PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Diamondbacks add top-10 international prospect at opening of 2024 signing period

Episode Date: January 15, 2024

There’s no way it’s a coincidence that National Hat Day and MLB International Signing Day are the same day. We discuss the newest player to don a Diamondbacks hat, MLB.com’s no. 10 overall International prospect outfielder Adriel Rodney. We also have answers to your Mailbag Monday questions about who we think will have a breakout season in 2024 and which D-backs players we are recruiting for a heist. An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Michelob ULTRA: It’s only worth it if you enjoy it. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. https://www.michelobultra.com/Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See EmpireToday.com/PHNX for details.Sign up for Gila River Resorts & Casinos $1,000,000 Big Red’s Showdown! Stay in the game and get rewards; it’s that easy! https://www.gilamilliondollarshowdown.com/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.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!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head on over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find out where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. 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.

Hello and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX D-BACs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am your mayor of this wacky network of misfits. And I'm joined by said misfit, our father overlord himself, the one and only Jacob Franklin. Jacob, thank you for joining me, pal. No problem. I think it's only fitting that, you know, we replace one tall, lanky white man with another tall, lanky, white man. I mean, there's a good chance that most people,

I mean, if you just talk about FIP and Wobah and ERA Plus enough that no, people aren't even going to notice the difference, to be honest. But happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day to you. Happy National Hat Day. Happy International Signing Day in Major League Baseball. A lot of things going on today. What's your favorite hat, Jacob? What's the best Arizona guy in the back to that? In existence, I was going to say, have you ever seen like the Twitter account we raid dogs?

Yes. It's just heck across the front because that's my favorite hat of all time. Are you talking like new D-Backs hats? Yeah, I'm talking about like the new stuff. Oh, I mean, in general, like what's your favorite D-backs hat? Like, of all time. What's the best Diamondbacks hat? Well, that's awesome.

Is that too much to ask? Yeah, it's quite a bit, actually. It's probably got to be the black version of that hat with the copper D on it. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, the purple. Yeah, it looks really, really clean. That's a good one. It's not the correct answer, though.

This is the correct answer. It's this hat. This is the best hat, too. This is the best hat. It's funny, though, you bring up the copper, and the copper is the one thing that I love so much about that hat. And, I mean, teal is great. I love the way this looks. I think this really pops nicely.

I like the new combos, but copper. Copper should never have been abandoned. No, copper is a really good color when it comes to the state. obviously it's one of the five Cs if you've lived here your whole life and you did your fifth grade project on the state here it is it is one of the five Cs of Arizona Derek I will give you zero dollars if you can name all the other ones uh copper cotton climate citrus and cotton wait already said cotton did I say cotton I think I did said cotton what's the last one cattle cattle I was never going to get that I was no

It's a bit obscure. It's a bit obscure. Yeah, it's a bit obscure. But ski to all of our friends here today, by the way. I hope you guys all have your favorite Diamondbacks hats in mind. Drop them in the chat. Gabriel says the Black D and the Milkman hat are the goat. Those are great selections.

Black D is just, it goes so hard. Black, there go. That hat particularly, again, with the copper and the colors always look great. But there will be a new player donning the Arizona Diamondbacks hat with Internet. National Signing Day happening. The debacks have reportedly come to terms with two Dominican outfield prospects in Adriel Rodney and Belfi Rivera at Monday's

opening of the 2024 period. This is per Jesse Borek and Hesuce Canoe from MLB.com. Hesuz is a great guy, by the way. But yeah, this is an interesting signing, Jacob. And the reason why is, I'll tell you the exact reason why. Rodney is a 16-year outfielder, 16-year-old outfielder that reminds evaluators of Julio Rodriguez. It's not a bad comp.

If you're a baseball person, I saw something out there that said he is 16 years old, but he's already 6-1-180. That's a grown man. That's a grown man. That's a grown man. Yeah, that's taller than half the people in our office. And he, you know, I'm sure 90% of that 180.

pounds his muscles. So it's a guy that you don't want to cross because if he's already that size, just imagine the athleticism taking over as he gets a bit older. Now, we do have some little conflict here. So he is the number 10 ranked overall prospect, according to MLB.com. But Fangraphs actually has him ranked as their third overall international prospect, which is interesting. There's interesting there. They have the fan graph score, I think, of 45 plus. But yeah, very exciting about, you know, a future player, obviously 16 years old.

But this is what they had for the scouting grades for Adrian Rodney on a 20 to 80 scale for him. Let's take a look at that. Not bad. A lot of things above average here. 50 hit. Power 55. His run is 50.

Arm 55. Field 50. overall grade 55 for scouting grades there. Grades out again as a very well-rounded player overall and he's shown some nice power. Not a lot of information about his stats, but that's because he's 16 years old and there's not a lot of information in general out there about some of these kids this young. That's why. Again, and almost every, I think every major league baseball team had a scouting combine in the Dominican Republic. They're all kind of like a scouting academy that are all by each other.

And these are all the reasons why is because they can help these kids. And again, this isn't like a draft. This is a signing period. So these young players can opt for which teams they want to sign for. Yeah, it's really interesting. It's always so difficult for a lot of these people to grade of obviously over the last 10, 15 years, it's gotten, you know, it's a little more exact than it was. I think we've talked about this before when Yassiel Pueg signed with the Dodgers. It was one of those, like,

almost everybody was like, well, we got to go jump at the chance to sign our next international free agent, right? Because Yacil Pug was a superstar in L.A. at the time. And so I think, you know, while there's always been that connection Dominican, Cuban, Hispanic connection in the MLB, I think, you know, in that time period when everybody went out there to go get their top international free agent is kind of when we saw a turn

and people started getting out there to scout a little bit more. You ended up with your contracts that didn't pan out. I mean, obviously Diamondbacks fans are extremely familiar with he has money Tomas in that contract situation. Oh yeah. I think over time fans will start to see the fact that these teams are actually getting out there

and they're able to scout a lot better. But a lot of the times these kids are 16 years old when they're signing. And so it's really, really difficult for them to evaluate just exactly what they're going to be. Last year's class for the Diamondbacks was actually really beneficial. I think three of those players ended up in, you know, they ended up in the top 30. system so I'm really excited to see what Hazen can do they have a pretty large international bonus pool to use yeah they do they have one of the largest actually or they're in that group with like the guardians and a few other teams that have the largest amount to pull from yeah so it's

it you know sometimes it can be a craft shoot but it you know it's it's one of those like it might not be an exact science but you might end up with a gem and and that's just from the fact that things have gotten a lot more advanced when it comes for the team's abilities to send a scout down there. I think there are people that almost spend a good chunk of time down there evaluating these. Yeah. Yeah. That's why it's, it's kind of hilarious because I really didn't know until I looked it up on a map. The Diamondbacks like Academy in the Dominican Republic. And then you like kind of zoom out a little bit and there's like 20 other teams who have an academy right there in that same vicinity of where the Diamondbacks one is located, right? Scouting international talent is huge.

It is odd at times, like I said before, like you brought up a great point about Pugge, right? Where it almost felt like a trend in Major League Baseball to go after a top Cuban player due to the success of Yscia Pueg. Jose for you? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, well, and just not that. It's not just the ones that worked out necessarily. It's the fact that almost every team started looking into it at that point, considering that Cuban players did become available to Major League Baseball just recently. that's something that did change prior to that. It was literally an escaping from Cuba kind of situation at times, including for Ysiel Pueig, right?

What's what I think about now, though, is it it's kind of what's happening in a way with Japanese players, right? Like, it's not to say that Major League Baseball has not had Korean and Japanese players have success and be a part of the league. But it's like Shohei Otani was such a success, becoming one of the best players in the game, that I feel like that is causing this. like this trust, I guess you could say, in providing these large contracts to players overseas from Japan, from Korea, without seeing if they can find that success in Major League Baseball first,

just trusting based on what you've seen over there, knowing that those leagues are as competitive as Major League Baseball and that you can trust what you see in a guy like Yamamoto is going to translate over to playing in Major League Baseball, right? but this is this is still another weird part of baseball to me and i know it's part of all sports right to to scout guys scout players at a really young age but to sign a guy at 16 years old is just wild to me and that's uh what were you doing at 16 what were you doing at 16 with oh my god 16 years old i was completely lost as a person at 16 years old my parents had divorced my freshman year of high school, like that summer.

And I'd moved with my dad to Puerto Rico. And then my dad had a plan to move to New York and open a restaurant. So I was basically, like I had no, like, I felt like I had no home for a period of time there. I had no idea where I was going to go to school or in what city or what, like, if it was going to be a state or Commonwealth. There was a lot of things I did not know Jacob at 16 years old. but I definitely had no clue of what my future was going to be. And Michael, yes, I am still lost as a person.

If somebody handed you $1.8 million as a signing bonus at 16, what would you have done with the money? Spent it all on video games, spent every dime of it on video games. Wouldn't you still do that, though? I mean, look behind me right now. I think that that is obvious for sure. But this is an interesting signing again. And like I said, the intriguing part aside from the, you know, comparisons, obviously, to Julio Rodriguez, that's something you very much want to hear.

The fact that Fangraphs has them ranked so much higher than MLB.com is interesting to me. Yeah, it's, you know, like I said, a lot of this isn't in the exact science. A lot of these baseball pages, they don't have their own evaluators out there. They might send, you know, a guy or two, but a lot of these teams are sending people, there's what people don't. realize is a lot of these kids are actually playing in camps that are sanctioned by a lot of major league baseball teams of me the diamondbacks have a Dominican camp down there that they you know they have players that are a part of and their Dominican system and it's you know it's a good way for them to evaluate I think a lot of and I think this might be true for just any sport across the

board a lot of evaluation of these kids is based off of their raw physical abilities and so while MLB, you know, might be more apt to send somebody down there to scout a player. Fan graphs is, you know, they're probably sitting a little bit more in, you know, well, this kid's 6-1-170, like looking at the tape, like the raw power looks like it's, you know, it could grade out significantly higher than it already does. And it's a kind of a guess. You know, you can get a good, there are people that spend their lives looking at film and they can get very, very, very very good at it but i think that this just goes to show that even if you know MLB has him at 10

and fan graphs has him at three like it's people are going to disagree you know one guy sees one thing and another guy sees another and it's very true you can spend your whole life doing something but still have a different opinion than somebody does and it's wild how it you you just never know how it's going to translate over. You never know ultimately, even with drafting these kids, because baseball is just a weird sport like that. It takes so much more than raw talent to be a quality major league baseball player. And part of it is going through these years and years and years of honing your craft and refining your skill set to be ready to play at a major league level, right? But I mean, we'll talk about that more later, of course, and especially,

in comparison to other sports. I do want to thank you guys, of course, for being here in the Ph. and Exports YouTube channel right now, though. I want to thank, of course, everybody for spending maybe your day off. I hope you have your day off today. If not, if you're at work, you know, you're always welcome here. But regardless, make sure you subscribe to the channel.

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If you're listening on the audio podcasting side, we love you, too. I want to make sure you're, subscribed over there as well and make sure you leave us a review we appreciate those five-star reviews very much of course if you want to check out a great way to improve your home improve your space empire today is a great way to do that you can do it with video games if you're a man-child like me but if you want to have a classy nice home with good flooring make sure to do it through empire today they make it shopping at home easy and convenient as as as damon makes us

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See Empire Today.com slash PHNX for details. And of course, even though I'm staying home, I'm still stopping by Circle K because I need myself a drink. I need to fill up my car with gas to make sure I get the week started right. And of course, Circle K is the best place to do that, especially when you are a member of the Inner Circle Program. Inter Circle Rewards will allow you to get 25 cents off per gallon for your first five Phillips. You also get three cents off per gallon for every fill-up. After that, you get a ton of offers in the app for free, including for food, buy one, get one free, just blatantly free stuff. Circle K's just giving it away to you for free. And that is also how much the Inner Circle Rewards program costs.

It's absolutely free. You can join it, Inner Circle. for free by downloading the Circle K app today. Terms and conditions apply, participating locations, see CircleK.com for details. Jacob, glad you're here. And I'm glad we can finally, once again,

do this on an actual Monday because regardless of the month, of course, every month on this show is Black History Month. Every show, every month on this show is Women's History Month. Every month on this show is Black Women's History Month.

It's also always Shark Week every week around here. Every day is international signing day. And of course, on Mondays, we go to the mailbag. Damon, shall we? My mailbox. 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. What is our first mailbag Monday question? This one comes from D-Backs MT. That's at Jeff Irving, 16, on the Twitter. And he asks, not really a question, but interesting note, the Fangraps is Adrile Rodney,

ranked above Shoda Imanaga in their international prospect rankings. Cubs gave Imanaga 80 million. He's also above Eric Fetty. Interesting there. And again, like you said, there's obviously a big difference there between a 16-year-old kid and players who are going to contribute to their team right now, right?

So I think that rankings are rankings, but it's all meaningless when it comes to when you're going to contribute and if you're actually going to be better than those players, right? Yeah, unless you're Scott Boris, then you'll sit there and say that Eric Fedet was the, you know, the most talked about guy in existence. He was the most important relief pitcher of the off season period,

and that's a fact. And there's, I mean, and then that showed in his contract that he's extremely, you know, he got paid at least $7 billion. dollars but it's you know it's one of those things where it's like you hope that every move that you make is going to pan out and it's so easy to get caught up and looking at rankings and all of this and all of that at the end of the day if i was an evaluator at least on paper

shoda imanaga has plenty of tape you know in a high level situation yeah that's the difference. Now, does he possess the same amount of tools? Maybe not. Two very different guys, obviously, one being an outfielder, one being a pitcher. So really hard to put one up against the other. So, you know,

I'm going to be interested to see where this lands. Once again, it seems like this team has a knack for really toolsy outfielers. It's one of those, like, does he even have a 16? So like, you might not even hear his name again for the next six years, right, unless he's Bryce Harper and he'll hit the big leagues at 18.

You know what I mean? Yeah, like you never know. Like I never hear his name again, period. Like you might not make it as a major league baseball player or, you know, even even a minor leaguer in the major league system. Like you just, you never know how things, especially for a 16 year old, are going to pan out. Yeah. So it's, you know, like right now on paper, I'd probably take the more sure thing with

Shoda. I'm not sure he's a sure thing. MLB, but he has a tangible contract. He's on a big league roster and he's probably going to make the opening day rotation. You know what I mean? Like he's going to be a piece of what the Cubs are looking to do this year. And so it's, it's great to look at rankings and be like, well, yeah, we didn't get Shoda, but we got this kid who's 16 and ranked higher by Fangrafs than Shoda is. But at the end of the day, one's going to be on a big league roster at the start of the year and the other isn't. Yeah. And the other isn't for a very long.

time. So that's for sure. But the debacks, again, investing in their future and hopefully the scouting, you know, and, you know, some of the luck they've had with finding some of those good players, you know, deep, not really, you know, getting guys that people know of and then having them become a player, a name you recognize is kind of their thing. What else we got, Damon? Rick Hughes at DB11S3 on Twitter. Ask any word on how the team plans to ramp up Gallant and Kelly. after the deep run and short recovery time. I've witnessed teams botched that and have terrible start, i.e. the 2019 Red Sox.

I trust the Yoda pitching, but should we expect a different look to the spring training ramp up? I don't think so because I think Merrill Kelly had a very odd start to his season last year with the World Baseball Classic and everything, you know, just the way that his, you know, off season went. I feel like starting pitchers kind of use spring training. in a different manner where spring training is not, like they're not competing for a job.

Zach Gallen isn't competing for a job. Merrill Kelly isn't competing for a job. So there's a chance that they could just work on some things against, you know, competitive at-bats. And that's it. And that might be what they use their spring for. But I don't think there'll be a problem. I just think that, like, for the most part, you know, again,

the extra time off is always good, especially for a season like baseball. So maybe they give them a lighter workload in the beginning or something of the sort. But I doubt it. These guys are athletes. They're out there training year-round anyway, even though it's an off-season. Not many of them are taking the three months off and going on a fishing trip like baseball players used to at one time. Derek, are you a superstitious human?

I'm not superstitious, but I'm a little stitious. Do you believe in the World Series Hangover? No, I mean, not really. I think, I guess there is something to be said about like patting yourself on the back a little too much, you know, after you achieve something, even if you didn't win the World Series beginning as far as they did. I think that there could be the adverse effect where that makes them hungry to get back to the playoffs and back to that championship, you know, game or that championship series and try to win it this time. So I don't really know. I mean, a lot of it, I think, depends on, you know, how Tori kind of motivates this team and keeps them focused. I don't think that's going to be a problem for him.

He has a, I feel like Tori has a great understanding of life and getting, you know, like right now, getting that break away from baseball, not even talking about it until, you know, you get back to the field and things like that. But it's just different. You know, you see these guys like Gabby Moreno out there in a son's full son's uniform. you know, taking, taking at bats, taking, hitting off a tee. The Diamondbacks put that incredible video out there, Cotell Marte training. And I think that's in the Dominican Republic.

But just fire me up. And I am so, I'm, I'm, I'm, you know, these guys aren't, these guys aren't, you know, like I said, they're not relaxing. They're not, you know, kind of sitting back and, and just like being satisfied with how far they made it. From the looks of things, these guys are all locked in and,

ready to get back there next year. Yeah, I agree. So the world's, and I think this goes for any professional sport, everybody always assumes the teams who make it to the championship, experience some sort of hangover the next year, things they struggle early on in the season. Now, I will say the only position group that I actually do believe that a deep run in the playoffs makes an impact on is your starting pitching. So I do slightly disagree with what you said a little bit earlier.

I do think that early in spring training, we won't see a lot of those guys starting games. Obviously, they're still going to be putting the work in behind the scenes. I don't think they're going to be making a lot of pitches until later in spring training in live game situations. I don't disagree with you about that. I'm sorry if I made it sound different. I said like those guys don't have anything to worry about. So if anything, they're going to be working on stuff.

But yeah, no, I mean, I could see that. could see them not starting a couple of the early spring training games and not needing to be up. I mean, I could even see them getting ramped up on the backfield and such at times. Like, again, I don't know if the live at bats is going to be as important for, again, Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly as it is for Ryan Nelson, Tommy Henry and some of those other guys that are going to go out there competing for a spot. Yeah, Zach, I think Zach Allen, I don't remember the exact figure, but I think by the end of the year, he had thrown over like a hundred innings more.

more than any of his previous highs. So, I mean, it takes, it taxes those guys a lot, especially when you make a deep run in the playoffs because you're running, what, a three, four-man rotation? I mean, obviously we didn't have a fourth man. They were running a bullpen game every fourth game. But you're pitching more than you were, and so your arm does take a little bit of a beating.

That shoulder's probably a little more sore, but it doesn't take longer than, what, a month, two months like to get some of that rest that they need after the end of the season so well we might not see them in live situations I do think that they're going to be taking their reps in the backfields

I do think that they're going to be working out with the team you know I do trust Brent Strong he's been there before with the Astros he knows exactly what it looks like trying to get arms ready for the next season following a deep playoff run so I'm not worried about it at all I do you know if if Zach Gell

Allen goes out there, Merrill Kelly goes out there and starts, you know, in one of the first two weeks in spring training and pitches at three or four in the game, maybe I'll have a question or two because, you know, like I'm all about preserving arms, especially with this team's hopes. You know, I think last year, the hope was that they were going to be a wildcard team. This year after watching last year, I think everybody's expectations are probably a bit higher in LCS while, you know, this is not a wildcard team anymore. will they get a wild card spot, depending on what the Dodgers do. Like, I think most people are expecting the Dodgers to run away with this division with the roster that they have. But I think the expectations are another deep playoff run. And I think in order to achieve that, you probably do need to rest those guys a little bit towards the beginning of the year.

But that's every team. I mean, Zach Allen's not going to go out there for a nine inning complete game on opening down. He's probably going to get pulled after five minutes. Yeah, yeah. No, that's the truth. That's for sure. And honestly, I think, again, it's, there were a lot of extra innings put on their arms, obviously, more than, than, you know, most starting pitchers in baseball just based on the fact that they were, uh, Zach Allen, for instance, had had, you know, his best year as far as durability is concerned. And then he also made that deep playoff run. We know Merrill Kelly pitched a little less, but he pitched 200 innings last year. And I mean, Merrill Kelly, again, is, is a guy that, uh,

probably wants to go out there on day one of spring training and get the ball, but they'll, you know, they'll know what they're doing. Like, I, the thing I agree with you the most about is Brent Strom has handled playoff teams. He's won the World Series before and he's known how to come back the following year and,

and make sure that that bullpen was ready to go. So I think if there's anybody, I feel comfortable with, uh, putting my trust in when it comes to that. It's, it's, it's,

it's, yeah. He's been there than that. Yeah. Elise says, so don't buy tickets. to deback spring training games in early March and expect to see Zach or Merrill pitching a few

innings, correct. That's correct. And then Michael also is correct when he says, but at the same time, early spring training games are the best because there aren't as many people. Also true. Also true. You've got to find that. You'll probably see a healthy dose of Waller. Like, you're going to see a healthy dose of Jordan Lawler,

the spring training, which that's always a great reason to buy tickets. Spring training for me was always a great way to go see the prospect. because it's one of those like a guy like Jordan Luller is going to be carried through basically the entirety of camp until the last cut mark, right? He's not going to get cut in the first week like some of those 19-year-old kids are. Like he's going to get carried until the end. And so that's always worth the price of admission if you're asking me. You're going to get a dose of Blake Walston.

You're going to get to see a lot of guys that we haven't had a chance to see very much. So it's going to be fun to go out there and see the young guys, especially considering that this team is going to continue to utilize. prospect from their minor league system in order to fill gaps. There's going to be a need at times for some of these guys. They're on a 40-man roster to come up and be a part even maybe of the starting rotation. So go see them now. Bring your baseball cards.

It's a great time to get them signed. What else we got, Damon? Michael Rokickey says, with today being MLK Day, if you could make a list of the top five all-time African-American D-backs players, who would be on it? Well, yes, this is totally something that too Caucasian, very, very Caucasian, we're very qualified to speak up looking men should, should handle for sure. But it's, it is interesting, right? Because one thing that is kind of a struggle is that the Diamondbacks haven't had a lot of

African-American players. There's been plenty of Spanish players. What? There's been enough. There has been enough to make it. There has been. But I'm just saying in general, like it's, it's kind of weird. because baseball, it's a problem that goes beyond just the Diamondbacks organization, right?

And I really think at the end of the day, it's a problem with baseball itself. I think that if you are a very, very athletic person that even if you love baseball, from looking at it from the standpoint of what baseball players have to go through to get to Major League Baseball, if you played any other sport, why would you pursue baseball? makes it so hard for you to reach that goal of making it to, you know, the major leagues of baseball versus other sports that don't, you know, make it such a hard process to like get through the minor league system in order for you to get to that, you know, to, to the, to where you want to be in life, right? I mean, I don't know. I just, I sometimes think that if,

if I had a choice of which sport to play, baseball would probably, even though I love, I love playing baseball. Baseball is so much fun to play. It's literally like football sucks to play. Football is not fun. I mean, did you see the picture of Pat Mahalman with his helmet cracked? Who wants that? Yeah. Did you see the the husband and wife law team guy in that commercial taking hits? That dude was taking hits. First of all, let's give. They're all right at a place. And I feel like that man did not walk straight the next day. They're all over the place. Those those two, they're all over the place. Yeah. I don't understand. Yeah. That's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's a whole other episode.

But all right, yeah, let's top top five African-American players in on the Diamondbacks organization. You and I disagree. You and I disagree on number one. About number one. Yeah. Yeah. I say Justin Upton is number one. You say O'Dong.

I say O'Dong. From a pure, likable standpoint. And in his three years here was a 300 hitter with, you know, plenty of flare, a couple of gold gloves. I think for, from a standpoint of this fan base, I honestly think Orlando Hudson, and I could be crazy for saying this, did just as much for this organization as Justin Upton and was probably a better human. Yeah, I mean, I'll tell you, though, I think Justin Upton was just, and I hate to say this, he was just a vastly misunderstood guy that was, you know, had a role thrust upon him that he

was never interested in having. But, yes, Tony Womack has to also be in this. discussion. I mean, you could probably make a case for all three of these guys to be number one or kind of interchangeable there at the top for their contributions to the Diamondbacks. I mean, again, Tony Womack's contributions to that World Series team often get overshadowed by, you know, like the big hit there at the end or, you know, the way that Randy Johnson came in in game seven and did what he did. But Tony Womack was a part of all of that. And even going back in like the NLDS and stuff, he was an absolute.

stud for this team during that playoff run. Yeah, if he was and I think people underestimate the fact that I think it was his hit in the ninth inning that actually goes down as one of the top five most clutch hits in MLB history. It's not even the Gonzo hit. It's not the

gracy hit. It's Tony Wormack double. You know, the situation that he was in facing one of the greatest closures of all time, it goes down in history. You know, for me, I think it goes probably Orlando Hudson first. probably Justin Upton second from a you know for for me you have to remember that I'm looking at this list from the perspective of somebody that was born in 1997 um so how you perceive some of these guys and how I perceive some of these guys it's gonna be different there you just a little bit a little bit older than me um so so while Tony Wilmack probably falls into three at that list it's because I don't remember it I don't remember any of his time here um and and for me uh as a as a, you know, I think I was 10 watching Justin Upton take hacks for this team, 10, 11, 12.

When he left to the organization, he left in such a way that I kind of, you know, like, I was in the time period of my life where I idolized a lot of these guys. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And it was one of those, like, it crushed my, like, it crushed me when he was like, I don't want to play here. They suck. And like, no matter what Orlando Hudson did, he was always happy to be here.

He did everything with a smile on his face. And so that's what kind of puts him at one up and two. let Womack 3 and then we can go from there for me. I'm sure yours is different. No, I mean, yeah. I mean, that's the, like I said, I don't think there's a wrong answer when it comes to those guys. Tommy Pham?

Yeah, Saul and I talked about this this morning. He said Tommy Fam fits the list. But he mentioned Junior Spivey. Junior Spivey was incredible. Tony Clark. Yeah, Tony Clark is a good choice of. LBPA right now. Yeah.

Or at least he was for a while. I don't know if he still is, but also a really great dude. Adam Jones, a name that you brought up. That's my guy. That's Mr. America. So he slats in a court for me because I love Adam Jones so much. He might not have been a, you know, a great player while he was here. But from a, from a fan perspective, having, having Mr. USA on our team was, that was fun.

And he loved my shirts. He loved my button up patterned shirts. I don't think, like I said before on this program, he remembered me. Like every time he told me he liked my shirt, it sounded like the first time he was talking to me ever. But he just, he always complimented my shirt. So that puts him at number two on this list for me. That's the way that that works for me. But no, I mean, again, some just absolute great players in this franchise.

Junior Spivey you brought up, man, that guy, I was an huge, huge junior spivey fan. Just huge. That guy. People in the chat mentioned Chris Young. Chris Young. Yeah. Chris Young's another guy that was absolutely incredible. He had some thump and played a great defensive center field.

This team has been blessed with some really, really great defensive center fielders. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. What else we got there? Damon, we got another question. Got one more, I think. From Ryan?

No, maybe not. Nope. That's not it. We already got that one. I got it, even if we don't. Ryan asked any update on if there will be a fan fest this year, the people want to know. So I don't have an update on fan fest, and I feel like at this point, it's getting very late. Chances are, if there is a fan fest, it's going to be like what we saw last year, where it is for season ticket holders only.

but this is purely speculation. I legitimately have investigated and looked into it and have not received it. Let me reach out to some people. Let me reach out to some people. You reach out to some people and see if we can provide some information because, again, I know that last year, part of it had to do with like the Super Bowl chaos that was going on downtown.

And I think they were just trying to limit potentially how many people came over to check out Chase Field. Like I made the case last year. If you're here in town for the Super Bowl and you're staying downtown and Chase Field is just having an open house day with like bounce houses and stuff, you're going to go check it out. There's a chance that if that particular one was open to the public like it normally is, it might have just been chaos. I do know that they also have discussed wanting to provide additional benefits to their season ticket holders and that that's part of the reason why they went with the advantage member only. you know kind of fan fest that they did last year yeah and it's it's one of those like i never really went to fan fest but i can understand where people are coming from when when they desperately

want to go to fan fest because oh it's great especially after a run like this i mean what team doesn't like money first and foremost and that's you're going to rake in the money after a world series run so i really hope that they can figure this out um you know i don't know what the whole was last year. I don't really remember what it was, but, you know, people deserve a chance to connect with their team on a deeper level. Yeah. So I think, you know, it's, I really, I really, really hope that they're able to figure it out. I mean, I think that one thing is, is, and people are saying it in the chat, like, this is a huge missed opportunity after the success of this team in the World Series. You want to build your fans, right? You also want to make money. Making money is also

very good, Jacob. It's my point about the jerseys. Like, I'm a reasonable person. I understand why the jersey situation is what it is because they had the plan to change, you know, the situation. I use the Josh Dobbs jersey from the Minnesota Vikings way too often. But literally, the guy became a part of their team the next week. He was, you know, he ran a game winning drive. And then they had his jersey available in the team shop. Not a customizable one. but an actual jersey you could buy, right? A replica. I know things take time, but also there's ways to make things take less time. There's also ways to expedite the process because of the fact that you are in the World Series, right? Like I said, the Lordus Guriel Jr. jersey is an all-star

game jersey, not a Diamondback's jersey, an All-Star game jersey. They did not know Lordus Guriel Jr. was going to be on the All-Star team two years ago, three years ago, a year ago, that that happened quickly. That happened suddenly. And they still were able to, to produce a replica jersey in time to make it available on the team shop, not only for the All-Star game, but beyond that, right? The fact that, and you can go watch my jersey and hear my video and hear me screaming. Where are the jerseys? Give us the jerseys.

But it's just like, dude, it's a matter of like, I know merchandise isn't the core driver of the money that they spend on this team, but they are literally turning money away. And while I appreciate the fact that they didn't put out jerseys of, of, you know, that they were going to replace the next year. Like, as a fan, I don't want to buy an Alec Thomas jersey that then they replace the next year. That sucks.

However, this team went to the World Series. So that is different. You know, like, you almost want maybe one of those jerseys from that year so that you have it as a memory of the remarkable run that this team went on. And like, I just feel like I view it differently when you're talking about a team that made it to the World Series. I know the World Series jerseys weren't. very snazzy. I know they weren't very different. I know they just had the little diamond

world series logo on it, but just sports has one of those available with no, no player on the back. And I think that that's absurd that replicas were made with the little logo here, right? But not with Carol on the back, not with, you know, Moreno, not with any of these guys, Gallin that got them to the World Series. It's, it's just a huge missed opportunity. People, again, want to spend their on these things and you're literally not allowing them to. Jerseys next year are going to pop off. People are going to spend their money on the new jerseys. They literally can't wait for them to come out.

One of our listeners, Nick, Nicholas, went down to Chase Field just to get his customized. He got the new cream one and he got it customized. Like, that's awesome that he did that, but it's ridiculous that he had to. That's what I'm saying. But anyway, we'll go on and I'll calm myself down about that. but if they don't have fan fest, it's a huge, huge, huge missed opportunity.

And again, you can do it for season ticket holders, but that's even kind of a missed opportunity, really. Really what you want to do is you want to invite in new fans, you want to welcome them, and you want them to be a part of the 2024 season. We have plenty of room for bandwagon fans on this wagon. Join us, be a part of this thing that we're building here in the valley. All right.

Well, again, we thank you guys for being, diehard members if you are one talking about building stuff here in the valley if you're not a diehard member yet make sure to go grab one over at go p hnx.com become part of our family get yourself a free t-shirt for the p hnx locker dot com and so much more including discounts with our partners jesse's newsletter all of our content access to the discord lounge discounts on events like our takeover coming up in july where we're going to be at the pool at chase field why not get a discount on that hop on it become a member now and join us. Do that thing and be part of the family.

Michael says if you're not a diehard, then what are you doing? I mean, the events are endless. I mean, we're running events all the time. Oh, man. Yeah, to be able to get a discount event. Really fast, by the way. Pudding World, again, I never would have thought

I would have had as much fun going to putting world as I did without windmills and without, you know, giant clown mouths to, you know, shoot the ball into. but this was a blast when we went out there as a team. We had one of our team meetings out there, and then we got to enjoy the putting world. So you should join us for this putting party that we're having on January 24th. I will be out there with the Sun's crew.

There's going to be drinks. There's going to be beers. There's going to be wine. It's going to be all sorts of stuff. It's going to be a great time. So make sure to join us for that. Also, if you want to make all sports more fun, including watching Sun's game,

make sure to download the BetMGM Sportsbook app now. get down on that, of course, on iOS or Android, or you can visit betmgm.com. If you do, you can sign up and deposit at least $5 into your account and use our promo code of PHNX. You place a wager in that amount of at least $5 at a standard odds price, and you will receive $158 in bonus bets regardless of the outcome of your wager. I wagered this weekend on the Cleveland Browns and they let me down. No surprise there. No surprise. I feel like that was the actual full Cleveland Brown's experience.

If I'm being honest, I got my hopes up. I thought they were going to win and do something spectacular. And, of course, three of the four legs of my parley hit, the one that didn't being Brown's money line. But you can be better than I am and sign up over at BetMGM. Use that bonus code of PH&X. Place your first BetMGM Sportsbook Wager through the Sportsbook mobile application of at least $5. you will receive $150 instantly in additional winnings regardless of your wager's outcome.

Check out the show notes for full details. And now listen to Shane. Talk about the disclaimer. Call 1-800 gambler. Colorado, D.C., Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming. Call 8778-Hope-N-Y or text Hope and Y. 4-6-7-369 New York.

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make sure to check out game time if you want to experience the joy of concert, shows, events, sporting events, all sorts of fun stuff. Do that now. Of course, if you don't want to miss out, this is the place for last minute ticket deals. Now, I'm a very poor person. planner. I miss out on announcements for when tickets go on sales for things all the time. Not to mention the fact that I always convince myself, I'm not going to want to go until the

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Damon, what else we got? Next question comes from Kyle Dannen. Kyle asks of our young core of our young core players, who would you pick to have the highest likelihood of a breakout season outside of both Corby as I believe they have both already broken out? What do you think? Jacob, I'll let you know. I think the easy answer is obviously probably Jordan Lawler, just because you know that he's probably going to get a bulk of playing time this year, because at some point they're going to have to figure out what they have in him.

However, I'm not going to go with the easy answer here because I feel like that's a little bit of a cop-out. I think if this team wants to be as good as it can be, I think an emergence of Jake McCarthy is needed. Let's go. I had a similar answer. I think Jake McCarthy really, really needs to show us just exactly what he can do because from a base stealing perspective, I think he's neck and neck with Corbyn. I think he's also a guy that can net you 50 bases. Obviously, there were a few holes in his swing last year that he really just struggled

to get patched up between AAA and the major league level. But he had really started to put a good swing. on the baseball before the playoffs. And it was really unfortunate to see him go down with the injury because I do think that he probably would have contributed some late game, pinch running, a lot of those factors. But I really want to know just what he's capable of this year because you need to know whether he's your guy until Drew Jones is ready to go or if you need to move on and figure out another answer.

I mean, it's just one of those like he's going to get some significant playing time, but what does he do with it? You know what I mean? He's a really big question mark right now. Yeah. Elise in the chat says, I don't even know if Jake will be on the team next season, depending on what trades Mike makes. But if he is, that is a good choice too. Remember, Elise is a known baseball GM. So I feel like she knows something there that we don't already. But it is what it is. Yeah. String in the bats together is going to be really important for this team. Oh, yeah. Oh, I have a second choice. And I think that Ryan Nelson is going to have a breakout season. I know that I'm looking to Tommy Henry, but I think Ryan Nelson is a guy that showed us in the playoffs when he came out of the bullpen and did what he did, you know, what he was made of.

And I was pretty impressed by that. I think that, you know, there's going to be a lot of competition for that spot. I think obviously they will be without Dr. Jameson for all of next year. So I think, you know, of those two guys, I think Ryan Nelson, might be the one that emerges and actually takes a hold of that, you know, that, that fifth spot in the starting rotation. And I, again, I, I, I still feel like competition for that spot is great for this team. And I really don't, as much as we'd probably like to see them, you know, go after somebody in free agency or make a trade. I just feel like there is something to be said about Ryan Nelson. And you could be right, Nicholas. There could be a chance that Ryan has that breakout season out of the bullpen instead of necessarily being a starting

pitcher. Great. That's what the team needs. Yeah. I mean, contribute. I mean, Dre Jameson's still injured for the first half of the year.

Like, contribute. If you can figure out a way to contribute, I'm. Yeah. Yeah. Mark also makes a great point. Have we ever seen Elise and Mike Hazen together,

like in the same room at the same time? No. I haven't. No. I haven't. Definitely. That's, I mean,

that's, it's, it's the, fact is, is we haven't, right? We're not making any accusations here. But if Mike Hazen were to be in here, he would probably be crafty enough to not necessarily have his, you know, screen name be like hike Mason, right? Like, it's going to be something like Elise. He's going to be smart enough to really- He is Elise. I think it's confirmed. That's what it is. All right. Well, what else we got there, Damon? Travis Moore at Moore for me asks, is Blaze Alexander

just destined to become a trade ship what's his value it's starting to feel like it it really did feel like blaze alexander is destined to become a trade chip uh i mean he's uh he's not getting any younger as far as being in this diamondbacks organization and i mean i think much like jordan lawler part of it is you you don't want him sitting on the bench you want him getting continuous at bats in triple a rather than having him be necessarily a backup up here on the major roster, but I do feel like Blaze could be part of a trade package that we see the Diamondbacks put together potentially. I just think that they really at this point are getting kind of thin as far as their, you know, top prospects and they would really need to see a

significant return to part with someone like Alexander. Yeah, I mean, he's hit just about everywhere he's gone in the minor league system. He's, you know, he's got some, yeah, he's got some significant pop from where he's at. It's really interesting because for a long time, time I think Diamondbacks fans lived with this team just to having a really, really bad farm system. So it's one of those, this is kind of the territory that comes with being able to build up an elite farm, right? Like it's one of those, you're hitting this point where you've got Zach Gallen for two more years. And does Blaze Alexander fit that timeline? Because, you know, and I'm just talking guarantees here, right?

I've been more optimistic than some people that, you know, Gowan is, you know, maybe going to stick around longer than his two years. Merrill's got two years left. But you have to look at the now. And Blaze, if you think he's the logical backup to Perdomo this year, then great. But are you omitting Lawler at that point? Because you've got three guys. One, Perdomo, had a breakout season last year, All-Star.

I mean, do you think that Blaze is the guy to back him up until Lawler's ready? Do you want Lawler getting the consistent reps in AAA? It's just a math. It's a mess. Yeah, exactly. It's what happens when you have positional depth because at some point, somebody's going to be the odd man out and you trade from the positional depth. So at this point, yeah, Blaze Alexander's probably trade.

He's probably a trade piece. And look what, I mean, just the Diamondbacks were the recipient of that when you look at Gabriel Moreno, right? That's exactly what happened in Toronto. They have this stud in Gabriel Moreno and they also have these studs that are part of the major league roster already and they have no idea when Moreno is even going to get playing time. You know, so that made him expendable, but it doesn't make it hurt any less to Toronto Blue Jays fans that he is doing as well as he is here. They're happy for him, but they also didn't want to lose him. They also don't want to see him go on to be the guy that he has become for this Diamondbacks team

just because you want that. Even though you have a good catcher at home, you still don't want your good young players. Blaze could be that. Blaze could be the guy that goes to plays for another organization. And we instantly regret it because we see him have success. But you have to still ask, when was he going to have that opportunity with this current roster?

I don't know. I do think that no job is safe right now. Zach Gallen is safe. Corby and Carroll's safe. A couple of guys are safe. Nobody's safe, though. No one can rest on their laurels. All of these guys are competing for a job.

And if someone like Blaze comes up and impresses during spring training, you bet you're asked that they're going to give them a shot. Like, there's no doubt about it. Like, you got to stay at the top of your game because there is somebody always waiting to take your spot, sometimes waiting in the wings, sometimes waiting in Reno. You know, like that's a fact of baseball and all sports, really. Yeah, I mean, it'll be interesting. It's an issue, but it's a good issue.

I'd rather have this issue than like, like, like Mark said, I'd rather have this issue than not knowing who is going to replace by subpar player that's currently on my major league roster because I'd rather have somebody that's like, well, we have an all-star shortstop, but we've got, you know, two guys waiting in the wings that are trying to steal his job. I covered this team during the Dave Stewart era, okay? There was a time where not only was the team terrible, but there was nothing on the horizon. There was nothing to look forward to into the future. There was not like I remember how just how horrible it was to be a fan during that period of time. And again, like Mark said, there's organizations that are dealing with that. They don't even know what their direction is.

The Diamondbacks very much so have a direction. And in fact, they're, you know, ahead of schedule. So that's what makes this team fun to watch is it feels like they're built for the future, but they're also competing now. So that's going to be just fun to watch. Speaking of Mark, let's get to Mark's question. It's the Don's Bread question of the day. That's an aggressive, he has an aggressive screen title now, screen name.

But Donne's Bread, aka Mark, asked if you had to pull off a heist using the debacks, who would you recruit for your heist? All the fast guys. That's a mistake right there. See, you need a well-rounded crew, Jacob. You need a well-rounded crew. Tori. First of all.

Tories. No, I'm going with Brent Strom. First of all, I'm getting Brent Strom as my point man. Brent Strom is going to help me plan this heist because Brent Strom has catalogs on each player. Do you realize, like if you said Brent, we're going to go rob the Phoenix Children's Museum. And I don't know why we would do that, but I'm just saying that's where our heist is perhaps going to be. Maybe there's a priceless diamond on display there. They have things rotate in and out.

I don't know. What were you thinking? The Science Center or something? We're stealing a. sea lion from Odyssey Aquarium is what we're doing. It doesn't matter the heist. I want Brent Strom there. He's going to have schematics. He's going to have blueprints. He's going to be ready to go. He's also going to help me pick the rest of the crew. And of course, yes, Corby is part of that crew. Speed,

savvy. He just contributes a lot. I feel like, yeah, mental, mentally, he's really. He's that guy. He wants the ball when the game's on the line. Like he's just that dude. Right. Now, we're going to need a contortionist. And for some reason I think Gabby Moreno is going to be good at that. I have no information to back that up. This is once again, it's purely speculation, but we're going to need somebody to get into small spaces. And I think Moreno's the guy for that. His purple hair really doesn't help to not attract attention to him. But that's fine, because I'm going to send him in with Lordis Gouriel Jr. And the two of them together with their purple hair, people are just going to instantly think

that there's some sort of like Cirque de Soleil act or some sort of traveling, you know, something, you know, like some clowns maybe. I don't know. I don't know. I don't want the clowns, that's the wrong word, but definitely something in an entertainment field. Who else do we need to add to this? Ami Al-Adi. Oh. He's the brains. I mean, he's the guy.

I know you mentioned Brett Strom's got the list, but like, Ami El-Sade is the guy. Most people don't realize that like, you know, we give a ton of credit to Mike Hazen for building. And he deserves, he deserves his flowers. But he put together. He assembled a crew. and that crew helped him pull off a heist and that heist was getting Gabriel Moreno from the Toronto Blue Jays, essentially.

There's a guy, and it's on the El Sade. A lot of the farm system comes from him. Connor gave us an excellent job, and that was we're stealing the new replica jerseys from Fanatics and actually selling them the fans. That's what we're stealing. That's absolutely it. Alec Thomas's contributions to this squad.

What are we thinking here? Are we just choosing the whole roster now? Like a good five, six-man crew here for a job this size. I don't know. Alec Thomas, he feels like the face, like face from 18, right? He's the charming guy that can go in and talk to people. I know I've been charmed every time I've talked to him. I can only imagine Alec Thomas going in with his good looks and everything to, you know,

obviously, you know, talk his way into a building of some kind. He'll get us into the fanatics warehouse. He's the one that's telling them that he has a, load of shipments in the box inside the box gabriel marano and ale thomas or no i i have corbin carroll maybe corbin carroll's in the box too i don't know this job is all over the place but uh charles woodall pike says uh the the only correct answer uh is pavement smith and i don't know if that's in regards to this job or not but yeah let's bring pavin into why not you got anything that jacob he's not so

and he's he's he's very tall not so inconspicuous yeah he's not threatening though you know you're not going to believe he's involved in a crime but if you're robbing something don't you want people that are kind of threatening in case

you get caught you need again you need you need a well-rounded crew Jacob you need a well- have like 15 people though because that's too many could tell us you gotta split the pot okay now we just have no next question we just listed every player on the roster.

This question is done. Getaway driver. His plates are probably expired. All right. What else we got? Last question. This one comes from Chris. Of course, our PHNX mom.

And Chris asks, make a baseball team out of the PHNX DBEX, Faithful. What's your lineup? If Faithful includes Damon and Danielle, Damon and Danielle are my number three, number four hitters. We're not getting into this argument again. I'm putting them in the lineup, Jacob. I mean, it's interchangeable. Once again, one can be three, one can be four.

I'm definitely having Mark Salary in there. Mark and actually, Gabriel. Gabriel's in here. I'd have Gabriel in my starting lineup. Connor Mormon would probably be a power bat. I think Connor would be a great part of this. Obviously, Elise is the GM of the team. There's no question.

Yeah, I was going to say, we already have our GM. I might as well just leave it and choose the talent, right? Yeah. I mean, we need to look no further. She's got it. Yeah. Let's see. Who else we got?

Nicholas, I think Nicholas has some speed. Maybe Nicholas in the two-hole. Who's your closer? My closer? Charles Woodall Pike. He just said it himself. It's time for CWP to pitch. Absolutely.

Absolutely. See? That would inject some fear into people. CWP running out of the bullpen. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's electric. That's electric. All right. That's our team. But we appreciate you guys for being part of our team and for being here today for this much longer episode than we anticipated. But we're always happy to be here for as long as we can be.

Of course, you can follow me on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with the K. Jacob is at Jacob underscore Franklin 4 because he would be fourth best, Jacob Franklin in known existence. We are still Damon's dogs. And of course, you can follow Damon. Damon Dog, D-A-W-G. That's when we bark. Now, I set that up wrong, but we are Damon's dogs.

Bark, bark. Rough-roof. You have to be difficult. You have to be difficult. Of course, our shows at P-H-N-X underscore D-BACs, but all roads do lead to at P-N-X-U-Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We appreciate you guys for stopping by. We thank you so much.

We'll be back here tomorrow. Jesse will be. return. I'm not sure if you'll notice any difference between Jacob and Jesse, but again, Jesse will be back tomorrow. So very excited to see if he survived. I have not heard from him. So I have no idea. He might not have. He was in a snowstorm. But anyway, we thank you guys for being here. And of course, we will see at 1 p.m. tomorrow. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you draft the next Julio Rodriguez.