PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Jordan Montgomery SHINES in 2nd Cactus League Start; Diamondbacks Make Roster Cuts

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

With Opening Day a little over a week away, the Diamondbacks still have some difficult decisions to make in regards to their starting rotation and their bullpen. But Jordan Montgomery made his case for a starter role with a scoreless outing against the Rockies on Wednesday. We have more on if he will be ready by Opening Day, how the bullpen will be impacted by the decision, and if Torey Lovullo will use a closer this season. We also discuss Drey Jameson and Jordan Lawlar being optioned to Triple-A Reno and our favorite new items at Chase Field in 2025. But most importantly our dog “T-Time” Ryan Thompson stops by to give his thoughts on the 2025 season, getting called up during the pandemic, his faith, the John Cena heel turn, and so much more! Join Derek, Ryan, and Kevin for the PHNX Diamondbacks Show LIVE! An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Branded Bills: Use code PHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order! Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnx Waymo: Download the Waymo One App and Ride Today! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/waymo-one/id1343524838; https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.waymo.carapp Carol Royse Team: To buy/sell your home, call Carol Royse at 480-776-5231 or visit carolroyseteam.com All Pro Shade Concepts: Call 623-204-1476 or visit https://allproshadeconcepts.com/ now to schedule your free estimate! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. #dbacks #diamondbacks #arizonadiamondbacks #mlb #zacgallen #corbincarroll #ketelmarte #mlbtheshow #mlbtraderumors #tradedeadline #traderumors #allstargame Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I am no longer accepting offers are Jordan Montgomery. Sorry, that window has closed. We're talking about Monty's second Cactus league start and how well it went. We're also talking about some heartbreaking roster cuts that occurred and why they occurred. Most importantly, though, my dog Ryan Thompson is stopping by to talk about all sorts of things, including the 2025 season, his thoughts on who should be the closer and so much more about this Diamondbacks team. Don't you go anywhere? We're starting in 30 seconds. And welcome in to another edition of the PHMX Debucks podcast right here on PHMX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHMX.

So happy to have you guys here with me today. It was a beautiful day for baseball out at Salt River Fields. And it was a beautiful day to see one Jordan Montgomery on the mound pitching for the Diamondbacks. We have more on his start. We also have more on the roster cuts that were made today that are a little bit devastating, especially to certain parties in this office and so much more. But the big, big, big thing is Ryan Thompson is stopping by my dog and your, I guess, submarine pitching reliever here from the Arizona Diamondbacks who we've all come to know and love will be stopping by to talk about so much. So we don't have a lot of time because Ryan gave us a ton of his.

Did want to talk, of course, about the Diamondbacks winning today, a quick game out there at Salt River Fields. I don't hate that. Diamondbacks end up beating the Rockies by a score of one to nothing. Lordus Gurriel scored the only run. today or at least got the only RBI. He was two for three today with that one RBI. So really good time to see Lourdes kind of back. But the big story, of course, was how was Jordan Montgomery going to fare

in just his second Cactus League start? Well, things did not start well, for one, Mr. Montgomery. But Gumby bounced back like he does. And he did a good job in this one of after walking his first batter and giving up a single, getting a double play, getting a strikeout that dotted the bottom edge of the strike zone. It was challenged with the ABS system. And of course, it was overturned.

He got that strikeout. Not a bad day out there for Jordan Montgomery. But before we get to that, I did want to let you guys know, of course, the best way to get home from Salt River Fields is using Waymo. Make sure to use Waymo wherever you go. They'll always get your home safely.

Big shout out. Of course, also I'm forgetting my guy on the ones and twos, Kevin Thomas, aka Large Intimate. good to see you today kev uh wish you could have been out there with me i was sitting on the grass for a little while and it was just the best it was the best day to be out there watching baseball just a beautiful day for it you know it's every day around this time of year i think is a beautiful day for baseball derrick i also wish i also wish i also wish i could have been out there no i'll tell you it's uh going to get hot fast uh i'll tell you this time of you hoodie hoodie season is over i don't

mean like next week i mean next week put away your hoodies because 96 is right around the corner and I hate it. But again, it was a beautiful day to be out there, especially watching Montgomery do what he did on the mound. He went two and two-thirds innings. He gave up three hits, no earn runs. He walked one and struck out two. As far as his pitches go, his velocity on his fastball still isn't really there. He's averaging about 90 miles per hour, which is down from what he was averaging last year, around 91. And that was down a lot from what he was averaging the year before, which was, I believe, 94.1 miles per hour on his fastball. So there's some big concern as far as the velocity drop on his fastball.

However, he hasn't had a lot of starts this spring, and I think he's still ramping up to be ready for opening day. And obviously he's not going to be in the discussion for opening day starter, but it did feel very much like he is solidifying. And today's start helped him do that, solidifying that spot in the rotation. We talked to Montgomery after the game. He talked a little bit about how he felt out there.

And he talked about what was working with for him, which is his sinker. He was getting some good velocity on that. Here's what Monty had to say. Oh, good. Got a lot of ground balls, do more strikes and pretty good. Jordan, are you where you want to be at this point?

I wouldn't say I am, but getting closer every time I go out there. What makes it, I mean, I know you started with the, Delph index finger injury, where are you now? You feel like in your progression? You just got to get built up and comfortable out there. Got a lot of soft contact today. Do you feel like you were locating and shaping pretty much the way you wanted to?

Sinkers was really good today. Do a couple good curve balls, plus the best curve ball. It's changed from a strike to a ball. But it's getting there through a good change up in that first inning strike out. But sync was really good. It's a little bit of a relief just getting this outing behind you after, you know, or anything I've been going on the last few weeks. Not really.

I've never lost confidence. I know I'm a good pitcher. Just part of it, sometimes spring training will speed up on you. You put some guys on base early. What was the biggest difference for you this time in working out of some of that trouble compared to the first out of? Just continue to throw strikes trying to get in better counts. I think it was 40 pitches today.

What's the realistic build look for you, like a week next outing, one after that where you think you could be? I haven't talked to Capia. Probably 50-60. It just took plenty of time for you to get ready, you think, for first turn through the rotation. Yeah, I mean, I got one more, one more go, and then you can go from there. Jordan Tori said today that roles haven't necessarily been solidified. Oh, yeah, there's there's a lot of things there that Jordan Montgomery doesn't seem concerned about in regards to his start today.

And obviously, he had himself a very good outing, but we've talked a lot about what's going to happen with this final spot in the starting rotation. And, you know, obviously that's something that he can't really control the final decision, ultimately, but what he can control is his outings. He did seem confident. He did seem like he was, you know, looking a bit more like his old self. And I mean, when I say old self, I say prior to, you know, some of the bad starts that he had last year and obviously his last Cactus League start.

What we've been hearing about, including what you'll hear here shortly from Ryan Thompson, is how good he has been pitching in his bullpen sessions. I believe Ryan calls it the best bullpen he's ever seen thrown by, Jordan Montgomery. So I think when there is a difference of opinion versus what we've seen in a very limited capacity in Cactus League games versus what Jordan is seeing versus what Tori is seeing versus what the team is seeing from Monty on, you know, on backfield games and bullpens and elsewhere, everything seems to be progressing in the direction that Jordan Montgomery is going to end up with that final spot in the starting rotation before opening day comes around. He said

he's going to be ready for it. And of course, there's still some decisions that need to be made. However, we did not get clarification today on any of those decisions. Tori had said he was going to provide us with the decision on his opening day starter, said he would tell the players yesterday on their day off and then would inform us today. That has been moved back to tomorrow. Tori did tell us that he would have a decision for us on the opening day starter. Not a lot of teams don't have their opening day.

starter out there. That's something that's interesting is when you look at the lineups for opening day, the, you know, the starting pitcher for both teams are filled in for most of the major league teams in baseball, right? The Diamondbacks are now like one of the last teams to essentially, you know, make that decision, right? I feel like, again, a big part of the reason for that is perhaps, in my opinion, speculating the decision is leaning towards Corbyn Burns. being the pitcher that they go with. I say this because I feel like if the decision was to go with Zach Gallen, there would be no ill will, no hurt feelings,

nothing on, you know, Corbyn Burns' side coming into this organization as a new pitcher that he wouldn't start on opening day. I don't feel like that would phase him in the slightest bit so you could make that decision easily. However, if you're going with Corbyn Burns, I feel like with Zach Gallen, you know, you want to handle it correctly. You want to handle it in the best way. either way it doesn't matter the diamond backs have two guys that are fully

qualified and fully capable of going on opening day and that's a very exciting thing what tory was asked about today though that was very interesting he was asked about if perhaps with the roster cuts that the diamondbacks made today if the the two pitchers who don't end up in the starting rotation could end up in the bullpen

and tory said that that's a possibility so from this perspective it could be a Jordan Montgomery and Ryan Nelson or Brandon fought and a Ryan Nelson ending up in the bullpen instead of either any any of the guys being sent down to AAA. So I think a bit of that has to do with obviously who they go with in the starting rotation. Should they go with Brandon fought, Jordan Montgomery isn't being sent down. And there's a good chance that maybe they even keep Ryan Nelson around. They do have an extra spot in the bullpen due to the roster cuts that they made. And those roster cuts today involved

one Jordan Lawler and one Dre Jameson being optioned to AAA Reno. And Kevin, I'm not a fan of these decisions. Like I knew that they were coming. I knew especially Jordan Lawler. I talked about it the other day when we made our comparison graphic that Jordan Lawler was the one that they valued more, but wanted to see get everyday reps. And that's what plays into this so much. The same thing with Dre Jameson.

We have video here from Tori. Let's first get to that. And then we'll get to my thoughts on being sad about Dre Jameson being sent down to AAA right now. And Dre was a very thorough conversation. The way we saw it at this point in time, based on his current status, I mean, he's thrown 100 miles an hour and he's able to spin the ball and he's got a great change of. But where he's at presently, he couldn't go back to back or he couldn't go two innings and multiples or an up-down.

We need him to do that. We need him to be able to do that. And he's getting very close. so we just explained to him that in player development he's going to be able to check those boxes and once he checks them, it's going to be performance-based, come back and hopefully help us win some baseball games. But it's hard for a player to understand that. It's the same thing with Jordan Lawler.

We send him out, and he wants to play at the big league level, and he wants to help us win baseball games right now. And we explained to him at two or three times a week. It doesn't make sense for his development to be stopped to help us win games here right now. So sometimes it makes sense. Sometimes it doesn't. But he's too good of a player to not play with it. So when his time comes here, he's going to find his way here and stay here forever. And it's a point I've been trying to drive home on this show quite a bit, what Tori says there.

And it's not something that really makes sense because it doesn't happen in other sports. The way that they structure baseball where you have the ability to hide these guys essentially somewhere else in your organization, instead of having to make a decision on your roster, instead of having to cut a guy, instead of having to, you know, do something like you would see in basketball or in, you know, football where the team just has to make that decision and then kind of live with it. It's just so different in baseball, right? So right now with Drey Jamison, it's, you know, still getting back to having enough reps where they feel comfortable that he can, you know, like Tori said there, can do two plus innings or can do up downs, can give them, you know, more. and I think that a bit of that might be the role that Dre Jameson is essentially

buying for. I said that I thought Dre had everything it took to be a closer in Major League Baseball. But it definitely is about what the team needs. And at this point, they might not be looking at Dre even as an option there. So having him be able to go a bit

longer, having him be able to give them length is probably more important right now and that's what they're looking for in order for him to have a role on the Major League roster right now. And then Jordan Lawler again like I said no surprise there um bobby garman says bumping fought to p to the pen or reno is disrespectful it is it is i can't disagree with that it's just the it's it's again it's being a victim of circumstance i think a little bit here and uh as you know as as my man uh as my dog r t will tell us here shortly

uh they don't have a victim mentality and baseball you can't it's just part of the game sometimes that unfortunately it's not about how well you're doing it's more about you know the situation, how many options you have left, what the team needs, and, you know, unfortunately, even though it might not make a heck of a lot of sense, we might see Brandon fought starting opening day in Reno. They asked Tori about, you know, obviously keeping these guys stretched out. And that's an important part about this. Once they make the decision to put a guy in a pen, they don't intend on flip-flopping back and forth, right? They don't intend on, you know, making that decision for a short period of time and then adding them back to the starting

rotation should something happen. So I would not be surprised to see a roster move made where either Brandon fought or Ryan Nelson are optioned to AAA Reno. And it's just a fact of the situation. Abby says fought the anchor of the whole rotation last year. Yeah, by far the most consistent. And you could you could make a case for Ryan Nelson that once again at one point for a stretch, he was the best pitcher in the starting rotation. So all of this is unfortunate. All of it sucks. but it's also part of having a stack roster like the Diamondbacks do. So if we're going to spin it and try to be a little bit more positive than dwelling on the fact that these decisions do suck

and we don't want to see them made, this Diamondbacks team is very, very good. And it feels like 2025 is just one of those seasons that could be very special for this team. They will need it because we just saw the Dodgers sweep the Cubs in Tokyo for the Tokyo series. I like that. I like that that series happened. I liked what happened in Tokyo with everything, the pageantry, everything. I hate the results.

Sounded there like I was saying, I like the results, and I needed to back my way out of that. But I very much hated the results. I would have loved to see, I guess, the Cubs sweep the Dodgers just to give us a little bit of a head start on the season. Also, the Diamondbacks open their season up against the Cubs, so I don't want to see them coming in reds. hot playing with a ton of confidence either i'm conflicted based on this but overall yeah there was an otani

home run that wasn't a real home run that they called a home run and they're going to always act like was a home run and we all know it wasn't a home run but if that's the way we're going to start this crap off this season i'm not looking forward to you know all of this but it was a great celebration of baseball and i did really dig uh just so much of it the fans in in japan are just uh they're just amazing and it's an incredible environment. And I would love to see more games like that here, not only in Major League Baseball, but specifically for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

And we are also going to talk about some changes, some new things coming to Chase Field, and maybe what my favorite new food item might be. And it was as surprising to me as it might be to you. But Ryan says, Shohei should be in jail. And I agree with that for multiple reasons, not just on unbiased or unbased gambling charges.

Ina Jackson, who family member going to be here today. So baseball is a business and teams are in business to be successful, which requires winning. And that's really what it comes down to. And the one thing I'll remind all of you is that the players know this stuff. The players understand it. And I don't think that they're like, I will say that they're not happy about decisions like this being made.

But I think they also understand that this organization values whoever, whatever the situation is, whether it's Ryan Nelson, whether it's Brandon Pot. they value these guys and they know that they're important part of the future just this season right now. They might be more valuable for as depth rather than utilizing them in another way. But I'm done blabbing on because I need to throw this over to one Ryan Thompson joining us. Of course, T-Time is going to talk a bit here about the 2025 season, how excited he is about the additions that they made. We're also going to talk a bit about his faith.

We're going to talk about him breaking into a high school to just basically be a sicko about baseball and so much more, including I'm going to tell you this much. We are going to talk about WWE and the John Cena Heeltern. So make sure you don't go anywhere. We will be doing that in the other side of this break. So you're watching the PHA next time of that show. Don't go anywhere. Again, if you are going home from Salt River Fields, a great way to get home is through Waymo. And we thank them for always getting us home safely in their autonomous ride hailing Vee.

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So if you're here in town, make sure you try out Waymo and Phoenix. They are just again, once again, here in San Francisco, Los Angeles. Angeles and Phoenix. Download the Waymo One app right now and ride today. Well, you probably much like me, need to start managing your finances to build the life that you actually want. And Monarch money can help make that happen. They make managing money simple, even with our busy lives, with all of these accounts, all of these streaming accounts, credit cards, investments, everything that we have can have them all in one place where you know where your money stands without the hassle. Track your spending, savings, and investments effortlessly so that you can focus on what

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And then we're going to bring one Ryan Thompson in to talk about all that stuff. Very excited to get him in here. Here's my chat with Ryan. Great to see you, man. Thank you so much for stopping by. Of course, I know this time of the year is busy for you guys. But I did want to first ask, are you getting recognized around Arizona yet? Has that started happening?

for you? A few and far between. It'll be like, like, I was with some of my buddies the other day, and we were at Popstroke right next to the field. And it's like, they were laughing because they're like, no one knows who you are right now. It is like, yeah, I like that. But then every now and then you'll be at Target, and it'll be like, hey, I know you. So it's, it's happening a little bit, but it's nice to be able to be out in public and just hang out. Well, you're starting to become a staple of this team. I know, you know, you have been great as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks, but they've made some additions this offseason that has the fans very excited, obviously. Do you get as excited about, you know, this team when you kind of hear yourself that

these moves are being made? Corbyn Burns is being added, bringing in a Josh Naylor. I mean, do you get as pumped as the fans are about like the potential for this year's team? maybe even more excited i yeah i'm i'm i'm that guy that i think it was like what two a m when we signed corbin burns and i'm like what you know that that was really cool so i mean yeah it's it's extra cool for me like coming from tampa you know and coming and playing over here and you know it's dimebacks aren't you know the dodgers and in their spending but definitely a lot more than what Tampa was spending. So, you know, every time we make a move or we're, you know, allocating some big time money to try to win some games, it's really exciting for me.

So I love that our front office and our owner that we're committed to winning. And I think there's an excitement from top to bottom on what we can do. And I mean, obviously, yeah, like Corbyn Burns, it was a surprise to all of us. And you said you were up at 2 a.m. when that happens, right? Like, I feel like that speaks volumes to you guys that are on the. team that they're going out and they're adding somebody of his caliber to a squad like this or again replacing someone like christian walker who's very hard to replace with a josh nailer and trying to not only i guess keep this team as competitive as it's been over the last two seasons

but continue to improve this team for sure i mean i think that we were all really disappointed in twenty twenty three that we didn't you know get the the final trophy at the end but uh 2020 or yeah in 2024, I was a crazy disappointment for us to miss the playoffs, especially the way that we did and have all the injuries that we had. There are so many things early on in the season that put us behind the eight ball. And we kind of collapsed there a little bit at the end too. So, you know, seeing that the organization, you know, because you see in 2023 when we're, what, two or three games away from winning the World Series,

you know, that's an obvious time to add, right? But when we're missed the playoffs, it's kind of up in the air, right? what are we going to do this offseason? How does the front office view this roster? And they prove that they view us as a World Series winning team again. And they went out there and throw the money down. And that's just the extra confidence for us to go get the job done. Especially when last year was, you know, arguably an improvement, right? The offense was number one offense in baseball and you guys won more games. It's just the desired result isn't making the playoffs. And it really doesn't matter how many games you win at the end of the

day if you're not making the playoffs. That's especially after what happened in 2023, that has to be the most disappointing factor, right? Is that you guys did what you did in 23 and you feel like at any point just give this team a chance and you guys can do it again.

Yeah, I think this year we just need to not leave it up to the last couple days. You know, I think it would be nice to maybe clinch with like a week or so left in the season. That would be nice. I remember in 2023 there was maybe a fly ball dropped in Chicago that got us in. Yeah. And we kind of got sweat by the Astros in the last series

and we still got in. And then last year, obviously, we all know what happened with the playing or the, what was it, the doubleheader rain out series or whatever. That was a disaster. So this year, I would love to clinch before the last series. That would be nice. That would be great. It would be great to not wait until that point. And I mean, I know Tori's talked about it, but that, that, that, was a painful moment for you guys as a team to have to, you know, watch that last double header happen, kind of not having control of your fate, over your own fate,

but watching the other two teams kind of almost amicably split games. Like it felt like, I mean, it was crushing to the fans, but I'm sure you guys all be in there together. It was fairly devastating. It was, but we don't have a victim mentality.

We did it to ourselves. Like the whole situation was a disaster. should never have happened that way. I will say that till the end of time. But we did it to ourselves. We put ourselves in a bad position, and we knew going into that doubleheader. It wasn't likely that one of those teams

was going to win both games. It was just, you know, we can't put ourselves in that situation if we're going to be a championship team. And, I mean, the regular season is so long. Does it change your mentality? Like, I mean, I feel like, obviously, with Tori as a manager, it's, it's motivation that he has

to remind, you know, the team of how close you guys came and how every game matters. But like does it change your perspective a little bit about how much every game matters during this very long regular season? Yeah, I mean, it's hard not to, but at the same time, you know, you don't want to make decisions in June that may affect your health or may affect some things that go down the stretch in September. So, you know, there's always a, you know, a left and right side to every decision, but you make a good point. Like maybe a little bit more of a sense of urgency in certain situations, but, you know, we try to do that all year. You know, we try to make sure that every single game matters as if it's the last game or

the first game, but it is a 162, right? And so we got to try to pace ourselves and we got to be able to figure out a way how we finish strong. And I think that was the biggest issue is we started slow last year is what it is. We had a lot of injuries. We did a really good job at the middle of the season, picking back up. And at the end of the season, we just were gassed. And so, you know like i guess what i'm trying to say is that yeah you know there needs to be a more sense of urgency all the time for sure but on the other hand like pacing ourselves and making sure that we're strong down when the games mat do in fact matter the most is also important yeah last year i mean again like you said you can't have a victim mentality about it but it still feels like an anomaly right with

all of the injuries all of the stuff that happened and you guys were still as good as you were i think that's the part that, you know, makes fans very excited about this team, knowing that, like, hey, with this starting rotation, with this bullpen stack the way it is with these guys, you know, hopefully, you know, staying healthy and not only staying healthy, but having the depth the team does now, it feels, you know, it feels like you guys are in a great spot. And, you know, again, the sky is the limit for this team. Yeah, I agree. And I'll say, too, just speaking on the behalf of the bullpen, that, yeah, last year didn't quite go how we wanted it to and with the whole seawalled injury to start the year.

And then we had the closer kind of by committee for a while. And I don't think any of us really did that great of a job in that role. But a lot of us got opportunities in that role. And a lot of us got to feel what it was like to be the closer for a hot minute. And no matter what the decision is made on who it's going to be, I think everybody is going to be better off because of that. you know, if you're throwing the fourth inning and then you're expected to throw the ninth, you know, that's a difficult task. But if you're throwing the ninth inning and then you're asked to throw the fifth, it's a little bit easier to do that. It's just a difference in adrenaline.

It's a difference in confidence. It's a difference in a whole bunch of things. And so having a bunch of guys in our bullpen, five or six guys that have had experience throwing in the highest of leverage, that's just going to help us this season for sure. Yeah. And I mean, I know we've talked about this. And I know, you know, I've personally spoke to you and your teammates about how much, I guess, a sense of, I guess, what your job is going to be that night, where you were going to stack up in the bullpen. That that was all, there was just a sense of knowing what you were going to do every single day once Paul Seawalt was added to this team. And the question is still kind of up in the air there about who's going to be the closer this year. It just, it's, is, do you feel like that's important to have one. guy be a closer and does that help the rest of the bullpen kind of fall into place as to what

everyone's job is going to be or do you feel like having the versatility of those guys having that high leverage experience kind of gives tori that option to utilize you guys based on matchups and as he sees fit again it's hard to say you know I think that it's clear that in 23 when seawald was our anchor that we our bullpen was firing on all cylinders absolutely but I think you know last year we saw down the stretch when we were kind of using puck against the highest leverage lefties and then maybe using Martinez or myself or Kinkle or whatever against the highest leverage Rides, that was very effective at times as well. So for me, I think it makes the most sense to have as much established roles as possible

just because the preparation in the bullpen's hard and not knowing when you're going to pitch is hard. And, you know, our job's hard. So we know that going in and we're big boys and we can handle it. But I do think established roles helps everybody, but maybe we're not a team that has that. And that's okay. And if Tori feels like, you know, matchups is the best thing to do, like we're ready to step up to the plate and dominate that role as well.

Well, and I, it's all it. It just makes logical sense to me that having, you know, that versatility instead of having that one guy that you go to no matter what every game in the ninth inning, logically makes sense. But then in the terms of baseball and history, the closer role is. what it is because you kind of need a special kind of mentality to be that closer. It just feels like this team has several guys, including yourself, that have, you know, have that ability to pitch in those high leverage situations and kind of have that ability to close a game down.

Justin Martinez, though, he's a guy that's very exciting. What are your thoughts on the youngster and how he's kind of developed into this potential closer of the future for this team? Yeah, just to touch on what you're saying about the different roles and stuff, I feel that I feel like the thing that maybe fans don't understand and maybe people that haven't done it understand is that closing isn't necessarily harder than any other role that you may have. There's a good argument to say that, you know, that fifth, sixth inning guy that comes in, bases loaded one out every night might be, we call him the janitor or whatever you want to call him. That guy might be the have the harder role than the closer. Never knows when he's going to pitch. He might throw two.

He might throw one. He might face all lefties. He might face all righties. his job is to keep the game within reach. That job may be more difficult, but it's just different, right? So when you go in and you're the closer today versus the seventh inning, your approach needs to change slightly, right? The adrenaline and the intensity in the air is just slightly different.

And so you need to be able to control your breathing and stuff like that a little bit different. Hitters, you know, it's a one-run game. Hitters are more so swinging for the fences in the ninth inning than they are in the seventh, right? So there's a lot of psychology that comes into, play. And so kind of what I was alluding to earlier is having guys have experience in that role is going to help whoever Tori chooses this year because they have experience. And so, you know, whoever Tori does choose if he chooses it, you know, even if it's not perfect at first, like, I would love us to stick with somebody and just be like, okay, maybe you struggled here

and there. But the more they do it, the more comfortable and the more accustomed they're going to be to the situations. And as far as Justin Martinez, I mean, you watch. that guy for five seconds, you see how electric he is. He's got as good as stuff as about anybody in the entire league. And that splitter is an anomaly. It is a pitch that I don't even know can be replicated. I don't even know if anybody else in the league throws a pitch that moves the way that it does at that velocity in the entire league. And that's what you want out of a closer, right? Somebody that can rely on a pitch that's that elite and can throw it over and over and over again. And so Justin, you know, he's a young guy.

So, you know, can he do that consistently on a 162 game season? That is what I believe he can do. And if Tori chooses him in that role, you know, I think that would be a great choice. I think Justin has a lot of versatility too. So we saw last year sometimes we were using them for two innings coming in and facing the highest leverage situation in the six and seventh. You know, it's a tie game. He's got to face the heart of the order in the six. and the seventh wrap around to us maybe a lefty gets the guys in the eighth and then it's

ginkled thrown the ninth or whatever it is so martinez is very versatile we can use them in a lot of different ways yeah he's he's electric is the perfect word for him um i did want to ask i know tory is making an opening day starter decision today i just wanted to know what what's it like being on a team where you have two clear-cut opening day starters i mean does that just give everybody a different level sense of confidence when the decision is this difficult for the manager to make about who starts on day one? Yeah, I mean, speak for yourself, man. I think we got like six or seven opening day starters on our team. Yeah, you're not wrong. Which team in the league wouldn't want Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Brian fought, Ryan Nelson, Prime Jordan Montgomery to be

starting opening day. And I want to speak on Jordan Montgomery for a second. He threw a bullpen the other day that was maybe the best bullpen I've ever seen. And I'm excited to see what he does Wednesday. I'm just going to say. He really enjoyed his time with you guys in the bullpen. I mean, we talked to him a bit in the clubhouse. And a couple of times last year, I remember him saying, like, how much he just liked hanging out with you guys down there.

Forget about whether you're starting or in the bullpen or whatever. Like, was it just camaraderie? Is it just because you guys were a bunch of troublemakers down there and it's fun to hang out with you. What's hanging out in the bullpen like? Well, I mean, there's no argument there. I mean, the bullpen always has the best vibe. Doesn't matter what group it is.

Doesn't matter what team it is. The bullpen has the vibes. So if you want to, you know, if you want to be serious and you want to, you know, be a robot, you'd be a starting pitcher. But you're going to have fun. You come to the bullpen. That's amazing.

That is amazing. Does it matter? Does the opening day starter matter? I mean, I know once we get two weeks in the season, it really doesn't matter. It seems to almost be at times a thing for, you know, like the fans argue about a little bit more than anything else. But does, does opening day starter matter to players? Maybe to the guy that gets selected, I would think. Maybe it's just, I don't know, I think, let's just say if it were me, right? If I were to, you know, be chosen opening day starter,

I think it would be an awesome honor. And, you know, I'd feel really good about it. But if I wasn't chosen, I don't think it would mean anything about how the team feels about me. And I wouldn't be upset about it. You know, so I think that's probably how those guys view it. I haven't talked to them about it. But that's how I'm assuming they view it is, you know, they're all good. They're all aces on one team.

So it's like, hey, someone's got to throw day two, day three, day four, day five. so hard choice yeah no i mean and it feels like a difficult decision for troy but it also you know again like it's it's a good decision to have when you have this much talent on on one team and uh again going through spring training are you enjoying spring training this year seems a little bit shorter is it still too long for you what what are your thoughts on spring training overall i don't think it's too long um i think that it's maybe a little early a little fast i don't know like it it It was weird to me that we started and we had games like five or six days after we reported. Yeah.

Yeah, I thought that was weird too. Yeah. That was weird. A bunch of games in a short period of time there, too, over that weekend during Las Vegas and all that. You guys had like five games or six games in like a couple of days. It was kind of wild. Yeah, I don't like the opening day seems to be creeping earlier and earlier. Now it's like, what, the 26 or something?

I don't like the Cubs Dodgers Tokyo Series thing. I don't like that at all. I think that's an advantage for the teams. Yes. Why is that? So like Yamamoto is going to have one more start than everybody else in the league. Oh. So like last year that was wrong.

Yeah. So he gets to start on March. I mean, they have a bunch of good starters. So it's not like that that's the, it's not like they have one ace. but at the same time, it's like they're getting a couple real, real games in where you're throwing your two dogs and then you get, what, four or five days off? They could throw, Yalmodo could throw game one and game three. First game and third game of the season.

He won't, but he could. I think that's an advantage. And then the other thing is, I think the challenge system, the ABS thing, I think that's terrible. Really? I think it's terrible. I love this point of view because so far it's always been very positive, positive thoughts on it.

What don't you like about it? Well, I don't like the zone specifically because it's at the middle of the plate. And so it's a different zone than what we're used to. And so like the front of the plate and the three-dimensional plate is the plate. like that is the strike zone. Yeah. So it's from the front of the plate and it's three dimensional. That's how you determine a strike.

Right. This, this ABS challenge system zone is a two-dimensional at the middle of the plate. Like the K zone that we see on TV, right? And that's the reason why sometimes people get mad about the K zone is, even though it shows where the ball landed, it doesn't necessarily reflect how it crossed the plate

and if it crossed the plate as a strike, right? Like that's why sometimes that's, yeah, it gets the fans all angry about a strike being a ball or vice versa. Right. So, like, for me, it's like, it's hard enough to throw a strike. It really is. Like, the strike zone is getting smaller and smaller as we get on.

And if you don't know where exactly the strike zone is, then that's frustrating. So sometimes, you know, you're throwing strikes that, like, we had a game. There was, it was probably two or three weeks ago now that Bryce Jarvis was pitching. He threw a, painted a perfect pitch exactly where we wanted it to. struck the guy out he challenged it it was like less than 0.1 inches or something to be a ball or whatever it was let i think it was less than 0.5 inches from being a ball so now he ends up walking him because it was 2-2 then it was 3-2 and he walked him and then the inning ended up getting out of hand whatever and then he gets his report back the next day and it shows the pitch as a clear cut strike

Oh, man. And so it's like, frustrating. We can't, you know, we can't trust the zone because we don't know exactly where it's at. Like he executed that pitch to perfection and it screwed him. And,

you know, I just, I just think that there's a lot more to pitching than what people think of just like, okay, here's this, here's this square zone and you throw it in the thing. There's a lot more to it. And earning strikes and sequencing well and throwing the pitches,

exactly where you want it to is part of the game. Like if you're if you're getting an umpire to call a strike because you earn that because of the way that you've been pitching and you've been inching them out like that's that's been part of the game for a very long time. And you know, maybe it's a bias from a pitcher, but it's like if you're a hitter and you got two strikes and the pitch is less than 0.5 inches from being a strike, swing the bat. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's play baseball. Let's play some baseball. If it's five inches outside, okay, like maybe we add the challenge system with a buffer. Like it's got to be two inches.

Like, because that's how they evaluate the umpires is they have a buffer. Yeah, that's how like MLB.com, right? When you're watching a game, like there's the strike zone, but then there's like another strike zone on the outside of it. And I've had to like explain to people like, that's it. That's the bumper. If it catches any part of that bumper, they're kind of letting that like to human error. And in regards to human error, I'm guessing you don't want to see umpires replaced behind the plate due to that just as a picture, right? Like you like the human element there?

100%. And that's my point is like there's no hitter. Like I'm sorry if you're a hitter out there and you think that your eyes that good. Your eyes not that good. There's no hitter in the league that can tell the difference between a ball that clips the plate and a ball that is 0.03 inches outside. You just can't tell. You got fooled and you spit on it because you got fooled. And then you're challenging it because you don't want to strike out. And then you get lucky.

It's a coin flip. You're like crossing your fingers and hoping that you get the call to go your way. That's what I don't like. If it's a clear cut right down the middle strike, okay. If it's nowhere close and the umpire just made a mistake, that happens. But maybe that happens, what, four times a week? Yes. Like you don't even get one of those egregious calls once.

per game. These umpires are really, really good. Right. Everyone's in a while you have one that like you said, like for a moment, he just zoned out and did not pay attention. And it was a clear ball or clear strike. And everybody watching is like kind of confounded about it. Like those are the moments I think we want to see reviewed and reverse. But you're right. I mean, this is going to get down to kind of like with football reviews where they're like zooming in on the toe on the sideline to see if there's any kind. And it's like, come on man. I mean, I get it. it when someone steps out. But if you're going to say his

shoelace graze the out of bounds and then call him out of bounds there, we're kind of overusing this technology and abusing it a little bit, right? But yeah, no, I mean, I know that like honestly, the ABS system has been something that a lot of people have been excited about or the change to baseball,

but it does feel like they're changing a lot of stuff. Like, it feels like once they started making changes to the game, it kind of opened the door for them just to you know, continue making these changes. They were trying out the system to see if batters across the front of the plate

as well in fall ball last season and reviewing that to see yeah it it felt that like that for me felt like a bit much I was like we're we're getting into an area where we're just going to be able to challenge everything yeah it's going to be we baseball in eight

years watch and it's like they're getting they're getting way too cute with these rules too like they're because they're testing everything in AAA right so right well i spent i spent a little bit of time in triple a couple years ago when they were first starting to start these rules and so the the the pitch clock and all that stuff so like in in the big leagues you know the clock is like two minutes and 20 seconds in between innings right when you so you get called in the bullpen 220 right so then you like get a drink of water you get you know do what

you got to do and you go down right when you cross the warning track it resets to two minutes so no matter what stadium you're in, no matter what the situation is, you'll have two minutes when you cross the warning track. So then if you, you know, if you jog like excessively slow, then that's on you. You know, it's two minutes. That's fair. That's fair. A little fast, if you asked me, but it's fair. In AAA, they start the two minutes and 20 seconds or 215 or whatever it is right when the third out is made and the other team's still on the field. And there's no resetting the clock. And so some of it, so some of these stadiums, it's like these AAA stadiums, like, you're up in like section 300 and you got to go down all these stairs and then you're like printing out of breath and you got 52 seconds left and you can't

throw another pitch after like 40. And it's like they just say, well, tough. That's the rule. And it's like, well, let's just get hurt in AAA. Right. So the game can be finished 90 seconds faster. Yeah. As if, as if getting to the major leagues isn't already tough enough, let's go through this kind of thing, right? What was getting called up like for you? Was that something, like, how did that go for you? Was that a difficult process? Did you find it kind of something that, like, I'm not sure how many times you got called up and went back down, but how was that like for you? Like the first time?

Yeah, the first time. Yeah, the first time was kind of crazy. My story is kind of long and windy, but to kind of cut it down a little bit. This is the podcast. This gets, podcasts get long and windy. So you go ahead. But no, I'm totally. interested in this. How did this go down?

And that's where we're going to stop it for right now because we have more from Ryan Thompson on the other side of this break, including this insane story about what he had to do during the pandemic in order to stay ready for his major league debut. Don't you go anywhere. It's

it gets fun. We're talking more with Ryan on the other side of this break. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback show. Big shout out to all pro shades for sponsoring our interview here with our guy, our dog, Ryan Thompson. And also, So we're always shading us during the sunny times of the year. We've talked to you already.

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at 365, must be 21 or over and physically located in Arizona. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem that wants help, call winning a hundred next step. Text next step to 533442 or visit problemgambling.az.gov. Well, I know you guys have never, any of you guys don't want to hear from me anymore. So let's get Ryan Thompson back here and let's get some more from him on breaking into a high school so that he can stay ready for his major league debut.

Yeah, so when I was, first part of the story, I was, you know, drafted in the 23rd round. I was, you know, a senior sign, $1,000, all that, not really that projectable. Sidearm guy just kind of got outs, right? I had pretty good seasons every year, but never really flashed that big league potential and just kind of trickled my way through the system. I got to AAA in 2017 and got my teeth kicked in. I couldn't get anybody out. I couldn't get anyone to chase out of the zone. zone. I was throwing like 86. I was doing it on purpose, just trying to get people to roll over. I felt like that was the right thing to do. That's what I did in college. I led the nation and

the RA in college. I had a plan and a strategy and it didn't work in AAA. And so I got sent back down to double A and I was like, okay, if I don't make some adaptations, like I'm probably done soon. And so I started long tossing every day, started throwing as hard as I could, as often as I could, got up to like 91 and then blew out my elbow had Tommy John. And so my mechanics just weren't suited to throw at that level of intensity. And so through my rehab process, I got my body right, got my mind right. I basically cleaned up everything and became a big league type player, type human. And in 2019, just kind of got healthy. And then 2020 was my first ever Bigley camp. And I showed up and I was kind of a non-roster invite that the team didn't really know much about

because when I had my TJ, I was with Houston. And then I got minor league rule five to Tampa Bay. And then I had my first big league camp with Tampa Bay like a year later. So they didn't really know much about me. But I got my first big league camp invite and had to pitch a couple games and I was pitching really well. Like I was, I was dominating first three or four innings. And so they started using me more and more to get more looks.

They started throwing me like early in the games to face the big league guys. And I was just like dominating the Braves, the Orioles, the heart of their lineup, like they're dudes. And so the team was like real excited about me. And they're like, okay, like there might be something here, but there's no spots on the roster or anything. But like we like what we see. And so, you know, I'm, I feel like I'm this close. Right? Like everything that all this work I've been putting in this close. And so I'm like getting real excited and then COVID happens. And good old two weeks to stop the spread, right? And so all of a sudden it's like I felt like I was this close.

And then I have to go back to Oregon and I'm just sitting there like trying to figure out what to do. And I just kind of had this moment where a lot of my teammates and a lot of people throughout the league were just kind of scared to the virus, we're kind of just sitting around, just kind of like biding their time, waiting to hear what's going to happen. And I was just like, I can't do that. Like I was this close to making my dream come true. Like I have to, I have to push. Keep pushing. Keep pushing. And I was in Oregon. That's like, you know, that's big time liberal, like wear your mask, like restaurants are closed, like PT clinics are closed. Yeah, yeah. High schools are like everything shut down. And so, But I had to get creative.

And my mom was a P.E. teacher. And so I tried to, like, work out at the high school and just kind of, like, sneak in there. And the athletic director there was, like, kind of like, hunting me and, like, kicking me out. You can't be in here, like, whatever, like, you get through. And so I was just like, all right. So I would wait until, like, one in the morning. And I would go into my mom's purse and I would steal her P.E. keys and I would drive and I would park like a quarter mile away from the high school and I would

walk to the to the high school and I would like basically break into the high school and I would work out pitch black. I wouldn't turn on any lights. I didn't want anyone to know that I was there and I would do all my workouts at one in the morning and me and a couple other guys, Adley Ruchman was one of them. He's also from Oregon and we would get together and we'd like sneak on these fields like near Portland and we would do live VPs twice a week. And I had a PT guy that I knew that was, his name's Kent Morimatsu. He was, he's awesome. And he was, he was willing to meet with me and do like PT outside and do all this stuff.

And so I basically had everything I needed. And by the time that spring training started back up in July or I think it was end of June, like I was better and ready. get more ready than anyone else. Like we showed back up and everyone else was like, oh, it's my first time playing catch in two months. Like,

oh, my arm's killing me. I haven't had any PT in two months. And I'm like, I'm like, what are you guys not care? Like, I've been grinding every day for the last two months.

Like, yeah. And just being resourceful and not, not letting yourself get sedentary during something like that. Like the world literally stopped. So it's, it's kind of hard to figure it out. But I mean, yeah i think like obviously being so close to your goal had to be the hugest motivation right like

like you you and and i mean was there a point during that time where you thought that maybe other people weren't doing that stuff so that you were kind of gaining gaining an advantage by you know just being out there and and keep it active yep the world stopped but i didn't you know and and and uh and by the time we showed back up like i for i forced tampa bay's hand like we had there were some other things that happened that helped me. Like Colin Poshay had, he ended up needing Tommy Johnny, blew out his elbow in that little summer camp session. And so that opened up a 40-man spot, which was a spot that I would take. And the different rules, like it went from like a 25-man roster to a 28-man roster. So there were definitely things that helped me out. But, you know,

by the time the season started, like I was just like, I don't even know if I gave up a hit. And, that whole time, you know, and it was just like I was dialed in. And so I feel like the team, you know, they, they had no choice but to put me on the team. And it was kind of fun too, because the other guy that was competing with me for that final spot on that team was John Curtis, who's in camp with us right now. So me and him go way back with just like, he's me and him were like, like, we were grinding. Like me and him were like hard competition. We knew it was either me or him for that last spot. And there was a lot of respect between him for just going through that season together. And then he got up that year too pretty early on. And he had a great

year and we went to the World Series together that year. So yeah, when I, you know, when I got my call to make my debut or I got the call up, you know, it was a little bit different, right? But, you know, I knew that because it was COVID, so it's not like, you know, I had the whole like meeting in the office because we weren't allowed to do that. So I was like kind of on the field. And I wasn't even like, because we broke up into two places. So there was like the Port Charlotte group and then there was the Tampa group. And they were broke up into two.

And I was in the Port Charlotte group. And we were doing like PFPs one day. And I just remember like, you know, opening days like coming up. So decisions are going to be made. And I saw like the coaches kind of like convening. And I was just kind of like thinking like, oh, I wonder. if they're talking about me or if they're talking about me. And I was just like, I just don't even think about it.

So I start, like, jogging in to go to the clubhouse. And then I hear him be like, hey, Tom's, like, come here. And I was just like, oh, my God, is this happening? And I, like, come over and they had Eric Neander and Kevin Cash on the FaceTime and told me I made the team on FaceTime. And it was a little different. You know, most people don't get told on FaceTime. but, you know, it was, it was pretty cool having everything, you know, kind of come full circle,

but it was that whole first year was like a big, it was my longer story is with my faith and how that first year, how I was so cold and ruthless to make my dreams come true. And then I did make them come true. And I went all the way to the World Series and had an amazing season and made a name for myself and I was standing there in the World Series looking around the stadium and just kind of being like, huh, this is it. And just not feeling the fulfillment that I thought I would get. And it's such a blessing for me to experience that and have that moment with the Lord because it's like very similar what Solomon writes about in the book of Clesiastes.

You ever get a chance to read it. Like Solomon accomplished everything he'd ever wanted in his life and he realized that, man, the world doesn't offer what I'm looking for. And so that led them to kind of like realize that it's like, okay, like, you know, your relationship with the Lord is what offers that fulfillment. Like this world is the cup that always runs dry. Always needs to be refilled. And Jesus is the cup that always stays full.

And so that was like such a huge moment for me and my career to like still be pursuing my career with everything I got, but just know that that that lie, that that lake is really just a mirage and it's not going to give you that aphoria that you know that this is my life's purpose it's it's awesome being in the major leagues is amazing and pitching the world series is the most amazing thing i've ever done but it doesn't offer you what the world wants to trick you into thinking it does right it's like championships and other things right we have people at times act like you know your your team not winning a championship um you know is is is the worst thing that's ever happened and and I can understand the disappointment of getting to the World Series and,

and, you know, coming in, you know, just short, coming up just short like you guys did. But what I've, what I've noticed,

much like yourself, like I've noticed that there, there's not this appeasment because fan bases won a championship. Maybe every once in a while there is, right? But for the most part, it's almost like you win a championship and then it's right on to the, what's the next thing that's going to make me happy?

Like, bring me another championship. Bring me more success. Bring me more because you don't really get necessarily that fulfillment out of just, just, just that one season being the success and coming up as the top team, right? So, and I know, I know how important your faith is to you. I know that you have a lot of kind of hats you wear and you have a lot to balance. Is that, is it difficult? Especially being a professional wrestling fan,

is it difficult to kind of balance all this stuff out in your life and, and, you know, kind of go through what is essentially one of the hardest sports seasons to go through, right? It's the longest marathon of any sport. Yeah, it's difficult. And it's difficult, but it makes it easier at the same time. Like, I'm a guy that is a, like, I'm not addictive. I don't have an addictive personality, but I have an obsessive personality. So it's like, I don't need things.

Like, I'm not, like, I don't have to have it, have to have it. But if I'm into something, if I'm, you know, putting myself in a position to chase something or if I'm going to be a part of something, like I am all in. I cannot be half in. And so with baseball, that can get me in trouble. And so if I don't have other tasks elsewhere, then I can get a little bit too caught up in baseball. And that's not a, that's not a healthy lifestyle, especially in a game of failure in a game where, you know, you're performing or not performing on national television every night. You can really overthink things. And my faith has obviously helped me unbelievably through all of it. But, you know, me being in seminary school,

getting my master's in theology, is really, really helped me because I have wins that are not attached to the baseball field. So whenever I work hard and I complete a paper or, you know, I'm studying or I'm pursuing something else. Like that helps me kind of compartmentalize the different aspects of my life. And being a competitive person like me, it's like, you know, sometimes I can get that dopamine hit from getting an A on a test. You know, I don't. I don't need the, I don't need the, I don't, you know, it's like, it's almost like you,

sometimes you can cripple yourself by needing the good outing. you know and it's like we live such a hard fast lifestyle that it's easy to rely on that good inning to like kind of like center yourself and so for me it's helped me to be centered in jesus and centered in all these other things i'm doing whether or not it's clubhouse ministry or it's it's a school or whatever and i'd be centered in that and so i have freedom to play this game at the best of my ability and not be kind of controlled by it that's amazing. You're a fascinating person. I love talking to you, but you know I love talking to you about wrestling. So I had to get your thoughts. W.W.E is demanding just alone in itself to keep

up with. Do you do a good job of keeping up with it, or do you just kind of like at times find yourself like just catching the highlights and catching up like that? I catch up. It depends. I go like this. So like I'm roller coaster with it. I try to watch it as much as I can, but I'm a wrestling fan because of the stories. Me too. And I love the, like I appreciate the beauty of wrestling that people might not understand. Like I appreciate the skill set that it takes, not just the moves, but the ability to control the crowd and the ability to get over.

And a lot of the little things that they can do that dictates whether or not that they're a superstar being over with the crowd. or if there are nobody that gets released. Like it's not have anything to do with how many championships you're winning or how many matches you're winning or how good you are in the ring. There's so much more to it. It really is. So for me, I can really dive into these things by either watching recap videos or I can read about it or like bleach your report. It usually does a really good job putting out a like report on, you know, they grade the matches and like tell you what happened. so I can do that, but

WWE is just killing it right now. So good. It's incredible. It's so good. So I try to watch it as much as I can, especially the pay-per-views. I'm kind of off of AEW right now. I liked them for a while.

There was like a two, three-year stretch where I was really into it and just kind of not for me right now. It's because, once again, it comes back to the storytelling, right? This situation with John Cena right now kind of captivating the world, obviously extends beyond just wrestling because of how big of a star he is, right?

But it's it's the uniqueness of it. It's the fact they did the thing that we as wrestling fans have been waiting so long for them to do. And I mean, again, it's hard. It's honestly hard to beat some of the moves they're making and storylines that they're, you know, going with as well. But you also have the fact that AEW hasn't done as good of a job like building their own stars, which they had plenty of. and those guys have already started jumping ship to WWE, you know, but there's also, you know, I guess, like, I'm with you. I can actually fast forward through a considerable amount of the wrestling itself

because I am here for the drama. I am here for the storyline stuff. I am here to see John Sina single out some kid in the front row and say that he's part of the toxic relationship that he has with the fans. What are your thoughts on what, you know, John Sina's been doing? This has been amazing to see. well the coolest part to me about wb e and how they've just been dominating wrestling lately is that like we live in this era the social media era where information just gets out so fast so so easily

yeah it really is they're still surprising us they're still doing things that shocks us and they're doing such a good job of like not letting these dirt sheets get this information and that like I hate spoilers but if they're out there I want to know them like I'm the same way I'm only I can't I can't resist knowing but I don't want to know don't ruin it for me I don't want to know the ending of the movie before I go see it in the theater that's what happens with these spoilers right like so much so that the John Sina the rock segment they had it scheduled at elimination chamber for like before the main event and then they moved it to afterwards because they obviously had to and that was the plan the whole time.

But they had to lie to everybody like in production and everything just to kind of keep that moment a secret so that it didn't get out. And again, it's it's moved the world. It's like one of those times of WWE now, just like when the Rock showed up last year around WrestleMania time, it feels like, you know, you're seeing it on ESPN. You're seeing it talked about on local news here. Like it really is one of those things that brought WW back into like the pop culture world and has everybody. paying attention. Absolutely. And, you know, that John Cena heel turn was like, I always thought it was a possibility, but I never, I thought no way. Like, no way to actually pull the trigger. And I, you know, I knew that they were going to do something crazy that night. So I was thinking, you know, maybe Cody does turn

heel, even though I think that would be a bad business decision. But I think they made the right choice. and then having Sina do what he did, was it last night? Yeah, it was yesterday. And have him come out and not give the fans what they wanted, right? Yeah. Like, hey, you know, you don't get new entrance music. Yeah. You don't get what you want.

You don't get a new outfit because I don't want you to like me. You know, and it's like that is. I don't want you to be happy. I don't want you to experience enjoyment based on me. Like that's a beautiful art. of wrestling is like, man, it would be so easy to turn him into Hollywood Hogan Sina. And then all of a sudden, everyone loves him. You know, it's like, because he's cool now.

Like, he's got this darkness to him. He's cool. Now everyone's like cheering for Sina to beat Cody. And it's like, that's not what WW wants. And so for them does. Right. The eating out of the palm of his hand, right? Like that's like, you know, the not speaking, setting the mic down, going to leave the ring.

Like the way he had that crowd. Belgium just absolutely just frothing at the mouth. You know what I mean? Like that's that's that's a talent that not everybody has and it's something that he hasn't really had the chance to really exhibit, right? Like he's always kind of done it the opposite way where he's trying to get the crowd hyped or excited and he just he's he's a master at what he does. I think the biggest thing that's disappointing is that like this is the last year for him and this might be the the best, you know, at least most intriguing form of John Cena that we've ever. seen but also it gives me plenty to talk about with you in the clubhouse and i'm thankful for that

more than anything we got we were we were we were kicking around the idea of dave batista joining uh their little freestum like good the him in there i liked your idea of the miss wanting to be a part of the group but then them not letting him in that's a great idea that's fantastic but again man i appreciate you so much uh we are very thankful to have you here as a member of the a diamondbacks and uh i look forward to chatting with you more but i've taken up way too much of your time so i appreciate you stopping by uh but we'll definitely have you on uh in the future for sure anytime man you're my dog you know what me on i'm here it's my dog ryan thompson appreciate you tea time all right buddy tea time out tea time out well i do appreciate him giving me uh

more time of his than i deserve and i know he's a busy man so thankful uh for him stopping by especially on their day off, right? They don't get a lot of days off around here, especially this time of the year, Kevin. So very thankful again for tea time stopping by. Of course, we do have just a few more things to talk about in regards to my favorite items that are going to be new at Chase Field in 2025. Don't you go anywhere.

You're watching the PHA next time in Beck show. Of course, big shout out to Circle K. I stopped by there on my way back to the office because I was this close to running out of gas, and I know where I go to save money on gas and also save money on snacks. They got $3 meals over there at Circle K. They have all sorts of ways to save you money.

You can save money, most importantly, by joining the Inner Circle, which you can do for free right now. Join the Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today. Terms and conditions to apply at participating locations. Visit CircleK.com for details. When you do, you'll save 25 cents off per gallon on your first five Phillips. You'll save $0.3 per gallon every day after that. Coming up here, we got another round of Inner Circle Fuel days,

including March 27. Mark your calendars for that to go fill up your car. Then also April 10th and April 24th, inner circle members say 40 cents per gallon from 6 a.m. to 1159. So make sure to keep your eyes open for that. Also, May 6th is a Circle K big giveaway. Customers can enter to win big prizes cash and more. Visit circlek.com slash big dash giveaway.

Of course, if you're looking for a great place to watch Suns games, Spanados is the place for you to be watching Suns games. We've got the Suns pregame starting here shortly, but of course a great place for you to go watch Suns basketball and hang out with the gorilla, my personal friend, Phoenix Suns dancers, and other Suns fans. Spanados is a place to do it. You can stop by for your chance to win free Suns tickets,

gift certificates, and more exciting prices. You have a decent jump shot. They have their version of horse. That's pizza, and you can win free pizza for a year. You can also win tickets to the Sun's game on April 9th. So mark your calendar, Suns fans. The excitement starts at Spanados. Go check it out.

get all the info for the watch parties and pizza basketball contest at sponados pizzeria.com. Spanato's the official pizza of the Phoenix Suns. Well, speaking of food, speaking of fun, there are lots of fun new things happening at Chase Field in 2025. We will have some videos coming up. We'll have some food reviews. But a couple of things I wanted to highlight from our guy, chef Steve Tilder. They got themselves some s'mores nachos coming to Chase Field in 2025. They have a thing called the Grand Slamwich, which is like 20 inches of sub,

half being a meatball sub, half being a chicken parmesan sub. They're getting crazy with the food. They got some amazing spicy Korean wings, which I tried. Again, I will have some food reviews for you coming here shortly, either to social or our YouTube channel. But the one thing I did want to point out, Kevin, my favorite item, I was not, I did not think this was going to be good. I can say confidently that I thought I was going to give it a very low score.

And it was the filthy mac fries, which were French fries covered in white cheddar mac and cheese. Then there was other cheese involved. There's pork belly bacon involved. There's coleslaw. There's a lot of stuff in there. And for some reason, you grab a fork, you dig in, and it works. It works and it works really, really well. So if you are a season ticket holder, there should be lots of great new items.

I also was informed that they're going to be releasing kind of some new items throughout the year this year, which is a little different. So everything that they introduce here at the beginning of the season might not be all that we see as the season progresses. But I did get a chance to talk to Derek Hall about some of the improvements and some of the changes that they've made to Chase Field and some of these exciting items that are coming. Here's what Derek had to say. 100%. He's crucial. And I think a lot of people come out just to try some of his new concoctions or, you know, when he came up with a churro dog, that was. a huge hit where people are coming to the ballpark just to try that, then they get in a habit of coming to a game to your point, and they come to more games.

So when he does this and people get to try and sample his new additions, it does a lot for us, and the players do know that. He is a part of our family. He's a big part of our family. Well, and it's been exciting also to see, obviously, the roof get fixed, as you mentioned, and things like that. But, I mean, I feel like things are rolling in the right direction for this building to make sure you guys can do everything that you want to do to approve that fan experience here.

I certainly hope so. You know, we got through the House with our legislation now. We've got to get through the Senate and get the governor to sign it. But we're going to put hundreds of millions in this ballpark ourselves. Having a private partner, private public partnership with city, state, and county is very important. It's critical for this building that is a public asset. But we've already put over 200 million in this building, you know, more than taxpayers, and we're willing to do that again.

But we do need that partnership. And we're going to make this place state-of-the-art, which our fans deserve. Well, I know everybody already loves lights and the show and the show and the kids. closer comes out and all that, so things are great. But I do need to ask you the most important question, what's your favorite food item that he introduced this year? Well, I think that big old chicken parm and meatball creation, I mean, who doesn't want to eat that, right?

But I also like, I'm a sucker for corn dog nuggets. And now upstairs at Sandlot snacks, you're going to have corn dog nuggets and mac and cheese bites for kids. Whoa. And they're going to get to make their own self-serve cotton candy? Cotton candy and popcorn machines. They get to pull their own. So that's going to be a lot of fun as well.

Yeah. Can I get down on that? Can I? You're a kid. I appreciate you, man. Yes, they're going to have self-served cotton candy machines for children. And when I say children, I mean me is what I really mean. So a lot of fun things to be happening over there at Chase Field and a lot of improvements still happening to that ballpark to make that fan experience better for all of us, those of us that work there and those of you that go there for games.

So very excited to see that and very excited to see them continue to improve that building. as time goes on. But we are we've gone on again much like Ryan Thompson. I've taken up way too much of your time. So we appreciate you guys so much. You can follow me at Twitter. I'm on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman. I'm also on Instagram sometimes. My guy Kev is at Kev-O posts. Our shows at PH&X underscore D-Backs. But as always, all roads lead to at pH andX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We have some exciting news coming on Friday. So make sure to join us then for that big announcement. And of course, we got opening day less than a week away by the next time we do our next show so so much fun to be had can't wait

for the regular season d here but again appreciate you guys being here in the comments appreciate you guys stopping by michael says what could possibly go wrong when it comes to self-serve cotton candy who knows i can't wait to see how it plays out but uh again thank you guys so much for your time we will see you on friday until then have yourself a pleasant evening a wonderful Thursday. Behave yourselves and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun when Ryan Thompson stops by and calls you his dog.