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What we learned at the GM meetings · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. I'm
0:08
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:11
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, I'm feeling
0:16
Speaker 1: rejuvenated and rested after a week in Vegas because it
0:21
Speaker 1: is Friday morning and I've been home now for about
0:24
Speaker 1: twelve ish hours and a little over that, I guess,
0:27
Speaker 1: and I went to bed at a reasonable hour, which
0:31
Speaker 1: is not the case at the GM meetings, especially when
0:34
Speaker 1: they're in Vegas.
0:36
Speaker 2: For those who we don't know.
0:38
Speaker 1: GM meetings in the winter meetings, it's great for what
0:42
Speaker 1: Patrick and I do. There's a lot of people to
0:46
Speaker 1: run into and get information from and chat with. We
0:49
Speaker 1: see other writers who are friendly with So the mornings
0:53
Speaker 1: are spent like walking around a lobby and hoping to
0:56
Speaker 1: run into someone. And you have some meetings that are
0:58
Speaker 1: like kind of intently set up, like whether it's talking
1:01
Speaker 1: to Jed or Carter or a l you know the
1:05
Speaker 1: n l AL. They have big gatherings for everyone. And
1:08
Speaker 1: then the evenings are doing a lot of the same
1:10
Speaker 1: that you do in the in the morning, but then
1:12
Speaker 1: you have a drink in your hand.
1:17
Speaker 2: That then you repeat that from Monday through Wednesday night.
1:22
Speaker 1: And the sleep is you know, four or five six hours,
1:26
Speaker 1: if you're lucky you get to six.
1:27
Speaker 2: It's it's not a lot of sleep. It's not a
1:29
Speaker 2: lot of rest. Uh. But we got a lot of information, absolutely.
1:36
Speaker 3: And that was actually a good description because I've tried
1:38
Speaker 3: to explain like what these meetings are like to people
1:43
Speaker 3: who have normal jobs, and it really is kind of absurd,
1:48
Speaker 3: of like drop your bag off in the media room,
1:51
Speaker 3: grab your notepad, your recorder and a pen, and they's
1:55
Speaker 3: just wonder just keep walking until you bump into someone.
1:58
Speaker 3: Sometimes you're looking for people. Sometimes you do send the
2:01
Speaker 3: text and uh you're able to meet up in a
2:05
Speaker 3: more formal, uh you know, arranged manner other than just
2:10
Speaker 3: the pop ins or the bump ins. Uh. And yeah,
2:15
Speaker 3: Vegas is not my favorite place for the GM meetings.
2:20
Speaker 3: I like when we I like when we go to
2:23
Speaker 3: you know, Scottsdale or Carlsbad in southern California and you
2:26
Speaker 3: get the nice sunshine and a chance to do your
2:29
Speaker 3: wandering outside and there's fewer entrances and exits for uh,
2:34
Speaker 3: these executives and agents, whereas Vegas just a lot of
2:40
Speaker 3: a lot of indoor time, very little natural light. I
2:44
Speaker 3: think even in like even in like my hotel room,
2:46
Speaker 3: it felt like the the windows were tinted like pink
2:49
Speaker 3: and purple, like you're just kind of ready to leave
2:52
Speaker 3: but by Thursday. But uh, like you said last show,
2:57
Speaker 3: like in order to cover Major League Baseball's hot stove,
3:01
Speaker 3: you kind of have to be there. It gives you
3:03
Speaker 3: a great kind of roadmap for what might be coming ahead.
3:08
Speaker 3: And it's not just the individual team you cover. They're
3:10
Speaker 3: kind of league wide things going on, certain trends or
3:14
Speaker 3: like names, personalities that are you know, starting to pop,
3:19
Speaker 3: and Cubs are going to be on a lot of them.
3:23
Speaker 3: I think we should get out of the business of
3:24
Speaker 3: sort of setting expectations for fans because looking at social media,
3:28
Speaker 3: which is my fault, it seems like people are certain
3:31
Speaker 3: people are kind of riding the waves on like this
3:35
Speaker 3: name or that name, or this quote you know from
3:38
Speaker 3: Jed or this quote from Carter. But this was definitely
3:42
Speaker 3: not one of those which we've covered before of the
3:46
Speaker 3: Cubs kind of being handcuffed to be like what are
3:48
Speaker 3: we doing here? Like they were a meeting with you know,
3:53
Speaker 3: all the all the big big agencies. They're not ruling,
4:00
Speaker 3: they're kind of ruling a couple of things out. We'll
4:02
Speaker 3: get into that later, but for the most part, very
4:05
Speaker 3: open minded. I expect it to be very active and
4:09
Speaker 3: then it's kind of up to you. You can use
4:11
Speaker 3: your own imagination. We can't forget like how this franchise operates,
4:20
Speaker 3: generally speaking in a very conservative manner on the business
4:24
Speaker 3: and baseball side.
4:29
Speaker 1: No, sorry, Patrick, you're kind of you you'd slowed down there.
4:35
Speaker 2: I'm not sure if you're connected for me. I lost
4:38
Speaker 2: you so I didn't hear the end of what you said.
4:39
Speaker 2: But no worries the uh.
4:43
Speaker 1: I think what's interesting is we can't rule out Boris
4:47
Speaker 1: clients for once, you know, like how often do we
4:51
Speaker 1: feel like you know, obviously they got the deal done
4:55
Speaker 1: with Cody Bellinger that was a unique circumstance. But there's
5:02
Speaker 1: talk of am I. Tatsuya am I, the the Japanese
5:06
Speaker 1: pitcher who really dominated in Japan last season this past season,
5:12
Speaker 1: and it's kind of been two years of really impressive
5:15
Speaker 1: performance from him. We'll see what kind of contract he
5:19
Speaker 1: gets if it gets into this. You know, Yamamoto is
5:22
Speaker 1: obviously a special case. I don't think we need to
5:26
Speaker 1: compare him directly to yeah, we'll let it.
5:30
Speaker 2: Well, let's got Boris to those comparisons.
5:35
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if the scouts I've talked to would
5:38
Speaker 1: do the same.
5:39
Speaker 2: That's fine, That doesn't mean he's not good.
5:42
Speaker 1: It just all depends on what the what the price
5:45
Speaker 1: range is here, if it gets to like these crazy levels,
5:49
Speaker 1: if it starts pushing deeper into nine figures, like maybe
5:52
Speaker 1: if it touches nine figures, the Cubs are interested.
5:55
Speaker 2: I don't know for sure on.
5:57
Speaker 1: That, but I'd be surprised if it if it can
6:00
Speaker 1: continues to climb much past that, you know, if the
6:04
Speaker 1: Cubs are aggressive there. But we keep hearing Dylan sees
6:09
Speaker 1: his name, and you know, I think when when the
6:11
Speaker 1: off season kind of you know was approaching, I think
6:16
Speaker 1: you and I were like, uh, yeah, he's perfect fit,
6:20
Speaker 1: but will the Cubs be doing that?
6:22
Speaker 2: Are the Cubs?
6:24
Speaker 1: You know, we we were hesitant to really feel strongly
6:27
Speaker 1: about it. I think we got that kind of you know,
6:30
Speaker 1: people were telling us from all different directions that you know,
6:33
Speaker 1: don't rule that out. He makes a lot of sense
6:37
Speaker 1: in a lot of different ways for this team.
6:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's a great point. The Cubs have
6:42
Speaker 3: obviously done business with Scott Boriss over the years. I mean,
6:44
Speaker 3: Matthew Boyd is a Scott Boris client. But you know,
6:48
Speaker 3: our reporting leads us to believe that the Cubs are
6:53
Speaker 3: kind of aiming higher than that mid range here. And
6:56
Speaker 3: nothing against Matthew Boyd, who was an All Star this year,
7:02
Speaker 3: one of the best pitchers in the National League for
7:05
Speaker 3: a long stretch this year, but he got what two
7:10
Speaker 3: years and just under thirty million. Like, the Cubs are
7:15
Speaker 3: open to kind of bigger ideas here. And this goes
7:21
Speaker 3: back to what you asked Jed Hoyer in Las Vegas, like,
7:24
Speaker 3: what's the calculus unqualifying offers? Are you? They're not ruling
7:29
Speaker 3: that out. They're talking with Scott Boris, who also represents
7:35
Speaker 3: Ranger Suarez and Zach Gallen this offseason. There are several
7:44
Speaker 3: names that could make sense here. We got into it
7:48
Speaker 3: in the athletic and side up going on one a
7:57
Speaker 3: different Sandy Pidre.
8:02
Speaker 1: Right, I'm sorry Patrick yet again, Like right at the
8:05
Speaker 1: end there, you you like I heard everything until the end.
8:13
Speaker 3: I literally teed you up there, like Michael King, what
8:17
Speaker 3: do you get?
8:18
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Michael King very interesting. Obviously, Uh converted to
8:24
Speaker 1: starting pitching recently a couple of years ago with the Yankees.
8:29
Speaker 1: Really solid stuff when he's uh, when he's healthy. Look,
8:34
Speaker 1: the Cubs know he he had a shoulder and ray.
8:37
Speaker 1: Everyone knows that, but they I think they're pretty high
8:40
Speaker 1: on him. It sounds like there are some people within
8:42
Speaker 1: the organization that like what he could do. You know,
8:46
Speaker 1: I think you can look at what's what they've done
8:49
Speaker 1: with certain pictures to keep them healthy. Injuries are inevitable
8:54
Speaker 1: with with pictures, so you can't just say like they're
8:57
Speaker 1: they're masters at keeping guys healthy. They obviously had some
9:01
Speaker 1: injury issues this year, justin Steele with the elbow, and
9:05
Speaker 1: and some lower body stuff obviously with Tyne and and
9:10
Speaker 1: and showed him Monaga. But I mean, looking back on it,
9:13
Speaker 1: the Cubs do have pretty good history of late of
9:17
Speaker 1: avoiding arm injuries. I'm gonna you know, jinx the Cubs
9:21
Speaker 1: by saying that, like, if there was an executive sitting
9:24
Speaker 1: here right now, he'd be yelling at me.
9:26
Speaker 2: For suggesting such a thing.
9:29
Speaker 1: But I think even the Soroka Look, the Siropa traid
9:33
Speaker 1: did not work out. Michael Soroka did not perform as
9:38
Speaker 1: as they had hoped with them. His velocity was down
9:41
Speaker 1: when they got him, and then he was instantly hurt.
9:44
Speaker 1: I think they felt like they found they they identified
9:49
Speaker 1: exactly like what he looked like when he was at
9:51
Speaker 1: his best, and they found the right program to get
9:54
Speaker 1: him back to that spot as far as stuff, and
9:57
Speaker 1: his velocity came back when he came when he returned
10:00
Speaker 1: to the mound for the Cubs, his velocity jumped two
10:03
Speaker 1: three ticks from what it was when he when he was,
10:06
Speaker 1: you know, ending his time with Washington, and in that
10:09
Speaker 1: first outing with the Cubs, the results weren't there. So
10:12
Speaker 1: you don't want to say this is a one to
10:14
Speaker 1: one comparison, but I think they look at shoulder injuries
10:17
Speaker 1: they can I think they feel like they have some
10:21
Speaker 1: I guess identifiers, like things that they can see in
10:24
Speaker 1: a delivery, in mechanics, something that's happening, and they they
10:29
Speaker 1: understand it.
10:30
Speaker 2: They feel like they have a good understanding of how
10:32
Speaker 2: to work.
10:32
Speaker 1: With the guys to get them to specific uh you know,
10:36
Speaker 1: like get specific results out of them and keep them healthy.
10:40
Speaker 2: Uh.
10:41
Speaker 1: I think that's I think he's a really interesting name
10:44
Speaker 1: because when when he's healthy you've seen what like he's
10:47
Speaker 1: a he's a two, maybe.
10:49
Speaker 2: A borderline one, like I think he was.
10:51
Speaker 1: I think there was a point where he was getting,
10:53
Speaker 1: you know, like cy Young consideration when he was healthy
10:56
Speaker 1: and and and at his best. And you know, if
10:59
Speaker 1: you can keep them there, that's worth giving up a
11:02
Speaker 1: pick for for a couple of years. What well, I
11:05
Speaker 1: don't know what a deal for Michael King looks like,
11:08
Speaker 1: but you know, after Dylan c said, he's a pretty
11:12
Speaker 1: good name to go after.
11:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, And there are so many names out there that
11:21
Speaker 3: they have to be heavily involved in the pitching market,
11:24
Speaker 3: and that is part of whys, as we wrote, the
11:29
Speaker 3: Kyle Tucker buzz is just not really there surrounding the Cubs.
11:33
Speaker 3: There are many reasons why, but one of them is
11:39
Speaker 3: the supply on the market, whether it's free agency, possible trades,
11:45
Speaker 3: like there's just a lot of ways for the Cubs
11:48
Speaker 3: to get better on the pitching side and on the
11:52
Speaker 3: position player side. After Tucker. Realistically, knowing how this team operates,
12:00
Speaker 3: there's not like a ton of levers to pull there,
12:04
Speaker 3: and that's kind of how they look at it. We
12:06
Speaker 3: could disagree, you say, obviously, if they spent like the
12:11
Speaker 3: Mets or the Dodgers, the Phillies, then yeah, go get
12:14
Speaker 3: you would have signed Alex Bregman in spring training, right.
12:17
Speaker 2: So.
12:19
Speaker 3: I don't know if I think everyone expects Kyle Schwarber
12:23
Speaker 3: to go back to the Phillies. And you know, it's
12:27
Speaker 3: hard to kind of fit a d H long term,
12:31
Speaker 3: like just not how the Cubs kind of roll.
12:33
Speaker 1: Just be the names, right, It's Schwarbur and then like
12:37
Speaker 1: Pete Alonzo Willingness to maybe be d H. Like those
12:40
Speaker 1: are the names you'd say, but like do they want
12:42
Speaker 1: to invest the type of money that it would take
12:44
Speaker 1: to get pictures hitters like that? Like they have no
12:48
Speaker 1: defensive versatility. That's not that's not the Cubs.
12:51
Speaker 2: M oh.
12:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's why this is what we wrote. What
12:56
Speaker 3: we're gonna keep talking about. We're gonna keep reporting on
12:59
Speaker 3: is just pitching, pitching and more pitching.
13:02
Speaker 1: Absolutely, We'll take a break in and come back and
13:05
Speaker 1: talk more pitching.
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14:08
Speaker 1: As exciting as it may be for them for the
14:12
Speaker 1: Cubs to maybe be shopping at the very top of
14:15
Speaker 1: the pitching market perhaps or at least interested and in
14:18
Speaker 1: the rumors, legitimately they're not.
14:21
Speaker 2: They're not gonna go out and.
14:22
Speaker 1: Sign Edwin Diaz to the monster deal that he's gonna get.
14:26
Speaker 1: I think Ken Rosenthal, our colleague at The Athletic had
14:29
Speaker 1: an article about him. It sounds like there's a lot
14:31
Speaker 1: of teams that could be interested in Edwin Diaz, which
14:35
Speaker 1: just tells me all the more reason why the Cubs.
14:39
Speaker 1: That's just not how they do business when it comes
14:41
Speaker 1: to relievers. Look, there's a Devin Williams Craig Council connection.
14:46
Speaker 1: I think it does make sense. I think you and
14:48
Speaker 1: I both felt like that that makes sense in some way.
14:51
Speaker 1: But then you start talking about the money. He's gonna
14:54
Speaker 1: have a good market unless that craters. I just don't
14:58
Speaker 1: see that happening either. Like those they are the types
15:00
Speaker 1: of guys that would get people excited.
15:03
Speaker 2: In the reliever market, but it comes to put together good.
15:07
Speaker 1: Bullpens without without getting anyone excited over the years. So
15:14
Speaker 1: it's it's certainly possible that they could do that, but
15:17
Speaker 1: I do feel like they need to go get someone
15:20
Speaker 1: that you feel some sense of stability with and I
15:24
Speaker 1: and one thing that we came away from after talking
15:27
Speaker 1: to Jen and Carter this week was there they're not
15:32
Speaker 1: going to be afraid to They may not, you know,
15:35
Speaker 1: they're not going to give out any crazy deals, but
15:38
Speaker 1: multi year deals maybe we see honestly as I think
15:42
Speaker 1: about this, Patrick, I don't even remember the last time
15:45
Speaker 1: they gave out a multi year deal, like actually signed
15:47
Speaker 1: one for reliever. It probably it's probably not as long
15:50
Speaker 1: ago as I think, but it just feels like it's
15:53
Speaker 1: very rare.
15:56
Speaker 3: Off the top of my head, I think Steve seeshek
15:59
Speaker 3: might have gotten two year deal that was obviously several
16:04
Speaker 3: year A couple of managers, Magic Kimberl For sure, that's
16:08
Speaker 3: a good call. I mean in terms of, you know,
16:11
Speaker 3: the overall number, I don't think they've come close to that, right,
16:19
Speaker 3: So you you look at this like they got an
16:23
Speaker 3: opportunity to or they can offer an opportunity to close,
16:28
Speaker 3: which is big if you're willing to go beyond one year.
16:34
Speaker 3: You have a manager has a very good reputation for
16:36
Speaker 3: preserving pictures, energy and trying to conserve their health. What's
16:47
Speaker 3: been a picture's ballpark over the last couple of years.
16:53
Speaker 3: And yeah, I mean our us reading between the lines
16:56
Speaker 3: here is like not an Edwin DS contract. Probably not
17:01
Speaker 3: another uh Tanner Scott type offer out there that did
17:08
Speaker 3: not work out for the Dodgers at least in year one,
17:11
Speaker 3: although they still won the World Series. So what do
17:13
Speaker 3: they care, but if you're willing, you know, to go
17:20
Speaker 3: two years, and I don't know if three years, three
17:25
Speaker 3: years might be kind of the it might.
17:28
Speaker 2: Be stretching a limit bit.
17:30
Speaker 3: But you know, if you put some dollar, I don't
17:33
Speaker 3: know if you put some If you put some put
17:35
Speaker 3: the high aav on there. The way they've done with
17:39
Speaker 3: certain pitchers and position players, I think they can. I
17:43
Speaker 3: can make some pretty compelling offers.
17:47
Speaker 2: Yeah.
17:48
Speaker 1: I mean one name that we heard, you know, while
17:52
Speaker 1: walking around the lobby a few times, I believe, was
17:55
Speaker 1: Pete Fairbanks.
17:57
Speaker 2: He can close.
17:59
Speaker 1: We both did read that interesting article that there was
18:01
Speaker 1: a note about him and Ken's article about cold weather,
18:05
Speaker 1: and he has he has some issues, some circulation issues.
18:11
Speaker 1: I can't remember exactly how it was phrased. But his fingertips,
18:15
Speaker 1: his fingers go a little numb when it gets cold,
18:17
Speaker 1: and he loses feel. That's not ideal for Chicago. But
18:21
Speaker 1: you know, I'm unclear on how much that really impacts
18:26
Speaker 1: him and how much it really changes the way he pitches.
18:30
Speaker 1: I don't know if that impacts the way the Cubs
18:31
Speaker 1: look at him, but we have heard that that's someone
18:37
Speaker 1: that makes sense for them, and he has closing experience,
18:40
Speaker 1: and that's exactly the type. Maybe you don't go the
18:43
Speaker 1: very top, tippy top tier of relievers, but like they did,
18:49
Speaker 1: and you know, I hesitate to bring him up, but
18:55
Speaker 1: I want to. Oh jeez, I almost called him Ryan Helsley,
18:58
Speaker 1: Ryan Presley, but Ryan Presley was the experienced closer that
19:04
Speaker 1: they got to start last season.
19:06
Speaker 2: Look, it didn't work out.
19:07
Speaker 1: It wasn't It wasn't as bad as Hector and neris,
19:10
Speaker 1: but it was it didn't work out. And that's two
19:13
Speaker 1: years in a row that they've gone with the veteran
19:15
Speaker 1: that didn't work out.
19:16
Speaker 2: I think Pete Fairbanks is different.
19:18
Speaker 1: He's had success very recently and he still it seems
19:22
Speaker 1: like he still has plenty left in the tank.
19:23
Speaker 2: If they can get someone like that, I think it's important.
19:27
Speaker 2: Fairbanks is just one name, but.
19:28
Speaker 1: They like you get one like that and then four
19:31
Speaker 1: or five, like the Brad Keller swings the Caleb Theolbar,
19:36
Speaker 1: Theelbar was a guaranteed deal Keller and a non roster invite.
19:40
Speaker 1: Like you get like four or five of these guys
19:42
Speaker 1: and two or three hit. Uh, that's a home run,
19:46
Speaker 1: you know, Like the last off season was a home
19:48
Speaker 1: run for them. Like they they signed up, and there's
19:50
Speaker 1: probably guys that we've already forgotten about. There's Presley, but
19:53
Speaker 1: there's probably a few others that they brought in and
19:56
Speaker 1: they hit on on Keller theol Bar and and they
20:00
Speaker 1: end up getting comerands are like those are like great jobs.
20:05
Speaker 1: By them figuring those guys, identifying those guys and then
20:08
Speaker 1: it working out is a little bit of luck. So
20:11
Speaker 1: you need the luck to go in your favor. You
20:12
Speaker 1: need the guys to stay healthy and all that stuff.
20:15
Speaker 1: But you don't have to just spend a ton of
20:18
Speaker 1: money here. But I do think it's important to bring
20:20
Speaker 1: in a veteran that you can kind of trust.
20:23
Speaker 3: I think we're also already expecting some spillover from the
20:28
Speaker 3: rotation now showed it in Monaga. Our understanding is as
20:35
Speaker 3: probably leaning towards declining the qualifying offer that he obviously
20:40
Speaker 3: went into this thinking he could beat two years thirty
20:44
Speaker 3: point five million. I think kind of the endless appetite
20:50
Speaker 3: for more pitching probably helps. There are a bunch of
20:54
Speaker 3: teams that were on him when he was leaving Japan.
20:58
Speaker 3: He has a really impressive body of work that he
21:01
Speaker 3: can pitch teams on now even if the end of
21:05
Speaker 3: this past season was a little disappointing for him. So
21:11
Speaker 3: I think, you know, the Cubs felt short in October
21:15
Speaker 3: when when they looked at their pitching staff, particularly their rotation.
21:20
Speaker 3: So they're going to go out and sign multiples. It
21:26
Speaker 3: sounds like the take it slow with Justin Steel, but
21:34
Speaker 3: then he should be ready in the front portion, going
21:38
Speaker 3: to be healthy. But when you add in you know,
21:42
Speaker 3: Javier Assad, you know whoever they sign, Matthew Boyd, Jamison Tywn,
21:50
Speaker 3: Kate Horton like that, I'd be knocking on wood here right,
21:56
Speaker 3: Like that's kind of what Cubs executives do whenever we
21:59
Speaker 3: talk like that. But you got to think some of
22:03
Speaker 3: the Colin Ray might wind up in a bullpen. How
22:06
Speaker 3: How are Craig council pieces pieces together, the out getters
22:12
Speaker 3: that you take all these things together, mate, it's not
22:14
Speaker 3: as daunting as it seems. When you lose, you know,
22:17
Speaker 3: four of your top five relievers from the playoffs, and
22:22
Speaker 3: I mean Jen and Carter essentially said what we thought
22:25
Speaker 3: they would say, of like this is an opportunity, Like
22:28
Speaker 3: they're I think they're more excited about going out and
22:31
Speaker 3: finding new pieces rather than sort of paying old guys
22:35
Speaker 3: for what they've done in the past.
22:38
Speaker 2: Yeah.
22:40
Speaker 1: The one area that I do think where they're probably
22:44
Speaker 1: you know, a little disappointed with what they have is
22:47
Speaker 1: is the young guys for the bullpen that they don't
22:50
Speaker 1: have Like this. I mean, think about what was it
22:53
Speaker 1: two off seasons ago when Jed said the dream was
22:55
Speaker 1: to have a homegrown bullpen. He doesn't really have that,
22:59
Speaker 1: and he doesn't have like the name he you know,
23:05
Speaker 1: Daniel Palencia. Great, great story. We'll see if Porter Hodge
23:09
Speaker 1: can bounce back. Uh, we'll see if Daniel Polentcy can
23:12
Speaker 1: repeat his season, because that's hard to do.
23:15
Speaker 2: Uh. But other names, like you know, Luke Little hasn't
23:18
Speaker 2: lived up to the hype and uh and that's.
23:23
Speaker 1: Very normal, like relief prospects are aren't, you know, like
23:28
Speaker 1: that's not a common thing.
23:29
Speaker 2: So it's it's.
23:31
Speaker 1: Hard to for everything to come together. Uh, Plentia, it
23:35
Speaker 1: took years for everything to come together. Uh.
23:38
Speaker 2: There are there are other young pitchers who's.
23:40
Speaker 1: You know, like they have stuff, and it's like, well,
23:43
Speaker 1: why why don't they get the results? Uh? And and
23:47
Speaker 1: it's you know, they they don't have the stable of
23:50
Speaker 1: young pitching that they I think they'd like to have. Uh,
23:54
Speaker 1: and that's something I think they'll work on in the
23:56
Speaker 1: in the winter and then uh maybe even uh in
24:00
Speaker 1: the season. Is is kind of making sure that there
24:03
Speaker 1: they have their processes right and and and start developing
24:06
Speaker 1: more pitching. But uh, that's just all the more reason
24:10
Speaker 1: why they have to lean on the things they got
24:12
Speaker 1: right last winter.
24:14
Speaker 2: Uh.
24:15
Speaker 1: There's confidence there, but I think there's also concern when
24:18
Speaker 1: it's like you have to you know, Jed even kind
24:22
Speaker 1: of said it, like, you know, you want, you'd love
24:26
Speaker 1: to have certainty, but you're working with the unit that
24:29
Speaker 1: where like the uncertainty is almost like built in. It's
24:31
Speaker 1: like it's really hard to find those super consistent guys
24:36
Speaker 1: Uh that year in and year out. They they're they're
24:38
Speaker 1: they're rare and and you pay a lot of money
24:41
Speaker 1: for them.
24:43
Speaker 2: And the Cubs don't do that. The Cubs aren't the
24:45
Speaker 2: type to do that. Uh.
24:50
Speaker 1: Patrick, you look like you're freezing up on me, So
24:52
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna wrap it up unless you got
24:54
Speaker 1: something to say. Uh, all right, everyone, thanks so much
24:58
Speaker 1: for listening.
24:59
Speaker 2: This is Northside.
25:00
Speaker 3: I can't blame it. I can't blame the wireless on
25:02
Speaker 3: the hotel.
25:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just leftover struggles from Vegas. The internet has
25:10
Speaker 1: hungover as well. All right, thanks for listening everyone. This
25:14
Speaker 1: is Nard Side Territory. Make sure to rate, review and subscribe.
25:17
Speaker 1: Subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic
25:21
Speaker 1: where Patrick and are on top of all things cubs.
25:23
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to everyone.
25:25
Speaker 2: Take care,