PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - PHNX D-backs After Dark: Call the IRS

Episode Date: January 25, 2026

On this edition of PHNX D-backs After Dark, the Dodgers continue to live in Derek and Damon’s heads rent-free, but that’s only because of the way their players structure paying rent and other finances. We have more on Kyle Tucker being paid $1 million with a $64 million signing bonus, why taxes play the biggest role in this structure, and what a member of the California State Senate is trying to do about it. Get ready to learn about the the Shohei Ohtani tax loophole, kids.JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX 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_251120ALLCITY — 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 visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotesbet365: 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 35% 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.

Damon, I do not want to give the goddamn Dodgers the satisfaction of being the main character of this podcast. That was not the intention when you and I set out to be the bad mouth boys and just come on here unfiltered, uncensored, and just let our fucking thoughts fly. But for some reason, here we are two episodes into this, and we have to once again talk about. the goddamn Dodgers. Yeah, the Dodgers are constantly going to be the, you know, the villain of this story, Derek. There's a lot of villains that I think are the main characters of stories. And they're all the Dodgers. Yeah, and the Dodgers are just another one on the long line of absolute classic villains that, you know, try to take over the world,

try to instill their evil ideologies on society. and in, you know, in the meantime, uh, we just have to sit here and fight for what's right and what's just in this world. And, and that's exactly what we do on debacks after dark is, is we try to set things fucking straight, Derek. That's right. It's why it's, it's the, the abbreviation is dad. And we're trying to be a dad over major league baseball.

We're trying to father, uh, major league baseball back to a sense of being right and just. But in this world, it's so hard to find anything that's right and just right now. And it's definitely not anything going on with the Dodgers because news broke this week that Kyle fucker. That just seems easy. That seems like low hanging fruit. What do you expect us to not take Kyle Tucker? And I am, I am supposed to be an adult and mature about this because I'm not going to be.

But Kyle Tucker, if you will, will be paid a $1 million dollar salary. and we'll get a $64 million signing bonus. Obviously, this is yet another ruse being put on by the Dodgers and one of the players they signed to circumvent something in some way. Now, the amount, the Dodgers are paying the full amount. So for people confused by this and think that the Dodgers are only getting hit for $1 million against the payroll cap. That is not the case. This is just how his deal is structured, Damon.

There's really not a benefit to the Dodgers here overall, and they are going to be paying out a whole lot of money for Kyle Tucker here. In fact, the amount with all of the penalties involved is going to be just simply egregious, right? but the $1 million that he's getting paid with the $64 million signing bonus seems to be a way, Damon, for him to circumvent getting taxed at the full amount. So that's what this actually is about. This is about cheating the motherfucking government and not just cheating major league baseball. Investigate at FBI, at CIA, at, at,

You know, the IRS. Like, can we, can we start putting... Especially the IRS. Can we start putting our resources towards what's truly needing to be investigated in this world? And that being the Los Angeles fucking Dodgers who are clearly circumventing all types of financial rules and regulations that we have in this country. And just doing whatever they want, Derek. It's an absolute sham. And may I add that, yes, you are right.

Like, it isn't like the Dodgers are getting off Scott first. in this deal. In fact, the opposite. I think, you know, it requires a team to pay up front and have that amount of money to be able to just hand to a guy right when he signs. And I guess that's probably more of the issue is that the Dodgers used their ability and their unlimited purse to put an amount of money in Kyle Tucker's face directly where he could not say no, a thing that essentially, you know, all other teams that are not maybe the New York Yankees and the New York Mets. even have the fundamental capability of doing, putting $60 million in someone's face and saying,

here, take this contract because you'll get this bad boy in your bank account right away. And I think that that's what the issue is. The Dodgers are flexing their financial muscles over the rest of Major League Baseball yet again. And that's what we're seeing on a, on a day-to-day basis, week-to-week basis, year-to-year basis, is that these guys will continue to try to ruin the fucking sport at every turn. because they can. And that's what they're doing in this circumstance yet again. Well, and it's not just that.

It is also the fact that, like, again, we've talked about what the Dodgers are going to be paying in competitive balance tax penalties. And it doesn't matter. It fucking doesn't matter because when you have essentially unlimited money and unlimited resources, why would you care about a financial penalty? Right?

when you're saying that the only thing to keep me from doing this is that I'm going to have to pay you guys, like what you call a competitive balance tax and I call hush money is to do whatever the hell I want to do, including doing this in a way where the signing bonus at $64 million is taxed differently, Damon, than his salary. So his salary is considered to be $1 million, and that's what he would essentially pay federal and state taxes on in the state of California. However, there's this weird way that signing bonuses could potentially be structured. And most teams would not structure it this way because it does involve a tremendous amount of risk to the team itself,

is to just kind of give him what like amateurs get as a signing bonus. And in that case, if he's like if it's structured in that particular way, then he is essentially taxed based on his home state. And he lives in Tampa, Florida, the upside down. Right. So he's not paying California taxes on the $64 million. And while baseball, fans. What a piece of shit. What a piece of shit there. He gets to live in Florida. He gets to go play

for the Dodgers. What do you stand for, bud? Why don't go sign with the Marlins or the raise, Mr. Tampa, Florida? Mr. I'm all about Florida. Like, it's the money. It's the fucking pile of money, Damon. It's the amount of money that you could pay someone to completely take whatever their feelings, morals, whatever you want to call it and shove it in a box because they're giving you so much money, especially a guy that's been rumored that his, like baseball isn't his true love, right? There's been talks of him being compared to Anthony Rendon, right? And so that's not a good person you want to be compared to. And in doing that, it's basically saying that this is a guy that wants to get out of baseball probably as fast as possible.

And in this case, this is the best scenario for him personally. But to already get paid such a huge amount of money and then still need to find a way to structure it so that you can hold on to as much of it as possible is where we need I mean I want I want to tell I want to I want to tattle I want to be I want to get the federal government involved like you said IRS agents where's the 85,000 IRS agents that were supposed to be let loose on the street years ago can we send all of them to Dodgers Stadium to check out what the Dodgers are doing in fact Damon there was a a representative Josh Becker in state legislation in California. He proposed what they called the Shohei Otani tax loophole, which passed it already. And that was because of what

Shohei Otani did to avoid paying approximately $90 million in state taxes to California. Lock him up. This man represents District 13 in California. And he has said, it is disturbing that Shohei Otani and other individuals can perform a hidden ball trick using an obscure tax loophole to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars and it's a concerning precedent. The current system exasperates the unequal distribution of taxes and creates an unbalanced tax structure and further perpetuates income equality. As if the Dodgers don't fucking do that already in baseball, just as an organization that exists, let alone do they, you know, and this is where you're like,

Is this part of the benefit of going to the Dodgers? If you go to the Dodgers, will they help you figure out how to hide your money and structure it for you in a way where you will get to keep more of it, no matter what the actual dollar amount is that they're paying you? It seems corrupt. They got accountants. It's far for the course. They got damn accountants, Derek, that are running numbers, crunching tax laws state by state and trying to figure out how we can pay you even more money. The ungodly amount of money that we're already paying you across baseball. And as you said, it's more than just the power balance and inequality in the sport of Major League Baseball.

They are contributing to the wealth gap in society in the United States of America. If you could not hate this organization anymore. And Derek, I'm willing to come out and say this. The Dodgers are in fact money laundering. Now, I don't have the evidence yet. but I will find the evidence on the next edition of Damon Farrell finds out the award-winning investigative journalism podcast that I will be starting on this very same network because fuck the Dodgers and I will dedicate my life to taking them down, Derek. It's amazing the good work that you're going to do. I mean, it's going to be based, it's going to all start with the Dodgers, but I feel like for future episodes you're going to have to pivot and find other things to investigate.

And this seems like a good path. No one's tried this before. So I think this is, this is interesting. I can't wait to watch that first episode. God knows that there's a lot of ammo to choose from with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yeah. And which criminal show him on.

Which scandal do you want to fucking start with is the true question. What pile of shit do we dig into first, right? Where do we start with this corrupt organization? Well, I think it's very evident what this podcast has become. And it's the exact thing I didn't want to become. Damon it really is it really is it's the it's the exact but we're here we will back with damon finds out next week we'll also be back with another edition of this show where we'll inevitably

scream more about the dodgers but i mean pitchers and catchers are reporting soon so there's got to be something else that i can get angry about and god damn it i will find that thing i will find that thing but uh you can follow us you know where we're at i'm a cap underscore caveman with a k he's a damon dog with a da wg and we're all Damon's dogs. Park, Bark, thank you guys for checking out the show. We'll be back with another edition of PH and XDbacks After Dark. And again, thank you for your time.

Remember, kids, baseball's fun, but it's more fun after dark.