PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - The World Baseball Classic is shaping up to be All-Star tournament

Episode Date: February 10, 2023

World Baseball Classic rosters have dropped, and these All-Star caliber teams are going to make this a very special tournament for baseball. We also discuss predictions for the D-backs final starting rotation spot and when the time will be right to strike against the Padres.BUY D-BACKS TICKETS HERE: https://gametime.hnyj8s.net/c/3442941/1410622/10874 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX: Grab your tickets to our next PHNX Suns Takeover on March 16th! Watch Devin and Kevin take on the Magic with your favorite PHNX crew. Enjoy fun pre-game activities along with prizes and giveaways. Receive a complimentary PHNX pocket tee with each ticket purchased. Get yours here at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/phnx-suns-takeover-at-footprint-center-tickets-541418716957. Diehards, check out the Discord and the Diehard website for 20% off.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, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (CO/IL/IN/LA/MD/MI/NJ/OH/PA/TN/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (KS/NH), 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.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/OH/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Void in ONT. Eligibility restrictions apply. $200 in Bonus Bets: Valid 1 per new customer. Min. $5 deposit. Min $5 bet. Promo code req. $200 issued as bonus bets that expire 7 days (168 hours) after being awarded. Bonus must be wagered 1x and stake is not included in any returns or winnings.Super Boost: Valid 1 Odds Boost Token per customer after opt-in each day for eligible Super Bowl LVII prop markets only. Token must be used BEFORE placing eligible bet between 6-9PM ET daily. Odds boosts and prop markets will vary. Max bet limits apply. Tokens are non-cashable, non-refundable, and cannot be withdrawn. Boost Token expire daily at 9PM ET. There are no restrictions on the funds a customer will receive if their bet wins. If their bet loses, they will not receive any reward. Offer period valid 2/6/23 - 2/11/23. See terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com/footballterms.OGeez!: Learn more about OGeez! at https://ogeezbrands.com//. 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: Drink, eat, find, and experience Four Peaks at https://www.fourpeaks.com/.  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.comChitown Cornhole: Check out Chitown Cornhole at http://chitowncornhole.com and make sure to follow them on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chitowncustomcornholeboards/Roman: Go to https://ro.co/PHNX today to get 20% off your entire first order. Order by February 8th for guaranteed shipping in time for Valentine’s Day.When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, hello and happy Friday. Welcome on in to another edition of the PHNX DBAX podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I'm your mayor of PHNX. And this show just, it just got a lot better looking around here. Thank you. We're one and only Susie Hunter from the DMBR Rockies podcast, joins us. Thank you for being here.

Oh my gosh, such a treat. I'm here too, Derek. He's also down there over there somewhere, I guess. It's Jesse Friedman. He's the vice mayor. Sometimes he's called the Thunderstick. But we thank you guys for being here. Of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Drafting Sportsbook app.

America's top-rated sportsbook app. Susie, what are you doing here? Why are you here right now? So everything I've worn this week is green. I'm an Eagles fan. I'm from Philly. And I am all of the Philly stereotypes. I'm terrible.

Yeah. Well, we followed you on social media during the World Series, so we know. Oh, yeah. Have you guys greased the poles down here? No, we don't do that here because we're kind of just like, we're kind of normal folks here that don't get up on poles and get in it. Arizona is not normal. Arizona is the Florida of the West.

Whoa now. I don't have to grease our polls here. We don't have to grease our polls. But with you people in town, we might have to. You should start now. I know. Well, we have plenty of Eagles talk to get to. Of course, as you guys know, I'm riding with the.

Eagles, they're going to destroy the Kansas City Chiefs. I believe you said they were going to win by a billion. A billion. Well, I said whatever the spread is, take the spread. It could be a billion points, and I would still take it. I know that might be much, but I feel like it's fairly accurate, but very excited to have you here. Thank you so much for inviting me.

And I know you guys have had kind of a lackluster offseason a little bit over there in Denver. You know, lackluster move wise to say the least, but we still have lots of stuff to talk about for better or worse. Yeah? Yeah. Like what, for instance, was your, uh, what? was the biggest grime that fans had about the offseason?

Was it just the... I think recently the biggest gripe is the Dick Monfort comments, the owner of the Rockies, when he said at a very nice charity event in Colorado, he said, oh, yeah, these guys will play 500 ball. And it's like, there's two sides of this. You know, the one side is like, oh, that's what you're aiming for. Yeah.

But the other side is why he should be honest about what to expect. I mean, and 500 would be an improvement as far as, It would be a pretty big improvement. Yeah, that'd be a pretty big improvement. At least he's not saying like, oh, we're going to do the same thing we did last year or something. But I get it. It's like for you to basically shoot for mediocrity before the season even starts, lie to me. Lie to me.

You know what I mean? To lie to you? Lie to me. Tell me that you think you're going to make the playoffs. And so we can be like, you're crazy. And he could be like, oh, I feel like the move that he should have made is just be like, we feel we can be competitive. You know, like that's more typical for an office speak is like just use vague language. Keep it as vague as possible.

When you know you're not. We can on the field, that kind of thing. Yeah, because everyone knows that the word competitive means nothing, right? Like, it has absolutely no, like, tangible meaning. And so you can- Technically, you're competing every day. Yeah, you have to compete. You're required to go out there and compete.

So, of course, you're going to be competitive. But, yeah, you're right. That's a way to kind of do it without committing to anything. Yes. The 500 thing, though. Yeah, that's a bit hard to hear. But we did have some great Rockies news. This is the best Rockies news, I think, that's ever happened.

But do you guys know about Cole Tucker? No, let's do it. Cole Tucker, he's a guy who's been playing with the pirates for the past couple of years, hasn't had some good seasons, but happens to have just proposed to Vanessa Hudgens. So Vanessa Hudgens is a Rockies minor league wag now. And I'm so excited to run into her in spring training. Cole Tucker, I believe, in the Diamondbacks farm system last year. Yeah, Diamondbacks have Cole Tucker in the system last year. Yeah, you're a former diamondback.

And also, I know what you mean, though, because this is like Gwen Stefani being connected to the diamondbacks, right? Yes. I adore Gwen Stefani. So as long as her allegiance is with Arizona in some way. And there's the possibility I might run into her at Westgate sometime and have some shots with her and hang out and have a great time. And listen to her, you know, kind of serenade me with an a cappella version of don't speak. That would be great. I mean, but aside.

I love your imagination. Well, I mean, I had to go there because it's just what I dream about every football Sunday. Unlike you that gets to dream about your team now, maybe winning the Super Bowl. Are you going to the game? I'm going to see what I can get. I'm waiting for tickets to go down a little bit. I'm going to take advantage of some last minute deal. Probably on the GameTime app.

Is that a sponsor? Oh, absolutely. I'm so in perfect segue. We're going to get to that. We arrived with the Game Time app on Super Bowl Sunday. We talked about this. Also, you told me the other night that you were like, you're just going to see if you can get in. And that frightened me about the fact that.

Because I feel like it's going to be. going to happen. And that's like, you and I live in different worlds in that way. However, you know, it's kind of how I did get the... Derek can get his way into a lot of things. I don't know about the Super Bowl. I don't know about the Super Bowl. Travis Scott concert is the best I can do right now on a Saturday night, but I don't think I can get into the big game. But as far as the Diamondbacks go, we did have an article from our beat writer, Steve Gilbert, who we just had on the show recently, kind of predicting the D-BAC's opening day roster. Jesse had an article months ago beating Steve Gilbert out,

which basically had the same opening day roster. It really was, yeah. So you guys said he copied your homework. He did. He did. Exactly. Yeah, from like a month ago. Yeah, like a month ago.

Yeah, like a month ago. Yeah, with it. My gosh. He was in Costa Rica reading it the whole time, scanning it over, deciding on which one he wanted to change. The one that he did change was that he has Tommy Henry as the starting pitcher earning the final spot in the rotation, which is a bit odd. Obviously, he does acknowledge that the competition for the starting rotation is wide open.

But Henry, because of his experience kind of stands out to him right now as the frontrunner to at least be part of the starting rotation on opening day. Yeah. Now, the Diamondbacks have potentially much better options, but they're all very young. So it's like... You guys have so many young dudes. And that's the part that's like really frustrating is I went on a rant about it the other day.

It just, it kind of sucks when you know there's a good chance that the guys that could like all of a sudden have a breakout year might be held back because they have limited rotation space that's being taken up by a couple of guys that are veterans, Madison Bumgarner, they re-signed Zach Davies. So there's just a lot here as far as the starting rotation goes. It seems almost unfair that really one spot is only up for grabs. It could be multiple spots. Like I guess we don't know for sure, for sure that Madison Bumgarner's spot is guaranteed. And of course, the D-BACs are going to come out. The D-BACs are going to come out and they're going to say that everyone has to earn their role, right?

That's kind of what teams tend to do during spring training. It's like when you say you've got to be competitive. Yeah, it's the same thing. Yeah, everybody has a chance. Speaking generalities that mean nothing, right? That's the time of year that we're in right now for baseball. But yeah, it is interesting that Steve had Tommy Henry winning that fifth spot. I had Dre Jameson winning that fifth spot in my article that I wrote last month.

But I've also seen some people say that Ryan Nelson's going to win that spot. So there's all sorts of names, Susie, that are floating around there for the Diamondbacks right now. And LB on high heat had Ryan Nelson as the fit starter when they had a little graphic up next to Tori Lavella. Oh, my favorite sports yelling show. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They yelled about some stuff, including, I feel like we had Tori on, and we didn't ask him about his dad being part of he-ha for so long. And I feel like that was a missed opportunity.

I did see that he was asked about it. Yeah, I had the same thought. There's just Tori Lavello's the kind of guy where there's just no, there's no end of the things that you can actually. He's a fascinating. Yeah, he's a fascinating person. I've sat in on some of the post-game scrubs. Yeah. I think I sent you guys some audio from one.

Yeah, you did. He's a great guy. He's a cool dude. Yeah, I was a fan. How are you guys doing as far as establishing, like, you're starting reticent and you're pitching, or I guess your overall court? Probably a lot of competition, I would imagine. You know, it's, like, so tricky, though, because, you know, as we all know, it's impossible to pitch at coursefield. Right.

It's impossible. Right. But, you know, we have Marquez. We have Freeland. Like, we've, you know, we, they're great. And then the rest of it is like, what are we doing? What are we doing? Well, they

Like we talked about the Diamondbacks kind of being lost in where they were at, you know And just kind of all over the place guys that kind of were producing and at a high level, Especially in the starting rotation like Zach Gallant, Merrill Kelly Madison Bumgardner obviously not what he was at one point. Yeah, you know, but it uh, you know, It feels like they're a little bit closer to knowing you know where they're at than they have been in past seasons, you know, But that's because of the young guys. The young guys coming up really do make it feel like they have depth everywhere. Yeah.

And that's how things are going to be for the Rockies in a couple of years because that's why, that is why Dick Monfort is and GM, Bill Schmidt. That is why they're kind of not doing too much right now because we're going to have so much to work with in a couple of years. It's a rising farm system. I've seen the Rockies farm system rated in the top 10, which hasn't happened in a while. It's been kind of a lower to your farm system for a while. They've had a couple good drafts, so maybe the future is bright in Colorado.

Maybe. We like to think it is. And if we don't, we would go crazy. Well, here's the thing, though. We have the same thing to deal with where it's this division of the Dodgers, you know, the Padres. The Giants are just always good. Like, yes, the Giants spend money, but they just always seem to be good. But now you have the Padres spending a ton of money.

And it just feels like it is kind of. Isn't the NOS fun? It's just such a tough little battle. You know what I mean? Like when you spend money like you did on Chris Bryant, it doesn't even feel like obviously. Who? Did he play for the Rockies? Well, I think they signed him to a contract, but I don't know if you play is for the Rockies.

Our Plantar fasciitis king, Chris Ryan. Tartagiafagiotis king. Oh, he was so good at one point. He doesn't have restrictions coming into this year, right? Like, he's healthy. He's back. He's ready? Yeah, he should be healthy.

He should be feeling good. I say, I don't know if you guys have heard us talk about this on the show, but during that last home, not homestand, that last series in L.A., I saw him walking around the, you know, the visitors clubhouse at Dodger Stadium in Under Armour slides that have no arch support. And I was like, what are we doing?

Oh, my God. You plantar fasciitis and you are not participating in arch support. What are we doing? You should be walking around with pillows, like, tape your feet. Here's the thing. We had a whole thing with Crocs last season where, like, Crocs became like the Good Luck charm and Lucas Gilbert bought everyone a pair of purple crocs.

Except Chris Brown. So he has a pair of crox. Oh, do those have better arch support? Those have great art support. I'm not up to date on my cross. I'm very into foot health. Don't tell the feet guys. If the feet guys watch your show, they're not welcome here.

I'm a roast him. Anyway, I hijacked your program. No, it's fine. That's what you're here for. It's Friday before the Super Bowl. So I've told, I've said this multiple times this week. I'm dead inside. I've gone to so many Super Bowl parties that I'm not,

I'm just a shell of my former self here. What Super Bowl parties are you? going to, Derek. Oh, my God, Jesse. There are no Arizona. There's nothing. These are two teams that are nowhere close to Arizona. What's going on here, Derek?

I don't, I don't understand. Remember earlier when someone said that you were the cooler one on this podcast and they were obviously wrong about that, right? I do remember. Even though you're 24 with a condo in Scottsdale and I'm a 41-year-old married man. But we know that's not true. We know I'm the cooler one. We also know that I was out last night eating like Tomahawk steaks inside of

of a vault with high-end performance cars, Jesse, so I don't know why. So you did see that. But then you're questioning what parties I met. You know where I'm at. Well, I just, I'm not allowed to tell you where I'm at. Maybe I'm just jealous that I'm not invited

to the same parties that you are apparently, but. We hit the nail on the head. There's so much drama on the show. All the time. It never stopped. We fight a lot. Yeah. I'm on the Real Housewives, so I'm on a Diamondback show.

The answer is yes. If you want a little more drama when the MLB put out there, on high heat once again, starting to stir stuff up. They left Alec Thomas out of the lineup. Alec Thomas was not the center fielder. Corbyn Carroll was the opening day center fielder, according to high heat.

Jake McCarthy was in right field, and they had Lourdes-Guriel playing left field. So, Jesse, thoughts on them not knowing this team. There they are right there. Thoughts on them, not knowing this team. There it is right there. You've got the screen grabs. We've got the receipts.

We've got the receipts. We're holding this one. I do understand where they're coming from because as of the end of, of last season, Alec Thomas was a minor league baseball player. He got sent down right before the end of the year. And so I think it's pretty likely that Alec Thomas opens the year on the opening day roster and probably is like maybe not the team's everyday center fielder, but pretty

close to that. But I understand if you're just going with like the status quo from where we left off last year, Alec Thomas was in the minors. He has something to prove. This is actually fairly close to our lineups, actually, with the omission of Thomas and Evan LaGuardia. We got Jake McCarthy hitting third, which is a wild. That's wild.

I mean, the debacks did have Jake McCarthy hitting third toward the end of last year. If he continued to play like he did at the end of last year, I would absolutely have him in there third. But also Carson Kelly in there at catcher, which I think that's definitely a much more, you know, obvious choice for starting lineup for opening day. But I think as we progress, it really hoped to see Gabriel Moreno in there more than more than Carson Kelly. Yeah, it'll be interesting. I mean, I think if you're, again, if you're going kind of by the book, like, you're going to project it as Carson Kelly being the Diamondbacks everyday catcher. But in time, we expect Gabriel Moreno will eventually take that role.

There you go. Well, if you haven't had a chance already, Jesse has a new article up over at go phnx.com. What is your new piece on again? The new piece over on go phnx.com is about, I am currently blanking, Derek. What is my new piece about? Someone tell me. It's that kind of week. It's that kind of week.

It's that kind of week. How many? I talked about it yesterday, but I'm blanking right now. That explains it. That's, yeah, the one time I drink if you're on the show. My new story is going through all the D-BACs bullpen options and sorting through all of the many guys that the debacks have back there and organizing them by tier of how likely they would be to make the opening day roster.

So there we go. There's what the article is about. I can tell you about what I write about most of the time. Let's go. Well, get yourself a die-hard membership. So you not only get that piece, which is unlocked, but all of his die-hard only pieces, not the full count, just full count, as he'll correct me and say. But you grab yourself a diehard membership, get access to that,

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I'm getting some order requests for that shirt. So make sure to grab that shirt over at the PHNX Locker.com. And if you are a new member, you can get that shirt for free. Not only do you get 20% off all future purchases at the PHNX Locker.com. Access to our members-only Discord, discounts on events, members-only events, members-only merch as well as more. So grab your diehard membership over at go phnx.com. If you are here right now in the PHNX YouTube channel, we thank you guys for being here. I hope you're having a wonderful Friday.

Make sure to subscribe to us there. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when any of our shows go live. Leave us a little thumbs up. Jesse loves that. It's his favorite thing. And if you're listening to us on your favorite audio podcasting app, subscribe to us there as well and leave us a review.

We appreciate you for doing that as well. Underdog Fantasy. Have you gotten a chance to check out the Underdog Fantasy app? I have not. Please tell me about it. It's got a couple of different things, right? We love an underdog. Pickums.

It's like fantasy, right? So like basically they give you the higher or lower. You might not like this one, but they have like two Super Bowl boosters. The first one, Patrick Mahomes-related. If it will have a higher or lower 314.5 total yards to increase your maximum payout from 20 times to 30 times if you get all five of your pickum, correct. The more pickums you add for the big game, the more money you win, right? I want $1,000 on pitch counts one night, just picking higher or lower on MLB pitch counts. Baseball is really a great sport for Underdog Fantasy because I think everyone agrees that doing a full season of fantasy baseball is just entirely too long.

It's impossible. Yeah, it's very difficult. It's very difficult. You have to set lineups every single day. Instead, you can draft a single day team where you go up against five of your friends and whoever has the highest scoring squad wins some cold hard cash. Also, another Super Bowl booster that you might be into, you can make a really tough choice to decide if Jalen Hertz will have higher or lower than 0.5 total yards.

Wow. That's what they say. But then Patrick Mahomes is 314.15.5 total yards. Is that a typo? I don't like what they're suggesting. But I think they might be hooking you up with an easy choice on that one over there for with their Super Bowl boosters. So check that out. That's an easy choice for me.

Right? I know. You're taking that one. It's easy money sometimes. So make sure to get started over at underdog fantasy.com or download the app. Sign up with promo code PHNX and Underdog will match your first deposit up to $100. Very exciting. Besides the Super Bowl, we got the World Baseball.

This is Baseball Nirvana. We talked about Arizona being really a great place. Like, World Baseball Classic, we talk about it, we're excited for it, but really, it's only taking place in two cities in the United States this year. That's wild. So it's really fun, and we are lucky enough to be one of them. We know both teams are actually really well represented, but you were actually telling us that the Rockies have more. The Rockies have a ton of guys. Yeah, I'm from the Major League roster, right?

The Narvaks have a lot of guys, but a lot of them are actually minor league guys, but you guys have a lot of guys from the Major League roster. Yeah, yeah. So Team USA has Kyle Freeland in the starting rotation. Jake Bird. Oh, no, I'm sorry, Jake Bird. His team is real. Daniel Bard will be a reliever for Team USA2. Daniel Bard is so good.

He's so good. And they extended him and I don't really understand why, but he's still so good. You know what? It might have been a little sentimental because, you know, he has this great comeback story and the Rockies are the one who gave him that chance. His family seems to really like Colorado. He's got these kids that just like love running around the clubhouse. They're having a great time.

So, I don't know. I think they're just happy in Colorado. Makes sense. We talked about the Diamondbacks having a lack of quality relievers, a lack of someone that you can really rely on. And almost historically, they've had that. They've never really had a good bullpen. So, like, I can understand now and appreciate more than ever having guys in your pen that you want to keep and not let go. You know what I mean?

Yeah. And, like, also, it's so hard to be a pitcher at Corse Field that I think once they find a guy who does a good job and, like, enjoys being here, just they latch on. That's fair. They have quarter energy. I always say this on our show. Like, they're not going to get rid of anyone. I like it. All right. So you have, you mentioned those, Justin Lawrence on Team Panama,

Elias Diaz on Columbia, and Marquez on Venezuela. Yes. So, I mean, all great players, it's going to be so much fun. So we've got a lot of things to root for as Rafi's fans. Yeah, for sure, for sure. I mean, it's all over the place. I think the Diamondbacks, they have a lot as well. Let's take a look at the Diamondbacks list of all of their players.

A lot of these guys are minor leaguers, but really interesting. to see the mix that we have here. I think Gunner-Growin is Great Britain, actually. But aside from that, I think everything else could tell Marte, Dominican Republic. There were more guys than we originally heard. I know Merrill Kelly was the first one we had discussed being part of Team USA. But now we got Alec Thomas over there for Team Mexico and Emmanuel Rivera, the one and only, as part of my team Puerto Rico. There you go.

We're going to talk about the best hats, but that's the best hat probably. Or maybe Israel, we'll see. But Jesse, what are your thoughts on having this many guys as part of the World Baseball Classic for Diamondbacks fans? I think you have to have a soft spot for Team Italy, right? Mitchell Stumpo. There's a lot of guys there. Dominic Fletcher. There's also Gunner Green as well as part of that group.

Great Britain. I think that might be correct. Yeah. But there's, oh, and Dominic Marogli as well. So there's three. There's three guys with Team Italy. So yeah, go Team Italy, I guess, if you're a team back fan. No, Jesse, Team USA.

I mean, I feel like in this, un-American, like, of course, I would root for team USA over all the other teams. But from the D-BACs perspective, there's a lot of teams to root for,

right? I mean, you have to have, I mean, even like Jacob Steinmetz. He was a relatively high draft pick from the Diamondbacks a few years ago. There aren't that many,

there aren't that many players in baseball who are originally from Israel. Like, that's their heritage. So that's pretty cool as well to see. And I'm half Jewish, so I will absolutely be rooting. for Team Israel.

They also have the best hat. I don't know if we want to jump into that conversation right now, but I think it's a really good hat. It's a fairly objective that Team Israel has the best hat out of the bunch. Yeah, let's take a look at the hats. This was from our friends over at talking baseball, and they asked which country has the best hat. There are some great hats up there.

I really like the Netherlands hat with that Orange Crown. Mexico hat is classic. A lot of these haven't changed in a number of years. I think that Mexico logo has been the same. Team Puerto Rico, course another beautiful solid hat but yeah I think we can all agree that Tim team Israel probably one of the sharpest looking hats up there oh I love it I need to buy one for every member of my family yeah it's so great same I think my problem

here is the United States hat it's garbage and I hate it and I don't like it and why is the flag backwards the flag is backwards that doesn't make any sense to me I don't like this hat at all I don't like that logo it's a bad sign yeah that's not good I mean yeah it's I don't know I don't think it's like an insurrection upside down they do You do that on like military uniforms as well. I don't know why that's a thing, but only with the U.S. flag. Yeah, they always do it backwards. It's kind of odd.

That's odd. I didn't know that. But I don't like the U.S. logo either. It's kind of, it's terrible. Yeah. Jesse and I disagreed on Team Canada's hat. I like the, I like the Maple Leaf. Jesse is very anti-Canada.

Anti-Canada. Anti-America. You just put words in my mouth. I am. I will say we should give the Netherlands a shout out as well. That's a pretty sweet hat. Yeah, the Netherlands. It's very, very nice.

I like that. I like their World Cup jerseys as well. They have some great World Cup jerseys. But let's get back to the World Baseball Classic in some of these rosters because I want to point out what the – maybe not this one, but just maybe on us because this is a nightmare. The Dominican Republic is going to squash all of us. They have so many good news. Their fucking team is ridiculous, right?

I mean, from start to Raphael Devers, Wander Franco, Vladimir Grero Jr., Mani Machado, Catelle Marte, Jeremy Pena, Gene Segura, also outfielder's, Eloi Jimenez, Julio Rodriguez, and Juan Soto. Shut up. Stop it. Yeah. I mean, this is going to be amazing to watch. Like, I don't know why, I don't know if this is picking up steam. I don't know if I never really paid that close of attention to the rosters, but it feels like this team's rosters are stacked for a lot of teams and more than we've seen in the past.

Like, all-star caliber teams that these, you know, countries are putting out there. Oh, yeah. Like, all these guys. Absolutely. And the United States has an incredible roster, too. Like, it's not to sell the United States short. The United States World Cup or World Cup, World Baseball Classic Broner. What sport are we playing?

I don't know. I'm still thinking about that Netherlands jersey, but. I will say, like, the pitching side is not as good for the Dominican Republic. They have Sandy Alcantra, you know, won the Saigon. I guess he's okay. He's all right. Yeah. But other than that, I mean, okay, Christian Javier, Cranter.

You know, a very, very, very good starter. something like that. But other than that, you know, Johnny Quedo is a little bit past his prime at this point. They have a lot of good relievers, Camilo Duval, Gregory Soto. There's some other guys as part of that as well. Hector Nerris. Next feelings about him. Raphael Montero, big reliever for the Astros that we saw in the postseason.

So there are bullpins in a really good spot, I think. Beyond Alcantra and Christian Javier, maybe the rotation wouldn't be. is deep, but the U.S. kind of has the same problem. Similar problem in the rotation. You've got Clayton Kershaw, you've got Adam Wainwright, you've got Kyle Freeland, as you mentioned earlier, Lance Lynn. Merrill Kelly, of course. Merrill Kelly's one of the best pictures in that group. But, yeah, both the U.S. and the Dominican are just absurdly stacked on the position

players. We got J.T. RealMuta. We got Paul Goldschmidt, Pete Alonzo. That's your two first baseman, by the way. Nolan Aeronado at third base. Tim Anderson, Trey Turner, Bobby Wood Jr. Shortstop. Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Kyle Schwarber, Kyle Tucker,

Cedric Mullins. Yeah. Like that's true. I love Team USA. I mean, it's going to be incredible. It's close, though. Like that position player group compared to the Dominican, like Julio Rodriguez, Juan Soto, Jeremy Pena, right,

Wander Franco, Vladimir, Jr., Raphael Devers. Like, it's insane. Like, both teams are absolutely insane on the position player side. I really hope we get to see the U.S. play the Dominican. Because that would be incredible. Yes. Let's make that happen. Although I really hope we see the U.S. play at Team Japan because I want to see Mike Trout

facing Shohei Otani. Yes. I want to see that. That would be incredible. Shoahotani pitching Mike Trout at the plate. That would be incredible. It would be what a mashup. You guys send us either in the chat or on Twitter, your favorite world baseball classic

hats and maybe your selections for who you think might win the tournament. It's going to be fun. It's good for baseball. And not only that, but if you're here in Arizona, it's good for you. You should go out and check that out. We're going to be out there. Or wait, I'm sorry. Our writer, Jesse's going to be out there.

I'm going to be in the stands with Sean DePos getting drunk. That's where we're going to be. And I'll probably be drinking a four peaks beer. So make sure to find us and grab yourself a beer if you haven't done so already. Make sure you have plenty of four peaks in time for the big game. And grab wow wheat. We've all agreed around here at the office that wow wheat is the best four peaks beer. I'm not a big beer person and it's genuinely very very good.

Jesse is enjoying one right now. It's a rarity. but I'm very excited for that. It's Arizona's number one wheat beer as well. So make sure with so many sporting events here this month to grab yourself a Four Peaks beer, if you hadn't have a chance to try Arizona's number one wheat ale and wow wheat, come on down to Old Town Boondocks for the tailgate time machine tomorrow.

Saturday, February 11, try Four Peaks' newest innovation. It's packed full of Arizona citrus, perfect for light drinking in the desert sun. Must be 21 years or older to enjoy and enjoy responsibly. And also make sure to message Jesse and let him know that he can. can't have a condo full of chase lounges. Do you agree with that, Susie? Don't you think that the chase lounge is the best, the best furniture? I mean, it's, yeah, if there's one of them, do you have other furniture besides?

Jesse wants nothing about chase lounges in his house. He just wants it to be a chase lounge in the kitchen, chase lounge over here on the patio. It's just chase lounges there. I got to be real with you. That's a real weird energy to be giving off. See, see, see, I got to be honest with you. woman's perspective here. If I were to walk into a guy's place and it's like real

serial killer level stuff. I think the only thing worse would be like only bean bags. Oh my God. That would be awesome. That's fair. I'm not a big bean bag person. You just like sink into it. It's like kind of uncomfortable. But Chase lounges, they're very versatile. You can sit on it, you can lay on

it. You don't like needing someone else's help to get out of a chair. What are you talking about? That's great. I'm so concerned. You don't have that problem with the Chase Lounge. You're saying. There's like a little lead you can grab See, don't listen to him. Don't see. It's like a half couch, half chairs.

He starts using logic that makes sense and then you realized that he trapped you into his weird Chase Lounge world and that's not what we want. Send him what furniture needs to buy for more Furniture.com because Jesse needs actual furniture. He needs something else than that. Like I know I know he bought a bed, I think you bought a bed or did did you get the weird Chase Lounge bed thing. I did break down and I did break down. Oh, he wanted one with the last, he wanted one with a weird edge on it.

It was just going to be like the size of a double bed. I didn't understand it one bit. But you can get your furniture over at Moore Furniture. And don't buy nothing. I'm not saying you can't buy a Chase Lounge. Just don't buy nothing but Chase Lounge. You can also get their white glove delivery service, which we received here at the office.

It was very nice. I didn't have to list a finger, which I rarely do around here anyway. But say big on the best furniture in the valley when you head to MoreFurniture.com. I guess in news that really is about all of us. Yes, it affects all of us. Hugh Darvish signs a six-year extension with the Padres that will make him a member of the team until he's 42 years old.

Yeah, thoughts. Let's tread carefully, by the way, on the subject of 42-year-olds before we head down that path. But he will be that old at the end of his contract, which just leaves, you know, again, with a lot of their contracts, they will be kind of old at the end of their, not only old, but I mean, like, how productive are some of these guys going to be like Xander Bogart's, who will be 41, at the end of his contract. And Hugh Garvish. Now, before we go on, I will say, I am in the best shape of my life at age 41.

I'm just defending 41-year-olds now. But Jesse, what are your thoughts on the fact that that might be the right time to strike against the Padres? When Hugh Darvish turns 41? That's when he turns 41. That's when we get him. Yeah, like, that's when we go in for the attack and make a move on the division.

The Padres are just wild, man. I mean, you look at the contracts that they've signed, particularly just, I mean, this off-season, really, right? Zander Bogart. They have him through age 41. They now have U Darvish up until when he turns 42. Fernando Tatis is still under team control for 12 more seasons through age 35, which somehow seems young. And then Mani Machado.

12 more seasons and he'll be 35 at the end of it. Right. That's the craziest part. Mani Machado under control through age 36, although he does have an opt out at the end of this year. So very possible that they would need to restructure that deal in order. to keep Mani Machado around. But yeah, I mean, the Padres are willing to spend whatever money it takes. And I think they understand that a lot of these players are not going to be very good

in their upper 30s and early 40s. And they're willing to pay that price anyway. So I'm not really surprised by this because they are, if you're willing to take Zander Bogart's till age 41, you're probably willing to take you Darvish, who has aged very well up until age 42. It's just the kind of what the market dictates right now. And you know, on a very light note, I was telling you, you guys about this before the show, but there's a guy

in San Diego who dresses up like U. Darvish, but he's very small, he's much smaller, but the jersey says Minivish, and you know, you always wonder like, oh, what happens if U. Darvish gets traded, what happens if he goes somewhere else? What's going to happen to Minnish? Is he going to have to move? But now he doesn't have to move.

Right. So the biggest winner here is is Minnievish. Because poor generic Hosmer now has nothing. Oh, generic Hosmer. Did he move to Chicago? I would. I mean, you don't have a choice at that point. You're committed to the bit, so You kind of have to do it. I don't know.

I don't want to deal with this team for this long. This makes me sad. Yeah. Hopefully Mani Machado does opt out. I mean, like I said, maybe the time for the Diamondbacks and the Rockies to strike is 2028. U. Darvish is 42. Bogarts will be 36. Mani Machado will be the starting third baseman for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Juan Soto will be the ripled age of 29 in six years. Oh, my God. Juan Soto won't be under contract theoretically, right? They could bring him back. You say that now. Yeah, I mean, he probably will, knowing the San Diego Padres, he probably will. But I'm just saying he's not as of right now. Right.

And Fernando Tatis Jr. will break his other wrist, I'm sure, between now and then. Yeah, he'll have broken both wrists several times to that point. He really, he really is. By the way, speaking of a lot of drama, we're very happy. You're here today. Thank you. I didn't want to take a moment because the other night we were, we were out. We were out celebrating the Kevin Durant signing, basically.

We are. In honor of Kevin Durant, this lady next to me, she got up on stage at low-key in Tempe and decided to start playing piano and singing Taylor Swift. I think we have a clip of that. Do we have a video of that? There it is. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Susie, everybody makes a notice for Susie.

Now their mic was, can they hear us, Damon? Are we got sound? Okay, so their mic there was terrible. Nana turned down very, so you don't get to hear Susie's beautiful singing as much as you like in this video. but I just want to ask, who does this? Who goes to a bar and then goes, I'm going to get on stage and play piano and sing. I will tell you who, a Sagittarius.

Oh, my God. This is incredible to me. Sounds like really good. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, she was very good. Like I said, aside from the mic not being turned, she needed a sound check is what she needed.

They didn't, they did not take me seriously going in. No, they did not. I felt like a hustler going in there. All right. Well, do you. Thank you. Thank you for helping my singing career. If anyone was to sign you.

That's what we were trying to do. I'm not represented right now. I guess I have to ask. I shouldn't ask, but I have to ask, who is your selection for the Super Bowl to win? What do you think the final score is going to be? Oh, the final score. Is that the first time you've been put on the spot?

Actually, yeah, no one has asked me what I think the final score is going to be. Everyone's just like, are you going to climb up, Paul? Well. Are you? Are you? Okay. That was actually the only reason why I was asking my first part of the question, so we got the answer. Okay.

I think, ooh, I'm totally on the spot right now. No, it's fine. I want to just tell everybody that in the meantime, while you're deciding, we can go on the Drafking Sportsbook app, of course. Super Bowl parlayes are what we're doing. We're trying to add as many legs as we can, win as much money as we can. And there's all sorts of wonderful things. Of course, we have the regular stuff.

But, you know, on this show since last year and forever until we die. We ride with blue Gatorade in the Super Bowl. Blue Gatorade forever. I don't care what the odds are great for it. Plus 400. You could win on a $20 bet, you could win $80 on the color of Gatorade. Come on, let's do that over at the Draft King Sportsbook app. Download the app now.

Use code PHNX. New customers can bet $5 on Super Bowl 57 and get $200 in bonus bets instantly. Only at the Draft King Sportsbook with code PHNX. Minimum agent eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. Do we have an answer yet? I'm going to say 3521 Eagles. Let's go.

Yeah. Fly Eagles fly. Go birds. All right. Respect. Thank you. The biggest point that we're trying to make here is that on Super Bowl Sunday, we're going to get on the game time map.

Of course. We're going to see what the tickets are. Are I saying we're going to save 60% off of the face value of a Super Bowl ticket? I am not suggesting that. However, I kind of am. So who knows what's going to happen. But jump on the game time. Value is relative.

Value is relative. It all depends on the amount of tickets available come that morning. There could be a huge amount of available tickets. And of course, you can get those over at game time for up to 60% off on the game time app. As Jesse said, it's the most aesthetically pleasing app. Isn't it very beautiful? Oh, it's beautiful. And I love that you can see the view from that seat and how much you would pay for it.

Because the view, seeing the view is more important to me than seeing where the seat is. Well, here's the thing. I will say this about State Farm Stadium. And I don't know people's opinions on this in general in football. But I have sat very close at State Farm Stadium and kind of had a miserable experience compared to the $25 tickets I bought for Cardinals games sitting up in the upper deck, where you can actually see the game, right? Like, you can actually see plays developing.

You can, like, actually, like, get a good view of it. Whereas I feel like if you're down close, you're just, once again, like me, trying to be close to Gwen Stefani, right? So just do your best to try to get cheap tickets over at game time. Save up to 60% off tickets when you buy last minute. The best way to support us is by buying your tickets through the link in the description below. This is Kevin Durant Week. It's Super Bowl week.

We're just baseball. We're just here. It's not our week. It's not our week. But next week is our fucking week. We're back next week. We got pitchers and catchers reporting. Things liven up around here.

We can't wait to get up to Solverbill. Are you sticking around for pitchers and catchers reporting, Susie? You know, I'm going to go back. It depends if the birds win or not. If the birds win, then there's a good chance. She's going to get arrested. I might still be in jail here. Right.

But I'll be here through Monday. I'm going to come back for spring training. I'm not sure when yet. Okay. Well, we are, we're roommates over at Salt Riverfield. So, of course, make sure to check out all the wonderful action out there. Remember, workouts are back to being normal again. So no social distancing.

You can come out. You can be right next to the players when they're running drills and all that stuff. So it's a great time. They can cough in your face legally now. Yeah, they can. Right. Correct. Correct.

She gets it. Yeah. We thank you guys so much for being here. You can follow us all on Twitter, especially this one, to see if she does get arrested or not. I'm at cap. underscore Kate Man with a K. She's at the Susie Hunter with a Z, but not where you think it is. And that guy over there is at Jesse and Friedman.

Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but of course all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Appreciate you guys. Thank you guys so much. This is our last week without baseball activity without seeing guys do stuff. So I'm so excited for next week. We have a weird demonstration of the MLB rules that Jesse and I still don't know what it's going to be, but we can't. I just really hope they asked for volunteers. I just really hope Rob Manfred is out there, like running the bases or something.

That would be incredible. I want Rob Manfred showing us the defensive shift rules himself. You know, being like with a glove on but in a suit going, you can't be here. That would be great. But we'll see what happens. Again, thank you so much for being here. Thanks for having me, guys. Good luck to your team and wish you the best, of course.

Thank you guys for being here on behalf of Damon, Jesse, Susie, and myself. Appreciate you guys. Always for being here. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when the Eagles win the Super Bowl.