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Year in review: What the Cubs showed us in 2025 (and what they didn’t) · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory. Follol Territory Networks Cubs Podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I'm sah Day Sharma with my partner Patrick's Moody. We
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: are your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: we have a big move in the city of Chicago.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: After a an amazing Saturday night for Chicago fans if
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: you were watching that Bears game.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: If you are a football fan, I hope everyone enjoyed that.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: It's the first time in a while where I've been
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: able to share a good sports moment with my sons.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: A team that we both for pulled off pretty amazing
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: win that was fun for everyone. And then Sunday morning
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: starts with the White Sox, not the Cubs, so White
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Sox making a big signing we're gonna take a.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: More Kami, the big bat who has.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Some big holes in his swing goes to the South Side.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: I don't think it comes as complete.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Shock, uh. I think you know, pepized by this move,
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: but it is.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: It is a move that you know is out of
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: I don't know if i'd say out of character that
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: we haven't seen the White Sox do this.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: You know a lot they they're.
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: Definitely a character.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, uh and it.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: It's a you know, it's a fun move for them,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: and and it's probably maybe I don't know, our Cubs
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: fans frustrated. If anything, it's just the lack of movement
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: that's probably frustrating less than Murakami in in uh In
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: any way, because I don't think he was really a
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: fit for the Cubs. He's a pretty good fit for
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: the White Sox. Guy can kind of like play on
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: a losing team. See what he is, and and if
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: he turns out to be really good, you know, he'll
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: get his payday. The payday that he was probably hoping
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: for right now will come in a couple of years
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: because he's still in the prime of his career.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: We did some reporting on you know, Japanese baseball, the
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: Cups connections over there heading into the Tokyo Series, and
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: Murakami was a name that was given to us just
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: as kind of a general name that the baseball industry
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: is on. And you know, at that time, we're hearing
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: a lot about the New York teams like the Mets
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: and Yankees have been on this guy for years. You
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: see his age, his power, and you kind of assume,
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: you know, the real big market teams are going to
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: be on that, or maybe there's a team that's trying
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: to like break into that arena and make a name
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: for themselves. And when you see the final contract terms,
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: what was it, two years, thirty four million, a rather
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: modest outlay for a guy who guess is kind of
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: coming off a down season. There are questions about what
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: he can be in The majors did not get a
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: sense this was a big Cubs target really at any point.
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: I think immediately he was kind of immediately ruled out
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: as like a third baseman. The Cubs did not see that.
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: And then I think it's just a hard commit if
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: you're a team like the Cubs too, you know, kind
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: of be willing to live with those growing pains for
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: a young hitter if he doesn't bring a lot of defense,
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: if you're already trying to piece mail replacement of Kyle
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: Tucker with young talent and you've got a third baseman already.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: But to me at the Cubs angle, there was just
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: maybe Tatsuya my maybe maybe he doesn't get that like
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: one hundred ninety million dollar contract or whatever. You know,
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: maybe this is kind of part of the negotiations here
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: of you know, these names come over from Japan. You've
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: seen so much success recently of players coming over from NPB,
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: and we get carried away with some of the contract
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: projections and all the teams that are intrigued by this,
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: and then when it gets down to it, sometimes a
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: guy just signs with the white socks.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Right, and you know we saw like, I don't want
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: to it's not the exact equivalent of showed him anaga.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: I don't want to compare every single signing to that
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: just because there aren't a ton of rumors.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: There are some rumors around him. My, you know we're hearing.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: You know, obviously the Cubs have been one of the
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: teams publicly connected to him, So so we can't act
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: as if, you know, there's no no connection between the Cubs.
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: And am I here. So wouldn't be a shocking move.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: I think for Patrick and I the focus would have
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: to be what is the price point and do they
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: end up coming at a point like coming to uh,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: you know agreement that's not in that crazy range, right?
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: What did what did Tim Britton project it?
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: It was I think with the posting fee it would
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: be around two hundred million dollars something like that.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Okay, so that that's just not something the Cubs are doing.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: We we we know, like we've talked to enough people
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: that we know that the Cubs won't be doing that deal.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: But it also doesn't seem like that.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Maybe like this is this is the trouble, Like this
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: is the difficulty of trying to project some of these.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: Japanese deals because you just don't know.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Like with Yamamoto, he blew out projections, like because like
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: as you know, as we started, as as teams started
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: doing their really deep dives, or or as we publicly
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: saw like what what they how they valued him, it
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: was at a different level than what everyone kind of realized.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: I think something similar maybe happening, but in reverse with him.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: I like we started getting this like, well, this guy
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: throws in the upper nineties. Look at his numbers in Japan?
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Is he an ace? And then you start getting crazy
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: numbers thrown around.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Right now, I'm not sure.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: It just doesn't seem like they're going to come close
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: to meeting that. I don't want to put anything past
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: past Scott Boris. I don't I don't want to rule
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: out a team, some team's internal evaluation is different than
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: what we're hearing, and they'll say, you know what, we're
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: not going to meet that number, but we're going to
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: go to a pretty high number.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: The Cubs just aren't going to be that team. But
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't rule.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Them out on him either, And if he if it's
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: one of these situations that we just saw with Murakami,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: where you know, the market doesn't fully bear out what
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: kind of deal would make sense for am I in
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: the Cubs to to kind of settle on. But you
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: know that we're not there yet, but it's certainly a
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: possibility that this you could kind of slip through the cracks,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: so to say, and the Cubs feel more comfortable with
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: the price range because I certainly do think if you're
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: not getting to those crazy numbers one fifty two hundred,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: that the Cubs are interested.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: Tim Britton's projection on the Athletic was eight years, one
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: hundred and ninety million plus a thirty million dollar posting fee.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: I mean, our understanding is that the Cubs don't really
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: view Amia as that good. Plus Historically the Cubs just
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: don't really go there. They don't win those bidding wars.
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: I'm with you. I wouldn't bet against Scott Boris in
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: general and definitely not on this particular picture.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: But we'll see.
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: I think it's a good, good transition of like this episode,
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: we want to kind of wrap up kind of year interview.
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: This season started in Tokyo. Uh, you were there. I'm
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: trying to think back of your your jet, like I'm
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: trying to remember.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I remember. It was.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: I felt like I was, you know, like disassociated from
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: my body for a week.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: Uh it was. It was tough to cover baseball uh
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: that week.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Uh you know, and and I feel like the way
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: the Cubs played and the performance and then the way
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: we came away from that was really uninspiring. Uh you know,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: we that it was. It was not a good start
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: to the season in the sense like the performance on
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: the field, a lot of that stuff was fun. Everything
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: outside of the games really fun, uninspiring games. I remember
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: like thinking, like what am I supposed to write about?
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: Like this is supposed to be like this marquee event,
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: and like I have to come up with a Cubs
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: angle about this boring ass first where they just got
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: out played by a team that's clearly better that the
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: you know, crowd was clearly in favor of the opposition.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: It was.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: It felt like, you know, it's also a good reminder
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: of like, don't let a couple of games to start
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: the season, you know, color what you're gonna think of
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: this season, because you know, while the ending wasn't what
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: Cubs fans wanted, this season turned into one of the
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: more fun seasons were probably covered in a while.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: And I think a lot of that had to do
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: with Wrigley Field.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: You know, like starting out in Japan, they lose to
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: home games, but the games we covered at Wrigley Patrick,
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: you know, you and I aren't the type to get
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: like swept up in emotions.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: It's hard. It was hard not to at times at
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: Wrigley Field like that.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: The Cubs fans brought it this year, and the team
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: delivered some really exciting times, especially in the first half
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: and then again in the playoffs.
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: But that was a fun team to come for stretches and.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: And the fans were really exciting and and made Wrigley
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: Field feel like a place that it was like, yeah,
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: it's gonna be fun to come cover a game here.
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah I was. I was actually not at this game,
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: but as you're talking, I think back to that comeback
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: win over the.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: Diamondback crazy.
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: You know, home run barrage, back and forth. Uh, just
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: underlining the unpredictability, uh of Wrigley Field. I think that showed,
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: you know, in hindsight, you know, some of the resolve
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: of that group, uh, their their talent, their ability to
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: kind of improvise, improvise and problem solve, you know, in
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: in real time. Like there were moments like that in
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: the first half they're like, Okay, this is this is
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: interesting and that no doubt all the way through to
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: the Freddie Peralta game at Wrigley Field. There were multiple
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: nights there of just turning to people like do you
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: feel the press box shake there? And I was like yeah,
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: and like that was something that was in the kind
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: of you know, Schworbamb twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen era, like
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: you'd feel that in once in a while since then,
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: not not often at all, but it became more of
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: a regular thing. And you know, when we talk about
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: the energy and personality of this team, Like, to me,
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: this was kind of the the year of Pte crow Armstrong,
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: even if half of the year was frustrating for him,
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: and even if it was an uneven up and down year.
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: I just think he was the really the most valuable
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: person in the entire organization when you think about it,
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: just how the circumstances in which he was traded here
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: that twenty twenty one trade deadline, the position he plays,
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: the defense he brought, which became just you know, such
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: a central part of the team's identity. Just crazy power.
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: I mean, the response anytime you hear kind of left
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: handed hitters complaints about hitting at really feels well, Pete,
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: like what Pete did? And yeah, and then just the charisma.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: I mean, we heard it from our editors. We saw
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: it in the metrics of just people wanted to read
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: about this guy and hear about this guy and engage
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: with this guy. And he's he goes to Bears games.
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: I mean, how more do you want?
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: You know, it is pretty great to see those videos
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: of him, like he's yeah, yeah, he's talking about sticking
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: you know, sticking through the Bears, weather, watching the Bears.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: It's kind of fun that he's embracing.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: I mean, obviously, you know, because of it, we know
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: the story with his dad and and he is a.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: Bears fan and he's he's rooting for them.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: But it's kind of cool that he's out there and
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: and and he's he's in the city right now. What's
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: he doing here? Like it go go to Arizona or
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: go to California. Man, But but uh, he's he's enjoying it.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: That's great.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: And and that first half was unreal, just the type
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: of stuff that you're like, are we really is this
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: really happening? Like are we really watching the blossoming of
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: a superstar? Uh? Came down to earth in the second half,
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: and I think that brings a lot of questions for
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: next year and and we'll we'll address those, uh.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: You know, in a future episode.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: But like, like just that second half, that first half
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: was just so impressive and and it kind of sets
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: him up for like how tantalizing can is this guy?
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Like this t this talent is so high end. Uh
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: there is something special here. Uh. The combination of the flash,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: the way he plays the game, and the actual performance.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: There is a high end talent here. And it could
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: be a volatile talent. It just could be like when
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: you don't walk a lot and you you're an aggressive swinger.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: There are talents like this that this has happened before.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: We've seen players like this and they go through ups
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: and downs.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: How does he kind of compress that and make it like,
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: you know, avoid the low lows.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: You obviously want the high highs still, but how do
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: you kind of minimize those those extremes and and make
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: sure that the lows don't aren't as low. Everyone's going
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: to struggle. It's part of baseball. Very few players, you know,
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: don't slump. How does he kind of minimize that? Is
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: what I'm fascinated by, fascinated to watch, but it was
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: it was it was really fascinating to cover, really interesting
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: to watch. Sometimes it was the type of stuff where
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: it's like, well, I don't know, it was very hobby
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: like and we said that, we've said that, but it
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: was like, I don't know what else to write here.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: I don't know how else to describe this other than
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: like my jaws on the floor watching this guy play baseball.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: And that's nice. You got to appreciate that when those
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: moments come.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: You know, this team, outside of Pete, it felt like
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: they did. They did kind of take on the personality
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: of their manager. This was a very much a you know,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: Craig council in. I guess the down moments, gets criticized
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: for not screaming and yelling, not not having this boisterous personality,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: getting in the face of umps or going off on
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: the media after a tough loss. But I think you
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: need that steady hand sometimes you know you cannot and
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: I think council and we know the way counsel would
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: respond to that is you can't fake those things. You
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: can't be someone that you're not. You know, I'm not
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: going to flip a table because because that's not who
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: I am, and he isn't that type of personality, So
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: he doesn't do those things. He behaves the way he believes,
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: you know, that's natural to him. And I do think
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: as frustrating as it can be for some people watch it,
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: you know, if they're in a down moment, like they yeah,
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: sometimes they need to get on each other or you know,
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: I think they have some personalities in there that like,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: if things go bad, like they need to, they will
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: get on their teammates. But very steady team, very you know,
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: even keeled group that probably carried them through some tough
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: moments and allowed them to not you know, I talk
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: about those lows, didn't allow them to mentally get dragged
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: down by those lows.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: Pete's development is in a lot of ways a reflection
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: of Craig's style in that he's patient, he's deliberate. He
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: gives players the freedom to make mistakes and play without
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: that fear of you know, looking over their shoulder or
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: sort of wondering what the manager is gonna say. In
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: the interview room. I mean, like Pik Armstrong's most important
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: player in the organization, and he's saying things like, I
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: have absolute trust in everything Craig does, whether it's where
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: he hits them in the lineup, mental resets, kind of
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: whatever it is, he's on board with it. And I
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: think it's interesting. You know, Pete's around the same age
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: as Craig's two boys college age or just out of college.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: They have mutual friends, right Yeah, that kind of.
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: Contemporaries in a way, which is just I think another
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: dimension kind of when you think about the council you
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: see on TV, Proba comes across, as you know, stiff
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: or serious and unemotional, and he is a serious person
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: and he does not, you know, display a lot of
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: outward emotion, but he's a lot more as we know,
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: engaging kind of off camera. You're very willing to discuss
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: kind of the details of the game of his team.
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: Is pretty honest and straightforward. Even if the answers aren't
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: always expansive, you can usually get a sense of what
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: he's thinking. I think he understands our jobs and respects
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: where coming from, we meaning people who around the team
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: basically every day. I think as a former player, he
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: kind of understands the nature of be coverage, that we
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: have jobs to do.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: And I think.
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: What he might say here is that the players decide
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: all this, Like he can have a couple ideas, he
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: can help shape things, but everything should be player driven.
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: And he got a group of players, you know, we're thinking,
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: you know, Nico Horner, Dansby Swanson, Michael bush Ian Hap,
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: you know, Jameis and Towne, Shoda Managa, a lot of
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: kind of veteran, established players who are really self motivated
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: and diligent and kind of baseball nerds. And that I
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: think counsel in making some changes to his staff and
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: bringing in certain people or you know, getting to know
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: certain people better, was really able to empower that group.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, I think he's a big part of their success.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: He's an interesting guy to work around. And dry sense
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: of humor, give it back to us. And you know,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: as he's gotten to know us, he likes to poke
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: fun at us in different ways.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: And I like that.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: I like that back and forth that we're able to have.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: And he seems to have the respect of that group.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: While he's not the you know, fiery Mike Ditka personality
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: that I think some Chicagoans want, lou Panela kicking dirt.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: That's not him.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: It's never going to be him like he's I think
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: it's what this team kind of needs, and it's the
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: personality that works for this group. Ultimately, his former team
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: continues to be a thorn in this organization side.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, where we're running on a.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: Decade now of seemingly the Brewers having less talent and
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: continually outperforming the Cubs.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: Wasn't the ten game drubbing that they had.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: In twenty twenty four comes We're much more competitive. I
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: think we saw in the postseason how close those teams are.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: But again the Cubs came up short, whether it was
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: for the division or in the playoffs. They're just short
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: of the Brewers. And look, they spend more than the Brewers.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: They're they're they're bigger market than the Brewers. They're bigger
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: market than everyone in their division, and they spend more
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: than everyone in their division.
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: But this is not a team that goes for it.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: This is not, in fact, you know that Jed Hoyard
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: kind of hates that phrase.
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: Uh, is a team that waits for it. Yeah.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think you know they're wait They wait
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: for things to the market to settle. They wait for
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: players like we were talking about with them, to fall
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: through the cracks, possibly like who's who's left standing? Ah,
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: it was a you know, they they were not going
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: to pay the crazy prices. I I understand to a
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: degree they're they're uh trade deadline decisions, And I think
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: there was a valuable lesson learned. Get your work done now,
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: Like get as much of the work done in the
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: off season as possible, so you're not especially starting pitching.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: You can't be searching for starting pitching at the trade deadline.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: But they're not an aggressive team anymore. This is not
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: the theo Epstein days. And I think we've known this
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: and we just keep seeing it. If we start to wonder, hmm,
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: is this the moment when they start to behave a
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: little differently Oh, here was the Craig Council higher.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: Now they're going to be aggressive. Oh here's the Kyle
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: Tucker trade. Now they're going to be aggressive. There'll be
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: a move here and there.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: But like I kind of want to look at like, look,
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: the Boston Red Sox aren't going insane, but they're being
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: pretty aggressive by making moves. They're they're going out and
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: making moves. They've traded for two starters, and now they've
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: traded for Wilson Contreras. I think Cubs fans, like Red
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Sox fans, probably want the Red Sox to behave more
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: like the Mets and the Yankees and the Dodgers. They're
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: not exactly acting in that fashion, but they they saw
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: that the team was pretty good last year, how can
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: we make it better? And they're going out and making moves.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Hubs fans have to be frustrated by you know this
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: is this is just a recurring theme with this group.
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we've talked about Picrow, Armstrong and the young talent
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: that the Cubs have matriculated and improved upon at the
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: major league level. It's how about Craig Counsel putting his
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: fingerprints on the organization and being sort of an extension
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: of the front office and bringing a lot of structure
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: and process and you know, thoughtfulness to the day to
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: day schedule. Well, the press box shaking at Wrigley Field,
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: the you know, amazing energy and noise coming out of Wrigleyville.
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: You have easily one of the most iconic venues in
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: sports that is packed on a Tuesday night randomly in
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: the middle of the season. I mean like Friday day games,
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: forty thousand people showing up, and you have a payroll
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: that just does not reflect the vibrancy of you know,
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: the venue, the passion of the fan base. And we
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: have been sort of waiting because we do try and
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: try and keep an open mind here because all it
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: takes is one move to like change some of this stuff,
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: one phone call. As we're recording now, like who knows
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: what they're up to. But that Alex Bregman saga in
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: spring training was revealing like he was the piece. That
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: is what they identified internally on the baseball side and
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: on the business side at the ownership level, there was
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: certainly an allowance to go beyond kind of the parameters
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: they had set earlier, but it was not a you know,
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: step on the gas type of move. It was more
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: of aue, see if this works, if he'll take that.
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: It was not an all out offer to try and
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: bring him in. And so that's why, like, you know,
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: why why do you keep talking about Alex spragmant so well,
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: he's a free agent again, and because people within the Cubs.
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: Were talking about Alex Pragman like.
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: They viewed him as like this was kind of the
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: moment you like he said, out of you trade for
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: Kyle Tucker? What else? Like, Oh, there's only really one
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: spot on the field that's sort of uncertain, and he
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: plays that position at a gold glove level. And oh,
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: like the model says, this guy's gonna be really good
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: for a long time. And you know, all of these
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: decisions are made with the ultimate you know, payroll number
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: range in mind, and you know, we'll see, Like I think,
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: generally speaking, there's a lot of logic to what they do,
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: they meaning business and baseball. I think we can understand
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: where they're coming from, uh in a lot of ways,
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: but it has become uh just kind of repetitive. You know,
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: Like I can already see Cubs convention like what it's
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: gonna be.
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: Its gonna be.
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: You know what I mean, and maybe maybe my they
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: blow my way with an offer and he becomes awesome. Like, look,
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: they do have kind of the nucleus of a ninety
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: win team here already. Not go and say the season's
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: over before Christmas, but it's just the you know, well,
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: we don't want to pay for like a closer. Uh,
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: you know, we don't want to trade for a starter
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: at the deadline. You know, I'm not going to go
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: get Bregman when he's just like sitting there kind of
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: waiting this past spring training. See, they just have to
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: be right, you know, like I don't think anyone will
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: care if they win the division and they have multiple
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: playoff rounds at Wrigley, But this, you know, part of
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: this year I think just kind of cemented of like, Okay,
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: this is just how they're they're running it. And obviously,
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: you know, Jed got his extension, Like the front office
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: is stabilized. You know, I think they can feel good
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: about their direction overall. But yeah, some of this offseason stuff,
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: like they just kind of have to wear it like
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: this is like this is just what they do. Like
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: we've explained it, You've seen it. I don't really know
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: how much more like you need to see or like
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: we'll put context around each move and all that other stuff.
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: But like, fundamentally, this just seems to be the model
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: of what they're doing. And I don't think they're going
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: to change it radically before the next CBA.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the more people wait and say, when,
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: when will the Cubs start behaving like that team that
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: you know went out and got John Lester and Jason Hayward,
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: you Darvish, I mean, I just say, like you know, Stutt,
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: don't don't hold your breath. That's not who this team
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: is anymore. And and that doesn't mean they're going to
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: be a bad team. I have to remind myself of that,
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: because it is it can be like, man, these free
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: agents are for flying off the board, trades are happening,
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: and the Cubs aren't doing that much. There's a lot
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: of talent here still, which makes it maybe a little
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: bit more frustrating because you have young talent like Pca
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: and Michael Bush and and Cad Horton, really good, really
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: strong seasons from these young players, Guys that played incredibly
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: well like Nico Horner and Saya Suzuki. Still on the team,
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: youngsters like Moises by Steros ready to break out. So like,
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: it's not like it's devoid of talent. There's plenty of
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: talent here and they're getting healthy there. You know, we'll
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: see if Showda Monaga bounces back. We'll see how Justin
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: Steel looks all that stuff. So you just you want
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: to see them be aggressive and act like a team
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: that's looking you know, making it happen instead of waiting
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: for it to happen. And it seems like it's more
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: the latter. We'll see if there's a surprise to come.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: Is it am My, is it Bregman? Is it something
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: like that? Is it a big trade that we're not
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: that we're not aware of that's about to happen, something
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: like that. But for now, it's a lot of this
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: is who the Cubs are. That's not that doesn't mean
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: bad stuff. Like we just talked about, it was really
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: fun this year. We'll see if they can make it
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: fun again in twenty twenty six.
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: All right, we will have.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: A twenty twenty six preview coming up later this week.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for listening everyone. This is Northside Territory.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: channel and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick Canaara on
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: top of all things Cubs. Thanks so much for listening
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: to everyone.
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: Take