PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Zac Gallen uncharacteristically struggled at home in series finale loss to the Cardinals

Episode Date: July 27, 2023

Zac Gallen had a rare bad outing at Chase Field that may have been made worse by home plate umpire Clint Vondrak’s inconsistent strike zone. The D-backs lose the series to the Cardinals and we recap everything that went wrong. We also discuss the bullpen’s poor performance in this game and comments from GM Mike Hazen on the organization’s sense of urgency to rectify their reliever problem at the trade deadline.SUBSCRIBE 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 Go to https://birddogs.com/PHNX or enter promo code PHNX for a free Yeti style tumbler with your order.Go to https://saturdayneon.com and use code PHNX for 10% off your order today. Free shipping for orders over $200!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Pins & Aces: Check out https://pinsandaces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping.Circle K: Text PHNX to 31310 to join the Circle K SMS subscriber club and get BOGO 32 oz Polar Pops! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: Learn more about OGeez! at https://ogeezbrands.com//. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.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.

My name is Darry, of my name is the mayor of the Sylvic. Somehow, I'm still inexperatively. Just bad next to me. Mr. Electron, Sean Paz, still not will. And, of course, you guess is a brief. Your thought of course. Guys, this one was a tough loss to stomach. Zach Gallen was not very good today, and we will get into why he wasn't good today.

It wasn't all Zach Gallen's fault. But this bullpen just once again, absolutely imploded. What are we at now? 18 games in a row where the Diamondbacks bullpen has allowed one earned run or more. Well, they didn't allow any runs yesterday. Technically, the streak is over. 18. 18 out of 19. We start a new streak because today was atrocious for this bullpen.

And even though, like I said, Zach Gallen wasn't very good, this team still stayed in it, right? Like there was still the answerbacks in the offense. There just wasn't much answer back in the Diamondbacks bullpen. and they gave up six erred runs today, and the Diamondbacks lose the game 11 to 7. Yeah, there was no rally monkey at the stadium. That was a problem. Yeah, this one's on cogs.

Cogs, you need to add a loss in your loss column on your sheet there. But no rally monkey, no one was coming to save this team. And hopefully there is some help on the horizon with the trade deadline looming in less than a week. But at this point, looking at this bullpen and the performances they've had as of late, this has just been awful. game was once again one of those instances where nobody nobody in the bullpen seemed to be able to throw a competitive baseball yeah the team just feels like it's missing that spark that it had for the that spark that

what is the that spark that drive that electricity we give you a place to plug it in talk of the store doors casinos that's why they just said that there's no there's not the team just doesn't feel like there's much to it and I was hoping that last night it would be kind of like a you know a kickstart and they would kind of get that energy back but it it just didn't really seem like it. And it, I mean, it took a while. Obviously, like, it took a while for the offense, kind of. I mean, they had two runs in the third, I guess.

But like, I don't know, man. This is not fun watching this team anymore at this point. Yeah. Yeah, the Diamondbacks just, they left so many, so many base runners out there throughout the course of this game, two for 16 with runners in scoring position. Just continuing a recent trend on on that front. And yeah, I mean, the game yesterday was great. It seemed like a huge pick-me-up for the team as a whole.

Corvin Carroll coming through in that big spot with a two-run triple. And you felt like maybe that's the turning point. Maybe the debacks are getting to the other side of the skid. A thought that some people maybe had last week as well when the debacks took the first two games against the Atlanta Braves in that series, it felt like the skid was maybe over then. But the skid just, it's just not over. It just continues to go on and on and on for this Diamondbacks baseball team. I believe they are 5 and 14 now in the month of July.

It has been all bad. I mean, it has been outside of that Brave series. I know the D-Backs took a series from the Pirates before the All-Star break. This has just been a brutal month across the board. Post All-Star break, the Diamondbacks run into this. 18 of their first 24 games are against opponents with a combined winning percentage of 557. seven. What makes it worse, seven of the eight opponents they face after the All-Star break have a 500 record or better. The one team that didn't, the St. Louis Cardinals. So things don't get better

from this point going forward. And the Cardinals really were a team. I don't want to pat myself on the back too much because I did say that they are a team that's hot right now. And of course, that's when the Diamondbacks catch him. But this was a team that the Diamondbacks needed to take care of business against. Now, Zach Gallen was not good today at home, which is obviously uncharacteristic with how good he has been. But I don't feel like this was entirely Zach Gallen's fault. You know, we like to throw a little blame every once in a while at a home plate

umpire here or there, but we don't tend to, we don't tend to fall back on that too often. However, home plate umpire Clint, von Drak was flat out just awful behind the plate today. Let's take a look at some of his strike call. or his ball calls or his lack of strike calls. Oh, this one.

Oh, this one's egregious. Oh, this one makes me want to run out to the field, which is two blocks away and fight this man. And I'm a more reasonable human being than that. I don't want to fight an umpire. But I feel like someone needed to over this call. Yeah, I mean, this was at this. When this happened, I was like, oh, this is going to be a day.

And it was a day. And I mean, I know we have other graphics. Like, it was just not, it didn't feel equitable at all. But I mean, these are like, especially that second pitch there, that first ball is like a blade. That's a strike in every way, shape, and form. And so is the second ball as well. But I mean, the second one, it's not often you see pitches that are well within the interior strike zone, not even touching a border, be called a ball. This is, that was so awful.

It was a greedist. And it was, it seemed like it was all game. I don't think Jose Herrera did a great job framing at least one of those. I think that was that was part of the part of the situation but you sound like half of our Twitter followers right now Jesse yeah yeah I mean they did have a point on that but yeah I mean we have another graphic that shows Gallin's strikes just gallons pitches with the entire game things being equitable it's just a lot of blue there in the inside of the strike zone yeah there there were there were definitely multiple missed calls in this game you don't really see

gallon getting any called strikes out of the zone if we flip over to Jack Flaherty, things look a little bit different. You see a number of pitches on both sides. A single blue ball in the zone. And you don't see any pitches in the zone that were. That's egregious. I'm very interested in this umpire card. Clint Vondrak, you should be ashamed of yourself.

The Diamondbacks, frankly, did not lose this game because of the umpiring. No, they did not. The Cardinals offense vastly outperformed the Diamondbacks offense in this game. and the Cardinals bullpen was, I guess, not that much better than the Diamondbacks bullpen, given the way that things ended. But, you know, D-BAC scored a few runs late, which didn't really seem to matter a whole lot at the end of the day. But the D-Bex bullpen gave up six runs in this game, you know, when the game was still interesting for a while there. Like we said, Gallen wasn't great.

Galen gave up six in six in the thirds innings pitch. He gave up seven hits, five earn runs, two walks and eight strikeouts. Yeah. His strikeouts looked, he did have some whiffs there. Strikeouts did look a bit, look angry because he was frustrated with the strike zone and some of those lack of calls he was getting. But when Gallin left the game, as much as we want to say he was he was not good today, he had this rare, you know, bad outing at Chase Field, the Diamondback still had a chance to win and had the bullpen been able to hold the Cardinals. This would be, right, theoretically, a seven to five ballgame, right? I guess you could say the same thing about the Cardinal side of things, their bullpen could have held, whatever.

Throw the entire bullpen in the trash. Six earn runs in two and two-thirds innings pitched. And I mean, there's plenty of times where you want to blame it on one of the guys in the pen. Kyle Nelson gave up an earn run. And he also gave up the run. He gave up a two-run home. So Gallen got charged with one of those. Then McGuff gives up four.

And Tyler Gilbert gives up one. I think Tyler, or I think McGuff had a runner on that Tyler Gilbert let's score as well. But regardless, it was everybody. Nobody could get an out. It felt like out of the pen. And it was a very frustrating day to watch once Gallen did leave the game. It was also frustrating when Gallen was still in there because of the way that this game was being called behind the plate.

But more than anything, I think it's the lack of equity, like Sean said. It's the fact that when you look at those two strike zones, you can't tell me. You can't tell me that this umpire was just calling, you know, a squatty strike zone or he was calling it this way or that way. that is an egregious amount of calls in the favor of the St. Louis Cardinals. And like Jesse said, obviously it doesn't like, it's probably not why they lost the game. But at the same time, especially with like that Lars Newbar at that being early on in the game, like you hate to wonder about like if that gallon's frustration affected his performance and stuff like that. Like you would just rather this not be a element to the game that you even have to talk about, obviously.

But, I mean, that's so egregious that you have to address it. You keep saying it doesn't matter. What if Gallen was better? Like, what if Galen was better? What if Galen wasn't getting these calls missed on him? And what if Gallen was more efficient? And he didn't give up five urns. What if we saw Gallen go out there and give up one earn?

I mean, I get it. The bullpen still gave up six. But, like, I mean, there might be some sort of cascading effect if the Diamondbacks were in a better position to win where maybe Lovolo manages the game differently. or, you know, I don't really know there, but I just think like... Maybe if he doesn't have to, like, face an extra hitter in the first inning, like, yeah, maybe he has some more left in the tank, you know, toward the end of the game when he gave up that fourth run. But, yeah, at the end of the day, I mean, Gowan just wasn't all that great.

And I think the debacks offense, even though they did score seven runs in this game, you could make a case that, you know, the offense actually was pretty good. And I don't know if I really buy that. I mean, at that point... Straded a lead off triple in the first inning. They stranded a lead off triple. They stranded a Jake McCarthy lead off double later in the game. And by the- They were two for 16 today with runners in scoring position.

Two for 16. And by the ninth inning, I mean, it's 11-4 game. Obviously, the Cardinals aren't going to their best relievers in that situation. So, you know, scoring three runs there isn't really the same as scoring three runs earlier in this game when it was still close. So the offense continues to flounder a little bit. There are moments where it's like, if Corbyn Carroll or Christian Walker don't do it, it's not going to happen. Jake McCarthy did have an outstanding game at the plate.

He was three for four, a couple, three for five, a couple singles, a double. I think there was also a hard lineout in this game. So good to see him have a game like that. But up and down the lineup, the debacks just need to get more from this offense. You did mention Corbin Carroll. And of course, Corbyn Carroll continues to deliver in this series he delivered. He delivered the game winning hit in yesterday's wonderful win, which, by the way, Shout out to our PHNX family that came out for the takeover event.

I think last night was one of our best takeover events that we've had as far as a PHNX Diamondbacks family. The food was great. The atmosphere was great. But more than anything, those seats that we got out there in 144 sitting underneath that home run porch, that was a legitimate party we had going out there. So I am so incredibly thankful for those of you that came out. I hope you guys all had as good of a time as we did. And yeah, watching Corbyn Carroll win that game with that pitch hit, triple was quite the, quite the experience to go through. And Corbyn Carroll's making history.

He continues to make history. He got his 30th stolen base in this game. And now Corbyn Carroll has 21 home runs and 30 stolen bases, making him just the sixth player in MLB history to go 2030 in their rookie season. Today he was three for four with three runs scored and a walk and he just continues to be an incredible baseball player. A player that you just are sincerely thankful is a part of your organization. He is just a great guy. He's a humble guy. It's great to talk to him.

And, you know, again, last night he talked to us about, you know, coming in in that pinch hit situation and just kind of trying to make something happen. and I think it's the first time I've ever even heard him say that he hit the ball good. I think he was like I put a good swing on it. You know, and I was like, was that a complimentary thing he said about himself? Because Corvin Carroll, he doesn't do that. He doesn't talk good about himself. But six player in MLB history. Interesting fact, the Diamondbacks actually have had two of the six players that went 2030 in their rookie season as part of their organization.

The other one being Devin White. So there you go. There's a little piece. Diamondbacks legend, Evan White. I couldn't believe looking him up that he only played one season for this team. I swear my memory was like of him being a just a staple, you know, the foundation of this team. Nope, not the case. It's a good season.

Yeah, he did have a good season. Chris Young was really close. That was my guess when you asked me who the other guy was a B-back was he had a 30-homer, 20-stolen base season, not a 20-homeer 30-stolen base season. He had like 27 stolen bases in 2007. So he was right there. Oh, I'll tell you this much. Corbyn Carroll, he's going to threaten to maybe make it a 30-30 or maybe even a 30-40 season with the production he's had if you can continue to produce like he has. But I will tell you, I'm still very confident about my futures bet on Corbyn Carroll winning the rookie of the year.

He is our Roy. He does live a life well-lived. And you can get down probably not on great odds on Corbyn Carroll. But who knows, maybe these odds makers start seeing Ellie Dela-Cruz and have those passing by. You know, like, he's doing stuff that only certain guys have done in history. So I would still put my money on Corby and Carroll to win the rookie of the year. You can also put your money on Nerfy Fridays over at BetMGM Sportsbook app. All you have to do is be an existing bet MGM sports user.

And it's this easy to get the promotion. You just opt into the promotion. There's a no-run first-inning bet. Then you place it on any MLB game. By betting no on the will there be a run in the first-inning market. If your bet loses but only one run is scored during the first inning, you will receive a bonus bet equaling your stake up to $25. And again, remember, this is only on Fridays. So do not miss out on Nerfie Fridays over at the BetMGM app.

If you haven't signed up yet for BetMGM, use bonus code PHNX. There's a few different offers depending on where you live. But for our Arizona audience, you will place your first bet offer and receive up to $1,000 back in bonus bets if it loses with BetMGM. Again, make sure you use bonus code PHNX. Check out the show notes for full details. And now listen to Shane. talk about the disclaimer. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler.

Colorado, D.C., Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming. call 8778-N-Y or text Hope N.W. 467-369-9-N-York. Call 1-1-3-2-0-Masachusetts. 218-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-Masurricular, please gamble responsibly.

Call 100 Next Step, Arizona, 1-8-V-2-7-1-N-1-7-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1. 1-800-981-0023 Puerto Rico in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Visit betmgm.com for terms and conditions. US promotional offers not available in D.C., Kansas, Nevada, New York, or Ontario. Ontario. We thank you guys for being here in the PHANX-Sports YouTube channel,

even if you are from Ontario. We especially welcome you in. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, do so. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever we go live. Leave us a thumbs up just for our self-esteem. If you're listening on the audio podcasting side,

leave us a review. We always appreciate you doing that. Make sure you just subscribe over there as well. And like I said, we loved hanging out with our diehards last night. If you haven't signed up for a diehard membership yet, join the family. Not only will you get discounts on events like our takeover event we had last night, but you will get a free piece of merchandise from the PHNX Locker.com and all 20% off all future purchases. You also get benefits from our partners like a Mountain Mike's gift certificate for $50.

You get a ranch card from Dobson Ranch Golf Course and so much more. You get access to our members-only Discord lounge, Jesse's newsletter, full count, and all the newsletters for all of our writers around here and everything that we have to offer, including, again, that Discord lounge is the best place to be an Arizona sports fan. So join us today over here at PHMX and join us, become part of the family. Jacob Nevin in the comment said, did you guys see Ahmed Rosario as a Dodger? Yes, we did. We hate it. We don't like it. And the Dodgers, despite what Mike Hazen says about the trade market and things not really happening yet at this point,

the Dodgers, once again, seem to be making things happen. And that's just what the Dodgers always do. But before we get on to trade deadline, talk, and more things that might dishearten you, let's take a look at the numbers for this series between the Cardinals, because, boy, this looks ugly. For both teams, I guess in some ways, right? Starting pitching ERA, awful for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Of course, you know, we had Ryan Nelson have that fairly bad outing.

And, you know, Merrill Kelly, outstanding. Merrill Kelly was absolutely outstanding for this team. But Zach Gowan also contributed to this ERA being so high. The diamond backs just really you're struggling in two primary areas right now. One of them being relief pitching and the other one being hitting with runners in scoring position. I guess you could argue that there's a third one, which is also starting pitching. They're basically struggling at everything. In every way, in a sense.

But yeah, I mean, 162 with runners in scoring position compared to 400 for the Cardinals. Like, that's the series right there. I mean, the debacks had more hits in the series than the Cardinals did. They had a number of base runners, especially in this game today. And yeah, it's not really that they're not getting opportunities. They're not getting guys on base. It's just that they're really struggling to get guys in. And sometimes you don't even need a base hit.

There were multiple situations in this game where the debacks didn't need a hit in order to get a runner home and they weren't able to come through in that way either. So the lack of being able to hit in those moments where it really counts has really hurt them. And yeah, I mean, the debacks had. two out of their three best starters going in this series, right? Like if ever a series were lined up for the debacks to come out well, I mean, having Gallin and Kelly on back-to-back days had to feel pretty good. But unfortunately, Gallen wasn't himself today. And he's been good lately, but he hasn't been great. He's given up three runs, I believe, in three straight starts. He's not

really been the ace type pitcher that we've seen in the past. Really, I see some comments about the Dodgers getting below average players and things like that. I think the point is that the Dodgers are the Dodgers, right? You know, like, when a guy has a 400 OPS, he goes to the Dodgers. They were below average players. They were below average, but they're going to the Dodgers, right? You see how that works, right? Well, and I will say that there's a lot of bad things.

You know, again, we talked about, we've talked about a lot of trade deadline targets. We've talked about potentially mortgaging the future for some of them. And I think the biggest thing that this series right now shows is that they have a lot of weaknesses. They have a lot of areas of concern to address. And right now there's not just one magical trade besides Shohei Otani that's going to bring everything they need over to this team. And even then, I say that with Jess. Mike Hazen was asked about that.

He literally laughed off the idea of Shohei Otani being on the Diamondbacks radar, despite what MLB trade rumors says. So let's just one more briefs. I mean, well, he laughed off the idea of talking to fans about it around the stadium. That's true. He didn't really address any discussions that Diamondbacks are having a lot of race. on those lines. Mike doesn't actually walk around the stadium, believe it or not.

That's not something he does. So he doesn't have. What GM in their right mind would just go prowling around the concourse five days before the trade? I don't know if he would be safe down there right now. I don't know about that. Like based of what we're seeing on Twitter, I'm not sure he would be safe walking around the. That's probably true. It's a bad idea.

Yeah. Well, we know who you guys want fired and everything like that. But this series, again, not a great series for this team. and let's be honest, this was one of the easier teams that they had on their schedule for the foreseeable future. So the Diamondbacks definitely have some things to figure out, and they need to figure it out soon. Otherwise, things could go south for them very quickly. Luckily, as Sean will attest to, all the teams right now in the National League are pretty much bad. Like almost all of the teams.

So at the very least, when we lose, everybody else is losing, and things are not getting out of control as far as the Diamondbacks position, a wild card spot at least for the time being yes i mean technically speaking they're not sitting in a wild card spot right this second but i mean yeah san francisco four and six in the last 10 philadelphia is 500 in the last 10 Miami two and eight in the last time watch out for the cubbies yeah seven and three in their last time but um yeah i mean all of no one is no one's by like really putting any kind of separation as far as the wild card race is concerned this isn't this is not the al where it's a matter of like a lot of good teams it seems fighting for a while. It's a lot of teams that are just not playing good baseball right now.

So again, it's, I mean, I don't want to by any means discredit how poorly the Diamondbacks are playing. But like, it's still not really having too much of an effect on their like playoff chances as far as like you said, as the rest of the teams are concerned. So I guess if there's a time to suck, it's right now. Because if they can figure it out soon. If you weren't good, you'd be able to put some distance between these teams. But if the other teams were good, they'd be putting a lot of distance in between them. So, yeah, I mean, not good, but it could be a whole lot worse. And if they figure it out before these other teams,

then they're still watching out for this season to be a good one. The Diamondbacks welcome the Mariners to town this weekend. Then they go to San Francisco for what's a very important series with the San Francisco Giants. And our very own Jesse Friedman will be in the Bay Area for that. So make sure to keep it locked here for as much as we can give you in regards to that. Then they have the Twins, Dodgers, And Rockies and then Padres again and then Rangers and then Reds and then Dodgers and then Orioles. Yeah, things are bad folks.

Things are bad. And they might even get worse if this team doesn't find a way to be competitive. Did I hear Rockies? What's that? Yeah, there's the wrong. Rockies are the only reprieved peppered in there. And no offense to Patrick Lyons or Susie Hunter. But I hope they beat the shit out of their team.

It was somebody right. Because right near when we started the show, there was the NBA. sent out their tweet for their post game show. And it was, too blown and save, spoil a series wins, win against the nationals. Not to mention many more road homers. Like, ah, it could be worse. Could be worse.

Anyway, well, we'll make sure that we'll stock Jesse up with plenty of snacks when he heads out to San Francisco. But, of course, make sure you stock up with plenty of snacks at your local Circle K. Stop on in for your best coffee, beer and snack selection and premium gas. Of course, now that you got me and Sean both on the gas pumps, It's also the best in-house premium gas entertainment. So stop by circle, okay? Polar Pop, stay cold longer, and we will not be happy with you if you don't enjoy yours.

So make sure to do that. Also, get yourself some power aids. They have four of them for $5. And on top of that, you'll also be entered into a drawing to win Sean's car. I don't mean we're literally going to take Sean's car away from him because we need him to get to work. But his stream car, the 2023 Ford Big Ben Bronco, HGV that you can get down on. Hopefully, one of you win it. Hopefully this guy wins it.

That's what I'm root for him. Are you eligible for this? Probably not, but I'll lie. We'll lie. We got some burn. My mom win it. There we go. You can also get buy two, get one free, monster energy drinks as well as

buy two get one free. Beatbox hard tea. So make sure you're not missing out on all of this great stuff right now. Text PHNXA 31310 to join their SMS subscriber club and get it by one, get one free offer on 32 ounce polar pops. Again, head to circlek.com slash store dash locator to find circle K's near you. While you're there, pick up the official craft beer of the Arizona Diamondbacks. That is our friends at Four Peaks.

They have a Rattle on Red Ale, which, of course, is definitely as smooth as Corbyn Carroll's swing. And you can get that at their Four Peaks draft room at Chase Field. It's located on the sweet level, and it is an absolute elite place to watch a baseball game from. So if your tickets suck wherever you got them in the ballpark, don't even worry about trying to relocate. Just get some great food down at the Four Peaks draft room, get some beers, and enjoy a baseball game. You could check out their calendars at 4Peaks.com slash events to stay up to date on everything 4Peaks. Make sure to check them out online at 4Peaks Brewer at 4Peaks Pub to keep up with the latest at Arizona's hometown brewery. Must be 21 or older to drink 4Peaks and please drink responsibly.

We do have some notes from today's press conference with Mike Hazen. I'm still a bit grumpy about it because I got a terrible position behind very tall gentlemen. That was a chaotic scrum. It was one of the most chaotic scrums we've ever had. in Diamondbacks history. Good thing I'm tall. Yeah, well, Jesse got an inside position. I was with the cameraman.

I had to get out of the way for a car driving by, and then the cameraman just kind of like molded together, like, you know, like as if I was never there in the first place. So, but it was kind of an important press conference because this was the last time we got a, we will get a chance to talk to Mike Hazen until the trade deadline. And we know that the debacks are still interested in being buyers. We know that this,

does determine maybe how aggressive they are with their offers or how aggressive they are in meeting the demands of teams that they're trying to negotiate with. But I do know that the Diamondbacks are still buyers and Hazen had some comments in regards to that that just kind of reiterated with the position that they're in. Yeah, Hazen said, we want to improve this team. I want to improve this team. I think this team has earned that over the last few months. If you step back year over year from where we're standing today, we don't want

to be in a position to waste opportunities that may be in front of us. And then he said later on, I think giving this team an opportunity to play and a pennant chase is extremely important. So, yeah, the diamondbacks are buyers. I mean, at least where we stand today, before the game started today, the diamond backs are buyers. I guess maybe that could change in the next few days depending on how the Mariners series goes over the weekend.

But yeah, I mean, even though the diamond backs have sort of been in a free fall over the last few weeks. They're still in a pretty good spot. And those other wildcard teams, as Sean was talking about earlier, some of these other teams aren't playing so great either. The Marlins have really struggled. The Giants have had some big time ups and downs in the last few weeks as well. So the debacks are still in a good position,

and Mike Hazen likes what he sees. And he wants to reward the guys in that clubhouse and try to make this team better. He didn't make any comments that made it sound like the debacks were going to be super aggressive, though. I didn't really get that sense from him. It was like a pretty clear we're buyers, but it wasn't like, you know, we're going to go all out or we're going to, you know.

Kind of hurt early on. Well, no, he continued to walk back his comments a bit about how aggressive they were going to be, and he added context and clarification to it. He basically, you know, I feel like it's what we've been saying this whole time. This team is good, and they feel like they have a good option this year with how,

everyone is playing to be in it. As much as it sucks at the trade deadline for so many teams to be still, I guess, buyers still in their division or still within shouting distance of a playoff spot, that also means that there's a lot of parity in the league and in both leagues. It means that there's a lot of teams that are all around the same record and nobody's really running away with anything. I mean, I feel like at this point in past years, we would be down 20 games to the Dodgers. and so with the rest of the National League West.

So, like, this doesn't feel as bad of a situation, which makes it interesting for all of these teams because everybody feels like they have a chance, right? A.L. East right now, sorry, Sean, I hate to say this, but it's fucking great to see the Yankees and the Red Sox at the bottom of the A.L. East right now, right? Sean's not a Red Sox fan anymore. And the Yankees are below the Red Sox, so I'm fine with that. That's right. I forgot about that.

But I'm just saying, like, there's just so much fun to be had. And the Diamondbacks are one of the fun teams. Ultimately, though, it comes down to them overperforming. And I mean, our friend Jack Summers today brought up how the Diamondbacks are one of the biggest difference in expected batting stats versus their actual batting stats, which means they've overperformed. They've overperformed and they've had a lot of luck on their side when it comes to their offense as well. But it doesn't mean that this team isn't going to be competitive or that they don't feel like they can make this team better at the trade deadline. it's just which of these teams that are in this wild card race can make themselves better than the other teams.

And like what is it going to take? How much of the future of this organization is it going to take to try to win this season? I think they'd make a lot of sacrifice. I think they would be willing to be as aggressive as Mike Hazen has kind of suggested he was going to be this whole time, but it's depending on the offer. The return for Ahmed Rosario is Noah Cindergarde.

That's the trade. Oh, wow. That's a fascinating trade. He's been God off. Noah. Yeah, I believe he's rehabbing right now in AAA, if I'm not mistaken. I think the Reno Aces might have played him yesterday or will play him soon. That's a fascinating trade.

Well, they won't anymore. Not on that franchise. It starts this year with a 7.16 IRA and a 1.45 whip. If that's all it took to improve a shortstop position, I mean, I'm in a number. Rosario is not great, but he's sitting 270. If all it took was Noah Cindergarde, that's a different indication than what we've been seeing on other prices so far.

Yeah, that's pretty wild. The Diamondbacks do have their own trade deadline targets, as we've been discussing now for a few weeks, and we have some more targets. Today, we're going with some of your favorites. We're placating to our fan base, and we are going to talk today about the Diamondbacks targeting, pitching, and a bat.

Of course, one of the things that Mike Hazen discussed, today was that pitching would be their main priority. And I feel like we've known that this entire time. That's never been a secret. But he didn't put any emphasis on starting pitching, being more important than bullpen or vice versa. Yeah.

So our first guy is one David Bednar, a guy that a lot of people have talked about in our chat and we're finally appealing to the masses and talking about him on the show. It's your guy. His stats this year are absolutely incredible. 1.15 VRA, a 0.95 whip. He's pitched 39 innings. I believe he has 19 saves for the Pirates this year.

10.8Ks per 9, 2.1 walks per 9. He is a sparkling 1.98 fifth, which does suggest some overperformance. Maybe the 1-15 isn't going to be sustainable in the long term. What? How is that possible, Jesse? The DEVX could deal with the 1.98, even if that's what it winds up being in the long term. Bednar is one of the best back-end relievers in all of baseball. baseball.

And yeah, I mean, the thought of having him in Arizona probably puts the minds of many Diamondbacks fans at ease. He's an absolute unit, too. Every picture of him is so hot. Every picture of him is just absolutely like that. I was looking at photos for these graphics and I just, he is an absolute unit. Yeah, I mean, he's got such closer. Yeah, you want to talk about like a presence on the mound.

David Bednar absolutely has that figured out. If we look at the pros and cons of bringing Bednar to Arizona, The pros, of course. He's elite. One of the best back-end relievers in baseball. I don't think there's any question. He's affordable. He's making $745,000 this year.

In pre-arbitration. Next year, I'll hit arbitration for the first time. So that salary will see a considerable jump from 745 going into next season, but still very reasonable. And he's controllable. He has three more years of control after this one. So you're getting three and a half years of him. All of the prospects.

at the pirates for him. All of the problems. Like, okay, we've talked about giving up a king's ransom for somebody as crazy as Otani or whatever. The Diamondbacks have never had this kind of guy. Well, no. Well, I lie about that. They've actually gone out and got this guy several times.

When he came over to the Diamondbacks, he ended up being horseshit. But I don't believe that about David Bednar. I think he's going to be awesome. And the Diamondback should make it a priority to make this man an Arizona Diamondback. Yeah. I mean, you fear, obviously, I guess, Diamondbacks fans have been spermed by this before so you fairly comes over and doesn't perform like that

But I mean, I feel like this is the way The easiest way to make your team like significantly better In one with one player is by getting a closer That you know you can trust by going when you go to the bullpen Because it's something that this team does not have Like it just Just having like just the trust factor I feel like makes this team better Ignoring the fact that I mean obviously he's an amazing player

And would be the best arm in the bullpen but Plus we could it would be time to go to bednar time to put the kids to Bednar? Time to blow out the candles and put out the bednar? I don't know. There's lots of stuff we could do. Turn down the door. When you have Scott McGuff is a setup man. Ben-Nar is a closer, turn out the candles and go to bed.

Go to bed. Scott McGuff didn't look like much. He did get a four runs in the eight. Okay, but no one of this team does. Someone's got to do it. Jesse, tell us about the cons. He's right. Yeah, so con number one is the prospect cost, which would absolutely be enormous.

Con number two is a lack of play. Baff experience. He has pitched for the pirates. And then con number three is once again prospect costs because it will, it will cost an enormous amount to bring David Bednar to Arizona. We have a trade proposal. How much? This is, this is my best guess of like, I'm kind of towing the line here between like what the pirates would ask for and what the diamond backs would be willing to offer.

If I'm being honest, I think the pirates would probably not do this trade. I would take that trade. I'll say that. Yeah, I think D-BACs fans probably maybe like this. Pirates fans, I don't think, would like this, nor do I think the Pirates Front Office would like this. We have the pirates getting Brandon Fought, Ivan Melendez, and Dominic Fletcher.

In a heartbeat. I think people would maybe be okay. I mean, Brandon fought, like, if he is a mid-rotation starter, like trading six years of a mid-rotation starter for three and a half years of a closer, you know, maybe you don't feel so great about that. But I think the jury's still out on. Who needs a mid-rotation starter when Zach Gall is going to be putting for the fucking Rangers in two years?

Can't believe of all people at this table, the Jesse Friedman, who wrote an article on go-phnx.com is saying anything about the Diamondbacks bullpen situation when they have historically been bad. Never have had, they haven't had a guy like David Bednar in their bullpen that was pulling the kind. of numbers that he is for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

So I don't care. I think that as far as this team goes, we talk about the future a lot. We talk about a lot of different things. We are on a ticking clock when it comes to Zach Gallen being a part of this team. And just today, Tori Lavello said that when it came to like trade deadline acquisitions that the one guy that like he really got excited about was Zach Gown. He also brought up J.D. Martinez. He said he went into his office and like did like fist bump.

when they got J.D. Martinez, which we all did that. But yes, when they got Zach Gallen, he was very, very excited about how good Zach Gallen could be and how good he could be for this organization for potentially a long time, right? So now we know, Zach Gallen not here for so long. So he's not here for a long time, but he's here for a good time, and we need to make sure we maximize that,

try to win a championship while Zach Gallen is still part of this team. The thing, another thing I want to say about this is the pirates have tons of leverage. year. Like, they don't have to move David Bednar. He's under control for three and a half more years. You could just as easily hold on to him and try this again. Next trade deadline when you might get pretty big offers then too or even the trade deadline after that. Like the pirates hold all of the cards here. They have said that they are willing to listen to offers for David Bednar. That has been reported. They've also said that they're willing to listen on Mitch Keller,

who is another all-star for them, a really good starting pitcher. So I think they're just kind of doing their due diligence and seeing what kinds of offers are out there. My guess is that they're asking for the sun, moon, and stars for David Bednar at this point. And there's frankly no reason for them to take anything less than that. If you look at like, I don't know,

the Josh Hater trade from last season, the brewers didn't actually get like a ton, a ton in that trade. I think this offer is quite a bit wealthier than that one. But I think we have to think that way because the pirates just hold all of the cards here and they're not the kind of team, as we saw with Brian Reynolds. They're not the kind of team to just like trade a piece just to trade a piece. Like they're going to get what they want or they're just going to move on. That's kind of what I expect them to do here. And I feel like the diamondbacks kind of are in that same position too.

Like the diamondbacks don't really need. Again, I don't think the diamondbacks don't need to close her. No, no. No, I wasn't going to say that. I was saying the diamondbacks don't need to be desperate, right? Like I understand wanting to improve your team and such, but I think at the end of the day, Mike Hazen isn't going to act in desperation

when it comes to any of these trades. One of the thing that worries me the most is we just had a very long, interesting conversation with Brent Strom about some improvements that he made to Brandon Fought. And it seemed to those improvements translated over to him having a much better outing in his last start. He will have one more outing before the trade deadline. Now, if he just goes out there and fucking shubs in that outing,

what kind of position does the Diamondbacks put that in if another team now in fact wants Brandon Fott as part of the trade package. Now, the thing, the trade, the change that Brent Schram made was moving Brandon Fott to the other side of the plate. But then he went on a very long explanation in the dugout for Steve Gilbert that I eaves dropped on that talked about how basically he did a, he did, he wanted Fought to kind of change like to be more deceptive with his pitches and have those pitches kind of have a later break where you don't know if it's fastball or change up or curveball and such. And he talked about how moving him to the other side of, the rubber helped with his arm angle and how that's going to improve him and being deceptive to pitchers or to batters. And honestly, sometimes something as small as that can be the key for a guy

like figuring it out a bit, right? He was also talking about like arm movement and stuff and saying like if you see this every time, then you're not, you have no idea what's going on. But he was saying like in regards to perhaps some of the tip pitching and pitch tipping and stuff that they were doing that maybe there was like a little bit of slower arm movement that then let you see that a change up or some sort of off-speed pitches coming and such. So it was minor things that Brent Strong was talking about, but sometimes those little piece of advice that little wisdom can be the thing that makes a pitcher figure it out. And Fott right now, he still has a lot of value to me. And I don't like the idea of necessarily saying Fott is just

an easily discardable piece for this team because I feel like he could be one of those guys that we as a fan base absolutely despise the organization for trading. when he goes on to find success elsewhere, right? We always felt like he could be good, but we just never got to see him reach that potential. And that's a scary proposition. So Diamondbacks, though, not just looking at pitching. Again, we talk about starting pitching, relief pitching.

We don't know exactly what they're going to target as a priority. But we also have another guy, Valley Native from here in Arizona, who the Diamondbacks might take a look at. I've heard of him. I've heard of him. A little belly action. A little Cody Bellinger. For, as you said, the Chicago Cubs that have been playing very good baseball,

and a lot of that is due to Bellinger in his play. If we look at Cody Bellinger's stats, I mean, he's sort of been the real deal for the Cubs this year. 314 average entering a day, 363 on base, 540-sugging percentage. 14 homers, 45 RBI, 2.7 war. That's in 69 games this year. Nice. He has missed a few games. this year. So, I mean, that's in less than half a season. He's put up those numbers. So he is having

sort of like the typical Cody Bellinger year from, I guess, his first three seasons in the majors. He's sort of reverted back to that guy. I do think there are some warning signs. Like, I don't really view this as being entirely sustainable. He has a 333 BABIP, which is significantly higher than his career average of 283. His Wobah is 379 compared to an expected Wobab. of 325, which is an enormous gap. So I don't think, at least I would hope that the Cubs have some awareness here and aren't trading Cody Bellinger with the intentions of like teams viewing him in light of his actual current stats because I don't really think there's a lot of evidence

that they're sustainable. But if you're looking for, you know, the J.D. Martinez-esque jolt for the debacks lineup, Cody Bellinger is probably your best bet. And he is left-handed. which is maybe not ideal, but his splits this year are such that you could maybe get by that. If we look at the pros and cons for bringing Cody Bellinger to the Diamondbacks, he's arguably the best available hitter.

I guess Shohei Otani would be that guy, but who really knows if Shoai Otani is actually available. I mentioned the platoon splits, although he is a left-handed hitter. He's actually hit Lefties better this season, so maybe you wouldn't be so concerned about that side of things. He is an Arizona native, which is a fun.

thing. On the con side, there is some financial cost here. He is due to make $17.5 million this season. So it'd be around $6 million or so for the rest of the year, not too outrageous. He has a mutual option for next year, which probably will not be upheld. He's probably going to opt out and try to get a bigger deal. He also, as some people might remember from his days with the Dodgers, like Cody Bellinger has not been great in the playoffs in his career. Don't have those numbers in front of me, but I think it was like a 600 OPS, something like that. And then finally, he is a rental. So on the con side, you do trade Cody Bellinger.

You're probably going to have to give up some relatively big time assets and you're only getting him for the rest of the year. Yeah. And I don't know if the Diamondbacks necessarily need to do that. I think most people that have been watching this team and watching this team over the last few weeks, yeah, their offense can be stagnant at times. But like we saw the day, they were still able to put up seven runs. game that looked like an absolute blowout at one point and still felt that way. But I don't,

I don't feel like the Diamondbacks have as much positional need or are in as much of a need for positional players as they are in pitching. Pitching winchew championships. And they just, they have far too many needs at pitching right now for that to not be their primary focus. But like you said, Bellinger would be a fun. Do you want to package it with Strowman like Jacobson? There you go. Mellinger and Stroman. Yeah, why not? For Carson Kelly and for Pavin Smith.

That's it. And Jose Ruiz. Nope, we defaed him. So never mind. We'll have to figure out somebody else to throw on the trade. No, we have a real trade package here for you. And of course, I don't know why we keep throwing Ivan Melendez in these

because it infuriates me every time. But when you have a guy getting the ball, smashing the ball. He strikes out of 40% rate. Yeah, it strikes out of, like, Is it like 34, 35? It's not quite 40. It is a little high. I asked around a little bit, and I was told that if the Cubs were to trade at Cody Bellinger or anyone, they'd

maybe be looking for a corner infield. They don't really have any clear options for the future at first base or third base. So hence Ivan Melendez. Slade Chaconi, we also have in here, as well as Dominic Fletcher. I'm not sure how much Fletcher necessarily fits the Cubs needs. maybe they would rather another arm instead of him at the end of the day. Jesse, his name's Dominic Fletcher. People in Chicago would love him.

Are you kidding me? They would love him just based on the name alone. He's also the greatest Italian baseball player to ever play the game. I don't know why people forgot about that. And so any team that receives him should, I mean, it should just be a one-for-one trade. It should just be Cody Bellinger for Dominic Fletcher straight across. But I understand throwing these other names in there for sure. I mean, maybe if you took Fletcher,

out of it like Melendez and Shikoni I mean maybe maybe it kind of depends on how the Cubs feel about Melendez I guess he would kind of be the big get there It's only half a season of Cody Bellinger though like theoretically it shouldn't cost that much but if

this is something along the lines of what it actually took that wouldn't shock me and now since there are only four and a half games out of the wild card who the hell knows if the Cubs will even be sellers at the trade deadline. They do have two of the best pitchers in the National League is part of their starting rotation. And again, belly's been good for them this year.

But the Diamondbacks definitely need to figure it out. Again, the home cooking today wasn't very good for Zach Gallen and this team. So hopefully they can get things figured out. They have an off day tomorrow and then they're back at it on Friday against the Seattle Mariners. Speaking of home cooking, though, I'm not doing that anymore. I'm not cooking at home anymore. I don't want to cook for myself or my family anymore thanks to factor meals because factor meals have absolutely spoiled me.

I don't know what magic goes into these meals that they send me that in two minutes are just absolutely delicious and incredible. They're pretty incredible. I mean, especially for these two young gentlemen next to me, I mean, I can't imagine what a godsend these meals are because they're delicious, they're flavor-packed and healthy. And I think that's the biggest thing is like whenever we're trying to grab a bite to eat, especially like with a show like today, it's not healthy.

Like we kid ourselves to get a sub-sandwich. And it's like, it's got tomato and lettuce on it. We're good, right? But no. You're the bacon and mayonnaise. Yeah, right, right. Factor meals are actually, they're actually delicious and they are actually healthy for you. And they're approved by dietitians.

Their smoothies? Their smoothies are great. I had one for lunch basically every day the last few days. Yeah. I think we're all going to start looking pretty hot around this office, like dieting like this. You can start. I'll keep.

All right. But I'll tell you this much, they have a wide selection of, food, whether it's breakfast or lunch or dinner, whatever you need. They got things for breakfast like apple, cinnamon pancakes, bacon, and cheddar egg bites, and potato bacon and egg breakfast skillets. And all of those are excellent. So, again, just check out everything factor has to offer. They also have their cold press juices, shakes, and smoothies that you can check out.

And you can rest assured that you're making a sustainable choice. They offset 100% of their delivery missions, source 100% renewable electricity for their production sites and offices and they feature sustainably sourced seafood in all of their meals. This July, you get Factor, enjoy eating well without the hassle. Simply choose your meals and enjoy fresh flavor packed flavor-packed meals delivered to your door. Ready in two minutes, no prep, no mess at all. Head to FactorMeals.com slash PHNXDBax50 and use code PHNXDBX-Bax50 to get 50% off. That's code PHNXDBX-50 at Factor's Meals.com slash PHNXDBX-DBax50 to get 50% off.

And, of course, don't hesitate. If you hate cooking for yourself as much as I do, make sure to check out factors right now. Also, if you live in Arizona or any, pretty much any state in the United States with the way that this heat wave is going on, you need a good pair of sunglasses. And, of course, check out our friends at Shady Rays that make gear built to last with premium polarized shades. They also have an crazy insane lost and broken replacement plan. You lose or break your pair, even on day one. they told us they will send you a brand new pair. No questions asked. They have your back long after you purchase. They also have a wonderful exchange program where if you do not love your Shady Rays, you can exchange them for a new pair or return them for free within 30 days. There's no risk when you shop. Their team always had your back. I've said this before, but I have like 10 pairs of sunglasses that I used to rotate around based on the colorful outfits that I wear. And I don't even care about if they match anymore. My Shady Rays are so much superior to my other sunglasses that it's all I wear.

And they also do wonderful things for the community, like building play sets for pediatric cancer patients. They also provide young adults with MS outdoor adventures of a lifetime. So Shady Rays is doing something to impact your community and others like it for now and for years to come. And exclusively for our listeners, ShadyRays is giving out their best deal of the season. Go to ShadyRase.com and use code PHNX for 50% off two or more pairs of polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the Shades rated five stars by over a quarter of a million people. And while you're looking good in your sunglasses, look good in a polo shirt from our friends of pins and aces, of course. I need to stress how much if you're if your polo living in Arizona does not breathe well, does not stretch and is not light,

throw it in the trash and go buy yourself a new one from pins and aces. They have wonderful designs that are right up in my alley. So if you like ridiculous patterns like I wear all the time, you will love what they have. They also have regular clothes for adults like this, like a black shirt. Like a black polo that doesn't have a bunch of bombs and stuff on it. But they're a family-owned golf and apparel business, and we absolutely love their stuff. So make sure to check them out. We always get compliments on our FNC shirt that we wear and all of our stuff from Pins and Aces.

So make sure to check out the official golf apparel partner, PHNX in AllC, and their amazing polos, hats, golf bags, and everything you need for the links. Check out Pins and Aces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your order, and you will get free shipping. That's pins and aces.com. That's all we got, guys. Tomorrow, we are back here at 1 p.m. And then we will be back here on Friday with our postgame show. So make sure to join us for all of that.

Hopefully, once again, the dimebacks can put things together here before next week because that looming trade deadline really feels like a scary thing for this team. What are we going to talk about when it's over? No, I don't know. Baseball game. Maybe we'll have fun conversation. What if the DeMack came and just did it? do anything and then

the deadline came like oh I guess the I guess the fucking season's over like that would just be such a shitty way for the stand you better make some damn moves Mike do make some damn moves oh man well I it still feels like what the debacks do like this weekend and starting next week

like Mike hasn't really come out and said this directly I don't know if it would really make sense for a GM to do that you don't want to put a ton of pressure on your players by saying like yeah absolutely what happens over the next five days is going to dictate what we do with the trade. Or you're gone maybe. Maybe you're sellers and you're part of the package. Yeah. Yeah, that doesn't feel

great. I don't know if it would be in Mike's best interest to say that. So he hasn't really said that, but I still kind of feel like, I mean, if the debacks go out and take care of business this weekend against the Mariners, that could move things in the positive direction toward being a little bit more active. If they

go out and play like the team we've seen the last few weeks, you might be drifting into like, Yeah, we'll trade for a eighth inning reliever type, but we're not really going to push the chips in much more than that. I think that is a plausible outcome next week. Tori was asked today about the feeling and mood around this time of the year, like guys being worried about their position or being worried if they could potentially be traded.

And he brought up that this team has been sellers in the past few seasons, but now it feels good to be in a buyer's position. I just hope that that good feeling maintains and that they actually are buyers when this trade deadline comes around. You can keep it locked right here because we will have everything you need on the trade deadline and anything that happens with the Diamondbacks. We will keep you updated on that. You can follow us on Twitter. I am at K-U-N-K-K-M-A-M-A-C.

Sean is at Sean underscore DePaz. Jesse is at Jesse N-F-E-N-F-R-I-E-D-A-M-A-N. I don't spell it enough, I guess. Jacob is at Jacob underscore Franklin 4. And now that I know he's the fourth best Jacob Franklin out there, that's easy to remember. But Jacob is J-A-C-O-B. Franklin is F-R-F-R-A-N-K-K-L-I-N. All you need to do is follow at P-H-N-S-U-S-U-S-U-D-B-B-X.

That's where you go for all of your memes and all of your funny tweets. And, of course, all roads lead to at P-H-N-X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for joining us. We appreciate your time. Did we have a new, a new die-hard in the chat? Oh, yeah. All text. Altex. He's been a fan for a while, but he said that he finally

came with I-Hard. So welcome to the fam, Altex. Yes, awesome. He's been watching for a minute. I don't know how I feel about that. I'm not like maybe if we were playing any other team right now, Alt-X is a real one. No, Al-Tex is a real one. You're all real ones. We're all appreciate all you guys for showing up. We thank you again for your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when Zach Gallen actually shoves at home.