Should The Diamondbacks BUY Or SELL At The Trade Deadline?

We are joined by our friend Jordan Shusterman from Cespedes Family BBQ to talk about the MLB Draft, the Diamondbacks season so far, and more! We also discuss if the D-backs should be buyers come the trade deadline and who they should target if they make those moves. All this plus we reveal our MLB Power Rankings for this week!

Join Jesse and Derek for the PHNX Diamondbacks Show LIVE!

0:00 Intro
1:00 Jordan Shusterman joins the show!
8:45 D-backs mock draft round up
13:15 All-Star festivities this weekend
17:40 D-backs deadline conundrum
21:00 Yilber Diaz’s debut
26:40 Mike Hazen quote on buying at deadline
37:45 Need a lefty bullpen arm
44:30 MLB Power Rankings
48:20 Reno Aces on win streak

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should the Arizona Diamondbacks be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline we have more on this right now let’s go [Applause] [Music] hello and welcome to another edition of the phnx dback podcast coming to you live from Studio K presented by our friends at Circle K of course my name is Derek montia occasionally known as your mayor phnx happy to finally be in the same room as this man uh this is my vice mayor you’re thunderstick the one and only Jesse fredman you’re not going to be saying that very much longer dere because pretty soon we’re going to be in the same room for entire literally we’re gonna be sleeping in the same room I’m gonna be so sick of you I can’t I can’t wait I can’t wait but of course I also can’t wait to talk to our guest today because we are very excited to be joined by the one and only Jordan Schusterman from sesp his family Barbecue Jordan thank you so much for being here we appreciate you man always love your Insight and of course you know excited to talk to you about the first half of the MLB season I guess that’s my first question is what are your thoughts on on what the first half has been like so far sure yeah I mean you guys are really really in the thick of it I think you’re definitely not the only podcast doing a should we buy or sell conversation I think that’s roughly roughly half the league right now and I feel like in terms of just big picture narratives I I feel like that’s kind of the thing that kind of stands out to me um and and with the you know with the All-Star break coming up it is um it’s a good time it’s a good time to kind of kind of reflect on that stuff but I’m in I’m in draft mode guys I know big big draft coming up for the for the snakes I’m I’m super excited to see what they do and and it’s just yeah I think I was reflecting on this I’m heading down to to Texas tomorrow but you know Jake and I at at zpus BBQ like we do we do as you guys know like we we kind of do everything um which means like the Futures game in the draft is like on its own a lot of stuff that we’re doing and then we also are doing the hom Run Derby and and allar game and everything right like I feel like a lot of the prospect people are doing those two things and then they leave we’re like no so we are we are in for quite a week but I’m excited to see you two guys down there as well yeah we can’t wait for that uh Jordan the Diamondbacks pick uh 29th apparently because apparently they went to the World Series and the ramifications of that is that they’re they’re not picking nearly as high as in recent years so they have the they have the 29th pick they have the 31st pick as well that because of Corbin Carroll uh winning winning the Rookie of the Year award part of the New Prospect promotion incentive that MLB installed recently they also have the 35th overall pick that’s a competitive balance round a pick uh so they don’t have you know they’re not picking in the top five or anything like that this year but they’ve got several draft picks kind of bunched together what do you think uh their options are going to be like at that spot I mean is that is that a reasonably good position for them to be in yeah I mean they’re not picking in the top five but I believe they have a top 10 size bonus pool at the very least and what that means it really enables you to to do some some interesting things I know the Mariners were in a very similar situation last year and they just you know put out a whole documentary about it which is now for of the part of that is because the players that they drafted have have had very strong starts to pro ball and and you know it’s kind of frisen the the status of their farm system but they had four picks on day one of last year’s draft part of which because of the same thing where Julio got them you know a first round a first round pick by winning rookie of the year and then they had a competitive balance pick and they had the pick you know in the back half of the first round and it just enables so much more flexibility and especially in a draft like this where especially the high school class once you get past the first four or five names basically anybody could be in play for them that they want on the high school level and I don’t know how you guys feel you know you’re never really drafting for need but I do think that like in some cases you are sometimes drafting for need within a farm system not necessarily Big League need but sometimes you’re trying to fill out different layers of a farm system and I think for Arizona they’re they’re just going to have a lot of opportunities and and uh let’s hope that listen we it wasn’t was it 2019 or 2018 when they had like eight picks in the top 100 some of those went well some of those not so much so they’ve had you know experiences with this before but it’s still a great opportunity at the very least how how would you describe just the the quality of this draft overall yeah I I think you know I I’m such a draft dork that like I love talking about this stuff and part of me is bothered when I pull up there are you’ll you’ll see this on multiple Outlets where it’s like the first thing you read in a Draft preview is this draft isn’t very good once you get past top 10 I’m like well okay well that’s fun and also the reality is like the draft is as good as you make it I mean there’s going to be some of the best players will come after the first round anyway I just published my top 50 prospects for the for the you know for this upcoming draft and you know I I’m trying to reflect what where the industry is feeling right I I I I’m trying to not I mean it’s my own evaluations as well but I’m trying to give a sense these are the guys we can expect to hear on day one right and I I hope that those are the names we hear on day one but man we don’t know like especially with the variance with the high school players like it’s think look at gunar Henderson right I mean you know Corbin Carol’s a version of this too look at gunar Henderson right yeah it’s not like teams didn’t know who he was but no one was like yeah he’s obviously a first you know top 10 pick right and there’s a huge difference between going into top 10 and and even once we get into the second half of day one let alone days two and three so I think any draft could be a strong draft or weak draft we will have no idea for years well there are obviously some built-in challenges that other sports don’t face with their draft but MLB’s draft just seems to be the one that lacks the most interest and I know you guys do a great job of getting us prepared for it and and kind of you guys hype it up more I think than maybe even Major League Baseball does themselves but what what can they do better to promote the MLB draft like is it is it just the timing having it occur during the All-Star Game in the middle of the season is it the fact that we just we never know with baseball players if they’re actually going to you know work out as as as a major Leaguer I think that some of it has naturally become a little bit easier to follow for a casual fan just because of where C where college baseball is and has become a lot more accessible and how those players have become a lot more noticeable and then also even the prep players I think certainly of a younger generation um I hate that I can say that but I do think it’s true like true like like an example like Max Clark last year um or even like a Drew Jones right I that’s a little bit different I think Max Clark is a better example example because he was a kid in the middle of nowhere Indiana who had more Instagram followers than 95% of big Leaguers right right and like there’s some versions of that this year too with with guys like Conor Griffin right like there some of these players now have been even at in the high school levels have been quote unquote famous in these baseball you know social media spaces for a while and so there’s opportunities there for the players themselves to kind of grow the event and I think that that will kind of happen naturally as for what the league can do I mean they’re trying to make the combine a thing we went and cover combine we had a great time but we also didn’t necessarily Come Away thinking oh uh this should be like the grand television event you know like I think it it clearly still is very limited in that sense but that’s okay I think it still serves an important purpose but to for us it’s all about how can we bridge the gap between not worrying too much about like this guaranteeing this guy is going to be the face of your franchise but telling these interesting stories because that’s the beauty of the draft is that these players are coming from so many different places in a way that not that that isn’t true in other sports but it’s not quite to the same degree I feel like personally whereas obviously and it’s just so many more picks so there’s so many more stories to tell which is I think the fun part for me uh Jordan of course we’re looking at mock drafts and it really seems like people have no idea what the diamonds are going to do at 29 at 31 or at 35 I’m seeing some of the same players pop up at in different picks for them uh but there was some level of consensus both ESPN and Baseball America have the Diamondbacks taking Walker janic hopefully I’m saying that correctly catcher out of s Sam Houston State we also have a Malcolm Moore another catcher out of Stanford over on MLB pipeline the chances of the Diamondbacks actually winding up with one of those two players I don’t feel great about but just so we can say that we talked about real names what what do you uh what do you know about those two guys sure well back to my the first thing about just their bonus pool like it would because what that flexibility gives you is the ability to go overs slaught generally that is going to involve high school players so that doesn’t mean that all three of those first three early picks are all going to be high school players although that is what the Mariners did like that is an option right I think you can assume oh it’s easier to balance out and say oh let’s go get this high schooler that is projected to go pick 20 oh we can get him at 29 or 35 we’re gonna have to pay him a little bit more and then we’ll save and we’ll pay a college player later but you could also just go three high schoolers and then figure it out later there’s versions to do that as for the players you mentioned I love both of them so much if you read the the rankings that I just put out it’s yanic for for the record in case they do pick him Walker um I have a crazy walker yonic story that I will tell you guys off the air what a horrible tease ter horribly unprofessional but I’m going to but I’m going to do it anyway it’s just it’s just not it’s not the point is let’s talk about him as a baseball player both of these guys too they are my top two catchers on the board I don’t think that’s necessarily consensus there are some other college catchers like Caleb lovita and Jacob Kart who are kind of in that level I think malcol Moore and yanuk are both awesome and really interesting two different stories because Moore has been known since he was like a sophomore in high school in California and he ends up you know strong commitment to Stanford he goes there has a really good strong two seasons he’s a sophomore eligible pick we talked to him at the combine one of our favorite conversations that we had for sure and then yanuk is totally different nobody knew who this guy was he was like the 250th ranked player in the state of Texas three years ago and now he’s going to be a first round pick because he’s just gotten better and better every year at San Houston and the really cool thing with Walker yanuk is last year man this dude could have gone in the transfer portal and gone anywhere you know he’s playing for the bear cats and in the age of college baseball where this is just kind of how it works if you’re balling out at a mid- major SEC is Gonna Come calling and say hey we we’ll give you whatever nil and all these special things you get to come play in the SEC he’s like no just stay in Huntsville Texas and I’m gonna I’m going to stick with my with my boys and Bearcats with a K you know like you can’t leave those guys and and he had an even more amazing season and I just think he’s he’s a really fun player and yeah I mean if catcher is I mean you guys know how much I love Adrien del Castillo but you know if you’re looking at catcher in the in the or death chart and and seeing it as a weakness then yeah it would make a lot of sense if if either of those guys are there that late I would I where I have them ranked I think I would be surprised if they make it that far so I’ll just say that um so I think either of those picks would be awesome that late in the first round is there is there anyone else that kind of stands out to you at those picks as far as your projections go sure yeah so just flipping it over to the high school just because now I will say I feel way more comfortable talking about the college players just because I have a much greater grasp on them having watched them play significantly more either in person um or you know so I well I I I will say that I think that there are some really really interesting High scho there’s a there’s a really deep group of high school Short Stops in this range that all have slightly different skill sets right Kell Lindsay is just really the Speedy guy everyone’s comparing him to what Tre Turner basically looked like when he was coming out of high school and that makes a lot of sense he’s one of the fastest players in the draft a guy that was hurt last summer if he wasn’t hurt last summer during all the Showcase events he would have been probably easily a first round pick coming into the year instead no one really knew about him until month of the Season Wyatt Sanford another High School Short Stop of the Texas Carter Johnson he’s more in like that gunar Henderson mold um also from Alabama so he obviously gets those comps and there’s a lot of pitchers like I actually feel better and I’m more excited about some of those High School pitchers in that range and it’s just going to be how how aggressive do they get trying to try to float some of those guys down to to those middle picks uh transitioning to the all-star Break Jordan of course that is also coming up Major League Baseball is cramming a whole lot into just a few days with all with all these all these events happening uh I personally think that Major League Baseball’s All-Star festivities are among the best of the of the major the major American American Sports not the best they’re the best I think it’s the best I mean the the NBA Allstar game like I I don’t think I’ve watched that in like more than a decade because it’s dumb uh but at the same time I think you know maybe certain things that baseball does have gotten a little stale maybe the Home Run Derby isn’t quite the spectacle that it once was I know they have some some rule changes coming on that front uh are there any changes that you would make Jordan do you want to see a do we do a bunt competition do we do just an allout skills competition uh do we do an exit vo challenge of some kind like how do we how do we spice things up here well we should know we are getting some of those things for the Futures game um and this is something that we the promotion around it has been interesting and I know it’s not I’m not sure if it’s going to be televised live or not but the Futures game are they are doing a skill show they’re doing bunt challenges they’re doing all that stuff go so that’s happening and I’m very excited to see what that looks like in person how it’s presented to the to the audience at home um lot of potential with that especially it’s a good place to kind of test it out with the Futures Gamers obviously going to be a little bit more likely to do that but I don’t know I think that it’s in an okay spot I think we’ll see if the if the kind of subtle changes that they made to the Home Run Derby field and format makes any sort of tangible difference in terms of the flow if it makes people more happy and that it feels like it’s more fair I I always thought that that was kind of overrated like we’re just trying to be entertained by home runs like everyone getting too bent out of shape about like oh he got screwed because he was facing this guy it’s like what do you want this is this is all this is all make believe like we’re they’re just hitting home runs for three hours like how how serious do we have to take this and so I’m gonna enjoy it no matter what this is my other problem is when people ask me and it’s like hey what would you change about baseball I’m like I don’t know I’m having a good time so like nothing it’s perfect the ideal customer consumer already yeah to some degree but I will say that like I think that the future game you know skills challenge is an example and so much about baseball now so many of the things that are changing for some people like some people don’t like the League’s trying the league knows that they that they want to keep you know changing things up and trying new things and sometimes those are going to be great and sometimes those are going to flop and like that’s fine but like I I can commend the the the league office for at least attempting new things and we’ll see which ones of them actually stick I know this is similar to The Bowman chall hitting challenge but I want like a top golf type thing with targets where they get points and you can like go for like a long ball if you want to try to get like more points or you could just like single them to death down the third Baseline you know something like that you’re this is happening I’m telling this is literally happening on Saturday so again like this is on everyone involved respectfully who are doing a very good job the promotion around this event and this is my issue too like I would say okay what is my biggest problem with this I don’t know how to fix that it’s the fact that the future game is going on while regular season games are still happening right the fact two and three draft this is really more of a me problem I can’t you know I would love to spend all day following day two and three of the draft it’s not possible because they’re on Monday at Tuesday you know I said years ago that the Futures game should be Sunday Night Baseball you know leading into the All-Star game like that would be the way to do it instead instead it’s now Saturday afternoon and they’ve made it seven Innings and so it’s like the kind of mixed messages there also kind of frustrates me because it’s like you want to do it but then by cramming all of it into one weekend like on the surface it’s like oh that makes so much sense we’re like maxing it out and then the other hand it’s like okay everything is probably being detracted by the other on top of the fact that regular season games are still going on and you just have a majority audience that are not going to be able to pay attention to it so it’s like the opposite of the NFL where the NFL needs to stretch their season out and make everything into an event so that it feels like it’s there all year baseball has too much they’re like we got to figure out where to get this stuff in at yeah I don’t know man I it’s that that that’s my one thing and at this point especially now that you have move the draft there like I don’t know what the solution is for the Futures game in particular um but you’ll you guys will be there by by Saturday if you are then then you’ll then you will see it you you will see what we’re talking about here can’t wait last last thing for me here Jordan um I just want to give you the very small task of fixing the Diamond Backs there two games under 500 trade deadline approaching what do you what do you got yeah man I mean it’s weird because they’ve kind of hovered around like the same playoff odds for pretty much two months and so like all these teams it’s so hard in in this National League mess to to like get too excited or concerned when you’re just always kind of in it I don’t know like I know these last couple losses were really not fun but they were kind of on a little bit of a run there especially offensively it felt like they were really clicking but I mean Jesse we talked about this before the season like the bullpen situation now you know you thought that like Paul seaall was in theory the one thing we were counting on right that was and now and now here we are and that sucks I love Paul more than anyone and of course I want him to figure it out but we knew that this was going to be a thin group and I mean this is the most obvious team in in the league if they’re going to try something to just go start patching it together I mean even a trade like what the Mets just did going and getting Phil maton you know it doesn’t look necessarily like a huge deal on the surface but that can pay that can pay dividends you know the Mets talk about few bullpens that have been worse in Arizona recently is the Mets I mean it’s like they were like listen Maybe we’re not going to be buyers but if we have any chance of like sticking around in this thing we got to figure this out and so you got you bring in something like that so I could see them doing something like that being much more aggressive than that I don’t know I feel like they’re going to play the oh we got Rod he’s our trade deadline acquisition and there’s some validity to that but then you can also understandably kind of roll your eyes and that yeah that’s my question is with those guys returning I mean you have Jordan Montgomery who has been a disappointment this season but also you know at times has shown glimpses of what we thought we we were going to get out of him it just has glimpes glimpses glimpses maybe two games this season um but it it does feel like the Diamondbacks get back Merill Kelly they get back Jordan they get back you know uh Rod after the after presumably some of them after the All-Star break one of them maybe or after the trade deadline does that make it so that this team doesn’t really need to panic I mean considering those arms are going to be back to the starting rotation I mean I do look at them in this mix of teams and I do think that the best version of them is probably right there as the first team like I still talent-wise I I think I still have them behind San Diego and sure pro at this point standings wise like you know St Louis has built something of a cushion and I i’ I I mean I picked the Cardinals to win the division and I I mean I still don’t think that’s going to happen but like I was pretty confident that St Louis would have a better season this year and that’s been mostly true yeah so I think Arizona is like they should be the best version of them should be good enough to be right there and so it’s like how much more gains are you really getting by by pushing that much farther and also remember like the starting rotation stuff it all compounds I mean your your Bullpen is getting taxed and then it just it that is something in in the sport that is like it it’s even though it’s happening right in front of you it’s all connected like the the pitching staff is all connected and like clearly that has an impact on on the performance of everybody well before we let you go you did join the show uh with with the title of number one yilber Diaz fan uh since you are the number one yilber Diaz fan we wanted to get your thoughts on on his performance and and what he did the other night listen guys like these are this is another one where pitching pitching in 2024 like this dude these all these guys like the development now is just so good that which with the right tweaks and with the right people and athletes you can get a you can create these Major League starters who okay maybe he’s not going to go be a rookie of the year but like even the fact that you can develop a player like that to give you you know six really good innings in in the with all these injuries right it’s also one of those funny things it’s like where has this guy been why hasn’t he been starting for the last however many months and we know it’s not that simple but it’s just so cool I mean it’s just it’s just a reminder that pitching in particular can really really sneak up on you in in an exciting way and I don’t know you guys have a better sense as to what the long-term you know plan is for him and and how often we’re going to really be seeing him start moving forward but um it’s cool man if you can if you can pitch in Reno and Amarillo for that matter like you’re doing something right that’s I always said about the dback pitchers it’s like damn I don’t I literally don’t even know what I don’t have to know what you’re throwing if you’re getting outs in those places you are doing something right well we appreciate you so much for stopping by make sure to follow him everything him and Jake are doing over there at Yahoo sports uh on the on the Barbie cast uh and you are at uh is it Jore Shust Shust Schusterman yeah sorry yeah yep J ter oh you’re good I’m uh this this is what I get for for having a second underscore and and you know having yeah the second underscore my my my ancestors for my name I guess you’re good it’s always a pleasure guys always we appreciate you man thank you again for stopping by we’ll see you in Texas see you soon all right Bud well of course uh yeah things maybe he fixed the diamond backst he did it was that easy we we knew if we brought in an expert he would absolutely help us out with that well we do appreciate uh Jordan for stopping by we appreciate you guys for being here as well on the ph& exports YouTube channel if you haven’t subscribed to the channel yet do so now sign up for notifications that way you don’t miss whenever our shows go live of course drop us a like we appreciate you so much when you do that if you’re listening on the audio podcasting side make sure you subscribe on your favorite audio podcasting app leave us a like of course uh and of course those reviews mean the world to us so make sure to drop us those reviews of course also check out bet 365 if you haven’t done so already as a baseball fan you should already know about bet 365’s baseball early payout offer where you are a winner if your team goes up by five runs or more with an instant payout parlay and same game parlay selections will also be marked as winners and with the way this diamond team is playing I I I feel like at times that’s a safe bet because you don’t need to actually win the game uh in order to get your pay out you just need to go up by five runs we’ve seen them do that plenty of times this season of course right now as a new customer you can choose between two offers when you open an account at bet 365 and use our code of phnx 365 to sign up deposit $10 and choose between either a bet and get offer where you place a $5 or more bet and you get $150 in bonus bets in instantly or a first bet safety net uh match where you can place a bet up to $1,000 and if your qualifying bet loses you receive a match refund in bonus bets download the bet 365 app right now and use that bonus code of phnx 365 when you sign up choose your offer and find out why it is never ordinary at bet 365 must be 21 and over and physically located in Arizona if you are someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help call 1800 Next Step text next step to 533 42 or visit problem gambling. a.gov uh before we move on to the next ad read of course Elise is asking the important questions and it’s hilarious you guys are really on the same wavelength we are absolutely on the same same wavelength in fact about 45 minutes ago in that office right over there I told Jesse I’m taking you to peacon Lodge after having a conversation about good barbecue and Elise here says I can suggest the peacon lodge in Downtown Dallas no free ads no free ads no free ads but free ads uh anyway speaking of paid ads uh I love you Ryan Reynolds just wanted to throw that out there but more than just loving Ryan Reynolds and his wonderful films and his wonderful smile uh I also love mintmobile uh because mintmobile has already saved me if I’m making my calculation correct about $300 uh and I say that because mmobile is here to rescue me and you with a premium Wireless plan starting at 15 bucks a month all plans come with high data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation’s largest 5G Network you can ditch your overpriced Wireless plan with M Mobile’s limited time deal and get 3 months of Premium wireless service for just $15 a month to get this new customer offer and your new three-month Unlimited Wireless plan for just $15 a month go to mintmobile.com Diamondbacks that’s mintmobile.com Diamondbacks cut your wireless bill to $15 a month with at mintmobile.com Diamondbacks $45 upfront payment required equivalent to $15 a month new customers on first three-month plan only speed slower above 40 gabes on Unlimited Plan additional taxes fees and restrictions ofly see mint mobile for details well of course we got Jordan’s take on what the Diamond Backs on how to fix the Diamond Backs but I guess we need to figure out how to fix the Diamond Backs uh take his advice into consideration here but uh there is an interesting comment here made by Mike haen uh and Jesse what what are your thoughts here yeah yeah I guess we can maybe start with with what Mike had to say this was just over a week ago to Nick Pororo of the Arizona Republic uh Mike was basically asked uh where would you guys need to be in the standings in order to buy at the deadline and Mike said this it’s going to be where we are or where are we down relative I’m really struggling D yeah words are hard let me try to do this one more time it’s going to be where are we down relative to how many teams are above us like last year as we slipped down around the deadline I think we got to like two or three out and we had two or three teams above us that’s a dynamic you can overcome if you start getting too far down and buried behind and needing three four or five teams to lose and you win that’s not a good spot to be in so suffice it to say from Hazen’s comments just over a week ago that the Diamond Backs are not going into the deadline like we are buying no matter what there is clearly a thought that is being given to selling at the deadline or at least not adding significantly maybe more of a kind of stand Pat approach um and that that makes more sense to me to be honest that makes more sense to me than the Diamondbacks selling that’s fair you know I I don’t see a need to panic and that’s why I brought that up to Jordan because of the fact that these guys are returning right these guys the Diamondbacks the players they would need to trade for are coming back they’re here in the organization they’re just not healthy right now but they are getting very close Tori had very positive things to say about irod yesterday his first session glowing report yeah and of course that you know makes that that is the biggest question mark right like Jordan there’s some doubt because we’ve already seen him pitch so I think Jordan could be easily you’re talking about mon we know Shust can we know he would come in and absolutely be dominant in our rotation but Jordan Montgomery meanwhile there’s a lot of question marks about right there’s a lot of lot of Doubt there and if Jordan did have again mcgomery not Shusterman a nagging injury that may have been causing you know what I mean because players do play through injury a lot they just play with with nagging injuries the way like catel has been having like the back spasms or the lower back you know tightness and stuff like that right it’s it’s not something that oh that was just there one day no it’s there a lot but they deal with it and some days is worse than other days and some days they just want to give them you know a day off or whatever the case may be right so there there’s a possibility that maybe Montgomery comes back better than we’ve seen him all year long yeah but we know we’re getting Merill Kelly back and we know what we GNA get in Merill Kelly we know we’re getting Eduardo but we have no idea what we’re getting it’s literally a mystery box when it comes to Eduardo Rodriguez and how he could impact this team it’s just you couldn’t make trades at the trade deadline that bring you better pictures than you’re going to get back from those three and those three should be back shortly after the trade deadline much like you made that move for those guys so I mean it does feel like there isn’t a real need to panic plus I will say that the Diamondbacks had a catastrophic July last year right catastrophic July historically bad and they ended up two games below 500 which is where they are at right now that’s true so I don’t really I mean as much as this has been a tough season to watch at times because it has been these losses have hurt very much though especially lately you know I feel like the losses over the last month have just like rarely are they like last night’s loss where it just felt like you got beat you know if I mean if ever there was like an example of a team that was in somewhat precarious position in the standings and bought and had success the 2023 Diamondbacks are that team correct right corre I mean they were right around 500 at the deadline as you said they were so terrible in July and you know they weren’t crazy crazy aggressive at the deadline but they were reasonably aggressive they got a closer they got Tommy fam you know they they did make some moves uh around the margins that very much helped down the stretch and so it’s hard for me to believe that the Diamondbacks the team that did that a year ago and literally went to the freaking world series in in no small part because of those moves that this year they’re going to be in a similar position and be like n we’re you know we’re a little too far away like I don’t maybe not worth the RIS we don’t really know how this would end up I I don’t see the Diamond Backs doing that however as Mike is alluding to in these comments if the Dbacks are five six games out if there’s a long list of teams between them and that third wild card spot which is still a possibility I mean just looking at the standings that is still something that could happen you know between now and the deadline on on July 30th there is still a world where where things change and and where they would where they would consider selling I think the biggest thing is that uh you know the the amount of teams that are still close which they’re not as close as they once were but in the National League when you talk about you know basically the entire uh the entire National League outside of the Marlins and the Rockies are separated by five and a half games right that’s that’s between the P final wild card spot that the Padre’s currently hold and the Nationals where they are at yeah there are the Nationals are probably going to sell at this point yeah that’s fine but the Nationals just like all of these teams have no idea what the month of July holds for them right sure and honestly the biggest problem with that is because they are so close together the Diamondbacks struggle they could find themselves five and a half games out just like the Nationals right so it’s like I could see that all of a sudden when you look up and you see one two three four five potentially five or six teams above you for that third wild card spot that you don’t feel like you’re going to make those moves that are going to you know impact the franchise that much and change the season that much who knows what they do though right I mean realistically I think the fact that we are so close is a benefit to the Diamondbacks not overreacting at the trade deadline and suddenly thinking that they need to kind of wave the white flag on the season I mean based on Mike’s comments I’m inclined to think that if the trade deadline were tomorrow the Dbacks are buyers right I mean he’s talking about we don’t want to be in a position where we’re a good number of games out and there’s a lot of teams between where we are and the Wild Card race that’s not situation two and half games back right now they’re two and a half out of the race two and a half behind the Padres the Mets are the only team between them and San Diego right now so if it looks like this then I think the Diamondbacks are buyers granted what does that entail exactly how aggressive are they those are questions that we’ll we’ll dig into more as we get a little more clarity on on what their Direction ultimately will be um but for me I think the most disastrous scenario for the Diamondbacks this trade deadline which I don’t really think is going to happen but if the diam backs were to actually sell off some pieces if they were to fall out of the race just enough to where Mike gets to the point where he wants to take advantage of a what is probably going to be a market that will be very lucrative for teams that are selling off pieces if the Dbacks were to do that and then two weeks later you get Eduardo Rodriguez and you get Maro Kelly maybe Jordan Montgomery looks better and suddenly the Dbacks are a completely different team and they’re starting to win games and you fall just short at the end because you traded Christian Walker to right I knew you were going to say I’m presenting the most like the thing that Diamondbacks cannot allow to happen took all the bats out of here so I can’t hit you with anything but I want to hit you with something but yeah you’re right I mean Paul sea Wald value low Christian Walker value couldn’t be higher especially with what he did in California right and especially considering that uh I I almost feel like the All-Star snubbing of Christian Walker got his name out there a little more where people were like hey like let’s look at the snubs and then people saw the stae head comparison between Pete Alonzo and Christian Walker yeah exactly that that became a thing right and that’s even gross to say and I hate it um but also it’s understandable because of all the guys on the team that may not be with this team after this season Christian Walker absolutely his stock is is the highest right so um but it’s also about what they would get if they bought right what would they pursue and we don’t really know uh it feels like starting pitcher is an easy thing to say but like you said what what happens if you do pursue a starting pitcher even for just a shortterm kind of uh filling the role filling you know filling the Gap and then you get all these guys back and then Brandon F’s performing at a high level and basically you’re left with taking that player you traded for out of the starting rotation altogether like it just doesn’t feel yeah and it feels a little like too risky it feels like it’s the the risk is higher than the reward there yeah it’ll be interesting to see if the Dbacks are in a buying position what exactly are they looking to do U Mike mentioned in this story that that uh the Nick wrote uh he mentioned a starting pitcher especially one that would be controllable uh through next season Diamondbacks that is something that the Diamondbacks are they’re going to need to fill out this rotation a little bit most likely in the off season so you can understand why an arm that’s controllable would be would be a value to them if they could find it another bat likely on the infield no hypoth don’t you have all five of your pitchers on paper going into next season for next season so you have gallon Kelly assuming the Dbacks pick up the club option which doubt I would think um so gallon Kelly rrod um Brandon fought mgy if Montgomery picks up that guy stinks Montgomery probably will pick up the option I mean so then what’s the point of trading like a lot for a six starting pitcher right especially one that fair point I mean you know it’s not an urgent need on paper right now I mean it is an urgent need right now but once you get once you get the guys back that you’re expecting to get back it’s no longer really an urgent need and on paper next season you do have a full starting rotation not even in love with you know rrod and Monty and specifically from my end I’m just speaking at it from a realistic standpoint of like we’re stuck with rrod and Monty is probably picking up that option right it’s not a it’s not a club decision it’s up to Jordan Montgomery if he’s going to pick up that option right so it’s like if it was a club option then that would be different because you would know that they probably would part ways with him right so this is this is one of those situations where yeah you’re right but uh Elise of course known baseball GM she also hires actors to come play her role when we do takeovers and meetups and stuff she says it’ll be a bullpen arm or two and maybe a third base option thanks Mike um yeah and that are probably the most likely right we know that the bullpen arm is obviously something the Diamond Backs would probably have as a priority over all of these things they could use a left-handed reliever we we talked about that in the offseason we talked about that at some points during the season you know nothing against Joe man toly he’s a perfectly fine you know left-handed reliever to have on your team but if he’s the only left-handed reliever on your team which is basically what it’s been ever since Kyle Nelson got hurt and is out for the season now I know Joe Jakes has been up a couple of times he’s a he’s a lefty who’s been kind of an up and down guy that’s something that the Dbacks would benefit from for sure you think about who’s facing the you know the Bryce Harpers and the Kyle scharbers and the Cory seagar those you know Elite left-handed hitters if you do get to the playoffs Joe mantili has held his own against some of those guys for sure but um he doesn’t strike out that many guys and there’s a reason that swing and Miss is the most highly sought after commodity when it comes to relievers that’s something that the Dbacks could use in that spot he doesn’t instill confidence like you don’t go out there and you’re like Joe Mantia is about to shut I think that about aever on our team he’s throwing 89 mil hour he’s a ground ball pitcher it’s yeah it’s not Jose Alvarado going out there and pumping 99 miles an hour yeah a lefty arm would be nice and for third base what do you guys think about this Josh Ros cat think oh Josh Roos you think that that’s an option maybe oh I i’ I’ve I’m familiar with his game uh no it’s not an option because there’s no way the Mariners are giving up Josh Roos in a billion years but uh what about Ring yeah that’s the name that’s the name that keeps coming up uh he he’s been really good for the Angels this season he has an 800 Ops a 123 Ops plus he’s been well well above average offensively I don’t think he he also got injured recently so he’d fit right in he did yeah that’s yeah you know what that’s a great Point dere I think that put I think that that puts him over the top get gotta get a guy that’s that’s injury Pro welcome to the Diamond Back e gfo uh yeah I don’t know if he’s he I don’t think he’s really a true third baseman like defense L I think there’d be a drop off between Gino Suarez and him if the Dbacks went that route umse yeah and the fact that he plays a few different positions um you know gives you some flexibility it it it makes sense for sure I think the Diamondback should trade bter to the New York Mets for grimace oh and Frank the tank from barstol Sports and then when we get Frank the Tank over here we’ll [ __ ] DFA his ass just immediately we’ll just cut him from the team uh and maybe that’ll help Paul seaal out because that man cursed our closer why would we even have him at our ballpark Diamond Backs we need to talk uh shout out to dirt bike boy 714 he says are seaw Wald and Randall gritch trade candidates out of here well seaw wald’s value couldn’t be lower right now so I I think that’s something but Randall GIC yeah my I mean that guy he’s he’s delivered when the Diamondbacks have asked him to the Dbacks I mean we we’ve talked about it a little bit the Dbacks have a lot of guys that would be attractive if they decided to sell uh sea Wald grishik jock Peterson has a mutual option for next year that probably won’t be picked up he’s basically on an expiring contract um uh who am I forgetting here did I say Christian Walker would be in that mix as well um Jordan Montgomery I would have thought would be in that mix I don’t know if he would really be an attractive option at this point given that you probably are getting next season of him as well uh and the money is pretty significant there so uh if the debucks if the debucks decided that they were willing to sell they they could get quite a haul I think um and I’m sure they’d be interest in GLE that’d be interest in Ryan Thompson you know what would the debox want to move off of relievers to have multiple years of control maybe not um but yeah they’d be in a pretty advantageous position if they if they did decide to sell well we are in advantageous position uh because we are here in studio K and it is the best place to be in this entire office considering the Circle K snacks that we have behind behind us you can also get yourself right now at any Circle K any size Polar Pop or froster for just 79 and on top of that I don’t know if I’ve told you this but Circle K already has extremely cheap gas at a time where gas is not very cheap but if you join their Inner Circle program for free by downloading the Circle K app today you can get 25 cents off per gallon on your first five Phillips so you’ll save even more terms and conditions apply at part at 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save 60% on those tickets and you could save even more with exclusive inapp deals on select seats ahead of the game or event and then save even more than that if you let game time pick your seats for you in whatever section you choose you can get a panoramic view from your seat in the app before you buy so you have no I no mystery about what your seat uh view is going to look like and they also offer the lowest price guarantee or game time will credit you 110% of the difference take the guest work out of buying tickets with Game Time download the app create an account and use code phnx for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code phnx for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed well we haven’t done this in a little while because this man’s been on the road almost and and we have postgame shows and he refuses to let me just he was like last time I let you take the power rankings out you dinged it up uh you got a speeding ticket in the power rankings so he doesn’t let me do the Power Rankings anymore without who did the last power ranking I think so I think so I’m the one that messed it all up but wonder I was wondering what was going on there make sense it’s just it’s just cha when when I do it but uh let’s take a look at the power rankings for this week yeah we’ve got the Philadelphia Phillies they are the best team in baseball they have the best record and they’re just a very very good baseball team they’re they’re doing the thing uh I think they beat the Dodgers like 12 to one or something last night I saw Kik Hernandez pitching in the ninth inning not ideal from the Dodgers standpoint uh the Baltimore Orioles are in the number two slot for us we got the Cleveland Guardians at number three who continue to be very very good Derek and probably deserving of a lot more respect than they have received they are 57 and 33 they have a better record than the Orioles better record than the Yankees almost a better record than the Phillies they’re a game and a half behind them as we record this right now um so the Guardians have proven to be very legit and not the fluke that some of us may have suspected at the beginning of the Season uh Dodgers in the number four slot they’re not playing good baseball really at all right now but there’s still the Dodgers and once they get a little healthier you figure they’re going to be in a good spot they lost two out of three to the DS they did that is that is a thing that happened got smacked around by the Phillies yesterday they did um yeah Bobby Miller really struggling for them their starting rotation is kind of in shambles right now with uh with glass now hitting the injured list although I don’t think that’s expected to be a prolonged absence yoshinobu Yamamoto is also on the I right now along with about 17 other starters that would be like number two starters for half of the league you love see it you love to see it it’s a it’s a rough spot they’re in right now Yankees at number five they are plummeted yeah they’re they’re kind of on the struggle bus right now Derek uh Carlos rodon has his erra has gone from sub three to I think 4.63 in the span of five starts um he’s not the only struggling Yankee starter right now kind of that whole group has regressed ever since Garett Cole came back oddly enough uh their offense is also taken a bit of a step back as well so they’re still in a really good spot their you know their record is still uh still outstanding but they’re not playing very good baseball right now uh we’ve got the Braves at number six sure we’ll talk about them more here in a second twins seven Houston Astros eight wow Boston Red Sox nine and then the Milwaukee Brewers 10 Astros three games above 500 after their very very slow start yeah but that feel kind of inevitable though yeah it does really think the Astros are going to roll over and go 71 and 91 or something plus 38 run differential after having a very very negative one um yeah I mean no surprises there I know it’s been a while so some of those changes reflect time as well but the twins been playing good baseball Red Sox been playing good baseball so yeah the Brewers are at number 10 and I will say that I mean they’re they’re 53 and 39 we’ve got a number of teams I think there’s four teams that we have in front of them that have worse records than than the Brewers do but I maybe I’m a little overly skeptical here Derek but Colin Ray has been just other worldly good for the Brewers this season and if you go on his Savant P all kinds of UGL expected stats yeah it’s not great um Freddy Peralta is really the only Brewer starting pitcher that that is healthy right now that I’m like yes that is a good starting pitcher so I I have some questions there the offense has no doubt taken some big steps forward um so you know not to say the Brewers are a bad base baseball team or anything but out of that group kind of in the back five I I find myself maybe a little more skeptical of them than everyone else well that might be the major league Power Rankings but you know who I have ranked at the top of my minor league Power Rankings the Reno Aces Jesse that’s fair yeah 12 consecutive wins a franchise record they are on fire right now yeah you can’t stop them you can only hope to contain them offensively and I guess my question is when do we just call up the entire Aces team when do we just bring everybody up as a whole yeah I mean I you maybe have a week more tops patience with the major league roster it’s you know just shuttle shuttle all those guys up over to Phoenix no but you know who I want shuttled up here is Adrien del Castillo I mean yber Diaz that guy his story again they you uh you wrote a wonderful article about everybody should go check that out at go phx.com his story is amazing but the way he just matured so quickly and the the speed in which he passed through Reno and came up to the Diamondbacks organization and was able to give them such an incredible start uh is is amazing but I think that then that that makes me and that makes fans want more of that and when we see someone hitting three goddamn home runs in a baseball game we were like I want that guy give me that guy bring that guy up here I mean I think what we’ve sensed in the last couple weeks with the Dbacks is that they’re they’re starting to make some changes they’re they’re reaching the point where they are no longer wanting to revert back to kind of the same the same guys that they have for you know in various depth spots specifically on the starting pitching front we saw Christian Mana make a St we saw of course yilber Diaz really excel in his first start we saw the Dbacks move on from Tucker Barnhart which says a lot about their belief in Adrien del Castillo and it makes me believe that like Del Caso will be up in the big leagues at some point this season it just feels like it’s a matter of when that happens and you could make a pretty strong case that it should happen very very soon uh Del Caso after hitting three home runs in the game yesterday is slashing 332 411 636 636 even in the PCL those are those are really good numbers I looked at the expected stats which you’d certainly expect to be a little bit lower playing in that environment he has a 300 expected batting average of 546 expected slugging percentage still pretty darn good numbers uh really really good Barrel rate uh hard hit rate is up there his 395 uh ex woba is tops uh in Triple A for guys who have played a good amount there this year paven Smith is is behind him at 386 but no one else is is really all that close del Castillo really has been Far and Away the best hitter at uh for the Diamondbacks in Triple A this season so yeah I mean if he did come up it it wouldn’t be you know he’s not starting over Gabby Moreno certainly but sure does he get a couple starts a week instead of Jose Herrera and you might take a bit of a hit defensively but maybe offensively you could you could find yourself with a bit of an asset I I’ll tell you man those Reno Aces they’ve just been incredible lately like I said can set uh chaparo had a walk-off home run like there’s just so many guys doing it uh for this team so uh again they have a talent talented group of youngsters there yeah it’s just still the PCL I’ll just remind everybody of that everybody everybody’s super human I would hit 275 in the PCL and I suck but uh that is not true no it’s totally not true would get 300 is what I’m saying huh 50 RBI yeah 50 RBI easy easy see I’m not sure that I’m not sure that the PCL would really benefit people like you and me because you know it’s not like you it’s not like you and I are hitting flyballs to the to the warning track we just need we just need some elevation to help push it over the fence like I’m not making contact with the baseball Derek no matter what elevation I mean I guess the pitches move a little bit less so maybe that helps us out a little bit uh but 275 that feels a little I’m Barrel body boy I’d get some home runs out of there but uh I guess I mean the big question there is is that do we realistically see the Diamondbacks giving him an opportunity at this point of the season is that something that you could see happening or is that a bit farfetched talking about del Castillo del Castillo getting called up yeah yeah I don’t think it’s farfetched um you know I don’t think it’s imminent I don’t I don’t think it’s inevitable to happen in the next week or anything but I mean the guy is doing everything you really want him to do in Triple A at this point and I know the the defense has been you know from an hitting standpoint they’ve probably felt pretty good about him coming up here for a while it’s more the defense but he’s made some strides there uh you know he’s maybe not ever going to be a lead at catching Bas steal or anything but he’s gotten better in that regard uh the receiving has gotten better from what I’ve heard as well so you know maybe there is a bit of a defensive drop off between uh between him and and Jose Herrera that that wouldn’t surprise me but if you’ve got a chance to have a guy with a you know could come up and be even just a League average hitter like you know nothing against Jose Herrera but there’s a big difference between a League average hitter and and what Jose Herrera gives you offensively so uh it it would it would make sense in my mind for the Diamondbacks to go that direction but I I don’t know exactly when when something like that will happen oh Andre chaparo and yilber Diaz were both named Pacific Coast League player and pitcher of the week on Monday so go great great acknowledgement of what those guys have been doing for the Reno Aces yber Diaz was uh in a big league Clubhouse I guess when he would have found that out so familiar with this game he was uh met yes we did yeah yeah speaking of which big shout out to Jordan again thank you so much for joining us thank you so much to all of you for joining us uh and we have a very fun stretch ahead of us today is like day one of the stretch of Jesse having to put up with me for entirely too long uh we’ll be I guess Tom Right tomorrow and Friday we’re a little bit space I mean I’ll see you at J’s field though don’t think I won’t see you at J’s field I’m still going to be all in your business so the next year I’m counting down the days until until you guys are out of my life yeah you got you got what two more days we got Thursday and Friday pulling off calendars every day when I wake up I know well I mean you just had a week away from us and look at how sick you are of us already but this is my first day back in the office in like a month and Damon already wants me gone do this and we have to like the first day back and we’re immediately planning the trip that we’re leaving for on Saturday but yes we will be out in Texas on Saturday we will be there for the Futures game as well as all of the uh activity out there the MLB draft uh me riding around in the lazy river at the Rough Riders game uh we’ll be there for the All-Star Game Home Run Derby all of that so of course uh that’s going to be very exciting can’t wait to do all that it should be great yeah we’ll be at we’ll be at Wrigley Field as well for the Dbacks Cup series starting off we’re taking over Murphy’s bleachers man I can’t wait for that uh so we got so much fun coming make sure to keep it locked right here uh for all of that you can follow us on Twitter I am at capore Caveman with a K this Maniac next to me is at Jesse and fredman of course there’s chat like Elise wants to know why doesn’t Damon get to go too and Damon’s sick of us basically there’s no way does it sound like Damon wants to go there’s no way the three of us could share a hotel room and not have only two of us make it out alive so that’s the way that that would work but of course make sure to follow Damon dog uh he is at Damon dog that’s dawg and we are and will forever be Damon’s dogs no matter where we’re at bark bark our show is at phnx Dbacks but of course all roads lead to phnx Sports on Twitter Instagram and Facebook we look forward to seeing you guys back here tomorrow night for our postgame show after the finale with the Atlanta Braves and then we’ll be be back on Friday night for that first game against Toronto Blue Jays before we take off very early in the morning on Saturday so uh make sure to stop by for all of that and then we’re going to be doing shows Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday not Wednesday because we were traveling on Wednesday uh Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday so we will be bringing you an incredible stretch of shows where even you might get sick of us so we’ll see what happens impossible it really is impossible but all right it’s probably very possible that’s totally true but we do thank you guys so much for being here uh we look forward to doing all of that bringing you all that content in the meantime have a wonderful rest of your day thank you again for stopping by and remember kids baseball is fun but it’s so much more fun when MLB makes their draft exciting [Music] [Applause] we all sitting like the mayor