PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Can ANYONE Beat The UNFAIR Los Angeles Dodgers' Payroll Powered Superteam?

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

Major League Baseball is at an inflection point, as the Los Angeles Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani, Roki Sasaki and the rest of their expensive roster continue to add onto the "rich get richer" outlook of the entire league. Can the Arizona Diamondbacks bring down Goliath? Will Rob Manfred make the right choice and try to limit the spending power of the major markets with a salary cap, international draft or another idea we don't know about yet? Erik Ruby, Damon Dawg and Bo Brack break it all down on another edition of Southwest Bias. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Let's cut to the chase. The Dodgers ruined baseball. Or did baseball ruin baseball? It's another edition of Southwest Buyers. Get that stuff out of here. It's Southwest Buyers. Of course, brought you by branded Bills. I'll bet your brand like I am right now.

With branded bills, the perfect headwear and apparel use code, PHNX. For 20% off your first order, it's a round table to talk about how much we hate the Dodgers. I'm Eric. That's Damon. That's Bo. P.NX Cardinals. P.NX Wildcats. P.H.N.X.

next diamondbacks. Just so much going on right here at the table. Gentlemen, our beautiful sport, America's pastime is dying right in front of our eyes. And it feels like there's nothing we can do about it, Bo. Yeah, I mean, there's something you could do about it. Take the streets. Right, there should be something.

Rob Bantford should do about it. But look, at the end of the day, I'll embrace it for the time being. Like, the Los Angeles Dodgers have created the largest target on their back, probably a Major League Baseball history. And I grew up through the Yankee dynasties and all the spending that the Yankees did post, you know, late 90s, early 2000s when they were winning those World Series. But once they started throwing money at their problems, it didn't really turn out to be successful. They won in 2009, but outside of that, they were failures.

And also the thing that I like is that the Dodgers have created a zero-sum game for themselves. They either win the World Series or they are a failure across the league. And that's not even debatable. And with the Arizona Diamondbacks being probably the second best team in their division, when they square up with the Dodgers, whether it's in the regular season or the postseason, it's going to be the Diamondbacks fans, all of America versus the Dodgers fans, which I'll also embrace as well. America's team.

That's right. The Diamondbacks. I love that. Damon, I know you have no opinions on the Los Angeles Dodgers. No, no, I don't. I actually have a lot of, made a lot of new friends on our last page next DxD back show on Wednesday you guys should go check that out. Me and Dodgers fans, I think it was a good kumbaya of sorts between us and reaching across,

you know, party lines. Yes, of course. Absolutely. Lots of, lots of love. But actually, Dodgers fans, the worst people. I mean, they just like, I guess my issue with them and I was going back and forth with them in the comments on the show is like, I just want Dodgers fans to put their hand up and say, for one second, hey, this is kind of a messed up system that's going on right now.

I don't expect them not to celebrate. I don't expect them to not be happy that their team won a World Series or is signing all the best free agents every offseason on top of each other in the last like, you know, four off seasons they've done that. What I expect is them to just say, yeah, it's not a fair system. And then we can move on and, you know, work on trying to get baseball to fix said system rather than, you know, pointing at Dodgers fans like, you guys are the worst. But I think that you do become the worst when you start being like, no, actually everyone else is the problem.

them. And it's just not, that's not how I feel. Well, it's self-awareness is key here because it's not just like the Dodgers, oh, they're just spending a little bit more money. Right. Than everybody else. Oh, they're just, you know, they're stock piling talent. I mean, we see that in, with leagues and teams that have salary caps and have these restrictions and stuff where the rich get richer and the stars join the stars. Like, that's sports. And it happening in L.A. is not a surprise at all. But to the degree that it is happening in LA. It's not sustainable, even if there is a target, even if you can't say, you know what, everybody and their mother can root against the Dodgers if they're not from L.A. for the entire season, if they do go on and dominate or if they lose and they continue to throw

their money in, it's like all these stars are ending up on one team. Like, something has to change because that's not good for the league. Like, you need to spread that out. Like, you need to have a healthy competition, but B, if all your star powers on one team, it's going to start eating you. other up and the MLB already has a marketing problem already has a problem with a lot of these other things there needs to be some sort of tangible change of like roster construction salary cap whatever it is I'm not the one who needs to decide that I'm just a fan who's sitting back going why the hell are we in this place where we're talking about this at all well yeah I mean there's that that's something maybe a longer shot than what I'm rooting for and that's just complete utter collapse

I mean yeah I want to see them throw all this money at every player and it's become a parody of itself is like, yeah, and the Dodgers will sign him. And they actually do. Oh, Tanner Scott, the Dodgers should sign him or Kirby Yates. The Dodgers will sign him. What happened the last couple days? They signed both of those players on top of signing Sasaki and then before that, you know, throwing all this money on all the free agents just like they did last season. But what I'm looking for is, you know, the rebellion to fly in to the Death Star and find that one little little vulnerability from them and shoot down the bad, hated Dodgers. But you're right, there is a lack of self-awareness from from dodger nation they they don't understand that they're in their

villain area and they are they absolutely are you have to understand that if we get one victory from this they have to realize like damon is saying is like if you're going to embrace this you also have to realize nobody likes you while you're doing it yeah no i mean i think it's that's entirely the truth and i guess my problem with you and your your death star comparison there is that like they they had that last year their entire pitching staff was hurt everybody everybody on their, and their rotation was hurt. Now they have five potential all-stars in their rotation.

They have, you know, three or four potential MVPs in their starting lineup. Like this is, this is, they are playing on an entirely different field than the rest of the, of baseball, essentially.

And it's just, I mean, it's, it sucks as a fan of a team in that division. And, you know, the big thing in baseball is, well,

didn't you guys make the World Series in 2020? Like, there's a wild card. The wild card exists. Yeah, but the, the best avenue. to making the playoffs is essentially off the table before pitchers and catchers report.

And that's a massive problem that baseball needs to look into and fix because just trying to like pump up these big market teams. I don't think that that's a sustainable way to run your league. I think people lose interest in that. And that's why it's a league like the NFL is so popular. And people come at me all the time when I make this point and they say, well, the chiefs are about to win their, you know, Patrick Rom's going to win his fourth Super Bowl. what, six years or whatever it is.

But I think that it's ludicrous because the chiefs got the best coach in football and they drafted the best quarterback in football. They are in Kansas City, Missouri. They are one of the smallest market teams in the league. And they have made a sustainable dynasty of sorts because they did it the right way. They made the right moves.

And the Dodgers, it's not like they're not, I could make the right moves if I was running the Dodgers. How much money do you want, man? Cool. We'll pay it to you. But not right now. Yeah. We'll pay.

And that's part of the problem, too. It's like if you're going to pony up and you're going to pay all this, like, it's so stupid that the MLB just basically allows a loophole where you'd be like, hey, we'll give you 50 cents every single day. And then when you're 50, we're going to give you $2 billion. Like, it just doesn't make sense. Yeah. I mean, let's not discount, you know, the rules of the referees as far as the chief's success lately. But that factors in. Look, it's tough.

It is tough in a cap league to find consistent, sustainable. success when there's no cap with the los angeles dodgers and it was funny to watch them throw all this money at it and them not turn into world series but it has you know twice now once yeah you don't want you want to you want to just only one count the COVID season okay that's fine a third of a baseball season played in a neutral venue sorry it's not for me all right then we'll just call it once but you know they there are in a really good position to come back and win another one this season but you know there is a chance i think for the arizona diamond just because of how baseball is set up.

I mean, we can certainly get into, like, their path to overcoming this, this unbelievable, just whatever we want to call. It's just injustice as far as how the Dodgers have been built. Yeah. And if we want to talk about that, we can in a little bit, a little bit later because the Diamondbacks have been leaning more into spending more money. They are one of these, I guess, smaller markets. Phoenix is very weird as how it kind of teeters small, big market,

depending on what team, one sport, whatever. whatever. But they've been leaning in and spending more money and kind of gathering arms. And as a concept, like, I'm pro team spending money. Hell, I'm a Phoenix Suns fan, man. We are 10 feet underwater because what are we doing? We're throwing money out at everybody. But the ability to improve has been handicapped. And that's the thing is like, I'm sitting here now where if the sons were the best team in the NBA, we'd absolutely be the villain. Does everybody be pointing out, we have the highest payroll? But there are mechanisms in place. I'm not a fan of them right now. But there are mechanisms in place to even it out and to make it difficult or at least not entice you to go down this lane.

The Dodgers are going down. But I think what even separates that is like, yeah, sure, the Diamondbacks can spend money and they can go down that path. A lot of teams can't, can. But almost nobody except for maybe the New York Yankees. The Mets. And the Mets, because, yeah, Cohen, can just throw this amount of money at people with no regard at all. And it's all deferred too. Like, it's just, if, if you're going to have a non-salary cap sport,

it's pretty tough to have that with teams who have such a difference in budget as well. Like there is no even playing field. Not at all. And, you know, baseball kind of, as we talked about, kind of counteracts like you said, the dimebacks do have a path. It's not like the season is completely over. But that being said, like, and as I mentioned, that Avenue is taken pretty much off the table already. you look at the Dodgers deferred money, it's somewhere around the $1 billion range.

I see a lot of why doesn't, why don't know every other owner do this? Ken Kendrick, for example, and Ken Kendrick has been spending top five total money the last two off seasons across MLB on free agency. So it's not as if Ken Kendrick is not trying. The dimebacks, I believe, are the 26th franchise value. So top five money is well above their means. And Ken Kendrick has a $1.1 billion net worth. So they, like, in what world would it be realistic for him to lay away $1 billion when he's not

what's liquid? His net worth is $1.1 billion. It's completely unrealistic for 99% of the teams in the league, 95% of the teams in the league. It's just not sustainable if other teams wanted to do what the Dodgers are doing. And in part, that's, I mean, the Dodgers are so good at business, right? They have a massive television contract. It's over $300 million a year and they get to use that. but that's also part of the issue.

Yeah, and good for them. They can add that. But it's the same thing. And you mentioned with the fans where somebody who comes from a rich family is like, yeah, you know, my parents help me out. I'm going to pay them back later, right? Like, they bought me a car, they bought me a house,

and I'm still going to go, I'm going to earn it, right? Like, the Dodgers still have to go out and play baseball. They still have to throw, go out there, and be the best team and go out and win a World Series, right? But you're getting an advantage. Like, you're starting the race halfway done. Oh, yeah. Like the margin for error is in the negative for the rest of the NL West,

going up against the Dodgers. I mean, usually it's slim, but now it's in the negative with just what they, the embarrassment of riches on top of the embarrassment of riches that they added this offseason. Like we look back at, you know, people crying foul when KD joined the Warriors, but that was a testament to the drafting and developing that they did with Clay Thompson, with Steph Curry, in the roster building they did there. Absolutely. Absolutely.

They had that little ace up their sleeve to sign a player, the caliber of KD. But, you know, people would cry and bitch and moan, but then when they got down to it, it's just like, well, it's within the rules. And it's not the Wild West. It's not just controlled chaos like it is in Major League Baseball. Well, there has to be a path, right? There always has to be a way. What is it? We're going to unpack that, continue to talk about the U.S. Sorry, the Dodgers on Southwest Bias, but of course, I got to let people know that if you're trying to revamp your flooring, If you're trying to spruce up your home, your business, whatever it might be, Empire Today is absolutely unequivocally the number one place for you to do that. Now, I'm not going to sit here and look you in the eye and tell you that, hey, they're going to give you just the cheapest, lowest price on everything because they won't promise that. Why?

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Use code P.HNX for 20% off your first order. So before we talk about how somebody can beat the Dodgers, do we agree that it's, I would say it's not the Dodgers' fault that this is allowed. No. So what does Rob Manfred do to change this? does the MLB go out and say, you know what, enough is enough. Let's put it into this. No more Dodger ball. I mean, when you look at like just the different pathways that they have taken advantage of, especially most recently with the signing of Sasaki and using it as the, what

Shohei Otani has opened up as a kind of a pipeline to the Dodgers. Like, as far as like international signing money and all that stuff, I think you got to figure out ways to benefit the, not just smaller market clubs, but be able to them get those when the Dodgers are going out there and throwing the most money at the free agents. So if the Dodgers are going to have the free agents, then you're going to have to have access to the international players and the prospects. So, I mean, I think that that is a good start. It's not the only thing. Like Jeff Passing, and I disagree with this saying that the Dodgers are just a symptom. They're not the disease. But like if the symptom is lung cancer, the Dodgers are chain smoking.

Like if it's if it's your liver's going down and then they're binge drinking like they're they're doing the worst part and they're not taking care of what should be happening throughout the league. They're just they're just not taking advantage, but they're just fueling the disease. I like Jeff Bass and I like a lot of these baseball writers that have been carrying water for the Dodgers over the course of this. No, they have though. They've been they've that is exactly what they've been doing. They've yeah. Oh, this is not the Dodgers fault. And like, agree.

You mentioned it. I don't think it is the Dodgers fault. They're trying to build the best roster that they can. All power and glory to them. But as Bo mentions, I think maybe an international draft is something that they could, that they could, you know, potentially work into the mix. Because, frankly, international players are going to sign with the big brands every day of the week.

They're going to sign with the Dodgers, the Red Sox, the Yankees, you know, the Mets maybe even. But that's what the international players, that's, the teams that they dream of going to. So when the money is semi-equal because they're all capped out at a certain margin, Roki Sasaki's going to pick the Dodgers every day of the week. So I think an international draft is something you have to look into. I think capping deferrals is absolutely number one priority.

Like the fact that you can defer 680 of $700 million on a contract is out of this world makes no sense. Like what kind of sport are we running type of situation? but I think that there are avenues to fixing it, a salary cap and a floor to even go further. You know, and I always mention the floor part because it's important. Like, I don't think that the problem is just the Dodgers. The problem is also the A's and the White Sox and the Marlins and the teams that never want to spend a dime, right? The pirates, yeah.

So I think the problem is on both ways. There's no middle class in baseball. There's a lower class and an upper class. And you need to find a way to make it. where they're all playing on an equal playing field. And that's the long-term solution. I'm sure we'll have to unpack that as time goes on. I'm all for salary cap and salary floor.

I'm voting for Damon Doug. Oh, are you kidding me? I'd be a way better commissioner than Rob Manfred. It's not even a question. I would be front row. It is. What's the solution for this season, though? How do this season, whether it's the Diamondbacks or somebody else,

how do they pull off a David versus Goliath? Who has the slingshot? It's tough. It's really tough. of course in a best of seven game series against the Dodgers. That's what makes it, you know, as Damon's point out, they've got five front line starters. But I think that the Diamondbacks, at the very least,

as far as games one in game two, they have guys that can go out there and they can shove. They've got Corvin Burns. They've got an absolute guy, ace who can go out there and compete, go seven, eight strong innings against the Dodgers. And what's the old adage in Major League Baseball or in baseball? Like, you're only as good as your next day starting pitcher. and I think that the Diamondbacks possess that,

at least like you can say they're solid through their first three starters and then like you got to figure it out after that. So like that can give you an edge to start a series. I mean, it's not going to be easy. I'm not saying like Corvin Burns, you just start him and you can just Sharpie in the win that day. But he gives you a chance. So does Zach Gallen.

I think so does Merrill Kelly. Yeah, players that get up, I think, for big games too. Like we saw it was Zach Allen, Merrill Kelly, every time it felt like you needed a big start out of them. especially in that 2023 season, they gave it to you. And those Dodgers games are going to feel like World Series games every time that you play them. I looked into it because, as we were talking about,

like the Avenue being closed of the division almost certainly. I mean, the Dodgers have won 11 of 12 division titles in the NL West. The one year that they didn't win, they lost by one single game. The Dodgers won 106 games that year. The Giants won 107. Wow. So, you know, I think it's pretty much off the table, like I've been saying, I don't think the division is really up for grabs.

I think that you need to make a wild card and you need to get into the playoffs in three game series and have your pitchers just lose their mind. The issue's not going to be, like, I think the Diamondbacks could show up and head to head, you know, narrowly beat the Dodgers. I think that that's a very real thing. But like the fact that it's such a marathon and then they're going to have the opportunity to beat up on the slums of MLB, like that's going to catch. to where they're going to be able to flex their roster depth and their rotation depth.

Yeah. And now their bullpen depth and their lineup depth. And it's going to just work out very well for the long haul to where they'll win the division running away, even if they went head to head with the deback. So you guys aren't thinking big enough. I've already fixed it. Okay. You ready?

Yeah. Everybody locked in? You clone Christian Walker. You put him on every other franchise and that way the dude just goes yard. That's it. That's the only way to stop the Dodgers, but maybe you have a way to stop the Dodgers. Drop it down in the comments below. Make sure you subscribe to PHNX Sports to turn that notification's bell on quite the diverse

array of shows up here on Southwest Bias. Of course, you can get Damon Dogg of PHNX Wildcats five days a week. And of course, being the man producing PHNX Cardinals, which, hey, I know PHNX Cardinals. That's Bo Brock, B reporter for your Cardinals. You can follow him at Bo Brock on Twitter. You can follow Damon at Damon Dogg. That's D-AWG. Also catch him on PHNX Diamondbacks once a week.

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