PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Diamondbacks AREN’T DONE SPENDING after signing OF/DH Joc Pederson to one-year deal

Episode Date: January 26, 2024

The Arizona Diamondbacks have signed free agent Joc Pederson to a one-year contract, and we have more details on the terms of the deal. We also discuss your thoughts on the move and if Pederson is goi...ng to be a good fit for the clubhouse. Does this signing mean the D-backs are done with their offseason moves? Not necessarily according to John Gambadoro from Arizona Sports. We try to figure out the Snakes’ budget and who they can still afford. 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.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:04 Ski to you all and a happy flavoring Friday to everyone, of course, presented by our friends at OGs Brands. If you haven't had a chance yet, check out the wonderful new offerings from OGs brands, including their OGs Natural and their big OGs now available. For more information, check them out over at OGsbrands.com. Welcome in to a flavoring Friday. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as a J.D. Martinez fan. And I'm joined by my vice mayor and a far more reasonable journalist slash reporter slash host, the one and only thunderstick Jesse Friedman. Jesse, I'm not at all at all still upset about the Diamondbacks not getting J.D. Martinez. I didn't at all lose sleep over it last night. I am not at all taking just brief moments to have crying fits.
Starting point is 00:01:01 but again, you and other people may have convinced me that even Jock Peterson might have been a better fit here for the Arizona Diamondbacks, at least based on the projections for next year than J.D. Martinez, but we do know more now about the Jock Peterson deal. Yes, we do. The first of all, the deal did happen yesterday. It's not, I guess the team still hasn't made it official.
Starting point is 00:01:27 It's not official until the team says it's official. Yes, right. It's not official until the Diamondbacks, you know, send us an email or tweeted out or whatever they're going to do first. But yeah, it did, it did in fact happen yesterday. We were kind of having to speculate on what the terms of the deal were. Gambo had tweeted that he thought it was a one-year deal with potentially an option on top of that. It turns out that it was a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2025. people are saying this is a one year $9.5 million deal.
Starting point is 00:01:59 I would probably more describe it as a one year $12.5 million deal. 12.5 is the total guarantee of the contracts. And mutual options don't tend to get picked up all that often. So I think there's a pretty good chance that Jock Peterson plays one year with the Diamondbacks. And the Diamondbacks pay him $12.5 million altogether for that. But he is slated to make $9.5 million in 2024. the mutual option is for $14 million. It has a $3 million buyout.
Starting point is 00:02:30 So, yeah, theoretically, this could go up to two years in $23.5 million if somehow both sides are interested in another year after the 2024 season is over. But yeah, I think the initial reaction there for a lot of people was, you know, that's it. Like, that's lower than a lot of people, I think, probably expected. It's lower than I expected. it's at least lower than I expected them to essentially pay on a designated hitter, not maybe necessarily lower than Jock Peterson. You know, 20, like you said,
Starting point is 00:03:05 it could be worth up to 24, 23 and a half million, right? Right. That's not something that's super enticing unless he's worth that 14 million next year. Like you said, the mutual option is a little bit difficult because, again, And if he plays well, he could probably receive more than that on top of the $3 million buyout that he's going to receive from the Diamondbacks regardless of if he plays for them. But you also have the 14 million side of things where if he's not very good this year, Diamondbacks might not want to pay him $14 million next year because that is a decent amount of money. But the hope here is that he is worth it. The hope here is that we see him return a bit to his 2022 form, which I feel honestly like he's capable of.
Starting point is 00:03:54 That's the one part of this deal that really does make me feel like he could end up being a better option than J.D. Martinez, at least. I said it yesterday. We're going to have to wait and see before we can really judge this deal. I know the initial reaction by many people seems to be either apprehensive or to not really like the deal very much, Jesse. But we did put, now that the terms were out there, we did put a poll out there to see what the people thought. And this is the result of that poll.
Starting point is 00:04:25 And for the most part, it feels like people think it's a pretty good move. For the audio listeners out there, 18.8% of the votes were an A. The winning vote is B, which is 51.8%. You have C at 23.7%, and D or F at 5.8%. So for the most part, based on these votes, which was there was almost 1,200 votes, This was a fairly positive move that a lot of people are viewing it as. I mean, even if you, even if you're not fully on board, I think grading it a sea is pretty fair. It's not, you know, it's not a deal that a lot of people are excited about.
Starting point is 00:05:03 I was watching foul territory. Jay Prasinski definitely isn't excited about the move. And he discussed why he could see Diamondbacks fans not being excited about it. But I am still waiting to see because, again, I think that this still improves the lineup. I think this team is a better team with Jock Peterson as a part of it. And there's a couple of things that may have made, you know, going after a guy like Peterson instead of some of the other options make more sense. Like E. Hueneos-Wares batting now there in the middle of the lineup as well for this team. Yeah, I mean, digging into the numbers a little bit more on Jock Peterson.
Starting point is 00:05:40 I wrote a story that went out this morning over on go phtonx.com. Check it out if you haven't already. I was struck by how compelling some of the underlying numbers are with Jock Peterson. His ex-WOBA in 2022, the season where he was an All-Star, was 367, and his ex-WOBA in 2023 was 366. He was basically the same hitter. And according to that metric, at least in the year prior, he was an All-Star. He had 23 homers at an OPS of almost 900. His expected OPS, which is something that you can pull from the stat-cast.
Starting point is 00:06:15 numbers was 846, which is a lot higher than his actual OPS of 764. And he also, he also had a really good walk rate and strikeout rate in, in 2020, better than he's had in quite some time in both of those categories. And also, for what it's worth, he struck out less and walked more than both J.D. Martinez and Jorge Salair in 2023 for, you know, anyone kind of looking at comparisons between those guys. So again, the big thing here is that he is a platoon hitter. And I think we emphasize that plenty on yesterday's show. Jack Peterson isn't going to give you much against lefties. And part of him being able to put up numbers like he did in 2022 and the underlying numbers that
Starting point is 00:07:01 he did in 2023 is the fact that he's facing right-handed pitchers, you know, almost 90% of the time. The Giants protected him against lefties pretty heavily last year. But yeah, in that role, has a lot of value. And once again, I mean, I think, you know, fan graphs in a story a few years ago said that around 72% of major league innings come from right-handed pitchers. That is the majority of situations. That's more than, more than two-thirds of the time. And in those situations, Jock Peterson could very well be just as valuable for the Diamondbacks as, you know, J.D. Martinez or Jorge Salar. And there's just some things about Jock and getting to know him that are very positive.
Starting point is 00:07:47 I think there is a lot of things that the Diamondbacks were looking for that Peterson brings. He has a tremendous amount of experience. He played a key role, Jesse, obviously, in the Dodgers and Braves World Series runs in back-to-back seasons, right? And I know I don't know which series there. He had bigger impact on it. It felt like 2021 when he went to the Braves. he was involved in quite a big, you know, quite a few big moments, right? But 79 postseason games in his career.
Starting point is 00:08:17 And he's still not that old to have played. I think that's, I think why Jack Peterson feels like he's 100 years old to me, Jesse. That's why I feel like he's been in the league for 20 years is the man has played 79 postseason games. That's most than, you know, what, some franchises have ever played? Like, that's crazy how many postseason. Yeah. I mean, I feel like you could add together the postseason games of every player on the Diamondbacks roster. And I'm not even sure you would, I'm not even sure you would end up at 79.
Starting point is 00:08:48 Peterson has a lot of postseason experience. And, you know, that's what happens when you play for the Dodgers for a long time. And as you said, it was with the Dodgers when they won the World Series in 2020. He was with the Braves when they won the World Series in 2021. And not only was he there, but he was quite good. Like Jock Peterson, especially in 2020 for the Dodgers, was a force to be reckoned with during that playoff run. You look at his numbers throughout that series.
Starting point is 00:09:15 He slashed three or throughout that postseason run as a whole. He slash 382, 432, 559 throughout the entire, the entire postseason run. And that's when that's when Jock Tober was born, Derek. That's when people were calling it Jock Tover. That kind of carried over to the 2021 World series run with the Atlanta Braves where Peterson was a big piece for them early on in the postseason run.
Starting point is 00:09:41 His numbers kind of faded toward the end. But yeah, I mean, by large. Yeah, yeah, he had three homers in his first six games during the Braves postseason run in 2021. You look at his career numbers in the playoffs. He's at 256, 332, 482. So he has, he has plenty of postseason experience. And he's been a force in, you know, some of the biggest situations.
Starting point is 00:10:06 Could that have played a big factor here? Obviously, we know cost probably played some sort of factor here in, you know, acquiring Peterson over potentially some of the other options. But I mean, it's not to say J.D. Martinez and Jorge Soler don't have their fair share of experience in the playoffs, especially Solair. But it does feel like if you can bring in a guy that's a little mixture of like, you know, I guess what you're getting out of vets like Madison, Bumgarner and Evan Lungoria, he's a little younger and you know a guy that can once again just feel that positional need that they have right there it feels like it's it kind of adds up a bit as to why he was enticing for my Kisan to pursue yeah um defensively another thing I'll say is as I look closer at the numbers I was like oh man yeah you probably don't want jock Peterson
Starting point is 00:11:01 playing a ton of defense for you at this point he you know he's 31 years old which isn't which isn't that old. I guess Horace Salar is kind of in a similar position where from an athleticism standpoint, that just hasn't really stuck for Jock Peterson. I know we talked yesterday about how he was like this great football player in high school. And he came up as a center fielder for the Dodgers. There was a time when athleticism and, you know, stolen bases, like that, like that was a big part of his profile.
Starting point is 00:11:30 But those days are no longer, Derek. Jock Peterson is a designated hitter. if you need him to, you know, have the occasional spot start in a corner outfield spot, he can probably do that for you. But the less time, much like hitting against lefties, the less time he's in there defensively, the better when it comes to Jack Peterson. Look, we don't all have Jesse Friedman's metabolism. Okay?
Starting point is 00:11:55 I'm just going to start off with saying that. I can eat whatever I want, Derek. I know you get me. I won't gain any weight. I know. Honestly, I don't. Like, it's to the point where I don't. don't even really like it because I would like to gain a little bit of weight. And it's,
Starting point is 00:12:08 it's virtually impossible. I've basically given up at this point. You sound like someone that gets really high off of 10 milligrams of OGs. And I envy that being a guy that needs a little bit more, as has been rumored around the office. But Jesse, you were also there for one of Jock Peterson's biggest moments in his career, at least most fun moments that he's had in his major league baseball career the 2019 home run derby in major league baseball you didn't and you were present for this i was present yes i was present this was in cleveland uh this was it uh progressive field uh yeah i was not there for the all star game but i was there for the futures game and the home run derby uh i was like doing i was doing an internship at that point in nearby springfield illinois
Starting point is 00:13:02 and when I say nearby, I mean like eight and a half hours away. I was a crazy person and did the drive so that I could attend some of the All-Star festivities. But yeah, that home run derby was absolute insanity. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Jock Peterson, I believe they went to like a third tiebreaker. At one point, they were putting on just an unbelievable show, had really stolen the show in some ways. If I would argue the entire All-Star Week in Cleveland, that was like the best.
Starting point is 00:13:32 best part of the whole thing. But what was kind of anticlimactic is that neither of them won. Pete Alonzo actually won that home run derby. It was one of those situations where like, you know, two guys wear each other out to the point where, you know, the guy like on the other side of the bracket is just kind of chilling. So Pete Alonzo won the thing when all was said and done. But Jack Peterson has always had big time power. And he still does. You know, I think looking at that batted ball data, it's very clear that Jack Peterson still has quite a bit of raw power in his game. And obviously that's a, that's a big reason why the diamondbacks made this move.
Starting point is 00:14:10 We'll, we'll keep showing this baseball savon page until we can't get enough of it, Jesse. Just keep, just forget us being on screen. Let's just every time we talk about jock Peterson, just put this bad boy up on screen. Yeah, I mean, his, his hard hit rate of 52.2% I wrote this in my story. That's better than, than anyone on the diamond backs last year, his, his barrel rate of 12. 1% better than any diamondbacks hitter last year. His average exit velo of 92.1 miles per hour.
Starting point is 00:14:39 Better than every diamond back, I believe, except for Tommy Fam. But if you just narrow Tommy Fam down to his time with the diamondbacks, then Peterson was better than him too. So, yeah, I mean, he is, I think he becomes the most formidable power hitter in this lineup pretty much instantly. There's, of course, something that's following Jock Peterson around when it comes to his connection with Arizona, Jesse. And that is the time the Dodgers celebrated in our pool and allegedly peed in it.
Starting point is 00:15:12 Now, I tried to find some sort of photographic evidence of Jock Peterson in our pool during that celebration. Couldn't find it. I'm not saying. What year would that have been? 20, was it, 27? Because Peterson didn't come up until 2014. And I want to say, no, no, no, no. It was way after that.
Starting point is 00:15:37 With the Dodgers. Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, it was way after that. He was definitely a part of the team the year it occurred. And I was present that day. I was in the locker room. I was in the visiting locker room. In fact, when the Dodgers were celebrating, clinching the National League West.
Starting point is 00:15:52 That's when they celebrated in the pool. I remember a lot of people, Adrian Gonzalez, definitely remember Matt Kemp. Remember him spraying me. in the face with champagne. But I don't, and I remember them getting like giddy and being excited to run out there. I don't remember seeing Jack Peterson go out there. And then I tried to find a picture of him in the pool on the internet. Couldn't find that either.
Starting point is 00:16:16 So either Jack Peterson actually didn't get in the pool and pee in it, or he cleverly scrubbed the internet before signing with the Diamondbacks of any images somehow of him being a part of that celebration. I am not saying they don't exist. I'm not a very good investigator. As you guys know, I'm not very good at most things that I do. But I will say I attempted to find a picture just because, for reasons of hilarity to have on the show, couldn't find one of him in the pool celebrating.
Starting point is 00:16:46 But if you have one, send it to me. DM it to me. I don't know. That's exciting. I want to see it. So no, I was go, Gabriel. No, no. And if you'd stop that clip before the rest of my explanation, I will sue you for slander or liable.
Starting point is 00:17:01 I'm not sure which one. Again, I'm not an attorney. Just like I said earlier, I'm not very good at anything. So I'm definitely not good at law. But Jesse, there are other reasons that Jock Peterson kind of has a bad reputation. And we've talked about this. Like we've talked about some of the guys on this team having a bad reputation and then coming to the diamond backs and fitting right in. But what is one of the reasons why, especially recently, he kind of has had that bad reputation?
Starting point is 00:17:29 Yeah, Jock, Jock, I. I wouldn't say he has a bad reputation, but I wouldn't say he has a good reputation either. Yeah, it's interesting. There's a story that I found from, I think it's September of last year from KNBR, which I believe is a radio station out there in the Bay Area. And it goes into quite a bit of detail about Peterson's season. And certainly for Giants fans, Peterson's 2023 season was kind of a bummer, right? I mean, he was making almost $20 million as we discussed yesterday because he accepted the
Starting point is 00:18:02 qualifying offer. And at least his surface level stats, we talked about some of the underlying metrics, but his surface level stats were not at all, you know, worthy of $20 million. He was not that caliber of player for the Giants in, in 2023. And yeah, I mean, you look at some of what was written here. It is clear that there were questions, at least among media members, and I'm sure many fans as well about the shape that Jock Peterson was in. He apparently had shown up to spring training in in very good shape in 2023.
Starting point is 00:18:36 And kind of throughout the season, he progressively, his conditioning at least appeared to get worse and worse as the season wore on. At least that's the way that this writer perceived the situation. And Peterson kind of admitted it in some ways. I mean, he basically said that, you know, I'm doing a lot of the working out and whatnot in the off season. And when the season starts, I'm focused more. on baseball matters.
Starting point is 00:18:58 And so, you know, you're not necessarily going to maintain all of that through the season, which I understand on some level for sure. It doesn't seem ideal. I mean, you wouldn't want all of your players to be getting in progressively worse shape as the season goes on. Obviously, you know, your workout regimen is going to change when you're playing a whole bunch of baseball games. But, yeah, you know, there are stories of him, like, I don't know, smoking cigars, like, you
Starting point is 00:19:23 know, when other guys are doing bad. Like there's there's some interesting stuff here. I'm not, I wouldn't read too much into it necessarily. There are some players that were interviewed here, some of his teammates, Alex Wood, a longtime teammate of his, said some positive things about Jock and how, you know,
Starting point is 00:19:40 he really wants to win. But yeah, Jock Peterson is not like, I think the Diamondbacks in particular just have a lot of players who are just so clearly universally loved and work hard and, you know, there aren't really any questions to even be asked there.
Starting point is 00:19:54 Jock Peterson isn't really one of those guys. I don't want to overstate that. I don't want to make it sound like he's, you know, a cancer for the clubhouse or anything. I think that would be kind of ridiculous at this point. But there are some questions to be asked and, you know, certainly some things to monitor as the 2024 season goes on. I will say that, actually, let me ask you this. Have you been to Fisherman's Wharf, Jesse? Yeah, I think I've been to Fisherman's Wharf.
Starting point is 00:20:23 Yeah, it's like, have you eaten at Fisherman's Wharf? Um, I mean, isn't, isn't fishermen's wharf like the, like the largest tourist trap in, in North America, right? Like, like, like, everything is like $47 or something for a side dish or whatever. The man's making $20 million a year. Do you think, do you think price, uh, money is an object when you're making $20 million? Well, sure. We're talking about Jock Peterson.
Starting point is 00:20:46 Then yeah, I'm sure that I'm just connected the dots. The money is the money is no idea. The air delis has a chocolate factory right out front. Like, what are we doing here? that's ridiculous to expect anybody to stay in shape in that environment. But no, I will also say like, you know, it does become a thing at times where, you know, especially with baseball being the kind of sport that it is, you don't need to stay in the same conditioning as much as you just need to kind of stay healthy because you play baseball almost
Starting point is 00:21:16 every single day. So it's not like you're not going out there and working out. It's not like you're not going out there and doing drills and running and just doing some stuff every single day. But, you know, part of it is trying to make it all 162 games. So it's understandable for a guy to come, you know, into spring training in really good shape and not necessarily maintain that shape throughout the year. It's also disappointing when a guy you're paying $20 million to doesn't live up to the expectations regardless of the shape that he's in. Right. And yeah, I mean, maybe some of those things that are funny and kind of quirky when you're younger
Starting point is 00:21:49 aren't so cool when you're a little bit older and people are questioning your commitment to the game like smoking cigars and kind of being that kind of guy. But, you know, again, this is a different culture here with the Arizona Diamondbacks. I think one thing that Tori Lovela is very good about is not only, you know, having kind of a commitment to all of the players
Starting point is 00:22:12 being in the same mindset, but, you know, being a good coach or manager that adapts a guy like that to the same. system. I think that, you know, you come in here to a team that just was this close to winning a world series. And if you're signing here, you have to be doing it because you want to be a part of a competitive fun team. I'm sure there's lots of places that Jack Peterson probably could have signed for this amount of money. I'm not, you know, it's not like this one's only option. Maybe. I don't know. I mean, it still remains to be seen what the market is for Solair, which was likely now will go to Toronto based on the
Starting point is 00:22:48 earlier reports and and where J.D. Martinez lands, but there is a possibility we see those guys get similar money and that right there might, you know, reignite this whole, you know, anger that we didn't get them, right? For now, though, I think that, you know, when with spring training right around the corner, we will get a chance to see how Jack Peterson comes into spring training, how he, you know, the effort that he puts out there and, and his commitment to this team. This team is a connected team, Jesse. I'm not sure if you've seen the T-shirts or heard the speech, but this is a connected team.
Starting point is 00:23:24 So you got to be part of it. You got to be part of the thing that they're building here. And I refuse to believe that Mike Hazen would acquire a guy like this if he didn't think that that guy had the right mindset. And that guy was going to buy in to what Tori Lavello is doing here. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think as far as the conditioning stuff goes, the reality is that,
Starting point is 00:23:47 I mean, I don't want to say conditioning doesn't matter. matter for a designated hitter, but it's certainly not that, not as important as for other guys, right? Give me my big fellows. According to this story, Jock hit, I think it made some comments after the 2022 season about wanting to come back and, you know, be in better shape to play defense in 2020. And that did not happen. His defense adventures in 2023, I believe were worse. The Giants basically got to the point of, you know, very much trying to shield him. from playing any defense at all.
Starting point is 00:24:20 So yeah, in that sense, it's a bad thing. Like, you know, if, if, uh, if you want Jack Peterson to be able to play a viable, you know, left field or right field for you, you want him to be able to, you know, really make it a point to kind of maintain his shape throughout the year and whatnot. But now, Jack Peterson is entering this kind of final stage in his career where he's, he's there to hit dingers, right? Like John Peterson is in the lineup to hit right-handed pitching. That is, that is the reason that the diamond.
Starting point is 00:24:48 made this move. And, you know, again, I don't want to say conditioning doesn't matter whatsoever in that. But we've seen some people not necessarily in the best shape who could, you know, who could still hit their fair share of home runs. And I don't think Jack Peterson was in like egregiously bad shape or anything by the end of the season. But yeah, I don't think it's necessarily a huge issue given where his game is at this stage in his career.
Starting point is 00:25:14 I'm fairly certain every time I talk about taking pre-workout supplement on this show one person in the comments asks if I actually work out. So I get it. You know, the work you put in in the gym doesn't always translate over into the body shape. But also, I, for one, I welcome our big, meaty man. I think that he can stay as big and meaty as he wants to if he's going to smack dingers around here. So let's go. Big meaty men slapping meat.
Starting point is 00:25:44 Anyway, we thank you guys for being here right now on the PHN Export YouTube channel on a Friday afternoon. We always love you guys being here. We are still not in studio, thanks to the coyotes crew lighting the building on fire. You know, I don't know who started the fire, but I know who didn't start the fire. We, we didn't start the fire, right?
Starting point is 00:26:03 We were free of guilt. We were at putting world having a good time, and there's a song that probably covers that. But I do appreciate you guys being here. If you have not subscribed to the PHAGN exports YouTube channel yet, make sure to do so now. Sign up for notifications, that way you don't miss one.
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Starting point is 00:26:35 Of course, we can't do it without our friends over at Empire today. They installed some beautiful flooring in our studio, which hopefully we will get to see again. I don't know if we will, Jesse. There's no. Is it safe? Derek, is it okay? Oh, it's totally safe, Jesse. It's totally safe. But apparently there's some 30-year-old part that nobody can find that we need in order to fix our electricity, right? See, the hassle that you
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Starting point is 00:27:49 See Empire Today.com slash P HNX for details. And I would ask Damon how he's done on his bets, but I guess I should more ask Jesse. Jesse, how have you done on Damon's bets? Pretty good? Yeah, I'm doing great. I'm trying to keep Damon from messing up, you know. He doesn't listen to you.
Starting point is 00:28:06 A little hit or miss. He listens to me sometimes, but I think we're starting to build trust because of the recent success that I've had. But yeah, I don't know, Derek. The bets show might be mine in a matter of a few weeks if Damon doesn't prove that, you know, he can kind of get it together a little bit.
Starting point is 00:28:22 So you're very, you're, you're insubordinate, Jesse. You want to come from my mayorship. You want to take Damon's show. I don't, I don't like this side of you, but I've tried to warn people that this guy just wants to see the world burn. This guy, Damon. He just wants power in his hands. It's all he cares.
Starting point is 00:28:38 Oh, man. Anyway, thank you for your bets. And when I say that, I mean, Jesse. Of course, you can win some money if you listen to Damon, if you listen to Jesse. and go download the Bet MGM Sportsbook app now. Of course, with your first deposit of just $5 and using our bonus code of PHNX, you can get $158 in bonus bets instantly in honor of Super Bowl 58. So all you got to do is sign up for BetMGM and use that bonus code,
Starting point is 00:29:01 PHNX, as our guy Eric would say, the best letters in the entire alphabet. Place your first bet MGM Sportsbook Wager through the Sportsbook mobile application for at least $5. That's it. You will receive $158 instantly in additional winnings regardless of your wager's outcome. check out the show notes for full details and now listen to Damon, talk about the disclaimer. It's slow.
Starting point is 00:29:49 It's methodical. I've been trying to get on the Sun's show for quite a while. That's what those tweets are all about. You guys, don't fall for it. The tweets are just all, they keep adding a host, Derek.
Starting point is 00:29:59 They keep adding a host. So now, I mean, now that there's like 12 sons hosts at this point. Yeah, Jesse stands in line and then the line somehow moves backwards instead of forwards. It doesn't make any sense.
Starting point is 00:30:09 But Elise says, remember when Jesse said he was only going to have Chase lounges when he moved into his house last year? I see a regular old chair behind him. Jesse. Jesse, you're letting the people down. You're letting the people down. I don't know what's going.
Starting point is 00:30:22 I know. I'm ashamed. This move may have let some people down, but one of the silver linings to getting Jack Peterson is the fact that with that $9.5 million deal, it would appear the Diamondbacks do have some more money to spend on some of their other positional needs. And according to this tweet from John Gambadoro, it did not reap any more news information. John said, Jack Peters, I call them John. That's hilarious. Gambo, Gambo said.
Starting point is 00:30:52 Jock Peterson was always on the debacks radar, but it became more of the favorite after Arizona signed Suarez and Gurriel, making them very right-handed hitting in the middle of the lineup. They are not done, still looking for depth in the bullpen at shortstop and catcher. That's interesting because the shortstop part there, that's not something that we've heard as much about in what the Diamondbacks are seeking,
Starting point is 00:31:12 as much as the bullpen and the backup catcher. Yeah, it is. interesting. I mean, yesterday we talked about how it could make sense for them to add a right-handed hitting outfielder, seeing as how Lordus Geryl Jr. is the only right-handed hitting outfielder on the 40-man roster. You know, you could find someone who could serve as, you know, a fourth outfield type while also contributing, you know, in that DH slot against lefties. But yeah, that's not exactly, you know, what the diamondbacks are targeting, at least according to this tweet. The thing that really stands out to me more than anything is that if, if, you know, if the diamondbacks are
Starting point is 00:31:48 If the Diamondbacks were, as some people expected or maybe just hoped, if the Diamondbacks were going to go out and find themselves a platoon partner for Jock Peterson, I'm not sure that Catcher or Shortstop is, you know, would be really the positions that that guy would play. It's hard to find premium offense at catcher or at shortstop. I know we talked about Gary Sanchez a little bit recently on the show as someone who could pair nicely with a Jock Peterson type. but I don't really see that happening necessarily.
Starting point is 00:32:20 To me, especially, you know, once teams get to the point of using the word depth, which hopefully we'll get to talk with Mike Hazen and hear a little bit more from him on this move shortly. But the fact that Gambo there is using the word depth, it feels like we've kind of entered a stage of the offseason where you're not necessarily talking about signing guys to major league deals anymore. You know, maybe it's minor league deals with invites to spring training, you know, adding depth. right i mean that that's what depth that's what depth really is you don't usually use the word depth when you're talking about adding you know like a fifth starting pitcher or you know a backup shortstop or whatnot at least not necessarily you're talking more about guys who could come into spring training
Starting point is 00:33:02 and make the team potentially but you know are probably not major factors on the roster anymore i know gary sanchez is a name on a lot of people's minds as far as catchers go right but i know we have a couple other names that we um have discussed maybe some other players out there at those positions that might not only add some depth, but maybe someone that could also, you know, potentially DH. Maybe if they do get Gary Sanchez, maybe that would allow Gabby Moreno to DH, you know, at some, sometimes and keep his bat in the lineup, you know, but the question that people are asking right now, and we, we kind of pass this up in our first segment is obviously a corresponding move is needed for Jack Peterson.
Starting point is 00:33:47 and to be out of the roster. It's the reason right now we haven't heard about this being official. We're still pending whatever that corresponding roster move is. Is there any chance that, I mean, the Diamondbacks could still package a trade together to make that roster available, like that roster spot available? Or what do you think that ultimately they're going to do there with that? Yeah, I think it's possible. I mean, I think we kind of speculated in this same way when the Lordus Gurriel Jr.
Starting point is 00:34:15 signing was taking quite a while. they made official. We kind of wondered, like, is there, is there a trade happening here? Is that diamondbacks, you know, trying to avoid just losing someone off the 40 man and, you know, maybe, maybe getting something back in return. That could be happening. I don't know. But, yeah, the diamondbacks do have to make a corresponding 40-man roster move.
Starting point is 00:34:36 They wound up moving on from Diego Castillo in order to bring Lordus Grayal Jr. In they're going to have to make another, another tough decision here theoretically. As we discussed back then, the diamond. backs aren't really, they're in kind of a different phase now where, you know, it kind of hurts a little bit more to be losing these guys off your, off your 40th roster. I think about everyone on the 40 man at this point is, is there for a reason and, you know, could reasonably see some, some kind of a role in, in 2024 or, you know, or beyond. But yeah, there's, there's certainly some kind of move coming in order to, in order to clear
Starting point is 00:35:11 the space. I think a trade is possible, you know, whether it, whether it happens in order to clear, this 40-man spotter, it happens a little bit later in the off-season. As we talked about yesterday, the debacks have a lot of depth pieces that they can't really use right now. They could use a trade to kind of try to flip some of the pieces that they can't use or that they're overstocked in to try to bring in, you know, one or two pieces that maybe would make more sense for them.
Starting point is 00:35:37 But, yeah, we'll just kind of have to wait and see how this plays out. Known baseball GM, Elise says I would think a package, even if it's just for some minor league depth. And then she says better than DFA for nothing, even if value isn't super high. And that's definitely the truth. If there's some way that they can do something instead of just losing some of these guys, it just depends on the value, right? And we don't know what a trade value, we don't know what a package would look like.
Starting point is 00:36:07 We don't know what players would be a part of it. But we do know guys that are free agents. And there are some players out there that could fit this role that Gambo is kind of of discussing the diamond back seeking. Or there are some guys that I have on my list who really don't fit any of the buckets that Gambo is talking about. But I'm also like, well, hey, he sort of makes sense. Why don't we talk about him?
Starting point is 00:36:30 So I'll start with a few of those guys. None of these guys are short stops or catchers or relievers. So based on Gambo's report, I don't necessarily expect these things to happen. But in my opinion, they at least would make sense on paper. Randall Grishick is one guy, a right-handed hitting outfielder who really does some serious damage against lefties. I think he had a 9-95 OPS against lefties last year. He is someone who can play center field. He doesn't necessarily grate out well there, but he can play all three outfield positions.
Starting point is 00:37:05 I guess the biggest hang up with Grishik is that he was claimed off waivers by the Angels toward the end of the year. And he had a 120 OPS plus with the Rockies. Then he had an 80 OPS plus with the Angels down the stretch. So didn't exactly, didn't exactly end the season on a high note. But he has a long track record of hitting lefties well. And he would be kind of that right-handed hitting fourth outfielder type that we discussed yesterday. What about Robbie Grossman? Robbie Grossman, man, the man hit third for the Texas Rangers at the start of their run to the world series, which still blows my mind.
Starting point is 00:37:45 They eventually kind of ditched it in Robbie Grossman. I think he like pinch hit once or something in the World Series. He wasn't really a factor for most of the rest of the postseason after he struggled early on. But yeah, Robbie Grossman is a guy who also has a history of really destroying left-handed pitching. He's slashed 309, 416, 536 against lefties in 2023. He doesn't really hit righty as much at all.
Starting point is 00:38:09 Although he, I mean, he is a switch hitter, but it's sort of a situation where you really only want him facing lefties if you, if you can. can make that happen. He never really swings the bat, which is possibly my favorite thing about Robbie Grossman. He never chases pitches out of the zone. And yet he still strikes out like a decent amount, I suspect, because he's just taking like a lot of called strikes. He's a relatively passive hitter. But he managed to still do some damage against lefties in in 2023. I think, I think he could make some sense. His defense at this stage in his career is not particularly good. he'd be sort of jock peterson-esque in that he's an outfielder who you probably don't want to see in the outfield so i'm not really sure it would make sense to have two of those guys on on the same roster um so yeah i'm i'm not sure i necessarily feel all that confident about that one a couple other guys that i have uh cj crone uh as a first baseman of course the uh the brother of former diamond back kevin crone who people might might remember from uh back in the days uh
Starting point is 00:39:13 with the Rockies for a while kind of a similar story as Grishik where he was let go by the Rockies, found his way to the Angels and was pretty terrible once he arrived with the Angels. It feels like every play that the Angels claimed off waivers down the stretch just was miserable toward the end of the season. He had a 519 OPS once he was brought in by the Angels. But on the whole for 2023, he at 248, 295, 434, you know, has a decent track record of hitting left-handed pitching. Not necessarily a super exciting option on paper, but someone who, you know, I guess could back up Christian Walker at first base and hit lefties a little bit. And then my last one in
Starting point is 00:39:54 this first category, Garrett Cooper, someone who kind of fits in a similar category as a first baseman, you know, could also take some DH at bats against lefties, you know, kind of a nice platoon set up there with Jack Peterson. Garrett Cooper was actually a pretty good hitter. Just, just a few years ago. But, yeah, if you look at his numbers in 2023, a bit of a down season by his standards. He did hit 17 homers with 61 RBI. But at this stage in his career,
Starting point is 00:40:27 he's not exactly the player he once was. But again, he's got, you know, an ability to hit left-handed pitching and could slot in nicely in some capacity for the Diamondbacks. There's a lot of discussion in the chat about, Tim Anderson, potentially. Yeah. There's also an idea being floated out there that I hate.
Starting point is 00:40:51 Tim here says Tim Anderson could be a huge bounceback candidate, doesn't strike out, fantastic base runner, could back up third base shortstop and second base, high average guy, minor downside, weak jaw, as we all saw. Also, Gabriel brought up A.J. Pollock, and I hate that idea more than I hate most things. in life. I hate that more than I hate traffic. I hate that more than I hate having to get a new driver's license after losing my wallet.
Starting point is 00:41:21 I hate that idea. AJ Pollock is like the anti-J. Martinez. He's a former Diamondback that was here that has had some success elsewhere, but I couldn't want him back on this team any less, right? And I, again, much like J.D. Martinez, it's my heart getting in the way here. You said very mean things about us and we don't want you back. Not now, not never, right? And so that's the way I feel.
Starting point is 00:41:53 But I'm sure there's more rational thoughts behind other people maybe wanting him to come back. Speaking of potential targets, Jesse, let's bring back Nick Ahmed for shortstop. If we're looking for short stops, who says no? Yeah, I mean, Gambo mentioned. and short stuff and i mean i presumably they'd want someone who bats right-handed there aren't a whole lot of those out there nick comment is one of them i don't think the diamond backs are going to bring nick omann back um but yeah the options is short did we did we ever discuss on this show the fact that jordan lawler is projected to have the fourth highest war on this team in
Starting point is 00:42:30 24 according to zips uh that computer system is broken jesse it's broken over there i'm telling is that true for i mean i guess maybe among among position players is that what it is yeah it's among position players, correct. Yeah, not great. I don't like that at all. Anyway, but actually, maybe it is great. Maybe it's great. I think you should like that very much. I guess I should like that anymore because there's our shortstop answer right there, potentially, if that's the case. But what about some other more reasonable options potentially? Yeah, there's a few short stops. Again, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say I'm all that compelled by any of these, but Gambo mentioned short stops. When you're looking at these, are you looking at guys that could fill that D.H.
Starting point is 00:43:11 role as well as filling like that backup role or what do you think? I mean, do you like do you want? Do you want Elvis Andrews like as your platoon partner with Jock Peterson in the D.H. thought probably not. Maybe in 2016. I don't win. What would that have been? Maybe that.
Starting point is 00:43:30 Even then I'm not. Even then I'm not sure. Yeah. Looking at some of these options here, Elvis Honduras is one of them. He's 35 years old. He just passed the 2000 hit mark. uh, uh,
Starting point is 00:43:42 uh, for, uh, for pulling that off and having, what has really been a pretty remarkable career. He stuck around for a long time, still grades out well defensively, uh,
Starting point is 00:43:51 you know, a strong veteran presence in the clubhouse for sure. I, I don't really see, uh, this happening. I don't really understand exactly why the diamond backs would want to do this. The whole shortstop thing in general,
Starting point is 00:44:03 I guess is, is slightly confusing for me. I mean, the team already has Jordan Lawler. They already have Kevin Newman. They already have Blaze Alexander in the system as well. Yeah. I guess if you just, I guess if you don't want to be forced to have Jordan Lawler and, you know,
Starting point is 00:44:17 maybe you're not totally sure Blaise Alexander is ready at this point. And Kevin Newman, you know, like he's there to try out, but you don't want to count on him. I guess it's maybe helpful to have, you know, one more guy in camp who can play shortstop. Elvis Andrews is probably going to sign a majorly deal. So I'm not sure that Diamondbacks would really want to spend real money on, on someone like him. A couple other names real quick, Kike Hernandez. someone that Diamondbacks fans are very familiar with, as long as we're talking about longtime Dodgers,
Starting point is 00:44:47 you know, coming to Arizona. Kike Hernandez was traded from the Red Sox to the Dodgers midway through the 2023 season. And as tends to be the case, he was much better with L.A. The moment that he arrived there, he had like a low 700s OPS. It wasn't anything fantastic.
Starting point is 00:45:05 But he's generally hit lefties fairly well. He played a lot of shortstop in 2023. I don't know if you really want him. playing that much shortstop, but he has some defensive flexibility. He can play the outfield a little bit. I guess he could be someone that the Diamondbacks look at after what was really a pretty severe down season for him. The last one I have in the shortstop category, Alteberto Mondesie, who came up with
Starting point is 00:45:30 the Kansas City Royals, I think played. It was like 19 years old and came up and contributed to their World Series run a number of years back. A pretty exciting player in his first few years. and the majors. Still only 28 years old, but he missed all of the 2023 season with the Boston Red Sox. He's missed really a ton of time with injuries over the last few years. So his development is just kind of stalled out.
Starting point is 00:45:55 I imagine that could be potentially a minor league deal situation where the Diamondbacks could, you know, bring him into the fold and kind of see what he has to offer. But again, I don't really understand the purpose of any of these guys, if I'm being honest. Sure. Yeah. So yeah, but that's that's about, that's about all I got as far as the short stops are concerned. That's all we got, I guess. Well, and then when speaking of all we got, if we're talking about catchers, there aren't a lot left. According to roster resource, Jesse, I see five, four, five, Gary Sanchez, Mani Pena, Yismani Grondal, Kurt Casale, and Cam Gallagher are the only catchers left as free agents, period. And so if the Diamondbacks do upgrade at catcher, it needs to be one of those guys or a trade, right? If they're going to, I mean, they have quite a few options for backup catcher right now.
Starting point is 00:46:51 As we had on this show, Tucker Barnhart is one of those options. But we don't know if the Diamondbacks are pursuing something further. Based on Gambo, just tweeting this out, this feels like a more recent kind of thing that they are still in the market for a catcher. Yeah. I guess they maybe just want to add one more guy to the mix here. You've got Barnhart. You've got Jose Herrera, of course, the incumbent as the backup catcher. Maybe you just want one more guy to add to that mix.
Starting point is 00:47:20 As you mentioned, there are some other names in there. Ronaldo Hernandez, someone the Diamondbacks added on a minor league deal. He hasn't played in the majors yet. So I don't really view him as being a strong candidate for that backup role. But I guess it could be possible. And then you also have Adrian Del Castillo who made the jump to AAA. in 2023 and could maybe get a look for that role but again i mean gabby moreno is super young do you really want to pair him with you know a catcher another super young guy in majors yet i
Starting point is 00:47:48 don't i don't really i don't really see the fit there either so yeah you know maybe you're maybe you're looking at bringing in you know mani pinia or uh kirk casali or whomever is you know one one more guy to add to that mix i i want a veteran paired with gabby that's what i would want i would want somebody that Gabby could potentially learn from and, and, you know, become a better defensive catcher behind the plate, learn how to, like he's already very good at all of these things.
Starting point is 00:48:16 But, you know, right now to get those little tips and pointers to be able to pick someone's brain, I feel like it would be invaluable for him. And again, that's, Tim brings it up, Gary Sanchez or bust. Gary Sanchez just feels like a very good addition here.
Starting point is 00:48:33 but I feel like, again, this might be a little, maybe cost too much for the Diamondbacks. I just don't know if I see the Diamondbacks making another, like signing another player to a guaranteed Major League contract. I'll be curious to hear more from Mike Hazen whenever he talks after this Jock Peterson deal is made official. But, you know, just based on that tweet that we saw from Gambo, again, you're talking about adding depth to the bullpen, depth to the catching position. you know, depth at shortstop. You're not looking for, you're clearly not looking for a starter at shortstop or catcher. I don't think the Diamondbacks are looking for like a back end reliever. It feels like they've entered the part of the off season where you're making moves on the margins.
Starting point is 00:49:18 And Gary Sanchez, yeah, you know, not, he's not necessarily a frontline catcher. I could maybe see him taking a backup role. But you're certainly having to give Gary Sanchez a majorly contract after the season that he had in 23. Well, well, it might feel like the market is moving slow. We have a little bit more of a discussion on why it's not moving nearly as slow as it was in the past. There's been a few years where this free agency market has done this exact thing. And it's not a huge surprise. I think it's just a comparison to last year. It felt like things went a little faster. Last year was different, though. Last year was kind of like our first year being back to normal for an off season. And I
Starting point is 00:49:59 I just felt like it was different than, you know, this year where it did feel like there were a couple of things holding up teams. But we'll talk about that. The relievers, by the way, I know he brought up a bullpen guy. Too many. It's the opposite of catchers. Jesse, there's too many to even start trying to figure out what range, where are we at? Because there's so many left of are they going for a top end bullpen guy? Are they going for someone in the middle?
Starting point is 00:50:26 Like, we still have no idea what their budget is. and we have no idea how much money they have left to spend this particular season. Also, there's the way that they could structure deals because Madison Bumgardener's contract will be, will fall off their books next off season. So if they bring in a guy, it's not to say that they couldn't do a multi-year deal where they make a little less this year. And it's kind of structured to second or third year end of a deal. But I don't know. I mean, I don't know if there's a lot of guys left that are.
Starting point is 00:50:58 really worthy of a contract that long or if the diamondbacks want to commit that kind of money to a bullpen. Yeah. Considering, you know, we don't know how they would fit in right now. Yeah, I would be pretty surprised if the D-backs add. I mean, I guess I could maybe see a reliever on a major league contract. But, yeah, again, you're not looking at, you're not looking at, you know, someone to pitch the seventh or a thing or whatever.
Starting point is 00:51:22 I would be pretty surprised if that happened. And, yeah, I think it is in my mind the most likely. outcome there is that it's it's minor league deals you know i think back to the debacks getting uh juries familiar last year and you know he was in pretty good seemed to be in pretty good position to make the team in spring training that of course didn't wind up happening but you know someone like that like a veteran who could come in and maybe earn themselves a role with you know with a strong with a strong spring performance well you can be out there at chase field watching baseball games all season long and a great way to get your tickets last minute
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Starting point is 00:53:54 you get access to that Discord lounge, so much more, including discounts on our events and, of course, discounts with our partners as well. So sign up today over at go phtonx.com and become part of our diehard family. Jesse, we're talking about the MLB offseason moving so slowly. It's been blamed on a number of factors. I blamed it on the Otani sweepstakes. I felt like Shohei Otani and where he was going to land kind of held things up a bit. There was also kind of those international stars as well coming over for. from Japan and Korea that were some big names that were getting some big contracts.
Starting point is 00:54:28 And it felt like it was almost like a residual thing where, you know, once the big names were going to start dropping, we were going to see all these guys signing places. But it doesn't seem to be the case. And we still have a lot of players unsigned. One thing we've talked about, we've heard about is like financial uncertainty in markets where ballet sports is still the regional sports network is part of the reasons why some of those teams haven't
Starting point is 00:54:51 really been spending. But it's really not. that uncommon according to an article from Jeff Passen over at ESPN and in fact has been worse in the past. In 2018, MLB teams had spent less than $700 million combined on free agency prior to January 25th. And the Dodgers did that in one afternoon. And one guy, in one guy. Yeah, the Dodgers did that one guy. Well, I don't know. Does $2 billion a year really count? I don't know how that works anymore. But was it the present day value?
Starting point is 00:55:24 I don't know. Yeah, exactly. How were they deferring the payments back then in 2018? 51 players did sign deals between today's or yesterday's date, essentially, and opening day. And every single one of them was one of your contracts. You compare that to last year, less than half of that, less than half that number was available.
Starting point is 00:55:44 There were 25 players last year available or that signed essentially from January 25th through opening day. But of course, Jesse, there's one common theme here. And that common theme is, is that the top four unsigned free agents were all Scott Boris clients back then. And today, in 2024, all four of the unsigned top three agents are all Scott Boris clients now. Yeah, surprise, surprise, right? Yeah. It leads to one conclusion, Jesse. Scott Boris must be stopped. He must be stopped. This man must be stopped, is what I'm saying. Yeah, I Players love him, I imagine.
Starting point is 00:56:24 If Scott Boris is your agent, you love this man. He's the greatest thing to ever happen to you. And if you're anybody else, he's kind of a villain. Yeah, I feel like, I guess Scott is maybe kind of showing us the way that he feels with how things have transpired so far. I feel like agents have maybe a perception, at least in some cases, that the longer they wait, the more leverage they get. Like teams are, you know, teams are eventually like, all right,
Starting point is 00:56:54 we need to start, like, we need to figure out what we're doing. You know, spring training is right around the corner. Pitchers and catchers, you know, it's happening in a couple weeks. We got to, we got to start making moves here. But I don't know if, I don't know if it necessarily plays out that way because I could also see the flip side where, you know, if as an agent, you kind of wait too long. And then, you know, if other teams have gone elsewhere,
Starting point is 00:57:17 then maybe you've kind of lost your leverage. at that point. I guess that hasn't really been the case this offseason because teams haven't really pivoted elsewhere because teams aren't pivoting anywhere. There's just nothing happening in general except for the Diamondbacks. You know, certainly have been one of the more active teams in the game. So, yeah, I don't fully understand why things have been the way that they have. But, yeah, Jeff in that story over at ESPN did a good job kind of keeping these in perspective.
Starting point is 00:57:45 And yeah, back in 2018, the story was, was. actually worse than where we are right now. I know you've never been in a fight with your spouse, Jesse, but sometimes it's really, it's a battle of attrition and who can give up first. And if your players are on board with potentially threatening to like not play during the season, you know, and just wait for someone to eventually have a need because of injury or something like that, you know, that pressure might still be there even if the other suitors have moved on and found other free agents for them to pursue or, you know, whatever they did to fill those roles that they
Starting point is 00:58:20 need on their teams. But yeah, I do feel like, once again, another analogy is my, is my Black Friday analogy, right? You're a team. You had money to spend. You missed out on this guy. You missed out on that guy. You even, maybe you even tried to figure out a way to budget for Otani and you couldn't, but then you decided like, at least we could get a couple of other guys that won't cost us as much. And then you walk away with nothing. You have to get to a point where you're just like, we have to do something to improve this team and I don't even care at this point how much it costs because, you know, there there, there's this obligation to on a front office, on an ownership to make a team better. It's the reason why, even though sometimes it doesn't make sense, teams still do it because
Starting point is 00:59:04 you kind of have to. You can't just go out there and say, hey, our team kind of sucks this year. So we don't want to waste money on a free agent that really isn't going to win us that many more games. So let's just wait until next year. And then we're going to. to like have this like a little bit more money and we'll try to put a run together people will hate you for that even if it sounds like a very reasonable plan and in most cases it's probably what more sports teams should do more sports teams shouldn't go out there and do what you know like the rockies did with chris bryant and pay one guy a ton of money and expect that to have impacted your team and and still finish dead last in your division right uh it just it doesn't
Starting point is 00:59:41 always make sense to give a guy all of that money you just still have to make it look in some way, like you're trying to make your team a competitive team, a better team in some way. If you're not, you're not doing your job. Even if you're not actually improving your team, you still have to make it look like to fans that you are. Right. So, but I mean, if I were, like, if I were a front office executive right now, I would be like massively stressed out because I have like not very much time and probably a lot of items still on my to do list. I understand the irony here, given that I am the renowned procrastinating Christmas shopper. Somehow that pressure is good.
Starting point is 01:00:19 That pressure helps me. But it's also different in baseball because you're having to negotiate on things, right? Like when I'm doing my Christmas shopping, I know what things cost. I know what I can get, what I can afford and whatnot. Whereas here, I mean, these are all fluid situations. You don't know how the markets are going to turn out on any of these guys. And with how many guys are still out there, I know this isn't that strong of a free agent class. And the trade market seems basically broken at this point because all of the asking prices are entirely too high.
Starting point is 01:00:46 But yeah, you probably still have, if you're a front office executive, especially of a contending team, you probably still have some holes that you're looking to fill. And, you know, this is something I talked with Mike Hazen about. I think this was at the winter meetings, not this past year, but the year before that. Like the order that you do things in matters, right? Like if you're able to get, you know, if you fill this need before this other need, then, you know, it might cut down on what kind of money you have available to fill that need. Like the order here does, does very much matter.
Starting point is 01:01:19 And at this point, if you're a front office executive, you might be in a position where you're just going to have to start rattling off these moves pretty rapidly. And it might not, you might not be able to make it happen and, you know, kind of as logical and is, you know, as nice of a flow as you probably would have liked. Yeah. Well, if you are concerned about your money and your finances, you need to look to our friends at Desert Financial Credit Union for more than 84 years. Desert Financial has been Arizona's large.
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Starting point is 01:02:13 And we actually have a little more for you. So if you are a diehard, make sure to join us tonight at 5 p.m. In the Discord, we'll have more on Jock Peterson. We'll have more on this slow-moving free agency and whatever else you guys want to talk about. I believe that is during the, during MLB Network's unveiling of the top 100 prospects, if I'm not mistaken. Oh, we'll have that to talk about too for sure. So we'll be able to talk about that. Yeah, Baseball America, as we talked about the other day, only had Jordan Lawler.
Starting point is 01:02:41 He was the only Diamondbacks prospect on their top 100. So yeah, come come hang out with us live and see if the Diamondbacks have more than more than just Jordan Lawler over at MLB pipeline. Another great thing to check out, by the way, is our friends at Sombrose. I will be out there tomorrow, by the way, Jesse, because they are having their grand opening party at their Nortara selection. It's up here at I-17 and Joe Max, and I can't wait for that. Sombrose has the absolute best Mexican food that you can find, of course. It's a local partner, and we're very excited to be partnering together with them. I am specifically because I am a huge breakfast burrito guy.
Starting point is 01:03:23 So make sure to check it up. I'm literally going to Sombrose after the show ends there. Yeah. I've been thinking about it basically since we started because I haven't eaten anything today. Yeah. And I am starving. I had to fill everybody in on burritos with the boys. burritos with the boys was a new event that I had planned with Jesse and Damon
Starting point is 01:03:44 where I was going to bring burritos to the office because we were all supposed to be there very early on Thursday. As you know from earlier when I was talking about it, the coyotes crew tried to burn the building down, so we didn't come in on Thursday. So since then, Jesse and Damon have both been waiting for some burrows that I promised to bring them. And burritos with the boys has just permanently been postponed as it stands.
Starting point is 01:04:07 I mean, the agree. the terms of the, according to the terms of the agreement, Derek, we were supposed to have burritos delivered to us. And there were no stipulations and set agreement about whether the PHNX office was on fire or not. So I'm going to need, I'm going to need you to deliver this to my front door. I won't be doing that. I won't be doing that. But everybody out there, including Jesse, can check out their newest locations in Goodyear, Peoria and I-17 and Joe Max. Jesse, I know those aren't near you, but you do have one right next to you.
Starting point is 01:04:39 So let some boroughs cater your next meal, big or small. Order online or find one near you by visiting some burrows.com. Well, that's all we got now. Like I said, make sure to join us tonight in the Discord. We'll be there answering questions, hanging out, talking to you guys at 5 o'clock, Arizona time. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman.
Starting point is 01:05:01 The people's producer, Damon, he is at Damon Dog. That's D-A-W-G. We are Damon's dogs. Bark, bark, bark. Bark, bark. All right. Well, we're still, we're just, there's a delay, I guess. But anyway, our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs.
Starting point is 01:05:16 We just hit 11,000 followers. And we thank you guys so much for helping us get there. It's incredible the growth that we've had over the last year. And it's because of you guys. So thank you guys so much for that. Of course, all roads do lead to at pHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys again for joining us. We hope you have a wonderful Friday and a wonderful weekend.
Starting point is 01:05:35 And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's more fun. when you go out and get yourself a big, meaty man.

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