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How the Cubs became a destination for Japanese players · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I'm Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, the
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Cubs have played one game in Japan.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: They have another game to play.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Well, by the time people are listening to this, they'll
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: have played two games in Japan and what they're doing here,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: what they've done here is important to the organization, right
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: like I think bands may not fully realize how important
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: this is for the Cubs, right they are. Two of
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: their best players are Japanese players. Saya Suzuki is before
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker showed up, he was their best offensive talent
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: and showed him. Minaga had a brilliant rookie season. You
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: could argue he's COEs of the staff, justin Steele, if
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: not DAC's the opening day starter, just like two of
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: their most important players. If the Cubs are going to
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: go anywhere this year, they need both those players to
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: play at a high level. Right, and this is part
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: of a plan. You know, this isn't random that the
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Cubs stumbled upon Seya Suzuki and showed him. Monaga they
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: are trying to build a winning team for the first
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: time since the core of the World Championship team was
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: traded away, and they're looking for advantages. They're looking for
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: ways to get be great again. And one area that
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Jed Hoyer identified was going to Japan a lot more
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: talent coming out than maybe a decade and a half ago,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: and trying to establish a presence there be a player
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: in Japan, and they're starting to do that.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: It seems like they've made rail headway.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you had this great idea.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: We always sung to our editors about, you know, what
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: are kind of the bigger swings we want to take.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: What are projects we can work on.
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: What are you know, anchor type stories around big events
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: like Opening Day? And you nailed it of like how
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: the Cubs became this destination And honestly, I feel like
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: we've covered these guys really well and like we know
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: kind of the long term trends of the organization. I
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: was still surprised as we reported this out just how
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: much of a focus it was and how much effort
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: and how much respect the Cubs have gained internationally. This
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: is not just the Cubs like puffing their chest out
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: about some kind of like small time spur of the
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: moment thing like No, this was.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: You know, THEOGED transition. Uh, you know, a.
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: Twenty twenty one trade deadline pivot, you know, a post
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: COVID opportunity like all of these. I just didn't realize
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: how interconnected everything was for this organizational push.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know the Cubs. The Cubs aren't gonna
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: be the number one team in Japan. They're not gonna
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: They just can't be the Dodgers. The Dodgers are the Dodgers,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: you know, they're They're elite at everything, and the presence
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: of established in Japan goes back, you know, decades, and
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: you know Hideo Nomo chose the Dodgers. They have the
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: geographical advantage, they have you know, they have the winning advantage,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: they have the historical advantage. Like so many things go
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: in the dodgers favor. But the Cubs can be number two.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: And that is is kind of a surprise when you
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: consider everything that geography and weather is a huge factor.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: It just is.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: It is Seattle, San Francisco, the Angels, these teams should
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: have more of an advantage than the Cup. But right
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: now it seems like the Cubs are kind of in
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: a cluster with teams like Texas. Right the New York
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: teams are players, They're not like they're they're always in
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: the in the discussion outside of like Senga, they're They're
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: not usually the team that gets the player. But the
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Cubs are right there and they're fighting for number two. Uh.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: They I think a big reason that they're here other
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: than like Jed Hoyer pushing this and making sure that
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: they have a ground game out here with multiple UH
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: front office members being very active.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Is you Darvish played for the Cubs?
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: You?
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Darvish loved his time with the Cubs. He loved the city.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: He loves the city. He loved he loved the coaching staff.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: He you know, he had some great times here. As
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: far as performance on the map, Like his first year
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: was awful, it was it could have turned into a disaster, right,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: that it didn't I think meant a lot to Darvish,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: like they he uh.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: They didn't. Those things can turn sour so quickly.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: You know, things you pay a lot of money, and
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: especially that moment where we didn't know what was going on,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: he didn't know what.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Was going on.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: There were people what is is this a mental thing
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: his elbow and and I don't.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Think that ever happened.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: There was There wasn't that interaction between Darvish and anyone
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: with the Cubs, right, People weren't questioning him directly.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: It was a rod on Sunday Night baseball.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: But sure, yes, yeah, that was a moment that could
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: have tipped things right. It could have veered, veered off
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: course and gotten ugly. It never did, and it and
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: it turned into like a pretty great marriage. Because of COVID,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: because of needing to cut money, they had to trade
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: him at a point probably when Jed would have preferred,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: if he was going to trade him, he would have
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: preferred to have waited right and built that value back
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: up at least have more of a market than one team.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: But Darvish is like a godfather among Japanese players, especially pitchers.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: They respect him, they look up to him, and he
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: has nothing but good things to say about this organization.
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: I mean, just an amazingly gracious individual, very introspective.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: I still.
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: I'm still surprised when I you know, when we write
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: this stuff of how yeah he was bad his first year.
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: There were questions of like the diagnosis took a while
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: to get to there was a rod when he did pitch,
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: he wasn't that good. You know, he was viewed as
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: this like holding back a team that somehow won ninety
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: five games in twenty eighteen. It gets in the middle
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: of a pandemic, and yet he's still is this great
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: ambassador for the Cubs, and that having a reputation, a
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: good reputation amongst those NPB players is priceless. And Darvish
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: is you know, arguably going to be one of the
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: most like important Cubs figures of However, you want to
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: kind of bracket you know, may since two thousand, however,
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: you want to look at the long span of the Cubs,
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: we'll see how this kind of unfolds. But in working
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: on the story with you, man, like I was struck by,
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: how like, how few teams really are seriously in on
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: these players and how many are coming. This is not
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: you know, Darvish coming out. Roughly around the time THEO
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: arrives in Chicago, they made a bid for Tanaka, not
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: surprisingly signs of the Yankees. They roll that money over
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: to sign John Lester. They get a meeting with show
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: Hey as a as a you know, an international free
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: agent under the whatever whatever CBA term was used back
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: then with a seriously capped bonus. But it's more of
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: these kind of one off things, and that the Cubs
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: reorganized in like a major way to kind of create
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: this sphere of influence kind of plant like a W
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: flag there and be like we're going to post up
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: and just have boots on the ground and have not
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: just like the face to face credibility, but also like
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: kind of the database of knowledge to know like, oh wait,
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: show does working on a slider and it's getting better,
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: or this is this is how we think his game
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: could translate, in part because scouting and player development and
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: the pitching infrastructure are aligned a lot tighter now, Like
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: to even land just one really good player takes kind
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: of like from the top all the way down to
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: like make it happen, just like that scout on the ground.
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: Like there's a lot of layers to this, and the
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: Cubs are really well positioned for an other reason than
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: the Dodgers can't sign everyone right.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Right exactly, I want to ask you about some of
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: their ability to pitch these guys. Let's take a real
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: quick break and come back and talk some more on this.
• 9:47
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• 10:52
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, You you spoke to an agent who
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: is pretty prominent among Japanese players, right say, Szuki's agent
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Joel Wolfe Toys Azuki's agent, you Darbage, his agent, Roki Suzaki, Yamamoto,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Yamamoto obviously, I mean those are the biggest names outside
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: of Shoeotani in Japanese baseball right now. He was pretty
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: clear when you spoke to him about how how much
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: the Cubs have invested here and how good they've kind
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: of turned this into like a real organizational strength.
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you can't just pop out of nowhere and expect
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: to sign a player like this is why the same
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: small handful of teams seem to get the meetings with
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: the best players, like the finalists outside of a Toronto
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: Blue Jays popping up for Roki like it's very rare,
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: and even Roki's process, if you read Ken Rosenthal's piece
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: in The Athletic, what's kind of different with DNS Wu
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: this jab Ees Colossus marketing company kind of being involved
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: in that process as well.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: But you know, really you're looking at.
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: There's the Dodgers kind of above everyone else, and then
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: the Cubs are kind of right there with the Padres.
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: The Rangers once again due to Darvish, have a big
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: presence over there, and then the Giants and Mariners haven't
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: quite fully maximized maybe those geographic, whether type historical advantages.
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: The New York team's always involved in, like the posting
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: process on the player, but maybe not as you know,
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: fully engaged day to day. The Red Sox have pulled
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: back to our understanding.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: After that.
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: I mean, you're talking about probably what like more than
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: two thirds of the league not really engaged in.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: This in a meaningful way.
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: And I think Joel's made that point of like, you
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: can't not put in the work ahead of time and
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: then expect to have someone like Roki take you seriously.
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: And I mean beyond Wasserman, there's a small group of
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: agencies that handle these players and kind of relationships matter here,
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: and I think it's interesting how they've handled Sea over
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: the years. We don't have all of the details, but
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: Joel was very effusive in his praise of how discreet
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: the Cubs have been, how responsive they've been, how flexible
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: they've been, that as Saya's kind of needs have changed
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: over the years, as they've made asks for help with
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: his kind of support staff.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: He praised Jen and Carter by name.
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: And then you have these people behind the scenes like
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: now Masimoto, a longtime Cubs employee who's from Japan, probably.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: One of the most valuable and.
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: Least placeable people in the organization, someone who just has
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: this great history with Darvish, with people over there, you
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: can even go to Tommy Hottave. Just his style really works,
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: particularly Japanese players, Like he stresses creativity, a very individualized approach.
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: That's what Jarvish had told us last season as well,
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: of like the Cubs don't have a cookie cutter operation
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: on the pitching side. There are a couple other names
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: we mentioned in that story, whether of just making things
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: run off the field, of like housing, nutrition, whatever pops up,
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: you know. Joel agreed with Jed's assessment from the winter meetings,
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: like the public sees these press conferences in the contract
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: terms and think, oh wow, or if there's kind of
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: one dispute it's you know, club versus player, but a
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: lot of it is like, hey, how's he feeling, Like
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: what's what's hurting or like what's going on off with
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: like a lot of kind of mundane, ongoing conversations, just
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: over and over. That's really what the job is, and
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: that they're both in collaboration. You're trying to put the
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: player in a position to succeed, and the Cubs have
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: largely done that with Japanese players.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and and part of the reason it could pay
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: off so big. You kind of touched on this. There's
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: it was like a slow trickle before. Right, it was
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: one every few years of a solid to great player
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: coming Stateside. Uh, pretty much since Saya arrived, It's it's
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: it's been a lot more players, multiple if not one,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: every off season, multiple players every off season. Saya could
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: I Senga showed him, Anaga Yamamoto. Uh, these are all
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: recent in naw Roki Sasakia, all recent siinees and and
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: we have have just this Like I saw one of
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: them the other day, Kazuma Okamoto, third infielder for the Giants. Right,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: he had a couple hits, wells truck balls. Craig Council
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: was asked about him. Craig Council is well aware of
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: who this player is and was effusive in his praise
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: of this player. Right, I'm sure he's on the Cubs radar.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: I'm sure Council is well aware that he's on the
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Cubs radar. We'll see what when he's posted. When he
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: comes stateside, it's not far away. He's going to be
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: playing in the big League enough. There's another there's a
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: and like it. I think Okamoto is is I'm using
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: air quotes. He's he's a third baseman. He actually played
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: first base against the Cubs. There's another one who's a
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: third basement in quotes Munataka Murakami, twenty five year old
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: left hander slugger can hit some swing and miss right.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: But like these guys are coming, these like they're both
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: gonna get paid, They're both gonna be highly sought after.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: And then there's just like this list of pitchers right
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: there are like we know that pitchers have al like
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: have always been like what people seek from Japan, what
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: the teams have sought in Japan. And there's another wave
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: of them coming, a handful of four or five. Then
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: what I found really interesting Patrick. And we know this, right,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: We know this because we see it happen in the signings.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: But there are guys.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: That either like for some reason fell off a forty
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: man couldn't stick with a team. Saw saw this guy
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: pitch against the Cub's other day, Foster Griffin, a lefty
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: that kind of fell off the a forty man with
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: the Blue Jays. Now he's pitching, well he could. Is
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: he gonna be like this Ace? I don't know if
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: that's what they see in him. But but like we've
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: seen guys go to Korea, go to Japan and reinvent themselves,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: get better, kind of figure some things out, come back
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: and have solid careers.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: I think something.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Fans sometimes fall in love with the Shodos and the
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Yamamotos and the.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: Suzaki's, right, Like that's easy.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: I get why, Like those are the stars, but you
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: need other types of players to fill in the gaps
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: with your team. And it sounds like the guy like
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: this guy like Carter Stewart, who is a top top
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: draft pick at one point, dealt with injuries, never signed,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: He's come to Japan and now he's re establishing himself
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: and the Cubs are it's not just Japan, right, the
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Cubs are trying to establish themselves as a player in
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: the Asian market, and I think, you know, we've spent
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: so much time over the past month two months talking
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: about the budget.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: This is kind of a way to circumvent that in
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: a way. Right, You're not.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Like Saya s Azuki, if he's a free agent, he's
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: making like what did Santander make? A lot more than
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: what sayas Azuki's making? Right, twenty million plus twenty five million?
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Says Azuki's like he's a bargain for what he produces?
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Should im Analga is a steal? Right? So we you know,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: you can complain about the budget, and I think it's
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: fair too, but this is this is a path that
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: the Cubs can take where they don't have to worry
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: as much about the budget and maybe get a ton
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: of excess value in these players compared to what they're
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: playing paying them.
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, as an organization, you have to be like,
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: what are we good at? And you know, the Cubs
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: generally don't draft select at the top of the draft
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: because they're not losing one hundred games. They're not going
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: to the top of the free agent market to sign
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: the absolute best players. They don't have a three hundred
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: million dollar payroll, but like they do certain things well
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: on the pitching infrastructure fructure side, on the player recruiting side,
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: and that this Asian market they think is about to explode,
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: and whether it's KBO or NPB, there's going to be
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: a lot of opportunities here. Whether it's you know, Foster Griffin,
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: I think was more bottom of the first round, but
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: he's certainly put himself back on the radar. Carter Stewart
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: had this, you know, kind of dispute with the Braves.
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: He was like a top ten pick out of high
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: school and he took a very unusual path. And I
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: think both those guys are probably gonna make themselves a
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: lot of money, whether it's with the Cubs or somewhere else.
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: Like these guys are firmly on the major league gradar,
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: like they have not disappeared at all. And then obviously
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: you have these Japanese players who are seeing the Cubs
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: up close and Showeda and Saya are two more exceptional ambassadors.
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: As these guys and their representatives make you know, enormous
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: decisions about their futures.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Right and this isn't like unheard of, right as far
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: as players going American players going to Japan or Korea
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: and coming back at Colin Ray. And I know Colin
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Ray is in a sexy name, but he's a productive player.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: He produces innings, he gets out, he's an out getter.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Miles and michaelis is another name I'm blanking now, but
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: there's someone that's Meryl Kelly.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Was Meryl Kelly?
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: I mean Pierce Johnson's had a nice little career after
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: coming back. You know, there's definitely examples that people can
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: can point to. I mean, Chris Martin, he came back
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: to Yes, like, there's more than a handful here of
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: you know, and I think part of it is we
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: mentioned the story, I mean pitch data, right, here's a
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: lot of validation. The competition over there is strong. And
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: then these international events like the WBC, like that has
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: been a huge catalyst for both players kind of wanting
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: more in teams, being able to kind of hair a
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: little more closely and taking a little bit of the guesswork.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Out right, I mean I'm going off memory here, and
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: and like a recent conversation with Jed Hoyer, but something
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: that stood out to them. I believe was showed him
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: and August starting the WBC. Was it the semi final
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: or the final?
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: It was.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: It was the final and and he he uh, he
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: was coming off injury. And and the fact that they
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: like they started him ah and and had that trust
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: in him that he could handle that moment coming off injury,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: that they were they believed he would perform and he did.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: I think spoke to the Cubs as well, like that
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: was like some intangible factor that they saw as well, and.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: Then he delivered right.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Like so we we've like we've talked a lot about
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: this about Shoda this this week, handling the moment and
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: the pressure.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: His teammates are like, this guy doesn't feel pressure. What
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: are you talking about?
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Like like they're almost like have you watched him play?
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Like he's faced so much in his career as far
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: as pressure, and he ever, it never seems to phase
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: him and like it you can be amped up or whatever,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: but he seems to handle those moments really well. And
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: you know, being able to play in the WBC I
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: think is important for scouting, like seeing the scouting side
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: seeing those guys how they handle those moments because they
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: do matter to the players.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: Seeing them handle it well matters.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: Seeing them handle they're pitching with the normal ball, they're
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: pitching against top dear competition, like all this stuff. It
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: helps them like break it down a little bit better.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: So I think this is this you're right, like what
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: you started with. The more we dug into this, the
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: more I found it interesting in like a curious angle
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: like this is I like the way it was kind
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: of presented to us as like, hey, we're we were
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: searching for this new competitive we were searching for a
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: competitive advantage, and we're like, oh, it's right in front
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: of our face.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: This is it. Like we have it.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: We don't need to like reinvent the wheel. We just
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: need to scout aff an area and really invest in it.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: You know. It's it's not about it's less about like
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: some data.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: It's less about like some technological advancement or seam shifted
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: wake or like science stuff. It's just oh, there's another
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: country full of really good players, you know.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: I just kind of like that.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: It was a simple concept that it's like, let's take
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: advantage of this. Other teams aren't not as many teams.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: It's a reduced competition when when you go from facing
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: twenty nine teams in free agency to six eight completely
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: changes the dynamic. It's worked out for the Cubs so far.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: The two of the best players, and we'll see where
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: it goes. Obviously, they need to win games and really
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: like establish themselves as a as a consistent contender for
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: fans to care about any of this, But right now,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: it's it's a it's a big step in the right direction.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: Go ahead.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: No, I would just say, like I learned a ton.
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: I think this is the type of story where like
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: you have some conversations, you get either a little more
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: material and you're like, Okay, this puts us as reporters
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: in a much better position to cover this team moving forward,
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: Like because it was we hear these things over the years, like, oh, well,
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: Jed's in Japan. I think it was like in September
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty three. I'm like, oh I was, you know,
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: I think they had a brutal loss against the Diamondbacks
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: and he was watching it like on a runway somewhere.
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: But like it starts to add up and you're like, okay, well,
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: not all these guys are kind of come over at once,
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: but some of these guys at least one I can
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: think of was very likely to be coming over next offseason.
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: And you kind of have this backstory. Whether you're a
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: reporter or fan, you can understand, like what are the
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: Cubs trying to do here? And like Japan and Asia
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: at large is a much larger piece than I think
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: I would have thought of at this time last year
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: when they made the Tokyo series announcement. Okay international event.
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: You know, maybe they can sell a sponsorship like you know,
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: on a wriggly door somewhere. It's like a Japanese company,
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: and it's like, no, this is an enormous baseball business,
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: forward looking initiative that is not going away at all.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Absolutely all right, thanks so much for listening to everyone.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: This is Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. Make
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: sure to rate, review and subscribe, Subscribe to the YouTube channel,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: on top of all things Cubs. Thanks so much for
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: listening to everyone. We'll be back with wrap up of
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: the series in Tokyo soon enough, and then it will
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: be the US portion of the season creeping up on
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: US baseball is here. Thanks so much for listening to everyone,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: take care, WoT ave they leave,