PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Carlos Correa is out of the WBC while D-backs non-roster invitees compete to make their way into MLB

Episode Date: February 7, 2023

As spring training gets closer, we are discussing the Arizona Diamondbacks non-roster invitees and who we think has a chance of joining the D-backs major league roster in 2023. We also are discussing who is in and who is out of the World Baseball Classic and how the absolute nightmare that is downtown Phoenix this week may have played into the Diamondbacks’ decision to cancel FanFest.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 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 FREE 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. $200 in Bonus Bets: Valid 1 per new customer. Min. $5 deposit. Min $5 bet. Promo code req. $200 issued as bonus bets that expire 7 days (168 hours) after being awarded. Bonus must be wagered 1x and stake is not included in any returns or winnings.Super Boost: Valid 1 Odds Boost Token per customer after opt-in each day for eligible Super Bowl LVII prop markets only. Token must be used BEFORE placing eligible bet between 6-9PM ET daily. Odds boosts and prop markets will vary. Max bet limits apply. Tokens are non-cashable, non-refundable, and cannot be withdrawn. Boost Token expire daily at 9PM ET. There are no restrictions on the funds a customer will receive if their bet wins. If their bet loses, they will not receive any reward. Offer period valid 2/6/23 - 2/11/23. See terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com/footballterms.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 “PHNX_SPORTS15” 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.comChitown Cornhole: Check out Chitown Cornhole at http://chitowncornhole.com and make sure to follow them on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chitowncustomcornholeboards/Roman: Go to https://ro.co/PHNX today to get 20% off your entire first order. Order by February 8th for guaranteed shipping in time for Valentine’s Day.When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I'm your mayor of PHNX, not your mayor of Phoenix, so don't fucking come to me with your complaints about your lodging and shit out-of-town visitors. This guy's the vice mayor of PHNX. Again, not here for your complaints. He's the thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. There's a fine line between the mayor of Phoenix and the mayor of PH&X. Just a couple of vowels.

The mayor of Phoenix right now has a nightmareous job in front of the front of him. And that's not the only nightmare we're going to talk about. We're going to talk about the nightmare that is downtown Phoenix right now, right outside of our office. And also how that might have impacted the Diamondback's decision when it came or when it comes, I should say, to holding fan fest the way they traditionally do. But before that, we want to talk about Carlos Correa, breaking yet another team's heart by pulling. out of their roster. Carlos Correa has withdrawn from being a part of Team Puerto Rico. I take a mad offense to this because, honestly, he is team Puerto Rico's best offensive

player. He's your only hope, really. He really was our only hope. Not great, but at least it isn't due to injury or due to the team necessarily keeping him out. Apparently, it's also, Jesse, not to keep him away from Francisco Lendor anymore, his good friend. It appears to be due to the fact that his wife is due to give birth soon and it's much easier to kind of just step away from the WBC with all that stuff going on. I mean, that's kind of a lot to

juggle, right? Like, it's already a lot to juggle just like the WBC and spring training. Like, teams are already, I think, a little on edge about that. So yeah, throw in having a kid on top of that. And that's kind of a lot going on. That's a big, that's a big month. That's a lot going on. I can understand the thinking there. I don't even like to go to two concerts in a weekend, Jesse. You know what I mean? Like this week, I've talked about this. The hangovers, everything. I, I'm not with this week at all with all of these Super Bowl parties that I'm going to. And like, that seems like a humble brag, but no, I don't, I don't want to go to them. I don't want to go to them. And I can understand, again, somebody like Correa not wanting to be a part of the WBC.

I'm surprised that we haven't seen more people pulling out, to be honest. I feel like this is something that it seemed like fun when we started looking at these rosters. But we did question how the hell so many all-star teams were going to be fielded when we haven't traditionally seen that with the WBC. Yeah. I mean, there's just the way that the WBC is configured, like a team like Puerto Rico without Carlos Correa, like that's going to make a pretty significant difference for them. Absolutely.

But yeah, we'll see as, you know, as things get closer. And we're only about a month away at this point from the WBC, you know, like really happening on a day-to-day basis. So I guess there's some exhibition games. whatnot, which we'll talk about that happened before the actual WBC. Correct. But yeah, we're not too far away from that. And yeah, it'll be interesting to see if there are other teams that, you know,

become a little bit on edge about this and decide to have their players not participate. My guess is we probably won't see much of that, though. Right. We do have, I mean, there's instances where players are being pooled because of reasons. I don't feel like teams are just doing it to keep their player from participating in the WBC. but like I think I'm saying this right. Gman Choi from the pirates. He expressed frustration with Pittsburgh not allowing him to participate in the WBC as part of team China.

And it's due to medical reasons. So again, it's not like they just don't want one of their players to not participate. But, you know, of course, there very well could be a lot of that. I mean, there could at least be teams around the league persuading players to not participate in the WBC. the Angels will not restrict Shohei Otani in any way from participating as part of Team Japan. So, I mean, it really, I feel like what it goes back to is Lovolo's comments last week when we asked him about Alec Thomas. The team and Lovolo seem very supportive of them participating in the WBC, and they support, you know, Thomas representing his mother's country of origin. And, you know, I know there's always going to be teams that worry about their players.

going off because of the value that those players have to them, right? So especially right now at the beginning of the season with, you know, just just the season just now getting, you know, underway, it seems a little risky to have some of your best players participating in something like this. There's a lot of, there's a lot of risk. I mean, whether like, Tori Lavello is going to come out and say like, yes, you absolutely should go out and, and, you know, represent your, your home country, right? or in this case, Alec Thomas' mom's country of origin, as you said. But yeah, there's going to be risk in this. Like there's a reason we have spring training. There's a reason that there's this, you know, several week buildup to being an everyday major

league player who's playing, you know, full on nine inning games and everything. The WVC kind of interrupts that, right? It's an oddly timed event. But I think teams just see the value in it. They see the value in having players be able to represent, you know, their countries. And I think there's a lot of patriotism that goes into that. And you don't want to take that away from players. You want to give them that opportunity.

So, yeah, I understand the concerns, but good on the debacks for being supportive in these situations. Michael asked in the comments, what team is our young king Alec playing for? And Gabriel answered him. It's team Mexico. And then we also have Merrill Kelly as part of Team USA. I think, is that? Who else? Is there anybody else from the team?

That's it, right? Yeah. But again, it's a great opportunity. You know, we talked about, we call this baseball Nirvana. We call Arizona the best place to watch baseball because it is. Right now, go outside. Just go outside right now. See how nice it is outside.

But the WBC, we're going to talk about the non-roster invite teas to the Dback spring camp and how important it is to kind of go out and get a chance to see those young guys out there at the workouts. But the WBC is kind of the same thing. These teams are all-star teams. So it's pretty fun that we get a chance here with Pool C being here in Phoenix to go out and get a chance to see them work out and play these games. The teams arrive at their facilities on March 6th. The following day, team workouts happen. Team USA and Team Mexico are in Scottsdale. Columbia and Team Canada are in Mesa. And Great Britain is in Phoenix. So we don't have

specification. Obviously, Scottsdale is probably the San Francisco Giants ballpark. Mesa's Sloan Park, I imagine. Great Britain being Phoenix, I could imagine a number of parks that that's going to be at. But they don't have a lot of time. Like they have team workouts on the 7th, and then exhibition games start the following day. And exhibition games kick off with Cleveland versus Mexico, Oakland versus Columbia, Chicago Cubs versus Canada, Milwaukee versus Great Britain,

San Francisco versus the USA. So those are some pretty interesting matches. The poor giants, man. The poor giants have to face the entire USA. Yeah, the entire country. It's just the giants against the world. Then there's more exhibition games the following day against more teams, the world baseball classic teams, take on the White Sox,

Kansas City, Angels, Colorado, Seattle. The Diamondbacks do not play any of the WBC teams, just in case you were looking about that. But then team workouts occur at Chase Field again on March 10th, and then March 11th is when the first round begins at Chase Field. So things are going to be happening really fast when it comes to the WBC. once the schedule gets going. Understandably, with the spring training occurring and the season coming up soon,

they do have to make sure that this happens pretty fast. I don't know. What are your thoughts on a baseball player preparing for both the World Baseball Classic and the season? I mean, is it advantageous to kind of get that little bit of a jump on playing what you would consider as a person meaningful baseball games? Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I think everyone considers the meaningful baseball games. I mean, you could make the case that the WBC, for some guys, might mean more than, you know, the regular season. Definitely depends on who you are. That's probably not everyone. But, uh, but, but yeah, I mean, it is, it is weird. It's like, it's like starting the year with the playoffs, right? Yeah, right. Exactly.

It's like, it's like a tournament before the season even starts. Um, I've, I've been an advocate in, in years past. And I would say I still am for, for opening the year with the all star game. Um, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not. I'm not like so far down that road of like I, I, 150% support that. But I think there's a lot of interesting things that could happen if Major League Baseball did that, where they opened the year with the All-Star game. Would it be based on last year's results? Like the full season results.

It would be, yeah, like the primary, the primary goal of that for me would be that you could base All-Star selections off of performance over the entire season rather than just one half. Yeah, rather than just the first half, which I think we all admit is kind of stupid. Well, and I mean, it's not even a full half, right? You start boating earlier. You start judging. It's like whoever has a good April in the first half of May. Exactly. April of May.

Those are the guys who are in the best position. But yeah, this kind of has like a similar feel to what I envision that being like. Like, let's put on this big show before the season starts. And I think it's going to be fun. Like, it's going to be fun, especially being here in Arizona. Very strongly encourage all of our, all of our listeners and viewers to take advantage of this. For sure. The teams that are here, it's not all of the WBC happening in Arizona.

We should probably make that clear. It's just the USA, Mexico, Columbia, and Great Britain in Canada, I believe. It's USA, Mexico, Columbia, Canada, Great Britain. There you go. Yeah, so those are the teams that are actually playing in Phoenix. Pull C is here, right? But it's a rare opportunity. Not very many markets have the opportunity to go to a WBC game.

So not only do we have that, we have spring training here, we have workouts here. We also have the combine, if I can get the word out. MLB draft combine here. It's like the baseball world kind of revolves around Chase Field this year. I mean, it's like the sports world revolves around Phoenix. It really is. We have the Super Bowl happening this weekend. The waste management Phoenix Open, I think is happening like right now.

It's a nightmare. It's an absolute nightmare. I don't know who planned all these things happening at the same time. Somebody didn't do a good job. downtown. There's people climbing skyscrapers in downtown Phoenix right now. And we have plenty of that to talk about when it comes to the craziness of downtown. But we also have how that might have impacted the Diamondbacks decision. Even though it wasn't a reason we were given, might have impacted the Diamondbacks decision to change Fan Fest this year, at least as we know

it to be. Of course, if you guys are here right now on the PHNX Sports YouTube channel, we love you. Teamo. Shout out to Gabriel, Caleb, Michael. Chris is here. What up Chris, Brett, Daniel, everybody that's here. We appreciate you guys being here. Of course, I got my diehard jacket, by the way, which I'm very excited about. You guys didn't tell me how incredibly comfortable and warm this thing was. So I appreciate you guys holding out on me when it came to that. But PHNX YouTube channel, make sure you subscribe. If you haven't done so already, sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when any of our shows go live. Leave us a little thumbs up. It makes Jesse's day. Of course, if you're listening to us on your favorite audio podcasting app, make sure to subscribe to us there as well. Even if you watch the YouTube show, who says you can't download. us and listen to us again. Nobody. Nobody says that. So make sure to do that. Leave us a review there as well. We appreciate you guys doing so. Speaking of diehard, this jacket you can only get as a member of the PHNX diehard. So of course, I don't deserve it, but I got one anyway. You guys should get one too. You should get the diehard membership. You will not only get access to exclusive merch like this jacket I'm wearing. You get a free piece of merch like this hat

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Just download the app or go to underdog fantasy.com. Sign up with promo code PHNX and Underdog will match your first deposit up to $100. Don't be an underdog. As Jesse would say, be an overdog at the underdog app. And speaking of underdogs, Jesse, we got some underdogs coming to spring. camp. The Diamondbacks have listed their non-roster invitees for camp. And no, nothing crazy on there, of course, but the Arizona Diamondbacks do have a lot of what we would consider big names that are kind of names that you might have been hearing about, but you might not have had a chance to see

up to this point. There's, yeah, there's some guys here that I think are interesting. So I'll mention a few names that kind of stand out to me. And just to kind of set the table here. If you're not familiar with non-roster invitees, you're like the whole point of this process. Generally speaking, a non-raster invitee making an opening day roster pretty rare. Like doesn't have you. The odds are not in your favor. But we have seen that over the last few years. I want to say that Fernando Salas, I believe, was a non-roster invitee for the debacks a few years back.

They certainly have had a few over the years who have made opening day rosters. So certainly worth taking a look at. and looking at maybe who some of those guys could be. So there's a few names that stick out to me, Derek. I think the most obvious one is Brandon Fought, which is, of course, a name that we have talked about quite a lot on this show. Best pitching prospect that Diamondbacks have by all accounts. I don't know if he's going to make the opening day roster,

but he probably has as good a shot as anyone on this list. I can't disagree with you. Other than the possibility, like looking at the list, Jordan Lawler is on there. Brandon Fott is on there. Some other recognizable names are on there as well. Tyler Gilbert is on the list. Slade Chaconi, Blake Walsden.

There's a number of top prospects that you've seen. Of course, Davis and Delos Santos being another one. But like Jesse said, it really feels like Brandon Fott is probably the top name that you could see making the main roster as far as opening day goes. There's a lot of names on here we could see being called up this year. but Brandon Fott feels like the most likely one as far as the Diamondbacks. And even that doesn't feel... You 50-50? Yeah, like it doesn't feel certain.

Yeah. What do you think? Put a percentage on it right now, Derek. I'm 40-60 against him being on the opening day roster. I don't think that it's a very likely situation. I am basing that, not on him at all as a player or his performances. is I am basing that on how crowded the rotation currently is. And whatever moves that they make as far as the rotation goes,

how that in turn impacts the bullpen. I don't know if certain guys are going to have an opportunity to have a role in the bullpen. I don't know if the Diamondbacks would want Fott to come up and start in the bullpen. I feel very strongly that it's either Brandon Fought opens the year in the rotation or they send him down to Reno and have him to start there. He's just too durable. He's just too, like, he's a prototypical, like, 200-inning workhorse type. At least that's kind of his build.

It'll maybe take him a couple years to potentially get up to that. But, yeah, I think he's a starting pitcher through and through. Mike Hazen talked about earlier in the offseason that he was a little hesitant to, you know, open the year with one of those young pitchers in the bullpen because once you start a guy in the bullpen, it's really hard to flip it around and turn them into a starter without risking injury. So I think it's either fought in the opening day rotation or, as you suggested, maybe more likely fought starting in Reno and getting that call up a little bit later. On all the prospects that you mentioned, right, Walston, DeLo Santos, Jordan Lawler, all those guys. Having those guys as non-roster invitees is pretty common.

It doesn't necessarily mean that like, oh, you know, this so-and-so got a non, you know, was a non-roster invitee. That means the debacks are seriously considering having them on the opening day roster. that's not really how this works. It's pretty common to bring some of your top prospects, you know, into camp, give them a shot, you know, let them get comfortable around some guys who will likely be their future teammates, not that long from now. But it doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to make the opening day roster. A lot of what Tori Lavallo sees of these guys is clips and data, you know,

information provided back to him statistics, but not a chance to actually physically see them. And the problem is that sometimes that doesn't really tell the whole picture when you just are looking at statistics and clips of some solid plays that they made. It really is a chance for Hayeson, for Lovolo, for a lot of his staff to see these guys, not necessarily for the first time because they've seen them before in person. But just to see them, see how they're doing, see how their progression is coming along. Just see how they're coming along as a player. It's like I said about Alec Thomas during the minor league camp last year. Alec Thomas looked like he put on a significant amount of muscle, and he just looked like a bigger guy.

You know, when they draft some of these guys like Thomas, like Corbyn Carroll, they're so young when they come in. Drew Jones is another guy, very tall, very lanky, but he still kind of looks like a kid. So I imagine we're going to see him develop and kind of grow up as he comes through the system. But that's kind of part of it is a high school kid then becoming a major leaguer. It's you can physically see the change. in them getting stronger and just a lot of aspects that you don't necessarily pick up just

from reports that you're getting from the minor league team. So it is a good chance for that, but it doesn't necessarily mean that Hazen and Lavello are going to be making decisions based on what they see in camp. There could be a couple of decisions made. Depth chart changes could be made as well as maybe some guy really does impress them, really does, you know, it's not to say that that's not possible. it's just much harder considering that the roster is pretty well set, I feel like, with a couple of areas that some questions could come up.

Davidson-Dales Santos is a great example, a very, very highly touted prospect when it comes internally in the organization. You might not show up on a lot of top 100 list, but people are very high on him. But if you look at his numbers and the fact that he just made it up to Amarillo last year, it doesn't feel like he's close to getting called up. If anything, it might be at the end of the season if there's a need. But for the most part, it feels like we probably won't see De La Santos until next season. Yeah, I agree.

I would be really surprised if DeLos is broken in the majors in 2023. He just, he really struggled in the fall league. And I think, I think there's still some some adjustments that need to be made there. A couple of other names I would, I would mention here. Jury's Familia is one of them. DeBack signed him to a minor league deal within the last couple of weeks. I think he's a name to watch. Didn't have a great year last season,

but obviously he's been a pretty good reliever in this game not too long ago. So maybe he's able to turn some things around. He's the kind of guy that I feel like does have a great opportunity to potentially use being a non-raster invitee as a way to turn some heads. If he can come into camp, look in shape and perform well, right? He does have an advantage when it comes to experience. But it also feels like the Diamondbacks really right now aren't trying to bring in. in too many veteran guys to block the young talent that they have coming up through their system. Right.

Yeah, it's kind of just, you know, like we described it at the time, there's no risk in bringing in a guy like Familia. And maybe you catch lightning in a bottle and he comes out and, you know, looks like 2018 Jere's Familia. That would be a pretty incredible outcome for the debacks. Every time we, every time we do this like each year when non-roster invitees come out, I'm always like, there's always a few guys on the list from like, oh, like that guy's still in the deback system.

Like, oh, I kind of, Stefan Kreiton is that guy for me. Yes. He was really good for the devax a couple years ago. I mean, he was the debaques. That was the biggest thing that said him back. There were some injuries that did deter him and he hasn't really been the same sense. But I think the debacks used Kryton as a closer. Yes.

Within the last few years, which is pretty crazy to think about. Dominic Canzon is another name that stands out. I don't, it's going to be really hard for him, I think, to make him. the team, but, you know, left-handed, left-handed outfield bat. Obviously, the debacks have no shortage of those as it is. But, you know, depending on how things go in camp, I think Canzone has proved pretty much everything he needs to at this point in the minor. So just kind of a matter of the door opening up for an opportunity there. In an effort to make this all about us, I just want to let everybody know, we're only rooting, really, for the guys that follow us on Twitter. So that

would be Mitchell Stumpo, Buddy Kennedy, and Brandon Fawt now. And Brandon Fawt, yeah. If we're being perfectly honest here, I'm just putting it out there. Mitchell Stumpo is a good, I'm glad you mentioned him. He's kind of fallen off people's radars a little bit. He didn't have a great year last year in Reno, but he's a, he's kind of a flamethrower. A guy is, you know, upper 90s with the fastball. He's got a good breaking pitch as well. He was kind of viewed at the start of last year as a guy who will almost certain. see some time in the majors at some point, but he never got the call up. I think this is an opportunity, though, for him to come in and, you know, try to get that opportunity

that he never got last year. I need Jake Hager as a part of the organization because there's a pro wrestler named Jake Hager, Jesse. You need Jake Hager just because there's a pro wrestler. Well, and his current gimmick is that he's a big fan of a hat that he wears, right? So when he goes around yelling, I like this hat about his hat. So, I mean, there's just a lot of, I feel like there's a lot of baseball connections there to be made. That's exciting to me as a pro wrestling fan.

Also, Tyler Gilbert, who Jesse did a wonderful video breaking down Tyler Gilbert's no hitter. That's another name that's, it's not really surprising to see him as a non-raster invitee, but just being a part of the Diamondbacks history like he is, it kind of, it hurts that he, you know, has this kind of incredibly unlikely game. And really, you know, hasn't found a way to consistently, you know, be a part of this team. He did provide them with some starting pitching depth at one point when they desperately needed it.

So it's not to say. Made some starts last year. You know, it's not to say that he hasn't been a part of the organization and, you know, kind of provided them with what they needed. But it's also a little sad to see Tyler Gilbert, who was once a no hit.

You know, he's in the books. He's no hit. You can't take them away from them. I mean, he's still here, right? Like, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be sad yet. I mean, he's still there.

He's got a shot. He's pretty far down the depth chart at this point. Would you put him above a lot of the guys on this list, though, as far as having an opportunity, potentially, at being a part of the team, either in the bullpen or otherwise? As far as, like, I mean, yeah, I guess they could look at him as a bullpen arm. I mean, you could maybe think of him as, like, a long reliever type. They have to start at some point fucking looking at some of these guys as bullpen arms, right? Am I crazy? Because, like, you can't have eight, nine starting pitchers.

That doesn't work. And I know that you're planning on some of these guys getting injured, which is a really, morbid weird way to approach it, but I get it. Depth, you know, I get it. You don't want the eight-man starting rotation? I don't want the eight-man starting rotation. It's so weird to me. I don't know.

I don't get it. But I also don't really like the idea of certain guys being promised a position, even if the younger guys are pitching better than them. That really bothers me. It bothers me to think Madison Bumgardner has just anointed his role in the starting rotation based on his experience and his time in Major League Baseball, when Dre Jameson could be fucking pitching absurdly well and then find him self in the bullpen somehow.

Yeah, it's fair. Based on your scale of him having the 1.4, what, 1.47 over Ryan Nelson's 1.46? Yeah, no. Ryan Nelson at 1.47, J. Jameson at 1.48. So it's settled. It's settled. I don't even know why we're having this.

I don't even know why we're having this discussion. It's crazy talk. Ryan Nelson's already won that war. No, you're not alone in the Madison Bumgarner thing. I mean, I think everyone probably feels that way. And my sense of where the diamond backs are with that is that, yeah, Madison Bumgarner is probably going to be in the rotation. I mean, Mike Hazen said that, you know, the level of competition has been raised,

but he also said that incumbency probably matters in that situation. Does it or does incumbency hold you back and make you start guys and have a fucking nearly five ERA every five days? Like, that's crazy to me. But that's the kind of thing. I'm not here to argue with you, Derek. I'm just saying that's what they're thinking. That's what happens when you sign guys to 13 year long deals and shit.

I know Madison Bumgarner's isn't that long. But can you imagine some of these guys at the tail end of their career when they're still making an absurd amount of money in comparison to their teammates having to start just because they make $30 million a year? It's fucking wild. You're going to eat the $37 million with two years left? Yes. You're paying it no matter what. Why pay it and have a bad baseball team on the field? I'd fucking pay it and at least put the best guys on the field for Christ's sake.

But sorry, I mean, it's a rant. I'm ranting. I've been told not to. I need to breathe. Of course. It's Super Bowl week, so there's no chance for me to take a breath. It's just one fucking late night party after the next. I am 41 years old.

I'm too old for this, but I will be out there in the streets. Having fun this week, trying to have fun. You can have fun whether you're in the streets or not with the Draft King's Sportsbook app. They got no sweat, same game parlay. So even if you lose, you'll get your bet back. Build your own Super Bowl parlay. That's fun. We're going to have all sorts of crazy Super Bowl.

My favor is Super Bowl prop bets. we fucking ride with blue Gatorade in this house. In this fucking house, we ride with blue Gatorade. It's always blue Gatorade. Don't forget that. Blue Gatorade is the best Gatorade. I think we can. Wait, is the blue Gatorade that remind me the blue Gatorade thing.

It's like what color Gatorade they're going to dump on the winning coach. I love that you can bet on that. I love that you can bet on it. And why the fuck is purple even an option? Who is dumping? Like unless your color scheme is purple, maybe I could see that. But nobody really wants to do. You have to still drink the Gatorade throughout the game.

That's an important thing. Everybody wants to do team colors. You have to drink the fucking Gatorade. Everybody wants to put Gatorade. Well, I mean, thinking out like the Eagles and the Chiefs, I don't remember any purple and neither. No, no, no, no, no. I'm just saying purple is an option that you can bet on. It's one of the color options.

And that's why it's crazy. It shouldn't be an option. Right, right. It's like plus, it should be plus like 10,000 for purple. No one's drinking purple voluntarily. They're just drinking it because it's the last flavor of a variety pack left. That's the only reason why you drink purple. But I digress.

We were talking about Drafking Sportsbook and all the amazing bets you can make over there with the Super Bowl and all this craziness. But of course, it's a fun time to do so. Make sure to get your money over there at the Drafking Sportsbook and have fun. You know, of course, Super Bowl, we know how easy it is to get distracted at Super Bowl parties

and not actually pay attention to the game. If you have yourself a nice parlay and maybe $150 riding on a win, you're going to stay locked in and engage to that game. So download the app now. Sign up with Code Pee. P. HNX, new customers can bet $5 on the NBA and get $200 in bonus bets instantly, only at the Drafking Sports Book, an official sports betting partner of the NBA with code PHNX, minimum age and

eligibility restrictions apply, see, show notes for details. I swerved you there. We were talking about football and then we just went to basketball. You like that? Also, I'm drinking a wonderful recreational juice. Dang IPA. It's very dank. It's very dank. And it's honestly only available in bottles now. And I'm enjoying it very much. Make sure to grab yourself some of this only available at the 8th Street Pub. They also have their staycation super juicy IPA. All sorts of wonderful beers. Of course,

the Joy Bus is the bus that we ride on and the Super Bowl is around the corner. So make sure to take the Joy Bus to the Super Bowl and enjoy a nice Four Peaks beverage during the game or check out their 8th Street Pub. Go down there, drink some beers, eat some chicken tendies, have yourself a fun afternoon. Must be 21 or over to

enjoy and enjoy responsibly. Jesse? Can we talk about Ben's? comment here real quick. Let's go, Ben. This is like the most, I don't know, like measured and rational opinion on Madison, Bumgarner that I've ever seen any Dada Max fan.

I get the frustration with Bumgarner, but in fairness, I think part of making a signing like that is gaining the trust of a player that will actually have some job security and will be given a fair shot. Well, isn't part of that also to keep up the same level of performance

that you had, say, in San Francisco instead of coming over here and letting your ERA go up by one and a half to two, points there? I don't know. I don't know. Maybe it's a mutual thing. Maybe both sides have to fucking still keep up their end of the bargain. I don't know if I really agree with what Ben is

saying necessarily, but I just think it's incredible that there are Diamondbacks fans who believe that. I don't, I can't be that rational. I'm sorry Ben. I am not capable of that. But I do appreciate what you're saying. And you know, you're right. He's right. He's right. Maybe. I don't know. But what I do know is that I am jealous of San Diego. I'm jealous of San Diego.

for a number of reasons, Jesse. That they're not hosting the Super Bowl and that they're downtown as a madness right now? That's part of it. The beach is also the food, great food. But mostly... We could do an entire show on why we're jealous of San Diego. Yeah, yeah, we really could.

I mean, I'm sure they would love that entirely too much. I don't want to let them win. But let's take a look at what the San Diego Padres fan fest look like a bit because here's some video. Oh, these guys, you got these guys on stage. If that's not a formidable, I don't know what the fuck is, but what else do we got here? Look at all those people behind him.

It's crazy. Let's see the beat. Jesse, these are just people here to see the team. Look at that. There are no bounce houses there. There are, there is nothing. They're not a single slide to be seen. Just, just thousands and thousands and thousands of fans out there to express their love for their baseball team.

When you have four of the best position players in. baseball you don't need a bouncy house to bring to bring the people in you know uh yeah i mean mean incredible right zander bogart's fernando tautis junior juan soto manny machado i mean it's it's insane it's insane and i think anyone who's writing off the padres in 2023 is doing it because they they're expecting that tatis like just won't play again for you know for some reason something else will come up sort of problem chemistry wise with him and i think that right there what you're seeing is no problem chemistry-wise of those guys being back together. Maybe you're expecting Juan Soto to kind of continue to play like he did

toward the end of last year, which I really don't see happening. Projection systems have Juan Soto basically being the best player of baseball in 2023. So yeah, I mean, it's insane. After bringing in Zander Bogart's, that group of four is better than any other group of four position players in baseball. And I'm not sure it's even close, honestly. I mean, it's that level of insanity.

This is not, that's not what this was meant to be. We weren't supposed to just sit here and talk about how great the poddots. You want to talk about their fan fest? I want to talk about the fan fest a little bit. Do they call it fan fest? They call it something else? I don't know. They probably called it something cooler than that.

Moustache-o Mike says, so the Padres have a Motorola patch on the right sleeve. I guess this is what baseball is doing with sponsorships. Actually, Mike, that patch has been around since last year. And I have given the Padres quite a bit of credit for her. how well that patch looks on their jersey. The way that they changed it to be the same color brown, the same way that it kind of makes sense because they play in Qualcomm,

or it used to be Qualcomm Stadium right now. It's whatever. Petco Park, right? Qualcomm. I mean, that predates me, I think. You are fucking young. Qualcomm is like a big company right there. Qualcomm is where the Chargers play.

Right. Or no, Chargers do not. The Chargers play in Illinois. The Chargers are going to play. You fucking almost got me there. But I don't know. I think that there is something about to be said. We talked about the patch,

the sponsorship patch yesterday. And honestly, like you remove the black square. It fits right in. Everything looks good. There's something to be said about those patches. Like being aesthetically pleasing, like Jesse would say about the GameTime app,

beyond just being an ad. It's going to be there every game. The last thing you don't want is the adverse effect of people kind of hating you because you sponsor a jersey or because your logo is gigantic and is kind of ruining the otherwise clean look of a baseball uniform. So I give them credit for the fact that that Motorola patch does look much better, I think, than what we get from the Advent patch. But going back to the fan fest, there that is.

There is that Abnet. I hate it, Jesse. Without that black square, though, you know, again, friend of the show Josh Hunt, he designed one without the black patch. And it just, the biggest problem I have, if I'm Abnet, it blends in too well at that point. Right? So I don't think Motorola has that problem with making their patched brown and such. Would you rather have Avnet on your jersey or Motorola? Well, Motorola, because they have a logo. It doesn't say their name written out.

Like, it's just an M. Am I the only one, though, that is, like, shocked that Motorola still exists? Motorola, no. Like, what did Motorola make back in the day? Cell phones. So, okay, cell phone. But now they make components, I believe, for cell phones. So they're still doing it. They're just not the maker of the phone itself.

I don't want to give a Motorola fucking history. I used to work at a pager and cellular company, Jesse. I used to sell these pagers, these fucking phones for Motorola. I don't want to talk about them. You used to sell pagers? I did. I used to sell pagers. I used to be the guy that connects your pager is what I used to do.

And I'd also hook you up with a fucking awesome voicemail as well. What did the pager do that your phone couldn't do? You didn't have a fucking phone. What do you mean? What did a pager do that a phone couldn't do? You didn't have both You don't a fucking pager or you had a phone The pager notified you you needed to call someone

And then you picked up a landline Which I know doesn't exist anymore And you dialed numbers on it to call them God damn it Jesse I swear like my dad definitely had a pager For his job at one point But I swear he had a phone too Like he also had a cell phone

He might have I mean Cell phones were expensive back in the day So you couldn't just have people fucking calling you for no reason. That would be an emergency. I had to know that you needed to call me right now. But that's, again, not- Just close my mind. This is, again, you have completely derailed this segment. This is not at all what it was about. It was about the madness that is fucking downtown right now. And when I say madness, I literally mean madness. This is what was going on like an hour ago. There was a guy climbing the goddamn

Chase Tower. It was the abandoned Chase Tower. The abandoned Chase Chasgraper. Let's take a look at this. Hey guys, up here in Phoenix, up on the Chase Tower. We are climbing today to raise money for a woman named Hope who is 22 weeks pregnant. And we just want to help her. She has some disqual. Yeah, I mean, what the hell? This is the kind of shit we have to deal with that.

Now, another road is closed because of that. My God. Honestly, though, like, so I'd already seen the video, but I hadn't heard the audio. This man sounds entirely too rational. Right, while he's climbing up the side of a building raising money for somebody. Yeah, like I'm actually kind of on his side now, even though he was arrested like a few short moments later for trespassing. Go try to fucking drive across to 7th Avenue right now and see if you still have that same love for him when you experience the traffic that you feel like. That's fair.

There's a sizable contingent of emergency personnel from what I've seen. And just to add to the speculation, again, this wasn't information that was provided to us by the debacks, but we are speculating that maybe the mess down here in downtown right now is part of the reason why the Diamondbacks decided not to hold Fan Fest the way they traditionally do. There's a lot of sports fans here in town. The NFL experience was a nightmare. I'm being told it doesn't open until February 9th, but there was a like a preview for some people this weekend. A friend of mine went, said he waited like two hours in line for a lot of the for a lot of the things that his kids wanted to do. So that's the same type of experience that you were going to get at Chase Field, but maybe even worse because

NFL experience is still an event where you have to have a ticket. Chase Field fan fest was going to be free. You just have this huge influx of people in town. And honestly, I mean, if you're a baseball fan or a sports fan, wouldn't you love to go check out, you know, if you're in town a sports venue like that, that's just kind of open and having a free fan fest thing? I feel like it would have been an absolute nightmare.

It would have been a variable that the Diamondbacks couldn't really have a contingency plan set up for without knowing how many people were going to show up for this. Yeah, I mean, it's, I think it's pretty reasonable to wonder if this played a role in their, in their decision. Because it would have been held like this last weekend, right? Like, this was when a lot of the fan fest were being held for other teams. So it would have been this last weekend or what, the upcoming weekend, the weekend of the Super Bowl? Yeah. Are you shooting me?

You can't do it then, obviously. So yeah, I mean, it could have been overshadowed a little bit by all of the other madness that's happening in Arizona right now. I think that's pretty reasonable. Maybe they could have had it earlier. Like, you know, if you had it like the last week of January or something. I know players are probably the majority of players, I would think, are already in town, already at Salt River Fields every day. So I don't think that would have required them to change up plans much, but I don't know logistically. I don't get the Super Bowl excuse, which again, this is just speculation on our part and not an excuse from the team, but could have just had fan fest the weekend after the game.

Well, that's well into the middle of February. They're already out there in spring training. And pitchers have already reported and whatnot at that point. So I don't know. I don't know exactly when they've had fan fest in the past. I assume that it would be a change to do it after pitchers and catchers have already reported when players are already doing all of these things that they have to do. And I do believe, like Ryan Simmons said, that is when they're holding the one for advantage ticket members only.

I honestly, I mean, again, it's just speculation on our part. I think it's between the waste management open and this. There's just, there's a lot of out-of-town people here. And again, it's already a packed event that isn't that great of an experience for people going there because of the size of the lines and the crowds. When you look at that, we were joking about the Padres fan fest video, but they don't have a bunch of stuff out there, right? It's just fans on field like there to listen to the players talk. So maybe if the Diamondbacks dialed it up back some and maybe had it more of an event like that specifically for fans that just want to kind of see the players get interviewed on stage and kind of have like a celebration event, Maybe that would have changed things.

I know, like I said before, I hated taking my daughter to this because not only was it very stressful for me as a parent to keep an eye on her running around with such big crowds, but it was also the lack of fun I had waiting in lines for bounce houses and stuff that they wouldn't, once again, allow me to jump in. Maybe if I could jump in the bounce houses, it would have been different. But since I have to just wait in line and let my daughter go have all the fun, it's bullshit. It's bullshit. And I refuse to accept it. But again, I don't know how this, I don't know how it factors in, but it does feel like based on our experience being so close to this area down here that it is madness. It's crazy down here right now. Streets close left and right.

NFL fan experience. Someone stole over $100,000 of equipment, production equipment from the NFL experience. Really? Yeah, things aren't great right now in downtown. Let's just say that. But I am going to help you guys out if you're an out-of-towner. Keep an eye out for my latest meetings with the mayor video where I will give you all of my tips and pointers

on how to enjoy your time here in Phoenix for the big game. Do you get a preview? Can you give us one tip? There's going to be a lot of helicopter talk. There's going to be talk about being saved off of Camelback Mountain with a helicopter and maybe renting an Uber copter to get from your hotel in Scottsdale to the big game.

Wait, is UberCopter, I think. There's really an UberCopter, Jesse. There is really an UberCopter. But one of the most important people, I know how I'm getting to the office tomorrow. Make sure to remember when you're in town, try our friends from OGs, right? Recreational marijuana use is legal here in Phoenix.

I don't know if it's legal where you come from, but make sure to try our friend from OGs because they have a wide variety of doses and strains, flavors for you to choose from. They're all about flavoring life. And they have a brand new strawberries and cream, Happy Balance Edition that is hitting the shelf soon and always you can find them as your local dispensary.

I got to put this on because I am a NASCAR. So this goes on my jacket. But here you go. Here's some tickers for you. But make sure to grab yourself some OGs while you're here in town. It's a great time to try them out. Of course, the happy balance ratio is a CBD-THC ratio. Helps you enjoy it a little bit more without the feelings of euphoria or being a high, I guess you would say.

But still have all the wonderful effects that you can get from edible. So make sure to try our friends from OGs. Must be 21. excuse me, 21 are over to enjoy and you can find them at your local dispensary which are all over the place. So good luck to you. Also, game time.

We're, we're, I know, I know. I know what you guys are saying. I know what you're going to say. I know what Jesse's going to say. I know what everybody's going to say. You're fucking crazy, Derek. You're not getting Super Bowl tickets on the Game Time app. Watch me is what I say.

I'm going to log in on Sunday and you should too because when you log in last minute to buy your tickets for events, concerts, whatever you want tickets to, you can get up to 60% off. And I am going to score myself some Super Bowl tickets, at least one, all by myself. I'm fine with that. It's fine.

I don't need anybody to go with me. And I'm going to get 60% off. Maybe not, but I'll be on the GameTime app looking. And as Jesse would say, he is very fond of the GameTime app. It's aesthetically pleasing. You have Super Bowl tickets on there right now. See? And I suspect, as you're saying, maybe those prices beat down a little bit.

I'm not so fucking crazy, am I? I'm not so fucking crazy. But make sure to jump on there. Let's do it together. Let's get some Super Bowl tickets together. We'll get them 60% off face value. Let's rock on it. Save up to 60% on tickets when you buy tickets last minute.

The best way to support us is by buying your tickets for game time through the link in the description below. What if we took a what if we used Uber Copter and that's how we got to the Super Bowl? Let's fucking go. Well, with the money we save on game time, we can afford to rent the Uber Copter. You and me take it from here. do some sort of like action hero shit on the roof of this building and we'll pick us up here fucking jump on the what are those things called the things they land on i don't know but wait it's not actually real is it uber copters is a really thing jessy we're gonna book one soon enough

well it's like a like a price ballpark range for an uber copter i don't know you have an idea i don't know but uh remembers i'm seriously considering this is like a mode of transportation so i'm with it i'm with it well we thank you guys so much for being here uh especially if you're here not as a tourist, but as somebody lives here. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse's at Jesse and Friedman. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs,

but of course all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. I'm looking back on these comments. I saw something about Jesse being cooler than me. Jesse is already cooler than Derek. Let's just shut this fucking chat down and burn it to the ground

because we're just speaking crazy. talk now, but I guess we appreciate you guys being here in the chat. On behalf of Damon, Jesse, and myself, we always thank you for your time. Enjoy yourself out there with this Super Bowl stuff going on. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much

more fun when your town isn't filled with people attending the big game.