PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Corbin Carroll Mashes GRAND SLAM & STEALS HOME In Spring Training Rout of Brewers

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

Become a PHNX Diehard for just $4 a month! http://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube The Arizona Diamondbacks are back playing baseball again. Corbin Carroll is stealin' bags and hitting bombs, what else is new? Corbin Burnes is looking as good as ever. Geraldo Perdomo is already making his new extension look good. What are the takeaways from the early spring training results the Diamondbacks have produced? Derek Montilla is back with another PHNX Diamondbacks Podcast to break down everything from a HOT start to spring training for the Diamondbacks. An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Gila River: Win a Lamborgini! Visit https://playatgila.com/promotion/350k-lamborghini-luxe-giveaway/ for details Branded Bills: Use code PHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order! Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! Check out FOCO merch and collectibles and use promo code “PHNX10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items. Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code PHNX for 10% off! 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. #dbacks #diamondbacks #arizonadiamondbacks #mlb #zacgallen #corbincarroll #ketelmarte #mlbtheshow #mlbtraderumors #tradedeadline #traderumors Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Corbyn Carroll just casually goes out there, hits a grand slam, steals home, and has himself a four RBI day and does it all. Is he the greatest baseball player to ever live? Yeah, probably. We're talking about it right now in 30 seconds. Don't you go anywhere? And welcome in to another edition of the PHNXDVX podcast right here in Studio K, presented by our friends in Circle K.

My name is Derek Monti, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. I got my guy, large instrument, Kevin Thomas on the ones and twos, and all of you guys here with me in the chat. Great day. Diamondbacks win big over the brewers. Kevin, how are you doing? Let's start off with that. Before I start screaming about Corbyn Carroll being the greatest baseball player to ever live, I want to know how Kev's doing. I'm doing good, Derek.

I'm happy to be here with you today. Celebrating our beautiful boy, Corbyn Carroll, doing the thing. We're going to get to everything he did. We're going to get to everything. Yeah, no, it's a great day when Corbyn's. Carol balls out. I almost bought a Corbyn Carol one of one card card shop, but I didn't. Oh, why didn't you? Because I don't have the money for that. Yeah, no, that whole money thing. That gets in the way very often. But great to see

you guys here in the chat. Ski to you all. And before we talk about that, Corbyn, we got another Corbyn to talk about because we lead the league in Corbans. And Corbyn Burns, a.k. Mr. Burns, had another stellar outing for the Diamondbacks. He went out there, pitched two innings today, gave up three hits, but none of them mattered. They were just meaningless singles. In fact, Gabby got one guy trying to take second, but you also have zero earn runs, zero walks and three strikeouts in those two innings. I don't know what more that I need to see out of Corbin Burns. I know, again, it's just spring training. I know even in this case, you can't get too excited. It's a seven to one victory over the Brewers who, I believe,

had a split squad today. So again, you're not really getting the best. It's not the A squad. The Diamondbacks didn't really put one of their best lineups out there either. But regardless, we have ourselves, I think, an absolute ace in Corbyn Burns. And, I mean, again, I know that the opening day talk that we had the other day is going to probably still kind of hang around and be a thing. But at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter. I think the fact that the Diamondbacks are going to have Zach Gallen, Corbin Burns, and Merrill Kelly going in some sort of order of one, two, three is going to be. be an incredibly deadly combination for all hitters in baseball to have to deal with. But this is, again, this is a day where you can get very excited about this Arizona Diamondbacks

team. You had Jordan Lawler hit his first home run of the spring, scoring Gabby Moreno. He had 2 RBI today. Nice little day for Jordan Lawler as well. Love to see him going. Would love to see him actively contributing. And most importantly, I think everybody wants to see Jordan Lawler stick around and make the major league roster and be a part of this team.

in some capacity. I think he very much has the opportunity to do that, but even if he doesn't, I've talked about this before, but even if he doesn't, it's more to make sure he's playing regularly than I think any kind of demotion. If they can't figure out a spot for him to get regular playing time where he's not sitting on the bench, you know, for entirely too long in their eyes, then, you know, don't be surprised to see him go to AAA Reno and get some playing time. But hopefully that's not the case.

Hopefully he can stick around and have himself an amazing season. Maybe he can make some sort of splash. Maybe make some sort of case for a rookie of the year the same way that our very own Roy Corbyn Carroll, our Roy boy did. But I don't know what is going to happen with Corbyn Carroll this year. I'm going to say, though, you might want to consider putting his name on the MVP trophy if he's going to continue to play the way he played today, though. Incredible day for Corbyn. He walks in the first inning and steals second then. There's his first stolen base of the day.

With the bases loaded in the second, bottom of the second, I believe, he hit a grand slam that scored Christian Pichet, Jorge Barossa, and Catell Marte. He also singled to lead off the fourth inning. And eventually, after a number of things that occurred, he found himself on third base in a double. steal with one Pavin Smith, he steals home base. So Corbyn Carroll today, two for two, four RBI, two stolen bases, one of them being home plate. And I don't know what more I need to see again. It's like I said with Corbin. Our Corbyns are doing great. We have the best Corbyns in the league and they're already at the top of their game. But I mean, if you're not excited for the regular season after seeing the way the guys are performing already, I don't know what to tell you.

Corbyn, Carol, has talked a little bit with the media about his, you know, his swing path and some of the changes that he made last year to, you know, his approach and everything. Obviously, we all know that the adjustments eventually led to him getting things back on track. It's a weird assumption, though, and maybe I know it's not just me because I've had this conversation with people, but the assumption is almost like, is Corbyn Carroll also going to struggle out of the gate this season? And I feel like the answer to that is a very affirmative no. Actually, can it be affirmative no? Be a big no, a big no, a big hard no. Not an affirmative no, a negative no. A no. Well, it's kind of a positive no, but it's a hard no. Like I hit this car,

I hit this no with my car and now there's $500 in damage. That's how hard this no. This no is when it comes to do I think Corby and Carroll will be slow out of the gate, right? Like, I mean, again, adjustments made by players sometimes are permanent adjustments. And I mean, whatever he was going through was obviously something that he did find his way out of, considering the numbers that he was able to put up in July through the end of the season. But, man, I mean, you know, again, it's looking so far like Corbyn Carroll is very dialed in. And I can't think of anything more exciting for Diamondbacks baseball. Right? Like, you know, the idea that this team already had the best offense in all of Major League Baseball last year without a ton of contributions throughout the year from Corby and Carol and Gino Svarez, who eventually did end up being two of the best players in the lineup before the season was over.

But just overall, I mean, this is this is one of those situations where you, of course, don't want to get too excited about the wins or too sad about the losses in spring training. It's probably safe to say that even the results from someone like Corbyn Carroll might be something that you want to at least temper your expectations a bit and pump the brakes on. But we don't do that here. No breaks around here. All gas, no breaks. We're on the Corbyn Carroll MVP train. Smash it. Go get that future bet on right now because that's how positive we are about this whole situation.

At least I am. I'm not speaking for Kevin yet, but Kevin. Oh, no, I'm in on it. The first thing I said, I think you're walking out of the office room when I was saying it. But when you told me, Corbyn Statline from today, I was like, oh, MVP. MVP. So we're putting in the MVP slip right now. Just right now.

It's an early bet, but it's a bet nonetheless. Elizabeth said resounding no. Oh, that's the early. Thank you. Resounding no. Yeah, maybe that's what I was looking for. I'm not good with words, Elizabeth. You act like that's my job to talk for a living.

But, no, I think that this, everything we saw, today and everything we've seen out of the last few days. I know we haven't had a chance to catch up, but we also have some closer positional battle to talk about a little bit. But when we see our guy, Dre Jameson, already touching 97, 98, on his first day out there, or today on his first pitch out there, I should say, things are very encouraging for the bullpen as well, right? But again, back to the, you know, starter situation with Corbyn Burns.

Corbyn Burns has been everything that the Diamondbacks wanted him to be. And I mean, as far as being as good as advertised, so far that's the case. I think it feels scary as a Diamondbacks fan to want to put your heart all in on a starting pitcher that we got as a free agent because those tend not to work out for us, right? But this one feels real. You know, it's like relationships, right? You go through your heartbreak. You go through your bad relationships.

But eventually you find the one. And you're like, I can't believe that. I can't believe this guy's too good to be true. That's how I feel about Corbyn Burns. He might put a ring on it, is what I'm saying. Put a ring on it. I was going to ask you, Derek, are you ready to be heard again? Oh, are you ready to go back out into the field and love again and put your heart on the line?

I am so ready to be heard again. Look, all right, we all have Madison Bumgardners in our lives. We all have a Bronson Arroyo or two in our lives, right? But every once a while, every once a while, you get a Zach Granky who makes you believe again. And then one day you meet your Corbyn Burns. And let me tell you, nothing's better than that. You know what I mean?

Nothing's better than that. But again, there's a lot of questions still about this team. Like I said, we're going to talk about the closer battle, which Tori spoke to the media and said he very much is not any closer to the closer battle himself, but, or figuring out the closer battle. And the guys are making it very difficult on him as well. So it's not like these relief pitchers are giving Tori any kind of indication as to who's really taking a step forward.

So far, they were all very good. So we have that out there as well. But I mean, the Diamondbacks right now don't have too many positional battles. They don't have too many things going on. It feels like a lot of the things that we're seeing is a lot of the younger guys getting some time, getting some looks. Again, Jordan Lawler, very encouraging to see him out there and to see Jordan Lawler getting some playing time. Hopefully, he's somebody that can, you know, continue to impress so far.

250 batting average with a 958 OPS and very limited sample size, but still nonetheless. Good stuff from Jordan Lawler. Kevin, what do you think about the entire situation with the Diamondbacks as far as the starting pitchers go? Right? Like because you feel like you have your three incredible, you know, starting pitchers that you don't doubt are going to be there at one, two, three that I said earlier. But then everything from that point on, there's just, it feels like there's a lot of mystery, a lot of unanswered questions still about. There are, there are certainly worse problems to have, right? Than too much?

Yeah, than too much pitching talent, right? I think the interesting thing is to see how the staff handles it. And I think what I'm looking to see this season from the staff is can they find the balance, right, that gets production out of each individual pitcher, right? I think Dalton Feely said it really, really pragmatically when he was on the other day about how, hey, ask, specifically for the top three, ask each guy, like, what they want from the rotation, how they can be best supported, and then take that information and do with it what you need to do. So I don't, honestly, Derek, I don't know what to expect from the pitching staff this season,

except for it being one of the top three in the league. I think that that should be the expectation. And I think any way that the staff can manage that, they got to do that. But I don't know. That's a pretty, I mean, and it does feel like that, right? It feels like not only do they have the talent to be there, but you're getting to the point where the expectations are there, right?

But, you know, again, a big part of those expectations is making the right decision on balancing that staff and deciding who is who stays in the starting rotation who might move to the bullpen who might move down to triple a and yeah I mean I don't know I think that at this point we have a lot to still decide but of course the diamondbacks don't like it's all pitching related you know it feels like you you look at the job that's being done right now by the positional players they're doing a great job at establishing themselves this spring. Guys look great out there. And again, even if the results aren't there, we still have a lot of guys that are producing

and playing baseball. I mean, Cotell Marte is still hitting 300. You have Corby and Carroll hitting 429 with a little OPS. It's not too crazy. It's 1.842, you know, just a thousand points above what would be considered a good OPS. But again, it's spring training. Do you really want to put any stock in any?

this. We're still waiting to see Jordan Montgomery. I think he threw yesterday morning. He threw a bullpen. Everything seems to be trending in the right direction. But again, there's the idea here that if Jordan Montgomery isn't ready to go, might have to start on the IL or for some reason just is behind once again. It really doesn't help the Diamondbacks in any kind of way find a trade candidate, find a trade partner for them. The more that we move down, the few, the few, the field, and that's an analogy we're going to talk about here in a moment with Tori Lavallo, the more it feels like we're getting closer and closer to seeing that the diamondbacks don't, aren't going to make any more moves, right?

I still feel like everybody thinks that a trade is still on the horizon. And I think we're living in a world where it's very possible that it isn't, right? Like you said, as much as it feels like the right move would be to move one of these guys to make some sort of, at least free up some money or to try to bring another reliever in or something of the sort, it feels like that is still just, we're just waiting for that news.

We're waiting for that news to break. However, it might never come, right? And overall, we might see this Diamondbacks team just try to adapt with this great group of pitchers and figure out the right combination of, of, you know, making this team better or keeping depth, you know, keeping some guys stretched out for depth

or at least keeping one guy stretched out for depth and who ends up making it into the starting rotation. Can I throw a question at you, Derek? Sure. I think, you know, you bring in a new pitching coach in Kaplan. Right, right. Do you think part of this is just wanting to give him as much runway to do with the staff

what he wants to do and give him enough tools to make the, you know, the staff that he wants and he envisions? You make a great point because it goes beyond just the fact that obviously things have changed, right? You know, Jordan Montgomery is in different shape. You have guys returning like Drey Jameson, right? So there is definitely something to him having a very short window to see all of those guys, to spend time with them, to create not only a relationship with them,

but to learn about them from a coaching perspective. Figure out their biometrics. Figure out all of the biometrics, right? And then figure out how it was it biomechanics? Oh, yeah, biomechanics. And then implement it. Implement a plan, right? But like, yeah, you have stuff in a folder of some kind, I'm sure.

It's probably not a real folder. It's probably on a computer, I imagine. It's probably like a spreadsheet situation. The same way you do this when you talk about rolling down a window, but we don't do that anymore. But yes, there's probably a folder of some kind. And it probably has a lot of information on these pictures. And at the end of the day, he has to not only consume that and learn about them,

but then see it in action, go out there, get a chance to see these guys throw bullpen, see them in these spring training games. And yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, he only has input, I think, into the decision making. That's really what it comes down to. And honestly, even Tori, like, Tori is the manager. So he decides, but he doesn't decide without the input of Mike Hazen. He doesn't decide completely on his own. It is a, like, group effort on the decisions being made here.

And honestly, having a new pitching coach, there's also that factor, right? like Tori getting to know him, him getting to know Tori, you know, there's a lot there. I think what Brian Kaplan could bring is a refreshing new look at guys that are already here. He might be a voice of reason that says, I don't know why you guys are in such a hurry to get another closer. You got A.J. Puck, you got Justin Martinez. You got Kevin Ginkle, an absolute wild man over here, not to mention Dre Jameson hit triple digits today. So there's a lot to get excited about. And if you are new coach to this pitching staff, you might be saying to yourself,

I think we have all the weapons we need. Like, it's great you want to go out and keep adding. However, I think I can make a good meal with the ingredients that you've provided me with. So let Brian Kaplan cook, I guess, is the message here that we want to talk about. But we have so much more to talk about when it comes to those guys and the pitching staff on the other side of this break. Not to mention, again, some breaking news on that House bill that, It moves it one step closer to the Diamondbacks,

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winning on your next step text next step to 5334 2 or visit problemgambling.az.gov. Well, the battle for closer seems like it is becoming an internal battle. And I know a lot of people might be disappointed in that. However, you shouldn't be. The Diamondbacks have some really good candidates when you talk about the closer spot. And I think the only thing fans should be maybe rooting for or hoping for is that a closer is officially named. It sounds like that is Tori Lovoldo's plan.

It sounds like he absolutely wants to make that happen. But Tori was also asked in regards to his closer decision if it was a march down the field in football. If he started the campaign on a one-yard line after a great coffin kick, where is he at now? Which yardage line is he at? and he responded by saying negative yards. In football, that means that a safety just occurred, I think, is that that's what typically. I think he had to be clarified and he went on to say that maybe one yard ahead of where he was before, but he has not made a lot of progress.

And the reason why, to be honest, is all of the potential closers, all the candidates have shoved. And it's hard for you to make a decision when everybody. is doing well. Not a bad problem to have once again, Kevin, but still not making anything easier for Tori when it comes to deciding on who his guy is going to be at the end of these games. I was thinking when you read that analogy out,

he just spent some time with Coach Kenny Dillingham. He did. And I feel like you've got to have some more understanding, some more base level understanding. You just spoke to one of the best coaches in the nation and I'm an Arizona guy. Yeah. There's no way you don't know that that's just,

there's no way that you. I'm going to clip that. There's no way that you didn't take away that, okay, if I'm on the goal line, there's negative yards that occur, I just made a safety, which is a bad thing. A piece of Yoshi says it's going to be Scott McGuff again, and that's something that will give some people nightmares tonight. But, no, I mean, when you take a look at what these guys have done, Tori had a game against the Cubs where essentially he threw all of them in. That was the, that was the staff for the game. And what did they do? They all shoved. Joe Manseply, Kevin Ginkle, and AJ Puck all retired the side in order.

In order. They went one, two, three to start the game, and they just retired everybody in order. So Puck and Ginkle both struck out the last two batters. Justin Martinez did get work in that game. He did get a lead off walk and an error, but then he got a double play and a strike out and got out of it. Classic Justin Martinez outing where it started bad, and then he effortlessly squashed. is everything. However, again, these guys are not making it easy on Tori. I just like the commitment on what it sounds like from Tori in regards to making sure that he will have a closer. And again,

that's the come to Jesus meeting that I want to have because we're not doing this closer by committee thing. It's just so tempting. I have never been more on board with an idea than closer by committee because it just in the terms of baseball it just makes so much sense right a j puck is probably a guy that you want to go to but you don't want to name him closer because he's your best left-handed reliever and you want him available whenever you need him available right it's it's great to do it you know in the in the ninth inning and it's great to have him shut down the game but there might be a better time to utilize him right so there's that tool that you might not want to name the closer.

You got Justin Martinez, who's another guy that is a great candidate, talked about him a lot, love him, just still feel like he might not be ready. Diamondback seemed to feel that way as well. But, you know, again, you have these other guys, Kevin Ginkl, Joe Mantpli. Joe, I don't know if Joe Mantiply is actually a closer candidate, but he's having a great spring so far. Kevin Ginkle has closed games for this team in the past and isn't somebody that should just be discounted.

He brings a psycho energy that we all love. And we all, we all can't get enough of, right? So, but no, no piece of Yoshi, no closer platoon. I don't want that. That's why I don't want. Because it doesn't work. It doesn't seem to work. And I'll never forget, of all people on this list, it was Joe Mantiply, who when he told me,

and we've said this a whole bunch, right? It's Paul Seawald worked because everybody knew their role. But to hear, you know, guys from the bullpen say that at times when they came to the ballpark that day, they did not know what inning they were going to work or what they were going to be asked to do. It, I mean, it sounded like it was a welcomed thing. Like they were very much in favor of the stability that it brought. And I guess just you as a pitcher knowing what your job is going to be,

knowing what's going to be asked of you, right? Knowing that there's a good chance you're going to come in in the sixth or the seventh, knowing that he's going to go in in the eighth, and knowing who's going to shut the game down. at the end. So I don't, I again, Tori has a really tough decision here to make. One I thought was going to be made by bringing in a different guy, right? And I think that's what a lot of, a lot of people might have thought. But again, Dre Jameson is a guy that puts fire in my blood. He should put fire in all of your blood as well. But Dre Jameson is just a guy that I can't say enough about,

he has the killer instinct. He has the attitude. He wants the ball in those big situations. And I think he's just a guy that honestly is, is cut out to be a closer. Like at the end of the day, I still have this sneaking suspicion that Dre Jameson is going to end up being the closer for this team.

We say a lot of names, but he, because everybody else seems to kind of have a role. And Tori, I think, knows what he wants to do with everybody else because they all none of them were a closer right but you get jameson back today he goes out there delivers one inning hitless uh no no walks no hits no runs score no nothing didn't strike anyone out um but you know again he on his very first pitch through a 97.6 mile per hour fastball uh through 11 pitches five for strikes uh and again just looked incredible today so

there's just something about Dre Jameson that really feels like him being back is going to be such an important weapon to this team that, you know, that almost is like a free agent being added that we're not really talking about, I think, nearly enough, right? It's because he was a young guy that kind of, you know, got hurt in his prime, got hurt, got shot down in his prime,

and, you know, missed a whole lot of time when he really should have been having those, I guess probably those explosive years where his name kind of was was on the map. What are you laughing about over there? What do you got? Shot down in his prime. Shut down in his prime. Ricky!

You know, we like, we had some of our best talks with Dre Jameson. We had some of our best interviews. When you talk about baseball players speaking from their heart and not really giving a damn about their answers being like coached or politically correct or anything, I guess not politically correct, but just, you know. know, in general, like the baseball speak that we typically get from more. Like media trained. Like media trained.

Yeah. I mean, Dre, don't even ask Dre if he's faster than Corvin Carroll. He'll tell you the entire story from beginning to end about he beat him in a foot raise, right? So, Sean said people were calling for Dre as a closer when he debuted. I can see it. Yeah, man. I mean, he had some great stuff. Him and Ryan Nelson, both really impressed when they came up and were called up.

And both guys were kind of in a little bit of that battle for. a starting position. And, you know, I don't know. Like right now, we know that starting for this team is, is out of reach for a lot of guys at this point. They're not even in consideration. But I don't know, man. Dre is a special talent.

He's a special talent for multiple reasons. Not only is he an incredible pitcher based on his athleticism and what he can do, but his mind is just in the right place for a closer. And I think that I above everybody else, I feel like he's the kind of guy that wants the ball in the ninth inning, like wants it, demands it, you know. So we'll see. We'll see how this progresses. But again, much like the starting position battle or starting rotation battle, I should say, it's not a bad problem for the Diamondbacks to have. This is the opposite that we've seen in the past where this team, in fact, had shortcomings and you wondered how they were going to be filled.

You know, when you look at the positions for this team, everything feels pretty solid. And, you know, we're talking about some pretty good players being considered as like a utility backup or utility infielder or something like that just so that they have a role in the major league roster. Right now, there's not a lot that you can, there's not a lot of holes in the Diamondbacks as a team. So it's it's hard not to be incredibly excited about what 2025 could bring for the snakes. It's just, it's, I'm trying, I'm trying to be normal, but I just want to scream all to the, from the mountaintops about this team. I mean, you're the snake. It's the year of the snake.

Are you kidding me? Every year is our year. I say that on Mondays. I don't know if you heard, I also say the thing about the month and the year and the day. It doesn't matter. Every year is our year, but this year's especially our year. It is the year of the snake. Do you know what happened the last time the year of the snake occurred?

Do you know what happened? Do you know what 2001 was? The year of the snake, Kevin. 2001 was the year of the snake. I can't forget it. I was my year of birth. Oh, yeah, you should never forget that. Now you know.

I was welcomed in the world the same year that Diamondbacks won the title. I think there's a correlation there, you know? Yeah, there has to be. I don't know. And now it's coming back around? I have a lot of questions. I have a lot of questions,

but mostly I don't want to talk to you anymore because that made me feel very old. I was in college. He was born. God. Anyway, all right. Let's move on. Let's move on because I don't want to do this again.

We do this once a show. And then my beard gets more gray as we do it. But breaking news, the Arizona Diamondbacks are one step closer to Chase Field, getting the approval for House Bill 2704. That just happened a few hours ago. We are going to talk about this on the other side of the break and what it really means for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Don't you guys go anywhere? You're watching the PH&X Diamondback show.

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Terms and conditions do apply. Well, it is almost that time. March 8th is right around the corner. March 7th through the 9th, I should say, that weekend, we're going to have a lot of fun because NASCAR returns to Phoenix. And I have become a huge NASCAR fan. I was quite furious that the way, like, I'm new to racing and I'm a fan of Brian Blaney. So when people do things like spin them out or stuff, which is totally a normal part of the

racing game of NASCAR, I'm being told, I get so mad. And I yell like, I'm yelling at a referee in a basketball game, but that's only because thanks to the Phoenix Raceway crew I have learned to love NASCAR I'm a big fan so if you are make sure to check them out March 7th through 9th Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway huge race nothing like it

amazing amazing backdrop there with the Australian Mountains and over 40 drivers will compete against likes of again Chase Elliott my favorite Ryan Blaney and so many more of course get your tickets now at Phoenix Raceway.com all right well again been teasing it, been talking about it, and the Diamondbacks are one step closer to being able to renovate Chase Field with funds from, again, essentially taxes created on site at Chase Field. The Arizona State House of Representatives passed Bill HB 2704 about two or three hours ago.

Not sure when that vote took place, but it took place today. And they approved it by a vote of 35 to 25. The bill is designed, again, to help Chase Field. It's only for stadium renovations. That's what the funds will be used for and maintenance. Multiple amendments and readings had taken place as the House prepared for the full vote. So they're making changes to the bill. They've made changes to how much of the tax revenue is still going to go to first responders and to education.

The Diamondbacks were trying to work on ways to still have a percentage go to those services, considering that's what the taxes. would have normally gone to, right? But still, this very much helps the Diamondbacks to be able to renovate Chase Field. And it just, it makes a lot of sense. I hate when people want to break things down and start turning it into something bigger than it is. I understand a lot of tax revenue is generated at that building, including the income tax from the players and the staff and all the employees that work at Chase Field, right?

And I understand that that money previously has gone to a lot of state, you know, a lot of, a lot of things funded by tax money. However, if there was a way to pay for Chasefield, which again, Maricopa County is still last time I checked the owner of the building, right? Like the only way that this makes sense is to have the tax revenue generated by people that go to Chase Field to support the Diamondbacks, to buy stuff there, spend on tickets, or even to go for concerts and other, you know, other kind of events. It makes sense that the taxes being generated by that are the taxes that you're going to use. That way, no one here in our beautiful state can complain that they don't want to have anything to do with the taxes from anything they do going towards paying for a baseball team or millionaires, you know, ballpark or whatever the case may be, right?

it just it's the same kind of setup that the Arizona Cardinals have and God damn it's what the coyotes should have had in Tempe and all of you Tempe voters especially any of you that are hockey fans I hope you lose sleep at night but that's because again things like that makes sense I know you want it I know you love trash heaps I know you love having a big old trash heap in the middle of your town but it could have been coyotes hockey sorry still not over that The reason why, I'm not the only one not over that, by the way.

Jerry Colangelo still very much not over that. He was on Arizona Sports the other day. And he had some very, very wise words. Let me remind you that Jerry Colangelo is the reason that the ownership group of the Arizona Diamondbacks got the – I can't say the S word on here. That's one of the band words. They got their stuff together. Maybe we need some muting.

The censoring the other day that got me – Shane censored us. You got to do that more for me. I'm pretty good. We can do that. We can do that. I'm just saying. But, you know, I'm saying that really when it comes down to it, there was this, I can't even tell you because I've said it on the program, but you weren't our producer at the time. They had this idealistic view of what people thought of baseball.

It was going to be a park where families came to hang out and I don't know, have picnics, enjoy each other's time. I don't know who does that. who goes to a baseball game to enjoy each other's time. I'm watching baseball. But yeah, right? Like, there is a thing where Jerry Colangelo very much knew this town and said to these people that own this team, this can't happen.

He also said they can't call them the scorpions because it's a scary bug and he was scared of them. But he said, this can't happen. You have to build a winner. You have to do it soon. Because if not, people are going to lose interest in this baseball franchise that you just, you know, established. And he was right.

He was right then. and he's right now because he made some comments on Arizona Sports, and Jerry Colangelo said it's very, very important to keep Diamondbacks downtown. Way back when we could have gone to some other locations, but I insisted it was going to be downtown. I believe that's where the team should play. Why? Because all roads lead to downtown.

Just like I say at the end of it. All roads lead to PH&X. All roads lead to downtown. He said also I was really concerned about other businesses and people benefiting from having the team downtown. And this is the important part. This is where it goes beyond the Braves having the battery and these other teams having their own. Oh, they got a little super city around their stadium.

They could have a dome and be self-sufficient and leave people out in case anything happened to the air or something. No, he was about community. He said it's about the restaurants, the bars, the retail. Some owners opted to go to the suburbs and have their own piece of property who gained anything from that. Other than them, who did? Who gained anything from some of these teams?

I've been to some of these other stadiums. They are out in the middle of nowhere, nowhere. They had to build a six flags around the Cowboys ballpark and the Texas Rangers ballpark just to have something out there. No, there is like some teams where their ballparks, their stadiums are out in the middle of nowhere, and he's absolutely right. And he's right about this. Who gained anything from that?

And that was not my mind said. It was more about what's good for the community along with where, where we thought it would be best. It makes me proud to have Jerry Colangelo involved with Arizona sports for that exact reason. His thought process goes beyond just what's good for the owners and the organization. I'm not going to do the whole lining their pocket stuff, but I'm just going to say, again, teams, like, smart decisions are made. And sometimes those decisions are made as an owner of a team or as a team president simply for the benefit of the team. And that's not terrible, right?

It's okay to be selfish sometimes in life. But when you're talking about a franchise, a sports franchise, the impact that they could have on the community is immeasurable, right? It's, it's, you cannot calculate the impact that a franchise can have on a community. A lot of people won't be down here downtown, especially Phoenix downtown, right? Not to knock it. I was walking around here and joining myself, walking around Roosevelt Road going all sorts of businesses.

This is a beautiful part of town. And trust me, from someone who grew up here, it is way more walkable, way more enjoyable downtown than it was when I was a teenager or even a young person, which was once again a very long time ago. But it's important because the reason why this city has grown, the reason why it's trying to be more walkable and have restaurants and stuff all over the places

is because of the traffic generated by these sports venues that are two blocks away from the building we're in right now. Right. So it's important. It is important that the Diamondbacks stay downtown. I couldn't imagine, like I legitimately couldn't imagine, what downtown would look like or what the Diamondback or what anybody would even do with Chase Field

if the Diamondbacks moved. I just know now that it's not an empty threat. we that live here in the valley that love sports that loved hockey being here in the valley know that like when you start seeing teams you know talk about moving talk about let you know relocation whatever the case may be that it's a very real possibility and i think that's something that hopefully we won't continue to see weaponized by teams in this state that they can you know prey on us pray on our on our heartstrings and our memories and our souls by, you know, threatening to move so that they can get what they want.

It's just a reality. It's a business. And if an organization finds a much better opportunity elsewhere, then, you know, again, when you talk about the problems with Chase Field, there are problems that as they get worse, it's going to make it hard to be a place people want to be, right? I have a leak in my air conditioning system in my car, which means that the Friana escapes and then my air conditioning doesn't work. My car is the worst place in the world to be. Even on an 80 degree day, it's not pleasant in my car, right? So getting the air conditioning fixed and running properly, having Chase Field have the safety accommodations that they now have so that they can open the roof and all of that stuff, it's important. And that's why this bill hopefully will go through and continue to help improve the situation at Chase Field

and help improve the situation between the Diamondbacks and Maricopa County so that Diamondback stay here and that we get a new, you know, contract or new lease signed and keep the snakes in downtown for a very long time. That's the ultimate goal here because even, you know, even moving somewhere else is going to very much have a devastating impact on the downtown area. and Jerry Colangelo, much like he knew that Phoenix loved a winner, and they had to try to bring in, you know, the top-tier talent that they could to make this team a winner as fast as possible. He was right then, and he's right now about this situation. Oh, what did I do? Elizabeth says, oh, no, Derek.

I'm sure it's air conditioning related. It's bad in my car. Let me just tell you. And it's only 80 degrees. I'm not even going to act like it's very hot outside at all. So I don't know what to tell you other than I need to get it fixed, but don't have the time or the money. So shout out to you though for that.

I will talk a little bit more before we get out of here about some Diamondbacks games being aired on national TV as well as Derek Hall, absolutely slaying queen. Leaving no crumbs, leaving no crumbs. He left no crumbs. We'll talk about it on the other side of this break. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback show. Don't you go anywhere.

Well, I was talking about walking around downtown, but eventually I got to a point where I didn't want to walk around downtown anymore. And that's when I called my friends at Waymo to come pick me up. And it was amazing because they zips me around downtown, got me like downtown is terrible to park in sometimes. Let's be honest. I knew based on where we were meeting for lunch today that there was no way I was going to find a place to park anywhere near there.

So Waymo got me there in an air-conditioned Jaguar. It was amazing. And nobody talked to me the whole time. That was also amazing. But Waymo does 150,000 trips per week across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, and you are lucky enough to live in one of the cities where they zip people around. So make sure you take them up on that opportunity. They were the first company to serve a fully autonomous ride with no human behind the wheel back in 2015, and they're still doing it 10 years later. They have over 40 million miles of real world driving experience.

That's enough to go to the moon and back. So download the Waymo One app right now and ride today. Also, big shout out, by the way, to our sponsor on today's show, All Pro Shades Concepts. Love All Pro Shades concepts, and that's because All Pro Shades has been making backyards wonderful for a very long time. And they also have, I don't know, I guess when I see someone have like a motorized, extendable shade that they pop out so we can just hang out in their backyard, it's a baller move. I'm not going to lie. It's a pretty baller move. They've been in business now for 20 years in the Valley,

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call 623-204-1476 or visit all pro-shadeconcepts.com now to schedule your free estimate. All right, Kev. Well, we know that the Diamondbacks are still working on providing some free games for fans out there, but they just dropped a list of some nationally televised D-Bax games that everybody can enjoy. Here's that list, including D-Backs at Yankees on TBS and Max at 405. I love the max option. That's going to be cool. I wonder if they'll call me the mayor of Phoenix the way that the people at Apple TV did.

I mean, if you get that shout and add that into the Netflix tweet, yeah. I think you're elevating it to a level past us now. Netflix won't leave me alone. It's crazy. They just, they think I care so much about wrestling, you guys. Let's pull that list up again real fast.

I do like the fact that there's a Mariners at D-Backs matchup here on this list so that Shane can watch his former players that inevitably will be traded to the Diamondbacks on the Diamondbacks as they face off against the Mariners in that matchup. Three nationally televised matchups against the Giants? What's going on there? Not a single Dodgers game. What's going on there? It's kind of ugly. I kind of want to see the DeBacks beat the Dodgers on national TV.

Maybe they're hiding the Dodgers from national TV viewers because they know the D-backs are going to whip on them. Yeah, Sean says Max is just the TBS broadcast. Okay. Well, I think that the TBS broadcast is also very much capable of messing up and calling me the mayor of Phoenix once again. I think we just need to figure out a way to get that to spread to as many streaming services as possible. Fodge, aka Jacob Franklin, is here tonight. God, shout out to him for being awake at any point. He says rumor hasn't.

DeBax will be broadcasting games on the PHNX fast channels. Why is he? He's just getting rumors started. I don't know what is that about is that true I think Faj might just be bored you know doing the rumor it's true it's true he's probably losing his mind just a little bit with two small children at this point

yeah maybe he really thinks that's like happening like maybe he just said rumor to be safe because he can't he doesn't know if he's hallucinating it or not you're right but you know one thing that our very own father over Lord Jacob aka Jacob Franklin aka daddy Franklin has to look forward to

is in the very near future he is going to get the chance when his little ones grow up to use their vernacular with them, their slang terms, their words, right? And we all, we all had the pleasure of seeing Derek Hall leave no crumbs with this video that the Diamondbacks posted on their social channels. Check it out. Hey, Bestie's baseball season is back. No cap. It is time to enter your D-BACs era. At our training fields, players be cooking. Pop off, Queens. They normally respond. They're locked in.

Being an asai bowl has given me main character energy. Sitting on the lawn is low-key fire. Some burrows ate and left no crumbs. Sleigh. The vibes are immaculate. Ballpark empanadas? Let them cook. Salt River Fields. It's giving classy. It's giving cute.

It's given demure. This smash burger would send a Victorian child into a coma. into a coma. Negative aura points if you don't shop at our team shop. Coming out to a spring training game is common sense, I fear. Why was that so good? Why was that so incredibly good? Pop off, Queens. Like, why is he so good at this? I need to know, I need to know why he was so good at that. But I also love that he kind of really committed to the bit. He committed to the bit.

As opposed to just being like, okay, pop off Queens. A hundred percent. Yeah. There is no way that you would have ever in a million years gotten that level of commitment for Mike Hazen. Not only would he have said no, just right out of the gate, but he would have absolutely given a half effort because his heart wouldn't have been in it. Derek is the man. Guys named Derek are obviously pretty cool. But yes, the pop-off queens, easily my favorite part. Is the vibes one really a G, Gen Z thing?

I'm a millennial and I knew that. Look, some of them hit too close to home, okay? Especially the vibes being immaculate. My wife gave me one of those like slow head turns when I was showing her that one to the vibes immaculate because she was insinuating that is me. That is absolutely me. I'm not even going to lie. I'm not even going to front. I'm not going to fake like it's not.

That is how I have to adapt to communicating with my coworkers in this very office. I learn a new slang word every single day and then I go home and intentionally use it on my daughter, just like that pancakes commercial where it drives are insane that I do. And then I see if it works. I see if it hits as hard as it should. But yeah, no, that was incredible. I don't know again why Derek Hall was so incredibly good at that. But I'm grateful that he is.

Which line was your favorite from the video? It's the pop-off queens by far. Yeah, he killed that one. Does he hit like a little bit of like a singing? Yeah, that's what we were saying. You and I were replaying this video over and over again watching it. Couldn't get enough. And every time I watched it, I was like the little intonation at the end really sells it.

The queens, you know, it's not just queens. It's queens. Yeah, it is. That's exactly what it is. But yeah, it was something else. It was something else. So Diamondbacks team is on point. Their social game is on point.

Everything is rolling at this point. So, you know, again, the one thing is is that spring training, it's weird because it feels like spring training just got here. It feels like we just got to pitchers and catchers. And now you already have opening day on the horizon here in the month of March coming up. So now I will say that there were a lot of things that he said in there that made me very feel once again, very old, very old. Sean says he's always been a great PR guy. That he absolutely has been. Derek Hall has always been very, very light when it comes to doing stuff like this.

But more importantly, absolutely hilarious. And I kind of need this to be a series, maybe of videos. Can you, can you do it more than once? Or is it like a one, it's a one time thing, right? There's some novelty to it before. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I can only hear him say pop off queen so many times for him. I'm like, all right, Derek Hall. I might set it as like my app notification on my phone. I don't really know, but it really feels like that. I loved the, I loved the, uh, the Victorian Como one. That's one of my favorite ones. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, the few of them for sure are things that my, uh, my daughter has said to me before that I had no idea what she was talking about when she said those things. But, um, the Diamondbacks, I said earlier that they aren't really, uh, adding any more players, but they did sign someone else to a minor league contract. And that's, uh, again, something. that the diamond backs are doing a good job of as they're continuing to try to find,

I guess, diamonds in the rough. That's probably cliche to say. But, you know, again, maybe not shopping in the bargain bin is as much of the phrase, but definitely trying to find some guys whose careers have had a little bit of a detour and, you know, trying to see what they can do. So diamondbacks right now, I think, are still trying to, I guess what do we have

on a more pressure how long do we have uh give paving before we're concerned we're never concerned about pavin this is the wrong show for that um this is just pavin working on some issues

uh that he currently has the results don't matter jacob that's for sure but just be glad that the diamondbacks made a move for josh nailer and have other options at first base so that pavon smith isn't the only only option that they have but The Diamondbacks, if I'm pronouncing this last name wrong, excuse me, but it's Brandon Belak.

They just signed him to a minor league deal. He formerly a starter for the Houston Astros. So had a really good 2022 and a good 2023. Diamondbacks have some guys that they've picked up this off season that I think those are some of the fun stories as spring training here gets closer and closer to opening day. is which of these guys that that Mike Hazen has kind of gone out and added to this roster, which one of them are going to kind of emerge as potential contributors to this team, stick around. You know, Kendall Graveman is another guy that's kind of been in the mix for that closer role as well.

And according to reports the other day, he had a really, really good bullpen, really strong bullpen. So, again, Diamondbacks have lots of options. It's just, I guess, not the sexy big name option. we thought they were going to have. So, yeah, that's, Kevin, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, too, right, you're, you're, you're, we're, we're, we're busy around here, by the way, holding down the fort while these guys are at the NFL, combined, having the best, time. Yeah, I mean, we're holding it. We're holding down the fort here at the office, Derek, just the two of us, I guess. But yeah, no, I was going to say maybe you should, uh, yeah, just me and Derek, all the shows, just me and Derek. But I was going to say, maybe you should call our guy Jacob because he was earlier in the chat saying the sleep is just, uh, just simply a social

construct that you don't really need to believe in sleep. You don't need it to exist. It's true. So maybe you're thinking about it all wrong. Yeah. Um, people are talking about Tray Mancini in the chat, Tray Mancena, another one of those guys that Mike Hazen added. That, again, could be just an incredible story for this team. He was one for one today, I believe. He had a hit. So, had a single in his one at bat. Again, fun stuff for this team.

The fact that we're looking at certain, I don't know, certain long shots as the interesting stories and not so much about what are they going to do for this or what are they going to do for that. It's a different offseason for this team. But I think that there's a lot of pressure that's growing. So we'll see how the Diamondbacks can handle that pressure, see how these guys all, I guess, come into form when it comes to how this positional player staff will come together, starting lineup, starting rotation, and the relievers.

But it doesn't really feel like there is a sense of urgency with Tori Lavello making these decisions. I feel like for the most part, they don't need to commit to anything until the regular season is here. So I expect to see the, especially the battle for closer, probably continue to develop and continue to be something that, that changes. But I don't know, man, if these guys all continue, like I said earlier, if they continue to shove, it doesn't make Tori Lavallo's job any easier when it comes to deciding on one name to choose. But I'll help you with that. That name, Jay Mason. Just go ahead and name them now. I was going to say, like, I think patience is the key with this kind of a decision because you don't want to make a decision before you have all the information on how guys are performing and then have to walk it back and mess with the guy's confidence and mess with the guy's rhythm.

It's, so you want to get it right if you're going to make a choice like that in the first place, right? It's so weird because, yeah, it's, you know, it's baseball, right? So a guy can start the season off hot and, and, you know, you could make some sort of quick decision on that. And next thing you know, like all the information you were getting back from them, all the peripherals, all the other, you know, like, yes, the stats look good, but, you know, how is this other stat cast data looking? And if you don't really go with that and you're just going with direct results during spring, it's not the smartest thing. But I will say that they have, you know, plenty of time, obviously, they make that decision and plenty more starts. I'm still ready to call Corbyn Burns the opening day starter

and the ace of the staff. I'm also ready to call Corbyn Franklin Carroll the greatest baseball player to ever play the game. I didn't know it was Franklin. Oh, he's Franklin. It's absolutely Franklin. And that's for Jacob Franklin. He knows it.

But we do appreciate you guys sticking by being here. We appreciate you guys going out to Diamondbacks game. Make sure hit that like button before you get out of here. More importantly, come back. here on Friday. We'll have some more information about the Diamondbacks. See if this

ever-changing closer situation does change at all. But until then, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at Cap underscore K-Man with the K. Kev is at Kev-O posts. Our show is at P-H-N-X underscore D-Backs, but all roads do lead to at P-H-N-X underscore sports on

Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you guys for stopping by. Like I said, we'll see you on Friday. Hope you guys get a chance to go watch some baseball. More importantly, hope you guys have a wonderful Thursday and wonderful evening tonight. Behave yourselves and until then, have a good, have a good time and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you listen to Jerry Colangelo.