PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Can the D-backs create their own version of the Cubs’ Wrigleyville here in Arizona?

Episode Date: February 24, 2023

Ryan Herrera from CHGO Cubs joins the show to discuss the impact of the World Baseball Classic on both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago Cubs spring camp, what the D-backs should do in regards to their future at Chase Field, and more!BUY D-BACKS TICKETS HERE: https://gametime.hnyj8s.net/c/3442941/1410622/10874 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX: Make sure to get your hands on our new “Slim Valley Reaper” t-shirt! Go to https://phnxlocker.com/products/slim-valley-reaper now!DraftKings: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now (https://bit.ly/3Jl1dMX), use promo code PHNX and make your first deposit of FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS INSTANTLY! Gambling Problem? Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (CO/IL/IN/LA/MD/MI/NJ/OH/PA/TN/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (KS/NH), 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), visit OPGR.org (OR), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA).21+ (18+ NH/WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/KS/LA(select parishes)/MD/MI /NJ/ NY/OH/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. VOID IN ONT. Eligibility restrictions apply. BONUS bets: Valid 1 per new customer. Min. $5 deposit. Min $5 bet. $200 issued as bonus bets that expire 7 days (168 hours) after being awarded.  See terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com/basketballlterms.OGeez!: Learn more about OGeez! at https://ogeezbrands.com//. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Underdog Fantasy: Sign up for Underdog Fantasy today! Go to the link https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-phnx and use promo code “PHNX” to receive a deposit match up to $100Four Peaks: Drink, eat, find, and experience Four Peaks at https://www.fourpeaks.com/.  Must be 21 or older. Enjoy responsibly. Bad Birdie: Use code “PHNXBB15” for 15% off your next order https://glnk.io/7qnq/phnx-sportsMor Furniture: Save up to 50% all through the holidays! Check out https://morfurniture.comRoman: Go to https://ro.co/PHNX today to get 20% off your entire first order. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Fink's D-BACs podcast here on the Fink's Network. My name is Derek Monti. Of course, I'm your mayor of Fink's. This guy next to me is definitely not Jesse Friedman. But we're going to go ahead and call him the vice mayor of Wrigleyville. It is Ryan Herrera from CHGO Cubs. Ryan, thanks for joining me. Yeah, no problem.

Thanks for having me. Have you been enjoying the terrible weather that you brought into town with you? I don't approve that. I was sorry for bringing some of the winter, Chicago winter down to Arizona. I was telling someone earlier like, When we came down here last year, I forgot that it was like mid-March for spring training. So it was like nice. I was like March 11th or whatever it was.

It was nice out. So when I'm packing for this trip and one of the other Cubs riders tells me like, yeah, it's cold as shit. Like make sure you bring some like pans and what I'm like, what do you mean? It's cold. I'm like, uh, it's Phoenix. It's mid-February. Okay, that makes sense. This is our winter.

This is when we get winter. But of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Drafking Sportsbook app. America's top-rated sports book app. excited to have Ryan here and of course I know that this isn't your first time here in Arizona. You came out for spring training previously but I gotta ask is there any city that you've traveled

to where people from Chicago feel so welcomed with all of your eateries and everything that we've expanded out here to be like Chicago South? Yeah, I was insane. I don't know that I've ever like really noticed it but I mean you think about it. There's a lot of Chicago people in Phoenix. There is. Yeah. This is. A lot of people like migrate out. It's here like somewhere in Florida. It's like people Yeah, people from New York go to Florida to retire.

People from Chicago come to Phoenix. Exactly. So like, yeah, this is like, even like a vacation spot. Like people from Chicago, it's like, it's winter. It's like, oh, let's go down to Arizona or something. So I would agree. I mean, I've never like personally tried to like or felt that. But I'm like, if I were to pick a place where you go down there and you kind of feel a little more like home still, it's probably, it's kind of Phoenix.

Nice. That's, uh, and we love your food. So we'll be happy to share all of that with you. But, uh, updates again, today. from the Arizona Diamondbacks camp. I know you were out at the Chicago Cubs camp. Did anything stick out to you? Has there been anything weird this spring with the Cubs?

I know you guys are kind of in a... I feel like the Cubs are in a similar position as the Diamondbacks where we're trying to find a way right now to not let this, you know, to regaining success for the franchise and try not to have it too far away, but it still feels like there's some pieces missing. Well, here's one thing from today.

And it does not... It's not that big, but some people care about it. It's like Cody Bellinger, someone that you guys know, no, good and well. Friend of the team. Yeah. Cody Bellinger, Homer during Live BP today.

And again, it's just Live BP. It's not real game. But I guess if you were to say it's like as close to a real game scenario as you get during spring training, really. So it was like, it was pretty. And it was lefty off lefty too. Nice, nice. That is like considering he hasn't been at that level in like three years.

Sure. For Cubs fans, hoping he actually starts to find that MVP form. again while he's here because I don't I don't know for sure that he'll be back next year he's he's got the one-year contract you know all that whatever um for any Cubs fans hoping that it's kind of a hopefully rebound season for him like that's a good sign this early in camp and kind of taking Drew Smiley taking Drew Smiley deep we'll see yeah long way to go till season starts it's hard not to overreact sometimes of that stuff in camp because like when the bet you know obviously when the pitchers are throwing a beat BP batting practice for you Jesse uh it's

you know, when when they're throwing this this time of the year, they're not going 100%. And it's it's kind of easy to get excited sometimes about things, especially offensively. I know I get jazzed to see them just in the cage, like just to see them smashing in the cage. Like Christian Walker was really dialed in in the cage. And I mean, again, it's just it's light toss off of a coach or a machine. But it's just exciting during this time of the year to kind of see these guys getting into shape and kind of being. dialed in at this point. Yeah. Well, and then like yesterday it was windy as hell. Yeah.

I don't know how it was down at Salt River Field. Oh, it was terrible. It's slow and it was pretty bad. But the wind was blowing perfectly out and somebody of Tray Mancini, Danzy Swanson, Eric Hosmer, all were hitting balls all the, you know, way out of the park. And not saying those guys don't have

home run power, but it was also like the wind was there. And as far as Wrigley Field goes, Rigley in April is, you know, the wind coming off the lake. It's windy as hell. You never know what you're going to get, Wrigley and April on every given day. So it's like all these new guys are coming in and

hey, here's, here's Riggly. That's what Riggily's going to be like in a month. Yeah, that's what I was wondering. I felt like, I feel like the Cubs coaches would definitely use a day like that to be like, oh yeah, no, we're doing drill, we're doing, we're doing, we're doing outfield drills, we're doing all sorts of shit because this is the perfect kind of condition. A hundred percent. This is exactly what Rigley, one of the

days in April, it's going to be just like this. You don't know what day is going to be, but it's going to happen. And hey, you know what? Here's a taste. Like, get used Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are there any concerns about the new rules at the Cubs camp? Is there any bit been any talk about it being like a sore point or anything? I know we've talked about Tori basically trying to set the mindset that it's just, it is what it is. Yeah.

We're not going to complain about it. We're just going to accept it and we're going to try to figure out how to adapt to it to the best that we can. Yeah, and I don't think it's like, I think it's more like, you know, anyone's resist to change, right? Like, no one likes change. Nobody likes having a job and then fucking being told that you have new duties now. You have to change the way you've done everything. I'm sure even the umpires were like, I have to do what now? I have to what?

I have to keep a eye on that clock and the batter and the pitcher and still call the strike zone. Like what the hell? So no one likes it. But it's every player understands like you're going to get used to it. And, you know, I talked to the Cubs, one of their assistant pitching coaches the other day. And he had such a good line. He's basically said, I even asked him, I'm like, have you felt any sort of resistance from guys? Like, not saying that guys are just absolutely hate it and aren't doing it.

but just like, you know, are they like, were they initially hesitant to try? And he's like, he's like, well, if they are like, pretty much like tough shit. Like he didn't say that word for word, but he's like, it's kind of tough shit. He said like, if you want to go and walk, or if you want to go and start every batter off 1-0,

then you keep pitching slow. Otherwise, get used to it because it's here, right? So that's basically what he told me. And I'm like, that is such a good way of looking at. It's like, you can be as resistant as you want to it and hate the fact that it's happening. But it's here. And at least for this season, you know,

you never know how long it's going to last, at least for this season, it's going to be here. So you either get used to it or you're starting every guy off one-oh. In the words of macho man, you may not like it. You will accept it. See, I get that reference. This guy gets that reference. Jesse doesn't.

I get the reference. I know Jesse would hate it. Ryan was present when Jesse basically made the revelation to the table that he did not know that pro-restling was scripted. And I still lose sleep at night thinking about that fact that Jesse did not know. I totally thought he was fucking around. I thought he was just like, oh, yeah, oh, wait, it's really not real. And then he was like, and then he was legitimately like, it's not real. I'm like, Jesse, where have you been?

How is it not the coolest fucking thing in the world if it wasn't real? There was a man named the Undertaker that at one point decided to randomly ditch the fact that he was a demon for the fact that he was a biker and he wrote a motorcycle down to the ring. Don't even get me started on. And he got buried alive and then came back. He got buried alive and he gets it in cement. Um, okay. Well, it was interesting to me because I know Tori has definitely voiced, uh, his concerns and he had the similar attitude, right? Yeah, that's what you're talking about, which is like, again, tough shit.

If you don't, it's not, there's no going away. There's not going to make a special exception for you. And unless you learn how to adapt to this, you're not going to be good at a major league level, essentially because these rules aren't going away. So I asked Tori today about if he, uh, you know, if he's thinking about these rules and, uh, if he's kind of like basically trying to figure out a way that they can capitalize on them with this team's speed and some of the other advantages they could potentially add. And his answer was kind of great that he basically talks about or thinks about it all the time.

I think about a lot, to be honest with you. I probably am a little hypersensitive to it. I don't like to be exploited as a team and have that defensive feeling. I want us to attack all the time with everything that we're doing. So when there are some new normals that we're all getting used to, I'm trying to figure out how we're going to get punched and counterpunched more than anything. So like I said a few days ago, Gil Velasquez said to me, you're worried about it. I respect it, but it's not going to be a big difference maker for you.

But let's continue talking about it has been my mindset, and I appreciate it. And I've had a few people tell me that had experience with these rules. But we talk about it a lot, and we're making sure our pitchers are ready to execute, and our batterers are in the box comfortable and ready to go. That, to me, is the first coordinate. Once we get there, we'll figure out what teams are doing. And we're going to let the games play out a little bit and then continue to have some conversations.

But players are smart. They'll make adjustments, and they'll come to us with suggestions, suggestions with how to exploit it. Something I believe in, player sight lines are way better between the white lines than ours. So if they have ideas, we're going to implement them. And that last part was actually very important because I've seen the players out there having these conversations,

kind of conceptualizing what they can do to gain an advantage in these rule situations. My favorite, you know, Patrick and I yesterday were talking about some of the things, but Patrick brought up the idea of literally flopping now occurring in Major League Baseball just to get more time or, you know, like in the meeting the other day for the MLB rules, they brought up that some teams brought up the idea of putting a man in motion to get them over on the other side of second base, but still basically be, you know, applying to the rules up until that point. Major League Baseball did say some things are still going to be off the table like that. Like they're not going to allow you to send a man in motion over there.

And the funny thing about it was they said, they're like, I don't even know how helpful that really would be. Like, seriously. Well, because I remember, I think it was like Ali Marmold, the manager of the Cardinals that said explicitly like MLB told them, like we put these rules in place for a reason.

We don't want you trying to skirt these rules. So if you start doing crap, that's going to skirt the rules, like we are going to put into writing more. stuff that you can't do. We'll just add it to the rules. We'll just make that thing illegal. But I'm like, yeah, that's fair. Yeah, it's fair. But I'm wondering if, and this is again something we discussed yesterday,

if what we'll see is them adapt to some of the rules that might not work out. Like, again, to me, the biggest thing is the disengagement. Like, everything else kind of makes sense and it doesn't bother me. But when I started really hearing the details about pitchers stepping off and throwing over and how limited that's going to be, it really kind of like, I'm like, I think that's the part that a lot of, especially pitchers are going to really struggle with, not the clock itself, but that portion of it. Yeah, and the hitters, too.

Like, hitters, what do they have one? They can step out of the box one time, call time out once during the plate appearance. And I remember, and this is another thing that's specifically for the Cubs, because, you know, April at Wrigley is so weird the weather-wise. But I remember Ian Hap talking about it. He's a Cubs left-fielder

when this all got announced last year. And he was saying, like, sometimes in April, the wind is just blowing in your face at the plate, and you need to step out to kind of, you know, collect yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's like, if I do the eyes are tearing up and shit. Yeah, totally.

He's like, I can only do that one time now. Yeah. And if I do that again, then it's a strike or whatever it is, right? So like, there's a whole, and that, again, that's not something you guys will experience in Arizona. But, like, that's for Cubs side. Like, that's a big thing. But it's just another example of, like, how much these players are going to, like, really have to acclimate to these rules quickly. Because once they get into a season, like, it's fair.

Everything's fair game. You make the mistake. Then it's on you. if you start a guy with a ball or strike. And it's going to be amplified when it's in a critical situation, right? When that strike, when that walk, when that bach leads to like the game winning run scoring or something like that, I think that's when it'll come under scrutiny. But for the most part, I think we'll, I think we'll be okay, right? But there's another thing that's kind of impacting spring camp right now.

And that is the players participating in the world baseball classic. I know you guys have 16, 17 guys, something like that participating? Yeah, 17 throughout the Cubs have 17. the organization participating in World Baseball Classic. But you also have some of your best players also participating in it. I know the Diamondbacks have Merrill Kelly, you know, one of their best pitchers. You guys have Marcus Stroman pitching on my team of Puerto Rico also, say Suzuki on Team Japan. So like, do you notice having been out there to spring camp before?

Do you feel like, and it's hard because I feel like we're judging it against the last two years, which have not been normal, right? But do you feel like they're kind of ahead of schedule because they're trying to get those particular guys, like that time, right? Like, everybody seems very prepared, but it feels like they're, like yesterday they were already doing a sim game

against a Korean baseball team. And, you know, it just seems like at this point of camp, like they're fairly ahead of schedule where they normally would be. I think so. I think that plays a part in it. And it's also like guys excited

to have a real spring training for the first time anyone, right? But I do think the whole WBC plays a part of it because every team knows, you know, however many players they have on their team, They only got another week and a half max with these guys before they start going off where they have to go. So teams want to get, especially like, so I look at Sayas Suzuki. Like Marcus Stroman, I don't think the Cubs worry about him.

I think he's a guy that does all the offseason work he needs to do. He's been in the game long enough. He knows what he needs to do during the offseason, whatever. But like Sayas Suzuki is a guy that is only his second year in America. Like he came in last March, was his first. He had to, number one had to acclimate to the just America and just. general, you know, in year one, there's only a second year. He's still trying to learn the league.

He's in a second year. Technically, he's only like a sophomore in the league, right? So he's still trying to acclimate to the game. And now you have all these rules changes. And then that doesn't even all, it doesn't even include all the off the field, stuff like the culture and all that stuff. And now they only got like, I don't know, I'd say 10 days until he leaves. He doesn't know exactly when he's going to leave is the big thing.

Like they haven't finalized that yet. But it's going to be in the near future. Yeah, that's so weird. and how close it is that they haven't finalized that. It's going to be early March, probably first week of March at the latest. I think March 8th is the first, is when World Baseball Classic starts. So it's got to be within the first few days of March. So we're coming up on it right now.

But he's someone, again, I don't think the Cubs worry about him, but it's another thing where it's like, this is a guy that's still trying to acclimate to America and this game, and now he's going to leave the team for what could be about three weeks or so, something like that. Yeah. While he tries to win a World Baseball Classic for Team. Japan and the Cubs, to their credit, have been just hugely supportive of anyone that wants to do that. And even say Zizuqi wants to go play for Team Japan, go ahead.

Marcus Drummond, team Puerto Rico, go ahead, like all these guys that want to play for the teams because it comes around once every, I guess it would be six years, six years right now. But, you know, it's more like a four-year thing when it happened. It's a pretty big thing for some of these guys. And they're supportive of it. But it's another thing where they're like, okay, well, we only have this certain amount of time before he leaves. We got to get a lot of stuff done. Yeah. So it's a long-winded answer to say, yeah, I agree with you that these teams are understanding that they have limited time with these guys to start spring.

They got to get, they got to get moving. Yeah. Brett Johnson in the comment says, seeing Tori's beard go from 85% brown to like all gray is making me sad. What about me, Brett? My, look at, go watch videos from a year ago. This place has aged me by 50 years in the last year. I think Jesse has like 90%. Yes, he's right.

See, he gets it. He spent one dinner with him. And he already understands. It does give off gandoff vibes. You're not wrong. But that also makes him a wizard. So hopefully that means the Diamondbacks will have some good things happen this year. Speaking of baseball and Merrill Kelly pitching, by the way,

let's take a look again at this beautiful shot of baseball being played out at Salt River Field yesterday. This was the Arizona Diamondbacks versus the Kai Womb Heroes. And it's just a little shot I took. But it's just a beautiful shot of baseball actually occurring. You got that, Damon? Look at that. Can we talk over this one? Yeah, I mean, that's, that, that just gets the blood pumping.

Also, if you heard that scream right now, that was a Korean home plate umpire with just midseason form strike calls that I could not believe in an empty stadium nonetheless. He had no reason to be putting on that show for us, but he still did it and I love him for it. But here's not, I want to touch on that. You mentioned it's just like baseball, right? Yeah. And today, you know, the Cubs, and it was most of the guys that you're like, okay, this guy is going to be on the major league team, right? and they did the, you know, like the pregame, like infield, outfield type stuff. Yeah.

And, you know, they're all crisp throwing home, like all the little drills, the warmest before you do, you do before a baseball game. And I'm like, holy crap. Like, number one, this is like my favorite thing to watch. Yeah. Not even the game itself, it's like how easy these dudes make it look. Yes. Because I know, like, having grown up playing baseball, I know this stuff is not

that easy. I know. These dudes make it look like the easiest thing in the world. And I get it. They're professionals, yes. But it's so just like nice to watch. Just one of those, like, aesthetic. pleasing type of thing to watch.

It's a guy like from left field throwing home straight to a perfect cutoff man who gives a perfect strike to home. This guy gets it. Oh my gosh. It gets the best thing in the world. It gets your blood pumping. But I think the other thing about it too is like there's just something to be said about like and I brought this up a bunch of times seeing these guys

run the drills that in Little League they told us big leaguers ran and you're like bullshit. No way they do. Like no way they don't do this. They don't roll the ball softly on the ground to each other just to get the feel of what it feels like to first pick up a ball off the ground. Yes, they do. Yes, they do. And as small and ridiculous as the drill is, they do it at a major league level and they build their way up. That's the reason why

baseball is just such a different sport too. When someone gets injured or whatever, you're like, no, they literally start from square one to build this person back up to being able to throw 90 pitches in a game or whatever the case may be. So here's another, like one of the Cubs rehabbing guys, he had Tommy John in like July. He says he's only now throwing from 75 feet. up to 75 feet and that is to do that for three weeks 90 feet for three weeks 105 120 all for three weeks I think it was like a delode for two weeks come back and throw it one thing it's it's it's and I get it's Tommy John like it's the most intricate kind of elbow surgery guys and it's the one that could literally end your career potentially if you don't you know if you can't

come back but that's how that's how like that's how slow these guys have to do this kind of stuff yeah for sure but we did talk to uh I asked Tori today about Merrill Kelly about getting prepared for the World Baseball Classic and about the fact that they played this Sim game yesterday. And he said that, and he's talked about the guys being ready coming into camp, that a lot of the guys, he was just very proud of how ready a lot of the guys were before they even stepped foot at Salt River Fields, or at least until the official start date, because a lot of them were there at Salt River Fields already working out.

But this is what he had to say about Merrill Kelly, and just kind of the timeline being a bit expedited to get him ready for the World Baseball Classic. I think he's right on. So there's a strategy to him throwing yesterday and getting that game clock started. And it was one inning, 20 plus pitches. And it was executing. And I'm not surprised at all. The way the ball comes out of his hand is very consistent with what I remember last year.

And he's just, he's a great worker. He knows what he wants to get to. But, you know, we're prioritizing getting him up to that pitch count where we're going to be comfortable saying, go ahead and do your job at the highest level, the best way you know how. And that's up to us to make sure. is as ready as he can be before he steps out of here. Now, and you said that the Cubs were very supportive of guys participating in the World Baseball Classic.

That's something that I think has changed over the years. I feel like we are getting a chance to see something special because of the fact that not only do players want to be a part of it a bit more, but the clubs are a bit more accepting of letting their high dollar talent go out and participate in this thing that really, man, the grand scheme of things, doesn't have anything to do with the team or anything else other than just kind of the love of game and growing the game of baseball. Yeah.

Well, it's, excuse me, it's one of those things where it's like, you know, it's not the World Cup. Right. Of course, but it's like the World Cup for baseball. It's the biggest kind of international tournament. And these guys care, you know, these guys care about competing for their teams and trying to win, you know, trying to get first place, trying to win the whole thing and, you know, representing their country the right way.

And these guys do care about it because, you know, they're, again, a guy like Sayas Suzuki, he's in America for the first time. It's not like he's so attached to America. it's like Japan's his home. Japan's where he spent the first 27 some years of his life. Playing baseball, growing up there, whatever it is. Like, that's his home. And I think, again, I think it also goes to the point where it's like it's been six years

since the last world baseball class. Some of these guys have been like kind of itching to get on those teams again and do that stuff. And so I just think it's one of those where it would be a disservice for teams to not be supportive of it. I get that you don't want to lose some of these guys. during spring training. You don't want some of these guys to leave your team and go wherever for a couple weeks during spring training.

But it's also like it's important to these guys. You don't want to piss them off. They're on your team. They're your players. Like it's a weird balance. I get it. But it's one of those things where it's just so important to those guys and the best organization

are the ones that I'll be like, you know what? We know what we have to do to get you ready. We'll figure out how to get you ready before you leave so that when you come back, there's no problem. So you're good to go and you're just going to be ready

for opening day regardless. And I have this thing about the fact that spring training games are also meaningless. So I don't really believe that like playing a spring training game is more important, you know,

or like anything comparable, right? But at the same time, you're still probably not gonna maybe put your body completely on the line like you would, you know, in an MLB game for some sort of, you know,

playoff push or something like that. Like it's not, you're probably still going to have guys being careful and making sure that they're a bit more careful than they would just like they would in a spring training game or anything like that. Yeah. But I don't know.

I just, I think it's exciting. And I think what it does for the sport is, is huge. And I think that we have seen it grow from something that people didn't have very much interest into it being a, it's a damn all-star game this year. Like,

it's incredible how good some of these teams are. Team Japan's awesome. Team Puerto Rico. Great. Dominican Republic team. Are you kidding me? There's team USA is awesome too. It's like there's incredible teams in this tournament.

It's like it's another thing where it's like you have so many guys from your Latin American countries or Asia or wherever they're from. And they don't get to play with these guys. Like they're obviously on different teams like a guy I'm thinking of you know like Havi Baez and Francisco Indoor. Right. They're not they were they played together at one point. But now they're on different teams. But here's a chance for them. go play with each other for like two, three weeks, however long it is.

Like guys, guys, guys, guys, the best players that come from their country. Number one, they're all super proud of where they're from. But number two is like, hey, we have this chance to play together. We grew up playing together, whatever it is. Or I like watching you play from afar. You're like watching now we're both in the big leagues. Like, oh, now we get a chance to play together. Like, that's cool.

And that's another reason why it's so important to those guys. And Chris Melton in the comments says Goldie and Trout on the same team. There you go right there. That is enough for me. Sign me up. Sign me all the way up. But you guys should also, speaking of signing up for things, sign up for the underdog fantasy app because nobody wants to play an entire season of fantasy baseball. It is a chore. And instead, what you can do is grab five of your friends and you guys can play daily fantasy against each other, draft up to six players. Whoever gets the most points with no positional limits wins. It's that simple, wins cold hard cash. Also, we're talking about pickums and we're talking about riding on pitch counts this season. and I've been informing everybody that I want $1,000 on pitch counts,

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They have their brand new strawberries and cream, happy balance gummies. They are live and on shelves now in dispensaries. As always, you can find the metro local dispensary by checking out OGsBrands.com. Must be 21 years or older to enjoy. It was one of the things I was informing everybody about when they were here for the Super Bowl. Like, hey, just as a reminder, recreational weed is legal here. So enjoy yourselves while you're here. But I know you told me before we got on the air that you have never been to Chase Field.

But I imagine, obviously, you've seen Chase Field plenty of times. What are your impressions of that stadium? I mean, what are your thoughts when you see the Cubs play the Diamondbacks here? Here's my thing. And it's not just... And don't hold back, by the way. Well, I'm saying it's not exclusive to Chase Field. or it's any domed or rooftop stadium.

Like, sure. I hate it. Yeah. And I get it. You're in Phoenix. Like summer's hot. You kind of have to have that.

I don't, I don't disagree. It's just like the look of it. And maybe, you know, you get biased, the view from Rinkley Field. Like,

you get biased, like especially like a summer night, sunset in the back, a little bit of the skyline. You get, you probably get biased. You do. And so whatever.

But I don't like, and I have the same issues with like, I guess it's American Family Field now in Milwaukee. Yeah. Their sister stadiums, by the way. So, like, they were designed, I think, I might be wrong about this, but I believe they were designed by the same company or designer. They look identical. You're right about that.

Yeah. Okay. So it's not, again, not exclusive to Chase Fields. I don't like the vibe of the domed stadiums or rooftop stadiums, whatever. It's not like, I don't know how to put it, but like, it's not, when I look at it, it's not, it doesn't stand out to me in any way. I always said it's an airplane hangar is what it is. It's kind of, I was going to say it's a plane.

It's a big building the store like large equipment in is what it feels like, right? And right now the Diamondbacks are in the middle of kind of this, not a fight, but a decision. And a decision, Derek Hall told us earlier this week that should come, a decision should be made this summer in regards to the Diamondbacks, potentially either extending their lease and staying at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix or exploring options to build a new stadium somewhere else. they have a lot of money that they want to invest either way, whether it's in a new stadium or in renovations to chase field. And obviously, we know how historic and important Wrigley Field is to baseball, right? It's the second oldest stadium, second oldest ballpark and baseball. But from from your perspective, having gone through it, having watched them kind of renovate and change Wrigley Field over the years and not just in the stadium, but outside of the stadium and making, making that wonderful Wrigleyville, you know, area that so many fans love like would would you and your if you had a choice would you see the

diamond backs would you think that they should move away from this area or would you see them trying to renovate that big airplane hanger because obviously like you said it doesn't feel like the the roof thing is going to change no matter where they put the ballpark they're going to have to have some sort of roof on it but there's a lot of like things holding them back at chase field should they renovate it because they're still going to be limited on on how much they can actually renovate. Yeah. Again, and it's different with a different type of ballparks from Ringley and Chase.

Yeah, they couldn't be more different. No, exactly. Like, they couldn't be more different. I think what the Cubs did when they renovated it, they did a great job of, you know, doing when needed to be done. They had the two scoreboards put up, and those are great, and they're very helpful. And they, you know, all the other little intricate things that they remodeled, like, have been really good.

The press box is better than it used to be. And that's, you know, that's the only thing that really affects me at this point is a press box. But it's great. But they did a great job of, like, keeping, like, making it still feel like wriggly field. It's still the Ivy. It's still the marquee. It's still the scoreboard and center field. It's all, it still feels like traditional Wrigley Field living with all this new stuff.

And so they did it the right way, in my opinion. Some people don't love it, but, you know, their opinion is wrong, in my opinion. That's why they're called opinions. Yeah. I guess Chase doesn't have that kind of like traditional appeal. It's not like it's not as old as Rick Mefield. In any way, right. So.

Which is odd because it's still the fourth oldest ballpark in the national league. Yeah. So like that's wild to me because it still doesn't feel that way. You know, like I have lived in the city, you know, for a considerable amount of time longer than that stadium even existed. So to hear that it is the fourth oldest stadium makes me obviously feel like a dinosaur. But it also makes me think like, wow. How is that possible? And I guess it's possible because every other team has done it.

Every other team has done it. And they don't renovate these stadiums, especially when they're not as historically important as a place like Fenway or Wrigley. Exactly. And so when I look at it is, and I, my thing is like I don't, I have not, like you said earlier, I told you I haven't been in Chase Field. I haven't really spent too much time downtown Phoenix. I don't, I don't know what the vibe around stadium is like.

But what I would say is, is Brigley is so different. because there's so many stadiums in the major leagues that are just right off a highway or in downtown or whatever it is it doesn't feel like a neighborhood. It's Rigley is it. It's Rigleyville. You mentioned it. It's rigleyville. It's this neighborhood that like feels like it's built around the stadium. It's not really close to any of the major highways in Chicago and you kind of have to drive. You can get off a highway. It's not convenient. It's not convenient. It's not downtown. It's like it's really its own kind of thing and it feels like it's built around Rigley. and I don't know if that's possible for Chase Field. Sure. But like if they're looking, it's kind of become more of a Wrigley,

like the experience. And Vinnie Dubers are from CHGO. He's our socks guy. And he's kind of made the argument that, you know, going to Riggly is more of just like, oh, I'm going to Riggly, going to have some drinks and have fun. But you go to the South Side

and it's more like actually I'm going to a baseball game. And I don't disagree because Riggly Field and going to a Cubs game is like more of just the experience. of Wrigley Field and going out to the bars or whatever around and that kind of stuff. And so what I'm trying to say is if they can do that, I don't, I'm not saying that's not a bad idea.

Yeah. I don't know how much money it would take to do that versus just renovating Chase. I have no idea and I don't know that I care to look into the money wise. It's not. Yeah, no. It's obviously it's going to be cheaper to renovate Chase Field. I think at the end of the day, but also you're not going to get out of it what you're going to get by having the

ballpark built in a new area. They're limited on space. There's a train track behind them. There's a Phoenix Convention Center in front of them that won't allow for like any kind of new entertainment district to be built. And that's kind of what like I think of when you're talking about that. Like it's not going to be like Wrigleyville, but thinking along the lines of Colorado, right? And DNVR, we talked to Patrick. One of the problems that Rockies fans have is that going to the stadium becomes kind of like that.

What you're describing. Like people don't go because they love the Rocky. and they want to go see the Rockies win a baseball game. They go because it's a fun area to go to. And like, hey, why don't we just catch a baseball game? Because it's kind of a cool vibe. And we can go there and then we can kind of go like do some bars. Yeah, bars have some dinner, play some laser tag maybe, do some bowling, whatever,

because there's so many options of things to do around there. So like, that's the one thing that if the Diamondback should pursue the route of staying at Chase Field, which, you know, even though there's not a lot of history there, it's still historic. It's still history to us because it's our only major championship, you know, was one in that building, right? So like it would it would be weird for them to play baseball elsewhere. They do have Salt River Fields, which is in Scottsdale, and there's a much bigger entertainment district that's kind of growing over there. And it just feels like it's inevitable that that's where it's going to be. Don't know, don't know if that's the case.

But in that case, that could be at least a situation where they could have like not, again, not Rigleyville, but a Rigleyville. but a Wrigleyville like, you know, entertainment district where there's more to do stuff around the ballpark than just going to the ballpark for a game, which is kind of right now the only reason why you would go to Chase Field. Which is not a bad thing, especially if like the team is good. I'm sure like Chase Field will fill out.

Sure, sure. But it's not often that happens, right? Exactly, exactly. If it does feel like you have to figure out a way to get people to want to go to your game outside of just watching the downbacks, if they're bad, right? They're a bad team. You got to figure out a way to get people to the baseball field without just saying,

oh, come watch the dime back to play baseball. You got to figure out some way to do that. So it is like a very nuanced kind of thing. And I don't want to give my opinion because I just don't know the area. Sure. I don't know the history. I'm like the way I look at it is if they want to keep it, how you were talking about it's that's where the World Series was one.

It doesn't Chase feel like you want to keep it in that kind of sense and you're in Phoenix, whatever. Like you could do stuff to make the ballpark itself more appealing. Absolutely. But if you want to make it more of an experience and you want to draw better crowds that just want to be there and hanging out, it's just it doesn't feel like they can make that happen in that building. That's what it comes down to. But selfishly, I want them to stay there because it's like two blocks north of here or south of here. And I like being able to walk there. So there you go. That's what I want. Thank you guys. By the way, those of you that are here in the chat, we thank you guys for being here. Of course, if you are not already a PHNX diehard member, make sure to grab yourself that membership. do you get Jesse who is currently not here, but he's still, I'm sure, writing. His wonderful full count newsletter as well as Gerald, Craig, Howard, all of our full set of writers' newsletters from go phnx.com, as well as a wonderful piece of merch from a phnx locker.com

every year you remember, 20% off all future purchases, members exclusive merch, members, exclusive invites to events, discounts with our partners, members exclusive Discord lounge, and so much more. make sure to grab that membership over at go p hnx.com if you're here right now in the youtube channel we thank you guys for being here make sure to subscribe if you haven't done that yet sign up for notifications that way you don't miss when any any when any ever our shows go live words are hard sometimes uh and also uh for jesse who's not here give us a thumbs up uh just so that he knows that we can we can still go on without him right like i need as many likes on this show just so that he doesn't get a big head thinking like oh look people aren't watching now because i'm not there because you know he

will. You would know he will. And if you're listening to us on your favorite audio podcasting, please subscribe to us there as well. Leave us a review. We always appreciate the feedback. I promised I wasn't going to do this anymore, but for our draft king's pick of the week, I have to pick the Phoenix Suns. And I know what you're going to say. Derek, did you not get the memo that Kevin Durant is not playing for the Sun yet? Yes. Oh, he's not playing? Not yet. Not yet. It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen Friday. According to reports, it sounds like he won't be hitting the court until next Wednesday at the the earliest and it may even be later than that.

And after experiencing what I experienced with Catelle Marte and his injuries this season, what I have to say is, Kevin, you take as much time as you need. You take all the time because we need you healthy and ready for the playoffs and not to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder, which the sons are going to beat. If you

want to be a little crazy with it, I'd say they're going to cover the spread at minus 8, but you can also go with the money line at minus 3.30. I don't know. The Thunder are a pretty damn good team, that not enough people give credit to this. season but I don't know. The sons are just rocking and rolling right now. And of course, because I said that, they're probably going to lose by 20. So I know, I know, go ahead and tweet me and yell at me now.

But also keep an eye out on the Draft King Sportsbook. They have the no sweat, same game parlayes. Guys, get your money back. Get a free bet should your bet not hit. Not to mention a bevy of options to opt in at. So make sure to check that out. You have to opt in on those. So don't miss that in jump on the app and want to make a same game parlay. Also, I love the live betting this year on the Draft King's Sportsbook app. I don't know why. I feel like it makes live sporting events more exciting when you can just kind of hop in in and bet midgame.

And I've been doing that quite a bit on basketball. So make sure to do that over at the Draft King's Sportsbook app. And of course, if you haven't done so already, download the Draft King Sportsbook app and use our code of PHNX. New customers can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets instantly, only at the Draft sportsbook with code P-H-N-X minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes

for details. And sir, I appreciate you being here and join a wonderful four-peaks with me. Again, another benefit. We could talk pro wrestling and four-peaks would drink four-peaks beer without Jesse being here. I mean me to come down to Phoenix more awesome. Yeah, I might need that. I might need that for sure. But of course,

it's a trap this time of the year, right? When people come out for spring training, this weather isn't the weather, but the March weather you were talking about. That's the weather where you see that and you're like, I want to move here. And then it's like, this doesn't stick around. This isn't for long. But of course, there's all sorts of wonderful things to do in this time of the year because we have this wonderful weather.

So grab yourself a four peaks. I'm going to be out at Innings Fest this weekend. So I don't know if any of you guys are going to be out there. But of course, if you are, shout at me. Come on. Say hi. I will probably have one of these in my hand there and getting ready for the official launch of spring training the following week. but make sure to check out 4Peaks.com events calendar at 4Peaks.com

slash events for all your beer week entertainment. And of course, because I'm going to be at the old innings fest, I will not be able to participate, unfortunately, in the beer can derby. So I need somebody to participate on my behalf. All you have to do is go pick up your kit now and make the winning beer can derby car. It cheat if you have to. Remember, we said that. If you're not cheating, you're not trying.

And if speed and adrenaline is your speed. then the beard can derby on February 25th is where you need to be at Four Peaks, A Street Pub in Tempea. Show us that you have the fastest beer can in the valley. Sign up now through 4Peaks.com slash events. Must be 21 years or older to enjoy and enjoy responsibly. Well, Ryan, I think I am going to have you on here again more. We need to cheers again to Jesse not being here.

And of course, all the night, kind of the best of luck to your Cubs. I can't give you all the luck. There was picture day today, by the way. And we have this beautiful image that we want to show before we go of this baby boy. Look at that guy. Oh, we miss you. We miss that guy. How excited are you guys to have this Dan's B. Swanson character as part of your lineup?

I mean, I think when it first happened, Cubs fans weren't like happy. Not that they weren't happy. It was just kind of the fact that. Just wasn't this big signing. He wasn't like what Carl's Correa or Trey Turner. Because maybe he just doesn't have, maybe he just doesn't have. maybe he just doesn't have the upside those kind of guys have

but he still I mean he was an all-star last year I want to say yeah when he won the World Series he was a gold glove last year like he's still a very very good player that you got for you got for a lot less money

than those guys gave and this is the point that I made you know when all the Carl's Correa oh he's not going to stand with the Mets anymore he's not going to sign with what when all that crap was going down I was like there were still peaking Cubs fans that were pissed at why didn't the Cubs give Correa six years, whatever the hell it was.

And I'm like, why is everyone mad? Like, shouldn't you guys be happy that you got Dansby Swanson who's a very good player and you don't have to worry about all this crap with Carlos Correa? This 13-year contract where he might spend six of it completely injured and unable to play. You got a great player and you should be happy with him because he's going to be a very good player. And, you know, just the few interactions we've had with him so far, obviously spring training just started, you know, a little over a week ago. Yeah. The interactions we've had with him, he has very good head on his shoulders.

He brings that kind of leadership quality that the Cubs are looking for. You know, the Cubs are building this kind of culture in the clubhouse. I think that's kind of how the foundation of that team is starting to be. Yeah. Obviously, on-field results matter, but the foundation of it is like the clubhouse matters too. Yeah. Because when you look at baseball, it's such an individualized sport on the field. Right.

That the biggest, like, team thing they do is, like, that class. clubhouse. Yeah. So the clubhouse culture matters so much. And like Dansby was such a huge addition for that as far as just like he talks, everything he talks about is winning. Everything he talks about it. It's all the right things it seems like.

And a lot of players do that, of course. Sure. But he's someone that's experienced that, right? In Atlanta, he's won the World Series. He knows what it takes. He saw how it translated over from the clubhouse. Exactly. He was something that they win, you know.

Yeah, he won the gold glove. He's someone that he's only, you know, he's not that old, but it feels like he's been around for a long time and he's like kind of discovered he feels like one of those really big veteran additions that teams make. Like he's wise beyond his years. Right, yeah.

So he's one of those, it feels like one of those big additions those teams make when they're kind of on the brink. And he's what, like the second or third highest paid player in Cubs history as far as like total dollars. So they're betting a lot on him. Yeah, yeah.

But it seems like he's the kind of guy that this team really needed to kind of take that next step. Yeah. They're still a ways away. They still got to kind of prove that they're on that right trajectory. But, you know, Danesby feels like one of those guys that when you look back on what they did this offseason, no, he wasn't Carl's Corray or Trey Turner and who they are right now, but he may be better for this team in the long run than they probably would have been.

You never know. You never know how things are going to play out over a contract like that. That's the thing. And that's why those contracts are crazy. You know what I mean? 13 years? 12 years, 13 years. Like it's wild.

Who, Bulgarts, I think, got 13, right? He's going to get paid some whatever million when he's 40 years old. You know, playing baseball looking like me with this great beard I was talking about earlier. Nobody wants that. But you know what? One thing we can both agree on right now is at least our mutual hatred for our favorite players going to the St. Louis Cardinals. So glad to have you here. Thank you so much.

And I hope you have a safe trip home. And best luck to your Cubs this season. Definitely follow these guys over at CHGO underscore Cubs, especially you Cubs fans out there. I know there's some of you here in Phoenix for sure. but tell your friends yeah tell your friends we thank you guys of course for being here you can follow me at cap underscore kbman with a k he is at ryan underscore a underscore herrera that's a lot of underscores we need to we need to talk about that we had to figure that well the reason i never i never changed is because they're gonna take it by my blue check yeah yeah but they're gonna do that anyway now so whatever who cares you can't control us elanx underscore debacks but of course all roads lead to at p hnx underscore sports on twitter instagram and facebook and again We thank you guys so much for being here on behalf of Damon, Ryan, and myself.

We always appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when we can make fun of Jesse because he's not here.