PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Dodgers Signing Kyle Tucker Is the Death of Competitive Balance in MLB

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

The Dodgers have officially broken baseball again. Los Angeles has reportedly signed Kyle Tucker to a massive 4-year, $240 million contract, and we break down how the deal is structured and why it cou...ld all but guarantee an MLB lockout at the end of the season. Meanwhile, one of the other finalists for Tucker was the New York Mets, who have reportedly landed their own free agent superstar by signing Bo Bichette. We look at what this means for the balance of power in the National League and whether the arms race has officially gone too far. Plus, we turn our attention to the Diamondbacks’ first bullpen move of the offseason, bringing back old friend Taylor Clarke, a 2015 draft pick who spent last season with the Royals. We dive into his numbers, his role in Arizona’s bullpen, and why this could be a sneaky-good under-the-radar pickup for Mike Hazen. And of course, it’s time for another round of “Are You A Baseball Savant?”JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/Phoenix Raceway: Get your tickets now for March 5-8! https://www.phoenixraceway.com/march-cup-weekend/?CID=PIR_DI_TP_BA_PHNX26Spring_251120ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotesbet365: 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/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.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!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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 $60 million dollars? No, no, no, no ski, no, no live, no happy Friday. We are live from Studio K presented by our friends in Circle K, whatever. The countdown's on, 319 days until I have to start looking for a new job, thanks to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Welcome in to the PHNX Diamondback Show. My name is Derek Montia. occasionally known as a man that was far more confident in his profession before watching this team break baseball. Glad to have you guys here. Glad to be talking about something that is so near and dear to our hearts.
Starting point is 00:00:55 And of course, I could not do this alone. I could not do this by myself. In fact, I had to bring in a man who's going to be far more emotional about this than I am. It is the one, the only Damon Dog, aka Damon Farrell on the ones and twos. And just, you're right over there, bud? What? Hey, hey. What happened? Kyle Tucker signed with the Dodgers. That's what happened. That's what happened, Damon.
Starting point is 00:01:21 Hold on. I had my bottle of tequila, too. I mean, if we're drinking and drinking. I had water, but there's no point to drink water. There's no point for anything anymore. There's no point to even have a 2026 regular season. Imagine having a 162 game season to determine who's going to make the playoffs when you're just going to crown the Los Angeles Dodgers
Starting point is 00:01:45 as your World Series champion this year. I don't know. What's the point? What's the point of anything? Pain is existence, and that's the point where we're at here. Kyle Tucker has indeed become not a Blue Jay, not a Met, not a Yankee, not a cub,
Starting point is 00:02:07 but he's become a Los Angeles Dodger. at an annual value of $60 million U.S. We had $40 million to spend this offseason, and we're one of the most revenue to payroll spenders in the entire sport, top five actually. And we have a Dodgers fan in here telling us to just spend more money. That's what we have in here, Damon. Let me be the first to congratulate the Dodgers on the 2026 World Series Championship.
Starting point is 00:02:45 congratulations guys might as well not even play a season yeah it's already set in it's already set in stone it's already written in the stars like the edwin dia signing was already just too much right like going out and assessing your one weakness that you had and that's what they do every off season yeah yeah i mean adding the best potential player that existed not just on the free agent market but arguably in the game of baseball at your closure right when that wasn't enough remember when the rotation stuck, Derek, and they were like, let's just get Tyler Glass now and Blake Snow in one off season. Pam both.
Starting point is 00:03:23 And Otani will be back. Well, it's what they do. People want us to take accountability, Damon. You know, I refuse to do that on this show or in life ever. But Kyle Tucker has agreed to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers on a four-year, $240 million contract. The deal includes opt-out rights after the second season and the third season. meaning he could reenter free agency before the last two years.
Starting point is 00:03:47 And there's also a huge signing bonus and about $30 million in deferred payments, making the net present value $57.1 million a year. So the Dodgers at least did not get away with only being hit for Kyle Tucker making, you know, six bucks a year. This is a record annual value when you factor the structure. At $60 million per year, it's the second highest annual value in baseball history behind only? Shohei Otani, who gets paid
Starting point is 00:04:17 $2 million so that they can go and pay the next most money per year to a guy, even though he's worth I don't know, $38 million a year, $35 million a year, but we're just going to pay him 60 because we're the Dodgers and we have a never-ending money glitch and we've
Starting point is 00:04:34 hacked the, you know, Grand Theft Auto game and so we can just go buy all the cars and it's so much fun. What's the challenge? What's the fun in it? There is no challenge. This is playing the game on beginner, or at least very easy.
Starting point is 00:04:48 It's pathetic. I just... This is playing MLB the show on beginner and scoring 16 runs every game. Throwing a no-hitter. Throwing a no-hitter every game. Face pumping. I mean, yeah, but at the same time, too, what Peter says in the chat, Damon, is not wrong.
Starting point is 00:05:09 I get it, you guys are mad, but the Dodgers is just a great organization. blame the owners for not being bold and manage their team. No, I'm not going to blame Ken Kendrick for trying. I'm going to blame Rob Manfred for and major league baseball for allowing the Dodgers to do this within the rules. We've said this time and time again. The Dodgers are playing within the confines of the rules. It doesn't mean that you still don't break the game, the sport, by playing within the confine of the rules,
Starting point is 00:05:34 finding a loophole and exploiting it to the degree that the Dodgers have. Now, kudos to the Dodgers for not being satisfied with just two world series. Kudos to the Dodgers for wanting to create some sort of lasting, you know, evil empire here, some sort of legacy where they don't just three-peat, but they become like the goddamn Boston Celtics of modern day sport. Right? I don't blame them for that because, quite frankly, every front office and every owner in every sport should strive for that. So again, Peter is not wrong.
Starting point is 00:06:08 This is not the Dodgers fault, but it is the Dodgers fault for also being so greedy and just being like, we're going to put our throat on the foot of Major League Baseball and we don't care how much it hurts the entire game overall because we just want to dominate, right? And here's where Peter is wrong. And like Dodgers fans need to cut the act. They need to cut the act. Yeah. The whole like, well, every other. Your team needs to spend more.
Starting point is 00:06:33 Shut up. No. No, actually shut up for one second. You like can you at least just be a real person, a real human being and admit, hey, this is not great for the sport. It's fun for me. It's fun for my team. I love seeing the National League All-Stars suit up one through nine for my organization where Dodger Blue. I don't even know team USA could beat the Dodgers.
Starting point is 00:06:57 I mean, it's it's genuinely a conversation, which is, which is shocking, shocking. But stop telling me that this is my fault. This is my team's fault. is your guys's fault because you don't get on your owners enough. No, it's the Dodgers fault for taking advantage of, I mean, not the Dodgers. It's major league baseball's fault, but it's the Dodgers are the ones doing it and stop trying to convince us that this is like somehow an us problem. It's not. Peace of Yoshi is 100% right. The Diamondbacks are top five in reinvested money. The problem is the amount of money that they make, right? The Dodgers have a global brand. The Dodgers have
Starting point is 00:07:35 expanded their fandom into so many other international markets. And again, to echo what Peter said, he's not wrong as far as the Dodgers being smart business-wise, getting someone like Showyotani, seeing the business opportunities that they're only going to make you more money, money on top of money. And also, I was talking about with ESPO, like, you have to put the deferred money in an account, right? But they've figured out a way to invest it in some way where they're making money off of that money that they have to hold in an account. So they're practically probably paying their rest of their payroll with the deferred money that they're they're vesting or you know putting into account that's making some sort of percentage payment off of it like they they've done it the
Starting point is 00:08:16 right way the bigger problem is the way that baseball is structured the dodgers here their payroll is in record territory multiple reports have suggested that the guaranteed commitment amount right now for the dodgers is then the billions of dollars billions of dollars highlighting just a huge gap, the huge financial discrepancy between the Dodgers and, let's just say small market teams. I don't need to throw the Yankees and the Mets and those other teams that can spend in there. However, even those teams are finding it to be egregious with what the Dodgers do. The Mets were going to pay, you know, Kyle Tucker, a ridiculous amount of money and it still wasn't $60 million a year, including competitive balance tax penalties.
Starting point is 00:09:04 The Dodgers are going to pay more for Kyle Tucker in 2026 than 11 teams will spend on their entire roster. That sounds like it's good and healthy for the sport. That's close to half of Major League Baseball. And we've talked about those scrubs, not spending enough money, and that's fine. We've addressed that. But one team spending more money on one player than 11 teams are going to spend on their 26-man roster. Ah. It's brutal, Derek.
Starting point is 00:09:48 It's brutal. It's brutal. I mean, I, I, you talk about the TV revenue. Ryan brought it up. Yeah. Jarmie brought it up in the chat. Like, meanwhile, we're over here in a revenue share with the rest of the teams that got screwed over by our RSS. Yeah, I was doing some research into it yesterday, actually.
Starting point is 00:10:04 And this was, I think, before the Kyle Tucker signing that I was even looking into this. The Dodgers have a $186 million television deal from Spectrum that gets paid to them every single year. Baseball has a situation going where each team controls their own television revenue rights. And then obviously the Diamondbacks had that very public fallout with Bally Sports. And so their rights got pushed on to baseball. and baseball is doing an equal revenue share with the, you know, six to eight teams or whatever it is that are a part of the MOB for their revenue or their television deal. So the Diamondbacks were making somewhere in like the $60 million range per year, Derek, on their television deal. And now the, it's unclear.
Starting point is 00:10:49 The Dodgers are at $180 million. That's crazy, man. For context. Ryan says, where is the competition in these players? Well, what we've heard about Kyle Tucker is that I, the, the, the, one thing I've heard recently about him was something called Anthony Rendon syndrome, where people feel like he's not really committed to the game, and he has other interests outside of baseball,
Starting point is 00:11:10 as a lot of baseball players do. Most of the time it's golf. But anyway, when it comes to Kyle Tucker, this is the kind of deal that could allow him to make this huge payday and stay with the Dodgers for the next, you know, for the length of this contract, and then just retire if he wants. to if his interests are literally elsewhere, right? So that's the difference here. You could say about
Starting point is 00:11:37 the competition factor, which is true. There should be something to be said about players wanting to beat the Dodgers. We need more, you know, Tatsuya Amai's out there and not necessarily so many people just willing to take the big payday. However, if you would talk about a guy that doesn't have interest in being a major league baseball player for very long, taking the highest annual value on a shorter-term deal, seems very appealing. I mean, if he stays for the length of $240 million, he's not going to ever spend that much money.
Starting point is 00:12:06 You just like, like you literally can't. You literally can't. I dare you to. It'd be like Brewster's millions. You just fail, but this sucks. This sucks. This sucks. It's also just a tremendous amount of money for a guy
Starting point is 00:12:18 who hit 266 with 22 home runs and 25 stolen bases in 136 games. Like, he did miss time due to injury, and I will say that he was very, good very clutch for the Chicago Cubs last season, but it's turning 29 years old and overall, you know, this just seems like an incredible amount of money for a player that I mean, like you said yesterday, not one of those guys that I would be willing to pay that much money to, especially considering his name is not Otani or Aaron Judge.
Starting point is 00:12:47 Yeah, I mean, no one. I mean, yeah, those are the two guys as we noted that were actually worth anywhere close to that type of money. Yeah. And I think I said that yesterday as well, right? It all feels like it was like a culmination of events here, Derek. I think I said yesterday on the show, Aaron Judge, Shohayotani, maybe Paul Skeens and Terrick Scoobel are the players that I think are worth that type of money. And they're paying more than that type of money because I said 50 million. They're paying more than that for what a top 30 hitter in the sport?
Starting point is 00:13:21 Like is he even top 20? Kyle Tucker is great. he's really good he's an all-star but he's not oh uh uh like a a world beating type of player he's not watch out there ken kind of he's not a he i don't think he's a he's a hall of like he was one of nine kind of deal for sure but he's not a hall of famer yeah and he's getting paid 60 million dollars a year that's the craziest part like that's a unreal if you do want to if you do want to look at it from the positive side uh they did not defer very much of it and the dodgers did pay a ridiculous amount of money.
Starting point is 00:13:56 I mean, enough money. It doesn't matter, though, Derek. That's the problem. If he fails, if it blows up in their face, they go, oh, I guess we'll just have to sign the next Kyle Tucker. We're going to, because we're going to do it. Like, I just, it's so infuriating. And the worst part is no doubt about it, the people that try to justify it left and right, back and forth. Enough, man.
Starting point is 00:14:18 We get it. The Dodgers are trying. Baseball allows it. it's a sham and the sports broken. They won't relent. And I mean, again, like you said, it's getting to the point where, you know, the Dodgers are the ultimate end boss bad guy now, right?
Starting point is 00:14:35 You're either a fan of that team and you, of course, if we were fans of that team, we would want them to win three in a row, four in a row. We'd want them to be a dynasty. However, you know, it just, it's hard to look at this overall and think that LA's payroll now topping 2.1 billion. billion in guaranteeing contracts with their projected payroll being 413 million for 26 seems fair right and they've already have multiple nine figure deals in Otani bets Yamamoto and they're
Starting point is 00:15:06 adding more stars you know here this offseason after winning the championship their spending has some owners that you just wouldn't expect completely over the edge pushing for a salary cap including the Yankees, when you have the Yankees, wanting a new collective bargaining agreement so that we can do something about this. You know you've truly broken the sport. But I have to... I mean, the Yankees are soft too. Like, I'll admit that. Like, the Yankees make a $150 million television deal.
Starting point is 00:15:35 They're the only team that gets remotely close to what the Dodgers do from a television perspective. And they don't spend anywhere close to the amount of money the Yankees do. But the problem is the disparity between the Yankees and the Dodgers and every single other team in baseball when it comes to that stuff. Because you can just put that much more investment into your team when you're making three times the television deal of your division rivals like the Dodgers are with the Diamondbacks and with the Padres and maybe with the Giants. They might have a slightly bigger deal. It's just, it's not like, I just hope Dodgers fans are when this sport ceases to exist in 2027. And I'm not saying forever. But when they are not playing a season in 2027, I want Dodgers fans to know exactly what.
Starting point is 00:16:20 the reason is because it is your organization's fault. It's your team's fault. Tanner Scott pushed people over the edge, Damon. I can only imagine how they feel about Edwin Diaz and Kyle Tucker signing with the Dodgers this offseason, right? So it's a guarantee, right? And the breaking baseball rhetoric is not just about one contract. It's about how spending here could reshape the economics, the competitive balance,
Starting point is 00:16:47 and the labor landscape overall here when it comes to major. League Baseball. And I know that all of this seems so dramatic. And I know that at times, players are going to continue to argue on behalf of baseball teams being able to spend as much money as they want. Because at the end of the day, every player, that's a part of the MLBPA dreams of a payday like this, right? And, you know, you have the fact that even when comparing one Corbyn Carroll to Kyle Tucker, it would seem like you want to take perhaps a Corbyn Carroll. And over a Kyle Tucker and Corbyn Carroll is definitely not making $60 million a year. When it comes to like him personally, right, you can only imagine how, you know,
Starting point is 00:17:30 him and other players feel. They have a devotion to the team that signed them and they're thankful for being extended and for an organization believing in them. But this is just going to further any player wanting to stay long term with a smaller team that's giving them contract extensions when the potential payday could be 60 million. dollars a year. Think about the money Corbin's going to be making at the end of his deal with the diamond backs.
Starting point is 00:17:56 At the end of his deal with the diamond backs. Isn't it close to $30 million, Derek? I believe. And Corbin is a better player than Kyle Tucker full stop. Everyone knows it. Everybody in the league agrees. The Dodgers would tell you that Corbin Carroll is better than Kyle Tucker. And he's going to be making about half the money at the end of his deal as Kyle Tucker is right now.
Starting point is 00:18:16 I don't believe it's even $30 million if I'm being honest. like 25 or something like that. I'm on board up right now and my computer is just not cooperating with me. But yeah, I'm sure it's somewhere in the neighbor. He signed a eight year $110 million deal. So overall, yeah. He's getting paid cheap though like right up front and then it backloads. But it's just ridiculous. Yeah. Yes, you're right. You're right. In his final three years, he gets paid $28 million. Like, why would a, why would a player sign a deal like that if they're a high level prospect? I mean, I'm just going to go through arbitration and then I'm going to get paid a billion by the Dodgers and free agency.
Starting point is 00:18:52 Well, again, earlier, I alluded to it, Damon, but do we take any accountability for this? Do we blame ourselves? Did the Diamondbacks actually break the Dodgers, which forced the Dodgers to break baseball? Because since the 2023 playoffs, when we did what we did to them, they've added, Shohei Otani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glass Now, Teoska Hernandez, Tommy Edmund, Roki Sasaki, Kyle Tucker, and Edwin Diaz. Is it our fault? I would say that our fault.
Starting point is 00:19:23 It felt that way at first. Was it because I drank a whole bottle of champagne? Because I'm drinking tequila now to kind of counterbalance it. I don't know. I'm sorry to cut you off. It's okay. I just didn't know if you were finished. I felt like you had a thing going.
Starting point is 00:19:40 I don't have a thing going. I'm upset and I'm just ranting. It felt that way at first, Derek. Like in 2023 when we beat them and they went out and they got Otani. Yeah, it felt a little bit like, okay. Yeah, they're trying to combat, you know, a team. like the Diamond Baxter, they had just lost to the Padres the year before. Division rivals given them a run for their money.
Starting point is 00:19:58 But I think that they've proven after winning the last two world series and going out and signing all the big name free agents, that it doesn't have anything to do with losing. It has to do with they see something they want, and they say, we have unlimited money. So we're going to spend it. And so then they go and get the best players at every position. If they win next year, they're going to go do it again, Derek.
Starting point is 00:20:22 I was like, I look forward to having this exact same conversation when they add Terrick Scoobel to their roster. This, that's happening. They're going to get rid of glass now. And they're going to get Scoobel. And we're all just going to have to go. I guess it's Ken Kendrick's fault. I guess it's my owner's fault. What an idiot.
Starting point is 00:20:41 What a loser. He only spent $200 million on his roster and not $600 million a year. And again, MLB is going to be locked out on December 1st, 20. 2026, 319 days until I have to start updating my LinkedIn. Ownership wants significant economic changes that players feel undermined guaranteed contracts and their bargaining power and their agents bargaining power. The union has publicly said it expects work stoppage next winter. And again, it doesn't feel like these gaps are narrowing with what the Dodgers are doing. It feels like a lockout becomes a default fallback once that CBA expires on December 1st, 2026.
Starting point is 00:21:20 So if that happens, free agency and trade stop until a new deal is reached. We don't know how long that will take. And then negotiations could continue through the winter of 2026, early in the 2027, and could impact regular season games once again if a deal isn't done by spring. And this all feels inevitable, Damon. I mean, the Dodgers feel inevitable. And that's why they feel like Thanos, right? Like it feels like they are going to destroy baseball
Starting point is 00:21:52 as a necessary evil that they feel like has to happen in order, I don't know. In order to concrete their legacy. Maybe that's it. Maybe they want to be the team that finally ends MLB once in a while.
Starting point is 00:22:04 And just like an Avengers end game, Derek, it takes 29. It takes 29, banded together, locked in arms, holding the line. Yeah. And Derek, I don't know if this is loser talk or what.
Starting point is 00:22:20 I don't care. Dodgers fans, screw you if you hate this. I think I'm more invested in the Dodgers not winning the World Series than I am the Diamondbacks winning in the World Series next year. I'm more invested in the not winning the World Series than I am in the Diamondbacks even making the playoffs. Damon, that's the only thing I want. It means everything. That Dork's tweet might have been right where he said we just, no one wants to see the Diamondbacks in the World Series. I don't want to see them there.
Starting point is 00:22:42 I want to see, I want to see, you know, Dodger Stadium get shut down is what I want to see. I want health code violations to run rampant throughout the ballpark so that they can't play games there and the Dodgers have to forfeit. I get it. I want a Bain-style Batman Dark Night Rises field blow up, Derek. Is that too much to ask for? Not really. Not really. But, I mean, you're slightly more emotional than I am.
Starting point is 00:23:09 I merely just want to hide under this desk in the fetal position and wait for the inevitable end of my baseball reporting career. So that's where I'm at, Damon. That's where I'm at right now. But we did do something. I mean, the Mets did something, by the way, which we're not paying attention to. They pivoted and they missed out on Tucker. And they added Bo Bichette, Damon. That's cool.
Starting point is 00:23:31 So now the Mets even get better, even as they fumbled through this offseason trying to add to their team. They get better. They're going to play Bichette at third base. And he gets paid an ungodly amount of money as well for another short-term deal. That's something that's interesting in development. developing here is that players are getting paid insane annual values overall and not getting the, you know, 15-year deals that we were seeing not that long ago. Like, not that long ago,
Starting point is 00:23:58 we were seeing these huge contracts stretched into long-term deals that you're like, that guy, that man is going to be 45 years old by the time that contract is over. But in this case, Bobeshed agrees to a three-year, $126 million deal as reported by several sources. So egregious. That's just crazy. It's egregious. Like, hey, hey,
Starting point is 00:24:19 right here, this sport needs a salary cap. I'll say it about Bo Bichette going to the Mets too. Steve Cohen has the most money of any owner in the league. Oh, so he can just go and outspend everybody
Starting point is 00:24:31 if he wants to. And so he can spend $40 million a year on Bo Bichet who's okay. He's pretty good. He's not really even that good. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:24:44 And it's, it's just, it's baffling that, like, it's, it's as this, I think Cito set it up here in the chat. And he was saying, like, I just wish Dodgers fans would say, I don't give an F. Yeah. Like, be honest with me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't care. Yeah. That's fine.
Starting point is 00:25:00 Yeah. You want your team to be successful. If I was in your shoes, I'd probably think the same thing. But stop trying to tell me this is good. Stop trying to tell me this is healthy. This is horrible for the sport. To be fair, once again, the dog's. might be smart about doing this right now when they know that there's a good chance that things
Starting point is 00:25:18 are going to change going forward. Probably exactly why they're doing it. Under a new collective bargaining agreement, there might be changes, but it's not going to change existing contracts. They're not going to be able to. Like, yes, their hands might be tied as far as spending is concerned, but they have a complete team that's under contract for a decent amount of time. If those guys all work out and are the superstars that they have been, that team is fine,
Starting point is 00:25:41 even after the lockout comes and goes. right but again with the impacts of a new cba potentially limiting their power and the uncertainty of twenty twenty seven making other teams hesitant to spend the dodgers are are doing the thing you know what i mean and yes it's breaking baseball but again the one thing we'll say is that this is on melb and not the dodgers i'll say that damon won't because he's furious with you all all every one of you dodgers i've admitted i've already admitted that though i've already admitted that it's not the the dodgers organization fall for trying to win. But people don't, they choose,
Starting point is 00:26:17 they selectively hear what they want to hear. This BL Boyd idiot in the chat, he just keeps wanting to make me the bad guy, and that's fine. But hey, buddy, look in the mirror. Your Dodgers fans are absolute morons, Derek. These people are trying to blame everybody else when it's clear as day what the issue is.
Starting point is 00:26:34 Stop trying to dance around it. You mama brings up another good point as well. Like now I'm rooting for like big players just to go to other teams, not even to our team. I'm just rooting for them to go anywhere but the Dodgers. Derek, I told you the story of how I found out Kyle Tucker went to the Dodgers. It was a sense.
Starting point is 00:26:51 I'll literally take off the glasses for this. You guys need to see the emotion on my face. I'm sitting there. My roommate comes downstairs. He goes, Damon, did you see the Kyle Tucker news? He had a good poker face. I didn't tell it. It was like sad or bad.
Starting point is 00:27:04 And I go, I go, Blue Jays? And he goes. And he goes, no. not the blue jays and i go oh so he went to the mets then no yan yanke yankees oh and then i collapsed fully onto the ground because i knew what that look meant i knew what the yankees guess plus the screamed like luke skywalker no that's impossible full collapse onto the floor yeah knew knew it was over i mean it's just a disaster like i i agree with you i am totally rooting for every other team to like i want i want nothing more than the tigers to resign and extend
Starting point is 00:27:50 scoble that's what i'm rooting for you know what i mean like it really is that way go to the blue jays but anyway no one wants to go the blue jays i know apparently i don't know toronto's a fun city but hey uh we're going to take a quick break on the other side of this break we're actually going to talk about the diamond backs finally adding a bullpen arm but i mean i guess doesn't matter does anything matter anymore i'll try to get myself together here in a moment. But we're going to be back after this break. Don't you guys go anywhere? You're watching the pH next time in back show. Well, over at Bet365, you can still have a good time, even if it might not include watching baseball. But of course, there are so many sports for you
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Starting point is 00:29:47 and of course March is one of the best times to be here. But this spring, the Phoenix Raceway is making history for the first time ever, NASCAR and NTT IndyCar series will be racing on the same track in the same weekend, and you can get a front row seat to all of it. You can do not miss out. Race weekend is amazing. But to have a historic race weekend like this
Starting point is 00:30:07 is something that you as a race fan should not miss out on, and you can also get the best access in motorsports with the Desert Diamond Casino Enfield Experience. You can go inside the garage, walk the track, meet the drivers, and catch the pre-race concert. It's an absolute blast and a must-do if you're heading out there. There's ticket options as well as camping options, which are available. And you can watch the 2025 Cup Series champion Kyle Larson return to the same track where he won the championship just a few months ago. So do not miss out the 26 NASCAR weekend at Phoenix Raceway is making history with NASCAR and NTT IndyCar series sharing the same track on the same.
Starting point is 00:30:47 day and you'll want to say you were there this weekend is happening march 5th through march 8th so do not miss out secure your seats now at the link in our description well glad to have you guys here well some of you here those of you know who which ones i don't want here but i'm not going to single you out uh damon we have some super chats to get to there i'll single them out yeah we have some super chats cool bro uh we will get to the super chats here signer at 2027 baseball 199 yeah p coshi five dollars do you think any of this happens if Robert Moses just lets the Dodgers build their
Starting point is 00:31:24 Brooklyn Stadium in 1950 something? Well, I'll tell you this much. If that's the case, then at least they wouldn't be in our division, right? Geographically, that wouldn't make any goddamn sense. So maybe we would like be dealing with the Angels. There'd be another L.A. team. That's what I'm saying. It'd be
Starting point is 00:31:40 the Angels, is my point. Could you imagine if it was us, the Angels, the Giants, the Rockies, and the Padres? We're winning that division 10 out of the last 15 years. Scenes. What else we got? Cool bro says the Dodgers are the most overbooked team, 2017 Roman.
Starting point is 00:31:55 Oh, let's go. We got Groundhog Mama celebrating four months of a P.HNX membership here on YouTube. We appreciate you, Karen, says, I'm not going to let the Dodgers ruin my weekend. How can we take pride in winning a World Series when you rigged the outcome? Why would he opt out? Oh, why would Kyle Tucker opt out? Yeah. I mean, I guess I'm reading that.
Starting point is 00:32:18 And, you know, I'm feeling like, it's like, yeah, why would I let the Dodgers ruin my weekend? And then immediately it feels like we're kind of letting the Dodgers ruin our weekend. How can you take pride in winning a World Series when you rig the outcome? It's like, that's all I'm going to be thinking. I'm going to be like, yeah, screw the Dodgers. Who cares? Also, Dodgers are ruining baseball. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:32:38 They live in our head rent free. Dodg. I mean, and it makes sense as to why I feel like. But Cool Bro comes back, 199. Sign to the Dodgers is like left phase clean. I actually get that reference. And he says it's our fault for the sweep, Dodgers, for sweeping the Dodgers and making them spend.
Starting point is 00:32:56 I like this comment from Max Damon. He said, personally, I blame Bidwell for this. Give me a sec to figure out why. Fair. I think we could do like some sort of conspiracy chart that leads back to build Bidwell 100%. But we do have some good news if you want to call it that. And that's no disrespect to our guy, Taylor Clark.
Starting point is 00:33:15 I have been a fan of Taylor Clark for a long time. I've covered him. Again, I'm very old, and I've been doing this for a long time, but covered him when he was originally called up and how he is making his return to the valley. The Diamondback signed right-handed reliever Taylor Clark to a one-year major league contract for the 2026 season to make room on the roster.
Starting point is 00:33:35 Gus Varland was DFAed, but Clark was originally drafted, as many of you may remember, by the Diamondbacks in the third round of the 2015 draft out of the College of Charleston. And he made his debut with the Diamondbacks as a starter in 2019. He's pitched in 78 games for Arizona, including starting work early on there before moving to the bullpen role. And he pitched in, of course, he was non-tendered by the Diamondbacks following the 2021 season, signed with the Royals, and actually found himself putting things together pretty well for them. Over 51 appearances with the Royals in 2025, he had a 3.25 ERA.
Starting point is 00:34:14 He had 44 strikeouts versus nine walks over 55 in a third innings pitched. He had a 7.2 strikeout per nine rate, he had a 1.5 walk per nine rate. Really good. And honestly, for a reliever that pitched 55 in a third inning, he's a one B war is pretty good, right? Yeah, for sure. And then even with those numbers, he had excellent control. He had a sub one whip. I think it was 0.895 or 8495.
Starting point is 00:34:42 very good, just very good. He wasn't walking guys at all, Derek. He was not. And even with those numbers, the Royals still non-tendered him in November, making him a free agent. So he comes back to the Diamondbacks on a contract that is initially worth $1.5 million for that one season
Starting point is 00:34:58 with incentives could be worth $2 million. It seems like, once again, a good deal. We are definitely doing the budget thing that we knew Mike Hazen was going to do. and honestly, even though it's not the names that we wanted to add, it's good to see them finally at a bullpen arm. You could argue that Taylor Clark could be an incredible story. First of all, once again, it's a reunion, and you know we love those, right?
Starting point is 00:35:24 We're big fans of bringing Paul Goldschmidt back here for that reason. We felt like Merrill Kelly made our hearts complete, and bringing Taylor Clark back after the Diamondbacks drafted him to potentially help this team win games now at this point in his career. Seems like it would just be a great story. But more than that, you know, the Diamondbacks, have an unsettled bullpen, as we've discussed. They haven't really added much to it.
Starting point is 00:35:48 And at 32 years old, Taylor Clark is now a veteran presence in the bullpen with multiple seasons of Major League Baseball experience under his belt. He should help stabilize innings, and he'll probably be in there, not in necessarily high leverage roles, but could find himself in high leverage roles. I know they have a couple of other options. We love our guy, Dre Jamison, and we talked to him the other day about him being, you know, obviously in for that that closer role. We also know
Starting point is 00:36:14 that Andrew Salfranc put up extremely good numbers for this team in 2025. One of the few bright spots for the bullpen from this past season. So he's not necessarily a high leverage closer type. He's not projected to be a late inning guy, but the team will still need, you know, some arms
Starting point is 00:36:32 that they can count on for like the sixth inning and seventh inning. And Clark overall, that's kind of where he slotted in with the Royals. And he was one of the core bullpen pieces that gave their manager over there, more flexibility with matchups and innings. So overall, it feels like Taylor Clark is a good fit for the Diamondbacks. He didn't cost them nearly as much as other guys that, quite frankly,
Starting point is 00:36:55 had a higher ERA and you are much more unsure about, even if those guys are bigger names and high leverage guys, right? Like, the Mets paid Devin Williams a lot of money. Definitely not $1.5 million for the 2026 season. And so it does feel like the debacks, again, are taking a shot on a guy. But in this case, this isn't necessarily the reclamation projects we've talked about them going after like a Michael Soroka. It's not necessarily them hoping that a guy can return to form. This is more about, you know, like Nolan Aeronado.
Starting point is 00:37:27 This is more about Clark having a very good season for the Royals last year. And overall kind of getting lost perhaps in the shuffle and signing a deal here to come back to Air Base. Arizona that is very affordable for the debacks when it comes to adding a reliever, you know, but I don't know. It was much more exciting yesterday afternoon, and they've kind of taken the air out of my balloon a little bit here. Taylor Clark is not an exciting name, as you could say about all of the additions to this team, right? But you still feel like Mike Hazen is building something here that is a solid baseball team overall. And that goes back to the very beginning when they first added,
Starting point is 00:38:10 brought James McCann back, brought Merrill Kelly back. And then, of course, you also have the signing of Michael Soroka that feels like it's very much a wild card, but a low risk, high reward situation. Maybe not high reward. Moderate reward is probably more reasonable to say. However, again, just getting crazy with it, if you look at what Soroka's numbers were, you know, early on in his career with the Braves,
Starting point is 00:38:32 if he could get anywhere close back to that and stay healthy, than this $7.5 million deal is great. Nolan Aronado, another great deal for this team. So there's, they're all budget deals, though, and that's the moves that Mike Hayes needed to make. It's the reason why seeing the Dodgers spend $60 million on one player for 2026 is crazy to us. Again, it's not even like this is a poverty franchise that doesn't spend money.
Starting point is 00:39:01 It's just based on the contracts that they have given out, and the guys that are here that they've extended and they want to be here long term, they didn't have very much money left overall here in their budget for them to go out and fill the holes that they were needing to fill with the loss of so many players that they lost both at the trade deadline
Starting point is 00:39:19 and to free agency at the end of the season in Zach Gallen. So I got to commend Mike Hazen because he did do a good job here of adding some players that we didn't expect to see as part of this roster that are, you know, potential wild cards and didn't cost them. them a lot of money. You know, we're talking about here with the addition of, you know, Taylor Clark,
Starting point is 00:39:40 at one and a half million. You got, you know, again, seven and a half million on the books for Soroka. You have five million for Nolan Aronado. These three players are costing the Diamondbacks $14 million, which is what I believe we were going to pay to like Pete Fairbanks, you know. So, again, it's not to say that it's the stuff that Pete Fairbanks has to offer. It's not to say Taylor Clark is going to be the Diamondback's closer option. But perhaps internally they feel like they do have some players that could fill that role for them, at least the bridge closer roll until the other names come back. And again, maybe they just feel like they need to add to the rest of the bullpen
Starting point is 00:40:18 to allow those guys to step into those roles. We'll see how all this plays out. I like Dre Jameson's answer the other day where, I mean, I think it was a nice way of saying it. But basically, Dre was saying that if he does find himself in that close a role, that it's not like he just automatically wants to give it up when, you know, those guys return, when J-Mart returns, when Puck returns, right? That's a great attitude to have because you want to be so good that you give the Diamondbacks an actual problem when those guys return.
Starting point is 00:40:47 You want to secure that role so much that they consider slotting those other guys into just high-leverage seventh and eighth inning rolls rather than the closer role, right? It's not to say that that's necessarily going to happen, but it's a good mindset to have, and it's the mindset that every bullpen arm should have when it comes to this team. This team definitely has a wide open opportunity for anybody to step their game up and become the next elite pitching arm for them, right? Baseball is funny, and I've said this time and time again, you have guys like Kyle Tucker who hit the ball 26.6% of the time,
Starting point is 00:41:23 they get paid $60 million. And again, you take a look at Nolan Aronado's numbers from last year and somehow him hitting the ball, what, 23% of the time is a guy that's washed and no longer relevant in the game or the sport. I'll never be able to figure it out. And I think that front offices and owners and stuff around baseball still really can't either. Just at the end of the day, you want to add what you consider to be an elite player to your team. The Diamondbacks did not do that this offseason. They did not add an elite player to this team. However, they did keep an elite player in this team, on this team, in Catele-Marte.
Starting point is 00:41:59 And that was something, probably the best financial move that they could have made this offseason. I will say that time and time again. But they did add another arm to the bullpen. Maybe not to the major league roster yet. But after signing a minor league deal, it could be a guy that we see slotting in in this bullpen after spring or after, you know, again, camp. So we're going to talk about that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere.
Starting point is 00:42:22 You're watching the pH next time and back show. I got to get up on some new. hats, of course, before the baseball season comes around, and I'm going to do that through our friends of Brandon Bills. Brandon Bills has a wide variety of amazing hats. They make hats with Phoenix Sons. They had a special hat that was part of their golf night for the Arizona Diamondbacks back there, but I love quite a bit. Their hats are incredible. They are lightweight. They're stretchy. They're breathable. They're just great for Arizona summers. And of course, if you are a brand looking to make your brand stand apart from the crowd, look no further than branded Bills. You can contact them now,
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Starting point is 00:43:53 And you should do so now. You never know when a 40 cent off inner circle fuel day is going to hit. And you want to sign up now so you're prepared for it. Don't contact me and ask me for my phone number, rock knowledge. Make sure you sign up yourself. And that way, once you do, it's easy to download the app and get enrolled. All you have to do is use your own phone number and you can score circle K deals like 40 cents off gas yesterday. I paid $2.29.
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Starting point is 00:44:49 Terms and conditions do apply at participating locations. visit circle k.com for details. Well, that's not the only arm the Arizona Diamondbacks added this offseason, but much like Taylor Clark, this one's also not extremely exciting, isn't going to move the needle a lot, at least right now, but it could be a very valuable arm for the Diamondbacks coming up. Jonathan Loa Seiga, I think I said that right. Well, Jonathan Lois Seiga joins the Diamondbacks on a minor league deal
Starting point is 00:45:17 that includes an invitation to spring training. This is a man that has. his pitch for the Yankees for a number of years and was kind of a staple of their bullpen. He made his Major League debut in 2018. He was the Yankees' third longest serving player besides Aaron Judge and Giancarlo's Stanton. So overall, he has had some health issues, but when healthy, he has proved himself to be a steady late inning weapon. And again, he's just looking to recapture his former numbers, his former glory, I guess you could say, with the Diamondbacks here.
Starting point is 00:45:52 He did undergo a season-ending UCL surgery on his right elbow in April of 2024. He did return in mid-May during the Subway Series, and he tossed a scoreless inning in his return. Overall, though, he recorded a 4.25 ERA in 30 appearances. He averaged nearly 97 miles per hour on his sinker, according to baseball savant. And again, he also then experienced another injury. He experienced the back injury that limited his time last season,
Starting point is 00:46:21 as well as a season-ending flexor strain. Injuries overall limited him to just 50 appearances in 2023. And again, he was one of the Yankees' most trusted late-inning relievers. He broke out with his biggest season in 21, going 9 and 4 with a 2.17 ERA, and 69 punchouts over 70 and 2 thirds innings, including having some saved opportunities in that season. But overall, we have, I think we have his numbers here, Damon. Did I miss that?
Starting point is 00:46:51 We have his career statistics. Yeah, let's take a look at his career statistics overall. I mean, again, it shows consistency here for him, especially when healthy. 3.5 for ERA, 1.259 whip, a 3.86 fit, which is very good, and a career 4.2 baseball reference war in nearly 250 innings pitch. Pretty good career stats. Yeah. And again, career stats can be deceiving.
Starting point is 00:47:17 especially with pitchers overall. But when you take a look once again at a 4.25 ERA and 30 appearances, you find yourself maybe thinking that's not that great. And it's not. However, when you compare it to some of the Diamondbacks options in their bullpen,
Starting point is 00:47:32 you can see how there's a very good chance that coming into spring training, coming into camp with pitchers and catchers reporting, that it would be very easy for someone like him who has the experience in Major League Baseball that he has to make his way onto this roster. right the diamond backs protected the players that they needed to protect but that doesn't mean that they still don't have options on a lot of these guys on the 40 man roster so it'll be
Starting point is 00:47:56 interesting to see what moves are made overall in the case of you know adding Taylor Clark they dFAed Gus Farland there could be more DFA's involved there could be more you know again just it for the diamond backs it's about having bodies after what they experienced last year it's about having depth and that depth can't be all unproven prospects that haven't at a major league level or just a few guys that got a little bit of time in 2025. They need some real actual depth here. Now, that could come from those young prospects that perhaps get pushed down. But overall, you know, the Diamondbacks did bring back guys on minor leagues deals like Taylor
Starting point is 00:48:32 Rashi and, you know, a few other guys, maybe a guy that kind of might poke his head in here every once in a while. But we're not going to say his name. It's like Joe Hendry, when you say his name, he appears. but like Damon we we do have again a problem here when it comes to the bullpen and it goes beyond them not adding you know a big arm or more arms to this bullpen even if they do that it's still they still have a problem with depth and that's something that loisaga could help out with quite a bit yeah i mean he at least feels like you know especially when you look at these statistics and i know as you said like he took a step back last year he's been dealing with some injuries but he's been a decent pitcher i think the floor is is fairly high and maybe, you know, he's just a relief arm that chills in Reno for a little bit. And then if you have an injury, you bring this guy up. Or if guys don't perform, like that's the other thing is, is that there's a lot of,
Starting point is 00:49:27 I feel like the sense of urgency pivoted with this team last year. I even feel like the philosophy kind of changed a little bit. You know, the Diamondbacks have been very patient with players who were struggling in the past. they even did that at times last year but in the second half there was no time to let guys figure it out and we saw a lot of moves being made we saw the Diamondbacks use more pitchers
Starting point is 00:49:52 in save opportunities than they've ever have in franchise history so you feel like again this is more about addressing those needs and what happened last year and trying to ensure that at the very least they have some guys that have proven in the past that they can handle Major League work
Starting point is 00:50:09 and could potentially come in here and earn a shot, earn an opportunity to be part of the major league roster. And there's talk in overall about the Diamondbacks not spending, you know, overall, about the Diamondbacks not spending enough. I think Nick is being facetious here. He says, but, but why can't DeBACs just overpay for anything? That is something to be said. And it's something that I feel like more people view in baseball than, then really is let on, right?
Starting point is 00:50:37 What I said. There are teams like the raise and some of those organizations. that we often accuse of being guys that, you know, don't spend very much. And part of that is because the difference between you spending, you know, an absurd amount of money on a Kyle Tucker versus having a young outfielder come up could be very minimal in production. It's not to say that they're going to put up Kyle Tucker's numbers, but to save yourself $59 or $58 million,
Starting point is 00:51:04 it might just be worth it to let a kid hit $255 with 15 home runs instead of, you know, 266, right? And that's why baseball is so crazy. I still understand overpaying for pitchers. I will never understand paying a position player this kind of money, right? The Diamondbacks, as Damon alluded to earlier, can't afford to make that kind of mistake, and most major league baseball teams can't. If they do spend the money on that one player, then there's a good chance that if that
Starting point is 00:51:34 ends up being a bad decision like Anthony Rendon with the Angels, it could be crippling to an organization. Literally. Anthony Rendon ended the Otani and Trout built. Think about that. I know. Because he was the big third, he was the third heat to that addition.
Starting point is 00:51:51 They needed him to be good. And that man got his money and didn't give a damn about baseball. Yeah. So, Books wants to know is Sir Anthony Dominga is still available? Yes, he is.
Starting point is 00:52:01 Because Damon hasn't completely crashed out yet. We need him. You'll know when when Damon, like Damon's been on, drinking on the job today due to the Dodgers situation. but when Damon's just a shell of his former self, when he has no energy, when he has nothing left to give,
Starting point is 00:52:15 that's when you'll know Sir Anthony Dominguez was picked up by another team. Derek, we need as many triple-digit throwers as possible for reasons that I cannot state right now at this time. No further questions will be taken. Got it. I appreciate it. Well, I also appreciate our supporters club members.
Starting point is 00:52:33 Thank you guys for joining our supporters club. Nothing better than hearing about how much we're kicking all the other cities asses when it comes to supporters club and it's because of you guys you guys are wonderful you really show us love and we can't thank you enough if you ever drop one of those fun super chats of course you could probably sign up for the supporters club for about an equivalent amount you'll get that fun badge next to your name in the live chat and comments badges will update with time based on how long you've been a member and it's literally a badge of honor join now to become
Starting point is 00:53:03 of course one of our supporters and you can get in with all those fun emojis and everything else, also our exclusive content, which is available to our supporters club members. So join today, and we appreciate the people who support us and keep us going. 2025 was a very up and down year for us, very difficult year at times. But however, I will say that it was also a year that really made me appreciative of the support that we've received. So many of you guys hanging in with us makes us feel great. And right now, 2026 is poised to be an outstanding year for PHNX. We're still going to Mexico, Derek.
Starting point is 00:53:39 Yeah, we're going to Mexico. That's a way that we're celebrating the end of my Major League Baseball reporting career. But for me, I just, all I have is this year. It's like I've been diagnosed with a lockout death sentence, and I just need to try to figure out a way to enjoy the next 319 days as much as possible, Damon, before, you know, I'm back in the civilian world. Yeah. No, I get it.
Starting point is 00:54:03 I think you make a joke about Sir Anthony Dominguez being the thing. that's keeping me going and then you know ha ha we're all laughing it's so funny but i think the thing that is really keeping me going is going to mexico city i mean it's the only thing that we have at this point i just want to say what a good friend damon is instead of sending me kyle tucker tweets that he knew i saw he knows i knew what the a v was he knows i knew everything about it instead he sends me food videos for mexico city on restaurants that him and I could potentially visit while we're there. Three taco trucks, you have to try and Ciudad de Mexico.
Starting point is 00:54:44 And I'm thinking, Damon, I'm really thinking, the odds of us not coming back seem to be increasing. I'm just saying, what do any of us have to be here in Arizona for? We both have passports. Certainly not families.
Starting point is 00:55:01 Family. Right, Derek? She's 14 years old, David. She's almost damn near. an adult. Yeah. She doesn't need me anymore.
Starting point is 00:55:10 I've taught her everything I can teach her at this point. Fair. Speaking of teaching stuff, I think we have a little bit of time left. Before we get out of here, you want to run through and do another edition of, is Derek a baseball sabon? I would absolutely love to do that. Let's do that. I appreciate you, R.A.
Starting point is 00:55:27 That's a good way of making me feel better as well. We do have the wild cats. We do. Yeah, you guys have the wild cats. I don't have nothing anymore. I lost everything. I lost everything in this situation. Derek,
Starting point is 00:55:42 I'd love to play another edition of the baseball savant game. Yeah. I hope that you didn't see the names right there. No, I really didn't. Okay. My eyes are very bad and they're getting worse every single day. So there's no way I can read that print that far away on screen. But I'm excited to see what you got in your bag for me today.
Starting point is 00:55:58 Yeah, let's do it. We got three of them here. Let's start off with this one. We, who are you a baseball savant? Derek, who is this? What Diamondbacks player is this? Okay, so this is a Diamondbacks player. Top sprint speed.
Starting point is 00:56:15 Let me see. Alex above average is not bad, right? League around like league average, maybe a little bit better than league average. Fielding run value. Is this Alec Thomas? It is Alec Thomas. Yeah!
Starting point is 00:56:29 We started off with a win. We did start off with a win. Solid stuff from Derek there. All right. What else we got? This is our next. one here. Okay.
Starting point is 00:56:38 Oh, I like this. I like the arm strength on this. This is a diamond back with 63rd percentile arm strength and 70 range. 86 percentile speed sprint, fielding run values at 70. Everything else. Pretty cold. Let's see.
Starting point is 00:57:00 What is his expected batting average? 211. Is this Jorge Brosa? No. Oh, yeah, his defensive stats wouldn't be that good, right? No, his defensive stats were actually fantastic. Somehow he got like three outs above average in like 50 innings last year. I was thinking that.
Starting point is 00:57:20 Hmm, Tim Tawa. No, but we almost did Tim Tawa today. Okay. Let's see. I guess my last guess here would be Blaze Alexander. Yes. It is Blaze. It's Blaze Alexander.
Starting point is 00:57:33 See, I'm actually surprised by that. I would expect it is at XBA. to be higher than this and some of his hitting stats. But I guess he didn't qualify. So some of those are very light and hard to see. Barrel percentage, very good at 12.8. That's very high.
Starting point is 00:57:47 I mean, he, some of his, some of his hitting stats are solid. I mean, and his batting run value in general is at like 40 something. I mean, that's an MLB caliber player.
Starting point is 00:57:56 Yeah. I think, you know, that's a decent start for Blaze. And the defense looks good there, which is interesting. But let's hit, move on to our last one.
Starting point is 00:58:03 Let's get one more. Oh, I like this. Let's see. strikeout percentage very high or very low I should say 90th percentile with rate 76 percentile still expected batting average 256 I mean these aren't bad I like the squared up I like the sweet spot I like the strikeout percentage I'm going to guess this is new diamond back Nolan Aeronato no oh that would have been a good one to put in here though now that you say that yeah no no no I know
Starting point is 00:58:35 that he had some like down in a lot of statistical categories but I do know that his strikeout percentages were very good honestly Aaronados I looked at it the other day it kind of looks like this it kind of looks like blazes yeah we're like not the sprint speed obviously but like the range is high his arm is a little bit lower but a lot of the hitting stats looks very similar to that to be honest piece of Yoshi is asking is this paven no it's not it would never be paving Damon would never put pavin on here. I don't think we did paven in like the first iteration of this game. We might have done this one. All right.
Starting point is 00:59:07 This one's a little, hmm, is this Gabby? No. Okay, what? I'm giving up. I'm tapping out on this one. It is Lordus Gouriel Jr. Oh, I wasn't even thinking of Lordus and I should think of Lordus. We should all think of Lordis more. Book's journey was on it. He said Lordis
Starting point is 00:59:24 right there at the bell, but. Yeah, it was a buzzer-beater, books journey. Yep, streakiness there definitely is there. You're right. And overall, yeah, again, Lourdes always finds a way to put up some substantially good numbers, even though it's hard to think of it overall. Well, I guess I'm kind of a baseball savant, but we appreciate you guys. You got the first one, and that's all anyone will ever remember. That's all anyone wants. But we thank you guys for stopping by and listening to us just kind of, what, complain?
Starting point is 00:59:54 Cry. Cry, whatever Dodgers fans want to say that we're doing. Yeah, say whatever you want. Yeah. Literally, I am crying. because I'm upset because my team is a good team with a good, you know, backbone of a roster, Derek. And we go into every season knowing, not thinking, knowing that we have a zero percent chance of our own division, knowing it. So, yeah, the sport's broken when year in and year out, the team that is dominating a division versus competitive squats, podras, competitive, debacks, competitive, giants, competitive.
Starting point is 01:00:30 Giants, competitive, and it just doesn't matter what those teams do. The Dodgers are going to win the division every single year. Your only avenue to making the postseason is a wildcard appearance. Year in and year out. It's a joke. You know me, Damon. I try to take the high road on this show, and I try to take the high road in general in life. However, I'm also a petty bitch, and I will happily say right now,
Starting point is 01:00:54 I hope all of the bad things in the world happen to the Dodgers and nobody but the Dodgers. I love it. That's what we all need. That's what we'll say major league baseball. Give them the catastrophic amount of bad things happening. I'm not even going to say the I word. I'm just going to say, I hope all the bad things in the world happen to them. We got a couple of super chats here. Appreciate you guys. Super chat from Cool bro. He wanted to know if Damon's turned heel and disappeared like the rock. Yeah, but that would involve Damon going to L.A. to make movies. And I don't think he's going to do that. So we're L.A.'s out of the question. What's the dog cooking? Yeah, what is the dog cooking?
Starting point is 01:01:30 Can you smell what Damon's cooking? We got a super chat from Christian Al Aguilera who says Bucky's in Goodyear needs to ban Dodgers fans. I love that idea. I love that idea. I'm fully on board. So we'll see. But they'll probably sell Dodgers gear. We know how that stuff works.
Starting point is 01:01:46 Probably go out of business in the West Valley. Well, we appreciate you guys so much for stopping by. We thank you guys for your time. We will be back on Monday, hopefully, with the 12 p.m. show unless something crazy happens this weekend and I have to disrupt the little rest I'm going to get before the beginning of the regular season this weekend with an emergency podcast. But if in case it does, make sure to subscribe to our channel, make sure turn on notifications that way you don't miss anything going on.
Starting point is 01:02:12 And make sure specifically to subscribe to our audio feed on wherever you get your podcast. Damon and I are going to be screaming more about Kyle Tucker and we're probably going to replace the T with an F in this episode a little bit. Do not miss out on that. Make sure to subscribe on your audio podcast feeds wherever you get those. Of course, most importantly, you can follow us on social media. I am at cap underscore K-man with a K. Damon is at Damon Dog with a D-A-W-G.
Starting point is 01:02:40 And we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Our show is at P-H-N-X underscore D-Backs, but as always all roads lead to at P-N-X underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We love you guys. We thank you for your time. We appreciate you stopping by. We will see you on Monday.
Starting point is 01:02:54 Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Behave yourselves, Jason, and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun before the Dodgers broke it permanently and ruined the sport.

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