PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Land of the Free, Home of the Braves

Episode Date: November 4, 2021

On this episode, Jesse and Derek are discussing the Atlanta Braves winning the World Series, Buster Posey announcing his retirement, and what we would want to see in our dream stadium for the D-backs. 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.

Hello and welcome to the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, known as your mayor of PHNX. And of course, this show is brought to you by the Draft King Sportsbook app. Go download the Draft King Sportsbook app right now, use our code of PHNX, and simply for betting $5 on any NFL team to win, you will get $200 in free bets should that team win their game. I would stay away from the Cardinals again. That's just because apparently they're playing all sorts of games with who's going to be their quarterback this weekend.

Don't believe the hype. It's probably going to be Colt McCoy. But find a safer bet if you want to get your $200 in free bets. Thank you guys so much for joining us. Of course, I am joined by my friend, my co-host, my vice mayor, the one and only thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. Jesse, the Braves are the World Series champions. They are your World Series champions. They are my World Series champions.

They are the World Series champions of the world. You called it. You called it. Derek. You called it yesterday. When we were on with Evan, we were like, oh gosh,

now that Derek said that, this isn't going to happen. It's going to have to go to game seven. Yeah, yeah, we kind of did. The jinx is over. The jinx is over.

There you go. The jinx is over. Yeah, what a day for the Braves. Obviously, this would have been probably a little more fun. they'd been able to wrap things up in game five in front of their home fans. And obviously, it's not quite the same experience when you do it on the road.

But I did enjoy seeing all of the teary-eyed Astros fans just devastated, you know, as the Braves hit one home run after another yesterday. But I mean, Jorge Solair. I mean, getting it started, he has been, he has really set the tempo in a lot of these games coming out of the gate, giving the Braves a big lead. I think it was in the second inning that he hit that three run home run. Correct. And yeah, I mean, he, I mean, great pick for World Series MVP. The man slug to 800 throughout the World Series. It's hard to ask for a whole lot more than that. Absolutely became a star this postseason. His name. Like he is somebody that when I watched the Diamondbacks

play the Braves, I was very impressed by. But for him, he looks like a star. Like he has the build. Like you watch Jorge Salair hit a home run. You're like, that guy's like a superstar, right? Like he's like one of the best in the game, right? And he looked it in the World Series. That's for sure. Second Cuban-born player to ever win the MVP. And we also got the pleasure of seeing what was once ours, Dansby Swanson,

hit yet another home run in the World Series. Oh, man. It was painful. It was painful. No, you know what was painful. But it seemed right. Here's where I am going to say that at the end of that game, Danzby Swanson was interviewed,

and this entire situation just seemed to be the right thing for that young man. He said after the game, you know, he grew up in, and George. he's from Atlanta. He's like, this is four Atlanteans. He's just so proud to be a part of that team, that experience. I'm happy for him. You know what I mean? Like, it just seems like such a wonderful experience.

I couldn't help. But every time he referenced God putting him where he needed to be or God placing him in this position to think that by God, he meant Ken Kendrick or something. But, you know, because that's all that. I'm sure that's what he meant. that's all I could think in my head was no you got put in this position by a stupid ass diamond back I was frustrated I don't know if Ken Kendrick would be the one to blame even if uh he signs off

on the trades Derek I feel like I don't know I don't know I feel like he might be the like the wizard behind the curtain pulling some of these strings but that's only because I have a hard time imagining that a guy that loves baseball cards that much isn't going to eventually essentially just tamper in his own team just a little bit. It was great, though, to see that. And I'm not petty at all about it. I'm not mad about it. I sincerely mean that when I saw him and him, I mean, Dan to be Swanson, you know,

give this postgame speech and just be full of emotions. It was, it was beautiful. You know, it was beautiful. Freddie Freeman also gave a wonderful postgame speech. And like his was wonderful just because he was so. just overcome with the moment. Like he didn't even know what to say. He just couldn't believe that he was standing there talking to Ken Rosenthal

about being World Series champions. Interesting side note on what happened with Freddie Freeman. There was a little bit of controversy in the, and Joe Buck calling his home run that he hit. When isn't there a little bit of controversy with Joe? He sprinkle a little bit of controversy on everything. It makes everything a little bit better. Joe Buck basically referenced it being his last, potentially his last at bat as an Atlanta brave after he hit that home run.

And let's be honest, as journalist as writers, I think Jesse and I can both side with Joe just a little bit because you just kind of try to be a little bit more creative with your wording and with your writing when you're talking about this stuff. And if there's a fact that you can put in there just to kind of make the moment a little bit more exciting or have a little bit more weight or meaning, I feel like we try to do that and not do it in a disrespectful way. I don't think Joe Buck was trying to throw salt in an open wound or in this case, I don't even know if it was an open wound. He might have opened the wound himself with a little pocket knife and then thrown salt in it, right? It's something it's the last thing Braves fans wanted to hear. They were in their moment. they were already starting to celebrate. I'm sure they were still a little hesitant

because anything can happen, but when you have a lead like that and one of your players just hit a home run to add to it, I can only imagine how confident you feel that this is it. Game 6, I mean, even if we blow it, we still have game 7, but this is it. This feels like it's it. And then you have someone like Buck make a call

that just completely remind you that, you know, the guy that has easily been the best player for years on your team and a leader is most like, not going to be back next season. It just, it seemed like a very bad moment for it. But again, I think I understand why he did it. And I completely, again, as someone that has written

562 Star Wars puns in his articles over the various Star Wars nights I've covered over the years at Chase Field, sometimes you just, sometimes you just want to be a little more creative with your wording, you know? They do love their Star Wars nights. nights at Chase School. That's for sure. That's a, that's a staple. Yeah, I think you're, I think you're right that this was, in one sense, it kind of makes sense where Joe Buck is coming. He's not wrong. I mean, it is a little weird that Freddie Freeman is not under contract going into next season.

And honestly, at this point, I think the Braves sort of have to bring him back. I mean, they just won a World Series with him and he was everything they really could have imagined that he would be in the postseason. He really had a great, a great postseason overall. And in the World Series, he had an OPS of almost a thousand. So Freddie Freeman was at the top of his game. And I love the fact that he hit a home run in, in this game, just because of what he's meant to that franchise for so many years. I mean, Freddie Freeman has been synonymous with the Atlanta Braves for a long, long time. And he's been, you know, one of the best in the league alongside Paul Goldschman. It was really him and Goldie for a number of years as to, you know, who was the best

first baseman. But yeah, I mean, Joe Buck, like we've said, is, is no one really likes him. And the fact that that is still very much the case following last night doesn't really surprise me. But I understand Braves fans getting a little frustrated. Like, yes, it is true. Maybe Freddie Freeman won't be back next year. But, you know, we're about to win the frickin' world series. So let us have our moment and, you know, don't get in the way here. So I think there's a, there's a pretty valid case to be made there. Maybe this is something that Joe Buck could have, you know, brought up at a different time when, when the Atlanta Braves weren't literally right on the verge of closing the, closing the deal in Houston. Yeah, I think that's, that's probably it. That's probably really what

it comes down to is, is there might have been just a better time to deal with it. But, you know, I'm not going to, I'm not going to, you know, dwell on it. I don't really think it's that big of a deal. I am also not a Braves fan, so I can't speak on it. I know how much, I know how much some of that stuff drives me nuts when I'm watching my favorite team in any sporting event, right? So I don't know. If, if the Diamondbacks in 2019 had somehow magically been in the World Series picture and it

was brought up that Goldie wasn't under, you know, that he might walk, this might be his last game. How would we have felt? I don't know. I guess maybe that would have that would have gotten us mad in the same way it got Braves fans mad. Yeah, absolutely. You know, you're just saying that infuriates me just a little bit. Yeah, because at that time, I mean, especially if the Diamondbacks were in a World Series, which obviously was far from the case in 2019, they were not exactly on on that kind of a trail. But if they had been, I mean, we would have been more attached to Goldie than ever, right?

Yeah. It would have been unthinkable that we weren't going to bring him back. So Diamondbacks fans, it's not, we have a stud first baseman too in our franchise history. It was here for a long time. I think we can kind of understand where Braves fans are coming from. Absolutely. Freddie Freeman might be leaving the Braves, but we definitely know that Buster Posey is, in fact, leaving the San Francisco Giants, as he has announced that he is retiring.

Crazy. Buster Posey is retiring. I don't even know how to react to this. because I don't feel like I've even had time to process this information. I was doing the Cardinals podcast before this one, Jesse, and I am still just sitting here racking my brain about Buster Posey retiring. On one hand, I don't know if, you know, if I feel like this is probably the right time for him. If he feels like it's the right time, obviously it is.

It's up to the person. I just also, I don't know. I think in sports, I have a lot of respect for guys that hang it up when they don't feel like they're really good. Yeah, when they're still really good or when they don't feel like they're playing at the elite level. Maybe they once were, but they're still good enough to play in this league. And they're still good enough to be a major league ball player probably for a number of years, you know, after this. We have no idea what's going to happen with the collective bargaining agreement. We have no idea what's going to happen with the DH and the national league.

there's a lot of there's a lot of questions up in the air so i i find it interesting that he's retiring before any of this stuff even gets answered uh i could understand not wanting to catch i was a heavy kid when i was uh in little league so of course i was put as catcher uh and left field and uh i didn't like catching at all not one i didn't like catching in little league either yeah it was the worst it really was and uh because no one can pitch none of the kids don't where the ball is going to be honest how many times did you get hit by the batter with his bat too like none of the kids could bat i got hit in the face mask all the time uh but yeah no i mean it was just one of those things that like i i have a very little experience catching and i all my memories are just terrible of being a catcher so i i can understand definitely wanting to not do that anymore i think there's a bad they're probably about to get the DH though. So like if that's what I mean, that's what I meant around, like he could have.

He could have found a spot for sure. Yeah. That's, that's the, that's the part is a little, that's what I meant about with so many questions up in the air that why we are, you know, why we're even, you know, why he's not waiting. But obviously, like you said, that shows that he doesn't really care if he can just hit and not have to be a catcher or whatever. He's, you know, stepping.

away from the in your life for a game like this. It's, uh, it's one thing to, you know, definitely play it, enjoy playing it and make a ton of money off of it. But I also understand at one point that you, you might, you might have all the money that you need and you might not necessarily need to keep playing in today's day and age in order for you to be financially secure. Yeah. There's side ventures. He's made about a hundred and $150 million. Yeah, I think he'll be all right, Derek. Right.

And, well, and I mean, I think that's a big part of the game that's changing, right? You look back 50 years ago when guys used to pitch into like an older age and a lot of it was because athletes weren't compensated like they are today. And I don't even mean like, oh, back then they were still great. But no, like athletes at one point were not paid great money like they're paid now, right? It's a completely different thing now with the huge machines that all of these. sports have become as far as generating revenue and all of that. It's still, you know, something that I feel like more players should, you know, should probably walk away at a younger age, you know, walk away before you develop a permanent

limp, you know, I don't know. That seems like a good idea to me. Baseball is probably not as hard on the human body as some other sports. But playing catcher, though, I don't know. you're right. Like being a catcher, there's definitely, uh, there's definitely an extra level to that. Um, and Buster Posey, I mean, he's played his share of first base, but he's still played, I think, more than 70% of his major league games as catcher. So he's still, uh, and even this last year, he was still predominantly a catcher for, uh, for the giant. So, but yeah, I mean, the crazy thing here,

obviously, Derek is that Buster Posey is still really freaking good. Uh, he was, he didn't look so good in 2019. In 2019, he had a sub seven hundred. OPS. It was like, you know, Buster Posey's kind of just like a nice player, like, you know, good, good leader to have in your clubhouse, but he's not really the player that he was. And this year, he came back and hit 304 with 18 home runs. He slugged about 500. He was incredible. Um, and yeah, I mean, I don't know, Derek, if you told me that Albert Pujols was still going to be playing, Buster Posey retired, I think I would have told you you were crazy. Crazy. They're crazy. Albert Gulls is still finding a job.

So I'm out with the Dodgers of all teams. And Buster Posey won't be with the Giants next year. For the Giants, I must say, Joey Bart is probably going to be pretty dang good. So they'll have their catcher here soon. They'll be just fine. Yeah, they'll probably be just fine. But, I mean, Buster Posey's shoes are, you know,

huge to fill regardless of what kind of prospect status Joey Bart has at this point. But here's a crazy, here's a crazy number just to build on what you said. You said he hit 304 this season. Yep. his career batting average is 302. Yeah, he had a better than average season. He has the sixth highest batting average among active players,

and he's fourth of all active players in games played as a catcher with 1,093. He's been in the league for 12 years. This is his 12th season. 12th season, yes. In the major league. And, I mean, yeah, I think on one hand, he's 34 years old at this point. And as far as... He still kind of looks like he's about 26 to me.

Buster Posey's face, never really. He's always going to look like he's 26. He's going to be 64 and he's going to look like he was 26. I just think, I don't know, man. I always think that we as fans, we as people that want to be these athletes at time, we can't fathom walking away from this, you know? But I imagine sometimes these athletes can't wait to go on and start their next life,

you know, their next part of life, the next chapter. Yeah. Especially if they find themselves not in love with the game anymore. I still to this day cannot believe I get to do this job, Jesse. And as a matter of fact, working for PHNX was literally for me a dream come true. Getting to work with you, getting to work at this website, it has been a dream come true, right? covering baseball, I still remember how excited I was nine years ago covering my first game and how thrilling it was to be in the clubhouse and to be riding in the elevator.

It's surreal. But that doesn't mean that now in the 2021 season, Jesse, then at times, your boy, the mayor of PHNX, is sick of going to Chase Field. And I only say that because like anything, it's a job, right? And so no matter how much you love something, no matter how much you still love it, I love baseball more than any other sport. It's ridiculous. At times I feel like maybe my love has died a little bit because of how much I cover it as a job. Yeah. I just, I realize that when I go out and watch, you know, Arizona Fall League and I sit there and I'm just like, you know, I love it.

I'm like my soul feels filled up with baseball. I'm actually watching live baseball in front of me, right? But again, it doesn't mean that there aren't times where I don't want to go to Chase Field, where I'm tired of being at work where there's other places I would rather be. And the difference is that I haven't made $150 million in career earnings. So I don't have the luxury of being like, you know what? I'm kind of done doing this, right? And I don't think I would. I love this.

And one of my, one of the best parts about this job is in my head, I often think about me being like 70 and still doing this exact thing, still watching basic. baseball still being a blowhard and still given my unqualified opinion on it all the time, right? But, you know, I don't know. I just, I can, I can definitely understand guys like Posey walking away. And I understand it will be confusing to some people. But, you know, it's some, some athletes, you know, they, they just want to do something else. My favorite thing, and this is something I tell anybody that feels like their life is never going to get any better or they wonder why things happen. or how these changes happen. There's a movie, and it's one of my favorite movies.

It's called Death Becomes Her. It stars Bruce Willis. Goldie Hawn is in it. I know this comes as a shock, but I haven't seen it, Derek. I, what? Jesse, you haven't seen a movie? Yeah, no, okay. So the whole thing about Death Becomeser, it's like,

it's a really dark comedy, right? And it's about Merrill Streep and Goldie Hawn, and they are both kind of they're they both like once had a relationship with Bruce Wellis and his character and this movie gets all crazy because basically he's like a

he becomes like a he does makeup he's makeup artist right and they they are they take this potion to live forever but their bodies break down so they become kind of like walking zombies so he has to like still help them as they like

damage themselves like fix them themselves up to like look like normal humans and like someone. It's a, it's a crazy, it's a ridiculous story. But the end of it has just this scene where they basically talk about Bruce Willis's character that nobody knows his anything about his life during his funeral before he was 50. Like everything that everybody that's in that room, his family that he has now, all of these great friends he's made, everybody, it was all after this one point in life, right? So, I mean, that to me is something I always think about, about turning the chapter.

Like, you never know, even if you were this all-star baseball player, you never know if the real thing that you were meant to do is that next chapter, you know? Some people don't ever want to leave the, the athlete baseball chapter. Some people literally stay in that chapter their entire lives, you know, they move from being a player to being a coach and they never leave baseball. But I, I could totally see other people wanting just something more, you know, or at least the, the opportunity to go out there and find new challenges in life. I still wouldn't leave baseball if I was hitting over 300, though, and that's still crazy to me. He's one of, there are not many catchers who have a career batting average over 300. I think he's one of three, I want to say. There's not many people. I mean,

they, I mean, catchers, the very best hitting catchers usually do it with their power, if anything. There aren't that many guys who hit for average who are catchers. So as much as we may not like the giants around here, Buster Posey is sort of a legend. And I'm willing to, I'm willing to say that on microphone because, I mean, he's a pretty fun catcher to watch. I mean, he's no one better than Buster Posey at that position for,

for a while. Maybe Yadier Malina is up there. But I don't know. It's really close. I'm with you, man. Tip of the cap to Buster. Absolutely. And tip of the cap to you guys for checking us out.

and being a part of the show. Just remember, you can go over Draft Kings right now, Draft King's Sports Book, which, by the way, they are the official sports betting partner of the NFL, and new customers can bet just $5 on any NFL team to win their game. Use our code of PHNX, and if you do win that game, you will get $200 in free bets.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner. It's that simple. Our man, Michael, likes the fact that I call myself Mr. Parley. He said it might even be a bigger, better nickname than the mayor of PHNX. I don't know. I like them both. I'm not getting rid of,

either of them. But I am Mr. Parlay, and I do like to combine my multiple bets for same games for a bigger payout. The more legs you add, the more money you can win. And that's something I've been doing. And then I gloat about it on the Betts podcast. And I feel like I'm smart. And you can do that with your friends. You can even come on the Bet's podcast in the comments and gloat about your parlays that you hit. And you can do that all in the Draft King Sportsbook app. Draft Kings is safe, secure, and reliable. Best of all, you can deposit and withdraw your cash whenever you want. That code again is PHNX to get those $200 in free bets. As long as your team wins, you just have to bet that $5.21 and over only, Arizona only, gambling problem, dial 1,800

next step, new customers only, eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com slash sportsbook for details. And also, Jesse, you and I have been covering all of these hirings, all of these awards, all this stuff going on with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Yeah, we had news. We had news, breaking news multiple coaches have been signed we got award season uh replacing tank season everything is really good right now and you can get all of that content over on go p hnx.com sign up to become a member remember annual members will get that three t-shirt over at the p hnx locker dot com and i'll again tell you guys a little secret uh we might be having a code around when baseball season starts but you might want to go check out the coyotes and the suns they might have a little offer for you to make that deal even

sweeter. But again, if you're doing, love what you're doing over here. Come over and become a member. We call you guys members because you're not subscribers, your family members. Become a member of the family today. You'll either get that free t-shirt of your choice for the annual membership, or if you sign up for the month-to-month option, you'll get your first month for just 50 cents. Again, get a little taste of it and see what we have, see if you like it. And then if you do like it, stick around, become an annual member after that point. That's something you could totally do. So, but again, join us and you'll get on our Discord, which I'm still going to say incorrectly because I like to. And you can chat with us about Diamondbacks News.

You can tell us what you think about these coaches. I know that we are both very excited about the Diamondbacks recent hirings. And we are so excited that we are going to have Jeff Bannister, the new bench coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks, on this very podcast tomorrow. Yes. You can't wait to talk to him. Just a very interesting person with a wealth of knowledge in baseball. And somebody who Jesse and I very, very much respect in regards to his background. And I think what we both believe he's going to bring to this team.

Yeah. Jeff Bannister is, I mean, this is a big name. We talked about it how he's got, you know, he's got some serious managerial experience. And, you know, a great candidate for this. We're both excited about his future with you. organization and yeah man tomorrow live at 6 p.m. join us ask questions in the chat we're we're excited to chat with jeff definitely yeah ask please bring your questions in the in the chat we will be more than happy to get those over to him or answer them ourselves i want to apologize by the way

a couple of times when we do this live show i am at the helm for a lot of things here production-wise. And as you know, I'm not the quickest of cats at the best of time. So let's just, I just want to apologize because sometimes I've missed the comments. And Jesse and I promise that we'll definitely do our best to not only see those, but make sure we get your comments and your questions answered for sure. Again, we can't appreciate the feedback and the support enough. And we definitely want to make sure that when you guys are here watching the live show with us, we definitely get your questions and your comments.

there. Jesse, you actually have a fascinating premise to bring up in regards to the Arizona Diamondbacks. There's been a lot of chatter about the Arizona Diamondbacks leaving Chase Field. Some of that chatter has been about them traveling even outside of Arizona to a different city. But the majority of the more reasonable chatter has been about the Arizona Diamondbacks, possibly finding a new location for their ballpark, for them to, play baseball. So you have an idea about us kind of fantasy booking where we would like to see the Arizona Diamondbacks play. And I love this idea so much. So I want to start off by giving you the floor and hearing where you would like to see the Arizona Diamondbacks play. Yeah, this question

stemmed from, I don't know, we've talked a lot, especially the other day we were talking about food and someone had asked what our favorite food items at Chase Field were, and we mostly just talked about how angry we were that a lot of the food items are gone. We spend a lot of time talking about negatives of Chase Field for a good reason. It's not, you know, it's not the facility that I think we really wish the Diamondbacks had access to. And so I came out with the question, like, what would it look like? What would the dream Diamondbacks facility look like? And so, yeah, for me, Derek, I think it's start.

out with knocking out about 10, 12,000 seats from where we're at right now. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm thinking about 35, 36,000. Maybe up to the upper 30s, something like that. But I don't even want to touch the 40s. I know people say that people say like, yeah, this place gets filled though when the playoffs are here. And that's great.

But it doesn't feel great on a Monday night, you know, when the place is less than half full and it just looks ridiculous. right here's the thing you can't you can't do it based on how you're going to fill in the playoffs you do it based on how you're going to fill in the regular season and i'll bring this up the phoenix sun's changed phoenix sun's arena which is now the footprint center uh formerly america west arena formerly the u.s airways arena formerly nine billion names right but the one thing that they changed inside was they did remove uh seats i think they went down about i could be wrong about this but i remember i think they went back down down about 2,000 seats, right? Now, that doesn't actually make sense to me because I feel like they could fill them, right? They absolutely filled them. When you talk about filling them like you talk about, they filled them last year during the playoffs. They filled that place up.

And they can on a regular season night, they can feel that place up, right? But that's kind of the point, is not going into a giant airplane hanger and being there by yourself with, you know, like no matter how much I run around, I can't bump into another person kind of nights. Like, that's crazy. It's crazy to have that many seats when you're not, in the last five years, you're not getting close to filling that place up. Don't get me wrong.

I know people come out to watch the opposing team. I have Dodger friends in L.A. that talk about how much they like coming out to Chase Field for the games. They love how cheap the parking is and how close it is to the stadium. They love everything about it. They think the ballpark sucks, you know, but they also think that it's great to come to this game and be around, you know, 20,000 other Dodgers fans. And yeah, right, everything. Everything is so much more affordable, right? I mean, it kind of reminds me of going on vacation

to someplace that isn't L.A. or Las Vegas or whatever. And like, I get to the hotel and I'm like, all right, how much is parking? And they're like, oh, it's free, sir. And I'm like, what? Yeah. Free parking. It is pleasantly surprised. Like what on earth. Yeah. So, I mean, I don't know. I think that for me personally, I couldn't agree more about the reduction of seats. And I would probably, I don't know what the smaller ballparks in MLB are at capacity-wise. But there are some in the 30s. There are like, Target Field in Minneapolis, similar market size. I think they're in the upper 30s.

I think they're around. Well, maybe they touch 40, but I think it might be upper 30s. It's in that neighborhood for sure. It seems so completely unnecessary to me. And to be honest, removing some seats would allow them the ability to update the park similar to what they did with the footprint center, where they could make some changes to the ballpark for the better that would improve the experience. Yeah. Not to hop in on what you were saying, but another thing that I realized during the World Series that I want is a, if I know we're going to have to have a roof. Right, right.

We need a different roof. We need a different roof. Like the Astros roof and the way it opens is so much different when it's completely open than Chase Field. Like it just, it looks nicer. Like my wife said, she's like, you know, for having a retractable roof, it doesn't look like they actually have a retractable roof. You know, like when it opens up completely, there's just this, I guess there's this clean design to it where you're not. It just feels like you're outside and it's normal looking. Right.

And we have these innovations and roof designs like what they did at Atlanta, right? I think that was the Mercedes-Benz dome that has like the twisting and opening roof like a circle in the middle and stuff. Yeah, they've probably some wacky roof designs. Yeah, there's a and honestly now there's enough time behind some of them to see which ones are more effective and which ones aren't, you know, like to see if the design like that one would work for Arizona or not. I know that you can't really compare our ridiculous, this ridiculous. the sun in the sky in this desert to a lot of places. You know, the damage it does is ridiculous. So, you know, there's definitely some things keep in mind that other cities are never

going to have to deal with. I just, man, a cleaner roof design would definitely be at the top of my list. I would love to see more. And this kind of goes along with what you just said. Maybe I don't know if this is possible just given the sun in the desert. But I would love to see more natural lighting. like even the parts of the stadium that aren't open, you know,

have more glass, have more windows, have more things that people can see outside of. Because I think that's where your airport hangar vibe comes from. It does. It's a very, it's a very dark kind of a place. Like even if it's a warehouse.

It's like a big warehouse. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a warehouse that has, you know, these stadium lights on the inside. But you feel,

you don't feel like, you know, it's super sunny outside when you're there in an afternoon game. You feel like, you know, you're just inside. and there's all these artificial lights lighting the stadium in front of you. And it's so beautiful when it's open.

You know what I mean? Yeah. When Chasefield is open, it's not bad. It is not a bad place to play baseball. But when that roof is closed, man, it's like it really gives off the airport hangar vibe. It is, it is a mall. And with all of the food options, you know, being tossed out the window, it's not even a very good mall anymore at this point. Yeah.

Here's something I'll give you as far as the location goes. I would I would love to see it located at Salt River Fields. And I say that just because I would love to see them just have this amazing singular facility. And I know that might be a little bit much, you know, because obviously. Would you play spring training games in, in like the regular season stadium? So you would have, you would just build an additional stadium over, wow, okay. I'm crazy. I know, I'm crazy.

Well, here's why is there's a lot of land over there. There is a lot of land. That's true. I think that area is going to continue to evolve. It's going to continue to have attractions and it's going to be a place that you're going to want to go. Well, it's technically Scottsdale, right? Yes, right. Yeah. So it's got attraction.

Well, it's, you know, it's the, it's the salt river land. You know, so it's like it's on an Indian community. Right. Right. Right. And they, I don't know, they have like very, very. I think that area is going to blow up. And I think of what we've talked about so often with Colorado and what Colorado has done with their surrounding area and the mall

and how enjoyable it is just to be over there. Even if it's not an area like that, I would love to see them close to something like the Tempey marketplace, kind of like where Phoenix Rising's pop-up stadium was. Yeah, 10-B is nice too. Just something close to a thriving shopping center that is going to have a lot of food options and a lot of options on stuff to do.

I love downtown, and I think that if Chase Field went away, it would be devastating to downtown. It really would. I mean, for Christ's sakes, Jesse, they made the canteen, the Taco Bell can'tina, the only Taco Bell that you can get alcohol in,

they changed the hours to be no more long, they're no longer open on the weekends at all. and their hours are like 11 to 3 Monday through Friday. Yeah. For a Taco Bell that serves alcohol, Jesse, what? Are the people that are working in downtown Phoenix and getting lunch there also drinking margaritas with an extra shot of tequila in it like I get? No, no, they're not, Jesse. So I don't understand the point of this.

It just goes to show how little business there is downtown for even something like the Taco Bell can'tina to remain open. Downtown has like, it does have it spots, I feel like. Like Phoenix downtown, I swear every time I come back to Phoenix like every two months, there's a new building that's gone up. And I, and I love, right, and I love downtown Phoenix. One of the things I do like about it as a local is, and I think I've said this before, I just don't know on this podcast, you kind of have to know the secret handshake, right? You can't go to downtown Phoenix and just be like, oh, where's the cool area?

Oh, I see. It's this strip of street with all these cool businesses on both sides of it. We don't have that. And other cities do like Austin. And I'm not going to go as extreme as say Bourbon Street. But it's like it's kind of like that Bourbon Street feel where you just, you know there's a part of town where there's all the all the partying is going at. It's Scottsdale, I guess, for us versus our downtown area. So that's why Scottsdale tends to be a little bit more popular.

Right. but downtown has so many cool spots they're just spread out and some of them are like you have to take stairs downstairs or they're a speakeasy next to a pizza place or whatever and so like that part of it for me that knows about these places is cool but when you're somebody that's not familiar with downtown or you're a visitor or anything like that you're going to think downtown is a pretty lonely miserable place after you walk out of chase field at like 10 o'clock at night after there's nothing immediately around chase field that's a very very That just pops you. You're like, oh, let's go over to that bar. Rush, that place looks fun. Especially south of the stadium. There's basically. Oh, don't go south.

South of the stadium. Don't ever go south. Go south before the game, get Lolo's chicken, maybe go over to the deuce. That's not really south. It's more parallel. But yeah, don't go south. You'll, I've had. And like, the worst part about it isn't like, oh, terrible things happen to people that went south.

No, they just, they didn't find anything. And it was a miserable time. They were like, we ended up eating a jack in the box. I'm like, you went south. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we did. That sucks. I'm sorry, guys, I should have told you.

But no, I think location for me is really big. And I'm not even, and I'm saying that as someone that probably where Chase Field is at right now is probably the closest location that it could possibly be to me. So wherever, if they did move it, I know it would be a longer drive for me, you know, probably not West Valley. I'm guessing. Probably not. No, I feel like the coyotes. probably going east. The coyotes have proven that that was an absolute failure to go to the West Valley.

I think the biggest thing with the coyotes that was a lack of, like, the coyotes had this information available to them and they didn't pay attention to it. But the majority of their season ticket holders were in the East Valley. What a bold mistake to move not only away from your season ticket holders, but much further away. You know, you're talking about now an hour-long commute just about for someone that goes to a coyote's game that lives in like, you know, East Mesa or, you know, one of those far outlying areas east of here, you know, Gilbert, Chandler, stuff like that.

So I don't know. I hope that whatever decision they make, it's in the best interest of whoever the majority of their ticket, you know, their season ticket holders are that that should be the first group of people that are. I like and believe the Diamondbacks still have some season ticket holders. There's a few of you out there, right? I don't know, man. I'll tell you, it looks bleak at times.

But going back to these hiring that they've had, I don't feel like things are so bleak any longer. I think that they, like, it feels like a real game plan now. You know, you see them bring in someone like Mather that took a really good potential hitting team, like the Reds that were just kind of mediocre and made them great. You have a guy like, you know, Jeff Bannister, who is going to come in here with his experience of developing players

and be an additional mind on the bench for Lovolo to bounce ideas off of and to get, you know, thoughts on, on, you know, everything, just someone to back him up. Yeah. It's kind of like the Cardinals. The Cardinals have such depth on the, on the team that they even have depth at quarterback, or I'm sorry, at coach. So when Cliff Kingsbury went down with COVID, they had Vance Joseph step up. The Diamondbacks have that kind of.

depth now. Like, they literally have a guy that if Tori Lovolo wasn't able to be present, he could step up. We have a guy now that's so qualified that it's causing fans to start saying, well, if this team doesn't do good halfway through the season, we might see Jeff as the guy, right? So, and that's not that far off either. I don't, I, I, I hate talking about, uh, blaming Tori Lovolo and, and, uh, we've talked about it so much and, and just about, uh, you know, the performance of this year falling on on him. But you can't help but acknowledge that if they do this bad again next season, without the injury excuses or without other things that went wrong for this team this season,

then there's a good chance of Lovolo could be on a very short leash as far as the success of this team or how things get rolling, you know. Yeah, but we've got we've got some banister banter coming tomorrow. We got banister banter tomorrow. Check that out. Again, don't forget, go draft kings. sportsbook, use our code of PHNX, and for betting $5 on any NFL game, you will get $200 in free bets instantly as long as that team wins. Also, join us, become a member over at go phnx.com. We'd love to

see you guys become a member and read our stuff. We're going to continue to have articles pumping out. Jesse and I will have a few more things out this week. And we're also keeping our ear to the ground as far as the Arizona Diamondbacks hiring process. It sounded like there was still quite a few spots to fill. Though Bannister, it sounds like Bannister will be filling not one but two roles, as we discussed yesterday. He will be taking over. It sounds like Robbie Hammock's rolls as far as quality control, catcher, run game,

stuff, things like that, as well as being the bench coach. So again, we're going to keep on this thing, man, and hopefully we'll see the Arizona Diamondbacks turn it around. So far, so good, as far as we're concerned. We appreciate you guys checking out the show. if you are listening to this right now on your favorite podcasting app, please jump over to YouTube and subscribe to us there, sign up for notifications, and you will get all the notifications from all of your favorite Arizona sports.

We're always here. We're always doing it. Weekends, weekdays, if you're an Arizona sports fan, come be a member of our family. Also, sign up on your favorite podcasting app. Leave us a five-star review. We can't appreciate it enough. Again, if you don't think that I'm a five-star man, I understand, but you cannot deny that Jesse Friedman is a five-star man.

So leave us a five-star review, and we'll love you for it. Follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore K-man with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Vax, but of course all roads lead to PHNX underscore Sports. And that is on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys again for checking out the show and the support.

On behalf of Jesse and myself, we appreciate everybody tuning in. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you bet on it.