Corbin Burnes HERE TO STAY? MLB Insider Drops HUGE D-backs Update

0:00Is Corbin Burns here to stay? Might be. We already thought that might be the case, but Jeff Passon chimed in with his thoughts, and it sounds like our guy could be part of this rotation for a long, long time. And we'll need him, and we needed some good news because the Diamondbacks have their final stretch of the season starting tonight against the Texas Rangers. We are talking about all of this right now. Don't you go any. Skiiiing! Welcome into another edition of the P.A.C.D. The next Doc Fash podcast, blah! From Studio K! Presented by our friends at Circle K. My name is Derek Monte. You're basically known as your Mayor of P.A.C. And next, real to happy guys here. Happy Friday to you all. And uh, let's get this last stretch of the season done. Let's get the boys out there. Let's win some baseball games. Of course, uh, I'm not alone.

1:02I got you wonderful people in the chat here. Great to see you guys. Thank you, Deborah, for wishing us a happy fifth anniversary. Yes, we are. We are five years old. I am somehow still here five years later after the very first episode of this show we did. I know I'm as amazed as you are, but um, also got our guy, Damon Farrell, aka the bad boy of phmx aka Damon Dogg on the ones and twos. Uh, bark bark to you, Damon. Happy Friday. Happy Friday, Derek. Happy Friday. And of course, this show is brought to you by our friends at Game Time. Go download that Game Time app right now, create an account and use code phmx for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply. And we got some updates on our Corbans as well as a preview here for you of the Texas Ranger series that starts tonight. And yes, as we promised you yesterday, it is a special mail bag Friday episode of this show. And we got lots of questions to get to.

2:02But first, we got to get to our Corbans. We got we got update on our Corbans. Don't forget, we continue to lead the league in Corbans. And we might have both of those guys back here very soon because according to reports Corbin, Carol is healthy and we'll be back in the starting lineup tonight. And more importantly, Corbin Burns, who just returned to the Diamondback starting rotation and made his debut against the Royals might just be here to stay. According to a blurb in ESPN Jeff Passon's, excuse me, ESPN's Jeff Passon, he recently pointed out just some free agency notes overall and who might be opting in, who might be opting out across Major League Baseball. He did address Corbin Burns in his piece and he said Burns returned from Tommy John surgery that had sign lined him for 15 months and three through three scoreless innings Tuesday. He could go the rest of the year without giving up a run and still not opt out of the four years and 140

3:03million left on his deal. Will he opt out? No. That's not even like in my opinion, will he opt out? That is just Jeff Passon, frankly saying no Corbin Burns is not going to opt out of his deal. And that's great news. The exact kind of news that we needed during a time where we haven't really had a lot of good news happening for this team. I mean, the good news has been the wins that they've gotten and their performance at times on the field, but it doesn't really feel like a lot of things publicly surrounding this team have been very good news. I feel like it's been a lot of bad PR. To hear someone like Passon say that Corbin Burns is not going to opt out of his contract, is going to be here for the remaining years of his deal versus testing the market. And obviously it makes a lot of sense. It's not really anything that we haven't been saying on this show that at least we felt. The feeling here is that the injury almost cemented

4:11Corbin Burns needing to stay here, not to say that he would have opted out otherwise anyway. He came to Arizona. I don't think to win World Series. He came to Arizona because he wants to live in Arizona. His wife wants to live in Arizona. His family wants to be here. So overall, it's great to have someone that just wants to be here simply to be here to play for this organization and live here in this wonderful state that we live in. But you know, sometimes money is going to is going to be the deciding factor in a lot of things. Money and perhaps wanting to win, wanting to win a World Series. Not to say the Diamondbacks can't, but you know, it's obvious that there are other organizations, Burns could choose that would probably be a lot closer to winning a World Series rather than where the Diamondbacks stand. Right. So and where they stand right now is a half a game out of the wild card spot. It's not like we're that far out of things, but there's obviously there's other choices Burns could make hearing that he's going to stay is like just one of those things that it's it's a feeling of like satisfaction and a feeling of one less thing to worry about.

5:17You know, Arizona didn't sign Burns just to be a rental anyway. They envisioned it being as a centerpiece with a rotation that included guys like Merrill Kelly and Zach Galen and the rest of this pitching staff all being awesome. Now instead, I mean, Corbin Burns staying here and being a part of this starting rotation for the future makes the future feel much better makes the future feel much different. It makes 2027 if we have baseball feel like this Diamondbacks rotation is solid. We discussed it briefly yesterday, but with Corbin Burns being, you know, the Ace or one a one B with, you know, Eduardo Rodriguez there at the top for 2027. You'd have that those two followed up with Brandon Fought Ryan Nelson, you know, and Merrill Kelly who's still has one your left on his deal. Beyond 2027, a lot of question marks, but beyond 2027, we can plan on if he doesn't opt out of his deal, Corbin Burns still being that Ace at the top of this, you know, pitching staff in 2028. So that's a big that's a big piece of this team and that's a big piece of

6:22our future for the time being. Not only is he a sight young winner and, you know, a multi-time whole star, he is a guy that as he goes on in his career, you know, having him here could be very beneficial to younger guys that join this rotation like Mitch Bratt and Cold Drake having someone of Corbin Burns's experience and knowledge there in the clubhouse next to you. These can be, this can be a good way to help develop those young pitchers into majorleagers. And those guys have already shown that they can they can be competitive at a major league level. I don't think that they're there yet, but with a little bit more development and again, you know, a little bit more experienced, you feel like those guys could definitely be, you know, part of this starting rotation. But having Corbin Burns here, that's just it's great. It's great news. It's great news for this team. And again, like I said, it's just a positive pick me up here during a time when they needed it. We got 15 games left in the season. We started a very important game tonight with the Texas Rangers,

7:23series tonight with the Texas Rangers. And I think that this is just one little thing, you know, that can, you know, kind of pick up the fan base here. And, you know, I don't know how much this is going to get back to the team. But it's hard for any kind of news like this that ends up on social media and it ends up being, you know, kind of a bigger story than just the little blurb that it was in Jeff Passon's article. It you have a hard time feeling like it's not going to get back to those guys. And again, this is a positive thing. So, you know, hearing that is just going to hopefully be a little little spark for these guys. But a bigger spark is going to be the other Corbin returning to this team. Corbin Carroll, who is back in the starting lineup tonight, according to this tweet from Jody Jackson, who I guess heard it second hand from Mike Farron interviewing Tori LeVolo on the MLB network. But Tori said that they got quote, the best news possible on Corbin Carroll. There is discomfort in there, but it's treatable. Tori offered DH

8:26today and Corbin said, no, he's ready to go full throttle. He placed through almost anything, but the back knocked him down and he needs the two and a half days off. So, there's, there's best possible news on Corbin Carroll said that he's ready to go full throttle. And again, the good news here is that the MRI came back clean and that, you know, overall he is expected to be back in the lineup tonight and in right field for the time and bags. They couldn't have lost Corbin. You know, they couldn't afford to lose Corbin right now. And I think that the overall idea of where does a spark of offense come from. This is it. This is this is the last spark. I think that they can add to this lineup is Corbin returning. It's a healthy Corbin. So, getting Corbin back isn't just simply about adding another bad. It's about getting one of your most important offensive weapons back with the season on the line at the most important time. And hopefully he's right. We know that he has not been right. I think a lot of people have identified that. The team,

9:32Tori, they've said he was fine. You know, we asked him about Carol being injured a few times over the last month, especially considering, especially during the time where he was kind of in a slump. But this is our this is our 30 30 guy from 2025. This is the guy that has set the D backstriple record. And this is exactly what the diamond backs kind of need back in the lineup. They don't need Corbin's power. They need his speed. They need his extra base ability. They need his ability to put pressure on the defense and his ability to turn a walk or a single into a triple. You know, into a scoring opportunity. And I mean, the the pitching staff, I think, is as plenty of things to be, you know, happy about, or you know, they're plenty of players returning to the pitching staff that you feel confident in what they have become and what they're going to be going forward. You feel like they're only going to get better as they get more stretched out. And now that they have all these arms back, including Ryan Nelson, who should be returning during this series as well,

10:36that that the pitching staff should be fine. I mean, we should have enough weapons there. We should be formidable. We should be competitive pitching wise. But we have needed something offensively for a long time. It's, you know, it's the reason why and no, you know, this is no disrespect to him why the Lars Newt bar trade being the only trade that diamond backs made was disappointing because even in the idea of getting back a position player, it was not exactly a position player that many felt we needed. We needed a DH. We needed a first baseman. We needed power. And power is something that the Lars Newt bar was not offering already this season. His numbers have gotten much better. And he has not been a problem. He's been a part of the solution offensively lately. It's just not what the debacks needed. They needed, you know, they do need that power. They do need something. So as far as, you know, where they stand offensively, they just have to figure out how to be this current identity of chaos, which is doing it without, you know, a 30 home run guy

11:43without, you know, doing it without that much from from a particular position player, but, you know, kind of getting contributions as they have all season from the entire lineup. They just can't collectively go cold as well like they have offensively. And that's that's the big scratching your head thing about this offense is how, you know, how many times you've seen them all have a bad day against a mediocre pitcher for like the Houston Astros that has no business dominating us the way that he did or even in this Royal series as well. We had to wait until we were in extra innings or in late into games to start making some waves. Those starters for the Royals dominated us and probably shouldn't have, but, you know, again, that's easier for me to say sitting here in this chair with this little drink in my hand, not doing any physical activity whatsoever. But our Corbans are going to be the things are they're going to be the players that make the big difference for this team. Corbin burns if we are make the postseason completely changes, you know,

12:50this starting rotation and Corbin Carol, if he's healthy, can, you know, be the most powerful offense weapon that the 9 and backs have. Right? So it can tell Marta and we need him right as well. It would be great to have both these guys right and perhaps the injuries were the things that were holding them back. So we just, we need this offense to get moving with 15 games left. That it would appear that the majority of people around baseball seem to be picking the Padres to be the team that ends up with the final wild card spot over us. And I need the diamondbacks to make a lot of those people look foolish by proving them wrong and by stealing this spot from the Padres. And not disappointing us again, we cannot have another god damn season end with us coming this close to a playoff spot only to miss the postseason. We can't, we just simply can't. I'm going to lose my mind. And no one wants that. It's bad for everybody. Let me tell you,

13:52Damon specifically though, he's going to have a really bad time around me if we don't make the playoffs. And that, I mean, that's that goes and that goes both ways. I don't to say it's funny. He's going to be horrible to be around. Yeah, I feel like I'll be much worse. Probably much, much worse. You'll be like, oh, now I get to enjoy my off season and I'll be like, no, Derek, we're losers. I do never forget that a lot. Don't I? Yeah. I mean, I already planned some vacations for October. I'm just taunting the diamondbacks to not make the playoffs. I dare you to not make the playoffs. I'm going to the Bahamas. On October 8th, unless, unless you make the playoffs, I swear to God, I swear to God, I will get on that plane and go to the Bahamas. Yeah, you're right. It doesn't really feel like I'm as angry about it as I'm pretending to be. It just feels like some of us actually care and some of us. Yeah, no, I get it. I get it. I'm hearing it now. I'm hearing it now. You're right. So I'll try to dial that back a little bit, but

14:57it's probably not going to happen because I'm excited about going to the Bahamas. Anyway, we're going to talk about this upcoming series that starts tonight that will feature Corbin Carroll in the lineup on the other side of this break. So of course, don't you guys go anywhere. You are watching the pH and next time and back show. We'll be right back. Well, the weight is over folks. Football is here and we are having a great time. Draft Kings is having a great time and Draft Kings is on. In this September, they want to they want to start things off on the right foot. Draft Kings is giving all customers the opportunity to get boosted every game day. That's right. You heard me. I didn't mess that up. Every game day, all month long, Draft Kings customers can get a profit boost. Plus get extra protection with early exit where you opt in. And if your player leaves the game with an eligible injury in the first half, your bet is protected. New Draft King customers right now can sign up with code pH and X, spend just five bucks and get $200 in rewards within 21 days. That's code pH and X in partnership

16:03with Draft Kings. The crown is yours. Problem called 1-800-Next-Step, 21 and over Arizona only. Eligibility restrictions apply. $50 a non-withdrawable bonus bets issued every seven days via click to claim for 21 days. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance, one football boost per customer. Maximum bet limits and restrictions apply. Tokens expire at the end of the final select game each day when offered terms at dkng.co slash offer limited time offer. Well financial success begins with the right institution and the right account and that institution is the mountain America credit union with their one and only my style checking account designed around exceptional member service. My style checking is there for you for everything in life. It is the ultimate spending account. It is how we all get things done. It is how Derek gets all of his 50% off merchandise from chase field at the stand that I'm not going to tell you about. It's how I get tickets to concerts that I'm going to on a Friday night instead of doing my job of doing a post game show instead going to enjoy

17:07time with friends that are only in town for one day. I'm just trying to defend myself. But more importantly, it's also how I'm going to buy drinks at said concert and food before concert and everything else that I'm doing tonight. It's the perfect fill in the blank account. Whatever makes your life worthwhile mountain America's my style checking account is right there with you. And it even comes with rewarding perks discounts on travel discounts on loan rates discount events and so much more. Plus they also offer free financial guidance. With so many possibilities, how will you use my style? Apply for your my style checking account at any mountain America rancher at macu.com slash my style. Inchured by NCOA, membership is required based on eligibility. Some benefits require no cost registration, activation, terms, conditions and exclusions to apply. All right. Well, we have our draft kings match up breakdown for the series starting tonight at chase field with the Texas Rangers. So let's take a look here at how these two teams compare

18:08because they've had very similar seasons. I guess you could say. But the diamond backs overall team ERA now being in the top half a baseball. You got to love that. Damon, you got to love that. You got to love seeing 13th next to the diamond backs ERA for team ERA. They have a 4.10 ERA. Meanwhile, the Rangers ERA is 4.29, which is 21st and Major League Baseball. They're off and a little better team off team OPS of 717, which is 16th. Diamondbacks 7 07, which is now down to 22nd in Major League Baseball. That should be a surprise to nobody watching this team lately and how anemic their offense truly has been both with home runs and runs scored runners in scoring position. Almost every imaginable category it feels like. Out above average, the diamond backs have 43 outs above average. Meanwhile, the Rangers are at 18. Both teams are in the top five there. Diamond backs have the second most outs above average. They're still one of the best defensive teams in

19:11all of baseball. And the Rangers, again, not bad at 18. Out above average, they are 5th. They currently lead the season series to one and you got to you hate that. You hate that. So we got it. There's one reason to sweep this series just to win the season series against the Rangers who we do not like anymore. And we hate them and they're bad people, specifically Corey Seeger. And the Dolskar C. Yeah. Dolskar C. I mean, he cheated. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, there's a good enough reason. Every time we lose in the playoffs, somebody cheated to make it happen. Ryan Braun. Ryan Braun. Dolskar C. But what play the Yankees and we beat them in seven. Make it make sense. I can. Those back when the sport was ethical. That's true. So ethical back back in 01 when no one was taking steroids. Yeah. Right. I don't like these weird accusations. I don't love that. Uh, Texas Rangers, of course, you know, again, they they are a team that is currently fighting still for a playoff spot. And that's I think the the most dangerous thing about all of these teams

20:14that the Diamondbacks are playing. Every single team aside from the Colorado Rockies left on their schedule is still in some way. Kind of fighting for a playoff spot. I mean, the the the Rangers are three games back now from the Houston Astros for the AL West. So they're still kind of in that fight. And then as far as the American League wild card is concerned, they are two games back. So almost in a you know, in a less advantageous position than the Diamondbacks are, but they still have two ways for to make their way into the postseason, whereas the division was a dream that was lost on opening day. This season, however, you know, right now the Diamondbacks again still have the fact that the Padres have to fight face teams that hate them. Texas Rangers have no reason to hate us. They just they have they're just they have something to play for. They they they they they big brother dust in the World Series. So I mean, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna act like the Texas Rangers have any

21:19animosity towards us in any way. But the Rockies, yeah, they could might want to play spoiler against the Dbacks there right before the end. I just feel like the Padres having the three game series against the Giants and then the three games against the Dodgers before we play them is my biggest hope at this point for the Padres to lose some games and for those teams that are playing pretty good baseball to to step up and beat them just based on the visual eight and state pride in the state of California. But we'll see we'll see if that happens. Meanwhile, as far as the Rangers go, Damon, I think the probable pitching matchups kind of favor the Diamondbacks. I don't know what do you think. Let's take a look at those probably for the series, but I do like these three guys going in this very important series for the Diamondbacks. Yeah, I mean, these are probably the three most stable pitchers that we have right now, right? As much as Merrill hasn't been great this season, it does feel like he's at least like he's had some good starts recently and that's

22:23that's what he's eating some innings this year, which you know, is valuable in and of its own right. Corbin Burns, I think we'll get to that standpoint. Hopefully by the end of the year, but you know, after one three innings start, I don't think it's fair to put him in that category. Yeah, I've been the anchors that have been keeping this not anchors. I guess that's the opposite term, but they've been the things that have been making this team ascend all season long. Like it's been the thought and the e-rod show of like getting the debacks out of some bad holes that they've been in at different points of the season. I'm sure if we looked at those playoff odds yesterday, Derek, like you could look up when Brandon Fought got called back up and you'd see a divot at the bottom and then you'd see a sky rocket happen because Brandon Fought was that good. He won the team a game every five starts for like four or five straight outings, right? So this is who you want up there pitching for the debacks other than probably Corbin Burns. And the Rangers pitchers, I mean, both rocker and Gore on this list are like

23:26guys with a lot of potential. Not guys that have put up great seasons this year. They're susceptible to be being damaged. And then we'll see what they can do with a bullpen game on a game three there. Here's one thing I'll say about Merrill Kelly is that Merrill Kelly had a very bad August for a stretch. I mean, he did have one game where he gave up one run run, but he had a five earn run game. Let's see, you know, multiple games here with five runs or more given up. But in September or excuse me, in July, Merrill was incredible. Merrill posted a 1.95 ERA through all five starts in that month. In July, you said in July. Yeah, he went three and two. Yeah, he said his moments this season, I think, to your point. Like there have been times where he's been really, really bad. And there have been times where he's been kind of all right. And he's been like I said, all season long, though, I do feel that like even in his worst starts where a lot of times the damage happens in the first second inning or so, it feels like he finds a way to like still

24:27lock in and give you five innings or whatever. So, you know, as much as the Merrill contract, hasn't been a success by any stretch. And, you know, it hasn't been a good season for him at all. I do think that he hasn't been like the reason that this team has been struggling. That is way more on the offense than it is on Merrill Kelly. Yeah, I agree with that. My thought is that at the very least we might be coming into another good stretch like he had in July. Right. That I mean, I would come at the perfect time. His June was awful. His July was amazing. His August was pretty awful. But it ended decent. You know, he had the game against the Cubs where he gave up three earn runs in five and two thirds. He had a seven inning shut out against the Giants. And then he had a six innings, three earn run outing against the Astros that they lost one to three. And again, Merrill, Merrill giving up three runs and the Diamondbacks offense, not being able to muster up more than one run isn't. That that's more the reason they lost than Merrill. Merrill gave him a quality start in that game.

25:27So it's not perfect, but you do feel like hopefully Merrill is coming into maybe maybe that every other month kind of thing that he's been doing here. Maybe this is that time where he's coming on because it feels like that's how his year has gone. I mean, again, he had a good May before that awful June. He had one bad outing where he gave up six earn runs against the Chicago Cubs. And then every other outing the rest of the month was a quality outing except the final one against Seattle, which he only went five and a third, but he gave up two earn runs. So still a good outing just not six innings plus with three earn or less. I can't make sense of it. I really can't, but I can hope that based on patterns that this that they're going to get the best Merrill Kelly that they're going to get a good stretch here from Merrill, but going back like like Damon said, Brandon fought you feel great about and obviously E Roth continues to have an amazing season. And one guy believed in him and that one guy was me and me alone. If it was you know, I definitely

26:30didn't. I'm not going to I'm not even going to lie. I'm the people and say that I that I you're on FC. Yeah, I was a big believer in Ryan Nelson this season. And that hasn't looked gone all that great, but I still believe. Oh, I was a believer in a guy that was awesome last year too. Yeah, great. Great. That's neat. That's neat, Damon. Anyway, uh, probably. Yeah, you're right, dude. Everybody thought Ryan Nelson was going to be a side young candidate. Yeah, but you still feel good about the way that the series matches up overall here. And again, hopefully the Diamondbacks can not only win this series. I'm not expecting them to get the S word, but an S word would be would be really nice right now right about now. I think the Diamondbacks are a better team pretty clearly. If you look at what I agree, this kind of fortress there, the Rangers obviously have a good defense, but the Diamondbacks have an elite defense. I you just got to you got to start hitting the baseball. And what better time to start hitting the baseball too than when guys with mid four ERAs are on the mound for the opposing team. And TBD.

27:35Like it's time to it's time to finally figure some things out on offense in this series. You're right, because this goes far beyond just the series. They need to get hot. They need to get in that kind of groove. They need to finish the season strong and not limp into the playoffs. Yeah, I know that worked okay for 23, but it would be nice to just see this team get hot now that they're at 100% because that's what they are. Honestly, once Ryan Nelson comes back, the injury list is empty aside from guys that will not be back at all this season. Right. So it's time to go. It's time to go full throttle like Corbin said, and it is time for this team to find a way to play their best baseball now and prove all of those dorks that said that the Padres were going to make it in over us wrong. Let's do it. It's the best I got. Sorry. I'm not I'm not again, I'm not as fired up as I should be, but there we go. Let's go and take a break on the other side of this break. We got

28:36something special planned. Like I said, like we told you yesterday, we are doing a rare, very rare edition of I guess what we're lovingly calling mail bag Friday now. And we're going to do that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. You are watching the pH in next time. Well, October 16 through the 18th, the chase returns to Phoenix Raceway. And if you don't know what the chase is, that is NASCAR's playoff series where every lap matters, every point matters. And of course, we can once again see Ryan Blaney get crowned champion right before our very eyes. You already know Phoenix is one of the most iconic racetracks in all of NASCAR. It appeared in days of Thunder. So it asked me an iconic racetrack. But the chase returns to Phoenix Raceway, October 16 through the 18th, watch NASCAR's championship contender battle at the freeway insurance 500 in one of the most critical races on the road to the championship at this iconic track here in Phoenix.

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30:40doesn't mean you can't get started on your projects. In fact, in Arizona, I would I would offer up that now is the best time to get started on your projects. It's insufferably hot during the summer. So now that we're moving into fall and temperatures are dropping now is the best time to check out the window depot and get started on that home project that you've been putting off and a great start if you were looking for a project to do would be to replace those windows in your home. You can get brand new energy efficient windows that will not only help keep your hot air outside and your cool air inside but it will beautify your home and add value as well to your property. So the window depot they are not a surplus or discount store. They offer new home improvement products at incredible prices every day and they are experts when it comes to windows but they are more than just a window store. You can shop doors, cabinets, countertops, bathroom vanities and so much more and they have affordable bathroom updates where you can refresh a guest bathroom or primary suite with a new vanity and updated finishes. They also have in-house designers that can help you

31:42get started on your next project free of charge right now especially if you're procrastinator like me. So get started today visit the window depot.com and start planning your next project. Now the window depot more than just a window store. Well Damon you know what we do around here every single Friday whenever we have a 12 p.m. show and we didn't do a Monday show you know what we do around here every single Friday and we've been doing it since the beginning of time. Every single year on the pH and X diamond backs podcast is a new adventure. Every single month on the pH and X diamond backs podcast is October. Every single month is playoff baseball around here. Every single month it's the mother f in yaps on this show. Every week air is on a restaurant week. You weren't expecting that one where you I bet not and every single day is game day put on those helmets boys we got we got work to do but on Fridays we go to the mailbag. Damon let's go to mailbag.

32:44I feel box always something interesting in my mailbox. I try to get to everything in my mailbox and then what's in the wild. There's a letter that makes me go wow wow my mailbox always something interesting in my mailbox. I can't see it but I'm see walking right now. Damon can though. I look like Merrill Kelly and that one video and feels good. All right Damon what do we got in the mailbag today? Starting off with Travis Moore who says I think Carol's long stretches at the plate where he isn't hitting have been more frustrating. Honestly then Kitell's off field shenanigans. Do you agree or disagree? What with while Kitell's stuff is annoying and silly watching Carol struggle at the plate is so much more frustrating. Yeah I mean that's that's fair to say. I think the idea the difference there might be that Carol struggles are not him doing it himself in the way that Kitell's off field shenanigans feel like that's Kitell doing something that's preventable. In fact I would argue that Carol's biggest problem is that he does think all of these things are preventable with his swing or bad days

33:49are preventable and that simply his mechanics weren't right or whatever the case may be. Whereas in some cases I think Corbin probably just needs to get out of his own head and go out there and swing the bat and play baseball and have a good time. I'd argue that that is hard to do sometimes when you are not at 100% and I do think that not being healthy is what these two situations have in common. I do think that Corbin's one of those guys that plays through injuries and he's very different than Kitell who knows his body and wants days off even when the team doesn't want to give him a day off. So I guess they're both at fault in a way for for that but they're not at fault for getting injured over the course of 162 game baseball season. It happens to every player they all have agonizing injuries and things that they just kind of put up with and deal with throughout the season. It's the are you hurt or are you injured discussion right like or does it does it hurt or are you

34:53injured and I think sometimes even just playing hurt can be a detriment to your production on field. And again I'm not I'm I'm pretending like I'm saying something that's really profound but that is all I feel like common knowledge as far as like athletes are concerned right we know we know they play through injuries we know they play hurt and we know that that's going to impact their performance on the field but again I think that's what these two situations kind of have in common overall and yeah I mean it's it's been frustrating to watch Carol struggle at the plate. Carol is one of those guys that for me personally like I said on a past episode I also hate to see Carol having such a bad time playing baseball. I feel like he's taking it far too seriously. I think that one of the things I do love about Kato Marte the most and one of the things that makes him one of my favorite players is the fact that Kato Marte will you know he will he plays with such a joy when you're watching him play and that that joy is makes him fun to watch. He's also incredible

35:57at what he does right so that also helps but you know it's it's the fact that he really does enjoy you know playing the game so much similar with Kato or similar with Corbin if I'm watching Kato and he's not having a good time playing like that's that's that adds to the misery of his lack of production as far as I'm concerned so I think I do think that that is one of the things that truly sucks about Carol you know having this slump right now besides the fact that the team the team needs all three of their big guys to the or their big three to step up right I know Gabriel Marino has kind of entered that conversation but if if Predomo Marte and Carol could all get right now that would be amazing and you would feel like this team would be a completely different team with those three guys doing what they've done in the past that we know that they're capable of doing I am personally more frustrated by Kato I don't like Corbin is trying he's

36:58yes that's what I was saying earlier almost refuses to like be taken out of the lineup and what not that guy loves baseball he wants to help this team win right I feel mostly bad for him that it's just not going all that great for him right now whereas as you said Derek Kato is making his of his own doing he's the reason that he's in this predicament he's taken games off four years in a row as Tori told the media when this whole thing went down I I mean I it's I'm ready to move on from it at the same time and the Corbin stuff is still ongoing whereas the Kato stuff again like I said I'm ready to move on from so I could see that being more frustrating right now but if we're really in a vacuum looking at what's more frustrating I think it's got to be the Kato stuff in the distraction that that's brought the last two seasons in my opinion I I I don't disagree I don't disagree I think you're right I think when I think about it yeah once again the big factor there is the is the choice to do it right versus Corbin doing kind

38:02of the noble thing in a way and trying the trying his best to show up every day for this team for his teammates for the fans and and you know again even though it's not working it sometimes it is about the effort that's being put in versus the I guess distraction and embarrassment that the Corbin or the Kato Marta situation became right so anyway what else we got let's go to another question our next question is from Gabriel and Gabriel says wait Derek this just doesn't feel right no it says mailbag Monday well yeah I mean it's a Friday there we go oh that's more yeah that's more like it David let's go that's more like all right Gabriel says can we make a prediction for the rest of the season I feel like giants and Dodgers are going to try to mess with the Padres I feel like we can beat the Rangers and Yankees I'm more scared about the Marlins honestly as our Derek and I and said and if we are one game over the Padres I think we got this yeah man I mean he makes a great point he really does I do I do feel like that and I hate that that's just like

39:07a feeling I have it's such a stupid feeling but the Dodgers are the Dodgers they are going to be one of the best teams in baseball so playing them at any point is never easy for any team and considering that it's the final six games of the season at that point when they start that series with the Dodgers they could be playing very hard not only to kind of get themselves hot as the postseason starts but they could be playing for you know a buy in the first round potentially at that point so the Dodgers might very much have something to play for besides just trying to get themselves ready for the postseason most importantly they're not going to be like pulling starters or anything at that point of the year unless those guys are injured or whatever so you know you can expect that team to be at 100% as best as they can be and they're going to try to beat the Padres and the giants are just hot right now the giants are just playing good baseball we kind of experienced that it felt like that was a different team that we played in the in the last series that we played them then they were when we played them earlier in the year so hopefully the giants do it just for the sake of messing up their season you know but

40:13Damon and I are very fearful of that Marlon series considering how the Diamondbacks have played against the Marlins and honestly I don't love the fact that the Yankees are getting Aaron judge back and they have plenty to play for as well when we play them right but these are all tests and the one thing that the Diamondbacks have to figure out is how to beat teams that are you know still have something to play for and there's a lot of teams still on their schedule that have something to play for and that's they they just have to figure out how to do that as as the as the postseason approaches as much as it's great to make the playoffs if they're you know just a team that goes in and gets beaten that first round I don't know how satisfied we as a fan base are going to be with that sure they did it sure they didn't disappoint us and didn't make it or did make it in versus not making it in but if they're out in the blink of an eye because they're not able to beat the elite teams in baseball or hang with those elite teams then yeah we can't expect a great performance when the yachts come around all right what else we got Damon our next question is

41:16from evil Michael who says allow evil Michael to ruin your day by asking imagine if the debax had this bullpen last year or the year before why also I'm going to five games this home stand so what do you do about it why why why why do all of that why are you like this why are you this person he's evil imagine if the debax had this bullpen last year the year before we're we're holding up we're holding up the the trophy at the end of the day I mean it's it's ridiculous it's ridiculous don't even ask me such questions this is insane in 2024 with with this bullpen we would have won a hundred baseball games the Latin Kings are you kidding me we would have won a hundred baseball games we would have won a we would have been the most dominant team in baseball in 2024 specifically we would have won a lot of baseball we would have won a world series in 23 possibly yeah that bullpen was pretty good though I mean they just sucked once the world series rolled around yeah well this bullpen's better it is and you know it's a lot better

42:19you know who's worse is Michael able Michael I think he's he's he's getting he's like trying to actively keep the team from going to the playoffs right it's weird it's weird the way that he's taunting fate in this manner right yeah I feel like you should want to do everything you can to contribute to their success I'm bringing Mrs. LeVolo a hat as a gift for all the Sunday dinners that she invited me and Damon to and for the vibes it's supposed to be a secret Derek well they don't watch this show so it's fine but yeah you're right it is supposed to be a secret but hey the point being I'm trying to help are you Michael I don't believe you are I just don't want the I don't want the people to know our methods for how we get over for Sunday dinner well no that's fine I get that's that's what makes this podcast special I mean everybody it's bribery right it's why people think it's done in America these days is bribery yeah all right well you got to let's let's

43:23let's get some we got some from the discord we got some great die hard questions as well and I know we got a lot of those so let's get let's get to the next one we got yeah our next question here is from Sean who says who has two questions and says if one of cattella corebing can get hot for the last couple weeks do you see it being enough to get this team over the hump or at least assure us that the final series at petco is indeed a scenario where the winner of two games punches their ticket I think we could start off just by answering that question yeah yeah I do actually I think I think yeah specifically I would I would almost like if I had to pick one of the other I'd say cattell I would love just like a like a vintage cattell generational 10 game stretch where he hits 650 and the baseball is isn't a basket ball and he's just putting the ball over the fence yeah but yeah I do think that getting either of cattell or Corbin back to their their peak would definitely like give us a shot in that podjary series at the end of the year I mean there's

44:26there's no doubt if you're talking about like the bottom of the lineup producing in the way that they have and Gabrielle Moreno still having the bat that he's had yeah like I do feel that I even feel like Prado Mo as Damon has tried and tried so many times to point out to you people is good right now despite despite claims and reports that he's not you know he's definitely like if you look at his splits you know he's been playing better over the last like month or so but his OPS is started to drop down a little bit in the last couple weeks again so he needs to start putting some more extra bass hits on the board I yeah that would be nice but yeah like overall if you feel like you add one of these guys at like at at their peak of their career which we've known them to be at any point in the last three years it completely changes everything it completely changes everything I you know it feels like that's what they're missing is that guy that really is so hot that he can't even you know miss the baseball right now he's hitting it off a tee it's the size of a beach ball all

45:27of those things you want to say when someone's killing it but we also got the second question which I feel might be even more important than the first one dream blunt rotation from the current roster safe to say we can just check Lars off right now 100 percent dream blunt rotation Lars is definitely in there without a doubt I'm also adding Ryan Walshman Lars Burns is that what you're saying Lars Burns Burns not as in a last name Burns as in do you burn bro oh I don't yeah yeah but I was I was I also maybe see it burns wants to join us as well more importantly it's large that was real old guy move right there it was it was I was trying to use some sling some hip happened in sling with my good pal Derek who I thought was up on the time I mean yeah really is brother says no it really the thing is you're right it really isn't and it still was past your expiration date yeah it really was it really was and more importantly I thought that was maybe a little bit more your era if I'm being honest with you yeah I was trying to dip into the Derek Montia era bucket I

46:33I might have I might have used that term once or twice in my life but Lars Newbar Ryan Walshman Ildemar Vargas Wow heraldopardomo because I Vargas is like making snacks or something oh bringing over treats Vargas is as much of a part of the enjoyable experience in this particular blunt rotation as the blunt itself yeah he doesn't even need to hit it he can just be there for Vops yeah yeah exactly um let's see I got what that's for in there do we we're you know five is four enough yeah I think four is plenty all right because that forward I mean you want a couple hits yourself there if you don't want to burn it all yeah that's like yeah that's two times around and that that boy's gone exactly you can like keep people in there it's a disaster people people are like looking for it and we know Vargas just you know just hold on to it for way too long like come on get on with it anyway uh in no way am I suggesting any of these players actually do any kind of thing like this but it's just my dream blunt rotation his name's Lars Newbar I mean he has

47:35there he has to burn he either does that or once again as we've discussed he's a known like rebel in the in in the Star Wars world of some kind right or what do we do Sessom S did we assess him as one of the musicians at Jabas Palace I think we said he's he's like an X-wing fighter that's what he is yeah he's right there with with Poe and the other guys like he's definitely a hero for sure but uh let's get one more in then we got to take a quick break what do we got yeah our last question here before the break comes from Gary the cat and he says ESPN recently it really released their core rankings and surprisingly we came in seventh nice do you agree with their elite plus solid decisions if not what would you change um I would say I agree I think that again that I'm in backs have had a solid core that we have discussed and that's kind of like step one in your building of a franchise so the fact that they've been able to identify their core and you know know who they want to build around and that I think that core includes Gabi Moreno even though they have not been able to extend them I think they would like him to be part

48:38of that I think they are building around him right but the the the next level is to like supplement that core with enough of a team around them that you feel like they're a winner right that's step two build the rest of the team out that's kind of the step that the diamond backs keep forgetting because instead of building the rest of the team out in a sufficient way that makes this team a contender they kind of fill in the gaps with a lot of guys that we've said they kind of pick up from the bargain bin right and those guys tend to work out we've we've had some great players added to this team Ildemaro Vargas in my dream blunt rotation is one of those guys but what I would say is that you know again you kind of need to do a little bit better of a job of making it a well-rounded team and in this case they did not do that you know and then yeah you know you kind of skip the step because once you get step two and you have the team filled out that's when you go out and add a high priced free agent or two that then change you from being

49:40just a competitive team to an elite team in the sport and I feel like the biggest problem at times with the diamond backs is a franchise is skipping step two you know and I know that they want to do it in other ways or they want to do it through the farm system or they want to do it in more creative manners and in some cases those ways that they do it do work out whether you're talking about the bullpen or the starting lineup or anything else but I have a hard time believing that this team is you know filling out the lineup one through nine sufficiently before they're going out and adding a Jordan Montgomery or Corbin Burns to the roster and even though those guys are great and everything you know you kind of got to feel like you have the rest of the team in there and I'll credit I'll give credit where credit is due after the 2023 World Series run they tried to do exactly that they tried to lock in all of those guys his Damon even has even said to a fault almost right that nostalgia hits hard and that loyalty is hard so they wanted everybody back they

50:40wanted to run it back they wanted to add some guys and they wanted to bring the same team in 2024 back with Jordan Montgomery who was the best available free agent pitcher at the time as part of the starting rotation it just didn't work out extending Lordus didn't really work out for this team side and Jordan Montgomery was an absolute failure and up to this point even signing Corbin Burns hasn't been that great of a move due to him missing 15 months with Tommy Johnson tree but that's nobody's fault that's different that's different than Jordan Montgomery just kind of not being good at baseball anymore did you see the six teams in front of the Diamondbacks Derek on this ranking uh no I did not who are the six teams ahead of them Cubs braves Yankees red socks brewers Dodgers that's it those are I mean that's only six teams in baseball company to be in as far as a franchise is concerned in baseball when it comes to your core absolutely according to Kylie McDaniel who is the one that wrote this article um yeah I mean only six teams in baseball have a better core

51:43of star talent right now and I think that that's incredibly impressive territory to be in uh this franchise that doesn't spend a lot of money yes absolutely and that's part of their they put that in there as well for like you know them having a stable young core of players 2025 the debacks were actually six so they went down one spot in this past ranking yeah but it's the same core essentially right it's just yeah believe a little less in them because things have kind of taken a step backwards and that core right now isn't really performing in 2026 let's be honest they have so in the elite category they have Corbin Carroll and Geraldo Pradomo which I would imagine that Pradomo is in elite here in large part because of his defense his glove this year and you know his what position he plays in particular but then he finished like fourth in MVP voting correct but I this is you know this was wrote this week so they have all more about yeah this is like to work off of as well in the plus category they have as assets go they have Gabrielle Marino

52:45and Katell Marte and then in the solid category they have Corbin Burns Ryan Walchmit Juan Marillo Brandon Garcia Brandon Fought Jordan Lawler Demetrio Cresantes Tommy Troy Ryan Nelson David Hagam and Lou James Groover it's a lot of guys and it they're reasoning here the core seems stable top three players ranking high for years bit more mix after that with some boomer bust aging veterans but a nice crop of emerging young players who haven't broken through yet the debacks have been doing a good job navigating this middle path that being consistently competitive among big payrolls with their perennial NL contenders around them so I mean I think it's really high praise for the debacks in general you love to see it I would say Justin Martinez should be either in the plus or the elite category based on his agent profile yeah and he's on on this list at all and I feel great about where Jay another guy Jay Mart's future I would also argue that you tell belongs in the elite category for what he's done but you know I think it's fair but I think it's just the fact he's aging and he's also kind of been a bit of a distraction as well

53:46100% factor in everything his contract deserves to be in the elite category but the problem is his off the field stuff I think takes him out of that potentially so for sure and Erod no mention of Erod either but I mean come on give my guys some give my guys some love I just asked because he's aging and they assume probably he won't be on the team in two years no that's probably fair like that the core seems to be guys that are going to be here for a while which is a even more confusing why they didn't add Justin Martinez to that list but for sure again since he was on the injured list and missed the entire season then there's a good chance she just forgot about him I mean that isn't a fun collection of young talent though really look at that and you say yourself man this team could be pretty good for a while yeah you just got to again like you said Derek like you started that question off with we got to find a way to supplement these good star players that we have because all offseason we talked about you have the guys at the top of your lineup you have the top level starting pictures even but you need to find the people that are going to fill out the rest of the team and it just doesn't feel like we've done a great job of that over the last couple

54:48years but you're a couple moves hitting away from being a true contender in my agree I agree port sport e-road does have one year left by the way I meant this year in next year yeah yeah yeah and then also there was some talk including from port sport about Lars Newt Bar's name being more than just a star wars name he says me and my family call him a Harry Pony spell yeah laws newt bar like whatever way you got to say it with a funny voice right like there's no way you just say his name just straightforward it's like and then Katie says she thought of him as a candy bar I've thought of him as a candy bar but like an old timey candy bar like back in the day when like cocaine still came in a candy bar you know need some pep in your step get yourself a laws newt bar I'm doing chains voice now that's what I'm doing all right well I think we got some more male bag Monday questions to get to but we're gonna take a quick break and on the other side of this break we're gonna get to more of those so don't you go anywhere you're watching the pH the next time in back show well if you are looking for the ultimate spot this weekend to watch the games

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58:00and speaking of the events and fun to be had you guys make sure to join our phnx sun devils crew out at glenn rose a bar in restaurant glass grass clippings rolling hills to watch the sun devils take on texas a and m presented by kona big wave that's a nine a m kickoff so go get out there for breakfast get brunch brunch and football what better Saturday could you have it's free to RSBP there's drink samples and specials plus we will be having the phnx crew out there uh the sun devils broadcast will be going on live on site and it is the same time and same place where we will we will be at for the union jack classic where as you will be taking on canzes from london so head on over to our events page or check out the link in our show notes to RSBP by the way daemon showed me an absolutely fire uh i don't know what what a hype video for canzes versus miserie oh yeah electric i don't i don't want any part of canzes after watching that hype video no you don't i don't want any

59:03part of the jahawks i don't want the sun devils to be part of their video yeah you don't want to position yourself against them because they have no issue just taking it to the to the max i don't i wouldn't even want to like tell people i was from miserie yeah you guys are actually all bad people yeah rooting for this thing you like heroes you do like villains you're like good guys you like bad guys it's really quite literally the the greatest video i've ever seen it was amazing i was really hitting people up against one another i mean honestly i hope tori shows this to the diamond backs before today's game i don't care if any of them are even they've they've went to miserie even if they went to miserie they might be ready to run through brick wall after watching it but the brick wall would be then exiting the state of miserie and any knowledge or any connection to that state all right Damon what else we got we got a few more questions there before we get out of here yeah we do uh as we always do uh can can burns breakfast says Lars is a Viking name we don't bring that up enough you're not wrong Lars is a bike next question is from the godo who says what does torridi to see to get lollor into the lineup every day i i don't know i don't know i don't

1:00:06know what it is about his splits that particularly upset torridi overall here but um i do feel like with the time that he's missed i i would like to see jordan lollor in there at center field every single day i mean is that crazy to ask i know i think mostly it's just the fact that he's been you know struggling he did have a good game in that finale against the royals but he was oh for seven coming into that game you know in this three prior game so um perhaps it's just the fact that his struggles at the plate have made it to the point where they can't really afford to have him out there every day and that torrid might just be trying to do something anything that he feels like gives this team an injection of life offensively i don't know i guess hitting hitting would probably be the answer to that what does jordan lollor need to do to be in the line of every day hit contribute offensively because that's i think that's the only thing that they're searching for right now it has nothing to do with his defense i know that he's played some spectacular defense and he's

1:01:10been a better you know he's been a better center fielder than any of the other options so i truly think that the only thing that's keeping him out of the lineup regularly is his ability to you know have some good at bats i think that we've seen jordan up there taken entirely too many like first pitch swings you know things like that and at the very least even if you're not productive you just want to see you know more patient at bats and and the the productivity can also come from you making a pitcher have a 10-pitch at bat and knocking that pitcher out of the game earlier than they would have gone otherwise right so all of those things contribute to a team's success and contribute to a win and i think those are the things that torrid and the coaching staff want to see out of a guy even when he's struggling that's the difference maker that's why guys continue to get opportunities where we are frustrated with seeing them get opportunities is because those guys are still doing everything right that they're supposed to accept having the results that we all would want to see

1:02:12them have all right what else we got our next question is from bill braski bill braski who says what more does ildemar of argers have to do to get a new contract for next season he's been a spring training invite you for so long that he deserves a roster spot to finally get paid also debacks can afford to lose james and can either that bill braski he's a son of a bitch the bill braski is the father of every child in this town i didn't they don't know if you know that bill braski once bill braski once showed me a video of him going on a date with my wife and i told him it was most beautiful thing i've ever seen in my life these are this is a sketch from s and l by the way and if you're too young to remember it then shut up you make me feel hold um what was the rest of the question naming because i was just too busy thinking of bill braski quotes uh bill braski was asking bill braski to bill braski to bill braski there uh he was asking about ildemar of argers and him deserving a roster spot next season and also saying we can't afford to lose him again yeah yeah

1:03:15i mean vargie has been he's he's almost been akin to perdomo of being kind of like the heart and soul of this team of it i i you can't find a person in the clubhouse that could say a bad thing about vargus i think the only thing about him is that you know he he this is what he is and what he was in april was some sort of weird alien version of him you know vargus is going to give you a good at baths he's going to hit what he's hitting but he's never going to be like that kind of regular everyday starting player that you know that that gives you the production that you're looking for right somehow he's been that still for this team though and he's done that with moving around the diamond moving around the infield playing all sorts of different positions daching coming in and pitching opportunities all sorts of stuff like he's just been asked of a lot and i think that he's been pretty successful considering how difficult it is in baseball for you to not have a consistent role yet you know still get as much playing time for instance as he's gotten and you know at being

1:04:18asked to do all the different things that he's been asked to do i would love to see vargus as a part of this team in the future and i i don't i don't know i mean his season has been better than expected overall so i don't know if there's more that he could do to earn a contractor or to want to come back to this team i feel like considering he's done it for the diamond backs when they needed him the most to be as flexible and and to be the super utility player that he's been i think that alone deserve means i i think that alone means that he feels like it means more to the diamond backs that he means more to the diamond backs than he would mean to any other team so perhaps they're willing to spend more on him just to ensure that he stays here and i also feel the same about James McCann you cannot say enough about what James McCann has done for this team in the short time that he's been a part of it and you truly feel like not only does he help the pitchers get better he's helping gabriel marino get better he's helping everybody get better and he's just

1:05:18he's that guy he's that guy who will impart wisdom upon you and then also throw sunflower seeds at you in the dugout when you're not looking and pretend like it wasn't him we need guys like that that's a glue guy that's a guy that's a glue guy that's a glue guy all right well it's we got Damon let's uh what do we got one more next one is from Richard Perry no we got two more after this they're quicker though i think after this can the debacks overtake the podries for the final wild card spot which part of their game will decide at most starting pitching late any bullpen for funds are getting healthy stars back in the lineup is korban okay and then says thanks to erick and damen we appreciate you sir and yes i think that the most important part is getting the healthy stars back in the lineup and not just that but like the offense i i i know that those other things are going to be important but i also feel like i feel confident about the starting pitching and the late inning bullpen options i do not feel confident about the offense right now and even though you didn't give me that as an option i i think it goes kind of hand in hand

1:06:18with those healthy stars returning we need these guys yes healthy and then you know we need them to get hot again we need them to get on a roll so that uh this offense can do some damage here down the stretch win them some baseball games and not put everything on the pitching staff and expecting the pitching staff to be perfect almost every single baseball game and then calling that gallon and wash because he gave up one or and run in three innings is that fair to say i don't know i mean that gallon probably still is washed but i still say give them a chance um but yeah i i think that the healthy stars returning and getting getting right now is very important even if uh even if it takes a few games for them to get right and even if those games involved this team not winning you you still feel like what those players are adding to this roster as we get down to the final stretches is important and they need to get in there as soon as possible all right Damon what else we got our next question is from Deborah who asks kind of a similar question what do you feel needs

1:07:20correction now to have a chance to advance the postseason i think it's like i mean if it's if we're drilling down yes it's the fact that they're missing fastballs so you you can't do that you can have your offense be good and performing and productive with them missing fastballs but i think that they also need to be more more patient i think this team needs to be more patient i think they need to take more pitches i think that they just need to battle more you know you see if you guys in the lineup doing it but i don't feel like you see enough guys doing it you don't see enough guys taking seven eight nine pitch at bats and trying to wait for their pitch to hit or simply trying to you know outbattle the the opposition the opposing pitcher so that they get on base some way whether it's a single or a walk or by any by any means necessary yeah you know i think that's what we need we need every guy taking every at bat that seriously because they are they are that's that

1:08:20serious it is that critical to this team success down the stretch we can't have them going up there and letting pictures escape with six seven pitch innings because that's not going to do any and i did the thing i said six seven i know but you get it you get where i'm going from i'm too old to be making that reference too so what else we got we got one more yeah our last question Derek is from our guy number one debaxing in texas who says if the debax are a subway sandwich which players are the ingredients also what do you think is the actual best lineup moving forward i know we have some issues about lordes right now all right so i mean if you're talking once again about the core of this team the meat of this team it's heraldopardomo corbin carole and katal marty correct that's your that's your meats if you're ever talking about a bm t by the way right which if you're not someone that avidly goes to subway you don't know that a bm t stands for big meaty tasty i bet you thought it was more clever than that it's not that's what it stands for

1:09:26so if we're talking about the meats on the big meaty tasty the bm t we got we got those two guys those three guys as as as the the meat of this sandwich toppings on the sandwich the things that make this sandwich good and spicy i mean like maybe our not oh might be a little bacon on top of that meat we're getting into the you know other stuff we got we got vargas which is your choice of spinach or lettuce we got your tomatoes which is tim tawa of course and i mean a pigeon stop is probably like sauces everyone knows this everybody knows tim tawa is tomatoes why wouldn't he be what if i don't like tomatoes on my sandwich there you're gonna get tomatoes because you only have two options i do like tim tawa no you're those tomatoes are starting at first base for you is what they're doing so deal with it or are the tomatoes your dh either way you don't have a choice because you don't have enough toppings to not have tomatoes on your sandwich Damon that's fair it's insane um Justin Martinez is definitely the Chipotle sauce that goes on top oh there's no

1:10:29like sriracha mayo on the on the top 100% it's spicy it makes it completely makes the sandwich a completely different inside absolutely absolutely uh there was another part of that question i believe what was the rest of it what our best lineup looks like right now oh our best lineup i think still involved if if i'm talking about our actual best lineup it's carbon carol at the top it's katal martes second it's heraldo perdomo third all right i mean what do you like you like care all third or do you like perdomo third i like gabby third where do you like perdomo hitting in the lineup if you look at perdomo splits this year based off of where he's been hitting Derek it kind of is it looks kind of weird i think his best has actually been it's actually been lower in the lineup if you look at where he's hitting best but put him back tonight what are we doing it's like six they're seventh but it's a small sample size choose he out of the big sample sizes fourth is actually his best spot this year but okay actually tend to all right let's keep him let's keep him there let's keep him I tend to care less about where guys are hitting in the

1:11:34lineup i guess you know what other people you know i want out of the fourth hole is aranato i feel like aranato even though he delivers even though he hits home runs even though i mean he's 23 home runs right he's one of the best home run hitters right now on this team the problem with aranato is it's like feast or famine with him you know it's all or nothing it feels like he either delivers or the other side is he's hitting in the double plays every time you got runners on base or runners in scoring position right so yeah i would rather he hit fifth and put perdomo in there fourth put gabby at third right Corbin and katal one two yeah let let katal stay where he wants to stay after tell stay at number two after that maybe y'all tomorrow yeah i like y'all tomorrow coming in after no one in the six hole right and then tim taoah seventh ryan waltzman eighth Jordan lawler Jordan lawler ninth i mean that's it that's the that's probably the best lineup probably and i know things could shift there based on how if you know you you want to try to get those guys that are being more productive up higher even in the lower parts of the lineup

1:12:37right so again taoah six or seven feels pretty good with how good he has actually been this year right and well and tim taoah's hits have come at the right time yes i think that's the other thing about the mizzi you can look at the stats and you can say oh it's not all that impressive of a season at it's in taoah watch guy but it feels like his all of his biggest hits have come against division rivals in close games where his hit is kind of the deciding factor of whether your team's going to win or lose that one and so his hits have been very impactful as well and that's part of the reason why i feel like tim taoah deserves a lot of credit this season but agree yeah i mean that that's probably the best lineup i think you could make the argument you know maybe new bar deserves to be in there i know that's not going to make people happy uh but i do think that Lars has been playing better recently and maybe probably does deserve some abyss so maybe wall the lawler i know again i know that's not a popular opinion but you could see them shift out

1:13:40for new bar but i think in general that's pretty much the best nine that we can do together we don't think we addressed a dh really so well was it wouldn't taoah or margas right or or kittell would be the dh there and right vaga's would be its second taoah at first or vaga's at first taoah dhing like it kind of that we did name nine hitters so yeah well we have some versatile players that can make it work pretty much no matter what bars of soaps also brings up how do we feel about heizoo santa's who was df8 by the Toronto blue jays the man has a 260 batting average with eight home runs damon give them to me give him to me he immediately slots in as like the fourth best hitter on this team at 260 260 yeah i mean what's his op s oh i don't go honestly don't care you don't want to know i don't want to know i'm always down you know the problem is is i think anybody you added this point is an eligible for postseason play so i think that might be a factor i could be wrong yeah no i think i think it is the case yeah yeah so i mean i i don't think that the diamond

1:14:42backs can afford to add anybody unfortunately that isn't eligible for postseason like we said we don't want them giving up a b's to guys that aren't going to be part of the playoffs however be conflicted because we got to get to the playoffs first right so however however we can get there but damon i did want to bring up something obviously today is september 11th and 25 years ago baseball helped this country heal in the aftermath of the september 11th attacks and something weird to have lived through it's something that i still remember to this day you and i were talking about it before the show you know um it was weird to like be at work and have it just kind of going on and then still like having to go about my workday you know like stuff all right well yeah we're under attack in new york but uh gotta go make sure that these drawers are stocked you know um but at the same time the one thing i will never forget about september 11th 2001 and everything that happened after that is how what an incredible like role baseball played in this you know situation as far as

1:15:50healing the country and getting us back to feeling normal and i also think about the pandemic too right like baseball was also a part of that where baseball was a big factor that helped us feel normal during a time where life very much did not feel normal and uh we were very lucky prior to september 11th i think to i have felt as safe as we felt in this country for so many years right so i think that was the part that was uh something i'll never forget about that day but again i'll never forget um you know just how everything played out after that and how baseball was just kind of there for us right that's what that's what baseball it kind of did that's why yeah it was at the forefront of like all of the big galvanizing country moments it feels like outside of you know like George Bush's speech and whatnot sure sure absolutely when you talk about the George Bush first pitch at the Rangers game or sammy sosa running out with the flag and i regularly i mean it's emotional awesome stuff that you know sports is this is what it's here for and um you know i do

1:16:56think that that's like almost the perfect example of exactly what sports is supposed to do which is bring us together and you know not at the end of the day like yeah it's fun to have rivals and hate each other but you know we are all people and that's uh there's things that are much bigger than this as well yeah one thing i i will also never forget when it comes to the airs on the diamond backs obviously winning the world series that year was the joy that i personally experienced and my friends and my family and everybody that i knew that was a diamond backs fans that lived here in the state experience with our team beating the Yankees of all teams to win a world series right to win our first world series but what i will also never forget is weeks later after the parade had come and gone and after we were back to post baseball life in the middle of november i read this article that basically just made the like made the diamond backs out to be the true villains of this whole

1:17:57situation it's a really weird spot to be and i often think about that because obviously because of the story book finish that it should have been for the city of new york that particular year and they were going for a three-peat to like they had a dynasty in the making and you know they were the nineties Yankees were probably like up there with the greatest era of baseball team ever so you would just almost assume that in 2001 that they were going to be the team that was inevitable especially with the country actually rooting for the Yankees for once i mean it's it's pretty wild it was crazy i read an article it was hate it blew my mind to see like the reaction on the other side this was pre-internet days you couldn't go online and just see people firing off takes about the diamond backs winning the world series this was an article and i believe like the Wall Street journal or some like prestigious magazine that wasn't just a sports magazine where they were saying how like new york had been attacked again by snakes from the desert and i was like oh my god we're the bad guy how are we the bad guy yeah or nest is right by the way it was three

1:19:02they already had they were going for the four p and and yeah i mean it's it's a weird spot to be in uh you know i obviously we know what we had to do um and that doesn't take away anything away from i think how important and special baseball was in that time yes that world series is one of the greatest world series of all time when people were locked into baseball i think that's a very memorable world series for people and also like you you think about like all the world series gear that's come out of it so much of it has like american flags and stuff on it way more than any world series gear i'd typically ever see it feels like it's almost just ingrained in that in that world series it really was and i'll say this though i mean just speaking on behalf of of our team of the debacks you got to give them it like i feel like it makes it that much more special or that much more difficult to have won that series for sure yeah like because you know they were feeling that and you know that there to a certain extent the diamond backs could see that this was a story book

1:20:03finish that was meant to be the dot the Yankees story book finish not ours and those guys were like f that we're winning this thing we're taking it's such a collection of veterans i think has a lot to do with that is that it was just a lot of guys who are who were like they they're not going to let that moment get to them as much they're going to be easy to roll over i almost found a way to tell you you might have even felt like that was almost your position you know in that time it's like yeah we probably shouldn't really take this one here from the city of New York you know a younger team they're probably folds but the debacks being as vet driven as they were in that in that time period i think that that really really gets you over the top yeah with something like that going on yeah man i'll tell you but um again and what a job by brought Bob Brenley to absolutely absolutely to keep that team ready to go and and like you said they were vets that knew new understood the assignment but but also like that's it's tough that's it's all time to like have to like especially like you know thinking about like how how much we value Tories locker room presence i

1:21:05think that's why me and you think that Tories it all in all good manager despite maybe some flaws in other departments is because of he's a good locker room guy and and i think that Bob Brenley uh very similar in the regard of being a good locker room manager and i mean talk about a really difficult circumstance do you have to try to work through and continue to you know like i said have tunnel vision towards that that goal of winning a world series i just i definitely could not imagine i couldn't even imagine you know doing that i think the only thing you can do is just kind of put the blinders on to everything external and just focus on the job at hand which was winning a world series title yeah let's hope the diamond backs can do that exact thing again this year put on the blinders right now focus on these remaining 15 games get the job done get to the postseason and make some noise like they did in 2023 but um super chat from i'm tripped out thank you so much for your buzzer beater here at the end of the show he says off topic but is the Sunday

1:22:09dinner an exclusive club yes very much so it's uh Tory Kristen Damon and myself the dogs are invited the dogs are invited that's it that's it so again though we thank you guys so much for your mailbag Friday questions thank you to Damon for being quick with transforming this into mailbag Friday i thank all of you guys for being here in the log back Monday just didn't feel right with graphic it didn't it didn't we needed to we needed to do this we needed to change things but again we love you guys so much we thank you so much for your time today we'll be back on Monday with another mailbag Monday episode oh oh oh oh oh no maybe we'll see but uh we uh definitely are excited to see how the rest of the season plays out so stick around with us uh whether whether it's uh another disappointment or maybe we finally land in the promised land once again uh we'll be here with you dealing with it together so you can follow us on social i'm a cap underscore caveman with a cave Damon is that Damon dog with a DAWG and we're all Damon's dogs even when we don't work bark bark

1:23:10our shows at pH that's so sad every time our shows at pH and X underscore dbacks but is always all roads lead to at pH and X underscore sports on twitter instagram and facebook love you guys so much thank you again for your time hope you all have a wonderful friday night and a wonderful weekend uh we will be back again next weekend until then behave yourselves and remember kids baseball is fun but it's so much more fun when you got both of your carbons back and healthy