PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - POSTGAME: Blue Jays Are Baseball’s Final Hope Against Dodgers After Epic Game 7 Win Over Mariners

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4We’re heartbroken for the Seattle Mariners—our beloved Sea-Backs—after their heartbreaking Game 7 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, falling just short of their first-ever World Series appearance. In this episode, we break down the pivotal moments of the game and shift our focus to the Blue Jays as they prepare to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Fall Classic. Joining us, Jesse Friedman from Snakes Territory reflects on the Mariners’ near-miss and celebrates the Blue Jays’ return to the World Series for the first time in 32 years.An 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/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/APS:  Find instant rebates, discounts and special offers on smart thermostats, energy-efficient appliances and more at https://marketplace.aps.com/default/heating-cooling/smart-thermostatsBranded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Zen Leaf: Visit our friends at Zen Leaf (http://zen-leaf.store/phnx) for 50% off using promo code ZENPHNXChicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today!Access Auto Insurance Agency of Arizona, LLC (Access Auto) is a renowned agency offering personal and commercial auto insurance options to Arizona residents. If you’re on the hunt for a new policy, call Access Auto today at 1-480-400-0546 or get a free insurance quote by visiting our website www.access-insurance.com.Visit https://www.macu.com/accounts/checking/mystyle-checking?cid=ea-PHNX-AZ-mystyleAugust2025-checking to learn more about their MyStyle Checking Accounts!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/Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 20% off your first order!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!Monarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/phnxWhen 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.

Oh, Canada. Do they put their hand over their heart? To another edition of the PHNXDbacks podcast live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. It is I, your mayor of PHNX, occasionally known as your newest Canadian baseball fan. Glad to have you guys here. Welcome in. It's also Derek Montaia. I get called that sometimes around town.

Glad to have you guys here for another edition. Believe it or not, this is the PHMX Diamondbacks podcast, though we are going to lament about our beloved Seabacks, a.k.a. The Mariners falling just short of their first World Series appearance here in Game 7 of the ALCS against the Toronto Blue Jays. Glad to have you guys here. Of course, this show is brought to you by our friends over at Bet365 and a game time. Make sure to use that code of PHNX 365. When you sign up over there, Bet365, get yourself some bonus bets for following a few easy. steps over at game time, you'll get $20 off. You're already low ticket prices, last minute ticket prices, using our code of PHNX. And of course, come on in, welcome in. Somebody's already blaming me. Ernesto says, I blame Montia for this. Yes, yes, it's 100% my fault. Also,

it's good to know that Ernesto is actually Shane's burner account because I know somewhere right now. Shane Diefenbach hates me more than he hates, probably anybody, even George Springer. But of course, we're going to talk about this, but I'm not doing it alone. I do got Damon Dogg on the ones and twos, aka the newest resident of Canada.

He's just already waving the flag. Boy, does it feel good to be a Canadian, Derek. Hey? Hey? Hey, we've got to get some A's in there. But also joining us, of course, is my friend and your guy. your thunder stick, the one, the only,

Jesse Friedman from Snake's territory. Jesse, I know that you're not necessarily a Seattle Mariners fan. However, you did spend time in that region of the country quite a bit of time, and I think you probably have a pretty good read on how devastating this 4-3 loss is for the Mariners fan base coming so close to their first World Series appearance here with arguably their, you know, second best team in franchise history. It's a rough day to be a Mariners fan, Derek.

Everybody, everybody hug the Mariners fan. Yeah, find a Mariners fan to hug. I know Shane Diefenbach, certainly. He could use the love on a night like this. But yeah, I mean, it's really tough. The Mariners franchise, I mean, the, of course, playoff drought that is so well documented, they finally overcame that here recently.

past few years and then it really felt like this was going to be the year where they would get over the hump and actually make their first world series unfortunately george springer had had other plans derrick he really did as he has all postseason long and i mean this is a toronto blue jays team that obviously has a very potent offense and there's never been a doubt about that mariner's have done a good job at times of holding them in check but we've seen that offense kind of you know breaking out here. We saw it very much break out there in game six. And now here we sit at this point where, you know, the Mariners were able to take an early lead. Things looked pretty good for them. George Kirby had himself a pretty rocky first inning there, Jesse. But, you know,

Julio Rodriguez scored on a Josh Naylor, RBI single in the first inning to make it won nothing, giving the M's an early lead. Then Josh Naylor, that absolute maniac that he is, tried to prevent a double play from taking place and he jumped up and literally stuck his neck out for this team. This is the kind of effort we wanted from you, Bryce Terang. This man literally stuck his neck out for this team. Sure, it was an illegal play and he was out because of how obvious it was that he was interfering with the play. But it was immediately former Arizona Diamondbacks players, Jesse, that got things

rolling in this very pivotal game seven, right? You got Josh Naylor getting the first RBI single there. for the Mariners. And then you had Dalton Varsho on the other side of the bottom half of the first inning, getting the first RBI single there for the Blue Jays to tie this game up at one. And again, George Kirby from that point on, he was more sharp cheddar than angry cheddar. Definitely locked in and was able to keep this Blue Jays team fairly quiet. But you knew he wasn't going to go very long. You knew they were going to pull out all the stops in order to try to keep this game close. And they went to Brian Wu. which seemed to be a good move. George Kirby gives him four innings, pitch, four hits, one earn, run, one walk, three strikeouts. I don't know, Jesse.

I know it's the winner take-all game and you just do everything and anything it takes, but do you leave a guy in there that's shoving like that, despite the fact that he's was shelled the last time he was out and, you know, isn't on, you know, full rest at this point? You're talking about, are you talking about Kirby? Talk about George Kirby. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I think given the fact that George Kirby is not pitched particularly well in this in this postseason overall, I wasn't too surprised to see a quick hook there. Obviously, it was eight runs for him over four innings in his last outing. So that wasn't hugely surprising to me. What was kind of surprising, Derek, was in the seventh inning when the Blue Jays had runners at second and third and one out. They got a couple of base runners against Brian Wu. Andrus Jimenez laid down a bunt to move the runners up to second and third. George Springer comes up in what felt like pretty clearly the most pivotal moment of the game up to that point. And it was really interesting to see Dan Wilson go to Edward Bizarro in that spot as opposed to Andrus Munoz.

I know there have been already a lot of people on social media criticizing that move. and I would, I have not tweeted anything, but I would count myself among the people who did, who did not understand that when it happened. I know it would have been a lot to ask of Bunoz to get eight outs to finish the game. Certainly, that would have been a really heavy load for him to carry. Yeah. But at that point, you felt like, he was also available too. Yeah, you felt met with Matt Brash also available theoretically. I mean, those two outs to get out of the seventh were with, with the top of the order due up for Toronto. I mean, those felt, like the two most important outs in the game.

And I know Bizarro's pitched well for the Mariners in the playoffs. He had a good season. But he also was making his fourth appearance in the series. He'd already pitched five innings in this series against Toronto. And it felt like kind of a recipe for disaster just going back to him over and over and over again. I knew when both managers were essentially were quoted as saying that everybody is available. I was like, should they be? You know, like, I don't know.

I understand the concept of the regular season being a marathon and not a sprint. And I understand here, especially in game seven, there literally might not be a tomorrow. So you're not really worried about usage or whatever. If guys say they're available and say they're feeling good, then they're available and they're feeling good, right? Like, that's all you can really go based on. But I do feel like with all the analytics and every. everything we go through. It was specifically the bizardo usage in the, and this ALCS. I was surprised. I didn't like it. I said out loud to nobody, I didn't like it. And then it goes sideways. And I just

kind of hug my head in shame. It does unfortunately make me feel like situations with the Diamondbacks, where Tori would go to certain guys that you're like, of all the guys you're going to John Curtis right now, right? And that's no disrespect to John Curtis. It's just to be said, like at times it didn't really feel like Tori was managing certain games to go, this needs to be one right here. Like he was just managing it in a way where, well, John is available. So that's who I'm going to put in. Right. And like this felt different.

It didn't feel like the right move in the moment. And again, I definitely understand wanting to go to one of your best relievers like this. But I also felt like if that was the case for that moment, Andres Munoz was a, available and that feels like a guy that you you could have gone to instead in that big moment. I also, I think the other question you could ask is should the Mariners have even pitched a George Springer at all? Yeah. I mean, you've got second and third one out. I know that Nathan Luke's has had a pretty, had a pretty good year and has hit decently well in the postseason. But I mean, George Springer was one of the best players in all of baseball in 2025. So I think there's a case to be

made there too. Obviously, hindsight is 20-20, but out of those three options of pitch to Springer with Bizarro and, and, you know, whoever it is, maybe put Springer on and face Luke's, or put in Andrus Munoz to face George Springer and go right after him, I think the choice that the Mariners made probably made the least sense in my mind. It just, you just felt things shift, You know, and I mean, again, it started there with Brian Wu, but you kind of felt like you liked Brian Wu. You like going from George Kirby to Wu there. You know, Wu has missed time. So he's fresh. Obviously not coming out of the, you know, coming out of the bullpen isn't the ideal situation for any starter. But if you're talking about pulling out all the stops and making everybody available, I didn't hate, you know, Wu being in there. And he seemed fairly effective. It felt like the Mariners had kind of a nicely locked. in deal but the Blue Jays meanwhile on the other side of the ball uh they very much you know they had Shane Bieber go out there and not be very effective in this game and their bullpen locked it down one hit allowed by their bullpen jesse uh and that's in a lot of innings pitched here we got

what five and a third innings pitched one hit allowed that's uh that that's a lights out performance after your starter looked like he wasn't going to be able to make it. very far. Beber gives up seven hits and two and runs and three and two thirds innings pitch. So, you know, again, you, uh, you didn't love the, the leaving him in there too much longer than that. And luckily for the Blue Jays, their pen was outstanding today. It really was. Yeah. I mean, it, it honestly kind of reminds me of the Diamondbacks bullpen a little bit in from 2023 where on paper, I don't think the Blue Jays bullpen is all that great necessarily, but here in the playoffs, the pieces have just kind of fallen in place for them.

And that's really all you need to happen. I mean, Jeff Hoffman did not have a good season, but he has been lights out in the postseason. I mean, that ninth inning was just utter dominance from him. Granted, the Mariners, the bat quality there was not fantastic. I think Hoffman threw two pitches in the strike zone out of his 17. But that's a credit to how, I mean, just how nasty the high fastball and that down in a waste. slider that he just seems to command so well. Like, I mean, there's a reason he was one of the more highly sought after relievers and all of baseball this offseason.

So, you know, between him and Louis Varland, who I know gave up a run in this game, but by and large has been a really big part of this postseason run for the Blue Jays. And then, yeah, today you had Chris Bassett going out there and Kevin Gosman giving you an inning as well, Sir Anthony Dominguez contributing as well. I mean, on paper, it's not really anything special, but it was good enough to beat a very good Mariners team in this ALCS. Right. And I mean, I'll tell you, Jesse, this is a very good Mariners team.

And this has to be crushing. You know, we know lots of Mariners fans. Shout out to my guys, George and Sammy. Shout out to Shane, who will probably never speak to me ever again. I mean, we, I tried very much to get shot. to just believe in his baseball team the other day, Jesse. And since then they went one

and three and have lost the ALCS and are now out of the playoffs. So I was in the wrong to be positive. I was in the wrong to encourage him to believe in his team. And I think that maybe talking about the Etsy which, as much as we did, might have reversed the curse or reversed her spell

or done something. We put far too much attention out there about her and it would appear Here the Mariners Magic has indeed run out. It's heartbreaking because in this game, they had their guys do it, right? They get a home run from Julio after scoring that first run in the first inning. That puts Seattle up two to one. And then, yeah, Cal Raleigh hits that solo home run off of Arland to extend Seattle's lead to three to one.

And that held for quite a while until that bottom of the seventh inning when George Springer, despite hobbling around and, you know, I mean, the stuff, legends are made of Jesse. A guy like George Springer who is in fairly elite company as far as his career postseason home runs. Like just not, I don't know. I mean, I don't know how to explain it. I feel like I'm discrediting the man every time I bring it up. But just you see George Springer up there with the names in postseason history that have hit most home runs. And it's just not the kind of guy you expect to be in that company, right? He's amongst a very elite group of hitters. And again, Springer has had a lot of at-bats in his career in the postseason.

So he's had plenty of opportunities to hit those home runs. But, I mean, 23 home runs now in the postseason in his career. And that's fairly elite. Again, coming in, hobbling in on bad knees and doing it in a very Kurt Gibson, 1988 world, you know, 1988-old, what, NLCS style here? But, or no, that was the World Series. but Jesse, I'll tell you, this is something that hurts for Mariners fans, I'm sure. Seeing this team be up and then lose on that one single home run to lose here by a score of four to three is heartbreaking.

Being one game away from your first appearance in the World Series is heartbreaking. I can only imagine how devastated Mariners fans truly are tonight, having come this close, having been up to nothing, winning those first two games in Toronto, in this league championship series, only to lose it here in Toronto in the end. I mean, for Mariners fans, I think it's going to feel like just another day of being a Mariners fan,

which is sad to say, but I mean, I get the sense that that's kind of where their heads are going to be at after a game like this. But, you know, give it a few weeks, and I think Mariners fans will be able to reflect and see just how amazing of a run. this was a lot of fun memories along the way.

And, I mean, just making the playoffs is not something that the Mariners fans have gotten to experience all that often. So this was a big step in the right direction for the franchise. And I think moving forward, I mean, obviously there are some pieces with Seattle that, you know, we'll see what happens with Josh Naylor and with Aeuene Oswez and Jorge Polanco, I believe, is going to be a free agent as well. but I mean they still have Cal Raleigh for a long time they have Julio for a long time their pitching staff is is really excellent and all those pieces are in place for a long time so this is a team that I think has a chance to be a contender year in and year out and hopefully for them this is just a launching pad of getting back to the championship series and maybe even beyond in the in the coming years Josh Naylor he's a Seattle Mariner for life I think he might he might die where wearing a Seattle Mariners uniform after the love that man received. And honestly, tonight, he was incredible, Jesse, including turning that double play and put it literally, like I said earlier,

putting his neck on the line for this team in an attempt to help them win. But overall, you got to tip your cap to the Blue Jays. They clinch the AL Pennant and they advanced to the World Series for the first time since 1993. When I was a small child, some of my first baseball memories are, of the Toronto Blue Jays being the most dominant team in baseball. So that's what's funny to me is that like when I first, some of my first moments of paying attention to baseball

was this team winning back to back titles in 92 and 93. And quite frankly, it was like I also remember thinking that any time a baseball team won, they were going to win like three championships. That's what it, that's just what it felt like when I was a kid. It felt like every team that did it won a whole bunch, including the Yankees. It felt like the Braves won 20, even though they didn't. And yeah, it just says how different baseball is now because here we have the Dodgers in the World Series.

And they are like the first legitimate, you know, contender. I guess you could say the Astros, right? The Astros were a strong team there to win, you know, multiple World Series. But it just doesn't happen anymore. Baseball has become so, you know, it has become so close. The parody is there, except when you talk about the Dodgers. But this Blue Jays team, this is a tough team. This is going to be a tough matchup here for the Dodgers.

We're going to talk about that on the other side of this break. But as much as Damon hates it, we are going to give out a Kingsnake. And here's the thing, Jesse. We're ready to switch our fandom as much as it hurts. We are a hired gun. We are, you know, hitman essentially around here. We have to move from one thing to the next, right? So it's like, yeah, we supported the Mariners.

We stuck with them strong throughout this entire playoff wrong. We gave them our whole hearts. We called them the C-backs. But now we are ready, Jesse, to give our full support the Toronto Blue Jays. And in an effort to begin that we are giving our King Snake tonight to the man that won it for the Blue Jays, George Springer, 23 career postseason home runs. He is our King J. King Blue J. I don't know.

We're going to figure something out. sea snakes was just such a natural fit. It was so easy. We're going to have to workshop. Also the C-backs. Like, oh, Jesse, this hurts so much. It hurts more than anything's ever hurt in my whole entire life. And I can't believe how much.

Like, that's the one thing that sucks about giving your full fandom like we did to a team like this. The Jorge Polanco's. The, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, Jesse, I'm so attached to this team now. I'm not ready to go back to hating them as another opponent next season. I might root for the Seattle Mariners for the rest of my life now because of what we've gone through during this postseason run. It's going to be hard. Except you, Bizarro. You get nothing. You get nothing from me. But we're going to take a quick break on the other side of this break. We're going to talk about that matchup with the Dodgers and ponder if the Blue Jays are, in fact,

our final hope, our best hope to be the damn Dodgers in the World Series. We're going to go to do that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback show, believe it or not. You know Circle K is your stop to get something to drink. It is America's third stop. But of course, on October 23rd, you know the drill. It is time for another Circle K fuel day.

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And I don't want to be on the Drake side of anything ever. I am firmly in Kendrick's camp when it comes to music. However, he's not wrong. Here we sit, Dodgers versus Blue Jays. Kevin and Damon win. Yeah. We won again. Yeah, I hate that.

But here we sit. Here we sit, Jesse. And quite frankly, I feel like the Toronto Blue Jays have had a great season. They were one of the best teams in the American League this year. And I feel like they are our best hope at not seeing the Dodgers win another World Series. I wish it was a team that I could be like. yeah, this proves this proves that

a team that doesn't spend that much can still compete or whatever. The Blue Jays want to spend as much money as the Dodgers and if they could, they would. So there's no doubt about it there. I don't think that narrative is going to be alive and well with how much money they just paid Vladimir Guerrera Jr. before the

season started, but that extension is looking pretty smart considering how good that man has been in the postseason and how good this offense overall has been over this postseason run. Well, I mean, to the to the question of are the Blue Jays the best hope against the Dodgers, I guess they are quite literally the only hope against the Dodgers, they are now the last

team standing alongside the Dodgers, of course. But yeah, I mean, on one hand, I'll be honest, my head immediately goes to, am I just expecting the Dodgers to totally run over this team like they did the Milwaukee? I mean, I thought the Brewers were a pretty decent team too. Sure. And obviously it was pretty quick. That series did not last very long. So I think the Blue Jays do have something going for them that the Brewers didn't, though,

which is that they have legitimate star power in their lineup that I think, I mean, you could make like Christian Yelich, I know, had a good season, but obviously he was not, he did not look anything like himself in the postseason. William Contreras had a bit of a. an up and down year for Milwaukee. I just think in Vlad Jr., in George Springer, there's star power in the middle of this Blue Jays lineup that I think you feel, you feel good about.

And you feel like one of those guys could just take over a game. And especially Vlad Jr. I mean, I know he wasn't the hero tonight, but holy cow. I mean, what a postseason it has been for him. And I mean, I think there's every reason to believe that Vlad could continue this run into the World Series. I got to give Vlad a lot of credit because after signing that extension, I feel like I watched him play the best baseball I've ever seen.

I feel like he, I don't want to take this again disrespectfully, but he looked like he was in good shape, like he lost weight. He looked like he was, you know, I started seeing more clips of him not being someone that followed the Toronto Blue Jays closely over the regular season that stepped up and became a leader for this team. And again, I know that it's a maturity thing, but I feel like it's very similar to Geraldo Perdomo, who, after signing his extension,

became the best version of himself that he's ever been at a major league level. That takes a special kind of character to get paid that mountain of money, guaranteed, whether you suck or not, and be like, I need to be the best version of myself in order to live up to this, you know, contract that this team has given me, you know, and I respect that because Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has always been a great baseball player, always a consistently solid, you know, offensive threat. But I started seeing defensive highlights from him all season long and now watching this team in the postseason.

I've really seen him be an incredibly good, well-rounded baseball player that is, you know, by far the heart and soul of that team. like Geraldo is for us, but also the best player on that team. And this postseason run is just incredible, considering that all of this has happened after this team decided to invest so strongly in him to make him a Blue Jay for the rest of his career. It just wouldn't have felt right if Vlad went somewhere else. I mean, I just have always associated him with that organization. And it would have been just bizarre to see him donning any other jersey.

than the Blue Jays. And I mean, this postseason has been unreal for him. A 442 average, a 1440 OPS. He struck out for the third time today all postseason long compared to six home runs. He has twice as many home runs as he does strikeouts in the playoffs. And yeah, I mean, you think about what certain elite players could do, given the opportunity to play in the World Series. And Vlad Jr. is one of those guys you get a.

excited about. Like, all right, if this is what it's been like so far up until now, what could this look like in the fall classic, in the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers? And I don't think it's just Vlad with George Springer with how well-rounded this Blue Jays lineup is. I think there's reason to be hopeful here that despite how dominant this Dodgers rotation is, and I mean, current pitching staff for L.A. looks as good as it has looked in a long time. But I think there's reason to believe that the Blue Jays can can at least make this thing interesting. Ernie Clement, Jesse, has continued to be incredible for the Blue Jays. You talk about the, right?

You talk about the star power that those other two guys have. But meanwhile, Ernie Clement is hitting 429, or excuse me, yeah, 429 with a 10663 OPS, Vlad hitting 442 with a 1.440 OPS, just crazy numbers that these guys are putting up throughout this postseason run. In fact, I saw a graphic that showed that Clement coming into today's game had more hits in the LCS than the Brewers did as a team against the Dodgers. And that's wild. That's a wild stat.

And again, it reminds you once again that this is going to be an incredible matchup here. I mean, you talk about a matchup, Jesse, have an unstoppable force versus an immovable object. That is the Toronto Blue Jays offense versus the Dodgers pitching staff. We know that the Dodgers are fallible at times, but over this postseason, Blake Snell and Yamamoto have been incredible. Roki Sasaki has been the answer in their bullpen. And, you know, Otani, who was somehow the weak link came out in the last game and made history hitting three home runs. and striking out 10 in game four to advance to the World Series. Like if nothing else, like, expressed how dominant they've been or they are,

is that they were able to make it all the way to the World Series, essentially with Otani having one game where he was incredible. And outside of that was fairly, was mostly harmless throughout the entire playoffs prior to that game. So then you have him have that game. It just reassures you that this team is still a sleeping giant that has underperformed offensively the entire postseason run, despite how amazing their pitching has been. And they can explode at any time as well. I think one of the one of the big narratives going into the series is going to be, can the

Blue Jays find a way to stop all of these great Dodgers, left-handed hitters? A lot of the, a lot of the weapons. that the Blue Jays have to go to in their bullpen are our righties, right? Jeff Hoffman, Louise Varland. So, and they do have some lefties in their bullpen, but those guys are, I don't wouldn't say they have any really elite left-handed pitchers. And so is that going to work when suddenly you're facing a team that has Otani

and has Freeman and has Max Muncie? I think that's going to be a new challenge for them. Ernesto made a good point in the chat earlier, though, which is that the Blue Jays do have home field advantage in this World Series, which of course you never want to understate the importance of that. Certainly, I mean, that's one of the big differences between the Mariners and the Blue Jays is that if the Mariners had won tonight, then the Mariners would not have had a home field advantage in the World Series.

So if you're rooting for a Dodgers loss in the World Series, which I imagine everybody watching this stream probably is, then I think you could argue just on the basis of home field advantage going to Toronto, this is probably a good outcome on that front. There's like two guys in here that aren't rooting for that outcome, but everybody else is Jesse for sure. And I mean, I guess that's the topic we could kick around. As much as we love this Mariners team with its five former Arizona Diamondbacks on it,

we do have Dalton Varsho, who's very, very good at baseball on the Blue Jays that we can root for over there, as well as just the fact that you can't help but wonder, I can't help but wonder, would this Mariners team have been just steamrolled by the Dodgers? You know, they put up a great fight here against the Blue Jays and they've been good all season long. However, I can't help but feel like the Blue Jays do have a better fighting chance at beating the Dodgers.

The Dodgers versus the Blue Jays feels a little bit more like a 1 v.1 battle, whereas I think it would have been a bit of a David versus Goliath if the Mariners were in there. And that's no discredit to the Mariners with, you know, Julio and Cal Rally, all the special things he did this season. But, you know, again, and their pitching staff is very good. So I don't want to discredit that either. Like their pitching staff might have been able to handle the Dodgers as well. It just feels like the Blue Jays still overall might, especially with some of these performances they had ran. against the Mariners.

I feel like they might have been the team that had a better chance to win it here in the World Series. I think probably, I mean, I think if the Mariners had won tonight, I still could talk myself into the Mariners totally hanging with the Dodgers. I mean, I think they have the starting pitching. I think they have enough bullpen weapons.

And they have that star power in the lineup, as I was talking about earlier with Toronto. Like they have Julio Rodriguez and they have Cal Raleigh. And they have Josh Naylor, who has had an awesome postseason or I guess I should say had an awesome postseason for the Mariners. I mean, he had 340, Derek. This is a guy who hit third for a team that was on the doorstep of the AL pennant. He hit 340 with a 966 OPS throughout the postseason run.

So some fun, some fun memories if nothing else from Josh Naylor. All right, well, we got to address Tim's comment here in the chat. Tim says this is absolutely pathetic. Why would Arizona want to root for a team, not even in this country, just despite the Dodgers. Routing for the Toronto Blue Jays is the most American thing you can do at this point. That is the most American thing you can do. I don't know. I'm sorry.

We're saving baseball, which equals protecting America's pastime. Correct. Which equals rooting for America. Yeah. Correct. That's pretty much. The Dodgers have ruined baseball. We are saving baseball. Well, we're trying to save baseball. We're trying to protect baseball at all costs, even if that does mean rooting for the fine folks from Toronto.

Quite frankly, again, good people. Good people. Great people. Remember the Dalton Bar Show trade, Jesse? Oh, they were so kind. They had so many nice things to say about Gabrielle Moreno and Lord is Gouriel Jr. Wait, Dodgers fans weren't rooting for the Rangers to, years ago, Tim, what world were you living in? Because it wasn't reality. They certainly weren't rooting for the Diamondbacks, Tim. The Diamondbacks swept the Dodgers in the playoffs and their fans were rooting for a division rival who swept them and eliminated them. Yeah, I bet, dude. I bet. Katie May said it for all of us. She says, this is now a Blue

Jay's podcast. So if that helps you, Tim, come to terms with what we're saying and what we're doing over here, I hope you can, I hope. I hope. that helps. I hope it helps. But Jesse, I know we're going to have, we're on a big postgame show next Tuesday. Hopefully we're not celebrating or hopefully we're not talking about a Dodgers sweep at that point. But we're going to have a watch along on Tuesday along with Jesse's joining us for a World Series postgame show. So, sir, we thank you so much for your time. I know we have a lot more lamenting about the Seattle Mariners to do. but we're going to get you out of here. But of course, make sure to follow Jesse on Twitter at Jesse and Friedman.

Also follow Snake's territory and check out that podcast he does with our friend Jack. Anywhere you get your podcast. Jesse, thank you again so much for your time, sir. Yeah, our good friend Charles Woodall Pike was talking earlier about how maybe we need to use our Cardinals' fandom experience to get some quality bird references in here, given that, you know, everybody around here is now cheering for a bird team. I mean, I don't hate that. Maybe there's like a blue sea rise up thing that needs to happen. I don't, I don't know.

Bird gang? We can blue sea. Bird gang for life, right? I know that's not even our thing, but bird gang for life. I don't know. We'll figure it out. I'll come up with something and report back next. We appreciate it.

We got to root hard for this Blue Jays team. It's like I said, the most American thing. you can do at this point. But, Jesse, thank you again for your time. We appreciate all your work and tell Jack I miss them dearly. All right. Cool. See you guys.

All right. See you, man. Well, it's still Monday. And I know we had a lot of LCS chatter. I know we are very sad still about the Mariners not making it to the World Series. But hopefully we can cheer you up with some questions from the mailbag on the other side of this break. Don't you guys go anywhere? You're watching the P.

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a Marvin Harrison rivalry jersey really bad. So it's still on my Christmas wish list, no matter how bad that team does. But, of course, you can go find yourself some wonderful gear from your local Rallyhouse location. Tempe, Mesa, and Glendale, the day, can find your local Rallyhouse location, shop their entire product assortment online at Rallyhouse.com today. Well, Damon, as you can see, I'm crushed. Seattle just is added, the Mariners are just adding to the list of teams that are making me so sad right now at this point.

And, of course, Mike Shade's asking, meatballs on Sunday. God, I hope so. Mrs. Lavalos meatballs are the best. I mean, we've never needed it more than after the Dodgers clinched the National League again. I mean, that's kind of what you could call that slider that didn't exactly. I think it was a slider to George Springer that he had for home run. I heard Tori's on ice cream duty. Oh, that means he's going to go to thrifty and get the big thing of chocolate peanut butter.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Can't wait. Well, that's for Sunday, but that's Sunday. What we do on Monday, it's different because every year on this. year, no matter how abysmal things are, no matter how sad we get. Every year is the year of the snake. Every year is our goddamn year. Every month on this show is Black History Month. Every month on this show is Women's History Month. And of course, every goddamn month on this show, Black Women's History Month. Every single week is Shark Week. Every single day is Earth Day. But on Mondays,

we reserve special time to go to the mailbag. Damon, let's go the mailbag. I get to everything in my mailbox. Well, I guess we're getting called names by Tim now, and I'm sorry, Tim. No, no, Derek. You're a shallow person for not rooting for the Dodgers. Yeah, well, then... It's decided. Then consider me the most shallow, vapid person you've ever met in your life.

There is zero depth going on right here. I have no interests at all. It's the kiddie pool. You think, oh, I in no way don't go out, have a good time, and make friends with new people. You people know I was telling you for weeks that I had tickets to go see Bert Kreischer and you think that I wasn't going to go out there and make Burke Kreischer my new best friend, Damon. I will absolutely have proof of that to you. Do we have proof right now? Of my, of my, of my, of how much depth there is to be.

Not quite. Sorry. But what we're going to do is first we're going to go to the mailbag where we have lots of depth. So let's let's start there, Damon. And what do we got for our first question? Of course, it's Travis Moore, as always. Number one, sorry for missing last week. Real life took precedence.

No worries, my guy. That's all right. You're all right. I mean, sometimes even our leadoff hitter needs a day off. No one's perfect, by that. Definitely nobody. Even Roldo Pardomo doesn't have his best game every day. Number two is Lollert to Center Field a real possibility.

Weren't they trying something like that with Tommy Troy in 2025? And number three, can I claim blue cheese as a nickname, TBAH? I just really like it. Underrated pizza topping. Oh, man. He had me until the very end with the underrated pizza topping. I've had it on like a like a buffalo chicken pizza before. Yeah, I have to.

It is pretty good on that. It's all right. I mean, I have learned to venture outside of my comfort zone when it comes to pizza topping. So first of all, blue cheese, that is your nickname from now on, even though we might not be doing cheese nicknames anymore now that the Mariners thing is done. Sean disagrees. He thinks blue cheese is disgusting. Don't talk about Travis like that. He is not disgusting. But as a pizza topping, I will say that I've become a big white pizza guy and other pizzas. I've ventured out. Still no pineapple on my pizza. So don't put it there or I will hate you forever. And I'm sure at some point, if my friend Jared hears this, he's going to send a picture on social media of me drunk and eating a pizza. But there's all. lot of pictures of me drunk out there on the internet obviously jared so you're not the first one sending that out uh in regards to what he said about uh jordan luller in centerfield no don't love it don't love it at all i will say that yes you are right uh they were trying jordan luller they

were trying certain members of this team out everywhere and i think the reason why is because the team looked stacked in a way where these guys especially jordan luller's and other players on this team, they're becoming, I guess they're in danger of being ready for the major leagues, but having nowhere to play, right? So at some point, they have to try to see if these guys can work out in other places. For Blaze Alexander, I think he has shown that not only was he a capable defender, but he might have been an upgrade over Lordus Gurriel Jr. in left field.

Hell, I'd say he was. I would say that he was an upgrade at third base over Gino. So I think that these guys can play other positions. I just don't love Jordan Lawler being out there. I don't think that his skill set and what I've seen out of him puts him in his best, I guess is his best position to be helpful to this team or contribute to this team. I still think that's an infield position and not necessarily a third, but third seems to be the position that makes the most sense for him right now.

But I don't know if that's going to be the case. I don't know if the Diamondbacks are just going to go to him at third base. I still think that that's the most likely scenario. Just like I think the most likely scenario is Blaze plays in left field. These guys can move around. They can give other guys days off when Perdomo has days off. Both Blaze and Jordan can play the infield. But I do not think that Lawler is going to be the answer for this team.

at outfield. Tommy Troy, meanwhile, I mean, he is a guy that definitely could be the answer. I still think that Ryan Waldschmidt will probably be up faster than most of us expect if he is not included in some sort of trade this offseason in order for this team to improve the main roster, which would be fairly devastating considering he's their number one prospect. But that is something that, quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised, considering the dire straits, the Diamondbacks are in, and how much they need to improve their roster immediately with very limited resources. The limited resources they have besides the small amount of money

they have to spend is their prospects. And unfortunately, they might make that sacrifice. But that has nothing to do with your original question, by the way. I still think that Jordan Lawler, though, is a bad option there out in the outfield. And I don't love the idea of them converting him to that. I think we've seen more from Blaze, to your point. We've seen more from Blaze out there.

If you're going to move someone to the outfield, you move Blaze to the outfield. He's already robbed a home run. He already is, right? Like, don't you already put Blaze out there just mentally? I mean, it's not to say that. That's what I would do, but I don't know what the organization is thinking. I feel like that they're, you know, this off season, there's so many needs that the, it's really just a wide open world.

It's Mike Hazen's world. We're all living in it. I have no clue what Mike Hazen's going to decide to do because this team needs, at least one corner outfielder, maybe a center fielder, definitely a third baseman, probably not a first basement, I guess, if you're going to just pretend everything's okay over there at first base. But I mean, and then not to mention the entire pitching staff, like I feel like you have to cut some corners. One of those corners I might cut is Blaze out in left field. See, my problem here overall, if we just want to sidetrack and get into it

a little bit is that we constantly talk about starting pitching or relief pitching being priority one. Damon and I have deemed that the pitching is obviously the first thing you need to address. Whether you want to start pitching 1A or 1B, it doesn't matter. Both feel equally in need of improvement. However, you could at least say about the relievers that the Diamondbacks have enough arms to not need one, whereas the starting pitching staff right now is it's constructive. if Zach Gallant turns down the qualifying offer, we'll have two open roster spots in the starting rotation that you immediately have to address, right?

Yeah. But with that being said, it still feels like you do know that at the halfway point of the season, you have reinforcements coming, both for your bullpen and a pretty amazing starting pitcher that could end up immediately slotting in as your ace right after the All-Star break, right? What reinforcements do you have for your,

starting lineup. Like this is a good lineup, Marte, Corbin, you know, Geraldo. But like outside of that, you know, with the losses that they've experienced and no additions at first base or anywhere else,

Gabby? Gabby's staying healthier, which he has not done one time so far in his career. Like I don't love this starting lineup offensively going forward if they don't make some improvement to it as well. So they need at least like one power hitter addition. right like you can't just lose gino and nailer and just expect you know zero home run production

added to this roster i think that's why bellinger made a little bit of sense to us in the outfield because he could be kind of that power bat hypothetically um goldschmidt even like as a dh guys like that i still love goldmonds by the way john gamadourro also is on board now thinking that the diamondbacks may kick the tires on a reunion i love it i love it i love it it seems like a cheap option doesn't it it does and it's not just a cheap option and it's not just a cheap option it's a guy you know is going to continue to play hard at his age. And honestly, I think Goldie is the kind of guy that, like, he's not going to be an outspoken mentor in the way that James McCann

seemed to be for the entire team where Tori talked about McCann having great baseball conversations in the dugout and really getting into helping Gabby Moreno flourish as a pitcher. But I think he would still be a mentor to guys like Tyler Locklear to even a Paven Smith over there at first base. Just guys that also play first. I think there's a lot that he could still give. And I think that he still has a lot of baseball left in him as well.

Plus, you just can't get over how good the vibes would be bringing Paul Goldschmidt back to the valley. Even if next year is a wash, it feels like at least, you know, and I hate to say it, I know it's loser talk, but at least you have some reason to watch this team that makes you as a Diamondbacks fan feel pretty good. gives you a nice little warm feeling, you know? Yeah, I mean, I also think he can... Until he hits 126 and then people are screaming for him to be DFA.

Well, I don't think that would happen. I think he's too good of a hitter to hit... I mean, he hit two 72 last year. I know. I know what I'm saying. The guy's a pure hitter. He's got stuff left in the tank. 100%.

I feel like, you know, if he's the Gritchick replacement, for example, the right-handed hitting DH, they can play a little bit in the field when you need him to, right? Yeah. I think that that's... You got yourself a... average right-handed hitting DH platoon option. And that's like average is better than what the Diamondbacks have available. No, totally.

But look at what Ernesto says, Damon. Can you imagine this? Goldie, Marte, Corbyn in the same lineup. Oh my God. Future faces of the franchise type storyline. Injected directly into my veins.

That's beautiful. That actually is beautiful. I'm not even joking. That's like, I almost want to say it's, it's, you know, why am I blanking on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Master.

Splinter. Master Splinter. I was almost saying Shredder, but he's the bad guy. Yeah, of course. Everybody knows that. Master Splinter meme with the young Ninja Turtles, except Patel and Corbin are like different ages. I love it.

I love it. I'll also say, I think it was Ernesto that said it earlier. I mean, again, you don't hate the idea of, like, I don't think that Jordan Lawler can't play center field, but I think, again, there's a certain skill set that he has and there's a reason why he's been an infielder and I don't know if his his ability to break on a ball hit to him and his speed is going to be as elite as other options the diamondbacks have. Again, it's not to say I wouldn't be surprised to see him play in the outfield of hell. I wouldn't be surprised to see anybody play any position next season at all.

This team is going to be such a hodgepodge of patchwork pieces trying to figure things out next year. that I mean again it's it's all everything's on the table but Derek would be surprised to see Corbyn at short yeah why not throw him out there um I think that like again though like blaze is a perfect example of he has skills that we didn't want to see like we didn't want to see blaze at second base because we didn't feel like it was proper use of how good his arm is that's the reason why you like seeing blaze over at third and that's the reason why he was so good defensively over there but same thing with the outfield, right? Blaise can really let his arm be a big defensive help for this team who honestly has been criticized in the past by guys on this show for their noodle arms out in the

outfield. You have Corbin who has increased his arm strength considerably in 2025, and if you put Blaze out there, you start to feel pretty good about your increased defense, right? So again, I mean, I don't hate Jordan Lawler being out there, but I don't think we'll see very much of it. That's at least my take. We'll see if that ends up being true or not. But we got another question, Damon. What else we got? Yeah, we got more questions, Derek. Of course. AZ. D-Backs fan. I've seen stuff about Joe Ryan or Freddie Peralta possibly being on the trade market. What do you think the trade package would have to be for the debacks to get either of them? And this was what I was kind of alluding

to earlier. The trade package to get guys like that who are considered elite starting pitchers with any years of control left is going to take a lot. And when I mean a lot, I don't mean that you're going to be able to get rid of Jake McCarthy and, you know, Andrew Hoffman and get that in return. Most likely it's going to take a top prospect in the organization, a top 10 prospect, and there's a good chance that it could be a top three prospect as part of a package, right? So I don't love that. I think that the Diamondbacks once again, their only way to succeed is to be patient. and that does require us as a fan base being patient. I do think that if they do make a trade that involves them making a big move like that,

it needs to be for starting pitching. That's the exact move they need to make if it's going to end up coming at a big sacrifice. There is no position player at all that is worth giving up as much as, you know, as, you know, some of those high prospects in order to get back, you know, a power bat or anything like that. It's the reason why I don't believe Catel Marte will be traded because I do not believe the return for Catel Marte would even be close to significant enough for the team for the Diamondbacks to consider it. And again, I don't know if a team's willing to give up everything that Diamondbacks would want in return for Catel Marte. That would probably be like the scenario, like a Freddie Peralta for Catel Marte might be, you know, that would be kind of in the neighborhood. And I still don't think that that's enough to trade away Cotel Marte on the contract that he's on.

what the caliber player that he is, right? So that's where it gets very difficult. That's where, of course, the Diamondbacks assessment of Cotele-Marty and his talent is going to be different than another teams. That's where that entire, you know, scenario of people being upset with Cotel plays in. How upset is the organization with Cotel and how much is that going to impact them wanting to trade him, right? Like so, but again, a trade for.

a fairly elite starting pitcher that has years of control left is going to be way too, way too much probably for this team. And let's see, Sean says if we actually shop could tell we aren't serious. I agree with that. Sorry, I got to get Jesse Jr.'s head straight here, but I agree with that, but I also think that, again, your job as a general manager is to take calls on everybody. I will say that the Diamondbacks have been fairly good about not revealing what they're doing and not what moves they're working on. And Mike Hazen one time said that it comes at no benefit to tell the media or the public that they were all in on this guy that they were trying to get as a free agent and didn't end up getting him.

Right. And he's right. Like how it doesn't make the organization look good. It just makes you look like you failed at something. And if you could keep that information private, then so be it. So I was kind of surprised to see Mike Hazen even confirmed the idea that they were taking phone calls on GEL. But then he also brought up that they were taking phone calls on everybody because that's what he does as a gym. He brought up Corbyn. He brought up Geraldo Perdomo.

Yeah. And no, and I obviously am Mr. Perdomo, but Corbyn Carroll. Yeah, that's crazy. Like that's the craziest thing I've ever heard in my life. But it's because he's being honest there in that moment that it's not to say he doesn't get calls on it. It's just he gets a call on Corbyn. He doesn't tell the guy to go F himself and hang up the phone. He's diplomatic about it and hears him out and tells him like, yeah, no, I don't think

that's going to even come anywhere close to getting the job done. But as a fellow GM on the other side, you wouldn't be doing your due diligence if you didn't happen to be like, hey, what about Vladdy? You want to trade Vladdy? Like, why wouldn't you do that? There's also an element of like, come on, dude, what are we doing? Like, are you seriously calling me about Corby and Carroll right now? Sure.

Like if you're going to call me about Corby and Carol, you better have an insane offer on the other end. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I mean, maybe that's as far as the conversations go right there, right? You better have an insane offer. Yeah, you're right. All right. Well, if we think of something, we'll give you a call back.

And then that's the last you ever hear from them, right? Yeah. I mean, but I think as far as Freddie Peralta goes, the brewers are an organization that, you know, they, I think that they value prospects, Derek. Like I don't think that they would want back a Cattle Marte. They would absolutely want prospects. And you're right. I'm not sure that diamondbacks have close to a good enough prospect package that they can conjure up. It's competitive for the rest of the league because the farm system's not in the best place right now.

So, you know, and I think that they saw an influx and there's maybe a little bit of hope there. But yeah, in general, I think that it's going to have to be cheaper guys than Freddie Peralta. You're right. You're right about that. And honestly, the Diamondbacks don't need Freddie Peralta. Like, they just need to. I mean, it would be pretty sweet. It would be sick.

It would be a stick. I'm not going to act like it wouldn't be. You get where I'm saying. Please. They definitely have the ability to add two mid-rotation guys and have it be, you know, have it have it be okay. Okay. Because they're going to get Corbyn Burns back at one point in the season. But I will give Mike Hayeson some credit because this team's farm system was ranked 25th at the beginning of the year.

And the final farm system ranking after all those moves he made at the trade deadline, Dinembach climbed up to 13th. in major league baseball so they're in the top half and they're in you know again that's a vast improvement you're not wrong about them not having a lot of prospects to make a big trade and if they did make that level of trade for a fredi peralta it would probably be catastrophic to their gut the farm system yeah they would plummet right back to the low 20s again so uh there's that but i do want to thank you guys those of you debra groundhog mama so many of you guys have already joined our supporters club by the way we are kicking ass i can say that I'm allowed to say ass on this program we are kicking ass across all

city we have the most supporters and thank you guys so much we do we have the most supporters that's sick yeah that's sick you know what we are not the biggest audience in all we are not we appreciate the people that show up here and are locked in because no one cares as much as the pH and exports audience at the end of the day and we love you guys and you have no idea how much it means to us it's not just the supporters club you guys truly support us. You guys help us keep the lights on around here and you're a big reason why things are rolling for us right now. So we thank you so much. If you are not a supporter yet and you

want to sign up, of course, it's just five bucks a month. You'll get a badge next to your name. It's a literal badge of honor. You also get all of those custom emojis. I know some of ours went away. Don't worry, they'll be back. We'll also get some new stuff. We've got to get a ski in the chat, though. We've got to definitely get a ski in the chat. You can also join the Hall of Fame tier for 15 bucks a month to unlock bonus content, including some of our our members-only videos behind-the-scene blogs experimental content and so much more it's a fun way to support phnx and we can't thank you enough of course if you send super chats uh during the show it's a big an equally great way to support us and we appreciate all of you guys that have already done so so

thank you so much i think we have a super chat damon that i miss yes we do uh what do we got there for any chips you said thank you guys for your continued coverage looking forward to off-season news drama Good to see you too, Jesse. Oh, we should have read that when Jesse was still here. I'll make sure he gets the message, Brandon, but we thank you so much for your super chat. Appreciate you, my guy. Definitely. Also, we got some more questions in the mailbag, Damon.

So what else we got? We do, and I know we miss it by a little bit there, but why don't we do it in extra innings? Extra innings. Sorry, Jacob. I'm bad about that. We're bad. No, me and Kevin are bad about it, too. It's mostly just all of my podcasts that screw everything.

I think we figured out the culprit, like the true. The true percent. 100 percent. It's not even a question. Next question comes from Russell, who asks, who is the biggest free agent that Diamondbacks could realistically sign, Derek? And I did a little bit of research. I got some answers as well.

You got some answers. What do you got for us? Well, I know we already discussed Cody Bellinger. I don't even know if it's reasonable to say the Diamondbacks could afford him, right? Like I did kind of joke that he would have to play two positions at the same time in a baseball game, which seems something that's very difficult to do. But, I mean, let's be honest, he actually kind of would for what he costs. So I don't know if you would expect to say that he is a reasonable, you know, free agent to

go after, especially if you're talking about the biggest free agent to go after, I feel like if you're talking about the biggest free agent to go after, it would have to be a starting pitcher game. And am I wrong? No, you are not wrong, Derek. And the argument could probably be made that it's Zach Gallen and it's keeping Zach gallon you know what i mean and i know that that doesn't feel like a big change or like things are going to get so much better next season when your big move is we're going to keep the guy who was

terrible for half this season but i i think that there is something to be said that maybe he's even up there when it comes to the options other than that i think you know framber valdez makes a little bit of sense he does a lefty option uh he's you know 32 years old derrick he's me he just came off making $18 million this year. I know it feels a little erraty with the lefty, but... Very eroddy. Yeah, and this franchise is cursed lefties forever. I don't know, man.

Frambervaldez, though, he's a proven stud. He is very... I mean, Jordan Montgomery was a proven stud lefty. Like, Madison Bumgarner was a proven stud lefty. We are cursed with lefties, but that is an option. I think Chris Sale, maybe on a one two-year deal. What about Ranger Swares? Ranger Swares.

I think that would be a really good sign. I agree. I love, I really love the idea of Rangers. I'm all in on Rangers'Fores. Right. First, people that bought Gino Suarez merch, right? Like the T-shirts, and maybe we could give him number 28

solves a lot of people's issues with having to get in New Jersey, right? But there's also the fact he has a 7.5 war. He's 30 years old. I think that's the problem, is if you're being honest about Ranger Suarez with how good he's been for the Phillies.

Really hard to imagine him at age 30 not getting his big five plus year deal at this point, at least. But there's like 10 pitchers probably on the market that have better, if not equal value to him. I mean, I just don't. What is the market? If the Diamondbacks can't get in on the 10th best starting pitcher free agent, then what the hell are the Diamondbacks doing? You know what I mean?

Like it feels like that should be where the money goes is a guy who's, On the younger side for a starting pitcher has a lot of experience and has been really good in the past. So I'm with a Rangers War as deal. I like it. What about if we're being realistic and we're talking about reuniting with guys on a short-term deal that are older that we want to bring back? Sure. What about Patrick Corbin on a one-year deal? No, thanks.

No? 3.6 war? Almost the equivalent of Merrill Kelly going to cost you nothing. He will cost you nothing, David. It feels like a disaster waiting to have. We can give him some Sonoran dogs and some coupons to Luke's deli and he'll come out. Oh, man. I don't know.

But yeah, I think if you're talking about realistically spending that money, it has to be on starting pitching. It has to be. And I do think that like a Bellinger, you could make an argument for that, potentially. The guy fits multiple positions. You need that type of player in the building. So, I mean, I understand, you know, the idea of other. people. What if, like, what if Brighman opts out? Would you not even want to hear out that argument potentially? I would, I would hear it out. But again, it feels very difficult to imagine.

Albuquerque's own. Just imagine him. I don't know. I mean, I never imagined I'm signing Corbyn Burns. And Katie's right. We're at our Corbyn Max, unfortunately. Patrick Corbyn would be three Corbyn's on the team. Yeah, that wouldn't be acceptable. Yeah, that's too many Corbyns for sure. How about, I like this, though. How about Merrill Kelly? qualifying offers at Gowan so you don't lose them for nothing. Merrill Kelly back, Rangers,

Suarez, and those are our two biggest financial moves of the off season. I love it, personally. I'm all in on that. I almost feel like it's too much. You don't think that's realistic?

Well, no, no, no, I feel like it's too. Okay, so what happens when Corpon Burns comes back?

Who goes to the pool pen? Who's no longer in the starting rotation? Erod or fought, depending on who stinks more? It's going to be Ryan. Figure it out. No matter how good. They're having a mid-off

over in the SP5 spot. Like I hope it's brain and fought you know what I mean but it's definitely not Ryan Nelson or Corbyn Burns That's for damn sure yeah um I don't hate that I don't hate that I also very much do not want 41 year old Max are back here sorry R a mad Max he and both of his eyes can stay in Toronto that's for sure but oh god take me out right now tori you'd scream at me just for saying that he'd scream all the F words at me What else we got, Damon? Our next question here. Give me one second because I believe it is on the last question is from flea ball.

And flea ball asked what did Arizona fans do the sports gods to deserve this unearned torture? I don't know. Derek, it's pretty unbelievable. I mean, Chasefield built on an Indian burial ground for starters. Correct. I approve that to our chat when I made my triumvirn return back to this. program a few months back. Today, some friends and I discovered that Sparky was just copied off of a man. There's just a guy that looked like Sparky. Wasn't it a Disney cartoon artist that made Sparky?

Yeah, but I'm just talking about there was there was a guy who looks like Sparky, Governor George W.P. Hunt, who was a Sun Devil, and he does look exactly like Sparky. So again, everything's a lie. Nothing is true. U of A's colors. weren't red and blue to start. It was originally what, sage and steel or something, wasn't it? Yeah, sage and silver. Sage and silver. Everything's a lie. Nothing is true. And maybe these are all the reasons why we're damned. Maybe. ASU is the Bulldogs. Yeah, the ASU was the Bulldogs. Yeah. I mean, if we're going to go that link. I'm just saying, yeah. Like, what are we doing here? What are we even doing? I mean, I don't know why we're cursed. I don't know why the sons lost the coin toss.

I don't know why the Cardinals lost that Super Bowl. I don't know why the sons have never won a championship. I don't know why the coyotes left town. I don't know why the Diamondbacks couldn't get closer to help them during the postseason there when Paul Seawalt fell apart. There are lots of things. I don't know. But I do feel like Groundhog Mama is stealing my line a little bit, but she's absolutely right. Signing Randy Johnson cost us everything.

I think it was a Faustian deal. And I think, I don't even think it was just signing Randy Johnson, quite frankly. I think it's the bullpen thing where they were like, you know, it was there. It was game seven. They were like, they were like, what are we going to do? And literally, you know, like a, I don't want to say if you're not a religious person that it was a devil. I will say it was a demon-like creature that popped up out of smoke and fire from the ground out of nowhere. But regardless, he was wearing a nice little short coat and had a pocket watch and a top hat and a mustache.

It looked shockingly like Sparky's. And he was like, hey, do you guys want to win this thing or not? And they were like, yeah, what do we do? And he's like, Randy Johnson coming out of the bullpen. It's going to cost you everything. What do you mean? It's going to cost you 50 years of bullpen sadness and pain. But here, just go ahead and sign on the dollar line.

And that's really where we were at. But I don't know. I don't know. I don't know why this town is cursed. I don't know why our sports teams hurt us so much. I have no idea why I even do this for a job, quite frankly. the sadness and misery that baseball has brought me over the years and years of covering it far outweighs that one moment of Damon jumping into my arms gleefully after we beat the Phillies to advance in the world series. That was so beautiful.

It's still that one moment still almost made up for all of those years of pain. So that's the way things were. Honestly, as much as I'm considered to be Mr. Negative, Derek, that is like the thing like nothing for me beats the highs. All the pain is worth it for those moments. It's true. I know we're making jokes, but truly, those are, like, I get emotional thinking about it. Just how special that run was. Yeah.

It was awesome. It was a special run. I want another one. Yeah, I do too. I'm not satisfied. I want more. Well, the World Series is almost over, so we can start getting back to hope. We do have one more.

One more question, speaking of more. Oh, speaking of more questions, what else we got? Do we got? Yeah, it's J. Army. Oh, our guy, J. Army Strong. What do we got, Jarmy? If the D-backs were to get a Netflix docu like the Red Sox had, especially in 2026 with so many front office careers on the line,

would it help or hurt a miracle season? That's a great question. I feel like it would hurt if I'm not doing this the way I normally do it to be fun and to be, if I'm just being honest, I think having a documentary film crew around you while you're doing team meetings and such sounds like the worst thing I've ever. ever heard in my entire life.

It surprises me. It never ceases to surprise me or never surprises me that a team is bad, right? When- If they did like a D-BACs documentary, there's like a non-zero chance like you would be like doing confessions in it. A hundred percent. Like they probably like- There would be no doubt.

I would weasel my way into that. They look up like D-BACs podcast and they'd find the number one D-Backs podcast and they'd be like, let's stick this guy in front of a camera and have him talk about. the team and they'd have Derek in some just like folding chair in the middle of like a big empty room just have him like sit down I love it the bullpen it was crazy you know and like I don't know I mean I do Tori would be a star man I think Tori would be a freaking star of a Amazon style Dback's doc a thousand percent he would he would because the stuff we don't get to see is the most electorate. Oh yeah.

And the haters would be so furious, dude. I almost wanted to happen just so I can see all those Tori Lavolo awesome moments behind the scenes and people can just turn them into negative things in this chat on post game shows. That would, I mean, that's what I need in my life, truly. Sean says Derek would make his Netflix debut like Espo did with starting five. Fun fact, I'm already on. Netflix. True.

Season two of Lucha Underground. Go to the season finale of that bad boy. I'm all over the place. I was losing my mind in the crowd. Also, fun fact. Sometimes Netflix, the main account just tweets at Derek.

That's true. For about pro wrestling. For no reason. They'll just be like, aren't you excited at cap underscore caveman? What? I mean, if we're talking about the crazy adventures

that I've been on, Damon, I mean, quite frankly, I still don't think anything is crazier than the fact that, what we were talking about earlier, that I am one of the 328 people that last week tonight inexplicably follows. That count has nearly three million followers. No big deal. Humble Bragg? No, no big deal. It does me no good. There's no benefit that comes from it other than the pride that I feel that last week tonight, one of my favorite shows on television does in fact follow me. But it's also because I love John Oliver more than I love most people,

at least members of my family, you know, and a few people around this office. I love John Oliver more than just a few people. Not everyone. Damon's definitely in the group of love it. I love him more than John Oliver, but only a little bit, only on certain days. So speaking of Damon, before we get out of here, do we, do we've already gone this long. Do we have the footage I was referring to earlier of how my Friday night went? No, I mean, don't worry about it.

It's all right. Derek, it's important stuff that people need to see you and your elements, sir. I mean, explain to the people where you were at. Well, again, this was all thanks to Connor Cox, our guy over here. Go. Connor invited me to a little after-party thing that they were having, that turned into not being such a little after-party thing because Bert went ahead and invited the entire audience at his show at Desert Diamond Arena to come out.

So if you guys were there, you might have seen it. you might have heard it. By the way, Bert Kreisher, a hilarious individual, very, very funny, very funny comedian. And quite frankly, my favorite part about Bert, as someone that can relate to his form of comedy, is he pretty much just tells stories of his life, which tends to be pretty insane. And that is something I can relate to. But Connor invited me to this. And there was a Disneyland-sized line, I guess, if you want to call it, outside trying to get into the Lola in order to meet Burt Kreischer. I was going to abandon all hope and turn around and go home,

but that's when Connor Cox, that true All-Star stud that he is, made sure to contact me and tell me to go in and come back and find him by the bar. And yeah, that's where I ended up there meeting Verk Kreisher and eventually having him pour shots into my face. So that's how that went. We are T-minus a minute.

from this unbelievable video. It is pretty great. I mean, it's taken way too long now, Damon. The hype, there's no way that the video can live up to the hype. You think? By this point. But I don't know about that. Derek, you are, you are, in a way, you kind of like, do kind of have like a Burke Chrysher

stick. Like, I have taken my shirt off on this show. On this podcast. But just one time. While getting really drunk. Yeah. Okay. That's fair. I could see where the likeness there for you is, but you can also see here where maybe

in this video, you can see the likeness between me and Bert. So, uh, here's, here's me getting drunk on a Friday night. Yeah, that's pretty much it. That's, uh, that's, that's, poor Osos vodka being, uh, thrown into my mouth. Uh, yes, and Katie's right. It is the feral energy. Why didn't you take your shirt off for that? I was a little surprised by that, by that move on your part. I mean, sometimes in life things happen so fast and you're like, I think Bert would have really respected that energy. Yeah, you're probably not wrong about that. But appreciate you guys so much for being here and living through these shenanigans with me. John Oliver on the show.

Well, we'll see if we can make it happen. We'll see if we can get Bert to join us on the show. We'll see if we can get John Oliver to join us on the show. It's going to be a long off season. We're going to have a lot of time to fill. So maybe we'll get John to come co-hosts. this with me since again. He did help rebrand a baseball team.

Maybe John can help rebrand a baseball show. We'll see. But thank you guys again so much for joining us. You guys are the real MVP's and King Snakes of this podcast. R.A., you're right. I am the machine. And if you give the machine vodka, you'll have a great time. So we love you guys.

We thank you guys for being here. Emily, I am so sorry about the Jersey list. and for someone that has as much free time as I do now during the off season, I can no longer put that off. No excuses. No excuses on that one, Emily. I'm sorry for taking as long as I have. But I appreciate your continued interest in it.

And I thank you for, of course, being here in the chat. Appreciate you guys so much. Of course, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman. This man is at Damon Dog with a DAWG 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. Thank you guys so much for your time. We'll see you tomorrow for another 12 p.m. show where we're going to break down some more of the starting pitching options for the Diamondbacks through free agency, as well as talk about the World Series matchup.

Just a little bit more. We are Team Canada, by the way, going forward. Oh, Canada. Sorry, Tim. Sorry, Tim. Well, we'll see you guys tomorrow. Until then, have yourselves a wonderful evening. Enjoy.

Get yourself a good night's sleep. Get ready for the World Series. And remember, kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you have a team to root against the Dodgers for.