PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - MLB Hot Stove Season has begun and we are reacting to Mike Hazen’s comments at the 2022 GM Meetings

Starting point is 00:00:02 Hello and welcome to another edition of the PHNX D-BACs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as the mayor of the Veterans Day parade. This guy over here is my vice mayor. He's also the thunderstick. It's one only Jesse Friedman. Guys, the first question I asked Derek when he came in the office today was why is there so much stuff about cryptocurrency on the rundown today? So stay tuned. It's really not.

Starting point is 00:00:32 It's really not. It's a full segment on cryptocurrency, but Derek insists it's going to be relevant to baseball in the Arizona Diamondbacks in some sense. And if not, you're going to learn something and you might hate it, but you're going to learn something. I barely knew what cryptocurrency was. Jesse has no idea. He was like, explain it to me like I'm five. Yeah, those were my exact words.

Starting point is 00:00:50 That's how my morning started out. Of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Drap King Sportsbook app, America's top-rated sportsbook app. There was some talk about Fodge taking over the show. that is not going to happen just to let you guys know that right now. But of course, we have plenty of information. What's going on over there? Am I muted? Am I talking?

Starting point is 00:01:10 I could mute you. Oh, no. Oh, no. Well, at any point I want. Brett Johnson in the chat says perfect birthday present from Derek and Jesse live stream on a Friday. Happy birthday to you, sir. Yes. Great.

Starting point is 00:01:25 And he says, say, money laundering. That's what crypto is. There you go, Jesse. That explains the proposed part. That's all I need to know, huh? Before we get to the very important cryptocurrency talk, we do have to talk MLBGM meetings happening right across the desert in Las Vegas. And Mike Hazen had some very interesting comments, still vague, but talked to AZ Central's

Starting point is 00:01:46 Nick Bacoro and kind of talked about this sense of urgency and maybe some thoughts on young players being traded away. Yeah, we've heard a few different things. Mike Hazen has talked about how, you know, he, he wants to be the winning team, not the young team. And so I think there's this, there's this feeling inside of the organization where they want to go out, be aggressive and really try to turn this thing around more quickly. He did kind of back off that in a sense and say we also need to be smart about this.

Starting point is 00:02:17 Like we should just go out and be overly aggressive and make some moves that will regret down the road. We did just get news. This is pretty recent that the Diamondbacks are expected to show interest in free agent third baseman Evan Longoria. Which is something I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. The Giants did go ahead and decide to decline his team option. I believe his buyout is $5 million.

Starting point is 00:02:41 So the Giants are paying him a lot of money to play elsewhere. The Giants have a lot of money to spend and they're looking to retool this offseason. Which is really just another hurdle for the Arizona Diamondbacks. But of course we'll get to that. Hazen told Percoro from Aze Central, everyone wants to have urgency, but there's pitfalls in doing that strategy. We're going to try to be aggressive when we can, but still have to be smart about how we do that. And I think that that's a good sign because I felt like we thought they were going to be a bit more complacent this offseason, maybe not really see them make any big free agent moves, which we still might not see because it basically does sound like trading in the trade market may also be the way they go, though.

Starting point is 00:03:24 but they did say in this article that the debacks have been more aggressive in free agency. They've actually been sending scouts out to target specific players that they are interested in. And that's not something that they've been doing over the past few years. So it does seem like they are active in the free agent market. Yeah, I think so. I think so. And we did also get a little bit of clarity on what the Diamondbacks will be able to spend this offseason. Mike Hazen said that there should be some room to move, as we've talked about.

Starting point is 00:03:54 about in the past, the Diamondback spent about $100 million on the team last year. If they carry that same roster into 2023, it would cost about $100 million again, just given some of the arbitration negotiations and whatnot. Some of those guys are due for a raise. But it sounds like the team is willing to spend a little bit more. Mike Hazen said that he met with Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick a couple of weeks back and got a little bit more clarity about where the team is at financially moving forward. He did say that they might not get to the level that the team has been in in the relatively near past.

Starting point is 00:04:30 Debacks have approached $120, $130 million at times over the last several years. So we're probably not going to see that, but something in the neighborhood of 110, 115, very roughly, I think, could be a possibility for them. He also did not say that, or he did say that they could be going via the trade route, like I said. and he sounded willing to explore that possibly with the young talent, which sounds a bit scary, right? He said, imagining our younger players are going to be very popular for the most part when discussing trade requests and potential trade deals that they might get done. And I guess I have to ask,

Starting point is 00:05:07 does this worry you considering what we've seen in the past from this team? Does it worry you? I mean, are you scared of a Jake McCarthy-less Arizona Diamondbacks? Yes, I actually am. Yeah. I am because of the fact. that I feel like, once again, the Diamondbacks are doing what the Diamondbacks do, right? They seem like they're being patient.

Starting point is 00:05:30 They seem like they're building a solid roster and they seem like they're doing it through, like, low-cost means through both, you know, some picking up some low-cost free agents and just doing things where the team is solid all around and it's been developed from their farm system as well. And then once they get close to being good, they just make that jump. And they want to do something crazy that's going to get them to be competitive with the best teams in baseball. But so far, it hasn't worked out for them when they do that. And they seem to be making the wrong moves on who they keep, who they trade away,

Starting point is 00:06:06 and who they go after when they make those big free agency moves. Sure. Yeah, I think it's fair. But the Diamondbacks have a surplus in certain areas, right? They have a lot of outfielder. They have a lot of left-handed hitting outfielder. There I said it. So I think that there's an opportunity for the diamondbacks to make a move here.

Starting point is 00:06:26 And as much as, you know, a guy like Jake McCarthy is exciting, a guy like Dalton Varsho, you know, Alec Thomas, Corvin Carroll, all these players are exciting. But the reality is the diamondbacks don't have the roster space to fully take advantage of the talent that all of those guys have. And that's what trades are for, right? It's like, let me give you something that I have too much of so that I can patch a hole elsewhere on the roster. If the diamond backs play this wisely, I think there's a way where they could make a move and have it be something that's really smart and successful for them. The biggest thing that stood out to me from what Mike Hazen has said is he's made it abundantly

Starting point is 00:07:02 clear. And he said he's told teams this. The diamondbacks are not interested in prospects anymore. They are beyond the prospect stage, paraphrasing what Hayes said over the last few days. So that's telling the diamond backs are trying to move the ball forward. They're trying to get to a place where they're a contend. team. And outside of, you know, maybe some sort of a throw-in to like make, you know, make a deal work out, the Diamondbacks aren't interested in making a deal where the centerpiece of the

Starting point is 00:07:30 return is a prospect. And that's interesting. It means if you're going to go out and trade Jake McCarthy or one of these outfielders, you're looking for major league ready talent in return. And given how good Jake McCarthy was last year. Why do we have to keep talking about trading Jake McCarthy? Okay. Can we use anybody else? Why does Jesse keep going in on that one player? I know. Why is that? The reason I'm...

Starting point is 00:07:55 Friend of the show, Jake McCarthy? You're right. You're right. I shouldn't use his name quite so much, but I will say I'm being somewhat intentional. That's somewhat intentional. And that I think Jake McCarthy had an extraordinary season last year that if you're just kind of looking at the prospect pedigree of some of those guys that the debacks have in the outfield, Jake McCarthy is the biggest surprise, right?

Starting point is 00:08:16 Like he's the guy that maybe people didn't anticipate would be able to do what he did a year ago. And there's sort of a sell high opportunity there. Right. Not saying he couldn't repeat it. I don't want to say that. But there's an opportunity for the debacks to sort of capitalize on what he did. Look, I'm wrong plenty, right? I'm wrong most of the time.

Starting point is 00:08:36 We know this. You don't have to say that. It's kind of like when we were talking about trade deadline candidates for the Diamondbacks. and I thought that they should have parted ways with Joe Mantiply. And I know Joe Mantiply at the time was one of the best things they had going in the bullpen. So it's crazy to trade him. But that was my thought process then. And we did see Mantiply struggle in the second half to get anywhere close to his performance in the first half that made him an All-Star.

Starting point is 00:09:03 Right. So there is truth to that. There is sometimes where guys can go on a streak and maybe, you know, they can go on a bad streak. And they can also go on a great streak where, you know, that's probably maybe the best stretch. of their entire career potentially, and if you can, you know, sell high, like you said, maybe that is the time to do so. I still don't want to even honor this discussion about it being Jake McCarthy, but maybe someone else.

Starting point is 00:09:29 Not Donald Varsho either, so stop. I mean, who, like, I would be okay with Varshow. Who would, yeah, would you, would you rather? Because what I'm saying is like, you're probably not, not to say it's impossible, but if you're going to trade an outfielder, like, it would. didn't make a whole lot of sense for it to be Alec Thomas, for example. Not right now. Because he,

Starting point is 00:09:49 you're selling low, right? Yeah, his is not as high as it's going to be. Yeah, right. He could come back next year and have a great season potentially. If you're going to trade one of those outfielers, you might as well do it with a guy whose value is at its maximum right now. Let's not forget that Varsho struggled for a decent portion of his career when he first got called up. It was like the second half of 2021 is really when he started to come on.

Starting point is 00:10:12 Right. And it almost seemed like it was kind of like a, bit of just catching fire, but it really carried over into the 2022 season, and we've seen how well-rounded of a player he can be. Really, how consistent he can be, right? So I would think with him leading the team in war, yes, I would say that he would probably be somebody I'd be willing to part ways with because he has a tremendously high value right now.

Starting point is 00:10:35 The Diamondbacks do have that surplus, and I can't think of anybody else, not even Jake McCarthy, that's going to get that kind of value back in a trade, I imagine. Potentially. But it sucks, and I don't even want to discuss that. There were other Diamondbacks moves, by the way. The Diamondbacks actually, it's a really weird kind of thing. And I don't know if you understand this or can explain this, but they reinstated Nick Ahmed.

Starting point is 00:11:01 They reinstated Humberto Castiano's, Tyler Gilbert, Emmanuel Rivera, and Tyler Zuber, who they just picked up. And then they designated Humberto Castiano's and Tyler. Zuber for assignment. Yeah. Tyler Zuber follows us. The poor man changed his profile picture to the Diamondbacks already. He's got the hat on and everything.

Starting point is 00:11:24 Like what's going on with that? Yeah, the Tyler Zuber thing is interesting. I think it's so possible the Diamondbacks are able to retain him. But yeah, all those guys were on the 60-day injured list. And so we're approaching the point in the year where teams have to kind of get their their 40-man rosters right in advance. It's at 40 now. Right.

Starting point is 00:11:43 It's at 40. They had two, two players. So my understanding is that you can't have any, because if you're, if you're on the 60 day IL, then you're not on the 40 man roster officially. You don't count toward the 40 man roster. But going into the Rule 5 draft, you can't do that. You can't just have a bunch of guys on the 60 day I don't believe. So they had to, they had to make all these moves to get these guys off of the injured list.

Starting point is 00:12:07 And then Humberto Castellanos and Tyler Zuber being DFA, gets them off of the 40 man roster, which is at 40. so they kind of had to make some space there. So it is possible to still keep those guys, but we'll have to see, we'll have to see what they decide to do. They clear waivers, right? Yeah, yeah.

Starting point is 00:12:26 There's a possibility of bringing back Tyler Zuber in a way that he wouldn't be on the 40-man roster. Gotcha. So, yeah, we'll see. There's still more to be done because the diamondbacks have to add a number of their young prospects onto the 40-man roster

Starting point is 00:12:40 to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. So there's still some maneuvering to be done there. Brett Johnson is right. Leandro Sedano was a minor league free agent or was slated to be a minor league free agent, and that is indeed what happened. I do believe it's still possible that the Diamondbacks could bring him back on a separate deal if they wanted to. But yeah. They were organizational all-stars.

Starting point is 00:13:04 Yeah, he was great. I talked to Josh Barfield, the Diamondbacks farm director, about him at the end of the year. And, you know, he talked up not only the power, but the bat and said that. that if he does return next year, if they do sign him back, he would probably start in AAA. So I think there's still a chance that happens. We'll have to see. All right.

Starting point is 00:13:23 Well, make sure to check out Jesse's article because he's not going to stop gloating about being right about the Evan Longoria thing. You can get that in all sorts of wonderful writing, including his interview with Jordan Lawler. I can't take too much credit for the Evan Longoria thing because Evan Longoria said publicly that he wanted to play for the Diamondbacks. They were one of his three teams.

Starting point is 00:13:40 One of three teams. One of them was the Giants who didn't want him anymore. The other one was the race who didn't need him. And then there's the D-Backs going, hey, we haven't figured out a third base situation. But, of course, get yourself a membership over at go-PhNX.com. You'll get yourself a free t-shirt over at the PHNX Locker.com. Of course, you can also get that month-to-month membership. You'll get your first month for 50 cents.

Starting point is 00:14:00 Regardless of your membership status, you will get members-only discounts over at the PHNX Locker.com. Members-only access to our Discord, which, of course, is the best place to be an Arizona sports fan, and members-only invites to some of our events. Also, if you're watching us right now on the PHNX sports YouTube channel, we thank you guys for being here. Good morning. Again, happy birthday to our man, Brett Johnson. Make sure to subscribe to the channel, sign up for notifications.

Starting point is 00:14:25 That way you don't miss whenever any of the shows go live. And if you're listening right now on the audio podcasting app, make sure you're subscribed there as well. Leave us a review, a little thumbs up on the show, and all that. We appreciate that. In other NLS news from the GM meetings, a source suggested that the Dodgers are actually highly unlikely to pursue Carlos Correa. It's interesting. As apparently, this is funny to me, the Astros' sign stealing scandal, I don't know if

Starting point is 00:14:53 you remember that or not. I heard about that once or twice. You might have heard about that. Made him hugely unpopular with the fans in L.A. So I guess I have to ask you, Jesse, do fans actually care about this? Like, is that something? is the hatred between those two teams too much for them to ever acquire a Bregman or an Altovae or a Carlos Correa on their team? It's interesting.

Starting point is 00:15:20 I mean, yeah, I guess you have to ask some Dodger fans and see if this is really what they think. That's crazy to me. I feel like initially it would maybe be tough, but, I mean, once you have Carlos Correa in the lineup every day for a while, I feel like at a certain point, there's some forgiveness there. Yeah, for sure. one season, one season, all-star halfway through the year. But, but it's true. I mean, I think there are Diamondbacks fans where, yeah, like Brett Johnson says I still

Starting point is 00:15:48 hate Ryan Braun. That's a thing, right? Like teams develop or fan bases develop grudges against certain players. And they don't want to have those players on their team, no matter how good they are. So I can kind of understand where Dodgers fans are coming from here. Is there any, is there any players? Like that. For the D-BACs?

Starting point is 00:16:10 I think Fogg would say Clayton Kershaw, right? Aren't you pretty, I feel like I've heard you say that before? Say that I don't want Clayton-Curz? Is there any claim that the D-Bax fan base hates so much that they would like revolt against if he became a member of the organization? A.J. Pollock? Oh, yeah, he's not wrong about that. A.J. Pollock? I throw batteries.

Starting point is 00:16:32 I don't know at who, but I throw batteries. Yeah, no, there's people like that. I don't know. I don't think the D-BACs fan base has that many grudges. No, no. I'd say Puege? Yeah, Pueg, but I mean, he doesn't even play in the league anymore. That's not a danger anymore, but I'm just saying, like.

Starting point is 00:16:48 I mean, Ryan Braun would have been in the same category, but again, he's not going to be. Bringing back his Moni Tomas, I mean. I mean, that's not because people have a grudge against him. It's just because he was a very bad baseball player. I think, I think there's a difference there. Like, Yosmani Tomas, you can't really compare to him. Carlos Correa. Their MLV careers are in two very different places.

Starting point is 00:17:11 Fine. Fine. That's fine. Yeah, no, I can't think of any, though, to be honest. I can't think of anybody because we don't have... It's hard to develop grudges if you don't play that many playoff games, to be honest. Wow. I think that's...

Starting point is 00:17:23 Wow. Is that not a big part of... Do you want to fucking use sunglasses again before you throw shade? I mean, maybe I should. God. I'm just saying, I think that's... Like, the Dodgers fans probably wouldn't feel as strongly about... Carlos Correa if they hadn't been the team on the other on the other dugout in 2017, right?

Starting point is 00:17:44 Like that's that at least plays a pretty big part of that. Nigra Morgan, I could maybe see that too. But again, it's another playoff connection, right? Right, you're right. Brian Brown was the playoff connection. Right. That's where you, that's where you make enemies. It's hard to make enemies in the regular season in baseball.

Starting point is 00:17:58 Sure, no. It makes me think of all the people I hate in basketball. Okay. Because of the sun's unfortunate playoff runs, right? That's where grudges are made in the postseason, man. Let me tell you this much right now. I'm going to say it on camera because I've said it on Twitter a thousand times. I fucking hate Robert Ory.

Starting point is 00:18:17 I hate Robert Ory more than I hate most people. I don't even use the word hate as much as I really mean it when I say I fucking hate Robert Ory. Robert Ory was on it in an episode of a program on this very network. I refused to come into the building for a week because of it. I fucking hate Robert Ory. I hate Robert Ory more than I hate Robert Ory more than I hate traffic. I hate Robert Rory more than I hate working seven days a week. I hate Robert

Starting point is 00:18:42 or more than I hate most things in life, Jesse, TSA, whatever you want to throw out there. I hate Robert Rory more than all of those things. That felt good. That felt good to say. We're a baseball podcast. You keep forgetting this. Look, there's just some time where I need to get this stuff out. Also, where's Ticketmaster in this? Oh, shit. Don't even get me stalking on Ticketmaster. 70% of the ticket cost or fees. What is even happening anymore? Can we get the government to break up that monopoly? The minute they acquired Live Nation, we were done for as a concert going people.

Starting point is 00:19:20 But again, this is a baseball podcast. I have plenty of cryptocurrency talk later. But speaking of GM meeting news, imagine getting told or finding out that you are not coming back to the team that won the world. series while you're at the GM meetings, Jesse. It's wild. James Click, the GM of the Houston Astros, World Series winning Houston Astros, will not return to Houston after he rejected the team's one-year contract offer. What do you need to do to get a two-year offer?

Starting point is 00:19:55 What do you need? Yeah. Like, how much, what? Like, maybe he had to win the World Series in 21 as well. Like, you get, you get a game in the playoffs. You get a year in your contract for every. World Series, like consecutive World Series win. And he just won it this year.

Starting point is 00:20:12 So they just, he just gets a one year deal. They gave him a $1 million raise. So I guess, I guess that that's something. But yeah, it's wild. Jim Crane,

Starting point is 00:20:22 the Astros owner, has been kind of known as like a win at all costs, sort of a guy. And maybe not willing to reward people who deserve it quite as much as he should. And I think this is pretty clearly a significant blunder on part of the Astros, letting a guy who led them to this World Series and is built an outstanding roster of young players, right? They haven't just gone out and bought this, this championship

Starting point is 00:20:47 team. The Astros have built through the draft and built through the international free agent signing market and international amateurs and whatnot. And they've gotten to the place that they're at right now. So I don't see any justification for what has happened in Houston. This is pretty ridiculous. No. And I mean, again, is this one of those things where, it is a kind of long-term effects of that cheating scandal where they just kind of want to as an organization part ways slowly with everybody that was a part of it, you know, with the exception of a few players that are key to this team. I mean, I don't know. It just seems like it seems like a ridiculous thing to not bring back the GM that helped this team be. Could you imagine if the Diamondbacks did that?

Starting point is 00:21:35 Like if the Diamondbacks won a World Series and then told the GM to take a hike the next year. Like, I just, it's honestly mind boggling that Click didn't already have a contract for future seasons coming into this year. Like, why are you having him operate on, you know, what was a one-year deal coming into the season without having any stability moving forward? It's really ridiculous. The ASU guys are out here like mooning me and stuff. Why I'm giggling and I can't keep a straight face. Yeah. I was trying to.

Starting point is 00:22:05 but now I have to acknowledge it because I don't feel like I can hold back anymore. That's another reason why Sean DePazz is never invited back on this show, but whatever. Exactly, exactly. Well, you did have him come on and talk about a nickname for Chase Field, if I'm not mistaken. That's right. The one time. The vault. That's what we're calling it.

Starting point is 00:22:26 2023, the vault. You missed again. He did not. He did not miss me. I need it, Jacob. We need like a slow-mo instant replay. at that moment. I don't think they have

Starting point is 00:22:37 like the ability to rewind our stream here. Well, okay, I mean, not right now. You can take, you can take some time

Starting point is 00:22:43 after the show at us. But yeah, I need a clip. Where was that? A little slow motion. 23. Totree just ambushed me with, is it a Nerf gun?

Starting point is 00:22:51 Is that what that was? I think so. I didn't even see what hit me. It also appears that the Dodgers aren't the only team that we're going to have to worry about or the Padres spending a shit ton of money, Jesse.

Starting point is 00:23:00 It appears that the Giants have a shit ton of money to spend. They're out there at the GM meeting swing. that dick around and talking about how much money they're going to spend. Is that wrong to say, I mean, it's a term of endearment. I'm saying that they are really swinging it around to show how much they have to spend. And I mean, they are talking about going after the biggest free agents available. They aren't even, like, mincing words about it.

Starting point is 00:23:27 And again, it feels like... Were those their words? Not the, not the, not the swimming part. But mostly the part about going after major free agents in the market. So what are your thoughts here on the Giants now being yet another hurdle for the Diamondbacks? It sounds like they're going after Aaron Judge and making it known they're going after Aaron Judge. They're also trying to play it cool and say, hey, we're not just going to give money away. But at the same time, the Giants are definitely spending money this free agency offseason.

Starting point is 00:23:59 Yeah, I think they've kind of been like a sleeping giant in some ways. I mean, their pockets are deep, right? They have a lot of money to spend. And I think that's been known for a while that when the Giants really want to push the chips in, they have the ability to do so. So, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if the Giants are pretty aggressive. I still don't think that, like, honestly, I think the Giants could spend a decent amount of money and the Diamondbacks still be a better team than them next year.

Starting point is 00:24:25 They have a lot of positional needs for sure. Yeah, the Giants just don't have a lot of stability really anywhere on their roster. And free agency can help patch a lot of those holes. I mean, we saw what the Phillies were able to do as a result of a lot of their free agent signings. But they, I mean, they just don't have even what the Phillies do in terms of like the in-house talent as far as I can tell. So, yeah, I don't think they're, you know, next to be the Dodgers or something next year or I don't think their roster is going to be as good as what the Padres roster could be next year. But, but yeah, I mean, it's never good if you're an NLS team. And you hear that just another team wants to join in the fray of absurd level spending.

Starting point is 00:25:07 And that seems to be what's happening here. It's almost a necessity, though. And it feels like the Giants feel that. It's like the Diamondbacks kind of know they can't. I feel like the Rockies kind of know that they can or at least know that they won't, you know, go that far. But the Rockies even have a substantially bigger. They went and got Chris Bryant last winter. So it's not like they're not spending any money either.

Starting point is 00:25:29 Going to feel real bad when the Dax beat him and win the 2025 world. serious. That's all I'm saying. Let's go. It's all I'm saying. Spend that money. Spend that money. You're still going to get smacked. And wouldn't you, wouldn't you rather in a way? I mean, I hate to say this because I don't want to see Aaron Judge in the NOS, but wouldn't you rather that they went out and spent all of their money on like the biggest available free agent rather than like you said, they have a lot of positional needs. They could do a much better job of spending on lower level free agents and probably make their team better rather than bringing in the flashiest, you know, big name free agent that that they could. Yeah, yeah, that's a fair point. I mean, Aaron Judge, he's just one guy. He's just one guy. He's really freaking good. But I mean, he's... But we can walk him. That's what I'm saying. We can walk him.

Starting point is 00:26:13 We can do the same that we did with Barry Bonds with that man right there. And that's the time where it worked out for them before in 1993 when they acquired Barry Bonds. By the way, there's a fantastic documentary that Jesse actually called me a nerd for watching. It's called Say Hey Willie Mays on HBO. And a big part of that at the end is it kind of details how pivotal Willie Mays was after, you know, he retired and he became a lifetime member of the Giants organization. Right. How pivotal he was in bringing Barry Bonds into San Francisco being his godfather and everything like that. So that was something that changed history as far as the Giants were concerned, right?

Starting point is 00:26:55 Barry Bonds could have stayed a pirate forever and, you know, had all of that go to Pittsburgh. But instead, the Giants became, you know, the place where he set, broke those records, did a lot of things. The documentary, of course, did not address any kind of performance enhancing drugs or anything, of course. That's a whole other thing. But still, a very wonderful documentary for you to check out. And don't let Jesse call you a nerd for watching it, right? Remember what movies he hasn't seen and just call him a nerd back. We're going to fix some of that next week.

Starting point is 00:27:24 We are. We are. We're going to have Jesse hasn't seen it movie reviews starting next week. There you go. We're very excited to have him. Did you decide on one of the two films? I'm going to watch Sandlot. The Sandlot.

Starting point is 00:27:35 Let's go. I think the chat should also watch the movies that you are watching, Jesse, so that there can be a collaborative, like, book club for movies on the day. I love that idea. So, yeah, your assignment is to go, even if you've seen it, rewatch the Sandlot. And make sure not to watch it in crappy, low definition, because that's every time I see it, it's on some bad channel. I refuse to watch it in that. Disney Plus has it in beautiful high definition.

Starting point is 00:28:01 So watch it over there. And you know what? Maybe pop some OGs before you watch it. Maybe you maybe watch the Sandlot in a different way than you've ever seen it. But OGs, of course, is our partner, our friend, and the one source of flavoring life here in Arizona. Make sure to check out their wonderful edibles. They have a variety of doses, strains, and flavors for you to choose from. Sleep Edition Gummy, all sorts of options for you.

Starting point is 00:28:25 And of course, they're all about making them taste delicious. So check them out your local dispensary. Must be 21 years or older to enjoy. And also right now, new customers can make any $5 bet on Draft King's Sportsbook app on an NBA money line bet and you will get $200 in free bets if your team wins. It can also boost your winnings up to 100% with Draft King stepped up same game parlays. My same game parlay from last night did not hit because, of course, the Falcons lost. I'm learning to not bet on the outcome of the game and just bet on stats.

Starting point is 00:28:58 So, because all my stats hit. It's just when I bet on the outcome of the game. So also, stop betting against the coyotes, I guess. So there's some things we learned in the last 24 hours because apparently they are no longer a tank. They are a wagon, Jesse. Ooh, I like that. So get on the wagon. But of course, it's this simple.

Starting point is 00:29:17 Download the draft king sports book. Use our promo code of PHNX and make that $5 NBA Money Line bet to get $200 in free bets. Should your team win, that's promo code PHS. X on the Drafking Sportsbook. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. And we're going to talk other things about money right now because we're going to talk about making money through cryptocurrency.

Starting point is 00:29:39 Okay, can I say one more baseball related thing before we go on your cryptocurrency tangent? No, no. So I'm going to do it anyway. So Bob Nightingale just tweeted out that Houston Astros' GM James Click actually was fired. He was offered a one-year contract and raised from his $1 million salary on Monday. down in pursuit of a longer contract and was dismissed Friday after publicly airing his grievances at the GM meetings. So there's a little more, a little more meat to the story than we initially realize, again, I don't know what the Astros are doing here. It was an insulting offer. And I don't

Starting point is 00:30:16 frankly blame James Click very much for going public with what was really an insulting offer to begin with. Yeah, exactly. Anyway, I would find myself saying to other people like, what more did I need to do. Yeah. What more do I need to do? Right? But hey, that's probably what you said. That probably has more to do with it. Maybe the maybe if he didn't err his grievances though, come on. Sometimes we got to keep that shit in-house until it's like done. That's fair. I mean, it wasn't a smart move to do that. I mean, he may be expected that this is what would happen by going public with those things. But at the same time, he's just not being valued enough by the organization. And it's probably best for both sides. to just part ways at this point.

Starting point is 00:30:59 Value can be subjective at times, right? Especially when you talk about cryptocurrency. Let's go, baby. Now, I asked Jesse if you had any cryptocurrency. I knew the answer was no when he asked me back. What is crypto? Can you explain it to me like I'm five? But do you guys have any cryptocurrency comment in the chats?

Starting point is 00:31:18 I'm just curious because I wonder how many people that we actually know got wrapped up in this and it doesn't have to be this particular company. But this company, FTX, does have a tie-in to Major League Baseball, of course. It's an exchange platform for cryptocurrency, and it's in a shit ton of trouble after losing billions of dollars in value. Basically, you as a baseball fan may remember FTX from these patches worn by MLB umpires starting in 2021 during the All-Star game. Jacob, do we have that graphic? It's the umpires. you're see everybody's talking about fage taking over the show give us Leah back my gosh seriously

Starting point is 00:32:00 when did you ask for the graphic you never asked for it in slack did I not ask for I'm pretty sure you asked for it in slack but it's okay it's fine the FTX logos are on all of the umpires jersey some of them had them even on their back but they have been on the umpires like I said since 2021 during the All-Star game. And this company kind of was one of those things that people ask, like, what the hell is this? Is this like a, I think that the first thing people thought was it was some sort of pitch tracks company or pitching company or something to do with baseball? No, no, no, sir.

Starting point is 00:32:37 It was cryptocurrency advertising on baseball umpires, which was weird to me in the first place, right? Like, I kind of understand advertising on player, on team jerseys, team uniforms. Sure. Those are your officials, right? Like, they shouldn't really be also, you know, like advertisements, right? Like, it's just weird to me. Yeah, that is a lot. If they were robots, like we talked about yesterday.

Starting point is 00:33:05 And you can slap whatever ads you want on. Stickers all over. Make it look like a NASCAR. Real people, I don't know. But anyway, basically, in short, cryptocurrency is one of those things that people, they invest in. It's very much like a stock, right? It's not federally insured like a bank is. And what happened with this FTX company in short was they were taking customers money that they deposited to purchase cryptocurrency and they

Starting point is 00:33:34 were using the real money to loan to a sister company that was basically a hedge fund. And it was investing in, you know, high yield, high risk investments. And a report came out telling everybody that FTX was doing this. So everybody did the sensible thing, which was immediately pull their money out of this company, thus causing a giant disaster because the company had it actually taken their real money and invested it elsewhere. So this money wasn't anywhere to be found and people couldn't get their money technically out of this company. It's now possibly failing, facing bankruptcy. And it's just so crazy to me because of how much money they were paying for these

Starting point is 00:34:19 celebrity endorsements from Tom Brady, from Stefan Curry, so much, how much they were paying to be the name of an arena in basketball and put their logo on umpires. Like, it's crazy to me, to be honest, because these companies do. all of this with people's money that they're investing into this currency, right? It's, it's just a weird thing. But baseball and all of these companies, they are so, it's so lucrative to advertise with them because, again, people see it. They start recognizing the brand and then it makes them that much more likely to be a part of it. Mark Salaris says, I sold my crypto to buy game stop stock after Cameron Grimes told me to do, tell me to do once at a live show.

Starting point is 00:35:07 To the moon, that stock went. To the moon. But anyway, Jesse still doesn't care about the cryptocurrency at all. But it's weird, though, right? That a company that was this, that advertised this much in baseball is facing this kind of scandal where they lost billions of dollars literally in value overnight. So are you saying that, like, is Major League Baseball? Are they the foolish ones here for, like, thinking this was a viable company that was going places

Starting point is 00:35:34 and they wanted to put their logos on their own buyers? I think so in the aspect of putting it on the umpires. I think that because every umpire had it on them. Some of them even had it on their back. It was more than just advertising with baseball because, yeah, a lot of failed companies advertise. They'll take your money. They don't care how you do as a company. Their job really isn't to worry about that.

Starting point is 00:35:54 There is a bit of a reputational risk, I think, here. And cryptocurrency, to me, isn't the strongest thing for people to be like, I mean, again, yeah, you know, you can get in bed with them advertising-wise, but to go as far as to make it the patch of the official umpiring crews of baseball felt like a bit of a foolish thing. Yeah, that's fair. I do think it would be kind of hilarious if they actually did make Major League umpires look like, like it look like NASCAR, like just ads everywhere. The players don't have anything. It's just the clean, beautiful uniform, but the umpires are just like a walking advertisement.

Starting point is 00:36:32 I love it. I like it. I like it. It's kind of like, uh, like, uh, like some. of the basketball courts when I played in Puerto Rico had advertisements everywhere on the court. There wasn't an open space free of advertising on this court. And now Max is here. Of course, our advertising guys here, once we start talking about advertising, I hope we didn't do anything to devalue your cryptocurrency on this show at all.

Starting point is 00:36:56 Do we have any upcoming deals with FTX, Max, that you're aware of? Good, good. No deals with FTX eminent. Good. I'm glad to hear that because I would be worried. But I mean, it is part of like what we do here at PHNX and what Max does. Max is a big proponent of making sure that the brands that we partner with are brands that make sense for us as a company. Right.

Starting point is 00:37:18 And for me, it's just everything I love. It's just edibles and beers. And it's the fantastic. I have no problem with anything we do here. Right. But that's something that maybe baseball kind of didn't care about in the moment when they were taking in millions of dollars from FTX when it came to advertising revenue. Yeah,

Starting point is 00:37:37 yeah. It is, I don't know. It's just unfortunate to, like, have used a company like that. Like, you're putting logos from that company

Starting point is 00:37:45 on players and on umpires and to see the company do what it did. It's not a great look for anyone involved in this situation. It's just crazy that it can, like one company can lose so much money literally overnight. You know what I mean? Like, it's crazy that things that are worth billions of dollars are built on such a,

Starting point is 00:38:04 loose foundation, right? Yeah. Anyway. Are you done talking about cryptocurrency? No, I can talk about cryptocurrency for hours, if I'm being honest. I'd rather talk about this beer right here because this brings me more joy at the moment than cryptocurrency. This is joy of us, wow, from our friends at 4 weeks brewing companies.

Starting point is 00:38:23 So make sure to try their delicious beers. We're also teaming up with them to host all U.S.-Mexico World Cup matches at their 8th Street pub and Tempe. So make sure to join us out there. You can enjoy beer specials, give away. guest appearances from Jesse and more. Check the link in the show notes to register for free. Were you going to go or did I just volunteer your time?

Starting point is 00:38:43 I think you just volunteered my time. But you know what? I'm in. We'll be there. We'll be there. Max hearts for at Max. Remember, they didn't name him in. That was the joke he said in the stupid meeting the other day.

Starting point is 00:38:56 I'm still mad at him for even saying. Also, must be 21 years or older to enjoy the beer and enjoy responsibly. Our friends at Moore Furniture, by the way, Do you have a favorite piece of furniture in your house that you don't let anyone else sit in? I know you don't yet. You'll have a house soon enough, but I don't know. Maybe later than sooner for that. But I'll say this, you should have a favorite piece of furniture that you don't let anybody sit on guests, dogs.

Starting point is 00:39:23 I do have a miserable office chair. I'm not going to lie. My office chair is ripped and just frankly no fun to sit in whatsoever. What do you do on? Let's get over to more furniture. I do need that. But I don't know if they're going to sell me an office chair because of my connection with you and your history damaging office chairs. That makes sense.

Starting point is 00:39:42 Guilty by association. But you guys don't have to let them know you know me. Go over to more furniture's fall sale at morefurniture.com. Get yourself some beautiful new furniture. Plus you'll receive a $100 gift card for every $1,000 you spend. Hello to our friend Isaiah. Again, Isaiah, you're tardy. We're going to have to mark you tardy again on the sheet.

Starting point is 00:40:02 Mark said, get Jesse a chair. No, I think Jesse should have to stand when he's broadcasting from home. I think that's the more fitting. That's the more fitting thing for him. But hey, if you guys want to talk about more cryptocurrency, you can follow me on Twitter. I'm going to be doing it all day. Jesse can't wait to hear all this scintillating cryptocurrency talk. You can find me on Twitter at K-Ur-Mad with a K.

Starting point is 00:40:22 Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Our shows at PHNX underscore D-Backs. But of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. You got anything else? No, no. cryptocurrency thing is sort of fried my brain. So there's nothing else in there right now. No, no comments to the media or else I'll get you fired like James Click. Anyway, we thank you guys for your time. I promise I won't fire any of you, but in the meantime, we thank you guys on

Starting point is 00:40:51 behalf of Faj, Jesse and myself. We always appreciate you guys. Join us. Remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you don't buy cryptocurrency.

PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - MLB Hot Stove Season has begun and we are reacting to Mike Hazen’s comments at the 2022 GM Meetings

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