PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Save Ferrin

Episode Date: October 13, 2021

On this episode, Jesse is still recovering from his birthday, so Derek is joined by special guest Mike Ferrin from the D-backs broadcast team and Sirius XM MLB Network Radio to talk about the playoffs so far, why he believes Torey Lovullo did his best managing this season, his picks for the World Series, and more! 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 to the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. And of course, today's show is brought to you by the Draft King Sportsbook app. The Draft King Sportsbook app is America's top-rated sportsbook app, and you can download it now. Use our code of PHNX. And simply for betting $1 on any NFL game this week, you will get $100 in free bets instantly if either team scores a single point. Thank you guys so much for joining us. Today we are without Thunderstick Jesse Friedman, who is still recovering from his birthday celebration. How did he get that nickname? Is it because he

shaped like a thunderstick? We have, yeah, we've, there's been a couple of nicknames. We've been trying him out all season long. He was, we're moving on to the little unit that he gave himself because he looks like Randy Johnson a bit. But I wouldn't be a fan of that nickname myself just for the implications. Sure. But that that voice you heard is a very special guest today taking over for Jesse Friedman and possibly forever. We'll see. I don't know. I might get I might get him to stick around, but from MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM, and you might also know him from the D-Backs post-game show and the broadcast. It's Mike Farron. Mike, how you doing, bud? I'm good, Derek. It's good to see you. You excited? You're going to be out on the road covering the ALCS and

guys doing the post-game pre-game show. So how are your things? thoughts on how these playoffs have shaped up so far. I think it's been really fun. I mean, there have been very few clunker games, which has been exciting. And I think the, listen, the Houston-Boston series, which is what we're on our way to cover, has a lot of interesting storylines between, you know, Alex Coror returning to Houston. You remember the Red Sox had their own video-aided scandal that was maybe overlooked a bit

by the banging scheme with the Astros. But, you know, and Alex Corr was the manager of the Red Sox when that happened. And the last time the Red Sox won the World Series, they beat the Astros in the League Championship Series. Plus, it's their fifth straight appearance for Houston and the ALCS. And Dusty Baker still searching for that elusive ring. And so there's a lot of different things that are going to happen over the course of these next 10 days or so that I think I'm really excited about. I couldn't agree with you more. And you're right about that matchup.

There's been a lot of people have gotten their jokes in about it for sure. But I proposed this question on Twitter the other day, and I wanted to ask you, do the Astros ever get credit for being a good team at this point with that scandal in their past? I mean, five straight LCS is the third team in MLB history since the 60s to do it. So do you think they'll ever get credit or will they always be this team that's kind of a cheater? I mean, I think it's going to be, you know, up to, like, your mileage may vary on it. I mean, to me, I think they deserve credit because they have been a consistently good team. I mean, I don't think that that, I think you can give them credit and still be ticked on for what they did in 2017.

And, you know, I think that's going to be, they're going to have to wear a scarlet trash can for the rest of their careers, you know, those players that were involved in that. But I also think that I think one of the things that's so frustrating about this, and maybe it's the case. with a lot of cheating scandals. You know, the two biggest ones that have hit baseball with this in the Black Sox scandal, right? And the things that are so frustrating, I think, about both of those is that those teams didn't need the help.

You know what I mean? Like, the Astros didn't need the help. They were a really talented team. The 1919, White Sox were heavy favorites in that World Series against Cincinnati. They didn't need, you know, they were a great team. Now, they were trying to throw the World Series,

obviously, but they didn't need, to be involved in that. They could have taken the, you know, potential riches that came from that instead of the sure money from the gamblers. But 1919 is a lot different than, you know, 2021. So I just don't think, I think when you look at that talent that's on that roster, still, you know, they're a great offensive team. And that's without George Springer. Remember, Springer left as a free agent, this last winner. They have a dominant lineup. Their pitching is okay. Like there are a little bit of transition there. They're a decent rotation.

You know, I think the Lance McCullors injury is potentially impactful for them. You know, if he's not able to go, he had to leave the game four start in the division series with some forearm tightness. And he's a Tommy John survivor. Like if he's not available for the division series, I think it evens the playing field a little bit for the championship series. But this has been a really good team for an extended stretch. It's their sixth playoff appearance since 2015. And to have five of them be in a row in the American League Championship Series speaks to, you know, how good they are overall.

I mean, you think about it when the Yankees were winning three straight World Series titles and four out of five, they didn't make five straight. Right. Right. It's an impressive stat. And again, it's the consistency. It's something that I think was the groundwork was laid for when they took their time, right? You had those rebuilding years for the Astros that led to all of these players that essentially came up through their system. The Diamondbacks, a team right now that sounds like they want to follow more of that model and possibly have longer success than they've had in the past.

It seems like the Diamondbacks, and we talked about this on the show, always kind of seemed to rush that success at times instead of taking that longer route to having a team that might be more competitive for a number of years the way the Astros are. I don't necessarily think that that's been the case with this group. I think, you know, they inherited a team that was pretty talented in 2017 and obviously made a playoff appearance. Sure. And they have tried to do two things at once, which is difficult to do, remain competitive while also building the farm system. Now, listen, that's coming off 111 lost season, right? Like, it sucks. Yeah.

It sucks for everybody involved. But the fact is that this was not a team that was trying to lose 100. 11 games. You know, this wasn't a team that was intentionally tanking season. Were there depth issues? Absolutely. Were there things that, that, you know, maybe they couldn't address because there were different payroll restrictions coming out of 2020? Absolutely. But, I mean, injuries that they suffered early in the year, first to five members of their starting lineup being out in the same time, and then as soon as those guys come back, you lose four-fifths of your rotation, that's going to impact any team. And if you take, look outside that 8-and-50 stretch,

that they had, it's probably more like a 90-loss team or a 92 loss, I think, is what they were playing at. So I think that that's probably closer to the true talent level, which I don't think necessarily, it just counts as a bad team. That doesn't count as a team that's intentionally trying to run it all the way down to the bottom. Sure. The other part of that that I think is worth discussing is that so many teams tried to copy that model that the Astros and the Cubs went into when the new amateur player procurement system went into place, the hard slotting system

that's now in place for the draft and for international signings, that the return on trying to run that strategy has been weakened a little bit. If you look at the teams that have gone through a deep rebuild

more recently, it's been less based on that and more based on we have a couple of quality players. Let's see if we can get premium prospects for them. So the White Sox are a good example of that. I think Seattle is going to prove to be a good example of that. Those were teams that were kind of more middling. And listen, I think we can debate the ethics of taking a team that is relatively competitive and sending it to the bottom. But they're also going to be competitive here in the near future. And so the White Sox clearly are. I mean, the postseason, the last two years for the first time in franchise history. So, so, like, I think there's a little bit of a change in the way teams are looking at this. And, and frankly, and this is just like, I realize I'm wearing my D-Bex cap, but I'll take it off here for a second, metaphorically and literally, so you can see my bedhead. But the, I think that that in looking at this from the outside, like, Mike Hazen doesn't have any interest in trying to lose 115 games. That's not what he wants to do.

Right. That's not who he is. This is an extremely ethical man. And I think he believes in competition. And so now, is this team going to be a favorite to win the West next year? No. I mean, that's not going to happen. Are they a likely playoff team in the National League?

Probably not. I mean, we'll have to see what happens in the next collective bargaining agreement as to how much playoffs expand, which is a whole other thing. And then beyond that, it's just a question of, okay, how do you continue to develop talent in the organization? in and, you know, are there pieces you feel like you can deal from the Major League roster that can help to support that? But I don't view them as a team that's going to go into next year. Like, I don't think they're going to be projected to finish very highly next year or with a particularly robust win total.

But I also don't think they're going to be a team like Baltimore where you're looking at them all the way at the bottom either, especially with how deep the diamond vex farm system is on. And now you want to. No, that's all right. That's all right. The back on. Oh, and I mean, you said something very interesting to me a while back, which was that you thought that this was Tori's best year of managing, best job of managing this year. And I just wanted, because now that the season's over,

do you still feel that way? And what do you have to say to, like, Diamondbacks fans that are skeptical about bringing him back after? I mean, I just, I think he has made, it's, again, it's, it's masked by a bad team. with a really bad bullpen, right? So, like, you have to, you have to take into account personnel on this. There's a major shift in Tori's philosophy that's taken place over the course of the last year in terms of how he manages an offense.

Rather than letting the starting pitcher's usage dictate when he plays for a platoon advantage or plays for offense, he's letting offensive situations dictate that. That's much closer to what Kevin Cash does, what Terry Fisher. Francona's done, what Craig Counsel does. Not to say that he is there as a strategist right now, but I think that it's a pretty significant difference from the old, old school way of doing things to where he has come to now. I think the other thing, and we saw this in 2017 when he had a far more reliable bullpen, Tori understands that 80s style bullpen usage, which we've seen teams succeed with, which is to say that your fireman is the guy that's going to get the biggest outs of the game,

not necessarily the outs in the ninth inning. I don't know that the Diamondbacks are ever going to be a team that's going to have an interchangeable bullpen to the level of the Tampa Bay raised due. But I think that what you've seen is, you've already seen from him a willingness to think in that, those terms from how he manages a pen when his bullpen is reliable versus now. And, and, and, and I think you, even saw towards the end of the year, too, in the way he used, you know, their best reliever down the stretch was J.B. Wendelken, which shouldn't be a surprise. J.B. Wendelken's been a pretty damn good reliever over the course of his career. You know, he was really good in Oakland. It was a surprise when he got DFA'd. But, but I think when you saw him how he tried to match him up against the key parts of the lineup as that went along, I think you see that as well. So from a tactical standpoint, I think it's, he's made some changes that have made him a better tactician.

I think in terms of keeping that clubhouse together and keeping a consistent effort on the field, the man's a damn miracle worker. I mean, I can't imagine. Listen, we didn't have clubhouse access even as broadcasters this year because of all the rules in place. Sure. I can't imagine. I've been around 100 lost teams before. I can't imagine what it's like to be, what it was like to be in there.

Or at least I shouldn't say that. I've got some idea of how miserable it is. The fact that those guys played their tails off for most of the. year. All you needed to see was the way Stephen Vote would run and back up first on every ground ball over the course of, of, you know, May and June, you know, before he was traded to get a pretty good answer as to how things were going in that club is or how they were trying to handle it. Did they toss tables over or did they do, you know, any of these these outward signs that people seem to need to know whether or not professionals care about their job? No, but they obviously cared and they hated the losing. And as things transitioned to the final two months of the season, I think what you saw Tori do was get guys feet wet and then give them opportunities for the young players and then stick with the guys that were producing. Varsho had a tremendous second half.

I thought McCarthy was really good down the stretch. You know, I think Rojas was really worn out by the end of the year. And Pavin Smith, too. Plus, Josh was dealing with a couple of other nagging things, I think. So, like, there are a couple of things that were in play there that I thought he handled extremely well. He has the respect of everybody who plays for him. He has an extremely good relationship with the front office. He has, I think, he's just the kind of person that you want to work for because his level of care for individuals is off the charts. So yeah, I mean,

I'll go to bat for Tori Lavello any day as being a guy that you want to play for and being the right fit because I don't think you find, first of all, I don't think you find human beings like Tori Lavello very often and when you have not even close Derek Clark he's one of the best people I've ever been around no I agree I think I say that on this podcast quite a bit and I even when I even when I criticize him which I know he would hate if I know he hate I do this he would hate that I say first what a good guy he is before criticizing him he would say I don't need to do that and he would say I just can go right into the criticism of him but it is one of those things that he is such an incredible person that it's like I like first of all I can understand

and not wanting to get rid of them just because of how great of a guy is, how hard it would be. Like he's just, he has such a good rapport with the team and with everybody within the organization. You know, I think for me, though, the biggest moment, and this is so kind of funny, was like with a month left in the season when he was yelling at players in the dugout, right? That seemed uncharacteristic of him, right? It seemed like he was losing it a little bit because he usually is able to keep himself so collected when it comes to things like that. But it also showed to me how competitive

and how much fire he still had left. Like what you said, to get it out of the team is one thing, but to still have it left inside of you to motivate others and to still want people to play at the top of their game, even when the season looks the way it did, is a different level of managing people. Yeah, I mean, frustration boiling over publicly. I mean, I'm surprised it didn't happen more often.

Yes, exactly. That frustration, I think his players have seen that over the years, too. He's not afraid to put a boot in the back side, you know, in the room out of view, you know, which is, I mean, listen, Dusty Baker's been managing for a long time. And that's one of the things that has made Dusty great is that he's not going to rip anybody publicly, but behind the scenes, he's going to, he's going to let guys have it. And there have been, I'm sure, a few garbage cans that have been kicked in the tunnel from time to time by Tori. In fact, I know that that's the case. So, like, listen, the man cares. and he really firmly believes that they are going to build a championship here.

And here's the other thing. Like, you know, I get it's a tough sell coming off 111 lost season. But if he were a free agent, I think he would be a coveted free agent. He wants to be here. Yes, I agree with it. He wants to stay here. He wants to build a winner in Phoenix. It's a good time to remind everybody that you can download the Draft King's Sportsbook app now

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or you could go with our month-to-month option and you'll get your first month for just 50 cents, no matter what you choose. But come join our family, get access to the members-only Discord, which I'm going to continue to say wrong, thanks to my friends mocking the way I said it originally. And also, you know, again,

you can get away from your jerk-ass friends and come on our Discord, and you could talk sports with your fellow PHNX members. So if you love what we're doing over here, come over and join us and become part of the family with either that annual membership option or the month to month. I've made jokes about it, but I've said of all the people to leave this team and find success elsewhere that would break our hearts and make us think why did we get rid of that guy, it would probably be Tori. Tori would be the one that would go on, get picked up by some other team that's very talented, but just looking for a new manager, looking for a change of, you know, of that style. And if you gave him a competitive team with good personnel, like you said, which really has been.

the tail of this team this year. It's the lack of personnel and then all the other bad luck and injuries. You can even say every team in the league has experienced injuries, which is absolutely true. And it became critical even in the playoffs. However, the amount of injuries the Diamondbacks had all at one time was just staggering. And for them to have to still figure out a way to field a team, a competitive team, was, at times even put nine guys on the field that can play baseball at a major league level seem to be difficult. I don't know how nerdy you get here, but, you know, I'm a stat walk.

Oh, see, Jesse's going to be really mad. He wasn't here now. Yeah, so I think if you look at baseball prospectuses, projected war lost, so wins above replacement lost by injury. Diamondbacks are in like fifth or sixth in the majors in terms of that, and they didn't have as much projected war because their roster wasn't as deep as some other teams to potentially lose.

So, I mean, I think it speaks to that. And the other thing with Tori is that, you know, so he's got a pretty strong player development background. He's a, you know, he's not afraid to get his hands dirty in coaching. And this is going to be a younger roster for the next couple of years. And having somebody with a steady hand who understands how to develop players, I think is also really important going forward. Have you had any memorable conversations with any of the young players this year

or any of the players on this team that kind of stuck out, stuck out to you as far as either their thoughts on Tori or their thoughts on going through this season? I mean, I had a couple of talks with players about just the, you know, what kind of a horror show the year was. Like, they, like, to a man, they couldn't figure out. They're like, we're not this bad a team from a talent standpoint. I don't understand how you lose 111 games.

So I think that was more exasperated by it than anything by it. I would say, you know, I don't think I'd talk to anybody specifically about Tori and, you know, his role in the clubhouse, at least not that I can think. of, um, well, I think I still, relevant, but I still think of Escobar saying he would die for Tori. Well, yeah. I mean, and that was such a great moment, right? But it was also like weird because he wasn't really trying to be funny or anything, even though it was kind of was funny to hear somebody say it with such conviction. Uh, I, again, I just think that shows how much these

players care about Tori when they can look at a camera just dead on and say, I would die for Tori, right? So, I mean, I mean, I think you even see it with somebody like, you know, Caleb Smith. And I think there were a lot of things with Smith. Smith's, you know, on-field demeanor and some of his decision-making that probably, you know, leave to be question. But there was a moment early in the year where he, not early in the year, it was in the second half of the season. He had started a game and came out and Brett DeGus came in and gave up a couple inherited runners. And Caleb was visibly upset, like spiked a water bottle and was stuff you don't normally see teammates do in the dugout, right? And after the game, you know, Smith was extremely apologetic for it.

And he basically said he's like, I don't, he's like, my teammates don't deserve that. I apologize to Brett already. He's like, but I really want to apologize to Tori, too, because he's been in my corner. You know, like this is a great man and great manager and he doesn't deserve that. And now think about this from that standpoint. Remember Smith was told last year after he was traded that he was going to have short outings because he hadn't pitched since opening day because he was one of the first players to be out with COVID, you know, with Miami. And they got him and they were working it back in short starts.

And he was extremely frustrated by that, even though he knew what the plan was. So he and Tori had a couple of moments in the dugout. There were a couple moments on the mound. He didn't like being taken out of the rotation. You know, he excelled in the bullpen, but he didn't necessarily like that. So there's, there were, you know, there were some moments, I think, where, where he was, you know, not happy to give up the ball. And he, you know, he wears his emotions on his sleeve.

So you saw it on the mound. And I think when you hear him say that, I think it carries some weight that, you know, here's a guy that was clearly frustrated. He didn't always agree with what the manager did, but he still had his back. So. Yeah, no, I agree with you. I remember that. I believe it was Nick Picoro that asked the question.

And the question he had got asked right before that was he had stolen a base. And he was kind of having a fun time with that question about a stolen base. And then the minute that he heard that Lovolo was a bit disappointed, with his behavior or was was not happy with it he became extremely apologetic like like his dad had found out he did something wrong or something like it was incredible the way that his entire demeanor had changed over that and it was it was the fact that he had kind of learned he had disappointed tory and he wanted to make sure everybody knew that he never meant to show up the manager or never would want to do anything to uh to upstage or upset tory so yeah i agree with you

about the buy-in by the players for this team. And I'm excited to see him come back myself. I want to see what this team can do. I think that now that the expectations are where they're at, this team can really just not worry about anything except playing baseball and trying to be successful. Yeah. Just a reminder for you that it's still baseball playoff season.

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You talked about the playoffs, and I wanted to get your thoughts a bit on possibly expanding the playoffs. I think everybody is a bit in favor of this, but I just wanted to get your thoughts. Do you like expanding the playoffs, or you like how they are now? No. You don't even like how they are now. You don't like the wild cards. I don't like the one game wild. I like the game itself because the game is really exciting, but I think the Dodgers, Cardinals,

as a private example. That's the only I've been screaming about for a decade. You had a team there that was separated by 16 games in the standings that if they lose, they go home. And you can say, okay, well, you go out and win your division. Well, they want 106 games, you know? I don't care. The roles could have been reverse. It could have been the Cardinals and the Dodgers or it could have been, I don't know, the Reno Aces and the Tacoma Reneers for all I care. I don't think that that's fair or proper. But I also think that we need to do a better job of looking at the playoffs for what it is. Compare it more to college basketball where you win the regular season in your conference, but if you get knocked out on the tournament, does it mean that you have a bad year,

whether that's a conference tournament or the NCAA tournament? I think there's a much different tenor to the way baseball season plays out over the course of six months than it does to postseason series. And I think that very rarely do you actually end up with the best team? winning the World Series probably happens maybe three times every 10 years, four times every 10 years. You know, that's not actually a very high percentage. Right.

When you factor it up because a lot of stuff can happen in a short series. It's like a war of attrition, right? You got to whatever, however you can last the marathon and get to the end, but it doesn't mean that necessarily you're the fastest runner. And I think if you keep expanding, okay, so the reason why they want to expand the playoffs is because there's more television money for it. Sure.

That's it. Again, it's not, this is a cycle. They say competitive balance, right? But yeah, the reason why they want to expand the playoffs is because they have a deal that's written with ESPN that will pay them more money if they expand the playoffs. Sure. Makes sense. Doesn't necessarily, I don't think there's anything about this that is competitive balance as part of it. You can make that argument for the first wild card that it gives more opportunities.

But now you're looking at teams that are potentially at or below 500 even with the seventh best record in the league, potentially making the postseason. that changes the equation an awful lot. So even if you get a buy through the first three game series or whatever it ends up being, you know, I don't, I don't think that those are teams that generally don't qualify for the playoffs unless you have an historically bad year in your division. You know, so I, no, I don't like the idea of an expanded playoff. I'm not in favor of it. Interesting.

I don't care for, I think five teams is more than enough to make the playoffs right now. I think you should have to earn your playoff berths. And I also think that there are always going to be unintended consequences in this. So let's say you're, you know, are there going to be so many teams that are stuck in the middle that impacts the trade deadline? I think that's entirely possible, you know, that it either reduces the number of teams that are looking to acquire or the number of teams that are looking to trade people because they are in the mix in their mind. You know, that it's going to put a lot more emphasis on offseason team building, which isn't necessarily bad, but it takes away one of potentially one of the most exciting times of the year in what we have in July. So I think there's a lot, there are a lot of different factors. Now, maybe they move the trade deadline too. Maybe they change it to August 15th or something like that. That could come up for the next CBA as well. And I think that there's a little bit of support for that, at least,

you're changing things around. But I think that there are a number of factors here that for me personally, then I'm not, I'm just not in favor of it. Do you think we will see a change, though? Yes, absolutely, because there's a lot of money at stake. Yeah, there it is. So the players need to get a bigger chunk of the pie, which means that they're going to see, you know,

I don't know if you know this, but you might, I mean, I don't know how many listeners do, but playoff revenues are actually for the playoff. are a percentage of the gate. Really? Yeah. I mean, that's what it is. That's what gets divided up into the pool that makes the playoff share.

The TV money right now all goes to the owners. Last year, they were willing to give a bigger pool because there were more playoff teams and because there wasn't going to be a gate for the postseason, so the players weren't going to be able to benefit from it. So they were willing to concede on that. But I would think that the players want a better or different percentage of, of the share as part of this to agree to its expansion. I don't know that there's anything that's going to stop it from happening.

And again, but there is a lot of money at stake to be able to expand the playoffs. And so I assume it's going to happen. All right. We got five teams left in the playoffs. Who do you got making the World Series and who do you got winning it? Well, you know, I'm starting to dive into the Astros Red Sox series and as much as the McCullors injury, I think. has a chance to really impact that. Houston's offense is just so relentless.

And I think, you know, they beat up on a pretty good pitching staff for the White Sox. And Boston staff is not as good. Nathan Evaldi is excellent. And the Red Sox have a couple of other arms. Nick Povett is throwing the ball really well. And, you know, Garrett Whitlock's been outstanding for them out of the pen. But I don't know that they have the depth of arms to be able to compete with Houston, especially if McCullors is able to go.

If it's not, it's going to be a high-scoring series, I think, either way. but I think that changes the complexion of it, especially since McCulloch probably wasn't going to go before game three anyway, so he wasn't going to match up with the Evaldi. So you don't have to, you know, number one type starters or teams top starters. I don't think that either of them are necessarily number ones from the scouting perspective that would square off. So I think Houston would be a pretty safe bet. I think that they will win that series and likely pretty handily over Boston. I think whoever wins that division series between the Dodgers and Giants is going to be the favorite. I like the Braves chances a little bit better against San Francisco than I do against the Dodgers.

The Dodgers have a lot of right-handed power sinker arms in the bullpen that match up with the pretty right-handed Braves lineup. So I think that's one factor that I would look at that. The Giants are really tough, though, because they match you up. They almost never are at a platoon disadvantage. They almost never have the matchup disadvantage. They have solid enough starting pitching. So I think the Braves are significant underdogs in whichever series they're in. And listen, I think Atlanta's a fun team.

Like, I love Freddie Freeman. I mean, how can you not love Freddie Freeman? I love Ozzy Albies. I'm sad that Ronald Lucuna Jr. isn't a part of this. And Atlanta's starting pitching quietly this year has been outstanding, like really, really good. And not with a lot of the names you necessarily anticipate. anticipated. So Charlie Morton's been great. Max Fried, especially since the All-Star

break, has been terrific. Ian Anderson finished the season strong. You know, Walscar, you know, who, you know, pitched in relief in game four is a really, really good arm. So, like, there are a lot of things to really like about where Atlanta is. So I don't think it's, it's, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that the Braves would win that series, but I'd say that they have probably about a one and four chance regardless of who they play. It feels like whoever wins between the Giants and the Dodgers will have a lot of momentum beating the other team, right? I mean, I mean, I'm not, I mean, I'm not a big fan of momentum from baseball game to baseball game. I'm a, I think it exists inside of games for sure, but I always like the old trope about momentum is only as good as your next day starting pitcher.

There you go. That's a good way to look at it, my man. Well, Farron, I can't wait to listen to you guys. We'll be on for three hours doing pregame on Sirius for, uh, for the LCS. Listen to this guy and his beautiful, buttery voice during the playoffs. And you know,

to see my face. Keep that D-BAC's hat on. Don't take that off. All right. Sounds good. All right, man. We'll see you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Big thank you again to Mike Farron for joining us. You guys, obviously, can get us on all the social media. If you're listening to us right now on an audio app, make sure to jump over to YouTube and subscribe, hit the little bell so that you get all the notifications for all the great content

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