PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Padres Radio Host TRIGGERED by Merrill Kelly Choosing the D-backs Over San Diego

Episode Date: March 6, 2026

Merrill Kelly’s decision to return to the Diamondbacks and turn down a deal from the Padres has Friars Territory host Darren Smith so upset that he’s calling for Arizonans to stop vacationing in San Diego altogether. We react to Smith’s comments and bring you the latest update from Kelly’s first bullpen session since being shut down with an injury. We also have more from the World Baseball Classic, including Australian catcher Robbie Perkins not being interested in being friends with Team Czechia and Shohei Ohtani continuing to prove he’s still really good at baseball. Plus, Derek and Damon are taking the show on the road for Mesa’s Baseball Block Party and we’ve got all the details on where you can find us. 0:00 SkeeYee & Happy Friday!  2:40 Spring Training updates  7:00 Who should start Opening Day?  16:10 Good news on Merrill Kelly  23:30 Padres podcaster's throws shade at Arizona  34:30 D-backs vs. Padres: Better team right now?  40:30 2026 World Baseball Classic underway  46:50 WBC is rigged for Team Japan  52:15 Druw Jones with hot start for Netherlands JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4 An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ Phoenix Raceway: Get your tickets now for March 5-8! https://www.phoenixraceway.com/march-cup-weekend/?CID=PIR_DI_TP_BA_PHNX26Spring_251120 ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order! Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 40% 2+ pairs of off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We have so much baseball to watch today, and of course, we're not going to miss those comments made by a Padres radio host when it comes to Arizona. We're going to defend those. Don't you go anywhere? You're about to see some fireworks. Friday to you all, welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast live from Studio K, presented by our friends in Circle K. It is I, your mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as.

Derek Monta. Thrilled to have you guys here with us. Thrilled to be talking more about Arizona Diamondbacks baseball. But we have so much baseball on tap today. There is World Baseball Classic games happening as we speak. And there are two, not one, but two Diamondbacks games happening here in about an hour. We got a little split squad action from the D-backs after they got beat pretty handedly yesterday by the Chicago Cubs. thrilled to have you guys here.

Thrilled to have you here, Michael Dixon. Welcome in. Of course, I'm not alone. I got my guy Damon Dog, aka Damon Farrell on the ones and twos today. Bark, bark, Damon. We're about to let you off the leash today, buddy.

Yeah. Because there were some comments made by a Padres radio host over at Friar territory that you are going to see for the first time. Damon is going to see for the first time. I've seen a hundred times. I don't know why the video is two hours long, but apparently it is. And I have a lot of thoughts on this radio host's comments in regards to Merrill Kelly signing with the Diamondbacks versus signing with the Padres due to the tax situation in California. And we are going to get into that.

And then Damon's going to scream a lot and start a brand new rivalry. So we're excited for that. But first we have, instead of a rivalry, we have, I guess, something sweet happening yesterday. We had a city council meeting, if you will, on the mound before the Diamondbacks game with the Chicago Cubs. And that felt right. That felt good. That felt nice. We had father and son swapping lineup cards.

Brady Council, 22 year old Arizona Diamondbacks prospect made his professional debut in this game against the Cubs with his father, Craig in the opposing dugout. Craig, you may remember Diamondbacks hero at one time. A 10th round pick in the 2025 MLB draft, counsel got his chance here to start for the DEVX and was named to the club's roster, spring roster at least, for this matchup with the Cubs, who was managed again there by Craig Counsel. So Craig Counsel got to come out,

got a special moment to swap cards with his kid. And then he was also asked afterwards about what he thought about his son's first at bat or how he would react to his son's first bat. He said, I'll close my eyes and watch the video later. So, hey, good, good vibes all the way around. And again, it's weird because, yes, spring training, even the world baseball classic, a lot of this is supposed to just be about, you know, kind of the vibes, right?

But that's not the case if you're talking about the Australian team. the Australian team doesn't want any of your, doesn't want any, any friends, doesn't need any new friends. But Diamondbacks again, they lost yesterday by a score of eight to one to the Chicago Cubs. Not a lot of good came out of this game overall.

Counsel did walk in his one at bat, by the way, for the Diamondbacks. So good eye there, kid. Good eye, good start to his career. He just had the one at bat overall. But meanwhile, the Diamondbacks did not fare very well. here against the Cubs. Gabby Moreno, he was one for three. He had a single that went out at like 109 miles per hour exit Velo. So not, I mean, encouraging to see Gabby at least get another hit,

but he also struck out one of his other bats and he's still hitting 150 right now with a 300 OPS. So still a slow start, not really overly concerned, Damon, when it comes to Gabby Moreno's slow start, but still, let's just hope that things pick up for him overall before opening day comes around. That would be the hope. Don't care what his spring numbers end up at, but would like to see him have at least a couple of games with multiple hits in these games before the opening day is here. Meanwhile, Dre Jameson, he looks very ready so far for regular season to be here.

He tossed his second consecutive scoreless outing of one inning. He has allowed one walk with four strikeouts in three appearances. So, Dre, in the last few days where the Diamondbacks have given up some runs, yesterday, almost everybody in their lineup or in their bullpen gave up runs. Dre Jameson was a bright spot there. And then again, Brady Counsel drew a walk in his first ever spring training at bat. Payman Smith went one for three with his second home run of spring. Christopher Torren, he is a guy that's kind of coming on strong now.

We've heard a lot of good things about him. Tories brought him up a couple of times. Torrin went two for three with a double. And then Jose Fernandez continues to contribute. He went one for three with a double as well. But I guess the big story, if you want to call it a story from yesterday's game, would be Ryan Nelson starting and not being perfect in his second outing of Cactus League play. He struggled right out of the gate.

He gave up a lead-off double to Michael Bush. And then that was followed up by an RBI. triple to Nico Horner. I believe Nico Horner scored on the next battered rounding out. And that was the two earned runs that he gave up just immediately, right? He was able to settle in and, you know, still find his groove. He didn't give up any more runs than that. But he did go two and two-thirds innings pitched, allowing three hits, two earn runs, did not walk anybody and struck out three. So some encouraging things there when it comes to his lineup as well as, you know, not so great things.

No reason to overreact. No reason to think that this immediately takes Ryan Nelson out of the potential running to compete for opening day if that competition even exists. I feel like that it might be there. I don't know if the results, once again, matter as much as if these guys are doing what is asked of them. But it almost feels like this situation favors that gallon

due to his experience, due to pitching on opening day before, due to multiple reasons, right? So it does feel a little bit like Ryan Nelson almost has to kind of be perfect here in order for him to earn that nod on opening day. But that's just me speculating. I might not be correct about that. They might be looking at Ryan Nelson in a much different way. And it might honestly be based on how stretched out these guys are with Zach Gallen being just a little bit behind. But Gallen did, or excuse me, Ryan Nelson did turn to his phone. fastball a lot as he typically does. He had a 48% fastball usage in yesterday's game. He only had one with with the fastball. He did throw the cutter 26% of the time and the curveball 21% of the time. So

Ryan continues to work on his secondary stuff, his breaking stuff. And hopefully, you know, what we can see develop here over the next few weeks is a secondary pitch that can be substantially successful and help out that fastball that's already one of the best pitches in all of majorly baseball. But again, I don't know. Damon, am I being dramatic when I'm going to start looking at the results now of every outing between Ryan Nelson and Zach Galen and immediately saying, oh, that tipped it this way or that tipped it that way? Do you really think that there's a competition like that? Or do you ultimately think it's going to be based on who is ready and who is most stretched out.

Yeah, I mean, I think that it's, I don't know, this organization, I think, defers a lot to, you know, like tradition and respect. Right. And Tori is big on that kind of stuff. So it kind of makes me think Zach's going to get it, honestly. If I'm being, if I'm being, if I'm being, like, if you're putting a gun to my head, I'm being like, I think Zach Allen's going to be the opening day starter. But it should be Ryan Nelson probably.

It's wild because, yeah, it doesn't feel necessarily like that is. what, you know, that, like that, that is the best choice, but it could be. You know what I mean? It could be the best choice. I agree with you when it comes to the way that they traditionally do things, though. They do things based on, you know, guys, the past and what guys have done for the organization and all sorts of other things besides just who is pitching well now. And especially in this case, who can go out there and on opening day give them six innings. If they don't feel like Zach is going to be able to pitch a full game. If he's going to be limited on a pitch count of any kind, then I don't necessarily believe that it's, you know, a priority to rush him out

there and put him in that game and put us, put the Diamondbacks in a position where they might have to use their bullpen a lot and, and immediately kind of be behind the proverbial eight ball after one game because that's going to be a tough series in Los Angeles. So I feel like length for the opening day starter is going to be important. It's going to set kind of the tone a little bit for that series. For the whole season. If we win the series, we're winning it all. We're winning the division.

If we lose the series, it's all over. Wrap it up. We're not even doing the playoffs. And we might as well not even do a podcast the rest of the year. That's how I see it. That's where the cost of me goes to kela comes into play. Absolutely, brother. Just put a little bit of that in my mug.

and then we're good to go. But again, we're going to see, we're probably going to overreact to everything the Gowan and Nelly do between now. And when that decision is made, let's hope that the Diamondbacks don't wait until like, you know, two days before opening day to make that decision. I mean, it kind of sucks for them because I feel like they were definitely, and they were intentionally trying to get out ahead of this. Yeah. They were trying to not let this be a controversy by naming Merrill Kelly. early on, like the earliest we've ever seen them name an opening day starter. And then, you know, he gets, uh, basically slowed by nerves, the nerve of those nerves.

But, uh, today's split squad action. We have a lot of fun today. The Diamondbacks will be playing the white socks and they will be playing the brewers. We got white socks just, that just makes me feel like it should be at TEP. Yeah. Yeah. White socks. Yeah.

The way it used to be. The way it should be. The good old days, man. Those were, that was electric. Tori will be managing at Salt River Fields against the White Sox. Meanwhile, Banny, managing against the brewers out there. What a matchup of managers in that game. Scowls.

Solid scowls. Some of the best scowls you'll see in baseball. The Debeks have won six of the last eight games. Daniel Egan gets his first start here after making his spring debut on February 27th versus the Mariners. he went two innings in that game, didn't give up any runs, didn't give up any hits, didn't walk anyone, struck out two through 21 pitches. Pavin Smith has hit safely in four games.

Tommy Troy has hit safely in seven of his nine games, including three multi-hit performances. Your guy, Ryan Walschman, has four extra base hits in his last six games, including three doubles and a home run. And the Waldy agenda is alive and well. I'm just, I'm just, amen, Derek. Amen, brother. That's the gospel that I pray to. That's for sure. These guys getting a ton of playing time for sure, right?

I mean, the dude's just ripping the cover off the baseball, too. I saw something that like he has three of the top 50 exit veloes in spring. Is that good? That's pretty good. I mean, the guy, like, I don't, I'm not claiming he's ready necessarily right away because we're going to find out about that. He might make the roster. He might not. But what is he going to be on them at some point? He's going to rip the.

cover off the baseball even more. He's going to... He might kill somebody in the GA lawn section out at the Reno Stadium. If you're attending Reno Aces games, make sure you have last coverage. I don't care where you're part. Insurance.

I don't want to get started. Yeah, let's not get into insurance. Let's not get into insurance. Also, but also Tommy Troy, like I asked you the question, I think it was a week ago, Derek. Is the D-BACs utility man in-house? Because there was rumors from Gambo, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports saying,

that, you know, the Diamondbacks after trading Blaze Alexander, after moving Jordan Lawler to the outfield, were in talks with other teams or free agents looking for a utility man. And I was like, I don't know, man. Tommy Troy was in Reno last year. There isn't another level in between. Yeah. His spring has been so hot. Yeah. He's played three years of college baseball at a high level. He's taking his time in the minor leagues. Like, I think now is the time. And the guy can play outfield second third like that's the utility man i'm looking at him he also made one of the most basic mistakes i've ever seen a baseball player make losing track of the count don't do that i know i'm just saying i was i okay when that happened i was actually in the clubhouse and typically

i reserved that's what springs for man we're getting back into it i don't like reacting in front of the players and i like let out an audible like i was sitting there watching it on the tv i was like what are you doing and then like i think it was Alex from 98.7 had to look at me like, what are you doing right now? You know, that kind of thing. But it was such an egregious mistake. And again, it was just a matter of him losing track of the count, thinking that the final pitch was a ball. But again, even things like that could be the difference maker as far as how the coaching staff and how people feel about your, how ready you are to be out there at a major league level, right? But again, I'm not suggesting at all that that's going

to be anything that's going to keep a guy that's hitting 524 with a 1.2.38 OPS. off of the field or off of a major league roster. So Tommy Troy is doing everything he should be doing to try to win himself that role. And again, you're absolutely right. If the Diamondbacks are truly looking for this utility guy, they have a few guys. I mean, Tim Tawa has hit safely in five of his six games. He's hitting 316. Oh, hell yeah.

With a double, a home run, three RBI and two walks. I think our guy, Books Journey, wanted me to give respect where it was due to Pave and Smith. He has not only hit safely in four straight games, but he has four extra base hits in those four games and two home runs. So great stuff from Pavin, great stuff from a lot of these guys, just not a lot of it yesterday. There's not a lot of offense to speak about in yesterday's eight to one loss. Meanwhile, though, we do have good news here when it comes to Merrill Kelly. He did throw a bullpen yesterday. Tori Lovallo said that he threw 26 or 27 pitches.

He used his entire arsenal. and everything went according to plan. Tori said, I got a chance to speak with him directly after the bullpen, and he said he feels really good. Next steps are to be determined, Damon, but the next steps would essentially be probably perhaps maybe another bullpen and then a live BP,

and then maybe even, you know, we see him get into a simulated game or something. I doubt we'll see Merrill Kelly in any spring training games, especially with the short kind of runway here between now and the start of the regular season, but everything is progressing in the right direction as far as him not actually missing any time, him just being plugged in at the back end of the rotation there against the Tigers, most likely. That's great to hear. And, you know, I think that, you know, this organization has been so burned by injuries in the last two seasons

in particular that I have a feeling that they're probably just being very overly cautious with a lot of these injuries. And that's why you're seeing reports that Merrill's going to not really miss a start. He's just going to be plugged in the back end of the rotation. He's going to miss opening day. Corbin is going to be due to return sometime in and around opening day. He was like Corbin was hitting from my understanding. Corbyn was actually hitting baseballs yesterday. I mean, Corbyn's ridiculous. And that story says. Not off a T or anything like that. Like actually just hitting. I don't know if it's like balls tossed to him or what the next step would be. but I mean, he's getting very close to being cleared.

Probably some cage BP, you would assume. Like, you know, not like full simulation stuff, but like get, you know, L screen in the cage, coach throwing him, some BP. But I think that, you know, you just, you, you, you hear that these guys are kind of planning on coming back around right when opening day is starting. And to me, at least, that screams like, yeah, they're actually probably fine. Like, if it was, if it was the regular season and, you know, it was like, we're going to have to shut you down or play. a lot of them probably would push through it. But the fact that it's spring training,

this is when you're trying to be healthy, trying to get ready to go. I feel like maybe it feels like it's like doom or gloom. Everybody's getting hurt. But possibly it's just the debacks being like, oh, we just want to make sure that no one has a really bad injury during the season. And I mean, again, like you said, we've been burned. We've been burned by trying to get guys back.

we've seen these players re-aggravate injuries. We know that Erod kind of had a problem with that when he had like that oblique injury and they were trying to get him back. Same thing with Merrill. Merrill in the past when he's had injuries, they tried to get him back and, you know, suffered a little bit of a setback.

So 100% that's not what they want. And like luckily right now, they have just enough depth to cover it. So why not utilize that depth and keep yourself out of a situation where you're panicking, or forcing a guy to come back too early. The same could be said with the outfield.

We know that Lordus Gurriel is trying to everything he can to be back and ready by opening day. We know Corbin is doing the same. But right now... Lordus is a maniac. Lordus is just, yeah, legitimately. He's Wolverine. Legitimately, yeah, a healing factor. He's Cuban Wolverine.

Yeah. But he is definitely a guy that, you know, doesn't need to rush to come back. neither does Corbyn with at least the initial depth they have here with their minor league guys. And, you know, again, when they're ready and at 100%, truly at 100%, then, you know, their returns will be a boost to this team. And I still think that that is something that is going to give this team, like, almost getting them levels up as the season goes on. Every time one of these guys returns, I think it's going to give them such a boost, you know. I hope you guys, I've said this before, but I'm going to keep saying it.

I hope you guys are ready for the trade deadline additions are on the way. They're already in house. They're already on the roster. Their names are Justin Martinez, AJ Puck, and Corbyn Burns. And so we don't need to actually trade for anybody because we have an all-star, another all-star caliber reliever and then our young, you know, reliever that we put a ton of stock into all coming back. So guys, don't worry about it.

We're not going to trade for anybody. We're good. We're good. But you know who we're not good with? we're not good with a certain San Diego Padres radio host named Darren Smith who took shots at Merrill Kelly returning to this team. Damon has not heard this or watch this video. He knows nothing of these comments.

And we are going to get his reaction to the things said by Darren Smith in regards to Merrill Kelly returning to the Diamondbacks and not going to the Padres. Let's do that on the other side of this break. you're watching the PHNX Diamondback show. Well, you know Circle K is Derek's Thirstop. It's Damon's Thirst Stop, but it's also America's Thurst Stop, because it is the place for you to stop by. Get yourself something to drink, get your car filled up with gas. And of course, even maybe get yourself something to eat if you're hungry.

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Well, I don't know if we're going to be able to call this next guy of frenemy, Damon. I think this might just go straight into enemy territory. But Friar Territory co-host, Darren Smith, which is a Padres podcast. We're looking at you, Friedman. You know? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Jesse's friend, Darren. Let's handle it in-house, I feel like. You know, why does it have to be a pH and X sort of ordeal? Yeah, no. I don't know. I don't know why we have to let this business spill into the streets, but he had some scathing comments about Merrill Kelly's decision to not resign with the San Diego Padres.

Not resigned. I'm excuse me, sign with the San Diego Padres. this offseason. Kelly said on foul territory in regards to the state of California and nothing in regards to the San Diego Padres, you know, franchise themselves. Kelly said they take too much money. The taxes over there are unbelievable. He said there was a team out in California. I think everyone can pretty much figure out who that was. There was a three-year offer guaranteed on the table. I don't think it's any secret how much money you get taken out of your pocket. when you go to California, unless you're a Dodger, right?

We know that. But anyway, back to this situation. There was a reaction here on the Friars Territory podcast that Damon has not seen yet. And these are some very scathing words when it comes to when it comes to Merrill Kelly's decision here. Damon, do we want to go ahead and play this and then instantly go to a camera on you with your reaction to this? Yeah, I'm getting kind of nervous all of a sudden. I was fine and now I'm now for some reason I'm like, what did this guy say? It's a lot.

Go ahead and let's fire this up. This is what Darren Smith had to say about Kelly returning to the debacks. Marty, listen. There's a lot here. There's a lot here. And I do not want to sound like a judgmental a whole. No, no, no. Go ahead.

It's fine. But I will. Okay. Listen, my wife went to high school in Phoenix right outside of Phoenix. Her parents live there. I enjoyed visiting there from time. the time. If you choose to live in the desert in a desert in the summer instead of living in San Diego, just to save a couple of million bucks, then like, hey, good for you, dude. Like, good

for you. Now, he's a lifelong diamond back, but for a stretch of time last year where he got traded to the Texas Rangers and then he came back here in free agency. He signed a two-year, $40 million contract. The reporting around here was that he was offered three years guaranteed in about 50 plus million dollars. So a little bit less on the AAV if the reporting is accurate, but it was a three-year deal. I do know that. And I think that the money that's been reported is north of $50 million. Can I just say, though, to Merrill Kelly before we attack him, I would like to say, I hope that you, sir, are an influence in your community. And what I mean by that is I hope you set an example for lots of other people from Arizona that they don't

come here in the summer either. If you don't want to come here in the summer, then you should tell your fellow Arizonans not to come to San Diego in the summer. Please stay home this summer and every other summer after that. Because I think I speak for a lot of people in San Diego, Marty, like, we don't want people from Arizona flooding our freeways and our beaches and our restaurants all summer long. So don't forget Merrill Kelly's advice and stay in the Valley of the Sun. Do us all a favor. Do yourselves a favor. Stay there. Don't come here this summer zone. Please. Please don't do that. Expedia.

Click. Are you checking the flights to send? San Diego. Oh, sorry. I was on stays for a second. Yeah, leaving from Phoenix. Perfect, thanks. To San Diego, absolutely.

That's exactly what I wanted. Yeah. And let's go, what, March 20th through like the 24th. That's my birthday. It sounds fun. I'll add two. Why don't we get a double H-NXD back? trip. Oh, man. That would be fun. Oh, yeah. Just check in. Or, you know what? Should, would it be better to bring

the truck so that it has the Arizona plates on the back? So everyone knows exactly where we're from. Yeah, yeah. That way we can fly the big D-Bax flag as well. Yeah. So let me get this right. He's enjoyed his time visiting Phoenix. Uh-huh. But he wants us to God forbid. People from the state of Arizona go to the nearest beach in the country to us. First of all, my first thought is restaurant and bar owners in the San Diego area with like a word, sir. Oh, yeah. They will brush for us.

Yeah. We like your Arizona money because it spends exactly like California money. You know, what are you even talking about? Why is Merrill Kelly's decision to not go to San Diego for a lower A. AV. He said it himself. 50 million for three years versus 40 million for two. So for less money, right? And another year of commitment, but I get it.

Overall, more money. But is it, or is Merrill Kelly actually a genius? Because athletes face a significantly higher tax in California than even the regular person, even the regular millionaire, Damon? Unless you're Kyle Tucker. Unless you're Kyle Tucker or Shohei Otani, then you don't pay any. taxes, but California has a top marginal tax rate of 13.3% compared to Arizona's flat tax rate of 2.5%. 11%, almost 11% more. A 40 million two-year contract would cost an athlete roughly $2.7 million

in California taxes versus only 500,000 in Arizona. So let's start. there. Plus there's the jock tax application, which also taxes out of state athletes for visiting the state of California, which does it based on duty days and a formula that takes days worked in state and total season days and divides them. California is ridiculous when it comes to that, right? But more importantly, this notion that San Diego is just better than Arizona and that Phoenix is some sort of God awful place to live. Yeah, maybe for a little while in July. Maybe for a little while in July. And maybe that's his point. And I, listen, I'm not. But the rest of the time, it's great to live here. What are we talking about? It's conflicting because I

love San Diego. Like I go to San Diego. I don't, I don't let one person speak on behalf of a town that I like going to either, Damon. So I refuse to allow that here. But the idea that you are, hurt and that you're going to take that hurt out on in a very childish manner by telling Merrill Kelly to stay home and don't visit San Diego anymore and tell the rest of your people from Arizona they're not welcomed either is clown behavior I mean Merrill Kelly will be there every time he plays the Padres in a series and you're going to like it you're going to love it in fact yeah because now he's going to have some bulletin board material for every time he visits visits the fine city of city.

I mean, it's not going to like, I hear stuff like that and it genuinely just makes me want to go more. Like that's a, that is how I feel about it. Producer Erriton of the P.HNX Suns podcast last weekend was in San Diego. Went out for the first time. Gave him some spots. He loved it. He loved it, Derek. You know, and the whole time, you know what I keep saying?

I'm so jealous. I got to plan a trip to San Diego soon. This right here only added fuel to that fire. Yeah. Yeah. It's already. Now I'm thinking about San Diego. I can't wait to go.

go back. And also, when you come to Arizona, to the beach, how close can we get to the beach? For sure. And when he comes to Arizona, I hope he has a great time. Like he said that he did last time. Right. You know what I mean? So I'm going to enjoy my time. However, I feel like it's been my money how I want. And then you can do the same. You know what? Inferral Kelly. You know what infuriates me the most there is that he had to say like twice in the same sentence like desert living in the desert. Yeah. Yeah. We do, man. And we love it. We. We have to say. We have to say. We We love it. We love it so much.

I mean, listen, a lot of places have inclement weather. Not everywhere is Southern California. It's hell of expensive to live in Southern California. That's part of the reason. But also, the weather here is nice for the majority of the year. It really is. It's just a portion of the year where you're like, but when you're built for it, like me. I mean, it's no big deal.

Also, Cesar, $2 Super Chat said, oh, I'm so going to San Diego now. Let's go. We got everybody in the chat saying, Atlanta. Michael Dixon. I mean, we're, Jarmy, we're all, we're all playing in a Ph. NXD Back's trip where we just kind of take over. Yeah. Book's journey makes a great point. He says, I think it's flattering that they wanted Kelly that bad and he chose us. Yeah. I mean, Merrill Kelly loves Arizona. Yeah. I don't think there's any question about that. And yes, I think there are a lot of people that would prefer to live in Arizona than San Diego, but that doesn't mean that you can't visit a place.

Thank you. Well said. Well said. You know, you get a lot of flack for your Tucson love, right? And you could argue that the insults hurled Tucson's way are a similar fashion, like very childish, like almost proving you don't know ball. You said you were just here. You were just here. Then you should know how beautiful it is here. Oh, it's great. I love it. I love it.

Except could you imagine the summer? I mean, that's all you got. Like, that's not, that's just not going to do. We have AC and pools. We're fine. I promise you. In fact, I wear this hoodie sometimes in July. when you're in this office.

Especially in this office. Yeah. It's no doubt about it. You know. But hey, we appreciate it. And now, thanks to you, we're all planning trips to San Diego. I'm telling all of my friends to come. I'm telling them to congest your freeways.

I'm telling them to ask all of the questions about where stuff is instead of using their GPS. And I hope we annoy the crap out of you. I'm saying from, I'm thinking from about like from now March until September-ish, we should just kind of take over the state. Yeah. What's that? Like six months? Yeah,

it's fine. It's not even that big of a deal. It's not. So why don't we all just start playing vacations from now until then and have a great time? We're going to. We're going to. We're going to. And you can't stop us from doing so. And you can't stop Merrill Kelly from beating your baseball team.

So trust me, we'll remember this. We'll revisit this. We'll come back to this whole situation here soon. I mean, and yeah, shout out Merrill Kelly for for adding a little bit of fuel to the fire. Yeah. I thought he was going to come after the team or something. And I was going to be like, one of the Padres ever won. Here's an answer.

Absolutely nothing. And they've been around since the 60s. And the debacks have a World Series. You don't last time I checked. The debacks have been to a World Series more recently than the Padres have. And at this moment in time, the Padres are doing nothing but hemorrhaging all of their really good players. I mean, they're losing guys left and right. I'm not saying that they couldn't be like.

similarly good next year. They still have, you know, Tatis, Machado, some really good players. But, you know, in the last couple of years, you've lost Juan Soto. You've, you've lost, you know, Luis Arias, who I know is not great, but like he's not on the team anymore. You got to replace him. And I feel like, you know, this is just a, I really truly feel like the dying backs are going to be better than the Padres next year. Well, you could argue that with their young players, especially these guys that we've seen stepping up in spring training, the future is much brighter than the Padres. However, Yeah, and I think our owner is like, as, you know, maybe our owners. Who knew the whole time that really it was, I think when we needed some extra bucks.

Who knew we had Walmart money this whole time? We were calling big Daddy Walton up a little bit and saying, hey, hey, buddy. Hey, buddy. What do you think about tossing a few extra our way? Maybe we go crazy after the 2027 season. Who knows, right? Yeah, I mean, but I think, you know, this team is trying to win more than the Padres are when you're looking at like, at least extending players. and the Padres are like, oh, we can't afford Juan Soto anymore.

And it's like, who does things like that? I thought you guys got him because he were trying to win. Yeah. Well, Merrill Kelly might have taken a little bit less per total value. When you factor in the taxes, it's probably a lot closer, maybe something more like the Padres offered him, you know, seven million, six million more dollars for one more year. And Merrill Kelly feels like he could probably get that when he's a free aging unless he's

injured or something. But also, what if Merrill Kelly wants to play on a team that's bad? What if Merrill Kelly wants to play on the team that he thinks has a better chance of winning? What if Merrill Kelly just wants to live in Arizona? What if he just likes it here? Like his wife likes it here? His family likes it here. What if he just wants to stay here and he doesn't at this point feel like it's worth a very, very small amount for him to play an additional year and have to live in San Diego?

Sees and Snell. Three years out of the, you know, three more years instead of being here at home in Arizona where his history. family is also going to be. Like, it's a lot. It's a lot. I mean, these baseball players, they already pretty much live on the road, you know, for six months out of the year as it stands with their schedule and everything that they go through. But man, it's nice when you come home for 10 days to be living in the same house that your wife and kids are living in versus you staying in some, you know, shared space essentially that the team put together for you so that you could live, you know, in Arizona, right, or in San Diego in this case, right? Or you rent a house.

but you're just not with your family full time or whatever. So it's, you know, it's different for everybody. But, yeah, I think that, you know, Merrill Kelly is clearly an Arizona guy. I would, you know, if all else was equal, I think I would prefer to live in Arizona as well, given, you know, that's what I've known in my whole life. I feel like that's pretty natural human behavior. For sure, for sure. Well, we're going to take a quick break.

On the other side of this break, we are going to talk about World Baseball Classic, including these games that are going on right now, Cuba, taking on Panama and we got Venezuela taking on the Netherlands. We're going to talk about all of the results and Damon's favorite thing, Shohei Otani, hitting bombs, hitting bombs in Japan. Let's do all that on the other side of this break.

Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the World Baseball Classic podcast. If you are looking for representation after a serious injury or accident, remember that the lawyer you hire matters. You got to do your research. And Mark and Alexis Breyer are the husband and wife law team. They are who you should call first.

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And you may speak with one of their lawyers as often as you choose about anything you want to discuss. If you've had a serious injury called the husband and wife law team first at 602-783-8-8-48-1 or visit their website at the link in our show description. and tell them, PHNX sent you. And everybody needs a checking account, so make sure you get a checking account that gives back to you. Mountain America Credit Union is not only an incredible credit union

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Insured by NCUA, membership is required based on eligibility. Some benefits require no cost, registration activation, terms, conditions, and exclusions do apply. Well, we are blessed with a day filled with baseball today. like I said, two Arizona Diamondback spring training games, no matter where you're at. West side, east side, there's a game near you. Plus, we have all this world baseball classic action happening on FS1, FS2, and 2B. I got to get back into my 2B membership or whatever. Man, but I got to do it because we've got to watch these games.

I think Cuba did end up finishing off the job, Damon. You might be able to correct me on that or check into those. Cuba was up 3 to 1 in the ninth inning. I think they ended up holding on. They did. And then Venezuela right now is up six to two on Netherlands. We'll keep an eye on that one. But so far, the World Baseball Classic rolls on.

The biggest surprise has been Australia. They rolled over Chinese Taipei in the first game of World Baseball Classic play. They opened up with a three to nothing shutout victory over that team. It was considered kind of an upset. And then they came back in their second game. game to cook Chequia by a score of five to one. The Aussies scored five runs on nine hits and improved to two and oh in pool play. So now Australia technically leads pool play, pull C after two days with their two victories. They become the first team to reach two wins in the tournament. More importantly, Damon has decided to back Australia as his second team behind the Dominican Republic, as many of you. you know. And I think that decision has translated over to the Aussies now kind of acting in the spirit of Damon, right? Bringing Damon's energy to baseball games. If you have not seen this,

Aussie catcher Robbie Perkins does not want to be your friend in the game against Chequia while he was behind the plate. A Chequia batter who, excuse me, I don't know. who that batter was particularly for Chequia. He came over to offer a handshake to Perkins before his at bat. And Perkins just said, nah, not interested in it. Nah, mate. Nah, mate. You can stick that right back in your pocket.

That's probably the best way. That's probably a terrible Australian accent. But apparently Sam Bloom spoke to him. and he asked him about the incident. Robbie Perkins said it's just a competitive thing and nothing personal. He says if he sees the check team at the hotel, he'll check in. That's a good one. That's a good one, Robbie Perkins.

He also said, quote, there's absolutely no malice. This was just apparently Robbie Perkins being in game mode and having no interest in your handshakes, your dapps, or your pleasantries. Come see this world baseball classic competition, a.k.a. tournament as a way to bring the world together. Not Robbie Perkins. Uh-uh. Not this catcher.

He sees this as a way to further divide us. He sees this for what it is. This is a game for international superiority here. And he wants to make sure that everybody understands. He's here to play the game. Damon thoughts on him, not shaking hands with the Czechian bad. That's just not how, how us Aussies, that's not how we roll. No?

No. We're nice, right? We're friendly? No, we're not in competition. Not in competition. Yeah, I mean, in general, on the streets, I'm sure. But, you know, this is between the lines. I'm coming to my house, fine.

Yeah. Yeah. This is between the lines, brother. Yeah. No, I get it. I get it. And Derek, would it, would it shock you to let you know that I have purchased in Australia a hat. No, it would not shock me to know that it's going to look awesome with your Perdomo

Dominicana jersey for sure. For sure. Also, a little bit of an update on something we were talking about earlier via Alex Weiner, Corbyn is taking live ABs at this exact moment. Let's go. Got a line drive earlier. Yeah, and that would have dropped for like an extra base hit. So Corbyn's sweet. I mean, he's also maybe, Maybe Lourdes gave him some of his Wolverine powers? Maybe, maybe a little bit. Well, we already knew Corbyn was special. True.

He's not human. Another guy that's not human, Shoheyotani, obviously. Japan beat Chinese Taipei so badly that they probably should just exit the tournament now. I mean, they're 0 and 2, so they probably are eliminated as far as pool play goes. But Japan beat Chinese Taipei 13 to nothing. The game ended early under the mercy rule. after seven innings.

That's how bad this got. Japan's offense exploded with a 10-run second inning. Shohei Otani hit a grand slam in that inning and finished the game with five RBI total. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was on the mound for Japan. He went two and two-thirds innings, giving up no hits and no runs. He walked three, the only blemish of his outing,

and he struck out two. the Japanese team out hit Chinese Taipei 13 to 1 and Japan went 7 for 15 with runners in scoring position. Obviously, now Japan immediately establishes themselves as the favorite there in Pool C, but Australia would say not so fast. At least for now.

So can't wait to see that Australian Japan matchup, by the way, Damon. That is going to be electric. absolutely electric. I mean, I'll tell you what. If Australia finds a way to win that game, I don't even know how I'll act. I know, I know.

I might not need to be on the podcast for a little bit. I mean, we might have to do an emergency pod after that happens for sure. But right now live, we have Mexico taking on Great Britain on FS1 and the Netherlands taking on Venezuela. By the way, Otani in that game, like I said, three for four, five RBI, one double, one grand slam as advertised, just absolutely as advertised. I mean, the whole tournament is cooked for him, Derek. We went over this already. It's been established.

They literally set up the entire bracket for Otani to add to his resume. So I don't even know why we're sitting here. Giving Japan home games definitely doesn't seem. I mean, it's in Tokyo. It's in Tokyo. All these games are full of 40,000. and Japanese fans going crazy at everything Otani does. He's probably taking swings in the batters box and they're, they're owing and lying.

Oh, yeah, 100%. Then he hits the Grand Slam. I'm sure the building was shaking. And I mean, yeah, it's just an insane home field advantage. Not to mention their route to the final is ridiculously easy. I mean, I just, I can't anymore. I'm, there's one team I'm, I know I'm not rooting four team USA. I ultimately will probably find myself reading for.

Team USA. I just keep saying it. You just have to have the circumstances be correct for you to root for Team USA. Well, if Clayton Kirchow is on the mound, I'm rooting against Team USA. That is a designated fact. But it remains to be seen whether or not while I'm watching these games if I naturally start rooting for Team USA.

I will be rooting for the Dominican Republic. I will be rooting for Australia. Who's gotten off to a great start, as you said. But I am rooting against my enemy as I often do. And I care just as much about my enemy's demise as I do about my, you know, my, my own teams.

And in this circumstance, my enemy is Shohei Otani, and he plays for Team Japan. And he's, he's crazy. He's insane. I don't really care about anybody else. I only want him to lose. I got to give a shout out to the celebrities in person there in Japan. And no, I'm not talking about Timothy Shalameh. I'm not talking about B'Bani.

I'm talking, of course, about our very own Groundhog Mama. I believe Coggs is with her. And I think also Zabe and her husband. are out there watching World Baseball Class of in Japan. That sounds like so much fun. I'm very jealous. Yeah. Like to take a vacation planned, especially internationally, to a place like Japan, which is a great place to go.

I take Miami to go watch these Dominican Republic games and, you know, have some cafe cito with my boy over here. Cafe Conleche? Oh, my God. I'll get that Cuban coffee. All right. Well, we're going to take a quick break. And on the other side of this break, we're going to talk a little bit more about the, uh, I guess five or six more games that we have here today on the docket for World Baseball Classic

as long as well as let you guys know about our watchalongs for the World Baseball Classic that we have planned coming up. We're pumped for that. So, of course, we're going to talk about that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PHNX Dinemback Show. Well, I'm still fired up about those comments about Arizona and I am here to defend our great state and pure edibles.

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Of course. You said, Derek. They will go to war with us, pure edibles, hand in hand with us, grabbing their pitchforks, their torches, and ready to storm down, friar, territory podcast. That's right. And we have plenty of supplies thanks to them. And we know with those supplies that we will be feeling good. We will be well rested and we will be in the right mindset to take on anybody that has anything negative to say about the fine state of Arizona.

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Visit the Window Depot.com and get started on your next project today. Well, we have a fun update from the Venezuela Netherlands game, right? Our guy, Damon, do you want to let everybody know on our? Drew Jones, I mean, gets it, knots himself a 2-RBI double, or I'm sorry, I guess it was a 1-RBI double. And then I guess he was responsible for the, oh, yeah, you got a sack fly on the other Netherlands RBI. So he's one for one with a double? He's one for two with a double. He's one for two with a sack fly and a two RBI.

Let's go. So, yeah, he did get out in another AB. I love to see it. Love to hear it. And of course, you love all of this action happening today. This very much is reminiscent of like the Winter Olympics that we just had here, Damon. Like, this reminds me of, you know, the pure joy of being able to turn on a TV at any point and have baseball be on? This is great.

And of course, high stakes baseball, too. These games matter. right now like we said Netherlands and Venezuela in action we got Mexico and Great Britain also happening right now and of course we got two Diamondbacks performing in that game Mexico is currently up one to nothing on Great Britain we do have Christian Robinson who is currently 0 for two for the Brits out there and our guy Alec Thomas O for two for Mexico so right now it's a push between those two Diamondbacks players and now Great Britain just score with a Harry Ford home run, which happened right now as we speak. That's a tie ball game. Great Britain, they are not going to be pushed around, even though their jerseys are whack. You know, we've talked about Great Britain's jerseys being bad quite a bit.

Panama's jerseys are pretty bad too. Their logo across the front, kind of garbage, plain, boring, don't like it. This is a chance for these international teams to show some flair. Like, who is stopping them from making these jerseys outrageous? Let's stop with the classic, world designs. Let's get ourselves a Serpientis or like a Tampa Bay Ray's City Connect jersey kind of, I need some flashy colors. I want something new. I want something sick. Let's see these teams try

a little harder, but we get to watch them all day. Today, like I said, we got after this, we got Puerto Rico taking on Columbia. That's our first chance to see those two teams play in Pool A play. We also have Nicaragua taking on the Dominican Republic tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern. USA takes on Brazil at 8 p.m. Eastern and then at 10 p.m. Eastern, we got Chinese Taipei taking on Czechia in a game of who's going to come in last in that pool. But this is going to be a fun weekend, fun week, a baseball action. And we are bringing you some watchalongs next week and for the championship game. So join us next Monday as we are going to do a watch along. Damon and I

here for Team USA versus Team Mexico. And that's on Monday here on the other side of this weekend. And then one week and one day later for the championship game, Damon and I will be back for a watch-along to sit here and emote about that amazing game. And hopefully you guys join us to watch all of the action and be there with us. But speaking of being there with us,

we also have another fun surprise for those of you that might be looking for something to do tomorrow. Damon and I are going to be doing this very podcast essentially, live on stage in Mesa, Arizona, as part of their baseball block party that they have going on out there. It's absolutely free. We are going to be joined by Augie O'Heda and Chris Owings, and we are going to have a lot of thoughts not only on their teams,

but obviously on this current Diamondbacks team. So it's an absolute black. I was out there last year for it. We had a great time. And this year, my guy Damon is joining me on stage. So, of course, if you have nothing to do this Saturday, if you're maybe going out to a spring training game, maybe stop by, at least come out and say hi.

We will be out there. I think we're going to be out there around 11 a.m. So join us for that. We have so much, we have so much baseball to talk about, even though we still don't have very much significant baseball to talk about. The biggest updates here from today being a, Of course, what you guys were talking about there, what Damon brought up, courtesy of our guy, Alex Weiner, over at Arizona Sports 98.7. Corbyn Carroll taking some live at Bats.

You love to do love to see that. It feels like Corbyn is going to be not only ready for opening day, but we might actually see Corbyn get out there for a live game here in spring training before we get to opening day. That would be very encouraging and a great sign to see. We also have, you know, updates here on guys that, you know, We were hoping to hear some good news on soon. Loris Geryl Jr. being one of them. Christiane Mana is a guy that was shut down. We would love to hear that he got his throwing program going back again.

Probably not a guy that we expected to factor into the starting rotation. But again, a guy who would probably be at the top of the list as far as depth is concerned for this team. So we don't want to see Mayna miss too much time. Nor do we want to see Lourdes, even though it seems like the Diamondbacks have their outfield covered. for the most part with the way that Walschmidt, Lawler, and even Tim Tawa has been playing so far. And Tommy Troy, another guy who can add to their depth in the outfield as well. But it's a fun day.

It's a fun day for baseball. It's a Friday. Hope you guys all have yourselves a great weekend. Of course, you know, we talk a lot of baseball on here, but we are also Damon, your official jelly bean podcast. So I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't give you some shots of jelly bean here before we got out of here. At least, you know, the standard, we, we, we, we put together, like, essentially, uh, jelly bean

pictures that are ready to go at all times. Should I make it where it's like, I, we toggle through them a little bit? So like there's like, we see one and then it's like we don't get to see the next one for a while or something. Yeah. I mean, I think we should. I think that we, I, I, first of a surprise. Putting four pictures of jelly bean on one, like, shot. It's too much.

It's too much. It's too much cuteness. It's a cuteness overload. So, yeah, I mean. You might need to, like, I know Derek, you're on top of things, but we might need you to, like, grab a couple more pictures for the podcast. That I can do. Like, like, update us live.

You know what I, what I would be happy to do, Damon, in fact, is I'm not even going to just grab pictures from the internet randomly. I'm going to go out to World Wildlife Zoo and take pictures personally. Yeah. That's the best way to make sure that we get the shots of me. You should bring Danielle with you and get some, like, really good shots. Oh, yeah. For sure.

That'd be fire. I just want to meet jelly bean. Look at him! Look at him! He's perfection. All right. Well, that's all, that's all we got. We're only going to give you a little bit of jelly bean. But hopefully that improves your weekend. I did see Danielle's actually here. You bring her up. That's crazy. She's like Joe Hendry. You say her name and she appears. That's wild.

As well as John Curtis, of course, as many of you know. But we thank you guys so much for your time. We appreciate you stop and why. We will be back here on Monday. unless you stop by to join me and Damon out in Mesa tomorrow, then you'll get to see us live there. But if not, we'll see you back here at noon on Monday with some updates from over the weekend. And of course, more updates on the World Baseball Classic,

as well as our watchalong there for Team USA versus Team Mexico. Until then, we hope you guys have a wonderful, wonderful weekend. Make sure you follow us on social media. I am at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. He is at Damon Dog with a D-A-W-G at the end. And we are all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs,

but as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We love you guys. Thank you guys so much for your time. We appreciate you sharing a little bit of it with us. We'll see you back here next week. Until then, have a wonderful weekend. And remember, kids, baseball is fun,

but it's so much more fun when you finally admit that team Japan is going to win it all.