Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 97 | Arizona Diamondbacks | Profile & Projection

Episode Date: February 28, 2020

The Arizona Diamondbacks made some big moves this off season. They landed Sterling Marte, signed a familiar opponent in Madison Bumgarner, and added Kole Calhoun to the club. Will the Dbacks be able to compete with the Dodgers in the NL West? Let's talk about it.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 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.

It's time for another team profile and projection. And Jake and I are sitting next to each other in the woods outside Steinbrenner Field recording this one if you hear some breeze. That is just the Tampa Bay breeze. If you hear a sneeze, that's because Jake's allergic to the Tampa Bay breeze. And we are talking about the Arizona Diamondbacks today. And not your fleas. No. No.

Unless it comes up organically. That was something that we discussed and said, hey, can we not bring us up on the podcast? It was like a hard ask. We don't talk about my fleas on the show. This might be nice. I don't know if Diamondbacks are habitat Florida, but if they are, we are there. We are in the woods right now. You do share a kinship with the Diamondbacks because you're kind of a snake.

Jake the snakes. If your name Jake, snakes are with you your whole life. Yeah. Uh-huh. And I don't like snakes. Kind of creep me out. So, but do you like the diamondbacks? And Diamondback feels like a desert snake.

And actually a good team name for Arizona. I do agree. Good team name. Right? Yeah, good team. Okay. So that's a good start for the Diamondbacks. Yeah.

Okay. You, the Diamondbacks feel like you, well, actually, I was going to say something that's I was going to say you can't have a middle area feeling on them, but... I only have middle area. I only have middle area feelings on them. It's, um, I mean, we'll, we'll dive in, but I feel like Diamondback fans are probably really high on the Diamondbacks. Hot take.

They're doing things to improve the team that I've been saying this a lot in the show, so we're kind of a bit repetitive, but anyone that's new that's listening, I don't, I don't get what they're doing. You do. But I, no, like they're making a lot of moves that their fan base, is in the forums that I've read are saying like these are good moves and on the surface I'm like are they I don't know

you think they're good moves Madison Bumgarner That's a good move I mean that Starling Marte Like this is an 85 win team I would added some really good ball You know that's I was confused at which direction They were going to go

They're going to try to win in direction But before they did Bumgarner That was the confusing one to me Sure Then once now they're in They're going for it I get it I mean it And I guess this is where I was going to say

If you're a Diamondbacks fan, you're probably a lot higher than people outside of Arizona. And I guess you could say that about a lot of fan bases. But at the same time, I think it was 85 or 84 win team, 85 and 77 last year. They added Mad Bum from the division. And obviously he's not Madison Bumgarner of old. But, I mean, he's a guy that's going to give you 170 innings at a 390 RA, which is kind of all you're asking. And you just had in the past two years, you've traded away massive players,

and you brought in a lot of young talent. There was the Grinky trade last year, and there's the Goldsmith. Look at you. Bones, man. So with that, with Starling Marte trade, the biggest question mark on this team is Star Power. I forget when I gave you this speech before.

I guess this was just a random talking baseball off-season episode, but basically the only problem with Arizona is buying into their star talent. Ketel Marte had a massive year last year. And it's how much of that is juice ball, how much of that is him breaking out. But if you can buy into Catell and maybe a couple of their young guys taking a leap. Are we sure it's Catell? Yes. Okay, cool.

No. But I'm like pretty sure. 80? Cettle? Because it's not Cettle. Cettle? I think we got yelled at for Cettle. I think it's Cotel.

No idea. Can I, can I pause and go back? Because you went straight into it. I went straight into it. You went straight into it. From Bologna. Arizona. is top two least state I would want to live in.

Really? Continental U.S. I think that's wrong. 110 degree summers with no ocean? It's a dry heat. Oh, I don't like dry heat. You like pools? Dries my throat out.

Would you prefer humid heat or dry heat? Humid. Lies. I've lived both places. I know. Where's their dry heat place you lived? California. Like in the summer.

It's a dry heat. I don't know about that. I mean, it is. Bay Area. There's not. I mean, those are such. The Bay Area and Arizona are such different places. It's like a midler dry heat, and Arizona's like, oh, you're in an oven.

Midler dry heat. No ocean. No ocean. You like the ocean. I won't debate that. You like a good pool. And I don't like heat. You don't love heat.

So there you go. There you go. All right, Jake, this is the guys they added to the team this year. Hector Randon. New Mexico. I was Utah is my, Utah, no, Nevada's my first. Don't, it's either Las Vegas or you're like getting killed.

Right. So that's my first, don't want to live there. New Mexico? I'm not too familiar with it, but maybe they're tied. I think, I think you've got Zona lower than you think. It's in top five, it's bottom five for sure. It could be top five. I won't follow them.

Bottom. Top five, least. Least, yeah, okay. Okay. They added Cole Cahoon, who's an Arizona dude. So he's mad at me for diss in his home state. Yeah, he's pissed. Cole Crockett.

That's a minor league deal, never mind. Madison Bumgarner's the big one. Stephen Vote, who is the old catcher outfielder. He'll be catching a little bit. Him and I attended the same wedding once. That was cool. And then they added, obviously, Starlin Marte, they traded for him. And who else?

There's some other ads here. Jeremy Beasley. How about that? Yeah, I mean, Junior Gary are in the pin, but it's the big three. Madison Bumgarner, Cole Hick. Calhoun in Free Agency and Starling Marte in the trade. But they did trade away your guy, Leover Piguero. Yeah, and I have high hope.

And Brandon Malone, who's actually kind of a big time pitching prospect. But, yeah, I mean, Starling Marte is, it's the Marte brothers. It's a Marty Party. Shout out to Dallas Braide, and he's been pushing that, so I won't steal that. But that's a really good line. It's the Marty Party? It's a Marty Party. Marte.

Marte Parte. I mean, it's. Marte Parte. How you want to say it. Marte Parte. Again, shout out to Dallas. That's on him. Tate.

He's a friend. But, yeah, I mean, Kattel and Starling. Yeah, they had some guys that had good numbers last year. Like, look at Dave Peralta's numbers. Your guy, Dave Peralta. And I feel like he's, you know, lefty bat, who's probably got some better numbers versus right-handed pitching. It's an educated guess.

My dude I love on this team is Eduardo Escobar. Again, I feel like I give this speech way too often on talking baseball. Dude, what, Katel Martei. I mean, Eduardo Escobar's got to hate Catele-Marté. He has 35 home runs, but Marte is the story? Well, I mean, you've got the OPS Plus there. Catelle-Marte had a crazy year last year. I think he was top five in the MVP voting in his age 25 season.

So it's how much are you bought into him being a star? Depends a lot on what you think about this team. And then, like, Carson Kelly's a young guy who had a really nice year for a catcher. I, Eduardo Escobar, if you're, if it's late night, you can't sleep, you got MLB TV, turn on a Diamondback game and watch him play, because he's awesome. He's like a five-tool light player. Like, he does everything well. He can run a little bit.

He can hit a little bit. Contact power, both sides of the plate. He's a guy that disrupts you every game. And I think that's a fun thing the Diamondbacks going, because I think their whole team is like pretty switchy. Switchy? Switchy? Switchy?

In which sense? Switchy? Well, they got some switch hitters, and then they got a couple of platoon bodies. The debacks are fun. Okay. Do you think Madison Blum Gardner is going to be mad bum? He was pretty good last year.

He pitched 32 games, had an ERA in the threes. It's the same division. He's not really going to have to learn anyone new. He's still got the big ballpark. So it's basically what it comes down to is how is he going to age? Got a lot of miles on that arm, Jake. He's a young dude. He's only 30 or 31, I don't know, but he's got a lot of miles on that arm.

The Madbom thing, and I guess this is, no, I was going to give my, it either goes really well, really bad, or middler. It could easily be middler. That was going to be your answer? Well, no, because I was going on Madbom's personality. He's obviously aging, but he's found a little niche. Like, I mean, there's days when he's topping out at, what, 90, but he's still getting guys out and he's giving you a good game.

Does he have an effect on Robbie Ray, and is that good or bad? There's a lot of young pitchers in there. You know, is the Madison Bumgarner and his, like, crazy locked-in focus? Is that going to be a plus for this team or a minus for this team? And that's what I don't know. I think it's going to be a plus. What I'm worried about is he went to Arizona. Right.

He has horses there. Right. Does he ride the horses? Because we already have a falling off a dirt bike accident. If we get a falling off a horse accident, because now he's close to his horses. You can't have that. You almost need to, you know, make sure he doesn't really get on the horse that much.

Look at our videographer running to the port body. That's fun. Got shit. Espo with a nice little jog. On a hop kid. There's a big elephant in the room, Jake. What's, oh, my God. They're not winning the division.

No, they can't. They cannot win their division. So can they get a wild game? card. So then when you compare them to teams outside of their division, because I think they may be the second best team in their division. They very well could be. I think that's, I think it's like, oh, three race,

three, it's a three-way shit show. You know I love the fight for second place in the AOLS. You do. And will it matter? Probably not. Yeah, because when you compare them to, you know, the second third teams in the east and the central,

where do they stack up? And it's kind of an interesting dynamic and obviously any diehard Arizona fan you know more than us about this team and the makeup. Like how is Bum going to gel and Starlin-Marté going to gel? And like how does this come together? You know what I'm saying? They need Peralta or Christian Walker

or someone kind of needs to step up. Because Bum Gardner and Bradley need to start a fight with the Dodgers the first series they play each other. Like they need to be like intense, not hitting anyone, but jawing at each other. And from there... Like pretend you belong a little bit?

Yeah, like, hey, we're not a little brother here. Yeah. We're fucking coming after you in this division, which you and I both don't think is possible. Right. But in that first series, it's kind of like, you know, you got to punch a little bit and a jaw little, if there's some bat flipping,

going like bum bum and archie i'm looking at those two guys even robbie ray i think got a little upset last time to uh start it so then you can say arizona fans can be like whoa series one and it's this intense this is going to be a fun year know what arizona needs an ocean i think you know ocean that'd be good yeah um what they need to do is be in the wild card race by the trade deadline, and then they need to get a rental bat, kind of like the Cubs did with Castellanos last year. Castiano. Because, so listen to this lineup.

It's right now they have it listed as Starling Marte, Citelle Marte, Eduardo Escobar, David Peralta, Christian Walker, who had a solid year from the right side. Cole Calhoun, which, hey, a six-hole Cole Calhoun, that's a solid baseball player. We like Cole Calhoun. Nick Ahmed, Yukon, Four War Shortstop, just got paid, paid. And then Carson Kelly, who had a really nice year from the catcher position, in his age 24-25 season. And then on the bench, you got vote.

So you've got a nice little catcher. Vote, I believe in Stephen. Vote. Right. These are a weird fan base man. Righty and lefty. Jake Lamb, they currently have him coming off the bad. He's a guy who's had a big season before.

T. Lo, Timlo Castro. You got a little speed, a little... Fastest guy in baseball. A little on lefty action. How's T-Low's bat? He gets on base. His OPS is pretty low, but he gets on base. It'll be interesting.

to see how the season goes this year. But they need, like, I want to almost look at the free agents and be which team falls out of it. Because if you could get a meaty bat after, if you could slide either someone after the Martes or after Eduardo Escobar, that adds a real fear factor to the lineup. So I like that. Tim LoCastro does get on base. Which is what you ask for from a speed guy. Yeah, okay.

But to have him as your everyday player. No. And he wasn't last year. know if that's because he got called up or I don't know why. Yeah. But he needs to slap it around a little bit more. No, just get on, kid. No, but it'd be an everyday player.

But in the National League, he's going to be a... It's not a pinch-in-er. Speed guy. So, yeah, go get a bat. Stay in it. Get a big bad at the deadline. And start a fight with the Dodgers. Start a fight with the Dodgers.

Just like anger. Not a fight. Don't need a brawl. Let me give you the rotation. Yeah. Mad bum. Mike Leak, Robbie Ray, Luke Weaver, Zach Gallin. Zach Gallin.

Gallin Fanakis. You got some guys there. I don't love it. It's not an elite rotation. You need Luke Weaver or Robbie Ray to have a big year. Luke Weaver came over and he did some really nice stuff for them and hopefully he could pick that up. Espo started jogging again.

It made me laugh. Robbie Ray is in a contract year. I don't think Espo was shitting. It was too quick. You like contract years. So, yeah, you need Mad Bum to be Mad Bum. and if you do somehow get to a wild guard game or a playoff series, you hope you can find that Mad Bum magic that he's had in the postseason.

But you need Robbie Ray or Luke Weaver to kind of step up and have a special year. And that's kind of tough to buy into. Yeah. I mean, they can. They can. But you want to put a lot of money on it. No, I wouldn't. No.

I'm not a gambler, though. Archie Bradley. What do you think about the position change for Kettle? Ketel. Catell. He moved around a lot last year. They got Starling Marte, so he'll be in center field. I mean, the idea is that Catell will stay at second the whole season. I mean, he's got a really good shortstop next to him, so hopefully that can help up. And hey, maybe you know I love this. If someone, if Catee, instead of coming into spring training this year, saying, hey, maybe I'll

play both middle infield and a little bit outfield. If they're saying, hey, dude, you're playing second base this year, chop it up at spring training. You know, I like it. They're a fun team. Yeah. I got any prospects on route, Jim? I don't have internet, so I can't change my browser, so you have to tell me the prospects. I don't think so.

The only guy that looks like he's got a chance to be on the team this year. Well, J.B. Bukascus. Bukes. He goes by Bucky. Bucky. Bucke's got a chance to make it in the bullpen. Bucci. You think Bucci?

I played hockey with a guy who went by Bucci. Bucci. His name was Bucci, yeah. That was the last name. He was the last name. He was a non-raster invite to camp. He's 23. You could see him maybe later season impact out of the pen. Something like that.

Don't like that. One of those guys. And then Corbyn's a prospect for them. He might get the call this year. But yeah, no, I'm huge on this team. If you're a DeBex fan, just stay in it so you could go get a deadline acquisition. Early intensity. Early intensity.

I mean, Calhoun's an intense guy, too. He's intense. Oh, this locker room got so much more intense, which is either really good news or really badness. That was my non-midler area thing. Guys either respond to that or you're like, oh, it's going to be a long year. Yeah, all right. So we have the over under here, Jake.

Yeah. Last year they won 85 games. The 2020 win projected over under by Vegas or whoever did this is 80. And I think it's a great line. That's a great line. It's a great line. And I'm going over. This over under is, are you happier?

sad. Like you're over 500 and like, all right, we put a year together or it's like, are we under, that's a brutal over under ask. I'm going over. I am too. I'll go on principle here. They were an 85 win team that went out and got another starting pitcher. They have young help on the way.

They got two starting outfielders and some bullpen help. I mean, in theory, this team is better than last year. And, you know, the 85 wins might be a little deceptive with the Padres. trailing off and the Rockies having a pretty miserable stretch there. But yeah, I'll still go they have a winning year. Okay. Mad Bum won't let him have a losing year, right? Ah, I've got him.

Fun fact here on our notepad is that Mad Bum and his wife still play catch. It's nice. I don't believe it. And I don't think it's nice. Wow. I mean, maybe she wants to do something that's not baseball. Maybe she doesn't. Maybe she doesn't.

Maybe she wants to play catch more than him. But you think he's throwing. throwing it too hard? No. I think she's throwing it too hard? Sometimes. Yeah, he's like, come on, babe. Like, you got to keep him in check.

It's mad bum. Yeah. You got to throw something real high. We got a lot of potential injuries now. Playing catch with the wife, the horseback riding. Watch for a mad bum off the field injury. Damn. Fuck.

Tough. Huh, I got to play the music. Play the fight song. We're out. Thanks for listening. There it is. There it is. I had the wrong button.