PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Will the Diamondbacks call up Jordan Lawlar to aid their postseason run?

Episode Date: August 23, 2023

As the Arizona Diamondbacks continue their playoff push, we discuss if they will potentially call up their current number one prospect, shortstop Jordan Lawlar. We also unleash our MLB Power Rankings for this week and take a look ahead at a pivotal series for the D-backs against the Cincinnati Reds.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Head to https://factormeals.com/phnxdbacks50 and use code phnxdbacks50 to get 50% off.Go to https://saturdayneon.com and use code PHNX for 10% off your order today. Free shipping for orders over $200!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Pins & Aces: Check out https://pinsandaces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping.Circle K: Text PHNX to 31310 to join the Circle K SMS subscriber club and get BOGO 32 oz Polar Pops! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: Learn more about OGeez! at https://ogeezbrands.com//. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Debaks podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Monti. Of course, I am soon to be once again, your mayor of PHNX. We got eight days running down the clock on that. This man is the reason why I lost my title for so long. He's Mr. Electric himself at Sean DePaz. And of course, here with the rare in-studio appearance. It's the one of the only thunder stick, Jesse Friedman.

Welcome back. Thank you. Yeah. I feel like, wait, what is it that happens in 18? days. Why is it that you get your mareship back? Because remember, you tried to advise me not to give it up for three months. You tried to give it just for a month and a half, but I gave it up for three months in order to acquire Sean in that deal. And so that ends on September 1st. And it's not like I've been counting the days down. It's not like I completely have absolutely no identity without

that sash that he somehow has gotten just filthy in his office. It's absolutely filthy. But the Arizona Diamondbacks have a day off, a much needed day off. I mean, we're not thrilled. about it but you can be like Connor and and he said guys I can't stop watching the catch TM from Alec still amazes me every time he actually got to that baseball yeah our friend Jack Summers over at uh he the Sports Illustrated jack put together like a top 10 defensive plays list of Alec Thomas and it was it was breathtaking to watch and of course it did include the catch team but TM this trademark it's the official we've trademarked the last

officially is the catch. Can I say something real quick, though, about the catch before we get on to other things? So catch probability, right? You all have probably heard, right? We all know what catch probability is. It's this stat cast thing. It's supposed to like take where a fielder starts, how much ground they have to cover, how much time they have to cover it, all those things, and put it down into one number

that says the probability of making that catch. What do you guys think the catch probability was for TM? Well, no, no, no. For Alex Thomas yesterday. He wasn't referring to the catch. Oh, what was the catch probability on the catch TM? Okay.

3%. It was not 3%. It is not 3%. It is significantly higher than 3%. Really? Do you have a guess, Derek? 15%? It was, I am told, 65%.

Bullshit. What in what fucking you ever is that? What are you talking about? I could have made the catch, Derek, is what we're determined here. Catch probability on the Alec Thomas catch last night. TM.

T. So suffice it to say that some people are suspicious of catch probability. And I am one of those people because anyone who was there or watched that on TV or has seen the highlight on Twitter or whatever, they know that this catch looked extremely impressive. And there is no way on earth that like 65% of the time, like an average major league center fielder would make this catch. But that that's what the metric said. So I don't know what to do with that. I just wanted to throw it out there.

The man covered over 100 feet in 5.3 seconds. Like, it's incredible that he got there. The one thing I will say about Alec Thomas is for as great as of a center fielder as he is, he tends to not take the best of routes. He tends to take non-ideal routes and he tends to have to maybe like start in the wrong direction. Like if a ball is in front of him, sometimes he'll start back and then he'll move forward, something like that. Making the catch more exciting than it's necessarily needed to be. Right.

So sometimes when you have a guy with those tendencies, a catch that appears really incredible, maybe if his first step had been in the right direction and his route had been more efficient maybe it wouldn't have been as spectacular but what I'm saying is that I don't really believe in any of these things because I still think that was no it really wasn't that bad I looked for that after the play I didn't think

the route was that argument I was getting in with Jacob and he was saying it wasn't like that good at it was like he read it right like he went in the right direction off rip it wasn't it took a little more of a curve yeah it was a little bit of curve but like the ball was probably telling off at that point two It's not yeah. I feel like it was not that hard or not it was it was not that bad of a

I mean the bigger point is is that that ball could have dropped in for a double. I mean and that's probably what it would have done had anybody else been out there at least from the Arizona Diamondbacks I mean that's the game if he doesn't make that catch with how the rest of the ending with the rest of the the end of the way the ending goes there's no way to tell how things go like obviously you know at least one run scores based on the way things went yeah yeah but you have no idea how everything goes after that right because there's one less out and there's just all sorts of trouble with Paul Seawald there at the end. And said he somehow miraculously gets out of it with no run scoring. And like we said last night, it's his seventh game in a row of not allowing a single run.

So the Diamondbacks have at least found their solution to their problem there when it comes to the back end of the bullpen. But speaking of another gifted young talented player in the Diamondbacks organization, Jordan Lottler has been a kind of a name brought up quite a bit from fans, even around baseball, in regards to the Diamondbacks promoting him to AAA Reno. And I mean, it was even one of our mailbag Monday questions if we thought that we would see Jordan Lawler get called up this season. It didn't seem likely. And I say logically the answer that I give is no.

That's the first place I go. However, Jesse Friedman is no average man. He thinks much differently than I do. And actually, I think he has some very valid reasons why the no answer might not necessarily be so logical or such a slam dunk. Yeah, and I don't want to make it out to be that like, oh, the Diamondbacks are clearly going to call up Jordan Lawler. Like, that's just not. That's just not true.

Jordan Lawler has been in AAA now for eight days. Yeah, he was promoted on August 15th. August 15th. So eight days in AAA, the MO of this organization is not to bring up guys that quickly, right? We saw Corbyn Carroll. He was in AAA last year for about a month. and a half before the diamond backs ultimately brought him up to the majors so if they were to do the same thing with jordan lawler he would run out of time i mean a month and a half would basically just

take him up through the last day of the season and we wouldn't see jordan lawler with the diamond backs this season the one thing i will say is the diamond backs are in a playoff chase so a situation they were not in last year and corbin carroll was an outfielder uh where the team had an extraordinary amount of depth, right? And this team does not have an extraordinary amount of depth at Jordan Lawler's position, right? It's a very, very, very different situation, all that to say. So if you're the Diamondbacks and you are in a playoff race and you have a half game lead

right on the competition right now in this third wildcard spot, you're in the thick of things, but you've got a tough schedule ahead, it makes sense that you would want to put the very best product out on the field that you possibly can. Right? Sure. Just common sense. Of course, you would want that. And also, the other thing I will say is from a service time standpoint, the debacks

don't have anything to lose by calling up Jordan Lawler. In fact, I think they viewed it as an advantage last year to get Corby and Carol up, get him a month of experience before his first full season, his rookie season this year. You know, they could bring up Jordan Lawler and make sure that he still preserves his rookie eligibility for next year, which is something I'm sure they would want to do. They could still preserve that. So you put all these things together. And it's like, all right, you don't have anything to lose from a service time standpoint.

You're not getting one less year of control of him or anything like that. You can still preserve his rookie eligibility for next year. And at the same time, do we really believe that what the Diamondbacks are getting right now at shortstop? And I think at third base also kind of plays into this. Is that really better the way it is now than if you added Jordan Lawler to the mix? Yeah. I don't, I would argue it is not. And I would argue it might not even be all of all that complicated.

I think it's fairly clear. So from a logical standpoint, it makes a lot of sense. Whether the debacks are actually going to do it, I don't know. But if they were going to do it, the last thing I'll say here, if they were going to do it, they should do it within the next eight days. Because on August 31st at midnight, you are no longer allowed to add playoff players to your roster at that point. So if the Diamond Ducks were to promote Jordan Lawler on September 1st, if they were to do it at some point in September, it would be great. He could come up.

He could contribute to the team, but he would not be eligible to contribute in the postseason. And if you really think Jordan Lawler is worth calling up and can help you win games, why would you call him up but not have to be eligible for the postseason? That doesn't make any sense. Absolutely. So if they're going to do it, they should probably do it within the next eight days by August 31st. Lawler slashing 273, 37546 with a 916 OPS, two home run and six RBI in those very limited amount of games that he's. played for the Reno Aces. So if you wanted to counter that, the reason why they wouldn't call him up is because I don't know if those are the exact kind of numbers, especially in Reno that you want to see offensively yet. It's not to say that that's like his progression is his progression. And you definitely, it's not a bad thing for him to be under the major league coaching staff versus the Reno Aces coaching staff. But at the same time, we know what numbers look like typically in Reno. And I would think that you would, at least want to see him hitting, you know, a little bit closer to 300 potentially.

And again, this is a small sample size. So, I mean, maybe maybe the idea there is if they wanted to just see, you know, if he could make that transition to AAA Reno from the sod poodles and how he would handle it. And, you know, in his debut, he hit home run. So he's been handling it just fine. But, again, the Diamondbacks don't really have, I guess, like you said, the best options there. in in regards to Nick Ahmed. He's slashing 173, 204, 231 against lefties this year.

And for some reason, 304, 346, 461 against Ritees? What? Sean, can you explain Nick Omens or first? Explain this. Shirley, Shirley, Sean knows. Sean sports signed us on this topic and explain why he's hitting much better against righty's. When the ball comes out.

Yep. Uh-huh. That's that was good. John DePos, Mr. Electric right there. But yeah, no, I mean, of course, I guess my question is, do you move Geraldo Perdomo to third base if you were to make this move to bring Jordan Lawlor up? And, I mean, Perdomo hasn't played much third base, but I feel like he's capable of it, right? Yeah, defensively, I think Perdomo might even be better at third base than he is at shortstop.

He definitely has the arm for third base. I don't think that would be an issue. And yeah, that's really what this would come down to. If the Diamondbacks were to make this move, what would probably make the most sense is to move on from Nick Ahmed, which is something that I know some people have maybe been thinking should have happened a while back. But frankly, as you just said, I mean, Nick Ahmed has bizarre reverse splits.

So you don't really feel great. Damn, you're useless at that point. Yeah, I mean, he's getting a lot of starts against lefties, but he has an OPS of 435 against lefties this year. Like, that doesn't really make sense. And for as good as he's been against righties, you're not necessarily about to play Nick Ahmed every day against Ritey's either, because for years,

he's just not been good at hitting right-handed pitching. So, yeah, so you'd probably be looking at moving on from Nick Ahmed. You'd be looking at giving Jordan Lawler, not every day at shortstop, but probably most days, if you're going to call him up,

you'd want to play him. And then third base, which has been kind of an ongoing issue for this team, you'd probably open up a platoon between, rather than Josh Rojas and Evan Longoria's we saw earlier, it would be Geraldo Pardombo and Evan Longoria. That is a better team in mind. Which makes sense.

Yeah. On paper, I think it, I think it's a better team. I guess Buddy Kennedy maybe factors into this somehow. He hasn't really hit particularly well since joining the team. But he was tearing it up in Reno. He really was. Yeah. So, I mean, it might be, again, buddy, he's off to a slow start.

He's hitting 125, 333, 1, 25, and 21 plate appearances. It's a pretty small sample. 21 plate appearances. Yeah, exactly. But his numbers at the minor league level are much better. How was Emmanuel Rivera? always no not good not not good well i mean again it's really about finding some some stability there and we've talked at times about this season being kind of like a season where you're playing with house

money so it's not to say that you know you don't want to try to do everything you can to make this you know this year's team as good as possible so you don't want to just be giving some rookie playing time just for the purpose of like giving him like oh we we want to get him up here as fast as possible But like you said, if it does put the best team on the field by calling Jordan Lawler up, then it makes a lot of sense. And honestly, this team hasn't really shied away this season from calling up guys that we were unsure if we were going to see this year. I mean, yeah, they've been aggressive, right? I mean, they just moved on from Carson Kelly. That's not something we necessarily expected to see during the season.

Didn't know if we'd see Slade or Bryce this year. I mean, it's not to say that they weren't ready or they haven't been playing at a major. Their time at a AAA level has been much more, obviously, than Jordan Lawler. But still, we were unsure if we were going to see them have, get called up this year and make that impact. And they absolutely did. Emmanuel Rivera is not as bad as I thought it was. The numbers that they're shown in August.

So I guess since he's been sent down, he's betting 292, 393, 417. Yeah, that's not terrible. In Reno, that's not spectacular. It's definitely not spectacular. That's not terrible. I mean, at first when I opened up his page, it said over the last, 30 games he was batting over the last seven games he was betting it was over the last seven games he was betting it was over it was like that doesn't add up and that's not really I don't

really know what m I'll be dot com is doing no sometimes sometimes we don't either but I do have a more important discussion topic than then even Jordan Lawler getting called up and that is who from here in the PHNX office are you guys calling up to our show the show to join us for the playoff push like if we needed to make a late season edition from around the office we need to make this into a four-man booth who are you guys promoting uh to the big league club i mean jesse i won't steal your thunder you said it before the show i feel like there's one answer whenever this question is asked there's always one answer it's pd isn't and it's stephen peters it's he was baseball yeah he really does oh man yeah what's the kind of energy

you need for a playoff push see i feel like pd is already playing at a major league level like i don't know if that would even be. It's more, it's been more about a log jam at the position. Sure. Right. Yeah. That's a lot of left-handed. PD's a left-handed hitting out. Yeah. We are Corbyn, Gallo, Alec Thomas, and insert other. Jake McCarthy, I guess, yeah. I'm going to take Saul Bookman. And the reason I'm taking Saul is because Saul gets pumped about Diamondbacks baseball. And he brings, he absolutely gets pumped about Diamondbacks baseball. Every one between a lot.

taking shots at a at diamondbacks baseball you take a lot of shots of diving backs baseball as well though that's to be fair to be fair most importantly though like it's it's just a smart move because he's the GM around here so i feel like you know i'm playing the long game here i'm trying to get favorable treatment but uh also uh i think he could also still kind of play i think saw like we had to put together uh like a softball team i think saw would be like our number three hitter in the lineup linds did you play softball yeah yeah If we're talking bat and ball sports, I'm calling a wins. Yeah.

I mean, most of the time, that's a pretty good call. You know who I want on the softball team? I want Damon. Yeah. Oh, yeah. This man was a high school baseball legend, if I'm not mistaken. You were right. If his stories are true, he was incredible.

And I mean, you're calling him up from behind the Mac to this side of things. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Damon abandoned us today. He's just now fucking showing up. I'm going to Jonathan Gannon right. I'm finding you $15,000 for just now showing up. But, Leah, Damon, did you know that Nitt Ahmed is batting 303 versus Ritees?

Yeah, there's all sorts of stuff to get you caught up on Damon. But Damon, did you know that? Yeah, Damon. David, did you know that? Did you know that? 303? Yes. What?

He's batting 303 against Ritees and he's batting, I think it was 173 against Lesties. Is he helping this baseball team? No, we don't know. He's not. He's usually. What really the point is because you don't use them against Ritees and he can't hit against lefties. So what the fuck is he good for?

But we did. He has reverse splits. Yeah. Yeah. We did discuss who we would call up to this show and Jesse chose you. So. Yeah, I just, I just, I called you up to the show, Damon. This is your, this is your big.

We're being to like the show, I feel like is being very fluidly used in this conversation between some sort of playing baseball and being on our podcast. It can be both. It can be both of those things. Because are you still taking PD with the baseball? Well, if we're playing, no. I'm taking David or Lindsay. If we're talking about the show, then it's PD 1-1-Easy.

Are you trying to insult PD's baseball skills? I know. It's more a compliment to David. It's more a compliment to the people who have played that ball. PD on the show would be it's not even a conversation. Yeah, that's true. That's fair. But Sean thinks he can't play baseball.

Glad to establish that. That is true. Well, you know what? You can play baseball with the swing for the fences promotion with Bet MGM. So make sure to check that out. because it's just free bonuses on top of your bets. All you have to do is log into the BetMGM Sportsbook app on iOS or Android. Play the BetMGM free to play game from now until September 7th.

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That's just for our own personal self-esteem. Somebody left us a thumbs down, so I need people to counter that. I don't know. I'm guessing it's Mo, but that's just because I like to blame everything on Mo. Again, if you are listening on the audio podcasting side, please subscribe to us there as well. Leave us a review. We always appreciate that feedback. But most importantly, sign up today for a PHNX diehard membership. Join our PHNX family. Not only do you get a bunch of benefits from our partners like a $50 gift certificate from Mount Mikes and that Dobson Ranch Ranch card. You also get free piece of merchandise from the PHNX locker and 20% off all future purchases. You get access to our members-only Discord lounge with exclusive members-only content.

You also get Jesse's newsletter full count. You get all sorts of wonderful benefits, including members-only stuff like invites to events, merchandise, and so much more. So join us today and become a member of our die-hard community. It is time, once again, for our Thursday and Wednesday or Friday, whenever we do a 1 p.m. show for our MLB power rankings. And, of course, some things have changed, but not a lot. So let's take a look at where we're at with our power rankings.

Of course, the main thing there is the Mariners. They might also be a wagon. They might also be a wagon. I think they are a wagon. They got two eight game win streaks in the month of August. That is impressive. It's insane. Seems mathematically, obviously not.

But it's pretty hard to do. It's almost as odd as thinking about this Diamondbacks team right now that's one, you know, what is it, seven out of nine or something like that? It's just nine out of 11. Nine out of 11. Imagine if they had been. Like how bad they were during that stretch. Yeah, just if they had been average. Just slightly below 500 baseball instead of just, you know,

atrocious losing streets. For those of you on the audio side, we'll go over this real fast for you. We have the Atlanta Braves at number one, the Los Angeles Dodgers at two, Baltimore Orioles at three, those pesky Seattle Mariners at four. The rays at five,

the Astros at six. Texas Rangers drop in like a rock at seven. Blue Jays in there at eight, Phillies in there at nine, and the Brewers making their first appearance, at least in the recent memory, there at number 10 on the list. But obviously with the Rangers' struggles,

including getting swept by the Diamondbacks and getting swept by the Brewers and back-to-back series, caused them to have the biggest drop this week, dropping four spots to number seven. Yeah, this was tough. There's like this cluster of teams kind of in the middle here that I just could. But I went back and forth and I went through probably like 100 permutations of like the middle

four teams before. I don't think that's mathematically impossible, but or mathematically possible. But yeah, the Orioles, the Mariners, the rays, the Astros, the Rangers, even the Blue Jays, I think are kind of part of that same category. Yeah. I tried. It's really hard to rank those teams. They're all in a very similar spot.

Given how well the Mariners have played, though, I think they're. safely in the top five at this point for me, at least in terms of power rankings, in terms of who you would least like to play right now, the Mariners are just insane. I mean, they've sustained some injuries. They've, you know, I mean, Robbie Ray is out for the season,

hasn't pitched for them this year, and they still have an incredible starting rotation. And the offense has started to pick up as well here in recent days. Jayrod has been the hottest hitter on the planet, and they've gotten some contributions from some diamondbacks. That's right. Former diamond backs hitters as well. That trade seems to have worked out okay for them right now,

considering the improvements we're seeing from both Josh Rojas and Dominic Canzon. Bar was on the floor. It's not like they've been great. No, but on the floor for... But Rojas is hitting 255, 286, 426 overall since being traded to Seattle. And over his last 10 games... I hate Chase Peterson. 353, 389, 588 in his past 10 years.

I also hate Jason. That is pretty impressive. Dominic Canzone is hitting 278, 350. 528 in his past 11 games. So both guys have been playing much better, much better than they were playing for the Diamondbacks over there for the Seattle Mariners. But they're so, the Mariners fans

are so convinced that Dominic Canzon is the next Mitch Hanager. Like they're just like they, he's already there in their minds. Oh man. Yeah. It's funny. Well, we can say we regret that trade all we want. But Paul Seawald, by the way, is six or seven and save opportunities with a 3.338 ER 3.38 ERA and a 1.7

five whips since coming over here. Opposing batters are batting 273, 385, 455 against him, which isn't great. It's not good. It's not great. The results are good, but that result is not very good.

Rangers, they were a team that were looking, especially when they made their trade, like they were definitely in the driver's seat for the AAL, and it doesn't look like that's the case anymore. Yeah, I mean, Jordan Montgomery has been everything they possibly could have hoped for and more. And what we would have hoped he would have been for us. Yeah, yeah.

imagining the diamond backs with Jordan Montgomery right now. I mean, eight shut out innings the other day against the debacks. That was impressive. And I think every start he's made for the Rangers, he's gone six or more innings and allowed two or fewer runs. That'll play in the middle of your rotation. It feels like that was the one thing that was missing from the diamond backs.

I mean, even with the success they've had lately, we're still finding ourselves saying, what are they going to do when we look at the probabilities for this start and this start? And is this going to be a bullpen start or not? So man, it just, it's frustrating to see him having the success he had and wondering what it would have taken to maybe get him for the Diamondbacks. But the Rangers are just two games away from being dropped out of the playoff picture all together there in the American League. The American League West is fascinating. Yeah.

Like, I mean, it's been, I mean, the Astros have been the best team in baseball over the last five years, generally speaking. And they're like just the team that's not being talked about in that race at all. Yeah. They're still very much, you know, a half game above Seattle. But yeah, Seattle just came up out of nowhere and before you know, yeah, the Rangers after being the best team in baseball or at least the best offense in baseball for a lot of the season might just be up out of the playoffs all of a sudden. It's wild. Let's go Red Sox. Let's talk about more teams that suck, including the New York Yankees.

Let's go. Sean, the New York Yankees are terrible. Dog shit. Last time they lost nine straight games, my mom had to walk in a single file line to lunch. she was in elementary school. That's the last time they lost nine straight games. Bums. Aaron Boone,

I hope you enjoy retirement because you're not going to be getting checks from the Yankees. Oh, you probably still will because they're going to have to pay you. But you're not going to be coaching games because you're a bum. Yankees are full of bums. You want to get it all in your system. They're all in your system. Like we brought this segment up just for you.

No, the Yankees suck. I mean, they're an absolute poverty franchise. I literally couldn't imagine being Yankees. They're a poverty franchise. They're a poverty franchise. I could not imagine being a Yankees fan. Damon and I have talked about this.

It's literally the worst experience. all of sports being a new year the troubles and tribulations that Yankees fans have had to go through I could not do it I am not built like Yankees fans who are the toughest fans in all sports apparently because they're miserable their teams are miserable they have not finished last in the aLE east since I was 11 years old oh man there goes another one for you on the yeah uh sucks suck they have uh they're two superstars and then the rest of the garret cole's great Eric is the best pitcher of baseball, but they still suck. The rest of that starting rotation, man, it's rough.

And they've had some injuries, but Carlos Sardin is back now and is just not at all the same picture that he was. That contract honestly looks kind of disastrous at this point for them. Dimebacks dodged a bullet there because that was some guy that we were talking about at one point. Chalk that up as a win. There you go. We got to make note of the wins as much as the losses, right? We can't just to celebrate the losses. I can not wait for that series.

The D-backs versus the Yankees. I might not be on the show if it goes poorly. But if it does, y'all won't be on the show. I'm going to be hosting that shit by myself. But there's other terrible teams besides the Yankees. White Sox are continued to be terrible. The Yankees are the only bad team in baseball. They just dismissed their GM Rick Hahn and executive VP, Kenny Williams from their duty.

Han was the GM from 2012 until now. And they might move. That's crazy. In what world have the White Sox has been good? enough for that GM to have the job for 11 years. Yeah, 11 years. That is a very fair point. What have they done over the last 11 years?

They traded Chris Sale for Yohan Mukata? Well, Kenny Williams was actually the GM before him. And so he's been part of the organization since 2001. Well, at least he has a little World Series to show for it. Right. Fucking what. And like you said, now there's talk that the White Sox might move to Nashville. like Jesse said before we got on the show,

that's just the thing to do now. When you want a stadium, where you want stadium upgrades, you threaten to move to Nashville. I'll tell you this right now. There needs to be a damn baseball team in Nashville. That city's awesome. It cannot handle traffic for its life,

but it is a cool city. That would make me sick. Here's the thing, though, if there are two teams in baseball that cannot threaten this, it is the Los Angeles Angels and the goddamn Chicago White Sox because they are both in a position

that fans in that city will be like, Yeah, we have a team. Bye. I mean, I'm not saying people aren't Angels fans or White Sox fans, but it's different with the White Sox because the White Sox are like a franchise you that I have some respect for. But they're also Chicagoans. So they will totally be like, oh, fuck me, I'm going to go buy Chicago Cubs jersey right now. One of our CHGO white size guys, I can't remember who it was, but he tweeted out.

He was like, two things are true. I do not want the White Sox to move and I do not want to give them a sense of public money. Yeah. So it's like both things can be true. I think there's a lot of people there who are kind of like you're saying are like, I love the white socks. I don't want to see that move, but go fuck yourself. You're a billionaire. It's like, get your own shit. I mean, if you were, if you were a resident of Nashville, like as an outsider in this situation and you heard a story about the white socks potentially moving in. You'd be like we already have a triple A team. Right. Zing! Yeah. I had to. That was beautiful. You're like, no. But honestly, honestly, like that franchise.

Not necessarily. Like it's the white socks. They're cool. And like they haven't always been a complete joke. But like I don't want a franchise. Like it's kind of like the athletics. It's like I would rather have a franchise that's not a complete joke move here. Yeah.

Like the brewers, I can live with that. The brewers are not a complete joke. Like they haven't accomplished anything, but they're not like a laughing stock. Maybe because they play in Milwaukee. But like in general, I want to have a lot of people. They're like the oldest franchise. It's never won a world series. The Brewers.

They're kind of a joke. They're but they're not like a laughing stock Like people don't make Nothing just gives a shit about the like I hear the Brewers and I don't be like Oh that franchise is a joke They just don't wait They don't really win stuff and they play in the AL Central

But like speaking of teams that aren't laughing stocks The Washington Nationals Davey Martinez Let's go We ride They just gave them to your extension Yeah which when I saw the news I was like what in the hell

And then Damon walks in later that day And it's like I don't know if you knew this But the nationals are only eight games out of the playoffs They're like right there with the Padres and the I mean, I don't know if they are right now. They nearly have the same record as the New York Mets. Right now they are 58 and 68. The Mets are 59 and 168. And we are so close to a world in which the Washington Nationals finished the season with a better record than the New York Yankees.

And that is going to be awesome. That also. Who is on the Washington National? Name me four players. Name me two players that aren't C.J. Abrams, Josiah Gray or name me two players. Stone Gare. Or Stone Gare. That's what yeah.

I knew I was reading another. I know you didn't. Like, there's nobody on that team. That's all I got. That's all I got. It's not a, the ghost of Steven Straussberg still haunts the,

haunts the clubhouse. I don't know where the hell he's been. Let's be honest about that, right? Isn't this literally the problem with spending a lot of money on a baseball team? Like you can literally, you can have a team of no name guys go 58 and 68. You can,

you gave up your big superstar player and the team is somehow more successful than they were when he was part of the organization. And I mean, Again, you have to start moving on at some point, especially, you know, when you lose someone like Juan Soto. But they, you know, there's just, it's just wild because baseball is this sport where a guy is considered to be worth tens of millions of dollars more simply because he hits the ball 29% of the time instead of this guy that hits the ball 26% of the time. Right. Like, it's kind of crazy. It's funny because I was, I was joking about the life of a Yankees fan. And it was referencing a thread that, Damon had sent me from some Yankees fan being like, there's no life harder than being a Yankees fan this year, which is absurd, obviously.

But I think he was claiming every year. He was saying just being a Yankees fan is just the worst existence of all sports. One of the things, wow. Yeah, it's, it was absurd. But one of the things he makes the playoffs a whole lot to feel that way. One of the points he had made in the thread was like there are certain teams in the league, like the Royals, et cetera, et cetera, who are meant to be here. The league needs teams to lose that the good teams are supposed to beat up on. It's like, first off, newsflash, buddy, the royals are more recent World Series champions than your bum-ass franchise.

That's very true. And secondly, like you're getting at, you look at it took over an All-Star game and literally almost made the entire starting lineup, Rose players. Let's not forget about that. You look at the history of baseball over the last 30 years. The teams that spend money do not win. They don't have the World Series to show for it. They win. They win games.

But they don't win World Series. The Dodgers spend more money than Damner anybody. They have one to show for it. The Yankees have won over the last 15 years. It's the ones that spend that money. at the right time in the right moment. The Mets are a joke, the Padres are five games on the playoffs. It doesn't work.

You can't take a team like the Mets and just spend a lot of money on them and then have that instantly improve them to be like a World Series contender. Little to suggest that the teams that spend money, like it doesn't matter how you do it. They don't win. Every off season we sit here and find a new threat to be worried about by the team. Are spending how much money on Anthony Rendon, who? You haven't heard of him since he left Washington. Well, and to be fair, we spending money is not.

It doesn't win you games. We poke fun at the Rangers for doing this. And then the Rangers eventually found a way to add to that money they spent and get to get to being, you know, a World Series contender. Yet we are seeing them struggle right now. The Diamondbacks just swept them. But the reason the Rangers are good is not, it's not just because of the money that they've spent. Frankly, Jacob de Grom is basically not pitched for them. Yeah. Evaldi was not supposed to be their guy.

No, yeah. He's kind of come out of nowhere. His entire career until he became a ranger, right? Yeah. Obviously, Semyon and Seeger are part of why they are that good. Right. It's more than that. And Moes's bringing up the Red Sox, like, sure, but that also those titles don't happen

without Rafael Devers, without Zander Bogart, without Mookie Betts, all guys that they brought up in their system. Yeah. Like, it has to be a combination. Yeah. It can't just be, you can't just buy your way there. And that's kind of what the Mets try to do. It's what a lot of franchises have tried to do when it hasn't worked.

Yeah. The Mets had Pete Alonzo. And it was like, all right, Pete Alonzo, plus all this money we're going to spend. And like we're going to find it, it, that's pretty hard to pull off. Yeah. Well, we want to give a shout out to our friends at Circle K and make sure you check out your local Circle K for the best coffee, beer and snack selection and premium gas. And don't forget, in gas entertainment. Thanks to us.

Thanks to our souls being trapped in gas station pumps. But it is very entertaining. I think I said it is for my soul is not trapped there because I sold my soul for a dollar in high school. Do the people at Circle K know that? There might be some sort of weird contractual. like hang up there where you soul might be like now I literally had a kid come up to me in high school and be like I will I will if you sign this piece of paper that gives me rights to your soul I'll give you a dollar and I was like that means nothing to me I'm gonna take the dollar this got

dark fashion so I bought myself an Arizona ice tea that's what my soul is worth to me I know where my soul is located that's for sure but uh tell you this much there's more to fill yourself up with it circle okay again here's and Arizona ice T's the price of the soul yeah for the price of a soul you can get Arizona iced tea. You can also get Circle K branded snacks, which again, do not sleep on those because they are incredible. And honestly, they're better than the competitors. That is just an objective. It's just the truth. You can also get Power Aids for $5 and be entered to be one of 10 finalists to win a 2023 Ford Big Ben Bronco SUV. Of course, after that, you might have to fight Damon and then fight Sean. I still don't know how that whole situation works out. I am two buys. He's not,

yeah, he's not allowing you to just go straight to the final round without fighting him first. I'm gonna be pissed when I find out someone wants this wrong though and they didn't have to see me about it and they didn't have to yeah like at least just one last stand I'm gonna have words I'll have something to say about it well that person or you one of you can get your monster energy drinks for that fight by two get one free at circle gay you also get buy two get one free beatbox hard tea make sure you're not missing out on all this great stuff including this fight that's going to take place right now text phn x the 31310 to join their SMS subscriber club and get a buy one get one offer on a 32 ounce polar pop head to circle k.com slash store dash locator to find circle k's near you uh and another quick way to treat yourself to make sure that you are fueled up is by checking out factor which is america's number one ready to eat meal kit and when we say ready to eat we mean

never frozen food fresh food that you can microwave in two minutes and have yourself an actual healthy meal very quickly they are delivered straight to your door there's all sorts of different like categories you can pick from including chef selection uh depending on if you're on a diet there's calorie conscious options uh there's calorie smart meals and all sorts of things uh they have their uh protein plus meals as well with 30 grams of protein or more per serving they even have their drinks uh just amazing and honestly when i run out out a factor i don't know what to do with myself i'm fairly sad you got to like take care of yourself well i have to figure it out i just like stop eating because there's nothing no i mean basically it's like peanut butter and

Sally sandwich time for me after that because that's the most I can muster up on my time. But with Factor, you have keto, calorie smart, vegan, veggie options, protein plus, and so much more. They're all prepared by chefs and approved dietitians. And of course, the biggest thing is they're absolutely delicious. So make sure to not miss out on everything that they have to offer. If you want to try out Factor, head to FactorMeals.com slash PHNXDBX-Dbacks 50 and use code PHNXDBX50 to get 50% off your order. again that's code phnxdbax 50 at factor meals.com slash phnxdbax 50 to get that 50% off and treat yourself well yeah um yeah bad baseball news what happened how they just got taken out by

the trainer again oh no oh no well all right well things could be worse for the diamondbacks but um that's all derrick's like that doesn't concern me do we have any concerns all of us it concerns all of us show hey out Tony is the best player in all baseball. I've grown kind of callous to these things, but. Just the most, the greatest player to ever play the sport is hurt. Eh.

Eh. Is he on our team? All right. Well, that's the way I handle things. But they are playing the Marlins. So it actually does matter. All right. That's fair.

That's probably important. Fuck you, Derek. They probably have a lot of games against teams that we want them to be. Let's take a look. Speaking of which, let's take a look at those wild card standings because things are getting tight. This was before the games. This was before the Cubs.

I updated it. Oh, you did. Oh, fucking Damon's better than us. Yeah. Yeah. Oh,

look at you, Damon. Dback's still in there. They have an off day. So, of course, other games are being played today. Could impact where the debacks are.

But again, the losing one nothing right now to the Padres. I don't know why I just, I was mixing up my Southern California schools. No, that's understandable. But yeah, like,

debacks could, could be technically out of the wildcard race for today. Oh, the Reds are losing to the Angels. That's right. And it's a double header today. So they have two games against the Angels. And Reds on the mound for the Angels.

And that is a very good thing considering that the Diamondbacks have an off day. Meanwhile, the Reds are playing a double header against the Angels. I will say shout out show hey, because he hit a bomb before he got taken out. So he's the reason they're winning the game right now. Yeah. But the Reds again, Diamondbacks have a very important series against them. And honestly, because they got swept by the Reds in their previous meeting, it is a little. I mean, it's it's asking a bit much.

But it is a little pivotal that they try their best to sweep this series in case this race comes down to a tie between them and Cincinnati. Yeah, as I talked about the other day, the tiebreakers don't really bode well for the Diamondbacks right now. No, they do not. They currently would lose the tiebreaker to the Giants. They have two more games against them later in the season. If they won both of them, they could flip the tiebreaker in their favor. Otherwise, they're going to lose the tiebreaker to the Giants. They're already going to lose the tiebreaker to the Marlins.

the Cubs they haven't played yet So that's still pending And then yeah the Reds is you were just saying The Debacks got swept in three games by the Reds previously So they would have to sweep the Reds this weekend In order to flip that one in their favor And speaking of the Reds let's take a look at the Probables for that series once again coming up starting tomorrow

And again Reds have a very good Young position player core that they are developing over there I feel like the Baltimore Orioles the Reds and the Diamondbacks are all relatively in a similar spot there. I mean, the other backs probably maybe aren't as in a good as as of good a position as the Orioles. I think the Reds have switched around their starters

because they have 100 green going up against Davies on Saturday now. We also, so something yesterday that I forgot to bring up on the post game show, the Diamondbacks actually announced fought and Kelly in the opposite order, which is very weird because in San Diego fought pitched on, I believe it was Friday,

and then Merrill pitched the first game of the double header on Saturday. But the way that Tori Lavello announced it yesterday, he announced it in reverse order where Merrill Kelly would pitch on Thursday and Brandon Fought would pitch on Friday. I wondered if that was a mistake, honestly. I think maybe it still could be,

but Major League Baseball does have that on their website as of right now. Merrill Kelly is the probable for Thursday against Brandon Williamson. And then on Friday, they now have Kennedy against Brett Kennedy going up against Brandon Fott. And then we have Green and Zach Davies on Saturday and then Ashcraft against Slade Cicone on Sunday. That's a shame because that green Merrill Kelly matchup was looking like it was going to be a pretty good pitchers tool.

I mean, but shit with the way that Fawtsman pitching, that might even be a better pitcher stool. Yeah, no, absolutely. And their starting pitching is not very good. And the Diamondbacks are actually missing out potentially on their best starting pitcher. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think you're, you're not going to see Zach Allen pitch in the series. That, that seems.

Oh, no, I meant the Reds. The Reds. Andrew Abbott. Yeah, Andrew Abbott is not. They both missed each other's best-running pitcher. Yeah. Yeah. But their relief pitching is solid.

And, I mean, again, they have the second best road record right now in National League at 34 and 27. So they are, they're going to be a tough, you know, matchup for the Diamondbacks here. And it's four games. So it's really important that they have a good showing here. The Reds are just an insanely young baseball team. Yeah. Like they, I mean, the way that the Reds are, the Reds are good because of a very young position player group that is very inexperienced, right? It's Matt McLean.

It's L.A. D.A. Cruz. They've got all the guys who are trying to take out right now. T.J. Friedel is a little bit more of a veteran. I think he's 28. He's a good player for them. Spencer Steer is a young player. He's been a solid contributor. It's just a really young position player core that's been really, really productive.

And they just added a couple more guys to the mix. They just called up Nelvi Marte, who's a 21-year-old infield prospect, a very highly touted prospect, top 50 roughly in the game. They just brought him up. And then Christian Encarnaccio and Strand is a 23-year-old that they just brought up as well. So this is a stacked farm system that basically has had a whole bunch of their guys reach the majors in the same season. And there have been some growing pains along the way, but by and large, this position player group is good. the starting pitching, however, has been a little shaky for them. It's sort of been Andrew Abbott doing his thing with a sub three ERA since being called up.

And the rest of this group, they kind of all have mid to high four ERAs at this point. Even Hunter Green, the flamethrower, has an ERA of 4.72. So still some development to come for some of their young starting pitchers. And Connor in the chat says, to be honest, I don't hate Gallin not pitching this series, gives you a chance to steal game one in L.A. on Monday. And honestly, gives you the best chance, especially with the way that Zach Gallen has been pitching lately. He's been pitching pretty damn good. So Diamondbacks do have, you know, that.

But it's weird because now it's like I don't want to write off the Dodgers series as a loss, the same way we wrote off this Rangers series as a loss. But it feels like the Dodgers series is less important in comparison to the other series that they play that are actually against teams that are in this wildcard hunt with them. right like the seven games against the cubs seems very critical the series against the giants is very very very critical so like it's it's those series right now that that i'm more concerned with but the diamondbacks can't afford to give away any any games at this point every every game is important leading up to the playoffs it is it is fascinating that uh i can't remember if we touched on this yesterday but zach davies pitching on saturday that is the corbin carol bobblehead night so

it's probably he'll be oh he does he does yeah father's day R-key matchups with 45,000 in the stands. Dad has disowned Damon because of it. Jesse, there's little that enrages me more than Zach Davies pitching on primetime games when there's 35K in the crowd. And it's probably going to be more than 35K on Saturday. I've said multiple times. Carole at night.

Yeah. The peak, the cherry on top of it will be Corby and Carroll getting benched that night. Yeah, that's inevitable. They did. He was benched on his birthday, which was a, I honestly would almost respond. it. Like it would be so asinine it would be hilarious. Fuck it. I'm Tori Levello. I don't give

a shit about your bobblehead. I'm trying to win baseball games. It's like it happens a lot, believe it or not. Like when you're 10 and it's your birthday and you're like, well, I don't have to go to school today, right? It's my birthday. Like, I'm supposed to have to do off. Tori gave him the president of sitting on the

bench and watching a baseball game. That's the present that he gave him, but we are. I don't think that's the present that Corbyn Carroll wanted for his birthday. No, I know. Um, 15,000 fans Corby and Carol Bobblehead is limited to. So not a lot. So make sure to get out there. People were asking us how early they get out, need to get out there before the game.

And you don't really want the answer to a tent. Yeah. Yeah, you should probably sleep there the night before. Yeah. Three hours is a legitimate. That's a legitimate estimate, I would say. And is that three hours before gates open? So that would be more like four hours before?

I don't know, but good luck. Good luck to you all. Water. Yeah, drink water. I'll be worried about all of you. I'm not even joking. They did one of these last year or two years ago when I was ushering at Chasefield. And it was like this.

It was in the summer and people were like literally collapsing because they were waiting outside in the heat for like an hour to get into the park because it was a give. I think it was the Father's Day thing. So genuinely, a, you can bring water into the park if it's unsealed. But in general, just bring water that you can throw away or something before you walk in. It's open. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. You can bring in sealed water. sealed bottles of water you know you also need what's that a premium pair of polarized sunglasses that is true you're gonna be outside in that sun you need to keep your eyes protected yes get yourself a pair of shady rays uh shady rays of course are an independent sunglass company with a world-class product and they make uh sunglasses they're just as good as the expensive time with an even better lost and broken replacement plan of course if you lose or break your pair of shady rays even on day one they told us they will send you a brand new pair no question to ask it doesn't make any sense

I have no idea how it works and it seems like magic. But for some reason, this magic curse that they put on my sunglasses has allowed me not to break or lose mine yet, which is some sort of record because by now I guarantee you I would have done that exact thing. So make sure to check out Shady Rays. If you also do not love the pair you get, whether you get them online or get them at their brand new location at Karelin Commons, you can return them for a free pair within 30 days or return them for your money back. There's no risk when you shop. Their team always has your back. And of course, exclusively for our listeners, Shady Raids is giving out their best deal of this season. Go to ShadyRase.com and use code PHNX for 50% off two or more pairs of polarized sunglasses.

Try for yourself the shades rated five stars by over 250,000 people. Is COGS spreading disinformation in our Discord? What happened with Cogs? Connor says, whatever you do, do not believe whenever Cog says gates open. See, this is why we DFA'd Cogs. That's fair. Yeah, I forgot. If you can't provide accurate information to your fellow diehard.

then what are what what do we need you for this is not getting called up to the yeah the way this is you're just causing dissension has anyone put in a waiver claim do we know are we getting him back i don't think so i mean he tried to sell himself to c hgo and dnvr i think they both passed so i think he might be back to the organization so um it'll be interesting to see him in the hallways and how that's going to go it's going to be awkward but uh again uh if you're looking for a way to keep cool while waiting in line anywhere this summer make sure check out our friends at pins and aces they are an official golf apparel part you're partner, a PH and X in All-City. But just because we say that, it doesn't mean it's just for golfers. It's for everybody. They make delightful shirts, delightful polos that are stretchy, they are lightweight, they are comfortable, they are cool, and they are great to wear anywhere even on when you're not on the on the links. So make sure to check out pins and aces.

They are a family-owned golf and apparel business. And again, they make polos, hats, golf bags, and of course, beer sleeves. Again, beer sleeves. They say for golf, doesn't have to be for golf. So all you have to do is be creative. And all of this stuff can apply, whether you're, a golfer or not. So check out pins and aces.com and use code phnx to receive 15% off your first order and you will get free shipping. That's pins and aces.com. Last, we want to thank our friends over

at Foco, which is a leading manufacturer of sports and entertainment merchandise for decorating our set, always giving us wonderful things like these incredible bobbleheads that are not only little tiny works of art, but they're also limited edition. They're numbered. And of course, they are something that you can brag about in your collection that not everybody can have. because they are They said Kendrick has FOCO I bet he does

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For Arizona Sports They have yours too Of course get the best gear around by visiting phoco.com and using code phnx for all non-presale items use the code phnx for 10% off your order uh well that's all we got guys we hope you enjoy your day off without baseball hopefully the diamondbacks can uh even make up some more ground on some of these teams with some losses during their day off uh but you can follow us all on twitter i'm at cap underscore k man with the k damon is at damon dog i've pointed to you as damon but uh i went to damon because

He's been fined $15,000. So we're still Damon's dogs, though, even when we find him. As long as he pays up within two business days. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, I'm going to have to have Johnny and Bo empty out their pockets. Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, someone's responsible. And if it's not you, we want to make sure we blame the correct party.

But you can follow him at Damon Dog. That's DAWG. There at the end, Sean is at Sean underscore to pause. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Our show is at PHNX underscore DBEX. But of course, all roads lead to at pH and X underscore sports. Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Does Jordan Lawler get called up?

Does he? I need a final answer. I need a prediction. Yes. Sean says yes. I say no. Derek says no. I hate fun, apparently.

I feel like this is me taking the under is what I feel like. What do you think that's exactly what it is? Jesse, what do you say? Do I have to answer? You absolutely do. You put us on the spot. And ask that I didn't have to answer. Nope.

I'm going to say that Jordan Lawler does not get called up by the ears. I'm the only one that like set you up. And then I was I'm really right on the edge though. I truly I truly think it's it could go either way. I think it's nearly a 50-50 in my head, whether it does happen or it doesn't. It makes sense for a lot of reasons that we discussed at the top of the show. But it would be bold for the devax in some ways. I mean, you don't necessarily know what you're going to get if you bring up Jordan Lawler.

And, you know, Nick Ahmed has been a big part of this franchise for a long time. And even though he's not playing the way that people would like, you know, letting him go. in the thick of a playoff race, I don't know if that's something the organization wants to do. So we'll see. Well, we thank you again for your time. We appreciate you guys stopping by. And remember, kids, baseball, what happened?

I think Austin Matthews is going to sign an extension with the Maple Leafs. Take that over to the goddamn coyote show. What are you doing right now? My God. That's a worst case scenario. First, he's talking about a show hey, Otani injury. That's already irrelevant.

That is, worst case scenario for Arizona sports fans. I want my sashback. I feel like I got the raw. into this trade. I really do. We have the coyote's jersey in the background. Yeah, this is all bad. I don't like any of this, but anyway. A sticker that you can buy it.

Yeah, we're going to need to tighten things up around here. But again, we thank you for your time. And remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you call up your number one prospect.