Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / The Cubs’ makeover continues with the Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger trades

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The Cubs’ makeover continues with the Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger trades · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: He went from like, ooh, this is going to be
0:01
Speaker 1: a process too. Is this guy the best defensive first
0:04
Speaker 1: baseman we're watching right now? And he's probably not the best,
0:08
Speaker 1: but he's up there. Welcome into north Side Territory, Foul
0:16
Speaker 1: Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm Sahad Sharma with my partner
0:20
Speaker 1: Patrick Mooney, where your Cubs beat writers over at the
0:23
Speaker 1: Athletic Patrick. It's been a busy week. A lot has happened.
0:28
Speaker 1: I don't think we've have we recorded, Oh, we did
0:31
Speaker 1: record an emergency Kyle Tucker podcast, But even after that,
0:35
Speaker 1: there's been plenty. We've had press conferences, We've had another trade.
0:39
Speaker 1: We've had the Carson Kelly signing be official, that Matt
0:42
Speaker 1: Siss trade, Oh dear. But the most recent thing we've
0:50
Speaker 1: been teasing this, I don't think it comes as a
0:52
Speaker 1: surprise to anyone who's been paying attention, but Cody Bellinger
0:55
Speaker 1: has finally been traded. It's been traded to the Yankees.
0:58
Speaker 1: There's no surprises here. I think if I'm surprised about anything,
1:02
Speaker 1: it's about I guess how little money the Cubs gave
1:06
Speaker 1: up and how you know, I don't know, I don't
1:10
Speaker 1: know how to pronounce his last name properly, But Cody Cody, Like,
1:15
Speaker 1: I don't know a lot about him, so I don't
1:17
Speaker 1: want to, you know, talk down about him. But he's
1:20
Speaker 1: you know, a fungible, you know, swingman, it seems like,
1:25
Speaker 1: is how best to describe him. I didn't see anything
1:28
Speaker 1: that stood out. I saw some people talking about a sweeper.
1:32
Speaker 1: I don't think we're gonna spend a lot of time
1:33
Speaker 1: talking about him until the season starts and we see
1:36
Speaker 1: him play. Right, But this is about Cody Bellinger going
1:40
Speaker 1: to the Yankees and the Cubs freeing up a little
1:42
Speaker 1: money here or a decent amount of money, I should
1:44
Speaker 1: say yeah.
1:46
Speaker 2: I mean clearly they were rooting for him to opt out, right,
1:49
Speaker 2: I mean they.
1:51
Speaker 3: Get rid of.
1:54
Speaker 2: That money clearly by having the Yankees take on that
1:58
Speaker 2: much salary, it reduces the return. And I think fungible
2:05
Speaker 2: is a good word for the incoming Cody here. It's
2:10
Speaker 2: kind of wild after all the time spent on you know,
2:16
Speaker 2: will they trade him? Will they won't? Going back to
2:19
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, where's he going as a free agent?
2:23
Speaker 2: Is he gonna opt in or out? You know, their
2:25
Speaker 2: trade rumors out there last summer as well, and for
2:29
Speaker 2: him to just wind up on the on the Yankees,
2:32
Speaker 2: a team that was really after him at twenty twenty
2:34
Speaker 2: three for a pretty minimal return, is kind of kind
2:39
Speaker 2: of funny. But yeah, I guess you can't really evaluate
2:43
Speaker 2: it until we see what they do next and ultimately
2:47
Speaker 2: where their payroll ends up next year, because right now
2:53
Speaker 2: it just kind of looks like a salary dum.
2:56
Speaker 1: Right. I agree, you cannot. It's hard to valuate this
3:00
Speaker 1: trade on its own, Like, on its own, it doesn't
3:03
Speaker 1: it looks bad right on its own. It's not like
3:05
Speaker 1: it's not a positive thing. It doesn't. It doesn't make
3:08
Speaker 1: the team better, but that's not the point of the move. Essentially,
3:13
Speaker 1: the Cubs would have had to pay, like if he
3:15
Speaker 1: would have opted out, they would have had to pay
3:17
Speaker 1: him two and a half million dollars, right, So that
3:20
Speaker 1: was part of it, right, So essentially they're sending another
3:24
Speaker 1: two and a half million to the Yankees, plus whatever
3:30
Speaker 1: Cooditt is gonna make this year and the value he
3:35
Speaker 1: brings to the team, right, they can't ignore that, whatever
3:37
Speaker 1: that may be. So they have they have essentially a
3:41
Speaker 1: little less than what they would have had had he
3:43
Speaker 1: opted out. So It's kind of like it's the situation
3:47
Speaker 1: that I described before, right that this is kind of like, Okay,
3:52
Speaker 1: now they can go make the moves that they had
3:54
Speaker 1: in their mind or try and do the things they
3:56
Speaker 1: had in their mind. And part of it was probably
3:58
Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker, Right, that's part of it. What's the what
4:01
Speaker 1: is the point of having Kyle Tucker, says Azuki, Michael Bush,
4:06
Speaker 1: Pete Crow Armstrong and Katey Bellinger? Like how are how
4:10
Speaker 1: are you gonna play all those guys? It's like it
4:14
Speaker 1: just doesn't it doesn't work well, Like none of those
4:17
Speaker 1: guys are part time players. You shouldn't be sitting those guys,
4:22
Speaker 1: any of those guys two or three times a week.
4:23
Speaker 1: It just doesn't make sense. Uh so it Yeah, I
4:27
Speaker 1: guess you could have gotten creative. But one thing that
4:32
Speaker 1: I can't remember who asked the question, but Michael Bush
4:35
Speaker 1: is their first baseman. I saw some speculation online people
4:39
Speaker 1: talking about that. It never made sense to me. They
4:41
Speaker 1: said it last year. Uh they said it coming into
4:45
Speaker 1: last year, and they could have used a third basement.
4:47
Speaker 1: They could have used it there. It's not like like yeah,
4:52
Speaker 1: there's no like they could have used his versatility at
4:55
Speaker 1: plenty of times last year, and and Jed said he's
4:58
Speaker 1: a gold love first baseman. They see him as a
5:00
Speaker 1: goal globe first baseman. I don't disagree. I was talking
5:04
Speaker 1: to someone at the winter meetings, like, I haven't seen
5:08
Speaker 1: that type of improvement over the course of the season
5:10
Speaker 1: defensively by a player that often. He went from like, oh,
5:14
Speaker 1: this is going to be a process too. Is this
5:17
Speaker 1: guy the best defensive first baseman we're watching right now?
5:20
Speaker 1: And he's probably not the best, but he's up there.
5:23
Speaker 1: He got really good over the course of the six
5:25
Speaker 1: months of baseball he played last summer. I'm just curious
5:31
Speaker 1: what else happens here. I agree with you, we cannot
5:36
Speaker 1: judge this in a vacuum. It's not fair, but it
5:40
Speaker 1: like optically, I understand why someone would a with the
5:45
Speaker 1: history recent history of the Cubs and how they spend
5:48
Speaker 1: I get it, like you want to see that money spend.
5:52
Speaker 1: It's like just seeing like Tody Bellinger brought a lot
5:56
Speaker 1: of fun to this city at different points. Right, he's
6:00
Speaker 1: a fun player to watch when he's healthy and and
6:03
Speaker 1: and looks good out there. But uh yeah, I think
6:09
Speaker 1: it made all the sense in the world to kind
6:11
Speaker 1: of they had to make a move here, we'll we'll
6:15
Speaker 1: see what We'll see what's next. I don't I don't
6:19
Speaker 1: think this is purely a salary dump in this in
6:23
Speaker 1: the traditional sense.
6:24
Speaker 2: I guess, yeah, well, yeah, we'll reserve judgment until right,
6:31
Speaker 2: you know, but the track record is a little spotty.
6:35
Speaker 2: And I do I do wonder you know what happens
6:40
Speaker 2: if seales O hurts his obleague again in spring training
6:44
Speaker 2: and Pikrow Armstrong runs into the wall making a great
6:47
Speaker 2: catch and his sidelined.
6:50
Speaker 3: And I think they are putting a lot of faith in.
6:53
Speaker 2: Michael Bush, but they were kind of kind of stuck
6:58
Speaker 2: with all these no trade and guys on kind of
7:01
Speaker 2: like hefty AAVs on these kind of medium term.
7:07
Speaker 3: Arrangements.
7:08
Speaker 2: And you know, part of why the return seems a
7:12
Speaker 2: little less than is that the baseball industry is sort
7:17
Speaker 2: of split or a little skeptical on Cody Bellinger, right,
7:21
Speaker 2: Like that's why he came back to the Cups, because
7:23
Speaker 2: he didn't get that huge deal and the more analytically
7:27
Speaker 2: inclined teams were always going to be a little suspicious
7:31
Speaker 2: of some of his bat atball data. And then just
7:35
Speaker 2: the kind of wide variance in his performance from year
7:39
Speaker 2: to year. It's a hard guy to you know, kind
7:43
Speaker 2: of go all out for. And that's why he's been
7:45
Speaker 2: on kind of one year deals or multi year deals
7:49
Speaker 2: with you know, escape patches stuff like that. So that said,
7:56
Speaker 2: I think he winds up in an awesome place for him, right,
7:58
Speaker 2: I mean, his dad played at awesome Yankee teams, Yankee stadiums, dimensions.
8:05
Speaker 3: He fits that team really well with his you know, versatility.
8:09
Speaker 2: So I think once again, it's if he ops into
8:15
Speaker 2: his contract for the twenty twenty six season event something
8:18
Speaker 2: went clearly wrong and that the Yankees and Bellinger and
8:25
Speaker 2: Scott Boris would all be expecting a monster platform or
8:29
Speaker 2: for him from him.
8:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, and obviously having him as as depth or making
8:35
Speaker 1: your lineup versatile would would be great, right I There's
8:38
Speaker 1: a couple of things I would wonder in that situation.
8:40
Speaker 1: I don't think these guys are all like the type
8:43
Speaker 1: to complain a ton, but it is hard, like it
8:46
Speaker 1: is when you have those types of players as depth.
8:49
Speaker 1: I think it can be hard, right like it like
8:52
Speaker 1: the clubhouse can get a little clubhouse dynamic can get
8:56
Speaker 1: thrown off. So I think the other part of that
8:59
Speaker 1: is Jed Hoy's been talk about this for a while.
9:01
Speaker 1: He wants the young players to be deaf. Yeah, that's
9:03
Speaker 1: a good point, right, And Kevin Alcantra and Owen Casey
9:07
Speaker 1: can fill those in theory, hopefully fill those spots that
9:12
Speaker 1: we're talking about when we say, like when you and
9:15
Speaker 1: you bring up very valid points like would I be
9:18
Speaker 1: surprised if if Peter arms around, goes too hard in
9:20
Speaker 1: spring training and like strains and oblique because he runs
9:24
Speaker 1: into a wall.
9:24
Speaker 2: No, but that was I guess part of the thing
9:29
Speaker 2: with Balinger too though, So I mean he always get
9:31
Speaker 2: banged up as well the way he plays.
9:35
Speaker 1: But you have, like you have to eventually like find
9:37
Speaker 1: a way to get those guys in right or guess
9:40
Speaker 1: you're creating them. So so I think like that's it's
9:43
Speaker 1: it's fair to want like it's fair to look at
9:45
Speaker 1: them as depth now. And I think it great you
9:48
Speaker 1: have at least some sort of path for some of
9:50
Speaker 1: these guys to get into the game and and and
9:53
Speaker 1: help this team.
9:55
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10:58
Speaker 1: Obviously, what makes Bell and You're expendable is Kyle Tucker.
11:03
Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker, we finally got to talk to him Tuesday.
11:07
Speaker 1: We talked to Jed on Tuesday. There was Kyle Tucker
11:11
Speaker 1: extension talk, right, you know, Jed. Jed kind of pushed
11:14
Speaker 1: that to the side, you know, always willing to talk.
11:17
Speaker 1: Same with Kyle Tucker. I'm willing to talk. I don't know.
11:21
Speaker 1: I don't think we're getting at Kyle Tucker extension anytime soon.
11:25
Speaker 1: I don't think I appreciate Kyle Tucker saying what he said.
11:30
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, he's open to listening. If you pay
11:33
Speaker 1: him open market value, like like, okay, go above and
11:38
Speaker 1: beyond and give him that deal, maybe he'll listen. Even then,
11:41
Speaker 1: I think it's like, we don't know what open market
11:44
Speaker 1: value is because a year from now, if he has
11:45
Speaker 1: a monster season, like, there is going to be a
11:48
Speaker 1: bidding war. So I think these types of players bet
11:51
Speaker 1: on themselves. But he said the right things. He didn't say, no,
11:57
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about this city. I don't know
11:59
Speaker 1: anything about this team. What if we stink I don't
12:02
Speaker 1: want to be here. Right. He's not gonna say that
12:05
Speaker 1: because he's not an idiot, but he he cracked open
12:09
Speaker 1: the door for the optimists. I guess yeah.
12:13
Speaker 2: He definitely had the talking points down, and his agency,
12:17
Speaker 2: EXL Sports Management, negotiated leieve the two biggest deals in
12:24
Speaker 2: franchise history in Jason Hayward and Dansby Swanson. Okay, however,
12:30
Speaker 2: if you combine those two deals, the values like three
12:37
Speaker 2: hundred and sixty one dollars and do you think that
12:42
Speaker 2: do you think do you think I would get it done?
12:44
Speaker 3: Does it have to? Is he gonna shoot for a four?
12:47
Speaker 1: I mean?
12:48
Speaker 2: And those two deals combined were the length of are
12:52
Speaker 2: the like Juan Soto's entire contract?
12:55
Speaker 3: So I think in a pre Soto.
13:00
Speaker 2: World there's probably a little more a bit more credibili
13:06
Speaker 2: in that, I know, Excel maybe a little more flexible
13:11
Speaker 2: than say Boris Corp.
13:14
Speaker 3: But like, how did Dansby Swanson get paid?
13:17
Speaker 2: It was by leaving his hometown team and testing the
13:22
Speaker 2: market and finding a team that was way more desperate
13:26
Speaker 2: than the Braves. Jason Hayward obviously played it out so
13:31
Speaker 2: that he would reach free agency at a very prime age.
13:37
Speaker 2: He left his hometown team and kind of, you know,
13:42
Speaker 2: you know, we should go back and look at what
13:44
Speaker 2: Jason Hayward's quotes were when he was first traded to
13:48
Speaker 2: the Cardinals, because I'd imagine it was somewhat similar of,
13:54
Speaker 2: you know, great franchise, you know, excited to win.
13:58
Speaker 3: I'm open, we'll see what happens.
14:00
Speaker 2: And you know, the Cubs what didn't even make the
14:06
Speaker 2: highest offer and you know, still got the player. It was,
14:09
Speaker 2: you know, similar ballparks or whatever.
14:12
Speaker 3: But yeah, I think this will be.
14:16
Speaker 2: An ongoing storyline with a very predictable ending. And I
14:23
Speaker 2: think you know, you can't judge everything off of Zoom,
14:28
Speaker 2: but from what you know, you and I have both
14:31
Speaker 2: heard about Tucker.
14:31
Speaker 3: He's pretty down to earth, low key.
14:37
Speaker 2: Guy that I don't think there's going to be a
14:39
Speaker 2: whole lot of uh drama surrounding him.
14:43
Speaker 3: He just knows he's got to be right numbers right,
14:45
Speaker 3: Is that?
14:46
Speaker 1: Is that right? Yeah? Yeah, I've heard the saying. I
14:49
Speaker 1: don't think he's going to do any posturing in the media,
14:52
Speaker 1: pushing for an extension or saying like or even openly
14:57
Speaker 1: saying like, I don't want to sign. I want to
15:00
Speaker 1: hit free agency and make all the money I can.
15:01
Speaker 1: It just doesn't seem like from everything I've heard and
15:04
Speaker 1: even listening to him, he's not going to give us
15:06
Speaker 1: a splashy headline with his quotes, and that's fine. You know,
15:09
Speaker 1: it's it's a bummer for us. I don't think the
15:11
Speaker 1: fans care, nor should you go like you you want
15:14
Speaker 1: him to perform, right, I get that. Uh, that's that's
15:18
Speaker 1: kind of he fits into this clubhouse. I mean, how
15:21
Speaker 1: many of these guys are going to give us this huge,
15:24
Speaker 1: splashy headline. Uh, it rarely happens in that clubhouse. I
15:28
Speaker 1: think Council, even with his dry sense of humor, is
15:31
Speaker 1: the only one that's that that on occasion will give
15:34
Speaker 1: us a headline. There. We got to build ninety one teams, right.
15:38
Speaker 1: Uh but yeah, he you know, it's it's exciting that
15:45
Speaker 1: the Cubs made this move. I think there is a
15:47
Speaker 1: sense of fear among the fan base that it's won
15:51
Speaker 1: and done.
15:53
Speaker 5: Uh.
15:53
Speaker 1: You know, I'm very like, I don't think like there's
15:57
Speaker 1: going to be a change in tenor and so an
16:01
Speaker 1: extension happens. Uh. I just can't rule it out because
16:04
Speaker 1: I've been surprised so much in baseball before. No matter
16:06
Speaker 1: what I hear things, shiit, I just like, it just
16:10
Speaker 1: does not seem like this is leading to that.
16:13
Speaker 2: Uh.
16:14
Speaker 1: You know, fans are going to cling to what he said.
16:17
Speaker 1: I think I think the optimist will cling to what
16:19
Speaker 1: he said. I think realists kind of know this guy's
16:22
Speaker 1: hitting free agency. The question becomes, how does Jed Hoyer
16:26
Speaker 1: react if Jed Hoyer is still around? I guess depending
16:31
Speaker 1: on what type of season the Cubs have. And I
16:35
Speaker 1: guess we can get into.
16:38
Speaker 2: As your question on the zoom yes, one of your
16:41
Speaker 2: questions on the video conference.
16:43
Speaker 1: Right, and and you know, I'm not I think it's
16:47
Speaker 1: a very obvious question. I don't think I was coming
16:53
Speaker 1: up with anything crazy here by Yeah, yeah, you go
16:56
Speaker 1: get a great player. I understand all the reasons why
16:58
Speaker 1: you make this move, but it is fair to wonder
17:03
Speaker 1: Jed Hoyer's contract is up at the end of this season.
17:06
Speaker 1: Do they have to make moves to save your jobs?
17:09
Speaker 1: You know, like the whole front office is under the
17:11
Speaker 1: microscope right now. It's no longer nobody's blaming David Ross.
17:16
Speaker 1: Nobody's blaming you know. I mean you can, I think
17:20
Speaker 1: you can put blame on the players at times. But also,
17:22
Speaker 1: Jed Hoyer built this team. There's no superstar and now
17:25
Speaker 1: there is. Okay, he went and got that big thing
17:28
Speaker 1: that we were all complaining to him about how many
17:30
Speaker 1: times did he mention that during the presser, like, we've
17:32
Speaker 1: talked about this a lot, we talked about this this player.
17:36
Speaker 1: You guys have asked me a lot about this type
17:38
Speaker 1: of player. And he said, no, this is not a
17:42
Speaker 1: move that has anything to do with his job. He's
17:45
Speaker 1: looking at how to make this team better. I didn't
17:48
Speaker 1: expect anything else, right, I wasn't expecting to say, like
17:51
Speaker 1: I got a the clock is ticking time for me
17:55
Speaker 1: to make some moves otherwise I'm out of here. You know,
17:59
Speaker 1: the Cub's best in don't matter. It's how do I
18:01
Speaker 1: save my ass? He'd never say that. I understand that.
18:04
Speaker 1: I just needed to ask him that, and I thought
18:08
Speaker 1: his answer was fair and and pretty accurate. I you know,
18:13
Speaker 1: I tweeted it out this morning and some people said, like,
18:15
Speaker 1: what do you expect him to say? Or or also like,
18:20
Speaker 1: you know, he's never made a move like this. Obviously
18:23
Speaker 1: it's it's to save his job. Look it. Maybe it
18:27
Speaker 1: like he, like I said, he's not gonna come out
18:29
Speaker 1: and say that. I don't expect him to. And it
18:32
Speaker 1: may maybe it had some part in it, But I
18:35
Speaker 1: also think you can't say he's never made.
18:37
Speaker 5: A move like this.
18:39
Speaker 1: This has to be like I don't think you have
18:41
Speaker 1: to connect it to He also has never made a
18:43
Speaker 1: move like this because the team wasn't set up to
18:46
Speaker 1: in his mind, to be good enough to justify a
18:49
Speaker 1: move like this, and the system wasn't set up like
18:51
Speaker 1: I I thought. An underrated part of the press conferences
18:55
Speaker 1: was listen, it's a little over the top, you know,
18:58
Speaker 1: to to like when when he goes out and praises
19:00
Speaker 1: everyone in the organization, When when the team hasn't made
19:04
Speaker 1: the playoffs in so long, but they did a good
19:07
Speaker 1: job setting themselves up to be in this situation. They
19:10
Speaker 1: like people. I don't think people fully understand not only
19:15
Speaker 1: were like not only may have they not been willing
19:17
Speaker 1: to make some of these moves in the past. The
19:20
Speaker 1: organization was not set up, the farm system wasn't good enough.
19:24
Speaker 1: The major league team didn't have a player like Easak
19:26
Speaker 1: Paradas that they'd be willing to move that was valuable out,
19:30
Speaker 1: you know, to other teams. Jed pointed out that Houston
19:33
Speaker 1: called them before the trade deadline after they acquired Paradas,
19:36
Speaker 1: asking about him if they could still get them like
19:39
Speaker 1: they had desirable players both on the major league roster
19:43
Speaker 1: and in the minor league system. It just hasn't been
19:46
Speaker 1: the case they've drafted well despite only having one top
19:50
Speaker 1: ten draft pick in the past, since they kind of
19:54
Speaker 1: sold off the core right card, right yeah, right, yeah,
20:00
Speaker 1: done a good job there, Like this is that's the reality.
20:03
Speaker 1: They were in position to make a move like this.
20:06
Speaker 1: It made sense. Yes, I also think it's hard not
20:11
Speaker 1: to wonder despite what he says, like these guys are
20:15
Speaker 1: fighting for their job. But I also think it's it's
20:19
Speaker 1: the right move, you know, like, well, you can't sit
20:21
Speaker 1: on prospects all day all your life like it. Eventually
20:25
Speaker 1: this is not the race, right, They're not. Like at
20:28
Speaker 1: least we criticize them so much for behaving like the
20:31
Speaker 1: Guardians and the Rays and the Brewers. This is not
20:34
Speaker 1: a Guardian's raised Brewers move. So I think they deserve
20:37
Speaker 1: at least the credit for like just go out there
20:39
Speaker 1: and do something to like make this team better immediately
20:44
Speaker 1: that like obviously makes the team better. And they did that.
20:47
Speaker 1: So if it's to save his job or not, I
20:49
Speaker 1: like the move, right, Yeah, I think.
20:52
Speaker 3: It's totally disingenuous.
20:54
Speaker 2: It would be for us to say, oh, the Cubs
20:57
Speaker 2: need to start and constantly point out how they don't
21:00
Speaker 2: have that guy, and then when they go do it,
21:03
Speaker 2: Oh my god, but you gave up Cam Smith, someone who, like,
21:06
Speaker 2: I don't know, raise your hand if you've ever seen
21:08
Speaker 2: Cam Smith play, right, Okay, he might be really good
21:15
Speaker 2: in twenty thirty or he might not. I mean, these
21:19
Speaker 2: players we've seen it. I think kind of on the
21:22
Speaker 2: front end of our kind of professional career. We got
21:27
Speaker 2: to see that build up to twenty sixteen and then
21:30
Speaker 2: how it cratered. And I think it's hard to not
21:34
Speaker 2: keep that in your head of like players have moments
21:37
Speaker 2: like it's very rare to have like those guys that
21:40
Speaker 2: just go off and have a really sturdy tenure career.
21:45
Speaker 2: And so you know, best of luck to Cam Smith.
21:49
Speaker 2: I would encourage our listeners to read Chandler Rome's interview
21:54
Speaker 2: with Cam Smith on the Athletic. Chandler's our teammate both
21:58
Speaker 2: on the Athletic and here in the Territory Network, and
22:01
Speaker 2: I thought it was a really insightful look at Cam Smith,
22:04
Speaker 2: and you know how he's excited for his opportunity and
22:08
Speaker 2: so sure Jed is aware that the Cubs haven't won
22:14
Speaker 2: a playoff game in quite some time. I think he's
22:17
Speaker 2: generally aware of some of the discourse out there. But
22:23
Speaker 2: to your point side, this is just a natural outgrowth
22:26
Speaker 2: of what they've been building towards for years and so.
22:31
Speaker 3: I think we've talked about this before.
22:33
Speaker 2: I think we forgot to include in one of our
22:35
Speaker 2: recent stories on the athletic But the problem wasn't trading
22:38
Speaker 2: Dylan c Snela Jimenez. It was not having more there
22:42
Speaker 2: there of like giving you the options. And you know,
22:46
Speaker 2: I think Jed should get some credit for a roster
22:49
Speaker 2: that when we went to the GM meetings looked pretty
22:53
Speaker 2: stuck between Ballinger's salary and then no trade clauses and
22:57
Speaker 2: stuff like that, to where they have created some new
23:02
Speaker 2: opportunities here.
23:04
Speaker 3: Both for the young guys like you mentioned and as
23:06
Speaker 3: well as like all the stuff that's to come. As
23:09
Speaker 3: he said, we're not done.
23:11
Speaker 1: Right right, and you're right, I think we are hard
23:16
Speaker 1: on them deservedly so. They haven't made the playoffs in
23:20
Speaker 1: a full season since twenty eighteen. It at times has
23:24
Speaker 1: looked like the roster was stuck, or that they weren't
23:26
Speaker 1: being aggressive enough. We have to give them credit when
23:30
Speaker 1: they when they prove us wrong or just do the
23:34
Speaker 1: things that we've been asking them to do right, like
23:38
Speaker 1: they were creative. They've been creative for the past year,
23:42
Speaker 1: I'd say, right from the Michael Bush trades to the
23:44
Speaker 1: east OC creators trade. Yeah, Kyle Tucker trade. If you
23:47
Speaker 1: want to maybe it's maybe it's not creative, Maybe it's obvious, right,
23:50
Speaker 1: go get good better players, Go get good players. But
23:53
Speaker 1: it's but it's opportunistic and aggressive. And these are the
23:56
Speaker 1: types of words I've been writing in my stories same
23:59
Speaker 1: as you like. I've used these words because we've demanded
24:04
Speaker 1: it like time to behave like a real team. Are
24:08
Speaker 1: they spending three hundred million dollars? No? Are they spending
24:13
Speaker 1: the way we expect them to? Not yet, No, I
24:15
Speaker 1: don't see it. We haven't seen it. But Jed Hoyer,
24:19
Speaker 1: Carter Hawkins in this front office are behaving in a
24:21
Speaker 1: manner that is you know, that shows that there's a
24:24
Speaker 1: sense of urgency finding ways to make the team better
24:27
Speaker 1: and getting impact talent. And you're right there there There
24:30
Speaker 1: will be more. Uh. Jed Hoyer was clear about that.
24:34
Speaker 1: I think, uh, we'll see, like what, well, we'll talk
24:39
Speaker 1: more about that. Maybe by the time we record another podcast.
24:43
Speaker 1: We'll actually have another move to talk about, because that's
24:47
Speaker 1: how rapid fire this has happened, and it's you know,
24:51
Speaker 1: I think people joke about it, but people like to
24:52
Speaker 1: get their work done, A lot of their work done
24:54
Speaker 1: before Christmas. They do. They don't want to be sitting
24:58
Speaker 1: at Christmas dinner and suddenly they're firing rough text you know. Uh,
25:04
Speaker 1: we've heard from front office people that you know, the
25:07
Speaker 1: families don't love, uh love the activity during the holidays.
25:12
Speaker 1: So so we'll we'll see what happens before this weekends.
25:17
Speaker 1: We'll we'll have another podcast for you before this weekends.
25:20
Speaker 1: Perhaps there's another big move or two. Uh, They're they're going,
25:25
Speaker 1: like I would be shocked if they don't spend the money,
25:29
Speaker 1: you know that they just saved. If they don't spend
25:31
Speaker 1: the money. That criticism I was just talking about is
25:34
Speaker 1: coming back in full force right where we're not going
25:36
Speaker 1: to sit on our hands and be like, oh, yeah,
25:37
Speaker 1: of course, yeah, but but yeah, this this team is
25:41
Speaker 1: not finished. I think they're a better team and they're
25:45
Speaker 1: headed to being perhaps a much better team than they
25:48
Speaker 1: were last year. And I think i'd love to hear
25:51
Speaker 1: from Craig counsel. We won't hear from him, probably until
25:55
Speaker 1: until Cubs convention. But I think he has to be happy,
25:58
Speaker 1: right like he he he made statements. They weren't these
26:03
Speaker 1: planned out statements, but they were pointed right and and
26:07
Speaker 1: and he was just speaking his his the truth, how
26:10
Speaker 1: he felt about things. And I think this is a
26:13
Speaker 1: better team now. So got some action, got some behavior
26:17
Speaker 1: that I believe we all needed to see from this organization.
26:21
Speaker 1: And we'll see, we'll see what's next. Thanks so much
26:24
Speaker 1: for listening to everyone. This is Northside Territory. Make sure
26:29
Speaker 1: to subscribe, rate and review, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
26:32
Speaker 1: subscribe to the Athletic or Patrick and I will be
26:34
Speaker 1: on top of all of those woods. We've been on
26:36
Speaker 1: top of Tucker, We've been on top of, you know,
26:39
Speaker 1: everything that they've been doing here, and we'll see what
26:42
Speaker 1: else has become. Thanks for listening and everyone