PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Melancon Mania

Episode Date: December 2, 2021

On this episode, Jesse and Derek are discussing the D-backs 11th hour acquisition of relief pitcher Mark Melancon, the inevitable start of the lockout, and why people are already so sad about 2022. 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 Debex podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am your mayor of PHNX, and I am joined by my mustache for just one more day before it's gone forever. This podcast is brought to you by the fine folks at the Drafking Sportsbook app. Go download the Draft King Sportsbook app now. Use our code of PHNX and simply for betting $1 on any NFL team to score. you will get $100 in free bet should they do that thing, that scoring thing, in any way, shape, or form. Of course, I am joined by my co-host, my friend, my vice mayor of PHNX.

It is the one and only Jesse Friedman. Jesse, how is the weather in Seattle, Washington today? You know, it's shocking. It was, I actually am not sure if it rained today, which is a rarity around here, Derek. You don't understand. I just had so so in the month in the month of November, I think, I think it's set a record for, for the most rain in the month of November here in Seattle. I think we got over 10 inches, which is, which is larger than like the annual rainfall in Phoenix. So.

Correct. It is. Yeah, it's a whole whole other world here. But anyway, how did you know. No one's here to talk about the weather. Yeah. Especially the weather in Seattle. I don't think.

Yeah. No, no, let's talk about how great the weather is in Phoenix, shall we? I was sweating today, Jesse, merely because I wore sweatpants. You know, it's December 1st. Why did you wear sweatpants? I thought it was time to kick the shorts. You know, December 1st, the high was dipping down just below 80 degrees, but not today. Today it was a beautiful 83, and I should have kept with the cargo shorts.

but I'm not here to talk about weather or my wardrobe. I am here to talk about the Arizona Diamondbacks making quality free agent moves, Jesse. What the hell is going on? They got Mark Malanson, Derek, and I can't really believe it myself in some ways. I mean, Mark Malanson is good. I mean, right? I don't want to say I was expecting the Diamondbacks to go out and get someone who is, who was not that, but that kind of was my expectation, right?

We've seen them go out and get guys like Joachim Soria, you know, guys like Greg Holland, who were several years past their prime. And Mark Malanson is certainly no spring chicken. He's about to turn 37 years old himself. So in that regard, he's very much in the same place as a lot of the Diamondbacks closers that have preceded him. But he's just been far and away better of late than all of those guys. were when they came over.

Last year, a 223 ERA. You know, the strikeout numbers are still, are still pretty good for him. But that's not really what he relies on. Mark Melanson is a cutter artist who's been doing, who's been killing guys with his cutter for years and years in this league. He was an all-star last year with the Padres. He led all of Major League Baseball with 39 saves. It's a, it's a good day to be to be a Diamondbacks fan here today.

as, you know, I tweeted this out. I think this is probably the most high profile relief pitcher, the Diamondbacks have signed since Mike Hazen took over. Career 2.79 ERA over 13 seasons. Not easy to do. No. Not easy to do. His ERA in 2020, 2.78.

So dead on last year, like you said, an all star in his one season with the Padres, 2.23 ERA and again led all of baseball somehow with 39 saves, which doesn't seem right. But they're just, I think teams have moved away from the traditional closer role. So you don't see the one guy necessarily racking up the saves as much as we've seen in the past. But I mean, he's had a few seasons of some pretty incredible save numbers, including leading the league in 2000. 15 with 51 saves, 47 and 2016. So a guy that definitely is, you know, is going to solve, hopefully for the Arizona Diamondbacks, a lot of their ninth inning issues with the bullpen, which is one of their

biggest issues, right? I mean, it really, at times, you've seen a couple of guys step up to the plate and be solid for this team, even out of the bullpen, despite the fact that, They were few and far between, but like, Noeer Ramirez, for instance, was a guy that became very reliable for them in like the seventh inning, eighth inning kind of situation, right? But I can't tell you how many games I saw where they went to somebody else in the ninth and, you know, I watched the game get blown.

So this is very, very encouraging. It's a two-year deal. It's not that expensive, but it was enough to attract somebody. of Melisand's caliber. I think the other thing that's interesting here, too, is he's another one of these guys that went in the draft right out of high school. He was drafted in the 30th round by the Dodgers. Then he decided to go back to college, went to University of Arizona.

Right here, right here in Arizona. I don't know if you know that, but it's here in this state, Tucson. And again, he seemed excited to get back. And he even gave us a bear down today in the... He did. in the press conference. So that was kind of cool. And I think, you know, the one thing he said was that looking at this team as a person

that pitched against them, as an opposing pitcher, he did not think that this team was a 110 loss team. Sure. He thought this was a very good team with a lot of potential. I think the fact that he, you know, has spent time in Arizona was obviously attractive to him. And I think the Diamondbacks definitely needed to be a little aggressive in the free agency market when it came to addressing their bigger, their bigger needs. And right now, their bigger needs are the bullpen and the outfield, right?

That's what, I mean, third base, too, I don't even get me started on their needs. I don't, this is, I could go down a whole track. But definitely the bullpen, I think, was the first thing they needed to address at this point. one one take that i saw on twitter today that i will say kind of puzzled me is some people express frustration just in that you know the closer is is the last thing that they need right now they have other they have other you know bigger needs to fill on this roster i don't really understand that because the diamond backs just won 52 games right i mean they need like like need is a very relative term, right?

They need someone to play almost every position in some sense, right? Because in almost every position, the diamondbacks were very bad last year, right? Even the guys that, uh, that, you know, had consistent playing time and, and whatnot and guys who maybe we have some hope for moving forward. There weren't really a whole lot of guys who were particularly good last year, just as they were, right? This team has needs all over the roster. And when they're not going to go out and spend that much money,

I frankly, Derek, I don't want to say I don't care, you know, what positions they target with that money, but it's not that much money, right? Like it's not going to make a huge difference whether they spend their several million dollars on a closer versus whether they spend their several million dollars on a third basement or whatever, right? And I do still think they're going to get a third basement at some point. I fully expect that to happen. I think they're also based on what Mike Hazen said today, they're not done adding to this bullpen. he has spoken very, very strongly of his desire to continue to improve the team's depth at the back end of that bullpen. And Mark Melanson is a big part of that.

And I mean, I understand, you know, maybe third base in some sense is a bigger need. But at the end of the day, the diamond backs aren't going to, you know, they're not going to go get Chris Bryant, right? And so at this point, the diamond backs are just kind of finding guys who fit the roles that they do need to fill. And Mark Millanson does that well, and he's doing it at a pretty affordable price. I will agree with what people are saying just because there are a lot of things this team needs to fix. Right.

However, with that being said, we, I don't think we really know what some of these guys can do until they have a chance to be under this current pitching. Excuse me, not pitching staff, coaching staff by Tori Lovolo, French Strom, Joe Mather, Jeff Bannister. I feel like deep down inside when we talk about all of these things that have heard us, all of these players that have left the Arizona and Diamondbacks and gone elsewhere to do great things, we always ask, why, why did that happen? How? How could this happen? What?

who, Scherzer, Ray, you know, like all, again, there's not even that many, right? We create this fiction in our head because we've lost a few big ones, but overall, there's really not that many, as you and I have talked about in the past,

that you can go back and say, wow, the Diamondbacks really dropped the ball on this guy that went and was great elsewhere. There's plenty of guys that they couldn't afford, right? Like Paul Goldschmidt and such, that they left, because they weren't going to be able to afford them. So they either traded them away to get something else

or they left in free agency. I will never forget you, J.D. Martinez. Yeah. But it's not to say those guys were like a surprise that they went elsewhere and were astronomically good where they went. It's just the ones like Robbie Ray, for instance, who had his shining moments here. He had some bright spots.

But for the most part, kind of was average and not, a Cy Young award candidate at any point by any stretch of the imagination while he was a member of this team. Nothing changed with Robbie Ray. He's still the same person. He's still the same athlete. So the only thing that you can question there is the information being given to him and his coaching. And I think that's the thing that makes me very hopeful for this team and the improvements that the players who are on it can make. right but when it comes down to it they traded away wakim soria they did not um pick up the option on tyler clippard so they they don't really have options to go to this right now along with finding an actual third basement are priorities for this team to fill those holes before

you know any other relief pitcher in the bullpen and like i don't even get like that thought process that you're describing. I really don't. A closer is a very important role. And again, even if even if he doesn't end up as the closer, he's still going to be one of the quality relief guys in the bullpen. Also, he's a veteran with years and years of experience and enough years of experience that this man over a 13 year career has been able to average a 2.79 ERA, something few pitchers can do over the course of their career. They have. seasons where they got their ERA down to 2.79, but few pitchers can say over a 10 plus year career that their average is 2.79 for an ERA, right? So it's that experience and that

consistency that he can bring to this team and that it could potentially disseminate throughout, especially young pitchers that they bring up. We see the Diamondbacks have this like kind of philosophy on bringing young pictures up and making them relief pictures before they potentially move them to the starting rotation so that they can get their feet wet, right? That with someone like with Mark in the bullpen, that's a lot of experience. And that could be very beneficial once again to like Brent Strom's thought process of utilizing his veterans to help the young guys, you know, become better. I have a pretty mind-blowing tidbit on this signing of Mark Malanson.

You ready for this, Derek? This is pretty crazy stuff. So I was thinking about it today and digging through some contracts that the Diamondbacks have signed for relievers in the past. And I believe this is true. And it's hard to say because it shocked me so much. The Diamondbacks in this deal are giving Mark Malanson a guaranteed $14 million. dollars right it's six million dollars in 2022 six million in twenty twenty three and then there's a buyout for a mutual option after that so minimum this is a fourteen

million dollar contract uh if the diamond backs were to to decline or if either side were to decline that mutual option uh for 2024 14 million dollars Derek is the most the diamondbacks have ever committed in franchise history to a relief pitcher in the free agent market Which is crazy because 14 million is not that much money. That's really not. I mean, Kendall Graveman just signed for 24 million and he's not even, you know, he's not viewed as being the cream of the crop as far as relievers go, right? 14 million.

This is the biggest contract guarantee the Diamondbacks have ever dished out to a reliever in free agency. And it goes back to what I discussed in my article that I wrote the other day about the Diamondback's ongoing bullpen problems, they just don't spend money there. It's just not something they've done for years. And, you know, maybe this is, I mean, this is literally a big step in the, in an opposite direction for them, right? Giving Mark Melanson 14 million doesn't sound like a lot. But by the Diamondback standards, that's the most they've ever given out.

Yeah. And I think my, like you said, it's addressing the need. It's like why am I crazy because I'm excited that the Diamondbacks didn't make any huge free agency moves? Well, because they said they weren't going to, right? And if you have a plan, you should stick to your plan. I am not a smart enough individual to question someone of Mike Hazen's pedigree and his background in this sport. I will say that I trust him enough to allow him to like control my life. I would I would allow Mike Hazen to make all personal decisions for me as well as

professional decisions for me. If I had his direct number and I could bother him like that, I would run everything by Mike before I did anything in life. I will say that they were committed to this plan. And, you know, again, there were times where he retracted a little bit, saying that they were going to pursue some guys in free agency and that, you know, basically trying to make it sound like, yeah, I know I said that, but it still doesn't mean that we're not going to try to do everything we can to make this a better team.

And that's his goal at the end of the day. When you ask why they pursue Melanson instead of other pieces, because this was the piece that they had available to them. A lot of things have slipped through their fingers. Kirby Yates was someone they were interested in. He signed with the Braves. So Mlanson was somebody that's been on their radar for a bit, but they got aggressive, according to Hazen, in the last five days. And they really wanted to sign him.

I think they wanted to get this deal done prior to, you know, the end of the CBA and bring in somebody to solidify this rotation. There's a lot of things to be excited about with this team and the direction they're going, right? There's a lot of things that are positive without it being huge, drastic moves that involves spending a half, a billion dollars on players that you still kind of scratch your head about and wonder if they're going to make that team a contender in their division, right? If I spend a half a billion dollars in free agency, I want people to look at the moves I made and I want them to go, holy shit, we have to deal with that team now, right? That's what I want. That's what we got from the Dodgers at times. When the Dodgers made that trade with the nationals and they brought Scherzer and

Trey Turner in, that's the exact reaction people got. Even when the Padres spent all of their money last summer. They, their last offseason, they got that reaction. It didn't work out for them. It didn't translate to them winning this year, but they've signed a lot of those guys to long-term deals and they have plenty of time to still make something happen. It's just when they signed the players they did

and brought in the guys they did, it felt like it made an impact. I'm not sure if the Rangers have done that. I would rather that the Diamondbacks move quietly and make moves that are solid players like Melanson and without them necessarily being this big, you know, splash, this big newsmaking ordeal that brings all of this publicity of this team and increases the expectations for this team and increases the pressure. At this point, they need to still keep the expectations low.

But I like that they sign guys like this, right? I like that they brought in a coaching staff that you and I are completely wowed by and most of the world doesn't seem to be moved by outside of baseball people, right? Baseball people know what's going on. But again, the coaching signings that the Diamondbacks made, they didn't make some big splash either outside of, you know, people that root for this team and know a lot about the pedigree of these coaches, right? That it's quiet moves and I think that people are going to be surprised by how competitive this team is next season. Are they going to make the playoffs? Probably not, right?

But I do think that they are going to be way more competitive than we're giving them credit for. I will say this, though, going back to what those people said, it is not like the closer is the reason that the Arizona Diamondbacks lost 110 games. No, I mean, there's 26 reasons, basically. There are 26 reasons. Well, but no, here, let me just give you a stat, though, Jesse. This is just, this is an interesting stat. Sure. The Arizona Diamondbacks this season were 38 and 16 record-wise

when they had a lead after six innings, right? It's harmless enough of a stat, not a big deal. What I find to be absolutely horrifying is that the Diamondbacks only had a lead after six innings 54 times. In 54 games, the Diamondbacks had a lead after six. after six innings. And yes, 16 of those times they blew that lead. But only 54 times they had a, in 162 game season,

they had a lead after six innings. You can blame the bullpen because, yes, the Diamondbacks were playing catch-up, and in a lot of games I saw, they got close or they would have surpassed. Their opposition had the bullpen not given up three or four more runs while they were trying to catch up in the game. It still doesn't mean that this team had like this, you know, kind of situation where they were leading a whole bunch and then the bullpen was blowing it.

The bullpen was bad. But like you said, so was the rest of the entire team. So I understand people's frustrations with what's going on. And I understand people's frustrations with them going after a closer as their first major free agency market move. I just think it was the deal that they could get done right now. You know, Haysen said there was nothing else imminent at this time. And I don't know if he just met before the CBA ends or if he even means after it, right? They might, you know, excuse me, this might be a team that, again, really wants to see what these coaches can do with these players before making any drastic moves.

And does that make sense, though? because Hazen and Lavello, I think, still really believe in these players. Yeah. A lot. And I think they think that the coaching all of a sudden can turn a lot of these guys around. I'm not saying, I don't think that it's that crazy either. I really don't. I don't think that a lot of these guys, like,

I don't think someone like Christian Walker goes from hitting 29 home runs in one season to not being able to hit a home run at all anymore without it being a lack of, you know, information or too much information or maybe changes that were made to his, you know, approach at the plate that didn't benefit him or who knows what are the reasons. I'm not not all up in his business like that, but I will say that they definitely believe in the coaching staff that they've brought on. Christian Walker is an interesting one.

I think, I think there were definitely some injuries that played into, uh, to his struggles from what I've heard. Um, going back to Malanson, though. Mark Melanson is actually fourth among active players in saves. If you look at all of the relief pitchers across baseball, he's fourth among active players.

This is a tidbit from our guy Evan Thompson when I was talking with him on the phone earlier today. Yeah, he trails Craig Kimbril, Kenley Jensen, and Roldest Chapman. There you go. That's pretty, that's pretty decent company right there. That's pretty decent company. Yep. So, yeah. So this. This is, I mean, this is just exciting that the diamondbacks went out and did this. And, and yeah, I just think that, I mean, the diamond backs are probably going to spend about $15 million

this offseason, right? And no matter where you spend those $15 million, you're not, you know, if you had gone out and put two years and $14 million on a third basement, you're not going to move the needle that much. If you spend two years, $14 million on a closer, it's not going to move the needle that much, right? Like the diamond backs aren't spending the kind of money to make an enormous, enormous difference on this roster. But I think, and maybe people will view this as a negative thing, I don't know if Mark Melanson is going to be on the Diamondbacks for two years. I don't know if he's going to be on the Diamondbacks for one year.

This very well could be a situation where the team signs him and he has a really good first half and then he becomes a highly sought after a trade piece come to trade deadline. and that certainly feels like part of the Diamondbacks calculus in doing this, knowing that Mark Melanson is well respected around the league and probably would be viewed highly on the trade market come July. It definitely makes sense for the two-year deal as well, right? Because then they have that ability, since it's two-year deal, to trade and have something on it besides just that half a season rental for a team that is predictably going to be

in, you know, independent race, right? right um it definitely is a little bit more alluring and it also lines up with the timeline a little bit we've talked quite a bit about this team probably turning things around by 2023 so if he is still a member of this team he could be a valuable member of the bullpen by that point you know we'll see i would like to stop talking about diamondbacks trading players away already jesse please can we move away that topic just rejoice and having yeah let's just get can we just enjoy this for one fucking day before we start talking about trading the man away. But I will say this, here's something you can do with your $14 million. You can go on the Draft King's sports book and you can bet your $14 million there.

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Best of all, you can deposit and withdraw your cash. literally whenever you want, do it like I do at 3 o'clock in the morning when you panic and think about how much more Christmas shopping you have to do this holiday season because I know I am all tapped out. But remember, you don't have to be. You can get those $100 in free bets by using our code of PHNX and then turn those $100 and free bets into more money that you would draw at your convenience and then do all of your holiday shopping. We remind you again, that code is PHNX. 21 and over only Arizona only gambling problem down 1 800 next step new customers only eligibility restrictions apply see draftkings.com slash sportsbook for details. And Jesse it's nine o'clock right now here in Phoenix, Arizona, 9 p.m. on Wednesday. And we are one hour away from somebody, I imagine, walking into a room, standing on a desk and yelling the words, lock out.

Is that how it goes? Is that what happens? I don't know. I think of Michael Scott on the office when he declared bankruptcy, you know. Thought he just had to go in a room and yell. I declare bankruptcy, right? So I feel like that's what Major League Baseball is. People are getting very dramatic about this, Jesse.

I am glad that I am co-hosting a show with somebody who has so level-headed and has kept me so level-headed when it comes to this lockout situation. I think you and I are both very realistic about this. We know baseball has a lot to lose in this situation. So by no stretch of the imagination, can they really dick around and stretch this thing out into a long-lasting ordeal? I will say that my local news here in Phoenix, Arizona was covering the lockout in the strangest way. They covered the lockout by saying that spring training in Arizona is in jeopardy due to this lockout. that's happening.

That's the big headline. I have heard so many, like, I know the news uses fear mongering in order to get their point across or to get you kind of hooked on listening or staying tuned in. I don't understand this approach because they could just cover the lockout

and say that baseball is in jeopardy, right? There was no mention of the Arizona Diamondbacks at all. in this short story. They're looking for that local slants, right? And so screen training is the, is the connection to what's happening. It's the connection.

Well, they needed to take it a step further and talk about how badly this was going to affect our local economy and tourism here into the city and all of this other stuff. Look, it's not that they're wrong. It's just, there's plenty of time for this story. I guess if the lockout gets resolved, then you never. get to run it and you never get to scare people into thinking that their favorite thing to do in the month of March is not going to happen. But I just, I thought it was a little bit early.

I was like, this is like, let's, it's December. Like, run this story maybe if we're still in the lockout in January, which is totally possible. I'm not saying, I'm not saying, maybe a little early. Just maybe a little bit closer to when, you know, February, middle February, is versus doing it now, right? I think it, it's just, again, it's a bit dramatic when I feel like they're going to get a deal done because, let's be honest, they just don't have a choice to not get it done and to make this into a huge news story that, again, gets people to lash out against a sport that they already have shown at times that they don't care as much about anymore.

Well, we have, John Heyman is already tweeted here this evening on Wednesday night as we record. He says that MLB owners have voted unanimously to institute a lockout. It is expected to begin tomorrow talking about Thursday, but unclear what time. So there we have it, Derek. By the time this episode gets out to the people as they listen to this, it is likely that Major League Baseball is in the midst of a lockout. out that we expect once again will probably span about two two and a half months something like that there will be no more big epic free agent signings like what we had here today to talk about

it was fun it was fun it was fun yeah i mean this is like like we said the other day i mean this is like better than the trade deadline i mean it's like there's just so much there's just been so much happening uh in the free agent market the last few days it's been exciting to watch but um But yeah, I mean, this is the situation that Major League Baseball is in. And it is unfortunate. And I think there's a lot of people, like you've said, who are going to be put off by this a little bit. But at the end of the day, I think that the amount of damage that is done is could be pretty minimal as long as we don't lose any games. As long as we play the full spring training, the full regular season, I think that this is something people could put behind themselves pretty quickly.

quick. But that's a big if. I mean, these two sides are very, very far apart. It's kind of felt like the last few days, they're not even really trying. Like, they're not even really pushing to try to come to an agreement because they know that they can just go through this lockout procedure and, and, you know, try to get it done that way under a little bit more pressure. So I don't know. It reminds me of when I was in college and I wasn't able to get anything done until like an hour or two before the deadline. Were you that kind of college student, Derek? We're like, I'm still that kind of college student, Jesse.

I was the kind of sixth grader. I'm that kind of adult. I am that kind of parent. I absolutely wait until the last minute to get anything done. I don't know what to say about this other than we have said that the lockout was eminent. We have called it, you know, at times like, We knew there was no chance that they were going to get this deal done.

I think that what I'm reminded by is that even though it wasn't a CBA, even though it wasn't a lockout or a strike or anything like that, just in 2020 when they were trying to get back to baseball, we went through this. Yeah, we kind of did, didn't we? And it was ugly because it was this thing of how many games do we play, and we want this many games and this many games. And it was this ridiculous back and forth where it didn't really feel like the owners wanted to play baseball, right?

And I mean, again, the owners, if they weren't going to have people in the stands, they didn't have a lot of reason to open up the stadium, I guess. I don't know. I mean, I don't know what their motivations are at times. I don't know what kind of insurance clauses they have if the baseball season doesn't happen. And I have no fucking clue what happens with these owners. And few people do because they're not required to share any of this information with us. Really what the owners do is the owners make a ton of money and they don't disclose it. And they make baseball players out to be the greedy ones because a very small percentage of them make ginormous contracts like we saw signed over the last few days.

And again, that is such a small percentage of baseball players when you've found. factor in the entirety of MLB plus the entirety of the minor league system that it's it's it's probably like less than five percent of guys get those ridiculous contracts and the rest are you know are are in some cases barely making enough to get by in minor league players cases right yeah if you're in the majors then you know you do okay i mean the the major league minimum is like 600k which which is a pretty decent salary i mean you'll i'm not right on that. I'm not knocking it. It's a great job to have, especially if you're not a phenomenal lights out player, but you're consistent and you can have a good career. Someone like Mark Millison,

you know, 13 years at his level, I'm sure he's banked quite a, quite a few coins in his time, right? But I don't know. I'm just, I know how it's going to look. I know how it's going to look if it drags on. It's inevitable, just like it was inevitable that it happened, it's inevitable that it's going to drag on. And it's going to get to a point where it's going to most likely make both sides look bad and we'll come to agreement. But at that point, the, you know, the further erosion of people's love for this game will be done. You can't, you can't help that when you put people through this, that they're not going to like this thing as much as they did before, right? And I don't know.

I mean, I stopped watching whole shows because they changed a single character and never looked back and never got like, never even got curious about what happened in that show. The reason why, again, is because there's just so much media to consume. There's so much sports to consume. There's so much, you know, none of us,

none of us are getting around to everything we want to watch these days. not a single one of us. So you tell me that I can free up the 162 nights that I would normally spend devoted to a baseball team and I get to watch my Netflix and catch up on like Ted Lassow and stuff? Yeah, yeah, that sounds great.

That does not sound bad to me. It's not like it's going to hurt my feelings. There are people that won't leave this game. They won't stop being a fan no matter what, you know, they're put through. So I'm probably one of, them. No matter how badly I'm abused, I'm never going to stop loving baseball. It's done too much for me in my lifetime. I'm just, I'm just going to be flying solo next year covering this

baseball team because you're just going to be out. You're just going to be on on PHNX sons and all the time. She's going to be me over here. Here's the thing. I diversify my funds. I can't invest all of my emotional and physical everything into just baseball. So I try to try to keep it diversified, but I don't know, Jesse. I'm still very excited about the Diamondbacks. And if we're going to leave off, if we're going to have a cliffhanger for the end of a season of a show, I wanted to end on a cliffhanger with this much excitement as far as what the Diamondbacks have done so far.

And that's going to really piss some people off. They probably think I'm insane to be as excited. I think a lot of people here are. are about the very few moves they made, right? I'm letting you off easy here, Derek. You've said some, you've said some interesting things today. Like, like you were talking before about how you think that, you know, you're like, like, you're saying the other day,

like you're glad that the Diamondbacks are sticking to their plan and they're not making big headlines. Because it's a plan. It's a plan. And they're trying to make sure that expectations don't get too high, which I don't know if I would be too concerned about that. I mean, I see your point in sticking to the plan. That makes sense. If they added Carlos Correa, is that going to make this team a playoff team?

Right. But what I'm saying is that I think even if they did add Carlos Correa, I don't think anyone would expect them to be. Bull shit. People are insane. People will go crazy just because it's one of the biggest names on the market. That's what I'm talking about. So when I'm comparing them, I'm comparing it to the Rangers situation. The Rangers spent all of this money and now all these people are excited about it.

And you and I both looked at these acquisitions and the current team and kind of say, okay. They're probably not that good. You're better. I'm not saying you're not better, but are you going to win a world series? I mean, what's your intention here? There is like a healthy fear of like winning free agency, right? I mean, that's what the Padres have done several times. it's never really seemed to work.

So on that front, I am with you. Right. And it's kind of like Mike Hazen sounding crazy for saying he doesn't want the number one overall draft pig. But there's a reason for it. It's not that he doesn't want the number one overall draft pick. It's because there's a history of the pressure that goes along with it and the expectations of that person. He's much more comfortable picking at a lower spot. But I also think he meant that because he doesn't want to be the worst fucking team in baseball. I think that's really what he was getting to with that comment. Not that, hey, I don't want the number one, I don't want to draft the best overall potential available player in the market or in

the draft. I just don't want my team to have the dubious record of receiving the number one overall draft pick because that means you are the worst team in baseball. It's, you know, it's not an award you want to win ever, you know. And he reiterated those comments today in this free agent signing, right? Say what you will, but again, if you combine a healthier team with the fact that people felt they underperform with a superior coaching staff and addressing a few small issues that they have as far as literal personnel. I am not talking about the issues they have with the guys on the team that aren't playing well. That's a whole other thing. And we could talk about positional needs that they actually have for five whole episodes. I'm merely saying the bodies that they need in order to fill the roles, right?

We've talked about the center field and the right field thing. You know, Jake McCarthy did a fine job, and he could play center field, but I would definitely prefer that they, even if it was minor league guys, you know, that they picked up guys like Jordan Looplo, right? The situation with the closer situation, with Malasson, I'm just glad that they have a closer now, And I'm glad that they have somebody. I mean, even if Joachim Soria was still here,

I would feel better about it than them not having it. Right. So that's the thing is at least this team is said they have a plan and you're watching them stick to the plan. The moves they're making with the coaching staff, with everything else. And you can read about this on go phtnx.com. We talked about the coaching staff. Jesse brought up, obviously, his article on not only the bullpen,

but Jesse also has another piece going up on this particular free agency signing. And you can get all of that over at GoPHNX by becoming a member. You can either get in on the annual membership, which will get you a free t-shirt over at the PHNX locker

or the month-to-month membership, which will get you the first month for just 50 cents. But again, we've talked about it. You know, when you say your plan is to go with your young players in your farm system, surrounding them with the best coaches you can. And veteran guys like Melisone are moves that they, you know, that they make that are sticking to this plan.

They said they were going to do a few months ago, right? So I just, I don't like when teams are erratic. I was curious to see if Hazen was going to stick to his guns because it felt like a pretty big statement to say that they were going to mostly look to fill positional needs externally or internally, right? Not externally. And that means, obviously, that they're going to bring up guys from the farm system and those are going to be the guys that fill the positional needs that they have.

It just makes you question if they're going to have enough of those guys ready to go next year to fill all of their positional needs they have. Obviously, that's almost impossible at this point with the development of some of these guys. so they have to fill some of their positional needs with free agents. This is just a much bigger signing than I thought they were going to make. It's very encouraging. And if they make a couple of more signings of this caliber, where not necessarily a bullpen guy or, you know, closer,

but like an outfielder somehow of an equal caliber as this or and maybe a third baseman, my excitement level might start to surpass. You're already in dangerous, Terry. It's really, it's in the red. We need to keep you down to earth. I know. I don't like where I'm at already, but I just, I don't know. There's still this thing and they don't want to bring it up anymore, but there's this thing

about this team not being as bad as they were. Yeah. And Mark Millanson said that today in his press conference, right? And I feel like you almost have to say that if you sign with a 52 win team. Like you have to make the obligatory comment that you believe the team is not as bad as as the record because why on earth else would you have signed with them, right? It's a weird question, but he also didn't really answer it in the way I think that Nick Picoro was intending for him to answer it.

Like, I mean, you're not going to say, I came over here because of the money, right? And you're not going to say some of the things that might be the real reason behind it. So you kind of have to say something that sounds a little bit more competitive and it sounds a little bit more like you're coming over here to win when that's, sounds ridiculous because like you said, it's a 52 win team, right? You're not necessarily coming over here because deep down inside you're really trying to pursue a championship before you hang it up. That is not the reason why you're coming to the Arizona Diamondbacks, right? But I will say that, you know, if you see something in a team and you kind of want to be a part of that, that's kind of

exciting, right? And you feel like you can be one of the guys that helps turn the tide for this team. that makes you feel important. It makes you feel good about yourself. And honestly, it's, I don't know. There would be something about that as an athlete, I think that would feel incredible, that you are the, like, the one of the pieces that completely transformed this team

for being, you know, somehow in fifth place to, you know, a weird NLDS run in two years or something like that. So I could see the allure to that. I just don't necessarily think, think those are the reasons why they come over. I would be excited about working with this staff, though. I mean, wouldn't you?

Yeah, you mentioned that. Mark Malanson mentioned that, you know, getting to work with Brent Strom is, that's a, that's a poll. There's now a little bit of added incentive to come pitch in Arizona because the Diamondbacks have a very highly regarded pitching coach. And that's not something they've really ever been able to say before.

I felt this way about Monty Williams with the Suns in the bubble. Because I remember there was a lot of, there was a lot of obviously ill feelings towards the NBA that the fact that the sons went eight and no and still didn't make the playoffs in that bubble situation, right? And the one thing I remember seeing was a bunch of like really top guys saying in this segment that they did on T&T, I believe, that they really liked Monty. they liked Monty Williams, the coach of the Sons, and that they wanted to play for a guy like that. And I remember thinking way back then, way back then, that I was like,

this is good, this is good. Because again, like you're saying, if people want to play for the coach, then they're that much more likely to make that decision, even if in some cases it might cost them a couple million dollars.

Like, oh, hey, I could have signed for 15 million over here, but I took 14 million with Arizona because I like what they're doing and I'm always wanted to work with Brent Strong, right? Yes. That immediately cascades down from just not the coaching hiring to now the ability to acquire talent. And that's what Arizona needs to do right now, man. They need to acquire talent, whether it's their young guys coming up and becoming those guys or developing the guys they have on the team because I still feel like David Peralta.

I still feel like, you know, Christian Walker, I feel like these guys have value. Obviously, he could tell Marta does. There's no question about that. But, yeah, like, I still feel like Carson Kelly could be an actual 325 hitter, you know. Wow. He was doing it for a stretch, you know, he did it for a pretty long stretch before he got injured. So I would like to see him again, you know, have a season where he doesn't constantly get parts of him broken. and banged up.

But I don't know. Any thoughts on the lockout now that we have nothing to talk about for the next foreseeable amount of time? I just, oh, man. I don't know if we know what we're getting ourselves into. Oh, I don't know if the listeners are getting, they don't know what they're getting themselves into. But we appreciate you guys stick it around and listening to us. And we will be here all lockout long, doing everything we can.

And there will be things. there will be things to talk about, right? Like the lockout is going. No, there won't be, Jesse. The lockout is going to be a talking point because we're going to hear all sorts of reports all the time about what is being discussed and what kind of progress is being made. It's going to take a long time to resolve. But there's going to be a whole lot of news that comes out about that.

And it's going to be really fascinating. Like we've said before, I mean, baseball in 2022 could be a pretty different game than baseball in 2021. not necessarily the on-field product, but just different rules about, you know, free agency and arbitration and all of these things that have been part of the game for a long time and have been done a certain way for a long time. We could see big changes. We could see a salary floor. We could see, I don't think we'll see a salary cap, but we could see some changes with

the luxury tax threshold. There's a lot of things that could happen that would have a big impact on this Diamondbacks team. and I'm going to hope that that gives us enough, enough information to, to think about here over the next couple months. It doesn't. It won't. But I'll tell you this much. We're not going anywhere and we will be here, snake drafting and making up whatever

things we can talk about when it comes to this team as long as we can. It's not going to be long, Jesse. We're going to get a deal done. I know it. We're going to go through the holidays. We're going to give each other some gifts. We're going to have some last. we're going to drink some cocoa and then we're going to get a new CBA signed and done.

And I'm hoping that they get it done sooner than later because this was a fun little free agency frenzy. And I would like to see things resume. There's a lot of big names that are still available on the board. And I don't think the Arizona Diamondbacks are going to go after any of them. But we'll see what happens. Stay tuned for that exciting information. We appreciate you guys checking out the show. if you're listening to us right now on your favorite audio podcast app,

whether that's Spotify, Apple, wherever, please subscribe to us there and leave us a five-star review. We got Jesse the most beautiful messages today. We did. We did. Spotify apparently is sending people out their year in review. And apparently we are some people's top podcast. What? What?

I don't even understand. how that's possible, but we love you guys so much. Shout out to Callie Gregory for sending us a screenshot of the top PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks podcast. Thank you so much. I can't believe that we're anybody's favorite in anything, but I know Jesse's my favorite, so I get it. Like I said, I'm not a five-star man, but you know Jesse is,

so leave us a five-star review. And while you're doing that, go over to YouTube, subscribe to us there and sign up for notifications. So you don't miss out on our content or any of the other content. from all of the other teams that are winning in the Valley, like the Cardinals and the Sons. And apparently even the coyotes started to win those sons of bitches. How dare they?

I thought we were brothers. Pee-D., what are you doing to us? I can't even bet on them anymore. But we thank you guys so much for listening. Obviously, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at K-Bac-Ur-KBan with a K. Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman. Our show is at P.NX underscore D-Backs,

but all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports. again, I know I've said it so many times, but we appreciate being here in your guys' lives. We appreciate being anybody's top Spotify podcast. We thank you so much for listening. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you lock your players out.