PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - $250,000 for a Druw Jones baseball card? Diamondbacks prospect’s card is the target of a huge bounty

Episode Date: May 25, 2023

How much is too much for the rarest Druw Jones baseball card in existence? There is a $250,000 bounty out for a card that matches this description. We also discuss our MLB Power Rankings, Trea Turner���s mom booing him, breaking news about the D-backs starting rotation, and more.WATCH YOUR FAVORITE TEAMS HERE: https://www.fubotv.com/phnx SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to the Keepin’ it 100 Golf Scramble, D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Manscaped: Save 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code “PHNX” at Manscaped.com. BetMGM: Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code PHNX (betmgm.com/phnx). Place a pre-game, moneyline wager in the amount of at least $10 on any market at standard odds price. You will receive $200 in Bonus Bets instantly regardless of the outcome of your wager! Just make sure you use bonus code PHNX when you sign up!Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (CO, DC, IL, IN, LA, MD, MS, NJ, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-327-5050 (MA)21+ to wager. Please Gamble Responsibly. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (KS, NV), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-270-7117 for confidential help (MI). Visit BetMGM.com for Terms & Conditions. US promotional offers not available in DC, Nevada, New York or Ontario.Pins & Aces: Check out pinsandaces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping.Circle K: Text PHNX to 31310 to join the Circle K SMS subscriber club and get BOGO 32 oz Polar Pops! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: Learn more about OGeez! at https://ogeezbrands.com//. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Occasionally, as your mayor of PHNX, this is my vice mayor and your Thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. We have breaking news. Breaking news. Breaking news. Kind of. Breaking mystery news?

Yeah, I guess they didn't actually mention Zach Davies by name. But when the Diamondbacks name, their Saturday starter as TBA, I think it's pretty clear what they're talking about. Spoiler alert, Jesse. We'll get to that. second. You got to let the people get in here first. You got to tantalize them a little bit. Welcome into the PHNXD Back show. We do have some breaking news to get to. But first, I just wanted to settle something from the other day. Obviously, we know that the Arizona Diamondbacks kind of had a miserable loss yesterday. And we're not thrilled with that. Or not yesterday. Yesterday,

or yeah, it was yesterday. It was yesterday. Today's the day off. Yesterday. I wanted to forget that game altogether. Hard to when we did a watch along and we're to blame. But we did find out that there was possibly somebody else at fault for the Arizona Diamondbacks loss. And yes, you could say it's Trey Turner, but we would like to say it's Trey Turner's mom. Trey Turner's mom is who we're going to blame for the Arizona Diamondbacks loss. We're still hanging it on the bullpen. Don't get me wrong, but Trey Turner's mom apparently sent him a text

telling him she was booing him after he struck out in the seventh inning of that final game between the Diamondbacks and the Phillies. And as you may know, what happened there in the bottom of the ninth was quite different. But I guess the idea there is, while he didn't actually see the text message, Jesse, because he was in the dugout, this was, right, his phone was probably in the clubhouse, probably in his locker, he didn't get a chance to see it. Is the universal energy of a disappointed parent enough to get Trey Turner out of his slump?

Because I think that's what we saw happen, right? Yeah. It was just out there in the universe, and he felt the energy, and it compelled him to change himself. I mean, I think the majority of the blame still has to fall on Sean to pause. I don't think for a lot of to. Sean the loss is not getting away with this one. No, for sure. It's definitely on Sean.

But yeah, there's a lot of people you could blame. But of course, the one that we want to blame is the Arizona Diamondbacks bullpen. Is Derek for playing ads on his computer during show? It was actually muted first and then I did it. But anyway, we want to blame the bullpen, of course, because the bullpen was the reason why Diamondbacks actually lost that game. But believe it or not, the Arizona Diamondbacks bullpen has not been nearly as bad as we want to believe that they are, right?

I think a lot of it is still the feelings, the residual feelings left over from last season, where we were very hurt by the bullpen and didn't know when we could trust or believe in them again. However, there are some pretty good numbers that would say that this bullpen is vastly improved from what we saw last season. Yeah, I mean, maybe vastly is a slight. overstatement, maybe a little bit. But yeah, the bullpen is better for sure. Last year, the Diamondbacks bullpen had a 4.58 ERA.

This year, it's down to 4.40, which is not an enormous difference. To be fair, though. You're just doing it through, are you doing it through this point of the season last year? No. Oh, this is the entire season last year compared to the 50 games that we played so far this season. So a 4.58 ERA down to 4.40 this year, a 1.39 whip last year, 1.34 this year. So those numbers aren't that different, right? There are a few numbers that are different in pretty significant ways, though.

Last year, the Diamondbacks bullpen had a 19.7% strikeout rate, which was the lowest in baseball. It's honestly terrible. This year, that's up to 23.2%. Last year, that was, they ranked 30th in the league. last and strikeout rate this year 22nd. So still not great. I think you'd still like to see them have a little bit more swing and miss

in the back end of that bullpen, but it is vastly improved from last year. The number that has changed the most, though, Derek, is this quirky thing called win probability added, which I think for bullpens is actually really important because a scoreless inning in a blowout game

is not nearly as valuable as a scoreless inning in a close game. And win probability added accounts for that, right? It's how much, you know, did such and such a reliever's performance improve or take away from your team's chance of winning that game? When probability added, just basically adds up those numbers over the course of a season. Last year, the debacks were dead last at minus 7.3, which is awful.

You know, I mean, that's where you get 7, 8, 9 wins last year that you could just directly attribute to the Diamondbacks bullpen. I think last year, the league average bullpen had like plus, to win probability added. The Diamondbacks were at minus seven. So that's like nine games off the league average. This bullpen. Maybe it didn't cost the debacks 40 games last year, as a lot of people want to make the

case for. But there is a very good case. I'm one of those people that wants to make back. You can't just look at the 41 bullpen losses and say that, you know, the bullpen, the debacks should have won all 41 of those games. No, no. But you can make a case based on this number that it was maybe like, maybe like nine or 10, which is what we talked about the whole off season.

And what we talked about specifically was those nine or 10 making a huge difference when it came to where the bullpen ended up as far as ranking instead of being one of the, if not the worst bullpen in baseball, I think next to the nationals, they would have factored in more around the, you know, I guess average middle of the pack, probably around 20th or something with with 30 losses. It was just that the diamondbacks were so close, you know, and those 10, 9, 10 losses as we talk about that were the really unnecessary runs, the ones that are really excessive. Those are the ones that prevented them from making the playoffs

and coming close to that above 500 record. Yeah, I mean, even if the difference is only 9 or 10 wins, I mean, that turns a 74 win season into like an 83 or an 84 win season, and then suddenly you're kind of right there in the mix. But yeah, this year, the debacks are a positive 0.6 when probability added, which ranks 9th in baseball.

They're actually in the top half the league. So despite the, enormous meltdowns that we've had over the last few weeks and there have been several of them. On the whole, the D-backs have actually, the bullpen has actually helped the Diamondbacks win games more than it has hurt them altogether. Absolutely. Maybe a little bit hard to believe. We don't, because we don't really talk about those. We don't really, honestly, when, and I think I may have said this yesterday or may have said it before the show to Jesse, we don't really focus on when the bullpen comes in and does its job.

Sometimes we make jokes about it. Sometimes we say, wow, that was such an uneventful ninth. inning from Andrew Chafin. He just came in and got three outs and the game ended. What? What? I don't know. I don't know what to do with that, right? Because this bullpen has made things exciting all year. But really, it's just been probably a third of the performances from the bullpen that either made it exciting or turned things in the opposite direction. I think LaVallo is still focusing on who he can trust and who he can rely on. And I don't know if he has a good gauge of that yet. I mean, Jose Ruiz, like we've talked about, has been

being used in high leverage situations. So far, he's had some success in those situations, but not consistent enough for him to be used, I think, the way that Lavello is using him. But again, I think the bullpen is, in my estimation, I feel like the bullpen is going to get better. I feel like we're going to see Joe Mantiply come back. I think that we might get some additional pieces, maybe from the farm system. Maybe they make that decision to make one of the three that doesn't end up in the starting rotation when it comes to Ryan Nelson, Drey Jameson, and Tommy Henry

into a bullpen arm. Who knows? But it's definitely an area they need to address. And if they can improve some of these numbers because they're still in the bottom, you know, bottom 10 teams as far as a lot of these categories go for bullpen numbers, they really could be a contender.

And that's crazy because I feel like we've said that in a positive way. We've said that kind of an encouraging way. but I don't know if we've ever really felt like this Diamondbacks team could actually be a contender this season. The way things are going for them, I mean, the role players, the guys we didn't expect to be this good,

they're taking care of business, and it's been fun to watch. Yeah, I mean, they're 29 and 21, Derek. And, you know, even though you feel like the debacks of, you could make a pretty good case, that they've left three wins just kind of out there

over the last couple of weeks. For sure. I mean, I guess if they would want all three of those games, it'd be 32 and 18, which is insane. I mean, if, like, if we were actually here talking about a 32 and 18 Diamondbacks team, the D-Backs would have one of the best records in all of baseball. And they still do have one of the best records in all of baseball, honestly. At 29 and 21, we've reached the 50-game point in the season, which I always view as having

some significance. You don't necessarily know exactly what every team around the league is after 50 games. There's nothing magical about reaching this point in the year. But it does feel like you've kind of reached a point in the season where you've played enough games where you have a decent sense of what every team around the league is going to be. And so far, even despite some of these painful losses that the debacks have had, they're sitting in a really good spot right now with 29 wins. Well, we did say we had some breaking news for you. And that was courtesy of the Arizona Diamondbacks who were just nice enough to give us this little tidbit right before we went on air. But the probabilities for the series against the Red Sox have officially changed.

The Arizona Diamondbacks sent out an email this morning saying that Brandon fought will in fact start on Friday. On Saturday, they sent us a TBA. And on Sunday, they moved Merrill Kelly from where he would have started on Sunday, or on Saturday out to Sunday. So that leads us to believe that this is what we will see. Zach Davies making his return to the lineup on Saturday in between Brandon Fott and Merrill Kelly. Is this, the D-BAC's going to a six-man rotation? Is that what's happening right now, Derek? Because it sure looks like it.

That's what you, well, is it simply because you were convinced that Brandon Fott was going to be the man that they removed from the rotation? Is that the reason why you say that? Well, I mean, they're not, yeah, they're not removing Brandon Fought from the rotation, right? At least not yet. So does that mean it could still be Tommy Henry or Ryan Nelson? Um, I mean, yeah, I guess it could be. They would have to do a little bit of gymnastics in order to get that to work. But I still have a bit of a hard time believing that the Diamondbacks will do that when it's all said and done. My guess is they're just going to give the ball to Brandon fought on Friday and just kind of see what happens and figure it out from there. Maybe they're just sort of kicking it down the road. They just don't want to make this decision. They don't have the heart to tell any of these starting pitchers to go down to Reno. Hard for that. I couldn't. No, absolutely not. I couldn't look Brandon fought in that wholesome face and tell him that he has to go down. What if he teared up? I'd never forget that as long as I lived. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night thinking about that. But it does appear Zach Davies is back. And who knows what the Arizona Diamondbacks do? Is it the craziest thing to go with the six-man rotation? Yeah, this, I mean, this is interesting because it does, it does set up Zach Gallen to be pitching on a lot of rest, right?

because you've got five starters to cycle through, right? So it would be Brandon Fott, Friday, Davies, Saturday, Kelly, Sunday. Then if both Henry and Ryan Nelson make their start, then you have Zach Gowan pitching after an off day and all five of those guys pitching. Two off days, because there's an off day today and there's an off day on May 31st, right? Is there an off day on May 31st? Here we are not knowing the Diamondback schedule. There is not enough.

So you have June 1st there. Sorry. The problem is that I don't know how many days there are in the month of May. That's the problem. Yeah. So Zach Gallen would line up to start on May 31st when he started yesterday on May 24th. So that would be a six days rest for Zach Gallen, which is a lot of rest. I guess maybe the Diamondbacks would be potentially comfortable doing that.

But it sort of feels like that's what they're going to do. because I don't really see the Diamondbacks going away from Tommy Henry or Ryan Nelson in their next starts. I could see them the next time around nixing one of those guys potentially. But I guess they've just decided that this time around they're going to go with six men in the rotation. That's what this looks like. That's what Joey Hill asked. He said, can they send down Fought after his start and bring up Davies? Yeah, they can insert Davies in Brandon Fott.

But a corresponding move needs to be made in order for Davies to come back. So maybe Brandon Fott makes his story. start and then maybe he gets sent down after his start. It's just weird. It's like what happens if Brandon Fott gives you like six innings of one run ball or something against the Red So you're going to be like tough luck kid. We're sending you down to Reno so that we can bring Jack Davies up. But yeah, that's kind of what this looks like.

And then Zach Davies comes up and gives up seven runs in his first outing. Right. Yeah. Right. But then Brandon Fod is just going to sit in Reno regardless. So yeah, it's an interesting situation. But what it looks like is that the Diamondbacks are taking. one turn. They're basically committing themselves to one turn through the rotation with six men,

which, yes, it does have your ace starting on six days rest, which is a little weird. But I guess they're all right with that. And then they can just circle back to this the next time through the rotation. And maybe if Brandon fought struggles, then he gets removed. Maybe there's still a possibility that Tommy Henry or Ryan Nelson could be removed if they struggle in their outing. So there's a lot of different things on the table here. And I guess the debacks just said, you know, even though Tommy Henry and Ryan Nelson have looked better of late, looked better than Brandon Fought, they're not ready to send Brandon Fought down at this point. So we'll just have to kind of see where this goes.

I don't like, like this scene. If I struggle, do I get removed? Is that the way that this works? It is. Yes, it is. God damn it. I don't like that pressure. Oh, boy.

Well, anyway, we think you guys. Even if, well, the flip side is like even if, even if you don't struggle, right, then you might get sent down anyway. That's sort of, that's sort of what this looks like. That's not fair to me at all. Then's the rules, Derek. I hate the rules. I hate sports.

We thank you guys for being here watching our sports show about baseball, by the way. If you're right now on the PHNX sports YouTube channel, subscribe if you haven't done so already. We always love to see all of you here live. So make sure you sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when we go live. Leave us a thumbs up. We always love that. And right now, if you're listening to us on your favorite audio podcasting app, subscribe there as well.

Leave us a review. We always appreciate the feedback. If you haven't had a chance to grab a PHNX diehard membership yet, you should do so now. Not only will you get a free piece of PHNX merch from the PHNX Locker.com every year and 20% off all future purchases. You also get access to our members-only Discord. You get Jesse's newsletter, full count, and all the newsletters for all of our writers around here. All the content is unlocked. You also get members-only discounts with our partners.

You get members-only discounts and invites to events, members-only merchandise, and so much more. Mountain Mike's gives you a $50 gift certificate right out of the gate. So right there, it's worth it to sign up for a diehard membership. Do it today over at go phtonx.com and become part of our family. Also, check out BetMGM as we have teamed up with them this season, and we will be using them for our lines to make all of our picks. And of course, we'll have special offers for our listeners every single week. Don't forget to log on to the app every Saturday and Wednesday to claim your bonus bet on the house.

Fans will automatically receive a bonus bet upon logging. into their account. Bets expire up to 72 hours, so don't wait. Bonus bets can only be used on any sports wagers. So make sure to do that. Free money, free bets. Always a great time at the BetMGM app. And also a great time at the BetMGM Sportsbook over at State Farm Stadium,

where we will be for our knockout nights cornhole league on the first Friday of every month. There will be food and beverage specials, giveaways, bet MGM prizes, and so much more. There will also be people that are way better at Cornhole than me there. So show up. But Jesse and I will be there. we'll be broadcasting live from the BetMGM Sportsbook at State Farm Stadium, doing this show on the first Friday of every month. If you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code PHNX. There's a few different offers depending on where you live.

But for our Arizona peeps, you will get up to $100 in bonus bets on your first wager with BetMGM. Again, make sure you use bonus code PHNX. Check out the show notes for full details. And now listen to Shane, talk about the disclaimer. Disclaimer 21 plus to wager, visit betmgmgm.com for terms and conditions. U.S. promotional offers not available in Washington, D.C., Mississippi, Nevada, New York, and Ontario. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler.

Colorado, D.C., Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming. Call 8778-N-Y or text Hope and Y. 467-369, New York. Call 1-800-5-2-2-470-Cansas-N-VASSO, Kansas, Nevada, 1-800-3-2-7-50-Massachusetts, 1-800-Betts off Iowa, 1-800-2707-1-1-7 for confidential help, Michigan. Well, it is time once again for our Major League Baseball Power Ranking,

so let's take a look at where the top 10 teams in baseball currently stack up. As you can see here, there is no change at the top for the Tampa Bay raise, even though they got absolutely demolished in their game against the Blue Jays 20 to 1 because the raise are still a very good team. And also, no aggregate scoring in baseball. It does not carry over to the next game. Jesse, Rangers here make a big leap up to number two.

Thoughts on that. We have to start respecting the Texas Rangers, Derek. We talked about them last week, too. but the closer I looked at this, the more I was like, I don't think number four is high enough. I don't think number three is high enough. Sure. I wasn't quite ready to call them the best team in the league

because even though the Rays haven't played quite as good at baseball lately, I still think the Tampa Bay Rays are pretty clearly the best team overall in the league right now. The Rangers just did it without pieces, and now those pieces have returned and they're even stronger than they were before. So they are definitely a force to be reckoned with in the ALE. They have a run differential of plus 100. which is insanity at this point in the season. I mean, they're on pace to go like plus 350 by the end of the year,

which literally is like averaging to win every game you play by more than two runs. That is completely unheard of. Their run differential is two runs shy of the race. The rays are plus 114. The Rangers are plus 112. So just insane stuff from the Texas Rangers. I still, I still, I mean, there's some part of me that's a little bit skeptical. just because I don't know if Adelis Garcia is going to drive in 175 runs like he's on base.

I don't know that Jonah Heim is like this star catcher that he appears to be. There are some guys there who are breaking out that we haven't really seen break out before, but the just raw performance that they have put out there is absolutely spectacular and I think deserves a lot of credit. I have both the Braves and the Dodgers falling one spot this week. both of those teams are a little banged up right now. And after what the do... Is it what happened to the Dodgers?

Because obviously with the Dodgers pitching being as limited as it is and them having to go to the minor league players that they've had, I feel like even though they won the series against the Braves, they deserve to be ranked under them. The Braves are still a more complete team. And I think the Dodgers are trending in the other direction, which obviously is a great thing for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Yeah, the Dodgers are just really banged up right now.

now, not having Julio Urius or Dustin May for the time being. Obviously, Walker Bueller is going to miss most or more likely all of this season for them as well. That's a huge blow to that team. Their starting rotation depth is really being tested. They've had to turn to Gavin Stone and Bobby Miller, who are two young pitching, exciting pitching prospects in the Dodgers organization. So, yeah, we'll just kind of have to see where that goes for them. But there's a lot more volatility right now with that team.

than there normally is. Do I have the Orioles too low, Derek? They're 32 and 17 is number six. You and I disagreed. Like there's a lot of this that I, that you and I agreed about. I had the Astros and the Orioles both a little bit higher, maybe nestled in between the Braves and the Dodgers.

The Astros have just been playing incredibly well right now. They've been just smack. Like their run differential as of late is really the reason why. But, I mean, a lot of times power rankings, we don't want to get too crazy from one week to a next just because a team kind of broke out. I just feel like the Astros kind of turned it on and now they are the team that I expect to see of them this year. Every team in the AL East deserves to be on this list. And I'm not, I mean, there's. You think the Red Sox, too?

I don't know. I mean, I don't even know if the Blue Jays really deserve technically to be on here. But they're all just playing so well. It's hard not to have them on this list. The Yankees have been playing incredibly well. The Orioles are just incredible. They're an incredible team. And, I mean, the fact that the Rays still have such kind of a lock on that division right now when the Orioles, it's just absurd.

The ALE East is just crazy right now. It is. Yeah, it's kind of interesting. The Red Sox are entering this series with the D-BACs having lost four in a row. So they've actually struggled a little bit lately. And the Blue Jays, I think last week when we did this for like 25 and 19 or something. and now they're 26 and 25. Two and eight in their last 10 games.

Yeah. Yeah, which is, I still feel like the Blue Jays are a pretty good team. Alec Manoa really has really struggled. That's been a big part of what's gone wrong for them. This season, their starting rotation hasn't been as steady as a lot of people expected it to be. But yeah, I mean, I guess we should talk about the debacks too. The debacks we have it at number eight on the list. I had them number 10 last week.

So even despite what happened on, on Wednesday and the fact that they probably could have a better record than they do. We are ranking them as the eighth best team in the league, which is crazy 50 games into the season that they're at that level. It doesn't feel like it's an overranking, though. I feel like they deserve it. They have the third best record in the National League. I think that the games that they've lost were heartbreaking because they were in control of those games, right?

That's the reason why we're mad about it. they were against opponents that the diamondbacks could beat. But realistically, like we said before, the Phillies were in the World Series last year. I mean, should we really be putting the Phillies in that category of like the Diamondback should have swept them and there shouldn't have been a question about it, right? Trade Turner is just not going to be that bad of a player the whole year. I maintain that some of the guys who are struggling over there. I think the Phillies will turn.

I don't know if the Phillies are a playoff team, but I think the Phillies are a pretty respectable team that will probably win. more than they lose when it's all said and done. The thing about the Diamondbacks is they don't, they feel like they are not afraid to make the moves that they need to make to get better, right? Somehow shedding themselves of Madison Bumgardner and that constant question once every five days about what,

what version of Mad Bum are we going to see? Is he going to be able to go out there and be a competitive pitcher? Is he going to be able to give this team a chance to win? Yeah. That was a tough decision. And it was a decision that if I'm being honest, I never thought this team would actually make. So the fact that they did it just really shows how committed they are to moving beyond the mistakes that were made in the past and trying to make this team right now in the now be a contender, be a winner.

And that's why they deserve to be in the top 10 because their record is that the games they've lost were games that they should have won and were in control of. And I mean, hopefully as the season goes on, they know who they can roll on in the bullpen. and they know that they can they can you know turn those games around and not not have that happen to them as often yeah yeah it'll it'll be interesting to see how how things unfold over the course of the year basically we're saying they should have gone almost under basically undefeated on this nine game road trip is what we're saying i mean and right but that's sort of the case right like like they went they went six and three on this road trip which is which is a good road trip but it sort of feels like they should be eight and one because two of those two of those losses were

extremely, extremely winnable games. Yeah, the D-backs, the one thing I will say is the D-backs are only plus-15 from a run differential standpoint. So being 29 and 21 with a plus-15 run differential, feels like the D-Bax are maybe overperforming a few games. I think they're a Pythagorean win-loss, expected record thing is 26 and 24 right now. So that says that they're over-performing by three games, which you can kind of see where that comes from.

the debacks are winning a lot of pretty close games and the games that they are losing. I mean, obviously they've lost a couple tough one-run games in recent weeks, but they also lost to the Pirates 13 to 3 last week, whereas they haven't really had as many blown out, blowout wins as they have losses. So, yeah, I mean, I'm just still blown away at the fact that we're talking about power rankings and that we're having a conversation about where in the top 10 to put the diamond backs. It's a good feeling, right? It's pretty crazy.

Well, I will say this, that the Diamondbacks do have still some tough decisions to make. And we're going to see how the Zach Davies situation plays out. But in the long term, having too many good arms is never a problem. And right now, that might be the case for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Chris Sale against Brandon Fott is such a fascinating pitching matchup. I mean, it's like Chris Sale was a transcendent pitcher. Yeah. Just not that long ago, right?

and he's had all these injuries. And then Brandon Faw, one of the top pitching prospects in the game, but really struggling. You've been better his last couple times out. So it's going to be fun. I'm excited for the weekend, seeing the Red Sox in town, and in particular, that Friday game, just seeing what Chris Sale.

I've never seen Chris Sale pitch in person. So I'm excited to see what that looks like. Well, another thing that you can do is make sure to check out our friends at OG's brands if you want to have even more fun watching baseball, or doing anything. I'm going to Las Vegas this weekend. And of course, I'm bringing very little clothes with me and mostly just OGs.

But you can check out OGs wherever you get your edibles at. They have a wide variety of doses, strains, and flavors, whatever you're looking for, whatever you need from micro doses to sleep addition gummies to even their happy balance branded gummies. They even have mixed bags now of fruit and their creams. So, of course, if you always had to decide which one you want to get, decide no more.

Now you can have the best of both worlds in one bag with their watermelon, red apple, peach fruits mixed with their blackberries and cream, orange creamsicle, and peaches and cream flavors. They also have their pink lemonade flavor dropping on June 21st, which couldn't be better for summertime, a pink lemonade edible. Check out OGs online at OGsbrands.com and on Instagram at OGs Brands. You can also find their products at your local dispensary must be 21 years or older to purchase. Also, friends of Four Peaks must be 21 years or older. to purchase them as well, but they have a wide variety of beers for you to check out, whether it's wherever you get your beers or at their 8th Street pub in Tempe. You can also win some tickets for some Diamondbacks games through our friends at Four Peaks. With their Four Peaks, four seats,

promotion. One lucky winner will get four seats to an upcoming Diamondbacks game. Tickets come with debuts so you can grab some food and some wonderful Four Peaks beer for you to enjoy while watching some Diamondbacks baseball. Enter by going to at Four Peaks Brew on Instagram. The link is in our bio. And of course, in the chat, drop us what your favorite Four Peaks beer is. We always love hearing that. Check out at Four Peaks Brew or at Four Peaks Pub to keep up with the latest at Arizona's hometown

brewery. Again, must be 21 or older to drink Four Peaks and please drink responsibly. However, the chicken tendees at the 8th Street Pub are for all ages. Good for all ages. If I had the same dilemma that we're about to talk about, I would be able to buy everybody chicken tendies. I would buy Jesse

chicken tendees. I would buy Damon chicken tendees. The entire office would get chicken tendons on me anytime we went to the A Street Pub. And that's because there is a Drew Jones card in existence that is worth more money than what I owe on my home. And that's fine. It's fine. I'm okay with that.

But it is a one of one, meaning it is a sole addition of this card in existence. It's by Bowman Baseball, which is a Tops brand of baseball cards. This card is a super fractor auto, which means it is beautiful. it's shiny and it has an autograph by Drew Jones on the card. I believe even when you get it, it is already sealed potentially in plastic packaging around it like you would when you get cards graded just because it's that rare of a card. Protect it with your life, right? Yeah, you absolutely protect this card.

It is considered to be the rarest card of the 2023 Bowman baseball lineup and they just so happen to have made it a Drew Jones baseball card, right? Pretty crazy. It's pretty crazy. Yeah, I just can't imagine being Drew Jones. and like knowing that there is a card that is someone, that someone is considering paying a million dollars for at some point when I have actually only played like 15 games as a professional.

It's wild to me how card collecting works. And signing bonuses aside, you're probably going to make less than that combined for the next three years as a minor league player. That's all I'm saying. Significantly less. And that's just what the card is worth out of the packaging, right? So here's what we got.

This card, the value on it, just literally when you open it, is $100,000. It's a six-figure value on the card from the minute you find it. However, David Adams Card World, which is a baseball memorabilia store in Buffalo, New York, they have offered a bounty on the card of a quarter of a million dollars. A cool $250,000 should someone have found this card within 30 days of its release. It was released on April 26th. And then they had a crazier offer on top of that. Basically, they offered if you should take,

if you should take this deal instead of the quarter of a million dollars, they would pay you $1 million for the card. Should Drew Jones make the Hall of Fame? Which right there. Are you really having this conversation? I mean, that is just the craziest, like, that is the craziest addition to a deal I've ever seen. That is that that little kicker of saying,

if you want to go for the million dollars, you have to wait until Drew Jones makes the Hall of Fame, which would require the person who pulls the card to wait, what, 20 plus years for that kind of money? And also, you have the gamble there, right? Of, is it worth it to turn down a quarter of a million dollars

for the potential of Drew Jones reaching the Hall of Fame? Again, like Jesse said, a man who has played a handful of professional baseball games so far in his career. Someone has, in fact, pulled the card. It was another sports memorability company, Best of Ohio sports card. And according to their Instagram, they will not be pursuing the $1 million offer. However, they are considering the $250,000 offer, which I think is very smart.

Yeah. Like I said, the card's worth $100,000 currently. But it's like a scratcher. You know what I mean? Or it's like a lottery ticket or something. Like you open up this package, you have this card now, and you could literally, this piece of paper could turn into a quarter of a million dollars for you, which is just life-changing money for so many people, right? And I say life-changing, you know, I know it's only a quarter of a million dollars, but still. Only a quarter of a

million dollars. Well, you're going to have people out there. Like there's a Charisard card, right, that's worth like millions and millions of dollars, right? And I'm sure there's a couple of kids out there that absolutely hate themselves. Every single day they wake up because they sold their Charzard card for like $100 to some sports memorabilia. card you know shop in their area and they know what that card's worth right now but i mean the 250k deal like that seems pretty that seems pretty fair because the card you said has a current value of like 75 hundred thousand yeah right so like right out of the gate it's worth 100 000 and if you sell it for 250 then like you're already selling it for what it for more than what it's currently worth of course

that that that agency is betting that drew jones is going to be a very good player as a lot of people are betting on and that somehow in a decade, looking back on that, $250,000 is going to be a steal for a car that is literally a one-of-a-kind. There's literally one of these in existence. How do I know I'm going to live to see Drew Jones make the Hall of Fame? He's a young man, and I am not a young man, Jesse. Like, that right there alone is enough for me to take the 250 and run. But yeah, I mean, I guess that might play and do it. Forget the million dollar offer. So like I'm with this company.

Are you selling it for a quarter of a million or are you holding out to see if you could potentially get more money for it? And as a caveat, I also want you to explain where are you going to keep this piece of paper that's worth $250,000 in a drawer in your house, in a safety deposit box and some fucking bank manager has a key to? Where are you keeping this absolute treasure for however long if you decide to keep it? Uh, yeah, if it's me, I am absolutely taking my $250,000 in running. Uh, and, and that I, I would put in the bank, uh, so that I don't have to keep track of it. Uh, yeah, uh, that's just me personally. Uh, I'm sort of the type of person where, I mean, I'm always going to just sort of take the money and run in, in those kind of situations, I think, but, uh, but yeah, I mean, I don't know. Like, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't fault someone for holding on to it. I mean, Drew Jones is a, a, potentially transcendent player in this league. It's very, very early. The man has played 10 professional games.

And it's baseball. And it's baseball. He's in Visalia. He has Hillsborough, Amarillo, and Reno to go through before he gets to the big leagues. He also, Derek hit 175 with a 483 OPS. Give me that $250,000 right now.

Yeah, it's sorry like, you can still be a believer in Drew Jones and that he will be a successful major leaguer in the long run and still take $250,000 even if the card might appreciate down the road. I also would not want the stress going back to your earlier question of finding a place like in my house or somewhere to store that thing. I feel like if the house caught on fire, I'd be like chasing out for the Drew Jones card

before anything else. I'm dying in that fire. Either I'm coming out with that card or I'm not coming out at all. That's the way that works. I have a collector's edition of. the new Legend of Zelda game, Jesse. And that alone is so rare and hard to find currently that even that I think someone's going to break into my house and steal.

How much is the collector's edition of the new legend of Zeldon? Are you talking about like MSRP? Sure. $130. So quite a different than $250,000. Quite a bit of different. But I still worry that someone's going to break into my house and steal my video game, Jesse. I couldn't imagine the stress of having that card in my house.

But Connor Mormon says not that I think Drew Jones isn't going to be great, but you've got to take the $250,000 run. Absolutely. Nicholas says, in this world, how do you not take $250,000 right now? I don't know the answer to that. And Reform Skid, unfortunately, says I'm finally going to my first game this year. And of course, Zach Davies is pitching. I love going back to this whole thing. I love that the athletic, which is a very reputable, you know, very high, very high quality journalism. I love Zach. And yeah, our friend Zach Buchanan, who used to be on the Diamondbacks beat, was asked to write a two-paragraph blur. on whether or not Drew Jones will make it to the Hall of Fame when the man is literally just out of high school

and has played 10 professional games and is currently on the injured list in low A. At least he starts the paragraph with it's almost impossible at this point to predict whether Jones will make the Hall of Fame. That's pretty much the simple answer and pretty much all that needs to be said. That would have been my paragraph.

That would have been what I turned into my editing. Yeah, just the one sentence. But he is the kind of player where he has all the tools, right? He has all the tools. I said the thing. Speaking of, Dalton Varsho apparently was pinch hit for. He's trending right now on Twitter, Jesse.

He's trending. Blue Jays fans are having a hard time deciding whether they love Dalton Varsho and think he will turn it around and are very angry that he was pinch it for or whether they don't think he can hit. And just Miss Loris and Gabby. Yeah, I guess. But yes, going back to what I was saying, Drew Jones' incredible arm, incredible ability to field.

His hit tool is maybe the thing that's in the most degree of question right now. People maybe aren't so comfortable knowing exactly how that will paint out in the long term. But it's still above average, even though there's some volatility there. The raw power is off the chart. So, yeah, I mean, if you're going to, it's crazy to talk about a kid who's 18 years old, possibly making the Hall of Fame. But on paper, he has all of the tools in order to to maybe get there one day. And as you know, games aren't played on paper. They're played inside of television sets. Speaking of television sets, I did want to thank you guys for being here.

Gabriel Ferrer in the chat said, just spent the last hour cleaning a flooded bathroom. How's y'all's day going? Better than yours, Gabriel. Yikes. Better than yours. Yikes. Yeah. And then Michael in the chat. threw up Varshot's OPS, which is currently 653. Yeah. Not great. Not great. We're not ready to declare a winner in that trade, but of course we all know who won that trade.

Wink. If you want to win, though, you want to have a good team around you. You should check out Foco.com because that is where you will get this guy who still rocks the king snake around his shoulder, little Catelle Marte. You got Masked Catelle. He's not for sale, but this guy is Cactus League. Jesse's still trying to figure out who that player is, but Foco has a wide variety of pieces of artwork like these little guys next to us,

and they are a leading manufacturer of sports and entertainment, collectibles, and merchandise. Of course, they have the best officially licensed gear for all sports and fandums, including your Arizona sports love. Spring, it's baseball season. They got straw hats, aloha shirts, polos, bags, everything you need to be ready for the summer

and to be ready to go watch some baseball games. And of course, Foco has honored us with some of these beautiful little guys. So you can show them some love, give them some love back. Foco always has our back for Arizona's sports and they have your back as well. Get the best gear around by visiting www.foco.com and using code PHNX for all non-pre-sale items, use the promo code PHNX and you will get 10% off. And if you want some more sales, some more discounts, go to more furniture. Tell them Jesse sent you. They'll take you directly to the Chase Lounge section. No question to ask. They'll be like,

Say less, fam. Chase lounges are over here. But you can check out all the other stuff they have there too. You don't have to just get a chase lounge, tables, couches, beds, furniture, whatever you need over at morefurniture.com. Go check out their showroom and they will bring the stuff directly to you with their white glove delivery service, just like we received here at our office. Don't lift a finger.

Let them help you out. And of course, they know how to pivot that couch and get it in the door the right way. So shout out to them for furnishing our studios. and of course, thanks to them for always having Chase Lounge is in stock for Jesse. You can say big on the best furniture in the valley when you head to more furniture.com. I can't fit them in my place at this point, but I at least, I like to go over there and just look at them and sit on them, sit on them, stay on them. Jesse gets thrown out of more furniture quite a bit. I do.

I do. I do. It gets weird. They have to come tell them like, dude, you need to buy something or you need to keep moving. But they won't judge you that way. They're just sick of him seeing being in there. every day when we finish doing the show. Can I say one more thing about the starter situation?

I would love it if you did. So one interesting possibility that I think we should at least mention is instead of going to a six-man rotation, which is sort of what this looks like, the debacks could opt to use, say, Tommy Henry on back of one of the other starters. So you could have an interesting thing or you have like, I don't know, Zach Davies goes four innings or whatever in his first start back and then maybe you have a guy like Tommy Henry pitch on back of him and go a couple of innings after that. Almost like a bullpen start in a way.

Sort of. Yeah, sort of. Not quite a starter, but something like that. Yeah, there's some value in having like a lefty who pitches on back of a righty. So Tommy Henry sort of makes sense for that role. Just a possibility. That would be something the debacks could do in order to avoid the six-man rotation. and it would move everyone up a day so that they're on a little bit more normal rest.

So that's at least something that we should be looking out for. But the debacks have only announced starters, like we said earlier, through the end of the weekend, through Sunday. So we don't know what their plan is for Tommy Henry or Ryan Nelson at this point. But we'll talk with Tori Lavello tomorrow before the game and see if we can get some more info on this. And yeah, the Diamondbacks are going to be back here at Chase Field. Jesse will be out there cover on it. 10 days in a row.

Derek, 10 days in a row. 10 beautiful days in a row. Monday, I will actually be back and we are going to switch things up a little for you guys next week. Since they're playing on Monday in the afternoon when we would normally be doing our show, we're going to do a postgame show on Monday. So make sure to join us for that. I will be coming fresh off of four days drinking in Las Vegas. So let's see if I make it.

And let's see how sunburned I am and how dry my skin is. We're a sunscreen, Derek. I don't do that, Jesse. This is a preventable problem. preventable problem. No, absolutely not. I refuse to be an adult in any way, take care of myself in Las Vegas.

But I will say that, very excited to see what this Diamondbacks pitching staff can do against the Boston Red Sox. And of course, good time to be playing them because like Jesse said, they've kind of limped in here a little bit. Diamondbacks should still be a little angry. There should still be a little fire burning in them

from that loss. And hopefully we see them take it out on the Boston Red Sox. And then four games against the Colorado Rockies after that. So things keep rolling. around here. We will got, we got you covered. So keep it locked right here to PHNX for all your D-Backs news. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at Kp underscore Caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Freedman. Our producer is at Damon Dog with a DAWG at the end. And a low, of course, our show is at pHNX underscore D-Backs, but all roads lead to at PHNX underscore

sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. That's all we got, guys. Hope you guys have a wonderful day off. Diamondbacks play baseball tomorrow. Don't know what we're going to do with ourselves, but we'll figure something out around here. On behalf of this crew, we appreciate your time. Thank you so much. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you go to a six-man rotation. Let's do it, Jesse.