PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Will the Arizona Diamondbacks be one of two MLB teams that change ownership in 2023?

Episode Date: January 2, 2023

Evan Longoria is coming to the Valley, but does he have anything left in the tank to help the Diamondbacks win games? We are also speculating on if the D-backs will be under new ownership in 2023 and answering your Mailbag Monday questions.BUY D-BACKS TICKETS HERE: https://gametime.hnyj8s.net/c/3442941/1410622/10874 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX: Join us at the Inaugural PHNX Tee Party, presented by Four Peaks Brewing Co., at Dobson Ranch Golf Course!We are renting out the entire driving range! Come hang with Big Drive Energy, the PHNX crew and fellow Diehards for a night of golf, food, drinks, contests, prizes, and more. Our PHNX Suns crew will be hosting a watch party for the Suns vs. Timberwolves. Check out https://www.eventbrite.com/e/phnx-tee-party-at-dobson-ranch-tickets-481918139127 to reserve your spot right now! And for our Diehards, check Discord for your special link where you’ll save 20% on this awesome event!DraftKings: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now (https://bit.ly/3Jl1dMX), use promo code PHNX and make your first deposit of FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in FREE BETS INSTANTLY! For every leg you add you can boost your winnings up to ONE HUNDRED percent!If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisiscounseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visitOPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA).21+ (18+ WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NJ/NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See http://draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.OGeez!: Enter the “Flavoring Life” sweepstakes. One winner will receive 3 bags of OGeez, an OGeez! Hat, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Sign up at gophnx.com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIplqDYsxYeiotn5Zc6hRahaX0a5qG99eHVzkhOlGZDRdgUA/viewform. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Underdog Fantasy: Sign up for Underdog Fantasy today! Go to the link https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-phnx and use promo code “PHNX” to receive a deposit match up to $100Four Peaks: Enter to win the “Toast of the Month” sweepstakes to win a $50 Four Peaks gift card, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Go to goPHNX.Com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOabxo8KQxOWwn9wTilMBuTMAJdrL0CaH9lzfuJqgKN9vfSg/viewform Must be 21 or older. Enjoy responsibly. Bad Birdie: Use code “PHNX_SPORTS15” for 15% off your next order https://glnk.io/7qnq/phnx-sportsMor Furniture: Save up to 50% all through the holidays! Check out https://morfurniture.comLiquid Death: Get free shipping on all water and merch at https://LiquidDeath.com/PHNX FOCO: FOCO has you covered with the best Arizona Merchandise. Head on over to foco.com. For all non pre-sale items use the promo code “PHNX” for 10% offWhen 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.

Hello and welcome to 2023. And welcome it to the PHNXD-Backs podcast. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am your mayor of 2023. This is my vice mayor of the year, the one and only thunder stick, Jesse Friedman. Derek, 2020 has been very cloudy so far. Rainy, cloudy. Very rainy, very cloudy.

Although it worked out pretty well because we had all the smoke in the air, inevitably after New Year's Eve. And so the fact that it was as rainy as it was yesterday worked out quite well. But yeah, I'm pretty happy with that, honestly. I feel like I'm back in Seattle here in early 2020, in Phoenix. So it's a good day. Well, it's funny you say that because I will be in Seattle later this week. So I'll text you and tell you what it's like.

Also, metaphorically, I like the idea of it raining to start off the new year like it did. It felt like it was washing away all of the dirt of 2022. And we could start anew with 2023. But of course, we welcome you guys in. This show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King Sportsbook app, America's top-rated sportsbook app, our favorite app of 2023. And of course, we are still talking about the unofficial signing of Evan Longoria by the Arizona Diamondbacks to a one-year deal.

Still no official word from the team. But as it stands, the roster right now is at 40. So I'm sure that there's probably some moves internally to be made, some information to be relayed to whoever. is affected by the moves. The one question people want to know, though, Jesse Friedman, is Evan Longoria washed? Are we bringing on another guy who's past that point in his career where he can still help a ball club win games?

I mean, it's a fair question, right? Anytime you're bringing in a 37-year-old, I think that is a reasonable thing to ask. There aren't that many players, frankly, who are still productive major leaguers in their age 37 age 38 season that just doesn't that just doesn't happen very often every time you say things like that it feels like a personal attack i know it's not a personal attack i know it's not um i'm not well you're actually you're actually a little bit older than evan long gloria there so the way it works is you know it when you're 37 38 you kind of you kind of you kind of you know go downhill a little bit but then once you get into your early 40s then you actually rebound and have it even

academically. So yeah, yeah, your peak is still, it's still right on. I'm like a Justin Erlander right now. I'm making the most money that I could possibly make in my career. But, uh, yeah, no, I mean, it is a fair question, like you said. And of course, looking at last year's numbers, there are some things that we've talked about in regards to his ability to hit left-handed pitching, uh, his veteran leadership and his experience. Those are things that aren't really going to, you know, move the needle probably too much to help this team win. I think, that he still has an opportunity to, you know,

platoon here and provide the Diamondbacks with, you know, with some of his tools that he still has left. Obviously, nobody has his made tools as Dalton Varsho. Everybody knows that, but Evan Longoria might have one or two left. Might one or two tricks left up his sleeve. And I think

that that's maybe a big reason why the Diamondbacks brought him on here, just to kind of contribute in very small ways, but not you know, be the superstar that he was of the past, obviously. We ran a poll on this over at our Twitter account, P.HNX underscore DBEX. The results were very fascinating to me, Derek. The options were with regard to the Evan Longoria signing, we asked, do you love it, hate it, or meh?

Is your reaction just like some sort of in-between spot? And we got 50.1% of people saying they love it, which is a majority, technically. Technically, Most of you loved it. Most people love it. 50.1% only 2.9% hate it, which I think is fair. Like, honestly, I don't really know how you would make a case for that. Evan Longoria, like we discussed earlier, is not really blocking anyone in particular.

I think Josh Rojas is still going to get his at-bats. I don't think Emmanuel Rivera is as established enough in the league in order to really be worried about, you know, taking away his at-bats. I think Rivera is the main guy who's going to lose at bats as a result of this move. And then we had 47% of people just say, me. And I do understand that. Like Evan Long, yeah, it's hard to get excited about a 37-year-old, right, whose numbers were still solid last year, like still an above-average hitter.

But he is sort of coasting back toward league average. And, you know, you never know exactly when that's going to come. Sometimes players to just have like an immediate drop off where they go from being an above-average. hitter to being just well below average in one season. We have to consider that as a possibility here, right? Anything can happen. But when I wrote about, when I wrote that article about 10 free agents that the debacks could target, Evan Longoria was one of them.

I wrote that before this move happened. And what I wrote there is, and some people I've seen quoting this around Twitter, it is a little bit tough to say on paper, how much does Evan Longoria move the needle for the debacks in terms of like the best lineup they can put together. if you compare Emmanuel Rivera's numbers against lefties and with Evan Longoria's numbers against lefties and then Rojas's numbers against righties with Longoria's numbers against righties. The differences aren't huge, right? There's not a huge difference there. But what I also said in that story that I think is really important to bring in is that depth is so important. And if you think about the diamondbacks before this move was made, if Josh Rojas goes down with an injury before this move happens, Emmanuel Rivera, is your guy. And Emmanuel Rivera is not a very established major league. You're hard pressed to find another, you know, viable wild card contending team that would

be okay having a player like that as the everyday third baseman for a long period of time. So in my mind, this just gives the debacks depth, even if it's not like, oh, this, you know, they're a way better team. Their best lineup is way better. I don't know if that's the case, but there's more depth here. And that's really, really important for a team like them that doesn't, hasn't always had a great history of having, you know, a good next man up situation where, you know, they always have guys waiting in the wings to take over for, for players who were injured. That's not something they've done

very well in the past. I think the idea here is the Diamondbacks, Mike Hayes, and they've talked about upgrading whenever they can. And say what you will about, you know, Emmanuel Rivera and Josh Rojas. They both contributed to this team. They both had very good stretches. Manuel Rivera still only hit 227, 304, 424 with this team last season. That's what he slashed. Yeah. He did not end up having a very good, you know, offensive line when you look at it. And Evan Longoria, the question here is how good is his defense, you know, is, is he going to work himself defensively into, you know, playing more because he, you know, can play defense well?

I don't know what he has left in the tank at third base. That's, that's my big question. market. You know, I definitely think he will get playing time. I think regardless of how bad he is over there at third base, he'll still get playing time either as a DH or, you know, at third. But I don't, I do think it's, it's an upgrade from Emmanuel Rivera. And that's the one thing is, is that I feel like it's unfair to act like his performance last season or over the last three seasons, as long as Emmanuel Rivera has been in the league, that Evan Langeoria hasn't had a better, a better season than, then Emmanuel Rivera. So it's not like it's, you know, it's not like it's a downgrade. It's not like they

overpaid for him in any way. No, it's, four million is very is a lot lower than what basically everyone had projected for Evan Longoria. I don't think you can make a case that's, that's an overpay relative to the market. It's it's just not. And, and you also have the intangibles that he brings to this team. Again, I know sometimes that just sounds cliche, but guys like Evan Longoria that have been in baseball as long as he has, has something that he can bring to a team full of young guys that don't have that experience in baseball, especially when you just talk about Emmanuel Rivera and Josh Rojas at third base, right? He could be, to a degree, another coach on this team, which right there makes him worth the $4 million.

I mean, I don't know how much he, I don't know him personally, so I don't know how willing he is to take on that role. But I would imagine at this point in his career, he would probably be pretty accepting of that role. and that's a great way for him to contribute, even if his performance on the field isn't what it used to be, right? So I don't see this as being a bad move in any way, shape, or form. But, you know, of course, we'll see how it plays out. And I brought up earlier, obviously, that the D-BACs 40-man rosters,

or the rosters at 40-Men. So who is out if Longo is in? That's the question here. They've already let go of a couple of guys. Taylor Widener is no longer on the 40-man. what do you think a corresponding move might be? There's a few options there, and I do feel like the reason that this move hasn't been made official

could very well be because the team hasn't figured out who it wants to DFA or maybe they haven't notified that player yet, but they have figured it out. There were some logistical pieces to move that they needed to get out of the way before making this official and obviously holiday weekend and all that stuff. It's a bit unfortunate of a period. right? Because no matter what, you're essentially letting someone go during the holidays and nobody, no company, no franchise ever wants to do that. It's just part of doing business. So yeah, I'm sure that they're trying to be a bit sensitive about that as well. I think, I think it's hard to speculate on exactly who would be at the top of the list for the debacks in terms of, you know, who would be a DFA candidate for them. I think Edwin Nucita is definitely up there, kind of been a reliever who's who's bounced around a little bit. I think. there's there's a case to be made that you know he maybe the debacks don't necessarily need him on

this roster at this point though there is some valuable depth there uh set beer i think is at least an option you have to mention um you know a friend of the show uh hard hard to hard to say that maybe there that's the case what am i going to do with all of these shirts jessie because here's the thing is i was going to start selling these shirts places i went and to be honest i mean i might have made a mistake because if for some reason that Imanback should happen to part ways with Seth's beer not related to Sethserva

in any way, shape, or form, then I might have myself a bit of an issue with the stock that I have left on hand. Now, I might have picked this up wholesale during the holiday season, so I don't know, but I hope that's for personal reasons, not the case.

Oh my gosh. I think J.V. Bukowskis is maybe on the list, too, as a possibility. Another, another guy, the debacks got in that Zach Ranky trade that hasn't, outside of Josh Rojas, team just hasn't gotten much out of that deal. And Corbyn, the other part of that trade, I think, is also, also on the table. I also think Tyler Holton could maybe get a look, but I would be pretty surprised if the debacks went that route just because he pitched pretty well last year, you know, he's a player that debacks drafted themselves a few years ago and and they they don't have that many lefties in the bullpen.

They don't have a whole lot of depth there. So I would be kind of surprised if it was Tyler Holden, but it really could be any of those other guys that I mentioned. Well, we have some speculating to do. I know it's Mailbag Monday. I know we have some questions from our diehard fans that we'll get to very soon. But of course, I have a question for you. Are the debacks for sale, Jesse?

Are they for sale? Because according to an article from Will Carroll, who typically usually reports more on injury-related matters when it comes to athletes, had an article on Under the Knife speculating that both the Los Angeles Angels and the Arizona Diamondbacks could both have new owners in 2023. Now, we know the Diamondbacks aren't openly for sale, and he acknowledged that in the article. He also notes that the owner Ken Kendrick has been more frustrated with the new CBA lately,

and has had no luck in getting a new stadium for the snakes. He suggests that a new ownership group would be more likely to build able to build a new stadium on their own through infrastructure breaks and tax breaks, maybe something similar to what we see proposed with the Coyotes Arena in Tempe, where they have like the taxes from the facility go towards paying for the facility instead of taxing, you know, citizens of the city that might be opposed to paying for a new stadium. stadium. So what are your thoughts on this? Obviously, this isn't any kind of news. He was kind of, you know, I think he was speculating a bit, but it did sound like there was a little something behind this, according to this piece. Yeah, it's definitely speculative in nature, which is why

when this story came out, we didn't, you know, make a big deal about it on social media or anything. He put out like a little teaser tweet in advance talking about two teams, you know, that could have some ownership movement in early 2023. Reading the story, it's like, yeah, the angels, like, that's a public thing. We've kind of known about that. The angels probably are going to see an ownership change at some point here. The debacks are in a very different spot. Like you said, they're not openly for sale.

I think it's pretty much wild speculation that Ken Kendrick is in a position where he's looking at selling the team. It's possible. There are some valid reasons. brought up for that in here. They mentioned how, you know, Ken Kendrick has had some issues with the CBA, although to that, I will say he is not the only Major League Baseball owner who pose pretty much those same problems. He's not really, he's not really in that by himself.

And then there is this lingering stadium issue with the debacks, which needs to be resolved in some way. You don't often see those things resolved by like a change of ownership necessarily, although that is, I guess, possible, you know, if Ken Kendrick just doesn't. like the options or whatever. And he's just like, you know, I'm just going to kind of make my money and sell this team and let someone else deal with it. It's interesting.

But it really does feel like speculation to me at this point and just kind of something to monitor moving forward. I think it might have a bit to do with the Sun's change of ownership, you know. And of course, it would be hard to not look at, you know, just across the street, someone making $2 billion off of the sale of their team. Right. So I'm sure if there could be a deal. done like that. Ken Kendrick, who knows how to flip, you know, collectibles might be tempted to make

that move. I don't know. I really don't know how, you know, honestly dedicated or not he is to this team. I'll say this in his defense. I've spoken to him a couple of times and this man loves baseball and he loves the Arizona Diamondbacks. I know he doesn't show it the way that fans want him to show it and open up his checkbook and spend a ton of money. I know that bringing in a guy like Evan Longoria kind of adds on to like the ha ha ha, this is what they think is a big move. I think the Diamondbacks are kind of being financially savvy.

If you ask me, and I know that that's probably not a popular opinion, but I do think that they have, I think that they have a good young team. And you get into that, what we don't want them to do is what they've done historically, where they get close to being good. And then they go get a Zach Granky.

They think they're going to be good. They get him out of some bum gardener. It's just overpaying for a guy who ends up being somewhat of a problem for this team based on what they're paying him versus the performance they're getting out of him. When you have a young team like the Diamondbacks do, it makes those decisions that much easier for you to maneuver when you're not talking about sitting a guy that's making $20 million or more per season on your team. And that's something that you can't just bench him just because he's bad sometimes when you're paying him that much money. It sucks, but it's the truth, right? it's a thing that other teams have have dealt with this season. It's

some of the bad contracts that you can see in baseball currently. I'll just say, though, that, of course, there are a lot of things probably going on that aren't made public and aren't aware of, and I'm sure that a stadium, you know, has a lot to do with all the issues that are going on right now.

We talked about the roof and not fixing it before this season. We know that that's to a degree. You know, of course, trying to, you know, maybe show once again how the stadium is not adequate any longer for a major league baseball team so that they can move. Or like I suggested, maybe it's just a matter of wanting to do all of your renovations at once. I don't know.

The arena across the street footprint center is beautiful now after the changes that they made to. Yeah, it really is. I think it's an example of how that they can actually make changes to an existing building, make it better without needing to move it or go somewhere else. But those renovations, those renovations took a long time on that building as well. So it was like done in steps. They added that like first part, the front part first, then they changed the inside a bit. Then they changed like the seating areas and stuff.

So it took a while just like it would with Chase Field to be done. But yeah, hopefully, hopefully they do that. Can you speak to you? I'm curious what you think, Derek. So this brings up, again, it sounds very speculative in nature, but it says in this article, a baseball person I trust suggested the stadium could go on native land up by talking stick, which is a location we've sort of discussed in the past. And your mind is that like the ideal outcome?

If the debacks are staying in Arizona, of course everyone is hoping for, I think it's likely. They're staying in Arizona, but they're not staying downtown. They're moving to a different location within the Phoenix metro area. Is that in your mind the ideal place for them to go? I think it's their ideal place to go. I think for them it brings their two facilities together so that they don't have their spring training facility in one area of town versus another area of town. I think it very much brings an entertainment district together, right?

You have just like kind of downtown, that area over there by talking stick, it's close to being connected, but it's not connected yet, you know, where you have medieval times over here. You got like this eating, you know, like food area over here where like white castle is across the street, uh, from Salt River Fields and from medieval times. And then over there on the other side of the freeway, you have, top golf and talking stick and, you know, like other places. So like it's, it's just very close to it being a complete area. You got our friends at Octane Raceway and Mavericks over there. You have an indoor

flight simulator thing that you can, or, you know, like one of those like, you're like, like, you can go and lay on top of a giant fan and pretend like you're skydiving. There's also, oh yeah. To do over there, right? It's called. I still don't understand the indoor skydiving thing. I don't either because, right, it's not like, it's not the suspension in the air part that I'm excited to do. It's kind of like the looking at the world. Yeah. All out of an airplane part.

That would be life changing to me. So I don't know. But I would never do it in a million years. So maybe that's it. Maybe it's for people like me. I will never skydive. I will never. I am terrified of heights.

When I sit in the back row of Chase Field, my palms get sweaty, Jesse. I do not like heights. So I will never. jump out of a plane voluntarily. Put that on record. Like keep this in case, if case I ever fall out of a plane, just know it was not based on my own

decision making. I don't know though. I think I like Chase Field being downtown. I like downtown. I'm a big advocate for downtown. I think Chasefield leaving downtown would be somewhat of a problem or the Diamondbacks leaving downtown. I don't know what they would do with

Chase Field. It makes me sad to think of them destroying that historic building and putting up like apartment complexes or something like that breaks my heart to even think about that being a reality right but it is probably the likely outcome if they moved out of there i just i don't know there's something about downtown to me that still is where the sports teams belong that's just not the case anymore you know you're going have the coyotes in tempi you're going to have the cardinals all the way out in glendale the sons aren't going anywhere but you know there's a good chance that the diamondbacks do end up there over on the Indian reservation and and honestly it's it's fine. I think that on Native American land,

it's, uh, of course, they, they have a lot of advantages. And I think that I just, I feel like it's going about it the wrong way. I feel like they need to like have Chase Field be this decrepit breaking down building, you know, broke down building in order for them to, you know, basically have enough firepower to move. So, uh, I don't know. I don't care. Both facilities are the exact same distance from my house if you're asking me from that point of view. So I'm fine either way. I get to downtown a little bit faster. And that's also where we work. So Jesse, for my purposes, I want Chase Field to stay downtown. That's fair. That's just because I'm selfish. I'm selfish. Gabriel says in the comments, I would go to significantly less games if they move from downtown. Talking stick is too far for me to go too spontaneously. And that's understandable. Yeah. It's it's it's somewhat centrally located, but it's not. I mean, downtown is is. right smack dab in the center of like all of Phoenix Metro. I want my I want my guys on the west side to just plug their ears really fast, but this is sad.

It's just it's an argument we've had over the coyotes for years and it's the truth. The majority of season ticket holders and such are in the East Valley. And that's where a lot of the wealth in this city is located. So I think that teams, all teams kind of want to be located as close to the East Valley. as possible, but I'm with you guys. I like having them centrally located, and that seems to be the feedback from everybody.

I just think that there's also history there, right? There's history. They've, they're the only sports team that brought us a major championship and they did it in that building. I don't want that to change. Mark Salar says, I can walk to the stadium. I don't want to drive. Same for us from the office.

So yeah, let's go with that. Speaking of the office, make sure you guys sign up for a membership over at go phnx.com. Check out just these wonderful articles. They're always great to read. If you're a member or non-member, a lot of them are unlocked. If you aren't a member and want to get that membership, grab yourself a diehard membership for 20, 23. Of course, there's all sorts of advantages. Now, and you get one of these wonderful hats or shirts from the PHNX Locker.

Every single year, you will get 20% off at the PHNX Locker. All sorts of other advantages. You get 20% off of our wonderful events, like our upcoming inaugural tea party with our friends at four peaks over at the Dobson Ranch Golf Course. You will get discounts on the entry fee, of course, per person or per for some. That entry fee will get you unlimited range balls, a set of rental clubs if you're not bringing your own. You'll also get one free hour of range time and golf balls at Dobson Ranch to be used at a later date. Let me tell you, this driving range is incredible. We will be renting out the whole driving range with our friends from the PHNX Suns podcast, doing a Sun's watch party between the Suns and the Timberwolves on jumbo screens.

We'll also have many games. I've talked to you about Jesse beating you in ping pong. I mean, he's just going to, he's going to humble you no matter how good you are at ping pong. Come, come try him. Of course, we're going to have contest entries for longest drive, putting challenges, all sorts of fun stuff. There's going to be a free kids clinic for all kids 10 and under. Let's just have a blast. Let's bring in the new year together.

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It's going to be blast. Check the link in the description. Reserve your spot now or if you are a diehard member, check the Discord for your special link where you'll save 20% on this awesome event. And of course, if you can't join us, grab some Four Peaks beer wherever you get your beer, drink one for us. Join us remotely in spirit and then have a good time.

And of course, must be 21 or older to enjoy at Four Peaks. and enjoy responsibly. It's a new year, but we don't change things around here. We keep things the same way. Even though it's a new year, every week of Shark Week on this show, every day is Earth Day. And every Monday, we go to the mailbag. Jacob, let's go. My mail box, always something interesting in my mailbox.

I'm trying to get to everything in my mailbox. And then once in a while, there's a letter that makes me go out. All right, let's go. First question. What do we got? question in 2023. Spencer O'Gar asks, more likely Evan Longoria spends the majority of the season on the IL or plays well enough to be tradable at the deadline. That is bleak, Spencer. Holy cow. That's what we're coming out of the gate with at 2023. That's the outlook. I'm going to say,

see, neither. I'm going to say that Evan Lengoria sticks around on this team, but does not end up on the IL, doesn't play every day, but plays enough and contributes to this team. and their winning record in 2023, wink. Jesse? Yeah, this is, I, I, I kind of blavored over this one for a little bit. Because I, I kind of think both are true,

honestly. Like, if you look at, I guess last year, he played 89 games. So he didn't technically spend a majority of the season on the IL. It was very, very close. It was pretty much 50-50. The year before that, he played 81 games. I think like, I don't know,

it's hard to project a player to be healthy for less than half of a season, regardless of like their injury history, especially when you're talking about a position player. So I would err on the side of saying, I think he's going to be, I think he's going to be healthy for the majority of the year. As far as, as far as,

you know, how tradable would he be at the deadline, I could, I could see that. I don't know if it's something the devax would seriously explore, frankly. I think if they are exploring trading Evan Longoria at the trade deadline, things have probably gone sort of wrong. That's not the type of piece that's going to get you a ton in the trade market. So I think that debacks would probably only be making that move if they were just

well out of the hunt and just looking to get whatever they could, which would be bleak. So tradeable, yes, but like actually like would the diamondbacks trade him? I don't, I don't really, I don't really see that happening. All right. And, Andy Shrant in the comments says, I wish the Rockies would change owners. Well, let me tell you, as long as your fans keep filling that stadium up,

I don't know if that's going to happen anytime soon. My man, it's a gorgeous stadium. It's irresistible. I don't know how I could stay away if I were in Colorado. You're absolutely right. All right. What else we got?

Jacob. All right. Michael asks, if there were a Diamondbacks player's only Royal Rumble, who wins? Jesse, I got this one. I know you want to take a lead on this one,

but I hope you won't mind if I take over on this. I'll allow you to start on this one. Jesse does know what a Royal Rumble is. We've discussed that. We got that taken out. And I think, obviously, there's a lot of factors here. I will say that there are things that you would be looking for

as far as what would be the motivation behind a Diamondbacks player wanting to win a Royal Rumble like this Right. My only, my only guess would be like it would have to be somebody trying to make the roster, right? It's somebody desperate. It's somebody that's at the end of their rope maybe. Maybe they're out of options. They don't have a lot to go. Maybe they have a lot of experience, right? Maybe people are taking them for granted. And that's the reason why my choice is Mark Malanson. Interesting. Interesting. You think Mark Malanson is going to be chucking people over the edge? Yeah, oh yeah. Is that the picture?

No. See, that's the thing, Jesse. It's not about who chucks the most people over in a Royal Rumble. It's about who lasts until the end. Not only does Mark Moulanson have experience lasting until the end, but he also has that crafty veteran, you know, know-how, right? In a Royal Rumble, there tends to be times where guys will do something like grab onto the bottom rope and just hang out there, the whole Royal Rumble, right?

That's what I could see Madison or, or, uh, Malantzance, and doing just hanging on to that bottom rope the whole time until everybody else gets thrown out. Then when the one guy is left and it's just him and him, then he gets up, throws him over from the top rope from behind. More importantly, I want to know, Jesse, do you think this would be a great way for the Diamondbacks to make roster decisions? Yeah, I think it's the only way. I think it's the only way.

Right. Just everybody that you haven't decided about, you get them in a ring, you let them fight it out. I do feel like there's a lot of qualities that you want for somebody, you know, like that you want on your team, right? Obviously, they're a winner. They're going to do everything they can to stay until the end. Yes, we're calling Mark Malanson in this case prison mark from now on, yes. But yeah, I don't know.

I think all decisions should be made this way. We talked about this before. Maybe a Sanlaw pickup game. I don't know. Something. I want something for like the end of spring training when they have like five guys they need to make a decision on. they need to pit them against each other in some way to see who can come out on top. I'm trying to think of like, I don't know, who would have the optimal physique to be just, you know, chucking people.

To dominate and it takes a lot of upper body strength in order to pull that up. Are we going to get to the Joshua Ross Madison, Palm Gardner thing? No, no, I'm not. I'm not going to go there because I don't know if, you know, those two players are a lot of things, but I don't know if you're looking for the greatest amount of upper body strength on the entire roster. I don't know. It'd be up there maybe. But Seth Beer, right?

I mean, a guy who, you know, if he's still on the roster at that point, maybe, you know, he's got, he's got something to fight for, so to speak. I got some shirts for the merch table. Yeah, right, right. Yeah. So I could, I mean, obviously, strength has never been an issue for Seth Beer. I don't think, I don't think that's ever been something. that people have been concerned about there. Manuel Rivera, also very stocky guy, very well built.

So I could see him, I could see him holding his own in that environment too. You know who would have done great if they were still on the roster? Ray is Maranta. Oh, Reyes Baranta would have been, he would have dominated. He would have dominated. They weren't throwing his ass out. He's your last man standing. 510, 265, Jesse.

All meet. All me. Yeah, it was. It was, I think that's exactly right. 550s, 65. Good luck getting that bowling ball over the top. All right, we got any more there, Jacob? Oh, wow, you're just giving us all of these early on, right?

We're just doing all the ridiculous ones right out of the gate. Don's bread, of course, Mark, our friend Mark, Mark, Mark says, you have the ball from Space Jam and are able to take powers from one player and give it to another on the debacks. Whose power would you take and who would you give it to? These are like baseball powers. These are baseball powers. Yeah, you can steal someone else's baseball essence and then bring it over to them.

You know, like bring their power over to a player on the diamond back. So like we're not talking about powers in like like like power. Power like not the hit tool power. Just like general. But if you want to bring their power, yes, then yes. Then you can.

Okay. Right. Like I'm giving show Hey, Otani's skill set to Matt. Ben Garner. Just all the way around. Just everything. Isn't it,

is it a one power? I thought you only get one power. No, I'm stealing. I'm stealing everything. I'm stealing his entire identity and I'm giving it to Madison Bumgarner. Not just, not just his offense,

Jesse, not just his proficiency on the mound. No, I'm also giving Madison Bumgarner, Shohay Otani's, uh, adorableness, you know,

just the way he's this precocious scamp that just loves life so much. Could you imagine seeing Madison Bumgarner like that? That's the guy that I want to see on the mound for this team every five days. Let's go. All right. I would probably say like, okay, so we're not. It doesn't have to be within the diamond backs. It could be any player from around the league.

I can take their powers. You're stealing their powers and you're giving it to the dime. And then he, then that person has no powers left. Yeah, exactly. Okay. All right. So what if we could take?

I mean, I feel like you, you'll probably want to pick on someone on the Dodgers, right? like take some of their powers. So what if, what if we took something from Julio Ureus, you know, he's kind of

maybe going to be sort of the ace of that staff over there. So, so what if we took, Zach Allen already has an elite curveball. So what if we took Julio Ureis' elite curveball and gave it to Dre Jameson? If Drey Jameson had that curveball,

I'm just, I'm just saying. I'm just saying. That'd be pretty wild. Because I could give it to like Merrill Kelly, but he already has a decent curve ball. He's already a pretty decent pitcher. But you, I mean, you're talking about Dre Jameson being probably an elite starting pitcher at that point. So I'll go at that. Gabriel Ferrer says he's giving out our young king, Alec Thomas, Aaron Judge's height. And then there's another Aaron Judge comment from Alex Ezer. He says Aaron Judge Power and give it to Alex Thomas. Apparently, we're giving Aaron Judges everything to Alec Thomas is what we're doing. And I'm with it. Let's go. Can we just take his 62 homers and just allot them to Alec Thomas for next season? Why not? Why not? Let's do it. Lock it in. Lock it in. All right. Of course, that's, Jacob's blaming me. He always blames me. See, and that's why Leah would never. Leah would never is all I'm saying. But she also betrayed us. So don't think I forgot about that already just because it's a new year. Anyway, Jesse, speaking of which in this new year,

has a brand new place to live. And we are very excited for that. Very excited that that deal is finally getting done. Jesse, what is the first piece of furniture you are going to buy for your new place? Ooh. So I'm a big Chase Lounge guy. You ever had like a Chase Lounge in your house? I just think they're like objectively the classiest piece of furniture that you can put in a household.

And this place I'm getting, it's a townhouse. It's a little bit smaller. But it, you know, but it's in a nice part of town. So I think having a Chase Lounge, I think, would really set the tone. So that's what I'm looking for. Nice. I love it. Well, Jesse will be shopping for that Chase Lounge over at morefurniture.com.

And you can too, save big on the best furniture in the valley when you head to morefurniture. com. Tell them your friends from Ph. NX sent you. Don't tell them I sent you, though, because of course, we know about their feelings and me in office chairs. So, and guilty. I deserve that. Sometimes when you hit your office chair with a baseball bat, you earn the consequences you get from furniture stores. But of course, we thank you guys so much for being here today. Again, happy new year to everybody.

Thank you for being here in the chat. If you haven't done so already, make sure to subscribe to the PHNX Sports YouTube channel. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss whenever we go live or any of our other shows go live. And also leave us a little thumbs up. We thank you for doing that. If you're listening on your favorite audio podcasting app, please subscribe to us there. send us a review. Let us know what you think of the show. We always appreciate that. And of course, we thank you guys for being D-Backs, die-hards, whether you are a die-hard or non-die-hard for Ph.NX.

We thank you guys for being here. Jacob, do we have some more questions? Gabriel at Bold as Bronze asks, how long of a leash do we give the team if they don't start the year well? Will the difficult April schedule make us feel doom, or will we just relax and realize that this team will be forged in fire right away? I'm laughing at that will we just relax part, Jesse. No, we won't relax.

There will be no relaxing. That is the one thing we can say for sure. None whatsoever. It'll be a goddamn disaster. We will be ringing the alarm bells and freaking the fuck out is what we will be doing. No, you're right, though. We've talked about this. We talked about how tough their April schedule is, how tough they have right in

beginning. And then honestly, after that, they don't see these Padres. are these Dodgers again for months. So I think everybody should temper their expectations a bit right out of the gate, especially. Of course, this team's still young. They're still figuring themselves out. So there's a good chance that they end April with a bad record. But I'm pretty sure they'll bounce back.

And I think that's the thing that we should probably remain calm about. Maybe expect them to not do well in April. And if they end the month close to 500, you'll take it as a win. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, and I think it's also important to note that is as difficult as the start is, and it is terrible. I mean, the debacks opened the season with 10 games against eight of them against the Dodgers, two of them against the Padres. You really can't get much worse than that. Those teams are probably two of the five best teams of baseball, at least on paper going into the season.

But as crazy as the start is, and it's longer than even those 10 games, they have a few tough series after that. The schedule eases up quite a bit at the end of April and into May. they have like one of the probably their most difficult stretch of the season followed by their easiest stretch of the season toward the end of April and into May. So I wouldn't, yeah, I think you're going to have to prepare in advance to give the team some leash. And like you said, if they're around 500, you know, in the middle toward the end of April, that would be a huge accomplishment because frankly, they could be a few games under 500

at that point and they probably wouldn't be playing that badly. They're just, they just have an insane schedule out of the gate. which is unfortunate. I think it feels like past years when the team has been good, it seems like the season starts on a good note. And this year, it's just going to be tough for them to do that. But you just have to keep in mind that, you know, easier games are around the corner.

And they're going to have a shot. No matter how big of a hole it looks like they're in in April, they're going to have a shot to turn things around when that schedule eases up. And to be honest, you can't really blame MLB because the reason why it's so tough is the NL West is so tough. That's really what it comes down to. And they're getting, they're getting a lot of, they're getting like we've talked about earlier, eight out of their 13 games for the season against the Dodgers.

They're getting out of the way in the first two weeks. So that's not necessarily the worst thing in the world, especially if you're able to split those eight games down the middle or something like that. You'd probably feel really good. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great point. What else we got, Jacob? Chris, by the way, we are, we are and always will be team Marlene.

Chris asks for havoc wreaking purposes, D-backs are excluded. You get four moves, trade owners, GMs, or managers from any MLB teams to create chaos and improve D-BX outlook. One swap equals one move. So, Jesse, this is a fun game. We will play. I think we should, do we want to do this as a team? Do we want to pair up here? All four moves. Let's do it as a team.

Okay. So I for one am taking A.J. Preller and moving him out of the NL West. I want him as far away. So I am moving him to the AL East and making him the GM of the Tampa Bay Rays. Interesting. Okay. Because the Tampa Bay Rays are a team that have been able to find success without spending. So let AJ Preller go fucking crazy with that team and that AL East and see what

happens. I think that'll be a fun. That's fun. That would be a brutal. That'd be a brutal move for AJ Preller though, going from a top five payroll. It's like, wow, I've really gutted here. You're giving me, you know, $80, 100 million. I'm used to have three times that.

I know, I know he hasn't won a World Series with the Padre yet, but it's almost like he won the game, right? Like on a video game where you're like, okay. now like try try playing it again on hard right like that's moving to the Tampa Bay raise that's all-star level on MLB the show all right so you you take the Padres GM I'll take the Dodgers baseball off baseball operations guy I think it is Andrew Friedman if you're a Debex fan you want Andrew Friedman out of the NL West as soon as possible and I think the best way to do it frankly is to just put Andrew Friedman on a roster that really needs some

work, right? And I don't know if I'm even that concerned about it being a national league team where the debacks would still have to play them a little bit. Because if you put Andrew Friedman with the Washington Nationals, they won 55 games last year. He'll figure it out because Andrew Friedman's one of the best executives in the game, but you feel like it's going to take a little while for that to happen. So I would move Andrew Friedman to the Washington to nationals. The nationals themselves made some questionable moves. If you have their leadership coming back over to the Dodgers for the debacks,

that's probably a win at the end of the day. I am moving Steve Cohen to the Pittsburgh Pirates. I also have that exact same move in the head. So I'm glad. Let's go. The pirates deserve that. The pirates deserve that. Like you said,

at least we're not getting them out of the National League, which I know that's probably a, That's probably a bad idea. But still, give it to the pirates. Let's see. What else you got? Anything else? Yeah, my last one is a manager.

I would make Dave Roberts the manager of the Houston Astros. That one just kind of, that one just kind of picked itself. I didn't feel like I really had to try there. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there we go. That's all. That's all we needed.

Chaos has. been created. Chaos has been created. Although that does mean that Dusty Baker is coming back to the Dodgers and Dusty Baker is a really great manager. So maybe not, maybe not great for the debacks there, but Chris said for the purposes of wreaking

havoc and I think that would be utterly hilarious. What would be utterly hilarious is how the Dodgers fans would accept that move wholeheartedly. They'd be like, hey, what? Okay. All right. We're good with that. Yeah, Dave Roberts is not he's not particularly popular.

among the Dodger fan base, what I can tell. And Dusty, Dusty wasn't part of that whole situation. So the Dodgers don't have that hatred towards him, the same way they do other players from that same team and era, you could say over in Houston. But all right, well, I think enough chaos has been created. Jacob, do we have any more questions? All right.

Brett Lee Johnson with our final question asks, what do you think Derek Hall and company would put on the Debex, New Year's Resolution list for 2023? I love this question. First, less bullpen losses. I resolve for my bullpen to lose less games in 2023, 50% less fat, you know, 50% less loss. That's what I'm looking for.

I think realistically, like, if you were to like actually ask Derek Hall this, this question, I think it is a resolution. I resolved to lose less games. That's a resolution. Isn't that like having a resolution to like lose weight, but you're not going to like, you're not going to do anything. You're just going to change your life anyway. It's just the result you're looking for, but not of the work you're going to put in to get there.

Sure. I think that Derek Hall would maybe say to this question, figuring out the future of the stadium and what the Diamondbacks plans are, their lease goes through 2027. the clock is sort of ticking on that front, trying to figure out what the next steps are for this team. So I think realistically, that actually is something that the debaks are trying to move the ball forward on in, in 2023.

I think a resolution would be to figure out a more appropriate mascot. Now, look, I'm not trying to throw any shade at Baxter. He's done what he can with what he is. but a snake's natural enemy is a bobcat right like that's their their natural enemies in the wild so i don't understand why this creature would be our mascot going forward it doesn't make any sense to be it still bothers me and i mean this i'm his friend like we're jesse's seen it we're cool baxter dafts me up and stuff like i'm really uh betraying his friendship here see look at that guy look at him he has no business here he has no business here like i can get that

that he lives in the valley, that's fine. He has no business staying at Chasefield. Let's go. Yeah, I, I'm kind of with you there. Baxter, you know, all mascots are fun to a certain degree,

but it never made as much sense as ideally you feel like it should. I mean, some mascots are just utterly random. Like they don't, I mean, like, does the Philly fanatic have anything to do with like,

don't you dare? Don't you know, but I'm not slamming the Philly fanatic. That's what I, that's why I'm saying. He is the best mascot in potentially all of sports. And yet it, The connection is not necessarily, you know, grounded in logic.

So the Washington commanders have a new mascot and it's a pig. His name's Major Tuddy. And he's adorable. And I love him. The redskins. Get a, get a cuter, a cuter mascot. Is that,

is that the New Year's resolution for the defense? Yes. Yes, cuter mascot. Maybe it was a little baby bobcat. Maybe that would be better. Maybe. Maybe.

Maybe. Being cared for by a snake. I don't know. I need a snake to be involved there in some way. I don't know. There's a chant going on for rat Leon in our comments, and I'm furious about that. No, no Rat Leon anymore.

I don't ever want to see that ever again. I still kind of blame him for how bad things went. But that's all we got for Mailbag Monday. We thank you guys, of course, so much for your questions. As always, if you haven't had a chance to do so already in our new customer, sign up over at Draft King Sportsbook right now, download the app. Use our code of PHNX and then place yourself a $5 pregame money line bet on any NBA team to win their game.

And you will get $150 in free bets if they do. That's promo code PHNX only at the Drafking Sportsbook. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for detail. I definitely made a little bit of money on the Drafking Sportsbook just to wrap up 2023. There were some last minute kind of crazy bets during the college bowl games. again, if you haven't had a chance to get down on live betting with the Draft King Sportsbook app, make sure to do so.

It's not only does it enhance the excitement of a game like that, especially those bowl games that got close, but those odds can always change there at the end and you can always jump in on a good value and win yourself some money. So make sure to do that. Go on to the Draft King Sportsbook app, download and use our code of PHNX. Get yourself some money over there. There was one last question from our friend, Gabriel.

asks any resolution you guys have jesse any resolutions for 2023 i'm not a big resolutions guy because i've i've tried and and you know inevitably within three or four days of course i i fail and i'm like why did i even bother uh so yeah i don't have anything anything too too crazy um i think i would like during during the the season pulling back the curtain a little bit here the baseball season for Beatwriter who is at the ballpark every day. And, you know, I did not sleep much for a pretty decent stretch there over the last couple months of the season. So I don't exactly know how I'm going to approach that differently.

This is more like one of the results kind of resolutions than like what I'm going to do to get there. You're just going to try to sleep more. I would very much like to not have my sleep scheduled completely torn to shreds when the season comes around. So we'll see if I'm able to delete. deliver on that. I liked the resolution that we threw up there.

Be a better person every day. And honestly, there is something about, it's hard to describe this. I know we all do it, but there's something about like where you are nice to people, but then still kind of negative, maybe when you're alone about people or maybe with your like spouse or a friend. And I feel like that's, it's like an insincere kind of. of niceness. I think that it's a negativity none of us need in our lives.

I know we all have to vent. I know sometimes we just have to talk shit. That's the way that it's going to be sometimes. But I'm going to try to do that as little as possible. I think that you're going to stop gossiping about me in 2020. No, here's the thing. It's the screaming in a room about you

with Jacob. That's the part that I'm going to stop doing. Two of us alone and I close the door and I'm just like, Jesse fucking drives me nuts. And then, you know, like, He inevitably calms me down with like nice things he says about me, not you. Uh,

and then, you know, he makes me feel better. So I'm going to try not to scream about you in rooms with the door closed. Just scream internally, Derek. Yeah, exactly.

I'm going to do that. But I'm going to just try to be, just try to be a better person, try to be nicer to everybody. It's one thing, uh, one trait that my dad, uh,

passed on to me, one thing that I used to watch him do a lot. And that's one thing that always amazed me. Uh, knowing people's names and just having small conversations with people and sincerely caring about people, even if it was like the cashier at our local supermarket or knowing all the names at the salon of the women that cut our hair and like just things that sometimes you take for granted because these people, even though they're there in your life, you might not feel like they're important enough to remember or know.

And that's one thing my dad was always incredible about was making everybody feel special all the time. So hopefully I can do that a little bit better in 2023. But most importantly, Jesse and I resolve to bring you guys the best goddamn Arizona Diamondbacks coverage that you can find anywhere. So make sure to stay tuned right here. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Our show is at PHNX underscore Dbacks.

But of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much not only for being here in 2022. but start in 2020, off on the right foot. Literally, you're on your right foot, left foot's up in the air. That's how you start the year. Welcome in to all the jokes that you're going to get.

It's more dad jokes in 2020 for me. But of course, we thank you guys so much for being here on behalf of Father Overlord Jacob, Jesse Friedman and myself. We always appreciate your time. And remember kids, baseball is fun,

but it's so much more fun when you decide which Diamondbacks player is going to win the Royal Rumble, of course.