PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - The Giants sign Carlos Correa to the fourth-largest contract in MLB history

Starting point is 00:00:05 Happy Festivus Day and welcome on in to the PHNXDVax podcast. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as the mayor of Festivis. This guy over here has no idea what Festivus is. He's the one and only Thunderstick Jesse Friedman. You were just explaining it to me. I was trying to do. It's like a farmer's market type of deal. It is.

Starting point is 00:00:25 But there's feats of strength and there's airing of grievances. There's a lot of that. I got to teach you all about it. But of course, welcome on in to this show, this show that is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King Sports. app, America's top-rated sports book app. We were so close, guys. We were so close to getting out of the free agency season without the NL.

Starting point is 00:00:46 West gaining anything like what we're talking about today. But of course, the big news, Carlos Correa in the NL.S. For what I originally thought was 11 years. But as Jesse corrected me, turns out is 13 years in the NL West. Make it make sense to me, Jesse. Make it hurt less. Well, first, Derek, where do you? Where do you see yourself in 13 years?

Starting point is 00:01:07 I think we should start with that question. Not even alive. Let's be honest. I'm living on thin ice, Jesse. So I don't know if I see myself being anywhere. But definitely not a billionaire like Carlos Correa can be if he invests his money, right? Yeah, that's fair. That's fair.

Starting point is 00:01:25 Oh, my God. The fourth biggest contract in MLB history to a free agent. To a free agent in terms of total value. And yeah, the interesting thing about this deal, and this has been a trend throughout all of the moves that we've seen is that teams are favoring more years over a higher average annual value. Because if you do the math here, you know, $350 million is a ton of money, like you said, you know, fourth largest contract in terms of total value to a free agent in MLB history.

Starting point is 00:01:55 But if you average that out over 13 years, it's $27 million, which is a lot of money. But given that Carlos Correa is basically the most, sought after free agent that we've seen in the game of baseball for quite some time, it's actually not that bad, right? And so it's another situation. It's similar to Xander Bogart's in particular. It's also probably similar in some ways to Trey Turner, where, you know, the San Francisco giants are like, hey, we would rather split this $350 million over 13 years where the hit

Starting point is 00:02:25 on, you know, the luxury tax threshold is a little bit lower every year, as opposed to, you know, paying him $35 million a year for, you know, not. or 10 years or something like that. So it's a trend. The trend continues here with this deal. Ben said playing until your 41 is not completely crazy. Speaking as a 41-year-old, I'm in the best shape of my fucking life. This is a big day for you, Derek, is a 41-year-old because not only is Carlos Correa's

Starting point is 00:02:54 contract expiring at 41, but Trey Turner's contract. I know. As well as Xander Bogart's contract. So basically what you're saying is we're useless at 41, right? That's where we no longer deserve to be paid any money. Apparently, Major League teams don't seem to think so. They seem to think that you are still worth nearly $30 million at that age. I will take it.

Starting point is 00:03:13 But I honestly ask, what is with these deals? These 10-plus-year deals. Does anybody remember when, like, a five-year deal was a long time? I mean, it's crazy. Now, I understand the way that baseball is structured, that that's the reason why, at least some of these younger players are getting these big deals, right? Because it's their first chance of free agency.

Starting point is 00:03:36 And teams want to lock them up as a member of that franchise for the rest of their career. Barring the team takes a southward turn and then they have to trade them away to somebody else. But some of these deals have no trade clauses in them. And there's a lot of interesting things going on with these big deals. But I just, I feel like just yesterday, five years was a long time for a contract.

Starting point is 00:04:01 Yeah, I mean, it's like where do we go? from here. There has to be some upper bound here, right? Like, I feel like no major league team is ever going to give out, you know, around $30 million per year. Hello, Mark. Past the age of 41, right? Like, it's not like in a few years the inflation of the market is going to take us to a

Starting point is 00:04:23 point where you're going to sign a guy at least 45. I hope. I mean, at that point, it's just negligence on the part of these owners to do that. But, I mean, it's hard to put any caps on this market because it really hasn't been reasonable in terms of the number of years given so far. And as we move along, it makes contracts that were given out previously look less and less crazy, especially when they, you know, nailed these guys down to, yes, a long-term deal, but a reasonable amount that, like, halfway through it, they're going to be potentially underpaid in comparison to other superstars in baseball at that time. It's very fair. Yeah, I mean, $27 million. Again, that's the point here.

Starting point is 00:05:01 $27 million, especially once you get toward those latter years of this contract. Yes, you're going to be overpaying almost certainly for the production you're getting at that point, but $27 million in, you know, 10 plus years is not going to be as much as it is right now. You think about the qualifying offer. The qualifying offer is already almost $20 million in itself, right? So, you know, in 10 years, the qualifying offer might not even be that far away from what some of these big name guys are getting paid. But yeah, it's an interesting approach and it's one we haven't seen from teams that much in the past. Usually teams are like, hey, I'll give you the big money, but I'd rather do it over four years, over five years, right? That sounds like it's, that's the

Starting point is 00:05:41 approach the Dodgers have taken in free agency this winter. And there's a reason they haven't landed anyone, right? Because these guys aren't wanting to take those deals, but that's what the market used to sort of be like. And now it's sort of shifted into this new direction. Bob Nightingale posted a tweet, of course, much like myself incorrectly saying Carlos Correa, had an 11-year deal. But he talked about 10 current players having contracts of 11 or more years after Carlos Correa. And there's a list, and it's growing list. And those are the best players in baseball.

Starting point is 00:06:13 Let's be honest. That's the reason why they are locked in to those deals. It's just pretty crazy to think about the difference in some of those deals. And looking throughout some of those deals. some of them, you know, like, I don't know if they're going to end up being the value that these teams, you know, wanted out of these guys. I say that because even something that Boston Red Sox fans pointed out is that Mooky Betts's production hasn't been what it was in Boston since he moved to L.A. So that alone is kind of like that drop in what you thought you were getting from a guy like him,

Starting point is 00:06:49 but he's still arguably one of the best players in the game and I don't want to take anything away from It's just that production drop off can sometimes equate to what you're paying a young player that's practically making nothing by comparison to some of these deals that they've given out. Madison Bumgardener's contract is starting not to look so bad by comparison to some of the contracts that are out there. But, you know, it is what it is. Tip of the cap to Carlos Correa, though, because this guy, again, like we talked about with Aaron Judge, he bet on himself and it pays off.

Starting point is 00:07:18 He gets the biggest contract by a shortstop in MLB history. and he did it after signing that one-year deal with the twins that seemed a bit offbeat that he signed that, but makes a bit more sense now that he's getting this big deal. One of the craziest things that I saw on Twitter after this deal came out was from Chandler Rome, a friend of the show, actually. We had Chandler Rome on last year

Starting point is 00:07:42 when the Diamondbacks brought on Brent Strom as the new pitching coach covers the Houston Astros for the Houston Chronicle. He said the Astros offered Carlos Correa a five-year $160 million contract at the end of the 2021 season, he ended up getting 14 years and $385 million between the twins and the giants when all was said and done. Like, betting on yourself works in this market, right? And it's not even that Carlos Craig came out and had this, you know, Aaron Judge

Starting point is 00:08:14 caliber season. He had a great year for the twins, but it was just sort of him being him. It was just kind of him continuing to do what he's done for the last few years. And it obviously paid off in a big way getting this deal with the Giants. Here's another interesting thing. Danes B. Swanson is just sitting back right now lighting cigars with $100 bills thinking about how. He's going to get paid. He is not even sweating anything because he knows no matter what.

Starting point is 00:08:39 His rate, his dollar amount, the amount of money he's going to make in this next contract just keeps increasing with every one of these short stops getting these contracts that they're getting. And honestly, I mean, good for him. I know he's going to end up going to the Dodgers at this rate, and that's the reason why I hate life at times. I don't think. Right when we think we get out of it, you know, the Dodgers and the Giants are going to pick up the last two big name free agents. But yeah, no, what do you think?

Starting point is 00:09:05 Danby Swanson stays in Atlanta, or what do you think? I don't think he stays in Atlanta. I don't think he stays in Atlanta. Apparently the Braves have made their quote-unquote best and final offer as of a while back, which I don't know if, you know, I don't know if I fully believe that. I think there's an opportunity that they would reenter the market. But I don't think it's anywhere close.

Starting point is 00:09:24 I don't think it's anywhere close to where the bidding is probably going to be for Danesby-Swan. When I hear best and final, that means we're done negotiating is what I've. Well, that's what they're trying to make it sound like, but I don't know if that's necessarily true. They've spent a lot of money, though. They have spent a lot of money. They've locked in a lot of guys long term. And again, it was one of those things that we were kind of perplexed how the brain. Braves kept doing it when teams like the Diamondbacks can't, but the Braves can lock everybody

Starting point is 00:09:55 in the long time. Frankly, it's shocking they haven't extended Sean Murphy yet. Yeah, I know. I'm still floored by that. Jesse was like, let's keep an eye on that. That's happening. But yeah, Danzy Swanson, you're about to have yourself a really good December or January, depending on when this happens.

Starting point is 00:10:11 Can we just think about this from an NOS perspective real quick? Like, it is just wild to think about the landscape of the NOS moving forward and some of the players that are in the division. So, so Mookie Betts is under contract with the Dodgers through 2032, all right? 2032. Fernando Tatis Jr. I'm going to check this to make sure.

Starting point is 00:10:33 Fernando Tadis Jr. is under contract with the San Diego Padres through 20, or 2034. Why are you doing this? 2034. Fernando Tatis Jr. is under contract. Zander Bogart's an 11-year deal. That puts him with the San Diego Padres through 2034. Three, Zander Bogartz.

Starting point is 00:10:51 And now we have Carlos Correa added to the list, a 13-year deal. He is a San Francisco giant through 2035 with a full no-trade clause. Hey, Jesse, yeah, I was going to say, don't all of those guys have no trade clauses? There's also, I don't know if all of them do, but I think, yeah, at least I know the guys who just signed you. Bogartz and Correa absolutely do. I don't remember the details of the bets and Tatis Jr. deals off the top of my head. The NOS is a fun place. It is.

Starting point is 00:11:21 I mean, in 233, when they're all on the brink of 40 years old, maybe it's not so bad. But for the time being, it's a pretty bleak outlook if you're a team like the Arizona Diamondbacks. Remember when we talked about positivity? I thought we were supposed to. What are you doing? Yeah, no, this sucks. It's the worst. And, of course, yeah, like Jesse said, we have a very, very long time of dealing with all of these guys.

Starting point is 00:11:46 So the Diamondbacks have no choice to get better. And the only way that they're going to get better is by spending more money. That's it plain and simple. But, of course, Jesse has written quite a bit about everything. And you can get a lot of his stuff. Quite a bit about everything. Not just Diamondbacks, but all sorts of baseball stuff. Winter meetings.

Starting point is 00:12:08 He had a lot of fun doing a lot of the things he's been doing lately. So make sure to check out. If you haven't gotten yourself a membership, his articles over at GoPHNN. They are unlocked and free for the most part. There's a couple of diehard only pieces out there, but make sure to check that out. If you want to read everything, get yourself a diehards membership, which is what you should be doing anyway. Give yourself the gift of a PHNX diehards membership. Not only will you get free merch over at the phnx locker.com every single year.

Starting point is 00:12:34 You'll also get 20% off every single purchase. You'll get invites to die hard members only events. You'll also get discounts to die hard events, such as our upcoming PHNX tea party. which you can get in on. If you're a diehard member at a discount, of course, join us over at Dobson Ranch Golf Course. We were out there yesterday. It's a beautiful golf course.

Starting point is 00:12:56 It really is. First time I have been, maybe I play at the public courses a bit too much, but it was the first time I've played at a course that had like the top golf type tracking on your balls when you were just sitting on driving. It was cool. I have genuinely never seen. I've never seen anything like that. I mean, I guess I've been to top golf,

Starting point is 00:13:15 but I've never seen that at like an hour. actual golf course. Okay. I thought I just haven't been there in a while, but of course, we had a lot of fun. Jesse saw that I can golf. I'm pretty, I'm pretty decent golf swing. I'm not going to lie. Yeah, you don't want to see my, you don't want to see my golf swing. It's not good look. But of course, we want to see your swing out there at the tea party. So join us. We're renting out the entire driving range so you guys can join us and check out those beautiful bays. You can check out this really cool tracking system that they have. They have all sorts of different games. You can play as well.

Starting point is 00:13:47 It's a fun time. So come hang out with us, Big Drive Energy, and fellow diehards for a night of golf, food, drinks, contests, prizes, and more. Jesse will not play you in golf, but he will play you in ping pong. Oh, I will murder you in ping pong. So our PHNX Suns crew, of course, will be hosting a watch party for the Suns versus Timberwolves. We're going to have two gigantic TVs out there. I don't even know if it's TVs. I think it's going to be like, is it going to be like...

Starting point is 00:14:11 There's two big inflatable screens. It'll be on the lawns behind the driving range, as well as if it's a bunch of of heaters so if you're worried about being cold there'll be heaters and tables around Lindsay Smith that's for sure we know that yeah she might hog all the heaters but there will be heaters wait what is an inflatable screen have you never seen an inflatable screen

Starting point is 00:14:28 no the stuff the things you haven't experienced in life inflatables are like bouncy houses so an inflatable screen is like an inflatable like you would hang a sheet up for a projector turns into a movie screen okay all right can I still bounce in it you cannot go bouncing

Starting point is 00:14:45 because then people can't see the movie. Fair enough. Fair enough. Make sure to check that out. Jesse is the movie at that point. He is the movie. You're right. You're right. But of course, your fee, whether you're a diehard or a non-die-hard,

Starting point is 00:14:58 your fee will include unlimited range balls and a set of rental clubs, which they have great sets of rental clubs out there. Mark says how's the food? The food was, oh, food was fantastic. Food at Dobson Ranch is great. Yeah, yeah. And we're working on getting partners out there as well. Yeah, there's going to be partners out there.

Starting point is 00:15:14 But let me tell you, I've been craving a like basically room service style club sandwich and this place delivered a great one. I was so pleased. I've been craving one of those for weeks. I have no idea why it's just. What is room service style mean to you? I mean, it's your like typical club sandwich, right? The one that's cutting the little triangles and it has the bacon and the lettuce and tomato and turkey and stuff like that on it.

Starting point is 00:15:38 It's not overly complicated. It always has to come with French fries. And it has to hit at a perfect service. amount of crispiness without it being overly dry and awful. And this hit on all those points. Wow. All right. Check after another. So, of course, come out, try the food. One free hour of range time and golf balls at Dobson Ranch to be used at a later time as well. So make sure to check that out. We're going to be having so much fun. Play Saul and pickleball, Jesse and ping pong, me and

Starting point is 00:16:05 cornhole. And of course, there's hot chocolate. And for the kids, there's going to be a free kids clinic provided for all kids 10 and under. So of course, bring the kids out, let them go play. Come over to a hot chocolate. I'll have a little flask with me. No, I'm kidding. Wink. Anyway, come find me. We'll have a good time as adults. And of course, we'll hit some golf balls. And it's going to be a blast. We're going to have a good time. So join us out there. Click the link in the description to reserve your spot right now. And for our diehards, check the Discord for your special link where you'll save 20% on this awesome event. And of course, that's a big part of being a diehard is the Discord. It's the best place.

Starting point is 00:16:43 and somebody the other day said I look like Tim Curry. And you know what? I'm honored. I love Tim Curry. So I know big eyes and all that kind of stuff. I don't care. I'll take it. I like Tim Curry.

Starting point is 00:16:55 But we got some more stuff going on, Jesse. And when we say more stuff, I mean the Diamondbacks have nothing going on. That's what I mean. I mean, the spending has dried up. And as we knew, kind of going into this, the Diamondbacks weren't really looking to spend a lot of money on free agency. We weren't expecting them to make a big splash. However, with that being said, Mike Kaysa did tantalize us a bit with the potential idea that they could be in on some of these names. Obviously, they were connected to Xander Bogart.

Starting point is 00:17:23 They were connected to be a trade to Sean Murphy. And right now it just stands that they have improved their bullpen, which is the one area that they should have addressed, but really not a lot going on for them. And when you look at the spending according to a tweet we sent out, you will see that the Diamondbacks are pretty far from the package. as far as the NL West goes. Jacob, can you throw that tweet up there on the NL West? Because some of the spending is pretty kind of out of control, of course. The Mets, we know about what the Mets do. But look at those Padres.

Starting point is 00:17:56 Padres say, no, we're number one in the NL West. And by that we mean checks given out. In retrospect, I should have put like the three dots between the Mets and the Padres too, just to show like how otherworldly Steve Cohen's spending. is right now. Okay, so like the Padres spending is crazy and the Mets spent over a hundred million dollars more than them. Yeah. And that's just for 2023, folks. So the Mets are at 336. For those of you joining us on audio, the Mets currently projected payroll for 2023, $33, $336 million, which is just an absolutely insane number. It's just a bonkers number. Apparently, did you see

Starting point is 00:18:38 the report yesterday that the Mets were in on Carlos Correa? Yes. Like it came out, it came out, out like an hour or two before he signed with the Giants. And that would have been just wild. They could have cracked 350. Yeah, like, I mean, like, they would have been well past 350. I mean, they would have been like inching close to 400 at that point. But yeah, Padre is at 235 million. Phillies at 230 million.

Starting point is 00:19:01 We spend a lot of time in the postseason talking about how they have spent a lot of money of late. And then you've got the Braves. This one was kind of surprising for me. I don't really think of the Braves as being. like this big spending team, but with all of the contracts, all the extensions that they've signed and whatnot, they're up close to 200 million, the Giants after this Correa move, 190 million, the Dodgers are somehow...

Starting point is 00:19:23 Third place, you poverty franchise. How are you in third place of the N.L. West that's spending? How do you feel about that, L.A.? 173 million for the Dodgers? They're not done. And then you've got the Cardinals at 164, and then a whole lot of space. And then it's the Arizona Diamondbacks currently projected. for $101 million.

Starting point is 00:19:44 And in order to make the playoffs, Derek, the math is not complicated. You've got to be one of the six best teams in the National League. That's a list of seven teams that we just put on the screen. So you're going to have to beat two of those teams in order to make the playoffs. Michael makes a great point. He says the Dodgers had $80 million come off of their payroll. Right. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 00:20:01 They've had a ton of money come off and they haven't really put any money back on yet. But the Braves are definitely the standard here, right? Like, I know the Mets are spending like crazy. the Padres are spending like crazy the Phillies, but the Braves should be the standard in terms of how you're spending your money, right? The Braves should be at the highest end, and the Braves have done it by mostly hanging on to guys

Starting point is 00:20:24 within their organization and extending them. And that's the best part about what the Braves have done. Have they rewarded their players for their performance? They kept them in the organization, and it just builds a different level of trust and dedication by the fan base. I mean, that's the truth. And also truth is best. Ben saying you could feel three Diamondbacks teams for the cost of one Mets team.

Starting point is 00:20:46 Yes, Ben, thank you for pointing that out. Oh, man. But, yeah, no, I mean, this is kind of crazy when it comes to spending. It's another reason why baseball needs to fix it in some way. You got to do something. It's just, they take these tiny steps when it comes to competitiveness, right? Yeah. And equalling things out.

Starting point is 00:21:09 But they refuse to do anything about that. And what's weird is there are so many people that applaud how much money has been given around and thrown out. They're happy that this happens. Yeah. I mean, in some ways, it's a sign that like, I mean, yeah, there's a lot of nuances. But in some ways, it's a sign that baseball's in a healthy spot, right? Like, you really want to talk about baseball being like on the downturn. Like nobody cares about this sport anymore.

Starting point is 00:21:32 Yeah, look at some of the contracts that have been signed in the last month, right? And try to convince anyone that there's not money in this game anymore, right? Clearly that's not the case. But to your point, they've got to figure something out as far as this ownership situation is concerned across the game. There's such a giant disparity between what some owners are willing to do like Steve Cohen, especially of the Mets, the Padres owner. There's other owners that I think are in a similar category there. And then there's owners of teams like the Diamondbacks who, I mean, it's no secret to anyone at this point, right? The Diamondbacks have never gotten anywhere close to those levels of spending.

Starting point is 00:22:09 and it honestly would be somewhat surprising to see them go in that direction moving forward. And so, yeah, you just have this enormous disparity, and it seems like the difference from one franchise to another is just so heavily contingent on what is the personality of their owner, right? Like how does their owner view their ownership of a Major League Baseball franchise? Are they doing it as an investment? Are they doing it just to have fun and try to win games? the answer to that question, it feels like at times it's almost more important than any other question about a major league franchise. You just unlocked the key to the Arizona Diamondback success, Jesse. Okay.

Starting point is 00:22:50 So what we need from Mike Hazen, and Jesse's not going to like anything I'm about to say. Uh-oh. But what we need from Mike Hazen is for him to appeal to Ken Kendrick on a cards basis, on a baseball card, on a collectible cards basis. And I need him to have Ken Kendrick start seeing players in baseball have the similar value to very rare baseball cards, right? Get him on a similar level of wanting to collect as many rare, super rare, chrome, autographed, whatever, boom. I don't know. I don't know a lot about baseball cards. But whatever the goddamn thing is that all of you collectors want, all of the Justin Martinez cards that,

Starting point is 00:23:36 Whatever those are, we need him to start viewing players, real people as that. Then that way he'll start obsessing over collecting as many of them as possible, right? Then, you know, then profit, right? That's, I don't know. That's a solid playing. It's like you said, though, you need to appeal to the owner on what he's into, right? So it's like if you start making him see that he needs to collect as many key collectibles as possible. Maybe he starts looking at that.

Starting point is 00:24:07 Maybe he starts looking at spending the money because honestly, the Diamondbacks are so far behind on the spending. And I don't even want them to go do crazy stuff. Honestly, for the most part, I'm still, and hopefully the organization is still okay with staying the course, right? I just don't know how these changes in the NL West impact the Zips projections and look at Diamondbacks numbers now. And if they don't make any moves,

Starting point is 00:24:33 are they going to now be behind or below that number? that they were projected to be at. I can't imagine if they stay the course that things stay the same way with Sandra Bogart's and Carlos Correa, now in the division, right? Yeah. I will say, though, that I think for now until the Diamondbacks can truly figure out who they are, who their core is, I can't. I mean, I'm okay without them spending this big money on these big contracts.

Starting point is 00:24:56 Yeah, that's fair. And I also want to say that, like, as much as I totally understand where people are coming from and you know, why doesn't Ken Kendr spend more money and all this stuff, right? I wrote about this a while back. This was like maybe a full year ago at this point. The Diamondbacks relative to the revenue that the Diamondbacks bring in, and this is based on publicly available information. So it's not necessarily, you know, hard and fast, like these numbers are precise or anything.

Starting point is 00:25:24 But roughly speaking, I think there's good evidence that the Diamondbacks spend roughly the same percentage of their revenue on their payroll as most other teams. throughout the game. Maybe there's a slight disparity. There doesn't appear to be a big disparity there. And so the difference between a team like the Diamondbacks and a team like the Mets is, again, how is the owner viewing the investment, right? Is the owner viewing the investment as a like, I don't care how much money I lose? I just want to win, right? Some owners are going to take that approach, but not all of them are. And to be fair, I don't know if it's, I don't know if we should expect that all owners will necessarily do that, even though I know fan bases love that.

Starting point is 00:26:03 Sometimes you've got to be realistic, right? And sometimes you do have to look at the moves your competitors make and look at how much of a favorite they are. And really analyze how spending money on free agents is going to impact your chances, right? Like, yes, you could bring on a big name, but I feel like we're past the day and age of a mediocre team still having people buy tickets and come see them

Starting point is 00:26:28 just because of a big name on their team. People might come to see visiting teams that have a big name on them or even maybe local fans come out to see a big name. But like, I don't even know if selling tickets is the priority anymore, you know what I mean? No. I mean, the San Diego Padres, the San Diego Padres could sell out every single game. And I don't think they would break even. It's just not, the tickets doesn't, it's not as big a factor in the equation as you would probably expect it.

Starting point is 00:26:57 It's merchandise and television. Yeah, TV is huge. TV is just huge. And the Diamondbacks got a pretty substantial television deal. So it's not like they're not making money from that television deal that they have. So really, maybe right now they're being ran in a way where they just want to make money. And honestly, I don't even know if that's the case with how empty the stadium is at times. Right.

Starting point is 00:27:21 Yeah, I could not say with any confidence that the Diamondbacks are operating in a way where they're trying to bring in huge profits. I don't see it that way as of right now. It's really hard to gauge these things. We don't have that much information about exactly how much the team is bringing in. Or exactly what the... Yeah, about any team. It's just... Yeah, it's just part of the system.

Starting point is 00:27:43 So it's hard to know for sure. But I think it's a misconception about the Diamondbacks being, you know, this team is just hoarding cash. Yeah, they're just cheap. Yeah, I don't think it's true, but it is true that Ken Kendrick has a very different view on this than Steve Cohen does, or that a lot of other owners around the game do. And I have heard that Ken Kendrick had a very similar view to this team as to the original ownership group. And I've talked about this in the past. But there was a very idealistic view about running this team in a way where it was a nice place for families to go and enjoy a night out and watch the baseball.

Starting point is 00:28:19 Which it is. I mean, it's the cheapest ticket in baseball. Right. And it also has the cheapest concession prices and such, right? So they still lead the league in that stuff. And that reflects where I think their priorities might stand, which is still just running this almost as an entertainment venue, even when the baseball team is playing in it,

Starting point is 00:28:39 more so than worrying about profits or worrying about running at a negative so that the team can try to keep up with some of their NL West competition, which, I mean, even if they did operate in that way, I don't know if they'd still be close. I just, I think this team has a chance right now to do something unexpected and to do something similar to the Cleveland Guardians to do something similar to the Atlanta Braves potentially, where it's guys within the organization step up,

Starting point is 00:29:10 they become stars, and the team extends them. I think that's what people want to see. I feel like the Diamondbacks should be lucky to have a guy like Zach Gallen be acquired through the trade that they got him for, and I think they should see that and do everything they can to extend him and make him a future member of this team or make him a member of the Diamondbacks for life. These are the things, again, when you talk about fans building trust in you, fans wanting to love your team. A big part of that is not going through the constant heartbreak of watching your guys come up, get great, and then go somewhere else to achieve greatness there.

Starting point is 00:29:45 I think that's what fans get more angry about than anything else, right? It's not as much like, oh, you know, you were rumored to be in on Xander Bogartz and you whiffed, right? he goes to your division rival. It's no, like, Paul Goldschmidt's a St. Louis Cardinal, right? And that just doesn't, that's never going to feel okay to any Diamondbacks fan. And understandably so, right? The optics of that is really unfortunate. And we've started to see bigger market teams like the Boston Red Sox sort of adopt that same philosophy

Starting point is 00:30:18 where they're okay seeing some of their, you know, big name, homegrown guys walk in free agency to other teams. that's what gets fans up in arms more than anything else, I think. I agree. I agree. Well, again, if you guys are watching us right now on the PHNX Sports YouTube channel, we thank you guys for being here. We love and appreciate you. I hope you have a happy fest of this.

Starting point is 00:30:42 Of course, make sure you subscribe to this. Is everyone in town going to this event? I'm just missing out. It's a holiday, Jesse. It's not just an event, but of course, make sure if you are here to subscribe to the PHNX Sports YouTube channel if you haven't done so already. for notifications that way you don't miss when any of our wonderful shows go live. If you're listening to us on your favorite audio podcast audio podcasting app, I'm sorry that I forget about you all the time.

Starting point is 00:31:06 Jesse is always thinking of you. Make sure to subscribe to us there as well if you haven't done so and leave us a review. We appreciate you for doing so. And if you have people left on your shopping list, which I know so many of you still do, get down to Festivist. I have approximately everyone. Jesse waits until the last minute. He literally waits until the last minute. I'm unashamed because the advantage, the advantage is that when you're walking around Chandler Mall at 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve, there's just not that many options left.

Starting point is 00:31:37 And so it forces me to make way faster and more efficient decisions than I would make otherwise. Why does your procrastination give me anxiety? You should know what your family and friends want. Oh, my God. And so you should know how to make a decision faster than that. But I mean, I'm still going to like, I'm still going to all the right places and the places that I know that I'll find something that they like. But yeah, like if, you know, if that candle's the last one on the shelf, then sure. I mean, I don't know if mom necessarily likes that sense, but that's the one I got to go with.

Starting point is 00:32:07 Don't be this guy. Go to Fort Peaks Brewing Company. Get yourself and your friends and your loved ones the gift of beer this holiday season. And don't wait until the last minute because they are limited edition supplies of their December Advent calendar for $55. You can enjoy specialty beers. All Boys and more. Of course, we've seen some of the stuff. Barley Wine is in there. Make sure to check that out. Purchase at their 8th Street Pub in Tempe. If you don't get a chance to go out there, make sure to just grab their beers wherever you get your beers. It must be 21 and over to enjoy and enjoy responsibly.

Starting point is 00:32:41 Jesse, I don't even believe this map is real. But let's just... No, I don't think either of us believe this map is real. Baseball reference relieved, released a map of the most player page views. by state, and none of this makes sense. You know, I'll take that back. All of the Aaron Judge states make sense, right? Aaron Judge was a very hot topic for a lot of people, especially states that don't have a baseball team, right?

Starting point is 00:33:10 Following his journey on if he was going to beat Roger Maris' home run record, garnered a lot of interest. So none of those surprised me at all. the ridiculous percentage of Albert Pooleuels. I mean, is that that surprising, though? Is that really that surprising? I mean, it's his last season. I personally, I personally went to Albert Pouls's baseball reference page

Starting point is 00:33:36 a number of times over those last few months of the season. I think just about everyone in the game did. It is interesting, though, that it's not every city. It also, I notice, is in Illinois. Albert Pouls was the most search name, of course. That's the home of the Chicago Cubs. I'm not sure how Cubs fans would feel about that. I guess those states kind of blur together a little bit.

Starting point is 00:33:57 He's on their mind a lot. St. Louis is practically in Illinois. Again, I am not going to say anything about the amount of Albert Poo holes on this list either, even though it is, of course, as you guessed, Arizona's number one looked up player for some reason, but also Los Angeles. Like, that's kind of crazy to me as well. But here's the thing, Los Angeles. California. I forgot that there's a whole other state there.

Starting point is 00:34:25 You forgot that Los Angeles is not a state. But like, why is Barry Bonds, why, like, no. Because Wyoming doesn't, Wyoming doesn't really know. Jacob, why are people still looking up Pete Browning stats from 1894 on baseball reference.com? See, the East Coast is an, like, it's already an enigma to me. So, like, I didn't even look at that. I just was confused by Wyoming in Barry Bonds. I mean, I think it makes sense.

Starting point is 00:34:50 If you live in Wyoming, like, you don't have any idea that Albert Poole's making the 700-round runs, right? The televised games there are still from 2004. You are correct. No, that's fine. Does George Brett live in Alaska? Like, explain that one to me. Yes. I would not surprise me if George Brett lived in Alaska.

Starting point is 00:35:07 He could break as many bats as he wants there. That's fine. I can criticize all of these people all day long. But Dylan Moore. Dylan Moore. For Hawaii will never make sense to me. There's got to be some connection here. From your Belinda.

Starting point is 00:35:21 Yeah, he doesn't have any clear ties, but I refuse to believe that there are people, you know, hanging on the beach in Hawaii, just like obsessively looking at Dylan Moore's baseball reference baseball. I got to see what his current line is right now. Let me see. Oh, man, I don't get it. But Jesse, Jesse doesn't even believe that that's real. That's real. He doesn't think that. Can we pull it up one more time?

Starting point is 00:35:44 The Peter Browning thing, to your point earlier, is truly startling. Peter Browning played between 1882 and 1894, career 341 hitter. Yeah, killer. Mad respect to the citizens of Delaware. Yeah, for knowing their baseball. They found themselves a ball player. But why? Why is everybody there looking him up?

Starting point is 00:36:08 Does his family live there? That's what I think about all of these guys. Like Dylan Moore's family definitely lives in Hawaii. It would be like his children's children's children, I guess. That's that big of a family. Maybe it's an entire town. Who knows, Jesse? Maybe.

Starting point is 00:36:23 People can procreate. You've never seen that before. Anyway, let me tell you. Back east, I don't know what you guys are doing, but a lot of fun looking up stats from the 1800s, I guess. There you go. That's all we got for today. But, of course, if you haven't had a chance to get yourself some new furniture

Starting point is 00:36:39 for more furniture, make sure to do so. They have an outstanding deal going on their holiday clearance event. Again, if you're a procrastinator like Jesse, and you wait until the last minute, you might win the day over at morefurniture.com because you can save up to 50%. And of course, give somebody the gift of furniture. Why not?

Starting point is 00:36:58 Give your spouse a couch. She'll love you for it. I have always wanted to give my wife a car for Christmas, like those commercials where there's a big old bow on it. Like it's never going to happen, but I've just always thought it was a neat idea. Wait, what is this?

Starting point is 00:37:14 You know, like the car commercials for the holiday season where they give their spouse a car. Right, right. It's adorable. I've always wanted to do that. I'm not going to. Yeah, where the guys like, hey, I got you this candle. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Starting point is 00:37:26 The girl drives up in a big GMC or something. Yeah, right. Not happening. Not in my future, because, of course, as we established, I have less than 13 years left to live. But of course, we think you guys. This is so dark. I know.

Starting point is 00:37:38 It's Festivus. I'm airing grievances, and that is that I don't know how much more time I have left, but none of us do, of course. Tomorrow's not promised, so make sure to enjoy yourself. And in the meantime, until, as long as I'm here, you follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore Kman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse. I do not buy gift cards, Brian.

Starting point is 00:37:57 Gift cards are a mostly unacceptable last resort. I will pick. Mostly? It's a true, like, if I'm getting you a gift card, it means I really screwed things up. And the mall closed and I had no, I had no choice. But that's a rare outcome for me. I usually get out of there with something. for everyone on my list that I'm reasonably happy with.

Starting point is 00:38:19 So it's foolproof, Derek. Do we want to discuss how you gave Espo a picture of you and me yesterday, a framed picture? Oh, I'm happy to discuss that. Yeah, yeah. So we did a Secret Santa here at the office and I was assigned Espo and we each filled out like a little form of things that we like and don't like and whatnot. And under things that he doesn't want, Espo put a framed picture of Shane. He did not want a framed picture of Shane.

Starting point is 00:38:43 However, he made no mention of not wanting a framed picture of. of me and Derek. And so that is what Espo received. Yes. And he enjoyed it. I believe we are on display in his office right now. So I think the plan worked. I think it worked to perfection.

Starting point is 00:38:57 It was brilliant. Derek, do you hear how jessey almost ruined your guys as present before it was opened? No. How did that happen? Aspo was drinking regular Coke when Jesse walks up and Jesse goes, oh, no more Coke zero. And it was like, it was just came out of the blue. And Aspo was like, no, they just didn't have it.

Starting point is 00:39:15 And Jesse just goes, and then walks away. You mean because there was also Coke Zero? In his gift, yeah. I don't think that gave anything away, though. Anyone who knows Espo well knows that he is a Coke Zero aficionado through and through.

Starting point is 00:39:30 I don't think I'd ever seen him drink like the regular Coke before. So I thought that was pretty reasonable. I'd have to ask, but I don't think Espo suspected anything. I got Mac and I gave her a Fall Guys doll and a gift card to press and... There you go.

Starting point is 00:39:46 chocolate pretzels because I'm a good gift giver and I don't give people framed pictures of myself like a maniac. But I appreciate it. You were in the framed picture. I love that you did that. I love that you did it. It's great. Not only did I get to be a part of it, but I didn't have to be the one to give it to.

Starting point is 00:40:02 So of course, we thank you guys for joining us. You can follow our show on Twitter at PHNX underscore DBAGs. But of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Again, on behalf of Jacob, Jesse and myself, we appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you have a framed picture of us on your desk.

PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - The Giants sign Carlos Correa to the fourth-largest contract in MLB history

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