PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - The Hot Stove is keeping the Winter Meetings warm as we prepare for the first ever MLB Draft Lottery

Episode Date: December 6, 2022

The Arizona Diamondbacks stay active at MLB’s Winter Meetings with our very own Jesse Friedman bringing us updates from San Diego. We also prepare for the inaugural MLB Draft Lottery and cover the numerous caveats the process involves. 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.

Who is feeling lucky? This guy over here is jamming out. Of course, this is the PHNXDBax podcast. I'm your mayor, occasionally known as Derek Montia. This guy is Faj, father overlord Jacob. Of course, here to bring us all sorts of MLB insight and knowledge. And Saul's popping in to join us too, so we're excited. I didn't like sharing my spot with Sean, so I sent him home for the day and told him he could never come back.

He was actually quite mad that I asked another person to be on the show, and he's even angrier about the fact that I said Jesse is eventually coming back. This is my spot, Derek. That's the whole other thing. Of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King Sportsbook app. America's top-rated sportsbook app. And we have, ladies and gentlemen, an MLB draft lottery for the first time in history, the inaugural MLB draft lottery.

We also have Jesse Friedman coming to us from the winter meetings. He's hanging out with Scott Boris right now, so he'll be with us in a little bit. But of course, this draft lottery, Jacob, the Diamondbacks actually have more to gain than they do to lose from it, right? Sure, but for those of you who are unfamiliar with our PhD show, that noise that just came out of me when Derek started talking about the draft lottery was a sigh. And we have a resident individual on the coyote show who enjoys sighing. So that was my tribute to him because they've dealt with the draft lottery for quite a while over there in coyotes land. I just don't know if very many people are a big fan of draft lotteries. This one is very weird.

MLB has done everything they can to prevent tanking, to prevent purposefully losing, to better your position in the draft, right? Picks one through six are a lottery pick, and they don't give the team with the worst record the best odds at getting number one. The teams with the three worst records actually have. Thanks Michael McDermott for spoiler.

I'm doing this big. Michael, not you. I don't need you at your explaining to people the odds. But yes, the lottery odds are pretty, pretty good. Can you explain it to me like I'm an alien? Like you're an alien. Okay, so there's this game called baseball. They hit a ball, which is a round spherical device. Not from the beginning. No, not from the beginning. Okay, draft lottery. Well, there has never been this before because essentially in MLB, the order has just always gone in reverse order of the standings, right? So now we will have this draft lottery where picks one through six will be. be decided. And of course,

there's exciting, because even though the Diamondbacks have a very small chance at getting this pick, as Mike Hazen said, we do have a chance. And that's all that matters. So you're telling me there's a chance. So you're telling me there's a chance. And of course, Jesse actually has an amazing article on go phtnx.com if you haven't had a chance to check that out. But yeah, there's a lot of weird rules with this draft lottery. Like large market teams cannot participate in the lottery portion in consecutive years. Smaller market teams cannot participate in three consecutive years. There's a lot of things.

Oh, so a small market team can't be in the lottery for more than three years. Small market teams aren't able to be in the lottery three consecutive years. That hurts my brain. Well, it's trying to prevent, once again, the purposeful tanking to get your farm system But some small market teams are just bad. Yeah. They're not like purposely bad.

They're just bad because they don't, they're poor. I know. And also, I think that also make the poor. Yes. I also think that making a difference between like the large market teams and small market teams is like ridiculous. You know, like yeah, yeah. Like the Dodgers, it's like you can't be in it back to back years.

It's like, okay, cool, but they were in it once. Yeah, right. Right. Right. But there is the non-postseason non-lottery teams from pick seven through eight. 18, then go in reverse order of their standings. Then there's the wildcard series losers and division series losers and so on and so forth. Really, the Philadelphia Phillies just kind of get screwed here when it comes to things.

You know, obviously, they didn't have a great record last year, but they made it so far that now they're in a position of not being anywhere close to. They have lots of money. They have Tray Turner too. They're fine. But what are your thoughts overall on the new MLB draft lottery and how this could potentially impact? the Diamondbacks. I don't want it. You don't want it.

So I feel like I might cover my eyes and just hope that it goes away. Yeah. I think that's a logical way to handle this. Look, from a Diamondbacks. A very cynical point of view. Yeah, from a Diamondbacks fan perspective, you know, we're sitting in a position that the actual lottery teams, like probably envy, right? You know, the Diamondbacks were not a awful team last year.

They weren't an awful team. Right. And so they have a chance to move up into an awesome pitch. versus your typical Diamondbacks here, you're going to be sitting in one of those first five draft spots and you're sitting there hoping that you don't lose your spot in the top five because, well, the Diamondbacks have deliberately tanked at times. Not calling anybody out, but yes, they have. There are also times that I remember where the Diamondbacks were expected to be a good team and we're just bad.

Well, look at what's happened with Drew Jones and look at what happened with that number one, number two pick that they almost got, but they still got the number two pick. They still... Backdating two years of schedules just to figure out who was the worst team three years before that actual draft. Well, and here's the thing is at least the debacks got in before that

they could have easily gotten that second pick or been that bad the year when this draft lottery was instituted and then they get screwed out of that number two pick. Yeah, get a ninth pick. Right. Mike Hazen said that he was happy with the fourth spot. That's what they're looking forward. They're trying not to be greedy.

Oh, yeah. They're trying not to go after. the number one spot. They just want to spot four, right? Spot four. Yes, because they're, their representative tonight is actually Mike Fitzgerald, the director of research and development for the team,

who Mike Hazen considers to be, quote, the luckiest guy in the office. So they are sending Mike Fitzgerald as their representative. You got to read Jesse's piece because I love how he says, like they go from being analytical to being like wizards immediately, talking about luck and spirit and vibes and all this other stuff, right? But why is baseball all about superstition? It's like we're going to send our luckiest guy out there.

It's not just baseball. Like NHL GMs will like carry stuff in their pockets when they attend the drafts. It's a whole thing. But like why? It's a whole thing. It's a whole thing. Obviously it hasn't worked for the coyotes. You know what Jacob?

This is the team action. Obviously it hasn't worked for the coyotes. That's true. But Fitzgerald said that asking for the number one pick to the baseball gods is unrealistic and asking for the number three pick is greedy. So they're not trying to be greedy. They don't want to ask too much from the baseball sounds ungritty to me. If Washington, Oakland, and Pittsburgh get the top three picks, the devs have a 2.7% chance of getting the fourth pick.

Yeah. Well, right now their chances are getting the top pick are, but half of that. But still, it doesn't matter. They still have a chance. They still have a chance. And the chance is all we need, right? And a fourth might be good enough for the Diamondbacks, but it's not good enough for me, Jacob. Do you know why? Because Mike Fitzgerald said that he is wearing a button-down shirt to the MLB draft lottery and he is going to separate it in his words if they get the number one overall pick

and I need to see that happen. I need to see a man go full-on chest hair to the world. Chest hair, belly out to the world. Buttons, his hope is that he breaks every button that he snaps every button on the way out. If he does that tonight, are we doing that tomorrow on this show? Oh, I think we have to.

I think we have to. Okay. I don't know how Roosevelt's is going to feel about me doing that to one of their shirts, but we'll have to figure that out. But let's get back to the draft lottery. You said that you don't think it's an improvement for the game. You don't think that it changes teams' position on tanking and such? It's just some of those weird rules that are involved with it.

It just feels like it's, okay, we're going to try and help small market teams be competitive, but we're also maybe going to curb their chances of getting better. Well, if they're bad for too many years in a row. draft should be their way of getting better. Right. Like, it just doesn't make sense. Well, the Diamondbacks went from losing 110 games to nearly being a 500 team. So it's not like it can't happen fast. It's not like sometimes, you know, I just think of historically times where teams in any sport got better simply because they had a major injury one season. So it's

not like they were a bad team, but like their star player went down for a year. And the next thing you know, you know, the spurs are drafting Tim Duncan. And I, have to hate them for the rest of the time. I think somebody just said Diamondbacks get first pick, pick the baseball Tim Duncan and become the new spurt. Yeah, there we go. Michael and me, we're right here.

We are right here. Big brain energy. Yeah, big connection there. Once the DH in the NL was instituted, I feel like all the rules were thrown out the window. I feel like baseball is completely open to change now that we got past that one thing that nobody in baseball seemed to want to change

even though it made sense. They should start hosting open, tryouts. That's the next step. Yeah, you and me. Yeah? We're going to try out. I love it. I'm not going to make the team, but I love the idea. In spirit, I'm with you in spirit. We will do it for content's sake.

I will go and throw 60 miles an hour over the middle of the plate. Yeah, all right. I don't hate that at all. I actually want to see that. I was just telling Saul today about the fact that the Diamondbacks invited us out to take batting practice and did quite a bit of joy and, you know, So Casey Wilcox himself being the person that sent the balls at us because, of course, he wanted us to. Casey's the one sending the ball in. You've got to make sure he doesn't just turn the machine and point it at you. At you?

Yeah, he's going to come in tight on you for sure. But the hot stove is definitely keeping the winter meetings warm. And like we have a lot of stuff that happened on Monday. Now we have some stuff kind of croaking now for the Diamondbacks. Yes. Derek, I just want to let you know if I ever had the chance to hit off of Casey Wilcox. I would absolutely rake. You heard that, Casey.

I would absolutely abuse every single ball he threw my way. Yeah, well, he was using a pitching machine, but the same, the spirit's still there. I get you. Ooh, Charles, you don't need to see me taking batting practice. It would not go well. Yeah, the spirit definitely is there. It's not pretty.

Yeah. No. I can hit off a tea. I thought I was much better than I actually was. but I am not. Let me tell you that batting practice took me down a peg. But I just, I don't know. I'm excited for this.

I do feel like the baseball draft is arguably the most boring draft, obviously because of what baseball players have to go through. Their road from the time they get drafted to when we actually get to see them impact the game at a major league level. Right. So I feel like this does bring some excitement into it. And to be honest, like I said, I know that there's the Diamondbacks, whatever. They might not get one of the top six positions, but I feel like they definitely have more to gain in this scenario where they're at right now, where their record was last season, then they do to lose.

And yeah, one thing that I know about the MLB draft is that there's value that can be found just about anywhere in the draft. You could find somebody of value in the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth rounds. Like you could make a pick in the 15th round and he could turn into an MVP in 15 years. You just never really know what you're going to find in the MLB draft because you can find some gems in there. I mean, D-BACs fans know that Paul Goldschmidt was drafted in the eighth round. We'll never forget that as long as we live. It's not like if you miss out on the top six pick, you're not going to get a good player at 11. Correct.

You're going to find value pretty much anywhere you go. And Hazen has proven that this organization can find value just about anywhere in that draft. When you look at their outfielders that many consider to be the most talented young outfield in baseball, right? Not all of those guys. A lot of them were competitive balance. Yeah, a lot of competitive balance. Not a lot of those guys went even in the first round. So like you said, you can definitely find those gems anywhere in the lottery.

Plus, baseball is just a weird sport. It is weird. People just transform over those years. You're drafting high school kids. Yes. And you're kind of trying to guarantee that their stock will continue to rise. And that just isn't the case, you know, with athletes in any sport, to be honest, let alone baseball. I think baseball just is the one that kind of nabs them up early and has that, you know,

I think Michael McDermott said it in the comments. The average first round prospect will take three years to reach the biggest. And not even that. You could also find flops. Just like any other sport, you can find flops in the first round. Almost more. It's not a guarantee, right?

It's so I don't really know the fixation on, you know, a top draft pick unless you get a guy like Drew Jones, which shout out DeVX fans. We have a guy named Drew Jones that you'll get to see play next year. That's right. Well, Jesse is out at the winter meetings. We're going to have him on in a little. bit, but like I was saying, the hot stove is heating up a little bit more. Winter meetings usually

is when really these talks take off. There was a gigantic scrum of people surrounding Scott Boris just a little while ago. So it's going to be interesting to see where, especially the Sander Bogart's sweepstakes take him, his name is still heavily connected to the Arizona Diamondbacks, which we will get into here in a minute. But if you have not had a chance to do so, go over to go phtnx.com. Check out Jesse's article on the M. MLB draft lottery and so much more. He's bringing you a ton of content from the winter meetings. Also grab yourself a diehards membership. If you haven't done so already, be a DeBacks diehards. Be a PHNX diehard. Not only do you get your free shirt, hat every year, you get that 20% off merch.

We're working on all sorts of deals with our partners to give you guys additional discounts as diehard members. We're bringing you the diehards only Discord lounge. It's so much more content. So make sure to sign up over there at go phnx.com. If you're watching us right now on the PHNX sports YouTube channel, make sure to subscribe to us there. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever we go live or any of the shows go live. If you're listening to us on your favorite audio podcasting app, please subscribe to us there as well. If you haven't done so, leave us a review. We appreciate you so much for doing so.

And we actually have very exciting. I don't know if you know them, but from San Diego, it's Giant Blurry Jesse, ready to come on in. We love Giant Blurry Jesse. All hail, Giant Blurry Jesse. What's happening, buddy? How's San Diego? Well, unfortunately, Mike Hazen didn't allow me to use his hot spot, so I'm still on my own today. Dang it. But I think we're in a better spot than we were yesterday.

So we'll see how this goes. It looks good. The delay is short. We're loving it so far. But we were talking a bit about the MLB draft lottery and your wonderful piece over at go-PhNX.com. It's very funny to us sending Mike Fitzgerald as the D-Backs, good luck charm. And I also found it very funny that they're trying not to be greedy and just ask for that fourth spot. Yeah, it was honestly a hilarious moment last night in the Diamond

Backs Gym suite. I asked my case in, you know, tomorrow first ever MLB draft lottery, right? In MLB history, this has never happened before. You know, I say you guys have a 1.4% chance of getting the number one overall pick. And so he immediately interrupts me and it's like, so you're saying we have a chance, which I thought was, I thought that was hilarious. But yeah, and Mike Fitzgerald was also in the room, just kind of lounging on a couch also up there with us. And yeah, he's going to be the D-BACs representative at the draft lottery tonight. And Mike Kizun is expecting him to bring the good vibes. So we'll see what happens in the draft lottery tonight for the D-Backs. And those buttons on his button-down shirt are goner if they get the number one picked. Correct. Correct.

Jesse, we need a recorded video of the same thing from you if they get the first overall pick as well. Just ah, right next to him. Hey, so Xander Bogartz to Arizona continues to be a thing, Jesse. I mean, we even heard from Mike Hazen yesterday. It was one of the first questions he was asked, but he tried to still be cryptic about it. But he also didn't shy away from making it sound like they're willing to go an unconventional means. or basically sounded like he was willing to fill positions that they already have filled in order to make this team better, that that's not going to hold them back. Here was the audio that we had from that.

I'm not going to get to like specific things that that may involve like free agents and stuff like that. I know we talked the other day and I will continue to reiterate that we are exploring every avenue to make the team better. just because something may look on the surface like it's not a fit, doesn't mean we're not engaged in that market. So we've explored a number of different things that maybe don't fit the blueprint of what we talked about, maybe at the beginning, at the end of the season, in the end of season press conference through today. So we're still engaged in all that stuff.

How we make this team better is I don't think we have the ability to just have a checklist and walk down the checklist of the needs that we have. I think potentially opening up needs or filling, you know, or we're creating areas of surplus in ways. Maybe avenues for us long term to make our team better. And so we're exploring those things. Doesn't sound like he's saying no when it comes to the connections between the DBAX and Bogarts. Yeah, yeah. And I mean, I wouldn't necessarily expect him to either, right?

I mean, it wouldn't really be in the DBAX best interest to just come out. And, you know, even if this isn't something that is really a serious consideration internally, I'd be kind of surprised if they just came out and said, you know, no, no way, we're never, we're ever going to do this. Yeah, like that, that's not what I would have expected anyway. So I don't necessarily read too much into what Mike Hazen is saying with regard to Bogart's here. But I will say that Mike Jason has continued to reiterate as he did in that clip over and over and over again, that the Diamondbacks are exploring every option, that it's not just as simple.

as going and getting a few bullpen arms, maybe making a trade with one of their outfielders, which we've seen coming for a while. There are other things here that the team is seriously considering from what we can tell. And that's just been a trend here over the last couple of weeks with Mike Hazen's comments. And it sounds like anything is possible.

And we'll see in the coming days what that means. Do you, I mean, Mike also said that obviously the team is still committed to making the bullpen better. and that is primarily they're focused, right? Has there been any rumors or any other connections as far as the Diamondbacks to any bullpen arms? No one in particular. The most recent rumor that I've heard beyond Xander Bogartz

is that the Diamondbacks were mentioned is one of the teams interested in Christian Vasquez, who is a free agent catcher out there. A name that we've kind of seen coming for a while now as a possible fit for the diamond backs if they want to add some depth to that position in addition to Carson Kelly. But yeah, on the bullpen front, no names have been have been circulated here so far at the winter meetings. It sounds like there's still probably some movement to happen on that front before the diamond backs maybe swoop in and get, you know,

get their guy. But it was interesting last night. Mike Hazen was asked, how many bullets do you think you still have to fire when it comes to the bullpen? How many moves do you feel like you've still have to make there. And his answer was one or two. And he said that could come be a free agency or also could come be a trade, which he mentioned as something the debacks are looking to pursue with increasing levels of aggressiveness here over the next couple of weeks as the markets continue to play out. So their diamondbacks are definitely going to do something with the bullpen, possibly a couple of different moves, but we don't necessarily have names just yet. Brian Abdallah has an amazing. Yeah, I like this theory. I was going to ask Jesse.

about the Boris interview. Yeah, his tinfoil hat theory is that Boris wants us to raise the price on Zander, and then he will go easy on us on the gallon extension. You were 40 feet and 275 people away from Scott Boris. What are your thoughts on that being a possibility? Well, first of all, I have to say that my arms are still killing me, because I was holding my phone out to try to record Scott Boris's audio from, as you said about 40 feet away. It was incredibly painful.

But anyway, yeah, I don't know if I would expect a discount on a on a Zach Gallon extension. Scott Forrest is not necessarily in the discounts market. That's not exactly his specialty. It's not exactly what he is known for as an agent. So I still think the Diamondback space. He's a high end store that doesn't exactly have coupons available online. You know what I mean? Like he's one of those places.

yeah yeah so i wouldn't know i was yeah i was just gonna ask him if he asked if we were getting gallon on the extension we just need gallon back just give us gallon back jesse just do give him back everything you can to make sure that happens that's why we sent you there yeah i mean you don't really i mean you don't need them back right like he's already a diamond bag for three more years so you know you have some time you have some time here to figure things out but yeah this is something I'm planning to write about soon is just kind of looking back at the history of Scott Boris. And he has had clients who have signed extensions in the past. It's not something that has never happened. It's just something that is that is quite rare. So stay tuned for that if you're a diehard.

That'll definitely be a diehard only piece. We'll look back at Scott Boris's history and kind of investigate what it might look like for Zach Allen to be extended in Arizona. Apparently people want open shirt Mike versus open shirt Derek to happen. So if the Diamondbacks get that number one overall pick tonight, Jesse. We're going to have to set that up. I'll let Mike know. Thanks. That there's a competition happening there.

All right, sir. Well, we thank you for joining us, and we thank you for being out there. Continue to do what you're doing and bring us something. Bring us something. You know, again, you're our good luck charm. That's, that's again why we sent you out there. So make sure bring something good home. Well, Faj certainly isn't going to be the good luck charm.

So, you know, that's not. That's a mutual attacking of each other. Wow. He's already said he's not giving the seat up when you come back. Do you want a producer or not tonight, Jesse, for your guys' videos? I don't know. I don't know. You're trending in the wrong direction now, my guy.

He's that guy. You wouldn't do that to Patrick. I know you like Patrick, too. All right, buddy. Well, thank you again. Thank you for finding a place that we can actually see you this time. There we go. There we go.

glad it worked out. Tell Scott Boris, we appreciate him letting you use his hotspot. Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. Couldn't have done it without him. Couldn't have done it without him. All right, Gabriel says, don't come back if you don't bring Zander with you or a gallon extension, Jesse. So the stakes are high.

One or the other. I mean, to be fair, living in San Diego for the long haul, not the worst out. Not a worst out. We could have sent you to Cleveland. Chat stop. You're going to make Jesse leave. All right, buddy. Thank you so much.

All right, see it. Well, that's always fun. That's always fun. What, seeing a guy hanging out in San Diego, living his best life. We're here. I'm stuck with you in a studio. Weather is nice outside, Jacob.

I don't know why you are, you're just very upset this morning. I had to deal with a lot this morning. He did. You did. I had to deal with a lot this morning. But we appreciate all of your efforts, of course. That's what makes you the overlord.

I'll get you some OGs. I'll bring you OGs. All right. I got OGs. You were with us. We had a fun time. Shout out to our friends at OGs for having us at their World of Wonder event, of course. You called me an RSO.

I did call you an RSO. You know why? Because you're the best we have. You are a very multifunctional strain, I guess I should say. But anyway, it was an amazing party. Hope you guys checked out the, what did we do? What do we do? A variety show from there.

And of course, there was people on stilts, and we compared everybody in the office to strains of OGs. Make sure to check that out. We talked about our favorite flavors. I once again need to tell OGs, thank you for creating orange creamsicle. I can't tell you how much I enjoy it. And it never ceases to amaze me how every time I eat one, I expect it to be over the experience of how delicious their edibles are. And they're still not. It's still amazing.

So as always, you can find them at your local dispensary. must be 21 years or older to enjoy. And if you get a chance to go out to an OG's party, do not miss it. Do not miss it. They are all the rage. They are a blast. I've never not had a fun time, except the one time with the Keys thing, but that's a whole other thing. Shane.

Anyway, also enjoy our friends at Four Peaks Brewing Company. They're still doing the World Cup stuff. I know the USA and Mexico aren't in it anymore, but we can still get together and have a good time. So make sure to keep an eye out for those events because we're still going to be out there at Four Peaks. Enjoy beer specials, giveaways, guest appearances, all that stuff. They have their 22-foot screen, which is the best way to watch the World Cup. But also, give the gift of beer this holiday season. Grab yourself an Advent calendar.

Beer, beer, beer, beer, beer. We need him back. We need to do that again. But Four Peaks has limited editions of their December Advent calendar box. For $55, enjoy specialty beers, tall boys, and more. joint including barley wines. Like I don't know barley wines were in there. I need to get one myself.

Make that purchase down at the 8th Street pub in Tempe. And of course, if you don't get a chance to do so, grab four peaks wherever you get your beer and enjoy responsibly. Must be 21 years or older to enjoy. I'm seeing conflicting reports in the chat right now. Somebody said Boris just said Zander will age well because he has the ability to move to third base. Correct. And then Brett said did Boris say, didn't Boris say just days ago that Zander won't move to third base?

I don't know because I heard that that was part of the reason why the red socks might not work out for him because the red socks wanted him to move. Did they want him to move or did they want him to stay short? I don't know. Exactly. We should be bringing you this information. Neither one of us know the answer to that. But we should ask Jesse. We should ask Jesse.

Yeah. We should ask Jesse to ask Scott Boris and he can let us in on all of this. But I think there is that. I've heard that about Zander. I've heard that he has the ability to move to third. and honestly, there's the need for this team. Let's also be honest. It's not like the Diamondbacks have a stellar shortstop right now.

If he came over and played shortstop for the time being and then moved to third as Jordan Lawler progressed up, that wouldn't be the worst infield combination that you could have out there. But maybe one of those guys would make it onto the MLB, all MLB team. But none of the Diamondbacks made it onto the 2002 all MLB team. And I guess I have to ask you, Does that surprise you in any way?

A little bit. Anyone got snubbed? Now, this isn't an ALNL situation. It's a combined first team, second team of all the best players. How many pitchers? How many pitchers made the team? There's five, I think, made first team. Five made second team with two relief pitchers.

Yeah, I mean, I would say probably Zach Gellon deserved a spot on one of those teams. Even if he didn't make first team, I thought maybe he would have deserved a spot on the second team. Yeah. Because he was, he dominated for a majority of the year. And quite possibly was the best pitcher in baseball after the All-Star break, which is saying a lot. Because that's just unfortunate that he's not able to get some of the recognition that he deserves and that. He's actually been extremely vocal about all of that kind of stuff on Twitter this offseason, which has been nice to see because he's a little eye emojis and such.

He keeps commenting on people's things, just eye emojis, rolling eye emojis. He also had some comments out at the golf tournament that he was a part of as well. He definitely sounds like a guy that wants to win. He's got a chip on his shoulder, and I am a-okay with that. And he wants to be recognized. Sub-2 coming. Sub-2 inbound. For sure.

Sandy Alcantra, Shohey-Otani, Justin Verlander, Framber, Valdez, and Alex, Alec Manoa make up the first team. Second team, very good as well. Julio Urius, Dylan Sees, Max Fried, Aaron Nola. Yeah. I mean, I would... Aaron Nola. I put him in over Aaron Nola and Julio. Yeah.

I mean, again, no Diamondbacks represent. I still think going back to our previous discussion about Scott Boris, the extension and Gallons staying long term. None of this stuff is bad for us as the Arizona Diamondbacks. I know we want our guy to be recognized. I know that we, as Arizona sports fan, just kind of sigh and roll our eyes sometimes at the lack of recognition that our athletes here get when they do produce. But it's not so bad that he doesn't win the Cy Young. It's not so bad that he doesn't win awards like this because all of those things. just add to his resume.

And it does make it more expensive. Yes. And I do want Zach Allen to be kind of the face of the franchise when it comes to when they're starting to try and win World Series. Like I think Zach Allen can be that guy. I think he's charismatic. I think he's really good with media. He's so smart.

He's like it's hard to say. He's quippy, which makes it fun. Like he's extremely quippy. Yeah. That's a good way to put it. And I just, I also think that he has, he has a very high baseball IQ. Yes.

You know, I... He's kind of a nerd. I told Jesse that, like, Zach Gallen kind of reminds me of the guy that, like, just does well in school without even trying. But then Jesse was like, nah, man, he's just the one that, like, makes it look like he's not trying,

but secretly he's studying and he's got his nose in the books the whole time during, you know, after school or whatever. We need him in studio. Yeah. We would love to have him in studio. But... Zach Gallen, I know you're watching this right now. We got Derek Hall.

We have Tori LaVallo coming up soon. So make sure to stay tuned for that because that's going to be exciting. And of course, once all these, once this winter meeting is over, once this hot stove starts to kind of get figured out. I mean, there are still a lot of available players on the market, not to mention the fact that the Diamondbacks, as Mike Hazen had said, are really looking. I think they're pursuing a trade more than they're looking to pursue through free agency. That's my opinion. I think they know that they have a very hot commodity. They have a lot of left-handed outfielders.

A lot of left-handed outfielers. But that could also bring back a big return, right? You know what I mean? Of course. So it's like I get where they're going with. And I also understand that there's no sense of urgency also, right? I mean, yeah, the Dodgers might not be the same team that they were last season, but they're still going to be very good.

And the Diamondbacks are still quite a bit behind when it comes to contending for the national. The Padres are also quite good. They are quite good. I mean, that's another reason why. Your hope is a third wild card spot next year. That's where I'm setting my bar. Yeah. And I don't think that's unrealistic.

and I also don't think that it's the end of the world if they don't reach it next year. What we want to see is continued improvement, right? It's based on where the bar is. The bar for the final world, final spot was, what, 87 wins, I think, this season for the Phillies. Yeah. So, I mean, the bar last year was through the floor. Yeah, it really was. It was through the floor.

It really was. There was no bar. The fact that there even is a bar this year shows you how far we've come. Absolutely. Absolutely. And we talked about how over on the Drafking Sportsbook app, some of these trades and some of these moves, more importantly the signings are impacting free agency.

I think the Mets kind of have a good chance to win now. I feel like that's what they're going in on. Plus 950 on the Drafking Sportsbook app. So make sure to check that out. If you haven't done so already, download the Draft King Sportsbook app as a new customer. Use our code of PHNX and you will get down on some NBA money line bets. Bet $5 on any NBA money line bet.

I would say bet it on the suns like I always do, but I don't know. They got the shit kicked out of them by the damn Maverick. So anyway. They're missing a lot of guys. I know, I know. So, but you, you bet on whoever you want, make your bet, win some money. And if you win your money line bet, you'll get $150 in free bets.

That's promo code PHNX only at the Draft King Sportsbook app. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See, show notes for details. Leah said bet against the coyotes. See, that's the problem. The coyotes are a wagon of losing. The coyotes have been losing by one goal a lot. Do not do the puck line.

Oh, wait. The puck line. No, do, because the coyotes are usually plus one and a half. So do the puck line. Aren't they losing? Yeah, you're betting on the coyotes. Yeah, they're covering the spread. Yeah, because the spread's always one and a half.

They always lose by one. They always lose by one. So bet coyote's puck line and then the other team's money line. There you go. There we go. That's how you win over at the drafting sports book. We're trying to help you out. But of course, we hope that the Diamondbacks tank season stuff is over.

We hope this draft only helps them get better. And it's exciting. I'm exciting. It's tonight. It's at what, 630 our time, I believe? 830 Eastern time, which makes it 630 our time. So if you are a D-backs diehard, make sure to join us in the Discord lounge. We are going to be chatting all about it.

Make sure to tune in tomorrow to watch Derek and I rip our shirts off. Oh my God, I'm going to so rip my damn shirt off if the Diamondbacks get the number one overall pick. It's going to be a blast. I might do it. If Sean's in the studio, he's ripping his shirt off too. I'm just signing him up for it. He doesn't have a choice in the matter. But in the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter and give us all the tips that we need on how to properly get those buttons popped off when we do that.

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thank you guys so much for being here we are excited the stove stays hot and we are here to make sure that everything's bubbling this guy has given me bunny ears on behalf of Leah this guy over here I don't forget what his Twitter handle Liz and myself, we thank you guys for joining us and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you're a client of Scott Boris.