PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - The Arizona Diamondbacks cancel Fan Fest and we have details on the decision | PHNX D-backs Podcast

Episode Date: January 24, 2023

The Arizona Diamondbacks have canceled their annual Fan Fest for 2023, and we have all the details on why and what is next. We are also grading Madison Bumgarner’s 2022 season and taking a look at the D-backs new Spring Training hat.BUY D-BACKS TICKETS HERE: https://gametime.hnyj8s.net/c/3442941/1410622/10874 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports DraftKings: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now (https://bit.ly/3Jl1dMX), use promo code PHNX and make your first deposit of FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in FREE BETS INSTANTLY! Gambling Problem? Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY),If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisiscounseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/LA/MD/MI/NJ/PA/TN/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/KS/NH), 888-789-7777/visitccpg.org (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), visit OPGR.org (OR), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA). 21+ (18+ NH/WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/KS/LA(select parishes)/MD/MI /NJ/NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. VOID IN OH/ONT. Eligibility restrictionsapply. Free bets: Valid 1 per new customer. Min. $5 deposit. Min $5 bet. $200 issued as free bets that expire 7 days (168 hours) after being awarded. See terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com/footballterms. No Sweat: Valid 1 offer per customer per day of NFL 2023 Wild Card Round. Opt in req each day. First bet must lose after opting in. NFL bets only. Paid as one (1) free bet based on amount of initial losing bet. Max $10 free bet awarded.Free bets expire 7 days (168 hours) after being awarded. See terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com/footballterms.OGeez!: Enter the “Flavoring Life” sweepstakes. One winner will receive 3 bags of OGeez, an OGeez! Hat, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Sign up at gophnx.com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIplqDYsxYeiotn5Zc6hRahaX0a5qG99eHVzkhOlGZDRdgUA/viewform. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Underdog Fantasy: Sign up for Underdog Fantasy today! Go to the link https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-phnx and use promo code “PHNX” to receive a deposit match up to $100Four Peaks: Last Wednesday’s are back! Join our PHNX crew at the 8th Street Pub on January 25th as all of our shows are live and in-person throughout the day. Enjoy $3 beer specials and come say hi to us. Must be 21 or older. Enjoy responsibly. Bad Birdie: Use code “PHNX_SPORTS15” for 15% off your next order https://glnk.io/7qnq/phnx-sportsMor Furniture: Save up to 50% all through the holidays! Check out https://morfurniture.comFOCO: FOCO has you covered with the best Arizona Merchandise. Head on over to foco.com. For all non pre-sale items use the promo code “PHNX” for 10% offChitown Cornhole: Go check out their website chitowncornhole.com and make sure to follow them on Instagram @chitowncustomcornholeboardsWhen you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome into another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as the mayor of PHNX. This guy, he's the one and only Thunderstick. He's also my vice mayor, the one and only Jesse Friedman. I have a lot of things to talk about today, Derek. So much stuff to talk about. It's kind of ridiculous. That spring training hat.

People are very opinionated. I'm mad about that hat. I'm mad about that hat. But we got some good news for you there. and we have some bad news for you about DeBacks Fan Fest. But of course, before we get to that, I just want to let you guys know. This show is brought to you by the fine folks

at the Drafting Sportsbook app, America's top-rated sportsbook app. As some of you may have seen already on Twitter when asked about the upcoming fan fest, the annual event that the debacks have, typically a free event at Chase Field. Most of you have attended it at some point, I'm sure, but there was a response to someone's question

about when Fan Fest was going to take. take place that it had been canceled. And I've actually been working very hard on getting an answer for you guys on this. We got some information last week, but we had to wait until it became kind of official. And now we have some more information about that. Jesse, fan fest is indeed canceled. But the debacks will be holding a similar event for advantage members, corporate partners, and community partners. So the event will no longer be open to the event will be open to the the public like it once was. And that is the information that we had confirmed for us by the ozone of

Diamondbacks. Yeah. Essentially what's happening is the D-backs are, they're no longer holding Fan Fest. It's no longer the open public. I believe it was free. It's been many years since I attended Fan Fest, but it was a free event that was open to everyone. And that is no longer happening.

That event is we know it is no longer happening. The Diamondbacks instead are holding a similar event, as you said, for season ticket holders and some of the insider people of the Diamondbacks community. Of course, the goal there is to try to give those people some more exclusive perks, right? Try to give them something that not everyone has access to for the average fan that may seem, you know, like they're kind of getting the raw side of this deal like, oh, this thing that used to be free that I used to go to and, you know, get to say hi to all these players and whatnot no longer exists and that is unfortunate.

Brett Johnson said, Dback said free stuff for fans. Nah, paywall that shit. All right. Well, and to be honest about it, we are somebody that can kind of understand where the Diamondbacks are coming from. Those of you that are diehard members, we try our best to provide something for you that values your money and values your time. Tries to give people back what they wanted. And in some cases in the past, that involved us putting more of our content behind a paywall. And now the model that we moved into, Jesse only has to hide one of his pieces from everybody.

and put it behind the paywall, right? But what we try to do in lieu of that is we're trying to offer some more diehard exclusive events. So I understand where the Diamondbacks are coming from on this. I will say, though, that my concern, my first question is, are the Arizona Diamondbacks really a popular enough franchise to be making this move, right? I feel like FanFest is something that built a good amount of goodwill with the community. Yeah. Brought in some new fans that might not have cared as much about the team as they do when they take their kids. out to this event.

Like, I don't feel like this is one of those things where, honestly, this franchise is popular enough to do this. However, I will say that they haven't had Fan Fest out there for a few years. Yeah, I guess they had it in 2020, but that was at Salt River Field. So it's been a while. I think maybe 2020 might have been back at Chase Field, but 2019 might have been at Salt River Field. They've tried to do some different things.

And one of the biggest problems is space, right? Like, we all want to go to Chase Field and walk around on the field. It's a rare opportunity. We want to get to hang out, enjoy free stuff and do all of that. But I used to take my daughter there. And I will be the first person to attest that I spent my time waiting in lines for bounce houses, almost the entire time, like 30, 40 minutes per bounce house. It was kind of crazy, right?

Not to mention the fact that the lines only continued to get bigger to the point where, from my understanding, the Diamondbacks literally had to, like, remove stuff from the event so that they had more space at Chase Field for all the lines that were starting to form, right? I mean, maybe there's a way for them to come around and do this in a better way in the future. They did say that this is their first time kind of reconnecting with fans since they had to cancel their last few fan fest. This is kind of, I think, maybe an experimental thing for them. Obviously, part of this is to try to get more season ticket holders. So I understand that.

But I think it also is to try to provide it to be more of an event where people attending it can enjoy it without the long lines and without the huge. crowds and everything like that. I mean, there are other ways they could have done this. They could have maybe charged for the event, which would have kept a lot of people away, and it still allowed fans that aren't season ticket holders to come to the event. I saw the Houston Astros at their fan fest were giving fans like a, or season ticket holders, like a fast pass option.

I mean, let's be honest. This is how Disney created FastPass in the first place. Fucking people with money were like, you know what, I would pay money to not stand in this line. And Disney was like, I hear you, son. That's just so different, though. because at Disney you're there for the rides. Like, you're there for those things.

And not everybody is at Fan Fest. Not everyone at Fan Fest is there for the bouncy house, right? Like, I don't know if, I don't know how much money you're necessarily willing to pay to have, you know, you get the bounce house before anyone else does. Like, I don't know how much value that necessarily has. I do wonder if there was a way for the debacks kind of along the lines of what you just said to maybe add some additional component rather than subtracting Fan Fest. You know, for everyone, maybe there was a way that they could have added something to it that would have given those season ticket holders as insiders some sort of a special perk within this event that already exists. Or maybe they add another event on top of it. Maybe time blocks.

Maybe you have it like season ticket holders can come in from noon to three and no one else can during that time. Sure. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Like something that, because I think one of the things that anyone who's been to Fan Fest is well aware of is it's not like you can go up and talk to, you know, Josh Rojas for 20 minutes. Like the players don't have that much time because there's so many people there.

Yeah, if you're in the autograph line, you're usually getting a quick autograph maybe and a picture leaning across a table with the guy, right? We are in a unique position as Arizona Diamondbacks fans to live in the same state where spring training occurs. Right. A lot of these other franchises, they have to have, you know, obviously, the fan fest is important

because this might be the last time the fans see them until they come back for the regular season. Right, right. It's a great point. Excuse me. But here in Arizona, we have the ability to go and go to the Diamondbacks workouts and sit there at the fence and be five feet away from them while they're doing catching drills. And then they come over and chat with you for 10 minutes and sign autographs and take pictures

with you. And it's much more personal experience. Same thing with spring training games. Like if you get to a spring training game, an hour before the game starts, you're going to have unprecedented access to the players. And we live here in the same state where Fan Fest happens. You know, like, I get it. This isn't going to be a popular decision.

And I don't think the Diamondbacks are necessarily expecting it to be. But I do think that they realize that this thing at Salt River Fields isn't, or I'm sorry, at Chase Field, this fan fest isn't necessarily the best experience. I will say that I know a lot of fans will probably miss like the Q&A stuff that they did. Both with like alumni as well as current players. That was probably a lot of fun that we're missing out on. Yeah, that was my, like, I've only been to fan fest a couple of times. It was many years ago when I was a wee lad. I was a big, big D-Backs fan growing up.

You mean two years ago? Yeah, about two years ago. But I do remember the Q&A's being like my favorite thing. I don't remember what I asked, but I know I asked Greg Schulte a question. Yeah, you did. And I felt really cool about it. How do you pronounce your R's? he wasn't the one like he wasn't the interviewee he was the interviewer so it was like people

would ask questions and he was kind of the facilitator i don't even remember who else was on the stage with him but i asked a question to krechulte like even though he was the facilitator i don't know i got i got like this this applause from the crowd because everyone was excited about greg shulte and i was kind of pointing out you know just the the legend that he is but yeah i think that's the like the connection part with the players that's what i think people are really going to miss I don't think people are going to miss the bouncy houses or the long lines or those things, but you're going to miss being able to have these moments with players. And as you're saying, that this was not necessarily the best platform for that, just given

how many people were there. If you've never been out to like the couple of weeks before spring training games actually start, like those couple of weeks where practices are happening, but games haven't started yet, it's really an extraordinary experience. Players are just kind of all over the place. might even have more access to them then than you would at fan fest. So I would highly recommend taking advantage of that. But I do also understand there's something to be said for an event where the players are there knowing that they're going to be interacting with fans, knowing that that's

their sole purpose and being there. And there's going to be some memories that I'm sure are lost because of this no longer, no longer existing. Gabriel and Chris apparently were there when you asked this question. Oh, there we go. There we go. You had some fans and attendants for sure. You know, I know, Like I said, I know there's things that people will miss. I know that a lot of people really liked going into the clubhouse, which is something that you don't ever get to do. You know, or just taking a tour of the building in general. Being there, the excitement of the season being there and this kind of being the kickoff for it. I just definitely encourage everybody to come out to spring training games, especially the workouts.

The workouts are free. You don't even need to come out. The workouts are wild. There's just players everywhere and they're like right next to you. It's pretty incredible. They'll be doing bunting drills right over here and you'll see the starting lineup essentially over there. They kind of organize them in groups and pods, like you could tell. But all of it is, in my opinion, going out to workouts is better than spring training.

Because you're like actually, yeah, you're actually seeing them play. You're seeing them practice. You're seeing like some of the drills that they do to get ready for the season. It's really cool. I also really like the just seeing the players not in game mode. so they're kind of like they're messing around with each other there's some jokes

you get to see Madison Bumgarner in a good mood like making cracking jokes like I remember when he was he was doing like some batting practice he was like throwing BP to some of the guys and he was getting mad because they were cranking balls off of it

you know what I mean like there's there's stuff like that that's just again there's all sorts of fields for you to move around in and stuff it's just a unique experience and not everybody gets to do that not every team allows that access to their players during their workouts during spring training.

And again, we all live here. So again, it's just a matter of driving a little different direction down in Salt River Fields where they could honestly be holding the fan fest there as well. I mean, if you talk about space issues and lines and such, there's probably something to be said about holding it back at Salt River Fields. However, some people didn't like that either. I wasn't a big fan of it. I think Chris said she wasn't either.

So I know that, you know, we have some things to say there. But, you know, again, the fan fest stuff is for organizations that their fans don't get to see them until April rolls around. Yeah. I do think, though, I do think Brett makes a good comment here. As someone who works until five going to spring training workouts isn't really ideal. That's why a fan fest setting is somewhat nice because it gives everyone a chance to be together with other fans. That's a great point. They are often like weekday mornings and not that many people's schedules are compatible with that.

So there's a lot to be lost with fan fest. Some silver lining is given the access that, you know, fans have to their team here in Arizona with spring training happening here. But there's no doubt that their fans are losing in this, right? No fan fest overall, I don't think can really be viewed as a good thing at the end of the day. There are some other things that are close. It's, you know, there are some ways to make up for it. But it is a sad loss for the fan base. What if for a less expensive experience?

What if you could become an advantage member? What if, let's just say, instead of having to pay the cost of season tickets, they offered a way for you just to become an advantage member like, and then you could get to go to exclusive events and maybe have the merch without actually purchasing yourself a seat for 81 games. I can see it. Like kind of an in-between, because like becoming a season ticket holder is a big step for a fan to take.

It's very expensive, and it's not only that, but it's a huge time commitment. Yeah. Yeah, maybe there's an in-between there. where like you can still be in on the team. Like you can still be kind of an insider in some sense without necessarily making that big of a commitment. Because we're game time guys over here. That's what we do.

We hop on game time. We hop on the game time. We buy our tickets last minute and we save 60% off. We're not trying to commit to 81 games. Jesse and I don't have time for that. We cover this team. We can't even commit to 81 games. Can't even do that.

But you know what? While we're talking about it, go grab the game time app. Save up to 60% on tickets when you buy tickets last minute. And of course, the best way to support us is by buying your tickets through the link in the description. Maybe if FanFest tickets were available to purchase and you can get them on GameTime app and get them the day of 60%. I don't know. I'm an ideas guy. I'm just trying to figure this out and trying to talk through it. But like I said, I do know that based on my personal experience of being a dad and taking my daughter there and mostly doing it for her to enjoy it, you know, especially considering how often I'm already at Chase Field, it is what it is.

It probably wasn't as special for you, given that you were there all the time. And again, it's kind of if you're a parent with high anxiety like I have, it's kind of a nightmare chasing a four-year-old around in a crowd that size. You took her when she was four. Oh, I've been taking her since she could. I've been taking her since she was born, I think. So we've been fan fest for life. We came across an interesting tweet in regard, speaking of Chase Field, to ballpark's proximity to the downtown areas of the city that they are in. And we actually found this to be a little fascinating.

The Arizona Diamondbacks A in there, as you can see, fairly close to downtown, almost right damn on top of it. But if there was a change that would occur where it would move the Diamondbacks to Salt River Fields, they would probably be in the same vicinity as the Texas Rangers are being the furthest away from the downtown area, right? Pretty close. Yeah, I mean, not, I mean, they wouldn't move to Salt River Fields. But if they move like in that general vicinity, then, yeah. Then yeah, yeah, I mean, that area of Scottsdale is, I don't know if they're, do you think these are like as the crow flies or I don't know exactly how these, how these are measured out. But the debacks would be more so on the outskirts here, whereas right now, obviously they're right, right downtown, which is, you know, I think maybe has some some non-ideal aspects to it. But Chasefield is centrally located. There's no getting around that.

It's fairly advantageous, but it's definitely not like Arizona. Arizona's real hot spots, right? Or Phoenix is real hotspots. Phoenix's real hotspots are in Tempe and Scottsdale. And those are the areas where if you can move, you know, the stadium to or have a stadium located near it, there's benefits to the area surrounding it and how much other things there are to do in that area bringing in fans. And, you know, again, like we keep talking about with the Colorado Rockies ballpark, you

just casually go. You don't care how bad or good the team is. You just go. And then after you go and sit and watch the game for a little bit, you go. hang out, get something to eat around that area. Enjoy, enjoy some shopping, enjoy some fun. The Diamondbacks, unfortunately, don't

really have that in close proximity to themselves right now, or to Chase Field, I should say. The poor Texas Rangers. Look, man, I have been driven to that ballpark. I've also driven to It's an Arlington. It's like halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth.

Right. And then you also have the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. out there in the middle of nowhere. It's like directly adjacent to the ballpark. It's awful. Yeah, like it's really awful. Like we went there for WrestleMania and it was an incredibly far distance to drive out that direction.

So, and then there's nothing to do out there. I don't know if that's changed, especially with those two stadiums. I imagine that they're going to build some sort of entertainment district like every team wants to do. I'm not that familiar with the area. I imagine they probably have some stuff around those. I mean, the last time I went, which wasn't too long ago, it was literally just like fields.

Were the Dallas Cowboys? voice play. It's just like open interesting. Yes. I'll show you pictures later. I'm not going to bother you guys with this. But Jesse and I've been arguing all morning, so we need to really hash that one out. Speaking of which, make sure to grab yourself a diehard's

membership, get Jesse's wonderful writing over at go phnx.com. If you haven't done so already, we talked about it being locked behind a paywall. We don't want to do that to you. So of course, it's limited. But we also give you other stuff like we were talking about. We give you a free piece of merch from the phtnx locker.com. single year you're a member. You also get 20% off on your orders over there. And exclusive

merch like the jacket I just purchased myself that I can't wait for it to get here because it's so cold here in Arizona right now. I need all the warmth I can get. This guy, you can see how thin this guy is. It ain't cutting it for sure. Not cutting it at all. But of course, get yourself a diehard membership and you will get access to all of the diehard content from Jesse, Craig, Gerald, everybody else here. It's amazing stuff. And of course, get access to our members only. events, much like the fan fest. So I'm not going to defend the fan fest, I guess, a little bit there because we're going to be doing members-only events as well. Also, if you're here right now in the YouTube channel, make sure to subscribe. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when

any of our shows go live. And if you're listening to us on your favorite audio podcasting app, please subscribe to us there. Leave us a review. We appreciate you doing so. Regardless of where you're watching or listening to us, go on the YouTube and give us a thumbs up. We're not going to do the show anymore. We're done. The show is coming to a grinding, halt right now until we get more likes. And that's the way that that's going to happen. I'm sorry. It's Jesse's rules, not mine.

He is, he's a firm, he's a firm believer in the, in the, in the likes. But anyway, also, if you guys, check out our friends over at Underdog Fantasy. I wish Shane was here. Damon, can you give us, can you give us your best bark? Can we get it? Oh, that's a good shame bark. I love it. Shane's bark yesterday was not good.

How dare you? It was not, that was not the sound. of a dog. I don't know what, I don't know what creature yelps like that. An underdog. When it's in, okay. Not an overdog, Jesse. An underdog. An underdog does daily fantasy differently. Of course, you can get down with your friends. Drafts some teams against five of your friends in the highest scoring squad for that night wins hard. Cold hard cash. Hard cold cash. I'm, the language is hard for me today. I will also say this. Forget playing an entire fantasy season to win that money. Do it in one night. Again, we're getting things done quickly around here. We don't have time to play an entire

NFL fantasy football season, so we're going to get it done one night over at Underdog Fantasy. Also, get down on their pickup games. So much fun and so much money to be made. Of course, we are writing on pitch counts this MLB season, and I am not, I'm not changing my opinion about that. But it's this easy to get started. Go to UnderdogFantasy.com or download the app. Sign up with promo code PHNX, and Underdog will match your first deposit up to $100. So do so now. on the Underdog Fantasy app. Jesse, it is time for us to get out our report cards for yet another Arizona Diamondbacks player

on their 2020 season. And this time, we are grading Mason Sonder's season. Oh, sorry, no, grading Madison Bungarner's season. So let's go. We got some grades to hand out. First of all, obviously, we know this isn't going to go well. You know, you know this is already not a great season. But we do have some positive.

My grades are honestly, they're a little bit kinder than I think. Really? I kind of expected Can we take a look at Jesse's grades? Oh yeah, throw them up there. Was that mine? Was that Jesse's? I think that was yours.

Oh, let's throw Jesse's up there. Ooh, D on the fastball. I mean, they're not that bad, right? I mean, for the season and Madison Bumgarner just had, it was obviously not great across the board. But yeah, all right. So I'll run through these.

So fastball, I have a D. Me and Derek Hill argument about making fastball a category because Bumgarner throws two fast balls. If it was up to Jesse, he would have fastball, four seam, he would have, what else? We'd be grading spinner, spin rates. We'd be grading all sorts of. We'd have like 25 categories. We saw what he did with the football assignment yesterday. Couldn't stay on task one bit. But yeah, so Bumgarner has two fast balls. He has the cut fastball and then he has the four scene. And both pitches last year from a from a batted ball perspective, like what happened when they were put in play.

Neither pitch fared particularly well last season for Madison Bumgarner. His cutter, though, tends to be the better offering. Brent Strom talked about during the season that his cutter is actually something they've identified as a plus pitch, like a strength for Madison Bumgarner. But it didn't necessarily look like that through the season. If you look at the numbers, like I mentioned, his cutter opposing hitters hit 306 with a 513 slugging percentage. When they put it in play, his four seamer 326,

with a 606 lugging percentage. Neither of those look particularly great. I will say his fastball velocity has not changed that much. You go back to Madison, Bumgarner's prime days in San Francisco, maybe half a mile an hour, maybe a full tick, but not much, not enough to make a big difference in my mind. Would you say it's his command that has changed mostly? I think the command is absolutely what has changed.

And yeah, I'll just skip down and talk about that. Now I have a D for command. And the thing with Bumgarner is that he's not walking that many guys. His walk rate is still better than the average walk rate. He had a 7% walk rate last year. The league average is 8.4%. So he doesn't walk that many hitters, but there's a difference between command and control, right? Control is like you're throwing the ball around the zone.

Bumgarner does do that. Command is throwing the ball exactly where you want to throw it. And Bumgarner has not done that since coming over to the Diamondbacks, really. He really has struggled to hit his spots and his stuff is not overpowering. And so when he's not hitting his spots, it's just, it's going to get hit. And that's exactly what's happened. Curveball, I have a C plus. It's graded out pretty decently.

Grated out pretty decently this past year, but he doesn't throw it that often. It's not a swing and miss pitch. It's just kind of a get me over pitch. Changeup, I have a C, which I think is change up was fine this year. If you look at the numbers, it was actually okay. took a bit of a step forward from past years. Opposing hitters against Bumgarner's change-up this year. Actually a little surprising.

They hit 145 against his change-up with a 246 slugging percentage. So really, really big improvement from a year ago when they hit 302 with a 472 slugging percentage. But again, it's not an out pitch. It's not a pitch that's going to get a lot of swing and miss. So it's still very limited. And he doesn't throw it that much to begin with. durability i have a c plus uh that's just because bum garner was available i know he you know his season finished a little bit early at the end of the year but he was healthy uh pretty much throughout

the entire season that you know i mean having madison bumgarner make that many starts was maybe not necessarily the best thing for the team as a whole um but he was available for them and there's certainly certainly value in that uh dog and him derrick i have a c so i wasn't i was i don't feel too strongly about that. But, you know, just kind of right in the middle. Those are my grades. I don't know what to say about that. I don't know.

I mean, I was nicer to him than you were, which is something that's a common theme here when it comes to you, me, and Madison. That's fair. Let's throw up his baseball savant numbers, though, to just back up Jesse's claims here a bit on his report card. And as you can see here, does not rank very... A lot of blue?

A lot of blue? A lot of single-digit percentiles? Not great. Not great. But his fastball spin is just slightly better than average. Walk percentage is just slightly better than average. Yeah, he doesn't walk many guys. So let's take a look at my report card.

Again, I favored him a little bit better. I still like that cutter. I'm giving him a B for fastball. Yeah, I know. You're going to be on a fastball. I'm going to be on a closing hitters had more over 300 on that fastball. I'm going B minus on durability as well. So if we really just want to address those and get those out of the way.

I agree with what you said about, I think I might have switched these grades up. I think I was meaning to do the C on the change up and D plus on the curveball. Yeah, a B on the fastball. Beyond the fastball is bullish there. You've got some real explaining to do there. The reason why I'm giving him a B on the fastball, if we could go back, B for bullshit and look, I don't need Saul coming in here right when I'm in the middle of my explanation. But, look, if his fastball, if his fastball,

If fastball spin rate has been as good as it is, then I had a hard time giving him just, you know, a terrible grade here. His fastball is his best pitch, his cutter is so. His cutter is his best pitch. Yeah. And since we lumped them together here in one category, that's mostly the reason for the B. His other pitches are- Best pitch doesn't necessarily mean good pitch, though. Whatever.

Unfortunately. Yeah, it's not as good as it ever was, and it was never really that great, to be honest. his location, his command, he struggled with it. I'm going to just straight up say that. But the only reason why he was able to be, I guess, as effective as he was this season, was command. And that's the reason why I gave him the B-minus. Like, he's not effective, right? But he did pitch a lot of innings, right?

Taking a look at Madison Bum Gardner's overall. Are you seeing what Brett's saying in the comments right now? Derek took an extra dose of OGs before making this report card. Can Derek be my time? teacher, I would have had a perfect 4.0. He went 7 and 15 with 158.2 innings pitched and a 4.88 ERA. Don't bullshit me here. This guy doesn't have good stuff. So the command is the only thing really that's keeping him anywhere in being a starting pitcher. That's my honest, you know, he's not blowing anybody away with his stuff. Right. So the only thing that's keeping him even slightly effective as a pitcher is

B-M-O- is his command. And like you said, it's more of control and command. Yeah, it's a lot more control. But we condense these down into one category again because we had to figure out how we're going to fit all of these on this report card graphic. But durability, you can't argue with his durability. In fact, he finished his season early. He was so durable that he pitched the innings they want him to pitch and they pulled him out early.

I don't know if that's what durability means. No? Well, how often was he injured? I mean. How often was he injured? How often was he not available? The reason I went with a C plus on durability, it's a fair point you're making. He didn't really miss starts.

But there's a difference between like being available to pitch and being like effective. Like at the top of your game when you're pitching. And I feel like- No, that's not at all in durability means. No, but let me make this point. I think there's a larger narrative with Madison Bumgarner that he's durable in the sense that he is available to pitch. He hasn't gotten hurt that much other than his first year with the debacks.

But the issue is that when he has been on the mound, he hasn't been durable in the sense of like longevity. Like he's 32 years old, right? Madison Bumgarner is not that old. We've seen other guys age significantly better than he has. And a lot of this is just that he has over 2,000 innings on his arm, right? It's hard for a pitcher to last no matter how young they are. And 32 is still, obviously, you're getting, you know, you're aging. You're getting into the latter part of your career.

This is going to be his 15th season. Yeah. Yeah. So my point with durability is just that he has been available. He hasn't been injured. But I also think there's like at a certain point in your career, there's just so many miles on your arm that you're just not the pitcher that you were when you're out there, even when you are healthy. And I think that's the big concern with Mad bum moving forward. Marky Mark forgot Madbum was on our team. I'm sorry to remind you of that

My last grade there by the way was an A for Dog and him and you're never really what do we what do we got there? What's the explanation there? What do you mean? What's the explanation? Do you not remember when this man had an empire caress his hand while looking at him dead in the eyes and the way that he reacted? You know that's a good point that I probably should have gone higher on dog Yeah, come on the shit that this guy had to put up with and the way that he fought back I can't Look he might not he might not be as effective as he once was. He might not be the pitcher he once was, but I'll be damned if the fire isn't still alive in that man, right? Period. That's the reason why he gets an A. I wanted to give him an A plus, but I'll keep it at an A.

Okay. That's all I got, though. It's a lot of restraint that you showed there. You're just a nice guy, Derek. Hey, you know, he deserves it. The big question, obviously, not if he can rebound, right? We know he can't rebound. But I think the big question for this season is where does he fit?

And is this the season where he finally falls out of the starting rotation and maybe possibly accept another role? I don't know what Mad Bum would look like coming out of the bullpen. But to be honest, I'm not opposed to seeing it. You never know. I think Mad Bum might be opposed to seeing it. Mad Bum is definitely opposed to seeing it. Yeah. Yeah.

But that's just a thing. Like when you have these, you know, these pitchers who've kind of had legendary careers, I mean, in some ways Madison Bumgarner's career has been that, even though it obviously. obviously hasn't gone so well since he joined the debacks. But yeah, I just don't know. Like, I think Madison Bumgarner would rather, at least there's a possibility that Madison Bumgarner would rather not be pitching in the big leagues anymore than in a bullpen role. I think there's a lot of these veteran starters who feel that way.

Like, no, I'm not interested in trying to reinvent myself. I would rather just ride off into the sunset and, you know, become Mason Saunders again in Madison Bummergarner. case so Todd brings up Rich Hill being 42 and Adam Wainwright being 41 still throwing good we definitely wouldn't accuse Madison Bumgarner or being in the same class as either one of those guys or at least not in terms of how well they've aged yeah and on longevity right but yeah um you know it is what it is I think steamer has a 4.98 ERA for Bumgarner next year that seems fairly on pace with his basically the same basically the same season as you just have if if you take out the

2000, I think 2020 season. I mean, you know, he's had that general decline and it's kind of right there on base. Yeah, 467ERA in 2021, 488 last year. Yeah. Anyway, it is what it is. Madison Bumgartner,

I think, is one of maybe two pieces that don't fit with the rest of this team. That's a vast improvement from where they were a few years ago. One of two pieces? Yeah. Yeah. Who's the other one?

I'm going to leave that up to mystery. I'm going to leave that up for you to wonder about. His name's Mark Melanson. Okay, that's, that's, but the, the, the thing here is, is that this, this team is trending in the right direction as far as figuring out who their core is and where, where, where they're going to go. So at the very least, it's not like there is a whole bunch of, of guys on big contracts like this on the team that really are hindering it from doing, you know, making financial moves or doing anything else. as a bum gardener's contract is ridiculous and of course it's unfortunate when your highest paid player is also a guy you're not sure if he's going to make the team never never a good place for especially a smaller market team like the debacks to be in uh well and i don't like the

accusations but yeah i did have o g's so what what's your point i don't like that those are being tied together with my report card but you should try some as well because o gs is obviously all about flavoring life uh and they also have uh their new strawberries and cream happy balance ratio which is a CBD to THC 1 to 1 ratio and it is hitting the shelves very soon. You can find it at your local dispensary and we talked about it a little bit. It's for people that maybe want some of the benefits

from OG's edibles without having some of the euphoric feelings. I don't know why you would want that, but I get it. Some people have stuff to do. I just have this show to host and, you know, how they feel about it out there. So, of course, make sure to grab yourself some strawberries and cream. They're going to be fire.

It's going to be a delicious, just another delicious addition to the OGs lineup. And you can find them at your local dispensary. Must be 21 or over to enjoy. Jesse tomorrow, last night's day. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. We're going to be out there live.

We're going to be out there live along with all of these maniacs in this place doing our show, drinking beers and having a good time. Bring your parka. It's going to be chilly out there. Oh, God, Jesse. Didn't you live in Seattle? I don't even understand how you survived that place. I don't know either, honestly.

I think it took about a month after moving back here. You know what it was? It was the summer. It was like once you've experienced in Arizona summer, then your barometer for comfortable temperatures just gets completely thrown out of whack. And suddenly 60 degrees is just like brisk. Like 60 degrees is just a brittle. There's just a chill in the air that's uncomfortable.

So tomorrow will be a little bit of a chilly one. Jesse's going to be all wrapped up. He's going to have a scarf on. I will probably have a scarf on. Yes. But you should join us, of course, at the 8th Street pub. We will be enjoying $3 beer specials all day,

as well as the amazing food that they have out at Four Peaks. So come say hi to us. Enjoy the shows. And, you know, if you can't join us, grab some Four Peaks beer and join us remotely like you normally would. And enjoy responsible. Must be 21 or over to enjoy. And I can't wait to get my hands on their new recreational juice dank IPA

and their staycation super juicy IPA because they are going to be fire. Jesse, speaking of fire, I guess this would be the opposite direction of fire. The Arizona Diamondback's spring training cap is here, folks. Oh, this isn't speaking of fire at all. And it looks incomplete, to say the least. All right, let's like putting it nicely.

This thing right here is not a very good looking hat. Let's take a look at what this hat looks like. I think it's been compared to an unfinished coloring book. I just definitely saw some comparisons to it being a truck stop hat that you could buy for about $10 at any loves. around the valley. I don't, I don't know. Jesse, what are your thoughts on on this? We're doing the mesh again.

So we're going to give bald guys a gradient sunburn on the back of their head. I don't like that. I mean, the gradient's a good look. No. Like, everyone loves the gradient. No, no. I don't know if you saw the reception to that, but it is quite the opposite. I guess, Jesse, do you hate it a little or do you hate it a lot is my question?

Those are the only two options. Those are the two options. I hate it a little. I hated a little. I think that if they hadn't done the mesh in the back, I think it'd be a much more interesting hat. The other change I would have made is put a little splash of red in there, you know, a little Sedona Red. Some of the other teams do have the same cap, but they are colored, green.

Yeah, the Oakland A's have green. The Angels have a really bright red. Yeah, if this was like Sedona Red. The Rangers have a good blue in there. Sedona Red, like in the back, even if it was the mesh in the front and maybe the trim around the D. but we I don't know I don't know

There are There are There's an entire lot of hats like this There are a lot of black ones like this The Diamondbacks aren't the only one With this incomplete looking of a logo The Colorado Rockies is also black and white But that one looks much better

It's a much more interesting design Or it's like you said It looks like the DMVR logo Yeah So prepare yourself for another lawsuit You guys We ride it dawn I also think that using the

like this particular snake logo on the front, it doesn't seem like that's necessarily the favorite one among the back spans. I think the A would be better. To me, though, it doesn't look like a gas station hat. It looks more like, I don't know, like you have like a picture or something and you want to put on a hat like for a family

member or something. Yeah. And you go to like yescustoms.com. Yeah. Yeah. You go to Vista prints or something. And and you, you know,

you upload your picture and it looks a little grainy. It doesn't look quite right. I can't get it as big as I'd like it to. Yeah. I guess I'm just going to have to leave it the size. And then you get it in the mail and then you realize that it's made out of this weird material. It just isn't quite right. And that's kind of what that mesh thing looks like.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like it, you know, I'll put it up in my closet or something, but I'm probably not going to wear it anywhere. I like the simplicity, though. There is something about the simplicity that I think could look cool. This just isn't a good execution. I think they nailed it on the All Star Game hats last year with the simplicity, right? Yeah.

And it came to like just using basically like the gold trim and everything. was a sharp-looking hat, and it was, you know, I liked it. It was kind of generic, but it was what it was. This is kind of the opposite of that for being plain. Like, I mean, it's just too plain. Yes, and Chris Cummings, I did say trim around the D. I laughed about that earlier when I said it then, and I'm still laughing about it now. We do have news, though, on this. We have breaking news. We have inside sources that have been texting me ever since we sent that tweet out that apparently this is not the actual spring training hat that the Diamondbacks will wear on field. Which we kind of suspected at the beginning.

It's like just a bunch of stuff that you can buy. Like fans can go out and buy these hats, but they're not necessarily. Yeah, it sounds like the D-backs won't be wearing these at all. So it'll be interesting to see if they do have a different spring training hat. If it's some sort of variation of this, if we're going to get sunburned, you know, minor, you know, Major League heads out there that are going to be sunburned with the gradient pattern. But I will say that I like the spring training hats most of the time. The mesh doesn't bother me as much as like how.

Really, I think the mesh is like a, that's like a D minus on your grade. Grade for a, yeah, for like hat material. And you guys told me I was being too nice. This guy wants to give it a D minus on the mesh. That's, I don't know. You're the one who just gave Madison Bungarner's fastball as a B. And I stand by it. I stand by it.

I think that's somewhat indefensible, but, you know, agree to disagree. Do you think they'll wear a special spring training hat if they don't wear this one? Or do you think they'll just wear like their normal cat? I don't know. It'd be interesting to see. Usually the spring training hats are a little bit different than, you know, the hats they wear during the season. So I imagine that's still to come.

The debacks last year did have like the red bill on their hat for some regular season games, I believe. And that used to be like a spring training thing only. So it'll be interesting to see how they deal with that in 2020. Sean's given the mesh an F. Yeah. You might be right, Jean. Yeah, I mean, D-minus, but yeah, honestly, it's the worst hat.

Like, it's the one hat that no matter how cool it looks, I honestly might not really buy it anyway just because of that. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Well, you have plenty of money to buy whatever hat you want. If you get down on the Drafking Sportsbook app, of course, right now there are four NFL teams left to conference championship games and only a few more shots to win big with the playoffs on the Draft King's Sportsbook app, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Download the Drafking Sportsbook app now. Use code PHNX. And as a new customer, you can bet $5 on the conference championships and get $200 in free bets instantly.

Only at the Draft King Sportsbook with code PHNX minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. Make sure to keep an eye out for all of those opt-in options that they have on the Drafking Sportsbook, as well as the future bets for MLB. If you want to get down on betting on Corbyn Carroll for rookie of the year, you can do that now over on the Draft King Sportsbook app. Meanwhile, we thank you guys so much for joining us. You can find us on Twitter until the next time we do this show,

which will be live from our friends, Four Peaks, brewing company, 8th Street Pub tomorrow. And with this guy, thanks to this guy, I should say. Can I tell you, no free advertisement? We're just going to replace it. Oh, yeah, yeah, go. Can I do in the job 365? Can I open this?

I'm opening this one. All right, well, I mean, he brought it to me. My other drink was empty, and this is a very tall beer, and I'm very excited that he brought it to me. But if you want to come watch me, drink more of these. I don't know. It's like an animal in the zoo. Come out to Four Peaks tomorrow.

They're 8th Street pub. Plenty of beers. Jesse will buy you a beer. He told me that. And of course, you can message him about that on Twitter. I mean, I guess, I guess, what, $3? $3. Yeah, he's rich.

This guy's rich over here. You can follow him on Twitter. He's Jesse N. Friedman. I am Katt underscore K-Kman with a K. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs. But of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports. on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Talk to the people for a second.

Jesse, I want to drink my beer. Okay, all right. Yeah, you did a terrible job. I'm already. Anyway, we thank you guys so much for joining us and chat. You've never pulled on the show. I'm going to consume this beverage. Yeah, I'm going to drink this drink.

You talk now, but no, here I have to go back to talking. We thank you guys for being here in the chat and for telling me my report card sucks. I don't care. I stand behind that, be proudly. I'm not sure if I can splurge for the... the $3 because I still am trying to fund my my Chase Lounge fund. So we'll see if there's anything. When you come out to Four Peaks, tell this guy other furniture that exists besides

just Chase Lounge is. It's getting kind of ridiculous over here. But on behalf of this maniac, Damon and myself, we always appreciate you guys being here in the chat and joining us on behalf of everyone around here. Thank you so much. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when Madison, Bumgarner can potentially throw fastball.