PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Eugenio Suárez trade was early Black Friday steal for Mike Hazen and the Diamondbacks

Episode Date: November 24, 2023

We hope your holiday shopping is going as well as Mike Hazen’s shopping has gone for the Arizona Diamondbacks. We discuss Hazen snagging one of the best Black Friday deals around in the Eugenio Suarez trade and some more potential bargains for the Snakes on the free agent market. We also discuss the generosity shown by the D-backs in distributing the shares of the postseason player pool revenue.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Get 10% off your first order of Hero Bread at https://www.hero.co/ by using code PHNXSchedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See EmpireToday.com/PHNX for details.Sign up for Gila River Resorts & Casinos $1,000,000 Big Red’s Showdown! Stay in the game and get rewards; it’s that easy! https://www.gilamilliondollarshowdown.com/Go to https://saturdayneon.com and use code PHNX for 10% off your order today. Free shipping for orders over $200!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Pins & Aces: Check out https://pinsandaces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping.Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: Score 25% off a bag of your favorite OGeez! Fruits or Creams. Go to https://zenleafdispensaries.com, add a bag of OGeez! to your cart, enter promo code “PHNX” and pickup at a local Zen Leaf Dispensary. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. WYNK Seltzer + THC: Go to https://drinkwynk.com/ and use promo code “PHNX” for 50% off. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome, hello and welcome into the PHNXD Back show presented by OGs. Flavor your Fridays by heading to Zenleaf dispensaries.com and use code PHNX at checkout. Of course, I am your mayor of Black Friday, occasionally known as Derek Montea. I am joined, of course, by the one and only wholesome, wholesome vice mayor himself, the one and only thunderstick Jesse Friedman. Jesse, how was your Thanksgiving yesterday? It was fantastic. and I've I have round two coming this afternoon. I know, I'm so jealous of that.

For the show. So I feel great. I don't think I've ever had this experience before of having like two completely separate Thanksgiving celebrations. But it's, it's pretty great. I'm not, I'm not going to lie. I ate a whole lot yesterday and I'm going to eat a whole lot again today.

So it's a, it's a good day. I have to apologize to my mother-in-law because yesterday I be smirched her good name. when I asked my wife what her mother would be making as sides for Thanksgiving. And she told me potatoes and corn. And as most of you can understand, I was beside myself with anger and just furious. I was just filled with rage on a day that I should not be angry because I was thinking on a holy day of side dishes such as this, that we were only going to be having two sides at dinner. And it was just unacceptable to be, unacceptable to me. It turns out that that was not at all the case. We had plenty of sides. And I very much blame my wife for underselling the amount of sides there. But she also did like a dump dinner where we had no plates. And she just had a disposable like tablecloth for us to all eat on. And then pick the tablecloth up and throw it away. There was also other safety things. There was like, you know, aluminum foil.

down for the ribs that we ate because we didn't have a turkey and other things, but it was delightful. It was an absolutely incredible dinner. I did feel a bit like a bit of a caveman. And as you know, I like that by eating just with my hands on a plate, like an animal. It was pretty, it was pretty great. So shout out, shout out to Zoanne for cooking an excellent Thanksgiving dinner. And I got to spend some wonderful time with my family, got to see my brother and his family as well. So it was a great night overall, but might not be as great of a night as Mike Hazen had when he completed that trade to bring third baseman, uh, A. Hueneos Sores. I'm not even going to get into that whole, we're not going to do that debate thing again, uh, but we're, uh, bring in a third baseman

that can check off one of the biggest offseason needs that this team had and, uh, got him at quite the deal. Talking about Black Friday deals, Hayeson got himself a Black Friday deal for sure. Yeah, I still am looking back at this trade trying to figure out how it made sense for the Seattle Mariners. And to put it, to put it kindly, I don't think Mariners Twitter was, was hugely on board with the trade that Jerry DeFoto made. There was some that said, I think that they were actively just going to leave that fan base and come join us here, which I appreciate that. I mean, I don't think that that's the situation in Seattle. but yeah, Seattle definitely did doing some things. We kind of hypothesize that maybe they're making preparations for further free agency moves,

but who really knows? Yeah, I mean, if you're going to get Jamer Candelario after this move, then sure, you know, it makes sense. I still sort of feel like just from a value standpoint that that I at least would have thought that Ehoyonio Suarez on the trade market had more value than, you know, Seby Zavala and Carlos Vargas and what very much at least looks like a salary dump for the Seattle Mariners. I know Nick Coro in his story on this trade did say that according to one of his sources, the Mariners had been told to cut salary. So this does sort of look like a like a salary

dump for the Mariners. But even in salary dump, like you still should be getting like fair value for your players. And to me, I still wonder if the Mariners could have gotten a little bit more in this deal when all was said and done. I mean, you know, maybe they've got some plans in the works for Carlos Vargas and they're excited about him and, you know, they've certainly had a lot of success developing those kinds of young pitchers. But yeah, I mean, looking back at this deal, it is still surprising that the cost to check this big third base box for the Diamondbacks, one of their biggest needs

going to the offseason, cost them two players that, frankly, might not have even made the opening day roster. And you also have the fact that his salary, this year, basically $11 million, and then he has a club option next year for $15 million. That still might be a deal compared to what the Diamondbacks would have had to pay another third baseman. And so if it does work out this year, then that $15 million option might be a no-brainer at the end of this season.

We don't really know where they'll be or what kind of season swore as we'll have. But we do know that Mariners fans are not happy about it. In fact, we do have some tweets here. I think that illustrate the fan basis feelings about this trade a bit, Jesse. Would you say? Sam here says, nothing against these guys. I wish them success, but what the fuck is this trade? Very well, very well said.

Eddie here says trading away one of the most beloved players in Seattle for a pitcher with an ERA over 5.70 and a catcher with a minus.3 war, a 171 batting average, and a 545 OPS is wild. We love Gino here. This better be something huge. If it's just to eliminate $11 million in payroll, then F this. Well said there. Eddie.

Bougar Beard, of course, great name there. Bugger Bitter says, I'm not sure I like being a minor league feeder team for the Diamondbacks. And that feels good. That reaction right there. That feels good because we've never really been on this end of that kind of reaction. Am I right? Like we've never been on necessarily the receiving end where it feels like all the trades with another organization. are all going our way, but that is what it feels like with the Mariners, because we also got,

you know, Paul Seawald last year, and Seawald ended up being, you know, you could say whatever you want about Josh Rojas and, you know, obviously Dom, but I'm not taking anything away from them, but Seawald was just a huge need here. And for the Diamondbacks to be able to trade those two players to get a closer that ended up helping the Diamondbacks do what they did in 2023, seemed like a like a fleecing then and and this deal seems a bit like a fleecing now. Yeah, it is still just a little bit puzzling how how exactly this made sense for the Mariners. And I mean, you go back to the last few trades that these teams have made with each other. Jerry Depoto just clearly operates by maybe a different set of rules.

I don't know if that's the right way to say it. But like on paper, the Mariners didn't have a. ton of depth at third base. And on paper, like the Mariners did have a lot of depth in their bullpen when they made the Paul Seawald trade. But it's pretty weird to trade your closer when you're in the middle of a postseason race. And obviously a lot of people, Mariners fans, even Mariners players, didn't take too kindly to that either.

So that was the biggest question for me going into the offseason and kind of wondering whether a Eugenio Suarez could be fit. certainly makes a lot of sense from the debaq's perspective. But looking at the Mariners roster, it just didn't make sense to me on paper. I think, I know they acquired Luis Erias a few days ago as well. So I guess he slots in theoretically as the Mariners third baseman now. But it just doesn't, it doesn't really make sense, right? I mean, like we said earlier, if you're going out, you have a backup plan.

You have, you know, a Jammer Candelario deal just waiting to happen. Then this makes sense. and maybe that is still the ultimate outcome here. But you can kind of understand why Mariners fans are not too happy with some of the deals that the Diamondbacks and Mariners have made here over the last few months. There's also not too many comparable third basemen that are making what Suarez is making. It's kind of weird. He's kind of just there in the middle.

And he does seem to be one of the better third baseman making the amount of money he's making. It seems like there's quite the separation between him and the, the devors out there and some of the other players that are making the high end as far as third baseman go. And then there's quite a drop off, you know, a bit after after him. So it's like I don't know as far as taking on this salary, how, you know, how good it is for, you know, third basement or for Suarez's value. But it feels like it's a small price to pay for the Diamondbacks to potentially bring somebody in here for maybe two seasons that can solve a big problem that they've had over there. He's durable. He played all 162 games.

We talked about that a bit the other day. But it's just it's hard to, it's hard to not stress that one factor enough here. When it comes to a positional need the Diamondbacks had that they just absolutely had a rotating carousel over there of guys. Not only could Evan Longoria not really stay healthy the full season, but he wouldn't have played the majority of the season anyway, the way that Tori kind of manages.

This just gives Tori that guy that is going to play, probably 150 games, you know, but definitely not 162 under Tori's watch. But still, like, that's going to be just a huge. It's just going to solve a huge problem for him in the starting lineup over there. It seems like what makes this harder for Mariners fans on their side of things is that Paul Seewald was very well liked and that Gino Suarez was also very well liked. And I mean, you know, Mike Hazen has been through this as well. He knows he's the guy who traded away Paul Goldsmith.

these are the kinds of moves that fans do not take kindly to, even if they do make sense for your organization. But yeah, you can understand from the Mariners perspective here, why trading Paul Seawall is still, you know, I mean, they got some valuable pieces there. We'll see what Ryan Bliss turns into. You mentioned Dom Kanzone and Josh Rojas. Rojas was certainly better for them down the stretch. But, yeah, I mean, if you're a Mariners fan right now, it's a tough time.

you know jerry depoto made some some interesting comments about trying to win 54% of of uh of their games and how that was sort of the goal and you know if you do that year after year then you're going to be a consistent contender which which is true but also just not the kind of things that you want to hear uh you know from your general manager and with this trade another another trade that as of right now just doesn't really make a whole lot of sense if you're a Mariners fan And so, yeah, it'll be interesting to see how, you know, if they have another move in store here at third base or if this is really just them deciding that E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. Heneo Suarez is too expensive for them or, you know, maybe they project some regression there. He certainly is getting a little bit older. But from the Diamondbacks perspective, like we talked about the other day, I mean, you just, you can't really do better than this from a value perspective.

And that's what I wrote in my story at go ph and x.com that this, really looks like the optimal solution for the diamondbacks of third base. Granted, we still have to play the games. There is a non-zero chance that Suarez gets hurt or struggles or, you know, these are things that are going to happen. We have to, we have to be real that at least those things are possible. And that's why we're still going to have to play the games. But on paper, I don't see how the diamondbacks could have solved their third base problem

with any, any better, you know, more reasonably valued solution than, than this trade they made with the Mariners. And Black Friday deals, Jesse, are not easy to come by. They're not very good this year. The third base market. Is that your sense of, oh, you mean it in baseball? We're talking about it. Well, in baseball, and on Amazon, I mean, everywhere, Jesse.

These deals are not as good as they've been in the past. In fact, I've been a bit frustrated myself with a lot of it, but the Diamondbacks definitely got a good one. I can understand the Mariners, you know, fans' frustration here because they are a young team they are building to something they are very close uh at least they feel like right and and you know that's that's frustrating when you see key players like like gino leaving not only guys that you love and that are a key locker room guy but you know guys that were a big part of the success of that team so uh i don't i i i feel bad for him uh but i do not also apologize at all

for the actions of our general manager because you got to get a deal somewhere You got to get good Black Friday deals. Like I said, I have struggled myself. I had to be very creative on some of these. But it doesn't mean that I didn't get the job done, Jesse. You and I have very different strategies when it comes to shopping for the holiday season. See, I'm already well on my way here when it comes to being done to shopping. There's even toys.

Those are just empty boxes from the garage, aren't they? No, I'm not that good at Pan. of miming this kind of stuff jessie i this one's not even this one does i even know what's in this one we'll find out later but yeah no for sure uh you and i different different strategies on this time of the year can we all agree that like 20% off like doesn't qualify as a black friday deal like places always have 20% off i almost expect to get 20% off whenever i'm shopping basically anywhere other than like some kind of specialty place or something so yeah yeah Yeah, I will say, though, Derek, there are some good Black Friday deals over at the PHNX locker.

You're absolutely right about that. You're absolutely right about that. But you were right about the other stuff, too. Yeah, like those deals are not easy to come by. And then, you know, all these places have specifically, like, I literally got a text message that said 70% off, up to 70% off when I clicked on it and went to the website. The banner said up to 60% off. I was like, can we not get on the same page as? text message ad versus like what's on the email website or on the website but let guys go to phnx locker

dot com like jesse said it is black friday and we got some great black friday deals uh how about 99 cents for a shirt yeah yeah i'm not they're not all 99 cents they're not all 99 cents but there are some 99 cents on there are a number that are on sale for more than 20% off and there are some that are just like bonkers basically free So yeah, you should probably probably do that. Do some shopping. Look at all of these incredible brand new shirts that I actually put my order in too early this morning, Jesse. And I missed out on this whole thing.

Very, very sad because this anti-hero basketball club shirt is incredible. This Sun Devil's shirt, incredible. That U of A shirt, it's also there. And then check out this Arizona versus everybody. The crew neck sweatshirt. Oh my God. It's wild. It's wild. So make sure to check out all of this stuff over at the PHNXLocker.com. It is that time of the year. Get down on it.

Immediately get gifts for yourself. Get gifts for your loved ones. It's a great time to do that. It's also a great time to get yourself that diehard membership if you haven't signed up for it yet. So grab a diehard membership today over at go phnx.com. Get Jesse's newsletter. Get discounts all year long. Get discounts with our partners.

Access to our members-only Discord lounge, which is basically like a Thanksgiving dinner full of family members talking all the time and so much more today over here and join us become part of the family. Of course, Jesse, we also have baseball, basketball, hockey. Everything's right around the corner. We have so many sports. A great way to go see those sports is with game time. Game time is the place for last minute ticket deal.

So if you want to go see that son's game and you just now realize that it's happening and you want to go, go to game time, snag the time. tickets without the stress. Game time, you can download the game time app, create an account, use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code PHNX for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Get down on those. Of course, I am done with my Christmas shopping. That's something that I came onto the show to proudly declare and rub in Jesse's face. Are you actually done? I'm done, Jesse. I'm done. I don't know.

Like, that doesn't mean. It's absolutely the truth. I even thought, I, oh, am I done for everybody? Did I think of my friends, Jesse? Yes, the guys I drink beers with? Yes. Did I think about our white elephant party? Yes.

My parents? Yes. My wife, my child, all of that. Yes, all of those people are thought of. And that is a wonderful feeling. But if you're not as efficient as me, you can get yourself some Arizona lottery holiday scratchers. And those are probably just as good.

or maybe if not even better than some of the gifts I purchased. And I also could be a whole lot better. Could be a whole lot better. And I will be purchasing some of those. So yes, you're right. Maybe I'm not done because I still have some scratchers to purchase. But holiday scratchers do make last minute shopping easy. And they make a perfect gift.

There's a scratcher's for everyone on your list. And they start at just $1 and could win someone up to a half a million dollars. And should that happen, like I said, make sure to get your cut. Don't not get your cut. You know, go right back with your hair. handout but go out and buy your holiday scratchers today uh ari great great gift uh this time of the year jesse of course another great gift for the arizona diamondbacks would be for them to fulfill another item on their holiday wish list and maybe bring in one of these starting pitchers

uh that we've kind of been looking at but uh we talked about it black friday deals they're not easy to find in free agency those deals aren't easy to find when it comes to starting pitching either but we might have a couple ideas. We might have a couple of guys that might be substantially cheaper than the options we've looked at so far and could maybe cost quite a bit less to the diamondbacks and allow them to spend their money again, still have some other positional needs to fill.

I want to make it clear that these guys that we're going to talk about are not like ideal best case scenario type of signings for the diamondbacks in my mind. but it is a little bit unclear exactly how much they're planning to spend this offseason. You know, we floated around some different numbers that Mike Hazen was very emphatic that the Diamondbacks still have what they need to go out and get a starting pitcher, whether it be via free agency or via trade. But, you know, do they have the Blake Snell money?

Do they have, you know, the Jordan Montgomery money? That we don't, we don't really have a great sense of. There is at least some chance it appears that the Diamondbacks are going to have to, you know, shop a little bit more from the bargain bin when it comes to their starting. That's fair. When all is said and done. And they might not be just looking at one starting pitcher, right? So this might be an opportunity for them to pick up a second starting pitcher to add to their rotation, you know.

And like you said, maybe they do spend a bit more on that guy that slots in and maybe at the third position in the rotation. but maybe this could be a number five potential starter. Maybe Mike Hazen is getting us both the new Apple Watch and the AirPods Pro. Maybe it's not one or the other. Maybe it's both. Who knows? But let's take a look at some of these guys because I think, again, they could be diamonds in the rough,

especially when you talk about pairing some of these guys with Brent Strom and what he could do as far as coaching them. So the first guy is Kent and Maeda. We can look at his stats for the 2023 season, and a hundred and a third innings, a 423 ERA, a 117 whip, a strikeout rate of 27.3%, which is quite good, and a walk rate of 6.5%, also quite good. He had a fit of 4.02. The reason is ERA is not fantastic is because he did have a bit of a home run problem. I believe it was 17 homers and 104 and a third innings.

But in terms of the swing and miss, in terms of commanding the baseball and not putting guys on base. He was really excellent in those regards. I think there's really three starting pitchers that I could put into this category. We're going to focus on Maeda, but I will also mention Seth Lugo, pitch for the San Diego Padres this last year, transitioned into a starting pitching role, had some success, had a, you know, a mid-3 ERA over there. And another guy, the other guy that I have in mind is also a, or was also a San Diego Padre this last year in Michael Waka. if you compare some of the underlying numbers in all three of these guys, I think all three would be reasonable, you know,

bargains sorts of targets for the debacks. But Kenta Maeda, his peripherals are just kind of in a different place. That 27.3% strikeout rate, Derek, that is higher than both Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly in 2020. Ken Tamayeta struck out a higher percentage of opposing hitters than either of the two Diamondbacks best starting pitchers in 2020. is 6.5% walk rate also very good. That was a little higher than Zach Gallens, but it was about a full percentage point lower than Merrill Kelly's walk rate from this past season.

So if you're looking for a guy who, you know, I think there's some evidence, Seth Lugo and Michael Walker. I'm not, I'm not quite sure they're, you know, 3-3-ERA, 3-5-E-R-A types of guys. Kenta Maeda, he might actually be better than the 4-2-3-ERA that he posted last season. And if you look at some other numbers, one of the things I was looking at in particular was how well do these pitchers fare the third time through a lineup? That's obviously a pretty big variable, especially if you, you know, if you're thinking about potential postseason games, Kenta Maeda actually fared quite well the third time through.

Whereas Seth Lugo, I think it was, you know, something like an 835 OPS or something like that the third time through. The podaries didn't have a very long leash with him. and the twins didn't have a hugely long leash with Maeda either. He did have a lot of five-inning outings, but I think there's at least maybe more potential for him to log, you know, those six-inning, seven-inning games over the course of the season than, you know,

what we saw from Lugo and possibly walked as well last year. And again, this could be, like I said, an option for maybe the fifth spot in the rotation. And to be honest, that doesn't seem terrible at all compared to what the- Yeah, Ket is your number. Ketamai is your number. Kenta Maida is your number five starter, then, yeah, I think you're, think you're probably in a pretty good spot.

There are some pretty big durability questions, like some really big durability questions. Kenta Maeda hasn't done more than 110 innings in a season since 2019. He had Tommy John surgery in late 2021. He had like an altered version of the procedure to try to get back in time for the end of the 2022 season. That didn't happen. So he wound up missing the 2022 season entirely. And then he made a few starts this past season and then went down with a right triceps injury. They kept him out for a while.

But when he came back, he was good. And I believe he pitched from mid-June, I want to say, through the end of the season. He didn't have any more hiccups the rest of the way. He did pitch a little bit in the playoffs for the Minnesota Twins as well. They used him out of the bullpen. So, yeah, you know, is it an ideal number three starter for the debacks? absolutely not. Like the debacks, as we've talked about before, they should, if they can, they should try to trade for Corbyn Burns. They should try to sign Sunny Gray. There are clearly

better options out there. But if they are in a situation where they don't have the ability to go get those guys, whether because of not wanting to trade what would be needed or not wanting to fork over, you know, potentially nine figures to a free agent, then we have to at least consider what some of the alternatives would look like and Kenta myda, I think is one of the better ones. Well, and Jesse, if it's, if it's health concerns, you know, there's something about Arizona, right, which is we've called it baseball nirvana. It's also medical nirvana here. We have all sorts of ways to treat ailments here just in case that's kind of the thing, right? I mean, we do, we do. We have a lot of top-notch medical facilities. We also have like the vortex in Sedona.

Should you like be looking for, you know, that kind of spiritual like treatment? Whatever you need. We got you covered here in this wonderful state. So maybe that works out. But no, I do agree that he's definitely not an ideal situation. If what we're talking about here is that third part, a third man in the starting rotation. But it still could be an upgrade. But there are still a lot of options out there.

And some of those options could even be less expensive than Maeda and could be just as good. just depending on where you're looking to. Again, we talked about a few Japanese pitchers, and we also talked about maybe bringing them all over together, Jesse, and just having them all be here so that that way they're, if they're looking for that familiarity of teammates, we can help them out by just bringing over people that they know from Japan. But one of those options could be a left-handed pitcher in Yuki Matsui from Japan.

Yeah, Matsui is a reliever, not one of the, the, you know, super well-known guys that is expected to come over from Japan. This off-season, obviously, Yamamoto is getting the vast majority of the attention there. We talked about Shoda Imanaga, also being an interesting option the other day. But, yeah, Matsui is a reliever who look at his numbers for the 2020-3 season over in the NPB, 57 to third innings, an ERA of 1.57, a whip of 0.89. strikeout rate up over 32% walk rate around 6%. He had 39 saves in 2023,

and he has 236 career saves over in the NPB, despite being just 28 years old. If you sort of extrapolate his current numbers forward for sort of like a reasonably long career, he would lead all of the NPB, he would set the all-time record for saves. eventually. That's like the track that he's on. So he's been a really, really effective closer in the NPB for a good while. And one of the things that the diamondbacks could use that we

haven't talked a whole lot about is a left-handed reliever. In the playoffs, it was kind of a revolving door. There wasn't a lot of certainty there. You know, Joe Mantipi, you know, through some meetings, Andrew. Saul Frank was kind of the main high leverage guy at the beginning of the postseason and sort of fell out of that role after a few games. So yeah, it's a need that I think the Diamondbacks have. There's not a ton of lefty relievers available. If you're not getting Josh Hader or Raldus Chapman, then the options are pretty thin.

That is something the Diamondbacks decide they want to pursue. I think Matt Suey could make some sense. And yeah, I don't think it'll cost a whole lot to get him either. And I think that's the key is, is we don't know if, you know, a guy that is 5-8-167 pounds is going to be very durable. And obviously that size could be a concern when it comes to Major League Baseball. But there's also the fact that, you know, there might be a low risk there in a contract. And the yield could be the Diamondbacks finding a guy that really helps them potentially have one of the best bullpens in baseball, which sounds just crazy.

Like that's not possible. There's no way that that's something that the Diamondbacks could have next year. But, you know, again, if they perform like the way they did for portions of, you know, down the stretch when they came together and especially at times in, you know, the postseason run, this bullpen could be very good with a few additions. Yeah, it could. And to me, kind of the main thing that they, that they don't have right now is someone who can really get left-handed hitters out, you know, at the end of games.

Like, you know, who's facing Harper or who's facing. and Schwarver. These are the questions that that we dealt with a lot in the Diamondbacks postseason run. Who's going to get those key outs against left-handed hitters? Corey Seeger, of course, being a big one in the World Series. And the debacks just didn't have a great option, frankly. Andrew Saul-Frank really struggled to throw strikes. Joe Mani is good at throwing strikes, but he doesn't necessarily have the swing and miss stuff that you would want in a high-leverage lefty reliever.

So, yeah, I think a big question here is, you know, is Matt, Sui willing to come over to the majors and not be a closer because that is the role that he's occupied, basically his entire career over in Japan. I don't think the Diamondbacks would be interested in having him be their closer because they already have Paul Seawald. But, you know, if he is willing to take on, you know, more of that seventh, eighth inning role, then I think it could make sense. And if you, if you compare his numbers with Scott McGuff, another reliever that the debacks brought over from Japan, Matt Sui's numbers are, are. Matzui's numbers are better is what I'm saying.

He wasn't good in Japan in the same way that McGuff was. He was a step above that. His strikeout rate was higher. His ERA was quite a bit lower. So his whip was lower as well. So, you know, I don't think Matt Suey's the kind of guy who's great in Japan and comes over and has a four and a half ERA. I don't know if he's going to have a two and a half ERA,

but I think he could be a solid lefty reliever who would, you know, maybe be an upgrade over what the Dbacks have right now. Again, we're just looking for ways to save, even if it's a little bit. Like you said, 20% sometimes on Black Friday, it's not really cutting it, but sometimes it's all you can get, Jesse. Sometimes it's all you can get, all right? Yeah. And that's the thing here is the Diamondbacks do want to spend money, but they want to try

to stretch the dollar as much as possible. And there could be some options that really help this team improve while not really breaking the bank, allowing them to put some of those resources more towards starting pitching. Like I said, maybe being able to go out and get kind of two guys instead of just one, you know, maybe putting more of that money towards that guy that slots in at three, but still being able to get like a guy like Kent Maeda. You know, we've already talked about some guys possibly not being super expensive, like Sunny Gray, potentially Jorge Saler there for the DH option now that the Diamondbacks, you know, kind of are filling some of their

positional needs. Eric Fetty is another guy that could potentially be a cheap option for the Diamond back. So Scott Boris is most highly sought after client, Eric Fet. Don't even start with me. Don't even start with me. That guy is going to be, he's going to be the best in baseball, according to Scott Boris. But of course, I'm still going to continue to brag about my holiday shopping being done. But if your holiday shopping hasn't even started yet and you're getting stressed out about it, a great way to get through that is with our friends at OG's brands. Also, if you're buying for those that are over 21, maybe a great. great stocking stuffer is some of OG's brands, wonderful edibles.

Thankfully, our buzz at OGs brands are back at it with exclusive sales and deals right now for PHNX listeners. They made it super easy for you to score these savings to get 25% off at any OGs product at your neighborhood Zenleaf location. All you got to do is go to Zenleaf dispensaries.com. Find your closest location. Order your favorite OGs gummies for pickup and enter discount code PHNX. you will get 25% off at checkout. This deal is exclusive to PHNX listeners. And reminder, it's available only for online pickup order.

So make sure to order online and choose the in-store pickup option. Discount code. PHNX is active until November 30th. And if anybody in your life is a marijuana connoisseur, do not tell me that that person would not love to get a pack of OGs in their stockings. So just throwing that out there for anyone that you might be shopping for again. for 21 and over only and enjoy responsibly. Of course, another fun way for you to spend your holiday season is to get down with all

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Check out the show notes for full details. And now listen to Shane. Talk about the disclaimer. The problem call 1-800 gambler, Colorado, D.C. Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming. Call 8778-Hope-Y or text Hope and Y, 467-369-369-9-1-Y or Texas. New York. Call 1-800 327-50-50-Massachusetts. 21-plus to wager. Please gamble responsibly. Call 1-800-ne-step, Arizona.

1-800-1-1-1-7-1-1-7 for confidential help, Michigan. 1-8-1-0-2-3, Puerto Rico, in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Visit at MGM.com for terms and conditions. U.S. promotional offers not available in D.C., New York or Ontario. Ontario. Where we go? Look, it even when we're not together. It was faster than you that time. I know, you really were. All right. So, shout out to Groundhog Mama, by the way.

She said, did my P. HNX locker shopping this morning and got me some Black Friday tires for my car. Black Friday tires? Brilliant, Karen. Brilliant. Now a podcast. Tires from the P.H.NX locker? No, those are two different things. Those are two different things, Jesse, and you knew it. But yes, that is an incredible way. See, again, you don't have to Black Friday shop just for other people.

You can be smart and use it to get things that you've been needing like tires and get that shit taken care of. But the PHNX locker part, that's really smart. I just kept adding shirt after shirt after shirt after shirt, after shirt, Jesse. It's it kind of got out of control after a while. I have one more, one more order to place actually later today. Yeah. I should have done everything in one order, but I place an order for myself this morning. And now I have to, you know, think about some other people in my life.

I'm thinking that too. I think I missed out on a couple of people maybe that I probably should have P H&X shirts for, but mostly I'm thinking out that I wanted the dad hat because obvious, for obvious reasons. And I did not place that as part of the order. I was so busy buying shirts for myself that I forgot to buy a hat for myself. I wanted to make it sound like I was buying shirts for other people, but really, we know. It was all just shirts for me. But that's because I'm not as generous and kind as the Arizona Diamondbacks are, Jesse. That's just a fact. Because we talked the other day about the player shares,

the revenue essentially generated from the Diamondbacks postseason run, that the Diamondbacks have the choice within their organization or the players do, actually. How to split that up. We discussed the 71 shares and the amount of money that would be distributed amongst those 71 shares. But this story, man, this is a big team move here by these guys that were part of the decision. Yeah, Ken Rosenthal wrote a story over at the Athletic about this. It's actually kind of mind-blowing yesterday.

I think it was yesterday evening when I went on the Athletics MLB page. Their two top stories were both about the Diamondbacks. One of them was the story from Ken Rosenthal about how they split up their postseason shares. And then there is another story, which is also very good from Evendrelic over the athletic about the relationship between Mike Hazen and Tori Lavello and how Tori Lavello tells Mike Hazen that he loves him, but Mike Hazen doesn't really say it back, which in the story, Mike has, and disputes that fact and says, I do, I do tell Tori that I love him. Just, just it like a,

it's like a 10 to one ratio between times. Like that he loves him, uh, two times that it, that it goes you know, you know, I get that ratio, Jesse. That's the perfect ratio because, uh, that is the ratio that my friend Neo tells me he loves me when he's drunk to me versus me being sober with him, right? Like so he'll be like, I love you. And I'm like, I love you too, bro. And he's like, man, I love you. And I'm like, yep, that's, I already gave you one.

You're not going to reciprocated every time. I gave him one, right? Like eventually it's got to stop. And Tori is Italian. So there's a good chance. It's never going to stop. There's a good chance it's never going to stop. It's just going to be constant flowing of emotions there when it comes to how much.

Tori appreciates his friend Mike Hazen, but yeah, I understand where Mike's coming from on that for sure. But there is a lot of love, though, flowing amongst the players with each other, members of the staff. And of course, obviously the other members of the organization that they are sharing this postseason revenue with. Yeah, this story doesn't, it doesn't go into super specifics about how the Diamondbacks distributed their shares, but it does give a little bit more information than what we knew and we talked about this. I think it was like last week at some point on the show. It does talk about how, you know, people who are, who are team chefs and clubbies and,

you know, that entire group, that those people, it appears, have, have been taken care of by the Diamondbacks, Evan Longoria, talked about how, you know, this is kind of a commitment that he wanted to make, that he wanted to make it clear to his teammates that, you know, it's really important to take care of really everyone inside of your organization, and it sounds like the Diamondbacks did just that. Evan Longoria was the guy who headed up the Diamondback shares meeting. It's something you do when you make the playoffs. You have a meeting before the playoffs start, which was interesting to me.

I didn't know that. You have this meeting before the playoffs start about how you're going to distribute these playoff shares. And I guess that's partially to make it so that the way that you distribute these shares is not at all dependent on who does what in the playoffs. I think the idea is just go in knowing how it's going to be distributed and, you know, whether certain guys kind of do their part or, you know, regardless of how much everyone's able to contribute, they're still all, you know, kind of getting the same thing, whatever was

agreed upon, but before the entire process started. It does make it interesting. This is something I hadn't really thought about. Since you're doing it that way where you don't know how these shares or you don't know how the outcome of any of the postseason games when when you're trying to make these decisions, it puts you in an interesting place with some of the players who've only played like a few games in the major league level during the season and and have an opportunity to contribute in the playoffs but you don't really know how much they're going to play but there's always a chance in the playoffs right that like jordan luller could come in and you know come up with some like pivotal game winning hit or something and so according to this story the diamondbacks gave full shares to bryce jarvis who i don't believe pitched at all in the postseason when when all was said and done. Fade Sikoni as well was also part of that list.

Jordan Lawler also received a full share. So yeah, just kind of interesting to know more about how this process works. And especially the fact that it happens before the playoffs, just kind of weird to have to like decide, decide what you're doing with all of the money that you win before you've actually won anything. I guess they were guaranteed to get at least a little slice of the pie once they made the playoffs.

But that slice of the pie grew considerably larger, you know, the deeper that the deeper that the, diamond bucks run away. Yeah. And I mean, again, when you talk about the decision, obviously, there was probably a discussion made. And I know a lot of these guys on this team are not very far away from being minor leaguers themselves, right?

So like, there's there's a big understanding about how substantial that that amount of money could be and wanting to share that with as many of your teammates, as many people within the organization as possible. But that's, you know, again, that's. That's something that connected team does. They're not selfish. They want to, you know, do everything they can't. Like, like, again, 300, over $300,000 for some of these people that received a full share.

Even, even some of the players and coaches is an incredible amount of money. Yeah. For some of the young players who like only spent a small portion of this season in the majors, like they're making minor, they're making a minor league salary for the vast majority of the year. they get a full share at around 300k. That probably is more money than they made the entire regular season. Yeah. Yeah.

So it's something that's great to see. And again, it's something especially, you know, for a team that ended up making it as far as they did, that, you know, it ended up being such a big windfall.

I wonder, like you said, if they made this decision after the fact, knowing how much money that they would basically have from the player pool for the team. Would it be different? Would they have maybe given out more shares? You know, like, because that's a lot of money.

Like maybe they were like, we capped it at what, 71, but man, we're $330,000. We could have stretched this a little bit further, maybe done $5.90 shares, you know. But again, it's, it's just you got to do things like this for each other. You got to do things like this for members of the organization. And you got to make this a franchise where people want to. come to. You know, sometimes the decisions people make is based on decisions like this, like a free agent decision potentially to come to the Diamondbacks might be on the fact that after hearing things like this and seeing how far this team went in the playoffs, seeing the way

Tori Lavello manages and the way he talks about his players, seeing the way that Mike Hazen maneuvers in free agency and tries to do everything you can to constantly make this team better. This is an organization that's becoming a desirable place for players to, be a part of. Yeah, 100%. I think the Diamondbacks overall right now, like pretty well-liked franchise, I think, from the outside. I know that, you know, things certainly aren't perfect. And, you know, there's some big questions about the stadium and, you know, how much money they're going to spend. It seems like we're always, we're always talking about that. But, you know, if you're out there as a free agent, I think, I think the Diamondbacks are probably a pretty appealing team to you, as long as,

you know, they can offer you what you're looking for, right? I mean, it's a team that went to the World Series last year. It's a team that has quite a bit of stability in the front office. And with Toro Lavello, both of those guys, of course, being extended. So, yeah, I mean, I don't know how much the way they distribute their playoff shares necessarily is like, I don't know if all the free agents are suddenly flocking to Arizona just because of this. But they have athletic subscriptions to, Jesse, just like you do. I'm just saying.

Sometimes, like, right, though, like sometimes the way that people. run an organization and and like there's lots of indicators of that there's lots of things you see that then make you say like yeah i i want to be a part of that organization like i'm kind of tired of the way the team i'm on kind of is embarrassing you know in their decisions they make or or whatever the case may be right so again there there was a time where you say this organization does have a good reputation you're right but i remember when we had an all-star game here where like political decisions for the state of Arizona reflected poorly on this team. And there was people, there was even players talking about that, like as if they would never

come play for Arizona based on these, you know, laws they heard that we were passing and things. So as much as we would like to think that money is the primary factor in most of these contract decisions. And don't get me wrong, it is. When teams are offering a similar amount of money, there's other factors that can play into a player's decision on which. team they want to go to. Right now, if I was a young player in Major League and I was making a decision to want to go somewhere, you know, for maybe a longer term contract, Arizona would be,

like you said, a very desirable place, a place that would have a good reputation that would want to go to, especially at the thought of playing alongside of guys like Corby and Carroll for a long time, playing alongside of Gabby Moreno, Alec Thomas and getting to play with Zach Allen. Like, there's there's a lot of things here that you know are enticing but when you just sprinkle in the top you know just that icing on the cake is the fact that they're also doing really cool things as an organization that are trying to you know be generous with each other and and improve the lives of the clubbies and and the chefs and the other guys that don't necessarily get that that big payday like players do that's yeah it's it's just that extra thing a

A quote here from Evan Longoria, it starts out this story from Ken. It really stood out to me. He said there are a lot of people who will be pretty surprised when they get checks in the mail. And so, yeah, we don't know exactly who's who in this, but. Yeah, that blows my, that blows my mind. Think about, Jesse, think about going outside to your mailbox and thinking you're just going to get a Christmas card from your aunt. And instead, what's in there is a freaking check from the diamond bag.

for $300,000. Get out of here. Get out of here. That's crazy. You could do some serious damage in the pH. You could. You would do some serious damage with your last minute shopping with that money.

You absolutely would do some damage. And that salad and go, could you imagine just pulling up in your sick rev four? Just with your new system you installed because you upgraded your system to something with Bluetooth, no more ox cord.

Like, oh man, get out of here. It's going to be awesome. But no, I really think that that's incredible for all of those people. And again, life-changing money, sincerely life-changing money for some of the people that are going to receive those checks in the mail that don't know they're coming. It's one thing for the young players, you know, who maybe didn't make a whole lot this year. But, you know, like Jordan Lawler got a pretty decent signing bonus. And, you know, he knows money's coming. Money is coming. He knows that, right?

Yeah, you know, I think those guys that, you know, they're going to do okay in their major league career. career. But yeah, you know, for for people who are not actually playing on the field, it's not, I mean, working in baseball is not necessarily a super lucrative field for, you know, a lot of the people that are required to make this game happen on a day to day basis. So, you know, for whoever those people are, it's, it's, you know, it's just a nice, warm, cozy thought to think about those people being taken care of, especially at this time of the year with, you know, Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up. as well. Absolutely. Well, with all these holidays coming around, Karen had a great idea. She went Black Friday shopping and she got herself new tires for her car. Not all gifts are always going to be PlayStation fives. They're not always going to be, you know, fancy jewelry and such. Sometimes you do something like get new flooring for your home during this time of the year. And you never know. Might be the present that really impresses your loved one more than you ever thought. A great start with That, of course, is with the Valley renowned flooring company Empire Today.

Of course, Empire Today keeps shopping for floors simple with a curated product selection. They also have that virtual floor designer. So if you're like me and you did all of your shopping from home today, Black Friday shopping, just digitally. I was up at 7 a.m. Just three computers up at the same time, clicking all over the place, getting all those deals. Why do you need three computers? Because Jesse, lightning deals happen. Sometimes stuff happened.

You think all of this stuff is in stock all morning long? That's crazy. That's crazy. On some of these websites, this stuff flies out of stock in no time, but not at Empire Today. Empire Today has everything that you're looking for, and they will not overwhelm you with thousands of choices and substitutes. And like I was getting to, they'll let you use their virtual floor designer online for you to see how the new floors will look in your home.

That way, you don't have to go into any kind of office and do any kind of planning with someone and looking at their stuff. It's easy. You just snap a picture and you can instantly see how the new floors will look in your home. They also pride themselves on their convenient shop at home service. So again, shop at home in your PJs, get all of that stuff done. And of course, if an issue does arise, you can just call Empire today. Empire today does service their own warranties.

And you won't have to track down a manufacturer's phone number. They will take care of it for you. Schedule a free in-home estimate today. All listeners can receive a $350 off discount when they use the the promo code, P HNX. Restrictions apply. See Empire Today.com slash PHNX for details. And again, another great gift idea, of course, for anybody in your life,

whether it's a stocking stuffer or just somebody that lives in the state of Arizona, get them some shady rays. They are sunglasses that are built to last. They are premium polarized shades from an independent sunglasses company that is just as good as the expensive sunglasses. They also offer the crazy, most, insane protection plan and all of iware we've talked about it a lot i am a i'm a user of this lost and broken replacement plan but they tell us that if you lose or break your pair even on day one

they will send you a brand new pair no questions asked and like i said i can verify after i hit my microphone that i in fact have uh utilized this service and they did not shame me the way that jesse friedman did so again much much nicer than my co-host and again much more thorough with returning things to me as well. He does not take, get back to me, like my charging cord. I still don't know where that is right now at this point. But anyway, you're still hung up on the

charging cord. I really am. I really am. I really am. I borrowed it for one night, Derek, because you told me I could. You didn't want to give it back, though. I reluctantly gave it back. I will acknowledge that, but I still, I did give it back. And I feel like that's all that matters in this situation. Yeah, that's fine. That's fine. But again, uh, they won't

reluctantly replace your shades. They will just send you a new pair with no questions asked. You can shop their entire location here in town at Kierland Commons or online at shady raise.com. They right now, of course, are currently in their biggest sale of the year for Black Friday. Don't miss out on the best deals for shade, snow goggles, and prescription sunglasses. Go to shady raise.com and try for yourself the shades rated five stars by over 250,000 people. all right well uh i got a lot of boxes to get through i have no idea what's in most of them to be honest i don't even remember what i ordered but uh is that you're shopping you just like you just go on amazon you just you just like i go on all sorts of websites and you just

stuff just shows up and you're like oh it's a it's no idea what you actually ordered it's a blind kind of rage jesse it's just like grabbing deals left and right putting them in sometimes i'm like who is that for i don't know i'll figure it out later it's just a good deal and then i keep it pushing right uh then what happens is i end up with all this stuff and i divide those into two piles the pile that i actually know who it's for and then who the extra gifts are for sometimes the extra gifts are for me sometimes it works out that way sometimes i need gifts for people and it all like somehow i kind of always break out even stephen wise but the problem is when you don't grab your your gifts on a sale like today, you're going to regret it.

You're going to think about it two weeks from now. You're going to wait like Jesse Friedman's going to wait until, you know, Christmas Eve and then go out and go shopping. It'd be like, darn it, I should have gone to PHNXLocker.com, gotten in on that sale. So do not be that person. Do not have regrets in life. Go get it done today.

Go to PHNXLocker.com right now. Got our biggest sale of the year going on. Grab all of that stuff. Of course, you could grab yourself a diehard membership if you haven't done Matt, grab a diehard membership for somebody who love as well. That's a great idea. So just make sure you take care of everybody. That's the thing.

That's the key of today's discussion. The moral of the story is that the Diamondbacks took care of everybody in their organization. And like Jesse said, they made that decision before they went on their run in the playoffs. So sometimes deciding to be generous can have positive outcome on your life. Maybe the baseball gods just happen to open up. the postseason run for them because they were like, look at these good boys. We got to make them go far.

You know, I don't want to diminish their role in this performance, but sometimes, sometimes you got to have a karma, you know, on your side. And as we all know, karma is the guy on the chiefs,

Jesse. Karma is the guy in the chiefs. So, but of course, we thank you guys for being here. We hope you have a wonderful weekend. We will be back on Monday with, of course,

another mailbag Monday episode at 1 p.m. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Of course, Damon is at Damon Dog. That's DAWG. We are Damon's dogs. Wolf, Wolf.

Mark. I don't feel like we're ever going to get on the same page as that. But of course, our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs and all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Again, we appreciate you guys. We appreciate your time. Happy shopping. And we hope you guys have a wonderful weekend.

Thank you again. Appreciate it. And remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you actually get a good deal on Black Friday.