Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Cubs mailbag: Your questions ahead of the trade deadline

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Cubs mailbag: Your questions ahead of the trade deadline · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory fil Territory Network's Cubs podcast. I'm
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Saaev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic. Patrick, it is
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: time for a mailbag episode. We always love these. You
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: guys come with plenty of questions and it is trade
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: deadline season, so we know you are very curious. We
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: talked a lot about trade targets last episode. There was
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: a question about that, so if you want to know
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: who the like, your question was answered last episode. If
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: you missed that, we went over that and really dove
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: into the potential sellers. I think the question was who
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: should they be reading, rooting against and who are the targets.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Well we basically did that last episode, so please please
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: check it out. But here's the first question, and it
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: is from our guy, Tyler Dirshel who's he's.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Been absent for a little while. Patrick.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: He's missed a couple of he has been on his
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: honeymoon and he wasn't he wasn't messaging us. He was
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: concerned about his new wife and not us.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: I'm a little hurt, a little confused, but he's back
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: he couldn't. He's yeah, uh, he asked, Well, the threat
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: of a potential lockout in the offseason play a role
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: in the aggressiveness at the deadline, considering the potential loss
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: of control time if a season isn't played. I think
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: teams are still trying to figure that out. They still
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: don't know, They're still thinking through how that works. And
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: I think it's about will prices be altered? I think
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: is probably what what teams are wondering, and they have
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: to kind of go over their own calculus, and I think,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: really it's going to be different for every team, so
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: it could be it. Yeah, I mean that it's possible.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure we'll fully know the impact of it
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: all until we see it all unfold.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Jed Hoyer has acknowledged this of like, yes, it
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: is a factor, but no, we're not quite certain how
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: it's going to play out, and that all thirty clubs
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: are aware of it, and all thirty clubs are putting
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: different weights upon that.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: I'm looking at that keyword aggressiveness that Tyler mentioned, and
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: I think that is kind of a broader conversation, a
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: longer term development of just how many clubs are leaning
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: heavily on the models this generation of executives. There are
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: a few notable exceptions, but mostly they are and aly driven.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: They are the sort of descendants of Moneyball that, yes,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: you have a J Preller, Dave Dombrowski, but other than that,
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: there aren't too many guys that look at it as
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: if not now when the way theo Epstein did when
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: you traded for rold As Chapman. It's a lot of
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: sort of you know, weighing the probabilities looking at the
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: future projections on your computer screen rather than saying, like,
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: we want to win a World Series this year, like
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: the window is always supposed to be open, or at
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: least that's sort of the hope of you know, winning
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: or being projected to win around eighty five games every year,
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: hoping you overperform and then sort of salvaging it when
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: things go sideways. But yeah, I'm with you side. I
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: think that'll be part of the debrief after the deadline
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: of like, okay, what did this CBA uncertainty mean? And
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: we won't know until maybe well after August third.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it's looming over the sport in more ways
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: than one. Right, it's more than just the trade deadline move.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: We've been talking about this for over a like for
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: a year already, and it's you know, it's just kind
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: of this frustrating aspect that feels inevitable that you know
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: we're gonna have to go through. We'll see how long
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: it impacts the game and how long we're without baseball,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: if at all. From strand thirty four, which of the
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Cubs hitting prospects would you consider to be untouchable for trades?
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Also with Nico, Dansby and Bragman locking up the infield,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: isn't Shaw someone who should be available. I don't think
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: anyone's untouchable. I'd also say that I wouldn't you know,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't include someone like Jefferson Rojas. I'll say that
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: I think it's Jefferson Rojas, Josiah Hartshorn, and probably Owen
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Airs just because catchers are so valuable. Catching prospects are
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: so valuable. And maybe you wouldn't throw Ethan Conrad in
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: there just because his value we don't really know where
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: it is, so you don't want to give him away.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Those are the types of guys you wouldn't include in
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: a in a rental deal. But for the right under
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: control player. I think any of those guys could be available,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Rojas and Hartshorn, it would be like a really big deal.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: I think you'd have to be talking about someone that
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: you have for multiple years. That is, you know, if
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: it's not like I don't know if the Cubs payof
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: for someone like Mason Miller, if he becomes available, if
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: it's not like that type of no doubt reliever, then
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: it's like a really good starter, a guy that could
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: be a one or two. There's not very many ones.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: A two for you, but a one for the Cups.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: I guess he'd be fronting the Cup's rotation. I just
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: but nobody's unavailable. You can touch on that and maybe
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: talk a little bit about Shaw as well.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Patrick.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Shaw's hurt. You know, this wrist, brain has lingered.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: You know, I think he's gonna start or try to
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: ramp up some activities again here soon. Off the top
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: of my head, I honestly can't remember it, because there
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: was like kind of multiple steps before he'd be back
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: on a major league field. You're not quite sure how
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: that impacts his availability at the deadline, just that injury question,
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: but otherwise, yes, Shaw should be available. But again, that
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: was a guy who was sort of almost untouchable last
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: year just because of how they projected him as a
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: third basement of the future. So now as an outfield
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: he's still valuable. I think he's still be like your
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: everyday right fielder next year, or left fielder for that matter.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: But I think it's kind of the Shaw and Pedro ramires,
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: like I don't know if both of them should still
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: be here after the August third deadline. I think you
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: have to you have to kind of create some pitching.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: You have to, you know, go out and get that,
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: and you know, maybe maybe it winds up being James
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: Trianto's who gets moved. You know, he's a triple A guy,
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: very young, plays a lot of those positions. You have
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: some some versatility, so maybe in the end you know
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: where the are, what the options are they going that way.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: But definitely, like we don't think the Tigers are going
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: to trade Schooble or think that the Cubs are going
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: to like give you go all out to get him,
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: but you Shaw is a piece that kind of gets
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: you in the conversation for almost any player who's gonna
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: be out there.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean honestly, like Peter Ramirez has really shown
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: me a lot, Like he's a good defend, a nice player. Yeah,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: he's a quality player. But Shaw's good when he's healthy
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: and he's out there, he's a he's a quality player too,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: and he's he's shown me a lot just by his willingness,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: uh to play anywhere and his versatility. Like he's good.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: He quickly has gotten good at different positions. Got to
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: give him credit for that. But in the right move, Yeah,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: I think anyone's available, like those every name that we
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: mentioned here, Like, yeah, outside of the everyday players, you're
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: not you're you know, you should be willing to move
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: these guys. They have so much position player talent. Got
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: add more pitching. All right, let's take a quick break
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: and then we'll take more questions.
• 9:05
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• 9:07
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• 9:09
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• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's see what this next question is. It is
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: from towing clone Cone. Uh no clue what that is,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: but hopefully it's not something deeply offensive.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: If it is, you're getting canceled.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, great, All right, let me let me clean
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: that up so we can see it a little bit better.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: There, there we go.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Where do you think Jed's head head is at on
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: this team's ceiling. They're going to buy, But how big
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: of a splash are they after? Yeah, I think it's interesting.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: It is interesting to think about where how they look
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: at this team as far as ceiling and it's I
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: don't think it's singularly about are you in first place
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: and and do you have the buye I think that's
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: hugely important. I think that does change the calculus at
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: the deadline, But as far as the ceiling of the team,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: I don't think it is fully determinive of how they
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: feel about that. I think, simply put, I think he
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: the month long offensive struggle did put a little question
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: in his head, but he loves this team's offense. They
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: have an elite defense, They trust their coaching staff. They
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: have just been waylaid by injuries on the pitching staff,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: and that is their focus. How aggressive, how big of
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: a splash? I mean, we've talked about that. I think
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: you know Scooble probably not someone that's around for more.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: I think they'd love to get some offseason shopping done. Essentially,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: it would be the simplest way to put it.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: What's the cost?
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: How much are they willing to give up. They do
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: have some big time prospects that could move the needle,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: like we mentioned Shaw, Pedro, Ramirez could be available in
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: the right deal. Like so yeah, like they're going to
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: buy You're right, and I think we're going to find
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: out how big of I think it's less about like
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: how big of a splash are they after and more
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: how big of a splash can they pull off?
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I mean if they get like, you know,
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: two eighth inning relievers, like maybe they're not the biggest.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: Obviously Mason Miller would be a huge splash. We don't
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: know if Podgers are actually gonna sell much less where
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: the Cubs would put together that sort of package, but
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: like that could have a huge implac That's maybe not
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: a splash in terms of the names going across the
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: bottom of your TV screen. But I think just this
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: interesting character because he doesn't sort of walk around name
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: dropping like four red Sox and twenty sixteen Cubs all
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: the time, like he's been he knows what it looks like,
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: he's been around, you know, some of the biggest names,
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: biggest moments in baseball history. But he is constantly focused
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: on the future and weighing all these various probabilities and
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: really clinging to his idea of value. And so I'd
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: asked him, I was like, you know what it looks like?
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: What are you seeing now? Like is it kind of
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: passing the eye test? And you know, he said this
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: position player group can win multiple rounds in October, like
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: that is lining up, And I do think that impacts
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: how he looks at I know, catching the Brewers is
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible. The odds
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: say one thing, but I think you can watch this team.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: I know they have a really dynamic group of position players.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: Like when Dansby Swanson's hitting nine but putting up a
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: year where he might get like twenty plus homers and
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: eighty something RBI's Like that is what a deep, versatile
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: lineup looks like. And so yeah, like it's on Jed
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: and Carter here, like that's just I think we can
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: understand their market forces and that there are future considerations.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: You can't ignore all of that, but it.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Is on them.
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: This theo Epstein said it on the Level Reunion podcast
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: with end the resident David Ross, Like the clubhouse looks
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: up to the front office, like you have one job,
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: get us what we need. And you know this is
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: this is their time to shine. Like they are on
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: the clock. They have to go get it done, whether
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: or not it's the biggest splash. They just have to
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: be right.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll never forget. I believe it was twenty seventeen
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: when the Astros, the year the Astros won this World Series,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Dallas Kichel was kind of like called out the front
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: off when they didn't make a big splash because the
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: deadline passed and that was when the waiver wired deadline
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: still existed. And then they ended up getting Justin Verlander.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: I think that completely changed the tenor of that group,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: and he was obviously a stud for them and a
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: key piece in them winning their first World Series. It
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: does matter, I think it does. You know, you show
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: belief in a team, and Theo's talked about that a lot.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: I'm not Jed doesn't talk about that aspect a lot,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: but I remember THEO talking about a lot, like the team.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: We have to show the team, you know that we
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: believe in them. This is our way of doing that.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Next one is from Jason Heldman. Pitching will rightfully get
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: all the attention, but could a bench bat or two
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: make sense. Seems a veteran could make more sense than
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: having guys like Ramirez or al Contra waste away with
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: few at bats per week. This was sent like a
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: week ago, a little less than a week ago. Ramirez
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: has played a ton lately. Al Contra is getting playing
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: time against lefties. Look, I al Contra is not going
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: to be here once Shaw is healthy, if you know,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: assuming Shaw gets healthy. I unless they have bad reports
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: on Shaw and they're feeling more pessimistic and decide they
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: need a right handed bat. Even then, I'm just not sure.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Like Confordo has been great. What was it that the
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: stat we were given last night? Patrick four pinch hit
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: home runs is a ties a record for the Cubs, believe.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: Tied with Glenn Allen Hill in nineteen ninety nine for
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: the most by a Cub in franchise history since at
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: least nineteen oh one. The Cubs media relation departments research.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: So like, you have a good catching duo, you have
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Moises by Asterius waiting in the miners to get hot.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: They I do not think they're going to spend much
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: time looking at like. I won't completely rule it out
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: just because of the Shaw situation, but I'd be very
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: surprised that their bench has been great this year and
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Ramirez has been playing a ton And like I.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: Said earlier, I think it was this episode. Like I
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: said earlier, like he's impressed me.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess something beyond Shaw's lingering issue. I guess
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: something could pop up in the next whatever ten days
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: ish that makes you rethink that. But no, they have
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: their group. And the interesting part too, is how much
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: built in flexibility they have, like how this roster was constructed.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: It's a way that you can just focus entirely on
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: the pitching staff.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, and here's the last question from Rob Ericsson.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Have there been any talk for extension talk for hap
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: end or Suzuki?
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: They're both pending free agents.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Obviously, losing your corner outfielders for such a good offense,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: it's hard to replace. It's not easy to replace. I
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: have not heard anything about extension talks. In fact, I'd
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: be a little surprised by extension talks. I could be
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: way off on that, but let's let's make this are
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: our Daily Dingers segment, presented by Fan Duel. All Right, Patrick,
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: what have you heard about about Saya s Azuki? Ian
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: halp or I guess, says Azuki in particular.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: I'll start with have just in that, you know, I'm
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: not asking Ian half this every day. I guess theoretically
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: something could have changed, But after that wave of extensions
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: around opening Day, HAP acknowledge that, you know, there had
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: not been any meaningful dialogue in that regard, and I
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: just kind of got the sense that the Cubs are
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: just going to let that one play out. Part of
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: why I asked was because the APP did sign a
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: surprise extension after the start of sorry whichever season that was,
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: but it was one of those like leading up to
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: opening Day. It was kind of like, yeah, we're just
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: gonna put that on the back burner, and that's you know,
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: it kind of popped probably about week to ten days
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: after the start of that season, that might have been
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: twenty two to twenty three something like that.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: Round.
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: Then yeah, I can't Yeah, I mean that sort of
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: window when the Cubs were kind of building it back up.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: Still think making him a qualifying offer probably makes sense.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: The Cubs try and get a draft pick there, and
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: you san At Suzuki is another one. You know, I
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: haven't heard anything, haven't really pushed I think it's interesting. Well,
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: we have heard or what hasn't like totally gone away
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: with this idea of what if the Cubs are forced
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: to trade from there every day lineup to get pitching help,
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: like if they're boxing to a corner. I still have
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: a hard time seeing that happening. But the idea was
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: Saya was, yes, he has no trade clause. It would
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: be really sort of awkward and difficult to broach that
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: subject and actually follow through on that. But if you're
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: in Sye's camp, you would probably be okay with that,
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: just because it would get you out from under that
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: possibility of a qualifying offer, the draft pick compensation, compensation
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: that can hinder a players market as a free agent.
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: But I don't know a lot of that sounds kind
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: of like theoretical or abstract, like he is so good
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: in the middle of this lineup threading a needle that way.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: I have a tough time wrapping my brain around.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: How about you, Yeah, that's that's what I was going
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: to say.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: It sounds like one of those things where it's like
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: a lot of things have to go right and like perfectly,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: like you have to have the pitching deal in place,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: and our one hundred percent sure this is going to happen.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Approach him, He has to approve Shaw. I think Shaw
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: being healthy helps allow this to happen because then you
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: put him in right field like kind of a platoon
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: with Michael Confordo type thing. Probably, Uh, yeah, it's it's
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: I feel like it's a long shot, but you're right.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: It's something that we haven't heard like completely go away.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: So we don't want to say it's impossible, but yeah
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: it we heard it, and it's just not but not recently.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: I haven't.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: At least maybe you've heard more things recently, but I
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: just I'd be very surprised by it. Northside Territory is
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• 23:24
  Speaker 1: I mean we didn't even say it, but but say
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: has been hot again. He's one of the key pieces
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: of this offense really, so that that's another reason why,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, taking away such a big piece of the
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: puzzle feels a little crazy to me. Like he's, uh,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: he's having like a season that's nearly as good as
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: last year. He's got his highest walk rate, his second
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: highest isolated power behind last year. Uh, he's on pace
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: for like twenty five homers. You know, just I think
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: it'd be a long shot. I think it is, and
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: I think it would be counter productive.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: A hundred.
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: I mean this part of the reason his name had
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: popped up the Cubs got a couple of hits on
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: him last offseason was it's finding an impactful right handed
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: hitter is just really difficult. The teams that would want
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: Saya right now are theoretically or potentially the teams that
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: are gonna be trying to beat the Cubs in October.
• 24:27
  Speaker 6: Uh.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: You know, say, his time here has there's been some
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: rocky moments or kind of weird adjustment, not weird like
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: in a normal adjustment period, I should say it. It
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: seems like Cubs and Saya's group have put a lot
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: of effort into making this work and putting him in
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: a position where he can just go out and play
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: and succeed. He's doing it. He's one of those players who,
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: like other players talk about in an admiring way of
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: just say, realize how how talented he is. That this
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: offense is rolling again, this office is going to have
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: to carry them at certain stretches too, just with the
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: way the pitching staff has been set up and really
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: battered by injuries. So I think we had to address it.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: It's a good question. I don't know how much time
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: or energy the front office is going to really spend
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: on actually pursuing that possibility.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, all right, Thanks so much for listening to everyone.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: This is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 25:34
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• 25:37
  Speaker 1: where Patrick and our top of all things Cubs. Thank
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: you for sending in your questions, thank you for listening,
• 25:42
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• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Take care,