PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Zac Gallen is snubbed for the NL Cy Young and Trea Turner is sending out free agency sizzle reels

Episode Date: November 8, 2022

Day two of the MLB offseason continues the free agency frenzy with more big name players opting out. It also gave us the finalists for MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year in both leagues, and we’re talking about Zac Gallen and the D-backs once again snubbed during AWARD SZN.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: The holiday season is around the corner. Head to https://phnxlocker.com/ to give the gift of some sweet merch. Your favorite PHNX t-shirt, hat, even gift cards are all available to purchase. Better yet, purchase an annual PHNX membership and receive a free PHNX tee for free! 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.Four Peaks: We are teaming up with Four Peaks to host all US and Mexico World Cup matches at their 8th Street Pub. Enjoy beer specials, giveaways, guest appearances, and more while watching on their 22’ jumbo screen. Click here to register for free: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/phnx-2022-world-cup-watch-parties-1329339Enter 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 “PHNXSPORTS” to take 15% off your next Bad Birdie order! https://glnk.io/7qnq/phnx-sportsMor Furniture: Sit in the same seats we do! Check out https://morfurniture.comUnderdog 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 $100Liquid 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. 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.

The off season is here. Hello and welcome to another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I'm your mayor, PHNX. This guy is my vice mayor. He's also your thunder stick, the one and only Jesse Friedman. No more baseball, Derek. It's terrible.

We hate it. We don't like it. We only have a little bit of fall baseball left. We don't even like that. We want more of that. We need more of that. But, of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the draft King Sportsbook app, America's top-rated sportsbook app.

Hello to our friend Charles Woodall Pike. It was great to see you, my friend, this weekend out on left field at Sloan Park for the Arizona Fall League. Charles is a true PHNX faithful. Oh, he's the best. He is. I don't, I need to know if you actually watch any other shows or any other programs. I don't think he has any time.

I think Charles just consumes all PHNX content and somehow he's content with that and doesn't feel like he needs any other entertainment in his life. What else do you mean? I like to think we're entertaining enough out here. We are. So that you don't really need anything else in your life. We're not on all the time, right? There's sometimes where we're not on.

And speaking of that, once the Arizona fall league season ends actually next week, we are going to return to our 1 p.m. time slot. So we hope that makes it easier for some of you guys to catch us. Look for us then next week. So that's where we will be. But of course, we're not talking about next week. We're talking about this week because it was opt in, opt out season. Excuse me, opt-out season yesterday.

We got the remaining free agencies for Major League Baseball. The list contained an Arizona Diamondback this time. Arizona Diamondback's pitcher Zach Davies has opted out as expected and will become a free agent or technically has become a free agent. This will be one of the most robust free agency seasons that we've seen, right, Jesse? A lot of big names on the market versus what we saw last off season. I mean, Aaron Judge and right, Jacob de Grom opted out. and there's some big games out there, right? So yeah, I think it's going to be fun.

It's going to be a fun winter. It should be much better than last year for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that we don't anticipate a lockout happening this offseason, which should make the off season substantially more interesting. I don't put that out there in the universe. Of course we're not expecting that. I don't know because like, what was it, 11 months ago, the baseball universe shut down. And I just, I don't know.

Now that it's over, we can look back and say, like, hey, I'm glad we're not in that situation anymore. That's very true. That's very true. But yeah, it should be a fun off season. No surprises with Zach Davies opting out. Josh Hunts is Zach Davies winning the Sottian next year with the Dodgers, no doubt. What are you doing?

I don't know if that certainly wasn't a surprise. Zach Davies opting out is something that our good friend Evan Thompson had reported a few weeks back. There's no surprises there. I think it was easy to see that coming. from miles away. I believe his option for next year is for $1.5 million. And given then Zach Davies pitched to a round of four ERA and was reasonably durable for the Diamondbacks this season, I know he had some incentives in his contract,

and I think he wound up making a little bit more money because of that. But next year, he's worth more than that, right? He's still reasonably young. And outside of his 2021 season with the Cubs, Zach Davies has been a pretty productive pitcher throughout basically his entire career. So he's just worth more than 1.5 and no surprises there.

It's possible we could still see him in a Debex uniform. It's possible, but not likely. I think the Arizona Diamondbacks do have other options. And I mean, like you said, he was good for this team this season, right? Free agency is much like this beer right here, right? This beer was in the refrigerator.

Look at it. It's all dented in. It looks like it might have been opened a little bit already, whatever, right? See, this beer didn't have a lot value to a lot of people. They bypass this beer, but to me, this beer has value. I love beer. And whether they're dented in or not, I'm still going to drink it. This might explode all over the place. I don't know. Might have no carbonation at all. This might be the grossest beer I've

ever drank. See, that's what you get sometimes when you pick up a Zach Davies, right? You don't know what it's going to be. Is it going to be the dented in thing that was with the Cubs or is it going to be a beer that? I think the analogy is complete, but like. It's very flat. It's a very disgusting beer. I failed in free agency when it came to acquiring this beer. That's, and that's what can happen with you. Yeah. But that's why I have two beers. See, so now this one sucks and it's going to go over there and probably in the drain. Now I'm going to drink this one. So hopefully this free agent I picked up works out better for me, right? So do you have like a player comp for each of those beers? Oh yeah. There's definitely an incentive-based contract with both of the beer and that one is not

going to make the cut. But I'll tell you somebody who is going to make the cut. Trey Turner, who is is a free agent. Not only is hitting the free agent market as a big name, but he is hitting it in a spectacular way with a sizzle reel sent out by his agency, CAA, creative artists, art agency, creative artist industry agency. I don't know. But anyway, it's too creative, right? They sent out a sizzle reel narrated by John Hamm to teams. Every team in baseball got this sizzle reel. And they really are trying to make him stand out, I think, because, of obviously how robust this particular free agency class is. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. How do you feel about this? Like sending out a sizzle real. It's kind of ridiculous.

I don't know. I don't know. It feels like kind of a reach like you're trying a little bit too hard. It kind of gets like, like, oh, Tray Turner might not get what we want him to get in free agency. So let's go out there and send them, send everyone this video, like do as much marketing as we can. Watch games.

I don't know. Like, you have scouts. You know what Tray Turner could do. You can look at his numbers and his war. There's no reason to send this out. It seems like the kind of thing that would maybe appeal to fans more than anything else. This is a very L.A. thing to do.

This is a very Los Angeles, Hollywood-produced thing that, like, again, an agency that probably has a lot of actors also under it as well. Thought would help his free agency. I don't know. We're talking about it, right? We're not talking about Aaron Judges' sizzle reel, but I'm just saying. But you and I aren't in a position to actually give the players these money. that they want. I don't know, though.

The target audience is not us. At least it shouldn't be. This is what's happening in offices all around Major League Baseball. You see that trade tournament before we go. It's happening, Jesse. Whether it's a big deal or not, it's happening. I don't know, but there are a number of free agents or players that opted out to become free agents on day two, which would be yesterday.

Zander Bogartz, Carlos Correa, Nelson Gruz, Jacob deGrom, Drickson Profar, Carlos Rodon, Robert Suarez, and Taiwan-Walker all opted out yesterday. A lot of names from the NL West there, right? So that could be good to see them move on potentially out of the NL West, or the one question I was going to ask you was, do we think we see any of these names potentially land in Arizona? Probably not. I think Robert Suarez is interesting.

He had a really, really good year for the Padres. Great story, international signing for them. And he really was spectacular this year for San Diego. We saw him in the postseason pitch really, really well. So he would be the one name I'm interested in I do think he's going to get a pretty decent contract just based on how good he was this season So he might be priced out of where the diamondbacks are really looking

What the diamond backs are really looking to spend But yeah, I don't think you're going to see Carlos Rodon sign with the diamond backs I don't think most of those names I just don't think it would make sense for them What about Kenley Jensen? No no no I mean isn't Kenley-Rodon? Isn't Kenley Jansen like kind of sort of another Mark Malanson in some ways?

That's why it seems like a perfect fit for this team to be disappointing. I would say, I think he's a step above just in terms of, I mean, like, the career that he's had and the dominance that he's had at times. Mark Malanson's had some great years too. I think I would put Kenley Jansen in a tier higher than that. And he's coming off a good year, right? He had 41 saves for the Braves. He had a 3.380 RA, so he was good. But again, you're going to be paying a lot for that just because of how big of a name he is.

You're going to be paying more than you paid Mark Melanson. And I think the Diamondbacks are targeting velocity. That's a big thing that they're targeting here. And that's not, Kenley Jansen is not really a guy who fits that mold at this stage of his career. He doesn't throw upper 90s. He doesn't touch 100 miles an hour at this point. So I would be pretty surprised if that's something that they consider. I think the reason why is because, again, the Arizona Diamondbacks don't seem very poised to do much in the free agent market.

And it's one of those times where I don't hold it against them, right? This is going to be a crazy free agency period. And people are going to get paid a tremendous amount more probably than their worth. I mean, that's what free agency is, right? No, but I mean, like especially this year because, you know, there's going to be teams that are going to have money set aside to try to win over. a big name free agent. They're inevitably not going to get that person to sign. And then they're just going to want to outbid somebody for one of the top three agents.

It's just the way, like you said, it's the way it goes every year. But I don't want the Diamondbacks to get caught up in that because I don't feel like 2023 is necessarily their season to add that big name and get over that hump. Sure. I still feel like 2024 might line up a little bit better or 2025, of course, as we've discussed, is their World Series season. Brett Lee Johnson is convinced 2025 World Series champion Arizona. He's not wrong about that.

He's not wrong about that. But it does go back to the whole thing of like if you're not going to contend, why spend a ton of money on somebody, especially like, you know, bring on another contract the size of Madison Bumgarteners when you're not ready to be at that point yet. That's just entirely out of the question. The Diamondbacks aren't going to give someone a four or five-year contract. There's just no way that that happens.

It was interesting. It's not the winter meetings yet, but the GM meetings are happening right now. I believe in Las Vegas. And Nick Picoro over the years in the Republic wrote a story earlier. He talked with Mike Hazen about some of his thoughts going into that. I think that story published earlier today. And Mike Hazen said a lot of the same things that we've already heard. So there wasn't necessarily a whole lot of new information.

But he said that he comes. kind of feels like he wants to win, right? Like Mike Hazen is really tired of losing. He said on the last day of media availability that he wants to not be the young team. He doesn't just want to be the young team. He wants to be the winning team. And so at this stage, the Diamondbacks are in a position where they want to take that next step. But it seems like Mike Hazen is also kind of pulling back and saying like, yes, I'm deep down.

I want to be aggressive this offseason. but I also know that that can be hurtful at times. He pointed specifically to when the Diamondbacks went and got Starling Marte and traded two very good prospects at the time in Leover-Puguerro and Brennan Malone, who are still pretty decent prospects at this point. And it didn't really work out for the debacks in some way. Starling Marte was a great player, but the Diamondbacks wound up not being nearly as good as they thought they were going to be.

And then they traded Starling Marte for penny on the dollars after that. I think Mike Hazen does want to be aggressive. And from what he said, it sounds like he's going to go in with an aggressive mindset. But he also is wary of some of the mistakes that have been made in the past, not just in his regime, but the Diamondbacks franchise as a whole has this narrative of like pushing in the chips a little bit too much at times when the team wasn't really ready. So we'll have to see what the approach looks like. Michael said also have to feel like Mike Hazen is thinking like a man with his job on the line.

No, I don't know. I don't think so. I don't think so. I also don't think that that's a priority to him at this point. I mean, I think Mike Hazen has had a tremendously hard year. He's probably dealt with probably the most difficult year of his entire life. Yeah. So I doubt at this point that, you know, feeling like his job was on the line is something that's going to make him, I guess, do something desperate to win or do something that.

it's going to like swing for the fences as far as a free agency acquisition or something like that. Yeah. But I don't know. Ben said earlier in the comments, what do we feel about Tyler Anderson? I feel like he's kind of underrated. Tyler Anderson's an incredible pitcher. And I don't think that the Dodgers are going to let him go very easily either. But yeah, I mean.

He's going to get paid. He's going to get paid no matter what. Yeah. I don't know. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the Dodgers let him go in some ways. That's kind of part of their approach is like go get guys on the cheap. And then once they become free agents, then potentially let them walk. We'll have to see what happens there.

But going back to Hazen, I do think he's like, I don't think there's much leash left. Like I don't want to make it sound like Mike Hazen is, you know, has done such a good job. But there's no way that the Diamondbacks would possibly consider moving on from him in the next year or two. I don't think he's at that point. He said earlier during the season that we don't have. have any bulligans left, talking about him and Tori Lavello, them kind of being this GM manager duo that came into the organization back in 2016. So, yeah, I don't want to make it sound like Mike Hazen's job is super, super safe.

But I also don't think it's like, you know, win 85 games next year or you're out. I think the debacks are too well positioned for the future. They have too many young assets to possibly look at this organization as like an all-out failure right now. We were just talking yesterday about the D-backs being like possibly the most promising franchise in Arizona sports right now just because of how bright the future is and how exciting some of their young players are. Matt Cuff in the comments said Dodgers have said in some pressers.

They believe the farm is coming up sooner rather than later. Probably won't see a ton of big money moves from them unless that's posturing. Could be posturing. They have the money to spend it at any point. So that's one thing that they're never going to shy away from being in the in the talks for somebody, there's a good chance that they replace Trey Turner with Carlos Correa.

So it's not like they're going to downgrade if they lose a big player. Maybe they see something more in Carlos Korea. I don't know. Trey Turner has been incredible. And maybe his asking price is just going to be too high for the Dodgers at this point where they might be able to get Carlos Correa

a bit cheaper. I also think that the Dodgers haven't really had that much success with spending all the money. money on the big free agents. Don't get me wrong, they've acquired some amazing guys, and they've definitely decided to make Mooky Betts and Freddie Freeman a part of their, you know, of their system going forward. But there was that story that came out about Freddie Freeman, you know, kind of text messaging his team and such about like just kind of letting people down. And like,

it's kind of crazy because Freddie Freeman has been an incredible baseball player. And I think that even when you get to a team like the Dodgers, sometimes you're such a superstar like him and mokey bets are, that even though it should be kind of spread out amongst everybody on the team, you do carry the weight of it on your shoulders because everybody's looking at you still as the best guy on one of the best teams, right? That's a lot of pressure. And I can understand where he's coming from, but it's also completely not necessary because Freddie Freeman is an incredible person and a baseball player. I think he's just going through a lot with the move from Atlanta to the Dodgers, and there's just a lot of emotions involved in that, you know? Right. But of course,

This guy next to me is going to keep you updated on all of the free agency goings-on with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Can I give a little article preview? Please do. Yeah. So I spoke with Jordan Lawler yesterday. That's right. In an interview I did and you won't find this interview anywhere else. So that should be up today or tomorrow.

So be on the lookout for that. There you go. Get that. If you don't have a membership already, go get a membership over at go phnx.com. You can get an annual membership and you'll get a free t-shirt over at the PHNX Locker.com. like this good boy Cody behind me. You can get whatever shirt you want. You also get yourself a discount over at the PHNX Locker as a member,

either as an annual member or the month-to-month membership. Month-to-month members will get their first month for just 50 cents. And regardless of your membership status, you will get members-only access to our Discord, which is the best place to be an Arizona sports fan, as well as members-only access or invites to our events, special things we got going on, all sorts of calendar stuff. We're always having fun around here.

Home Run Derby was a block. by the way. I want to give a shout out to everybody. Chris, Gabriel, our friend Charles Woodall Pike, everybody that came out. It was great to see you guys. And I hope we can do more stuff like that together. So make sure to join us. Also, if you're watching right now on the PHNX Sports YouTube channel, make sure to subscribe. Like this video. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when any of our wonderful shows go live. And of course, if you're listening to us on your favorite audio podcasting app, be sure to subscribe to us there as well and leave us a review. We thank you so much for it. Your reviews to us are our awards. Your five-star reviews every time feel like we got a Sy Young Award. Like we didn't get snubbed for a Cy Young Award. And you know where I'm going with this. But award season is here also, just like the opt-out season is here. MLB released their finalists for MVP, manager of the year, rookie of the year, and of course,

Sy Young. And there was no Zach Gallen on the Cy Young finalist list. The NL. Sa Young is Sandy Alcantara, Max Fried, and Julio Urius. Jesse. Are you surprised? Are you surprised? Did you think Zach Allen would be in there? I did. Okay. I did. Did you? I was very, I was probably like 40, 60. Like 40% yes, 60% no. Okay. Because the competition is just really, is really good.

Sandy Alcantra is going to win. There's no question about that. but the two to five range in the Syung situation in the National League is just like it's almost a matter of like personal preference. And looking at the numbers, I don't see. I see like there are cases to be made for Zach Allen to be second or third. But I have a hard time saying he should have been second or third necessarily. I didn't think he was going to win it either. And that's the big problem. He definitely wasn't going to win.

It's like really just like being mad about not being invited to the parade. To the party. There is something about being a finalist. It's like, you know, you're in the top three. And like you said, I can't be mad about the other finalists because they're all excellent pitchers. They're all well qualified to be there. And to be honest, they all finished higher than Zach Gallen in a lot of categories. So it's not like Zach Gallen finished in fourth just outside of those three guys.

there's only three finalists announced, but it's just still frustrating. However, there's a silver lining to this cloud. Oh. That is that without him being a finalist, Zach Gallen's value remains just a little bit lower. That's what Brian just said. Yeah, where is he? Hopefully that lowers. Brian, you and me, buddy.

That's exactly where I was at. You think that Scott Boris is going to like ease off in contract negotiations? You're right. He didn't finish a Salli Young finalist. We'll back off another few million for year. I do not think Scott Boris will ever back off of anything in his life, right? But it's like if Scott Boris is shooting a gun at you, wouldn't you rather he had five bullets instead of six?

I'm just saying it's just one less thing. It's one less bullet in the chamber. That's one of the best analogies. I'm just saying. I mean, Scott Boris is a very good shot, so you're dead anyway. But it doesn't matter. I'm just saying it's like Brian Abdullah says it's a 1% discount whatever it is it just if he won the si young it would be it would just add incredible value to him you know what I mean so it's like

each little less achievement at least makes it a little easier for the diamondbacks to hopefully sign him to a long-term deal which is my goal right I think he deserves to be paid regardless I just think the higher that his value goes the less likely it is that the diamondbacks are the team that give him that big contract. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, I mean, looking at the numbers, like, so like we said, San Diego Ocantor is the clear front runner here.

I mean, he had a 228 ERA, and he threw almost 229 innings, which just blows everyone else completely away. Julio Ureis led the National League in ERA. He had a 2-16 ERA when all was said and done. God, he had an incredible part, but didn't he have like a sub 1 ERA for a while or like right around? He was so good down the stretch,

down the stretch of the season. So when I wrote an R. article about Zach Allen's Cy Young chances. I kind of had Eureas on the periphery of the conversation. This was like a month before the season ended. And then Euryas just like shove the rest of the year. I mean, he like hardly gave up

a run in his last few starts. And yeah, I mean, Zach Gallin, a 254 ERA is really good. But it is higher than freed Alcantara and Eureas. But yeah, Urius had such a low ERA. You can't really make a case he shouldn't be in there.

I mean, I think everybody things Sandy Alcantra is like far and away the favorite right. Ocantra is the favorite. Urius had a 216 ERA. He's got to be in there, right? He led the league in ERA plus. And then Max Fried, if you do like a number by number comparison with Zach Gallen,

he just inches out Zach Gallen. Like not by much, but just like a little bit in almost everything. And so I like. I think Ben hit the one category that Zach Gallin still has a little whip and right batting every day. That's the argument you're making. He doesn't walk and he doesn't give up too many hits.

Right. That's the argument for Gowan, but at the end of the day, that's just two metrics, right? And if you do a more wholesome comparison, I think it's justified that Max Fried finishes ahead of him just by a little bit. The wildest thing for me is if you remove about five innings of Zach Gallon's season, his numbers probably like plummet. And he puts him right in the category for one of the best pitchers, right? There were just a couple of games. Like if you remove the bad stuff. I'm just saying because there were, and most of them were just like the end of an outing, right?

You know, where he was. Some of those crooked numbers. He was perfect so long up until, you know, the sixth or the fifth, right? Those, and I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to say anything. It's much like the Diamondback season, right? If there were some bullpen losses you could take out, this season, the complexion of the season is completely different, right? You talk about 40 losses by the bullpen. You take 10 of those and add them to wins.

And this Diamondback season is incredible by comparison, right? Gallen had a couple of those outings that really made his ERA go up, you know, really where a lot of his, a lot of the bad numbers are just, like, compounded to a very few amount of innings that he actually pitched. So let's just pretend that May 24th didn't happen. So he pitched five and a third innings. He gave up six runs against the Royal. Let's just nix that one. Okay.

Is that sort of what you're saying? Let's just like pretend. Let's just take his worst outing. I was talking about, did the five runs all get charged to him in the sixth inning? Is that what you're talking about? Three runs. Three runs in the sixth inning. But you're right.

There were a lot of starts for him throughout the year where it was like so good for five innings. Yeah. And then like the six. The six thing fell apart. Yeah. And he'd been able to avoid a couple of those. And he got better as the season went on, which is encouraging, right? That's what you want to see is his ability to last.

longer and also not fall apart there at the end of his outing, right? But I'm just saying numbers wise, there were a lot of runs given up in the sixth inning by Zach Gallen and a lot of his outings this season. I mean, removed, it would be completely wildly different. The fact that we're even talking about this, like a year ago, Zach Gallen had an ER over four and had, and was on the injured list three times. And, you know, everyone's hoping Brent Strom can kind of help him get back on track. And boy, my goodness did that.

That big folder full of Zach Gallin facts that he brought with him to that first meeting ended up paying off. That's really the takeaway here at the end of the day. I know it's disappointing not to see him being a finalist, and there are still viable cases to be made that maybe he should have been. Not that particularly convinced me personally. But yeah, the point is the man had an insanely good season. And he's one of the best pitchers in the National League. He's one of the best pitchers in baseball. The Diamondbacks have him for three more years at least, and they need to make the most of it

because they haven't had a pitcher of his caliber in a while. Like he might be better than what Zach Granky was when when Granky was here during his best years. So it's a great development for the Diamondbacks no matter what way you look at it. As a matter of fact, these two beers are an excellent metaphor for the gallon adding, right? Like I'm almost done with this beer, right? But we're not done with the show yet. and I want to drink more beer, and I know I have to go to the bullpen here, but I already know, I already know this beer sucks, Jesse.

I know that. I've tried this beer before. It did earlier in the show. I know it's going to suck, but I'm still going to drink it. The Cardinals, by the way, you want to talk about embarrassment of riches, have not one but two MVP finalists for the National League MVP, both Paul Goldschmidt, who you may know, at Nolan Aeronado, who I definitely know you know,

our finalist for the MVP. Is that just completely unfair? Jesse, is it, is it unreasonably unfair? It's pretty impressive. And Aeronado resigned with the Cardinals. Yeah, that's another thing. Yeah, he opted in. It's pretty wild what the Cardinals have going on at first base and third base right now.

Like their corner infielders are insane. No other team in the league can even remotely compare with what they have going on there. So I don't know who's going to win. this. I think Paul Goldschmidt probably still has the upper hand here. What did Josh say? Josh said, imagine Derek being a math teacher and you just use an entire palette of beer cans as his lesson. I would. Go ahead. That's why my former employer won't be hiring you anytime soon. I applied anyway. Yeah. I want to say that Paul Goldschmidt is still the frontrunner here, but it's not by much. according to fan graphs, wins above replacement, Nolan Aeronado has Goldie slightly.

He has 7.3 to Goldschmidt 7.1. Mani Machado actually leads the National League with 7.4. He's certainly in this race as well. I think ultimately, Goldie's offensive numbers will carry him to the victory. Mani Machado and Nolan Aeronado are getting a lot of that wins above replacement value from their defense and from positional adjustments of being third baseman rather than first baseman. but it's really close. I mean, you could make a case for any of these guys, really.

If Shohei Otani isn't the American League MVP, what are we even doing here, Jesse? Oh, here we go. I mean, what are we even doing here? What's the point of life? I don't think that many people agree with that take. I fucking hate those people. Okay. Give us your, I.

What, what? Give us your what? Give us your what? I am. The man nearly led the league in home runs and ERA. You mean he was like a top five? hitter and a top five pitcher is that what you're saying yeah yeah true fair uh okay but on the other hand like it's interesting the athletic did this article at the beginning of october where they asked a bunch of former mvps so guys who have won this award in the past who would you pick

for the american league MVP award almost all of them say erin judge no almost all of them no and i agree like it's wild right like if you want to talk about a player, like what could be more valuable than a guy who does both, like who is not only a top five pitcher, but is also a top five hitter, arguably. Maybe the volume isn't quite there for him to quite take on that status, but he's at least close in terms of like how many home runs he's hitting and how many plate appearances he's had. I mean, the numbers are insane. So it's hard to say. I would lean Aaron Judge. I would probably lean Aaron Judge.

But I don't feel that strong enough at it. Josh said has MVP equals many home runs good. Yeah, I know. Shut up, Josh. I hate all of you. Shohei Otani is just a once-in-a-generation talent. I don't know. Are you going to give it to him every year?

Every single year. Every single year he performs this well, both in hitting and pitching, yes. Yes, if you're going to perform, you're going to be a top-five pitcher and a top-five hitter, then yes. I'm going to give it to you every year. I think voters get bored of like voting for the same guys over and over and over again. I'm sure they felt like that about Michael Jordan, but shit doesn't change. It doesn't make a difference. The only difference there is that Otani isn't on a winning team.

And I think that that is such a big factor. That's a big factor. When you talk about the most valuable player, what value are you adding to your team? Well, to be fair, Otani adds a ton of value. The angels just suck. However, the angels were in first place for a period of time this season over. the Houston Astro, which is saying, the angels also have to invest a lot of money in keeping Otani, right, inevitably.

So thus, that also challenges their ability to put a roster around him that could be a winning roster, right? So it really, it makes it hard because he is such an incredibly valuable player, and there are so many teams in the league that would pay out the nose for him to come be a part of their roster. That will. That will. That will.

That will pay out of the nose. Within the next few months. Will, yes. Talk about his agent. Talk about Scott Boris. Talk about an agent, you know, rubbing their hands together. I'm sure Otani's agent is on fire right now, waiting for that. So this is what Mookie Betts said about this.

He said it's all subjective, really. But for me, I would say the best player and the most valuable player are two different things. I mean, nobody can argue that Otani isn't the best player. Nobody does that. He's hitting, going two for four, two for five with homers and RBIs and then throwing eight innings. You know what I'm saying? He's the only one that can do that. But most valuable player is most valuable to your team,

and nobody can really argue what Judge is doing, kind of carrying his team to the playoffs. So that's two completely different things in my mind. Yeah, if I had to vote, it would be Judge. That's the words of Mickey Betz. I don't care what Mookie Betz says. Get out of your room. Shoyotani, your AL MVP in my mind, at least, in my heart.

By the way, we've talked about this. Of course, our friends at OGs and us here at PHN, Thanks, thanks to my negotiating, have come to agreement on a new deal. You're the one who negotiated that. Well, I, okay, here's the thing is as a mayor, my job is to be diplomatic and get two sides talking. And to be honest, it was mostly about, you know, my favorite strains and doses that OGs has to offer my favorite flavors. But, Jesse, I was strategically aligning us in a way where those conversations would happen, which is what a good mayor does. A good mayor makes it not really look at.

like he's working even though he's busting his ass. And that is this guy over here. But of course, we thank our friends at OGs. We're so excited for our new deal with them. And of course, make sure to try their wonderful selection of OGs gummies, especially their sleep edition gummy in Aquaberry. Thanks to Aquaman for that, by the way. They are a wonderful blend of THC and CBN, which is a compound that helps you not only fall asleep, but stay asleep. So check them out at your local dispensary. You must be 21 years or older to enjoy. Find them online at OGsbrands.com or on Instagram at OGs brands. And also, draft kings helping you win money, helping me win money this weekend,

betting against the Cardinals reluctantly, but still I made my $100. Unfortunately, it's become a pretty good strategy. Unfortunately, it's much like the coyotes. It's probably what you should be doing. Just because your team loses doesn't mean you need to. New customers can make any $5 NBA money line bet. Speaking of losing, what the hell is with the sons, brother? Yeah, that was rough last night.

That was rough, but I can't even tell you to bet on them right now, but you make your decision over at Drafking Sportsbook. If you get your money line bet, you win it. You'll get $200 in free bets instantly. You can also boost your winnings up to 100% with Draft King's stepped up, same game parlayes. It's this simple. Download the Draft King's Sportsbook app, wherever you get your apps. Use promo code PHNX and get your $200 in free bets.

Should your $5 NBA Money Line bet win, that's promo code PHNX on the DraftKing Sportsbook. Book app minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. Yesterday was a celebratory day for the Houston Astros, Jesse. They celebrated their World Series parade, 21 years to the day of Arizona's only championship parade. And of course, you know who brought you that. We did.

Wait. Yeah, it was, it was me, right? Yeah. We did that. But of course, there was a lot of talk about the crowd in Houston that was in attendance. mostly Phillies fans trying to, you know, stomp on the Astros joy. There was, Phillies fans aren't going to long forget what happened in this World Series. And I think the Astros are going to be very high on their list for, you know, a long time.

But according to reports, there was over a million people in attendance to the Houston Astros parade. It's wild. Their chant that I didn't understand was the We Want Houston chant, which Jesse kind of enlightened me about, where it was Yankees fans apparently chanting, we want Houston after they won their division series. It sort of became a rally cry for Astros fans. It wasn't a good. That's not a good, that's not a good look, right?

Like in our group chat at work, Bo Brack is facing Chirsten Sousel. And for, did I get it right? No. No, no, no. Every time you say her last name, I have to correct you. It's Sussle. No, it's not Sussle.

It's not Sussle. It's not Sussle. Sucon. Sousal. Sucon. Seussle. Yeah, I know. Anyway, there's the thing is that... She was on TV. Like, come there.

They're fighting for last place in our league. And of course, Bobrak had to talk trash about Chirston prior to the game being over as they were facing each other. And Chirston won at the last minute. Of course, the trash talking might have been a big reason why he lost just if you believe in karma. If you're a karma believer. And that might have been what happened to the Yankees here. So the Astros fans have turned there. We want Houston.

chant into their own rally call, which they have enjoyed not only through the World Series, but I've seen World Series winner shirts with WeWaWont in Houston on them and such. They're really taking this to the extreme. But of course, they also recreated their hat returning video that went viral in 2017 when they won their last World Series. This is them returning a hat. You'll see it here in a minute. There it is.

There's the hat going up. Going up, it's probably like level three right now, a level four. Jesse, what are your thoughts on this being part of the celebration? The returning the hat to the guy on the top level at a parking garage being a tradition. Odd. It's a weird tradition. It's a weird tradition. Like it happened and it was cool, but now you're kind of making it into something else maybe.

Am I am I am I? Am I raining on people's parade literally right now with this? Wait, so explain this again to me. exactly is happening. So in the 2017 World Series, a man that was up on the higher level dropped his hat down and the fans, which are all united because they're all Houston Astros fans and they're having themselves a good time, decided to help return the man's hat by throwing it up, level the level until it reached that person back on the top level. So thus in this video, what you are seeing is a recreation of that event. They did it again in honor of that and they'll do it every

world series, I guess. It sounds like potentially dangerous. Like, you kind of like leaning out in a part, like on the seventh floor of an apartment of like parking complex. Like trying to catch the hat. I thought nobody falls over. I was fucking raining on their parade. Oh my God. Well, you're on safety OSHA violations with this? I just, I don't know.

I was not expecting that. I would be awfully cautious if I were doing that. I would definitely be watching. I would not be up there. You're just tossing it up and catching it. You're just leaning over and catching it. Is that really that dangerous? I mean, I guess it depends on who you.

are now you're making me feel bad now you're making me feel bad but here's the thing is at least when we celebrated our parade then agrees with me there was no but no stop ben don't don't don't it's like semi like it's not crazy crazy but it's semi dangerous like you would have to lean out a pretty decent ways in order to be able to like see the person above you I never want to and then like to a strip club with you ever you're never going to let me have any fun at a strip club if we went to one together I just know it right now uh of course here we did say that of course this parade took place 21 years to the day of Arizona's only championship parade. God, I hate saying that.

Wasn't it like, obviously I was way too young to actually be present for this moment? Wasn't it like really hot outside? Yeah, it was very hot. Yes, it was tremendous. Even though it was November, I remember people have told me about it being like 100 degrees or something ridiculous that day. This past weekend, it was like 60 degrees. And apparently a year ago today, it was like 96.

So yes, it can be very hot still in November. was on this day. There were a lot of people downtown Jesse. Yeah. That is a lot of people on Jefferson, and I love seeing that. That's not First Friday, by the way, you guys. That's actually a shot of the World Series parade, believe it or not, even though the two events look very similar. This was an incredible showing by Arizona sports fans. And honestly, one of my biggest regrets was not attending this parade. I did not go. I had work, and I tried everything I could to get out of it. And my boss, who was a veterinarian and an evil Disney villain. Absolutely.

And you know what the wildest thing is we had season fucking tickets together, me and that guy. And he still didn't let me go to the parade. You would think that you'd let somebody go to the parade. I know people like kind of joke about that a lot. Like their sports teams, you know, writing letters on social media that you can give to your employer. Houston closed schools. They closed the schools yesterday. So the kids could tell us out.

That's what you fucking do. You close the school. If you win a championship in any of the major American sports, that's what you do. That's what you do. Nobody has to work. Nobody has to go to school. That's the way that it should be. Josh Hunt says I tried going, but I wasn't born yet, unfortunately.

Get him the fuck out of here. Can we boot him from the chat? I don't want to hear any more of this talk of not. I did not realize Josh was that young. I'm sure. I didn't either. He wasn't born for the 2001? I mean, I was five, to be fair, and I didn't live in Arizona.

How old are you, Josh? I don't believe you. I want to see your idea. Josh, like, is he like in high school? Are you like? What are you? What are you? Well, he would have to be 21 or younger now.

Yeah, he's a baby. All right. Well, I don't believe that because I'm pretty sure I've had shots with that guy, but I could be wrong about it. I don't want to say that publicly now because I have no idea how old he is. Over 300,000 fans were in attendance to that parade, by the way. The Phoenix Fire Department actually named a fire truck, the big unit that day. Yeah, that's great.

It permanently stuck, by the way. It wasn't just like a one-day thing. That fire engine was forever known as the big unit, and Randy Johnson did ride on it in the parade. But I guess my unfortunate question is how long until we get to feel this feeling again? How long until we're out there in the streets right outside of this office, Jesse, throwing streamers and celebrating. Naming fire trucks, all the tools.

Oh, see, Josh, doesn't even know how old he is. Josh, get the, again, boot Josh from the check. I'm tired of this. He's 27. But yeah. Josh, you were definitely alive for the World Series straight. Come on. Come on. But, okay. How long do you think?

And do you think that the Diamondbacks will be the team that brings us that joy? You haven't answered my question. Are we naming the fire truck all the tools? Is that what we would name it? No. No? No. The fire truck would probably be like the Melcoman or something like that, right?

Okay. Right. I'm getting a Zach Gallin leading us to victory kind of on. Sure, sure, fair enough. Maybe the young king. I'd like a fire truck named the Young King. The Risp King. The Risp King.

Championship season, SCN. SZN. There you go. I like it. Okay, I'll actually answer your question now. How long until we have a parade? And will it be the D-BACs bringing it to us? Oh, you're talking to is Arizona Sports.

Arizona Sports Parade. Will it be the sons bringing it to us? I think it's generally like, I don't know. I think the Sons is the safest bet right now because the Sons were in the NBA finals two years ago. And had they not flopped in horrific fashion a year ago, they probably should have been again. And this year, there's still a pretty darn good team. Hold on. Ben says these names are terrible.

Derek, I'm sorry. You know what? I don't like the name Ben. How do you feel about that? Sorry. So needlessly rude. Is it? Is it?

Yeah. But he says Suds are more likely. Yeah. Yeah. Like you're going to, even though I personally. and this pains me to say, I don't think the Sons are going to win a championship in the next few years.

I don't think it's going to happen. But at the same time, I still have to bet on the Sons as being more likely than a team like, the Diamondbacks that as of right now is still only coming off a 74-win season, right? Like they're not exactly getting warm when it comes to championship aspirations at this point.

So it's an impossible question to answer, frankly. But if you're pointing a gun to my head and saying I have to pick a team, it would be the Sons. Yeah, all right. There you go. Hey, luckily, it's Scott Boris's government. It only has five bullets instead of six.

Shout out to our friends at Four Peaks, of course. I'm drinking all of these beers, whether they're dented in and have no carbonation or not. That's not four peaks' fault. I'm blaming someone around this fucking office. Yeah. Yeah, that's for sure. Should we add that to the list of the unwritten rules? Yeah.

Don't fucking crack a beer just a little bit and then put it back in the fridge. Once you've done that, you have to drink it. And that's the rules. Was it not sealed? Let's not worry about that. It's not worry about if it was sealed or not because maybe it wasn't. Maybe I'm just drinking an unsealed beer that someone opened and put back in the fridge. I don't know, Jesse, but I would never blame Four Pigs because they give us the wonderful Joy Bus Wow wheat and all their variety.

We're also teaming up with them to host all of our U.S. and Mexico World Cup matches at their 8th Street Pub. Of course, the A.S. Pub is the best place to be. It's the best place to get chicken tenders. Also, enjoy beer specials, giveaways, guest appearances, and so much more. Check the link in the show notes to register for free. That way we have an idea of how many people are going to come. Four Peaks, I don't know if you've been to the East Street Pub, but it's a little, it can get pretty crowded pretty fast. So make sure to register if you're going to join us. Must be 21 years or older to enjoy their beer and enjoy responsibly. Also, shout out to our friend's Underdog Fantasy. If you haven't downloaded that

at make sure to grab it. Underdog Fantasy is bringing you all of the fantasy pick-um plays and fantasy draft. You can do with your friends. You can do with all sorts of people to make yourself some money too. Use your knowledge just like I did win yourself a thousand dollars by picking higher or lower on individual performances over at Underdog Fantasy and you could turn yourself into an overdog as Jesse would say. Hey, Jesse likes that. It's a stupid. I shouldn't encourage him either. It's a word. It's in the dictionary. Oh, I don't believe. We did this. We did this.

We did this while you were out, actually, it was me and Jacob. And I showed him. We put it on the screen. It's actually in the dictionary. I have screenshots. Yeah, dictionary.com. Miriam Webster also confirms Overdog is in fact a word, even if I'm the only person that uses it. He's the only person I've ever heard come out of his mouth.

But of course, don't look for Overdog. Look for Underdog fantasy. And you can search in the app store or click the link in the show notes. Sign up with promo code PHNX. An Underdog will match your first deposit up to $100. Of course, again, that's Underdog. Underdog. not overdog.

That's Underdog Fantasy, use promo code PHNX, and get in on all the action today. By the way, before we head out, we want to give a quick shout out to, I guess, some friends from the organization.

They are our broadcasters for the Amarillo Sod Poodles, and they're also the great-grandsons of the legendary Harry Carey, the Carrie twins, Stephen and Chris, Carrie, who both broadcasts for the Amarillo Sod Poodles

and are twins and are probably very sick of getting confused for one another. Yeah, that's, I'm sure. I'm absolutely sure. We would have them on as an interview, but I bet they don't even want to do interviews together anymore. I wouldn't want to be in the same room as my twin brother. I don't know how that works.

And we wouldn't know who's who. We wouldn't know who's who. They could totally do that to us. No, they're great. They're great. If you've ever, if you've never tuned in to Amarella Sod Poodle's game, it's absolutely worth it.

They're both on the mic. And it's funny. Like, it's a funny dynamic with, you know, two people who are literally brothers, who are literally twin brothers, right? Just like their chemistry with each other. And they're kind of funny. And I think they do a really good job with that. I did not know the broadcasters for the sod poodles were twins.

So when I was listening to it one time, I thought, wow, these two guys, it's like, it's like there's just one guy talking. I literally thought that at times. I think their voices are different enough that I do think you can distinguish between their voices. a great job of calling the games. Together, you can tell their chemistry, obviously. They've had a long time to work on it, but their chemistry is very great. Real talk, though, like, would you

want to have, like, your dream job with your twin brother? See, I don't know, because I have had friends that are twins, and they were, I don't want to use the word weird, but they were very much okay with being twins, and they very much, like, they were

very close and enjoyed each other's companies and company and wanted to do stuff together. I'm just impressed. Like I feel like I love my my two older brothers. But like like doing that with like working with them like on the mic like ever like. I'd kill them. Yeah.

Like I don't think that's something that most siblings could possibly handle. So I am very impressed by it. They're also like 22 years old. So it's it's wild what they've been able to accomplish at that age. And obviously they have some family pedigree backing them up right in their careers. But they're genuinely. very good at what they do. So we'll have to have them on the show at some point. Pugs and hugs in the comment says, I dated triplets.

That's a fascinating. All at once? We need to chat about this. I want the backstory, but I also don't want the backstory. No, no, no. I totally want the backstory on that. But of course, again, shout out. Happy birthday to the Carrie Twins, Stefan and Chris.

And shout out to the Amarillo Sad Poodles, who, by the way, make sure to keep an eye out for Jesse's upcoming minor league videos. featuring Brandon Fott. We're doing it. We're giving the reveal. We're giving the reveal. So make sure to join us again tomorrow. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter for as long as we are there.

I don't know how much Twitter longer Twitter is going to last. But until it burns to the ground, I am at Kapp underscore K-Ban with a K. Jesse is at Jesse N. Friedman. Our show is at Ph.NX underscore D-Backs. Please follow us. We're somehow losing followers. I don't know what's going on there. Pretty soon we're going to have to give like our LinkedIn page.

Elon is getting rid of people left and right. He's just removing our followers. But make sure to follow us over there. And of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Again, we thank you guys for joining us in the chat. We always thank you for being here on behalf of Leah, Jesse, and myself. We thank you for your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you play it without your twin brother.