Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to another episode of Snake's Territory, part
Speaker 1: of the fouls Heritory Network. Be sure to like this video,
Speaker 1: subscribe to our YouTube channel, maybe leave us a five
Speaker 1: star review wherever you get your podcasts. I am Jesse
Speaker 1: Friedman alongside Jack Summers and Jack Things gone off to
Speaker 1: a good start for the Diamondbacks on Friday against the Rays.
Speaker 1: Heraldo Perdomo hits a first inning home run. The vibes
Speaker 1: are good, and then Zach Gallen gets tagged for a
Speaker 1: three run shot in the bottom of the first. D
Speaker 1: Backs ultimately lose this one six to one.
Speaker 2: I wish I could say I was surprised that Junior
Speaker 2: Camanaro got him, got to him early. But the guy's
Speaker 2: on a heater. He hit three home runs in the
Speaker 2: prior game. Definitely not a guy you won up with
Speaker 2: two on and nobody out. It wasn't a terrible pitch.
Speaker 2: We're going to get to that and what else was
Speaker 2: going on in that event, But you know this is
Speaker 2: unfortunately he wasn't able to get it just high enough
Speaker 2: in the zone. It was a little above the zone,
Speaker 2: but not enough.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a big moment in this game. Bottom
Speaker 1: half of the first inning. It was a a one
Speaker 1: to two count on junior Cameronaro. Zach Gallon executes a
Speaker 1: pretty darn good slider on the lower outside corner. Gabrielle
Speaker 1: Moreno did not challenge that pitch, and then the next pitch,
Speaker 1: as you're saying, gets hit one hundred and eleven miles
Speaker 1: per hour off the bat for a three run home run. Certainly,
Speaker 1: it's easy to say that Gabby should challenge there from
Speaker 1: our standpoint, I mean, we're looking at the box on
Speaker 1: the screen. But at the same time, I mean, if
Speaker 1: Gabby had any thought that that might have been a strike,
Speaker 1: I mean, that is a moment where you want to
Speaker 1: be aggressive, even if you're not sure two on nobody out.
Speaker 1: You're trying to get Gallon some pause momentum there, and
Speaker 1: it's just felt at large, Jack like Gabby has not
Speaker 1: had the best instincts, especially lately, when it comes to
Speaker 1: using those abs challenges.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, I got hammered a little bit
Speaker 2: because I kind of called Gabby out on that on
Speaker 2: X platform. But obviously Zack's a guy that walked the
Speaker 2: bat her, and zack'son guy that hit a batter, and
Speaker 2: zack'son guy that you know, put left the ball in
Speaker 2: a hitable spot for Cameron Aro and to get hammered
Speaker 2: out out of the ballpark. So you know, nobody's questioning that.
Speaker 2: But in that situation, it was frustrating because it felt
Speaker 2: like if you're fifty to fifty in that situation with
Speaker 2: two on, nobody out and that guy up, and you
Speaker 2: just got a one nothing lead and you're trying to
Speaker 2: help your pitcher kind of get off to a good start. Here,
Speaker 2: it maybe not had Maybe it wasn't like the conventional
Speaker 2: best leverage situation being it was the first with nobody out.
Speaker 2: But in the context of what's been going on with
Speaker 2: Zach Gallon this year, I think it was the exact
Speaker 2: spot that he needed to challenge and unfortunately just couldn't
Speaker 2: pull the trigger on it. And you know it hurt
Speaker 2: because that would have struck him out.
Speaker 1: I'll show it on the screen here. You can see
Speaker 1: that has pitch number four an eighty seven point eight
Speaker 1: mile per hour slider. It does catch the lower outside
Speaker 1: corner according to the box on the screen, really close pitch.
Speaker 1: I don't think you can blame the home played umpire
Speaker 1: too much. And again it's not like it was obvious
Speaker 1: from Gabby Moreno's perspective, But yeah, those are the moments
Speaker 1: in the game where you want to be aggressive with
Speaker 1: your challenges. I guess on the subjective challenges Jack. We
Speaker 1: also saw Heraldo Perdomo a couple of innings later. This
Speaker 1: was the top of the third bases empty, two outs
Speaker 1: in a one to two count, and Perdomo challenged a
Speaker 1: called third strike that was in the zone and it
Speaker 1: wasn't all that close. It just feels like, at large,
Speaker 1: the Diamondbacks have been overly aggressive at times when it
Speaker 1: didn't make sense, and then they've been a little bit
Speaker 1: too passive when you know you really have a chance
Speaker 1: to change the game by getting a call flipped in
Speaker 1: your favor. So their usage of the ABS system in
Speaker 1: general has not been great in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2: It depends on how you look at it. I mean, like,
Speaker 2: you know, based on Statcast's way of measuring it, they're
Speaker 2: actually ranked well. So it's a little confusing. I think
Speaker 2: you know, statcasts a has a measurement of this, and
Speaker 2: they're they're weighing a lot of things. It's not just
Speaker 2: straight up one loss. It's the net runs over under
Speaker 2: or expected and when you look at how you know
Speaker 2: the Diamondbacks rank there, it's actually pretty good. So it's
Speaker 2: maybe it's just a little bit of a confirmation bias.
Speaker 2: You know, we notice it more when it's wrong. I'm
Speaker 2: not sure, you know all.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at their net runs for minus against right
Speaker 1: now on Baseball Savant, they have the Diamondbacks at minus
Speaker 1: two point six. It appears I could be I could
Speaker 1: be missing something here, but my first glance is the
Speaker 1: Diamondbacks rank a little bit below average in that regard.
Speaker 1: It's a little tricky to read this chart that they have.
Speaker 3: But what we can say now, you've got to.
Speaker 2: Go team summary, Jess, team summary. You don't just go
Speaker 2: catchers pitchers. You got to you gotta select team summary.
Speaker 2: On team summary, They're total verse expected is plus twelve
Speaker 2: point eight. That's eighth best of Major League Baseball.
Speaker 3: Okay, I think I might be on a different screen
Speaker 3: from you.
Speaker 1: Regardless, what we can say for sure is the Diamondbacks
Speaker 1: usage of the challenge system in this game certainly left
Speaker 1: something to be desired. But as you were saying earlier,
Speaker 1: I mean, even if Gabrielle moreno, you know, regardless of
Speaker 1: Gabrielle Moreno's decision in that moment. Zach Gallon still is
Speaker 1: responsible for giving up a home run at one hundred
Speaker 1: and eleven miles per hour off the bat on the
Speaker 1: very next pitch, So that is a bit of an issue.
Speaker 1: And at large, there was a whole lot of hard
Speaker 1: contact against Gallon in this game. I know Steve Berthume
Speaker 1: on the broadcast was very complimentary of Gallen's outing. Will
Speaker 1: show the full line on the screen here. Six and
Speaker 1: two thirds innings, four hits, five runs, two walks, zero strikeouts,
Speaker 1: eighty six pitches, fifty three of them strikes. He did
Speaker 1: get on a nice run in the middle innings there, Jack,
Speaker 1: he retired fifteen batters in a row, but the hard
Speaker 1: contact was hard to ignore. I think this was an
Speaker 1: instance of Zach maybe getting a little bit lucky more
Speaker 1: than truly pitching well overall in this game.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Look for me, I was just happy he wasn't
Speaker 2: nibbling after nibbling on the first batter of the game,
Speaker 2: going falling behind three and ohero, you know he threw
Speaker 2: his strike zone, threw the fastball into the strike zone
Speaker 2: or right around it often enough. You know you have
Speaker 2: eleven balls, you said, I think over one hundred miles
Speaker 2: an hour, So I mean, obviously, look the ball was
Speaker 2: getting smoked all around the yard at one point, you know,
Speaker 2: and they were even saying there was a lot of
Speaker 2: soft contact. Just it wasn't true. You know, it was
Speaker 2: a lot of hard contact. He had one whiff on
Speaker 2: a change up that came in his eighty fifth pitch, right,
Speaker 2: I mean, like, come on, this was not you know,
Speaker 2: zero strikeouts. This is not a bounce back outing for
Speaker 2: Zach Gallon. This is a type of outing where you're
Speaker 2: just gonna have to take it like this is what
Speaker 2: we'll get. Just throw strikes, let your defense play. He
Speaker 2: did keep the team in the game in the you know,
Speaker 2: from the second inning up through you know, the sixth.
Speaker 2: I mean, balls found gloves. There was a lot of
Speaker 2: good defensive plays. And that's the only way that you're
Speaker 2: going to win a start with Zach Gallon pitching, you know,
Speaker 2: and it's going to happen sometimes he's going to have
Speaker 2: that kind of outing. Sometimes he's going to have an
Speaker 2: outing where you know, all the hits fall. So I
Speaker 2: think this is just is what it is. There's nothing
Speaker 2: different about the fastball, douce vertical break the velocity, the
Speaker 2: horizontal movement, the zone percentage, all of that was exactly
Speaker 2: what we've seen all year long, so you know, and
Speaker 2: zero whiffs on the pitch, of course, so there was
Speaker 2: nothing special about his fastball. He just you know, they
Speaker 2: just put it in play and they hit it hard
Speaker 2: and most of them went at people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's the reality of the situation. There's
Speaker 1: this this built an assumption that if a pitcher is
Speaker 1: working quickly and getting a lot of outs, you know,
Speaker 1: on just a couple of pitches per batter, which Gallin
Speaker 1: definitely did to his credit. I mean, he threw single
Speaker 1: digit pitches in innings three, four, and five in this game.
Speaker 1: And yeah, people see that and they're like, well, he's
Speaker 1: pitching the contact, and the assumption is he's pitching the
Speaker 1: soft contact, when in reality, as you said, it was
Speaker 1: eleven batted balls of one hundred miles per hour exit
Speaker 1: velocity or higher. That is tied for the most in
Speaker 1: any game by a starter this season, by any pitcher.
Speaker 3: Not just the Diamondbacks.
Speaker 1: So that is not good company there for Zach, and
Speaker 1: I guess there could be a silver lining if some
Speaker 1: of those were ground balls. Exit velos can be a
Speaker 1: little bit deceiving in that, you know, if you hit
Speaker 1: it one hundred and five miles per hour, but it's
Speaker 1: on the ground, that's not really the end of the world.
Speaker 1: But that wasn't the case for Zack in this game.
Speaker 1: Only one of those eleven batted balls at one hundred
Speaker 1: plus were on the ground. So there just wasn't a
Speaker 1: whole lot to be optimistic about from Zach in this game.
Speaker 1: I guess the one thing you could say Jack is
Speaker 1: he did really attack in those middle innings. He rattled
Speaker 1: off twelve out of fourteen first pitch strikes in those
Speaker 1: middle innings, which was nice to see. He was getting
Speaker 1: ahead of guys in a way that you know, we
Speaker 1: haven't seen from him as much. But yeah, the full
Speaker 1: body of work, I mean, it's still as you see
Speaker 1: on the screen, five runs and six and two thirds innings.
Speaker 1: I mean, Zach Gallen a few years ago, if he
Speaker 1: had an outing like this, we would be like.
Speaker 3: What's wrong with Zach Gallen?
Speaker 1: I mean, sure, he pitched him to the seventh, but
Speaker 1: this wasn't anything like Gallon at his peak.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I feel like it's almost unfair at this
Speaker 2: point to just keep beating up on the guy, but
Speaker 2: the team keeps sending him out because they don't have
Speaker 2: a choice. You know, had maybe and Nelson not gotten injured,
Speaker 2: you know, we would be looking at something different. Maybe
Speaker 2: it'd be in the bullpen, you know. But they need
Speaker 2: the innings, even if it's innings with five runs allowed.
Speaker 2: They need the innings and have to hope that the
Speaker 2: offense can make up for some of it, which is
Speaker 2: another topic we're about to get to. You know, there
Speaker 2: were opportunities earlier on in this game to maybe create
Speaker 2: a little bit of momentum and put a little pressure
Speaker 2: back on the A's and once again the dbacs just
Speaker 2: failed to do so, and so that didn't help either,
Speaker 2: and we can't ignore that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Diamondbacks offense definitely should take some responsibility in
Speaker 1: this game.
Speaker 3: For sure.
Speaker 1: We'll get into that here in a moment. I will
Speaker 1: mention real quick this stat from Asy Snake pit over
Speaker 1: on Twitter. Are good friends there. They tweeted out that
Speaker 1: Zach Gallen is the first d Back starter in over.
Speaker 3: Eight years.
Speaker 1: To face twenty seven plus batters without a strikeout, the
Speaker 1: last guy to do that being Matt cook Back.
Speaker 3: On June nineteenth of twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1: So yeah, just the one with it came on Zach's
Speaker 1: eighty fifth pitch. Hard to be so optimistic about that
Speaker 1: given the circumstances, Jack, I guess when it comes to
Speaker 1: Zach's future, do you feel like there is a route
Speaker 1: for the Diamondbacks to move him to the bullpen anytime soon?
Speaker 1: Or does it feel to you like they're just going
Speaker 1: to keep running him out there for the foreseeable future.
Speaker 2: I think they'll do it up until the All Star break,
Speaker 2: and then once they get a break, they might reset
Speaker 2: their rotation. At that point, you know they're in a situation.
Speaker 2: I mean, they just had an option grant back to
Speaker 2: the minors. I mean, if you move Zach out, who's
Speaker 2: going to replace him? Right now? Mitch Brad's the only
Speaker 2: guy you got right, They don't have anybody else to
Speaker 2: replace him. I mean, I guess you could go Human
Speaker 2: Lean and Dylan Ray trying one of those guys, Maybe
Speaker 2: bring Cole Drake up and see if he can do anything.
Speaker 2: But I think from the team's perspective, they're just not
Speaker 2: going to look at any of those guys as potentially
Speaker 2: being any better. Brat maybe, but he was just option,
Speaker 2: so he's not coming back before the All Star break,
Speaker 2: so you know, he Jack's going to have. However many
Speaker 2: starts between now and July twelfth, I haven't mapped it
Speaker 2: out with you know, probably three, maybe two at least two,
Speaker 2: maybe three starts more for Zach Gallen is what we're
Speaker 2: going to have to see and then you know, hopefully
Speaker 2: they you know, they figure something out. Now they've surprised
Speaker 2: us before. You know, this team is not totally predictable
Speaker 2: in the moves that they make, so you know, stay tuned.
Speaker 1: Not great, not a great day for the Diamondbacks against
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Rays. We will talk about the offense
Speaker 1: and the role that they played or did not play
Speaker 1: in this game against Tampa. We also have some other
Speaker 1: items to get to, some news with jilber Diaz, who
Speaker 1: is now no longer in the organization. Talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about lordus Guriel Junior and his future later in
Speaker 1: the show.
Speaker 3: So don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1: We'll be back right after this here on Snakes Territory. Well,
Speaker 1: if you're looking for baseball tickets or tickets to any event,
Speaker 1: the number one ticketing app is our good friends over
Speaker 1: at sea Geek with over thirty five million download see
Speaker 1: Geek is the number one rated ticketing app. There are
Speaker 1: more than seventy thousand events listed on sea geek, including concert, sports, festivals,
Speaker 1: and more. And with sea Geek being MLB's official ticket marketplace,
Speaker 1: your tickets are fully guaranteed and instantly fulfilled in your
Speaker 1: account after purchase. We love using the sea geek app.
Speaker 1: There's the color system. Green is good, red is bad.
Speaker 1: Gives you a sense of how good of a deal
Speaker 1: you're getting and yeah, stick to stick to the green.
Speaker 1: It really always a lot of great options over on
Speaker 1: sea geek. So when the Diamondbacks return home, that is
Speaker 1: certainly certainly the place that you will want to go
Speaker 1: for your ticketing needs.
Speaker 3: And of course we have a code for you to use.
Speaker 1: You can use code Territory ten for ten percent off
Speaker 1: your next set of MLB tickets at sea Geek. That's
Speaker 1: ten percent off any MLB tickets with promo code Territory ten.
Speaker 1: Make sure you click the link in the description to
Speaker 1: download the app and have the code automatically added to
Speaker 1: your account so that you can use it later.
Speaker 3: Thank you see Geek.
Speaker 1: Well, Jack, the Diamondbacks offense did not exactly do its
Speaker 1: part in this game and The reality is, regardless of
Speaker 1: how good or not good Zach Allen was in this game,
Speaker 1: it is very hard to win a baseball game with
Speaker 1: only one run. We mentioned earlier Heraldoo hit that first
Speaker 1: inning home run against Nick Martinez. The vibes were good
Speaker 1: at that point. Corbyn Carroll followed that up with a
Speaker 1: one out triple, but the Diamondbacks were unable to get
Speaker 1: him home from third base in that first inning, and
Speaker 1: that just kind of set the tone for the rest
Speaker 1: of the game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was Corbyn's fifty third triple. It's set a
Speaker 2: new franchise record. He broke his tie with Steve and Drew,
Speaker 2: So you know that's a positive. And again Corbyn keeps
Speaker 2: performing at an extremely high level. You know, he's basically
Speaker 2: the lone bright spot for me on the offensive side.
Speaker 2: You know, everybody else has just been so inconsistent. Gaby
Speaker 2: popped out, Nolan popped out, boom Over two didn't get
Speaker 2: the crooked number. You know, you get to the fourth inning,
Speaker 2: Corbyn singled, Gabby singled, another pop out from Nolan, a
Speaker 2: line out for Max Kepler. A little bit of bad
Speaker 2: luck on that one. Was a good defensive play by
Speaker 2: Camin Arrow and then of course lords a ground out
Speaker 2: and boom, you're for five with runners in scoring position.
Speaker 2: It's the fourth inning. It's still a pretty close ballgame.
Speaker 2: You have a chance to get back in it, and
Speaker 2: you don't get any momentum. And then of course Ildemaro Vargas,
Speaker 2: he came up in the sixth inning with runners on
Speaker 2: first and second and two outs, he pinch hit for
Speaker 2: Max Kepler. Interesting to note that Kepler has pinched hit
Speaker 2: for immediately his first time facing a lefty. If you're
Speaker 2: wondering how he's going to be used. And I mean
Speaker 2: Vargas hit a line drive out to left field, but
Speaker 2: it was right at the fielder. Boom for six runners
Speaker 2: in scoring position. They never got another shot at that.
Speaker 2: Just a weak offensive performance again, you know, and uh,
Speaker 2: I mean we had four from lordus Coil junior. We
Speaker 2: had four again from peven Smith. Neither one of them
Speaker 2: are having good looking at bads, you know, neither one
Speaker 2: of them are car their weight for me. You know,
Speaker 2: why not just start groover, put Pevent on the bench
Speaker 2: if you if you don't want to dfa him and
Speaker 2: make him earn his way, you know, have a few
Speaker 2: good pinch at bats. And one start a week, and
Speaker 2: if he earns his way back into the lineup, he does.
Speaker 2: If he doesn't, then make another move. I mean, that's
Speaker 2: that's not including whether or not they should DFA him
Speaker 2: or whatever. I am, along with everybody else, you know,
Speaker 2: even when they were supposed to play yesterday in Saint
Speaker 2: Louis and Groover getting benched right after having a good
Speaker 2: game and hitting his first career home run. I don't
Speaker 2: I don't like it, and I don't like it. I
Speaker 2: think Groover should be playing, you know, at least four
Speaker 2: or five of the games every week minimum. I don't think,
Speaker 2: you know, Peven should be playing starting more than once
Speaker 2: that while he's on the roster, you know, whether or not.
Speaker 2: I just want to clarify, there's two components to this.
Speaker 2: If the team, if the front office put that's a
Speaker 2: guy on the roster, toy's got to play him once
Speaker 2: a week. You can't have a guy on the roster
Speaker 2: and never ever play him, because then when you do
Speaker 2: need him, and you're gonna need him at some point
Speaker 2: to pinch it, to come in and do something, then
Speaker 2: they got to at least have a few reps in there,
Speaker 2: so you know whether or not he should be on
Speaker 2: the roster. There is one question. If he's on the roster,
Speaker 2: how do you utilize him. He's on the roster, so
Speaker 2: Toy's got to utilize him. But he shouldn't start more
Speaker 2: than once a week.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's fair.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's certainly in line with how
Speaker 1: the fan base is feeling right now. I will say,
Speaker 1: I mean Pavin is still hovering around the sixty PA mark,
Speaker 1: and we've talked in the past about how sixty played
Speaker 1: appearances in baseball is almost meaningless. A very bad hitter
Speaker 1: can do really well, a really good hitter can do
Speaker 1: really poorly. I know with Peyvin, it doesn't feel like
Speaker 1: he's getting unlucky by any means. Certainly the underlying numbers
Speaker 1: don't bear that out. But some ways, I don't blame
Speaker 1: Tory Lavello for doing this. I mean, I think either
Speaker 1: Peven Smith is worth rostering and he should start against
Speaker 1: every righty, or he's not worth rostering because I mean,
Speaker 1: he doesn't have really any kind of defensive value, although
Speaker 1: he did make a really nice play in this game,
Speaker 1: but you're rostering him for his bat, and if you're
Speaker 1: not willing to start him against someone like Nick Martinez,
Speaker 1: then he probably just shouldn't be on the team in general.
Speaker 1: And it's also you know, lou James Groover. His numbers
Speaker 1: this season are actually very similar to Peven Smith in
Speaker 1: all fairness, but yeah, Groover has had some good games
Speaker 1: here recently, so whether it's at first base starting over
Speaker 1: Peven Smith or maybe finding his way into the lineup
Speaker 1: at DH, it does feel like Groover deserves some more
Speaker 1: playing time here. Diamondbacks also had an opportunity with runners
Speaker 1: in scoring position in the sixth inning, I believe it was,
Speaker 1: but as you mentioned, they were unable to come through
Speaker 1: there as Ildemar Vargas entered the game as a pinch
Speaker 1: hitter and ultimately flew out. So just a rough day
Speaker 1: for the Diamondbacks all the way, all the way around offensively.
Speaker 2: Jack, Yeah, just for the record, you know, coming into today,
Speaker 2: I don't know what he ended up at after his
Speaker 2: OH four and contact wasn't all over good, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: a couple of flyouts he did it. One deep fly ball.
Speaker 1: He almost comered, but it was it was kind of
Speaker 1: a you know, would have been a true down the line,
Speaker 1: like hit it in the perfect spot, kind of home run.
Speaker 1: I think it would have been a home run in
Speaker 1: a handful of ballparks, but not even trapped.
Speaker 2: And then the line out to second base and the game.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I don't know what the x.
Speaker 2: He came into today with a one sixty eight expected
Speaker 2: batting average and a two twenty eight expected slug It's
Speaker 2: not like Groover sat in the world on fire, but
Speaker 2: it is two thirty two, three fifty six, so it's better. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but you know those numbers of and it's small sample size, right,
Speaker 2: but you know who's got more upside? Who's who's going
Speaker 2: to benefit the most from the extra playing time at
Speaker 2: this point? Yeah, you know that's that And and I
Speaker 2: don't you know, I mean, obviously the team doesn't see
Speaker 2: it the way I do, but you know, I think
Speaker 2: that the team and Groover probably is going to benefit
Speaker 2: more from the extra playing time than Peved Smitwell, I
Speaker 2: mean it's not just the sixty plate appearance. It was
Speaker 2: the last two hundred and fifty of twenty twenty five,
Speaker 2: and it was the thousand preceding his two month hot streak.
Speaker 2: We presented all those numbers a couple of weeks back,
Speaker 2: you know, and how that two month hot streak really
Speaker 2: does prop up his batting line to be a league
Speaker 2: average batting line. I mean, essentially, he was a ninety
Speaker 2: one OPS plus WRC plus sorry, ninety one WRC plus
Speaker 2: player up until September of twenty twenty four, and an
Speaker 2: insane one hundred and thirty seven plate appearances him up
Speaker 2: to a league average hitter on paper. But that's, you know,
Speaker 2: not who he is. He's not league average. He's below
Speaker 2: a league average.
Speaker 1: Hitter, yeah he I mean, his strikeout rate this season
Speaker 1: is actually pretty decent. It's in the low twenties. His
Speaker 1: walk rate is entering today was higher than it's ever been.
Speaker 1: But he just isn't impacting the baseball whatsoever when he
Speaker 1: makes contact, and that is that's been a problem for
Speaker 1: a number of Diamondbacks hitters this season. One quick other
Speaker 1: note on the offense in this game. This graphic here
Speaker 1: shows all of the pitches that the Diamondbacks put in
Speaker 1: play against Nick Martinez today, and a lot of these
Speaker 1: aren't even in the strike zone. These are not These
Speaker 1: are not just all of the pitches that Martinez got
Speaker 1: whiffs on or anything. These are pitches that the Diamondbacks
Speaker 1: put in play against him in this game, and yeah, Jack,
Speaker 1: I think I count ten of these pitches that are
Speaker 1: out of the strike zone, and a lot of them
Speaker 1: are not even close.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they're chasing, and you know who chases
Speaker 2: more than lordus Gurriel Junior. You know, I don't know
Speaker 2: what his numbers were on this game as far as
Speaker 2: chase outside the zone. But you know, while we're talking
Speaker 2: about Pave and we have to talk about Lords too,
Speaker 2: his at bats just look terrible. He swings outside the
Speaker 2: zone all the time. You know, he's not hitting the
Speaker 2: ball hard. When he does make contact very seldom. You know,
Speaker 2: he can't really run anymore. You know, this is this
Speaker 2: is a problem, right. I mean we're hyper focused on paving,
Speaker 2: but you know, I think him and Paving are kind
Speaker 2: of neck and neck in the fives low fives for ops, right,
Speaker 2: you know, so it's not not a whole lot of
Speaker 2: difference there of what they're getting out of it. Lordis
Speaker 2: isn't catching anywhere near as much crap as Paving is,
Speaker 2: but he should be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess in fairness to Lords, he is coming
Speaker 1: off back to back two hit games. Entering today, he
Speaker 1: had a couple of doubles in that series against the Cardinals.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the quality of the at Batjack has just
Speaker 1: been brutal. And for the season, he's hitting two sixteen
Speaker 1: excuse me, with a five point fifty three OPS after
Speaker 1: going zero for four in this game. And you know,
Speaker 1: there was a time with Lordis during his Diamondbacks tenure
Speaker 1: where he was a pretty decent defensive left fielder, and
Speaker 1: that at least allowed him to accumulate some sort of
Speaker 1: value when he was going through those valleys offensively. At
Speaker 1: this point, Guriel grades out as a well blow average
Speaker 1: defender and left field. It definitely feels like the ACL.
Speaker 3: Has had an impact on him.
Speaker 1: The sprint speed is down a little bit this season,
Speaker 1: and it puts a lot of pressure on his bat,
Speaker 1: not just to hit for a decent average, which he
Speaker 1: has not done, but also to hit for some power.
Speaker 1: And Lordus Guriel has one home run this season, six
Speaker 1: doubles out of twenty seven hits, So twenty of his
Speaker 1: twenty seven hits this season are singles. He's slugging to
Speaker 1: eighty eight and I wonder how long the leash is here, Jack.
Speaker 1: He has one hundred and thirty six played appearances at
Speaker 1: this point. It's not a ton, but it's also not
Speaker 1: really a small amount. And this guy named Ryan Waldschmidt
Speaker 1: that the team sent down recently has put together some
Speaker 1: pretty nice games down in Triple A. It feels like
Speaker 1: Lordis could be running out of time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look again, I think that you know, most of
Speaker 2: the veterans are going to get to play. They're going
Speaker 2: to stay on the roster. Unless the team really surprises me,
Speaker 2: they're going to stay on the roster beyond the All
Speaker 2: Star break, you know, and then the run up to
Speaker 2: the trade deadline, you know, and I think we're going
Speaker 2: to see the old Vicel two step. You know, we're
Speaker 2: going to talk a lot about the trade deadline next week.
Speaker 2: But you know, something that you can consider is, you know,
Speaker 2: maybe they move on from Lords. You know, if they
Speaker 2: can get anything for him at all, even like you know,
Speaker 2: half a million or a million dollars salary relief, they'll
Speaker 2: take it because they've been bumping up against that luxury
Speaker 2: tax threshold. And they might try to you know, use
Speaker 2: that money to go get a reliever or something like
Speaker 2: that and then just you know, bring up bring back
Speaker 2: Waldy or you know, whoever they want to call up.
Speaker 2: So I definitely think that, you know, we could see
Speaker 2: something similar to last year, where you know, they move
Speaker 2: on from a few veterans and then go ahead and
Speaker 2: go with the youth and hope they get that shot
Speaker 2: in the arm, while at the same time maybe bolstering
Speaker 2: their pitching so that if they do get the offense,
Speaker 2: they got enough pitching they get through the season.
Speaker 1: Brian Waldschmid, while we mentioned his name, he's coming off
Speaker 1: two very good games down in Reno. Five hits in
Speaker 1: his last couple of games, three extra base hits, one
Speaker 1: of the is a home run that he hit yesterday,
Speaker 1: and he's back up to a three oh two, a
Speaker 1: threeh two four eighteen five twenty eight slash line down
Speaker 1: in triple A souh. You know, regardless of where the
Speaker 1: d Bacs stand with Lortis and how they feel about
Speaker 1: him moving forward, I think we're maybe getting close to
Speaker 1: the point, Jack, where Ryan Walschmid just needs to get
Speaker 1: back up here. I mean, the impact that he was
Speaker 1: able to make at times defensively, coupled with his ability
Speaker 1: to have pretty good at bats, you feel like, even
Speaker 1: if it's not all going to come together for him
Speaker 1: right away, I mean, he's probably an upgrade for the
Speaker 1: Diamondbacks given what they're getting from a number of different
Speaker 1: hitters right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, maybe they'll pull the trigger earlier. I
Speaker 2: mean certainly, you know, if he keeps doing what he's
Speaker 2: doing in the last five games, then they'll feel that
Speaker 2: their hand is is forced. But also you know, they're
Speaker 2: really going to have to make a decision then and
Speaker 2: move and just go ahead and move on from Lordis,
Speaker 2: because you don't bring Walt Shrimpt back unless you got
Speaker 2: room from the play. Yeah, right, I mean you bring
Speaker 2: him back then, Okay, he's got to start every day
Speaker 2: in center. You move Troy over the left, and that's
Speaker 2: your starting outfield period while you're waiting to see if
Speaker 2: Lawler ever makes it back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that's that's fair.
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess Lordis could could move into the
Speaker 1: d H slot a little bit more consistently. Maybe there's
Speaker 1: a world where you move on from Horr Barossa and
Speaker 1: you bring wild Waldschmidt back that way. But yeah, lordus Guriel,
Speaker 1: in order to justify his roster spot, he's going to
Speaker 1: need to turn things around sooner than later. We have
Speaker 1: more to get to in this show. Some news regarding
Speaker 1: now former Diamondbacks pictures. Jolber Diaz will also maybe talk
Speaker 1: about some of the comments we see flying through right now.
Speaker 3: Shout out to all.
Speaker 1: Of you being here who are here with us in
Speaker 1: the chat after a rough Friday night loss with the Diamondbacks.
Speaker 1: You really appreciate you. Don't go anywhere. We'll be back
Speaker 1: right after this here on Sneak's territory.
Speaker 4: This episode is brought to you by FanDuel Baseball fans.
Speaker 4: The MLB season is in full swing, and FanDuel is
Speaker 4: giving you a chance to call your shot with Daily Dingers.
Speaker 4: Joining the action is easy. Just make your free pick
Speaker 4: on who's hitting a home run in their game, and
Speaker 4: if you're right, you'll get a profit boost to use
Speaker 4: on your next bet for a chance at extra winnings.
Speaker 4: It's just another reason why FanDuel is the home of
Speaker 4: home runs. So are you ready to play your game?
Speaker 4: Head over to FanDuel dot com slash podcast to get started.
Speaker 4: That's FanDuel dot com slash podcast. To opt in for
Speaker 4: Daily Dingers, make your free pick on who's hitting a homer.
Speaker 4: Playball Swing for the Fences on FanDuel, an official partner
Speaker 4: of Major League Baseball. No purchase necessary, opt in required,
Speaker 4: bonus issued, does non withdrawable profit boost tokens? Restrictions apply,
Speaker 4: including any token expiration and max wager romount. See terms
Speaker 4: at sportsbook dot fandel dot com. Gambling problem caller Tex
Speaker 4: one eight hundred gambler.
Speaker 1: We are back here on Snak's territory once again. Shout
Speaker 1: out to all of you joining us here in the chat.
Speaker 1: We really appreciate you being here. Jack, there's some Joe
Speaker 1: Mather discussion in the chat right now.
Speaker 3: I see a few different comments about this.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's fair to be critical of
Speaker 1: Joe Mather given how good the Diamondbacks have been offensively
Speaker 1: the past few seasons. I mean, the first half of
Speaker 1: last year, this offense was among the best in baseball.
Speaker 1: The second half took a step back. But I think
Speaker 1: you trade Gino and Josh Naylor and Rydald Grishick, and
Speaker 1: that's not exactly a surprise that that happened. This season,
Speaker 1: the d Backs offense has ranked more more around the
Speaker 1: middle of the pack, a little bit below that here lately.
Speaker 1: So what do you think, Jack, Is it fair to
Speaker 1: be critical of Joe matter right now?
Speaker 2: It's fair. It's absolutely fair to be critical, you know,
Speaker 2: but when you're talking about calling for his job, you know,
Speaker 2: there's just so many factors to take into account. You
Speaker 2: just can't look at the recent batting line. As you know,
Speaker 2: personnel matters. You don't know exactly what's being said or done,
Speaker 2: what kind of information you're getting from the front office.
Speaker 2: There's so many different nuances to all of this, you know.
Speaker 2: And look, I mean, nobody was talking about firing Joe
Speaker 2: Mather at mid May or late May when the offense
Speaker 2: was looking better, at least on the results end of things.
Speaker 2: I did point out several times in late April and
Speaker 2: early May that, you know, the expected stats were considerably
Speaker 2: worse than the actual results. But I didn't want to
Speaker 2: like beat that to death because you know, it's kind
Speaker 2: of a DeBie Downer thing to do when the team
Speaker 2: was hitting better. But it was a fact, and anyone
Speaker 2: can go back and use the selective beginning endpoints and
Speaker 2: figure that out. So I don't know, I mean, I'm
Speaker 2: trying not to be biased. I know Joe personally. I
Speaker 2: think he's a good guy, and I think he's a
Speaker 2: good coach, and those are my honest beliefs. So you know,
Speaker 2: I think that calling for him to be fired or
Speaker 2: certainly not something I'm prepared to do, but I think
Speaker 2: it's fair from the fan perspective to wonder, you know,
Speaker 2: is this is Joe Mather helping the hitters or not?
Speaker 2: Or is you know, is it a hitters problem? Do
Speaker 2: they need a new voice? All of those questions that
Speaker 2: those are going to come up. And look, if Tory
Speaker 2: doesn't make it, you know, if he doesn't get extended,
Speaker 2: if he's fired at the end of the year, they'll
Speaker 2: probably let the whole coaching staff go and start all over.
Speaker 2: So that's that's reality. I did want to make it.
Speaker 2: I want to make a gentleman's bet with Scott mac
Speaker 2: thirty five thirty nine. Okay, not calling you out here
Speaker 2: at all, just you know, just kind of caught my attention,
Speaker 2: and you said, once Gallen and Smith are released, their
Speaker 2: careers are done. So so my gentleman's bet is if
Speaker 2: Gallon and or Smith, if either one of them or dfaid,
Speaker 2: then I think that neither of them will clear waivers,
Speaker 2: right you DFA them, another team you know could pick
Speaker 2: them up. Maybe not Gallan only because of the money,
Speaker 2: but certainly Smith, there's no way he clears waivers, Gallon
Speaker 2: might only because of the money.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think Gallen would would very likely
Speaker 1: clear waivers at this point given the performance. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not like the Diamondbacks would be able to get
Speaker 1: something for him in a trade, so they would probably
Speaker 1: just have to release him and then he would of
Speaker 1: course wind up signing with another team.
Speaker 2: Yeah league minimum. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: I definitely agree with you there.
Speaker 1: And and Peven Smith is a guy that I mean, look
Speaker 1: if if if the Diamondbacks acquired Peven Smith and you
Speaker 1: knew absolutely nothing about him, you would look at his
Speaker 1: Baseball Reference page and you would see that he had
Speaker 1: an eight ninety six OPS in twenty twenty four, a
Speaker 1: seven ninety seven OPS in twenty twenty five, and that
Speaker 1: he's been bad for you know, sixty plate appearances in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. And he'd probably be pretty ecstatic that
Speaker 1: you just got yourself a left handed hitter for nothing.
Speaker 1: You didn't have to trade anything for him, and you
Speaker 1: can just plug him into your lineup and see if
Speaker 1: he can turn it around. You'd see that his walk
Speaker 1: rate is high, you'd see that his strikeout rate is low,
Speaker 1: and he'd probably be like, yeah, this I don't have
Speaker 1: why did the Diamondbacks let go of this guy?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 1: Granted, those of us who have actually watched Peven Smith
Speaker 1: for the past few years would understand why the Diamondbacks
Speaker 1: would make that sort of decision, But yeah, Peven Smith
Speaker 1: on the surface is still an asset that is, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to say coveted around the league, but certainly
Speaker 1: someone that another team would be happy to take on.
Speaker 3: They didn't have to give up anything to get it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. And you know, thanks for the correction.
Speaker 2: You're right about the waivers situation. You know, clearing waivers
Speaker 2: and then getting picked up a league minimum two different things.
Speaker 2: I guess the point is is that you know, both
Speaker 2: of them would still have major league jobs. It's a
Speaker 2: Diamondbacks release them. They would end up in the major leagues,
Speaker 2: both of them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think that is very fair to say.
Speaker 1: We got a super chat from our good friend Philip.
Speaker 1: Philip comes through again, Philip, We appreciate you forty nine
Speaker 1: ninety nine super chat. Philip says, one of the more
Speaker 1: depressing seasons in recent years, just nothing going on to
Speaker 1: consistently be excited or happy for any good game. Quickly
Speaker 1: gets overshadowed by injury or bad play. Love you guys,
Speaker 1: thanks for dealing with the slog of Dbacks analysis. We
Speaker 1: appreciate you, Philip, and we are happy to be here
Speaker 1: along with you. This is just kind of what Diamondbacks
Speaker 1: baseball is like, Jack I said it on a show recently,
Speaker 1: where you know, when when things are feeling good, they're
Speaker 1: probably not actually that good, and you should be prepared
Speaker 1: to have your heart broken. And on the flip side,
Speaker 1: when it looks like the bottom is going to fall out,
Speaker 1: like the middle of last season and they're going to
Speaker 1: be irrelevant for several months, they're probably going to bounce
Speaker 1: back and kind of catch your attention a little bit.
Speaker 3: That's just the nature of this baseball team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, there's still a game over five hundred.
Speaker 2: They're not out of it. You know, things could turn around.
Speaker 2: Sometimes they look really bleak and then all of a
Speaker 2: sudden they bounce back. I mean, you know, even if
Speaker 2: you go back to twenty twenty three, I mean they
Speaker 2: got off to that incredible start. Their first eighty games,
Speaker 2: they were forty eight and thirty two, and then you know,
Speaker 2: by early August they were under five hundred. Like you know,
Speaker 2: they went they turned so bad that it was like,
Speaker 2: what the heck happened to this team? And then somehow
Speaker 2: they got hot again in August, barely held on in
Speaker 2: September and made it to the playoffs, and then they
Speaker 2: go all the way to the World Series and by
Speaker 2: the time they had fallen under five hundred in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three. I don't think any of us imagine what
Speaker 2: could happen. And I'm not saying that that's what's going
Speaker 2: to happen with this team, but like you said, I'm
Speaker 2: going to definitely back Jesse up here. Like every time
Speaker 2: we think we have it figured out or every time
Speaker 2: we're at our darkest moment, it seems like this last
Speaker 2: three four years iteration of the team turns it around. Now.
Speaker 2: Obviously they didn't in twenty twenty one, and you know,
Speaker 2: kind of had a nice little bump in twenty twenty
Speaker 2: two for a month or two with the young kids,
Speaker 2: So it remains to be seen where they're going to land.
Speaker 2: You know, we're here to be honest with you guys
Speaker 2: and tell you what we see and what we think,
Speaker 2: and you know, we don't sugarcoat it when it's bad.
Speaker 2: But thankfully I have Jesse to also kind of keep
Speaker 2: me from diving down the gloom and doom rabbit hole
Speaker 2: once in a while when things are a little rough,
Speaker 2: because I'm kind of more with you guys sometimes in
Speaker 2: that way emotionally, I'll definitely dive off that ledge, and
Speaker 2: Jesse's been there to catch me a few times.
Speaker 3: Happy to help.
Speaker 1: One piece of news we wanted to get to you
Speaker 1: before we get out of here. Diamondbacks Former Diamondbacks right
Speaker 1: handed pitching prospect Gilbert Diaz was claimed off waivers by
Speaker 1: the Detroit Tigers. That officially took place today. The Diamondbacks
Speaker 1: designated Diaz for assignment back on June twenty first. That
Speaker 1: came in the immediate aftermath of Zach Gallen's last outing.
Speaker 1: Of course, Gilbert pitched in that game right after Gallon
Speaker 1: and gave up seven runs. It was one of the
Speaker 1: ugliest pitching performances by a Diamondbacks pitcher this season, and
Speaker 1: it was a little surprising. I mean, certainly Diaz did
Speaker 1: not pitch well in that game, but he has minor
Speaker 1: league options remaining. It wasn't like the Diamondbacks, you know
Speaker 1: that there was no reason to think that Diaz could
Speaker 1: be something down the line, but they decided to designate
Speaker 1: him for assignment, and unsurprisingly, another team saw a young pitcher.
Speaker 3: Is what is Gilbert at this point?
Speaker 1: He's he's twenty five years old, still reasonably young, with
Speaker 1: minor league options remaining, and the Tigers decided to claim him.
Speaker 2: I just think back to when he first came up
Speaker 2: in twenty four and you know, his first doubting or two,
Speaker 2: and we just thought, oh boy, you know we might
Speaker 2: have something here. Yes, the fastball might be a little
Speaker 2: bit straight, but he looked like, you know, he could
Speaker 2: had maybe enough in the breaking ball to offset it.
Speaker 2: And you know, the results were certainly good at first
Speaker 2: doubting right, but unfortunately just didn't really work out for him.
Speaker 2: But you do wonder like, was there something else going on?
Speaker 2: It was odd, like if you felt good enough about
Speaker 2: him to bring him up. Yeah, you know, that one
Speaker 2: outing in that very bad situation certainly didn't seem to
Speaker 2: be enough to DFA him. I mean, had they already
Speaker 2: decided to do that before that outing? Did that outing
Speaker 2: cause that? Or did something happen during that outing that
Speaker 2: made them uncomfortable with him? You know, maybe he was
Speaker 2: shaken off pitches or not going by the game plan
Speaker 2: or who knows, And I'm just speculating. It's just odd
Speaker 2: that he got you know, DFAD in that situation so quickly. Again,
Speaker 2: if if you were going to dfa him, why'd you
Speaker 2: bring him up? Why did you bring up somebody else?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I guess you could make the case
Speaker 1: that the dbacs needed a forty man roster spot. That
Speaker 1: was the day that they selected Jose Cabrera because he
Speaker 1: was he was going to make his major league debut.
Speaker 1: They were called Cole Drake at the same time, but
Speaker 1: he was already on the forty man roster at that point.
Speaker 1: So I guess then it becomes a comparison game between
Speaker 1: you'll Diaz and some of the other up and down
Speaker 1: guys that they have on the forty man roster right now.
Speaker 1: Those guys include Dylan Ray, Katee Stroud, Andrew Hoffman. Of
Speaker 1: course Juan Bergos that we saw pitch in this game.
Speaker 1: Philip Abner, I guess the d Backs maybe just felt
Speaker 1: like they liked those other guys more than they liked
Speaker 1: Gilbert Diaz.
Speaker 2: Well, apparently because those other guys are still in the
Speaker 2: forty and as not.
Speaker 3: Enough said I guess that's I guess that's fair. Well.
Speaker 1: The Diamondbacks have two more games against the Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: Rays this weekend. Officially, the Rays do not have a
Speaker 1: starter listed for Tomorrow. Jose Cabrera will make the start
Speaker 1: for the Diamondbacks in the finale of the series. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be Merril Kelly against Drew Rasmussen, one of the
Speaker 1: best pitchers in the American League. Is certainly a tough
Speaker 1: matchup there for the d Backs in the finale. They
Speaker 1: are forty one and forty after this loss, which actually
Speaker 1: I'm realizing this is the halfway point of the season
Speaker 1: for the Diamondbacks. Did you have a point to make, Jack,
Speaker 1: did you find some Yes.
Speaker 2: We have a starter. They've just put it up. Former
Speaker 2: diamondback Cole Slcer will start for the race, so that's
Speaker 2: an opener situation. He's a reliever, and then they'll bring
Speaker 2: in a bulk picture. I don't know who the bulk
Speaker 2: picture is yet. I have to dig around and find
Speaker 2: that information. But Cole Sulcer, former diamondback, will be the
Speaker 2: opener for the Rays on Saturday.
Speaker 1: Sulzer had a one point nine to nine ERA for
Speaker 1: the Rays last season, but just a five point four
Speaker 1: zero ERA this year, so maybe the d Backs can
Speaker 1: jump on him early in that game tomorrow. We will
Speaker 1: we will see how that goes. Once again. Diamondbacks have
Speaker 1: now completed the first half of the twenty twenty six season,
Speaker 1: and I do just have to point out, Jack, the
Speaker 1: Diamondbacks are on pace for eighty two wins, and I
Speaker 1: also predicted that they would win eighty two games before
Speaker 1: the start of the season, So I'll just take my
Speaker 1: victory lap. We can assume that the second half is
Speaker 1: going to go exactly the same, and I'm going to
Speaker 1: be spot on here, right, that's fair to say.
Speaker 2: Just double up the win record and double up every stat.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there you go, Yeah we can. This is the
Speaker 3: day we can do that.
Speaker 1: You can just double any stat for any Diamondbacks player,
Speaker 1: any team stat that you like, and there you go.
Speaker 1: You'll be able to see the future and see how
Speaker 1: it's going to be at the end of the year.
Speaker 1: That is not exactly the case, but the Diamondbacks have
Speaker 1: completed the first half of the season. They are a
Speaker 1: mediocre baseball team, which is sort of what we thought
Speaker 1: they would be going into the year. Thank you to
Speaker 1: all of you for being with us on this episode.
Speaker 1: We really appreciate your time. As always, you can find
Speaker 1: us on Twitter. I am at Jesse and Friedman. Jack
Speaker 1: is at sho Wizard fifty nine, and our show is
Speaker 1: at Stinks Territory. You can find Jack's written work over
Speaker 1: at Arizona Diamondbacks on SI And as I said from
Speaker 1: the top of the show really helps us out. If
Speaker 1: you drop a like on this video, be sure to
Speaker 1: do that before you head out. Leave us a comment
Speaker 1: for joining us after the fact. We want to hear
Speaker 1: from you as well. And if you're joining us on
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts or Spotify one of those platforms, it also
Speaker 1: really helps us out if you would leave us a
Speaker 1: five star review. Jack, any final thoughts here as we
Speaker 1: head into the weekend.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm looking forward to diving into the trade deadline.
Speaker 2: We're going to be doing some episodes once a week
Speaker 2: for next month or so, really focusing on the trade deadline,
Speaker 2: and our first one is coming up very soon.
Speaker 3: There you go.
Speaker 1: We are planning to record on Sunday evening, and you
Speaker 1: can expect to see another episode from us either late
Speaker 1: Sunday night or maybe more likely early on Monday morning.
Speaker 1: That'll just be a recorded show, but we will have
Speaker 1: a live post game or two coming up.
Speaker 3: Next week, so be sure to stay tuned to our
Speaker 3: Twitter profile. We'll be sure to tweet out our schedule there.
Speaker 1: Thank you again to all of you for being with
Speaker 1: us on this episode. We really appreciate your time, and
Speaker 1: we'll be back with another edition of Snake's Territory very
Speaker 1: very soon