PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - We’re all in this together

Episode Date: June 8, 2022

On this episode, Derek and Jesse are discussing where the D-backs' offense has gone, round 2 of Mailbag questions this week, and PHNX's day out playing Broomball. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to the PHNX Dback show right here on PHNX, brought to you by the Drafking Sportsbook app, America's number one sportsbook app. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am your mayor of PHNX, and I'm joined by my vice mayor, the one and only thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. Things have been better in Diamondbacksland, Derek.

Jesse. I keep the, this is a cosplay bat. This is, this is, this is a kfe bat. This is not a real bat. I'm sure, I think it was for a Halloween costume I did where I was going to be Negan that never came to fruition. It doesn't matter, Jesse, because it stays like this, that I need this bat. I need, I need it, I need it, I hate what's going on.

What happened to this team? Holy shit, this road trip has been atrocious. I can't, I can't put into words. bad it's been for this team. It's like the weather is trying to throw in the towel for the Arizona Diamondbacks. The weather is the kids from the school yard in that Simpsons meme. And they're all yelling at the weather collectively, stop it. You're killing him, right?

That's what the weather is doing in this series. Two games now impeded by a rain delay. Today, the Arizona Diamondbacks, again, not able to generate offense, not able to generate runs nine to nothing in the top of the eighth when the game was essentially delayed. And yeah, would you sell? I mean, I know there's two more games, but let's just concede those and let's just get out of Cincinnati because this is bad, Jesse. As it stands right now, I believe it is one run in 34 innings of offense.

One run in 34 innings. Yeah, it's pretty bad. I mean, technically, Derek, it is the top of the eighth inning. And it's only... Sorry. I needed to get those last couple out. I'm better now, though. I'm just, I'm trying to make you feel better, Derek,

because it's the top of the eighth inning and the diamondbacks technically still have, like, two more opportunities to score some runs and get... No, don't do that. Don't do that. Don't give me the same false hope I gave people about our broomball team today, which, by the way, Uncle Daredeer has some. some story time to tell about broomball around P&X and what went down. I'm not going to be able to walk tomorrow.

That's that's a, that's not a, that's not a prediction. That's a spoiler. That's a spoiler for how my day is going to go tomorrow. But we will talk about broomball because it's way more interesting I feel like than talking about the Arizona Diamondbacks right now. I don't know again, Jesse, how collectively they all fall apart. offensively like this. You know, this is something we've seen previously this season.

But now it seems like everything is falling apart for them. Bullpen, not doing great, didn't do well in that last series against the pirates. Starting pitching did pretty good in that series, but has not been good in this series. And obviously, offense has been just a dumpster fire on this entire road trip. Yeah, it really has. I mean, the Diamondbacks have scored, like you said, one run in their last 34 innings. And if you go back to the eighth inning of Friday's game, Derek, the Diamondbacks have been outscored 24 to 1 by the Pirates and the Reds over these last few games since late in the game on Friday.

So this might be the worst stretch of baseball. The Diamondbacks have played this season. I know things are rough to start the year for a couple weeks there. This is pretty bad. And it's especially bad when you consider the Diamondbacks are playing the Pirates and now the Reds, who are not on the same level as some of the teams that they were playing early in the season, you know, where the struggles they were having were maybe a little bit more excusable. So, yeah, the offense, the offense is the glaring issue for me, Derek.

I think I expected Madison Bumgarner to come down to Earth. I expected Tyler Gilbert. his MLB numbers have kind of always been ahead of where some of his peripheral numbers suggest they should be. So I think there was some balancing to be had for both of those guys. But the offense, I don't feel that way. The offense has genuinely just been missing here over these last few days. And especially in Cincinnati, I mean, it's known to be a hitter's ballpark. And the Diamondbacks have yet to score a run in that ballpark since getting there.

Here's the thing is Jack Summers, our friend from over at AZ Snake Pit, he's also filled in for Steve Gilbert over at MLB.com. But he put out a tweet the other day that I thought was very interesting. And it's not to say, by any stretch of the imagination that this is an excuse for why this team has lost these games. But what you see right here, especially down that quote from Mark Grace, which is just such a great quote, it's not who you play, but when you play them. coming into these series with the pirates and the Reds, they were both doing very well. You know, the pirates come off of sweeping the Dodgers. They're six and three.

They were riding high on a lot of confidence. And the Diamondbacks were able to come in and take that first game, which with the way that things were going for that team was actually a bit surprising. But then the pirates were able to, you know, take two out of three from the Diamondbacks at that point. Reds coming into the series with the Diamondbacks were also five and two in their last seven. So these are teams that have been playing. well, not just in this series against the Diamondbacks, but like you said, Jesse, the more

mystifying part about this entire situation is just the complete and utter disappearance of the offense, how the offense has just collectively just is missing in action. You know, and I mean, you still have some guys doing well. You have some guys contributing, but I mean, not really, not in a significant way. I mean, who? Who is? I don't know. Jake McCarthy had like a double. And I think that was like the first extra base hit that they had in like three games or something. Like it's kind of incredible. You know, the lack of offense really across the board from this team. And everybody's struggling. Nobody's really, you know, I was I was foolish even to say that because it's just been little spots here or there where someone was able to get hits. You know, Catele has still been having some great at

bats, just not really having the results that he was having during his hit streak. But other guys, they're not even having good at bats. Like there's a lot of really impatient at bats, a lot of regression on what we were seeing from these guys as far as how far they'd come along and, you know, just having good lengthy at bats against starting pitching to try to, you know, get deep, get into the bullpen, make something happen late in games like they've made happen in some of their comeback victories this year. It's, it's been pretty disheartening.

Yeah, I mean, Catele, I don't know if you necessarily want to point the blame in his direction right now, just given, like you said, he has looked better of late. And, you know, over his last seven games, he's hitting 273, slugging over 500. So things have started to turn around for Cattel. But I bring him up, Derek, because I think Cate was supposed to be the guy in the Diamondbacks lineup that prevented things like this from happening. And what I mean by that is, is he was supposed to be. supposed to be an elite offensive player. And while he has played a little bit better of late, he really has yet to look anything like the hitter that we've seen in past years.

He just hasn't been that guy. And when you have someone, you know, who you're expecting to be that guy, just come out and be a pretty league average hitter, which is essentially what Cotel Marte has been this year, it makes you prone to things like this. I mean, if you think back to the entire, 2010's era of Diamondbacks baseball essentially. It was hard for their offense as a whole to go stagnant for very long because Paul

Goldschmidt was one of the best hitters in the game, right? And it just, he wouldn't allow that to happen for very long. You always had at least that punch coming from the middle of the lineup. The debacks don't have that right now. The middle of the lineup is, I mean, is, Marta has never been a middle of the lineup guy, but to his defense, not only did he just come off of a 16 game hit. hitting streak, which was a career high, but dating back to April 30th, he's hitting 339 with 13

doubles, a triple and three home runs, right? 13 RBI, 13 walks. That is what Cotel Marte is going to be for this team. Sure. I think that that small, you know, that small sample size right there is the best that you're going to get out of Cotel Marte throughout the stretch of a season, right? He's not going to hit a lot of dingers. He's not going to do a lot of things impressive. besides the doubles, you know, the 13 doubles in a month is pretty good. His 339 batting average, it was the fifth best in National League in that span going back to April 30th. So he, and again, he's right there in that same, I guess, conversation with Mookie Betts, Paul Goldschmidt, Brendan Rogers from the Colorado Rockies has been doing very well, and Bryce Harper.

So that's the five guys in the National League that are hitting, you know, the best. batting average dating back to April 30th. So he kind of is that guy. That is kind of more of what he is after a slow start. But I just don't think, to be honest with you, I don't think Atel Marte is that guy that you're describing because I don't feel like he is the power guy. You know, I don't think he's, he's going to get on base a lot. He's going to have those hitting streaks. He's going to have that kind of stuff. He's going to have a batting average. It's going to be on a good, on a good season, probably more towards 330 on a bad season below 320, but still above 300, probably when all is said and done.

I just think right now, even if he was hitting, I don't feel like this team losing games 7 to nothing and 9 to nothing like they are today is a reflection necessarily of one player's poor performance. No, it's not. It's not. Of how cold this team has gone collectively as a whole. that's that's the thing for me that's just amazing this team this season in their you know to criticize

them in their in their in their in their failures when they've really looked their worst it's that like they've kind of just almost stuck together as a team and all deciding to be bad at the same time and i know that's not what they're doing obviously right but that's kind of how it feels because uh they have made you know some starting pitchers on opposing teams look like Cy Young candidates multiple times this season with the way that they have been able to just breeze through this D-backs lineup. And I mean, I think the really frustrating thing is, like you said, not even Ketel-Marté has been that guy that at least is that pest that keeps getting on base, that keeps generating

something trying to make something happen. The Diamondbacks at times don't have anybody that is able to do that. And, you know, I guess to go back. to your point, it does correlate a bit with Marte being, you know, kind of off because much like inexplicably the way the infield played better defense when Nick Ahmed returned, there's something about when Cateel Marte is doing well. The rest of the team is also doing well. Like it's it's kind of like he is that guy that at least gets the, gets the engine moving, you know, him and David Peralta as far as, you know, making this team kind of feel energized and, and do

something offensively. But of course, you know, there is so much to talk about with this team. And again, this is why their identity to us is so weird. These games, I mean, this series, this road trip, this is the team that people predicted would win 65 games this season. 100%. The run differential, everything. At the very least, we've had some excuses along the way this season. We've had, we've had the ability, Jesse, to say, well, if you're, take the Dodgers out, then they're not really that bad. But now, I mean, against some of the teams that people consider to be the worst teams in the league, the Diamondbacks have looked like the worst team in the league.

They really have. And I want to go back to the Catelle point real quick, because I think you're, I think you're very right that it's not as if this is a Catell problem, right? The Diamondbacks offense as a whole has completely gone silent. But I do want to touch on him again just real quick. If you look at what Catell has done the last few weeks, You know, the batting average has come up. Some of the numbers have gotten better.

But I have to be a little bit cautious here, Derek, because I kind of feel like Kattel's getting some grounders to get through the infield a little bit, more so than he's really barreling up the baseball in a way that he wasn't doing early in the season. I think there's some of that. He has looked better at the plate overall. But if you look at his stat cast numbers right now, and mind you, these numbers tend to be overestimates. Right now, the stat. cast numbers across the board have been above the league averages.

So there's an adjustment coming here. So these are overestimates. Just keep that in mind. According to Statcast, Catell Marte's expected batting average this season is 257 and his expected slugging percentage is 382. He's actually outperforming where Stackcast thinks he should be. It's not like Catell is having a rough season, but he's he's on the up and it seems like he should be better.

I actually think that Catell has been somewhat fortunate to be. where he is right now. And so, yes, this is not a Cotel problem on the entire team. The Diamondbacks have other guys who need to step up too. But he hasn't been the guy that he was last year, even close to it. Last year, his expected batting average was 307. His expected slugging percentage was almost 500. There's a really big difference between where he was last year and what he's done so

far this season. And there's a lot of that, like there's a lot of projections that are all over the place. I mean, I don't think we can ever let MLB network live down, you know, naming him the top second baseman, all of baseball when he had even played the position in, you know, two seasons or however long it had been since he had played, right? So I still think Kattel will finish over 300 or near it. Yeah, he absolutely could. I mean, even 2020, he wasn't that great and he still finished the year. I think it was 287, so that absolutely could happen.

What I will say is this, though, is that they're in danger if they don't turn something around in some way, right? Tyler Gilbert was atrocious today in his start, puts a lot of strain on the bullpen. Shout out to Caleb Smith. Again, he has proven his worth. He's able to come in. And, I mean, he didn't keep it scoreless, but he was able to come in and provide them with some innings, which is something that they desperately needed considering how, you know, how much this. this could have impacted the rest of the series and the rest of this road trip with their bullpen

gets taxed this early on. Josh Hunt says rain has had more of an impact on the series than our bats and I, that's just, that's sad. That was a sad. That's amazing. Sad with that comment, Josh, because it's true. But we appreciate you. We appreciate all of our PHNX members.

Of course, if you haven't signed up already, go over to go phtnx.com. Sign up for a membership. If you haven't done so, promise you it'll be worth your money. It'll be worth your money. time. I have an article coming up, the one I've been working on for God knows how long for spring training. Jesse actually has a piece coming out on the Dallas Kichel, pick up, I guess you should say, acquisition. Interesting fact about that, by the way, Jesse is.

I'm sure it's going to be included in your article, but Diamondbacks are on a ticking clock when it comes to his ability to opt out of this contract. So as much as I think both of us felt like we probably wouldn't see him on the major league roster. It seems like that might be more of the case than we thought, because I have a feeling if the Diamondbacks don't find a role for him soon, he might, you know, he might take them up on opting out and try to find a way in with a club that can give him some major league playing time before the end of this season.

I get where he's coming from, but I'm sure that it's also very tantalizing to want to wait around and potentially work with Brent Strom again like he did in Houston. So Jesse will have more information about that. Of course, if you haven't signed up to become a member, you can sign up and get an annual membership. It'll get you one of these wonderful t-shirts like this coyotes one I am wearing right now from the PHNX locker, whatever shirt of your choosing. By the way, shout out to, I think it was Daniel Haney.

And he got our contest winner for our shirt, by the way. way. We still got that coming his way as well. So you can be a winner by signing up for an annual membership and you can pick out your shirt over at the phnx locker.com. If you're not interested in the annual membership, you can sign up for a month, month to month membership and you'll get your first month for just 50 cents. Regardless of what option you choose, you will get access to our members-only Discord where we've been hugging each other a lot and using gifts to get through the sadness that is this road trip, as well as members-only discounts over. at the PHNX Locker.com.

So make sure to sign up for those membership, join our family, and hang out with us. Hang out with us in the Discord. You know, that's what we're here for. We're here to chat sports. We're here to talk about the teams you love all the time and not just when, you know, something important happens like the local news.

Yes, I'm throwing shade at the local news. Come fight me. I don't know. Who's out there? I love Richard Sines. So Richard Sines, come fight me. Come on. Come fight me over this.

But anyway, we thank you guys so much for already being a member. If you are already, we thank you guys for being in our Discord. It's always fun to chat and have you guys get us. I know we get you through it. You get us through it because this has all been sad. But of course, I made a terrible error. We ran pretty long on our Mailbag Monday episode. But I decided that we're going to go back and answer some of the questions that we did not get to.

So I know it's not mailbag Monday right now. The D-backs hit a grand slam right now? Is that going on right now? Are they back? Jesse? It is happening. Geraldo Heraldo Perdomo just did a grand slam. See, this was the risk we ran starting the show during the rain delay.

But you know what? We're going to get through it anyway. And you know what? I don't care. I'm throwing this. And then once in a while there's a letter that makes me go out. Let's go, Perdomo, let's go. Turn it all the way up to 11.

It's exciting. First question comes from Sean McNally. He says to us, for argument's sake, if the debacks or buyers at the deadline, what position would need the attention? Maybe third base shortstop catcher. What are your thoughts there, Jesse? I don't know if any of those would necessarily be my choice as much as, again, That's why I like the Dallas Kichael thing is I feel like pitching would be my

main focus for this team. But third base would probably also be on the block for me. I mean, it's a little, it feels a little weird to talk about buying at the trade deadline for a team that's really struggling against the pirates of the red right now. No one asked you to put logic behind. You just said answer the goddamn question, Jesse. Okay, okay. Yeah, I think it's, I think it's pitching, pitching.

and more pitching. If the Diamondbacks are somehow get to a point of being in serious playoff contention and where they're really trying to push the chips in, they're going to be finding a closer probably. They're going to be finding a setup man. They're going to be finding probably a fifth starter for their rotation so that, you know, Tyler Gilbert, who really struggled in this game, Humberto Castiano's has heard Dallas Keikle. There's some obvious questions there. So I think they could use some depth in the starting rotation as well. All right. Well, that's, I think we agree on that.

And then our man, Sean, also had a second question. And that was, what is the end game at first base? Christian Walker, Pave and Smith, Seth, Beer, or some big bat-free agent? I think that Christian Walker, and I wrote about this like three days ago, I think that Christian Walker is having a much better season than his numbers show right now. He has had a few rough days in a row in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, so those numbers have taken a bit of a hit over the last few days. But I still think that Christian Walker is probably a top 10 first baseman this season, just

given if you look at the batted ball data, you look at how hard he's hitting the ball is strikeout rate, the fact that he's playing the best defense of any first baseman in the game, don't be fooled by, you know, the 200 batting average, which I understand looks very, very bleak right now. But he's been arguably the unluckiest player in baseball. If you look at just how few of the balls that he's put in play have landed in for hits, I think he's probably in that camp. So I'm a pretty big believer in Christian Walker at this point as a guy who seems to hold real value. certainly not impossible the debacks could look to use that value in the trade market at some point.

But for right now, I think he's pretty much the clear option at first base. Jesse, the Arizona Diamondbacks are plus four run differential since I beat up my chair with this baseball bat. So I think I think that was really they needed that. They needed one of those like manager flipping the Gatorade jug over during a team meeting kind of moments. Right. I'm happy to have provided that. On minutes with the mayor, I don't know, or I don't know if meetings with the mayor this week is ever going to get posted,

but I offered up with all the weird umpire altercations that they've had, my services to come down to the ballpark early, dress up in a D-BACs jersey, call the home plate umpire like a filthy name. You know, tell him he looks like 10 pounds of monkey crap and a five. pound bag just, you know, casually, he can just toss me out of the game, right? He could just be like, you're, you, what, you're gone, right? Before first pitch even takes place. He gets it out of his system.

And then he doesn't need to randomly start fights or instigate things with Diamondbacks players. Because, see, I'm not just a mayor for being a mayor. I come up with solutions, Jesse, and solutions to problems that we need to fix. And that's definitely one of them. We also had some questions that I'm not going to forget from our friends in the Discord. By the way, again, if you're a member, you can jump in the Discord and ask us questions. Chris Melton, our friend Chris, wanted to know if there's any Jordan Lawler rib updates. I could not locate any at this time, unfortunately. I think it's still taking it day by day with Jordan Lawler because, of course,

they're going to be very, very cautious with him. Yeah. And her second question is the one that's more important. She says if you had to dress yourself only from clothes from another PHNX staffer's closet, who are you picking? And in this scenario, sizes magically adjust. Oh. So one of our one of our pH and X colleagues, we have to dress like them. Interesting.

What's happening now? We're not watching the game. Just don't come into our comments with Yeh Kattel. I know it was Geraldo Perdomo's first home run. So a grand slam. There's some trivia for you. What was Geraldo Perdomo's first home run? It was a grand slam.

Tell us what's happening. Martago's yard. It's nine for five, but plus five on road differential since I swear to God, Jesse. I will wreck this entire office with this stupid rubber bat. If that's what it's going to take. No, I'm not dressing like Jacob Franklin. That's absolutely not the choice. I'm not choosing Sean.

to pause. His wardrobe is entirely beige. It's, it's every single entirely beige. He's totally based. And I, that's not working with me. If anything, I am going to pick Espos. Espo and I share a very like-minded closet. And more importantly, if I got to dive into Espo's closet, I would get to see every jersey from every fucking Arizona team that's ever existed, no matter how random. it is jesse he has a landsharks jersey he has a wrangler's jersey i bet he has teams that even i don't know existed their jerseys in there and i that's that's the most exciting part of getting into anybody's wardrobe in the in p h nx by far i was i was honestly espo is also the first name that

came to my mind but more more more more because of the glasses like he always has the he always has the orange or purple glasses. He had some rainbow frames. It's always immaculate. The vibes are immaculate when it comes to Espo's wardrobe, 100%. I don't really know. I don't know, Derek. People at our company wear t-shirts like all the time.

So it's pretty hard to really get a feel for it. Yeah, it is. And it makes it very hard to really. I feel like Gerald has a style that's like, It's true. Classy and more adult than I ever dressed. I again, you know what, you know what Anthony Totry said? He said it looks like I'm always ready to go to the zoo. That's how he said I'm dressed like I'm always ready to go to the zoo. And that just goes along with the whole you look like a cool toddler thing that people have said to me. I don't like either of those comparisons, but they're scarily accurate. Jacob does wear grandpa clothes. Who wears flip-flops to work? Espo? Oh, that makes them even cooler. If that's what you're talking about, I have a cardigan to match every outfit.

Get out of here, Jacob. No, this is Arizona. Nobody gives a shit about having warm weather clothes for every outfit. But anyway, man, this has been great. We got more questions, by the way. Oh, I didn't get your final answer. Was ESPO your final answer for who you addressed? I guess ESPO is my final answer, but I haven't seen many of you in person a whole lot other

than just on shows where everyone is invariably wearing PSA. H&X T-shirts like 80% of time, which to be fair, I mean, that's about the nicest wardrobe you could possibly want to have. So that's certainly not a bad thing. It is. I'm a big Roosevelt's fan, myself, obviously, with all of the button-up shirts I wear. But until we get Roosevelt, until we get button-up shirts, at least, like patterned button-up shirts, maybe that look like that, like our backgrounds and stuff with all the pHNX and Sun Devils and like, you know, 48th Street and all that stuff. Until we get those, I'll still have to wear mine from Roosevelt. but I do love these shirts.

I've said in the past, they actually make you a better person by wearing them. It's kind of wild. Last question comes from Brett in the Discord, and he asks, with how well Peralta is playing so far this year, do you see them starting to lean more towards using him as trade bait if they continue to be a 70-80-win team? With how Corbyn Carroll is playing, I feel like this is going to push them in that direction.

Not that he wants David gone. I would love him to stay forever if possible, but we have so many young outfield prospects that will need playing time. And I don't know if I want that taken away from Varsho, Thomas, Carol, or even Pavin Smith. Yeah, I would be pretty surprised, frankly, if the Diamondbacks didn't deal David Peralta at the trade deadline, just given that he's played pretty well this season. Obviously, everyone has had a rough go over the last few days.

But I think if David Peralta is able to string together a few good games to counteract what's happened here, his numbers on the season already look pretty good. So I would not be surprised at all. In fact, I'd be surprised if they didn't deal David Peralta at the trade deadline. And I don't know if it's really about Corbyn Carroll. I kind of doubt the Diamondbacks give him a significant role this season. But the outfield has been crowded from the get-go. I mean, they have Jake McCarthy, they have Alec Thomas, they have Don Varsho, they have Pavin Smith.

They have enough guys to cover all of those different positions in the outfield. and I think they probably would like to be able to use them. I agree with that. And I think also it's a matter of his contract being up, right? Like it's just more unfortunate. It's more than anything, it's about, you know, maybe not considering bringing him back, already kind of making that decision a bit.

And, you know, maybe just potentially trying to get something for him instead of nothing. David Peralta is still a quality guy that I'm sure a lot of teams would have interest in. And again, better he gets this, you know, I imagine the more productive he is, the more that's going to make it an enticing, you know, offer for the Diamondbacks to try to accept if someone comes calling their way for him. And I'm sure they will. I'm sure they will. David Peralta is just, it feels like that kind of guy that a lot, another team, um, inevitably is going to scoop up and he's going to yeah, do well somewhere else with a change of scenery and all of that kind of stuff. Um, I don't know. I feel like it's going to be one of, I, I feel like it's going to be one of, I, feel like in the end he's going to be one of those guys that we regret losing more than we're like, hey, kind of okay with it. Okay, real, real quick, real quick, before we move on, did you,

did you hear J.P. Morosi talking about Madison Bumgarner on MLB Network and the possibility of him being traded at the trade deadline? No, but that would be, I think it was fantastic. It was very interesting. And to be frank, I'm not sure I really believed. word of it. But yeah, for anyone, for anyone who just here. Yeah. I don't believe you that. I don't believe you that this thing happened. I don't even believe that J.P. Morosi said this. Okay. Well, great. The video is there. I can confirm. You can find it on Twitter. It shouldn't be that hard to find. But yeah, J.P. Morosi, of course, is an MLB insider. He appeared on MLB Network. And one of the main topics they talked about is the idea of Madison Bumgarner possibly helping out a

contender, given that the diamondbacks are in a rough division and his numbers so far look pretty good. I think the diamond backs wish that that was the case. I don't see other teams falling for what Mad Bum is done this year. I know the ERA is still like 3.64 even after his rough outing against the Reds yesterday. But Derek, if you look at some of the peripheral numbers for him, his strikeout rate is down pretty significantly this year. There's really, to be frank, there's almost nothing compelling about what he's done this season other than happen to have a pretty good ERA, which not to take anything away from that. I mean, he's done a good job preventing runs this season.

But if you're looking at how he's going to perform moving forward, I think you'd project him to be pretty much the same guy was last year, which is kind of a back-end starter and a guy that, frankly, is not worth, you know, the $23 million that he's being paid right now, unless the diamondbacks eat significant salary. I don't really expect that to happen. But I thought it was worth mentioning. I mean, J.P. Morosi certainly knows what he's talking about in general. So it's interesting that that name was thrown out there.

I don't believe it. And if that day would come, I'm going to eat a whole bag of OG's gummies, Jesse, because it would be a celebration that would be worth. of doing something like that. I think that his money coming off the books is pretty much the Diamondbacks only large contract, right? So the only contract that at times, no matter how good he is, is hard to justify, right? But again, I really just want to eat a bunch of OGs gummies. That's really the point I was trying to make.

I know any other challenge I can put out there that results in me eating a bag. of OGs Gummies is really what it's about because of course we love our friends over at OGs. They produce a wonderful product with their scratch made THC Gummies and you can try them at a dispensary near you. They have a variety of different flavors to choose from. Flavors, I didn't even know that they had 10 to 5. See, yeah, Tommy fan. Tommy fan. So you guys got my hope to all up.

Again, I was, I was already prepared to eat some OGs to get through a 9 to 0 loss. A 10 to 5 loss gives me no more hope. It gives me no, I'm still going to eat the same amount of OGs that I was going to. And of course, you can too by stopping by your favorite local dispensary and picking up OGs and a variety of flavors that I don't even know that they have. Big fan, like I said, a pinia colada, orange creamsicle. Tropical is another flavor that I've recently tried that is outstanding. Jesse just fucking earmuffs for this whole bit. Go get a drink or something.

He makes me feel guilty just sitting here talking about it. But you know what? You know what helps that? Taking more OGs. When I take OGs, I don't feel guilty. So he can look at me with that face all he wants and I'm still going to eat him and have himself a good time, regardless if it's a 9-0 win or a 9-0 loss for the Arizona Diamondbacks. And you can too by, of course, going to OGs and finding your local OGs near you.

OGs gummies, you can find those at OGEE-E-Z brands.com. that's OGsbrands.com to find their wonderful variety. And like I said, not only do they have a variety of flavors, they have a variety of doses. You can get a three milligram microdose or 10 milligram regular dose. And either way, it's pretty mild coming from someone like myself. But again, remember, you can't untake it. So try them first and see how you like what they got going on over at OGs.com. And Jesse, I said I was going to talk about it today.

I said I was going to talk about a little story time from us having our staff meeting. Yeah, what happened? Well, we had it at the Ice Den, which is a wonderful facility here in Phoenix, Arizona. It's incredible. During the summer, you can get a two-hour summer public skate session for only $10. bucks. It's not only a fun way to spend the afternoon, but obviously an amazing way to cool off. And I have never been to the ice den. I've heard about it. I know it's where the coyotes practice and such, you know, things like that. But we had a blast playing a game called broomball,

which is a little similar to hockey. Got goals, got goalies, got teams. Instead of a, instead of a puck, you have a ball. It's kind of a rubbery ball. You have a, you have a, Like some, they call them brooms, but it's kind of just like a stick with like a wide, kind of like a, I don't know, like almost like a rake on the end, a little rake. And you kind of just hit this ball around on the ice with no skates, by the way. You run around. I was running around, Jesse, inexplicably at full speed on the ice. I was not falling. I was barely sliding.

The ice is kind of chopped up a bit. It's not the same condition that they would like leave it in. for like skaters so that it's a little easier to not slide and bust your ass. But I assure you, Jesse Friedman, I fell and busted my ass significantly. A lot, a lot, a lot. So much so that I think I took home some sort of reward for falling the most in the broomball game. But you also, you know what I also did, Jesse Friedman?

I scored two fucking goals. I scored two goals. in this game. I want to talk about Emma, by the way. Our producer Emma. She's a beast defensively, and I've never hated her more

than I did today when playing broomball against her. She was vicious. She was unrelenting, and she protected ESPO at all costs when it came to ESPO being in the goal and not letting goals in. It was an incredible defensive. effort from her. She still couldn't stop me from scoring two goals, but she tried her best.

Anyway, the point of the story, though, was, oh, it's 12 to 5. Tyler Stevenson. I don't want any more updates, Jacob. I just wanted them when they were positive. Don't you understand? Oh, what a garbage game. Like, man, anyway, there was some really good efforts on the ice today. There were some really poor team. picking by Saul Bookman, whose team I was on. It's not to knock my teammates. My teammates were solid, good people. It was a lack of youth on our side a bit.

You guys needed me. Is that what you're saying? That's kind of what I'm saying. I'm saying that a little bit. I'm not saying we had the older team, but I'm saying based on an average age of players on the team, yeah, Emma is 5'8 and 100. 15 pounds and she's

fucking filled with hate and she has a black heart that actually you know the funniest shit that happened was seeing Saul who is not 58. Saul is very very tall and very big.

Check Emma into the boards which seemed a bit aggressive. I also hit Emma in the shin with my broom so I can't really speak about personal attacks on hers and hitting her with the stick. But Brute Squad says this should come as no surprise.

The team plays at the level of competition. Strong competition yields strong play. Poor competition yields poor play. This is verifiable. Obviously, he's talking about brew ball. And I understand because I fucking came. Yeah, Emma has a dent or leg. I can back that up.

She really does. I'm pretty sure it's from me, but there's no, there's no video. So there's no way to know if it's pretty. Well, there is video, and it's scary because I don't know how many times me falling is on that video. But Jesse, let me tell you, one time I fell so bad on my shoulder that when I got up, I was okay. I didn't hurt. There was nothing wrong. But the look on people's faces on the ice was like I had impaled myself on a sharp object.

and I was now standing before them dead with like a pole sticking through my abdomen. Apparently the sound of me falling on my right shoulder was a thickening thud. Emma can confirm everyone thought that I died. Pretty much that's what it is. It's not that I died, Jesse. I gave 110 fucking percent on the ice. There you go. What is it?

Is it a rink? Is it an ice? I left it all on a rink. Oh, yeah. Brisket was very much internal padding for sure. But yes, I left it all out there. I came to play. I came to win, Jesse, and I can't say the same about all of my teammates.

But I'm not going to put anybody that didn't score goals or throw them under the bus or anything like that. But special shout out to Lindsay from the PHNX Sun Show because she's a gangster. And Lindsay was holding down the defense by herself because at times we just didn't, apparently feel like running back. Oh, shut the hell up, Emma, sucks to lose. Guess whose team she was on, Jesse? Not mine, not mine. And it was a rough day out there on the ice.

I'm just going to need my team to show up. I'm going to need Jacob back off the IL. I need Jesse Friedman in here. I don't know what you're going to do, but you guys are very tall guys. So I feel like there's some advantage there. Is there an advantage to being tall in a game like Broomball? I don't think so. I don't think so.

Tall guys weren't scoring goals. It's a, you have to crouch down more. It seems like a disadvantage, but I don't know. It also seems the same thing in baseball. I don't feel like tall guys really have an advantage yet for some reason. Tall pitchers. Tall pitchers have something of an advantage.

But yeah, other than that, height isn't really very consequential in baseball. Anyway. But I will say this. Of course, we have our fine folks at the Draft King's Sportsbook. You could go bet on our next broomball game for sure on the draft.

on the Draft King's sports book. That would be awesome. And I mean, I feel like my goal average would have been like if we're on the Draft King Sportsbook, it would have been plus one, one and a half, right? Jesse? So I would have, I would have taken the over on goals on me and you would have gotten it today during our broom ball again. That's all I'm saying.

But you can download the Draft King Sportsbook app now. Use our promo code of PHNX. You make any $5 bet during the NBA finals and you will get $150 in free bets instantly. that's all you got to do. You make the bet. You'll get those $150 in free bets instantly. I believe they are $25 bets a piece, and you can just pepper those how you want

throughout the MLB season. NBA is going to be wrapping up soon. So we're just going to be betting on baseball summer long. The boys is summer, hot boy summer, whatever you want to call it. That's what we're doing on the Draft King Sportsbook. And you can get down using our promo code of PHNX only at the Draft King Sportsbook,

an official sports betting partner of the NBA. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See, show notes for detail. And see, we even shortened up the disclaimer. And I still botched it. I still botched it. But that's all right. It's fine.

Even though now it's not a minute long and it's much shorter. I have more time to tell you about me winning money on the drafting sports book, which, of course, I did, like I said, on the first game of the NBA finals. And again, a big, big tip. Just go on there all the time. sometimes you get email notifications about special opt-in purchases or special opt-ins that you can do. Sometimes you just need to go check it out on the app. And, you know, maybe you want to go take whatever the run differential is in tomorrow's game of the Reds and the Diamondbacks and go with the Reds because apparently they can't stop putting up runs on the Diamondbacks.

Where's my bat? God damn it, Jesse, I hate when this happens. I thought we were over this. I will break everything in this room. I swear to God. It is, uh, did you, did you see Jacobs update? It is now 14 to 5. The Reds have responded with a five spot of their own in the bottom of the eighth inning. So, so, flip this chair over. There we go. That's how like it. It's a heavy chair. Now you don't have anything to sit on, Derek. I'm just going to do the rest of the show standing up, you know.

It's probably good for my blood pressure. But we thank you guys so much for watching the show, whether you're angry or not. I'm just going to beat up this. share while I get through this. Of course, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at K-Ur-K-Man with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Our show is at P-H-NX underscore D-Backs. But of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

I'm going to set up an Instagram account just of me destroying shit in this room. But until then, make sure to follow the PHNX Sports. If you're watching us right now on YouTube, oh, it's very heavy. The L is pretty heavy. My knee hurts a lot, Emma, so you can just stop.

But I'll tell you this much. Of course, you can follow us. Go to YouTube, follow PHNX Sports Channel, subscribe, sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss any of the content coming out from our PHNX team. Go over to your favorite audio podcasting app. Subscribe to us there if you haven't done so already and leave us a five-star review. It's worth it to just to see me smash the shit in this room.

But we thank you guys so much for joining us on behalf of. Jesse and myself, we appreciate you taking the time, even during this rain delay and this game and this embarrassing loss that it's turning out to be to join us. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but sometimes you just got to beat your chair with a baseball bat. You just got a stupid office.