PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - D-backs MUST Make Bringing Merrill Kelly Back to Arizona Their TOP Offseason Priority

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4The World Series is tied 1-1, and the showdown between the Dodgers and Blue Jays has lived up to the hype! We break down everything from Games 1 and 2 and give you a full preview of Game 3 as the series heads back to Los Angeles. Plus, we dive into why bringing Merrill Kelly back to the Valley makes perfect sense and should be the Diamondbacks’ top offseason priority. And of course, we answer your Mailbag Monday questions!An 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=allcityShowNotesCrown Royal: Visit crownroyal.com/PurpleBagProject to learn more!Chicken 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, the World Series is tied at one game apiece, and it has been as advertised up to this point. Can our Blue Jays take the advantage back here in Game 3 in Los Angeles? Also, we are talking about Merrill Kelly being the perfect fit to replace Merrill Kelly. Yep, that's pretty much what we're coming up with. We're talking about that in 30 seconds. Don't you go anywhere. Happy Monday to you all.

Welcome in to another edition of the P.HNX Diamondbacks podcast live from Studio K. Presented by our friends at Circle K. It is I, Derek Montaia, your mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as that, I guess. This guy's occasionally known as the top dog around here. It is Damon Farrell, aka Damon Dog, on the ones and twos today. And great to have you guys here for another edition

of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast. This show is brought to you by our friends over at Bet365 and GameTime. Make sure to use our code of PHNX365. When you sign up over there, you'll get yourself some bonus bets for following a few easy steps over at game time. Use our code of PHNX and you'll get $20 off your first ticket purchase on those already low last minute ticket deals here. Great to have you guys here. Michael, Debra, Zabe, great to have you guys here. Of course, Leah is here monitoring all of our Toronto Blue Jays talk.

She wants to make sure that at all times we are doing right by her team. And her team did right by us in game one. I said, the World Series right now stands at one game apiece and has been as advertised. Both teams have been the exact things we thought they were going to be in the World Series. Of course, the Toronto Blue Jays took a one game lead in game one, using their potent offense in a huge sixth inning that basically won that game for them. And then in game two, Yoshin Abu Yamamoto was incredible. Lights out.

Complete game. Second of the postseason. And he continues to be a problem for everybody that is not. wearing a Dodgers uniform. But again, this has just been a very epic, very, very epic series so far. And like I said, both teams have lived up to the hype. Also, happy sports equinox day to you all out there. It's the 32nd time in history that the big four sports all play on the same day. We got at Monday night football tonight. We got 11 regular season NBA games, two regular season NHL games and of course game three of the World Series happening tonight. Damon, is this the best

possible day on planet earth like ever it is if you have bet 365 app downloaded that's for sure that's for sure that's the way i see it absolutely absolutely also it works out pretty well when you have four tvs and some comfortable chairs to lounge in in your in your viewing area but uh we will be keeping an eye obviously on game three game one was a lot of fun uh i was actually out watching a pro wrestling event as you know i do and then i came to a bar to watch uh game one and i got to watch it next to to a lovely couple from Canada. And the four of us together were just lighting up the bar with our cheers over what the Toronto Blue Jays were able to do over the Dodgers there in game one. Absolutely dominating the Dodgers once again with their offense.

And that one, Blue Jays won by a score of 11 to 4. They jumped all over Blake Snell. He gives up five runs and five innings. He ends up going five innings pitch, giving up eight hits, five earned runs, three walks, and four. right-outs, a little spying on her ex-action. Dalton Varsho got the party started there for the Toronto Blue Jays when they were down two to nothing in that game. He hit a two-run shot in the fourth inning to tie it up at two.

And per our boys over at the Cespitus family barbecue, it was the first home run allowed by Blake Snell since Blaze Alexander hit one off of him, took him deep on August 29th. And yeah, Blaze, Blaze had something to say about that. Not much to say. Just kind of the perfect emoji response, the most perfect response that you could make in regards to being the last guy to take Blake Snell deep. But yeah, great, great response there. Great twittering there by Blaze. And great game plan execution there by the Toronto Blue Jays.

They knew what they had to do. They understood the assignment. They knew that they had to get to the Dodgers bullpen and they had to jump all over Blake Snell to at least get to that bullpen as early as they could. And they did there in the sixth inning. the Dodgers bullpen, including Snell and the relievers, allowed a nine-run sixth inning to the Blue Jays. The game was tied to two-two entering that inning, and they blew it completely open.

The nine-run inning in a World Series was the most productive inning in a World Series game since 1968. And, yeah, it exposed all the vulnerabilities here of the Dodgers' bullpen, their pitching staff, everything that you thought it could be. The Blue Jays sent six straight batters to, base and they had that historic moment where Addison Barger hit pinch hit for Davis

Schneider and launched the first pinch hit Grand Slam in World Series history. And we were screaming at the top of our lungs in the bar at that moment. That was for sure. Shots all around and give me some fine Canadian whiskey while we're at it. But after the Grand Slam, Alejandro Kirk followed it up with a two-run homer of his own, a few batters later. And that just again completely opened the game up there for. for the Blue Jays.

And again, the bullpins definitely held from there. Blue Jays bullpen did a much better job. And they made a statement by jumping out here to a one game lead in game one. It's weird, though, because the Dodgers are just such heavy favorites in this series that the Toronto Blue Jays being the favorite record-wise, at least, being the, you know, one with home field advantage, they, it was like a shock to the world that, they could come out and win game one of this series, right? And again, uh, the big part of it is Blake Snell being a part of this and, and what Blake Snell, uh, has done so far in the series.

Them putting up five earned runs against Blake Snell and five innings was kind of unheard of. Game two, Yoshinovue Yamamoto, he was as he has been. There was no getting the Yamamoto. He threw a complete game, nine innings, four hits allowed, one run, eight strikeouts, zero walks. Yamamoto retired the last 20 batters he faced. He was dominant. And it's even more frustrating to see something like this when you're rooting for the team one because you feel like they're late as his pitch count was going up and as they got to see him through the rotation more and more times, you just felt like, well, this has to be the at bat. This has to be the at bat. And that at bat never seemed to come for the Blue Jays in that game. Yamamoto became the first pitcher

since Kurt Schilling did it for the Arizona Diamondbacks back in 2001 to throw back-to-back complete games in the postseason. And LA's defense was good, solid, sharp. They did not give up the runs. They did not make the mistakes that they made there in the sixth inning of game one. And L.A., still not a super explosive output there offensively, but they were able to put up some runs and win that game by a score of 5 to 1. They got on the board in the first inning with a Freddie Freeman.

and double that scored, who then scored on a Will Smith single. And Will Smith, again, back in the lineup for this team after that hiatus, after he missed some time, he has been fairly unstoppable. He hit the decisive home run there in the seventh inning, solo home run to lead off the inning that gave the Dodgers the lead. A couple batters later, Max Muncie also hit a solo home run putting L.A. up three to one. They would add two more runs in the eighth inning, including on a wild pitch for a run, but still not quite the offensive explosion.

that we saw from the Toronto Blue Jays. So like the Dodgers offense still like feels like it's just getting by and in order for them to win these games, they need outings like they got out of Yamamoto. And that quite frankly can't be expected. Like what Yamamoto is doing is historic and amazing. And they might get it out of him every time he comes out. But are you going to get that out of Tyler Glass now in game three?

I'm doubtful of that. And I think this Blue Jays team is most likely going to try their best to make sure that they get once again to the day. Dodgers bullpen as soon as they possibly can. And honestly, I think that what the Dodgers showed, as much as we hate them on this podcast and as much as people were dunking on us for them being on our daddy on the last episode, which, all right, guilty is charged. But I will say that they recovered from a devastating loss from just a demoralizing blowout

loss in game one better than you could have ever expected. You know what I mean? Especially Yamamoto. he went out there and was nails. He, as an ace, is incredible. And his ceiling right now is, you can't see a ceiling. There is no ceiling for Yamamoto. He's just been everything the Dodgers could have hoped for and more,

and it feels like in the postseason, and when the Dodgers needed him, especially during the regular season late in the year, he has been as good as he's ever been. So, again, the offense, it's going to be important, especially in games, Yamamoto pitches, because there's not going to be, much of it. And really the Blue Jays, once again, they can only hope to outlast Yamamoto,

not necessarily beat him and see if they can get to this Dodgers bullpen. That still is questionable at best when it comes to this Blue Jays lineup. But now we get to see how Toronto handles that adversity. Now that things flip around on them in game three, they do kind of lose, I mean, kind of, they lose home field advantage here now with the loss in game two. Now that it's 1-1, it reverses course back to Los Angeles for three games. And we will see what. what Mad Max Scherzer can do. It brings his veteran experience, right? Big game experience.

You talk about the Dodgers having obviously much more experience in this situation and this big high-leverage situation, but Mad Max could be out. This could be the revenge game for Mad Max. There's a lot of people in the Dodgers world that have been calling him one of the Dodgers' biggest disappointments as a pitcher. Is that fair to say, Damon?

I mean, is that just like he was so good when he came to the Dodgers that it's hard for him not to be after he left the Tigers, I mean, or is it just once again, Dodgers wanting everything to always work out for them? Who are we talking about? Yeah, I know what we were talking about. I know.

I know. I know. I probably bring it up to you. I'm just saying baseball. Do you want to talk about football from this weekend? Because I don't think I don't really want to do that either. The dolphins are back. Yeah, okay.

Yeah. Wow. Max Scherzer might be washed. A little Scherzer ball. A little Scherzer ball. I mean, I mean, I honestly, like, that's one of those things where it's like it feels like Scherzer still is a little bit left in the tank, but you're hoping that you just get like vintage Max Scher, you know, type of just vibes, vibe start, you know? Yeah. Why not? Yeah, it would be great. It'd be great and love to see a revenge game for him. Mad Max. And again, screaming at people. I don't think that they're going to get what they got out of Yamamoto out of glass now for sure. So I hope that bullpen is ready to do some duty tonight. I also don't know. I don't know.

Like when I watch the Toronto game one and two in Toronto, I do feel like that is an actual home field advantage. I don't know if I consider Dodgers Stadium to be. I mean, they can get loud. They're good. They can be good fans when you're talking about the seventh, eighth, and ninth inning. But what about those first six innings?

It's tough with Dodgers fans, because I think that there are like a group of Dodgers fans that do go to games that are, like such great fans. Yeah, we've talked about it. Like some of the best in baseball, right? The outfield,

yeah. But the behind-home play fans. Between third base and first base and lower level, basically. Are, yeah, it's not that exceptional. So I, I could see it getting loud.

I think that it'll probably, I mean, it'll definitely be sold out. Like, it gets loud in there at the end of games when things are going well for them. But, uh, yeah,

I do think that the Blue Js like from start to finish probably is a slightly advantage in the home field advantage to part of it. For sure. For sure. Katie May says those Blue Jays fans were a whole other breed. They absolutely are. They're also wonderful fans, by the way. They definitely stop by and show their support around here.

But you got offensive players, Vladimir Greer Jr. on what he can do. He's been hot in the postseason and has that history versus Glass Now. And then you got Freddie Freeman and also that guy, Shohei Otani. By the way, speaking of Toronto, Blue Jays fans, Damon, during game one, the Toronto Blue Jays fans, Boogh Shohay Otani, obviously not forgetting what happened.

And the crowd at the Rogers Center there had possibly the most polite chant ever, which was simply, we don't need you. Thoughts on we don't need you as a chant? I think we don't need you as a chant is not the best, but also game one. Psychologically damning.

Game one of the World Series, it's a little, that's a little, I think it's a little premature victory. lap. Yeah, it's a little early for that. I mean, what if Otani just takes over the last? Yeah. We don't want to acknowledge it. What if he takes over and the Dodgers win and then it's like, yeah, actually seems like we kind of did need him. Yeah. You know, I, I, I, I, I, game one was electric though. Yeah. I had a great time. It was electric. I don't want to talk about

game too. Let's not. Yeah, let's not. I know. I can tell that you were getting a little sick of, like Hillarex is getting us a little sick of my glazing of the Dodgers. I said, he says. Well, hopefully game three, that's not the case. And again, Toronto's going to need their offense to step up once again. And, you know, I don't know what to expect out of Max Scherzer, but I feel like... Who do the Dodgers have on the mound? Tyler Glass now. Yeah. I mean, listen, anytime that you hear the Dodgers starting pitching matchup, you're not going to feel good about it because they have a superstar. They have $1.3 billion invested into their starting pitching rotation right now, Derek.

I'm not sure that that's something that really anybody can compete with. So, yeah, I mean, I think the Blue Jays just need to sustain it, keep it close, and then take advantage of the bullpen. That's it. That's it. They attacked the bullpen in game one, and, you know, both teams have to try to extend their starters and make it as long as possible, but you just believe a little bit more in the Blue Jays bullpen right now. Meanwhile, again, as much as I say that the Dodgers don't have a home field advantage there,

at Dodgers Stadium. and they were 57 and 30 at home during the season. So they've been able to take care of business there. And again, I don't love the Toronto Blue Jays' chance, you know, being, being, this series being tied and going back to L.A. I do think, though, that, again, that you got to tip your cap to Yamamoto and what he was able to do, and you just got to think there's no way that they're going to get that out of the rest of their starting pitchers.

And that's what they're going to need in order for them to not be susceptible to the Blue Jays lineup, especially late in the game, right? Boba Chet back in the lineup today. He was fairly cold, kind of had a feeling like that was going to be the case. Baseball is just such a hard sport to come back from and be swinging a hot bat, but... It takes one moment, though, right? It really does. You know, Boba Chet up with, you know, bases loaded in two outs and he gets a knock.

Like, that's all it takes, and everyone will... It'll flip the script completely. Everyone will be like, you don't want to face Boba Chet in a big moment. Yeah, I mean, they believe in him, obviously. They're putting him in a... big spot in their lineup. So, I mean, there's no reason why. And again, that lineup is really good, but he was a big part of it during the regular season.

So, of course, if he can get hot, you feel like that's, once again, a big advantage there for the Toronto Blue Jays. But overall, I don't like, I love a day like this. This is such a great day for sports and to have it kind of capped off here with Monday night football and game through the World Series, I feel like it's going to be an incredible day. So. Rishi Rice, baby. It means everything. I got decimated by Johnny Venerable in football this week, and I'm okay with it because my team suddenly is garbage, but...

I don't even want to talk about it. Quentin, I don't even get it. Derek, I might be going to Waffle House. Two players put up zero points. I might be going to Waffle House. Two players put up zero points, David. Derek, I don't want to talk about... Two players.

I don't want to talk about... And neither one of them got injured. your team is fine you have no concern my team is in shambles every week I have two guys that play good and everybody else plays like crap meanwhile Noah's team is 95%

Detroit Lions players and somehow he keeps getting away with winning games I don't get it I don't get it make it make sense Baker put up four points for me this week Oh that makes me sick That makes me sick well Somehow this has become the PHNX fantasy football podcast But we're going to take a quick break, try to get things back on track.

And we are going to talk about probably the biggest, most important signing the Diamondbacks could make this off season. And no, it's not the best available free agent pitcher out there. It's Merrill the mainstay. We got to talk about why bringing him back makes all the sense for this team and why, even though it might be lazy show preparation on my behalf, it does make the most cost effective sense for the debacks as far as what they can do for their starting rotation. for next year. So, of course, don't go anywhere. We're going to take a quick break. You're watching the PH&X Diamond Back Show. Well, Desert Financial Credit Union, of course, is for every Arizona sports fan out there. There's no better place to do your banking than Desert Financial Credit

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make additions to the arena. Got to make additions to that arena for sure. And you also got to come out to watch some sports with us, by the way. Heal River Resorts and Casinos. No one does it better. We'll be out there having our watch parties out there. We're going to have our wave watch parties for the Cardinals out there.

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It's like speaking about food, which they also have a great selection of food out there. You need to go get me a fat burger. But I'll tell you this, Damon. I know that this is probably shooting fish in a barrel. I know this is probably addressing something that everybody already knows. Much like when we did our episode on Friday and told you all the reasons why you as a debacked fan should be rooting out. against the Dodgers, this one's a no-brainer. The Arizona Diamondbacks absolutely should make bringing Merrill Kelly

back to the valley a priority this offseason. And there's a number of reasons why, but the biggest of the reasons why is because Merrill Kelly was already at times one of the Diamondbacks aces on this staff. In fact, sometimes he pitched like the ace of this staff and was consistently one of the best members of the pitching staff. He also was durable in his time here. missed some time last season, obviously with the injury. But for the most part, Merrill Kelly,

including this season, has given the Diamondbacks 32 starts three times in his career. And quite frankly, he's just a guy that they could count on. And again, we'll give you all the reasons why it makes sense. But Merrill Kelly is a guy that had an outstanding career with the team like here in the valley. And he wants to be here. He's a valley guy. So there's a personal connection and there's Valley connections to bringing Merrill back. That's not something necessarily that you get out of everybody. And I think we've kind of discussed some of the available free agent options that the Diamondbacks do have to pursue that do have a connection back here to the Valley so far.

We talked about Cody Bellinger, who grew up here and went to high school here. We obviously talked about bringing Paul Goldschmidt back to this team. But bringing Merrill kind of checks a lot of boxes, including every one of those sentimental ones you could talk about those two guys about. I know he just left for a short period of time and has not been a diving back for two seasons during the, or two months during the regular season. But bringing him back, I mean, instantly is, I think something that is endearing to the fans more so than any free agent option that was out there. And honestly, Merrill Kelly went to the Texas Rangers and didn't have himself necessarily a stellar, you know, few months over there. And that's for sure, right?

So it's not like Merrill Kelly's value is insanely high, and he's going to cost the Diamondbacks nearly as much as most starting pitchers are going to cost. Plus, again, much like what happened luckily with Corbyn Burns, you just get the feeling that Merrill would like to come back to the Valley. It sounds like he's had that conversation with Mike Hazen. So for all intents and purposes, this makes all the sense as to why, you know, this is this reunion. It should happen, right? But let's take a look at his numbers here from 2025. Merrill Kelly, like I said, with the Diamondbacks, once again, one of their most reliable starters.

With the Diamondbacks? Excuse me? Do you want to look at his numbers with the Diamondbacks? Yeah, let's look at his numbers with the Diamondbacks first. Let's take a look. He had a stellar season for the Diamondbacks once again. 128 two-thirds innings pitched, 3.22 ERA, a 3.58 FIP. He had a 3.18 strikeout to walk ratio, and he posted a 2.9 baseball route.

War, baseball reference war. But Killer X, again, dressing the cramping situation, I feel like that might be on Merrill Kelly, also might be on the air conditioning tech that might be needed. In fact, another team, the Los Angeles Angels just had this whole situation where they were asked about their air conditioning not working properly, and after they were kind of grilled on it during, I believe it was Kurt Suzuki's press conference, they went on to post a job listing for an air conditioning tech for that stadium.

So maybe we need to work a little bit more on the air conditioning to help Merrill out a bit with those cramps. Maybe it is a bit more on Merrill. But obviously, like I said, a 3.52 ERA there, 3.76 FIP. Let's take a look here. Obviously, his numbers with the Texas Rangers, not nearly as good. Didn't have himself nearly as fun of a time there in 55 and a third innings pitch. He posted a 4.23 ERA, 4.18 FIP at a 4.6 strikeout to walk ratio. so that was improved, but here with the B-WR minus 0.1 V-WR.

And really, Derek, I was looking into why that K-to-walk ratio looked improved, and it's because he was not walking guys, really, at all in Texas. And I was wondering if that actually maybe had something to do with his struggles. Like, if he was maybe like way more in the zone than he was in Arizona, and if that was kind of part of the reason why he was just getting hit a little bit harder is because he was not really on the edges of the zone, like he had been for the Diamondbacks. That's a great point.

And also, I mean, we've talked about the Diamondbacks pitchers, the pitching staff as a whole, kind of like nibbling in the first half of the year. And maybe just with his command and such, maybe the nibbling worked a little bit better for Merrill, but still, like you said, walking guys, but not giving up nearly as many runs. And again, this is a much bigger sample size

here with the Arizona Diamondbacks than the starts that he had there with the Texas Rangers, but I think going beyond just the 2025 numbers, Damon, Merrill Kelly was the most reliable postseason pitcher the Diamondbacks have had since there were a couple of guys named Kurt Schilling and Randy Johnson wearing the jerseys. 2.25 ERA in 24 innings pitched in the 2023 postseason that he was dominant there in the NLCS and World Series. And I mean, he just really proved once again when you were talking about a guy like Yamamoto who got better when the spotlight Spotlight was brighter.

Merrill Kelly was, in fact, that for this team. Yeah. No, I mean, he's been the mainstay for a reason, Derek. And probably the best move of the entire Mike Hazen era, right? Yeah, bringing him back here from Korea and signing him. Absolutely. And what he's become as a pitcher. So I think that from that standpoint, it's probably a little bit extra personal for Mike Hazen and Tori Lovolo. For sure.

Like the fact that this guy has been such a reclamation project for them and like an epitome of what they want players to, to do when they come into the organization, work hard and act like, you know, they have the ability to carve out this kind of role for themselves. So yeah, I mean, listen, I, Merrill Kelly had a disastrous end of the year. You know, me and Derek are not pitching coaches. We don't know the science behind it. Then there's really so much that goes into it these days. Like, I'm sure the Diamondbacks have as good of an idea as anybody as to why he struggled in Texas

versus why he was doing well in the first half in Arizona. But if they believe that he used to be trusted that that was not that was like a little bit more of a fluke, that inconsistency and that they can get him back to what he showed in the first half of the season, then I see no reason why this wouldn't be like a pivotal and big signing for this team going into this next season. Well, here's the thing. Let's get into the pay because I think the pay is a big thing here. For sure, always. When you talk about the Diamondbacks needs, they have to do a lot on a limited budget, most likely in order for them to fill one of the two starting. positions they're going to have to make a trade. It almost feels like is more likely than them being able to go out and get two starting pitchers in free agency. However, right now, Merrill Kelly, according to Spot Track, has been seen as being able to be signed around $15.8 million per year on an annual value. So maybe a three-year deal might cost you somewhere in the $50 million

range, but even at $15.8 million annual value, there's a good chance that they could restructure the contract to make, you know, a little bit more heavy ended at the final two years of the contract to free them up in 2026 financially to have that flexibility so that they can add another arm or a position player that they need to add through free agency and not necessarily have to just exclusively go through the trade route. But when you look at that, like let's say $15 million that's when it's going to cost them. A lot of the pitchers in that range, Damon, do not offer you the, what Merrill Kelly, you know, gave you for $50 million. million dollars right and there's that that portion of it is what's so important if you do bring in a

guy that range usually it's going to be a veteran starter that's been around for entirely too long that probably doesn't necessarily care as much about this particular franchise as merrill kelly would care about this franchise i say that because you know adding a guy like merrill kelly back to the staff to continue to work with alongside, not work with. He's not the pitching coach. He's kind of a de facto pitching coach in a way and could be for this team. But like, just to work with guys

like Brandon Fott and Ryan Nelson and help them continue their development, right? And to be Ketel's best friend and Jerry's son. That's the other point. Forget everything we said. Like, reuniting a father with his son needs to be the most important factor here because, again,

Geraldo Pardomo just wasn't himself there in the final two months of the season. And quite frankly, when you take someone's child away from them and send them off to Texas, you know, to be a ranger, like they, it's hard, it's hard on them. Their mind isn't all there on the game. So we need them to have a son back here. Yeah, we do. I understand what Killarex is saying in terms of like the, if you sign him to a big contract,

the risk that is involved in that because this is the Arizona Diamondbacks. Let's face it, we, we, every time that we sign any pitcher to any sort of big money, this is what ends up happening, right? but I do think that there's an avenue of maybe throwing in, and we've talked about this Derek already, of like, could you do a two year with a third year as a club option with Merrill Kelly at that number that you're talking about?

That like three for 48 number, you know, two years guaranteed third year. If he stays healthy, it probably gets picked up. Like I think that that's the kind of thing that I would be floating if I was the Diamondbacks. And as far as saying, you know,

that's an overpay. I extremely disagree with that. $15 million APY for a Merrill Kelly type of pitcher is actually, by definition, pretty much an underpay. If he stays healthy, that is the main issue. Like, he needs to stay healthy to make that number worth it. But if he's going to pitch, you know, what did we what did we have here on the, on the innings, Derek? You know, he threw 125 for the D-backs and he threw 55 for the Rangers, right? 32 total starts between the two teams.

So, I mean, if he's giving you 32 starts, that's well worth it, in my opinion. And so, yeah, I've done that four times in his career. So it's not like he hasn't, you know, giving you 30 plus start seasons before. It's also not like he's been, his arm's not like completely worn out because he, he wasn't pitching a ton of major league innings, early points of his career, right? So you could make the argument that maybe he has a little bit more left in the tank than your typical 36-year-old pitcher. But, yeah, I mean, I'm obviously like. I love Merrill Kelly.

I've long said, I think I want one of Zachary or Merrill back this offseason. 37 now because Merrill Kelly just turned 37 on October 14th. So happy birthday, Merrill, happy belated birthday. We'll make sure to put that video out there of him dancing one more time just because I'm sure he loves it so much. Yeah, we can involve pickle juice in the contract. Yeah, for sure. Oh, all the pickle juice. All the pickle juice, IVs, whatever we need.

Your veins directly up to just sodium and pickle juice. I saw a pizza down the street that had pickle on it. We'll make sure that all his, all of his pizzas had pickle on it. But yeah, man, this is the guy that went to Yavapai College. This is the guy that went to Arizona State University. And like, this is just a great chance for him at 37 years old to finish his career here in the Valley.

And yeah, you're right. Maybe a club option for his age, what, 39? season, you know, essentially, right? Because he's going to be 37 throughout next year, 38 throughout the following year, and he would be 39 for that final year of his contract. So, yeah, maybe a club option for that. But I do feel like regardless, I think bringing Merrill Kelly back,

I mean, hell, if you could get him just for one season, that would be ideal. If we could just sign them for the 20, 26 season and get us through this mass. I'd have like 18, 20 for one year. Yeah, I'd give them higher annual value just to do that, right? So, like, I completely agree with you there. and I think that that's really what they need. They just need someone like Merrill,

and that's why he makes the perfect sense, right? It makes perfect sense because Merrill isn't going to cost you a ton of money, but you just know him so well, and you just know that nobody else in free agency is going to give you on a short-term deal what Merrill Kelly is going to give you. And I mean that not just in his performance, but literally how dedicated the man will be to the team,

and to the team winning. So, and plus, again, Merrill can lead the charge on getting the air conditioning repaired at Chase Field. And that's what we need. We need a general out there fighting in the trenches on our behalf to make sure that that stadium is a crispy 75 degrees on July 14th, right? That's what we need. And a home is broken, Derek.

Most importantly, a home is broken. And we need to mend that broken home. I mean, let's get this deal done before Halloween, right? Well, we can't. We've got to wait until out to the World Series. but like let's get this deal done as soon as possible. Let's get these two back together. Before Christmas.

You go out of the holidays for sure. For sure. We need to get these guys back together before the holidays. But anyway, we're going to take a quick break, and you know what we do on Mondays, and we're going to do that on this podcast on the other side of this breaks. Don't you go anywhere? You are watching the PHNX Diamondback Show.

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Find your local rally house location and shop their entire product assortment online at rallyhouse.com today. All right. Well, Damon, it's Monday. How was your weekend, by the way? It was okay. I know. I was sick. I was very sick this weekend.

Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that. I know you've been sick since Friday. We wanted to kick you out of the office. We've all been staying very far away from you. Correct. I mean while dressed up like a wrestler and went up to North Phoenix. Yeah, how is that? I had the best time in my life.

We sat right behind the announced table. Had a great time. Halloween havoc was everything I always wanted it to be. It's a dumb pay-per-view from a company that no longer exists. And quite frankly, since I was a child, I've always wanted to go to Halloween havoc. I got to check that one off my bucket list. And also, I don't know, man, Prescott Valley was beautiful. The weather was beautiful.

Dude, there's something about that area. It's nice as hell. Amazing experience over at Renhouse. They took us on a little tour of the brewery to check out the whole brewing process, and that was very cool. Wow, I didn't know Renhouse was actually based up out there. Yeah, they got a place called Prairie Patio up there where they do a lot of their brewing and such. So very cool stuff. And then I got to spend some time with my niece who I adore more than most people on this planet.

And Damon, let me tell you, as a proud uncle, when she decided to bust out her. baseball card collection. Wow. And show me her numbered Heraldo Perdomo tops now cards. I lost my mind. And I thought of you immediately. A tear. You should have faced me.

Oh, I should have. I absolutely should have phacetime you. She had some bangers in there. That's called the Doctrination. Let me tell you, as a proud uncle that did not know your niece was into sporting cards, nothing made me more excited than to hear her talk about how she went to the card shop and talked this guy down to sell her this card. for next to nothing and I was like oh man that that again talking about checking out boxes that

checked off two boxes for me haggling which I love to haggle and uh yeah being in the baseball card so very proud of uh whenever I have a quullen whenever I have a problem with a company I have Derek call and pretend to be me and he just yells at people on the phone I mean and I get whatever I want out of it that's not the secret is to yell at the first line people and then when you get the manager then you treat them nice and then you get whatever you want. That's just a little pro tip. But anyway, what I will do is I will tell you what we do around here. And of course, every year, you know what we do around here. Every year is our, our year. Every year is the year of the snake. Even when it's not our year, it's still our year.

Every month on this podcast is Hispanic Heritage Month, every week on this podcast is Shark Week. And every day in this building, in this office, in this studio, on this show is Earth Day. But of course, on Mondays, we go to the mailbag. Damon, let's go to the mailbag. Something interesting in my mailbox. I try to get to everything in my mailbox. And then once in a while, there's a letter that makes me go, wow, wow, my mailbox. All right, Damon, what do we got in the mailbox today? First question, of course, comes from Travis Moore.

Shout out Travis, by the way. He sent me a very nice message over the weekend. Derek, I will share it with you after the show. But Travis, appreciate you, my guy, for always being here, always sending in that first question. Regardless of wanting it or not, say a salary cap was agreed upon in the MLB. How would you implement it with all of the contracts in place right now? Man, Travis might have figured out the exact reason why we will never see a salary cap. Besides the fact that MLB has the strongest player union in any sport and will never, ever, they will never allow a salary gap.

I'm telling you that. Like, that's something we can say right now. Like, the owners are going to threaten a salary cap. The players will refuse it. The owners will gain some traction in some things they want. and hopefully before they lose billions of dollars on the 2027 season, cooler heads will prevail and things will be figured out. Not before, of course, opening day of 2020,

2027 is inevitably impacted and we have a shortened season because of a stupid labor dispute. That's what I envision happening and I'm pretty sure that's what's going to happen, much like we've already seen in the past. There is no way the 2020 seven season is going to be canceled due to a lockout because there's too much money on the line, and they are seeing that probably more now than ever with this particular world series.

What I will say in regards to Travis's question is that a five-year plan would need to be implemented. So whenever a salary cap is implemented, there would need to be a runway where teams have a chance to figure out their payroll before that hard cap happens. So even if we do get a salary cap, there is no way it's going to be implemented the next season. A salary cap that's agreed upon, hypothetically, that's never going to happen during, let's say,

the 2026 off season would not happen in 2027. It most likely wouldn't happen until 2030 or beyond. And again, by that point, the Dodgers will have six championships and we will all just hate this sport more than we ever did. But in order for that to happen, teams have to have a chance to cut roster, cut contracts, figure things out. and there's no way, I think even the owners will want to have to figure things out that quickly to have that drastic of a turn where they're having to cut, you know, big players from their team

and still paying money out the nose just because of a salary cap, right? I still think it's far, far more, like far more reasonable to expect a salary floor to pop up in baseball, especially when you see the percentage of, I guess, money made being reinvested, the percentage of revenue being reinvested back into these teams by some baseball teams, there needs to be some sort of regulation in regards to that. I still am not of the belief that baseball, when all the other sports have figured it out and figured out a way to make it happen, have, like, we'll never have a salary cap.

I do not believe that. I do think there's a way to figure it out. But I think just like what we've seen the sport go through the last couple of years with changes to the sport rule changes and changes to baseball just in general, it's there's growing pains. It's awful. The period of time where you go from where you're at to where you want to be is a difficult period to navigate and figure out all of those things that I'm bringing up, the contracts and how you're

going to cut your salary down to be below a certain amount when you've already promised some players, their amount that they're being paid for, what, 13 years, some guys, 15 years, some guy, didn't Vladimir Guerrero just get a 15 year contract? Right? Like, so I don't know. I mean, it's that, that part is difficult. And all of that, all of that stuff that people don't talk about, Travis, is the reason why I think that a baseball salary cap will never happen. Because it is far more complicated than simply just telling teams. Well, next season, you can only spend so much money, you know, because of the amount of promised contracts that are already on so many rosters across baseball.

Signing guys to like 10 plus year deals became far too common in this sport. And that's another thing that I think is crazy and needs to end. But again, maybe that's the only way that eventually we defeat the Dodgers is that they have a bunch of old aging dudes on their roster that they're still paying money to. And at that point, we can still pivot and remain young and good. Damon, what else do we got? Next question here comes from Michael Rooki, who asks thoughts on a Randall Gritchick reunion, Derek. I don't hate that.

I don't hate the Randall Gritchick reunion. I think he's currently on a $5 million mutual option with the Royals that was part of his deal with the Diamondbacks. He was one of the only guys that was traded from the Diamondbacks that still technically had a year left on his contract. However, as Damon and I have discussed in the past, a mutual contract is an original contract. is a real, or mutual option isn't a real thing. That just means that neither, both parties have to agree on that. And there's a good chance that that never is going to happen in baseball. So overall, though, the thing here that would make Gritchick accept that contract is Spottrack is giving him an estimated annual value of $4.1 million.

So $900,000 is a lot of money to me, and I'm sure it's a lot of money to Randall Gritchick. So if there's a good chance that he can agree to turn, agree. on that $5 million option with the Royals, then he most likely will stay there for the 2026 season. I still liked Randall Gritchick. His son is still my favorite part about bringing, that's my favorite part about bringing this deal back to back to Arizona.

But Gritchick was good for this team. He slashed 240, 277, 457 with a 734 for, excuse me, for 734 OPS. He had seven home runs, 22 RBI, and that was in 175 of bads. I do think that Gritchick is still very versatile, and I think that there's a lot of, I mean, a lot of ways that he could help the Diamondbacks in 2026. He can definitely move around the diamond and play a couple of the positions where they're short right now and need a right-handed at bat, need a backup. Gritchick did not have a very good season with the Royals, meanwhile. After the trade in 97 at Bats, he slashed 206, 267, 299. with a 566 OPS, two home runs, and three RBIs.

So maybe the Royals don't pick up that $5 million deal, and maybe the Diamondbacks are able to get Gritch for even less than $4.1 million. And if that's the case, again, he might not be the flashiest signing. It might not be the best numbers. And there might even be a reunion with a guy that, again, like, just reuniting with former free agents and guys that were formerly on this team. Maybe that's not the best recipe for success, considering how, you know, their first half of their season win next year.

However, I just think Gritchick is a solid baseball player, solid option for this team. And I think that, again, if he's going to be a fairly cheap free agent option, then there's no reason not to at least see what happens if he decides, if he ends up not coming to terms with that mutual option with the Royals. I don't hate it, Derek, but also I do, like, not to take any shots at our boy. I do think he's like about as mid of a DH as you can get. That's the problem. So it's like I want an upgrade.

I don't feel like he's an upgrade. Nor do I feel like there's a lot of ceiling there with Gritchik. Whereas you just don't know what you're going to get at times with this minor league system that the diamondbacks have. Right. And there's a good chance that perhaps somebody else based on need steps into that DH role and just is a better fit. You know, like you said, like an Adrian Del Castillo getting regular at bats might end up being a money. better option for you in a DH than Randall Gritchie, right? But yeah, I mean, I think that he's like, it's an option for me.

I'm looking more at like a Paul Goldschmidt as a right-handed hitter and saying like that guy actually can elevate what this team is doing because we know that we're going to have downgrades probably at the first base position now that Naylor's gone for the entire season at the third base position now that Gino's gone. So it's like you know you're downgrading in certain spots. how do you make up for that you upgrade at DH. And that's where I'm sitting there and I'm like, I think that's doable for this team with the salary constraints that they have.

They can still make a change there that's positive. I would even argue that I do not believe that they're downgrading that much at third base. Like I know that Gino had power that we're probably not going to replicate that. I mean, we're not getting 45 bombs out of our third base. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. And especially if it's Jordan Lawler, we aren't getting anywhere close to that production for sure.

But if it was Blaze over there, I feel like Blaze is still going to give you quite a bit of production as a third base and would actually be, as we saw last season, an upgrade over there defensively, I feel like. But, yeah, I mean, if you're talking about the difference between $4.1 million annual salary value versus for Gritchick versus $7.2 million for Goldschmidt, I'm going with Goldschmidt all day, every day on that option for sure. And hopefully that's the case for the Diamondbacks. So I hope that's the direction that they go. What else we got, Damon? Our next question here. One second, I think. Oh, no.

Yeah, that's one. Yeah. It's from Jarmie. Who's here in the chat today? Shout out Jarmie. Hey, with the front office, potentially being shown the door after 2026, what does strategy and tactic changes could they make to encourage success,

legacy 2024, 2025 methods, or throw anything at the wall? Well, I don't. I feel like I already saw a change in philosophy from Toy Lovello and most likely maybe not a change in philosophy from Mike Hazen, but maybe going back to what made them successful in 2023. That's what I kind of heard from them. The Diamondbacks playing strong defense, playing small ball, having guys that get on base, having guys that are able to run on the base path, steel bases, and manufacture runs, which is something that they have not been leaning on, what they've been. leaning on entirely too much has been the home run ball. And I think the reason why is they thought that at their core, they already established that. Like their core, which is Corbin Carol, Heraldo, Cotel Marte, Alec Thomas, Jake McCarthy, as much as you guys don't want to hear those names being

included in there. That's their core. Those are the guys that were good at getting on base, run production, running on the base path. And then they felt like, in my opinion, this is just me speculating here, but in my opinion it felt like they thought we had the power bats and we'll have one of the best offenses in baseball and they weren't wrong right but and on top of that it's not like they didn't address pitching they went out in the 2024 off season 2025 off season and picked up the best available free agent both times free agent pitcher on the market so you can't knock them for not trying at improving the pitching but the additions to you know the the starting lineup that were primarily for power felt like it kind of just made the whole team now try to hit home runs all the time.

And it didn't really feel like the identity of this team offensively was the same from that point on. So I see them in 2026 getting back to that formula that made them successful back in 2023. And Mike Hazen already said that that's what he's going to be looking for as far as improvements to this team. But he also said that pitching is going to be the priority as far as them going out in free agency or via trades and improving. So again, overall, I think that this is going to be somewhat of an all-in season for this team, for sure. I think that this is going to be maybe a bit more of the throw anything at the wall that sticks. I don't think that there's going to be as much worrying about the future, even though that Mike Hazen will still do that. Like, there's no doubt in my mind that Mike Hazen doesn't have to split his focus between still developing this team for the future, even if he's not going to be a part of that future and still focusing on the here and now.

But I think that, again, that this is going to be kind of a push all of your chips in season for this team. So there's a good chance that we're not going to see them be as patient as they've been in the past. And quite frankly, during this stretch that they were successful from August to. the end of the season. Not being patient, help them, right? Making maneuvers when guys did not, you know, weren't reliable, didn't go out there and get the job done on certain nights, set a certain tone that if you didn't perform,

you weren't going to be here, you know, you were going to be back in Reno or even DFA'd. And I also think that it allowed this team to perhaps stop coddling major league players so much and just letting them know that this, you know, what the expectations are and quite, frankly, again, if you don't perform, that's not going to be acceptable on this team. So next year, there's a lot writing on next year. And I do think that the approach overall is going to change.

So in a long-winded way, and me getting back around to the question, I will say that I don't think that we'll see a legacy approach from 24 or 25 with this franchise. I think that it's going to be very much a we need to win now. and but I don't think they're going to do it at the cost of the future. I think they're just going to try to do their best to win with the pieces that they can and try to be very clever about the way they maneuver this off season to get themselves, you know, some pieces here that they need to fill the roles that they have or the openings that they have. But of course, I do want to thank B's for being here.

Hello, B's. Now it's a party anytime Bs shows up. And hello to the rest of you. Deborah, always great to see you here. All of our supporters club members, you guys are the best. Of course, if you are not a supporters club member, make sure to join today. Kill a Rex. What are you doing?

Get in there and join. You can sign up on our YouTube channel page for $5 a month. If you send us a single super chat at any point throughout the month, the five bucks goes a long way to be a supporter club member. You get badges that update over time based on how long you've been a member. It's a literal badge of honor. You also get access to custom emojis, and we started with just four, and now we have a plethora of them. So fans can pitch us emoji ideas based on our show bits, our phrases. We got us get a ski in there soon enough, inside jokes and so much more.

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B's says, what the hell happened in the Cactus Light emoji? They took it away from us, Bees. They took it away from us. They were like, you losers aren't going to be winning any games now anytime soon. But we will get that back before next season. I promise you that for sure.

But again, big thank you to Bees, Deborah, and all of you that have already signed up. A big shout out, of course, to Candice. in the chat as well. What else we got, Damon? Let's get back to Mailbag Monday. Our next question comes from Austin who asks, who is the highest ranked prospect the team could realistically deal for pitching? Oh, man, I don't love this, but the highest ranked prospect would probably be one of two guys, and it depends on how you want to look at this. Daniel Egan seems to truly be the future of this team, and our guys over at Snake's territory, Jake,

Jesse and Jack did a great job interviewing Daniel. He's had himself a stellar season, and I think he really would be, in my mind, probably the top pitching prospect that the Diamondbacks could trade. However, they do have some guys that they received in that trade for Merrill Kelly, one Cole Drake and Mitch Bratt. Both of those guys are Rule 5 draft eligible. So, I mean, again, there's going to be some interesting things there with the rule five draft guys now mind you if a team does take a player in the rule five

draft the one caveat is that they have to keep that player on their on their major league roster the entire season and that is the reason why you don't typically see these prospects actually move quite often in the rule five draft and even then you know it's hard for them to work out and not be or be on the roster for the full season and not be sent back to the team who originally had control of them but Cole Drake and Mitch Bratt aren't the only rule five guys. You also have Dylan Ray, Spencer Geisting, Landon Sims. Of course, besides that, some position players, Ivan Melendez, Alfred Murillo, and AJ Vukovic are all Rule 5 draft eligible. So maybe, I mean,

again, there's some concerns there, but I would say Cole Drake would be the other guy. But since he's Rule 5 draft eligible, not sure how that would play in to his, I guess, his trade value, right? essentially if a team really wanted him that bad, they could potentially draft him away in the Rule 5 draft if the Diamondbacks don't protect him by that point. And there's a good chance the Diamondbacks might not do that. So we'll see what happens there. But again, there's a good chance they won't trade away any pitching prospects, though.

That right now is something that they were desperate to get back in those trades that they made at the deadline this season. I doubt Mike Hazen is going to try to get rid of a Cole Drake, a Mitch Bratt, definitely not a Daniel Egan. So I feel like the likelihood of them trading away a pitching prospect is probably not going to be the case, especially with how thin they are there right now with their prospects. But I want to thank you guys for watching. Of course, we're going to go into overtime to get to this last question before we get out of here.

If you are watching on your favorite app, make sure to head on over to go phtonx.com, and we will keep the party going there. Thank you guys regardless of where you're watching. Again, we always appreciate you guys. sharing your time with us at your most valuable commodity. So we thank you for giving us just a little bit of it. But Damon, I think we got maybe one more question before we get out of here. And it's from the boss man.

So I don't think I'm allowed to ignore it. No, you're absolutely not. Espo told me I will be fired if I don't play it on the show. He says, what is worse? An L.A. team winning a title. The world running out of crazy pop culture shirts. Or are you losing to me on every throw-down Thursday? Okay.

So first, this is an attack on me in several ways, I feel like. because he's the world running. I also want to hear an F. Mary Kill with these three things. Pop culture shirt. Oh. Well, I mean, F me losing to Espo on throwabout on Thursday every week. That whole show is a sham. The voting process on that show is a sham.

And I pay no attention to the win lost records on that show at all because I don't believe in any of it. Now, the other part of this, which one am I? Well, I guess I'd kill. We're killing the throwdown. Thursday we're effing um uh oh god this is terrible uh though the uh god the way i team wearing a title and marrying the world no i'll eff the world running out of crazy pop culture shirts and marry la winning a title i deal with that all the time this is not this is this is not new to me but if you're talking about what is the worst nightmare scenario there for me it is

absolutely the world running out of crazy pop culture shirts. It's exactly what my entire identity is based on. I'm wearing an indoor hockey club shirt right now or hoodie that even Shane, of all people, looked at me and said, why does that exist? Have you seen Shane's fucking shirts? Are you kidding me? And I'm allowed to cuss now because we're in overtime. So I can go back to the fuck Mary Gill and give you my actual opinion.

on that as well. But no, look, again, I've lived through this nightmare of L.A. teams beating my team. It doesn't hurt me any extra. I don't actually hate the city of Los Angeles in any ways. In fact, I enjoy California's beaches quite a bit. But I'm also going to say that it doesn't, like, any team beating my team sucks. It sucks. And I can say more curse words, right? I fucking hate it. I fucking hate it when any team beats my sports team. But I do not want L.A. teams winning. It just, again, I don't know. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, Derek, and mostly in, and this is just the facts of it, we live in Arizona.

There's too many damn L.A. fans here. Right. Here. It's, I don't care about the L.A. fans there. Right. I don't. Yeah. There's a lot of people that live there.

There's eight million people or whatever the hell live in L.A. Like, I get it. You guys have a lot of good sports teams players want to play there. It all makes. sense to me. What I hate is the absolute cretons that live in my city, in my state, and root for that team over my team. I hate them. And I wish zero happiness for them ever in their entire lives. You can cuss too, by the way. Fuck the Dodgers fans in Arizona. No, I mean, you're, thank you. I needed to hear that. Yeah, sometimes it's just so so cathartic.

But no, I mean, you're right. And I, I don't like, I don't get jealous of what. what they have, right? Like, I do find it absolutely preposterous that the Dodgers were able to do what they were able to do with deferred contracts. That's just ridiculous. And again, I, but I will agree with everything, every shitty Dodger fan comes in here to say, and that is that any team in baseball can do it. And guess what?

They are right about that. They are right about that. Any team can go out and buy a, or buy a title. I mean, it doesn't always work out. Most of the time, in fact, it doesn't. But the Dodgers, once again, put the right people in place so that when they are making the decisions on which players to buy, they're buying the correct ones, they're spending the money in astronomical ways, but at least the correct ways to bring the right guys in,

and they are winning. It sucks, and I fucking hate it. But it doesn't change the fact that I, in that scenario of ESBO asking those questions, cannot live without my crazy pop culture shirts. That immediately takes every Roosevelt shirt out of my closet, except the ones with like turtles and penguins on it. And my other one that has like little cars on it. That's every goddamn Roosevelt shirt in my closet.

And most of every shirt, t-shirt in my drawer. I can't stand for that. And then what was the last thing? It was losing throw down Thursday. Oh, I don't care about him. He's going to come in here and talk trash about his stupid show that's completely deliberately set up in a way where I've no chance to win it? Get out of here.

He's the monopoly version of this office. That's what that show is. It's set up. It's rigged and there's no way any of us can ever win it. But, uh, this all felt good. I will say, though, once again, circling back to the Dodgers thing because we got a lot of people giving us hate on Friday show over it. And rightfully so, right?

Like, when we talk about why we should hate the Dodgers, the biggest reason why we should hate the Dodgers is their success, right? The Mets went out and tried to spend a ton of money to, and they didn't even make the playoffs. So again, it doesn't matter that you spend a ton of money in baseball, it's spending it and then having it work out for you. But I will reiterate to this to any Dodgers fan that made it this long in this episode of this particular show,

which by the way is a Blue Jays podcast. And that is this. You've earned the goddamn right to have this hate thrust upon you. You've earned it. Your team is that good. We don't hate most teams in baseball as much as we hate your team, and it's not just Diamondbacks fans. There are a lot of us, and I'm not even going to say dozens or thousands. There's way more than that.

Millions, most likely. Maybe as many people that like your team. But anyway, I'm going to leave it on that. I think we got the, that guy, Devin, says, I feel like we missed a chance for a throwing shade segment. We probably did. You're not wrong about that, Devin, for sure. But we'll try to schedule that tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, we have a very, very fun day planned for game four of the World Series.

In fact, we are going to be bringing you a postgame show with our guy, Jesse Friedman from Snake's territory, joining us along, perhaps maybe with some other special guests. We'll see what we can get figured out between now and then. We're also going to have a watch party from here in the office featuring that game four. So make sure to join us for that watch party. Damon and I think are going to be hanging out. He's got you of A stuff to do. So I'm going to be there, but he's going to come over. We're going to get other people around the office to join us.

I know Sad Shane is never going to watch baseball ever again, so we can't ask him to join us. But hopefully you will. So make sure to keep your eyes peeled for that. Until then, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Damon is at Damon Dog with the D-A-W-G. At the end, we are all Damon's dogs, bark, bark. Our show is at P-H-N-X underscore D-Backs, but as always all roads lead to at P-H-N-X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

We thank you guys so much. Debra, appreciate you guys coming by. Ryan said who's bringing the maple syrup? This guy. I'm bringing the maple syrup. So again, I made a promise and I'd probably be bigger than this one, but I will down an entire bottle of maple syrup on this program should the Toronto Blue Jays get the job done. So of course, keep your eyes also peeled for that.

But until tomorrow, I hope you guys have a wonderful evening. We'll see you then. Make sure to behave yourselves, Ryan, and most importantly, make sure you guys continue watching baseball. Thank you guys again for your time. and remember kids baseball is fun but it's so much more fun when the blue jays are the ones that do the thumping and not yamamoto