PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Dansby Swanson to the Cubs makes us happy while J.D. Martinez to the Dodgers makes us sad

Episode Date: December 19, 2022

The MLB Hot Stove stays hot as Dansby Swanson finds a new home with the Chicago Cubs, J.D. Martinez heads to L.A., and Justin Turner matches his hair to his sox. We discuss which of these moves makes us sad and are also answering your Mailbag Monday questions.BUY D-BACKS TICKETS HERE: https://gametime.hnyj8s.net/c/3442941/1410622/10874 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX: Join us at the Inaugural PHNX Tee Party, presented by Four Peaks Brewing Co., at Dobson Ranch Golf Course!We are renting out the entire driving range! Come hang with Big Drive Energy, the PHNX crew and fellow Diehards for a night of golf, food, drinks, contests, prizes, and more. Our PHNX Suns crew will be hosting a watch party for the Suns vs. Timberwolves. Check out https://www.eventbrite.com/e/phnx-tee-party-at-dobson-ranch-tickets-481918139127 to reserve your spot right now! And for our Diehards, check Discord for your special link where you’ll save 20% on this awesome event!DraftKings: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now (https://bit.ly/3Jl1dMX), use promo code PHNX and make your first deposit of FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in FREE BETS INSTANTLY! For every leg you add you can boost your winnings up to ONE HUNDRED percent!If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisiscounseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visitOPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA).21+ (18+ WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NJ/NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See http://draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.OGeez!: Enter the “Flavoring Life” sweepstakes. One winner will receive 3 bags of OGeez, an OGeez! Hat, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Sign up at gophnx.com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIplqDYsxYeiotn5Zc6hRahaX0a5qG99eHVzkhOlGZDRdgUA/viewform. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Underdog Fantasy: Sign up for Underdog Fantasy today! Go to the link https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-phnx and use promo code “PHNX” to receive a deposit match up to $100Four Peaks: Enter to win the “Toast of the Month” sweepstakes to win a $50 Four Peaks gift card, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Go to goPHNX.Com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOabxo8KQxOWwn9wTilMBuTMAJdrL0CaH9lzfuJqgKN9vfSg/viewform Must be 21 or older. Enjoy responsibly. Bad Birdie: Use code “BADBIRDIEPHNX15” for 15% off your next order https://glnk.io/7qnq/phnx-sportsMor Furniture: Save up to 50% all through the holidays! Check out https://morfurniture.comLiquid Death: Get free shipping on all water and merch at https://LiquidDeath.com/PHNX FOCO: FOCO has you covered with the best Arizona Merchandise. Head on over to foco.com. For all non pre-sale items use the promo code “PHNX” for 10% offWhen you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Happy holidays and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX D-BACs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Monti, occasionally known as Santa Derek. This guy over here is my loyal elf, the one and only thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. Derek, I watched National Ampoon's Christmas vacation per my assignment over the weekend. And you're probably not going to like. Oh, no, today's not that day, Jesse. I don't need to hear that. Today's not that day. Today's not that day, but tomorrow is that day. And I'm just warning everyone in advance. It's, yeah, well, I won't give it away. But just come tomorrow. Well, apparently, I'm going to fight Jesse tomorrow is what's going to happen. So don't miss that. But of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King Sportsbook app, America's top rated sportsbook app. Glad to have you guys here. Very excited to announce that Dansby Swanson founding new home. And that new home, Jesse, is not in the National League West.

So that's a very, very good thing. However, he does stay part of the All-City family because Dead v. Swanson is your newest Chicago Cub. I know that was very big based on our friends at CHGO and their podcast talking about like this off season and kind of all the names they were in on, similar to the Diamondbacks where they were kind of in a lot of big names, but kind of struck out when it comes to landing any big free agency names. So what does this do exactly for the Chicago Cubs? I do know that they are admitting that this isn't this isn't the move. that's going to like put them over the top and make them competitive in the NL Central by any stretch of the imagination? Yeah, it's definitely not. But more than anything else, I'm just happy for our friends over at CHGO and in particular, Cody Delmendo, who I think might have had an extreme breakdown had this move not happened.

Yeah, yeah. We were worried about his well-being. We were very worried for Cody's while being over here. But yeah, I mean, Danesby Swanson, according to Fangraphs, had a 6.4 war year last year, which is a really, really big number. I mean, that's like all-star, like, bordering on Superstar. level of performance. I know that, you know, the offensive numbers don't necessarily jump off the page 277, 329, 447 for a slash line is good. It's really good for a short stop. But, you know, 25 homers, 96 RBIs, Danesby Swanson has generally been pretty durable throughout his career.

He played 162 games in 2022. So it's hard to ask for more than that from a playing time standpoint. So yeah, it's a good move for the Chicago Cubs, I think. It was interesting to see the numbers. come in so much lower than the other shortstop, right? The other shortstop crew, the trio, right, of Trey Turner and Carlos Correa. But yeah, I think it's interesting to just see seven years and 177 million. It's not nearly as much money as the rest of that group got. And I think it's interesting because Dansby Swanson does kind of fit the type that you would want to maybe lock him in for 10 years plus at this point, considering that those kind of

contracts have been thrown around. One thing that's good, though, is that he, you know, gives the Cubs that commitment and he gives them that free agent acquisition without making that team overly powerful or anything like that, right? More importantly, though, we know that the Dodgers were in the market for a big name shortstop. They lost trade turner. They're always in the market.

They're always in the market. Right. Yeah, it doesn't matter who is. the market. I don't know how like truly into the Danes v. Swanson market they were. We know that there was some level of interest there, but I would have been really

surprised if the Dodgers had made this move, to be honest. Well, here's the thing though, Jesse, is now, I mean, it's not like Chris Taylor isn't capable or whatever, right? It's not like they don't have people in there. They just don't have that big name that

they previously had at every position, it feels like. Yeah, Gavin Lutz. Next year is going to be the first year that the Dodgers are like really relying on Gavin Lux is like an everyday guy, which in some ways is outrageous that they haven't done that already. Correct. Because in just about every other organization in baseball, Gavin Lux is good enough to warrant significant playing time. Whereas for the Dodgers, he was kind of right on the edge of being like a true everyday guy for them. But yeah, I think for the Dodgers like 2023 is going to be a year of kind of trying to see what they have in some of their young guys. I think Miguel Vargas is going to get a big opportunity there.

at shortstop potentially as well. So it's kind of uncharted territory for the Dodgers. Like compared to what they've done for so many years on end here under this ownership group, it seems like they've never really been in a position where they had to rely on some more, you know, some younger, less proven players than what they're going to be doing in 2020. Let's just talk about it because I fucking hate it. J.D. Martinez is your newest Los Angeles. Yeah.

Yeah. And I hate it so much. I hate it because that's where that historic game happened when he was a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodgers Stadium. I hate him being in the division and us having to look at that just gorgeous face of his in Dodger Blue. I fucking hate that.

More importantly, what I hate is that the Dodgers are still able to land these guys for the amount of money that they're paying him when to know that he was available on the market for that amount. It further puzzles me why the Diamondbacks weren't more in on JD Martinez coming to Arizona. coming back to Arizona, I should say, you know. But the Dodgers, they really haven't been doing the typical Dodger thing.

J.D. Martinez is a perfect example of that. I'm not going to call it shopping in the bargain bin, but by no stretch are the Dodgers going out and picking up the biggest names and free agency. They're seemingly not able to land any of them. And like Jesse said, we don't really know how much they were in on some of these guys, but it's the Dodgers, right? We typically see them gain more than they lose. Justin Turner is now a Boston Red Sock where his hair will match his socks.

Yes. But the Dodgers do this really well too, though. They really do. Speaking of Justin Turner. They do hand out really big contracts, but they also do shop in the bargain bin. They do extremely well. Justin Turner, Chris Taylor. Max Muncie.

Max Muncie. It's still sad because that's, I mean, he's going to probably hit 40 home runs, 5 and 130 runs. Yeah, right. 320. win the MVP. Well, he's reuniting with his first hitting coach, I believe, who is over there. Yeah, yeah, there is a hitting coach.

Yeah, I don't remember the name off the top of my head. We could look that up. But yeah, there was a hitting coach during his time in Boston or during his time. I guess maybe it would have been before then who helped revitalize J.D. Martinez, probably back to his time in Detroit. Yeah, that's why. Yeah, who revital. I mean, because at one point, J.D. Martinez wasn't actually a very good hit.

Like, if you look back at his stats in his early days with the Detroit Tigers, he was actually not really that great of a hitter at all. I believe he was with Houston before that, and he still hadn't really developed. But then eventually with the Tigers, he kind of figured some things out. And I'm sure that reuniting with that hitting coach was part of the move here. Brett Johnson says we already have a right-handed outfielder who can't field and Kyle Lewis, so I'm not surprised we didn't go after him. It's a fine point.

Yeah, I think that is a good point. And I do think that one year $10 million for J.D. Martinez is a darn good investment. I think that is a great investment. And it's one that maybe the Diamondbacks could have and should have been able to pull off. However, if you really do believe in Kyle Lewis and you really want to give Kyle Lewis an opportunity to prove himself and get significant playing time next year, signing J.D. Martinez just blocks him because you're not putting J.D. Martinez in the outfield. The Red Sox for some reason had him playing at least some innings in the outfield up until last year when they finally just used him as a DH the entire season. But you're definitely not playing him in the outfield. I don't think you want to play Kyle Lewis in the outfield.

So there is a redundancy there. But if you're asking me, you know, would you rather have Kyle Lewis or J.D. Martinez in that spot, you'd probably take J.D. Martinez because he's just way more proven. And I think the fan base, there's no question that Diamondbacks fans would just absolutely love to have. J.D. Martinez back in Arizona. No question. There's no question. Yeah, there's no question about that. But that's just based on my own personal feelings and beliefs and opinions.

I don't think it's just your personal feelings and beliefs and opinions. The Twitterverse appears to agree with you. Justin Turner signing with the Red Sox feels like a little bit of a missed opportunity for the Diamondbacks. We went over his numbers at Chase Field where he's always been very good. But I also think that where he's always been very good. But I also think that, of course, there is the idea there that. that we wanted to kind of have, as much as people that are fans of this team don't want a Los Angeles Dodger on their team, which I completely understand, it's helpful sometimes to have that mind of somebody that's played for the Dodgers as long as Turner has on our team, right? Just as far as getting in the mind of your opponent, and if anybody, you know, the Diamondbacks need to focus on beating right now, it's the Dodgers.

It's not to say that the Giants and Padres might not end up being very, very good next year with the, acquisitions they've made, but right now they still need to focus on catching up with the Dodgers. Yeah, Justin Turner is a good player, and I think the Red Sox made a pretty good move here. We've talked a little bit about how Red Sox fans are just beside themselves right now. Now that Sandra Bogartes is out of the organization. And the Rafael Devers news where it sounds like they're not going to be able to resign him once he is in the agency. That would just be, I mean, yeah, if I'm a Red Sox fan, that would be pretty disheartening if Raphael Devers was just like the next one to add to the list of great homegrown talents over in Boston that the team wasn't able to keep around. But yeah,

Justin Turner is a good player. I do like the move for Boston. I think he definitely fills a need for them, basically fills the JD Martinez whole, right? He'll probably spend the majority of his time at DH there. And I think Justin Turner's a good enough hitter that he could probably hold down that role reasonably well. Even at the age of 38, the man just continues to hit and he had a tremendous this second half in 2022. So I think it's a good move for them. Mr. Dezo in the comments says with so many teams playing the AAV game with these longer contracts, are you surprised the debacks haven't jumped on at least a B-tier free agent?

I made a comparison about this to Jesse just a little while ago before we started the show, right? We didn't expect them to make a big splash and free agency. They made it sound like they weren't going to make a big splash and free agency. However, that didn't stop. the Diamondbacks from being connected to all sorts of big free agent names and news and rumors. It also, I mean, it was pretty much a Xander Bogart. There were some other ones in there, right?

Or like, I mean, yeah, maybe trades and other stuff was. Yeah, Sean Murphy was the other big name, but that wasn't a free agent. Right. So, and I think the idea there is like this, this is the metaphor I made to Jesse. I think you guys can all understand this. We knew we weren't getting anything for Christmas, right? We knew times are tough. We knew we weren't going to have anything under the tree.

And we had kind of, we were kind of okay with that. And then our parents, the Diamondbacks, came along and were like, hey, which one would you guys rather have? A PlayStation 5 or an Xbox Series S? And we were like, what? PlayStation 5, please. Let's go. Now Christmas Day is here and there's nothing under the tree. And we're kind of like, what the hell?

Why did you even ask us which one of these wonderful machines we wanted to game on? Right. So, like, it felt like our expectations got changed throughout the free agency market period where, you know, again, the Diamondbacks got tied to. Bogart's, there was some Sean Murphy News, some other stuff that we've talked about in here as well, right? Just some good fits that might have been there, free agent-wise. We talked about Justin Turner, maybe coming over. Evan Longoria

is still a rumor out there for the Diamondbacks, but that's not a PlayStation 5 or an Xbox Series X. Let's be honest. What is the game console equivalent of Evan Lange? A used Game Boy Advance. Okay, wow. I mean, Game Boy Advance are pretty good still.

They're not bad. They're just, it's not. Derek, what? You have to know your audience. Jesse, you played a Game Boy, as I'm sure. You did? I never played a Game Boy. No, I never played a game boy. I had friends who played who did, but I never did.

Yeah, yeah. No, I never played a Nintendo DS either. I never had like one of those little handheld things. I never. So maybe maybe this is more like a PSP for Jesse. A PSP. Brett Johnson said no, Derek. The DeBacks asked us if we wanted a PS4.

They don't go for newer younger model. So, yeah, he's kind of right about that. I mean, I think Zander Bogartz is a PS5, right? Like, Zander Bogart. Like, maybe. It's just the rumor we were going to get a PS5. He's not like the best bundle. Like, maybe he doesn't, maybe it doesn't come with as many controllers or something.

But Zander Bogartz is still a pretty top-to-year talent. And, yes, Brett, the Game Boy Vats slaps. That's what I'm saying. How old is a Game Boy? Like, when did that come out? Oh, I want to say, like, early 2000s. So, yeah, Evan Lungarian. You know what I mean?

Like, I'm saying. All right. Elizabeth only understands Atari references. I'm sorry. We'll make some sort of dungeons or something. I don't know. I'll figure it out. But of course, we thank you guys for being here right now,

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You can face Saul. I really need to find a ping pong table to actually like. Yeah, he's got to practice. I haven't played ping pong in like probably like six months at this point. So I'm a little concerned about. And I'm talking a lot of shit on your behalf. Yeah, you're talking like more than I did on my own behalf. But it's fine.

You deserve this. So anyway, join us for all this fun. We're going to have a blast. Of course, there's going to be food, drinks, heaters, hot chocolate and more. There will be a free kids clinic provided for all kids 10 and under. Just a great way to kick off the year. We're going to get together with all of our fellow diehards and have a blow. last, make sure to join us out there.

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Am I mistaken that it's on Friday the 13th? I think it is, right? I feel like you're really, Well, it's on the 13th, and it's on a Friday. And it's on a Friday. Friday. Oh. Yes.

Oh. Yeah. I don't know. See, look at this guy. He doesn't do anything. He's scared all the time. But you know he's not scared of. He's not scared of what we do on this show.

And what we do on this show, of course, is the same thing every week because every week is Shark Week. Same thing we do every day because every day on the show is Earth Day. And every Monday, most importantly, we go to the mailbag. Faj, let's go. All right. All right. Always something interesting in my mailbox. I'm trying to get to everything in my mailbox.

And then once in a while there's a letter that makes me go out. All right. Shout out to Megaran who I was touring Phoenix in Arizona with this weekend. I went to Tucson. And the Valley Bar. Come on, two places. Anyway, what do we got for questions, Fosch? Sorry, I was being distracted there.

He's a fearless leader. He's a monitor. Absolutely monster. Let's get into the first question. Sean McNally asks, do you think there's still room for a big upgrade at third base and move Rojas to the prime utility infielder spot? Maybe even some occasional left-handed starts at shortstop. Jesse?

A big upgrade at third base. That word scares me a little bit. If you're looking for a big upgrade at third base, I don't know what that would look like at this point. Could the team sign Evan Longoria? Yes. Is that a big upgrade? Yeah, that's the question. Is like, do you consider that a big upgrade?

Probably not. Yeah, I think if the Diamondbacks are going to make a significant upgrade at third base, it's probably going to happen via trade of one of the D-backs young outfielders. We know that they asked for Brett Beatty from the New York Mets, for example, in exchange for Alec Thomas in a trade discussion that ultimately broke down because of that. So I know third base is a point of interest for the Diamondbacks in some of those trade conversations. But frankly, Derek, we haven't heard much about the Diamondbacks trade discussions with, you know, regarding some of these young outfielders. It doesn't seem like a whole lot of progress is being made.

Mike Hazen said in a press conference about Scott McGuff the other day, we talked about that a little bit. And he basically said teams have gotten more aggressive, but we're not necessarily closer to getting anything done. which kind of makes it sound like the diamondbacks aren't really getting the offers that they're really looking for right now. And I think that's probably the only route that I see to getting, you know, having a significant upgrade at third base. So if you consider Evan Longoria a big upgrade, then sure. But most likely you don't. And I don't think it's particularly likely we see that this offseason. More importantly, I think Josh Rojas still has a lot of value at third base.

I think that it's it's just kind of growing pains. I feel like this guy has had to kind of step into roles that he wasn't really meant for. But he's done an adequate job. He's just not going to be an all-star over there defensively. And honestly, I don't know if Longoria is going to be anymore either. And that's the big question here. It's kind of like what we were talking about about the Dodgers there. The Dodgers didn't feel like they needed to go out and make that move.

It doesn't mean that maybe they didn't, you know, make a call on Carlos Correa, make a call on Dansby-Swanson. But when they feel like they have Gavin Lux kind of being blocked by these. names that they keep bringing in, they're at that point right now. The names haven't helped or haven't been enough for them to win when it counted, right, in the playoffs. So maybe it's time to continue down their road of developing guys

instead of worrying so much about being this team that brings in the big free agent names. Let the Padres do that and fail and not find out. I will say like I do think that Josh Rojas is, I think he's a better third baseman than at least at the end of the season. There were some really rough moments for him. at third base that caused him to lose playing time. Tori Lavello was pretty upfront about that.

But I do think he's probably a better defensive third baseman than maybe some of those worst moments at the end of the year made it look like. You also have Emmanuel Rivera in here, which I think is important to mention. If the season started tomorrow, I think you're looking at a platoon with Emmanuel Rivera starting against lefties and then Josh Rojas probably starting against righties. And I'm sure Rojas would get mixed in a little bit at other positions as well,

which isn't the worst thing in the world. Like if you have Emmanuel Rivera and Josh Rojas as a platoon, I think you'd do okay. It wouldn't be great, but I think you'd do okay. And Emmanuel Rivera was a very good defensive third baseman last year, which also warrants mentioning for sure. And had an incredible offensive production when he first joined the team. He was incredible for about a month and a half.

We were a stand count account for. Yeah, yeah. Emmanuel Rivera was incredible for like a month or two after coming over from Kansas City. and then the last month of the year, those numbers took a significant nose dive. So they didn't trade Luke Weaver expecting to get a franchise third baseman, right? I think Emmanuel Rivera already has probably exceeded expectations with what he did last year. That's what I was going to say too.

Yeah. They're already in the plus with him, right? Right. All right. What else we got, Jacob? All right, moving on. We have, could Brendan and Drury be a fit at third base? There we go.

That's bringing some guy back. That's bringing a guy back. And I know that the Diamondbacks fans would love that just for the possibility of not seeing a guy like him go and do what he did with the Reds and have the success that he had elsewhere. Brander Drury came back down to Earth a bit, but he had himself a pretty outstanding 20-22 season. And to be honest, I mean, maybe because of the way he finished up, his value might not be so high that it makes it unreasonable for him to come in here and be a part of this team. Yeah, I mean, so my take on Brandon Drury. is like if you're viewing Brandon Jury as, you know, uh,

exhibit 427 of players who, who left the debacks and, and became stars, I don't buy it. I just don't. Brandon Jury from 2018 through 2021, right, four seasons, basically got to the point of like,

I mean, he was bouncing around from one franchise to another to another. He was sort of a journeyman. He, he was worse. Like with the diamond backs, Brandon Jury was, was a solid player, right? In 2017, he had 267, 13 homers, 63 RBIs, a 764 OPS.

Those numbers aren't great if you're a third baseman who's a little bit limited defensively. But he was solid. Like, he was a guy you could play every day on a major league team and not feel like you're missing out on too much. But in those four years coming after that, Brandon Drury, he just really struggled. I think maybe the stage of being in New York Yankee, maybe. got to him a little bit. I don't know exactly what happened there. I know there were maybe some different health issues that had an impact with that. But yeah, I'm a little concerned about what

Brandon Drew is going to get paid, to be honest. I don't know if Brandon Drew is going to be worth what he gets paid just because he's coming off of a season that he's never really had before. Like he was really, really good with Cincinnati. Like you mentioned, he wasn't as good after the trade. He at 238 with a 290 on base. Yeah. Like the number. weren't as great and I think a team is maybe going to pay him a little bit too much when it's all said and done. I'd be really surprised if the debacks went this direction when it's all set and done. I agree. I agree. And I think that in the end, the Diamondbacks don't have a real reason to invest a whole bunch of money in somebody that just had one good half of a season, essentially. You know what I mean? They've seen that happen with our own players. Shit, if you just took one portion of Carson Kelly's

what, 2021, he was hitting like 323 at one point, right? Like, so it's like sometimes you just can't base an entire contract and bringing a guy over on that. If it's a short term deal, even if it's a little bit on the high end, I feel a little bit better than that than them saying to like five years plus or something crazy. Yeah, I mean, it's not going to take five years, but, but it is probably going to take 10, 12 million a year or something like that, maybe a little bit higher. And there's just not, there's not enough track record at least for me to do that. Brett makes a good point, though. He did have severe migraine issues that he finally got taken care of. I have heard that story.

I think there were some eyesight issues that were at play there, which it's fair. It would be hard to hit a baseball if you couldn't see it coming. There's so many things that baseball players deal with that I'm like, I would never be able to fucking hit a baseball if I was dealing with that, you know, scenario, right? Yeah. Let alone the mental stuff that guys go through where you hear about, like, you know, them, like, Starling Marteee losing his spouse. Like, I just don't know how I would even be. able to show up to play a game like baseball after going through something devastating like that, right? Yeah. It's, it really does the injuries, the off the field stuff. Like these guys, it's really,

it's just so hard to hit a baseball. It's such a mental game. So again, something like a migraine could be the reason why he struggled with the Padres. And, you know, hopefully we see them. We, we want to see everybody do well. We just don't want to see them do well in the NL West with a team other than the dot-knacks. So I don't think that's too much to ask. Well, else we got, Jacob. A little bit of a longer one from Brett. He's in the chat, so he'll be excited that you're going to answer his question. Which former D-BACs being signed by the Dodgers makes your stomach turn.

Not just this off-season Shelby Miller and J.D., but of all time. He gives a shout out to Orlando Hudson because O-Dog is a fan favorite. Actually, my favorite player of all time. Really? Yeah. The dog was my favorite player of all-time. Wow. He was one of the best people I've ever met.

Like, he was so cool. So was Giragopara, though. I remember Herodon. One of the kindest people. Yeah, like just being like super, super nice, super kind. For me, the one that makes me sick is Luis Gonzalez, which I believe Brett brought up in his follow-up to that. Luis Gonzalez, like, it wasn't really the fact that he was really great with the Dodgers. It wasn't like going off and seeing him produce and do well with the Dodgers.

It just was kind of disgusting to see him in a Dodgers uniform. You know, it was Godzo. He was our hero. He was our guy. I kind of felt the same way about seeing Randy Johnson in a Yankees fucking jersey, but that's a whole other thing. But Gonzo with the Dodgers, that was just like kind of sad, you know? Yeah. And disappointing, you know.

I think there was something to be said at that point. And I would maybe say this for Randy Johnson as well, of just having like when a guy does what those guys did in the Diamondbacks organization, there's something to be said for just having them play out the rest of their career in Arizona. Or even like not, yeah, right, right. Like, yeah. Like, just. Even if they don't produce, even if they have that tail end of their career where you kind of bitch about them and you're kind of mad that they weren't what they used to be, you just still never want to see Randy Johnson, you know,

pitching a Padre or a Giants uniform, you know, like. Yeah. That was hard there at the end. But the Dodgers especially hurt. Was there anybody for you that like stuck out that really was painful to see? I do think Orlando Hudson is interesting. I also remember growing up watching D-BACs games when I was, I don't know, like 10 years old or something. I remember Orlando Hudson being one of, he was just like the way that he played defense at second base.

He was really reliable offensively. And if you look at the season he had with the Dodgers after leaving the D-Backs, he was very much the same player in L.A. After leaving Arizona, we should probably mention A.J. Pollock here. Oh, AJ, I told me, that hurt, though, because he was always hurt. Oh, AJ Pollock, though, that kind of made me. It hurt for different reasons. It served for a different reason. Like, AJ Pollock, like, pissed me off.

Like, AJ Pollock going to the Dodgers. That's more on him than it is the Dodgers. I guess. And, yeah, because it was him choosing to go there. And then it was also that it was during a time where the Diamondbacks had conflict with the Dodgers. Like, we had those fights and stuff happened. Remember Mark McGuire coming out, like a goddamn bear? Ah, right?

Like, there was a lot of stuff that I remember, like, really, like, going to head to head with the Dodgers. So, like, somebody leaving voluntarily and going. and going there was just, it felt like such a traitor type move, right? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he had some good years in L.A. too. Like, 2020, obviously short and season, only 55 games, but Agent Pollock had an 881 OPS and 16 home runs that year in 55 games, which is a really big number.

I believe they won the World Series that year. I do believe that happened. And then in 2021, he had 297 with an 892 OPS and 21 homers. Yeah, and there's always some injury risk. with AJ Pollock, and I don't think D-BAC's fans miss that part of his game, but just some of the things that he said after leaving Arizona and talking about, you know, the fan base. He made some comments that I think really robbed people the wrong way and understandably so.

All right. What else we got, Jacob? I was just going to throw out another honorable mention name for this question. Oh, please. Daniel Hudson. Oh, interesting. Interesting for me as well. Obviously, he didn't spend him a matured.

majority of his time with the dogs. But Huddy was loved. Huddy was beloved. He was beloved. All right, let's go with what is one concession that's gone at Chase Field that you wish that Vex would bring back for Christmas and why is it the Dutch brothers? It's 100% the Dutch brothers. Okay, but like why are we calling it the Dutch brothers?

Because it's, no, no, no. Because he's referring to the one that they used to have there that's now, I believe, a chick filet or maybe even it's the, I think it might be the kids booth. where you go get your free kids stuff, like the kids check in and they give you, like, a free thing for every game you come to. He's absolutely right, though. Just being grammatically correct and not just saying,

why is it Dutch brothers? I don't care. I don't care. It's because he's referring to a specific one, and I know it's Dutch bros, but I don't care. I'm with him on the brothers. We're brothers.

This is Dutch brothers. We want the Dutch brothers back. I fucking love Dutch bros. I love Dutch bros in a way I can't even explain. Ask me why it's better than Starbucks, and I will give you a thousand reasons why, but the most important is the fronge brothers. And I get year round and it's most of the reason why I have any energy or life to me to this day.

Dutch bros, it, it just, I just still don't understand why it had to have such a short life there. Like, how long, how long was it like? I don't know. Maybe like two years, maybe. Like it's just, the fucking pandemic fucked everything up. And then, you know, it's gone. But like, it was a, it's a newer place that's catching on. You're seeing Dutch bros pop up all around the valley.

So, like, it didn't make any sense to me for it to be gone. Dutch Bros is just not, can I be honest for a second, Dutch Bros is not ballpark food. Is it? Like, Dutch Bros. Is any time food? Jesse, it is anytime food. I don't care what ballpark or stadium or whatever. It is anytime food.

If you're, if you're, no, well, yeah, that, that's also part of the point here. Is it a drink. It's a drink. I don't care. Right. Like, like, what are acceptable beverages at a ballpark, though? Like, you're either drinking beer or you're drinking soda. There is no, there's no.

There's no coffee category there. And there shouldn't. I disagree. I disagree with that. Really? Like, I've never, I've never had coffee. Jesse, why are you gatekeeping drinks that you have at a baseball game? And you're going to tell me that you want drink coffee at a baseball game.

Jesse, why are you gatekeeping? Have you ever ate sushi on a red eye? I've, I've been. Oh my gosh. Yeah. That's a great question. Answer the question before you move on. I've been to a lot of stadiums.

And I don't think I've ever seen. coffee as like an option. I've seen hot chocolate more than I have seen coffee as an offering at a baseball stadium. That's because you're a child and you're not paying attention to the coffee being offered. That's why. Of course you just picked up the hot chocolate. If you didn't see coffee in Seattle, then you just weren't looking.

Right. Okay. Right. I don't know. Right. Answer that question. Maybe the Mariners have, I don't think. Like that would make, that would make.

They have grasshoppers that you can eat. That would make my point all the more, though, if they don't have coffee. at a Mariners game, which I don't recall seeing coffee there. If someone has any evidence to the contrary, I would love to hear it. That's absolutely a missed opportunity. If they don't have coffee at that stadium. Starbucks specifically, right? Starbucks.

I don't think anyone has, I don't think Starbucks is going to be a ballpark. That just doesn't, that just doesn't make any sense. How does it make sense for a fucking chick-fil-A to be in a football stadium when they're fucking closed on Sundays? None of this makes sense. Jesse, are you kidding? That's fair. I'll grant you that.

I'll grant you that. According to Major League Baseball's website on Top Eats at T-Mobile Park, the last sentence before they get into the actual breakdown of things, it says beverage options include coffee, soda, water, beer, wine, and other alcohols It's the very first beverage. It's the very first one. All right. I'll give you that. But again, this is Seattle. And people, I know from experience, if you live in Seattle, then you, like, physically cannot get up in the morning and accomplish anything.

without coffee. And really good coffee at that. Yeah, there's some pretty, there's some pretty great coffee out there. I don't think Arizona's like that, though. Arizona is not like the coffee, like powerhouse. We drink frozen rebels from Dutch bros. That's what we drink.

I guess. Frozen rebels. I guess it's like frozen beverages make more sense. But I just still like, I just don't associate coffee with the ballpark environment at all. I don't even associate coffee with Dutch bros because I rarely get it there. Yeah. Sugary fucking milk shake and slushes there.

Exactly. Exactly. I guess if we're gonna if we're gonna be real and just call Dutch Bros. What it is which is like a a factor of like sugar water like a factory of sugar water basically. That's fine. Doesn't that sound even more appealing? Maybe like that that sort of fits a little better. I'll give you that.

That fits better. Is there any place you miss? That's no longer at Chasefield. I haven't been because I've been out of the state for the last like five or six years for the most part. I've missed all the cycles of all of the things. So there's a few new things that I like now, but I couldn't tell you what is. I think having Chick-fil-A at the ballpark is kind of cool. Are they open on Sundays at the ballpark?

No, they're not open on Sunday. You're taking away what concession stand for every Sunday game. You're just taking up space that no one's. That's fair. That is unfortunate. Lolo's is no longer at the ballpark. Lolo's was replaced. I do remember there being Lolo's, and that is quite sad.

It is quite sad to me that Lolo's is not there. I would definitely eat. Convo's grill is nothing more than just the chicken tenders you can get at other places. It's sponsored by Tyson. Yeah, right. Not that we don't like you, Tyson. We like you, Tyson. If you want to sponsor us, we'd be very happy.

However. However, you know, local restaurants. Tyson and you know it, we know it. All right. Well, before we move on, of course, we want to thank you guys again for being here in the chat. Make sure if you haven't had a chance to get yourself a present. I told you about the diehards membership. You can also buy yourself the present of furniture.

Get yourself furniture, get your friends' furniture. I know it's weird, but blow your friend's mind. Show up with a fucking chair. See how they react to that shit at your white elephant party. And you can get that chair for up to 50% off right now at the holiday clearance event happening at MooreFurniture. And, you know, of course, you can go there, but check out their website at morefurniture.com.

That's the way to get your furniture. Jesse, I don't know. I feel like any conversations about furniture or houses. I feel like I'm taking a shot at you. because of your current housing situation that you've been going up and down on. The housing market is, it's rough out there. It's rough out there.

You need a house first, but then once you get the house, we'll get the furniture. There we go. Yes. Again, we thank you guys for being here. Make sure to subscribe. If you haven't had a chance, check out Jesse's wonderful writings.

Do so over at go phtonx.com. Most of those are available for you for now for free and unlock. Go watch our Brandon Fodd video. That's the main thing we're here to talk about is Jesse and Shane just blew all of our minds with this video. they've been working on. It's incredible. It's a breakdown of Brandon. Shane did an outstanding job. Shane, Shane needs to get a healthy amount of credit. They both eat their flowers. But yeah, I mean, it's, it's like, I'm still not over how dope the diamond mind opening is. But make sure to check

out the diamond mind. It is now open for business. And we are excited to be bringing you all of these nuggets of information and videos to bring you on these guys that you might not have a chance to see yet. Of course, Brandon fought. There is so much talk about him. We couldn't help but make him the very first edition of the Diamond Mine. And of course, we're very excited about that. Jesse has more stuff in the works. He's not stopping. That's just one that we're doing. So make sure to check out all the wonderful stuff we're doing over at the PHNX Sports YouTube channel. And check out Jesse's writing over at go phtonx.com. If you're a diehard, you get those diehard only newsletters. But of course, there's so much more free to read if you're not. So check out the

website over at go phnx.com. And make sure to send us your mailbag, Monday, question. Even if we don't solicit them. You can send us to your Mailbag Monday question on Twitter, Discord, wherever you have, whatever you want. So we're always keeping an eye on it. Jacob does a great job of wrangling it all in for us. And what else do we have? Do we have more questions? We do.

We have four more. If we can kind of speed through these because I'm the only producer today. Let's go. I have a lot of shows. So I'd appreciate it. Our fifth question of the day comes from Ryan on Twitter. Has the team painted themselves into a corner at this point where the all the only only way to improve the roster in the ways they'd like to is to trade an outfielder.

Or are there other paths still available where they keep all of them, which I don't know. Yes, there is a path where they keep all of them. I feel like that's the reason why they're not panicking. I don't know, though. I think his question is kind of valid. They have kind of put themselves in a position now where they weren't in on any of these free agents. They might have been connected, might not have been connected. We don't know how much truth there is to the rumors.

But what we will say is that they did have a little bit of a window to add some guys. And now that window is kind of closed. So it does feel like if they're going to make any, I guess, drastic changes to the team, bring in a big name that's going to potentially vastly improve this team at one position, it's going to have to be through a trade with one of those young outfielders. Yeah, yeah. I think it's a good point. At this point, if you really want to like move the needle on the 2023 diamond backs

and really push this team toward contention, I think you've got to trade one of the outfielders and you've got to try to get a really nice return back in that deal. At this point, I think the debacks, they probably still have a decent amount of money to spend. Maybe it's $10, $15 million, something in that range. I do expect that there are still more moves to come in terms of free agency,

but are you really going to move the needle with $10 to $15 million in free agency? Probably not. And so... And it's probably going to be dedicated to the relief pitching. It's probably going to be a reliever and maybe like an Evan Longoria type like we've already talked about. So, yeah, those moves probably aren't going to move the needle a ton. And so if you're looking for a game changing type player, you know, like a Sean Murphy, as we were talking about a few weeks ago, you're going to get that via trade.

There's no way. There's no way else to get it at this point. All right. What else we got? As a barista there, do you guys have a go-to Starbucks order? I'm about to get judged so harshly. Yeah, you are. I'm really uncomfortable.

You want to go first? I'll go first. So I get a chite tea latte or I get a white chocolate mocha, the two most basic Starbucks orders that I'm pretty sure exist. No, vanilla latte is 100% the most basic order. Okay, all right, fair. I mean, a vanilla latte is just like milk basically. Right, right. Sweet milk.

Sweet milk. I mean, see, mine isn't actually that far off from years. I get an iced green machete, green matcha tea venti. or a latte with a coconut milk. That's it. Okay. It's simple. I like the coconut milk.

The coconut milk is great. All of my eggnogs have coconut milk in it, as people around the office know. There you go. Jacob can attest to that. So good. So unbelievably good. And everybody else that had asked for it left theirs in the fridge. I know.

It's just a disgrace. Yeah. Now it's just open, it's open game. So there's coquito on the fridge at work. If you work here, first come first serve. Go get some. That's what I'm saying. Except for Jacob.

Jacob gets more because he brought me back. I brought the jar back. I promised him if he did that he could have more. Wow. Gabriel asks, every playoff team has at least one MVP candidate. Do the debacks have a potential MVP candidate on the team to help them reach the playoffs? Jesse. Do they? And why is it Corbyn Carroll? That is the name. That is the name that I had in my head as well. If the debacks are going to be a playoff team next year, which a lot of things would have to go right for that to happen. It probably means that Corby and Carol went out and had like a pretty wild rookie season. And that is possible. It's not possible.

It's projected. I mean, I don't know if like a like MVP candidate year is projected. Like we looked at those numbers on Friday in our audio podcast. He's projected to hit like 250 with like a 770-ish OPS, something like that. That's not going to win you an MVP award. But yeah, like if Corby and Carol comes out next year with an OPS, in the high 800s or something. I mean, with his defense and his base running,

you really could be at the point where he's bordering on the level of like getting MVP votes at that point. So that's a lot to put on a guy who's played like 30 games in the big league. So I don't really want to go too far down that road. You want to say Catelle? You want to say Catele bounces back? No. No?

I mean like yes and no, right? You want to say it, but you're not going to. I want to say that Cotel will probably have a better year offensive I think he will have a better year offensively. I don't think he's going to be like they could tell from a couple years ago. And I also think the defense has taken a big enough step back at this point that there's really no path to Cotel being like an MVP caliber player unless he improves dramatically on

defense. Because right now he's kind of a big negative on that side of the ball. And so, I mean, he would just have to, he would just have to hit the head out of the ball in order to possibly, you know, balance out what you're getting from him on. defense with with the bat so there's a lot that would have to happen there i think marty set the bar bar kind of low last season and i think it feels like it feels like he's on you know like like the decline like he's regressing like yeah you know settling back in to more of maybe what he was when we originally traded for it is an odd numbered year ben is right it is an odd number

which inevitably means that both carson kelly and katel marty are about to have a 900 ops that was where i'm going with this yeah but also katel like i think katel has a lot of bright i really do. I think he's a laid back guy and he comes back, you know, comes across very laid back. But like, let's be honest. We talked about, uh, quite a bit about MLB basically suggesting he would be the best second baseman in all of baseball prior to last year's season. So he not only took a far fall from that. He didn't even come close to being. We were talking about that like a year ago, like right now, like right now. Yeah. Ketelmartie the best second basement in baseball. So, hey, maybe, you know, maybe he's not.

Right, but it doesn't mean that he doesn't have a good amount that he could bounce back this year. Yeah. Which we see him not only come back like you said offensively, but I think, you know, again, the bar has been set pretty low defensively, right? He was injured. He had a bunch of problems with his hamstrings. Not to mention it was his first year back at second base. And at times he just looked lost, right? Like, I mean, literally he looked like a goalkeeper in soccer like getting shook out of his boots going right when the ball's coming left and stuff.

So I think there's stuff like that that we will see from him that will improve. And I think, you know, we will see Catelle bounce back. If he can be the team MVP, then I think this team is going to be looking really good next year. All right. Do we got any more, Jacob? Uno Mas. All right, let's go. Uno Mas.

Final question. Are the dive backs out of contention already? Oh, man. Yes. That's so grim. That's so grim. Yeah. Yes.

The answer is. No. No? I didn't think you would be that pessimistic. No. I'm supposed to keep it together. The more pessimistic one I don't think he's going to say no. I know.

Well. I mean, out of contention already? No, the Diamondbacks aren't out of contention already. I mean, like, if contention means like, like, world series contention, I mean, it's going to be tough, right? Like, it's going to be tough. Plus 8,000, I think, on the draft kick sports.

Yeah, yeah. The odds aren't, aren't looking great. But the Philadelphia Phillies, just nobody expected them to really even make the playoffs necessarily. And not only did they do that, but they wound up in the World Series. and they did it winning 87 regular season games. How many times is that conversation going to be had in MLB, like, front office club houses around the league?

Yeah, that's fair. Like, we might suck, but hey, look what the Phillies did. Like, that is going to be said so many times next season. But I think it really does provide, like, a blueprint for the Diamondbacks to follow in some ways. Of, like, no, in Major League Baseball, you're never really out of contention unless you're, I don't know, like the Pirates or something with what they've done recently. like there's just no path for a team like that. Because they get great players and then they trade them away.

And then they trade them away. Yeah, Brian Reynolds is still out there. But yeah, like for the debacks, though, there is a path to them winning 87 games. And apparently with what the Phillies showed us and some other teams have showed us over the last couple of decades, you can, yeah, you can go pretty far with that. So no, they're not out of contention. But, you know, are they out of contention in the NL West? In some ways, that's a different conversation.

I might be more likely to say, yes, they are out of contention in the NOS. As far as winning the division, that would be very, very difficult for that. It's going to be. Luckily, next season, they don't have to play the NL West nearly as often due to the new schedule. So. Yeah. And Ben makes a great point. With all the young players, it's extremely hard to predict. Fott could be one of the best pitchers or a total bus.

Absolutely. Yeah. Like if Drey Jameson, Brandon Fott, and Ryan Nelson are all like number two starters, then like, oh, heck, yeah. Like, the T-backs could go pretty far next year. But yeah, you can't really bet on that. And like Ben said, it's just so unpredictable. It really is. Again, especially with this organization, honestly, you can't even predict based on their minor league production how well they'll do at a major league level.

So anyway, it's going to be fun to see. We're all going to watch it together. So you stick around right here. If you haven't done so already, download the Draft King Sportsbook app. It's our favorite sports betting app. And you can sign up right now with our code of PH&X, place a $5 pregame money line bet on any NBA team to win their games and get $150. and free bets. And guess what?

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Minimumum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. I want to give a shout out to our partner of the week, in my opinion, a partner of the month, partner of the millennium. I love this place pretty much more than I love eating lunch anywhere else. And that's the Chop Shop. Shout out to Chop Shop for making me feel like a million dollars after I eat a meal. Like, no offense to other foods. I don't mean to like drag other foods down here.

But rarely do I feel like running through a goddamn brick wall after eating my lunch like I do after eating Chop Shop. It's the only healthy food we really ever have in the office. He's not wrong. It's not wrong. We love our junk food around here, but occasionally chop shop is necessary. We stock plenty of junk food. But when it comes to the healthy stuff, we might not have those. Chop Shop, I get a spicy Korean bowl with brown rice.

Yes, I'm eating brown rice and sweet potato hash, and it's incredible. So make sure to check out our friends at Chop Shop. They will hook you up and make you feel wonderful as well. And honestly, when I go there for lunch, because I go there without you guys now. Wow, wow. All right. It's never not packed. So, you know, make sure to account for that.

It's a very popular place. So check Chop Shop out now and make sure you give yourself the best nutrition you can feed your body. In the meantime, you guys all have a wonderful rest of your day. We're going to be here all week. Jesse and I aren't going anywhere. We don't take time off for the holidays. We don't take time off for the fucking, you know, for the off season. We're sure as hell not taking time off for holidays.

So make sure to join us all week right here. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at Cap underscore Keman with K. This guy's at Jesse N. Friedman. Our show is at PHNX underscore Dbacks. but of course all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Again, we thank you guys so much for your questions and for joining us today on behalf of Faj, white hot Jesse Friedman and myself.

We always appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when your players don't go to the fucking Dodgers.