PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Should the Diamondbacks trade for Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena?

Episode Date: December 1, 2023

Rumors are swirling that the Tampa Bay Rays might be willing to trade outfielder Randy Arozarena. What would it take to bring him to Arizona? We also give the latest on the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes and talk expectations for the winter meetings next week in Nashville.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 into today's edition of the PHNX D-BAC show. My name is Jesse Friedman. Back-to-back days of star-studded guests here on the podcast. Kevin Ginkle in studio yesterday. Today we were joined by the one and only Patrick Lyons. Patrick, how are you today? Yeah, I appreciate you. Look, Kevin Ginkle, he's a set-up man in both the Diamondbacks bullpen,

as well as on the Ph.NX Diamondbacks show. heading up for a great close out to the week. I will make sure I lock it down for the final three segments of the week. And we'll get a win. We'll get a win out of this. There you go. You're expected to be the Paul Seawalt, if you will, of the podcast. Welcome once again into the PHNX Diamondback show.

We'd like to give a special shout out to OGs brands, the official sponsor of Flavoring Fridays. Of course, happy flavoring Friday to everyone here in the chat. OGs is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. They absolutely knock it out of the park when it comes to flavor and the effects of their gummies. are a total slam dunk as well. Head on over to OGsbrands.com to see their full lineup

and find out where you can purchase. Well, Patrick, welcome once again back to the podcast. This was basically the Patrick Lions show for a solid month there during the Diamondbacks postseason run. So good to have you back, sir. But today, our primary topic is this guy who plays for the Tampa Bay Rays, who is being somewhat loosely linked to the Arizona Diamondbacks. I wouldn't say that there's a whole lot of weight to these reports yet.

Jeff Passon in his story today talked about the rays being open, potentially to trading Randy Arosurana. It doesn't sound, seems like Tyler Glass now is pretty much going to get moved. I don't know if we really feel that way about Arosurana at this point. But Gambo over Arizona Sports has talked about the Diamondbacks being interested. It certainly does make some sense given what the Diamondbacks needs are. First of all, Patrick, just like as an hour, outsider as like just like a baseball fan in general. What is Randy Rose Raina? Like this guy has he's not

just a good player like he has a brand that sort of goes with him as well. He really does. He's he's been a player that's been exciting for the last couple years and as you see him every year in the postseason obviously with the Tampa Bay race. So he's got that postseason credibility. We got to see it in the world baseball classic as well with team Mexico. And he's, he's, He's got a swagger about him and he seems like he's been around for quite some time. And yet one of the reasons why I think he becomes such an interesting trade chip for the raise to trade right now at this point and for any team acquiring him is because he's got three more years left of club control.

So you look at that and you say, hey, this is definitely not any rental by any means. And because of his age of where he's at right now at 28, he'll be 29 for much of next season, might even be able to to come together on some kind of extension and and lock them up for that fourth or fifth year potentially get you some cost assurance a little bit on the books and for a team like the diamondbacks that might be a good fit considering that their their window of contention is is right now yeah absolutely uh you mentioned his postseason performance that's certainly that's a very real thing uh randy rosarena his career ops and the playoffs is 1104 pretty Pretty decent.

And his regular season numbers in 2023 were pretty decent as well. If we take a look at those, a Rosarena hit 254 with a 364 on base percentage. Drew a lot of walks this year, 80 walks at a career high in terms of walk rate, a 425 slugging percentage, 23 homers, 83 RBI. He was worth 3.3, wins above replacement, according to Fangraphs 3.5 over on baseball reference. Randy at Rosarena is a really good player. Is he a superstar? Is he, you know, like a Corbyn Carroll level outfielder?

Probably not. I don't think the numbers support that. But he's a good player. And as you mentioned, him being 28 years old, the fact that he has three years of club control remaining, it certainly makes some sense as a guy that the diamond backs could target. And this is sort of, I mean, it's not totally shocking that the Tampa Bay raise would be interested in moving him or at least willing to talk about moving.

him. He was a super two guy, so he's got four years of arbitration instead of three. He's projected to make $9 million this next season. That's just going to escalate over the next couple years. He might get close to $20 million in his final year of arbitration, being a super two guy and putting up these kind of numbers. He's not necessarily super cheap. But I mean, you look at those numbers, Patrick, and you see just a well-rounded, pretty solid player that would certainly fit in well in this Diamondbacks lineup. Yeah, I agree with what you said about him not. exactly being a superstar caliber player, probably that tier, you know, just below that. You say, well, 20 homers, 20 RBI, but excuse me, 20 stolen bases.

But you look at his career high in general, you say, at 23 home runs, okay, that's not necessarily superstar caliber. And you say, well, he does have the 20 plus stolen bases each and every year, but a lot of caught stealing. That's the other element to that is if you look, if you're not able to steal bases at a 75% clip or better, and I don't know how much of that's actually going to. do change considering with the new rules that are in place. But that's typically been the rule.

The number of the 75% is like that's the thought is you need to be at least there or above. Then you say, you know, how good is he actually? And then you throw in this defense too, which is obviously such a huge component, particularly in the NLS. I think probably one of the hardest divisions to play in. We know how big that outfield is in Arizona. Same can be true of Colorado. We know the different textures that are out there at,

at Oracle Park in San Francisco can definitely be a challenge. So I think the fact that he is slightly below average to maybe average at best defensively, you know, does give you some pause. And a couple of the fact that he said he's going to become very expensive, you say, well, wait a minute. Let's really give this some consideration because if he's not going to come cheap and you're going to have to pay for him here in the next couple years going forward and the defense might be below average, you know, is that actually a good fit?

could there be better moves for the Diamondbacks this offseason or even next? Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the stolen base point as well. He does, yeah, I think he's stolen over 20 bases the last three seasons, but not not particularly efficient in that regard. He was 22 for 32 in stolen base attempts in 2020. That's success rate just under 70%. League average this year under the new rules was just over 80%. The Diamondbacks as a team were at 86.5.

They were extremely efficient on the base paths. So yeah, and this is, as you pointed out, kind of a trend for Rosarena. He has a success rate just under 70% over the last three seasons altogether. So that's something the Diamondbacks seem to be pretty careful with. They definitely are not the kind of team. It just wants you to run, run, run if you're going to get thrown out too often. So of course, the Diamondbacks do have Dave McKay, who is widely regarded as, you know, one of the best base running coaches in the sport.

And it doesn't seem all that far fetch that a Rosarena could come over, learn some things from him and, you know, maybe become a little more efficient. And maybe there's a case to be made there as well defensively. The Diamondbacks have, you know, I think a well-regarded coaching staff when it comes to teaching defense in particular in the outfield. We saw Lordus Guriel Jr.

have a pretty solid year defensively, arguably should have been a gold glove finalist in left field. And yeah, I mean, he wasn't necessarily viewed that way coming into Arizona. I think he improved meaningfully once he got here. So it does seem like even though those are clear weaknesses at this point, or at least defense, as you said, maybe it's close to average, but it's not great. Those are things that the diamondbacks on paper could be well equipped to try to, you know, try to help him out and try to help him improve in those regards.

I could see that happening too because Arouseraine is kind of a late bloomer. I mean, look, he's a guy that the Cardinals pretty much cast off and didn't really see much value in him by trading him to Tampa Bay, not getting back very much for him. A couple of the 2020 pandemic season, he didn't really have his first full year in the bigs until his age 26th season. So I think for a guy like him, change of scenery, not because the scenery is so bad in Tampa, but just getting with a new coaching staff, working with a guy who's, you know, regard as one of the best coaches around in Dave McKay, that could definitely take. take him to that next level. So I very much could see that still in that prime window, right? Age 29 through 31 is when you'd have him under club control. So I very much could see him being able to get that unlocked with a team like Arizona, with that support group. And alongside a guy who would more than likely be his center fielder that he knows a thing or two

about playing alongside. Yes, he absolutely does. And we in fact have a picture of Randy or Rosarena and Alec Thomas from their days back in the World Baseball Classic. It seemed like they got along well. It seemed like they enjoyed patrolling the outfield for Team Mexico together so that there is a connection there. As far as what it would take to get this deal done, which is really the million dollar question here, the Tampa Bay raise, as I said, are in an interesting position where I think they're probably going to trade Tyler Glass now.

And I think they're open to trading a lot of different guys. in large part because their payroll is like actually kind of high going into 2024, at least by their standards. Their estimated year-end payroll is $125 million right around there, according to COTS, which is not a kind of payroll that we normally see the Tampa Bay raise run. So, you know, it sounds like there might be some ability to, you know, move the payroll up a little bit, but I'm not sure they're going to, they're comfortable keeping it that high. they've never had a year-end payroll of even 100 million. So 125 is sort of way higher than where they've been in years past.

But as far as what they'd be looking for, Wander Franco, interesting situation right now. Short stop for the race seems like something that they could be interested in. Starting pitching, they have a number of different injuries there right now. Their starting rotation is not full at all going into the 2024 season. Shane McClanahan, a couple of other guys dealing with with pretty significant arm injuries that will keep them out for part of the 2024 season. So starting pitching is certainly a need that they have.

If they are trading a Rosarena, they might also trade Manuel Margo. I imagine they'd be looking for some outfield depth. And I guess, you know, just general prospects that, you know, they might be interested in taking that on as well. So those are kind of what I think the raise might be looking for. Heraldo Pardomo, Patrick is a name that comes to mine. I don't think Diamondbacks would like dealing Geraldo Pardomo, and I can certainly understand why, but someone who could sort of make sense for the race on their side of things,

and someone who, from a value standpoint, roughly similar to a Rosarena, there's more control there, it's more affordable. I don't think Pardomo is quite the player that a Roserena is. So, you know, I think one one possibility here is to try to build a deal around him. When I sat down to concoct a trade for Randy or Rosarena, my eyes did settle on Geraldo Perdomo as being that top trade piece for the Diamondbacks, obviously with Jordan Lawler coming up through the system being there. And just the amount of club control still remaining on for Perdomo is obviously something

that's going to be a positive for. for the raise. As you point out, with the payroll being so high for Tampa, again, they trade Tyler Glass. Now, that's $25 million off the books right there. So that does definitely bring the number down. But there's not fat. Like that's the other piece too for smaller market teams like the Diamondbacks. They really need to look at other teams' rosters and say, hey, who do you want to get rid of that? You're just looking to save some money because we might be able to utilize that guy and take them off your hands if you want to pay down his contract. Rays, unfortunately, don't really have that. That being said, you know, you have a guy potentially making about

$4.4 million in arbitration this year in Harold Ramirez. And you say, okay, maybe that's your fourth outfielder. There could be those guys that the raise say, hey, can you take him off our hands? And we're really not going to charge you full price for him. So there really could be a multiplayer deal lurking if you do engage in those conversations with the raise. But you're right. I think it does have to start with a Herald or Pardomo. And it becomes similar to that, you know, Zach Allen for jazz Chisholm deal. Obviously, those players weren't as established, but it was very much, hey, your guy for my guy.

Let's see who wins. Maybe it can just be a win-win, similar to what the Diamondbacks, you know, did around this time last year in the Gabriel Moreno, Lordus Curiel for Dalton Varsho trade. And so the Diamondbacks are willing to deal big league talent. The raise, we know, do that just about every single off-season

at the trade deadline when they need to. So I think Perdomo or Rosarena starts a conversation off in a big way. Yeah, I mean, if it's not Geraldo Perdomo, then you know, you kind of try to think about, you know, who else could be the centerpiece of a deal like this. I don't think the Diamondbacks are going to trade Brandon Fought. I feel like that's just pretty much completely out of the realm of possibility.

Don't even really have to talk about that. But I guess you look at the farm system, you look at a guy like Drew Jones, you look at Tommy Troy, the Diamondbacks first round pick from this last year. I don't think there's any chance to Diamondbacks would trade Jordan Lawler in this deal. I just don't see that happening, so I'm not going to go there. But yeah, it's hard to know, you know, how do the raise feel about Tommy Troy? Out of the race feel about Drew Jones, a guy who's, you know, certainly a big name and still has a very high ceiling, but didn't look all that great in his first pass through pro ball this past season.

So, yeah, I mean, you know, would the raise be interested in something like that? I'm not totally sure at this point. I mean, maybe you can even float a guy like Jake McCarthy out there where, again, if you're acquiring a Rosarena, he's going to be in left, Thomas and Center, Corbyn Carroll, and right? Boom. You're pretty much locked up right there going forward. So McCarthy, again, becomes expendable.

And if you go ahead and eat a Harold Ramirez's contract, who again, nice number four outfielder, but you don't need McCarthy quite as much and that could quite possibly sweeten a deal. I'm kind of curious and I'm sure we'll touch on this. a little bit later on in the show. But I'm wondering how much if a Rosarena is truly on the market, and we know the Razor at least listening, as all teams should on pretty much every player, but how much is the Juan Soto trade market impact a Roserena, where those teams that may miss out on a WONSoto now start calling down to Tampa and saying, hey, we're ready to engage with you right now. So it may be a long game here. It could be a long process and to waiting to see what happens.

with Juan Soto's market, really almost waiting to see what happens with Shohei Otani, because then once he goes, now some of the bigger pieces can fall. Cody Bellinger is going to go to the runner-ups and the Otani sweepstakes and whatnot. So any trade for a Rosarena, I very much could see something that takes a couple weeks to come to fruition once some of the other dominoes fall first. Yeah, I agree. And I mean, for the debacks, they're also very much in the market for a starting pitcher. I mean, I think that's really the number one priority.

at this point. So you wouldn't want a Randy or Rosarena trade to make it so that you no longer have the resources needed to go and satisfy really an even bigger need at starting pitcher. And as far as that's concerned, yeah, I'm not sure exactly what that would look like. I mean, a Rosarena is set to make $9 million roughly in arbitration next season. We've heard from Nick Bacoro earlier this week over the Arizona Republic that the debacks have maybe around $20 million left to spend this winter. If that's the case, then I mean, you're basically spending half of your money that you have this winter on a Rosarena,

plus the trade assets required to get him, which I don't think would be a minor cost. So the cost here is pretty high for the debacks. It's not just that you're trading away, you know, prospects or potentially a young player like Geraldo Pardomo. So you're also like allocating not a big portion of your, payroll, but like a big enough portion of your payroll to maybe affect some of the other things that you're looking for.

Yeah, you have to be a little bit careful, but at the same time, you don't want to be looking back and say, man, they went to the World Series in 2023. There was an opportunity to do something in 2024, and it kind of never came to fruition. And you go back and look and say, man, there was like this lost generation. So despite the fact that the window is open, you know, there could be a thing as being too cautious. So if the deal is right, you know, you have to kind of make a move like this, you know, with the budget being as such where you can really only add $20 million. It would be curious to see if, again, you never know. The rays are peculiar and particular in the sense that if they like a guy, they'll go ahead and fleece a team and win a trade in a major way.

And so if there's somebody that's on the Diamondbacks roster, let's say Heraldo Perdomo is that guy for them. And they're saying, man, we really value this guy in a major way, especially because we've got a bit of a gap right now at shortstop with the whole Wander Franco situation kind of up in the air and really not up in the air. It seems like this guy's done forever. But if they're really valuing him, it would be interesting to see how much more they would need to possibly include someone like Tyler Glassnow. Now, Glass Now, it's probably going to get more.

You think Glass Now is probably going to get more than a Roserina, but a Roserina, again, he's got three. three more years of control, whereas Glassnow doesn't, he's going to end up going to free agency. So it's sort of, it's an interesting dichotomy here to where you'd be adding closer to $35 million, which is way over your $20 million budget. But if the cost is right, you know, the Diamondbacks might be able to make it work and say, hey, let's kind of go after it a little bit earlier here in 2024. I really thought that maybe 2025 would be when you start to see them, you know, making a little

bit, you know, more of those aggressive moves, bigger free agent decisions. But keep in mind, and I know you guys talk about this plenty, all these young dudes fought. I mean, Pardomo as well, Alec Thomas, Gabby Moreno, they're going to get a lot more expensive going forward. So right now is actually that time where you can load up that roster and say, look at all the players that we have at the exact same time right here impacting the roster, 162 games over the course of the season at Chase Field. You can really only do that right now because in two, three years, once all those young guys go into the arbitration process, now all of a sudden you need the next group of young guys to make an impact in order for the

books to get balanced. So it's still very unlikely that they would be as aggressive as that, but look, is there potential for that? I think maybe. There's a world out there that exists where the Diamondbacks can acquire both Tyler Glass Now and Randy a Roserana. You heard it here first, folks. Patrick Lyons reporting that the Arizona Diamondbacks are trading for both Tyler Glass now and Randy Roserana. Yeah. No, I mean, I think what you're saying, though, about this need to go for it right now, I think

it's a very good point. I very much feel the same way about this baseball team. You know, not only is it that those guys are going to get more expensive, but is Zach Gallin's still here in three years. Is Merrill Kelly still here in three years? Christian Walker is a free agent after the 2024 season. You really are at a window right now coming off of that World Series run to try to push in the chips and get back there, right? Try to go as far as you can right now. I know some people have been a little disappointed with, you know, the $20 million figure, which of course is not gospel. We don't, we don't know for sure. We have seen Ken Kendrick maybe

stretch things a little bit. If, you know, if a situation was right, we saw the deal. backs give over $200 million to Zach Granky. There have been, you know, little things like that here and there over the years. But yeah, I mean, this is the diamondbacks are in position right now. I agree to be as aggressive as they reasonably can at this point. And going out and getting a Randy or Rosarena would be that move and or at least one of the ways that they could do that. And Randy or Roserina, I mean, I kind of touched on this earlier.

It's not just the player. It's like it's the vibes, right? I mean, Randy or Roserina just comes. comes with, he's just a fun personality that I think, I think, like he is just universally loved, I think, by pretty much everyone across baseball is just, you know, a big personality, someone who's fun and easy to root for. And I mean, the debacks are already viewed as being a pretty fun team. Patrick, I know you've watched a lot of Diamondbacks baseball and, you know, some of those high moments and what that looked like in the playoffs. Randy Rosarina on the Diamondbacks would make

them an even more fun team than they already are. I already have a vision in my head of the shirt that's going to drop in the Ph.NX locker. It's just going to say the Desert Rose. Like that right there is going to move a lot of units. The Desert Rose, Randy Rose Arena. I mean, that's perfect. That's it right there.

Yeah, he fits in with this clubhouse, I think, in a big way. So when you look at it from that perspective, you know, you might have to make that work. And that $20 million figure, too. So, Eugenio Suarez, you know, you just got him for that. That's about half your money right there potentially. So if you are able to go all in and get a Rosarena, maybe they can throw in, you know, somebody on the back end, like a reliever because they grow on trees down in St. Petersburg.

So there's no issue with that. They could sweeten the deal. And I think the Diamondbacks would definitely be starting off the offseason. Even if they did little else after that, they will definitely have won the offseason so far in the NL West. Yeah, there is some trade history between the Diamondbacks and the Rays. It's not quite to the not quite to the extent of the Diamondbacks and the Mariners who have made at this point three trades like in the last calendar year, which is pretty funny. But yeah, I mean, the D-Backs traded pretty minor move.

D-Bact traded David Peralta to Tampa Bay at the trade deadline in 2022. The D-Backs got Jordan Looplo from the raise in the 2021 offseason leading into the 2022 season. And there was a pretty big trade back leading into the 2018 season, Steven Sousa Jr., coming over to the debacks, Brandon Drury, a big three-way deal there involving the Yankees. So, yeah, there is some trade history here between these two teams. And I mean, seems like I guess the big takeaways, like the cost is pretty big. Like you are probably going to pay at Randy or Rosarano almost 20 million

in his last year of arbitration, which I'm sure is a factor here for the debacks. But yeah, I mean, if you're able to find a way to make it work. And I know trading Geraldo Pradoomo, if that's what it took, you'd have to find a way to replace him most likely. I don't know if the debacks would want to go into opening day with Jordan Lawler, like having to be the opening day shortstop. There would there would need to be another solution there as well. So it's complicated. I think it's difficult on paper. It's a bit of a stretch for the debacks.

But I wouldn't rule it out entirely. If there's a way to, as you said, maybe the rays throw in some other people. pieces to help the debacks in other areas. That would certainly make this deal more possible, but it's certainly something that we'll be monitoring here moving forward. In the meantime, you all should become PH&X diehard if you have not already. It is one of the greatest things in Valley Sports. At least we like to view it that way. You get 20% off of everything at the PhNX locker as well as off all of our events here at PHNX, all of the takeovers during the season, all of that stuff.

You also get all of the writing over on our website. We have plenty of stuff available for free. But we do put our best stuff behind the paywall from time to time. I have a written mailbag story coming out later today that is for diehards only. You can ask me questions directly. And it's a little different than Mailbag Monday. It gives me a little bit more time to research and really think and, you know, check with people and whatnot on different things. So that's something I do every month here.

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Otherwise, we would have been, we would have been perfectly in sync. Yes, Elizabeth Bread and Bedding to Win More Bread, Breaking Bread, while betting. Fantastic. It's just, I mean, what else would you want to do on a Friday afternoon? I believe we got a super chat earlier that I missed. Want to touch on that real quick. Corbyn Barrels on the Randy a Rosarena talk says the answer is yes, whatever it takes. And I think a lot of fans feel that way.

Like I think fans are probably willing to stretch more for Randy or Roserana than they are for maybe some other players, just because Randy a Roserina is Randy a Roserina. Again, it's about the vibes. It's not just about the player, as I said earlier. But speaking about the vibes, speaking of the vibes, Patrick, the vibes are. show Hey Otani are very mysterious and would we really have expected it to go any other way at this point, right? We heard earlier, I think it was Jeff Passon who reported at one point the teams who leaked any information were having that held against them in contract negotiations with Otani. Otani in general is just sort of a mysterious fellow who doesn't necessarily, you know, say a whole lot to the media.

there isn't usually a whole lot of information out there. But we did actually get some information today. And Jeff Passon's story over at ESPN, he reported that the Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox, and New York Mets have moved on from the show, Hey, Otani sweepstakes. And the teams that are still in the bidding include the Dodgers, the Cubs, the Angels, and the Toronto Blue Jays.

He also mentioned the San Francisco Giants. It's a team that is known or has had interest. They sort of think that there might be interest there although it's not totally clear exactly where they stand at this point. I've been wanting to talk about Otani for a while, not necessarily from a Diamondback standpoint, because let's face it, if the devaks have 20 million to spend this winter,

you're probably going to come a little bit short in the show, Hey, Otani sweepstakes. I don't really see if, I don't really think that's going to happen. But Otani is, right, I mean, arguably the most talented player that this sport has ever seen. You know, he doesn't necessarily have the longevity in his career at this stage. But, I mean, in terms of pure talent and just ability of what he can do on the baseball field, it's truly unprecedented.

And because of that, he's one of the most intriguing free agents that we've ever had in this sport. Patrick, what are, like, just what are your thoughts on kind of the early takeaways here from Shoah Otani and, you know, this news that we got today from Jeff Passon to where his market stands? I'm a little disappointed. This hasn't become more of a circus. then it typically is when you have a mega-free agent like this. You know, we can all recall last year, Aaron Judge, you know, being in some hotel in San Francisco and that news leaking out.

And, of course, you know, how much is that obviously orchestrated by his agency to squeeze a little more money out of the Yankees? Yeah, that worked. But that's also fun. Like, that's fun part of the business of this game, the entertainment factor. So that's been my only disappointment. but yeah teams have definitely been on the hush hush and such to the point where reporters are on the hush hush in fact you you haven't even reported the lunch that you had with him and mike kazen last week right have you

talked about that on the show yet patrick we're not supposed to say that we just we did Patrick you just single-handedly took the diamond backs out of the show a otani sweepstakes look at what you've done oh well i guess i'll have to come and play for the colorado ruckies then no it's been it's been really I think originally they had wanted to get the deal done before the winter meetings. Now they're hoping, you know, possibly it'll get finalized before the end of the winter meetings next week. So we still have a few days to go with this. I wouldn't be surprised if it maybe drags on even longer, potentially, because we've already kind of, I think we're going to miss the first deadline that was set.

Because, again, I don't know how you have these kind of secret clandestine meetings with one of the biggest superstar athletes in all of the world. How do you make that happen? Are they just doing Zoom phone calls? I mean, don't you want to show off your city the best of it and all those things? And again, you know, one of the things that's on his list of demands, if you will, is he would like to play with another Japanese player. And if you look at the list of teams that are still reportedly in the hunt, I mean, it's really just the Blue Jays and the Cubs.

Blue Jays having you say Kukuchi and the Cubs have in Sea Suzuki. That being said, I said this yesterday with my buddy Kevin Henry. on the DNVR-R-R-Raki's podcast, I sort of thought a strange dark horse only because they continue to lose out the last few off-season, it seems like, that the giants will not only sign Otani, they don't have any Japanese players yet, but they could also sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Now, that would be huge. Now, we're talking, you know, $700 plus million to sign those two guys, which seems absolutely unheard of until you realize, hey, well, two years ago, the Texas Ranger, spent half a billion dollars for their double-play duo.

So, you know, to fortify a starting rotation that the Giants, you know, desperately need right now, you definitely would be doing that if you signed both Shohei Otani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto. We know Japanese players will flourish in the Bay Area. And there you go. Otani's got his buddy from Japan right there on his same roster. So we've got these teams that are still in the mix, right? I don't know if I, I don't know if I fully believe that it is going to be one of

these teams, it still feels like maybe things could change. Maybe there are other teams that are in the mix here. But certainly when Jeff Passon reports things, it tend to be true more often than not. So if it is, Patrick, if it is in fact the Dodgers, the Cubs, the angels, the Blue Jays, we'll throw the Giants in there. Maybe they are in the bidding as well. If you've got to make your prediction today, where is Shohay Otani going? I think he's, I think he'll go to the Giants.

I do. I think he'll go to the Giants. It seems like in the last year plus, the Dodgers are the obvious choice. Except over the years, man, all those players that are obvious choices or their destination seems so very clear. It doesn't happen. You know, Bryce Harper, you're like, well, we know he's going to the Yankees. That didn't happen, right? In fact, they, I'm not going to say they shot themselves in the foot, but they're like,

we're going to get Giancarlo Stanton right now. We're not even going to wait for Harper to become a free agent. So, you know, the Dodgers seem like that, the odds-on favorite to get that done. But with their financial issues that they're having and, you know, trying to stay underneath the soft cap that's there, I could see them going and getting multiple players for the same price that you would pay just for one, Shohay Otani. That's kind of why I think the Giants have, you know, the most room, as far as their payroll is concerned, to fit in an Otani. The Blue Jays, okay, that fits. but you've got Bobauchette and Vlad Guerrera Jr. for only two more years.

So, all right, I mean, you're going to have Otani beyond that, and that's great and all. But if Otani wants to win a championship, he's only going to have two bites at the apple the next two years with Toronto. I think Chicago gives them an opportunity to win a lot longer. Their rotation is fairly young with, you know, led by Justin Steele. You have Javier Assad and Jordan Wicks just coming up this past year.

So they have a young roster. I mean, the Dodgers do have a young rotation, very unproven. So I think all of those are good destinations for him. But I just sort of think that the Giants make sense based on the fact that they are desperate enough to pay the top dollar. It is a great location for him to fit in. It keeps him very much on the West Coast. And the Giants very easily, if Yoshinobi Yamamoto does become a guy that gets $200 million

or close to that as a starting pitcher, you could go maybe a more cheaper route in a Shoto Imenaga and Nyoti Uwasawa, I want to say, is his name, former teammate of his and the Nippon Ham Fighters back in 2017. So he's a guy that's just been posted who had arguably better pitching numbers than Otani when they played together in 2017. So, you know, there are some options where you can have, I'm not going to say two for the price of one because that one is very expensive in Shohei Otani. But if you don't have a Japanese player right now and that's super important for Otani

to be alongside, there are several that are available right now. free agency. The Giants are just such a broken brand right now. They're like a kind of broken team. They're not terrible, right? I mean, they were respectable this last year. But just from a brand standpoint, like, it's been kind of a long time since Giants fans have really had a star player to rally around.

And I mean, they've gotten so close, right? At least we think to landing a number of big star level players over the last few years. Of course, there was the arson judge situation last year. there was the Carlos Correa situation as well. You know, I think they were in on Bryce Harper to some extent. Pretty much all these big superstar players, the Giants have tried and they've just failed time and time again. But yeah, I mean, this does make some sense with, you know, the Giants are on the West Coast. If that's something that's important to Otani, that certainly would make sense.

And, you know, I don't think DeBax fans would be too happy with, with Shohei Otani in San Francisco. But they'd be a whole lot happier than with Showe Otani in Los Angeles. that I think everyone could probably agree on that. I'm with you where that almost feels like too easy, him going to the Dodgers. It's like, no, like that's too obvious. Like, Shohei Otani is so much more mysterious and interesting to just like sign with the team

that everyone's sort of been suspecting for months at this point. If I have to make a prediction today, I think the Giants is a good one. I'd be pretty tempted to just say that as well. I'll throw the Cubs out there as a team that, you know, I think this could happen for them. seems like they've been very much, you know, in the mix, trying to make this happen from the beginning, another team that, you know, could use a star level player to really build around and

build a brand around. Cubs baseball hasn't really been, hasn't necessarily lived up to, you know, what I know fans out there would really hope for ever since the 2016 World Series run. Otani would very much, you know, repair whatever has gone, whatever's gone wrong with the Cubs brand here over the last few years. but yeah there's I mean there's just so much mystery when it's all said and done with otani and it's going to be fascinating if he signs at the winter meetings Patrick it's going to be mayhem like i'm just picturing like reporters like running around the the like press work area and things just being utterly chaotic um but uh if i had to ask you a slightly different question instead of where do you think otani will go from just like a like a storyline perspective if you could just send him anywhere where would you want otony to go not from i mean i know we don't have like a rooting interest in this but it would just be like fun like yeah put otani on that team it's going to be like that's going to be fun the savannah bananas okay so you didn't specify major league baseball i'm going to say savanna banana no that's

no yeah that would be that's curious yeah if you're just straight up fantasy booking you know where where he goes for for a good story i i you know in talking about the dodgers and like oh it doesn't seem like it should happen because that's the obvious choice. I think it won't happen in L.A. for the Dodgers because everything we know about Otani says like he's just this angel. I wonder if that like weighs on him at all. Like I got to do everything right. You know, also it becomes easier to do everything right when you just do everything right. And you're just, if you are really that pure, right? And so I'm curious how much he would, he would think to himself, you know, if I go to the Dodgers, that's, hmm, my, my, my, my

seven angels fans in the back. Like, that could be really painful. Maybe I shouldn't. Maybe that's the one place that I don't go. Yeah, no, I would like to see him in a way in San Francisco. Selfishly, I know a lot of Diamondbacks fans on paper. You'd say, oh, you don't want the Giants to start to get really good again and have a superstar player on the roster.

On the other hand, you would see him twice a year. Ken Kendrick, now all of a sudden, does he have an extra $5 million in the hopper? because of the additional revenue that comes in from a packed house of people descending upon Phoenix like they were for the entire month of October in the postseason. Now maybe that changes your financials in a big way if he can come to the NL West. So fantasy booking-wise, I kind of would like to also see him in San Francisco. I think that would be a good fit for the Giants and a good fit for Major League Baseball as well. I just don't know if he goes to San Francisco. like are the Giants a good baseball team?

I still think they're kind of, they're kind of meh, right? I mean, they'd be, they'd maybe be like on the out, like the fringes of the playoff picture. I can maybe predict them to, you know, at least nab a wild card spot if they had Otani. I don't think they're, I don't think they're up there with the Dodgers, right? I mean, if you add Otani to the Giants roster,

the Dodgers are still probably far in a way projected to win the NL West. Let's, let's take the, the A's Royals and Rockies out of the conversation, the three worst teams this past year. But you put him on a row of, roster like the pirates. You're not saying all of a sudden, oh, my gosh, they're going to have a deep run in the postseason. But they do become a contender, especially given that division. And just everyone on the roster all of a sudden looks a little bit different. You know, O'Tonnie came into the Angels. That wasn't his team. That wasn't his organization. Right. It was Mike Trout's team.

And so, you know, he's kind of learning the ways of MLB and America and whatnot. And now where he goes, you know, for his next team, assuming he doesn't go. back to Anaheim to be with the Angels, now all of a sudden things to change. And do we see him in that leadership role of players maybe following him a little bit more? And now he's the guy and it's not Mike Trout. And then all of a sudden, you know, there's Anthony Rendon kind of in the picture as well. It becomes Shohei Otani's team. And immediately everybody becomes a little bit better. So he's worth a lot more than just himself. And so I think he's going to bring that to his next team. We know the angels are one of those clubs and you say, hey, the angels are going to

angel, right? They can't, almost like they can't get out of their own way. They can't figure it out. I think Otani was just about any other team in baseball. It gives that club a little bit of extra umph, a little bit extra moxie and maybe pushes them over the hill and builds a little bit more momentum than what we've seen in Anaheim with Otani, Rendon, and Mike Trout together. It's certainly, yeah, I mean, he's worth more than just Otani, the baseball. ball player there's just such a brand building component to this there's tons of money from like japanese advertisers that you'd probably expect so you know part of that contract is is certainly going to pay for itself uh i think jeff passin wrote today that north of 500 million seems to be foregone

conclusion at this point 550 i think you mentioned is um you know maybe something like like what it would take we'll see what happens there some people mention the mariners as a team uh it'd be fun to to see him laying there. I could totally see that. That's maybe that's that's probably the first team that comes to mind for me is like, yes, the storyline here would be great. It's a really hungry fan base. It's a faithful fan base that, you know, I think it's had a hard time with some of the words that have come out of certain front office executives mouths over there. Um, yeah, yeah, I wasn't going to say his name, but, uh, yeah, yeah, Jerry DeFoto. Um, and yeah, I mean, just what he would mean to that city and, you know, the show Hey Oatani brand, I think would, would really, would

really thrive in Seattle. I mean, it would thrive anywhere, but I think it would really thrive in Seattle. The Diamondbacks, Bees is right. The Diamondbacks got Schoey, I mean, yeah, that would be, from a story perspective, that would be incredible. And I do want to point out that not that long ago, there was an actual report about Shohei Otani coming to the Diamondbacks. No, this was not two weeks ago. This was in July at the trade deadline when John Morosi posted this tweet. he said Orioles D-Backs among teams inquiring with the Angels about Shohei Otani's trade availability. Both clubs' interests have been described as due diligence.

Both teams have the young talent-based conducive to making a trade. This was sort of fun for us on the show at the time because it gave us like, oh my gosh, we can at least talk about this and have it not be a totally pie in the sky kind of theory. Certainly didn't expect it to happen then. But in retrospect, Patrick, I mean, you were here for the D-BACs postseason run. if the diamond backs had traded even something outrageous for Shohei Otani. And granted, he wasn't going to pitch with how things turned out.

It wasn't the case at that time. But, you know, he has this injury. And I guess he would not have been able to pitch for the diamond backs down the stretch. But even if you put Shohei Otani in the middle of this lineup in the postseason, did the diamondbacks win the world series and like not regret whatever they had to give up to get him? I think it's a pretty reasonable conversation. No. My hot take, Diamondbacks don't make the playoffs with Shohei Otani last year. Honestly, that, a trade like that is going to be very distracting.

And if we know one thing about the Diamondbacks run, Toro Lavello, despite all the distractions of being in the postseason, he was the mastermind. He was able to navigate the ship of all these young guys, keep them within themselves, not trying to do too much. And you bring the circus that Shohei Otani is going to bring with him. And I don't say that in any disparaging way. Just it would be absolute madness. It would have taken a while to kind of calm some things down. And then by that point, maybe you don't even get into the postseason.

So if you're just adding a guy in October, if you can make trades then and just put him in the middle of your lineup, sure, great. But if we're talking about those final two months of the season, we know they barely got in in the first place, I would actually argue that with how it played out, how it played out. How it played out in Toro Lavello, keeping things, keeping into this community, this dangerous family, this connected team. It's going to be hard to be connected to a guy who's this superstar that you know is going to go out and free agency. You're probably not going to assign and stick around. I would argue that it would have been too much of a distraction for the Diamondbacks, knowing what we know and how it all under playing out.

What an insane take. All of the goodwill that you've built with fans. of the pH and XDbacks podcast, Patrick, out the window. All of it out the window just now. I mean, I guess you don't know unless it actually happens. I'm fine myself a little bit skeptical that adding showyotani makes the Diamondbacks worse, which is not exactly what you're saying, which is like sort of what you're saying. So, yeah, interesting take there.

But I did want to point out that, yeah, not that long ago. We were talking about this being a potentially real thing. but yeah any hopes of the diamondbacks being involved in this conversation unfortunately i don't think there's anything any substance to that whatsoever there's just not going to be enough resources there here's here's my question to you if the dynamacks have 20 million dollars to spend how much of a season does that get you from show hey otani two months april and may would you would you pay 20 million dollars to say all right otani is going to be on the team until may 31st can you do that yeah can the debacks just be like all right we're

going to sign show a otani to a two month 25 million dollar contract yeah there we go there you go i mean that's the equivalent right because obviously you've got of you know if you're if you're paying 500 plus million dollars you pro rate it yeah you're saving money annually so if you're going what's the what's how much do we have to pay for just two months we're trying to pack the ballpark in april and may you have 25 million dollars yeah we'll have to get the we'll have to get otani's agent on this the The best way to capitalize on Otani's value is, you know, don't sign a long-term deal. Don't sign like a several-year deal with some opt-outs or whatever kind of nonsense. Just go month to month.

What will you pay for Otani in April? All right. So this team's in for this much. All right. Now we're going to sell May. What are people willing to offer for May? And I don't think it's exactly how it works. But yeah, it'd be interesting.

Yeah, all of a sudden, that $299 package for season tickets becomes $2,000. Hey, no, we can afford them now. Like, okay. Well, based on being able to afford things, we have, we love our friends over at Arizona Lottery, and we get to do three of these every week, these little scratchers. And so I get to do one today. I'm about to win some money, Patrick. I can just feel it.

So you can maybe entertain the people, or I can just sort of talk as I'm scratching this and trying to figure out if I actually won anything. We'll see what happens. Whatever you get, obviously I'm bringing you a lot of luck. St. Patrick, if I'm closing this out, like St. Paul, as we know, the patron saying of the ninth inning, you know, as he was throughout the entire postseason, anything you win, I do expect to get a little bit of cut, bringing my Irish good luck to the table here. Well, things aren't looking so good right now.

I'm not going to lie. All right. Is there any chance that you could win enough on the scratch off that you sing, handedly could afford show hey otani what's the highest that goes damon 500k yeah on on on these particular scratchers i'm not so sure okay we're gonna go any more maybe not these ones the bigger ones right the bigger ones that we do from time to time we change a perfect page sally salary yeah i guess that's yeah and unfortunately uh a billion dollar 500 billion dollars i don't if that's quite on the table um but it looks like i swung and missed here patrick yeah so do you get a week

of Shohay Otani for $500,000? No, I don't think that math works out. I think he just is in your honor for opening day. Half a million dollars on opening day. I think it's like the first four innings of opening day and then he's got to go. That's all you could pay for the $500,000.

Who says no? Who says no to that deal? Anyway, we love our friends Arizona lottery. We did win some money earlier this week with our lovely holiday scratchers. And it is a fantastic. way. You're looking for stocking stuffers this time of year. Some of you get ahead on these things. I, as is well documented on this show, do not love to wait to the last minute. Probably pick up some of

these Arizona Lottery Scratchers because they are phenomenal and a great, easy thing to buy. They could turn into up to $500,000, depending on which one you get. So go out and buy your holiday scratchers today. One of the best gifts that you can get for people in your life. And, you know, with whatever money you do wind up getting, you can go over. to our friends at GameTime. And it's not only sporting events. It's also concerts, whatever shenanigans, whatever kind of events in town you're looking to attend.

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and redeem code phnx for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed so patrick we've got this thing called the winter meetings happening next week and i will be there and i know you will also be there what do we what do we expect are we we think there's going to be some chaos i think there's going to be some some fun stuff i know the winter meetings a number of years ago had a reputation is like, there's going to be some stuff that goes down here. Less so in recent years. The Diamondbacks, I think under Mike Hazen,

the Diamondbacks have only signed Fernando Rodney during the winter meetings. That's the only major transaction, the only major transaction that has happened during the meetings, actually. But you never know. I think Passon and his story had a Juan Soto deal maybe coming together by the end of the meetings. That would certainly be a big deal if that happened.

What are your expectations for next week? Yeah, I think we do get. a Wandsoto trade, especially because, you know, he's a Scott Boris client, as is Randy Rosarena. So we talked earlier about, you know, maybe an extension. That probably isn't going to happen since he does work alongside the Boris Corporation. But I think with Boris, you know, he made his big spiel over there at the GM meeting. So when's he going to get a chance to talk with more reporters and stand up there, you know, with his little Boris Corporation backdrop and his three-quarter zip? Like, you need to want Soto trade to go down. And I think, you know,

it makes sense for the Padres to try to get something for them, considering that you should make about $33 million in arbitration. So I think that's definitely going to happen. I think there's going to be a lot of other trades. And again, once Otani starts moving, immediately we're going to see Cody Bellinger find a home, Yoshinob Yamamoto, who really could sign the biggest contract of any free agent starting pitcher other than Otani. I think there's a good possibility of that happening. So I think we might, you know, we're supposed to see more trades this offseason, I think, than any other because of how light the free agent class is. Like after Otani, I mean, you're saying Cody Bellinger is the best guy. I mean, this is a player that the Dodgers, you know, non-tendered around this time last year because he was making $17 million.

Oh my gosh, that's so much money for a team like the Dodgers, right? So I think that's where it becomes interesting with all these guys that are going to be dangled out there in trades. Cleveland's got Shane Bieber out there, as well as now Emmanuel Colise as a great 25 years old, you know, super affordable. I want to say his average annual salary is $4 million. So any team that's looking to save money right there because of his contract of what it is, you know, the tax is very friendly because he's only making $4 million as far as the luxury taxes is concerned. You know, he's out there.

There's going to be other names that go around. So I think we're going to see probably more big trades than we do big free agents. Or maybe it'll be one for one, right? Because usually you think there's probably a four to one ratio. I think it might be closer to two to one. For every two big free agents that find a landing spot, we're going to have a pretty significant trade here at the winter meetings down in Nashville. I totally agree. Yeah, it seems like even though the free agent market is not particularly great this year,

I mean, there are still some bigger name free agent starting pitchers who haven't signed. Blake Snells thought there, Yamamoto, Jordan Montgomery. So, you know, I don't know if, I don't know if next week is going to be all that crazy. But I do think that December as a whole is going to be pretty crazy. As you said, there's a lot of like bigger name guys rumored in trades right now. Definitely, I feel like more than we're used to seeing a lot of like pretty darn good players who could be on the move in trades. And, you know, the Diamondbacks certainly expect to be engaged in, you know, a good part of the trade market, especially given some of the prices we've seen for free agent starters.

That might be the route that they have to go to meet. Maybe they're starting pitching need. Maybe it's a Rosarena and they get their outfielder there as well. You know, I expect them to be to be pretty active in that regard. I think if nothing else, the winter meetings just gives clarity on, you know, just more information on what kind of conversations are being had. Um, with the diamond backs, I'm especially curious what their degree of willingness is to deal a Drew Jones or a Tommy Troy or even a Jordan Lawler, although I don't really expect that. That's a really big variable for the diamond backs in terms of who they can bring back in a

trade. This farm system is still decent. It doesn't have the reputation that it had a couple years ago when, you know, when Corbyn Carroll was still in it and Alec Thomas was still in it. Um, but it's still a decent farm system, but it's top heavy. And so if you're not willing to part, with a few of those guys at the top, it's going to be hard to get a Dylan Cs or a Corbyn-Burns,

or even Randy or Rosarena, potentially, unless the debacks are willing to part with some of those top guys. So, you know, hopefully we get a little bit more clarity on what the Diamondbacks are able to do there. And Patrick, while you're here, I mean, you cover the Rockies on a day-to-day basis.

They're, you know, our friends here in the N. The one team that Diamondbacks fans, I don't think particularly hate at this point. What do you expect from the Rockies as they look to kind of get things moving in the right direction? I think the Rockies will do more than they did last year where they acquired a AAA starting pitcher for depth in Jeff Criswell and he never even debuted. So they basically just offloaded a relief pitcher in Chad Smith that they didn't see much of a future in. So I think they're going to have to do a lot more than they did all last offseason.

I mean, while they did acquire Nolan Jones in November, he was at the Nolan Jones that he. ended up becoming in 2023. He was a prospect that needed to prove himself. So it was, okay, maybe this guy is something. But otherwise, they did nothing almost all of last off season until you got to March. Everyone started getting hurt. And they said, let's get Mike Mustakis on a veteran deal and Brad Hand and jerks and Profar. I think they'll do a lot more than that, especially if they want to try to avoid losing 100 games again this year, which I think is very much a possibility, considering that, you know, all the issues that they have with the starting pitching, they're going to have again. Sure, Marquez might be back before the All-Star break, Sinsatel at some point after, but those are guys coming back from Tommy John surgery.

How much can you really rely on them and count on them to be themselves? They really won't be Marquez and Sinsettella until 2025. So you do need to bolster that starting rotation a little bit more than you have already. They did acquire Cal Quantrell. That was a nice pickup. I think it'll be a little bit better than just an innings eater, but they still need. need at least one more starting pitcher for the rotation. They've got, you know, they've got a lot of prospects in the outfield too right now. And so that's something that they could trade from.

It seems strange to trade a prospect outfield when you've just lost 100 games. But if you look at what their roster is like right now, they just don't have room to really develop all those guys. So you take some of that depth, right? And maybe you can go out and acquire someone, Elhurst Montero kind of doesn't have a spot right now on the roster. So I think, we're going to see a little bit more significant of a trade than we did at the winter meetings last year well i'm excited for it um last year i mean i i know i said that you don't necessarily get a ton of action the debacks didn't do anything at the meetings last year there were some pretty big rumors that came out uh sean murphy was rumored as a trade target for the debacks at the time uh we also saw

zander bocarts rumored as a potential free agent target for the debacks during the winter meeting so um it'll be fun i'm looking forward to to being out there. And I didn't get nearly enough Patrick Lyons in my life in the month of October. So we're going to make up for that here in December with the winter meetings next week. And are we scheduled to go boot shopping or are we getting like 10 gallon hats? Like which one did we want to do while we're done at? I'm going to eat some barbecue.

Patrick, that's what I know. I'm going to eat some barbecue. I'm staying a little bit after the meetings too. I'm going to try to find like some local Nashville music, something authentic, see what we're able to pull off. But yeah, it should be, it should be fun. I mean, it's just it's a really cool event to be a part of with the entire baseball world just descending upon one hotel. I have heard that this particular hotel is especially difficult to navigate and people, like front office people can like hide in all of these various corners and whatnot. So it'll be interesting dealing with all that.

but our friends over at CHGO will have a set on site at the winter meetings, which is really cool. I believe I will be joining our show from that set. So for those of you who are part of our winter meetings coverage last year, you know that I joined on very poor Wi-Fi and you could barely tell who I was. So hopefully the quality should be better this time around. Stay tuned for information on our show next week. Things might be a little bit different, just so you all know in advance, We might not be live at 1 p.m. every day. It's going to kind of depend on what Mike Hazen and Tori Lavello's availability looks like on our end

and just making sure that we're able to go live right after those events take place and give you the latest from the winter meeting. So excited for that. And we'll see what happens, Patrick. Maybe it's crazy. Maybe nothing really happens and we're all disappointed. No, I, yeah, no, I hope not. That's a major undersell right there.

You're lucky because Toy Lovello gets things started off. He'll be one of the first managers to talk Monday at 2 o'clock central time. Okay. So you want to talk here. So, yes, you will definitely not be a part of a one o'clock show. That's a great point. That's a great point. Patrick is scheduling all of our shows next week.

He's taking on the task of arranging all that for us. You basically a Ph.NX employee at this point. We've already established that. So it's just part for the course. Anyway, I'm certainly expecting it to be sunny next week, Patrick, which is a little surprising, but checking the weather, there's going to be a lot of sun. So I will certainly be bringing my Shady Ray's with me over to Nashville. Shady Ray's gear built to last.

They are durable. And as Derek has talked about a lot on the show, they have a pretty crazy policy where if you break them or lose them, they will send you another pair completely for free. Really a great deal. and they are genuinely the best sunglasses that I have ever had. I grew up basically never wearing sunglasses and just letting the Phoenix sun just, like, destroy my eyes. And I'm glad I'm not doing that anymore.

I'm not going to let the Nashville sun do that to me either. Shady Rays is currently in their biggest sale of the year for Black Friday. Don't miss out on the best deals for shades, snow goggles, and prescription sunglasses. Go to ShadyRase.com and try for yourself the shades rated five stars by over 250,000 people. Also want to give a shout out to our friends over at OGs, of course. This is Flavoring Fridays presented by OGs. It's really nothing better, Patrick. Derek has talked about this at length on this show.

There's nothing better than sitting on the couch watching your team with a bag of OG's gummies in your hand. It is the true excellent sports fan experience. Can't go wrong there. With a variety of bold flavors, OG's gummies are a slam dunk for your taste buds. Plus, you can customize your experience based on design. desired effect and strength to learn more about OG's gummies and where you can find them, head on over to OGsbrands.com. Well, Patrick.

Feels even better. There you go. There you go. Well said. Well, Patrick, this has been fun. Having you make your triumphant return to the show, we've missed you around here. We still have not fully come to terms with the fact that you left us. So we're getting over it.

But this is a lot of fun. appreciate everyone being here and joining us here on this Friday edition of the Ph. and X. D. Back show. Uh, you can follow me on Twitter at Jesse N.

Friedman. You can follow Patrick at Patrick D. Lyons. Damon, our producer is on Twitter at Damon Dogg. We are Damon's dogs. Woof, bark.

Woof, yes. I just need to say real quick that, uh, I miss Patrick, but don't tell him that, Jesse. Okay. All right.

I'll make sure. I'll make sure he doesn't like that a secret. Yeah, I'll try to keep that a secret. secret as best I can. We'll see what we can do. You stole my heart. It would be too dim. And of course, also be sure to follow us on Twitter at pH and X underscore D-Backs.

I guess I should say X, follow us on X at pH and X underscore D-Bax. And of course, all roads lead to at pH and X underscore sports. That's on Twitter or X, Instagram and Facebook as well. Thank you all again so much for being here. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun. when Randy at Rosarena is on your team.