PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Cy Young…and Cy Old? Sandy Alcantara and Justin Verlander are your 2022 Cy Young Award winners

Episode Date: November 17, 2022

MLB Award SZN rolls on as we are recapping the Cy Young Award winners and the Managers of the Year. We’re also giving out our 2022 PHNX MVP Awards just to make being in the office a little more awkward.BUY D-BACKS TICKETS HERE: https://gametime.hnyj8s.net/c/3442941/1410622/10874 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX: Did you hear the news?? There’s never a better time to be a diehard Arizona sports fan. Premium member events, exclusive merch drops, and more. Upgrade your fandom today and become a PHNX Diehard: https://www.gophnx.com/diehard/ 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! For every leg you add you can boost your winnings up to ONE HUNDRED percent!If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisiscounseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visitOPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA).21+ (18+ WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NJ/NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See http://draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.OGeez!: Enter the “Flavoring Life” sweepstakes. One winner will receive 3 bags of OGeez, an OGeez! Hat, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Sign up at gophnx.com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIplqDYsxYeiotn5Zc6hRahaX0a5qG99eHVzkhOlGZDRdgUA/viewform. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Four Peaks: We are teaming up with Four Peaks to host all US and Mexico World Cup matches at their 8th Street Pub. Enjoy beer specials, giveaways, guest appearances, and more while watching on their 22’ jumbo screen. Click here to register for free: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/phnx-2022-world-cup-watch-parties-1329339Enter to win the “Toast of the Month” sweepstakes to win a $50 Four Peaks gift card, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Go to goPHNX.Com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOabxo8KQxOWwn9wTilMBuTMAJdrL0CaH9lzfuJqgKN9vfSg/viewform Must be 21 or older. Enjoy responsibly. Bad Birdie: use code “PHNXSPORTS” to take 15% off your next Bad Birdie order! https://glnk.io/7qnq/phnx-sportsMor Furniture: Sit in the same seats we do! Check out https://morfurniture.comUnderdog 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 $100Liquid Death: Get free shipping on all water and merch at https://LiquidDeath.com/PHNX FOCO: FOCO has you covered with the best Arizona Merchandise. Head on over to foco.com. For all non pre-sale items use the promo code “PHNX” for 10% offWhen you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. 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.

Oh yeah, it's bad bitch o'clock, and this is the PHNX DBAX, I'm your mayor, PHNX, occasionally known as a diehard myself, Derek Montia. This guy over here, he's your thunderstick, but he's also a diehard. It's the one and only vice mayor, Jesse Friedman. We're all diehards today, Derek. We are all diehards, and we are excited for you guys to be here and for you guys to be diehards. Of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King Sportsbook app, America's top-rated sportsbook app. And we are very excited to talk about our new changes, which, Jesse and I think, honestly, are just incredible new membership changes that we have around here at AllCity, specifically here at PHNX, because we are all about the three Cs here, Jesse.

We're all about culture, community, and content. And we are bringing you as diehard members, all of that with our brand new diehard membership. What do you get with this new membership we've been talking about on social media today? So much. You get, of course, a free PHNX T-shirt or hat every single year, not just when you sign up, but of course. That one's wild. That one's huge. All right.

I do know a couple of people, like I said, they wanted to cancel their membership and get a new membership under a false identity just so they could get the shirt again. No need to do that anymore. When you're diehard, we're hooking you up every year. Not only that, but of course you're going to get 20% off of all merchandise at the pHNX Locker.com. Everything you want, you get. You're also going to get exclusive merchandise that you can only get as a diehard. And, you know, we also have those events that we kind of have around here.

that are members only. So, of course, these are going to be for diehards only as well. Plus, you'll get special diehard offers from our partners. And if you know our partners and you are a fan like I am, you know that Four Peaks, OGs, and all sorts of other sponsors that we have around here are the exact kind of thing that you want some more of in your life. And we got special diehard only offers from them as well. But, of course, we're talking about our community.

And, you know, we've had fun hooking up with you guys at some of our small events. but we're going to have some bigger takeovers of Chase Field and such, aka the vault. We're getting that one over. And we're making you guys all debacks die hard. So that's what we're doing all season long. You're all debacks diehards. Welcome to the club.

But 20% off tailgates and takeovers for every team in town, not just us, but everything. And we know how much fun we've been having at the Sun's tailgates, takeovers, things like that, the Cardinals tailgates. Plus our members-only Discord lounge, which, as we've told you in the past, is the best place to be in Arizona sports fan. It's the only place to be an Arizona sports fan.

But we're also bringing you online happy hour Q&As with us, all the PHNX staff members, including your mayor. So, yeah, I'm making myself open and available to you people on Zoom and all sorts of other fun stuff. But the biggest thing here is we want to open up the content. This guy over here, Jesse has been doing an incredible job at covering not only the Arizona Diamondbacks, but baseball. And we want to make sure that everybody gets a chance to get their eyes on it.

And not just Jesse, Gerald, Craig. We have an amazing group of writers here, Howard for the Cardinals. And, you know, it's almost a shame to lock it behind. It's like when you have, you know, a really nice collectible or something and you put it behind glass and a thing, you know, like it's like, no, that shouldn't be back there. It should be out for the world to enjoy, you know. And that's how we feel about it. But yeah, there is going to be exclusive content that Jesse can tell you more about with an exclusive diehard newsletter. Yeah, this is a day I've been looking forward to for a long time, honestly.

just the ability to push out most of the content that I write and that like you mentioned, our other writers that we have here as well. Just being able to push all this content sort of to the masses and just get it out there for everyone to see our writing is really top-notch. If I do say so myself. We've discussed that certain members of the Diamondbacks have actually requested access from us personally. This is true.

This is true. We don't want to hold the players back from being able to read it. Right. They're winners today as well. But yeah, I just think it's going to be great for all of us just to be able to get our content out there to more people. But for you all, for the diehards, you're going to be getting the very best that we have to produce. So, you know, I'm going to write my heart out in every article that I write. But there will be a little special, a little special something in the weekly newsletter that you won't get anywhere else. And mailbags are coming to. And mail bags are coming to written form. So we'll still probably do something here on the show. Oh, we're not going to know. Mailbag Monday is too well established to possibly die out at this point.

But yeah, it's not complicated people. I mean, if you're the type of person to want to buy at least one t-shirt or hat every year and you're going to come to a couple events and you're going to, you know, you're going to buy maybe one or two other items, your membership has already paid for itself at that point. That's right. So it's pretty simple. and we'd love to have you aboard. We'd love to have you aboard.

And of course, we are so thankful for those of you that have already been members. And of course, you guys are now our diehard. So we want to just welcome everybody into that. And of course, the one thing about this is, you know, we've been listening to you guys. We've been talking to people in the Discord. Everybody has an opinion on all of this stuff. But I think even people that were subscribers had said they didn't mind that the content got out because they felt that a lot of this content should be seen.

by more eyes and not locked behind a paywall. And we wanted to not only be able to do that, we also wanted to be able to bring you as much as we possibly could. And I think that, to be honest, the t-shirt or hat per year really does, if you are interested in our merch and we're going to keep cranking out that merchandise, I promise you, as your mayor, you will get a FNUX shirt, okay?

I promise. I'll get that Fianx shirt made if I have to make it my goddamn self. It won't be very good if I do it, but I'm just saying we'll get it out there. So make sure to join us here because we have built this for you guys and you guys have helped us build this over the last year and a couple of months. So we can't thank you enough for being a part of this with us. And we hope that this actually makes it more appealing to everybody. Not only can people read the content without having to be a member, but maybe that'll just make you like us that much more. Because once you see what these guys have to offer, if you haven't had a chance to do so already,

I think you'll be really impressed. And, you know, stick around. Maybe come down to our tailgates, come and hang out with us. That's the most important thing to us is to build this community and to be closer with you guys as hosts of the show of people that cover this team. Chris says Derek's diehards, Friedman's fanatics. Oh, yeah. I'm going to have to fight each other. Yeah.

We're going to have to divide up and conquer and see what's going on there. Of course, we have a poll that divided us. And we're going to divide the office with an MVP office award for PHNN. But we got a special award for you guys as well, so don't think that that's just love for the office. But award season is here, speaking of which, and it rolls on in the Major League Baseball. Of course, Sy Young Awards were handed out yesterday, and there were absolutely no surprises at all in the two Sy Young winners. Sandy Alcantra, of course, by far the best National League pitcher gets the National League Cy Young. Justin Verlander.

Verlander. I can't even say it right now. You're just like over emphasizing all of the wrong syllables right now. Verlander. That's it. It's easy. Justin Verlander,

the timeless wonder, both are voted in unanimously. Yeah. Any surprise there for you that they were unanimous? Not a big surprise. Yeah. I don't even know which race was more likely to be, I don't know,

to have like at least one first place vote thrown somewhere else. In my mind, I was kind of expecting this, just given the seasons that these two guys had. In the National League, there's really no case. Like Alconter, like, 240 innings. There's just, like, people don't do that in 2022 in Major League Baseball. And Justin Verlander, I think I had a sub 2ERA. Like, what are we doing here? Just give the man his first place votes and move on, right?

Like, get it over with. It's not just that, but you know you're not going to vote against Justin Berlander. I mean, not only does he have an incredible story coming back from the injury that he had at the age that he is to be able to pitch at the level that he that he did in 2022 but yeah you don't want kate upton coming for you because when kate upton comes for you she fucking leaves dead bodies in her wake is what she does kate upton uh came for the mlb in 2016 with this tweet uh hey lb i thought i was the only person allowed to fuck justin burlander up two riders didn't have them on their ballot that's poetry right there like can you imagine twitter going away

and us not getting just amazing moments in pop culture history like this, Jesse, but nothing better than a spouse weighing in on her husband, not getting boats. But it does come at a great time for Verlander, of course, because he is a free agent. He's opted out or currently, you know, whatever he declared free agency. And he is looking for a two-year contract with possibly an option worth around $40 million plus per year.

I don't think the Astros are going to pay it. And I wonder where we're going to see Justin Verlander fall. Yeah, it's crazy to have a guy do what he did and then instantly be a free agent, you know? I mean, it's like, wow, of all the years for him to have the season that he just had. It was certainly pretty well timed on his part. But yeah, I mean, a 1.75 ERA, 220 strikeouts in 175 innings, a 0.83 whip. Like, these are just out of this world sorts of numbers. And not to mention, the guy was 39 years old and is going on 40 years old.

And he's also coming off Tommy John's surgery. Like, this is not natural. I don't know how to explain what's happening. What happened with Justin Verlander in 2022. But are you sure this guy's mortal, Derek? I don't know. I'm watching what we do in the shadows. And I'm convinced he's a vampire that's just maybe he's an energy vampire.

I don't know. But that would make a lot of sense to me. I don't know if that's too much for someone his age and what he just did, like you said. But there aren't a lot of teams that are going to pay that amount of money for two years worth of Erlander. So it's going to be interesting to see where this falls. And again, it very much feels like this is going to one of the big guys that already have plenty of weapons. But you think maybe he lands with the Giants? I don't think the Giants are super likely.

I would be pretty surprised. I mean, you can never count them out. They definitely have big money to spend. Yeah, we'll have to see how this plays out. I don't have a great read necessarily on where Justin Rillander will wind up. But we do know he's going to get paid. He's going to get paid a heck of a lot of money for going on his age 40 season. He said in the past he wants to pitch until he's 45.

And he kind of looks like he could, right? Like if in five years we're talking about Justin Rillander, you know, winning a Cy Young Award in his age 44 season, And I don't know if we can even be that surprised at that point, just given what he's done so far, the velocity hasn't really shown any signs of wavering. Like, the guy is just immune to his age. I don't know how he's managed to do what he's done. But yeah, getting something in the range of, you know, multiple years, probably around 40 million per year, I think is pretty realistic. And whichever team makes that investment is probably going to feel pretty good about getting a guy out of 175 ERA this year. On the National League side, Sandy Alcantra, again, like we said, is obviously a definite no-brainer, unanimous vote.

The MLB interviewed him and asked him some of his favorite questions. I thought it was funny. He was asked what his favorite video game was. And he came back with PubG, Jesse, which is a... No idea what PubG is. Exactly. And what's funny is anytime a baseball player answers that question with anything other than MLB, the show, or Call of Duty, I'm floored. But with the quickness that he said it, I was like, oh, he's like a, he's like a Kyler Murray PubG player.

So what is what is PubGee? Player Underground Battlegrounds is what it is. And it's a player unknown battlegrounds. And basically it's just, it's one of those games. I mean, like, again, there's certain game, Fortnite, you know, the show and like Call of Duty. These are popular. Yeah, they're ones that like a lot of people play. So it's not really surprising.

But when they start getting down into things they play and it's like, either an older game that's still online that people play or it's something that it's just like a rare title. I'm always thrown back by that. But he also was asked, beach or pool, and he took pool. Interesting.

And his name's Sandy. What the fuck? And he plays for the Miami Marlins. And he plays in Miami. I don't understand these things. Oh. Well, if you wanted something else to be mad about, Zach Gallen ended up fifth in Syung voting in the National League.

And the only reason why we're mad about that is because in what world is Aaron Nola a better pitcher? Sure, maybe you could say war and innings pitched. But besides that, we know Aaron Nola is not a better pitcher than Zach Gallag? Come on, we all know that. Even this guy over here that refused to give him an A. Yeah, I'm curious what your grade for Aaron Nola would have been. I don't know.

Yeah, I think this is just kind of an oversight on the part of the voters. I think it's pretty clear that Zach Gallen had a better. year than Aaron Nola, all things considered. If you're making a case for Aaron Nola, you're pointing to his strikeout rate and his walk rate, along with the fact that he threw about 20 more innings than Zach Allen did this year, which are all fair points. I don't particularly care that much about strikeouts and walks, because like at the end of the day, if you give up more runs, it feels like it doesn't matter quite that much.

But yeah, the innings thing, I don't get at all. I mean, people are talking about the difference between Gallin throwing like 184 innings and Aaron Nola throwing 205. It's a difference of 20 innings, but guess what? Zach Gallen also gave up 22 fewer runs. So the difference between, like, would you really have thought Zach Gallen at a better year

if he pitched 20 more innings and gave up 22 more runs? Like, that's horrible. Like, you don't want a guy to go 20 more innings and if he's going to give up 22 runs in those innings. But I know people were pointing to the war numbers which do favor Aaron Nola as well. But at the end of the day, a 325

ERA compared to a 2.5, ERA compared to a 254 ERA. That's such a big difference that I don't think you really have to get too bogged down in the weeds of all the other analytics. And again, like, you know, Zach Gallen had his struggles at times. But they were few and far between, to be honest. It was June. He had a bad June.

He had a bad June. And then he threw 44 and a third scoreless innings, which I straight scoreless innings, which I feel like kind of makes up for that. Alex says I feel it's probably because Nola played in the playoffs and some recency by its could be I believe ballots are cast before the postseason so I don't think that would be a factor at least at least voters are very much instructed the playoff performance shouldn't be a factor yeah Ben's right he does have fewer wins I don't know what I was thinking but of course that wasn't the only award given out we

also had manager of the year award yes to Terry Francona in the the American League for the Guardians and Buck Shoalter for the Mets, former Arizona Diamondbacks manager. And Francona never ceases to amaze me as a manager. Yeah, the man, he just keeps on going. And everything like that. It's just incredible. The Cleveland Guardians just continue to outperform expectations year after year.

They don't really spend any money. They have Jose Ramirez and a bunch of guys that nobody's ever heard of. And yet somehow they come out year after year after year. and they seem to be a consistently competitive baseball team and they were especially that this year making some noise in the postseason as well. There's no question that Terry Francona is just one of the most well-respected managers

who's ever played a role in baseball and I think this is absolutely well-deserved for him. And it was actually a little odd when it came to Buck's Showalter being named manager. What was hot about it, Derek? What was odd was the person who presented, said award to Buck Showalter was none other than our very own Tori Lavallo. Can we get a video of that, please?

I'm pleased to announce the 2022 National League Manager of the Year is Buck Show Walter. Congrats Buck. John, well done. Thank you, Tori. Wow. That's humbling, especially coming from you. I've been there. It's a great recognition of an organization and some very good managers. and good teams.

What a great moment for our organization. And our coaching staff and ownership in front office, scouts, player development, the recognition of our organization means a lot to everybody. So thank you. Very humbling. Well, here's the thing. Why, Jesse? Why was Tori a part of this from home, nonetheless?

Like, Buck Shawalter is there, you know, in the press conference room? And here's Tori presenting it to him from his living room. I don't understand what's going on there. Yeah, I don't really know why Major League Baseball chose to do this. This was my thought of what Ben said in the chat. He said from a Diamondbacks manager to a former Diamondbacks manager, but that doesn't seem like that's a no stretch, right? There's a good almost 20 years separating those two.

So I don't know if there's much of a connection there. Book Show alters managed for a lot of different teams. Yeah, it's bizarre, Derek. I'm not going to lie. I guess it's not super weird if Tori Lavello were like, like if he'd finish second or something, then that would have been really weird to have the guy who finished second announcing the winner. But I think the fact that Tori is like well respected but also wasn't in the mix, like sort of made this a little better. But it's still just very strange.

Like I've never seen Major League Baseball have like an act. I don't know. Is this a thing that we've seen in the past? I don't know. But you know what? I think it's time, Jesse, for us to. throw a little shade. To throw a little shade.

To throw a little shade. What do you think? I'm down. Let's do it. Wait, for dramatic effect, I need to have the music and I'm looking for it. This is a little look behind the curtain. Okay, I'm ready. I'm ready.

I'm ready. Okay, cue it up again. Cue it up again. We're throwing shade. Let's throw some shade to Toy Lobolo. Let's go. We left our sunglasses at home, but we're still throwing shade. Your way, Tori Lavello.

Look, T. We need to have a talk. I understand that you're a nice guy and that you're amicable. I tell people that all the time. You're one of my favorite people. But with that being said, I need you to have a little bit more of a killer instinct here. You're going out there giving awards to other gibronies for their managing. And like this guy had one of the highest payrolls in baseball.

His team didn't even do that one on the playoffs. What are you doing? I am. Tori's got to get his just got to get some stuff together here. I don't know why. Even if, even if Major League Baseball comes to you and says that this is what you have to do and this is your assignment. You refuse. You just have to turn it down.

You refuse. You just have to. This is where being too nice lead you to giving out awards to other managers. Absolutely not. Not in the National League. Maybe if it was an American League. Maybe if it was like your mentor or something. But Buck Showalter, I want to know the connection here.

From Diamondbacks manager to Diamondbacks manager, no, you're better than that. And I don't. And also, they bothered you while you were at home. Enjoying your vacation. I don't believe in that at all because we're not allowed to bother you while you're on your vacation. That's true. Right. So Jesse and I have been forbidden from bothering you while you're on vacation.

So I don't understand why MLB is allowed to do that. It's bizarre. I don't know what Major League Baseball is doing with this sort of move. Like, could you imagine if, if, like, one of the runner-ups and, like, the Cy Young Award was tasked with, like, going to the mic and announcing who the Cy Young winner was? No, I can't imagine that because that would be cruel and reckless behavior. Like Max-M-Fried goes to the mic to reveal that it.

I guess it was because in this situation, it was. unanimous. So maybe there's not quite as much shame there, but just still very weird to have someone who didn't win an award announcing. Imagine if Dave Roberts won. Right? Yeah, that would be especially unfortunate. Absolutely not. It makes you mad just thinking about it. And Dave Roberts was not that far from winning, so.

And Buck Showalter didn't deserve it. Let's be honest. Did Buck Showalter deserve it? I have just kind of a philosophical problem with the manager of the year award in general. Because so often we see guys like, we see managers win the manager of the year award. And then like the next year their team is a bad season, they get fired, right? And it's like, okay, did that manager really go from being the best manager in baseball or in their league to suddenly being a manager that deserved to be fired, right? It doesn't make any sense.

The award says very, very little about what managers have accomplished and is pretty much all about what their teams accomplished. Like, right? you're looking at how big of a turnaround a team had from one year to the next. You're looking at, you know, did they make the playoffs when they weren't expected to? How about what Rob Thompson did with the Philadelphia Phillies since June? That's the other thing. Right.

Is it you vote on it again, you vote on it before the postseason. And I know they do the same thing with position players and the Siyang Award and all the other awards as well. But there's something different for managers. Like managers really pick up a significant load. once they get to the postseason. Like, managing in a postseason game is very different from managing in a regular season game. And the fact that that's not even, like, really brought in to the picture here is a little bit troubling as well. Yeah.

Thompson finished fifth. Yeah, Rob Thompson finished fifth, which is sort of understandable if you're looking at just the Phillies record in the regular season. But still, the man took over and was interim manager and was able to bring that team to the playoffs and do what he did with them. So, again, like you said, maybe a big part of this problem is, voting without considering the playoffs, even part of the playoffs. But I do feel like if that would have come into play, we might have been seeing a different outcome when it came to the National League manager. However, you, Tori Lavallo, you could have just refused to do it unless they gave it to

Rob Thompson. How about that? Just refuse to do it unless they give it to who you want to give it to. I like that route, too. You could have held it hostage. But instead, you just did it happily. They just need to get rid of the award altogether, if I'm being totally honest. Manager of the year award is just a total waste.

Wow. I was listening to the athletic baseball show on the way in today, which is a solid podcast with some very knowledgeable writers from around the sport. But yeah, they were just talking about how kind of ridiculous the award is. And they also mentioned the fact that a manager's ability to work with the media and like how a manager handles the media is a big part of like the manager's day-to-day job, right? Like the things to say, the things not to say. And so it's sort of like a weird conflict of interest when you have the media voting on the manager of the year, right?

It just that part of it is also really messy. It's flawed in so many different ways. It makes them keep their act right, right? Like be nice to us. You better be nice to us. Yeah. We have no voting power, but still you better be nice to us because the other guys are watching. Yeah.

Or like the managers who are more friendly? Like are they maybe winning a few extra votes that they don't. necessarily deserve because they have just better relationships with the media? I don't know. Terry Francona seems like a good combination of both where it's like a merit, but then he also seems like an incredibly nice person that's easy to talk to, interview, be around just on a day-to-day basis. I mean, to be honest, all jokes aside, Tori Lavallo is one of the easiest, nicest managers

I've been around in my short time covering this team of 11 freaking years now. But I will say that Tori Lavallo also is, he goes beyond, I think, being a manager. Like, Jesse can attest to this, but he knows a lot about us as media. He cares. He asks us about our families, our kids, how our parents are doing, all of that kind of stuff. So it really goes beyond that, you know, just being kind when you're getting interviewed, right? The players don't really show that much of an interest in us in that way. but Tori makes that extra effort, I think, too.

He does. And honestly, there's a lot of us, so it's hard to keep track of us and know us in any way. And he's not really part of his job, and he just chooses to do so. And that and that niceness is the reason that he said yes to this ridiculous request. Stop being so nice and start fucking having an edge to you. I've seen that edge. I've been in the clubhouse when you use the F word. Anyway, speaking of the F word, four peaks brewing company.

One of our favorites. One of the weirdest transitions that you have ever done into an out of read. We're teaming up with Four Peaks at all U.S. and Mexico World Cup matches at their 8th Street Pub. So come down and join us. The PHNX Rising guys will be there. We'll be there. Remember, Jesse's a special correspondent. So check the link in the show notes to register for free.

So that way we know you're coming. And you can enjoy beer specials. Giveaways from us, from Four Peaks, all sorts of fun stuff. Guest appearances. So much more. Also, $3 Kilt Lifter specials. $3. Wow Wheat Pines.

So make sure to join us. The rosters have dropped. We're ready for, Ted Lassow is ready for football. And we are ready to rock and roll. So make sure to join us down at the A Street Pub. One more plug for that. Tuesday, November 22nd, 8 a.m. For Mexico's first World Cup match.

Let's go. Breakfast buffet, drink specials, and an appearance from the rising head coach. Not the rising, sorry. Rising head coach. And those tickets are also available in the description. All right. Well, I'm down for a breakfast. buffet, so I know where I'll be.

8 a.m. though? Jesse, I have stayed up until 4 o'clock in the morning watching Japanese pro wrestling. Yeah, but it's easy to get up when you're going to eat breakfast and drink beer and watch soccer. That's fair. Of all the things I've ever had to wake up really for, that would be one of the nicer ones. It's a good one.

It's a good one. Good food and some football. But of course, we have some more awards to discuss because today, MLB will announce their American League and National League MVP. We don't expect there to be any doubt about who ends up winning those awards. Of course, Aaron Judge is by far the favorite, not in my heart, but everybody else's hearts. And a guy named Paul Goldschmidt that some people might remember once played here in Arizona is looking like a strong standout for the National League MVP. But what are your thoughts on that and this entire award season so far?

it'll be interesting to see what happens. Sai Young was really obvious. This is like mostly obvious, but maybe a little more interesting than what we saw for Sai Young. So it'll be interesting to see how Shohay Otani does in the voting. Like you said, I think it's pretty clear cut that Aaron Judge is going to win the award at this point. But I've seen a lot of compelling arguments for Otani, including the one that you made

a week or two ago. Like deep down, I can't convince me. myself that if Shohei Otani had played for the Yankees and been a part of that team instead of of the team that he was a part of, there's no question that Shoay Otani would have won the MVP. There's just no question about it. And so you're getting into dangerous territory where you're valuing Aaron Judge's season more because he was on a better baseball team, frankly, and he played in a bigger market that's had more recent success.

And I know there's some legitimacy to that, right? Like how valuable could your season have been if your team didn't make the playoffs. But baseball is just not like that. You can use that case in the NBA, at least for me. But when it comes to baseball, you just can't. Like if Joey Otani is a member of the Yankees, the Yankees are a darn good team because he's there. There's just no case for like, oh, if Joey Otani had been there, you know, it wouldn't have had that big of an impact.

It's just not the way that baseball works. Well, and some good news for Otani fans. It looks like Shohei Otani will be part of Team Japan for the World Baseball. That is great news. And so Team Japan will be playing here in Arizona, which will give me personally plenty of opportunities to go see one of my favorite baseball players. But that's exciting. And then as far as Team USA goes, our very own Merrill Kelly happened to get that spot for the USA team. Yeah, he'll be –

He'll be pitching for Team USA. And he's also apparently working on a new pitch this offseason, which he was – hesitant to talk about at an event that he was at the other day. But at some point, maybe come spring training, we'll get a little more clear. Yeah, we're going to grade. Yeah, Derek will give it a D before it even has a chance. Speaking of which, in results of our poll, Jesse trounced me, of course, was like 65 to 35 in favor of him.

Because you gave the man's best pitch is his forcing basketball. You gave it a D. It's a 90 mile per hour of forcing basketball. I'm unimpressed. But I understand, and that's fun. I'm okay with it. Actually, I got way more votes than I thought I was going to get. So, shout out to you guys that voted for me. I blame your obscenely large Twitter following.

I didn't, I didn't try to do that one unfairly. I just, I sent out the video one. That was attached. I let people will decide for themselves. But some other, one more award after the MVP, the MLB has the MLB, all MLB team to announce on December 5th, which again is kind of. Lots of awards. Lots of awards to give out there. they also have their deadline for tendering contracts to unsigned players, which is also tomorrow.

A weird day to have it on MVP awards and also we decide if we want you or not as a player, right? Tomorrow will be interesting. Cody Bellinger could possibly be non-tendered. Cody Bellinger could be non-tendered. The problem is that the man won the MVP award and then as a result, he's gotten so much money in arbitration and you can't go down in arbitration. You can only go up. So I think he's due to make like just under 20 million in arbitration this off season. And you just, I don't know, can the Dodgers really give?

I mean, I guess the question isn't can they? Should the Dodgers? Should the Dodgers give a guy who is as unproductive as Bellinger was this last year that much money? They did not pay Tyler Anderson, who is now a member of the Los Angeles Angels, which is surprising because it wasn't on the market very long. And let's be honest, he was very good for the Dodgers last season. and they do have some tough decisions to make, though. Yeah, I think it was three years 39 million, I want to say, for Tyler Anderson,

which is very reasonable, honestly. I mean, Tyler Anderson had a sub three R.A. in like 180 innings. I mean, that was a, I know his track record isn't necessarily sparkling, but that's a really reasonable number for the amount of production he gave. I mean, Robert Swares, we were talking about him the other day. He got five years, 46 million as a reliever. Right.

And Tyler Anderson, who had an incredible season, the Dodgers doesn't even have to move and he gets not very much money but more than the Dodgers were going to pay him. Yeah. I think I believe there was draft pick compensation tied to Tyler Anderson. So I think that probably played a big role there. Hopefully the next collective bargaining agreement eliminates that because it's it's always unfortunate when that happens.

Well, I feel like hurting some people's feelings to be honest. And I think Jesse does too. We're giving away awards. We're going to give away awards, Jesse. but sometimes the way that that works is everybody that doesn't win it, their feelings get her. You know, we're talking about Zach Gowan earlier and stuff like that.

We're about to do that to people because we're going to give out our P.HNX Office Awards. And I'm excited about this because-this was Derek's idea. I look forward to dividing people at all times. And right now, Jacob, aka Fodge, is over here steaming up the glass on this window because he just can't wait to see who I gave it to. That's not him. He knows clearly. Here he is right here.

Being all tall coming in. Look, he doesn't even need to chair. Can I help you with anything? Are you ready for this? No, continue. All right. Well, let's give out our MVP awards that aren't Faj. I'm going to give mine first and then Jesse's going to give his.

All right. Go for it. My MVP award goes to a well-rounded individual around this office. But he's not just the MVP when it comes to his work ethic and basically how much work he puts in around here. He's also the MVP because he fucking cleans up when we go to any of these arcades or anything and play each other in any kind of competitive event. And because of that, I'm giving my MVP award to Sean DePaz. Sean earns it. He deserves it.

Sean does so much around here. Sean not only is one of the hosts of the Sun Devil podcast and a producer around here, but Sean DePaz also fucking does all of our graphic work. We outside. It's a my winner right there, baby. For the record, though, I didn't make that last graphic. I got no, he did. We all sorry. I want to take credit for that, but, uh, I, yeah, and then he does this bowling, his bowling

pose. That was ice cream. Oh, oh, shit. I'm sorry. Uh, I didn't mean to, didn't mean to confuse those things, but, uh, he's also way cooler than me. Like, it kind of makes me sick. So, like, on top of all of that, I have to deal with that.

But Jesse, you want to give yours? He's just out here flexing. It's fucking awesome. First, I want to say that I, 100% predicted that you were. going to give your award to Sean to pause. Well, Sean earns it. John deserves it. He deserves a crack at this show.

You know, you've been holding him back. He might. He might get it next week. He might get it next week. If he, you know, if he reaches our expectations on his, on his daily tasks, then maybe next Tuesday we'll talk.

Jesse's going to test it every day between now and then with baseball question. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. All right. So my award goes to a man who made some delightful matzo ball soup for our Friendsgiving and that's really the only criteria that I have that's your fucking criteria Let's go give it was some really good Mots ball soup and it came from the one and only Max Simpson

Let's go So max doesn't even have a head look at that you just gets a you just that is kind of sad That is kind of sad He comes offering Let's go Let's go He's really limiting the criteria here these two guys The MVP is right here

I heard Matt Max does a lot around here right max brings us a lot of money max makes some awesome partnerships not only that but all these fun things that we get to do they're all because of this guy so we thank you for that it's true it's true the other thing the other thing i want to mention is uh correct me if i'm wrong max but i believe max is promised to make you matzabal soup if you become a diehardt today oh did i get that right he's not guaranteeing how much matza will actually be left in it by the time some of you get it might be all i'm going to go and cook the books we're going to put some read

Max's Mottse Ball soup. I'm going to pay back myself through our invoices. It's going to be great. There you go. Can't wait. Thank you, Max. Uh-oh. Yeah.

We're in trouble. I knew you'd be better. Gentlemen, Hey, Esmo. I need you to pack up the really sweet Ravre 4 and get the hell out of my studios. No recognition for me. I know this was coming. Well.

How about the person who's making the show beyond the air right now who presses play? I told you guys. I told you all that was going to happen here Oh no Yeah Here we go Guys I think this this judging was fair And accurate and congratulations on a good selection

Wow wow Wow That was surprisingly measured The most characteristic thing I've ever seen himself The look Mac is giving me right now outside I'm so sad right now You just knew that once ESPO Responded people here I can accept

Defeat graciously I can't We know that Once Espo came on and said what he said, we all knew that Saul was going to come in and take the high road. That was just to get in. I actually didn't hear when Espo happens. Oh, okay. All right.

Now we can't leave this room afterwards, and I think Leah is very upset with us. So I don't know how much longer we'll have proper audio. But the big thing is you don't want to miss out on any of this action. This is the kind of fun we're bringing you every day. And we want you to be a diehard. I've already talked about all the reasons why you should do that. But come on, free t-shirt, free hat every year, discounts. Join us, be part of the Discord.

There's all sorts of reasons. And I'll tell you, there are some diehards in our chat right now than contest to this, but a test to this, excuse me. I want to also do a quick shout out to you guys, those of you that have been here since the beginning, I want to give some MVP awards to you. My MVP is the one and only Chris Melton. I love you, Chris.

Chris has been a huge supporter of ours since the, get-go, but for me it goes beyond that. She has been a huge supporter of me and a friend of mine for a long time ever since I started covering this team for a very small website. And she has been incredible this whole time. She's a huge Diamondbacks fan. And I'm just thrilled to have her as part of my family and part of the PHNX family. So shout out to you, Chris. You're my MVP. We may or may not be giving away some giveaway items in the relatively near future that may or may not have come from Chris herself via a generous donation. So these are the kinds of things that Chris does for us around here.

We're giving away stuff to you and Chris is giving us stuff to give away to you. Exactly. She's part of this whole family. Mine, I believe this gentleman is in the chat. My diehard MVP award goes to the one and only Charles Woodall Pike. Hey, Charles Woodall Pike. Let's go. An absolute legend.

Oh, yes, all the applause. Let's go. I will forever be amazed. Our last day that we were at Four Peaks doing all of our shows on the last Wednesday, which I guess we're not doing that this month. We are not doing this. Sad. Well, we have the pub meetups and stuff.

That's fair. But anyway, Charles Woodall Pike took a day off from work just so that he could hang out with us at Four Peaks the entire day. And it was one of the most incredible showings of dedication to Ph. and X that I've ever seen. So he's just a great guy. And he helped us take down all the equipment at the end of the day. That's right.

That is right. Charles is the best. It's just a saintly man through and through. So we appreciate you, Charles. Yeah. And again, thank you guys for always coming out to our events. We appreciate it. We love it.

We can't wait to do more next year. We're sad fall league is over. It went by too fast. And especially with the World Series going on, it felt like it was so much baseball at once. Like, when we get the Fall League out after the World Series, right? I mean, it's still beautiful outside. a little cold, but whatever. It was way too cold there.

Yeah, this guy, this guy was wanting to blink. I no longer missed the fall. It was 52 degrees, and I had just had it at that point. Well, don't forget to get yourself a membership, get yourself a diehard membership over at go phtonx.com. Of course, we've talked about all that stuff that it comes with, and we want you to be a part of our die hard, diehard family, be a Debex diehard.

And also, if you're watching us right now on the YouTube channel, we thank you guys for being here. Of course, we always appreciate you spending your lunch with us. Make sure to subscribe to the PHNXports YouTube channel. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when any of the shows go live. Leave me a little thumbs up for my own self-gratification. And of course, if you're listening on your favorite audio podcasting app,

make sure to subscribe there. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when those go get downloaded to you. And also leave us a review. We appreciate you for doing so. Before I get out of here, I got to give you the Draft Kings pick of the week. tonight is a football game. Again, Jesse doesn't like me talking about football,

but I do think that the Green Bay Packers are going to get things right against the Tennessee Titans tonight. I am taking the Packers money line. I'm also, if you want to go that route, I'm taking the spread as well. It's three and a half right now. You can get that at plus 100, which is actually a pretty good value for the Packers. At least I think. I don't know. I think Aaron Rogers has got his shit together. I'm also taking the over on that one as well.

So maybe parlay those together or maybe make sense. separate bets, whatever you want to do, Drafking Sportsbook offers a wide variety of ways for you to make those bets. Same game parlayas. The more you add to it, the more you can get stepped up on their stepped up, same game parlayes. You also have our code of PHNX over at Drafting Sportsbook. And right now, if you bet any $5 money line bet on the NBA, you will get $200 in free bets if your team wins. The Sons appear to be back on track.

So maybe we get back on that train as well. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app. Use our promo code of PHNX. That's promo code PHNX on the Draft King Sportsbook. Sportsbook app. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes or details. And of course, when we talk about our friends, it wouldn't be complete without our friends from OGs. I love you, OGs. You guys know that. And of course, we're very excited to continue our partnership with them. My favorite flavor, Jesse has never had them. So I just always tell him, my favorite fliers,

orange cream single. And it's delicious. It's delicious because OGs is all about flavoring life. I've had some other edibles recently that just reminded me of how terrible. this stuff can be. And remember that, oh, geez, not only has a wide range of flavors, but they have a wide variety of doses and strains for you to choose from. They also can be found at your local dispensary. It must be 21 years or older to enjoy. And if you find the sleep edition gummies, grab them as fast as possible because those are selling out all over the place. And of course, they will give you the best night's sleep you ever had. Well, it's die hard. What, die hard Thursday is what we're calling it. Die hard Thursday. We're so excited to have you guys on your new membership.

Of course, we're so excited to have anybody else signing up. So make sure to let everybody know that we are giving out the world to you guys. We want to make this our community with our new Diard membership. So make sure to sign up over at go phnx.com. In the meantime, you can follow Jesse and I. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman on Twitter. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-BACs, but all roads lead to at

PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Do we have bodyguards to help us get out of here? It's not going to be an easy exit. Good thing is that, again, since we're talking about diehards, I'm a huge fan of diehards. So if you follow me, we'll go out of these ducks in this room, climb our way up and over, make sure that no. There you go. Don't break the glass because I'm not wearing shoes and we'll get out of your safely. I promise you.

I appreciate it. That's what happens. That's why I picked Sean. But anyway, we thank you guys, of course, on behalf of our. MVP's, this guy, Jesse, Leah, who's still mad at us, David, who's a little mad at us, and of course all the people around PHNX, we thank you guys for being here today. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when Shonda Paz is your bodyguard.