Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / The Cubs’ recruiting pitch to Roki Sasaki

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The Cubs’ recruiting pitch to Roki Sasaki · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: It started with Saya Suzuki continued with showed him and
0:03
Speaker 1: Naga they want to be a destination. Welcome into North
0:13
Speaker 1: Side Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm Sadev Sharma
0:17
Speaker 1: with my partner Patrick Mooney, where your Cubs beat writers
0:20
Speaker 1: over at the Athletic Patrick Roki Sazaki is coming to
0:26
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball. That news broke over the weekend late
0:30
Speaker 1: at night. This this is one of the better pictures
0:35
Speaker 1: more hyped pitchers to come from Japan. Let's let's kind
0:39
Speaker 1: of introduce who he is to the audience, make sure
0:42
Speaker 1: everyone knows him. Not everyone is like us, we've been
0:44
Speaker 1: he's I believe he's twenty three, but we've been hearing
0:48
Speaker 1: about him for the past like six seven years.
0:51
Speaker 2: This is not a.
0:52
Speaker 1: New name for people really plugged into this, but it is.
0:56
Speaker 1: He's finally coming over and it's gonna be a it's
0:59
Speaker 1: a gonna be pretty big deal.
1:02
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think the question with him was, you know,
1:05
Speaker 3: would he be posted this winter? When is he coming
1:08
Speaker 3: over to Major League Baseball? And now that that's been resolved,
1:14
Speaker 3: it's going to be kind of a recruiting contest and
1:17
Speaker 3: we'll get into that later, but there's like no doubt
1:20
Speaker 3: about the talent. I mean, this is a guy who
1:25
Speaker 3: just physically gifted a fastball that can reach one hundred
1:30
Speaker 3: miles an hour kind of when he's right. There are
1:36
Speaker 3: not many other just pictures in the world who have
1:40
Speaker 3: more raw ability than he does. I think we've seen
1:46
Speaker 3: this of like pictures coming over from Japan have a
1:48
Speaker 3: pretty successful track record. There's a lot of data and
1:52
Speaker 3: information available on them, and I think teams are better
1:55
Speaker 3: equipped to help them with that assimilation process. And so
2:01
Speaker 3: this is the guy who's had you know, club's president
2:04
Speaker 3: Jed Hoyer visit him, Mets president David Sterns go over there. Obviously,
2:11
Speaker 3: there are teams like the Dodgers and Padres who have
2:13
Speaker 3: huge presences in Asia, and so this has been the
2:19
Speaker 3: name for a while now. Really a player who could
2:26
Speaker 3: absolutely transform a franchise, not just because of his ability,
2:31
Speaker 3: but also the unique circumstances in which he's become available
2:35
Speaker 3: affordable to all thirty teams, not unlike Shoheo Tani when
2:40
Speaker 3: he came out after the twenty seventeen season.
2:43
Speaker 1: Right if he would have waited, I believe two more years,
2:46
Speaker 1: who would have been a free agent, right, And what
2:49
Speaker 1: happens now is he's under the IFA bonus pool rules
2:53
Speaker 1: and he's he's limited in how much he can make.
2:59
Speaker 1: He's essentially a minor league. Is it a minor league?
3:02
Speaker 1: He's got to sign a minor league contract. It's it's
3:05
Speaker 1: kind of fascinating, and you're right, it's like, it's like
3:08
Speaker 1: what happened with Otani. I was looking at the pool.
3:11
Speaker 1: So it depends when he's posted under what pools the
3:16
Speaker 1: teams are gonna be under. Uh, if they're patient and
3:20
Speaker 1: wait to post him until like some point in December,
3:23
Speaker 1: I believe it transitions on December fifteenth to next years
3:27
Speaker 1: to the twenty twenty five pool.
3:29
Speaker 2: Uh, and that's that's.
3:31
Speaker 1: Then everybody's not equal footing exactly, but but pretty good footing.
3:35
Speaker 1: I think the highest pool, the highest teams are at
3:38
Speaker 1: seven point five just above seven point five million, and
3:42
Speaker 1: that's a bunch of you know, really small market teams
3:44
Speaker 1: from like Cincinnati, Tampa, Oakland that type, and then six
3:48
Speaker 1: point nine million Diamondbacks Orioles teams like that. So the
3:51
Speaker 1: next tier of small market. The Cubs are in that
3:54
Speaker 1: third tier. They're not in the lowest tier. They're they're
3:58
Speaker 1: in like six point two million in teams like San Diego,
4:02
Speaker 1: the Cubs, the Red Sox, the Mets, the Yankees, So
4:05
Speaker 1: a lot of teams that we're gonna be hearing like
4:08
Speaker 1: probably want Sucky and the bigger markets if he wants
4:12
Speaker 1: to go to a team set up to win, those
4:14
Speaker 1: are some of the teams.
4:15
Speaker 2: The Dodgers actually have the lowest pool.
4:18
Speaker 1: When it comes to the twenty twenty five pool, but
4:21
Speaker 1: they have what the highest remaining in the twenty twenty
4:23
Speaker 1: four pool. So if he's posted early, the Dodgers are
4:27
Speaker 1: the team. Right, we will get into that competition.
4:31
Speaker 3: Everyone else's hopes.
4:32
Speaker 1: But right, But I mean there's certainly other teams that
4:36
Speaker 1: are in this one thing I was told about him.
4:40
Speaker 1: You mentioned the hundred mile power fastball, so you know,
4:44
Speaker 1: we can talk about fastball shape and all those things.
4:46
Speaker 1: How good is the fastball just because it's velocity. There
4:49
Speaker 1: are some grades out there that say that the fastball
4:52
Speaker 1: isn't as as good as it should be. There's also
4:57
Speaker 1: some stuff out there that just love the splitter. I
5:01
Speaker 1: was told by one scout it's the best splitter ever,
5:04
Speaker 1: like not not like, yes.
5:10
Speaker 2: Shockingly better than his uh so they're there.
5:15
Speaker 1: Scouts love this guy, and and I think there's something
5:18
Speaker 1: to be said for you know, working in in the US,
5:23
Speaker 1: and you know, how you use your pitches will will
5:28
Speaker 1: be different. How pitching coaches in the US want him
5:31
Speaker 1: to attack hitters will be different. It's you know, it's
5:34
Speaker 1: so it's it's hard to just go off how things
5:37
Speaker 1: went with the fastball in Japan because hitters are different there,
5:41
Speaker 1: the zone is different there. We talked about this a
5:44
Speaker 1: year ago with Shoda Monaga. Uh so that that'll be
5:47
Speaker 1: an interesting factor. I think as well, how he's used
5:50
Speaker 1: by teams, how his arsenal is implemented, and how teams
5:54
Speaker 1: are maximizing uh what he has.
5:57
Speaker 2: I think he's he has. I mean, those are the
5:59
Speaker 2: two things that stand.
6:00
Speaker 1: Out about him, the fastball velocity and the splitter. But
6:04
Speaker 1: he's's not like he's a two pitch pitcher. And like
6:08
Speaker 1: I was saying, this is a guy that I can't
6:11
Speaker 1: remember the big teenage Japanese tournament what it's called, but
6:16
Speaker 1: he that's that's you know that he's one of those
6:18
Speaker 1: kids that made a name for himself in that tournament,
6:21
Speaker 1: became this superstar, was touching one hundred as a teen
6:26
Speaker 1: just just one of the most hype names. Yamamoto got
6:30
Speaker 1: all this hype last year, but we only heard about
6:32
Speaker 1: Yamamoto or he was only hyped for about six months
6:35
Speaker 1: before that, like Sasaki has been hyped for years. Like
6:39
Speaker 1: this is a really big deal, and it's the biggest
6:42
Speaker 1: name since Otani maybe you know, maybe just a tier
6:49
Speaker 1: below Otani and like close to the Darvish level of
6:52
Speaker 1: hype here.
6:53
Speaker 2: It's pretty big.
6:54
Speaker 1: This is a and and the fact is the Cubs
6:57
Speaker 1: are being mentioned, and that's gives Cubs fans a kernel
7:01
Speaker 1: of hope after we've crushed everything else we have written
7:07
Speaker 1: and said.
7:09
Speaker 3: One quick snapshot, I'm glad you brought up Yamamoto, who
7:15
Speaker 3: came over here as an extremely polished pitcher that's not
7:19
Speaker 3: quite Sazaki yet. He's dealt with some injuries over the years,
7:25
Speaker 3: his workload has not been the same over in Japan.
7:31
Speaker 3: I don't think it's realistic to expect him to be
7:36
Speaker 3: what Yamamoto was this year for the Dodgers. Granted he
7:39
Speaker 3: dealt with some injuries, he had some availability issues, but
7:43
Speaker 3: I mean, that's the guy who beat the Padres in
7:45
Speaker 3: the playoffs, won a World Series game like that two
7:51
Speaker 3: year gap, not just in terms of the money, but
7:55
Speaker 3: in terms of development. That is a big thing here
7:59
Speaker 3: as well, that he has room to grow, and I
8:01
Speaker 3: do think there's a feeling that getting him out of
8:07
Speaker 3: his comfort zone and a place where it will be
8:11
Speaker 3: challenged in a lot of different ways could accelerate some
8:15
Speaker 3: of that too.
8:17
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, why don't we take a quick break
8:19
Speaker 1: and then come back and talk about how teams will
8:23
Speaker 1: be recruiting him, particularly the Cubs?
8:25
Speaker 2: What's their pitch to Roki Sasaki?
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9:33
Speaker 1: Obviously, the Cubs have had some success in recent years
9:37
Speaker 1: when it comes to signing players from Japan. You and
9:42
Speaker 1: I have talked to a lot of people in the
9:44
Speaker 1: front office. Ever since Jed Hoyer I became team president,
9:49
Speaker 1: this has been a focus of his. It hasn't been
9:51
Speaker 1: at the forefront, hasn't been something that has been like
9:54
Speaker 1: super well publicized. But it started with Saya Suzuki. It
9:59
Speaker 1: continued would show to him and Naga they want to
10:02
Speaker 1: be a destination. I mean really, I mean, to be honest,
10:06
Speaker 1: from what I understand, this really like this idea. This
10:10
Speaker 1: concept started when they first pitched you Darvish back in
10:15
Speaker 1: I mean when they first started two thousand and what
10:18
Speaker 1: was it thirteen, when Jed and THEO were first here
10:22
Speaker 1: like that's that's when this concept, this idea kind of
10:25
Speaker 1: came into their minds and it's kind of grown since then.
10:29
Speaker 1: They ended up getting Darvish as a free agent, and
10:33
Speaker 1: I think that really spurred a lot of this, like, Okay,
10:35
Speaker 1: we have a big name that we can say, look
10:39
Speaker 1: look at what we've done. Look at how comfortable we
10:41
Speaker 1: made him, look at how we helped him.
10:43
Speaker 2: And they did.
10:43
Speaker 1: They did make you Darvish very comfortable. They did make him,
10:47
Speaker 1: you know, they did help him maximize some of his arsenal.
10:51
Speaker 1: And now Jed Hoyer has you said he's been He's
10:55
Speaker 1: been there multiple times for my understanding, Yes, year, he
11:00
Speaker 1: like this is a priority of his. And some of
11:03
Speaker 1: that may be because they understand that the way our
11:07
Speaker 1: budget works, the way the money that we're working with,
11:11
Speaker 1: doesn't allow us to go in on this true superstars
11:15
Speaker 1: of free agency. But here's a way to get around that.
11:19
Speaker 1: How much would say a Suzuki established to say, Suzuki
11:22
Speaker 1: go on free agency right now, how much would he
11:25
Speaker 1: make this year if he was hitting free agency right
11:28
Speaker 1: compared to what they ended up signing him for. How
11:31
Speaker 1: much would show to him Anaga be making if he
11:34
Speaker 1: hit free agency now after the season he just had
11:36
Speaker 1: with the Cubs, right, So they're they're looking for ways
11:40
Speaker 1: to kind of work around and then find impact talent.
11:43
Speaker 1: It's the same thing we talk about, but like with
11:47
Speaker 1: that they try and do all the time, but this
11:49
Speaker 1: actually is like these are established talents in another league
11:53
Speaker 1: that somehow have their in different different situations, have their
11:58
Speaker 1: salary kind of camp down a bit, and in this
12:02
Speaker 1: case it's especially so I think the pitch is simple.
12:06
Speaker 2: Uh Darvish is a fan.
12:09
Speaker 1: Of what's going on with the Cubs, has it like,
12:11
Speaker 1: has nothing but good things to say. Yes, Saya Suzuki's
12:16
Speaker 1: transition wasn't perfect, but it was he eventually found comfort
12:20
Speaker 1: and he eventually, like you know, found a way to
12:24
Speaker 1: live comfortably in Chicago, showed to in Monaga's I think
12:28
Speaker 1: they learned from those experiences and really helped him his
12:32
Speaker 1: transition in his transition to a new country, a new team,
12:35
Speaker 1: a new league. I think those are three great selling
12:40
Speaker 1: points that this team has, and that's just with their
12:44
Speaker 1: history of Japanese players.
12:48
Speaker 3: Without a doubt, I think there's a select, a small,
12:53
Speaker 3: select group of teams that can really invest in the
12:58
Speaker 3: scouting infrastructure in Japan to kind of pay for that
13:04
Speaker 3: coverage to also have like the connections and the credibility
13:09
Speaker 3: to forge relationships and close deals and gather information that
13:15
Speaker 3: gives you more confirmation confidence to make what are still
13:20
Speaker 3: sizeable investments. I mean, particularly when you factor in the
13:26
Speaker 3: posting fee for those major league contracts. I mean, says
13:28
Speaker 3: one hundred million dollar player. Essentially Shoda could wind up
13:34
Speaker 3: being close to that if he maxes out his deal
13:37
Speaker 3: and you include the posting fee and then the numbers
13:41
Speaker 3: we're talking about, there aren't that many teams that are
13:44
Speaker 3: willing to kind of go to those numbers for guys
13:47
Speaker 3: who've never played professional baseball in America before, and if
13:54
Speaker 3: your player coming over from Japan, there aren't Like certain
13:58
Speaker 3: cities are way more attractive than others, right, and Chicago
14:03
Speaker 3: is a very cosmopolitan, world class city. It has that
14:07
Speaker 3: reputation that you're talking about side of amongst Japanese players
14:12
Speaker 3: as a comfortable place to live where families feel good
14:20
Speaker 3: about the opportunities in front of them. The Cubs are
14:26
Speaker 3: really good at this recruiting stuff. I mean Joel Wolf,
14:28
Speaker 3: who's part of the represent representation team at Wasserman, who
14:33
Speaker 3: will be handling part of the Sasaki stuff. Once described
14:39
Speaker 3: the Cubs as recruiting like the University of Alabama football team.
14:42
Speaker 3: That was after they lured Darvish. And there are certain
14:47
Speaker 3: ways to sort of pitch guys from Japan that it
14:52
Speaker 3: is a little different than you know, some major league
14:57
Speaker 3: player who may be a little more jaded, or may
15:00
Speaker 3: have a little more understanding of the landscape or more
15:05
Speaker 3: you know, they may rule things in or out in
15:07
Speaker 3: different ways, and the comps have a ton of credibility,
15:12
Speaker 3: uh in this space.
15:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's that's actually something that they've built.
15:17
Speaker 1: My understanding is they were a little you know, ten
15:21
Speaker 1: years ago, whatever, five years ago, whatever it may be,
15:24
Speaker 1: they were a little concerned with the reputation of Chicago
15:28
Speaker 1: compare not that it was bad, but you compare it
15:31
Speaker 1: to Seattle, La San Diego. They were they thought they
15:37
Speaker 1: were just a full tier, if not further behind those
15:41
Speaker 1: teams for when it come when it came to trying
15:44
Speaker 1: to bring Japanese players over to Chicago. They just they
15:48
Speaker 1: were concerned about that. They've built a really good reputation.
15:52
Speaker 1: There one one underrated area. I think part of the
15:56
Speaker 1: pitch is Tommy Hoddevey does really well when he's put
15:59
Speaker 1: in front of these players. He did really well from
16:03
Speaker 1: our understanding when they were recruiting show Heyo Todi when
16:07
Speaker 1: he first came.
16:08
Speaker 2: Is that right? Am I remembering that? Or was it
16:10
Speaker 2: darbish that he did he did? Whatever?
16:13
Speaker 3: I'm mi understanding is he did both, and that they
16:20
Speaker 3: sort of have it down not to a science, but
16:23
Speaker 3: they have their their go tos. They have which you've
16:28
Speaker 3: written about extensively, kind of technology, the innovation, the player
16:34
Speaker 3: development infrastructure that I think speaks to a lot of players,
16:39
Speaker 3: but in particularly a young guy coming out who's going
16:43
Speaker 3: to want to maximize his career in the majors.
16:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that's something that you know, Hatoby
16:51
Speaker 1: doesn't get a lot of love nationally, but every single
16:54
Speaker 1: time pitchers come to play for the Cubs, that's one
16:58
Speaker 1: of the first things.
16:59
Speaker 2: You hear, like, what do you like about it here?
17:00
Speaker 1: What have you what have you enjoyed? Whether they're coming
17:04
Speaker 1: or going? I mean Jameson Tye and Drew Smiley, You Darvish,
17:08
Speaker 1: You darvish is part of this pitch. He plays for
17:11
Speaker 1: another team and you can still sell other players on
17:15
Speaker 1: look at how much you darbish loved his time here.
17:17
Speaker 2: Now we'll we'll get to this soon.
17:19
Speaker 1: But San Diego is also competition here, so uh, maybe
17:23
Speaker 1: that's not Maybe he's not going to give direct support
17:27
Speaker 1: this time around, but who knows. And I think you're right.
17:30
Speaker 1: You brought up Joel Wolfe. Joel Wolfe has like this
17:34
Speaker 1: is an agent that has repeatedly done deals with the Cubs,
17:37
Speaker 1: like his his group, but they consistently have clients that
17:42
Speaker 1: that work well that they come to Chicago. He's got
17:45
Speaker 1: a good relationship with this front office. I mean, this
17:49
Speaker 1: isn't lining up where it's perfect for the Cubs, but
17:52
Speaker 1: it's not. It's not something you can rule out because
17:54
Speaker 1: there are a lot of good, good things going for
17:57
Speaker 1: the Cubs.
17:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you have to consider them, like in
18:01
Speaker 3: the conversation, because you Darvish years ago could have buried
18:06
Speaker 3: the Cubs and just said, you know, he's traded midway
18:12
Speaker 3: through a six year contract, in the middle of a pandemic,
18:16
Speaker 3: after they won a division title, after he had a
18:19
Speaker 3: cy Young Award caliber season, and what did he do.
18:24
Speaker 3: He actually recommended Chicago to say a Suzuki, And he
18:29
Speaker 3: didn't advise Shotta specifically about the Cubs. It was more
18:36
Speaker 3: of a you know, as he was kind of enter
18:39
Speaker 3: before he entered the process, it was you know, what
18:43
Speaker 3: should you value? And Darbish's main point was you go
18:48
Speaker 3: somewhere that shows you love that it's not always going
18:51
Speaker 3: to be perfect. It can't only be about money. It
18:54
Speaker 3: has to be a place that you know will support you.
18:57
Speaker 3: And Darvish felt that from the Cubs, from Wrigley Fields,
19:01
Speaker 3: from Cubs fans for a long time, and that word
19:05
Speaker 3: of mouth stuff goes a long way, especially when it's
19:09
Speaker 3: a sort of godfather figure among Japanese players. That's Starvish
19:15
Speaker 3: and he gives the thumbs up to the Cubs.
19:19
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, why don't we take a quick break
19:21
Speaker 1: and come back and break down the competition.
19:23
Speaker 2: Here for Sasaki?
19:27
Speaker 1: Patrick, rookie Sasaki gonna be a big name. Obviously, everyone
19:33
Speaker 1: is kind of in Onu and depending when he's posted, right,
19:37
Speaker 1: we know who the number one team is, right of course,
19:41
Speaker 1: who the favorites are.
19:44
Speaker 2: It's it's the Los Angeles Dodgers.
19:46
Speaker 1: Now, I think some people have kind of just said
19:50
Speaker 1: this is it, that it's done. You know, don't don't
19:54
Speaker 1: bother thinking about any other team, you know, I don't
19:58
Speaker 1: know how the push back I've gotten on that. I
20:01
Speaker 1: don't know how much of that is just like trying
20:04
Speaker 1: to stir up competition, or if it's really legit like
20:07
Speaker 1: there is this is uh, you know, this is more
20:11
Speaker 1: than just the Dodgers, you know, race to win, and
20:16
Speaker 1: some of it makes sense, right, Does he really want
20:19
Speaker 1: to be on a team that like is followed like
20:22
Speaker 1: the Dodgers are, where he'll he'll just be one of
20:27
Speaker 1: you know, like the It's already an insane media following, right.
20:31
Speaker 1: I can't imagine what their clubhouse access is like and
20:34
Speaker 1: what it's like to try and interview anyone in that
20:38
Speaker 1: in that area, it would it would reach another level,
20:41
Speaker 1: which Iszaki. You'd have three of the you know what
20:45
Speaker 1: ten five eight something like that, biggest Japanese stars ever
20:50
Speaker 1: on one team, plus two other super two other star American.
20:56
Speaker 3: Yeah.
20:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like it would just be insane.
21:01
Speaker 1: Maybe he doesn't want that, And I think what's most
21:04
Speaker 1: interesting is we don't know what he wants. He hasn't
21:07
Speaker 1: come out and said it. He hasn't come out and
21:09
Speaker 1: said this is what I prefer, this is what I
21:11
Speaker 1: like a lot of times you have a better idea.
21:13
Speaker 1: This guy's been really quiet him and his representation everyone
21:17
Speaker 1: around him. They haven't been blasting out there what is wanted,
21:23
Speaker 1: which makes our assumptions like all the more faulty, right,
21:27
Speaker 1: like where we can't make great deductions here.
21:32
Speaker 3: I do think a lot of this is second or
21:35
Speaker 3: third hand information from you know, which may have originated
21:40
Speaker 3: in a different language, you know what I mean. I'm
21:42
Speaker 3: just like trying to decipher this is certainly difficult. I mean,
21:49
Speaker 3: lets be upfront, like the Dodgers in almost anything have
21:53
Speaker 3: to be considered a front runner. If they want a player,
21:57
Speaker 3: they usually get what they want. That's what we see.
22:00
Speaker 3: History has shown us. They are an extremely attractive place
22:05
Speaker 3: to play. Their player development systems are kind of a
22:13
Speaker 3: best best in class, right, I mean, there's not it's
22:16
Speaker 3: really hard to poke holes in their argument. But like
22:21
Speaker 3: you said, we just don't know, and we've heard lots
22:26
Speaker 3: of conflicting things just the looking at the players we've
22:30
Speaker 3: covered over the years here, it was you know, I
22:34
Speaker 3: think at one point conventional wisdom was, well, Japanese players
22:39
Speaker 3: don't like to be on the same team. They kind
22:42
Speaker 3: of want their own space or their own spotlight. And
22:45
Speaker 3: then obviously Otony totally changed that, and then you have
22:51
Speaker 3: Jed and the Cups saying, you know, we've actually learned
22:53
Speaker 3: a lot from Saya's assimilation process. We be able to
22:56
Speaker 3: apply those lessons to Showta and to being very grateful
23:03
Speaker 3: for kind of what the Cubs had put in front
23:07
Speaker 3: of them, I think, and Padres also can point to
23:12
Speaker 3: an excellent relationship with Darvish and Joel Wolf and history
23:17
Speaker 3: of you know, find out just being good and being
23:23
Speaker 3: competitive and being having a great atmosphere in their ballpark
23:29
Speaker 3: as well as, you know, a beautiful place to live.
23:35
Speaker 3: The Mets under Steve Cohen and David Stearns have also
23:39
Speaker 3: made a concerted effort to be a presence in Japan.
23:48
Speaker 3: The Phillies have as well. The Phillies don't have that history.
23:50
Speaker 3: I think they saw a gap in their organization frankly,
23:55
Speaker 3: much wider one than the Cubs had, and they've tried
23:59
Speaker 3: to ramp up there. They kept extending themselves trying to
24:04
Speaker 3: sign Yamamoto last year. Now, obviously this is a different
24:07
Speaker 3: sort of competition here where money isn't the kind of
24:12
Speaker 3: end all be all, But I would imagine that they
24:18
Speaker 3: have to explore a lot of different options here. Unless
24:21
Speaker 3: he is absolutely dead set on the Dodgers, like, why
24:25
Speaker 3: wouldn't you open this up and see what you can
24:31
Speaker 3: learn and ultimately what you value.
24:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think there may be pushback, like from
24:39
Speaker 1: some fans, especially jaded Cubs fans, right, and understandably jaded
24:43
Speaker 1: Cubs fans say, why would you come to the Cubs
24:47
Speaker 1: over the Dodgers or the Padres?
24:49
Speaker 2: Right?
24:50
Speaker 1: Dodgers and Padres probably two of the best teams, if
24:53
Speaker 1: not the two best teams in baseball this past season. Right,
24:56
Speaker 1: and they don't look like they're headed for at least
24:59
Speaker 1: not a serious swing next season. Right, They're both going
25:01
Speaker 1: to be right there. The Cubs are not not at
25:04
Speaker 1: that level yet.
25:05
Speaker 2: They're just not.
25:06
Speaker 1: But the pitch is as simple as look at you know,
25:11
Speaker 1: we have this established talent, We have these two Japanese
25:14
Speaker 1: players that have done well here and feel comfortable here,
25:18
Speaker 1: and you'll be part of our stable of young players
25:22
Speaker 1: coming up, Right, And that that would be the like,
25:25
Speaker 1: this isn't we're we're about to hit you know, their pitches,
25:30
Speaker 1: We're about to hit like these next five years of
25:33
Speaker 1: great success. That's in their minds, right, Like, that's what
25:36
Speaker 1: they envision and that's how you present it to Sazaki
25:40
Speaker 1: versus all those other teams you mentioned, who are all
25:42
Speaker 1: playoff teams, right and MaTx, Philly's Padres Dodgers, those are
25:47
Speaker 1: playoff teams. Those teams all just you know, showed what
25:50
Speaker 1: they can do already. So this is more about envisioning
25:54
Speaker 1: what could be harder sell. But it's it's possible, I
25:59
Speaker 1: guess if that. It all depends on what he's looking for. Uh,
26:03
Speaker 1: but I mean you you name teams that should put
26:07
Speaker 1: a little bit of a you know, feeling in your
26:09
Speaker 1: stomach if you're a Cubs fan, Like, oh, I don't
26:11
Speaker 1: love hearing that, because they all have really good pitches,
26:13
Speaker 1: and they all have really good uh teams, So and
26:18
Speaker 1: and any one of them would happily welcome a league
26:21
Speaker 1: minimum starter.
26:22
Speaker 2: That's a big thing here.
26:24
Speaker 1: I mean yeah, like all of them want you know
26:28
Speaker 1: that they if bonus pool, you know, you just max
26:31
Speaker 1: out your bonus pool and say, I'll just take whatever
26:33
Speaker 1: you can give me. If that's what this ends up being,
26:37
Speaker 1: that that's kind of a game changer for any team
26:40
Speaker 1: adding this to your rotation. A league minimum salary for
26:43
Speaker 1: the first you know, a couple of years of that contract,
26:46
Speaker 1: that's uh, I mean it's a it's got to It
26:49
Speaker 1: would be a dream for Jests and there their payroll.
26:54
Speaker 3: I mean, our colleague Dennis Lynn wrote this up in
26:57
Speaker 3: The Athletic of the Padreser kind of getting squeezed with
27:01
Speaker 3: their payroll at this point, and he'd be like the
27:04
Speaker 3: dream solution. If Jed and Carter and their group could
27:09
Speaker 3: somehow close this, they would immediately change the perception. They'd
27:15
Speaker 3: still have, you know, a lot of flexibility left over,
27:19
Speaker 3: but you could run that team back and put Sazaki
27:22
Speaker 3: in there. It just changes the just a whole perception
27:26
Speaker 3: and kind of aura around this team and the program
27:30
Speaker 3: they're trying to build. And I will say it was
27:33
Speaker 3: good to see like Shoda and say this year up close,
27:36
Speaker 3: and to remember like they have two very different personalities,
27:41
Speaker 3: Like if I always trying to think of like if
27:44
Speaker 3: if John Lackey and Kyle Hendricks went to go pitch
27:46
Speaker 3: in Japan, like you wouldn't think, oh, those two guys
27:49
Speaker 3: are exactly alike, right, And so Sazaki may have preferences
27:55
Speaker 3: or personal histories or just kind of interest priority parties
28:00
Speaker 3: that are obviously unknown to us and maybe different than
28:05
Speaker 3: just the conventional wisdom of oh he's definitely going to
28:08
Speaker 3: the Dodgers, even though I think if anyone had to
28:11
Speaker 3: bet on this, you you'd go with the Dodgers.
28:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a they're the heavy favorites right now just
28:18
Speaker 1: based on what we know, and like you said, we
28:21
Speaker 1: just don't know a lot. There's not a lot that
28:24
Speaker 1: is concrete fact here, But it would be hard to
28:27
Speaker 1: bet against them. I think that's the reality. One thing
28:32
Speaker 1: we do know for certain is upgrading the rotation is
28:36
Speaker 1: an absolute priority for this team.
28:40
Speaker 2: For the Cubs.
28:42
Speaker 1: Sazaki would be the just like that, that would win
28:47
Speaker 1: the off season for the Cubs' that's how you turn
28:51
Speaker 1: public opinion in your favor. It would be the home
28:54
Speaker 1: run signing probably the only realistic addition possible this winter
29:00
Speaker 1: that I could see fans finally like starting to turn
29:04
Speaker 1: that because right now, especially with the rest of sports
29:08
Speaker 1: in this city, all the other teams, nobody's happy right now.
29:11
Speaker 1: If you're a sports fan in Chicago, it's hard to
29:14
Speaker 1: find much joy. Every Sunday is like a lesson in
29:18
Speaker 1: misery in this town watching the Bears. So they they
29:24
Speaker 1: some organization needs to turn the tide, and that that's
29:27
Speaker 1: the only way I really see it as realistic unless
29:30
Speaker 1: there's a trade out there that I'm missing, But because
29:33
Speaker 1: like we're like.
29:34
Speaker 2: We've re boorded.
29:35
Speaker 1: No Corbyn Burns, no Wan Soto. Those are the two
29:39
Speaker 1: of you know, two names that that could have turned
29:41
Speaker 1: the tide when it comes to morale with the fan base.
29:44
Speaker 1: I think Sazaki is the only other one.
29:47
Speaker 3: You make a great point with the Bears. I've been
29:48
Speaker 3: thinking of that of you know, the Cubs are to
29:51
Speaker 3: Japanese players in a total opposite to what the Bears
29:57
Speaker 3: and first round quarterbacks are right in terms of I
30:01
Speaker 3: didn't probably phrase that exactly as smoothly as I would
30:06
Speaker 3: have liked, But when you talk about infrastructure, track record, credibility,
30:13
Speaker 3: the Cubs have that in a way that the Bears
30:16
Speaker 3: certainly don't at the quarterback position. But you know, if
30:19
Speaker 3: you're a Japanese young Japanese pitcher who wants to challenge
30:24
Speaker 3: himself and maximize your talents, you could do a lot
30:31
Speaker 3: worse than the Cubs. And in the end, maybe that
30:36
Speaker 3: maybe Dodger Stadium show, Hey Yamamoto, Southern California just blows
30:43
Speaker 3: the Cubs out of the water. It's not going to
30:45
Speaker 3: come down to money, but I think the Cubs have
30:50
Speaker 3: put in a lot of work to give themselves a
30:53
Speaker 3: chance here.
30:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's all you can really ask for at
30:58
Speaker 1: this point. Us to see when he's posted. I'm curious
31:01
Speaker 1: to see what we hear from that side of things,
31:04
Speaker 1: how quiet it'll be there was There weren't a lot
31:09
Speaker 1: of Imanaga rumors, right, they just weren't. And that was
31:12
Speaker 1: very quiet until the end. Like obviously we knew Otani
31:18
Speaker 1: would be a quiet process. That we were told it
31:21
Speaker 1: would be quiet, and it was. All the rumors out
31:24
Speaker 1: there were like not not the not the strongest at
31:28
Speaker 1: at times.
31:29
Speaker 2: So I don't know what this is going to look like.
31:31
Speaker 1: And maybe we'll have a better idea when we're down
31:34
Speaker 1: in Dallas, uh, like in a few weeks.
31:37
Speaker 2: But uh, this is going to be a fascinating one
31:39
Speaker 2: to follow it.
31:40
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm I'm glad he's posted because it kind
31:42
Speaker 1: of spices things up here and uh, we'll make for
31:45
Speaker 1: for an entertaining off season.
31:47
Speaker 2: It gives us a gives us a little bit of excitement.
31:51
Speaker 1: With Burns and Soda kind of crossed off to start
31:53
Speaker 1: to start the winter, that had to be hard for
31:57
Speaker 1: Cubs fans, so so at least we get to spice
32:00
Speaker 1: things up and make things a little bit more entertaining.
32:02
Speaker 2: Here.
32:03
Speaker 3: We can get back to our regularly scheduled doom and
32:06
Speaker 3: gloom for our second episode. But our good friends at
32:10
Speaker 3: Foul Territory, our advisors and producers there, I had a
32:16
Speaker 3: great suggestion to just only focus on Sazaki here because
32:20
Speaker 3: it helps crystallize my thoughts as well of just like
32:23
Speaker 3: this is this is the off season home run. Yeah,
32:28
Speaker 3: that's it.
32:29
Speaker 1: You want to you wanna see some happy fans at
32:31
Speaker 1: Cubs convention.
32:33
Speaker 2: Uh, this is the path. We'll we'll see if they
32:36
Speaker 2: can pull it off.
32:37
Speaker 1: We'll have more for you later this week on just
32:40
Speaker 1: the general you know, free agency kind of kicking off,
32:44
Speaker 1: starting to get we're probably close to things happening. Maybe
32:47
Speaker 1: a week from now we'll start seeing some actual movement.
32:49
Speaker 2: Well, we'll see.
32:50
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe it'll be earlier, Maybe it'll be some things happening.
32:54
Speaker 1: We'll we'll be on top of all of that. Please
32:56
Speaker 1: make sure to rate review, subscribe to Northside territ Toy,
33:00
Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, Subscribe to The Athletic where
33:04
Speaker 1: you can find Patrick and my work. Thanks so much
33:06
Speaker 1: for listening, Thanks so much for reading. We appreciate all
33:08
Speaker 1: of you take care of