PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Rumors are flying at Winter Meetings on deals for Juan Soto, Shohei Ohtani, and more

Episode Date: December 6, 2023

Rumors continue to swirl at the Winter Meetings in Nashville about who the Arizona Diamondbacks could be connected to via both free agency moves and trades. We also discuss the results of the Rule 5 Draft and what top prospect the D-backs lost.  An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Get 10% off your first order of Hero Bread at https://www.hero.co/ by using code PHNXSchedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See EmpireToday.com/PHNX for details.Sign up for Gila River Resorts & Casinos $1,000,000 Big Red’s Showdown! Stay in the game and get rewards; it’s that easy! https://www.gilamilliondollarshowdown.com/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.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!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head on over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find out where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. WYNK Seltzer + THC: Go to https://drinkwynk.com/ and use promo code “PHNX” for 50% off. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome in to another exciting winter meetings edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. And I'm excited because we have news or maybe not or maybe nothing's happened. I don't know. But to fill us in on all of that is my vice mayor, the one and only thunderstick Jesse Friedman coming to us live from Nashville, Tennessee. Jesse, how is everything going there at what is it the Gaylord? Is it the Gaylord? It's not the Gaylord. Gaylord, Opryland.

Opryland, Tennessee. Something. Convention Center, hotel. It's like an entire universe in one hotel. Yeah, this place is wild. Honestly, I haven't, I feel like I haven't talked enough about that on this show. Yeah. Yeah.

It's a crazy hotel. This is like eight times larger than any hotel I've been in my life. And it's not even really a hotel. It's like there, it's like an indoor mall and also like a biosphere where, like, Like there's extensive numbers of plants being grown, like everywhere. There are like man-made rivers flowing through this thing. You can take boat tours of a hotel. I don't know where I've been the last few days, Derek.

I'm still trying to get my head around it. It's a lot like Wonka's factory, right? It's a lot like that. But instead of making candy, we're making deals over there. By the way, I don't think I introduced myself. For those of you that don't know me, I am still the mayor of Phoenix, according to Heidi Watney, Derek Montia. And I would just, again, so excited that we finally have rumors circulating, Jesse.

We have rumors swirling. It feels like for the most part, the Arizona Diamondbacks are getting, things are whittling down a little bit for them and the names that they're being connected to. And they are some of the same names that you and I have heard, I think over the course of the week, some names we've discussed quite a bit. But my biggest concern right now is news from Bob Knight. that the Boston Red Sox are reportedly interested in La Pena, are very, my hair twin, Lordus Gurriel Jr.

And we knew that was inevitable, but now the time is happening. It's the thing is happening now, Jesse. Former hair twin for the record. You don't have purple hair anymore. Derek, don't kid the people. It's gone now. Yeah, it's gone for months. Yeah, well, Alec wants me to dye lime green now.

So we'll see what happens with that. But obviously, this fills the void. left by Alex Verdugo, who was traded to the Yankees. And again, we knew this was something that was going to happen. But it's still sad that this news is kind of, you know, bubbling up and that we are close to the inevitable loss of our former outfielder. Yeah, no, no surprises, right? We did talk about at the beginning of the off season, you know, there's an off chance maybe that the Diamondbacks would bring back Lordis. but it never felt particularly likely.

And at this point, feels maybe even less likely than it ever did, even though it didn't really ever feel likely. So, yeah, I think it's just a matter of what he knows. Yeah, it's the sad reality of the situation, right? And of course, we know that that leaves the Diamondbacks also with a void. But the Yankees, they have no voids. It doesn't seem like because they are on the verge of now completing the trade we've heard about quite a bit, where Juan Soto seems to be a lock to go to the Yankees via trade per John Heyman.

He reported that Trent Grisham is also included in the deal. So this sounds like this is something that's just a matter of figuring out like players involved and how it's going to move forward. But it seems like this is a done deal. Yeah. I mean, I guess it's good for baseball in the sense that we actually have some semblance of like big trade news. to talk about this week, uh,

although it's not, it's not official as of, as of right now at least as we're doing this. But yeah, I mean, the Yankees still have problems. I don't know if this, if this necessarily will catapult the Yankees to the top of the

AL East or anything. In fact, it seems highly unlikely that it would. But Juan Soto is a, is a very, very good player. And, um,

and yeah, I mean, this, this deal for Alex Verdugo as well. These things, these things kind of, kind of go together. We know that the Verdugo deal at this point appears is complete. And then Juan Soto, it sounds like within pretty short order, that deal will be done as well. So it's a,

I mean, the Yankees really needed to add some outfielders, right? It was Aaron Judge and then kind of a bunch of question marks. It also sounds like, according to John Heyman, that Trent Grisham will be included in this deal with San Diego. So yeah, that's a pretty complete outfield. I mean, you've got Verdugo, Soto, Judge, and then Trent Grisham, maybe is a fourth out. outfielder. He also plays a really, really good center field defensively. So, you know, the Braves have been doing stuff and the Yankees kind of kind of getting in on some action here over the last couple of days as well. Well, that's, that's not the only deal because we also have an actual free agency move with one of the bigger names on the market. Craig Kimball goes to the

oracles on a one year $13 million deal. Again, this is all AL East news. And honestly, if we can get Otani to the Blue Jays, it would complete the Thanos gauntlet of AL East news of things happening there. But this move not as big. And honestly, I don't mean to diminish Craig Kimbril's accomplishments, but this is the kind of move that I'm afraid about the Diamondbacks making, right, Jesse, a move where, I mean, it's not to say Kimbril still isn't a quality reliever that can help your team win, but that seems like a lot of money to spend on one

guy that at least from a Diamondbacks fan perspective didn't seem to be worth all that money, especially when it came down to certain situations in the in the playoffs there. Yeah, he didn't look like a guy you want to pay $13 million to even over, you know, just a just a one-year contract. All of the relievers have really been getting paid a lot. We saw Emilio Pagan get a two-year deal recently. We saw Craig Kimball. Of course, we were just talking about.

fan graphs according to their their crowd source numbers they had kimbril at one year 10 million he gets one year 13 million they had they had emilio pagan at one year five million he wound up getting a two year deal rinaldo lopez got three years and 30 million dollars which was way higher crazy what most people had projected there so all of the relievers right now the price there just seems to be really high and the debacks are in an advantageous position and that at least from their point they don't really think that they need to add a at least not a high leverage reliever. I think there's some potential to add some depth there. But I don't expect them to go out and, you know, try to get a setup man or try to get

a closer or anything because, you know, they already, they already have those guys in place. I believe it was deback stats and info tweeted this out, Jesse, to give them credit. But meanwhile, the Orioles pay Craig Kimbril, 13 million. The Diamondbacks will pay Paul Seewald, Andrew Saul, Frank, Kyle Nelson, Luis Frius, Joe Mantiply, Kevin Ginkle, and Ryan Thompson, somewhere in the neighborhood of 14.26 million next year. So, yeah, I think that that's quite the savings. And again,

Paul Seawald will make maybe about $7 million in arbitration, something like that. Yeah. I mean, the Diamondbacks bullpen as a whole is still more expensive than Craig Kimball, but like not by that much, about 50% more expensive than Craig than one pitcher. who didn't actually look all that great, as we said earlier. So, yeah, the Diamondbacks are in a good position there

where they're not spending all that much money on a bullpen that is one of the best they've had in a long time. So let's talk about players the Diamondbacks have been linked to and maybe one that we hoped, hope that they are linked to. First, Eduardo Rodriguez, according to John Heyman, Paul Heyman, completely different guy, is down to two teams per John Heyman. the decision is expected tomorrow, which is interesting.

It's interesting. He's down to two teams and it's two mystery teams. No information at all provided about who those two teams could be. But yeah, I mean, his free agency has been fairly quiet. We know the Diamondbacks had interest. We know we had a lot of interest, but we heard from his agent that there were some geographic concerns or maybe geographic requests as to where he wanted to go, where he wanted to. stay. So it seemed like the Diamondbacks might not factor in for that. They probably aren't one of

these two teams, but fingers crossed that they are, Jesse. Yeah, the geographic restrictions at the trade deadline, right, he rejected the deal to the Dodgers. And so it seemed like he might, but that I think was a different situation. We've talked about this before. It's different switching teams and having to pick up and move in the middle of a season versus having an entire off season to make that move. So yeah, the report from... Maybe he hates traffic. Maybe he just, maybe it's L.A. specifically that he didn't want to move to.

Maybe it's not the whole West Coast or the Southwest. Maybe he's just like, I hate traffic. I refuse to move to L.A., which it could be understandable. I don't know. What's the traffic situation in Detroit? I mean, it's probably not L.A. Does anybody still live in Detroit? I don't know.

Last time I checked, there weren't quite as many people living there as there are in L.A. But yeah, no, I mean, obviously, you know, this isn't anything right now that's been rumored to be linked to the Diamondbacks. But it's very interesting considering we have no idea who these two teams are that Heyman's hinting at. Yeah, I think it is conceivable that the Diamondbacks are one of them. That is speculation on my part for right now. But Eduardo Rodriguez makes a lot of sense for the diamond backs on paper, right?

He's a left-handed pitcher. That's something that the diamond backs, it would make sense for them to get a lefty, given the lack of lefties in the rotation right now, as we talked about yesterday. The price point is on the higher end, which is why we've maybe been talking a little bit more about the Seth Lugos and Michael Waka's of the world recently.

but that $20 million figure that we keep going back to again, I still don't think that that's necessarily gospel. I wouldn't be shocked if the diamondbacks went above that when all was said and done. And Rodriguez would probably push you above that, but not necessarily so far above that. You know, I think you're looking at maybe a four-year deal, maybe a little bit under $20 million per year might be possible there. Rodriguez is 30 years old right now.

It makes sense for the debacks in a lot of different ways. It would probably require them to stretch the budget a little bit. But Hazen has been saying that the Diamondbacks have the ability to be fairly aggressive in the marketplace. And I'm not going to say that it's impossible just because of the 20 million figure and how the numbers say, you know, maybe you'd have to go a little bit over that. It makes sense for the debacks in a lot of different ways. The other thing that I'll say, we're going to get into some of Mike Hazen's comments today. a little bit later in the show.

But when I asked Mike Hazen today, if anything was past the 50-yard line, his answer was a little bit different. And I don't want to go too far down this road because this, I mean, this is like real tinfoil hat club, like really, really trying to, you know, read into his comments. Go, speculate.

Let's throw some wild speculation out there, Jesse. Let's go. I figured you would love this. He said no, when I asked, past the 50-yard line. anything past 50 yard line. He said, no, nothing I can report on right now, which if you really want to speculate,

there is a world in which no clarifying the no in that way. Indeed. Could mean that there's something there, but he just can't actually talk about it at this point. So I don't want to go too crazy with that. But again, Show hey to the Diamondbacks confirmed. Show hey to the Diamondbacks confirmed.

I'm going to go nuts with it. Let's go. You can be rational. I will be insane. But yeah, let's talk about guys, though, that the Diamondbacks have been linked to. And some of those guys might not make anybody as happy as me pretending like that Otani is the person he's referring to. But the pitchers that seem to keep coming up for the Arizona Diamondbacks, one name that we actually like and think could fit in. be a nice fit.

Seth Lugo, Jesse, and his name seems to have come up in regards to the Diamondbacks a few times. Another pitcher maybe that people feel differently about is Lucas Gialito, which I think is more of a recency bias, right? It's more of the fact that he was just kind of bad at the second half of the season after he was traded and really not worth the assets that he was traded for, but still couldn't end up being a very good pitcher for the Diamondback should that be the direction to go.

but also maybe expensive, maybe not the kind of money we want to spend. Yeah, I don't know if I would say it's the hesitance with Gialito is just recency bias. I mean, when a guy has an ERA like north of seven for, you know, 12 starts, that's a pretty like sizable sand. You're not just talking about one or two bad outings at that point. I still think that Gialito is a better pitcher than that. I don't think he's going to have a 70RA for the rest of his career. But yeah, there's some genuine reason to be concerned there.

You look at his 22 numbers, Gialita wasn't all that much better than his end of season numbers in 20203 with an ERA right around five. So I understand the hesitance there. I think that he's probably a little bit better than maybe even what those end of year numbers would suggest. There are maybe some adjustments that could be made to help him kind of get closer to the pitcher that he used to be. but yeah, I mean, if it's Lugo versus Lucas Gialito, you're probably going to pay some money just for the name that is Lucas Gialito and his former status as a top prospect, the fact that he has been a really good pitcher in this league at times.

In 2021, he was a really good pitcher in this league. But if you're the debacks and you're really trying to be efficient with the way you're spending your money, I would agree that on paper that doesn't look like the most efficient way unless you're getting him in, you know, a lot less than what? some people seem to be thinking he'll get. The DH that they have been linked to are the DH potential designated hitters they've been linked to are the same names we've kind of covered. It's still it's still J.D. Martinez, which obviously that's the one we all want. Justin Turner and C.J. Crone is a name you brought up the other day.

A name that's kind of emerged though for a position they've been needing to fill is is another catcher on the, you know, in their lineup. and Tucker Barnhart's name has kind of come up as somebody that the Diamondbacks and the Astros are both interested per Ari Alexander of KPRC2. I think that's correct. But yeah, what are your thoughts on Barnhart and the Diamondbacks filling, you know, that positional need as far as, I guess, backup catcher and some guy that's going to share time with Gabby? Mike Hazen said yesterday that he expects Gabby to catch 110 to 120 games. Something in that range was like his, or I think that was, I don't know, the days that the winter meetings are mixed up. I think Mike Hazen said that two days ago.

But yeah, and he did also say that if Gabby was healthy the whole year, maybe he would, in reality, catch a little bit more than that. But one way or another, the diamond backs are not going to get 155 games from Gabby Moreno. you have to have another catcher that you're willing to put out there for a not insignificant portion of the season. And we saw in 2023 what it looks like when there's a pretty big gap between your two catchers where Jose Herrera wasn't contributing a whole lot on either side of the ball, whereas Gabby Moreno was pretty darn good on both sides of the ball. And, you know, I don't know if the debacks being 20 games over 500 or whatever when Gabby was behind the plate. I don't know if that level of performance with him is necessarily sustainable,

but you'd like to close the gap a little bit between Gabby and the backup, if you can. Victor Keratin, you got two years and $12 million recently from the Astros. And that move just came out recently. That's kind of a lot of money. So the debacks are in a little bit of a tough spot there. I don't know if they're going to wind up having the resources to get the backup catcher that they might really want.

but you can see why they would want to pursue external options there for sure. The big news, Jesse, the big, the big calming news is that Shohei Otani is going to make his decision by this weekend. And of course, as we know, that decision is going to be when he reveals he's coming to the Arizona Diamondbacks. But with that being said, the Otani sweepstakes being over really does feel like potentially the real start. of the winter meetings, if you will, the real start, at least of the, uh, like transactional period. I know we've had a lot of this stuff kind of bubbling up today. It seems like the stove is heating up, but once again, it does feel like once Otani, you know, obviously signs what you're going to have is potentially half a half a dozen teams that had Otani money that aren't going to get

Otani and are still going to want to spend, maybe not all of that, but we'll still have that kind of budgeted money to spend and then they miss out on their guy, right? So it's like Blake Snell and a lot of these big name pitchers, I think, that are going to drive, you know, get those big contracts. It only makes all the sense in the world for all of these guys to hold off until Otani finally signs because people are just going to be throwing around crazy amounts of money. I feel like after that point. I think I know how you're going to answer this, but I want to ask you anyway. So the Dodgers, the speculation is that if the Dodgers don't get Otani,

then J.D. Martinez resigns with the Dodgers, right? I mean, he was really good for them as their DH last year. So if the Otani thing doesn't work out, you bring JD back and you're probably said if you're the Dodgers. Of course, that would mean J.D. Martinez doesn't come to the D-backs. So if you had the choice, Derek, between Otani going to the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks getting J.D. Martinez or Otani not going to the Dodgers and therefore the Dodgers instead of the devax get J.D. Martinez. Which, which are, okay, is that a ridiculous question? Is that, is that obvious? I assume. Do I, do I, do I not want to deal with 10 years of Shohay Otani being on our biggest

rival? It, like, it doesn't matter what the other option is, Jesse. I'm taking that. You're like, oh, Derek, would you rather never watch baseball again and just have show A not be on the Dodgers? Yeah, I'm making that sacrifice. Whatever choice leads to Otani not being a Dodger is the decision I'm going to make 100% of the time. Because that is going to be an absolute nightmare for us. And as much as I love Otani and, you know, at least we'll get to see them more because it's a division team that we're playing instead of a, you know, an AL team. I don't want that for us. I don't want that in our division at all.

Again, Toronto, please get the job done. We need Toronto to get the job done. That's that's all, that's, that's all. I suspected that would be an easy answer for you. I just thought, I just wanted to make sure. Yeah, D-BX fans have a very emotional attachment, I think, to J.D. Martinez, just given how outrageously good he was for this team in 2017. But he was like a, he was like a living legend.

He was like a, like a, like a tall tale, you know, come to life. Like this man came here and hit four home runs at Dodger Stadium in one night as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. I have a t-shirt about it. So yeah, I mean, there's something to be said about the short amount of time he was here and what he did for this team in that span. But of course, I'll give you a great option if you want to go see baseball games again. See, I'm willing to sacrifice that for Otani to stay out of L.A. But you don't have to sacrifice anything. In fact, you can go see all the baseball games next year, and you can get those tickets last minute with our friends from Game Time. Whether it's a concert, whether it's a show, whether it's a sporting event, it doesn't matter.

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way you don't miss when any of our wonderful shows go live. If you are a listener on the listening side, make sure you subscribe over there. Leave us a review. We always appreciate those five-star reviews from you guys. And of course, appreciate you guys for being here live in the chat. Today, we had the Rule 5 draft in Major League Baseball. That was actually a very scary experience because the Arizona Diamondbacks and Mike Hazen knew there was a good chance that they could lose a very talented player from their organization. And that exact thing did in fact happen because the debacks lost Davis and de los Santos to the Cleveland Guardians. And, you know, of course, we talked about it yesterday as being a strong possibility. we knew being a top five prospect in any organization,

he was going to be tantalizing to any team to take a look at. But as Damon said, it's going to be interesting to see what the Guardians do with De Los Santos because taking him in the Rule 5 draft requires that they have him on their roster, right, Jesse? It does, yeah. In order for Davis and DeL Santos to actually stay with the Guardians in their organization, they have to keep him on the active roster for the,

entire season. Otherwise, Davidson Delos Santos goes back to the Diamondbacks. So yeah, this is, we talked about him yesterday as being a candidate to be selected in the draft. I was a little bit skeptical because of just some of the plate discipline issues that we've seen down in double A, even though the numbers for him were a lot better in the second half of the season after making some adjustments. He's still, I mean, I think in the second half, even during that good stretch, I think his strikeout rate was about 26%. His walk rate was less than 3%. Those are pretty rough numbers for a guy down in double A.

And it's not to say that the debacks didn't believe in Davis and Delos Santos or think that he could eventually become a valuable member of this team. But in the Rule 5 draft, that's not, I mean, that's not the only question that you're considering. You have to decide if you're the debacks or you had to decide if you're the debacks whether Dealo Santos was worth a 40-month. man roster spot. And when you're a contending team, 40 man roster spots are pretty valuable. We saw the debacks toward the end of the season. You know, you're adding Slade Cicone, you're adding Bryce Jarvis, you're adding Jordan Lawler. You are making additions to the 40 man. And what Mike Hazen basically said about this is it's tough if you're a contending team to give one of those spots to a guy in AA who might not even be able to give you, who might not be a

depth option for the debacks, right? Like if they have an injury or what or whatnot at third base, or at first base, De Lo Santos is two primary positions. Are you actually ready to call up De Los Santos to play in the majors on a team trying to contend? That's a bit of a stretch. And the debacks being in the position that they're in, trying to go for it next year,

I understand their thinking on this, even though the outcome is certainly unfortunate, losing a prospect who is as well regarded as Delo Santos. And of course, there's a good possibility that based on the rule you discussed, that he actually does end up back here in the valley, does not stay with the Cleveland Gardens because that is going to be a bit difficult

to have a guy that struggled with double A pitching a bit, make that leap suddenly to a major league roster. And he doesn't have to be on the major league roster. He just has to be on their 40-man roster, right? So they could- Yes, to be on their active, their active major league roster. Okay, okay, okay, okay.

So that's why it's such a, that's a thing. Yeah, that's difficult, right? Yeah, because you could stash him in AAA, potentially, if he's still on the 40-man roster, but if he needs to remain on the active roster, then that's pretty hard considering this guy might not be ready for that yet. Yeah, I mean, the debacks would, what Mike said is that the debacks had projected him to start 2024 in AA. They weren't even ready to promote him to AAA based on their, on their in-house evaluation. The debacks certainly weren't in position to put Delos Santos, you know, on the

opening day roster or anything in the 2024 season. And that's what the Guardians have to do here. Otherwise, not only do they have to put him on the opening day roster, they have to roster him for the entire season. And yeah, like you said, the chance of him doing that, the chance of him successfully pulling that off, I don't think is all that high, but it is a possibility. There is a chance that Delos Santos goes over there and, you know, make some adjustments and, you know, turns into a pretty good player and is able to blossom in that organization, in which case this would be a really bad look for the diamond backs, but we'll just have to see how that plays out.

It's interesting the Rule 5 draft as a whole, because I feel like, at least in this case, right, that this could impact the development of Davidson de Los Santos, right? Like this could literally impede his development based on how the guardians decide to use him and kind of how, you know, the next steps in his, his career go. It doesn't feel like it's the best thing for a young player to be thrust into this situation. However, on the flip side, it's their dream, right? Like, if he can actually be on the

major league roster and contribute in some way where the guardians do keep him on the active roster all season long, then, I mean, maybe it's a big opportunity for him. Obviously, he's not going to play a lot, especially considering who they got over there at third base, but that could be maybe why they're forecasting, maybe just using them in a very minor role. Yeah. And I do want to, I do want to answer Groundhog Mama's question, Karen's question. She said, what if he gets injured? How does that work?

That's a really good question. I mean, like, okay, well, what if he comes in and he just gets hurt on opening day and is out for the season? Does that mean that, okay, the guardians just get to keep him for the long haul and they're not subject to this system of having to keep him on the active roster. Generally speaking, if a player does get hurt, that's okay. You can put them on the injured list and it doesn't change things. However, they must meet a 90-day minimum on the active roster. So if De Los Santos was out for the entire season or something, that wouldn't work.

The guardians wouldn't get to keep him in that instance. He has to be on their active major league roster at least 90 days. If he was hurt for part of the year, that would be okay. But he has to hit that 90-day threshold. otherwise he would come back to the diamondbacks. The diamondbacks did not select anybody in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft. They did have some transactions in the minor league phase with a couple of teams. I think Tim brought it up there.

He said, looks like we got a few guys too, though, picked up a guy from the Dodgers, the Cubs. And what is Texas? I'm guessing? Yeah, okay. But again, those are minor league rules. so that minor league phase of the draft isn't subject to the same rule that Jesse is discussing. So that's different. But the Diamondbacks did lose a friend of the show, Seth Beer,

to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the minor league phase of the draft. So that at least for now ends his time with the Arizona Diamondbacks. But we had a feeling we wouldn't see the debacks make any selections in the Major League phase because they need to keep that roster spot obviously open for Otani. Right. Of course. Yep. That's the only explanation that's needed right there. What other explanation would there be, Jesse, of course. But Bill says the Soto trade to New York is done.

So breaking news, the trade does the Juan Soto trade looks like it's happening. Or he might not be correct. I don't know. But what we heard prior to going into this episode was that it sounded like it was a lock and the details were just being worked out. So no surprise there that Juan Soto is headed to the New York Yankee. and hey, again, it's a good thing, right? That's less Juan Soto in our lives, Jesse. Let's go. Yeah, yeah.

Let's go. Yeah. The Padres are getting a decent hall here. I'd have to go and look into each of these guys a little bit more. Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Johnny Brito, Randy Vasquez, and Kyle Higashioca is what John Morosi just tweeted out. a couple of minutes ago. So, yeah, that's, I guess, good news if you're the Diamondbacks.

I mean, this has kind of been suspected for a while that this Juan Soto trade, the trading Juan Soto was going to be inevitable. And him moving out of the NOS certainly doesn't hurt from the Diamondbacks perspective. What do you think this means, though, overall for the Padres, right? They're most likely losing Blake Snell. They get this kind of haul back. I'm not saying a rebuild is happening or anything, but it definitely doesn't feel like the Padres right now are,

like we haven't really seen them connected in any big rumors to teams where they're getting the player. You know, like it feels like everybody that's rumored in regards to the Padres is the big stars losing the Padres and going elsewhere. So, and yes, we do need to check on Sean because I'm sure, I'm sure Sean is punching a wall right now. I'm sure of it, Jesse. there's this narrative out there that Juan Soto is like a bad player. I think I might have addressed this on the show before.

I just want to make it clear that I think that's kind of ludicrous. I understand, you know, he's not the type of, he's not a diamond back in that, you know, there's, Dbacks have a lot of players who on the surface, maybe their numbers don't look good, but they do a lot of the little things. Whereas Juan Soto on the surface, his numbers look absolutely spectacular. and yet he doesn't really do a lot of the little things. He's not all that great a base runner. He's not a very good corner outfield defender,

even despite being very young still. So, yeah, there are some flaws in his game, but he's such an incredibly good hitter and has been such an incredibly consistent hitter in his major league career that, yeah, Juan Soto is a good player. And the Yankees are, like I said earlier, you know, I don't know if this shoots them to the top of the ALE East exactly, but, you know, it's obviously, obviously a really, really big get for them.

I think from my perspective, I've just said that he's a little bit overrated. And I think a lot of people agree that he's overrated rather than bad. He's obviously a very, very good player. I just don't think that he's maybe in that upper echelon of player that a lot of people put him. Maybe he's not worth the money that he's, you know, making or going to make in his next contract. Well, in the shortened season, like if you look at his stats there, and I think that's kind of when he was crowned, He was, like, unbelievable, but he obviously was 50 games. And his OPS and his on-base percentage is slugging percentage, all great.

But he's not, again, the little things. He's not like, he's not on the level of, like, the top, top guys, in my opinion. I don't care how you rate him. I'm thrilled to have him out of the NL West. I think we can all agree on that. We can also agree on being a diehard. right I think everybody in this room agrees that everybody listening everybody watching everybody here in the chat should already be a diehard not overrated not definitely not overrated being a diehard but if you are not a diehard or if maybe I don't know you're looking for that perfect gift diehard memberships are on sale right now y'all they're on sale right now 5999 get yourself all the same benefits of the diehard membership so if you are not a die hard now is the best time to join better than ever. You'll get that free t-shirt. You'll get Jesse's newsletter. You get access to a

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So that's why I just keep them in scratching myself. But I will tell you that we have more. We have some fun stuff planned for the end of this week. We'll scratch some scratchers. You just want your cut, and I get it. I appreciate it. I do. I did say that, of course, the diehard membership, best deal that you can get on that.

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In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Visit at MGM.com for terms and conditions, U.S. promotional offers not available in D.C., New York or Ontario. Ontario. We tried. Yeah, I'm sitting over here complaining to Damon about that being the wrong bet MGM offer as well. So yeah, make sure once again, you check that out. It's up to $1,500 back in bonus bets if your bet loses. So that is the offer available now. Now, Jesse, what I want to hear about is progress on Mike Hazen's end. You said earlier that he was very coy with you in regards to, if anything has moved past the 50 yard line.

But do you think maybe some deals are happening? Maybe something's imminent. What are your thoughts here? I mean, I can't, I probably not. I don't know if I can read into that so much that I'm like expecting a deal within the next 24 hours or something. But who knows? And I mean, even if even if he wasn't at all trying to suggest, you know, that they might be close on something. That doesn't mean that, you know, some new development could arise and some new trade become a possibility or, you know, some team give them a call back that they weren't expecting. So, yeah, I think that there's still a very real chance that the Diamondbacks do something in the relatively near future. I don't view their lack of movement this week is meaning that, you know, they're not doing anything or it's going to take for forever.

You know, they could very easily, I think, make a move within the next week or two. That wouldn't surprise me, especially as some of those bigger names come off the Free Agency Board, as we were talking about earlier. So yeah, we'll see how things turn out here. If nothing happens, though, no disappointment, not making any moves during this week at the winter meetings. Yeah, yeah. Mike Hazen was asked, you know, do you have any level of disappointment of not getting anything done at this point? And of course, yeah, his answer was no, zero. And I think a big part of that is that what the Diamond Baxter are looking to acquire,

those players are still out there. whether it be in free agency or in trade, it's not like, oh, you know, Lugo signed and Waka signed and, you know, Eduardo Rodriguez signed or whomever they might be after, those guys are still out there. We haven't really seen anyone come off the board who it clearly made sense that they should target that particular guy. There may have been little examples here and there, like, all right, Kenta Maeda, maybe they could have been in on him. He, you know, he signs for tigers. Yeah, Sunny Gray, they pursued him. There have been some names, but there's still very clearly an outlet for them to, you know, to get what they want to get.

And that's why Hazen said that, you know, he's not at all disappointed or anything with not having anything done yet. I think we finally got piece of Yoshi, Jesse, because he reported fake news and he said it came from you. And there is a demand in the chat to block him. And I think we finally, I think we finally got the evidence we need to prosecute a piece of Yoshi. So we'll hold on to that for sure. But you know who I want to blame for the lack of moves, Jesse? There's this fake, there's this fake update right there. I want to blame the Arizona Diamondbacks.

I blame the Arizona Diamondbacks for the lack of moves in free agency right now. You know why? Because this team, this 84 win team that had no business doing what they did in the postseason last year, has everybody thinking they can do it now. everybody's like you just got to win 85 games you just got to get in look what the diamond bags did look at yeah so now it's being out on guys instead of maybe taking a few more years to rebuild there's a lot more competition out there these guys all think they're two pitchers away from being a world series contender maybe i don't know that's a that's a pretty good point yeah i mean i gotta blame us i got

to take the blame and put it on us that's what i mean that's what mike said uh you know we tried to ask him again today. Yeah, you know, yeah, a quote from Mike Hayeson, it is the Diamondbacks fault that there has not been movement in free agency or in trades.

No, that did not happen. But he did say that from his perspective and from what he's heard, that it appears the reason that there hasn't been much movement is because there's just a lot of competition for a lot of guys,

a lot of teams in on a lot of guys. And that just, you know, kind of muddies things up and drives prices higher. We've certainly seen a little bit of that. And yeah, I mean, I think it's good for baseball in a lot of ways to have so many teams trying to contend. This very much came with adding a third wildcard spot. I think now that you're up to 12 playoff teams, the playoffs really are very accessible compared to, you know, past eras of this game.

And teams, teams want to go for it. Teams don't want to be in a position where their fans have no hope, you know, there's really nothing to get excited for when spring training rules around. And, yeah, I think that's a very real. thing. It is when I mean honestly when you look at the last two world series the national league representative was the third wildcar team both here right the Phillies and so like there's something to be said about the idea that now that so many teams do make it in the playoffs once you get there especially in this game this game with a 162 game season this game that at any point any team can suddenly like how many times during the season did someone just become the best

in the league for the stretch of like two weeks. The Reds, the Marlins, like there were so many times the Diamondbacks, where so many of the teams in this, that not ended up at the end of the season with the best record had these stretches where they looked unbelievably good. And all you need, like the Diamondbacks proved last postseason is for that stretch to occur at the right time. And, you know, again, that's tantalizing to anybody that manages, you know, a pro baseball franchise that we might be able to do that same thing.

We might not be that far off, you know? Like I said, those damn Reds, they weren't that far off from being in the playoffs themselves. And now here they sit with the second overall draft pick, which is just crazy to me. But, yeah, the DeBacks and Reds are like fighting it out for that third wildcard spot down the stretch, finish, what was it, a game, a game apart from each other? And the Reds get the number two pick. The Reds get the number 29.

that is that is pretty wild uh well i know we've talked a lot about who the diamondbacks are connected to but we've also done the math on it and there's a good chance that the diamondbacks might not be able to fill all of these positional needs this off season they might not even necessarily need to i know i made that stupid comment about not really needing a starting pitcher but there are certain things that the diamondbacks are searching for that they could potentially do without Yeah, I think we got a little bit of clarification today on their search for a right-handed bat. I asked, you know, we've heard it could be a DH, it could be an outfielder. It doesn't necessarily have to be both of those things.

It doesn't necessarily have to be an outfielder, which is something that maybe some people suspected going into this. Mike didn't really have any idea whether it was more likely to be an outfielder or a DH at this point. but like his comment about his search for a starting pitcher, he did say that free agency, as of right now, appears to be the more likely route for the Diamondbacks to add that right-handed bat, whatever it may be. So, you know, he definitely didn't want to rule out the trade market. He said there's still potential there.

But as of right now, the debaq, both in the starting pitching search and in the right-handed bat search free agency, from his standpoint, seems to be the most likely route. Oh, well, I need something to happen, Jesse. That's what I need. I need something to happen. So I don't care what you have to do. I know your time is limited there.

But like, again, we'll budget a case of Mike and Ikes, whatever we have to do to try to get some news happening. Because we can't wait to hear about the Diamondbacks. And like, I just, I want to hear one move that can give me some sort of gauge on on how big the Diamondbacks are going to go. what's going to happen, right? You know, so like that's, that's right now where what I'm kind of breathlessly hoping for is just to see some, some inclination. Like, I feel like signing someone like Justin Turner is a really good step in the right direction.

Like if we see the Diamondbacks making moves like that, then that gives me some reassurance that its team is going to try to go out there. Not like I don't believe that they are, but like this team is actually going to put an effort. This organization is going to put an effort to. follow up on this amazing season they have and try to get back to the pinnacle of baseball, get back to that peak and try to play for that championship again. I know it's not very likely that it could happen two years in a row, but who knows, this team is still mostly together.

And the pieces that they're losing at times, at times were weaknesses, at least when it comes to like third base and stuff like that. So the Diamondbacks do have the potential here to be a better baseball team in 2024, based on the upgrades that they do after losing, the guys are going to lose to free agency. One thing I do want to add about the search for a designated hitter is that it appears that Mike Hazen would prefer that designated hitter to have some flexibility to play in the field.

And I asked what positions in particular, like would you be looking for there? First base was the first thing that he said, which makes sense. You don't necessarily have a clear backup. first base option. Haven Smith, if he's on the roster, I guess would be that guy, but I don't know that that's a guarantee. Manuel Rivera plays over there as well. I'm not sure he would necessarily be guaranteed a spot on the opening day roster,

given that Ehio Henny Suarez is now a member of this baseball team. So that certainly makes sense. And then, yeah, Outfield was the second one. So I guess that's where, you know, maybe a Jorge Soler type would make sense, a guy that you probably want to DH, but if you needed him to play, you know, right field, every now, and then that wouldn't be the end of the world. He can probably do it and not be totally awful out there. So, yeah, some interesting things to keep in mind. We've gotten it about as specific as we can.

Like, I've run out of questions to ask about what exactly they're looking for, trying to figure out, like, you know, the types of assets that they're looking for. At this point, it's just a matter of, all right, you know, what's it, what's it going to be? How are these things going to fit together? And there's probably some compromises that are going to have to be made here. So, yeah, I don't know. we can maybe have some conversations about, would you rather spend a little more on the starting picture

and a little less on the designated hitter? Would you rather flip that the other way? You know, these are the kinds of things that I think they're grappling with right now too. And I mean, like you said, I don't think we could get a clearer picture of what they're looking for. I feel like they've put their intentions out there. I think that there's been some gamesmanship,

like what we kind of talked about with the Drew Jones comments yesterday and maybe, you know, his reply to you there, about the 50-yard line. You know, maybe things are closer than they're kind of letting us, letting on about. But I really do feel like at the end of all of this, you know, Mike Hazen has a difficult task here. He is still building a young franchise as far as the age and the direction they're going

while also trying to make this team an immediate winner again this year. Like, it's just difficult to. to balance those two things without letting one slip. You know, like, you know, obviously, you know, he's not interested in the trades because that's where you start slipping that future of the team away and start depleting your farm system and moving into a direction where you kind of almost have to win now in the next couple of years in order for the moves that you made to pay off. And in order for, you know, things like that to make sense that you did it, I think regardless,

Mike's going to like never be happy with the decisions ultimately that he makes. And I just hope he can work out enough to stave off that coronary. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's working out and it's, you know, it's his job and, you know, taking care of his kids. That's what that's what consumes Mike Hazen at all hours of the day. So yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be fun to see how this unfolds. I, as someone covering this team and just fascinated by it and how you're going to fit all these pieces together. And it's a really delicate position to be in when you do have pieces that you could trade to make this 2024 team pretty freaking good, I think.

But like you said earlier, there's this long-term window that is also promising with Gabby Moreno here for, you know, a pretty long time. and Corbyn Carroll having signed that extension, you know, the long-term future in Arizona is fairly bright as well. But these next couple years, I mean, it feels like this is the time to push in the chips, at least on some level. And I'm fascinated by it to see how this turns out. I can relate to what Mike Hazen's going through right now, Jesse, because I am part of the party planning committee here at PH&X putting together our holiday party.

And much like- You guys have equally difficult jobs. We do. No, you're absolutely right. It's equally difficult and it's basically the same thing. We have this list of things that we need to accomplish. And then we have this budget that's much more in this range. It's in the, it's in the, I'm bringing Christmas lights from my house to decorate range.

But that's neither here nor there. Sometimes you make the, you decide where to spend the money and we're spending it on food. And then I want the Diamondbacks and spend it on starting pitching. But like you said, that's a conversation for another day. I just want Mike to understand, I'm with you and I can relate. We're going through the same thing, buddy. And hopefully we both can succeed at the end of the day. But something that could take the stress out for both of us, Jesse, OG's brands, right? Picture this. To you, you're on your couch. Favorite team on the screen, not reliving that disaster that happened with the Suns last night

because that that that that upset me in with I needed six bags of OGs to get over last night's loss but you can have a bad I only I only saw the replay of that moment I wasn't there for the whole emotional roller coaster thing because I was obviously tied up here they didn't the Lakers did not have possession of the ball last don't even start with me Jesse Freeman

when I was 12 years old I broke I broke a big screen TV over his son's game, and last night was almost a reenactment. We were that close to me being one of those viral idiots that smashed his fist through his television screen. But luckily I didn't do that because I had plenty of OGs on hand, Jesse. They have a variety of bold flavors, and most importantly, a variety of doses.

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head on over to OGsbrands.com. Lastly, more Christmas gift ideas for you guys are set provided to us, as always, by our friends at Foote. Boko, beautiful little pieces of artwork. And I'll tell you, they still have some World Series, limited edition bobbleheads that are selling out left and right. And you might not even see what the bobblehead is, but I can guarantee you based on the quality of the ones we have right here,

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Get the best year round by visiting Foco.com and using code PHNX. For all non-prosale items, use the promo code PHNX, 10 for 10% off. And yes, Jesse, I might send one to Tori Lavello. I know he doesn't want to remember or he doesn't want to go back and watch any of the World Series. But like maybe a little bobblehead of like Gabby like celebrating or something would be at least something for him to remember the occasion, the accomplishment. So but you have some partying to do in Nashville, I imagine. So I know you want to get out of here. But we appreciate you and all of your hard work there.

We'll be back here tomorrow for our last day. with you in Nashville. So excited for that. And again, hopefully Mike Hazen has some news for you or some different answers to the same questions that you've asked over and over again.

Well, we're not going to get Mike Hazen tomorrow. That is, today is officially, I think there's like some winter meetings events tomorrow, some kind of more low-key things. Did you have breakfast with Bannie this morning? I did.

I did. No, back. We had the manager's breakfast today. Tori Lavella was unable to make. make it. So bench coach Jeff Bannister stepped in. Yeah, it was great. Bany's a lot of fun to talk to and, you know, got to catch up with us people from D-Bex PR as well as some of the other reporters as well. You know, we all just constantly talk baseball and our jobs and whatnot. So yeah, it's fun to just be able to enjoy a meal together and hang out. I also do have to say real quick that I am currently

sitting doing this show where Tori Lavello sat when he did his interview with the media. I knew that looked familiar. With the microphone, this is Tori Lowe's microphone. I feel especially powerful sitting here. And not only Tori, but a number of managers. I don't know, Dave Roberts might have been sitting here. When he blabbed the Otisianniz. Yeah.

It's connected to Tori. Yeah, I think that makes you connected. I think that makes us all connected team. And you know, Jesse, what a connected team is. Yeah, what is it connected to? It's a fucking dangerous team, Damon. It's a fucking dangerous team. There's also a shirt.

It's on a shirt somewhere. You can get it, I think, at the P.HNX Locker. If you're a diehard, you get that shirt for free. Diehard memberships are on sale. This is all connected. It's all connected, Jesse. It's a connected web. But again, we appreciate you and break some news, okay?

Do something while you're out there. I mean, you know, it's not just all breakfast with Jeff Bannister and hanging out with Mike Hazen. We need you to break some news. Okay. I'm sorry. I have one more thing that I do need to point out, which is something that Brandon Stevens just commented in chat the Chase Field Twitter account just posted

a very mysterious video that says tomorrow at 8 a.m. with a little eyeball emoji and the Diamondbacks reposted it. I suspect we may have some stadium news potentially coming tomorrow.

Maybe maybe a full maybe a display, maybe those LED lights. Maybe we're going to show all the work that they've been doing inside there. Hopefully that's the case because that's fun. But yeah, we'll talk about that. And of course, whatever news Jesse breaks about Otani

coming to the Diamondbacks tomorrow, we appreciate you guys, of course. I'm at Cap underscore Caveman with a K if you want to follow me. Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman if you want to follow him. Damon is the one you should follow. He's the people's producer. He is a Damon dog. That's DAWG.

We, of course, are Damon's dogs. Arf, Arf. Bark, bark. I don't know. I just don't know why it's so weird with you every single time. We just flowed with Paxie just has no passion. Yeah, there's no passion for it. Patty Plantain was all about everything into it.

His heart and his soul was in the Damon's dogs. I mean, but that's also because we talked about life and personal issues. And Jesse just keep in all of that. For the record, I didn't use to Bark at all. I've actually come around on that and decided that my journalist. I've decided that my journalistic integrity is only partially compromised by by Barking. and saying that I'm one of Damon's dogs. So, you know, we're baby steps.

We're making progress. Are you or are you not one of Damon's dogs is the question? You know, there's a lot of nuance there, Derek. God damn it. All right. Well, we're, yeah, you go to Nashville and you get a big head. I don't like this. I don't like this.

I don't like him hanging out with that Bob Nightingale. But anyway, all right. Well, we'll get you back here and we'll talk about this. But of course, you can follow our show again at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but all roads do lead to at P. H&X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for your time. We appreciate you stopping by and remember, kids.

Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun now that Juan Soto doesn't play for the Padres.