MVP/MOY awards finalists revealed + D’backs offseason to-do list: Ketel trade? Goldschmidt reunion?

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Here we go.

00:00:04
Speaker 2: Our off season to do list start now alphabetical order.

00:00:09
Speaker 1: A is for Arizona Diamondbacks.

00:00:11
Speaker 2: Jack Summers joins us right now and you can hear them on Snake's Territory also Dbacks on SIV writer for Sports Illustrated. Jack, Great to see you again, and first off, can you just lay out a little preview of what your off season to do list is for the Diamondbacks and then we'll go one by one.

00:00:29
Speaker 3: Sure, probably like all thirty teams in Major League Baseball, they need to add pitching, but they severely need to add pitching. They need two starting pitchers to add to their rotation. Zach g Allen, Mery Kelly free agents, of course, and Corbyn Burns is out until at least the All Star break, so they need to bring on at least two starters. They may go aggressively try to trade for a higher frontline starter. I don't think they have the dollars to sign a frontline starter and then possibly backfill with a more bargain basement fifth starter. At the same time, they need to add a closer and or a couple of high leverage relievers. Mike Haysen in the past him and his front office have kind of gravitated towards this closer by committee situation, which doesn't really work for them. And I pressed him a little bit on it. Are you going to try to get a closer this year? And he said probably a little reluctantly, But I know that Tory Leavello prefers to have a closer as opposed to doing the committee route. And with eight years of history of having one of the weakest bullpens in the league, with a few exceptions here and there, this is a spot that they have to fill. Justin Martinez and aj Park are both out until the second half of the season. Puck might come back a little bit sooner. He had the brace procedure as opposed to Tommy john So you know, you can't really count on those guys they got. They need a closer. They bought the brought in a bunch of young guys at the trade deadline, some pretty good relievers to backfill. But they need a closer, and then they need a right handed bat. It could be a first baseman. They need a platoon mate for Peven Smith, who's a left handed hitter who's likely going to get most of the reps at first base, but then they need a short side platoon guy. They also really could use a Randall Gritchet type person to fill that similar role because Lordus Guriel Junior is also out the first half of the season at least due to an ACL tear, so they need a right handed out feel bad. So on top of that, beyond that top three bullet points, they actually need a backup catcher as well. James McCann came in and did a great job for them, and actually, by the end of the season was catching more than Gabrielle Marino because of concerns over pitch calling and how well McCann is at that, and Marino is kind is struggling with it. So the Dbacks certainly need a backup catcher. I think they'd like to bring mccam back, but when I spoke to him at the end of the season, he was very noncommittal about returning.

00:03:12
Speaker 4: Okay, Jack, where where do we start? We started with the first one they need pictures? Was that Gallen still there? Why can't they just resign that gown? They don't like him that much. I mean, that seems like an obvious one to me, But I mean, who would be the other starting pitcher. Are they going to go fishing in the deep waters? Are they going to try to you know, lure hopefully a base bargain guy, because you know, for a long time this is supposed to be their strength with Fought and Kelly and Gallen, Edward Rodriguez. You know, So who do they go get? And why would they just let Gallen walk? Why not try to sign him?

00:03:45
Speaker 3: Well? With Gallen, I think to sign scott Or's client, to sign him to a long term deal is going to take them out of their comfort zone financially. Ownership has said that they're cutting payroll this year, and with fifty million dollars of dead money on the roster due to all the injuries, they probably only have somewhere in the thirty to forty million dollar range to spend. They're certainly going to give Zach Allen the qualifying offer, and he's certain to reject it. There's a pretty good chance that they may try to bring Meryl Kelly back. Merril has indicated a very strong desire to stay in Arizona. He lives here, he loves it here. He's an Arizona guy. I think he would like nothing better than to be able to come back, but he's not going to come back for peanuts. If they lowball them, he'll go where he's going to get paid. Of course, one thing that Jesse Freeman and I floated, you know, Hunter Green was put out there on an article by MLB dot Com as a potential trade candidate for the Reds to use to bolster their offense. And if you really want to go blockbuster, they could perhaps trade, say he could Tell Marte for Hunter Green. Green's got four years of control of sixty one million dollars. He's had his injury history, but this past year was growing injuries, not arm or elbow, and you know, when he's on the field, he's an ACE level starter and he's young with four years of controls. So that's one possibility. I think that the Diamondbacks are very much going to have to pursue the trade route to fill most of their holes. If they were going to go after, say, Mackenzie Gore from the Nationals, in that case, you're probably looking at more of a prospects deal. But they're gonna have to peel off two or three guys out of their top five prospects just to get him away from the Nationals. I think it's going to have to come more via trade, and they're gonna have to be aggressive with trades as opposed to a lot of free agent signing.

00:05:39
Speaker 5: All right, payroll rollback.

00:05:41
Speaker 4: So does that mean that they were deeked by the fact that they made it to the World Series in twenty I don't remember now twenty two or twenty three, twenty three, And so does that mean that they were deeped by that? Because I remember when they signed Jordan Montgomery. Hey we saw ann flux of season ticket holders for the twenty four season, so we had a little extra money to spend. Was it poor planning or was it, hey, you know what, we got two years to try to get this thing done and then after that we got to cut payroll back.

00:06:15
Speaker 3: I think it's more the latter what you just said. They got a windfall from that twenty three World Series. They invested a lot in pitching. Of course, they tried the Jordan Montgomery thing, and the Corbyn Burns then kind of fell out of the sky. He contacted them, wanted to, you know, go to Arizona, stay there because he lives there, and so Ken Kendrick was willing to increase the payroll beyond his comfort zone to make that happen. That was actually his impetus. Mike Hazen was, you know, trapsing around in the mountains of New Zealand with his kids hiking when that opportunity came up, and Ken Kendrick was the driver of the corbyn Burnsteel. In the past, Ken's been known to kind of sandbag a little bit about what he's willing to spend and end up spending over what they've said, but both he and Derek Hall have said that they're not going to be at quite the same levels as they were the last two years. The last two years back to back years, they set payroll records for their franchise.

00:07:15
Speaker 4: Okay, you mentioned you mentioned cornerbats. They had two cornerbats, they traded them away and now it's Suarez and Naylor. So are they going to look for maybe bring one of them back if they can or you mentioned trades? Can they do they have enough prospects to go trade for cornerbats, starting pitcher, closer? I mean, do they have this many prospects if they're not going to go on free agency to trade for all these people and in a tough division. I mean, let's be honest with the Giants looking to go for it, the Dodgers back to back world champs, the Padres are still going to be decent.

00:07:46
Speaker 5: Do they have enough to compete?

00:07:49
Speaker 3: I think the combination they do. And Mike Casan will never back off trying to compete. I think you know that about his reputation. He's you know, rebuild is a dirty word. He did say they have thirty to forty million dollars space in this year's payroll, so they're going to be able to use some of that money. It's going to have to be a combination of trades and free agency. And you know, look, if they end up ponying up big time for a pitcher, then they're going to have to fill almost everything else by trade or vice versa. If they're able to land a pretty good pitcher like a Hunter Green via trade, then they can use free agency dollars to fill some of the other gaps. One name that they've been tied to is Paul Goldschmidt as a possible return to be short side platoon. You know, basically he still hits left handed pitching, doesn't hit right handed pitching unfortunately anymore. But he could be a good mentor to pave in Smith and pick up you know, two hundred two d and fifty played appearances. And I don't think it's going to cost more than six seven ten million tops to bring book Goldie back for one year. So that's that's one type of possibility. As far as Suarez and Nailer, a big emphasis for the Diamondbacks is improved defense. The defense was a lot better over the last two months.

00:09:04
Speaker 5: Of the year.

00:09:05
Speaker 3: Gino, I love that man. I mean, he is just one of the most genuine people in the world and you couldn't be more happy than to see him have success. However, his defense is really taking a big step back, and I just don't see the Diamondbacks going down that road. Similar with Naylor. He's a really good hitter, but his defensive first base overall rates out quite poorly, well below average. I don't think the team is willing to go back down that road. They struggled on defense mightily in the first four months of the season at those two positions.

00:09:36
Speaker 4: You guys mentioned it a lot on Snake's territory. Go tell Marte, you mentioned it a little bit here. You know, the Hunter Green both of their offense. He's a perennial top three MVP candidate. There's a little bit of scuttle lot about you know, what was going on with the team, and you know, is he there every day after the All Star break? All that stuff is that's something that the team could really push that trade and get maybe like two or three big league ready pieces because he's locked up I think until to that twenty thirty. Is that new extension which teams for that kind of bat that you know, it's an impact bat immediately into somebody's lineup, which means the Diamondacks will be losing that impact bat.

00:10:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, they control him for the next five years through his age thirty six season. However, you know second basement middle thirties, thirty five, thirty six, you know that's when his contract gets more expensive too. It's kind of now or never. You know, he's got ten and five rights coming up I think in May or June of next year based on service time. So you know, if they want to trade him and try to use that level of talent to fill in all of these holes, it's now or never.

00:10:54
Speaker 5: That's a yes, that's a yes. Then that's yes, Jack.

00:10:58
Speaker 4: You just said it because they don't want to get to ten to five. So yes, okay, so we can look for kateel Marte And yesterday we heard Trek.

00:11:04
Speaker 5: Schooble's name mentioned as possibly being traded.

00:11:06
Speaker 4: So be a very busy offseason on Snake's territory because we'll see who what they get.

00:11:12
Speaker 5: But man, he could be worth so much as a trade.

00:11:15
Speaker 3: Yeah. One thing I'll say is, you know, Cressey is the phrase major league ready. They want frontline major league talent back if they trade Katel, like, they're not going to trade him for high end prospects that maybe just had a whiff of major league baseball experience this past year, or you know, a rookie or whatever. If they move to tell Marte they're getting frontline pitching, or they don't do it.

00:11:40
Speaker 2: What do you think is the percentage chance that actually happens a trade? As you mentioned, you can't do it. I mean, let's say the Diamondbacks don't have a good first half. You can't do it at the trade deadline. You would have to do it sooner than that. It gets tricky during the season. So if they're going to do this, it really does have to happen over these few months, and I guess you can add this to your answer how pissed off would Diamondbacks fans be? He seems like he's one of the more popular players for a fan base with one guy on a team, right, Like the Diamondbacks are not loaded. I mean, there are some other names that they like, Cortman, Kyle Booke, Tel Marte, a lot of personality. I mean, he's been what a top three, top five MVP guy multiple times, had big memories and moments for them in twenty twenty three, leading that team to you know, a really great run in twenty twenty three. So how beloved is he and how pissed off would fans be if the return is not going to help them be better in twenty twenty six, which I think is hard to do.

00:12:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, well that's why I'm kind of, you know, grasping at straws, maybe at the Hunter Green concept, which I actually really like. I mean, I think that that's actually a perfect move for them if they're going to move him, you know, because that guy he's a stut. I mean, when he's healthy and on the mound, he is an absolute stud. He can front anybody's rotation when healthy. So you know, that's the level of talent that they'll need to get to make them competitive. They do have a lot of pretty good young middle infield prospects coming up, and there's a couple of triple A that could maybe you know, like a Tommy Troy of course, Jordan Lawler that who finished up the year much better. They they could come in and step in and fill the breach at second base if they were able to get you know, a large upgrade. I mean, don't forget the three remaining starters that they have, Ryan Nelson, Brandon Fought and the daughter of Rodriguez. Two of those guys just are coming off five plus ERA seasons. The only one of those three that they have holdovers that performed well was Ryan Nelson, so you know he had a three three ninety RA. So I mean they need a guy, They need a real guy out there in front of that rotation. You know, look when Corvin Burns comes back, you guys know, you know Tommy John return ease. They don't just step right into it and return to their cell. So it takes some time, thinks and they ocontra right. You know, it's not like they're gonna those guys are coming back from injury in the second half of the season, going to step right in. They're gonna take a half a year or a year to get back to what they were if they do.

00:14:12
Speaker 2: This is great stuff and you can get an extended version of this conversation on Snake's Territory. They have an episode about Diamondbacks trade possibilities. They have an episode about finding the perfect free agent targets for the d Backs. There's the promo page Snake's Territory. Type it into YouTube or wherever you get your pods. Jack wearing the merch to Snake's Territory shop dot com. Jack great insight. Really appreciate it. Love hearing you on the on the pod and on the digital show at Jesse.

00:14:43
Speaker 4: I can't thanks, guys have a great one thing before before you go, I mean the Gaby Montero stuff was like wait what?

00:14:52
Speaker 5: Was like wait what? And he was the Gold Glove winner or last there's two years ago, right.

00:14:59
Speaker 3: There's been got his pitch calling and game calling. It was something that they danced around quite a bit. It started off where they were emphasizing how good McCann was at it, and then they started talking about, well, you know, it takes three to four years in the league before you've really got enough experience. And then finally Tory Leavello kind of let out a little bit verbally in public press conferences that, yeah, there might be some issues there with Gabby's game calling. And by the end of the season, if you look at you know, McCann caught two thirds of the game games over the last two weeks of the year. You know, when they were fighting to try to, you know, stay alive in that race, McCann was getting the bulk of the catching duties and Marino was a dh. He is young. I mean, it is going to take some time and he's going to be the starter. But he's also been injury prone, right, He's never started one hundred games behind the plate. Last year he had a little bad lucky fractured a finger. I think he started six year before that eighty three, the year before that ninety something. He's never even started one hundred games yet. So durability and pitch calling are two concerns, and so they need a really strong backup catcher'd be great if they can bring McCann back, But my guest is McCann's probably looking to go to a team that's a little bit more of a short fire contender. He may have questions or doubts about the dback's ability to contend in twenty twenty six.

00:16:27
Speaker 2: Jack, this was great, really good info. Thanks for joining us. Reminded it everyone to check out Snake's territory. And if you're catching us here, make sure you go back to the top of the video for the offseason to do list the top three.

00:16:40
Speaker 1: From Jack Jack, Thank you, Thank you guys. Hey, let's hit the.

00:16:44
Speaker 2: BBWAA Award finalists. So I'm talking about MVP, cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year. The big ones, the ones that we covered last year and will do so again when they have that big award ceremony in January. We'll give you more info on that when it gets closer. Let's start with n L MVP Tani on this list, Kyle Schwarber on this list, Juan Soto on this list. So one Soto finished three or better? Does that surprise you, guys? You think he's three? Right, Aja? Is that what you're saying?

00:17:18
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean they lined him up perfectly right there. It's going to go.

00:17:23
Speaker 4: Did win Player of the Year from the players? We should have asked Max if he voted for Sho or Schwarmer.

00:17:28
Speaker 1: I wanted to really badly, but we ran out of time.

00:17:31
Speaker 4: I know there was too many other things that we really needed to get to that were important. But yeah, so had a good year. But I mean he's not He's not in those other twos league at least this year, we have.

00:17:43
Speaker 5: A better year than Did he have a better year than heralda Promo?

00:17:48
Speaker 1: Did he have a better year than Trey Turner?

00:17:52
Speaker 5: I think than Trey Turner.

00:17:53
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, I think the stolen base has helped him a lot. For Soto, that's huge.

00:18:00
Speaker 4: I mean I could see somebody saying Soto had a better year than Schwarber because of those stolen bases.

00:18:07
Speaker 1: It's not helping you much on defense.

00:18:09
Speaker 5: I'll tell you, I would laugh too. I'm telling you what is going to be out there?

00:18:15
Speaker 4: No, I know it can be out there, and I will laugh at every person that says that too. Mets fans need a victory this year, so maybe that'll be their small victory. Although they were the first ones to line up and be like Soo, it's not as good as you thought. He was not as good.

00:18:30
Speaker 2: No, I think that's there's mixed reviews. I've asked some people about one who are dedicated Mets fans, and mostly I've gotten the yeah, he was not the problem. There were many problems, he was not one of them. But they're still Where would they be without him?

00:18:48
Speaker 1: That's the question.

00:18:49
Speaker 2: I mean, he was their best player this past season, so they really weren't a good team before they signed him.

00:18:55
Speaker 1: But anyway, let's move on. I'm not going to go He's gonna go right back to Queens every year for eternity and.

00:19:04
Speaker 2: Hopefully for his case, he'll get some postseason action at some point. Al MVP, it's Judge, it's cow and then Jose Ramirez finished third. That's cool, al Cy Young, we have Hunter Brown, Gya Crochet, Trek Scuobel. Those were the three in the running the whole year. Christopher Sanchez, Paul Skins, Yamamoto for NLSI Young. I want to jump to the managers. So last year Stephen vote Won and Pat Murphy one. They're both top three finishers. That doesn't happen very often. I feel like it's just as often that a manager goes from Manager of the Year to hot seat as he goes to top three finisher. So it's John Schneider, Steven Vote and Dan Wilson lining up on the American League side, Terry Francona, Patrick Murphy again and Rob Thompson on the National League side. Important note, this is just four the regular season. AJ thoughts on the finalists here, and it's an award that is certainly up for debate in terms of how you judge it. Where the expectations, Matt, But what do you think about this?

00:20:13
Speaker 4: What you called him Patrick Murphy, which made me laugh made me chuckle first, because I've never heard anyone call him that. It's it's more of a name for him. I'mna sart calling it Patrick when I see him.

00:20:23
Speaker 5: But listen, I.

00:20:25
Speaker 4: Said, I said, we've been saying it for a long time. Then we could have back, we could have the same winners again. We could have Vote and Patrick Murphy win. But I think, honestly, Schneider's got a great chance at winning that award in the American League and then nationally, I think Tito's gonna might sneak in there because of what the Red's making the playoffs and what he did for that organization. So it could be the same winners again, or it could be John Schneider and Tito. I mean, I think John Schneider led the American League. You know, they led his team the most wins in the American League, so I think that's huge. But you know, and they were last placed last year in the East. They went all the way At first, I think it's probably the route it's going to go with Schneid's but I think Murph Murph should win it. Murph should win it again. Brewers had the most wins in Major League Baseball.

00:21:18
Speaker 5: I don't. I mean, I get it.

00:21:19
Speaker 4: Cool, cool job that Terry Francone got the Reds, who I think should have been in the playoffs the last three years, to the playoffs.

00:21:26
Speaker 5: That was nice.

00:21:27
Speaker 4: And Topper, you know, the Phillies were supposed to be really good and they didn't disappoint, so you know, he did his job. I think, honestly, I think Dave Roberts should be up there if you're putting Topper up there, because I think Dave Roberts did an incredible job too, and he has a great team to play with.

00:21:46
Speaker 1: I'm with you.

00:21:47
Speaker 2: I think Schneider wins it American League from last to first, and the toughest division this year in the American League. And then yeah, I think Burt's going to get it. I mean, the Brewers had a magical run. They keep losing players, and Murph was great.

00:22:01
Speaker 1: We will talk more in.

00:22:02
Speaker 4: The media, and the media loves Murphy's like a media Darlin. Don't forget that, even though that shouldn't matter. It doesn't matter.

00:22:11
Speaker 5: M