PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Scott Rolen gets the call to the Hall & we discuss if the BBWAA got it right

Episode Date: January 25, 2023

Scott Rolen is the sole inductee for the 2023 Hall of Fame class, and we are discussing if we feel anyone got snubbed. We also have an exclusive update on the Arizona Diamondbacks Spring Training caps and are putting the Los Angeles Angels organization through arbitration.BUY D-BACKS TICKETS HERE: https://gametime.hnyj8s.net/c/3442941/1410622/10874 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports DraftKings: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now (https://bit.ly/3Jl1dMX), use promo code PHNX and make your first deposit of FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in FREE BETS INSTANTLY! Gambling Problem? Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY),If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisiscounseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/LA/MD/MI/NJ/PA/TN/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/KS/NH), 888-789-7777/visitccpg.org (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), visit OPGR.org (OR), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA). 21+ (18+ NH/WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/KS/LA(select parishes)/MD/MI /NJ/NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. VOID IN OH/ONT. Eligibility restrictionsapply. Free bets: Valid 1 per new customer. Min. $5 deposit. Min $5 bet. $200 issued as free bets that expire 7 days (168 hours) after being awarded. See terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com/footballterms. No Sweat: Valid 1 offer per customer per day of NFL 2023 Wild Card Round. Opt in req each day. First bet must lose after opting in. NFL bets only. Paid as one (1) free bet based on amount of initial losing bet. Max $10 free bet awarded.Free bets expire 7 days (168 hours) after being awarded. See terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com/footballterms.OGeez!: Enter the “Flavoring Life” sweepstakes. One winner will receive 3 bags of OGeez, an OGeez! Hat, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Sign up at gophnx.com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIplqDYsxYeiotn5Zc6hRahaX0a5qG99eHVzkhOlGZDRdgUA/viewform. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Underdog Fantasy: Sign up for Underdog Fantasy today! Go to the link https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-phnx and use promo code “PHNX” to receive a deposit match up to $100Four Peaks: Last Wednesday’s are back! Join our PHNX crew at the 8th Street Pub on January 25th as all of our shows are live and in-person throughout the day. Enjoy $3 beer specials and come say hi to us. Must be 21 or older. Enjoy responsibly. Bad Birdie: Use code “PHNX_SPORTS15” for 15% off your next order https://glnk.io/7qnq/phnx-sportsMor Furniture: Save up to 50% all through the holidays! Check out https://morfurniture.comFOCO: FOCO has you covered with the best Arizona Merchandise. Head on over to foco.com. For all non pre-sale items use the promo code “PHNX” for 10% offChitown Cornhole: Go check out their website chitowncornhole.com and make sure to follow them on Instagram @chitowncustomcornholeboardsWhen 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 to another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast live from Four Peaks 8th Street Pub. I am your mayor of PHNX and maybe the mayor of Four Peaks. We'll see if I can arrange that. Just for today. Of course, I'm Derek Montia. This guy next to me, he's the Thunderstick and my vice mayor, the one and only Jesse Friedman. Hall of Fame Day? Hall of Fame Day.

Came and went? Yeah, it came and went and was as unimpressive as advertised, I feel like. You were unimpressed? I was unimpressed. I was unenthused, Jesse. I was unenthused. Of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Drafking Sportsbook app. America's top-rated sportsbook app.

And yes, let's get into it. Our man, Scott Rowland, former Philadelphia Philly, former St. Louis Cardinal, gets the call to the hall and is the sole inductee for this year's Hall of Fame class. Outside of the, what is it, the contemporary baseball era committee adding Fred McGriff, right? So they essentially go in together. But Scott Rowland is the only one inducted via vote. So what are your thoughts on Roland and his career? career eight-time gold glove winner i'm a big i'm a big scott rolling guy personally um scott rowland is he really is he really is and jeff kent's mad about that by the way so he's mad at you about that

i'm sure i'm sure he is but but i mean you look at these numbers that scott rowland put up over his career and i i think he's a pretty clear hall of famer personally he's not you know he's not what adrian beltrade is going to be next year he's not like that no doubt kind of a guy i acknowledge that but i mean 70 wins above replacement according to baseball reference that's a really big number. That is. If a guy with 70 war doesn't make the Hall of Fame, something has probably gone wrong other than I guess there's the whole steroid conversation with a number of those guys. But my biggest comp with Scott Rowland is this guy named Nolan Aronado, who I think a lot of people view as being a complete no doubt Hall of Famer if he continues on the career

trajectory that he's currently on. Scott Rowland has a career OPS plus of 122, Nolan Aronado, Career OPS Plus 124. Offensively, very, very, very similar. Scott Rowland, probably the best third base of his era in baseball, Nolan Aeronado, arguably the best third baseman of his era as we stand right now. So I think those two players actually are very close comps to each other, and no one's questioning whether Nolan Aeronado should be a Hall of Famer if he continues on the trajectory he's on right now.

I think the big thing there is Scott Rowland just lacks some of the accolades that people like to see. So like you said, statistically, it makes sense. He had a tremendous career, and he was a value wherever he was, no matter if it was Philadelphia, St. Louis, or even later in his career, he still put up damn good numbers in Cincinnati. Numbers that the Diamondbacks would happily take from a third baseman right now. I will say that.

Yeah, they would. They'd take 38-year-old Scott Rowland. I would take it. He was an all-star, right? Let's go. But, I mean, I also think that there's something to be said about the baseball Hall of Fame. having a lot of people in it that when you start comparing and you start kind of splitting hairs with some of these guys,

especially on this year's ballot, where there's not a clear-cut, there's not clear-cut favorites. There's Alex Rodriguez, obviously, though, that we believe belongs in the hall, and a lot of people do. Obviously, there are some that are very much against that because of, you know, I guess, accusations about performance-enhancing drugs his way

and other things that he's experienced in his career, but still a stellar baseball career, nonetheless. It just gets very hard when we see. start, you know, digging down into it and basically saying people who aren't champions or didn't, you know, weren't a multiple-time MVP or whatever, don't deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. He's a multiple-time All-Star, multiple-time Gold Glove winner, and he was one of the best third basement in the game, period. That's one thing.

I remember I remember when he went to the St. Louis Cardinals and how, like, I was kind of just frustrated with that because much like the Cardinals team now, it seemed like back then there was just this gravitation towards St. Louis and there was just always going to be in the Cardinals organization this ability to kind of re-up, you know, and get that next big guy to come in and fill in for the guy kind of walking away or whatever at the time. So Scott Roland was... They've certainly replaced Albert Pujols there. Yeah, for sure. Decent first basements. Yeah, they got a few years. Took them a few years. But I think just looking at the ballot results as a whole, Scott Rowland barely got in, frankly. He really did.

76.3%. You need, of course, 75%. I think that's a five vote margin. So literally five ballots was the difference between Scott Rowland getting in and not getting in this year. Todd Helton, our friends over at DNVR Rockies, I know they're disheartened.

Our condolences to Patrick Lyons. Our condolences, 72.2%. But I think you feel really good about him getting in next year. Larry Walker, of course, eventually made it in with the Colorado Rockies. And he was not at the pace that Todd Helton currently is at. So a lot of times this isn't just about like who got in this year. It's also about who projects to get in in the coming years. And Todd Helton is definitely in that category.

But it's silly, right? Like it almost feels based on what writers and no offense, Jesse is a baseball writer's association of America writer. But you throw in shade. You throw a shade out there right These are a bunch of clowns is what I'm telling you right here right now to your face. No, what I'm saying is... I don't personally have a vote yet. You can't call me a clown now, right? In 10 years, in 10 years maybe you could. The audacity, the unmitigated goal of this man to say I don't have one yet.

No, my point being is that it almost feels like at times they want, you know, you can't be a first ballot, Hall of Famer, unless you had this acclaimed career. So we got to get you in, maybe on your sixth time on the ballot, maybe on the seventh time. You got to know your role in your place in baseball history. you ain't a one time or two-timer. We know we got to get you back. That part of it is so silly to me. It really is.

If we know Todd Helton's going to be a Hall of Famer, can we just put him in the Hall of Fame now? I'm just saying like, what exactly are waiting for? You know what? We need three more votes to get him in, but he doesn't deserve it this year. This is Scott Rollins here. I don't know.

There's something to be said about, especially this particular group. You have a lot of guys that were very, very good baseball players. But outside of one or two, there are a few standouts here where you can ultimately say, this guy fully belongs in. However, you know, even with those guys that fully belong in, there's an argument to be made, like I said about Arod, about other factors, you know, kind of tarnishing his legacy as far as a baseball player that deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

Yeah. If you just went based on Alex Rodriguez career without any outside, you know, interference there, he would be a first time, you know, first ballot, Hall of Famer by far, in my opinion, you know. But we have this thing where guys got to know their place. Todd Father gets snubbed, but like you said, he'll get it next. year. He'll get in. I think Billy Wagner, he took an enormous step forward this year. I think Billy Wagner's on a trajectory to get there. He was at 68.1 percent, so pretty, pretty close on his friend's. It has a really good chance to get in next year. He also sent out a tweet about it, but at least we think he did. I don't know for sure because there's no way to tell if this image, this tweet right here is actually him. It's basically just, I mean, it's a gray image. There's some, It might be him. I don't know the, it looks like it might be him.

I have no way of telling if this image is actually him or not. So again, this is the importance of blue check marks and such on Twitter, Jesse. You can't have a faceless profile and expect me to believe this is the man. However, credible sources tweeted that out. So I'm sure that's actually him. I don't know. Can I do a little, little 2024 Hall of Fame preview here real quick? That's pretty crazy, but sure, if you want to get.

I'm going to go a little crazy with it. We've done entirely too early. all off season long. So what's another one? I'm not necessarily me. I mean, I guess I can make this a prediction. Adrian Beltray should be a no doubt first time. Hall of Fame. That should not. We should not be wasting our time with that next year. Joe Maurer also joins the ballot next year. Another guy that probably deserves to be in right away. I grew up kind of a, I had a soft spot for the Minnesota twins growing up. My mom's side of the family is from Minnesota. So we were all big Joe Maurer fans growing up.

And I think he, I mean, he definitely is going to be in the Hall of Fame eventually. It's just a question of whether it's a first time thing or whether it takes him a couple years to get there. Those are the biggest names. Chase Utley also will join the ballot next year. He's another guy who might take him maybe a couple of years, but I think he has a really strong case as well. All right.

Well, and I will say that not everybody is happy about obviously the vote. Jeff Kent, as we talked about earlier, falls off the ballot. but he will still most likely make it into the Hall of Fame based on the contemporary baseball era committee voting him in. But that doesn't change him being mad about it. Jeff Kent's very mad. He's mad at analytics. He's mad at the stats you brought up earlier that validates Scott Rowland's nomination. I feel like he also is just kind of mad because, you know, on paper in some ways, he feels like he's a better player than Scott Rowland.

And here he is not even, you know, falling off the ballot, not getting that. nomination. Yes, he'll probably get in, but it does still feel like a slight when you didn't get in based on, you know, the voting, you know, the voting committee. Yeah, yeah, it absolutely does. It is, it is a little bit silly. I think that we have to go through those alternative channels at times. Jeff Kent, I mean, you look at the numbers and I think he has a, he has a pretty compelling case. So hopefully the error committee is able to get that one right. Yeah. Well, on the other end of the spectrum, away from Hall of Fame is probably as far away from Hall of Fame, uh, and news as you can get. Mike Clevenger has been reportedly accused of domestic violence and child abuse.

And I think the hard, hard left turn. It's a hard, I took a hard left turn there. I don't know how else to get into it, but it's kind of news that just came out over the last 24 hours. And it's information that obviously is not, not good for baseball, not good for Clevenger. I think the bigger problem here is that this was reported by his wife in the summer of 2022. And nothing was really done about it and nothing. I don't know if this information was disclosed, but he did land with a new baseball team in the Chicago White Sox. And it just doesn't seem right considering, you know, that we are trying to do everything we can to rid the sport of people that do things that kind of disqualify them from earning the right to play Major League Baseball. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is also bad for

the White Sox. I mean, the team that just signed this guy, right? And you already have, you know, news like this coming out. It really sucks for a guy who hasn't even thrown an inning for your team yet. Did you do your due diligence? Was there information passed along to you about this? Was this something that you just, you know, kind of bypassed on? Or, you know, no matter what, like you said, for the franchise, for the organization, as far as the White Sox goes, it doesn't look good either way. Either you ignored this information or you were unable to discover it. And I mean, I get that that's not something that, you know, you can easily find out. However, I feel like if his wife already brought this to Major League Baseball's attention, that this should have been something that

internally at least they were aware of yeah i mean if you read the you know the espion article behind this is written by alden gonzalez you know there's of course it says mike emphatically denies the accusations made by miss findstead he has never harmed miss fynsted or his daughter attorney jay risinger said so you know obviously there's there's some legal matters to be taking care of here at this point we're kind of in the early stages of that but it's never good for you know obviously a player or an to have this kind of news come out. And these situations get really messy, right? Even if it is just, you know, accusations being thrown out there, that can have a really

big impact, right? I mean, Trevor Bauer, you're guilty by public opinion, basically, at that point, right? And I think that's the reason why, you know, in the past, even though it seemed like teams were covering this kind of thing up, I feel like really what it was about was investigating it before it became public knowledge. So that way someone doesn't necessarily get villainized over. accusations that may not be true. However, according to the accusations, he threw chewing tobacco at his child.

And I mean, that right there, that right there alone is enough for me to kind of be disgusted with you as a human being, even though that's not actual physical abuse or anything, but that's still just something that really, really is just awful. And I mean, there's probably nuances to this. Like you said, he's denying the accusations. and again, even if he does end up, like Trevor Bauer, not throwing these two things together, but like Trevor Bauer, not actually being committed of a crime, there still is the court of public opinion that he, you know, a player, an athlete, somebody that's in this kind of eye has to deal with.

Yeah. Even should they be found, you know, not guilty of any actual, you know, crimes or anything like that. Yeah. I mean, the White Sox made a substantial investment into Mike Clevenger. I mean, he's, you know, he was one of the, one of the bigger name. pitchers on the market. Obviously, you know, a down year last year with San Diego and has dealt with some injuries the last couple years. But not that long ago, Mike Clevenger was one of the best young starters in baseball and the White Sox were, you know, very much relying on him to come back and be more that guy for them next year. So this just muddies that process for them in a big way.

I don't want to say something controversial because I know you hate that. I know you, Jesse hates when I do anything like this, but I just want to say there was something a bit unhinged about him and his reaction to Bob Brenley saying what he said. The debacks do have a history here. With Clevenger, right? And especially, like, just kind of being overtly aggressive. And I'm not trying to connect the dots there between these accusations and him.

But there's times where you're like, bro, you're really picking a fight with Bob Brenley. Like, I get what he's saying and I get that he wants to defend himself. But I can't imagine somebody that has, you know, a pitching motion. Like Clevenger doesn't get that from every away team, you know, broadcaster all the time. Like, I imagine that his eye.

Odd delivery is something that he would be used to people kind of talking about or picking on him about. And he had a very aggressive response in retaliation to Brenley's, you know, commentary during a game. And I mean, yeah. Brenley's old and I get it. But, I mean, it's just one of those things that goes to show you, like, at times it's like there was something about that at the time that seemed like you're just, you're approaching this and way too angry of a way. This is baseball. Just kind of relax a little bit, you know? Yeah.

So. I see where you're coming from. I see where. I mean, it's hard. You can't really connect those dots. That's what I wasn't trying to say that, but I'm saying as far as our connection to Clevenger, we've had experience with him being very angry unnecessarily about something that really didn't seem to be, that didn't call for that level of aggression about it.

You know what I mean? But I mean, honestly, baseball really has something here to investigate. And I think that the bigger investigation might be, you know, taking a look at accusations that were provided to you months and months ago and that nothing was actually done about it. Or, you know, if I'm the White Sox, I might be. pretty upset if this wasn't disclosed to me that this was something brought to Major League Baseball's

attention before we invested all of this money in this athlete. Yeah, yeah. But anyway, we're going to turn things up from here. Sorry to get down on it, but of course it's news. We've got to talk about it. We're out here at Four Peaks Brewing Company. We're having a great time. I am dressed entirely too warmly. I got long johns on under

these sweatpants. This is a dual layer here. I had a jacket. It's not nearly that cold out here. It's a beautiful day out here at Four Peaks Brewing Company. I brought like extra layers in my backpack. He did. Surprisingly I didn't actually need that. He didn't. He didn't think his P. H.N.X shirt would see the light of day. I literally brought a winter jacket. Uh-huh. Me too. I did too. I brought a hoodie with another jacket and another jacket. I'm wearing a fleece and I brought a winter coat. I brought gloves and I brought a hat.

She dressed. I'm literally from Montreal. I'm literally from Canada. I'm embarrassed. Okay. So, Leah has lived here too long. That's the, that's the conclusion that we've just made. But we're having a great time out here at the 8th Street Pub. We appreciate Ford Peaks Brewing somebody inviting us out, having us out here for their great beers. I am drinking a delicious wow wheat. We can't see this guy. He snuck up on me from behind. What he got there?

Some pizza. Hello, sir. What is it? That looks great. It's called West Philadelphia, Born and Ray. Oh, on the playground is where I spent most of my days. Well, see, this is the kind of fun we can be having. You guys could be out here.

We have the new recreational juice tank IPA. Staycation, super juicy IPA. That one is on tap. The recreational juice, so popular, already, already, tapped that keg, but there are some bottles if you want to grab some. Not to mention the Super Bowl is right around the corner and what better a place to spend it than right

here at Four Peaks. Enjoy a nice Four Peaks beverage during the game. They'll have the games on. A beautiful place to have a party maybe. Invite your friends. Everybody meet up here. That's what I do with my friends. We have parties but not at anybody's house. We just find a place to meet up at and do that thing. So again, thank you to Four Peaks for

having us. Beers are delicious And of course, you should be having them too with us. Right now, we've got $3. Wow Wheat and Kilt Lifted Pints. So if you come out here, it's an insanely good deal. Another insanely good deal is getting yourself a PHNX diehards membership over at go-PHNX.com. Of course, you guys know, you're going to get Jesse's die-hard only pieces. Craig is over there, his die-hard only pieces as well. Gerald's somewhere.

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You have all sorts of benefits, though. Make sure to join us for these events. Get discounts, get Die Hard only invites to events, so much more. So make sure to grab yourself a diehards membership over at go phnx.com. Well, Jesse, we talked at one point about the Arizona Diamondbacks maybe selling a minority share in the franchise to somebody, right? but at the time we brought up that the Los Angeles Angels at the time where the team everybody was looking to get sold and moved under owner Art Moreno

but citing unfinished business he ain't done yet he ain't done yet Art Moreno has decided that his team is no longer for sale the Los Angeles Angels are off the market and a change of heart that shocked the industry and surprise a lot of people in the organization that thought they were going to see an ownership change. Morano originally purchased the Angels from This guy, Mickey Mouse, aka the Walt Disney Company, 2003, for $183.5 million. Now, here's what upsets me, Jesse. 2003 wasn't that long ago.

Like, that's 20 years ago, if my calculations are correct, you might want to check the math on that for me. But that wasn't that long ago to purchase a franchise not only for less than like half a million or a billion, but to purchase it for $183.5 million. The Angels were last evaluated by Forbes in March of 2022 at $2.2.2 billion with a B dollars and was reportedly going to sell for $2.5 billion before Moreno backed out. It's insane.

It's an insane amount of money. Imagine making essentially $2.3 billion in profit for your investment over the course of 20 years. I think that's a pretty damn good. It's a pretty decent return on your investment. I'm a little bit baffled by Moreno's statement. He said, during this process, it became clear that we have unfinished business and feel we can make a positive impact on the future of the team and the fan experience.

I don't understand during this process. Like, if you already were in a place where, you know, if you were in a place where you didn't think that you had unfinished business, that you weren't able to, you know, bring the angels to the place that you ultimately wanted them to be. what would have happened during the selling process that would have led you to think otherwise? Like, I don't know. It doesn't seem like it was the amount of money that they could get for it. It didn't seem like it was being undervalued, you know, two and a half billion dollars or whatever the price would have been is a pretty decent amount of money.

And north of that Forbes evaluation that you talked about. So I don't understand. This just seems like kind of an empty statement to try to mask the fact that Moreno just decided he didn't want to sell after all. Well, and I think it is, but I think it's an emotional statement. I think it's something that comes from the heart, right? I'm a big wrestling fan, and I know a lot of people know who Vince McMahon is. And right now, Vince McMahon, he was the guy that basically made WWF slash WWE into the corporate juggernaut that it is. And eventually that corporate juggernaut grew so big that it kind of overtook him and bypassed him.

And I think in my mind, a guy like him still sees that giant corporate entity as being his family business and that he wants to get it back under his control. Sure. And there's efforts right now on his part to do so. I think that might be what happened here with Art Moreno. I think that there is something to say about owning, you know, something like this for 20 years of franchise. And really not viewing it as an investment any longer, not viewing it as something that you were trying to put your money into to make some money out of. And hopefully one day you would go live on a beach and not ever have to worry about baseball ever again because you'd be rich from the money you made off of it.

And that all is very, very true for him right now. It's like it bypasses that and consumes you to a point where you feel like you are part of that thing. And you don't possibly have an identity any longer without being the quote unquote owner of this baseball team. Like that's people make their careers into their identities. And I think that an owner can do the same, right? You become so attached to the organization and you wanted to just, you just wanted that one more World Series ring. You just wanted to not have them, like not leave them in the gutter kind of the way the angels are as far as in the basement of their division and things like that, right?

Like, you kind of want to leave them in a better place, maybe, or maybe just get that one more championship and swing for the fences before you, you head off into the sunset. I mean, it's not like a one more chance. I mean, it's not like the angels have had all the success. No, no, I know. That's what I'm saying. They want that championship that they've never, you know, he's never been able to get, right?

I mean, that's part of it is there's something to be said about having that, you know, that desire to at least do it one time or whatever. He's 76 years old. You know, he doesn't, you know, he's at a point now where if you're being, if I'm being honest, he's just, he should walk away. You know, he should, he should do this. But baseball teams are ridiculously overvalued. And honestly, by keeping it for a few more years, and we're going to talk about this because we have to talk about the value of this. But before we get into the value of this, I do want to just, just clarify something.

And this actually came from our friend at the Arizona Diamondbacks, Casey Wilcox. He imparted this little bit of wisdom on me. Oh, here we go. Yeah, and he told me, do you know the difference between a million seconds and a billion seconds? Because at the time, we were talking about millionaires and billionaires. You know, you hear that with owners versus athletes, the war of millionaires versus billionaires. But a million seconds, Jesse, is 12 days, but a billion seconds is 31 years. There's a bit of a difference there.

There's quite a bit of difference there. And if you equate that financially to money, there's also a big difference there as well. So, I mean, obviously this man could walk away with $2.3 billion in profit. But something we do around here, something new that we're trying out, is we talked about doing just putting ordinary objects through arbitration. And today it's no ordinary object, but we are going to put the Los Angeles Angels franchise through arbitration. And another edition of arbitration conversation. All right, Jesse. So here's my thought is obviously the big discussion here.

This one is utterly impossible. This one's just a nightmare to figure out. But I think the thing that we should focus on here is should Art Moreno pass up on a $2.3 billion profit? I'm going to make the argument for yes. And the reason why is, as I've stated before, I feel like there needs to be separation between you and something like this. And you need to see the point of doing it was so that you would have a time in your life where this franchise that's still kind of a job. is no longer part of your life where you can move on.

You can go to Costa Rica and just sit on a beach with no agenda. You could buy a one-way ticket to Thailand just like Cliff Kingsbury and nobody will question it. So you're making the case that he should sell it now. I'm making the sell that he should sell now. And that's because he's 76 years old.

He's still a good looking dude. And my man needs to go be out there and join life and not sitting in an owner's box for 81 games a year, worrying about things like concession sales and players that they're going to bring back. That's fair. And all those little things that an owner actually has to have meetings about

and make decisions on. This man has done it for 20 years, and he can walk away with a $2.3 billion profit. There's few things in life you can't do with $2.3 billion. There's basically nothing in life. There's nothing you can't do without the much money. And that's not even his only gig. By the Phoenix Suns.

Yeah, exactly. Right, right. You can buy my minority ownership in it, maybe. But Art Moreno, was born in Tucson, Arizona. So he is one of ours, and I am trying to look out for him. I don't know. Is someone born in Tucson one of ours?

Yeah, that's a good point. He makes a good point. But I will say that I really think that at this point, you start getting to a point where it's like, yeah, he could have more money. Yeah, he could wait and probably sell it in another 10 years. But enjoy your life, man. Enjoy your life. And move on.

Let the organization take a different direction. Don't feel like you at the end of the day are the end-all-be-all of an organization, their trajectory and their future. You know, just it's time to bid a do, take your money, and go enjoy life. Yeah, I mean, from a, like, so I do have to acknowledge from an Angel's fan perspective, that Art Marano should sell, right? Like, I mean, he has not done a good job leading that franchise. There's no question about that.

So from a baseball standpoint, from an Angels fan perspective, yes, I think Art Marino should absolutely sell. You're not helping your case. For the purposes of our little arbitration conversation debate. I made him do this, by the way. He doesn't want to take this side. There is a case to be made, and this is something that I've kind of heard around the industry, that given the state of the economy right now and the fact that a lot of people are fearing a recession,

which we may or may not already kind of be in the middle of, you're not necessarily going to get the most for your investment if you sell right now, right? That's just the nature of the economy and kind of where. the U.S. is right now is that investors are more wary of paying big dollar amounts for things like baseball teams, right? Billions and billions of dollars for an franchise investment like this. You have to remember that these investors don't just have all this money sitting in cash in a bank account that they can just pull out at any time. Their money is... Well, Disney does, but not everybody else does. But you have to remember that, you know, the vast majority of their assets are going to be in the

stock market. They're going to be in investments, the kinds of things that in this particular season of our economy are very volatile. And you know, you're prone to losing substantial amounts of money in a small amount of time right now. So from a pure business standpoint, I think, you know, maybe this isn't the best time to sell your franchise. So that that's the argument that I would make. Well, and I will say this, the one thing right now about the ridiculous, and again, I don't know why we're helping each other's cases here. But this is a much. friendlier debate. Yeah, this one.

Then the Arizona State. We still hate each other over the fucking Arizona I see. But I will say this, that, you know, there's something to be said by how fast the value is rising on these, right? 183, 184 million for argument's sake 20 years ago, and now it's $2.5 billion. What's it going to be worth in five years? Probably over $3 billion, maybe even over $3.5. Who knows?

I mean, the value is increasing at such an exponential rate, not to mention the fact that the value is there and the money that they're making back. from these franchises at times. So it's a worthwhile investment. How can you not look at Art Moreno's investment of $183 million and selling it for $2.5 and not think, oh, my God, this is, why wouldn't I get in on this, right? This is an incredible opportunity. And I don't foresee in the near future the value of sports franchises going down.

It's just not really going to happen. Like you said, it just might not be the best time to sell. It might be one of those situations where you have your house. You want to sell your house. But, hey, wait maybe two years and you would be amazed that you might be able to get, like double of what you could get now in two years, even though it's that short of a time frame. Yeah. It's just based on the market and how things bounce back.

But I will say that, of course, my biggest thing is we're not here for a long time, Jesse. We're here for a good time. And that's what I want Art Moreno to go out and do. Have himself a good time, enjoy life. I'm sure he's living it up. I'm sure being a baseball owner isn't the hardest thing in the world. Angels fans want nothing more than for Art Marino to ride off into the sunset. And I do, I do feel bad, man, for Angels fans who were.

I mean, like, I can speak to this as a Suns fan, right? I mean, Robert Sarver, obviously, there's been a lot of bad things surrounding Robert Sarver for a number of years. And there's no question that he had a negative impact on the franchise as a whole. And could you imagine if the sale of the Phoenix Suns had fallen through for some reason, right? It would have been utterly devastating for Suns fans. And I really feel for Angels fans right now who finally felt like they were on the brink of bringing in, you know, a new ownership group. the type of group that maybe would bring back Shohei Otani that would actually

invest in the farm system and try to build something more sustainable there. And unfortunately, they're getting, you know, maybe Art Moreno has, you know, some ideas of things he can change. Maybe he has a new plan, but he's going to have to change something because what he has done there is not worked. Maybe he does want to pivot and make this team a winner before he leaves. And, you know, that would be equally great for Engels fans,

but you got to see it first. I just hope they bring back Showy O'Don. If he sticks around and they don't bring back Shohei Otani, I think that's going to be a very, very tough pill to swallow. I mean, he was never guaranteed to come back in the first place, but that would just accentuate. Like, great, we have his owner who's not willing to bring back arguably the best player in baseball. You make a great point, too. If they don't resign him, there's a good chance. Moreno takes the flack for sticking around, and that's the reason why they don't.

There's a good chance that Otani plays for a team like the Dodgers, right? Oh, shut up. So, from a D-BAC's perspective, that him. staying with the Angels would also be a very positive development. He's right. Keep them away from us. I don't want to root against Otani ever again. I don't think I ever could.

No, I can't. I just can't. But anyway, thank you guys for sticking with us and rooting for us. We appreciate you guys being here on the PHNX Sports YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed already, sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when any of our shows go live. Subscribe. Hit that like button.

We appreciate you guys doing that. If you're listening right now on your favorite audio podcasting app, make sure to subscribe there as well. sign up for notification or leave us a review download the podcast even if you're watching us on YouTube just double dip you know we appreciate that but also leave us review

we love the feedback as well also Jesse loves your feedback on what furniture he should buy for his house from morefurniture.com he still doesn't know what to buy we're having an argument about it we're trying to get his brother to get in on this idea to rent out his place for the Super Bowl now this man could make up to $25,000

for a week of people staying in his place. I don't think I could make He could make up to $50,000 by having someone stay in his place for a week. I've seen the prices around here, Jesse. I think I could retire. I don't think I'd have to have a job anymore. He never have to do this show ever again if he just rented out his place for a week during the Super Bowl. But what he needs is ideas on what furniture to put in there in the meantime.

Because, again, as we've talked about, all the chase lounges, it's a big turnoff for people on Airbnb and VRBO trying to rent his place. So give him all the ideas on Twitter, of course. And, of course, utilize those ideas to get yourself some new furniture. I was realizing the other day my, you know, like when you hate to actually admit that your couch is uncomfortable, like I think up to that point. Like, it's not like it's a very old couch, but it's just not, it's just not comfortable. I need to go to morefurniture.com and get a new one. So you can do that too and say big on the best furniture in the valley when you head to morefurniture. com and get that white glove delivery service.

Make sure to get that and have it come in style. Fancy. wear a monocle when they're dropping it off. Maybe a tuxedo and a top hat. I don't know. I feel like it should be a very fancy experience when they bring it in with the white glove delivery service. But you can also get white glove delivery service

on your game time experience. Because get over to gamedime.com. Save yourself up to 60%. And by white glove delivery, I mean waiting until the last minute, is what I mean. Procrastinate. Wait until the last minute, save on tickets.

And no, know that you are going to have time to go to these events. Your time is special. Time is special. My time is special. We don't have a lot of time. We don't know. I'm triple booked on February 24th.

I don't even know what show I'm going to go to, but had I waited, I would be able to organize my time better. And you can save up to 60% yourself by procrastinating and waiting to buy your tickets last minute on game time. Save up to 60% on tickets when you buy last minute. The best way to support us is by buying your tickets through the link in the description below. We have breaking news. Sort of.

Kind of. Unconfirmed? Unconfirmed. Rumors? Leaks. whatever you want to call it. We discussed yesterday the new uninspired Dback spring training batting practice hat leaked. We're going to blame this one on Unawatch.com.

They put out everything about this hat. And basically they let us know that there was a good chance that not only was this a batting practice hat, but was also most likely the spring training hat. Well, that black and white hat, that ugly hat, a lot of you on Twitter told us how much you didn't like, may not, in fact, to be the hat we thought it was. because we were sent. It's not the hat. It is a hat that will be available for purchase.

It's an actual hat. It's not a fake hat. It's not a real hat. Someone didn't make this hat up. It's a real hat that really exists. You just might not see a Diamondbacks player ever actually wearing that. Correct. Because we were sent this by a source, and we have to ask, is this the real spring training hat for the D-backs?

Per source, we were sent this image that appears to be the real spring training hat. And as you can see, it's red. Of course, we know it's not black and white. We know it's much better looking than the black and white thing that they put out there. It looks very much like last year's hat, Jesse. But there were a couple of things on this hat. Of course, we don't know. This is unconfirmed.

We don't know if this image. We're not suggesting this image is fake. This is a very, if it was a fake, this would be a very good fake. This would be a top. This would be a 10 out of 10 Photoshop, Jesse, if it was fake. But if you take a look at some of the details here a little bit. You can see this is this very very, much looks like the actual thing. We got the 23 patch over here on the side. It looks like the rubber. As you can see, sticking out there a little bit, we still have the mesh. I know you guys are saying same as last year, but last year's did not have a 23 on it. So. Yeah. I mean, it could be the same design, but with a 23 on it. Very much. Very, very possible. Also has, as you can see here, the on-field sticker there. We're doing some real, we're doing some real breakdown and analysis. We're here.

when it comes to these stickers and these patches. But yeah, again, maybe not a very inspired design very much like last years, but you have to admit, after what we posted yesterday on Twitter, it's a much better thing. Maybe that was the idea. Maybe you leak that first at first, and then people are kind of, yeah, set the bar low,

just pointed about it. The Disney D, as some people like to call it, is back, though. I don't hate that because, you know, my name's Derek, and I'm very much happy and in favor of a D logo, but, you know, I don't know. I want to hear your guys' thoughts on this hat. Like you said, it looks very much like last year's. But still, I feel like it's a step up from what we thought they were going to be wearing.

Yeah, it looks like a spring training hat. It just gives off spring training vibes, honestly. It's not, I don't know. You know, it's kind of monochromatic. There's a lot of red in there. There's not a lot of variety of color. Yeah. But yesterday we were killing for any color.

Yeah, yesterday we were. Just give us trim. Just give us anything. Give us any splash of anything. And yeah, I think that. This is better than that. Granted, you know, being pretty much the exact same hat as last year, if that is indeed the case, we're still don't have official confirmation on this yet.

No official confirmation. But, yeah, I mean, I don't necessarily have a huge problem with it. Although, I mean, it'd be nice if they switched it up every year. That would be kind of fun. You know what's sticking around? Gradient pattern sunburns on bald guy's head. And as a person with a bald spot, I don't appreciate that very much. I'm just saying.

I don't think the diamond backs have a player who is bald. Christian Walker, Jesse. I'm not saying bald. I'm not accusing him, but I'm saying he shaves his head. I'm saying he keeps it low and tight. Don't make me have to accuse people of having, you know, John Sina like hairlines now. But anyway,

the great, I still don't understand the purpose of the mesh in the back. I don't like that. I think a lot of people are very much turned off by that. It's a subpar hat material. It just is. Yeah. Ryan in the comments is why they go away from fitted hats. They're still fitted. They're just mesh. So they're not

they're not one of those in the back. They're still a fitted hat, but they do inexplicably have like the trucker mesh on the back. So I don't know. I don't have any answers for you when it comes to the decisions that they make. We just try to bring you answers. That's what we try to bring you at least the truth. And as much as we put that out there yesterday and everybody had thoughts on it,

it appears like there's going to at least be some color in their spring training caps. But I tell you guys this before, there's no better way to watch sports than using the underdog fantasy app. Not only do you have their daily pickums, and this baseball season we are riding on pitch counts, but you also have their daily fantasy where you can draft your team against five of your friends, and the highest scoring squad that night can win cold, hard cash. Drafts six NBA players with no positional limits, and that's it. Whoever scores the most points gets down.

Oh, there's a little bit, it's a little porcelain baby. But also, see this, this thing, I want to, you don't know where this came from. I was going to put it in my beer, and then I thought that was the worst idea I ever came with. Yeah, it's from a barrel. A little porcelain baby is going to hang out with us. But he does, this guy right here, he does daily fantasy sports hard. Okay, fine. There you go.

Take it back. It's a woman. Sorry. I don't even know what we're doing anymore. But I love the underdog app. Shane, bark for us. I don't know if they can hear it, but I wanted some barking anyway. He's going to come with barking.

It's this easy to get started. First you bark. First you bark. You do that. Then you go to underdog fantasy.com. That's not what a dog sounds like. You say that every time, but it really is. It's some dog sound like that, Jesse.

Leah, do dogs sound like that? Leah, tell them the dog sound like that, please. Only a dog that has been left alone for a very long time is trying to escape. It's a very distressed dog. It is kind of distressed. It's a dog that went 0 for four last night with his picks on underdog fantasy. But he can be an overdog, Jesse. He doesn't have to always be an underdog.

It's easy to get started. Go to underdog fantasy.com. Download the app. Sign up with our promo code of PHNX. Get yourself a $300. The underdog will match your first deposit up to $100. And then that money you save, you go to Octane Raceway. Have yourself a blast by racing, you know, go-karts against your friends,

playing some video games, having a blast. The go-cart racing, the bowling, the arcade, it's my favorite place to be. And don't let the people here at Four Peaks hear me say that, because I feel like they might take exception to that. But you know what? They don't have pinball here, and they have that over at the Mavericks. Octane Raceway. And I get to race, I can't wait until Jacob comes back because that's the first thing we're doing is we're going go-kart racing. He beat me thoroughly, and I don't like that one bit. So I will say this, though. Over at Octane Raceway and Mavericks, you got your fair share of daily specials. On Wednesdays, you can get the winning Wednesday half-price arcade games all day long. And of course, what better day to go than that. The arcade games were phenomenal. They were really great. They had a blast. We had a blast. Jesse and I killed

zombies. The gun didn't work quite right, but we still got our shots. I think that was more of a you problem, though. I don't think so. I do not think that was a me problem. But they have Super Bowl packages over there, so make sure to grab one of those, they have an entire spread of food, different food

every quarter. The four quarters of food fees... It just sounds dangerous. It's the sole reason why I want to go. I wouldn't even watch the game. I would just be talking and eating the whole time. And then in between, they have this baseball game there at Mavericks that Jesse and I freaking loved it.

It was just like a little like pinball. I don't even know how to describe it. It was like pinball baseball. Yeah, it was so great. It was so great. So watch the big game over at Mavericks with dozens of 4K televisions, a 20-foot jumbo tron, 5,000 square foot restaurant and more. Featuring a chef curated menu, craft beers, and custom cocktails.

Enjoy the Super Bowl experience at Mavericks. Bookin Advance at Mavericks.com slash the big game. Well, that's all I got. I'm going to go try to figure out this hat situation because... You've got some more investigative reporting to do. I really need confirmation. on this. And also, we need to get, I need to talk to the D-Bax manager. I need to go full, full Karen and have a conversation with the D-Bax manager. So Tori Lavello, if you're out there,

give me a call. We need to talk to you. But you know where to get me. I'm at Twitter. That's where everybody can get me. I'm at Cap underscore K-Man with the K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. You think Torre levello has a burner account? No, he has multiple burner accounts. Full burner accounts. Actually, you know what? When Tori, I told Tori, like, well past the point I thought he knew we had a show. And I was talking about our show. And he responded with, oh, you have a show?

And I said, and I literally said, like, Tori, you don't watch us? And he goes, yeah, I couldn't watch anything like that. He's like during the season, like, I can't let you guys get in my head with your talking and your nonsense. You guys know nothing. So I get it. But, of course, you and your burner accounts can follow us at PHNX underscore DBAX. And that's the most important one. Follow us there.

We are like 42 people away from 5,000, and I can't tell you how excited I am to hit that milestone. We've got lots of things to give away. That's right. We got lots of stuff to give away. Of course, also follow us at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys again so much for being here on behalf of Leah Jessie and myself. We always appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when your baseball hats don't have mesh in the back.