PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Diamondbacks Pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez Shut Down Due to Lat Strain

Episode Date: March 23, 2024

We have good news and bad news after today’s Diamondbacks spring training game. The bad news is Torey Lovullo did confirm the team has shut down starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez due to a left lat strain. However, E-Rod himself said he was at “about 95%” and should be ready to go very soon. How will this impact the start of his season and what options do the D-backs have in his absence? We also have more on J.D. Martinez signing a one-year, $12 million contract with the New York Mets. Derek is inconsolable about it, but should he be? An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to Suns Takeovers, Coyotes & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://gophnx.com/events/Factor Mealkits: Use code PHNXDBACKS50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box and free wellness shots for life with any active subscription at https://factormeals.com/phnxdbacks50Arizona Lottery: Visit http://www.AZAdventure.com for more information on how you can take an adventure with the Arizona Lottery and for a chance to win $1 million in cash and Arizona travel prizes! PrizePicks - Download the PrizePicks app today and use code PHNX for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Empire: Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! Receive a $350 OFF discount when you use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details.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 over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Someburros: 20% off your order of up to $100 when you use code PHNX at checkout for the whole month of March at https://www.someburros.com/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.

Welcome in to a Friday edition of the PHNX feedback podcast right here on PHMX. Happy Friday to you all. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as a man struggling with an addiction to Korean pork belly nachos. This man next to me is by vice mayor, and he's also the person I call when I struggle the most. It's the one and only Jesse Friedman. And Jesse, speaking of struggling,

things are not good for the Arizona Diamondbacks, because Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez has, has in fact been shut down today, according to Tori Lobello, in regards to his left latch strain that he experienced. And also, that's, you know, it's just the thing. It's the thing that makes you throw your hands up and say, great, the big addition to the starting pitching rotation, starting the year on the injured list.

Of course, before we get into that, we do have to let you guys know that our spring training updates are presented to you by our friends at Factor meal kits. head over to factormeals.com slash phnxdbax 50 and use code phnxdbax 50 to get 50% off. Both of us could very much use a factor meal right about now because we do not take proper care of ourselves whatsoever. And that is true. We could use the ease of that right about now. Yes, I always can use the ease of a factor meal because I don't take care of myself.

And I especially during baseball season, Derek, meals are hard to come. by especially like super expensive ones at the ballpark I try to stay away from that as much as possible but it happens happens a little more than I would like it's hard yeah it's hard um anyway Jesse talk to the people about erud what are what what what why should we not be absolutely panicked about this right now I mean I never said you shouldn't be absolutely panicked no it really wouldn't be a diamondbacks uh free agent starting pitcher signing without a little drama on the front end, right? Zach Granky when the Diamondback signed him.

Even though that signing, I think, went pretty well when all was said and done. Granky was an utter disaster in his opening day start and did not pitch all that well for the Diamondbacks, especially at the beginning of that first season in Arizona. Mad bum, I've already gotten myself in trouble way too many times talking about him in the same sense as Erod. But we all know how that started back in 2020. And then here in 2024, Erod getting hurt before making his first start that actually counts with the Diamondback. So it's a tough break for sure.

I'm not surprised at all, frankly, based on what we heard the other day and what we've been hearing the last couple of days. It seemed pretty far-fetched that E-Rod would actually be ready for opening day and that this would prove minor enough that he wouldn't have to miss any time whatsoever. But the good news is that I don't think E-Rod is necessarily going to miss all that much. time. It's a little scary when you hear a manager use the phrase shut down, that a player is being shut down, because there is a, it's, there's an indefinite nature to that where you don't really know exactly when the endpoint is, but there are reasons to believe that Erod won't be down all that long. This is what Tori had to say in regards to Erod being shut down. Okay. Errod has a lot strain. He's going to be sure.

shut down from throwing until he's asymptomatic. So I know you guys want to know lengths of time, all the common questions that I want to know, but we don't know that. It's going to depend on how he progresses and how he's feeling day by day, and we're going to assess it daily and then build it out from there. And, you know, the return will be determined by the length of time that he's down. and I can tell you that he's been feeling better day by day. So that's all I have for you. I don't know when he's going to start throwing. I don't know when he's going to be back.

It all depends on when he becomes asymptomatic. Did they say grade one or two to you? I didn't get that information, so I don't know that information exactly. Did he ever end up going for imaging after all? He did. He did get some imaging that showed a lot of string. Who got it up first? You were Steve.

That's the moment where I claim Jesse was first. And no, Jesse lost to Steve. No, yeah. A matter of seconds. Both Steve and Nick beat me to that. They both meet you. To the tweet, yeah, by probably a matter of a matter of seconds. But yeah, you can hear there.

Tori is, he won't give a timeline. He refuses to give any exact information on when Erod will be ready to go. when he is no longer a symptom or when he is asymptomatic. Exactly. When he no longer have any symptoms. And Erod himself described the injury as being very weird, said he only experienced this exact kind of thing one other time, but he doesn't know if it was the same injury because he never got imaging done at that point

in regards to when he felt this. But, you know, again, as far as he is concerned, it seemed like this would be the kind of injury that you just kind of shake off. and you come back a couple of days. He's happy he said something obviously for a few reasons. One, it's a spring training game. You don't want to go out there and, you know, feel some sort of tightness and not mention it to the trainer and then have it turn into something worse

during a spring training game. And the other thing, too, is that, of course, you know, he did want to take precautions here when it came, you know, to this, to the strain because of, he described it as feeling very weird and unusual at times. He also seemed to kind of not believe the diagnosis that it was, in fact, a latch drain when they got imaging done. He said that when it came back, he kind of disagreed with it that he actually had something wrong with him. And that's why you get imaging done so that you know, really, you know, what's going on. But this is what Erod had to say in regards to how he feels and maybe, you know, where he's at, how far away he thinks he is from returning.

I mean, like I say, like the way that I feel. that that happened and the way that I feel the next day and the day after that I don't see it I don't see the way that the MRI described it so so like in and what they told me like I don't feel they like I don't feel like that and so I will say I will say it feels weird it sounds weird to me when they told me like the way they so but I'm but I'm really I'm really confident that that it's going to be way less time the day they're thinking so That's what we go away day by day, because I really feel great. So that's what I'm saying, doesn't be that long.

Do they give you a rough time frame or anything? No, no, no. Like I said, we decided it's going to be day by day. We didn't have to feel every day. I don't feel like nothing in there. And then where they make sure, like, everything is strong and ready to go, you know. So that's the way that I'm, that's the good that I feel. That's how much good I feeling that it's going to be day by day.

So, like, every day will be better. And, like, today is a lot better. Like, I will say, like, it's close, like, probably like 95% close to normal. So that's what we decided to go day by day. Gotcha. On that, yeah. It feels 95%?

Yeah, like that's what I'm saying. Like, close to number feels 95%. So, like, that's what we decide to go day by day on it. Rather that, like, short it down for, like, week or two. That's what we decided to go day by day because it feels really great. So we'll see how it comes tomorrow on the next day. And then when we plan it to start playing cash again. You must have thought you.

Pulling back the curtain there a little bit. When I tweeted out that video, this man next to me asked me why I labeled it is day to day because as his mind works, this was not the official diagnosis that he is day to day, right? Yeah, he is not day to day in the sense of the injured list. Like, Erod will open the year on the injured list. He is not day to day in that sense. But he did, I think we need like a counter for how many times he said he said he's day by day.

He definitely wants us to know that. And he also reiterated when, you know, like when he says there that, you know, he feels like he's about 95% you know as far as being close to normal like he he feels very close this whole thing definitely is is something that he kind of wants to get past and get back to baseball as soon as possible right yeah but this is where what happened last year I think has a huge impact on the way the organization Tory and even some of the players are going to see things it is not about you starting the season it is about you making it the season and he did go on to say he was glad that he did this because had it you know had he maybe thrown a fastball you know

at 96 miles an hour or thrown at you know full speed he might have hurt himself more and this might be an injury that now he's out you know a month or now that that label might be you know multiple weeks or whatever the case may be it really is a day to day situation because based on what like tory said when he is asymptomatic that's when they're going to get them back to throwing but he is not going to be ready to play baseball when he gets back to throwing. He's going to have to ramp back up just like these pitchers do during spring training. And that is obviously going to leave a huge gap in the starting rotation to start the season. It's unfortunate because it's the exact thing we wanted to avoid. However, the Diamondbacks have three very capable pitchers who have been

battling out for that spot. And they do have the luxury right now of just being able to turn to those young guys and have them fill in for Eduardo in his absence. It's just going to be interesting to see how the rotation plays out because obviously the way the guys are stretched out and the way things are scheduled. It doesn't seem like, you know, they're going to just move everybody up in the rotation. They can't just really move Brandon fought up to like three and Merrill back up to two or whatever. The Dinback's cannot start Brandon fought on the third game of the season. As of right now, Tommy Henry lines up in Erod's spot.

So if I were guessing right now, I would guess that Tommy Henry will make the team as a starting pitcher and we'll start the third game of the season against the Rockies. Brandon Fott will stay in the number four spot. And then Ryan Nelson, as of right now, lands in the number five spot. So Jarvis, I guess, is still in the mix here. He's lined up with Tommy Henry. So I guess if they didn't start Tommy Henry in the rotation, they could put Bryce Jarvis there and have him start the third game of the season. but it seems more likely that Henry will start. And the Jarvis, I think Jarvis has a pretty good chance to make the team as a reliever.

That's one thing that Tori talked about as far as the ramifications of this E-Rod injury. He said that the Diamondbacks are far more likely to have a long reliever. Given that you have three pretty young pitchers in this rotation on opening day, right? I mean, it's going to be fought and then two out of the three of Jarvis, Nelson, and Henry. Yeah, thoughts also. Yeah, yeah. So you've got, I mean, three-fifths of your starting rotation opening day is going to be pitchers who are either rookies or like rookie adjacent, basically. So, yeah, I mean, you're going to want to make sure you have some coverage in the bullpen. I think Bryce Jarvis has a pretty good chance to make this team one way or another or at least some long relief solution, whatever that looks like.

It's hard for me to imagine there is a way to have a long relief solution at this point, though, without Bryce Jarvis making the team. Yeah, Bryce Jarvis has to be a part of that long relief solution. and I will say in regards to Elise's message in the chat, she said, Derek is a lot calmer than I thought he would be discussing this. Oh, don't get a twisted, Elise. We're going to talk about JD Martinez here in a little while, so I need to conserve as much angry energy as I can for that. But I'll also say that what Ryan Nelson did today mixed with Eduardo Rodriguez's confidence

that he is fine. Like he looked at me when I asked him, I was like, how are you feeling the day? And he was like, great. Like it was like it was such an emphatic like he wanted us to know that he's fine and I felt like that message was delivered. But of course the team is going to take precautions with him because there is no need to rush him at this time of the year. It sucks to lose him for two to three games potentially to start the year. But I don't even know if it's going to be that much. Erod said several times that he thinks it's going to be a lot shorter than then the coaching staff believes it's going to be.

But that's just him. And of course, nobody knows how he feels except him, right? Like he could be lying and he knows he's lying or he could be absolutely feeling great and he's like, man, this is stupid. But sometimes you just got to wait until you're fully cleared and allowed to get back to baseball activities. The other thing that made me very calm was Ryan Nelson's performance today. The man went out there and struck out nine and had 17 whiffs today. Ryan Nelson moved into second place in all of spring training in strikeouts behind Spencer Strider today with 26 strikeouts. And I think that there couldn't have been a better time for Ryan Nelson to have this big game.

Like we know that Tommy Henry has kind of, you know, kind of solidified himself. And it's not to say Ryan hasn't pitched very well this spring. But what a day to give the organization, give Tori and the coaching staff confidence that they're going to be okay with Ryan Nelson going out there and being their fifth starter by going out on a day like this and having 17 whiffs and nine strikeouts. Yeah, I'm looking at the diamondbacks. with totals from last year. Merrill Kelly was in the 20s and whiffs three times in three separate starts. Zach Allen hit 20 once. Tommy Henry had one outing where he had 18 whiffs.

But yeah, I mean, you're looking at just a handful of starts all of last season where a deback starting pitcher had 17 whips. That's a really, really big number. And this is not a guy that, frankly, we're used to seeing get much swing and miss, right? That was the whole thing with Ryan Nelson last year was that he just wasn't getting a ton of swing and miss on on anything really he would get guys to two strikes and he was good at throwing strikes and staying in the zone but he didn't have a way to put guys away we've seen a very very different starting pitcher in spring training so far this is what ryan nelson had to say what was uh in regards what

was working for him today i think there's a lot of carry and ride today everything felt really good i think that i worked ahead a lot and that was one of my main focuses from last outing when i went back and watched it I was 2-1 a lot 2-0 a lot didn't really throw a bunch of first-pitch strikes so that was my big focus today and makes it easier to kind of dip into the bag of tricks when you're working ahead and I felt like I kept them off balance and had had some good stuff today and like you said that was something last year that he was able to do was to get ahead he just couldn't finish him off today he was doing both of those things he was staying ahead in the count he was using his fastball. He had great command of the zone. And he was using his other stuff to really,

at times, get those whiffs. His slider was slidering, as someone said. Ernesto said that, right? Like, it's, it's just, again, it's these steps forward. And, you know, again, this competition might be that thing that refines both Tommy Henry and Ryan Nelson to be valuable assets in this organization, you know, just having to compete against each other for this job. I think it's kind of funny that Ryan Nelson has found a way to get way more whiffs while also still throwing a ton of four seam fastballs. Yeah, he's throwing a fastball a lot. It's kind of the narrative coming into spring was like, all right, we need Ryan Nelson to start throwing his secondary stuff more. And today he had arguably his most impressive spring training performance yet.

And he threw 64% four seamers. But it works because Ryan Nelson got 11 whiffs on his four seam fast. When Ryan Nelson throws his four seam fastball at the top of the zone, no one's hitting that thing right now. No, there are no. And granted, a lot of these guys are double A and triple A hitters, which is certainly a part of the equation here. But guys are not touching that pitch.

And some of it has to do with Nelson throwing it a little bit harder. Today, he averaged 95.5 with the four seamer. Last year, he averaged 94.4. He's consistently been about one mile above where he was last year in spring training. Another factor is that Ryan Nelson is getting more extension on his forcing fastball than he did last year by about 0.3 inches, which might not sound like much, but it's turning a pitch that two hitters looked like about 94 miles an hour last spring. This spring, it's averaging a perceived velocity of about 96.5 miles per hour because he's getting more extension and that makes it look even faster to the hitter. And we've certainly seen that in these games. that pitch has been as electric as it's ever been.

Tori discussed Ryan Nelson's swing and miss today and what was working for him as far as his observations. Yeah, I think there's a lot of carrying ride and a lot of velocity in this fastball, and now he's got something that's making a left turn, and right-hand hitters are reaching for that. And I think you struck out a left-hand hitter on a quality slider too. So that, to me, is aptitude and trust,

and those are the things that we're looking for from all our players, not just the young one. So he got information, took it, and he's running with it right now. Is that what it's like to see a Tori Lubello interview through Teo Mackey's eyes? Zing! Got his ass. Of course. That was so unnecessary, dear.

I love the tail. Teo wasn't even out. He was off today. That's why catching strays on your off day. That's what I do around here, Jesse. He's never coming on this show yet. No, he'll totally come on again. He'll forgive me.

but something that's kind of crazy to me is that could tell Marte hit his first home run of spring today. That did not. He did. That did not seem to be that that didn't like that didn't, you know, kind of compute for me because Marte has been having an MVP caliber spring already, which makes me feel like that's going to lead right into an MVP caliber season. But Marte currently leads all of MLB with 19 hits, which is no surprise because he's hitting like five. 500, 400, something crazy right now, I'm sure still. Yeah, we talked near the beginning of spring about how we thought Cotel Marte like could genuinely hit 600 in spring training.

And he might. Unfortunately, that does not, that looks like a stretch at this point. He was one for four today. Oh, yeah. Despite the homer, the numbers took a hit on a one for four day. He's down to a 426 batting average at this point. So if you were taking the over on a 600 spring training batting average for Citell, you're probably not going to hit.

Yeah, it's probably not going to hit. But yeah, he has been outstanding this spring and has looked locked in for weeks. I don't think Cattell necessarily needs all of the. I mean, he's kind of looked ready for this season. I think from the first few days, few games. He's been his looked as locked in as he did really in the postseason. And it's weird because he didn't really take time off. You know, like I know he did.

I know they all took time off. But what we saw earlier than anybody else. And of course, we know Corbyn Care, like the next day after they were bounced from the World Series, Corbyn Carroll was out at Salt River Fields hitting, you know, hitting and doing stuff, I'm sure. But actually, no, what was it, November 22nd at 6 a.m. I think that's what he told me was the day that he went out there. Cattel, like the first video I saw of anybody training during the off season was Cotel in the Dominican Republic hitting in like a cage. It's like the man took no time off and was just, you know, going to try to get better.

I hope that doesn't impact him as far as like, you know, his conditioning. I mean, maybe that might be nice, you know, with the way that baseball is to take a little time off after a run like that. But Jesse, you'll never guess who's tied for second for hits in all of Major League Baseball this spring. Oh, tied for, it's not Nick Ahmed, is it? That'd be hilarious. Absolutely not. Are you insane? He's probably up there.

Nick Ahmed, I think in batting average, I think he's pretty close to could tell. He might not have the same volume of it bats. It's another shortstop. we're a little familiar with. It's Blaze Alexander. Oh, sure, sure. 18 hits this off season, tied for second. He's played a lot.

DeVax played Blaz. They have played him a lot. Blaze absolutely has played a lot. And of course, you know that there were some roster moves today. And that kind of impacts Blaze a little bit, right? Blaze is still on the roster. I honestly expected, and I hate to say this, but just due to the same kind of thing that Jordan Lawler has to go through, right?

I expected to see Blais get set back down because they don't really want somebody of his caliber just in a backup role. Sure. But to be honest, he's been so good. I can't see why you wouldn't want him to stay on the major league roster and also potentially just straight up split time with Heraldo Predomo. It's something the Diamondbacks were doing with Jerry P. Last year when they started the season. So it's not that it's not that unthinkable that they wouldn't want to do it this year. But the Diamondbacks did have some roster moves today.

optioning Andrew Saul Frank and Pavin Smith down to AAA Reno, reassigning pitcher Jose Castillo to minor league camp and releasing Elvis Andrews. Sorry, Merrill Kelly, you are officially the oldest man on the team. But, I mean, we have Tori on these roster moves, but I mean, I'm feeling like this is moving in the direction of Blaze Alexander, actually making this team. It feels like that's going to happen. is it just is it just am i just getting my hopes up to be disappointed at that last series of roster

cuts right before we get to the games at chase field i think it's very possible yes it's very possible i knew it so you think kevin newman is making the team over blaze no the diamond backs have four infielder's vying for what appears to be two spots remaining in camp it's jace peterson manor riva heaven newman blaze alexander what the hell are we talking about You need two out of those four people. Yeah, I mean, Blaise is, Blase is presumably here for a reason. Like, I'm not gonna,

I'm not gonna rule that out. I think it's, I think it's possible. The Diamondbacks have kind of circled around on their thinking of wanting to get Blaze everyday opportunities. And they're just like, maybe we, maybe we can get them enough opportunities.

You know, maybe we can, we can start them against every lefty. Yeah. I guess if you, if you wanted to just have Perdomo, be the strong side of the platoon. you know, get him occasional opportunities the second and third.

We've seen Blaze move around defensively quite a bit this spring. And he's done a good job. I don't want to rule it out, but I will just say that the, I mean, the thinking that we heard from the DeBax front office a couple of weeks ago was that we want Blaze Alexander play every day. Yeah. And that hasn't changed in the last couple of weeks. So it's hard for me to suddenly think that Blaze automatically has a job just because

he's one of the few guys remaining in camp. Emmanuel Rivera is out of options. And so if Emmanuel Rivera is not part of this team, he's not part of this organization, technically anymore. They would have to DFA them. Yeah, Kevin Newman has an opt-out in his contract on March 25th, I think. And he's also, he was a non-roster invitee, so he's different, right? He's someone where you either

you either put him on the opening day roster or you lose him to another organization, most likely. I don't think you'd be able to just option Kevin Newman to Reno. And here's what Tori discussed the roster moves, including Elvis, and this is what he had to say in regards to, you know, all these guys, including Payman Smith, which I know might be a surprise to some people. that he was set down to Reno.

Yeah, Pavin was, they're all hard conversations. Pavin was maybe a little bit more complicated because he can hit. He's a good baseball player. We just have a lot of really good baseball players in camp right now, and that means you've got to send other good baseball players down to the minor leagues. So my message to him was,

continue doing what you do best, play on both sides of the ball, improve as a first baseman, improve as an outfielder, leagues by making statements. Elvis, we just explained that, you know, we have a couple other options that we're going to look at right now. And out of fairness to him, we just made this decision. And he's got, give him a little bit of time to be creative to find another organization. And if it doesn't happen, we would love to have him back. He's a quality human being.

He still has some life in his body, and he still got some good baseball ahead of him. It was just a really tight window that he was operating and he got here late. The first game he played, he was being evaluated like he had been here, as everybody else did. But I know those first four or five days are very hard for a player to gear up and be spot on. So fortunately, that was just where he was at. And he understood that. He was total pro about it. The others, South Frank, just being able to command the baseball, be aggressive, getting after it,

all the things that he was doing last year that got him back to the, or got him to the big leagues. And then Castillo, you know, we just told him to continue doing what you're doing. The injury came at a bad time for him. And once again, when you're dealing with those tight windows, with those types of players, you got to really go out there and grind it out and be on top of your game every single chance you're out there. And he just missed a little bit of time because of that injury.

Yeah, at least is right. You can tell how much a pain tory to have that conversation. really does. And I mean, yeah, I think we saw last year there was a point where I think Tori kind of got past the personal nature of some of these decisions because they, they all hurt, right? Like one doesn't hurt more than another. And I'm sure some of them probably are a little easier, right? Like when he talks about Elvis leaving the building, I had to get that in there. He obviously, you know, talked about, you know, wanting him to go out there and get an opportunity with another team and they want to try to do that as quickly as possible.

It would, you know, his time frame, just like some of these other free agents that haven't been signed, you know, up to this point is going to be very weird and most of them are not going to be ready for the regular season at this point. So it gives him an advantage to try to go out there and sign with another team. But yeah, I mean, obviously we know that there are guys that are playing better and we know that Tori and the front office have to continue to make these decisions based on, you know, the guys that are performing their best. It's not easy. And we've already seen an injury to a major part of the starting rotation that then impacts everybody.

That depth is going to be important. There's no way that they're going to make it through this season without people getting injured. So these guys are going to be called on again. It's just right now the Diamondbacks do have kind of a good problem. They have too much talent and they're going to have to send some guys away that we're probably going to disagree with. I think that the move out of all these that surprises me the most might be.

Elvis Enders. Just because, yeah, we talked about him coming in and you'd figure if you're in his position and you may be out a few different options on the table, you're not going to sign with a team unless you have a decent, unless you're at least led to believe you have a decent chance of making that team. And yeah, I mean, it seemed like when the debacks made that move, they weren't super happy with the backup shortstop options they had in house. And he was a guy who wasn't great last year with the White Sox, but his numbers were more decent.

a good clubhouse guy that has a positive reputation in that respect. But yeah, he just came in and just didn't really hit, right? I think it was two for 17 with one walk, four strikeouts, both of the hits were singles. It wasn't, there's only a handful of games. I mean, they didn't have much to judge him on, but the diamond backs decided to move on there. I also think Saul Frank is interesting. Saul Frank was a high leverage reliever for the diamond backs in the postseason. Like, this is the guy who is not, like he was pitching important innings for

the diamond backs in October at a time when Kyle Nelson really wasn't debacks were they were still using Kyle Nelson he was still played a role in in some of the postseason series but they were favoring Saul Frank toward the end of the season he was the he was the hot hand and they were they were going to him in those big situations and he was the guy that surprised us the most like Ryan Thompson his success was less surprising because he looked at the numbers and we were like man this guy has been good He just kind of had two bad outings with the Tampa Bay raise that really made his ERA sore. And Ryan covered that when we had him on the show. You know what I mean?

And that can happen. But at least it makes sense when you go back. You look at his experience, his track record, his past performances, like the rays were a team like the Diamondbacks, where they had to make difficult decisions based on the amount of talent they had. They felt like Ryan Thompson was someone they could part ways with. It was all to the Diamondbacks benefit that he came over. For the Diamondbacks sake, thank goodness they got him, right? We love Ryan Thompson. Tea time.

Tea time. But Zolf Frank, meanwhile, he was a bit more perplexing to us because nothing suggested that he should have been as good as he was. Not his past performances, not his peripherals. Not much suggested that. I mean, I think he had like pretty compelling numbers in the minors. I mean, he was at 13.1 Ks per nine last year. But you didn't know how it was going to translate.

I mean, no, is there a lot of hype around him. He wasn't a guy that was like a top prospect of any organization. Right. So I guess my point was. was, even when he had success, there were things he was doing well. But yeah, it felt like, when is this guy going to come back down to earth? You know what I mean? It definitely felt like that when it came to Saul Frank. And so it's a bit understandable. I think Nelson, I think Nelson is outpitched Saul Frank in spring. I mean, maybe there's a, I don't think the devacs necessarily made this

decision going into spring training after what they saw in the playoffs. But Saul Frank was okay. I mean, he let four and runs and nine innings, but he had five walks compared to eight strikeouts. Kyle Nelson, I think, just outpitched him this spring. And there's this seniority element there. So not hugely surprising on that front. Go be hungry. Go take that experience from the World Series. Go take that experience for the playoffs.

Want that again and go shove in Reno and you'll be back. If you can have a sub four ERA at Reno, we will take you back here as soon as possible. Jesse, where the hell is Paul Seawald? I need an answer on that because I haven't seen my man in days. Yeah, Paul Seawald hasn't pitched since Monday. leave and I asked about that after the game today and was given one of the one of the more fascinating injury diagnosis I've ever heard. Tori said he he's been the debacks have backed off Paul C-wall due to normal body aches.

Can relate just just like that is the most relatable injury I've ever heard in my life. Normal body aches every single day for me Jesse so I get a little leave he'll get rid of them but they're still there. So I guess the yeah I wouldn't be too concerned about. Seawall. Tori wasn't sure exactly when he was going to pitch, but it sounds like he'll pitch again in the next few days and should be ready to go for opening day. So, uh, no, no concerns there. Any updates on Randall Gritchick? Uh, it's sort of. Apparently Randall Grichick ran the bases. I think today. Tori didn't have a report on that pregame. We didn't get it from and post game. Something we'll have to follow up on tomorrow. Uh, he seemed a little bit unsure, I believe, of when Grishick could get into a game if that's something that could happen. Uh, I don't think Randall Grishik is going to make the opening day roster. I think it's going to be Jake McCarthy making the team. And Grishick opens the year on the IL probably for not very long and then gets called up or brought back to the majors in fairly short order after that.

It might go to the minors and get some get some opportunities there, get some actual reps against live pitching. And then, yeah, we should see him back in the majors before long, I would think. Well, all of this wonderful spring training updates have been brought to you by Factor Mail. and it's very, very on brand that Factor Meal Kids sponsors are spring training activities. And that's because Jesse and I don't take care of ourselves at all. Do we eat, do we get breakfast in? Nope. We just get out to the ballpark and we just start recording dudes playing baseball.

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And Jesse, our next segment, of course, and every Friday is brought to you by our friends at OGs. And they're always about flavoring Fridays. You can check out all the wonderful things OGs Brands has to offer over at OGsbrands.com, not to mention. They're brand new vegan gummies for those of you that are vegan, as well as the big OGs for big guys like me that like eating 100 milligrams in one bite. But I am going to need more than 100 milligrams of THC right now to deal with what we are about to talk about. because as many of you know, the news came out that just D. Martinez, a.k.a. J.D. Martinez, aka. The love of my life, signed with the New York Mets for $12 million. A poultry, $12 million, Jesse.

Surely you mean $20 million, right? No, I'm just going to, I'm just going to leave me. Just do this by yourself. Because if you're going to start off like that, start pissing me off. God damn it. Yeah, $12 million is definitely lower than, I think some outlet has. 12 million i want to say fan grafts estimate was 12 million uh are you aware of the way that this money no i don't want to i'm not aware i'm all more than is he's not a diamond back that's what i'm aware of all right i guess this i just have to do the show now okay Derek Derek is coming back uh so he he's making four point five million dollars this year Derek with 1.5 million deferred each year like 2038 from

2034 to 2038. And I'm going to go out on a limb and say if the diamond backs two months ago before they signed Jack Peterson come to Scott Boris and offer $4.5 million with $1.5 million deferred for five years in the mid-2030s.

Scott Boris would have found the tallest building in Arizona and told them to go jump off of it. That's what he would have told him. That's exactly what he would have told him. I don't know if Scott Forrest would have said that. But I'm paraphrasing. He would have used much more colorful language.

I am furious right now, Jesse. $12 million. You're absolutely right. There is no way. There is no way that when the Diamondbacks were pursuing their D.H. That there, thank you. You just let that play to hold up. There is no way that they offered him $12 million and they rejected it or like,

anyway. But the Diamondbacks had to have offered him that or more. This has to be Scott Boris taking another goddamn out. You waited too long, Scott. Just admitted to us. You are washed. Your days are up, old man. The future is now.

You done? You good? You ready? Go ahead. Let's talk about Jock Peterson and his $9.5 million with a freaking opt-out. God, I'm so upset. So if we look at how Jock Peterson and J.D. Martinez's numbers compare for the 2020. No, I don't want to do that.

Let's. J.D. Martinez was better. There's no way, no way around that. JD hit 271 last year with 33 homers and 893 OPS. Jock Peterson and 235 average 15 homers a 764 OPS. Jady was worth 2.2. Fan graphs wore and Jock Peterson is worth 0.6.

We did say, we have talked about Jack Peterson's underlying numbers were quite strong last year and suggested maybe he was better than those numbers showed. But yes, the Diamondbacks did give Jack Peterson 12.5 million guaranteed. They also, on top of that, to kind of solve this same D.H problem, they also gave Randall Grishik $2 million guaranteed plus incentives. So you're really, I mean, I think that's really the comparison you have to do. It's not just Martinez versus Peterson. It's Martinez versus the platoon combination of Peterson and Grishick, which the Diamondbacks

paid several more million dollars for. But yes, it's all about timing, right? I mean, I don't think we need to have this sourced to know. that Scott Boris wasn't taking $12 million two months ago. He wanted more than that. He probably wanted a two-year deal instead of a one-year deal. Three years maybe. We talked a lot on this show about how we thought it was going to take a two-year deal to get J.D. Martinez.

But that window closed. And like Scott Boris is done with pretty much all of his other clients this off-season. It appears he just waited too long and was backed into a corner. And I know there was one report that the Mets like were not going to sign J.D. unless it got to a point where it was just irresistible. And I can understand why this contract would feel pretty irresistible to them. 4.5 million this year. You're deferring the rest for way out in the future.

It's a really good contract for a guy who is very, very good in 2020. It does give him that stability in the future for him to like know that those are going to be his days of not playing baseball. And he's still going to be getting paid money. I will say this in order to to calm myself. down. If you take a look at Jock Peterson's 2022 numbers in San Francisco, it's a very different story, right? You're talking about a guy with an 874 OPS,

a 274 batting average, 23 home runs, 70 RBI. This is a guy that is very much closer to J.D. Martinez. Now, it's not to say either of these guys are young, but it does feel like J.D. Martinez has a few more miles on him. You know, there is that thing about the fact that. Jock is 31. JD is 36. Right. And so I think from that perspective, Jock Peterson is much more likely, I think, to have a better season than he had last year than J.D. is going to have a better season than he had last year with the Dodgers, right?

Yeah. And as Groundhog Mama pointed out earlier in the chat, JD is going to start the league or start the year in the minors. Like we talked about where some of these guys are coming into camp so late based on them signing so late that they are. behind and they need to get themselves ramped up because they haven't been playing baseball like at a competitive level you know this this entire offseason yeah Blake snow I think also I saw that he's not going to be ready for opening day either it's probably a safe assumption at this point with guys who are just signing now anybody's signing past like yeah I mean you can you can build up to a certain pitch count on on practice fields or whatnot maybe find some hitters to face but like

until you have access to face real major league hitters uh you know over multiple innings you're you're not really going to be ready for the regular season. Yeah, I mean, like, sure, hypothetically, if the Diamondbacks had known how this is going to play out in advance. Yeah, I guess you, I guess you wait, and you don't sign Jock, you don't sign Grishik, you wait until March 21st, and you outbid the Mets for J.D. Martinez, I guess. But there's a lot of risk there, right? If you don't sign Peterson or Grishik when you do, those guys probably find deals with other teams. then you kind of wind up in a Martinez or a bust situation, which could be a little uncomfortable. Like, we know how this played out now, but the Diamondbacks wouldn't have had any assurance at the time that J.D. Martinez's price was going to fall or that even if it did, that they would necessarily wind up with him, right?

Like Martinez might have his own preferences. Maybe another team swoops in at the last second or whatever. You don't always have full control over this thing. You're talking for so long that it's not. You're calming me down and I hate that you're calming me down. I pulled the microphone out of the stand so I could yell because Tim's right. I don't want to agree to this. I'm falling to the dark side.

You're convincing me. This was a stupid idea. And we should have pushed all of our chips in on JD. And I hope I'm wrong. I hope we're playing baseball in Jocktober. And I hope that's all we can talk about at that point. But I am very skeptical that that's the case. And I don't think that we're going to see.

I don't know. I don't know what to say. Jack Peterson is really raking in MLB the show for me. I'm conflicted, but I will say that J.D. Martinez going to the Mets for $12 million is very upsetting. I do feel like the team is more well-rounded the way that we are currently stacked, though, right? Yeah, it's hard to say. I mean, when we had this conversation a few months ago, one of the points against J.D. was that his projections, which we talked to Dan Zimborski himself, the god of all projections, about why J.D. is

projections for this season are actually pretty poor. Like, Jock Peterson, according to the computers, is going to be a better player in 2024 than J.D. Granted, there's value in having, you know, having only one roster spot taken up by your, like, D.H solution rather than having two roster spots as the Dbacks have now. I guess you could argue that the Dbacks have some outfield flexibility now. You know, Grishik can play some center field. That's something that J.D. certainly couldn't do.

But in general, you know, you'd rather have one guy rather than that. than a platoon just from a roster construction standpoint. But yeah, it's, you know, it's a hindsight is 2020 situation. I don't, I just think there just wasn't meant to be for the debacks. Like it just wasn't meant to be. Tim just wants us to stop. As sad as that is for the vibes, which I, you know, I do, I do very much understand that. Grandhog Mama is correct.

J.D. Martinez is older than Merrill Kelly. So he could have freed him of that obligation. That's possibly the best argument in favor of getting J. Because, see, Merrill's like old man Merrill, right? Merrill at times like, yeah, I mean, I get it. He has big get off my lawn kind of energy. We've seen that from him, right? J.D. Martinez, he's like that swab older guy.

You know what I mean? Like, he's that dude that's still wearing like a fedora and stuff. Oh, man. Meryl Kelly has big get off my lawn. He absolutely has get off my lawn energy. Have you? Do you not remember him getting angry at the air conditioning at Chasefield? Come on, Jesse.

I think that's a pretty valid complaint. I think that was pretty valid. What about him hating the throwback colors and then also not liking the current colors? Like he, I mean, that's a great example. He doesn't like anything. There is. I don't feel like I need to justify it. The fact that you're surprised, I'm saying Merrill Kelly has get off my lawn energy is more surprising to me than anything else.

But I'll also say that this hurts way more than the giant signing Jorge Salar to the three-year $42 million deal, even though it's not like a tremendous. is also lower than the whole these contracts are lower than we thought they would be yeah Scott Boris is washed that's the point of this whole segment correct it's not how angry I'm about JD Martinez it's that Scott needs to hang them up you know I mean get get the jersey up in the rafters and call it a career because um you know well no wait uh change change change your tune first uh sign some extensions including that gallon's extension and then hang it up that's what I need him to do but how how old do you think Scott Boris is 200 138 years old.

Wow. I don't know. How long do vampires live? I don't know. Tell me that. How old is Scott Boris? He's 71. That you see?

Yeah. He's an old. Come on, man. He's an old guy. Come on, man. Go enjoy your time. Stop harassing these major league baseball teams. They're done with your shenanigans.

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talk about pants again. Let's talk about pants. Nope, we're not. If you picked the wrong choice, we're talking about Otani because MLB has officially launched an investigation into this situation. And of course, that is, it's very weird.

The whole situation is weird. The reason why it's weird is because the federal investigation into the matter is still ongoing and based on the parties involved the MLB Department of Investigations who began their formal investigation of this situation today they don't they don't have a lot of i guess a lot of uh it's ground to stand on here jesse because show hey otani based on the MLBPA uh you know and and his involvement with obviously the players association can decline talking to them about this investigation

due to the fact that there is a federal investigation going on about it. So MLB's investigation is far less important than the federal one that could involve criminal charges being filed against people, including Otani, right? That's so insane. That's crazy, right? And then you also have the fact that due to the fact that Dodgers fired IPEA, he no longer is required to, I guess, be a part of this investigation. He doesn't have to, like, if they would have suspended him and kept him as an employee,

it would have forced him to take part in the investigation and provide knowledge. But at this point, he doesn't have to provide anything to the MLB investigators. And in the span of two days, Otani's handlers or, you know, his representatives have essentially moved from saying he paid for Mizahorah's gambling debts. Yeah. To the attorneys announcing Otani is the victim of this massive threat. theft so and in and and epe telling them in the process that uh that otani had had no idea that this money was being taken from his account or whatnot which is obviously inconsistent with what you pay had originally told the spn and that's the disconnect that we're all trying to still trying to

figure out and probably will be for quite some time uh i do think it was a strategic move by major league baseball not a coincidence that they announced they were investigating this on a friday night at like six o'clock eastern time with march madness in full swing i think that that that was a smart smart move by then yeah uh yeah but yeah i mean if major league baseball wasn't launching an investigation into this i'd be a little concerned like if the federal government is involved you should probably as a league it feels pretty half-assed what was what was wild to me was maria our favorite dodger fan who was in here last night she even admitted that if this was happening to the diamondbacks much like you said uh damon about if this was happening to anybody but o's

It would have been investigated faster. She was like, if this was Diamondbacks, you guys would have been investigated already. No, someone else actually said that. Maria was actually on the side of, uh, Otoni's a generational baseball player with, with hundreds of millions of dollars, but sure, he's gambling, which doesn't make any sense because Michael Jordan was a generational basketball player with hundreds of millions of dollars. Yeah, Michael, Michael Jordan absolutely ruins that case. And he, uh, notably, you know, never gambled Michael Jordan.

I think the thing is for me personally. and I think for a lot of people, it is far easier to believe based on the way Otani is as a person, the way he conducts himself. The reason why we love him is that he has this childlike nature to him. He has just this joy of playing the game of baseball.

And the one thing about that, that I will pair with that, is being naive, right? Typically, when you're a wholesome, joyful person, there is a matter of the world not beating you down yet. So you tend to be a little bit naive. This is exactly what happens.

happens to people to make them a bit jaded and a little less like Otani naturally is when a friend of yours, a confidant, someone you trust it, ends up stealing money from you and not just a little bit, a lot of money. Like it's not going to put a dent in Otani's bank account in the grand scheme of things. That's enough money to change most people's lives, right? So like that's the kind of thing that then makes you not the wholesome, innocent person you are anymore because you realize how terrible the world can be. I think that's a lot of assumptions, Derek. I am making a ton of assumptions there.

You're giving him a severe benefit of the doubt. I think that assuming that these gambling debts that everybody say isn't Otanis, our Otanis is also making a lot of assumptions, right? We've made some wild accusations in regards to this. And the reason why is because much like Jesse said, we've waited all this time for something to come out about Otani. And the most controversial thing prior to this has been the fact he called his wife a regular Japanese woman and she was in fact a fucking baller when it comes to basketball.

She's like a Japanese legend when it comes to basketball. He totally undersold how important his wife was. Kind of a back move. Right? It's a, that's not that cool. It's a guy that once again lives, lives his life very privately, which is another thing that we've acknowledged about Otani is that he tends to be very private, right? I do think evidence is kind of mounting at this point that it still seems highly unlikely to

that Otani is the one who was doing the gambling and he was kind of using IPE to do that. Again, non-zero chance, as we said the other day. We can't rule that out until the investigation is complete. It would be reckless to rule that out. But Jeff Fletcher did come out and he's covered the Angels for a long time and he spoke with several of Otani's former teammates and none of them wanted to be quoted by name or whatnot understandably so. But he said that there was a consensus that Otani paid zero attention to other sports.

and if you're if you have a gambling addiction which is basically what people are hypothesizing here you would probably be paying attention to other sports like you would you would be dialed in at least on some level it just seems really farfetched to me it seems like a conclusion that people are jumping to non zero chance but uh seems far more likely that otani is just a nice guy who went out of his way to help ipe and maybe made a serious mistake by doing so right and i think again, the retraction, the change of direction might have been more about the fact that even though he did this innocently to help a friend, he still might have committed a crime by doing it, right? So then you want to try to distance yourself from admitting you committed a crime or, you know,

again, even having that go down that path. What I will say, and this is a terrible metaphor, you guys are all going to hate me for, absolutely shouldn't make it, but I'm going to do it anyway. I'm so scared. It's like if something like this were to involve Corbyn Carroll. And the reason why I say that is because Jesse and I are around Corbyn Carroll quite a bit, and it would be absolutely unbelievable to us based on how much this man cares about baseball and how much his life is dedicated to it. Like you said, I've seen Corby Carroll just straight up say he doesn't care really about other sports and stuff when he's talking to his teammates and such, right?

So like, Brandon fought in the playoffs just straight up said that he doesn't, he doesn't watch other sports. Yeah, right. He was unfamiliar with anything you guys were talking about, right? Yeah. So some of these guys, when they say this stuff and you're around them, you just, you kind of know them a bit as a person. It doesn't mean that people still can't be what they're, you know,

be something different than what they portray at work or, you know, around, around other people. But it's just hard to believe sometimes when you get to know these players that they are capable of doing something that you would perceive not to be, you know, characteristic of them, right? Shohei Otani is one of those guys that's pretty much dedicated himself to the game of baseball. So just the fact of him even paying attention to other sports is something that seems ridiculous to some of his former teammates, let alone the idea of him gambling on those sports.

So I do think that there's, you know, it's interesting that this comes out. I don't think a lot will probably come out of this investigation, considering that neither party needs to cooperate. Neither party are forced to cooperate. Based on MLBPA rules, showy Otani can completely declination. Klein, cooperating with this investigation. And it sounds like he will continue to play. That's the other big thing. We have no reason to believe as of right now that he will not be on the active

roster or whatever. Once the rest of the regular season gets underway, fully expect Otani to continue to play every day for the Dodgers. Elise says I'm sure the testimony of the teammates will be all MLB needs to close the investigation by early next week because, yeah, ultimately the MLB wants us to go away, right? I mean, MLB, this does not benefit MLB in any way by this becoming a scandal or becoming bigger.

The ultimate. No, it doesn't. But I think that if MLB actually had a reason to believe that Otani was out of line doing some actual betting of his own, that MLB would very much have to come down hard on that. Because especially in an age where sports betting is becoming increasingly prevalent, that's, I mean, that's a battle that's going to, there's going to be situations. like this in the future, probably not exactly like this, but there's going to be conflicts involving betting that come up in the future, and MLB can't afford to let anyone, you know, get by without a

proper, you know, disciplinary action regardless of how big the name is attached to that player. But again, I don't, I don't think that I don't think Otani is going to. I know Damon's going to hate this, but I do think I like Otani a lot and I've always liked Otani and Jesse knows that. I have a shirt with Otani's face on it, a whole bunch. I mean, Damon, do you think that Major League Baseball is going to just cover this up? I think if they would for anybody, it would be this guy. Yeah, but you're talking about a federal investigation here.

Major League Baseball, it's, I just don't think it's logistically going to be possible if Otani actually did what some people are thinking he did for Major League Baseball to simply overlook it because it would be so obvious. There's a federal investigation. It's an actual crime that would be committed. provides evidence that he is in the wrong, then yes, baseball will come down on him. But I think that, you know, if they can't prove anything in the federal investigation, then baseball would be more than happy to sweep it under the rug.

Carlos makes a great point in the chat. He says, all this proves is that sports betting should be legalized in California already. If it wasn't through an illegal bookie, no one would care. That is fair. I mean, it's true. There would be no investigation. There would be no crime broken. No.

That's not true in the NFL. In the NFL, there's guys that have been gambling on legal. States and they get in a lot of trouble when they've been caught doing like they've been suspended for a year like Calvin Ridley. You still like, okay. I mean, you can bet on your own sport regardless of whether betting is sports betting is is legal in that state. I'll say I'll say this though. Sometimes the problem with that. You can't even have the apps in team facilities.

Sorry, Derek. But like, but like I know a guy personally who like I've known for a long time who was in the Lions organization. And he bet on other sports in the like team facilities like on basketball. and they suspended him for six games. Derek Hall actually was asked about this, and he clarified something interesting was that you can't bet when you're part of Major League Baseball or an employee of Major League Baseball on Baseball at all.

And that doesn't mean just Major League Baseball. You can't bet on international baseball. You can't bet on tournaments. You cannot bet on baseball. And that is a rule in part of MLB, right? And so I thought that was interesting because I didn't know how far that reached. And Derek Hall was adamant that, like, it's all of baseball you can't bet on. Yeah, and it's not just players.

It's also interpreters. Everybody. And everyone who is directly connected to the game. Grounds crew. If you work for MLB, if you are an employee of MLB, you cannot bet on baseball, right? And so, yeah, I mean, there, I don't know. I think honestly, this is so crazy to say because it feels like, obviously, I'm defending, you know, this. But like, when you go to a legal bookie, right?

As you do. As you do. I feel like you're going to bet way more money, right? Like, and I mean, one of the things that came out about this was that Mizahura got himself in a hole and then felt like he needed to like bet his way out of it. Right. And I mean, like the, I lose $5 and I like don't blink an eye. I don't have to bet myself out of a hole for $5 and such, right? But if you're going to a legal bookie, maybe you need to make it worth it.

Like you're not going all the way to the black market, Jesse, just for a $20 bet. It's got to be five stacks or higher, baby. Like, we're not doing little things, right? Honestly, that would be like, like, like, could you imagine if the dollar figure in question here was like, like $200? Yeah. $4.5 million. That's great point. But, like, technically it would still be a serious breach of the law, whether it's fucking $20 or $4.5 million.

Like, Jesus Christ. I mean, they might as well be the same for Otani. This is going to ruin Otani. You know that, right? Like, Otani is never going to be. the same out of this. We have lost our sweet, innocent baby showy Otani forever.

And you know that, Damon. The man is never going to be playing baseball as innocently as he ever did. This is my championship. Yeah. Otani's court hearing will be like me watching my team in the world series. Oh, boy. It will be interesting to see how he responds on the field through all of this. That is one thing that I will say, you know, even if, oh, even if Otani is I am,

you know, led to believe, I think it is the most likely scenario. If Otani did not actually do any of the betting or anything and he was just trying to help a friend out and put himself in a bad situation in the process. How much is going to still weigh on him mentally? Yeah, like this situation would weigh on anyone. If I were in his shoes right now, and, you know, presumably having like not really made any serious moral mistakes on my own. I'd have to get over Jesse's betrayal. Jesse betraying me, stealing 4.5 million. I mean, we're the closest work relationship.

Either one of us have. You know that, right? We're basically show A and I pay right here, right? So I mean, you interpret for me all the time on the show. That's actually the very fitting comparison. That's fair. No, I mean, seriously, though, like, yeah, like I'm supposed to just go out there and do my job, even though this happened. And baseball, as we know, is a very mental sport.

It's a very cerebral sport where that stuff really can impact you on the field. Like I said, I don't know. I don't know if I'm not worried about it impacting him. I hope it does, in fact. But of course, while Shoah gets his house in order and has a lot of house cleaning to do, you can get your house in order with our friends over at Empire Today. Of course, Empire Today can help you get the right flooring for your home and help you do all the things this off season that you can. We don't have a lot of time until opening day.

So if you want to get yourself prepared for the big day, Empire Today can help you out. They keep shopping for floors simple with a curated product selection. They also let you shop at home with their virtual floor designer, which is a great way to see how the new floor will look in any space. It's easy. You just have to snap a picture of the room and you can see how the new floors will look in your house. Empire Today also services their own warranties. If there is an issue that arises, just call Empire. They service all warranties themselves. Schedule a free in-home estimate today. All listeners can receive $350 discount when they use promo code PHNX. Restrictions do apply see Empire Today.com slash PHNX for details. And last but not least, of course, make sure to take an

adventure with our friends from Arizona Lottery. Arizona Lottery, obviously, as we've talked about at length has introduced their brand new promotion called Arizona Adventure there's some fun ways to play including playing with their new lottery tickets featuring three iconic landscapes you can also enter tickets online for a chance to win one million dollars in cash in Arizona travel prizes but most importantly you can play Arizona Adventure by checking in at geolocated adventures at 10 destinations across the state from Flagstaff to Yuma that will get you out there enjoying this beautiful state of ours

Arizona Lottery says proceeds from ticket sales support environmental conservation, among other important initiatives across the state. Arizona Lottery is not just about playing games and winning prizes. It's also about giving back to the state and its communities. Visit azeadventure.com for more information on how you can take an adventure for a chance to win $1 million in cash and Arizona travel prizes. Carlos' comment just made me laugh here because he's like, I will forever call him a degenerate game where we're also placing future bets and playing blackjack every day. that is literally me. Hell yeah.

Like, Otani is a dirty, disgusting gambler. And like, I'm sitting here like, oh, do I have a boost that I can place on this much madness game? Let me jump in on. Let me jump in on the pH and X bets show. Yeah. It makes me sick that this guy is gambling.

Yeah. Also, do you guys like any lines later for tomorrow? Let's talk about. Yeah. Marchmatic games that we can get on after we're done the show. You and I need to talk. Of course, make sure to not miss out on the pH and X bet show, by the way. We appreciate you guys for being here.

make sure most importantly forget me forget this man you follow damon dog on twitter he is at damon d a wg and of course we are damon's dogs bark park there's a lot of hot fire and like just anger and vitriol coming out of that twitter account it's good in the last couple of days here like my heat is really flowing he lets his freak flag fly over there on his account make sure not to miss that out but of course i'm at cap underscore k ban with the k this absolute lunatic is at jesse and Friedman. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Yeah, I mean, it is what it is around here. By the way, sports gambling is legal in the state of Arizona, so we are not doing

anything like what those guys are doing over there. But of course, we thank you guys for all of your humor and your support for being here tonight. Of course, make sure you have your wonderful night. Now, here's the thing. We only did four shows this week. What does that mean we'll be back tomorrow fifth show 11 a m join us then we're going to be talking about diamond backs opening day starters and m lb making a crazy prediction about the diamondbacks that we hope comes true so make sure to join us tomorrow morning at 11 am bring some cereal i like that smores the golden graham smore cereal it's excellent make sure to bring me some of that in the meantime we hope you have a wonderful night we thank you again for stopping by and remember kids baseball is fun

but it is so much more fun when you don't miss opening day with a day to day to day to day to day injury.