PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - TPSP Mail It In: Setting realistic expectations for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Suns and Arizona Coyotes

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

You asked, Makayla answers! On this mailbag edition of THE Phoenix Sports Podcast, we discuss all things D-backs, Yotes and Suns. What do the Snakes need to accomplish next season for it to be considered a success? Do the Phoenix Suns have a realistic chance of making the playoffs this season? Who from the Coyotes has surprised us and what's the latest on their arena situation? Is relocation on the horizon?Join Makayla Perkins for THE Phoenix Sports Podcast!0:00 Intro2:00 NHL All Star jerseys5:50 DBook appearance in All Star Game voting8:20 Mailbag questions11:00 Suns playoff chances16:50 Signing ERod23:30 Most surprising Yotes player so far42:00 Looking at the NL West division48:00 Coyotes Mt. RushmoreAn ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsPHNX Events: Get your tickets to Suns Takeovers, Coyotes & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-560...Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Empire: Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details.Gila River Resorts & Casinos: Sign up for Gila River Resorts & Casinos $1,000,000 Big Red’s Showdown! Stay in the game and get rewards; it’s that easy! https://www.gilamilliondollarshowdown...Arizona’s Family Sports: Watch Suns games on Arizona’s Family Sports! Visit https://www.azfamily.com/ and click “SUNS GAMES” for listing information for your area.Fubo: WATCH YOUR FAVORITE TEAMS: https://www.fubotv.com/phnxOGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head on over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find out where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly.Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Michelob ULTRA: It’s only worth it if you enjoy it. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly.https://www.michelobultra.com/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.

Welcome into the Phoenix Sports Podcast. Happy Friday, everybody. Make sure to hit that like button. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast and leave us a five-star review. But you know what day it is? You don't even need me to tell you

because it's not just any Friday. It's Flavoring Friday brought to you by our friends at OG's brands, the official sponsor of Flavoring Fridays. OGs is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. They absolutely knock it out of the park when it comes to flavor. and the effects of their gummies are a total slam dunk too.

Head on over to OGsbrands.com to see their full lineup, including their two newest gummies, the OGs naturals and the big OGs, and find out where you can purchase. Right before the show started, I was like, I'm going to be cool and put my legs on the table, and I basically just destroyed the studio. Are you done breaking shit over there? I'm so sorry. Damon had no time to yell at me because the show went live and the chair fell over. Like, it's been a disaster, but it's okay.

It's a good way to start TPSP, you know, the chaotic energy has already begun. What's up, everybody in the chat? So good to see you all. Daniel, Charles, Ryan, Connor, Chris, Elizabeth. Thank you all so much for joining. If you're tuning in right now, we're talking coyotes. We're talking debacks. We're talking sons.

I'm answering all of your most burning Arizona sports questions. Thank you to everybody who submitted them on Twitter last night. If we end up having a good time and you want to ask me some more questions, I might just let you do that in the chat. So if you're joining the show now, make sure you drop a hello in the chat so I can see that you're here. We got lots to talk about.

I feel like I just went on like a, I need to take a breath. Like I have so much energy just like coursing through my veins. I don't know what's happening. I barely drank my coffee. All right. How are you doing, David?

Got myself a coffee. Yeah, cheer. But you have to bubble on the screen. And then we have to do a coffee cheers. I feel like this is going to be our new TPSP thing. We need Max to get us to be sponsored by a coffee company. Cheers. If you got a coffee, cheers us.

A little ASMR. Yeah, a little ASMR. I hate that so much. Okay. All right, we got a lot to get into, but let's start off with something that I've been dying to talk about. Ever since the disgrace has been all over our Twitter feeds. It is the NHL All-Star jerseys. My God, I have never seen anything so attractive.

atrocious in my entire life. And I understand that the NHL All-Star game is in Toronto and Justin Bieber is from Toronto and he has a clothing company who helped design these jerseys and yay, Justin Bieber and yay Toronto Maple Leafs, just kidding. Those are two things I hate the most. But my God, they are disgusting. Like, if you think the picture of them bad, look at them on bodies. Like the picture of them on the people is just atrocious. Like these look like, condiment bottles, like ketchup, mayo, mustard, and ranch. Like, that is what I am getting from these jerseys. I think they are absolutely disgusting. I am not a fan in the slightest. And I am really upset that Justin Bieber decided that these would be a good representation of Toronto in the All-Star game. I think the name plates are the worst. Like, the name plates are on the back, on the bottom.

And they're like in these bubble letters that you would like expect a third grader to draw. I don't know. I think they're atrocious. Damon, do you have any thoughts on the All-Star jerseys? Are you a fan? Are you not a fan? Well, I just, you know, I found it interesting that Sean DePaz, who's our jersey expert here at the All-City Network,

he liked them. Yeah. Which is funny because he usually is very strongly opinionated. Super critical. In terms of like, I hate like the piping on the on the sleeves. Yeah, he like analyzes like every detail. And he actually liked these, which I thought was interesting. They're okay.

I don't know. I don't despise them, but they're like, they're not great. I think they're a good. I've seen better All-Star Game jerseys. The one thing about hockey that I find fascinating is that they have like four different All-Star teams. Isn't that crazy? Yeah.

Like all the divisions and stuff, it just, it blows my mind. Do you think it's weird that they do it by division instead of conference? Yeah, I do think it's a little weird. Okay. Because no other league does that. Yeah, no, it's all by their like conferences. Yeah, I guess I never really thought about that before. I think it kind of works for hockey because I like how they do.

when they do like the game part of it or like the 3B3 or whatever, they're pulling from the divisions instead of the conferences. So I think you have a little bit more time to like see your favorite player from that division. But it's cool. It's cool. Yeah. I just think it's like it's odd. Like I'm not as big of the hockey guys.

I am other sports. So like when I see stuff like that, I'm just like confused. Right. Nothing makes sense to me. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I think it's, it obviously makes it hard too because you have to design more merch.

You have to have all that extra stuff for the divisions instead of just doing conferences. but unfortunately, the jerseys that they decided to design for the NHL All-Star game this year are just atrocious. I will not be purchasing them, but I will be watching to support Clayton Keller in the All-Star game. One other thing we have to talk about really quick before we get into your questions is the fact that we had the third round. I almost put up before. I can count, I promise. The third round of NBA All-Star voting results came back. And lo and behold, our favorite person in the planet snuck up.

back into the top 10, I'm going to ignore that because I will not waste my breath talking about how I don't think Austin Reeves deserves to be an all-star. You all know how I feel about that. And if you don't, I'm sure you can make an educated guess based off of the very disappointed tone that I have right now. But the other important thing I want to point out is the fact that Devin Booker is still in the top 10. Although he has dropped a place, he was in the eighth spot when the second round of voting came in and now he's down to the ninth spot, which I still think is, not great. I think he deserves to be in at least the top four, if not top two, and he's not two. Um, so we definitely need to make sure we're helping Devin Booker by voting because if, um, he somehow

falls out of the top 10 or he's beaten by a specific guard on the Los Angeles Lakers. I'm going to lose my mind, you guys. Like, we cannot allow this as funds, sons fans to ethically allow this to happen. I will be embarrassed if Austin Reeves gets more votes than Devin Booker. I also think that the NBA All-Star voting needs to put some parameters around who can be voted on. Like, I don't know. If you're suspended or if you miss like 25 games or like if you were injured and you haven't been playing, like, why are you allowed to be voted on as an All-Star? I think. John Morant? Yeah. Did you catch that subtle shade of for the person that's ahead of Devin Booker and the All-Star voting currently? I don't think they should be allowed to be getting votes. I'm sorry, but that's stupid. Like, you're not playing basketball.

What are we voting on here? Just the fact that you're liked by the fans that live in the city you play basketball for? Like, that is insane to me. There is no world or planet where John Morant should be getting more votes to Devin Booker right now. So I need you all to pull out your phones. I need you to get on the NBA All-Star website and I need you to vote for Devin Booker because I will have a coronary if Devin Booker does not make it to the All-Star game and is disrespected on a national level again, okay? We cannot allow that to happen. So a little update for you on the NBA All-Star voting, but at least he's still in the top 10. Do not let him get anywhere but the All-Star game. All right. I put a tweet out yesterday asking for you guys to send me in some Arizona sports

questions. And thank you to everybody who so kindly participate in. We are going to go through those questions right now, starting with I think a son's question. Yes. This comes from Karen. She asked, will the sons make the playoffs as a part of the play in tournament as a top six seed or not at all? Great question, Karen. Thank you so much for submitting that. I personally, if we take a look at the NBA standings, think that the sons have a reasonable shot of making it as a top six team. Right now, currently in the NBA, the sons are sitting in the eighth spot with a 22 and 18 record right behind. the Kings who they just played this week. And then the Mavs are ahead of the Kings by a game.

The Western Conference is really close. It's super competitive, which I think we've all kind of gotten used to seeing, at least in the past couple of seasons. So the Suns being in the eighth spot, obviously, is definitely not what any of us were probably anticipating heading into the season, but we all know between injuries and what have you. They've had a little bit of a rocky start. But regardless, they're sitting at 22 and 18 and in the eighth spot. They are a little bit ahead of the jazz. They have quite a few. The jazz are eight and two in their last 10.

Yeah, I know. The jazz have just decided to suddenly turn it up, turn up the heat there. The Lakers won their Mickey Mouse title and now they're done for the season. Yes, the Lakers won their Mickey Mouse title and then punished us all with having to see their play in or their in season tournament championship banners all over the place, which is like a participation. trophy basically pathetic absolutely embarrassing um so they're down in the 10th spot so if we're looking at the teams that are below the suns i don't see a situation in which the lakers the rockets the warriors the grislies the trailblazers or the spurs suddenly all of a sudden get monumentally better and past the suns at any point um the jazz if they hadn't gone on an eight and two run in their

last 10 i would probably be saying somewhere in the similar boat but um they're kind of scared me a little bit. But if you look at the teams that are ahead of the suns, including the Kings, the Mavs, and the Pels, I think those are three teams that the sons have struggled against so far this year. But I do think there is a situation in which the sons are continuing to get better. The big three are jelling together better. And they are starting to play more competitive basketball. And you see other players starting to step up to the plate as well. So I do see a situation in which the Sons make the playoffs as a top six team for sure. I don't think that's unrealistic at all. I honestly would kind of be surprised if they didn't get within the top six

by the time the season ended. Oh my God. Here comes Max. Everybody. Just get me away from the Mavericks. Throw your ball, Max, and leave. You know what's funny? I was telling Bo yesterday because we had three different balls in this room. And I said, Max walks around the office. with a different ball in his hand. Yeah. It just leaves it in different rooms and hands them off to people. Like they're like... Max is a terror.

It's like a kid with a rock that he picks up and he gives it to his dad. Yeah. And he's like, here's this rock that you wanted. Yeah. That's what Max is with a ball. All right, Max, you're distracting me. Do your thing or leave. Um,

anyways, getting back to what I was saying before Maxo really interrupted the show. I knew that was going to happen. Um, I would be really surprised if the suns didn't make it within the top six. Um, what were you saying? Damon, you were making a point. I was just saying get me as far away from the Mavericks as possible. Yeah.

I'm cool as long as the Mavericks are on the other side of the bracket. Yeah, for sure. The Suns can lose, but God forbid. They lose the Mavericks again. Yeah. I a thousand percent agree. I just, I don't think we've seen the best out of the Suns yet. Like, I think we've seen some flashes of some really, really excellent in basketball,

but they haven't established consistency yet. And I think they're still. enough time left into the season where they have an opportunity to there's a path in front of them and they can either go down the path of figuring it the fuck out and having a consistently excellent basketball team and living up to the talent that's on that roster or they could go the other direction and continue to be mediocre and collapse in the fourth quarter and make dumb turnover mistakes and whatever else have you that you've seen so far from the suns this season. But yeah, I genuinely believe that the leaders in the locker room, including Devin

Booker and Kevin Durant, won't allow them to go down the path of mediocrity. I think they're dialed in. I think they want to win. I'm interested to see what happens with the trade deadline. I know there's been some rumor swirling around Grayson Allen. And as much as Grayson Allen has been such a pleasant, shocking surprise this season, you know, I don't know. I don't know. if they're going to be able to hold on to him, which would definitely be sad, but they are in a very tight financial situation with their salaries. So it'll be interesting to see what kind of happens with the Sons at the trade deadline, which doesn't leave us a lot of time to make adjustments if they're big ones,

like losing Grayson Allen. So there's so many variables with the Sons team right now that make it kind of hard to say for sure where this team is going to go. I think they've just been like teetering on the precipice for, for quite some time. But I would be shocked if the suns weren't a top six team in the league in the Western conference. I call me crazy.

Call me delusional. I don't care what you call me. But I genuinely like the Timberwolves, the Thunder, which I am genuinely shocked by. The top two is utterly shocking. It's wild. What? Yeah. In what universe?

What universe? I couldn't tell you. Not in the year 2024 in the year of our Lord and Savior. The Nuggets in the top six, yes. The Clippers, yes, even though that team is just such a cluster F with their personalities. The Nuggets, yes, the Clippers, yes. The Mavericks. Yes.

The Kings, yes. So that's four. So to me, that leaves two open spots for the Sons to take. I would really be shocked if the Thunder continued to play this. Like, I generally don't know, like, what they're drinking in Oklahoma City. but like something has happened to the thunder that I don't fully quite graphs for can conceptualize because the way that they have turned their program around is wild. So I think the suns make it as a top six team.

That is my prediction. As of now, we can reevaluate this later down the road. Damon, are you saying top six or are you saying play in team? I think it's going to be really close. Yeah. I really, I think it just depends on how much these guys can stay healthy and play the rest of the year. I think they're going to be teetering on the 7-8 edge for a while. And I think it's going to come down to like the last few games of the year to determine where they end up.

I agree with you though that like clippers down. That's all those guys are all passable. Like they could pass the pelicans. They can pass the Mavericks. They can pass the, what was the Kings? I think that those teams they can get in front of. But the teams clippers on, I think it might be a little difficult. Right.

Yeah. Okay. That's fair. In terms of not making it at all, I don't think that's an option. And I think the Sons are far enough ahead of the bottom teams in the NBA in the Western Conference that we don't have to worry about that. Barring anything insane happening to their roster, I would genuinely be shocked if they didn't make it into the playoffs. So once they make it to the playoffs, all bets are kind of off. There's no telling what they'll do once they get there.

But at least as of now, we can bank on the Sons making it to the playoffs in some format. My guess is it'll be in the top six. That's what I have to say about that. Let's go on to our next question. I think this one comes from Elizabeth, which is a baseball question, which I'm so happy to talk about. Elizabeth asked what move did the D-back, or what move that the Diamondbacks have made so far do you think has the potential to be the biggest difference maker next season? So I'm assuming that's all the moves that they've made in this off-season. This question is pretty easy for me.

It might be more difficult for some people. but for me, it's signing Eduardo Rodriguez. The biggest need that the Diamondbacks had, that was the most glaring and obvious downfall to their World Series run and their time in the playoffs was the fact is that they didn't have a third reliable starting pitcher in their rotation last season. It burned them so, so bad in the playoffs,

and it was obvious that that was what really did not contribute to their success in winning a World Series. And so picking up a starting pitcher and not just any starting pitcher, a pitcher like Eduardo Rodriguez, who you can see from his 2023 stats, he was 13 and 9 with a 3.30 ERA, a 152.2 whip, or sorry, innings pit. He had 152 innings pitched. He had a 3.30 ERA, a 1.15 whip. His strikeouts were insane and his walk rate was also so low. So I mean, this is a great. great solid starting pitcher who could probably be a number two for a lot of teams, but because the Diamondbacks already had such an incredible one and two, he ends up being

our third. And the Diamondbacks, you saw in the playoffs, like they needed that third arm and their starting rotation desperately bad. And so adding him to the roster, I think is going to be the biggest difference maker for the Diamondbacks. Not only did he have just a great 2023 season, he's a lefty, which is huge because the only other lefty that the Diamondbacks have in their rotation is Tommy Henry. And Tommy Henry is not someone that I want to rely on in the long term at all. So having a lefty pitcher who is also not named Madison Bump Carter is fantastic. And I think his addition is going to be the biggest in terms of the value that he provides

as a third starting pitcher that is absolutely going to be reliable in pitching in big innings and giving the diamondbacks what they need. out of the rotation and also a lefty which we haven't seen a good reliable lefty pitcher in quite some time so I'm super stoked to watch Eduardo pitch for the snakes. Madame didn't do it for you? No, no he did not. No, no, he didn't. I broke out in hives every time Madison Bumgarner took the mound, which everyone in the comments is kind of

alluding to it. Daniel and Jan both saying fought at four is crazy which yes, it is because he did have a great run in the postseason specifically last year in the playoffs. He was doing things that I could not imagine a rookie pitcher pitching in the playoffs for the first time ever doing. And as much as I would love for him to be in the third spot, I don't think he's quite got to that point yet. He's obviously super young. Last year was his first full season in the majors. So we have a lot to see out of thought yet. but the fact that he did so well in the postseason and now he's our fourth option is awesome.

Like that is such a great position to be in because if he can keep up what he did in the postseason and do it consistently in the regular season, we're going to have probably the best rotation in baseball. Like I'll just say that right now. I don't think there's any team that can hold a candle to Zach Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, and right and fought. So that's a great position to be in. It gives the Diamondbacks a pitching depth that they, desperately needed last year.

So I think them signing Eduardo Rodriguez is huge for the team. I do want to give an honorable mention, though, because we were talking about this before the show and Damon said something that I totally agree with. The Diamondback's third baseman situation has just been a black hole for like the last however many years. It's been absolutely tragic trying to watch them figure out what to do with their third base position. So I want to give an honorable mention to Suarez, who they added.

I'm super stoked that they kind of have a more reliable human being playing third base. And I don't want that to be overlooked because I think, although he might not be the flashiest third baseman, you know, obviously he's not like a Nolan Aronado or whatever you want to compare him to. But just having an upgrade at that position in general is great. And someone that we can probably rely on a little bit more than whatever hodgepodge insanity that they have done with the third base, third baseman position for the past couple seasons. is a relief as well. Wouldn't you agree, Damon?

Yeah. And I think with SORAs in particular, I'm looking at his stats real quick here. Like he had a down year last year to 32 average, but he still had 22 bombs in 96 RBI. Yeah. Like if that's a down year, then you just got yourself a damn good baseball player. Damn good baseball player. He's 31 last year. So he's going to be 32 this upcoming season.

That's not old in baseball standards. Like you're still in your prime in a sorts. And before this season, dating back to, uh, 2019 or actually 2018. He's hit 30 plus bombs every year, minus last year and minus the 2020 season, where he hit 15 and a third of a season. So he was on pace to hit like 40.

Yeah. So like he's, he's a damn good power hitter. Yeah. And that's going to provide a huge spark for the squad. I think it's a little underrated too. Like I don't think people realize like the spark that like you just mentioned he'll probably provide to the offense.

So that's great as well. Super. Not to mention Mariners fans absolutely love this guy. Love him. I feel so bad. Between Paul Sewald and then Ahio Hano Suarez, we have just, like, taken. We gave him Josh Rojas. Oh, okay.

Have fun with Josh Rojas. Our sweet baby, Josh Rojas. I feel really bad for Manor's fans. We're just taking all of their favorite people and just making them Diamondbacks fans. I think, I think, I think, Gino is, like, people consider him to be, like, kind of like a guerriel-type figure. Yeah. So, like, now that we have both of them, with a lot of Latin players. Yeah.

I think it's a really good mix of personalities for sure. Yeah, I absolutely agree. I'm so excited for Teabax baseball. You guys, I, like, I've never been this excited to watch baseball in my entire life. And that's saying something because I am obsess of baseball. So to answer your question, Elizabeth, I think Eduardo Rodriguez, for sure, is the most impactful signing. But definitely a big shout out to Gino as well. Gino is what they call Auheneos-Soros.

In case we're wondering, we are not. We are talking about the same person. All right. Next question. What do we got? I think we have a coyote's question. We do from Charles Woodall Pike, CWB. Thank you so much for your question, Charles.

He asked, who has been the most surprising coyote to watch in the first half of the season? I love this question because there's actually a couple ways that you can go with this because the coyotes in general have had a really pleasantly surprising season so far this season, which is always great. You'll love to see it. So for me, I kind of went into the. direction of a net minder. I picked Connor Ingram. I think Connor Ingram is probably the biggest, most pleasant surprise, the most surprising coyote to watch

in the first half of the season for me. Just because there was a question mark with what the coyotes were going to be doing with their goaltending situation. We knew the Melkow was going to be back this season. But aside from that, there was kind of just some questions with like what we were going to, what our goaltending situation was going to look like. And Connor Angeram, man from the blue from the darkness did not expect it at all but so glad it's happening um he has really had a resurgence this season and i think he is a big reason for the team's impressive play through the first half of the season especially i think he was also an all-star snub um i think which is kind of crazy for me to say because if you know where i'm from and you know my allegiances

this is a betrayal in some sorts but i'm shocked that the goaltender from a certain club in the Rockies made it over Conor Ingram because statistically Connor Ingram was performing better than a certain goaltender in the Rockies region. So I think Connor Ingram had a great shot at making it to the All-Star game. I think it was a little bit of a snub. But I mean, he went from one of the best backup goalies to one of the best actual goalies to play in the NHL this season, which is always great to see. there was a point and I think we're still kind of teetering towards that point where he was playing at a Vesna level. Like I'm just going to be honest with you guys. Like I was floored by what I was watching and early conversations for Vesna definitely had Connor Ingram in it.

We have some of his stats if you want to throw them up, Damon for Connor the stats because we have to look at this. So this is for his comparison against Vamelka. so far. He obviously has played in a couple more games. He has a 2.5 one goals against average, which is seventh in the league. He has third and saved percentage right now with a 0.919. And he has a league leading five shutouts, which is absolutely insane to think about that. Our goalie is the one that is posting up these numbers. But looking at it from a statistical standpoint, Ingram is having a better year compared to a lot of the goalies that have been awarded some titles, including All-Star, like I mentioned, the one from the Rockies region, Mr. Alexander Georgiev. But it's just like watching the coyotes play.

It's noticeably, it makes a noticeable difference when you have Connor Engerman net. Like it's, it's crazy to watch the difference. And it's not necessarily a statistical thing. It's more just like watching them play on the ice. but he always delivers in these crucial save situations. Like if you want a goalie that you can rely on in net for big moments, Connor Ingram being back there is a pretty damn good situation to be in. Like it's a safe bet to make that he's going to come up clutch in these big situations.

But the coyotes just seem to play with like more passion and grit when he's in the net. And it's really cool to watch. And I think he would have been a great representative for the coyotes in the All-Star game. I think he got snubbed for sure. Um, but his, his play is really no fluke to me. Like I think he is the real deal. Like he isn't just like having these moments of, you know, greatness of bright flashes during games. Like he consistently is an outstanding goaltender.

So I'm super stoked to watch, uh, him continue to play in a coyote's uniform. I think for me, that's just kind of the easiest option. Um, but definitely the one that makes the most sense in terms of the coyotes, that I've been the most surprised by in the first. half of the season. He's just been a stud in net and it's really, really cool to see. No shot or shade towards Vamelka. I think Vamelka is still a solid goalie, but Conor Ingram for sure has been just a joy to watch. So that's who I'm going with for that. Charles, I'm interested to see, whoop if you agree or disagree. So drop it in the comments because I want to know what your answer to that question is Charles,

because I know you are a big coyotes fan and I'm interested to see how you would have answered that question. Andrew asking Ingram to play for Phoenix Rising backup goalkeeper, L.O.L. I would be interested to see how goalies from other sports would translate to the other sport. It's funny because he mentioned it earlier. This guy right here, Peter Czech. I'm a big Chelsea fan. So this is like my realm.

Okay, go off. He's from the Czech Republic, which is huge in hockey and in soccer. soccer like those are their two sports. Shout out, check you. They just got second. He's like one of the best, Premier League goalkeepers ever.

And right now he's like 42 and he is like the third goalie for his hometown hockey team. I think he might even be like a part owner. Like a beer league team or like a professional team. Oh, okay. He puts like the whole hockey pads on and he plays sometimes and it's like he's pretty good. That's so cool.

I mean, I feel like a lot of the skills are applicable. Like you're still blocking something from coming in the net. Just one happens to be on. and the other happens to be on grass of a big body like good reaction time yeah yeah probably pretty fairly similar i think you would use a lot of like the similar like muscle groups and like reflexes and stuff like that i don't know i'm not a doctor i couldn't tell you for sure but that would be interesting to see how that would play out so um Damon you just butcher it his first

petter petter it's hard names are hard you guys give us a break oh no just kidding so whatever i'm trying to denel just i'm going to change Daniel's name. Oh yeah, we're just going to start changing everyone's name. I feel like Caroline needs a new name. We have an intern in the room with us. Caroline, we're just going to start calling her Carol. Goat. Carol. We're calling you Dame for Dame Lillard instead of Damon. Dame is fire. Dame. Dame Carol and I need one. We'll figure it. We'll figure it out. Mac doesn't count. Mike? Mike. Mike is out of Mac? Mike Wynowski. I'm watching you when I'm Not a nickname?

Is Mack not a nickname? Yeah, it is. We can go with Mac. Charles Willa Pike finally answering my question saying, Ingram has been solid and Devlin has been a part of the Yote's success. My other pick would have been Kraus. Yes, absolutely. Kraus has been great to watch as well.

He is on pace to set a career high for goals and points. We'll talk about Kraus a little bit later because I have another coyote's question on the horizon. Connor saying, hi, Carol. All right, let's get to our next question. What do we've got? It's another D-BACs question, and this one comes from Daniel. He asks, what do the D-backs need to do this season for you to consider the season to be a success? This one is also pretty straightforward to me.

It's playoffs or bust, baby. Like, the Diamondbacks absolutely have to make it back to the playoffs in order for the season to be a success, in my opinion. And I don't think anything less is really going to be considered a success because they are the reigning National League champions. and there are thousands, hundreds of thousands of people out there and their moms and their grandmas and their dad's, uncles, cats, and otherwise that think the Diamondbacks are a fluke. So them going back out there this season and performing really well in the regular season

and then also making it back to the playoffs. And I'm not talking a wild card one and done appearance. I'm talking like into the playoffs. I think is definitely necessary to shut everybody else up who thought the Diamondbacks aren't a good team. They have done everything that they needed to do, in my opinion, outside of acquiring a DH in the off season to make the improvements necessary to that roster

that they had last season to make it a more competitive roster this season. So if they get a DH, I'm all in, you guys. Like, I know, I know what we're looking against, what we're stacked up against with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Trust me, I had an existential crisis about it in December when they were spending a billion dollars on two players. I understand. I get it.

It's like David and Goliath 2.0 on steroids. But I think you can't underestimate the power of friendship, baby. And Diamondbacks, if they've got anything, they've got the power of friendship on their side. And I tweeted this out, which I can't remember which team it was about because it applies to so many. But I'm just going to repeat what I said is you can buy talent, but you can't buy team. I think it was about the suns because I was kind of making a dig at the suns now and I think about it.

Sorry, the sons. But guess who that also applies to? That also applies to the Los Angeles Dodgers. You can buy talent, but you can't buy a team. And the Diamondbacks are a team. They have 90% of their roster from last season coming back this season. And last season showed us and should prove to all of you that when you are a team and everybody in that locker room is bought in, clubhouse, I should say, is bought into what is happening. Anything is possible, including making it to the world.

series because I'm looking at you all. I know none of you thought that the dive of acts were going to make it to the World Series last season. And they shocked the world, including all of the people here in Arizona. So I think all of the moves that they've made have been to their benefit and all of the areas that they needed to improve on. They did. The one question mark is going to be the Dodgers. If we're looking at the Dodgers in the playoffs again, I'm not sure we're sweeping them this time around. I'm nervous, obviously. I think it's reasonable to be nervous when you look at the names that are on the Los Angeles Dodgers roster to feel that way. But the Dodgers also had a great team last season and they got swept.

So anything is possible. And we're going to talk about the National League West in a little bit because that's another question we have coming up. But making it to the World Series, again, I think lightning striking twice is extremely rare. and I don't necessarily bank on the Diamondbacks making it back to the World Series again this season. And if they don't make it back to the World Series, I don't think that's a failure of a season. I think as long as they make it to the playoffs, they're not a one and done team in the wild card. I would consider that as success. I think good baseball teams are built on continuity.

And if the Diamondbacks can show us that they can continuously be a good baseball team that makes it to the postseason year after year, which is always the goal, right? duh. I think that's going to go a long way. I think it's going to revitalize the fan base in the valley. I think it's going to make Phoenix a baseball town, which I would love for that to happen. So I just, as long as they make it to the playoffs next year, I will be happy. And I think that will be a success for the Diamondbacks. And I think that they need to do it for themselves too, because I'm sure that they are also annoyed by everyone's mom and whoever else saying that the Diamondbacks, it was a fluke. So I'm excited to see.

I agree with you completely about making playoffs. And like Daniel here says that like what round? I don't think that matters in baseball because baseball is such a sport where if you make the playoffs, you have a shot at going to the World Series. We saw it last year. Like the best team in baseball hardly ever is the one that wins the title. Yeah. So even if they were one 120 games and broke the record for regular season wins, they are unlikely

to win the World Series. You just have to get in the dance in baseball. And like, if they do that, start showing some consistency, start showing that this young core is going to consistently be in the playoffs. That will be huge for this team. Yeah. I mean, obviously, making into the NLCS again would be fantastic. But even if they're in the NLDS and they win a couple games in the NLDS,

like I think that is great too. So I kind of agree that I don't really think it matters just as long as it's not a one and done in the wild card type of situation. Because I don't know, is that bad? I'm kind of like a, if you win a wild card game and you make it to the division series, then that's great. But if you make it to the wild card and you lose, like, I don't really count that as a playoff appearance. Is that weird? I don't know.

I just don't really, I don't really count it. It's kind of if it's kind of up in the air. Yeah. Like if you, I would say in the NBA, if you make the play in and you don't aren't one of the top eight seeds that are, you're not in the playoffs. Yeah. Like if you got eliminated in the playing tournament, I don't think you're a playoff team. Right. But in baseball.

It's so hard because it's a marathon in so many games. Yeah. I understand. All right. Hopefully they can make it to the NLDS this year. I think that would be an absolute success any way you look at it. So that is my answer to Daniel's question. Let's take a look at our next question coming from Maddie Moles on Twitter. Thank you so much for your question. Maddie. Any word about coyotes relocating? If so, what is the most likely destination? I think I talked about this on a couple episodes ago, but for any of you that aren't familiar with the most recent happenings of the coyotes situation. I truly, truly, truly in my heart of hearts do not see a scenario where the coyotes relocate. There's a lot of things that factor into that. Most of it comes from the fact that Commissioner Gary Bettman loves the coyotes. He loves Phoenix as a hockey market in general because Phoenix is by population one of the biggest markets. And therefore, that is something that he's not ready to give up on as the commissioner of the National Hockey League. So Betman doesn't want to see the

coyotes relocate and also the NHL is ready to start expanding and adding more expansion teams to the league and I have heard rumblings that the goal is to have 30 hockey teams in the United States of America so not including the Canadian teams which there are four five oh god I should know that Canucks Canadians maple leaves jets flames oilers oilers that that's that's six I think that's everybody because I said the connects and the Canadians yeah that's everyone six there's six there's six Canadian hockey teams right now and the goal would to be have 30 American hockey teams so the league is ready to expand and when seven okay who are we missing Charles Wittle Pike who are we missing Ottawa Ottawa

the most random team yeah ever yes okay sorry senators fans oh We're missing Ottawa. So anyways. The ugliest jerseys and logo in hockey. Terrible. It's not even close. It's awful. So between Bettman not wanting to give up on Phoenix being a hockey market and also the

league expanding to 30 teams in America, when you have an expansion team, there is an expansion fee. And there were some projections done based off of the last two expansion teams that were Vegas and Seattle and the projections of economy and math and a bunch of stuff that I don't understand. But basically, we're looking at a billion dollar expansion fee, which is crazy because the last expansion team was Seattle and their expansion fee was $700 million. So if you take in inflation and the economy, I'm just throwing things out here at this point, but whatever, basically the next expansion NHL team, their expansion fee is going to be about a billion dollars.

And there is no way, shape, or form that Gary Bettman is going to want to miss out on having that expansion fee, especially in the owners too, because the owners get to divide up that expansion fee. There's no way that the owners would want to give up on having that expansion fee either. So I genuinely don't think that there's a world where the coyotes relocate. There's always a chance, never say never. It would have to get to a really, really, really, really, really dark place, a bad place for that to happen. I think that potentially, and this is just all pure speculation, you guys. Like, this is just me noodling out loud. So please don't like, clip this and say, breaking news, that is not what I'm happy. This is not what's happening.

This is me just making educated guesses based off of the sports knowledge that I have consumed. I would assume that the league would force a sale to somebody who would want to keep the team in Phoenix if for whatever reason the current ownership group can't build an arena. If they are not doing their due diligence in finding a location for an arena to be built or not investing the money is necessary to build an arena or whatever, whatever is happening with a current coyote's ownership. If the league believes that they're not doing everything in their power to secure an arena for this team in Arizona, I think the league could force a sale to somebody else. But I think whoever that owner would be would be somebody who does have

the resources, time connections to get an arena built in Arizona. Again, that is just my yes. I'm not saying that that is what's happening. I'm not saying that that is fact. I'm just speculating. But my assumption would be if we had to get to a point where some drastic action was necessary and the current ownership group is not getting things moved along fast enough for the league's liking and the NHL Players Association liking, I think the league could force the current owner to sell. But I think that they would have them sell to somebody who wants to keep the coyotes here.

So that's just my opinion because I don't think that they're also going to want to miss out the expansion fees like I mentioned and I know for a fact that is on record that Gary Betman does not want to move the coyotes out of Arizona. So I don't think that that's ever going to happen, at least not anytime soon. I would probably put the chances of relocation right now at like 5%. So that's just my thoughts though. Who knows what'll happen? Connor says he has a question for Carol. Who is the best employee at PH&X? Be very careful. you answer this question carroll she's like i've been here for three days hop on the mic carol give us your thoughts i've been here for three days i don't know there's

still many more to uh no hang it in the bubble come on slide in there's still many more for me to meet and interact with so this is a very political answer yeah i think i'm going to have to give it another another week another two or three weeks i'm going to circle back to this question next week i will say this is my favorite show so far to watch this is the most entertaining one so i'll give that away i think that can count for something okay i'll take that that that's That puts me what? What do you mean? Oh, yeah, for easily.

Yeah, for sure. I will absolutely take that as the answer. Thank you so much. Very political answer. I like it. All right, let's go on to our next question. Oh, before we do, Charles saying NHL wants those expansion fees, relocation is an absolute last resort that they would exhaust all other options before leaving the valley.

A thousand percent agree. If them being allowed to play in a four, 4,000 seat college hockey arena is not any indication that the link is willing to do whatever it takes to keep the coyotes here. I don't know what it is. So definitely think that the chances of relocation are very minimal. Connor says W. Carroll. Charles says Carol is a part of the TPSP squad.

Benjamin saying Mac is so charismatic. Thank you. You guys don't gas me out. Relax. My head is already way too big. All right. let's hit our next question before we wrap it up um how do you expect the diamondbacks to perform within their division this upcoming year thank you jacob han for your question i appreciate it so very

much all right within the national league west i'm probably going to catch some heat for this but i'm trying to be realistic so i don't get my heartbroken and i don't know if this is controversial or not we'll see i think that the diamondbacks finished second in the national league west and I think that might be controversial to some people, especially if you live in Southern California. But I don't think it is because historically, if we're looking at what we have going on here, the Dodgers spent a billion dollars on two players,

a billion, a billion dollars on two players, and they somehow continue to dole out money to more people. I am just shocked and amazed at what is happening with the financial situation with the Los Angeles Dodgers, is actually horrified is probably a better way of describing it. But they are a huge variable. We haven't seen all of the pieces that they have acquired played together yet. We haven't seen what they can do.

On paper, they're going to be able to do a lot. I'm not going to lie to you, but that's on paper. Like I said, you can buy talent, but you can't buy a team. And that just might be being delusional and trying to convince myself that the Dodgers aren't going to absolutely destroy everything in sight this year in Major League Baseball. but I think it is safe to assume right now before we see anything that the Dodgers will finish first in the National League West. When it comes to all the other teams in the National League West, I think it's safe to assume that the Rockies will be dead last yet again. There is no shot in hell.

Hell will freeze over before the Rockies are better than any team in the National League West. Michaela loves the Rockies. They have no fucking clue what they are doing within the Colorado Rockies organization. Their owner is a absolute moron. Their front office is a disaster. The two scouts that they employ that also do the laundry of everyone in the clubhouse have no idea what's happening. They have never had a high-ranked prospect system despite always being rebuilding.

And next year is the year. I could go on for ages about it. Can you guys tell that she doesn't really like the Rockies? The Rockies are a shit show in a terribly, terribly, terribly, terribly, terribly ran organization. They might as well be demoted to AAA baseball at this point because that is the caliber of talent that is playing for the Colorado Rockies. So I'm assuming it's safe to say that the Rockies will be last in the National League West.

I'm happy to be proven wrong, but I don't think I will. Coming in fourth place, the Giants, I think the Giants have always, not always, recently have been anonymally, anonymily, anonymity, anonymity, anonymily, I can't say it. They've always been anomaly for me. They're good when no one expects them to be, and then they're bad when everyone thinks they're going to be good as a recent. I'll be honest. I haven't been paying as much attention to the Giants as I have,

the Padres and the Dodgers. But, yeah, I just don't think that the Giants are going to be able to stack up competitively against the other three teams in the National League West. Again, that is just my educated guess. And then again, it gets a little bit interesting when you're looking at the other three teams between the Padres, the Dodgers, and the Diamondbacks. The Padres, for whatever reason, don't know. how to manage a very large budget.

They have a lot of money that is currently being spent on players that have not earned it, to say the least. They are in debt to their players. They had to take out a loan in order to play the players, the salary that they were owed last season. I'm not sure if that's common knowledge. But in case it's not, it is true. Obviously, they are going through a very sad situation with the ownership change because

they lost their previous owner, which heart goes out to them. that is definitely an unfortunate situation to be dealing with. But they, to me, are the definition of buying talent but not buying a team because they have spent a lot of money on players who have done nothing but choke when it comes time to put up or shut up. So forgive me for not having the most confidence in the San Diego Padres on being to do deliver a successful season. So I, to me, have the Padres finishing third in the division, the Diamond Valley. finishing second and the Dodgers obviously finishing first. What's crazy about the Padres is that they literally like all their best players are hitters and yet their pitching staff was what made them good decent last year.

Yeah, it's bizarre. Their pitching staff was insane last year. They can't seem to get an educated guess on what any of the players are going to deliver for them at any point in time. So I have the National League West Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Padres, Giants, Rockies. That is just my opinion. Feel free to disagree. But that is what I'm going with.

That is what I'm sticking with. And that is that. All right. I think we're good. No, we could talk about it. I just, I'm interested to see what you guys think about this. So we got this question from AJ Haefley. Shout out to AJ.

He is the DNVR ABS reporter up in Denver. He asks, how much longer and cell Clayton Keller pushes to be on the coyotes Mount Rushmore. This is a good question and I think it is very multifaceted and a little bit difficult to answer because if you look at the current Coyotes Mount Rushmore, which is subjective, but in my opinion, we have Cich, Roanick, Donor, and that's tough. Kachuk, Donor, and Roanick for sure. Historically, you would have to look at some of the players that were a part of like the

Winnipeg to Coyotes situation, but I would probably say Numidian is the last one. So, Numidian, Kachuk, Roanick, Donor. Those are the four on the Coyotes, Mount Rushmore currently. They are up there for a ton of reasons. Obviously, Donor is out there because he is. Captain Coyote, Mr. Coyote will forever be on the Mount Rushmore for the Coyotes. He leads the Coyotes historically, statistically in almost every category. And then if you look at the top 10 of various statistical categories, you will find some combination of Roanick-Kachuk and Numidian in there as well.

So currently Clayton Keller, he definitely is probably next in line. I don't think there's anybody else besides maybe OEL. that you could make an argument for as to potentially being on the Mount Rush and Mar of Coyotes. I think if OEL had been a coyote for his whole career and didn't kind of teeter off towards the end there and have like that weird controversial ending to his time in Arizona, he would probably have been next. But I think we're safe to say that Clayton has probably passed O'EL at this point. Clayton isn't in top five for a lot of the categorial standings for the coyotes.

he is in top 10 for some of them. He's in top 10 for points for the coyotes all time, which is kind of cool. So for me, I think Clayton Keller obviously needs more time. He is not by far, but in any stretch of the imagination, one of the longest tenured coyotes yet. But I think we are on the verge of maybe considering him to be on the Mount Rushmore, potentially within like the next two to three seasons, I would say. in terms of like leadership and stuff like that,

I don't necessarily think he has to be Captain Coyote for him to be on that list because I don't necessarily know if he has all of the qualities necessary to be a captain for a hockey team. He's definitely more on the quiet side, on the subtle side. If you have not interacted with him, he's just very clean. He's very reserved, keeps to himself a lot. He's not the type like Nathan McKinnon to yell in your, face and tell you that you have to go on a diet for the next two weeks and that you can't

consume sugar or he'll murder her family. Um, so he's not that type of, uh, hockey players. So I don't think he necessarily has to be a captain in order to be considered on the Mount Rush for him because I just don't think he necessarily has that, um, quality, which is not bad by any stretch of the imagination. I think the next coyote's captain will probably look at is probably lost in Krause. I think Krauser definitely has all of those qualities. Like Charles said, previously he is having his best career on record he's on track to set um his career goal uh record for goals and points and i also think he has that leadership quality that you need in the captain he's been the bruiser on the team for however many seasons now um always sticking up for his teammates he's

always at all of the off ice events so i think the next coyote's captain will probably see is lost and crows um i think clayton has started his case for sure to be on the mount rushmore but i don't he is a definitive member yet i think he just needs probably another two to three seasons for us to say for sure um but it's just hard like he um just has to i mean he has to just keep producing at this level he is third all time and points by a coyote he's seven points behind o'el for second um kuch and ronick's tenure here i've been a little we're are a little are shorter than clayton keller's tenure so far um i think it would be good great to see Clayton Keller in a playoff scenario. Um, and, and a really good playoff run would be

awesome. Um, so I think if we can get Clayton Keller to, to another three seasons with the coyotes and see him in a playoff situation, I think that will probably cement him to be up there on the Mount Rushmore for the Arizona coyotes. So that is my opinion. Thank you, AJ so much for that question. Hopefully you're watching. I know you're not a chat person, but I have a feeling that you're somewhere out there. But before we go, I have to tell you guys about game time, which is the best. I don't have to. I want to tell you guys about game time because they are the best.

Most fastest ticketing, growing, fastest growing ticketing app in the country for a reason because they have the best ticket prices possible that you could ever imagine. There are the lowest prices for any type of event you want to go to, whether it be a sporting event, a concert, parking passes, whatever you. you need a ticket for a game time has it and they have it for the lowest dollar amount out there like the prices on game time are impossible to meet and our game time game of the week i actually went in a different direction this time because i know i normally go with the suns but this time i'm going with a coyotes game because the penguins are coming to town and um when do you get to see a team

such as the penguins play the coyotes in such a close and intimate arena i like gwinz as a nickname. The Gwyns? Yeah. I like that too. Is that good? I like that. Yeah.

So our game time game of the week is the Penguins at the Coyotes on Monday to 22nd, 7 o'clock puck drop. Right now you can get tickets for as low as $161. And I know that might seem like a lot, but those seats are lower bowl seats because every seat in the Moul Arena is a lower bowl seat. But getting to see a team take on the coyotes such as the penguins, it's going to be. be a great game. There's no doubt about it. And you get to see that up close and personal in person. And Sid the kid. Sid the kid. Sid the kid's coming to town. You get to watch Sid the Kid on the ice for as low as $161 right now on the game time. All you have to do is download game time and create an account. Use promo code P-H-N-X and you will receive $20 off your first purchase. So if you haven't created account yet, if you do so, those tickets to see Sid the Kid,

Play the Coyotes will then be $141, which is crazy when you think about it. I don't think you can get tickets for lower than 300 in the lower bowl in a lot of NHL arenas. So terms apply. Create an account and redeem code of PHNX for $20 off your first order. Download game time today. Last minute tickets. Lowest prices guaranteed. Someone said it previously in the comments.

I think it was Connor that he has to go out to a hockey game this year. Yes, you have to. I have been to many a hockey game at Mold Arena. And I am amazed every time about how incredibly cool it is to see NHL action that close. Like, it is unbelievable. The environment is insane. The energy is off the charts. They do such a great job with the in-game show.

It's so entertaining. So if you haven't been to a kind of use game yet, I definitely recommend it and get your tickets on game time. Guys, thank you so much for all of your questions that you submitted to me. I hope I did a good job answering them if I didn't. well don't say anything i hope you all have a wonderful and safe weekend do you have any fun plans damon no i don't you don't all right i'm probably chill at home and i'm not feeling so great so maybe get some chicken too i'm not either honestly oh should we get each other sick hopefully not oh yeah i'm kind of feeling a little bleh so i also will be resting this weekend which i think it is

much earned. So thank you all so much for tuning into this episode of the Phoenix Sports podcast. And for all your questions, I appreciate you all so much. You make my life so happy. I hope you all have a wonderful, safe, restful weekend. And I will see you next week at 1130, sometimes 1145. Bye.