PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Roki Sasaki To The DIAMONDBACKS? Here’s Why It Could Happen

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

JOIN THE DIEHARDS FOR JUST $4 A MONTH! https://www.gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube While the entire baseball world is ready to put a Dodger cap on Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki, we have all the reasons why he could potentially end up as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks instead. We also discuss free agent Joc Pederson loving the Valley & football, how Tommy Troy and Gino Groover fared in the Fall Stars Game, and our answers to your Mailbag Monday questions. Join Jesse, Derek, and Kevin for the PHNX Diamondbacks Show LIVE! 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/ bet365: https://www.bet365.com/olp/open-account?affiliate=365_03330244 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and choose your offer! 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/ Bluechew: Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code ALLCITY at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. That’s https://bluechew.com promo code ALLCITY to receive your first month FREE. Visit for more details and important safety information, and we thank BlueChew for sponsoring the podcast.. Zbiotics: Go to https://zbiotics.com/phnxdbacks to get 15% off your first order when you use PHNXDBACKS at checkout. Pre-Alcohol is backed with 100% money back guarantee so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they’ll refund your money, no questions asked. Empire Today: Schedule a free in-home estimate today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details. Branded Bills: Use code PHNX 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. 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! Shady Rays: Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. 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. Check out FOCO merch and collectibles and use promo code “PHNX10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items. Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code PHNX for 10% off! Get 10 FREE meals at https://hellofresh.com/freedbacks. Applied across 7 boxes, new subscribers only, varies by plan. 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 https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

While the world is ready to put a Dodger cap on Roki Sasaki, we have all the reasons why he may end up as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. We also have your Arizona Fall League updates as well as your answers to your mailbag Monday questions. In 30 seconds, don't go anywhere. Another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia occasionally known. As your mayor, PHNX, this is my vice mayor. You're a thunder stick, the one and only Jesse Friedman. And Jesse, I know, I know this shouldn't give me.

hope. But there's one thing I saw on Sunday, uh, in regards to the Arizona Cardinals winning their game that gave me probably entirely too much hope. And that was Jock Peterson. He's still in the valley. He still loves us. He says here, football is life, which I can get behind for sure, uh, because of recent things that have happened in our fantasy football league. But, uh, jock took in the Cardinals big win over the Jets on Sunday. I know this means nothing, Jesse, but I just I want it to mean something. I want it to mean he's staying here in the valley. I know it doesn't suggest that,

but it does mean he likes it here. He hasn't, he hasn't like completely evacuated the valley. Yeah, yeah. I mean, and I guess to be fair, like this is sort of a bizarre time to evacuate the valley. No,

yeah. Now is like 78 degrees every single day. But we did see Corbyn Carroll show himself. He was at an ASU game, I believe. Excellent. over the weekend. And Corbyn Carroll isn't going anywhere there.

We know that. As far as we're aware. We know that. So if Jock Peterson is going to be attending Valley sports games as well. Yes. Then surely. Surely. That must mean the same thing.

Absolutely. Absolutely. I don't know. How am I taking this stance? I don't know. You're the one who's like, ah, this doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean anything. No, I know.

It surely beats he's going to stay here. It just, it makes me wonder how much do you think that Jock is going to get? And do you think that? like he's going to leave for the money or like a better situation. Like I don't know. I really don't know what would motivate Jock at this point as far as, you know, if you would want to stay here and help this team in a year where they're going to obviously kind of be putting all their chips in or if like another change of scenery just based on him getting a lot more money somewhere else is in the cards. Yeah. You know, the more I've thought about this, the more I can see a path for the

Diamondbacks to bring Jack Peterson back. I'm not saying it's likely. I still think the odds are probably stacked against that happening. But Jack Peterson was a really good player. And he's, he's an interesting player in that he was elite at what his job was for the diamondbacks in 2024, right? His job is to rake against right-handed pitching and do literally nothing else, right? He's not going to play in the field. He's not really going to face lefties at all.

He's just in there to mash right-handed pitch. pitching and because of that, because he's such a specialized player, it kind of puts a cap on his value. Correct. Like he had, I mean, you look at his numbers and you're like, oh, this guy's a $25 million a year player easily. But then when you put it in context of what his role actually is, he's not a $25 million player a year.

There's just no way that happens. And so, you know, even though he turned down his side of that $14 million mutual option, I'm not sure he gets all that much more money on the open market. Maybe it's a two-year deal as opposed to a one-year deal. But I think the debacks would have been happy to have him back on that $14 million option had he accepted it. And maybe they're willing to pay a little bit more than that to retain one of the best designated hitters in all of baseball. I think one thing that does have an impact on this is once they've kind of officially moved on from Christian Walker, they do have more money to potentially bring Jock back. And again, it's, it's like you said, it's unlikely.

And it also isn't, you know, again, without the Randall Gritchick compliment, I don't know if it's going to be worked out as well to bring him back next year as it did this year. But I just honestly, the one thing I come to know about Jack Peterson over this last year is that I love the guy. I think he is a great personality. I think he has been an underrated leader and teammate in that clubhouse. Yeah. And again, I know it's just a small example that I've kind of talked about more than once. But the fact that you have someone like Jake McCarthy who literally moved his locker over to be next to Jock's and away from, like, who moves away from Corbyn Carroll and Geraldo.

Yeah. Yeah. Like you're in that block, but you move over to Jock Peterson. It's because you want to sit under the learning tree, right? And I think that there, again, there's ways that Jock goes about, you know, his business. But it feels like he was a great teammate. It feels like he really fit in here. And it does. I mean, he's kind of always been partial to Arizona.

I think when he came here, didn't he already have a house. here or something like that i think that was the case i think he was building a house yeah i think i think that's accurate yeah so maybe maybe maybe you know the the uh i guess the money is ends up not being as important as maybe staying here in the valley he could have accepted that option and didn't but i mean again no surprise no surprise there because he knows his value is higher than that i still again don't think that that kind of rules them out completely uh but you know it's it's one of those situations where i don't think uh the the odds are in the diamond back's favor. I also don't think the odds are in the diamond back's favor of signing Roki Sasaki,

a Japanese phenom pitcher who has officially been posted by the Chiba Lote, which is his team. We did not think that that was going to happen. We thought that there was all the reasons why that they would not allow that posting to happen again. It was something that they've already stopped previously or denied previously. Right. Last year. last year, but now

here he comes. He's going to come take over Major League Baseball, and there has been a lot of talk about him being even better than Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and obviously also a lot of talk about him immediately signing with the Dodgers. Right, yeah. And I think the biggest narrative since that news came out that he was being posted, which again, kind of a surprise to all of us, certainly myself, is that maybe we were a little bit too fast to declare Roki Sasaki a Dodger, right?

Jeff Passon had a great story on the situation. I think it was the night that the news came out or shortly thereafter. And in his story, he said Los Angeles, speaking of the Dodgers, will be linked strongly to Sasaki, but assuming he will go to the Dodgers is premature, while the presence of Sasaki's Samurai Japan teammates, Otani and Yamamoto in Los Angeles is advantageous, the attention they bring and the media hoard that,

follows them, adds a different element than other teams. So there is this element of like, yes, you can go, you can go play with two of the best Japanese players in baseball, right? Probably the two best Japanese players of baseball in Otani and Yamamoto. But if you do that, you're kind of going to live in their shadow a little bit, right? Otani is always going to be the number one guy on that franchise for as long as he's there, right? And maybe there's a world where Sasaki would rather get a little bit more. more attention. Or maybe there's a world where Sasaki doesn't want a ton of attention at all.

I think there have been some reports along these lines as well, or maybe he would actually prefer a smaller market situation, you know, in which case he probably doesn't want any part of the Dodgers because it doesn't really get any more big market than that at this point. So I think there's, I think we were maybe a little bit too fast to declare Sasaki a Dodger. Whether that means he's coming to the Diamondbacks is, of course, a whole other question. I think part of it is, is the same way people make the jokes, but maybe they're not jokes about Juan Soto signing with the Dodgers. The Dodgers just have a, I guess, very well-set business plan

that not only do they make plenty of money, but they've figured out ways to creatively go around Major League Baseball's policies for your salary, right? And I mean, that's something that's huge and that's something that makes them seem always like a favorite. You also have the fact that, again, coming from an international team and being able to go to a team like the Dodgers, where you do have so many,

you have so many names you're familiar with, players that you've played with before. And it's just a situation where you might feel more comfortable based on the familiarity of those people, the other players, you know, Yamamoto and Otani in the clubhouse. However, I agree with what Jesse's saying, and I think that there's a chance that perhaps he wants to blaze his own path and perhaps that attention doesn't necessarily mean

that that's something he wants to be a part of in Los Angeles. I also think that this is ridiculous that Los Angeles just kind of, you know, gets to automatically get the best players in the league or coming into the league like this without there being any kind of process for, I guess, other franchises that aren't in the same position to have a shot at him first. You know what I mean?

Like that just kind of is weird. He's an incredible talent. We have his numbers. from 2024. And this man, it was 10 and 5 in 111 innings pitched in 2024. He had a 2.35 ERA. He had a 7.1% walk percentage. He had a 28.9% strikeout percentage.

He had a 1.04 whip. And he was outstanding. And this wasn't even his best year. This was actually a downseason compared to the remarkable numbers that he put up in 2023. Yeah, which is crazy to see. say because those are, those are some pretty good numbers.

But yeah, you go back to 2023 and Sasaki, 91 innings, not a huge sample size there, but these are some really impressive numbers. A 178 ERA, 075 whip, a strikeout rate just under 40% at 39.1,

which is completely unheard of in the majors. No major league starting pitcher has a strike rate of 40%. And his walk rate of 4.9%, which is also lower than the marquee had in 2024. So we talked about him a little bit more in depth on a recent show. His stuff did drop off a little bit in 2024, which is, which is interesting, kind of odd. He did miss some time with an arm injury of some sort.

We don't have a ton of information on that. But, you know, when your stuff is dropping off and you still have a fastball that averages 97 with a splitter that has this crazy unique shape that no one's ever seen before. And, you know, he's got he's got other weapons in his arsenal as well. the slider I think is really his third pitch. Yeah, it's really impressive that I guess this is kind of the floor for Roki Sasaki in Japan is what we saw in 2024. And he's still young as well. He's he's 23 years old, I believe.

There's still some untapped potential here as well. Compared to Yamamoto and Imanage, he is actually right up there as far as, you know, talent-wise. Yamamoto in 2023 was remarkable. in 164 innings pitched. He had a 1.21 ERA, 0.88 whip, 26.6 strikeout percentage and a 4.4% walk percentage. I'ma very comparable to his numbers from 2024. And when I say he, I mean Sasaki's numbers, 148 innings pitch, 2.80 ERA, 1.05 whip, 29.2% strikeout percentage, 4% walk percentage.

So, like, he is right there in the same classes as these two pitch. pitchers and we already have had a chance to see what these guys can do in major league baseball, right? So I don't really feel like as we talked about at one point last off season, like you have the same hesitations about bringing in a Sasaki and worrying that he might not be able to have the same success that he had in the NPB over here in the United States, right? But I mean, the Diamondbacks do have one advantage when we talk about them being able to sign Sasaki over the Dodgers and that is they do have a little bit more money to spend on an international signate, right, Jesse?

Potentially, yeah. So the big question here is will Sasaki be part of the 2024 international signing class or will this be put off until next year where he would be part of the 2025 signing class? The 2024 signing class ends on December 15th. That would be the last day that he could possibly sign. And if that happens, then it's basically whatever international signing bonus pool money teams have left. They've already signed a whole bunch of players way back in January, really, is when pretty much all those players were signed. The Dodgers have more money left over than anyone else, which feels intentional.

I think they have been planning for Sasaki to be posted potentially. So I believe they have about $2.5 million remaining in their bonus pool that they could give, of Sasaki, the diamondbacks by comparison, have, I believe, about $500,000. That's what Nick Bacoro of the Arizona Republic reported recently. So it definitely, the money favors the Dodgers if he's part of this year's signing class. If it waits till next year, which starts on January 15th, then everyone has their full bonus pool. And at that point, the diamondbacks actually have more money than the Dodgers would.

The Dodgers lost some money because they signed Shohei Otani. There's sort of several different tiers. The teams fall in. The diamondbacks have $6.9 million for 2025 compared to, believe, it's $5.1 million, something like that for the Dodgers. So the money would actually go against the Dodgers on paper if this went into 2025. And he has all the reasons to wait until then because teams will have more money to pay him, right? I mean, this might be a small difference, but nearly $2 million when you're talking about, that's all that, you know, a international signy like that's going to receive, then that's a big,

a big deal. I mean, that's, that's quite a substantial more over, you know, 6.9 versus 5.1. He would also be prospect promotion incentive eligible as well. Yeah, yeah, which is just kind of crazy, you know, in the same way that Corbyn Carroll netted the diamond backs a pick right after the first round because he won rookie of the year. because Sasaki is entering the league as an international amateur rather than as a free agent coming over, it means that he is also eligible for that incentive. So you could pay, you know, even if he waits until next year, you could pay seven, seven and a half million dollars for this guy. And of course, we all know that he's worth way more than that on the open market.

He would get, you know, probably $300 million if he was actually a free agent and didn't have this cap on what he could make. but yeah with with the prospect promotion incentive thrown in there you could be paying seven and a half million dollars for a 300 billion dollar player plus a draft pick on top of that which I believe would be if he won the rookie of the year or if he was a top three finisher an MVP or si young before he hits arbitration which certainly wouldn't be a guarantee but sasaki is is really good and I think it's totally possible that he could he could accomplish that. Well, and I think that, again, there's some, there, there, there is something to the idea here that the diamondbacks or another team that aren't the Dodgers could sign them. And I mean, it's sad to say, but like if the diamondbacks don't get them, that's all we can hope for from that point is that the Dodgers don't. Right. Right. Right. 100%. And someone said it in the comments. There's a chance. Again, Ernesto said, if not the Dodgers, I think it would be the Giants Padres before the demonbacks are even considered, probably even the Mariners or Yankees and yes while that's true and very very small on screen I will say that

he he you might be right I mean they're there that's that's a disadvantage that the diamond backs have the diamondbacks are the diamondbacks and it makes it that much harder for them to necessarily grab the interest of you know another team or a player like this right I will say that we've talked a little bit about human Lynn and kind of how important he is And again, there's times where a player like that is there, there's our guy. A player like that could open up the door for other international signies to want to play in some in places like Arizona. If he does become kind of that, as he spoke about like that, that, I guess that inspiration for people to from from his country to kind of come over and make a splash in the United States. Right.

And again, there is that that's the biggest thing that concerns me is is there's just that that factor. of the Dodgers already kind of assembling something there that would make a signy from Japan feel very comfortable to go there. But then there are those larger markets. So it's not great, but the Diamondbacks, I think, are very interested, like most teams in Major League Baseball. Yeah, 100%. And Mike Hazen has done crazier things. So I think that I still very much trust them to at least make an earnest effort at signing someone of Sasaki's caliber and trying to improve this Diamondbacks team. and honestly moves like this are the one way

that they're going to be able to keep up with the Dodgers if they can steal someone like this away from that franchise. Yeah, and as we discussed the other day, like the Diamondbacks have devoted significant resources to scouting Sasaki. They're one of the few teams that we are aware of that made that investment. So us talking about this, you know,

it's not a total just pie in the sky like, oh, we're just kind of picking a team out of thin air. There was a report from Jim Allen, who is a baseball writer over in Tokyo, kind of going along with the Dodgers are not a lock narrative. He said, the Dodgers are not a lock to sign Roki Sasaki. He will go where he thinks it is in his best short term and long term interest.

A source close to Sasaki said a small market team with a solid development plan or solid development setup and plan could be the next or the best destination. So there is, I think, some good reason to believe that the Diamondbacks could be in play here. And again, it's not money is not is not really a factor. I mean, there's, I guess the Dodgers have the up, do have the upper hand if he signs this year. But if it waits till next year, money is not going, very well might not play a huge role in this decision, right? I mean, the team that has the most signing bonus money is like $7.5 million and the Dodgers are a five million. And I know teams can trade for a little bit more beyond that.

But the money is going to be pretty similar. There's a cap on how much money you can spend on this guy. It's really a matter of trying to make your best pitch and trying to convince someone like Sasaki to join your franchise. And I know the Diamondbacks are not going to be alone in that, trying to convince him to come here. I know the game plan now and how the Diamondbacks could do this, Jesse. And that is by hiring Masado Yoshi as their new pitching coach.

Ah. who was a former Mets pitcher and was also the pitching coordinator who helped Sasaki kind of blossom, right? Oh, there you go. Get a solid development plan, as he says in this article, by just bringing in his own coach and making him our pitching coach. And then, hey, that it's done. There might be maybe some sort of problem with the rest of the pitchers, but I don't care about that. If that helps me in Sasaki, that's my sole focus right now. no i mean chris says we fired all of our pitching stash we have staff we have no strong development

that there there is a reason for this to get better there's a reason for the diamond back not get better for diamond back to have like a sense of urgency here when it comes to uh hiring that pitching staff and making something change because again that's that is an important part i think that a pitching coach is going to probably have some input here on what the diamond back to do here during the off season. They don't have a pitching coach, Derek. And so that's why they might say bring in Masado Yoshi is what I say. Oh, yeah.

See, it's not just Mets mentioned piece of Yoshi. I also said Yoshi. So it's like that's two full. Anyway, I don't know. I just, I really, it's like you said, it's not just the fact that the diamondbacks are in it because all 30 teams, I'm sure, have, are interested. It's a matter of the fact that the diamondbacks have devoted resources. to it and in a grander scheme of things they are trying their best to to make this happen it would appear so we'll see if there's any further development in this or this just ends in the inevitable way that we expected to yeah going to the dodgers one one quick thing um i know the contract situation here is complicated mike mccain in the chat said say the irs undiamex can get him because on the cheap when he turns 25 they're not going to be able to pay him 300 plus million dollars that's actually not how this works he is signing as a minor league free agent uh and of course you can promote

owed him to the majors from the outset. I'm like you have to have to have him sit in AAA for however long. But you get you get six years of club control. So if the Diamondbacks, whatever team signs him, it's not like you're getting him until he turns 25. You're getting him as if you're signing him to, you know, as if he were just coming up through your farm system essentially and debuting in the majors. And yes, he would be eligible.

He would be arbitration eligible once he gets to that point. That's my understanding. So the money could escalate a little bit in those final three years. but this is going to be, at least we think, this is going to be an outrageous value of a contract. It's just a matter of which team is able to pull it off. All right. Well, we know what day it is and you know what day it is.

We're going to talk about all of those things on the other side of this break, of course. So don't you go anywhere. We'll be right back. It's time for me to embarrass Jesse a little bit. But remind you that Blue Choo is out there. And if you need it, which you probably do. Let's be honest.

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And we thank bluechew, of course, for sponsoring the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast. Of course, I've said it before and I'll say it again. And I will stand, I will die in this hill. We're going to talk about hills to die. I'll die on this hill. Bluechu and Heelab river resorts and casinos are a match made in heaven. But even if you have none of that, make sure to check out Heila River Resorts. It's a wonderful place for a staycation.

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Of course, we will be hosting our Cardinals and Sun's Watch. parties there all season long. So make sure to stay tuned for more information on how to join us. Come hang out with us and have a great time out there at Gila River Resorts and casinos. All right. Well, you guys know what day it is. Jesse, you know what day it is. These guys know what day it is. It is, of course, every year is our year on this show. Every month on this show, Hispanic Heritage Month. Every week on this show is absolutely shark week. Every day on this show, Passover. It also is literally Veterans Day, if I'm not mistaken. It is absolutely Veterans Day. And we got to give a shout out, of course, to all of those who have served, all those brave men and women that have fought

for our country. We thank you so much for your service. And we appreciate you. And hopefully, you're getting treated like the Kings and Queens that you are today. Absolutely. Thank you again. And of course, on Mondays, we have this thing we do around here where we go to the mailbag. Kev, let's go. interesting in my mailbox. I try to get to everything in my mailbox. And then once in a while... Sean's calling me out in the chat, saying Derek and Espo being designated

the blue chew ads every time is hilarious. I don't know if you've noticed, Sean, but I'm designated all the ad reads. I know it's only funnier when I read the blue chew ones, but I don't ever see this guy tagging in. That's a great point. When you're on vacation, I have to... Oh, that's right.

Begrudgingly have to carry the load, you know? He does. And he does a good job, but of course, nobody does a better job at asking. as questions of course. And you guys, Kev, what do we got? Got big it's a minute, Kev, large intimate, excuse me. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get that wrong. Large insmit, Kev, Thomas, what have got? Yeah, so first question today comes from Travis Moore. Travis wants to know, what's your favorite way to spend your birthday slash what's your favorite

thing to do? As I get older, I enjoy seeing what goofy stuff my kids do. My three-year-old today wrote scribbles all over the weekly calendar on our fridge this morning and said she wrote Happy B-Day Daddy for each day. Well, first of all, happy birthday to you, Travis Moore, if that's case. We always appreciate your questions and being our lead off hitter on on Mondays. I'll start off with you. What do you like to do on your birthday, pal? I've pretty much always seen you on a mountain when you're when you're out there doing your birthday thing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's definitely me, me living my best life is yeah, on a hike somewhere in the wilderness, probably. But I feel like I don't usually get that opportunity like all throughout college. I

remember being very busy on my birthday. It is in October. And then obviously, Obviously last year I wasn't exactly doing anything. I mean, I was enjoying myself. I was enjoying myself, no doubt. Covering the Diamondbacks in the postseason was very cool. But I did not exactly have a whole lot of free time on my hands that day. But yes, being out in the wilderness, hanging out with some friends is definitely my ideal situation. Yeah, I mean, I hate to simplify it.

But like, yeah, as I get older, I really just want to find something cool to do with my friends on that day. just want to find a way to celebrate and I know it's weird because being an older an older gentleman of class and dignity right you you do start to get to a point where you feel like most people don't really want to celebrate their birthday as they get older and I think that's the craziest thing if there's one suggestion I can make is celebrate the hell out of your birthday we only have so many and we only have so much time for us to do it we're not here for a long time we're here for a good time and make sure whatever you enjoy doing, that's what it's about. I think that's the biggest thing is like make sure, you know, it's, it's okay to be a little selfish on your birthday. It's

okay to do the thing you want to do. I know we don't always get the chance to do that like you said, but I think that usually that's what I find myself doing is bullying my friends and my family into doing the thing I want to do because it's my birthday. And that usually means eating ice cream cake and drinking some beers of some kind. You're an ice cream cake guy, huh? I am a huge ice cream cake guy Jesse I mean if you want if you want to know the weight of my heart it's through ice king I feel like I feel like you don't come across like ice cream cake stands in in the wild very often yeah I love the terrible frosting that gets all frozen because you have to put it in the freezer I love everything about ice cream I had a lot of ice cream cakes growing up because I think

my mom was under the impression that we didn't like me and my brothers didn't really like cake which was true for the most part I've since discovered like you're like you just give me something that's not cake. Not something that's half cake. Right, right. That's fair. That's fair. I've since discovered certain varieties of cake that I do very much enjoy.

But in retrospect, I've never found myself craving an ice cream cake. I just like just give me ice cream. Like just go get like the best brand of ice cream and I'll and I'll just eat that. Yeah. See, I think it's, I think maybe it's the uniqueness of it. No other time of the year is an adult really eating ice cream cake besides my birthday. So people that come to my birthday party are usually like. like, I haven't had ice cream cake in like a while.

Eating an ice cream cake on a day that's not your birthday, that's even more wild. That's lunatic behavior potentially. That is absolutely lunatic behavior. Yeah. All right. Well, we figured out the best way to spend it. And we hope you had a great day. I mean, again, I have over the years really enjoyed the fact that I have a daughter who always

kind of makes me feel that much more special about it. And now she's 13 and she doesn't give a crap about my birthday. So, or most things. So unless it's Percy Jackson or something animal. related. All right. What else we got? All right. So question number two comes from the basketball and football guy. They want to know if Roki Sasaki were to sign with the debacks,

whose spot in their rotation would he take? We'd have seven guys, Jesse. We would have seven guys. I guess the first question is, do you think he would start off by going to the minor leagues? I mean, it would be a... I don't think so. You just have him come right to the major league. So then... Yeah.

What are we doing? Like, let's say nothing changes. What are we doing? Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, In some ways, I, like, you're not, you're not even considering this question when you're going out there making your pitch trying to sign him. It's very much a situation of like, yes, if we can have one of the best pitchers in baseball for $7 million. Like, count me in. We'll figure out the rest later, right? But it is a valid question still.

I think we can rule out Zach Allen. I think we can rule out Merrill Kelly. I do not think their rotation spots are going to be taken. And then after that, you have to, you have to make some, some. tough decisions, right? I mean, Jordan Montgomery, Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon fought, Ryan Nelson. I've said before, I thought I would be hard. It's a little hard for me to imagine Ryan Nelson not being in the opening day rotation. Maybe that does force their hand and, you know, maybe they try him in the bullpen. Brandon fought, I don't think makes any sense to move to the bullpen. He's such a durable starter who can,

who can, you know, pitch deep into games. So yeah, I think it would put a lot of pressure on on guys like Eduardo Rodriguez and Jordan Montgomery and Ryan Nelson to come into spring training and really show what they can do. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think it's going to be competition or you go with the unprecedented seven-man rotation. There you go. There you go. Yeah, I should look into that. Who says no? Tori would love that. You know Tori loves giving guys as much rest as possible. That is a good point in that, well, the seven-man rotation. I'm a little skeptical of that. But a lot of times, I haven't looked closely at Sasaki situation, but a lot of times guys in Japan are not, are not pitching quite as often as in the majors. They usually have an extra day of rest between

starts. And I believe the Dodgers gave Yamamoto at least five days rest between starts throughout the entire season. So that is something the diamondbacks might need to consider if somehow they do land Sasaki is like, okay, we need to, you know, anytime we have five games in a row, we might actually need a six starter. So I don't think that's a totally crazy idea. Seven man rotation, though, I think we can, I think we can safely rule that out at this point. All right.

What else we got, Kev? All right. Question number three, Carson. Carson wants to know with a lot of uncertainty in the DeBacks front office, do you see them being big spenders, or do you see them taking a step back and letting younger talent prove themselves guys like Paveen, ADC, and Jordan Lawler?

I don't think they have a choice. I do think that in 2025, they are going to have no other choice to let some of that younger talent prove themselves. I think guys like Pavin aren't they, he doesn't have the options, right? So Paving can't be set up and down anymore. I think Pavan is either part of this team now or he isn't.

And that's kind of the way that they're going to have to move forward. They're going to have to make some decisions in regards to the roster for sure. But the biggest problem is that they really don't have that much more money to spend than they've already committed to this team for 2025. So it's not a matter of them not being big spenders. It's kind of a matter of them already spending big at this point. they do have some advantages this year of course the mad bum contract is officially off the books yay and you also have the fact that of course you know if they don't bring back christian walker

uh or jock peterson or randall gritchick which all three of those guys are are kind of up in the air and still very unlikely it feels like to be that they'll be able to bring any of those guys back they'll have some money to spend it's just a matter of what their needs are and and positional needs that they need to fill first which obviously would be first base and then And obviously beyond that, I'm sure that they still pursue some pitching, some, some, you know, relief pitching. But again, I don't, I just don't know if the team even has those, those big glaring needs that they would need to go out and be big spenders this offseason, if I'm being honest. Really, what they need is the guys who are here to perform and to perform at the level that their contracts are paying them of. Someone like Jordan Montgomery comes out and is a sub three and a half ERA guy in 2025, this team's a come.

completely different team. If these guys that are here can perform at the level that we know they're all capable of, this team is a contender immediately without really making too many changes to it aside from the necessary ones like what they do at first base. Yeah, I think it's probably a combination of both, right? Like the diamondbacks are pretty clearly in a win now mode. I don't see them taking on any kind of rebuild over the off season. We've talked about maybe trading Zach Gallen, like maybe there is an outside chance that happens. But even if they did, they'd probably be targeting major league ready pieces in return. So, yeah, I think they will spend.

I mean, we don't, we have not really gotten any clear reporting on, on where the payroll will stand in 2025, but it doesn't feel like the Diamondbacks are cutting significantly. And they did run a franchise high payroll by a pretty wide margin in 2024, somewhere in the $170, $175 million range. So I think they'll probably be, at least speculatively at this. point. Maybe they're right in that same range next year. But at the same time, you want to open a window for Jordan Lawler and Adrian Del Castillo and Pavin Smith to prove themselves as well. I don't know if you want to count on those guys, but over the course of the season, you're going to need

other guys to step up. And I'm sure those guys will get their opportunity at some point. All right. Well, of course, we have some more mailbag Monday questions to get to. And we will do so on the other side of this break. We do thank you guys for being here in the PHNX, its YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, do so now. Hit that notifications button. And most importantly, for my self-esteem, hit that like button. If you're listening on the audio podcasting side, make sure you subscribe on your favorite app. And of course, make sure you also leave us a review. We love the feedback and those five-star reviews definitely mean the world to us. And like I said, on the other side of this break,

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when it comes to baseball. We got some more mailbag Monday questions. What are you got, Kev? Let's get to the bag. All right. Let's get to this bag. Question number four from Brighton Bobbitt. Brighton wants to know. That's a really cool name, by the way. Who are some potential buy, low trade acquisitions?

You could see the debacks looking into. Spencer Torkelson is one that comes to mind. Shout out to Jesse's great piece he did over at GoPHNX. I'm going to drop the link here in the chat momentarily, so go check that out. Yeah. Jesse, I mean, I guess you are kind of a little bit of the expert on this, considering you just wrote about this. Yeah, I mean, I wrote about First Base in particular.

So, yeah, Kevin. I'll throw the link in the chat if you haven't gotten a chance to read it. I came up with five potential trade targets for the Diamondbacks at first base. We've touched a lot on some of the free agency options, but less so the trade options. I think in terms of by low guys, the one name on my list that I think could be considered by low is Reese Hoskins of the Milwaukee Brewers, who honestly like I think out of all the five names that I have on the list, it's probably the least likely, not to say that any of them as likely, but it's pretty hard to imagine.

I mean, Reese Hoskins had a pretty brutal, uh, 20, season with the Brewers. He did hit 26 homers, uh, but he was also basically replacement level player. His first base defense was awful. Uh, he was basically exactly a league average hitter. I think he had a 100 WRC plus on the dot. Uh, so yeah, like really poor defense plus a league average bat is not really what you're looking for at first base and he's going to make $18 million dollars in 2025.

But the thinking is, if you're the brewers and you're a smaller market team, you know, would you rather eat a portion of that money and trade Hoskins elsewhere and save at least a little bit of that money and get something else in return? So it would be a situation where the brewers are eating some of the money to help the diamondbacks out. No team is trading for all of that contract. Maybe there's a fit there. There probably isn't. Yeah. And I mean, I think honestly, first base is the one area where you can. kind of understand the dimebacks have to make a move outside of that.

I really don't know where their focus would be. I think, you know, there are a lot of positions right now that not only do they have covered for now in the near future, but they also have depth behind it. Outfield feels weird because it feels like they're fine at outfield, but I just, I wouldn't be surprised at any point to see them continue to at least, you know, add players that could play the outfield. They had some versatility last year that they're losing in Randall Gritchick, who was D.H. and also could play some outfield.

But I really do feel like the main areas that they have to be focused on at this point is pitching in first base. And I don't mean starting pitching. I mean, I feel like with six guys, they're fairly covered there at starting pitching. And again, it's about those guys performing.

It feels like, you know, they could use some relief pitching help. But I also feel like this team, especially when you look at the top free agents that are available on the market, they're not in really the market for any of those guys. You know, like, no,

there's not a lot of guys. they're in the market for Christian Walker. That's the guy that they're, that's the big name that's on the free agent block that they're in the market for. So it's going to be interesting to see what they do. And of course, I feel like I just have this undying trust in Mike Hazen

to make the right move when it comes to, especially times like this. Like Mike Hazen is a great, you know, fantasy football manager of picking guys up off the waiver wire and grabbing those guys that, you know, like he knows before everybody else that that backup is going to take over that, you know, starting R.B. one role and things like that, you know. You just keep wanting to bring up fantasy football because you're going to beat me this week.

I get it. I think that brings us to the next question. Kevin, you got the next question? Yeah, so our next question is right here, Derek. That's actually, oh, that's, what is that? Oh, my God. What's happening here? What happened there?

That's the score of, that's, that's the, that's embarrassing. This is the fantasy football score between me and Jesse from this week's fantasy football game. How did you? Yeah, my back. How did I tee that up for you? I don't know how that got in there. That's a terrible feeling. You know what?

Thank you. I appreciate you taking responsibility. That was not necessary. We're not the kind of guy that's going to rub that in Jesse's. No, Derek would never do that. Can we bring it up one more time? Because I do have one, one beef with,

with this platform that we use. How exactly do I have a 2% chance to win this game? I'll tell you how because I still have one player left to go. And even though it's most likely that he's going to get positive points, You think there's a 2% chance that your one player scores. Kylo Ren scores negative minus seven. I don't think with the scoring system minus seven. Like you would, is he a running back?

What is he? He's a running back. I think you would have to get like negative 40 yards or something in order for that. I think we can safely rule that out. He could fumble. He could, you know, do a variety of. Sure. I guess, yeah, if he fumbled the ball like six times, maybe I have a chance.

Yeah, because the score is. It's not over. The game's not over. There's still minutes to be played. So I still have a much better record than Derek. He does. He does. He does. And I'm not going to Waffle House for the record. What else we got, Kevin? And we'll see about that. Yeah. So you're still in the mix as far as I'm aware. Our next question is comes from Silas. Silas wants to know, why is MLB free agency so much slower than in other sports? I think it would be easier to reach deals because of the contracts being guaranteed. It's always boggled my mind. Yeah. I mean, I guess it's the fact that the office. season is shorter than any other sport for the most part. I mean it it feels shorter than any other

sport. I guess it's on the shorter end from the time the world series ends to the time pitchers and catchers report is fairly short. It's like three months baseball we were talking about it with damon dog baseball just doesn't have that same schedule that like the NFL does NFL does a remarkable job at taking their their sport that has a shorter season and making you not forget about it all year long by having those big marquee events like the draft and other things pop up, free agent signing period, all of that. I don't really know. I mean, we talked about ways that we could spice it up,

maybe have the free agency period start like when the winter meetings end. That was one idea that at least Damon had. I thought that was a very good one. I just think baseball is how it is. And baseball's just not as exciting in a lot of ways as some of those other sports based on the nature of the sport itself. I think that once again, the draft happens at a terrible time of the year, but when else would you have it?

And if the draft happened in December for Major League Baseball, would anybody pay more attention to it? Yeah, the MLB draft is, I don't want to say it's irredeemable, but it's not the same thing. You have NFL players that literally make an impact on their team the very next season. We're seeing that immediately with Marvin Harrison Jr. and Roma Dunzee and some of these guys, right? So it's like you also have the fact that, you know, baseball players take so long to get there. So the draft, it's its own thing. But for the most part, I think Major League Baseball just doesn't do as good of a job as making things exciting and making it happen in a contained amount of time so that a lot of action happens once that period opens up.

Yeah, this was a big question. I feel like last off season because so many of the big name free agents dragged on for a long time, right? I mean, the Diamondbacks, their agreement with Jordan Montgomery was not official until the day after the season started. right and he was not he was not alone in that regard so i think a lot of people view this as being a non-ideal situation for baseball and i'm certainly one of them it's really cool when i don't follow football particularly closely even though i do have a better record than derrick in our fantasy football league uh the best record but i yeah i think so well at least at least for right now i think once once the results become official tomorrow might look a little different but yeah that's true i currently have

the best record uh yeah i don't follow football all that closely but i do know that once free agency begins, like a whole bunch of guys have already signed. Yeah. Just waiting for the official date. Right. It's just waiting to make it official. Whereas major league baseball, guys become free agents. Like free agency begins really right when the season ends, like right when the world

series ends. And there isn't there isn't any kind of a buildup to like a deadline later in the off season. But even if there was, like even if MLB free agency started. on say December 1st, does that mean that like, you know, all the Boris clients are flying off the board the moment that the clock turns? I don't think so. Not based on what we saw last off. Yeah, I don't think so. So there's a lot of factors of play here. I think one of the biggest ones is that Major League Baseball does not have a salary cap and and there are, there just aren't nearly as many guardrails in place in terms of what kinds of deals can be signed and what teams are able to sign those

deals whereas in the NFL and the NBA it's like okay well these are the teams that have caps based these are the teams that don't have caps base this is the max so the player can be paid right right and I feel like those leagues are more a little bit more player oriented to where players have maybe more say and where they go and picking their next destination whereas in baseball it's just sort of an open negotiation kind of a thing so there's a lot of factors at play there we could probably do a whole podcast on that but it is it is a very interesting question yeah all right next question what do you got have Yeah, so our next question comes from Chris.

This is a question after my own heart because I love stuff like this. Sports gods come down and tell you they have a deal for you, Derek and Jesse. The next five years of the Diamondbacks, they will not win a World Series. But in exchange for that, five years of agony and pain, you get the next five years of the Cardinals and Sons winning one championship each. And Arizona gets the NHL team back, Coyotes 2.0. Who says no? You would be selfish to not take that deal. I mean, as much as that pains me

considering the Jesse and I cover the great sport of baseball more specifically, the Arizona Diamondbacks, I would take five losing seasons. Forget not winning a championship, I would take five losing seasons of the Diamondbacks for those other teams to experience the great joy that we got to experience in 2001.

And not only that, but I might do that just to bring back our hockey team. How could I do that to our great hockey fans of the Valley and deny them that simply for five years of losing? We'll be fine on the other side of those five years. we'll figure it out. But I'll tell you this much to make that sacrifice to bring home finally a Sun's

championship, a Cardinals Super Bowl trophy, and Coyotes 2.0, which we're going to totally rework the name and not call them that. Yes, I'm on board. And I'm sorry, I hate to do that to the baseball fans. I'm going to stay neutral on this one. I mean, I suspect that if you're a Valley sports fan and not just a Diamondbacks fan that, like, this is probably pretty easy for you. you'd rather check all those boxes than, you know, have the diamondbacks.

I mean, I guess the alternative for the diamond backs is not necessarily that they're winning, right? It's just that, you know, they're not losing for five consecutive seasons. So, yeah, I don't have a strong feeling on this necessarily. Pick a side, fruitman, pick a side. All right. Well, we're going to pick aside, make him pick aside on the other side of this break. We got one more to get to. And we will be back with just a few more mailback Monday questions.

And of course, some more from the area. Arizona Fall League Fall Stars game. And more specifically, our guys, Gino Groover and Tommy Troy, we got video from them as well as some updates. So make sure to not go anywhere. You know the jingle. You know the phone number. Empire Today is a staple of the Valley.

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for the Clay Buck Holt's question. But we love you guys coming out. We have so many more events. So you got to make sure to check out our events calendar over at go phnx.com slash events. That way you can see all the fun stuff we have coming up. We have the PHNX Territorial Takeover that's on November 30th. That's presented by neutral and branded bills.

And that includes a pregame meetup, bourbon bent in Tucson, along with food and drink being included, a game ticket to the Territorial Cup and so much more. So fun, fun, family. Family is what mostly you're getting there. But you're also getting all the other stuff I talked about. You can also meet up with us for the pHNX winter pickle pickle ball tournament on December 14th, the chicken and pickle in Glendale. We have doubled the field since the last time we did our tournament with 48.

teams this year. All skill levels are welcome. We got PHNX and chicken and pickle prizes, food and drink specials, and all of the proceeds are going to Operation Santa Claus, which is an annual donation drive that collects food, toys, children's clothing, and donations for several Arizona charities. So sign up today at gophnx.com slash events. All right, we got a few more mailbag Monday questions, and then we got some Arizona Fall League chat. What do you got there, Kevin? Yeah, so for our co-main event, we got Michael Rokicki, who wants to know what is the D-back slash baseball hill? You all always die on.

Well, we all know what yours is, right? I feel like I'm just asking for trouble with this question. No, it's not Paul Goldschmidt. No, that's not the answer that I'm going to pick. You've already died on that hill. Get this camera off of me. Put out, Jesse. What are you got?

What are you doing? Don't put me on the spot like that. What's your baseball hill to die on? Yeah, that is, that's a tough one. I'm pretty sure we have answered a question that was very similar to this. one point in the past. And I don't really remember what I said the last time, which is kind of bothering me right now. The D-Backs Hill that I will always die on.

Oh, man, that is, that is tough. I guess this, okay, this is probably what I said when we answered a similar question last time. In retrospect, this take was very poor, but I still stand by in a sense. when the Diamondbacks traded for one Shelby Miller and they dealt away a very good player and Danesby Swanson along with a couple of other players who were highly valued at the time. I, in retrospect, don't think that was as bad of a trade as it was perceived at the time. I think there was something about trading a guy that you just took first overall in the draft

that was kind of viewed as like the unpardonable sin. And I understand that to an extent. but I think that the moral of the story with that trade is that Shelby Miller came to Arizona and just wasn't a viable starting pitcher. And I mean, the Diamondbacks probably should take some responsibility for that. I think they're partially responsible for that. But that's not the outcome that anyone expected, right? I think if Shelby Miller had come over to the Diamondbacks and Ben, what he was in Atlanta,

which was a pretty darn good starting pitcher, he had an ERA in the low threes the year before he came over, that team could have been really good. good. Like, imagining the 2017 diamondbacks, I know Shelby got hurt, but imagining the 2017 diamondbacks with a healthy Shelby Miller in that rotation, that is an absurd amount of starting pitching talent. And Dansby Swanson, like, he's emerged into a totally solid player. You know, I think you could still argue that the debacks would get the short end of the deal, but I don't think it's really an egregious deal at all. The story with that trade is just that Shelby Miller was not at all what you hopes he would be. If he had been, I think it, I think it would have been,

fine yeah i think i don't really have much of a hill to die on with the whole paul goldsmith thing i know i know i know that's what i know go down that road i know that's what she wants me uh to to bring up no i i guess my biggest hill to die on that i talk about all the time when it comes the debacks is that what we just talked about the other day which was the anniversary of the color change right like the diamondbacks had so much history they had such a unique look they had something that actually represented the valley and then they turned their team colors and everything into kind of one of the most bland designs you can imagine and i think that like the weirdest part is how with how vocal the fan base is about their desire to turn back to purple

and teal and copper the the fact that it's kind of falling on deaf ears we'll see what happens this year and hopefully with the city connect changing over think the serpientis jerseys are done now so there's a shot here for them to bring back something exciting. I hope they learn from teams like the race who went completely nostalgic and fun with their city connect and can do something like that. But I mean, it's it's just something we talk about all the time. And again, it's, yes, it's a hill to die on, but it's just so stupid to me. It's just such bad business. I mean, to this day, when I see a shirt hanging in the team shop that has purple and teal as a part of it, it catches my eye and immediately draws me to it, you know, and I think that there's something beyond

just the fact that that was the color combination we won when we won a world war when we won a world series yeah it just felt like a connection to the valley and and actual like things that mattered you know to i know it's just colors but like it's an actual connection to the valley that they just completely abandoned you know like the pinstripes thing is something that was unique and there's not a lot of teams and baseball left that do that there's just there's an opportunity there to go back to that at some point here and i i just think it was a huge flop what's wild is that's Probably the one thing that fans that don't root for this team are no much about the Diamondbacks would say.

There's people that like don't care at all about the Diamondbacks. And the one thing they'd bring up if you talk to them about it is, why did you guys ever change your colors? I think at least two Chicago fans when we were on our road trip brought that up to me. So I think that's a pretty good hill to die on. All right. What else we got? We got one more Mailbag Monday question.

Yeah. So for our main event of the afternoon, we have Peace of Yoshi who wants to know what unspeakable things will Damon do maybe to Garrett's dubs maybe not to Garrett's if Catell doesn't win all MLB at second base? I would like to say I'm not personally responsible for the unspeakable things that Damon will do if Cate does not. We just want to absolve ourselves. Yeah, of any kind of responsibility, right?

Like I don't want to use the term loose canon when describing my friend Damon Farrell, but I will just say that there are people in life you can reason with. And there are people in life you can't reason with. Damon would fall into the ladder. So good luck to Garrett Stubbs, should that not happen. And I hope that all of the people at Major League Baseball make the right call for his sake is what I guess I should say. There are, I mean, I know we had the Silver Slugger conversation and how it would be very egregious if Ketel did not win the Silver Slugger. I think you certainly will.

I think that gets announced tomorrow. So in the American League, there were some second baseman who had, you know, genuinely a very good years. Jose Altuve had not a great Jose Altuve year, but still pretty good one, you know, $2.95 with, with 20 homers. Andres Jimenez is one of the best defensive second baseman in all baseball. But, yeah, I mean, Agreege. Catell has to win the award. And he will win the award.

And he's going to finish in top five MVP voting, most likely. There would be just egregious for him not to win it. So there you go. You're safe for now, Garrett Stubbs. All right. Well, we are going to have more over at go phtonx.com for those of you watching on the television set. So make sure to join us over there. We have more on the Fall Stars game.

And of course, we got some video for Gino Groover and Tommy Troy. So make sure not to miss out on that. And we love you. We love you wherever you're watching. And those of you that are here in our chat right now, we thank you guys so much for being here, as always. Of course, the Fall Stars game did happen on Saturday. We had the home run derby on Friday night and Gino Groover and Tommy Troy both participated. That was fun.

You were out there. What did you see out those guys? Yeah, a pretty unremarkable day. I think if I'm remembering correctly, Tommy Troy, I think Gino Grewver drew a walk. Tommy Troy, I believe was hit by a pitch and also reached on an infield single. So there wasn't anything super notable offensively for either one. Grover started the game at third base and then it was removed about halfway through Troy. came in as a as a replacement at second base about halfway through the game uh but yeah more than anything

it was good to be able to talk to those guys catch up with them a little bit before the false star scheme happened of course both of them were we're very happy to um to be out there to to have the opportunity to be in the fall stars game well and there is a growing relationship between the two right there is there is talk to to to tommy and tommy discussed uh kind of him and gino bonding a little yeah yeah Tommy and gino they've become uh they've become best buds i guess You could say. Sounds like a hell of a cop cop, like buddy cop film. Yeah.

Tommy and Gino. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Here's a clip of, for the record, the buddy cop movie would be Groover and Troy. Groover and Troy. Or like Troy groovy. Or like Tommy Grooves.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know why I was thinking anything else. You're absolutely right to be Grover and Troy. All right. What do we got? Yeah. We have.

In fact, we rented out like a same apartment building of the North Scottsville with with our girlfriends and stuff. So yeah, we've gone up pretty tight over the past year or so. That was just like recently or? Yeah. I was already living there and then I, I encouraged you to.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That is a bold move. Like, hey, let's take this relationship to the next level. Let's not just be teammates.

Let's be neighbors. Yeah. Yeah. That's a lot. Like if I have a, if I have a two bedroom apartment all to myself, like, I don't know if it matters how much I like my teammates.

like you're not inviting them that's my two bedroom apartment like presumably he has his own housing I have my own housing like we'll still hang out I'll have him over but that doesn't mean I want him to like live at my place yeah that's a lot that's a lot for sure I think you you have to be pretty close to want that kind of or just not know any better you know yeah not know of this the the strain that's going to put put on your relationship but now both of these guys have been killing it in Arizona fall league they both were rightfully added and deserve this honor. So it's very cool to see them added to the fall stars game. And you also got a chance to talk to them a little bit about their fall league seasons.

Yeah, yeah, we'll start with, we'll start with with Tommy here. Yeah, Tommy had we talked about it on the show a decent amount. He had quite an up and down season. He missed a couple months with injury. Once he got back from injury, he really struggled in Hillsborough, which is not what you want to see from your, you know, your first round pick out of college. Like you're kind of hoping that a guy like that is going to be able to motor through your system. And Troy was just really struggling in high A where he finished last season. But then toward the end of the season, he really found it. It sounds like it was maybe more of a mental thing for him than anything else. And he had a similar narrative within the fall league where he started one for 25, as we've said, a bunch of times.

And then he turned things around and now has an OPS over 800 in the fall league. So here's Tommy talking about the. the adversity, if I can speak, the adversity that he overcame in 2024. I've had times in the past, maybe not as bad as it was this year, but I mean, like, I feel like this past year has prepared me

for any situation in the future. Like, if I get into it right again, I just know how the game is. It's a game of failure, and you will find a way out of it. You just have to put your head down and work. It's funny how important of a lesson that is. It also seems very,

like, I guess when you're a person watching a fan, someone that hasn't really played the sport, you hear them say something like that, and you're like, yeah, of course. But really, learning how to fail is one of the hardest things I think baseball players have to do, especially really good baseball players, because at one point,

they were probably the best baseball player of most of the kids that they played with. And they had just in general an amount of success that other kids don't have. And again, as you go along in your career, the one thing you have to learn to accept is is that failure we even hear that from major league pitchers Archie comes in here and talks about that like it's just a struggle to this day considering how mental of a sport baseball is and how that failure can impact you especially as a young player

you start doubting yourself and you start feeling like perhaps you don't belong and that you partner that together with a very difficult journey a journey as a young player that doesn't really give you a lot financially and doesn't really make you feel super secure about your future in that sport. It can be a tough road. And I mean, learning how to accept that failure is just a huge part of being able to make it to that next level. Yeah. Like, you don't want to see your first round pick, you know, struggle for an entire season

in high A. Like that, that's a little, a little concerning probably. But, you know, your first round pick struggling for a couple of months, like really going through it and having to find a way to work himself out of it, that really can be. beneficial, I think, in the long term. So, yeah, we'll see what the future holds for Tommy Troy. He's really looked a lot better here over the end of the regular season and then into the fall league as well.

Speaking of Gino Groover, he has had both like an outstanding fall league and kind of a weird fall league at the same time. Mr. Single. Yeah, he is hitting 370 in the fall league. And as I asked him the question that I'm about to show, I felt ridiculous because it feels weird in any way to be critical of a hitter who is batting 370 right like probably in a pretty good spot there but yes he has 20 base hits in the fall league and 19 of them are singles he has not

hit a home run he has just one double he's slugging 389 which is impressively low for a guy who's sitting 370 so i asked him the question you know are you concerned at all about the lack of power or kind of how are you thinking about that and here's what gino had to say no no no i don't Not really. I mean, hitting is an up and down roller coaster, you know. You start focusing too much on that stuff. You might get out your game. You know, sometimes you got to accept that stretch that you might go through because it's also going to be a stretch where everything that touches your bat somehow ends up being an extra base hit. Whether you hit it hard or you hit it 45 miles an hour. So, I mean, at the end of the day, you know, I go up there and try to keep it as simple as I can, you know, hit the baseball hard. That's really the only thing I can really control. I mean, obviously, everything else is a plus. I'm not going to sense the only thing, but it's the most controllable factor. You know, everything else is a plus. You know, there's been some baseballs I've hit pretty good, you know, it gets called, gets tracked down, stuff like that. There's been some baseballs. I've been like, God, like, I got beat and I got away with it. It's just the way it is.

Well, for the most part, I mean, it was stay consistent. I think consistency is the key. You know, as long as you stay consistent in yourself and your swing, you know, it eventually make its way. It'll find, it'll eventually find land out there. So I think at the end of the day, you know, if you can still find, you know, find yourself having some success, you know, at a really good clip. Even when, you know, it may not be what you're looking for at that time. When it does happen, it just, it just keeps. you in a good position, you know, to keep everything going.

I mean, I'll tell you, I don't, I don't want you to change a thing. If you're out there and you're hitting nearly 400 and they're all singles, we'll find a place for you to, for you to play in the lineup. 370 will play no matter. Yeah. And I mean, again, like, who cares? Like you're making good contact. It's not even just like, oh, he doesn't strike out a lot or something like that.

Like, no, you're, you're getting singles. Like you're actually getting the ball in play. You're putting the bat on it and you're doing it often enough for it to be impressive. I'm not concerned about your power because not everybody needs to be a power hitter. And I think that's something, you know, if you want to talk about the Diamondbacks as an organization that they kind of got away from last year,

we never expected them to be the power team that they ended up being. And honestly, you could argue that maybe at times their offense might have been a little bit more consistent if they were, you know, getting more singles and things like that, rather than, you know, once they started to have that power swinging for the fences so often.

I really like Gino Gruver, though, man. I think he's going to be a fun guy to talk to if you kind of get a sense of. It's going to be a special. It's going to be a special guy. I don't normally get really angry at the comments, but Daft House, I think,

crossed the line here. He said there's a reason they made the Penguins, Maserati purple. Purple is tacky. How dare you, you son of a bitch, say the Penguins purple Maserati is tacky. No,

I'm sorry. He said, take a group of guys on a team and ask them what their favorite colors should be. It's not purple. I disagree with all of that. I love purple. Jesse loves purple.

He's wearing purple. right now as we speak. He's got most of the shirts that aren't PHNX like logo shirt. They're purple. All right. Well, of course, we also,

and also I haven't seen the penguin season finale. So don't ruin that for me yet. We have some more on Yumen Lynn who isn't participating in the Arizona Fall League any longer. But we'll be pitching very soon in the Premier 12, Jesse. Right, right. One more thing I want to say on Gino, just real quick.

I do think in the long term, Gino is probably going to have to hit for power on some level to stick in the majors, right? Like, I don't know if he's going to hit 370 in the big leagues, right? It's different. If he does, they're all singles and one is double eyed, I'll still take it. Yeah, like if he's Tony Gwynn, then we'll find a place for him to play. But I think realistically, in the long run, defensively, he's a little bit limited. I think there's a decent chance that first base winds up being the best, the best fit for him.

And if you're a first baseman, then, you know, I mean, I guess you can be a hit for average guy, but you're going to have to hit for a pretty high average to stick in the majors as an everyday first baseman if you're if you're not hitting many homers. So I talked to that story that we talked about last week that's over on go p hnx.com. I wrote about Gino Groover and I talked to their hitting coach down in double A. Amarillo about this. And basically what he said is that Gino it's it's more of an approach thing than anything else. He feels like Gino has power in there. it's just a matter of sitting on a pitch and being stubborn to that pitch. And the more you get into kind of anticipating what's coming,

the more you're able to really let it fly and hit the ball a long way. So he thought it was more of an approach thing than anything else. Versus right now what he's doing, which is basically being able to find a way to find a way to dink one out or get a symbol on something that might not be the best pitch. But hey, it just shows a lot of versatility there and his ability to get the bat on the ball, right? which I think again, you might be right about that overall with the first basement.

But I think if you are a logical GM in baseball, you'll find a way for somebody that is hitting like that. If he could, let's say theoretically hit like 330 at a major league level, you don't care where that's going. You'll put him at the top of your lineup. You'll have him lead off. And you'll find a way for his contributions to help that team win, right? Right. But yeah, like the hitting of the ball, that's the important part. Power can come later.

Right. Absolutely. If you're showing your ability to hit the ball, then that's really all that I care about at this level right now. And maybe even for a few levels, to be honest. He doesn't have to hit 40 homers a year or even 30, right? But like getting into that 15 to 20 range as a major leaguer would be really valuable for him. And yeah, Tremel Sledge, the Amarillo hitting coach. The other thing he told me is that he's not really concerned about it.

He talked about, you know, some of the best hitters in the league. you look at their numbers coming up through the miners and they really didn't tap into their power until they were in the majors and they were making that more of a focus. So it's something to monitor, but I don't think it's alarming. Don't miss Jesse's piece about Gino Groover over at go phynx.com. It's an incredible piece. And of course, there's so many other great articles to be read over there, but that one's not to be missed. Also, make sure to sign up for our daily newsletter because that is a fun. Yes, yes. That's a fun entry into your inbox every morning. So go check out. Patrick is killing it with that. He does an excellent job. So check.

that out at go p hnx.com slash newsletter and of course we have so much else wonderful is Gerald can't be stopped the man is the man is having a child and he he dunked a basketball and found out it's going to be a baby boy that's a wonderful thing for Gerald so we wanted to congratulate him but it's not going to slow him down it might even make him work even harder yeah writing articles so yeah make sure not to miss everything that these guys have going on over at go p hnx.com and jesse you should have an article up here soon about um and lynn pitching yes in the premier 12 which started over the weekend. The premier 12, it's a tournament, right? It is. Yes, it is a tournament that happens in the month of November.

I think it's like November 9th to the 24th, something like that. So be something you can you can kind of monitor from afar here over the next couple of weeks. USA, there is a team USA. You're not going to recognize a ton of names on their roster. Rich Hill did pitch in their first game, which I thought was phenomenal. No, Dick Mountain leading the way. Yeah, yeah, there you go. I'm allowed to say that, I think, because it's his name.

So don't hit me on the cursing on that one. Yeah, so you're not necessarily, I mean, this isn't the world baseball classic, right? You're not seeing rosters quite to that extent. But, yeah, you men clearly his, his Taiwanese heritage is very, very important to him. And that's not the only reason, but it's one of the reasons that he is not pitching in the fall league anymore. He really wanted to pitch for Chinese Taipei in this tournament. So I believe they have their first game on November 14th. So I don't know if Umin will necessarily pitch that day, but it'll be kind of fun to,

I don't know if you can watch this. I imagine you probably can somehow, but at least look at the box scores and see how, see how Umin is doing. Keep posted on Umin and everything he's up to because that guy is going to be a lot of fun to watch. And I can't wait for Bad Jimmy to return back to Diamondbacks. He'll be the Reno Aces. Me and Jesse are definitely taking a road to about to Reno to see the Aces play this year. That's for sure.

That's going to be a fun team to watch. He says hopefully. We're making it happen. Forget that. I really we've been talking about doing that for quite a while at this point. That's been hopefully. Now we've got to make it happen. Gorsi, thank you guys so much for stopping by today.

We always appreciate your time. You could follow us all on Twitter. I am at Kapp underscore Keman with a K. This maniac next to me is at Jesse N. Friedman. Of course, large intimate Kevin Thomas on the ones and twos is at Kev Tom Wright. again you can figure out the spelling on that we're not even going to give you a hint to figure it out our shows at p h nx underscore debacks but all roads do lead to at p h nx underscore sports on twitter instagram and facebook thank you guys so much for your time we appreciate you stopping by we'll be

back tomorrow with another 1 p.m episode so until then we hope you guys have a wonderful evening and remember kids baseball is fun but it's so much more fun when the dodgers don't get everybody