PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Are These SHOCKING MLB Opt-Outs EXACTLY What the D-backs Need This Offseason?

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4MLB’s opt-out season is officially here, and a few surprising decisions could shake up the Diamondbacks’ offseason plans. We break down which moves might open new opportunities in the pitching market. Plus, meet the D-backs’ new third base and catching coach, J.R. House, as he and Torey Lovullo explain why he’s the perfect fit for Arizona’s staff. And of course we are asking if Geraldo Perdomo deserved more love in the NL MVP race, even if he was never going to win it?An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/APS:  Find instant rebates, discounts and special offers on smart thermostats, energy-efficient appliances and more at https://marketplace.aps.com/default/heating-cooling/smart-thermostatsBranded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotesCrown Royal: Visit crownroyal.com/PurpleBagProject to learn more!Chicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today!Access Auto Insurance Agency of Arizona, LLC (Access Auto) is a renowned agency offering personal and commercial auto insurance options to Arizona residents. If you’re on the hunt for a new policy, call Access Auto today at 1-480-400-0546 or get a free insurance quote by visiting our website www.access-insurance.com.Visit https://www.macu.com/accounts/checking/mystyle-checking?cid=ea-PHNX-AZ-mystyleAugust2025-checking to learn more about their MyStyle Checking Accounts!bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets!Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!Monarch: Use Monarch to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnxWhen 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

J.R. House is officially the Arizona Diamondbacks new third base coach, and we have more from his introductory press conference this morning. Also, if a player gets snubbed, but they weren't going to win an award anyway, does it really matter? We have more on Geraldo Perdomo, who at least is our MVP, not being an MVP candidate for the National League. All of this in 30 seconds, don't you go anywhere. And welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast, live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. It is I, your mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as Derek Montia, and also occasionally known as an instigator to the Dodgers fan base. But of course, I am not alone and I am not the main instigator. The one, the only, the main character in the Dodgers universe is the one the only Damon Dogg, aka David Ferrell. is on the ones and twos today. I hate you too, Dodgers fans. Yeah, I mean, almost 2,000 of them showed up on yesterday's episode,

and we just thank you for the views. We thank you for the views. We thank you guys all for being here. We do appreciate it during a time of the year where it's not easy to get a lot of baseball fans interested in our headlines, but we got you last time, didn't we? This show is brought to you by our friends over at game time. Of course, make sure to use that code of PHNX. When you sign up, get yourself $20 off your friends.

first order terms to apply over there. Get yourself some cheap last minute ticket deals. And I did want to just address a few things about yesterday's podcast. I know we went on and on and on about the lodged ball situation in game six of the World Series. I know I also said something about them being one out away when they were two outs away. My apologies. I idiot. I really did not care. I don't care. I don't care. If it was the diamond backs, I would have made sure every stat was correct. But I don't care about you guys winning your world series. I am petty and yes, I will cry more, as many of you requested that I do. But while we do think the lodged ball play was completely ridiculous, I will say that it was a heads-up play. And you guys ended up winning that game and the World Series because

of heads-up plays like that. And even though I hate it and I think it's stupid, it's within the confines of the rules and the umpire made the call. So who am I? Who is Damon to sit here and say, that it was idiotic. But what I will say is it lacked maybe honor, which who cares about that, right, when you're trying to win a championship? When you're a Dodgers fan, that means absolutely nothing to be fair.

We at times don't care about honor on this show either. We have said like, why didn't you lean into a pitch to get on base, right? Like, I would say those things are. When you're in the playoffs, when you're in the playoffs. When you're in the playoffs. Right, when you're in the playoffs. I'm just saying that this is, again,

this is one of those situations. where it's not, it's, you're, you're not going to look the best except to your own fans because it was a heads-up play and you did have it go your way. Now, Derek, I need to say this. It's still, it's still just the biggest joke that they were able to just gingerly pick the ball up and throw it in. However, I will sell my soul to win 100%. I know you will. But the Diamondbacks are the team of friendship.

They are, they have the power of friendship. We are one of the most likable teams in the league. Oh, we are still likable. To say that we are in, like we would be in their shoes and their circumstance. No. I don't know what that's like. Corbyn Carroll would have never put his hands up. He would have gone for that, but he would have played it honorably.

100%. But hey, that's just how we do things over here. It doesn't get you championships, obviously. So maybe we're in the wrong to do things with honor around here. But also imagine checking in on a rival team's podcast, Damon, and expecting them to heap praise upon your team. We hate the Dodgers around here. So if you come here seeking anything else but us being absolutely ridiculous towards your team, you came to the wrong place. But shout out to the YouTube out.

Put Shoah in prison. Yeah, there you go. That's for you guys. That's for all of you guys. We're going to talk about Shohei later. But first, we do have to talk about the Arizona Diamondbacks making the signing of JR House as their new third base and catchers coach official today. He rejoins the debacks after spending the previous seven seasons as the Reds. third base coach and catching coach.

Previously spent seven seasons with the debacks in their development system as a hitting coach with Rookie A. Mazula and also with the Hillsborough Hops. He was the manager of Hillsborough Hops back in 2014. He was the manager of the single A Vasali Rahide back in 2015, 2016, and AA Jackson, which is no longer part of the organization back in 2017, and a minor league field coordinator. Over the past three seasons among NL teams, Reds, catchers posted the second fewest catching errors behind only the debacks and combined for the fourth highest caught stealing percentage behind the Phillies Cubs and Giants, something the Diamondbacks

catchers have been very, very bad at this season, as many of you know. I feel like the run game running on the Diamondbacks, that the word is out in regards to that. And that is something that a lot of teams have been doing. He was also the 2015 California League manager of the year with Vassalia. and as a minor league manager, he produced a career winning percentage of 573 going 284 and 212. And he resides right here in Phoenix, Arizona. So, of course, it's just great for JR House to be back here with this organization. And it was interesting to hear today from JR, from Toy LaBolo. First, we did get word that Tim Bogart did have interest in returning as the third base coach to this team.

So this was actually, even though he was, you know, given the job as the interim third base coach when they relieved Sean Larkin of his duty over there, this was not a permanent stay. This was something that the Diamondbacks went out and, you know, they did have a job search for this position and they did want to find somebody that they felt was very right for this position. And apparently House was that guy. Tori also did say that he is someone that they've tried to get. in the past and that his experience meant quite a bit here. Sean Larkin, of course, didn't do a great job. And a big part of that was the lack of experience that Larkin has as a third base coach. So I guess it's understandable here overall that they would go somewhere with, you know, go with someone with more experience and also someone that knows the Diamondbacks organization so well.

J.R. House did, you know, discuss, of course, the fact that he is familiar with these plays. players and knows quite a bit about all of them. But, you know, again, this was, this hiring really feels like it's more about the, you know, again, not just what he can do at third base. We know that that was a huge problem for this team. I feel like him taking over the catching coach responsibilities from Jeff Bannister, who kind of flew under the radar there. Not a lot of people were aware that Jeff Bannister was the catcher's coach for this team.

but he was and Tori addressed that today as well but of course we have I think we have video here coming up shortly from the press conference but you know again this is these are something that the diamondbacks this is something the diamondbacks needed to do to help get back to their identity and their identity is what got them as far as it did in 2023 it was solid defense which at least up to this point Sean Larkin is still going to be a huge part of that defense. But also he, you know, it's about the base running. And, of course, what the catcher is going to be doing behind the plate for this team. I'm telling you, man, it's this, the numbers for even James McCann for, you know, Gabby back there were subpar as far as throwing runners out and just some of the defensive metrics for catching. So it again, this is something that they needed to address in a big reason why I feel like they went with J.R. House here beyond just his experience at third base and what he's done for the Reds there at that position. But it's also what he can do for this team, what he can do for, you know, specifically the catchers and Gabby Moreno. Gabby is such an important part of this team. He's such a important part of what the Diamondbacks are building going forward. But again, it felt like he took a step backwards defensively last year. And quite frankly,

It feels like he's kind of regressed offensively ever since he had that stellar career back, or stellar season back in 2023. But I think we do have more here from J.R. House who had to be, one of his first lessons here was turning his camera the right way during the media availability. But I think we have here what he had to say about joining this team and, you know, kind of what he's going to bring here as a third base coach and a catcher's coach. I mean, for me personally, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, knowing our team and their characteristics as thorough as I possibly can.

Like their ability to make plays at the plate in regards to sliding, avoiding tags, cutting the corner, who we can press and who we can't, you know, who we need to be a little bit of reserves. And it's just not in their repertoire to be able to make those types of plays. For me, that's the most important thing. And like who we can really challenge when those risky plays, you know, are needed. Because it is. Like if all you're doing is just putting your hands up all the time,

like you're going to lose a lot of runs that way. You know, we've got to be able to take some risk and be aggressive and score, but also be safe. You know, so it's really, really important. And knowing your guys, it's going to take a little bit, but knowing your guys in their heart and their want to score is really, really important. All right.

Well, of course, we know what his experience is. We know what the Diamondbacks here are looking for. We know that because we've had to go. through what this team has gone through this year. So again, you know, it's great to, you know, hear that what his strengths are seem to fit some of the Diamondbacks weaknesses. But we also have Tori Lobello here talking about, you know, what drew him to making this decision.

And he did make it known that this was his decision to J.R. House and why Tori felt like he was such a good fit for this team. Well, I've always been drawn to him. And as he mentioned, and as you asked a question, right? he's coming home again. This is an organization that he is very familiar with. Yeah, some of the faces have changed, players and staff. But as he mentioned, there's a lot of, there's a lot of familiarity.

So that, of course, was a driving factor, but between me and him and my respect that I have for him as just a baseball in mind and as a teacher is pretty immense. And to be honest with you, we've tried for several years to bring him back. We just, you know, it wasn't right for him. It wasn't right for the situation. But when we reached out this time and we decided that we were going to make this happen, of course, I felt great about it. He's got great major league experience. He's a great teacher.

So when you're drawn to somebody the way that I have been since I've met him and then you watch it play out on a baseball field, it's a great match. And we're really, we're lucky to have JR for sure. Kevo in the chat says Tori's Zoom name being T. LaVolo is if there would be another Lavallo in the Zoom is funny. I wish it was T. Love, quite frankly. I wish he just went with T. Love as his Zoom name. I might convince him to do that. But also, Tori jumped in and did give J.R. House a bunch of crap about not being able to have

his phone position correctly for the Zoom meeting. So you can already tell that there's a, you know, there's a relationship here. There's a repertoire between these two. And it's good to see. Of course, another thing that we know from based on what Torrey and Mike Hazen have both told us that this team is looking to get back to that identity in 2023. And I asked Tori about what made JR just such a good candidate for getting them back to that defensive and base running identity that we knew and loved as this team creating chaos. We have an army of people behind the scenes that includes JR that are going to help that identity.

And, you know, JR just spoke about a few things that he's paying attention to when cranking guys at third base. It's a hard position. Nobody knows how difficult it is until you get out there in real time. And it's a challenge. Like I said, the thing that drew me to do. JR is his baseball mind, his willingness to teach and learn. And then it's just a baseball junkie, right? I'm a baseball junkie.

I want baseball junkies around me that that's all they dream about and think about. So that was the first thing. I don't want to undersell that. But with his knowledge and his ability to be as familiar as possible with every arm in the outfield right now, right now, because he has a. experience, that was a big drawing factor. And then his success, and I've watched him send runners right in front of me with great success. And there's always a reason for it. And when it happens, and we do throw somebody out, I know that, okay, it wasn't, it wasn't a killer out. So I think there's

a lot of calculus that he does out there that I'm really comfortable with. Now, I want to make sure, yes, he is a part of our running equation and base running equation and being aggressive. and helping us create an identity. That's the fierceness of his coaching style that will help us get better because I know what he's about. He's going to go out there and he's going to make base runners better

from second to third and third to home. By the way, that's the point of view of the chicken parmesan on Sunday dinner right there. That's exactly what the chicken parmesan sees when looking up at Tori. But he is right. Tori talked about how many factors obviously go into being a third base coach,

how much, you know, how much has to be decided in a split second and how, you know, one of the traits that a coach, a good coach like J.R. House is the ability to be decisive in those moments by, and also taking into consideration all those factors, the arm strength, the score, the runner's speed, you know, just a lot of factors that a third base coach has to take into consideration. However, here with being the catchers coach, he also has a lot to take into consideration with helping call the game, helping these pitchers call the game, helping the catchers call the game for the pitchers. And that is going to be a big part of House's involvement. Here's what he had to say about how he calls games and how he helps the catchers get better.

I think it's knowing the guy on the mound, knowing exactly what his strengths and weaknesses are, what his capabilities are, how brave he is, like all of those things, not putting him in bad situations to hurt the team because you're trying to ask him do something that he's not good at. And we just have to inundate ourselves with serving those guys and making sure that we're totally ready to put those fingers down, which would now press the buttons, to make sure that we're giving him the best opportunity for success.

That's first and foremost. You know, the situation of the game, the strengths, who your opposition is, all those things come into play, but they are secondary compared to knowing the dude on the mound and taking care of them. Jason Armstrong says, J.R. House, 100% wearing black vans. I was thinking the checkered slip-on vans, but either way, I think we're on the same page there in regards to his footwear. I kind of love his energy. I really do. I mean, I agree with it.

Like, I have confidence in him from hearing him talk for two minutes, Derek. That's not even an exaggeration. I don't know if you feel the same way, but that feels like a dude that is convicted in what decisions he's making. Well, and again, this is no knock to, no knock at Banny, right? But I haven't heard Jeff Bannister discussed much as the catcher's coach, nor have I heard much of the game calling being put on him or questioned of him. I just really haven't seen that myself in his time as the catchers coach for this team. And again, it'll be interesting to see how House can impact. the pitchers through the catchers and also how he can work with Kaplan to help develop these,

you know, these pitchers and help, you know, I guess flourish these relationships between the catchers and the pitchers to know like what he said there, what their strengths and weaknesses are and how to play into those and not to ask a pitcher to do something that they're not going to be able to do for this team in the middle of a game, right? But I also think here that there is something to be said and Tori discussed it with us in regards to Jeff Bannister not having that also on his plate when Tori already asks so much of Banny. Tori and Jeff Bannister have a very close relationship.

And if you've ever watched this team for an entire game, you know how often you see Tori Lavello go to Banny just for advice. He relies on him quite frequently. You see him just conversing with Banny. You see him asking Banny about the, you know, if they should go to review. He's usually the one on the phone talking to, you know, the rest of the coaching staff. But it feels definitely like Jeff Bannister has, you know, a primary function here as like Tori Lavello's right-hand man, almost as a second manager in the dugout. And the responsibilities of also being a catcher's coach is quite a bit. Here's what Tori had to say about the decision going into making J.R. House, the catcher's coach, taking that off of Bannister's plate.

and again why banning is so important to him in the dugout. Look, we have two really good teachers. And I just felt like to get JR here, I wanted to give him that responsibility, as well as being our third base coach, because it was going to allow Bannie to pull back and be more by my side. I, you know, giving Bannie more responsibilities,

like an assistant manager, which he already is, I want to strip him of everything I possibly could so he can focus on one thing, being closer to me and being more like a manager, thinking like a manager, he already does that. So if you were to ask him, you know, what will change? I know the answer is going to be nothing, but he's not going to have to worry about a conversation that he's going to have with a catcher in the bullpen at 2.30 and going over some plus and minuses from what happened the night before in teaching. He can be more engaged with me in my office, more engaged with me about some of the things that I want to do, more engaged with me about the responsibilities of what I'm talking about for that evening's game.

I can, he is totally available to me at all times and like an assistant manager. That to me is going to make me better. It's going to make the team better. And I just, I felt like at the end of the day, that was, that was going to be the best decision for this ball club at this very point in time. J.R. wait till you see what some of his, what some of his, is catching, you know, teaching styles are, right? I'm always blown away whenever we go into Cincinnati, the amount of teaching that's going on. Not the banning wasn't. I just think J.R. is able to spend every minute of his day doing one thing, being a catching coach. Banny could, but when I pulled him away from that, he was my priority.

So I would pull him away from that and I would not allow him to be in every moment catching coach. We have an every moment catching coach right now. And that was very intriguing to me. There's also something that appeals to me, Damon, about the third base coach being the catching coach. Like I feel like that makes a lot of sense. I do understand it from the perspective of, you know, like, Bannister can converse with the catchers in the dugout. But as Tori said there, he has a lot of responsibilities beyond just doing that.

I feel like the third base coach coming back to the dugout and sitting with the guys, he even in that instance is going to have more flexibility to coach and teach the catchers in the dugout in the middle of a game, rather than, you know, Jeff Bannister, who has to continue to focus on, you know, everything else going on. Jeff Bannister has to continue to focus on the batters hitting, and he can't exactly, like, just turn and start working with the catchers and giving them his full attention. So this all of the things. It seems like it could just have things run more efficiently, right?

Right. Right. For sure. For sure. And yes, I would have played more of that if Killarex was here, but we went ahead and shortened it up. So I appreciate you guys. Damon is right.

I have no power around here. I have no control. I am one level up above AI myself. So, and Ryan is right. I'm wearing sleeves today. I'm also wearing a collared shirt. It is, in fact, election day. But we're going to take a quick break.

On the other side of this break, we have more to talk about, including Mike Hazen's right-hand man sticking around, and Geraldo Perdomo possibly being snubbed for the MVP award, depending on which side you fall on. We're going to talk about that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHA next time in Beck Show. Tis the season for over $80 million in prize.

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and shop their entire product assortment online at Rallyhouse.com today. Well, of course, we have a lot of things going on in baseball, believe it or not. It went from no news to all the news for us. And we got some news

in regards to the Colorado Rockies hunt for their new general manager. And this might be good news for the Diamondbacks because this just might mean that Ami El Sade is staying right here. We just talked about how important Jeff Bannister is to Tori LaVolo as not even like a right-hand man, just as basically a confidant, somebody who LaVolo trusts and sees as being equally important to himself in decision-making and inexperience. And that is definitely something that could be said about the relationship between Mike Hazen and Sade. He was one of two finalists for the Colorado Rockies head of baseball operations job. And apparently, according to reports over at the athletic, he is no longer in the running for the position. Neither is Cleveland Guardian's assistant general manager Matt Foreman.

Both apparently, who were the Rockies, two finalists for the job, are no longer finalist for that position. Sade was at Coors Field for his final interview last Monday and was believed to be the favorite of the two. It's unclear how close the sides came, according to this report, to having Sade preside over a Rockies team that was abysmal in 2025 in the National League West division that he's extremely familiar with. But again, not sure if Sade will continue to seek out other positions or if other teams could be interested in a similar fashion the way the Rockies were. It feels like only a matter of time until Amiel is swooped up by another team.

He's just too good of a baseball mind. And, you know, again, it's a good thing for him to go on and to elevate up in his career, right? He deserves it at this point. However, at least for the time being, this is a good thing for the Diamondbacks and for Mike Hazen, because it very much feels like he is important to Mike

and this offseason is important to this. franchise to this organization. It's important to Hazen and Tori LeVolo. Like we said, I know Hazen's contract isn't up, but Toy Lovelos is in 2026. And with things changing in 2027 being a nightmare on the horizon, it just feels like there could be a change overall should this team not find success with Tori LaVallo not being brought back. And Mike Hazen potentially not being brought back either, being let go. Right. So not saying that that's purely speculation, but again, it's reasonable to believe that the organization might want to go in a different direction after all of this chaos is happening. And, you know, just in general, the position that

they're in for the 2026 season with these injuries and everything else. But of course, a lot of executives, a lot of people were nominated for some awards. If you missed it, I'm not surprised that you missed it, because as we talked about yesterday, baseball once again did an awful job. of making it known that their awards were being given out. They did it like during Monday night football. And like I saw barely any people on my timeline talking about it, but they named all of their finalists for their major awards, including their Most Valuable Player Award,

their Siong finalists, their rookie of the year, and their manager of the year. And again, I don't know what to do to help baseball. Like, there are so many times where there's nothing going on. And I know I sound like a broken record considering that the time of the year when baseball is off is when everything's happening. So there's always an NBA game, NHL game, NFL games, something going on. Big college basketball game, big college football game. I get it.

You can't avoid it completely. However, I don't feel like the MLB even does a good job of putting their information out there, advertising when it's going to be. It's just suddenly an hour before the event, you see something pop up. And I know the calendar. I look ahead. I kind of have a show to do where I should be informed about this stuff. However, when you look ahead, it's hard to, like, remember it when you aren't being inundated with advertisements for it in a similar fashion that other leagues and other organizations do similar things like this, right? but again, the finalist for MLB's four major end-of-season awards were announced yesterday,

including, like I said, the Jackie Robinson rookie of the year award. And the biggest one that we are focused on, obviously, is the National League Most Valuable Player Award. We did not think the Diamondbacks were going to have a rookie, a Cy Young candidate, nor did we ever think that Tori Lavala was potentially going to be a manager of the year candidate. However, you know, again, he deserves a little bit of respect there. Killer X isn't here, right? Yeah, okay. There's a little bit of respect there

considering what he was able to do with this team and the broken parts that he was given. But the three finalists were named for the National League Most Valuable Player Award. And of course, Shohei Otani is at the top of the list, along with Kyle Schwabre and Juan Soto. And the big question here is, why isn't Geraldo Perdomo's name on this list?

We are going to do this quite a bit. And I imagine that even when it comes to the Silver Slugger Awards actually being given out. There's probably going to be some snubs there for the Diamondbacks that we are furious about. But there's one, Derek. There's one where we actually riot. Yeah, I mean, this one.

Yeah, we riot if Perdomo doesn't win his Silver Slugger award. If they rob Perdomo of an all-star appearance and a Silver Slugger in one season, Derek, we absolutely riot. He led the National League in war, not named Shohei Otani, who also pitches. and if you were going to give it to Mr. Solo shots, Francisco Lindor, be my guest. But he's not as good of a player as Heraldo Perdomo. And Trey Turner, I mean, like, what are we even talking about at that point? And you're right.

You're 100% right. But meanwhile, on the MVP awards, it's hard to, you can easily make a case why Geraldo Perdomo belongs among the three finalists. There's no doubt in my mind. But you look at the other three names. You look at like even Juan Soto, right? Don Soto is probably the guy there that you would maybe start an argument about, you know, his place versus Raldo Pardomo. But Soto hit a career high 43 home runs this year.

He led the National League with 38 stolen bases. And that's more than triple his previous career high in steals. He also had 105 RBI, 120 runs scored, and led Major League Baseball with 127 walks. also that caused them to have the best National League on base percentage at 396. So when you look at Soto's numbers and you compare them to Pardomo, although comparable, you have a hard time there suggesting that Pardomo deserved it much more than WAN Soto, considering the statistical categories that Juan Soto led all a Major League Baseball in or at least the National League in. Meanwhile, Kyle Schwaber is a DH, as is Shoe A. Otani and Shoe A.O.O.T.

Otani is a magical unicorn criminal that gets away with everything. And there's no doubt in my mind that Shoyotani is going to win this award, right? I think that anybody would be ridiculous to expect anything other than that. And if Perdomo was here, he would just be another runner-up along with Kyle Schwabre or Juan Soto anyway. So, and I mean, again, I do take into account the fact that Perdomo, unlike these guys, plays shortstop at a very high level and, you know, plays it for the majority of the season versus Kyle Schwabber and Otani, both being DHS and Juan Soto playing DH, but also being a right fielder, right? But I'm with Shaft. I'm just happy that he's a diamond back. And again, I don't know how much stock people put into you being named an MVP

finalist or you being named a finalist of this award or that award and not winning. it. I do think it pad your resume. I do think it, it's an illustration of how good you were that year. And quite frankly, I mean, there's so many baseball players, it's an honor to be considered one of the top three best baseball players in the league for any single player. You know, so I think that's the reason why we kind of get bummed out here. We felt like Perdomo had, you know, his MVP caliber season and deserved at least the acknowledgement of that. However, it is what it is. I don't. don't know if it's the biggest snub in the world, nor do I know if, you know, if you could even suggest that he had a chance to win it over show Aotani. Right. So I don't know.

I would love to hear from you guys and how you feel about that because, again, it's always a personal feeling, but do you care that a player gets nominated even though you know for a fact they're not going to win or is it a moot point considering that they didn't, you know, that they weren't going to win the award? I think for a player like Jerry, it just would, it would hype this fan base up a little bit, right? Because he's kind of the emotional leader of not only the team in the locker room, but also, I think, the fan base. Like, you know, Jerry is just the guy who makes people happy, the guy who brings good vibes to the table. And I think him getting that recognition.

If they make the playoffs, I think that this is a different conversation, especially in regards to Juan Soto on the Mets that didn't make the playoffs. But considering that both the Diamondbacks and Mets missed the playoffs, even though the Mets was a catastrophic failure, you can't have. help but say like, okay, well, it's hard to argue that one guy was more valuable than the other, right? Otani was a bum at times during the playoffs, right? So even he has like things that you could say against him, but it's hard to not. At the plate, yeah. You know, it's hard not to say that that Dodgers team rode him in the exact way you do, somebody that you're paying that much money to.

And he came through for them time and time again this season to the point where no team wanted to even pitch to him during the playoffs. So again, it's not necessarily, you know, just because Otani kind of ran out of gas in the playoffs, that's an indication that he did not the most valuable player. But playoffs-wise, Yamamoto deserves all of the awards. He also deserves a Cy Young, and he will probably win that as well. Looking at these other categories, I mean, it feels like a lot of the awards are fairly, fairly obvious to me.

I feel like Terrick Scouble is going to win his second Cy Young. in a row. I really like Caleb Durbin from the Brewers. I think he has a good chance to win the National League Rookie of the Year. Nick Kurtz for the Athletics better win the better win the AL rookie of the year. That man finished with 173 OPS plus. A hundred and seventy three OPS plus. Oh my God. It's incredible. It's incredible. And then National League manager of the year, it's hard not to argue with what Pat Murphy did for the Brewers. And of course he is a former Sun Devil. So we will do everything we can to support our guys as well. So Pat Murphy, bear down. He should be. But hey, who do you think in the American League? Dan Wilson for the

Mariners or John Schneider for the Blue Jays? Which of those two guys stands out to you as being, as having done the better job? Man, pretty close, right? Because they're both two teams that are very talented, but not like expected to be there. Yeah. I think the Blue Jays spent more, but I almost want to John Schneider even though I like I just think that the I don't know the Mariners have such a damn good staff I know it's it like I feel like I could go win with that pitching staff Jerry depoto deserves a lot of credit for what he did to assemble that team for sure and the in the blue jays like listen they have a really good team but they also have some guys that are not as heralded right like a like an ernie clement or like a big earned dog like a you know Addison barger like

like these are guys that are not super well known but they are making huge impact My favorite tweet I saw was someone say, I didn't even know who Ernie Clement was a month ago, and now I would die for that man. And that is how fast athletes can change. By the way, the World Series, very, very watch, very popular. The great job by Major League Baseball in regards to the interest that has grown in the game. And of course, this is why it's so stupid to think that they're going to swander it in 2027 with a labor dispute. So don't even get me started on that.

But we don't have time to get started on that because now, right now, is time for us to get on to opt-out season. And we are going to do that on the other side of this break. Some crazy opt-outs have happened that we weren't really expecting. And this could impact the Arizona Diamondbacks off-season quite a bit. They still don't have a lot of money to spend, but the options are increasing as far as who they could pick up this off-season. We're going to talk about that in two minutes. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the P. H&X Diamondback show.

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And we know we've covered the dates here for Major League Baseball. We know free agency begins the day after baseball ends. the day after the World Series ends. So it began on Sunday, but teams do have five days to negotiate with their players and determine about club options, player options, mutual options, which basically is meaningless. It means neither one. We're not coming back together. We're never, ever, ever, ever getting back together. And that's what this week is all about. It's also about qualifying offers. The Diamondbacks will offer a qualifying offer to Zach Gallen, and we'll wait to hear, I'm sure that's already been done. We'll wait to hear what his decision is.

is in regards to that. But we have had already a number of players opt out of their options, and for the most part, none of them are really a surprise. However, there were some shockers in there, and we're going to talk about that as well as if those players could potentially fit for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Spoiler alert, the answer is most likely no. And the reason why is cost. All of these players are opting out of their deals because essentially at the end of the day, They're seeking more money than those deals essentially are guarantee them, right? And that's a big thing here. Pete Alonzo, longtime New York MET, no surprise they're opting out of his deal with the Mets.

He finished 2025 with 38 home runs, 126 RBI, an 871 OPS. His numbers up dramatically from the end of the 2024 season. He finished 2024 with a 78 OPS. and he is set to hit the open market. And he is a guy that obviously could be of great use to the Arizona Diamondbacks. But according to Spottrack, his annual value is around $30 million. They set it at $29.4. And that is quite a bit out of the Diamondbacks budget.

That would be, as we've discussed, the majority of their offseason budget. And since their priority is pitching, they absolutely cannot even consider a free agent position. player for that much money. That also would probably eliminate Cody Bellinger, who after his 2.2 B-war season with the Cubs in 2024 had himself a killer year with the Yankees posting a 5.1 B-war in 2025. He opted out of his deal with the New York Yankees. He has been, he has said that he wants to go back to New York. So there's a good chance that a reunion is possible with that team, especially considering the deep pockets that they have. But he is seeking over the, $30 million per year. And again, that's another thing that would probably price them out of the

Diamondbacks budget. We talked about that. We talked about bringing belly home. And we said the only way that it could be feasible is if he plays both the outfield and first base at the same time. And unfortunately, I don't believe the rules in MLB will allow him to do that, nor is it physically possible. But, I mean, it would be pretty much the only way they could bring him back. Alex Bregman opted out of his deal there. And he has two years left on a three-year, 100. $120 million deal making $40 million a year. Now, it's deals like this where I can't really wrap my mind around opting out of that much money that's still guaranteed to you when I am but a normal person that makes a meager salary. The idea of declining $80 million essentially guaranteed you after you had a rough finish to a season that saw you just record seven home runs and post a 724 OPS in 63 games.

You spent two months on the injured list with right quad strain and you're doing nothing but getting older every single year. And of course, piece of Yoshi says he wants more years. I think every player wants more years and it makes sense because, again, at the end of this three-year deal, he's older. He could be less coveted at that point. And this is an opportunity in his prime essentially for a team to give him that security. And I could even understand taking less of an annual value there overall to essentially have that peace of mind of those years of guaranteed money. However, it's still crazy to be like, nah, I'm good on that 80 million for the next two years because I think I'm going to get more than $80 million, right? I understand knowing your worth.

But I also understand, like, there comes a point where you are being paid as an athlete as a human being more money than you're ever going to be able to spend in your lifetime, most likely. And it's just crazy that, you know, again, it's more about seeking out more money than even that. I don't know. But I get it. Then we're going to go over some of these pitchers that are doing something very similar. Hassan Kim, he had one year left on a two-year, $29 million deal, much more reasonable, understandable there. He signed that deal with the Tampa Bay raise as a free agent last off season. That one's pretty surprising, right?

I mean, he only played 24 games for the raise in 2025. And 16 million is a pretty year. good chunk of change, is it not? Right. And he was picked up off of waivers by the Braves in August. And like you have not only that amount of money, but you just went from playing for the Tampa Bay raised to playing for a Braves team that quite frankly could be very good next year. Yeah, they could.

Braves are just always going to be good. They have a solid core and they are doing. They're due. They're due to get back into it. Yeah. The one seed and then they've missed the playoffs last two years. They're due to be back and they spend enough money. I actually.

$16 million player option. That one is wild. Cut from a team, man. I mean. I would be interested in bringing him in, actually, Derek, if as a utility infielder, depending on the price. But again, if he's opting out of that, it feels like it's completely unrealistic. Like you want 20 plus or, again, looking for a longer term deal than just the one year left, right? And I get it.

I mean, these guys are at that age. There's a very small window for baseball players to be free of the team that. drafted them and prove their worth and get that big contract that they want. And in some cases, they end up kind of toiling away on these two-year, three-year deals. But if they have a season where they feel strongly enough about investing in themselves, opting out makes all the sense in the world. Kim hit 234 with five home runs in a 649 OPS this year. I mean, I get that it's a free, it's a very weak market, as they are saying, for free agents short stops this season. season, but still it's just like, I don't know. I mean, I guess, again, if you can guarantee yourself

a few more years, maybe a lesser annual value, but more money overall over the course of a contract with the team, it would make sense. But those are all the position players and outside of Kim, most of them, all of them are going to be far too expensive for the Diamondbacks. And even Kim is sounding like he could be too expensive, especially considering that the Diamondbacks need to focus on pitching. As far as pitchers are concerned, there are some elite pitchers on the market who once again might be out of the Diamondbacks price range. However, if they are going to go for it all again, if they're going to spend big on somebody,

I would prefer that it was one of these pitchers, especially the elite relievers that have opted out of their contracts and are available on the market. Robert Suarez, he has two years left on a five-year, $46 million deals. He's quite frankly one of the best closers in Major League Baseball. He led National League in saves with 40, and he posted a 2.97 ERA. He was an all-star this season, had a 2.3B war. Quite frankly, the only thing that scares me is that the Diamondbacks have picked up the guy that had the most saves in baseball from the Padres before, and it did not work out. Another guy, though, that is very interesting is Edwin Diaz.

Not for the Diamondbacks, because again, this is a guy that's far out of their range as far as price range is concerned. But Edwin Diaz having two years left on a five-year $102 million deal. He was the highest paid reliever in all of Major League Baseball until Jordan Montgomery went to the bullpen, and then he was number two. But Diaz has opted out after another stellar season in 2025. This was his third time that he threw more than 60 innings and posted a sub-2 ERA. at 1.63 ERA in 2025. And the last time he was a free agent,

the Mets jumped as quickly as we've ever seen a team jumped to sign him to that $102 million five-year deal, which was a record for relief pitchers at the time. But here, with quite a bit of money still left on that deal, $60 million essentially left, you know, it would appear that Edwin Diaz wants to hit the free agency market, and see what he can get.

For sure. And that's, I, look, I would pay, I would pay Edwin Diaz. I would pay him. Like, we have, we have suffered with this bullpen situation for so long that I would pay Edwin Diaz. And I'm 100% convinced that if we did, he would come here and promptly post a 4.7 ERA and be one of the worst. closers in baseball. I don't know. That's just because I'm hurt and my my soul is bruised and I don't think I'm ever going to recover from what this team's bullpen has done to me historically. But again, just interesting for someone that did achieve the highest, you know, the highest contract

in baseball to be opting out here. Maybe now he'll just set the record once again and beat his old record. The most interesting pitcher and the breaking news that we've kind of been dealing with over the last few hours has been Shoda Imanaga opting out of his deal. And I mean, it was a weirdly structured thing. There was a $57 million club option

for 26, 27, 28. If the Cubs declined, Imanaga received a $15 million player option for 2026. So the Cubs opted against picking up the three-year option for Imanaga, and then Imanaga turned around and declined the one-year option, making Mike a free agent this off-season.

The Cubs can still extend him a qualifying offer worth roughly $22 million a little bit over that. But this is interesting overall because Imanaga, again, he's 32 years old now. He did regress some from his rookie season, but he posted a 3.73 ERA with a 0.991. whip in 2025 for the Cubs and still just a solid rotation guy. I feel like the honeymoon is over with Imanaga. The reaction to this from a lot of Cubs fans, at least on social media,

seem to be like goodbye, take you and your 30 home runs aloud and get out of here, right? So I don't know if, obviously, if fans felt like he was worth the $57 million. But Damon, I mean, in this world where we are talking about

Zach Gallen having a down year and not getting the contract he expects, but still getting paid more than the $22 million, you know, $22 million the diamond bags could pay them for the one year and the qualifying offer. Like, it seems crazy that a team would take somebody that has a solid, you know, solid presence in the rotation like this and turn down the ability to have them be around for less than $20 million for the next three seasons. Yeah, I think it bodes some questions as to what the Cubs think about him long-term. Correct.

Maybe injury-wise, maybe, you know. Age, he's 32. I mean, that's not that old old. He doesn't throw hard. He's not a hard thrower. Like, I was mentioning to you before the show, like there are games where it feels like Shoda Immanaga is just getting pummeled. And maybe the Cubs have fears about other teams kind of figuring that out.

Yeah. where he's not going to be as effective, you know, after his first two seasons in MLB. So who knows, but definitely a pitcher I'd be interested in, no. Yeah. Well, piece of Yoshi says he is conversely also a fly ball pitcher in the best ballpark to be a flyball pitcher in half the time, I suppose. So, yeah, I mean, there's something to be said about that and how you view him playing, you know, in opposing ballparks at other times. But I just still feel like value-wise. He also said he's also the.

a fly ball pitcher in the worst ballpark to be a fall pit pitcher in half the time, depending on which way the wind is blowing at Wrigley. Which way the wind is blowing at Wrigley, that's for sure. But I don't know. A lot of these guys, again, are probably going to still be out of the Diamondbacks price range. However, you know, a guy like Imanaga could be very valuable to this team. And despite the fact that, you know, he has that mid-3-ERA, 3.73 ERA, that would still be the best ERA besides Ryan Nelson on this pitching staff.

So again, the idea here that the Diamondbacks could add somebody like that, have him be a solid number two or number three. Corbyn-Burns returns. You got Burns, Imanaga, Nelly fought Erod, or whatever the hell they do for that other starting position. They're going to have to figure out before opening day for 2026, and suddenly this pitching staff might not look so bad. And again, he declined the $15 million player option,

and, you know, there's a good chance he could decline the 20s. 22 or $22 million qualifying offer. Diamondbacks already have that money kind of set aside to offer to Zach Allen, and we know he's most likely going to decline it, so maybe they can make a push for Imanaga, and I think maybe he would be a good fit for this starting rotation. Again, just an improvement from what we currently have. But again, remains to be seen how any of this impacts. What we do know is that at least this is going to impact the market, and either positively

or negatively impact, you know, the Diamondbacks' ability here to do the things that they need to do in free agency. The hope is that because of the, you know, the free agent pitching market being as abundant as it is, that the Diamondbacks will still, you know, again, the more names that get added to this list, the cheaper of options the Diamondbacks might be able to find or maybe at least guys willing to accept a shorter-term deal that allow the Diamondbacks to get out of this short-term hole that they're in pitching-wise. But we are going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we're going to hear a little bit more from Tori on watching the World Series and also talk about today being the most important day in Arizona Diamondbacks history.

But before that, I wanted to let you guys know that we are taking over Mullet Arena once again this Friday. Me, Kevin, and Max, we did it a few weekends ago for wrestling. But now we're doing it for hockey. Join Leah Merrill and the PHNX Hockey crew at ASU Hockey, taking on the Colorado College Tigers on Friday, November 7th. The package includes pregame meetup at University Sports Bar on Mill with food and drink included, a game ticket in Section 107 for Sun Devils versus Tigers, and of course, immaculate vibes with your favorite Valley hockey crew. So make sure to join us for that. But like I said, today is a very important day in this franchise's history, perhaps the most important.

day besides the day we were awarded this team and that is because today in 2001 was when the Diamondbacks won their one and only World Series beating the New York Yankees in Game 7 and of course this is an incredible day incredible day in our history a day that should be celebrated and right now all of the bunch of the legends are out at Salt River Fields getting ready to run a Diamondbacks camp so what a what a great week to maybe reminisce a little bit about that amazing hit in the World Series, that amazing win, and then go and hang out with those exact legends out at Salt River Fields. But we did, before we get out of here, talk to Tori about watching the World Series. And I think if nothing more, this will once again make you feel

like Tori LaBolo is one of us. This is what he had to say about watching the Dodgers win their second consecutive championship. Very close, right? I'm a baseball junkie, right? I mentioned that. So this was the best time of the year. You know, two years ago, I was in that dugout. This year I'm pulling weeds in my front yard, right? It just doesn't sit well with me watching a game that I want to be a part of. So it becomes very motivating to me to be at my absolute best. So that's what I did a lot of soul searching as I was watching it.

So that's why I watched it with such great intent. The Dodgers are the Dodgers. They're a great team. And the thing I like about it is we play them 13 times and we hang right with them, but we know what we got to do to be as good as them every single day. And, you know, I found it extremely motivating as I was watching it. I hated that it happened that they won back to back. I was pulling for the Blue Jays for 1,001 reasons, but it didn't happen.

The Dodgers are the world champions. And we get a very front-facing look at them. and we got to be motivated and prepared to compete against them and play at that level to win a world championship. A thousand and one reasons. I just needed to reiterate that because that's how we feel here on this program. But we thank you guys again so much for joining us.

We appreciate your time. Tomorrow we will be back with more on this FBI investigation into Tony Clark and the MLBPA. Very interesting, very small headquarters for that organization. So make sure to join us for that. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. I am at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. Our dog, Damon Dog is at Damon Dog with a DAWG at the end.

And we are all Damon's dogs, bark, bark. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but as always all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Thank you guys so much for your time. Appreciate you guys stopping by. I hope to see you tomorrow right here at noon. Until then, hope you guys all have yourselves a wonderful. evening, behave yourselves, Deborah, and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more

fun when you have yourselves a new coach that inspires you.