PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Aaron Judge bets on himself and is awarded a 9-year, $360 million contract with the New York Yankees

Episode Date: December 7, 2022

The crown jewel of the free agency class is staying far away from the NL West as Aaron Judge reportedly will sign a new 9-year, $360 million deal with the Yankees. Meanwhile, the dice came up snake eyes for the D-backs in the inaugural MLB Draft Lottery. 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.

Well, hello there and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX D-BACs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Monti, occasionally known as the mayor of PHNX, these two guys next to me, holding it down. While Jesse Friedman is at the winter meetings, of course, this guy is the MVP. It's the one and only Sean DePaz. And this guy's the FOJ, the one and only Jacob. Don't do that. Don't do that. Franklin what's happening all right well anyway

I feel like we should have started the show with the all rise all rise for the judge yeah all rise and honor of his incredible off if I rise that's what you get for being so tall but of course this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the draft king sportsbook app America's top rated sportsbook app

and Aaron Judge is America's top rated player this man just had the brinks truck backed up to his house he had a couple brink's trucks Briggs truck. Yeah, it wasn't just good enough. One wasn't good enough, but he signs a new nine-year, $360 million deal with the New York Yankees. And apparently he's going to get that C on his chest as well, which is for some reason a big deal to these Yankees. But anyway, thoughts on $360 million. Look, I mean, Aaron Judge is a factory-created terminator of a human being. So, like, yeah, does he deserve a lot of money?

Sure. Is he also old? Yeah. He's old, he's old. Strikeouts before. Yeah. Yeah. So, I don't know. I mean, you're going to get some biased opinions out of him over there. Like, I think Aaron Jones is worth a lot of money.

You won't get biased opinions on me. He's definitely worth a lot of money. I don't know if you know this about it. I grew up a Red Sox fan, but I also grew up with Derek Jeter being my favorite baseball player. Like, I, I, I didn't know both of those things could be possible. Yeah. There's a lot of Red Sox fans that have a lot of respect for Derek Jeter. But we also are the first ones to accurately point out that he's a wildly overrated player.

but absolutely. That's not what we're talking about. Absolutely. But also I agree with Marky Mark here. The Yankees can't possibly expect that level of production for nine years. You can't, but you also could not let him go. I agree with Brian Abdallah. The 29 is not old, you monster, but anyway.

It is for a guy whose entire game is predicated on his physical abilities. Like, I think he's worth it because it's a situation where you cannot let him go. That's very true. Even if you are going to be overpaying for him, five years, whatever, down the line, it's worth it if the alternative is him going to San Francisco and turning that team into a World Series contender. Well, he's the next Barry Bonds.

Well, he's not going to be a San Francisco giant. Sure, sure. He is a giant? But is he the next Barry Bonds? If you tell me that he's the next Barry Bonds, I'll believe that he can do this for the next nine years. No, just in level of production throughout his career. Maintain the 60 home run average.

Do you think he's the next Barry Bonds? I don't know. But Barry Mons only did it because he was doing steroids. Right. The reason his career lasted that long is because he was juicing. To be fair, you still have to hit the baseball. Right. I mean, yeah, you can say that about juicing all you want.

But it also, like, in terms of longevity, like, it keeps you, it makes it easier to recover. Like, it keeps you healthier. Correct. Which he would not have played that long. He still would have hit the baseball, but he would not have played that long if he wasn't doing steroids. I don't think. Again, thank you to Chirsten for pointing out that Aaron Judge is not old. I hate you both.

you both, not anybody in the chat. Let's look at the average age of the Braves roster, shall we? And tell me all of their rookies that weren't 26 or 27 years old. He's not old right now. He's old for a nine-year contract, but also like, if you ask Tiger fans, do you think they care that they're still playing Michael Carrera? Like, probably not. Trey Turner is going to be 40 years old when that deal expires.

That's also old. That's also old. The defense are still paying it, Madison Bonegarner. Yeah. He shouldn't even be in baseball. Madison Bobgner is 33. Yeah, but he's got it. Madison Bobgarner makes you think he's older than he actually does.

That's very fair, but. He really does. He's a cramogen. He was just born a crumgeon. And we talked about this yesterday because I kicked you off the show. Yes. Age for pitchers is very, very different than age for. I mean, see Justin Burley.

It's not a football podcast, but you turn your NFL running back. You turn 29 and everyone thinks your career is over. It's a rap. It is pretty. It is pretty. relative, I suppose. The Yankees... Brian, I'm 25, so I don't know how you can call me a cradle robber.

I don't know what happened here, but that went off the rails. Now, the one thing that Aaron Judge did get offered was the $230 million eight-year deal, which last year seemed a bit more reasonable. It seems a bit more reasonable now, but he did not accept that deal. opted to go into free agency, still stays with the Yankees, and gets $130 million more million-dollar... more and one extra year. So today's lesson is bet on yourself. Yeah. And let's take a look at that tweet that we had by the way, because this is really what it's also all about when it comes

the this one. Yeah, incredible note from Tom Verducci on MLB Network. Judges 282 pounds will be signed through his age 39 season. He'll have a chance to become just the second player to ever hit a home run at 270 pounds or more and at age 37 or higher. The other was Bartolo Colone. I mean, I was, I went along that ride, like an audio listener might, where I didn't, I wasn't reading it. I was kind of just listening to you. So you're like, I was like, oh, this is pretty interesting. And then you got to the Bartolo Colon part. I'm like, oh, fuck.

Yes. Yes. Let's go. Bartolo. Saw him pitch live for the record in New York. Was an electric experience. I just think that this shows how underrated Bartolo Colon was as a hitter. The real life, the real life job of the hut.

Yeah. Yeah. Meanwhile, the big factor here is that Aaron Judge stays out of the NL West. He does. He would have also stayed out of the ALE East as a reformed Red Sox. But I would much rather him be Akey. But does it really matter all that much now that the schedule's changing? Because you still have to face him.

It does in making an NL West rival better. They already have two very good teams that spent a lot of money to do with. I think baseball is trending in the direction of doing conference. Yeah, I mean, it would make sense. The entire idea of a division now is irrelevant. Like just the leagues. Considering how long the season is, unless you're reducing the season, there is no reason to have both this long of a season and also this infrequency of playing your own opponents, right? The NL, the reason as much as it's headed that way.

Yeah. If you play your division a lot, then you at least have the chance to either make up ground or really distance yourself from the pack like the Dodgers have done. over the last couple of years. But, you know, by playing everybody else in the league, it really doesn't give you as much of an opportunity to do that. No, I will say butts in seats. Butts and seats is important. Yeah.

And so having them in the division for the team, oh yeah, but it's butts and cents. But also, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like I hate your line of thinking, but I can't disagree with it. Also, the California teams, when they draw it. Yeah, I was going to say,

they're going to draw. They don't really struggling to get butts and seats when the California teams here. I mean, the problem is what butts are in those seats, but Aaron Judge being a giant isn't going to get more Dodgers or DeBass fans in the seats at that point. Yes, it would. I think more people would come just in general to see. Yeah.

At least the first series that they played in the year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're sending the chat down the rabbit hole. Oh, yeah. Structure's been functionally irrelevant since like 1919. We're just going to go way back now. We're just going to get on this tangent. Oh, yeah.

Let's do it. Let's do it. However, we still have to wait to see where arson judge is going to sign because, of course, MLV, Twitter is relentless. So when you make a mistake like this, you can't make both of those mistakes. You can't say Aaron Judge and spell it wrong and also say that he was headed to the wrong team. Which one do you think he is more upset about? The fact that this misspelling has become a complete meme or the fact that he was just blatantly wrong? The blatantly wrong part by far. The meme product does not buy. John Heyman has been made into a meme for years. There's nothing new

about that. But again, it's both the inaccuracy of the name and also. being wrong. Derek, Derek, I feel like you're one to talk about tweets that were wrong and have been deleted. What did what happened? What did I? Leah, can you show them what we found? What do we have? I don't know why people watch WWE. It's all stupid fake sense.

Look at that. Look at that. Tweeted this morning at 10.30. That's an awful font. That doesn't even look. You just haven't updated your Twitter app. Look, here's what I'm saying is that you guys need better photos. Shop skills. Damn, Derek.

Wait, no, no, no. Can we get the other one? No. You want to start a lot. You have to start after the Photoshop skills. It needs to be... I have officially conceded the mayor of PHX race to Emma. Delete it. Fair and square.

How did I tweet both of these at the exact same time, you frauds? Wow. You guys are monster. Former mayor of PSNX. Oh, former mayor of PSRex. So I need to get mayor elect to Emma Clark. And actually, your co-host has been duping you. What?

For months now. What Derek doesn't know? Is that I'm actually an Academy Awards voter. This is impossible. I can't believe that this is a real big. He's seen all of the movies there. Is he just playing me? I feel like this is,

this is like what my daughter's doing with the elf on the shelf, isn't it? She knows it's not a thing, but she's still doing it, right? All I'm saying is, you guys are all gaslighting me. That's big of you to go start making fun of, you know. I hate you guys.

I just, I hate you guys so much. I hate you guys almost as much as the Chicago Cubs fans continue to hate C. St. Louis Cardinals because they stole Wilson Contreras going, Derek. Wilson Contreras is now a St. Louis Cardinal. Jesse knows. Jesse said, come on, you can't have a hashtag. All I'm saying is that, thank you, Jesse.

One of the people sitting at this table is a graphic design specialist, and the other one made those tweets, and you can decide which one is which. I'm never, uh, that's, yeah, Jesse says this is blasphemous. Thank you, Jesse. Jesse, come on here and defend yourself. He always has my back. Come on here and defend yourself, Jesse. Yeah, why don't you come on here.

I don't think he'd have his back. I think he only has your back because Jacob made him look like he doesn't know how to use hashtags. He's defending himself. He's just collateral. That's fine. I'm fine with that. Again, Wilson Contrera sides with the St. Louis Cardinals for five years.

The Cubs get as their consolation prize. Cody Bellinger on a one-year deal. But has Cody Bellinger? been good since his That's why I'm laughing. That's why I'm laughing. Hey, Cubs fans. I know you're probably sad about Contreras.

Oh. Yes. Correct. I'm defending me. Derek, you suck. Damn, Jesse. You're never coming back on this show, Jesse. Stay in San Diego as far as I'm concerned.

You can find a nice spot on the beach to sleep. He twist his arm. You got to stay in San Diego. No kidding. What were you saying about Contreras? No, I just, it's just like, hey, Cubs fans, you're sad about Contreras leading. Here's a washed outfielder.

Like, who's just wildly inconseilers. Totally inconsistent. It's funny. I mean, like Todd says, it's difficult placing Yadi, but I feel like this is probably going to get a catcher who has done it well for a while. And it's also from a division rival. You get that little cherry on top of you stole this guy from a division rival. Probably the best way to go about replacing the most legendary, one of the most legendary players in your franchise's history. So I feel like it's a good way to try and not win the fans over because no one's, you didn't lose anybody by.

No, no. No, you're just infuriating your band. And honestly, if the Cubs don't do something more than this, I think there's going to be, there's going to be, I don't know, a mile upris. I will say, Belly is a good outfielder. Sure. It has good leather. He can cover a lot of ground.

So from that, from that aspect, it's not necessarily the worst sign that they could have made. It's a one-year deal. But I think when you talk about from a fan's perspective specifically, like you see the name Cody Bellinger and you're not like, you're not excited because of the glove. Sure. You're excited about what his bat was at one point. But you're still hopeful, again. Yeah, he's still a kid.

Yeah. To a degree or hopeful that he can get back to where he was at. And maybe the change of scenery is the perfect opportunity for him to do so. Who knows? The Giants get their consolation prize for not winning the Aaron Judge sweepstakes in Mitch Hanager. A little better of a consolation prize than Cody Bellinger. Yeah, a little bit, a little bit. But, yeah, again, not.

Old friend alert. Old friend alert for sure. But the hot stove stays white hot right now because all these things are happening. And of course, we're going to have giant blurry Jesse on here. Oh, if you missed a perfect transition to him. Like, you know what else is white hot? What's that? Jesse.

Jesse, for example. He's more white and hot. Yeah, yeah, there we go. See, lucky. You guys made that out. A hot time. Woo! Anyway, make sure if you haven't done so already.

Go to go phtonx.com. Check out Jesse's recent articles, everything he's covering on the winter meetings, and also get yourself a membership. Become a PHNX diehard. Get yourself not only one of these sweet-ass hats or T-ShX. shirts, but also 20% off all the merch over at phnx locker.com. Get yourself the Discord only, or excuse me, members only Discord lounge, as well as access to all of our events, all sorts of fun stuff. So make sure to become a member. Get access to Jesse's diehard only newsletter as well,

which he will be having some new one of those drop very soon. So thank you guys already for being here. We appreciate everyone that's here in the chat. If you haven't done so already, And make sure to subscribe to the PHNX sports YouTube channel, sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever we go live. If you're listening to us right now in your favorite audio podcasting app, please subscribe to us there. Leave us a review. We appreciate you for doing. So I got two new guys that you can give five-star reviews for.

So if you don't think I deserve it, one of these dudes. I give you a five-star at the end of the show? Yeah. What? Can I give you a five-star at the end of the show? I don't know. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, no.

No, no. No, I knew what I could count on you. See, that's why you're the MVP. Anyway, that's why you're not the MVP. Yeah. That's why he's Jesse's MVP. No, that was Max. Never mind.

You are. He was a nobody's in a big of him. But right now, Jesse is the MVP because he is coming into us from the winner meetings. Crystal clear Jesse. Once again, this is not giant-blery. Gessie is dead and clear white-hot Jesse. Yes, this is white-hot Jesse. Let's go.

What's happening, buddy? So it turns out that the Wi-Fi that I was given on day two of the winter meetings was not the best Wi-Fi network is available to media. You don't say. I'm not sure exactly how I didn't get the password for the superior Wi-Fi network, but yesterday I came across said password, and we're in a much better spot today. So I'm glad it worked out. Yes, yes.

Jesse, we need to know what happened to Mike Fitzgerald. Is he okay? Yeah, you know, Mike is, you know, he might have some media. for therapy, you know, over the next couple of weeks. He didn't have the opportunity to rip open the shirt as he was hoping to. The Arizona Diamondbacks, of course, fell one spot from their most likely position in the MLB draft lottery. But as was pointed out yesterday by our PH&X Sun's Twitter account, this is just like the

ushering in to, you know, the world of draft lotteries as an Arizona sports seat. Welcome. Welcome to the darkness. expect if you are an Arizona sports team. And so yesterday just confirmed that the Diamondbacks do not exist outside of that. And that the bad luck of Arizona sports teams in the draft lottery also seems to apply to them. Jesse, who popped more bottles of champagne yesterday? The Minnesota Twins or the Pittsburgh Pirates? Honestly, I think it'd have to be the Minnesota Twins, at least in my book.

I know the Pirates got the number one overall pick. But the Minnesota Twins had a 1.7% chance. of moving up to number five. Their most likely selection spot, I believe, was number 13th. So, yeah, the chances of the Minnesota twins moving to number five was about the same as the chances of the Diamondbacks getting the first overall pick. So that was like an enormous jackpot for them in that way. But granted, I'm getting the number one overall pick, I guess, is the biggest prize in a draft lottery.

So Pirates fans are probably feeling okay about that as well. The draft lottery was fun to watch, especially once teams, seems like the twins and the Texas Rangers started hanging around and getting into the top six when they shouldn't have been there at all, seeing where they go, how, you know, what position they get and everything like that. So that, that ended up being, in my opinion, a really successful event. However, I did not need every single representative for every team to be introduced. No offense to those people. They are great human beings and I'm sure they do a lot for their organizations, but that took

a little bit of a process, or a little long when it came to that process. The Oakland A's, Jesse. Why do the baseball gods hate the Oakland A's? Because they're the Oakland A's. I mean, it's just awful. Vegas A's aren't getting screwed like this. The Oakland A's just, I don't know.

I mean, they just don't have a whole lot going for that franchise right now as a whole between their ballpark situation and now, you know, kind of getting snubbed in the draft lottery. So things are the board for the Oakland A's have been better. It's sort of been a rough, rough few years for that organization all the way around. Does that mean we're getting Sean Murphy today, Jesse?

I'm not sure if that has any implications for Sean Murphy. Maybe the A's front office, you know, because they're angry about what happened in the draft lottery, they're going to make some impulse trade decision. But I don't necessarily anticipate that. Mike Hayeson, of course, he couldn't talk about Sean Murphy in particular. last night, not by name, but he did say that, you know, nothing is close. I wouldn't expect if the Diamondbacks do ultimately land Sean Murphy from the A's, I don't think that's going to happen here at the winter meetings or honestly even here in the next few days. I think it's probably something

that will drag out for a while. And frankly, that's been a trend like around all of baseball. Like, we've started to see the hot stove heat up in a big way, especially today as far as the free agent market is concerned. But the trade market is just dead. Like there have been zero significant trades made so far at the winter meetings. I think the Rockies swapped like a minor leaguer or something last night or early this morning. But outside of that, I mean, there's really been like no action in the trade market whatsoever. So yeah, if the debacks are going to get a Sean Murphy or, you know, some other big name guy in exchange for one of their outfielders, probably going to be a while before that ultimately happens.

Realistically, I don't know if this is actually how it happens. So I'm curious if you have any insight into this. But do the executives get together at the winter meetings and actually start discussing these trades? Or is that like against some sort of CBA or is there some other route that they have to go? Like how do the winter meetings help kind of engage this trade market that we have seen be somewhat non-existent? Yeah, it's funny. Mike Hazen said that, you know, just given the advances in technology and the fact that everyone uses their phones to communicate. It's actually like kind of funny the way that these negotiations work. Like there might be team personnel, you know, like three doors down the hallway, but you're not going to walk over there and talk to them in person. You're going to text them or call them, right? Like this is the 21st century. This is what people do. But yeah, as far as like the trade market negotiations and how that works, the diamondbacks have had, I'm sure, many discussions about different trades in the last few days. Those discussions are being had. And Mike Hazen did talk about how the winner

meetings, you know, even though because of the advances in technology, being in the same place doesn't mean what it used to. He did say that there is an element of just added urgency, just being here in the same place, you know, particularly focusing on trying to get some of these deals underway. But I think there's just some more chips that need to fall, particularly in free agency, before teams are really going to be willing to explore what they can get in the trade market. Any chance the bad Wi-Fi impacted the trade market? You know, I'm told that the executives have slightly better Wi-Fi than what us media members. They have their own Wi-Fi network.

Yeah, they also have access to the elusive Mike Hayes and Hot Spot. Ah, man. Aaron Judge was about to meet a Diamondback, but the Wi-Fi didn't wear. Yeah, well, I mean, and that's actually a very fair point to bring up. The San Diego Padres reportedly have offered several of these big names that have already signed. that were worth more money than what the player ultimately signed for. And there was a report from one executive, one rival executive that was wondering where the hell San Diego keeps getting all of this money from.

But what are the thoughts, since you're in San Diego, on the Padres not being able to land some of these players and honestly offering them bigger contracts than they signed? So one interesting thing that I picked up on on this topic recently. I don't know the exact number, but I did hear that it is at least possible that Aaron Judge would have made less money had he taken the San Diego Padres offer due to the difference in taxes. That's always a factor, right, when you're talking about a team in San California, right? State taxes in California are higher than they are in a lot of other places.

So I don't know if that was ultimately, you know, the deciding factor for him. I would have been really surprised, frankly, if Aaron Judge went anywhere other than back to New York. The fact of the matter is the Yankees need to get better. And losing Aaron Judge is a very, very poor start to getting better. Right. Like, you can't improve if you're losing a 10 war player. Like, you need to keep that guy and add in addition to that. So I think this was always kind of the most likely outcome here. But yeah, the San Diego Padres have been aggressive.

I mean, 10 years, 400 million, apparently, is what they offered to Aaron Judge. They also offered reportedly about 340 million to Trey Turner, which is $40 million more than he ultimately took with the Philadelphia Phillies. So, yeah, they're out there. They're being aggressive. There is some speculation that the fact that Manny Machado has an opt-out at the end of next season could be playing into this. Maybe the Padres are expecting to potentially lose Manny Machado. And so they're kind of hedging in trying to find another big name free agent. agent in case that happens. But with the way that their front office is willing to spend money

right now, it's at least, it's at least possible that the Padres could add another big name free agent and retain, you know, Machado, Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis for the long haul. At this point, you have to at least consider that possibility. We've talked a bit about the Diamondbacks being in pursuit of some free agents or possibly players by trade. And they seem to be kind of revolving around some catchers, right? So I guess it's hard not to feel like Carson Kelly's days behind the plate might be coming to an end or that they might at least be trying to look to improve at catcher. Yeah, and the thing with Carson Kelly is I think he's a very tradable player. So if the Diamondbacks did decide to go out there and get themselves a Sean Murphy or some other starting

caliber catcher, I think it's likely they probably would trade Carson Kelly rather than using him as a backup because he will be valued by other teams. But yeah, I don't know if I'm ready to say that his days as the Diamondbacks everyday catcher are necessarily over, but it's absolutely something the Diamondbacks are very seriously considering. And it makes sense. Like there are just so few good catchers in baseball, right? We've talked about this in the past. I mean, Sean Murphy, according to Windsabut, Replacement, was the third most valuable catcher in baseball this last year. only J.T. Romuto and Adley Rushman had more war, according to fan graphs than Sean Murphy this last year. But after him and a few other guys, there's an enormous drop-off. There's just not a lot of catchers who hit and can defend at this point.

And so, you know, if you're looking for a way to really move the needle and really improve your team, going out and getting, you know, one of the better catchers in the game is a big way to do that because you're going to have, you know, you're going to have a level of performance at catcher that very, very few teams. teams around the league are able to replicate. So I think it's something they're looking at, but I'm not quite ready to say that Carson Kelly's days in Arizona are over just yet. Brett Johnson asked, with Wilson Contreras off the board, you think they get more aggressive in the Sean Murphy market, or honestly adding on to that, the catcher market in general?

Yeah, I mean, they might have to, right? Now that Wilson Contreras is off the board, you know, maybe teams start to look to the trade market a little bit more. and the diamondbacks aren't the only team interested in Sean Murphy, right? I mean, there are maybe upwards of 10 teams right now that could be in the mix to try to trade for Sean Murphy. I think it's pretty clear that a deal is probably going to happen. The A's are probably going to deal him at some point. But yeah, it's going to be a bidding war.

And so for the Arizona Diamondbacks to come out on top of that, you're, you know, kind of looking at potential trade packages. I think maybe it starts with an Alec Thomas. And then maybe you look to add a, you know, a slade store. Cicone, one of the Diamondbacks mid-level pitching prospects. I think that could be a reasonable offer. But you also have to factor in the number of teams that want Sean Murphy, it could drive up the price substantially.

You mind up having to overpay a little bit, at least on paper. Todd in the comments, ask, if Kelly goes, that's another piece of the Goldschmidt trade gone. That's the entire gold trade gone. That's the entire. Andrew Young no longer here. Carson Kelly, probably no longer here. I mean, he might have still back up. I will say the Diamondbacks did get a draft pick in that trade as well,

which turned into Dominic Canzon. But interestingly, Dominic Canzon is one of the leading candidates to be selected in the Rule 5 draft, which is happening in about an hour and a half. So it's possible that he could move on as well. Is there any package you could see being centered around Dominic Fletcher for any of these guys? Not for Sean Murphy. Not for Sean Murphy. I think it has to be Alec Thomas or Jake McCarthy. more likely Alec Thomas would be my guess.

Yeah, I think Fletcher certainly has trade value, and it's possible the Diamondbacks could look to move him. It's a position they have plenty of depth in, obviously. So I think they could look to move Dominic Fletcher, but at that point you're maybe looking more at getting a reliever rather than, you know, like an everyday starting caliber player. I don't think Dominic Fletcher would fetch that in a trade all by himself. This question is for everybody, but I'll start with White Hot Jesse.

Will there be a sense of disappointment? And I guess you could say with the fan base or internally within the organization if the Diamondbacks don't make a big move here. I mean, I know that there's no sense of urgency for them to do so. However, it does feel like they've kind of set us up to expect a big move,

and it feels like internally they might be expecting that. So is it going to be viewed as like a, you know, kind of a missed opportunity if they don't end up? doing something here to make a big splash. Yeah, I think it's an interesting question. Are we talking trade or are we talking free agency or just anything? I guess anything to make this team better.

Like I understand that they're still going to pursue some bullpen arms and things like that. But it feels like things have kind of gravitated from we're going to look to improve the bullpen to we are looking to get this team better. Some of Hazen's comments seem to be centered around like, you said, kind of like maybe that they, that stacking up at a certain position right now isn't the worst thing. So it kind of like, it sounded a bit maybe like catcher or maybe like shortstop that they might would, would end up with a surplus in those positions by bringing someone else on, but they're not afraid to do so because they're going to do whatever they can to make this team better. I mean, I think like there are worse things in the world than keeping Alec Thomas and Jake

McCarthy and Dalton Varshow, right? Right. That's not, that's not the worst. thing in the world. In fact, I think there's a contingent of Diamondbacks fans that would prefer that. Chris is one of them. Chris just said, she said, this is stressful. I don't need a splash. I want my 133 lefty outfielders. Yes. Keep all of our left kings. I think just given the gravity of some of the rumors that we've heard right now that you've heard Zander Bogart's the Diamondbacks, now that you've heard Sean Murphy, it's like, oh man, like something big could be happening here. I think the debacks are going to make some improvements this offseason. that will move the needle in a fairly significant way.

I would be pretty surprised if they didn't, you know, do more than just adding a couple of middle relievers and calling it good. I think there are still some pretty big things to come. So in that sense, I guess you could say it would be a disappointment. But, I mean, if you're hanging your hat on, on Zander Bogarts or Sean Murphy, I don't think it's, I don't think you could justifiably say that it's a huge disappointment if those things don't happen, particularly Zander Bogarts are signing some big name free agent. And I don't think that's ever been realistic.

And Sean Murphy's, you know, a great trade target. But I wouldn't necessarily say that it's a move. The Diamondbacks absolutely have to make or anything. So not sure if I would be as disappointed on that front. What are your thoughts? Yeah. I mean, I think they, with the, the Zander Bogart's thing has kind of put them in a weird situation in terms of like people thinking like, oh, they might be doing something more than we expected.

But like, say you go sign Alexander Bogartz, I know that there's people here that would be like, I don't really know why you did that. Like, it would be exciting. sure. But then if you get halfway through the season and the bullpen is still blowing like games, I'm going to be pissed off that you didn't do anything about the bullpen. So like it might be like a cool thing that gets the fan base excited now if you go sign a big name. But if you don't also go fix the other problems, then it's not going to get you anywhere.

Right. In the middle of the season, people are still going to get pissed off. So it would be cool if they were to sign a big name reliever or something like that. And then you kind of kill two birds of one stone in that regard. Then like that would be cool. but like signing Andrew Bogart's sure but

none of the other problems with the seem have been fixed at that point you have a leaky roof and you bought a new refrigerator exactly the refrigerator was old yeah the refrigerator

exactly the refrigerator was old sure but we're about to not have a house yeah the roof there's a hole in the room what would be doing yeah so it would be cool but you have to fix the actual problems

it'd be cool for a casual but like I think the real fans are still gonna be like how are we doing here? Yeah, what are we going to do for the seventh to eighth? Yeah, exactly. Right. If they're going to go out and spend this, like this prospect capital,

I'd rather them spend it on things that they're filling holes with, right? And it is hard to, and it is really hard to trade one of these five outfield kids. It absolutely is. However, that is just the reality of what you're in because you might want to keep them all, but you're not going to see them all. Like if you want to see these kids play on a day-to-day basis, you've got to get rid of a couple of them, right? So you got to choose which ones you think are best for your long-term future.

And then from there, you then go evaluate their availability on the market and see what you can go get for them because you have other issues elsewhere. I can't agree with you more. And here's the thing is, Jesse wrote an article about this a while back. The Diamondbacks historically have always had a bad bullpen. It's wild because you would just think in general that there would be years where their bullpen was better. There were guys. They had someone. And there was some, you know, they've just, it's always been fucking trash.

And that's the problem is they need to finally address that. We've seen in the playoffs how important, how big that was for certain teams. We also saw how powerful some of these bullpens were. You had multiple guys going in there and throwing over 100 miles an hour in one bullpen. Like that's that in general is going to be the thing that wins games for you more, more than a potent offense, to be honest. And to the big name thing, like, the, the, the bullpen needs to get fixed. Like, like, you go sign, even if you were to go sign one big name reliever, like, you know, the bullpen still blew like 40 games or whatever it was last year.

Like, there is a lot that needs to be done. And you look at like shortstop, sure Zander would be cool, but it's not a position you necessarily need to fix right now. And then catchers, obviously they've been now tied to Murphy. If you don't get him. There's other catchers available. Like Christian Vasquez is still a free agent, for example. Like, it's not, people might be disappointing because, oh, we didn't get that guy we were tied to, but there are other options there.

You talked about Gabriel Moreno through the Toronto. Yeah, Toronto Blueways have three catchers that they might get rid of. They just, they are in the same position we are. But with catchers instead of, yeah. Right? So it makes sense for a deal to be done between those teams. But, uh, Jesse, we thank you so much for finding this fantastic, uh, high definition internet internet connection. White hot.

White hot, Jesse Friedman. But remember, we're all going to be disappointed in you if you don't bring us back a big name. So we're counting on you. Don't let us down. Again, I'm just saying I'll just stay in San Diego and I'll have absolutely no problem with that. And make sure you send us. It's really not a threat. You have your sick rev four there.

So I know you're going to be fine. I do have my sick rap four. And Tori Lavello is also here in town. Oh, no. Unfortunately, I don't believe there are any salad and come up. There's no sound. I knew where he was going with that. I win again, Jesse Friedman.

You get it with those graphics, those graphics of those tweets that were shown earlier. I have to speak on this real quick. Can we get the tweet that was allegedly from me on the screen again? Because I have a series. Oh, yeah. You muted. Suck it, Jesse. You have nothing to say because we can't hear you, Jesse.

Gosh, am I unmuted now? There you are. You're back. Okay. I'm back. I'm back. All right, so first of all, like, what's going on with the font here? Like, that's not.

I was furious about the font, Jesse. They did a terrible job with the font. And then... Stop saying, hey, I didn't have anything to do with it. Secondly, we have hashtag Academy Awards with a space in between, which is not how Twitter works. You can have hashtag Academy. It wouldn't really make any sense.

I told you. There can't be a space there. You know, so this is a very... Let's not forget these in about five minutes. You don't burn Jesse and not expect the feedback. All right? Jesse is going to have ample feedback for you when it comes to this. Not only the thunderstake, it is a white-hot thunder stick.

He's coming for you. He is. I don't know. I watched Jesse mess around with some cameras last night. The technological standpoint, let's just say I wouldn't be surprised if that actually was him. He's definitely arson judge right now, though. That's for sure. So, all right, white hot, Jesse.

We appreciate you and go have some fun. Don't bother Scott Boris too much, but let him know we want Zach Gallen back. please all right sounds good all right pal thank you we appreciate you see jesse tell troy i miss him all right Jesse's like Derek you're taking too long

yeah you need to wrap it up I'm just standing here looking like a fool but of course he's not he's got that blue blazer on he looks great but clean can't go white hot thunder stick white hot thunder stick yep that's that's what we're going with uh you take take it out ever you want to take that

but of course we thank you guys for being here uh of course you acted like that was gross look you take it how you want to take it you take that way not understand the way you want anyway we're going to wrap it up on that

I have nothing more to add but you can follow us all on Twitter I'm not even giving you his his his hat he doesn't get at he's dying Jacob underscore Franks this is Sean DePaz over here two followers away from 500

I'm two away let's make me there and then I'll unfollow him just to interrogate him more once he hits it. Once I get this screenshot, though, that's all I matter. Yeah, I'm at Cap underscore C-Man. Ad Reads. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. You're right. Ad reads. I forgot.

It's blame Jesse for that, but it's also because I did want to say... By the White Huffler's 6th. Yeah, that's really what did it. I, the best thing I ever did was upgrading my office. A year ago, it's almost the anniversary of me upgrading my office. It was a

horrible process. I never knew how difficult it was really going to be. to switch out a room that I had had my stuff in for 10 years with my daughter who lived in her room literally for her entire life. However, I will say it is the best thing I ever did. So make sure you get yourself some new furniture. You make yourself a special space in your home over at Moore Furniture. Right now, the holiday clearance event is happening at morefurniture.com, and you can save up to 50%. Also, it's gift giving season.

And you know that there are people on your list that you still have to shop for. You have no idea what you're going to get them. go over with Four Peaks Brewing Company, 8th Street Pub. Give the gift of beer this holiday season. You can get them still right now. Give it to them early. They still have limited supplies of their December Advent calendar box for $55. Enjoy a incredible variety of beers, tall boys, and more.

The best part of the Advent calendar now, you get it's the seventh. You got seven beers to get through. That's where you start off with. I think our office might be one day behind too. Oh, well, I'm going to have to rectify that myself. But anyway, purchase this at their eighth. street pub and Tempe. And of course, if you can't get down there to get the advent calendar box, you could still give the gift of beer. Wherever you get your beer at your local grocery store,

make sure to enjoy responsibly, 21 and over only. Again, back to the outro. Are you going to, is there anything else I needed to do? Are we good? Are we good? Are we good? Yeah, we're good. Also, muting Jesse, that was totally on purpose. I cut them off. Well done. Well done. That's why you're my favorite. Anyway, this guy, he's Jacob underscore Franklin 4. This guy's at Sean, is it underscore to pause. It is underscore to pause. I'm at Cap underscore Kband with a K. Jesse's at Jesse

N. Friedman, but he's never coming back. He is staying in San Diego forever. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but of course all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports. You're not supposed to hit me in the back of the head. I feel your hands on my it. And that, but all roads leads at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you guys so much for being here. This got really weird

really fast. On behalf of all of these clowns, we thank you guys so much for joining us. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you watch it with your friends.