PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - The Arizona Diamondbacks are out $30.8 million in overdue rights fees from Diamond Sports Group

Episode Date: March 17, 2023

There’s bad blood between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Diamond Sports group after DSG missed their final opportunity to make their rights payment. Will MLB be forced to step in and broadcast games? Or will Diamond continue to handle D-backs games through the bankruptcy process? We also have your D-backs spring updates and discuss if Major League Baseball should adopt the WBC’s run rule.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 PHNX: Our next PHNX Tee Party at Dobson Ranch is LIVE! Join us on Friday, March 24th for a night of golf, food, drinks, contests, prizes, and more. Come hang with the PHNX crew, fellow Suns’ fans and Diehards as we watch KD, Booker, and the Suns battle in the final stretch of the season as they take on De'Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and the Sacramento Kings.Checkout the PHNX Tee Party at Dobson Ranch Eventbrite to reserve your spot today. And Diehards, check Discord for your exclusive discount link!Circle K: Text code “PHNX” to 31310 to win a $500 gas card! Limit one entry per person—limit of one entry per phone number. The offer is valid for Arizona residents only. Must be able to verify the place of residence. This contest is administered at the discretion of the Grand Canyon Division of Circle K Stores. Circle K Store Inc. is a part of Alimentation Couche-Tard. You must be 18 years of age or older to win. For questions about this contest or our stores, text ”CARE” to 31310.Rotowire: Get your free trial and unlock all the best fantasy sports news and analysis at https://rotowire.com/phnxOGeez!: Learn more about OGeez! at https://ogeezbrands.com//. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Four Peaks: Drink, eat, find, and experience Four Peaks at https://www.fourpeaks.com/.  Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Bad Birdie: Use code “PHNXSPORTS_15” for 15% off your next order https://glnk.io/7qnq/phnx-sportsMor Furniture: Save big on the best furniture in the Valley when you head to https://morfurniture.com!Roman: Go to https://ro.co/PHNX today to get 20% off your entire first order. 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.

What's up, everyone? It's Tori Lavello Manager, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Thanks for checking in. Hope everybody's doing great. It's time to kick off happy hour. And Clue Haywood says it's time for Friday beers. Hell yeah, it's time for Friday beers. Welcome in to your Friday edition of the PHNXD BACs podcast.

My name is Derek Montia. it's me. Hi, I'm the problem. It's me, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX and as a proud resident of Swift City, I want to wish a happy Taylor Swift Day to all those who celebrate. It's St. Patrick's Day, darn it. This guy over here, he just keeps talking about some St. Patrick's Day. But for me, it's Taylor Swift Day. For those wondering, my favorite song is lover. And welcome it to the PHNX DBEX podcast. This sad sack next to me does not appreciate good music or, good musicians. She is the artist of our generation. But anyway, he is the thunder stick. It's the one and only vice mayor, Jesse Friedman. Nobody asked what your favorite Taylor Swift song was, Derek. That was not. I knew they were wondering, though. I know it was a question on their minds, and I know that they were asking. I know they wanted to know before I set off, once again, to Swift City, where I live, to watch Taylor Swift tonight. Which song? Swift City being State Farm

Stadium? No, sir. No, sir. The entire city of Glendale is Swift City for the next two days. That tracks. I hadn't changed my mail. I believe it. Yeah, there's a new zip code. It's very complicated. But anyway, really, we know you guys are more interested now in the Arizona Diamondbacks updates, which currently is happening right now.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are right in the middle of playing the Colorado Rockies. And Kyle Lewis, the Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder, has had himself quite the day going two for two with a walk, two doubles, and three RBI. The man is having himself a spring. And he is making it very difficult on this. front office to decide on on who they keep up here and who they might have to send down between perhaps him and paven smith yeah i mean we've talked a lot about how paven smith has this defensive versatility you probably feel a little more confident about him in a corner

outfield spot you also know that pavin can play first base but there has to be some level where kyle lewis can work his way into the open like like if he hits 600 if he hit 700 well we talked about this with the younger guys right that the younger guys are really in a position where some of them based on the little experience that they have really can't perform their way into a spot. Like they would almost have to be just mind-blowingly good in order to really like steal a spot from one of the guys that has more major league time on the roster. However, that's not the case with Kyle Lewis. Kyle Lewis is a former American League rookie of the year. He's a guy that has just always been very good at baseball.

And unfortunately, he went through a series of knee injuries that that not only, held up his career and held him from performing, but also slowed him down a bit and made him less of a defensive threat, I guess you could say, less of a guy that in the outfield can really track down balls. But Kyle Lewis's name has still come up as a corner outfielder for this team, maybe not an everyday guy, but a guy that can DH and also back up the outfielders.

And to be honest, I don't know if he continues to perform like this at the dish, how he doesn't make the team, right? Like just from the perspective that you have a designated hitter now, and you can have him play that role even if you don't feel comfortable with him defensively in the field right now. If the debacks can find some way that they're comfortable with to back up Christian Walker at first base, then you can have Kyle Lewis on the roster. I know Lordus Gurriel Jr., I believe, logged some innings at first base last year for the Toronto Blue Jays.

So you could look to him. I don't believe Gurriel has been used at first base at all this spring, which makes me think that he's not really an option. Because we would see him play sometime there, I feel like, if that was the case. If the debacks were planning to use him at first base, I think you would see that. I want to say maybe Emmanuel Rivera played an inning or two at first base at some point in spring training, but he also isn't really on track to make the roster. And there would be room for him anyway.

I mean, it would just continue the log jam that we have with Pavin Smith. Right, right. I don't know. I mean, does Gabby Moreno play some first base? is Carson, like, you need a guy to back up first base. Period. You're absolutely right. That's the thing that's in Kyle Lewis's way. And I'm still not quite sure I see how the Diamondbacks would work around that.

The bigger problem is, is that now with the losses to the bullpen, we know the Diamondbacks are going to cover, carry so many guys, right? But they can make those changes to the roster. They could technically, even though they probably don't want to do that, they could carry one less bullpen arm and carry an extra guy. but it's not something very likely, right? It's kind of like when at one point they had three catchers on this team and we kind of lost our minds about it.

But part of that was due to the versatility, I think at the time of Dalton Varsho, who could play other positions and not just catcher when there were three catchers on this team. But, I mean, again, like Jesse said, it's not about having too many at these positions. Really, it's about not having an adequate backup for Christian Walker who absolutely is not going to play every single day,

nor is any single player on this team for Tori Lavolo going to play every single day. He doesn't run. He doesn't run his team like that, nor do most Major League ball clubs at this point. They should have an adequate backup. And that's the reason why Pavin Smith's name still comes up. And Smith has been doing good in his spring. It's not like he is not doing well. It's just right now Kyle Lewis is doing so good at the plate.

It makes it very difficult to think that they're not going to somehow incorporate him into the lineup in some way or into the, you know, into the roster. But there's only so many guys that can, they can carry, right? Yeah, Jack makes a good point in the comment, says one workaround would be keep Lewis and Smith and then option Alec Thomas, which is fair. You could, you could send Alec Thomas down to start the season. That would open up that extra spot that you need. But I don't know if I see the deep back doing that.

I mean, Alec Thomas has played fairly well for Team Mexico, at least from. a numbers standpoint, he was pretty good in spring training before, before transitioning to the WBC. But it's his defense. I don't know if I, I don't know if I see, especially the way that Torrey has talked about Corbyn Carroll playing left field, kind of being cemented as the left fielder. Yeah, it doesn't sound like there's any change to that. That implies that Alec Thomas is your everyday center fielder pretty much. I'm guessing the debacks would have needed to see some pretty concerning things in spring

training to not have Alec Thomas on the opening day roster. But yeah, it's a good point. I mean, it's kind of the only workaround that I could possibly think of. I just don't know if the debacks would really be inclined to go that route. When it comes to more roster news, there is Ryan Nelson who currently is needed to kind of have a pretty good outing today to keep his name in the starting rotation conversation and did have a pretty outstanding outing today. He went four and a third innings, gave up four hits, one earn run, walked one with six strikeouts, Jesse. Pretty damn good day for Ryan Nelson. Perhaps I might be wrong about this, but is that the best outing he's had this spring yet?

Yeah, it's definitely the best outing that he's had in an actual Cactus League game. He's pitched in some B games as well. It's probably the best outing that he's had the entire month, this whole spring training, I think, in B game or otherwise. He looked good today. I had to leave in order to be here about halfway through his outings. I didn't get to see the whole thing, which I blame Derek for. Totally. It's totally my fault.

I have a Taylor Swift concert to go to, and I was like, Jesse, you don't get to watch baseball. Come here and let's do the show. Uh, but yeah, no, I mean, there's definitely a lot, you know, I don't know. I mean, I get, I guess there's still a lot to play for. And we've said it several times, even though I was very reactionary and you were very level headed about it. We were saying that like, no matter how well these guys do early on, it's, it's, it's not decided that early on. It's not decided in the first three or four starts, nor is it decided necessarily based on the outcome of the finishes. A lot of it is how well they do all spring, how well they bounce back.

from bad outings and specifically in a game how well they bounce back from a bad inning. I think that's the reason why, as Jesse's reported on, that we've seen so many starting pitchers coming back into games after they've left due to having kind of a rough inning. They wanted them to reestablish their confidence and they wanted them to go back out there and see if they, after kind of getting shook a bit, that they could go back out there and get quality out. Yeah. I asked Tori today actually about the fact that the Diamondbacks have continuously use that strategy of having guys leave the game and then reenter the next inning and then leave the game and then I mean they've had some guys do it almost every inning yeah of

their outing right um which is not a not a great sign right I mean it's not it's it doesn't necessarily bode well for the regular season that you're having to use that quite as much as the diamondbacks have I asked Tori about that today and he said yes it is kind of a concern like like like the moment that opening day comes you can't do that anymore right last I checked the rulebook. So I think the D-backs are hopeful that they won't have to do it as much in these final days leading up to the regular season. But Tori also didn't make it sound like he was going to pull back from that. I think more than anything, the D-backs are concerned about having guys throw too many pitches in a particular inning at this stage with guys still not being all

that stretched out. So I think it's something the D-backs are going to continue to do, even if it's a little scary as opening day rolls around knowing that some of these guys have yet to actually pitch a normal outing straight through without leaving the game and then coming back. Yeah. And also there's the fact that like starting pitchers are kind of like those of us that have like taken a swing at like a carnival game or an arcade game and you just want one more shot because you had a bad outing, right? Like that's the one thing I always hear from pitchers is they absolutely hate to sit on a bad outing unless it was unless it was that a couple of guys who will remain nameless but like to let Caleb Smith mostly like to let that fire burn inside of him.

But a lot of pitchers can't wait to get back out there and rectify a bad outing. So I think that's the reason why during spring this is so effective is because it does. They're kind of itching when they get pulled from the game to get back out there and get some outs again. And just even if it's for nothing more than themselves to feel like they, you know, did the thing and we're able to still strike out major league bad. or just get those quality outs, right? Like it just helps their confidence in ways that I don't think we quite grasp at times because it does. I mean, it's just such a weird thing to be pulled out of a game and then you put back in.

And like I don't know. At times it doesn't really seem like it's the biggest confidence booster. Like maybe you just want to be left in the game to work through, you know, a bad inning and get through it without having been removed no matter how long it takes. But they do cap these innings. They cap how many pitches they cap. and throw. There's a lot of other stuff going into this. And honestly, I think our next update is

a big reason why. Unfortunately, we do have updates on Corbyn Martin, and it sounds like the Arizona Diamondbacks are going to lose Corbin Martin, as Tori Lavello said for months. He has a torn lat tendon, which is going to sideline him for a considerable amount of time. 60-day IL stint is coming up, presumably. Yeah, I think Gambo reported 60 Day IL, which I mean, that's what it sounds like. The Tori said months, not weeks, which is exactly what he said about Mark Malanson.

And that just, it sucks. It absolutely sucks because we know Mark Malanson wasn't right and was struggling, but Corbyn Martin had absolutely put it together this spring. He was one of the first guys that I saw throwing live batting practice who just looked dominant.

And I mean, again, it's batting practice, so you could say what you on about live BP, but... He looked pretty good in the Cactus League games, too. He did look good in the spring training games as well. And unfortunately, Martin has just had tremendously bad luck when it comes to injury since joining the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Tori Lavallo spoke about his frustration a bit.

You know, in Corbyn's situation, he's probably wondering, after talking to him a little bit, like, why did this happen? He's got a string of tough injuries. There's nothing he could have done to prevent this. This is just one of those baseball mishaps, one of those situations where he was getting after it on the field and performing at a very high level, and he just got injured,

and there's nothing he can do about that. I know he's probably asking the question, like, could I have done more, or was I'm more prepared? I don't think so. Based on what he was given us, he was an extremely prepared athlete and functioning at a very high level. So those are my ass.

He should be proud of the way he was performing, is just unfortunate at the timing of this injury. Yeah, and the, That's it. I mean, it's unfortunate. I mean, forget timing. It's just unfortunate period. Like he just continues to, you know,

struggle to get to the, to the main roster. And that's where Corbyn has been trying to get to ever since he became part of this organization. When the debacks traded for Corbyn back in 2019, right? The biggest piece in the Zach Grinkey trade. He was the thing they wanted, they wanted them prior to that, right?

Yeah, he was a guy the Diamondbacks had targeted for a while. And the only reason they were able to get him is because he was in the process of going through Tommy John recovery. And so there was a little bit more risk there and the debacks were willing to take that risk. Unfortunately, it hasn't really paid off, Derek. It's felt like ever since Corbyn Martin came over to the Diamondbacks organization, you know, he got back from Tommy John, but there's just been one injury stint right after

the other. I think this is like his fourth official injury stint. And of course, it sounds like it's going to be a while. Officially, there's no timetable for Corbyn Martin's return, but Tori was able to fill us in. This is going to be months. It's not like he's going to start throwing again in a week or anything like that. But yeah, I mean, I count going through Corbyn's diamond back's career between AAA and the majors, I count a total of about 140 innings, something like that.

The debacks made this trade in 2019, right? It's been almost four years since that trade happened. Corbyn Martin hasn't even had enough innings pitched for basically one full season at this point. and it sounds like he's not really going to get that this year either. Do you have any other injury updates? I know Jake McCarthy was scratched from the lineup today. Jake McCarthy was scratched with flu-like symptoms. It's been a little odd.

Almost every single day from the D-BAC's Twitter account, they tweet out the lineup, and then they inevitably amend it 45 minutes later, and somebody gets scratched, and then we have to go through and ask Tori what it is. Yesterday was Christian Walker. He seems to be doing fine. I think the team is still kind of slow playing him a little bit

after that hit by pitch on Monday's game. No big concerns there, though, I don't think. And then, yeah, Jake McCarthy scratched from the lineup today. That was just flu-like symptoms. And Tori said rather than, you know, letting it run its course through the clubhouse at this stage, it might as well just send the guy home and try to keep everyone well as much as possible. But, yeah, no big concerns with that one either.

I hate to bring this up and I hate to word it this way. But is Andrew Chaffin going to be our next Mark Malanson? Is Andrew Chafin the guy that was outstanding before the Diamondbacks brought him over and now he's going to struggle? Or is this just me overreacting to spring training? Usually people hate me during this show, Derek. They hate me for saying things like that. But I think they hate you. No, it's fine.

I accept the hate. And honestly, I really am concerned because, of course, it felt like Andrew Chafin was the guy that, especially I was, you know, after. I wanted them to pick him up, especially considering how well he is pitched since he has left the Arizona Diamondbacks. And he just has had a rough start so far this spring. Yeah, Andrew Chafin is- I want to chalk it up to that. Yeah, I mean, the VLO has come up a little bit. It was pretty low at the beginning of spring training. I'm looking at the numbers from today.

It looks like he hit 92, which is pretty consistent with where he was last year. There's also some 89.8 and 90.4s in here. so it's a little bit lower than where it was at the end of last year. But nice to see that come up. The effectiveness, though, has not really been there for Andrew Chafin. It's a super small sample size for him. So you have to take these things with a grain of salt, of course. But four in a third innings, an 8.31 ERA, a 2.77 whip.

He's had traffic on the bases all over the place. It feels, it feels. And I haven't done any kind of crazy research on this at this point. It feels like when the debacks have had veteran relievers who come in and really struggle in spring training doesn't tend to change once the season starts. I remember right, Mark Malanson pretty similar last year. I don't recall Ian Kennedy. I feel like if I'm a mistake, I could be wrong about this. I almost feel like I'm revising history potentially on this.

But wasn't Mark Malanson still kind of good to start the season last year and then he fell off? No, I don't. Bad right out of the day. I think he was pretty bad right out of the gate. All right. Well, I don't know. I digress. I hope that that's not the case.

It's too early to say anything officially with Andrew Chafin. But I will say the V-Lo is pretty low. At the beginning of spring training, it's ticked up a little bit. It's still a little on the lower end. Something to monitor. He's walked a lot more guys than we saw him walk last year. That's kind of a big change that Andrew Chafin has made since he left the Diamondback. He doesn't really walk that many guys anymore.

spring training he's been a little all over the place so hopefully that that resolves in the next couple of weeks hello to all of our friends by the way in the chat including jack summer is charles woodall pike and chris make sure if you guys are here right now i have a little special treat it's friday you know what we do on fridays we have one more mountain mike's pizza to give away so drop that pizza emoji in the chat and i will be sure to enter you into a drawing for a free 20 inch pizza pepperoni pizza I love their Poperonia pizza. It's like my favorite over at Mountain Mikes. So let's let's pick up the Friday vibes.

Chris says this is not Friday vibes, right? I'm sorry. This is reality. This is where the injuries start occurring. We were so stoked about the depth of the Arizona Diamondbacks. And now that depth, I'm not saying it's being tested, but I'm guessing it's going to prove to be very valuable,

considering the pieces that the Diamondbacks have already lost for a considerable amount of time. this spring training but go ahead like i said if you're here right now in the chat and you can do so safely uh that means that you're you're not watching this while driving and you're not emojiing while driving but drop a pizza emoji in the chat and i will enter you in uh for a for for a free 20 inch pizza from our friends from mount mics and of course i it's friday beers we're all having a friday beer we all are i should he should be i should be i i should be he's he's not in the same mood as I am. He's not going

to Taylor Swift after this. Me and Damon are rocking and rolling here. Yes, Damon is getting him a beer because it's Friday beers and we're having Friday. That's what our producers are for. It's just to get us beverage is trained to show. Tell those goddamn sun devil guys to fucking pipe down

over there. Anyway, we thank you guys for being here and of course if you're having beer, make sure you're having a four peaks brewing company beer. It's the best beer to have. Not only for the sporting events, but of course today is St. Patty's Day as Jesse mentioned, and the best place to spend your St. Paddy's Day is at the Four Peaks 8th Street Pub, of course, hang out with your favorite degenerates and enjoy a damn good time. Must be 20 years or older to enjoy and enjoy responsibly.

Also, check out Four Peaks this month. They have all sorts of wonderful stuff going on. Their spring training tours throughout the month of March, they will show you how they make the beer, and they will show you where the ghosts hang out at the 8th Street Pub. And they also have their beer. There are many ghosts. There are many ghosts. Many ghosts.

And also check out their beer week calendar. Some of them. Some are drunk and surly, but that's what you get at a brewery. FourPeaks.com slash events for all your beer week entertainment. And make sure on your way out there to Four Peaks, or if you're not making your way out to the H Street Pub, you grab your Four Peaks at our friends at Circle K. Fuel up at Circle K, not only yourself, but your car, your family, everything. Check out your local Circle K for the best coffee, beer, snack selection, and premium gas. of course sour anything is the best road trip snack again that's just my opinion i cannot eat

the sour gummy worms on the show because i've learned they do terrible things to my mouth while i try to talk and be uh you know say words which are already hard for me to say but uh make sure you stop by circle k and pick up your favorite snacks for your road trip i got a new car jesse and i cannot wait to take a road trip in my new car and one of the things i need for my need for my car is gas. So make sure if you need gas to partner up with us and our friends at Circle K, check this giveaway opportunity out. You text PHNX to 31310 for an opportunity to win a $500 gas card. See show notes for details. They are pulling that gas card next week. They're picking a winner for that. So if you haven't entered yet, make sure to enter. Again, we are teaming up.

$500 in gas money. I think I've said it before. That's like the most valuable giveaway item. we've basically ever had. Like I've always, I've said that about, there's things that I've said like, okay, if you like that item, then yes, you can stock up on it and whatever, but we all need gas. We all have cars. We're all going places. So, of course, that is a very valuable. Have you ever had that thought that like when gas was cheap, you were just going to go buy a bunch

of containers and just fill them all up? Jesse, when I was younger, when I first, when I first started driving, gas at the AMPM by my house was 75 cents again. Oh my gosh. That makes me feel like I'm telling an old-timey old man story right that's exactly what you're telling. It makes me feel like oh when I was a kid candy was a nickel and movies were only 10 cents and they gave out free popcorn. Yeah, that's what it feels like. Anyway, now what you need to do is check out Circle K because they have excellent prices on gas and they have the best snacks and everything that you need on your quick pickup in your quick stops. So again, we're excited to partner with our friends at Circle K and of course check out.

out that giveaway opportunity. Again, text PHNX to 31310 for an opportunity to win that $500 gas card. And again, pick up our friends of Four Peaks while you're there at Circle K, getting your other sacks and such. We know that Circle K is going to be there, but what we don't know is if Arizona Diamondbacks games are going to be there. And I don't mean take place. They are going to take place, but we don't know who is going to televise or if they are going to be televised because Diamond Sports Group did not make its rights payments to the Arizona Diamondbacks. That rights fee payment, as we talked about previously, had an extension period, had a grace period until last night at midnight.

Diamond Sports did not make that payment. According to a report from Sports Business Journal, Diamond has said they expect to continue to broadcast games during the bankruptcy process. but the thing, Jesse, that is not clear is which games they're talking about broadcasting. There are still four teams that they completely do not plan on paying these rights payments to. The next team that that payment is due is the San Diego Padres. Now, there's a vast difference in viewership, I guess you could say, between San Diego Padres games lately and Arizona Diamondbacks games in case you're wondering why

the D-backs were the first team that Diamond Sports Group decided to not pay. It is the team with the biggest discrepancy between ratings and how much they were paying the team essentially. Yeah, like how much money they were bringing in and how much money they were shelling out. Correct. However. The situation, not great. Not great. But the bigger thing that's the problem here, Jesse, that I find with Diamond Sports Group that I don't think people are talking about enough is the Diamondbacks are not the top company, essentially, that Diamond Sports Group owes money to.

The top company, the top creditor that Diamond Sports Group owes money to is Direct TV. And they owe DirecTV $40.1 million. So the thing here that I think comes before, whether or not Diamondbacks games are going to be broadcasts on Valley Sports, Arizona is going to be if Direct TV as a provider still airs Ballet sports in any regional sports market as a channel. We know that when DirecTV tends to butt heads with networks, they'll throw up that thing saying, direct TV is currently not, you know, is currently working on something with this channel or whatever, but you don't get to watch the channel, right? So this could potentially not just impact the Arizona Diamondbacks, but could impact all 13 MLB teams that are currently under contract with about Valley Sports or Diamond Sports. Yeah, I mean, in like in the Diamondbacks case, they obviously want their games to be televised. Correct. So even though, even though they're not.

getting the money they're supposed to get, they're not going to be like, oh, take a hike, we'll find someone else to do this. They're like, no, we, yeah, like, please. Would you please still do this? Would you please still televise our games you're supposed to? Whereas direct TV, we don't know a whole lot about this situation, but just from a logic perspective, direct TV would be more in a position to be like, oh, if you're not going to pay us, then we're not going to deliver this to our customers.

Right. Because, I mean, any cable network at this point is, you know, they're not exactly flush with cash, right? I mean, it's tough out there for some of these cable companies at this point. So, yeah, I don't know exactly how this is going to pan out. I would be very surprised if Diamondbacks games were not available at all. That's something I still view is a complete non-possibility. I wouldn't worry about, like, there is some scenario where, where you will just not be able to watch Diamondbacks games.

I don't think that's going to happen. But is it at least possible that maybe some providers don't carry it anymore? Yeah, I think that's at least possible. And that's my bigger concern. But then MLB has already said that they are going to step in and broadcast games. And we don't know what that means necessarily. But if they do, it won't be on the Ballet Sports channel. So if a disagreement comes up between DirecTV and Diamond Sports,

and that channel is like off air. MLB has the MLB network to broadcast games as well as being able to do it through the dot com website that they could potentially broadcast several games and just kind of have you stream it, I guess. Yeah. It just isn't ideal, right? It's obviously not ideal to do it that way

and it's going to not be ideal for a lot of us to not have it on our televisions through a channel that we pay for if you are a direct TV subscriber. You're definitely like if people have been watching Diamondbacks games a certain way for a long, long time, and then suddenly, whatever that way that they've been watching those games disappears, you're probably going to lose at least a portion of your audience. Some people will find out, some people will do the work of figuring out how to, how to watch

those games still. I think you're at least going to lose some of those people who are just like, I don't see it anymore, and maybe they're not quite as much of diehard fans, and they're kind of okay if that slips to the wayside and they just don't really, you know, do what they need to do to figure out how to watch those games. My father-in-law, Leonard, he is not, he's not tech savvy, even though he's worked in tech a lot, right? But he does. He tries to go through every avenue he can. And unfortunately, in some cases, it involves him, like, downloading some pretty shady, like, applications and websites just so that he can try to watch Diamondbacks games, right? But again,

And part of that is the fact that you and I that understand the danger of some of these websites might not be willing to even go down that path where this man is unstoppable. You're not going to separate him from his sports teams that you will find a way to watch it no matter how impossible you make it for him. Right. But at the same time, too, he's also just risking his internet connection and his computer's livelihood with all of those websites that he's going to and stuff. Right.

People keep mentioning channel three, Derek. It's because. People want Channel 3 back. Again, you just brought it up. You just said the way that we used to watch games, that's the way that people used to watch games. And honestly, there's just, there's something nostalgic and heartwarming about it, but there's also something that's kind of awesome about being able to watch a baseball game. If you have nothing more than a set of rabbit ears and a 20 inch tube television,

you know what I mean? Like, that's part of it is that people want to be able to watch baseball no matter where they're at. And there is something about, you know, Channel 3, the ease of just having. a local channel broadcast it that feels right about that. Most of us grew up with that. So most of us don't want that, don't want it, you know,

a different way. Now, one thing that's interesting is Diamond Sports Group has said that they continue to, they expect to continue to broadcast games during the bankruptcy process. Here was a quote from the Diamond Sports Group CEO, David Preschleck,

who said, yeah, this guy's just going through it, man. DSG will continue broadcasting games and connecting fans across the country with the sports and teams they, they love. The financial flexibility attained through this restructuring will allow DSG to evolve our business while continuing to provide exceptional live sports productions for our fans. I don't

mean to laugh through that. It's just hard to take that with a with a straight face, right? Like, are you kidding me? This like they're almost making it sound like this is a positive thing that's going to help them. And in the end, I can't imagine Diamond Sports Group exists after all this is said, done and continues to broadcast games in any way, sheep or four. I mean, they'll be acquired. I mean, they won't just solve entirely, I don't think. Sure, sure. Sure.

And that's the reason why in the very first place, Sinclair made it a different, completely different entity separate from Sinclair Broadcasting Group. So that Sinclair would not have to take on this financial responsibility. But this thing's been a disaster since the beginning. When I brought up the fact that they owed DirecTV $40.1 million, the one thing, this group of just absolute degenerates had to, say here at p hnx about the deal was like that sounds like ballet sports is hustling backwards like

why are you paying direct tv all this money like i get it but it's part of the deal when you're broadcasting as part of their group and and the financial structure that goes with being a part of a part of direct tv now one thing that diamond sports group is saying in all of this is that they've done nothing but lose subscribers since they joined direct tv so they're almost making it sound like the Direc TV deal was bad and that it's done nothing but go downhill since they made it, thus putting some of the blame on DirecTV as a whole. But let's be honest, since this is facts from this article on sports, what is this one? Sportico.

Sportico. This one on Sportico from Barry Bloom, by the way, famous. Friend of the show. Friend of the show. Also a well-known Muppet in the press box. since hard launching its Valley Sports Plus app, which is the digital content, the way you can access it without a subscription last September,

Diamond Sports Group has amassed 200,000 direct-to-consumer subs. In June 2021, Sinclair projected that its DTC service would attract 4.4 million subscribers, and they've only amassed 200,000. It's weird to put an only in front of 200,000, but yeah, last I checked, 200,000 was only about, 5%. I was going to say, it's not, remember the million seconds and billion seconds conversation, Jesse? This is hundreds of thousands of seconds versus million seconds. Like this is just a vast. And I mean,

again, these are projections that you're providing to shareholders and people that are investing in you believing that your app is going to reach this level of subscription. It did not. And a big part of it was because from a lot of people's perspectives that tried using the app and tried to be a consumer on this app, that it sucked and that it was not reliable and that you couldn't reliably watch games on it. I will speak from experience and say, I've just signed in as a direct TV, you know, with my direct TV provider information. And I've never really had a problem with watching games when I've been out. However, I've never at any point relied on it as my primary source to watch games.

And sometimes if it does have glitchy issues, I'll just shut it down and watch it on TV. Or if I'm out, I just don't need to pay attention to the game anymore. Does the bow. So that's, I mean, we're talking about the Bali sports app and like where you can subscribe so that you get access to, I guess it would be Suns, Coyotes, Diamondbacks. Cardinals would be a separate thing. Do they have an app where you could actually watch it on TV? Or is it just an app for like your smartphone or? your tablet. As far as I'm aware, I don't think they like, I'm a big Apple TV guy. I'm not sure

if they have an Apple TV app. I have this issue with PlayStation 5 too, where PlayStation 5 does not have a lot of apps that you would think that they should have available for content providers. Like, I don't believe there's a Paramount Plus app on PlayStation 5. So it wouldn't, it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't. But again, that it looks like they do. It looks like they do have an app on the Apple TV. Okay. I was going to say, because that would speak to, again, the availability of the app and again, how available you make it makes a huge difference to these subscribers. But the bigger thing here is that it looks like, honestly, MLB has, might have more than one reason to step in and help televise these games. And then that's part of

my concern, too, is there's 13 organizations then that MLB would have to step in and broadcast. That's a lot. That's a lot to take on. And I don't know if they have the availability to make it so that all of those games are available, you know, should something go down with DirecTV, right? Because that's now kind of trouble looming on the horizon for for ballet sports or for us as baseball lovers, I should say. I feel like the issue with Ballet Sports Plus is that there aren't that many people who are okay not having access to ESPN or any other cable channels at all other than just Diamondbacks and Coyotes games. That's a good point. And so it's like, well, I mean, Valley Sports Plus is cheaper than, you know, like Direct TV Stream or one of those streaming services that gives you a bunch of cable channels.

But I think a lot of people are like, well, yeah, I'll pay a little bit more because I still want ESPN. I still want like cable news channels or whatever. Whereas otherwise, I mean, if you're just getting Valley Sports Plus, then you're just getting those teams. And it's like, yeah, well, you probably do. You probably want more than just those teams. And you know why, because ballet sports doesn't provide you with enough content throughout the day like we do here at go PhNX.com, right? Get yourself a diehard membership and get all of the content, be here all of the time.

We know some of you guys are. We've spied on you. We know we watch the other shows. We see you guys here all day long. And we appreciate you. We love you. Whether you're here just to watch us or you're here to watch every single show on the network, our hope is that we keep you tuned in all day long and that we are providing you with all of the updates that you need. for your Arizona Diamondbacks

and all of your Arizona sports teams, right? But of course, you know, we know you have other interests. Sometimes you got to go watch Last of Us or other stuff too. We got that covered too. G rated. I'm on that one. Check it out.

Don't leave anywhere. Stay here on the Ph. And Xports YouTube channel. Subscribe to this channel. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when any of our shows go live. Leave us a little thumbs up. It makes both of us very happy.

And Taylor Swift would be thrilled to know that you left us a thumbs up. And speaking of that diehard membership. Too hit for Taylor Swift. Do it for Taylor Swift. And speaking of the Dyerd membership, grab that over at go phtnx.com. Not only do you get access to Jesse's wonderful newsletter full count. You also get access to all of the wonderful writing from our writers around here,

all the great work that they put into that, as well as a free piece of merch from the PHNX Locker.com, and 20% off all your future purchases. You also get members-only merchandise, members-only discounts with our partners, members-only invites to our events. We have our upcoming tea party, which just surprisingly enough happens on my,

birthday next Friday. So don't miss out that with on that tea party and so much more. Of course, if you're a diehard member, you get a discount on that event. And so many more options as a diehard member. You also get access to our die hard only Discord lounge, which is the best place to be an Arizona sports fan. So join us. Become a part of the family. One question we've had, and we do have an update by the way on Edwin Diaz. Maybe a good one if you are a New York Mets fan, but we've been talking a lot about the world baseball classic. We've really enjoyed the way everything's gone down except obviously for this injury discussion. But one thing that we have talked a little bit about is the run rule.

And we were just kind of kicking around the idea if Major League Baseball should adopt the World Baseball Classics run rule, aka the Mercy Rule, which is what Jesse and I would demand it be called if it did get adopted by Major League Baseball. We're not we're not sugarcoating things here. It's the Mercy Rule. But one thing, Jesse, obviously, that has come up quite a bit is the fact that you know, MLB wants to make game shorter, and they already have with the pitch clock

and the implementation of the new rule changes this year. However, it feels like a mercy rule where a team is up by 10 runs or more in the eighth inning and beyond would be something that would help to even shorten up games further. So tell me why. I think it's a, oh yeah, it's a 10 run deficit

after the seventh inning or 15 run deficit after five innings. Okay. What are your thoughts on adopting this? And do you think it would ever be a possibility of Major League Baseball? I don't think it's something that Major League Baseball would ever do. There's too many traditionalists. There's too many humps that you'd have to get over.

I don't necessarily view it as being like a big problem that baseball has to fix. We don't necessarily see a whole lot of these games. That's a good point. And Major League Baseball has already taken the action of prohibiting when you can use a position player to pitch. That's something that I believe is new this year. But I don't know. Like there are so many traditionalists in this game. I don't know if anyone is going to be okay with us shrinking down baseball games in terms of the number

of innings that we're actually playing. Sure. It's one thing to make the game shorter. There's enough people already up in arms about that. Yeah, Fergerio. But I mean, it starts, right? Like it starts to impact player stats a little bit, maybe. Not in a significant way.

but I don't know. I just, I don't really, I don't feel particularly strongly either way on, on this one. My guess is that people don't feel strongly enough about it to make it happen. I think like you said, the biggest thing is that we don't see many of these run,

many of these games throughout the year. Maybe a dozen at the most, right? And that feels like even an overestimate. But you're going to have your games where a team puts up 20 runs and it just seems ridiculous. Nobody even stays till the end because once you're up by 10 runs or more, fans start exiting the building because they want to get home and they want to beat traffic.

Right. So, um, but I also think that maybe, uh, gambling might impact that, right. Like, I mean, there is the idea there that there are run lines and, and times where a team might come back and even reduce, uh, you know, reduce a deficit beyond a certain point where it could change gambling lines. So I mean, I think that's part of it too, especially with, you know, especially with, you know, sports gaming being so widely. accepted. But I mean, I don't know. I just think that when they talk about things to short games, these few completely ridiculous blowouts seem like they could call it a little bit earlier. I mean, there's just not that many of them. I mean, in 162 game season, it's a handful.

You can probably count them on one hand, how many games would actually be subject to these rules. And yeah, I just, I think the reason they do it in the World Baseball Classic is, because you've got some really, really stacked baseball teams against not so stacked baseball teams. It's true. The talent disparity is way larger than what you ever have in Major League baseball. I played in a co-ed soccer league. You don't have to say anymore. I lost so many games, 10 to nothing that I wish would have ended earlier,

so that I did not have to ride that train out until the end, but it is what it is. Edwin Diaz, meanwhile, season-ending injury, not good, not good for the world baseball classic. However, I am very pleased to see a lot of people defending the World Baseball Classic and saying that this injury did not occur because of it. That made me feel very good. And again, like Jesse sent me this tweet from Codify that said that 61% of Puerto Rican households were watching the game between Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Yeah, but it was meaningless, Derek. But it's a meaningless game that nobody cares about. Are you fucking kidding me, bro?

61% like I there are there are like 37 cities on that tiny island I visited almost every single one of them it's you imagine 61% of the US like of people in the US doing anything at the same time not at all not at all and I mean there's something to be said like because I've been in Puerto Rico during like political election season and just that shit is wild I can only imagine the reaction the reaction the celebration that was going on on the island after they beat the Dominican Republic, right? So when people say that the celebration by the guys on the field was ridiculous and not necessary because it resulted in Edwin Diaz's injury, don't understand, again, how big of a deal it is for these small communities to see their team overcome the adversity of a juggernaut like the

Dominican Republic team and how much joy it brings them to advance in a tournament like this. It just, it absolutely means the world. We talked about Japan. Over 25 million households watching it in Japan. That's definitely not Puerto Rico. You're not getting that many millions of households watching it 61%. But it's still a substantial, you know, amount of the island watching this tournament. And like Jesse said, it just, it means so much to so many people. I don't know how you can call it meaningless. What happened to Edwin Diaz is unfortunate. But based on information that came out today, the Mets will not have to pay. his contract this season. Major League Baseball has an insurance policy for this tournament

that should a guy have this exact thing happen, that Major League Baseball will actually take over and pay his salary for the season based on this insurance that they've taken out. So it's a great thing for the Mets. I believe it still may count against their cap. I mean, there is no cap there. You know, against their, against their. What word did you just say? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm There's Steve Cohen luxury tax is what I meant, right? Is this what fall we're talking about? What is this?

Coen luxury taxes they're starting to call it. But I think it's a great, honestly, I think that's at least something that a lot of people, I mean, again, it's not, you're not going to tell that to a Mets fan and have them be reasonable about it. But, I mean, for the most part, it is them doing something to try to make up for, for this loss of a player that some, some might seem as a meaningless tournament. but others, it means the world too. Yeah, I mean, 61% of Puerto Rican households watching, watching that game,

I believe, according to Forbes, 40% of all U.S. households watch the Super Bowl this year. So you had a pretty significantly higher portion of Puerto Rican households watching that WBC game than U.S. households watching what is widely regarded as the biggest game that happens in the U.S. every year. So, yeah, I think we hopefully have debunked that, that myth at this point. Charles Woodall Pike brings up the Czech team again. I know we've talked about it a lot. But, man, that check team is a movie waiting to happen. And you might have to make the movie, Derek.

We'll do it. If no one else is going to make the movie. We'll take the producer credits on it. We'll fly out to the Czech Republic and we'll make it happen. We'll make it happen. It's fine. But, yeah, it's just, it's good for baseball. It's fun.

And, man, I can't believe I'm missing tonight as Puerto Rico versus Team Mexico. I can't believe I'm missing it. Yeah, you're going to Taylor Swift, so you don't actually care. I'm a little torn. Maybe I'll find a TV at State Farm Stadium, but we got pizza to give away. So let's give away some pizza. Can I just say real quick? Well, let me say really quick. If you haven't dropped the pizza emoji in the chat yet, do that right now. I'll add you to the spinner and we'll enter you in to win a free 20-inch pizza from our friends at Mountain Mike's. Go ahead, sir.

So it's sort of an interesting connection here talking about Edwin Diaz. in the fact that the Mets had this insurance policy. I believe that Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who was going to participate in the WBC, he backed out, I believe, because the Dodgers, for some reason, could not secure an insurance policy for his salary. So, yeah, that was the issue that was brought up

when Clayton Kershaw backed out. He didn't want to comment on it a whole lot, but the reason that was given, at least publicly, was that there were insurance issues, which I believe would have been the Dodgers trying to secure an insurance policy should something have happened to Clayton Kirshah on the WBC.

I guess Kershaw with, you know, his long history of back problems and so forth. Maybe the insurance companies are just like, yeah, no, we're not insuring that man. But I guess the Mets were able to find a policy for Edwin D.S. I think, Jesse, it's specifically because in high-levered situation, they were trying to get a portion of the policy that covered choking.

Oh, nice. Well done. You're really proud of that. That was a good one. I got his ass. Got him. Anyway, let's give away some free pizza.

Let me add you guys here, Dope Solo and David Lyon. And we will give this wheel a spin, shall we? All right. Let's see. David Lyon. I got you.

And. And that's last call for pizza. We're clicking the spin. Do people get multiple entries if they put in multiple pieces? They do not. They also can't win multiple pizzas. So, and speaking of which our winner is the aforementioned David Lyon, David Lyon, David Lyon, David Lyon, congratulations.

See, you got in right at the very end and you won yourself a pizza. So congratulations to David Lyne. Send us a DM, David, through Twitter, and we will make sure to get you out your pizza certificate so you could go hopefully David lives here in Arizona yeah hopefully in Algeria yeah don't live in Algeria because I don't know if it's going to be warm when we get it out to you as far as the delivery goes but we do appreciate you mountain mics I think does deliver but I think they have a reasonable their fucking name is mountain mics Jesse that alone tells me that they will deliver to

wherever like mountain mics like that's that's a deliver over mountains over mountains yeah okay so there is a reasonable limit Fair enough. But if you guys haven't had a chance to do so, get down on your MLB future bets over at the Draft King's Sportsbook app. Corbyn Carroll, rookie of the year, we're riding high. But most importantly, you got your no sweat NBA, same game parlayes. I'm not betting on the suns until Kevin Durant comes back. But once I do, they can have all of my money.

If you're a new customer, you can download the app now and sign up with code PH&X. New customers can bet $5 on the NBA and get $200 in bonus bets instantly, only at the Draft King's sports book. official sports betting partner of the NBA with code PHNX. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. And of course, don't forget, you get your bets down right now on the WBC.

We're riding with Team USA and we are riding with Team Mexico, even though I will be secretly rooting for Team Puerto Rico. You had your bets emotionally. It's like what Shane Defenbach says. You got to make sure that you win in some way, shape, or form. But also make sure to get your tickets. If you are trying to score last minute,

tickets. I don't know. We don't have any more WBC games here at Chase Field. Jesse sent out our sad tweet from our account of basically him closing the doors on Chase Field. But you have so many more things to get your tickets to, including maybe you get your tickets to tonight's Taylor Swift concert or tomorrow's Taylor Swift concert. Don't forget. She's here for two nights. And you can get that over at gametime.co. It is all about procrastinating. We're all about procrastinating. We're all about rewarding procrastination over at game time. You can save up to 60% on tickets when you buy your tickets last minute. The best way to support us is by buying your tickets through the link in the description below.

And before I go to listen to the aforementioned Taylor Swift, I do have to give a very special shout out. Happy birthday to my sister-in-law, Shannon. My sister-in-law is the embodiment of St. Patrick's Day. Ooh, I love that. If you could make St. Patrick's Day into a person, it would be my sister-in-law, Shannon. So I love you, happy birthday. My brother's birthday is also this weekend. Happy birthday to you as well.

A bunch of March birthdays. Your whole family. We all celebrate this week. This is the week of the birthdays. We celebrate them. They are a couple who have their birthdays right next to each other. And I can't like that's the best, right? Like when you can, except for the fact that like who takes over, right?

Like my wife spoils me on my birthday and I spoil her. If your birthdays are together, who spoils who? Do you just do everybody forget? Is it a push? Yeah. I don't know if I like that. I think you just call it off and don't do anything special or you both have to find a way to spoil each That's exactly what you would do.

I knew it. But anyway, we thank you guys, of course, so much for being here. You can follow us on Twitter. My shenanigans are going to go on all night long. And I got my little daughter here with me. So it's going to be a daddy daughter date night out at Taylor Swift. But you can follow me on Twitter at K-M-Ur-M-A-M-A-K. This guy is at Jesse and Friedman.

He will not be at Taylor Swift. Damon will be at Taylor Swift, though. Damon, what's your Twitter? Is it Damon Dog? At Damon Dog, B-A-W-G. There it is. Follow him because we're going. We're going to Taylor Swift.

We know what's up. But, of course, our show is at PHNX underscore DBAX underscore DBAX and all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Dback's got a win. DBAX got a win. There we go. That's a good thing. That's a good thing, even though.

Carlos Vargas is scoreless inning with a strikeout look good. Zach McAllister. Andrew Chafin wound up working out of that inning. Kyle Nelson had a couple of strikeouts. Pretty good day, all in all for the DBAx bullp. pen. Excellent. Excellent. Well, we don't have bad blood, of course, but I am going to go enjoy a wonderful night. And in the meantime, you guys do too. On behalf of Damon, Jesse, Taylor Swift, and myself, we thank you guys all for being here. And remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much

more fun in that lavender haze.