weird. He does mention this. I have to know his mall story. He's talking about how they were, they were like afraid to go to the mall for a while. So I need to ask him about that off the record and see, see what the story is there. But yeah, this is also something that came up during the postseason. I think during one of Brandon Fox pressers, he was asked, do you find yourself being recognized? around town more.

And the answer was also yes. I think he talked about him and Ryan Nelson being out to dinner or something. And they were kind of shocked that someone came up to them and knew exactly who they were and wanted to picture or whatever. But that's what happens, Derek. When you know, when you're part of a baseball team that makes the kind of run that the Diamondbacks did, I remember, you know, obviously this is my job. And I cover the Diamondbacks and then being in the World Series, you know, made my life

in October crazy, but also very enjoyable. But I had a lot of people reaching out to me who are not even remotely baseball fans that, you know, we're dialed in, you know, at least on some level to what the Diamondbacks were doing. And, you know, if you're dialed into the Diamondbacks, you know who Zach Gallen is. Like you can't not know who Zach Gallen is if you're watching, you know, how far this team was able to go in the playoffs. That's why it's so important and it's so important to capitalize on it, right? When it comes down to it, you know, you live in a town where a team plays a regular season. and if they're bad for a number of years,

it's easy to forget about them. It's easy not even to go to the regular season games or care about that, right? But we get fired up for the playoffs. I mean, we get fired up no matter what team it is. Like, you know, the mercury on the playoffs, let's go. I got to get out my Tarazi jersey. Like, you know, like we get pumped for this stuff.

I remember going to Rattler's games and having it be the most insane atmosphere ever during the playoffs. So people come out. They want to get excited about a team, but it almost feels like sometimes a regular season is too much for the Arizona. a sports fan, right? Like, we're like, yeah, well, if you get there, I'll come. Yeah, right. Kind of like a parent that doesn't want to come to the practices, but we'll be like, oh, I'll come to your game. That's

fine, you know? Like, but I mean, yeah, it's, it's interesting. I can confess that I think it was, it was Ryan, it was Ryan and Alec Thomas, and they were at the APS parade, and I walked past them, and Alec kind of saw me, and then I saw Alec, and Alec is a very recognizable person, But Ryan, they were starstruck by you, not the other way around. I mean, like I might have just walked by Ryan is what I'm saying. Like sometimes like, and I've met him before. I've talked to it before. And I was still like after I got done talking out, like, I was like, oh, hey, it's you.

Right. It's like baseball players do live kind of a little bit of an anonymous life, right? Even though that they're not like football players where they're under a helmet. You just don't see their face. Like baseball players are just, they're one of 40 guys on a team. Yeah. There's a lot more MLB players than there are like NBA players for sure. But that's not the important question that we're here to talk about.

We're not here to talk about Zach Gallen getting identified in Arizona. We are here to talk about Zach Gallen staying in Arizona. That is the question that was asked and that is the question that we have the answer to. Because even though we don't know anything more about Zach Gallant possibly signing an extension with this team, we do know it's like it. We do know it sounds like he wants to. Yeah, yeah. here's what Zach Gallen had to say about his future potentially in Arizona. Nothing that I know of, honestly.

So I don't know. I can't speak for the other side. But like I said, you guys are probably. I love Phoenix. I love it here, especially after I was having this success and seeing that there's some energy here about baseball and the fans, you know, are proving that, you know, they want a winner here. I love it here.

So, yeah, I mean, that's where I'm at. they want to decide to do something. Great, we'll sit down and figure it out and see what happens. But as right now, nothing's been done. What are we doing? What are we doing here? Open up the checkbook. Let's get the deal done, right?

Let's just get this done. What is it going to take, Jesse? What are we saying? $210 million? That's not a lot. Yeah. That's not a lot of millions of dollars. I think it, yeah, I mean, if you think about what Aaron Nola got,

I think it was like 7-172, Aaron Nola is coming off a year in which he had a four and a half ERA, right? So Zach Gallen's certainly worth more than that. I think 7-2-10 is fairly reasonable. My guess is that if you actually call Scott Boris right now, his ask is a heck of a lot higher than that. And Zach Gallen, frankly, I mean, you look at the starting pitchers who are set to hit the market over the next few years. There's not really anyone who's, like, more compelling than Zach Gallen. I know Corbin Burns is about to hit free agency.

He's maybe in the same ballpark. Are you going to take this upon your? Scott Boris. Scott Boris's conversation is going to be something like three. Did you say 300 million? No. Okay. Well,

we'll talk to you. I asked Scott. I've said this on the show before, but I did ask Scott about a potential Zach Yallan extension at the GM meetings a few months ago. And he didn't have a whole lot to share. He just talked about, you know, the season that Zach Allen had had and how he was, you know,

busy recovering from the Diamondbacks World Series run and not thinking about that. It doesn't. I have never gotten any indication that there have been conversations about this. I'm sure it's something the Diamondbacks have thought about internally, but as of right now, we haven't heard anything about them approaching Scott Boris about an extension. And, you know, there's certainly some precedent here with Boris wanting his clients to go to free agency. So it continues to be a tricky situation where it's still a little hard for me to imagine.

Zach Gallen signing long term with the Diamondbacks, but you can see he clearly, He clearly enjoys being a member of the Diamondbacks. And I don't think, I think it's genuine. I really do. He was asked a follow-up question as well. You know, did seeing the fans kind of come out during the playoffs? Did that even increase your desire to come back? Because Zach has kind of always spoken positively of his time here.

But he was asked if that had kind of taken it to another level. And he said, yes. You know, he said, yeah, I mean, there's clearly a market for this here. if we're able to build a team that contends consistently, something that the Diamondbacks really haven't ever managed to do going back to the early days of the franchise. So he wants to be here, whether it gets done continues to be a pretty big question. I understand it.

I get it. And I don't think a lot of information is going to be revealed. You know, one thing that Mike Hazen kind of discussed, I think it was at the Eduardo Rodriguez introductory press conference, is that like he doesn't want to talk about like failed attempts at making a trade for a player. So he doesn't really want to like even confirm or deny whether they were pursuing someone in one way or not. It's not a good look for you. It's not a good look as a general manager for the public perception to be that you attempted to go after these guys and weren't able to get the deal done.

So when it comes to Galen's kind of the same thing. Like Galen, yeah, he doesn't know of any negotiations going on because if talks are happening, they're not real serious talks. Those are probably just kind of passing conversations between its agent and the team if they're even happening. But I think the big thing about it is is that at least, at the very least, this team isn't going through years of mediocrity when we're building up to the end of Zach Gallen's tenure to the point where it might not just be money that he wants, but he also wants to go somewhere and win. He wants to experience that. if this team can compete and be in the playoffs and be a part of the conversation for the next year, two years, that could help Zach Gowan want to stay here even more because that's something that is being satisfied by this team and by the playoff as his teammates, right?

Yeah, I mean, I think if the Corby and Carroll extension doesn't actually come to fruition, I wonder if we even ever hear that it was talked about, right? Like, that's the kind of thing where if it doesn't happen, you don't really want. people to know that you tried to negotiate an extension with your star player and it didn't come to fruition so that is a fair point us not having heard any on the record reports of an extension or of talks of an extension doesn't necessarily mean that they're not happening i'm inclined to think that they're not happening but uh it just sends the wrong message like you said with that example of the corbin carroll thing right it makes the it could make the franchise look like they can't get the deal

done with a young player and it could make him look bad like oh he's like a deal that doesn't want to sign. He doesn't want to come back or he doesn't want to do whatever, right? We all understand if Zach Gallin leaves because the amount of money he'll probably be paid by some other organization when that deal ultimately gets done. If it does get done with another team will probably be huge, right? He'll probably be enough money that we will go, oh, okay, get the bag. You know, like go go get that, you know, because you know the diamond match. He's just an exceptionally valuable player. Right. I mean, it's there's just there, as I said earlier, There just aren't guys who hit free agency who have the consistency that Zach Gallen has had.

Since Zach Gallen joined the Diamondbacks, he's been an ace level pitcher basically from day one, right? When he comes over from the Marlins, I know he's only pitching about five innings a game, but he was really good for the Diamondbacks right away. I know 2021 wasn't a great season for him. You know, there have been some ups and downs. He didn't finish the year all that well. We've talked about that. But there's a reason that he was number three on that end.

MLB Network List that we talked about a week or two ago. We're just in an era right now with starting pitchers where there just aren't that many guys who like year in, year out have solidified themselves as Cy Young contenders. And Zach Gallen has done that now for several years in a row and is probably going to stay in that conversation for, you know, the next two years before he hits free agency. Not to mention the fact that this is a guy that we traded away essentially what we thought was going to be our next big superstar on this team. And a guy who has kind of become a big super star.

superstar with the Miami Marlin. He's on the NLB the show covered, Derek. He must be a superstar. His stats don't back that up, Jesse. They absolutely do not back that honor up. But I will say that, you know, getting Zach Gallen back, it's like what we were talking about with Eric with the Dalton Vars show, Gabriel Moreno trade.

It is one of those trades that somehow has worked out well for both teams. However, if you are a Miami Marlins fan, are you not sometimes looking at jazz and then looking at Zach Gallen being in the Sun-Jung race and being like, I'd rather have that guy. right now, right? So it was a question, an interesting question for a couple of years, like which guy would you rather have? Now it is no longer an interesting question. Everyone would take Zach Allen over Jacksonism. There's no question about it. When he set an MLB record for the most games to start a career with giving up three earned runs or less, that right there was I was like, this is a level of

consistency that I don't know if we've ever seen out of anybody, right? Maybe Randy Johnson. 44 and a third scoreless inning streak. That was pretty good too. I remember that too. They made a little bobblehead about that. They did make a bobblehead about it, yes. Well, we appreciate you guys stopping by. Of course, if you're a diehard, I hope to have seen you last night in our city council meeting. That was very fun. I saw Jesse there.

He wanted to just make sure I wasn't saying bad things about him. But make sure if you're subscribed, of course, become a diehard today. You can go to go PHNX.com. You'll get to come to all sorts of fun events like our new squeeze play game show that I will be hosting. Cogs is going to be our first contestant on there. So got to get two more contestants. That can go well. Two more of you will join us on that, and one of you will win your free shirt of your choosing from the PHNX Locker.com.

So if you want to participate in that, just keep your eyes peeled for that. But otherwise, make sure you're diehard in order to get all of this, including all of Jesse's content, access to our Discord lounge, that free shirt that you get for signing up from the PHNX Locker.com. You get a free shirt for every year. You remember as well. You also get access to everything we have over here, including our discounts with our partners and discounts on our events, like our upcoming takeover event at Chase and. field in the pool in July. So we're going to be having all sorts of fun. Of course, we need money sometimes to have fun and a great place to take care of your money is at Desert Financial Credit Union for more than 84 years. Desert Financial has been Arizona's largest, most

trusted local credit union dedicated to creating exceptional service experiences by giving back to their community and providing financial solutions that make lives better. They made my life better by getting me in a home and they can get you started on your home ownership journey as well. They also have checking and savings accounts, mortgages, loans, credit cards, investment options, and so much more. So make sure to go to a credit union that's going to take care of you and have your best interests in mind. When you open a free checking account online, you get $200 in bonuses. Get started by visiting desertfinancial.com slash 200. Well, that's all we got.

But you know what? We got a little bit more. So make sure to check out our audio-only podcast, which we'll be dropping tomorrow morning on your audio podcasting feed. You can sign up wherever you get those. drop us a review, leave us a like. We like all that stuff. But in the meantime, you can also follow us on Twitter. I am at K-Ur-M-A-M-A-K.

This absolute maniac next to me is at Jesse N. Friedman. Damon is the man behind the ones and twos over there. You can follow him at Damon Dogg. That's D-A-W-G. We are Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Shout out to Pedro, who's back, by the way. Pedro, Pedro.

Good to see you here, man. Good to see all of you. We hope to see you guys back here on Monday for another mailbag Monday. In the meantime, we appreciate it. you stopping by today. We thank you for your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun when you pays that gallon what he is worth.