PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Did the Dodgers Break Baseball? How L.A.’s Spending Has Sparked Chaos Across MLB

Episode Date: January 22, 2025

Become a PHNX Diehard for just $4 a month! http://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube Fresh off their World Series victory, the Dodgers remain relentless in their pursuit of dominance over MLB. Los Angeles adds Japanese pitching phenom Roki Sasaki and free agent relief pitcher Tanner Scott and are closing in on Kirby Yates as another piece for their bullpen. All of this just to beat the Diamondbacks Power of Friendship. Meanwhile, the D-backs don’t seem to be done adding after signing Corbin Burnes per Ken Kendrick and have already received a top grade from ESPN on their offseason. We have more on all of this as well as Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner being the newest additions to MLB’s Hall of Fame. Join Damon, Derek, and Kevin for the PHNX Diamondbacks Show LIVE! An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Gila River: Win a Lamborgini! Visit https://playatgila.com/promotion/350k-lamborghini-luxe-giveaway/ for details Branded Bills: Use code PHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order! Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. 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! Check out FOCO merch and collectibles and use promo code “PHNX10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items. Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code PHNX for 10% off! 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. #dbacks #diamondbacks #arizonadiamondbacks #mlb #zacgallen #corbincarroll #ketelmarte #mlbtheshow #mlbtraderumors #tradedeadline #traderumors #allstargame Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Did the Los Angeles Dodgers break baseball this off season? This guy definitely thinks so. We have more on what the Dodgers did and what the Diamondbacks still have to do on today's episode of this show. Don't you go anywhere? We will be live in 30 seconds. Let's go. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNX feedback podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia Cajelina.

As your mayor of PHMX, I'm thrilled to be joined by this man, a ball of emotions at times, but also a ball of Ball knower, ball knower, ball of emotions, the one and only Damon dog. And of course, great to see you guys here. Elizabeth in the chat, Ryan, Ruggnar, Groundhog Mama. So many of you guys. Thank you guys for stopping by today. Of course, we have a lot to discuss doing this show once a week does change things substantially. It does.

Even when the debacks don't really do anything. We have so much to talk about. Yeah, there's no doubt about that, Derek. Because, you know, obviously me and you have been on the grind of this podcast for a minute. And we've gone through an off season or two. And baseball off season is tough, man. It is. It's tough to find something to talk about every day because as we had talked about in the past, like it's such a slow burner, right?

Yeah. And, you know, you sit there and you're like, when are we going to make a move? Yeah. And then just it flies off the board at you. It's not always something super noteworthy to talk about. But when you do it once a week, there typically is. Well, and of course the Diamondback shocked the baseball world with their signing of Corbyn. Burns and you know of course there is a lot of storylines in regards to that and also in regards

to them not being done in free agency or this off season so we'll get to that here shortly but the big story is obviously that the Dodgers have broken baseball they've broken baseball because I don't care what you have to say I don't like I don't know who to blame it on I don't necessarily feel like I blame the Dodgers right like I don't blame a small child for running around a store in causing chaos, grabbing candy and toys and throwing them in a cart. I blame the mother for not, you know, teaching their child right for wrong. And in this case, I have to blame MLB, I think, for what they're letting the Dodgers do. And I don't know how they can stop them.

But something needs to be done. The Dodgers signed Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki, as all of you know. The signing actually becomes official today. And the rich get richer in 2025. That seems to be the theme already, both in both in sports and in everything else. Yeah, I think you make a good point, Derek. And, like, as much as both of us despise the Dodgers, me especially, it's like the one thing I stand for in life. He really does.

I do agree with you that it's like, how could you be mad at the Dodgers for trying to better their team? Roki Sasaki took, you know, a contract that, you know, based off of what we think we know about him, is going to be a really good value deal for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He clearly wanted to be in Los Angeles. I'm of the opinion that this was settled for a long time. and all of the posturing of like, well, you know, maybe going to a small market team might be better for Roki. Yeah. That was never going to happen. It was set in stone he was going to be a Dodger since the moment they decided he was going to get posted in the, you know, in the Japanese league.

And it's the least surprising news that he actually signed with the darkness, right? But at the same time, yeah, I mean, the Dodgers are doing what any sane, competent organization would do. And that's they're trying to better their franchise in a way that is financially stable for them. The problem is is that baseball continues to allow them to just get richer and richer and richer at every turn and does nothing to stop what, you know, the financial burdens that other teams have that they can't like match what the Dodgers are doing. It's the inequity. Yeah, absolutely. Between those that have and the have-nots. And I mean, again, that's kind of a metaphor for more things in 2025 than just baseball.

But I will say this. The Dodgers, you know, this is one of those situations where the Dodgers didn't even have the most. amount of money to sign him. And that's something that you can say in other occasions. We'll talk about them not being done and also going after Tanner Scott and possibly adding Kirby 8s. I mean, the Dodgers are relentless at this point. But it's wild considering that they were in the pool with the least amount of money for

an international signy that they still are able to pull it off. At the end of the day, it's still just a very desirable location for someone like Sasaki. Not only does he have former teammates from his Japan team, you know, they're playing their legends, literally legends in the game. game right now. But it's also Los Angeles and it's also one of those situations where you had even Tyler Glassnow pitching to him or, you know, having a meeting with him and discussing with him how much, you know, the Dodgers have done for him as a pitcher and how they will help him develop in Major League Baseball. That's a very enticing offer, you know, and that's one of those things when

you start meeting with those players. You start meeting with that team. Like you said, it's hard, you know, to fault the situation other than saying like when does, when does Major League Baseball do something about it besides just penalizing a team financially. That's what they're doing now. And it doesn't seem to be working. The Dodgers are going to continue to make more money right now at this point. And it's not going to stop. It's going to be a global dominance right now with the way that they are just going to

become, you know, further become one of the most popular teams in baseball and further become one of the biggest contenders for the World Series in 2025. But it's like where, where do, where does that stop? The difference between the Dodgers and the next team as far as spending goes is the Philadelphia Phillies right now, believe it or not. And that gap, that gap is bigger than the payroll for, I believe, five or six major league baseball teams at this point. Wow. Right. So, I mean, there's a point where you just, again, this is all still, you know, you still have to see all this comes, come together.

Nothing is guaranteed in baseball. And that's the craziest thing about all of this. The Dodgers can add all of the free agents. want. And at the end of the day, you just never know what's going to happen over the course of 162 game baseball season and then into the playoffs, which is a whole new animal. I actually like I think in the playoffs, baseball obviously kind of counteracts the super team with just how random, uh, give any given series can be sure. The white socks could beat the Dodgers in a series this year. It wouldn't be the most shocking thing in the world. I mean, it certainly would be surprising, but you know, it could happen, right?

but the problem is is that the Dodgers have all but locked up like the National League one seed and it's pitchers and catchers haven't reported Derek. You're not wrong. I have them already penciled in as the number one seed. I mean, they were they were the one seat last year, right? They beat out the Phillies at the end of the season, I believe. You know, the Phillies kind of faltered down the stretch. And they had maybe the worst rotation of, well, the Diamondbacks of potential playoff teams.

But other than the Diamondbacks, they probably had the worst potential starting rotation. of playoff teams or teams that could have been in the playoffs. Like they had injuries up and down to their staff. And it didn't matter because the upside of their star players is so high that a Shohei Otani, even with not pitching, can carry that team to. It's crazy. And that's what a $700 million player gets you. Well, and also what a team like this gets you is the fact that when you did reach the

World Series, right? Otani was not a big factor. He got hurt. There were other things. and then you have Freddie Freeman step up and become a baseball god in that moment. And that's what this team is becoming. This team is is so deep. They're becoming so well-rounded at every position that it's hard to not already write them in,

like he said, as the number one seed. But I think the Sasaki signing, again, is not a surprise. It doesn't upset me because it's just it was more of the theatrics of going through and meeting with these teams. Yeah, that's what bothers me. giving the poor Toronto Blue Jays so much hope, at least giving us hope that he wasn't going to sign in the NLS. But what really grinds my gears, I want to say other words,

but I don't remember what words I can and can't say on the show. What really grinds my gears is the Dodgers signing Tanner Scott to a reported four years, $72 million contract on Sunday. That's insane, Damon. He is a relief pitcher, one of the best on the market. I won't say that. But projections for Tanner Scott, the fan graphs crowdsource projections.

were three years, $36 million, $12 million a year. The Dodgers paid him $72 million for four years with a $21 million deferral. The $21 million is basically the difference there between what any other major league baseball team would have paid him and what he got from the Dodgers, right? Like $51 million over the course of four years is right in the wheelhouse of what people projected. But it's that extra amount that other teams are not willing to pay. even a top reliever like Scott to get him.

And, you know, again, the Dodgers just have that money to do so. Not to mention the fact that in deferring 21, 21 million, $21 million, you would never see my face ever again if I receive $21 million. And that's just the deferred portion of this contract. He's getting another $51 million. And that's totally livable. I know it's the city of Los Angeles. It's expensive.

But I'm sure he'll be fine with $51 million. over the course of four years. It's just, again, he's a great pitcher. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it. He had a 1.75 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 72 innings last year between the Padres and the Marlins. It's just the fact that other teams can't keep up with this. You know what I mean?

And it's making baseball a game that people, again, are going to grow frustrated with. Who knows? The Dodgers is just one world one world series. That's the weird part about this, is that you got to, you got to, understand that they're going to try to become like a dominant franchise that that wins multiple world series and that's what they're aiming at. And baseball is such a hard game for you to be

one of those teams that wins year after year, right? But they are doing their best to try to like seal it up now. And again, it's it's not just Tanner Scott. The fact that the Diamondbacks were very much in on a Kirby 8th who now appears to be signing with the Dodgers helps make their bullpen even better. He was ranked second among all free agent relievers and strikeouts last year. And yes, I know some people are probably glad that the Diamondbacks are not signing Kirby 80. He will be 38 next season. But still, it's the fact that one of the top relievers once again doesn't disperse somewhere amongst baseball. He goes to the Dodgers and helps make that team even better.

And it's just a frustrating thing. It's insane. Like, I'm just like at their bullpen right now. What do they even need a Kirby 8th for? What do they need a Kirby age for? They have Tanner Scott. They have, you know, Blake Trainan, who was incredible for them down the stretch last year. I like Gratterol quite a bit as a pitcher.

I don't know they can't really trust him to stay healthy. But it's like you guys have top level bullpen arms. You're spending way more money than everybody else on your lineup and your staff. And then you're on top of that, you're like, man, give us every good reliever on the market. Yeah. It's unbelievable, Derek. and I want to kill a couple fallacies here because like I've seen a lot of comments and obviously I had my tweet that blew up and Dodgers fans, you know, want my head on a stick and whatnot.

Yeah, they're coming forward. They already hated me, but I think that this just kind of hammered that point home a little bit more. People like a lot of Dodgers fans, their points are like, well, deferred money should help the small market teams just as much as it helps the Dodgers because you don't have to pay it right away. Yeah, that when Ken Kendrick has a net worth of $1.1 billion and the Dodgers have deferred $1.03 billion, what makes you think Ken Kendrick has the facilities to be able to afford that? That is, you have to be lick. That's not liquidity. The net worth is not liquidity. He can't just put that on the back burner because he doesn't have it, Derek. There's a lot of teams that don't have that much money. And you're looking at it now. I've seen, I'm seeing a little bit of conflict. figures here, but I've seen anywhere from six to seven teams franchise value is less than what the Dodgers have on deferral money in total. Like it's just the whole thing is messed up. The whole system is broken.

And I think it's Dodgers fans, like I'm totally cool with them celebrating this. I think anyone sane that loves their team would. This is incredible. You're not going to convince them what they're doing is wrong. You're gearing up for a second year of potentially a back-to-back world series. at the same time, can we just admit that it's messed up and it's broken? That's all I want out of Dodgers fans. Just hand up, yeah, the system sucks.

Cool. Now, we can we move on after that? Can we stop pretending like it's on all the other owners to do the exact same thing the Dodgers are doing? They can't. And here's the thing is that the one thing I will commend the Dodgers on is their business acumen and the way that they are able to figure this stuff out, right? Like there was a loophole.

They found a way to exploit the loophole. and find future money really that they're going to pay towards these players, right? They obviously have some sort of business plan where the deferrals are money that they are investing in some account or in some way that is reportedly making them money, right? So again, you're right in the aspect that all other owners could do what the Dodgers are doing, but they just aren't

and they don't know maybe how to figure that out in the way that the Dodgers front office and ownership group does. That's the difference right now. Look at this chat right now. Look at the Dodgers fans in this chat right now. I mean, this is exactly what I'm talking about, Derek. Wait, Corbin Burns deferred 60 million. What are you talking about? Yeah, dude, that's exactly the same as Shohei Otani deferring $680 million. Are you kidding me?

Right. That's one player and the totality of Kendrick's deferred contracts is less than $100 million. Right. I'm not saying no team can defer money. Absolutely they can. No team can defer a billion dollars except for the Los Angeles. Angeles Dodgers and maybe the New York Mets given Steve Cohen's deep pockets. His deep pockets. Absolutely. And I mean, again, we've seen that list of how much the

ownership groups reinvest versus what they make back. There is no team that isn't making something off of, you know, or ownership group that is making something off of the team, right? But the Diamondbacks were up there in the top three as far as reinvesting what they make off of the team. Above the Dodgers, by the way. Dodgers. Well, it's because the Dodgers make an ungodly amount of money. And another Dodgers can put that in there. The television contract for the Dodgers is way bigger than almost anybody else is in baseball. Right. Was it $33 million a year or something like that? Yeah. I think he's like 34 million total. I'm pretty sure he put in there. Okay. Like is that not an inherent

advantage. The fact that you get to reinvest that into your baseball team and the rest of the teams do not have the ability to do that. There is a reason that the NFL is the most popular sport in the in the America, not the world, but America. And it's because teams like the Kansas City Chiefs, the Buffalo Bills, the Detroit Lions can be the best teams in the league, despite being in the smallest markets. Right. Those are all of the least valuable franchises in the sport. And yet, if you draft right and you do well in free agency, everyone's playing on an equal playing field. And it's just about, like, who builds the best team?

The Dodgers, like, if you put me and you in charge of the Dodgers, Derek, we could win the World Series in charge of. of the Dodgers. It's not what's it's not rocket science. I'll say this the Dodgers are in a position again to obviously be a dominant team in baseball but they did all of this as a reminder just to beat the power of friendship right just to be just to be the little team from Arizona that whoop their book their ass is pretty good in the playoffs right but you know the thing about it with what somebody said I don't think the diamond backs are in a position to be one of the teams right now complaining about it. I feel like the Diamondbacks are just used to this and are keeping up as best they

can with the Dodgers. And that's what the Corbyn Burns signing does. Right. And the Diamondbacks, according to Ken Kendrick, aren't done this offseason. We're going to have more on that here shortly. But again, there's, it really just gets to the point where, you know, again, there's, there's things that need to change about baseball. And it's not necessarily just a salary cap.

A salary floor is a big part of that too. There's no reason why some of these teams, like I said, the. the bottom five teams in spending should be only spending the gap between the Dodgers and the Phillies versus any you know versus yeah no I that's the other side of it like no one is sitting here saying that baseball doesn't have a problem with the bottom 10 teams as well yeah it's it's totally a uh like we need to condense that into the middle so that there's now a subsection where you know what I mean like it's not it's not about just the top it's about the bottom as well but it needs to be evened out I These Dodgers fans are awesome.

Look at these guys. Yeah, well, this is exactly what I'm saying. Why are you so angry? Your team won a World Series. Celebrate. Be happy. You got Roki Sasaki. You're signing every single big free agent on the market.

Also, put your hand up and say, yeah, this isn't a fair system. That's all I'm asking for is a little bit of honesty, Derek. Just a tiny, tiny bit of honesty. Because it comes back to the Dodgers make more money than every team. And it's like, yeah, so do other franchises and other sports. They make substantially more. And the reason why those. You think the Dallas Cowboys don't bring in more money than everybody else combined?

Right. However, I will say that the bigger problem with baseball is just paying the lower end players. Really, that's the biggest problem with baseball. And I say that because baseball allows this crazy spending and guys getting as much money as possible because you go through such a period of time of not getting anything as a baseball player. You go through your minor leagues, you go through your triple A experience, you go through even being called up in your first six. years of playing for a team. You get nothing. You get next to nothing.

No matter how good you are, all you can do is go to arbitration and argue on your behalf that you're worth more than they're paying you. That's literally it for that first period of time. So baseball players themselves know that. And that's a big reason why they will always fight on behalf of not putting a salary cap on the PA. MLBPA will never allow a salary cap on baseball because they don't want owners to stop spending.

They would prefer if more teams did what the Dodgers did. They would prefer if when we showed that, saw that list about how much they're receiving in profits versus how much they're spending on the team, if there was a negative there where they were spending more money than they were earning from the team on the team. You know, that's not a good business practice. That's not what people own franchises for. It is at the end of the day to make money off of it. I do believe that that graphic, though, backed up Ken Kendrick in the aspect that Kendrick says time and time again that they do their best to reinvest every, you know, penny that they receive. back into the team. And I think, you know, reinvesting over 80% of, of what you generate in revenue back into the team is, is that. That is a lot of money that you are reinvesting back into this team, especially for a team here in Arizona that doesn't make nearly as much as some of these other baseball teams. It's just, again, you can, you can hypothesize how to fix it all you want. And no matter what, in baseball, you're going to come down some road where you get to either the owners or the MLBPA and, there will be no even discussion of something like a salary cap or a salary floor on both

ends. And that's how that's why baseball just won't progress. You know, I will say at least, you know, we don't have those years of dominance from a team like the Dodgers just yet. Yeah. And like we talked about, the playoffs nullifies the ability to just buy a championship, right? It's if they allowed this in basketball, for example, the same team would win every single year. Right. But I, yeah, it's, obviously, obviously it's about getting into the playoffs and the Diamondbacks can still get into the playoffs. But the problem is is that when you just, when one of the best avenues to make the playoffs is pretty much off the table before the season is even remotely close to starting. That's, that is, that is concerning for Diamondbacks fans in it. It's disheartening

in total. Yeah. I just, I, I'm just dying at these comments, man. I mean, what like people telling me life isn't fair. Every other sport in this country is on an equal playing field. It's this is the one. It's parody. It's like you said, the one of the reasons why it's fun to watch the NFL, you know, season and the playoffs is because anything can happen, right? Yes. But when we do eventually, you know, come to the Super Bowl of the Kansas City Chiefs versus the Philadelphia Eagles, there's going to be a lot of people that are going to roll their eyes and not really be interested in that game because once again, people love it when it's different. teams. People like that's that's one thing that's very good for sport. Yeah. So I don't know. I mean,

at this point, again, there's lots of ways you could suggest fixing it and then you would get to some sort of point where no one is even going to allow you to suggest that. Yeah. At least the Diamondbacks, again, aren't one of those teams that are spending and are at the bottom as far as spending goes. And again, we have more on Ken Kendrick's comments about this team not being done this offseason on the other side of this break, as well, some more free agent news and the NL West grades from ESPN for their mid-offseason acquisitions. Diamondback scored very highly. All of this on the other side of the break.

Don't go anywhere. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback show. Of course, whatever the moment, it's never ordinary at Bet365. I know this guy, it's never ordinary when he's betting on Bet365. The Dodgers are plus 300 to win the World Series on Bet 365. Plus 300. It's January. It's January.

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your home-sold guarantee realty, move up to one of our listings, and we'll buy your home for cash. Have questions, call today, or visit Carolonline at Carolroyceeem.com. That's carolroyce team.com. Well, it's good to see that no one in the chat is whining at all about anything. No. And Dodgers fans are very reasonable people. I'm glad that we can sit down and we can sit down.

We could have a reasonable conversation about how things are going. I do appreciate you guys being here. Your takes might be a little misguided at this point, but maybe so are ours. Who knows? Rob Manfred, I'll tell you what. Rob Manfred is, he's head over heels for what's going on in baseball right now. I mean, like, I just, I think if you cut the guy open, Dodger Blue would bleed out of his veins. You might be right about that.

But one person that won't be bleeding Sedona Red anymore is one Paul. Seawald. According to reports today, he signs with the Cleveland Guardians, so Paul Seawalt can't hurt us anymore. In other news, Justin Verlander signs with the San Francisco Giants, which really, I mean, this happened kind of prior to our last show, but we didn't get a chance to talk about it. This is kind of like a consolation prize for the Giants in a way, because according to reports, they were all in on Corbin Burns. And the Diamondbacks kind of swooping in very stealthly, and, and, and, and And getting Burns kind of left the Giants with limited options. And it seems like their big splash for a starting pitcher is Verlander.

I'm not saying Verlander still doesn't have anything to offer. I just don't know if this really moves the needle for the Giants. Yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't know. I'm looking at Justin Verlander stats last year. 5-480RA, five wins, six losses, only 90 innings pitched. But he's getting up there in age now. I mean, he's 41 years old. He's about to be 42 before the start of this season, Derek.

and I, yeah, I guess I, this doesn't really move me as a Diamondbacks fan. I'm not sitting there like, oh, the Giants just got a lot better. They do have a good pitching staff and clearly a good, or a good organization when it comes to cultivating good seasons out of their starting pitchers. Yeah, for sure. So I do, I could see a bit of a resurgence here, making him a good back end starter, but I don't necessarily look at Justin Verlander and think to myself like, oh, man, like the Diamondbacks are going to be up against it. I think the Diamondbacks are basically competing with the Padre. for that for one of those wild card spots if not if not all three of them you know what i mean and that's kind of where i see the competition in the middle west absolutely and i think really at the

end of the day when you talk about what the moves were made in the n l west we have the offseason grades these are the mid offseason grades for the nl west uh from ESPN and the diamondbacks did pretty well here as you can see the giants uh got a c plus uh the podre's got an f Yikes. Totally understandable with what they did or didn't do. Rockies, D-minus, and then you got the Dodgers and the Dianbacks. Obviously, you could give six plus sides behind the Dodgers offseason, and you wouldn't be wrong about that. Do you think an A is a little bit of a, I don't know.

I mean, it's great. I'm happy Josh Naylor and Corbyn-Burns are solid additions to the downbacks. They did a good job, but obviously they're not done yet, right? and they have more to add. They have literally more positions to fill. We know that they still want a reliever, maybe a high leverage back end closer, as well as a DH, right?

But an A seems strong, considering that this team doesn't really feel complete yet. I guess it's more of the shock of being the team that landed the biggest free agent pitcher on the market. Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, I guess I didn't think A jumped out. I mean, maybe A minus B plus. Yeah, as more like it.

But I guess like when you look at this team and what they struggled with last year, you would look at the ERA of the team, right, and see that they were only above, I believe, the White Sox, Rockies, and Marlins in terms of teen ERA and all of baseball. Obviously pitching was a massive problem. You get the best pitcher on the entire market. That alone, check. And then you look at, you know, where the Diamondbacks biggest hole in their lineup was, first base.

And you were missing, you know, because Christian Walker was a free agent, how are you going to replace them? where you just going to hope Haven Smith, you know, over the course of an entire season, puts up the same stats that he did. You know, that would be pretty risky. So getting Josh Naylor, I think, is a good move in that regard as well. You brought in that home run production that you were missing with Christian Walker. And, you know, you get a guy who hits from the other side of the plate with a little bit of power there to replace, you know, like a Jock Peterson, for example.

So, yeah, well, they still need a DH. They still need relief pitching help. I think the two biggest things on paper solved off the bat. So I, in big moves, like two All-Stars last year, I'm super happy with the Diamondbacks off-season thus far. Obviously not complete, but, you know, I'm not maddened. The truth of the matter is, is the Diamondbacks could, very well could, have the best starting rotation in baseball. Will they? That remains to be seen.

I'm not going to act like I'm confident in that, like you said, after we saw what we saw last season. season, right? They should have been much better. They should not have been in the bottom five for team ERA and across Major League Baseball, right? With the the idea here is that if Jordan Montgomery does not get moved, that he has a big, you know, bounce back season and then you can hopefully get a solid, healthy season out of guys like Merrill Kelly, Zach Gallen, Eduardo Rodriguez. Like overall, this team with Corbyn Burns and Zach Gallen leading the way could very much be a, you know, the best rotation in baseball, right? Yeah. But I will say that's still a big if, right? Like there's a lot of things that have to go their way. And again, the Dodgers are still trying to make their rotation and their bullpen the best in baseball. So it's it's a battle between these two teams.

And again, as a Diamondbacks podcast, we're by no means saying that the Diamondbacks aren't trying to do their best to keep up with the NL West. And there is the fact that, yes, they did what they did in 2023. right so no matter what happens over the course of a of a baseball season there still is a very unpredictable you know playoffs uh that that occurs after that that you can't really you know especially with the randomness of having three wildcard teams and the three division winners you just don't know what's going to happen so you know it's it's just fun that the diamondbacks aren't one of these other teams that are kind of left out as far as not having made moves this off season to improve their team right you have a team like the blue jays who finally land their big three

agent and Anthony Santander, right? And again, they also added reliever Jeff Hoffman. I wouldn't consider the Blue Jay's offseason to be a failure. I think the problem with that is, is that compared to the Diamondbacks, the Blue Jays made it very well known that they were in on so many free agents. They do. And that they had a lot of money to spend and that they were going to go crazy, right? And then instead, they really, I mean, again, they still get some good players, but they

just, they miss out on the Sasakis, the starting pitchers, the Blake Snells, the Corbyn Burns. and ultimately have to kind of settle compared to what, I guess, how they were talking about adding to this team. Solid disappointment or solid additions, but still just a little disappointing. Meanwhile, Alex Bregman and Pete Alonzo still for agents. Yeah, yeah, baseball offseason moves slowly, man. There's going to be guys like that that are free agents into spring training. Yeah. Happens every year.

So, I mean, we saw Jordan Montgomery last year and it kind of derailed his season, I would argue. So yeah, I mean, it's it's definitely something to monitor there and makes it keeps it where it's like there's always suspense in this ball off season. But it also makes it where it's kind of boring at times where it's like, man, I wish it was like MBA where people are just flying off the board the second that the legal tampering period begins. Yeah. But Derek, I want to go back to these grades for a second. I'm going to go ahead and give my personal grades. Let's go. So let's throw that up there.

Can you get that up there, Kevin Thomas? Nice graphic, Kevin. That's beautiful. We're going, I'll go, I'll drop the dime backs to A minus. Okay. I'm going to keep the giants at C plus. I think that's fair. We'll go Padres F, yeah.

Rockies, man, I just feel bad for them. Maybe toss them a C just because you feel a little bit bad for them. No, we're not, no, we're, we're giving it grading on a curve just because. Oh, no, this is all grade. I'm a I am a professor of curves and and as we talked about level playing field, Dodgers is going to see for me. I'm going to see on the Dodgers. I'm sorry. I just, you know, I'm grading on a curve here. I gave you half the test answers beforehand. And, you know, you did a good job on the test, but if I gave you half the answers, I'd expect you to do well. I don't think we could talk for

34 solid minutes about how unfair baseball is based on the additions they made. Oh, I could go all day long. but hey i appreciate your honesty i appreciate you uh leading with your heart there but uh diamondbacks again they're not done according to ken kentrick uh uncle ken who my phone by the way made an adorable memory video of this one yeah that was emotional i'm at chase field way too much but uh he did say this during the corbin burns press conference the other day um in regards to the diamond back's dh situation he said i mean you could look at our team and say well last year we had a great dh combo and right now we don't. He went on to say, well, would you like to figure out how to do that?

You would. Can you add a really talented guy to your bullpen? Well, you can always add one if you can find them. And we may do that. Again, work is needed to be done. I don't know if they'll be able to find these additions through free agency necessarily, especially considering what they spent already. However, I do think that they can definitely go out maybe with some of the assets

they have like we've been talking about and trade. I don't want to see them trade away two starting pitchers. And you know which one I'd want to see. Which one we all want to see? Can I interest you in one slightly refurbished Jordan Montgomery? However, you know, again, I do like

what I've heard in regards to depth. And it's something Corbyn Burns brought up is you're never going to get through a baseball season with five starting pitchers. You're just not. It's the way every baseball season goes. So I do feel like, you know, again, and having the depth that the Diamondbacks have and maybe potentially keeping all of these guys isn't the worst idea.

It just very much feels like, you know, we're going to see a move either with a starting pitcher or with one of their outfielders that can help bring in either a back end reliever or, you know, again, a DH. I feel right now like the back end relievers on the free agent market are getting fewer and far between at this point. Yeah, I love Cal King Kendrick just talks in general. Like I think it's so funny like the way in which he speaks he asks a lot of questions He does doesn't he like the way he'll say like he tries to get you to the place Yeah, sure are we going to will he? Yeah, I don't know it's how he talks every time he talks to the media about This kind of stuff like he he he starts leading you into the direction where he wants to go by asking questions that that get you to that spot I mean and I think it's so funny when he said is uh showy otani wasn't the the next coming of is he the next

Jesus Christ. Well, I would suggest not. I mean, that's a bold take. It's one of the best quotes of all time. He's one of nine last time I checked, I believe is what he said. Well, look at those stats again from last year. He literally compared him to the Messiah. That was a genuine thing that he brought up.

He did. I love it. He did. Well, we know that the Dodgers are going to be full of potential future Hall of Famers, but we are going to talk about the guys that got the call this year. We're also going to talk about I have no idea who we're going to vote in next year because that ballot not great. We're talking about all that on the other side of this break. This is the PHNX Diamondback Show. Of course, check out pure edibles. You know me.

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and two other guys that got in because ballots were kind of weak. But regardless, three legends of the game that got elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. And, of course, it's always a fun time to kind of discuss these players and dissect it. That's next year's ballot. but this year we have that this is something we don't really want to talk about we'll get into that

in a second we'll get into that for sure but uh each ro Suzuki got the call into the hall a nearly unanimous vote for his first time on the ballot one person did not vote for him and we're going to find you that's all I'm saying I'm not making any threads we're going to name names eventually someone's going to find you you should have seen Shane Diefenbach when we brought that up I mean he was ready to he was ready to take lives it's like I I know, not happy. I know that there are a lot of players that are divisive. The guy who didn't vote for each row.

Yeah. We're talking. Oh, yeah, he's, he's steaming. Yeah, he's, he's, he's not happy. Uh, but again,

he, there, there are players that are slam dunk in, in baseball when it comes to voting them into the Hall of Fame and, and Ichiro is absolutely that. He's one of just 33 players with over 3,000 hits in the game. His career slash line is crazy.

His career slash line. He hit 311. 355, 402 for 757 OPS. He had 3,089 hits and 509 stolen bases. It's insane how good Ichero was at the game. It's also insane that one person would choose not to vote for him. Yeah, it is. I mentioned it to you off air, Derek.

Ichero probably, you know, if he started his career in the United States and didn't have a rookie season at 27, yeah. Probably a top 10 player of all time. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You did get a late start. And still in the conversation for that. because he was just absolutely incredible. I mean, winning MVP in your first season is out of this world.

I always think about in that 0-1 year, I believe that was the year after the Rangers or the Mariners, I should say, lost A-Rod? Am I correct in saying that? Yes, they got each year of the year after they had Alex Rodriguez. I always think to myself, man, imagine if they could have had that duo with Ken Griffey as well, who was also on the team right prior to that. I mean, you could have had, you know, the three best players in baseball all on your team potentially at one point.

Yeah, that's crazy. The mirrors of they're not devoid of absolute superstar talent. Not at all. They're just devoid of late season runs. Yeah. You got to feel for them. But yeah, each row incredible, very deserved. And yeah, one of the most fun players to watch in the history of the game.

He also has an incredible story that he told about the time that Tom Brady texted him. And he was telling apparently Tom Brady got. his phone number from Alex Rodriguez and he wanted to talk to him about his like workout routine and Ichee Rose replied to one of the coaches from the Seattle Mariners when he got the text message was who the F is Tom Brady. I remember that. That was electric. It's amazing.

That's amazing. It wasn't like Michael Jordan wanted to meet him too. I believe back in the day. Like the dude was like he was that big of a superstar that, you know, it was like. You had the other, the other legends in the game of sports in general wanting to meet him. also voted in as C.C. Sabathia, career 251 win pitcher with a 3.74 ERA and a 61.8 war in his career.

That's crazy. Winner. Sabathia totally deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. It's just, I think I'm surprised. And again, this is the stupid part about the Hall of Fame to me, is like, when did you get in? At what point in you, like, was it your second time in? Are you a first ballot Hall of Fameer? Like, I know that matters, but I just, I mean,

that's kind of what's going on here with Sabathia is that a lot of people are surprised to see him voted in. And they definitely feel like the field of of candidates was a factor as to why you got in on his first time. Yeah. Yeah. I think C. C.C.

Sabathia is, is a guy that, you know, I think he might be kind of the barometer for pitchers and in like modern pitchers and how they're going to, if they're going to make the Hall of Fame or not. Like not. I just,

the baseball of fame is the hardest hall of fame to make. I think that's an established fact. It is. And. But then. some years people do get in based on the strength of the ballot yeah yeah uh no there's there's no question about that but and we'll talk about that in a second here but i just think cc sabathia you know like maybe he was on that cusp but definitely a hall of famer in my eyes i mean one of the best

pitchers throughout my entire childhood and uh a guy that i think people will look at and say like oh you know this guy compared to c cc how how how did they match up oh he's not a hall of famer oh yes he is so uh happy happy to get cc sabathian because he was one of my favorite pitchers growing up. And then a closer as well, Derek. Got a closer in. Billy Wagner. Billy Wagner, one of the most dominant closers of all time, often overshadowed by a little Mariano Rivera, but still career numbers, very good. 2.31 career ERA, 422 saves, career war of 27.7. His first, this was his last year on the ballot, so it was his last year

to be voted in, but on his first year in the ballot, it was 2016, included 11 players who are now in the Hall of Fame plus Roger Clemens, Kurt Schilling, Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, and Gary Sheffield. So he kind of, again, he's been fighting an uphill battle against some pretty stack ballots up until this year. And congrats to Billy Wagner on making it in in his final year of eligibility. Starting to see a little bit more closers get those nods, I feel like. As baseball continues to go further and further into its history, I feel like, you know, you 20 years ago, there was probably what two closers in the baseball hall of fame or something and now you got Trevor Hoffman and marionna Rivera and uh you know bill wagner and it just continues to grow yeah well

and i will say this in regards to you know obviously the the hall of fame this year if you think this year lacked headline names wait till you see next year um but yeah like i mean there's there's guys out there i think that um totally deserve it and we'll get those guys on the ballot soon there was also like a period of time where closers were really dominant. I think we're getting into that like what you're saying. Um, and I don't know if like major late major league baseball now has that same, you know, kind of situation where they have as many like it feels like a dominant closer isn't really the norm anymore as much as it was back in the day of yeah, you know, Trevor Hoffman's Mariano Rivera. Yeah. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see if that falls off. You're right. Like in the next 20 years are, are there going to be any closers? Because largely. there aren't big time closers like that that are consistent year and and year out like maybe the golden age of closers if you will uh in like the early 2000s and and like you know mid 1990s and whatnot um is there any closer off the dome that you could think of that that

you think would be in the have a chance a hall of fame case like now yeah like a modern closer i mean you know again it depends on how their career shakes out i think in a manual class a or some of these guys right now that are fairly dominant could still be that it just i i feel like it doesn't have the same longevity maybe a josh hater i don't josh hater do you think he has the chops i mean that's he feels like the guy i'm looking at here that maybe has the has put had the longest career at that level thus far it uh you also have a a kenley jansen i don't think he's good enough uh Craig kimbril's been around for a long time but i don't think he's good enough maybe edwin dyes i don't know but yeah i i i feel like yeah the closer is going to

off a little bit. Yeah. And I mean, again, it's like C.C. Sabathia. He was a very good pitcher during a stretch where there weren't that many star pitchers anymore. Like it kind of moved out of that era of Randy Johnson and the Greg Maddox and those guys. And then, you know, you kind of had a little bit of a drought. And guys like Sabathia were the dominant pitchers over that stretch. And outside of that, you know, again, they, they helped get us to, you know, when we started to see more stars kind of as starting dominant pitchers. Same thing with closers right now. We could be going through a little bit of a stretch where we don't see that same, you know, the same dominance. However, guys could be making a name for themselves right now. Justin Martinez, keep an eye out for. Yeah, that's right.

That's the one, Eric. You got it right there on the money. Jaymart baby. Of course, we'll have more on next year's Hall of Fame class and why we can't have nice things as well as, of course, send off to one of our favorite broadcasters of all time. We will be right back after this break. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback Show. Well, great flower is hard to find. days but one company that's doing it well is colt cannabis and luckily our friends at colt cannabis have been dropping absolute fire here at our phnx studios you know who needs colt some gold cannabis there these dodgers fans in the chat man are they these guys are are nut jobs dude they're not a real chill guy smoke some colt cannabis yeah for sure and that kick your feet up includes the truly

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They do. I'm a huge fan in my stock of branded bills hats is growing for sure. They have partnerships with ASU, U of A as part of their campus collection. They got some amazing suns hats as well. And they are a local company from right here in Mesa, Arizona. If you are looking to make some gear for your brand that stands apart from the crowd branded bills has you covered with the best custom headware start your order and their dedicated team will help you create the exact custom apparel you need head to brandedbills dot com and use code phnx for 20% off your first order yeah i the main guy that needs one is this

i this guy looks like a huge dollar you're saying mark salera am i saying that right this guy is i mean he's pronouncing his mind in the chat here it's pronounced or bread is what it's pronounced last time i checked it's just bread this guy must be like the king of Dodgers fans. He bleeds blue. He bleeds blue. Anyway, speaking of bleeding blue, we know that all these Dodgers players, according to these fans will all be in the Hall of Fame.

But that's a while from now. Right now we have to deal with next year's Hall of Fame class. And what the hell is this? We gave you a little preview earlier. But Kevin, if you don't mind, we're looking at Ryan Braun, Sinsu Chu, Edwin Incarnacion, Gio Gonzalez, Alex Gordon, Cole Hamels.

I mean, Matt Kent. Matt Kemp sprayed me in the face with champagne one time. Yeah, no, this isn't a desirable list. Like, I'm not very excited about this. And again, this is one of those things that, like, baseball doesn't have a set number of guys that have to go in each year. Yeah. So I don't know.

Do any of the guys from this list make it into the Hall of Fame next year? I mean, I would love to hear from you guys. Like, I mean, that at least said it the weakest Hall of Fame class ever. Yeah, probably. I mean, probably. I don't know. I mean, I didn't even name the back end of this list,

but listen to this, Derek. Howie Kendrick, Nick Markakis, Daniel Murphy, Hunter, Pence, Rick Porcelo, Neil Walker. I mean, dude, I... I hate to laugh at people's Major League Baseball careers. I really do. I'm not meaning or intending to do so, but when the biggest name on that list is Ryan Braun,

who we know. By far. I mean, you're going to Cole Hamill. You're going to call Cole Hamill, but you're going to tell me that you're going to exclude guys like Barry Bonds and Clemens. And you're going to vote in Ryan Braun. Not bloody likely.

I mean, they are going to do that with David Ortiz. Everyone loves David Ortiz. He's got in pop multiple times. Oh, look at him. He's a Hall of Famer, even though he never played a defensive position and has been pop multiple times. Barry Bond's the best player we've ever seen play this sport.

he does no business in the Hall of Fame, right? It's ridiculous the way that they pick and choose based off of who they like and who they don't. But getting back to this list, Eric, I mean, it's just, it's vile. Like, it may, Joe Gonzalez's fourth name on this list. I don't know. It's just, it's got to be like the biggest coincidence in the world.

But man, is this bad? And it spells good news for a couple guys, right? Like, you look at the, the Carlos Beltrans of the world who received 70% of the vote this year. He needs 75%. Welcome to the hall, Carlos Beltran. You are a hall of fame. You are a hall of famer.

Andrew Jones, 66%. Last year on the ballot next year, I believe. How did Chase Utley do? Chase Utley probably will make it as well. Chase Utley, I think that that will go way up in this third season because just the names he's competing against. Andy Petit has a good shot as well.

Like these, I don't know if they'll all get in. I'm kind of Chase Utley. Like, I think he probably deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. I just really don't like the guy. Yeah. Because he plays for two teams that I absolutely despise. Hey, I don't know if you knew this. My name's Damon Farrell.

I actually hate the Dodgers. If you're new here. Yeah. Let me introduce you. Also hate the Phillies. And he, of course, played for both those teams and broke Ruben Tahaad his leg on the Dodgers because that's what Dodgers players do. They're scumbags.

But, yeah, I mean, Chase Outley, I think he'll get in as well. But definitely Carlos Beltran and Andrew Jones, I think, are getting in next year. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's an interesting field for sure. I agree with the least. Andrew Jones should already be in because probably. If we're ranking it, if we care about defense and are valuing, you know, potentially, you know, a top three important defensive position being center field. And you have 10 gold gloves like Andrew Jones.

Yeah. How are you not in the Hall of Fame? Yeah. It's not as if his offensive stats are bad. He is 434 career bombs. And 10 gold gloves. gloves. Like that that's a Hall of Famer in my eyes. Yeah, he absolutely is. He absolutely is. Well, one guy who we know is a Hall of Famer is the great Bob Yucer who we lost in the past week.

And I just have to say like it's amazing how a person like this who was a huge part of baseball, but like not a player can have an impact on you as a person. I said it on Twitter, but I truly feel like I don't know if I would be as big of a baseball fan without Bob Euker. in my life like bob yuker's role in major league and bob yuker just being out i don't know if you guys remember but he was everywhere in the 80s he was doing commercials he was on like hollywood squares and stuff like that like all of those celebrity like he was just a great ambassador for the game he was so funny he was so ridiculous uh but he was so sincere when it came to his love of baseball and we we lost one of the greats and bob yuker passing away so i just wanted to take a moment since that

over the last week to to address that and and give my love to one of the guys that made me love this game yeah rest in paradise king uh just just a bit outside is uh one of the best movie lines in the history of cinema i mean just in general the way that he portrayed outside the way he portrayed the anguish of a of a broadcaster right yeah those guys are just supposed to be up there impartial and not really caring for the team and he's drunk in his underwear or you know, calling the game. It's, it's an, he was an incredible person. We got some super chats that I didn't get to.

I apologize to you guys for sure. Devin Pattinson says, are we going back to everyday pods at season start? At season start, we're going to be going back to three days or three pods a week. So we won't be having them every day, but we will be having them for you as often as possible. It'll ramp up. And it'll ramp up. We'll get you there. And we'll also have some post game shows as well.

So we hope that, we hope it's enough. I, I'm, I'm, I'm, best in small doses anyway. Michael Rokickey said, I just want to know where the Dodgers are finding innings for these people. And again, that's a great point. I think the Dodgers definitely have the same good problem as the Diamondbacks right now where it's an overabundance of staffing. I'm sure that they have plans in place for how to handle that. But yeah, that's, I mean, they also had a ton of injuries last year. You can't count on a Tyler Glassnow. You can't count on him at all. When was the last time Tyler Glassnow, like pitch 200 innings in a season.

Has he ever done that? I don't think so. But I think you're right. I think really after what they went through last year, even though that they were able to achieve the ultimate goal, they came very close to things. Never pitched one. He's never gotten 150 innings,

Tyler Goss now. 200 is a big number. So I apologize for that. But 150 was that barometer. Never reached that. And then you have guys like Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki who, you know, like frankly are,

they have small frames. I don't and that that does factor in in pitching in baseball in particular like if you have a small frame you're probably a little bit more predisposed to getting injured you know we don't wish injuries on anybody I think I'm not saying that I just it's something to monitor it's the reason why they're loading up honestly at the end of the day when when we talk about how frustrating this is none of this is on the Dodgers because the Dodgers are trying to secure their place as a dynasty in baseball someone said it earlier it's very difficult to do that in baseball especially with the random of the postseason and how one single injury can impact your season substantially. Look at what happened with the Diamondbacks last season and Catell Marte getting injured by one Garrett Stubbs. I just want to rile him up further. That guy needs to go to the Dodgers. So we can just kind of culminate just all the nasty bad people.

Do the doctors have a mascot? What's their mascot? That is a good point. They don't have a, I don't think they do have a mascot. Something to chew on. Just something to chew on. Just something for him to think about. a pair of suspenders.

He does. He does. He's very wacky. He's very wacky when it comes to being. All right. Well, again, the Diamondbacks have. And Snell as well.

Like, Snell doesn't pitch. He pitches five innings of baseball game. Yeah. Four innings of baseball game. Right. Well, and I mean,

the thing is is that if you load up on enough arms, you can figure out a way to give everybody the rest they need. Right. And I mean, since like you're almost just hoping that five guys make it to the end of the season and are healthy. And with the staff they have, that looks very likely.

Our Dodgers fan Mark Slayer is telling us that they do have a mascot. It's an elf. Yeah, I'm looking at them right now. Wow, I mean, look at this freak. Oh, my God. Yes. It's already Garrett Stubbs. We've got, we got us figure.

Just get Garrett Stubbs in Dodgers jersey. It's the same thing. Yeah, well, love you guys so much. We appreciate you guys so much for stopping by. We will be back next Wednesday with another show. And then once we hit pitchers and catchers reporting, we'll be here three days a week. So we appreciate you for so much for stopping by. You can follow me on.

Twitter. I'm at cap underscore K-man with a K. This maniac next to me is at Damon Dog. That's D-A-W-G. I'm a very level-headed. We are. We are all Damon's dogs, bark, bark. The man behind the Mac is the one and only large intimate Kevin Thomas. Of course, make sure to follow him at Kev-O Post. Our show is at P-HNX underscore G-Backs. But as always, all roads lead to at P-N-X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We appreciate you guys stopping by all of you, even the Dodgers fans that just came here to call us mid and question why I put their team's name in the headline for this episode. Oh, I actually, we appreciate you. I real quick about that.

I don't know if Dodgers fans realize this. The Diamondbacks actually playing the same division as the Dodgers. What? That's crazy. What they do in the offseason is actually kind of relevant to what the Diamondbacks are doing. It's just, I don't know. I mean, I feel like I didn't think we needed to explain that. make that connection when we were talking about the Dodgers so much, but you're right.

You're absolutely right. Maybe Mark, maybe Mark, yeah, he'll calm down a little bit now that we explain that. And make sure if you're a Dodgers fan to follow Mark Salara on all social media as well, he's a fellow Dodger fan. But of course, until next time, we love you guys so much for stopping by. We appreciate you so much. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's a lot more fun when you remember that the Diamondbacks actually do play in the same division as the Dodgers.