PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - D-backs’ Holiday Wishlist SHRINKS as Orioles Reportedly Land Ryan Helsley on Black Friday Deal

Episode Date: December 2, 2025

The Diamondbacks may have waited too long to get deals on their holiday shopping now that the Orioles have signed closer Ryan Helsley to a reported two-year deal. We discuss if the D-backs could have afforded the deal and what he would have meant to this bullpen. Plus, we take a look at if NPB All-Star infielder Kazuma Okomoto would fit Arizona’s needs. JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/APS:  Find instant rebates, discounts and special offers on smart thermostats, energy-efficient appliances and more at https://marketplace.aps.com/default/heating-cooling/smart-thermostatsBranded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotesChicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today!Access Auto Insurance Agency of Arizona, LLC (Access Auto) is a renowned agency offering personal and commercial auto insurance options to Arizona residents. If you’re on the hunt for a new policy, call Access Auto today at 1-480-400-0546 or get a free insurance quote by visiting our website www.access-insurance.com.Visit https://www.macu.com/accounts/checking/mystyle-checking?cid=ea-PHNX-AZ-mystyleAugust2025-checking to learn more about their MyStyle Checking Accounts!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/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.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!Monarch: Use Monarch to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnxWhen 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, it's Cyber Monday and the Diamondbacks still have a lot of shopping to do, but they will be out one of their wishless items, and that is closer Ryan Helsley, who is now reportedly signed a deal with the Orioles. We are talking about all of the moves in Major League Baseball and who the Diamondbacks might target next in 30 seconds. Don't you go anywhere. Into another edition of the PHNXDbacks podcast live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K, happy Monday to you all. I, your mayor of P.HMX, occasionally known as Derek Montaia. Also, a man that spent consecutive nights in Tempe, Arizona, and I might never go back.

I don't know. Anyway, welcome in, of course, a guy that's, uh, who I can't, I believe I have to deal with for the next 12 months between a winner. I think you meant to say a winner. Uh, it's this guy on the ones in Tuesday.

They're down, baby. He was the only, the incomparable. Damon dog. Uh, he's not the leche to my cafe today. No, today we don't mix. Today it's a cold root type of day, Derek. It's a cold root type of day with no milk. But we have so much to talk about and also a little fun unboxing of a thing that's behind me that's going to fulfill my dreams and make me the happiest person to ever exist.

But first, I want to remind you guys that this show is brought to you by our friends at GameTime. Go download the GameTime app right now. Create an account and use that code of PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply. And yes, I did spend my weekend going. attending events, including the Territorial Cup, had a blast for at least half of that game, for what I remember. And also- The Sims-Moji. The Sims-Moji, Derek, has been chain-snatched by the Arizona fans. That is sad. That is sad. Also, I saw my guy, Mouse Powell this weekend out in Tempe.

One of the homies, great local act. If you ever get a chance to see Mouse, he is tremendous. But spent entirely too much time in Tempe. Shout out to my friend, the bartender, who, I would say I would say I don't remember his name and that's my fault, but I really feel it's his fault for his excellent service. So I salute you, sir. Thank you so much to our friends out there at Marquis Theater. And I got to address a comment here. One of our first comments on today's show from our guy Craig. And Craig asks Damon, where's our surprise?

Where is the DeBax holiday surprise signing I've been so used to? Well, this might have been one of those years that Uncle King's. Ken kind of told us straight up that we don't have the money this holiday season that we normally do, but things might be a little light around here. So you might have to wait until maybe after the holiday season for like some, you know, post-Christmas clearance sale kind of things. Because right now the stove is lukewarm, but things are happening and they are not happening for the Arizona and Diamondbacks. The Phillies, they still remain a favorite to sign Kyle Schwabber, but now the Mets apparently are reportedly also in the mix as well for Schwarbs.

The Mets meanwhile, also... Wouldn't that be crazy, Derek? That'd be nuts. They're also reportedly in the mix, as we discussed on Friday, to sign Framber Valdez. Yeah, I mean, the Mets are just going to be in contention to sign everybody. But Schwerber, I mean, in division like that, that feels like almost like... It's personal. Yeah, that is personal.

Yeah. It's trying to send a message to the Phillies that this division is ours now. And that was definitely not the case last year because let's not forget how the Mets met it. The Mets meted so hard last year that they hope that they never met that hard ever again. They're going to be a problem, right? The Mets are going to be a problem, essentially in free agency because not only are they going to be very active and in on every position, they're going to be in on relievers, especially if they lose Edwin Diaz to another team. They're going to be out there probably on a Robert Svarez or one of the other high-priced relievers that most likely the Diamondbacks can't afford.

However, Ryan Helsley comes off the board. He has reportedly signed a deal with the Baltimore Orioles, and this is upsetting to me. Damon, I am upset because I knew that there were teams, you know, obviously the Blue Jays, there are talks that the Blue Jays are very heavy in on the reliever market as well. We know how close they are and how close they feel they are. So they are a team that might be willing to go all in on any reliever at any point, not only taking another name that the Diamondbacks might be going after off the market, but also increasing the value of relievers based on what they pay somebody to bring them in,

bring them into the team, right? But Ryan Helsley reportedly, once again, you're going to have to bell me for saying the word reportedly now today. He agrees to a two-year deal worth $28 million with the Orioles. It includes a player opt-out after the first season, and it is currently pending a physical. Baltimore expects Helsley to be their primary closer in 2020. We know how good Healsley has been, and we know how good specifically has been in that closer role. The only blemish there from last season is after the trade that he was moved into a high, you know,

a high relief or high leverage relief role, not that close a role that he was used to, and his numbers didn't look so good after that. Kind of had a feeling that he could return to that form, and the Orioles also had that same feeling, obviously. But two years, $28 million with a player opt out after one year, Damon? the Diamondbacks could have gotten him for $14 million. I don't know. That's what it costs, right? I mean, that's like the cost for a free agent, I feel like.

But is that not affordable? Is that too much for a closer for the Diamondbacks considering their limited budget? Specifically, let's just say, for argument's sake, $35 million. 35 million, you are going to have $21 million left to spend. You still need two starters. and a first baseman, according to every website on the internet. Yeah, I mean, I think, I think as we've heard from Gambo, reportedly, Derek, I may add,

that the first base situation seems to be that they're all in on Locklear and Locklear and Payman Smith. And I think that that's just kind of going to be the way that it is. Maybe with, maybe and hopefully with Goldschmidt mixed in there, right? And hopefully him, you know, getting a lot of those A-Bs against left-handed pitchers in particular. but the you know we we do need at least one front line starting pitcher and we need a a back end type of bullpen arm as well so how do you mix both of those guys in while also filling

other needs is going to be the difficult part of this offseason 14 million seems about what it's going to cost right like that that feels reasonable I do wish the diamondbacks were in on Ryan hellsley and it does seem like devon williams despite having a bad year maybe his peripherals weren't too bad and they want he you know he he gave up a lot of home runs which really hurt his numbers in particular um i he seems like he's going to be more money than 14 million dollars per year and that might be too much for the debacks i think everybody's willing to overlook what happens to a player when they go to new york like the expectations are different you go into a situation with the yanky short porch you well yeah there's that cracker jacks park park the the the fact that they're just so

willing to bring in a big name and then change their role, right? That's got to be uncomfortable for any guy. And Devin Williams is the same thing with the Yankees, right? They bring in, the Yankees went and got like four closers, right? Thinking, yeah, we'll get all the high leverage arms. But at the same time, too, once again, pitchers, baseball players, they are creatures of habit. You make them into a high leverage arm out of the bullpen and they feel less significant. They're not the guy anymore.

And you took like five guys that were all the guy. And then you just decided one of them was going to be the guy. And the rest of them would be supplementary bullpen arms. And that doesn't work out for everybody, right? I think that, you know, we've heard quite a bit about players liking to know what their role was. That's the reason why the Paul Seawald move was so huge for this team. Everybody knew what their role was after that, which is kind of baffling to me. I mean, I understand trying to have an adaptive bullpen that can change throughout the course.

of the season or change throughout the course of a series and have guys available in different roles based on what made sense you know against the opposing lineup that's always made sense to me yet for some reason in baseball having a closer has always been the most successful thing that teams that win do they have a guy bullpins in particular right just the closers but the the whole bullpen the diamond backs have never had a good bullpen it feels like no but it also again baffles me that even before Paul Seawall, the guys didn't know what their role was. And they didn't feel comfortable with that. And they expressed that when Seawald came, they felt more comfortable having a role.

That's something that that is feedback that a manager or the front office who's ever making these decisions about the bullpen should directly take back and incorporate. Yet we really haven't seen that with this team. Instead, Tori Lovelo and the front office, obviously, considering that we've heard that he's not the only one making decisions around there, have this. you know, like, well, whatever, we'll kind of change things up and, you know, guys don't know really what their role is. Like, it seems to be that guys need to know what their role is and need to stick to that role. If they do bad in it, then they're going to lose it. And I think every player knows that. There's no doubt about that. But, you know, again, this is a guy that I would have spent $14 million on.

This is a guy that can change a lot. There is one thing that I read Damon that was interesting that according to a New York Mets writer, that he was tipping his head problems with pitch tipping with New York. And opposing hitters kind of noticed a pattern and were able to kind of sit on his fastball with considerable success based on what hitters have been able to do over his career. So there still is no knowing if that information is temporary,

if changes can be made, if that's just something that happened, you know, over a short period of time. And maybe his mechanics or whatever. ever could be corrected. However, I still don't have enough belief in the pitching development here in Arizona to think that a guy that was like struggling like that at the end of the year is going to come here and like now get new advice and figure it out and suddenly put it together. Right. Yeah. How could you? The problem is though, is that the Diamondbacks don't have the money

to go out there and get an Edwin Diaz who you're just like Uber confident is going to be a shutdown relief pitcher no matter what. Change our season. We have to get. a guy that has some downside to him. And whether it's Ryan Helsley or Devin Williams, like a lot of times it's the fact that they didn't have a great end to their last season. And that's why their teams are allowing them to walk in free agency. Right. Because if he was shut down for the Yankees, the Yankees are resigning Devin Williams.

I feel like that's pretty typical of what the Yankees do. They're not going out and signing a bunch of free agents, but they are, I think, extending the guys that they trade for in large part. If they work out. Yeah, exactly. You don't. Yeah. So, I mean, it sucks.

And I think that the dinobacks have to get a guy who's imperfect. But, and, you know, it has to just be the right fit. And the diamond backs have to, you know, Mike Hazen has to get this one right. And he hasn't proven that he can get it right in the past so far when it comes to relief pitchers in particular. Yeah. No, you're 100% right. And overall, the diamondbacks would have to probably get some flexibility financially via trades. Other moves would need to be made in order to compensate.

the rest of what they need to do or maybe just a Ryan Helsley move alone, you know. The one thing that really isn't factored in, and I give you credit to Jack Summers specifically for doing this more, is just remembering how many guys, there's eight arbitration eligible players, which means eight guys are going to get raises, you know, and that's going to be the case with the seasons that most of those guys had. So like overall, just, just, just what the Diamondbacks are paying and their team is going to go up, let alone, you know, the needs here. So their budget is just in a very tough place and especially if they're going to reduce it, it makes this job even tougher. Meanwhile, we have Ranger Suarez, according to Mike, Mark Feinson,

who is going to be not only one of the biggest beneficiaries of that Dylan C's deal, but he is also projected to be the next starter to sign a deal this winter. I think on Friday we saw that he was attached to the Cubs, and we also know that there are other teams that are definitely in on Ranger Suarez as well. Yeah, that didn't seem as certain as a lot of people were making it seem on Friday. Yeah, and again, it's because baseball offseason is the worst, Damon. It's the worst. It's the most slow-moving sludge of a process.

the Dylan C. Stee's deal was eye-opening, honestly. Dylan C. is one of the best free agent pitchers available on the market. We can't argue that, but he had a bad season last year. And he's still got a huge deal. Yeah. The reason why other guys that had a better season than him wait is because now Ranger S. Juarez just got paid more simply based on what Dylan Cs received.

Or he'll receive more years of control and more years of guaranteed salary. Right now, he's projected to go somewhere in the range of four-year, $92 million to five years, upwards to $130 million. But Rangers Juarez has been an outstanding pitcher his entire career, consistent outstanding starting pitcher. So again, this is going to not only take a lot to get him, but like with Zach Gallen, any team that gets him is going to owe the draft pick compensation to the Phillies for him rejecting the qualified offer, right? Yeah. And I'm even seen as much as 160, 170. million on a six-year deal, Derek. I think that, you know,

I mean, if Dylan Cs got what he got, I don't see why he wouldn't get that, right? Like, he was, Ranger Suarez is, I mean, I, I just feel like Ranger Suarez deserves it as much as Dylan sees does. He's a really good pitcher, man. Right. That's, that's a guy that I wish the Diamondbacks were, were also, like, more in on. And I understand it's a lot of money, and it would take a big portion of the money that you have saved up this offseason. But I know that me and you, Derek, kind of highlighted Ranger Sores as like a signing in particular that would really interest us for what we need on this team in particular. That would be the ace.

That would be the guy to go after and make the ace of the staff until Corbyn Burns returns. And then can you imagine if the Diamondbacks can find their way in the playoffs, in the playoffs? Let me ask you a question. Corbyn Burns and Ranger Suarez is your one too. If Zach Allen was to be paid less than that, would you rather just? just bring back Zach Allen. Over Rangers, Warres?

Yeah, if he was getting less money per year than Rangers Horses. I don't know. They both have the same kind of nagging ailments, so I don't really put one guy above the other as far as health is concerned. I think Zach still has like had those issues with his, what was his hamstring and such, right? And then I know Ranger Suarez had issues with like back stiffness. They're both 30, I believe, right? Yeah, I mean, they're both right in the same age range.

Honestly, I think this goes back to what I said about a, a free agent signing that would be more exciting. You know what you're going to get in Zach Gallen, and you're actually hoping that you get him to be what he was a few years ago more than the excitement of what he is right now. Ranger Suarez is a guy that you're just excited about right now, and he completely, the two signings would land so differently with Diamondbacks fans. Zach Gallen coming back would be from most fans, probably a man to a disappointment.

Yeah, but I, but I, that's kind of, know why I ask the question because I agree with that. I think a lot, the sentiment from people would be like, oh, great, we're doing the same thing that we did last year when we didn't make playoffs. But, you know, I do think that there's probably something to. Zach Allen never pitched as bad as he did in that first half of last year in his entire career. He looked a lot better in the second half. And if you could get him kind of on a discount because of what a bad season he had last year, I think I would be pretty interested in giving him a like a four or five year deal. But I know that that's not sexy. and that won't like fire up the D-BACs fans, you know, because they want, they want better than what we've had.

But I just feel like Gowan is like the positive regression that he'll have is, you know, maybe you get a slight discount in the process. You know who I'd rather sign over both of these guys though, Damon? Tatsuya am I. Apparently that process is moving pretty quick there. He is a man that is coming here to beat the Dodgers and I hope we are in on that. But don't tell him. I might also want to sign another Japanese. player and we can technically do that after we sign him and then i mean we didn't lie that there

weren't any japanese players on our team at the time but is kizuma okamoto uh possible fit for the diamond backs we're going to talk about that on the other side of this break don't you guys go anywhere you are watching the phn x d back show well of course game time is here especially for weekends like i just had game time could save you a tremendous amount of money especially if like if like me you decided you were just going to go to a bar in Tempe to watch the Territorial Cup and instead got FOMO and needed to get inside of that building. Well, you can save up to 60% off by buying tickets last minute with game time. And you can, of course, get yourself all sorts of additional savings in the app. Once you're in there, you have the game time picks, which will allow you to find the best seat in the house and they will find it for you.

There's also zone deals where you can save more by simply picking a section of the stadium or the arena, you want to sit and let GameTime do the rest of the work as far as your tickets are concerned. And you can check out what the view is going to look like before you make your decision, as well as get a low price guarantee. In fact, the lowest price guarantee where GameTime will credit you 110% of the difference if you find lower. Take the guesswork out of buying NFL tickets right now with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code P.H.N.X for $20 off your first purchased. Terms to apply.

Again, create an account and redeemed code P.H.N.X for $20 off. Tap, ticket, go, download the GameTime app today. Damon, what time is it? Game time, Derek. It's always game time. On this podcast. On this podcast. It's also December.

And you know what that means. It is this season for over $80 million in prizes over at the Arizona lottery. I can't tell you how much I love scratchers. I love giving scratchers. I like getting scratchers. They are the best gift this holiday season. Not only are they fun to play with their six festive designs that they have, but you could win up to $250,000 with cash countdown or, and you can win money with candy cane cash too.

Like that's cool, but it also smells like fresh peppermint. And I can't get over that fact. So it's delightful every time you scratch and they are made for gifting, whether it's a white elephant exchange, a stocking stuffer, or just because there's always a chance your little gift could be worth millions. Love the play and spread the holiday cheer with holiday scratchers from Arizona lottery. Play and gift today must be 21 or over to play. There is a brand new article over at MLB.com detailing which free agent that each team in Major League Baseball should add. This one is a little less, I guess, ambitious than Jeff Passens. Jeff Passon's article was more of a fantasy-driven one about if there were no restrictions based on contracts or anything else,

who would be a great fit for which team, he picked Pete Alonzo and we disagreed wholeheartedly. However, in this case, MLB.com today might have gotten it right because they chose Japanese third baseman Kazuma Okamoto to be the Diamondbacks pick for who they should land as the one free agent that could help this team the most. They cited that the Diamondbacks traded both of their corner infielders and Josh Naylor and Gino Svarez, coincidentally enough to the same team. And Arizona does have openings at both positions. They do have Jordan Lawler. They do have Blaise Alexander and both. of those guys could very well play third base, but as we discussed earlier, who is going to play first? And that answer could be a six-time NPB All-Star in Acomoto. Akamoto hit 248 home runs

in 11 seasons with Yomuri, including six straight 30 homer campaigns from 2018 to 2023. He's only 29 years old, but he has been playing baseball for a very long time, right-handed, corner infielder. He primarily played third base, but he also plays first. And over 11 seasons, he has slashed 277, 361, 521, with a 248 career home runs. Career slug, Damon, of 521. Give them to me. He led the Central League and home runs three times, including having a 41 home run season in 2020, and has been a league RBI leader twice.

In 2025, he was limited just to 69 games due to an elbow injury he experienced. However, he still hit in those 69 games a very nice 327 with 15 home runs and maintain strong on-base and slugging percentages. So he's just a guy that's shown a lot of defensive versatility in the infield. He can play both corner positions. And teams have noted that he plays first base exceptionally well. And overall just hasn't been asked to play that. Primarily he has been a third baseman due to how well he plays the position.

So he's got a power bat. He's got good contact numbers, multiple 30 plus home run season, even in a shortened season last year he at 327. He doesn't strike out much. He doesn't strike out nearly as much as other Japanese power hitters, showing better contact skills. Plus, again, that position flexibility has him able to play first, or third, depending on what the diamond backs need, right?

Like, he could potentially be the third basement of the future if they also add a Paul Goldschmidt. Or, I mean, it just adds for the, I guess, lineup flexibility for Tori Lavallo, who absolutely loves that. Tori loves a guy that can play multiple positions. Blaze Alexander showing he can play third in the outfield. You have Jordan Lawler who's shown that he can play multiple infield positions and, quite frankly, probably the other two, better than third base. And adding Akamoto could actually just increase that flexibility. and that, you know, that versatility. Everybody in the chat wants Baxter over at first base.

And let me tell you something. That is untapped potential right there. There's been, there's no reason why with all the injuries we had last year that someone didn't put a bat in Baxter's hands. Like that's crazy. Not only will Baxter hit for contact, but have you ever seen him on the base path? Incredibly speedy. So, but anyway, back to Acomoto.

still think he is a lower risk than some of the other options. Many of the other options at first base are older than 29 years old. You're not going to get somebody that's this young right now. And his contract might still be reasonable until he comes over here and proves himself. I don't know if the Diamondbacks would be able to sign him to a long-term deal right out of the gate or would want to. It most likely would take a multi-year deal in order to bring him over to a Major League Baseball team here. But again, there is still some risks there. on that elbow injury from last year that held him just to the 69 games.

But yeah, I mean, he, you always have the, is he going to work out in Major League Baseball question? I don't know. You know, you never know that, but I think we're tired of feeling that way, right? Like, I think we've gotten to the point where enough Japanese players have come over and dominated here that we're like, yep, they can play here. And I don't really think it's that much of a different game or that much harder. I mean, let's not forget the competition level in just.

Japan is very high, and that is a very popular sport in Japan, far more popular there than it is here. So he just is a guy that honestly could be that cheaper option, but still not cheap. That's still like a superstar, a superstar and a budget, if you will. So it provides, you know, again, a right-handed power bat to complement the existing lineup, especially third base, first base, DH. could be a short-term deal. Once again, he could want to come over here and kind of make a splash on a one-year or two-year deal. From that point of view,

that's exactly what the Diamondbacks, I'm sure, would be looking for as well. I think that the risk on a Major League Baseball team side is understandable there, especially, you know, coming off of that injury. And then maybe on his side as well, like he knows once he gets here and shows what he can do,

then he could sign a much bigger contract than if he signs a long-term deal now. before he kind of has a chance to debut in Major League Baseball. But regardless, it's something that the Diamondbacks absolutely should look into. And as Jason says, a budget superstar. That's so debacks. It's what we need. It's what we need.

I'm very good at finding deals. Okay. I found some amazing Black Friday deals. I know over at our website right now, you can get amazing Cyber Monday deals. If you haven't checked that out right now going on live, get this shirt, get amazing other shirts. But I am very, very good at finding deals. So if the Diamondbacks want me to help out on this one, I assure you I can help out. I go to, you know, I'm not going to say I go to questionable websites, but like, I mean, like, I'm not afraid.

I'm not afraid to use, you know, accounts that aren't my main debit card. It make long, long shop purchases, you know. What are you admitting to right now? I'm not alluding to anything. I'm just saying that I can find stuff for 90% off. This feels like this is going to be using a court of law. against you the way that you just laid that out. It feels like I'm implicating myself.

It's more of me saying that like I go to websites that most people wouldn't trust because the deal is too good to be true. But I swing for the fences. This is like the let's give this one a shot. It's like the key and peel skit, Derek, where they're like, he's like, I killed Darnell. And then he's like, is this not you saying this? And then he's like, it's an allegory or something. It's metaphor. Candice says, speaking of deals, the ballpark pass is live now. She is not wrong. $299.

One of the greatest deals in all of sports. I was just looking at it. Over at DeBax's website right now. So $300 ticket for the entire season. Let's go. Get there, defend the pool, hang out with us. And then I, if I'll, I shared it with, I'll tell you where the secret, uh, uh, clearance stand is on level 300. I've already said too much. told him what level it is on, Damon. But anyway, uh, all right. Well, we are going to take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, it is that time. It is Monday. I know it's Cyber Monday, but it's still a regular Monday. And you know what we do every Monday around here. So do not go anywhere. You are watching the pH next Diamondback show. Well, of course, we got to give a shout out to Circle K because Circle K powered me all weekend long. And I can't thank them enough. Did I stay

hydrated? Yes, kind of. Well, mostly thanks to Circle K. If it wasn't for them, I'd probably be dead in a Tempe Desert somewhere. But of course, that's only because Circle K is America's third stop. It is the place I stop to get giant bottles of water when I need to spend a long day in Tempe, drinking and watching football. It's also a great place to save because I know we have Black Friday deals going on. I know we have Cyber Monday deals going on, but you can get deals every single day as an Inner Circle Rewards member.

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by downloading the Circle K app today. Terms and conditions do apply. Visit CircleK.com right now for details. And of course, also, He La River Resorts and Casinos is the place to go for a staycation. It's a great time when your friends and family are in town to take them out for a nice night on the town.

It's also great to tell them to go stay at Heila River Resorts and Casinos instead of your house. And it's not rude to do that. You can explain to them that Heal River Resorts and Casinos will offer them an unprecedented level of entertainment that they just won't find at your place. Does your place have over 4,500 live slot games and live table games on the floor?

No, no. You guys don't even have a Nintendo Switch 2. So what are they doing? Let them go stay at Healer River Resorts and Casinos and then you have an excuse to go visit them. Have yourself a great night out on the town. Maybe go on Sunday to visit them. You can catch all the NFL action at the sports book and so much more. So you do you at Heeliver Resorts and Casinos and let them do them at Heeliver Resorts and Casinos and not at your house, right?

I think that's a great, great way to go this holiday season. It's not that I hate my family coming over. My place is small and I'm not clearing out my office for them to put an inflatable bed down. We're not doing that. Not doing that. Their backs deserve better. And I like my space. I like my space.

But Damon, you know what today is. And it is Cyber Monday, by the way. So if you haven't had a chance to check out all the deals that we have, got to go over to our shop. You can get there from go phnx.com. I think it's at the merch store there. You can save yourself up to 90% off on our Cyber Monday deal. They have a ball nowhere bonus right now, which will get you even more money. But most importantly, you guys got to listen up to our diehard sale.

If you are not a die hard and you want to become a diehard, today is probably the most important day in the history. of pHNX because it is Cyber Monday and we are running the biggest diehard deal we've ever offered and it's only available for two days. For this Cyber Monday 48 hour window, you can join as a diehard for an unbelievable 67% off. That means the entire year, you'll get it for just $26. And you will still get that, of course, premium content. You'll still get access to the diehards only Discord. You will get 20% off all merchant events,

and you will get that diehard welcome kit. And you will get, of course, free choice there from the merch store. If you've been watching the shows, reading the articles, hanging in the chats, this is the moment to go all in and join the community. But here's the deal. Again, this deal is here for only two days. When this Cyber Monday window closes, the $26 price closes with it.

We will not be offering this again. not sleep on it just go to go p hnx.com slash 26 or if you're watching live you can scan that QR code somewhere anywhere but two days 67% off just $26. Incredible. What a great deal Derek. I mean again it's a it's the perfect deal for the sports lover in your life for sure. And I mean as you said like it basically pays for itself. Look at me what $26 of the first year and you get a free piece of merchandise that is typically a value above $30. $3499, I believe, for the most part.

Man, I mean, if that's not worth it, I don't know what it is. I don't know what is. I don't know what is. And we want you to join. We want you to be part of the family. We love our family here. We appreciate so many of you guys, Candace, Jason, Deborah, all of you guys that are supporters, club members, all of you guys that are diehards.

We can't thank you enough. You know, we're getting here to the end of another year. And I'm going to start getting mushy and saying beautiful things about Damon and all of you. but it's only because we are only here because of the support of you guys. And that is something that we are very thankful for. We are very thankful to have been here as long as we have. And I know we've had a lot of ups and downs,

but we have definitely tried to do our best to continue to bring you guys an entertaining product about your favorite teams. And I'm thankful. No one's had more ups and downs than this podcast. No. What a roller coaster ride here. I mean, it really has been. We have seen some things. We have gone through some things.

But luckily we're here. We're still standing and hopefully the power of friendship is real. Oh man. Let me tell you we got we got really mushy on our Thanksgiving episode with Jesse here. It was so emotional 100% It's time to get a little emotional a little more emotional because we got not only a full bag of mailbag Monday questions, but I'm gonna I'm gonna cry when I have an unboxing of this thing that's behind me at the end of this show. So stay tuned for that but Damon let's get into it. You know what day it is. You know what we do around here. You know that every year, even a year like this with these ups and downs, it's still our year. Every year is the year of the snake. Every month on this show is Hispanic Heritage Month. Every week on this show is Shark Week. Every goddamn day on this show is Earth Day because we recycle. And every Monday, we go to the mailbag with our Grammy-nominated friend. Damon, let's go to the mailbag.

All right, what do we got in the mailbag today? Our first question comes from our friend Jarmie, Jason Armstrong, minor league players. Not on the 40-man roster are not protected by MLB Players Association, so the lockout wouldn't affect them. Could we see something like the replacements movement spring up in real life? Yeah, I would love that. More importantly, I would love it if it wasn't even minor league players. If they just started getting plumbers and dudes, you know, like something. of the world baseball classic teams, you know, they're just comprised of like regular old workers

to come in and now play baseball. But unfortunately, this will be a lockout and not a strike. And I think that there's a difference there. A lockout means that the owners are refusing to let the workers work, right? They don't have an agreement. And in this case, this particular labor dispute would be about the owners not letting anybody play baseball rather than the baseball players refusing to play. If it was a strike, then yeah, we could see that. And that's something that happened at one point. To this day, some players are forever banned from the Major League Baseball Players Association. I think Damien Miller, former Arizona Diamondback, is one of those guys. I could be wrong about that. I should probably research that before that comes out of my mouth. But I do remember there

was one Diamondback from those prominent teams in 2000 that was part of the banning from the Players Association because they crossed the picket lines back in when the strike was going on. And that's something that's like forever. So I doubt that anybody would ever want to jeopardize their future career over a labor dispute that most likely isn't going to last very long. At least that's the fingers crossed situation. Should there be a work stoppage in 2027, we hope that it's just a scare tactic. And, you know, that the millions of millions upon millions of dollars that these two sides are

both losing every single day by a work stoppage should bring, you know, maybe cooler heads will prevail, should bring the parties to the table. I mean, that's really the part of it. We'll see a work stoppage just to kind of pressure everybody into getting a deal done, right? But no baseball will be played. Nobody will be allowed out on the fields unless it's me and Corbyn Carroll sneaking in so that he can get batting practice. But I'll do whatever it takes to keep our goat fresh. I'm just telling you that right now. But no, I don't think we'll see a replacement situation, though I am on board with that. Damon, what else we got? Our next question here comes from Mays Devil, who wants to know, how do you feel about Brian Kaplan being retained? Because it was a pretty bipolar season in terms of

pitching. Also, FOTS regression was concerning. Mays Devil, you're totally right. There are so many things concerning about the pitching last year. And I think, unfortunately, it's easy to scapegoat the pitching coach. I don't know if you're even scapegoating the pitching coach, right? Like sometimes when all roads lead to one thing, then you typically start blaming that one thing, right? The major change here was that Brian Kaplan was the new pitching coach and the struggles weren't just Brandon fought. The struggles were across the board, you know, like Damon alluded to earlier with Zach Gallen, he had one of the worst first halves of his career. I mean, we did see him get things back on track and we don't credit Brian Kaplan for that.

We credit, you know, especially on this podcast, James McCann, far more for getting things back on track and other people. So I really don't know at times how much blame to put into the pitching coach. But I will say that we've discussed it many times over the last week about there being, there is a problem with pitching development when it comes to this team, 100%. For sure. And again, it doesn't seem like Brian Kaplan magically figured that out in his first season. as a pitching coach and it seems like if anything, things only got worse under his watch.

However, I don't know if the Diamondbacks blame him and see him as being the reason why things went so bad. It's also still relatively a small sample size in his career. And I think that they wanted to try their best to give him more time. I don't know what they saw that suggested otherwise. and I think that one of the biggest problems with the coaching staff from 2025 was the lack of experience, something that Tori Lavello talked about in hiring JR House, and it's something that was Tori Lovolo's decision last year to bring in guys like Kaplan and to bring in, you know, others that don't have the experience that, you know, you necessarily want as a coach on this team, guys that have never coached in those positions

officially at a major league level. And it's just kind of odd considering the wealth of knowledge that in the past, Tori has brought to his coaching staff with guys like, you know, Brent Strom and, you know, Jeff Bannister sitting there at his side. It definitely struck us as being weird when the hires were made. And, you know, it's definitely okay, I think, for people to question it, honestly. Like, so far it hasn't worked out. It also didn't work out in 2024 either.

the pitching was terrible in 2024. So I really am starting to just wonder how the Diamondbacks can get things back on track. And if that's even a possibility, I feel like it is, but perhaps a new pitching coach might be in order. We'll see. I think they're going to stick with Kaplan at least for this 2026 season unless things completely go off the rails with pitching. And then, you know, who knows? They might hopefully, if that's the case, they might be willing to pivot and make a move similar. to what they did last year.

Well, else we got there, Damon. Our next question here comes from Emily. And Emily wants to know what the ultimate feedback starting roster

would be from a lineup and rotation standpoint. And Derek, it's time to lock in. Emily, we need to talk. Mailbag Monday is typically not an entire episode's worth of content,

which you seem to love to give us. And we even made Emily's jersey situation into an entire segment and a half basically. But she's not wrong. I mean, you're not wrong. We got to lock in on this. I think pitching is easy, right?

Randy Johnson, Kurt Schilling, Brandon Webb. And then outside of that. Who are you next to? I mean, you have the two guys that just left. And I think Merrill Kelly or Zach Gallen are both excellent fits for. What about Zach Granke? Zach Granke has to be on there, right? What about Dan Heron?

What about Max Scher? Are we talking in their careers? Are we just talking about? as a diamond bag. So if that's the case, then I feel like it far more has to be. I mean, I still value Zach Granke's time here and I still think it was really important. I still think he's one of the best pitchers in history. But again, it's hard not to have Zach Gallen or Merrill Kelly there as the fifth guy. I'm with it. Zach Allen, Merrill Kelly as four and five there on the rotation. Let's just do Setup Man closer. I think Archie Bradley might be my my pick for Setup Man.

But Ziegler was also very good. Brad Ziegler. David Hernandez was also very good. Is there anybody else I'm missing? Are you talking about for setup, man? Yeah. Ginkle. In that in that 2023 run, Ginkle was literally the most electric reliever in the playoffs. Yeah.

was screaming at people coming off the mound. When I think about my, my, you're going Fernando Rodney. Fernando Rodney, baby. Derek, the only thing that scars me, I know that he got the job done. He's the only good closer we've ever had. I know he got the job done, but Fernando Rodney, the amount of times of the final out was on the warning track where David Peralta is camped in the, under the, in the left field warning track catching the final out of the game. And it's like, that's either game over for the other team or game over for us. It's neither in between.

I think 39 saves 39 saves 4.23 ER. I'm with Chris here. My boy Chris, number one D-Backs fan in Texas. I think J.J. Puts was the most dominant closer. And for my money,

for those like two seasons he had, he was unbelievable, man. Like, I felt like he was shut down every time he went out there. That's the most confidence I've ever had in a closer in Dback's history.

Yeah, J.J. Puts was really freaking good. He had two back-to-back 40 save seasons, did he not? I mean, dude, when you talk about his ERA. Yeah, 45 in 2011, 32 in 2012. 2.17 ERA in 2011, 2.82 ERA in 2012. So it wasn't his fault. The debacks were worse that season. 2.36 ERA in 2013. He had three consecutive seasons of having an ERA sub 2.9. And two of those seasons, sub 2.4. That's nuts. I think peak for peak, he's got to be number one. And we'll also mention Jose Valverde.

will also mention Young Hung Kim who, you know, despite his bad two, that's one postseason was really good actually. Fib was 2.54 and 2.38. Yeah, J.J. Puts. We're putting J.J. Putts. I think J.J. Puts had the best peak. But also Valverty, most saves ever. Young Hung Kim was really good. He just had an unfortunate, like,

like thing that everyone remembers for him for. Like, if you go look at his stats, you'd be pleasantly surprised. You'd be like, damn, that's one of the best relief pictures that DVACs have ever had. But yeah, I'm going, I'm going, I'm going JJ Putts. Number one D-Backs fan Texas is yelling at me too much.

So it's a warning. I'll kick you out like Killer X. I'll just suspend you. I'm just letting you know. I don't like all caps all the time. Okay. All right. I get it.

JJ Putts, incredible for two seasons for the Diamondbacks for sure. It's just, yeah, like you said, it's the team being bad around them at times, right? Like, closers need to, they need a good team to save games. Jose Valverdi, very good.

Young, Kim, very good. Bian, Jung Kim is a, I think he is basically a product of the World Series, and everybody, you know, everybody kind of remembering that over. Yeah, that's what I feel bad for and for. Because if you go look at his stats, he was actually pretty damn good. Oh, for sure. And you're like, shockingly good.

Yeah. And you're like, oh, all I remember is him giving up almost to Tino Martinez. Like, Derek Jeter, when the clock hits midnight, you know what? That's all that anyone remembers. So let's get over to position players. Yeah. Catcher, Miggie. Miggi?

Yeah, I would put Miguel Martero there. I know there's been some guys that have had at times better seasons. But once again, if you're talking about the body of work in his entire time here, I'd say Miggie. First base, obviously, Paul Goldschmidt. Yeah, absolutely. Right? Yeah. And Kattel at second?

Correct. Okay. Perdomo's the shortstop after last season. I'm not going to argue it. Well, it's like who all. is it Stephen Drew, Nick Ahmed, like get literally the hell out of my face. Seriously. What Perdomo did last this season, fourth in MVP voting, no?

Yeah, no, 100%. That's the best shortstop season in Vec's history, and he's now been the starting shortstop for four seasons, the better part of four seasons now. Third base. Third base is tough, actually. Third base is very tough. There's a lot of, like, players that have, like, Chad Tracy, Matt Williams,

but he's not at the tail end. Yeah, we've just never had a great. Gino? Baseman for a long time? This Gino first half was the best hitting first half we've ever seen out of a third basement, no doubt. Chad Tracy had one of the best batting averages in franchise history hitting 280 over the course of a season. But again, just one like just a brief glimmer in time, right? I don't know. That's it. That might be the toughest position to actually pick here. Yeah, because, okay, let's just skip third base for now. Outfield is Gonzo, obviously. Gonzo, Corbin. Corbin. and Steve Finley or Jay Pollock? I'm thinking Steve Finley or Justin Upton. See, even Chris Young had a career higher or higher career war. But it's not, and that longevity matters,

but Justin Upton, his peak on the Diamondbacks is one of the, you know, five best peaks in franchise history. Chris, Chris Young posted, I know, but Chris Young posted a 5.5 war season. I'm just saying he was one of our best defensive outfielders time. Derek, Uptown. Can we just, can we forget? both of them. They were best friends. They hung out all the time. They used to always duck us

media members. It's one of my fierce memories. David Peralta, arguably up there is like a, I mean, heart and soul kind of pick for this team. Great player. Great player. I don't think he's better than the guys that we've named. I think he's in the Chris Young tier. For me, it's, I think it's Steve Finley

or Justin Upton personally. I think it's got to be one of those two. And you can move Corbyn to center and put Upton and right, or you can have Finley and center and up and in Carroll and right. I, okay, I will be, let's do Steve, Steve Finley. Let's do Steve Finley. Okay, and then third base, we go in Matt Williams.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, because there's not, there's just not great options. You know what I mean? No, there isn't. Like I said, I'm pretty sure that. Eduardo Escobar said he would die for Tori. That's true. He did say that. That's still the greatest thing I've ever heard somebody say.

He did make, okay, so Matt Williams did play, you know, his final six years for the debacks, which is a long time. He made one All-Star game, which is, you know... More than any of the other third base. Pretty much. Jake Lamb made an All-Star game. He did. He got third an MVP voting in 1999.

That's pretty impressive. Let's do it. I think it's Matt Williams. And then the year the DeBacks won the World Series, even though he was 35 years old, he still hit 2.75 with a 780 OPS, 16 home runs, 65 RBI, hit fifth on the championship winning team. I think that Matt Williams is a fair answer for,

for third base for Dback. All right. And then D.H. J.D. Martinez. Who says now? Yeah, yeah, D.H. All right, cool. Just wanted to make sure we had a consensus on that.

What else we got? We got more questions. Nice, Emily. Thank you, Emily. What else we got, Damon? Our next question is from Ruggnar. And Ruggnar says, if a wood could, if a woodchuck could chuck would, how much would do you think a woodchuck would chuck at people who, A, jinx our favorite teams, and B, own multiple dogs, but favor

one of them above the other. Oh my God. He might be like directly associated with Derek. Derek absolutely plays favorites in his own house, not just with his animals. I think with his family members. He has a, yeah. Like it's all part of the same ranking. Like you would probably go like Cosmo 1, your daughter number two.

Like definitely not the cat. Definitely not the cat. The cat is last. entirely too much about my home life. The cat is last 100%. Oh, yeah. I do jinx our teams too, so it's both of those things, right?

Like, I tend to jinx our team. I jinx our team so much that Damon knows I will refuse to write a headline for a postgame show until the game is over. And you know how much pressure that puts us on to quickly scramble and put together a headline? But I'm not putting in their Dunnambags win another one and being the guy that's the reason why they lose it

because I've done that entirely too many times. And yes, number one D-Backs fan says the pug is the best. No, no, it's Cosmo. He's a French bulldog. He is by far the best animal in my house. He communicates through snorts. He's my best friend. He keeps me protected at all times.

That's his number one job is to make sure I'm protected at all times. But also, Zumis. The Cosmo wins because he's the best at Zumis. I can't explain it. He's just better than other dogs at Zumis. Look, I don't want to treat one dog better than the other. I don't want to favor one more than the other. But the reality of the situation is that sometimes one does deserve to be favored more than the others.

They earn that and that's just part of life, especially when you own three of them. Derek, my old high school football coach used to have this saying, and I've always liked it. I don't treat everybody equal, but I treat everybody fair. and his point was I'm going to treat Bejohn Robinson a little bit better than I'm going to treat Damon Farrell the backup wide receiver and I think that that's perfectly fair

going out and saying that in the first place is fair Cosmo earns it through his actions I'm going to let Cateo have a little time off around because he's earned it I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm letting him have it I don't care Catell take two extra days

off. All right. What else we got? Our next question here is from number one D-Bex fan in Texas. It says, what's the next thing? We get to die on Derek. And should we do it before the season? So we actually play better. I have empirical evidence. He's not wrong

about that. Like somehow me magically dying my hair somehow gives this team superpowers. It actually does. Jesse Friedman couldn't explain it. He is a man of science and Jesse couldn't explain it. But he also couldn't deny that it was true. Right? Like, Lordeus played like a different guy when I dyed my hair purple.

He wasn't even a part of that. That was a team thing. And yet, because I dyed my hair the same as his, just getting on board with the fun nature of Lordus's vibe. Next thing, you know, he's one of the greatest baseball players in the game. So I can't explain it. And no, we're not dying anything on Derek anymore. Those days are over. But I'm willing to offer up maybe a tattoo situation.

Wow. I'm willing to permanently mark my body forever. I mean, I don't lie, when I was in Puerto Rico and the idea of getting a little frog on my arm came up, I 100% was like, this is for you, Geraldo. Faragdomo. This is for you. So, yeah. Ernesto wants me to go stash, eyebrows, sideburns, no, no. We could do the Catelle eye slits again.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's still on the table. If Cotel's like the starting second basement in the All-Star game or something, we do the eye slits. Whatever we need to do. Just to ensure that Catell has a good season. I'll give them like Diamondbacks have a winning record to spring training and I'll do I can tell my splits. Whatever we have to do to get this team going.

Like Tori said, we can't wait. We can't dilly-dally. We have to have a sense of urgency. We got to get out strong out of the gate. All right. And Ryan's calling me Baja Blast Derek. He does not understand how much that name actually relates to my weekend in Tempe. You almost just threw up just reading that message across the screen.

So many Baja blasts to talk about Cantina were had. It's crazy. It's crazy for sure. Also, shout out to Corners Pasti for their $5 car bombs. Not to be missed. I know this isn't Friday and why I shouldn't be giving out free ads. Probably never on any day, but I'm still going to do it today. We got a lot to give out.

So what else we got, Damon? Our next question here comes from Hanley. And Hanley wants to know when is the best time to put up Christmas decorations, Derek. Also, how long do you leave the decorations up? Okay, this is a crazy thing to me because I, I, I, I have seen these frauds that go out the day after Halloween ends and on November 1st start putting up their Halloween decorations. Ridiculous.

I have never. It's ridiculous. I have never seen it. I've never seen it this behavior more. It's somehow become commonplace. And for some reason, people just want to railroad right over my Thanksgiving, right? My Thanksgiving, my Thanksgiving. Oh, it's just a dinner.

Who do you think you are? Oh, we don't need pie. We don't need pie? We don't eat desserts. We don't want. We're not even going to treat it like Thanksgiving. I don't even need you to eat turkey. Derek, this is why we do this podcast together.

Because we, this is a principle that I, frankly, I cannot live without. It's crazy. Like me and you have, being on the same page for this means everything. We slaughter how many turkeys for us to just not decorate in their honor? Well, we could, me and you could disagree on a lot. But at the end of the day, we're too. to principled men of American men of, of, of like, vigor and heart and in love for, for the holiday season.

Our culture. Our culture. Our culture. Our traditions. What do you? Oh, Thanksgiving doesn't matter. Inviting all your closest loved ones and having the, the biggest meal of the entire year. That, we're just going to skip right past that.

Oh, it's Christmas season. We're just going to skip past the later session when, when, when the adults that are midrange, not too old, not too young, get together. We have a little bit of brandy. Maybe we smoke a little bit of weed. I'm just supposed to not do that, David. I'm supposed to once again miss out on making a little turkey out of my hand, drawing it and then decorating it.

Here's the deal, Derek. You want to know when Thanksgiving ends and Christmas starts, when the Thanksgiving Day parade happens and Santa Claus comes out. Exactly. It's always been like that. That is when it's time. And this is, Derek, this is. Santa has the dignity to wait until the end of the parade.

I will be having this exact inflatable in front of my house when I buy property and you can believe that. Wait your turn, fat man. That will be in front of my yard. That's a fact. And guess what? And then guess what? It's Black Friday? Welcome to Christmas.

Welcome to Christmas. And keep it up throughout January. I don't give a crap, Derek. Here's the thing. You can keep it. Yeah, exactly. I don't care. Yeah, just like Taylor says, we can keep the Christmas lights up until January.

This is our house. We make the rules. But I don't care about when you take them down as long as you're complying with your HOA. I really don't. I take mine down after New Year's. That's when they come down. Fair. Usually it's right after New Year's.

But sometimes it might be a little before. It depends on when the weekend falls. I'm a busy guy. I have stuff going on. Not putting you, don't put it up after Halloween. Don't do that. It's sad. It's sad is what it is.

Oh, man. You're trying too hard. Are we not even going to watch trains, planes, and automobiles? Are we not going to do that? Do we not even watch Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving? I don't know. We're just going right to the Christmas special. No, we're not doing that.

It's not how it works. All right. What else we got? I love you, Derek. I've never loved you more. I'm so fired up now. This next question is from Rattlebacks, who says if Derek was Santa, who are the eight players on the snakes, that would be his reindeer.

Okay, so obviously, Geraldo Pardomo is Rudolph, right? There's no doubt about it. He's out there leading the way. I want James McCann the closest to the sled. No, 100% protecting me as Santa at all times. Well, also, he's going to have to lug a lot. Well, yeah, but you've seen, I think it's the red one. I don't remember it's called it.

It's the movie on Netflix. It just came out recently. Like, I need James McCann as like the Secret Service reindeer, right? Like the one that has like an earpiece in and he's making sure that I'm protected at all times. Yeah. But yes, he's definitely one of the eight. We have two of the eight. We have six more slots to fill.

Um, Corbin is there. Corbin is there and he's right next to Haldor Podomo for speed for pacing, uh, to let the other Rangers not start slacking. He needs to pull them a little bit, you know, along the way, right? And again, Catell, Catell not on my reindeer list. No, I don't want Catell there. I love Cotel. I've seen Cotel run when he walks and I've seen Cotel run when he gets a hit.

It's going to basically be like having seven reindeer. Catell can tell that he doesn't have to do anything. Right. She's going to be like, all right, whatever, I'm doing my thing. So, okay, we have Rolto Pardoma out front, and we have to have Corby flanked by Gabby, by the way, right? Obviously, Corby and Gabby and Gabby has a toothache. Oof, don't do that to me. Corby and Gabby, Gabby's out there.

Gabby's trying, okay? Alec Thomas is out there, too. Alec Thomas, he might be pulling harder than some of the other reindeer, and then other times he might just be softly grounding out to the right side. but um alec is out there i definitely need ryan nelson out there if i don't have ryan nelson out there what are we even doing see you know what like herald a perdoma absolutely has to be rudolph because he's the captain but like i paven smith with that red hair also could be leading the charge like i did i don't think pavit made the cut one foggy one foggy christmas eat here what are you

going to see oh my god it's payman smith's hair in the front that's true uh that's true um blaze would be a See, Blaze is going to bring the holiday spirit every single day of the week. We'll see, okay, like my personal, my personal, like, core, obviously that protects me and loves me is Ryan Thompson, Blaze Alexander, and James McCann. Right. That's the three, like, Secret Service reindeer. Then the other five have to be built for speed. And Blaze definitely is for speed, but there's a love factor there. And Blaze sounds like a reindeer name.

Oh, yeah, I'm not even changing that. Yeah, that's Blaze. Blazin. You know, like instead of blitz and it's blazing. Yeah, it's easy. But you also have, okay, so we have Raldo, Corby, Alec, we need one more. We need one more.

And that one more, Tori LaBolo. Wow. Yeah. Yep. That's for you, Killer X. I want to make sure that when we stopped by Killer X's house, Tori is with us. Actually, it would really be Jeff Bannister.

That's the real answer. Jeff Bannister is the real dog in the fight for sure. Let's name other people as things I think we got another question That's just like this one what do we got? Oh sorry this is our last question Our next question here is also from Rattlebacks And he wants to know would Yukon Cornelius be a good fit

For manager of the debacks Derek Okay so Yukon Cornelius Obviously Legend Legend in the game He's benign, right? Like I think he you know He ends up helping

Rudolph and Hermie, I think he'd be a good fit for manager. Once again, this is why so many people wanted a change of manager, right? They want a different outlook. They want somebody who's, you know, again, maybe in it for himself a little bit for the success, but also going to help others make better, maybe learn a lesson in the end. But yeah, no, I think Cornelius would make a fine, at least bench coach, third base coach, right? We don't have to, we don't have to, we don't have to replace toy lobollo just yet sorry what's his baseball acumen though that's what i'm wondering yeah yeah um like is that dude does he know ball he carries a pickaxe uh-huh so he understands the swing swing mechanism uh-huh right like obviously like he's a pro in the game but jo mather is

is him yeah no that's for sure jo mather hand joe mather the keys to the organization that dude turns you know everyone into gold he also um did not appear in any of the subsequent Rudolph the reindeer Christmas specials. He was not in shiny New Year. He was also not in Rudolph and Fosty's Christmas in July. So it makes me believe that they were just kind of unsatisfied with his performance overall.

So, I mean, again, do we want to go with a manager that has that kind of track record of not showing up? Or it at least lets you believe, Derek, that it's like, hmm, is he really, like, is he integral to the process if he's not going to be at the show up for the other movies? It's his love of gold, though.

It feels like a role player. Feels like a role player. Yeah, he wants the ring. Yeah, right? So I don't know. I'm conflicted, but it's a stupid question anyway. I appreciate you for it. And I appreciate how long we were able to give you an answer for.

What else we got? Our last question is from Stephen Vice, Derek. And it's the moment you've been waiting for all podcasts. What would your wrestling comps be for current Diamondbacks players? I want to know about the Corby, Pardons, Pardombo, Gabby, Lordis. But if you want to use all-time players, that would be fun too, Tony Wilmer. etc. Now Derek, I know that you've been chomping at the bit here. I'm just going to log off for the day. Yeah, no. You can finish out the episode. Damon, just hit the record button or whatever it is you do back

there. And then you can take a powder because I'll go ahead and handle this. Let's start off with Corbyn Carroll, right? Babyface, leader, fresh young guy. He is obviously Ray Mysterio Jr.'s son, Dominic Mysterio. Dominic Mysterio is the hottest wrestler on the planet right now. He has won the AAA Heavyweight Championship, B. John Cena the other day for the Intercontinental Championship. Dom Mysterio. Dom Mysterio is the man.

And so he would be Corby. Cotel Marte, he gets the seat at the head of the table. Cotel Marte is my tribal chief. Cotel Marte is Roman Reins. Then moving around, let's see, the diamond. Should we go to Perdomo next? Perdomo was difficult. Perdomo was a captain. Perdomo's a leader. Right? I was thinking Cody Rhodes, aka the quarterback of the WWE. But no, no, no. No. No, because Roldo Perdomo was more than just a quarterback.

He is a leader. He is a revolutionary. He is a visionary. He is Seth freaking Rollins. That's Perdomo. Uh, Blaze meanwhile, very much Cody Rhodes. Blaze and Cody Rhodes, I've been, uh, uh, lucky enough to be in the same room with both of these guys several times. Uh, and yes, I'm going to give Blaze Alexander the, uh, the, I mean, he might not, that's a lot. That's a lot of pressure to handle being called the Cody Rhodes of, of the debacks, but that's where I'm going with. Uh, Gabrielle Moreno, Pentagon Jr. Setto meido. I feel like that's self-explanatory, though. I don't know if I need to get into that.

Gabby's a showman. He also will eviscerate you on the mic in a promo. So I'm giving him Pentagon. Alec Thomas. Yee. Jay Uso. And that would obviously make Jake McCarthy Jimmy Uso. No offense to you, Jake McCarthy.

My apologies. Corbin Burns was an interesting one here. So I'm doing CM Punk. Is what I'm doing. Oh, and cool bros. said no AEW wrestlers Derek. I went in on WWE route and that's for a very specific reason.

Tonight, WWE is in town. WWE is at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale and they're filming an episode of RAW which I will be in attendance with my guy Megarin, aka the creator of the New Day's theme song and Grammy nominated artist.

So that's going to be exciting. So I went with WWE comps on this one. Corbin Burns, CN Punk. Same type of Best in the World Energy. Same type of old man get off my lawn energy for a guy that's entirely too young to have that form of energy. And again, two of the greats, two of the goats, right? Last but not least, Brandon Fott. This one was interesting for me.

I went with Drew McIntyre, right? Just kind of underrated, like smoldering a little bit, like ready to attack at any time. Also, explain Drew McIntyre's character to someone. I mean, besides saying Scottish guy, I'm sure most of you would have. have a hard time saying exactly what he is. Number one D-Backs fan, you're absolutely right. I can't believe I forgot James McCann. James McCann definitely has Ultimate Warrior energy,

but I don't really am not a fan of Ultimate Warrior anymore, so I don't want to put that on James McCann. I'm going to give James McCann brawn breaker. Yeah, James McCann is Braunbreaker. I know that's kind of a younger guy thing, but I don't care. Maybe Goldberg, but I don't like Goldberg either. And neither does Brett Hart. And he never will.

Don't forget that. All right. Well, now is the moment that you guys have all been waiting for because, as I alluded to, there's a very special unboxing that is about to take place. And this is an honor of this question. It's an honor of WWE being in town last night. For those of you that have followed my journey on social media, you know that I have coveted an item in the Arizona Diamondbacks team shop for close to two years now.

that item was when the WWE. It's all he talks about. It's all he talks about. It came out with championship belts honoring every team across Major League Baseball. They made ones for football. They made ones for basketball. They made ones for everyone. Well, I told you guys time and time again that she will be mine.

And as I've told you, I don't lie when I say these things. So when I say she will be mine. I meant every goddamn word of it when I said she will be mine. Look at this bag that it comes in, Damon. That's insane. This is crazy. This is just the bag it comes in. When I say she will be mine, I mean every damn word of it.

And Damon, today is that day where she is in fact. Wow, that bag is special, actually. Everything about this moment is special. and I needed to make sure that I shared it with everybody here. I don't even care about this other crap. I'm just ripping right to the-a-smar. To get to the gorgeousness that is underneath here. My God, look at it, Damon.

And no, heavyweight champion of the world. Oh, my God. Derek, the mayor, Montia. Now that all of my life's goals have been achieved, Damon, What do I even do anymore? No, it's all downhill from here, Derek. This is all that I've ever wanted in life. This is all I've ever wanted in life.

This right here, and it's here, and it's mine, and it's glorious. Derek, I heard this was your walkout music for your, when you walk out with the bell. And then the crowd, the pop is crazy. The pop is crazy. You do a little dance and the pop is insane. Roman range pop. Yeah, it's, it's. It's the rock level.

It's perfect. You 100% are going to see me carrying this around an arena tonight. So if you are at Rob, make sure it'll keep an eye out for me. But hey, Coolbro says he's cashing in his money in the bank. Find me. And if I see you with a referee, it's on. It is on, cool, bro.

I just needed you to know that. But the rest of you that don't want to challenge me for this belt, I salute you. That's all we got today. Thank you guys so much for stopping by. We'll be back tomorrow with another 12 p.m. show, so make sure to join us for that. In the meantime, you follow us on Twitter. I am at cap underscore Kman with a K.

Damon is at Damon Dog with a D-A-W-G. We're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark, bark. Our show is at P-H-N-X underscore D-Backs, but as always, all roads lead to at P-N-X underscore Sports. We love you guys. We appreciate your time. And if any of you gibronies want to catch these hands, bring it. Don't sing it.

Bring it. But again, love you guys, the rest of you, the non-Gromon. and he's love the rest of you. You jerone's catch you guys later at the show. Of course, we'll see all of you guys back here tomorrow at 12 p.m. noon. But until then, we hope you guys have a wonderful evening. Get all of your Cyber Monday shopping done, including getting down a diehard deal,

as well as our Cyber Monday deals over at our shop. And then, of course, come back here tomorrow. Until then, have a wonderful evening. We love you guys. Remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you're the heavyweight champion of the world.